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Based on the high-pile and high-pier bridge of Qianhuang Expressway, eigenvalue buckling analysis is carried out by establishing three-dimensional finite element models of three different bridge types and high-pier types, and the corresponding structural nonlinear buckling loads under different initial pier deviations are calculated. The calculation results show that the nonlinear buckling loads of three high-pier types are less than elastic buckling loads. The stability of column high-pile and high-pier of continuous bridge is better than that of simple supported bridge, and the stability of plate high-pier is better than that of other two high-piers. In addition, the corresponding buckling load decreases with the increase of the initial horizontal displacement, indicating that the pier top offset of the high-pile and high-pier bridge is not conducive to the stability of the structure.

In this study, the all-optical control properties of photonic crystals based on self-assembled chiral-azobenzene-doped blue phase liquid crystals (CA-BPLCs) were investigated. The difference in the photothermal characteristics of CA-BPLCs with and without homogeneous surface alignment was discussed. Results revealed that surface alignment could induce more uniform and diverse blue phase (BP) structures, including BPII, BPI, and BPS-like phases during cooling. Consequently, the temperature range of BP was wider than that of the sample without surface alignment. All-optical control experiments with light illumination were then performed on the aligned or nonaligned CA-BPLC samples. During continuous irradiation with light beams at wavelengths of 405 and 450 nm, CA dopants underwent trans&rarr, cis and cis&rarr, trans back photoisomerizations, respectively. These processes promoted isothermal phase transition and wavelength shifting, which further enabled the all-optical control of the CA-BPLC samples. Various optical control modes of BPLC could be achieved through phase change and wavelength shifting by appropriately selecting the working temperature and surface treatment of BPLC. This study could be further used as a basis for developing photoswitchable and tunable BPLC photonic devices, such as light-controllable gratings, filters, mirrors, and lasers.

An infrared (IR) reflector that has ultra-wide reflection band and high reflectance was successfully fabricated based on an enantiomorphic chiral polymer composite template-made method involving UV-curing, washing-out, stacking, and refilling. In this study, an IR reflector reflecting >80% of incoming solar IR light from 800 nm to 1500 nm and retaining acceptable transmittance in the visible region is demonstrated. This undertaking is achieved by stacking two enantiomorphic double-polymerized chiral polymer templates with large longitudinal pitch gradients as a composite template cell designed for the near-IR region. Heat insulation test reveals that the temperature can be effectively lowered by 2 °C–3 °C by using the IR reflector, thereby indicating that a considerable amount of incident heat could be isolated and a significant amount of energy could be saved by cooling. The sample has potential in green and military applications, such as energy-saving green windows and anti-IR devices.

A novel facile and scalable strategy is developed to prepare a hierarchical porous nonwoven of hollow N-doped carbon nanofibers embedded with graphene nanosheets (HN-CNFs/GNs) as an integrated electrode for flexible all-solid-state supercapacitors. It was found that graphene nanosheets (GNs) were curled inside the electrospun fibers, but freely expanded and connected adjacent CNFs in the form of nanosheets after carbonization, thereby increasing the electrochemical capacitance interface and conductivity as well. When the weight ratio of GNs is 2 wt%, the HN-CNFs/GNs delivers high capacitance of 249 F g − 1 at 1 A g − 1 in a three-electrode configuration. A two-electrode symmetrical cell delivers extraordinary cycling stability with no capacitance degradation after 5000 cycles. The symmetric all-solid-state supercapacitor provides a remarkable cycling stability with a capacity retention of 90% after 2000 cycles and high rate capacity. The device also displays outstanding flexibility with no obvious capacitance decay even when bent to 180°. This research proves the potential application of the nonwoven of HN-CNFs/GNs in high efficient, wearable and flexible energy storage devices.

This study applies a low-cost solvothermal method to synthesize all-inorganic (lead-free cesium tin halide) perovskite quantum dots (AIPQDs) and to fabricate AIPQD-doped lasers with cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) lasing cavities. The lasers present highly qualified lasing features of low threshold (150 nJ/pulse) and narrow line width (0.20 nm) that are attributed to the conjunction of the suppression of photoluminescence (PL) loss caused by the quantum confinement of AIPQDs and the amplification of PL caused by the band-edge effect of the CLC-distributed feedback resonator. In addition, the lasers possess highly flexible lasing-wavelength tuning features and a long-term stability under storage at room temperature and under high humidity given the protective role of CLC. These advantages are difficult to confer to typical light-emitting perovskite devices. Given these merits, the AIPQD-doped CLC laser device has considerable potential applications in optoelectronic and photonic devices, including lighting, displays, and lasers.

There has been a growing interest in soil replacement and in-situ stabilization techniques in recent years. Many techniques in the remediation of contaminated soils have been proven to be effective methods. In this study, lime and calcium phosphate were added to immobilize the heavy metals in contaminated soils. The long-term application potential of these techniques were evaluated by taking the demonstration project of the soil remediation in Tongguan of Shaanxi as the case study.The status of heavy metal contamination in the study area resulted from artisanal gold mining was discussed. The strategies of remediation and the evaluation of the remediation results including the safety of agricultural practices were also studied. The results showed that soil was seriously contaminated in the study area with Cd, Pb, and Hg, and the residue mining waste was the main source. The potential ecological risk index ranged from 668 to 10969, suggesting that all the samples posed a very strong ecological hazard. Based on the pollution status, the soil replacement method and stabilization method were applied. Acceptable remediation results were obtained with lower total metal content (except Cd) and decreased heavy metal availability. However, the metal content of agricultural products was higher than the permissible value according to GB 2762-2012, which means that agricultural practices pose risks on remediated soils. Soil replacement and stabilization would be practical techniques for heavy metal polluted soil remediation. However, a consecutive investigation should be conducted for the assurance of food safety.

