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Two new phenylpropanoids, plagnans (1) and plaganoid (2), along with five known phenylpropanoids, including an enantiomeric mixture (compound 3) were isolated from the roots of Platycodon grandiflorus. Meanwhile, their structures were elucidated by analyzing the spectroscopic data, including NMR, HR-ESI-MS, ECD (ICD), and X-ray analysis. Although all isolates were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activities, and of them exhibited moderate activities, with IC50 values of around 27.5 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reorganization of the global production network and the increased mobility of urban-rural elements have accelerated the differentiation of rural spaces, resulting in a trend towards specialization in rural areas. This paper focuses on the concept of specialization, and takes a renowned bonsai specialized village in Guangzhou City, China as a typical case to explore its transformation and development process, action logic and coupling mechanism with the social governance. The results show that: 1) the development of rural specialization in Ruiling Village is shaped by several key actors, such as local governments, grassroots organizations, villagers, social organizations, policies, markets and infrastructure. The transfer of these key actors and the reconstruction of actor-networks in different stages have an important influence on the transformation and realization of rural development goals. 2) Through subjects-driven, organization management and resource connection, social governance supports the specialization of rural industrial organization, operation, technology and mode. The governance structure shifts from decentralization to networking, refinement and integration. A coupling community of social governance and specialization is created by the social governance system of 'local government-grassroots organizations-economic cooperatives-villagers', which links industries, industrial chains and cooperatives. 3) Social governance integrates into the value chain extension process of rural specialized development with a central, multi-level organizational structure. It promotes the construction of the whole value chain through organizational planning, resource integration and image shaping, thus realizing the value, branding and organization of the industry, as well as the integration of rural sustainable development and governance mechanism. Social governance has a profound impact on the development of rural specialization in terms of subject, structure and mode, and participates in the construction of the whole value chain of rural areas. This paper provides a new perspective for understanding the coupling effect of social governance in the rural development transformation, and promotes the rural sustainable development and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the rock-breaking pattern of shaft boring machine (SBM) cutters is the basis for cutter design. In order to reveal the influence of the cutter blade width on the rock-breaking effect, this study established a discrete-continuous coupled rock mass numerical model. By setting different blade widths and types, the variation patterns of cutter forces, rock-breaking area, and specific energy with the blade width were revealed. The influence of the blade type on the breaking coefficient was further quantified according to the fractal dimension. The results show that under the cutting action, the rock mass can be divided into dense core, fractured zone, and elastic deformation zone, with the fractured zones mainly located on the lower side of the cutter's central axis. As the width of the cutter increases, the cutter penetration force and side force increase linearly with the increase in blade width, the breaking area increases and then tends to remain constant, the specific energy decreases first and then increases, and the rock fragmentation factor increases linearly. After scaling the width of the flat blade up to 18 mm and the arc blade to 24 mm, further increase in the blade width does not improve the breaking efficiency but only results in a smaller slag granularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is vigorously implementing a rural revitalization strategy with the prosperity of rural industries as the primary goal. The characteristic economy of ‘One Village One Product’ (OVOP) is particularly significant in promoting rural revitalization and increasing farmers’ income. Accurately identifying the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of agricultural specialized villages (ASVs) under OVOP provides a preliminary research basis for constructing the theoretical framework of specialization and clustering of rural industrial development. This study takes Guangdong Province, China as an example, using kernel density estimation, Ripley’s K function, geometric fractals, principal component regression and other methods to identify the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of ASVs. It was found that the ASVs in Guangdong Province are dominated by the planting industry, with an uneven number in space and a multi patch distribution. Specifically, ASVs are mainly distributed in the Chaoshan Plain in the eastern Guangdong, the northern mountainous area of Guangzhou, and the eastern part of Maoming City. Its spatial distribution mode obeys the aggregation distribution pattern at the scale of province, region and municipality (prefecture-level city). In addition, the formation and development of ASVs are affected by multiple internal and external factors. The influence of basic factors such as natural environmental conditions is gradually weakening, while the influence of social and economic factors such as market demand is gradually increasing. This study can enrich the research results of ASVs and provide guidance and reference for the long-term and high-quality development of rural industry revitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of soil quality is one of the most important issues concerning changes in coastal ecosystem services resulting from the establishment of Spartina alterniflora (S. alterniflora) marshes. Conventional recognition of soil quality involves many soil analyses that can be costly and time consuming; by contrast, visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (VNIRS) for the prediction of soil quality may offer an inexpensive and rapid approach. This study explored the suitability of using VNIRS and partial least squares analysis for predicting a global soil quality index (SQI) and its categories along a chronosequence of S. alterniflora invasion. Soil properties that were significantly correlated with S. alterniflora age were selected for calculating the SQI. Two types of SQIs (productive function and salt-driven) were considered in this study. The SQI significantly (P < 0.05) increased for both types during 17 years of establishment. There were spectral differences in the SQI category, especially in the range of 700–2500 nm. Samples from different SQI categories and different invasion ages could be discriminated from spectral reflectance. 