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Overweight or obese cancer patients are more likely to develop a proinflammatory status. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the nutrition-inflammation marker can provide additional prognostic information on top of well-established Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG-PS) in overweight or obese patients with cancer.A total of 1667 overweight or obese cancer patients were enrolled in this study. We assessed the prediction accuracy of 10 nutrition-inflammation markers by time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and elucidated their association with overall survival by the Kaplan-Meier method and a Cox model.In this analysis, the majority of patients had a good performance status (ECOG-PS score ≤1; 88.3%). Both the area under ROC curves and the C-index of the lymphocyte-C-reactive protein ratio (LCR) demonstrated that LCR was the most significant nutrition-inflammation marker correlated with survival. In patients with good ECOG-PS, a low LCR was significantly associated with poorer prognosisand enhanced the predictive ability of one-year mortality. For specific tumor types, a low LCR was an independent prognostic factor for lung cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancer, and colorectal cancer, and it tended to be a significant predictor for breast cancer. In addition, those patients with a combined low LCR and poorer ECOG-PS (ECOG-PS score1) showed the worst prognosis.The LCR is more strongly associated with overall survival than other nutrition-inflammation markers, and it is able to further detect patients with worse prognosis on top of ECOG-PS in overweight or obese patients with cancer.

Sorbitol is an important signaling molecule in fruit trees. Here, we observed that sorbitol increased during flower bud differentiation in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.). Transcriptomic analysis suggested that bud formation was associated with expression of the MADS-box transcription factor (TF) family gene, EjCAL. RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization showed that EjCAL was enriched in flower primordia but hardly detected in the shoot apical meristem. Heterologous expression of EjCAL in Nicotiana benthamiana plants resulted in early flower bud differentiation. Yeast one-hybrid analysis identified the ERF12 TF as a binding partner of the EjCAL promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-PCR confirmed that EjERF12 binds to the EjCAL promoter, and β-glucuronidase activity assays indicated that EjERF12 regulates EjCAL expression. Spraying loquat trees with sorbitol promoted flower bud formation and was associated with increased expression of EjERF12 and EjCAL. Furthermore, we identified EjUF3GaT1 as a target gene of EjCAL and its expression was activated by EjCAL. Function characterization via overexpression and RNAi reveals that EjUF3GaT1 is a biosynthetic gene of flavonoid hyperoside. The concentration of the flavonoid hyperoside mirrored that of sorbitol during flower bud differentiation and exogenous hyperoside treatment also promoted loquat bud formation. We identified a mechanism whereby EjCAL might regulate hyperoside biosynthesis and confirmed the involvement of EjCAL in flower bud formation in planta. Together, these results provide insight into bud formation in loquat and may be used in efforts to increase yield. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

In this paper, we are concerned with nonlinear interaction detection based on partial dimension reduction with missing response data. The covariates are grouped through linear combinations in a general class of semi-parametric models to detect their joint interaction effects. The joint interaction effects are estimated by a profile least squares approach with the help of the inverse probability weighted technique. The asymptotic properties of the resulting estimate for the central partial mean subspace are established. In addition, a Wald type test is proposed to detect the interactions between the covariates. A BIC-type criterion is applied to determine the structural dimension of the central partial mean subspace and its consistency is also obtained. Simulations are conducted to examine the finite sample performances of our proposed method and a real data set is analyzed for illustration.

Measurement errors and missing data are often arise in practice. Under this circumstance, we focus on using jackknife empirical likelihood (JEL) and adjust jackknife empirical likelihood (AJEL) met...

