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In this paper, a novel sextuple mode resonator (SMR) is proposed to design a compact ultra-wide dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) with high selectivity. An even- and odd-mode analysis method is employed to analyze the proposed SMR, and the SMR can excite six resonant modes simultaneously. In addition, a cross shape and several open-circuit stubs are used in the proposed SMR for generating multiple transmission zeros (TZs). The TZs can divide the transmission poles into two groups to form the two passbands. With properly tuned the TZs and the transmission poles, the proposed dual-band ultra-wideband BPF is of high selectivity. The center frequencies (CFs) of the BPF are centered at 1.6 GHz and 5.2 GHz, respectively. The 3-dB fractional bandwidths (FBW) of the two passbands are larger than 145% and 25%, respectively. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, an ultra-wide dual-band BPF is fabricated. Measurement results show that the proposed BPF has high band-to-band isolation, wide stopband, low insertion losses (ILs), controllable bandwidth, and compact size. The stopband is up to 12.5 fc1 (fc1 is the center frequency of passband 1st), and the circuit size is only 0.1λg × 0.12λg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on developing a forecasting model for the nonlinear system with herding. Firstly, for clear presentation of the mechanism of herding behavior, a concept called intermittent positive feedback is defined. The mathematical expression of intermittent positive feedback is formulated in terms of dead-zone functions with the beginning and ending thresholds in the positive and negative directions. Then a dynamic surrogate based on the intermittent positive feedback multi-dimensional Taylor network is established, and a method for identifying its parameters is proposed. Multi-dimensional Taylor network module simulates the long-term trends of time series. Subsequently, an optimization model based on the alternating iteration of the parameters is developed to enhance the forecast accuracy of the intermittent positive feedback part. Simulation results demonstrate that the forecasting effect of the proposed modeling method is superior to that of conventional non-mechanism data-based surrogates for herding behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chloroplast genome of Anthurium andraeanum Linden 1877 was assembled and analyzed in this study. The genome size is 162,560 bp, of which contains a large single-copy (LSC) region with 88,814 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region with 22,856 bp, and two inverted repeat regions (IRA and IRB) with 25,445 bp, respectively. The plastome contains 124 genes, including 80 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNAs, six rRNAs and one pseudogene. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that A. andraeanum is a member of Pothoideae and sister to A. huixtlense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ischemia reperfusion (I/R) injuries occurred in many pathological and surgical processes (e.g. thrombolytic therapy, organ transplantation, aortic cross-clamping, coronary angioplasty and cardiopulmonary bypass) and harmed multiple organs and tissues. Vitamin D is a well-known sterol hormone and a nutritional ingredient able to promote the deposit of calcium and regulate phosphorus metabolism in the body. In addition, vitamin D has therapeutic effects on some diseases (e.g. cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis and inflammation). Studies showed that vitamin D3 was closely related with I/R injury occurrences in heart, brain, spine, liver, kidney, and ovary. The literature searching was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and SCOPUS from inception to 20 September 2021. Data showed that supplements with vitamin D3 can remarkably attenuate I/R injuries. This paper reviewed recent progresses of vitamin D3 preventing I/R injuries in clinical investigations and animal tests to enlighten future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problems of integrated assembly job shop (AJS) scheduling and self-reconfiguration in knowledgeable manufacturing are studied with the objective of minimising the weighted sum of completion cost of products, the earliness penalty of operations and the training cost of workers. In AJS, each workstation consists of a certain number of teams of workers. A product is assumed to have a tree structure consisting of components and subassemblies. The assembly of components, subassemblies and final products are optimised with the capacity of workstations simultaneously. A heuristic algorithm is developed to solve the problem. Dominance relations of operations are derived and applied in the development of the heuristic. A backward insertion search strategy is designed to locally optimise the operation sequence. Once the optimal schedule is acquired, the teams are reconfigured by transferring them from workstations of lower utilisation to those of higher utilisation. Effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is tested by a number of numerical experiments. The results show that the proposed algorithm promises lower total cost and desirable simultaneous self-reconfiguration in accordance with scheduling. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a study on the two-stage assembly flow shop scheduling problem for minimising the weighed sum of maximum makespan, earliness and lateness. There are m machines at the first stage, each of which produces a component of a job. A single machine at the second stage assembles the m components together to complete the job. A novel model for solving the scheduling problem is built to optimise the maximum makespan, earliness and lateness simultaneously. Two optimal operation sequences of jobs are determined and verified. As the problem is known to be NP-hard, a hybrid variable neighbourhood search – electromagnetism-like mechanism (VNS-EM) algorithm is proposed for its handling. To search beyond local optima for a global one, VNS algorithm is embedded in each iteration of EM, whereby the fine neighbourhood search of optimum individuals can be realised and the solution is thus optimised. Simulation results show that the proposed hybrid VNS-EM algorithm outperforms the EM and VNS algorithms in both average value and standard deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pot experiments were conducted to assess the effects of monoammonium phosphate (NH4H2PO4) and citric acid (CA) on the arsenic uptake of Chinese brake fern (Pteris vittata L. in two typical arsenic-contaminated soils i.e. fluvo-aquic and brown) from Jiyuan (JY) City and Baoding (BD) City in Northern China. NH4H2PO4 improved the biomass of P. vittata, whereas CA exerted no significant influence. NH4H2PO4 and CA both increased the arsenic uptake of P. vittata by 6.08 and 2.72 times, respectively, in fluvo-aquic soil and 4.20 and 2.52 times, respectively, in brown soil. Moreover, CA, but not NH4H2PO4, promoted the transfer of arsenic from the root to the frond. NH4H2PO4 and CA increased Olsen's arsenic contents in the soils and promoted the transformation of residual arsenic and crystalline Fe/Al oxide-bound arsenic to nonspecifically and specifically sorbed arsenic. This study proved that P. vittata can be used in Northern China. Applying NH4H2PO4 and CA can enhance the effectiveness of P. vittata in the phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context:Tea (Camellia sinensis(L.) Kuntze [Theaceae]) is used to induce urination and inducing nervous excitation. Green and black teas have multifarious physiological functions. The different effects of green and black tea aqueous extracts (GTEs and BTEs) on hyperuricemia are not definitely reported. Objective:The different effects of GTEs and BTEs on lowering serum uric acid (UA) in hyperuricemic mice were determined. Materials and methods:Kunming mice were divided into nine groups (n = 6/each group). GTEs and BTEs at the doses of 0.5, 1 and 2 g/kg were orally administrated to mice for seven days, respectively. Hepatic xanthine oxidase (XOD) and adenosine deaminase (ADA) activities as mechanisms of actions were assessed. Results:Research indicated that the LD50of tea extract is greater than 2 g/kg in mice. UA levels were suppressed significantly with dose-dependent treatment of 0.5, 1 and 2 g/kg BTEs (up to 25.5%, 28.7% and 29.8%, respectively); the serum UA levels were decreased by GTEs but not significant. The activities of XOD and ADA in high dose (2 g/kg) groups of both GTEs and BTEs were notably lower than those of the model group. Discussion and conclusions:The results suggested that both GTEs and BTEs have hypouricaemic and renal protective effects on hyperuricemic mice and the latter one was better. Our study sheds light on the research and development of anti-hyperuricemic functional foods and drugs from tea. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adding aquatic worms to a wastewater treatment system can reduce sludge production through predation. The aeration level is crucial for success. To evaluate aeration impacts on sludge reduction and determine an optimal aeration regime, this study investigated the processes ofin-situsludge reduction, using aquatic worms exposed to different aeration levels. The experiment also compared treatment results between a conventional reactor and an aquatic worm reactor (WR). Results indicated that the recommended concentration of dissolved oxygen (DO) was 2.5 mg L−1. The removal rate of chemical oxygen demand remained steady at 80% when the DO concentration was higher than 2.5 mg L−1, while the removal rate of ammonia nitrogen continued