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The detailed mechanisms of n-heptane and n-butanol were reduced for the target condition of ignition delay time using the direct relationship diagram method based on error transfer, the direct relationship diagram method based on coupling error transfer and sensitivity analysis, and the total material sensitivity analysis method. The reduced n-heptane (132 species and 585 reactions) and n-butanol (82 species and 383 reactions) were used to verify the ignition delay time and concentrations of the major species, respectively. The results showed that the reduced mechanism has a good prediction ability for the ignition delay time. The predicted mole fraction results of the major species were in good agreement. These reduced mechanisms were combined to finally construct a reduced mechanism for the n-heptane/butanol fuel mixture, which included 166 species and 746 reactions. Finally, the reduced mechanism was used to simulate the HCCI combustion mode, and the results showed that the reduced mechanism can better predict the ignition and combustion timings of HCCI under different conditions and maintain the ignition and combustion characteristics of the detailed mechanism; this indicates that the mechanism model constructed in this study is reliable.

The tolerance threshold of commute time (TTCT) reflects the longest commute time that commuters can tolerate from home to the workplace. When the commute time exceeds the TTCT, the commuting utility significantly reduces, which has a nonlinear influence on commuting mode choice. To reveal the nonlinear relationship between the commuting utility and commute time, the TTCT is introduced to constrained multinomial logit (CMNL) model based on the semicompensatory decision-making mechanism. In addition, an empirical study is carried out on 405 commuters in Kunming, China. The results show that the CMNL model has a higher fitting accuracy than the MNL model, which indicates that the TTCT is a significant explanatory variable for the commuting mode choice. Moreover, the commuting utility does not decrease linearly with the commute time. An appropriate commute time range (about 5–25 min) could bring positive commute utility to the commuters, but the commute utility is negatively impacted when the commute time is larger than the TTCT. Therefore, it is necessary importing the TTCT in the utility function to improve the predictive power of the commuting mode choice model.

In this work, we fabricated and characterized 4 × 4 parallel flip-chip AlGaN-based micro-LED arrays with varied mesa diameters of 120 µm, 100 µm, 80 µm, and 60 µm. The reported micro-LED arrays have a maximum bandwidth of 380 MHz and a peak wavelength of ∼275 nm. It is found that the electrical and optical characteristics of AlGaN-based micro-LED arrays show strong size dependence for ultraviolet communication (UVC). The differential resistance increases from 28.8 Ω to 112 Ω, the external quantum efficiency (EQE) is increased by ∼30%, and the bandwidth doubles as the diameter of individual micro-LED decreases from 120 µm to 60 µm. Our research proves that tailoring the mesa size of parallel flip-chip AlGaN-based micro-LED arrays can further enhance its bandwidth and promote its application in UVC.

Two-dimensional material MoS2 has excellent optical and electrical characteristics and a controllable energy band structure, leading to a high potential value for designing photodetectors. In this ...

Robotic grippers have been used in industry as end-effectors but are usually limited to operations in pre-defined workspace. However, few devices can capture irregularly shaped dynamic targets in space, underwater and other unstructured environments. In this paper, a novel continuum arm group mechanism inspired by the morphology and motions of sea anemones is proposed. It is able to dissipate and absorb the kinetic energy of a fast moving target in omni-direction and utilize multiple arms to wrap and lock the target without accurate positioning control. Wire-driven actuation systems are implemented in the individual continuum arms, achieving both bending motion and stiffness regulation. Through finite element method, the influence of different configurations of the continuum arm group on the capture performance is analyzed. A robotic prototype is constructed and tested, showing the presented arm group mechanism has high adaptability to capture targets with different sizes, shapes, and incident angles.

BackgroundACO1 and IREB2 are two homologous cytosolic regulatory proteins, which sense iron levels and change iron metabolism–linked molecules. These two genes were noticeably decreased in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC), which confer poor survival. Meanwhile, there is a paucity of information about the mechanisms and clinical significance of ACO1 and IREB2 downregulation in renal cancers.MethodsThe expression profiles of ACO1 and IREB2 were assessed using multiple public data sets via several bioinformatics platforms. Clinical and pathological information was utilized to stratify cohorts for comparison. Patient survival outcomes were evaluated using the Kaplan–Meier plotter, a meta-analysis tool. The correlations of ACO1 and IREB2 with ferroptosis were further evaluated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)–KIRC database. Tumor immune infiltration was analyzed using the CIBERSORT, TIMER, and GEPIA data resources. ACO1 antagonist sodium oxalomalate (OMA) and IREB2 inhibitor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) was used to treat renal cancer ACHN cells together with sorafenib.ResultsKIRC patients with low ACO1 or IREB2 contents exhibited a remarkably worse survival rate in contrast with those with high expression in Kaplan–Meier survival analyses. Meanwhile, ACO1 and IREB2 regulate autophagy-linked ferroptosis along with immune cell invasion in the tumor microenvironment in KIRC patients. Blocking the activation of these two genes by their inhibitors OMA and SNP ameliorated sorafenib-triggered cell death, supporting that ACO1 and IREB2 could be participated in its cytotoxic influence on renal cancer cells.ConclusionACO1 and IREB2 downregulation in renal cancers were correlated with cancer aggressiveness, cellular iron homeostasis, cytotoxic immune cell infiltration, and patient survival outcomes. Our research is integral to verify the possible significance of ACO1 and IREB2 contents as a powerful signature for targeted treatment or novel immunotherapy in clinical settings.

