Search

Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is characterized by recurrent upper airway disturbances during sleep leading to episodes of hypopnea or apnea, followed by hypoxemia and subsequent reoxygenation. It is believed that this reoxygenation/reperfusion stage leads to oxidative stress, which then leads to inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. The treatments of patient with OSAHS include surgical and non-surgical therapies with various side effects and common complaints. Therefore, it is important to develop a new, safe, and effective therapeutic treatment. As a small-molecule multifunctional protein, thioredoxin (TRX) has antioxidant and redox regulatory functions at the active site Cys-Gly-Pro. TRX prevents inflammation by suppressing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines rather than suppressing the immune response.We review the papers on the pathophysiological process of OSAHS and the antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of TRX.TRX may play a role in OSAHS by scavenging ROS, blocking the production of inflammatory cytokines, inhibiting the migration and activation of neutrophils, and controlling the activation of ROS-dependent inflammatory signals by regulating the redox state of intracellular target particles. Furthermore, TRX regulates the synthesis, stability, and activity of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). TRX also has an inhibitory effect on endoplasmic reticulum- and mitochondria-induced apoptosis by regulating the expression of BAX, BCL2, p53, and ASK1.Understanding the function of TRX may be useful for the treatment of OSAHS.

BackgroundOsteoporosis has already been a growing health concern worldwide. The influence of living area, lifestyle, socioeconomic, and medical conditions on the occurrence of osteoporosis in the middle-aged and elderly people in China has not been fully addressed.MethodsThe study was a multicenter cross-sectional study on the middle-aged and elderly permanent residents, which gathered information of 22,081 residents from June 2015 to August 2021 in seven representative regions of China. The bone mineral density of lumbar vertebrae and hip were determined using the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry densitometer instruments. Serum levels of bone metabolism markers were also measured. Information about education, smoking, and chronic diseases were also collected through face-to-face interviews. Age-standardized prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of osteopenia and osteoporosis by various criteria were estimated by subgroups and overall based on the data of China 2010 census. The relationships between the osteoporosis or osteopenia and sociodemographic variables or other factors were examined using univariate linear models and multivariable multinomial logit analyses.ResultsAfter screening, 19,848 participants (90%) were enrolled for the final analysis. The age-standardized prevalence of osteoporosis was estimated to be 33.49%(95%CI, 32.80–34.18%) in the middle-aged and elderly Chinese permanent residents, for men and women was 20.73% (95% CI, 19.58–21.87%) and 38.05% (95% CI, 37.22–38.89%), respectively. The serum concentrations of bone metabolic markers, and calcium and phosphorus metabolism were influenced by age, body mass index (BMI), gender, education level, regions, and bone mass status. Women, aged 60 or above, BMI lower than 18.5 kg/m2, low education level including middle school, primary school and no formal education as well as current regular smoking, a history of fracture were all significantly associated with a higher risk of osteoporosis and osteopenia in the middle-aged and elderly people.ConclusionsThis study revealed dramatic regional differences in osteoporosis prevalence in China, and female, aged 60 or older, low BMI, low education level, current regular smoking, and a history of fracture were associated with a high risk of osteoporosis. More prevention and treatment resources should be invested into particular population exposed to these risk factors.

Background: In neck pain treatment, many therapies are focused on etiology, while it is well-known that placebo analgesia is also present in these therapies. The specific efficacy for etiology may be underestimated by ignoring their actual placebo effect. In this study, a logistic regression analysis is used to explore the risk factors causing different placebo responses in patients with neck pain among two RCTs. The probability of the placebo effect is predicted based on these risk factors.Methods: Trial A and Trial B were similarly designed, randomized, double-/single-blind, placebo-controlled trials in patients treating neck pain with Qishe pill or Shi-style manipulation. Both studies set a placebo pill twice a day or traction for every other day as control. For further analyses on the placebo effect in neck pain management, logistic regression was used to assess subgroup-placebo interactions. The odds ratio assessed a significant influence on the placebo effect.Results: In this pooled analysis, the total number of patients recruited for these two studies was 284, of which 162 patients received placebo treatment (placebo drug or traction for every other day). No statistically significant differences are found at baseline between the participants with placebo effect and non-placebo effect in the gender, age, and disease duration except in VAS and NDI at the initial time. There are numerically more patients with placebo effect in the shorter disease duration subgroup (< 4 months [76%]), higher initial VAS subgroup (>60 mm [90%]), and worse initial NDI subgroup (>24 [72%]) compared with the gender and age subgroup. An ROC curve is established to assess the model-data fit, which shows an area under the curve of 0.755 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.677–0.830. Participants who show placebo effect after 2 weeks have significantly lower VAS scores after 4 weeks, while there is no significant difference in NDI improvement between the two groups after 4 weeks.Conclusion: Neck pain patients with shorter disease duration are more likely to overscore their pain severity, because of their less experience in pain perception, tolerance, and analgesia expectation.

