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Pancreatic carcinoma is the leading cause of death among digestive malignancies in China. In particular, there is no breakthrough in prolonging the survival of pancreatic cancer patients with chemical and targeted therapies. Tumor immunotherapy brings opportunities and progress for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Sintilimab is an innovative PD-1 inhibitor which was reported certain clinical benefits in multi-line treatments of advanced pancreatic cancer with gemcitabine. The combination therapy of PD-1 with gemcitabine plus high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in pancreatic cancer has not been reported. Here we report a case of a Chinese old patient diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. Two months after sintilimab treatment, the patient occurred severe immune colitis. The patient was diagnosed with immune ureteritis after 8 months of treatment. The immue-related adverse events (irAEs) refined after timely recognition and correct intervention by the clinician and clinical pharmacist. After first-line treatment of sintilimab plus gemcitabine combined with pancreatic HIFU, the patient achieved a remarkable benefit of 11-month progression-free survival (PFS) and 20-month overall survival (OS). The first-line treatment of sintilimab plus gemcitabine combined with HIFU demonstrates a potential therapeutic effect on metastatic pancreatic carcinoma with tolerable adverse reactions.

Nanozymes have advantages over natural enzymes in terms of efficiency, stability, and economy. MVSM (Mixed Valence State MOF) is a nano-oxidase with uricase-like activity that may catalyze uric acid (UA) in the body into allantoin and H

Friction and wear are the primary factors for the failure of liners, which affects the lifting capacity and milling cost in ball mills. However, there are no effective methods to measure and evalua...

In cross-country skiing competitions, the choice of pacing strategy is of decisive significance to athletes' performance. A reasonable pacing strategy is essential for athletes to improve their performance. In this paper, the mathematical models of cross-country skiing simulation and pacing optimization are established, including motion model, athlete power output model, and optimization model. The actual competition data of a Chinese athlete in Guyangshu 1.5 km track was compared with the model simulation results. The whole process time error is less than 3%, which verifies the accuracy of the motion and power output model. Gauss pseudo-spectral method is applied to the optimization model. By changing the distribution of athletes' power output, the racing time is minimized under the condition that the total energy output remains unchanged. Compared with the pacing strategy before optimization, the optimized racing time was shortened by 12.6 s, which verifies the effectiveness of the optimization model. Optimized results show that in the first significant uphill section, a recommendation is to use a more conservative strategy, while in the latter half of uphill sections the power output should be increased.

This paper discusses consensus control of nonlinear coupled parabolic PDE-ODE-based multi-agent systems (PDE-ODEMASs). First, a consensus controller of leaderless PDE-ODEMASs is designed. Based on a Lyapunov-based approach, coupling strengths are obtained for leaderless PDE-ODEMASs to achieve leaderless consensus. Furthermore, a consensus controller in the leader-following PDE-ODEMAS is designed and the corresponding coupling strengths are obtained to ensure the leader-following consensus. Two examples show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Global poverty has roots like a tree whereas education is one factor which stands out. Lack of access to education passes poverty from one generation to another while education possesses secret ingredients to achieve economic stability in livelihoods. This paper aims to examine the impact of China Pakistan-economic corridor (CPEC) on education and poverty in Pakistan, it also provides a clearer and more nuanced picture of extreme poverty and highly stratified education system in tandem. The policies in Pakistan have other foci rather than on betterment of education and eradication of poverty matters. The study used the quantitative approach using self-administered questionnaires. Nine demographic questions have also been included in the second section of the study questionnaire. Instruments of the study were validated by factor analysis. The study included the data collected from 800 respondents in Hazara division, KPK, Pakistan. All the relationships were tested using correlation and structure equation modelling (SEM). The SEM indicated multiple confirmations like, CPEC being a new economic model can usher Pakistan’s education foothold and poverty alleviation to new paradigm of evolution.

The license plate detection and recognition (LPDR) system is one of the practical applications of optical character recognition (OCR) technology in the field of automobile transportation. This paper investigates several state-of-the-art machine and deep learning algorithms for the Chinese license plate recognition based on convolutional neural networks (CNN), long short term memory (LSTM), and k-nearest neighbors (KNN) models. Comparing the performance of these models on the Chinese City Parking Dataset (CCPD) demonstrates that the convolutional recurrent neural network (CRNN) model with an accuracy of 95% is the most accurate and performs better than other models to detect the license plates.

