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A series of tungsten-modified Cu0.02Fe0.2TiOx catalysts (Cu0.02Fe0.2WaTiOx; a = 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03) was synthesized by sol-gel method. Their catalytic activities were investigated for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3, in the presence/absence of 5 vol.% H2O. The characterization techniques of XRD, BET, Raman, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, XPS, in situ DRIFTS, and kinetic studies were used to reveal the effect of tungsten modification on the redox and acidity of the Cu0.02Fe0.2WaTiOx catalysts. The relationship among the species composition, acid property, and oxidation-reduction behavior of the Cu0.02Fe0.2WaTiOx catalysts was established. Results demonstrated that a moderate amount of tungsten doping can markedly enhance the specific surface area, improve the abundant Bronsted and Lewis acid sites, and tune the surface species composition, which all benefited high-performance catalysis. Water/sulfur resistance also improved because of the excellent acidity levels. Among the Cu0.02Fe0.2WaTiOx catalysts, Cu0.02Fe0.2W0.02TiOx showed the highest NO conversion, a wide reaction-temperature window (235–520 °C) with >90% NO conversion, high N2 selectivity, and high water/sulfur resistance even in the presence of 5 vol.% H2O. Moreover, Cu0.02Fe0.2W0.02TiOx retained its outstanding catalytic activity under a rather high gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 100,000 h−1. In conclusion, the combined effects of redox and sufficient acidities on catalytic activity played key roles in superior SCR performance and water/sulfur durability. Furthermore, the NH3-SCR reaction over Cu0.02Fe0.2W0.02TiOx may follow the Eley–Rideal reaction pathway according to the in situ DRIFTS and kinetic studies results.

The design of a stable and efficient catalyst is crucial to the creation of high-valued bio-based products, and the catalytic selective oxidation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) to 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) has received increasing attention. Different loadings of Au supported on the graphitized carbon (GC) catalysts (xwt%Au/GC (x = 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 2.0 and 2.7)) were prepared and characterized via ICP-OES, N2 adsorption-desorption, XRD, FT-IR, TG, XPS and TEM. Results show that 2.0 wt%Au/GC displays 97% selectivity of FDCA and a near 100% conversion of 5-HMF in water under 7 bar O2 pressure for 6 h at 110 °C in the presence of NaOH, which also exhibits good cycling stability. The surface species of Au0 are in favor of the formation of FDCA. In this work, different reaction parameters were explored to optimize the reaction condition. The intermediates and the reaction pathways were also proposed on the basis of the formation and degradation of esters via various characterizations.

A series of CeaMnOx hollow microsphere like arbutus with hierarchical structure are prepared by redox co-precipitation method and applied for catalytic toluene combustion. The Ce0.03MnOx shows a better catalytic performance for toluene combustion with high stability, water resistance, even under the condition of 5vol.% H2O. The results of XRF, XRD, Raman, N2 adsorption-desorption, SEM, TEM prove that the doping of Ce can affect the structure of CeaMnOx such as much smaller particle size and higher specific surface area. The characterizations of H2-TPR, O2-TPD, XPS certify the strong interaction between Ce and Mn oxides that leads to more surface adsorbed oxygen and Mn4+ species due to oxidation reduction cycle of Mn3+ + Ce4+ ↔ Mn4+ + Ce3+ after Ce addition. Meanwhile, the Toluene-TPD in different conditions confirms the introduction of water promoted the catalytic oxidation of toluene. In situ DRIFTS is used to investigate the reaction process of toluene oxidation. And the results reveal that the Ce0.03MnOx catalyst has much stronger ability to adsorb and activate toluene compared with MnOx catalyst, especially under with H2O. That may be the main reason that the Ce0.03MnOx catalyst exhibits the special catalytic activity for toluene combustion.

