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Hydrodechlorination is a promising technology for the remediation of water body contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). In this work, the liquid-phase hydrogenation of TCE by Raney Ni (R-Ni) and Pd/C under an open system have been studied, in which nascent H2 (Nas-H2) generated in situ from the cathode acted as a hydrogen source. Experimental results showed that TCE was completely eliminate from the solution through the synergistic effects of hydrodechlorination and air flotation due to the formation of continuous micro/nano-sized Nas-H2 bubbles from the cathode. Furthermore, the effects of inorganic anions and organic solvents on R-Ni and Pd/C hydrogenation activity were investigated, respectively. The results showed that NO3− and acetonitrile can form a competitive reaction with TCE; Sulfur with lone-pair electrons will cause irreversible poisoning to these two catalysts, and have a stronger inhibitory effect on Pd/C. This work helps to realize the separation of volatile halogenated compounds from water environment and provides certain data support for the choice of catalyst in the actual liquid-phase hydrogenation system.

Foaming behavior of the fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer (FEP) and its composites assisted with supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) as the blowing agent were investigated. The batch foaming process was applied at temperature ranging from 250°C to 265°C and pressure ranging between 12 MPa and 24 MPa. The optimal foaming temperature and saturation pressure were obtained for both pure FEP and FEP composites with 1 wt% different-sized BaTiO3 as nucleating agent. The cell diameter of pure FEP foam ranging from 80–140 µm was observed while the cell diameter decreased to 20–40 µm after adding BaTiO3 particles. The cell density of foamed FEP with BaTiO3 increased significantly from 106 to 108 cells/cm3 and the expansion ratio ranged between 4.0 and 5.5. Moreover, a decrease in an abnormal phenomenon that expansion ratio for the pure FEP foam was observed as the saturation pressure increased. This unexpected phenomenon can be explained by the relationship between foaming and crystallization coupling processes.

Glaesserella parasuis (G. parasuis) can elicit serious inflammatory responses and cause meningitis in piglets. Previous epigenetic studies have indicated that alterations in host DNA methylation may modify the inflammatory response to bacterial infection. However, to date, genome-wide analysis of the DNA methylome during meningitis caused by G. parasuis infection is still lacking. In this study, we employed an unbiased approach using deep sequencing to profile the DNA methylome and transcriptome from G. parasuis infected porcine brain (cerebrum) and integrated the data to identify key differential methylation regions/sites involved in the regulation of the inflammatory response. Results showed that DNA methylation patterns and gene expression profiles from porcine brain were changed after G. parasuis infection. The majority of the altered DNA methylation regions were found in the intergenic regions and introns and not associated with CpG islands, with only a low percentage occurring at promoter or exon regions. Integrated analysis of the DNA methylome and transcriptome identified a number of inversely and positively correlated genes between DNA methylation and gene expression, following the criteria of |log2FC| > 0.5, |diffMethy| > 0.1, and P < 0.05. Differential expression and methylation of two significant genes, semaphoring 4D (SEMA4D) and von Willebrand factor A domain containing 1 (VWA1), were validated by qRT-PCR and bisulfite sequencing. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses demonstrated that DNA methylation inversely correlated genes in G. parasuis infected porcine brains were mainly involved with cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), bacterial invasion of epithelial cells, RIG-1-like receptor signaling pathways, and hematopoietic cell lineage signaling pathways. In addition, a protein-protein interaction network of differentially methylated genes found potential candidate molecular interactions relevant to the pathology of G. parasuis infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to integrate the DNA methylome and transcriptome data from G. parasuis infected porcine brains. Our findings will help understanding the contribution of genome-wide DNA methylation to the pathogenesis of meningitis in pigs and developing epigenetic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the treatment of G. parasuis induced meningitis.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Basic demographic and clinical parameters characteristics of human liver tissue samples. Table S2. Hardy-Weinberg test for SNP loci of POR. Table S3. Correlation analysis between HPN and relate genes and markers of immune cells in TIMER

