Search results for: Ping Zhou

Authors: Sheng Huang, Xin Zhao, Xiaofeng Gao, Tao Zhou, Shijin Dai, Youcai Zhao

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Adsorption of heavy metal pollutants (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cr, Cu) and organic pesticide (phorate, dithiophosphate diethyl, triethyl phosphorothioate), along with their multi-contamination on the surface of industrial construction & demolition waste (C&D waste) was investigated. Brick powder was selected as the appropriate waste while its maximum equilibrium adsorption amount of heavy metal under single controlled contamination matrix reached 5.41, 0.81, 0.45, 1.13 and 0.97 mg/g, respectively. Effects of pH and spiking dose of ICDW was also investigated. Equilibrium adsorption amount of organic pesticide varied from 0.02 to 0.97 mg/g, which was negatively correlated to the size distribution and hydrophilism. Existence of organic pesticide on surface of ICDW caused various effects on the heavy metal adsorption, mainly due to combination of metal ions and the floccule formation along with wrapping behaviors by pesticide pollutants. Adsorption of Zn was sharply decreased from 7.1 to 0.15 mg/g compared with clean ICDW and phorate contaminated ICDW, while that of Pb, Cr and Cd experienced an increase- then decrease procedure. On the other hand, runoff of pesticide contaminants was investigated under 25 mm/h simulated rainfall. Results showed that the cumulative runoff amount fitted well with curve obtained from a power function, of which r2=0.95 and 0.91 for 1DAA (1 day between contamination and runoff) and 7DAA, respectively. This study helps provide evaluation of industrial construction and demolition waste contamination into aquatic systems.

Keywords: adsorption mechanism, industrial construction waste, metals, pesticide, runoff

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Authors: Rongbo Shen, Jianhua Yao, Kezhou Yan, Kuan Tian, Cheng Jiang, Ke Zhou

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This study proposes a generative adversarial networks (GAN) framework to perform synthetic sampling in feature space, i.e., feature augmentation, to address the class imbalance problem in medical image analysis. A feature extraction network is first trained to convert images into feature space. Then the GAN framework incorporates adversarial learning to train a feature generator for the minority class through playing a minimax game with a discriminator. The feature generator then generates features for minority class from arbitrary latent distributions to balance the data between the majority class and the minority class. Additionally, a data cleaning technique, i.e., Tomek link, is employed to clean up undesirable conflicting features introduced from the feature augmentation and thus establish well-defined class clusters for the training. The experiment section evaluates the proposed method on two medical image analysis tasks, i.e., mass classification on mammogram and cancer metastasis classification on histopathological images. Experimental results suggest that the proposed method obtains superior or comparable performance over the state-of-the-art counterparts. Compared to all counterparts, our proposed method improves more than 1.5 percentage of accuracy.

Keywords: class imbalance, synthetic sampling, feature augmentation, generative adversarial networks, data cleaning

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Authors: Zhou Luchen, Wu Yubing, Burra Venkata Durga Kumar

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As the scale of the network becomes larger and more complex than before, the density of user devices is also increasing. The development of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) networks is able to collect and transform data in an efficient way by using software-defined networks (SDN) technology. This paper proposed a three-layer distributed and dynamic cluster architecture to manage UAVs by using an AI-based resource allocation calculation algorithm to address the overloading network problem. Through separating services of each UAV, the UAV hierarchical cluster system performs the main function of reducing the network load and transferring user requests, with three sub-tasks including data collection, communication channel organization, and data relaying. In this cluster, a head node and a vice head node UAV are selected considering the Central Processing Unit (CPU), operational (RAM), and permanent (ROM) memory of devices, battery charge, and capacity. The vice head node acts as a backup that stores all the data in the head node. The k-means clustering algorithm is used in order to detect high load regions and form the UAV layered clusters. The whole process of detecting high load areas, forming and selecting UAV clusters, and moving the selected UAV cluster to that area is proposed as offloading traffic algorithm.

Keywords: k-means, resource allocation, SDN, UAV network, unmanned aerial vehicles

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Authors: Shadatul Hanom Rashid, Xiaorong Zhou

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Hybrid sol-gel coatings are the blend of both advantages of inorganic and organic networks have been reported as environmentally friendly anti-corrosion surface pre-treatment for several metals, including aluminum alloys. In this current study, Si-Zr hybrid sol-gel coatings were synthesized from (3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTMS), tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and zirconium(IV) propoxide (TPOZ) precursors and applied on AA6111 aluminum alloy by dip coating technique. The hybrid sol-gel coatings doped with different concentrations of cerium nitrate (Ce(NO3)3) as a corrosion inhibitor were also prepared and the effect of Ce(NO3)3 concentrations on the morphology and corrosion resistance of the coatings were examined. The surface chemistry and morphology of the hybrid sol-gel coatings were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The corrosion behavior of the coated aluminum alloy samples was evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results revealed that good corrosion resistance of hybrid sol-gel coatings were prepared from hydrolysis and condensation reactions of GPTMS, TEOS and TPOZ precursors deposited on AA6111 aluminum alloy. When the coating doped with cerium nitrate, the properties were improved significantly. The hybrid sol-gel coatings containing lower concentration of cerium nitrate offer the best inhibition performance. A proper doping concentration of Ce(NO3)3 can effectively improve the corrosion resistance of the alloy, while an excessive concentration of Ce(NO3)3 would reduce the corrosion protection properties, which is associated with defective morphology and instability of the sol-gel coatings.

