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The development of non-noble metal-based electrocatalysts is still a challenge for electrochemical water-splitting technology. Herein, we successfully fabricated a novel three-dimensional sulfur (S)-doped WP2 nanowires (NWs) on carbon cloth (CC) as a self-supported electrode for electrocatalytic HER in alkaline media. The optimized S-doped WP2 NWs acquire the low overpotentials of 180 mV at 100 mA cm−2. The S-doping is proved to enlarge the specific surface area, reduce the charge transfer resistance, and optimize the electronic structure of WP2 NWs/CC. This study opens an avenue for enhancing the electrocatalytic activity via non-metal doping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart cities are the emerging topics in the recent decade with advancements in science and technology especially in the areas of communication technologies. Concept of smart cities depicts the inteconnectivity of physical objects to provide transparency in communication between the physical components or objects. However, implementation of a smart city using Internet of Things (IoT) which is the backbone architecture is affected by several attacks in the wireless communication domain during communication of information between the components as well as cyber-attacks which necessiate the need for the intrusion detection mechanism to prevent any illegeal loss data. This research paper addresses these security issues by implementing the IoT architecture and systematically analysing the demands in security aspects as well as justifying the results with experimentations conducted in a simulated smart city environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion: Genome-wide identification, classification, expression analyses, and functional characterization of GRAS genes in oil crop, Brassica napus, indicate their importance in root development and stress response. GRAS proteins are a plant-specific transcription factor gene family involved in tissues development and stress response. We classified 87 putative GRAS genes in the Brassica napus genome (BnGRASs) into 13 subfamilies by phylogenetic analysis. The C-terminal GRAS domains of Brassica napus (B. napus) proteins were less conserved among subfamilies, but were conserved within each subfamily. A series of analyses revealed that 89.7% of the BnGRASs did not have intron insertions, and 24 specific-motifs were found at the N-terminal. A highly conserved microRNA 171 (miRNA171) target was observed specifically in the HAM subfamily across land plants. A total of 868 pairs of interaction proteins were predicted, the primary of which were transcription factors involved in transcriptional regulation and signal transduction. Integrated comparative analysis of GRAS genes across 26 species of algae, mosses, ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms revealed that this gene family originated in early mosses and was classified into 19 subfamilies, 14 of which may have originated prior to bryophyte evolution. RNA-Seq analysis demonstrated that most BnGRASs were widely expressed in different tissues/organs at different stages in B. napus, and 24 BnGRASs were highly/specifically expressed in roots. Results from a qRT-PCR analysis suggested that two BnGRASs belonging to SCR and LISCL subfamilies potentially have important roles in the stress response of roots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein we reported that ferrocene-containing polymers could be synthesized via acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET) polymerization of ferrocene-containing bis-styryl monomers. The all- trans-configured vinylene bonds of stilbene segment were proven by means of C-NMR, H-NMR, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and FTIR. Poly(1) showed maxima for absorption at 320 nm and emission at 430 nm which are structurally very similar to trans-stilbene, but 24 and 16 nm red shifted respectively. CIE chromaticity diagram shows that emission color could be adjusted by controlling the molecular weight. The polymer showed excellent solubility in common organic solvents and good thermal stability evidenced by TGA and DSC. The results of CV suggested the polymer possessed noninteracting metal centers which was confirmed by a reversible one-electron redox wave observed for the polymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An improved whole model of beam pumping system was built. In the detail, for surface transmission system (STS), a new mathematical model was established considering the influence of some factors on the STS's torsional vibration, such as the time variation characteristic of equivalent stiffness of belt and equivalent rotational inertia of crank. For the sucker rod string (SRS), an improved mathematical model was built considering the influence of some parameters on the SRS's longitudinal vibration, such as the nonlinear friction of plunger, hydraulic loss of pump and clearance leakage. The dynamic response and system efficiency of whole system were analyzed. The results show that there is