Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during pregnancy and infancy increased the risk of upper respiratory tract infections in infants: A birth cohort study in Wuhan,China

We aimed to evaluate the association of the exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during pregnancy and infancy with the risk of upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in infants based on a Chinese birth cohort study. Among 4178 infants who constituted the final study population, 46.8% experienced URTI in their first year of life. The hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the risk of URTI were assessed using Cox regression models. Compared with no ETS during pregnancy, continued ETS during pregnancy was independently associated with a higher risk of URTI (HR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.63) after adjustment for potential confounders and also associated with earlier occurrence of URTI (log-rank P = .002). The association remained consistent across the strata defined according to maternal age, number of siblings, sex, and breastfeeding. Exposure to ETS during infancy was associated with URTI only among infants who were breastfed for less than 12 months (P for interaction < 0.05).Furthermore, infants exposed to ETS during both pregnancy and infancy showed the highest HR of 1.46 (95% CI: 1.16, 1.85) for URTI. Efforts should be made to protect pregnant women and infants from the adverse effects of indoor and outdoor ETS.     

用修正淬透性系数法对反应堆压力容器锻件RTNDT数值的预估

分析反应堆压力容器（RPV）锻件制造过程中关键化学元素含量及基准无塑性转变温度（RTNDT）数值，通过引入修正淬透性系数，建立了反映RTNDT变化规律的修正淬透性系数函数表达式，并给出了实例验证，结果表明，通过本文建立的修正淬透性系数函数式可以比较精确地预估RPV锻件的RTNDT值。      

基于深度学习的文本自动摘要方案

针对自然语言处理（NLP）生成式自动摘要领域的语义理解不充分、摘要语句不通顺和摘要准确度不够高的问题，提出了一种新的生成式自动摘要解决方案，包括一种改进的词向量生成技术和一个生成式自动摘要模型。改进的词向量生成技术以Skip-Gram方法生成的词向量为基础，结合摘要的特点，引入词性、词频和逆文本频率三个词特征，有效地提高了词语的理解；而提出的Bi-MulRnn+生成式自动摘要模型以序列映射（seq2seq）与自编码器结构为基础，引入注意力机制、门控循环单元（GRU）结构、双向循环神经网络（BiRnn）、多层循环神经网络（MultiRnn）和集束搜索，提高了生成式摘要准确性与语句流畅度。基于大规模中文短文本摘要（LCSTS）数据集的实验结果表明，该方案能够有效地解决短文本生成式摘要问题，并在Rouge标准评价体系中表现良好，提高了摘要准确性与语句流畅度。     

Cell therapy using an array of ultrathin hollow microneedles

Microsystem Technologies - Cell transplantation traditionally employs needles to inject donor cells into tissues to treat certain diseases. However, it is difficult for the current method to...     

超低碳钢铸坯皮下气泡缺陷产生原因分析及控制措施

重点分析了超低碳钢铸坯皮下气泡缺陷产生的原因。超低碳钢铸坯皮下气泡是导致其热轧盘条表面产生结疤、翘皮、折叠等表面缺陷的主要原因,影响后续拉拔和镀铜细丝的表面质量,更严重的将导致断丝问题。通过对钢液中气泡产生原因和[C]、[O]对应关系的理论分析,将超低碳钢钢液中的氧活度稳定控制在80μg/g以下,能够有效降低超低碳钢铸坯皮下气泡缺陷产生的几率,保证其成品盘条表面质量的稳定,满足了高端用户的使用要求。     

Electrospinning superhydrophobic–superoleophilic PVDF-SiO2 nanofibers membrane for oil–water separation

Oil–water separation has attracted research interest due to the damages of oily wastewater caused to the environment and human beings. Electrospun fiber membrane has high oil–water separation performance. A nanofibers membrane with multi-stage roughness was prepared by electrospinning using poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)-silica blend solution as raw material. The result shows that the water contact angle (WCA) of the nanofibers membrane was promoted from 138.5 ± 1° to 150.0 ± 1.5° when the SiO₂ content was increased from 0 to 3 wt%. The nanofibers membranes exhibited excellent separation efficiency (99 ± 0.1%) under gravity drive, with high separation flux of 1857 ± 101 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹. More importantly, the obtained PVDF-SiO₂ nanofibers membranes showed excellent multi-cycle performance and stable chemical resistance, which would make them great advantages for the practical application of oil–water separation.     

Experimental analysis of a photoreactor packed with Pd-BiVO4-Coated glass beads

A photoreactor packed with glass beads coated by palladium nanoparticles-modified BiVO₄ was tested and analyzed in phenol degradation under UV–Visible light. The photocatalytic activity of Pd-BiVO₄ under visible light is higher than TiO₂ under UV light, as we previously reported. In this work, we try to use the Pd-BiVO₄ in a large scale by coating the glass beads with it, a potentially industrial-scale use. For comparison, a flat-plate reactor and a slurry reactor were also examined. The photocatalytic activity of Pd-BiVO₄ in phenol degradation was found to be higher than that of TiO₂ in all systems (slurry, flat-plate, and packed beads reactor [PBR]). Furthermore, PBR exhibited higher energy efficiency compared to the flat-plate reactor in phenol oxidation. The superior performance of this reactor is due primarily to the highly exposed catalyst surface area, high mass transfer coefficient, and effective delivery of both photons and reactants to the catalyst surfaces. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 132–139, 2019     

Designing amino-based ionic liquids for improved carbon capture: One amine binds two CO2

Generally, amine group captures CO₂ according to 2:1 or 1:1 stoichiometry. Here, we report a kind of improved carbon capture using amino-functionalized ionic liquids (ILs) through 1:2 stoichiometry. A serial of amino-functionalized ILs various with basicity and steric hindrance of anion were designed, prepared, and applied in CO₂ capture. Through a combination of absorption experiment, quantum chemical calculation, spectroscopic investigation and calorimetric method, the results indicated that one amine group could bind two CO₂ through proton transfer (PT) process and intramolecular hydrogen bond formation, which leading to enhanced capacity that breaks through equimolar. The basicity and steric hindrance of anion play a significant role in promoting amine group to capture two CO₂. [P₆₆₆₁₄]₂[Asp] with dual anion was further designed and synthesized to promote PT process, which showed high capacity of 1.96 mol/mol IL at 30°C and 1 atm as well as excellent reversibility. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 230–238, 2019     

A novel 2D-3D conversion method for calculating maximum strain of geosynthetic reinforcement in pile-supported embankments

For design of a geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported (GRPS) embankment over soft soil, the methods used to calculate strains in geosynthetic reinforcement at a vertical stress were mostly developed based on a plane-strain or two-dimensional (2-D) condition or a strip between two pile caps. These 2-D-based methods cannot accurately predict the strain of geosynthetic reinforcement under a three-dimensional (3-D) condition. In this paper, a series of numerical models were established to compare the maximum strains and vertical deflections (also called sags) of geosynthetic reinforcement under the 2-D and 3-D conditions, considering the following influence factors: soil support, cap shape and pattern, and a cushion layer between cap and reinforcement. The numerical results show that the maximum strain in the geosynthetic reinforcement decreased with an increase of the modulus of subgrade reaction. The 2-D model underestimated the maximum strain and sag in the geosynthetic reinforcement as compared with the 3-D model. The cap shape and pattern had significant influences on the maximum strains in the geosynthetic reinforcements. An empirical method involving the geometric factors of cap shape and pattern, and the soil support was developed to convert the calculated strains of geosynthetic reinforcement in piled embankments under the 2-D condition to those under the 3-D condition and verified through a comparison with the results in the literature.