The hybrid photovoltaic and thermal (PV/T) system can utilize solar energy more effectively and has a higher total efficiency compared with a traditional solar collecting system and a photovoltaic ...(PV) module. However, there is limited experimental data on how much energy the PV/T system can save when operating with same area of a PV plate and a solar collector simultaneously. In this paper, a comparative test rig had been set up to measure and analyze the performance of PV/T system. There were monocrystalline silicon PV/T solar collector, a traditional solar collector and a monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic plate. The PV/T collector and the traditional solar collector had the same collecting areas and solar cell covered area of the PV/T collector was the same as the area of the photovoltaic plate. The experimental results showed that the daily thermal efficiency of PV/T system was about 40%, which was about 75% of that for a traditional solar thermosiphon system, and the daily average electrical efficiency was found about 10%, which was a little lower than the photovoltaic module. But primary-energy saving efficiency of the PV/T system was much higher than that of the individual PV plate and the traditional solar collector.
► The paper presents an experimental study on PV/T system under natural circulation. ► Test and control groups provide much comparative data between different system. ► We clarify effectiveness of PV/T system by comparing with two control groups. ► The results of experiment are useful in designing and evaluation of PV/T system.
Preliminary lens-walled CPC (compound parabolic concentrator) was proposed owing to its larger half acceptance angle, but in fact, it has another advantage of more uniform flux distribution than ...mirror CPC with the same geometrical concentration ratio. In this paper, in order to firstly evaluate the flux distribution of lens-walled CPC comprehensively, a lens-walled CPC PV (compound parabolic concentrator photovoltaic) was fabricated and tested at the different incidence angles comparison with mirror CPC PV. The experimental results showed that the FF (fill-factor) of the mirror CPC PV dropped more sharply than that of the lens-walled CPC PV, which indicated that the lens-walled CPC has a more uniform flux distribution on PV (photovoltaic). In addition, a software simulation of the flux distribution between mirror CPC and lens-walled CPC was carried out. The simulation illustrated clearly this advantage of the lens-walled CPC, which directly demonstrated the experimental inference and would be significant for lens-walled CPC application.
•Lens-walled CPC PV module was fabricated and tested compared with the mirror CPC PV.•The flux distribution of the lens-walled CPC was analyzed through the experiment results.•Software simulation was carried out to verify the flux distribution.•Formulation of the structure of the lens-walled CPC was described.
Finding optimal paths for spatial search and map exploration problems are NP-hard. Since spatial search and environmental exploration are parts of human central activities, learning human behavior ...from data is a way to solve these problems. Utilizing the adaptive submodularity of two problems, this research proposes an adaptive submodular inverse reinforcement learning (ASIRL) algorithm to learn human behavior. The ASIRL approach is to learn the reward functions in the Fourier domain and then recover it in the spatial domain. The near-optimal path can be computed through learned reward functions. The experiments demonstrate that the ASIRL outperforms state of the art approaches (e.g., REWARDAGG and QVALAGG).
The present study was designed to assess the role of family function and social support in the context of different phases of schizophrenia.
First-episode patients with experiences of schizophrenia ...(FEP), ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR), first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with experiences of schizophrenia, and healthy controls (HC) (40 per group) were subjected to in-person clinical interviews. The results of these interviews were then used to gauge social support and family function using the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales (FACESII-CV). Data were analyzed through ANCOVA, correlation analysis and logistic regression analyses.
We found that family function and social support showed a approximately gradual downward trend through the HC, FDR, UHR, and FEP groups but no significant differences were found in the family function of the FDR, UHR and FDR group. Logistic regression analyses indicated that UHR group patients exhibited decreased family support and family cohesion relative to members of the HC group, but had greater perceived social support than did members of the FEP group. Results for members of the FDR group were in line with those of members of the UHR group.
These findings suggested that both UHR and FDR individuals experience impaired family functionality and social support which expanded the understanding of the psychological characteristics of the prodromal period of schizophrenia. Further explorations are warranted to develop optimal psychosocial interventions.
•Both UHR group and FDR group showed impaired family functionality and social support.•Family functioning and social support in the UHR group were intermediate between HC and FEP.•Different family functions and social support perceived by different family members within the same family.
It is unclear whether cilostazol instead of aspirin in combination with clopidogrel could prevent in-stent thrombosis in patients with a history of gout undergoing vertebral artery origin stenting. ...Three men (age range, 58–74 years) were diagnosed with acute ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack. Vertebral artery origin stenosis was visible by computed tomographic angiography or digital subtraction angiography. Four bare metal stents were placed in the vertebral artery origin. The patients were administered 100 mg cilostazol orally twice a day and 75 mg clopidogrel orally once a day perioperatively and 100 mg cilostazol orally twice day was administered indefinitely after 3 months. No in-stent stenosis was observed in all of these patients during a follow-up period up to 19 months. Cilostazol plus clopidogrel has the potential to become an alternative to standard dual antiplatelet therapy in vertebral artery origin stenting. A high-quality clinical trial is needed to verify these preliminary findings.
