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As a kind of special nonlinear load, pulse load (PL) has the characteristics of two typical nonlinear loads. Compared with the traditional rectifier load, the harmonic characteristics of the PL are more complicated. In this paper, the harmonic characteristics of the PL is investigated. By analysing the working mode of the PL, an equivalent circuit model and a switch function model of the PL are introduced. It is analysed that the PL will inject a large number of inter-harmonics and even sub-harmonics in addition to the integer harmonics to the power system, and the harmonics are symmetrically distributed. The experiments were conducted on diesel generator sets (DGS) with PL and public grids with PL. The results show that the established model and analysis method can accurately calculate the harmonic distribution of the system, moreover, the influence of PL mode on harmonic characteristics can be revealed.

Soil texture is well known to directly affect bioavailability of organic matter to heterotrophs, but it also steers their activity by moderating soil moisture fluctuation. Disentangling these direct and indirect textural controls is, however, not trivial and attempts to do so are very scarce. Most attention has just gone to the stimulation of soil carbon (C) mineralization by soil moisture fluctuation per se. To quantify the indirect moisture-mediation control of soil texture on C mineralization, we monitored maize straw degradation in various soil texture/moisture regime combinations. Moisture levels were firstly kept fixed at 32% WFPS (experiment Fixed32) in a sand, sandy loam and silt loam soil or allowed to fluctuate between 20% and 50% water-filled pore space (WFPS, Dry-wet20-50). Total maize-C (Cmaize) mineralized was highly similar between these three textures and thus the direct textural control was minor. On the contrary with the fluctuating moisture level, around threefold more added Cmaize was mineralized (P

Increasing energy demands have accelerated the exploration of renewable energy, and H2 is a promising substitute for nonrenewable energy sources. The electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a convenient, stable, and eco-friendly route for producing hydrogen whose performance can be enhanced via the rational structure design of catalysts and the replacement of the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) with the urea oxidation reaction (UOR). Herein, 3D hierarchically structured NiMo microrod arrays was constructed on Ni foam where ZnO served as core and support (NiMo@ZnO/NF), which showed a high activity when used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for the HER and UOR. It only required potentials of −110 mV and 1.405 V to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 towards HER and UOR, respectively. NiMo@ZnO/NF was used as both the anode and cathode to construct a symmetric electrolyzer that was used for water splitting and urea electrolysis. The cell voltage decreased from 1.718 V to 1.549 V at 10 mA cm−2 after substituting the OER with UOR. Finally, the coupled NiMo@ZnO/NF || NiMo@ZnO/NF system can be driven by an AA battery in an alkaline solution containing urea, which demonstrates a practical and effective method for producing hydrogen assisted by anodic urea oxidation.

A theoretical study of the behavior of structured soils is presented herein. By introducing the effect of soil structure and loading history into the Cam Clay model, a new model was formulated. The concept of differing void ratios was modified to combine structural parameters and the over consolidation ratio, and an evolution law was proposed. Upon introducing the concept of the subloading yield surface, a new two-yield surface model was obtained. The predicted results were compared to the experimental data, demonstrating that the new model provided satisfactory qualitative modeling of many important features of structured soils.

Aerobic composting is usually employed to treat livestock manure. In this study, a bio-surfactant (rhamnolipid, RL) and chemical surfactant (Tween 80, Tw) were added to chicken manure during composting and their effects were determined on the variations in ARGs and intI1. After composting, the reductions in the RAs of ARGs and intI1 with the addition of Tw (1-4.7logs) were generally greater than that with the addition of RL (0.8-3.7logs) and the control (CK) (0.3-2.6logs), and the enrichment of ARGs was higher with CK (0.9-1.8logs). The ARG profiles were affected significantly by temperature and the water-soluble carbon contents. RL and Tw effectively reduced the concentrations of bio-available Cu and Zn, thereby hindering the co-selection of ARGs by heavy metals. The effects of RL and Tw on ARGs and intI1 indicate that the addition of Tw was slightly more effective than RL after composting.

Robust image registration is a vital challenging task, especially for multi-source satellite images that may have significant different illumination. A coarse-to-fine registration algorithm based on phase information is proposed. The coarse registration is implemented using Fourier-polar transform and phase correction based on phase congruency. The fine registration is first implemented by dividing large images into blocks. Then, the uniformly distributed corners and Principal Phase Congruency ( ppc ) images are extracted. After that, the corresponding points of extracted corners are obtained based on Phase Correlation of Principal Phase Congruency ( pcppc ), followed by a new outlier removal method. Experiment results revealed the robustness, accuracy, and distribution quality less than 1.0 of the proposed algorithm. The matching correct rate is about 94.7 percent for Data Set 2 due to considerable topography variations, and more than 96.6 percent for data set 4 despite significant different or inverse intensity, which can reach 100 percent with our outlier removal method.

