Search

Ceramic nanofiber membrane (CNM) based on attapulgite (APT) without any intermediate layer neither any cracks was fabricated by a one-step dip-coating method. The effects of sintering temperature and dip-coating time on the physicochemical properties and performances of prepared CNMs were investigated. The increase of the sintering temperature up to 700 °C reduced the bending strength, porosity and chemical stability of APT-based CNMs. Meanwhile, with the dip-coating time increased, the membrane thickness increased thereafter reduced. The APT-based CNM fabricated at a sintering temperature of 600 °C and with a dip-coating time of 15 s had an average pore size of 20.4 nm, high porosity (above 60 %), good permeability of 118 L/m2 h bar and a rejection of 96.6 % polymers with a molecule weight of 600 kDa. All these properties clearly suggest the practicability of the one-step dip-coating method to prepare ceramic nanofiber membranes.

To solve the contradiction between particle size and color performance, an ultrafine V-ZrSiO4 pigment was successfully synthesized by sol–gel-microemulsion-hydrothermal (S-G-M-H) method in this paper. Meanwhile, the effects of hydrothermal time on the chromatic parameter, particle size distribution, phase composition, valence bond species and microstructure of the precursor and pigment were systematically investigated. Moreover, the color deterioration mechanism of V-ZrSiO4 nano-grain pigment was also revealed. The results demonstrate that the median diameter (D50) of the obtained V-ZrSiO4 pigment is only 0.972 μm. Besides, the synthesized pigment has vivid blue hue and superior tinting strength. As the increase of hydrothermal time, the particle size of V-ZrSiO4 pigment decreases, while the color performance of the pigment deteriorates. The color deterioration mechanism is attributed to the dual effects of the reduction of vanadium content in the outer layers of pigment particles and the enhancement of visible light reflection intensity.

Room temperature grown Fe monolayer (ML) on the Ir(111) single crystal substrate has attracted great research interests as nano-skyrmion lattice can form under proper growth conditions. The formation of the nanoscale skyrmion, however, appears to be greatly affected by the diffusion length of the Fe adatoms on the Ir(111) surface. We made this observation by employing spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy to study skyrmion formation upon systematically changing the impurity density on the substrate surface prior to Fe deposition. Since the substrate surface impurities serve as pinning centers for Fe adatoms, the eventual size and shape of the Fe islands exhibit a direct correlation with the impurity density, which in turn determines whether skyrmion can be formed. Our observation indicates that skyrmion only forms when the impurity density is below 0.006/nm2, i.e., 12 nm averaged spacing between the neighboring defects. We verify the significance of Fe diffusion length by growing Fe on clean Ir(111) substrate at low temperature of 30 K, where no skyrmion was observed to form. Our findings signify the importance of diffusion of Fe atoms on the Ir(111) substrate, which affects the size, shape and lattice perfection of the Fe islands and thus the formation of skyrmion lattice.

A novel concept of treating oil reservoirs by nanofluids is being developed to improve oil recovery and reduce the trapped oil in hydrocarbon reservoirs. Nanoparticles show great potential in enhancing oil recovery under ambient conditions. In this paper, the approaches of wettability alteration by using nanofluid, stability of nanofluids, and the most reliable wettability alteration mechanisms associated with variant types of nanoparticles have been reviewed. Moreover, the parameters that have a significant influence on nanofluid flooding have been discussed. Finally, the recent studies of the effect of nanoparticles on wettability alteration have been summarised and analysed. Furthermore, this paper presents possible opportunities and challenges regarding wettability alteration using nanofluids.

We report a new type of nano-optical tip, the quantum dot decorated nano-pyramid fiber tip, for scanning near-field optical microscopy. The nano-pyramid tip has a large apex angle (70.5 degree), and consequently exhibits a significant improvement (17-fold) of the signal collection efficiency compared to conventional tapered fiber tips. Moreover, thanks to the template-based fabrication method and the surface treatment technique, the quantum-dot decorated nano-pyramid tip enjoys a clean and smooth surface, and can be produced with high accuracy and high reproducibility. Experimental results show that, with the nano-pyramid tip, the optical field distribution of a photonic nanostructure can be mapped with a 20 nm resolution ( λ /20). It provides a powerful and reliable tool for near-field optical measurements.