In this work, with the attempt to further improve the selectivity, magnetism and loading proportion of existing adsorbents, a novel composite (MGO/MHNTs@MIPs) was synthesized by electrostatically combining molecularly imprinted polymer based on the surface of magnetic halloysite nanotubes (MHNTs@MIPs) with magnetic graphene oxide (MGO). Then some characterizations were done to prove its successful synthesis. Besides, the bonding experiment showed that it possessed a loading capacity of up to 132 mg·g

In this study, a new ratio fluorescent gel probe based on boronic acid-modified BA-Tb-MOG was constructed and successfully applied to the analysis and detection of dopamine (DA). The dual emission BA-Tb-MOG probe sensing is realized by adjusting the energy conversion efficiency of the boronic acid-based ligand and Tb3+ ions. The 5-boronobezene-1, 3-dicarboxylic acid (DBA) organic ligand not only acted as the “antenna” to sensitize the luminescence of Tb3+ but also provided recognition sites for DA molecules. Dual fluorescence emission is generated at 325 nm and 545 nm under the excitation of 295 nm. The nucleophilic covalent binding of the boronic acid group to the cis-diol structure molecule provides a good basis for the specific and highly sensitive detection of DA. Owing to the porous characteristics and the surface effect of the MOF, as well as the unique nucleophilic reaction between the boronic acid group and DA, the novel gel nanoprobe exhibited outstanding characteristics for detection of DA, such as such as simple preparation, fluorescence stabilization, high sensitivity, and selectivity. It has been successfully applied to the detection of DA in human serum samples. This ratio fluorescence detection strategy provides an alternative sensing method for the rapid and sensitive analysis and determination of dopamine in complex biological samples.

To understand the friction and wear of working mediums in iron ore ball mills, experiments were conducted using the ball cratering method under dry and wet milling conditions, which mimic the operating conditions in ball mills. The liner sample is made of Mn16 steel, the ball had a diameter of 25 mm and was made of GCr15 steel, and the iron ore powder was screened from the magnetite particles with mesh number of 20. The results indicate that a different wear condition makes the COF change in a converse way and causes a different wear pattern in wear craters, followed by the corresponding temperature rise.

Synopsis The research problem In recent decades, the Chinese government has taken several measures to liberalize its stock market to attract foreign investment. In this survey, we described these liberalization measures and reviewed the research on their consequences. Motivation Along with the rapid development of the Chinese stock market, increasing numbers of global investors have shown interest in this market. As a result, we also witness a steady growth in the number of empirical research and review studies published in the international journals. However, no published reviews have focused on stock market liberalization, which is an important perspective requiring further investigation. Our study bridges the gap by making a thorough and in-depth review on issues associated with the stock market liberalization in China. The discussed questions and implications In analyzing this literature, we focused on two dimensions: (1) how liberalization impacts five corporate-level accounting and financial issues—corporate governance, information environment and financial disclosure, earnings quality, value-relevance of accounting information, and auditing, and (2) how liberalization improves the Chinese stock market as a whole and affects asset pricing in this market. Based on the issues explored in the literature, we provide suggestions for future research in our concluding remarks.

Green tea is a commonly consumed beverage in Asia and has been suggested to have anticarcinogenic properties. To date, epidemiological evidence of the effect of green tea consumption on liver cancer risk remains ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the association between green tea consumption and the risk of liver cancer. The summary relative risk for the highest consumption (≥5 cups/day) of green tea on liver cancer incidence compared with nondrinkers was 0.62 (95% confidence interval: 0.49–0.79). We also found a trend that the incidence of liver cancer was reduced with the increasing years of green tea intake (significance at >20 yr). A significant dose–response association was found between green tea drinking and liver cancer risk. The downward trend was most obvious when the consumption of green tea increased up to about 4 cups/day. The results showed that the increasing green tea intake may have a preventive effect against liver cancer.

// Chen-Xu Ni 1, * , Yang Qi 1, * , Jin Zhang 1, 2, * , Ying Liu 2 , Wei-Heng Xu 1 , Jing Xu 2 , Hong-Gang Hu 1 , Qiu-Ye Wu 1 , Yan Wang 1 , Jun-Ping Zhang 1 1 School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China 2 Department of Pharmacy, Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai 310000, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Jun-Ping Zhang, email: jpzhang08@163.com Yan Wang, email: wangyansmmu@126.com Keywords: matrine derivative, hepatocellular carcinoma, cancer stem-like cells, GSK3β, AKT Received: January 18, 2016 Accepted: October 14, 2016 Published: October 22, 2016 ABSTRACT The eradication of cancer stem cells (CSCs) is significant for cancer therapy and prevention. In this study, we evaluated WM130, a novel derivative of matrine, for its effect on CSCs using human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines, their sphere cells, and sorted EpCAM + cells. We revealed that WM130 could not only inhibit proliferation and colony formation of HCC cells, but also suppress the expression of some stemness-related genes and up-regulate some mature hepatocyte marker genes, indicating a promotion of differentiation from CSCs to hepatocytes. WM130 also suppressed the proliferation of doxorubicin-resistant hepatoma cells, and markedly reduced the cells with CSC biomarker EpCAM. Moreover, WM130 suppressed HCC spheres, not only primary spheres but also subsequent spheres, indicating an inhibitory effect on self-renewal capability of CSCs. Interestingly, WM130 exhibited a remarkable inhibitory preference on HCC spheres and EpCAM + cells rather than their parental HCC cells and EpCAM - cells respectively. In vivo , WM130 inhibited HCC xenograft growth, decreased the number of sphere-forming cells, and remarkably decreased the levels of EpCAM mRNA and protein in tumor xenografts. Better inhibitory effect was achieved by WM130 in combination with doxorubicin. Further mechanism study revealed that WM130 inhibited AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathway. Collectively, our results suggest that WM130 remarkably inhibits hepatic CSCs, and this effect may via the down-regulation of the AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin pathway. These findings provide a strong rationale for the use of WM130 as a novel drug candidate in HCC therapy.

