Search

This study takes stock of business and economics research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and provides a dynamic panorama of the overall knowledge structure of this ever-growing body of work ever since its inception in 1966. Our bibliometric analysis based on the full archive of 1024 studies identifies the main trends of and the major intellectual contributors to the extant knowledge of AI in business and economics research. Specifically, our results show that (1) AI-focused business and economics research wintnessed growth over three stages, particularly with a sharp increase after 2017. (2) While this body of research has gained tremendous momentum across the globe, the United States is by far the center of knowledge generation. (3) Research collaborations are still limited in this area. (4) Research topics flourished, ranging from early decision support systems, neural networks, and scheduling methods to more recent machine learning, automation, and big data. This study also identifies fruitful avenues for further business and economics research with an AI focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Orychophragmus violaceus (OV) and chicory (Cichorium intybus L., CC) can be used as fresh or dry forage for animals. To determine whether OV and/or CC have beneficial effects on performance and egg quality, a total of 1212 28-wk-old Beijing You Chicken (BYC) laying hens with similar performance were randomly allocated to 4 groups with 3 replicate pens per group, and 101 birds per pen. The birds were fed a basal diet (control), the basal diet + OV (3.507 kg/d/pen), the basal diet + CC (2.525 kg/d/pen), and the basal diet + OV + CC (OVC, 1.7535 kg/d/pen OV + 1.2625 kg/d/pen CC) for 3 wks after one wk of adaptation. The results showed that egg-laying rate was not affected by OV, CC and OVC (p > 0.05), but weekly average egg mass was significantly increased by OV and CC (p < 0.05). The feed egg ratio in the CC group (2.82) was significantly lower than that in the other three groups (p < 0.05). The eggshell thickness (EST), albumen height (AH) and Haugh unit (HU) were decreased by OV and CC (p < 0.05); while yolk color (YC) was increased in the CC and OVC groups (p < 0.05). Egg grade was decreased by OV (p < 0.05). Sensory evaluation showed that there was a trend for increased YC in OV, CC and OVC (p = 0.089). Serum total protein was significantly lower in OV group than those in the control and CC group (p < 0.05); serum albumin content was significantly decreased in OV, CC and OVC groups (p = 0.006). Serum glutathione peroxidase activity in CC and OVC groups was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the present study suggests that CC had a better effect on the performance of the native laying hens than OV. The OV and CC affected egg quality, while YC was increased in CC and OVC groups. The OVC improved YC and serum antioxidative properties of native laying hens without affecting the performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem of optimizing the firepower configuration for warships cooperating with strategic locations on the sea, the influence of air defense elements on firepower configuration is analyzed comprehensively, and the constraints of firepower configuration are put forward. Combined with factors such as the forward distance of the warship, the depth of the defense, the angle of the combat sector, and the direction of the enemy's attack, based on the coastal defense forces and the warship, the firepower configuration models of air defense at a strategic location on the sea for a single warship and two warships' coordinated air defense at important places are established, respectively. The forward range of a single warship and two warships' cooperative air defense at sea is determined, and the defense depth expectation calculation formula is given. And according to the configuration of air defense firepower of the warship cooperating with strategic locations on the sea, the warship cooperating with maritime key area defense effectiveness model is constructed by using the random service system theory. Finally, under the hypothetical conditions, the numerical simulation experiments show that the proposed model and calculation formula are reasonable and effective, which can provide a certain theoretical basis for the firepower configuration of warships cooperating with strategic locations on the sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a 72-h neutral salt spray test was conducted on two low-carbon alloy steels and their corrosion kinetic equations were constructed, and tensile tests were conducted on specimens with different corrosion cycles to evaluate the mechanical properties of the two experimental steels. The test results showed that the corrosion resistance of TZ750MS was better than that of H750MS during the whole test cycle; however, the predicted results of the corrosion kinetic equation showed that the corrosion resistance of TZ750MS was lower than that of H750MS after 144 h. The tensile test results showed that the strength of both steels did not change substantially after corrosion, and the tensile stress-strain diagram showed that the specimens would fracture earlier after passing through the plastic deformation zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the demand for operation in non-laboratory environments, there has been a trend toward the development of compact, transportable ultra-stable lasers. This paper reports on this sort of laser system assembled in a cabinet. The whole optical part utilizes fiber-coupled devices to simplify the integration. In addition, spatial beam collimation and alignment into the high-finesse cavity are realized by a five-axis positioner and a focus-adjustable fiber collimator, which significantly relax the alignment and adjustment. A theoretical analysis is performed on how the collimator adjusts the beam profile and coupling efficiency. The support structure of the system is specially designed as well so that it features robustness and transportation without performance degradation. The observed linewidth is 1.4 Hz within a duration of 1 s. After subtracting the linear drift of 70 mHz/s, the fractional frequency instability is better than 4 × 10−15, for the averaging time ranging from 1 to 100 s, which is close to the thermal noise limit of the high-finesse cavity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strawberry seedlings are often subjected to strong light stress during breeding and strawberry production, leading to seedling death, sunburn and disease. We investigated the endogenous mechanism of strong light stress in strawberry by studying chlorophyll degradation. The activity of chlorophyll, intermediate products, chlorophyll degradation key enzymes and the expression of chlorophyll degradation related genes were measured in 'Xuelixiang' strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) under 12 hours of 30 000 xl and 100 000 xl light treatment respectively. It was found that the concentrations of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b in strawberry leaves decreased significantly and the ratio of chlorophyll a to b increased under