Fines migration with consequent well productivity reduction is a well-known phenomenon occurring during exploitation of geothermal reservoirs. Laboratory corefloods with piecewise constant decreasing ionic strength have been performed with measurements of the pressure drop along the core and the accumulated effluent particle concentration. The tests were performed under ambient conditions with further results re-calculation for high geothermal temperatures. Permeability stabilises after injection of numerous pore volumes, suggesting slow drift of mobilised particles if compared with the carrier water velocity. SEM-EDX analysis of the produced fine particles shows that kaolinite and illite/chlorite are the major minerals responsible for the permeability damage. The competitive effects of decreasing water viscosity and weakening electrostatic attraction on the attached particle concentration during temperature increase have been observed. The micro modelling of the fine particle mechanical equilibrium shows that the electrostatic attraction effect on the fines attachment dominates. It results in increased fines detachment and permeability decline at high temperatures, suggesting that geothermal fields are more susceptible for fines migration formation damage than the conventional oilfields and aquifers. A new “ionic strength- velocity” translation procedure is developed for determining velocity dependency of the maximum retention function from laboratory coreflood tests with varying ionic strength. Experiment-based evaluation of velocity- and temperature-dependencies on the maximum retention function is demonstrated for specific conditions of geothermal resevoirs. We discuss well inflow performance with fines migration, and derive an exact solution for axi-symmetric water-flow towards the well. The solution includes explicit formulae for attached, suspended and strained fines, and well productivity. The analytical model along with the obtained laboratory data allows successful matching of the well discharge history (Salamander geothermal field, Australia).

The theory of audit pricing suggests that audit fees are positively associated with areas of higher inherent risk. Inventory is commonly cited as one such area, and many Western studies have reported a positive association between inventory and audit fees. However, most Chinese studies have reported a significant negative association. This study finds that this puzzling association is attributable to Chinese auditors charging a significant discount on the opening balance of inventory, whereas their U.S. counterparts charge a significant premium. Meanwhile, we show that opening-balance inventory is associated with higher inherent risk both in China and the U.S. On the other hand, both Chinese and U.S. auditors charge a significant discount on the net increase in inventory as of the current year end, and we show that this is associated with lower inherent risk. Therefore, Chinese auditors appear to underreact to the inherent risk associated with opening-balance inventory, which helps explain the puzzling negative association between inventory and audit fees in China.

Permeability reduction and formation damage in porous media caused by fines (defined as unconfined solid particles present in the pore spaces) migration is one of the major reasons for productivity decline. It is well accepted that particle detachment occurs under imbalanced torques arising from hydrodynamic and adhesive forces exerted on attached particles. This paper reviewed current understanding on primary factors influencing fines migration as well as mathematical formulations for quantification. We also introduced salinity-related experimental observations that contradict theoretical predictions based on torque balance criteria, such as delayed particle release and attachment-detachment hysteresis. The delay of particle release during low-salinity water injection was successfully explained and formulated by the Nernst-Planck diffusion of ions in a narrow contact area. In addition to the widely recognized explanation by surface heterogeneity and the presence of low-velocity regions, we proposed a hypothesis that accounts for the shifting of equilibrium positions, providing new insight into the interpretation of elusive attachment-detachment hysteresis both physically and mathematically. The review was finalized by discussing the quantification of anomalous salinity effect on adhesion force at low- and high-salinity conditions.

