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A brief introduction of Chinese Hygrobatidae taxonomy is reviewed. A new species, Sinibates xinyaoae Li, Smit & Guo sp. nov. from Hainan province is described representing a new genus Sinibates Li, Smit & Guo gen. nov. A second species, Hygrobates (Minibates) cf. dobriyali Pešić & Smit, 2019, from Hunan province represents a new subgenus, Minibates Li, Smit & Guo subgen. nov. inHygrobates. The other new species, Mixobates neoamurensis Li & Guo sp. nov. from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region adds a newly recorded genus, Mixobates Thor, 1905 from China. Text: LSID Genus:Sinibates Li, Smit & Guo gen. nov.: LSID Species:Sinibates xinyaoae Li, Smit & Guo sp. nov.: LSID Subgenus:Minibates Li, Smit & Guo subgen. nov.: LSID Species:Mixobates neoamurensis Li & Guo sp. nov.: LSID [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Higgs boson pair production at the LHC provides a probe to the Higgs boson self-coupling. The higher-order QCD corrections in this process are sizable and must be taken into account in comparison with data. Due to the small cross section, it is necessary to consider at least one of the Higgs bosons decaying to bottom quarks. The QCD corrections to the decay processes would also be important in such cases. We present a full calculation of the total and differential cross sections for the b b ¯ γγ final state with next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections. After applying typical kinematic cuts in the final state, we find that QCD NLO corrections in the decay decrease the LO result by 19% and reduce the scale uncertainties by a factor of two. The QCD corrections to the invariant mass mjjγγ distribution, the transverse momentum spectra of the leading bottom quark jet and photon are significant and can not be approximated by a constant factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species, Momonides neolandbergi Li & Guo sp. nov. is described in detail, which is the fifth species all over the world in Momonidinae Lundblad, 1941, Momoniidae K. Viets, 1926. The family and subfamily are newly recorded for Chinese fauna. The new species are recorded by camera, optical microscope, and scanning electron microscope. Publication:New species: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A brief introduction of Chinese Limnesiidae taxonomy is provided. Adults of two new species, Limnesia (Limnesia) lupingae Li & Guo sp. nov. and Limnesia (Limnesia) macrophthalma Li & Guo sp. nov., from Heilongjiang and Hubei provinces respectively, are described in detail. Subtle structures are recorded with scanning electron micrographs. In addition, deutonymphs of two new species are also described in detail and compared with the adults in discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with two new species, Atractides (Atractides) bitergumus Zhang & Guo sp. nov. and Atractides (Tympanomegapus) tergumus Zhang & Guo sp. nov., and a new record of a species, Atractides (Atractides) incertus, from Hainan Province, P. R. China. These species are described and illustrated in detail. Article: Atractides (Atractides) bitergumus: Atractides (Tympanomegapus) tergumus: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the cavitation effect induced by two charges in underwater explosions near free surfaces is numerical researched by two dimensional compressible multiphase fluids based on a four-equation system with a phase transition model. The occurrence of the generation, development, and collapse of cavitation in two-charge underwater explosions near free surfaces can be captured directly. The detailed density, pressure, and vapor volume fraction contours during the interaction process are obtained and can better reveal the characteristic underlying the cavitation, free surface, and explosion bubbles. Numerical results reveal that the cavitation domain has expanded to an area much deeper than the explosion bubble location in two-charge underwater explosions, which should be paid enough attention due to its influence on the input load of underwater structures. The detailed density and pressure contours during the interaction process can also be captured and can better reveal the mechanism underlying the explosion bubble, cavitation, and surface wave dynamics. The present results can expand the currently limited database of multiphase fluid in underwater explosions and also provide new insights into the strong nonlinear interaction between underwater explosion and cavitation, which provides a deep understanding of multi-point explosions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic fibrosis is one of the most important pathological features of chronic pancreatitis (CP) and pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) are the key cells of fibrosis. As an extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is critical for collagen assembly and ECM stability and recent studies showed that COMP exert promoting fibrosis effect in the skin, lungs and liver. However, the role of COMP in activation of PSCs and pancreatic fibrosis remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the role and specific mechanisms of COMP in regulating the profibrotic phenotype of PSCs and pancreatic fibrosis. ELISA method was used to determine serum COMP in patients with CP. Mice model of CP was established by repeated intraperitoneal injection of cerulein and pancreatic fibrosis was evaluated by Hematoxylin-Eosin staining (H&E) and Sirius red staining. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression changes of COMP and fibrosis marker such as α-SMA and Fibronectin in pancreatic tissue of mice. Cell Counting Kit-8, Wound Healing and Transwell assessed the proliferation and migration of human pancreatic stellate cells (HPSCs). Western blotting, qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence staining were performed to detect the expression of fibrosis marker, AKT and MAPK family proteins in HPSCs. RNA-seq omics analysis as well as small interfering RNA of COMP, recombinant human COMP (rCOMP), MEK inhibitors and PI3K inhibitors were used to study the effect and mechanism of COMP on activation of HPSCs. ELISA showed that the expression of COMP significantly increased in the serum of CP patients. H&E and Sirius red staining analysis showed that there was a large amount of collagen deposition in the mice in the CP model group and high expression of COMP, α-SMA, Fibronectin and Vimentin were observed in fibrotic tissues. TGF-β1 stimulates the activation of HPSCs and increases the expression of COMP. Knockdown of COMP inhibited proliferation and migration of HPSCs. Further, RNA-seq omics analysis and validation experiments in vitro showed that rCOMP could significantly promote the proliferation and activation of HPSCs, which may be due to promoting the phosphorylation of ERK and AKT through membrane protein receptor CD36. rCOMP simultaneously increased the expression of α-SMA, Fibronectin and Collagen I in HPSCs. In conclusion, this study showed that COMP was up-regulated in CP fibrotic tissues and COMP induced the activation, proliferation and migration of PSCs through the CD36-ERK/AKT signaling pathway. COMP may be a potential therapeutic candidate for the treatment of CP. Interfering with the expression of COMP or the communication between COMP and CD36 on PSCs may be the next direction for therapeutic research. • COMP upregulation occurs in CP, and its high expression level correlates with fibrosis occurrence. • Knockdown of COMP dramatically