Search

Estuarine wetlands play important roles in the regional and global carbon cycle as well as greenhouse gas emissions; however, the driving factors and potential carbon emissions mechanisms are unclear. Here, the carbon emission fluxes were investigated in situ from different vegetated areas in the Chongming wetlands. The results showed that the highest methane (CH

Graphdiyne (GDY) is a new 2D carbon material different from graphene, and its ideal drug carrying and photothermal therapy efficacy had been noticed recently. Graphdiyne-oxide (GDYO), which few phototherapy researches had been reported, has more oxygen functional groups than GDY. Metal-organic framework materials Fe3O4@UiO-66-NH2 (FU) can covalently connect to GDYO layers and obtain covalent-organic framework-like structures FUGYO. FU enlarged interlamellar space of GDYO, which avoided the aggregation of FUGYO multiple layers. At the same time, more acetylenic bonds and hydrophilic group were exposed, which brings out advantages like stability, hydrophily, high drug-loading, as well as magnetic targeting and better magnetic resonance imaging efficacy. To promote cancer treatment effect and water solubility, we loaded chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX) in FUGYO, then encapsulated FUGYO/DOX in phosphatidylcholine and fluorescent organic polymer BODIPY-PEG (BP) to integrate image-guided and synergistic therapy in one nanoparticle (BPFG/DOX). Due to the unique structure of BPFG/DOX, the π–π interaction between GDYO and BP improved photodynamic therapy efficiency. About 10 μg ml−1 BPFG/DOX have nearly 90% cell lethality to MCF-7 (human breast cancer cell line) cells with laser irradiation. In vivo, BPFG/DOX possessed ideal magnetic targeting and effectively inhibited tumor growth in 6 d. In conclusion, BPFG/DOX not only acts as an excellent tumor theranostic agent but also provides a scheme for applying GDYO in the biomedical region.

Microdochium nivale and M. majus not only cause seedling blight of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in cold dry soils, but also cause foot rot and ear blight of wheat under favorable conditions (Haigh ...

Identifying the angular degrees $l$ of oscillation modes is essential for asteroseismology and depends on visual tagging before fitting power spectra in a so-called peakbagging analysis. In oscillating subgiants, radial ($l$= 0) mode frequencies distributed linearly in frequency, while non-radial ($l$ >= 1) modes are p-g mixed modes that having a complex distribution in frequency, which increased the difficulty of identifying $l$. In this study, we trained a 1D convolutional neural network to perform this task using smoothed oscillation spectra. By training simulation data and fine-tuning the pre-trained network, we achieved a 95 per cent accuracy on Kepler data., 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRAS

Epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton affect the plant physiology and nutrient transformation of submerged macrophytes. The community structure of epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton is fundamental to understanding their ecological role and, in turn, the effect of macrophytes on bacteria. In this study we compared the composition of epiphytic bacteria in association with Potamogeton pectinatus, as well as that of the surrounding bacterioplankton at different growing stages of P. pectinatus. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, and Actinobacteria were dominant groups in both epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton, yet there was a significant discrepancy in the community structure among different growing stages, and bacterioplankton exhibited higher diversity than epiphytic bacteria during the entire growing period. The relative abundance of most bacteria showed opposite trends between epiphytic bacteria and bacterioplankton. Further studies should focus on the underlying interactions between epiphytic bacteria and their host plants.

The interaction mechanism between whey protein isolate (WPI) and flavonoids was investigated based on the spectrofluorometric and theoretical methods in this study. The binding capacities of 15 flavonoids with WPI were compared. Then, the 3D-QSAR model describing their binding behavior was established to illustrate the effect of flavonoid structure on binding. It was found that the flavonoids with electronegative group at C-3 or large substituent at C-3 and C-7 possessed high binding performance. The thermodynamic analysis further indicated the hydrophobic force was the main driving force for binding of WPI and flavonoids. Both synchronous and 3D fluorescence analysis suggested that the microenvironment around tryptophan residues had changed, which coincided with the result of molecular docking that tryptophan residue of α-lactalbumin contributed significantly to hydrogen bonding. Our results suggested that the combination of 3D-QSAR and molecular docking may prompt the interaction research between food-derived proteins and polyphenols.

