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The medicinal properties of natural/edible plant products and their use are popular in traditional practice owing to their nutritional contents with little to no side effects. Lepista nuda (L. nuda), an edible mushroom (Clitocybe nuda, commonly known as blewit), has attracted researchers to evaluate its contents and the mechanism of its activities. In the current study, we focused on evaluating the antiangiogenic effects of L. nuda water extract on zebrafish development and in vitro human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation. Bioactive components such as ergothioneine, eritadenine, and adenosine were identified and quantified by HPLC analysis. The L. nuda extract showed antiangiogenic properties and inhibited intersegmental vessel (ISV), caudal vein plexus (CVP), hyaloid vessel (HV), and subintestinal vessel (SIV) development in Tg (fli1: EGFP) zebrafish embryos. The expression of angiogenesis-related genes (vegfaa, kdrl, vegfba, flt1, kdr) was affected following L. nuda extract treatment. L. nuda extract attenuated in vitro HUVEC tube formation, migration, and invasion. Furthermore, inhibition of MAPK/p38 signaling and depletion of proangiogenic genes, including growth factors (fgf, ang2, and vegfa); primary and accessory receptors (tie2, vegfr2, and eng); MMPs (mmp1 and mmp2); and cytokines (il-1α, il-1β, il-6, and tnf-α) was observed in HUVECs following L. nuda treatment. An in vivo zebrafish xenograft assay showed that L. nuda extract inhibited HuCCT1 cell-induced SIV sprouting in HuCCT1-injected embryos. Collectively, the results suggest that L. nuda could be a potential inhibitor of angiogenesis limiting cancer progression.

Aims Whether to perform hybrid surgery (HS) in contrast to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) when treating patients with multilevel cervical disc degeneration remains a controversial subject. To resolve this we have undertaken a meta-analysis comparing the outcomes from HS with ACDF in this condition. Methods Seven databases were searched for studies of HS and ACDF from inception of the study to 1 September 2019. Both random-effects and fixed-effects models were used to evaluate the overall effect of the C2-C7 range of motion (ROM), ROM of superior/inferior adjacent levels, adjacent segment degeneration (ASD), heterotopic ossification (HO), complications, neck disability index (NDI) score, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, Odom’s criteria, blood loss, and operating and hospitalization time. To obtain more credible results contour-enhanced funnel plots, Egger’s and Begg’s tests, meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results In total, 17 studies involving 861 patients were included in the analysis. HS was found to be superior to ACDF in maintaining C2-C7 ROM and ROM of superior/inferior adjacent levels, but HS did not reduce the incidence of associated level ASD. Also, HS did not cause a higher rate of HO than ACDF. The frequency of complications was similar between the two techniques. HS failed to achieve more favourable outcomes than ACDF using the NDI, VAS, JOA, and Odom’s scores. HS did not show any more advantages in operating or hospitalization time but did show reduction in blood loss. Conclusion Although HS maintained cervical kinetics, it failed to reduce the incidence of ASD. This finding differs from previous reports. Moreover, patients did not show more benefits from HS with respect to symptom improvement, prevention of complications, and clinical outcomes. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2020;102-B(8):981–996.

Hair density is the most important structural parameter contributing to insulation performance of mammalian pelage, and often is measured in ecophysiological, thermal biological, and evolutionary studies. To date, hair density has been measured using invasive methods on research objects; however, such methods remain challenging despite efforts to increase their ease of use. In this paper, we develop a new method to estimate hair density without skin sampling. We expressed hair density as the inverse of the number of hairs per unit area, that is, the surface area occupied by a single hair (Ah). This area could be further estimated by measuring distances between nearest neighboring hairs (Ln) and calculating the areas of triangles (A) defined by three randomly selected nearest neighboring hairs and representing half of Ah. Empirical tests using 11 skin samples from specimens of six small mammal species showed this to be a simple, lightly invasive, but accurate and widely applicable method.

