SOLVENT STUDY ON MICRO TOWERS FABRICATED VIA MAP

Common microfabrication techniques haven been briefly reviewed and a detailed description of multiphoton absorption polymerization (MAP) ranging from its history, specific experimental setup, and resolution to its applications and drawbacks has also been given. A fast method to fabricate micro towers via MAP has been found. Towers with diameters ranging from 900 nm to 6 microns were fabricated and the best aspect ratio (~40) does not change with the diameter of the towers. Different solvents were used to dry those towers and we found that surface tension is not the only factor that leads to lower aspect-ratio

Modified FOA Applied to Parameter Extraction of Flux-Gate Core

The accuracy of the magnetic core model is important to the analysis and design of the flux-gate sensor. The Jiles-Atherton model (J-A model) is the mostly used model to describe the hysteresis characteristics of the flux-gate core. But the parameters of J-A model are difficult to identify. In this paper, Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (FOA) is proposed to identify the parameters of the J-A model. In order to enhance the performance of the identification, a Modified Fruit Fly Optimization Algorithm (MFOA) is applied to extract the parameters of the flux-gate core. The effectiveness of MFOA is verified through five typical test functions. The influence of variation factor ℎ on the performance of MFOA is discussed. The impact of variation factor ℎ on parameters extraction of hysteresis loop is studied. It is shown that MFOA with appropriate selection of variation factor ℎ will get better performance in the accuracy, stability, and simulation time compared to those of PSO and FOA

SkillNet-X: A Multilingual Multitask Model with Sparsely Activated Skills

Traditional multitask learning methods basically can only exploit common knowledge in task- or language-wise, which lose either cross-language or cross-task knowledge. This paper proposes a general multilingual multitask model, named SkillNet-X, which enables a single model to tackle many different tasks from different languages. To this end, we define several language-specific skills and task-specific skills, each of which corresponds to a skill module. SkillNet-X sparsely activates parts of the skill modules which are relevant either to the target task or the target language. Acting as knowledge transit hubs, skill modules are capable of absorbing task-related knowledge and language-related knowledge consecutively. Based on Transformer, we modify the multi-head attention layer and the feed forward network layer to accommodate skill modules. We evaluate SkillNet-X on eleven natural language understanding datasets in four languages. Results show that SkillNet-X performs better than task-specific baselines and two multitask learning baselines (i.e., dense joint model and Mixture-of-Experts model). Furthermore, skill pre-training further improves the performance of SkillNet-X on almost all datasets. To investigate the generalization of our model, we conduct experiments on two new tasks and find that SkillNet-X significantly outperforms baselines

Mechanism interference critical characterization and autonomous demodulation method of solid filling hydraulic support

Whether the self-demodulation of mechanism interference can be realized in the self-driven execution process of filling operation is the basis for the solid filling hydraulic support to achieve intelligence. Using the theoretical analysis method, taking the ZC5 160/30/50 type solid filling hydraulic support as an example, starting from the geometric and motion constraint relationship of the filling support mechanism, the orthogonal pose control index is established: the horizontal distance and vertical distance of the tamping hinge point top beam, which realizes the pose characterization of the rear top beam of the support under any working condition; The motion characteristics of the bottom-discharge conveyor of the filling support under various working condition factors were analyzed, and the orthogonal pose control index was established: the vertical distance and horizontal distance of the top beam of the bottom-discharge conveyor, which realized the pose characterization of the bottom-discharge conveyor under any working condition; Based on the pose control index of the rear top beam and the bottom-discharge conveyor, the landing position characterization index of the filling material on the coal seam floor during the discharge process is further obtained: the discharge center distance, which realizes the landing position characterization of the filling material under any working condition; the connection relationship and easy interference position of the mechanism action and pose adjustment in each stage of the filling operation process are analyzed, based on the orthogonal pose control index, the interference critical control equation of the discharge and typical collision position under any working condition is established by using the projection method; taking the tamping mechanism rotation angle and tamping cylinder stroke as the characterization of the interference critical curve under typical working conditions, it is proposed to use the three-zone distribution characteristics of “interference zone, easy interference zone, and non-interference zone” to characterize the interference critical degree, and give the demodulation path of each interference state; based on the interference critical control equation, interference three-zone distribution characteristics and the connection relationship of mechanism action and pose adjustment in the filling operation process, an interference state autonomous identification method is proposed: using angle sensor and stroke sensor to obtain the real-time rotation angle and stroke of the tamping mechanism, substituting into the interference critical equation of each easy interference position to obtain the theoretical value and interference critical curve of the tamping mechanism rotation angle or stroke in that position, judging the position of the actual value on the interference critical curve three-zone distribution diagram can realize the autonomous discrimination of interference position and state, and autonomous demodulation can be realized according to the interference three-zone distribution curve diagram; based on the interference position and interference state autonomous identification method, the interference autonomous discrimination and demodulation algorithm is designed. The research results provide new reference indicators for the pose characterization of the filling hydraulic support mechanism, provide basic criteria for the intelligent obstacle avoidance and demodulation of mechanism interference, and provide algorithm basis for the self-driven execution of the filling operation of solid intelligent filling

