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Electrooculogram (EOG) is an inevitable main interference in electroencephalogram (EEG) acquisition, which directly affects the analysis and application of EEG. Second-order blind identification (SOBI), as a blind source separation (BSS), has been used to remove the ocular artifacts (OA) of contaminated EEG. However, SOBI that assumes the source signal to be stationary is not appropriate for nonstationary EEG signals, yielding undesirable separation results. In addition, it is regrettable that the current discriminations of ocular artifacts, such as correlation coefficients, sample entropy, do not take into account of the fuzzy characteristics of EEG, which leads to the inaccurate judgement of OA. In this paper, a novel OA removal method is proposed based on the combination of discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and SOBI and denoted as DWSOBI. DWT is used to analyze each channel of contaminated EEG to obtain more stable multi-scale wavelet coefficients; then, the wavelet coefficients in the same layer are selected to construct the wavelet coefficient matrix, and it is further separated by using SOBI to obtain the estimation of source signals, whose fuzzy entropies are calculated and employed to realize the automatic identification and removal of OA. Based on a public database, many experiments are conducted and two performance indexes are adopted to measure the elimination effect of OA. The experiment results show that DWSOBI achieves more adaptive and accurate performance for four kinds of OA from three subjects, and is superior to the commonly used methods.

Background The global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a major public health threat. This study aimed to analyze the influencing factors of international students' intention to wear a mask based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). The findings are important because they provide pertinent information in designing and implementing COVID-19 prevention programs. Methods Self-designed questionnaires were distributed to 477 international students. exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to identify and confirm the factor structure, and the structural equation model (SEM) was applied to determine the predictors of masks wearing. Results The final structural model was well reflected by fit indices. The research model of international students' intention to wear a mask for protection against COVID-19 was acceptable. All of the hypotheses were supported. Attitude and perceived behavioral control (PBC) were positively related to behavior intention (BI), respectively. Subjective norm (SN) also had a direct effect on attitude, PBC, and BI. Conclusions Referring to TPB was useful in identifying determinants of mask-wearing. The strongest predictor was SN, which indicated it was deserving of increased attention. These findings are significant to strengthen international students' awareness regarding self-protection and enhance the effectiveness of COVID-19 prevention programs.

Purpose: Inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatase type II (INPP4B) is a negative regulator of PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and plays a contradictory role in different types of cancers. However, its biological role in human gallbladder cancer (GBC) remain unclear. Here we aimed to investigate the expression, clinical significance and biological function of INPP4B in GBC clinical dates and GBC cell lines. Methods: The INPP4B protein expression levels in gallbladder cancer tissues and normal gallbladder tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the clinical significance of INPP4B was analyzed. Knockdown and overexpression of INPP4B on GBC-SD and SGC-996 cells were used to identify INPP4B function in vitro, using cell proliferation assay, clonogenic assay, apoptosis detection, cratch wound-healing assay and transwell assay.Results: INPP4B was up-regulated in human GBC tissues compared with normal gallbladder tissues, and was related to histopathological differentiation. Here, we observed that INPP4B was highly expressed in high-moderate differentiated compared to low-undifferentiated. Additionally, we found that INPP4B expression was not associated with overall survival in GBC patients and was not an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, when we stratified the relationship between INPP4B expression and prognosis of GBC from histopathological differentiation, we found that INPP4B played a contradictory role in GBC progression at different degrees of differentiation. In addition, INPP4B knockdown inhibited tumorigenicity in vitro, and INPP4B overexpression induced tumorigenicity in vitro, which may play a role as an oncoprotein.Conclusions: These findings implicated that INPP4B may play a dual role in the prognosis of GBC with different degrees of differentiation, and might act as an oncogene in gallbladder cancer cells.

Background Inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatase type II (INPP4B) is a negative regulator of the PI3K-Akt signalling pathway and plays a contradictory role in different types of cancers. However, the its biological role played by INPP4B in human gallbladder cancer (GBC) has not been elucidated. In this study, we investigated the expression, clinical significance and biological function of INPP4B in GBC patients and cell lines. Methods The INPP4B protein expression levels in gallbladder cancer tissues and normal gallbladder tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the clinical significance of INPP4B was analysed. Knockdown and overexpression of INPP4B in GBC-SD and SGC-996 cells followed by cell proliferation, clonogenic, apoptosis detection, scratch wound-healing and transwell assays were used to identify INPP4B function in vitro. Results INPP4B was up-regulated in human GBC tissues compared with normal gallbladder tissues and was related to histopathological differentiation (p = 0.026). Here, we observed that INPP4B was highly expressed in high-moderately differentiated tumours compared with low-undifferentiated tumours (p = 0.022). Additionally, we found that INPP4B expression was not associated with overall survival of GBC patients (p = 0.071) and was not an independent prognostic factor. Furthermore, when we stratified the relationship between INPP4B expression and the prognosis of GBC based on histopathological differentiation, we found that INPP4B played a contradictory role in GBC progression depending on the degree of differentiation. In addition, INPP4B knockdown inhibited the proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion in GBC cells, while INPP4B overexpression had the opposite effects in vitro, which indicates its role as an oncoprotein. Conclusions These findings suggested that INPP4B may play a dual role in the prognosis of GBC depending on the degree of differentiation and that INPP4B might act as an oncogene in gallbladder cancer cells.

