The energy efficiency of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) remains to be improved, and a two-speed transmission can be regarded as a prominent technology for BEVs because the two-speed transmission ...can improve acceleration and powertrain efficiency. However, the transmission device requires a well-designed control strategy because the performance of the vehicle can deteriorate if the controller selects an inefficient gear step. Herein, a gear shifting control concept based on dynamic programming is proposed to maximize the system efficiency, where the shifting loss caused by shifting actuators is considered in the control problem. The performance of the proposed control concept is compared to that of a controller utilizing a shifting map obtained via quasi-static optimization. It is shown that the proposed concept improves the efficiency by 0.01 ∼ 0.4 % compared with the shifting map applied to different hysteresis gaps, and around 13 % shifting frequency reduction has been experienced while the best energy hysteresis gap is selected. In addition to improving efficiency, the control concept can be extremely beneficial to engineers who wish to design the best control strategy without calibrating the control parameters when the actuator loss is considered in the control problem.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical utility of three-dimension (3D) high-resolution inversion recovery (IR)-prepared fast spoiled gradient-recalled (SPGR) magnetic resonance ...imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of cranial nerve meningeal carcinomatosis (MC).
A total of 114 patients with MC from January 2015 to March 2020 were enrolled and their MRIs were analyzed retrospectively. All patients underwent MRIs before being administered a contrast agent. Both a 2D conventional MRI sequence and a 3D IR-prepared fast SPGR high-resolution T1-weighted (BRAVO) scan sequence were measured after contrast agent administration. The characteristics of MC and the involved cranial nerves were then examined.
Among the 114 MC patients, 81 (71.05%) had cranial nerve enhancement on contrast-enhanced 3D-BRAVO imaging, while only 41 (35.96%) had image enhancement on conventional MRI. The contrast-enhanced 3D-BRAVO displayed stronger image contrast enhancement of the cranial nerves than the conventional MRI (P < 0.001). Furthermore, detection rates for the facial and auditory nerves, trigeminal nerve, oculomotor nerve, sublingual nerve, optic nerve, glossopharyngeal/vagal/accessory nerve, and abductor nerve on contrast-enhanced 3D-BRAVO imaging were 58.77%, 47.37%, 9.65%, 8.77%, 5.26%, 3.51%, and 0.88%, respectively. We found a statistically significant difference between the affected facial and auditory nerves, as well as the trigeminal nerve, oculomotor nerve, sublingual nerve, and optic nerve.
In MC, contrast-enhanced 3D-BRAVO imaging displayed the cranial nerves more effectively than 2D conventional enhanced MRI. The facial, auditory, and trigeminal nerves are the primary nerves involved in MC, and improved scanning of these nerves would aid in the early detection and treatment of MC.
Global distribution patterns of Cladophialophora carrionii, agent of human chromoblastomycosis in arid climates of Africa, Asia, Australia, Central-and South-America, were compared with similar data ...of the vicarious Fonsecaea spp., agents of the disease in tropical rain forests. Population diversities among 73 C. carrionii strains and 60 strains of three Fonsecaea species were analyzed for rDNA ITS, partial β-tubulin, and amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprints. Populations differed significantly between continents. Lowest haplotype diversity was found in South American populations, while African strains were the most diverse. Gene flow was noted between the African population and all other continents. The general pattern of Fonsecaea agents of chromoblastomycosis differed significantly from that of C. carrionii and revealed deeper divergence among three differentiated species with smaller numbers of haplotypes, indicating a longer evolutionary history.
Drying temperature (DT) considerably affects the flavor of black tea (BT); however, its influence on non-volatile metabolites (NVMs) and their correlations remain unclear. In this study, an objective ...quantification technique and widely targeted metabolomics were applied to explore the effects of DT (130 °C, 110 °C, 90 °C, and 70 °C) on BT flavor and NVMs conversion. BT with a DT of 90 °C presented the highest umami, sweetness, overall taste, and brightness color values. Using the weighted gene co-expression network and multiple factor analysis, 455 sensory trait-related NVMs were explored across six key modules. Moreover, 169 differential NVMs were screened, and flavonoids, phenolic acids, amino acids, organic acids, and lipids were identified as key differential NVMs affecting the taste and color attributes of BT in response to DT. These findings enrich the BT processing theory and offer technical support for the precise and targeted processing of high-quality BT.