Commercial farming of endangered wildlife has potential to reduce poaching pressure on wild populations. However, poached products can be laundered as farmed products. A method for separating farmed from wild products is therefore essential for effective law enforcement. Meat (skeletal muscle) is a wildlife product whose origin cannot be correctly determined. This short communication reports an epigenetic approach to achieve the distinction using the methylation rate of the promoter of the α-actinin-3 (ACTN3) gene in gluteus maximus tissues of feral (n = 21) and farmed (n = 21) American mink, Neovison vison. Our results showed that the accuracy of assignment ranged from 59.5 to 76.2% on each of six CpG sites/site groups. Combination of the six CpG sites/site groups achieved 83.3% overall correct assignment, 90.5% for the farmed group and 76.2% for the wild group. These data suggest the methylation rate of promoters of selected genes could be an effective indicator to distinguish farmed meat from wild meat of wildlife species.

Ethnopharmacology relevance Cordyceps militaris (Linn.) Link (CM) is a medicinal mushroom traditionally used in tonics for treating several neurological disorders, including epilepsy and anxiety, in Asia. Reports have shown that CM has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects and may be beneficial for depression management. Aim of the study This study aimed to investigate the potential of CM as an antidepressant for a long-term unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) rodent models and explore its underlying mechanisms. Materials and methods Rats were orally administered with 125 (low, L), 250 (medium, M), and 500 (high, H) mg/kg bodyweight (bw) of the water extract of CM (WCM) for 35 consecutive days in the UCMS protocol. The levels of cerebral serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), and metabolites in the frontal cortex of the rats were measured. Blood was collected to investigate the levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and the brain was dissected to assay the stress-associated ROCK2/PTEN/Akt signaling. Results All doses of the WCM prevented abnormal behaviors induced by UCMS, including anhedonia and hypoactivity. The LWCM treatment reduced the turnover rate of 5-HT, and all doses of the WCM reduced the turnover rate of DA in the frontal cortex. The LWCM also attenuated the elevation of serum IL-1β induced by chronic stress. All doses of the WCM attenuated the ROCK2 protein hyperactivation, and the LWCM further increased the down-regulation of p-Akt/Akt signaling. Conclusion The WCM has antidepressant-like effects, which may result from the regulation of the stress-related ROCK2/PTEN/Akt pathway. Therefore, the WCM may be developed and used for the complementary treatment of depression.

Whether to perform hybrid surgery (HS) in contrast to anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) when treating patients with multilevel cervical disc degeneration remains a controversial subject. To resolve this we have undertaken a meta-analysis comparing the outcomes from HS with ACDF in this condition.Seven databases were searched for studies of HS and ACDF from inception of the study to 1 September 2019. Both random-effects and fixed-effects models were used to evaluate the overall effect of the C2-C7 range of motion (ROM), ROM of superior/inferior adjacent levels, adjacent segment degeneration (ASD), heterotopic ossification (HO), complications, neck disability index (NDI) score, visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, Odom's criteria, blood loss, and operating and hospitalization time. To obtain more credible results contour-enhanced funnel plots, Egger's and Begg's tests, meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses were performed.In total, 17 studies involving 861 patients were included in the analysis. HS was found to be superior to ACDF in maintaining C2-C7 ROM and ROM of superior/inferior adjacent levels, but HS did not reduce the incidence of associated level ASD. Also, HS did not cause a higher rate of HO than ACDF. The frequency of complications was similar between the two techniques. HS failed to achieve more favourable outcomes than ACDF using the NDI, VAS, JOA, and Odom's scores. HS did not show any more advantages in operating or hospitalization time but did show reduction in blood loss.Although HS maintained cervical kinetics, it failed to reduce the incidence of ASD. This finding differs from previous reports. Moreover, patients did not show more benefits from HS with respect to symptom improvement, prevention of complications, and clinical outcomes. Cite this article

