Ran Bi

With the development of blood glucose monitoring medical devices, higher requirements are put forward for the sensitivity and detection limit of biosensors. Herein, a high-performance flexible enzymatic glucose biosensor was prepared by electrochemical deposition of dendritic gold nanostructure on carbon cloth substrate, then covalently immobilizing glucose oxidase on the dendritic gold, and then increasing enzyme loading by enzyme precipitation coating. The morphology of dendritic gold nanostructures was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical performance of the biosensor was analyzed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It is found that the obtained biosensor has high sensitivity (72.45 μA mM-1 cm-2), low detection limit (6.7 μM) and ultra-wide linear range (0.02-31.7 mM) for glucose detection. In addition, the biosensor also has good selectivity, reproducibility and stability. In the detection of real serum samples, the biosensor also shows good accuracy and practicality. The results show that the new biosensor has great potential for applications in biomedical and health care.

Influenza remains a global health concern due to its potential to cause pandemics as a result of rapidly mutating influenza virus strains. Existing vaccines often struggle to keep up with these rapidly mutating flu viruses. Therefore, the development of a broad-spectrum peptide vaccine that can stimulate an optimal antibody response has emerged as an innovative approach to addressing the influenza threat. In this study, an immunoinformatic approach was employed to rapidly predict immunodominant epitopes from different antigens, aiming to develop an effective multiepitope influenza vaccine (MEV). The immunodominant B-cell linear epitopes of seasonal influenza strains hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) were predicted using an antibody-peptide microarray, involving a human cohort including vaccinees and infected patients. On the other hand, bioinformatics tools were used to predict immunodominant cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) and helper T-cell (HTL) epitopes. Subsequently, these epitopes were evaluated by various immunoinformatic tools. Epitopes with high antigenicity, high immunogenicity, non-allergenicity, non-toxicity, as well as exemplary conservation were then connected in series with appropriate linkers and adjuvants to construct a broad-spectrum MEV. Moreover, the structural analysis revealed that the MEV candidates exhibited good stability, and the docking results demonstrated their strong affinity to Toll-like receptors 4 (TLR4). In addition, molecular dynamics simulation confirmed the stable interaction between TLR4 and MEVs. Three injections with MEVs showed a high level of B-cell and T-cell immune responses according to the immunological simulations in silico. Furthermore, in-silico cloning was performed, and the results indicated that the MEVs could be produced in considerable quantities in Escherichia coli (E. coli). Based on these findings, it is reasonable to create a broad-spectrum MEV against different subtypes of influenza A and B viruses in silico.

Weyl semimetals host a variety of exotic effects that have no counterpart in conventional materials, such as the chiral anomaly and magnetic monopole in momentum space. These effects give rise to unusual transport properties, including a negative magnetoresistance and a planar Hall effect, etc. Here, we report a new type of Hall and magnetoresistance effect in a magnetic Weyl semimetal. Unlike antisymmetric (with respect to either magnetic field or magnetization) Hall and symmetric magnetoresistance in conventional materials, the discovered magnetoresistance and Hall effect are antisymmetric in both magnetic field and magnetization. We show that the Berry curvature, the tilt of the Weyl node, and the chiral anomaly synergically produce these phenomena. Our results reveal a unique property of Weyl semimetals with broken time reversal symmetry.

The fast growing wind industry requires a more sophisticated fault detection approach in pitch-regulated wind turbine generators (WTG), particularly in the pitch system that has led to the highest failure frequency and downtime. Improved analysis of data from Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems can be used to generate alarms and signals that could provide earlier indication of WTG faults and allow operators to more effectively plan Operation and Maintenance (O&M) strategies prior to WTG failures. Several data-mining approaches, e.g. Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and Normal Behaviour Models (NBM) have been used for that purpose. However, practical applications are limited because of the SCADA data complexity and the lack of accuracy due to the use of SCADA data averaged over a period of 10 min for ANN training. This paper aims to propose a new pitch fault detection procedure using performance curve (PC) based NBMs. An advantage of the proposed approach is that the system consisting of NBMs and criteria, can be developed using technical specifications of studied WTGs. A second advantage is that training data is unnecessary prior to application of the system. In order to construct the proposed system, details of WTG operational states and PCs are studied. Power-generator speed (P-N) and pitch angle-generator speed (PA-N) curves are selected to set up NBMs due to the better fit between the measured data and theoretical PCs. Six case studies have been carried out to show the prognosis of WTG fault and to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. The results illustrate that polluted slip rings and the pitch controller malfunctions could be detected by the proposed method 20 h and 13 h earlier than by the AI approaches investigated and the existing alarm system. In addition, the proposed approach is able to explain and visualize abnormal behaviour of WTGs during the fault conditions.

One of the characteristics of topological materials is their nontrivial Berry phase. Experimental determination of this phase largely relies on a phase analysis of quantum oscillations. We study the angular dependence of the oscillations in a Dirac material [Formula: see text] and observe a striking spin-zero effect (i.e., vanishing oscillations accompanied with a phase inversion). This indicates that the Berry phase in [Formula: see text] remains nontrivial for arbitrary field direction, in contrast with previous reports. The Zeeman splitting is found to be proportional to the magnetic field based on the condition for the spin-zero effect in a Dirac band. Moreover, it is suggested that the Dirac band in [Formula: see text] is likely transformed into a line node other than Weyl points for the field directions at which the spin zero occurs. The results underline a largely overlooked spin factor when determining the Berry phase from quantum oscillations.

Abstract Human enteroviruses (HEVs) of the family Picornaviridae , which comprises non-enveloped RNA viruses, are ubiquitous worldwide. The majority of EV proteins are derived from viral polyproteins encoded by a single open reading frame (ORF). Here, we characterize a second ORF in HEVs that is crucial for viral intestinal infection. Disruption of ORF2p expression decreases the replication capacity of EV-A71 in human intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). Ectopic expression of ORF2p proteins derived from diverse enteric enteroviruses sensitizes intestinal cells to the replication of ORF2p-defective EV-A71 and respiratory enterovirus EV-D68. We show that the highly conserved WIGHPV domain of ORF2p is important for ORF2p-dependent viral intestinal infection. ORF2p expression is required for EV-A71 particle release from IECs and can support productive EV-D68 infection in IECs by facilitating virus release. Our results indicate that ORF2p is a determining factor for enteric enterovirus replication in IECs.

The thermoelectric Hall effect is the generation of a transverse heat current upon applying an electric field in the presence of a magnetic field. Here, we demonstrate that the thermoelectric Hall conductivity αxy in the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal ZrTe5 acquires a robust plateau in the extreme quantum limit of magnetic field. The plateau value is independent of the field strength, disorder strength, carrier concentration, or carrier sign. We explain this plateau theoretically and show that it is a unique signature of three-dimensional Dirac or Weyl electrons in the extreme quantum limit. We further find that other thermoelectric coefficients, such as the thermopower and Nernst coefficient, are greatly enhanced over their zero-field values even at relatively low fields.

The advantages of integrating infrared (IR) waveguide gas sensors on a chip include compactness, low power consumption, and high selectivity. Mid-IR waveguide sensors could be made of a variety of metal oxides with merits of low cost, high stability, transparency in the visible-IR spectrum, and non-toxicity. However, because most metal oxides have low refractive index, they are rarely used as waveguide core materials. To overcome this limitation, we chose niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5), a transparent material with high refractive index in the 0.35–10 µm wavelength range, as the core layer. We fabricated a Nb2O5 rectangular waveguide gas sensor using magnetron sputtering and lift-off process. The Nb2O5 waveguide with an external confinement factor of 11.5% was used for on-chip methane measurement at 3.291 µm based on wavelength modulation spectroscopy. A detection limit of 348 parts per million was achieved with an optimal averaging time of 61.2 s for a 2 cm long waveguide. The reported Nb2O5 waveguide gas sensor not only broadens the waveguide sensor core material family from silicon, chalcogenide (ChG) glass to metal oxides, but also provides detailed preparation and characterization methods for such kind of waveguide device.

This article reports an important improvement of the design of high-efficiency and economical catalysts to accelerate the four-electron-proton-coupled oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is a critical half-reaction in renewable electrolytic water systems. Herein, the Fe2Ni1-MOF nanoarrays with various morphologies were in situ-grown on the surface of nickel foam (NF) based on the acetic acid-assisted strategy for oxygen evolution reaction. Under the control of a regulator, the optimized 3A-TDC-MOF nanosheets in OER exhibit superior catalytic activity with an overpotential of 211 mV at 10 mA cm–2 and a Tafel slope of 40.3 mV dec–1, attributing to the rose-shaped nanoarray, abundant defect sites, and Fe-Ni bimetallic synergistic effect. Further analysis shows that the superior electrocatalytic performance depends on the formation of active intermediate metal-oxyhydroxide after the ligand chain 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylic is replaced partially by OH–. The proposed strategy provides further insights into the design of desirable MOF-based electrocatalytic materials.

The construction of cost-effective and high-performance metal organic framework (MOF) derived metal phosphides as multifunctional electrode materials for self-powered overall water splitting (OWS) is considerable promising. Herein, the trimetallic phosphides embedded in sulfur-containing carbon matrix (SC-FeNiCeP/NF) derived from high-valence metal engineered MOF are grown on nickel foam by hydrothermal and chemical vapor deposition for achieving self-powered OWS. Based on the electron coupling between the metal phosphide interface by high-valent Ce as "electronic storage" to accelerate electron transfer, the SC-FeNiCeP/NF as electrocatalysts present low overpotential with 208 mV and 107 mV at 10 mA cm−2 in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), respectively. For supercapacitor, the SC-FeNiCeP/NF nanoarray exhibits high specific capacitance with 2290 F g−1 at 1 A g−1. Combined with excellent SC-FeNiCeP/NF-based asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) and OWS devices, the self-powered OWS are assembled to produce H2 and O2 simultaneously in alkaline water for up to ∼ 120 s, creating new possibilities for the energy storage and conversion systems based on the designable and multifunctional MOF-derived materials.