The high-quality semipolar (112̅2) AlGaN epitaxial films have been obtained on m-plane sapphire by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. X-ray rocking curve measurements show the full-width at half-maximums of semipolar (112̅2)-oriented AlGaN films are 0.357° and 0.531° along [112̅3̅]

Exploring the nonlinearity of commute-time utility is useful in predicting urban travel demand. However, existing studies assume that commute utility decreases linearly with commute time. This ignores the influence of commuters’ ideal preferences and tolerance thresholds on commute utility. To reveal the nonlinear variation of commute utility with commute time and its influence on the choice of commute mode, the ideal commute time (ICT) and the tolerance threshold for commute time (TTCT) were introduced. Three-piecewise linear utility models (Models 2, 3, 4) were constructed and compared with the linear utility multinomial logit model (Model 1). The results of empirical study showed that: (a) the goodness of fit of these three modified models is higher than that of Model 1, indicating that the fitting effect of the commute-time utility model can be improved with either or both the ICT and TTCT; (b) there is a nonlinear relationship between the commute utility and the commute time. The commute-time utility decreases slowly before ICT, declines steadily between the ICT and the TTCT, and falls significantly after TTCT; and (c) when the commute time exceeds the TTCT, the perceived utility of commuters traveling by walking or cycling decreases significantly, and there are few changes in the perceived utility of commuters by car, which increases the probability that commuters who use active modes will transfer to commuting by car. The research results have implications for improving the prediction capacity of commute mode choice model and could guide commuters to switch to more sustainable commute modes.

The “rejuvenating” effect of growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) is called into question recently, and its role, as well as plausible signaling mechanisms in liver senescence, is unclear. To overexpress or knockdown GDF11, aged male mice are injected with a single dose of adeno‐associated viruses‐GDF11 or adenovirus‐small hairpin RNA‐GDF11, respectively. GDF11 overexpression significantly accelerates liver senescence in aged mice, whereas GDF11 knockdown has opposite effects. Concomitantly, autophagic flux is impaired in livers from GDF11 overexpression mice. Conversely, GDF11 knockdown increases autophagic flux. Moreover, rapamycin successfully restores the impaired autophagic flux and alleviates liver senescence in GDF11 overexpression mice, while the GDF11 knockdown‐mediated benefits are abolished by the autophagy inhibitor bafilomycin A1. GDF11 leads to a drop in lysosomal biogenesis resulting in defective autophagic flux at autophagosome clearance step. Mechanistically, GDF11 significantly activates mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) and subsequently represses transcription factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy. Inhibition of mTORC1 or TFEB overexpression rescues the GDF11‐impaired autophagic flux and cellular senescence. Hepatocyte‐specific deletion of GDF11 does not alter serum GDF11 levels and liver senescence. Collectively, suppression of autophagic activity via mTORC1/TFEB signaling may be a critical molecular mechanism by which GDF11 exacerbates liver senescence. Rather than a “rejuvenating” agent, GDF11 may have a detrimental effect on liver senescence., Model depicting the proposed mechanistic regulation of TFEB by GDF11. The role of GDF11 and its plausible signaling mechanisms is unveiled. GDF11 could increase the activity of mTORC1, resulting in reduced TFEB nuclear translocation and inhibition of lysosomal and autophagic genes transcription, thus accelerating liver senescence. These findings position GDF11 as an accelerator on liver senescence.

In this letter, quasi-vertical Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) based on AlN/Al0.6Ga0.4N heterostructure are fabricated and temperature-dependent current transport is systematically investigated. Benefited from the AlN/Al0.6Ga0.4N heterostructure with high net doping concentration of ∼1 × 1018 cm−3 in Al0.6Ga0.4N, the device demonstrates lower ideality factor of 2.95, high on/off current ratio of ∼108, the on-current of above 40 A cm−2 which is two order magnitude higher than that of the state-of-the-art AlN SBDs. The barrier inhomogeneity is characterized by the model of Gaussian distribution, and the reverse current observed is identified to be traps-related leakage process such as Poole–Frenkel emission and trap assisted tunneling. This work reveals the heterostructure engineering is an alternative pathway to overcome the difficulty of AlN-based SBDs.

Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) is a member of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β superfamily. The rejuvenative effect of GDF11 has been called into question recently, and its role in liver regeneration is unclear. Here, we investigated the pathophysiologic role of GDF11, as well as its plausible signaling mechanisms in a mouse model of partial hepatectomy (PH). We demonstrated that both serum and hepatic GDF11 protein expression increased following PH. Treatment with adeno-associated viruses-GDF11 and recombinant GDF11 protein severely impaired liver regeneration, whereas inhibition of GDF11 activity with neutralizing antibodies significantly improved liver regeneration after PH. In vitro, GDF11 treatment significantly delayed cell proliferation and induced cell-cycle arrest in α mouse liver 12 (AML12) cells. Moreover, GDF11 activated TGF-β-SMAD2/3 signaling pathway. Inhibition of GDF11-induced SMAD2/3 activity significantly blocked GDF11-mediated reduction in cell proliferation both in vivo and in vitro. In the clinical setting, GDF11 levels were significantly elevated in patients after hepatectomy. Collectively, these results indicate that rather than a ‘rejuvenating’ agent, GDF11 impairs liver regeneration after PH. Suppression of cell-cycle progression via TGF-β-SMAD2/3 signaling pathway may be a key mechanism by which GDF11 inhibits liver regeneration.