In this paper, three CrNiV series low-alloy steel with different C contents were fabricated by laser melting deposition (LMD) technique. Subsequently, the formability, microstructure and properties of LMD CxCrNiV low-alloy steel were evaluated. The results are as follows: with the increase in C content, the formability of low-alloy steel has decreased. All the samples were mainly composed of α-Fe (martensite) phase, and carbides were found to be dispersively distributed in the microstructure. As the C content increased, the martensite lath was remarkably refined, and the average grain size decreased from 2.76 to 2.33 μm. The tensile strength of the deposited samples increased by 21.58%, and the yield strength increased by 44.68%. As the formability of the deposited sample decreased, the elongation decreased by 35.93%. The average microhardness of deposited samples increased by 26.76%. When the content of C is higher, abrasion-resistant framework can be formed between carbides, and the peeling phenomenon during wear will be greatly reduced, the wear resistance is improved by 86.78%.

The effect of tempering (673 K for 30 min) on the microstructure and tensile properties of laser melt-deposited (LMD) 12CrNi2 low-alloy steel is studied. The results show that LMD 12CrNi2 mainly consists of the ferrite and some Cr23C6 carbides. Characterization of the Schmid factor near the fracture surface shows that after tempering, the slip system with the largest Schmid factor is still {123} , but the Schmid factor of {100} and {112} slip systems increases. Tempering increases the elongation from 6.97 to 11.49% and the tensile strength from 849 to 951 MPa. Tempering increases the average distribution of misorientation between crystals after tensile test, which improves the average dislocation density and promotes strengthening.

The study investigated novel wear and corrosion resistance of stainless steel and 316 stainless steel samples which were successfully prepared by laser melting deposition. Phase composition, microstructure, microhardness, wear resistance, and electrochemical corrosion resistance were studied. The experimental results showed that novel stainless steel was mainly composed of a-Fe and a few carbide phase (Cr, Fe)7C3. The microhardness of novel stainless steel was about 2.7 times greater than 316 stainless steel. Meanwhile, the specific wear rate of novel stainless steel and 316 stainless steel was 2.63 × 10-5 mm3/N m and 1.63 × 10-4 mm3/N m, respectively. The wear volume of 316 stainless steel was 6.19 times greater than novel stainless steel. The corrosion current and the corrosion potential of novel stainless steel and 316 stainless steel were 1.02 × 10-7 A/cm2 and 1.5 × 10-7 A/cm2, and -138.8 mV, -135.9 mV, respectively, in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. Therefore, both microhardness and wear resistance of novel stainless steel were greatly improved, with high corrosion resistance.

Measuring the water content of slopes is essential because the distribution and migration of water within slopes are important factors of landslide instability. In this study, the relationship between the resistivity, volumetric temperature water content and temperature of landslide soil was modelled. The model was validated by indoor landslide model tests and field tests in Baijiabao to investigate the effect of reservoir water levels on the water content of landslide slopes. Test results showed that, as the reservoir levels rose, the water content of the landslide soil increased. Moreover, a good correspondence between the measured results and the inversion results based on the resistivity data was obtained by using the high-density electrical method in combination with the developed model of the relationship between resistivity, volumetric water content and temperature, indicating that the proposed method is reliable and practicable in hydrodynamic landslide monitoring.

Large-scale NaA zeolite membranes in a length of 1000 mm were successfully synthesized for the first time on macroporous tubular stainless steel (MTSS) supports in this work. The influencing factors for membrane synthesis, such as pre-treatment, synthesis time, synthesis temperature, Na2O/SiO2 ratio, synthesis reproducibility, membrane stability and support reusability, were investigated systematically. The experimental results revealed that the high-flux NaA membranes prepared on the reusable MTSS supports exhibits a high total flux of 8.28 kg m−2 h−1 and a separation factor of 11,000 for the dehydration of a 90 wt% ethanol solution through pervaporation. The MTSS tubes can be used for at least 8 synthesis-rinse-synthesis circles, and the as-synthesized membranes still maintain high competitive pervaporation performance. Additionally, 93 pieces of membrane samples were assembled in an industrial plant that can produce approximate 99.8 wt% ethanol from 93 wt% ethanol mixtures with a product flow rate of about 60 kg h−1. Importantly, the membrane showed a high stability for running over a whole month, demonstrating that the MTSS-supported membranes have reliable stability for industrial applications.