The body's immune-nutrition status affects prognosis in patients with lung cancer. The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score is an immune-nutrition-related index associated with prognosis in other tumors. We aimed to assess the value of CONUT scores in predicting prognosis in patients with lung cancer.In this retrospective, multicenter study, 1339 patients with lung cancer were divided into low and high CONUT score groups. The relationship between CONUT scores and overall survival (OS) was assessed by survival curves and Cox proportional hazards regression modeling. A nomogram, including CONUT scores and other clinical variables, was established.There were 659 (49.2%; mean age, 59.91 years) low and 680 (50.8%; mean age, 62.23 years) high CONUT score patients. OS was significantly worse in patients with high than in those with low CONUT scores (P0.001), even after stratification by pathological types (non-small-cell lung cancer and small-cell lung cancer) and Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) stages. A high CONUT score independently predicted risk in patients with lung cancer (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.26-1.73; P0.001). The CONUT-based nomogram could predict prognosis well (C-index, 0.701), with better resolution and accuracy than TNM staging for predicting OS at 1, 2, and 3 years (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.735 vs 0.678, 0.742 vs 0.696, and 0.768 vs 0.743, respectively).The CONUT score can predict prognosis in patients with lung cancer. A CONUT-based nomogram can improve the accuracy of survival prediction in such patients.

Background/objectives The assessment of nutritional status and the quality of life in patients with gastric cancer has become one of the important goals of current clinical treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the nutritional status in hospitalized gastric cancer patients by using patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) and to analyze the influence of nutritional status on the patients’ quality of life (QOL). Methods We reviewed the pathological diagnosis of gastric cancer for 2322 hospitalized patients using PG-SGA to assess their nutritional status and collected data on clinical symptoms, the anthropometric parameters (height, weight, body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), triceps skin-fold thickness (TSF), and hand-grip strength (HGS). We also collected laboratory data (prealbumin, albumin, hemoglobin) within 48 h after the patient was admitted to the hospital. The 30-item European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) was used for QOL assessment in all patients. Results By using PG-SGA, we found 80.4% of the patients were malnourished (score ≥ 4) and 45.1% of the patients required urgent nutritional support (score ≥ 9). In univariate analysis, old age (> 65 years, p

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we investigate estimations in varying-coefficient partially linear errors-in-variables models with covariates missing at random. However, the estimators...

Anthropometric measurements including body mass index (BMI), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), and calf circumference (CC) are simple and convenient indicators of nutritional status and muscle mass. However, most of their reference values come from studies based on healthy Western populations. The optimal reference values of these anthropometric factors in Asian patients with cancer are unclear. The aim of this study was to develop reference values of severely and moderately low BMI, MUAC, and CC by analyzing a large sample of patients with cancer from a nationwide population.We conducted a retrospective analysis of 16 104 patients who were diagnosed with malignant diseases from June 2012 to January 2019. The median age of the patients was 58 y, and 52.5% were men. Optimal stratification was used to calculate reference values using X-tile software. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox analysis were performed to analyze survival data. A receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted to test the performance of new reference values in diagnosing malnutrition.The optimal reference values were calculated for BMI (moderately low: 19.7 [women] and 19 [men]; severely low: 16.7 [women] and 16.7 [men]), MUAC (moderately low: 24.5 [women] and 23.2 [men] severely low: 20.6 [women] and 19.4 [mnen]), and CC (moderately low: 29.1 [women] and 29.3 [men]; severely low: 26.7 [women] and 26.9 [men]). New reference values had more significant affects on mortality risk and better performance in predicting malnutrition than existing ones.The present study defined reference values of moderately and severely low BMI, MUAC, and CC, which showed strong associations with quality of life, malnutrition, and mortality risk. New reference values from the present study are classification references specifically for the Asian population, which is a new step to promote the application of Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition criteria and its severity grading system in Asia.

Background Completing Patient‐Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG‐SGA) questionnaires is time consuming. This study aimed to develop and validate an easy‐to‐use modified PG‐SGA (mPG‐SGA) for cancer patients. Methods Seventy professionals assessed the content validity, comprehensibility, and difficulty of the full PG‐SGA. A survey including the PG‐SGA and other questionnaires was completed by 34 071 adult hospitalized cancer patients with first cancer diagnosis or recurrent disease with any tumour comorbidities from the INSCOC study. Among them, 1558 patients were followed for 5 years after admission. Reliability and rank correlation were estimated to assess the consistency between PG‐SGA items and to select mPG‐SGA items. The external and internal validity, test–retest reliability, and predictive validity were tested for the mPG‐SGA via comparison with both the PG‐SGA and abridged PG‐SGA (abPG‐SGA). Results After deleting items that more than 50% of professionals considered difficult to evaluate (Worksheet 4) and items with an item‐total correlation

