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The development of virtual reality (VR) in enhancing the effectiveness of the learning process, with its interactive, immersive, and intuitive pedagogical environment, has become a necessity for corporations with increasingly complex operations. However, VR users’ perceptions, openness and learning effectiveness are seldom comprehensively evaluated, particularly in learning complex industrial operations. In this study, grounded in the technology acceptance model, a moderated mediation model of perceived usefulness, ease of use, openness to experience, and engagement in VR-based learning was developed. The model was empirically validated using responses collected from 321 users who were trained on aircraft and cargo terminal operations powered by a novel VR-based learning platform. A survey to measure openness to experience and a pre-training performance test were carried out, followed by a post-training survey of learners’ intrinsic factors, including the influence of perceived usefulness, openness to experience, and attitude towards learning. The study revealed that learners with an open attitude towards experiencing new technology tend to perceive VR technology as a useful platform for training. In addition, the learners with more positive views of VR technology-supported training were more engaged in learning.

Symptoms of leaf blight, stem canker, and pod rot were observed on T. cacao during a series of samplings conducted in several states of Malaysia from September 2018 to March 2019. The identity of the pathogen that was responsible for the diseases was determined using morphological characteristics, DNA sequences, and phylogenetic analyses of multiple genes, namely, internal transcribed spacer (ITS), elongation translation factor 1-alpha (tef1-α), β-tubulin (tub2), and RNA polymerase subunit II (rpb2). A total of 57 isolates recovered from diseased leaves of T. cacao (13 isolates), stems (20 isolates), and pods (24 isolates) showed morphological features that resembled Lasiodiplodia sp. The identity of the isolates was further determined up to the species level by comparing DNA sequences and phylogenetic analyses of multiple genes. The phylogenetic analysis of the combined dataset of ITS, tef1-α, tub2, and rpb2 elucidated that all of the isolates obtained were Lasiodiplodia theobromae as supported by 97% bootstrap value. The results of pathogenicity tests revealed L. theobromae as the causal pathogen of leaf blight, stem canker, and pod rot of T. cacao.

As an emerging human resource issue in business ethics, work-life balance (WLB) has been gaining increasing attention from both practitioners and scholars in recent years. In response to the call of Kelliher et al. (Human Resource Management Journal, 29(2):97–112, 2019), we addressed the research gap by examining the WLB of Chinese knowledge workers (i.e., software professionals in this study) under flextime arrangement (i.e., one very common type of flexible work arrangements) and the impact of work-life supportive culture on work-life spillover of the workers. Specifically, we examined the relationships between three components of work-life supportive culture, namely managerial support, career consequences, and organizational time demands, and two aspects of work-life spillover, positive and negative spillover, perceived by the workers. A quantitative survey with 35 employees in a software development company in Hong Kong was conducted. The results of structure equation modelling showed that managerial support was positively related to positive work-life spillover while organizational time demands (i.e., a negative component in WLB supportive culture) was positively related to employees’ negative spillover. WLB needs of knowledge workers and the role of organizational culture in effective implementation of WLB policies were discussed, and several feasible WLB policies were suggested for managers.

The biodegradation behaviors and cytocompatibility of the as-cast Mg-5Zn-xSr alloys (≤ 1.0%) are carefully characterized by immersion testing, electrochemical measurement and cell proliferation and adhesion testing. The biodegradation rates increase in the order of Mg-5Zn-0.2Sr, Mg-5Zn-1Sr, Mg-5Zn-0.6Sr and Mg-5Zn in both 0.9%NaCl and Hank’s solution. The as-cast Mg-5Zn-0.2Sr alloy is the most corrosion resistant, which can be attributed to the finest grain size, the lower volume fraction of secondary phases and the higher stability of corrosion layer. Filiform corrosion along grain boundaries is dominant in the Mg-5Zn-0.2Sr alloy at the initial stage, and the cyclic polarization scans show that it has the highest pitting corrosion resistance. Grain size effect on corrosion is not as obvious as that of the secondary phases for the as-cast Mg-Zn-Sr alloys. The 0.2%Sr addition can reduce the biodegradation rate, promote the cell growth and improve the cell adhesion ability of the as-cast Mg-5Zn alloy, which is attractive for biomedical applications.

