Search

To better understand the response of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) to Micropterus salmoides rhabdovirus (MSRV) infection, we investigated the intestinal bacterial flora and transcriptome profile of fish at 72 hours post-infection (hpi). Total of 1574 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in largemouth bass spleen following MSRV infection, including 573 upregulated and 1001 downregulated genes. KEGG and GO enrichment analysis revealed that upregulated genes were enriched in certain antiviral related signaling pathway, including NOD-like receptor (NLR), RIG-I like receptors (RLR) and regulation of the interferon (IFN)-γ-mediated signaling pathway, whereas some immune-related DEGs enriched in focal adhesion (FA) and ECM-receptor interaction(ECM-RI) were downregulated, as well as genes associated with metabolic processes, such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR), adipocytokine signaling pathway, Glycerolipid and Retinol metabolism. Furthermore, the principal component analysis (PCA) and phylogenetic analysis revealed that MSRV infection significantly affected the microbiota of largemouth bass intestine; the LEfSe analysis showed that relative abundances of Streptococcus were significantly increased, while the content of Akkermansia, Enterococcus and Lactobacillus were remarkably decreased in the fish intestine following MSRV infection. Additionally, a high correlation was determined between the expressions of interferon-related upregulated genes and the relative abundance of Streptococcus by redundancy analysis (RDA). These results collectively illustrated that intestinal microbiota composition might be associated with the immune-related gene expression in largemouth bass in response to MSRV infection.

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are closely related to the occurrence and development of cancer. Abnormally expressed lncRNA can be used as a diagnostic marker for cancer. In this study, we aim to investigate the clinical significance of MIR99AHG expression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), and its biological roles in LUAD progression. Methods The relative expression of MIR99AHG in LUAD tissues and cell lines was analyzed using public databases and RT-qPCR. The biological functions of MIR99AHG were investigated using a loss-of-function approach. The effect of MIR99AHG on lung fibrosis was assessed by scratch assay, invasion assay and lung fibrosis rat model. FISH, luciferase reporter assay and immunofluorescence were performed to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms. Results LncRNA MIR99AHG expression level was downregulated in LUAD tissues and cell lines. Low MIR99AHG levels were associated with poorer patient overall survival. Functional analysis showed that MIR99AHG is associated with the LUAD malignant phenotype in vitro and in vivo. Further mechanistic studies showed that, MIR99AHG functions as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to antagonize miR-136-5p-mediated ubiquitin specific protease 4 (USP4) degradation, thereby unregulated the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a downstream target gene of USP4, which in turn affected alveolar type II epithelial cell fibrosis and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). In summary, the MIR99AHG/miR-136-5p/USP4/ACE2 signalling axis regulates lung fibrosis and EMT, thus inhibiting LUAD progression. Conclusion This study showed that downregulated MIR99AHG leads to the development of pulmonary fibrosis. Therefore, overexpression of MIR99AHG may provide a new approach to preventing LUAD progression.

Additional file 2: Figure S1. Abnormal expression of MIR99AHG in LUAD tissues. A. H&E staining of the LUAD tumor tissues and non-tumor tissues. B. Masson staining of tissue from LUAD with fibrosis. C. The expression levels of MIR99AHG in 20 paired LUAD tissues and non-tumor specimens were determined using RT-qPCR. D, E. FISH was used to determine the expression of MIR99AHG in LUAD tissue and the paired non-tumor sample. Statistical data are shown. F. FISH was performed to determine the subcellular distribution of MIR99AHG in A549 cells. ***P < 0.001.

Additional file 1: Table S1. The correlation between RPE, VJH, serum ORM, serum CRP, serum C, and serum LAC.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Plasmid construction primer sequences. Table S2. Primers of qRT-PCR.