Rabbits are widely used as models in biological research, and the pathogen status of rabbits used in studies can directly affect the results of experiments. Serological surveillance is the common monitoring method used in laboratory animals. A rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective high-throughput Luminex xMAP assay could be an attractive alternative to labor-intensive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods. In this study, recombinant proteins from rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus and rabbit rotavirus and whole viral lysates of Sendai virus were used as coating antigens in an xMAP assay for the simultaneous detection of antibodies against these pathogens. The xMAP assay showed high specificity, with no cross-reaction with other pathogens. The coefficient of variation for intra-assay and inter-assay comparisons was less than 3% and 4%, respectively, indicating good repeatability and stability of the assay. The xMAP assay exhibited similar limits of detection for rabbit hemorrhagic virus and Sendai virus and was less sensitive for the detection of rabbit rotavirus when compared with commercial ELISA kits. A total of 52 clinical samples were tested simultaneously using both the xMAP assay and ELISA kits. The results obtained using these two methods were 100% coincident. In summary, the novel xMAP assay offers an alternative choice for rapid and sensitive high-throughput detection of antibodies in rabbit serum and can be used as a daily monitoring tool for laboratory animals. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00705-019-04226-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation is an attractive route for the synthesis of biomass-derived chemicals. However, development of efficient, low-cost, and stable catalysts for that reaction is still a challenge. Here, we report on the preparation and testing of a non-noble perovskite oxide (LaFeO3) catalyst synthesized by an in situ carbon templating method. We show that our catalyst is quite active and selective toward the hydrogenation of unsaturated organics. Compared to an analogous LaFeO3 catalyst prepared by a more traditional method, using citric acid, the new LaFeO3 exhibited a more porous structure, a La-enriched surface composition, and abundant oxygen vacancies, all characteristics that improve contact with the reactants. In the case of the conversion of furfural to furfuryl alcohol (FOL) using iso-propanol as hydrogen donor, the new LaFeO3 showed a furfural conversion of 90% and a selectivity to FOL of 94%, significantly higher than with the reference LaFeO3 prepared by the traditional sol-gel method (60 and 91%, respectively). Moreover, our new LaFeO3 catalyst can be recovered after a calcination treatment, with no appreciable changes in its structure or activity, a test that we repeated six times, and can promote the hydrogenation of other carbonyl compounds containing electron-withdrawing groups. A reaction mechanism is proposed in which metal cations are the adsorption sites for iso-propanol and oxygen vacancies are the adsorption sites for furfural, and where the conversion proceeds following an acid-base mechanism. We believe that the novel use of perovskites as catalysts for hydrogenation reactions reported here may be easily extendable to other processes, and that our carbon-templating synthetic approach offers a way to synthesize viable perovskite catalysts with high surface areas for optimized activity.

Summary Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) has emerged and spread throughout the porcine industry in many countries over the last 6 years. PDCoV caused watery diarrhoea, vomiting and dehydration in newborn piglets. A sensitive diagnostic method would be beneficial to the prevention and control of PDCoV infection. Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) is an isothermal amplification method which has been widely used for virus detection. A probe‐based reverse transcription RPA (RT‐RPA) assay was developed for real‐time detection of PDCoV. The amplification can be finished in 20 min and fluorescence monitoring was performed by a portable device. The lowest detection limit of the PDCoV RT‐RPA assay was 100 copies of RNA molecules per reaction; moreover, the RT‐RPA assay had no cross‐reaction with other common swine viruses. The clinical performance of the RT‐RPA assay was evaluated using 108 clinical samples (54 intestine specimens and 54 faecal swab specimens). The coincidence rate of the detection results for clinical samples between RT‐RPA and RT‐qPCR was 97.2%. In summary, the real‐time RT‐RPA assay offers a promising alternative to RT‐qPCR for point‐of‐care detection of PDCoV.

K-barrier coverage optimization problem is concentrating on how to select sensor nodes from the monitoring area of the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to form the highest quality of k-barrier coverage. Sink-connected barrier coverage optimization problem (SCBCOP) focuses on how to choose the minimum number of forwarding nodes to make each detecting node sink-connected for the security requirements of the belt monitoring region. However, the existing algorithm, such as optimal node selection algorithm(ONSA), can find the optimized k-barrier coverage of sink-connected, but it may form a large number of data packets interference (or collisions) and cannot transfer the information to sink nodes in time because the different detecting nodes can transmit invasive information at the same time. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how to reduce interference among the nodes and select routing path to optimize k-barrier coverage and satisfy sink-connected. In this paper a scheduling algorithm is proposed to build the routing path and maintain sink-connected. The algorithms is present in detail through forwarding routing tree and multi-channel scheduling to further reduce the interference of packet transmission among sensor nodes. Moreover, the comparison between other approaches and our proposal is mentioned through the simulation to show the potential efficiency and better performance of interference of packet transmission among sensor nodes with the lower packet loss rate, the shorter packet delay and the larger network average throughput.

SAPO-34 with a sub-micrometer crystal size was synthesized by a double hydrothermal treatment employing cost-effective morpholine as a structure directing agent, which presented an enhanced catalytic lifetime (nearly 3 times the conventional one) in the reaction of methanol to olefins with a higher light olefin selectivity (total selectivity of 97.1%). Detailed studies of the sample after different time intervals in the second crystallization with and without additional morpholine were carried out, which offered insight into crystal degradation and re-crystallization phenomena. The samples with different morpholine concentrations during the second hydrothermal treatment were also prepared, in which the sample with 80% MOR aqueous solution exhibited the smallest crystal size and the longest MTO lifetime. Furthermore, the investigation on the additional amount of mother liquor (from the first crystallization) required for the second crystallization showed that the presence of half the amount of the mother liquor (nutrients) could give us the required results effectively.