Background Insomnia is a widespread and debilitating condition that affects sleep quality and daily productivity. Although mindfulness meditation (MM) has been suggested as a potentially effective supplement to medical treatment for insomnia, no comprehensively quantitative research has been conducted in this field. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis on the findings of related randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the effects of MM on insomnia. Methods Related publications in PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and PsycINFO were searched up to July 2015. To calculate the standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), we used a fixed effect model when heterogeneity was negligible and a random effect model when heterogeneity was significant. Results A total of 330 participants in 6 RCTs that met the selection criteria were included in this meta-analysis. Analysis of overall effect revealed that MM significantly improved total wake time and sleep quality, but had no significant effects on sleep onset latency, total sleep time, wake after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, total wake time, ISI, PSQI and DBAS. Subgroup analyses showed that although there were no significant differences between MM and control groups in terms of total sleep time, significant effects were found in total wake time, sleep onset latency, sleep quality, sleep efficiency, and PSQI global score (absolute value of SMD range: 0.44–1.09, all p Conclusions The results suggest that MM may mildly improve some sleep parameters in patients with insomnia. MM can serve as an auxiliary treatment to medication for sleep complaints.

Strategic manipulation of wave and particle transport in various media is the key driving force for modern information processing and communication. In a strongly scattering medium, waves and particles exhibit versatile transport characteristics such as localization, tunnelling with exponential decay, ballistic, and diffusion behaviours due to dynamical multiple scattering from strong scatters or impurities. Recent investigations of graphene have offered a unique approach, from a quantum point of view, to design the dispersion of electrons on demand, enabling relativistic massless Dirac quasiparticles, and thus inducing low-loss transport either ballistically or diffusively. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of an artificial phononic graphene tailored for surface phonons on a LiNbO3 integrated platform. The system exhibits Dirac quasiparticle-like transport, that is, pseudo-diffusion at the Dirac point, which gives rise to a thickness-independent temporal beating for transmitted pulses, an analogue of Zitterbewegung effects. The demonstrated fully integrated artificial phononic graphene platform here constitutes a step towards on-chip quantum simulators of graphene and unique monolithic electro-acoustic integrated circuits.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are a class of steroid hormones that regulate multiple aspects of glucose homeostasis. In skeletal muscle, it is well established that prolonged GC excess inhibits glucose uptake and utilization through glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-mediated transcriptional changes. However, it remains obscure that whether the rapid non-genomic effects of GC on glucose uptake are involved in acute exercise stress. Therefore, we used electric pulse stimulation (EPS)-evoked contracting myotubes to determine whether the non-genomic actions of GC were involved and its underlying mechanism(s). Pretreatment with dexamethasone (Dex, 10 μM) significantly prevented contraction-stimulated glucose uptake and glucose transporter 4 (Glut4) translocation within 20 min in C2C12 myotubes. Neither GC nuclear receptor antagonist (RU486) nor protein synthesis inhibitor (cycloheximide, Chx) affected the rapid inhibition effects of Dex. AMPK and CaMKII-dependent signaling pathways were associated with the non-genomic effects of Dex. These results provide evidence that GC rapidly suppresses glucose uptake in contracting myotubes via GR-independent non-genomic mechanisms. AMPK and CaMKII-mediated Glut4 translocation may play a critical role in GC-induced rapid inhibition of glucose uptake.

The durability of concrete depends on its ability to prevent the ingress of aggressive chemical species. Transport properties of concrete, mainly permeability, play a key role in assessing and predicting the durability of reinforced concrete structures. This paper presents an experimental study on gas permeability of concrete influenced by environmental humidity and test depth. Gas permeability of concrete were measured both under dry condition and air-water balance by Cembureau method. A fine linear relationship between gas permeability coefficient and porosity of concrete blocks is shown in this article.

