Merits and Demerits of Food Additives

Food additive is a double-edged sword. It has merits and demerits. Food additives have such merits as improving sensory properties of foods,preventing deterioration and extending the shelf life,increasing varieties of foods,enhancing convenience of foods,facilitating food processing,and satisfying other demands. However,excessive and illegal use of food additives will exert adverse influence on food security.Therefore,it is required to take proper measures to bring merits of food additives into full play,and get rid of their demerits.

Running slow or running fast;that is the question:The merits of high-intensity interval training

In a recent issue of the Journal of Sport and Health Science,García-Pinillos et al.~1 reviewed evidence on the effects of highintensity intermittent training(interval training)(HIIT)on muscular and performance adaptations in recreational runners.

Task-based Language Teaching： Merits and Issues

With growing tendency and widespread application, TBLT has attracted considerable attention from educator teachers,theorists and researchers. The paper commences by offering some influential definitions of‘task', varying classifications of differ-ent types of task, and criteria for judging a task. Then, compared with teaching approaches before the emergence of CLT, TBLT isnew and has many distinct merits. Meanwhile, since it is a newly-established approach, some problems and difficulties in comple-menting TBLT are inevitable. A number of genuine issues raised in Asian language teaching classrooms are examined.

Interpreting the Merits In Aristotle's Poetics

Aristotle's Poetics represents the first major work of literature criticism. In this masterpiece,Aristotle expresses his literary and aesthetical theories. By introducing the merits in Aristotle's Poetics,this thesis tends to reveal Aristotle's large and enduring influence on modern literary criticism.

Highly Accurate Golden Section Search Algorithms and Fictitious Time Integration Method for Solving Nonlinear Eigenvalue Problems

This study sets up two new merit functions,which are minimized for the detection of real eigenvalue and complex eigenvalue to address nonlinear eigenvalue problems.For each eigen-parameter the vector variable is solved from a nonhomogeneous linear system obtained by reducing the number of eigen-equation one less,where one of the nonzero components of the eigenvector is normalized to the unit and moves the column containing that component to the right-hand side as a nonzero input vector.1D and 2D golden section search algorithms are employed to minimize the merit functions to locate real and complex eigenvalues.Simultaneously,the real and complex eigenvectors can be computed very accurately.A simpler approach to the nonlinear eigenvalue problems is proposed,which implements a normalization condition for the uniqueness of the eigenvector into the eigenequation directly.The real eigenvalues can be computed by the fictitious time integration method(FTIM),which saves computational costs compared to the one-dimensional golden section search algorithm(1D GSSA).The simpler method is also combined with the Newton iterationmethod,which is convergent very fast.All the proposed methods are easily programmed to compute the eigenvalue and eigenvector with high accuracy and efficiency.

基于MERIT和SCM整合方法的会展项目可行性分析——以山西智慧养老技术与服务展览会为例

为了避免盲目投资和资源浪费,大型会展项目在启动初期都需要进行可行性分析。通过整合运用MERIT和SCM方法,本文以山西智慧养老技术与服务展览会为例,从市场、经济效益、资源条件、创新性、发展趋势五个方面开展全面评估,提出对人员、物资、资金、信息技术等各类要素进行有效规划控制,以此探讨得出在山西策划组织智慧养老技术与服务展览会是非常必要的且具创新性、可行性的结论,以期为该展会的立项与实施提供一定的参考与借鉴。

Investigating the Potential of Quasi-One-Dimensional Organic Crystals of TTT(TCNQ)2 for Thermoelectric Applications

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of investigations on quasi-one-dimensional organic crystals of tetrathiotetracene-tetracyanoquinodi- methane (TTT(TCNQ)2) from the prospective of thermoelectric applications. The calculations were performed after analytical expressions, obtained in the frame of a physical model, more detailed than the model presented earlier by authors. The main Hamiltonian of the model includes the electronic and phonon part, electron-phonon interactions and the impurity scattering term. In order to estimate the electric charge transport between the molecular chains, the physical model was upgraded to the so-called three-dimen- sional (3D) physical model. Numeric computations were performed to determine the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, thermoelectric power factor and thermoelectric figure-of-merit as a function on charge carrier concentrations, temperatures and impurity concentrations. A detailed analysis of charge-lattice interaction, consisting of the exploration of the Peierls structural transition in TCNQ molecular chains of TTT(TCNQ)2 was performed. As result, the critical transition temperature was determined. The dispersion of renormalized phonons was examined in detail.