We report a novel variable-aperture Fourier ptychography based on a 4-f optical correlator for reconstructing high-resolution images from a few captured low-resolution images. With various overlapping apertures filtering the spatial spectrum, the outputs of the correlator are captured as the low-resolution images for reconstructing object images. The simulations and the experiments with a DMD for providing the variable apertures demonstrate that, the reported scheme is tolerant to aperture’s inaccurate positioning and shape error. Furthermore, rather than mechanical aperture-scanning, the scheme takes much less time for reconstructing object images. Compared with other Fourier ptychography methods, the reported scheme will be more prospective for wide applications in various imaging fields.

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a large and highly diverse family of polypeptides that play important roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. At present, LEA gene families have been identified and systematically characterized in many plant species. However, the LEA gene family in tea plant has not been revealed, and the biological functions of the members of this family remain unknown. In this study, 33 CsLEA genes were identified from tea plant via a genome-wide study, and they were clustered into seven groups according to analyses of their phylogenetic relationships, gene structures and protein conserved motifs. In addition, expression analysis revealed that the CsLEA genes were specifically expressed in one or more tissues and significantly induced under cold and dehydration stresses, implying that CsLEA genes play important roles in tea plant growth, development and response to cold and dehydration stresses. Furthermore, a potential transcriptional regulatory network, including DREB/CBF, MYB, bZIP, bHLH, BPC and other transcription factors, is directly associated with the expression of CsLEA genes, which may be ubiquitous and important in the above mentioned processes. This study could help to increase our understanding of CsLEA proteins and their contributions to stress tolerance in tea plant.

Analyzing commuting-time satisfaction could help to improve the subjective well-being of society. This study aimed to explore the nonlinear relationship between commuting satisfaction and commuting times in different groups and its influencing factors. An empirical study was conducted in Kunming, China. Firstly, applying a random forest algorithm revealed that there was a nonlinear relationship between commuting satisfaction and commuting time. Secondly, the k-means clustering algorithm was used to divide the respondents into three types of commuter: short-duration-tolerant (group 1), medium-duration-tolerant (group 2), and long-duration-tolerant (group 3). It was found that the commuting-time satisfaction of these three clustered groups had different threshold effects. Specifically, the commuting satisfaction of group 1 showed a nonlinear downward trend, which decreased significantly at 12 and 28 min, respectively; the commuting satisfaction of group 2 rapidly decreased at 35 min; the commuting satisfaction of group 3 first increased in the range of 20–30 min, decreased significantly after 45 min, and decreased sharply above 70 min. These time thresholds were consistent with the ideal commuting times (ICTs) and tolerance thresholds of the commuting times (TTCTs) of the three clustered groups, which indicates that the ICT and TTCT had significant effects on commuting satisfaction. Lastly, the results of the multinominal logistic model showed that variables such as the commuting mode, job–housing distance, income, and educational background had significant effects on the three clustered groups. The policy implications of the study are that commuting circles should be planned with the TTCT as a constraint boundary and ICT as the optimal goal; in addition, different strategies should be adopted for different commuting groups to improve commuting satisfaction.

Thermal insulation is widely used in offshore oil production for flow assurance design. Research efforts have concentrated on the thermal and mechanical properties of the insulation material, but few publications have focused on the optimization of the insulation. For certain subsea production systems, several optional insulation materials are available. The distribution of insulation along a subsea system to fulfill thermal requirements is not unique to each insulation material. Manually defined insulation designs often lead to a conservative approach that consumes more material than necessary. To find the most economical design, an optimization method combined with machine learning techniques is presented. A subsea production system using different insulation materials is assessed in the case study and optimization results are discussed. Four different insulation materials are used, and 2000 models are simulated for each material to prepare the training data for the machine learning algorithm. The trained algorithm is able to predict the minimum temperature of the system with an error smaller than 5.5%. Genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization are used to find the most efficient insulation distribution for each material. The optimized costs related to each insulation material are then compared. The results show that the proposed method is capable of defining material and thickness variations throughout the subsea system with the aim of reducing costs.

The increasing of deepwater oil field developments brings a growing need for thermal management to prevent hydrate and wax formations in the subsea production system, due to the low environment temperature and long-distance transportation. Pipeline insulation coating is a typical strategy for thermal management. In a subsea production system, pressure, temperature, flowrate, and length of each flowline vary, leading to different thermal performances of the transported fluid. Therefore, the insulation coating should be carefully designed from the overall perspective to minimize the total material volume, thus reducing the cost. In this paper, an optimization model for the insulation material volume of a rigid subsea flowline system is proposed. Then, the best insulation thickness of each subsea flowline can be determined under given flow parameters and temperature requirements. The factor that defines the temperature drop from the riser base to the top termination is introduced and analyzed. There is a proper temperature drop factor associated with the insulation material volume for subsea flowlines, as well as a proper insulation capacity for the risers. This optimization model can define the subsea system insulation and provide reliable results for cost estimation.