Assembly is the final process of manufacturing, and a good assembly plan reduces the effect of the tolerance generated in the early stages by the tolerance elimination. In the current assembly lines, the assemblers pick up the workpieces and install them together by the assembly instructions. When the workpieces are oversize or undersize, the product can not be installed correctly. Therefore, the assembler considers the secondary processing to fix the tolerance and then installs them together again. The product could be installed, but the product quality may be reduced by the secondary process. So, we formulate the assembly process as a combinatorial optimization problem, named by the dimensional chain assembly (DCA) problem. Given some workpieces with the corresponding actual size, computing the assembly guidance is the goal of the DCA problem, and the product quality is applied to represent the solution quality. The assemblers follow the assembly guidance to install the products. We firstly prove that the DCA problem is NP-complete and collect the requirements of solving the DCA problem from the implementation perspective: the sustainability, the minimization of computation time, and the guarantee of product quality. We consider solution refinement and the solution property inheritance of the single-solution evolution approach to discover and refine the quality of the assembly guidance. Based on the above strategies, we propose the assembly guidance optimizer (AGO) based on the simulated annealing algorithm to compute the assembly guidance. From the simulation results, the AGO reaches all requirements of the DCA problem. The variance of the computation time and the solution quality is related to the problem scale linearly, so the computation time and the solution quality can be estimated by the problem scale. Moreover, increasing the search breadth is unnecessary for improving the solution quality. In summary, the proposed AGO satisfies with the necessaries of the sustainability, the minimization of computation time, and the guarantee of product quality for the requirements of the DCA, and it can be considered in the real-world applications.

To assembly products from some workpiece, the assemblies have to calculate the assemble plan in advance. However, the workpiece of different parts result in the product sizes, and calculating the assembly plan efficiently to assemble the products what fit the requirements is necessary. In this paper, we first define the dimensional chain assembly (DCA) problem, and propose a simulated annealing-based algorithm to calculate the assembly plan. We find out the threshold of the maximum iterations and the balance between the solution quality and the computational efficiency.

The majority of Musashi 1 (Msi1)‑positive cells derived from mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are prone to differentiate into neural epithelial‑like cells, and only a small proportion of Msi1‑positive cells differentiate into intestinal epithelial‑like cells. Whether inhibiting the phosphatidylinositol 3‑kinase (PI3K) signaling of mESCs can promote the differentiation of Msi1‑positive cells into intestinal epithelial‑like cells remains to be fully elucidated. In the present study, to inhibit PI3K signaling, mESCs were treated with LY294002. A pMsi1‑green fluorescence protein reporter plasmid was used to sort the Msi1‑positive cells from mESCs treated and untreated with LY294002 (5 µmol/l). The Msi1‑positive cells were hypodermically engrafted into the backs of non‑obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice. The presence of neural and intestinal epithelial‑like cells in the grafts was detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis and immunohistochemistry. Compared with the Msi1‑positive cells derived from mESCs without LY294002 treatment, Msi1‑positive cells derived from mESCs treated with LY294002 expressed higher levels of leucine‑rich repeat‑containing G‑protein coupled receptor, a marker of intestinal epithelial stem cells, and lower levels of Nestin, a marker of neural epithelial stem cells. The grafts from Msi1‑positive cells treated with LY294002 contained more intestinal epithelial‑like tissues and fewer neural epithelial‑like tissues, compared with those from untreated Msi1‑positive cells. LY294002 had the ability to promote the differentiation of mESCs into intestinal epithelial‑like tissues. The Msi1‑positive cells selected from the cell population derived from mESCs treated with LY294002 exhibited more characteristics of intestinal epithelial stem cells than those from the untreated group.