Alloyed Fe3Si infiltration coatings on the surface of 2Cr13 and 0Cr18Ni9 stainless steels were easily prepared via non-electrolysis infiltration in a molten salt. The infiltrated coatings on a 20 carbon-steel surface were used for comparative study. The microstructure of each infiltration coating was examined via XRD and SEM. The hardness and toughness of Fe3Si coatings were investigated by using a microscopic hardness tester, nano-indentation and static-indentation tests. Furthermore, the wear resistance of the coatings was evaluated using a ball-on-disk wear tester. The results indicated that alloying elements in the stainless-steel substrates participate in the mutual thermal diffusion of Fe-Si and alloyed Fe3Si coatings containing elemental Cr and Cr, Ni can be easily obtained. Cr and Ni alloying elements can increase the growth rate of the infiltration coatings, help to reduce the defect density, and improve the compactness of these coatings. In addition, the surface wear resistance capacity of alloyed Fe3Si coatings was 2.3 times and 3.7 times that of the corresponding 2Cr13 and 0Cr18Ni9 stainless-steel substrates, respectively. The reason lie in that Cr- or (Ni, Cr)- alloying has endowed Fe3Si coating higher hardness and surface toughness simultaneously.

© 2017 European Accounting Association. Based on 16,604 observations between 1994 and 2006, this study revisits the ‘horizon problem’ by examining how CEO retirement affects conditional accounting conservatism. We hypothesize and find that firms become less conservative in their financial reporting before the retirement of their CEOs, and that strong corporate governance mitigates the effect of CEO retirement. The literature concerning the horizon problem has suggested that CEOs manipulate earnings to boost short-term performance before they leave their companies (Dechow, P. M., & Sloan, R. G. (1991). Executive incentives and the horizon problem: An empirical investigation. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 14(1), 51–89; Smith, C. W., & Watts, R. L. (1982). Incentive and tax effects of executive compensation plans. Australian Journal of Management, 7(2), 139–157), but the evidence is mixed. By examining conditional conservatism, we avoid some of the methodological difficulties that confront researchers when examining either real or accrual earnings management. Ours is the first study to provide evidence on how the horizon problem shapes conditional accounting conservatism.

Weyl points emerge as topological monopoles of Berry flux in the three-dimensional (3D) momentum space and have been extensively studied in topological semimetals. As the underlying topological principles apply to any type of waves under periodic boundary conditions, Weyl points can also be realized in classical wave systems, which are easier to engineer compared to condensed matter materials. Here, we made an acoustic Weyl phononic crystal by breaking space inversion (P) symmetry using a combination of slanted acoustic waveguides. We conducted angle-resolved transmission measurements to characterize the acoustic Weyl points. We also experimentally confirmed the existence of acoustic "Fermi arcs" and demonstrated robust one-way acoustic transport, where the surface waves can overcome a step barrier without reflection. This work lays a solid foundation for the basic research in 3D topological acoustic effects., 17 pages, 5 figures

Increasing gender diversity in the boardroom has been promoted as a way to enhance corporate governance and risk management. This study empirically examines whether boards with more female directors play a role in reducing R&D risk. We first show that female directors help to reduce the positive relationship between R&D investment and future performance volatility. We then report that firms with more gender-diverse boards exhibit a lower adverse effect of R&D on the cost of debt. These results are robust to endogeneity analysis, alternative measures of gender diversity and risky investment, and other sensitivity tests. Overall, our results suggest that female directors improve board effectiveness in risk management with respect to R&D investment.

RNA regulatory elements (RREs) are an important yet relatively under-explored facet of gene regulation. Deciphering the prevalence and functional impact of this post-transcriptional control layer requires technologies for disrupting RREs without perturbing cellular homeostasis. Here we describe genome-engineering based evaluation of RNA regulatory element activity (GenERA), a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 platform for in situ high-content functional analysis of RREs. We use GenERA to survey the entire regulatory landscape of a 3′UTR, and apply it in a multiplex fashion to analyse combinatorial interactions between sets of miRNA response elements (MREs), providing strong evidence for cooperative activity. We also employ this technology to probe the functionality of an entire MRE network under cellular homeostasis, and show that high-resolution analysis of the GenERA dataset can be used to extract functional features of MREs. This study provides a genome editing-based multiplex strategy for direct functional interrogation of RNA cis-regulatory elements in a native cellular environment., RNA regulatory elements (RREs) are important post-transcriptional control features but studying them requires disrupting their activity without disturbing cellular homeostasis. Here the authors present GenERA, a CRISPR-Cas9 screening platform of in situ analysis of native RREs.