Binary Phase Shaping and SHG Contrast Ratios

Finding binary sequences with Large SHG ratios is very important in the field of ultrafast science, biomedical optics, high-resolution microscopy and label-free imaging. In this paper, we have demonstrated the relation between the SHG contrast ratio and the traditional Merit Factor values. And in the light from known results in Merit Factor Problems, we have shown that Legendre Sequences or Jacobi Sequences, are still the best candidates to obtain binary sequences with large SHG contrast ratios. The authors also discussed the SHG behaviors on some sequences obtained from cyclotomic classes over the finite field GF (2l) .

Replication Strategy with Comprehensive Data Center Selection Method in Cloud Environments

As the amount of data continues to grow rapidly,the variety of data produced by applications is becoming more affluent than ever.Cloud computing is the best technology evolving today to provide multi-services for the mass and variety of data.The cloud computing features are capable of processing,managing,and storing all sorts of data.Although data is stored in many high-end nodes,either in the same data centers or across many data centers in cloud,performance issues are still inevitable.The cloud replication strategy is one of best solutions to address risk of performance degradation in the cloud environment.The real challenge here is developing the right data replication strategy with minimal data movement that guarantees efficient network usage,low fault tolerance,and minimal replication frequency.The key problem discussed in this research is inefficient network usage discovered during selecting a suitable data center to store replica copies induced by inadequate data center selection criteria.Hence,to mitigate the issue,we proposed Replication Strategy with a comprehensive Data Center Selection Method(RS-DCSM),which can determine the appropriate data center to place replicas by considering three key factors:Popularity,space availability,and centrality.The proposed RS-DCSM was simulated using CloudSim and the results proved that data movement between data centers is significantly reduced by 14%reduction in overall replication frequency and 20%decrement in network usage,which outperformed the current replication strategy,known as Dynamic Popularity aware Replication Strategy(DPRS)algorithm.

The effect of pH on stability and thermal performance of graphene oxide and copper oxide hybrid nanofluids for heat transfer applications:Application of novel machine learning technique

This paper investigates the effects of pH on stability and thermal properties of copper oxide(CuO),graphene oxide(GO),and their hybrid nanofluid(HNF)at different mixing ratios.Initially,sol-gel and Hummer’s method was employed for the synthesis of CuO and GO nanoparticles(NPs),and they are characterized with various techniques.The effects of two different surfactants were analyzed on nanofluid’s(NF’s)stability at different pH values.The properties like thermal conductivity(TC)and viscosity(VST)of NFs were measured at different volume concentration(0.1 vol%to 1.0 vol%)and temperature range of 30-60℃,respectively.The TC and VST of GO/CuO(50:50)HNF are higher than that of GO/CuO(20:80).The figure of merit(FOM)is determined for the studied HNFs.The correlations were presented to calculate the TC as well as VST of HNFs.Two modern novel machine learning-based ensemble approaches were employed for predictive model development for TC and VST of considered HNFs.The comparison of prognostic models with Taylor’s diagram revealed that Bayesian optimized support vector machine(BoASVM)was superior to Bayesian optimized boosted regression trees(BoA-BRT)for both TC and VST models.

Design of multilayer cellular neural network based on memristor crossbar and its application to edge detection

Memristor with memory properties can be applied to connection points(synapses)between cells in a cellular neural network(CNN).This paper highlights memristor crossbar-based multilayer CNN(MCM-CNN)and its application to edge detection.An MCM-CNN is designed by adopting a memristor crossbar composed of a pair of memristors.MCM-CNN based on the memristor crossbar with changeable weight is suitable for edge detection of a binary image and a color image considering its characteristics of programmablization and compactation.Figure of merit(FOM)is introduced to evaluate the proposed structure and several traditional edge detection operators for edge detection results.Experiment results show that the FOM of MCM-CNN is three times more than that of the traditional edge detection operators.