A series of Ce0.1TiOx, Cu0.1Ox and CumCe0.1-mTiOx (m = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03) catalysts are prepared via a sol-gel method for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3. The samples are mainly characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, separated NO/NH3 oxidation, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) to investigate the properties of the catalysts. Among the CumCe0.1-mTiOx (m = 0.01, 0.02, 0.03) catalysts, Cu0.01Ce0.09TiOx displays much better catalytic activity in the range of 170 °C–425 °C (> 90% NO conversion), N2 selectivity and resistance of SO2 and H2O even at high gas hourly space velocity. The XPS results verify that the introduction of Cu leads to a copper species enrichment environment and the formation of more surface Ce3+ and absorbed oxygen (Oα), which are in favor of the oxidation of NO to NO2, enhancing the activity at low temperature. Furthermore, in situ DRIFTS results confirm that the Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) mechanism is predominant in the NH3-SCR process for the Cu0.01Ce0.09TiOx catalyst at 150 °C.

Objectives: To determine the FBXW7 α -regulated genes in tumor-polarized macrophages in colorectal cancer. Methods: This experimental study was performed between June 2017 and March 2019. FBXW7 α siRNA transfected RAW264.7 cells, together with the control group, were co-cultured with the colon cancer cell line, Colon-26. M1 marker production from the macrophages was determined by ELISA and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Whole genomic differential expression between the FBXW7 α siRNA group and the control group were determined by RNA-sequencing analysis. The target site of the microRNA-205 gene was predicted using Targetscan and was verified by the luciferase assay. By transfecting mimics or inhibitors of microRNA-205, we explored the role of FBXW7 α /microRNA-205 axis in regulating the polarization of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). Results: FBXW7 α knockdown in RAW264.7 enhanced the expression of cyclooxigenase (COX)-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase ( iNOS ), mRNA expression and IL6, IL12, p40, and tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF α ) production upon co-culture with Colon-26 cells in vitro. Further, compared with the control group, 648 genes in total were enhanced and 416 targets were downregulated in FBXW7 α siRNA transfected cells, among which miR-205 was the most significantly upregulated. SMAD1 was identified as an miR-205 target. The FBXW7 α /miR-205 axis might regulate TAM polarization by affecting SMAD1 expression. Conclusion: These results prove that the FBXW7 α / miR-205 axis plays an important role in TAM polarization and could facilitate further exploration of its molecular mechanism.

Healthcare costs remain high at end of life. Although advance directives (AD) have been shown to improve care congruence with patients’ preferences and lower cost of healthcare services, little is known about the relationship between AD completion and hospital out-of-pocket costs. This study examined whether AD completion was associated with lower hospital out-of-pocket spending at end of life. We used the Health and Retirement Study participants who died between 2000 and 2014 (N=9,228) to examine the association through the use of a two-part analytic model that has been widely used in health economics. We controlled for socioeconomic status, death-related characteristics, and health insurance coverage and imputed missing data using multiple imputation by chained equations. Of the 43.9% of decedents who completed an AD, 90.7% chose to limit care or to be kept comfortable; 78.8% indicated that they wanted to withhold treatment, and 5.6% wanted to prolong life. Having an AD was significantly associated with $632 (95% CI: [-$1,116.47, -$146.71]) lower hospital out-of-pocket costs, with greater savings among younger decedents, dropping from $1,560 (95% CI: [-$2,652, -$268]) at age 50 to $230 (95% CI: [-$445, -$14]) at age 110. Decedents who completed an AD 12 months or less before death had higher out-of-pocket spending ($1,591 on average) than those who completed more than a year before death ($1,001 on average). Our findings have policy implications for physician-patient communication about costs of care and may provide an opportunity for physicians to involve cost-sharing discussions when completing ADs with patients.

To understand primary care providers’ (PCPs) experiences with referring patients to home-based palliative care (HBPC), we conducted individual, key-informant interviews with 31 PCPs. About half participants were male (54.8%), White (42.5%), US-born (58.1%), and were 57 years old (SD=9.17), on average. About one-third of participants (32.3%) indicated they refer 10+ patients annually to HBPC, while most (80.7%) reported “strong” comfort discussing palliative care with patients. Qualitative analysis revealed three prominent thematic categories, each related to barriers PCP experienced when referring patients to palliative care: (1) PCP-level (lack of knowledge and comfort); (2) perceived patient-level (culture, family disagreement, need, home-based aspect); and (3) HBPC program-level (need to close the loop with PCP, insurance coverage, program availability, and eligibility). PCP recommendations for overcoming identified barriers will be discussed. Findings hold important implications for timely patient-referrals to palliative care by PCPs and for sustaining palliative programs that rely on these referrals.