A passive vision system based on image processing technology for automatic welding system is researched in order to enhance the efficiency for the tube-to-tubesheet welding of heat exchanger in this paper. To this end, the detection and extraction methods of the welding path are studied in tubesheet welding through the passive vision system. A calibration procedure is proposed for the vision system, and the positional relationships between the cameras and the robot are obtained. The Hough transform is used to extract the tubes’ position roughly through a camera that is fixed above the workpiece, and another camera is used to extract the feature of the tubes accurately one by one. A multiple iteration method of least squares is also proposed in this paper to remove the background noises. The edge of the inside tube circle is accurately extracted, and the welding path is obtained. Validation experiments are finally conducted to confirm the reliability and accuracy of this method.

Chymotrypsins (CTP) are a main type of proteolytic digestive enzymes in Lepidopteran insects. They can play a major role in degrading activated Bt toxin in some insect species, leading to decreased Bt toxicity and inducing insect resistance. Seven CTP-like sequences were obtained by screening transcriptome data of Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis. The expression analyses revealed that almost all of the CTP genes showed relatively higher transcript levels at the larval stage, and most showed relatively higher transcript levels in the saliva and midgut. We synthesized dsRNA from the seven CTP-like genes and fed it to larvae at the different instar stages. The dsRNAs from all seven CTPs significantly enhanced mortality of larvae from the first to the third instar larval stages, and only the dsRNA from CTP8 had higher lethality to fourth instar larvae. When larvae were fed on a diet containing 0.2 mg/ml dsRNA and Bt (5 μg/g diet), the 5-day mortalities were significantly enhanced, except for larvae treated with dsRNA from CTP5. The dsCTP16 plus Bt treatment resulted in a 5-day mortality of 100 %, and all of the dsCTPs accelerated insect death. These results indicated that members of the CTP-like gene family are effective RNAi targets for pest control. In particular, CTP8 represents an effective target for controlling the whole larval stage, and CTP16 is an effective target to enhance Bt insecticidal efficiency.

As the weld pool contains abundant information about the welding process, the skilled welder always utilizes the observed information to control the weld pool to get a good weld quality. In this paper, a real-time vision sensing technology is used as the eyes of the welder to observe the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) pool surface and a 3D reconstruction technology is used to reconstruct the observed weld pool surface in three-dimensions. The geometric parameters are obtained from the reconstructed pool surface. Step responses are conducted to acquire the relationship between the weld pool geometric parameters and the random variation of current, and the time-domain analysis of the system is done. Various random experiments are also conducted and the dynamic relationship of the weld current and the weld pool geometric parameters is established by means of a non-linear Hammerstein model.

A kind of novel composite filler was designed using FeCoNiCrCu high entropy alloy and pure Ti foil. ZrB2SiCC ceramic and GH99 superalloy were brazed with the composite filler. The interfacial microstructure as well as brazing mechanism was investigated. The mechanical properties were also assessed. The results show that the high entropy mixing effect of the Ti/FeCoNiCrCu composite filler keeps the activity of Ti and Cr. The solid solution forms as the matrix of brazing seam. The phase structure of (TiB + CrB)/solid solution promise a good bond between ZSC and GH99. The interfacial reaction is affected greatly by the brazing parameters, because the activity of Ti and Cr is changed. The maximum shear strength reaches 71 MPa when the joint is brazed at 1180 °C for 60 min. Cracks primarily propagate in the ZSC away from the reaction zone. Keywords: ZSC ceramic, High entropy alloy, Brazed, Microstructure

By employing density functional theory (DFT), this study presents a detailed analysis of nonresonant surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of pyridine on M@Au12 (M = V(-), Nb(-), Ta(-), Cr, Mo, W, Mn(+), Tc(+), and Re(+))-the stable 13-atom neutral and charged gold buckyball clusters. Changing the core atom in M@Au12 enabled us to modulate the direct chemical interactions between pyridine and the metal cluster. The results of our calculations indicate that the ground-state chemical enhancement does not increase as the binding interaction strengthens or the transfer charge increases between pyridine and the cluster. Instead, the magnitude of the chemical enhancement is governed, to a large extent, by the charged properties of the metal clusters. Pyridine on M@Au12 anion clusters exhibits strong chemical enhancement of a factor of about 10(2), but the equivalent increase for pyridine adsorbed on M@Au12 neutral and cation clusters is no more than 10. Polarizability and deformation density analyses clearly show that compared with the neutral and cation clusters, the anion clusters have more delocalized electrons and occupy higher energy levels in the pyridine-metal complex. Accordingly, they produce larger polarizability, leading to a stronger nonresonant enhancement effect.