The market share of mobility on-demand (MoD) services strongly increased in recent years and is expected to rise even higher once vehicle automation is fully available. These services might reduce space consumption in cities as fewer parking spaces are required if private vehicle trips are replaced. If rides are shared additionally, occupancy related traffic efficiency is increased. Simulations help to identify the actual impact of MoD on a traffic system, evaluate new control algorithms for improved service efficiency and develop guidelines for regulatory measures. This paper presents the open-source agent-based simulation framework FleetPy. FleetPy (written in the programming language "Python") is explicitly developed to model MoD services in a high level of detail. It specially focuses on the modeling of interactions of users with operators while its flexibility allows the integration and embedding of multiple operators in the overall transportation system. Its modular structure ensures the transferabillity of previously developed elements and the selection of an appropriate level of modeling detail. This paper compares existing simulation frameworks for MoD services and highlights exclusive features of FleetPy. The upper level simulation flows are presented, followed by required input data for the simulation and the output data FleetPy produces. Additionally, the modules within FleetPy and high-level descriptions of current implementations are provided. Finally, an example showcase for Manhattan, NYC provides insights into the impacts of different modules for simulation flow, fleet optimization, traveler behavior and network representation.

Glässer's disease, caused by Haemophilus parasuis (H. parasuis), is associated with vascular damage and vascular inflammation in pigs. Therefore, early assessment and treatment are essential to control the inflammatory disorder. MicroRNAs have been shown to be involved in the vascular pathology. Baicalin has important pharmacological functions, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. In this study, we investigated the changes of microRNAs in porcine aortic vascular endothelial cells (PAVECs) induced by H. parasuis and the effect of baicalin in this model by utilizing high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that 155 novel microRNAs and 76 differentially expressed microRNAs were identified in all samples. Subsequently, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of the target genes of the differentially expressed microRNAs demonstrated that regulation of actin cytoskeleton, focal adhesion, ECM-receptor interaction, bacterial invasion of epithelial cells, and adherens junction were the most interesting pathways after PAVECs were infected with H. parasuis. In addition, when the PAVECs were pretreated with baicalin, mismatch repair, peroxisome, oxidative phosphorylation, DNA replication, and ABC transporters were the most predominant signaling pathways. STRING analysis showed that most of the target genes of the differentially expressed microRNAs were associated with each other. The expression levels of the differentially expressed microRNAs were negatively co-regulated with their target genes' mRNA following pretreatment with baicalin in the H. parasuis-induced PAVECs using co-expression networks analysis. This is the first report that microRNAs might have key roles in inflammatory damage of vascular tissue during H. parasuis infection. Baicalin regulated the microRNAs changes in the PAVECs following H. parasuis infection, which may represent useful novel targets to prevent or treat H. parasuis infection.

Haemophilus parasuis can elicit serious inflammatory responses, which contribute to huge economic losses to the swine industry. However, the pathogenic mechanisms underlying inflammation-related damage induced by H. parasuis remain unclear. Accumulating evidence indicates that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have important functions in the regulation of autoimmune disorders. Baicalin has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-oxidant activities. In this study, we investigated whether lncRNAs were involved in the vascular injury or inflammation triggered by H. parasuis and whether baicalin regulated the lncRNA profiles of porcine aortic vascular endothelial cells (PAVECs) infected with H. parasuis. The results showed that the lncRNA and mRNA expression profiles of PAVECs were changed by H. parasuis. Important functions of lncRNAs and mRNAs were predicted. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analyses demonstrated that the targets of differentially expressed lncRNAs of H. parasuis infected PAVECs were mainly involved in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) signaling pathway, apoptosis, and N-glycan biosynthesis; whereas nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, the cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway, the TNF signaling pathway, and the nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B signaling pathway were enriched in PAVECs pretreated with baicalin. In addition, top hub genes and lncRNAs were identified and validated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. CCL5, GBP1, and SAMHD1 were significantly upregulated after H. parasuis infection, whereas they were significantly downregulated with baicalin pretreatment. LncRNA ALDBSSCT0000001677, ALDBSSCT0000001353, MSTRG.10724.2, and ALDBSSCT0000010434 had the same expression pattern. Collectively, these data suggested that baicalin could modify changes to the lncRNAs profiles or regulate lncRNAs that participate in inflammation-related signaling pathways, thereby alleviating tissue damage or inflammatory responses induced by H. parasuis. To our best knowledge, this is the first article of H. parasuis stimulating changes to the lncRNA profiles of PAVECs and the capability of baicalin to regulate lncRNA changes in PAVECs infected with H. parasuis, which might provide a novel therapeutic target for the control of H. parasuis infection.