Background Tuberculosis (TB) infection has been reported to have a possible relationship with the occurrence and clinical course of Takayasu arteritis (TA). We aimed to describe the characteristics of TB in a large population of TA patients. Methods We included a total of 1105 patients with TA, who were hospitalized between January 1992 and December 2017. Comparisons of clinical features were made according to the presence of TB. Results Among the 1105 patients, 109 (9.9%) had TB, including 53 patients (48.6%) diagnosed with TB before the onset of TA, 23 (21.1%) with a concurrent diagnosis of TB and TA, and 24 patients (22.0%) who developed TB after TA. Pulmonary TB was the most frequently identified (97 patients, 89.0%). Patients with TB had more frequent involvement of the pulmonary artery and experienced more chest discomfort and constitutional symptoms but had less interventional treatment. Demographic characteristics, comorbid diseases, and use of steroids were similar between patients with and without TB. Conclusions The proportion of Chinese TA patients with TB was not low, and about half of the patients had TB before TA. Pulmonary TB was the most common. Pulmonary artery involvement and pulmonary hypertension was more frequent in TA patients with TB.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the causes of renal artery stenosis (RAS) and compare the clinical characteristics in accordance with the primary disease among patients aged from 30 to 50. METHODS Patients were grouped by etiologies of RAS. Groups were retrospectively examined and compared regarding demographic data, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and imaging findings. RESULTS A total of 152 patients (74 females, 78 males; mean age: 40.70 ± 6.01 years) were enrolled, including 84 patients (55.3%) with atherosclerosis (AS), 46 patients (30.3%) with Takayasu arteritis (TA), 18 patients (11.8%) with fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), and four patients (2.6%) with other etiologies. Patients in AS group had greater body mass index, higher prevalence of comorbidities and higher rate of smoking and drinking history. TA patients showed more constitutional symptoms and vascular findings, and higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate. RAS in both AS group and TA group mainly located on ostia and proximal segments, but RAS in FMD group mainly involved middle to distal segment of renal artery. The AS group had significantly lesser stenosis than the other groups. Although renal function evaluated by the estimated glomerular filtration rate did not significantly differ among the groups, the incidence of kidney shrinkage was significantly higher in the TA and FMD groups (39.1% and 50%, respectively) than in the AS group (8.3%). The FMD group had milder cardiac damage than other groups. CONCLUSIONS AS was the most common cause of RAS in patients aged from 30 to 50, followed by TA and FMD. The etiology of RAS should be carefully distinguished based on clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and imaging to ensure that proper treatment is provided.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, risk factors, and effects of primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) on physical and mental health in young adults in mainland China.METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire was used to collect information including the sociodemographic characteristics, history of PNE, family history, daytime voiding symptoms, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores, Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). A total of 22,500 university students from 23 provinces and 368 cities in mainland China were included.RESULTS: In total, 21,082 questionnaires were collected, and 20,345 of them qualified for statistical analysis. The PNE prevalence was 1.17%, and the distribution of monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (MNE) and nonmonosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (NMNE) was 66.1% and 33.9%, respectively. In total, 28% of respondents with PNE reported bedwetting daily, 31.6% between 1 and 7 times weekly, and 40.4% between 1 and 4 times monthly; 80% of PNE cases had no history of treatment. The prevalence of PNE in patients with a family history, frequency, urgency, urinary incontinence, and recurrent urinary tract infections was significantly higher than in those without these conditions (PCONCLUSION: In mainland China, the PNE prevalence among young adults was found to be high, and PNE had significant effects on physical and mental health. Risk factors included a family history, daytime voiding symptoms, and lack of treatment.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Over-expression MKL-1 and STAT5b increase the number of Treg in CD3+ T cells and enhance the Treg markers expression. A. Western blot analysis of MKL-1 and STAT5b protein level in CD3+T cells transfected with myc-MKL-1 or flag-STAT5b for 48 h. B. The number of Treg in CD3+T cells transfected with myc-MKL-1 or flag-STAT5b for 48 h by flow cytometry. C. QPCR analysis of Foxp3 and CD25 mRNA level in CD3+T cells transfected with myc-MKL-1 or flag-STAT5b for 48 h. GAPDH is the loading control. **, P

