Research Capacity at Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Centers in China: A Survey of Clinical Investigators

Background. The development of an evidence-based approach to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which depends on the generation of good quality evidence, requires an adequate workforce. However, the research capacity of TCM investigators is not known. Study Design. This cross-sectional study was conducted to describe the research capacity of TCM clinical investigators in China. Participants. A total of 584 participants from TCM hospitals and research centers were included. They were asked about the academic and research characteristics, needs for research capacity building, and barriers to clinical research. Results. The majority (80.82%) were qualified to at least a Master’s degree, whilst a smaller proportion (40.24%) held a senior professional title. We found that academic outputs were low with the majority (62.16%) authoring less than five publications in total. The most pressing needs for building research capacity identified were training in research methodology (97.43%) and identification of research questions (86.81%), whilst the highest ranking barriers to conducting research were limited motivation, funding (40.72%), and time (37.15%). Conclusion. The methodology training, along with investment in the research workforce, needs to be urgently addressed to improve investigators’ research capacity and the development of an evidence-based approach of TCM

Three-Tier Capacity and Traffic Allocation for Core, Edges, and Devices for Mobile Edge Computing

In order to satisfy the 5G requirements of ultra-low latency, mobile edge computing (MEC)-based architecture, composed of three-tier nodes, core, edges, and devices, is proposed. In MEC-based architecture, previous studies focused on the controlplane issue, i.e., how to allocate traffic to be processed at different nodes to meet this ultra-low latency requirement. Also important is how to allocate the capacity to different nodes in the management plane so as to establish a minimal-capacity network. The objectives of this paper is to solve two problems: 1) to allocate the capacity of all nodes in MEC-based architecture so as to provide a minimal-capacity network and 2) to allocate the traffic to satisfy the latency percentage constraint, i.e., at least a percentage of traffic satisfying the latency constraint. In order to achieve these objectives, a two-phase iterative optimization (TPIO) method is proposed to try to optimize capacity and traffic allocation in MEC-based architecture. TPIO iteratively uses two phases to adjust capacity and traffic allocation respectively because they are tightly coupled. In the first phase, using queuing theory calculates the optimal traffic allocation under fixed allocated capacity, while in the second phase, allocated capacity is further reduced under fixed traffic allocation to satisfy the latency percentage constraint. Simulation results show that MEC-based architecture can save about 20.7% of capacity of two-tier architecture. Further, an extra 12.2% capacity must be forfeited when the percentage of satisfying latency is 90%, compared to 50%.This work was supported in part by H2020 collaborative Europe/Taiwan research project 5G-CORAL (grant number 761586), and Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan for financially supporting this research under Contract No. MOST 106-2218-E-009-018

Structural Evolution of Gold-Doped Bismuth Clusters AuBi\u3csub\u3e\u3ci\u3en\u3c/i\u3e\u3c/sub\u3e\u3csup\u3e–\u3c/sup\u3e (\u3ci\u3en\u3c/i\u3e = 4−8)

The structures of gold-doped bismuth clusters, AuBin− (n = 4−8), are investigated through a joint photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) study. Well-resolved photoelectron spectra are obtained at several photon energies. Global minimum searches coupled with DFT calculations yield low-lying structures, whose relative energies are further evaluated by single-point energy calculations at the CCSD(T) level of theory. Vertical detachment energies are calculated with the inclusion of spin−orbit effects to compare with the experimental data. Three-dimensional structures are found to be dominant in this size range, while a planar low-lying isomer is observed only for AuBi4−. The AuBi6− cluster possesses a “bow-tie-like” global minimum structure. Major isomers of the other clusters studied here can all be viewed to possess this structural motif. The gold dopant favors increasingly higher coordination with bismuth in AuBin− (n = 4−8). Chemical bonding analyses are performed to understand the geometric and electronic structure evolution of these bimetallic clusters. The gold atom interacts with neighboring bismuth atoms via localized σ bonds at low-coordination sites but via delocalized σ bonds at high-coordination sites. Greater charge transfer from Bi to Au is found for higher-coordinated Au. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the assigned global minimum of AuBi7− is a highly stable structure, whereas the minor isomer of AuBi7− displays a fluxional behavior

The effect of fog on the probability density distribution of the ranging data of imaging laser radar

This paper outlines theoretically investigations of the probability density distribution (PDD) of ranging data for the imaging laser radar (ILR) system operating at a wavelength of 905 nm under the fog condition. Based on the physical model of the reflected laser pulses from a standard Lambertian target, a theoretical approximate model of PDD of the ranging data is developed under different fog concentrations, which offer improved precision target ranging and imaging. An experimental test bed for the ILR system is developed and its performance is evaluated using a dedicated indoor atmospheric chamber under homogeneously controlled fog conditions. We show that the measured results are in good agreement with both the accurate and approximate models within a given margin of error of less than 1%

Probing the Structural Evolution of Gold−Aluminum Bimetallic Clusters (Au\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3eAl\u3csub\u3e\u3ci\u3en\u3c/sub\u3e\u3csup\u3e−\u3c/sup\u3e, n\u3c/i\u3e = 3−11) Using Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Theoretical Calculations

We report a combined photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical study of the structural evolution of aluminum cluster anions doped with two gold atoms, Au2Aln– (n = 3−11). Well-resolved photoelectron spectra have been obtained at several photon energies and are used to compare with theoretical calculations to elucidate the structures of the bimetallic clusters. Global minima of the Au2Aln– clusters were searched using the basin-hopping method combined with density functional theory calculations. Vertical detachment energies were computed for the low-lying isomers with the inclusion of spin−orbit effects and were used to generate simulated photoelectron spectra. Au2Al2– was previously found to exhibit a tetrahedral structure, whereas Au2Al3– is found currently to be planar. Beyond n = 3, the global minima of Au2Aln– are dominated by three-dimensional structures. A robust square-bipyramidal Al6 motif is observed for n = 6−9, leading to a highly stable tubular-like global minimum for Au2Al9–. Compact three-dimensional structures are observed for n = 10 and 11. Except for Au2Al4–, Au2Al6–, and Au2Al7–, the two gold atoms are separated in these digold-atom-doped aluminum clusters due to the strong Au−Al interactions

Probing the structures of gold–aluminum alloy clusters Au\u3csub\u3e\u3ci\u3ex\u3c/i\u3e\u3c/sub\u3eAl\u3csub\u3e\u3ci\u3ey\u3c/i\u3e\u3c/sub\u3e\u3csup\u3e−\u3c/sup\u3e: A joint experimental and theoretical study

Besides the size and structure, compositions can also dramatically affect the properties of alloy nanoclusters. Due to the added degrees of freedom, determination of the global minimum structures for multi-component nanoclusters poses even greater challenges, both experimentally and theoretically. Here we report a systematic and joint experimental/theoretical study of a series of gold–aluminum alloy clusters, AuxAly−(x + y = 7,8), with various compositions (x = 1–3; y = 4–7). Well-resolved photoelectron spectra have been obtained for these clusters at different photon energies. Basin-hopping global searches, coupled with density functional theory calculations, are used to identify low-lying structures of the bimetallic clusters. By comparing computed electronic densities of states of the low-lying isomers with the experimental photoelectron spectra, the global minima are determined. It is found that for y ≥ 6 there is a strong tendency to form the magic-number square bi-pyramid motif of Al6−in the AuxAly−clusters, suggesting that the Al–Al interaction dominates the Au–Au interaction in the mixed clusters. A closely related trend is that for x \u3e 1, the gold atoms tend to be separated by Al atoms unless only the magic-number Al6−square bi-pyramid motif is present, suggesting that in the small-sized mixed clusters, Al and Au components do not completely mix with one another. Overall, the Al component appears to play a more dominant role due to the high robustness of the magic-number Al6−square bi-pyramid motif, whereas the Au component tends to be either “adsorbed” onto the Al6−square bi-pyramid motif if y ≥ 6, or stays away from one another if x \u3c y \u3c 6. Includes supplemental files

N′-[1-(4-Amino­phen­yl)ethyl]pyrazine-2-carbohydrazide

The title compound, C13H13N5O, crystallizes with two mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. The crystal structure is stabilized by intra­molecular N—H⋯N and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The dihedral angles between the pyrazine ring and the 4-aminolphenyl ring are 2.5 (1) and 6.5 (1)° in the two molecules

2-(5-Bromo­thio­phen-2-yl)-5-[5-(10-ethyl­phenothia­zin-3-yl)thio­phen-2-yl]-1,3,4-oxadiazole

The mol­ecule of the title compound, C24H16BrN3OS3, contains three approximately planar fragments, viz. an oxadiazole ring plus two adjacent thio­phene groups, and two phenothia­zine benzene rings, with largest deviations from the least-squares planes of 0.051 (3), 0.019 (4) and 0.014 (3) Å, respectively. The phenothia­zine unit adopts a butterfly conformation, with a dihedral angle of 38.06 (15)° between the terminal benzene rings. The dihedral angle between the 2,5-bis­(thio­phen-2-yl)oxadiazole unit and the attached benzene ring is 15.35 (11)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules form stacks along the b-axis direction; neighboring mol­ecules within the stack are related by inversion centers, with shortest inter­centroid separations of 3.741 (2) and 3.767 (2) Å