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Large-area, glass-metal heliostats have collection areas in the range of 100 m2–200 m2. The heliostats of Solar Tower power station, with high accuracy requirements during performance, are located at open terrain or suburban terrain and they are sensitive to gust. Therefore, wind load and wind-induced response should be an important factor in design. In this paper, experimental investigation of rigid heliostat model in wind tunnel under 3-dimensional wind loads was conducted. The obtained maximum wind forces coefficients and the corresponding wind directions are compared with the results of the measurements of Peterka et al. A finite element model is developed to calculate the wind-induced displacement, the equivalent stress and the structural natural vibration frequency of the heliostat. The results show that, under fluctuating wind pressure, the maximum displacement of the structure occurred at corners of upper parts and the level of the maximum equivalent stress in the rotation axis is higher than that in other components of the heliostat. A favorable stow position to resist wind loads is also suggested on the basis of the result analysis in this paper.

Background: Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic arterial disease and a major cause of vascular death, with multiple pathogenesis including chronic inflammatory. Tripterygium wilfordii (TGW) had a good effect on an anti-inflammatory. At present, more and more researches indicated that TGW could also regulate AS. Objective: The aim of this study is to clarify what the anti-atherosclerotic ingredients are in TGW and whether these ingredients improve AS synergistically. Materials and Methods: First, systematic pharmacology was utilized to predict the active ingredients and potential targets of TGW related to AS. Then, a bioactive compound of triptolide (TPL) and Tripterine (TPR) in TGW were evaluated if they presented the synergistically anti-atherosclerotic effects in Apo E-/-mice fed with a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet. In the experiment, Hematoxylin and Eosin tested the plaque areas; reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis detected the matrix metalloprotein 9 (MMP-9), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and NF-κB levels in the aortas. Results: The results shown that there are 17 bioactive compounds with 76 therapeutic proteins were identified. Moreover, TGW exhibits a protective effect on treatment AS likely through regulating multiple pathways including immune response, inflammatory response, and vascular structure improving. Further verified that TPL combined with TPR in TGW had synergistic effect on treatment AS by reducing levels of MMP-9, TNF-α, and NF-κB, might be the important pathway. Conclusion: TGW, synergistic effect of different compounds, could regulate AS by multiple pathways, especially improving immune response, inflammatory response, and vascular structure. The major compounds of Tripterine and Triptolide in TGW had a synergistic effect on anti-AS by suppressing matrix metalloprotein 9, TNF-α, and NF-κB. Abbreviations used: TGW: Tripterygium wilfordii, TRL: Triptolide, TRR: Tripterine, TRLR: TRL plus TRR, NC: Normal control, MC: Model control, MMP-9: Matrix metalloprotein 9; NF-kB, Nuclear factor-kappa B; TNF-a, Tumor necrosis factor alpha, AS: Atherosclerosis, H and E: Hematoxylin and Eosin, ox-LDL: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein, ICAM-1: intercellular adhesion molecule-1, VCAM-1: vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, HIF-1: Hypoxia inducible factor-1, IL-2: Interleukin-2, IFN-γ: Interferon-γ, MCP-1: Monocyte chemotactic protein 1, TCMSP: Traditional chinese medicine systems pharmacology, TCM: Traditional chinese medicine, PerOB: Predict oral bioavailability, PerDL: Predict drug-likeness, HL: Half-life, HFC: High-fat/high-cholesterol diet, T-P: Target-Pathway, KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, DAVID: Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery, ADME: Absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, TBST: tris-buffered saline, GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, DMSO: Dimethyl sulfoxide, HPLC: High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

The interaction of the l-lactate ion ( l-CH3CH(OH)COO(-), lact(-1)) with hematite (alpha-Fe2O3) nanoparticles (average diameter 11 nm) in the presence of bulk water at pH 5 and 25 degrees C was examined using a combination of (1) macroscopic uptake measurements, (2) in situ attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy, and (3) density functional theory modeling at the B3LYP/6-31+G* level. Uptake measurements indicate that increasing [ lact(-1)]aq results in an increase in lact(-1) uptake and a concomitant increase in Fe(III) release as a result of the dissolution of the hematite nanoparticles. The ATR-FTIR spectra of aqueous lact(-1) and lact(-1) adsorbed onto hematite nanoparticles at coverages ranging from 0.52 to 5.21 micromol/m2 showed significant differences in peak positions and shapes of carboxyl group stretches. On the basis of Gaussian fits of the spectra, we conclude that lact(-1) is present as both outer-sphere and inner-sphere complexes on the hematite nanoparticles. No significant dependence of the extent of lact(-1) adsorption on background electrolyte concentration was found, suggesting that the dominant adsorption mode for lact(-1) is inner sphere under these conditions. On the basis of quantum chemical modeling, we suggest that inner-sphere complexes of lact(-1) adsorbed on hematite nanoparticles occur dominantly as monodentate, mononuclear complexes with the hydroxyl functional group pointing away from the Fe(III) center.

