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Flake graphite was mechanically modified at different times in N-methyl pyrrolidone under normal pressure. The results of the scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy suggested that the structure of the flake graphite was modified. The crystallinity of the flake graphite, and many defects were introduced into the material. The evaluation of capacitor performance by cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge/discharge tests, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was also performed. Results showed that the electrochemical performance of flake graphite was strongly enhanced, particularly when it was exfoliated for 6 h. Moreover, the electrochemical capacitive properties of activated carbon were obviously enhanced through the substitution of acetylene black by flake graphite modified for 6 h.

Operational modal analysis (OMA) is prevalent in large structure modal identification for that it asks for output measurements only. To guarantee identification accuracy, theoretically, OMA data need to be a random process of Gaussian white noise (GWN). Although numerous OMA applications are found in practice, few have particularly discussed the data distribution and to what extent it would blur the modal judgement. This paper presents a method to sieve segments mostly obeying the GWN distribution out of a recording. With a windowing technique, the data segments are evaluated by the modified Kurtosis value. The process has been demonstrated on the monitoring data of two case study structures: one is a laboratory truss bridge excited by artificial forces, the other is a real cable-stayed bridge subject to environmental loads. The results show that weak randomness data may result in false peaks that would possibly mislead the non-parametric modal identification, such as using the Frequency Domain Decomposition method. To overcome, cares on selecting the optimal segment shall be exercised. The proposed method is verified effective to find the most suitable data for modal identification of structural health monitoring systems.

Abstract Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered to be the attractive vehicles for delivering therapeutic agents toward various tumor diseases. This study was to explore the distribution pattern, kinetic delivery of adenovirus, and therapeutic efficacy of the MSC loading of E1A mutant conditionally replicative adenovirus Adv-Stat3(-) which selectively replicated and expressed high levels of anti-sense Stat3 complementary DNA in breast cancer and melanoma cells. Methods We assessed the release ability of conditionally replicative adenovirus (CRAd) from MSC using crystal violet staining, TCID50 assay, and quantitative PCR. In vitro killing competence of MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) toward breast cancer and melanoma was performed using co-culture system of transwell plates. We examined tumor tropism of MSC by Prussian blue staining and immunofluorescence. In vivo killing competence of MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) toward breast tumor was analyzed by comparison of tumor volumes and survival periods. Results Adv-Stat3(-) amplified in MSCs and were released 4 days after infection. MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) caused viral amplification, depletion of Stat3 and its downstream proteins, and led to significant apoptosis in breast cancer and melanoma cell lines. In vivo experiments confirmed the preferential localization of MSCs in the tumor periphery 24 hours after tail vein injection, and this localization was mainly detected in the tumor parenchyma after 72 hours. Intravenous injection of MSCs carrying Adv-Stat3(-) suppressed the Stat3 pathway, down-regulated Ki67 expression, and recruited CD11b-positive cells in the local tumor, inhibiting tumor growth and increasing the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Conclusions These results indicate that MSCs migrate to the tumor site in a time-dependent manner and could be an effective platform for the targeted delivery of CRAd and the amplification of tumor killing effects.

We revise soliton and lump solutions described by the cylindrical Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (cKP) equation and construct new exact solutions relevant to physical observation. In the first part of this study, we consider basically axisymmetric waves described by the cylindrical Kortweg–de Vries equation and analyze approximate and exact solutions to this equation. Then, we consider the stability of the axisymmetric solitons with respect to the azimuthal perturbations and suggest a criterion of soliton instability. The results of our numerical modeling confirm the suggested criterion and reveal lump emergence in the course of the development of the modulation instability of ring solitons in the unstable case. In the next part of this study, which will follow shortly, we will present exact solutions to the cKP equation describing weakly nonlinear waves in media with positive dispersion subject to the modulation instability of solitons with respect to small azimuthal perturbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]