'Moderate to good' prediction models could be obtained for the SQI and its categories based on refined spectra that were identified as important responses between the SQI and spectra. These results demonstrate the application of VNIRS as an efficient approach for estimating soil quality, as well as for the discrimination of soil state associated with the establishment phase. The results suggest that VNIRS has a high potential for monitoring the soil quality of S. alterniflora soils, which can be used for soil development assessments in coastal ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An indicator system is constructed and applied for comprehensive measurement of rural vulnerability in China's counties. Through the selection of five representative transects we explore regional differences in, and driving forces of, China's rural vulnerability. The results show that (1) The rural vulnerability of counties in China is generally within the threshold range of low to medium, and exhibits obvious spatial differences. Along the "Bole-Taipei Line", there is a spatial pattern of north-south differentiation. Villages in the northeast part of the counties have low vulnerability, while those in the southwest are relatively vulnerable (2) External environmental phenomena are the leading factors that induce rural vulnerability. Specifically, the rural ecological subsystem composed of ecological exposure, ecological sensitivity, and ecological adaptation is the principal determinant of rural vulnerability. The rural economic subsystem composed of economic exposure, economic sensitivity, and economic adaptation is also a core determinant of rural vulnerability. The social subsystem composed of social exposure, social sensitivity, and social adaptation is also an important determinant of rural vulnerability. (3) According to the principle of adapting measures to local conditions, different regions should seek to reduce regional embeddedness and path dependence. We should strengthen the prediction and monitoring of sources of disturbance in rural areas, and scientifically control the sensitivity of the system itself. Then the adaptive capacity of the rural system can be improved pursuant of promoting sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the distribution of supernumerary teeth (ST) and the characteristics of mesiodens. Methods: Panoramic radiographs of 48,700 outpatients were used to assess the distribution of ST. A total of 142 cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images were used to evaluate the characteristics of mesiodens. Results: A total of 1.24% of individuals aged from 1 to 98 years were diagnosed with ST among 48,700 outpatients, and males had a higher percentage of ST than females (2.94:1); patients aged 6–12 years were the most frequently diagnosed. More females had ST impacted in bone than males. The percentages of patients with 1 and 2 ST were 0.949 and 0.290%, respectively. The most frequent location, crown direction, and morphology of mesiodens were palatal, inverted, and conical, respectively. The tooth lengths of mesiodens in males and of erupted mesiodens were longer than that those in females and of unerupted mesiodens, respectively. Inverted mesiodens had the shortest tooth length compared with vertical and horizontal mesiodens. These results were statistically significant. Conclusions: The distribution of ST and mesiodens were both related to gender, and patients aged 6–12 years were the most frequently detected. The length of the mesiodens was associated with the growth direction and mesiodens eruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reform of global production mode and social system accelerate the process of urbanization, and the urban-rural factors accelerate rural space diversification. Based on the space production theory and game theory, this paper analyzed the space diversification process and its influence on Beicun village. The results show that: (1) In the past 30 years, the development of Beicun has experienced three stages: agricultural development, industrial development, and service industrial development. The industrial structure has changed from single to diverse. The transformation of agricultural decentralization to rural community has been realized. (2) Accompanying the rural economic development transformation, the land use type and structure of Beicun has diversified. The spatial relationship of various types of land use was complicated and gave rise to new characteristics of mixed land for commercial and residential use, and industrial and commercial use, gradually forming a circular spatial layout structure model of public service facilities, traditional residential areas and modern residential areas, commercial areas, agricultural and industrial areas. (3) Rural space diversification was mainly due to the intervention of new industries and the transformation of leading industries. The endogenous land transferring mechanism and exogenous urban capital jointly promoted the industrialization process, and the market power promoted the transformation of industry into the service industry. (4) The industrialization process promoted the functional replacement of historical buildings by village organizations. It changed the social relations of the village with the blood clan and geography oriented, and produced the occupational relation between migrant workers and urban low-income groups. (5) The multi-differentiation of suburban rural space followed the game logic of capital and land interests. The rural community played a key mediation in the competition for space and the game of interests among local villagers, farmers, economic cooperation, industrial operators, and service owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The polysaccharides extracted from the achenes of jelly fig, Ficus awkeotsang Makino, were mainly composed of low methyl pectin and used as a novel shell material for encapsulating lipophilic bioactives in the core of microcapsule. The polysaccharide microcapsules with oil core were prepared using a novel acrylic-based millifluidic device developed in this study. To