Activated carbon can not only alleviate toxicity of harmful substances to microorganisms but also enhance direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) during anaerobic digestion. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the effect of powder activated carbon (PAC) on anaerobic digestion of Flammulina velutipes residues which were pretreated by aerobic composting with production of alcohols and volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Results show the starting time of methane production peak period emerged at the 4th day for the PAC-treatment comparing with the 15th day for the control, implying PAC application enhanced methane production rate significantly by alleviating the inhibitory effect of isopropanol and propionic acid regarding remarkable biodegradation of alcohols and VFAs from composting. A Gompertz curve fitting also indicated that the PAC-treatment possessed the greatest rate constant of biogas (0.1847) and methane (0.1793) production. Fourier transform infrared spectra analysis indicated that PAC could facilitated to the decomposition of recalcitrant cellulose, protein, lipid and polysaccharides. Furthermore, addition of PAC could enrich more vadinBC27_wastewater-sludge_group with electrochemical activity and Methanosarcina with ability to accept electrons from carbon-based mediator, suggesting that vadinBC27_wastewater-sludge_group might participate in DIET with Methanosarcina and therefore PAC could promote syntrophic association between bacteria and methanogens via DIET.

The paper describes a multi-step chemical ion exchange method, also known as "Kailly Method", to increase the impact resistance of Na2O–Al2O3–SiO2 based glasses and derivatives. The chemical strengthening methodology comprises of three steps where the first step is a chemical ion-exchange process (labeled as IOX1) in KNO3 melt followed by a second step involving high temperature ion migration (HTIM), and the final step of another chemical ion-exchange (IOX2) step in KNO3 melt. The effect of the proposed strengthening mechanism on the compressive stress layer depth (DOL), diffusion coefficient (D) and surface compressive stress (CS) of a glass with composition 16.11 Na2O-1.47 K2O-2.73 MgO-20.02 Al2O3-59.08 SiO2-0.1 CaO-0.49 SnO2 (wt.%) has been evaluated. The results show that the "Kailly Method" can promote a DOL to 120–150 μm which is 50–80% higher than the conventional one-step ion exchange process. The distribution of compressive stress has been positively correlated with K+ concentration and modulus of elasticity. Further the impact strength of a 0.5 mm thick glass specimen has been demonstrated to be linearly related to the compressive stress and the square root of DOL thus, indicating that the increase of DOL on the glass surface contributes to the improvement of impact resistance.

In this study, the enhanced surface properties and microstructure evolution of quenched and tempered cold work die steel Cr12MoV, which were induced by ultrasonic surface rolling process combined with deep cryogenic treatment (UDCT), were systematically investigated. The results indicated that UDCT had an advantage over conventional ultrasonic surface rolling process (USRP) in improving surface mechanical properties, including smaller surface roughness and smoother machined surface with less cracks and defects; higher surface microindentation hardness with the value of ~ 890 HV (increased by ~ 6.2% compared with USRP); and lower friction coefficient. Such enhancements in surface properties are mainly attributed to the martensitic transformation of retained austenite, the dispersion strengthening of small secondary carbides and the homogenized carbides distribution during UDCT.

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Aiming at the low portability of quadcopter, the lack of anti-falling protection and the single take-off mode, this paper proposed a portable spherical quadcopter with deformable structure, including deformable spherical exoskeleton, moving actuator and shock absorber. Based on transient dynamics theory, the dynamic response process of spherical quadcopter under the action of time-varying load was analyzed. In order to verify the structural strength of the portable aircraft, Solidworks simulation module was used for drop test. By comparing the stress-strain curves of different characteristic points, the trend of structural deformation and movement was predicted. According to the testing results, the structural optimization scheme was proposed.

Underwater spectral imaging technology is of potential significance to marine research fields. This paper presents a novel underwater multispectral imaging system based on 31 narrowband color filters installed on double filter wheels. A set of underwater spectral imaging systems are initially developed containing an optical principle, imaging module, a control, and software. A pool experiment is conducted to evaluate the performance of the underwater multispectral imaging system, and 31-channel spectral images with wavelengths of 400 to 700 nm at intervals of 10 nm are obtained. The spectral responses of similar color objects are analyzed and discussed, and the results show that the underwater multispectral imager has advantages in distinguishing color, which aids the identification of similar color objects.

A feasible design of ultra-dense Small cell network involves an effective solution to the interference coordination especially in cell edge. In this paper, we propose a channel state and interference aware power allocation scheme (PAG) as an enhanced solution to improve the system performance, especially for the cell-edge users. Cournot model in Non-cooperative game is employed for power adjustment in Small cell clusters to increase cell-edge users' throughput by considering the power limitation and interference coordination. Additionally, we take iterative Water Filling scheme as a comparison to clarify that the PAG scheme has struck a favorable balance between system efficiency and fairness. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme contributes to the enhancement of edge users' throughput and cells' coverage. Moreover, the scheme is observed to show a stronger adaptability in denser Small cell networks.