The 1–19 region of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP1–19) is a dominating factor causing the interaction between hIAPP and membrane. It contains a short sequence RLANFLV that fulfils the amino-acid arrangement of the inversed cholesterol recognition amino-acid consensus (CARC) and may mediate a direct contact of hIAPP with cholesterol. In this study, we focused on the interaction of hIAPP1–19 with the lipid membrane composed of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) and cholesterol, and examined the role of the CARC motif in the peptide–membrane interaction. Using differential scanning calorimetry, 31P-NMR spectroscopy, 1H-NMR titration measurement and dye leakage assay, we demonstrated that hIAPP1–19 interacts with DPPC vesicles more strongly in the presence of cholesterol than it does in the absence of cholesterol. The peptide–membrane interaction promotes the domain segregation of the raft-containing membrane. The peptide is more disruptive to the cholesterol-containing membrane than it is to the cholesterol-depleted membrane. The substitution of the residue Phe at position 15 of hIAPP1–19 by Leu leads to a distinct decrease in the peptide–membrane interaction in the presence of cholesterol, but the effect of the residue substitution on the peptide–membrane interaction is very small in the absence of cholesterol. The circular dichroism data indicated that a conversion of the structure from a random coil to an α-helix is induced by cholesterol for both peptides and the structural conversion is more Chol-dependent for the wild-type peptide than the F15L variant. Our findings suggest that cholesterol could facilitate the insertion and aggregation of the N-terminal domain of hIAPP in the membrane, and the phenylalanine in the CARC motif could be involved in the interaction of the N-terminal domain with Chol.

Density functional theory (DFT) has been performed to characterize the structural stability and Lewis acidic properties of the T-COE-4 zeolites, in which the linked site between the layers is isomorphously substituted by the tetravalent Ti-, Sn-, or Zr- heteroatom. The effects of substitution energy and equilibrium geometry parameters on the stability of T-COE-4 are investigated. The computed Fukui function values and the adsorption of ammonia, pyridine, water and trimethylphosphine oxide molecules have been employed to predict the Lewis acid strength of the T-COE-4 zeolites. It is found that the smaller the O1-T-O2 bond angle is, the more difficult is to form the regular tetrahedral unit. The substitution energies at the linker position increase in the following sequence: Ti-COE-4

Phase change materials with considerable heat effect during phase change have been regarded as one of the most promising candidates for latent thermal energy storage and thermal management. Although intensive efforts have been dedicated to the high-efficiency application, challenges remain in enhancing the thermal response due to their intrinsically low thermal conductivity. Here, continuous diamond-carbon nanotube foams are designed and fabricated as thermal conductive reinforcement. The unique diamond foam with extremely high thermal conductivity act as the “main channel” for thermal flow transportation, and the directly-grown, well-distributed carbon nanotube networks plays role of the “second heat channel”. Benefiting from this stable hierarchical structure, thermal conductivity of the phase change composite has been enhanced to 9.72 W m−1 K−1 from 0.105 W m−1 K−1 of paraffin matrix, representing one of the highest enhancement ever-reported. Besides this conceptual advance, we discover that the hybrid structure considerably suppresses subcooling, a common problem that causes a much lower crystallization temperature than the melting temperature of many phase change materials. The special design promises to be one of the most efficient solutions for thermal response promotion of phase change materials and their extensive application.

The 14th century Sinan (or Shinan) Shipwreck, located in the southwestern marine area of the Korean peninsula, is one of the most significant ancient shipwrecks in the East Asian seas. Several hypotheses have been proposed about the port of departure, although insufficient archaeological research has been carried out on this matter. This paper makes a detailed comparison between the ceramics found on the Sinan shipwreck and the contemporaneous ceramics unearthed in Fuzhou, Hangzhou, and Ningbo in China, using three parameters: places of origin, proportion of products from different kilns, and similarity in ware types. We confirm that the most likely departure port of the ship was Ningbo (at that time called Qingyuan), from the perspective of its ceramic cargo. This inspires us to re-evaluate the importance of Ningbo to the maritime trade in the East Asian seas.