suppressed cell proliferation, activation, and migration in PSCs. • COMP exerted fibrogenic function through its interaction with CD36 and activated MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. • COMP could be a potential therapeutic candidate in the treatment of CP, and interfering with the communication between COMP and CD36 on PSCs may be the next direction for therapeutic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper further enriches the taxonomic study of Feltriidae Viets, 1926 in China since it was first reported by Yi & Jin in 2011. Seven species, Feltria hanmaensis sp. nov., Feltria pesici sp. nov., Feltria pseudoparva sp. nov., Feltria expendis sp. nov., Feltria yinjiangensis sp. nov., Feltria neoflatheadensis sp. nov. and Feltria glandulosa sp. nov., are described as new to science; Feltria minuta Koenike, 1892 is new to the Chinese water mite fauna. In addition, some slit organs of these species are photographed by SEM (scanning electron microscope) and illustrated in detail by optical microscope to provide material for exploiting valuable character in specific identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To get an accurate bearing capacity of a postgrouting pile, the range of grout diffusion should be considered in practice. Considering the time-dependent behavior of power-law cement grout viscosity, calculation methods are proposed to determine the diffusion radius and the climbing height of the grout. Moreover, an iterative calculation method is established to compute the climbing height of the grout along a single pile embedded in layered soils. Four cases reported in the literature are used to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed calculation methods. The calculation results show that the computed grout diffusion radius and climbing height of the grout are in good agreement with the measured value. For practical purposes, to get an accurate prediction on the bearing capacity of postgrouting pile, the time-dependent behavior of grout viscosity should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event shape observables have been widely used for precision QCD studies at various lepton and hadron colliders. We present the most accurate calculation of the transverse-energy-energy correlation event shape variable in deep-inelastic scattering. In the framework of soft-collinear effective theory the cross section is factorized as the convolution of the hard function, beam function, jet function and soft function in the back-to-back limit. A close connection to TMD factorization is established, as the beam function when combined with part of the soft function is identical to the conventional TMD parton distribution function, and the jet function is the second moment of the TMD fragmentation function matching coefficient. We validate our framework by comparing the obtained LO and NLO leading singular distributions to the full QCD calculations in the back-to-back limit. We report the resummed transverse-energy-energy correlation distributions up to N3LL accuracy matched with the NLO cross section for the production of a lepton and two jets. Our work provides a new way to precisely study TMD physics at the future Electron-Ion Collider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various faults of photovoltaic (PV) modules inevitably occur in the work process, since PV modules are installed in hostile situation. To obtain the types of failure, a novel fault diagnosis method based on back propagation (BP) neural network with Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) algorithm for PV modules is proposed. Through the in-depth analysis the output of PV modules under normal and fault conditions, the input variables of the diagnosis model are acquired. The high-speed and real-time fault diagnosis model for PV modules is first designed based on TMS320VC5402 DSP and long-distance wireless fault diagnosis is realized by Zigbee technology. The simulation and experimental results show that the fault diagnosis method for PV modules based on BP network with L-M algorithm can effectively detect four types of fault for PV modules such as open circuit, short circuit, partial shading and abnormal degradation. The numerical results verify the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed method, which can provide a great educational benefit of PV operation technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Higgs boson pair production via gluon fusion at high-energy hadron colliders, such as the LHC, is vital in deciphering the Higgs potential and in pinning down the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism. We carry out the next-to-next-to-next-to- leading order (N3LO) QCD calculations in the infinite top-quark mass limit and present predictions for both the inclusive and differential cross sections, albeit the differential distributions other than the invariant mass distribution of the Higgs boson pair are approximated at N3LO. Such corrections are indispensable in stabilising the perturbative expansion of the cross section in the strong coupling αs. At the inclusive level, the scale uncertainties are reduced by a factor of four compared with the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) results. Given that the inclusion of the top-quark mass effects is essential for the phenomenological applications, we use several schemes to incorporate the N3LO results in the infinite top-quark mass limit and the next-to-leading order (NLO) results with full top-quark mass dependence, and present theoretical predictions for the (differential) cross sections in the proton-proton collisions at the centre-of-mass energies s = 13, 14, 27 and 100 TeV. Our results provide one of the most precise theoretical inputs for the analyses of the Higgs boson pair events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate whether use of single‐foot centered and double‐foot centered weight‐bearing X‐rays has an impact on the relevant indicators of hallux valgus. Methods: A total of 55 female patients from the Department of Ankle Surgery of Beijing Tongren Hospital with hallux valgus (110 feet) were collected from September to December 2015. The age of these patients ranged from 18 to 43 years, with an average age of 47.9 ± 8.5 years. All selected patients fit the diagnostic criteria of hallux valgus and had weight‐bearing single foot centered and double foot centered radiographs taken. During the projection, all patients were instructed to stand on the X‐ray box, with the knee joint straightened and legs perpendicular to the floor. The projection center of the single foot was directed at the lateral part of the scaphoid bone of the foot, while the projection center was directed at the position between the scaphoid bones of both feet for the double‐foot shooting. The hallux valgus angle (HAV), the intermetatarsal angle between the first and second metatarsals (IMA), the intermetatarsal angle between the first and fifth metatarsals (IM1‐5), and the metatarsal adduction angle (MAA) were measured and examined. The difference between these two shooting conditions was compared and analyzed. Results: The differences in X‐ray measurement results (IMA, HAV, IM1‐5, and MMA) between different measures for the same patient were not statistically significant. The values of HAV, IMA, IM1‐5, and MAA are common indexes for evaluating hallux valgus. The average IMA was 15.9° for single‐foot centered and 14.1° for double‐foot centered X‐rays. The average HAV was 30.2° for single‐foot centered and 29.7° for double‐foot centered X‐rays. The average IM1‐5 was 31.1° for single‐foot centered and 29.7° for double‐foot centered X‐rays. The average of metatarsal adduction angle was 13.8° for single‐foot centered and 14.1° for double‐foot centered X‐rays. The differences between single‐foot centered and double‐foot centered X‐rays were statistically significant in terms of the measurement index (P < 0.05). In addition, compared with double‐foot centered weight‐bearing X‐rays, the focus of single‐foot centered X‐rays was located on the lateral part of the scaphoid bone of the foot, and the ray was closer to the vertical foot in the single‐foot centered weight‐bearing X‐ray. Conclusion: When the weight‐bearing position and projection distance are the same, the single‐foot centered weight‐bearing X‐ray is more effective in evaluating the severity of hallux valgus compared with the double‐foot centered weight‐bearing X‐ray. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centrality-dependent measurements of hadron and jet cross section attenuation in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei can shed new light on the physics of final-state interactions in nuclear matter, including the path-length dependence of the in-medium parton shower formation and evolution. Recent simulation studies have demonstrated the feasibility of experimental centrality determination in e A reactions at the electron-ion collider via neutron detection in the zero-degree calorimeter. Motivated by these results, we present the first theoretical calculation of the production rate modification for hadrons and jets in central and peripheral e Pb collisions. We find that the variation in the suppression of inclusive jet cross section as a function of centrality is less than a factor of two. In more differential measurements, such as the distribution of hadrons versus the hadronization fraction z h , the difference can be enhanced up to an order of magnitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mass of heavy quarks, such as charm and bottom, plays an important role in the formation of parton showers. This effect is apparently not well understood when parton showers evolve in a strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma. We propose a new experimental measurement in relativistic heavy ion collisions, based on a two-prong subjet structure inside a reconstructed heavy flavor jet, which can place stringent constraints on the mass dependence of in-medium splitting functions. We identify the region of jet transverse momenta where parton mass effects are leading and predict a unique reversal of the mass hierarchy of jet quenching effects in heavy ion relative to proton collisions. Namely, the momentum sharing distribution of prompt b -tagged jets is more strongly modified in comparison to the one for light jets. Our work is useful in guiding experimental efforts at the Large Hadron Collider and the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slenderness ratio is one of the main influencing factors on the mechanical properties of laminated bamboo columns under eccentric compression. This paper presents the research results of 20 column tests. Two main failure models can be classified based on the test results for the columns. The increasing speeds for the strain value are similar for all specimens. Regardless of the length, the strain across the cross-section of the column for each specimen is basically linear throughout the loading process, following standard normal section bending theory. Relationships between the ultimate mechanical parameters and slenderness ratios are proposed, including an equation for calculating the slenderness ratio influencing coefficient, which gives good agreement with the test results. All the equations presented in this paper can be used as a reference for further work to establish a generally applicable formula for code adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male infertility is a global concern, with a noticeable increase in the decline of spermatogenesis and sperm quality. However, there are limited clinically effective treatments available. This study aimed to investigate the potential effectiveness of puerarin in treating male infertility, which leads to gonadal changes. The results obtained from various analyses such as CASA, immunofluorescence, DIFF-Quick, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), and periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining demonstrated that puerarin supplementation significantly alleviated the busulfan-induced reduction in spermatogenesis and sperm quality in both young and adult mice. Furthermore, puerarin exhibited a marked improvement in the damage caused by busulfan to the architecture of seminiferous tubules, causal epididymis, blood-testicular barrier (BTB), as well as spermatogonia and Sertoli cells. Similarly, puerarin significantly reduced the levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), malondialdehyde (MDA), and caspase-3 in the testes of busulfan-induced mice, as determined by microplate reader analysis. Additionally, RNA-seq data, RT-qPCR, and western blotting revealed that puerarin restored the abnormal gene expressions induced by busulfan to nearly healthy levels. Notably, puerarin significantly reversed the impact of busulfan on the expression of marker genes involved in spermatogenesis and oxidative stress. Moreover, puerarin suppressed the phosphorylation of p38, ERK1/2, and JNK in the testes, as observed through testicular analysis. Consequently, this study concludes that puerarin may serve as a potential alternative for treating busulfan-induced damage to male fertility by inactivating the testicular MAPK pathways. These findings may pave the way for the use of puerarin in addressing chemotherapy- or other factors-induced male infertility in humans. [Display omitted] • Puerarin significantly alleviated busulfan-induced male infertility in mice. • Puerarin improved male infertility by restoring expressions of maker genes in spermatogenesis, apoptosis, oxidative stress. • Puerarin obviously ameliorated male infertility by inhibiting testicular phosphorylation of MAPKs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We calculate the N -jettiness soft function for tW production up to next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD, which is an important ingredient of the N -jettiness subtraction method for predicting the differential cross sections of massive colored particle productions. The divergent parts of the results have been checked using the renormalization group equations controlled by the soft anomalous dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the mechanosynthesis of a series of second-sphere salts, guest⊂[H2L]2+·[MCl4]2– [L = N,N′-dibenzyl-(±)-trans-1,2-diaminocyclohexane], and the reversible transformations to their chelating coordination complexes [MCl2(L)] through dehydrochlorination reactions. The second-sphere salts and their corresponding coordination complexes show different solid-state fluorescence spectra. The complex ZnCl2(L) (2′) acts as a sensor for the highly sensitive detection of nitroaromatic compounds through fluorescence quenching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A framework is presented for including second-order perturbative corrections to the radiation patterns of parton showers. The formalism allows to combine O ( α s 2 ) -corrected iterated 2 → 3 kernels for “ordered” gluon emissions with tree-level 2 → 4 kernels for “unordered” ones. The combined Sudakov evolution