Background: Crossbreeding programs have been used extensively to improve the native pig’s overall production performance while maintaining superior meat quality. Chenghua (CH) pig is a traditional Chinese indigenous breed with superior meat quality characteristic but poor growth and carcass traits. In recent years, we implemented Berkshire × Chenghua (BC) crossbreeding scheme and have bred the new crossbreed BC pig through selection for four generations. The present objective was to determine the black coat inheritance and evaluate production performance for crossbreed BC F4 pigs in comparison with those of control purebred CH pigs. Results: Coat color of crossbreed BC pigs exhibits a “dominant black” hereditary pattern. Twelve mutation sites for MC1R gene were identified between “uniform black type” and “domino black spotting type” pigs and all piglets derived from boars or sows genotyped ED1ED1 homozygous for MC1R gene showed uniform black coat phenotype. The crossbreed BC F4 gilts displayed a relatively good reproductive performance, showing a higher litter (total no. born: 12.06 and no. born alive: 11.14) and tear size (13.14), heavier at farrowing litter (11.92 kg) and at weaning litter (65.87 kg) than purebred CH gilts, but they reached puberty later than CH gilts (178.44 vs.125.45). The crossbreed BC F4 pigs exhibited improved growth and carcass characteristics with a higher average daily live weight gain (535.28 g vs. 447.11 g), lower feed-to-gain ratio (3.06 vs. 4.03), and higher carcass lean meat rate (50.76% vs. 42.58%) than purebred CH pigs. Importantly, similar to those of purebred CH pigs, the crossbreed BC F4 pigs produced super meat-quality characteristics, showing ideal pH and meat-color values, high intramuscular fat content (3.24%) and water-holding capacity (drip loss: 1.68%), and acceptable muscle-fibre parameters. C18:1, C16:0, C18:0, and C18:2 were the main fatty acids in M. longissimus lumborum in the two breeds, and a very high polyunsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio of ~0.39 was observed in the BC F4 pigs. Conclusion: These results indicate that crossbreed BC F4 pigs exhibit a uniform black coat pattern and acceptable total production performance, and it can be extensively used in commercial pig production to provide high-quality niche products.

A water-soluble polysaccharide identified here as ADP80-2 was acquired from Angelica dahurica. ADP80-2 was a gluco-arabinan composed of arabinose and a trace of glucose with a molecular weight of 9950 g/mol. The backbone of ADP80-2 comprised →5)-α-L-Araf-(1→, →3, 5)-α-L-Araf-(1→, →6)-α-D-Glcp-(1→, with a terminal branch α-L-Araf-(1 → residue. In terms of immunoregulatory activity, ADP80-2 can significantly promote the phagocytosis, the production of nitric oxide (NO), and the secretion of cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α) of macrophage. In addition to the cellular immunomodulatory activities, the chemokines related to immunoregulation were significantly increased in the zebrafish model after treated with ADP80-2. These biological results indicated that ADP80-2 with immunomodulatory effects was expected to be useful for the development of new immunomodulatory agents. Simultaneously, the discovery of ADP80-2 further revealed the chemical composition of A. dahurica used as a traditional Chinese medicine and spice.

In order to improve the level and efficiency of personalized service of university library, and to meet the personalized needs of college teachers and students for borrowing books, this paper puts forward a novel personalized service strategy of university library based on big data mining system. This strategy is based on big data mining technology, and comprehensively adopts high and new technologies such as association data analysis, clustering data analysis, classification data analysis and so on. The research shows that this strategy can not only really improve the level and efficiency of personalized service of university library, but also meet the personalized needs of college teachers and students to borrow books to a certain extent.

Cardiac pulse measurement from video images is a promising method, which non-invasively accesses physiological parameters of the living body. Using this method of PPG (photoplethysmography) imaging was attempted of instantaneous heartbeat interval measurement by directly observing the PPG waveform in uncompressed and compressed formats. The results show that a non-negligible noise component arises from compressed videos. Our findings indicate uncompressed files can clean the signal.

Droplet impact dynamics on gradient textures at room temperature have been intensively studied in the past decade. The wetting gradient surfaces are reported to direct the droplet motion. In this work, we show an undirectional rebound behavior of impacting droplets on gradient grooved surfaces at high temperature. The impinging droplet rebounds towards the denser microstructure region at contact boiling state, but towards to the sparser region when at Leidenfrost film boiling state. Our analysis indicates that the non-directional rebounding direction is attributed to the unbalanced Young's forces or vapor pressure difference between the droplet and the substrate. In contact boiling regime, the droplet rebounds towards the denser region due to the unbalanced Young's force. However, in the Leidenfrost film boiling region, adequate vapor generated underneath the droplet impedes the direct contact and larger vapor pressure in the denser region causes the droplet to rebound oppositely. This study is envisioned to promote the understanding of droplet dynamics at high temperature and provide promising applications in various systems where regulating droplet motion is needed.

Hypothesis The wetting behavior of an electrolyte solution on the separator, determined by contact-angle measurements, has a significant effect on the internal resistance of the battery and on its cycle life. The solvent, the lithium-salt type and its concentration may affect the wettability. However, few systematic studies address the effect of salt concentration on surface tension and contact angle. Experiments Surface tensions and advancing contact angles were measured for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), propylene carbonate (PC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), and a PC/DMC mixture (1:1 mass ratio) with various concentrations of a lithium salt (LiClO4, LiPF6, and LiTFSI) at 23 °C. Measurements were made by a Kruss Drop Shape Analyzer 100, with a video camera mounted on a microscope to record the drop image. Findings For DMSO, PC and PC/DMC, surface tensions increase by adding LiClO4 or LiPF6 but decrease upon addition of LiTFSI. For DMC, the lithium salts have little impact on the surface tensions. For each solvent, contact angles and adhesion energies follow the same trend as those for surface tensions. The TFSI- anion reduces the surface tension of the solvent, favoring good wettability of the separator. The optimal surface tension for wettability of Celgard 2500 is at or below 26.1 mN/m.