Thermoelectric signature of Majorana zero modes in a T-typed double-quantum-dot structure

The thermoelectric effect of the system is theoretically investigated,by coupling Majorana zero mode to the T-typed double-quantum-dot-structure in different ways.It is found that when a single Majorana zero mode is coupled to one of the quantum dots(QDs),the thermoelectric efficiency is suppressed due to the leakage of Majorana zero modes into the QDs.When the Majorana zero mode is coupled to QD2,the suppression of the thermoelectric efficiency is more serious than that of QD1.Furthermore,when two Majorana zero modes are introduced simultaneously,suppression of the thermoelectric effect still takes place.We believe that such results can be candidates for the detection of Majorana bound states and help us understand the role of Majorana zero mode in thermoelectricity.

Analysis of Task-based Syllabus

Task-based language teaching is very popular in the modern English teaching.It is based on the Task-based Syllabus. Task-based Syllabus focuses on the learners' communicative competence,which stresses learning by doing. From the theoretical assumption and definitions of the task,the paper analysizes the components of the task, then points out the merits and demerits of the syllabus. By this means the paper may give some tips to teachers and students when they use the tsk-based language teaching.

Thermoelectric generators and their applications:Progress,challenges,and future prospects

Our community currently deals with issues such as rising electricity costs,pollution,and global warming.Scientists work to improve energy harvesting-based power generators in order to reduce their impacts.The Seebeck effect has been used to illustrate the capacity of thermoelectric generators(TEGs)to directly convert thermal energy to electrical energy.They are also ecologically beneficial since they do not include chemical products,function quietly because they lack mechanical structures and/or moving components,and may be built using different fabrication technologies such as three-dimentional(3D)printing,silicon technology,and screen printing,etc.TEGs are also position-independent and have a long operational lifetime.TEGs can be integrated into bulk and flexible devices.This review gives further investigation of TEGs,beginning with a full discussion of their operating principle,kinds,materials utilized,figure of merit,and improvement approaches,which include various thermoelectric material arrangements and utilised technologies.This paper also discusses the use of TEGs in a variety of disciplines such as automobile and biomedical.

SiC trench MOSFET with dual shield gate and optimized JFET layer for improved dynamic performance and safe operating area capability

A novel silicon carbide(SiC) trench metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor(MOSFET) with a dual shield gate(DSG) and optimized junction field-effect transistor(JFET) layer(ODSG-TMOS) is proposed. The combination of the DSG and optimized JFET layer not only significantly improves the device’s dynamic performance but also greatly enhances the safe operating area(SOA). Numerical analysis is carried out with Silvaco TCAD to study the performance of the proposed structure. Simulation results show that comparing with the conventional asymmetric trench MOSFET(Con-ATMOS), the specific on-resistance(Ron,sp) is significantly reduced at almost the same avalanche breakdown voltage(BVav). Moreover, the DSG structure brings about much smaller reverse transfer capacitance(Crss) and input capacitance(Ciss), which helps to reduce the gate–drain charge(Qgd) and gate charge(Qg). Therefore, the high frequency figure of merit(HFFOM) of Ron,sp·Qgdand Ron,sp· Qgfor the proposed ODSG-TMOS are improved by 83.5% and 76.4%, respectively.The switching power loss of the proposed ODSG-TMOS is 77.0% lower than that of the Con-ATMOS. In addition, the SOA of the proposed device is also enhanced. The saturation drain current(Id,sat) at a gate voltage(Vgs) of 15 V for the ODSGTMOS is reduced by 17.2% owing to the JFET effect provided by the lower shield gate(SG) at a large drain voltage. With the reduced Id,sat, the short-circuit withstand time is improved by 87.5% compared with the Con-ATMOS. The large-current turn-off capability is also improved, which is important for the widely used inductive load applications.