Highlights • US pre-treatment has optimally improved functional properties of Lac-cross-linked α-LA. • α-LA was used as a natural emulsifier for CLA emulsion stabilization. • No sign of phase separation was noted throughout the storage studies. • Lac-cross-linked US α-LA emulsion had the highest stability and smallest particle size., α-lactalbumin was modified by ultrasound (US, 20 kHz, 43 ± 3.4 W/cm−2) pre-treatments (0, 15, 30 and 60 min) and laccase cross-linking of sonicated α-lactalbumin was used to evaluate the physical and oxidative stability of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) emulsions. The emulsions prepared with laccase cross-linking US-α-lactalbumin (α-lactalbumin treated with US pre-treatment) and US-α-lactalbumin were scrutinized for oxidative and physical stability at room temperature for two weeks of storage. Laccase cross-linking US-α-lactalbumin (Lac-US-α-lactalbumin) revealed improved physical stability in comparison with US-α-lactalbumin, specified by droplet size, structural morphology, adsorbed protein, emulsifying properties and creaming index. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that there was formation of polymers in Lac-US-α-lactalbumin emulsion. Surface hydrophobicity of Lac-US-α-lactalbumin was higher than that of US-α-lactalbumin, and gradually enhanced with the increase of ultrasound time. More importantly, the measurements of peroxide values and conjugated dienes were used to study the oxidative stability of the CLA emulsions. The Lac-US-α-lactalbumin emulsion proved to be reducing the synthesis of fatty acid hydroperoxides and less conjugated dienes compared to the native and US-α-lactalbumin emulsions. This study revealed that the combination of US pre-treatment and laccase cross-linking might be an effective technique for the modification of CLA emulsions.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has a successful track record in cancer. . Urea is a naturally occurring metabolite in the human body. Some studies have shown that it can inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells and cause oxidative stress. In order to explore the application of urea in enhancing the PDT effect, we synthesized a new photosensitizer (BODIPY-I-35) with good phototherapeutic effect and encapsulated it in liposomes. Compared with free BODIPY-I-35, water-soluble nanoliposomes (LipoBOD) produced a huge redshift ( 122 nm) of fluorescence emission in solution. When LipoBOD was irradiated with 808 nm laser (1 W/cm

This work systematically researched the binding behavior mechanism and foaming properties of bovine α-lactalbumin (α-La) and glycyrrhizic acid (GA) or ginsenosides (GR) in bulk at pH 7.0 by using the methods of multi-spectroscopic, molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The intrinsic fluorescence results showed that binding behavior mechanism of GA and GR bounded onto α-La was static quenching. Moreover, the Ka of α-La/GA (3.44 × 104) was larger than that of α-La/GR complex (9.57 × 102) at 298 K. The main driven forces of α-La/GA were hydrogen bonds, van der Waals and hydrophobic interaction forces, while only hydrophobic interaction force was involved in α-La/GR complex. Meanwhile, molecular docking result showed that the docking site of α-La/GA and α-La/GR was mainly located in sheet with S1, S2 or S3 and helix with H4 or h1. There were six hydrogen bonds in α-La/GA, whereas no hydrogen bond was present in α-La/GR. The MD results presented that the electrostatic interaction energy, the Van der Waals interaction energy and the nonpolar solvent energy were favorable for binding between α-La and GA or GR. Among them, the main contributed amino acid residues of α-La/GA complex were Thr33, Gln54, Tyr103, Trp104 and Leu110, while the main interacted residues of α-La/GR system were Trp60, Val99, Tyr103 and Trp104. Furthermore, GA and GR bonded onto α-La had insignificant impact on the secondary structure of α-La. Finally, the addition of GA and GR (1.0 mg/mL) induced a 155.57% and 111.11% increase in the foaming property of α-La. The obtained results provide some new insights to the interaction mechanism of α-La bounded with GA and GR. Additionally, it also indicates that α-La/saponin complex has the ability to apply in the protein-based foaming foods.