Background VQ motif-containing (VQ) proteins are plant-specific proteins that interact with WRKY transcription factors and play important roles in plant growth, development and stress response. To date, VQ gene families have been identified and characterized in many plant species, including Arabidopsis, rice and grapevine. However, the VQ gene family in tea plant has not been reported, and the biological functions of this family remain unknown. Results In total, 25 CsVQ genes were identified based on the genome and transcriptome of tea plant, and a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis was performed. The CsVQ proteins all contained the typical conserved motif FxxhVQxhTG, and most proteins were localized in the nucleus. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the VQ proteins were classified into 5 groups (I, III-VI); the evolution of the CsVQ proteins is consistent with the evolutionary process of plants, and close proteins shared similar structures and functions. In addition, the expression analysis revealed that the CsVQ genes play important roles in the process of tea plant growth, development and response to salt and drought stress. Furthermore, a potential regulatory network including the interactions of CsVQ proteins with CsWRKY transcription factors and the regulation of upstream microRNA that is closely related to the above-mentioned processes is proposed. Conclusions The results of this study increase our understanding and characterization of CsVQ genes and their encoded proteins in tea plant. This systematic analysis provided comprehensive information for further studies investigating the biological functions of CsVQ proteins in various developmental processes of tea plants. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5107-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Carbon monoxide (CO) exerts protective effects on hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is an important mediator of injury and inflammation in hepatic IRI. Here, we investigated whether CO could attenuate hepatic IRI via inhibition of HMGB1 release, particularly through sirtuin 1 (SIRT1). CO was released by treatment with carbon monoxide-releasing molecule (CORM)-2. CORM-2-delivered CO ameliorated hepatic IRI, as indicated by lower serum aminotransferase levels, lower hepatic inflammatory responses, and less severe ischemia/reperfusion-associated histopathologic changes. Treatment with CORM-2 significantly inhibited IRI-induced HMGB1 translocation and release. SIRT1 expression was increased by CORM-2 pretreatment. When CORM-2-induced SIRT1 expression was inhibited using EX527, HMGB1 translocation and release were increased and hepatic IRI was worsened, whereas SIRT1 activation by resveratrol reversed this trend. In vitro, CORM-2 reduced hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced HMGB1 translocation and release, these inhibitions were blocked by SIRT1 inhibition using EX527 or SIRT1 small interfering RNA both in alpha mouse liver 12 cells and RAW264.7 macrophages. Moreover, SIRT1 directly interacted with and deacetylated HMGB1. IRI increased HMGB1 acetylation, which was abolished by CORM-2 treatment via SIRT1. In conclusion, these results suggest that CO may increase SIRT1 expression, which may decrease HMGB1 acetylation and subsequently reduce its translocation and release, thereby protecting against hepatic IRI. Liver Transplantation 23 510-526 2017 AASLD.

Objective 1,25(OH)2D3 has been reported to attenuate liver steatosis; however, its exact mechanism of action remains poorly understood. This study aimed to determine whether 1,25(OH)2D3 can attenuate hepatic steatosis by inducing autophagy. Methods Male C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) were injected with 1,25(OH)2D3 for 4 weeks. These mice were given 3-methyladenine (3-MA) to inhibit autophagy. HepG2 cells were preincubated with a free fatty acid (FFA) and then treated with 1,25(OH)2D3. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) shRNA and autophagy-related 16-like 1 (ATG16L1) siRNA were used for VDR knockdown or ATG16L1 silencing, respectively. Results 1,25(OH)2D3 diminished HFD-induced liver damage and steatosis, changes accompanied by autophagy and ATG16L1 expression upregulation. Inhibition of 1,25(OH)2D3-induced autophagy mediated by 3-MA blocked the protective effects of 1,25(OH)2D3 on hepatic steatosis. Additionally, 1,25(OH)2D3-induced autophagy appeared to play a role in anti-inflammation and lipid metabolism modulation in the liver. In HepG2 cells, 1,25(OH)2D3 reduced lipid accumulation and increased autophagy and ATG16L1 expression; however, this effect was abrogated after VDR knockdown. The protective effects of 1,25(OH)2D3-mediated autophagy against lipid accumulation were abolished by 3-MA. Furthermore, siRNA-mediated ATG16L1 knockdown prevented 1,25(OH)2D3-induced autophagy, resulting in increased fat accumulation. Conclusions The data suggest that 1,25(OH)2D3 may ameliorate hepatic steatosis by inducing autophagy by upregulating ATG16L1.

