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Water is essential for crops and plays a vital role in olive (Olea europaea) growth. Three irrigation treatments, rain-fed (CK), flood irrigation (FI), and drip irrigation (DI), were applied from late November to late May in a 2-year study (Nov. 2015 to Oct. 2017) on two olive cultivars, Coratina and Koroneiki. Shoot growth, flower and fruit characteristics, and olive and oil yields were measured. Compared with CK, FI had significantly higher values of vegetative growth, olive and oil yields, moisture content, and oil content. Although the fruit weight, pulp rate, and oil content with DI were the lowest, our results support that DI had the greatest positive effects on olive vegetative growth, flowers, fruit set, and olive and oil yields. It is suggested that DI in winter and spring is the best irrigation strategy for olive productivity in southwest China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the ameliorative effect and mechanism of Panax notoginseng (PNG) and Ticlid in treating early diabetic nephropathy (DN). Method: Fifty-eight patients were divided randomly into two groups.28 Patients [...]

The stabilization problem of linear time-varying systems with both state and input constraints is considered. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the solution to this problem are derived and a gain-switched (gain-scheduled) state feedback control scheme is built to stabilize the constrained timevarying system. The design problem is transformed to a series of convex feasibility problems which can be solved efficiently. A design example is given to illustrate the effect of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese food market is very large and represents a significant opportunity for overseas companies. If this opportunity is to be exploited, however, there is still a need to understand the Chinese consumer’s response to production by different countries of origin. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to provide insight into the country of origin effect on the purchase of food products in China. The paper reports the findings of an empirical study conducted in Beijing that was based on a large-scale street survey of consumers. Despite limitations related to representativeness and self-reporting, the study generated a number of useful insights. Specifically, the findings suggest that food originating from overseas is perceived to be of higher quality than food originating from China and that Chinese consumers do not see food originating overseas as all the same but relate quality to the country from which it originates. Food originating from overseas had a perceived advantage in the minds of Chinese consumers, although there is still an inclination to buy Chinese food which may serve as a barrier to entry in this market for overseas companies who do not produce in China itself.

Emission regulations for diesel engines are becoming increasingly stricter worldwide, which make the modification to the SCR aftertreatment systems for marching various diesel engines of different emission levels become an urgent problem. This work presented a complete urea-SCR modeling approach. An accurate urea-SCR model consisting of 1d/3d adblue injection model and 1d catalytic converter model was established. After the estimation of kinetic parameters, the model showed good agreement with experimental data for different exhaust temperatures. Based on this advanced urea-SCR platform, this work explored influencing factors on SCR system, analyzed the individuals' weight, and finally found out the critical elements. Obviously, the results of this work can be used to reduce the development cycle and to promote the efficiency.

Compositions that related to the secondary haze compositions in clarified apple juice were studied. Pressing treatment, pasteurization and enzymatic treatment were mainly investigated. Turbidity, contents of phenolics components, and that of soluble proteins in three batches of apple juice were monitored at intervals during the processing procedures. Pressing treatment resulted in increasing the turbidity and contents of total phenolics, condensed tannins, soluble proteins, but decreasing the level of low molecular- weight phenolics in apple juice. Pasteurization had effects on increasing the level of turbidity and decreasing the level of soluble proteins and had little effects on the level of phenolics components in apple juice. Enzymatic treatment resulted in decreasing the turbidity and the levels of catechin, epicatechin, chlorogenic acid, procyanidins B2 and condensed tannins and increasing the level of soluble proteins in apple juice. It will help to control the secondary haze formation in apple juice production.

The relationship of adsorption characteristic about active carbon and the haze in clarified apple juice was investigated. Particle size and addition and adsorption temperature of active carbon were studied.0.18mm particle size with the biggest specific surface area and 0.075mm particle size with the widest microspore distribution of active carbon lowered the turbidity and contents of haze active protein and that of haze active phenolics. Contents of haze active protein and that of haze active phenolics in apple juice were decreased by increasing the adding amounts of active carbon. High temperature of adsorption showed the positive relationship with volume of haze active phenolic and the negative relationship with volume of haze active protein. Particle size of active carbon with 0.18mm or 0.075mm and addition of 15g/kg and adsorption temperature with 50℃ are chosen in reducing the haze in apple juice. Absorbability of active carbon has great effects on the haze of apple juice.

A new method was established for detecting a series of photoinitiators (PIs) in printed cartonboard food-packaging materials, which were benzophenone (BP), 4-methylbenzophenone (MBP), 1-hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone (Irgacure184), ethyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EDAB), 2-ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EHDAB) and 2-isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Extraction was carried out with ethyl acetate by ultrasonic solvent extraction. Samples were analyzed by GC/MS in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The results indicated that six kinds of PIs had good linear relations (R2>0.9989) in the range of 10~200 μg/L. Limit of Detections (LODs) and Limit of Quantifications ( LOQs ) of all kinds of PIs were 0.3~2.6 μg /kg and 1~8 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of six kinds of PIs at three kinds of concentrations researched (0.30 μg/kg, 0.60 μg/ kg, 1.0 μg/kg) were ranging from 66.7%~89.4%, with the Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) of 4.2%~10.6% (n=6). The results also suggested that PIs were detected in food packaging materials.

Sampled with the pigments extracted from Chinese chestnut shell by alkali solution, chromaticity with protein and starch and chromaticness and red index are related to. The characteristics were compared with that of the standard caramel pigment. Methods were used by spectrometer and colorimeter. Compared with caramel pigments, better chromaticity and stability with starch and protein, lower chromacticness and higher red index of pigments in shell were shown.

