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In order to overcome the problems in the parameter estimation of the Muskingum model, this paper introduces a new swarm intelligence optimization algorithm—Wolf Pack Algorithm (WPA). A new multi-objective function is designed by considering the weighted sum of absolute difference (SAD) and determination coefficient of the flood process. The WPA, its solving steps of calibration, and the model parameters are designed emphatically based on the basic principle of the algorithm. The performance of this algorithm is compared to the Trial Algorithm (TA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Results of the application of these approaches with actual data from the downstream of Ankang River in Hanjiang River indicate that the WPA has a higher precision than other techniques and, thus, the WPA is an efficient alternative technique to estimate the parameters of the Muskingum model. The research results provide a new method for the parameter estimation of the Muskingum model, which is of great practical significance to improving the accuracy of river channel flood routing.

In past decades, considerable advances have been achieved in micro and nanomotors. Particular attention has been given to self-propelled catalytic micromotors, which have been widely used in cell separation, drug delivery, microsurgery, lithography and environmental remediation. Fast moving, long life micromotors appear regularly, however it seems there are no solutions yet that thoroughly clarify the hydrodynamic behavior of catalytic micromotors moving in fluid. Dynamic behavior of this kind of micromotors is mainly determined by the driving force and drag force acting on the micromotors. Based on the hydromechanics theory, a hydrodynamic model is established to predict the drag force for a conical micromotor immersed in the flow field. By using the computational fluid dynamics software Fluent 18.0 (ANSYS), the drag force and the drag coefficient of different conical micromotors are calculated. A mathematical model was proposed to describe the relationship among Reynolds numbers Re, the ratio λ, the semi-cone angle δ and the drag coefficient Cd of the micromotors. This work provides theoretical support and reference for optimizing the design and development of conical micromotors.

Identifying functionally critical regions of the malaria antigen AMA1 (apical membrane antigen 1) is necessary to understand the significance of the polymorphisms within this antigen for vaccine development. The crystal structure of AMA1 in complex with the Fab fragment of inhibitory monoclonal antibody 1F9 reveals that 1F9 binds to the AMA1 solvent-exposed hydrophobic trough, confirming its importance. 1F9 uses the heavy and light chain complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) to wrap around the polymorphic loops adjacent to the trough, but uses a ridge of framework residues to bind to the hydrophobic trough. The resulting 1F9-AMA1-combined buried surface of 2,470 A(2) is considerably larger than previously reported Fab-antigen interfaces. Mutations of polymorphic AMA1 residues within the 1F9 epitope disrupt 1F9 binding and dramatically reduce the binding of affinity-purified human antibodies. Moreover, 1F9 binding to AMA1 is competed by naturally acquired human antibodies, confirming that the 1F9 epitope is a frequent target of immunological attack.

RCC is the most common solid renal malignancy in adults worldwide. To provide the insight of clinicopathologica epidemiological characteristics and change tendencies of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), 2154 cases were collected from Shanxi Province of China, including diagnose time, age, gender, tumor size, Fuhrman grade, tumor stage, tumor location, local advance or distant metastasis and first symptom from 2005 to 2014. This retrospectively investigation, as its general objective, was to analyze the clinicopathologica epidemiological characteristics and the change tendencies of RCC.Between 2005 and 2014, 2154 patients who were diagnosed with RCC in three large tertiary hospitals at Shanxi Province were included. The patients' demographic features, pathological diagnoses and metastatic statuses were analyzed. Statistics methods include the chi-squared test, analysis of variance, Spearman's correlation analysis, Logistic regression and ARIMA modeling.Of the 2154 included patients, the constituent ratio of female /male was 63.1% and 36.9%, with the median age of 57 years old. Fuhrman grade distributions differed significantly between males and females (p = 0.024). Also, a significant difference in tumor size was found by different clinical stages (p < 0.001), with a linear correlation (p < 0.001). Moreover, Spearman's analysis indicated tumor grade has a negative correlation with female (p = 0.009) and a positive correlation with tumor size (p = 0.000). It was found that the tumor diameter is bigger in the left side (p = 0.022). Furthermore, the metastasis rate was higher in the bigger tumor (p < 0.001) and the left-sided tumors (p = 0.027). Logistic regression also showed that tumor size is a risk factor for metastasis (OR = 1.724). The risk of local advance or distant metastasis in the left kidney was 1.6-fold greater than that of the right kidney. From 2005 to 2014 the number of RCC cases gradually increased (mainly for pathological grade II and III, but grade I and IV), while the average tumor size decreased, showing the severity increase mildly. Base on the results of a time series analysis-prediction the average RCC size would continue to decrease from the first quarter of 2015 to the fourth quarter of 2016.The cases of RCC increased from 2005 to 2014 with clear cell type as the main pathological type in this population. The characteristics in the constituent ratios of the RCC vary depending on gender, pathological grade, tumor size, and location, which may be the important factors impacting treatment and prognosis.