Objective: To evaluate the effect of moxibustion on knee osteoarthritis patients with cumulative meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis was applied to test the authenticity of results. Methods: We searched PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI and CBM to collect RCTs about moxibustion on knee osteoarthritis patients. The selection of literature, data extraction and evaluation of eligible literature were carried out independently by two reviewers. Then Stata11.0 software was used for data analysis. Result: Totally 11 RCTs involved 1005 patients were recruited. The results of meta-analysis showed that no significant differences were found between the two groups in VAS, moxibustion is better than drug therapy in effective rate [OR = 0.40, 95%CI (0.27, 0.60)] and knee score [SMD = -0.70, 95%CI (-1.22, -0.19)]. The result of trial sequential analysis indicated that the sample size didn’t reach the TSA Boundary on VAS, the sample size of effectiveness achieved Require Information Size. In the indicator of knee score has obtained certain result before reaching the Require Information Size. Conclusion: moxibustion is superior to drug therapy on treatment knee osteoarthritis. However, large sample size and high-quality studies are still needed.

Background Anemia is a common comorbidity of patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA). This study evaluated the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and treatment in Chinese TA patients with anemia. Methods This retrospective study included 533 consecutive patients hospitalized for TA from January 2009 to April 2018. Anemia was diagnosed on the basis of hemoglobin level, according to World Health Organization criteria. Results A total of 194 patients (36.4%) were diagnosed with anemia. Most had mild anemia (177, 91.2%). Female patients were predominant (92.8% of anemic patients). Normocytic anemia (62.9%) was the most common pattern. Anemic patients were more likely than non-anemic patients to have dizziness (29.4% vs. 21.2%), low body mass index (22.0 ± 3.6 vs. 22.9 ± 3.4 kg/m2), and active disease stage (64.9% vs. 50.1%); pulmonary involvement (12.4% vs. 26.8%), pulmonary hypertension (12.9% vs. 20.1%) and pulmonary hypertensive-target drugs (2.8% vs. 11.6%) were less common among anemic than non-anemic patients (all P < 0.05). Larger left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and lower left ventricular ejection fraction were observed in anemic patients. Over a median follow-up of four months, the increase of hemoglobin in anemic patients was associated with the use of iron supplementation. Conclusions Anemia is a very common concurrent condition in TA, especially in young, female patients. Patients with anemia are more likely to be in the active disease stage. Iron supplementation helps increase hemoglobin.

Based on the “Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Medicine and Health”, “Strategic planning outline of the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2016-2030)” and the other relevant polices announced by State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the People’s Republic of China, this paper analyzes and summarizes the opportunities and challenges for the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine nursing (TCM nursing) under the new healthcare reform, in order to provide reference and thinking for the professional development of TCM nursing.

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of two soil amendments(W and Y) derived from steel slag and their application rates(0.74, 1.47, 2.94, 5.88 g·kg-1 and 11.76 g·kg-1 for W; 1.47, 2.94, 5.88, 11.76 g·kg-1 and 23.52 g·kg-1 for Y) on rice growth. The results showed that no significant change in rice yield was found following W amendments; conversely, a 20% increase in rice yield was observed following Y amendments at rates of 11.76 g·kg-1 and 23.52 g·kg-1 as compared with NPK treatments. Y amendment at rates of 5.88~23.52 g·kg-1 increased straw mass by 24.02%~35.23% when compared with NPK treatments. Combined application of Y amendments and NPK fertilizers increased subsequent N, P and K uptake by rice by 12.61%~21.55%, 7.63%~38.31% and 11.89%~54.13%, respectively. The results indicated Y amendments could effectively accelerate subsequent rice growth at high application rates by increasing nutrient uptake in the soil studied(pH 6.51); Conversely, we observed no significant effects with W amendments.

Two new heptaketides, pleosporalins H and I (1 and 2), as well as seven biosynthetically related known polyketides (3���9) were isolated from the endophytic fungus, Pleosporales sp. F46 by employing the one strain-many compounds (OSMAC) approach. The planar, relative and absolute structures of these compounds were identified by extensive spectroscopic analysis including HRMS, NMR, optical rotations and ECD calculations. The cytotoxic efficiencies of all isolated compounds 1���9 were evaluated against four cancer cell lines A549, CT-26, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231.

