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Huijie Zhang,1 Shini Feng,1 Ting Yan,1 Chunyi Zhi,2 Xiao-Dong Gao,1 Nobutaka Hanagata3,41The Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Kowlong, Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China; 3Biomaterials Unit, International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Ibaraki, Japan; 4Nanotechnology Innovation Station, National Institute for Materials Science, Ibaraki, JapanAbstract: CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) stimulate innate and adaptive immune responses. Thus, these molecules are promising therapeutic agents and vaccine adjuvants against various diseases. In this study, we developed a novel CpG ODNs delivery system based on polyethyleneimine (PEI)-functionalized boron nitride nanospheres (BNNS). PEI was coated on the surface of BNNS via electrostatic interactions. The prepared BNNS–PEI complexes had positive zeta potential and exhibited enhanced dispersity and stability in aqueous solution. In vitro cytotoxicity assays revealed that the BNNS–PEI complexes with concentrations up to 100 µg/mL exhibited no obvious cytotoxicity. Furthermore, the positively charged surface of the BNNS–PEI complexes greatly improved the loading capacity and cellular uptake efficiency of CpG ODNs. Class B CpG ODNs loaded on the BNNS–PEI complexes enhanced the production of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α from peripheral blood mononuclear cells compared with CpG ODNs directly loaded on BNNS. Contrary to the free CpG ODNs or CpG ODNs directly loaded on BNNS, class B CpG ODNs loaded on the BNNS–PEI complexes induced interferon-α simultaneously. PEI coating may have changed the physical form of class B CpG ODNs on BNNS, which further affected their interaction with Toll-like receptor 9 and induced interferon-α. Therefore, BNNS–PEI complexes can be used to enhance the immunostimulatory effect and therapeutic activity of CpG ODNs and the treatment of diseases requiring interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interferon-α.Keywords: CpG oligodeoxynucleotide, boron nitride nanosphere, polyethyleneimine, immunostimulatory effect, cytokine

The core activities of tender documents compilation are to collect similar historical tender documents, select compilation templates of tender documents and revise templates of tender documents partially. However, when the historical tender documents have accumulated to a certain amount, it becomes extremely difficult for compilers to summary, reuse and revise templates artificially in traditional compiling methods. Based on casebased reasoning (CBR), this paper studied the content recommendation method in the process of tender document construction. Firstly, a structured model of tender documents was constructed, and similar tender cases were retrieved from the tender case database according to the characteristics of tender cases; Secondly, the non-interference sequence index was used to measure the similarity of clauses used in similar tender cases, and the recommended sequences of reference template and content module of tender documents were constructed, which realized the recommendation of compiling templates of tender documents and partial revision of templates; Finally, the knowledge of the new tender case was updated. The empirical analysis shows that the construction method of tender documents based on case-based reasoning not only proposes a suitable strategy for compiling tender documents, but also improves the compilation efficiency of tender documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we combine spectroscopic information from the SkyMapper survey for Extremely Metal-Poor stars and astrometry from Gaia DR2 to investigate the kinematics of a sample of 475 stars with a metallicity range of |$-6.5 \le \rm [Fe/H] \le -2.05$| dex. Exploiting the action map, we identify 16 and 40 stars dynamically consistent with the Gaia Sausage and Gaia Sequoia accretion events, respectively. The most metal poor of these candidates have metallicities of |$\rm [Fe/H]=-3.31\, \mathrm{ and }\, -3.74$|⁠ , respectively, helping to define the low-metallicity tail of the progenitors involved in the accretion events. We also find, consistent with other studies, that ∼21 per cent of the sample have orbits that remain confined to within 3 kpc of the Galactic plane, that is, | Z max| ≤ 3 kpc. Of particular interest is a subsample (∼11 per cent of the total) of low | Z max| stars with low eccentricities and prograde motions. The lowest metallicity of these stars has [Fe/H] = –4.30 and the subsample is best interpreted as the very low-metallicity tail of the metal-weak thick disc population. The low | Z max|, low eccentricity stars with retrograde orbits are likely accreted, while the low | Z max|, high eccentricity pro- and retrograde stars are plausibly associated with the Gaia Sausage system. We find that a small fraction of our sample (∼4 per cent of the total) is likely escaping from the Galaxy, and postulate that these stars have gained energy from gravitational interactions that occur when infalling dwarf galaxies are tidally disrupted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As oxygen vacancies play an important role in ferromagnetism of rutile TiO2, a method of γ-ray irradiates rutile TiO2 single crystals was subtly proposed to study the effect of oxygen vacancies on magnetic properties. Remarkably, room temperature ferromagnetism was observed in γ-ray irradiated rutile TiO2 single crystals, and the