investigate the physiochemical properties of and find the suitable formula of polysaccharide shells, the films casted with jelly fig polysaccharide were thoroughly characterized. For the preparation of microcapsules, the millifluidic device was optimized by controlling the flow rate to obtain uniform spherical shape with a core diameter of 1.4−1.9 mm and the outer diameter of 2.1–2.8 mm. The encapsulation efficiency was around 90%, and the microcapsules displayed a clear boundary between the polysaccharide shell and oil core. Encapsulation of curcumin in the microcapsules was prepared to test the applicability of the device and processes developed in this study, and the results showed that the microencapsulation could enhance the stability of curcumin against external environment. Overall, the results suggested that the jelly fig polysaccharides and the developed millifluidic device can be useful for the preparation of core-shell microcapsules for encapsulation of lipophilic bioactives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollution caused by As in soil menaces the health of humans. There are characteristics of waste utilization, low cost, and a wide range of materials by using dewatered sludge as the main component of soil repair agents. In this paper, dewatered sludge and biochar were used as repair agents for As pollution, which were rarely reported, and the related passivation experiments were carried out. Through the analysis of experimental data of the basic physical and chemical properties of contaminated soil, various characteristics of repair agent and As morphology were obtained, and the applicability and passivation effect of dewatered sludge-biochar compound repair agent and dewatered sludge as an individual repair agent on passivation of As pollution in soil was discussed. By comparing different passivation effects, the repairing effect increases with time, and the optimal repair time was 40 days; in the set experiment group, the best passivation effect of the individual repair agent was the S3 (dry sludge accounting for 20% of soil samples) experimental group, and the best effect of the compound repair agent was the S + B3 (dry sludge and biochar accounting for 10% and 2% of soil samples, respectively) group. As a repair agent, the dewatered sludge-biochar compound repair agent can be used to repair As-contaminated soil, which provides a new method for the recycling and waste utilization of dewatered sludge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In a rapid urbanization context, socio-economic development has caused large increases in carbon emissions. In this study, various techniques such as cointegration analysis, vector autoregression, and decoupling elastic function methods are applied to analyze the sequential collaborative relationship between economic development and carbon emissions in the process of urbanization in terms of the time-series lag relationship and the decoupling relationship. The main findings are as follows: (1) urbanization and carbon emissions displayed a temporal correlation relation with a lag of order 4, according to stability tests, and (2) the development of urbanization, economic growth, and changes in land use may be responsible for the time lag in carbon emissions. Furthermore, the mechanisms behind the effect of urbanization on carbon emissions are investigated to assist future carbon emissions reduction efforts. (3) From 1990 to 2014, carbon emissions and economic development showed a temporal evolution trend of "weak decoupling–expansionary coupling–weak decoupling" in the Pearl River Delta region, and there was an overall weak decoupling state: carbon emissions increased with growth in economic development, but the emissions growth rate was lower than the speed of economic development. (4) From 1990 to 2014, economic development showed a trend of sustained growth in the Pearl River Delta region, and differences were detected in the decoupling status between carbon emissions and economic development at different times. The overall decoupling status of the nine cities in the region was one of weak decoupling; however, the decoupling index, carbon emissions, and economic development levels displayed differences, whereby cities with high carbon emissions and high economic development levels were not necessarily the cities in which environmental pressures from economic development were the most severe. Our results have important theoretical and practical significance as they clarify the impact of economic development on carbon emissions in the process of urbanization, as well as the carbon emissions reduction work that must be undertaken in urban systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on land use classification data of remote sensing images, using kernel density, the minimal cumulative resistance model of road traffic accessibility, and a logistic regression model, the characteristics of the spatial pattern and the main factors influencing it were quantitatively examined in Guangdong Province from 1990 to 2013. The framework of the research concerning rural settlement evolution and its effect mechanisms were also discussed and generalized for the future. The results are as follows: (1) The spatial distribution of rural settlements showed spatial directivity of low altitude, low slope, and adjacent to rivers, as well as to villages and towns; thus a special pattern was formed, which was dense on the plains, sparse in mountainous areas, and included two core high density regions of rural settlements in the Chaoshan plain in the east and the Zhanjiang plain tableland region in the west. The spatial distribution of rural settlements was located along the rivers, valleys, and roads with traffic in the mountainous regions surrounding the Pearl River Delta region. (2) In addition to the spatial orientation of the open road, it was important to show that the accessibility of road traffic to the township has had the greatest influence on the spatial distribution of the rural settlements. The connected transport network between towns and villages is significant for rural transformation as a comprehensive increase in township production and service capacity will be the key to optimizing the town-village system in rural areas. (3) Elevation and slope were two basic but influential factors that have affected the distribution, scale, and form of rural settlements. The attributes of the physical geography are the first elements in optimizing village layout and planning spatial reconstruction. (4) In the current Internet and social media era, the reconstruction of market network system orders connects with the