Enhancement of the thermoelectric performance of bulk SnTe alloys via the synergistic effect of band structure modification and chemical bond softening

Wang, Hongchao,Hwang, Junphil,Zhang, Chao,Wang, Teng,Su, Wenbin,Kim, Hoon,Kim, Jungwon,Zhai, Jinze,Wang, Xue,Park, Hwanjoo,Kim, Woochul,Wang, Chunlei Royal Society of Chemistry 2017 Journal of Materials Chemistry A Vol.5 No.27

<P>SnTe alloys, which have the same crystal structure as PbTe, have attracted increasing attention. Here, we demonstrate that the synergistic effect of band structure modification and chemical bond softening can be realized simultaneously in In & Mn doped SnTe bulk alloys. The Seebeck coefficient and power factor are synergistically improved by co-doping of In and Mn. In doping is known to introduce a resonance level. Mn doping reduces the separation of light- and heavy-valence bands. The combination of these effects significantly enhances the Seebeck coefficient at room temperature owing to around a factor of five times increase in the band effective mass. The reduction of thermal conductivity is from the decrease of both the electronic and phononic parts. The electronic thermal conductivity is decreased by the increase in defect scattering, as can be confirmed by the carrier mobility. The force constant of the bonds around the Te site is decreased due to the co-doping of In & Mn, which indicates that the chemical bonds are softened, which leads to low sound velocity and lower lattice thermal conductivity. As a result, the peak thermoelectric figure of merit,<I>zT</I>= 1.03 has been achieved for Sn0.89In0.01Mn0.1Te at 923 K. This strategy of using the synergistic effect of band structure modification and chemical bond softening could be applicable to other thermoelectric materials.</P>

Parkinson’s Disease with Fatigue: Clinical Characteristics and Potential Mechanisms Relevant to α-Synuclein Oligomer

Li-Jun Zuo,Shu-Yang Yu,Fang Wang,Yanghui Xia,Ying-Shan Piao,Yang Du,Teng-Hong Lian,Rui-Dan Wang,Qiu-Jin Yu,Ya-Jie Wang,Xiao-Min Wang,Piu Chan,Sheng-Di Chen,Yongjun Wang,Wei Zhang 대한신경과학회 2016 Journal of Clinical Neurology Vol.12 No.2

Background and Purpose The aim of this study was to identify the clinical characteristics and potential mechanisms relevant to pathological proteins in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients who experience fatigue. Methods PD patients (n=102) were evaluated using a fatigue severity scale and scales for motor and nonmotor symptoms. The levels of three pathological proteins—α-synuclein oligomer, β-amyloid (Aβ)1-42, and tau—were measured in 102 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from these PD patients. Linear regression analyses were performed between fatigue score and the CSF levels of the above-listed pathological proteins in PD patients. Results The frequency of fatigue in the PD patients was 62.75%. The fatigue group had worse motor symptoms and anxiety, depression, and autonomic dysfunction. The CSF level of α-synuclein oligomer was higher and that of Aβ1-42 was lower in the fatigue group than in the non-fatigue group. In multiple linear regression analyses, fatigue severity was significantly and positively correlated with the α-synuclein oligomer level in the CSF of PD patients, after adjusting for confounders. Conclusions PD patients experience a high frequency of fatigue. PD patients with fatigue have worse motor and part nonmotor symptoms. Fatigue in PD patients is associated with an increased α-synuclein oligomer level in the CSF

Hybrid Scheduling and Quantized Output Feedback Control for Networked Control Systems

Tengli Wang,Chuan Zhou,Hui Lu,Junda He,Jian Guo 제어·로봇·시스템학회 2018 International Journal of Control, Automation, and Vol.16 No.1

A novel co-design scheme of hybrid scheduling strategy, adaptive logarithmic quantizer and dynamic robust H-infinity output feedback controller for a class of networked control system (NCS)with communication constraints and time delay is proposed. The hybrid scheduling scheme integrates dead zone scheduling and Try Once Discard (TOD) scheduling so as to get the stronger adaptability and flexibility than the single scheduling. In this scheme, dead zone scheduling which updates the threshold according to mode-dependent control strategy is used for single node of NCS to reduce the network bandwidth utilization while TOD scheduling is used for the whole node of NCS in order to meet the requirements of communication constraints and guarantee the overall system performance.We develop the integrated design for the hybrid scheduling strategy, adaptive quantizer and dynamic robust output feedback controller to maintain asymptotic stability of the closed-loop NCS by using the multiple-Lyapunov function and switched system theory. The proposed method can improve the the quality of service (QoS) meanwhile ensure the quality of control (QoC) of overall systems, which make a better trade-off between network utilization and control performance. An simulation example demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed method.