Polar lacunar spinels, such as GaV$_4$S$_8$ and GaV$_4$Se$_8$, were proposed to host skyrmion phases under magnetic field. In this work, we put forward, as a candidate for N��el-type skyrmion lattice, the isostructural GaMo$_4$S$_8$, here systematically studied via both first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations of model Hamiltonian. Electric polarization, driven by Jahn-Teller distortion, is predicted to arise in GaMo$_4$S$_8$, showing a comparable size but an opposite sign with respect to that evaluated in V-based counterparts and explained in terms of different electron counting arguments and resulting distortions. Interestingly, a larger spin-orbit coupling of 4d orbitals with respect to 3d orbitals in vanadium-spinels leads to stronger Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, which are beneficial to stabilize a cycloidal spin texture, as well as smaller-sized skyrmions (radius, 6 figures

Ultrathin titanium oxide films were synthesized on glass substrates by surface sol–gel method. The films were grown by sequential immersion in TiCl 4 solution and water. The film morphology, structure and property were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV–visible spectroscopy. The results indicate that the films grow at a rate of about 2–3 nm per cycle and present an island-like growth mode. The film show an amorphous state and not a strict equilibrium TiO 2 structure. Furthermore, the film absorbance gradually increases with the depositing cycle.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical efficacy of laparoscopic surgery for women with heterotopic pregnancy. Method: The clinical outcomes of 12 patients with intrauterine and ectopic pregnancy undergoing laparoscopic operation were analyzed retrospectively. Results: The products of ectopic pregnancy were removed by laparoscopically. The median operation time was 12 minutes, and the average blood loss was 21.4 ml. There were no postoperative complications. The wounds recovered well in all cases. Among these women, ten delivered at term whereas two failed to continue their pregnancies, one had an abortion after 8 days of the surgery and another one had an abortion due to preterm premature rupture of the membrane at 15 gestational weeks. Conclusion: Laparoscopic surgery is an effective technique in successful management of heterotopic pregnancy.

A matched case–control study was conducted to examine the relationship between chromium (Cr) exposure and variation in mitochondrial (mt) DNA methylation. We enrolled 29 pairs of subjects in this study; Cr exposure was confirmed in the cases by detecting blood Cr and other metal ion concentrations. DNA damage caused by Cr exposure was determined in terms of binucleated micronucleus frequency (BNMN) and mtDNA copy number. Finally, a Sequenom MassARRAY platform was applied to inspect the DNA methylation levels of mitochondrially encoded tRNA phenylalanine ( MT-TF ), mitochondrially encoded 12S RNA ( MT-RNR1 ), and long interspersed nucleotide element-1 ( LINE-1 ) genes. The blood Cr ion concentration and micronucleus frequency of the Cr-exposed group were higher than those of the control group, whereas the mtDNA copy number remained unchanged. The methylation levels of MT-TF and MT-RNR1 but not LINE-1 were significantly lower in Cr-exposed workers. Pearson correlation analysis showed that workers with higher blood Cr ion concentrations exhibited lower MT-TF and MT-RNR1 gene methylation, and multiple linear regression analysis indicated that CpG sites 1 and 2 in MT-TF and CpG site 6 in MT-RNR1 were affected. These results suggested that methylation level of mtDNA has the possibility of acting as an alternative effect biomarker for Cr exposure.

A novel method for the acquisition of full-color three dimensional(3-D) images of real objects was proposed based on multiple projections.In order to improve sampling efficiency,an orthogonal scanning mode was presented,instead of conventional 2-D scanning mode,to capture a series of projection images by a color charge coupled device in both vertically and horizontally direction with an incoherent light source.The 3-D Fourier spectra were extracted by using the projection images.The computer-generated hologram(CGH) was synthesized and the numerical 3-D image was reconstructed.The experimental results show that the acquisition method of multiple projection view images has good performance,high efficiency.Moreover,a new extraction method was adopted to improve viewing quality of 3-D imaging by using the multi-circle sampling area.Comparison with experimental result shows that more available data is used to synthesize the CGH and a significant improvement in image definition.