Ethnopharmacology relevance Armillaria mellea (Vahl) P. Kumm. (AM) is an edible mushroom that has been reported as treatment for several neurological disorders, such as dizziness and epilepsy in Asia. Importantly, AM shares a symbiotic relationship with Gastrodia elata Blume (GE), a medicinal herb with antidepressant-like properties. Researchers believe that AM may possess pharmacological properties similar to GE due to their symbiosis, however, few studies have investigated the pharmacological effect of AM. Aim of the study The aim of this study was to explore the potential of AM as an antidepressant in forced-swimming test (FST) and unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) rodent models and investigate its possible underlying mechanism. Materials and methods Rats were orally administrated with 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg body weight (bw) water extract of AM (WAM) for 28 and 35 consecutive days prior to the FST and UCMS protocols, respectively. The cerebral serotonin (5-HT) and the metabolites in the frontal cortex of rats were measured. The brain was dissected and the blood was collected to investigate the levels of inflammatory-related signaling pathway. Results All doses of WAM reduced the immobility time in the FST without disturbing autonomic locomotion. All doses of WAM prevented stress-induced abnormal behaviors in the UCMS model, including decreased sucrose preference and hypoactivity. 500 and 1000 mg/kg bw WAM attenuated the stress-induced increases in IL-1β and TNF-α in the serum and cerebrum. 1000 mg/kg bw WAM alleviated brain inflammation by reducing the protein expression of ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1. Conclusion WAM exhibited acute and chronic antidepressant-like effects, and may result from the anti-inflammatory actions. Therefore, the development of AM as a dietary therapy or adjuvant for depression treatment should be considered.

Aim The effect of health depreciation in older people on medical care demand is not well understood. We tried to assess the medical care demand with length of hospitalization and their impact on profits as a result of health depreciation. Methods All participants who underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment were from a prospective cohort study at a tertiary hospital. A total of 1191 cases between September 2008 to October 2012 were investigated. Three sets of qualitative response models were constructed to estimate the impact of older adults' health depreciation on multidisciplinary geriatric care services. Furthermore, we analyzed the factors affecting the composite end-point of rehospitalization within 14 days, re-admission to the emergency department within 3 days and patient death. Results Greater health depreciation in elderly patients was positively correlated with greater medical care demand. Three major components were defined as health depreciation: elderly adaptation function, geriatric syndromes and multiple chronic diseases. On admission, the better the basic living functions, the shorter the length of hospitalization (coefficient = -0.35, P Conclusions An optimal allocation system for selection of cases into multidisciplinary geriatric care is required because of limited resources. Outcomes will improve with health promotion and preventive care services. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 645-652.

Background Alveolar osteitis (AO) may occur after molar extraction. Chlorhexidine (CHX) rinse and CHX gel are widely used to prevent AO. Although previous meta-analyses support the effectiveness of both CHX rinse and CHX gel in preventing AO, important issues regarding these two formulations have not been addressed adequately in the literature. Purpose A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted to determine the effectiveness of CHX rinse and CHX gel in preventing AO. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, and Cochrane databases were searched for randomized controlled trials published before June 2018. The risk ratio (RR) was used to estimate the pooled effect of AO incidence using a random-effect model. Results The RRs of AO in patients treated with 0.12% CHX rinse (RR = 0.54, 95% CI [0.41, 0.72]) and 0.2% CHX rinse (RR = 0.84, 95% CI [0.52, 1.35]) were significantly lower than in those treated with the control. Moreover, a significantly lower RR was identified in patients treated with 0.2% CHX gel (RR = 0.47, 95% CI [0.34, 0.64]) than in those treated with the control. When CHX products of different concentrations were grouped together, patients treated with CHX rinse showed an RR of AO of 0.61 (95% CI [0.48, 0.78]) and those treated with CHX gel showed an RR of AO of 0.44 (95% CI [0.43, 0.65]). On the other hand, a meta-analysis of three trials that compared CHX rinse and CHX gel directly showed a significantly lower RR of AO in patients treated with CHX rinse than in those treated with CHX gel (RR = 0.56, 95% CI [0.34, 0.96]). Conclusions/implications for practice The results support the effectiveness of both CHX rinse and gel in reducing the risk of AO after molar extraction. Each formulation provides unique benefits in terms of ease of application and cost. On the basis of the results of this study, the authors recommend that CHX gel be used immediately after molar extraction because of the convenience and cost-effectiveness of this treatment and that CHX rinse be used by the patient after discharge at home in combination with appropriate health education and case management.