As one of the fundamental issues in wireless sensor networks (WSNs), the sensor localization problem has recently received extensive attention. In this work, we investigate this problem from a novel perspective by treating it as a functional dual of target tracking. In traditional tracking problems, static location-aware sensors track and predict the position and/or velocity of a moving target. As a dual, we utilize a moving location assistant (LA) (with a global positioning system (GPS) or a predefined moving path) to help location-unaware sensors to accurately discover their positions. We call our proposed system Landscape. In Landscape, an LA (an aircraft, for example) periodically broadcasts its current location (we call it a beacon) while it moves around or through a sensor field. Each sensor collects the location beacons, measures the distance between itself and the LA based on the received signal strength (RSS), and individually calculates their locations via an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF)-based algorithm. Landscape has several features that are favorable to WSNs, such as high scalability, no intersensor communication overhead, moderate computation cost, robustness to range errors and network connectivity, etc. Extensive simulations demonstrate that Landscape is an efficient sensor positioning scheme for outdoor sensor networks.

Neuroblastoma, one of the most common types of cancer in childhood, is commonly treated with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. However, prognosis and survival remain poor for children with high‑risk neuroblastoma. Therefore, the identification of novel, effective therapeutic targets is necessary. N‑Myc, a proto‑oncogene protein encoded by the v‑myc avial myelocytomatosis viral oncogene neuroblastoma derived homolog (MYCN) gene, is associated with tumorigenesis. In the present study, the effect of N‑Myc silencing on MYCN‑amplified CHP134 and BE‑2C neuroblastoma cells was evaluated, and the underlying molecular mechanism was investigated. N‑Myc was successfully knocked down using an N‑Myc‑specific small interfering RNA, the efficacy of interference efficiency confirmed by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay and apoptosis was measured by ELISA assay. The results indicated that MYCN silencing significantly decreased cell viability and promoted apoptosis. Subsequently, the expression levels of key Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway proteins were detected by western blotting, and MYCN silencing was demonstrated to inhibit Wnt/β‑catenin signaling, decreasing the expression ofanti‑apoptosis proteins and increasing the expression of pro‑apoptosis protein. This suggested that N‑Myc regulated survival and growth of CHP134 and BE‑2C neuroblastoma cells, potentially through Wnt/β‑catenin signaling. Furthermore, associated proteins, N‑Myc and STAT interactor and dickkopf Wnt signaling pathway inhibitor 1, were demonstrated to be involved in this regulation. Therefore, N‑Myc and its downstream targets may provide novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of neuroblastoma.

Temozolomide (TMZ) is an alkylating agent used for the treatment of aggressive forms of brain tumor based on its antitumor actions. However, the exact effect on cancer and the underlying anticancer molecular mechanism of TMZ remain to be elucidated. In the present study, the effects of TMZ on the growth and motility of glioma C6 cells were investigated. MTT and Transwell assays were used to detect cellular growth and motility. The results showed that TMZ inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of the glioma C6 cells in vitro, western blot analysis determined that the phosphorylation of extracellular signal‑regulated protein kinase (ERK)1/2 was decreased in the TMZ‑treated cells, compared with the untreated control cells. The ERK1/2 specific inhibitor, U0126, augmented the inhibitory effects of TMZ on the proliferation, migration and invasion of the glioma C6 cells, and the mitogen‑activated protein kinase kinase/ERK pathway activator, curcumin, attenuated the inhibitory effects of TMZ on the proliferation and motility of the glioma C6 cells. Additionally, the western blotting in the present study demonstrated that TMZ and U0126 decreased the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C), and the expression level was restored by curcumin, suggesting that VEGF‑C may be the downstream effector of ERK1/2. Furthermore, the overexpression of VEGF‑C enhanced the growth, migration and invasion of the TMZ-treated cells. These results suggested that TMZ suppressed glioma C6 cell development, at least in part, and downregulated the expression of VEGF‑C by inhibiting the ERK signaling pathway. The results of the present study provides the foundation for a combinational therapeutic strategy to improve the efficacy of TMZ.

A system concatenated by two area-preserving maps may be addressed as “quasi-dissipative”, since such a system can display dissipative behaviors. This is due to noninvertibility induced by discontinuity in the system function. In such a system, the image set of the discontinuous border forms a chaotic quasi-attractor. At a critical control parameter value the quasi-attractor suddenly vanishes. The chaotic iterations escape, via a leaking hole, to an emergent period-8 elliptic island. The hole is the intersection of the chaotic quasi-attractor and the period-8 island. The chaotic quasi-attractor thus changes to chaotic quasi-transients. The scaling behavior that drives the quasi-crisis has been investigated numerically.

