Implementation of Arithmetic Operations by SN P Systems with Communication on Request

Spiking neural P systems (SN P systems, for short) are a class of distributed and parallel computing devices inspired from the way neurons communicate by means of spikes. In most of the SN P systems investigated so far, the system communicates on command, and the application of evolution rules depends on the contents of a neuron. However, inspired from the parallel-cooperating grammar systems, it is natural to consider the opposite strategy: the system communicates on request, which means spikes are requested from neighboring neurons, depending on the contents of the neuron. Therefore, SN P systems with communication on request were proposed, where the spikes should be moved from a neuron to another one when the receiving neuron requests that. In this paper, we consider implementing arithmetical operations by means of SN P systems with communication on request. Specifically, adder, subtracter and multiplier are constructed by using SN P systems with communication on request

CTAB-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis of Bi 2

Pyrochlore-type Bi2Sn2O7 (BSO) nanoparticles have been prepared by a hydrothermal method assisted with a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). These BSO products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The results indicated that CTAB alters the surface parameters and the morphology and enhances the photoinduced charge separation rate of BSO. The photocatalytic degradation test using rhodamine B as a model pollutant showed that the photocatalytic activity of the BSO assisted with CTAB was two times that of the reference BSO. Close investigation revealed that the size, the band gap, the structure, and the existence of impurity level played an important role in the photocatalytic activities

Noise Reduction for Modal Parameter Identification of the Measured FRFs Using the Modal Peak-Based Hankel-SVD Method

The measured frequency response functions (FRFs) in the modal test are usually contaminated with noise that significantly affects the modal parameter identification. In this paper, a modal peak-based Hankel-SVD (MPHSVD) method is proposed to eliminate the noise contaminated in the measured FRFs in order to improve the accuracy of the identification of modal parameters. This method is divided into four steps. Firstly, the measured FRF signal is transferred to the impulse response function (IRF), and the Hankel-SVD method that works better in the time domain rather than in the frequency domain is further applied for the decomposition of component signals. Secondly, the iteration of the component signal accumulation is conducted to select the component signals that cover the concerned modal features, but some component signals of the residue noise may also be selected. Thirdly, another iteration considering the narrow frequency bands near the modal peak frequencies is conducted to further eliminate the residue noise and get the noise-reduced FRF signal. Finally, the modal identification method is conducted on the noise-reduced FRF to extract the modal parameters. A simulation of the FRF of a flat plate artificially contaminated with the random Gaussian noise and the random harmonic noise is implemented to verify the proposed method. Afterwards, a modal test of a flat plate under the high-temperature condition was undertaken using scanning laser Doppler vibrometry (SLDV). The noise reduction and modal parameter identification were exploited to the measured FRFs. Results show that the reconstructed FRFs retained all of the modal features we concerned about after the noise elimination, and the modal parameters are precisely identified. It demonstrates the superiority and effectiveness of the approach

Environmental Governance Cooperative Behavior among Enterprises with Reputation Effect Based on Complex Networks Evolutionary Game Model

This paper first portrays the equilibrium payoff of enterprise’s cooperation of environmental governance based on the Cournot model. Secondly, the evolutionary game model in complex networks is adopted to depict the evolution of environmental governance cooperative behavior among enterprises. Further, the evolutionary process of environmental governance cooperative behavior of enterprises is simulated considering the supervision behavior of government and the reputation evaluation behavior of environmental social organization. The results show that the cooperation level of enterprise group under self-organization condition will reach a low level; the supervision of government can enhance the cooperation level of enterprise group with high betrayal tempatation while it has limited effect on enterprise group with low betrayal tempatation. The reputation evaluation behavior of environmental social organization can realize reputation effect to improve the the cooperation level of enterprise group with high betrayal tempatation. The enhance of reputation sensitivity can optimize equilibrium distribution of reputation and it can strengthen the reputation effect on cooperation level. Based on the analysis above, the suggestions to effectively improve cooperation level are given

Artemisinin Targets Transcription Factor PDR1 and Impairs Candida glabrata Mitochondrial Function

A limited number of antifungal drugs, the side-effect of clinical drugs and the emergence of resistance create an urgent need for new antifungal treatment agents. High-throughput drug screening and in-depth drug action mechanism analyzation are needed to address this problem. In this study, we identified that artemisinin and its derivatives possessed antifungal activity through a high-throughput screening of the FDA-approved drug library. Subsequently, drug-resistant strains construction, a molecular dynamics simulation and a transcription level analysis were used to investigate artemisinin’s action mechanism in Candida glabrata. Transcription factor pleiotropic drug resistance 1 (PDR1) was an important determinant of artemisinin’s sensitivity by regulating the drug efflux pump and ergosterol biosynthesis pathway, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction. This dysfunction was shown by a depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential, an enhancement of the mitochondrial membrane viscosity and an upregulation of the intracellular ROS level in fungi. The discovery shed new light on the development of antifungal agents and understanding artemisinin’s action mechanism

