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In Systemic Functional Linguistics, meanings in semantic stratum could be realized by congruent/premetaphorical, metaphorical, or demetaphorical/post-metaphorical expressions in lexico-grammatical stratum. This paper, evidenced from the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), explores the specific pathway from metaphorical expressions to post-metaphorical ones guided by principles of Context-first and AS IF and the principle of double functionality. The findings show that grammatical postmetaphorization is mainly realized by post-metaphor of ideation and that of modality. The former finds its expressions from common nouns to proper nouns (e.g. from security to Security), or from uncountable nouns to countable nouns (e.g. from security to securities), and the latter is evidenced by expressions shifting from explicit objective orientation to its explicit subjective counterpart (e.g. from it is possible that to it might be possible that), or by modal probability of I think type shifting from clausal initial position to clausal medial or final position (e.g. I think in the medial or final position of the clause).

Ionic liquid (IL)-modified UiO-66-NH2 composite was prepared and used as sorbent of dispersed solid-phase extraction (dSPE) for extracting trace benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) from complex environmental matrices. The IL in framework endowed the prepared material had electropositive characteristics, which can produce interaction with electron rich guest molecules, such as BUs. The high thermal and chemical stability of UiO-66-NH2/IL enabled it to be reused for 16 times without significant reduction in adsorption performance. Due to the multiple forces including π-π, hydrogen bonding, and fluorine-fluorine interaction, UiO-66-NH2/IL showed good adsorption performance, short adsorption time (20 s) and rapid desorption ability (60 s) for BUs. Under the optimal conditions, the method exhibited wide linear range (0.02–500 ng mL-1) with correlation coefficient (R2) not worse than 0.9928, high enrichment factor (252–300), and low detection limit (0.005–0.4 ng mL-1). The dispersed solid phase extraction coupling with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (dSPE-HPLC-DAD) was successfully used to detection of BUs in real environmental samples and satisfactory recoveries were obtained (80.5%±2.4–118%±3.2). The results indicated that UiO-66-NH2/IL composite can be a potential sorbent for the preconcentration of trace insecticides in environmental samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-quality canopy architecture is central to obtaining high crop yields. A field experiment was carried out at the Wuqiao Experimental Station from 2015 to 2019 under four irrigation schemes (W0, no irrigation after sowing; W1, 75 mm irrigation at jointing stage; W2, 75 mm irrigation at jointing and anthesis stages, respectively; W3, 75 mm irrigation at tillering, jointing and anthesis stages, respectively) to investigate the canopy structure, canopy apparent photosynthesis (CAP), canopy temperature (CT), yield and water use efficiency (WUE). The results showed that increasing irrigation times improved the leaf area index (LAI), non-leaf area index (NLAI) and light interception (LI) of the spike and total canopy but decreased the canopy temperature (CT) after anthesis. The CAP in the W3 treatment was consistently lower than that in the W1 treatment, suggesting lower effective utilization of light energy under the W3 treatment. Increasing irrigation times improved wheat yield, but the W2 treatment had no significant difference in yield compared to the W3 treatment. In addition, the W1 and W2 treatments had higher WUEs. The CT, organ temperature and LI were closely positively associated with each other, but they were all strongly negatively related to the yield. Overall, the W2 treatment was the best irrigation scheme for constructing a reasonable canopy architecture for winter wheat, obtaining more efficient water use and yield in the North China Plain (NCP). CT and organ temperature can be used as proxy parameters to estimate the canopy structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An innovative horizontal-arranged shear stud was proposed for prefabricated composite beams, in response to the engineering demand for accelerated precast decks construction on steel–concrete composite bridges. In order to verify the shear behavior of the studs, a push-out test was performed in which two groups of specimens were designed, and each group included three specimens. In addition, a finite element method based on the ABAQUS2020 software was adopted to analyze the influence factors of the prefabricated studs, which reveals the most influential factor, to provide a guide for optimum design. Therefore, 10 models were established, including one finite element model with the same parameters as the push-out test, and 9 models based on an orthogonal testing