The production and circulation of bronzes among the regional states of the Western Zhou Dynasty are an important way of understanding the political and ritual systems of the dynasty. This paper studies the production and circulation of bronzes from three points of view: the cultural background, techniques, and raw materials of bronzes. First, the authors classified the bronzes excavated from the Zhouyuan Site, Yejiashan Cemetery, the Cemetery of the Lords of Jin, and Yu State Cemetery based on shapes and techniques. On this basis, a trace element analysis and lead isotope analysis were conducted to investigate the quality of the raw materials. The three aspects used for classification—cultural background, technologies and raw materials—complement each other during the discussion of the issues of interest. The authors conclude that high-quality bronzes from Ji-surnamed regional states represented by those excavated from Yejiashan Cemetery and the Cemetery of the Lords of Jin show consistency with Zhouyuan bronzes in the royal court in terms of raw materials, shapes, and techniques, therefore indicating their origin from unified workshops. However, low-quality bronzes produced in these places, and also bronzes from non-Ji-surnamed regional states, represented by those excavated in Yu State and Peng State, possess unique shape and technique characteristics, and included different copper materials and partly the same lead materials, reflecting the degree of independence that regional states enjoyed in terms of bronze production. The imperial court uniformly made high-quality bronzes, and distributed them to all regional states, while the regional states independently produced some low-quality bronzes; this system probably came into being during the early Western Zhou Dynasty. However, from the middle period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, some regional states increased their independence in the production of bronzes, and the distribution system of the imperial court began to collapse gradually.

The ritual system of China’s Late Shang dynasty is commonly described as ‘mature’ in Mainland Chinese scholarship, meaning that the leading role of bronze vessels in ancestral rites is recognisably similar to the practices of later dynasties. Such an assumption depicts ritual artefacts—particularly those from mortuary contexts—from the Early and Middle Shang periods as precursors to the Late Shang ones in a predictable evolutionary framework. This paper examines changes in the use of ceramic and bronze across the Shang period, showing that ceramics—specifically proto-porcelain and hard pottery—played more of a key role in Early and Middle Shang ritual, though the types of vessels required were not yet strictly formalised. By contrast, the huge number of bronzes in the Late Shang corresponds to an apparent emphasis on quantity and conspicuous consumption in a ritual economy. This occurred despite the Late Shang’s theoretical loss of territory in the west and south, which necessitated exchange networks with neighbouring polities, particularly those south of the Central Plains, be adapted.

The corrosion properties of selective laser melted (SLM) and of additionally heat-treated (T6) Al-3.5Cu-1.5 Mg–1Si samples were assessed in 0.001 M and 0.1 M NaCl solutions (pH 7) by means of electrochemical polarization measurements and SEM surface analysis. In both solutions these new alloy types exhibited improved corrosion behavior compared to wrought and heat-treated AA 2024 reference states. This is attributable to more refined microstructural states and to the formation of particular phases. The SLM samples comprise finely dispersed Q-phase particles which act cathodic and thus, trigger adjacent matrix phase dissolution. Additional T6 heat treatment was efficient for attaining the lowest corrosion current density of ~0.04 μA/cm2 and a widening of the anodic passive range to ~400 mV in 0.1 M NaCl. Only this alloy state shows a repassivation ability upon reverse scanning. T6 treatment yields mainly the Mg2Si phase acting as local anode and a widely passive Al-based matrix phase. Altogether, SLM processing with final heat treatment of the Al-3.5Cu-1.5 Mg–1Si alloy is suitable for achieving not only superior mechanical performance but also improved corrosion stability.

This paper presents a generalized formulation to analyze the free vibration characteristics of stepped functionally graded spherical torus shell based on the Ritz method. Two kinds of the functionally graded model are considered in this study, and the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is adopted to obtain the displacement fields of the model. The accurate results can be guaranteed by using domain decomposition method, in which the displacement functions component along axial direction and circumferential direction are respectively represented by unified Jacobi polynomials and Fourier series. In addition, the spring stiffness method is applied to simulate various complex boundary conditions, and the final solutions can be obtained by using Ritz method. The results of the same condition are compared with the numerical results which obtained by finite element method (FEM) and published literatures to verify the validation of the present method. On this basis, the vibration characteristics of stepped functionally graded spherical torus shell with general boundary conditions are further studied by a series of numerical examples.

In this research, a Jacobi-Ritz approach is introduced for dynamic analysis of laminated composite shallow shells subjected to arbitrary boundary conditions. The first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is utilized to construct the theoretical model. Under the present framework, the multi-segment partitioning strategy is employed. The displacement functions of each segment for the shallow shells are represented by a function of Jacobi polynomials along the length and width orientations. The artificial spring technique is brought into to deal with the issues with respect to continuity condition of the interface between adjacent segments and the arbitrary boundary condition. For the solution procedure, the Rayleigh-Ritz on the basis of the energy functions of the shallow shell is utilized. The proposed Jacobi-Ritz method is conveniently appropriate for various boundary conditions including both classical and elastic boundary conditions. Then, the accuracy and reliability of the methodology are confirmed by comparison with results from literature. At last, new results for free vibration of laminated composite shallow shells subjected to classic as well as elastic boundary conditions are exhibited, which may be served as reference data.

