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This brief addresses the exponential stabilization of a class of delayed neural networks under the framework of aperiodic sampled-data control. Firstly, a two-sided looped-functional is precisely constructed to relax the stabilization conditions and to enlarge the maximum sampling period. It drops the common positive definiteness requirement and only requires it at the sampling instants. Combining the Gronwall-Bellman inequality with the reciprocally convex approach, a less conservative exponential stabilization criterion in terms of LMIs with fewer decision variables is presented. Meanwhile, an effective design algorithm for the feedback gain matrix is proposed. Finally, a simulation example is provided to illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the main results over some popular ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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L‐cysteine plays a vital role in organisms, and is an important biomarker for many pathological diseases that seriously affect human health. In the study, a photoelectrochemical (PEC) probe with zinc‐tetramine phthalocyanine covalently grafted to graphene oxide (ZnTAPc‐Gr) was developed for L‐cysteine detection. Graphene oxide (GO) with carboxyl was used to immobilize zinc‐tetramine phthalocyanine (ZnTAPc) with amidogen (a graft structure formed by an amide covalent bond), which could firmly immobilize ZnTAPc, thereby improving the photoelectrochemical performance and stability. L‐cysteine molecule, an electron acceptor, was specifically recognized by the PEC probe, exhibiting a decrease in the photocurrent signal. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the fabricated PEC probe exhibited excellent performance in L‐cysteine analysis within a linear range of 0.25–113 μM and a detection limit of 11.4 nM. The PEC probe showed high sensitivity, selectivity, and stability. The method described herein provides an effective strategy for PEC probe construction for L‐cysteine detection, and can also serve as a promising PEC platform for the analyses of other small molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the large-scale use of pesticides, food safety issues caused by their residues have been drawn increasing concern. In this study, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) coupled with a Au@Ag nanoparticle (NP)-graphene oxide (GO) composite substrate which was synthesized by a simple self-assembly method was applied for the rapid determination of thiram residues in fruit juice. To obtain high SERS activity, the loading and the aggregation of Au@Ag NP on the graphene oxide sheets were adjusted by controlling the size of Au@Ag nanoparticle and the concentration of graphene oxide in solution. Using the optimal conditions, the limit of detection for thiram standard solution was 6.3 ng/mL, while the limits of detection for thiram in apple juice and grape juice without any pretreatment were 36.7 and 134.4 ng/mL, respectively. The entire analytical process required less than 20 min. The results indicated that SERS technology coupled with Au@Ag nanoparticle graphene oxide composite substrate was a simple, rapid, and sensitive approach for the determination of pesticide residues in fruit juice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with quasi-synchronization of delayed memristive neural networks (MNNs) with switching jumps mismatches via aperiodically intermittent control. The issue is presented for three reasons: 1) the existing controllers for synchronization may be too complicated and not economical; 2) under the influence of switching jumps mismatches, synchronization of MNNs may fail to achieve; and 3) matrix measure method is less conservative but cannot be applied directly to synchronization of MNNs. To overcome these difficulties, the concept of asynchronously switching time interval is proposed to describe the phenomenon when the drive-response MNNs switch their connection weights asynchronously. Then, aperiodically intermittent control is designed and quasi-synchronization analysis is carried out based on a combined method that compromises the merits of interval matrix method and matrix measure method. A quasi-synchronization criterion, expressed in terms of the mixture of ${p}$ -norm and matrix measure of the memristive connection weights, is established. Meanwhile, the fundamental reason for the failure of complete synchronization is revealed. Moreover, an explicit expression of the error level is obtained and the design of the controller under a predetermined error level is presented. The obtained results in this paper reduce the conservativeness and provide a novel insight into the research of synchronization of MNNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the fabrication and characterization of a photoelectrochemical (PEC) rifampicin sensor based on graphene oxide grafted with Ni tetraamino phthalocyanine was described, which