Transient vacuolar changes of the crystalline lens in patients using a dispersive ophthalmic viscosurgical device

AIM:To report the clinical prognosis and pathological findings of accidental lens vacuolar changes in eyes with intraoperative exposure to a dispersive ophthalmic viscosurgical device(OVD).METHODS:Two patients who developed transient lens vacuolar changes during uneventful persistent pupillary membrane(PPM)removal surgery were presented and followed up.This event was speculated to be associated with an intraoperative dispersive OVD DisCoVisc(hyaluronic acid 1.6%-chondroitin sulfate 4.0%)exposure.Then,to provide the pathological basis for our speculation,another four cataract patients were randomly exposed to different OVDs,and their anterior lens capsules were investigated with transmission electron microscopy(TEM).RESULTS:After months,the subcapsular vacuoles in both PPM cases were gradually disappeared without visual deterioration.For the cataract patients,similar lens changes were observed intraoperatively in those exposed to a dispersive DisCoVisc but not a cohesive OVD IVIZ(sodium hyaluronate gel 1.0%).In addition,marked ultrastructural changes,including chromatin condensation,extensive cytoplasmic vacuoles,and obvious intercellular space between lens epithelial cells in the anterior lens capsules of all eyes exposed to DisCoVisc,were observed by TEM.CONCLUSION:The lens vacuolar changes may be associated with a dispersive OVD exposure.Therefore,it is not preferable to use dispersive OVDs in patients with transparent lenses or without the intention of lens extraction.In addition,close follow-ups instead of immediate lens extraction are recommended for the occurrence of similar lens lesions.

Experimental Research of Electronic Devices Thermal Control Using Metallic Phase Change Materials

A Phase-change thermal control unit( PTCU) filled with metallic phase change material( PCM) Bismuth alloy for electric devices thermal protection was developed and investigated experimentally. The PTCU filled with PCM was designed and manufactured. Resistance heating components( RCHs) produced 1 W,3 W, 5 W,7W,and 10 W for simulating heat generation of electronic devices. At various heating power levels,the performance of PTCU were tested during heating period and one duty cycle period. The experimental results show that the PTCU delays RCH reaching the maximum operating temperature. Also,a numerical model was developed to enable interpretation of experimental results and to perform parametric studies. The results confirmed that the PTCU is suitable for electric devices thermal control.

Research on Frequency of the Aftershock Sequence of the Wenchuan Earthquake Based on Coseismic Coulomb Stress Change

By the aftershock frequency estimation method based on the calculation of coseismic static Coulomb stress changes and rate-and state-dependent fault constitutive law,we calculate the frequency of "direct "aftershocks of the Wenchuan earthquake related to coseismic static Coulomb stress changes in its aftershock zone and the areas nearby.It shows that the frequency is significantly lower than the truth in the main rupture zone,especially in the southern rupture zone,due to the decrease of stress level on the rupture plane of the main shock resulting from coseismic Coulomb stress change.The study also shows that the effect of the Coulomb stress change on the duration of aftershock activity is associated with the lower limit magnitude.The duration is about 15-16 months for aftershocks above ML4.0,and close to 60 months for aftershocks above ML3.5.In this period,the ratio of the"direct"aftershocks caused by coseismic Coulomb stress change ranges between 44.7% to48.6%,which suggests that,even in the "effective"period of coseismic Coulomb stress changes,about half of the aftershocks on the main shock rupture plane are independent of coseismic Coulomb stress changes.It is pointed out that those aftershocks may be related to the afterslip or the viscoelastic relaxation,which are time dependent cases.

Climate and fire drivers of forest composition and openness in the Changbai Mountains since the Late Glacial