Keywords: AA6111, Ce(NO3)3, corrosion, hybrid sol-gel coatings

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Authors: Xiao Zhou, Kazuhiro Imai, Xiaoxuan Liu

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Badminton is one type of racket sports that requires repetitive overhead motion, with the shoulder in abduction/external rotation and requires players to perform jumps, lunges, and quick directional changes. These characteristics could be stressful for body regions that may cause badminton injuries. Regarding racket players including badminton players, there have not been any studies that have utilized medical check-up to evaluate epidemiology and mechanism of injuries. In addition, epidemiology of badminton injury in school age badminton players is unknown. The first purpose of this study was to investigate the badminton injuries, physical fitness parameters, and intensity of shoulder pain using medical check-up so that the mechanisms of shoulder injuries might be revealed. The second purpose of this study was to survey the distribution of badminton injuries in elementary school age players so that injury prevention can be implemented as early as possible. The results of this study revealed that shoulder pain occurred in all players, and present shoulder pain players had smaller weight, greater shoulder external rotation (ER) gain, significantly thinner circumference of upper limbs and greater trunk extension. Identifying players with specific of these factors may enhance the prevention of badminton injury. This study also shows that there are high incidences of knee, ankle, plantar, and shoulder injury or pain in elementary school age badminton players. Injury prevention program might be implemented for elementary school age players.

Keywords: badminton injury, epidemiology, medical check-up, school age players

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Authors: Yuxiang Pan, Yong Qiu, Chenlei Gu, Ping Wang

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In the past decade, three-dimensional (3D) tumor cell models have attracted increasing interest in the field of drug screening due to their great advantages in simulating more accurately the heterogeneous tumor behavior in vivo. Drug sensitivity testing based on 3D tumor cell models can provide more reliable in vivo efficacy prediction. The gold standard fluorescence staining is hard to achieve the real-time and label-free monitoring of the viability of 3D tumor cell models. In this study, micro-groove impedance sensor (MGIS) was specially developed for dynamic and non-invasive monitoring of 3D cell viability. 3D tumor cells were trapped in the micro-grooves with opposite gold electrodes for the in-situ impedance measurement. The change of live cell number would cause inversely proportional change to the impedance magnitude of the entire cell/matrigel to construct and reflect the proliferation and apoptosis of 3D cells. It was confirmed that 3D cell viability detected by the MGIS platform is highly consistent with the standard live/dead staining. Furthermore, the accuracy of MGIS platform was demonstrated quantitatively using 3D lung cancer model and sophisticated drug sensitivity testing. In addition, the parameters of micro-groove impedance chip processing and measurement experiments were optimized in details. The results demonstrated that the MGIS and 3D cell-based biosensor and would be a promising platform to improve the efficiency and accuracy of cell-based anti-cancer drug screening in vitro.

Keywords: micro-groove impedance sensor, 3D cell-based biosensors, 3D cell viability, micro-electromechanical systems

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Authors: Ding He, Ping Hu

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This article presents a “networking approach” as an alternative to the “layering model” in the issue of the historic urban landscape [HUL], based on research conducted in the historic city of Jingdezhen, the center of the porcelain industry in China. This study points out that the existing HUL concept, which can be traced back to the fundamental conceptual divisions set forth by western science, tends to analyze the various elements of urban heritage (composed of hybrid natural-cultural elements) by layers and ignore the nuanced connections and interweaving structure of various elements. Instead, the networking analysis approach can respond to the challenges of complex heritage networks and to the difficulties that are often faced when modern schemes of looking and thinking of landscape in the Eurocentric heritage model encounters local knowledge of Chinese settlement. The fieldwork in this paper examines the local language regarding place names and everyday uses of urban spaces, thereby highlighting heritage systems grounded in local life and indigenous knowledge. In the context of Chinese “Fengshui”, this paper demonstrates the local knowledge of nature and local intelligence of settlement location and design. This paper suggests that industrial elements (kilns, molding rooms, piers, etc.) and spiritual elements (temples for ceramic saints or water gods) are located in their intimate natural networks. Furthermore, the functional, spiritual, and natural elements are perceived as a whole and evolve as an interactive system. This paper proposes a local and cognitive approach in heritage, which was initially developed in European Landscape Convention and historic landscape characterization projects, and yet seeks a more tentative and nuanced model based on urban ethnography in a Chinese city.

Keywords: Chinese city, historic urban landscape, heritage conservation, network

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Authors: Muhammad Habib, Xuefan Zhou, Lin Tang, Guoliang Xue, Fazli Akram, Dou Zhang

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Defect engineering approach is a well-established approach for the customization of functional properties of perovskite ceramics. In modern technology, the high multiferroic properties for elevated temperature applications are greatly demanding. In this work, the Bi-nonstoichiometric lead-free 0.67Biy-xSmxFeO3-0.33BaTiO3 ceramics (Sm-doped BF-BT for Bi-excess; y = 1.03 and Bi-deficient; y = 0.975 with x = 0.00, 0.04 and 0.08) were design for the high-temperature multiferroic property. Enhanced piezoelectric (d33  250 pC/N and d33* 350 pm/V) and magnetic properties (Mr  0.25 emu/g) with a high Curie temperature (TC  465 ℃) were obtained in the Bi-deficient pure BF-BT ceramics. With Sm-doping (x = 0.04), the TC decrease to 350 ℃ a significant improvement occurred in the d33* to 504 pm/V and 450 pm/V for Bi-excess and Bi-deficient compositions, respectively. The structural origin of the enhanced piezoelectric strain performance is related to the soft ferroelectric effect by Sm-doping and reversible phase transition from the short-range relaxor ferroelectric state to the long-range order under the applied electric field. However, a slight change occurs in the Mr 0.28 emu/g value with Sm-doping for Bi-deficient ceramics, whereas the Bi-excess ceramics shows completely paramagnetic behavior. Hence, the origin of high magnetic properties in the Bi-deficient BF-BT ceramics is mainly attributed to the proposed double exchange mechanism. We believe that this strategy will provide a new perspective for the development of lead-free multiferroic ceramics for high-temperature applications.