The effects of hot-water extraction (HWE), ultrasound-treated extraction (UTE), enzyme-treated extraction (ETE) and ultrasound-enzyme treated extraction (UETE) on the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, antioxidant activities and characteristics of Ginkgo biloba seed polysaccharides were investigated and compared in this study. Among the four extracted polysaccharides, the UETE-polysaccharide initially exhibited the highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity and antioxidant activities. The HWE-polysaccharide showed a large number of small compact spherical structures, and the UTE-polysaccharide exhibited an irregular pleated porous shape; meanwhile, the ETE-polysaccharide and UETE-polysaccharide were spongy with smooth surface topography, as observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The four polysaccharides varied in monosaccharide composition. The HWE-polysaccharide mainly consisted of homogeneous mannose; the UETE-polysaccharide was primarily composed of mannose, rhamnose, and glucose in a molar ratio of 8.25:1.00:1.53. The HWE-polysaccharide had the largest molecular weight (4.2 × 105 Da), reduced by the order of the UETE-polysaccharide (2.02 × 104 Da), ETE-polysaccharide (1.72 × 104 Da), and UTE-polysaccharide (1.34 × 104 Da). Thus, the four extract methods exerted significant effects on the bioactivity and characteristics of the polysaccharides. The UETE-polysaccharide from G. biloba seeds showed the highest bioactive activities and distinctive structural characteristics.

Influence of microwave irradiation heating (MH) and water bath heating (WH) pretreatments (70, 80 and 90 °C) on the structure, emulsifying properties and cell proliferation of laccase-crosslinked α-La was investigated. Compared with WH pretreatment, MH pretreatment can further promote the formation of polymers in laccase-crosslinked α-La. Also, MH treatment further unfolded the secondary structure, increased the surface hydrophobicity, and induced more formation of dityrosines in laccase-crosslinked α-La solution than that of WH pretreatment. Compared with untreated laccase-crosslinked α-La, its emulsifying activity index (EAI) was increased by 28.87% and 25.01% after MH and WH pretreatment at 90 °C. Gel hardness and water holding capacity of laccase-crosslinked α-La was increased by 30.20% and 18.37% after MH at 90 °C compared to untreated laccase-crosslinked α-La. Cell viability of laccase-crosslinked α-La (2 mg/mL) was increased by 18.12% at 90 °C with MH pretreatment. These findings indicated that MH pretreatment could ameliorate the crosslinking degree of α-La and laccase, thus improving its emulsifying, gel properties, and cell viability.

This study aims to explore the interaction mechanisms between alpha-lactalbumin (ALa) and three fat-soluble vitamins (VA, VD3 and VE) at pH 7.0 and their impacts on structure and functionality of ALa. Analysis of fluorescence spectroscopy showed that vitamins quenched intrinsic fluorescence of ALa in a static mode and cholecalciferol (VD3) had a higher binding affinity for ALa than Retinol (VA) and alpha-tocopherol (VE). Synchronous fluorescence and three-dimensional fluorescence spectra demonstrated the conformation changes of ALa. Meanwhile, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy manifested that three vitamins induced a transition from α-helix to β-sheet in ALa, and VD3 notably increased its random coil content. Furthermore, a combination of VE with ALa generated macromolecular aggregates, based on particle size results. The addition of VA and VD3 increased zeta potential and surface hydrophobicity of ALa, while VE triggered that of ALa initially increased and then decreased with vitamins ranging from 0 to 0.35 mmol/L. Additionally, molecular simulation suggested that VA and VE had a same binding site in the cleft of ALa, but VD3 bound in a hydrophobic pocket in protein, and their binding driving forces were hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bond. This study reveals that ALa might be a potentially suitable carrier for delivering vitamins, providing a theoretical basis of interaction between proteins and small molecules.