Ongoing climate changes have a direct impact on forest growth;they also affect natural fire regimes,with further implications for forest composition.Understanding of how these will affect forests on decadal-to-centennial timescales is limited.Here we use reconstructions of past vegetation,fire regimes and climate during the Holocene to examine the relative importance of changes in climate and fire regimes for the abundance of key tree species in northeastern China.We reconstructed vegetation changes and fire regimes based on pollen and charcoal records from Gushantun peatland.We then used generalized linear modelling to investigate the impact of reconstructed changes in summer temperature,annual precipitation,background levels of fire,fire frequency and fire magnitude to identify the drivers of decadal-to-centennial changes in forest openness and composition.Changes in climate and fire regimes have independent impacts on the abundance of the key tree taxa.Climate variables are generally more important than fire variables in determining the abundance of individual taxa.Precipitation is the only determinant of forest openness,but summer temperature is more important than precipitation for individual tree taxa with warmer summers causing a decrease in cold-tolerant conifers and an increase in warmth-demanding broadleaved trees.Both background level and fire frequency have negative relationships with the abundance of most tree taxa;only Pinus increases as fire frequency increases.The magnitude of individual fires does not have a significant impact on species abundance on this timescale.Both climate and fire regime characteristics must be considered to understand changes in forest composition on the decadal-to-centennial timescale.There are differences,both in sign and magnitude,in the response of individual tree species to individual drivers.

Temporal and spatial variation of cloud cover in arid regions of Central Asia in the last 40 years

Water resources are one of the key factors restricting the development of arid areas,and cloud water resources is an important part of water resources.The arid region of central Asia is the core region of the current national green silk road construction,and is the largest arid region in the world.Based on cloud cover data of ECMWF,the current study analyzed temporal and spatial characteristics of cloud properties in arid regions of Central Asia between 1980 and 2019.Our findings show that:(1)From the point of view of spatial distribution,total cloudiness in arid regions of Central Asia was low in the south and high in the north.The distribution of high cloud frequency and medium cloud frequency was higher in the south and lower in the north,while low cloud frequency distribution was low in the south and high in the north.(2)In terms of time,the variation of cloud cover and cloud type frequency had obvious seasonal characteristics.From winter to spring,cloud cover increased,and the change of cloud type frequency increased.From spring to summer,cloud cover continued to increase and the change of cloud type frequency increased further.Cloud cover began to decrease from summer to autumn,and the change of cloud type frequency also decreased.(3)Generally,average total cloud cover decreased in most of central Asia,and high and medium cloud cover increased while low cloud cover decreased.This study provides a reference for the rational development of cloud resources in the region.

Characteristics and realization of the second generation surface acoustic wave’s wavelet device

To overcome the bulk acoustic wave （BAW）, the triple transit signals and the discontinuous frequency band in the first generation surface acoustic wave＇s （FGSAW＇ s） wavelet device, the full transfer multistrip coupler （MSC） is applied to implement wavelet device, and a novel structure of the second generation surface acoustic wave＇s （SGSAW＇s） wavelet device is proposed. In the SGSAW＇ s wavelet device, the BAW is separated and eliminated in different acoustic propagating tracks, and the triple transit signal is suppressed. For arbitrary wavelet scale device, the center frequency is three times the radius of frequency band, which ensures that the frequency band of the SGSAW＇s wavelet device is continuous, and avoids losing signals caused by the discontinuation of frequency band. Experimental result confirms that the BAW suppression, ripples in band, receiving loss and insertion loss of the SGSAW＇ s wavelet device are remarkably improved compared with those of the FGSAW＇ s wavelet device.

Precipitation changes in the mid-latitudes of the Chinese mainland during 1960–2014

Based on daily precipitation data from 163 meteorological stations, this study investigated precipitation changes in the mid-latitudes of the Chinese mainland（MCM） during 1960–2014 using the climatic trend coefficient, least-squared regression analysis, and a non-parametric Mann-Kendall test.According to the effects of the East Asian summer monsoon on the MCM and the climatic trend coefficient of annual precipitation during 1960–2014, we divided the MCM into the western MCM and eastern MCM. The western MCM was further divided into the western MCM1 and western MCM2 in terms of the effects of the East Asian summer monsoon. The main results were as follows：（1） During the last four decades of the 20^（th） century, the area-averaged annual precipitation presented a significant increasing trend in the western MCM, but there was a slight decreasing trend in the eastern MCM, where a seesaw pattern was apparent. However, in the 21^（st） century, the area-averaged annual precipitation displayed a significant increasing trend in both the western and eastern MCM.（2） The trend in area-averaged seasonal precipitation during 1960–2014 in the western MCM was consistent with that in the eastern MCM in winter and spring. However, the trend in area-averaged summer precipitation during1960–2014 displayed a seesaw pattern between the western and eastern MCM.（3） On an annual basis,both the trend in rainstorms and heavy rain displayed a seesaw pattern between the western and eastern MCM.（4） The precipitation intensity in rainstorms, heavy rain, and moderate rain made a greater contribution to changes in the total precipitation than precipitation frequency. The results of this study will improve our understanding of the trends and differences in precipitation changes in different areas of the MCM. This is not only useful for the management and mitigation of flood disasters, but is also beneficial to the protection of water resources across the MCM.