Keywords: BiFeO3-BaTiO3, lead-free piezoceramics, magnetic properties, defect engineering

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Authors: Iman Kamranfar, Gang-Ping Xue, Salma Balazadeh, Bernd Mueller-Roeber

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Adverse environmental conditions such as salinity stress, high temperature and drought limit plant growth and typically lead to precocious tissue degeneration and leaf senescence, a process by which nutrients from photosynthetic organs are recycled for the formation of flowers and seeds to secure reaching the next generation under such harmful conditions. In addition, abiotic stress affects developmental patterns that help the plant to withstand unfavourable environmental conditions. We discovered an NAC (for NAM, ATAF1, 2, and CUC2) transcription factor (TF), called RAF in the following, which plays a central role in abiotic drought stress-triggered senescence and the control of developmental adaptations to stressful environments. RAF is an ABA-responsive TF; RAF overexpressors are hypersensitive to abscisic acid (ABA) and exhibit precocious senescence while knock-out mutants show delayed senescence. To explore the RAF gene regulatory network (GRN), we determined its preferred DNA binding sites by binding site selection assay (BSSA) and performed microarray-based expression profiling using inducible RAF overexpression lines and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-PCR. Our studies identified several direct target genes, including those encoding for catabolic enzymes acting during stress-induced senescence. Furthermore, we identified various genes controlling drought stress-related developmental changes. Based on our results, we conclude that RAF functions as a central transcriptional regulator that coordinates developmental programs with stress-related inputs from the environment. To explore the potential agricultural applications of our findings, we are currently extending our studies towards crop species.

Keywords: abiotic stress, Arabidopsis, development, transcription factor

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Authors: He Li Wen, Meng Qing Xiang, Li De Yong, Zhang Ya Wei, Ren Li Ping

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Stress always exerts some extent adverse effects on the animal production, food safety and quality concerns. Stress is commonly-seen in livestock industry, but there is rare literature focusing on the effects of nutrition stress. What’s more, the research always concentrates on the effect of single stress additionally, there is scarce information about the stress effect on waterfowl like goose as they are commonly thought to be tolerant to stress. To our knowledge, it is not always true. The object of this study was to evaluate the response of growing Greylag geese offered different fiber sources to the comprehensive stress, primarily involving the procedures of fasting, transport, capture, etc. The birds were randomly selected to rear with the diets differing in fiber source, being corn straw silage (CSS), steam-exploded corn straw (SECS), steam-exploded wheat straw (SEWS), and steam-exploded rice straw (SERS), respectively. Blood samples designated for the determination of stress status were collected before (pre-stress ) and after (post-stress ) the stressors carried out. No difference (P>0.05) was found on the pre-stress blood parameters of growing Greylags fed alternative fiber sources. Irrespective of the dietary differences, the comprehensive stress decreased (P<0.01) the concentration of SOD and increased (P<0.01) that of CK. Between the dietary treatments, the birds fed CSS had a higher (P<0.05)post-stress concentration of MDA than those offered SECS, along with a similarity to those fed the other two fiber sources. There was no difference (P>0.05) found on the stress response of the birds fed different fiber sources. In conclusion, SOD and CK concentration in blood may be more sensitive in indicating stress status and dietary fiber source exerted no effect on the stress response of growing Greylags. There is little chance to improve the stress status by ingesting different fiber sources.

Keywords: blood parameter, fiber source, Greylag goose, stress

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Authors: Zeyu Zhou, Xiaojun Bi

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Due to the limited environmental parameters and the limited resolution of the sensor, the universal existence of the mixed pixels in the process of remote sensing images restricts the spatial resolution of the remote sensing images. Sub-pixel mapping technology can effectively improve the spatial resolution. As the bilinear interpolation algorithm inevitably produces the edge blur effect, which leads to the inaccurate sub-pixel mapping results. In order to avoid the edge blur effect that affects the sub-pixel mapping results in the interpolation process, this paper presents a new edge-directed interpolation algorithm which uses the covariance adaptive interpolation algorithm on the edge of the low-resolution image and uses bilinear interpolation algorithm in the low-resolution image smooth area. By using the edge-directed interpolation algorithm, the super-resolution of the image with low resolution is obtained, and we get the percentage of each sub-pixel under a certain type of high-resolution image. Then we rely on the probability value as a soft attribute estimate and carry out sub-pixel scale under the ‘hard classification’. Finally, we get the result of sub-pixel mapping. Through the experiment, we compare the algorithm and the bilinear algorithm given in this paper to the results of the sub-pixel mapping method. It is found that the sub-pixel mapping method based on the edge-directed interpolation algorithm has better edge effect and higher mapping accuracy. The results of the paper meet our original intention of the question. At the same time, the method does not require iterative computation and training of samples, making it easier to implement.

Keywords: remote sensing images, sub-pixel mapping, bilinear interpolation, edge-directed interpolation

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Authors: Tingting Zhou

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The partial privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a dynamic process. The main features of this process lie in not only gradual and sequential privatizations, but also privatized shares transfer. For partially privatized SOEs, the introduction of private sector ownership is not the end of the story because the previously introduced private owners may choose to leave the SOEs by transferring the privatized shares after privatization, a process that is called “privatized shares transfer”. This paper investigates the determinants of privatized shares transfer from the perspective of large shareholders’ control rights. The results captures the fact that the higher control rights of large shareholders lead to more privatized shares transfer. After exploring the impacts of excessive control rights, the results provide evidence supporting the idea that firms with excessive numbers of directors, senior managers or supervisors who also have positions in the largest controlling shareholder’s entity are more likely to transfer privatized shares owned by private owners. In addition, the largest shareholders’ ownership also plays a role in privatized shares transfer. This evidence suggests that the large shareholders’ control rights should be limited to an appropriate range during the process of privatization, thereby giving private shareholders more opportunity to participate in the operation of firms, strengthen the state and enhance the competitiveness of state capital.