kernel is thus accurate to O ( α s 2 ) . As a first step towards a full-fledged implementation of these ideas, we develop an explicit implementation of 2 → 4 shower branchings in this letter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of efficient heterogeneous catalysts for degrading organic pollutants or converting them into harmless and even useful products is of vital significance for environmental remediation. Herein, we reported the facile synthesis of a highly active and stable nanocatalyst (AuNPs/uTiO 2 ) via a simple photoreduction deposition of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) on urchin-like TiO 2 nanosphere (uTiO 2 ), and demonstrated its excellent performances as a catalyst for oxidative degradation of organic dyes and reductive conversion of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). The AuNPs/uTiO 2 nanocomposite showed high surface area (147.5 m 2 ·g − 1 ), large pore volume (0.52 cm 3 ·g − 1 ), and high dispersity of AuNPs. In particular, the uTiO 2 support could combine AuNPs strongly and serve as a shield to prevent leaching or aggregation of AuNPs, while allowing guest organic molecules to diffuse in and out easily. Benefiting from the excellent characteristics, the AuNPs/uTiO 2 exhibited superior catalytic properties for dyes degradation and 4-NP reduction with significantly higher catalytic efficiencies than many previously reported heterogeneous catalysts. Moreover, the catalytic activity of AuNPs/uTiO 2 could remain almost unchanged after being recycled for several times, demonstrating its long-term stability. The AuNPs/uTiO 2 , combining the advantages of high activity, favorable kinetics, and excellent durability for dye degradation and 4-NP reduction, should be very promising for wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the MnSiO 3 decorated hollow mesoporous silica spheres (MHMSS) was facilely synthesized via an one-step thermal treatment of hollow mesoporous silica spheres (HMSS) and MnCl 2 ⋅4H 2 O in a binary solvents (ethylenediamine/ethylene glycol). Intriguingly, it was found that MnSiO 3 nanocrystals were formed effectively on the pore surface of HMSS without pore blocking, and the resultant MHMSS fully inherited the morphological and textural characteristics of HMSS such as spherical hollow structure with mesoporous shell, large pore size (mainly distributed around 15.5 nm), high surface area (501.5 m 2 g −1 ), and large pore volume (1.85 cm 3 g −1 ). More importantly, the MHMSS exhibited high catalytic activities for oxidative degradation of methylene blue (MB), basic red 5 (BR), and rhodamine B (RhB) in the presence of H 2 O 2 . Typically, 10 mL of MB (50 mg L −1 ) can be decolored by 80% in 1 min and nearly 93% in 10 min. Moreover, the MHMSS also showed excellent adsorption properties in term of capacity and kinetics on removal of Pb 2+ . The Pb 2+ adsorption could reach equilibrium within 100 min, and the maximum adsorption amount was up to 279.4 mg g −1 at 313.15 K, significantly higher than those found for many other adsorbents. The present results suggest that the MHMSS hybrid material can not only be used as a superior heterogeneous catalyst for degradation of organic contaminants, but also act as a highly efficient adsorbent for adsorptive removal of heavy metal ions, which may provide insight into the design and development of high-efficiency nanomaterials and nanotechnologies for environmental remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To clarify the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism, we need to probe the Higgs self-couplings, which can be measured in Higgs pair productions. The associated production with a vector boson is special due to a clear tag in the final state. We perform a fully differential next-to-next-to-leading-order calculation of the Higgs pair production in association with a W boson at hadron colliders, and present numerical results at the 14 TeV LHC and a future 100 TeV hadron collider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rigorous analytical method is developed to analyze the vertical vibration of a massless flexible strip footing bonded to a transversely isotropic multilayered half-plane. The analytical layer-element solution for a transversely isotropic multilayered half-plane in the Fourier transform domain is first introduced for the later derivation. A pair of dual integral equations of contact stress and deflection is derived by virtue of the preceding solution and the mixed boundary conditions. By means of the classic plate theory and Jacobi orthogonal polynomials, the dual integral equations are further converted to a system of linear equations. Comparisons with existed solutions confirm the accuracy of the proposed method. More examples are given to illustrate the influence of relative rigidity ratio, transversely isotropy, double-layered characters and stratification on the vertical impedance and the contact stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A galloping energy harvester (GEH) is proposed based on two types of magnetic effect. • A unified theoretical model covering the three versions of GEHs is developed. • Simulations and experiments are conducted for validating the theoretical model. • The underlying mechanisms of performance enhancement are revealed by CFD. Although wind energy is plenty in the realistic world, the low-speed wind energy usually can't be harvested efficiently. In this study, a novel galloping energy harvester is proposed based on two types of magnetic effect so as to improve the harvesting performance in the low-speed wind environment. The proposed energy harvester can evolve into three monostable versions according to the fixed magnets' number and location, i.e., the linear monostable galloping energy harvester (L-GEH), the wake monostable galloping energy harvester (WM-GEH) and the improved monostable galloping energy harvester (IM-GEH). A unified theoretical model covering the three versions is developed based on the extended Hamilton's theory. Corresponding numerical and experimental studies are conducted for comparative analysis. Compared to the results of the L-GEH and WM-GEH, the IM-GEH makes a great improvement in reducing the critical galloping wind speed and increasing the output power. The parameter analysis is conducted to describe the relationship between wind speed and galloping frequency. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis is carried out to reveal the underlying mechanism of performance enhancement. It is found that for the IM-GEH, the time required for boundary layer separation is decreased, thereby leading to the dense vortices and improving the efficiency of wind energy harvesting. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of 35 laminated bamboo lumber (LBL) column specimens with a design dimension of 73mm × 73mm × 1000mm under radial eccentric compression in presented in this paper. A wide range of eccentricities was considered to carefully examine the failure modes in LBL columns due to interaction between compression and bending. Presence of natural defects such as bamboo joints and use of mechanical connectors to manufacture long columns, produced different failure modes. Key parameters such as lateral displacement and axial deformation at ultimate load, distribution of strains over cross-sections, ultimate load and the corresponding moment were recorded to understand the overall response of eccentrically loaded LBL columns. Typically, all displacements showed an increasing trend with an increase in eccentricity ratio e 0 /h, where e 0 is the eccentricity and h is the depth of the considered cross-section. Regression analyses were carried out to identify influence of e 0 /h on the key mechanical parameters such as displacements and resistances of the LBL columns. Finally, a simplified technique has been proposed to predict the ultimate capacity of LBL columns under radial eccentric compression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The racemic organic building block L acting as a first sphere ligand yields a new second sphere adduct [LH]+·[FeCl4]− crystallizing as racemic polymorphs α and β. Solid-state DFT calculations show that polymorph β is the kinetic adduct as observed experimentally. The β-phase crystallizes in the polar space group Pna21 and displays NLO properties. Mechanochemical synthesis yields only the β-phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holes are often made in the web of the OSB webbed bamboo I-joists for the passage of plumbing lines and ventilation systems. A comprehensive study was conducted in order to determine effect of the parameters, such as the size, shape and clear distance of the holes, on the behavior of the joists. A total of 92 OSB webbed bamboo joists were tested to failure to investigate the failure modes and failure mechanism of them. The results showed that holes in the web have considerable effect on the strength reductions of specimens. Holes sharply changes the stress state and reduces the strength evidently due to the high shear stresses appearing in the vicinity of the hole. With the increase of ratio of the hole size to web height, the peak load capacity and stiffness of the joists with holes decreased significantly. A web hole with sharp corners caused greater stress concentrations than the circular hole. Results from the tests on I shaped joists with two circular and two square web holes with a size of 50% web depth showed that the critical clear distance is about 2 times and 2.5 the web hole size respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose to probe the Z b b ¯ interactions at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) by utilizing the average jet charge weighted single-spin asymmetry A e b Q , which is induced by different cross sections of a left-handed and right-handed electron beam scattering off an unpolarized proton beam in the neutral current deeply-inelastic scattering processes with one observed b -tagged jet. This novel observable at the EIC is sensitive to the axial-vector component of the Z b b ¯ coupling, providing similar information as the g g → Z h cross section measurement at the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider, and is complementary to the single-spin asymmetry measurement at the EIC which is sensitive to the vector component of the Z b b ¯ coupling. We show that the apparent degeneracy of the allowed Z b b ¯ coupling in its vector and axial-vector components, implied by the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP) and the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) precision electroweak data, can be broken by the A e b Q measurement at the EIC. With a large enough integrated luminosity collected at the EIC, the measurement of A e b Q could also resolve the long-standing discrepancy between bottom quark forward-backward asymmetry A FB b at the LEP and the Standard Model prediction, with a strong dependence on the b -tagging efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the mechanical performance of 120 laminated bamboo column specimens under axial compression. Experimental and computational investigations were conducted on axially loaded laminated bamboo columns. The load-deflection and load-strain relationships were obtained from column tests, and the detailed failure modes for all specimens are reported. Squashing or crushing failures were observed for the short columns, and bearing capacity of for the short columns is found to be determined mainly by the compressive strength of the material. However, buckling failures were observed for the longer columns, and the failures involved significant lateral deflection. Deflection caused by initial defects influences the bearing capacity of the specimens more and more obviously as the slenderness ratio increases, and the bigger the slenderness ratio, the bigger the lateral deflection corresponding with the peak load. The variation of ultimate lateral strain and longitudinal strain versus slenderness ratio was also studied. Comparison between the test results, theoretical calculations, and FEM analysis results are reported. An equation for calculating the stability coefficient φ of laminated bamboo columns is proposed. The loading capacities obtained from the equation gives good agreement with the test results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead-free [Li 0.06 (Na 0.52 K 0.48 ) 0.94+ x ]NbO 3 (hereafter L(NK) x N) piezoelectric ceramics were fabricated by normal sintering at 1020–1080 °C for 2 h. The crystal structure, microstructure and piezoelectrical properties were investigated with special emphasis on the influences of the alkali metal compensating content and sintering temperature. A polymorphic phase transition (hereafter PPT) from tetragonal to orthorhombic symmetry was identified by XRD analysis and the corresponding calculation of lattice parameters. Because of such transitional behavior achieved by optimizing compensating content x , the piezoelectric coefficient ( d 33 ), electromechanical coupling coefficient ( k p ), and dielectric constant ( ε r ) were enhanced to peak values, 285 pC/N, 44.5% and 780, respectively. Both moderate compensating content and appropriate sintering temperature contribute to improve the relative density of the L(NK) x N ceramics. The relative density reaches its maximum value of 96% when the ceramic with x = 1.5 at.% was sintered at 1040 °C for 2 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The specific inflow distribution along the horizontal wellbore is significantly uneven in highly heterogeneous reservoirs. Such uneven influx is recognized as the cause of early water breakthrough, poor oil sweep efficiency and low ultimate recovery. Interval control valves (ICVs) are practical completion hardwares that can actively equalize the contributions from all controlled zones. However, the wellhead penetration limitation impedes ICVs' application in highly heterogeneous reservoirs, which require many control intervals. This paper proposes a new completion methodology that combines ICVs and variable-density perforations (ICVs + VDP) to eliminate the limitation of ICVs applied in highly heterogeneous reservoirs. The ICVs + VDP completion can achieve more subtle controls because VDP is capable of reducing the inflow difference in each subzone. A steady-state modeling approach and a transient-state modeling approach are used to evaluate the effect of the ICVs + VDP completion on inflow equalization and well performance optimization. The observations from case study show that horizontal wells with the ICVs + VDP completion can considerably delay water breakthrough, improve oil recovery, and reduce water production in highly heterogeneous reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-grouting technology is widely used to increase the ultimate bearing capacity and decrease the settlement of bored piles. The post-grouting pile is designed according to double control criterion of bearing capacity and settlement, and there is a need to get an accurate load-settlement relationship of post-grouting