Three various 12CrNi2 alloy steels were successfully fabricated on 35CrMo alloy steel by laser melting deposition with the aim of investigating the effect of powder oxygen content on formability of...

Additional file 4. Uncropped Blots. Uncropped images for all immunoblots in figures and additional file figures.

Additional file 1: Figure S1. EVT is a general process for integral vacuolar membrane proteins. Figure S2. Testing the potential role of Atg proteins in EVT. Figure S3. EVT is distinct from PMN and VID. Figure S4. EVT does not require the VTC complex and the EGO complex. Figure S5. EVT is distinct from NPC-dependent lipophagy. Figure S6. The role of ESCRT proteins in EVT. Figure S7. Hfl1 interacts and functions together with Atg8. Figure S8. Relationship between Hfl1 and Atg8.

Additional file 2: Table S1. Plasmids Set I. Table S2. Plasmids Set II. Table S3. Plasmids Set III. Table S4. Primers for gene knockout and tagging. Table S5. Strains used in this study.

Supplemental material, supplementary_material for Structural revision and pharmacological activity of hemslecin C by Kun Yu, Xinmei Yang, Ying Li, Xue Cui, Bo Liu and Qingqiang Yao in Journal of Chemical Research

SPIRIT 2013 checklist: Recommended items to address in a clinical trial protocol and related documents*. (DOC 136 kb)

In this study, microstructural features of 24CrNiMo low alloy steel fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) and laser melting deposition (LMD) were characterized and compared using advanced electron microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction techniques. The results showed that the microstructures with different microstructure types, crystallographic orientations, grain boundaries, grain sizes, dislocations distributions and slip capabilities were observed due to rather different thermal histories between SLM and LMD processes. Such differences in the microstructure can definitely lead to different mechanical properties. This work can provide a reference for the process choice based on practical industrial applications.

Grid harmonics generated additional loss in the transformer, which would lead the transformer winding to overheat. The influence of harmonics on the temperature field of transformer was observed by considering harmonic loss in the transformer flow-heat coupling calculation. This paper took the hysteresis loss, eddy current loss and winding harmonic loss under the influence of harmonics into consideration. The transformer loss calculation formula was derived. Therefore, the temperature distribution of transformer under harmonic condition was obtained through flow-thermal coupling calculation. The hot spot temperature was 73.4°C, which was within safe range. The calculation results of the fluid field showed that the asymmetric structure of the transformer lead to the asymmetry of the heat dissipation path of the oil flow, which brought about the asymmetry of the final temperature distribution result. This paper improved the flow-thermal coupling calculation method because of considering harmonic loss, which provided a reference for improving the calculation accuracy in running transformer.

SPIRIT 2013 checklist: Recommended items to address in a clinical trial protocol and related documents*. (DOC 136 kb)

In this work, a quasi-continuous ratio gradient alloy steel with a 24CrNiMo matrix for high-speed railway brake discs is prepared by selective laser melting (SLM). The composition of sample is x% 24CrNiMo + (1-x)% wear-resistant stainless steel (x is 100, 65, 35 and 0). The relationship between the microstructure and wear resistance of the samples is thoroughly investigated by electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) and friction-wear tester. The results show that the grains of samples prepared by SLM can be roughly divided into three types, which correspond to different wear mechanisms according to their growth characteristics. When x is 0, the sample has the finest grains, the smallest Schmidt factor value, the maximum content of low-angle grain boundaries and strengthening phase, corresponding to the optimum wear rate and coefficient of friction (COF) of 7.46 × 10−5 mm3/N m and 0.31, respectively and the wear rate is about 34.8% of the matrix. A micro-wear mechanism analysis model is established to display the micro wear process of SLM samples.

24CrNiMo low alloy steels were fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM), aiming at investigating the effect of volumetric energy density (η) on the densification behavior and microstructural evolution, and then establishing a rational densification-microstructure-microhardness relationship of as-built samples. The results showed that the densification level of the as-built samples was significantly improved with increasing the η, due to the inhibition of balling effects and internal pores. As-built samples mainly exhibited α-Fe (M) and Fe3C, and the diffraction angles of the main phase α-Fe (M) peaks slightly shifted to the left in comparison with their standard locations due to the lattice distortion. The microstructure of the as-built samples mainly composed of high-containing martensite (M) and low-containing lower bainite (LB), resulting from the rapid solidification and the heat accumulation. As the η increased, the size and number of LB gradually increased owing to the relatively decrease of cooling rate. EBSD maps depicted that the grain size of the as-built samples increased with the increase of η. The microhardness of the as-built samples exhibited an upward trend with the η increasing, implying that compared to the grain size, the internal defects played a dominant role in determining the hardness. The solid solution strengthening, dislocation strengthening and precipitate strengthening resulting from M/LB duplex microstructure resulted in the achieved high hardness, under the premise of ensuring relative density.