saturation magnetization is the strongest when dose is 4 × 104 Gy which assigned to ESR results. Since the displacement threshold energy of Ti atom is much bigger than that of O atom, the defects produced by γ-irradiation are mainly oxygen vacancies. After irradiation, XPS, PL spectra indicate the presence of oxygen vacancies(VO), Ti3+, and VO-Ti3+ composite defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reversible and controllable conversion between unipolar and bipolar resistive switching (URS and BRS) was observed in Pt/TiO2/Pt memory devices. The URS and BRS of this device exhibited different low resistance states but shared the same high resistance state. The conduction mechanisms of low resistance states in URS and BRS are Ohmic conduction and electrons tunneling, respectively, while the high resistance state is controlled by Schottky barrier formed at the top interface of Pt/TiO2. The temperature dependence of resistance states indicates Magnéli phase filaments formed in URS. A unified model was then proposed to demonstrate the unification of filament and interfacial switching mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resistance switching characteristics of the La0.7Ca0.3MnO3-based devices with the top electrodes of Ag, Ag–Al alloys with the atomic ratios of Ag:Al=2:1 (2AgAl) and Ag:Al=1:2 (Ag2Al), and Al have been investigated. The device with 2AgAl top electrode shows excellent endurance, where more than 1000 cycles of reproducible current-voltage hysteresis with stable high and low resistance states have been observed. Based on Auger electron spectroscopy measurement and the detailed investigation of current-voltage curves of these devices, it is suggested that the oxygen affinity of the metal electrode, which is determined by the chemical component of Ag and Al, has an important influence on the interface structure and the resistance switching endurance. The present work provides a possible way for the improvement of the resistance switching endurance by modulating oxygen affinity of the electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchrotron radiation photoemission study showed that the energy level alignment at the interface between N, N'-bis(naphthalene-1-y1)-N, N'-bis(phenyl) benzidine (NPB), a typical hole transport material, and Al could be adjusted by precovering a thin C60 layer on Al. The interface dipoles so formed could shift both the highest occupied molecular orbital level of NPB and the secondary electron cutoff measured at the early stage of the NPB deposition. The barrier height for hole injection from Al to NPB could thus be lowered by as much as 0.98 eV, and the optimal thickness of the inserted C60 layer was found to be 8-12 Å. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studied the Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic (A2/O) process of a city sewage treatment plant in Sichuan Province, China. We established a mathematical model of sewage treatment plant. The yield coefficient of heterotrophic bacteria (YH) in A2/O process was 0.65; maximum specific growth rate (uH) of 8.6 d-1; attenuation coefficient (bH) of 3.5 d-1. Compared with the recommended values reported in the literature, the results showed that the yield coefficient of heterotrophic bacteria measured by this method was consistent with the recommended value and the maximum specific growth rate and attenuation coefficient were higher than the recommended value. Different water qualities of different processes and heterotrophic bacteria in the activity are not the same. So the determination of the results will be different. Using the Electrolytic Respirometer developed by Bioscience Incorporation (BI-2000), the microbial oxygen uptake rate (OUR) curve is more accurate, the sampling frequency is higher, the sampling point is more, the judgment of the logarithmic period is more accurate, the test result is more reliable and the sewage treatment plant of the upgrade and simulation to optimize the operation to provide a theoretical basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conserving more soil water is of great importance to the success of arid and semiarid orchards. On the hilly areas of the Loess Plateau of China, mini catchments, named fish-scale pits, are widely used in orchards for collecting surface runoff to infiltrate more soil water. However, the flat surface inside fish-scale pits would increase soil evaporation during non-rainfall periods. Therefore, we integrated fish-scale pits with mulching, a popular meaning to reduce soil evaporation, to test whether this integration could improve soil water conservation. The results showed that soil water deficit was observed for all treatments. However, soil water deficit was further intensified in the dry month. An index was used to represent the soil water supply from rainfall infiltration denoted WS. For the fish-scale pit with branch mulching treatment in the entire soil profile, the compensation degree of SWS were greater than 0. However, the CK treatment showed negative values in the 40-180 cm. In conclusion, integrating fish-scale pits with mulching could conserve significantly more soil water by increasing infiltration and decreasing evaporation compared to fish-scale pits alone. Since the mulching branches were trimmed jujube branches, the integration of fish-scale pit with branch mulching is recommended in jujube orchards in order to both preserve more soil water and reduce the cost of mulching materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]