Developing a Knowledge-based System for Complex Geometrical Product Specification (GPS) Data Manipulation.

Geometrical product specification and verification (GPS) matrix system is a universal tool for expressing geometrical requirements on product design drawings. It benefits product designers through providing detailed description of functional requirements for geometrical products, and through referring to corresponding manufacturing and verification processes. In order to overcome current implementation problems highlighted in this paper, a GPS knowledge base and a corresponding innovative inference mechanism have been researched, which led to the development of an integrated GPS knowledge-based system to facilitate rapid and flexible manufacturing requirements. This paper starts with a brief introduction of GPS, GPS application problems and the project background. It then moves on to demonstrate a unified knowledge acquisition and representation mechanism based on the category theory (CT) with five selected examples of this project. The paper concludes with a discussion on the future works for this projec

TO901317 regulating apolipoprotein M expression mediates via the farnesoid X receptor pathway in Caco-2 cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Apolipoprotein M (apoM) may have potential antiatherosclerotic properties. It has been reported that apoM expression could be regulated by many intracellar and extracellar factors. In the present study we further investigated regulation of apoM expression in Caco-2 cells stimulated by a liver X receptor (LXR) agonist, TO901317.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>Caco-2 cells were cultured in the presence of either TO901317, farnesoid X receptor (FXR) antagonist guggulsterone or TO901317 together with guggulsterone at different concentrations for 24 hrs. The mRNA levels of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1), apoA1, apoM, liver receptor homologue-1 (LRH-1) and short heterodimer partner 1 (SHP1) were determined by real-time RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When Caco-2 cell cultured with TO901317 alone, the mRNA levels of ABCA1, apoA1, apoM, LRH-1 and SHP1 were significantly increased with dose-dependent manners (<it>p </it>< 0.05), whereas when the cells cultured with guggulsterone alone, the mRNA levels of apoM, SHP1 and LRH-1 (<it>p </it>< 0.05) were strongly inhibited. Moreover, guggulsterone could abolish the TO901317 enhanced mRNA levels of apoA1 apoM, SHP1 and LRH-1.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study demonstrated that LXR agonist TO901317 induced apoM expression in Caco-2 cells might be mediated via the LXR/FXR pathway.</p

Reassessment of oxidative stress in idiopathic sudden hearing loss and preliminary exploration of the effect of physiological concentration of melatonin on prognosis

Background and purposeThe pathogenesis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) is still unclear, and there is no targeted treatment. This research aimed to verify the role of oxidative stress in ISSNHL and explore whether melatonin has a protective effect on hearing.Materials and methodsA total of 43 patients with ISSNHL and 15 healthy controls were recruited to detect the level of melatonin, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in the blood and compared before and after treatment. Multivariate logistic regression models were performed to assess the factors relevant to the occurrence and improvement of ISSNHL.ResultsThe patients with ISSNHL showed significantly higher ROS levels than controls (4.42 ± 4.40 vs. 2.30 ± 0.59; p = 0.031). The levels of basal melatonin were higher (1400.83 ± 784.89 vs. 1095.97 ± 689.08; p = 0.046) and ROS levels were lower (3.05 ± 1.81 vs. 5.62 ± 5.56; p = 0.042) in the effective group as compared with the ineffective group. Logistic regression analysis showed that melatonin (OR = 0.999, 95% CI 0.997–1.000, p = 0.049), ROS (OR = 1.154, 95% CI 1.025–2.236, p = 0.037), and vertigo (OR = 3.011, 95% CI 1.339–26.983, p = 0.019) were independent factors associated with hearing improvement. Besides, the level of melatonin (OR = 0.999, 95% CI 0.998–1.000, p = 0.023) and ROS (OR = 3.248, 95% CI 1.109–9.516, p = 0.032) were associated with the occurrence of ISSNHL.ConclusionOur findings may suggest oxidative stress involvement in ISSNHL etiopathogenesis. The level of melatonin and ROS, and vertigo appear to be predictive of the effectiveness of hearing improvement following ISSNHL treatment

Bottom-up growth of n-type monolayer molecular crystals on polymeric substrate for optoelectronic device applications.