Query expansion technology is a common method to solve the semantic deviation problem between questions and answers in the question answering system. In medical question answering field, the current semantic-based query expansion method has the following two shortcomings. (1) In the stage of obtaining candidate extended terms, only the medical entity’s concept in the query is used, but the medical entity’s association between questions and answers is ignored (2) During the extended terms filtering stage, the interference of negative medical entities to the mutual information is ignored. Given the above-mentioned deficiencies, this paper proposes a semantic query expansion method based on entity association in medical question answering. This method first combines the query intent with the inference association between medical entities to obtain candidate extended terms from the medical knowledge graph. Then filter candidate extended terms using the selection method based on negative medical entity recognition and mutual information and thus get the final extended terms according to the co-occurrence association between medical entities. Experimental results show that our proposed method outperforms the query expansion method based on the thesaurus which commonly used in the current medical question and answering system.

In this study, the impact of stress-relief heat treatment on the microstructure and fatigue property of a laser melting deposited (LMD) 12CrNi2 low alloy steel was analyzed. Microstructural evolution of processed LMD 12CrNi2 steel by heat treatment was studied using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), aiming to establish a rational microstructure-fatigue property relationship. The results showed that the main phase of the samples before and after heat treatment was α-Fe phase, whereas the lattice parameter slightly decreased after annealing, as a result of stress relief and carbide formation in the heat-treated samples. Meanwhile, the increase of the hard and diffusely distributed carbides inside the matrix was the main contributor for the higher material strength. Based on the EBSD analysis, the heat treatment decreased grain boundary misorientation leading to a corresponding reduction in the dislocation density, and increased the content of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) promoting the toughness of the material. Furthermore, Schmid factor results revealed that the heat-treated samples exhibited a relatively high ductility resulting from the activation for more slip systems during the cyclic deformation. The stress-relief heat treatment significantly improved the fatigue performance of samples, which was attributed to the enhanced strength and ductility owing to the related microstructure change and the relief of residual stresses.

Laser additive manufactured (LAM) components usually have non-equilibrium microstructures which leads to their high discreteness. The specimens were deposited in argon atmosphere and subsequent heat treatment are recommended for LAM components to achieve homogenous microstructures. In this paper, four different heat treatment procedures were designed, the microstructures evolution and mechanical properties of 12CrNi2V low alloy steel prepared by laser melting deposition (LMD) after different heat treatment were thoroughly studied. According to the EBSD analysis, the types and quantities of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) in the tempered specimens were significantly higher than deposited specimen. The residual austenite (RA) content in the tempered specimen was about 280% higher than deposited specimen. The composition segregation and orientation gradient in the tempered specimens were significantly reduced, and the Schmidt factor value increased. The results of the experiment showed that when the tempering temperature was 620 °C, the specimens had the highest micro-hardness (383 HV) and tensile properties (966 MPa, 14.37%), and its elongation was about 150% higher than deposited specimen. This study provided an experimental and theoretical basis for the development of the subsequent heat treatment process for low alloy steel laser additive manufacturing.

In this paper, 24CrNiMo alloy steel samples under different process parameters were fabricated by selective laser melting technology with an orthogonal experiment in argon atmosphere. The results under the present experimental conditions showed that the formability of 24CrNiMo alloy steel samples was improved significantly as the laser energy density increased in a proper range. The most dense sample was selected for further observation. It was found that the sample was composed of quenched martensite laths, tempered martensite laths and lower bainite with upper bainite ferrite along the building direction. Through further transmission electron microscopy observation, different types of precipitated phases were also found. Electron backscatter diffraction analysis showed that the crystals in the manufacturing process were isotropic with no preferred crystallographic orientation, and the grain size were smaller than 0.5 μm. The distribution of grain boundaries indicated that large proportion of low-grain boundaries occupied the sample, which elevated the grain boundary strengthening effect.