Supercapacitors (also known as ultracapacitors) are considered to be the most promising candidate for alternative energy storage/conversion devices [1-3]. However, the low energy density limits their applications that require high cycle life and power density. Compared with pseudocapacitors, the working mechanism of electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) is a physical process, and it has the advantages of fast charging and discharging, good cycle performance, low cost, and no degradation after tens of thousands of cycles. For EDLCs, highly porous carbon materials are commonly used as supercapacitor electrodes. In recent decades, lots of works has been focused on improving the capacitive performance of porous carbon electrodes by the introduction of good-performance electrode materials. However, the relatively easily produced and low-cost carbon materials with proper porosity and good electrical conductivity are highly desirable. In this work, glucose was firstly used as the precursor to produce porous carbon electrodes by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) at 260℃, which is accomplished under mild and simple condition and is adaptable for wide feedstocks. Then, the porosity of the carbon electrodes has been improved by chemical activation with different amount of KOH at 800℃. The effects of different mass ratio of glucose to KOH (1:0, 1:1, 1:2, 1:3 and 1:1) on chemical activation efficiency have been studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and Raman spectra of the porous carbon electrodes before and after activation are shown Fig. 1. Clearly, the glucose-derived porous carbon exhibits a sphere shape, and the pore structure has been greatly changed before and after KOH activation. It is notable that microspores of the porous carbon sphere were clearly enlarged after activation, and the enlarged mesopores are proper candidate as supercapacitor electrode. Fig. 2 presents the current-voltage (C-V) curves of different glucose-derived porous carbon microelectrodes at different scan rate in 1M Na2SO4electrolyte. For all samples, the CV curves exhibits a symmetric rectangular shape, which indicates the behavior of electric double layer capacitors. The increased corresponding currents of glucose-derived porous carbon indicates the specific capacitance is increased after KOH activation. The specific capacitances of glucose-derived porous carbon with 1:3 (mass ratios of glucose to KOH) is reached 207 F/g. The The electric capacitance is strongly associated with the improved porous structure after KOH activation. References [1] T. Tooming, T. Thomberg, H. Kurig, E. Lust High power density supercapacitors based on the carbon dioxide Activated D-glucose derived carbon electrodes and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazo-lium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid , Journal of Power Sources, 280 (2015) 667-677 [2] Y.L. Wang, H.Q. Xuan, G.X. Lin, F. Wang, Z. Chen, X.P. Dong, A melamine-assisted chemical blowing synthesis of N-doped activated carbon sheets for supercapacitor application, Journal of Power Sources, 319 (2016) 262-270 [3] M. Enterría, F.J. Martín-Jimeno, F. Su arez-García, J.I. Paredes, M.F.R. Pereira, J.I. Martinsc, A.Martínez-Alonso, J.M.D. Tasc on, J.L. Figueiredo, Effect of nanostructure on the supercapacitor performance of activated carbon xerogels obtained from hydrothermally carbonized glucose-graphene oxide hybrids, Carbon, 105 (2016) 474-483 Figure 1

Supercapacitors, also known as electrochemical capacitors, are new energy storage components between traditional capacitors and batteries, attracting a great deal of attention in recent years [1]. However, the main problem facing supercapacitors electrode materials is the low energy density. Lots of efforts have been made to increase the electrochemical capacitance of the electrode materials, such as fabricate nanotubes, nanowires, and nano-sheet to develop large-surface-area nanostructured electrodes or mix two or more kind of good electrode materials to produce composite electrodes [2-3]. Therefore, combining large-surface-area nanostructure and good composite electrodes is good potential approach to develop high-performance micro supercapacitors. In this work, highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNAs) were firstly fabricated with anodic oxidation method on Ti foils (1 cm × 1 cm), which were used as high-surface-area substrate. The Ti foil was anodized at a constant potential of 50 V for 20 h in a two-electrode system, using an aqueous electrolytic containing 0.25 wt.% NH4F and 2 vol.% H2O. Then, hydrogen electrochemical doping was performed to improve the electric double-layer capacitance of TiO2 nanotube films. TiO2 nanotube films were used as cathodes while the carbon rod as anode. The gap between two electrodes was 2.5cm, and a voltage of 5 V was applied for 30 s in a 0.5 M Na2SO4 solution. Then, nickel oxide was deposited through the whole TiO2 nanotube films in 0.04M NiCl2 through the method of differential pulse voltammetry. Finally, the hydrogenated TiO2/NiO (H-TiO2/NiO) nanotube array composite electrode was successfully fabricated. Fig.1 (a) and (b) presents sannning electron microscope (SEM) images of the TiO2 nanotube films before and after electrochemical hydrogenation. The pristine TiO2 nanotubes have an inner diameter of ∼120 nm and a tube length of about 10um. Obviously, there is significant change of the morphology of TiO2 nanotubes after the electrochemical hydrogenation. Fig.1 (c) and (d) show the SEM images of hydrogenated TiO2 nanotubes after NiO deposition. The narrower inner diameter of TiO2 nanotube obviously indicates NiO was deposited through the inner and outer walls of TiO2 nanotubes. Fig.2 (a), (b) and (c) show the C-V curves of pristine TiO2, H-TiO2 and H-TiO2/NiO nanotube films at different scan rates. Clearly, the C-V curves of pristine TiO2 nanotubes are close to rectangular shape, which exhibits the behavior of electric double layer capacitors. However, the specific capacitance, which was calculated to be 0.6 mF cm-2 at 0.08 mA cm-2, is quite low due to the low corresponding current. The C-V curves of H-TiO2 nanotubes exhibit perfect capacitance behavior of electric double layer capacitors and much higher current response. The specific capacitance was calculated to be 71 mF/cm2 at 0.5 mA cm-2, which was significantly enhanced after hydrogen doping. The C-V curves of H-TiO2/NiO nanotubes exhibit typical pseudo capacitance behavior, and the specific capacitance was calculated to be 285mF/cm2 at 0.5 mA cm-2 after NiO deposition shown in the EDX elemental mapping in Fig.2 (d). In summary, the electrochemical behaviors of pristine TiO2, H-TiO2 and H-TiO2/NiO nanotube films have been fabricated and characterized by SEM and electrochemical measurements. The specific capacitance of TiO2 nanotube films can be greatly enhanced from 0.6 mF cm-2 at 0.08mA cm-2 to 71 mF/cm2 and further 285mF/cm2 at 0.5mA/cm2 after electrochemical hydrogenation and NiO deposition. References [1] Campos J W, Beidaghi M, Hatzell K B, et al. Investigation of carbon materials for use as a flowable electrode in electrochemical flow capacitors[J]. Electrochimica Acta, 2013, 98(16):123–130. [2] Lu X, Zheng D, Zhai T, et al. Large-area manganese oxide nanorod arrays as high-performance electrochemical supercapacitor[J]. Energy & Environmental Science, 2011, 4(8):2915-2921. [3]Gonzalez Z, Ferrari B, Sanchez-Herencia A J, et al. Use of Polyelectrolytes for the Fabrication of Porous NiO Films by Electrophoretic Deposition for Supercapacitor Electrodes[J]. Electrochimica Acta, 2016, 211:110-118. Figure 1