design. The results showed that, firstly, the prefabricated shear studs had longitudinal shear resistance, the same as conventional shear studs. Secondly, the ultimate load capacity, as well as the ductility of the prefabricated studs, was better than conventional studs. Thirdly, the modeling results were in good agreement with the push-out test results, which indicated the validity of the modeling method. Lastly, by analyzing the calculated results of the nine orthogonal models, it was found that the stud diameter was the most influential factor for the shear capacity, and the shear capacity was directly proportional to the stud diameter, while it was not proportional to the other factors. This study is evidence that the orthogonal testing design has a high efficiency in finite element modeling, which will provide a guide for the optimum design of prefabricated shear studs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacteria can be genetically engineered to act as therapeutic delivery vehicles in the treatment of tumors, killing cancer cells or activating the immune system. This is known as bacteria-mediated cancer therapy (BMCT). Tumor invasion, colonization and tumor regression are major biological events, which are directly associated with antitumor effects and are uncontrollable due to the influence of tumor microenvironments during the BMCT process. Here, we developed a genetic circuit for dynamically programming bacterial lifestyles (planktonic, biofilm or lysis), to precisely manipulate the process of bacterial adhesion, colonization and drug release in the BMCT process, via hierarchical modulation of the lighting power density of near-infrared (NIR) light. The deep tissue penetration of NIR offers us a modality for spatio-temporal and non-invasive control of bacterial genetic circuits in vivo. By combining computational modeling with a high-throughput characterization device, we optimized the genetic circuits in engineered bacteria to program the process of bacterial lifestyle transitions by altering the illumination scheme of NIR. Our results showed that programming intratumoral bacterial lifestyle transitions allows precise control of multiple key steps throughout the BMCT process and therapeutic efficacy can be greatly improved by controlling the localization and dosage of therapeutic agents via optimizing the illumination scheme. Programming intratumoral bacterial life style transitions allow precise control of multiple key steps throughout the bacteria-mediated cancer therapy process and therapeutic efficacy can be greatly improved by controlling the localization and dosage of therapeutic agents via optimizing the illumination scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English elemental ordering in a non-canonical word order incorporates preposing, postposing and elemental reversal. This paper intends to explore how these types of elemental ordering are distributed during the last two centuries by employing the Corpus of Historical American English or COHA. The findings demonstrate that preposing has been increasing apparently but still in its inceptive phase; postposing, subsuming existential there and presentational there, generally keeps plateauing with existential there dominating presentational there; and elemental reversal experiences a trend of gradual decreasing, which is attributed to the dominance in occurrences of passive with a by phrase construction over those of inversion. This research provides us with a corpus linguistic insight of exploring elemental ordering, which distinguishes itself from other researches focusing on information status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous polydivinylbenzene microspheres with high specific surface area were prepared by distillation–precipitation polymerization, and were used as the coating material in headspace solid phase microextraction for extracting polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Compared with the other reported sorbents, PDVB exhibits lower cost and higher extraction efficiency, and the enrichment factors can reach 5963–16 720. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sample pretreatment plays important role in the analysis and detection of trace pollutants in complex matrices, such as environmental and biological samples. The adsorption materials of sample pretreatment receive considerable attention, which has a significant effect on the sensitivity and selectivity of the analytical method. In this work, the porous hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) was utilized as a coating material of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) to extract and preconcentrate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) prior to separation and detection with GC-FID. Attributed to the multiple interactions including hydrophobicity, hydrogen bonding and strong π–π interaction, the h-BN coating showed excellent extraction performance for PAHs. Under the optimal conditions, the