In this research, 12CrNi2 low alloy steel was successfully prepared by laser melting deposition (LMD). The mechanisms driving high cycle fatigue fracture of the as-built LMD 12CrNi2 low alloy steel were investigated and a concurrent process-microstructure-property relationship was established through microstructural analysis. The results showed that the crystal structures of the as-built LMD 12CrNi2 steel mainly consisted of the ferrite and a small amount of Cr23C6 carbides. No preferred texture was observed as a result of the complicated heat flux direction during fabrication. Based on the examination of the fracture surface, fatigue cracks of the as-built LMD 12CrNi2 steel initiated from subsurface defects for all the cases. Crack propagation zones showed a mixed mode of transgranular and intergranular fracture in a brittle manner, whereas the final fracture zones displayed dimples typical of ductile fracture. The kernel average misorientation (KAM) map indicated that the strain localization predominantly occurred at the grain boundaries and slightly appeared at the interior of the ferrite grains. Schmid factor distribution results implied that fatigue cracks originated from grains with {123} slip system due to the prior activation of {123} slip system.

SPIRIT 2013 checklist: Recommended items to address in a clinical trial protocol and related documents. (PDF 284 kb)

A series of nickel complexes LNiCl2 (C1–C16), where L represents 2-benzoimidazol-8-alkylquinoline and its derivatives, were prepared as potential catalysts for the oligomerization of ethylene. The molecular structure of a representative complex C2·CH3CH2OH was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Upon treatment with diethylaluminium chloride (Et2AlCl), all nickel complex pre-catalysts exhibited good activities in the oligomerization of ethylene. Furthermore, in the presence of methylaluminoxane (MAO), the nickel pre-catalysts were suitable for vinyl polymerization of norbornene.

The Stability of SG water level plays an important role in the safety of nuclear power plants, but tuned the parameter of water level PID controller is hard. Proposed a novel algorithm, KIPSO, which tuning PID controller parameters. Determine the cluster centre through K-means value cluster algorithm, and take the cluster territory as the characteristic value of vaccine set, enhance the vaccine multiplicity. Updated vaccine extraction by self-adaptive method, improved the convergence and adaptability. Analyzed the algorithm robustness in detail, and gave the rule which the immunity selection parameter. The simulation results shows: compares with the PID controller whose parameters are tuned by ZN method, KIPSO have a smaller overshoot, a better stability, and a shorter adjustment time. The simulation results show that the proposed method is effective for tuning PID parameters.

Objective: To explore the clinical efficacy of the use of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) augmentation of a cannulated and fenestrated pedicle screwfixation for the treatment of lumbar degenerative disease accompanied withosteoporosis. Methods: Thirty-one patients of lumbar degenerative disease accompanied with osteoporosisfrom Jun 2008 to Jan 2013 were selected .They were 11 males and 20 females withaverage age of 73. 5 years including lumbar degenerative stenosis 14 cases，lumbar intervertebral discherniation combined with segmental instability 9 cases，lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis 6 cases，andlumbar degenerative scoliosis 2 cases. The patients were treated with lumbar canal decompression, fusion and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) augmentation of a cannulated and fenestrated pedicle screw fixationaccording to their clinicalfeature and imaging. Results: All cases were followed up for 40 months (range,36-48months). No screw breakage, rod breakage, screw extraction, loosening, pseudoarticulation formation, or incision infection wasfound.The postoperative VAS score wasremarkably lower than preoperative score (P < 0.05). The JOAscore were improved significantly (P < 0.05). Conclusion: For patients suffering from lumbar degenerative disease accompanied with osteoporosis，PMMA augmentation of a cannulated and fenestrated pedicle screwfixation was helpful for increasing the stabilization of screw and preventing from loosen and dislocation of the screws，therefore beneficial for improvement and maintenance of clinical efficacy. Key word: Osteoporosis; cannulated and fenestrated pedicle screw; PMMA; Lumbar degenerative disease

This article briefly introduces the iron ore grinding classification process and analyzes the distribution of mining energy consumption. To realize the energy conservation of the mill by using genetic BP neural network, we make MATLAB simulation test. It shows feasibility and superiority of the control scheme, which has some meaning for energy conservation and reducing consumption of iron mine.

The chemical oxygen demand was over standard seriously due to residual organic additives in sulfonated drilling wastewater, especially sulfonated phenolic resin with hardly degradable chemical structure. The novel solar-assisted catalytic oxidation process was developed to remove the organic pollutants in sulfonated drilling wastewater. The factors including irradiation light source, oxidant, Fe2+, were investigated. The results showed that, solar has more catalytic effects than UV on H2O2-K2S2O8/Fe2+system, H2O2- K2S2O8/Fe2+system was more effective in degrading organic pollutants than H2O2/Fe2+and K2S2O8/Fe2+, in which the synergies occurred between H2O2and K2S2O8in the solar-assisted catalytic oxidation process. The removal amount of organic pollutants was increased with the dosage of Fe2+additon. With the catalytic oxidation process developed, the COD was reduced to 114.4 mg·L-1. Meanwhile, the sulfonated phenolic resin was completely destroyed, and heavy metal was decreased significantly.