In recent years, environmental problems induced by organic pollutants have become an important problem for our society. Semiconductor photochemical treatment is a potential technology for solving the environmental issues. Therefore, lots of efforts have been devoted to develop high-efficiency visible light assisted semiconductor photocatalysts. Cu2O nanoparticle is a well-known p-type semiconductor with a direct band gap of 2.17eV, which endows it a reasonable alternative for photocatalytic applications [1-3]. However, high recombination rate of the electron-hole pairs excited from Cu2O nanoparticles seriously hinders its practical application. Coupling p-type Cu2O nanoparticles with n-type semiconductor to form a P-N heterojunction for carrier separation and produce appropriate energy level difference for charge transfer from one semiconductor to another is a potential approach to decrease recombination rate for high-efficiency degradation. Graphene-like n-type semiconductor MoS2 multilayered nanoplates are the reasonable alternative due to its tunable bandgap with different layers and large amounts of unsaturated active sites [4-5]. In this work, two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 nanoplates with different multilayer thickness were prepared by liquid exfoliation and gradient centrifugation. Then, the MoS2 nanoplates were utilized to match the energy level of Cu2O nanoparticles to form MoS2/Cu2O nanocomposites, which have been achieved by the method of hydrothermal synthesis. Scanning Electrom Microscope images and X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of nanoparticles Cu2O and MoS2/Cu2O nanocomposites are shown in Fig.1. It can be seen that the morphology of Cu2O nanoparticles are truncated octahedron structure and closely attached on MoS2 nanosheets with different thickness, which was obtained at the centrifugation speed of 2000 rpm, 4000 rpm, 6000 rpm and 8000 rpm. The photochemical behaviors of Cu2O nanoparticles and different MoS2/Cu2O nanocomposites are characterized through the degradation behaviors of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation (Fig.2). The experimental results show that the degradation efficiency of MoS2/Cu2O nanocomposites can be improved by optimizing the thickness of MoS2 nanoplates from few layers to bulk. The degradation ratios of MO after 3 h are 57.9%, 61.1%, 92.2%, 95.3%, 93.1%, and correspond respectively to the MoS2/Cu2O nanocomposites in which the MoS2 nanosheets were obtained at the centrifugation speed of 0 rpm, 2000 rpm, 4000 rpm, 6000 rpm and 8000 rpm. The possible reason is that the increasing surface area and bandgap of MoS2 may provide large reaction area and produce appropriate energy level difference, which is beneficial for accelerating the degradation process of methyl orange. In summary, the different MoS2/Cu2O heterojunction nanocomposites were prepared through adjusting the thickness of multilayered MoS2 nanoplates. The results show that the optimized degradation ratio of MO can be greatly improved from 57.9% up to 95.3% after 3h using MoS2/Cu2O nanocomposites in comparison with Cu2O nanoparticles. References [1] J. Singh, M. Srivastava, A. Roychoudhury, D.W. Lee, S.H. Lee, B.D. Malhotra, J. Phys. Chem. B, 117 (2013), 141-152 [2] S. Sun, H. Zhang, L. Tang, X. Zhang, Z. Yang, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 16 (2014), pp. 20424–20428 [3] X.G. Yan, L. Xu, W.Q. Huang, G.F. Huang, Z.M. Yang, S.Q. Zhan, J.P. Long, Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 23 (2014), pp. 34–41 [4] Li J, Liu E Z, Ma Y N, et al. Appl. Surf. Sci., 2016, 364:694-702 [5] B. Radisavljevic, A. Radenovic, J. Brivio, V. Giacometti, A. Kis, Nature Nanotechnology, 6 (2011) 147–150. Figure 1