method showed the linear relationship in the range of 0.1–50 ng mL−1 for acenaphthene, 0.05–50 ng mL−1 for pyrene, and 0.02–50 ng mL−1 for fluorene, phenanthrene and anthracene with a correlation coefficient (R2) not lower than 0.9910. The enrichment factors were achieved between 1526 and 4398 for PAHs with h-BN as SPME fiber coating. The detection limits were obtained in the range of 0.004–0.033 ng mL−1, which corresponds to 0.08–0.66 ng g−1 for soil. The method was successfully applied to analysis of real soil samples. The recoveries were determined between 78.0 and 120.0% for two soil samples. The results showed that h-BN material provided a promising alternative in sample pretreatment and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. R. Martin is a leading scholar who has greatly developed the theoretical framework of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) over the past four decades. Some of these contributions, such as the systems of discourse semantics, the appraisal framework and genre relations have been widely applied in various areas of linguistic studies and language education. The educational linguistic model he and his colleagues have cultivated and developed has attracted the attention of more and more educators from different disciplines around the globe. In this interview, he firstly elaborates on the significance of the concepts of discourse semantics, grammatical metaphor and genre. Then he continues with applications of genre theory in secondary school education, language maintenance, the relation and collaboration between Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and SFL, and how the two paradigms complement each other. Finally, he introduces some of his recent collaborations with grammarians of different languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-linguistic studies on co-production of syntactic units and compound sentence formats have found that the location of predicates affects the projectability of the language, in that languages like English allow early projections while languages like Japanese later projections. In Mandarin Chinese, we found that syntactic parallelism often occurs before co-constructions, impacting the projectability of syntactic structures in one way or another. Based on the theories of dialogic syntax (Du Bois 2007, 2014) and the principles of interactional linguistics, this study explores the relationship between syntactic parallelism and co-production of syntactic structures across turns. The co-production of four syntactic and sentential structures were closely examined, namely, Copula V + Complement, (be) Adjectival Predicate, the conditional IF X THEN Y construction (如果 ruguo...... 就/会 jiu/hui......), and compound sentences with to-clause of purpose. Also observed is the emergent new sequence as interactionally relevant syntax. Upon inspection, we found that turn units with parallel syntactic structures may help narrow down the category of the projected final component, thus inspiring the second speaker to come in early and jointly complete the syntax-in-progress. Apart from co-producing syntax-in-progress, co-produced structures can also develop into interactionally relevant sequences with independent internal structures, thereby executing new social actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water stress is a primary trigger for reducing grain number per spike in wheat during the reproductive period. However, under stress conditions, the responses of plant organs and the interactions between them at the molecular and physiological levels remain unclear. In this study, when water stress occurred at the young microspore stage, RNA-seq data indicated that the spike had 970 differentially expressed genes, while the stem, comprising the two internodes below the spike (TIS), had 382. Abscisic acid (ABA) signal transduction genes were down-regulated by water stress in both these tissues, although to a greater extent in the TIS than in the spike. A reduction in sucrose was observed, and was accompanied by increases in cell wall invertase (CWIN) and sucrose:sucrose 1-fructosyl-transferase (1-SST) activities. Hexose and fructan were increased in the TIS but decreased in the spike. ABA was increased in the spike and TIS, and showed significant positive correlation with CWIN and 1-SST activities in the TIS. Overall, our results suggest that water stress induces the conversion of sucrose to hexose by CWIN, and to fructan by 1-SST, due to increased down-regulation of ABA signal transduction related-genes in the TIS; this leads to deficient sucrose supply to the spike and a decrease in grain number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tumor mutational burden (TMB) has been reported as a predictive marker of the response to immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) therapy in previous melanoma clinical trials. However, the TMB alone is not sufficient to accurately predict immunotherapy benefit. Additional biomarkers are