Silicate nanoparticles(nSiO

To investigate the adaptive mechanism of Notopterygium incisum to water changes, one-year-old seedlings were used as test materials. The characteristics of growth, physiology, and active ingredients of N. incisum were studied at different soil water content by pot experiments. The result showed that: ①The water content at 100% field capacity is conducive to the growth and accumulation of biomass of N. incisum. The leaf length, petiole length, petiole diameter, root diameter, root length and biomass of underground dry of N. incisum were all significantly increased at the 100% field capacity, and they slightly declined at 70% field capacity. 20% field capacity could not provide the necessary water to growth of N. incisum, all N. incisum withered and died. ②With the extension of moisture treatment time, the relative content of chlorophyll (SPAD) in leaves and the activity of peroxidase (POD) in rhizome showed a trend of increasing firstly, decreasing then; the tendency of activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in rhizome increased; the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in rhizome decreased firstly and increased then;. For the late test, the SPAD value, the activity of POD and SOD in N. incisum at the 40% field capacity were lower than 70% field capacity and 100 field capacity, while the content of MDA in rhizome were higher than 70% field capacity and 100% field capacity. ③ At 70% field capacity, the active ingredients accumulated most in the N. incisum. At the 70% field capacity, the notopterol and isoimperatorinwerehigher than100 field capacity and 40 field capacity. In summary, the soil water content at 70%-100% field capacity would contribute to the growth and accumulation of active ingredients of N. incisum.

In this project, a CMOS citric acid concentration transducer for detecting fruit citric acid concentration in fruit farms is recently proposed. Fabricated in the TSMC D35 2P4M CMOS technology with 3.0 V supply, the proposed citric acid concentration transducer has been checked in the performance simulations by SPICE and MATLAB programs to prove all the functions are work correctly. The chip size is 1.12 × 2.054 mm2. The proposed chip has a general-purpose which could be used to detect many kinds of fruits citric acid concentration.

We show that micron-scale two-dimensional (2D) honeycomb microwells can significantly improve the stability of blue phase liquid crystals (BPLCs). Polymeric microwells made by direct laser writing improve various features of the blue phase (BP) including a dramatic extension of stable temperature range and a large increase both in reflectivity and thermal stability of the reflective peak wavelength. These results are mainly attributed to the omni-directional anchoring of the isotropically oriented BP molecules at the polymer walls of the hexagonal microwells and at the top and bottom substrates. This leads to an omni-directional stabilization of the entire BPLC system. This study not only provides a novel insight into the mechanism for the BP formation in the 2D microwell but also points to an improved route to stabilize BP using 2D microwell arrays., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures

Practical application of tannic acid is limited because it readily binds proteins to form insoluble aggregates. In this study, tannic acid was self-assembled with fish scale gelatin hydrolysates (FSGH) to form stable colloidal complex nanoparticles. The nanoparticles prepared from 4 mg ml(-1) tannic acid and 4 mg ml(-1) FSGH had a mean particle size of 260.8 ± 3.6 nm, and showed a positive zeta potential (20.4 ± 0.4 mV). The nanoparticles acted as effective nano-biochelators and free radical scavengers because they provided a large number of adsorption sites for interaction with heavy metal ions and scavenging free radicals. The maximum adsorption capacity for Cu(2+) ions was 123.5 mg g(-1) and EC50 of DPPH radical scavenging activity was 21.6 ± 1.2 μg ml(-1). Hydroxyl radical scavenging effects of the nanoparticles were investigated by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The copper-chelating capacity and free radical scavenging activity of the nanoparticles were associated with their capacity to inhibit Cu(2+) ion-induced barrier impairment and hyperpermeability of Caco-2 intestinal epithelial tight junction (TJ). However, α-amylase inhibitory activity of the nanoparticles was significantly lower than that of free tannic acid. The results suggest that the nanoparticles can ameliorate Cu(2+) ion induced intestinal epithelial TJ dysfunction without severely inhibiting the activity of the digestive enzymes.