Flexible resources on demand-side, such as electric heating loads (EHLs), are perceived as an effective way of supporting the power balance of power grids with large scale renewable energy integration. However, it is difficult to quickly, effectively and evenly aggregate and schedule a large population of these loads because of their heterogeneity and geographic dispersion. The efficiency and effectiveness of optimal control are important for achieving the power balance between power source and load, especially in real-time scheduling. Moreover, the even load allocation between these heterogeneous loads also needs to motivate users participation in real-time power balance. To follow wind power in the real-time electricity market, this study presents a bi-level control method for EHLs based on distributed optimization computing, which considers the bi-level queuing method, different load control modes and multi-time scales between different control levels. First, each load group, which includes a large population of EHLs is controlled by a distributed server (DS); all the load groups are scheduled by the central management server (CMS), which deals with the wind farm or electricity retailer. Next, a distributed optimization model is built based on the bi-level control structure, in which the different power balance statuses and multi-time scales between the electricity market and EHLs are considered. Furthermore, considering the power balance on the multi-time scales, layer-by-layer load allocation optimization through the bi-level time-varying temperature queuing method, and the load-leveling optimization, serve as the sequential optimization problems. Finally, a simulation including 12,500 EHLs based on measured data in northern China is carried out. The results show that the proposed approach can effectively realize real-time power balance between wind power and EHLs, while maintaining uniform load allocation between the EHLs.

This paper analyses the effect of realized future growth opportunities on insider trading. Using intangible information decomposed by the book-to-market ratio, we find that insiders’ stock sales are significantly negatively associated with intangible information. The results suggest that intangible information provides insiders an opportunity to gain profit by means of selling stocks with high-level realized future growth opportunities in advance. Meanwhile, high information transparency of the firm will strengthen the insider’s trading based on realized future growth opportunities.

The late to post-tectonic Lijiagou spodumene pegmatites are located in the Ke’eryin orefield, which lies in the Triassic central Songpan-Garze Fold Belt (SGFB) in southwestern Sichuan Province, China. Fluid inclusion petrography, microthermometry and Raman spectroscopic analyses were carried out on quartz and spodumene in granites and four types of pegmatite in the Ke’eryin orefield. A Hydrothermal Diamond Anvil Cell (HDAC) was used to observe the microthermometric behavior of crystal-rich inclusions. Five types of fluid inclusions were identified. Crystal-rich inclusions (Type 1) in spodumene pegmatites were trapped at high temperature (658 to 741 °C) and high pressure (>4.7 kbar). Other inclusion types were found in granite and all types of pegmatite. Triphase CO2-H2O (CO2 + V + L, Type 2) inclusions show medium homogenization temperatures (324 to 339 °C), medium trapping pressures (2.09 to 2.54 kbar) and low to moderate salinities (3.1 to 11.3 wt% NaCl equiv). Biphase aqueous inclusions (L + V, Type 3) show similar homogenization temperatures (319 to 347 °C), and low to moderate salinities (5.5 to 18.0 wt% NaCl equiv). Monophase liquid CO2 (Type 4) inclusions have very low homogenization temperatures (15.4 to 19.1 °C). Monophase liquid H2O (Type 5) inclusions have moderate ice melting temperatures (–18.6 to –9.8 °C), and moderate salinities (18.4 to 18.5 wt% NaCl equiv). The various types of fluid inclusion reveal the P–T conditions of pegmatite formation, which records the transition from a magmatic to a hydrothermal environment and indicate that the ore-forming fluid resulted from the unmixing of magmatic melt. Fluid immiscibility is the key mechanism responsible for formation of the Lijiagou spodumene pegmatites and lithium mineral precipitation occurred from a high to medium temperature CO2-rich fluid. The absence of temperature and salinity gradients between granite and progressively more distal and evolved pegmatite compositions is inconsistent with formation of pegmatite magmas by fractional crystallization of granitic magmas, but consistent with separate anatectic origins of each type of pegmatite magma.