Perovskite is one of the most important material systems for magnetoelectric multiferroic study. However, multiferroic is not expected to occur in a cubic perovskite on account of the highly symmetric crystal structure. Besides, magnetoelectric multiferroics with large ferroelectric polarization and strong magnetoelectric coupling have not been found to occur simultaneously in a single-phase multiferroic material discovered so far, challenging to the potential applications of this kind of material. Here we briefly review two multiferroic materials with multiply-ordered perovskite structure synthesized under high pressure and high temperature conditions. In the cubic perovskite LaMn3Cr4O12, we observed spin-induced ferroelectric polarization, providing the first example where ferroelectric takes place in a cubic perovskite material. In another multiply-ordered provskite BiMn3Cr4O12, type-I and type-Ⅱ multiferroic phases successively developed when cooled. It provides a rare example where two different types of multiferroic phases occur subsequently so that both large polarization and strong magnetoelectric effect are achieved in a single-phase material. In addition, since double ferroelectric phases take place in BiMn3Cr4O12, one can obtain four different polarization states by adopting different poling procedures, thus opening up a new way for generating multifunctional spintronics and multistate storage devices.

In order to obtain the NTC thermistors with small B constant (about 1900K), applied to wide temperature range, Mn0.43Ni0.9CuFe0.67O4 NTC thermistor materials prepared by Pechini method were microwave-calcined at different temperatures (650 degrees C, 750 degrees C and 850 degrees C). The calcined Mn0.43Ni0.9CuFe0.67O4 powders were pressed and then sintered at 1000 degrees C in a microwave furnace (multimode cavity, 2.45GHz). The crystal structure, phase compositions, morphology and particle size distribution of the samples were analyzed by FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and a laser particle size analyzer. The experimental results show that the electrical properties of the ceramics are strongly dependent on the calcination and sintering process. The application of microwave leads to a lower calcination temperature (650 degrees C) and densified uniform microstructures. Microwave sintering can obtain the components with well uniformity of B constant and resistivity, of which the B-avg is 1930K (deviation of 0.31%) and resistivity rho(avg). is 135 Omega center dot cm (deviation of 4.55%). However, the B-avg is 1720K (deviation of 1.47%) and resistivity rho(avg). is 78 Omega center dot cm (deviation of 25.34%) for the conventionally sintered components. From complex impedance analysis, the grain resistance (R-b) and grain boundary resistance (R-gb) are respectively 255 Omega and 305 Omega for the microwave-sintered samples. The R-b and Rg, are respectively 200 Omega and 230 Omega for conventionally sintered samples.

Based on the surveys and the statistic data during 1980–2003, the variation character of grain yield per unit area in Northeast China and its main factors have been discussed by the methods of statistics and grey correlation analysis. The results show that: 1) the grain yield per unit area has been taking on an increasing trend in the recent 20 years. It increased from 2519.80kg/ha in 1980 to 4216.11kg/ha in 2003, with an increasing rate of 67.32%; 2) the variation of grain yield per unit area is considerably prominent and its range is also very great, with the maximal increase rate of 42.59% and maximal decrease rate of 21.13%, respectively, which are far above the whole Chinese average level; 3) the variation of main crops’ yield per unit area is remarkable, which takes on the character that the yield of corn is much higher than that of soybean and rice; and 4) the grey correlation analysis shows that the most important factors impacting the variation of grain yield per unit area are the total power of agricultural machinery, the consumption of chemical fertilizer and effective irrigated area. However, the influence of natural disaster and income level should not be ignored. Effective ways to improve grain yield per unit area are to construct farmland improvement groundwork, reclaim the middle-and low-yield farmland, etc.