New Preamble Sequence for WiMAX System with Improved Synchronization Accuracy

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX)trusts Multiple Input Multiple Output-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(MIMO-OFDM)combination for the deployment of physical layer functions and for connecting the medium access control to the wireless media.Even though Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing(OFDM)facilitates reliable digital broadband transmission in the fading wireless channels,the presence of synchro-nization errors in the form of Carrier Frequency Offset(CFO)and Time Offset(TO)adversely affect the performance of OFDM based physical layers.The objective of this work is to improve the accuracy of the frequency and the time offset estimation in the WiMAX physical layer.A method to enhance the synchro-nization accuracy byfine-tuning the merit factor of the preamble sequence is sug-gested in this paper.Also,a new preamble with improved synchronization accuracy is proposed for the WiMAX system.The performance of the proposed preamble is evaluated in a Rayleigh fading channel and the results of simulations show that the Mean Square Error(MSE)in offset estimation is significantly reduced and it outperforms the standard WiMAX preamble.

Adaptive Sub-Threshold Voltage Level Control for Voltage Deviate-Domino Circuits

Leakage power and propagation delay are two significant issues found in sub-micron technology-based Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor(CMOS)-based Very Large-Scale Integration(VLSI)circuit designs.Positive Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor(PMOS)has been replaced by Negative Channel Metal Oxide Semiconductor(NMOS)in recent years,with low dimen-sion-switching changes in order to shape the mirror of voltage comparator.NMOS is used to reduce stacking leakage as well as total exchange.Domino Logic Cir-cuit is a powerful and versatile digital programmer that gained popularity in recent years.In this study regarding Adaptive Sub Threshold Voltage Level Control Pro-blem,the researchers intend to solve the contention issues,reduce power dissipa-tion,and increase the noise immunity by proposing Adaptive Sub Threshold Voltage Level Control(ASVLC)-based domino circuit.The efficiency and effec-tiveness of the domino circuit are demonstrated through simulation results.The suggested system makes use of high-speed broad fan-gate circuits,occupies mini-mum space,and consumes meagre amount of power.The proposed circuit was validated in Cadence simulation tool at a supply voltage of 1V,frequency of 100 MHz,and an operating temperature of 27°C with 64 input OR gates.As per the simulation results,the suggested Domino Gate reduced the power dissipa-tion by 17.58 percent and improved the noise immunity by 1.21 times in compar-ison with standard domino logic circuits.

NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)heterojunction diodes with ultra-low leakage current below 10^(-10)A and high thermostability

The 10 nm p-NiO thin film is prepared by thermal oxidation of Ni onβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)to form NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)p-n heterojunction diodes(HJDs).The NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)HJDs exhibit excellent electrostatic properties,with a high breakdown voltage of 465 V,a specific on-resistance(Ron,sp)of 3.39 mΩ·cm^(2),and a turn-on voltage(V on)of 1.85 V,yielding a static Baliga's figure of merit(FOM)of 256 MW/cm^(2).Also,the HJDs have a low turn-on voltage,which reduces conduction loss dramatically,and a rectification ratio of up to 108.Meanwhile,the HJDs'reverse leakage current is essentially unaffected at temperatures below 170?C,and their leakage level may be controlled below 10^(-10)A.This indicates that p-NiO/β-Ga_(2)O_(3)HJDs with good thermal stability and high-temperature operating ability can be a good option for high-performanceβ-Ga_(2)O_(3)power devices.

On the Application of Task-based Language Teaching Approach to English Phonetic Teaching

Task-based language teaching approach(TBLTA), which lays stress on "learning by doing", gained increasing popularity in English teaching in recent years. The design of phonetic teaching calls for more emphasis from English educators since it is one of the basic rounds of English teaching. This paper made a trial on the utilization of TBLTA in the English phonetic teaching context and designed a TBLTA model for English phonetic teaching based on discussions about model and merits of TBLTA.

Obesity Management-Bariatric Surgery vs Lifestyle Modification

Role of Bariatric surgery for obesity is briefly outlined. Selection criteria, contraindications, evaluations of patients before surgery, types of bariatric surgery with their merits and demerits are discussed. Results of lifestyle modifications is compared with that of bariatric surgery.