A simple and safe triangle-valve technique (TVT) was applied in proximal gastrectomy (PG) in order to prevent postoperative gastric reflux among patients with adenocarcinoma of the esophagogastric junction (AEG). The clinical outcomes were evaluated in comparison to those of canonical total gastrectomy (TG). This retrospective study of 74 AEG patients compared two surgical procedures, PG-TVT (n=44) and TG (n=30), in terms of surgical outcomes, postoperative complications and nutritional status. The Reflux Disease Questionnaire (RDQ) was used to evaluate reflux esophagitis, and patients with an RDQ score of ≥12 points were diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The mean operative time was significantly shorter in the PG-TVT group (242.6 min) compared with that in the TG group (288.1 min). The overall postoperative complication rate did not differ significantly between the PG-TVT and TG groups. All the patients were followed up for 6 months, and none developed cancer recurrence in distant organs, gastric remnant, or lymph nodes. The GERD incidence was similar between the PG-TVT and TG groups. The mean levels of total protein and albumin within 6 months were significantly higher in the PG-TVT group compared with those in the TG group after adjustingtthe time effect and the interaction of time and surgical methods. The level of total protein significantly increased within 6 months in the PG-TVT group, but decreased in the TG group. Therefore, PG-TVT has several advantages over TG for patients with AEG, including a shorter operative time and better postoperative nutritional status, whereas the incidence of GERD was found to be similar between the two techniques.

Folate-containing dextran ligand (FA-Dextran-DTPA) was synthesized by the incorporation of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) and folate (FA) as a tumor-targeting group into dextran as a polymer carrier. This ligand was further reacted with gadolinium chloride to make a dextran gadolinium complex FA-Dextran-DTPA-Gd. The ligand and its gadolinium complex were characterized by 1H-NMR, FTIR, UV-Vis, average particle sizes and zeta potential, as well. In vitro properties including relaxivity, cytotoxicity assay, cellular uptake assay, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were also evaluated. Compared with Gd-DTPA, FA-Dextran-DTPA-Gd possessed obviously higher relaxation effectiveness and lower cytotoxicity to HeLa cells. FA-Dextran-DTPA-Gd had a high affinity to the H460 and MDA-MB-231 tumor cells and can be taken up selectively by these tumor cells. Moreover, FA-Dextran-DTPA-Gd showed enhanced signal intensities (SI) of MRI and enhanced the contrast of MR images of tumor cells. These results indicated that FA-Dextran-DTPA-Gd showed the potential as a tumor-targeting contrast agent in MRI.

Self-calibration methods of underwater light attenuation using a multispectral imaging system are important for subsea detection. However, the accuracy of calibration is strongly related to the characteristics of color filters used in imaging systems. This paper presents the influence of filters on attenuation calibration. The principle of a self-calibration method is introduced with the origin of the error being shown. Simulations are conducted to show the influence of bandwidth, transmission shapes, and peak transmissivities on the estimation of underwater light attenuation.

This article is mainly focused on a method for stabilizing the position of an incident laser beam position by using a closed-loop fast steering mirror system. According to the input and output data, a model for the fast steering mirror system is established, which is utilized for the closed-loop controller. In the experiment, the spot centroid position, which is obtained by means of a position sensitive detector, is used as a signal for modeling and closed loop control. Because of the difference between the levels of atmospheric turbulence over water and over rock, the effects of the fast steering mirror system for the two cases may also differ. Therefore, experiments of laser beam stabilization have been carried out in these two different environments. The results show that the spot jitter is stronger when the laser is transmitted over rock, compared to transmission over water, and that spot jitter below 25 Hz can be restricted by closed-loop control in both environments.

Based on the principle of phase laser ranging, the idea of using phase laser range finder for underwater ranging was proposed, and the feasibility of underwater phase laser ranging was analyzed in principle. Through the underwater distance measurement experiments, the feasibility of underwater phase laser ranging was verified, the range calibration algorithm for underwater phase laser range finder was completed, and the effects of water turbidity on the dynamic range and distance measurement accuracy of laser ranging were explored. The experimental results show that the average ranging error of underwater laser range finder after calibration is not more than 3 mm in the range of 3.5 m, and there is an exponential decay relationship between range and water turbidity. The underwater phase laser range finder provides a new method for the detection of underwater distance, which can achieve accurate ranging at short range of underwater target.