To explore the heat and mass transfer characteristics during phase change, a well-designed test rig with melting front visualization was designed and fabricated. The results show that the different inclination angles have a great influence on the melting process of pure paraffin. Compared with the 60-degree inclination, the full melting time of pure paraffin at 30-degree obliquity decreased by 25.30%. The visualization demonstrated an inclined melting front, which indicated the contribution of local natural convection in the fluid phase. However, there seems to be little influence of inclination angles for the melting process of paraffin embedded in metal foam. Local thermal non-equilibrium between metallic ligaments and the saturating PCM (paraffin) was experimentally observed. This revealed the feasibility of two-equation model for modelling the phase change process in open-cell metal foam.

Density and viscosity for mixtures of alkyl esters with alcohols is essential not only for simulation and optimization of diesel engine but also for the understanding of the interactions between them. The new densities of binary mixtures of methanol with three fatty acid ethyl esters (ethyl caprylate, ethyl caprate, and ethyl laurate) were measured at the atmospheric pressure for the temperatures ranging from (283.15 to 318.15) K over the entire composition range using an Anton Paar digital vibrating U-tube densimeter (model DMA 5000 M). A Redlich–Kister type equation was correlated using the excess molar volumes calculated with the experimental values and used to represent the densities of the liquid mixtures as a function of temperature and concentration.

The main components of biodiesel are fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) or fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE). Methanol is commonly used as a reference molecule for modeling diesel fuel thermodynamics properties. In this work, experimental density data of the binary mixtures of methanol with three fatty acid methyl esters (methyl caprate, methyl laurate, methyl myristate) were reported at atmospheric pressure over the entire composition range at temperatures from 283.15 to 318.15 K. Density measurements were performed using an Anton Paar digital vibrating U-tube densimeter. Excess molar volumes were calculated from the experimental data and correlated as the Redlich-Kister equation for the binary mixtures. The optimized sets of parameters of the equation at each temperature were obtained by the least squares method.

This study focused on the effect of inserting fins into metal foam on the solidification rate. To this aim, a well-designed experimental system with solid-liquid interface visualization was built. ...

Amorphous semiconductors usually suffer from low photocatalysis efficiency due to the fast charge recombination rate. In this work, to activate the amorphous Bi2WO6, Bi2O3 and Bi particles were in sequence deposited over its surface via a facile in situ chemical reduction of amorphous Bi2WO6 by NaBH4 at room temperature. In the resultant ternary Bi/Bi2O3/Bi2WO6, the well-formed heterojunctions (i.e. Bi-Bi2O3 and Bi2O3-Bi2WO6) and the surface plasmon resonance effect of Bi both contribute to an increase in charge carrier concentration, an efficient e−/h+ separation and then an enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance. The molar ratio of Bi, Bi2O3 and Bi2WO6 in composite can be modulated by the dosage of NaBH4, and consequently the amount of each heterojunction (i.e. Bi/Bi2O3 or Bi2O3/Bi2WO6) as well as the intensity of SPR effect could be tuned. The photocatalytic NO removal test under visible light irradiation shows that BWO-0.8 (0.8 denotes the molar ratio of NaBH4 to Bi2WO6) presents a maximum NO removal efficiency of 55.4%, much higher than that of the pristine amorphous Bi2WO6 (10%). The enhanced activity can be attributed to the balanced SPR effect of Bi metal and the heterojunction effect, making their overall contribution maximized. The pathway study of photocatalytic NO oxidation by in situ FT-IR suggests that NO is converted to nitrates adsorbed over the catalyst surface. The present work could provide a new approach to activate the amorphous semiconductors for efficient visible light photocatalysis.

At present, there are problems of large wavelength span and large system volume for the chromatic aberration correction in the infrared band, which is harmful to the miniaturization of the optical system, while, there are problems of low design freedom and low selectivity for the optical material. We designed a grating surface microstructure for infrared chromatic aberration correction. By analyzing the chromatic aberration correction of two common infrared wavebands of 4.8 μm and 10.6 μm, we focused on grating microstructure design. Taking the infrared chromatic aberration of the ZnSe lens as an example, the scattering surfaces of the two kinds of grating cell structures were simulated by FDTD method. The simulation results show that the single square cylinder grating microstructure performed a phase retardation of 1.4π at 4.8 μm and 0.7π at 10.6 μm, as a result the compensation effect was not good. While, the phase retardation of double square cylinders grating microstructure at 4.8 μm was 1.5π, and the all-phase modulation for range of 0–2π at 10.6 μm waveband had been achieved, which is suitable for infrared chromatic aberration compensation. The geometric parameters of the double square cylinders microstructure were designed to be L1 = 400 nm, L2 = 950 nm and K = 500 nm. Fabricate double square cylinders grating microstructure sample on the germanium substrate by the standard semiconductor fabrication technology. Profiler tested the structure parameters, and the results were shown as: L1 = 408 nm, L2 = 944 nm, and the height of the square cylinder is K = 495.32 nm, surface roughness is 16.32 nm; the peak transmissivities of two infrared bands for 4.7–4.9 μm and 10.5–10.7 μm were reached 65% and 62%; the test light path of longitudinal chromatic aberration was established by using the principle of parallel light measuring longitudinal chromatic aberration. After adding sample, the longitudinal chromatic aberration for the infrared waves were reduced by 55%, which proved the effect of the micro-nano structure device on the chromatic aberration correction in infrared band. Compared with traditional lens gluing and other technologies, this technology has the advantages of light weight, small size, high design freedom and good effect on chromatic aberration correction.

The thermodynamic properties of a working-fluid pair, composed of a refrigerant and an absorbent, greatly influence the performance of an absorption–refrigeration cycle. Particularly important is the solubility of the vaporized refrigerant in the absorbent. Using an isochoric saturation method, solubilities were measured for trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (R1234ze(E)) in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Bmim][PF6]), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Hmim][PF6]), and 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([Omim][PF6]) from 283.15 to 343.15 K. Solubilities rise with a decrease in temperature and an increase in pressure. The highest solubility is in [Omim][PF6], followed by [Hmim][PF6], and [Bmim][PF6]. The new data were correlated by the nonrandom two-liquid model and by the Krichevsky–Ilinskays equation; both provide good agreement with the experimental data. Estimates were given for total enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs energy of dissolution.