Citric acid method was employed to prepare a series of Nb-promoted Fex-Nb0.5-x-Ce0.5 (x = 0.45, 0.4, 0.35) oxides for selective catalytic reduction with NH3 (NH3-SCR) of NO process. The structure, redox ability and reactivity of NH3 and absorbed NO species on the catalysts were explored by using various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature program reduction with H2 (H2-TPR), temperature program desorption of NH3 (NH3-TPD), temperature program desorption of NO (NO-TPD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and in situ diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS). It was found that the Nb promoted Fex-Nb0.5-x-Ce0.5 (x = 0.45, 0.4, 0.35) oxides catalysts showed outstanding NH3-SCR of NO activity, excellent N2 selectivity and remarkable SO2/H2O resistance, meanwhile, Fe0.4-Nb0.1-Ce0.5 exhibited above 90% NO conversion in the range of 180–400 °C, together with near 100% N2 selectivity. The characterization results point out that the excellent catalytic performance of Fe0.4-Nb0.1-Ce0.5 can be ascribed to the strong interaction among Nb, Fe and Ce oxides. The strong interaction not only increases the BET surface area and redox ability of the catalyst, but also significantly improves the acid amount leading to the enhancement of the adsorption and activation of NH3, which is advantage of the reactivity of adsorbed nitrate together with the adsorbed NH3 species.

A series of Co0.2CexMn0.8-xTi10 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, 0.35 and 0.40) oxides catalysts were prepared by the sol-gel method and used for NH3-SCR. These catalysts were characterized by means of XRD, SEM-EDS, H2-TPR, NO/NH3 oxidation, NH3 (NO and SO2)-TPD, XPS and in situ DRIFTS. It was found that the Co0.2Ce0.35Mn0.45Ti10 catalyst showed excellent NH3-SCR activity and a broaden temperature window (180–390 °C), accompanied with good resistance to SO2 and H2O. It could be concluded that the redox ability of Co0.2Ce0.35Mn0.45Ti10 could be reduced by Co and Ce doping, which resulted in high NH3-SCR activity at high temperature and good resistance of SO2. The addition of Co and Ce can supply more acid sites and NOx adsorption sites over Co0.2Ce0.35Mn0.45Ti10. Thus, more surface Bronsted acid and Lewis acid sites, NOx adsorption sites and modest redox ability of Co0.2Ce0.35Mn0.45Ti10 play key roles in the special NH3-SCR activity due to the interactions among Ce, Co, Mn and Ti oxides. Furthermore, the results of in situ DRIFTS study reveal the NH3-SCR reactions over Co0.2Ce0.35Mn0.45Ti10 and Co0.2Mn0.8Ti10 catalysts are mainly controlled by E-R mechanism (>210 °C) and the L-H mechanism (

A convenient sol-gel method was used to prepare a series of MnaCe0.3TiOx (a = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) catalysts and applied in selective catalytic reduction with NH3 (NH3-SCR) for NO removal. XRD, BET, Raman, H2-TPR, NH3-TPD, SO2-TPD, XPS and in situ DRIFTS were applied to analyze the texture structure, redox property, acidity and surface properties. The Mn0.1Ce0.3TiOx catalyst exhibited a dramatical performance that 100% NO conversion and above 90% N2 selectivity were obtained between 175 and 400 °C, even under high gas hourly space velocity of 80,000 h−1 and existence of SO2 and H2O. The results can be attributed to that Mn0.1Ce0.3TiOx catalyst possessed the most chemisorbed oxygen and suitable redox property derived from Ce3+ + Mn4+ ↔ Ce4+ + Mn3+ reaction. In situ DRIFTS revealed that the NH3-SCR reaction upon Mn0.1Ce0.3TiOx catalyst took place by L-H and E-R mechanisms below 175 °C while only E-R mechanism above 175 °C.

Background: Most agronomical traits of crops are complex traits controlled by several major quantitative trait locus (QTL) and many minor QTL. Grain size determines grain weight and influences rice appearance quality. Identification of minor QTL is important for understanding the genetic and molecular network regulating grain size in rice. Following previous identification of QTL for grain weight and size using populations derived from the Teqing/IRBB52 indica rice cross, one QTL, qTGW5/qGL5 having significant effects on grain weight and length, was targeted for validation, dissection and fine-mapping.Result: Firstly, the effect of qTGW5/qGL5 was validated using two near isogenic line (NIL) F2 populations. Then, qTGW5/qGL5 was dissected into two closely linked QTL for grain size using four sets of NILs with sequential segregating regions. One of them, qTGW5 with the IRBB52 alleles increased grain weight, length and width with the same allelic direction, was located within an 1896.4-kb region flanked by RM18865 and Fi25273. The other one, qGL5 controlling grain length, was further delimited into a 68.8-kb region using seven NIL-F2 populations. Six annotated genes were found in the qGL5 region, of which five showed nucleotide polymorphisms between the two parental lines. In three of the six annotated genes, significant expression differences were detected between qGL5-NILs.Conclusions: Two closely-linked QTL having small effects for grain size in rice were separated using NIL-derived populations. One of them, qGL5 was fine-mapped into a 68.8-kb region containing six annotated genes. Our work lays a foundation for cloning minor QTL for grain size and offers potential targets for marker-assisted breeding in rice.

