Uncertainty analysis and global sensitivity analysis of techno-economic assessments for biodiesel production.

There are various uncertain parameters in the techno-economic assessments (TEAs) of biodiesel production, including capital cost, interest rate, feedstock price, maintenance rate, biodiesel conversion efficiency, glycerol price and operating cost. However, fewer studies focus on the influence of these parameters on TEAs. This paper investigated the effects of these parameters on the life cycle cost (LCC) and the unit cost (UC) in the TEAs of biodiesel production.

Extraordinary Second Harmonic Generation in tungsten disulfide monolayers.

We investigate Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) in monolayer WS₂ both deposited on a SiO₂/Si substrate or suspended using transmission electron microscopy grids. We find unusually large second order nonlinear susceptibility, with an estimated value of d(eff) ~ 4.5 nm/V nearly three orders of magnitude larger than other common nonlinear crystals.

Characterization of the spatiotemporal evolution of ultrashort optical pulses using FROG holography.

We propose holographically recorded frequency-resolved-optical-gating (FROG) measurement for probing the evolution of ultrashort optical pulses at multiple locations. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of our method, we record holographic FROG traces at five axial locations as we traverse through the focus of an objective lens along its axis using BaTiO(3) micro-cluster as the nonlinear medium and retrieve the amplitude and phase of the ultrashort pulse at each location. Moreover, the group delay of the pulse retrieved numerically using FROG holography is used to compute the separation between the five locations which agree well with the experimentally measured distances.

Analysis of 25(OH)D serum concentrations of hospitalized elderly patients in the Shanghai area.

Objective: To find an association between basic characteristics, seasons as well as disease types and 25-Hydroxyvitamin D serum concentrations in Chinese patients.

Methods: We randomly selected 5470 Chinese patients with various diseases, who were hospitalized between May 2012 and August 2013 in Shanghai and analyzed their serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D2 (25 (OH)D2) and 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) concentrations with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) as well as their parathyroid hormone (PTH) and serum creatinine blood levels. The resulting data were analyzed by linear regression and variance analyses or multivariate analysis with covariance.

Ultrashort optical pulse characterization using WS₂ monolayers.

We demonstrate the application of two-dimensional materials for ultrashort optical pulse characterization. Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, such as tungsten disulfide (WS₂), possess extraordinarily large second-order nonlinear susceptibility, and due to their atomic thickness, have relaxed phase-matching requirements and, hence, an inherently wide bandwidth. Synthesized monolayer WS₂ triangular islands were used to characterize ultrashort optical pulses at the focal point of an objective lens through second-harmonic generation collinear frequency-resolved optical gating.

Quantitative analysis of lymphocytes morphology and motion in intravital microscopic images.

Studying the morphology and interior movement of lymphocytes in intravital microscopic images is essential to understanding and treating various biological processes and pathological situations. A method combing features of shape, deformation, and intracellular motion for quantitatively characterizing the dynamic behavior of a single lymphocyte is proposed in this paper. The method is tested on a set of image sequences of lymphocytes obtained from the peripheral blood of mice undergoing skin transplantation using a phase contrast microscope.

Poly(L-glutamic acid)/chitosan polyelectrolyte complex porous microspheres as cell microcarriers for cartilage regeneration.

In this study a novel kind of porous poly(l-glutamic acid) (PLGA)/chitosan polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) microsphere was developed through electrostatic interaction between PLGA and chitosan. By adjusting the formula parameters chitosan microspheres with an average pore size of 47.5 ± 5.

LMD method and multi-class RWSVM of fault diagnosis for rotating machinery using condition monitoring information.

Timely and accurate condition monitoring and fault diagnosis of rotating machinery are very important to maintain a high degree of availability, reliability and operational safety. This paper presents a novel intelligent method based on local mean decomposition (LMD) and multi-class reproducing wavelet support vector machines (RWSVM), which is applied to diagnose rotating machinery faults. First, the sensor-based vibration signals measured from the rotating machinery are preprocessed by the LMD method and product functions (PFs) are produced.

Capacity of MIMO free space optical communications using multiple partially coherent beams propagation through non-Kolmogorov strong turbulence.

