Governance choices and policy outcomes in the Latin American and caribbean electricity sector

The paper first provides, for Latin America and the Caribbean, country-specific synthetic quantitative measures of the degree of adoption of governance reforms in the electricity sector, focusing on four key dimensions (market structure, private sector participation (PSP), regulatory autonomy and operational organization). These measures are then correlated with standard policy performance outcomes measures. The findings suggest that, the reforms, considered jointly, were statistically significantly associated with higher technical and process quality but not with social or service improvements. Considered individually, increased regulatory autonomy enjoyed the highest positive correlation with desirable outcomes, but PSP has no significant correlation with any of the outcomes. In sum, as of 2018, governance reforms, considered jointly, had still not delivered on some promised payoffs, notably in addressing energy poverty, although the sensitivity analysis suggests that, for some indicators, the relationships are stronger for larger than for smaller countries.     

基于双层修正无迹卡尔曼的水下节点定位算法* .txt

摘要：针对水下无线传感网络中运动节点定位精度低的问题，提出了一种新的基于双层修正无迹卡尔曼的水下节点定位算法(DLMUKF)。该算法利用下层无迹卡尔曼滤波算法对节点状态进行预测，根据各信标节点的测距传播时延对预测的节点状态进行修正。运用上层无迹卡尔曼滤波算法对修正后的状态进行新的预测与修正。仿真实验中，DLMUKF算法的平均定位误差约为传统多边定位算法的15%，约为基于无迹卡尔曼滤波（UKF）定位算法的16%，受节点运动时间与速度的影响最小。通过实验证明DLMUKF算法能更充分利用实际距离值，可以有效减小运动节点的定位误差。 .txt     

Milk from cows fed a diet with a high forage:concentrate ratio improves inflammatory state,oxidative stress,and mitochondrial function in rats

Excessive energy intake may evoke complex biochemical processes characterized by inflammation, oxidative stress, and impairment of mitochondrial function that represent the main factors underlying noncommunicable diseases. Because cow milk is widely used for human nutrition and in food industry processing, the nutritional quality of milk is of special interest with respect to human health. In our study, we analyzed milk produced by dairy cows fed a diet characterized by a high forage:concentrate ratio (high forage milk, HFM). In view of the low n-6:n-3 ratio and high content of conjugated linoleic acid of HFM, we studied the effects of this milk on lipid metabolism, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress in a rat model. To this end, we supplemented for 4 wk the diet of male Wistar rats with HFM and with an isocaloric amount (82 kJ, 22 mL/d) of milk obtained from cows fed a diet with low forage:concentrate ratio, and analyzed the metabolic parameters of the animals. Our results indicate that HFM may positively affect lipid metabolism, leptin:adiponectin ratio, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, providing the first evidence of the beneficial effects of HFM on rat metabolism.     

The control of paracetamol particle size and surface morphology through crystallisation in a spray dryer

The parameters governing the crystallisation of paracetamol using various conventional techniques has been extensively studied, however the factors influencing the drug crystallisation using spray drying is not as well understood. The aim of this work was to investigate the crystallisation of an active pharmaceutical ingredient through evaporative crystallisation using a spray dryer to study the physicochemical properties of the drug and to use semi-empirical equations to gain insight into the morphology and particle size of the dried powder. Paracetamol solutions were spray dried at various inlet temperatures ranging from 60 °C to 120 °C and also from a series of inlet feed solvent compositions ranging from 50/50% v/v ethanol/water to 100% ethanol and solid-state characterisation was done. The size and morphology of the dried materials were altered with a change in spray drying parameters, with an increase in inlet temperature leading to an increase in particle Sauter mean diameter (from 3.0 to 4.4 µm) and a decrease in the particle size with an increase in ethanol concentration in the feed (from 4.6 to 4.4 µm) as a result of changes in particle density and atomised droplet size. The morphology of the dried particles consisted of agglomerates of individual crystallites bound together into larger semi-spherical agglomerates with a higher tendency for particles having crystalline ridges to form at higher ethanol concentrations of the feed.     

一种下肢运动意图识别算法性能实时测评系统* .txt

摘要：对腿部运动意图识别算法的实时性能进行综合可靠的评价是实现下肢假肢灵活稳定控制的前提。提出一种逐层分级的基于下肢运动意图识别算法的实时测评方法，对算法的可靠性、稳定性以及运动意图识别速度进行综合评价。利用开发的运动意图识别算法评测系统，对基于肌电信号源和机械信号源的两种运动意图识别算法进行了实时性能测试，发现肌电信号源的算法识别时间大于机械信号源算法，但是其算法稳定性优于机械信号源算法。进一步地，还利用该评测系统有效地区分出正常识别策略与异常识别策略，发现正常策略的动作识别稳定系数比异常策略高25%左右。因此，所提的基于下肢运动意图识别算法的实时测评方法，能够对不同信号源算法以及不同识别策略的实时性能进行有效评价，为智能下肢假肢控制系统开发提供可供参考的测试平台。 .txt     

Doping manganese into CsPb(Cl/Br)3 quantum dots glasses: Dual-color emission and super thermal stability

