Search

Both grooved-type and copper foam-type vapor chambers are explored and investigated. The overall performance of vapor chamber depends on both axial and spread thermal resistance mutually. The copper foam-type vapor chambers achieved the lowest axial thermal resistance less than 0.2 K/W. The grooved-type sample presented the lowest spread thermal resistance, indicating better temperature uniformity. The visual experiment demonstrated that the evaporating surface of the copper-foam vapor chamber was dominated by the thin film evaporation mechanism at low charging ratio while dominated by the pulsed pool boiling mechanism at large charging ratio. For the grooved-type vapor chamber, the pool boiling mode was observed at any charging ratio.

Cubic Co9S8 fracture structure nanoshells and cubic Co3S4 nanocrystallines were prepared by an ultrasonic spray pyrolysis process using cobalt chloride (CoCl2·6H2O) and thiourea (CH4N2S) as the starting materials. The as-prepared Co9S8 nanoshells and Co3S4 nanocrystallines were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy-disperse X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) attachment and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. It is found that the phase transition could be controlled by adjusting the reaction temperature, while morphologies of final products could be influenced by the molar ratio and reaction time of the precursor. And the possible mechanism for the formation of hollow and solid crystalline structures of the product was proposed.

The extract of Belamcanda chinensis (L.) leaves (BCLE) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of hyperglycemia in Hainan province, South China. In this study, the effects of BCLE on obese diabetes were investigated using the KK-Ay mice. The component F2 of BCLE alleviate hyperglycemia and insulin resistance, as indicated by decreased levels of FBG, AUC, GSP, LDH and insulin. High levels of hepatic G6Pase and PEPCK in KK-Ay mice were markedly attenuated by F2. The inhibitory effect of F2 on GSK-3β and the enhancement effect on liver glycogen demonstrated that F2 could significantly inhibit hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycogen accumulation. The higher PPAR γ showed F2 may prevent insulin resistance by PI3K signal transduction pathway. In addition, the component F1 of BCLE prevented cell degeneration and reduced pathological tissue injury in pancreas tissue. These findings suggest that F2 exhibited high hypoglycemic activities and could be explored as possible therapeutic agents for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Severe nitrogen (N) loss is a barrier for composting treatment. Since N transformation during composting is closely related to nitrogen loss, the impacts of adding sulphur and Thiobacillus thioparus 1904 to N transformation during composting were investigated in this work. Physicochemical properties and the expression of genes encoding N-related proteins were analysed to evaluate microbiological processes associated with N dynamics. The results indicated that (1) sulphur addition reduced the pH and cumulative NH3 emission, and decreased N losses by 44.23%, while no significant differences were observed in the expression of N cycle-associated genes compared with the control treatment; (2) the application of T. thioparus 1904 increased NO3−-N content, reduced N loss by 28.20%, and significantly enhanced the expression of ammonia monooxygenase A (archaeal amoA; AOA) and nitrite oxidoreductase A (nxrA) during the mature phase; (3) the combined application of sulphur and T. thioparus 1904 significantly affected the expression of functional genes related to nitrification and denitrification, which contributed to a reduction in accumulated NH3 emission, an increase in NO4+-N content, and a decrease in N losses by 70.94%. Expression of ammonia monooxygenase A (bacterial amoA; AOB), nxrA and nitrous oxide reductase Z (nosZ) genes in the combined treatment was positively correlated with NO3−-N, whereas expression of AOA and accumulation of NH3 were negatively correlated with NO3−-N. These results indicate that the combined application of sulphur and T. thioparus 1904 had a significant regulatory effect on N cycle genes and effectively reduced the N loss during composting.

The effects of sulphur and Thiobacillus thioparus 1904 on odour emissions during composting were studied. Results indicated that the sulphur addition reduced the pH and decreased cumulative emission of ammonia and the nitrogen loss by 47.80% and 44.23%, respectively, but the amount of volatile sulphur compounds (VSCs) and the sulphur loss increased. The addition of T. thioparus 1904 effectively reduced the cumulative emissions of H2S, methyl sulphide, methanethiol, dimethyl disulphide and the sulphur loss by 33.24%, 81.24%, 32.70%, 54.22% and 54.24%, respectively. T. thioparus 1904 also limited the nitrogen loss. The combined application of sulphur and T. thioparus 1904 resulted in the greatest amount of nitrogen retention. The accumulation of ammonia emissions was reduced by 63.33%, and the nitrogen loss was reduced by 71.93%. The combined treatment did not increase the emission of VSCs. The application of sulphur and T. thioparus 1904 may help to control the odour of compost.