pile. To get a better understanding on the response of combined side-and-tip grouting pile, the load transfer model of the combined side-and-tip grouting pile considering time-varying characteristics of slurry viscosity was established, and an iterative algorithm for the analysis on the load-settlement relationship of the combined side-and-tip grouting pile in layered soils was proposed in this paper. Comparisons between measured and computed results of three well-documented cases were made to verify the reliability of the calculation method. Furthermore, a parameter study was carried out to assess the influence of pile length, pile diameter and grouting parameters on the load-settlement relationship of single piles with different grouting types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have calculated the complete two-loop QCD amplitudes for hadronic tW production by combining analytical and numerical techniques. The amplitudes have been first reduced to master integrals of eight planar and seven non-planar families, which can contain at most four massive propagators. Then a rational transformation of the master integrals is found to obtain a good basis so that the dimensional parameter decouples from the kinematic variables in the denominators of reduction coefficients. The master integrals are computed by solving their differential equations numerically. We find that the finite part of the two-loop squared amplitude is stable in the bulk of the phase space. After phase space integration and convolution with the parton distributions, it increases the LO cross section at the 13 TeV LHC by about 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HPAM forms mixed adsorption film, while HMPAM forms interfacial associations with ASB molecules. • The tight interfacial film and steric hindrance make HPAM and HMPAM have little influence on the IFTs for BSB. • The mixed adsorption of oleic acid and betaine molecules results in a significant decrease in IFTs, especially for BSB. • The strong synergistic effect between oleic acid and BSB is disrupted by polymers, thus IFTs increase significantly. To facilitate the understanding of the intrinsic mechanism responsible for the IFTs of betaine solutions, partly hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and hydrophobically modified polyacrylamide (HMPAM) were employed to investigate their effect on IFTs of different betaine solutions against decane using a spinning drop interfacial tensiometer. Moreover, the effects of oleic acid on the IFTs of betaine-polymer systems were also studied. The results show that the water-soluble polymers (HPAM) form the mixed adsorption film with alkyl sulfobetaine (ASB) molecules and prevent the hydrophilic groups of ASB from lying flat, which produces a minimum IFT with aging time. Besides, the hydrophobic HMPAM forms mixed micelle-like interfacial associations with ASB molecules, which results in a stronger disruption tendency for the interfacial film. The branched xylyl substituted alkyl sulfobetaine (BSB) molecules will form a tight interfacial film, therefore HPAM can't insert into the interfacial film easily. Meanwhile, steric hindrance makes it difficult to form interfacial aggregates with HMPAM. Thus, the addition of HPAM and HMPAM polymers has little influence on the IFTs in the BSB system. The mixed adsorption of oleic acid and betaine molecules results in a significant decrease in IFTs, especially for BSB. However, in the ASB-polymer system, HPAM forms mixed adsorption film with ASB molecules and hinders the adsorption of oleic acid, accordingly IFTs change little. In contrast, the hydrophobic interaction of HMPAM promotes the adsorption of oleic acid, so the synergistic effect reduces IFTs to some extent. In the BSB-polymer system, the strong synergistic effect between oleic acid and BSB molecules is disrupted by polymers, which results in a significant increase in IFTs. The relevant results are helpful for the design of novel and efficient chemical flooding systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The test of the Standard Model and search for New Physics signal are main aim of LHC experiment. With the increasing of the measurement accuracy at the LHC, it is a major task in future to exceed the current accuracy of the theoretical predictions for important processes, in particular ones involving Higgs boson and top quark. In this review we briefly summarize some recent theoretical progress in Higgs boson and top quark physics, especially the fixed-order and resummation predictions in QCD at both the Tevatron and the LHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the linear hydroelastic response of a pontoon-type very large floating structure (VLFS) in short-crested irregular waves. The linear potential theory is employed for the analysis of VLFS in frequency domain. To decouple the fluid–structure interaction, the higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) combined with the finite element method (FEM) is adopted. VLFS is modeled as a Mindlin plate, and the mode superposition method is used to reduce the dimension of dynamic equations. The pseudo-excitation method (PEM) is adopted to analyze the stationary stochastic response of the floating structure. The efficiency of this new calculation scheme with the application of PEM is investigated in comparison with the conventional method for stochastic response by analyzing the computational complexity theoretically. Finally, the new calculation scheme is validated by comparing with the experimental data as well as the existing numerical results calculated in the conventional way. In addition, the efficiency of the present numerical approach is also testified which indicates that the proposed numerical scheme is time-saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As liquid cargo transport developing, hull structural stability and strength are highlighted in various engineering areas due to tanks partially filled with fluid. Sloshing may be accounted as unpredictable force imposed on the whole faces of the tank walls. Water movement in rectangular tanks, under rolling and horizontal excitations, is investigated by numerical and experimental approaches. A parallel code, which directly discretizes the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations, coupled with VOF and tree-based adaptive algorithm, is employed to simulate the behavior of 2D fluid motion. A series of experiments are carried out to measure the pressures on the tank walls and under the water. A good agreement is shown in this paper and the values obtained by computations are validated. Through this, some studies are done on the basis of different excitation frequencies and filled levels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study investigated the compressive performance of 24 laminated bamboo specimens made from three different growth portions of the source bamboo. The cross-section of each specimen was 100mm×100mm. The load–strain and load–displacement relationships are obtained from compression tests, and the detailed failure modes, compressive strength and elastic modulus for all specimens are reported. The results show that the mean compressive strength increases with growth portion height, but that the variation in compressive strength also increases with growth portion height. The net result is that the characteristic strength (typically used in the design process) decreases slightly with growth portion height, but not significantly. In contrast, laminated bamboo manufactured from the middle growth portion exhibits the highest elastic modulus, with the variation again increasing with height. Although the source growth portion has a clear effect on the behaviour of laminated bamboo under compression, the paper concludes that the effect is not significant from a design perspective. The results of all the tests are combined to produce a model stress–strain relationship suitable for predicting the performance of laminated bamboo under compression for design purposes. The stress–strain relationship shows that under compression laminated bamboo fails in a ductile manner. Based on the compressive properties obtained in this research, laminated bamboo is a suitable construction material for engineering structures. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: Cardiac vein arterialization is seldom applied for treating right coronary artery disease. This study aimed to improve outcomes of cardiac vein arterialization in a porcine model using intramammary artery anastomosis. Methods: A chronic, stenotic coronary artery model was established in 12 of 14 Chinese experimental miniature pigs of either sex, which were randomly divided into equal control (n = 6) and experimental (n = 6) groups. In experimental animals, blood flow was reconstructed in the right coronary artery using intramammary artery. Arterialization involved dissection of right internal mammary artery from bifurcation to apex of thorax followed by end-to-side anastomosis of internal mammary artery and middle cardiac vein plus posterior descending branch of right coronary artery. Intraoperative heart rate was maintained at 110 beats/min. Graft flow assessment and echocardiography were performed when blood pressure and heart rate normalized. Results: The experimental group had significantly higher mean endocardial and epicardial blood flow postoperatively than control group (mean endocardial blood flow: 0.37 vs. 0.14 ml/(g*min), p<0.001; mean epicardial blood flow: 0.29 vs. 0.22, p = 0.014). Transmural blood flow was also higher in experimental group than in control group (0.33 vs. 0.19, p<0.001); ejection fraction increased from 0.46% at baseline to 0.51% (p = 0.0038) at 6 hours postoperatively, and mean blood flow of internal mammary artery was 44.50, perfusion index 0.73 at postoperative 6 months, 43.33 and 0.80 at 3 months. Conclusion: Successful cardiac vein arterialization via intramammary artery in a porcine model suggests that this may be a viable method for reconstructing blood flow in chronic, severe coronary artery disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep inelastic scattering on nuclei at the Electron-Ion Collider will open new opportunities to investigate the structure of matter. Heavy flavor-tagged jets are complementary probes of the partonic composition and transport coefficients of large nuclei, but introduce a new mass scale that modifies the structure of parton showers and must be carefully accounted for in perturbative calculations. In the framework of soft-collinear effective theory with Glauber gluon interactions, we present the first calculation of inclusive charm-jet and bottom-jet cross sections in electron-nucleus collisions at next-to-leading order and compare them to the reference electron-proton case. We also show predictions for the heavy flavor-tagged jet momentum sharing distributions to further clarify the correlated in-medium modification of jet substructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ethnopharmacological relevance: Poria cocos Wolf (Polyporaceae) is a well-known medicinal fungus. The epidermis of the sclerotia (“Fu-Ling-Pi” in Chinese) is used as a diuretic and traditionally used for promoting urination and reduce edema. Aim of the study: Traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) treat many diseases through multi-components, multi-ways and multi-targets. However, the molecular mechanisms of TCM are not yet well understood. In the present work, ultra performance liquid chromatography-based metabonomics analysis was applied to investigate the urinary metabolite profiling of the renoprotective effect of FLP on adenine-induced chronic kidney disease (CKD) rat model and involved possible mechanism. Material and methods: A metabonomic approach based on ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight high-sensitivity mass spectrometry and a novel mass spectrometryElevated Energy data collection technique was developed. The resulting dataset was analyzed by principal component analysis and partial least squares discriminant analysis. The identification of all potential biomarkers was performed using reference standard by comparing their mass spectra, MSE fragments information, isotopic pattern and MassLynx i-FIT algorithm. Results: By partial least squares-discriminate analysis, 15 biomarkers in rat urine were identified and 11 of them were related to the pathway of adenine metabolism and amino acid metabolism. Among these biomarkers, eight biomarkers like adenine, l-acetylcarnitine, 8-hydroxyadenine, hypoxanthine, creatine, methionine, phytosphingosine and phenylalanine were reversed to the control level in FLP-treated group and six biomarkers like 2,8-dihydroxyadenine, indole-3-carboxylic acid, 3-methyldioxyindole, ethyl-N 2-acetyl-l-argininate, 3-O-methyldopa and xanthurenic acid were reversed to high control group by FLP, which indicates that the urinary metabolic pattern significantly changed after FLP treatment. Conclusions: Our study indicates that FLP treatment can ameliorate CKD by intervening in some dominating metabolic pathways, such as adenine metabolism and amino acid metabolism. The metabonomic results not only supplied a systematic view of the development and progression of CKD and mechanism studies of FLP but also provided the theoretical basis for the prevention or treatment of CKD. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Due to the fact that there are more performance degradation data and less life data during development, producing, test and running, this paper provides a Bayes method to obtain the life distribution through fusing the two kinds of data, and the reliability assessment method based on performance parameters. At first, we obtain the noninformative prior distribution of the drift and volatity parameters of the Wiener process by using fisher information. And then, by using the degradation data, this paper gives the first posterior distribution based on the independent Gaussian increment, and the second posterior distribution based on the inverse life distribution by using the life data. The proposed approach is used to assess the reliability of spaceflight longlife product in the end. The results show that the new approach can improve the precision of assessment greatly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Our previous studies have revealed that nicotine-treated immature dendritic cells (imDCs) have anti-tumor effects in murine lymphoma models. The present study is to explore HBV-specific CTL priming and its cytolytic activities of nicotine-treated murine DCs, the mechanism of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) up-regulation by nicotine and the efficiency of nicotine with other cytokines. To address these hypotheses, bone marrow-derived imDCs were stimulated by nicotine and expression of α7 nAChR was firstly determined by flow cytometry and Western blot. Then, DCs-dependent HBV-specific T cell proliferation and IL-12 secretion were secondly determined by BrdU cell proliferation assay and ELISA, respectively. The HBV-specific CTL priming and its activities were further explored by intraperitoneal transfer of nicotine treated imDCs. The mechanism of nicotine up-regulating α7 nAChR was finally explored by Western blot. The results showed that: first, the maximal activation of PI3K and Akt was reached at 30 and 60–120min respectively after nicotine stimulation. Nicotine up-regulated the expression of α7 nAChR by activating PI3K-Akt pathway in murine DCs; secondly, nicotine stimulation could enhance DCs’ ability of HBV-specific T cell proliferation and IL-12 secretion; thirdly, adoptive transfer of nicotine stimulated DCs could induce HBV specific CTL priming in vivo and those CTL had cytolytic activities; fourthly, nicotine had equal efficiencies to 2ng/ml IFN-γ in DCs-mediated T cell proliferation. All these data presented here indicated that nicotine treated imDCs might be considered as a potential candidate for HBV immunotherapy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