Theoretical Study of Seed Movement in Cotton Seeds Selection Device

The aim of the research work is to increase the yield of cotton fiber by improving the processing technology of germinated seeds, to improve the quality indicators of seeds and lint. In order to achieve this goal, a mesh surface device was created to sort the seeds into fractions. Sorting technology was developed on this device and operating modes were determined. In addition, the law of surface distribution of the fractions separated from the cotton stream moving along the surface of the net was determined, and based on the results of practical and theoretical research, a mode of sorting of cotton seeds was developed. As a result, differential equations of the law of oscillation of seeds on parallel bases, taking into account the angle of inclination for the movement of cotton seeds on the sorting surface, were constructed and programmed on a computer to construct the trajectory of seeds. On the basis of the laws of motion, the optimal value of the angle of inclination on the horizontal, which gives the state of sorting of seeds, as well as the values of the amplitude and frequency of vibrations, was determined.

SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATION CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTREMELY HEAVY PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY OVER SOUTH CHINA IN THE LAST 50 YEARS

This paper comprehensively studies the spatio-temporal characteristics of the frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events over South China by using the daily precipitation data of 110 stations during 1961 to 2008 and the extremely heavy precipitation thresholds determined for different stations by REOF, trend coefficients, linear trend, Mann-Kendall test and variance analysis. The results are shown as follows. The frequency distribution of extremely heavy precipitation is high in the middle of South China and low in the Guangdong coast and western Guangxi. There are three spatial distribution types of extremely heavy precipitation in South China. The consistent anomaly distribution is the main type. Distribution reversed between the east and the west and between the south and the north is also an important type. Extremely heavy precipitation events in South China mainly occurred in the summer-half of the year. Their frequency during this time accounts for 83.7% of the total frequency. In the 1960 s and 1980 s, extremely heavy precipitation events were less frequent while having an increasing trend from the late 1980 s. Their climatological tendency rates decrease in the central and rise in the other areas of South China, and on average the mean series also shows an upward but insignificant trend at all of the stations. South China's frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events can be divided into six major areas and each of them shows a different inter-annual trend and three of the representative stations experience abrupt changes by showing remarkable increases in terms of Mann-Kendall tests.

A BLOCK-CENTERED UPWIND APPROXIMATION OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE PROBLEM ON A DYNAMICALLY CHANGING MESH

The numerical simulation of a three-dimensional semiconductor device is a fundamental problem in information science. The mathematical model is defined by an initialboundary nonlinear system of four partial differential equations: an elliptic equation for electric potential, two convection-diffusion equations for electron concentration and hole concentration, and a heat conduction equation for temperature. The first equation is solved by the conservative block-centered method. The concentrations and temperature are computed by the block-centered upwind difference method on a changing mesh, where the block-centered method and upwind approximation are used to discretize the diffusion and convection, respectively. The computations on a changing mesh show very well the local special properties nearby the P-N junction. The upwind scheme is applied to approximate the convection, and numerical dispersion and nonphysical oscillation are avoided. The block-centered difference computes concentrations, temperature, and their adjoint vector functions simultaneously.The local conservation of mass, an important rule in the numerical simulation of a semiconductor device, is preserved during the computations. An optimal order convergence is obtained. Numerical examples are provided to show efficiency and application.