To evaluate the application of the Green Model to lifestyle intervention in male infertility patients.A total of 120 male infertility patients treated from October 2018 to January 2019 were equally randomized into a control and an observation group, the former given conventional nursing and the latter Green Model intervention in addition. Comparisons were made between the two groups of patients in their satisfaction with nursing intervention, scores on lifestyle knowledge, beliefs and behaviors, and compliance with the healthy lifestyle.The patients in the observation group showed a dramatically higher satisfaction with the nursing intervention than the controls (96.67% vs 75.00%, P0.01) as well as higher scores on lifestyle knowledge (8.92 ± 1.08 vs 5.89 ± 1.99, P0.05), beliefs (8.78 ± 0.68 vs 5.98 ± 1.50, P0.05) and behaviors (19.32 ± 1.12 vs 13.88 ± 2.11, P0.05) and their compliance with the healthy lifestyle (61.67% vs 38.33, P0.05).Green Model intervention can help male infertility patients to obtain correct lifestyle cognition, beliefs and behaviors, promote their compliance with the healthy lifestyle and improve their satisfaction with nursing intervention.

BackgroundColorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy with high incidence of malnutrition. Increasing evidence showed that nutritional status could be a prognostic indicator of cancer survival. However, there were few prognostic models involving nutrition-related indicators in CRC. This study aimed to develop a nutrition-related prognostic model for CRC survival.MethodsThis multicenter retrospectively primary cohort data included 1,373 CRC patients, and the external validation cohort enrolled other 108 CRC patients. LASSO and multivariate regression analyses were used to select prognostic indicators and develop the nomogram. We performed C-index, calibration curves, and DCA to assess the discrimination, calibration, and applicability. Finally, the indicators of the nomogram model were used as adjustment factors. Multivariate Cox survival analyses were performed to investigate the benefit of the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) and Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) malnutrition criteria to CRC prognosis.ResultsFive prognostic indicators (TNM stage, radical resection, reduced food intake, activities and function decline, and low albumin) were chosen to develop the nomogram. C-index of the nomogram was 0.74 (95% CI 0.72-0.77) and 0.72 (95% CI 0.62-0.81) in the primary cohort and validation cohort, which were higher than other models. Calibration plots and DCA showed that the nomogram model has a good consistency and clinical benefit in predicting CRC survival. Multivariate Cox survival analysis suggested moderate (PPP>0.05). Finally, stratified analysis suggested that malnourished CRC patients with low albumin synergistically increased the death risk of CRC OS both in PG-SGA and GLIM. (P for interaction = 0.007 and 0.004, respectively)ConclusionThis study established a prospective model to predict the OS in CRC patients using nutrition-related indicators. Moreover, we also found that PG-SGA had a better prognostic and predictive efficiency in CRC than GLIM. These findings grant further verification.

Empirical likelihood as a nonparametric approach has been demonstrated to have many desirable merits for constructing a confidence region. The purpose of this article is to apply the empirical likelihood method to study the generalized functional-coefficient regression models with multiple smoothing variables when the response is subject to random right censoring. The coefficient functions with multiple smoothing variables can accommodate various nonlinear interaction effects between covariates. The empirical log-likelihood ratio of an unknown parameter is constructed and shown to have a standard chi-squared limiting distribution at the true parameter. Based on this, the confidence region of the unknown parameter can be constructed. Simulation studies are carried out to indicate that the empirical likelihood method performs better than a normal approximation-based approach for constructing the confidence region.