Keywords: control rights of large shareholders, partial privatization, privatized shares transfer, state-owned listed companies

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Authors: Zelin Zhou, Timothy Langrish

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Spray drying is the final stage of milk powder production. Traditionally, the quality of spray-dried milk powders has mainly been assessed using their physical properties, such as their moisture contents, while chemical changes occurring during the spray drying process have often been ignored. With growing concerns about food quality, it is necessary to establish a better understanding of heat-induced degradation due to the spray-drying process of skim milk. In this study, the extent of thermal degradation for skim milk in a pilot-scale spray dryer has been investigated using different inlet gas temperatures. The extent of heat-induced damage has been measured by the formation of advanced Maillard reaction products and the loss of soluble proteins at pH 4.6 as assessed by a fluorometric method. A significant increase in the extent of thermal degradation has been found when the inlet gas temperature increased from 170°C to 190°C, suggesting protein unfolding may play an important role in the kinetics of heat-induced degradation for milk in spray dryers. Colour changes of the spray-dried skim milk powders have also been analysed using a standard lighting box. Colourimetric analysis results were expressed in CIELAB colour space with the use of the E index (E) and the Chroma (C) for measuring the difference between colours and the intensity of the colours. A strong linear correlation between the colour intensity of the spray-dried skim milk powders and the formation of advanced Maillard reaction products has been observed.

Keywords: colour formation, Maillard reactions, spray drying, skim milk powder

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Authors: Murtaza Adil, Sen Yang, Zhou Chao, Song Xiaoping

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The morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) recently has attracted constant interest in ferromagnetic systems for obtaining enhanced large magnetoelastic response. In the present study, structural and magnetoelastic properties of MPB involved ferromagnetic Tb_1-xGd_xFe₂ (0≤x≤1) system has been investigated. The change of easy magnetic direction from <111> to <100> with increasing x up MPB composition of x=0.9 is detected by step-scanned [440] synchrotron X-ray diffraction reflections. The Gd substitution for Tb changes the composition for the anisotropy compensation near MPB composition of x=0.9, which was confirmed by the analysis of detailed scanned XRD, magnetization curves and the calculation of the first anisotropy constant K₁. The spin configuration diagram accompanied with different crystal structures for Tb_1-xGd_xFe₂ was designed. The calculated first anisotropy constant K₁ shows a minimum value at MPB composition of x=0.9. In addition, the large ratio between magnetostriction, and the absolute values of the first anisotropy constant │λ_S∕K₁│ appears at MPB composition, which makes it a potential material for magnetostrictive application. Based on experimental results, a theoretically approach was also proposed to signify that the facilitated magnetization rotation and enhanced magnetoelastic effect near MPB composition are a consequence of the anisotropic flattening of free energy of ferromagnetic crystal. Our work specifies the universal existence of MPB in ferromagnetic materials which is important for substantial improvement of magnetic and magnetostrictive properties and may provide a new route to develop advanced functional materials.

Keywords: free energy, magnetic anisotropy, magnetostriction, morphotropic phase boundary (MPB)

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Authors: Ping Ren, Mao Wen, Kan Zhang, Weitao Zheng

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The improvement of comprehensive properties including hardness, toughness, wear, and corrosion resistance in the transition metal carbides/nitrides TMCN films, especially avoiding the trade-off between hardness and toughness, is strongly required to adapt to various applications. Although incorporating ductile metal DM phase into the TMCN via thermally-induced phase separation has been emerged as an effective approach to toughen TMCN-based films, the DM is just limited to some soft ductile metal (i.e. Cu, Ag, Au immiscibility with the TMCN. Moreover, hardness is highly sensitive to soft DM content and can be significantly worsened. Hence, a novel preparation method should be attempted to broaden the DM selection and assemble much more ordered nanocomposite structure for improving the comprehensive properties. Here, we provide a new strategy, by activating solid-state dewetting during layered deposition, to accomplish the self-assembly of ordered TaC@Ta core-shell-like nanocomposite film consisting of TaC nanocrystalline encapsulated with thin pseudocrystal Ta tissue. That results in the superhard (~45.1 GPa) dominated by Orowan strengthening mechanism and high toughness attributed to indenter-induced phase transformation from the pseudocrystal to body-centered cubic Ta, together with the drastically enhanced wear and corrosion resistance. Furthermore, very thin pseudocrystal Ta encapsulated layer (~1.5 nm) in the TaC@Ta core-shell-like structure helps for promoting the formation of lubricious TaOₓ Magnéli phase during sliding, thereby further dropping the coefficient of friction. Apparently, solid-state dewetting may provide a new route to construct ordered TMC(N)@TM core-shell-like nanocomposite capable of combining superhard, high toughness, low friction, superior wear with corrosion resistance.