<p>En este escrito se usa una nueva medida del desarrollo financiero para mostrar que la mayoría de los mercados emergentes aún puede obtener beneficios de crecimiento y estabilidad con un mayor desarrollo financiero. Primero define el desarrollo financiero como una combinación de profundidad, acceso y eficiencia. Luego muestra que el crecimiento económico se debilita a mayores niveles de desarrollo financiero y que el ritmo del desarrollo financiero es importante; además propone una nueva manera de ver los “tradeoffs” de la regulación financiera. Concluye que no hay una secuencia única en el desarrollo de las instituciones y los mercados financieros, aunque se observa cuando las economías se desarrollan los beneficios relativos de las instituciones disminuyen y los de los mercados aumentan.</p>

Abstract Neuromorphic computing has emerged as the high‐energy‐efficiency and intelligent solution for processing sensory data. As a potential alternative to neuromorphic computing, photo‐excited synaptic systems can integrate the functions of optoelectronic sensing and synaptic computing to realize the low‐power and high‐performance visual perception. However, one major challenge in high‐efficient photo‐excited synaptic system is to realize the complementarily enhanced and inhibited synaptic behaviors with small hardware cost as possible. Another challenge is to fabricate the photo‐synapse devices with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)‐compatible process to achieve high enough integration density for practical application. Here, a CMOS‐compatible Light‐stimulated Porphyrin‐coated Silicon Nanowire Field Effect Transistor (LPSNFET) technology is proposed and developed to form the complementary photo‐synapses with only two CMOS‐like transistors. LPSNFET exhibits fivefold improvement in photo‐sensitivity compared to the bare silicon nanowire (SiNW) devices, and can still show obvious responses when incident illumination power is as low as 0.1 mW cm −2 . Moreover, it enables tunable dynamic synaptic plasticity and versatile synaptic functions. Especially, the complementarily enhanced and inhibited behaviors can be realized by modulating SiNW/porphyrin interface via simply changing the MOS type of LPSNFET, which acts like the photonic counterpart of CMOS technology to provide the basic brick for building complex neuromorphic circuits efficiently and economically. Finally, the CMOS process compatibility of LPSNFET provides potential application in future large scale in‐sensor computing.

Layered Ni-rich cathode materials (LiNixCoyMn1-x-yO2) are promising cathode materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to their high reversible capacity and energy density. However, it is still facing the challenges in unstable structure and weak electrochemical properties, inhibiting their large-scale application. Herein, Ni-rich LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 cathode materials are synthesized using Ni0.9Co0.05Mn0.05(OH)2 precursors and Li source by two-steps heating treatment processes. Their structure and properties are regulated by controlling Li supply amounts and sintering temperature to further expand the applications of Ni-rich cathode materials. Experimental results suggest that the preheating at 500 °C effectively establishes a structural foundation (R-3m) for the following sintering of LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 materials. Furthermore, it is found that Li supply amount and sintering temperature have a certain correlation with the structural stability and electrochemical properties of materials. At Li supply amount 1.04 (Li/transition metals atom ratio) and sintering temperature 700 °C, the prepared LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 materials exhibit optimal electrochemical properties (77.0 % capacity retention after 400 cycles at 1C, and about 128.0 mAh g‐1 discharge capacity at 10C). This study provides a rational regulating strategy for synthesizing Ni-rich LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2 cathode materials with controllable structural and electrochemical properties, further expanding their applications in the fields of smart grids and electric vehicles.

The coral-like gold micro/nanostructures were formed onto carbon cloth followed by a Prussian blue (PB) electrochemical deposition to construct a highly sensitive H2O2 biosensor. The SEM image of PB/Au/CC showed the coral-like gold morphology, and EDS and XPS tests also further confirmed the successful loading of Au and PB. The electrochemical tests of PB/Au/CC displayed the electrode possessed excellent performance in sensing H2O2, which was quantified in the linear range from 0.002 to 13.97 mM at an applied potential of -0.05 V, with a sensitivity of 454.97 μA mM-1 cm-2 and a detection limit of 0.5 μM (S/N = 3). And then a convenient sensing platform was established via the cross-linking enzyme aggregates method, using PB as the mediator to realize the construction of glucose BIOSENSOR GOxEA@PB/Au/CC. The biosensor responded to glucose in the sensitivity of 70.76 μA mM-1 cm-2 within the linear range from 0.05 to 3.15 mM with a detection limit of 10 μM. The sensitivity was much higher than the electrode constructed by the cross-linking enzyme method (GOx@PB/Au/CC), and it was also highly selective, reproducible, and stable. Besides, the proposed biosensor was successfully applied to the glucose determination in real human serum samples, which proved its practicability.

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy.Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate.Delays in debt restructuring negotiations are widely regarded as inefficient.This paper argues that delays can allow the economy to recover from a crisis, make more resources available for debt settlement, and enable the negotiating parties to enjoy a larger "cake".Within this context, therefore, delays may be "beneficial".This paper explores this idea by constructing a dynamic model of sovereign default in which debt renegotiation is modeled as a stochastic bargaining game based on Merlo and Wilson's (1995) framework.Quantitative analysis shows that this model can generate an average delay length comparable to that experienced by Argentina in its most recent debt restructuring.

This paper used poly (aryl ether ketone) (PAEK) resin with a low melting temperature to prepare laminate via the compression-molding process for continuous-carbon-fiber-reinforced composites (CCF-PAEK). Then, poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK), or a short-carbon-fiber-reinforced poly (ether ether ketone) (SCF-PEEK) with a high melting temperature, was injected to prepare the overmolding composites. The shear strength of short beams was used to characterize the interface bonding strength of composites. The results showed that the interface properties of the composite were affected by the interface temperature, which was adjusted by mold temperature. PAEK and PEEK formed a better interfacial bonding at higher interface temperatures. The shear strength of the SCF-PEEK/CCF-PAEK short beam was 77 MPa when the mold temperature was 220 °C and 85 MPa when the mold temperature was raised to 260 °C. The melting temperature did not significantly affect the shear strength of SCF-PEEK/CCF-PAEK short beams. For the melting temperature increasing from 380 °C to 420 °C, the shear strength of the SCF-PEEK/CCF-PAEK short beam ranged from 83 MPa to 87 MPa. The microstructure and failure morphology of the composite was observed using an optical microscope. A molecular dynamics model was established to simulate the adhesion of PAEK and PEEK at different mold temperatures. The interfacial bonding energy and diffusion coefficient agreed with the experimental results.

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) for skin-like bioelectronics require mechanical stretchability, softness, and cost-effective large-scale manufacturing. However, developing intrinsically stretchable OECTs using a simple and fast-response technique is challenging due to limitations in functional materials, substrate wettability, and integrated processing of multiple materials. In this regard, we propose a fabrication method devised by combining the preparation of a microstructured hydrophilic substrate, multi-material printing of functional inks with varying viscosities, and optimization of the device channel geometries. The resulting intrinsically stretchable OECT array with synaptic properties was successfully manufactured. These devices demonstrated high transconductance (22.5 mS), excellent mechanical softness (Young's modulus ∼ 2.2 MPa), and stretchability (∼30%). Notably, the device also exhibited artificial synapse functionality, mimicking the biological synapse with features such as paired-pulse depression, short-term plasticity, and long-term plasticity. This study showcases a promising strategy for fabricating intrinsically stretchable OECTs and provides valuable insights for the development of brain-computer interfaces.

Resolution control and expansibility have always been challenges to the fabrication of structural color materials. Here, a facile strategy to print cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) into complex structural color patterns with variable resolution and enhanced expansibility is reported. A volatile solvent is introduced into the synthesized CLC oligomers, modifying its rheological properties and allowing direct-ink-writing (DIW) under mild conditions. The combination of printing shear flow and anisotropic deswelling of ink drives the CLC molecules into an ordered cholesteric arrangement. The authors meticulously investigate the influence of printing parameters to achieve resolution control over a wide range, allowing for the printing of multi-sized 1D or 2D patterns with constant quality. Furthermore, such solvent-cast direct-ink-writing (DIW) strategy is highly expandable and can be integrated easily into the DIW of bionic robots. Multi-responsive bionic butterfly and flower are printed with biomimetic in both locomotion and coloration. Such designs dramatically reduced the processing difficulty of precise full-color printing and expanded the capability of structural color materials to collaborate with other systems.

The immune system is a key component in the maintenance of host homeostasis. Key actors in this process are cells known as dendritic cells (DCs). An artificial immune system based on DCs (known as the Dendritic Cell Algorithm: DCA) is well established in the literature and has been applied in a number of applications. Work in this paper is concerned with the development of an integrated homeostatic system for small, autonomous robotic systems, implemented on a resource limited micro-controller. As a first step, we have modified the DCA to operate in both simulated robotic units, and a resource constrained micro-controller that can operate in an on-line manner. Errors can be introduced into the robotic unit during operation, and these can be detected and then circumvented by the modified DCA.

Component failures are a critical factor that causes unscheduled outage of wind turbine generators (WTG) and a loss of generation.To quantify the WTG failures, a survey which includes data collection and statistical analysis is conducted in this paper.The method applied in the survey has been compared with the previous approaches.The paper demonstrates that there has been a lack of consistency in previous approaches to analysis of failure data and that the proposed method applied here can better ensure data homogeneity.The method is then applied to a wind farm in China, , each with a capacity of 1.5 MW in China.Results show that 32.25% of total failures occurred in the pitch system, while cable failures accounted for over 2,033 hours of downtime (29.29% of total downtime), the highest among all causes.It is estimated that 87% of cable failures were due to third party damage (stolen).It is concluded from the analysis that if the wind farm management was improved so that the cable theft was avoided then the wind farm generation could have increased by 0.35% during the period.

