Organic Semiconducting Luminophores for Near-Infrared Afterglow,Chemiluminescence, and Bioluminescence Imaging

Optical imaging has played a pivotal role in deciphering in vivo bioinformatics but is limited by shallow penetration depth and poor imaging performance owing to interfering tissue autofluorescence induced by concurrent photoexcitation. The emergence of near-infrared (NIR) self-luminescence imaging independent of real-time irradiation has timely addressed these problems. There are two main kinds of self-luminescent agents, namely inorganic and organic luminophores. Inorganic luminophores usually suffer from long-term biotoxicity concerns resulting from potential heavy-metal ions leakage and nonbiodegradability, which hinders their further translational application. In contrast, organic luminophores, especially organic semiconducting luminophores (OSLs) with good biodegradable potential, tunable design, and outstanding optical properties, are preferred in biological applications. This review summarizes the recent progress of OSLs used in NIR afterglow, chemiluminescence, and bioluminescence imaging. Molecular manipulation and nanoengineering approaches of OSLs are discussed, with emphasis on strategies that can extend the emission wavelength from visible to NIR range and amplify luminescence signals. This review concludes with a discussion of current challenges and possible solutions of OSLs in the self-luminescence field.     

An investigation into the cause of loss of containment from the supply of mini-bulk lubricants

An Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) was punctured during its handling, releasing oil onto soil at an environmentally-sensitive region of Australia. The telehandler did not pierce the plastic of the IBC directly (as was expected) but rather one of the tynes had caught on the underside of the metal base plate, despite numerous controls being in place at time of spill, revealing a previously unreported mechanism for a fluid spill from handling of petroleum hydrocarbons. The diverse investigation team used a root cause analysis (RCA) technique to identify the underlying cause: the inspection process was inadequate with contributing factors of not using a spotter and design of IBC did not anticipate conditions. Engineering controls were put in place as part of the change management process to help prevent spills from occurring from piercing from telehandler tynes on the current project site.     

Static and free vibration analysis of functionally graded plates based on a new quasi-3D and 2D shear deformation theories

In this study, two dimensional (2D) and quasi three-dimensional (quasi-3D) shear deformation theories are presented for static and free vibration analysis of single-layer functionally graded (FG) plates using a new hyperbolic shape function. The material of the plate is inhomogeneous and the material properties assumed to vary continuously in the thickness direction by three different distributions; power-law, exponential and Mori–Tanaka model, in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The fundamental governing equations which take into account the effects of both transverse shear and normal stresses are derived through the Hamilton's principle. The closed form solutions are obtained by using Navier technique and then fundamental frequencies are found by solving the results of eigenvalue problems. In-plane stress components have been obtained by the constitutive equations of composite plates. The transverse stress components have been obtained by integrating the three-dimensional stress equilibrium equations in the thickness direction of the plate. The accuracy of the present method is demonstrated by comparisons with the different 2D, 3D and quasi-3D solutions available in the literature.     

Strain engineering for thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotube forests

We perform classical molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the mechanical compression effect on the thermal conductivity of the single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) forest, in which SWCNTs are closely aligned and parallel with each other. We find that the thermal conductivity can be linearly enhanced by increasing compression before the buckling of SWCNT forests, but the thermal conductivity decreases quickly with further increasing compression after the forest is buckled. Our phonon mode analysis reveals that, before buckling, the smoothness of the inter-tube interface is maintained during compression, and the inter-tube van der Waals interaction is strengthened by the compression. Consequently, the twisting-like mode (good heat carrier) is well preserved and its group velocity is increased by increasing compression, resulting in the enhancement of the thermal conductivity. The buckling phenomenon changes the circular cross section of the SWCNT into ellipse, which causes effective roughness at the inter-tube interface for the twisting motion. As a result, in ellipse SWCNTs, the radial breathing mode (poor heat carrier) becomes the most favorable motion instead of the twisting-like mode and the group velocity of the twisting-like mode drops considerably, both of which lead to the quick decrease of the thermal conductivity with further increasing compression after buckling.     

