ZnO nanowire array growth on precisely controlled patterns of inkjet-printed zinc acetate at low-temperatures.

ZnO nanowires have been fabricated through the hydrothermal method on inkjet-printed patterns of zinc acetate dihydrate. The silicon substrate used was heated accordingly during the printing period in order to maintain good spatial uniformity of the zinc acetate nanoparticles, responsible for the pattern morphology. Printing more than one pass of precursor ink leads to an increase in seed layer thickness that subsequently alters the density and dimensions of nanowires. It has been demonstrated that with the right inkjet-printing parameters and substrate temperature, ZnO nanowires can be effortlessly fabricated in accordance with the desired pattern variations under low temperature and mild conditions that ensures promising applications in optoelectronic devices.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Royal Society of Chemistry via http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C6NR02962

From Building Information Modeling to City Information Modeling

With the development of Geographic Information System (GIS), the concept of digital city is implemented widely. However, in practice, most of the GIS models are relatively poorly attributed, semantically. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of building, which is most used in small scale projects. In order to address the target problem of completing the semantic attribution of 3D digital city model, a framework of integrating BIM technology into GIS is demonstrated. A new concept of city information modeling (CIM) is proposed with the goal of bringing great benefits to the urban construction and city management. The composition of city information model is discussed. The data schema behind BIM and GIS (i.e. IFC and CityGML) are compared and mapped with each other. A case study of land planning of campus is demonstrated to present the potential benefits of CIM

Underpass clearance checking in highway widening projects using digital twins

Main road widening can reduce the clearance of the low-level underpass road, restricting the passage of vehicles and leading to collisions with structures. Therefore, checking the clearance of the underpass road effectively should be considered at the design stage. This paper describes a digital twin approach for checking the clearance of underpass roads in highway widening projects using online map data. The underpass road digital twin and BIM model of the newly widened road based on the existing main road digital twin are created to assist the clearance check and redesign. The proposed method presented a cost-effective clearance check for underpass roads in road widening design without field surveys and was successfully implemented in an underpass road in the UK. In future research, more digital twin methods for overpasses, bridges, tunnels, and traffic safety facilities should be employed comprehensively to assist more road widening applications

Building demolition estimation in urban road widening projects using as-is BIM models

Building demolition caused by urban road widening projects can lead to engineering, economic, and environmental issues and should be planned at the design stage. Based on as-is BIM, this paper proposes a method to estimate the building demolition caused by urban road widening using online map data and statistics on government websites. The as-is BIM models of the existing old road and its surrounding buildings are created, and the BIM models of the newly widened road are built based on the as-is BIM models considering road components in accordance with road engineering expressions to assist building demolition estimation using clash detection. This paper presents a cost-effective building demolition estimation in urban road widening projects without field surveys. It was tested on the M4 Motorway project in London. It has been proved to be a very practical approach to facilitate urban road planning and decision making

Invited - Droplets driving and sensing pixel circuits for thin film transistor-based digital microfluidics

Thin film transistor-based active-matrix digital microfluidics (AM-DMF) is an emerging and promising technology for large-scale parallel biological sample handling. With electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) method, DMF chip can realize accurately controlling discrete droplets, thus it has great application prospects in biology, chemistry, and drug discovery. With the rapid development of micro-analysis and detection requirements, the precise control of droplets in DMF chips is increasingly required, so it is necessary to conduct the real-time sensing of droplet position. Figure 1 shows the designed droplet position detection unit circuit. The circuit consists of six thin film transistors, T1-T6. The input signals mainly include the enable signal Ven, the reverse enable signal Venb, the discharge signal Vdischarge, the detection signal Vdetect, and the ground signal Vgnd. The signal Vdrive is the driving voltage applied for driving electrode. Cpixel is the equivalent capacitance between the two plates of a pixel electrode in a microfluidic chip. Vout is the output voltage signal. Please click Download on the upper right corner to see the full abstract

Sustainable road alignment planning in the built environment based on the MCDM-GIS method