Micromotors, which can be moved at a micron scale, have special functions and can perform microscopic tasks. They have a wide range of applications in various fields with the advantages of small size and high efficiency. Both high speed and efficiency for micromotors are required in various conditions. However, the dynamical mechanism of bubble-driven micromotors movement is not clear, owing to various factors affecting the movement of micromotors. This paper reviews various factors acting on micromotor movement, and summarizes appropriate methods to improve the velocity and efficiency of bubble-driven micromotors, from a mechanical view. The dynamical factors that have significant influence on the hydrodynamic performance of micromotors could be divided into two categories: environment and geometry. Improving environment temperature and decreasing viscosity of fluid accelerate the velocity of motors. Under certain conditions, raising the concentration of hydrogen peroxide is applied. However, a high concentration of hydrogen peroxide is not applicable. In the environment of low concentration, changing the geometry of micromotors is an effective mean to improve the velocity of micromotors. Increasing semi-cone angle and reducing the ratio of length to radius for tubular and rod micromotors are propitious to increase the speed of micromotors. For Janus micromotors, reducing the mass by changing the shape into capsule and shell, and increasing the surface roughness, is applied. This review could provide references for improving the velocity and efficiency of micromotors.

Micromotors have shown significant potential for diverse future applications. However, a poor understanding of the propelling mechanism hampers its further applications. In this study, an accurate mechanical model of the micromotor has been proposed by considering the geometric asymmetry and fluid viscosity based on hydrodynamic principles. The results obtained from the proposed model are in a good agreement with the experimental results. The effects of the semi-cone angle on the micromotor are re-analyzed. Furthermore, other geometric parameters, like the length-radius aspect ratio, exert great impact on the velocity. It is also observed that micromotors travel much slower in highly viscous solutions and, hence, viscosity plays an important role.

239Np is an important nuclide as the decay daughter of 239U and it decays to 239Pu by emitting beta particles and gamma rays with a half life of 2.356 days. The data of the emission probabilities of its gamma-rays in the open references are consistent except for the main gamma-ray of 106.1 keV, the emission probability of which varies from 25.9% to 27.2%. To verify the emission probability of 106.1 keV gamma-ray of 239Np, a N-type coaxial HPGe detector was calibrated using 241Am, 133Ba, 60Co, 152Eu and 155Eu reference gamma sources to get the accurate efficiency of the 106.1 keV gamma-ray. 239Np was purified from solution containing 243Am, where 239Np is the alpha decay daughter of 243Am. The specific activity of 239Np solution was determined by a 4πβ (PC)-γ coincidence counting device. There were 6 gamma sources prepared to measure with the HPGe detector, and the activity of 239Np in each gamma source was calculated with the weights of the solution contained in it. The emission probability of 106.1 keV of 239Np is measured to be (25.4 ± 0.3)%, which is consistent with 25.34%, the value evaluated in 2014.