Coral-like lanthanum manganese oxides (LayMnOx) with a hierarchical structure nanosphere were successfully prepared using a simple method, which presented a high-efficiency catalytic performance for toluene combustion. Among them, La0.08MnOx with the Mn3O4 phase exhibits superior catalytic activity, such as a lower T95 value (218 °C), excellent H2O resistance, and catalytic stability. The effects of La addition on the bulk and surface physicochemical properties of LayMnOx were investigated by sorts of characterization including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption-desorption, temperature-programmed reduction with H2, temperature-programmed desorption of O2, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and so forth. The results demonstrate that the doping of La can induce the variation of physicochemical properties and the formation of more surface oxygen species and high valence state amorphous manganese oxides, improving low-temperature reducibility, which facilitates good catalytic activity for La0.08MnOx. A series of in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy experiments for toluene adsorption were performed on the La0.08MnOx catalyst pretreated under different atmosphere conditions to investigate the role of oxygen species and the reaction processes. The results indicate that the abundant surface oxygen species over La0.08MnOx can make the rapid formation of benzoic acid species, further transfer into CO2 and H2O, which is considered as the key factor in the activation and oxidation of toluene.

Catalytic oxidation is considered a high-efficient method to minimize efficiently toluene emission. It is still a challenge to improve the catalytic performance for toluene oxidation by modifying the surface properties to enhance the oxidation ability of catalyst. Herein, a series of Cu

Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) represents a most grave healthy burden worldwide. TESTIN has been confirmed as a predictive biomarker for several cancers. In the present study, we sought to assess the expression level and prognostic values of TESTIN in CRC.The levels of TESTIN mRNA and protein were detected in 132 paired CRC tissues and noncancerous ones via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays, respectively. Chi-square test was adopted to analyze the association of TESTIN expression with clinicopathological profiles of CRC patients. To explore prognostic value of TESTIN, Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analyses were employed.TESTIN expression was down-regulated among CRC tissues in comparison to bordering cancer-free samples at both protein and mRNA levels (P 0.001). Decreased TESTIN expression was closely related to poor tumor differentiation (P = 0.001) and advanced TNM stages (P = 0.001). CRC cases with low expression of TESTIN were more likely to undergo dismal overall survivals (log-rank P = 0.003). Multivariate Cox analysis unveiled that down-regulated expression of TESTIN was independently correlated with poor prognosis (HR=2.422, 95% CI=1.294-4.535, P = 0.006).The down-regulation of TESTIN may predict dismal prognosis for CRC patients.

Introduction Previous neuroimaging studies have suggested that brain functional impairment and hyperarousal occur during the daytime among patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID); however, alterations to the brain's intrinsic functional architecture and their association with sleep quality have not yet been documented. Methods In this study, our aim was to investigate the insomnia‐related alterations to the intrinsic connectome in patients with CID (n = 27) at resting state, with a data‐driven approach based on graph theory assessment and functional connectivity density (FCD), which can be interpreted as short‐range (intraregional) or long‐range (interregional) mapping. Results Compared with healthy controls with good sleep, CID patients showed significantly decreased long‐range FCD in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and the putamen. These patients also showed decreased short‐range FCD in their multimodal‐processing regions, executive control network, and supplementary motor‐related areas. Furthermore, several regions showed increased short‐range FCD in patients with CID, implying hyper‐homogeneity of local activity. Conclusions Together, these findings suggest that insufficient sleep during chronic insomnia widely affects cortical functional activities, including disrupted FCD and increased short‐range FCD, which is associated with poor sleep quality., Using graph theory assessment and functional connectivity density (FCD) methods to investigate the insomnia‐related alterations to the intrinsic connectome in patients with CID patients, we found that insufficient sleep during chronic insomnia widely affects cortical functional activities, including disrupted FCD and increased short‐range FCD, which is associated with poor sleep quality.