Biomolecules produced by living organisms can perform vast array of functions and play an important role in the cell. Important biomolecules such as lysozyme, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and bromelain are often studied by researchers due to their beneficial properties. The application of reverse micelles is an effective tool for protein separation from their sources due to the special system structure. Mechanisms of transferring biomolecules and factors that influence the extraction of biomolecules are reviewed in this paper. The enhancement of biomolecule extraction could be achieved depending on the properties of reverse micelles. This paper provides an overall review on lysozyme, BSA, and bromelain extraction by reverse micelle for various applications.

As an antibiotic, tetracycline has been widely used against bacterial infection or as feed additives for growth promotion, which may lead to the enrichment of antibiotic residues in animals or their products. Therefore, the detection of tetracycline is closely related to human health. The morphological transformation of CoOOH nanoflakes induced by tetracycline was monitored by scanning electron microscope images, dark-field light scattering images and optical spectra, which found that tetracycline could decompose CoOOH nanoflakes into small nanoparticles with low light scattering signal. As a result, the reduced light scattering of CoOOH nanoflakes was proportional to the increased concentration of tetracycline in the range of 1.0–250 μmol/L, and the limit of determination (LOD) was 0.23 μmol/L (3σ/k). Most foreign substances did not interfere in the analysis of tetracycline. Furthermore, the concentration of tetracycline in different milk samples detected with the standard addition method was so low that it accorded with the safety regulation, which was similar to the detection result with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Reutilisation of agricultural wastes is a major challenge faced by the research community. The current study aimed to address this issue by recovering commercial pectin from dragon fruit peels by investigating the pretreatment and extraction process and their parameters. Optimum oven-drying temperature was identified at 45 °C with the highest pectin yield (6.27%) and the lowest ash content (8.34%). Investigation of the drying kinetics revealed Page’s model as the best-suited model to the experimental data in terms of the highest R2 (0.99685) and lowest RSME (0.0002). A three-factor, three-level Box–Behnken design was applied to optimise ultrasound-assisted pectin extraction for the parameters of time, temperature and solid-to-liquid ratio. Under the optimised condition of 32 min at 85 °C with a ratio of 1:30 g/ml, a maximum pectin yield (23.09%) was obtained as compared to the predicted value (22.84%). The extraction kinetics study showed the logarithmic model was the best-fitted model to represent pectin’s extraction in terms of the highest R2 (0.9384) and lowest RMSE (0.821). Degree of esterification of pectin pre- (36.36%) and post-optimisation (33.27%) characterised it as low methoxyl pectin. The ash content of pectin was reduced by 23.65% revealing that higher-purity pectin was extracted following optimisation. Comparison of the Fourier transform infrared spectra with commercial-grade pectin shows the extracted pectin from dragon fruit peels has high potential in food applications. The current study recommends waste dragon fruit peels as a sustainable alternative source for high-value pectin.

Let K be a number field and $$\{V_\ell \}_\ell $$ a rational strictly compatible system of semisimple Galois representations of K arising from geometry. Let $$\mathbf {G}_\ell $$ and $$V_\ell ^{{\text {ab}}}$$ be respectively the algebraic monodromy group and the maximal abelian subrepresentation of $$V_\ell $$ for all $$\ell $$. We prove that the system $$\{V_\ell ^{{\text {ab}}}\}_\ell $$ is also a rational strictly compatible system under some group theoretic conditions, e.g., when $$\mathbf {G}_{\ell '}$$ is connected and satisfies Hypothesis A for some prime $$\ell '$$. As an application, we prove that the Tate conjecture for abelian variety X/K is independent of $$\ell $$ if the algebraic monodromy groups of the Galois representations of X satisfy the required conditions.

IBX oxidation of secondary aryl amines has been applied towards their functional group transformation to aldehydes using a facile post-process with satisfactory yields. The oxidation of N-benzylmethylamine was used as a model substrate and suggested that the ratio of IBX oxidant to amine should be 2:1. Subsequently, several aryl amines were subjected to these standard conditions, which revealed that the oxidative activity depends on the electronic and steric structures of the substituent groups in the substrates. The oxidative selectivity to secondary amines was also discovered.