Contrary to widespread expectation, emerging market debt renegotiations in the era of bond finance have generally been quick and involved little litigation. This paper presents a model that rationalizes some of the initial fears and offers two interpretations for why they did not come true. First, when debt exchange offers are sufficiently attractive relative to the risk faced by holdouts, full participation can be an equilibrium. Second, legal innovations such as minimum participation thresholds and defensive exit consents helped coordinate creditors and avoid litigation. In this regard, exit consents are shown to have similar effects on creditor coordination as collective action clauses (CACs). Unlike CACs, exit consents can be exploited to force a high haircut on creditors, but the ability of creditors to coordinate to block exit consents limits overly aggressive use.

This study quantitatively described the disease burden of diabetes and kidney disease attributable to non-optimal temperatures and explored the influencing factors.We quantitatively described the mortality burden of diabetes and kidney disease attributable to non-optimal temperatures in six countries (China, USA, South Africa, Australia, Iraq, Portugal), and compare trends in mortality in six countries from 1990 to 2019. We used the APC model to analyse age, period, and cohort effects on mortality in six countries. We used restricted cubic splines and quantile regression to analyse the association of SDI with mortality and YLL using data from 21 regions in the world.The mortality rates of diabetes and kidney disease in the six countries in 2019 were 1.72% (Australia), 1.83% (China), 2.99% (USA), 3% (Portugal), 7.45% (South Africa) and 8.71% (Iraq) attributable to non-optimal temperatures. Cold was more harmful than heat. The mortality, YLLs of diabetes and kidney disease of male were higher than females. The mortality rate showed an upwards trend with age. The period effect had little changes or showed a slight upwards trend. The cohort effect showed a downwards trend. The regions with higher mortality or YLLs rates were mainly had SDI values of 0.45-0.80.Among the death burdens of diabetes and kidney disease attributed to non-optimal temperatures, cold had a greater burden than heat. The burden of death was affected by sex, age, period, cohort, and SDI.

Tilting the Weyl cone breaks the Lorentz invariance and enriches the Weyl physics. Here, we report the observation of a magnetic-field-antisymmetric Seebeck effect in a tilted Weyl semimetal, Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$. Moreover, it is found that the Seebeck effect and the Nernst effect are antisymmetric in both the in-plane magnetic field and the magnetization. We attribute these exotic effects to the one-dimensional chiral anomaly and phase space correction due to the Berry curvature. The observation is further reproduced by a theoretical calculation, taking into account the orbital magnetization.

In the present work, a novel hybrid FE-Meshless quadrilateral element with continuous nodal stress is developed using radial-polynomial basis functions, named as Quad4-RPIMcns. Quad4-RPIMcns can be regarded as the development of the previous FE-Meshless quadrilateral element with radial-polynomial basis functions (Quad4-RPIM) and quadrilateral element with continuous nodal stress (Quad4-CNS). Similar to Quad4-RPIM, radial-polynomial basis functions are used to construct nodal approximations of Quad4-RPIMcns in the context of partition of unity, which avoids the possible singularity problem of constructing nodal approximations. The derivative of Quad4-RPIMcns shape function is continuous at nodes. Therefore, nodal stress can be obtained without any extra operation. Quad4-RPIMcns possesses Kronecker-delta property which is a very important property to impose essential boundary conditions directly as in the FEM. The numerical tests in this paper demonstrate that Quad4-RPIMcns gives better accuracy and higher convergence rate as compared to four-node iso-parametric quadrilateral element (Quad4). Additionally, Quad4-RPIMcns seems to have higher tolerance to mesh distortion than Quad4.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) play an important role towards a more sustainable transportation system. Sufficient charging infrastructure is, however, needed in order to accommodate their power demand and increase EV adoption. In this paper, we propose a simulation-based approach for charging station (CS) placement using an agent-based traffic simulation. The heuristic's objective is to achieve sufficient network coverage to keep charging related inconvenience within an acceptable range while minimising the overall number of CSs. For this purpose, the algorithm identifies locations at which the charging procedure seamlessly integrates into the drivers' itineraries, thus minimising detours and waiting times. At the same time, the algorithm attempts to maximise the utilisation of each CS throughout the day in order to minimise the number of CSs. The methodology is demonstrated at the example of Singapore. The investigation shows that the charging demand of 20,000 EVs can be covered with approximately 2,500 CSs by accepting average detours no greater than 410 metres and average waiting time below 10 minutes. This number can be further reduced by relaxing the inconvenience criterion.

We study the axis transport of WTe2. An enhancement of quantum oscillations allows for observation of an astonishing spin zero effect at certain field orientations for both hole bands and electron bands, providing transport evidence for their spin–orbit splitting origin. Based on the requirements for the spin zero effect, a lower limit for the Landé g-factor, as large as 44.7, has been obtained at a field angle of 63.7° with respect to the c axis towards the b axis for the hole band. The field dependence of the band splitting is experimentally determined.

Breast milk is an unparalleled food for infants, as it can meet almost all of their nutritional needs. Breast milk in the first month is an important source of acquired immunity. However, breast milk protein may vary with the stage of lactation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to use a data-independent acquisition approach to determine the differences in the proteins of breast milk during different lactation periods. The study samples were colostrum (3-6 days), transitional milk (7-14 days), and mature milk (15-29 days). The results identified a total of 2085 different proteins, and colostrum contained the most characteristic proteins. Protein expression was affected by the lactation stage. The proteins expressed in breast milk changed greatly between day 3 and day 14 and gradually stabilized after 14 days. The expression levels of lactoferrin, immunoglobulin, and clusterin were the highest in colostrum. CTP synthase 1, C-type lectin domain family 19 member A, secretoglobin family 3A member 2, trefoil factor 3 (TFF3), and tenascin were also the highest in colostrum. This study provides further insights into the protein composition of breast milk and the necessary support for the design and production of infant formula.

Posttranslational modification of tubulin increases the dynamic complexity and functional diversity of microtubules. Acetylation of α-tubulin at Lys-40 is a highly conserved posttranslational modification that has been shown to improve the flexibility and resilience of microtubules. Here we studied the in vivo functions of α-tubulin acetylation by knocking-out Atat, the Drosophila α-tubulin acetyltransferase, and by mutating Lys-40 to Arg in α1-tubulin. We found a reduction in the dendritic arborization of larval class I dendritic arborization (da) neurons in both mutants. The dendritic developmental defects in atat mutants could be reversed by enhancing the stability of microtubules either through knocking down the microtubule severing protein Katanin 60 or through overexpressing tubulin-specific chaperone E, suggesting that α-tubulin deacetylation impairsed dendritic morphology by decreasing the stability of microtubules. Using time-lapse recordings, we found that atat and α1-tubulinK40R mutations dramatically increased the number of dendritic protrusions that were likely to be immature dendritic precursors. Finally, we showed that both Atat and α-tubulin acetylation were required in class I da neurons to control larval locomotion. These findings add novel insight into the current knowledge of the role of α-tubulin acetylation in regulating neuronal development and functions.

The competition between crystallization and oiling-out is a major concern in the process design of antisolvent crystallization for poorly water-soluble drugs. Within the CALPHAD framework, this study demonstrates the extrapolation of the ternary phase diagram for antisolvent crystallization from the solubility data, resorting to the Jouyban–Acree model and the Gibbs–Helmholtz-type equation. The ternary phase diagram for DBDCS (a fluorophore exhibiting aggregation-induced emission) in water–[1,4-dioxane] is constructed by calculating the polymorph solid–liquid equilibria, the metastable liquid–liquid equilibrium, and the spinodal limit. Our computational results agree with the phase diagram measured through microfluidics. By analyzing the chemical potential, we show that the solute uphill diffusion relies on the antisolvent gradient. The energy of disorder upon nucleation is found to be much smaller compared with the solute energy gain upon antisolvent addition. The characteristics of the parallel solubility curves of the polymorphs are explained by the analysis of the molecular interactions. By evaluating the energy of composition fluctuation, we suggest the optimal conditions for antisolvent crystallization. The insights obtained from this study can be extended to the process design of antisolvent crystallization for similar systems and form the basis for further kinetic analysis of the competition between oiling-out and crystallization.

We have synthesized copper phosphate-protein hybrid heterostructure nanoflowers (Cu(II)-HNFs) in situ on nickel foam for the first time. The interaction between protein and copper ions facilitated the nucleation growth of copper phosphate crystals and self-assembly of hybrid nanosheets into exquisite flower-like nanostructures. The unique high-specific surface structure of Cu(II)-HNFs provided high-density catalytically active sites for copper phosphate. Also, the direct growth of Cu(II)-HNFs on the NiF surface enhanced the electron transfer efficiency during catalysis. As a result, Cu(II)-HNFs exhibit an excellent electrocatalytic efficacy in glucose sensing. Including wide linear range of 0.1-3000 μM, high sensitivity of 2497.1 μA mM−1 cm−2, ultra-low detection limit of 0.03 μM, good selectivity, and stability. Moreover, Cu(II)-HNFs@NiF has been validated as a reliable tool for detecting glucose in urine samples, with recoveries ranging from 92.9% to 101.9%. These findings demonstrate that the developed Cu(II)-HNFs@NiF has immense potential for non-invasive glucose monitoring through body fluids.

