Life table parameters and predation rate of the coccinellid predator Harmonia dimidiata F. fed on Aphis gossypii Glover were determined at 25°C using the age‐stage, two‐sex life table. When the total number of eggs were included in our calculations, the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate (λ), net reproductive rate (R0) and mean generation time (T) for H. dimidiata were 0.1354/day, 1.1450/day, 280.8 offspring and 41.6 day, respectively. These values were significantly different, however, only when viable (=hatchable) H. dimidiata eggs were counted (0.0909/day, 1.0952/day, 67.6 offspring and 46.3 day, respectively). The values obtained using all eggs did not realistically reflect the effect of variable hatch rate and true population parameters of H. dimidiata. We therefore excluded unhatched eggs from our data and demonstrated mathematically that in future demographic studies, it should be a standard procedure to exclude all unhatched eggs when analysing hatch rates that vary with maternal age. A mathematical proof was derived in this study to substantiate this. To observe and quantify variations that occur in the predation rate due to the age and stage of the predator, the daily number of A. gossypii consumed by individual H. dimidiata was analysed using the age‐stage, two‐sex life table. The net predation rate of H. dimidiata on A. gossypii was 14 804 aphids. The transformation rate Qp showed that the predator needs to consume an average of 219.1 aphids to produce one viable egg. The finite predation rate of H. dimidiata was 125.7 when only hatchable eggs were included in the analysis. Because the age‐stage, two‐sex life table takes both of the sexes and the variable predation rate occurring among stages into consideration, it becomes possible to use the population projection to quantify and time biological control procedures.

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In what follows we prove that R 0,e and R 0 will be identical regardless if the hatch rate of eggs laid by the females in the cohort at different ages is not the same as the hatch rate of parent cohort, as long as the viability of all eggs laid during the experiment is the same as that of the parent cohort.

The self-heating effect on Si1-xGex based FinFETs is analyzed and investigated with different device structures/dimensions, Ge concentration, and operated voltages. The module-level material properties of the thermal conductivities (k) in Si and Ge with different operated temperature (T), material thickness (t), and impurity concentration (N) are calibrated by the experimental thermo-electric measurement firstly in our simulation model. The maximum chip temperature in the Ge FinFETs is found to be ∼50 °C higher than in the Si FinFETs due to the poor intrinsic material property of k in Ge material. This seriously limits the development of the Ge FinFETs in the future scaled logic devices even Si1-xGex material (x>0.8) has the higher intrinsic carrier mobility than pure Si. One of the possible solutions to avoid this self-heating effect in Si1-xGex based FinFETs is to reduce the operated voltage (<0.8V) to get the optimal device operated window among different boundary conditions including the acceptable chip temperature and the higher carrier mobility in the device.