Connective tissues such as tendon, ligament and skin are biological fibre composites comprising collagen fibrils reinforcing the weak proteoglycan-rich ground substance in extracellular matrix (ECM). One of the hallmarks of ageing of connective tissues is the progressive and irreversible change in the tissue mechanical properties; this is often attributed to the underlying changes to the collagen fibril structure. This dataset represents a comprehensive screen of the mechanical properties and collagen fibril structure of tendon from the tails of young to old (i.e. 1.6–35.3 month-old) C57BL6/B mice. The mechanical portion consists of the load-displacement data, as well as the derived tensile properties; the structure data consists of transmission electron micrographs of collagen fibril cross section, as well as the derived cross-sectional parameters. This dataset will allow other researchers to develop and demonstrate the utility of innovative multiscale models and approaches of the extra-cellular and physiological events of ageing of current interest to ageing research, by reducing the current reliance on conducting new mammalian experiments.

This study aimed at recovery of thermostable lipase from Escherichia coli BL21 using porous glass beads grafted with polyethylene glycol (PEG) in aqueous impregnated resins system (AIRS). The influencing parameters such as concentration and pH of extraction solution, concentration of NaCl, size of the beads, and pH of the desorption solution on the partition behaviour of lipase were evaluated. Smaller adsorbent (4 mm) had a 65.5% of recovery yield with approximately two-fold higher purification factor compared to that obtained with the larger adsorbent. Recombinant lipase was purified successfully using AIRS with a purification factor of 7.6 and yield of 78.4% under optimum conditions of 18% (w/w) PEG 4000, 10% (w/w) of potassium citrate at pH 9 with 3% (w/w) of NaCl. Optimum desorption was obtained with 4.0 mm of porous glass beads at pH 9.

The classical Waring problem deals with expressing every natural number as a sum of g(k) k th powers. Similar problems were recently studied in group theory, where we aim to present group elements as short products of values of a given word w ≠ 1. In this paper we study this problem for Lie groups and Chevalley groups over infinite fields. We show that for a fixed word w ≠ 1 and for a classical connected real compact Lie group G of sufficiently large rank we have w(G)2 = G, namely every element of G is a product of 2 values of w. We prove a similar result for non-compact Lie groups of arbitrary rank, arising from Chevalley groups over ℝ or over a p-adic field. We also study this problem for Chevalley groups over arbitrary infinite fields, and show in particular that every element in such a group is a product of two squares.

National Important Science and Technology Special Projects of China [2013ZX04001 000-206]; Xiamen University [201212G011]

Relations of equilibrium phases in the Al-Ca-Li system were calculated by means of the CALPHAD (calculation of phase diagram) method. The reported thermodynamic model parameters for all the constituent binary systems were directly used in the present calculation. A novel thermodynamic description for the three ternary intermetallic compounds(tau (1), tau (2) and tau (3)) was made on the basis of experimental phase equilibria in the Al-Ca-Li system. Comparison between the calculated and experimental phase equilibria shows that we have successfully derived a set of self-consistent thermodynamic parameters for the Al-Ca-Li system. These parameters were then used for the prediction of the selected isothermal and isopleth sections and projected liquidus surface of this ternary system over the entire composition range.

Evidence is emerging that rates of adverse events in patients taking warfarin may vary with ethnicity. This study investigated the rates of bleeds and thromboembolic events, the international normalised ratio (INR) status and the relationship between INR and bleeding events in Malaysia. Patients attending INR clinic at the Heart Centre, Sarawak General Hospital were enrolled on an ad hoc basis from May 2010 and followed up for 1 year. At each routine visit, INR was recorded and screening for bleeding or thromboembolism occurred. Variables relating to INR control were used as predictors of bleeds in logistic regression models. 125 patients contributed to 140 person-years of follow-up. The rates of major bleed, thromboembolic event and minor bleed per 100 person-years of follow-up were 1.4, 0.75 and 34.3. The median time at target range calculated using the Rosendaal method was 61.6 % (IQR 44.6–74.1 %). Of the out-of-range readings, 30.0 % were below range and 15.4 % were above. INR variability, (standard deviation of individuals’ mean INR), was the best predictor of bleeding events, with an odds ratio of 3.21 (95 % CI 1.10–9.38). Low rates of both major bleeds and thromboembolic events were recorded, in addition to a substantial number of INR readings under the recommended target range. This may suggest that the recommended INR ranges may not represent the optimal warfarin intensity for this population and that a lower intensity of therapy, as observed in this cohort, could be beneficial in preventing adverse events.