Large amount of dredged silt has been produced in the construction of water conservancy projects and oceanographic projects in China every year. Solidification and modification of dredging silt, to transfer it to good geotechnical materials, will be significant benefits on the sustainable development of the society. The curing effect of dredging soil isnt good if selecting cement as the single main curing agent. In this paper, the industrial steel slag and waste slag were chosen as the main curing agent and matching with cement and alkali activator, such as water glass, gypsum and sulfate. The help curing agent dosage range has been determined by single doped tests. Then the best ratio of GKCS curing agent has been determined through orthogonal tests. The research shows that the unconfined compressive strength can be achieved 5905kPa after using GKCS curing agent modified dredged soil.

A non-fired brick were manufactured by solidification of modified dredged soils. A novel solidified agent based on industrial wastes was prepared. A typical manufacture process of the non-fired brick comprised of mixing, stirring, tamping and maintaining. Several tests and measurements were conducted according to Chinese Professional Standard and National Standard. The results showed that the non-fired brick exhibited excellent performances and low toxicity. The non-fired brick was found to be a suitable material for use in the civil architecture.

Using the largest semi-autogenous grinding mill in China as a model, collision energy was analyzed on the basis of the multi-layer kinematics of the steel balls. First, the kinematic equation of the steel balls was obtained by considering the multi-layer characteristics of the steel balls. Second, the collision energy of the inner-layer steel balls was addressed according to its kinematic characteristics. Finally, the total collision energy per unit time was obtained. Results show that the leaving angle decreases as the mill speed ratio increases and as the radius ratio increases, but the leaving velocity increases linearly. Moreover, a discontinuity point of the tangential collision velocity occurs at an angle factor β = 0, and the angle factor β is divided into two intervals: [−3, 0] and [0, 1.5]. The leaving angles corresponding to a tangential velocity equal to zero are calculated to be 1.185 and 0.7854 rad in the two intervals. In addition, the sum collision velocity increases when β is less than zero, but it decreases sharply above zero. The maximum total collision energy per unit time occurs at 84.2% of the mill speed corresponding to the optimal mill speed ratio.

Matrine is an alkaloid extracted from a Chinese herb Sophora flavescens Ait, which has shown chemopreventive potential against various cancers. In this study, we evaluated the anticancer efficacy of a novel derivative of matrine, (6aS, 10S, 11aR, 11bR, 11cS)-10- methylamino-dodecahydro- 3a,7a-diazabenzo (de) (MASM), against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and their corresponding sphere cells in vitro and in vivo. Human HCC cell lines (Hep3B and Huh7) were treated with MASM. Cell proliferation was assessed using CCK8 and colony assays; cell apoptosis and cell cycle distributions were examined with flow cytometry. The expression of cell markers and signaling molecules was detected using Western blot and qRT-PCR analyses. A sphere culture technique was used to enrich cancer stem cells (CSC) in Hep3B and Huh7 cells. The in vivo antitumor efficacy of MASM was evaluated in Huh7 cell xenograft model in BALB/c nude mice, which were administered MASM (10 mg·kg−1·d−1, ig) for 3 weeks. After the treatment was completed, tumor were excised and weighed. A portion of tumor tissue was enzymatically dissociated to obtain a single cell suspension for the spheroid formation assays. MASM (2, 10, 20 μmol/L) dose-dependently inhibited the proliferation of HCC cells, and induced apoptosis, which correlated with a reduction in Bcl-2 expression and an increase in PARP cleavage. MASM also induced cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, which was accompanied by increased p27 and decreased Cyclin D1 expression. Interestingly, MASM (2, 10, and 20 μmol/L) drastically reduced the EpCAM+/CD133+ cell numbers, suppressed the sphere formation, inhibited the expression of stem cell marker genes and promoted the expression of mature hepatocyte markers in the Hep3B and Huh7 spheroids. Additionally, MASM dose-dependently suppressed the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and AKT/GSK3β/β-catenin signaling pathways in Hep3B and Huh7 cells. In Huh7 xenograft bearing nude mice, MASM administration significantly inhibited Huh7 xenograft tumor growth and markedly reduced the number of surviving cancer stem-like cells in the tumors. MASM administration also reduced the expression of stem cell markers while increasing the expression of mature hepatocyte markers in the tumor tissues. The novel derivative of matrine, MASM, markedly suppresses HCC tumor growth through multiple mechanisms, and it may be a promising candidate drug for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Recent explorations of topology in physical systems have led to a new paradigm of condensed matters characterized by topologically protected states and phase transition, for example, topologically protected photonic crystals enabled by magneto-optical effects. However, in other wave systems such as acoustics, topological states cannot be simply reproduced due to the absence of similar magnetics-related sound-matter interactions in naturally available materials. Here, we propose an acoustic topological structure by creating an effective gauge magnetic field for sound using circularly flowing air in the designed acoustic ring resonators. The created gauge magnetic field breaks the time-reversal symmetry, and therefore topological properties can be designed to be nontrivial with non-zero Chern numbers verified by a tight-binding model and thus to enable a topological sonic crystal, in which the topologically protected acoustic edge-state transport is observed, featuring robust one-way propagation characteristics against a variety of topological defects and impurities. Interestingly, the one-way propagation direction is relevant to the azimuthal order of the resonant mode in the ring resonator which influences the corresponding topological Chern number. Our results open a new venue to non-magnetic topological structures and promise a unique approach to effective manipulation of acoustic interfacial transport at will.