presents an excellent PEC activity, sensitivity, and material stability. The synthesized graphene oxide grafted with Ni tetraamino phthalocyanine was characterized using ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. Specifically, detection for rifampicin was based on the reduction of photocurrent caused by binding of the analyte to the sensing electrode surface. The fabricated sensor was characterized in a broad linear response range (0.025–71.3 μM) and with a low detection limit (2.5 nM), outperforming the previously reported sensors and thus being well suited for quality control and other applications, as confirmed by successful real‐life sample testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residual pesticides in vegetables or fruits have been become one of the world's most concerned food safety issues. Au-Ag core-shell nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs) coupled with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was used for analysis of flusilazole which was widely applied in pears. Three different diameters of Au@Ag NPs were prepared to select the best SERS substrate for analyzing flusilazole. The Au@Ag NPs sizes of 90 ± 7 nm showed the highest enhancement effect and could be detected flusilazole standard solution and the minimum detectable concentration was 0.1 mg/L. Flusilazole in pear could also identified at as low as 0.1 μg/g. The amount of adsorbent is critical in the sample preparation process and the best amount of each absorber dosage was 0.6 g MgSO4, 0.2 g C18 and 0.2 g primary secondary amine (PSA). The experimental results indicated a good linear relationship between the Raman intensities of chief peaks and the concentrations of flusilazole solutions (R2 = 0.924-0.962). This study shows that Au@Ag as SERS substrate has great potential to analyze of flusilazole in food matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A protease AP3 from Aspergillus hennebergii HX08 was purified by ammonium-sulphate precipitation, followed by anion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration. The molecular weight of acid protease AP3 was 33 kDa (SDS-PAGE and MALDI-TOF-MS). The protease AP3 was identified as an acid protease with MALDI-TOF/TOF tandem MS. Its optimal temperature and pH were 60°C and 4.0, respectively. Its Kmax and Vmax were 57.92 mg/mL and 32.57 U/mL, respectively. The enzyme was active over a broad pH and temperature range (pH 3.0-5.0 and 30-60°C), and exhibited high activity and stability in 2-12% ( v/v) ethanol solvent. Subsequent studies suggest that the enzyme presents a relatively high substrate affinity to wheat protein (98% of total activity). Its application to solid-state fermentation of wheat flour with Saccharomyces cerevisiae could increase the hydrolysis degree of wheat protein (28.26%) and amino acid nitrogen concentration of fermented grains (34.21%). Additionally, enhanced S. cerevisiae biomass (37.09%) and alcohol concentration (38.29%) were also observed during the process. Volatile compounds analysis of fermented grains by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction and GC-MS revealed more flavour compounds. These results suggest its potential in food and alcohol industries. Copyright © 2017 The Institute of Brewing & Distilling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spatial resolution effect of remote sensing bathymetry is an important scientific problem. The in situ measured water depth data and images of Dongdao Island are used to study the effect of water depth inversion from different spatial resolution remote sensing images. The research experiments are divided into five groups including QuickBird and WorldView-2 remote sensing images with their original spatial resolution (2.4/2.0 m) and four kinds of reducing spatial resolution (4, 8, 16 and 32 m), and the water depth control and checking points are set up to carry out remote sensing water depth inversion. The experiment results indicate that the accuracy of the water depth remote sensing inversion increases first as the spatial resolution decreases from 2.4/2.0 to 4, 8 and 16 m. And then the accuracy decreases along with the decreasing spatial resolution. When the spatial resolution of the image is 16 m, the inversion error is minimum. In this case, when the spatial resolution of the remote sensing image is 16 m, the mean relative errors (MRE) of QuickBird and WorldView-2 bathymetry are 21.2% and 13.1%, compared with the maximum error are decreased by 14.7% and 2.9% respectively; the mean absolute errors (MAE) are 2.0 and 1.4 m, compared with the maximum are decreased by 1.0 and 0.5 m respectively. The results provide an important reference for the selection of remote sensing data in the study and application of the remote sensing bathymetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectral index methodology has been widely used in Leaf Area Index (LAI) retrieval at different spatial scales. There are differences in the spectral response