The research on the control mechanism of a covering layer on self-noise of the interior hull field remains underdeveloped. Because the detection function of sonar is greatly affected by the self-noise of the platform area, the sonar dome of composite material exhibits significant self-noise suppression while ensuring sufficient sound penetration. Based on an infinite flat model of a point-force excitation combined with a simplified two-degree-of-freedom system coupled with shell and flexible composite covering layer, the structure of the shell plate with or without a covering layer is analysed, and the expressions for the insertion loss and the degree of isolation of the covering layer in response to the shell vibration are deduced according to mechanical properties. In addition, this paper presents an influence law of a covering layer on the shell system vibration response under different stiffness, mass and damping parameters when the load is on a shell plate or covering layer. The most important contributions of this paper are the interior noise and vibration performance tests of a typical local carbon/glass hybrid reinforced sheet-beam structure with or without an overlying rubber blanket, where the layered material is on the interior of the structure. The experiment was implemented in air. The test model, filled with water, was hung by a flexible rubber band. In addition, the comparison of the structural vibration suppression and noise reduction performance of covering layers was made under different load types.

A simple and economical biorefinery method, organosolv methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) pretreatment assisted by Lewis acid ferric trichloride hydrolysis, was proposed for fractionating the lignin from extractive-free Eucalyptus powder at the nanoscale, accompanied by another product furfural, derived from hemicellulose. Under the conditions (180 &deg, C, 1 h) optimized based on the best yield of furfural, 40.13% of the acid-insoluble lignin (AIL) could be obtained with a high purity of 100%, a low molecular weight of 767 (Mn) and improved thermostability. The extracted lignin was characterized by its chemical structure, thermostability, homogeneity, molecular weight, and morphology as compared with milled wood lignin (MWL). The results showed significant variations in chemical structures of the extracted lignin during the pretreatment. Specifically, the aryl ether linkage and phenylcoumarans were broken severely while the resinols were more resistant. The G-type lignin was more sensitive to degradation than the S-type, and after the pretreatment, H-type lignin was formed, indicating the occurrence of a demethoxylation reaction at high temperature. Moreover, the lignin nano-particles were identified visually by AFM and TEM images. The dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed that the average diameter of the measured samples was 131.8 nm, with the polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.149. The MIBK-lignin nano-particles prepared in our laboratory exhibit high potentials in producing high functional and valuable materials for the application in wide fields.

Based on Ritz method, the vibration approximate solutions of uniform and stepped functionally graded (FG) spherical cap are carried out in this paper. The first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) is used to derive energy expression. The selections of displacement functions are based on domain decomposition approach, in which the unified Jacobi polynomials are introduced to represent the displacement functions component along axial direction. In addition, the standard Fourier series still denote the displacement functions component along circumferential direction. The various boundary conditions are simulated by applying spring stiffness method. Then the Ritz method is employed to obtain the final results. The solutions of the same condition are compared with those obtained by finite element method (FEM) and published literatures to validate the present method. The results exhibit that the current approach has the advantages of high solution accuracy and fast convergence. On this basis, the numerical results concerning the effects of geometric parameters and boundary conditions on the vibration responses of the structure are also considered.

Design of electrodes with both excellent electrocatalytic activity and facile synthesis process is the pivotal challenge in the progress of non-enzymatic glucose sensors. In this work, a series of highly dispersed nickel-carbon nanoparticles modified boron doped diamond composite electrodes were fabricated after the boron doped diamond films with a sputtering nickel layer being annealed at different temperature in hydrogen atmosphere. The surface morphology and interface structure of nickel-carbon nanoparticles modified boron doped diamond samples were characterized detailedly with the increase of annealing temperature. The charge transfer of synthesized electrodes was improved with the increasing content of sp2 carbon and the improvement of crystallinity of nickel. Therefore, the volcano-type electrocatalytic performance trend was observed with the composite electrode prepared after annealing at 500 °C presenting the best glucose sensing performance with the sensitivities of 1730 and 1081 μA cm−2 mM−1 in glucose concentration ranges of 0.01–2.12 and 2.12–9.06 mM respectively and a low detection limit of 0.2 μM (S/N = 3).

The research introduces a unified method to investigate the dynamic behavior of spherical caps with uniform and stepped thickness under different edge constraints. In the framework of thin shell theory, the mathematical model of spherical cap is proposed. By combining the multi-section partition technique and Rayleigh-Ritz method, the vibration characteristics of spherical caps can be obtained. The spherical cap is partitioned into sections along the meridian direction, in which the displacement components of spherical caps along meridian and circumferential direction are respectively represented by Jacobi polynomials and Fourier series. Based on the virtual boundary spring stiffness technique, different edge conditions can be easily simulated. The comparison with FEM, modal test and published literatures prove the accuracy and dependability of current method. The impacts of geometric parameters and edge constraints on the vibration characteristics of spherical cap are also discussed.