In wireless rechargeable sensor network, the deployment of charger node directly affects the overall charging utility of sensor network. Aiming at this problem, this paper abstracts the charger deployment problem as a multi-objective optimization problem that maximizes the received power of sensor nodes and minimizes the number of charger nodes. First, a network model that maximizes the sensor node received power and minimizes the number of charger nodes is constructed. Second, an Improved Cuckoo Search (ICS) algorithm is proposed. This algorithm is based on the traditional Cuckoo Search algorithm (CS) to redefine its step factor, and then use the mutation factor to change the nesting position of the host bird to update the bird ’s nest position, and then use ICS to find the ones that maximize the received power of the sensor node and minimize the number of charger nodes optimal solution. Compared with the traditional cuckoo search algorithm and multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm, the simulation results show that the algorithm can effectively increase the receiving power of sensor nodes, reduce the number of charger nodes and find the optimal solution to meet the conditions, so as to maximize the network charging utility.

Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) is one of the five access behavior technologies defined in the IEEE 802.15.4e standard. Research shows that the wireless sensor network with single dynamic and static channel allocation in TSCH mode has higher performance. The clogging rate results in unnecessary energy waste. Therefore, this paper proposes an adaptive hybrid channel allocation strategy (AHCA) to measure the link quality change of wireless sensor networks in TSCH mode. The strategy estimates the part of the channel quality and determines whether the node wants to transmit on this channel and the optimal channel for node information transmission. According to the change of the amount of information transmitted, the hybrid channel allocation scheme of the dynamic and static channel ratio is adaptively adjusted to reduce the energy consumption of the information transmission process. This article performs experimental simulation on Contiki-NG. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme has shorter transmission time and lower congestion rate than the single dynamic static channel allocation wireless sensor network. The more reasonable and effective measurement, analysis and use of channel resources can fundamentally increase the amount of information transfer in wireless sensor networks per unit time, and thus extend the lifetime of wireless sensor networks.

Infectious laryngotracheitis is a significant respiratory disease of chickens that causes huge economic losses due to high morbidity and mortality and reduced egg production. A real-time recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay was developed to accurately detect ILTV. The specific probe and primer sets were carefully designed and screened. The real-time RPA assay was carried out at 39 °C for 30 min, and results were obtained within 15 min. The results of the specificity assay showed no fluorescence signals with other avian-related viruses. The sensitivity of the assay was 1 × 102 copies/μL. The low CV value showed that the assay was reproducible. A total of 115 clinical samples were tested using the real-time RPA assay and the real-time PCR assay in parallel; the coincidence rates of the two detection methods were 100%. The results indicated that the real-time RPA assay is a specific, sensitive, rapid, and useful tool for epidemiological studies and clinical diagnosis, especially in the field and in resource-poor areas.

Background: Until recently, consumers have had limited resources to assess quality of hospices agencies, contributing to growing numbers of consumers turning to online review sites, such as Yelp. However, little is known about the content of hospice Yelp reviews and how these relate to recently available Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Hospice Compare (HC) site data. Objective: To better understand what consumers report on Yelp about hospice care and explore how these areas relate to HC data. Design: We examined 692 consumer Yelp reviews of 67 hospices in California and compared identified themes with quality measures presented on the HC site. Setting/Subjects: We used a purposive sample of California Hospice's with Yelp reviews. Measurements: Qualitative consumer comments about their experience with hospice care were analyzed by using a grounded theory approach. Results: We found that overall Yelp comments were positive, however Yelp themes were more extensive and diverse than those on HC. Conclusion: We recommend that consumers consider both HC and online review sites such as Yelp when evaluating a hospice.

In this paper, unstable metric entropy, unstable topological entropy and unstable pressure for partially hyperbolic endomorphisms are introduced and investigated. A version of Shannon-McMillan-Breiman Theorem is established, and a variational principle is formulated, which gives a relationship between unstable metric entropy and unstable pressure (unstable topological entropy). As an application of the variational principle, some results on the $u$-equilibrium states are given., 25 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1811.12674

By establishing Multiplicative Ergodic Theorem for commutative transformations on a separable infinite dimensional Hilbert space, in this paper, we investigate Pesin's entropy formula and SRB measures of a finitely generated random transformations on such space via its commuting generators. Moreover, as an application, we give a formula of Friedland's entropy for certain \begin{document}$ C^{2} $\end{document} \begin{document}$ \mathbb{N}^2 $\end{document} -actions.

The Cux-Nb1.1-x (x = 0.45, 0.35, 0.25, 0.15) bimetal oxides catalysts were synthesized through citric acid method and used in the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO with NH3. The relationship among the catalytic performances, the acid/redox properties and the structures of the binary oxides systems was explored through different characterization techniques including XRD, H2-TPR, BET, NO-TPD, NH3-TPD, XPS and in situ DRIFTS. The characterization results point out that the ratio of Cu to Nb has great influence on the activity of NH3-SCR reaction. Different catalytic activities of Cux-Nb1.1-x (x = 0.45, 0.35, 0.25, 0.15) mixed oxides could be attributed mainly to surface area, acid amount, the adsorption and activation of NH3 and redox ability of the corresponding catalyst. Among these Cux-Nb1.1-x (x = 0.45, 0.35, 0.25, 0.15) oxides catalysts, the Cu0.25-Nb0.85 catalyst exhibited the complete NO conversion in a reaction temperature range of 180-330 °C, together with near 100% N2 selectivity and remarkable SO2/H2O resistance. Moreover, the Cu0.25-Nb0.85 catalyst still exhibited wide activity temperature window of 185-380 °C at above 90% NO conversion even in the presence of 5% H2O under high GHSV of 70,000 h-1. Thus, it can be summarized from the above results that Cu0.25-Nb0.85 can be considered as excellent catalyst for NH3-SCR of NO.

Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) is one of the most common viral pathogens that circulate widely in captive mouse colonies. A molecular biology detection method would be a useful tool to use in an integrated program to monitor and prevent TMEV infection and transmission. Thus, a reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA) assay was developed to detect TMEV infection. The sensitivity of the RT-RPA assay approached 8 copies per reaction, which is equivalent to the sensitivity of RT-qPCR reactions. This assay did not detect RNA extracts from other murine pathogens included in this study or TMEV negative samples. Brain tissues and contaminated biological materials were used to assess the clinical performance of the RT-RPA. The detection results of RT-RPA and RT-qPCR were very similar, except that a contaminated biological material sample which was positive by RT-qPCR, with a CT value of 38, was negative by RT-RPA. In summary, the developed RT-RPA assay offers a rapid, sensitive and specific alternative method for monitoring of TMEV, especially in resource-limited conditions.

In this paper we investigate the quasi-shadowing property for C1 random dynamical systems on their random partially hyperbolic sets. It is shown that for any pseudo orbit {xk} −∞ +∞ on a random partially hyperbolic set there exists a “center” pseudo orbit {yk} −∞ +∞ shadowing it in the sense that yk+1 is obtained from the image of yk by a motion along the center direction. Moreover, when the random partially hyperbolic set has a local product structure, the above “center” pseudo orbit {yk} −∞ +∞ can be chosen such that yk+1 and the image of yk lie in their common center leaf.

In this paper, two types of Lyapunov exponents: random Lyapunov exponents and directional Lyapunov exponents, and the corresponding entropies: random entropy and directional entropy, are considered for smooth Z k -actions. The close relation among these quantities are investigated and the formulas of them are given via the Lyapunov exponents of the generators.

A facile way to synthesize a series of SAPO-34 zeolites was developed by using the mixed templates of morpholine and TEAOH with changing the temperature. Among these samples, SAPO-34-210 exhibited with the longest lifetime and the highest selectivity to light olefin for methanol to olefin (MTO) reaction. The characterizations suggested that SAPO-34-210 has unique Si distribution due to much more amount of TEAOH introduced into structure, which resulted in the excellent catalytic performance.

Let f: M → M be a partially hyperbolic diffeomorphism on a closed Riemannian manifold with uniformly compact center foliation. We show that if the center foliation of f is of dimension one then the topological entropy is constant on a small C1 neighborhood of f.

Acute respiratory tract infections are of paramount importance in the poultry industry. We developed an xTAG bead assay for the simultaneous detection and discrimination of avian influenza virus (AIV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). The assay lacked nonspecific reactions with other common avian viruses and the limit of detection was 6.75 × 10 2 – 3.52 × 10 3 copies/μL. We examined 60 clinical specimens and found 18 positive for respiratory viruses. Our result demonstrated that xTAG-multiplex PCR method is a high-throughput, rapid, specific and sensitive assay for use in epidemiological studies and clinical detection of avian respiratory pathogens.

The selective synthesis of SAPO-5, SAPO-5/SAPO-34 mixture and SAPO-34 was performed by increasing Si/Al ratio and pH through hydrothermal synthesis route, in which the product was successively switched from AFI to AFI/CHA and to CHA. The samples were characterized by XRD, XRF, SEM, and NH3-TPD techniques. It indicates that the SAPO-5/SAPO-34 mixture exhibits higher acidity than the pure SAPO-5 and SAPO-34 phases. During methanol-to-olefins reaction, the catalytic lifetime of the SAPO-5/SAPO-34 mixture was significantly longer than that of SAPO-34, which may be attributed to the moderate acidity of the SAPO-5/SAPO-34 mixture.