of different remote sensors and thus spectral scale effect generated during the use of spectral indices to retrieve LAI. In this study, PROSPECT, leaf optical properties model and Scattering by Arbitrarily Inclined Layers (SAIL) model, were used to simulate canopy spectral reflectance with a bandwidth of 5 nm and a Gaussian spectral response function was employed to simulate the spectral data at six bandwidths ranging from 10 to 35 nm. Additionally, for bandwidths from 5 to 35 nm, the correlation between the spectral index and LAI, and the sensitivities of the spectral index to changes in LAI and bandwidth were analyzed. Finally, the reflectance data at six bandwidths ranging from 40 to 65 nm were used to verify the spectral scale effect generated during the use of the spectral index to retrieve LAI. Results indicate that Vegetation Index of the Universal Pattern Decomposition (VIUPD) had the highest accuracy during LAI retrieval. Followed by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Simple Ratio Indices (MSRI) and Triangle Vegetation Index (TVI), although the coefficient of determination R was higher than 0.96, the retrieved LAI values were less than the actual value and thus lacked validity. Other spectral indices were significantly affected by the spectral scale effect with poor retrieval results. In this study, VIUPD, which exhibited a relatively good correlation and sensitivity to LAI, was less affected by the spectral scale effect and had a relatively good retrieval capability. This conclusion supports a purported feature independent of the sensor of this model and also confirms the great potential of VIUPD for retrieval of physicochemical parameters of vegetation using multi-source remote sensing data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis, a common bone disease, has been identified as a major obstacle for successful implantation. Therefore, the promotion of early mechanical fixation between implants and the surrounding bone can strongly increase the success rate of orthopedic operation in osteoporosis patients. In this study, functional hyaluronan-alendronate/BMP-2 (HA-Aln/BMP-2) nanoparticles were embedded into the Gel/Chi multilayers on Ti6Al7Nb surfaces (namely Ti6Al7Nb/LBL/NP) to endow the Ti6Al7Nb-based implant with local anti-osteoporosis properties. The release test showed that the loaded BMP-2 only slowly released along with the degradation of multilayers, and no burst release emerged at the early stage. In vitro cell experiments, including cell morphology, viability, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, mineralization capacity and tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP), demonstrated that the prepared Ti6Al7Nb/LBL/NP implants not only improved the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts but also inhibited the maturity of osteoclasts. Moreover, the in vivo tests of the push-out test, micro-CT and histological stains further verified that the Ti6Al7Nb/LBL/NP implant was more beneficial to promoting the local osseointegration between the natural bone and the implant when compared to those of the control groups after implantation for 3 months in osteoporotic rabbits. The study demonstrated a flexible method for effectively enhancing the early osseointegration between the implant and the native osteoporotic bone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The table of contents for the November 28, 2016 issue of the "Journal of Materials Chemistry B" is presented.

We chose DPP-BDT-DPP {DPP=diketopyrrolopyrrole, BDT=4,8-di-[2-(2-ethylhexyl)-thienyl]benzo[1,2- b:4,5- b′]dithiophene} as a model backbone and varied the anchoring groups [C5H11, COOCH3, and SiCH3(OSiCH3)2] terminated on the N-substituted alkyl-chain spacer of the DPP units to study the effect of anchoring terminals on the morphology of blend film and on the device performances of bulk heterojunction solar cells. By replacing the nonpolar C5H11 anchoring terminal with the polar COOCH3 anchoring terminal leads to an enhancement in the short-circuit current density ( Jsc) (4.62 vs. 9.32 mA cm−2), whereas the value of Jsc sharply decreases to 0.45 mA cm−2 if the C5H11 anchoring terminal is replaced by a SiCH3(OSiCH3)2 group. The changes in Jsc are associated with changes in the π-π stacking distance (3.39→3.34 Å vs. 3.39→3.45 Å) and the phase size (50→20 nm vs. 50→>250 nm) through alteration of the anchoring group from C5H11 to COOCH3 versus from C5H11 to SiCH3(OSiCH3)2. Interestingly, the anchoring terminals bring about drastic changes in molecular orientations, which result in different out-of-plane hole transport. This is the first time this effect has been systemically demonstrated to improve photocurrent generation by manipulating the dipolar anchoring groups terminated on the alkyl-chain spacer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A subject index for the November 2012 issue of the periodical "Annals of the Association of American Geographers" is presented.

