A Case Report of Germline Compound Heterozygous Mutations in the BRCA1 Gene of an Ovarian and Breast Cancer Patient

The germline carrier of the BRCA1 pathogenic mutation has been well proven to confer an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Despite BRCA1 biallelic pathogenic mutations being extremely rare, they have been reported to be embryonically lethal or to cause Fanconi anemia (FA). Here we describe a patient who was a 48-year-old female identified with biallelic pathogenic mutations of the BRCA1 gene, with no or very subtle FA-features. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and breast cancer at the ages of 43 and 44 and had a strong family history of breast and gynecological cancers.     

Effect of microstructural features on the corrosion behavior of severely deformed Al–Mg–Si alloy

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of severe plastic deformation processing and the changes in microstructure resulting therefrom on the corrosion resistance of an Al–Mg–Si alloy. The alloy was processed using incremental equal channel angular pressing, which caused a reduction in grain size from 15 to 0.9 µm. The grain refinement was accompanied by an increase in the number of grain boundaries and dislocations, and by changes in grain orientation. However, there was no change in the size and number of intermetallic particles, which presumably resulted in a constant number of galvanic couplings. Electrochemical experiments revealed only slight differences between the samples before and after processing. Higher potential transients/oscillations upon immersion and increased corrosion currents in the vicinity of corrosion potential point to slightly higher reactivity of the most refined material. This indicates that intermetallic particles are the most crucial microstructural elements in terms of corrosion resistance. Their impact exceeds that of grain boundaries, in particular, at the stage of corrosion initiation. The development of corrosion attack is controlled more by the microstructure of the matrix as the grain refinement resulted in a less pronounced corrosion attack in comparison with the coarse-grained sample.     

Dual effect synergistically triggered Ce:(Y,Tb)3(Al,Mn)5O12 transparent ceramics enabling a high color-rendering index and excellent thermal stability for white LEDs

Ce:Y₃Al₅O₁₂ transparent ceramics (TCs) with appropriate emission light proportion and high thermal stability are significant to construct white light emitting diode devices with excellent chromaticity parameters. In this work, strategies of controlling crystal-field splitting around Ce³⁺ ion and doping orange-red emitting ion, were adopted to fabricate Ce:(Y,Tb)₃(Al,Mn)₅O₁₂ TCs via vacuum sintering technique. Notably, 85.4 % of the room-temperature luminescence intensity of the TC was retained at 150 °C, and the color rendering index was as high as 79.8. Furthermore, a 12 nm red shift and a 16.2 % increase of full width at half maximum were achieved owing to the synergistic effects of Tb³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions. By combining TCs with a 460 nm blue chip, a warm white light with a low correlated color temperature of 4155 K was acquired. Meanwhile, the action mechanism of Tb³⁺ ion and the energy transfer between Ce³⁺ and Mn²⁺ ions were verified in prepared TCs.     

Organic mesh template-based laminated object manufacturing to fabricate ceramics with regular micron scaled pore structures

A new aqueous slurry-based laminated object manufacturing process for porous ceramics is proposed: firstly, an organic mesh sheet is pre-paved as a pore-forming template before slurry layer scraping; secondly, the 2D pattern is built with laser outline cutting of the dried mesh–ceramic composite layer; finally, the pore structure is formed after degreasing and sintering. Alumina parts with porosities of 51.5 %, round hole diameters of 80 ± 5 μm were fabricated using 70 wt. % solid content slurry and 100 mesh nylon net. Using an organic mesh as the framework and template not only reduces the risk of damage of the green body but also ensures the regularity, uniformity and connectivity of the micron scaled pore network. The layer-by-layer drying method avoids the delamination phenomenon and improves the paving density. The new method can realize the flexible design of the pore structure by using various organic mesh templates.     

Characteristics of Preferential Flow Paths in Reservoirs After Polymer Flooding and an Adaptive Compound Flooding Method

Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils - When a reservoir is subjected to long-term water and polymer flooding, the formed preferential flow paths are widely distributed in the formation, and...     

Matrix Manipulation of Directly-Synthesized PbS Quantum Dot Inks Enabled by Coordination Engineering

The direct-synthesis of conductive PbS quantum dot (QD) ink is facile, scalable, and low-cost, boosting the future commercialization of optoelectronics based on colloidal QDs. However, manipulating the QD matrix structures still is a challenge, which limits the corresponding QD solar cell performance. Here, for the first time a coordination-engineering strategy to finely adjust the matrix thickness around the QDs is presented, in which halogen salts are introduced into the reaction to convert the excessive insulating lead iodide into soluble iodoplumbate species. As a result, the obtained QD film exhibits shrunk insulating shells, leading to higher charge carrier transport and superior surface passivation compared to the control devices. A significantly improved power-conversion efficiency from 10.52% to 12.12% can be achieved after the matrix engineering. Therefore, the work shows high significance in promoting the practical application of directly synthesized PbS QD inks in large-area low-cost optoelectronic devices.     

