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Nipah virus disease (NVD) is a newly emerged zoonosis with a case fatality rate of 40%-75%. NVD is a severe threat to human health and the development of livestock farming. NVD has become one of the emerging infectious diseases with great concern globally during more than 20 years. Nipah virus (NiV) is a pathogen for NVD, the natural host of which is Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family. The clinical spectrum of NiV infection is broad, including asymptomatic infection, acute respiratory infection, fatal encephalitis, and even death. Since NiV was first identified in Malaysia in 1999, it has been prevalent mainly in Southeast Asia and South Asia. NiV is primarily transmitted to humans through bat-pig-human, contaminated food. Currently, there are no specific therapeutic drugs and vaccines for NVD. Although there are no cases of NVD reported in China, which has close personnel and trade exchanges with major NVD-endemic countries, and NiV antibody has also been detected in relevant bats. There is a potential risk of importing NVD and domestic outbreaks in the future in this country. This paper provides a systematic review of the research progress in the prevention and control of NVD etiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations and laboratory diagnosis to help relevant staff to understand NVD more comprehensively and systematically.尼帕病毒病（NVD）是一种新发现的人兽共患病，致死率达40%~75%，严重威胁人类健康和畜牧业的发展，已成为近20多年来国际高度关注的新发传染病之一。尼帕病毒（NiV）是NVD病原体，其自然宿主是狐蝠科的果蝠。NiV可致人和动物感染，临床谱广泛，包括无症状感染、急性呼吸道感染、致命性脑炎甚至死亡。NiV自1999年首次在马来西亚被发现以来，主要在东南亚和南亚地区流行。NiV主要通过蝙蝠-猪-人、被污染的食物传播给人类造成人际传播。目前，尚无NVD特异性治疗药物和疫苗。我国目前没有NVD病例报道，但我国与NVD主要流行国家经济贸易及人员往来频繁，并且已在我国相关蝙蝠体内也检测到了NiV抗体，我国存在NVD输入与本地流行潜在风险。本文围绕NVD病原学、流行病学、临床表现和实验室诊断等预防控制的研究进展进行系统综述，帮助相关工作人员较为全面和系统地了解NVD。.