strong light stress treatment; pheophytin pheophorbide hydrolase (PPH), pheophorbide a oxygenase (PAO) and red chlorophyll catabolite reductase (RCCR) activities were higher than those in the NL group; chlorophyll degradation-related genes (except FaMDCase) were all higher expressed than in the NL group. The degradation of strawberry chlorophyll was accelerated by strong light stress. In addition, showing that PPH and PAO are key factors in the chlorophyll degradation pathway of strawberry. This study lays the foundation for an in-depth study on chlorophyll degradation in strawberry under strong light stress and other related studies, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for light management during strawberry production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To realize the fast and accurate counting of winter wheat at the seedling stage in fields, we propose a recognition method based on an improved YOLOv4 model. Firstly, we employed a simplified MobileNetv3 neural network instead of the standard CSPDarknet53 network structure. Besides, we added an adaptive image scaling layer in front of the MobileNetv3 network. Finally, we utilized the coyote optimization algorithm (COA) to optimize the learning rate and convolution kernel size. Results showed that the average precision (AP) values of the improved network model for 2-leaf and 3-leaf winter wheat were 96.46% and 93.87%, respectively. The mean average accuracy (mAP) was 95.15% and the average recognition speed was 0.07 s. These indicators were the best, compared with the YOLOv4, YOLOv3, and Faster-RCNN models. Also, the mAP was 12.28% higher than the standard YOLOv4 model, and the average recognition speed was 1.49 times faster. Therefore, this method can achieve the fast and accurate counting of winter wheat during the seedling stage in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The femtosecond lasers were used to cut an ultra-sharp V-notch with a tip radius less than 0.5 μm on 3Y-TZP and Si3N4 ceramic samples. The KIc were measured accurately with the improved single-edge V-notched beam (SEVNB) method. The test results show that the true KIc of the 3Y-TZP is lower than that of the Si3N4 ceramic. However, the KIc measured by SENB method and the bending strength show that the mechanical property of 3Y-TZP is better than that of Si3N4 in the application without crack source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two light treatments [ambient sunlight (L1) during the entire growth period and 40% shade (L2) from 40 d after sowing until 24 d after flowering] and two phosphate fertilizer treatments [no phosphate fertilizer application (P0) and a conventional phosphate fertilizer application (P1)] were used to determine how phosphate fertilizer regulates soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] photosynthesis under shading. We showed that phosphorus significantly increased chlorophyll content and grain yield under shading. The light-saturated net photosynthetic rate, apparent quantum yield, maximum electron transport rate, and maximum Rubisco carboxylation rate in P1 under L2 significantly increased. Moreover, phosphate fertilizer significantly improved the electron transfer and PSII reaction center performance under shading. Therefore, phosphate fertilizer increases low light-utilization efficiency by improving PSII performance, promoting ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate regeneration, ensuring a source of carboxylate substrates, and coordinating the balance between photochemical reaction and Calvin cycle under shading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion behaviors of double‐sided submerged arc welded joints in X80 pipeline steel with or without coupling were studied in simulated near‐neutral soil solution. The galvanic effect in the welded joint was evaluated by corrosion morphology, corrosion depth, and electrochemical measurements. When the weld metal (WM), heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal (BM) samples were immersed in the solution isolated, pitting holes occurred around the martensite/austenite constituents in the weld metal and base metal samples, which was mainly due to the preferential corrosion of ferrite. However, no pitting holes occurred in the heat affected zone due to small specific surface area induced by the coarse martensite/austenite constituents. Polarization curves results showed that the corrosion current density of coupled base metal was 5 times larger than that of isolated base metal and the corrosion current density of isolated heat affected zone was three times larger than that of coupled heat affected zone after 48 h immersion. The corrosion current density of coupled heat affected zone was one order of magnitude lower than that of coupled weld metal and base metal. When the welded joint was exposed to an aggressive environment, the base metal samples were determined to be the most anodic zone while the heat affected zone was the most cathodic zone. The weld metal underwent little galvanic interaction, as its corrosion potential was close to the coupled potential. In addition, the galvanic effect among the welded joints decreased with the prolong of immersion time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Ni-WS2 sintered electrode was used to prepare a coating on a CrNi3MoVA steel substrate by employing electrospark deposition technique. The nanomechanical and tribological properties of the coating were tested by using nanoindenter and tribometer, and the morphologies, composition and phase structure were obtained by utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDS) and X-ray diffraction(XRD). The results showed that the coating is even-distributed with nanostalline α-W strengthening phase dopants, and it has a strong metallurgical bonding with the substrate. The coating is composed of WS2, γ-Ni, α-W and Ni3S2 phases, and it exhibits outstanding tribological properties for its friction coefficient reduced about 79% and wear rate reduced about 96% in contrast to the CrNi3MoVA steel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) of Zostera marina is prone to deactivation under visible light, which results in a formation of the long-lived radical P680+. The mechanism to prevent damage caused by P680+ remains unclear. In this study, following light exposure, the upregulation in ascorbate (AsA) content and the presence of PSII cyclic electron flow (PSII-CEF) provide evidence that AsA and PSII-CEF donate electrons to PSII. Furthermore, a factorial design experiment with different combinations of inhibition of AsA and PSII-CEF demonstrates that both inhibition treatments lead to decreases in maximal photochemical yield of PSII, increases in relative variable fluorescence at the K-step, as well as the net loss of PSII reaction center proteins and further degradation of OEC peripheral proteins. These results suggest that AsA and PSII-CEF play photoprotective roles by providing electrons to efficiently prevent damage to PSII from the highly oxidizing radical P680+ in Z. marina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a detailed study on the phase diagrams of superconducting