Maleic anhydride functionalized acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS-g-MA) was used as an impact modifier of polyamide 6 (PA6). Epoxy resin was introduced into PA6/ABS-g-MA blends to further improve their properties. Notched Izod impact tests showed that the impact strength of PA6/ABS-g-MA could be improved from 253 to 800 J/m with the addition of epoxy resin when the ABS-g-MA content was set at 25 wt %. Differential scanning calorimetry results showed that the addition of epoxy resin made the crystallization temperature and melting temperature shift to lower temperatures; this indicated the decrease in the PA6 crystallization ability. Dynamic mechanical analysis testing showed that the addition of epoxy resin induced the glass-transition temperature of PA6 and the styrene-co-acrylonitrile copolymer phase to shift to higher temperatures due to the chemical reactions between PA6, ABS-g-MA, and epoxy resin. The scanning electron microscopy results indicated that the ABS-g-MA copolymer dispersed into the PA6 matrix uniformly and that the phase morphology of the PA6/ABS-g-MA blends did not change with the addition of the epoxy resin. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the epoxy resin did not change the deformation mechanisms of the PA6/ABS-g-MA blends. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 121: 909-915, 2011

Objective To establish the HPLC fingerprint of the pieces of honey-fried Radix Glycyrrhizae. Method Using the reverse-performance liquid chromatography, method was performed on a Hyperclone ODS C18 column (4.6 mm x 250 mm, 5 microm) and acetonitrile-0.1% phosphoric acid was selected as mobile phase gradient elution were adopted. Result Established HPLC fingerprint of Radix et Rhizoma glycyrrhizae pieces were established, and the results of methodological study met the technical requirements for fingerprinting. Conclusion The HPLC method is stable, accurate, and reliable to provide a scientific basis of quality control standard for the honey-fried Radix et Rhizoma glycyrrhizae.

Background Oncolytic virotherapy is an attractive drug platform of cancer gene therapy, but efficacy and specificity are important prerequisites for success of such strategies. Previous studies determined that Apoptin is a p53 independent, bcl-2 insensitive apoptotic protein with the ability to specifically induce apoptosis in tumor cells. Here, we generated a conditional replication-competent adenovirus (CRCA), designated Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin, and investigated the effectiveness of the CRCA a gene therapy agent for further clinical trials. Results The observation that infection with Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin significantly inhibited growth of the melanoma cells, protecting normal human epidermal melanocytes from growth inhibition confirmed cancer cell selective adenoviral replication, growth inhibition, and apoptosis induction of this therapeutic approach. The in vivo assays performed by using C57BL/6 mice containing established primary or metastatic tumors expanded the in vitro studies. When treated with Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin, the subcutaneous primary tumor volume reduction was not only observed in intratumoral injection group but in systemic delivery mice. In the lung metastasis model, Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin effectively suppressed pulmonary metastatic lesions. Furthermore, treatment of primary and metastatic models with Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin increased mice survival. Conclusions These data further reinforce the previously research showing that an adenovirus expressing Apoptin is more effective and advocate the potential applications of Ad-hTERT-E1a-Apoptin in the treatment of neoplastic diseases in future clinical trials.

The interlaminar shear property of composites remains a serious concern in application. In this article, five different multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are tried to improve the interlaminar shear property of composites, including two MWCNTs (MWCNTs-A and MWCNTs-B) different with diameters and lengths, an orientated MWCNTs (MWCNTs-C), a film-shaped MWCNTs-A (MWCNTs-D), and a surface-treated MWCNTs-B (MWCNTs-E). The interlaminar shear strength (ILSS) of the composites, filled with one of the above-mentioned materials as a constituent is investigated. The best ILSS increases by 8.16% from 24.5 MPa to 26.5 MPa with MWCNTs-E. In addition, the dispersion of MWCNTs in a glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) is researched by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in association with the ILSS results.