global market network system in rural areas. The rural life service circle will be constructed with the township at its core to explore the theory and practice of spatial reconstruction, including its production, life and ecology, and socio-cultural heritage and protection. It will also allow for exploration of the rural settlements' evolution, rural spatial production, rural social networks, group behavior, social autonomy, and social and cultural fields, which will be the core focus of China's rural spatial reconstruction research against a background of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal tumor of the intestinal tract. Imatinib is used as first-line therapy for GIST patients; however, secondary imatinib resistance poses a significant clinical challenge. Here, we analyzed serum miRNA expression profiles to identify specific serum miRNAs that could be used as early diagnostic markers. Candidate miRNAs were validated using Taqman quantitative PCR with serum samples from secondary imatinib-resistant GIST patients (n = 39), imatinib-sensitive GIST patients (n = 37), and healthy controls (n = 28). Serum miR-518e-5p and miR-548e levels were higher in secondary imatinib-resistant GIST than imatinib-sensitive GIST patients or healthy controls (P < 0.0001). However, ROC analysis indicated that only miR-518e-5p could distinguish imatinib-resistant GIST. To discriminate imatinib-resistant from imatinib-sensitive GIST patients, the AUC for serum miR-518e-5p was 0.9938, with 99.8% sensitivity and 82.1% specificity. Serum miR-518e-5p could also discriminate imatinib-resistant GIST patients from healthy controls with 99.9% sensitivity and 97.4% specificity. These data indicate that serum miR-518e-5p is a potentially promising non-invasive biomarker for early detection and diagnosis of secondary imatinib-resistant GIST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-infrared (NIR), Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy and Gas chromatography -mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with principal component analysis (PCA) were used to preliminarily select suitable maize parents that can be further employed in future breeding process. Especially, a new matrix was innovatively developed in terms of metabolic components, and used for PCA. Firstly, the quality maize seeds were selected based on the score plots from PCA of NIR, MIR, fusion of NIR and MIR, and GC-MS. Then, the potential biomarkers, including phenol, propionic acid, DL-malic acid, L-valine, which have great influence on the selection of quality maize seeds, were confirmed based on the loading plots from PCA of GC-MS and MIR spectral data. Finally, the quantitative analysis of partial biomarkers for selected parents was carried based on GC-MS method. The selected suitable maize parents were further confirmed by the difference of biomarkers contents. The results showed that NIR, MIR, and GC-MS combined with PCA are as rapid, convenient analysis methods, and can be thus employed for future maize breeding process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural isomerism of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals has been largely unexplored. Here, we report one pair of structural isomers identified for colloidal nanocrystals which exhibit thermally-induced reversible transformations behaving like molecular isomerization. The two isomers are CdS magic-size clusters with sharp absorption peaks at 311 and 322 nm. They have identical cluster masses, but slightly different structures. Furthermore, their interconversions follow first-order unimolecular reaction kinetics. We anticipate that such isomeric kinetics are applicable to a variety of small-size functional nanomaterials, and that the methodology developed for our kinetic study will be helpful to investigate and exploit solid–solid transformations in other semiconductor nanocrystals. The findings on structural isomerism should stimulate attention toward advanced design and synthesis of functional nanomaterials enabled by structural transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetoelectrics offer tantalizing opportunities for devices coupling ferroelectricity and magnetism but remain difficult to realize. Breakthrough strategies could circumvent the mutually exclusive origins of magnetism and ferroelectricity by exploiting the interaction of multiple phonon modes in geometric improper and hybrid improper ferroelectrics. Yet, the proposed instability of a zone-boundary phonon mode, driving the emergence of ferroelectricity via coupling to a polar mode, remains to be directly observed. Here, we provide previously missing evidence for this scenario in the archetypal improper ferroelectric, yttrium manganite, through comprehensive scattering measurements of the atomic structure and phonons, supported with first-principles simulations. Our experiments and theoretical modeling resolve the origin of the unusual temperature dependence of the polarization and rule out a reported double-step ferroelectric transition. These results emphasize the critical role of phonon anharmonicity in rationalizing lattice instabilities in improper ferroelectrics and show that including these effects in simulations could facilitate the design of magnetoelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of monsoon climatic characteristics makes the tropics of China different from those of other parts of the world. Therefore, the location of the northern boundary of China's tropical zone has been one of the most controversial issues in the study of comprehensive physical regionalisation in China. This paper introduces developments in the study of the northern boundary of China's tropical zone, in which different scholars delimit the boundary with great differences based on different regionalisation objectives, indexes, and methods. The main divergence of opinion is found in different understandings of zonal vegetation, agricultural vegetation type, cropping systems, tropical soil type and tropical characteristics. In this study, we applied the GeoDetector model, which measures the spatial stratified heterogeneity, to validate the northern boundaries of the tropical zone delimited by six principal scholars. The results show that the mean q-statistic value of the higher latitude boundary delimited by Ren Mei'e is the largest ( q=0.37), suggesting that, of the rival views, it best reflects the regional differences between China's tropical and subtropical zones, but it is not necessarily suitable for guiding the development of tropical agriculture. The mean values of the q-statistics of Zheng Du's line and Yu Xianfang's line