As a globally important artificial sweetener, sucralose (SUC) is a persistent emerging contaminant in global aquatic environments. This research comprehensively track the fate and transport of SUC throughout an urban water cycle; to perform laboratory experiments to determine chlorinated disinfection by-products (DBPs) of SUC sebsequent to advanced oxidation with ozone; and to perform a risk evaluation of SUC related DBPs.; The results demonstrated that SUC was consistently present throughout the urban water cycle, including consumer's tap water. The inluent to the municipal wastewater treatment plant contained 1033.4-2626.3 ng/L SUC, and as expected for this non-biodegradable artificial sweetener, the concentration in the effluent was slightly reduced to 917.6-2031.2 ng/L. The concentration of SUC varied in surface waters with a peak value of 2070.0 ng/L. In finished drinking water 288.1–505.3 ng/L SUC was found, and values of 177.7–409.7 ng/L were present in the distribution system. Up to 16.3% of SUC concentration discharged as municipal wastewater was delivered to residents in their drinking water. While conventional treatment little removed SUC, the mean removal efficiency of SUC with ozonation followed by activated carbon filtration was 39.6% at a full-scale drinking water treatment plant. The fate and transformation of SUC in drinking water treated by ozonation and chlorination were investigated in laboratory experiments. Ozonation partially degraded SUC; however, intermediates reacted with chlorine to generate DBPs, including trichloromethane (TCM), dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) and trichloroacetic acid (TCAA). Peak 7-days potential formation of TCM, DCAA and TCAA were 0.016, 0.51 and 23.34 μ g/mg SUC, respectively. DBP yields increased with increasing chlorine dosage, chlorination time, temperature, and solution pH. The presence of ammonia nitrogen in water facilitated dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) production up to 0.78 μ g/mg SUC, while simultaneously reducing the yield of TCM, DCAA and TCAA. Human exposure analysis revealed that carcinogenic risks of DBPs caused only by SUC ozonation were in the range of 1.86 × 10−12-6.12 × 10−9, while non-carcinogenic risks were in the range of 6.0 × 10−9-4.37 × 10−6. The pervasive occurrence of SUC in an urban water cycle, couple to its resistance to biological and chemical treatment, confirms that SUC is a persistent contaminant in the aquatic system, including tap water.

Non-uniform solar flux distribution in a parabolic trough concentrator (PTC) causes large temperature gradients on absorber tube surface, making the PTC inefficient and damaged. To solve the problem, a novel method is proposed for designing the additional secondary reflector (SR) in a PTC to improve uniform heat flux distribution on absorber tube surface. In the design, the heat flux between upper and lower surfaces of absorber tube is well balanced by optimizing the location of absorber. Then, the SR with segmented broken-line type composed of multiple plane mirrors is delicately designed with local heat flux compensation strategy. Two case studies are conducted to compare the performances of the newly designed SRs with other existing SR designs. It is shown that the uniformity of heat flux distribution can be improved to over 90% for present SR design, much higher than those for other existing SR designs. Also, the optical efficiency of the PTC with present SR design is also increased as compared with other designs. The results indicate that this proposed method is competent for designing SR in a PTC with uniform heat flux distribution.

In this paper, vanadium ion (V4+) doped ZrO2 pigment (Vx-ZrO2) and vanadium/yttrium ions (V4+/Y3+) co-doped ZrO2 pigment (VxYy-ZrO2) were synthesized via inorganic sol-gel route. The Vx-ZrO2 and VxYy-ZrO2 pigments with the low V4+ content still have excellent color performance, because the gel network is conducive to immobilize coloring ions which to reduce the loss of coloring ions. The results show that the Vx-ZrO2 pigment has the optimal chromatic parameters of L∗ = 68.40, a∗ = 7.93, b∗ = 43.72 when the x-value is 0.04. The measurement of EDS indicates the actual doping amount of V4+ is up to 3.14 mol%. The introduction of Y3+ in a moderate amount can increase the doping amount of V4+ in the V–ZrO2 pigment, because of Y3+ can activate zirconia lattice. Therefore, with the introduction of 1 mol% Y3+ in the ZrO2 lattice, the chromatic parameter of the pigment (i.e. V0.04Y0.01-ZrO2) is optimized to L∗ = 58.57, a∗ = 19.39, b∗ = 40.02, where the actual doping amount of V4+ increased to 3.48 mol%. Meanwhile, there is a synergy/competition mechanism in the process of V4+ and Y3+ co-doped into ZrO2 lattice. After applying on high-temperature ceramic glaze, the V0.04-ZrO2 and V0.04Y0.01-ZrO2 pigment present superior tinting strength, high thermal stability and excellent chemical stability, indicating they are attractive application in ceramic decoration.