topological surface states, especially, focusing on the interplay between crystalline symmetry and topology of the effective BdG Hamiltonian. We show that for the 4 x 4 kinematic Hamiltonian of the normal state, a mirror symmetry M can be defined, and for the M-odd pairings, the classification of the 8 x 8 BdG Hamiltonian is ℤ ⊕ ℤ, and the timereversal symmetry is broken intrinsically. The topological non-trivial phase can support chiral Majorana edge modes, and can be realized in the thin films of iron-based superconductor such as FeSeTe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, LVE (liquid-vapor equilibrium) data of cadmium-zinc system were determined at a pressure of 7.5 Pa. We compare the use of the Redlich-Kister polynomials with the Wilson equation in fitting activities. The LVE for Cd-Zn system in vacuum distillation was modeled using the two models. The results of the two models are reliable, the Redlich-Kister polynomials are better than the Wilson equation. The LVE phase diagram is reliable for predicting the process of vacuum distillation for Cd-Zn system. The evaporation rates of the elements in Cd-Zn alloy were experimentally measured and calculated by the Langmuir equation. The experimental data on the evaporation of pure metals Cd and Zn are included. The evaporation coefficients of zinc and cadmium under vacuum conditions were calculated. The deviations were discussed. Comparing the calculations with the experimental results, it can be found that the trend is consistent. The activation energies of Cd and Zn in the Cd-Zn alloy under experimental conditions were also calculated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear energy sink (NES) has proven to be very effective in reducing the vibration response of structures. In this paper, a magnetic bistable nonlinear energy sink (BNES) that composed of a guided moving mass attached with linear springs and permanent magnets is proposed. To assess the seismic control performance of the proposed BNES, a shear frame model equipped with the proposed BNES is compared with the same shear frame model equipped with an optimized cubic NES and with a linear tuned mass damper (TMD) system. The results show that, in the idealized situation, where the mass and stiffness is clearly defined (no uncertainty), the BNES can achieve similar performance as a thoroughly in-tuned TMD system. Moreover, in the detuned condition, due to broadband high internal resonance capability, the proposed BNES can outperform the linear TMD and the cubic NES. The study demonstrates that the proposed BNES can be used as an efficient passive vibration absorber for structural seismic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasi-static compressive behaviors of three amorphous alloys (Cu50Zr50, Pd80Si20, and Ni67Zr33) are investigated via molecular dynamics simulations. Compared to the crystalline counterpart, when the strain is below 1%, significant fluctuations can be observed in the stress-strain curves. Further analysis of the simulated data indicates that the fluctuations are associated with the variations of Voronoi volume. A gradient reduction model is proposed to explain the process of the evolution of Voronoi volume at the initial stage of the deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of corrosion resistant steel for molten Al has always attracted the interests from die casting industry for several decades. In this paper, we reported the enhanced corrosion resistance in 750 °C molten Al of an alumina-forming austenitic steel (AFA) via deliberately producing oxide layer after different high-temperature oxidation processes. The results showed that the corrosion resistance against molten Al of the AFA was improved significantly due to the presence of a stable, compact and continuous oxides barrier, in comparison with H13 tool steel as well as unoxidized AFA without Al2O3 film. Apparently, the non-wetting α-Al2O3 film, which was formed after high-temperature oxidation, effectively protected the substrate from inner-diffusion and penetration of the molten Al. These findings provide one of cost-effective ways to improve the corrosion resistance of steels against molten Al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy performed using continuous‐wave (CW) lasers has been investigated and developed by Willig et al. (Nature Methods, 2007, 4(11):915) for nearly a decade. Kuang et al. (Review of Scientific Instruments, 2010, 81:053709) developed the CW STED microscopy technique with 405 nm excitation and 532 nm depletion beams. In their research, Coumarin 102 dye was adopted and was found to be depletable. In this study, a parametric investigation of the depletion of Coumarin 102 dye is carried out experimentally. The influence of the excitation and depletion beam intensities and dye concentrations on the depletion efficiency are studied in detail. The results indicate the following: (1) The highest depletion occurs for the 100 μM Coumarin 102 solution, with a 1.4 μW excitation beam and a 115.3 mW depletion beam. (2) The minimum saturation intensity ( I s) of STED, that is 13 MW cm–2, is observed when the Coumarin 102 solution concentration is 10 μM. (3) I s values calculated directly from the depletion power derived with the cross‐sectional area due to the full‐width‐at‐half‐maximum (FWHM) of the depletion beam show poor accuracy, where I s may be overestimated. Thus, a correction factor for the cross‐sectional area is proposed. We also find that I s is not exactly constant for a fixed excitation beam power and dye concentration. This trend indicates that the conventional suppression function η ( x ) = e − ln ( 2 ) I STED ( x ) / I s derived from picosecond STED may cause errors in evaluating the depletion process in CW STED microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the influence of the mineralizers chlorine ion (Cl-) and fluorine ion (F-) on the structure formation of porous chromium-benzenedicarboxylates (Cr-BDCs). It was proved that Cl- plays a role as mineralizer which is similar to F- that can increase the crystallinity of MIL-101. In contrast, the MIL-101 phase cannot be transformed into the MIL-53 phase without mineralizer. The phase-transition occurs only after the addition of the mineralizer (Cl- or F-) to the system. The results suggest that the mineralizer is the key component affecting the phase-transition of Cr-BDCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The finite size effect power law in Cu-doped Ni thin film were investigated by probing the Curie temperature (Tc)-dependence on the NixCu1-x thin film thickness. It is found that both magnetization and Tc decreases proportional to the Cu content. Tc is directly proportional to the number of pairwise spin-spin interactions in a manifold cluster of spins according to the mean field approximation. The experiment results confirm the spin bag model built in ultrathin magnetic films previous, in which each spin interacts equally strongly with neighbors over some finite interaction length N0. Furthermore, upon varying the composition of the Ni-Cu alloys, the range of spin-spin interactions N0 decreases with increasing concentration of the Cu. Since there is