OBJECTIVEAmong clinical and morphological criteria, hemodynamics is the main predictor of aneurysm growth and rupture. This study aimed to identify which hemodynamic parameter in the parent artery could independently predict the rupture of anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysms by using multivariate logistic regression and two-piecewise linear regression models. An additional objective was to look for a more simplified and convenient alternative to the widely used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques to detect wall shear stress (WSS) as a screening tool for predicting the risk of aneurysm rupture during the follow-up of patients who did not undergo embolization or surgery.METHODSOne hundred sixty-two patients harboring ACoA aneurysms (130 ruptured and 32 unruptured) confirmed by 3D digital subtraction angiography at three centers were selected for this study. Morphological and hemodynamic parameters were evaluated for significance with respect to aneurysm rupture. Local hemodynamic parameters were obtained by MR angiography and transcranial color-coded duplex sonography to calculate WSS magnitude. Multivariate logistic regression and a two-piecewise linear regression analysis were performed to identify which hemodynamic parameter independently characterizes the rupture status of ACoA aneurysms.RESULTSUnivariate analysis showed that WSS (p < 0.001), circumferential wall tension (p = 0.005), age (p < 0.001), the angle between the A1 and A2 segments of the anterior cerebral artery (p < 0.001), size ratio (p = 0.023), aneurysm angle (p < 0.001), irregular shape (p = 0.005), and hypertension (grade II) (p = 0.006) were significant parameters. Multivariate analyses showed significant association between WSS in the parent artery and ACoA aneurysm rupture (p = 0.0001). WSS magnitude, evaluated by a two-piecewise linear regression model, was significantly correlated with the rupture of the ACoA aneurysm when the magnitude was higher than 12.3 dyne/cm2 (HR 7.2, 95% CI 1.5–33.6, p = 0.013).CONCLUSIONSWSS in the parent artery may be one of the reliable hemodynamic parameters characterizing the rupture status of ACoA aneurysms when the WSS magnitude is higher than 12.3 dyne/cm2. Analysis showed that with each additional unit of WSS (even with a 1-unit increase of WSS), there was a 6.2-fold increase in the risk of rupture for ACoA aneurysms.

The tazarotene-induced gene 1 (TIG1) protein is a retinoid-inducible growth regulator and is considered a tumor suppressor. Here, we show that DnaJ heat shock protein family member C8 (DNAJC8) is a TIG1 target that regulates glycolysis. Ectopic DNAJC8 expression induced the translocation of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) into the nucleus, subsequently inducing glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) expression to promote glucose uptake. Silencing either DNAJC8 or PKM2 alleviated the upregulation of GLUT1 expression and glucose uptake induced by ectopic DNAJC8 expression. TIG1 interacted with DNAJC8 in the cytosol, and this interaction completely blocked DNAJC8-mediated PKM2 translocation and inhibited glucose uptake. Furthermore, increased glycose uptake was observed in cells in which TIG1 was silenced. In conclusion, TIG1 acts as a pivotal repressor of DNAJC8 to enhance glucose uptake by partially regulating PKM2 translocation.

In this study,field cultivation experiments of Notopterygium incisum had been carried out for three years, and samples had been collected monthly during growth seasons, and biomass and nutrient elements of aerial and underground part of sampled plants had been determined to assess their seasonal and interannual dynamics respectively. The results showed that biomass of underground part (dry weight) increased mainly in the second year after seedling transplanting, i.e., biomass increased about 32 times in the second year whilst less than 6 times and 2 times in the first year and in the third year, respectively. Therefore, efforts for yield improvement should be focused on the first two year in artificial cultivation of N. incisum. Accumulation of nutrient elements increased steady in the underground part during the first and second year, then showed a sharp decline in the first phase of growth season in the third year, while its accumulation in July to August of third year was higher than the value of second year. Ca, Fe, B and Zn were larger demand nutrient elements to meet growth demands whether for the underground part or aerial part during the second year and third year for N. incisum cultivation. This result provided instructional guidance and scientific basis for artificial cultivation and specific fertilizer of N. incisum.

A comprehensive field research had been focused on growing status, underground biomass and active constituents of Notopterygium incisum and N. franchetii to evaluate the ecological suitability and appropriate cultivation zones by growing the two species seedlings along different elevation gradient. The results showed that compared to the survival rate and underground biomass, the beneficial altitude region to N. incisum was ranged from 2 600 m to 4 100 m, while N. franchetii required a lower altitude which ranges from 1 700 m to 3 600 m. For the active constituent contents, the values were higher in the range of 2 600 to 3 600 m for N. incisum, but for N. franchetii, the range was form 1 700 to 3 600 m. This result provides instructional guidance and scientific basis for artificial cultivation of N. incisum and N. franchetii.

Based on the research results of suitability evaluation of growth and production quality, a functional production cultivation regionalization with high feasibility and operability to solve the problem of the separation of high quality and high yield were formatted for protection, wild monitoring, and cultivation of this plant by weighted sum of spatial suitability data of ecology and quality, as well as integrated with land use and cover data. The results of the study revealed that good quality and high yield area were mainly distributed in the original production areas in Sichuan province and where could carry out monitoring and commercialization cultivation. This method is expected to overcome shortage of traditional regionalization methods difficult to distinguish the contribution of ecological factors and quality factors, which provide an innovative theory and methodology for regionalization, and is helpful to practical application of wild resource protection, nature research, monitoring, and commercialization cultivation for Chinese material medica.

Quality characteristics based on active substance are focused for in the cultivation of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) plants due to their economic values. However, ecological and quality suitability are not always a coincidence, which makes traditional cultural regionalization for TCM cultivation based on ecological suitability have great limitations in practical applications. A regionalization method integrated GIS and medicinal plants quality have been analyzed by using field quality data of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix as a case study. Spatial interpolation based on medicine quality by Cokriging method is reasonable, and the predicted values of interpolation are correlated with measured values significantly, which shows that cultural regionalization for TCM cultivation based on spatial quality suitability is possible theoretically. The results indicate that the most suitable areas for quality suitability were mainly distributed in Sichuan province (29.42%), while the spatial distribution of quality suitability and ecological suitability was not coincidence. The cultivation regionalization of TCM plants based on quality suitability is helpful to high quality and quantity cultivation of those TCM plants which spatial distribution of geoherbalism and ecological suitability is separated.