The artificial sweeteners (ASs) saccharin (SAC) and neotame (NEO) are widely used across the globe and are considered as emerging contaminants in surface, ground, and drinking waters. To degrade SAC and NEO, the metal organic framework material Co-based bio-MOF-11 was prepared by hydrothermal reaction and used with peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activator. The effects of the initial concentration of SAC and NEO, bio-MOF-11-Co dosage, PMS concentration, initial pH, temperature, and competitive anions were determined. The results revealed that bio-MOF-11-Co effectively catalyzed the degradation of SAC and NEO and possessed good stability and recycling efficiency. The degradation reaction was effective from pH 3.6–9.8 and followed quasi-first-order kinetics with degradation rate constants of 0.001–0.013 min−1 for SAC and 0.03–0.52 min−1 for NEO. Increased temperature was conducive to the degradation of both artificial sweeteners. The presence of Cl− inhibited the degradation of SAC and NEO, while the presence of CO32− promoted their degradation. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and free radical quenching demonstrated that the primary free radicals were sulfate radicals ( SO 4 − · ) and hydroxyl radicals (HO ). The change of cobalt oxidation state and electron transfer in bio-MOF-11-Co mainly induces the production of SO 4 − · . A plausible mechanism for degradation is SO 4 − · and HO attack on C S bonds, N S bonds, and benzene rings.

Fines migration involving particle detachment in natural reservoirs usually exhibits significant permeability damage. This occurs due to mobilization and migration of detached colloidal or suspended fines that were strained in thin pore throats. Numerous laboratory coreflood tests show that the time for permeability stabilization accounts for hundreds of injected pore volumes. However, classical filtration theory assumes that the released fines are transported by the bulk of the carrier fluid, thus stabilizing the permeability after the injection of one pore volume. The current paper attributes the stabilization delay to the slow drift of the mobilized fines near the pore walls. We propose basic flow equations for single-phase particle transport in porous media with velocity lower than the carrier fluid velocity. We derive an analytical model for one dimensional flow with particle release and straining under piecewise-constant increasing velocity. The laboratory data are in high agreement with the results of mathematical modelling. The effective particle speed is 500–1000 times lower than the water velocity.

Laboratory-based mathematical modelling of fines migration allows predicting well productivity reduction during the geothermal reservoir exploitation. The analytical model for one-dimensional flow with ionic strength alteration has been derived. Good adjustment of the permeability and breakthrough concentration data from coreflood test by the analytical model has been achieved, and the tuned model coefficients fall in the common ranges. The obtained maximum retention function of multi-sized fines allows calculating their size distribution. During the temperature rise, weakening of electrostatic attraction on fines attached to rock surface overwhelms the reduction of detaching drag force due to water viscosity decrease. It leads to increased fines detachment and more severe permeability decline at elevated temperatures, typical for geothermal fields.