We report on the high-performance nanoporous (NP) GaN-based metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors (PDs) with a thermal oxidized β-Ga

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of MTBP in regulating the migration and invasion of human prostate cancer cells. METHODS: The baseline expressions of MTBP in 3 different human prostate cancer cells lines (22RV1, DU145 and Lncap) were detected using Western blotting. The cells were transfected with a small interfering RNA (siRNA) for MTBP knockdown or MTBP plasmid for MTBP overexpression, and 48 h later, the cells were examined for MTBP expression with Western blotting; the changes in the migration abilities of the cells were evaluated using wound healing assay and Transwell assay, and the cell invasiveness was assessed using Matrigel Transwell assay. The expression of E-cadherin protein, a marker of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), was detected using Western blotting. RESULTS: MTBP expression was the highest in DU145 cells followed by Lncap cells, and was the lowest in 22RV1 cells, indicating a positive correlation of MTBP expression with the level of malignancy of human prostate cancer cells. Transfection of the cells with siRNA or MTBP plasmids efficiently lowered or enhanced the expressions of MTBP in human prostate cancer cells. Wound healing assay showed that inhibition of MTBP expression decreased the migration ability of the prostate cancer cells, and MTBP overexpression significantly promoted the migration of the cells (P < 0.01). Transwell assay showed that MTBP knockdown significantly lowered the migration and invasion ability of the cells, while MTBP overexpression markedly increased the number of migrating and invading cells (P < 0.01); Western blotting results showed that MTBP knockdown increased the expression of E-cadherin protein, and MTBP overexpression decreased E-cadherin expression in the prostate cancer cells. CONCLUSION: MTBP overexpression promotes the migration and invasion of human prostate cancer cells possibly relation to the induction of EMT.

Sandwich pipe (SP) combining high-strength performance and thermal insulation has been considered an effective solution for oil and gas transportation in ultra-deepwater. Strain hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) is well known for its capacity to withstand both tensile load and external hydrostatic pressure. The sandwich pipe considered in the research is constituted of concentric steel pipes with SHCC annular layer. In the present research work, the SHCC was manufactured, and full scale sandwich pipes were assembled. Intact and damaged specimens were submitted to controlled external pressure in a hyperbaric chamber to obtain the collapse and propagation pressures, respectively. Modeling and simulation of the buckle propagation of the SPs were correlated with the experimental results. The results show that sandwich pipe with SHCC core has an excellent structural strength under high external pressure in both intact and damaged conditions. Moreover, the results also show that the interaction between the annular and the inner/outer pipes provides a significant contribution to the buckling resistance under propagation pressure.

Centralised district cooling system equipped with ice storage has substantial advantages in comprehensive energy utilization and cost effectiveness. It facilitates cutting peak and filling valley of power load and helps saving energy costs by using the peak-valley electricity price. Despite such advantages, energy performance of ice-storage district cooling systems is still a controversial topic, especially there is a lack of effective evaluation methods and relevant evaluation standards in China. Therefore, this paper establishes a thorough index system to evaluate energy performance of ice-storage district cooling system. The index system covers all aspects of ice-storage district cooling systems, including the gradual evaluation of each process from equipment, via subsystem to whole system. Afterwards, the index system is used to analyse a real case, focusing on the eight most important energy performance indexes. The results show that the index system can adapt well to the evaluation requirements, help to find energy performance problems and facilitate to improve energy efficiency. In view of existing insufficiency, further efforts are needed to make in formulating reasonable benchmarks of such energy performance indexes.

A large amount of building energy consumption data has been accumulated nowadays. Such data can help to find problems in building energy efficiency and put forward suggestions for imporvements. However, the present situation is that a big amount of data has been mothballed and its value has not been fully exploited. In this paper, clustering method is used to analyse the energy consumption data of 784 public buildings in Guangzhou. The method combines K-means algorithm and Euclidean distance for similarity measure, aiming to classify the time-series data of energy consumption. The analysis results identify well the energy consumption trends of these buildings. Three clusters of buildings with incresing energy consumption trends are taken as key target for energy conservation and four clusters of buildings with downward energy consumption trends are treated as example buildings for experience learning. A further analysis of the clusters finds the characteristics of each group, this helps understand better the patterns of building energy consumption. The clustering analysis facilitates more effective diagnosis in energy efficiency and also supports policy making regarding building energy conservation.

// Anding Liu 1,2 , Enshuang Guo 3 , Jiankun Yang 1 , Renlong Li 3 , Yan Yang 1 , Shenpei Liu 1 , Jifa Hu 1 , Xiaojing Jiang 3 , Olaf Dirsch 2 , Uta Dahmen 2 , Jian Sun 4 and Mingwen Ouyang 5 1 Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China 2 Experimental Transplantation Surgery, Department of General, Visceral and Vascular Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany 3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Military Command, Wuhan, China 4 Department of Biliopancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China 5 Department of Anesthesiology, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China Correspondence to: Mingwen Ouyang, email: // Keywords : ischemic preconditioning; steatosis; liver ischemia/reperfusion injury; autophagy; heme oxygenase-1, Pathology Section Received : April 25, 2016 Accepted : November 02, 2016 Published : November 10, 2016 Abstract Steatotic livers are more susceptible to ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, which is ameliorated by ischemic preconditioning (IPC). Autophagy possesses protective action on liver I/R injury and declines in steatotic livers. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the increased susceptibility of steatotic livers to I/R injury was associated with defective hepatic autophagy, which could be restored by IPC via heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) signaling. Obesity and hepatic steatosis was induced using a high fat diet. Obesity impaired hepatic autophagy activity and decreased hepatic HO-1 expression. Induction of HO-1 restored autophagy activity and inhibited calpain 2 activity. Additionally, suppression of calpain 2 activity also restored autophagy activity. Mitochondrial dysfunction and hepatocellular injury were significantly increased in steatotic livers compared to lean livers in response to I/R injury. This increase in sensitivity to I/R injury was associated with defective hepatic autophagy activity in steatotic livers. IPC increased autophagy and reduced mitochondrial dysfunction and hepatocellular damage in steatotic livers following I/R injury. Furthermore, IPC increased HO-1 expression. Inhibition of HO-1 decreased the IPC-induced autophagy, increased calpain 2 activity and diminished the protective effect of IPC against I/R injury. Inhibition of calpain 2 restored autophagic defect and attenuated mitochondrial dysfunction in steatotic livers after I/R. Collectively, IPC might ameliorate steatotic liver damage and restore mitochondrial function via HO-1-mediated autophagy.