Clinical Features and Prognosis of Patients with Benign Thyroid Disease Accompanied by an Incidental Papillary Carcinoma

Wang, Shi-Fu,Zhao, Wen-He,Wang, Wei-Bin,Teng, Xiao-Dong,Teng, Li-Song,Ma, Zhi-Min Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.2

Purpose: To investigate the clinical features and prognosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with a background of benign disease. Method: A total of 709 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma undergoing surgical resection were analyzed retrospectively. In 147 patients who underwent surgery for benign thyroid disease, incidental PTC (IPC group) were identified by intraoperative or postoperative pathological examination of surgical specimens but were not detected by preoperative imaging studies. In the other group, according to the pathological examination with or without co-existing benign thyroid disease, 253 cases were clarified as concomitant PTC and 309 cases were clarified as dominant PTC. Results: Incidental PTC was more common in women, about 85.7%, the mean age was $47.6{\pm}11.3$ years old. Average tumor diameter was $4.4{\pm}2.2$ mm, multiple lesions accounted for 12.9% (19/147), and the cervical lymph node metastasis rate was 6.1% (9/147). After radical resection 8 cases recurred, the median time of recurrence was about 12 months (0.5 to 162), there was no tumor-related death. The tumor-free survival rates were 97.3%, 95.9%, 91.5%, and 79.3% in 1, 5, 10 and 14 year respectively. Conclusion: Incidental PTC with a background of benign lesions is common, and the generally good prognosis can be attributed to tumor early detection and early treatment. On the intraoperative finding of incidental PTC, lobectomy (unilateral) or total thyroidectomy (bilateral) should be the first choice, but with a postoperative pathologic finding of incidental PTC, further treatment, such as completion thyroidectomy or immediate lymph dissection is not necessary. Central lymph node dissection is also not needed unless lymphadenectasis is present.

Distributed Power Control and Removal Algorithms for Multimedia CDMA Wireless Networks

Wang, Jui-Teng The Korea Institute of Information and Commucation 2003 Journal of communications and networks Vol.5 No.3

We study in this paper both distributed power control and removal algorithms for multimedia CDMA wireless networks. In our study, users can have different data rates as well as different quality of service (QoS) requirements. We derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the fully distributed power control (FDPC) algorithm to find a feasible power set. We also prove that, if the maximal power level is used at the start, then the distributed constrained power control (DCPC) algorithm is equivalent to the FDPC algorithm. For the connection removal algorithm, we prove that the non-reinitialized removal algorithm finds a feasible power set faster and employs smaller power levels than the reinitialized one does. Performances of some connection removal criteria are also studied. Our simulation results reveal that the smallest normalized CIR (SNC) and largest CIR requirement (LCR) criteria result in smaller outage probability than the smallest CIR (SC) criterion in a multimedia environment.

Conductivity relaxation in NiTiO3 at high temperatures

Teng Li,Chun Chang Wang,Chang Mei Lei,Xiao Hong Sun,Guo Jing Wang,Liu Na Liu 한국물리학회 2013 Current Applied Physics Vol.13 No.8

NiTiO3 ceramics were prepared via the traditional solid-state reaction route. The dielectric properties of NiTiO3 ceramics have been systematically investigated in the temperature range from room temperature to 1073 K NiTiO3 ceramics exhibit intrinsic dielectric response in the temperature range below 400 K. Two relaxations were observed in the temperature range higher than 400 K. The relaxation activation energy is 0.95 eV and 1.17 eV for the low- and high-temperature relaxations, respectively. Our results strongly indicate that the two relaxations are related to conductivity relaxation associated with the singly and doubly ionized oxygen vacancies.

Role of Nucleation-Promoting Factors in Mouse Early Embryo Development

Wang, Qiao-Chu,Liu, Jun,Wang, Fei,Duan, Xing,Dai, Xiao-Xin,Wang, Teng,Liu, Hong-Lin,Cui, Xiang-Shun,Sun, Shao-Chen,Kim, Nam-Hyung Cambridge University Press 2013 Microscopy and microanalysis Vol.19 No.3