Foam has been widely used as a proven technology in enhanced oil recovery by improving the mobility of the injected gas. However, its further application has been retarded owing to the limited stability in high salinity, high temperature and crude oil conditions. Traditional agents for foam stabilization including surfactants, polymers are unable to stabilize foam for long term under harsh conditions. In this work, the nanogel particles with high viscoelasticity were synthesized to stabilize foam for more than one year through a free radical reaction method using α-starch, acrylamide, N,N′-methylene bisacrylamide, potassium persulfate. The diameter of nanogel particles was 30 nm. The stability of foam stabilized by nanogel particles was evaluated by using foam volume and T90 as indicators at temperature of 30–120 °C, salinity of 0–240 g/L and oil percentage of 0–50 wt%. Moreover, the rheological properties of foam were also measured to study the mechanisms of foam stability under different conditions. The results demonstrated that foam stabilized by nanogel particles exhibited excellent resistance to high salinity, high temperature and crude oil. Thus, the synthesized nanogel particles can be used as a potential candidate for stabilizing foam in enhanced oil recovery.

High-performance submicron ZrSiO4 powder is prepared by a sol-gel-microemulsion-hydrothermal method (S-G-M-H). In this method, the transformation from sol to gel is constrained in the droplets of the microemulsion and accelerated by the hydrothermal process. The interface change of sol/oil to gel/oil makes the emulsion automatic demulsificate without demulsifiers, which means that the organic solvents can be recycled. The preparation process is low-cost and environmentally friendly. The results show that the synthesized ZrSiO4 powder owns the optimized median diameter (D50) of 0.67 μm under the optimized preparation condition of hydrothermal treatment at 150 °C for 7 h. The ZrSiO4 particles are the agglomeration of the primary particles with a size of about 100 nm. As an opacifier, 15 wt% submicron ZrSiO4 powder added give a whiteness value of 85 to the opaque glaze, which is significantly better than commercial ZrSiO4 powder with the same amount added. Meanwhile, the obtained submicron powder has excellent sintering activity. After sintered at 1300 °C for 2 h, the ZrSiO4 pellets has the density of 4.32 g cm−3 and the porosity of 0.31%.

Formation of low permeable external filter cake during drilling and water injection has been widely reported in the literature. It may cause significant decrease in well index. The process is very sensitive to size distribution of injected particles. We propose a new mathematical model for cake formation with deep bed filtration for two-particle-size injection. The basic equations account for three stages: formation of cake from large particles with simultaneous deep bed filtration of small particles; small particle capture in the cake with formation of the internal cake inside the external cake; build-up of the uniform cake from the mixture of two-size particles. The analytical model is derived for three stages. Two regimes of the cake formation are identified, which correspond to the high and low concentrations of injected small particles. The laboratory coreflood with two-particle-size suspension injection with monitoring the rate and pressure drop along the core is performed. The matched mathematical model shows good agreement with the laboratory data.

The wind power generation system will play a crucial role for developing the energy conservative, environmentally friendly, and sustainable electric power system in China. However, the intermittency and unpredictability of wind power has been an obstacle to the deployment of wind power generation, especially in the winter of northern China. In northern China, a combined heat and power (CHP) unit has been widely utilized as a heat and electricity source. Considering the flexible operation of CHP with introduction of electric heat pumps (EHPs), this paper proposes a new method of electricity and heating demand side management to facilitate the wind power integration with the purpose of energy conservation in a unit-commitment problem. The thermal characteristics of demand side such as the thermal inertia of buildings and thermal comfort of end users are taken into consideration. Moreover the distributed electric heat pumps (EHPs) widely used by city dwellers are introduced into the wind-thermal power system as the heating source and spinning reserve so as to increase the flexibility of heating and electricity supply. The simulation results show that the new method can integrate more wind power into power grid for electricity and heating demand to reduce the coal consumption.