One of the critical issues to be solved for HL-2M is the power exhaust. Divertor target plate geometry strongly influences the plasma profiles by controlling the neutral recycling pattern, which in turn has a strong effect on the symmetry and stability of the divertor plasma and finally on the whole edge region. The numerical simulation SOLPS5.0 package is used to design and explore the divertor target plates for HL-2M. We start with the choice of a proper target plate geometry, which has a smaller incidence angle in the permissible space, and then discuss the method of gas puffing to reduce the heat flux density on the target and the effects of gas puffing on the divertor plasma performance.

This article briefly introduces that the blast blower shaft fault diagnosis and prediction based on wavelet analysis. When the blast furnace operation of axial fan of vibration signal de-noising and singularity analysis, the fan operation state for real-time monitoring, timely find fault information and fault point, guarantee the safety, stability of the blast blower operation. Through the data with Matlab simulation effective, is that the wavelet analysis used in blast furnace fan axis of the fault diagnosis of feasibility.

To investigate the effect of turmeric volatile oil (TVO) on the apoptosis and proliferation of human skin SCC A431 cells, A431 cells were incubated with different concentrations (5-80 mg•L⁻¹) of TVO in vitro．The proliferation and cell cycle were assessed by CCK8 assay. The change of morphology was observed with inverted microscope. Apoptosis was evaluated with AO/EB double staining and flow cytometry (FCM); cell cycle was analyzed with FCM ．Western blot method was used to detect caspase-3 and caspase-9 protein expression. Results indicated that TVO has significant inhibitory effects on the growth of A431 cells in a dose dependent relationship, the difference between groups has statistically significant (P

This study confirms the existence of several-nanometer ordered structures in amorphous geopolymers by HRTEM and SAED. To obtain low-ratio Si/Al geopolymers and to overcome the disadvantages posed by the use of impure raw materials, an amorphous Al2O3–SiO2 powder is first prepared using a sol–gel method in accordance with specific chemical compositions. The composition of the Al2O3–2SiO2–Na2O geopolymer is designed according to the NaA zeolite composition (Si/Al/Na atom ratio is 1:1:1), and the expected NaA zeolites are obtained from the Al2O3–2SiO2–Na2O geopolymer using a hydrothermal reaction. This process can be used to transform geopolymers into zeolites and provides a new preparation method for the self-supporting NaA zeolite membrane. The preliminary separation resulted in alcohol dehydration and shows that ethanol solutions can be powerfully dehydrated by pervaporation. A feed containing 90 wt.% ethanol at 20 °C and achieving a water flux of 2.67 kg m−2 h−1 with a separation factor H2O/EtOH ≈ 200 is found.

Considering the complexity and relevance of fault diagnosis for turbo-generator, the paper makes diagnosis by adopting improved genetic BP network algorithm. In order to solve the problems of slow network learning and tendency of minimum point in BP algorithm, the structure and specific parameter of BP network optimized by genetic algorithm were used in the discussion of a model integrated with adaptive genetic neural algorithm, which was applied in the fault identification of turbo-generator. Experimental data shows that the algorithm is characterized by high convergence rate, effective vibration fault diagnosis for turbo-generator and relative high reliability and practicability.

In order to obtain the movement data of an aircraft,including trajectory,attitude,displacement,deformation and other kinds of movement data of the aircraft structural parts in the flight accurately,an optical and dynamic measurement method is proposed and implemented based on the theory of close-range photogrammetry and stereo vision technology.The main contents of the method are multi-camera self-calibration technique based on close-range photogrammetry,camera dynamic positioning and jitter eliminating in flight technology,rapid acquisition for the trajectory and attitude of rigid structure,precise matching of non-coding landmark array by multi-camera(≥3) collaboration.The simulation results show that the reprojection error of the camera is less than 0.03 pixel,the trajectory and attitude measurement accuracy of the system can be up to 0.01 mm/1 m,and the measurement accuracy of key point displacement and deformation is 0.05 mm/1 m.It demonstrates that the system have met the standards of accuracy and reliability for aircraft testing industry.