Solubilities were measured from 25 to 45 °C for six lithium salts (LiF, LiCl, LiBr, LiNO3, LiTFSI and LiPF6) in five pure non–aqueous solvents (ethanol, acetonitrile, dimethyl carbonate, dimethyl sulfoxide and propylene carbonate) and in a few of their binary mixtures (ethanol + DMSO, DMC + DMSO and DMC + PC). The experimental method uses a Varian inductively–coupled plasma–optical–emission spectrometer (ICP–OES). Solubilities increase with rising temperature. At a given temperature, LiNO3 shows the highest solubility in all solvents. Salt solubilities follow the order LiNO3 > LiTFSI > LiBr > LiCl > LiPF6 > LiF. The dissolving abilities of the solvents are in the order ethanol > DMSO > acetonitrile > PC > DMC. Coupled with the salt's melting temperature and enthalpy of fusion, liquid–phase activity coefficients for salts were obtained from the solubility data.

A droplet impacting on a superhydrophobic surface exhibits complete bouncing. The impacting process usually consists of spreading and retracting stages, during which the droplet contacts the underlying substrate. Recent research has been devoted to reducing the contact time using textured surfaces with different morphologies or flexibilities. Here, we design submillimeter superhydrophobic ridges and show that impacting droplets bounce off the surface immediately after capillary emptying in a petal-like shape at a certain Weber number range. The absence of a horizontal retraction process in two directions leads to ∼70% reduction in contact time. We demonstrate that the petal bouncing is attributed to the synergistic cooperation of the hierarchical structures and anisotropic property, which endows effective energy storage and release. When touching the bottom of the grooves, obvious flying wings appear along the ridges with a velocity component in the vertical direction, which help the energy releasing process in achieving fast droplet detachment. At higher Weber numbers, the anisotropic surface distorts the mass distribution and promotes uniform fragmentation of the droplet, and therefore the overall contact time is dramatically reduced. Simple analyses are proposed to explain these phenomena, showing a good agreement with the experimental results. The contact time reduction on anisotropic superhydrophobic surfaces is expected to have a great influence on the design and fabrication of anti-icing and self-cleaning surfaces.

Three polyacetylenes were isolated and purified from Platycodon grandiflorum A. DC for the first time by high-speed counter-current chromatography using a two-phase solvent system composed of hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (1:31:1:31, v/v/v/v) and high-performance liquid chromatography with an Agilent ZORBAX® SB-C18 column (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm). After separation by high-speed counter-current chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, we obtained 3.5 mg of platetyolin A, 4.1 mg of platetyolin B, and 18.1 mg of lobetyolin with purities of 97.2, 96.7, and 96.9%, respectively. The purity of each compound was assessed by high-performance liquid chromatography and the chemical structures were evaluated by high-resolution electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. Among the isolated compounds, platetyolin A and platetyolin B are newly reported compounds. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

2,3,3,3-Tetrafluoroprop-1-ene (HFO1234yf) is recently recognized as a new generation refrigerant to replace R134a in automotive air-conditioning system and other refrigeration applications. The knowledge of phase equilibrium property for refrigerant with lubricant oil is therefore interested in these systems. A systematic research program on the phase equilibrium of HFO1234yf with lubricant oils has been carried out in our laboratory, and the purpose is to investigate the influence of the molecular structure of oils, pressure and temperature on the phase behavior of HFO1234yf and lubricant oil system. In this work, the measurements of phase equilibrium for HFO1234yf + pentaerythritol tetrahexanoate (PEC6), HFO1234yf + pentaerythritol tetraheptanoate (PEC7), and HFO1234yf + pentaerythritol tetraoctanoate (PEC8) between 293.15 K and 348.15 K were performed by means of isochoric saturation method. The experimental data were correlated using the PR EOS and HVOS mixing rule combined with Wilson excess free-energy model. The average relative deviations between experimental results and the calculated pressure by the model for HFO1234yf + PEC6, HFO1234yf + PEC7, and HFO1234yf + PEC8 system were 1.23%, 1.19%, and 1.39%, respectively. The maximum relative deviations were 4.04%, 4.34%, and 4.84%, respectively.

Acute myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion (MIR) injury leads to severe arrhythmias and has a high rate of lethality. In the present study, we aim to determine the effect of dexmedetomidine (Dex) on heart injury parameters following MIR surgery. We examined the effects of Dex on heart function parameters and infarct size following MIR surgery. Proinflammatory cytokines, oxidative products and anti-oxidative enzymes in the myocardium were measured to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects of Dex. The role of the adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/phosphatidylino-sitol 3-kinase (PI3k)/Akt/endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) pathway was investigated using their inhibitors. The alteration of haemodynamic parameters, histopathological results, and infarct size caused by MIR was attenuated by Dex. The interleukine-1 beta (IL-1β), IL-6, tumour necrosis factor-a (TNF-α) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were all significantly decreased. Anti-oxidative enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were restored by Dex. Oxidative products8-OHdG, MDA and protein carbonyl were all decreased by Dex (P

In recent years, trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (R1234ze(E)) was proposed as a possible replacement for hydrofluorocarbons. In this work, the vapor–liquid phase equilibrium of R1234ze(E) with three imidazolium ionic liquids (ILs) were measured from (283.15 to 343.15) K based on the isochoric method. The ILs include 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Emim][BF4]), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Hmim][BF4]), and 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([Omim][BF4]). The experimental results were correlated using the nonrandom two-liquid activity coefficients model. The deviations between experimental data and calculated values for pressure were 1.77%, 2.07%, and 2.32% for R1234ze(E) + [Emim][BF4], + [Hmim][BF4], and + [Omim][BF4] systems, respectively.