little change of the band structure and conduct electron properties in NixCu1-x alloy films, this phenomenon was attributed to the decreasing of the propagation distance of conduct electrons due to the scattering by the Cu impurities. The present results indicate the ferromagnetic order in 3d metal probably delivered by the itinerant electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A China Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor (CFETR) will be built to test and verify the feasibility of engineering and technology in practice for the future fusion reactor. Long pulse and steady-state operation will be demonstrated with duty cycle time more than 30%–50%. Because of the beta and gamma activation of the component bulk and surface dust (beryllium, carbon, and tungsten), special remote handling (RH) techniques will be required during machine maintenance periods. The divertor cassettes’ remote replacement is one of the key maintenance operations for the CFETR to meet the requirements of duty cycle time. RH maintenance strategies will have a significant impact on the layout of the machine and design of components. In this article, an overview of the CFETR divertor components’ remote maintenance strategy and the description of the maintenance process of the divertor cassettes were introduced. The engineering design features of the divertor RH systems (DHRSs) were described to meet the requirements such as high efficiency and reliability. Preliminary assessment of the divertor RH system is done in order to successfully and efficiently carry out RH maintenance tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Currents play critical roles in neurons. Direct observation of current flows in cells at nanometre dimensions and picoampere current resolution is still a daunting task. In this study, we investigated the current flows in hippocampal neurons, PC12 cells and astrocytes in response to voltages applied to the cell membranes using conductive atomic force microscopy (CAFM). The spines in the hippocampal neurons play crucial roles in nerve signal transfer. When the applied voltage was greater than 7.2 V, PC12 cells even show metallic nanowire‐like characteristics. Both the cell body and glial filaments of astrocytes yielded CAFM test results that reflect different electrical conductance. To our best knowledge, the electrical characteristics and current transport through components of cells (especially neurons) in response to an applied external voltage have been revealed for the first time at nanometre dimensions and picoampere current levels. We believe that such studies will pave new ways to study and model the electrical characteristics and physiological behaviours in cells and other biological samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Body conformation at birth and teat number are economically important traits in the pig industry, as these traits are usually explored to evaluate the growth and reproductive potential of piglets. To detect genetic loci and candidate genes for these traits, we performed a GWAS on 269 pigs from a recently developed Chinese breed (Sushan) using 38  128 informative SNPs on the Affymetrix Porcine SNP 55K Array. In total, we detected one genome‐wide significant (P = 1.31e‐6) SNP for teat number on chromosome X and 15 chromosome‐wide significant SNPs for teat number, body weight, body length, chest circumference and cannon circumference at birth on chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17 and 18. The most significant SNP had an additive effect of 0.74 × total teat number, explaining 20% of phenotypic variance. Five significant SNPs resided in the previously reported quantitative trait loci for these traits and seven significant SNPs had a pleiotropic effect on multiple traits. Intriguingly, 12 of the genes nearest to the significant SNPs are functionally related to body conformation and teat number traits, including SPRED2,MKX,TMSB4X and ESR1. GO analysis revealed that candidate genes proximal to the significant SNPs were enriched in the G‐protein coupled receptor and steroid hormone‐mediated signaling pathway. Our findings shed light on the genetic basis of the measured traits and provide molecular markers especially for the genetic improvement of teat number in Sushan and related pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening the emergency scheduling of urban and rural traffic vehicles can effectively improve the management quality of urban and rural traffic vehicles. Aiming at the problems of long time and high cost of scheduling task completion in existing methods, an optimization method of emergency scheduling for urban and rural traffic vehicles based on GPS/GIS is proposed. By analyzing the characteristics of GPS/GIS system, the hierarchical structure of urban and rural traffic GPS and the CIS system of urban and rural traffic vehicles are taken as the basic structure. The main characteristics and functions of each hierarchical structure are analyzed in detail. The relationship between the running time utility function and the running cost utility function of vehicle scheduling task is analyzed, and they are synthesized into comprehensive utility function. The genetic operator is used to generate the initial utility function. The initial pheromone distribution and the global optimal solution of the comprehensive utility function are obtained by using the bidirectional convergent ant colony operator to complete the emergency scheduling optimization of urban and rural traffic vehicles. The experimental results show that the proposed method has shorter task completion time and lower task completion cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generalized hydrodynamic equations were originally proposed to describe the rarefied non-equilibrium flows beyond the Navier–Stokes–Fourier (NSF) equations by constructing a non-equilibrium canonical distribution function for the mesoscopic Boltzmann equation. Subsequently, nonlinear coupled constitutive relations (NCCR) were developed under the adiabatic assumption, the Eu's closure, and Myong's simplification. NCCR+ was also proposed to include the omitted terms in Myong's simplification. The goal of this paper is to assess the improvements in the accuracy due to NCCR+ and the influence of the bulk viscosity in one-dimensional steady shock wave structure for monatomic and diatomic gases. In order to solve NCCR+ equations, a coupled solution process based on the time-independent method for non-conserved variables is employed, which is different from the previous uncoupled solution process used for the NCCR equations. Shock structures in argon and nitrogen are calculated up to Mach 50, where the shock profile, inverse shock thickness, asymmetry parameter, and temperature–density separation distance are validated by DSMC and available experimental measurements. The results show that NCCR+ could not provide much improvement in accuracy compared to NCCR but adds to the computational cost, suggesting that Myong's simplification used in NCCR is satisfactory. Both NCCR and NCCR+ perform better than NSF in computing the one-dimensional shock wave structure at high Mach numbers. It