keff uncertainty quantification and analysis due to nuclear data during the full lifetime burnup calculation for a small-sized prismatic high temperature gas-cooled reactor

To benefit from recent advances in modeling and computational algorithms,as well as the availability of new covariance data,sensitivity and uncertainty analyses are needed to quantify the impact of uncertain sources on the design parameters of small prismatic high-temperature gas-cooled reactors(HTGRs).In particular,the contribution of nuclear data to the keff uncertainty is an important part of the uncertainty analysis of small-sized HTGR physical calculations.In this study,a small-sized HTGR designed by China Nuclear Power Engineering Co.,Ltd.was selected for keff uncertainty analysis during full lifetime burnup calculations.Models of the cold zero power(CZP)condition and full lifetime burnup process were constructed using the Reactor Monte Carlo Code RMC for neutron transport calculation,depletion calculation,and sensitivity and uncertainty analysis.For the sensitivity analysis,the Contribution-Linked eigenvalue sensitivity/Uncertainty estimation via Track length importance Characterization(CLUTCH)method was applied to obtain sensitive infor-mation,and the"sandwich"method was used to quantify the keff uncertainty.We also compared the keff uncertainties to other typical reactors.Our results show that 235U is the largest contributor to keff uncertainty for both the CZP and depletion conditions,while the contribution of 239Pu is not very significant because of the design of low discharge burnup.It is worth noting that the radioactive capture reaction of 28Si significantly contributes to the keff uncer-tainty owing to its specific fuel design.However,the keff uncertainty during the full lifetime depletion process was relatively stable,only increasing by 1.12％owing to the low discharge burnup design of small-sized HTGRs.These numerical results are beneficial for neutronics design and core parameters optimization in further uncertainty prop-agation and quantification study for small-sized HTGR.     

基于卓越工程师教育的频率特性分析课堂教学研究

频率特性分析在工程应用中具有重要的作用,在电路分析、模拟电子技术、信号与系统、自动控制理论等相关课程中都涉及到相关章节内容,在不同课程中如何根据工程应用和学生学习阶段把握具体的讲解内容和讲解方式非常重要。本文从频率特性的求解方法和具体物理意义角度开展在不同课程中讲解的方法,从时域和频域角度分别讨论其物理意义和具体的分析方法。通过渐进深化的教学过程和教学方法不断提高学生的知识掌握和应用技能,提高学生的工程意识、工程素质和工程创新能力,强化学生对于频率特性课程知识的综合应用能力。     

Spectroscopic properties and thermally stable orange-red luminescence of Sm:Zr:LiNbO3 and Sm:Hf:LiNbO3 for white LED applications

LiNbO₃ crystals activated by Sm³⁺ and co-doped with Zr⁴⁺ (Sm:Zr:LN) or Hf⁴⁺ (Sm:Hf:LN) were prepared by the Czochralski method. Detailed investigation on spectroscopic properties was conducted on the frame of Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory. The J-O intensity parameters Ω_i (i = 2, 4, 6), fluorescence branching ratios and radiative lifetime of excited level ⁴G_5/2 were determined. Furthermore, the thermal stability of the strong orange-red emissions obtained under near-UV excitation in both crystals was evaluated. As high as 100% and 97% of integrated intensities at room temperature in Sm:Zr:LN and Sm:Hf:LN respectively were retained at 423 K, demonstrating the suppressed thermal attenuation. The temperature sensing performance based on fluorescence intensity ratio strategy was degraded at higher temperatures with relatively low sensitivities, while the shift of CIE chromaticity coordinates of Sm:Zr:LN and Sm:Hf:LN in the orange-red region was insignificant, demonstrating the color constancy with increasing temperature. With the efficient and thermally stable orange-red luminescence, Sm:Zr:LN and Sm:Hf:LN could serve as promising candidate materials for near-UV excited white light-emitting diodes.     

Recent advances in carbon nanotubes-based microwave absorbing composites

With the blossom of information industry, electromagnetic wave technology shows increasingly potential in many fields. Nevertheless, the trouble caused by electromagnetic waves has also drawn extensive attention. For instance, electromagnetic pollution can threaten information safety in vital fields and the normal function of delicate electronic devices. Consequently, electromagnetic pollution and interference become an urgent issue that needs to be addressed. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have become a potential candidate to deal with these problems due to many advantages, such as high dielectric loss, remarkable thermodynamic stability, and low density. With the appearance of climbing demands, however, the carbon nanotubes combining various composites have shown greater prospects than the single CNTs in microwave absorbing materials. In this short review, recent advances in CNTs-based microwave absorbing materials were comprehensively discussed. Typically, we introduced the electromagnetic wave absorption mechanism of CNTs-based microwave absorbing materials and generalized the development of CNTs-based microwave absorbers, including CNTs-based magnetic metal composites, CNTs-based ferrite composites, and CNTs-based polymer composites. Ultimately, the growing trend and bottleneck of CNTs-based composites for microwave absorption were analyzed to provide some available ideas to more scientific workers.