Keywords: corrosion, nanocomposite film, solid-state dewetting, tribology

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Authors: Chih-Ping Chen

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Today, technology does not necessitate change; rather, social media has afforded a new arena and digital tools for users/individuals to be symbolized and marketed in meaningful exchanges of digital identities. We argue that these symbolic interactions may afford individuals the ability to create and present less restricted Line person-to-person (P2P) chats than would be possible in face-to-face communications. Individuals can select flexible influence strategies to market themselves, which enables them to create and present their digital identities and impressions in alternative ways within a dynamic sociocultural context. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the novel phenomenon of how individuals market themselves to manage their digital identities and impressions to connect with other users through the symbolic interactions created by new digital tools (e.g., stickers). A netnographic approach was developed by applying a triangulated methodology consisting of user self-diary reports, in-depth interviews, and observations. Totally, 20 participants (10 females and 10 males) were of Taiwanese origin, and their ages ranged from 20–47 years old. The findings of this research showed that individuals on Line P2P social media where traditional cultural gender norms have shifted. Both male and female participants market their modern digital identities by adopting a combination of flexible influence tactics/strategies when using digital stickers. Some findings showed that their influence tactics/strategies often flouted Taiwanese cultural gender norms or skirted traditional rules to fit individual or P2P needs. Finally, these findings potentially contributed to the literature regarding the consumer culture theory and symbolic interaction theory in digital marketing and social media fields.

Keywords: Consumer culture theory, Digital sticker, Self-marketing, Impression, Symbolic interaciton

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Authors: Todd Zhou, Mikhail Yurochkin

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Out-of-distribution (OOD) detection is receiving increasing amounts of attention in the machine learning research community, boosted by recent technologies, such as autonomous driving and image processing. This newly-burgeoning field has called for the need for more effective and efficient methods for out-of-distribution generalization methods. Without accessing the label information, deploying machine learning models to out-of-distribution domains becomes extremely challenging since it is impossible to evaluate model performance on unseen domains. To tackle this out-of-distribution detection difficulty, we designed a model selection pipeline algorithm and developed a model selection framework with different impurity and randomness measurements to evaluate and choose the best-performing models for out-of-distribution data. By exploring different randomness scores based on predicted probabilities, we adopted the out-of-distribution entropy and developed a custom-designed score, ”CombinedScore,” as the evaluation criterion. This proposed score was created by adding labeled source information into the judging space of the uncertainty entropy score using harmonic mean. Furthermore, the prediction bias was explored through the equality of opportunity violation measurement. We also improved machine learning model performance through model calibration. The effectiveness of the framework with the proposed evaluation criteria was validated on the Folktables American Community Survey (ACS) datasets.

Keywords: model selection, domain generalization, model fairness, randomness measurements, bias index

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Authors: Meng H. Lean, Wei-Ping L. Chu

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The effects of ferroelectric nanofiller size, shape, loading, and polarization, on bipolar charge injection, transport, and recombination through amorphous and semicrystalline polymers are studied. A 3D particle-in-cell model extends the classical electrical double layer representation to treat ferroelectric nanoparticles. Metal-polymer charge injection assumes Schottky emission and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, migration through field-dependent Poole-Frenkel mobility, and recombination with Monte Carlo selection based on collision probability. A boundary integral equation method is used for solution of the Poisson equation coupled with a second-order predictor-corrector scheme for robust time integration of the equations of motion. The stability criterion of the explicit algorithm conforms to the Courant-Friedrichs-Levy limit. Trajectories for charge that make it through the film are curvilinear paths that meander through the interspaces. Results indicate that charge transport behavior depends on nanoparticle polarization with anti-parallel orientation showing the highest leakage conduction and lowest level of charge trapping in the interaction zone. Simulation prediction of a size range of 80 to 100 nm to minimize attachment and maximize conduction is validated by theory. Attached charge fractions go from 2.2% to 97% as nanofiller size is decreased from 150 nm to 60 nm. Computed conductivity of 0.4 x 1014 S/cm is in agreement with published data for plastics. Charge attachment is increased with spheroids due to the increase in surface area, and especially so for oblate spheroids showing the influence of larger cross-sections. Charge attachment to nanofillers and nanocrystallites increase with vol.% loading or degree of crystallinity, and saturate at about 40 vol.%.

Keywords: nanocomposites, nanofillers, electrical double layer, bipolar charge transport

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Authors: Kang Huang, Wanting Zhou, Shiwei Yuan, Lei Li

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Since information technology develops rapidly, the security issue has become an increasingly critical for computer system. In particular, as cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) continue to gain widespread adoption, computer systems need to new security threats and attacks. The Root of Trust (RoT) is the foundation for providing basic trusted computing, which is used to verify the security and trustworthiness of other components. Design a reliable Root of Trust and guarantee its own security are essential for improving the overall security and credibility of computer systems. In this paper, we discuss the implementation of self-security technology based on the RISC-V Root of Trust at the hardware level. To effectively safeguard the security of the Root of Trust, researches on security safeguard technology on the Root of Trust have been studied. At first, a lightweight and secure boot framework is proposed as a secure mechanism. Secondly, two kinds of memory protection mechanism are built to against memory attacks. Moreover, hardware implementation of proposed method has been also investigated. A series of experiments and tests have been carried on to verify to effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed approach is effective in verifying the integrity of the Root of Trust’s own boot rom, user instructions, and data, ensuring authenticity and enabling the secure boot of the Root of Trust’s own system. Additionally, our approach provides memory protection against certain types of memory attacks, such as cache leaks and tampering, and ensures the security of root-of-trust sensitive information, including keys.