A type of acoustic carpet cloak has been theoretically designed and numerically implemented in air using steel/air composites. By using the effective medium theory, the effective density and bulk modulus of the composite material are designed to agree with the spatially variant parameters calculated from the coordinate transformation approach. Great cloaking performance is achieved as an object is well hidden under a sound reflective surface in a wide frequency range. It has also been shown that sound can be effectively manipulated using the proposed composite materials because of its low complexity.

We theoretically and experimentally reveal that the large resonant optical transmission (ROT) can be realized through a one-dimensional photonic crystal adjacent to a thin metal film, at a frequency in the original band-gap of the photonic crystal (PC). The influence of periodic number of PC and the thickness of the adjacent metal on the transmission frequency and intensity is studied in detail. An optimum design is given to reach the maximum transmission efficiency, meanwhile a mechanism underlining the ROT phenomenon is proposed. An effective admittance-matching theory is proposed to understand this effect and quantitatively determine the operating frequency, which matches very well with the simulated and measured results. The effects might be very useful to realize some optical filters and sensor devices since the structure is easy for mass production and is matured technically to be prepared in industry.

An acoustic asymmetric transmission device exhibiting unidirectional transmission property for acoustic waves is extremely desirable in many practical scenarios. Such a unique property may be realized in various configurations utilizing acoustic Zeeman effects in moving media as well as frequency-conversion in passive nonlinear acoustic systems and in active acoustic systems. Here we demonstrate a new acoustic frequency conversion process in a time-varying system, consisting of a rotating blade and the surrounding air. The scattered acoustic waves from this time-varying system experience frequency shifts, which are linearly dependent on the blade’s rotating frequency. Such scattering mechanism can be well described theoretically by an acoustic linear time-varying perturbation theory. Combining such time-varying scattering effects with highly efficient acoustic filtering, we successfully develop a tunable acoustic unidirectional device with 20 dB power transmission contrast ratio between two counter propagation directions at audible frequencies.

A convenient approach to 3-sec-alkyl substituted indoles was developed via palladium-catalyzed addition of arylboronic acids to vinylogous imines generated in situ from sulfonylindoles under mild conditions.

We developed a flexible force sensor consisting of 3D graphene foam (GF) encapsulated in flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Because the 3D GF/PDMS sensor is based on the transformation of an electronic band structure aroused by static mechanical strain or KHz vibration, it can detect frequency signals by both tuning fork tests and piezoelectric ceramic transducer tests, which showed a clear linear response from audio frequencies, including frequencies up to 141 KHz in the ultrasound range. Because of their excellent response with a wide bandwidth, the 3D GF/PDMS sensors are attractive for interactive wearable devices or artificial prosthetics capable of perceiving seismic waves, ultrasonic waves, shock waves, and transient pressures.

We numerically realize the acoustic rainbow trapping effect by tapping an air waveguide with space-coiling metamaterials. Due to the high refractive-index of the space-coiling metamaterials, our device is more compact compared to the reported trapped-rainbow devices. A numerical model utilizing effective parameters is also calculated, whose results are consistent well with the direct numerical simulation of space-coiling structure. Moreover, such device with the capability of dropping different frequency components of a broadband incident temporal acoustic signal into different channels can function as an acoustic wavelength division de-multiplexer. These results may have potential applications in acoustic device design such as an acoustic filter and an artificial cochlea.

Community characteristics of aquatic plant are important indicators for water quality. In order to understand the distribution characteristics of aquatic plants in aquatic ecosystem of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal ( Hangzhou section) , and to analyze the relationship between water quality and plant community, an investigation of the aquatic plants in five typical sites was made in this study. Species composition, biological diversity, quantity distribution and dominant species of aquatic plants in five sites were studied for ecological changes. Physicochemical factors such as temperature, pH value, transparency, dissolved oxygen and main elements of living were also analyzed. Based on the results, the distribution of phytoplankton diversity and environment factor correlations by multivariate statistical analysis were discussed. The trophic levels of these sites were assessed by using related biological standards. Results indicated that the diversity of aquatic plant mainly depends on the diversity of phytoplankton in the typical sites of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. We observed and identified 35 genus algae, including advantage community of Hyalodiscus Ehrenberg and Melosira Agardh, which belonged to Bacillariophyta. According to the impact on the phytoplankton diversity and distribution, factors such as dissolved oxygen, transparency, water temperature, etc. had an obvious influence on the distribution of phytoplankton in the existing 6 environmental factors, while the influence of pH value was the highest. In terms of water quality eutrophication, site Tangxi Bridge and Maiyu Bridge showed a relatively lighter pollution, while site Yiqiao Bridge, Gujia Bridge and Gongchen Bridge showed a higher pollution, and the pollution of site Yiqiao Bridge was the most serious.