By using the observed monthly mean temperature and humidity datasets of 14 radiosonde stations and monthly mean precipitation data of 83 surface stations from 1979 to 2008 over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the relationship between the atmospheric water vapor (WV) and precipitation in summer and the precipitation conversion efficiency (PEC) over the TP are analyzed. The results are obtained as follows. (1) The summer WV decreases with increasing altitude, with the largest value area observed in the northeastern part of the TP, and the second largest value area in the southeastern part of the TP, while the northwestern part is the lowest value area. The summer precipitation decreases from southeast to northwest. (2) The summer WV presents two main patterns based on the EOF analysis: the whole region consistent-type and the north-south opposite-type. The north-south opposite-type of the summer WV is similar to the first EOF mode of the summer precipitation and both of their zero lines are located to the north of the Tanggula Mountains. (3) The summer precipitation is more (less) in the southern (northern) TP in the years with the distribution of deficient summer WV in the north while abundant in the south, and vice versa. (4) The PEC over the TP is between 3% and 38% and it has significant spatial difference in summer, which is obviously bigger in the southern TP than that in the northern TP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Ferric sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (NaFeEDTA) enhances iron absorption in the presence of phytate. However, the amount of NaFeEDTA that would have to be added to a complementary food to provide the necessary intake of iron for an infant or young child if NaFeEDTA were the sole iron fortificant exceeds the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of EDTA for this age group. EDTA increases iron absorption at a molar ratio EDTA:iron of less than 1:1. Objective. To determine whether iron absorption is enhanced with a mixture of ferrous sulfate (FeSO4) and NaFeEDTA. Methods. Two studies with a crossover design were conducted in separate groups of 14 and 15 children aged 24 to 31 months. A complementary food consisting of millet porridge with cabbage, tofu, and pork-filled wheat flour dumplings was fortified with 2 mg iron as either FeSO4 or NaFeEDTA (study 1) or 4 mg iron as FeSO4 or a mixture of 2 mg each of FeSO4 and NaFeEDTA (study 2). Iron absorption was determined based on erythrocyte incorporation of stable iron isotopes. Results. In study 1, the geometric mean (± SD) iron absorption was 8.0% (3.1, 20.8) and 9.2% (3.1, 27.0) from food fortified with FeSO4 and NaFeEDTA, respectively. In study 2, iron absorption was significantly higher from food fortified with 4 mg iron as 1:1 mixture of FeSO4/NaFeEDTA than from food fortified with FeSO4; the geometric mean iron absorption was 6.4% (3.0, 13.5) and 4.1% (1.9, 8.9), respectively. Conclusions. The enhancing effect of EDTA on iron absorption is less strong in composite meals containing enhancers; nevertheless, the equal mixture of FeSO4 and NaFeEDTA significantly enhanced iron absorption and can be a strategy to ensure adequate iron absorption from phytate-containing complementary foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of natural killer (NK) cells in infection-induced liver fibrosis remains obscure. In this study, we elucidated the effect of NK cells on Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) egg-induced liver fibrosis. Liver fibrosis was induced by infecting C57BL/6 mice with 18–20 cercariae of S. japonicum. Anti-ASGM1 antibody was used to deplete NK cells. Toll-like receptor 3 ligand, polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I∶C) was used to enhance the activation of NK cells. Results showed that NK cells were accumulated and activated after S. japonicum infection, as evidenced by the elevation of CD69 expression and IFN-γ production. Depletion of NK cells markedly enhanced S. japonicum egg-induced liver fibrosis. Administration of poly I∶C further activated NK cells to produce IFN-γ and attenuated S. japonicum egg-induced liver fibrosis. The observed protective effect of poly I∶C on liver fibrosis was diminished through depletion of NK cells. Disruption of IFN-γ gene enhanced liver fibrosis and partially abolished the suppression of liver fibrosis by poly I∶C. Moreover, expression of retinoic acid early inducible 1 (RAE 1), the NKG2D ligand, was detectable at high levels on activated hepatic stellate cells derived from S. japonicum-infected mice, which made them more susceptible to hepatic NK cell killing. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the activated NK cells in the liver after S. japonicum infection negatively regulate egg-induced liver fibrosis via producing IFN-γ, and killing activated stellate cells. Author Summary: Schistosomiasis continues to be a major public health problem in the developing world. Parasite egg-induced liver fibrosis is the principal cause of morbidity and mortality in human infected with schistosoma. Thus, elucidating the mechanisms that restrict tissue fibrosis may lead to more effective strategies for immunological intervention in this and a variety of chronic diseases. NK cells have been demonstrated to play an important role in suppressing carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis. However, little is known about the role of NK cells in an infection-based model of fibrosis. In the current study, we determined, for the first time, the role of NK cells in S. japonicum egg-induced liver fibrosis. Our findings suggest that the activated NK cells in the liver after S. japonicum infection negatively regulate egg-induced liver fibrosis via producing IFN-γ, and killing activated stellate cells. These results further our understanding of the innate immune cells that regulate the development of S. japonicum-induced fibrosis and aid in the development of potential strategies to enhance immunity against this and other chronic inflammatory diseases of the liver where fibrosis is a common feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wetland research has become a hot spot linking multiple disciplines presently. Wetland classification and mapping is the basis for wetland research. It