a jumping phenomenon in the amplitude frequency curve, and the system efficiency is sensitive to motor power, pump diameter, stroke number, ratio of gas and oil, and submergence depth. The simulation results have important significance for improving the efficiency of beam pumping system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the fermentation efficiency of lycopene, a plasma jet, driven by an active helium atom supplied with atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP) biological breeding system, was used as a new method to generate mutations in Blakeslea trispora (−). After several rounds of screening, a mutant A5 with high concentration of lycopene and dry biomass was isolated, which showed a maximum lycopene concentration (26.4 ± 0.2 mg/g dry biomass) which was 55 % higher than the parent strain (16.9 ± 0.3 mg/g dry biomass) in the production of lycopene. Compared with parent strain, B. trispora A5 required less dissolved oxygen (10 % less than that of parent strain) to reach maximum concentration in a 5-L stirred tank reactor batch fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper puts forward a method on controlling the AM-OLED panel to display image with high gray scale levels. It also gives an ASIC design sample to implement this method. A twenty sub-fields scan scheme has been taken into use in the chip to display 256 gray scale levels on a QVGA resolution AM-OLED display screen. The functions of image scaling and rotating have also been implemented for multiply application. The simulation and chip test result show that the chip design has met the design requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the time redundancy in the flat panel display (FPD) imaging process, the paper studied some problems for FPD gray scale controlling based on the fractal theory, dissertates the construction of the space-time mapping topology architecture, the proposition of optimal scanning structure for FPD's gray imaging, and the creation of the fractal theoretic model. Then the logic implementation and system application are presented based on the fractal model of the optimal scan architecture, and the application results achieved target of eliminating time redundancy and increasing the scanning availability. The novel control mode that the fractal scanning IP core described with Verilog language embedded in the FPGA hardware frame can efficiently increase the imaging gray scales and quality in the FPDs scanning controller and speed up the frame frequency of display system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) enhances taxol-induced antitumor effects against some human cancer cells. The aim of this study is to investigate whether SAHA can enhance taxol-induced cell death against human breast cancer cells and to illustrate the mechanism in detail. Methods: A panel of eight human breast cancer cell lines and an immortalized human breast epithelial cell line were used to determine the inhibitory effects of SAHA, taxol, or their combination by MTT assay. The effects of SAHA with or without taxol on cell cycle distributions, apoptosis, and protein expressions were also examined. The inhibitory effects on tumor growth were characterized in vivo in BALB/c nude mice bearing a breast cancer xenograft model. Results: Taxol-resistant and multi-resistant breast cancer cells were as sensitive to SAHA as taxol-sensitive breast cancer cells. A dose-dependent synergistic growth inhibition was found in all the tested breast cancer cell lines treated with the SAHA/taxol combinations. The synergetic effect was also observed in the in vivo xenograft tumor model. The cell cycle analysis and apoptosis assay showed that the synergistic effects resulted from enhanced G2/M arrest and apoptosis. Conclusions: SAHA increased the anti-tumor effects of taxol in breast cancer in vitro and in vivo. The combination of SAHA and taxol may have therapeutic potential in the treatment of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a serial synchronous scanning mode in flat panel display (FPD) by adding a latch buffer between the serializer and the driving buffer. Comparing with conventional techniques, the proposed structure can efficiently reduce the brightness loss and improve the transmission performance. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the ratio between the lightest weight display time and the relative transmission time is a tradeoff between brightness loss and transmission efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-speed dual-modulus divide-by-32/33 prescaler has been developed using 0.25 µm CMOS technology. The source-coupled logic (SCL) structure is used to reduce the switching noise and to ameliorate the power-speed tradeoff. The proposed prescaler can operate at high frequency with a low-power consumption. Based on the 2.5 V, 0.25 ; µm CMOS model, simulation results indicate that the maximum input frequency of the prescaler is up to 3.2 GHz. Running at 2.5 V, the circuit consumes only 4.6 mA at an input frequency 2.5 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]