Dense stereo matching has been widely used in lunar rover and it is still a challenging problem, and the main task is to calculate the disparity map given two rectified images of one scene. Most algorithms assume that a maximal possible disparity exists and search all disparities in the range from the minimum to this maximal disparity. In the case of large images and wide disparity search range this can be very computational cost. To solve these problems, we propose a novel hierarchical stereo matching that reconstructs the disparity map of the scene based on the pyramid image and more global matching (MGM) method. This strategy first generates an image pyramid from the original images. And then for the coarsest level images of the pyramid, the disparity map is computed based on the full disparity search range of the coarsest level images. The disparity map of the coarse image is then used as prior to restrict the disparity search space for finer layer matching. We conduct a number of experiments with lunar rover images to evaluate the performance of method, and the experimental results proved the total amount of calculation of the novel MGM method is only 10% of the previous method. And the speed of stereo matching is highly increased and is also more accurate on lunar scenes from the obtained dense disparity maps.

Exogenous dsRNA enters the insect body and can induce the RNAi effect only when it is cleaved into siRNA. However, what kinds of base composition are easier to cut and what kinds of siRNA will be produced in vivo is largely unknown. In this study, we found that dsRNA processing into siRNA has sequence preference and regularity in insects. We injected 0.04 mg/g dsRNA into Asian corn borers or cotton bollworms according to their body weight, and then the siRNAs produced in vivo were analyzed by RNA-Seq. We discovered that a large number of siRNAs were produced with GGU nucleotide residues at the 5′- and 3′-ends and produced a siRNA peak on the sequence. Once the GGU site is mutated, the number of siRNAs will decrease significantly and the siRNA peak will also lost. However, in the red flour beetle, a member of Coleoptera, dsRNA was cut at more diverse sites, such as AAG, GUG, and GUU; more importantly, these enzyme restriction sites have a high conservation base of A/U. Our discovery regarding dsRNA in vivo cleavage preference and regularity will help us understand the RNAi mechanism and its application.

Methods to remove dye pollutants with natural enzyme, like horseradish peroxidase (HRP), are still limited due to high costs and low stability levels. The development of such a method with similar enzymatic activity is important and could be helpful in wastewater disposal. A metal organic framework material, Fe-loaded MOF-545 (Fe), was synthesized in our study as a new way to remove dyes due to its peroxidase-like activity. The structural characterizations of Fe-loaded MOF-545(Fe) was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis absorption spectra, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The peroxidase-like (POD-like) activity of Fe-loaded MOF-545(Fe) was investigated under different pH and temperature conditions. Because of the Fe added into the MOF-545 structure, the absorption of Fe-loaded MOF-545(Fe) for acid (anionic) dyes (methyl orange (MO)) was better than for basic (cationic) dyes (methylene blue (MB)). The Fe-loaded MOF-545(Fe) could give a significant color fading for MO and MB over a short time (about two hours) with peroxidase-like activity. The remarkable capacity of Fe-loaded MOF-545(Fe) to remove the MO or MB is due to not only physical adsorption, but also degradation of the MO and MB with POD-like activity. Therefore, Fe-loaded MOF-545(Fe) has significant potential regarding dye removal from wastewater.

The paper investigated the free vibration of combined spherical-cylindrical-spherical (CSCS) shell with non-uniform thickness based on Ritz method. The energy method and first-order shear deformation theory are adopted to derive the formulas. The displacement functions are improved on base of domain decomposition method, in which the unified Jacobi polynomials are introduced to represent the displacement functions component along axial direction. The displacement functions component along circumferential direction is still Fourier series. In addition, the spring stiffness method is formed to be a unified format to deal with general boundary conditions. Then the final solutions are obtained by using Ritz method. To prove the validity of this method, the results of the same condition are compared with those obtained by FEM, published literatures and experiment. In addition, some meaningful examples are provided to reveal the free vibration characteristics of stepped spherical-cylindrical-spherical shell. The results of this paper can be used as the reference data for future research in related field.

Properties of gelatin composite films（with 4% glycerol as plasticizer）with different mass concentrations of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) (0.2-1.0%) were investigated. The prepared composite films with 1.0 % MFC showed the highest tensile strength (12.32 MPa) with the lowest water absorption rate (391.1 %). The composite films can be dissolved in hot water of 95°C in less than 5 minutes. However, the addition of MFC had insignificant effect on the heat shrinkage and light transmittance of the resultant composite films.

Stellera chamaejasme ，widely distributed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau， is a poisonous plant causing serious harm to grassland. Activated carbons have been prepared from the roots of Stellera chamaejasme via phosphoric acid and zinc chloride activation at500 °C for 60 min with an impregnation ratio of 3:1. Yield (25.1% -27.6%), ash (4.5%-4.9%), methylene blue ( 195.0 mg/g-254.5 mg/g), iodine value (720.4 mg/g- 810.5 mg/g), specific surface area (1023.3 m 2 /g-1216.7 m 2 /g), specific pore volume (2.13 cm 3 /g-2.26 cm 3 /g), mesopore volume (1.30 cm 3 /g-1.59 cm 3 /g) and average pore size (5.88nm-7.45 nm) of the products were determined. The results from both the zinc chloride and phosphoric acid activation processes showed that the activated carbons of S. chamaejasme roots exhibit a characterization of natural developed mesopores.