Supercapacitors have attracted significant research interest due to their fast cycling and high power densities, charging and discharging time for millions of cycle [1]. Highly porous carbon materials are commonly used as supercapacitor electrodes due to their high specific surface area and good conductivity. To realize MEMS supercapacitors, a scalable technique for on-chip integrated high-performance microelectrodes are in urgent required. Pyrolyzed patterned photoresist is one attractive way to deposit porous carbon electrode for electrochemical applications. However, current research on pore structure control of photoresist-derived carbon electrodes with large specific capacitance and good cycling performance is rather limited including the problem of uneven porosity [2, 3]. For porous structure control of pyrolyzed photoresist-derived carbon, 200 mg, 300 mg and 400 mg of magnesium citrate nanoparticles were mixed in 10 ml SU-8 photoresist during pyrolysis process respectively.The ultra-thick SU-8 photoresist layer mixed with magnesium citrate was deposited on silicon wafer with multiple spin-coating methods at the rotation speed of 1500 rpm for 35s. Then, the doped SU-8 photoresist was pyrolyzed in a horizontal tube furnace under inert forming gas (95% N2, 5% H2) atmosphere with flow rate of 2000 sccm, which the temperature was programmed from room temperature to 950 oC. Fig. 1 shows the SEM images of pyrolyzed SU-8 photoresist before and after magnesium citrate doping. Fig. 2 presents the Current-Voltage (C-V) curves of carbon microelectrodes at different scan rate in 1M Na2SO4 electrolyte. Clearly, the C-V curves of the carbon electrodes with magnesium citrate doping is more close to symmetric rectangular shape than that without doping, which optimized capacitance is 205mF/cm-2capacitance for the sample (30 mg/ml). Fig. 3 plots the galvanostatic charging and discharging curves of carbon microelectrodes at different current densities. The charging and discharging curve exhibits a near isosceles triangle, which indicates a better irreversible discharging and discharging performance. However, the charging/discharging time of the carbon electrodes with magnesium citrate doping is much longer than that without doping, which indicates the specific surface area of the carbon electrodes was greatly increased after magnesium citrate doping. In summary, carbon microelectrodes derived from pyrolyzed SU-8 photoresist with different doping concentration have been prepared and characterized by SEM and electrochemical technique. The optimized concentration of magnesium citrate nanoparticles in SU-8 photoresist is 30 mg/ml, and optimized capacitance is 205mF/cm-2correspondingly. The high capacitance could be associated with the highly porous structure. References: [1] Jiang S, Shi T, Liu D, et al. Integration of MnO2 thin film and carbon nanotubes to three-dimensional carbon microelectrodes for electrochemical microcapacitors. Journal of Power Sources , 262 (2014): 494-500. [2] Wang S, Hsia B, Carraro C, et al. High-performance all solid-state micro-supercapacitor based on patterned photoresist-derived porous carbon electrodes and an ionogel electrolyte. Journal of Materials Chemistry A 2.21 (2014): 7997-8002. [3] Jin Z, Xun Y, Wei X, et al. Mesoporous carbons derived from citrates for use in electrochemical capacitors. New Carbon Materials, 25.5 (2010): 370-375. Figure 1

Semiconductor photochemical treatment is expected to be a green technology for solving the environmental issues induced by organic pollutants. WO3 are generally considered as an excellent candidate for visible-light photocatalysts [1-3]. However, the activity of pure WO3 has to be improved due to the rapid recombination of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs. In this work, WO3 was loaded with hybrid MoS2-reduced graphene oxide (MoS2-rGO) to form WO3/MoS2-rGOheterojunction composites, in which MoS2 acts as another efficient light absorbing material and rGO as the charge transfer medium to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency [4-5]. In this work, WO3 was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis method with WCl6 as tungsten source and absolute ethanol as solvent, as shown in Fig. 1(a). Clearly, the synthesized WO3 is a monodispersed microsphere structure with an average size of 2-3um. The hybrid MoS2-rGO was prepared by adding graphene during the hydrothermal synthesis process of MoS2 with Na2MoO4·2H2O and thiourea as reacting materials. As shown in Fig. 1(b), the synthesized MoS2 shows a flower-like structure. Finally, the WO3/MoS2-rGO nanocomposites were also prepared by adding the prepared hybrid MoS2-rGO during the hydrothermal synthesis process of WO3. As shown in Fig. 1(c) and (d), the close contact is clearly seen between the microsphere-like WO3 and flower-like hybrid MoS2-rGO, and the second hydrothermal process had no influence on the structure of WO3 and hybrid MoS2-rGO. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and Raman spectra are respectively measured to determine the crystal structure, as shown in Fig.1 (e) and (f). The photochemical behaviors of WO3/MoS2-rGO nanocomposites containing (0, 2%, 5%, 10%, and 20%) of hybrid MoS2-rGO are characterized through the degradation behaviors of rhodamine (RhB) under visible light irradiation (Fig.2). The experimental results clearly show that the degradation efficiency of WO3/MoS2-rGO nanocomposites can be improved by optimizing the mass ratio of WO3 microspheres to hybrid MoS2-rGO flowers. The degradation ratios of RhB after 6 h are 78.2%, 79.5%, 82.6%, 95.6%, 91.8%, correspond respectively to the WO3/MoS2-rGO nanocomposites containing 0, 2%, 5%, 10%, and 20% of hybrid MoS2-rGO. The possible reason is that the formed WO3/MoS2heterojunction structure and charge transfer medium of rGO is beneficial for separating electron-hole pairs for high efficiency degradation In summary, the WO3 microspheres and different WO3/MoS2-rGO nanocomposites have been prepared and characterized through adjusting the mass ratio of WO3 microspheres to hybrid MoS2-rGO flowers. The results show that the optimized degradation ratio of RhB can be greatly improved from 78.2% up to 95.6% after 6h using WO3/MoS2-rGO nanocomposites in comparison with WO3 microspheres. References [1] J. Georgieva, E. Valova, S. Armyanov, N. Philippidis, I. Poulios, S. Sotiropoulos, Journal of Hazardous Materials 211–212 (2012) 30–46. [2] S.Y. Yao, X. Zhang, F.Y. Qu, A. Umar, X. Wu, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 689 (2016) 570–574. [3] S.V. Mohite, V.V. Ganbavle, K.Y. Rajpure, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 655 (2016) 106–113. [4] B. Radisavljevic, A. Radenovic, J. Brivio, V. Giacometti, A. Kis, Nature Nanotechnology, 6 (2011) 147–150. [5] P. Devi, C. Sharma, P. Kumar, M. Kumar, B. K.S. Bansod, M. K. Nayak, M. L. Singla, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 322 (2017) 85–94. Figure 1

