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Objective: To determine if measured sound levels in the occupied level 3 single-family room (SFR) neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will be significantly and perceptibly different from the occupied level 3 open-unit (OU) NICU. Study Design: Case–control. Comparison of sound measurements obtained with varying types of respiratory support in SFR unit with measurements obtained from OU level 3 bedside NICU. Result: SFR sound measurements were quieter and less loud compared with the open unit, except when high-frequency ventilation (HFV) was used. Conclusion: The SFR level 3 NICU is a quieter, less loud environment compared with the open unit level 3 Bedside NICU when the patient is supported on room air, high flow nasal cannula, bubble continuous positive airway pressure and conventional ventilation. High HFV will result in similar measurements to the open unit level 3 bedside NICU.

Objective: To decrease measured sound levels in the neonatal intensive care unit through implementation of human factor and minor design modification strategies. Study Design: Prospective time series. Two open-unit-design neonatal centers. Result: Implementation of a coordinated program of noise reduction strategies did not result in any measurable improvement in levels of loudness or quiet. Conclusion: Two centers, using primarily human behavior noise reduction strategies, were unable to demonstrate measurable improvements in sound levels within the occupied open-unit-design neonatal intensive care unit.

Trade of commodities can lead to virtual water flows between trading partners. When commodities flow from regions of high water productivity to regions of low water productivity, the trade has the potential to generate water saving. However, this accounting of water saving does not account for the water scarcity status in different regions. It could be that the water saving generated from this trade occurs at the expense of the intensified water scarcity in the exporting region, and exerts limited effect on water stress alleviation in importing regions. In this paper, we propose an approach to measure the scarce water saving associated with virtual water trade (measuring in water withdrawal/use). The scarce water is quantified by multiplying the water use in production with the water stress index (WSI). We assessed the scarce water saving/loss through interprovincial trade within China using a multi-region input-output table from 2010. The results show that interprovincial trade resulted in 14.2 km3 of water loss without considering water stress, but only 0.4 km3 scarce water loss using the scarce water concept. Among the 435 total connections of virtual water flows, 254 connections contributed to 20.2 km3 of scarce water saving. Most of these connections are virtual water flows from provinces with lower WSI to that with higher WSI. Conversely, 175 connections contributed to 20.6 km3 of scarce water loss. The virtual water flow connections between Xinjiang and other provinces stood out as the biggest contributors, accounting for 66% of total scarce water loss. The results show the importance of assessing water savings generated from trade with consideration of both water scarcity status and water productivity across regions. Identifying key connections of scarce water saving is useful in guiding interregional economic restructuring towards water stress alleviation, a major goal of China's sustainable development strategy.

To investigate the association between iodized salt intake and cognitive function in older adults. A cross-sectional study. Individuals from the Zhejiang Major Public Health Surveillance Program (ZPHS). Data of 10,217 participants (including 4,680 coastal residents and 5,537 inland residents) aged ≥ 60 years were analyzed. Salt intake was evaluated using a questionnaire, and participants were stratified into the following three groups: iodized salt, non-iodized salt, and mixed salt. Cognitive function was assessed through the Mini-Mental State Examination and defined using education-specific cut-off points. Logistic regression models controlling for an extensive range of potential confounders were generated to examine the association between salt intake and cognitive function among all participants. Data from 10,217 participants with a 16.1% prevalence of cognitive impairment were analyzed. Compared with non-iodized salt intake, consumption of iodized salt was inversely associated with cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR], 0.410; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.351–0.480; P < 0.001) in all participants after multivariable adjustment. An association between iodized salt intake and cognitive impairment was observed in coastal (OR, 0.441; 95% CI, 0.340–0.572; P < 0.001) and inland residents (OR, 0.569; 95% CI, 0.439–0.738; P < 0.001). Despite the insufficient sample size, the results for individuals consuming mixed salt suggested an inverse association between mixed salt intake and cognitive impairment among coastal residents (OR, 0.598; 95% CI, 0.405–0.885; P = 0.010) after multivariable adjustment. Our results indicate that iodized salt intake may reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in older adults living in coastal or inland areas, and the protective effect of iodized salt intake is greater in coastal areas than in inland areas.