Artificial honeycomb lattices with Dirac cone dispersion provide a macroscopic platform to study the massless Dirac quasiparticles and their novel geometric phases. In this paper, a quadruple-degenerate state is achieved at the center of Brillouin zone (BZ) in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice phononic crystal, which is a result of accidental degeneracy of two double-degenerate states. In the vicinity of the quadruple-degenerate state, the dispersion relation is linear. Such quadruple degeneracy is analyzed by rigorous representation theory of groups. Using method, a reduced Hamiltonian is obtained to describe the linear Dirac dispersion relations of such quadruple-degenerate state, which is well consistent with the simulation results. Near such accidental degeneracy, we observe some unique wave propagating properties, such as defect insensitive propagating character and Talbot effect., 24 pages, 7 figures and 1 table

An inductively coupled, chronically implanted short-solenoid coil was used to obtain in vivo localized 1H NMR spectra and diffusion-weighted images from a rat spinal cord. A 5 × 8 mm two-turn elliptically shaped solenoid coil was implanted in rats at the site of a T-12 vertebral-level laminectomy. Excitation was achieved solely by a 3 × 3 cm external surface coil, and signal detection was achieved by inductively coupling the external coil to the implanted coil. The image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) obtained with the inductively-coupled implanted coil was compared with that obtained using a linear or a quadrature external surface coil. The implanted coil provided a gain by over a factor of 3 in SNR. The implanted coil was used to measure localized 1H spectra in vivo at the T13/L1 spinal-cord level within a 1.85 × 1.85 × 4.82 mm (16.5 μL) volume. With 256 averages, a ∼3-s repetition delay and respiratory gating, a high-quality spectrum was acquired in 13 min. In addition, water translational diffusion was measured in three orthogonal directions using a stimulated-echo imaging sequence, with a short echo time (TE), to produce a quantitative map of diffusion in a rat spinal cord in vivo. Magn Reson Med 46:1216–1222, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

While both the economic and agency theory have been proposed to explain cost stickiness, Chen, Lu, and Sougiannis (2012) is the first study that provides evidence to support the agency explanation. To address the endogeneity concern, we extend Chen et al. (2012) by employing state antitakeover laws (ATLs) as an exogenous shock to the corporate governance environment and examine whether the behavior of selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs changes around the passage of the ATLs. Using the difference-in-differences methodology, we report two primary findings. First, when sales increase, SG&A costs increase significantly more after the enactment of the ATLs, which is consistent with the ATL literature that managers enjoy the “quiet life” after being insulated from an active takeover market. Second and more importantly, we do not find evidence to suggest that managers reduce SG&A costs less in response to sales decline after the passage of the ATLs, which is inconsistent with the agency explanation of cost stickiness. These results hold in settings where we expect the effect of ATLs to be stronger and are robust to sensitivity analyses. Although we would not rule out the agency explanation, our study does cast doubt on the explanation and calls for further research into the reasons behind cost stickiness.

We investigate both experimentally and numerically a complex structure, where 'face-to-face' Helmholtz resonance cavities (HRCs) are introduced to construct a one-dimensional acoustic grating. In this system, pairs of HRCs can intensely couple with each other in two forms: a bonding state and an anti-bonding state, analogous to the character of hydrogen molecule with two atoms due to the interference of wave functions of sound among the acoustic local-resonating structures. The bonding state is a 'bright' state that interferes with the Fabry–Perot resonance mode, thereby causing this state to break up into two modes as the splitting of the extraordinary acoustic transmission peak. On the contrary, the anti-bonding state is a 'dark' state in which the resonance mode remains entirely localized within the HRCs, and has no contribution to the acoustic transmission.

Nonreciprocal wave propagation typically requires strong nonlinear materials to break time reversal symmetry. Here, we utilized a sonic-crystal-based acoustic diode that had broken spatial inversion symmetry and experimentally realized sound unidirectional transmission in this acoustic diode. These novel phenomena are attributed to different mode transitions as well as their associated different energy conversion efficiencies among different diffraction orders at two sides of the diode. This nonreciprocal sound transmission could be systematically controlled by simply mechanically rotating the square rods of the sonic crystal. Different from nonreciprocity due to the nonlinear acoustic effect and broken time reversal symmetry, this new model leads to a one-way effect with higher efficiency, broader bandwidth, and much less power consumption, showing promising applications in various sound devices.