Self-assembly of monolayers of functional molecules on dielectric surfaces is a promising approach for the development of molecular devices proposed in the 1970s. Substrate chemically bonded self-assembled monolayers of semiconducting conjugated molecules exhibit low mobility. And self-assembled monolayer molecular crystals are difficult to scale up and limited to growth on substrates terminated by hydroxyl groups, which makes it difficult to realize sophisticated device functions, particularly for those relying on n-type electron transport, as electrons suffer severe charge trapping on hydroxyl terminated surfaces. Here we report a gravity-assisted, two-dimensional spatial confinement method for bottom-up growth of high-quality n-type single-crystalline monolayers over large, centimeter-sized areas. We demonstrate that by this method, n-type monolayer molecular crystals with high field-effect mobility of 1.24 cm2 V-1 s-1 and band-like transport characteristics can be grown on hydroxyl-free polymer surface. Furthermore, we used these monolayer molecular crystals to realize high-performance crystalline, gate-/light-tunable lateral organic p-n diodes

Sub-5 nm single crystalline organic p-n heterojunctions.

The cornerstones of emerging high-performance organic photovoltaic devices are bulk heterojunctions, which usually contain both structure disorders and bicontinuous interpenetrating grain boundaries with interfacial defects. This feature complicates fundamental understanding of their working mechanism. Highly-ordered crystalline organic p-n heterojunctions with well-defined interface and tailored layer thickness, are highly desirable to understand the nature of organic heterojunctions. However, direct growth of such a crystalline organic p-n heterojunction remains a huge challenge. In this work, we report a design rationale to fabricate monolayer molecular crystals based p-n heterojunctions. In an organic field-effect transistor configuration, we achieved a well-balanced ambipolar charge transport, comparable to single component monolayer molecular crystals devices, demonstrating the high-quality interface in the heterojunctions. In an organic solar cell device based on the p-n junction, we show the device exhibits gate-tunable open-circuit voltage up to 1.04 V, a record-high value in organic single crystalline photovoltaics

Optimal planning of electric-heating integrated energy system in low-carbon park with energy storage system

Electric-heating integrated energy system (EH-IES) is pivotal for advancing energy structure reforms, and proper planning of EH-IES components can markedly enhance the operation economy, environmental sustainability, and system stability. Nonetheless, the inherent randomness and intermittency of renewable energy sources, along with the peak and valley characteristics of the load, cause output fluctuations in EH-IES energy supply equipment, posing significant threats to system stability. To address these challenges, a multi-objective bi-layer EH-IES planning model considering energy storage system is established, aiming at optimizing both economic performance and stability. This model employs non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA II) to optimally plans the capacity and location of EH-IES's equipment under 13-node district heating network (DHN), IEEE-33, and IEEE-69 node test systems. Simulation results show that DHN's thermal customer satisfaction is improved by 77.19 % (7.076 °C), with the total cost is $234,310.09/day. For the distributed network (DN), the net load fluctuation is reduced by 1.8491 MW (23.38$403.17 and $898.36. Consequently, the proposed method can improve the cost efficiency and sustainability of the system operation

Cyclohexyl-Substituted Anthracene Derivatives for High Thermal Stability Organic Semiconductors

A novel p-type organic semiconductor with high thermal stability is developed by simply incorporating cyclohexyl substituted aryl groups into the 2,6-position of anthracene, namely 2,6-di(4-cyclohexylphenyl)anthracene (DcHPA), and a similar compound with linear alkyl chain, 2,6-di(4-n-hexylphenyl)anthracene (DnHPA), is also studied for comparison. DcHPA shows sublimation temperature around 360°C, and thin film field-effect transistors of DcHPA could maintain half of the original mobility value when heated up to 150°C. Corresponding DnHPA has sublimation temperature of 310°C and the performance of its thin film devices decreases by about 50% when heated to 80°C. The impressing thermal stability of the cyclohexyl substitution compounds might provide guidelines for developing organic electronic materials with high thermal stability