We study the magnetic response of superconducting $��$-Ga via low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. The magnetic vortex cores rely substantially on the Ga geometry, and exhibit an unexpectedly-large axial elongation with aspect ratio up to 40 in rectangular Ga nano-strips (width $l$ $, published in Phys. Rev. B as a Rapid Communication

The motility conferred by the flagella is necessary for colonization of the gastric mucosa by Helicobacter pylori, a bacterial risk factor for gastric cancer. In this study, we investigated characteristics of H. pylori movement. The motility of H. pylori was observed at a swimming speed of around 70μm/s or more in vitro. The motility was up-regulated by H^+ at a slightly acidic pH (pH 6.0>5.0>4.0 or 7.4). The addition of a proton-ionophore, carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP), immediately inhibited the H. pylori motility. In contrast, amiloride, monensin, and orthovanadate had little or no effect on the motility. Some agents inhibited the motility without affecting bacterial growth. In human gastric biopsy specimens, two modes of H. pylori flagella morphology were observed: a spiral flagellar bundle consisting of multiple, polar flagella, and a non-spiral flagellar bundle or multiple, unentwined polar flagella. These results demonstrate not only a feature of in vivo H. pylori flagella morphology and motility, but also that the driving force of the H. pylori flagellar motion is, at least in part, the electrochemical proton gradient across the membrane, and a slightly acidic pH (～pH 6.0) provides the optimal condition for H. pylori movement. A potential benefit of anti-H. pylori motility agents for eradication therapy is discussed.

Most strains of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) belonging to serotypes O157,O26,O111,and O128,isolated from humans in Japan also produced EHEC-hemolysin (EHEC-hly), the hemolytic activity of whom was detected on blood agar containing washed but not unwashed sheep erythrocytes. Of those, Shiga toxin 1 (Stx1)- and Stx2-producing strains belonging to serotypes O128 : H2 and O128 : H12 produced EHEC-hly in much greater quantities than did the other strains. The two strains carried the EHEC-hly genes on the 120-kbp plasmid. The entire EHEC-hly region (carrying genes C, A, B, and D) of the serotype O128 : H12 strain was cloned into pACYC184 and sequenced. The EHEC O128-hly genes showed a close similarity to the the EHEC O157-hly genes of more than 98.3% at the nucleotide level (more than 97.7% at the amino acid level). However, the EHEC O128-hlyB (the ATP-binding transmembrane protein acting as a transporter for hemolysin [hlyA]) lacked one amino terminal methionine, in contrast to the repeated amino terminal methionines in the EHEC O157-hlyB. The O128- and O157-hly As shared similar RTX repeats and acylation sites.

Warts are benign proliferations of the skin and mucosa caused by an infection resulting from the human papilloma virus. Plantar warts (verruca plantaris) are known to be particularly difficult to treat and eradicate. We herein report a case of recalcitrant plantar warts that was successfully treated with the Chinese Herb E. ebracteolata Hayata.

Mutations of the receptor tyrosine kinase KIT are linked to certain cancers such as gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). Biophysical, biochemical, and structural studies have provided insight into the molecular basis of resistance to the KIT inhibitors, imatinib and sunitinib. Here, solution-phase hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX) and direct binding mass spectrometry experiments provide a link between static structure models and the dynamic equilibrium of the multiple states of KIT, supporting that sunitinib targets the autoinhibited conformation of WT-KIT. The D816H mutation shifts the KIT conformational equilibrium toward the activated state. The V560D mutant exhibits two low energy conformations: one is more flexible and resembles the D816H mutant shifted toward the activated conformation, and the other is less flexible and resembles the wild-type KIT in the autoinhibited conformation. This result correlates with the V560D mutant exhibiting a sensitivity to sunitinib that is less than for WT KIT but greater than for KIT D816H. These findings support the elucidation of the resistance mechanism for the KIT mutants.

Mobile commerce is considered an excellent alternative for enterprises to reach new customers. However, many mobile commerce websites have a short life because they donpsilat meet the userspsila requirements. This paper presented the consumer-oriented criteria for mobile commerce website evaluation and developed a model, including four dimensions: mobile web site quality, enjoyable shopping experience, service quality, and trading risk. This study utilized an evaluation approach based on fuzzy set theory and the technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to determine overall performance value and rank of the mobile commerce websites, using triangular fuzzy numbers to express linguistic variables that consider the subjective judgments of evaluators and applying fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making approach to synthesize the group decision. Finally, several suggestion and future research are discussed.