Keywords: root of trust, secure boot, memory protection, hardware security

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Authors: Jizhi Zhao, Qiliang Zhou, Muxuan Tao

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The calculation of the ultimate loading capacity of composite frame beams is an important step in the design of composite frame structural systems. Currently, the plastic limit theory is mainly used for this calculation in the codes adopted by many countries; however, the effective slab width recommended in most codes is based on the elastic theory, which does not accurately reflect the complex stress mechanism at the beam-column joints in the ultimate loading state. Therefore, the authors’ research group put forward the Compression-on-Column-Face mechanism and Tension-on-Transverse-Beam mechanism to explain the mechanism in the ultimate loading state. Formulae are derived for calculating the effective slab width in composite frames with rectangular/square-section columns under ultimate lateral loading. Moreover, this paper discusses the calculation method of the effective slab width for the beam-end flexural strength of composite frames with circular-section columns. The proposed design formula is suitable for exterior and interior joints. Finally, this paper compares the proposed formulae with available formulae in other literature, current design codes, and experimental results, providing the most accurate results to predict the effective slab width and ultimate loading capacity.

Keywords: composite frame structure, effective slab width, circular-section column, design formulae, ultimate loading capacity

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Authors: Mohamed S. Selim, Nesreen A. Fatthallah, Shimaa A. Higazy, Zhifeng Hao, Ping Jing Mo

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As marine fouling-release (FR) surfaces, two new superhydrophobic nanocomposite series of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) loaded with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and graphene oxide/boehmite nanorods (GO-γ-AlOOH) nanofillers were created. The self-cleaning and antifouling capabilities were modified by controlling the nanofillers' shapes and distribution in the silicone matrix. With an average diameter of 10-20 nm and a length of 200 nm, γ-AlOOH nanorods showed a single crystallinity. RGO was made using a hydrothermal process, whereas GO-γ-AlOOH nanocomposites were made using a chemical deposition method for use as fouling-release coating materials. These nanofillers were disseminated in the silicone matrix using the solution casting method to explore the synergetic effects of graphene-based materials on the surface, mechanical, and FR characteristics. Water contact angle (WCA), scanning electron, and atomic force microscopes were used to investigate the surface's hydrophobicity and antifouling capabilities (SEM and AFM). The roughness, superhydrophobicity, and surface mechanical characteristics of coatings all increased the homogeneity of the nanocomposite dispersion. To examine the antifouling effects of the coating systems, laboratory tests were conducted for 30 days using specified bacteria.PDMS/GO-γ-AlOOH nanorod composite demonstrated superior antibacterial efficacy against several bacterial strains than PDMS/RGO nanocomposite. The high surface area and stabilizing effects of the GO-γ-AlOOH hybrid nanofillers are to blame for this. The biodegradability percentage of the PDMS/GO-γ-AlOOH nanorod composite (3 wt.%) was the lowest (1.6%), while the microbial endurability percentages for gram-positive, gram-negative, and fungi were 86.42%, 97.94%, and 85.97%, respectively. The homogeneity of the GO-γ-AlOOH (3 wt.%) dispersion, which had a WCA of 151° and a rough surface, was the most profound superhydrophobic antifouling nanostructured coating.

Keywords: superhydrophobic nanocomposite, fouling release, nanofillers, surface coating

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Authors: Tinomuvonga Manenji Zhou, Eubert Mahofa, Tatenda Crispen Madzokere

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The nanostructured formulation can increase fertilizer efficacy and uptake ratio of the soil nutrients in agriculture production and save fertilizer resources. Controlled release modes have properties of both release rate and release pattern of nutrients, for fertilizers that are soluble in water might be correctly controlled. Nanoparticles can reduce the rate at which fertilizer nutrients are in the soil by leaching. A slow release NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer was synthesized using exfoliated bentonite as filler material. A simple, scalable method was used to synthesize the nitrogen-phosphorus hydroxyapatite nano fertilizer, where calcium hydroxide, phosphoric acid, and urea were used as precursor material, followed by the incorporation of potassium through a liquid grinding method. The product obtained was an NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer. A quantitative analysis was done to determine the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the hybrid fertilizer. AAS was used to determine the percentage of potassium in the fertilizer. An accelerated water test was conducted to compare the nutrient release behavior of nutrients between the synthesized NPK-hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer and commercial NPK fertilizer. The rate of release of Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium was significantly lower in the synthesized NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer than in the convectional NPK fertilizer. The synthesized fertilizer was characterized using XRD. NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer encapsulated in exfoliated bentonite thus prepared can be used as an environmentally friendly fertilizer formulation which could be extended to solve one of the major problems faced in the global fertilization of low nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium use efficiency in agriculture.

Keywords: NPK hydroxyapatite nano hybrid fertilizer, bentonite, encapsulation, low release

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Authors: Irshad Ali Khan, Jian-Ping Lu, Xiao-Hong Liu, Fu-Cheng Lin

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This study reports the functional analysis of a gene MoNUC1 in M. oryzae, which is homologous to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae NUC1 encoding a mitochondrial nuclease protein. The MoNUC1 having a gene locus MGG_05324 is 1002-bp in length and encodes an identical protein of 333 amino acids. We disrupted the gene through gene disruption strategy and isolated two mutants confirmed by southern blotting. The deleted mutants were then used for phenotypic studies and their phenotypes were compared to those of the Guy-11 strain. The mutants were first grown on CM medium to find the effect of MoNUC1 gene disruption on colony growth and the mutants were found to show normal culture colony growth similar to that of the Guy-11 strain. Conidial germination and appressorial formation were also similar in both the mutants and Guy-11 strains showing that this gene plays no significant role in these phenotypes. For pathogenicity, the mutants and Guy-11 mycelium blocks were inoculated on blast susceptible barley seedlings and it was found that both the strains exhibited full pathogenicity showing coalesced and necrotic blast lesions suggesting that this gene is not involved in pathogenicity. Mating of the mutants with 2539 strain formed numerous perithecia showing that MoNUC1 is not essential for sexual reproduction in M. oryzae. However, the mutants were found to form reduced conidia (1.06±8.03B and 1.08±9.80B) than those of the Guy-11 strain (1.46±10.61A) and we conclude that this protein is not required for the blast fungus to cause pathogenicity but plays significant role in conidiation. Proteins of signal transduction pathways that could be disrupted/ intervened genetically or chemically could lead to antifungal products of important fungal cereal diseases and reduce rice yield losses. Tipping the balance toward understanding the whole of pathogenesis, rather than simply conidiation will take some time, but clearly presents the most exciting challenge of all.