This paper develops a varying-coefficient approach to the estimation and testing of regression quantiles under randomly truncated data. In order to handle the truncated data, the random weights are introduced and the weighted quantile regression (WQR) estimators for nonparametric functions are proposed. To achieve nice efficiency properties, we further develop a weighted composite quantile regression (WCQR) estimation method for nonparametric functions in varying-coefficient models. The asymptotic properties both for the proposed WQR and WCQR estimators are established. In addition, we propose a novel bootstrap-based test procedure to test whether the nonparametric functions in varying-coefficient quantile models can be specified by some function forms. The performance of the proposed estimators and test procedure are investigated through simulation studies and a real data example.

In this paper, we investigate the problem of testing nonparametric function in partial linear errors-in-variables models with response missing at random. In order to overcome the bias produced by measurement errors, two bias-corrected test statistics based on the quadratic conditional moment method are proposed. The limiting null distributions of the test statistics are established respectively and p values can be easily determined which show that the proposed test statistics have similar theoretical properties. Moreover, our tests can detect the alternatives distinct from the null hypothesis at the optimal nonparametric rate for local smoothing-based methods in this area. Simulation studies are conducted to demonstrate the performance of the proposed test methods and the proposed two tests give similar performances. A real data set from the ACTG 175 study is used for illustrating the proposed test methods.

The matrix graphite of fuel elements (FEs) with infiltration of 2LiF-BeF2(FLiBe) at different pressures varying from 0.4 MPa to 1.0 MPa, has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) measurement. The result of XRD reveals that diffraction patterns of FLiBe appear in matrix graphite infiltrated with FLiBe at a pressure of 0.8 MPa and 1.0 MPa. The surface morphology from SEM shows that FLiBe mainly distributes within macro-pores of matrix graphite. PAL measurement indicates that there are mainly two positron lifetime components in all specimens:τ1~0.21 ns and τ2 ­~0.47 ns, ascribed to annihilation of positrons in bulk and trapped-positrons at surface, respectively. The average positron lifetime decreases with infiltration pressure, due to the decrease in annihilation fraction of positrons with surface after infiltration of FLiBe into macro-pores.

This paper focuses on the problem of estimation and variable selection for quantile regression (QR) of partially linear model (PLM) where the response is subject to random left truncation. We propose a three-stage estimation procedure for parametric and nonparametric parts based on the weights which are random quantities and determined by the product-limit estimates of the distribution function of truncated variable. The estimators obtained in the second and third stages are more efficient than the initial estimators in the first stage. Furthermore, we propose a variable selection procedure for the QR of PLM by combining the estimation method with the smoothly clipped absolute deviation penalty to get sparse estimation of the regression parameter. The oracle properties of the variable selection approach are established. Simulation studies are conducted to examine the performance of our estimators and variable selection method.

Real-time monitoring of surface water quality is an intractable problem. A Soft-sensor method based on fuzzy neural network (FNN) is proposed to solve this problem in this paper. Firstly, the river data was analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) to obtain related variables such as dissolved oxygen (DO) and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N). Secondly, a multi-input soft-sensor method based on FNN is designed. The training data is preprocessed by Hierarchical Clustering and K-means algorithm (H-K algorithm), which improves the accuracy of the soft-sensor method. Finally, the soft-sensor method is packaged and applied to Beijing Tonghui River. The results indicate that the FNN based soft-sensor can predict surface water quality simultaneously with suitable prediction accuracy.