around the Leizhou Peninsula at a lower latitude were smaller, at 0.10 and 0.08 respectively, indicating that the regional differences were smaller than those of Ren Mei'e's boundary. Against the background of global climate change, the climate itself is changing in fluctuation. It is, thus, worth our further research whether the northern boundary of the tropical zone should not be a fixed line but rather should fluctuate within a certain scope to reflect these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium titanate and titanium dioxide are two best-known high-performance electrodes that can cycle around 10,000 times in aprotic lithium ion electrolytes. Here we show there exists more lithium titanate hydrates with superfast and stable cycling. That is, water promotes structural diversity and nanostructuring of compounds, but does not necessarily degrade electrochemical cycling stability or performance in aprotic electrolytes. As a lithium ion battery anode, our multi-phase lithium titanate hydrates show a specific capacity of about 130 mA h g-1 at ~35 C (fully charged within ~100 s) and sustain more than 10,000 cycles with capacity fade of only 0.001% per cycle. In situ synchrotron diffraction reveals no 2-phase transformations, but a single solid-solution behavior during battery cycling. So instead of just a nanostructured intermediate to be calcined, lithium titanate hydrates can be the desirable final destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consensus problem for general linear multi-agent systems (MASs) under directed topology is investigated. First, a novel consensus protocol based on proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control is proposed. Second, the consensus problem is converted into an asymptotic stability problem through transformations. Third, through a state projection method the consensus condition is proved and the explicit expression of the consensus function is given. Then, a Lyapunov function is constructed and the gain matrices of the protocol are given based on the linear matrix inequality. Finally, two experiments are conducted to explain the advantages of the method. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of aryl halide cyanation through safe, efficient and stable pathway is of great significance in the industry of fine chemicals. Here, using potassium ferrocyanide and Pd-Cu bimetallic catalyst supported on amidoxime fibers (Cu(I)Pd(II)-AOFs), we propose an alternative reaction pathway for aryl halide cyanation. It shows that a high catalytic activity of cyanation is over 90% for aryl bromides/iodides and about 50% for aryl chlorides at reaction time (2 h), heating reflux in DMAc, in air. The morphology, composition and structure of the prepared catalysts are characterized by SEM, XRD and XPS. The changes of binding energy (N1s O1s Pd3d) show that Pd(II) ions is coordinated with the -NH/-OH in AOFs, and that Pd(0) and Cu(II) are detected on the surface of AOFs after reaction. These results indicate that CuI makes Pd reduce to Pd so as to produce activity central, and that AOFs coordination action is to enhance Pd central activity, and that CuI promotes the cyanide ion in potassium ferrocyanide dissociation. A high-efficient cyanation of aryl halide is successfully achieved by the synergistic action with the three actions. Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper focuses on the adaptive tracking control problem for a class of nonlinear non-strict-feedback systems. By introducing a compact set, the restrictive assumption that the lower bounds of the control gain functions must be positive constants is canceled in the proposed method, and the compact set is proved to be invariant set eventually. The functions in non-strict-feedback system are no longer required to be differentiable, and the neural networks are constructively used to deal with the unknown system functions, which contain the whole state variables of the non-strict-feedback system. Furthermore, it is rigorously proved that all the closed-loop signals are bounded and the tracking error converges to a small residual set asymptotically. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficiency of the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) based organic solar cells was enhanced by using 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene (TCB) as a processing additive to control the blend morphology. The addition of TCB improved the arrangement of P3HT which resulted in good phase separated blend films. Correspondingly, the optimized solar cells showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.17% with a fill factor (FF) of 0.69, which were higher than those of common thermal annealing devices (PCE 3.84%, FF 0.67). The efficiency was further improved to 4.74% by thermal annealing at 150 °C for 10 min with a higher FF of 0.74. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization has established itself a core field of research and application, with a proliferation of algorithms derived. During the multi-objective optimization processes, the discovered ideal solutions should be diversely distributed at the Pareto front. In order to measure and compare the performances of different multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, or provide a guidance for the search or a stopping criterion, various performance metrics are defined and used. In this paper, two of the most commonly used metrics, the spacing metric and the overall Pareto spread metric, which evaluate the uniformity and the range of the Pareto solutions' distribution are studied, respectively. A new distribution metric which potentially can combine these two metrics and resolve their deficiencies for comparing Pareto optimal solutions is then proposed. Five typical Pareto fronts and a real practical example are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed metric by comparing with the subject matter experts' ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) has been widely used to design engineering products with minimum cost function while meeting reliability constraints. Although uncertainties, such as aleatory uncertainty and epistemic uncertainty, have been well considered in RBDO, they are mainly considered for model input parameters. Model uncertainty, i.e., the uncertainty of model bias indicating the inherent model inadequacy for representing the real physical system, is typically overlooked in RBDO. This paper addresses model uncertainty approximation in a product design space and further integrates the model uncertainty into RBDO. In particular, a copula-based bias modeling approach is proposed and