This study presents the chemical compositional analysis of cow manure in terms of holocellulose (35.97%), lignin (19.02%), and ash (17.47%). Activated carbons (of specific surface area 114 to 893 m2/g, iodine value 219 to 718 mg/g, methylene blue adsorption value 40.5 to 501 mg/g, and ash 16.17% to 22.3%) were prepared from cow manure by using various activator compounds such as potassium carbonate. The results showed that the activation effect of potassium carbonate and zinc chloride was better under the given conditions. The main ash found in the activated carbons was silica, which was reduced to about 3% by washing with sodium hydroxide solution. The prepared activated carbons were used to treat the wastewater from the cow farm and for the pollutant removal that effectively met the discharge standard requirements. These results indicated that the production of activated carbons from cow manure is a promising method for the cleaner production in intensive dairy farms.

To overcome the numerous disadvantages of existing testing technology, a novel, fast, nondestructive, and quantitative technology for quality evaluation of Chinese eaglewood (CE) based on near-infrared (NIR) technology was proposed in this study. The extractives of CE were qualitatively analyzed to determine the types of volatile compounds using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and were quantitatively determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Agarotetrol was quantitatively determined by the HPLC analysis. The content was found to range widely from 0.016 to 0.104 mg/g. A quantitative prediction model aimed at quality control was proposed based on the qualitative and quantitative results coupled with a partial least squares regression. The coefficient of correlation and residual predictive deviation of the prediction model were determined to be 0.9697 and 5.77, respectively. The practical tests showed an average error of 0.000327%, which indicated that the method was able to provide a novel, quick, and effective quality evaluation of CE.

A series solution for the transverse vibration of Mindlin rectangular plates with elastic point supports around the edges is studied. The series solution for the problem is obtained using improved Fourier series method, in which the vibration displacements and the cross-sectional rotations of the midplane are represented by a double Fourier cosine series and four supplementary functions. The supplementary functions are expressed as the combination of trigonometric functions and a single cosine series expansion and are introduced to remove the potential discontinuities associated with the original admissible functions along the edges when they are viewed as periodic functions defined over the entirex-yplane. This series solution is approximately accurate in the sense that it explicitly satisfies, to any specified accuracy, both the governing equations and the boundary conditions. The convergence, accuracy, stability, and efficiency of the proposed method have been examined through a series of numerical examples. Some numerical examples about the nondimensional frequency and mode shapes of Mindlin rectangular plates with different point-supported edge conditions are given.

The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, is a serious economic threat to soybean-producing regions worldwide. A new SCN population (called race X12) was detected in Shanxi province, China. Race X12 could reproduce on all the indicator lines of both race and Heterodera glycines (HG) type tests. The average number of females on Lee68 (susceptible control) was 171.40 with the lowest Female Index (FI) 61.31 on PI88788 and the highest FI 117.32 on Pickett in the race test. The average number of females on Lee68 was 323.17 with the lowest FI 44.18 on PI88788 and the highest FI 97.83 on PI548316 in the HG type test. ZDD2315 and ZDD24656 are elite resistant germplasms in China. ZDD2315 is highly resistant to race 4, the strongest infection race in the 16 races with FI 1.51 while being highly sensitive to race X12 with FI 64.32. ZDD24656, a variety derived from PI437654 and ZDD2315, is highly resistant to race 1 and race 2. ZDD24656 is highly sensitive to race X12 with FI 99.12. Morphological and molecular studies of J2 and cysts confirmed the population as the SCN H. glycines. This is a new SCN race with stronger virulence than that of race 4 and is a potential threat to soybean production in China.

Spring soybean cultivars produced in moderate climates currently represent almost the entire soybean industry; however, soybean production has the potential to be extended into the summer months in different regions of the world. It is critical to select the correct soybean cultivar for production in a specific environment. The purpose of this study was therefore to evaluate the productivity (yield) and stability of the current summer soybean cultivars in multi-environment trials in the Huang–Huai–Hai region, presently the largest summer soybean-producing region in the world, to determine which cultivars will be most successful for large scale production in this region, as well as those that should be used in future breeding efforts. A total of 94 summer soybean cultivars were grown in the three major soybean production provinces, i.e., Shandong, Henan, and Hebei, over 3 years (2008–2010). The GGEbiplot™ software provided a ‘genotype x genotype-by-environment interaction’ function to evaluate the importance of agronomic factors controlling the soybean yield of each cultivar across the nine different environments. Xudou10, Zhonghuang39, Lu93748-1 and Lu99-1 exhibited relatively high average yields. The stability among the high-yielding cultivars was ranked in decreasing order as Xudou10, Zheng99048, Jidou7, Yudou18, and Gaozuoxuan-1. Among all recorded factors, the pod number per plant was the most important factor controlling yield, followed by seed number per plant, effective branch number, and 100-seed weight, which positively affected soybean yield. In contrast, a higher bottom pod height, greater number of nodes on the main stem, and longer growth duration were negatively correlated with yield.