Multi-drug resistance (MDR) of tumor cells attenuates the efficacy of anticancer drugs and has become the main reason for chemotherapy failure. It is indispensable to establish an effective way to reverse multi-drug resistance. Our previous work has shown that down-regulation of the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway activity can reverse the drug-resistance of resistant cells. Further-more, the effect of signal transduction is strongly associated with lipid rafts. The drug-resistance is reversed successfully after lipid rafts are destroyed by heptakis(2, 6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD). However, the reversal of the drug-resistance is not associated with down-regulation of the expression of ERK1/2. Cell membrane permeability may increase when lipid rafts are destroyed by MβCD, causing the reversal of drug-resistance due to an increase in accumulation of the drugs in the cytoplasm. To minimize the influence of MβCD on the cell membrane structure, we selected flotillin, a marker protein of lipid rafts, as the target molecule, to further investigate the mechanism of changes in drug resistance after destruction of the lipid rafts. The effect of flotillin on the reversal of the drug resistance was examined using an RNA interference (RNAi) in a retrovirus system in human drug-resistant strains of colorectal cancer cell line HCT-15. The results demonstrate that flotillin-1 downregulation by RNAi (Flot1-RNAi) reduced the drug resistance, caused cell cycle arrest and decreased the expression of ERK1/2; however, apoptosis was not significantly affected. Knockdown of flotillin-2 by RNAi (Flot2-RNAi) had effects similar to those of Flot1-RNAi except that the effects on expression of ERK1/2 and apoptosis were different. Screening of multiple pathways indicated that the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway was closely related. This experiment demonstrates the association between PI3K and drug resistance through the activation of PI3K and suggests that PI3K may play a key role during the development of resistance in CRC. The results reveal that the levels of IRS-1 and PI3K proteins in the Flot1-RNAi and Flot2-RNAi groups were significantly down-regulated. Knockdown of flotillins by RNAi reduced the resistance of HCT-15/ADM cells; the results investigations of the Akt pathway indicate a decrease in resistance after lipid raft destruction. These data confirm that knockdown of flotillin reduces the resistance of HCT-15/ADM cells, and the mechanism may be relevant to the PI3K/Akt pathway. Additionally, flotillin may be used as a potential target for chemotherapy in the treatment of colorectal cancer.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influences of propofol on intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats through the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway.The models of intestinal I/R injury were first successfully established. All rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, namely, S group, I/R group, P group and P + S group. Pathological-morphological changes, injury score and wet-to-dry weight ratio of intestinal tissues as well as oxidative stress indexes in each group of rats were detected. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to measure the levels of inflammatory factors such as creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in each group of rats. Furthermore, Western blotting (WB) assay was applied to determine the protein expression levels of p38 MAPK and NF-κB in different groups.Intestinal tissue injury was the severest in I/R group, with the infiltration of massive inflammatory cells and oozing of blood (Figure 1A, I/R). Compared with those in I/R group, the infiltration of inflammatory cells and damage to intestinal villi were notably relieved in P group and P + S group, revealing that the intestinal mucosal injury was remarkably repaired in P group and P + S group (Figure 1A, P). Moreover, the intestinal tissue injury score was evidently higher in I/R group, P group and P + S group than that in S group (p0.05). However, it was markedly lower in P group and P + S group than that in I/R group (p0.05). I/R group, P group and P + S group exhibited significantly increased wet-to-dry weight ratio of intestinal tissues in comparison with S group (p0.05). However, P group and P + S group exhibited distinctly lower wet-to-dry weight ratio of intestinal tissues than I/R group (p0.05). The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) was reduced prominently, while that of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was elevated significantly in P group and P + S group in contrast with those in I/R group (p0.05). On the contrary, P + S group displayed remarkably lower MDA content and higher SOD content than P group (p0.05). The levels of CK-MB, TNF-α and IL-6 in the blood rose markedly in I/R group compared with those in S group (p0.05). However, they declined evidently in P group and P + S group in contrast with those in I/R group (p0.05). Besides, the protein expression level of phosphorylated p38 MAPK was significantly higher in I/R group, P group and P + S group than that in S group (p0.05). However, no significant difference was observed in the protein expression of total p38 MAPK among the four groups (p0.05). However, the protein expression level of phosphorylated p38 MAPK was distinctly down-regulated in P group and P + S group in comparison with that in I/R group (p0.05). Finally, I/R group, P group and P + S group had a prominently higher protein expression level of NF-κB than S group (p0.05). However, P group and P + S group exerted a significantly lower protein expression level of NF-κB than I/R group (p0.05).Propofol decreases the release of inflammatory factors and alleviates intestinal edema by inhibiting the p38 MAPK/NF-κB signaling pathway, thereby mitigating and treating the intestinal I/R injury in rats.

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of sevoflurane (SEV) pretreatment on Adriamycin (ADR)-induced myocardial injury through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt)/glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) pathway.A total of 24 rats weighing 200-250 g were divided into four groups, including: control group (C group), ADR injection group (ADR group), SEV pretreatment group (ADR + SEV group) and inhibitor group (ADR + SEV + LY group). H9c2 cells were cultured in vitro and were divided into control group (C group), ADR treatment group (ADR group), and SEV pretreatment group (ADR + SEV group) and inhibitor group (ADR + SEV + LY group) as well. Next, the content of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) in the serum was detected via Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining assay was performed to determine the severity of myocardial injury. Meanwhile, the apoptosis rate of cells was detected through terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. Additionally, Western blotting (WB) was employed to measure the protein expression levels of phosphorylated (p)-GSK-3β, p-PI3K, Akt and p-Akt.Compared with C group, ADR significantly increased the content of AST, LDH and CK in the serum (p0.01), reduced protein expression levels of p-GSK-3β, p-PI3K and p-Akt (p0.01), increased apoptosis rate (p0.01), and induced myocardial injury. SEV pretreatment significantly alleviated the effect of ADR, manifested as significantly lowered content of AST, LDH and CK in the serum (p0.01), distinctly elevated protein expression levels of p-GSK-3β, p-PI3K and p-Akt (p0.01), notably reduced apoptosis rate (p0.01), and relieved myocardial injury. LY294002 remarkably inhibited the protective effect of SEV against myocardial injury (p0.01) CONCLUSIONS: SEV is able to prominently ameliorate ADR-induced myocardial injury by regulating the phosphorylation level of the PI3K/Akt/GSK-3β signaling pathway.