results are demonstrated by two vehicle design problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Surface crusts are important features in arid desert areas and are critical to hydrological processes and ecosystem development. This paper aims to understand the effects of crusts on water movement in the soil and the factors that affect this and to provide the soil parameters for estimation of saturated hydraulic conductivity ( K ) in ecohydrological models. Materials and methods: The study area was located in the middle and lower reaches of the Heihe River Basin, an arid desert area in Northwest China. There were three crust types in this region: physical soil crusts (PSCs, formed by water drop and erosion), biological soil crusts (BSCs, formed by microorganisms, moss, algae, lichen, and soil materials), and salt soil crusts (SSCs, formed by soluble salts). The infiltration rates of different soil and crust types and scalped soils were determined in situ in the field conditions using a disc infiltrometer with three repetitions. Crusts and soils were collected, and their properties were determined in the laboratory. Results and discussion: The K of crust were significantly lower than that of scalped soils with a decrease of 13-70 %. The K of crusts were related to the type of crust and the properties of soil beneath the crusts. In this region, the soil textures are similar throughout, due to ubiquitous loess sedimentation, so textural differences had no significant effect on K . Soil organic matter (SOM) played a weak negative role on K because most crusts had higher SOM than the underlying soil. However, both crust thickness and electrical conductivity (EC, an index of salt concentration) showed significantly negative exponential relationship with K . Therefore, the SSC with high EC and thick crust have the lowest K among all crust types. Because soil development is related to salt accumulation, structure, and crust formation, the K follows the order of Solonchaks < Cambisols < Regosols, from lowest to highest. Conclusions: Crusts have different characteristics compared with original soils and are the limiting layer of water infiltration in these arid soils. Therefore, the characteristics of crust must be considered in ecohydrological models. The main apparent controlling parameters of water infiltration rate in this area are crust thickness and EC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A facile chemical precipitation approach is presented to fabricate flower-like zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorod clusters by using spherical cellulose nanocrystals (SCNs, with cellulose II crystal structure) as growth substrate. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy results showed that nanohybrids (A-100/11) with flower-like ZnO nanorod clusters could be formed under strongly alkaline (pH 11) conditions using suitable reaction time of 2 h and temperature of 100 °C, while rod-like nanohybrids could be obtained under weakly alkaline (pH 9.3 and 10.5) conditions or low temperature of 90 °C. A possible growth mechanism for flower-like ZnO on SCNs is discussed. Moreover, compared with commercial ZnO and rod-like nanohybrids, the flower-like A-100/11 nanohybrids showed better antibacterial activity against Streptococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and excellent photocatalytic activity in presence of methylene blue as model dye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore the effects of the phosphatase and tension homolog (PTEN) expression level on autophagic status and on the resistance of breast cancer to trastuzumab treatment. PTEN and LC3I/II were knocked down with shRNA expression vectors, which were transfected into estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer cell lines. After trastuzumab treatment, the changes in the autophagy signal transduction pathways and autophagic proteins (LC3I/II, p62, LAMP, and cathepsin B) in these stably transfected cells were detected using western blot. The cells were also orthotopically implanted into nude mice to explore the influence of PTEN knockdown on tumor size, cell viability, and autophagic proteins after trastuzumab treatment. Similar determinations were performed using the LC3I/II overexpressed shPTEN breast cancer cells (LC3I/II-shPTEN). Downregulation of PTEN and autophagic proteins LC3-I and LC3-II was observed in resistant human breast cancer samples. Knockdown of PTEN and PTEN+ LC3I/II with shRNA in breast cancer cells resulted in increased resistance to trastuzumab. Consistently, trastuzumab treatment could not effectively reduce tumor size. Significant decreases in the levels of autophagic proteins LC3I/II, LAMP, p62, cathepsin B, and PI3K-Akt-mTOR and the signaling pathway protein Akt were found in PTEN knockdown cells, compared to the PTEN normal group, after trastuzumab administration, both in vitro and in vivo. However, these findings were reversed with the LC3I/II-shPTEN treatment. Therefore, the loss of PTEN may promote the development of primary resistance to trastuzumab in breast cancer via autophagy defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a relatively new global optimization algorithm. Benefitting from its simple concept, fast convergence speed and strong ability of optimization, it has gained much attention in recent years. However, PSO suffers from premature convergence problem because of the quick loss of diversity in solution search. In order to improve the optimization capability of PSO, design of experiment method, which spreads the initial particles across a design domain, and data mining technique, which is used to identify the promising optimization regions, are studied in this research to initialize the particle swarm. From the test results, the modified PSO algorithm initialized by OLHD (Optimal Latin Hypercube Design) technique successfully enhances the efficiency of the basic version but has no obvious advantage compared with other modified PSO algorithms. An extension algorithm, namely OLCPSO (Optimal Latin hypercube design and Classification and Regression tree techniques for improving basic PSO), is developed by consciously distributing more particles into potential optimal regions. The proposed method is tested and validated by benchmark functions in contrast with the basic PSO algorithm and five PSO variants. It is found from the test studies that the OLCPSO algorithm successfully enhances the efficiency of the basic PSO and possesses competitive optimization ability and algorithm stability in contrast to the existing initialization PSO methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on multiple