This paper states the economic reasons of environmental pollution at first, and then introduces the theory, methods and practical measures of pollution control. Finally it puts forward the discussion on controlling the environmental pollution through axiology.

Chinese domestic satellite HJ-1 was launched in 2008, now it has become a significant resource for environment monitoring because its Multispectral data are characterized by 2-day temporal resolution, 30 m spatial resolution and 700 km breadth. A study case was made that HJ-1 multispectral data were used for retrieving aggregative trophic level index (TLI()) of water body of lakes in Wuhan, China. The aim of this study is to evaluate the probability of HJ-1 Multispectral data on estimating the eutrophic level of inland water. At first, the TLI() of sampling spots of some lakes in Wuhan were calculated using the monitoring water quality data. In the mean time, the NDVI of corresponding spots were calculated from the HJ-1 multispectral data which had been taken radiometric calibration and geometric correction beforehand. After that, a remote sensing inversion model for TLI() had been built through linear regression using the NDVI as independent variables. Finally, the TLI() of all water bodies of Wuhan lakes were inversed with this model and a map for its spatial distribution was drawn up. Results demonstrated that there were good linear correlation relationships between the TLI() and NDVI of HJ-1 Multispectral data, and the distribution of inversed TLI() of the lakes accorded with the reality quite well. According to the above, an inference can be made that the methods to evaluate lakes eutrofication based on the HJ-1 satellite multispectral data may provide a cheap and rapid way for real-time monitoring and evaluation of lakes eutrophication.

Carbon nanotubes/graphene composites are grown on nickel foil without additional catalysts by chemical vapor deposition. Next, to improve the anchoring and uniform dispersing of Co(OH)2 onto carbon nanotubes/graphene composites, the carbon nanotube/graphene composites are modified by radio frequency (RF) nitrogen-plasma. Then porous Co(OH)2 thin films are galvanostatically electrodeposited onto N-doped carbon nanotubes/graphene composites at different currents and time periods. Finally, the porous Co(OH)2 is transform into porous Co3O4 by annealing. The charge specific capacity (1290 mAh g -1 ) reaches a maximum at the galvanostatic electrodeposition condition (current = 1.5 mA and time = 300 s) for the coin cell. Furthermore, the cobalt oxide/N-doped carbon nanotubes/graphene composites possess higher charge (discharge) specific capacity and better electrochemical stability in comparison to the cobalt oxide/carbon nanotubes/graphene composites for the coin cell (full cell: i.e. lithium-ion battery).

Carbon nanotubes/graphene composites are directly grown on nickel foil without additional catalysts by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Next, to improve the anchoring and uniform dispersing of Co3O4 onto carbon nanotubes/graphene composites, the carbon nanotube/graphene composites are modified by radio frequency (RF) nitrogen-plasma. Then the porous Co(OH)2 thin films are galvanostatically electrodeposited onto N-doped carbon nanotubes/graphene composites at different cathode currents and time periods. Finally, porous Co(OH)2 is transform into porous Co3O4 by annealing. The specific capacity (1290 mAh g -1 ) reaches a maximum at the galvanostatic electrodeposition condition (current = 1.5 mA and time = 300 s). Furthermore, cobalt oxide/N-doped carbon nanotubes/graphene composites possess higher specific capacity and better electrochemical stability in comparison to cobalt oxide/carbon nanotubes/graphene composites.

Design and implement a distributed platform based on wireless temperature sensor network via mass data storage of distributed platform, distributed computing and machine learning etc., while using a wide range of WCDMA network system and the 3G network’s quickly transmission rate, the advantages of stable signal.The system include the distributed computing storage platform based on hadoop,Using WCDMA DTU and embedded technology to develope wireless remote temperature sensor module, design and implement the temperature data of prison acquisition platform based on web. The results show that using distributed storage platform and WCDMA network to develop temperature sensor module and using web to develop temperature acquisition system that solve the problem of low efficiency, slowly computation speed cause by mass data storage and large data analysis in the temperature sensor network.These all meet the current new requirements of data expansion.

The major contributing factors for growth of endangered medicinal plants of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus were screened on the GIS platform by using the MaxEnt model, and spatial distribution data of the medicine quality suitability were generated by geostatistics interpolation based on reported measured data of ecology and quality suitability assessment. On this basis, a functional production cultivation regionalization with high feasibility and operability were formatted for protection, wild monitoring, and cultivation of this plant by fuzzy superposition of spatial suitability data of ecology and quality, as well as integrated with land use and cover data. Therefore, a novel assessment and regionalization method were presented for ecology, growth and quality suitability of the Chinese traditional medicinal plants. This method is expected to overcome shortage of traditional regionalization methods difficult to distinguish the contribution of ecological factors and quality factors, which provide an innovative theory and methodology for regionalization, and is helpful to practical application of wild resource protection, monitoring, and commercialization cultivation for traditional Chinese medicinal plants.