needed for better stratification of immunotherapy-sensitive patients. In the present study, mutation data and survival information of patients with melanoma were collected from several immunotherapy studies, and tumor heterogeneity was estimated using mutant-allele tumor heterogeneity (MATH). The benefit score was defined as the ratio between the TMB and tumor heterogeneity, and optimal critical values were selected to group patients and evaluate their response to ICI treatment. The benefit score significantly improved the performance of stratifying the overall survival of patients compared with the TMB alone as a predictor in two independent cohorts (p = 0.0068 vs. p = 0.1 and p = 0.045 vs. p = 0.13), in which patients were treated with Ipilimumab and Nivolumab, respectively. In another cohort of patients with melanoma receiving mixed ICI treatment, the benefit score was also positively associated with higher overall survival (p = 0.022) and outperformed the TMB alone, with a significance of p = 0.089. The benefit score showed a positive correlation with clonal TMB, a reported immunotherapy marker, and exceeded it in immunotherapy response prediction. Besides, a high benefit score was found to be associated with higher proportions of natural killer cells, lower proportions of M2 macrophages and elevated CD8 T cells, all of which favor ICI therapy. In summary, tumor heterogeneity combined with the TMB showed superior efficacy in predicting the response to ICI therapy. This might further help to delineate the mechanisms of immunotherapy in patients with melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is an important linguistic tradition which M.A.K. Halliday originated while studying Chinese at Peking University in the late 1940 s. In 1995, the 22nd International Congress on Systemic Functional Linguistics was held at Peking University, during which Professor M.A.K. Halliday was awarded the title of Peking University Honorary Professor. They were welcomed at the Opening Ceremony by Professor Qi Ning, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, Peking University, and by Professor Yan Fang of Tsinghua University. [Extracted from the article]

This paper focuses on Marked Theme in spoken Chinese. Previous studies have explored the functions of Marked Themes within clauses, but not many researchers have observed this phenomenon from a discourse semantics perspective. Combining the framework of discourse semantics with the use of corpus study, this paper first explores the occurrence of such structures in conversations and then examines their discourse functions. Data from the corpus show that, in line with findings from corpus studies of written texts, the occurrence of Marked Themes is quite low. The inspection of their discourse functions leads to the following preliminary findings: (1) in sequences of activities, Marked Themes often function as lexical cohesive devices to build up taxonomical relations across utterances; (2) from the view point of identification, Marked Themes function as anaphoric devices to help keep track of the Participants in question; (3) from the viewpoint of periodicity, while most Marked Themes convey given information, especially contrastive information, a considerable amount of Marked Themes function as HyperTheme to start new phases of discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selecting more water‐efficient wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties that are suited to no seasonal irrigation is an important way to improve water use efficiency (WUE) in the North China Plain (NCP). The goal of this study was to assess the yield and WUE of wheat, maize (Zea mays L.), and rotation, and to determine the traits of high‐WUE wheat varieties and clarify the mechanism for increasing WUE. Experiments were conducted during the 2012–2016 seasons using 10 common winter wheat varieties under no seasonal irrigation (W0) or two irrigation events (W2, irrigation at jointing and anthesis). No seasonal irrigation treatment decreased wheat and rotation yield, and improved maize yield and WUE of maize and rotation. No seasonal irrigation treatment decreased 150‐mm irrigation amount, reduced soil water content in 0–2‐m soil depth at wheat maturity and 1–2‐m depth after maize harvest, and extended the maize grain filling stage. Compared with the wheat genotype with the lowest WUE ('Nongda 211'), under W0 condition, the genotype with the highest WUE, 'Nongda 5133,' could improve rotation yield and WUE by 10.7 and 10.9%, respectively. The WUE of wheat had a strong positive association with yield across the genotypes. High‐WUE varieties had a higher leaf area index at anthesis and higher late‐season photosynthesis rate and/or delayed canopy senescence under W0. This study indicated that W0 in wheat growing season could improve maize yield, narrow the rotation yield gap with W2 treatment, and improve wheat and rotation WUE by combining with high‐WUE wheat varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The