The meshing efficiency of helical gear transmission is calculated by using the method of double integral. The external involute helical gear meshing is taken and the model of helical gears is simplified by the idea of differential. The instantaneous efficiency equation of a meshing point is derived, and further more the rectangular coordinate system of meshing zone of helical gears is established. The average meshing efficiency of helical gears is achieved by using double integral method. Then, the influence of design parameters is studied and the efficiency formula is verified by comparing the theoretical results with relevant experimental data, which can provide a theoretical basis for decide the design parameters.

In-wheel drive electric vehicles have the incomparable advantage over conventional electric vehicles, and the efficiency of the gear box is an important factor which affects the transmission efficiency of the electric vehicles. This paper focuses on a kind of gear boxes of the in-wheel drive system, in the premise of ensure the structure is stable and reliable, optimizes the related parameters with the goal of maximizing the efficiency of the gear box by using MATLAB optimizing toolbox. Comparing the optimization results with the efficiency before optimized,the influence of related parameters is studied. The results have practical significance to the selection of gear box parameters.

The performance of a pump turbine in pump mode is of great importance to a pumped storage power plant. In order to obtain pump characteristics of a pump turbine , 3D steady simulations were carried out by solving Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations using different two-equation turbulence models. Compared with the experimental data, SST k-ω turbulence model was chosen to simulate external characteristic curves under 32mm, 22mm and 18mm guide vanes openings. The results show a good agreement with the experimental data, especially near the best efficiency point. Finally, the detailed a nalysis was conducted within vaned distributor for these three guide vanes opening s. The variation of flow field, pressure filed, energy characteristic and loss with the discharge and guide vanes opening were obtained through the analysis. This research co uld provide a basic understanding on pump characteristics of a pump turbine for designer.

The performance of a pump turbine in pump mode is of great importance to a pumped storage power plant. In order to obtain the pump characteristics of a pump turbine, 3D steady simulations were carried out by solving rans using different two-equation turbulence models. Compared with the experimental data, SST k-ω turbulence model was chosen to simulate external characteristics curves under 32mm, 22mm and 18mm guide vanes openings. The results show a good agreement with the experimental data, especially near the best efficiency point. Finally, the detailed analysis was conducted within vaned distributor for these three guide vanes openings. The variation of flow field, pressure filed, energy characteristic and loss with the discharge and guide vanes opening were obtained through the analysis. This research could provide a basic understanding on pump characteristics of a pump turbine for designer.

A series of simulations were carried out to investigate the residual stress induced in the photovoltaic laminate during the cooling process after lamination with a global model and several submodels. The simulations focus separately on the effects of the cooling rate, the cell layout and anisotropy on the residual stress and deformation of the photovoltaic laminate in a comparative manner with the finite element method. The results have shown that significant stress concentration and twist occurs in the interconnection region in the cell. In addition, different cooling rates, cell layouts and anisotropy only influence the largest stress rather than the stress distribution and deformation. Therefore, the results of a uniform stationary isotropic model with fewer cells can provide enough insight into the stress distribution in real photovoltaic laminates and the modified largest first principal stress can be used for design and verification.

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder that is caused by an insufficient level of survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. Nusinersen is an antisense oligonucleotide drug that modifies pre–messenger RNA splicing of the SMN2 gene and thus promotes increased production of full-length SMN protein. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, phase 3 efficacy and safety trial of nusinersen in infants with spinal muscular atrophy. The primary end points were a motor-milestone response (defined according to results on the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination) and event-free survival (time to death or the use of permanent assisted ventilation). Secondary end points included overall survival and subgroup analyses of event-free survival according to disease duration at screening. Only the first primary end point was tested in a prespecified interim analysis. To control the overall type I error rate at 0.05, a hierarchical testing strategy was used for the second primary end point and the secondary end points in the final analysis. Results: In the interim analysis, a significantly higher percentage of infants in the nusinersen group than in the control group had a motor-milestone response (21 of 51 infants [41%] vs. 0 of 27 [0%], P Conclusions: Among infants with spinal muscular atrophy, those who received nusinersen were more likely to be alive and have improvements in motor function than those in the control group. Early treatment may be necessary to maximize the benefit of the drug.