To study flavanoids extracted from onion (FEO) on the number of activated microglia and the release of proinflammatory factors in intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) model rat at different time points, and to explore its possible mechanism for treating ICH.Totally 100 Wistar rats were used for preparing ICH model, and ICH model was successfully established in 90 of them. The 90 rats were randomly divided into the sham-operation group (n =10) , the ICH group (n =40) , the FEO group (n =40). Totally 100 [L autoblood was injected from fixed position to rats in the ICH group and the FEO group during modeling. Meanwhile, FEO at 0. 2 mL/10 g was given to rats in the FEO group, twice daily. No drug intervention was given to rats in the ICH group and the sham-operation group. Each group was further sub-divided into 5 sub-groups according to different time points such as 6, 24, 48, 72 h, and 7 days. There were 8 rats in each sub-group of the ICH group and the FEO group, 10 groups in total. There were 2 rats in each subgroup of the sham-operation group, 5 groups in total. Neurological functions at different time points were observed by Garcia JH. The injury degree of brain tissue was observed at dif- ferent time points using HE staining. Activated microglia around hematoma were observed at different time points after ICH by using immunohistochemical staining. Expressions of TNF-α and IL-1 β at different time points after ICH was detected using ELISA.In the ICH group, degenerated and necrotic zone occurred around hematoma after injecting autoblood, cells were untidily arranged with irregular nucleus, partial nucleus were shrunken with lamellar interstitial edema of the medulla. As time went by, degenerated and necrotic zone was dilated; vacant zone occurred around cells; cells were unevenly distributed with reduced neuron numbers. Meanwhile, infiltration of lymphocytes and neutrophils occurred. In the FEO group after FEO intervention, necrotic cells were lesser, cell arrangement and nucleus morphology were obviously alleviated, and infiltration of inflammatory cells was reduced at corresponding time points. Compared with the sham-operation group, behavioral scores at 5 time points all decreased, the number of activated microglia was added, and expressions of TNF-α and IL-1 β in hematoma tissue increased in the ICH group (P0. 01). Compared with the ICH group, behavioral scores at 48 and 72 h, as well as day 7 all increased, the number of activated microglia was reduced, and expressions of TNF-α and IL-1β in hematoma tissue decreased in the FEO group (P0. 01).FEO using the ethanol reflux method could improve symptoms of ICH model rats possibly by inhibiting activation of microolia and the release of proinflammatory factors around the hematoma.

In practical applications, lots of data such as sequentially collected economic data often exhibit some evident dependence. This paper studies the varying-coefficient regression models with different smoothing variables when the data form a stationary α-mixing sequence. Both the averaged and integrated estimators of coefficient functions are proposed. The asymptotic normalities of the proposed averaged and integrated estimators are also established.

The level of the systemic inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) is elevated in many patients with malignant disease and may be related to nutritional status.To analyze the association between serum CRP levels in patients with malignant tumors and their nutritional status.A total of 3,692 cases were analyzed and the serum CRP levels were determined using an immunometric assay. Nutritional status was assessed by using patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA). The biochemical evaluation of prealbumin (PA), albumin (ALB), cholesterol (CHOL), and triglycerides (TG) were assayed within 48 h admission to the hospital. The association between serum CRP concentration and the nutritional status, the stage of the tumor and other factors was analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.Elevated serum CRP was observed in 47.6% (1,548/3,269) of patients compared with the reference value, and the median CRP concentration was 18.29 mg/l. Patient serum CRP concentrations in the malnourished group (PG-SGA B + C) were higher than in the well-nourished (PG-SGA A) patients (P 0.05). The serum CRP level was related to the patients' age, gender, tumor stage, and was affected by hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, diabetes, but it has no effect on hypertension. The CRP high patients had lower PA and ALB levels, lower Karnofsky performance status scores, and higher PG-SGA scores (P 0.05), and there was no relationship with CHOL and TG levels. Weight loss in the previous 1 mo was seen with CRP positive patients (P 0.05).Almost 50% of malignant tumor patients had elevated serum CRP levels indicating a systemic inflammatory state. The nutritional status was worse in cancer patients with higher concentrations of serum CRP. The level of CRP was associated with the tumor stage, and, as stage is a prognostic factor, so can CRP be used as a prognostic maker in malignant tumors patients.