We study the average capacity performance for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) free-space optical (FSO) communication systems using multiple partially coherent beams propagating through non-Kolmogorov strong turbulence, assuming equal gain combining diversity configuration and the sum of multiple gamma-gamma random variables for multiple independent partially coherent beams. The closed-form expressions of scintillation and average capacity are derived and then used to analyze the dependence on the number of independent diversity branches, power law α, refractive-index structure parameter, propagation distance and spatial coherence length of source beams. Obtained results show that, the average capacity increases more significantly with the increase in the rank of MIMO channel matrix compared with the diversity order.

Fabrication of poly(l-glutamic acid)/chitosan polyelectrolyte complex porous scaffolds for tissue engineering.

Porous scaffolds composed of polypeptides and polysaccharides have remarkable biocompatibility and potential to mimic an extracellular matrix for tissue engineering. This study presented a novel design of polyelectrolyte complex porous scaffolds of a synthetic polypeptide poly(l-glutamic acid) (PLGA) and a natural polysaccharide chitosan (CS) using a freeze drying method. The microstructure of the porous scaffolds could be adjusted by changing the freezing temperature and solid content of the reacting polymer.

Excess glucose induces hypoxia-inducible factor-1α in pancreatic cancer cells and stimulates glucose metabolism and cell migration.

Pancreatic cancer patients frequently show hyperglycemia, but it is uncertain whether hyperglycemia stimulates pancreatic cancer cells. We have investigated whether excess glucose induces hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and stimulates glucose metabolism and cell migration in pancreatic cancer cells. We studied wild-type (wt) MiaPaCa2 pancreatic cancer cells and a MiaPaCa2 subline (namely si-MiaPaCa2) that had HIF-1α-specific small interfering RNA.

Microarray-based analysis of the gene expression profile in GC-1 spg cells transfected with spermatogenesis associated gene 12.

The unique differentiation mechanisms of spermatogenesis suggest the existence of cell type- and stage-specific molecules. Herein, a microarray-based approach was used to identify changes in the gene expression profile in mouse GC-1 spg germ cells transfected with spermatogenesis associated gene 12 (SPATA12). One hundred and eighty-two upregulated genes and 104 downregulated genes with fold changes of ≥2 or ≤0.

Modeling dynamic cellular morphology in images.

This paper presents a geometric method for modeling dynamic features of cells in image sequences. The morphological changes in cellular membrane boundaries are represented as sequences of parameterized contours. These sequences are analyzed as paths on a shape space equipped with an invariant metric, and matched using dynamic time warping.

Compressive multi-heterodyne optical spectroscopy.

We propose a framework for Compressive Multi-heterodyne Optical Spectroscopy [CMOS], based on multiple heterodyne measurements of an optical signal mixed with a dynamically encoded frequency comb. The sparsity of optical spectra of interest is exploited by using the compressive sensing strategy to significantly reduce the number of heterodyne measurements. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate retrieval of coherent and incoherent hypothetical singly resonant sparse spectra over a 2 THz-wide bandwidth, sampled every 100 MHz, by using less than 50% measurements.

Incorporating conductive materials into a photonic crystal fiber: toward optoelectronic applications.

We report a method to selectively fill arbitrary air holes of microstructured photonic crystal fibers with conductive materials through microsphere-assisted fabrication. A photonic crystal fiber with three of its air holes filled with gallium is fabricated and optically characterized. Further it is shown that nanomaterials such as carbon nanotube can be attached to the tip of the conductive channel through additional optical soldering post-processing.

A monotonic degradation assessment index of rolling bearings using fuzzy support vector data description and running time.

Performance degradation assessment based on condition monitoring plays an important role in ensuring reliable operation of equipment, reducing production downtime and saving maintenance costs, yet performance degradation has strong fuzziness, and the dynamic information is random and fuzzy, making it a challenge how to assess the fuzzy bearing performance degradation. This study proposes a monotonic degradation assessment index of rolling bearings using fuzzy support vector data description (FSVDD) and running time. FSVDD constructs the fuzzy-monitoring coefficient ε⁻ which is sensitive to the initial defect and stably increases as faults develop.