Cellulosic pulps were prepared from Achnatherum inebrians straw using soda, soda anthraquinone (soda-AQ), and Kraft pulping processes. The main chemical compositions in A. inebrians straw are 70.5% holocellulose, 41.6% alpha-cellulose, and 18.2% lignin, similar to those in other non-wood materials. The conditions of a liquid/solid ratio of 4.5:1, a time-to-maximum temperature of 100 min, a maximum temperature of 165 °C and a time-at-maximum temperature of 40 min were used in all pulping processes. The results showed that the pulp yield was 35.12–37.01%, the kappa number was 13.23–17.67, drainage index was 19–21 °SR and the viscosity of pulps was 846–898 mL/g. Tear index, tensile index, burst index and brightness of the paper were 5.27–5.83 mN m2/g, 16.58–18.11 mN/g, 1.76–2.37 kPa m2/g and 40.7–43.1% ISO respectively. It is indicated that A. inebrians straw can be used as an alternative raw material for pulping.

Insect double-stranded (ds)RNA expression in transgenic crops can increase plant resistance to biotic stress; however, creating transgenic crops to defend against every insect pest is impractical. Arabidopsis Mob1A is required for organ growth and reproduction. When Arabidopsis roots were soaked in dsMob1A, the root lengths and numbers were significantly suppressed and plants could not bolt or flower. Twenty-four hours after rice roots were immersed in fluorescent-labelled dsEYFP (enhanced yellow fluorescent protein), fluorescence was observed in the rice sheath and stem and in planthoppers feeding on the rice. The expression levels of Ago and Dicer in rice and planthoppers were induced by dsEYFP. When rice roots were soaked in dsActin, their growth was also significantly suppressed. When planthoppers or Asian corn borers fed on rice or maize that had been irrigated with a solution containing the dsRNA of an insect target gene, the insect's mortality rate increased significantly. Our results demonstrate that dsRNAs can be absorbed by crop roots, trigger plant and insect RNAi and enhance piercing-sucking and stem-borer insect mortality rates. We also confirmed that dsRNA was stable under outdoor conditions. These results indicate that the root dsRNA soaking can be used as a bioinsecticide strategy during crop irrigation.

The application of robotics to the assembly of aero aluminum alloy tube has been limited by the inconsistency of the shape involved and the efficiency required. The simple “pick and place” approaches cannot be used due to the dimensional error resulting from digital bending process. The problem we seek to solve in this research is the accomplishment of robotic assembly efficiently by using a non-contact sensing system. The laser stripe data obtained can be processed through a mathematical fitting to calculate the eccentricity of ellipse in response to the posture of aero tube or flange. A mathematical model between the eccentricity of ellipse and the posture of aero tube or flange is presented, which makes it possible to predict the efficiency of assembly. Then, adjustment strategy is proposed in detail based on the model acquired. A series of experiments is carried out to validate the effectiveness of the method proposed. Results are presented along with a discussion of the problems that may be encountered during robotic assembly. The experimental results are well conducted to verify that robots combining with a visual sensor can be used to the assembly of aero tube and flange concisely and efficiently.

Caveolin-1 is a main structural component of caveolae and essential for the invagination of caveolae by forming a hairpin-shaped structure in the membrane-inserting domain (residues, 102–122). In this article, we determined the tertiary structures of the peptides comprising residues 93–126 and 101–126 of caveolin-1 in 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) aqueous solution and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micelles, respectively, by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study. The self-association of the peptides in SDS and dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles was also studied by circular dichroism (CD), NMR, and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) techniques. Our results indicated that both peptides form a helix–break–helix structure with two helices spanning over Leu103–Phe107 and Ile117–His126 and a loop ranging over Gly108–Gly116. The longer peptide 93–126 showed a stronger propensity to aggregate than the shorter peptide 101–126 in the micelles. Our results suggested that the glycine residues at positions 108 and 116 are important for the break of the helical structure of the membrane-inserting domain and the segment Thr93–Arg101 flanking the membrane-inserting domain may play a role in the self-association of the caveolin-1 protein at cellular membrane. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 104: 11–20, 2015.