Although insurance companies are increasingly paying for home-based palliative care (HBPC), enrollment remains low. To identify patient and caregiver perceived barriers to HBPC and their recommendations for overcoming these barriers, we conducted semi-structured individual interviews. Our interview protocol elicited participants’ perspectives on HBPC services; positive and negative aspects of the palliative program explanation; and suggestions for improving HBPC messaging. Seventeen patients and eight caregivers who were eligible for a randomized controlled trial of HBPC were interviewed. Themes related to HBPC referral barriers included reluctance to have home visits, enrollment timing, lack of palliative care knowledge, and patients’ self-perceived health condition. Themes related to recommendations for overcoming these obstacles included ensuring that HBPC referrals come from healthcare providers or insurance companies and presenting HBPC more clearly. Findings reinforce the need for palliative care education among seriously ill patients and the importance of delivering palliative care information and referrals from trusted sources.

Murine parvovirus is one of the most prevalent infectious pathogens in mouse colonies. A specific primer pair targeting the VP2 gene of minute virus of mice (MVM) and mouse parvovirus (MPV) was utilized for high resolution melting (HRM) analysis. The resulting melting curves could distinguish these two virus strains and there was no detectable amplification of the other mouse pathogens which included rat parvovirus (KRV), ectromelia virus (ECT), mouse adenovirus (MAD), mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV), polyoma virus (Poly), Helicobactor hepaticus (H. hepaticus) and Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium). The detection limit of the standard was 10 copies/μL. This study showed that the PCR-HRM assay could be an alternative useful method with high specificity and sensitivity for differentiating murine parvovirus strains MVM and MPV.

A series of NbmCu0.1-mCe0.9Ox catalysts were synthesized with the help of citric acid method, and used for the selective catalytic reduction of NOx with NH3 (NH3-SCR). The catalytic performance of the NbmCu0.1-mCe0.9Ox samples was greatly improved after the introducing of niobium. Among all catalysts, the Nb0.06Cu0.04Ce0.9Ox catalyst revealed the best low-temperature SCR activity, higher N2 selectivity and extraordinary SO2 and H2O durability with 100% NO conversion at 150–390 °C. The various characterization techniques were carried out to investigate the effect of niobium doping on the physical structures, surface properties and NH3-SCR activity of catalysts. Results reveal that the oxidation ability decrease but the acidity is enhanced with the Nb addition. The improved acidity by niobium doping is considered the primary cause for the superior deNOx performance of the Nb0.06Cu0.04Ce0.9Ox catalyst at low temperature, which can offset the negative effects of the reduced oxidation ability on activity. Furthermore, in situ DRIFTS results were applied for the investigation of the reaction process in detail.

OMS-2 with the hierarchical pore structure (OMS-2-OA) was successfully synthesized by etching with H2C2O4 and applied for catalytic toluene oxidation. A series of characterizations (including XRD, SEM, TEM, N2 adsorption-desorption, O2-TPD and so on) were performed to explore the relation between the activity and properties of OMS-2-OA. The results confirm the formation of mesopore on the OMS-2-OA after etching with H2C2O4, but it still maintains the cryptomelane structure and nano-rod morphology of OMS-2. Compared with OMS-2, OMS-2-OA shows the better catalytic toluene oxidation performance that the temperatures of 50% and 100% toluene conversion get to 212 and 225 °C, respectively, which can be attributed to the more amount of K+ and Mn4+ on OMS-2-OA than those on OMS-2, enhancing its lattice oxygen activity and oxidation ability. Moreover, a small amount of H2O addition in the feed can improve the catalytic performance and stability of OMS-2 and OMS-2-OA. In addition, a series of OMS-2-OA samples after long-term use were treated at different reaction conditions and characterized to investigate the factors in affecting catalytic activity for OMS-2-OA. This work provides a method to change surface chemical environment and form mesopore structure of MnOx to tune its catalytic activity by etching with H2C2O4.

Despite some insurance plans now paying for home-based palliative care, recent reports have suggested that coverage for palliative care may be insufficient to expanding patient access to home-based palliative care. Research has yet to explore palliative care barriers from the perspective of palliative care-eligible patients and their caregivers. To identify patients and caregivers’ perceived barriers to home-based palliative care and their recommendations for overcoming these barriers, we conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured individual interviews. Participants (patients, proxies, and their caregivers) who were eligible for a randomized controlled trial of home-based palliative care were interviewed via telephone. Our interview protocol elicited participants’ perspectives on home-based palliative care services; positive and negative aspects of the program explanation; and suggestions for improving messaging around home-based palliative care. Researchers used grounded theory to identify the themes within the transcripts. Two researchers independently coded the transcripts and then met to compare coding and reconciled discrepancies until 100% consensus was reached. Identified themes related to home-based palliative care referral barriers included reluctance to have home visits, timing, lack of palliative care knowledge, misconceptions of palliative care, and patients’ self-perceived health condition (not sick enough for palliative care). Themes related to recommendations for overcoming these barriers included preferring a palliative care referral from healthcare providers or from insurance company and clearer presentation of palliative care service. Findings reinforce the need for additional palliative care education among patients with serious illness and the importance of delivering the information from a trusted source.