Lite-On Technology Corporation (China)

ABSTRACT Biostimulation is a widely used approach for remediating deep‐layer oil‐contaminated soils. However, at four petroleum hydrocarbon‐contaminated sites in Saskatchewan, Canada, we observed a marked decline in the effectiveness of benzene biostimulation over a three‐year period. The underlying causes of performance decline are poorly understood. To investigate the factors contributing to the reduced efficacy of biostimulation, this study hypothesizes that either the delivery of amendments was affected by soil matrix or the prevalence of benzene‐degrading microbes declined in areas requiring remediation. Deep soil samples were collected annually and analyzed for benzene concentration, water‐soluble ions, and the abundance of functional microbial genes associated with benzene degradation. A generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was used to examine the relationship between the binary remediation outcome (success or failure) at the sample scale and water‐soluble ion concentrations, with site treated as a random effect. A linear model was applied to investigate the relationship between failure rate of remediation and soil properties at the site scale. The GLMM identified soil pH, along with soluble PO 4 3− , Ca 2+ , SO 4 2− , NO 3 − and NO 2 − as significant contributors to the effectiveness of biostimulation at sample scale. Notably, Ca 2+ and PO 4 3− exhibited comparable importance but opposite effects, with Ca 2+ negatively and PO 4 3− positively associated with successful remediation. The linear model found that soil water‐soluble Ca 2+ and SO 4 2− were positively correlated with the rate of declined remediation outcomes at site scale ( p < 0.05). We inferred that at sites with moderately high background SO 4 2− , decade‐long natural attenuation rendered the benzene more recalcitrant. High soil‐soluble Ca 2+ could sequester the phosphate introduced by amendments, forming precipitates that reduced phosphorus availability. Given that the amendments contained nitric acid, an observed increase in pH or a decrease in electrical conductivity in the samples after biostimulation relative to pre‐biostimulation conditions, suggests that fewer amendments reached the polluted plume. This may indicate that the initial infiltration pathways became clogged, potentially due to Ca–P precipitation. Moreover, the decline in functional genes linked to anaerobic benzene degradation suggests insufficient microbial capacity to utilize the amendments. This emphasizes the need to tailor biostimulation strategies for successful in situ biostimulation, ensuring effective delivery of amendments, particularly over long‐term practices, and to sustain microbial activity under field conditions.

Abstract Prussian blue (PB) is regarded as a promising host for Na or K storage because of its sustainable precursor elements (e.g., Mn, Fe) and open framework structure. However, unstable structure, high crystal H2O content, and risky HCN generation restrain its practical applications. In this work, after systematical investigation of structural evolution from Na‐based to K‐based PB and its relationship with electrochemical properties, it is clarified that low crystal water content, high K content, and trace Na doping are essential for a robust structure and stable cycling of PB. It is found that a trace Na‐doped K‐based PB exhibits comprehensive properties of low crystal water content (3.2 wt%), high thermal stability (over 340 °C), and superior cycling stability (84.3% after 6300 cycles at 5 C). Besides, the PB can also present stable cycling under harsh conditions, such as with intermittent‐overcharge/overdischarge steps (4.8 V/1.2 V, 93.3% after 2100 cycles at 5 C), in a wide voltage range (93.2% after 1000 cycles at 1.5‒4.5 V/5 C), under a high rate (83.7% after 4350 cycles at 10 C), and at a high temperature (92.0% after 1650 cycles at 45 °C/1 C). The superior electrochemical properties are attributed to its structural robustness even under harsh conditions.

The higher output quality of neural machine translation (NMT) has fostered research into the possibility of using it for literary texts, leaving the translator the finishing touch through post-editing. However, as previous studies have shown (Moorkens et al.,, 2018; Guerberof-Arenas and Toral, 2020, 2022), the creativity that characterises literary translators’ reading and writing is hindered by the predominantly literal MT output. While subscribing to the idea of leaving the human translator in charge of literary texts, our article tests another use of technology—namely aligners and NMT to assist in the revision of previously published translations which show good quality and relevance to today’s world, yet contain factual errors, omissions, misinterpretations and dated lexical or syntactic choices. Two chapters from Sinclair Lewis’ The Job (1917) and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) were aligned with existing translations (Italian for the former, published in 1955 and 1970, and Finnish for the latter, published in 1963) and with the output produced by DeepL Pro to see whether some of its segments could replace the parts to be revised. Then, professionals working in literary translation were asked if 1) they were in favour of the use of technologies in the revision process, and 2) if the method we proposed was viable.

Frame, or kerf or scribe line, is an area in reticle surrounding individual chip/die. It is used to place various marks for process control purposes, such as lithography alignment and overlay marks. With the increasing complexity of semiconductor processes, more factors need to be considered and mistakes can be made, especially when multi-projects devices are combined into one reticle at early R&D phase. We have developed a methodology to help to design frame marks which is error-proofing and robust to various process tuning including material changes. This includes placement guide and thorough simulations predictions. This has led to satisfactory results.

Manganese-based Prussian blue has attracted enormous interest because of its high energy density, low cost, and easy synthesis. However, its practical use is limited for its poor rate capability and cycling performance. Here, a Mn/Ni binary Prussian blue was proposed to address this issue. The material with a 1:1 Mn/Ni ratio shows an optimized electrochemical performance when prepared via a Na2C2O4-assisted coprecipitation route at a high precursor salt concentration (0.5 mol L–1, named Mn0.5Ni0.5-0.5). Mn0.5Ni0.5-0.5 delivers a relatively high capacity of 69.4 mAh g–1 even at a current density rate up to 100 C (69% relative to 0.1 C) and a long cycle life with 85.3% capacity retained after 700 cycles at 5 C. The material functions well at both −20 and 45 °C at 1 C. Stable cycling can be realized after overcharge to 4.8 V (91.8%, 300 cycles at 1 C) and overdischarge to 1.2 V (89.7%, 300 cycles at 1 C). In addition, the coin cell group assembled by series/parallel-connected single cells also shows excellent cycling performance without any battery management system. A scalable preparation of kilogram-grade Mn0.5Ni0.5-0.5 is achieved, and the pouch-type full cell made from it also exhibits stable cycling.

Common-mode (CM) noise cancellation method is an attractive approach to reduce the original CM noise in power converters, which helps to shrink the size of electromagnetic interference filter. Traditional CM noise cancellation method cancels the CM noise current by adding a branch consisted of a compensation voltage source and a compensation capacitor, which generates a cancellation current and nullifies the noise current. As the duality, the voltage cancellation method is also feasible for reducing the CM noise, which has not been investigated in dc–dc converters. In this article, a common-mode voltage cancellation (CMVC) method is proposed, which cancels the CM voltage of the converter by inserting compensation voltage source into the input power cord. The requirement for achieving CMVC is that the cancellation voltage and the parasitic capacitances in the circuit are matched. The applications of CMVC method in basic nonisolated and isolated dc–dc converters are presented, and the considerations for practical applications of this method are discussed. Finally, a buck converter and a half-bridge LLC resonant converter prototype are built, and the proposed method is verified by experiment, respectively.