In this letter, high-performance p-type nanowire field-effect transistors (NWFETs) with nearly single-crystalline Si channels were fabricated. By NiSi <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> seed-initiated lateral epitaxial crystallization, a large nearly single-crystalline Si region up to 2 μm × 24 μm has been obtained with a CMOS-compatible process. Furthermore, utilizing the asymmetrical seed window design, a 20 nm-wide nearly single-crystalline Si nanowire was formed in the active area, followed by the feasible fabrication of p-type NWFETs. The as-fabricated p-type NWFETs exhibit high hole mobility (~ 51.4 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> /V·s), subthreshold swing (~ 66.5 mV/dec), and low off-state current (~ 4.1 pA/μm). The high-quality crystallization and the interface flatness were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. This work offers a promising method to realize top-tier circuits for low-power and low-cost monolithic three-dimensional integration.

The "von Neumann bottleneck" is a formidable challenge in conventional computing, driving exploration into artificial synapses. Organic semiconductor materials show promise but are hindered by issues such as poor adhesion and a high elastic modulus. Here, we combine polyisoindigo-bithiophene (PIID-2T) with grafted poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) to synthesize the triblock-conjugated polymer (PIID-2T-PDMS). The polymer exhibited substantial enhancements in adhesion (4.8–68.8 nN) and reductions in elastic modulus (1.6–0.58 GPa) while maintaining the electrical characteristics of PIID-2T. The three-terminal organic synaptic transistor (three-terminal p-type organic artificial synapse (TPOAS)), constructed using PIID-2T-PDMS, exhibits an unprecedented analog switching range of 276×, surpassing previous records, and a remarkable memory on–off ratio of 106. Moreover, the device displays outstanding operational stability, retaining 99.6% of its original current after 1600 write–read events in the air. Notably, TPOAS replicates key biological synaptic behaviors, including paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), short-term plasticity (STP), and long-term plasticity (LTP). Simulations using handwritten digital data sets reveal an impressive recognition accuracy of 91.7%. This study presents a polyisoindigo-bithiophene-based block copolymer that offers enhanced adhesion, reduced elastic modulus, and high-performance artificial synapses, paving the way for the next generation of neuromorphic computing systems.

Abstract Three‐dimensional stacked transistors based on Si/SiGe heterojunction are a potential candidate for future low‐power and high‐performance computing in integrated circuits. Observing and accurately measuring strain in Si/SiGe heterojunctions is critical to increasing carrier mobility and improving device performance. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with high spatial resolution and analytical capabilities provides technical support for atomic‐scale strain measurement and promotes significant progress in strain mapping technology. This paper reviews atomic‐scale strain analysis for advanced Si/SiGe heterostructure based on TEM techniques. Convergent‐beam electron diffraction, nano‐beam electron diffraction, dark‐field electron holography, and high‐resolution TEM with geometrical phase analysis, are comprehensively discussed in terms of spatial resolution, strain precision, field of view, reference position, and data processing. Also, the advantages and critical issues of these strain analysis methods based on the TEM technique are summarized, and the future direction of TEM techniques in the related areas is prospected.

Electric Vehicles (EVs) are set to play a crucial role in making transportation systems more sustainable. However, charging infrastructure needs to be built up before EV adoption can increase. A crucial factor that is ignored in most existing studies of optimal charging station (CS) deployment is the role played by the charging behaviour of drivers. In this study, through an agent-based traffic simulation, we analyse the impact of different driver charging behaviour under the assumption that CSs are placed at existing petrol stations and residential car park locations in Singapore. Three models are implemented: a simple model with a charging threshold and two more sophisticated models where the driver takes the current trip distance and existing CS locations into account. We analyse the performance of these three charging behaviours with respect to a number of different measures. Results suggest that charging behaviours do indeed have a significant impact on the simulation outcome. We also discover that the sensitivity of model parameters in each charging behaviour is an important factor to consider as variations in model parameter can lead to significant different results.

This paper presents a study on the castellated beam-to-column connections with four regular hexagonal web openings and one solid web beam-to-column connection that considering the opening rate and whether there is a combination of floor slabs (composite action) while subjected to the cyclic loading. Furthermore, the initial geometric imperfection was carefully incorporated in the FE model and the models have been validated against published experimental results. There is a slightly different about 5% between FE and test results including ultimate bearing capacity and other hysteresis behaviors. Investigation of 38 FE models subjected to cyclic loading focuses in the variation regularity of the failure mode, plastic development, stress migration, and seismic behaviors under the coupling effect of various factors, including the composite action of the floor slab, opening rate, the distance from the first opening to the face of the column, depth-to-thickness ratio of the web, and opening spacing. It is found that the composite action can improve the stress distribution around the first opening and raise the bearing capacity and ductility of the connections to a certain extent. Further, when the opening rate is either smaller than 0.5 or higher than 0.7, the plastic hinge of the connections with the floor slab occurs at the beam-to-column connection weld, which is completely different from the failure mode that without composite action. When the distance from the first opening to the face of the column is equal to or greater than 1.375 times the depth of beam, the plastic hinge formed in the beam-to-column weld while the composite action is taken into account; when disregarding the composite action causes the plastic hinge emerged in the beam section. Also, the ultimate bearing capacity of the castellated beam-to-column connections with closely spaced web openings significantly decreases; however, widely spaced web openings make stress concentration around the first opening and hinder the migration of stress to other openings, which has an adverse effect on the ultimate bearing capacity and ductility of the connections. The depth-to-thickness ratio of the web is also an important factor affecting the damage mode either web buckling or beam plastic hinge.

Contrary to widespread expectation, debt renegotiations in the era of bond finance have generally been quick and involved little litigation.We present a model that rationalizes the initial fears and offers interpretations for why they did not materialize.When the exchange offer is sufficiently attractive vis-à-vis holding out, full participation can be an equilibrium.Legal innovations such as minimum participation thresholds and defensive exit consents helped coordinate creditors and avoid litigation.Unlike CACs, exit consents can be exploited to force high haircuts on creditors, but the ability of creditors to coordinate to block exit consents can limit overly aggressive use.

This paper provides a general framework to assess the output and debt dynamics of an economy undertaking multi-year fiscal adjustment.The framework allows country-specific assumptions about the magnitude and persistence of fiscal multipliers, hysteresis effects, and endogenous financing costs.In addition to informing macro projections, the framework can also shed light on the appropriate phasing of fiscal consolidation-in particular, on whether it should be front-or back-loaded.The framework is applied to stylized advanced and emerging economy examples.It suggests that for a highly-indebted economy undertaking large multi-year fiscal consolidation, high multipliers do not always argue against frontloaded adjustment.The case for more gradual or back-loaded adjustment is strongest when hysteresis effects are in play, but it needs to be balanced against implications for debt sustainability.Application to actual country examples tends to cast doubt on claims that very large multipliers have been operating post-crisis.It seems that the GDP forecast errors for Greece may have been due more to over-optimism on potential growth estimates than to underestimating fiscal multipliers.

The subsynchronous resonance (SSR) of a double-fed induction generator (DFIG) and its suppression method are studied in this paper. The SSR may be aroused by the interaction between the double-fed induction generator and the series-compensated transmission lines. This paper proposes an expression of the electrical damping for assessing the SSR stability based on the complex torque method. The expression is derived by linearizing the DFIG model at the operating point. When the mechanical damping is neglected, the expression can be used to calculate whether the electrical damping is positive or negative to judge the SSR stability. The expression can quantitatively analyze the impact of the wind speed, the compensation degree, and the parameters of the rotor speed controller and the rotor-side converter controller on the SSR stability. Furthermore, a subsynchronous damping control (SDC) strategy is designed to suppress the SSR. The parameters of the SDC are optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) based on the electrical damping. Finally, the above research is verified by the PSCAD/EMTDC time-domain simulations. The results show that the stability of SSR decreases with the decrease of wind speed, the increase of series compensation degree, the increase of proportional coefficient, and the decrease of integral coefficient in rotor speed controller and rotor-side converter. The designed subsynchronous oscillation controller can suppress the SSR of a DFIG.

The Onsager-Casimir reciprocal relations are a fundamental symmetry of nonequilibrium statistical systems. Here we study an unusual chirality-dependent Hall effect in a tilted Weyl semimetal Co$_3$Sn$_2$S$_2$ with broken time reversal symmetry. It is confirmed that the reciprocal relations are satisfied. Since two Berry curvature effects, an anomalous velocity and a chiral chemical potential, contribute to the observed Hall effect, the reciprocal relations suggest their intriguing connection.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are set to play a crucial role in making transportation systems more sustainable. However, charging infrastructure needs to be built up before EV adoption can increase. A crucial factor that is ignored in most existing studies of optimal charging station (CS) deployment applying agent-based nanoscopic traffic simulation is the role played by the charging behaviour of drivers. In this study, through an agent-based traffic simulation, we analyse the impact of different driver charging behaviour under the assumption that CSs are placed at existing petrol stations and residential car park locations in Singapore. Three models are implemented: a simple model with a charging threshold and two more sophisticated models where the driver takes the current trip distance and existing CS locations into account. We analyse the effect of these three charging behaviour models on the performance of the charging infrastructure with respect to a number of different measures. Results suggest that charging behaviours do indeed have a significant impact on the simulation outcome. We also discover that the sensitivity of model parameters in each charging behaviour and initialisation parameters of the agents are an important factor to consider. Variations in model and initialisation parameters can lead to significant different results. In addition, we investigate into a different charging infrastructure distribution using a grid-based approach for Singapore. Results propose that a more evenly distributed charging infrastructure with the grid-based approach is less effective than the one with charging station placement at existing petrol stations and residential car park locations.

