A Quality Evaluation System for Dissertation Based on Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

A dissertation is a research report or scientific paper written by an author to obtain a certain degree. It reflects postgraduates’ research achievements and the educational quality of an institute, even a country. To construct an optimized quality evaluation system for postgraduate dissertation (QESPD), we summarized the influencing factors and invited 10 experienced specialists to rate and prioritize them based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. Four primary indicators (innovation, integrity, scientificity and normativity) and 16 sub-indicators were selected to form the evaluation system. The order of primary indicators by weight, was innovation (0.4269), scientificity (0.2807), integrity (0.1728) and normativity (0.1196). The top five sub-dimensions were theoretical originality, scientific value, data reliability, design rationality and evidence credibility. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system, a case study was performed. In the case study, it was demonstrated that the established two-index-hierarchy QESPD in this study was a more scientific and reasonable evaluation system worthy of promotion and application.

Energy Blockchain in Smart Communities: Towards Affordable Clean Energy Supply for the Built Environment

The rapid growth of distributed renewable energy penetration is promoting the evolution of the energy system toward decentralization and decentralized and digitized smart grids.This study was based on energy blockchain,and developed a dual-biding mechanism based on the real-time energy surplus and demand in the local smart grid,which is expected to enable reliable,affordable,and clean energy supply in smart communities.In the proposed system,economic benefits could be achieved by replacing fossil-fuel-based electricity with the high penetration of affordable solar PV electricity.The reduction of energy surplus realized by distributed energy production and P2P energy trading,within the smart grid results in less transmission loss and lower requirements for costly upgrading of existing grids.By adopting energy blockchain and smart contract technologies,energy secure trading with a low risk of privacy leakage could be accommodated.The prototype is examined through a case study,and the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed mechanism are further validated by scenario analysis.

Cellular senescence-driven transcriptional reprogramming of the MAFB/NOTCH3 axis activates the PI3K/AKT pathway and promotes osteosarcoma progression

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignancy of bones and primarily occurs in adolescents and young adults.However,a second smaller peak of osteosarcoma incidence was reported in the elderly aged more than 60.Elderly patients with osteosarcoma exhibit different characteristics compared to young patients,which usually results in a poor prognosis.The mechanism underlying osteosarcoma development in elderly patients is intriguing and of significant value in clinical applications.Senescent cells can accelerate tumor progression by metabolic reprogramming.Recent research has shown that methylmalonic acid(MMA)was significantly up-regulated in the serum of older individuals and played a central role in the development of aggressive characteristics.We found that the significant accumulation of MMA in elderly patients imparted proliferative potential to osteosarcoma cells.The expression of MAFB was excessively up-regulated in osteosarcoma specimens and was further enhanced in response to MMA accumulation as the patient aged.Specifically,we first confirmed a novel molecular mechanism between cellular senescence and cancer,in which the MMA-driven transcriptional reprogramming of the MAFB-NOTCH3 axis accelerated osteosarcoma progression via the activation of PI3K-AKT pathways.Moreover,the down-regulation of the MAFB-NOTCH3 axis increased the sensitivity and effect of AKT inhibitors in osteosarcoma through significant inhibition of AKT phosphorylation.In conclusion,we confirmed that MAFB is a novel age-dependent biomarker for osteosarcoma,and targeting the MAFB-NOTCH3 axis in combination with AKT inhibition can serve as a novel therapeutic strategy for elderly patients with osteosarcoma in experimental and clinical trials.

Corrigendum to"Cellular senescence-driven transcriptional reprogramming of the MAFB/NOTCH3 axis activates the PI3K/AKT pathway and promotes osteosarcoma progression"[Genes&Diseases 11(2024)952-963]

The authors regret that some data errors were made in"Cellular senescence-driven transcriptional reprogramming of the MAFB/NOTCH3 axis activates the PI3K/AKT pathway and promotes osteosarcoma progression"at Figure 5F for the colony formation of MNNG/HOS cells with si-NOTCH3 and 5G for the tranwell assay of U2OS cells with si-NOCTH3.Correction and supplementation to Figure 5.The author used confusing experimental data and did not notice these errors when submitting the original manuscript.Here,the authors made the latest corrections to the data of the batch of U2OS cells and MNNG/HOS cells transfected with si-NoTCH3.The authors confirm that this correction will not alter the conclusions in the original manuscript.