Direct Digital Frequency Control Based on the Phase Step Change Characteristic between Signals

We present a new digital phase lock technology to achieve the frequency control and transformation through high precision multi-cycle group synchronization between signals without the frequency transformation circuit. In the case of digital sampling, the passing zero point of the phase of the controlled signal has the phase step characteristic, the phase step of the passing zero point is monotonic continuous with high resolution in the phase lock process, and using the border effect of digital fuzzy area, the gate can synchronize with the two signals, the quantization error is reduced. This technique is quite different from the existing methods of frequency transformation and frequency synthesis, the phase change characteristic between the periodic signals with different nominal is used. The phase change has the periodic phenomenon, and it has the high resolution step value. With the application of the physical law, the noise is reduced because of simplifying frequency transformation circuits, and the phase is locked with high precision. The regular phase change between frequency signals is only used for frequency measurement, and the change has evident randomness, but this randomness is greatly reduced in frequency control, and the certainty of the process result is clear. The experiment shows that the short term frequency stability can reach 10-12/s orders of magnitude.

Influence of Low-Frequency Sonolysis on the Stability of Reactions Involving Associates

The influence of low-frequency sonolysis on the kinetics bimolecular liquid-phase reactions was studied with due regard for the association (dimers and trimers) of starting reagents. The mathematical modeling of chemical reactions that were described by nonlinear differential equations is performed. The steady states, the singular points characteristics, the nature of concentration oscillations in the reaction system are described. With increasing frequency and amplitude of low-frequency sonic waves (up to some critical value), we observed the cessation of the reaction. This observation offers an additional tool for controlling reaction rate by the external action of low-frequency vibrations. The conclusions of the work are obtained under certain assumptions. The exact determination of the critical conditions for changes in dynamics is beyond the scope of the problem.

The Time-Frequency Energy Attenuation Factor and Its Application on the Basis of Gauss Linear Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wavelet Transform

Based on the Gauss linear frequency modulated wavelet transform, a new characteristic index is presented, namely time frequency energy attenuation factor which can reflect the difference features of waveform in earthquake focus mechanism, wave traveling path and its attenuation characteristics in focal area or near field. In order to test its validity, we select the natural earthquakes and explosion or collapse events whose focus mechanisms vary obviously,and some natural earthquakes located at the same site or in a very small area. The study indicates that the time frequency energy attenuation factors of the natural earthquakes are obviously different with that of explosion or collapse events, and the change of the time frequency energy attenuation factors is relatively stable for the earthquakes under the normal seismicity background. Using the above mentioned method, it is expected to offer a useful criterion for strong earthquake prediction by continuous earthquake observation.

Detection of Structural Damage Through Changes in Frequency

Among all the structural vibration characteristics, natural frequencies are relatively simple and accurate to measure, and provide the structural global damage informalion. In this paper, the feasibility of using only natural frequencies to identify structural damage is exploited by adopting two usual approaches, namely, sensitivity analysis and neural networks. S, ome aspects of damage detection such as the problem of incomplete modal test data and robustness of detection are considered. A laboratory tested 3 storey frame is used to demonstrate the possibility of frequency-based damage detection techniques. The numerical results show that the damaged element can be correctly localized and the content of damage can be identified with relatively high degree of accuracy by using the changes in frequencies.

Climate Change Impacts on the Extreme Rainfall for Selected Sites in North Western England

Impact and adaptation assessments of climate change often require more detailed information of future extreme rainfall events at higher resolution in space and/or time, which is usually, projected using the Global Climate Model (GCM) for different emissions of greenhouse concentration. In this paper, future rainfall in the North West region of England has been generated from the outputs of the HadCM3 Global Climate Model through downscaling , employing a hybrid Generalised Linear Model (GLM) together with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Using two emission scenarios (A1FI and B1), the hybrid downscaling model was proven to have the capability to successfully simulate future rainfall. A combined peaks-over-threshold (POT)-Generalised Pareto Distribution approach was then used to model the extreme rainfall and then assess changes to seasonal trends over the region at a daily scale until the end of the 21st century. In general, extreme rainfall is predicted to be more frequent in winter seasons for both high (A1FI) and low (B1) scenarios, however for summer seasons, the region is predicted to experience some increase in extreme rainfall under the high scenario and a drop under the low scenario. The variation in intensity of extreme rainfall was found to be based on location,season, future period, return period as well as the emission scenario used.