This study examined the mutagenic activity of genistein after a nitrite treatment under acidic conditions. Nitrite-treated genistein exhibited mutagenic activity toward Salmonella typhimuriumstrains TA 100 and TA 98 with or without S9 mix. Nitrite-treated genistein was demonstrated by electron spin resonance to generate radicals. An instrumental analysis showed 3'-nitro-genistein to have been formed in the reaction mixture. However, 3'-nitro-genistein did not exhibit mutagenic activity toward the S. typhimuriumstrains, suggesting that other mutagens might also have been formed in the reaction mixture. The clastogenic properties of nitrite-treated genistein and 3'-nitro-genistein were examined by a micronucleus test with male ICR mice. Nitrite-treated genistein and 3'-nitro-genistein showed a significantly higher frequency of micronucleated reticulocytes in mice than in the control group. These results suggest that a daily oral intake of genistein and nitrite through foodstuffs might induce the formation of various mutagenic compounds in the body.

Abstract: Objective: To observe the clinical effect of Rebixiao granule (RBXG) in treating repeatedly attacking acute gouty arthritis and through experimental study on blood uric acid to explore RBXGs therapeutic mechanism.Methods: Ninety repeatedly attacking acute gouty arthritis patients were divided into the treated group (n = 60) and control group (n = 30). The treated group was treated with RBXG, and the control group was treated with Futalin tablets (diclofenac sodium). The baseline treatment including good rest, low purine diet, sufficient water drinking and urine alkalization, etc. was then given to both groups. Hypoxanthine 600 mg/kg and niacin 100 mg/kg was applied to hyperuricemic mice by gastrogavage to establish the animal models.Results: The clinical effective rate of the treated group was 95.0% and that of the control 90.0%. Good therapeutic effects were won, insignificant difference (P>0.05)was shown between the two groups. However, the cure rate of the treated group was 26.7% while that of the control group was 10.0%, with significant difference (P<0.01) shown between them. The treated group had its blood uric acid lowered, which was significantly different (P<0.05) from that of the control group. The animal experiment indicated that all the three groups treated with different dosages of RBXG, as well as the Ash bark and Smilax glabra rhizome groups had their blood uric acid content reduced in the hyperuricemic mice.Conclusion: RBXG has a quicker initiation and better treatment effects than sole anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents on the treatment of repeatedly attacking acute gouty arthritis, showing no obvious toxic or adverse reactions and therefore good for long-term administration and likely to be a safe TCM preparation to control the symptoms and reduce the onsets of repeatedly attacking of acute gouty arthritis. The animal experiment shows that both the compound preparation and part of the single ingredients in the recipe have the function of reducing blood uric acid. However, the compound recipe has better therapeutic effects, proving to be superior to single drugs.

Abstract: In this paper, reciprocal theorem method (RTM) is generalized to solve the problems of bending of thick rectangular plates based on Reissner’s theory. First, the paper gives the basic solution of the bending of thick rectangular plates: and then the exact analytical solution of the bending of thick rectangular plate with three clamped edges and one free edge under uniformly distributed load is found by RTM: finally, we analyze numerical results of the solution.

With the development of the coastal cities in China, pile-net composite foundation, which contains the components of embankment fills, reinforced cushion, geogrid and piles, has been increasingly used for highways, railways, etc.because of its effectiveness in controlling the post-construction settlement with a relatively low cost. However, the pile-net composite foundation is so complicated that few studies provide the theoretical investigation on the composite foundation. In this study, a theoretical solution was developed by fully considering the soil arching effect, membrane effect and the interactions between component parts. The finite differential method was utilized to obtain the consolidated performances of pile-net composite foundation. According to the results, it is found that (a) the stress concentration ratio and axial force of the pile increases with consolidation of composite foundation; (b) the neutral point of the pile shifts down with the consolidation process; (c) membrane effect of the geogrid also has a obvious influence on the stress concentration ratio and (d) ignoring membrane effect will underestimate the pile stress ratio. Furthermore, the theoretical solution is used to compare with the finite element modeling to illustrate its feasibility.

Summary: Primary tumor tissues in the digestive system were harvested form 15 patients. By mincing, enzymatic digestion and gradient density separation, sufficient TILs (>5 × 106) were obtained from 13 of 15 (88. 7 %) patientsin vitro in the presence of 500 μ/ml of recombinant interleukin-2 and 5 % fetal calf serum after one month culture. 92. 3 % (12/13) of TILs proliferated wellin vitro (92. 3%). TILs expanded from 102-folds to 103-folds after being cultured for one month. CD25+ cell of the most fresh TILs was more than that of peripheral blood lymphocytes. CD25+ cells of TILs during 4th week of the culture was significantly greater (P <0. 01) than that of fresh TILs. CD4+/CD8+ ratio was decreased during four culture weeks because of increase of CD8 cells. By using modified colonmetric MTT assay for measuring activity of TILs against various tumor cells the results showed that cytotoxicity of gastro-intestinal TILs amtologous tumor cells is greater than on the other tumor cells.

Transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) is used to treat chronic constipation in the home environment. Incorrect application of TES may lead to ineffective therapy. We used an application failure mode and effects analysis (AFMEA) to analyze and rank problems. In developing mitigation options to minimize or eliminate failure modes, we identified design and engineering requirements for a new, simple-to-use stimulation system to deliver TES at home for treating chronic constipation, and educational material required to train clinicians, patients, and users. This provided a structured approach to the analysis and design of an improved device for treating chronic constipation.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.