In this paper, numerical simulation was used to investigate the dynamic heat transfer through an external wall with aerogel insulating layer under different outside temperatures. The distributions of the dynamic temperatures in the wall during ten days in summer were discovered. The changing trend of the peaks and troughs of the interior surface heat flux are similar as that of the daily averages of the outside sol-air temperatures but have a delay. The decrement factors and the time lags of the daily peak and trough temperatures of the wall were analyzed, which are affected by the maximum difference and average of daily outside temperatures.

Isobutane (R600a) is widely used in small capacity refrigeration equipment, especially domestic refrigerator. Knowledge of refrigerant absorption in lubricant oil is one of the essential factors for designing refrigeration system and choosing suitable oil. In this work, the liquid mole fractions of R600a in three linear chained pentaerythritol esters (pentaerythritol tetrabutyrate, pentaerythritol tetrahexanoate, and pentaerythritol tetraoctanoate) were measured from 293.15 K to 348.15 K by means of isochoric saturation method. The measured data were modeled using the PR EOS and HVOS mixing rule combined with Wilson excess free-energy model. Average relative deviations between the calculated pressure from the model and measured results for R600a + pentaerythritol tetrabutyrate, R600a + pentaerythritol tetrahexanoate, and R600a + pentaerythritol tetraoctanoate systems were 0.74%, 0.90%, and 0.57%, respectively. Maximum relative deviations were 2.13%, 2.91%, and 2.13%, respectively.

The application of carbon composite briquette (CCB) is considered to be an efficient method for achieving low-energy and low-CO2-emission blast furnace (BF) operations. In this research, a combined experimental and numerical study was conducted on the CCB reaction behavior in BF. The CCB used in this study had a composition of 20.10 wt.% carbon, 29.70 wt.% magnetite, 39.70 wt.% w&uuml, stite, and 1.57 wt.% metallic iron. Using the prepared CCB samples, isotherm reduction tests under a simulated BF atmosphere (CO-CO2-N2) were conducted and a reaction model was developed. Subsequently, the reaction behavior of CCB along the mid-radial solid descending path in an actual BF of 2500 m3 was analyzed by numerical simulations based on the experimental findings and the previous results of comprehensive BF modeling. The results of the experiments showed that the CCB model predictions agreed well with the experimental measurements. With respect to the BF, the results of the numerical simulations indicated that, along the path, before the CCB temperature reached 1000 K, the CCB was reduced by CO in the BF gas, when its temperature was in the range from 1000 to 1130 K, it underwent self-reduction and contributed both CO and CO2 to the BF gas, when its temperature was above 1130 K, it only presented carbon gasification. Moreover, these results also revealed that the reduction of iron oxide and the gasification of carbon inside the CCB proceeded under an uneven mode. The uneven radial distribution of the local reduction fraction and local carbon conversion were evident in the self-reducing stage of the CCB.

Lung biopsy is the gold standard for evaluating pathological changes in the pulmonary vascular bed. Knowing the distribution characteristics of pulmonary vascular lesions can improve the accuracy of lung biopsy. To investigate the distribution characteristics of pulmonary vascular remodeling, a reliable porcine model of shunt-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was established. Twenty piglets were randomly divided into the experimental group (n = 10) and the control group (n = 10). A modified Blalock–Taussig shunt (MBTS, left innominate artery to main pulmonary artery) was created surgically in the experimental group. Three months later, an invasive catheter was used to obtain hemodynamic parameters, and lung biopsy was performed to assess the remodeling of pulmonary vascular bed. MBTS was successfully implemented in six piglets. There’s no significant difference in hemodynamic parameters of the two groups before the shunt. However, these parameters and right ventricular hypertrophy index of the experimental group were significantly increased after three months shunting. Pathological changes in the experimental group, including thickening of pulmonary artery media, intimal fibrosis, and right ventricular hypertrophy, were observed. Furthermore, the percentage of media thickness and medial area of the experimental group were significantly higher than control group. Histopathology showed that vascular remodeling of the lung was inhomogeneous and that the lateral lesion was more severe than other segments. These results indicated that MBTS could be used to establish a reliable porcine model of shunt-associated PAH and that multisite detection with different segments should be applied to assess the severity of pulmonary vascular remodeling.

Background Hypoxia has been suggested to be both beneficial and harmful to the proliferation of cardiomyocytes. This controversy remains unresolved, and the underlying mechanism by which hypoxia exerts its effects remains unclear. We here hypothesize that cardiomyocyte developmental stage may play a role. Methods and Results : The embryonic ventricular myocyte cell line H9C2, primary isolated fetal cardiomyocytes, and neonatal cardiomyocytes were cultured with normal O2 (21% O2) or under hypoxic conditions (10% O2) for 7 days, and then harvested for Western blotting, qRT-PCR, and immunostaining. When cultured under hypoxic conditions, proliferating marker-Ki67, mRNA level, and the percentage of Ki67-positive cardiomyocytes were significantly lower in H9C2 and fetal cardiomyocytes but higher in neonatal cardiomyocytes. Consistently, the mRNA and protein levels and induced nuclear localization of yes associated protein 1(YAP1), one of the most important regulators of cardiomyocyte proliferation, were significantly lower in H9C2 and fetal cardiomyocytes but up-regulated in neonatal cardiomyocytes when treated with hypoxia. Compared to neonatal cardiomyocytes, there was a lower level of troponin T mRNA and protein expression in H9C2 and fetal cardiomyocytes. When H9C2 or fetal cardiomyocytes overexpressing troponin T in were cultured under hypoxic condition, their ability to proliferate increased. Conclusions The effect of hypoxia on the proliferation of cardiomyocyte is associated with their developmental stage. YAP1 expression is positively correlated with the change in cardiomyocyte proliferation in response to hypoxia. Developmental stage- specific sarcomere component troponin T may partly account for the underlying mechanism.