<B>Abstract</B><P>During mitosis nucleation-promoting factors (NPFs) bind to the Arp2/3 complex and activate actin assembly. JMY and WAVE2 are two critical members of the NPFs. Previous studies have demonstrated that NPFs promote multiple processes such as cell migration and cytokinesis. However, the role of NPFs in development of mammalian embryos is still unknown. Results of the present study show that the NPFs JMY and WAVE2 are critical for cytokinesis during development of mouse embryos. Both JMY and WAVE2 are expressed in mouse embryos. After injection of JMY or WAVE2 siRNA, all embryos failed to develop to the morula or blastocyst stages. Moreover, using fluorescence intensity analysis, we found that the expression of actin decreased, and multiple nuclei were observed within a single cell indicating that NPFs-induced actin reduction caused the failure of cell division. In addition, injection of JMY and WAVE2 siRNA also caused ARP2 degradation, indicating that involvement of NPFs in development of mouse embryos is mainly through regulation of ARP2/3-induced actin assembly. Taken together, these data suggested that WAVE2 and JMY are involved in development of mouse embryos, and their regulation may be through a NPFs-Arp2/3-actin pathway.</P>

Association of Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -9 Expression with Extra-gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Metastasis

Wang, Chao,Ma, Hong-Xi,Jin, Mei-Shan,Zou, Ya-Bin,Teng, Yong-Liang,Tian, Zhuang,Wang, Hai-Ying,Wang, Yin-Ping,Duan, Xiu-Mei Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.10

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 are important proteases involved in invasion and metastasis of various tumors. Extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors (EGISTs) are rare neoplasms. This study was performed to assess MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression in EGIST tissue samples for association with clinicopathological data from the patients. Twenty-one surgical EGIST tissue specimens were collected for analysis of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression using immunohistochemistry. MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins were expressed in all of the epithelial cell types of EGISTs, whereas they were only expressed in 75% of the spindle cell type, although there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). Expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins was associated with tumor size, mitotic rate, tumor necrosis, and distant metastasis (p<0.05). MMP-2 expression was linked with MMP-9 levels (p<0.05). However, there was no correlation between MMP-9 expression and age, sex, primary site, or cell morphology in any of these 21 EGIST patients (p>0.05). Moreover, expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins increased with the degree of EGIST risk. This study provided evidence of an association of MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression with advanced EGIST behavior.

Interaction of Coping Styles and Psychological Stress on Anxious and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Breast Cancer Patients

Wang, Xi,Wang, Shu-Sen,Peng, Rou-Jun,Qin, Tao,Shi, Yan-Xia,Teng, Xiao-Yu,Liu, Dong-Gen,Chen, Wei-Qing,Yuan, Zhong-Yu Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.4

Purpose: This study aimed to assess possible interactive effects of coping styles and psychological stress on depression and anxiety symptoms in Chinese women shortly after diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods: Four hundred and one patients with breast cancer were face-to-face interviewed by trained research staff according to a standardized questionnaire including information on socio-demographic characteristics, psychological stress, coping styles, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Interactive effects were assessed by hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Results: There were significant associations of the four domains of psychological stress with anxiety and depressive symptoms except for the relationship between "worrying about health being harmed" and depressive symptoms. "Abreaction coping behavior" and "escaping coping behavior" significantly increased the level of both anxiety and depressive symptoms; whereas an "active coping style" reswulted in significant decrease. The interaction of "active coping behavior" with "worrying about health being harmed" significantly increased the risk of the anxiety symptoms, while adopting "self-relaxing coping behavior" was associated with significant decrease. The interaction of "worry about daily life and social relationship being restricted" with "escaping coping behavior" significantly increased the risk of the depressive symptoms. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that certain coping styles might moderate the association of psychological stress with anxiety and depressive symptoms in Chinese women with breast cancer.

Mechanism of nitrogen-fluoride co-doped TiO2/bentonite composites removing tetracycline: A study in the co-doping ratio

Teng WANG,Zhaofu MENG,Xinxin WANG,Amjad ALI,Xuewen CAO,Lin LIU 대한환경공학회 2021 Environmental Engineering Research Vol.26 No.6

N-doped and N-F co-doped TiO2/bentonite composites were synthesized via the gel-sol method. The morphology, structure and surface charge of the composite before and after adsorption were used to determine the effect N/F doping ratio on TC removal. The results showed that, compared with undoped samples, the TC adsorption on N doped composites was reduced by 24.44% on average. N-F co-doping significantly increased the TC adsorption when the Ti-N-F molar ratio was 1:1: 0.01, reaching a maximum TC adsorption of 64.00 mmol·kg−1. The coverage of the N doped TiO2 increases as the N doping ratio increases; the specific surface area increased by 2.03 % on average, but the number of surface negative charges decreased by 36.24 % on average. FT-IR results confirmed that N doping reduced the number of -OH groups on the N-doped composites. Additionally, fluorination of N-F co-doped TiO2 and bentonite surfaces inhibits hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions between the TC and the composites. As the N doping ratio increased, the coverage of N-F co-doped TiO2 on the composite surface increased, resulting in the TC adsorption decrease with the increases N doping ratio.