Hot spring or hot spa bathing (Onsen) is a traditional therapy for the treatment of certain ailments. There is a common belief that hot spring bathing has therapeutic effects for wound healing, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. To examine this hypothesis, we investigated the effects of Nagano hot spring water (rich in carbonate ion, 42°C) on the healing process of the skin using a nude rat skin wound model. We found that hot spring bathing led to an enhanced healing speed compared to both the unbathed and hot-water (42°C) control groups. Histologically, the hot spring water group showed increased vessel density and reduced inflammatory cells in the granulation tissue of the wound area. Real-time RT-PCR analysis along with zymography revealed that the wound area of the hot spring water group exhibited a higher expression of matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9 compared to the two other control groups. Furthermore, we found that the enhanced wound healing process induced by the carbonate ion-enriched hot spring water was mediated by thermal insulation and moisture maintenance. Our results provide the evidence that carbonate ion-enriched hot spring water is beneficial for the treatment of skin wounds.

Aim Probucol is a lipid-lowering drug that is often prescribed for the treatment of familial hypercholesterolemia. However, it is not known whether probucol can change the lesion quality of atherosclerosis. Methods We examined this possibility using WHHL rabbits, a model of human familial hypercholesterolemia. Three-month-old male WHHL rabbits were treated with either probucol(85 mg/kg/day) or atorvastatin(6 mg/kg/day) for 16 weeks, and their plasma lipid levels and atherosclerotic lesions were compared with those of a control group. Results We found that probucol treatment reduced the plasma cholesterol levels, but less remarkably than atorvastatin treatment. In spite of this, probucol treatment led to a prominent reduction of aortic en face lesions by 39%(P＜0.01), whereas atorvastatin reduced these by 16%(P＞0.05), compared with those in the control. Histological examinations revealed that the aortic lesions of probucol-treated rabbits were characterized by reduced macrophages and increased smooth muscle cells compared with those from both the control and atorvastatin groups. Furthermore, probucol treatment reduced the coronary artery stenosis and increased the plaque stability. Conclusions These results suggest that probucol treatment may have beneficial effects on the plaque stability of hypercholesterolemic patients.

Humic acid is a major component of natural organic matter in surface water and can cause serious fouling problems in membrane filtration processes for drinking water treatment. The transport of humic acid to the membrane surface and within membrane pores is related to its diffusivity. Thus, the diffusion coefficient of humic acid is an important mass transport parameter. Clark and Lucas [J. Membr. Sci. 143 (1998) 13–25] studied the diffusion and partitioning of humic acid into a porous ultrafiltration membrane and developed a model to predict how humic acid diffusivity changes under different pH and calcium concentration conditions. In this work, the diffusion coefficient of humic acid was directly measured and compared to the predictions of the Clark and Lucas model. The experiments were conducted in a two-chamber diffusion cell separated by a track-etched membrane. The results show that the diffusivity of humic acid increases with decreasing pH and increasing calcium concentration, which can be explained by the compaction of humic acid molecules at low pH and high ionic strength. The experimental measurements strongly support the predictions of the Clark and Lucas model.

PMID: 24024496; International audience; Natural organic matter (NOM) often forms coatings on minerals. Such coatings are expected to affect metal–ion sorption due to abundant sorption sites in NOM and potential modifications to mineral surfaces, but such effects are poorly understood in complex multicomponent systems. Using poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), a simplified analog of NOM containing only carboxylic groups, Pb(II) and Zn(II) partitioning between PAA coatings and α-Al2O3 (1–102) and (0001) surfaces was investigated using long-period X-ray standing wave-florescence yield spectroscopy. In the single-metal–ion systems, PAA was the dominant sink for Pb(II) and Zn(II) for α-Al2O3(1–102) (63% and 69%, respectively, at 0.5 μM metal ions and pH 6.0). In equi-molar mixed-Pb(II)–Zn(II) systems, partitioning of both ions onto α-Al2O3(1–102) decreased compared with the single-metal–ion systems; however, Zn(II) decreased Pb(II) sorption to a greater extent than vice versa, suggesting that Zn(II) outcompeted Pb(II) for α-Al2O3(1–102) sorption sites. In contrast, >99% of both metal ions sorbed to PAA when equi-molar Pb(II) and Zn(II) were added simultaneously to PAA/α-Al2O3(0001). PAA outcompeted both α-Al2O3 surfaces for metal sorption but did not alter their intrinsic order of reactivity. This study suggests that single-metal–ion sorption results cannot be used to predict multimetal–ion sorption at NOM/metal–oxide interfaces when NOM is dominated by carboxylic groups.

