Rapid reactive synthesis of Ti₂AlC-TiB₂ composites by spark plasma sintering

Wei-Bing Zhou,Bing-Chu. Mei,Jiao-Qun. Zhu 한양대학교 세라믹연구소 2009 Journal of Ceramic Processing Research Vol.10 No.1

In this paper, dense Ti₂AlC/TiB₂ composites were successfully fabricated by a rapid reactive sintering process by a spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique using Ti, Al, TiC and B₄C powders. The microstructure, flexural strength and fracture toughness of the composites were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the Vickers hardness increased with an increase in TiB₂ content. The maximum flexural strength (573 MPa) and fracture toughness (6.2 MPa·m½) were achieved through the addition of 10 vol%TiB₂. The incorporation of a TiB₂ phase makes a positive contribution to its electrical conductivity. In this paper, dense Ti₂AlC/TiB₂ composites were successfully fabricated by a rapid reactive sintering process by a spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique using Ti, Al, TiC and B₄C powders. The microstructure, flexural strength and fracture toughness of the composites were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the Vickers hardness increased with an increase in TiB₂ content. The maximum flexural strength (573 MPa) and fracture toughness (6.2 MPa·m½) were achieved through the addition of 10 vol%TiB₂. The incorporation of a TiB₂ phase makes a positive contribution to its electrical conductivity.

The association of ambient air pollution with airway inflammation in schoolchildren.

Chen, Bing-Yu,Chan, Chang-Chuan,Lee, Chung-Te,Cheng, Tsun-Jen,Huang, Wen-Chuan,Jhou, Ji-Ci,Han, Yueh-Ying,Chen, Chu-Chih,Guo, Yue Leon School of Hygiene and Public Health of the Johns H 2012 American Journal of Epidemiology Vol.175 No.8

<P>The biologic mechanisms involved in airway inflammatory response to air pollution are not clearly understood. The authors conducted a longitudinal study to investigate whether exposure to ambient air pollutants affected inflammatory cells and mediators from nasal lavage in schoolchildren. Study participants were 100 elementary and middle-school students in New Taipei City, Taiwan. A structured respiratory health questionnaire was administered in September 2007, followed by monthly measurement of nasal inflammation from October 2007 to November 2009. During the study period, daily concentrations of air pollutants were obtained from the Environmental Protection Administration monitoring station and the Aerosol Supersite. Mixed-effects models were applied to examine the association between air pollution and nasal inflammatory cells and mediators, including percentages of neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes in lavaged cells and interleukin-8. A total of 824 measurements were obtained from 100 participants over a period of 10 months. The level of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM(2.5)) was found to be associated with percentage of neutrophils (β = 3.45%, 95% confidence interval: 0.89, 6.01) and interleukin-8 level (β = 29.98 pg/mL, 95% confidence interval: 3.26, 56.69) in the nasal lavage on the day of exposure. In this longitudinal cohort study of schoolchildren, results indicated that exposure to PM(2.5) might induce nasal inflammation.</P>

B7-H4 Expression is Associated with Cancer Progression and Predicts Patient Survival in Human Thyroid Cancer

Zhu, Jian,Chu, Bing-Feng,Yang, Yi-Peng,Zhang, Sheng-Lai,Zhuang, Ming,Lu, Wen-Jie,Liu, Ying-Bin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.5

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the expression of B7-H4 in human thyroid cancer and determine any association with patient clinicopathological parameters and survival. Methods: B7-H4 expression in 64 clinical thyroid cancer specimens was assessed with immunohistochemistry. Moreover, B7-H4 mRNA expression in 10 fresh resected specimens were evaluated by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Immunohistochemical staining of CD3 was performed to assess the number of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) in thyroid cancers. Results: Positive B7-H4 immunohistochemical staining was observed in 61 out of 64 (95.3%) specimens of thyroid cancer tissues. Significantly more B7-H4 mRNA copies were found in thyroid cancer tissue than that adjacent normal tissue. Moreover, B7-H4 expression in human thyroid cancer tissues was significantly correlated with patient TNM stages and extrathyroidal extension (P<0.05), being inversely correlated with the number of TILs (P<0.05). The overall survival rate of the patients with higher B7-H4 expression was significantly worse than that of the patients with lower B7-H4 expression. Conclusions: This present study suggests that high B7-H4 expression is associated with cancer progression, reduced tumor immunosurveillance and worse patient outcomes in human thyroid cancer.