The freestanding GaN substrate has a great potential to homo-epitaxy of optoelectronic and electronic devices with high reliability and performances. Here, we realized the growth of freestanding bulk GaN on dual-stack multilayer graphene as an insertion layer by the hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) method. Stacked multilayer graphene was fabricated on copper foil using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), following the overlap of top and bottom layers of graphene after removing the copper. Based on Raman spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) experiments, it is found that the dual-stack structure of multilayer graphene is crucial for the self-separation of GaN substrate from sapphire. The exfoliation was attributed to the weak interaction force between the dual-stack multilayer graphene. This study can provide an efficient, practical, and mass-producible technique to fabricate freestanding GaN substrates, which exhibit immense application potential for the nitride-based optoelectronic and electronic devices.

A comprehensive study on the collapse pressure and post-buckling behaviour of a sandwich pipe (SP) with a core of strain-hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) was carried out in Part 1 of two companion papers. The results in the Part 1 paper show that an SP with an SHCC core has a different collapse mechanism from an SP with a polypropylene core. Because of its weak inter-layer adhesion and a relatively hard core, the collapse pressure and the characteristic response of an SP with an SHCC core are more influenced by its strongest layer than by the summed strength of all its layers. Since this behaviour has never been reported before, current prediction equations for the collapse pressure of SP systems cannot capture the special behaviour of an SP with an SHCC core. Therefore, utilising the available prediction equations for an SP with an SHCC core may lead to unreliable estimates. This Part 2 paper is dedicated to addressing the challenge by proposing a suitable prediction equation. Based on the extensive simulation results carried out by the numerical model verified by experiments in the Part 1 paper, supervised machine learning techniques were applied to support the regression of different equation forms, which come from three sources: (a) equation forms proposed by previous researchers, (b) equation forms found by the automatic machine learning software EUREQA, and (c) equation forms proposed by us. Further, the performances of the equation forms in predicting accurate results for the collapse pressure were compared. Based on the comparative performances and accuracy, an equation was recommended for the design of SPs under external pressure.

Combining both thermal insulation and structural strength in the core, sandwich pipes (SP) are a promising alternative for conventional single wall pipes in deep-water applications. The ultimate strength of SPs under external pressure has always been a major concern in the design process. An insightful understanding of the collapse pressure and post-buckling behavior of SPs is critical not only for safe application, but also for optimized design. This paper and its companion paper present a comprehensive study on the collapse pressure of SPs with strain-hardening cementitious composite (SHCC). Part 1 presents experiments investigating the collapse under external pressure of SPs composed of two steel tubes and the strain-hardening cementitious composite (SHCC) core. The experimental results were employed in correlation studies with the finite element model using the ABAQUS software; good agreement was reached. The proposed numerical model was used in a parametric study for simulating collapse in 6000 different practical configurations. The influence of the geometric parameters and material properties of the SP on its ultimate structural strength under external pressure and post-buckling behavior was systematically analyzed. The results revealed some interesting phenomena not previously reported. For example, assuming frictionless inter-layer conditions, the collapse pressure of an SP with an SHCC core decreases with increasing steel layer thickness. The reasons behind these phenomena were thoroughly discussed and the special behavior of an SP with an SHCC core subjected to external pressure is reported. The results developed in this paper were utilized in Part 2: A suitable prediction equation, where different equation forms are evaluated and one prediction equation is recommended for the design of an SP with an SHCC core.

The noise contained in laser Doppler signal has a negative impact on signal processing of laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). In order to reduce the noise and enhance the precision of signal processing, denoising methods based on wavelet layering are proposed. High frequency coefficient zeroing method and wavelet threshold denoising method were adopted for noise reduction after the wavelet layering of LDV signals. Processing results indicate that, signal to noise ratio (SNR) and root mean square error (RMSE) of simulated signals in low and high frequency ranges are satisfactory for both two kinds of approach. Overally speaking, high frequency coefficient zeroing has better performance than wavelet threshold denoising using heursure, sqtwolog, rigrsure and minimaxi rules. For measured signals obtained from double-beam and double-scattering LDV system built in laboratory, the minimum relative error of high frequency coefficient zeroing reaches only 0.087%. As shown in the processing and analysis of simulated and experimental signals, denoising methods based on wavelet layering have ability to restrain the noise in laser Doppler signal and improve the precision of signal processing.