The graded proppant injection into a connected cleat system of coal bed methane (CBM) reservoir allows deeper particle penetration and straining in the remote open cleats yielding higher well productivity index. The analytical model for axisymmetric flow has been derived for exponential stress–permeability relationship and accounting for permeability variation outside the stimulated zone. Laboratory proppant injections into coal cores have been performed for different proppant sizes and water salinities. It is shown that the proppant suspension based on low salinity water prevents the particle–particle and particle–coal attraction with the consequent core inlet plugging and external cake formation. However, low salinity of the injected water may cause mobilisation, migration and straining of the natural reservoir fines resulting in high formation damage. The interval where salinity is low enough for the rock inlet not to be plugged by the injected proppant, and is high enough for large formation damage due to fine migration not to occur, is proposed for the cores under investigation. The analytical model is tuned from the laboratory data and used for well index prediction. Ignoring the model matching by the laboratory results causes the overestimation of the incremental productivity index, as achieved by the graded proppant injection into coal beds below the fracturing pressure.

Permeability decline during high rate flows has been widely reported for corefloods and for production wells. The phenomenon is attributed to mobilisation of fine particles at elevated velocities, their migration in porous space with the following straining in thin pores and attachment to pore walls. Sixteen sets of corefloods with piecewise constant rate have been performed under increasing flow rate. The particularities of this study are long injection periods, allowing estimating permeability stabilisation times, and pressure measurements in intermediate core points, permitting for evaluation of the permeability profile variation along the core. It was found out that the mobilised particles drift with speeds significantly lower than the carrier fluid velocity, resulting in long permeability stabilisation periods.

Osteoarthritis (OA), characterized by cartilage damage, synovitis inflammation and chronic pain, is a common degenerative joint disease that may lead to physical disability. In the present study, we first explored the association between N-Acylethanolamine acid amidase (NAAA) and OA progression, and then examined the capability of the NAAA inhibitor F215 to attenuate osteoarthritis. Increased NAAA expressions and decreased PEA levels in synovial membrane and lumbar spinal cord were observed in MIA induced osteoarthritic rats. F215 (i.a., and i.p.) significantly protected against cartilage damage and synovial inflammation by directly increasing PEA levels in joints, or normalization of PEA levels and resolution of inflammation in spinal cord. Moreover, F215 also markedly alleviated osteoarthritic pain in rats, and the therapeutic effects of F215 were blocked by the PPAR-α antagonist MK886. The results revealed that NAAA may has been implicated in OA progression, and treatment with NAAA inhibitor F215 alleviated OA development by preventing cartilage damage, reducing inflammation, and alleviating pain. Our study suggested that NAAA inhibitor might be a novel therapeutic agent for OA treatment.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the therapeutic effect of scalp electroacupuncture for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the early stage.MethodsTwo hundred and thirty three MCI patients were randomly divided into three groups: the drug group, the scalp electroacupuncture group, and the syndrome differentiation group. For the scalp electroacupuncture group, the points of Baihui (DU 20), Sishecong (EX-HN1), Fengchi (GB 20), and Shenting (DU 24) were selected. For the syndrome differentiation group, specific acupoints were added on the basis of syndrome differentiation and according to the scale for the differentiation of syndromes in vascular dementia (SDSVD) beside the acupoints used in the scalp electroacupuncture group. For the drug group, nimodipine was orally administered. Each patient was treated for two courses, eight weeks. The score differences in mini-mental state examination (MMSE), picture recognition, and clock drawing test were observed before and after the treatment.ResultsAfter treatment, the score differences in MMSE and clock drawing test were of obvious statistical significance among three groups (P0.05). There were statistical significant differences in therapeutic effects between the scalp electroacupuncture group and the drug group, and between the syndrome differentiation group and the drug group (P0.05).ConclusionAll the three therapies may improve the cognitive function of MCI patients. The therapeutic effects in the scalp electroacupuncture and syndrome differentiation groups were basically the same, but superior to nimodipine.

α-MnO2 nanostructures with different morphologies including nanoparticles, flower-like nanostructures and nanorods have been successfully prepared and used in the heterogeneous oxidation of naproxen in water. It has been found out that the heterogeneous oxidation process is highly pH dependent, with higher efficiency at lower pH values. The oxidation kinetics of naproxen were modeled by Langmuir–Hinshelwood equations. Based on the kinetic constants (k), the oxidation efficiency follows the order of commercial particles