Temperature controlled water/oil wettability of a surface fabricated by a block copolymer: application as a dual water/oil on-off switch.

A temperature controlled dual water/oil on-off switch is achieved by using a PMMA-b-PNIPAAm block-copolymer coated mesh, determined by the conformational change of the PNIPAAm chain around the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and also the cooperation between PNIPAAm and PMMA. Water can permeate through the BCP-coated mesh, and oil cannot below the LCST, whereas oil can and water cannot above the LCST.

Transcriptional regulation of human novel gene SPATA12 promoter by AP-1 and HSF.

Human SPATA12 is a spermatogenesis associated gene and is supposed to function as an inhibitor during male germ cell development. SPATA12 is specifically expressed in spermatocytes, spermatids, and spermatozoa of human testis. In order to understand the regulation mechanism of SPATA12 gene expression, we identified and characterized the SPATA12 gene core promoter region and transcription factor binding sites by using reporter gene assays.

Holographic coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering bio-imaging.

CARS holography captures both the amplitude and the phase of a complex anti-Stokes field, and can perform three-dimensional imaging by digitally focusing onto different depths inside a specimen. The application of CARS holography for bio-imaging is demonstrated. It is shown that holographic CARS imaging of sub-cellular components in live HeLa cells can be achieved.

Simultaneous source localization and polarization estimation via non-orthogonal joint diagonalization with vector-sensors.

Joint estimation of direction-of-arrival (DOA) and polarization with electromagnetic vector-sensors (EMVS) is considered in the framework of complex-valued non-orthogonal joint diagonalization (CNJD). Two new CNJD algorithms are presented, which propose to tackle the high dimensional optimization problem in CNJD via a sequence of simple sub-optimization problems, by using LU or LQ decompositions of the target matrices as well as the Jacobi-type scheme. Furthermore, based on the above CNJD algorithms we present a novel strategy to exploit the multi-dimensional structure present in the second-order statistics of EMVS outputs for simultaneous DOA and polarization estimation.

Betel-quid and oral submucous fibrosis: a cross-sectional study in Hunan province, China.

Background: The development of betel-quid (BQ) processing industry in Hunan has increased the usage of this substance and may produce significant health consequences. However, the update data for the prevalence of BQ chewing and its effect on oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) are limited.

Methods: A population-based survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of BQ chewing and OSF in Hunan.

[Experimental study of inhibition of tumor cell proliferation by a novel gene SPATA12].

Objective: To explore the inhibitory role of spermatogenesis-associated gene 12 (SPATA12) on tumor cell proliferation and its possible mechanism.

Methods: The expression pattern of SPATA12 in testicular tumors was investigated by in situ hybridization analysis using tissue microarrays. The effects of SPATA12 on tumor cell proliferation and colony formation was detected by 3-(4.

Low-loss impedance-matched optical metamaterials with zero-phase delay.

Metamaterials have dramatically expanded the range of available optical properties, enabling an array of new devices such as superlenses, perfect absorbers, and ultrafast switches. Most research has focused on demonstrating negative- and high-index metamaterials at terahertz and optical wavelengths. However, far less emphasis has been placed on low-loss near-zero-index metamaterials that exhibit unique properties including quasi-infinite phase velocity and infinite wavelength.

[Multispectral remote sensing image denoising based on non-local means].

The non-local mean denoising (NLM) exploits the fact that similar neighborhoods can occur anywhere in the image and can contribute to denoising. However, these current NLM methods do not aim at multichannel remote sensing image. Smoothing every band image separately will seriously damage the spectral information of the multispectral image.

Electrodeless-discharge-vapor-lamp-based Faraday anomalous-dispersion optical filter.

We report an excited-state Faraday anomalous-dispersion optical filter operating on the rubidium 5P(3/2)-5D(5/2) transition (775.9 nm in vacuum) without the use of a pump laser. An electrodeless discharge vapor lamp is employed to replace the Rb vapor cell in a traditional Faraday anomalous-dispersion optical filter system.