present study aimed to improve the performance of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) by using an intermittent connection period without power output. Connecting two MFCs in parallel improved the voltage output of both MFCs until the voltage stabilized. Electric energy was accumulated in two MFCs containing heavy metal ions copper, zinc, and cadmium as electron acceptors by connection in parallel for several hours. The system was then switched to discharge mode with single MFCs with a 1000-Ω resistor connected between anode and cathode. This method successfully achieved highly efficient removal of heavy metal ions. Even when the anolyte was run in sequencing batch mode, the insufficient voltage and power needed to recover heavy metals from the cathode of MFCs can be complemented by the developed method. The average removal ratio of heavy metal ions in sequencing batch mode was 67 % after 10 h. When the discharge time was 20 h, the removal ratios of zinc, copper, and cadmium were 91.5, 86.7, and 83.57 %, respectively; the average removal ratio of these ions after 20 h was only 52.1 % for the control group. Therefore, the average removal efficiency of heavy metal ions increased by 1.75 times using the electrons stored from the bacteria under the open-circuit conditions in parallel mode. Electrochemical impedance data showed that the anode had lower solution resistance and polarization resistance in the parallel stage than as a single MFC, and capacitance increased with the length of time in parallel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stiffening girder of self-anchored suspension bridge (SSB) is subjected to huge axial force because the main cable is directly anchored on the end of the stiffening girder. To obtain a simple model and accurately understand the mechanical behavior of the whole structure in preliminary design, this paper proposed an analytical calculation method considering the combined effects of the main cable-suspender-stiffening girder. On the basis of the deflection theory of the stiffening girder, the relation between the girder shape and the suspender force was explored. The relation between the main cable end force (MCEF) and the suspender force was derived through segmental catenary theory, and iteration method was further improved to avoid the divergence condition. Finally the solution was obtained through satisfying the compatibility condition. The proposed method does not need to iterate manually and can save calculation time. Examples are introduced to verify the applicability of this method, with the result that this method considers the combined effects of the main cable-suspender-stiffening girder, and the finished bridge state satisfies the minimum strain energy of the stiffening girder. Results also indicate that this method has fast convergence speed and high precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive nitrogen (N) application rates and serious over-exploitation of groundwater under farmer practice threatens the sustainable use of resources in the North China Plain (NCP). Crop canopy structure affects light distribution between leaves, which is important to determine crop growth. A field experiment conducted from October 2016 to June 2019 in the NCP was designed to examine whether optimum water and nitrogen management could optimize canopy characteristics to improve yield and resource use efficiency. Field treatments included: (1) an example of local farming practices, which include the addition of 330 kg N ha−1 and irrigated twice (FP), (2) a reduced N rate of 270 kg N ha−1 and irrigated twice (T1), (3) a reduced rate of N rate of 210 kg N ha−1 and irrigated once (T2), and (4) no N applied (0 kg N ha−1) and irrigated once (T3). Results showed that the highest yield was in T1 treatment during 3 years' winter wheat growing seasons. Water use efficiency (WUE), N use efficiency (NUtE), and N partial factor productivity (PFPN) were significantly higher in T2 treatment than in FP, and the three-year average yield was 9.4% higher than that at FP. Optimum crop management practice (T1 and T2) improved canopy structure characteristics, with less relative photosynthetically active photon flux density (PPFD) penetrated of canopy and higher population uniformity as well as leaf area index, to coordinate the distribution of light within the canopy and maximize canopy light interception, resulting in higher yield and resource use efficiency. Leaf area index (LAI) and specific leaf area (SLA) were closely correlated with grain yield and WUE, while PPFD penetrated of canopy was negatively and significantly correlated with grain yield and WUE. The results indicate that canopy structure characteristics, especially PPFD and population uniformity are good indicators of yield and resource use efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Contribution of spikes photosynthesis to grain yield of wheat was 20%. • No current models explicitly consider contribution