Aging is an independent risk factor for vascular diseases. Perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), an active component of the vasculature, contributes to vascular dysfunction during aging. Identification of underlying cell types and their changes during aging may provide meaningful insights regarding the clinical relevance of aging‐related vascular diseases. Here, we take advantage of single‐cell RNA sequence to characterize the resident stromal cells in the PVAT (PVASCs) and identified different clusters between young and aged PVASCs. Bioinformatics analysis revealed decreased endothelial and brown adipogenic differentiation capacities of PVASCs during aging, which contributed to neointimal hyperplasia after perivascular delivery to ligated carotid arteries. Mechanistically, in vitro and in vivo studies both suggested that aging‐induced loss of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐γ coactivator‐1 α (PGC1α) was a key regulator of decreased brown adipogenic differentiation in senescent PVASCs. We further demonstrated the existence of human PVASCs (hPVASCs) and overexpression of PGC1α improved hPVASC delivery‐induced vascular remodeling. Our finding emphasizes that differentiation capacities of PVASCs alter during aging and loss of PGC1α in aged PVASCs contributes to vascular remodeling via decreased brown adipogenic differentiation.

Background The desirable distance, defined as offset, between the central line of the superior vena cava (SVC) and the intra-atrial conduit after an intra-atrial conduit (IAC) Fontan's procedure remained unclear. We compared the hemodynamic features using virtual surgery with different offset designs in our study. Methods Three-dimensional models of IAC Fontan's procedure were reconstructed according to the magnetic resonance imagings (MRIs) of three patients, then four models for each patient with different offsets equaling 100, 67, 33, and 0% of the diameter of the IVC were reconstructed. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) were performed in each model to predict the best hemodynamic features, including streamlines of blood flow, wall shear stress (WSS), energy loss (EL), and the hepatic flow distribution (HFD) ratio. Results Comprehensive evaluation of WSS, EL, and HFD revealed than an offset of 33% presents the best hemodynamic performance among the three patients modeled. In patient A, an offset of 33% resulted in the best HFD (left pulmonary artery/right pulmonary artery [LPA/RPA] = 35/65%). In patient B, the best trade-off between HFD (35/65%), and WSS was achieved with an offset of 33%. In patient C, EL peaked at an offset of 0% and significantly dropped at an offset of 33% with a desirable HFD (60/40%). Conclusions We verified that the offset distance influences hemodynamic performance in IAC Fontan's procedure. Considering several hemodynamic parameters, the best trade-offs between hemorheology, pulmonary perfusion, and energy efficiency were achieved at an offset of 33%. This distance should be taken into consideration and optimized during the surgical planning for the IAC Fontan's procedure.

Isobutane (R600a) and dimethyl ether (DME) as promising refrigerants have attracted wide attention. To better understand their evaporative performance in the presence of oil, the solubilities were measured for R600a and DME in squalane from 293.15 K to 348.15 K. The data was correlated by the NRTL model. A new pressure-enthalpy-vapor quality diagram, which is applied to pure refrigerant and refrigerant/oil mixtures with various circulating oil mass fractions, is presented based on the data. The critical vapor quality was found in the isotherm of the refrigerant/oil mixture, and it depends on the circulating oil mass fraction and refrigerant/oil solubility. The higher critical vapor quality, the greater contribution of the latent heat, which is beneficial for heat transfer. The enthalpy changes through an evaporator with and without taking into account the effect of oil, as well as the non-evaporated quantity of refrigerant at the evaporator outlet, were also analyzed. The enthalpy change ratio increases with an increase of superheat and decreases with an increase in mass fraction of circulating oil. The non-evaporated quantity decreases with an increase of superheat and increases with an increase in the mass fraction of oil circulation.

In this study, droplet impact dynamics on superheated cylindrical surfaces are investigated experimentally, through high-speed imaging. The outcome regimes of impacting droplets observed in the experiments are mapped and described. Four distinguishable regimes are identified, namely rebound-transition boiling, rebound-film boiling, breakup-transition boiling, and breakup-film boiling. In addition, the effects of Weber number, surface temperature and curvature diameter on boiling mode, film thickness, droplet spreading and contact time are examined. The scaling laws of maximum spreading ratio and liquid film thickness with the impact Weber number are established. The larger film thickness on the concave surface reduces the dynamic Ledifenfrost temperature, meanwhile improves the critical Weber number for droplet breakup. Under the effect of the tangential gravity component, the spreading of droplets in the circumferential direction is suppressed on the concave surface, while is promoted on the convex surface. Increasing the curvature diameter, the maximum spreading increases on the concave surface, but decreases on the convex surface. The maximum spreading on both surfaces decreases with the wall temperature in the transition boiling state. Noticeable reduction in the contact time of droplets in the rebound regimes are observed on both surfaces, especially on the concave surface. The contact time is shown to generally decrease with the wall temperature, but increase with the curvature diameter.

In order to improve the performance of encoder signal error compensation, this paper proposes a method of encoder signal error compensation based on cloud computing. This method uses near-field sou...