Tazarotene-induced gene 1 (TIG1) is a retinoic acid-inducible protein that is considered a putative tumor suppressor. The expression of TIG1 is decreased in malignant prostate carcinoma or poorly differentiated colorectal adenocarcinoma, but TIG1 is present in benign or well-differentiated tumors. Ectopic TIG1 expression led to suppression of growth in cancer cells. However, the function of TIG1 in cell differentiation is still unknown. Using a yeast two-hybrid system, we found that transmembrane protein 192 (TMEM192) interacted with TIG1. We also found that both TIG1A and TIG1B isoforms interacted and co-localized with TMEM192 in HtTA cervical cancer cells. The expression of TIG1 induced the expression of autophagy-related proteins, including Beclin-1 and LC-3B. The silencing of TMEM192 reduced the TIG1-mediated upregulation of autophagic activity. Furthermore, silencing of either TIG1 or TMEM192 led to alleviation of the upregulation of autophagy induced by all-trans retinoic acid. Our results demonstrate that the expression of TIG1 leads to cell autophagy through TMEM192. Our study also suggests that TIG1 and TMEM192 play an important role in the all-trans retinoic acid-mediated upregulation of autophagic activity.

This paper aims to explore a comprehensive assessment method combined traditional Chinese medicinal material specifications with quantitative quality indicators. Seventy-six samples of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix were collected on market and at producing areas. Traditional commercial specifications were described and assigned, and 10 chemical components and volatile oils were determined for each sample. Cluster analysis, Fisher discriminant analysis and correspondence analysis were used to establish the relationship between the traditional qualitative commercial specifications and quantitative chemical indices for comprehensive evaluating quality of medicinal materials, and quantitative classification of commercial grade and quality grade. A herb quality index (HQI) including traditional commercial specifications and chemical components for quantitative grade classification were established, and corresponding discriminant function were figured out for precise determination of quality grade and sub-grade of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix. The result showed that notopterol, isoimperatorin and volatile oil were the major components for determination of chemical quality, and their dividing values were specified for every grade and sub-grade of the commercial materials of Notopterygii Rhizoma et Radix. According to the result, essential relationship between traditional medicinal indicators, qualitative commercial specifications, and quantitative chemical composition indicators can be examined by K-mean cluster, Fisher discriminant analysis and correspondence analysis, which provide a new method for comprehensive quantitative evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine quality integrated traditional commodity specifications and quantitative modern chemical index.

This study introduces the basic principle of relative blood volume monitor (BVM) by comparing several ultrasonic travel time measuring methods, brings forth the high-precision ultrasonic travel time measuring method based on TDC-GP2 time measurement chip and MSP430 Single-chip Microcontroller (SCM), presents the configuration of hardware and software in the system, and illustrates the structure and time measurement principle of TDC-GP2 time measurement chip.

Traditional boundary force method of SPH applies Lennard-Jones equation to compute the virtual repulsive force by calculation of molecular force. But this method is strongly non-linear and easily leads to not convergence in calculation. In this paper, spring-damping boundary force model is utilized to solve the problem of moving boundary. Using spring-damping boundary force model, rotary moving boundary of screw channel-driven has been simulated and the result is well consistent with the simulation of Fluent. Comparing with traditional boundary force equation, this model is long-term stable and its effectiveness has been validated by case study.

The primary hepatocytes of Carassius auratus were incubated with 0, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 mg/l Cadmium(Cd2+) at 25°C for 8h in vitro. The results showed that the hepatocytes survival rate in the 1, 10 and 100 mg/l Cd2+ treated groups were significantly lower than that in the control, the percentage of apoptotic hepatocytes significantly increased in 0.1, 1 and 10 mg/l of Cd2+ treated groups, intracellular reactive oxygen species(ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content significantly increased in 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 mg/l Cd2+ treated groups, typical DNA ladder was observed in 0.1, 1 and 10 mg/l Cd2+ treated groups, and ruleless DNA fragment occurred in 100 mg/l Cd2+ treated group. The activities of the antioxidant enzymes and the expression of their isozymes activities have similar change tendency, compared with the control group, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and their isozymes were activated by low concentration of Cd2+ (0.1 and 1 mg/l), however, their activities were inhibited by high concentration of Cd2+ (10 and 100 mg/l), especially, the special isozyme (SOD1) was found in the patterns of SOD isozymes in 0.1 and 1 mg/l Cd2+ treated groups, the activities of peroxidase(POD) and its isozymes significantly reduced with a concentration-dependent manner in all Cd Cd2+ treated groups, the activities of catalase(CAT) and its isozymes significantly decreased in higher concentration Cd2+ treated groups (1, 10 and 100mg/l). The results suggested that Cd2+ could damage the activities of the antioxidant enzymes and cause oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, DNA fragmentation, apoptosis and necrosis in primary hepatocytes, contributing to the liver toxicity induced by Cd2+.

Applying information technology in industry has been an irreversible trend now. Based on information technology, civil engineering industry is experiencing revolutionary progress in management level and construction technology. This paper mainly focuses on the significance and some key elements for building the information system in civil engineering and gives a brief series of suggestions, wishing to help establish an efficient and transparent industry, further seeking highest operation efficiency and maximum economic profits.