The A1050/AZ31 clad materials were produced by vacuum roll bonding. The effects of rolling temperature and reduction rate on the interface of A1050/AZ31 clad materials were investigated, and the fracture behaviors of A1050/AZ31 interface were studied. A very thin intermetallic compound layer was formed at the A1050/AZ31 interface at rolling temperature of 350ºC and reduction rate of 25%. Therefore the A1050/AZ31 interface mainly was ductile fracture, and the average tensile strength of A1050/AZ31 interface reached the maximum (43MPa). When the rolling temperature was 450ºC and the reduction rate was 25%, the fracture occurred on the brittle intermetallic compound Al3Mg2 layer (thickness 7.68μm) and Al12Mg17 layer (thickness 1.95μm), mainly on Al3Mg2 layer, and the average tensile strength of A1050/AZ31 interface reached the minimum (0.61MPa)., 2019 International Conference on Advances in Materials, Mechanical and Manufacturing (AMMM 2019), 22–24 March 2019, Beijing, China

A model for density calculation of multicomponent slags was developed in the present work. This model is an extension of a previous model proposed by the present author. Density values of molten slags were calculated from molar volume values, which were calculated from molar volume of pure component and mixing molar volume. Mixing molar volume is correlated to differences between reciprocals of optical basicities of network forming oxides and those of network modifying oxides. Charge compensation for AIO45− was taken into consideration explicitly. An increase in molar volume due to Al coordination shift from sixfold to fourfold was modelled by defining molar volume of a hypothetical state of alumina in fourfold coordination in the present work. Density values of M2O–SiO2 (M = Na, K), CaO–Na2O–SiO2, MgO–Na2O–SiO2, Al2O3–CaO–SiO2, Al2O3–Na2O–SiO2 and Al2O3–CaO–MgO–SiO2 system were calculated by employing the present model. Comparisons between calculated and experimental values in literature were als...

Damping behaviours of the open cell microcellular pure Al foams fabricated by sintering and dissolution process with the relative density of 0·31–0·42 and the pore size of 112–325 μm were investigated. The damping characterisation was conducted on a multifunction internal friction apparatus. The internal friction (IF) was measured at frequencies of 1·0, 3·0 and 6·0 Hz over the temperature range of 298–725 K. The measured IF shows that the open cell pure Al foam has a damping capacity that is enhanced in comparison with pure Al. At a lower temperature (∼400 K), the IF of the open cell pure Al foams increases with decreasing relative density, with decreasing pore size and with increasing frequency. The IF peak was found at the temperature range of 433–593 K in the IF curves. It is clear that the IF peak is relaxational type and the activation energy associated with the IF peak is about 1·60 ± 0·02 eV. Defect effects can be used to interpret the damping mechanisms.

Current solutions for balancing load among Internet servers are based on the use of network address translation (NAT) and virtual Internet protocol (IP) addresses. In this work, we describe the design and implementation of an intelligent load-management prototype that is not based on the traditional approaches mentioned above, but can be efficiently built into existing high-end switch offerings from Lucent Technologies, such as the Cajun™ P550™ Gigabit Routing Switch. The key features of this prototype are (1) IP packets are not modified in any way — only Ethernet addresses are manipulated; (2) each machine that is a member of a server farm uses a shared IP address, in addition to unique IP addresses; and (3) a sophisticated tunable algorithm is used to select a server for the next incoming request.

Hydroxyl-rich topaz was recognized in thick kyanite quartzites from both high-pressure (HP) and ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) belts of the Sulu terrane, China. These quartzites contain variable proportions of quartz, kyanite, and topaz, with minor phengite, pyrite, and rutile. Some topaz grains from the UHP belt contain abundant inclusions of oriented kyanite, whereas those from the HP belt are partially replaced by woodhouseite [CaAl 3 (PO 4 )(SO 4 )(OH) 6 ]. Most topaz crystals contain 9.5 to 13.5 wt% F [0.92–1.30 atoms per formula unit (apfu)], indicating 35–55% substitution of F by OH. Such naturally occurring, hydroxyl-rich topaz has not been previously reported. Some topaz grains from the HP belt show distinct zoning: (1) decreasing F content from narrow cores (13.3–16.5 wt%) to thick rims (9.5 wt%) or (2) oscillatory zoning (9.44–12.77 wt%). Unit-cell parameters of topaz show a positive linear correlation between the OH content and a and b as well as volume. Based on our petrologic data, the experimentally determined curve of Ky + H 2 O = topaz-OH at very high pressures, and calculated OH/(OH + F) isopleths of topaz at low pressures, the topaz with X OH ~ 0.35 from the UHP belt may have formed at P-T conditions within the coesite stability field. The P-T condition of HP topaz is less well constrained; its high X OH (0.40–0.55) may have been caused by lower metamorphic temperatures and higher initial X OH in comparison with UHP topaz. Hydroxyl-rich topaz together with other hydrous minerals in UHP rocks may be important carriers of H 2 O to mantle depths of 100–200 km during continental subduction.