Thrombus formation in the suprahepatic inferior vena cava after microwave ablation in patients with hepatic metastasis: a case report

Abstract Background Microwave ablation (MWA) via ultrasound guidance is an important tool in the treatment of liver metastases. The most common postoperative complications are abdominal hemorrhage and bile leakage, whereas thrombosis in the suprahepatic inferior vena cava (IVC) is very rare, and clinical management is very difficult when the head end of the thrombus reaches the right atrium. Case presentation This is a case report of a 52-year-old man with hepatic metastasis 21 months after radical resection of rectal cancer. After chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy, metastasis in segment IV (S4) of the liver was treated with microwave ablation. Two months after treatment, the hepatic metastasis in S4 showed a microwave ablation zone on MRI.Enhanced MRI showed venous thrombosis located in the left hepatic vein and IVC, and the head of the thrombus reached the right atrium. After two weeks of anticoagulation and thrombolytic treatment, the follow-up MRI showed that the venous thrombus had nearly disappeared. Conclusion When liver metastases are close to the hepatic vein, clinicians should pay attention to the occurrence of hepatic vein and IVC thrombosis following MWA; through early diagnosis and anticoagulation, pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) can be minimized

Integrating a ferroelectric interface with a well-tuned electronic structure in lithium-rich layered oxide cathodes for enhanced lithium storage

Li-rich layered oxides (LLOs) are considered promising candidates for new high-energy-density cathode materials for next-generation power batteries. However, their large-scale applications are largely hindered by irreversible Li/O loss, structural degradation, and interfacial side reactions during cycling. Herein, we demonstrate an integration strategy that tunes the electronic structure by La/Al codoping and constructs a ferroelectric interface on the LLOs surface through Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT) coating. Experimental characterization reveals that the synergistic effect of the ferroelectric interface and the well-tuned electronic structure can not only promote the diffusion of Li+ and hinder the migration of On– but also suppress the lattice volume changes and reduce interfacial side reactions at high voltages up to 4.9 V vs Li+/Li. As a result, the modified material shows enhanced initial capacities and retention rates of 224.4 mAh g–1 and 78.57% after 500 cycles at 2.0–4.65 V and 231.7 mAh g–1 and 85.76% after 200 cycles at 2.0–4.9 V at 1C, respectively

Research on hot isostatic pressing sintering behavior of 90W–Ni–Fe–Cu alloy

In order to understand the underlying material evolution during liquid phase sintering (LPS) process in hot isostatic pressing process (HIP), microstructure and mechanical properties of 90 W–Ni–Fe–Cu alloys fabricated at 1400 °C/150 MPa are examined systematically. For 90W-4.2Ni-1.8Fe–4Cu alloy, the typical LPS microstructure, which are spherical W grains uniformly surrounded by continuously distributed γ- (Ni, Fe, Cu) matrix phase with the lowest W–W contiguity of 0.31, is achieved successfully after HIP at 1400 °C/150 MPa. The excellent tensile strength reaches as high as 873 MPa with elongation of 17.3% due to the soft γ- (Ni, Fe, Cu) matrix phase. Moreover, the relationship between the microstructure parameters VM(1−CW−W) and elongation ε are established and analyze the association with dislocation motion in depth through electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) characterization. To our best knowledge, the LPS behavior of tungsten alloy is in-situ revealed by high-temperature confocal scanning laser microscopy (HT-CSLM) for the first time. The current research provides a novel strategy for designing and fabricating powder metallurgy materials by LPS with pressure

Countering voltage decay, redox sluggishness, and calendering incompatibility by near‐zero‐strain interphase in lithium‐rich, manganese‐based layered oxide electrodes

Lithium-rich, manganese-based layered oxides are considered one of the most valuable cathode materials for the next generation of high-energy density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for their high specific capacity and low cost. However, their practical implementation in LIBs is hindered by the rapid voltage/capacity decay on cycling and the long-standing contradictions between redox kinetics and volumetric energy density due to their poor calendaring compatibility. Herein, a coherent near-zero-strain interphase is constructed on the grain boundaries of cathode secondary particles by infusing LiAlO2 material through the reactive infiltration method (RIM). Theoretical calculations, multi-scale characterizations, and electrochemical tests show that this coherent interphase with near-zero-strain feature upon electrochemical (de)lithiation inhibits volume changes of the lattice and structural degradation of cathode primary particles during cycling. More importantly, the ionically conductive LiAlO2 nanolayer infiltrated in the grain boundaries of cathode secondary particles can not only promote the rapid Li+ migration and act as a barrier to protect the material from the corrosion of the electrolyte but also effectively improve the mechanical strength of the cathode secondary particles. Collectedly, the LiAlO2-infiltrated cathode materials display superior electrochemical cyclability, enhanced rate capability, and industrial calendaring performance, marking a significant step toward commercial implementation