Experiments were carried out to scrub cooking fumes using by clean water and by bio-slurry, and the effects on the removal rate of cooking oil and particles were studied. The results showed that the scrubbing effect of cooking fumes was the best when the bio-slurry concentration was 1.2 g/L. The particle sizes of fumes reduced from 0.2 ~ 62µm to 0.2 ~ 5µm, and compared with clean water washed, the efficiency of the purification of fumes significantly improves from 65% to about 87%. Bio-slurry can reduce the concentration of cooking fume in the liquid phase by sedimentation and microbial degradation, make it decrease from 20 mg / L to 3 mg / L.

We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally the physical mechanism that underlies extraordinary acoustic transmission and collimation of sound through a one-dimensional decorated plate. A microscopic theory considers the total field as the sum of the scattered waves by every periodically aligned groove on the plate, which divides the total field into far-field radiative cylindrical waves and acoustic surface evanescent waves (ASEWs). Different from the well-known acoustic surface waves like Rayleigh waves and Lamb waves, ASEW is closely analogous to a surface plasmon polariton in the optical case. By mapping the total field, the experiments well confirm the theoretical calculations with ASEWs excited. The establishment of the concept of ASEW provides a new route for the integration of subwavelength acoustic devices with a structured solid surface.

To explore the effects and mechanism of CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in mouse experimental colitis treated by CLYSTER No. 1.The mouse model of experimental colitis was established by dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)-acetic acid (AA) in mice DNCB and AA. Adult KM mouse were randomly divided into four groups: normal control group, experimental colitis model group, SASP and Chinese medicine therapeutic groups. Proportion of CD4 CD25+ Tregs in peripheral blood (PB) and mesenteric lymph node (MLN) was estimated by flow cytometry at the end of one or two week after treating with SASP and CLYSTER No. 1.The model of experimental colitis in mouse was successfully established. Compared with normal control group, the proportion of CD4 CD25 Tregs was markedly decreased in PB and MLN of model control group of experimental colitis. But it was significantly increased in therapeutic groups of SASP and CLYSTER No. 1, and their CD4+ CD25+ Tregs in PB and MLN were much more than the model control group at the end of one or two weeks after treating with SASP and CLYSTER No. 1.CD4+ CD25+ Tregs with strong immune suppression could play a central role in the initiation and development of mouse experiment colitis, and the CLYSTER No. 1 might exert its therapeutic effects on UC by the regulation of number and function of CD4+ CD25+ Tregs.

We report a design of topological phononic states for underwater sound using arrays of acoustic coupled ring resonators. In each individual ring resonator, two degenerate acoustic modes, corresponding to clockwise and counter-clockwise propagation, are treated as opposite pseudospins. The gapless edge states arise in the bandgap resulting in protected pseudospin-dependent sound transportation, which is a phononic analogue of the quantum spin Hall effect. We also investigate the robustness of the topological sound state, suggesting that the observed pseudospin-dependent sound transportation remains unless the introduced defects facilitate coupling between the clockwise and counter-clockwise modes (in other words, the original mode degeneracy is broken). The topological engineering of sound transportation will certainly promise unique design for next generation of acoustic devices in sound guiding and switching, especially for underwater acoustic devices.

Recent explorations of topology in physical systems have led to a new paradigm of condensed matters characterized by topologically protected states and phase transition, for example, topologically protected photonic crystals enabled by magneto-optical effects. However, in other wave systems such as acoustics, topological states cannot be simply reproduced due to the absence of similar magnetics-related sound–matter interactions in naturally available materials. Here, we propose an acoustic topological structure by creating an effective gauge magnetic field for sound using circularly flowing air in the designed acoustic ring resonators. The created gauge magnetic field breaks the time-reversal symmetry, and therefore topological properties can be designed to be nontrivial with non-zero Chern numbers and thus to enable a topological sonic crystal, in which the topologically protected acoustic edge-state transport is observed, featuring robust one-way propagation characteristics against a variety of topological defects and impurities. Our results open a new venue to non-magnetic topological structures and promise a unique approach to effective manipulation of acoustic interfacial transport at will.

In this paper, a rigid surface decorated with an array of grooves with graded widths is proposed to get spatial separation of the spoof surface acoustic waves. Because of the intermodal coupling between forward and backward modes on the graded structure, the spoof surface acoustic waves with different frequencies stop propagating ahead and reflect back at different positions of the graded groove grating. The intensity of acoustic field is effectively enhanced near the propagation-stop position due to the slow group velocity. We believe that such system with the capability of energy concentration and wave spatial arrangement by frequencies has potential applications in acoustic wave coupling and absorption.