The renewal capacity of neonate human cardiomyocytes provides an opportunity to manipulate endogenous cardiogenic mechanisms for supplementing the loss of cardiomyocytes caused by myocardial infarction or other cardiac diseases. GSK-3β inhibitors have been recently shown to promote cardiomyocyte proliferation in rats and mice, thus may be ideal candidates for inducing human cardiomyocyte proliferation.Human cardiomyocytes were isolated from right atrial specimens obtained during routine surgery for ventricle septal defect and cultured with either GSK-3β inhibitor (CHIR-99021) or β-catenin inhibitor (IWR-1). Immunocytochemistry was performed to visualize 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU)-positive or Ki67-positive cardiomyocytes, indicative of proliferative cardiomyocytes.GSK-3β inhibitor significantly increased β-catenin accumulation in cell nucleus, whereas β-catenin inhibitor significantly reduced β-catenin accumulation in cell plasma. In parallel, GSK-3β inhibitor increased EdU-positive and Ki67-positive cardiomyocytes, whereas β-catenin inhibitor decreased EdU-positive and Ki67-positive cardiomyocytes.These results indicate that GSK-3β inhibitor can promote human atrial cardiomyocyte proliferation. Although it remains to be determined whether the observations in atrial myocytes could be directly applicable to ventricular myocytes, the current findings imply that Wnt/β-catenin pathway may be a valuable pathway for manipulating endogenous human heart regeneration.

Experience alters cortical networks through neural plasticity mechanisms. During a developmental critical period, the most dramatic consequence of occluding vision through one eye (monocular deprivation) is a rapid loss of excitatory synaptic inputs to parvalbumin-expressing (PV) inhibitory neurons in visual cortex. Subsequent cortical disinhibition by reduced PV cell activity allows for excitatory ocular dominance plasticity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying critical period synaptic plasticity are unclear. Here we show that brief monocular deprivation during the critical period downregulates neuregulin-1(NRG1)/ErbB4 signaling in PV neurons, causing retraction of excitatory inputs to PV neurons. Exogenous NRG1 rapidly restores excitatory inputs onto deprived PV cells through downstream PKC-dependent activation and AMPA receptor exocytosis, thus enhancing PV neuronal inhibition to excitatory neurons. NRG1 treatment prevents the loss of deprived eye visual cortical responsiveness in vivo. Our findings reveal molecular, cellular, and circuit mechanisms of NRG1/ErbB4 in regulating the initiation of critical period visual cortical plasticity.

DNMT3A mutations are frequent in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) patients and can be present many years before the disease develops. However, the clinical significance of DNMT3A mutation burden in CN-AML remains unclear. In this study, 81 DNMT3A mutated adult CN-AML patients in their first complete remission (CR) were enrolled at our center from March 2005 to May 2015. All patients were identified as having DNMT3A exon 23 mutations, and R882H was the most frequent variant (n = 49, 60.49%). A total of 48 patients (48/81, 59.3%) were found to have DNMT3A mutations upon achieving CR. At the final follow-up exam, 40 patients remained in CR, 8 of which (8/81, 9.9%) were found to still have DNMT3A mutations. Analysis of the order of NPM1, FLT3-ITD and DNMT3A mutations for different disease statuses revealed that DNMT3A might be the earliest mutation in leukemic cells. In addition, we determined the possible gene aberrations in 12 de novo and 2 relapsed samples using next-generation sequencing. NPM1 (5/12, 41.7%), FLT3-ITD (5/12, 41.7%) and CEBPA mutations (4/12, 33.3%) were the most frequent coexisting mutations. In the relapsed samples, additional genes aberrations could be observed, and some of them were never reported in AML patients. The 2-year overall survival (2-OS) for 81 DNMT3A mutated CN-AML patients was 39.0%. No differences was found in 2-OS (38.2% vs 41.6%, P = 0.2256) and 2-year disease free survival (2-DFS: 28.5% vs 34.3%, P = 0.1831) between patients with negative (n = 33) and positive DNMT3A mutation findings (n = 48) at the first CR. In summary, our findings indicated that DNMT3A mutation burden could persist in adult DNMT3A mutated CN-AML patients in long-term remission and that DNMT3A mutation was the early event in the development of leukemic cells.

Methoxymethane (called dimethyl ether, DME) is recognized as a promising alternative refrigerant. Knowledge of the phase equilibrium behavior of DME-lubricant is essential for selecting a suitable oil. A long-term systematic research program on the phase equilibrium for systems of DME and oils was carried out in our laboratory, making the effort to determine its dependence on the molecular structure of oils, temperature, and pressure. In this article, phase equilibrium data of the DME + pentaerythritol tetraheptanoate system and the DME + pentaerythritol tetranonanoate system were reported from (293.15 to 353.15) K using the isochoric saturation method. Experimental data of phase equilibrium were modeled by the Peng–Robinson (PR) equation of state using the HVOS mixing rule and the NRTL excess-free-energy model. Moreover, the influence of the molecular weight of pentaerythritol esters on the phase equilibrium behavior of DME/ester mixtures was analyzed.

The hippocampal formation is traditionally viewed as having a feedforward, unidirectional circuit organization that promotes propagation of excitatory processes. While the substantial forward projection from hippocampal CA1 to the subiculum has been very well established, accumulating evidence supports the existence of a significant backprojection pathway comprised of both excitatory and inhibitory elements from the subiculum to CA1. Based on these recently updated anatomical connections, such a backprojection could serve to modulate information processing in hippocampal CA1. Here we review the published anatomical and physiological studies on the subiculum to CA1 backprojection, and present recent conclusive anatomical evidence for the presence of noncanonical subicular projections to CA1. New insights into this understudied pathway will improve our understanding of reciprocal CA1-subicular connections and guide future studies on how the subiculum interacts with CA1 to regulate hippocampal circuit activity and learning and memory behaviors. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:3666-3673, 2016. © 2016 The Authors The Journal of Comparative Neurology Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This study investigated the microstructure and thermal conductivity of as-cast and as-extruded binary Mg–Mn alloys. The large grains and fine α-Mn particles contained in the as-cast alloys were observed. After extrusion, the average grain sizes significantly decreased, typical basal fibre texture was generated and high amount of nano particles precipitated from the α-Mg matrix. The thermal conductivity of both as-cast and as-extruded Mg–Mn alloys gradually decreased with the increase in Mn concentration. As-extruded alloys exhibited lower thermal conductivity than as-cast alloys except for the as-extruded alloys containing higher Mn concentrations (>1.2 wt-% Mn). Compared with binary as-extruded Mg–Al and Mg–Zn alloys reported in literatures, thermal conductivity of the as-extruded Mg–Mn alloys was higher when the solute content was greater than 0.5 at.-%.