A novel method avoiding the complex transfer process is proposed to directly grow low-defect and few-layer graphene on different insulating substrates（SiO2, Al2O3, etc.） by remote catalyzation of Cu ...nanoparticles（NPs） using ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition（APCVD）. The insulating substrates with special structure are used as templates to grow wrapped graphene sheets with special shapes.Hollow graphene species are obtained by removing the substrates. The prime feature of the proposed method is using Cu NPs as catalyst rather than metal foils. The Cu NPs play an important role in the remote catalyzation during the nucleation of graphene. This method can improve the quality and relatively decrease the growth temperature of the graphene on the insulating substrates, which displays the great potential of APCVD direct growth of graphene on dielectric substrates for electronic and photovoltaic applications.
In this study, we developed rapid and sensitive assays for the detection of Cladophialophora carrionii, a common agent of human chromoblastomycosis. The isothermal techniques evaluated were ...rolling-circle amplification (RCA), multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). The probes for RCA and MLPA were designed with target sequences in the rDNA internal transcribed spacer gene (ITS) region, and LAMP primers were designed using the elongation factor 1α gene (EF1); these probes and primers specifically amplified DNA of isolates of the species. The three techniques were sufficiently specific and sensitive for discriminating target DNA of C. carrionii from that of related Cladophialophora species and other agents of chromoblastomycosis. RCA, MLPA, and LAMP are advantageous in their reliability and ease of operation compared to standard PCR and conventional methods.
Global distribution patterns of Cladophialophora carrionii, agent of human chromoblastomycosis in arid climates of Africa, Asia, Australia, Central-and South-America, were compared with similar data ...of the vicarious Fonsecaea spp., agents of the disease in tropical rain forests. Population diversities among 73 C. carrionii strains and 60 strains of three Fonsecaea species were analyzed for rDNA ITS, partial Beta-tubulin, and amplified fragment-length polymorphism (AFLP) fingerprints. Populations differed significantly between continents. Lowest haplotype diversity was found in South American populations, while African strains were the most diverse. Gene flow was noted between the African population and all other continents. The general pattern of Fonsecaea agents of chromoblastomycosis differed significantly from that of C. carrionii and revealed deeper divergence among three differentiated species with smaller numbers of haplotypes, indicating a longer evolutionary history.
There is a great deal of effort to develop a luxury Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) that has high fuel efficiency as well as excellent acceleration performances. Among several powertrain systems, the ...multi-mode hybrid systems have several operating modes to achieve high performance, which can select the optimal operating mode according to driving conditions. In this paper the operating modes of the Cadillac CT6 Plug-in with multimode hybrid system have been analyzed and, although more operating modes could be used, it was investigated why GM engineers selected these operating modes. And then, the optimal mode shifting strategy has been proposed based on powertrain efficiency with the energy conversion loss depending on the operating mode. This paper is a summary of the paper submitted to International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology 5.
Proteins of the bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) family are epigenetics “readers” and promising therapeutic targets for cancer and other human diseases. We describe herein a structure-guided ...design of 1,4oxazepines as a new class of BET inhibitors and our subsequent design, synthesis, and evaluation of proteolysis-targeting chimeric (PROTAC) small-molecule BET degraders. Our efforts have led to the discovery of extremely potent BET degraders, exemplified by QCA570, which effectively induces degradation of BET proteins and inhibits cell growth in human acute leukemia cell lines even at low picomolar concentrations. QCA570 achieves complete and durable tumor regression in leukemia xenograft models in mice at well-tolerated dose-schedules. QCA570 is the most potent and efficacious BET degrader reported to date.
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