When warship acts against underwater near-field explosion and coupling resonant motion takes place, the damage characteristics of the warship deserves an advanced research. A box-like beam was designed as an object floating on water, and a numerical simulation method was presented to study on the dynamic response of the beam subjected to underwater explosion located closely. Finally, experiments were carried out to verify the simulation method. The results show that numerical results agree well with experimental ones, and it proves the method reasonable. When the first-order mode frequency of beam is close to that of underwater explosion bubble oscillation, with the increase of the ratio of stand-off to maximum bubble radius, the response mode of beam will take a change from plastic bending in sagging condition into elastic whipping motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: After severe burn, the effective circulating blood volume decreases drastically due to massive body fluid loss, and blood redistribution occurs to maintain sufficient blood supply to vital organs. Blood perfusion of brain tissue changes and the permeability of the blood brain barrier increases due to ischaemia and hypoxia, which results in brain oedema. The goal of this study was to explore the changes of cerebral blood flow during the brain oedema at the early stage of severe burn. Methods: Twenty-six dogs were randomly divided into control and 6, 12, 18, and 24 PBH groups. The manifestation of MRI and histopathology, changes of brain water content were investigated; the shapes and distribution of the cerebral capillaries were observed with the endogenous AKP histochemical staining method and image analysis technique. The volume, surface, and length fractions of cerebral capillaries were tested and analysed with a stereographic method in each group, respectively. Results: The earliest changes of cerebral oedema were found at 12 PBH with MRI, which showed the brain swelling as characteristic of cerebral morphological changes. The decrease of SIR on T1WI was not observed until it was above 10%. Signal of T2WI increased for 8.29% at 24 PBH. Histological changes were observed as early as 6h after burn, accompanied by swelling of endothelial cells and peri-vascular astrocytes, vacuolation took place in neurons at 12h after burn, necrosis of different degrees in capillary endothelium, neurons, and axons. Increase in cerebral water content was noted at 6h postburn, and it was the most marked in 24 postburn group.The distributional density of capillaries became thicker at 6h and 12h postburn, the shapes were normal. The capillaries became sparser at 18h, and almost disappeared from view, only a few ends of capillaries in the shape of vine were seen at 24h postburn. The percentages of capillary volume, surface, and length fractions were increased at 6h and 12h, but decreased at 18h and reached the lowest point at 24h postburn (P <0.05). Conclusion: We suggest that the changes of cerebral blood flow might play an important role in the pathogenesis of brain oedema in the early stage of severe burn. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A new triterpenoid, saponin hehuanoside A, was isolated together with the known triterpenoid saponins 2, 3, and 4 from the stem bark of Albizia julibrissin. With the help of chemical and spectral analyzes (IR, MS, 1D-NMR, and 2D-NMR), the structure of the new triterpenoid saponin was elucidated as 21-O-[(6S)-2-trans-2,6-dimethyl-6-O-β-d-quinovopyranosyl-2,7-octadienoyl]-3-O-β-d-xylopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-d-fucopyranosyl-(1 → 6)-β-d-2-deoxy-2-acetamidoglucopyrasyl acacic acid 28-O-α-l-arabinofuranosyl-(1 → 4)-[-β-d-glucopyranosyl-(1 → 3)]-α-l-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 → 2)-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester (1). Three known triterpenoid saponins 2-4 were identified on the basis of spectroscopic data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The structural stability and theoretical strength of BCC transition metals Cr, Mo and W under hydrostatic loading have been investigated by combining the modified analytical embedded atom method (MAEAM) with modified Born stability criteria. For all three BCC transition metals Cr, Mo and W, the stable regions are controlled by shear modulus μ only. Determined stable regions are 0.917–1.079, 0.907–1.090, 0.904–1.095 in the relative deformation a/a 0 and corresponding compressive and tensile theoretical strengths are 161.0 and 28.15, 162.3 and 34.56, 198.8 and 41.60GPa for Cr, Mo, W, respectively. The calculated stresses are consistent well with the results of ab initio calculation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Taking Ni as an example, the structural stability and theoretical strength of FCC crystals under uniaxial loading were investigated by combining the modified analytical embedded atom method (MAEAM) with modified Born stability criteria. The results revealed that, under sufficient compression, there existed a stress-free instable BCC phase and then a stress-free metastable BCT phase corresponding to local maximum and minimum internal energy, respectively. The stable region ranged for the theoretical strength from −5.143 eV/nm3 with a corresponding strain of −9.94% under compression to 10.396 eV/nm3 with a corresponding strain of 9.66% under tension. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Monoclinic crystal structure of C-terminal desundecapeptide nitrite reductase (NiRc-11) from Achromobacter cycloclastes was determined at 2.6Å. NiRc-11 exists as a loose trimer in the crystal. Deletion of 11 residues eliminates all intersubunit hydrogen bonds mediated by the C-terminal tail. The rigid irregular coil 105–112, which constitutes part of the sidewall of the active site pocket, undergoes conformational changes and becomes highly flexible in NiRc-11. Correspondingly, the linker segments between the two copper sites 95–100 and 135–136 are partly relaxed in conformation, which leads to disrupted active site microenvironments responsible for the activity loss and spectral change of NiRc-11. Comparison with the native structure revealed a bulky residue Met331 fastened by hydrogen bonding, which may play a direct role in keeping the right copper site geometry by protruding its side chain against the irregular coil 105–112. Sequence alignment showed that the bulky residue is conserved at position 331, indicating an equal importance of C-terminal segment in other copper-containing nitrite reductases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]