Progressive addition lens (PAL) is currently the state-of-the-art in multifocal correction visual for freeform lens. The PAL is used to correct presbyopia by the distributing optical powers of the three zones, which are far zone, near zone and intermediate zone. As the dioptre of progressive zone varies continuously, the lenses realize simultaneously far view and near view by a pair of glasses. Because the PAL is a freeform surface with a variable radius of curvature, complex shape, processing difficulties, low efficiency, big fluctuation of interpolation error and so on. In this paper, the design surface is discretized by the constant angle method and compensates the path of the diamond tool nose radius with AKIMA interpolation method, which can identify the machine tool of the tool locus, and exploitable fast tool servo technology controls the diamond tools movement and path. MATLAB simulation results show that this method is generally more approximate to the ideal trajectory, which is not only to ensure that surface profile accuracy, but also meet the requirements of the processing efficiency and better control the surface profile.

Magnetorheological finishing (MRF) is a key polishing technique capable of rapidly converging to the required surface figure. Due to the deficiency of general one-polishing-head MRF technology, a dual polishing heads MRF technology was studied and a dual polishing heads MRF machine with 8 axes was developed. The machine has the ability to manufacture large aperture optics with high figure accuracy. The large polishing head is suitable for polishing large aperture optics, controlling large spatial length’s wave structures, correcting low-medium frequency errors with high removal rates. While the small polishing head has more advantages in manufacturing small aperture optics, controlling small spatial wavelength’s wave structures, correcting mid-high frequency and removing nanoscale materials. Material removal characteristic and figure correction ability for each of large and small polishing head was studied. Each of two polishing heads respectively acquired stable and valid polishing removal function and ultra-precision flat sample. After a single polishing iteration using small polishing head, the figure error in 45mm diameter of a 50 mm diameter plano optics was significantly improved from 0.21λ to 0.08λ by PV (RMS 0.053λ to 0.015λ). After three polishing iterations using large polishing head , the figure error in 410mm×410mm of a 430mm×430mm large plano optics was significantly improved from 0.40λ to 0.10λ by PV (RMS 0.068λ to 0.013λ) .This results show that the dual polishing heads MRF machine not only have good material removal stability, but also excellent figure correction capability.

A TCP flow increases its sending rate linearity until a packet loss is detected. The lost packets can be seen as the cost paid by the method of probing available network bandwidth. A router can decide whether to drop a received data packet only based on its locally available network resource without considering the sender of the packet is responsible or not. Therefore, such a scheme does not motivate end users to use congestion control mechanism. Accordingly, TCP flows have to endure packet loss. In this paper, we propose a novel congestion control mechanism named as probe follow congestion control (PF-CC) mechanism, with which users can be classified into two categories: probers and followers. Probers are those users that are responsible for probing available network resources. Followers are those users that regulate their behavior based on the probing results by probers. Thus, a follower has a small probability of packet loss since there is no available network resource. The routers drop a packet by considering the behavior of its source. More specifically, as an example, a router can reward those responsible users by rarely dropping their packet and punish those irresponsible users by dropping their packets severely. Therefore, the PF-CC mechanism can motivate end-users to conduct end-to-end congestion control. Specifications of the mechanism are presented and also its performance is evaluated using extensive simulations and analysis.

Microfluidic droplets have been applied extensively as reaction vessels in a wide variety of chemical and biological applications. Typically, once the droplets are formed in a flow channel, it is a challenge to add new chemicals to the droplets for subsequent reactions in applications involving multiple processing steps. Here, we present a novel and versatile method that employs a high strength alternating electrical field to tunably transfer chemicals into microfluidic droplets using nanodroplets as chemical carriers. We show that the use of both continuous and cyclic burst square wave signals enables extremely sensitive control over the total amount of chemical added and, equally importantly, the rate of addition of the chemical from the nanodroplet carriers to the microfluidic droplets. An a priori theoretical model was developed to model the mass transport process under the convection-controlled scenario and compared with experimental results. We demonstrate an application of this method in the controlled preparation of gold nanoparticles by reducing chloroauric acid pre-loaded in microfluidic droplets with l-ascorbic acid supplied from miniemulsion nanodroplets. Under different field strengths, l-ascorbic acid is supplied in controllable quantities and addition rates, rendering the particle size and size distribution tunable. Finally, this method also enables multistep synthesis by the stepwise supply of miniemulsions containing different chemical species. We highlight this with a first report of a three-step Au-Pd core-shell nanoparticle synthesis under continuous flow conditions.