Laser doping is a promising way of selective emitter formation for silicon solar cells. To quantitatively study the influence of laser parameters on the doping effect, it is necessary to develop a numerical model. This work made some improvements on an experimentally verified numerical model. The most important improvement is that the flow field and the dopant concentration profile are only computed in a subdomain instead of the whole domain. The influence of the laser power and the scanning speed on the temperature and flow field in the melt pool, the selective emitter geometry and the dopant concentration profile are investigated. Then, to accurately study how the dopant concentration profile affects the performance of the selective emitter, a semiconductor device simulation was furthermore performed based on the computed dopant concentration profiles.

Silicon dioxide is one of the most abundant natural compounds. Polymorphs of SiO₂ and their phase transitions have long been a focus of great interest and intense theoretical and experimental pursuits. Here, compressing single-crystal coesite SiO₂ under hydrostatic pressures of 26-53 GPa at room temperature, we discover a new polymorphic phase transition mechanism of coesite to post-stishovite, by means of single-crystal synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiment and first-principles computational modelling. The transition features the formation of multiple previously unknown triclinic phases of SiO₂ on the transition pathway as structural intermediates. Coexistence of the low-symmetry phases results in extensive splitting of the original coesite X-ray diffraction peaks that appear as dramatic peak broadening and weakening, resembling an amorphous material. This work sheds light on the long-debated pressure-induced amorphization phenomenon of SiO₂, but also provides new insights into the densification mechanism of tetrahedrally bonded structures common in nature.

Ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) minerals of the Maowu mafic-ultramafic complex in the Dabieshan, east-central China exhibit many exsolution textures. Magnetite lamellae are common in olivines and Ti clinohumites from harzburgite and garnet pyroxenite. Monazite-(Ce) lamellae occur in apatites from the garnet pyroxenite. Independent P-T estimates suggest that these ultramafic rocks formed at P > 5 GPa and T = 700 ± 50 °C. The lamellae-bearing minerals are believed to preserve an earlier, higher P-T record prior to exsolution. Compositions and unit-cell parameters of the magnetite and host olivine and intergrowth relations were determined using a newly developed X-ray diffraction microprobe technique employing synchrotron radiation. The host olivine and magnetite lamellae bear a topotaxial relation with [220] Mag | | [200] Ol, [111]Mag | | [3 3 1]Ol, [11 1] Mag | | [331] Ol, [242]Mag | | [2 2 0]Ol. The recalculated composition of primary olivine may contain up to 1.5 wt% Fe 2O3. Four hypotheses may explain the observed intergrowths of oriented magnetite lamellae in olivine: (1) oxidation of olivine; (2) decomposition of Fe 3+ -bearing olivine formed at >6 GPa; (3) exsolution of a spinel (wadsleyite) solid-solution Fe 3O4-(Fe,Mg)2SiO4 during decompression; and (4) breakdown of phase A [Mg7Si2(OH)6] + enstatite. The third hypothesis appears to be the most likely inasmuch as no additional silicate phase occurs as associated inclusions in the olivine host. However, the actual mechanism for exsolution of magnetite from olivine remains to be studied experimentally.

Transmission of the acknowledgement frame after a packet reception is optional in the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Considering a set of sensor nodes, each of which has a packet to transmit at the beginning of an active period, we provide an analysis that yields the packet loss statistics of the non-acknowledgement mode of the standard. The analysis is based on a non-stationary Markov chain model and its accuracy is verified by ns-2 simulations