Characterizing interfacial reactions is a crucial part of understanding the behavior of nanoparticles in nature and for unlocking their functional potential. Here, an advanced nanostructure characterization approach to study the corrosion processes of silver nanoparticles (Ag-Nps), currently the most highly produced nanoparticle for nanotechnology, is presented. Corrosion of Ag-Nps under aqueous conditions, in particular in the presence of organic matter and halide species common to many natural environments, is of particular importance because the release of toxic Ag+from oxidation/dissolution of Ag-Nps may strongly impact ecosystems. In this context, Ag-Nps capped with polyvinolpyrrolidone (PVP) in contact with a simple proxy of organic matter in natural waters [polyacrylic acid (PAA) and Cl−in solution] has been investigated. A combination of synchrotron-based X-ray standing-wave fluorescence yield- and X-ray diffraction-based experiments on a sample consisting of an approximately single-particle layer of Ag-Nps deposited on a silicon substrate and coated by a thin film of PAA containing Cl revealed the formation of a stable AgCl corrosion product despite the presence of potential surface stabilizers (PVP and PAA). Diffusion and precipitation processes at the Ag-Nps–PAA interface were characterized with a high spatial resolution using this new approach.

The widespread and fast-developing information technologies, especially wireless communications and the Internet, have allowed for the realization of greater automation systems than ever in healthcare industries: E-health has become an apparent trend, and having a clinic at home or even anywhere at anytime is no longer a dream. E-health, including telemedicine featured by conducting health-care transactions over the Internet, has been revolutionizing the well-being of human society. Traditionally, common practices in the health-care industry place tremendous burdens on both patients and health-care providers, with heavy loads of paper-based documents and inefficient communications through mail or phone calls. The transmission of medical data is even messy for cases in which patients have to transfer between different health providers. In addition, the medical documents prepared manually are prone to errors and delays, which may lead to serious consequences. The time, energy, and resources wasted in such processes are intolerable and unimaginable in any fast-paced society. For these problems, e-health provides powerful solutions to share and exchange information over the Internet in a timely, easy, and safe manner (Balas et al., 1997).

Based on the producing mechanism of prestressed equivalent load, the prestressed effect of the frame structure is analyzed. This paper focuses on the functional characteristics of presstressed steel bars and classifies the contribution of prestressed steel bars at two aspects. Accordingly, the ultimate normal section load-bending capacity of prstressed beam is derived; the restriction effect which will counteract prestressed frame beam caused by secondary beam is presented, and the deficiency of prevail plane rigid frame method is pointed out.

Prestressed force’s impacts on simple T-type beam’s vibration such as vertical bending, horizontal bending, torsioning, etc., were researched in this paper. It also separately sets up beam element model basing on prestressed concrete equivalent load principle and solid element model taking slippage between prestressed reinforcing steel bar and concrete into account, and developed simulation analysis on two linear steel bar lay-outs & two curving ones. The computed results of different models & different steel bar lay-outs were analyzed and contrasted with each other, as produced simple T-type beam’s frequency influencing factors.

To clarify the role of T cells in the kidneys of MRL/MpJ-lpr (MRL/lpr) mice, cytokine mRNA expression was analyzed, and tissue localization of T cells was examined by immunohistochemistry. Cells infiltrating the glomeruli, glomerular circumference, and perivascular areas in ten female MRL/lpr mice were captured by laser microdissection (LMD). Nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of samples was performed with primers specific for beta-actin, T-cell receptor beta chain (TCR-Cbeta), Thy-1, B220, CD4, CD8, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, IL-17, and interferon (IFN)-gamma. Frozen sections of lesions were also stained immunohistochemically. B220, MAC-1, Thy-1, CD4, and CD8 staining was observed in glomeruli and perivascular areas, especially in glomerular circumference areas. T cells infiltrating the glomeruli, glomerular circumference areas, and perivascular areas produce INF-gamma, IL-13, and IL-17 predominately. IL-10 positivity was identified in 60% of perivascular T cells but not in a substantial number of glomerular or periglomerular T cells. The results of our study suggest that the pathogenesis of renal lesions in MRL/lpr mice is complex and not due simply to the Th1 and Th2 balance. These findings also support the concept of different molecular mechanisms for glomerulonephritis and vasculitis in these mice.