CsPbX₃ (X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite quantum dots (QDs) represent bright and tunable photoluminescence, it is regrettable that the air instability and poor water resistant properties prevent their application in optoelectronic devices. At the same time, the toxicity of lead is also a major factor restricting its development. As a consequence, we demonstrate the partial replacement of Pb with Mn through conventional melt-quenching and heat-treatment method preparation of Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass. Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass exhibits high luminescent intensity like QDs. It is important that Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass with Dual-Color maintained the same lattice structure like Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QDs, and highly homogeneous spectral characteristics of Mn luminescence. The intensity and position of this Mn-related emission are also tunable by altering the experimental parameters, such as the Pb-to-Mn feed ratio, annealing temperature. More importantly, the as-prepared orange Mn-doped CsPb(Cl/Br)₃ QD glass was employed to fabricate white LEDs combined with a commercial Ce³⁺:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ phosphor-in-glass (Ce-PiG) on top of a InGaN blue chip. And the constructed WLEDs generate a warm white with an optimal luminous efficacy (LE) of 67.00 lm/W, a high CRI of 81.4, and a low CCT of 4902 K.     

Quantitative structure-properties relationship,molecular dynamic simulations and designs of some novel lubricant additives

Quantitative structure-properties relationship (QSPR) method was used to design some novel antioxidant lubricant additives, while molecular dynamics simulations were used to calculate their dynamic binding energies on steel and to hydrogen-containing DLC (a-C: H) crystal surfaces. 29 synthesized antioxidant lubricant additives were collected from literature and geometrically optimized by Spartan’14 version 1.1.2 software while Genetic Function Algorithm (GFA) method of the material studio version 8.0 software was used to build the predictive QSPR model. Four novel antioxidant lubricant additives were successfully designed out of which E)-3-(4-((3-amino-4-methylphenyl)diazenyl)-5-hydroxy-4H-pyrazol-3-yl)-2-argio-6,7-difluoroquinazolin-4(3H)-one with excellent property of 3.531295 (KOH/g) was found to be better than the one reported by other researchers. The dynamic binding energy results revealed that one of the designed additives was excellently bound to steel (?1120.11 kcal/mol) and to hydrogen-containing DLC (a-C: H) crystals surface (7814.156 kcal/mol) surfaces than its co-additives. This investigation shows that the entire studied antioxidant lubricant additive was found to be better bound to the steel surface than hydrogen-containing DLC (a-C: H) crystals surface. This study will help in synthesizing novel anti-oxidant lubricant additives with better additive properties that will slow the tendency of oil to oxidize and will not possess a threat to the environment as the structures do not contain zinc and phosphorus that could limit the operation of the catalytic converter in the exhaust pipe.     

Can lanthanum doping enhance catalytic performance of silver in direct propylene epoxidation over NaMoAg/SiO_2?

In the attempt to reduce surface free energy of silica to improve interaction of silica with silver, silica was doped by different amounts of low surface energy lanthanum, La_2O_3, through impregnation. The doped and undoped silica were used as supports for preparation of Na/Ag/Mo/La_2O_3-SiO_2 catalysts. Catalytic performances of the catalysts were evaluated in direct epoxidation of propylene(DPO) using molecular oxygen under atmospheric pressure and without adding hydrogen. Adding 5 wt%La to the Na/Ag/Mo/SiO_2 catalyst improves both the catalysts electivity in DPO and its stability over 20h of time-on-stream.The characterization results show that La_2O_3 species interact strongly with silver particles on the silica surface which result in significant improvement in the dispersion profile of silver and marked decrease in the size of silver nanoparticles(AgNPs). The estimated mean diameter of AgNPs is ca. 4.0 nm in Na/Ag/Mo/5 wt%La_2O_3-SiO_2, which is smaller than that(53.9 nm) found in Na/Ag/SiO_2. The presence of subnanometer AgNPs on Ag/La_2O_3-SiO_2 prior addition of MoO_3 and NaCl to the sample can enhance the mutual electronic synergism between Ag, MoO_3 and Na for selective production of propylene oxide.     

高强度大桥缆索用盘条生产现状分析

最近5年，大桥缆索用镀锌钢丝抗拉强度有了大幅提高，从1 770 MPa级、1 860 MPa级、1 960 MPa级到目前的2 000 MPa及以上级别，扭转指标有了颠覆性的改变，从之前的几转到目前的十几转、二十几转。论述了国内外钢铁企业生产大桥缆索镀锌钢丝用盘条的不同现状。从成分设计、生产工艺流程、盘条韧化处理方式和组织特点等方面进行阐述，讨论了国内外不同生产工艺特点及发展趋势，为中国大桥缆索镀锌钢丝用盘条的生产提供理论支持。     

Common due date assignment scheduling for a no-wait flowshop with convex resource allocation and learning effect

This article addresses the no-wait flowshop scheduling problem with simultaneous consideration of common due date assignment, convex resource allocation and learning effect in a two machine setting. The processing time of each job can be controlled by its position in a sequence and also by allocating extra resource, which is a convex function of the amount of a common continuously divisible resource allocated to the job. The objective is to determine the optimal common due date, the resource allocation and the schedule of jobs such that the total earliness, tardiness and common due date cost (the total resource consumption cost) are minimized under the constraint condition that the total resource consumption cost (the total earliness, tardiness and common due date cost) is limited. Polynomial time algorithms are developed for two versions of the problem.