Two classes of aryltrienes in which the conjugation was incorporated in six-membered rings have been developed. The microscopic nonlinear susceptibility, μβ, the product of the dipole moment and the second-order nonlinear susceptibility, of these chromophores were measured using electric field-induced second harmonic generation (EFISH). The chromophores were then copolymerized as side-chain pendant groups in a methacrylate backbone copolymer with methyl methacrylate and their macroscopic electrooptic coefficients, r, were experimentally determined using a reflection technique after electric field poling of the polymers. When compared with 4,4′-N,N-dimethylaminonitrostibene (DANS), these molecules demonstrated electrooptic activities up to three times of DANS, when measured at 1.3 μm. By using a simple two-level free-gas model, the two sets of measurements corresponded closely at low poling fields. At high fields, the simple model breaks down as more detailed poling parameters are required to accurately describe the nonlinear poling effects. The results of the analysis of the high-field poling data will be published separately. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

C 60 molecule exhibited high reactivity towards the addition reaction of nitrogen dioxide radicals (·NO 2 ), which were generated by reaction of sodium nitrite with conc. HNO 3 . This chemical functionalization of C 60 resulted in polynitro fullerenes, C 60 (NO 2 ) n . Hydrolysis of polynitro fullerenes in aqueous NaOH gave the corresponding polyhydroxylated fullerene derivatives (fullerenols) in moderate overall yields. Results from mass spectra (FAB, negative ion) of fullerenols indicated their structure as C 60 derivatives with at least 16 hydroxy groups.

The currency crises were divided into the macro-economic vulnerability crisis, the declining competitiveness crisis; the self- fulfilling crisis; the led crisis by bank-crisis; the debt default crisis; the reversal crisis of capital flow; and the contagious crisis. Against the study on the financial stability and the early-warning systems having the lack of the predicting external crisis and monitoring internal risk, the analyzing framework of the financial macro-monitoring system based on the currency crises was proposed. A three-layer indicator set being made of the leading indicators was built as a core set, which regarded the six-type currency crises occurring in emerging market as the key, considered the impact of the bank system crisis for the monetary system. The macro-prudential indicators as a feature set would monitor internal risk. An interpretative illustration was progressed to the macro-monitoring indicators including the core set and the feature set.

Recent advances in techniques to generate static ultra-high pressure (>100 GPa) in the diamond anvil cell have significantly enhanced our understanding of the properties of solids under these extreme conditions. In order to characterize the structure of solids at these pressures, X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation has become an invaluable tool. Since the highest pressures are attained at the expense of sample volume (~ 100 μm3) , it is best to use the intense radiation available from a synchrotron to study the very small samples used in ultra-high pressure studies. Even with the intense x-ray beams currently available, it is still often desirable to focus the x-ray beam to increase the available flux. We have developed a focusing system which uses multilayer coated spherical mirrors. With this system, intense x-ray beams with sizes smaller than 10 μm by 10 μm can be achieved at a synchrotron radiation beamline. Previously, we used the focusing system for x-ray microprobe experiments.

The influence of digital cinematography on silicon ICs is described with primary emphasis on the image capturing function. The CCD imager combines 8 Mpixels resolution, up to 60 frames/s and a linear dynamic range of 12 b. The imager generates 720 MB/s which needs to be further processed in the camera.

In this paper, a secure card authentication system based on digital watermarking is presented. A sequence of identification characters, e.g. owner's ID number is inserted into the photograph, thus a linkage between the photograph and its owner can be established. The print-and-scan process is successfully overcome by our transform coefficient polarity based watermarking algorithm. The retrieval algorithm is capable of verifying whether the inspected card is authorized. We apply our algorithm for 105 photographs and the success rate achieved is better than 96%.

We present a simple two-state model that justifies the dependence of first-order hyperpolarizabilities ( β ) of push–pull polyenes on conformational disorder. Particular relevance is given to the calculation of the vibrational properties (i.e. force constants, infrared and Raman intensities) which are used for the evaluation of the vibrational contribution to static molecular hyperpolarizabilities. The theoretical predictions are compared with experimental measurements of the quantities of interest on suitable molecules purposely synthesized.

Reversible cryothermal mapping of cardiac arrhythmias has been performed intraoperatively. However, a steerable cooling catheter for reversible mapping has not yet been developed. We therefore developed and tested a cooling system consisting of a -15 degrees C hypertonic saline reservoir and a 7F steerable catheter also capable of radiofrequency (RF) ablation. Using excised ovine hearts placed in a 37 degrees C circulating saline bath, we measured the temperatures at depths of 0 mm, 1 mm, and 2 mm. The temperature after 90 seconds of cooling was 16.5 +/- 2.1 degrees C at 0 mm compared to 23.9 +/- 4.1 degrees C at 1 mm and 31.1 +/- 3.9 degrees C at 2 mm depth (p0.01). These data suggest that a 7F steerable combined RF ablation-cooling catheter may achieve temperatures suitable for mapping arrhythmias such as atrial tachycardias and right ventricular outflow tract tachycardias. Further enhancements to achieve lower temperatures at depth may be needed to reversibly map other arrhythmias such as left ventricular tachycardias.