Producing fully-lamellar microstructure for wrought beta-gamma TiAl alloys without single α-phase field

Fine-grained fully-lamellar (FL) microstructure is desired for TiAl components to serve as compressor/turbine blades and turbocharger turbine wheels. This study deals with the process and phase transformation to produce FL microstructure for Mo stabilized beta-gamma TiAl alloys without single α-phase field. Unlike the α + γ two-phased TiAl or beta-gamma TiAl with single α-phase field, the wrought multi-phase TiAl–4/6Nb–2Mo–B/Y alloys exhibit special annealing process to obtain FL microstructure. Short-term annealing at temperatures slightly above β-transus is recommended to produce the desired FL microstructure. The related mechanism is to guarantee the sufficient diffusion homogenization of β stabilizers during single β-phase annealing, and further avoid α decomposition by α → γ + β when cooling through α + β + γ phase field. The colony boundary β phase contributes to fine-grained nearly FL microstructure, by retarding the coarsening of the α phase grains.     

Comparative study on economic contribution rate of education of China and foreign countries based on soft computing method

Economic contribution rate of education (ECRE) is the key factor of education economics. This article selected China, South Korea, United States and other countries for a total of 15 samples, and put the data of the same period under the framework of soft computing, to simulate the production chain of “education–potential human capital–actual human capital–economic growth”. The basic idea is: Firstly, 15 countries are softly categorized according to the level of science and technology (S&T) progress. Secondly, potential human capital and actual human capital establish the internal correlation (fuzzy mapping) in the same classification, and we conceptualize actual human capital as one production factor, joined with the other two production factors, fixed asset and land, to set up the fuzzy mapping to economic growth., and then calculate economic contribution rate of education of China and foreign by two fuzzy mapping of them. Thirdly, this paper analyzes the present state and differences in the development of education between China and foreign according to different ECRE, and offers proposals for promoting the education in China.     

基于灰色关联分析的电网安全事故关键致因分析

探讨和研究电网安全事故的影响因素及控制已成为预防电网安全事故发生的热点问题。为揭示电网安全事故发生的深层机理,基于事故致因理论,采用质性分析和灰色关联分析的方法,分析中国电网安全事故的关键致因。研究发现,电网安全事故的影响因素主要包括主体因素（认知因素、行为因素和身体因素）、过程因素（组织氛围因素和组织过程因素）、对象因素（设备可靠性低和设备管理松懈）及情境因素（作业环境因素和非作业环境因素）。灰色关联分析表明：电网安全事故的致因因素可以分为红色危险因素（r≥0.8）、橙色警备因素（0.7≤r＜0.8）和黄色警告因素（r＜0.7）,其中,组织氛围因素、认知因素和行为因素是电网安全事故的关键致因因素。在此基础上提出电网安全事故管理的政策建议,以期推动中国电网安全发展进程。     

Quadratic control of stochastic hybrid systems with renewal transitions

We study the quadratic control of a class of stochastic hybrid systems with linear continuous dynamics for which the lengths of time that the system stays in each mode are independent random variables with given probability distribution functions. We derive a condition for finding the optimal feedback policy that minimizes a discounted infinite horizon cost. We show that the optimal cost is the solution to a set of differential equations with unknown boundary conditions. Furthermore, we provide a recursive algorithm for computing the optimal cost and the optimal feedback policy. The applicability of our result is illustrated through a numerical example, motivated by stochastic gene regulation in biology.     

An ExPosition of multivariate analysis with the singular value decomposition in R

ExPosition is a new comprehensive R package providing crisp graphics and implementing multivariate analysis methods based on the singular value decomposition (svd). The core techniques implemented in ExPosition are: principal components analysis, (metric) multidimensional scaling, correspondence analysis, and several of their recent extensions such as barycentric discriminant analyses (e.g., discriminant correspondence analysis), multi-table analyses (e.g.,multiple factor analysis, Statis, and distatis), and non-parametric resampling techniques (e.g., permutation and bootstrap). Several examples highlight the major differences between ExPosition and similar packages. Finally, the future directions of ExPosition are discussed.