In eutrophic lacustrine ecosystems, drifting algal blooms are easily trapped by emergent macrophytes in downwind littoral zones, potentially altering carbon cycling processes; yet, knowledge remains limited about the mechanisms driving these changes. In this study, Microcystis and Phragmites, two dominant photosynthetic organisms in a hypereutrophic (Lake Taihu, China), were collected to simulate their co-decomposition processes. We demonstrate how molecular-level biomarkers could be used to elucidate the degradation dynamics of these two distinct organic forms in mixtures. Microcystis-derived carbon accelerated the decomposition rate of mixed systems (positive co-metabolism effect), rather than retarding it. The decomposition rate of TOC (total organic carbon) directly measured in the mixed treatments was 14% higher than when the two substrates were incubated alone. The use of specific fatty acid biomarkers facilitated more accurate tracking, demonstrating 1.09 times higher decomposition rates for Phragmites detritus in mixed treatments than in single Phragmites treatments. Furthermore, Microcystis showed 0.98 times higher decomposition rates in mixed treatments than in single treatments. The addition of Microcystis detritus to Phragmites detritus might meet microbial stoichiometric requirements, increasing the abundance of decomposing bacteria in Phragmites detritus, and accelerating decomposition rates, resulting in the co-metabolism of Microcystis and Phragmites carbon. Given the increasing occurrence of algal blooms in eutrophic lakes, the processes documented here might enhance greenhouse gas emissions from lakes with continued global climate warming.

This study investigated the physicochemical and functional characteristics of citric acid (CA)-treated whey protein isolate (WPI) by dynamic high-pressure homogenization (DHPH) at different pressure levels (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 MPa, 3 cycles). The number of macromolecular polymers increased in CA-treated WPI with DHPH at 0–100 MPa by the analysis of molecular size distributions. DHPH can reduce the particle size of WPI and CA-treated WPI. Additionally, the content of free sulfhydryl groups and surface hydrophobicity of WPI and CA-treated WPI increased after DHPH treatment (p

The gel strength, microstructure and water-holding capacities (WHC) of emulsion gels, modified by combined ultrasound (US, 20 kHz, 600 W) pretreatment (0, 20 and 40 min) and laccase cross-linking treatment of α-lactalbumin (α-LA)-stabilized emulsions (at protein concentration 12%, w/v; oil volume fraction, 10%, w/v), were studied and compared. Significant differences in gel strength, WHC, and morphological changes have scrutinized among various emulsion gels prepared with laccase cross-linking US-α-LA (α-LA treated with US pretreatment) and US-α-LA. The gel strength of laccase cross-linking US-α-LA and US-α-LA significantly increased from 201.4 to 274.1 g and 22.8–49.4 g, respectively, with US duration ranged from 0 to 20 min. Furthermore, gel WHC of laccase cross-linking US-α-LA and US-α-LA also remarkably increased from 91.1 to 95.9 and 61.7–70.8%, respectively. The laccase cross-linking US-α-LA and US-α-LA had more uniform and denser microstructure than control. Moreover, the emulsion with laccase cross-linking US-α-LA gave a self-standing elastic gel, which showed stability for more than one month without showing any separation. In conclusion, the most appropriate combined processing technique to make a stable gel was the moderate US duration (20 min). It had a remarkable impact on physicochemical and microstructural attributes of emulsion gel, producing better substrates for laccase. Our obtained results suggested that for functionality modification of the globular protein, ultrasound pretreatment combined with laccase is an effective method.