Based on the incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ISPH) method, a program was developed to simulate the non-Newtonian fluid flow in the mixing section of a single screw extruder. The transverse flow in the extruder is mimicked by one 2-D lid-driven cavity flow. The mirror particles are used to treat boundary. The power-law model is used to calculate the viscosity of the fluid. The shear-thinning, the shear-thickening and Newtonian fluid in the single screw extruder are simulated and deeply analyzed. Through comparing the velocity profile along the centre of screw extruder with the theoretical solution, this method has been proven to be accurate and effective. It laid the foundation for the simulating of the more complex 3-D model.

One forced revolving moving boundary problem model was constructed and simulated by incompressible SPH (ISPH). The dummy particles are used to deal the moving boundary. The tensile instability is avoided by setting a reference pressure. Compared with the results produced by FLUENT, the method was proved to be more practical and effective. The method is applicable to the more complex 3D model.

A novel chitosan-based nanoparticle carrier was prepared in this study. The chitosan derivative, N,O-carboxymethylchitosan (NOCC) was reacted with gallic acid (GA) using a non-toxic water-soluble carbodiimide to obtain the NOCC–GA conjugate, and the chemical structure of the conjugate was characterized with FT-IR and NMR spectra. The antioxidant activity of the NOCC–GA conjugate was examined by DPPH and ABTS+ radical scavenging activity. The radical/pH-responsive properties of the NOCC–GA conjugate and its iron(II) complex were examined by fluorescence spectral and light transmittance studies. The mean particle sizes of the NOCC–GA conjugate and its iron(II) complex nanoparticles were determined by a light scattering method. The NOCC–GA conjugate and its iron(II) complex nanoparticles might provide a novel way to deliver antioxidative protein or natural products in future.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is a highly toxic contaminant of chlorophenols. Due to its slow and incomplete biodegradation, it can be found in surface, groundwater and in soils. To investigate the role of intracellular calcium and reactive oxygen species in apoptosis induced by PCP in cultured hepatocytes, the primary hepatocytes of Carassius carassius were incubated with different concentrations of PCP at 25 degrees C for 8 h in vitro. Apoptosis was detected by DNA laddering, caspase activation and flow cytometry. The results demonstrated that apoptosis was involved in the cytotoxic effect of PCP, and that PCP-induced apoptosis occurred in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the induction of apoptosis by PCP was accompanied with Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase activity decline, intracellular Ca2+ elevation, generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsi(m)) disruption and ATP depletion. Concomitantly, there were dose-dependent increases in lipid peroxidation production (MDA) and decreases in glutathione (GSH). These investigations suggest that PCP-induces apoptosis in the cultured hepatocytes by affecting multiple targets, and suggest that [Ca2+]i increase and ROS generation may be involved in apoptosis induction by PCP.

The rhizomes or roots of Dysosma versipellis (Hance) M. Cheng, Dysosma pleiantha (Hance) Woodson, and Sinopodophyllum emodi (Wall. Ex Royle) Ying under the same name “Gui-jiu”, were widely used for medicinal purposes. Valid quality control of Gui-jiu is desirable due to the fact that they are highly toxic. In the present paper, an accurate fingerprint method was developed to identify the three species. Liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection and electrospray ionization-multiple stage mass spectrometry were developed to identify the fingerprint components. According to the characteristic fragmentation behavior of known lignans and flavonoids isolated from D. versipellis, a total of 15 constituents in the crude extracts were structurally characterized on the basis of retention time, UV and tandem mass spectrometric analysis. Eight batches of D. versipellis, three batches of D. pleiantha, and two batches of S. emodi were collected from different locations and these representative samples reflected the similar chemical constituent properties. The extracts were separated by a C18 reversed phase LC column, with a gradient solvent system. The proposed method provides a scientific and technical platform to the herbal industry for quality control and safety assurance of herbal preparations that contain this class of poisonous podophyllotoxin-type lignans.

This paper investigates the initial returns of Chinese A‐share initial public offerings (IPOs) under the split‐share structure before 2005. The split‐share structure refers to the coexistence of shareholders of tradable shares and shareholders of non‐tradable shares. The average initial return is much higher than those of other countries, even though this has been declining. We argue that the split‐share structure causes the initial returns of Chinese IPOs to be very high level in the beginning, and then to decrease slowly because of the institutional transition and the path‐dependent characteristics. With the reform of non‐tradable share offerings, the average initial return of Chinese IPOs is likely to fall.

The approaches adopted so far in China to calculate reserves of ore deposits have largely been dependent on polygonal methods, including a cross-section method and a geological block method. However, for various reasons, especially, the complexity of the geology, and the ore bodies, the deposits became gradually known as development and exploitation took place. There is a certain difference between the geological and cutoff grade at the stage of geological prospecting and mining, which will have a great impact on both mine construction and production. As much accurate information as possible on the spatial distribution patterns of ore bodies and global reserves is essential to improve the production efficiency and reduce production cost. The 10-9 ore body of Lutangba in the Gejiu Tin Deposits was selected as our research object, using a log Kriging and an inverse distance weighing method. In our paper the results are compared with the reserves calculated by the polygonal block method. The global estimate and estimation errors associated with each estimation method are discussed.