Aims and objectives This study aimed to explore the experiences and factors associated with insomnia in Chinese breast cancer survivors. Background Insomnia is a common and significant symptom in breast cancer survivors. Quantitative studies are unable to describe the experience of insomnia and the sleep-associated factors from a personal point of view. A profound understanding of the experience of insomnia in breast cancer survivors can provide information for health workers and caregivers to allow them to provide more effective support. Design A descriptive qualitative research was adopted. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted with 22 insomniac breast cancer survivors. A qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. Results Three themes emerged concerning the experiences of insomnia, including sleep neglect, insomnia perception and insomnia anxiety. Participants reported their own opinions on three insomnia-associated factors, including factors associated with hospitalisation, factors associated with breast cancer and the therapies and too much attention placed on sleep. Conclusions Survivors would neglect their sleep problems in the early stage after diagnosis. When they became aware of their sleep problems, they were inclined to worry too much and sought help from traditional Chinese medicine. Anticipatory sleep anxiety, excessive negative cognitive activities and insomnia became a vicious circle for insomniac breast cancer survivors. Relevance to clinical practice The findings provide detailed information to help nurses understand the experiences of breast cancer survivors with insomnia. Nurses could provide proper care to help prevent insomnia or improve sleep.

The degree of paraxiality for Gaussian vortex beams is studied based on the definition of the degree of paraxiality for monochromatic light beams. By using the angular spectrum representation, the analytical expression for the degree of paraxiality for Gaussian vortex beams is derived, and used to study the dependence of the degree of paraxiality on the Gaussian vortex beam parameters. It is shown that the degree of paraxiality for Gaussian vortex beams increases with increasing the waist width of background Gaussian beams or increasing the off-axis distance of optical vortices, and with decreasing the topological charge of optical vortices. The results are interpreted physically by using the relation between the degree of paraxiality and the far-field divergence angle.

We report a porous geopolymer synthesized from metakaolin, α-Al 2 O 3, Al powder and phosphoric acid at 80 °C for 5 h. The Al powder served as a foaming agent to control porosity, pore size and pore distribution producing a porosity ranging from 40% to 83% and a pore size of approximately 1 mm .The compressive strength was > 6 MPa. The phases of the geopolymers were determined by X-ray diffraction and their thermal properties investigated by TG-DTA and thermal shrinkage analysis. The porous geopolymer consisted of an amorphous phase and minor amounts of quartz, and showed an excellent thermal stability at a high temperature, with a linear shrinkage of only 5.3% at 1450 °C.

The combined de-inking technology of ultrasonic, UV irradiation and enzymatic methods was introduced into the de-inking process of HP laser printed paper. The purpose was to reduce the consumption of alkali or even preprocess without alkali absolutely for the purpose of environment protection. The de-inking effects of cellulase, amylase, lipase and their mixture were compared and the experiment results showed that combined enzymes of cellulase and amylase have the best de-inking efficiency which has a 12% increment of brightness. The de-inking efficiencies of several different de-inking technologies were compared, which can provide basis to establish combined de-inking technologies.

To investigate whether changes of amino acid neurotransmitter releases in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (rVLM) were related to acupuncture and to the antihypertensive effect of melatonin (Mel) microinjected into the anterior hypothalamic area (AHA) of rats with stress-induced hypertension (SIH), as well as to compare and analyze the relationship between the both antihypertensive mechanisms of acupuncture and of Mel in the AHA. Methods: Animal model of SIHR was made by electric foot shocks combined with noises. Electroacupuncture (EA) was used and "Zusanli" acupoint of both side was selected. The technique of drug microinjection into the brain was used to observe the change of blood pressure (BP), and synchronously, brain microdialysis was performed for collecting dialysate samples, and then the concentration of amino acid neurotransmitters in the dialysate samples was determined by high performance liquid chromatography combined with fluorescent detection (HPLC-FD). Results: After the animal received stress treatment, the BP elevated, synchronously, the release of glutamate (Glu) in the rVLM increased, and when EA was performed, the elevated BP of the rats with SIH decreased,simultaneously, the release of Glu in the rVLM decreased also. After Mel was microinjected of into the AHA of the SIHR, the elevated BP attenuated, meanwhile, the release of Glu decreased,and those of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and taurine (Tau) increased in the rVLM.Administration ofbicuculline, an antagonist of GABAA receptor, into the rVLM prior to microinjection of Mel into the AHA could partially block the depressor effect of Mel in the AHA. Conclusion: The decrease in the release of Glu in the rVLM contributes to the antihypertensive effect of both acupuncture and Mel in the AHA in the rats with SIH, and the increase in the release of GABA and Tau in the rVLM is also important to Mel in the AHA.

Objective: To investigate the effects of acupuncture on constipation in rats. Method:Compound diphenoxylate was used to set up rat model of constipation. After needling "Hegu"and "Housanli", the time to first bowel movement, and stool grains quantity and weight in 12 rats were observed. Results: The time to first bowel movement was delayed, and the stool grains quantity and weight were reduced in the model rats. Acupuncture could significantly shorten the time to first bowel movement, and increase stool grains quantity and weight.Conclusion: Acupuncture can improve the defecating abilities in rats model of constipation.