Digital rights management (DRM) provides digital content creators and owners with a range of controls over how their information resources may be used. It is a fairly young discipline yet is becoming increasingly important as digital content can be copied and distributed so easily that the piracy of them is growing critical. In addition, with the rapid adoption of the Internet as an e-content delivery channel, complex DRM systems are required to protect the digital content besides the distribution channel. Risking their intellectual property (IP) rights, many major e-content providers are relying on DRM to not only protect the packaged digital products, but also to promote the e-content market over the Internet. As a multidisciplinary technology, DRM has advanced innovative research and development in various fields such as biometrics, watermarking, security protocols, smart-card technology, forgery detection, and secure collaboration and data sharing. Commercially, DRM provides the e-content market with a significant impetus to grow, where secure e-content distribution is essential. Despite its short history, many DRM tools have already been developed by IBM, Sony, Real Networks, Intertrust, and Thomson. These products need be compatible with existing standards for contents, consumer electronics, and often times, different DRM systems. Standardization efforts in industry are ongoing to ensure the interoperability of DRM products and services. Another important impetus is the legal and regulatory framework. Technical measures provide an effective hurdle for limiting abuse, but legal actions against violators can prevent organized piracy from infringing. With a properly integrated legal, technological, and commercial framework, we expect that the DRM products and services will greatly foster the growth of the e-content market that is eagerly awaited by content providers and consumers. Without proper DRM technologies and laws, the creative industries that create digital products such as DVDs, business software, music recordings, theatrical films, and digital TV programs will suffer from piracy and would be reluctant to support Web-based commerce. The socioeconomic impact of DRM is huge. In this article, DRM techniques using cryptography, data hiding, and biometrics are discussed. Also covered are the standardization issues, emerging trends, and challenges in DRM-related technologies, commerce, and legislative regulations.

We develop principal components analysis for the optimal SNR phased-array magnetic resonance (MR) image recombination. As shown in our analysis, we can achieve the best possible SNR in both weak-noise and noisy cases, without needing to estimate the coil sensitivities or to remove noise effects using polynomial fitting or filtering. We provide both analysis and reconstruction techniques. Our results shed light on the performance of the phased-array image combination and give new insight into good image formation schemes.

In this work, we consider the sensor localization problem from a novel perspective by treating it as a functional dual of target tracking. In traditional tracking problems, static location-aware sensors track and predict the position/speed of a moving target. As a dual, we utilize a moving location-assistant (LA) (with global positioning system (GPS) or pre-defined moving path) to help location-unaware sensors to accurately discover their positions. We call our proposed system Landscape. In Landscape, an LA (an aircraft, for example) periodically broadcasts its current location while it moves around or through a sensor field. Each sensor collects the location beacons, measures the distance between itself and the LA based on received signal strength (RSS), and individually calculates their locations via an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) based algorithm. Our contributions are at least twofold. (1) Landscape is a distributed scheme, it does not rely on measured distances among neighbors (as used by most current proposals), which makes it robust to topology and density; Landscape involves zero sensor-to-sensor communication overhead, and is highly scalable to network size. (2) By introducing UKF in sensor localization problem, we reap multiple benefits: our UKF-based algorithm nicely exploits the constraints increasingly added by the beacons; it elegantly solves the nonlinear problem with low computation cost and complexity; and most importantly, it efficiently reduces the effects of measurement errors, making Landscape robust to ranging errors. Extensive simulations and evaluations against the state-of-the-art systems show that Landscape is a high-performance sensor positioning scheme for outdoor sensor networks.

The widespread and fast-developing information technologies, especially wireless communications and the Internet, have allowed for the realization of greater automation systems than ever in health-care industries: E-health has become an apparent trend, and having a clinic at home or even anywhere at anytime is no longer a dream. E-health, including telemedicine featured by conducting health-care transactions over the Internet, has been revolutionizing the well-being of human society. Traditionally, common practices in the health-care industry place tremendous burdens on both patients and health-care providers, with heavy loads of paper-based documents and inefficient communications through mail or phone calls. The transmission of medical data is even messy for cases in which patients have to transfer between different health providers. In addition, the medical documents prepared manually are prone to errors and delays, which may lead to serious consequences. The time, energy, and resources wasted in such processes are intolerable and unimaginable in any fast-paced society. For these problems, e-health provides powerful solutions to share and exchange information over the Internet in a timely, easy, and safe manner (Balas et al., 1997). Incorporating fast and cost-efficient Internet and wireless communication techniques has enabled the substantial development of e-health. The use of the Internet to transmit sensitive medical data, however, leaves the door open to the threats of information misuse either accidentally or maliciously. Health-care industries need be extremely cautious in handling and delivering electronic patient records using computer networks due to the high vulnerabilities of such information. To this extent, security and privacy issues become two of the biggest concerns in developing e-health infrastructures.

Digital watermarking is an emerging technique to protect intellectual property right and to transmit secondary data. Communication of secret messages or verification of watermarking patterns can be achieved by detecting watermarks in received signals. This paper investigates efficient designs of watermarking patterns by minimizing the probability of detection errors. For an encoder with the knowledge of a decoder and with side information from host signals, a small signal approximation is used in designing efficient watermark patterns. For a decoder without the knowledge of the host signal, accurate statistical modeling can help achieving optimal decoding performance. The design method opens the door for seeking efficient watermarks for many watermarking systems.