Effects of Additives of CaO and Rare-Earth Oxides on the Sintering Behavior of AlN Ceramics

Chih-Hung Chu,Yun-Hwei Shen,Chih-Peng Lin,Shaw-Bing Wen 한국물리학회 2008 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.52 No.5

The effect of additives of CaO plus three different rare-earth oxides (Y, Sm and Gd, separately) on the sintering behavior of AlN ceramics has been evaluated at 1700℃ by using a MoSi2 heater and ambient atmosphere. The results of density measurements show that the atomic weight of the rare-earth element may substantially affect the apparent density of the sintered AlN specimen due to the kinetics of atomic diffusion during sintering. The optimum results of this study show that these additives are effective in obtaining an apparent density of 3.26 g/cm3 (approaching a 100 % theoretical density of AlN). The Vicker's hardness of the sintered AlN can reach a high value of 1310 kg/mm2 and an apparent density of 3.34 g/cm3. A longer soaking time of between 3 and 5 h is necessary to practically eliminate the minor oxide phases. The effect of additives of CaO plus three different rare-earth oxides (Y, Sm and Gd, separately) on the sintering behavior of AlN ceramics has been evaluated at 1700℃ by using a MoSi2 heater and ambient atmosphere. The results of density measurements show that the atomic weight of the rare-earth element may substantially affect the apparent density of the sintered AlN specimen due to the kinetics of atomic diffusion during sintering. The optimum results of this study show that these additives are effective in obtaining an apparent density of 3.26 g/cm3 (approaching a 100 % theoretical density of AlN). The Vicker's hardness of the sintered AlN can reach a high value of 1310 kg/mm2 and an apparent density of 3.34 g/cm3. A longer soaking time of between 3 and 5 h is necessary to practically eliminate the minor oxide phases.

Hepatitis B virus X protein-mediated non-coding RNA aberrations in the development of human hepatocellular carcinoma

Bei Zhang,Siqi Han,Bing Feng,Xiaoyuan Chu,Longbang Chen,Rui Wang 생화학분자생물학회 2017 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.49 No.-

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has an important role in the development of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Accumulated evidence has shown that HBV-encoded X protein (HBx) can induce both genetic alterations in tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes, as well as epigenetic aberrations in HCC pathogens. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) mainly include microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Although ncRNAs cannot code proteins, growing evidence has shown that they have various important biological functions in cell proliferation, cell cycle control, anti-apoptosis, epithelial–mesenchymal transition, tumor invasion and metastasis. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the mechanisms and emerging roles of ncRNAs in the pathogenesis of HBV-related HCC. Accumulated data have shown that ncRNAs regulated by HBx have a crucial role in HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis. The findings of these studies will contribute to more clinical applications of HBV-related ncRNAs as potential diagnostic markers or as molecular therapeutic targets to prevent and treat HBV-related HCC.

Two-Inductor Non-Isolated DC-DC Converter with High Step-Up Voltage Gain

Sze Sing Lee,Bing Chu,Chee Shen Lim,이교범 전력전자학회 2019 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.19 No.5

In this paper, an alternative non-isolated DC-DC converter with a high voltage boosting capability is proposed. Two inductors are used and one of them has its flux linkage increases during its charging period to achieve a high step-up voltage gain. Among the three integrated capacitors, one portrays the partial characteristic of the switched-capacitor technique, while the other two are connected in series across the load. With the two switches controlled using the same duty cycle, the proposed topology demonstrates the merits of a higher and wider range of step-up voltage gain when compared with recent topologies. In addition, a reduction in loss is induced and a higher efficiency is ensured with all the voltage stresses constrained within the output voltage. Operation of the proposed converter is analyzed and validated through experimental results obtained with a prototype.