Native copper mineralization in northeastern Yunnan is related to the Emeishan flood basalts, which have high Cu background concentrations. The deposits are located in the Ludian, Maoling and Yiche synclines between the flood basalts and the overlying Xuanwei Formation. Evidence from REE and HSFE concentrations, oxygen isotope compositions, bitumen reflectance, and mineral paragenesis indicates that the high-grade copper orebodies were deposited from moderate to low temperature hydrothermal solutions (420 to 100 °C) in a reducing environment. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar spectra for the laumontites that coexist with native copper in the high-grade ores yield consistent plateau and isochron ages (226 to 228 Ma). These are interpreted to represent the age of the first stage of hydrothermal mineralization, which took place at temperatures of 200 to350 °C, concordant with that of Zn–Pb–Ag–Ge mineralization also occurring in the area. The heulandites yield a stable 40 Ar/ 39 Ar plateau age of 134.0 ± 1.7 Ma, consistent with isochron ages indicated by U–Th–Pb isotopic systematics, indicating a second stage of native copper mineralization at lower temperatures (100 to 200 °C) that took place during the Early Cretaceous.

The selection of Ultra-High Voltage (UHV) substation site is a complex multi-objective decision-making problem. The randomness of wind power output and continuous adjustment of the grid structure will bring uncertain factors to the decision-making process, which will directly affect the stability of decision-making result. Therefore, the sensitivity analysis is necessary to be carried out to the uncertainty of index values and index weights in the decision-making process. Firstly, this paper carries out the sensitivity analysis under the change of single index and multiple weights respectively. Three comprehensive evaluation methods including Delphi, Entropy weight method, grey relational analysis (GRA), which will help decision makers master and deal with the sensitive indexes and weights more carefully in the decision-making process. Secondly, this paper takes comprehensive evaluation values of each alternative obtained by each comprehensive evaluation method with the change of index values and index weights as sample data respectively, and introduces cloud model to compare the robustness of decision-making results under each comprehensive evaluation method in order to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each comprehensive evaluation method, this will help decision makers choose the comprehensive evaluation method with better robustness of decision result. Finally the example analysis results verify the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper, so as to gain insight into the sensitivity analysis of decision problem and relate it back to real engineering application.

A commercial styrene-acrylic latex binder has been investigated as a good binder for aqueous Al2O3 suspensions tape-casting process. This paper focuses on the forming film mechanism of latex binder, the rheological behaviors of the suspensions, physical properties of green tapes and drying process of aqueous slurries with latex binder system. The drying process of the alumina suspensions is shown to follow a two-stage mechanism (the first stage: evoporation controlled process; and the second stage: diffusion controlled process). During the drying stage of the suspensions, the compressive force presses the latex particles and makes them be distorted, which results in cross-linking structure in contacted latex particles of the solidified tapes. A smooth-surface and high-strength green tape was fabricated by aqueous tape casting with latex binder system. The results from the SEM images of the crossing section microstructure of green tapes show that the latex is a very suitable binder for aqueous tape casting.

This paper reviews and analyzes 50 articles concerning the treatment of climacteric syndrome by acupuncture and moxibustion therapries. The therapies were single acupuncture, acupuncture combining other methods, auricular-plaster therapy, and some other therapies. Clear diagnostic criteria were found in 39 articles, and the most common-used criteria wereCombination of TCM and Western Medicine Diagnostics and Therapeutics, Kupperman Index Scoring andCriterion of Diagnosis and Treatment Effect of TCM Diseases and Syndrome. All together 2946 cases were treated, and the therapeutic effect rates ranged from 58.1% to 100%. There were control group in 16 articles. The syndromes have been classified as 27 types in 15 articles, including type of yin-deficiency of the liver and the kidney, yang-deficiency of the spleen and the kidney, yang-deficiency of the kidney, yin-deficiency of the kidney, disharmony between the heart and the kidney, and the liver stagnation, etc. Some effects have been got in treating female climacteric syndrome with acupuncture and moxibustion therapy, however, there were fewer strict randomized controlled trials (RCT).

This study confirms the existence of several nanometer-ordered structures in amorphous AI2O3-2SiO2-Na2O-7H2O geopolymers by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The composition ratio of the geopolymers was designed according to the NaA zeolite composition (Si/AI/Na atom ratio of 1:1:1), and the expected NaA molecular sieve was achieved by the Al2O3-2Si02-Na20-7H20 geopolymers through a hydrothermal reaction. This design concept was used to convert geopolymers into zeolite molecular sieves and provides a new preparation method for zeolite membranes or zeolite bulk materials.