Aging is often associated with a decreased autophagic activity that contributes to the high sensitivity of aged livers to ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI). Blood from young animals can positively affect aged animals. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of young plasma in a model of liver IRI in aged rats. Aged rats were treated with pooled plasma collected from young rats before ischemia. Administration of young plasma restored aging-induced suppression in hepatic autophagic activity and reduced liver IRI. Inhibition of the young-plasma-restored autophagic activity abrogated the beneficial effect of young plasma against liver IRI. Similarly, young serum restored autophagic activity and reduced cellular injury after hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) in primary old rat hepatocytes. Mechanistic studies showed thatadministration of young plasma increased AMPK phosphorylation and led to unc-51-like autophagy activating kinase (ULK)1 activation. Furthermore, AMPK-inhibition abrogated the young serum-induced ULK1 activation and autophagic activity and diminished the protective action of young serum against H/R injury in primary old rat hepatocytes, whereas AMPK-activation potentiated the effects of young serum. Young plasma could restore age-impaired autophagy, at least in part, via AMPK/ULK1 signaling. Restoration of age-impaired autophagic activity may be a critical contributing mechanism to young-plasma-afforded protection against liver IRI in aged rats.-Liu, A., Yang, J., Hu, Q., Dirsch, O., Dahmen, U., Zhang, C., Gewirtz, D. A., Fang, H., Sun, J. Young plasma attenuates age-dependent liver ischemia reperfusion injury.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) function as molecular chaperones. These proteins are encoded by a multigene family whose members play crucial roles in plant growth, development and stress response. However, little is known about the HSP gene superfamily in tea plant. In this study, a total of 47 CsHSP genes were identified, including 7 CsHSP90, 18 CsHSP70, and 22 CssHSP genes. Phylogenetic and composition analyses showed that CsHSP proteins in the same subfamily have similar gene structures and conserved motifs, but significant differences exist in the different subfamilies. In addition, expression analysis revealed that almost all CsHSP genes were specifically expressed in one or more tissues, and significantly induced under heat and drought stress, implying that CsHSP genes play important roles in tea plant growth, development, and response to heat and drought stress. Furthermore, a potential interaction network dominated by CsHSPs, including HSP70/HSP90 organizing protein (HOP) and heat shock transcription factor (HSF), is closely related to the abovementioned processes. These results increase our understanding of CsHSP genes and their roles in tea plant, and thus, this study could contribute to the cloning and functional analysis of CsHSP genes and their encoded proteins in the future.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) function as molecular chaperones. These proteins are encoded by a multigene family whose members play crucial roles in plant growth, development and stress response. However, little is known about the HSP gene superfamily in tea plant. In this study, a total of 47 CsHSP genes were identified, including 7 CsHSP90, 18 CsHSP70, and 22 CssHSP genes. Phylogenetic and composition analyses showed that CsHSP proteins in the same subfamily have similar gene structures and conserved motifs, but significant differences exist in the different subfamilies. In addition, expression analysis revealed that almost all CsHSP genes were specifically expressed in one or more tissues, and significantly induced under heat and drought stress, implying that CsHSP genes play important roles in tea plant growth, development, and response to heat and drought stress. Furthermore, a potential interaction network dominated by CsHSPs, including HSP70/HSP90 organizing protein (HOP) and heat shock transcription factor (HSF), is closely related to the abovementioned processes. These results increase our understanding of CsHSP genes and their roles in tea plant, and thus, this study could contribute to the cloning and functional analysis of CsHSP genes and their encoded proteins in the future.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical efficacy of disposable circumcision suture device (DCSD) in children receiving circumcision. METHODS: Children with phimosis and redundant prepuce undergoing circumcision in our hospital were prospectively enrolled in this study hospital and randomized into DCSD group and conventional circumcision (CC) group. A total of 236 boys were enrolled, including 132 in DCSD group and 104 in CC group. The use of local anesthesia, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative and postoperative pain scores, penile appearance satisfaction rates, postoperative complications, healing time of the incision, and the overall satisfaction rate were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with CC group, DCSD group had a significantly higher proportion of local anesthesia (P < 0.01), shorter operative time (P < 0.001), less intraoperative blood loss (P < 0.001), lower intraoperative and postoperative pain scores (P < 0.001), higher penile appearance satisfaction rates (P=0.03), less postoperative complications (P=0.04), shorter healing time (P < 0.001), and a higher overall satisfaction rate (P < 0.005). CONCLUSION: The use of DCSD can shorten the operative time and is associated with good tolerance of local anesthesia, less pain, quick recovery, and higher penile appearance satisfaction rates in children receiving circumcision.

As the tendency of the offshore oil industry is going deeper and further, the subsea pipeline is exposed under tougher condition combining lower temperature with higher hydrostatic pressure. The severe condition creates a challenge towards flow assurance, which often results in a high cost solution. Reducing the cost while providing a qualified insulation performance is of great significance to deepwater development. For ultra-deepwater beyond 1500m, single-wall pipe usually fails to meet the flow assurance requirements or requires a huge amount of insulation material. Pipe-in-pipe configuration can provide a good insulation performance but comes with a high cost associated. Sandwich pipe is a new concept composed of two concentric steel pipes separated by a cementitious composite annulus that provides a combination of high structural strength with thermal insulation. It is reported to be a promising alternative for both flexible and rigid conventional pipes in applications for long distance pipelines. In order to further investigate its feasibility in deep waters, a subsea production system with depth at 2200m was used as a case study for a comprehensive evaluation of insulation performance of the sandwich pipe, including both steady-state and shut-in working conditions. For a comparative study, scenarios using single-wall pipe (SW), pipe-in-pipe (PIP) and flexible pipe (FP) were also considered separately. The results showed that (i) sandwich-pipe performs better in steady-state but worse in between shut-in and the restart period (ii) sandwich-pipe with larger diameter performs better than it with smaller diameter. The reasons for the sandwich pipe behavior were discussed and suggestions to improve the performance are presented.