The authors describe a highly sensitive colorimetric method for the determination of ascorbic acid. It is based on the finding that nanosheets of reduced graphene oxide that were functionalized with poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS-rGO) possess peroxidase-like activity that catalyzes the oxidization of the substrate 3,3’,5,5’-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H2O2 to form a blue product (oxidized TMB; oxTMB) that can be quantified by photometry or visually. If ascorbic acid is present, a fraction of H2O2 will be consumed and hence less oxTMB (with an absorption peak at 652 nm) will be formed. Ascorbic acid can be quantified by photometry in the 0.8 to 60 μM concentration range with a 0.15 μM detection limit. The method was successfully applied to the determination of ascorbic acid in vitamin C tablets and orange juice.

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) plays an important role in fear, stress, and anxiety. It contains a collection of subnuclei delineated by gross cytoarchitecture features; however, there has yet to be a systematic examination of specific BNST neuronal types and their associated neurochemical makeup. The present study focuses on improved characterization of the anterior BNST based on differing molecular and chemical expression aided by mouse genetics. Specific Cre driver lines crossed with a fluorescent reporter line were used for genetic cell targeting and immunochemical staining. Using this new approach, we were able to robustly identify specific excitatory and inhibitory cell types in the BNST. The presence and distribution of excitatory neurons were firmly established; glutamatergic neurons in the anterior BNST accounted for about 14% and 31% of dorsal and ventral BNST cells, respectively. GABAergic neurons expressing different isoforms of glutamic acid decarboxylase were found to have differential subregional distributions. Almost no parvalbumin-expressing cells were found in the BNST, while somatostatin-expressing cells and calretinin-expressing cells account for modest proportions of BNST cells. In addition, vasoactive intestinal peptide-expressing axonal plexuses were prominent in the oval and juxtacapsular subregions. In addition, we discovered that corticotropin-releasing hormone-expressing cells contain GABAergic and glutamatergic subpopulations. Together, this study reveals new information on excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the BNST, which will facilitate genetic dissection and functional studies of BNST subregions. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:2379-2399, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Robotic-assisted rehabilitation system based on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) is an applicable solution for stroke survivors with a poorly functioning hemiparetic arm. The key technique for rehabilitation system is the feature extraction of Motor Imagery Electroencephalography (MI-EEG), which is a nonlinear time-varying and nonstationary signal with remarkable time-frequency characteristic. Though a few people have made efforts to explore the nonlinear nature from the perspective of manifold learning, they hardly take into full account both time-frequency feature and nonlinear nature. In this paper, a novel feature extraction method is proposed based on the Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) algorithm and DWT. The multiscale multiresolution analysis is implemented for MI-EEG by DWT. LLE is applied to the approximation components to extract the nonlinear features, and the statistics of the detail components are calculated to obtain the time-frequency features. Then, the two features are combined serially. A backpropagation neural network is optimized by genetic algorithm and employed as a classifier to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experiment results of 10-fold cross validation on a public BCI Competition dataset show that the nonlinear features visually display obvious clustering distribution and the fused features improve the classification accuracy and stability. This paper successfully achieves application of manifold learning in BCI.

A novel Mg-containing aluminophosphate |C4H12N2|[Mg2Al6(PO4)8(H2O)4] (JU96) has been hydrothermally synthesized using piperazine as a structure-directing agent. Its framework, constructed by the connection of AlO4/MgO4(H2O)2 polyhedra and PO4 tetrahedra, exhibits a new 4-connected zeolite-like topology with intersecting 8-ring channels. Such a framework contains unique [44·66·86] cages that are occupied by diprotonated piperazine cations. Study shows that the presence of Mg atoms and the pH value of the reaction gel have a vital effect on the formation of JU96.

Enhancing the efficiency of semiconductor photocatalysts is still a challenging issue for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. In this work, a synergistic strategy of surface defects and spatial bandgap engineering was realized for constructing a Zn1−xCdxS/SiO2 photocatalyst. A quantum efficiency of 48.6% (at 420 nm) for hydrogen evolution was obtained without the use of a cocatalyst. The molar ratio of Cd : Zn in Zn1−xCdxS particles could be gradually tuned from 0.305 : 1 (inside) to 0.490 : 1 (outside). At least a 0.17 eV potential difference is present between the inside and outside of Zn1−xCdxS particles. Experimental and theoretical analyses showed that photogenerated electrons and holes could vectorially transfer along the spatial bandgap to reach the surface, and be trapped by the surface defects. In situ formed surface Cd species act as the active sites accelerating the surface hydrogen evolution reaction.

R1234yf and R1234ze(E) have been proposed as the most promising refrigerants to substitute R134a due to its low global warming potential. Experimental measurement for the phase equilibrium of R1234yf (or R1234ze(E)) and lubricant oil is an important task in the practical refrigeration system. In this work, the solubilities of R1234yf in pentaerythritol tetrabutyrate (PEC4) and in pentaerythritol tetrapentanoate (PEC5), the two linear chained precursors of polyol ester lubricants, have been measured from T = (293.15 to 348.15) K based on the isochoric method. The obtained solubility data were compared with the literature results of R1234ze(E) and R134a in PEC5. In addition, the solubility of R1234ze(E) in PEC4 was also reported from T = (293.15 to 353.15) K for further comparison. The experimental solubility data were correlated using the Peng–Robinson equation of state with HVOS mixing rules and Wilson equation for the excess Gibbs energy at infinite pressure.