is also shown that the bulk viscosity has significant influence on the accuracy of prediction of the shock wave structure in a diatomic gas using both NSF and NCCR. Stokes' hypothesis in conventional NSF is valid only for flows in a monatomic gas and for very low Mach number flows in a diatomic gas. Additionally, it is also found that the viscosity exponent s = 0.81 in variable-hard-sphere model provides a good fit with the experimental data for shock wave in argon using NCCR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the clinical efficacy of fluorouracil administered as a prodrug tegafur in combination with gimeracil and oteracil potassium (S-1) in the postoperative treatment of gastric cancer, in this study, 308 patients with clinically diagnosed gastric cancer and radical gastrectomy were followed up for data collection. The 308 patients were divided into treatment group and control group, and treated according to the experimental design. The data obtained was analysed, subjected to Χ2 test using SPSS20.0 software and the survival rate was calculated by Kaplan-Meier. The median was used to represent the survival time. The single factor analysis was performed by log-rank test. Multiple-factor analysis was performed using cox analysis. Finally, the adverse reactions of patients with oral administration of S-1 were counted, and the clinical efficacy of the S-1 in the radical resection of gastric cancer was evaluated. The results showed that the median progress free survival of the treatment group and the control group were 7.7 and 5.4 months, respectively, and the median overall survival was 12.1 and 10.0 months, respectively (p>0.05). Adverse reactions were mainly manifested in hand-foot syndrome, gastrointestinal symptoms, bone marrow transplantation and other systemic symptoms. The study appeared to be of great significance in selecting treatment options for prolongation of survival time in patients after radical gastrectomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu2(OH)2CO3 (cupric carbonate basic, CCB) is a common copper-based semiconductor compound that can absorb the visible light due to its suitable bandgap structure. Here, CCB was synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal strategy. The catalyst exhibited excellent activation activity of persulfate (PS) supported by visible light irradiation and can degrade tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) over a wide pH range from 3.0 to 10.0. Under the condition of 0.1 g/L catalyst and 2 mM PS, the removal rate of TCH (30 mg/L) reached 96% after 60 min of visible light irradiation. Coexisting anions (Cl-, HCO3-, SO42-) had little effect on the TCH degradation. The synergistic effects of CCB combined with PS and visible light were beneficial for the separation of photogenerated hole-electrons and the generation of more free radicals. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) experiments and quenching experiments show that HO· and h+ are the predominant species in the catalytic reaction. Thus, this study proposes a promising approach using the CCB/PS/Vis system for wastewater remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonstoichiometric M-type barium hexaferrite compounds, with nominal compositions BaFe12+xO19+1.5x (0≤x≤0.4), have been synthesized by spark plasma sintering technique. The electron probe microanalysis shows that the excessive trivalent iron (Fe3+) ions are in the lattices of BaFe12+xO19+1.5x compounds. Both Raman and FTIR spectra reveal that the excessive Fe3+ ions spin upward. They occupy the octahedron interstices similar to the FeO6 octahedron at the 12k site and the bipyramid interstices similar to the FeO5 bipyramid at the 2b site, in the x range of 0–0.3 and x=0.4, respectively. This explains well significant enhancement in the specific saturation magnetizations for BaFe12+xO19+1.5x with increasing the x in the range of 0–0.4. The gradual increase in the coercivities has been interpreted with the augment of Fe3+ concentration in unit cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barium and indium double-filled skutterudites BaxInyCo4Sb12-z have been synthesized by a melting method using a series of starting materials with nominal compositions Ba0.3-mInmCo4Sb12 (0≤m≤0.3). Rietveld structure refinement shows that both barium and indium occupied the Sb-icosahedron voids in skutterudite structure. The thermal vibration parameter Uiso of indium is an order of magnitude bigger than that of barium. The electron probe microanalysis data prove that the filling fraction limit of indium is about 0.22. Hall effect was measured by the Van de Pauw method at room temperature. All BaxInyCo4Sb12-z compounds exhibit n-type conduction. The temperature dependences of electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity have been measured on these compounds in the range of 300–850 K. Ba0.13In0.14Co4Sb11.75 with close filling fractions for barium and indium exhibits anomalously excellent thermoelectric properties, which may be due to the presence of the localized state in the gap occupied by one electron from indium impurity. The lattice thermal conductivity of BaxInyCo4Sb12-z is significantly low compared to single barium-filled skutterudite Ba0.27Co4Sb11.85 and reached a minimum for Ba0.13In0.14Co4Sb11.75. The dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT increased with increasing temperature in the range of 300–675 K and reached a maximum value of 1.19 for Ba0.13In0.14Co4Sb11.75 at 850 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmission and reflection properties of left-handed metamaterials (LHMs) with the local asymmetry are investigated at the X-band frequency range in free space. Experimental results show that two transmission peaks and two reflection dips are exhibited in the presence of the asymmetric configuration of split ring resonators (SRRs). Furthermore, the position and intensity of the peaks and dips are significantly dependent on the asymmetry between the SRRs and the wires. In addition, the numerical calculations indicate that two left-handed frequency regions can exist if another configuration of the SRRs is introduced into the LHMs, which is in agreement with the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the transparent cathodes comprised of a low work function rare earth element (RE) and a Au capping layer for top-emission organic light emitting diodes (TOLEDs). The Sm/Au, Yb/Au, Gd/Au, and Dy/Au cathodes possess a transmittance up to ∼60% when the RE/Au thickness is 5/10 nm. The light extraction efficiencies for the TOLEDs with a silicon anode and a RE/Au cathode are computed to be 9%–13%, markedly higher than that for a similar device but with an Al/Au cathode. The surface plasmon polaritons at the Yb(or Sm)/Au cathode are found to be much weaker than those at the Al/Au cathode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical calculations of the interband optical-absorption spectra of a finite quantum dot superlattice in a wire (QDSLW) in the presence of a homogeneous dc or terahertz field are presented. The QDSLW has miniband structures of the electron states as general quantum well superlattices do and shows