Establishment of a viable cell detection system for microorganisms in wine based on ethidium monoazide and quantitative PCR

Fermentability and contamination level of wine can be assessed through the detection of viable fermentation-related and spoilage-related microorganisms. Ethidium monoazide in combination with quantitative PCR (EMA-qPCR) has been considered as a promising method to enumerate viable cells. Milling for 80 s by O 500-mu m glass beads is demonstrated to be optimal for DNA extraction from yeasts, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acetic acid bacteria (AAB) in wine to be used as a template for PCR. EMA-qPCR results from experiments using DNA extracted by this method correlate well with the results of a plating assay (R-2 > 0.99), and a PCR efficiency between 96% and 105% was obtained. Moreover, for all of these microorganisms, EMA treatment of pure cultures at a low concentration (10 mu g/mL) for 20 min photoactivation resulted in effective differentiation between viable and non-viable cells and had no effect on viable cells. Due to sublethal injury to some cells, underestimation of cell counts was found in most of the wine samples tested using the EMA-qPCR method, and a 40-min incubation in recovery medium could completely offset this error. Our results suggest an optimal glass-bead DNA extraction method and EMA treatment suitable for all of the main microorganisms in wine. The EMA-qPCR method was successfully applied to quantify yeasts. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), LAB, non-Oenococcus oeni LAB (non-O. oeni LAB) and AAB in wine samples. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

A Novel Universal Primer-Multiplex-PCR Method with Sequencing Gel Electrophoresis Analysis

In this study, a novel universal primer-multiplex-PCR (UP-M-PCR) method adding a universal primer (UP) in the multiplex PCR reaction system was described. A universal adapter was designed in the 5′-end of each specific primer pairs which matched with the specific DNA sequences for each template and also used as the universal primer (UP). PCR products were analyzed on sequencing gel electrophoresis (SGE) which had the advantage of exhibiting extraordinary resolution. This method overcame the disadvantages rooted deeply in conventional multiplex PCR such as complex manipulation, lower sensitivity, self-inhibition and amplification disparity resulting from different primers, and it got a high specificity and had a low detection limit of 0.1 ng for single kind of crops when screening the presence of genetically modified (GM) crops in mixture samples. The novel developed multiplex PCR assay with sequencing gel electrophoresis analysis will be useful in many fields, such as verifying the GM status of a sample irrespective of the crop and GM trait and so on

Graphene-Based Nanocomposites for Energy Storage

Since the first report of using micromechanical cleavage method to produce graphene sheets in 2004, graphene/graphene-based nanocomposites have attracted wide attention both for fundamental aspects as well as applications in advanced energy storage and conversion systems. In comparison to other materials, graphene-based nanostructured materials have unique 2D structure, high electronic mobility, exceptional electronic and thermal conductivities, excellent optical transmittance, good mechanical strength, and ultrahigh surface area. Therefore, they are considered as attractive materials for hydrogen (H2) storage and high-performance electrochemical energy storage devices, such as supercapacitors, rechargeable lithium (Li)-ion batteries, Li–sulfur batteries, Li–air batteries, sodium (Na)-ion batteries, Na–air batteries, zinc (Zn)–air batteries, and vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), etc., as they can improve the efficiency, capacity, gravimetric energy/power densities, and cycle life of these energy storage devices. In this article, recent progress reported on the synthesis and fabrication of graphene nanocomposite materials for applications in these aforementioned various energy storage systems is reviewed. Importantly, the prospects and future challenges in both scalable manufacturing and more energy storage-related applications are discussed