Abstract Background The mainstream facelifts in Western countries always involve the superficial fascia/superficial musculoaponeurotic system treatment. Meanwhile, subcutaneous face and neck lifts are widely applied among Asians. Objectives The authors sought to evaluate outcomes of subcutaneous face and neck lift, including patient-reported and 3-dimensional (3D) measurement outcomes, and report on details of surgical procedures. Methods Patients who received a subcutaneous face and neck lift from January 2017 to June 2019 were asked to complete FACE-Q scales, and facial information was collected by the Vectra 3D imaging system preoperatively and postoperatively. Volume changes in midface and possible displacement of facial landmarks were measured. The range of dissection and the amount of skin removed were recorded intraoperatively. Results In total, 119 patients (median age, 46 years, interquartile range, 40-53 years) received a subcutaneous face and neck lift. Among them, 88 patients completed pre- and postoperative FACE-Q scales. Patients’ satisfaction with facial subunits improved and wrinkles were significantly relieved (P &amp;lt; 0.001). Nineteen patients (38 midface sides) completed 3D image data collection. Postoperatively, zygomatic volume increased, and nasolabial and lateral cheek volumes decreased (volume change of 2.2 ± 1.3 mL). Mouth, nose, and eye displacements were negligible postoperatively. The widths of skin removed at the middle temporal, front of the sideburns, upper helix, earlobe, and retro-auricular were 13.8 ± 1.9 mm, 19.6 ± 3.1 mm, 27.6 ± 3.9 mm, 16.4 ± 3.9 mm, and 32.2 ± 4.0 mm, respectively. Conclusions The authors’ subcutaneous face and neck lift was effective in relieving nasolabial sagging, improving wrinkles, and achieving facial rejuvenation. Level of Evidence: 4

Extensive studies of electron transport in Dirac materials have shown positive magnetoresistance (MR) and positive magnetothermopower (MTP) in a magnetic field perpendicular to the excitation current or thermal gradient. In contrast, measurements of electron transport often show a negative longitudinal MR and negative MTP for a magnetic field oriented along the excitation current or thermal gradient; this is attributed to the chiral anomaly in Dirac materials. Here, we report a very different magnetothermoelectric transport behavior in the massive Dirac material $\mathrm{Zr}{\mathrm{Te}}_{5}$. Although thin flakes show a commonly observed positive MR in a perpendicular magnetic field, distinct from other Dirac materials, we observe a sharp negative MTP. In a parallel magnetic field, we still observe a negative longitudinal MR, however, a remarkable positive MTP is observed for the fields parallel to the thermal gradients. Our theoretical calculations suggest that this anomalous magnetothermoelectric behavior can be attributed to the screened Coulomb scattering. This work demonstrates the significance of impurity scattering in the electron transport of topological materials and provides deep insight into the magnetotransport phenomena in Dirac materials.

The ability to manipulate fluids has always been one of the focuses of scientific research and engineering application. The rapid development of machine learning technology provides a new perspective and method for active flow control. This review presents recent progress in combining reinforcement learning with high-dimensional, non-linear, and time-delay physical information. Compared with model-based closed-loop control methods, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) avoids modeling the complex flow system and effectively provides an intelligent end-to-end policy exploration paradigm. At the same time, there is no denying that obstacles still exist on the way to practical application. We have listed some challenges and corresponding advanced solutions. This review is expected to offer a deeper insight into the current state of DRL-based active flow control within fluid mechanics and inspires more non-traditional thinking for engineering.

The multiscale laser ablation mechanism and performance of 2.5D Si3N4 f/SiBN-CMCs were investigated experimentally. The results show that the ablation process has obvious multiscale characteristics. The morphology of the ablation zone was determined by the temperature distribution, 2.5D microstructure, and location of the laser spot. The difference in thermal conductivity of the fiber and matrix induced a discrepancy in the cooling rate at the mesoscale, resulting in a regular distribution of the white powder of SiO2 on the matrix-rich zones in the ablation pit. The extremely high-temperature anaerobic environment caused by laser irradiation made the Si3N4 f/SiBN-CMCs undergo a violent decomposition reaction to generate liquid silicon. When the irradiation power density is constant, the ablation center and transition area diameters are all proportional to the laser energy. The linear ablation rate increases with increasing laser power but decreases with prolonged irradiation time. The ablation resistance of this composite is hampered by the absence of a continuous molten layer during exposure to the laser.

This paper presents a lightweight, immune-inspired system for the diagnosis of faults. We adapt the dendritic cell algorithm, to develop the Diagnostic Dendritic Cell Algorithm (D-DCA) to afford on-line diagnosis of stuck-at-fault conditions. Our work shows that the D-DCA is capable of successfully diagnosing simple faults within an acceptable time frame, with an acceptable accuracy.

Delays in debt restructuring negotiations are widely regarded as inefficient. This paper argues that delays can allow the economy to recover from a crisis, make more resources available for debt settlement, and enable the negotiating parties to enjoy a larger cake. Within this context, therefore, delays may be beneficial. This paper explores this idea by constructing a dynamic model of sovereign default in which debt renegotiation is modeled as a stochastic bargaining game based on Merlo and Wilson's (1995) framework. Quantitative analysis shows that this model can generate an average delay length comparable to that experienced by Argentina in its most recent debt restructuring.

As one of the widely used pavement materials and structures, the multilayer asphalt concrete pavement (MACP) presents evident heat absorption and hydrothermal accumulation behaviors, which is prone to severe frost and thaw damages in cold regions. A full-scale field experiment was performed to reveal the hydrothermal process within the MACP in Inner Mongolia of China. Based on the continuous three years’ monitoring data, the freezing-thawing process, moisture features, and hydrothermal interactions of the MACP were analyzed. The results indicate that: (1) the MACP generates an important heat absorption and storage effect. A high heat flux accumulation zone forms at the central part of the MACP. Compared to the natural surface, the thawing freezing ratio at the bottom of the embankment enlarges 1.65 times armed with the MACP, meaning a dominant thawing process over a year cycle. (2) Under the influence of the thermal effect, moisture migration is considerably active within the MACP. The liquid water content of the MACP varies sharply with the decrease of the temperature. Then the cement stabilized base (CSB) and asphalt treated base (ATB) undergo the maximum and minimum liquid water contents, respectively. Furthermore, a core-shaped moisture accumulation area develops, coinciding with the features of the yearly distribution of the temperature. (3) The heat and mass transfer theory in the unsaturated porous medium was used to separate liquid water flux drove by the temperature gradient within the MACP. The temperature gradient driving effect mainly occurs in cold seasons. Under the impact of the temperature gradient, the ATB layer presents only downwards liquid water movement, while the CSB layer presents upwards and downwards liquid water movements.

The development of plastic hinges in a steel frame structure with steel beam-to-column end-plate connection joints by strengthening the end-plate area is a widely used design concept. This study explores the realization of this design concept with a beam web opening and without end-plate stiffening. The factors that impact the mechanical properties and failure modes of these joints are the end-plate thickness, opening diameter, opening position, and opening type. These parameters are tested for monotonic loading of six beam-column joints, and 220 finite element models are parametrically analysed. Additionally, the development of plastic hinge of the beam based on the development trend of maximum strain of each component section is studied. The initial rotational stiffness, ductility, bearing capacity, deformation capacity, and failure mode are used as the evaluation criteria to assess the behaviour of this joint. The research indicates that a castellated steel beam-to-column end-plate connection can realize the occurrence of plastic hinge and exhibit good ductility and load-bearing performance. This study highlights the premise that the beam web opening and end-plate thickness parameters must be within a specific range to achieve accurate results; additionally, the division method of the interval of parameters is described. The influence of end-plate thickness on the working mechanism of the connection is clarified, and the mechanical properties and failure modes of connections under different parameter intervals are studied. This study proposes a method for calculating the initial rotational stiffness of the connection to achieve good accuracy by considering the participation of the components on the beam in the rotation of the connection.

The quality of a superconductor–normal metal–superconductor Josephson junction (JJ) depends crucially on the transparency of the superconductor–normal metal (S/N) interface. We demonstrate a technique for fabricating planar JJs with perfect S/N interfaces. The technique utilizes a strong inverse proximity effect discovered in Al/V5S8 bilayers, by which the Al layer is driven into the resistive state. The highly transparent S/N homointerface and the peculiar normal metal enable the flow of Josephson supercurrent across a 2.9 μm long weak link. Moreover, our JJ exhibits a giant critical current and a large product of the critical current and the normal state resistance.

The ablation mechanism and performance of carbon fiber (CF)-reinforced poly aryl ether ketone (PAEK) thermoplastic composites were studied in this paper. The results show that the ablation damaged area is controlled by the irradiation energy, while the mass loss rate is controlled by the irradiation power density. In the ablation center, the PAEK resin and CFs underwent decomposition and sublimation in an anaerobic environment. In the transition zone, the resin experienced decomposition and remelting in an aerobic environment, and massive char leaves were present in the cross section. In the heat-affected zone, only remelting of the resin was observed. The fusion and decomposition of the resin caused delamination and pores in the composites. Moreover, oxygen appeared crucial to the ablation morphology of CFs. In an aerobic environment, a regular cross section formed, while in an anaerobic environment, a cortex-core structure formed. The cortex-core structure of CF inside the ablation pit was caused by the inhomogeneity of fibers along the radial direction and the residual carbon layer generated by resin decomposition in an anoxic environment. The description of the ablation mechanism presented in this study broadens our understanding of damage evolution in thermoplastic composites subjected to high-energy CW laser irradiation.

For desirable quality of service, content providers aim at covering content requests by large network caches. Content caching has been considered as a fundamental module in network architecture. There exist few studies on the optimization of content caching. Most existing works focus on the design of content measurement, and the cached content is replaced by a new one based on the given metric. Therefore, the performance for service provision with multiple levels is decreased. This paper investigates the problem of finding optimal timer for each content. According to the given timer, the caching policies determine whether to cache a content and which existing content should be replaced, when a content miss occurs. Aiming to maximize the aggregate utility with capacity constraint, this problem is formalized as an integer optimization problem. A linear programming based approximation algorithm is proposed, and the approximation ratio is proved. Furthermore, the problem of content caching with relaxed constraints is given. A Lagrange multiplier based approximation algorithm with polynomial time complexity is proposed. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms have better performance.