to moderately increase. Increasing the DO concentration to 5 mg L−1did not improve sludge reduction, and consumed more power. With a DO concentration of 2.5 mg L−1and a power of 0.19 kWh t−1water, the absolute sludge reduction and relative sludge reduction rates in the WR were 60.0% and 45.7%, respectively, and the daily aquatic worm growth rate was 0.150 d−1during the 17-d test. Therefore, at the recommended aeration regime, aquatic worms reduced the sludge without increasing the power consumption or deteriorating the effluent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzhuan brick-tea (FBT) is unique for a fungal fermentation stage in its manufacture process and is classified in dark tea. A new acylated flavonol glycoside, kaempferol 3-O-[E-p-coumaroyl-(→2)][α-l-arabinopyranosyl-(1→3)][α-l-rhamnopyranosyl(1→6)]-β-d-glucopyranoside, which was trivially named as camellikaempferoside A (1), was isolated from FBT along with camelliquercetiside C (2). Their structures were unambiguously elucidated by combination of spectroscopic and chemical methods. Compound 1 showed anti-proliferative activity against MCF-7 and MDA–MB-231 cells with IC50 values of 7.83 and 19.16 μM, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new approach to the self-reconfiguration and optimisation of knowledge meshes (KMs), based on the user’s function requirements and similarity measure. A new similarity measure combined of the function similarity and layer similarity between similar knowledge points is defined, and the properties proved. A simple similarity algorithm for KMs is proposed. Aiming at user’s maximum function–satisfaction, the method to the self-reconfiguration of KMs is presented. First, several appropriate KMs according to the enterprise requirements are selected and preprocessed by similarity measure. Second, a similarity threshold is given and the similarity is calculated for every pair of knowledge points in the selected KMs. The two knowledge points can be recognised as the same when the similarity between them exceeds the given threshold, and then the knowledge point with the lower function–satisfaction degree is replaced by the one with the higher function–satisfaction degree. Third, the KM multiple set operation expression is optimised by the hybrid genetic-tabu algorithm. Finally, a new KM obtained by operations on KM multiple sets can be mapped into an agent mesh (AM) for automatic reconfiguration of complex software systems. Based upon the above, the KM’s optimisation are illustrated by an actual KM example which corresponds to the management information system (MIS) software used in a vehicle body plant at Nanjng in China, which shows the method to be very effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Omega-3 fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), have been shown to possess definitively suppressive effects on the growth of epithelial ovarian cancer cells. This study investigated the differential effects of pure EPA and DHA on the growth of epithelial ovarian cancer cells and the potential molecular mechanisms that may be involved. There were significant time- and dose-dependent inhibitory effects of both EPA and DHA on cellular proliferation of the epithelial ovarian cancer cell line TOV-21G (P< 0.05). TOV-21G cells pretreated with peroxisome proliferator receptor activator gamma (PPARγ) antagonist, GW9662, markedly suppressed EPA/DHA-induced apoptosis as determined by TUNEL assay, Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, and caspase-3 activity. EPA/DHA significantly induced PPARγ and p53 overexpression as observed in immunoblotting assay and the induction of p53 by EPA/DHA was abolished by GW9662. In all cases, the effect of DHA was significantly more potent than that of EPA (P< 0.05). Our findings suggested that DHA may be more effective than EPA in growth suppression of TOV-21G cells and the biologic effects may be partly mediated by PPARγ and p53 activation. Further research is required to elucidate additional divergent mechanisms to account for apparent differences between EPA and DHA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An integrated optimization production planning and scheduling based on alternant iterative genetic algorithm is proposed here. The operation constraints to ensure batch production successively are determined in the first place. Then an integrated production planning and scheduling model is formulated based on non-linear mixed integer programming. An alternant iterative method by hybrid genetic algorithm (AIHGA) is employed to solve it, which operates by the following steps: a plan is given to find a schedule by hybrid genetic algorithm; in turn, a schedule is given to find a new plan using another hybrid genetic algorithm. Two hybrid genetic algorithms are alternately run to optimize the plan and schedule simultaneously. Finally