Former Media Access Control (MAC) protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are mainly for static networks. In the networks where mobile nodes exist, the performance will degrade greatly. In this paper the performance of MAC in mobile WSNs (mWSNs) is analyzed and improved algorithms are presented. Simulations validate the effects. A new MAC protocol also is presented for the scenario with more mobile nodes.

Many media access control (MAC) protocols for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) such as sensor MAC (S-MAC) and carrier sense multiple access with minimum preamble sampling (CSMA-MPS) exploit listen/sleep cycles to conserve energy. The cycles of nodes influence the network performances such as energy efficiency, packet latency and throughput in WSNs. In this paper, an adaptive schedule medium access control (AS-MAC) for WSNs is presented. AS-MAC introduces the adaptation of the cycles in MAC layer to the data traffic. The effect of the protocol is that it can decrease the latency, improve the throughput and energy efficiency when traffic is dynamic. We also compare AS-MAC with S-MAC and CSMA-MPS through simulations and the results show it has better performances than the former protocols.

This paper presents a contention-based Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol, Synchronized Sensor Medium Access Control (SS-MAC), for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). To solve the high energy consumption problem in boundary nodes between virtual clusters in Sensor-MAC (S-MAC), SS-MAC introduces the global synchronization of schedules in WSNs. The novelty of our protocol is that it can improve the connectivity of WSNs compared with S-MAC. We illustrate the efficiency and scalability of the scheme via simulation

In this paper, the influence of correlated data from different sensors on the location of the sensors and the consumed energy of wireless sensor network are introduced, and the performance of a joint entropy encoding strategy which compresses the correlated data along routing is analyzed. During transmission, relay sensors jointly encode their own sampled data and the data received from upward sensors. The consumed energy of the network is minimized through optimally choosing the location of sensors. For the sake of prolonging network lifetime, a scheme to balance the consumed energy between different sensors is proposed, which combines the correlation between data and the amounts of data transmitted by different sensors, to make the transmitted energy consumed by different sensors tend to be uniform by adjusting the distance between sensors. The applications of the schemes in one-dimensional wireless sensor network are presented and the numerical results show that these schemes have excellent performance.

In a multi-service network in which multiple classes with different priorities and different QoS requirements exist, preemption is an efficient mechanism for bandwidth allocation and management. By considering preemption-related information in the path selection procedure, we can minimize rerouting and improve network stability. In this paper, we propose a preemption-aware bandwidth-constrained path selection algorithm for DiffServ-enabled MPLS networks. The basic idea is that the available resource reservation information of lower priority LSPs, i.e. the bandwidth to be preempted and the affected highest priority level, is introduced in the path selection. Simulations show that our proposed algorithm can achieve preemption minimization as well as load balancing, and efficiently improve overall network performance.

This paper introduces three hierarchical mobile IP schemes, i.e. hierarchical mobile IP (HMIP), dynamic HMIP, and distributed and dynamic HMIP to improve the handoff performance, and develops a model for cost analysis based on one-dimensional random walk of mobile host. Then the paper compares signaling transmission cost, packet delivery cost and total cost of the three schemes respectively, and discusses the effects of different home handoff thresholds and directional walk probabilities on these costs. Numerical results show that the DHMIP scheme has best performance among the three under small home handoff threshold.

The issue of TCP performance over wireless link and the related work are introduced. A new scheme is proposed to improve TCP performance over wireless link in the direction from mobile host to wired network. It deploys a TCP agent at the base station to monitor the segments related to the mobile host, and then triggers TCP fast retransmission on mobile host side by replicating and forwarding specific ACKs, which can effectively avoid timeout retransmission. Simulation results show that the new scheme has favorable performance.

The TCP performance issues in bandwidth asymmetric network are investigated. Some related works to improve TCP performance are introduced and analyzed. A scheme using SACK filtering to enhance the TCP performance in bandwidth asymmetric network is proposed. An advanced SACK filtering scheme is introduced, which can further improve TCP performance by decreasing the size of block information in SACK option. Simulation results show that the new schemes have better performance.