Growth suitability as assessment indicators for medicinal plants cultivation was proposed based on chemical quality determination and ecological factors analysis by Maxent and ArcGIS model. Notopterygium incisum, an endangered Chinese medicinal plant, was analyzed as a case, its potential distribution areas at different suitability grade and regionalization map were formulated based on growth suitability theory. The results showed that the most suitable habitats is Sichuan province, and more than 60% of the most suitable areawas located in the western Sichuan such as Aba and Ganzi prefectures for N. incisum. The results indicated that habitat altitude, average air temperature in September, and vegetation types were the dominant factors contributing to the grade of plant growth, precipitation and slope were the major factors contributing to notopterol accumulation in its underground parts, while isoimperatorin in its underground parts was negatively corelated with precipitation and slope of its habitat. However, slope as a factor influencing chemical components seemed to be a pseudo corelationship. Therefore, there were distinguishing differences between growth suitability and quality suitability for medicinal plants, which was helpful to further research and practice of cultivation regionalization, wild resource monitoring and large-scale cultivation of traditional Chinese medicine plants.

A metamaterial that is embedded in an in-plane-switching dual-frequency liquid crystal cell is used to develop an electrically controllable terahertz (THz) metamaterial. The resonance peak of the metamaterial can be redshifted and blueshifted as the frequency of an external voltage is switched, and the response times for the redshift and blueshift are 1.044 and 1.376 ms, respectively. A simulation confirms the spectral redshift and blueshift. The variation in peak frequency as a function of applied frequency at the external voltage is presented. Experimental results show that the resonance peak of the metamaterial can be continuously tuned within a frequency range of 15 GHz as the applied frequency is switched between 19 and 22 kHz. Therefore, this metamaterial is a continuously tunable and fast-response THz filter and could be used for THz imaging and THz telecommunications.

The rhizomes of Notopterygium incisum Ting. ex H. T. Chang and N. forbesii Boiss. are recorded in the pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China under the same name “Qiang-huo”. Valid quality control of Qiang-huo is desirable due to the fact that the wild natural sources of Qiang-huo have almost been exhausted and large regulated cultivation is developing. In the present paper, HPLC fingerprinting was developed to identify and distinguish both species in detail. The unique properties of the HPLC fingerprint were validated by analyzing 15 batches of N. incisum and 11 batches of N. forbesii. A standardized procedure involving liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–multiple stage mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MSn) was developed to identify the fingerprint components, and a total of eight characteristic peaks were unequivocally identified. An average chromatogram from 15 batches of N. incisum from different geographic sources, considered to be the original and genuine herbal medicine, was first established as the standard fingerprint. The chemical profiles of 11 batches of N. forbesii samples were found to be variable. The HPLC method can differentiate N. incisum from N. forbesii by either the marker compounds notoptol (4) and p-hydroxypenethylanisate (8) or the amounts of nodakenin (1), notopterol (5), and 6′-O-trans-feruloylnodakenin (7). The HPLC fingerprint analysis is specific and may serve for quality identification and comprehensive evaluation of Qiang-huo.

Retinoic acid receptor responder 1 (RARRES1) is a retinoid regulated gene. Its expression is frequently down-regulated through DNA hypermethylation in several types of malignant tissues. This study investigated the clinical significance of RARRES1 protein and its association with RARRES3 protein expression in 161 (26 adenoma, 13 distal normal mucosa and 122 primary colorectal adenocarcinoma) paraffin-embedded colorectal tissues by immunohistochemistry. RARRES1 protein was detected at the highest levels in terminally differentiated cells of normal mucosal tissues and all 26 adenoma tissues. Among 122 colorectal adenocarcinomas, the poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas and Dukes' stage D tumours showed a significant decrease in RARRES1 expression (P < 0.001 and P < 0.01, respectively). RARRES1 expression was significantly (P < 0.001) correlated with RARRES3 expression, which was positively associated with tumour differentiation (P < 0.001). Difference in expression of RARRES1 among 119 patients had no apparent effect on patient survival. Our results suggest the role of RARRES1 in colorectal epithelial differentiation, and the down-regulation of RARRES1 is related to stage D progression.

The expression of retinoic acid-induced gene 1 (RIG1), a class II tumor suppressor gene, is induced in cells treated with retinoids. RIG1 has been shown to express ubiquitously and the increased expression of this gene appears to suppress cell proliferation. Recent studies also demonstrated that this gene may play an important role in cell differentiation and the progression of cancer. In spite of the remarkable regulatory role of this protein, the molecular mechanism of RIG1 expression induced by retinoids remains to be clarified. The present study was designed to study the molecular mechanism underlying the all-trans retinoic acid (atRA)-mediated induction of RIG1 gene expression. Polymerase chain reaction was used to generate a total of 10 luciferase constructs that contain various fragments of the RIG1 5'-genomic region. These constructs were then transfected into human gastric cancer SC-M1 and breast cancer T47D cells for transactivation analysis. atRA exhibited a significant induction in luciferase activity only through the -4910/-5509 fragment of the 5'-genomic region of RIG1 gene relative to the translation initiation site. Further analysis of this promoter fragment indicated that the primary atRA response region is located in between -5048 and -5403 of the RIG1 gene. Within this region, a direct repeatmore » sequence with five nucleotide spacing, 5'-TGACCTctattTGCCCT-3' (DR5, -5243/-5259), and an inverted repeat sequence with six nucleotide spacing, 5'-AGGCCAtggtaaTGGCCT-3' (IR6, -5323/-5340), were identified. Deletion and mutation of the DR5, but not the IR6 element, abolished the atRA-mediated activity. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with nuclear extract from atRA-treated cells indicated the binding of retinoic acid receptor (RAR) and retinoid X receptor (RXR) heterodimers specifically to this response element. In addition to the functional DR5, the region contains many other potential sequence elements that are required to maximize the atRA-mediated induction. Taken together, we have identified and characterized the functional atRA response element that is responsible for the atRA-mediated induction of RIG1 gene.« less