of spike photosynthesis to grain. • Simulation results of excluding & including spike contributions are investigated. • APSIM overestimated leaf contribution to compensate neglection of spike contribution. • Most current models may simulate wheat yield correctly partly for the wrong reasons. Process-based crop models are increasingly used to simulate Genotype by Environment by Management interactions (GxExM), and to evaluate importance of physiological traits to assist in breeding selections. This requires the model to correctly simulate the key physiological processes that determine grain yield. Although spike photosynthesis contributes to grain yield of wheat, it has not been explicitly simulated in most crop models. Here we present experimental data from China and Mexico, derived from estimates of spike contributions to grain yield of wheat, and compared them with previous results. We then used the APSIM model to investigate the consequences of excluding and including spike contributions on simulation results, against the data from China consisting of 4 irrigation and plant density treatments. Our results show that the contribution of spikes photosynthesis to grain yield ranged from 9.8% to 39.0% with an average of 20.1%, consistent with results from previous studies. However, despite the omission of the contribution from spike photosynthesis to grain yield, APSIM captured the dynamics of LAI and biomass and grain yield with acceptable accuracy. Across the treatments, the APSIM (version 7.9) explained >78% of the variation in yield (RMSE = 737 kg ha-1) and biomass (RMSE = 1438 kg ha-1) compared with the experimental data. This highlight the fact that APSIM performed well in simulating yield partly for the wrong reasons. Adding spike contribution to APSIM improved the simulations of biomass and yield, particularly under high yield level. More detailed analysis revealed that APSIM overestimated leaf contribution to compensate neglection of spike contribution, explained by the overestimation of leave biomass and underestimation of stem biomass. While APSIM captured the trend of changes in pre-anthesis remobilization contribution to grain yield, it also underestimated this contribution across treatments. Future improvements should include the inclusion of spike photosynthesis contribution with correct spike light interception and RUE, and improved modelling of biomass partitioning to different organs and the remobilization of biomass to grain from pre-anthesis growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BRCA1-interacting protein 1 (BRIP1), a DNA-dependent ATPase and a DNA helicase, is critical for BRCA-associated DNA damage repair functions and may be associated with the tumourigenesis and aggressiveness of various cancers. Here, we constructed a BRIP1 recombinant plasmid, overexpressed it in a cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) and found that ectopic expression of BRIP1 could remarkably enhance the antitumor activity of cisplatin, as demonstrated by decreased cell viability, colony formation and tumour xenografts' weight. Moreover, BRIP1 promoted cisplatin-mediated cell apoptosis and suppressed tumour angiogenesis. We also found that the synergistic inhibition effect of BRIP1 might be partially attributed to attenuation of Rac1 GTPase activation and that Rac1 GTPase re-activation could reverse the sensitizing effect induced by BRIP1. Our study suggested that up-regulation of BRIP1 could enhance chemosensitivity of HeLa cells to cisplatin through inhibiting Rac1 GTPase activation, and it provides a new insight into the essential role of BRIP1 in cervical cancer chemotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Predicting micronutrients in wheat kernel and flour using hyperspectral imaging. • The prediction of micronutrients was superior based on the kernel spectra compared to the use of flour spectra. • The Ca, Mg, Mo and Zn nutrients in wheat kernel/flour were predicted with a high credibility. Micronutrients are the key factors to evaluate the nutritional quality of wheat. However, measuring micronutrients is time-consuming and expensive. In this study, the potential of hyperspectral imaging for predicting wheat micronutrient content was investigated. The spectral reflectance of wheat kernels and flour was acquired in the visible and near-infrared range (VIS-NIR, 375–1050 nm). Afterwards, wheat micronutrient contents were measured and their associations with the spectra were modeled. Results showed that the models based on the spectral reflectance of wheat kernel achieved good predictions for Ca, Mg, Mo and Zn (r2 > 0.70). The models based on the spectra reflectance of wheat flour showed good predictive capabilities for Mg, Mo and Zn (r2 > 0.60). The prediction accuracy was higher for wheat kernels than for the flour. This study showed the feasibility of hyperspectral imaging as a non-invasive, non-destructive tool to predict micronutrients of wheat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]