类型观念下中国大陆电影艺术性与商业性的动态平衡及实践启示

曹峻?(Cao, Jun-Bing),?楚(Yan, Chu) 중국문화연구학회 2018 중국문화연구 Vol.0 No.40

It is undoubtedly correct and necessary for the creation of Chinese mainland film to emphasize the organic unification of artistry and commercial, and the dual construction of social benefits and economic benefits. Even for the film creation of major Asian film countries such as Korea, India, Iran and Vietnam, it has some enlightening significance. Because movies are not main products that have value in use like shoes, it’s cultural value and ideological attachment make it a cultural product that based on large industries, which can appeal to people"s mind. Therefore, while taking responsibility for the market, we must have moral and historical responsibility. This article is based on the premise of combing the concept of types and types of Hollywood movies, the development of domestic films types, models and strategies, discriminating and analyzing the artistic and commercial semantics of the film and the theoretical principles of the coexistence of both. Trying to come up with a concept which is a dynamic quantification standard data that is relative, dynamic and operable for commercial and artistic quality of various types of domestic films, to make sure the dynamic balance of the artistic and commercial. And then points out that the film must have artistic scale and the moral bottom line, as well as domestic film type don’t break artistic scale and the moral bottom line of artistic and commercial the ratio of the minimum standard of dynamic quantitative data. Aimed at the dilemma of how to focus on the artistic and commercial in the creative practice, the introduction of operational artistic and commercial ratio dynamic quantification standard data should be helpful to the future of film production in Chinese mainland, and even to Asian films that arising or taking off.

Two-Inductor Non-Isolated DC-DC Converter with High Step-Up Voltage Gain

Lee, Sze Sing,Chu, Bing,Lim, Chee Shen,Lee, Kyo-Beum The Korean Institute of Power Electronics 2019 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.19 No.5

In this paper, an alternative non-isolated DC-DC converter with a high voltage boosting capability is proposed. Two inductors are used and one of them has its flux linkage increases during its charging period to achieve a high step-up voltage gain. Among the three integrated capacitors, one portrays the partial characteristic of the switched-capacitor technique, while the other two are connected in series across the load. With the two switches controlled using the same duty cycle, the proposed topology demonstrates the merits of a higher and wider range of step-up voltage gain when compared with recent topologies. In addition, a reduction in loss is induced and a higher efficiency is ensured with all the voltage stresses constrained within the output voltage. Operation of the proposed converter is analyzed and validated through experimental results obtained with a prototype.

Model Predictive Control of Neutral Point Clamped Inverter with Reduced Switching Frequency

Mu Li,Shu Zhan,Bing Chu,Xingda Yan 전력전자학회 2019 ICPE(ISPE)논문집 Vol.2019 No.5

This paper proposes a novel model predictive control (MPC) algorithm with reduced switching frequency for Neutral Point Clamped (NPC) inverters. The proposed method can reduce the switching frequency through the optimization of switching sequences, while keeping the advantages of the conventional MPC method such as fast response and handling multiple constraints. The performance of this proposed method is verified by simulation results with a three-level NPC inverter.

Association of TNF-α-308 and -238 Polymorphisms with Risk of Cervical Cancer: A Meta-analysis

Pan, Feng,Tian, Jing,Ji, Chu-Shu,He, Yi-Fu,Han, Xing-Hua,Wang, Yong,Du, Jian-Ping,Jiang, Feng-Shou,Zhang, Ying,Pan, Yue-Yin,Hu, Bing Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.11

Published data on the associations between tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) promoter -308G>A and -238G>A polymorphisms and cervical cancer risk are inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship, a meta-analysis was performed. Data were collected from MEDLINE and PubMed databases. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in a fixed/random effect model. 13 separate studies including 3294 cases and 3468 controls were involved in the meta-analysis. We found no association between TNF-${\alpha}$-308G>A polymorphism and cervical cancer in overall population. In subgroup analysis, significantly elevated risks were found in Caucasian population (A vs. G: OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.00-2.03; AA vs. GG: OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.34-3.25; Recessive model: OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.35-3.25) and African population (GA vs. GG: OR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.02-2.30). An association of TNF-${\alpha}$-238G>A polymorphism with cervical cancer was found (A vs. G: OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.47-0.78; GA vs. GG: OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.45-0.77; Dominant model: OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.46-0.77). When stratified by ethnicity, similar association was observed in Caucasian population (A vs. G: OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.46-0.84; GA vs. GG: OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.43-0.82; Dominant model: OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.44-0.83). In summary, this meta-analysis suggests that TNF-${\alpha}$-238A allele significantly decreased the cervical cancer risk, and the TNF-${\alpha}$-308G>A polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility to cervical cancer in Caucasian and African population.