is difficult to generate wetland data sets using traditional methods because of the low accessibility of wetlands, hence remote sensing data have become one of the primary data sources in wetland research. This paper presents a case study conducted at the core area of Honghe National Nature Reserve in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China. In this study, three images generated by airship, from Thematic Mapper and from SPOT 5 were selected to produce wetland maps at three different wetland landscape levels. After assessing classification accuracies of the three maps, we compared the different wetland mapping results of 11 plant communities to the airship image, 6 plant ecotypes to the TM image and 9 landscape classifications to the SPOT 5 image. We discussed the different characteristics of the hierarchical ecosystem classifications based on the spatial scales of the different images. The results indicate that spatial scales of remote sensing data have an important link to the hierarchies of wetland plant ecosystems displayed on the wetland landscape maps. The richness of wetland landscape information derived from an image closely relates to its spatial resolution. This study can enrich the ecological classification methods and mapping techniques dealing with the spatial scales of different remote sensing images. With a better understanding of classification accuracies in mapping wetlands by using different scales of remote sensing data, we can make an appropriate approach for dealing with the scale issue of remote sensing images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pan evaporation, an indictor of potential evaporation, has decreased during the last several decades in many parts of the world; the trend is contrary to the expectation that the increase of actual evaporation will accompany global warming, known as the pan evaporation paradox. What is the essential relationship between pan evaporation and actual evaporation? This is still an uncertain problem. In this paper, the trends of pan evaporation and actual evaporation are investigated using observational data and observation-constrained simulation results using NCAR Community Land Model (CLM) in Xinjiang from 1960 to 2005. Our analysis suggests that the decreasing trend of annual pan evaporation accompanies the increasing trend of annual actual evaporation, the tendencies of them both have statistical significance (at 99% level and at 95% level, respectively). We also find that there is the same turning point in precipitation, pan evaporation and actual evaporation of 1986, and either before the point or after, pan evaporation has inverse trend comparing with actual evaporation and precipitation. The above analysis indicates that pan evaporation and actual evaporation have complementary relationship. These results support the issue of evaporation paradox described by Brutsaert and Parlange (1998) and suggest that decrease of pan evaporation indicates an increase of actual evaporation in Xinjiang in the past half century. The correlation analysis shows that diurnal temperature range (DTR), wind speed, low cloud cover and precipitation are the most likely driving forces for the reduced pan evaporation and the ascending actual evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reveal the characteristics and climatic controls on the stable isotopic composition of precipitation over Arid Northwestern China, eight stations have been selected from Chinese Network of Isotopes in Precipitation (CHNIP). During the year 2005 and 2006, monthly precipitation samples have been collected and analyzed for the composition of δD and δ18O. The established local meteoric water line δD=7.42δ18O+1.38, based on the 95 obtained monthly composite samples, could be treated as isotopic input function across the region. The deviations of slope and intercept from the Global Meteoric Water Line indicated the specific regional meteorological conditions. The monthly δ18O values were characterized by a positive correlation with surface air temperature (δ18O (‰) =0.33 T (°C)−13.12). The amount effect visualized during summer period (δ18O (‰) = −0.04P (mm)−3.44) though not appeared at a whole yearly-scale. Spatial distributions of δ18O have properly portrayed the atmospheric circulation background in each month over Arid Northwestern China. The quantitative simulation of δ18O, which involved a Rayleigh fractionation and a kinetic fractionation, demonstrated that the latter one was the dominating function of condensation of raindrops. Furthermore, the raindrop suffered a re-evaporation during falling processes, and the precipitation vapor might have been mixed with a quantity of local recycled water vapor. Multiple linear regression equations and a δ18O-T relation have been gained by using meteorological parameters and δ18O data to evaluate physical controls on the long-term data. The established δ18O-T relation, which has been based on the present-day precipitation, could be considered as a first step of quantitatively reconstructing the historical environmental climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article contains Poster Session Abstracts including "Affective Modulation of the Startle Reflex in Specific Phobia," The Modulation of Skin Conductance Response to a Defense Stimulus by Affective Sounds," and "Impaired Perception of Dyspnea and Pain After Right Insular Cortex Lesions."

Along with the development of Internet, geo-information sharing and Open GIS are of increasing importance for GIS application fields. Southwestern China consists of several provinces or districts, they are Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Chongqing, etc. The economic and information cooperation among them are of significance. The pilot platform for resource and environment geo-information sharing for the southwestern China based on Web services, OGC (Open GIS Consortium) WFS (Web feature service) is constructed. Via this pilot platform, a loose information sharing mode can be implemented to improve their cooperation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents psychology-related abstracts. Quantification of Gestalt; Child development as a portal to working memory process; Translation, adaptation and cultural tailoring of psychological tests.