the two features common to one-dimensional structures, viz., strong excitonic absorption below and weak absorption above the band edge. The applied dc field causes a redshift of the location and a decrease in height of the main excitonic peak and leads to an increase in height of the minor peak next to the main peak. In the presence of a terahertz field, the Autler-Townes splitting of the main excitonic peak and the emergence of one-photon and two-photon gain peaks on the spectra are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common dementia and neurodegenerative disorder disease in central nervous system, and threatens the people's health seriously. But till now there are no effective ways to diagnose and treat AD. Herein, the differences between charge propagation, surface morphology, and Young's modulus of the hippocampus, in healthy and AD mice have been investigated using advanced modes of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The ability of charge transfer in AD samples has decreased compared with healthy samples. There are compact layered structures in hippocampus from healthy sample, whereas there are no obvious layered structures in hippocampus from AD sample. The Young's modulus of hippocampus from AD sample is about half of that from healthy sample. The results demonstrate that AFM will be helpful in the further study of the functions of hippocampus and pathogeny of AD. Lay Description: Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, a neurodegenerative disease which especially affects elderly people, threatens people's health seriously. The pathological features of AD are senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and cerebral atrophy. The main clinical symptoms of AD are progressive memory impairment, cognitive dysfunction, and loss of language skills, as there are disorder in limbic and cortices. The morbidity rate increases with age and is currently at 5% and 20% among people older than 65 and 85, respectively. Thus AD has a heavy socioeconomic burden, especially in an aging society. So far, there are no effective therapeutic clinical treatments, and no effective means and methods to test and diagnose early stage AD. This means that further studies are essential to gain a deeper, fundamental understanding of the pathogenesis of AD. In this work, the surface morphology, electrical and mechanical properties of the hippocampi from healthy and AD mice have been investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) at nanometre scale for the first time. The hippocampi from healthy mice are composed of compact layered structures, whereas there are no obvious characteristic features in the hippocampi from AD mice. The electrical properties of hippocampus slices were studied by the Electrostatic Force Microscopy (EFM) mode of AFM. The charge propagation ability of axons from AD mice has decreased dramatically compared to that of healthy mice. After charge injection (injection voltage was +10 V) the charge density was 2.3 × 105 C μm–2 in healthy samples, which was larger than that from the AD samples (1.0 × 105 C μm–2). The Young's modulus of hippocampi from healthy and AD mice were 104.0 and 40.1 kPa, respectively, as revealed by the quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) mode of AFM. It indicates that when AD occurs, the Young's modulus will be lower than the healthy sample. These observations and experimental approaches will be useful in future studies of the pathogeny of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultra-sharp V-notch with tip radius smaller than 0.5 μm was cut by femtosecond laser on the fine-grained alumina ceramic bars to measure the fracture toughness by single-edge V-notched beam (SEVNB) method. In order to relieve the effect of thermal stresses induced by laser on fracture toughness testing, the samples with V-notch were annealed before measurement. The morphologies of the notch tip were analyzed by SEM and micro-Raman spectra. Results reveal that the fracture toughness value of this fine-grained alumina with thermal stresses on the V-notch is equal to that after annealing, and the effect of thermal stresses induced by laser on the fracture toughness can be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seriphidium transiliense, or subshrub sagebrush, is one of the most important forage resources for livestock in many arid lands, but such resources have been threatened by overgrazing for a long time. A 2013 vegetation survey of an original sagebrush rangeland (2400 ha) in the Tianshan Mountains revealed that nearly half of the area once under sagebrush has been replaced by annual species. This is due to the continual and rapid increase in livestock numbers over the past 30 years. Three smaller sites with different grazing scenarios: no grazing (Site N), a decline (Site 1), and an increase (Site 2) in livestock numbers, were selected to monitor recent changes (from 2004 to 2013) in vegetation biomass and the degree of dominance by sagebrush. Supplanting happened at Site 2 but little occurred at Site 1. There were significant differences between Site 2 and Site 1 in standing biomass in Spring and Summer, but no significant differences in Summer between Site 1 and Site N. The supplanting of sagebrush marks the completion of a dynamic process – in which rainfall plays a crucial role – of damage to sagebrush from heavy grazing in drought years and its rehabilitation by light grazing in some good years. Plant biomass loss was greatest when the land was first subjected to heavy grazing. Sagebrush tends to exist as a sole-dominant species rather than a companion species in sagebrush communities. This suggests that sagebrush continued to survive in pockets where grazing pressure had declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Activated carbon (AC) from bamboo having super surfaces areas of 3155 m2/g were firstly doped with nitrogen by microwave assisted hydrothermal methodology, to obtain nitrogen doped activated carbon (NAC) with N content of 1.64 wt%. Pt-AC composites with Pt nanoparticles at various loadings of 2.87–6.73 wt% were then prepared by wet impregnation methods. N 2 adsorption at 77 K, ICP-OES, XRD, TEM, EDX, SEM, and H 2 chemisorption were used to investigate the morphological, structural and textural properties of AC composites. The results showed that i) increasing Pt content gave rise to an increase of the metal particle size, ii) N doping resulted in smaller Pt nanoparticle and hence better dispersion, and iii) the surface area decreased after Pt doping due to the pore blocking. Hydrogen storage capacities were measured both at 77 K up to 1bar and 298 K up to 4 MPa. The capacity of hydrogen storage at 77 K was closely related to the porous texture, whether the heteroatom or metal Pt doped, and the hydrogen storage on Pt doped NAC at 298 K presented much higher enhancement factor of 1.82 compared with the Pt doped AC due to the spillover effect, depending on Pt content. The hydrogen uptakes/storage on Pt-N-doped AC were also higher than on pure AC doped with Pt due to the further enhancement with the spillover effect, which should be attributed to the better Pt dispersion and smaller Pt nanoparticle size obtained. Graphical abstract A porous carbon composite with super specific surface area (up to 3155 m2/g) was firstly synthesised from biomass bamboo, which provides a superior carbon support. An effective microwave assisted hydrothermal doping functionalization has then been developed to obtain nitrogen doped activated carbon (NAC) and Pt-N-doped activated biocarbon composites with Pt nanoparticles at different levels within the range 2.87–6.73 wt % prepared. It is concluded that the N doing is essential for achieving better Pt dispersion and Pt nanoparticle size plays an effective role in further enhancement by the spillover effect.Figure-Circular development of Pt-N-doped activated biocarbon composites. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lightweight ceramic/aluminum alloy composite armor design is examined and optimized to get better protective performance. The armor penetrability is simulated via the smooth particle hydromechanics approach using the ANSYS/AUTODYN software. The accuracy of the program was verified by comparing with known data. Three composite armor types with the total thickness of 30, 40, and 50 mm, and five different ceramic/metal thickness ratios were analyzed in simulation of the residual bullet speed and the final distance. Simulation results are compared with the theoretical model. The best bullet protective performance of the three armor types was obtained with the ceramic/aluminum alloy thickness ratio of 4:1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of yeast culture (YC) supplementation on the growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and caecal microflora of broiler chickens. A total of 360 one-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chickens were randomly assigned to six dietary treatments containing 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% YC. The experiment lasted for 42 days. Diet and faecal samples were collected for analysis of dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, calcium and phosphorus. Caecal microbiota on days 21 and 42 were measured using polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and real-time PCR. Dietary supplementation with YC did not affect feed intake. On day 42, the 0.8% YC group showed optimal growth and feed efficiency, as well as higher levels of apparent digestibility of ether extract, calcium and phosphorus. On day 21, both 0.8% and 1% YC groups exhibited a significant increase in Ruminococcus, Propionibacterium clostridiales, and Bifidobacterium density. The density of Bacteroides in the YC groups was significantly higher than that of the control group. On day 42, the densities of Bacteroides, Sphingomonas and Bifidobacterium were higher in the 0.8% YC group, whereas a significant decrease was observed in the number of Enterobacteriaceae. These results serve as evidence that dietary supplementation with 0.8% YC not only moderately optimized the feed efficiency and the apparent digestibility of ether extract, calcium and phosphorus, but also positively influenced the caecal bacterial density and diversity in broiler chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese fir bark was selected as a precursor, and a chemical activation method was used to prepare high surface area activated biocarbon materials with heteroatom doping. The impacts of the activation temperature on pore structure and chemical characteristics were studied. Activated biocarbon electrodes with heteroatoms of N (1.00-1.60%) and O (3.60-12.87%) were then fabricated for electrochemical performance analysis, and the relationships among the pore structure, chemical characters and specific capacitance were discussed. The results show that the specific capacitance of activated carbon electrodes from both the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) tests obviously increased with increasing activation temperature in the range of 500 °C to 700 °C. The electrode fabricated with the activated carbon prepared at 700 °C exhibited the highest specific capacitance of 320 F/g at a scan rate of 2 mV/S by CV test and 342 F/g at a current density of 0.5 A/g by GCD test, which is comparable to or higher than that of most carbon-based capacitors. The favorable electrochemical performance may be attributed to the synergistic effect of the hierarchically suitable porous structure and dual doping of nitrogen and oxygen heteroatoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the management of variable-rate irrigation (VRI) systems in semi-humid climates, three different soil-based irrigation management methods were evaluated on their potential for reducing irrigation water use and maximizing crop yield and water use efficiency (WUE) during the 2016 and 2017 growing seasons of summer maize in the North China Plain. The three irrigation management methods evaluated were soil water balance modeling (SWB), measured soil water content (SWC), and a combination of SWB and the rain forecast for the next three days (RF). The experiments were implemented on four management zones delineated by available soil water holding capacity of a center-pivot VRI system. A similar irrigation trigger point (70% of field capacity) was used for the three irrigation management methods in the four management zones. In the two seasons, the total water application in the SWC treatments varied in a larger range among the management zones, and the irrigation water applied was 22% and 21% less than in the SWB and RF treatments, respectively. Similar yields were obtained among the irrigation management methods in both seasons. The maximum WUE was always observed with the SWC treatments for the four management zones in the 2017 season. The WUE with the SWC treatments was 36% and 23% higher than with the SWB and RF treatments, respectively. Considering the amount of irrigation water applied, yield, and WUE, our results demonstrated that the SWC method was more suitable for VRI management than the SWB and RF methods in this semi-humid climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated switching behavior of the hybrid structures consisting of low Curie temperature ($T_{C}$) and high $T_{C}$ layers. The $T_{C}$ of [Co (0.3 nm)/Pd (1.2 nm)]6 and [Co54Pd46 (0.3 nm)/Pd (1.2 nm)]6 multilayers (MLs) were confirmed to have much higher than 200 °C and around 110 °C, respectively. In the bi-ML hybrid structure with Co/Pd and CoPd/Pd MLs, the two MLs are exchange-coupled at room temperature, and the CoPd/Pd ML was switched following the magnetization of the high $T_{C}$ Co/Pd ML at high temperature (~170 °C) at which the CoPd/Pd ML becomes paramagnetic. The tri-layered hybrid structure with a stack of [Co (0.4 nm)/Pt (1.2 nm)]6/[Co48Pd52 (0.3 nm)/Pd (1.2 nm)]3/[Co (0.4 nm)/Pd (1.2 nm)]3 was also investigated. The tri-ML stack showed one-step hysteresis loop at room temperature and two-step loop at higher than 120 °C due to the loss of magnetic order of the intermediate low $T_{C}$ CoPd/Pd ML. From the data of tri-ML stack, the exchange coupled and decoupled situations between Co/Pt and Co/Pd MLs were found to be realized by changing the temperature from room temperature to around 150 