Aim The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the effects of the Bass brushing method on dental plaque and pneumonia in older adults hospitalized with pneumonia after discharge. Background Poor oral hygiene may lead to pneumonia. Complications of pneumonia in older adults can be life-threatening during hospitalization and after discharge. Methods Older adults hospitalized with pneumonia (n = 30) were randomly assigned to intervention (with the Bass brushing method; n = 15) or control (with usual care; n = 15) groups. Dental plaque index and pneumonia as detected on chest x-rays were evaluated prior to the intervention (baseline) and every month for six months after discharge. Results Participants in the intervention group experienced a sustained reduction in dental plaque from the fourth to the sixth months (p = .024; p = .025; p = .000, respectively) that was not found in the control group. There were no group differences in detected pneumonia throughout the follow-up period. Pneumonia as detected on the chest x-rays at baseline (p = .001) and dental plaque index (p = .021) were significant predictors of the risk of pneumonia across groups. Conclusions The Bass brushing method is a simple and effective oral hygiene practice that reduces dental plaque in older adults hospitalized with pneumonia after discharge.

Background: Little is known about the gaps between expectation and the perception of service quality in the care setting of prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV). Methods: We conducted this prospective study at the Respiratory Care Center (RCC) of a medical center from February 2017 to January 2018. Family members of the patients admitted to the RCC completed a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL instrument in two sections – expectation and perception, consisting of 22 questions each in five dimensions. We analyzed the gaps between paired items, used important-performance analysis (IPA) to identify priority items for improvement, and performed multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 167 respondents participated in the survey. The average length of patient stay in the RCC was 19.4 days, and 70.7% were successfully liberated from MV. The overall mean SERVQUAL scores for the two sections were similar (4.50 ± 0.52 and 4.51 ± 0.54 for expectation and perception, respectively; p = 0.808). IPA identified four items, including one “tangible,” one “reliability” and two “empathy” with an undesired expectation/perception gap indicating a priority for improvement. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that male respondents, patients older than 75 years, tracheostomy, and the need for physical training or dialysis were associated with an increased gap in these priority items. Conclusion: Gaps exist between expectation and perception in multiple dimensions of the quality of healthcare service in the care setting of prolonged MV, indicating unmet needs and priorities for improvement. Keywords: Respiratory care center, Service quality, Satisfaction, Gap, Expectation, Perception

Objective To evaluate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in differential diagnosis between the adult reversible splenial lesion syndrome (RESLES) and ischemic infarction of the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC). Methods The MRI findings and clinical data of 7 RESLES patients and 13 patients with ischemic infarction of SCC who were clinically diagnosed and treated in our center from May 2015 to June 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The main MRI findings included location,morphology,signal intensity,maximum cross-sectional area,diffusion weighted imaging (DWI),and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value. Results On the MRI findings of 7 RESLES patients (5 males and 2 females),the centers of all lesions of the SCC were located in the midline of SCC,the lesion shapes were round,ellipse,or spindle,and the distribution of the lesions was bilateral and symmetric as the center of the midline of SCC. The lesions were hyperintense on DWI,and the mean maximum cross-sectional area of lesions was (56.9±32.6) mm

Nanostructured transition metal oxides are promising alternative anodes for lithium ion batteries. Li-ion storage performance is expected to improve if high packing density energy particles are available. Herein, Mn2O3 microspheres with a ca. 18 μm diameter and a tapped density of 1.33 g/cm3 were synthesized by a facile solvothermal–thermal coversion route. Spherical MnCO3 precursors were obtained through solvothermal treatment and they decomposed and converted into Mn2O3 microspheres at an annealing temperature of 700 °C. The Mn2O3 microspheres consisted of Mn2O3 nanoparticles with an average 40 nm diameter. These porous Mn2O3 microspheres allow good electrolyte penetration and provide an ion buffer reservoir to ensure a constant electrolyte supply. The Mn2O3 microspheres have reversible capacities of 590 and 320 mAh/g at 50 and 400 mA/g, respectively. We thus report an efficient route for the fabrication of energy particles for advanced energy storage.

This paper discusses the effects of different retention agent such as: CPAM, APAM, PAE+CPAM, cationic starch with high degree of substitution and modified starch on the reversible thermochromism materials in anti-counterfeiting paper retention rate, and then determined the optimum dosage of retention agent in the slurry. According to the anti-counterfeit paper color value, the mechanism of reversible thermochromism paper was studied. The experimental results show that when the slurry with retention agent, the reversible thermochromism materials in the anti-counterfeit paper retention increased significantly. This suggests that retention agent in pulp fiber has played the role of bridge and link, thus ensuring the security of reversible thermochromism paper.

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measured by diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the molecular subtypes and biological prognostic factors of invasive breast cancer masses. METHODS: Breast MRI data (including dynamic enhanced and diffusion-weighted imaging) were collected from 64 patients with pathologically confirmed invasive breast cancer masses (a total of 69 lesions). The mean ADC values of the lesions were calculated and their correlations were analyzed with the 5 molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer and the biological prognostic factors including estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2), and Ki-67 index. RESULTS: The ADC values did not differ significantly among the 5 molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer masses (P>0.05) or among lesions with different ER, PR, or HER2 status (P>0.05). The mean ADC values were significantly higher in Ki-67-positive lesions than in the negative lesions (P=0.023 and negatively correlated with the expressions of Ki-67 (r=-0.249). CONCLUSION: ADC value can not be used to identify the molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer masses or to evaluate the biological prognosis of the lesions, but its correlation with Ki-67 expression may help in prognostic evaluation and guiding clinical therapy of the tumors.

Background Spiritual well-being has become an increasingly important issue for the elderly people. The 12-item Spirituality Index of Well-Being (SIWB) is a well-validated instrument for assessing a patient’s current spiritual state. However, the psychometric properties of the SIWB in the Chinese elderly populations are not known. Therefore, this study translated the SIWB into Chinese and evaluated its psychometric properties. Methods The English version of the SIWB was first translated into Chinese based on the Brislin’s translation model. The psychometric properties of the translated version of the SIWB (SIWB-C) was evaluated in 416 elderly Taiwanese recruited using a purposive sampling procedure from a medical center, a long-term care institution, and a community health center. Convergent validity was accessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients of the SIWB-C, the EQ-5D-3 L health-related quality of life scale, and the Geriatric Depression Scale-5 (GDS-5). Exploratory factor analysis with Varimax rotation was performed to determine the construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for verification of the quality of the factor structures and demonstrating the convergent validity of the SIWB-C. An internal consistency test based on the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and a stability test based on the Guttman split-half coefficient were also performed. Test-retest reliability was evaluated with intraclass correlation coefficient. Results Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the original two-dimensional structure of the scale. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a well-fitting model and a fine convergent validity of the SIWB-C. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and the Guttman split-half coefficient for the SIWB-C were 0.94 and 0.84, respectively. The correlations between the SIWB-C with EQ-5D-3 L and GDS-5 were 0.22 (p

Conductive carbon scaffolds are efficient and effective to build advanced carbon/sulfur composite cathodes for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. However, the areal sulfur loading is commonly less than 4.0 mg cm −2 , which limits the energy density and practical application of Li–S cells. In this contribution, three-dimensional (3D) aluminum foam/carbon nanotube (CNT) scaffolds were applied as the current collectors to build long- and short-range electron pathways and provided enough space for high sulfur loading. The sulfur loading amount on the 3D current collectors ranged from 7.0 to 12.5 mg cm −2 . A high initial discharge capacity of 6.02 mAh cm −2 (860 mAh g −1 ) was achieved on an electrode with an improved sulfur loading of 7.0 mg cm −2 . Therefore, the combination of 3D long-range current collectors and short-range CNT conductive scaffold provides an efficient and effective route to make full use of sulfur with a very high sulfur loading amount in a Li–S cell.

The rational integration of conductive nanocarbon scaffolds and insulative sulfur is an efficient method to build composite cathodes for high-energy-density lithium–sulfur batteries. The full demonstration of the high-energy-density electrodes is a key issue towards full utilization of sulfur in a lithium–sulfur cell. Herein, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that possess robust mechanical properties, excellent electrical conductivities, and hierarchical porous structures were employed to fabricate carbon/sulfur composite cathode. A family of electrodes with areal sulfur loading densities ranging from 0.32 to 4.77 mg cm−2 were fabricated to reveal the relationship between sulfur loading density and their electrochemical behavior. At a low sulfur loading amount of 0.32 mg cm−2, a high sulfur utilization of 77% can be achieved for the initial discharge capacity of 1288 mAh gS−1, while the specific capacity based on the whole electrode was quite low as 84 mAh gC/S+binder+Al−1 at 0.2 C. Moderate increase in the areal sulfur loading to 2.02 mg cm−2 greatly improved the initial discharge capacity based on the whole electrode (280 mAh gC/S+binder+Al−1) without the sacrifice of sulfur utilization. When sulfur loading amount further increased to 3.77 mg cm−2, a high initial areal discharge capacity of 3.21 mAh cm−2 (864 mAh gS−1) was achieved on the composite cathode.

Utilization of free-living populations of endangered wildlife species is usually strictly prohibited or restricted. Farming of endangered species can provide products that are in demand as a countermeasure. A novel forensic issue arises because it becomes necessary to discriminate the origin of given wildlife products. We tested the effectiveness of five measurements and four indexes of femur bone using farmed minks (n = 40) and escapees (n = 32). Results showed all measurements, namely body mass (L(f)), body length (M(f)), femur mass (V(f)), femur length (M(b)), and femur volume (L(b)), were highly discriminatory. However, they are susceptible to the influence of nutrition level and sex. Femur length index (I(fl)), femur linear density (D(l)), and femur volume density (D(v)) eliminated the influence of level of nutrition and were highly effective. However, I(fl) and D(l) were influenced by sex (p = 0.000). Because D(v) was not influenced by sex (p = 0.683) and was highly effective, it was the preferred index.

In this paper we designed a 5.8GHZ microstrip antenna whose relative bandwidth is 3.77% and return loss is-36.941dB. It meets the needs of RFID systems.Besides, the resonant frequency of the antennas is reduced to 5.2GHZ, after adding the “I” ring resonator. Also, the paper shows that the other performance of the antenna still meet the RFID system requirements. It is 47.1% of the original size after adjusting the resonant frequency of the antenna to 5. 8GHz.

In order to decrease the signal integrity problems caused by Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) in the high speed circuit, it has designed an improved planar electromagnetic band-gap (EBG) structure, which based on metamaterials. We want to model and simulate the stop-band characteristics by using the electromagnetic simulation software HFSS. The results show that, compared with the traditional UC-EBG structure, when the inhibition of depth is-30 dB, the bandwidth of this new type EBG of inhibition is 3.7 GHz, the upper cut-off frequency is 4.7 GHz, the lower cut-off frequency is 1 GHz, relative bandwidth is 130%.Compared with the traditional UC-EBG structure relative bandwidth increase 15%.

RFID has the advantages of waterproof, antimagnetic, heat resistance, long service life, great reading distance, encrypting data on label, greater capacity of storing data and free modification on stored information compared with bar code. Applying it brings revolutionary change to the retail and logistics industry. Selecting technology to manage RFID and selecting strategy to coordinate RFID is very important to promote the application of RFID. The paper implements RFID management system, ALE engine and data processing components, and expounds the technique and details implementing the system.

Mobile communication has gone through two generation of development, now the third generation mobile communication technology has been mature and widely used. Achieving the third generation mobile communication technology is intended to give users a better mobile voice call quality, faster mobile data speeds and more multimedia services, to attain large capacity and high spectral efficiency. W-CDMA, one of the three mainstream standard of international third generation mobile communication technology, is based on the foundation of GSM/GPRS and evolve. This paper describes the 3GPP core technology, which is based on W-CDMA, and using ADS to complete the simulation of W-CDMA/3GPP communication system.

This design used a low noise enhanced high electron mobility transistor ATF54143 and Agilent's ADS simulation software to achieve the good performance of operating frequency at 2.45GHz, noise figure (NF) is less than 0.8dB, band gain (S21) is greater than 15dB, input voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR1) is less than 1.4dB, output voltage standing-wave ratio (VSWR2) is less than 1.6dB.

A 5.8GHz single-stage low noise amplifier (LNA) for radio frequency identification devices (RFID) applications was proposed according to the theory of LNA. It has been realized by ATF-541M4 transistor and its peripheral circuit, such as bias circuit, input and output matching network. The proposed LNA provides a gain of 12.696dB from the analysis of ADS. The LNA achieves 0.951dB noise figure (NF) at the frequency of 5.8GHz. The simulation results show that this LNA has good noise characteristic, the NF is less than other published paper.

Radio Frequency Identification is an Automatic Identification Technology. RFID system typically consists of a reader and a number of tags. When more than one tag send signal to reader at the same time, reader will not identify any one. This is called collision. The information of collision is regarded as uselessness in the conventional algorithms. But in fact, useful information can be extracted from the collision and the reading efficiency can be improved. In this paper, tags use BIBD(16,4,1) blocks instead of RN16, the reader analyses the collision information based on the characteristics of BIBD and makes valid recognition even when more than one tag have been detected in same time slot. The theoretical and simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the reading efficiency by 100% than that of the conventional Q algorithm. Furthermore, the proposed scheme changes little to the existing standard, easy to implement and compatible for EPC Global Code.

BACKGROUND Repellents are a common method for preventing flea bites, making an effective system for flea repellent screening advantageous. We describe an improved technique to facilitate repellent activity screening of numerous plant-based Ctenocephalides felis (cat flea) repellents. RESULTS Two long strips of filter paper were impregnated with test compounds (dissolved in ethanol) and ethanol only, respectively. After drying, the two filter papers were glued together along the long side and inserted into a glass tube containing non-fed cat fleas. The distribution of cat fleas in each half of the filter paper was recorded after 30 min to calculate repellency. Results showed that the essential oil of Cinnamomum osmophloeum (from leaf), Taiwania cryptomerioides (from heartwood) and Plectranthus amboinicus (from leaf) exhibits repellent activity against cat fleas in a dose dependent manner. Moreover, the repellent activities against cat fleas of 2% trans-cinnamaldehyde (the main constituent of Ci. osmophloeum essential oil) and 0.5% thymol (the main constituent of P. amboinicus essential oil) are 97.6% and 90.6%, and can persist for up to 4 and 8 h, respectively. These results are comparable to those of 15% DEET. CONCLUSION The proposed screening technique can facilitate the pre-screening of numerous flea repellents for further evaluation on animal or human subjects. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

With the popularity and the development in-depth of Android, the applications of intelligent control using Android are also increasing rapidly. In this paper, we propose the design of TCP/IP wireless communication system based on the Android operating system. We send TCP control signal to an embedded network-to-serial module by Android smart phone and wireless network. The module can convert TCP protocol to TTL level, which the microcontroller serial can accept, then the high-low control signals from the microcontroller control the toy car’s motor to forward and reverse, then we achieve that the car can go forward, retreat, turn left, turn right and stop.

In this paper, an inverted F antenna works in the 5.8GHz frequency band is proposed. On the platform of Ansoft HFSS14 , the antenna’s return loss reaches -51.97dB at the center frequency 5.8GHz and the relative bandwidth is about 22.4％ when the return loss is less than -10dB. Also ,the size of the antenna is only 18mm*15mm. Compared with the existing antenna works in the same frequency band , the inverted F antenna proposed has a lower return loss and smaller physical size. The new designed antenna can be applied to the RFID system of road tolls and container management, which have certain values for application.