a comparison is made between AIHGA and a monolithic optimization method based on hybrid genetic algorithm (MOHGA). Computational results show that AIHGA is of higher convergence speed and better performance than MOHGA. And the objective values of the former are an average of 12.2% less than those of the latter in the same running time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triorganotins in seafood are a risks to human health, but due to their low concentrations, their determination is challenging. In this study, a simple and rapid method was developed to isolate triorganotins from seafood by microwave-assisted extraction coupled with magnetic nanoparticle-based purification. The magnetic nanoparticles were coated with octanoic acid. Triethyltin chloride, tributyltin chloride, triphenyltin chloride, and azocyclotin were determined by high performance liquid chromatography– inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC–ICP-MS). Various parameters including the temperature, time, and volume of solvent were optimized to improve the extraction efficiency. Under the optimized conditions, the average recoveries (n = 6) of the triorganotins (fortified at 0.01, 0.02, and 0.05 µg g−1) were between 73.8% and 105.4% and the relative standard deviations were less than 10.4%. The procedure was successfully applied to seafood, and the analytes were measured at concentration levels between 2.93 and 11.26 ng g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A significant proportion of arsenic (As)-contaminated sites are temporarily or permanently under reducing condition, which may affect phytoextraction efficiency using the As-hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L. In this work, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the solubility and redox species of As in soil. The uptake of As by two populations of P. vittata and As-tolerant grass Holcus lanatus under different water regimes was examined. Waterlogging decreased the redox potential from 350 to−50 mV, leading to an approximately 40% reduction of As(V) to As(III) and an increased dissolved As concentration by 150%–300%. The changes in the speciation and concentration of As influenced its uptake by plants. A population collected from a temporarily waterlogged riverside in Guangxi province (GX population) had ninefold higher shoot As concentration under the waterlogged condition than that under the non-waterlogged condition, indicating that it preferred taking up As in the form of As(III). By contrast, a population of P. vittata collected from a dry land in Yunnan province (YN population) and H. lanatus demonstrated a preference to As(V). The GX population was an appropriate species for the phytoextraction of waterlogged sites. These results implied the importance of habitat ecology on the extraction efficiency of hyperaccumulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoremediation of arsenic contamination using the hyperaccumulatorPteris vittatais an active area of research. However, the mechanism for the uptake of arsenic inP. vittataremains unclear, due to the absence of methods to monitor this process. This study utilized synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) to continuously observein situarsenic in livingP. vittata. The results showed that the reduction of arsenic(V) to arsenic(III) occurred simultaneously with an increase in frond arsenic, suggesting the reduction affected arsenic uptake.In situXRF measurements of livingP. vittataaccurately characterized arsenic uptake butin situXANES could not be used on live plants without using methods to prevent radiation damage. A novel approach is reported to investigate the changes of elements in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an integrated approach is proposed to inverse geometrical and electrical properties of cylindrical objects buried in isotropic and homogeneous medium using Ground penetrating radar imagery. As the peak amplitude of receiving signals depend on electrical properties of objects and background, objects depth, there exist a nonlinear relationship between them. The integrated approach is composed of four steps. First, a symmetry-based algorithm is used to obtain objects depth information. Secondly, different velocity models and the root-mean-square error are applied to perform the estimation of relative permittivity of background. Thirdly, Hough transform is used to estimate the size of objects. After these, the multivariable recursive problem can be reduced to a single-variable parameter inversion task. Finally, online support vector regression is adopted to inverse the object material. The results based on simulated data demonstrate that the proposed approach can efficiently and precisely solve these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The dissipation behaviour of three neonicotinoids – thiamethoxam, imidacloprid and acetamiprid – was compared in tea shoots, in Chinese green and black tea, and after tea infusion in hot water. The simple and rapid analytical procedures for the quantification of these three residues in these matrices were developed using HPLC with ultraviolet (UV) detection. Degradation rates in tea shoots of neonicotinoids applied in either recommended or double dosages followed first-order kinetics, with half-lives of 1.62 or 1.58 days for thiamethoxam, of 2.45 or 2.67 days for imidacloprid, and of 3.24 or 3.85 days for acetamiprid, respectively. Through harvest and processing the residue retentions for thiamethoxam, imidacloprid and acetamiprid were 85.0%, 84.1% and 70.6% of the initial dosages in green tea, and 77.1%, 52.4% and 57.4% in black tea. These three residues all showed high transfer rates through green or black tea brewing of 80.5% or 81.6% for thiamethoxam, of 63.1% or 62.2% for imidacloprid, and of 78.3% or 80.6% for acetamiprid. Waiting periods between the last application and harvest of at least 12, 17 and 20 days were suggested for thiamethoxam, imidacloprid and acetamiprid, respectively, after application at their recommend dosages to ensure levels below a maximum residue limit (MRL) of 0.05 mg kg−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autophagy, an evolutionarily-conserved intracellular organelle and protein degradation process, may exhibit drastically different effects on cell survival depending on the particular environmental and culturing conditions. Hoechst 33342 (HO), a fluorescent dye widely used for staining DNA, has been reported to induce apoptosis in mammalian cells. Here we showed that, in addition to caspase-independent cell death, HO also induced autophagy in HeLa cells, as evidenced by the accumulation of autophagosomes, LC3 form conversion and LC3 puncta formation in a cell line stably expressing GFP-LC3. HO treatment led to generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and inhibition of ROS with N-acetyl- l-cysteine (NAC) abrogated both autophagy and caspase-independent cell death. Finally, autophagy played a protective role against caspase-independent cell death, as cell death induced by HO was enhanced under pharmacological and siRNA-mediated genetic inhibition of autophagy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to optimize germination and growth conditions of the arsenic hyperaccumulating fern, Pteris vittata L. Pot experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of soil pH, soil calcium (Ca) concentration, and temperature on the sexual propagation of P. vittata. At 25°C, germination was both accelerated and increased by high soil pH and Ca concentration. Spores of P. vittata did not germinate on medium with a pH of 4.6. Amending strongly acid soils with 27.5 or 40 μmol/g Ca(OH)2 significantly improved the growth rate during both the germination phase and the gametophyte phase. Amending strongly acid soils with NaOH (55 μmol/g) promoted germination, but did not affect subsequent growth. Among the different temperature, germination and growth rates were higher at 25°C than at 20°C or 30°C. The distribution of P. vittata in China might be influenced by its requirement for high pH and high Ca concentration in the soil, and appropriate growth temperature to complete sexual propagation. These results provided important information for improving breeding conditions of P. vitatta and will be helpful for extending the range of areas in which P. vittata can be used for phytoremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between metal complex Cu2+-ARS (Alizarin Red S) and l-cysteine was investigated via fluorescence and absorption spectroscopies. In pH 5.2 Britton-Robinson buffer, the addition of L-cysteine into Cu2+-ARS system resulted in a fluorescence enhancement because cysteine reduced Cu2+ to Cu+, which led to Cu2+-ARS decompound, and ARS was released. The result was also supported by absorption spectroscopy change. A good linear response of fluorescence intensity as a function of cysteine concentration was obtained ranging from 1.0 × 10-6 to 4.0 × 10-5 mol L-1 with the detection limit as 1.08 × 10-7 mol L-1. The introduced method has high selectivity over other amino acids such as cystine, tyrosine, tryptophan, methionine, and glycine. It was applied to determine cysteine in protein hydrolysate of fresh pig blood with recovery of 88.4-100.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We reported the complete mitochondrial genome sequencing of an important cervical carcinoma model inbred rat strain for the first time. The total length of the mitogenome was 16,314 bp. It harbored 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, 22 transfer RNA genes and 1 non-coding control region. The mutation events contained in this strain were also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]