Keywords: appressorium formation, conidiation, NUC1, Magnaporthe oryzae, pathogenicity

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Authors: Zhenxiang Zhou

Abstract:

The triose phosphate utilisation (TPU) limitation to leaf photosynthesis is a biochemical process concerning the sub-foliar carbon sink-source (im)balance, in which photorespiration-associated amino acids exports provide an additional outlet for carbon and increases leaf photosynthetic rate. However, whether this process is regulated by whole-plant sink-source relations and nitrogen budgets remains unclear. We address this question by model analyses of gas-exchange data measured on leaves at three growth stages of rice plants grown at two-nitrogen levels, where three means (leaf-colour modification, adaxial vs abaxial measurements, and panicle pruning) were explored to alter source-sink ratios. Higher specific leaf nitrogen (SLN) resulted in higher rates of TPU and also led to the TPU limitation occurring at a lower intercellular CO2 concentration. Photorespiratory nitrogen assimilation was greater in higher-nitrogen leaves but became smaller in cases associated with yellower-leaf modification, abaxial measurement, or panicle pruning. The feedback inhibition of panicle pruning on rates of TPU was not always observed because panicle pruning blocked nitrogen remobilisation from leaves to grains, and the increased SLN masked the feedback inhibition. The (sub)foliar TPU limitation can be modulated by whole-plant source-sink ratios and nitrogen budgets during rice grain filling, suggesting a close link between sub-foliar and whole-plant sink limitations.

Keywords: triose phosphate utilization, sink limitation, panicle pruning, oryza sativa

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Yan Ping Chen, Hau Yin Chung

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The Ideal Profile Method (IPM) is a newly developed descriptive sensory analysis conducted by consumers without previous training. To perform this test, both the perceived and the ideal intensities from the judgements of consumers on products’ attributes, as well as their hedonic ratings were collected for formulating an ideal product (the most liked one). In addition, Ideal Profile Analysis (IPA) was conducted to check the consistency of the ideal data at both the panel and consumer levels. In this test, 12 commercial plain sufus bought from Hong Kong local market were tested by 113 consumers according to the IPM, and rated on 22 attributes. Principal component analysis was used to profile the perceived and the ideal spaces of tested products. The consistency of ideal data was then checked by IPA. The result showed that most consumers shared a common ideal. It was observed that the sensory product space and the ideal product space were structurally similar. Their first dimensions all opposed products with intense fermented related aroma to products with less fermented related aroma. And the predicted ideal profile (the estimated liking score around 7.0 in a 9.0-point scale) got higher hedonic score than the tested products (the average liking score around 6.0 in a 9.0-point scale). For the majority of consumers (95.2%), the stated ideal product considered as a potential ideal through checking the R2 coefficient value. Among all the tested products, sample-6 was the most popular one with consumer liking percentage around 30%. This product with less fermented and moldy flavour but easier to melt in mouth texture possessed close sensory profile according to the ideal product. This experiment validated that data from untrained consumers could be guided as useful information. Appreciated sensory characteristics could be served as reference in the optimization of the commercial plain sufu.

Keywords: ideal profile method, product development, sensory evaluation, sufu (fermented soybean curd)

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Nga-Wun Li, Chu-Po Ho, Kit-Lun Yick, Jin-Yun Zhou

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The use of buoyant vests incorporated with swimsuits can develop children’s confidence in the water, particularly for novice swimmers. Consequently, parents intend to purchase buoyant swimming vests for the children to reduce their anxiety to water. Although the conventional buoyant swimming vests can provide the buoyant function to the wearer, their bulkiness and hardness make children feel uncomfortable and not willing to wear. This study aimed to apply inlay knitting technology to design new functional buoyant swimming vests for children. This prototype involved a shell and a buoyant knitted layer, which is the main media to provide buoyancy. Polypropylene yarn and 6.4 mm of Expandable Polyethylene (EPE) foam were fabricated in Full needle stitch with inlay knitting technology and were then linked by sewing to form the buoyant layer. The shell of the knitted buoyant vest was made of Polypropylene circular knitted fabric. The structure of knitted fabrics of the buoyant swimsuit makes them inherently stretchable, and the arrangement of the inlaid material was designed based on the body movement that can improve the ease with which the swimmer moves. Further, the shoulder seam is designed at the back to minimize the irritation of the wearer. Apart from maintaining the buoyant function to them, this prototype shows its contribution in reducing bulkiness and improving softness to the conventional buoyant swimming vest by taking the advantages of a knitted garment. The results in this study are significant to the development of the buoyant swimming vest for both the textile and the fast-growing sportswear industry.