To identify Dishevelled-2 (Dvl2) is a prostate cancer-associated gene and analyze the effects on the growth and invasive capacity of human prostate cancer (PCa) cells. Dvl2 mRNA expression was measured in PCa cell lines and tissue samples, by real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the distribution of Dvl2 in PCa specimens. Silencing Dvl2 in LNCaP cells, proliferation was measured by the CCK-8 assay, cell motility and invasiveness by scratch wound and transwell migration assays, and Wnt-3a, AR, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression by western blotting. Dvl2 was overexpressed in LNCaP cells compared with the AI PCa lines DU-145 and PC-3, as well as in the majority of PCa tissue specimens examined by qRT-PCR (14/27, 51.9 %). Dvl2 expression was low in all 10 BPH specimens, weakly positive in 26/104 AD PCa specimens (23.8 %), positive in 60/104 AD PCa specimens (55 %), and strongly positive in all 5 AI PCa specimens. Dvl2 expression was significantly correlated with combined Gleason score (p = 0.02), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.005), and TNM stage (p = 0.015). Silencing of Dvl2 mRNA expression significantly reduced LNCaP cell proliferation, motility, invasiveness and Wnt-3a, AR, MMP-2, and MMP-9 expression. Dvl2 may increase PCa growth and metastasis potential, possibly by upregulating Wnt-3a, AR, and MMP expression. Silencing Dvl2 expression may be an effective treatment strategy for PCa.

The framing effect demonstrates that two options with different risk levels affect people’s risk preferences, even if both options are logically equivalent. However, in reality we are almost always confronted with more than two choices, rather than a single manipulated message. In this paper, we simultaneously manipulate the framing effect and the context effect, including the attraction effect and the compromise effect, to examine the influence of context on framing. The results of two studies show that context influences the original choice preference arising from the framing effect. Moreover, the framing effect is reduced when context effects are introduced to the original choice set.

Aflatoxins are highly toxic secondary fungal metabolites mainly produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. Human exposure to aflatoxins may result directly from ingestion of contaminated foods, or indirectly from consumption of foods from animals previously exposed to aflatoxins in feeds. This paper focuses on exposure measurement of aflatoxins and aflatoxin metabolites in various human body fluids. Research on different metabolites present in blood, urine, breast milk, and other human fluids or tissues including their detection techniques is reviewed. The association between dietary intake of aflatoxins and biomarker measurement is also highlighted. Finally, aspects related to the differences between aflatoxin determination in food versus the biomarker approach are discussed.

Miscanthus sinensis (Poaceae) is a typical perennial giant grass of East Asia. Due to its high photosynthetic efficiency, low input requirements, and high biomass production, M. sinensis shows outstanding potential as a biofuel feedstock. However, the lack of an efficient tissue culture system may limit its utilization potential. Different explants of M. sinensis were evaluated to develop an efficient tissue culture system. Shoot apices from in vitro-germinated seedling explants were tested for adventitious bud proliferation. The highest level of proliferation (multiplication coefficient 6.69) was obtained when shoot apices were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 1.0 mg L−1 6-benzyladenine (BA), 2.0 mg L−1 kinetin, 0.05 mg L−1 α-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 3% sucrose, and 0.8% agar. The highest rooting percentage (95.4%) was obtained when adventitious buds were cultured on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 0.2 mg L−1 NAA, 3% sucrose, and 0.8% agar. Significant differences were found in the formation of embryogenic callus among different explant types. The embryogenic callus derived from epicotyls had the highest regeneration capacity when cultured on a medium supplemented with 2.0 mg L−1 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, 0.5 mg L−1 BA, and 0.1 mg L−1 thiamine. Under these conditions, the callus induction percentage was 82%.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was detected in 57% of the nuts and nut products marketed in Penang, Malaysia using the liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The contamination levels ranged from 0.40 to 222 μg/kg and 17 out of 128 samples (13.3%) contained AFB1 above the European Commission permitted level (2 μg/kg). Estimated dietary exposure of AFB1 in nuts and nut products were 0.36 ng per kg body weight and day and 8.89 ng per kg body weight and day, representing the low and high-level of exposure, respectively. Dose-response modelling resulted in benchmark dose lower confidence limit (BMDL10) values of 0.305 ng per kg body weight and day, with the best fitted from the log-logistic model. The derived margin of exposure (MoE) values ranged from 34 to 847 suggested that AFB1 would be of public health concern and might reasonably be considered as a high priority for risk management actions.