Transparent conductive IWO/Cu/IWO (W-doped In2O3) films were deposited on quartz substrates by magnetron sputtering of IWO and Cu in the Ar atmosphere. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns identified the cubic iron-manganese ore crystal structure of the IWO layers. The influence of the thickness of the intermediate ultra-thin Cu layers on the optical and electrical properties of the multilayer films was analyzed. As the Cu layer thickness increases from 4 to 10 nm, the multilayer resistivity gradually decreases to 4.5 × 10-4 Ω·cm, and the optical transmittance in the mid-infrared range increases first and then decreases with a maximum of 72%, which serves as an excellent candidate for the mid-infrared transparent electrode.

Isolation of exceedingly low oxygen consuming fungal strains able to utilize lignin as carbon source

Recently, several emerging market countries in East Asia and Latin America have initiated intra-regional reserve pooling mechanisms. This is puzzling from a traditional risk-diversi…cation perspective, because country-level shocks are more correlated within rather than across regions. This paper provides a novel rationale for intra-regional pooling: if non-contingent reserve assets can be used to support production during a crisis, then a country’s reserve accumulation decision

With increasing consumption and applications of chromium in metallurgy, electroplating, tanning process and stainless steel industry, chromium contamination has become a global environmental problem. In general, Cr(VI) has higher permeability across the cell membrane than Cr(III) and hence is considered more toxic than Cr(III). Oxidative stress could be induced following reactive oxygen species (ROS) normally produced in fish under Cr(VI) exposure due to its variable valences. Furthermore, the intermediates of Cr, e.g. Cr(V) and Cr(IV) , produced by cellular reduction processes can bind with DNA and result in mutagenic effects. These combined effects will threaten the growth, development and population structure of different fish species. In this paper, we reviewed published results on the toxic effects of Cr(VI) in fish at levels of molecules, tissues, organs and individuals. The mechanisms of toxicity and detoxification of Cr(VI) in various aspects were discussed. In addition, we also put forward perspectives on the toxicity of chromium in aquatic organisms.

With the improvement of IoT technology, driver assistance systems, represented by lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control, have become popular in automobiles. To explore the practical performance of the systems, this paper first analyses the vehicle trajectory during daytime, including objects such as vehicles, pedestrians and traffic signs. The results show that the maximum distance error is 6.21% for pedestrians and 5.23% for vehicles within a range of 60 m, and 10.01% for pedestrians and 9.3% for vehicles within a range of 70 m. This has broken through the technical difficulty of recognizing the position of objects up to 50 m away. In addition, the results of the tests conducted at night show that due to the physical limitations of the camera, even on well-lit roads, relatively reliable performance can only be guaranteed at around 35 m. This also proves that the track reproduction system can be useful at night as well.

Many modern real-time parallel applications can be modeled as a directed acyclic graph (DAG) task. Recent studies show that the worst-case response time (WCRT) bound of a DAG task can be significantly reduced when the execution order of the vertices is determined by the priority assigned to each vertex of the DAG. How to obtain the optimal vertex priority assignment, and how far from the best-known WCRT bound of a DAG task to the minimum WCRT bound are still open problems. In this article, we aim to construct the optimal vertex priority assignment and derive the minimum WCRT bound for the DAG task. We encode the priority assignment problem into an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation. To solve the ILP model efficiently, we do not involve all variables or constraints. Instead, we solve the ILP model iteratively, i.e., we initially solve the ILP model with only a few primary variables and constraints, and then at each iteration, we increment the ILP model with the variables and constraints which are more likely to derive the optimal priority assignment. Experimental work shows that our method is capable of solving the ILP model optimally without involving too many variables or constraints, e.g., for instances with 50 vertices, we find the optimal priority assignment by involving 12.67% variables on average and within several minutes on average.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of technology in the world, the debate over the concept of metaverse has exploded, while various new technologies, concepts and scenarios geared towards metaverse have emerged and various industries are making their presence felt.The digital twin has also become one of the core technologies for building metaverse.The digital twin, it can be argued, is the closest technology to comprehending the metaverse, and it provides the best technical support for the digitisation of architecture and cities.Originating from digital design, virtual simulation and the industrial internet, the digital twin as a concept that transcends reality is essentially a simulation process that brings together multiple dimensions and disciplines by playing with data from multiple aspects, including physical models and sensors, to map reality in virtual space, thus corresponding to the full lifecycle of an entity.This paper examines the application of the digital twin in smart construction and its advantages and disadvantages, and analyses the research topic through a case study approach, thus illustrating the significance of the digital twin for smart construction.The paper also concludes that the digital twin has the advantages of accurate mapping, interaction between reality and reality, and intelligent intervention in the construction industry, but also has certain shortcomings in terms of data awareness and software.

We develop a dynamic model of sovereign default and renegotiation to study how expectations of default and restructuring in the near future affect the ex ante maturity structure of sovereign debts. This paper argues that the average maturity is shorter when a country is approaching financial distress due to two risks: default risk and debt risk. Long-term yield is generally higher than short-term yield to reflect the higher default risk incorporated in long-term debts. When default risk is high and long-term is too expensive to afford, the country near default has to rely on short-term debt. The second risk, debt risk, is the focus of this paper. It arises because there is no explicit seniority structure among different sovereign debts, and all holders are legally equal and expect to get the same haircut rate in the post-default restructuring. Therefore, new issuances around crisis reduce the amount that can be recovered by existing earlier debt-holders in restructuring, and thus ``dilute'' existing debts. As a result, investors tend to hold short-term which is more likely to mature before it is diluted to avoid the dilution risk. Model features non-contingent bonds of two maturities, endogenous default and endogenous hair cut rate in a renegotiation after default. We show that ``debt dilution'' effect is always present and is more severe when default risk is high. When default is a likely event in the near future, both default risk and ``dilution'' risk drive the ex ante maturity of sovereign debts to be shorter. In a quantitative analysis, we try to calibrate the model to match various features of the recent crisis episode of Argentina. In particular, we try to account for the shifts in maturity structure before crisis and the volatility of long-term and short-term spreads observed in the prior default episode of Argentina

The SYMBRION project is concerned with the development of super-large swarms of robots that dock with each other and symbiotically share energy and computational resources to form a single artificial organism. This position paper proposes a software architecture, inspired by the lymph node architecture of the biological immune system, that affords homeostasis of individual and collective robotic systems. When robotic units join together into an artificial organism, they form an 'artificial lymphatic system', allowing the robotic units to exchange immunological information. This results in the implementation of the organism homeostasis.

Contrary to widespread expectation, debt renegotiations in the era of bond finance have generally been quick and involved little litigation. We present a model that rationalizes the initial fears and offers interpretations for why they did not materialize. When the exchange offer is sufficiently attractive vis-à-vis holding out, full participation can be an equilibrium. Legal innovations such as minimum participation thresholds and defensive exit consents helped coordinate creditors and avoid litigation. Unlike CACs, exit consents can be exploited to force high haircuts on creditors, but the ability of creditors to coordinate to block exit consents can limit overly aggressive use.

Few-layer ${\mathrm{WTe}}_{2}$ displays fascinating phenomena, which are believed to be closely related to the topological character of its band structure. In this work we investigate quantum oscillations of thermopower in thin ${\mathrm{WTe}}_{2}$ films. Besides four oscillation frequencies commonly observed in bulk materials, we observe an additional oscillation frequency, which has previously been attributed to topological surface states [Nat. Commun. 8, 2150 (2017)]. Through analysis of the temperature, angular, and film thickness dependence of the frequency, we conclude that it is not due to the cyclotron resonance of the surface Fermi arcs in Weyl semimetals, but rather from the bulk bands. Emergence of these bulk bands at the Fermi level is due to a band reconstruction in thin layers. They contribute to transport and may be responsible for some properties of few-layer ${\mathrm{WTe}}_{2}$.

In the current report, wave propagation analysis of a sandwich doubly curved nanopanel considering a laminated composite core and a couple of face sheets of magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) in the framework of nonlocal strain gradient theory (NSGT) is investigated. The higher-order-shear-deformable (HSD) model is employed to obtain the formulation of strain–stress equations. Maxwell equations are employed for modeling the behaviors of MEE materials. By considering Hamiltonian, the current model’s governing equations have been extracted. Afterward, in order to analyze the influence of wavenumber, inserted ampere, inserted voltage, the laminated structure’s geometry, nano-sized mechanics impact on the smart sandwich nano-scaled panel’s phase velocity, a parametric study has been considered. It is also observed that by raising the electric potential, the number of critical waves could be likely to be increased. A useful suggestion of this study is that the influence of the magnetic field on the phase velocity is more than the influence of the electric field of the MEE panel on the wave propagation of the smart panel. Besides, the nonlocal parameter and phase velocity have an exponential negative relation, while the length scale parameter and phase velocity have a linear direct relation.

Under a reciprocating load, through an experimental study and finite element analysis, the effect of different arrangements of stiffening ribs on the failure mode, local stability, and hysteretic performance of castellated beams with hexagonal holes is investigated.The test specimens comprise four steel castellated beams, two of which are reinforced with transverse stiffening ribs having the same opening rate but different height-to-thickness ratios of the webs; the two other steel castellated beams do not have any stiffening ribs.The results show that the steel castellated beams with a high height-to-thickness ratio are prone to local buckling failure of the webs.When, under a low -cycle reciprocating load, the transverse stiffening ribs are arranged, and the steel castellated girder is constrained by the plane, the failure mainly occurs at the hole angle position, and the hysteretic performance of the steel castellated girder is obviously improved compared with the non-stiffened steel castellated beam.Using finite element analysis, w e realize that different arrangements of transverse stiffening ribs change the failure mode of the steel castellated beam and that the reasonable arrangement of the stiffening ribs has a significant influence on the hysteretic performance of the castellate d beam.