Sustainable road planning in the cities' built-up areas strives to meet traffic demands of society within limited spaces available for construction and various constraints in the built environment considering engineering, traffic, economic, social, and environmental factors. Unlike rural areas, road planning in the built environment can be significantly influenced by the surroundings, such as existing buildings, road network, and land use, and should consider noise and air pollution impact on residents. In addition, road width and road widening are significant factors for road alignment planning. Based on the MCDM-GIS method, the least-cost wide path algorithm is employed for sustainable road alignment planning in the built environment, considering building demolition and land use, traffic congestion, noise impact, air pollution impact, and construction costs. Road width, new road construction, and existing road widening are considered simultaneously. Several methods are proposed to digitalise and parse various sustainable factors into understandable expressions for road alignment planning. Forbidden areas and road buffer areas for road widening are defined. The proposed method is implemented in road planning in Dartford, Kent County, UK. Sustainable factors with different weights can generate various road alignments from different perspectives, and road widths can significantly and locally influence road alignments

Printed subthreshold organic transistors operating at high gain and ultralow power.

Overcoming the trade-offs among power consumption, fabrication cost, and signal amplification has been a long-standing issue for wearable electronics. We report a high-gain, fully inkjet-printed Schottky barrier organic thin-film transistor amplifier circuit. The transistor signal amplification efficiency is 38.2 siemens per ampere, which is near the theoretical thermionic limit, with an ultralow power consumption of 60 decibels and noise voltage of <0.3 microvolt per hertz1/2 at 100 hertz.EPSRC, EC, China Scholarship Council, IEEE Electron Device Societ

Inkjet-printed Ag electrodes on paper for high sensitivity impedance measurements

Low-cost electrodes were fabricated by a standard office inkjet printer with commercial silver ink on glossy paper. Compared to conventional thin-film metal thermal evaporated gold electrodes, the paper-based ones show a two-order enhanced sensitivity for impedance measurement over a low frequency range. The high surface roughness of paper electrodes increases the effective area of the electrolyte–electrode double layer capacitance, and therefore reduces the measured impedance at low frequency range. A passivation layer on the top of the paper electrodes is used to mimic the behaviour of the double layer capacitance. The surface roughness was characterized by optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Finite element analysis and impedance equivalent model analysis were also performed for different thin-film electrode devices.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from The Royal Society of Chemistry via http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c6ra18645

Nitric oxide-induced lipophagic defects contribute to testosterone deficiency in rats with spinal cord injury

IntroductionMales with acute spinal cord injury (SCI) frequently exhibit testosterone deficiency and reproductive dysfunction. While such incidence rates are high in chronic patients, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive.Methods and resultsHerein, we generated a rat SCI model, which recapitulated complications in human males, including low testosterone levels and spermatogenic disorders. Proteomics analyses showed that the differentially expressed proteins were mostly enriched in lipid metabolism and steroid metabolism and biosynthesis. In SCI rats, we observed that testicular nitric oxide (NO) levels were elevated and lipid droplet-autophagosome co-localization in testicular interstitial cells was decreased. We hypothesized that NO impaired lipophagy in Leydig cells (LCs) to disrupt testosterone biosynthesis and spermatogenesis. As postulated, exogenous NO donor (S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP)) treatment markedly raised NO levels and disturbed lipophagy via the AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 pathway, and ultimately impaired testosterone production in mouse LCs. However, such alterations were not fully observed when cells were treated with an endogenous NO donor (L-arginine), suggesting that mouse LCs were devoid of an endogenous NO-production system. Alternatively, activated (M1) macrophages were predominant NO sources, as inducible NO synthase inhibition attenuated lipophagic defects and testosterone insufficiency in LCs in a macrophage-LC co-culture system. In scavenging NO (2-4-carboxyphenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (CPTIO)) we effectively restored lipophagy and testosterone levels both in vitro and in vivo, and importantly, spermatogenesis in vivo. Autophagy activation by LYN-1604 also promoted lipid degradation and testosterone synthesis.DiscussionIn summary, we showed that NO-disrupted-lipophagy caused testosterone deficiency following SCI, and NO clearance or autophagy activation could be effective in preventing reproductive dysfunction in males with SCI