The source region of the Yangtze River (SRYR), located on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, is an essential part of the Asian Water Tower and plays an important role in the downstream water resources. Significant changes in frozen ground caused by increases in air temperature have been widely reported in the past several decades, which has greatly affected regional runoff. This study evaluated the spatiotemporal variations in frozen ground and hydrological components by utilizing a geomorphology-based eco-hydrological model (GBEHM) and investigated the reasons for runoff changes based on the Budyko framework. The results showed that the area with an elevation range of 4700–4800 m located in the permafrost region was the main source area of runoff generation from 1981 to 2015. Compared with the permafrost region, the seasonally frozen ground (SFG) region had a larger ratio of annual evapotranspiration to annual precipitation, although the aridity indices in the two regions were very similar. From 1981 to 2015, the mean value of the maximum frozen depth of SFG (MFDSFG) decreased by 12.3 cm/10 a and the mean value of the active layer thickness (ALT) of permafrost increased by 4.2 cm/10 a. The annual runoff in the SFG region decreased, while that in the permafrost region increased. Runoff change was more sensitive to precipitation change in the higher altitude regions that were mainly covered by permafrost than in the lower altitude regions that were mainly covered by the SFG, while the evapotranspiration change in the transition zone was more sensitive to climate change. An abrupt change in the annual runoff time series was detected in 1989, 2004, and 2004 in the SFG region, the permafrost region and the entire SRYR, respectively, and the annual runoff change from period 1 (1981 to change point) to period 2 (change point + 1 to 2015) were −25.7 mm, 33.8 mm and 25.8 mm respectively. Frozen ground degradation contributed changes of −15.0 mm, −8.8 mm and −11.6 mm to the annual runoff in the SFG region, the permafrost region and the entire SRYR, respectively. This result implied that frozen ground degradation had a negative impact on regional runoff in the SRYR. These findings deepen our understanding of frozen ground and its hydrological changes and are helpful for water resource management in the SRYR.

A series of neutral conjugated polymers (NCPs) and conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) containing tetraphenylethene (TPE) were synthesized and characterized. Due to the presence of TPE units, NCPs exhibit aggregation-induced emission characteristics and strong fluorescence in the aggregated state. NCPs can function as fluorescent probes to detect 2,4,6-trinitrophenol in aqueous media with extremely high sensitivity, low detection limit and good anti-photobleaching properties. The value of quenching constants (Ksv) is by up to 1.72 × 107 M−1 and the detection limit is as low as 5 nM. NCPs can also be made into the fluorescence test strips for the detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol in a practical application. The corresponding CPEs are obtained from the facile reaction of the NCPs with pyridines. The CPEs exhibit low cytotoxicity and can be used to track lysosomes in HeLa cells, which is meaningful in visualizing and understanding intracellular metabolism and various physiological processes. Based on the identical polymer skeleton, these conjugated polymers could be employed as fluorescent probes for multipurpose application.

The main purpose of this work was to investigate the impact of high-pressure homogenization pressure (HPHP, 0–120 MPa for 5 cycles) on physicochemical, emulsifying and foaming properties of TGase-induced whey protein isolate (WPI). Initially, the results of SDS-PAGE and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) showed that the molecular polymers of TGase-induced WPI could be formed with HPHP ranging from 0 to 120 MPa, compared with WPI. Furthermore, particle size and free amino groups of TGase-induced WPI reduced after HPHP pretreatment, whereas its surface hydrophobicity and solubility remarkably increased (P

The main purpose of this work was to investigate the influence of high-pressure homogenization (HPH, 60, 90, and 120 MPa, three cycles) combined with ultrasound (US, 120, 360, and 600 W, 30 min) on the physiochemical, interfacial, and gelation properties of whey protein isolate (WPI). Compared with an individual application of HPH or US, a combined HPH-US treatment can further reduce average particle size (D4,3) and turbidity of WPI, while significantly ameliorating its surface hydrophobicity, fluorescence intensity, and free sulfhydryl content. Compared with that of an untreated WPI, the emulsifying ability index (EAI) of WPI was increased by 8.54% after a 120 MPa HPH and by 7.63% after a 600 W US, whereas it increased by 13.97% after a combined treatment of 120 MPa and 600 W HPH-US. Accordingly, the foaming ability (FA) and the foaming stability (FS) were enhanced by 26.10% and 118.18% at 120 MPa and 600 W, respectively. The hardness of WPI gel was also increased by 170.45% at 120 MPa and 600 W compared to the untreated WPI. Therefore, the combination of HPH and US could make a remarkable improvement in the physicochemical functional characteristics of WPI, providing basic data support for the food industry to obtain excellent novel WPI ingredients.