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rare ascaridoid species, Mawsonascaris australis (Johnston & Mawson, 1943), is reported from the Taiwan Strait for the first time, and the brown guitarfish Rhinobatos schlegelii Müller & Henle (Rhinopristiformes: Rhinobatidae) represents a new fish host. The detailed morphology of M. australis was studied using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) based on the newly collected specimens. The results revealed some important, but previously unreported or erroneous, morphological features, including the lateral alae starting well posterior to the base of the ventrolateral lips, the presence of one pair of double paracloacal papillae and a single, small precloacal median papilla on the anterior margin of the cloaca. In addition, in order to determine whether the morphometric difference in the relative lengths of the right and left spicules represents intraspecific or interspecific variation, specimens of M. australis were characterized using molecular approaches by sequencing and analysing the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and mitochondrial cox 1 genes. The results indicate that this morphometric difference represents intraspecific variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we report a case of a 34-year-old woman with systemic sclerosis (SSc)-rheumatoid arthritis (RA) overlap syndrome (OS) complicated with Sweet’s syndrome. OS has been defined as entities satisfying classification criteria of at least two connective tissue diseases (CTD) occurring at the same or at different times in the same patient. The CTD include RA, SSc, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), polymyositis, and dermatomyositis. Sweet’s syndrome also known as acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis was first described by Robert Sweet in 1964. Sweet’s syndrome is characterized by fever, neutrophilia, erythematous skin lesions, and a diffuse dermal infiltrate of mature neutrophils. There are sets of associations that we will discuss in this article between OS and Sweet’s syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measures the diffusion rate of potassium on rhenium using the coverage grating-optical second-harmonic diffraction method. Activation energy for diffusion; Diffusion preexponential; Effect of strong repulsive lateral interactions on the interpretation of measured diffusion rates.

Investigates repulsive interactions of potassium in rhenium using temperature programmed desorption, work-function measurements and optical second-harmonic generation. Evaluation of the validity of available electrostatic models for explaining simultaneously both sets of data; Activation energy for desorption in the limit of zero coverage.

We report measurements and calculations of x-ray diffuse scattering from the liquid–vapor interface of toluene and polybromostyrene(PBrS)/toluene solutions for polymer molecular weights 90 K and 1 M at concentrations up to 11.7 volume %, well into the entangled semidilute regime. We have calculated the static structure factor S(k) and equal time height–height correlation function C(R) for surface hydrodynamic modes based on a coupled two-fluid model where the polymer response is taken to be that of a Maxwell viscoelastic material [Harden et al., J. Chem. Phys. 94, 5208 (1991)]. We obtain the leading correction term to the capillary-wave result for C(R) dependent on the solution shear modulus E0, as well as an analytic approximation valid for large E0, including the case of pure polymer melt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increase of resistance of nanowire as the technology continuously scales down, generating a current enough high for shifting domain wall (DW) becomes one of the most serious issues to hinder the progress of Racetrack memory (RM). It is recently reported that magnetic field can assist to trigger the DW motion below intrinsic current threshold, which can be a promising alternative to help RM address this current threshold issue. In this paper, we present an implementation of magnetic field assistance to perpendicular-magnetic-anisotropy Co/Ni RM. By using a spice-compatible model and CMOS 40nm design kit, we perform mixed simulation to validate its functionality. Storage capacity and power analyses demonstrate that lowering the critical current density of DW shifting allows higher feasibility for ultra-denser RM and provides a relatively acceptable energy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Subtropical acidic forest soil is an important source of global nitrous oxide (N2O). However, the rates of autotrophic nitrification and denitrification in such soil are less than in temperate forest soil. We hypothesized that this difference is related to different N2O production pathways. We carried out paired 15N‐labelling experiments under aerobic conditions (60% water‐holding capacity) in the laboratory to compare N2O production pathways between subtropical and temperate forest soils to determine the differences in N2O production based on controlling factors. Our results showed that the contributions of NH4+ oxidation to NO3− to total N2O production (CNH4) were small in all soils studied (21–30%). Contributions of denitrification to total N2O production (CNO3) in subtropical forest soil (34%) were significantly less than those in temperate forest soil (54%). However, rates of N2O emission from denitrification (N2Od) were similar between subtropical and temperate forest soils, indicating that denitrification was probably not the predominant process causing the difference between the rates of N2O production in these soils. The average contribution of heterotrophic nitrification to total N2O production (CON) was significantly larger in subtropical forest soil (45%) than in temperate forest soil (15%). Soil pH and the C:N ratio were identified as key factors, with CON negatively correlated with soil pH (r = −0.60, P < 0.05) and positively correlated with soil C:N ratio (r = 0.78, P < 0.01), although the significance was probably weakened when forest types were taken into consideration. The rate of N2O production by heterotrophic nitrification (N2Oh) (average, 3.0 μg N kg−1 day−1) was also significantly larger in subtropical forest soil than in temperate forest soil (average, 0.7 μg N kg−1 day−1). Therefore, based on this study, the heterotrophic N2O pathway seems responsible for the larger N2O production in subtropical acid forest soil than in temperate forest soil. This study is among the first to elucidate in detail contributions to the processes of N2O production and to account for its large rates of production in subtropical acidic forest soil in China, which has implications for the prediction of N2O production in forest soil using ecosystem modelling. Highlights: Examined N2O production pathways in subtropical and temperate forest soils. Rate of N2O emission in subtropical forest soil was larger than temperate forest soil. Heterotrophic nitrification was responsible for large N2O production in subtropical soil. Soil pH and C:N ratio were identified as key factors affecting the N2O production pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]