Hand grip strength (HGS) has emerged as a predictor of the nutritional status. However, many factors may modify the malnutrition-HGS association. This study explored the nutritional assessment value and determinants of HGS in patients hospitalized with cancer.In this multicenter, retrospective, observational study (11,314 patients), the Receiver operator characteristic curve was used to observe HGS and nutritional status sensitivity/specificity. Sex; age; height; weight; mid-upper arm circumference (MAMC); Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) score; Karnofsky score; physical function (PF) domain; cognitive function (CF) domain; global health and quality of life (QL) domain of EORTC QLQ-C30 (a quality of life instrument designed by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer); and albumin, prealbumin, and hemoglobin levels were included in a Stepwise analysis model to identify the factors influencing HGS.HGS showed a very low diagnostic value and accuracy for identifying severe malnourishment (area under the curve, 0.615-0.640; p0.01). HGS positively correlated with sex; height; weight; MAMC; Karnofsky score; QL, PF, and CF domains; and hemoglobin and prealbumin levels (Beta= 0.02-0.42, p=0.05), and negatively with age (Beta=-0.19, p0.01). However, the PG-SGA score was excluded because of its very limited contribution to HGS variability.HGS is a mutifactorial index. The use of HGS cutoff values to identify malnutrition is markedly challenging. Thus, HGS may be of limited use as a predictor of nutritional status.

AIM: To analyze peripapillary atrophy β/γ zone (PPA-β/γ) and the optic disc ovality index, and to assess their associations with the axial length (AL), refractive error, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), choroidal thickness (CT), and age in highly myopic eyes. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational case series. The study included 667 patients consecutively examined for highly myopic eyes [spherical equivalent ≤-6.0 diopters (D) and AL≥26 mm] with or without myopic retinopathy. Each patient went through a comprehensive ophthalmological examination that included spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) of the macula, A-mode ultrasonography, and a cycloplegic refraction test. The ovality index and PPA-β/γ area were measured from optic disc photographs. RESULTS: A significant association was seen between PPA-β/γ area and the ovality index (P=0.000, r=-0.232). The PPA-β/γ area increased significantly with a longer AL, older age, worse BCVA, higher refractive error, and thinner choroid (P

This paper addresses the problem of hypothesis test on response mean with various inequality constraints in the presence of covariates when response data are missing at random. The various hypotheses include to test single point, two points, set of inequalities as well as two-sided set of inequalities of the response mean. The test statistics is constructed by the weighted-corrected empirical likelihood function of the response mean based on the approach of weighted-corrected imputation for the response variable. We investigate limiting distributions and asymptotic powers of the proposed empirical likelihood ratio test statistics with auxiliary information. The results show that the test statistics with auxiliary information is more efficient than that without auxiliary information. A simulation study is undertaken to investigate the finite sample performance of the proposed method.

A semivarying coefficient model with measurement error in the nonparametric part was proposed by Feng and Xue (Ann Inst Stat Math 66:121–140, 2014), but its inferences have not been systematically studied. This paper applies empirical likelihood method to construct confidence regions/intervals for the regression parameter and coefficient function. When some auxiliary information about the parametric part is available, the empirical log-likelihood ratio statistic for the regression parameter is introduced based on the corrected local linear estimator of the coefficient function. Furthermore, corrected empirical log-likelihood ratio statistic for coefficient function is also investigated with the use of auxiliary information. The limiting distributions of the resulting statistics both for the regression parameter and coefficient function are shown to have standard Chi-squared distribution. Simulation experiments and a real data set are presented to evaluate the finite sample performance of our proposed method.

Objective To study the effect of polysaccharide hemostatic healing sponge in controlling bleeding from femoral artery in miniature swines. Methods Thirty two miniature pigs were used to reproduce femoral artery hemorrhage model and then divided equally into four groups, and bleeding from femoral artery was treated by Medical Polysaccharide Hemostatic Healing Sponge (MP), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), gelatin sponge (GS) or medical gauze (MG), respectively. Hemostasis time, blood loss and vital signs of these pigs were observed and recorded. Results There were no group differences in mean arterial pressure. Hemostasis time was earlier and blood loss was less in MP, CMC and GS groups than in MG group, and the hemostatic effect was superior in CMC group to MP and GS groups and similar between the MP and GS groups. Conclusion MP or CMC dressing could effectively stop femoral artery bleeding, and its hemostatic effect is similar to or slightly better than GS in miniature pigs. DOI: 10.11855/j.issn.0577-7402.2015.03.15

The influence of oxygen content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-23Nb-0.7Ta-2Zr (at%) alloy in as-cast and cold-rolled states was investigated systematically in this paper. It is found that the alloy containing oxygen element is only composed of a single beta phase, while the alloy without oxygen element consisted of beta and alpha aEuro(3) phases. Although the grain size becomes larger, the elastic deformation ratio, strength, and hardness of the alloy are all increased with an increase of oxygen content. The as-cast alloy has excellent plastic deformation ability, but the cold-rolled alloy containing oxygen element exhibits brittle characteristics. A conclusion can be drawn that oxygen element can stabilize beta phase, inhibit the phase transformation from beta to alpha aEuro(3), and furthermore help to increase the strength and elastic deformation ability of the alloy.