Keywords: knitting technology, buoyancy, inlay, swimming vest, functional garment

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Authors: Nicolas Plamondon, Stuart Atkinson, Shuzi Zhou

Abstract:

The insurance industry is usually not the first topic one has in mind when thinking about applications of data science. However, the use of data science in the finance and insurance industry is growing quickly for several reasons, including an abundance of reliable customer data, ferocious competition requiring more accurate pricing, etc. Among the top use cases of data science, we find pricing optimization, customer segmentation, customer risk assessment, fraud detection, marketing, and triage analytics. The objective of this paper is to present an application of the generalized additive model (GAM) on a commercial automobile insurance product: an individually rated commercial automobile. These are vehicles used for commercial purposes, but for which there is not enough volume to apply pricing to several vehicles at the same time. The GAM model was selected as an improvement over GLM for its ease of use and its wide range of applications. The model was trained using the largest split of the data to determine model parameters. The remaining part of the data was used as testing data to verify the quality of the modeling activity. We used the Gini coefficient to evaluate the performance of the model. For long-term monitoring, commonly used metrics such as RMSE and MAE will be used. Another topic of interest in the insurance industry is to process of producing the model. We will discuss at a high level the interactions between the different teams with an insurance company that needs to work together to produce a model and then monitor the performance of the model over time. Moreover, we will discuss the regulations in place in the insurance industry. Finally, we will discuss the maintenance of the model and the fact that new data does not come constantly and that some metrics can take a long time to become meaningful.

Keywords: insurance, data science, modeling, monitoring, regulation, processes

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Mengying Wang, Dongjing Liu, Holger Schwender, Ping Wang, Hongping Zhu, Tao Wu, Terri H Beaty

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Background: Maternal smoking is a recognized risk factor for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P). It has been reported that the effect of maternal smoking on oral clefts is mediated through genes that influence nicotine dependence. The polymorphisms of cholinergic receptor nicotinic alpha (CHRNA) and beta (CHRNB) subunits genes have previously shown strong associations with nicotine dependence. Here, we attempted to investigate whether the above genes are associated with clefting risk through testing for potential gene-gene (G×G) and gene-environment (G×E) interaction. Methods: We selected 120 markers in 14 genes associated with nicotine dependence to conduct transmission disequilibrium tests among 806 Chinese NSCL/P case-parent trios ascertained in an international consortium which conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of oral clefts. We applied Cordell’s method using “TRIO” package in R to explore G×G as well as G×E interaction involving environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) based on conditional logistic regression model. Results: while no SNP showed significant association with NSCL/P after Bonferroni correction, we found signals for G×G interaction between 10 pairs of SNPs in CHRNA3, CHRNA5, and CHRNB4 (p<10-8), among which the most significant interaction was found between RS3743077 (CHRNA3) and RS11636753 (CHRNB4, p<8.2×10-12). Linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis revealed only low level of LD between these markers. However, there were no significant results for G×ETS interaction. Conclusion: This study fails to detect association between nicotine dependence genes and NSCL/P, but illustrates the importance of taking into account potential G×G interaction for genetic association analysis in NSCL/P. This study also suggests nicotine dependence genes should be considered as important candidate genes for NSCL/P in future studies.

Keywords: Gene-Gene Interaction, Maternal Smoking, Nicotine Dependence, Non-Syndromic Cleft Lip with or without Cleft Palate

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: Shiji Hu, Lei Li, Wanting Zhou, DaoHong Yang

Abstract:

The data encryption, is the foundation of today’s communication. On this basis, how to improve the speed of data encryption and decryption is always a problem that scholars work for. In this paper, we proposed an elliptic curve crypto processor architecture based on SM2 prime field. In terms of hardware implementation, we optimized the algorithms in different stages of the structure. In finite field modulo operation, we proposed an optimized improvement of Karatsuba-Ofman multiplication algorithm, and shorten the critical path through pipeline structure in the algorithm implementation. Based on SM2 recommended prime field, a fast modular reduction algorithm is used to reduce 512-bit wide data obtained from the multiplication unit. The radix-4 extended Euclidean algorithm was used to realize the conversion between affine coordinate system and Jacobi projective coordinate system. In the parallel scheduling of point operations on elliptic curves, we proposed a three-level parallel structure of point addition and point double based on the Jacobian projective coordinate system. Combined with the scalar multiplication algorithm, we added mutual pre-operation to the point addition and double point operation to improve the efficiency of the scalar point multiplication. The proposed ECC hardware architecture was verified and implemented on Xilinx Virtex-7 and ZYNQ-7 platforms, and each 256-bit scalar multiplication operation took 0.275ms. The performance for handling scalar multiplication is 32 times that of CPU(dual-core ARM Cortex-A9).

Keywords: Elliptic curve cryptosystems, SM2, modular multiplication, point multiplication.

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Authors: Hossein Miri, Zhou YongQi, Chan Bormei-Suy

Abstract:

The development of advanced technologies and innovative solutions has opened up exciting new possibilities for revolutionizing healthcare systems. One such emerging concept is the use of virtual and holographic health information platforms that aim to provide interactive and personalized medical information to users. This paper provides a review of notable virtual and holographic health information platforms. It begins by highlighting the need for information visualization and 3D representation in healthcare. It then proceeds to provide background knowledge on information visualization and historical developments in 3D visualization technology. Additional domain knowledge concerning holography, holographic computing, and mixed reality is then introduced, followed by highlighting some of their common applications and use cases. After setting the scene and defining the context, the need and importance of virtual and holographic visualization in medicine are discussed. Subsequently, some of the current research areas and applications of digital holography and holographic technology are explored, alongside the importance and role of virtual and holographic visualization in genetics and genomics. An analysis of the key principles and concepts underlying virtual and holographic health information systems is presented, as well as their potential implications for healthcare are pointed out. The paper concludes by examining the most notable existing mixed-reality applications and systems that help doctors visualize diagnostic and genetic data and assist in patient education and communication. This paper is intended to be a valuable resource for researchers, developers, and healthcare professionals who are interested in the use of virtual and holographic technologies to improve healthcare.

Keywords: virtual, holographic, health information platform, personalized interactive medical information

Procedia PDF Downloads 89