Modified room temperature solid-state synthesis of yttria-stabilized zirconia(YSZ) nano-powders for solid oxide fuel cells

High-performance solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) is in urgent need of high-quality electrolyte powders with high reactivity and chemical uniformity.Here,8 mol% Y_(2)O_(3) doped ZrO_(2)(YSZ) nano-powders were synthesized by an improved solid-state reaction method at ambient temperature,and were applied to the fabrication of SOFC electrolytes.YSZ nano-powders show average grain sizes of ^(2)0 nm and high dispersibility,which is comparable with or even better than some other chemical methods.Benefitting from their high reactivity,dense YSZ electrolytes(relative density of 97.9%) can be obtained at a relatively low sintering temperature of 1400℃.The optimized electrical conductivity reaches up to a high value of0.034 S/cm at 800 0C in air.The anode supported single cell with the construction of Ni-YSZ/YSZ/Sm_(0.2)Ce_(0.8)O_(2-δ)(SDC)/La_(0.6)Sr_(0.4)Co_(0.2)Fe_(0.8)O_(3-δ)(LSCF) exhibits the peak power density of 0.827 W/cm^(2) at800℃ while taking wet H_(2) as fuels and ambient air as oxidants.

Numerical analysis on phase change progress and thermal performance of different roofs integrated with phase change material(PCM)in Moroccan semi-arid and Mediterranean climates

Phase change material(PCM)applied to roofs can weak external heat entering the room to reduce air-conditioning energy consumption.In this study,three forms of macro-encapsulated PCM roofs with different PCMs(RT27,RT31,RT35HC,PT37)are proposed.The effects of PCM thickness,the encapsulation forms,and different PCMs on the thermal performance of the roof are discussed in Moroccan semi-arid and Mediterranean climates.The results show that as the PCM thickness increases,the peak temperature attenuation of the roof inner surface decreases.In two climates,the pure PCM layer among the three encapsulation forms(i.e.pure PCM layer,PCM in aluminum tubes,PCM in triangular aluminum)is the easiest to appear the phenomenon of insufficient heat storage and release,while the reduction of the peak inner surface temperature and time lag is the most satisfying.For the PCM in the aluminum tube,phase change time is the shortest and the latent heat utilization ratio is the highest,while thermal regulation performance is the least satisfying.The PCM in triangular aluminum can improve the latent heat utilization ratio significantly,and its thermal regulation performance is in the middle.In semi-arid climate,the time lag increases with phase change temperature increasing.The time lag could reach up to 6 h with 37℃phase transition temperature.In Mediterranean climate,the longest time lag with RT31 is 5 h,while the lowest peak inner surface temperature appears with RT27.The obtained conclusions could provide guidance for the application of PCM roofs in these two climates.

An approach of dynamic response analysis of nonlinear structures based on least square Volterra kernel function identification

Analysis of the dynamic response of a complex nonlinear system is always a difficult problem.By using Volterra functional series to describe a nonlinear system,its response analysis can be similar to using Fourier/Laplace transform and linear transfer function method to analyse a linear system’s response.In this paper,a dynamic response analysis method for nonlinear systems based on Volterra series is developed.Firstly,the recursive formula of the least square method is established to solve the Volterra kernel function vector,and the corresponding MATLAB programme is compiled.Then,the Volterra kernel vector corresponding to the nonlinear response of a structure under seismic excitation is identified,and the accuracy and applicability of using the kernel vector to predict the response of a nonlinear structure are analysed.The results show that the Volterra kernel function identified by the derived recursive formula can accurately describe the nonlinear response characteristics of a structure under an excitation.For a general nonlinear system,the first three order Volterra kernel function can relatively accurately express its nonlinear response characteristics.In addition,the obtained Volterra kernel function can be used to accurately predict the nonlinear response of a structure under the similar type of dynamic load.