Metamorphci phyllite is fragile, the gradation show large variation.Different pressure levels are selected at first to make sure the stable gradation.The test results show that 600 kPa pressure level meets the requirement and metamorphic under this level is choose for further compaction analysis.Compaction tests are carried out based on different pressure levels, in order to make the comparison of grain breakage at different pressure level and eliminate the low pressure level grain breakage influence.Interior california bearing ratio (CBR) tests are carried based on the reliable pressure level, too.The results show that the maximum dry density and optimum mositure content are changing together with different pressure levels, for our project, the reliable maximum dry density is 2.46 g/cm 3 and correspond to optimum mositure content is 5.4% with the sample of pressure level of 600 kPa.CBR tests based on the reliable pressure level meets the requiement of embankment filling standard, which gurantees the safety of the project using metamorphic phyllite in the view of embankment compaction construction.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data has been widely applied to identify abnormal conditions in wind turbine generators (WTG). One approach was to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) to SCADA data, comparing the predicted power output of a WTG and its actual output and using the prediction error as an indicator to detect faults. However, complicated training processes limit its application. This paper presents a normal behavior model (NBM), based on power output-generator speed (P-N) curve, to analyze SCADA data from modern pitch regulated WTGs for detecting anomalies. Through analysis of the operational characteristics of the pitch regulated WTG, it is found that inaccuracies in wind speed measurement, the inertia of the rotor, yaw and pitch misalignments, and air density fluctuation may affect the performance of the power curve monitoring algorithms. This paper shows that under normal conditions the P-N curve based NBM performs better when fitting the SCADA data to WTG output under normal conditions than the power curve. Results demonstrate that it can give alarm to forthcoming faults earlier than the existing condition monitoring system (CMS).

Power curve (PC) monitoring can be applied to evaluate the wind turbine generator (WTG) power output and detect deviations between the expected and the measured value, often a precursor of unexpected faults. In this research, the instantaneous SCADA data is used to show the fault forecast ability of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based PC monitoring of a pitch regulated WTG. The measured PCs illustrate that the instantaneous data is better than averaged data, widely used in the literature, to present the dynamics of WTG operation. The influence of ambient temperature, generator speed and pitch angle on WTG power output is analyzed using measured data. The analysis illustrates that the generator speed and pitch angle have a significant effect on WTG power generation. The performance of the proposed model option is compared against previously published option using the same data sets collected from a 2 MW Pitch Regulated WTG. The comparison is based on the mean absolute error (MAE), the root mean squared error (RMSE) and the correlation coefficient (R2). The result shows that models considering generator speed and pitch angle performs better with lowest MAE and RMSE and highest R2 values. A case study illustrated that the AI models, using wind speed, generator speed and pitch angle inputs, would have successfully detected a pitch fault due to the slip ring malfunction nearly 5 hours earlier than the existing fault detection mechanisms.

The global financial crisis experience shone a spotlight on the dangers of financial systems that have grown too big too fast. This note reexamines financial deepening, focusing on what emerging markets can learn from the advanced economy experience. It finds that gains for growth and stability from financial deepening remain large for most emerging markets, but there are limits on size and speed. When financial deepening outpaces the strength of the supervisory framework, it leads to excessive risk taking and instability. Encouragingly, the set of regulatory reforms that promote financial depth is essentially the same as those that contribute to greater stability. Better regulation—not necessarily more regulation—thus leads to greater possibilities both for development and stability.

To achieve fully autonomous systems, fault tolerance is often employed. Fault tolerance is the ability to continue operation in the presence of faults. Fault diagnosis is an essential component of fault tolerance, especially for autonomous robotics. It is the process of determining as much information as possible about the fault, especially the origin of the fault. However, a real time fault diagnosis for resource limited robotic systems has proposed a new set of challenges, such as its complexity and efficiency, which traditional methods will find difficult to meet. This has led the work to seek inspiration from the immune system, where an effective and efficient fault diagnosis solution has been provided for thousands of years. This thesis presents a novel immune-inspired on-line fault diagnosis algorithm for robotic systems and includes the first application of that Artificial Immune System to robot fault diagnosis.

Through different water content of unsaturated loess K <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> consolidation tests with constant load carried out. The impact of water content on the secant modulus, stress-strain characteristics and coefficient of lateral pressure was analyzed. Tests showed that, in the case of the same other conditions, secant modulus decreases as the load applied and eventually stabilized. When it reached a steady value, with the moisture content decreasing, secant modulus was reducing and had linear correlation with moisture content. The greater the moisture content, the faster the growth rate of K <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> . K <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> stabilized until to the soil structure completely destroyed. The values of K <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0</sub> with different moisture finally come to stabilize, moreover the stable values have small differences.

Inspired by the extreme reliability requirement of complex and ultra-long design lifespan equipment, degradation modeling and prognosis has emerged as a critical and essential technology in prognostics and health management (PHM) because it offers customized and individualized health assessments. However, environments with uncertainty, nonlinear phenomena, and phase-transition (or regime-switching) behavior are coupled together as a bottleneck for the implementation of degradation modeling and prognosis. To this end, this paper proposes a switching state-space model with adaptive adjustments that can adaptively simplify the patterns in original data and provide a unified framework of degradation prognosis with nonlinear phase-transition problems. Finally, some actual bearing data were used to validate the proposed method’s effectiveness. In the validation based on actual wind turbine bearing data, compared with some existing methods, the proposed method reduced the root-mean-square error of the remaining useful lifetime prediction by at least 38%.

Rolling bearings are a critical component of mechanical transmission equipment. Predicting their degradation trend is crucial for ensuring safe and stable equipment operation. Most existing state space models (SSMs) fail to adapt to the complex and varied nonlinear degradation processes that occur in real-world environments To address this limitation, we developed a deep latent variable-driven state space degradation model and employed it for bearing degradation prediction. Owing to the powerful nonlinear modeling ability of deep learning models, the proposed method extends the applicability of state space equations. In addition, it inherits the advantages of SSMs and can model uncertainties in a structured manner. Furthermore, the model was integrated with differential pre-transformation to improve its long-term prediction performance. Finally, experiments were conducted using a bearing dataset from the PRONOSTIA platform and real wind turbine bearing data. Results showed that the proposed method yielded higher bearing degradation prediction accuracy than existing methods.

Abstract In this paper, the stress relaxation behavior of Q235 with the initial tensile stress of 70, 85 and 100 MPa were investigated at different temperature. Based on the thermal activation theory, the stress relaxation model of Q235 steel was established, and the physical mechanism and deformation process in the stress relaxation process were revealed. The results shows that with the increase of temperature or initial stress, the nominal activation volume decreases, but the strain rate and the strain rate sensitivity coefficient increase. The repeated stress relaxation test shows that the stress release amount decreases with the increase of the number of cycles, and the higher the temperature, the smaller the effect of the number of cycles. Under the action of temperature and stress, the dislocation starts to move from the disordered bending shape in the original sample to the flat shape gradually. Moreover, the dislocation density decreases to less than 47.8% of the initial sample as the temperature increases and the initial stress decreases. It can be concluded that the dislocation motion is the core mechanism of stress relaxation of Q235 steel.

In this paper, a TCAD simulation study of strain engineering in vertical channel gate-all-around (VCG) devices is presented. A replacement-metal-gate (RMG) process is proposed to fabricate the devices on the conventional CMOS platform. With the careful calibration of initial stress distribution in molecular beam epitaxy grown supper lattice by Raman spectrum, the stress evolution model of VCG devices is established. TCAD simulation results show that the asymmetric and bottom-up device and process paradigms strongly affect the stress redistribution and evolution during process fabrication as well the stressor configuration. It’s found that the formation of vertical channel, source/drain epitaxy and RMG strongly affects the stress redistribution. With the same stressor configuration as lateral GAA devices, the channel stress direction is totally opposite, i.e. compressive stress for Si S/D/SiGe channel/Si S/D structure and tensile stress for SiGe S/D/Si channel/SiGe S/D. With the simulation of electrical characteristics, a preliminary optimized VCG device structure for CMOS application is designed to be SiGe S/D/Si channel/SiGe S/D with 10 nm × 20 nm cross section.

In response to the call for energy conservation and emission reduction, the development of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) has gradually shifted from capability improvement to green development, which has become a hot topic in current research. In this field, a large part of the research focuses on reducing road congestion through planning, such as Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), intelligent traffic management, and collaborative driving. These research methods are all strongly related to the accuracy of vehicle position and navigation, which is an important precondition for algorithm design. At present, the common approach is to use highly accurate GPS positioning but still faces errors in the continuity and accuracy of GPS radio signals. The industry is attempting to avoid such errors through map matching but without considering the challenges brought by complex road conditions. Therefore, this paper proposes an algorithm based on Map Matching with Kalman-filtered Trajectory Slides (MMKTS) to solve the problems, which combines trajectory slides, Kalman Filtering, and map matching processes. Simulation results prove that the proposed algorithm performs well in GPS noise-added trajectory for map matching at different road levels, with a reasonable delay for application.

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy.Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate.Delays in debt restructuring negotiations are widely regarded as inefficient.This paper argues that delays can allow the economy to recover from a crisis, make more resources available for debt settlement, and enable the negotiating parties to enjoy a larger "cake".Within this context, therefore, delays may be "beneficial".This paper explores this idea by constructing a dynamic model of sovereign default in which debt renegotiation is modeled as a stochastic bargaining game based on Merlo and Wilson's (1995) framework.Quantitative analysis shows that this model can generate an average delay length comparable to that experienced by Argentina in its most recent debt restructuring.

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (Mhp) is the etiologic agent of enzootic pneumonia and a major causative agent of the porcine respiratory disease complex. This study summarizes and describes the general diagnostic trends on Mhp detection by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) in cases submitted to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory from 2004 to 2016. The following variables were included in the analysis: animal age, geographic location, sample type, season, and submission year. The overall frequency of detection found was 27.04% and ranged from 17.9% to 40.7%. Lung homogenate and bronchial swabs had a greater Mhp qPCR detection rate than other sample types (P &lt; .001) followed by bronchoalveolar lavage (P &lt; .001), while oral fluids had the lowest Mhp detection rate (P &lt; .001). The fall season had a greater percentage of positive Mhp qPCR results when compared to other seasons (P &lt; .001), while spring had the lowest percentage. Finishing-age pigs had a greater percentage of Mhp qPCR detection when compared to other age groups (P &lt; .001), while suckling pigs had the lowest percentage (P &lt; .001).

Abstract RGO/Au/Ni electrode was manufactured by a convenient, controllable, and environmental process, which was carried out by cyclic voltammetry (CV), and in this process, graphene‐gold nanohybrid materials were simultaneously deposited on the nickel foam. Then the GOx was immobilized on the RGO/Au/Ni electrode by covalent bonding, and obtained the enzymatic biosensor. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy were adopted to confirm the microstructure of the fabricated RGO/Au/Ni electrode. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) was used to characterize the prepared enzymatic electrode. CV, chronoamperometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used to characterize the electrochemical performance of the fabricated enzymatic biosensor. It is found that AuNPs were well dispersed on the wrinkled RGO sheets, and the biosensor had a high sensitivity to glucose (32.83 μA ⋅ mM −1 ⋅ cm −2 ) with a wide linear range (0.15 26.15 mM), the strengths of anti‐interference ability, good stability, and repeatability, etc.

The relationship between China's OFDI industry layout and industrial structure optimization is analyzed in this paper. First, an index system is built up and the comprehensive level of industrial structure optimization is calculated using the improved entropy method. The grey relative incidence model is then constructed to analyze the correlation between China's OFDI industry layout and its industrial structure optimization. Finally and accordingly, countermeasures are put forward to adjust China's OFDI industry layout under the goal of industrial structure optimization.

This paper provides a general framework to assess the output and debt dynamics of an economy undertaking multi-year fiscal adjustment. The framework allows country-specific assumptions about the magnitude and persistence of fiscal multipliers, hysteresis effects, and endogenous financing costs. In addition to informing macro projections, the framework can also shed light on the appropriate phasing of fiscal consolidation - in particular, on whether it should be front- or back-loaded. The framework is applied to stylized advanced and emerging economy examples. It suggests that for a highly-indebted economy undertaking large multi-year fiscal consolidation, high multipliers do not always argue against frontloaded adjustment. The case for more gradual or back-loaded adjustment is strongest when hysteresis effects are in play, but it needs to be balanced against implications for debt sustainability. Application to actual country examples tends to cast doubt on claims that very large multipliers have been operating post-crisis. It seems that the GDP forecast errors for Greece may have been due more to over-optimism on potential growth estimates than to underestimating fiscal multipliers.

We introduce MK-Pad (Mouse+Keyboard Pad), a technique for entering text and performing mouse operations using a tablet device for distance interaction. MK-Pad uses the screen of a 10.1" tablet touchscreen to host a soft keyboard and turns the screen into a large multi-touch trackpad. The multi-touch capabilities of the tablet make it possible to avoid the need for explicit mode switching between text-entry and mouse operations. Similarly, because of the relatively large size of the tablet display, we are able to map the entire external screen onto the tablet display and this provides users with both absolute and relative cursor positioning: tapping causes the cursor to jump to the corresponding location, providing rapid movement across large distances, while clutching using relative mode supports fine positioning control. We conducted two studies. We use data from the first study to inform the design of MK-Pad. In the second study we compare MK-Pad against the standard mouse and keyboard. The results show that MK-Pad has potential and a good alternative to mouse and keyboard for distance interaction with large displays.

Analysis the fire behavior of the reinforced concrete frame structure from three aspects: the fire scene simulation, the temperature distribution and the deformation calculation of structure. Applying the actual temperature curves based on fire simulation software FDS to finite element analysis software ANSYS, get the temperature distribution and the deformation of structure under fire. Results show that structure will be destroyed because of the beams under fire are reaching the fire resistance, and the calculation results can meet the requirement of specification. Finally, the practical application shows the feasibility of getting the temperature-time curves with FDS instead of the international standard temperature-time curves for fire process analysis.

This paper provides a general framework to assess the output and debt dynamics of an economy undertaking multi-year fiscal adjustment. The framework allows country-specific assumptions about the magnitude and persistence of fiscal multipliers, hysteresis effects, and endogenous financing costs. In addition to informing macro projections, the framework can also shed light on the appropriate phasing of fiscal consolidation—in particular, on whether it should be front- or back-loaded. The framework is applied to stylized advanced and emerging economy examples. It suggests that for a highly-indebted economy undertaking large multi-year fiscal consolidation, high multipliers do not always argue against frontloaded adjustment. The case for more gradual or back-loaded adjustment is strongest when hysteresis effects are in play, but it needs to be balanced against implications for debt sustainability. Application to actual country examples tends to cast doubt on claims that very large multipliers have been operating post-crisis. It seems that the GDP forecast errors for Greece may have been due more to over-optimism on potential growth estimates than to underestimating fiscal multipliers.

Introduction of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in a Josephson junction (JJ) gives rise to unusual Josephson effects. We investigate JJs based on a newly discovered heterodimensional superlattice V$_5$S$_8$ with a special form of SOC. The unique homointerface of our JJs enables elimination of extrinsic effects due to interfaces and disorder. We observe asymmetric Fraunhofer patterns with respect to both the perpendicular magnetic field and the current. The asymmetry is influenced by an in-plane magnetic field. Analysis of the pattern points to a nontrivial spatial distribution of the Josephson current that is intrinsic to the SOC in V$_5$S$_8$.

Based on the classical cast theory and modern hot continuous rolling theory, in order to improve further the thickness precision of casting and control quality, so the dynamic mathematical model of strip-cast Looper system was established, which is nonlinear, strong coupling and uncertainty. According to the actual data, the comparative complete transfer function of Looper system is calculated. And the QDRNN-PID control strategy is put forward to subtract the coupling effect of Looper system. The simulation results prove that this control strategy can obtain a better control effect of Looper system after decoupling.

Data collection is a fundamental task in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). For a given filter, the sensor node sends the update to the base station if the sensed data is beyond the range of the filter. In this paper, we investigate the accuracy-aware approach for approximate data collection. The filter assignment for optimising the average of valid filter time is formalised as an integer optimisation problem and the hardness of this problem is proven to be NP-Complete. A greedy heuristic based algorithm with low computation overhead is proposed. To balance the valid filter time, the filter assignment for optimising the minimum valid time is formalised as a general max-min problem. We analyse the hardness of the problem and propose an approximation algorithm. The experimental results show that our algorithms achieve better results in terms of communication cost and expected time of valid filters.

Coefficient of restitution is regarded as a dominating parameter in rockfall research. Generally, small-scale experiments were developed without considering interactions between boulder and slope. However, preimpact moving statuses are essential to evaluate rockfall behaviors. To reveal the effect of preimpact interactions on coefficient of restitution, energy dissipation considering initial velocity, surface type, and slope angle is executed based on medium-scale tests. The results show that (1) as the inclination of initial velocity, higher rebound height, and the declining normal coefficient of restitution occur, a determinable linear function could demonstrate relationships among energy dissipation and all coefficient of restitution; when initial velocity exceeds 5 m/s, the recovery ability shows and produces an increasing trend with respect to the variation of kinematic coefficient of restitution and kinetic energy coefficient of restitution. (2) As the surface material varies, slope hardness and rebound ability influence normal coefficient of restitution, and the surface roughness and rotation feature dominate tangential coefficient of restitution; considering preimpact slope and boulder interactions, four types of coefficient of restitution follow declining trend with different material sequence. (3) Slope angle affects normal coefficient of restitution, and tangential coefficient of restitution relatively descends 18% and inclines 10% when the angle ranges from 30° to 75°; regarding preimpact moving status, it differs from bounce times. The correlation between preimpact energy dissipation and four coefficients of restitution can be represented by the same decreasing linear function, when increasing the slope angle.

This research utilizes wildfire records between 1911 and 2015 to train various models to predict fire size through using temperature, wind, humidity, and precipitation as features. Our results show 1) Decision Tree based Classifier outperforms both linear and ridge regression 2) Government entities can leverage our methodology to manage wildfires more efficiently, effectively, and decreasing monetary damages.

Electrification of vehicles is important to reduce greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions and stop global warming, but electrification will not be enough. Use of alternative and renewable fuels in SI-ICE will be an important complement to electrification in the heavy-duty segment, motivated by their ability to efficiently use the large potential of renewable fuels with low cetane numbers which are not suitable for diesel-like combustion. However, the property of alternative and renewable fuels may vary considerably, with a significant decrease in engine performance and total cost of ownership (TCO) as result. There is a need to compensate for a varying combustion phase and assure robust ignition while keeping the spark plug wear to a minimum, despite such variations. The peak pressure location (PPL) can accurately be estimated using ion sense and the ignition timing adapted in a closed loop to compensate for variations in the fuel combustion property. The spark design and requirements are discussed when using different and/or varying fuel. Preliminary results on ignitability and electrode wear indicate that the electrode wear can be reduced considerably. The TCO can be reduced by approximately $1100 per year for fuel and spark plugs alone, hereby making SI-ICE fueled by alternative and renewable fuels an even more attractive solution to reduce the GHG-emissions.

Abstract：There will be creative intention and thinking in any architectural design.Based on some case, this paper explicates methods getting intention.Conditions--questions--are not handicap, are the condition getting valuable, significant intention.Good idea depends on good thoughts