Diabetes mellitus, associated with α-glucosidase, has been considered as a chronic metabolic disorder, seriously affecting human health. Thus, searching natural α-glucosidase inhibitors and investigating their inhibition mechanism are urgently important. In this study, sixty-two essential oils (EOs), derived from aromatic plants, were found to exert different inhibition on α-glucosidase. The further study revealed that the most potent EOs against α-glucosidase were chuan-xiong, fructus cnidii, sacha inchi, aloe, ganoderma lucidum spore and ginger with IC50 values of 3.02, 2.88, 7.37, 5.06, 5.32 and 7.40 μg/mL. Moreover, the inhibitory mechanism and kinetics studies found that chuan-xiong and sacha inchi were reversible and mixed-type inhibitors. Fructus cnidii, aloe, ganoderma lucidum spore and ginger were reversible and uncompetitive-type inhibitors. It is suggested that EOs, being of natural origin, would be promising anti-α-glucosidase agents.

Bi 1− x Nd x FeO 3 ( x  = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2) nanoparticles (about 20–50 nm) calcined at 500 and 600 °C, respectively, were prepared by an ethylene glycol-based sol–gel. The XRD analysis reveals that the BiFeO 3 samples are in single phase, and their crystal structure is varied with the Nd content. Due to the small particle size, the uncompensated spin moments on the surface and the suppression of spin helical ordering structure result in a ferromagnetic phase of the BiFeO 3 nanoparticles. The magnetization of the Nd-doped samples calcined at 600 °C is improved with the increase of Nd content, but for the Nd-doped samples calcined at 500 °C, it shows an opposite trend, which is ascribed to the interplay of size effect and the ratio of Fe 2+ :Fe 3+ of samples calcined at different temperatures via XPS analysis. The dielectric properties were measured and analyzed for the samples calcined at 500 and 600 °C. Moreover, the leakage current value of the Bi 1− x Nd x FeO 3 samples can be modulated by the Nd doping, and it reaches a minimum at the Nd content around 0.1.

The charge defective structure in Bi 1− x Ca x FeO 3 (CBFO, x  = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3) nanoparticles (NPs) ranging from 140 to 25 nm as well as their relations to band gap and leakage current behavior are investigated. It is demonstrated that Ca doping effectively narrows the band gap from ~2.16 to ~2.02 eV, due to the appearance and accumulation of oxygen vacancy. Subsequently, enhanced electrical conductivity was obtained in these CBFO NPs, which leads to the appearance of a distinct threshold switching behavior in Ca-doped BFO NPs with higher conductivity at room temperature. Possible mechanisms for Ca doping effects on the electric conduction were discussed upon the interplay of NPs’ size effect and mobile charged defects on the basis of reduced particle size and the increased density of oxygen vacancy analyzed through X-ray photoelectron spectrum.

This study proposes a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) implementation to the Mahler's group probability hypothesis density filter (PHDF) for partly unresolvable group targets tracking problem. Therefore, the authors have to jointly extract the group number and states from the proposed group SMC-PHDF at each time step. The authors propose to fit the resampled particles of the group SMC-PHDF by application of Gaussian mixture models with unknown component number. The Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is proposed to estimate the component parameters of the mixture. The estimate of component number of the mixture can be derived by a component management strategy. In simulation, the proposed group SMC-PHDF with the expectation maximum (EM) and MCMC extractions are, respectively, used to detect and track the groups. Hundreds of Monte Carlo simulation results show that the latter outperforms the former a lot in estimating the group number and states, although the computational requirement of the MCMC extraction is more expensive than the EM extraction.

This paper aims to study the influence of the configuration of processing chamber as a part of IC equipment on flow field characteristics. Four parameters, including chamber height, chamber diameter, inlet mass flow rate and outlet area, are arranged using orthogonally design method to study their influence on flow distribution in the processing chamber with the commercial software-Fluent. The velocity, pressure and temperature distribution above the holder were analysed respectively. The velocity difference value of the gas flow above the holder is defined as the evaluation criteria to evaluate the uniformity of the gas flow. The quantitative relationship between key parameters and the uniformity of gas flow was found through analysis of experimental results. According to our study, the chamber height is the most significant factor, and then follows the outlet area, chamber diameter and inlet mass flow rate. This research can provide insights into the study and design of configuration of etcher, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) equipment, and other systems with similar configuration and processing condition.