The changing climate is affecting the frozen soil at an unprecedented rate across the Northern Hemisphere. However, due to sparse ground measurements, the changes of frozen soil and the environmental controls over the vast cryosphere are still unclear, such as in the Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this study, a process-based model solely driven by satellite remote sensing data is employed to investigate the spatiotemporal changes of seasonally frozen ground and permafrost over the entire TP (~3 million km2) during 2002–2016 at a spatial resolution of 1 km. Comprehensive validations against in situ observations of frozen ground types, mean annual ground temperature, active layer thickness, soil temperature, and frozen depth at 608 boreholes and 109 meteorological stations demonstrate an overall satisfactory performance of the model in reproducing the spatial pattern and temporal evolution of the frozen soil in the region. Spatially, land surface temperature (LST; both in-season and off-season) primarily controls the frozen ground types and frozen depth, with seasonally frozen ground and permafrost covering ~56% and ~ 37% of the plateau, respectively. The estimated spatial-averaged annual maximum soil freeze depth (SFD) is ~1.29 m, and the annual maximum active layer thickness (ALT) of permafrost is ~1.85 m. Temporally, ALT shows an overall increasing trend at an average rate of +3.17 cm yr−1, while SFD exhibits both decreasing (at ~62% areas) and increasing (at ~38% areas) trends in the region. Again, LST is found to be the dominant factor that controls the temporal changes in both SFD and ALT while precipitation (i.e., both rainfall and snowfall) plays an important (especially in more arid areas and regions near the lower limit of permafrost) but secondary role. Our results demonstrate the advantages of the satellite-based method in frozen soil simulations over large scales with complex topography and landscape and highlight the important roles of both temperature and precipitation in shaping the frozen soil patterns on the TP or other cold, dry regions.

DNA methylation is a major epigenetic marker in plants that plays a crucial role in transcriptional and developmental regulation. The DNA methylation ‘code’ is thought to be ‘read’ by a set of proteins containing methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD). However, little is known about MBD genes in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Here, we report the isolation and characterization of TaMBD6 and its homeologues (TaMBD6_A, TaMBD6_B, and TaMBD6_D) in hexaploid wheat. The cDNA was quite different among the three homeologues and InDel mutations were detected in 5′-UTR and coding region. Two types of TRs (tandem repeats) -- TR1 (57 bp) and TR2 (39 bp) -- occurred in the coding region. TaMBD6_B harbored five copies of TR1 and two copies of TR2. In contrast, TaMBD6_A lacked 30 bp between the 2nd and 3rd copy of TR1, while TaMBD6_D was missing two copies of TR1 but had three copies of TR2. TaMBD6_A, TaMBD6_B, and TaMBD6_D encoded 435, 446, and 420 amino acids, respectively. Structural analysis of TaMBD6 protein indicated that each of the three homeologues had an identical MBD domain at the N-terminal, as well as a typical nuclear localization signal. Although genomics analysis showed that two introns were included, the length of the first intron varied from 3100 bp to 3471 bp and their sequences were very different. Expression analysis demonstrated that the transcription level of TaMBD6 began to increase gradually in developing grains at 15 days after pollination while decreasing significantly in endosperm and embryo tissues during germination. Expression of TaMBD6 appeared to be positively correlated with starch metabolism in the endosperm but was negatively correlated with embryo formation and sprouting. We were also interested to learn that TaMBD6 homeologues were differentially expressed in developing wheat plants and that their expression patterns were variously affected by vernalization treatment. Further investigation revealed that TaMBD6 was induced by prolonged chilling, indicating that the protein is potentially involved in regulating the developmental transition from vegetative to reproductive stages. Although the homeologues generally showed similar differential expression patterns, TaMBD6_D and TaMBD6_B contribute more to the processes of grain development and germination while TaMBD6_A is predominant in mature plants.