remote-sensing image interpretation and classification, and economic and social data, this study focused on rural settlement and land use change amidst rapid urbanization. Rural settlements, spatial and temporal patterns of land use and influencing factors in the Bohai Rim were explored within 5×5 km grid cells, as per GIS spatial analysis and geostatistical analysis. Results show that the spatial distribution of rural settlements in the Bohai Rim is remarkably varied. The number of rural settlement sites in a 5×5 km grid cell exceeding 5.0 are distributed in a six-area pattern in the Bohai Rim; rural settlement dispersion is particularly high in agricultural regions in south Hebei and southwest Shandong, suggesting rural settlement density keeps increasing from northeast to southwest, characterized by high density and dispersed spatial distribution in traditional agricultural regions. Furthermore, rural settlements show dramatic spatial differences in terms of distribution and dynamic change degrees in the Bohai Rim. In terms of spatial distribution, rural residential land is always extensive in plains, with a high density of rural settlements, on the North China Plain in particular, and rural residential land in the south of Shandong province is also extensive, with most rural settlement land use areas in the 5×5 km grid cells exceeding 3 km. However, traditional agricultural regions have underdeveloped economies, industrialization and tertiary industries, characterized by low urbanization rates, with farmers not feeling assimilated in rural or urban areas. In terms of the temporal sequence, urban expansion rapidly promotes the transformation of rural residential lands in rural-urban transitional belts of provincial capital or prefecture-level city into urban lands, and in traditional rural areas, residential lands are growing. The natural environment, transportation conditions, economic development and farmers' incomes all have effects on type of land use change and pattern of rural settlements. It is a core objective for future rural development to reconstruct a rational spatial pattern of villages or towns and well-organized village-town systems, build central villages, key towns or central towns, optimize or reconstruct production, living and eco-space of rural areas. It is of significance for rural geographical research to further interpret and explore spatial reconstruction theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on the expressions of the dominant plant-related genes under heavy metal (HM) stress is important for developing strategies to reclaim polluted sites. In this study, we cloned full-length cDNAs of phytochelatin synthase gene ( PCS1) and Actin of Sophora viciifolia Hance., a predominant plant in Qiandongshan lead and zinc mine, by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Consequently, we studied the response of SvPCS1 to Funneliformis mosseae inoculation under lead stress (0, 50, and 200 μM Pb(NO)) at different durations (1, 3, and 7 days) using quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain-reaction (qRT-PCR) technique. The Pb concentrations and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were also measured to assay Pb toxicity to Sophora viciifolia. We found that Pb concentrations in roots increased with increasing Pb application and the durations; the F/ F, F/ F, qP, and Y(II) decreased; NPQ rose with increasing Pb concentrations; mycorrhizal symbiosis alleviated the Pb toxicity to plants; and SvPCS1 was constitutively expressed in the roots. It was also found that F. mosseae inoculation could promote the expression of SvPCS1 with the concentration ≤200 μM at the exposure time shorter than 7 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) process, surrogate models are frequently used to reduce the number of simulations because analysis of a simulation model takes a great deal of computational time. On the other hand, to obtain accurate surrogate models, we have to limit the dimension of the RBDO problem and thus mitigate the curse of dimensionality. Therefore, it is desirable to develop an efficient and effective variable screening method for reduction of the dimension of the RBDO problem. In this paper, requirements of the variable screening method for deterministic design optimization (DDO) and RBDO are compared, and it is found that output variance is critical for identifying important variables in the RBDO process. An efficient approximation method based on the univariate dimension reduction method (DRM) is proposed to calculate output variance efficiently. For variable screening, the variables that induce larger output variances are selected as important variables. To determine important variables, hypothesis testing is used in this paper so that possible errors are contained in a user-specified error level. Also, an appropriate number of samples is proposed for calculating the output variance. Moreover, a quadratic interpolation method is studied in detail to calculate output variance efficiently. Using numerical examples, performance of the proposed method is verified. It is shown that the proposed method finds important variables efficiently and effectively [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the elastic deformation behaviour of Nb nanowires embedded in a NiTi matrix. The Nb nanowires exhibited an ultra-large elastic deformation, which is found to be dictated by the martensitic transformation of the NiTi matrix, thus exhibiting unique characteristics of locality and rapidity. These are in clear contrast to our conventional observation of elastic deformations of crystalline solids, which is a homogeneous lattice distortion with a strain rate controlled by the applied strain. The Nb nanowires are also found to exhibit elastic-plastic deformation accompanying the martensitic transformation of the NiTi matrix in the case when the transformation strain of the matrix over-matches the elastic strain limit of the nanowires, or exhibit only elastic deformation in the case of under-matching. Such insight provides an important opportunity for elastic strain engineering and composite design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating multifunctional materials is an eternal goal of mankind. As the properties of monolithic materials are necessary limited, one route to extending them is to create a composite by combining contrasting materials. The potential of this approach is neatly illustrated by the formation of nature materials where contrasting components are combined in sophisticated hierarchical designs. In this study, inspired by the hierarchical structure of the tendon, we