The investment in research and development (R&D) for semiconductor industry is never small as the technology cycle time (TCT) is relatively short comparing to other industries, thus a semiconductor company requires lots of technological innovations and capital offerings to maintain. The semiconductor industry contributes primarily part of the micro-electronic industries. Advancing technology and patent application are the centre of attention within the semiconductor sector. This research examines the relationship between patent quality and the profits a patent creates for a company in this selected field. This study distinguishes itself from prior research by including cross-sectional data, time series data to simultaneously collect and analyze. The study result shows that some indicators of patent quality are statistically significant to return on assets.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between advertisement terminology and consumer product knowledge in the attitudes toward advertisements and brands.

Based on statistical damage mechanics, the constitutive model of a rock under three-dimensional stress was established by the law that the statistical strength of rock micro-element obeys Weibull distribution. The acoustic emission (AE) evolution model of rock failure was put forward according to the view that rock damage and AE were consistent. Moreover, in the failure process of rock under three-dimensional stress, the change in relationship between stress condition parameter and the characteristic parameters of AE, such as the event number and its change rate, were studied. Also, the rock AE characteristic under uniaxial compression was analyzed in theory and verified with examples. The results indicate that the cumulative event number and change rate of AE in rock failure are determined by stress state parameter F. Along with the gradual increase of F, first the cumulative event number increases gradually, then rapidly, and then slowly after the stress peak. The form of change rate of an event by increasing F is consistent with the distribution form of rock micro-element strength. The model explained the phenomenon that a relatively quiet period of AE appears before rock rupture that is observed by many researchers in experiments. Verification examples indicate that the AE evolution model is consistent with the test results, so the model is reasonable and correct.

Under two rock strata combination conditions, over 10,000 microseismic events were received with microseismic location monitoring technology which possessed by the author’s studying team, used in fully mechanized coal face of Huafeng Mine of Xinwen Coal Mining Group Co., Shandong Province. On the basis of the achievement of the location results, the conclusions were drawn as follows: On the basis of the achievement of 3D strata fracturing situation and the section plane of microseimic events in different areas, the relationship between spatial structure of overlying strata and mining pressure field was found, and we might describe distribution range of dynamic pressure of advance pressure and lateral stress around long face, and range of structure ad-tivation. Quantitative guidance to prevent dynamic disasters was provided. The practice in coal mine got a effective results. According to the FLAC3D soft numerical simulation of diameter drilling hole (the diameter is 300 mm) to relieve pressure in specified geological condition in Huafeng Mine, the right distance of two dirlls is 2.5 m and the right depth is 12 m. The research pro-vided basic guiding and practical experiences for the underground microseismic monitoring and disaster prevention in side slopes or tunnels engineering.

Introduced the coal and rock AE propagation rule, wave guide fixing technics on AE sensors, and AE forecasting coal and rock disaster on the scene and so on. The coal and rock AE propagation rule that follows the exponent attenuation function on different AE frequencies, different quality factors and different propagation distances were analyzed and deduced by theory, numerical simulation, and by actual experiment. Consequently, it was deduced that the coal and rock AE propagation rule follows the exponent attenuation function. Based on the correlative theory of wave dynamics and AE sensor, the AE wave guide propagation mechanical model on the sensor fixing manner is found, and the relations of displacement and speed and acceleration between the AE signal source and the AE signal receiving terminal are presented. The effect of the AE sensor fixing manners on coal and rock surfaces, coal and rock bottoms and wave guides were studied by actual experiment. For the results, the effect of the AE sensor fixing manner on wave guides is better than on coal and rock surfaces, and was equivalent to the fixing manner on coal and rock bottoms. Based on the above study results, actual coal and rock dynamistic disasters were successfully forecasted.

Through adding different additional water use, the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and fluidity of recycled concrete of three aggregate combination forms were studied by experiment respectively. The experimental results show that with the increase of adding additional water use, the compressive strength and splitting tensile strength of recycled coarse aggregate concrete decrease, but that of recycled fine aggregate concrete and recycled all aggregate concrete increase firstly then decrease. When additional water use is added more 15% or 20% than that of basic ordinary concrete, the recycled coarse aggregate concrete and fine one can get pretty good fluidity. When it is added more 30%, the recycled all aggregate concrete has fluidity that is just satisfied.

Through unconfined compressive strength test, influencing factors on compressive strength of solidified inshore saline soil with SH lime-ash, ratio of lime-ash(1:K), quantity of lime-ash, age, degree of compression and salt content were studied. The results show that because inshore saline soil has special engineering characteristic, more influencing factors must be considered compared with ordinary soil for the perfect effect of solidifying.

Creep mechanics characteristics of large scale tectonic coal was studied under gas draingae and disturbance conditions by using the new self-developed coal gas coupling three axial creep equipment. The results show that when σ 1 is smaller, σ 3 is larger, gas pressure and disturbance load are smaller, gassy coal has no disturbance to creep. When σ 3 is smaller, gas pressure and σ 1 are larger, disturbance load is constant, gassy coal has remarkable effects of disturbance to creep. The concepts of disturbance load sensitive domain and disturbance creep sensitive domain were put forward. Under same amplitude disturbance stress condition, blasting disturbance has a stronger influence on gassy coal deformation is related to frequency of disturbance load; gas drainage, blasting excavation and mining play an important role in coal-gas outbursting. The relationship of gassy coal creep and gas pressure gradient, the creep constitutive equation built with gas pressure gradient and disturbance load as independent variables within the framework of fluid-solid two phases coupling were established.

By combining thermomechanical coupling finite element analysis with the characteristics of phase transformation [continuous cooling transformation (CCT) curve], the thermal fatigue behavior of train wheel steel under high speed and heavy load conditions was analyzed. The influence of different materials on the formation of the phase transformation zone of the wheel tread was discussed. The result showed that the peak temperature of wheel/track friction zone could be higher than the austenitizing temperature for braking. The depth of the austenitized region could reach a point of 0. 9 mm beneath the wheel tread surface. The supercooled austenite is transformed to a hard and brittle martensite layer during the following rapid cooling process, which may lead to cracking and then spalling on the wheel tread surface. The decrease in carbon contents of the train wheel steel helps inhibit the formation of martensite by increasing the austenitizing temperature of the train wheel steel. When the carbon contents decrease from 0.7% to 0.4%, the A c3 of the wheel steel is increased by 45 °C, and the thickness of the martensite layer is decreased by 30%, which is helpful in reducing the thermal cycling fatigue of the train wheel tread such as spalling.

The frostbite situation of recycled concrete suffered one-time freezing was analyzed, and was then compared with that of the normal concrete. In order to improve the frost resistance of recycled concrete, antifreeze was used and good effect was obtained. The results show that the frost resistance of recycled concrete is inferior to that of recycled concrete. Differences exist in the microstructures of the recycled concrete and normal one, which makes the decrease of frost resistance. Antifreeze can improve the microstructure of recycled concrete, so the frost resistance of it is improved as well.

Recycling the decasting concrete catches more attention in the world. It depends on the strength for construction bearing to utilize recycled concrete (RC). Mixture ratio is one key factor deciding strength, which is supported by a crucial parameter: water-cement ratio. So the calculation of unit water use in RC is the hot topic, it is crucial that additional adsorbed water should be determined. It is appropriate to adopt the form of full (or part) coarse aggregate adding natural sand. In the case of mixed coarse aggregate adding natural sand, the water in each stere of RAC should increase its percentage corresponding to the ordinary concrete in the mix proportion design, the calculating formula for the additional adsorbed water is put forward, by which the additional adsorbed water coincides better with the experimental data through verification, and which can provide a reference for the designer in RC mixed ratio.

