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Globally, liver cancer ranks among the most lethal cancers, with chemotherapy being one of its primary treatments. However, poor selectivity, systemic toxicity, a narrow treatment window, low response rate and multidrug resistance limit its clinical application. Liver-targeted nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit excellent targeted delivery ability and promising effectivity in treating liver cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the liver-targeting and anti-liver cancer effect of artesunate (ART)-loaded and glycyrrhetinic acid (GA)-decorated polyethylene glycol (PEG)-poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) (ART/GA-PEG-PLGA) NPs. GA-coated NPs significantly increased hepatoma-targeted cellular uptake, with micropinocytosis and caveolae-mediated endocytosis as its chief internalization pathways. Moreover, ART/GA-PEG-PLGA NPs exhibited pro-apoptotic effects on HepG2 cells, mainly via the induction of a high level of reactive oxygen species, decline in mitochondrial membrane potential and induction of cell cycle arrest. Additionally, ART/GA-PEG-PLGA NPs induced internal apoptosis pathways by upregulating the activity of cleaved caspase-3/7 and expression of cleaved poly (ADP-Ribose)-polymerase and Phos-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, ART/GA-PEG-PLGA NPs exhibited higher liver accumulation and longer mean retention time, resulting in increased bioavailability. Finally, ART/GA-PEG-PLGA NPs promoted the liver-targeting distribution of ART, increased the retention time and promoted its antitumour effects in vivo. Therefore, ART/GA-PEG-PLGA NPs afforded excellent hepatoma-targeted delivery and anti-liver cancer efficacy, and thus, they may be a promising strategy for treating liver cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance and stable operating range of compressors are critical for the efficient operation of various turbomachinery systems. To reveal the flow instability mechanism of a high-speed and high-loaded compressor, a systematic experimental study on a 1.5-stage high-loaded compressor was conducted in this paper. First, the aerodynamic design and aerodynamic performance evaluation of the compressor were carried out. At 100% corrected speed, the measured choked flowrate, peak efficiency, and stall margin were 4.59 kg/s, 87.1% and 17.5%, respectively. Second, the flow instability mechanism of the highly loaded compressor at different corrected speeds was clarified through the experiments. At 50% corrected speed, the compressor rotor developed from a spike-wave stall precursor to a rotating stall; at 70% corrected speed, the compressor developed directly from a spike-wave precursor to surge; at 90% corrected speed, the compressor has undergone the process of modal wave precursor, spike-wave precursor, and surge. Further, at 70% and 90% corrected speed, a classic surge occurred with surge frequencies of 11.91 Hz and 9.59?Hz, respectively. Through the analysis of short-time power spectrum maximum amplitude, the warning time for the surge was 6.7?ms and 15.6?ms, respectively. Finally, as the compressor throttles to stall/surge conditions, the degree of fluctuation of the autocorrelation coefficient and cross-correlation coefficient increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outer light (stellar haloes) of massive galaxies has recently emerged as a possible low scatter tracer of dark matter halo mass. To test the robustness of outer light measurements across different data sets, we compare the 1D azimuthally averaged surface brightness profiles of massive galaxies using four independent data sets: the Hyper Suprime-Cam survey (HSC), the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and the Dragonfly Wide Field Survey (Dragonfly). We test the sky subtraction and proposed corrections for HSC and DECaLS. For galaxies at z < 0.05, Dragonfly has the best control of systematics, reaching surface brightness levels of μ r ≈ 30 mag arcsec−2. At 0.19 < z < 0.50, HSC can reliably recover individual surface brightness profiles to μ r ≈ 28.5 mag arcsec−2 (R  = 100–150 kpc in semimajor axis). In a statistical sense, DECaLS agrees with HSC to R > 200 kpc. DECaLS and HSC measurements of the stellar mass contained within 100 kpc agree within 0.05 dex. Finally, we use weak lensing to show that measurements of outer light with DECaLS at 0.19 < z < 0.50 show a similar promise as HSC as a low scatter proxy of halo mass. The tests and results from this paper represent an important step forward for accurate measurements of the outer light of massive galaxies and demonstrate that outer light measurements from DECam imaging will be a promising method for finding galaxy clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isotrema haimingii Y.S. Huang & Yan Liu, a new species from Dayaoshan Mountain of Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically most similar to I. championii and I. yachangense in the shape of leaf blade, lanceolate-ovate bracteoles, oblong anthers, 3-lobed gynostemium and ellipsoid capsules, but can be easily distinguished from them by length of the basal perianth tube, colour of calyx limb and the outside of perianth tube, surface texture of calyx limb and throat. Photos of this new species, as well as a table to distinguish it from other morphologically similar Isotrema species, are provided. The threatened status of the new species is also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccinium bangliangense, a new species from limestone areas in Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It is morphologically most similar to V. pseudotonkinense and V. sciaphilum in having small and dense obovate leaf blades with a retuse apex, hairy young branches and calyx and campanulate corollas, but can be distinguished from them by the distance of basal gland from petiole, the length of peduncle, pedicle and filaments, the indumentum of calyx tube and corolla and the existence of apical glands on calyx lobes. A table to distinguish the new species from other morphologically similar Vaccinium species, as well as colour plates of comparison of key characters, is also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genes and environmental conditions are thought to interact in the development of postnatal brain in schizophrenia (SZ). Genome wide association studies have identified that PPARGC1A being one of the top candidate genes for SZ. We previously reported GABAergic neuron-specific PGC-1α knockout mice (Dlx5/6-Cre:PGC-1αfl/fl) presented some characteristic features of SZ. However, there is a fundamental gap of the molecular mechanism by which PGC-1α gene involved in the developmental trajectory to SZ. To explore whether PGC-1α regulates environmental factors interacting with genetic susceptibility to trigger symptom onset and disease progression, PGC-1α deficient mice were utilized to model genetic effect and an additional oxidative stress was induced by GBR injection. We confirm that PGC-1α gene deletion prolongs critical period (CP) timing, as revealed by delaying maturation of PV interneurons (PVIs), including their perineuronal nets (PNNs). Further, we confirm that gene × environment (G × E) influences CP plasticity synergistically and the interaction varies as a function of age, with the most sensitive period being at preweaning stage, and the least sensitive one at early adult age in PGC-1α deficient mice. Along this line, we find that the synergic action of G × E is available in ChABC-infusion PGC-1α KO mice, even though during the adulthood, and the neuroplasticity seems to remain open to fluctuate. Altogether, these results refine the observations made in the PGC-1α deficient mice, a potential mouse model of SZ, and illustrate how PGC-1α regulates CP plasticity via G × E interaction in the developmental trajectory to SZ. • PGC-1α gene deletion prolongs critical period timing. • PGC-1α involves in neuroplasticity via interacting with environment at pubertal age. • PGC-1α is not involved in neuroplasticity via interacting with environment in adulthood. • Synergic action of G × E is available in adult PGC-1α KO mice with ChABC-infusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove a generalization of Harish-Chandra's character orthogonality relations for discrete series to arbitrary admissible representations for real reductive Lie groups. This result is an analogue of a conjecture by Kazhdan for p-adic reductive groups proved by Bezrukavnikov and by Schneider and Stuhler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is compressing the timeline for Singapore's digital transformation in education. Reflecting on the implementation of Home-Based Learning (HBL) during the pandemic, we examine three barriers that inhibit digital transformation and technological implementation in education with leadership considerations: the first order barrier is infrastructural and can be mitigated by leadership foresight; the second order barrier concerns design capabilities of teachers which can be mitigated by tight-but-loose calibration; and the third order barrier deals with sustainability which can be mitigated by ecological leadership. The tight-but-loose calibration optimises the 'tight' system-led innovations such as Student Learning Space (SLS) for efficient deployment and for equitable access of high quality online resources for students; and 'loose' opportunities for teacher-led innovations on learning designs within and beyond system-led innovations to nurture teacher agency and professionalism. We posit that ecological leadership is key to sustaining deep change together with the 'tight-but-loose' system calibration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Conditional knockout of PGC-1α exhibited deficits in short-term habituation. • Conditional knockout of PGC-1α exhibited aberrant salience. • Conditional knockout of PGC-1α caused exaggerated startle reactivity and reduced PPI. • Conditional knockout of PGC-1α exhibited normal spatial reference memory. • Decreased PV expression was showed in PGC-1α conditional knockout mice. Interneurons not only contribute to the global balance of activity in cortical networks but also mediate the precise gating of information through specific proteins. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor-gamma co-activator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) is concentrated in inhibitory interneurons and that it plays an important role in neuropsychiatric diseases. However, the functions of the transcriptional coactivator PGC-1α in sensorimotor gating, short-term habituation and spatial reference memory are still not entirely clear. To investigate the precise involvement of PGC-1α in the progression of psychiatric disorders, we first generated PGC-1α conditional knockout mice through transgenic expression of Cre recombinase under the control of dlx5/6 promoter, Cre-mediated excision events occurred specifically in γ-amino-butyric-acid-(GABA)ergic neurons. Short-term habituation and spatial reference memory in Dlx5/6-Cre::PGC-1αfl/fl mice were evaluated using the novel object recognition test and the Morris water maze test, and sensorimotor gating was measured by prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle reflex. Protein expression of parvalbumin (PV) in specific brain regions was studied by western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Here, we show that mice lacking the PGC-1α gene in GABAergic neurons exhibit deficits in short-term habituation, hyperactivity, reduced prepulse inhibition and exaggerated startle reactivity but normal associative spatial reference memory. In particular, these mice display aberrant salience, whereby more attention is paid to a further copy of the original object (now familiar) (relative to the first presentation of the original object, and relative to the presentation of the novel object). These behavioral dysfunctions were associated with decreased PV expression in the cortex (including somatosensory and motor cortex) as well as in the hippocampus, especially in its CA1 and CA3 regions. Together, these findings draw attention to a hyper-response phenotype of PGC-1α conditional knockout mice and indicate that PGC-1α is a novel regulator of gene expression and function in PV-positive interneurons and a potential therapeutic target for psychiatric disorders associated with PGC-1α dysregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geostatistics was applied for the parameters optimization in the estimation process for the Shambesai gold deposit in Kyrghyzstan. Surpac and Supervisor were used as the main geostatistics analysis and block model estimation software. Refereeing to the characteristics of the mineralization type of the Carlin gold deposit, parameter optimization methods were used at different stages of estimation: the sampling spacing, top-cut, proportional effect and mixed distribution were researched for creating robust experimental variogram; logarithmic model was used for model fitting and zonal nesting method was applied to calculate the best fitting variogram fitting curves; parameters of slope of regression, Kriging efficiency and block variance were used for the optimization of block model estimation parameters, and finally the resource was completed with reasonable setting and best accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions are facing an increasing demand to collaborate with each other in the knowledge economy. Yet, research on how higher education management enhances collaborative work is rare. This paper takes research collaboration as an example and presents a provisional exploration initiated by a higher education institution in Singapore to enhance collaborations among researchers within the institution. The paper first explores three key challenges (i.e., harnessing differences, avoiding counterproductive coercing of collaborations, and optimizing team size) and introduces a social network perspective as a means to understand research collaboration. It uses analytic tools from Social Network Analysis to provide insight into the patterns and dynamics of collaborations among researchers within the institution. The insights are used to inform the institution's formulation of strategies to enhance research collaboration, including strategies for research development, research community engagement and talent retention. Critical considerations are given to the ways in which management might adopt and adapt a social network perspective to facilitate collaborative work in higher education. Exploring the utility of social theories and tools for enhancing collaborative work in higher education contributes to 'importing' theories to higher education research, particularly the institutional management and the knowledge and research themes of higher education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive galaxies display extended light profiles that can reach several hundreds of kiloparsecs. We use data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey that is simultaneously wide (~100 deg2) and deep (>28.5 mag arcsec-2 in i band) to study the stellar haloes of a sample of ~7000 massive galaxies at z ~ 0.4. The depth of the HSC data enables us to measure surface mass density profiles to 100 kpc for individual galaxies without stacking. As in previous work, we find that more massive galaxies exhibit more extended outer profiles than smaller galaxies. When this extended light is not properly accounted for (because of shallow imaging and/or inadequate profile modelling), the derived stellar mass function can be significantly underestimated at the high-mass end. Across our sample, the ellipticity of outer light profile increases substantially with radius. We show for the first time that these ellipticity gradients steepen dramatically as a function of galaxy mass, but we detect no mass dependence