This paper introduces RSVP, MRSVP and the QoS guarantee mechanism in mobile IP by utilizing the MRSVP. Three HMRSVP schemes are described and compared in detail, especially the HMRSVP with pointer forwarding. A modified one is proposed. In this scheme, MH in a hierarchical region uses pointer forwarding scheme, which can utilize the feature of movement locality. When it moves into a new region, it is required to update the RSVP path and begin the new pointer forwarding process. Also, the feature of locality is discussed thoroughly. The modified scheme is modeled and analyzed in two different cases. The results show that it has better performance. Finally, future work is illustrated.

In this paper the mobile IP and its handoff issues are introduced. Three main factors that affect mobile IP's handoff performance, mobility detection, re-registration, interaction with higher layer protocols, are analyzed thoroughly. Some new schemes are proposed. A new option is proposed and is added into foreign agent advertisement message. The option contains the link layer identifiers of all the links managed by that foreign agent. Then mobile host can determine whether a mobile IP handoff is required or not soon after the link's layer handoff. So the mobile IP handoff can be accelerated and unnecessary handoffs can be avoided. When mobile host is the TCP sender, it is proposed to send all the unacknowledged segments soon after the handoff, so as to prevent TCP timeout retransmission; when mobile host is the TCP receiver, it sends several TCP SACKs to trigger the senders fast retransmission of lost segments. The implementations of the new proposals are also outlined. At last, all the new schemes are simulated and the results show that through these schemes, the performances of mobile IP handoff are improved significantly.

The mobile host's mobility has much influence on the implementation of multicast in Mobile IP. At first two basic schemes, i.e. bi-directional tunneling and remote subscription are introduced. Then two related schemes are introduced and analyzed. After that a new scheme is proposed. It introduces mobile multicast gateway (MMG) to manage mobile multicast. MMG can obtain the multicast packets by adding itself onto the multicast distribution tree, or through the tunnel from some mobile host's home network. This scheme can eliminate the "tunnel convergence" problem. According to different situations, MMG use multicast distribution tree in its region, or the tunnel to forward multicast packets to mobile host. The performance of each scheme is analyzed and the numerical results show that the new proposal has better performance.

The rate adaptation issue of rate adaptive services in mobile communication network is introduced, and especially its fairness and overhead problems are discussed in detail. Three current rate adaptation schemes are introduced and analyzed. A new scheme employs fixed rate upgrade/degrade ratios and adjusts the rate adaptation; it not only ensures the fairness but also limits the network overhead. The computer simulation results show that the new scheme has better performance.

Future mobile data networks will consist of several tiers, which overlap each other. We introduce two of the main technologies, GPRS network and IEEE 802.11 WLAN, which are likely to be widely deployed. We propose schemes to support mobility between these two networks. We also analyze the Mobile IP handoff between hybrid networks and propose our handoff scheme, which reduces handoff delay and packet loss, and prevents the ping-pong effect by utilizing a dwell timer and multi-tunnel technology.

It has been conjectured that in head-on collisions of neutron stars (NSs), the merged object would not collapse promptly even if the total mass is higher than the maximum stable mass of a cold NS. In this paper, we show that the reverse is true: even if the total mass is {\it less} than the maximum stable mass, the merged object can collapse promptly. We demonstrate this for the case of NSs with a realistic equation of state (the Lattimer-Swesty EOS) in head-on {\it and} near head-on collisions. We propose a ``Prompt Collapse Conjecture'' for a generic NS EOS for head on and near head-on collisions., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phy. Rev. D Rapid Comm

We discuss the Mobile IP handoff and analyze the performance of several existing Mobile IP movement detection algorithms in detail. We then propose our new algorithm, which decreases the handoff delay and improves the handoff performance of a mobile host by actively sending an agent solicitation message after link layer handoff. Computer simulation results prove that our algorithm can effectively improve the performance of TCP/UDP during Mobile IP handoffs.