Hurricane damage assessment for residential construction considering the non-stationarity in hurricane intensity and frequency

Natural hazards such as hurricanes may cause extensive economic losses and social disruption for civil structures and infrastructures in coastal areas, implying the importance of understanding the construction performance subjected to hurricanes and assessing the hurricane damages properly. The intensity and frequency of hurricanes have been reported to change with time due to the potential impact of climate change.In this paper, a probability-based model of hurricane damage assessment for coastal constructions is proposed taking into account the non-stationarity in hurricane intensity and frequency. The nonhomogeneous Poisson process is employed to model the non-stationarity in hurricane occurrence while the non-stationarity in hurricane intensity is reflected by the time-variant statistical parameters(e.g., mean value and/or standard deviation), with which the mean value and variation of the cumulative hurricane damage are evaluated explicitly. The Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA, is chosen to illustrate the hurricane damage assessment method proposed in this paper. The role of non-stationarity in hurricane intensity and occurrence rate due to climate change in hurricane damage is investigated using some representative changing patterns of hurricane parameters.

Design of an Ultrafast Frequency Doubling Photonic Device

Ultrashort pulses complicate the frequency conversion in a nonlinear crystal, where group velocity mismatch becomes the main obstacle due to dispersion. We present a design for group velocity compensated second harmonic generation in a modulated nonlinear structure, embedded in a liquid crystal box. In this structure, nonlinear crystals act as sources of signal and liquid crystals compensate for group velocity mismatch originating from nonlinear crystals. There are the advantages of the flexible, controllable birefringence of liquid crystals. Meanwhile, a method calculating the parameters of this type of structure is presented. To make it clear, an example is provided. Furthermore, the structure can also be shaped as a waveguide to support integration into other optical devices, applicable to all-optical processing systems.

Carbonate Diagenesis Controlled by Glacioeustatic Sea-Level Changes: A Case Study from the Carboniferous-Permian Boundary Section at Xikou, China

The platform-facies carbonate rocks of the Carboniferous-Permian boundary strata are well developed and outcropped in Xikou （西口）, Zhen＇an （镇安） County, Shaanxi （ 陕西 ） Province, China. The carbonate diagencsis in the Carboniferous-Permian boundary section at Xikou contains many processes with conspicuous effects, including micritization, cementation, mechanical and chemical compaction, neomorphism, and dissolution. Based on mineralogical composition and microfabrics, the diagenetic environments are distinguished into marine, near surface meteoric and burial environments. Detailed petrographical observation of abundant thin sections integrated with previous studies on sequence stratigraphy reveals that the carbonate diagenesis in the Carboniferous-Permian boundary section is related to the relative stratigraphic position of the rocks in the high-frequency cycles and controlled by the glacioeustatic sea-level changes. There are distinctive differences in diagenetic patterns between the lower transgressive sequence and the upper regressive sequence in a cyclothem. The diagenesis in the lower transgressive sequence is mainly characterized by pressure dissolution and recrystallization of mudstone and wackstone in a burial environment, and the diagenesis in the upper regressive sequence by cementation and leaching of freshwater in a meteoric environment.

Assessing the Crop Growing Period According to the Climate Change Forecasts for Marina Baixa (SE Spain)

The present work aims to assess the likely effects of climate change on the length of growing period (LGP) of crops in Marina Baixa (SE, Spain). LGP can be assessed by a balance between preci- pitation and reference evapotranspiration. Less rainfall and an increased evapotranspiration, forecast by Global Climate Models (GCMs), are considered as a high risk for agriculture. This area is located in a semiarid climate region where water is a very limited resource. It is a typical example of areas where the agricultural sector has to compete for water with the tourism industry. In this context, by using observed and projected precipitation data set (model HadCM3, Scenario A2), calculating reference evapotranspiration (ETo), and applying the frequency analysis of a probability-type method, we estimated the growing period length in the observed period (1961-1990) and three 30-year future periods (2011-40, 2041-70 and 2071-99) in the study area. The results show a drop in annual precipitations (&#45?30%) and an increased ETo (+18%) towards the end of this century with respect to the observed period (mean annual rainfall: 356 mm;mean ETo: 1476 mm). The results also show a decrease in the number of decades (10 days) when precipitation exceeds half of the ETo, which means shorter growing periods as the 21st century advances. This expected reduction in growing period length towards the end of the present century will imply that many rainfed crops, like olives, almonds and cereals, will require a higher irrigation water supply to maintain suitable growth and performance levels. The results are an early warning to manage water resources in Marina Baixa in a sustainable way.