Summary Background & aims Flavonoids may have cardioprotective effects, but epidemiological evidence on the relationship of dietary flavonoids with diabetes has not been systematically assessed. To ...examine the association between dietary flavonoids and type 2 diabetes, we performed a meta-analysis on this topic. Methods We searched PubMed through March 2013 for relevant cohort studies that assessed total flavonoids and type 2 diabetes risks. A fixed-effect model was used to calculate the summary risk estimates. Results Four articles consisting of 6 prospective cohorts that involved 18,146 cases and 284,806 participants were identified. The summary relative risk (RR) of type 2 diabetes for the highest intake of total flavonoids compared with the lowest was 0.91 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87–0.96). Furthermore, an increase in the total flavonoids intake of 500 mg/d was associated with a significant risk reduction of 5% (RR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.91–0.98). In subgroup analyses, the observed beneficial effects were observed in US population, in those mean age > 40 years old people and in studies ≥20 years in duration. Conclusions The present meta-analysis indicates that consumption of dietary total flavonoids is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.
Understanding complex systems such as the human brain requires characterization of the system's architecture across multiple levels of organization – from neurons, to local circuits, to brain ...regions, and ultimately large-scale brain networks. Here we focus on characterizing the human brain's large-scale network organization, as it provides an overall framework for the organization of all other levels. We developed a highly principled approach to identify cortical network communities at the level of functional systems, calibrating our community detection algorithm using extremely well-established sensory and motor systems as guides. Building on previous network partitions, we replicated and expanded upon well-known and recently-identified networks, including several higher-order cognitive networks such as a left-lateralized language network. We expanded these cortical networks to subcortex, revealing 358 highly-organized subcortical parcels that take part in forming whole-brain functional networks. Notably, the identified subcortical parcels are similar in number to a recent estimate of the number of cortical parcels (360). This whole-brain network atlas – released as an open resource for the neuroscience community – places all brain structures across both cortex and subcortex into a single large-scale functional framework, with the potential to facilitate a variety of studies investigating large-scale functional networks in health and disease.
•Large-scale functional network map of the entire human brain.•Cortical networks based on multiband fMRI, recently-identified regions.•Subcortical extension of networks covering all subcortical structures.•Multiple quality assessments demonstrate robustness of functional networks.•Network atlas released as public resource, providing framework for future studies.
Schistosoma japonicum causes an infection involving humans, livestock, and snails and is a significant cause of morbidity in China.
We evaluated a comprehensive control strategy in two intervention ...villages and two control villages along Poyang Lake in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, where annual synchronous chemotherapy is routinely used. New interventions, implemented from 2005 through 2007, included removing cattle from snail-infested grasslands, providing farmers with mechanized farm equipment, improving sanitation by supplying tap water and building lavatories and latrines, providing boats with fecal-matter containers, and implementing an intensive health-education program. During the intervention period, we observed changes in S. japonicum infection in humans, measured the rate of infection in snails, and tested the infectivity of lake water in mice.
After three transmission seasons, the rate of infection in humans decreased to less than 1.0% in the intervention villages, from 11.3% to 0.7% in one village and from 4.0% to 0.9% in the other (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The rate of infection in humans in control villages fluctuated but remained at baseline levels. In intervention villages, the percentage of sampling sites with infected snails decreased from 2.2% to 0.1% in one grassland area and from 0.3% to no infection in the other (P<0.001 for both comparisons). The rate of infection in mice after exposure to lake water decreased from 79% to no infection (P<0.001).
A comprehensive control strategy based on interventions to reduce the rate of transmission of S. japonicum infection from cattle and humans to snails was highly effective. These interventions have been adopted as the national strategy to control schistosomiasis in China.
Gold nanoparticles (3–4 nm) were deposited on Mn3O4 nanocrystallites with three distinct morphologies (cubic, hexagonal, and octahedral). The resulting structures were characterized, and their ...activities for benzene combustion were evaluated. The dominant exposed facets for the three kinds of Mn3O4 polyhedrons show the activity order: (103)≈(200)>(101). A similar activity order was derived for the interfaces between the Au and the Mn3O4 facet: Au/(200)≈Au/(103)>Au/(101). The metal–support interactions between the Au nanoclusters and specific facets of the Mn3O4 polyhedrons lead to a unique interfacial synergism in which the electronic modification of the Au nanoparticles and the morphology of the Mn3O4 substrate have a joint effect that is responsible for a significant enhancement in the catalytic activity of the Au/Mn3O4 system.
Shape matters: Mn3O4 nanocrystallites of three distinct morphologies and the corresponding Au/Mn3O4 nanocomposites are synthesized in a controlled manner and tested in benzene oxidation. The activities of Mn3O4 facets (103)≈(200)>(101) and Au‐Mn3O4 interfaces Au/(200)≈Au/(103)>Au/(101) are derived. The interaction between electronically modified Au clusters and specific facets of Mn3O4 polyhedrons brings about the unique interfacial synergism responsible for the enhanced performance (see figure).
Histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) plays pivotal roles in cell cycle regulation and is often aberrantly expressed in various cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but little is known about its ...role in liver regeneration and liver cancer cells proliferation. Using an inducible hepatocyte-selective HDAC3 knockout mouse, we find that lack of HDAC3 dramatically impaired liver regeneration and blocked hepatocyte proliferation in the G1 phase entry. HDAC3 inactivation robustly disrupted the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) cascade. HDAC3 silencing impaired the ac-STAT3-to-p-STAT3 transition in the cytoplasm, leading to the subsequent breakdown of STAT3 signaling. Furthermore, overexpressed HDAC3 was further associated with increased tumor growth and a poor prognosis in HCC patients. Inhibition of HDAC3 expression reduced liver cancer cells growth and inhibited xenograft tumor growth. Our results suggest that HDAC3 is an important regulator of STAT3-dependent cell proliferation in liver regeneration and cancer. These findings provide novel insights into the HDAC3-STAT3 pathway in liver pathophysiological processes.
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