fabricated a novel composite by subtly combining two contrasting components: NiTi shape-memory alloy and Ag. The composite exhibits simultaneously exceptional mechanical properties of high strength, good superelasticity and high mechanical damping, and remarkable functional properties of high electric conductivity, high visibility under fluoroscopy and excellent thermal-driven ability. All of these result from the effective-synergy between the NiTi and Ag components, and place the composite in a unique position in the properties chart of all known structural-functional materials providing new opportunities for innovative electrical, mechanical and biomedical applications. Furthermore, this work may open new avenues for designing and fabricating advanced multifunctional materials by subtly combining contrasting multi-components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium-enriched exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by Enterobacter cloacae Z0206 have been proven to possess effect on reducing blood glucose level in diabetic mice. To investigate the specific mechanism, we studied the effects of oral supply with EPS on skeletal muscle glucose transportation and consumption in high-fat-diet-induced diabetic KKAy mice. We found that EPS supplementation increased expressions of glucose transporter 4 (Glut4), hexokinase 2 (hk2), phosphorylation of AMP-activated kinase subunit α2 (pAMPKα2), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), and increased expression of characteristic protein of oxidative fibers such as troponin I and cytochrome c (Cytc). Furthermore, we found that EPS increased glucose uptake and expressions of pAMPKα2 and PGC-1α in palmitic acid (PA)-induced C2C12 cells. However, while EPS inhibited AMPKα2 with interference RNA (iRNA), effects of EPS on the improvement of glucose uptake diminished. These results indicated that EPS may improve skeletal muscle glucose uptake of diabetic KKAy mice through AMPKα2-PGC-1α pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The refractive indices of thin films based on Kramers-Kronig theory are corrected. And the correction theory is used to determine the optical indices of nano-ZnO thin films prepared by low temperature sol-gel method. The calculated results indicate that in the visible (Vis) range, the refractive indices of nano-ZnO thin films exhibit a slight abnormal dispersion, while in the ultraviolet (UV) region, the refractive indices increase with wavelengths increasing (normal dispersion). But the refractive indices show complex change near the absorption edge. The maximum refractive index (1.95) of nano-ZnO thin films within UV range at low temperature annealing is much lower than that of the films annealed at high temperature. The absorption and refractive indices are closely related to the defects in nano-ZnO thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By adjusting pH values of reactant system, the mass ratio of stabilizer/water and aging temperature, size controllable spherical silver nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized. The properties of silver NPs are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and ultraviolet visible (UV-VIS) absorption spectra. Within the pH values of 7.0-11.0, the aging temperature of 80 °C is better to improve silver NPs in shape to nearly sphere, concentrate size distribution and reduce aggregation than the aging temperature of 25 °C. The shape and dispersibility of silver NPs are the best when the pH of the reactant system is within 7.0-8.0. With pH of 7.5, aging at 80 °C, and stabilizer/water mass ratio of 1%, the spherical silver NPs with sizes of 50-70 nm were synthesized. The results are promising to be used to synthesize core/shell NPs when silver NPs are as core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating highly active and stable metal catalysts is a persistent goal in the field of heterogeneous catalysis. However, a real catalyst can rarely achieve both of these qualities simultaneously due to limitations in the design of the active site and support. One method to circumvent this problem is to fabricate firmly attached metal species onto the voids of a mesoporous support formed simultaneously. In this study, we developed a new type of ruthenium catalyst that was firmly confined by ordered mesoporous carbons through the fabrication of a cubic Ia3d chitosan-ruthenium-silica mesophase before pyrolysis and silica removal. This facile method generates fine ruthenium nanoparticles (ca. 1.7 nm) that are homogeneously dispersed on a mesoporous carbonaceous framework. This ruthenium catalyst can be recycled 22 times without any loss of reactivity, showing the highest stability of any metal catalysts; this catalyst displays a high activity (23.3 molLAh-1gmetal -1) during the catalytic hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) when the metal loading is 6.1 wt%. Even at an ultralow loading (0.3 wt%), this catalyst still outperforms the most active known Ru/C catalyst. This work reveals new possibilities for designing and fabricating highly stable and active metal catalysts by creating metal sites and mesoporous supports simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new method, which is an alternative to the score function method, is developed. Unlike the score function from the literature, this proposed method uses the derivatives of response function incorporating with Kernel Density Estimation for stochastic design sensitivity analysis. Two analytical examples are used to demonstrate effectiveness and robustness of the proposed stochastic sensitivity analysis method. The sensitivity analysis method is then applied to solve two reliability-based design optimization examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major challenges for solving large-scale multi-objective optimization design problems is to find the Pareto set effectively. Data mining techniques such as classification, association, and clustering are common used in computer community to extract useful information from a large database. In this paper, a data mining technique, namely, Classification and Regression Tree method, is exploited to extract a set of reduced feasible design domains from the original design space. Within the reduced feasible domains, the first generation of designs can be selected for multi-objective optimization to identify the Pareto set. A mathematical example is used to illustrate the proposed method. Two industrial applications are used to demonstrate the proposed methodology that can achieve better performances in terms of both accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]