Food and beverage plants inherently consume a large quantity of water and generate a high volume of wastewater rich in organic content. On one hand, water discharge regulations are getting more stringent over the time, necessitating the use of different technologies to reduce the amount of wastewater and improve the effluent water quality. On the other hand, growing energy and water costs are driving the plants to extract and reuse valuable energy and water from the wastewater stream. An integrated waste-tovalue system uses a combination of anaerobic digester (AD), reciprocating gas engine/boiler, membrane bioreactor (MBR), and reverse osmosis (RO) to recover valuable energy as heat and/or electricity as well as purify the water for reuse. While individual anaerobic digestion and membrane bioreactors are being used in increasing numbers, there is a growing need to integrate them together in a waste-to-value system for enhanced energy and water recovery. However, currently operation of these systems relies heavily on the plant operator to perform periodic sampling and off-line lab analysis to monitor the system performance, detect any abnormal condition due to variations in the wastewater and decide on appropriate remedial action needed. This leads to a conservative design and operation of these systemsmore » to avoid any potential upsets that can destabilize the system.« less

Aim: Through a qualitative descriptive study, researchers explored whether higher nursing education can meet complex needs of nursing job in the Era of chronicity and disability in China. Then propose some innovation measures about nursing education. Design: a qualitative descriptive study method was designed for this study. Setting: This study was done in three hospitals, two community clinics and three medical universities of Shanxi province, China. Subject: A stratified purposive sample of 5 internists, 6 nurses and 6 patients suffering from chronic diseases from three hospitals, 4 doctors and 4 nurses from two community clinics, 6 student nurses and 6 senior nurse students from three medical universities was used. Method: The study used the research strategy of qualitative description. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted using a set of questions. The data collected in the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and the themes were abstracted by analyzing, concluding interview material. Results: seven dominant themes were identified by analysis. They revealed an actuality knowledge and competence of clinical nurses, community nurses, and student nurses about chronicity and disability, and patients’ actual needs. As a result, it was expected that graduated nurses can service and care better for chronic diseases patients. Conclusion: The actual training objectives, educational philosophy and curriculum content of domestic nursing higher education, to some extent, are not suitable for capability and quality requirement of nurses in the chronicity era. Meanwhile, teaching and evaluating methods are not beneficial to the students to master the skills needed to care the chronicity and disability. Therefore, some items related with chronicity and disability should be added, such as prevention and health care, health promotion, health education and so on. The related philosophy and thinking should be integrated into nursing education goals. The teaching and evaluating methods should focus on hospital and community practice.

Dynamic models that capture the transient behavior of a process are often needed in a variety of industrial problems. In system identification, causal dynamic models between a small to medium number of manipulated variables and controlled variables are obtained from designed experiments for use in control system design. In multivariate statistical process control, using autocorrelated data, non-causal dynamic models on large numbers of measured variables are obtained from routine process operating data for use in fault detection and diagnosis. The basis for all these empirical dynamic models is relationships among the past, present and future values of the measured variables. The number of lagged variables can be very large and the effective rank of the data matrices is usually much smaller than the number of lagged variables. Therefore latent variable and subspace methods have become popular in building dynamic models. In these approaches a low-dimensional subspace or latent variable space is identified which contains most of the information relevant to the problem at hand. Latent variable methods include partial least squares (PLS), principal component regression (PCR) and canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and lead to models based on a small number of latent variables that are linear combinations of the lagged measured variables. Subspace methods involve the use of singular value decomposition (N4SID) and canonical variates (CVA) on the lagged data followed by fitting the resulting subspace variables in a more parsimonious state space model form. This paper reviews these methods, discusses their essential differences and gives a critical discussion of them in the context of their intended end use (system identification and multivariate SPC). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.