Table S2. Regular expression of conserved motifs in CsVQ proteins. (DOCX 20 kb)

We report a green light-emitting diode (LED) grown on thick strain-reduced GaN template. As the injection current changes from 20 mA to 120 mA, blue-shift of EL peak wavelength reduces from 9.3 nm for the LED on sapphire substrate to 6.8 nm for the LED grown on thick strain-reduced GaN template. Furthermore, the light output power and external quantum efficiency of the LED on thick strain-reduced GaN template are respectively 1.48 mW and 2.5% at the forward current of 20 mA, which is twice as much as the LED on sapphire substrate. In contrast, the reverse current is 2 μA lower than that of the LED on the sapphire at −8 V.

QHD 29-2 block is a newly discovered offshore oilfield of China with an average water depth of 27.6m, covering approximately 2300 km2. Waterflood is not suitable due to the characteristics of complex lithology, strong heterogeneity, small pores and throats, and low water injectivity. In addition, a wide range of CO2 content (24-90%) in the production gas that presents a difficulty for the mixed gas handling. Thus, near-miscible flooding of the production gas re-injection is proposed for the development of this reservoir. It is concluded that the loss of displacement efficiency can be compensated by the mobility improvement with the pressure decrease. Thus, oil recovery is comparative with that of miscible flooding. Also, the economic and operational costs declined to some extent because smaller gas volumes and lower compression are needed with the reduction of pressure. Slim tube test, slim tube simulation, and selected empirical formulas are used together to determine the near-miscible pressure interval under the condition of different CO2 contents (40%, 55%, 70%, 85%, 100%). On this basis, a new empirical formula was established to determine the lower and upper boundaries of near-miscible flooding. Two new points are determined as minimum near-miscible pressure (MNMP) and minimum miscible pressure (MMP), respectively. A higher MMP can be expected by this process which is consistent with the argument that some successful application of CO2 miscible flooding are actually partial miscible flooding or near-miscible flooding. Results showed that the ratio of MNMP to the newly defined MMP is about 0.8 to 0.86. In addition, for the wells QHD 29-2E-4 and QHD 29-2E-5, the lower limit of the CO2 content in the production gas to achieve near-miscible flooding are 34% and 64%, respectively. Moreover, the relative error of the new empirical correlation is less than 10% for the prediction of the pressure interval of near-miscible flooding in the targeted wells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to study the potential of implementing near-miscible flooding by the production gas re-injection with varying CO2 content in an offshore reservoir of China. The results in the paper can provide a new screening criteria for both enhancing oil recovery and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for similar offshore reservoirs.

The development of a subsea field implies a complex design procedure with very high costs involved. The combination of low oil price, harsh environment, very deep waters and high drilling costs has emphasized the need for new ideas to reduce both CAPEX and OPEX. The paper considers different subsea layout scenarios of a typical deep water field. Each scenario is optimized considering pipeline length, equipment cost and flow assurance. The software QUE$TOR is then applied to estimate the cost of each optimized scenario. Two of them are selected for further studies, FPSO connected to six slots subsea manifolds, and subsea separator connected to eight slots cluster manifolds with tie-back to an existing platform. The latter representing a hybrid solution based on the subsea-to-shore concept. Cost and technical feasibility are considered in order to evaluate the two scenarios.

Semipolar {1013} GaN layers were grown on self-assembled SiO 2 nanospheres sapphire (SSNS) by hydride vapor phase epitaxy. The RMS roughness was 1.1 nm for the scan of 20×20 µm 2 and the striated surface morphology almost disappeared. The full widths at half maximum of on-axis X-ray rocking curves were 324 arcsec rocking toward the [3032] direction and 413 arcsec rocking toward the [1210] direction, respectively. Compared to the GaN layer grown on the planar sapphire, the reduction of the defect density of semi-GaN grown on SSNS, such as basal stacking faults, partial dislocations and perfect dislocations, was demonstrated by both X-ray rocking curves and low-temperature photoluminescence. In addition, the Raman analyses also showed the partial relaxation of the stress using SSNS.

A method to obtain high quality semipolar {10} GaN grown on m-plane sapphire is presented. This method is similar to two-step nanoepitaxial lateral overgrowth (2S-NELOG) by combining a TiN interlayer and self-assembled SiO2 nanospheres. For the 2S-NELOG semi-GaN, the root-mean-square (RMS) roughness is 1.8 nm with a scan area of 5 × 5 μm2. The reduction of the defect density is demonstrated using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The full widths at half maximum (FWHMs) of the on-axis X-ray rocking curves (XRCs) are 381 and 524 arcsec, respectively rocking toward the [30] direction and the [110] direction. The anisotropy of the mosaic is lower compared to planar and TiN semi-GaN. In addition, Raman analyses also show the partial relaxation of the stress in the 2S-NELOG semi-GaN.