Neutron diffraction has become one of the best ways to study light atoms, such as hydrogens. Hydrogen however has a negative coherent scattering factor, and a large incoherent scattering factor, while deuterium has virtually no incoherent scattering, but a large positive coherent scattering factor. Beside causing high background due to its incoherent scattering, the negative coherent scattering of hydrogen tends to cancel out the positive contribution from other atoms in a neutron density map. Therefore a fully deuterated sample will yield better diffraction data with stronger density in the hydrogen position. On this basis, a sperm whale myoglobin gene modified to include part of the A cII protein gene has been cloned into the T7 expression system. Milligram amounts of fully deuterated holo-myoglobin have been obtained and used for crystallization. The synthetic sperm whale myoglobin crystallized in P21 space group isomorphous with the native protein crystal. A complete X-ray diffraction dataset at 1.5A has been collected. This X-ray dataset, and a neutron data set collected previously on a protonated carbon-monoxymyoglobin crystal have been used for solvent structure studies. Both X-ray and neutron data have shown that there are ordered hydration layers around the protein surface. Solvent shell analysis on the neutron data further has shown that the first hydration layer behaves differently around polar and apolar regions of the protein surface. Finally, the structure of per-deuterated myoglobin has been refined using all reflections to a R factor of 17%.

We present a case of spontaneous mediastinal and subcutaneous cervical emphysema due to perforation of an occult sigmoid diverticulitis. Mediastinal emphysema should alert the physician to the possibility of retroperitoneal gastrointestinal perforation, even in patients without signs of distinct peritoneal irritation.

In order to study the cause of abnormal vibration in large Francis turbine under small opening condition, CFD method was adopted to analyze the flow filed and pressure fluctuation. Numerical simulation was performed on the commercial CFD code Ansys FLUENT 12, using DES method. After an effective validation of the computation result, the flow behaviour of internal flow field under small opening condition is analyzed. Pressure fluctuation in different working mode is obtained by unsteady CFD simulation, and results is compared to study its change. Radial force fluctuation is also analyzed. The result shows that the unstable flow under small opening condition leads to an increase of turbine instability in reverse pump mode, and is one possible reason of the abnormal oscillation.

The comparison shows that both Shiquandabu pills and Shiquandabu liquor are efficacious in strengthening the immunological functions of mice. No significant difference has been found between the two forms of preparation. There exists a good dose-efficacy relationship for the pills in immunological functions.

Congenital cystic dilatation of the intrahepatic biliary ducts (Caroli's disease), until recently, has been infrequently recognized. It is often associated with autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) and congenital hepatic fibrosis (CHF). We hereby report a case with Caroli's disease, polycystic kidney disease (PKD), and CHF: This 24-year-old female patient initially presented with acute bacterial nephritis (ABN). Renal ultrasonography revealed bilateral enlarged kidneys with multiple cysts. Because her parents showed no renal cyst on ultrasonographic examination, she received further studies. Abdominal ultrasonography showed cystic dilatation of the biliary tree. Computed tomography (CT) with meglumine lotroxinate (biliscopin) infusion study and hepatobiliary scintigraphy confirmed the diagnosis of Caroli's disease. Liver biopsy revealed CHF: The radiographic and scintigraphic pictures are hereby illustrated and CT with biliscopin infusion study is emphasized. We conclude that if radiologic evidence of renal cystic lesions is absent in the parents of patients with PKD, the coexistence of Caroli's disease and CHF should be considered. The clinical pictures of ABN in this patient are also discussed. As far as we know, this is the first reported case of ABN in a patient with PKD and Caroli's disease, and it showed good response to antibiotic therapy.

A low-complexity detection scheme consisting of a sphere decoder and a parallel interference cancellation (PIC) equaliser is proposed for OFDM systems in doubly-selective fading channels. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that this detection scheme substantially improves the symbol error rate performance of OFDM systems compared with the traditional PIC equaliser while requiring lower complexity at moderate and high signal-to-noise ratios.