In order to solve the traditional manipulator dynamics simulation problems of low efficiency and bad real-time, a method of manipulator dynamics simulation based on ODE is proposed. First of all, in order to obtain the kinematics model, the building of manipulator D-H coordinate system is necessary. Secondly, the calculation of manipulator inverse kinematics is performed by Euclidean norm. Thirdly, manipulator dynamics calculation is accomplished by open-source dynamics engine Open Dynamic Engine. At last, the 3D simulation platform of manipulator is established after importing 3D model of manipulator into Open Inventor. The simulation experiment shows that the method has high computing efficiency, it not only can realizes the real-time control of manipulator, but also can draws the curves of dynamics parameters. The experiment demonstrates that this method is effective and can be applied to real-time dynamic simulation of robot manipulator.

Vocal music teaching is an emotional experience teaching art. It involves cultivating both students’ pronunciation skills and the ability to express the rich connotation of the song through the training of sound production. The era of knowledge economy in twenty-first Century , which is marked by knowledge and technology innovation, puts forward higher requirement for the teaching reform of college music majors. To complete the training of music talents with innovative consciousness and innovative ability, it is imperative to put innovative education as the key point in the implementation of quality education, combine the theory with practice better, and apply it to the training of college students’ comprehensive practice ability. Keywords—vocal music teaching, the ability of innovation and practice, cultivation

Consider the heteroscedastic regression model , where , β is a p × 1 column vector of unknown parameter, (X i , T i , Z i ) are random design points, Y i are the response variables, g(·) is an unknown function defined on the closed interval [0, 1], {e i , ℱ i } is a sequence of martingale differences. When f is known and unknown cases, we propose the empirical log-likelihood ratio statistics for the parameter β. For each case, a nonparametric version of Wilks' theorem is derived. The results are then used to construct confidence regions of the parameter. Simulation study shows that the empirical likelihood method performs better than a normal approximation-based approach.

BACKGROUND: Modern consumers are increasingly interested in their personal health and expect the food they purchase to be tasty and attractive while being safe and healthful. The aim of this study was to determine the commercial quality, characterise the antioxidant capacity and quantify the major bioactive compounds of 12 cultivars of loquat fruits in order to establish a database for utilising these germplasm resources. RESULTS: Of the 12 cultivars, ‘Guanyu’ produced the biggest fruits, while ‘Tianzhong’ and ‘Bingtangzhong’ had the highest soluble solids content but the lowest titratable acidity. ‘Taipinghong’ was reddest in colour. Sucrose, fructose, glucose and sorbitol were the major sugars in loquat fruits, with the highest total sugar content being observed in ‘Bingtangzhong’ and ‘Tianzhong’. Phenolics and flavonoids were the main bioactive compounds and were abundant in ‘Tianzhong’ and ‘Zhaozhong’. ‘Taipinghong’ had the highest total carotenoid content, while ‘Qingzhong’ had the highest vitamin C content. ‘Tianzhong’, ‘Bingtangzhong’ and ‘Ninghaibai’ showed higher antioxidant activity than the other cultivars, as measured by assays of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiozoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) scavenging and ferric-reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP). CONCLUSION: Commercial fruit quality, major bioactive compound content and antioxidant capacity varied greatly among the 12 cultivars. ‘Bingtangzhong’ and ‘Tianzhong’ were the highest-ranking cultivars based on their good commercial quality and high nutritional value. The loquat fruits with higher total phenolic and flavonoid contents also had clearly higher antioxidant capacities. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry