Facile Preparation and Photoinduced Superhydrophilicity of Highly Ordered Sodium-Free Titanate Nanotube Films by Electrophoretic Deposition

Highly ordered sodium-free titanate nanotube films were one-step prepared on F-doped SnO2-coated (FTO) glass via an electrophoretic deposition method by using sodium titanate nanotubes as the precursor. It was found that the self-assembled formation of highly ordered sodium titanate nanotube films was accompanied with the effective removal of sodium ions in the nanotubes during the electrophoretic deposition process, resulting in the final formation of protonated titanate nanotube film. With increasing calcination temperature, the amorphous TiO2 phase is formed by a dehydration process of the protonated titanate nanotubes at 300°C and further transforms into anatase TiO2 when the calcination temperature is higher than 400°C. Compared with the as-prepared titanate nanotube film, the calcined titanate nanotube film (300–600°C) exhibits attractive photoinduced superhydrophilicity under UV-light irradiation. In particular, 500°C-calcined films show the best photoinduced superhydrophilicity, probably due to synergetic effects of enhanced crystallization, surface roughness, and ordered structures of the films

High-order BDF convolution quadrature for stochastic fractional evolution equations driven by integrated additive noise

The numerical analysis of stochastic time fractional evolution equations presents considerable challenges due to the limited regularity of the model caused by the nonlocal operator and the presence of noise. The existing time-stepping methods exhibit a significantly low order convergence rate. In this work, we introduce a smoothing technique and develop the novel high-order schemes for solving the linear stochastic fractional evolution equations driven by integrated additive noise. Our approach involves regularizing the additive noise through an $m$-fold integral-differential calculus, and discretizing the equation using the $k$-step BDF convolution quadrature. This novel method, which we refer to as the ID$m$-BDF$k$ method, is able to achieve higher-order convergence in solving the stochastic models. Our theoretical analysis reveals that the convergence rate of the ID$2$-BDF2 method is $O(\tau^{\alpha + \gamma -1/2})$ for $1< \alpha + \gamma \leq 5/2$, and $O(\tau^{2})$ for $5/2< \alpha + \gamma <3$, where $\alpha \in (1, 2)$ and $\gamma \in (0, 1)$ denote the time fractional order and the order of the integrated noise, respectively. Furthermore, this convergence rate could be improved to $O(\tau^{\alpha + \gamma -1/2})$ for any $\alpha \in (1, 2)$ and $\gamma \in (0, 1)$, if we employ the ID$3$-BDF3 method. The argument could be easily extended to the subdiffusion model with $\alpha \in (0, 1)$. Numerical examples are provided to support and complement the theoretical findings.Comment: 22page

Breast cancer metastasis to thyroid: a retrospective analysis

Background: Breast cancers metastasizing to thyroid gland are relatively uncommon in clinical practice.Objective: Retrospective analysis of data from breast cancer patients with thyroid metastasis (TM).Methods: The US suspected, fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) confirmed TM in breast cancer patients, treated between 2005 and 2015 at our hospital, was retrospectively analyzed. The data were re-evaluated by the pathologist and radiologist who were blinded to the patients’ data.Results: FNAC and immunohistochemistry confirmed the ultrasonography (US) suspected TM in eight breast cancer patients. Clinically both unilateral and bilateral TM was seen, which were symptomless and metachronously (6-121 months) metastasized. Six of eight cases exhibited recurrence/distant metastasis and were treated with chemotherapy/ thyroidectomy of which two cases passed away. The remaining two patients had no recurrences/distant metastases and were treated with partial/total thyroidectomy. Post-chemotherapy US showed more homogenous thyroid parenchyma with gathering of calcification that reduced in size, revealing the sensitiveness of TM to chemotherapy.Conclusion: US was useful in screening TM in breast cancer patients. Both partial and total thyroidectomy was effective in disease free survival of isolated TM cases, with controlled primary condition. TM responded well to chemotherapy in most of the recurrent breast cancer cases with or without distant metastasis.Keywords: Thyroid, ultrasonography, breast cancer, metastasis

Casing Pipe Damage Detection with Optical Fiber Sensors: A Case Study in Oil Well Constructions

Casing pipes in oil well constructions may suddenly buckle inward as their inside and outside hydrostatic pressure difference increases. For the safety of construction workers and the steady development of oil industries, it is critically important to measure the stress state of a casing pipe. This study develops a rugged, real-time monitoring, and warning system that combines the distributed Brillouin Scattering Time Domain Reflectometry (BOTDR) and the discrete fiber Bragg grating (FBG) measurement. The BOTDR optical fiber sensors were embedded with no optical fiber splice joints in a fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) rebar and the FBG sensors were wrapped in epoxy resins and glass clothes, both installed during the segmental construction of casing pipes. In situ tests indicate that the proposed sensing system and installation technique can survive the downhole driving process of casing pipes, withstand a harsh service environment, and remain intact with the casing pipes for compatible strain measurements. The relative error of the measured strains between the distributed and discrete sensors is less than 12%. The FBG sensors successfully measured the maximum horizontal principal stress with a relative error of 6.7% in comparison with a cross multipole array acoustic instrument

The impact of atmospheric N deposition and N fertilizer type on soil nitric oxide and nitrous oxide fluxes from agricultural and forest Eutric Regosols

Agricultural and forest soils with low organic C content and high alkalinity were studied over 17 days to investigate the potential response of the atmospheric pollutant nitric oxide (NO) and the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) on (1) increased N deposition rates to forest soil; (2) different fertilizer types to agricultural soil and (3) a simulated rain event to forest and agricultural soils. Cumulative forest soil NO emissions (148–350 ng NO-N g−1) were ~ 4 times larger than N2O emissions (37–69 ng N2O-N g−1). Contrary, agricultural soil NO emissions (21–376 ng NO-N g−1) were ~ 16 times smaller than N2O emissions (45–8491 ng N2O-N g−1). Increasing N deposition rates 10 fold to 30 kg N ha−1 yr−1, doubled soil NO emissions and NO3− concentrations. As such high N deposition rates are not atypical in China, more attention should be paid on forest soil NO research. Comparing the fertilizers urea, ammonium nitrate, and urea coated with the urease inhibitor ‘Agrotain®,’ demonstrated that the inhibitor significantly reduced NO and N2O emissions. This is an unintended, not well-known benefit, because the primary function of Agrotain® is to reduce emissions of the atmospheric pollutant ammonia. Simulating a climate change event, a large rainfall after drought, increased soil NO and N2O emissions from both agricultural and forest soils. Such pulses of emissions can contribute significantly to annual NO and N2O emissions, but currently do not receive adequate attention amongst the measurement and modeling communities

Regression modeling based on improved genetic algorithm

Regresijski model je dobro uhodana metoda u analizi podataka s primjenom u raznim područjima. Izbor nezavisnih varijabli i matematički transformiranih u regresijski model, često predstavlja izazovan problem. Nedavno je nekoliko znanstvenika primijenilo evolucijski proračun za rješenje tog problema, ali rezultat nije učinkovit onoliko koliko smo željeli. Ukrižena (crossover) operacija u GA redizajnirana je primjenom Latin hypercube uzorkovanja, a zatim, kombinacijom dvaju uobičajeno korištenih statističkih kriterija (AIC, BIC), dajemo poboljšani genetički algoritam za rješavanje problema izbora statističkog modela. Predloženim se algoritmom može prevladati jaka ovisnost o putanji i osloniti na iskustvo stečeno primjenom klasičnih pristupa. Usporedba rezultata simulacije u rješavanju problema odabira statističkog modela s ovim poboljšanim GA, tradicionalnog genetičkog algoritma i klasičnog algoritma za odabir modela pokazuje da je novi GA superiorniji u rješavanju kvalitete, brzine konvergencije i drugih različitih pokazatelja.Regression model is a well-established method in data analysis with applications in various fields. The selection of independent variables and mathematically transformed in a regression model is often a challenging problem. Recently, some scholars have used evolutionary computation to solve this problem, but the result is not effective as we desired. The crossover operation in GA is redesigned by using Latin hypercube sampling, then combining two commonly used statistical criteria (AIC, BIC) we are presenting an improved genetic algorithm based for solving statistical model selection problem. The proposed algorithm can overcome strong path-dependence and rely on experience of classical approaches. Comparison of simulation results in solving statistical model selection problem with this improved GA, traditional genetic algorithm and classical algorithm for model selection show that the new GA has superiority in solution of quality, convergence rate and other various indices

Mesoscale aerosol numerical system developed in NMC, China

National Meteorogical Center(China)AQRM, Meterological Service of CanadaProceeding : International Symposium of Kanazawa University 21st-Century COE Program Vol.2(2004),Schedule: February 29(SUN)-March 3(WED), Venue: 29 FEB, Ishikawa Life-Long Learning Center(Former Prefectural Government Building) / 1-3 MAR Kanazawa Art Hall, Organized by: Kanazawa University 21st-Century COE Program / Ishikawa International Cooperation Research Centre / United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies, Supported by: Ishikawa Prefectural Government / City of Kanazawa, Eds : Hayakawa, Kazuichi / Kizu, Ryoichi / Kamata, Naok