Established cancer cell lines are useful in the study of various cancers. We established a human gastric carcinoma cell line TMC-1 derived from the lymph node of a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the stomach. TMC-1 cells grew in vitro as a mixture of attached and suspension cells, and exhibited spindle or ovoid morphology. They had a population doubling time of 15 h, a plating efficiency of 61%, formed colonies in semisolid agar, secreted the tumor marker CA 19-9, and were tumorigenic in athymic nude mice. The cells expressed E-cadherin and β-catenin. The karyotypic analysis demonstrated hyperdiploid features with a modal chromosome of 53. The cell had the deletion at chromosome 18q and gains at chromosome 2p13–25, 5p15, 5q21–35, 7, 8q24, 9q, 11, 12p, 14q24–32 and 20. Analysis by fluorescence in situ hybridization showed the deletion at 7qtel and duplication at 7q11.2 at the rearranged chromosome 7. Growth of TMC-1 cells was inhibited by 27–32% by interferon-α (2,000 U/ml) and by interferon-γ with an IC50 of 125 U/ml. The cell line is tumorigenic in vivo, and its growth is moderately inhibited by interferon-α and interferon-γ. It can be used to develop new modalities of human gastric cancer treatment.

RARRES3 is a retinoid-inducible class II tumour-suppressor gene. This study analysed the expression of RARRES3 protein in normal, adenoma and carcinoma tissues of the colorectum and its correlation with tumour differentiation. The expression of RARRES3 protein in 151 paraffin-embedded colorectal tissues (11 distal normal mucosa, 20 adenoma and 120 colorectal adenocarcinoma) was determined by immunohistochemistry. RARRES3 protein was expressed in all 11 distal normal, 120 adjacent normal and 20 adenoma tissues. In distal normal tissues, RARRES3 protein was expressed at the highest levels in differentiated mucosal epithelial cells. Among 120 carcinoma tissues, RARRES3 protein was detected in 97.6% (40 out of 41), 79.4% (54 out of 68) and 17.3% (three out of 11) of well-, moderately and poorly differentiated tumours, respectively. The expression of RARRES3 protein was positively correlated to tumour differentiation (test for trend, P

Carbon-based functional materials have extensive applications in the fields of catalysis, energy storage, and conversion, as well as environmental science. However, it remains challenging to synthesize these materials in an economically sustainable way. This work demonstrates an in situ carbothermal reduction route to prepare biochar stabilized Ru–Cu nanoalloys (Ru–Cu/biochar) with low Ru loading (0.16 wt%) by pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass waste. The as-synthesized Ru–Cu/biochar shows excellent catalytic performance toward Cr(VI) reduction by hydrazine (N2H4·H2O), with 94% of the Cr(VI) reduced in aqueous solution within 150 s without any additional precipitation process. The catalyst also demonstrates high stability without significant loss of activity after nine cycles. This work offers a sustainable approach to utilize biomass waste to synthesize functional materials as highly efficient and durable catalysts.

A comparative study of the optical and electro-optic properties of polymer-stabilized blue phase liquid crystal (PS-BPLC) cells with photoalignment layers and rubbing alignment layers is performed. The optical microscope (OM) images of the photoaligned and rubbing-aligned cells depict that they have uniform PS-BPLC textures, while the post-processed OM images of the two cells reveal that the former has a more uniform PS-BPLC texture than the latter. The relatively uniform PS-BPLC texture in the photoaligned cell is verified by the reflective spectra of the two cells. The voltage-dependent transmittance curves and time-dependent transmittance curves of another two photoaligned and rubbing-aligned cells with in-plane-switching (IPS) electrodes indicate that the contrast ratio of the former is 41% larger than that of the latter, and the operation voltage (response time) of the former is 11 (10) % smaller than that of the latter. This result arises from the fact that the photoaligned cell with the IPS electrodes exhibits a relatively uniform PS-BPLC texture and relatively weak voltage-shielding effect. Therefore, the photoalignment can improve the electro-optic properties of PS-BPLC cells with alignment layers. The photoaligned and rubbing-aligned cells have no thermal hysteresis in low voltage regions due to the uniform surface alignment layers, and exhibit very low voltage-induced hysteresis in high voltage regions owing to no thermal hysteresis. Briefly, uniform surface alignment layers can eliminate the thermal hysteresis of PS-BPLC cells, suppressing their voltage-induced hysteresis. In other words, the hysteresis of PS-BPLC cells with alignment layers is independent of alignment methods as long as the alignment layers have strong surface anchoring energy.