Conservation of natural resources and preservation of environment are the essence of any development. The use of recycled aggregate concrete(RAC) is an attempt and an answer to some of the problems in constructional engineering. So recycling the decasting concrete catches more attention in the world. It depends on the strength for construction bearing to utilize recycled concrete(RC), but the strength calculation formula of RC has not been put forward yet. There is a linear relation between the common concrete compression strength and cement strength with cement-water mass ratio, whether this relationship also exists in recycled concrete or not it should be verified by experiment. Based on some experiments, the relationship between recycled concrete compression strength and its cement-water mass ratio was established, and the method to determine A′ and B′ values in Bolomey Formula was discussed.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Red Peony 801 (propyl gallate,PrG) on cyclooxygenase (COX) activity in murine peritoneal macrophages.Methods: A screening model for COX inhibitors in vitro based on murine peritoneal macrophages was used. COX-1 activity was reflected by the level of 6-ketoprostaglandin F1α(6-keto-PGF1α) in supernatants of cultured macrophages which were stimulated with calcium ionophore A23187 for a short-term, while COX-2 activity was reflected by the level of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in supernatants of cultured macrophages which were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for a long-term.Results: PrG did not affect A23187-induced, COX-1-derived 6-keto-PGF1α synthesis at the concentrations of 1 × 10-6, 5 × 10-6 mol/L (P>0.05), but enhanced 6-keto-PGF1α synthesis at the concentrations of 1 × 10-6, 5 × 10-7, 1 × 10-7 mol/L (P

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies in men and the second leading cause of male cancer mortality. MAZ (Myc-associated zinc-finger protein) is a transcription factor that regulates the transcription of oncogenes, and the deregulated MAZ expression is closely related to the development and progression of a variety of cancers. In the present study, the role of MAZ in PCa tumorigenesis and its interaction with androgen receptor (AR), which is essential to PCa development in humans, were investigated. MAZ expression was found to be higher in clinical PCa specimens than in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and adjacent normal tissues, and MAZ expression was positively correlated with AR expression, which was also observed in PCa cell lines. After knockdown of MAZ by siRNA, cell proliferation was notably inhibited, colony formation declined, the cell cycle was arrested at G0/G1 phase, and the number of cells in S phase decreased (p < 0.05). MAZ knockdown resulted in a significant decline in the migration and invasion capacity of the LNCaP-AD cell line. siRNA knockdown of AR significantly decreased MAZ expression, and knockdown of MAZ significantly increased the expression of AR and DHT-induced androgen response element (ARE). These results suggest that MAZ and AR are interrelated and that MAZ plays an important role in PCa pathogenesis, which could be a potential therapeutic target.

Background The West Nile virus (WNV) nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) is an important antigenic protein that elicits protective antibody responses in animals and can be used for the serological diagnosis of WNV infection. Although previous work has demonstrated the vital role of WNV NS1-specific antibody responses, the specific epitopes in the NS1 have not been identified. Results The present study describes the identification of two linear B-cell epitopes in WNV NS1 through screening a phage-displayed random 12-mer peptide library with two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) 3C7 and 4D1 that directed against the NS1. The mAbs 3C7 and 4D1 recognized phages displaying peptides with the consensus motifs LTATTEK and VVDGPETKEC, respectively. Exact sequences of both motifs were found in the NS1 (895LTATTEK901 and 925VVDGPETKEC934). Further identification of the displayed B cell epitopes were conducted using a set of truncated peptides expressed as MBP fusion proteins. The data indicated that 896TATTEK901 and925VVDGPETKEC934 are minimal determinants of the linear B cell epitopes recognized by the mAbs 3C7 and 4D1, respectively. Antibodies present in the serum of WNV-positive horses recognized the minimal linear epitopes in Western blot analysis, indicating that the two peptides are antigenic in horses during infection. Furthermore, we found that the epitope recognized by 3C7 is conserved only among WNV strains, whereas the epitope recognized by 4D1 is a common motif shared among WNV and other members of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) serocomplex. Conclusions We identified TATTEK and VVDGPETKEC as NS1-specific linear B-cell epitopes recognized by the mAbs 3C7 and 4D1, respectively. The knowledge and reagents generated in this study may have potential applications in differential diagnosis and the development of epitope-based marker vaccines against WNV and other viruses of JEV serocomplex.