Around the fifth week after birth, the vaginal cavity in female mouse pups opens to the overlaying skin. This postnatal tissue remodeling of the genital tract occurs during puberty, and it largely depends upon hormonally induced apoptosis that mainly occurs in the epithelium at the lower part of the mouse vaginal cavity. Previously, we showed that most BALB/c mice lacking the class IV Semaphorin (Sema4D) develop imperforate vagina and hydrometrocolpos; therefore, we reasoned that the absence of Sema4D-induced apoptosis in vaginal epithelial cells may cause the imperforate vagina. Sema4D signals via the Plexin-B1 receptor; nevertheless detailed mechanisms mediating this hormonally triggered apoptosis are not fully documented. To investigate the estrogen-dependent control of Sema4D signaling during the apoptosis responsible for mouse vaginal opening, we examined structural and functional modulation of Sema4D, Plexin-B1, and signaling molecules by analyzing both wild-type and Sema4D-/- mice with or without ovariectomy. Both the release of soluble Sema4D and the conversion of Plexin-B1 by proteolytic processing in vaginal tissue peaked 5 weeks after birth of wild-type BALB/c mice at the time of vaginal opening. Estrogen supplementation of ovariectomized wild-type mice revealed that both the release of soluble Sema4D and the conversion of Plexin-B1 into an active form were estrogen-dependent and concordant with apoptosis. Estrogen supplementation of ovariectomized Sema4D-/- mice did not induce massive vaginal apoptosis in 5-week-old mice; therefore, Sema4D may be an essential apoptosis-inducing ligand that acts downstream of estrogen action in vaginal epithelium during this postnatal tissue remodeling. Analysis of ovariectomized mice also indicated that Sema4D contributed to estrogen-dependent dephosphorylation of Akt and ERK at the time of vaginal opening. Based on our results, we propose that apoptosis in vaginal epithelium during postnatal vaginal opening is induced by enhanced Sema4D signaling that is caused by estrogen-dependent structural changes of Sema4D and Plexin-B1.

Both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure can cause liver damage as well as increase the probability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To investigate the underlying genetic changes that may influence development of HCC associated with HBV infection and AFB1 exposure, HCC patients were subdivided into 4 groups depending upon HBV and AFB1 exposure status: (HBV(+)/AFB1(+), HBV(+)/AFB1(-), HBV(-)/AFB1(+), HBV(-)/AFB1(-)). Genetic abnormalities and protein expression profiles were analyzed by array-based comparative genomic hybridization and isobaric tagging for quantitation. A total of 573 chromosomal aberrations (CNAs) including 184 increased and 389 decreased were detected in our study population. Twenty-five recurrently altered regions (RARs; chromosomal alterations observed in ≥10 patients) in chromosomes were identified. Loss of 4q13.3-q35.2, 13q12.1-q21.2 and gain of 7q11.2-q35 were observed with a higher frequency in the HBV(+)/AFB1(+), HBV(+)/AFB1(-) and HBV(-)/AFB1(+) groups compared to the HBV(-)/AFB(-) group. Loss of 8p12-p23.2 was associated with high TNM stage tumors (P = 0.038) and was an unfavorable prognostic factor for tumor-free survival (P =0.045). A total of 133 differentially expressed proteins were identified in iTRAQ proteomics analysis, 69 (51.8%) of which mapped within identified RARs. The most common biological processes affected by HBV and AFB1 status in HCC tumorigenesis were detoxification and drug metabolism pathways, antigen processing and anti-apoptosis pathways. Expression of AKR1B10 was increased significantly in the HBV(+)/AFB1(+) and HBV(-)/AFB1(+) groups. A significant correlation between the expression of AKR1B10 mRNA and protein levels as well as AKR1B10 copy number was observered, which suggest that AKR1B10 may play a role in AFB1-related hepatocarcinogenesis. In summary, a number of genetic and gene expression alterations were found to be associated with HBV and AFB1- related HCC. The possible synergistic effects of HBV and AFB1 in hepatocarcinogenesis warrant further investigations.