in outer colour gradients. Our results support the two-phase formation scenario for massive galaxies in which outer envelopes are built up at a later time from a series of merging events. We provide surface mass density profiles in a convenient tabulated format to facilitate comparisons with predictions from numerical simulations of galaxy formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive galaxies display extended light profiles that can reach several hundreds of kiloparsecs. We use data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey that is simultaneously wide (∼100 deg2) and deep (>28.5 mag arcsec-2 in i band) to study the stellar haloes of a sample of ∼7000 massive galaxies at z ∼ 0.4. The depth of the HSC data enables us to measure surface mass density profiles to 100 kpc for individual galaxies without stacking. As in previous work, we find that more massive galaxies exhibit more extended outer profiles than smaller galaxies. When this extended light is not properly accounted for (because of shallow imaging and/or inadequate profile modelling), the derived stellar mass function can be significantly underestimated at the high-mass end. Across our sample, the ellipticity of outer light profile increases substantially with radius. We show for the first time that these ellipticity gradients steepen dramatically as a function of galaxy mass, but we detect no mass dependence in outer colour gradients. Our results support the two-phase formation scenario for massive galaxies in which outer envelopes are built up at a later time from a series of merging events. We provide surface mass density profiles in a convenient tabulated format to facilitate comparisons with predictions from numerical simulations of galaxy formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research management is an emerging field of study and its development is significant to the advancement of research enterprise. Developing the science of research management requires investigating social mechanisms involved in research management. Yet, studies on social mechanisms of research management is lacking in the literature. To address this gap, this paper proposes importing methodologies and theories from other social science disciplines to study the social mechanisms of research management and to build the science of research management. The paper first articulates what constitutes the science of research management, then proposes to appropriate Design-Based Research (DBR), a methodology in education research, for building the science of research management while at the same time strengthening the theory-practice nexus. A study of education research is then presented to illustrate how DBR is used to enact the theory of homophily which is imported from sociology. It reveals an opportunity to use social designs to develop social relationships among teachers from different schools for networked learning. Such a research endeavour also has potential to advance theories of relationship-building in sociology. Inferring from the example as an analogue to what is suggested for research management, the paper advocates a way to reciprocally connect research management as an emerging research field with more established social science disciplines at large and to advance both the theory and practice of research management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) is an ambitious multi-band survey using the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) on the Subaru telescope. The Wide layer of the SSP is both wide and deep, reaching a detection limit of i~26.0 mag. At these depths, it is challenging to achieve accurate, unbiased, and consistent photometry across all five bands. The HSC data are reduced using a pipeline that builds on the prototype pipeline for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. We have developed a Python-based, flexible framework to inject synthetic galaxies into real HSC images called SynPipe. Here we explain the design and implementation of SynPipe and generate a sample of synthetic galaxies to examine the photometric performance of the HSC pipeline. For stars, we achieve 1% photometric precision at i~19.0 mag and 6% precision at i~25.0 in the i-band. For synthetic galaxies with single-Sersic profiles, forced CModel photometry achieves 13% photometric precision at i~20.0 mag and 18% precision at i~25.0 in the i-band. We show that both forced PSF and CModel photometry yield unbiased color estimates that are robust to seeing conditions. We identify several caveats that apply to the version of HSC pipeline used for the first public HSC data release (DR1) that need to be taking into consideration. First, the degree to which an object is blended with other objects impacts the overall photometric performance. This is especially true for point sources. Highly blended objects tend to have larger photometric uncertainties, systematically underestimated fluxes and slightly biased colors. Second, >20% of stars at 22.5< i < 25.0 mag can be misclassified as extended objects. Third, the current CModel algorithm tends to strongly underestimate the half-light radius and ellipticity of galaxy with i>21.5 mag. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To elucidate the outcomes of treatment and epidemiology of epilepsy related to glioma in a single center in Chinese patients. Methods: Prescription medicines usage and clinical data were collected from medical records of 119 patients with gliomas between August 2009 and September 2015. Fisher's exact and Chi square tests were used for analysis of seizure incidence differences as per WHO Grades, histology, location as well as tumour number, age and sex. Results: Preoperative seizures were noted in 33.8% of glioma patients. After surgery, all the patients were given antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) prophylactically. Ten patients (8.4%) developed seizures in the initial postoperative week, and 73 (61.3%) patients at the last follow-up period. Overall, seizure incidence was 74.2% in WHO Grade II, 68.4% in Grade III, and 56.6% in Grade IV glioma patients. Good seizure control and tolerance was demonstrated by levetiracetam. Phenytoin/carbamazepine were poorly tolerated due to adverse events. AED discontinuation was done in 54 patients and 14 patients developed seizures within 6 months and again needed AED. Conclusion: Effective prophylaxis of seizure and acceptable adverse event profile are to be considered significantly in AEDs selection. Lower cognitive impairment risk and renal excretion associated with newer AEDs make them better than older therapeutic agents for epilepsy control in brain tumour patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G be a connected real semisimple Lie group having a finite center and a compact Cartan subgroup T with Lie algebra t0. Let ω be a G × T-invariant symplectic form on X = G × t0. We incorporate Dirac cohomology into the geometric quantization of (X , ω) and study the resulting multiplicity-free unitary G × T-representation on a Hilbert space H (X , ω). We also perform symplectic reduction of (X , ω) and show that our quantization method satisfies the principle “quantization commutes with reduction”. As an application we construct various models of discrete series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propionibacterium freudenreichii is used as a cheese-ripening starter and as a probiotic. Its reported physiological effects at the gut level, including modulation of bifidobacteria, colon epithelial cell proliferation and apoptosis, and intestinal inflammation, rely on active metabolism in situ. Survival and activity are thus key factors determining its efficacy, creating stress adaptation and tolerance bottlenecks for probiotic applications. Growth media and growth conditions determine tolerance acquisition. We investigated the possibility of using sweet whey, a dairy by-product, to sustain P. freudenreichii growth. It was used at different concentrations (dry matter) as a culture medium. Using hyperconcentrated sweet whey led to enhanced multistress tolerance acquisition, overexpression of key stress proteins, and accumulation of intracellular storage molecules and compatible solutes, as well as enhanced survival upon spray drying. A simplified process from growth to spray drying of propionibacteria was developed using sweet whey as a 2-in-1 medium to both culture P. freudenreichii and protect it from heat and osmotic injury without harvesting and washing steps. As spray drying is far cheaper and more energy efficient than freeze-drying, this work opens new perspectives for the sustainable development of new starter and probiotic preparations with enhanced robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the impact of brand familiarity and brand relevance on forwarding of viral advertisements, which is an issue that has rarely been addressed before. An experiment and a field study with 3,749 participants were conducted to test the research hypotheses. Results revealed that in the context of viral advertising, brand familiarity and brand relevance act as negative factors for forwarding, and only under the condition of low brand familiarity and low brand relevance are people more willing to forward viral advertisements. These results are different from those in the traditional advertising literature, in which it is held that brand familiarity and brand relevance will generate positive effects on the effectiveness of advertisements. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chamaelirium jiuwanshanense, a new dioecious species of Melanthiaceae from Jiuwanshan National Nature Reserve, Guangxi, China is described and illustrated. It is similar to C. shimentaiense, but can be clearly distinguished from the latter mainly by its dioecious sexual system, linear-lanceolate bract-like cauline leaves, racemes with pedicelled flowers, etc. A detailed morphological description, and the information on its distribution, habitat and conservation status are provided here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model of why and how cart abandonment occurs in the online shopping process. An online survey of 210 people was conducted via the online shopping website of a communication company in China. The results demonstrate that cart abandonment was directly and positively influenced by organization and research of the products within the cart as well as by comparison with external websites, and was directly and negatively influenced by payment intention. Both perceived cost and perceived risk had an indirect effect on cart abandonment through the mediator of organization and research of products within the cart. Perceived transaction inconvenience did not influence cart abandonment either directly or indirectly. The results imply that cart abandonment is dependent on the shopping processes, and that organization and research of products within the cart is a key variable that impacts cart abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Dual-channels have been widely used in practice, and the pricing decisions and the online channel operation mode choice have been the core problems in dual-channel supply chain management. This paper focuses on the online channel operation mode choice from the supply chain power structures based on game theoretical analysis. Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes three kinds of game theoretical models to analyze the impact of supply chain power structures on the optimal pricing and online channel operation mode choice. Findings: Results derived in this paper indicate that when the self-price elasticity is large, the power structures have no direct impact on the decisions. However, when the self-price elasticity is small and customers' preference for the online channel is low, then in the MS market, it is better for the retailer to operate the online channel, while in the RS market or in the VN market, it is better for the manufacturer to operate the online channel. Research limitations/implications: In this paper, we do not consider stochastic demand and asymmetric information, which may not well suit the reality. Originality/value: This paper provides a different perspective to analyze the impact of supply chain power structures on the pricing decisions and online channel operation mode choice. The comparison of these two online channel operation modes in this paper is also a unique point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving or static obstacles often get in the way while walking in daily life. Avoiding obstacles involves both perceptual processing of motion information and controlling appropriate defensive movements. Several higher-level motion areas, including the ventral intraparietal area (VIP), medial superior temporal area, parieto-insular vestibular cortex (PIVC), areas V6 and V6A, and cingulate sulcus visual area, have been identified in humans by passive viewing of optic flow patterns that simulate egomotion and object motion. However, the roles of these areas in the active control of egomotion in the real world remain unclear. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map the neural substrates underlying the passive observation and active control of translational egomotion in humans. A wide-field virtual reality environment simulated a daily scenario where doors randomly swing outward while walking in a hallway. The stimuli of door-dodging events were essentially the same in two event-related fMRI experiments, which compared passive and active dodges in response to swinging doors. Passive dodges were controlled by a computer program, while active dodges were controlled by the subject. Passive dodges activated several higher-level areas distributed across three dorsal motion streams in the temporal, parietal, and cingulate cortex. Active dodges most strongly activated the temporal-vestibular stream, with peak activation located in the right PIVC. Other higher-level motion areas including VIP showed weaker to no activation in active dodges. These results suggest that PIVC plays an active role in sensing and guiding translational egomotion that moves an observer aside from impending obstacles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend the setting and a proof of the Vogan's conjecture on Dirac cohomology to a possibly disconnected real reductive Lie group G in the Harish-Chandra class. We show that the Dirac cohomology of cohomologically induced module LS(Z) is completely determined by the Dirac cohomology of the inducing module Z. More precisely, we prove that if Z is weakly good then the Dirac cohomology D(LS(Z)) is equal to ... An immediate application is a classification of tempered irreducible unitary representations with nonzero Dirac cohomology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The strategy that co-cultivation two microorganisms in a single confined environment were recently developed to generate new active natural products. In the study, two new cyclic tetrapeptides, cyclo (D-Pro-L-Tyr-L-Pro-L-Tyr) (1) and cyclo (Gly-L-Phe-L-Pro-L-Tyr) (2) were isolated from the co-culture broth of two mangrove fungi Phomopsis sp. K38 and Alternaria sp. E33. Their antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Gaeumannomyces graminis, Rhzioctonia cerealis, Helminthosporium sativum and Fusarium graminearum was evaluated. Materials and Methods: Different column chromatographic techniques with different solvent systems were used to separate the constituents of the n-butyl alcohol extract of the culture broth. The structures of compounds 1 and 2 were identified by analysis of spectroscopic data (one-dimensional, two-dimensional - nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry) and Marfey's analytic method. Dilution method was used for the evaluation of antifungal activity. Results: Compounds 1 and 2 were identified as cyclo (D-Pro-L-Tyr-L-Pro-L-Tyr) and cyclo (Gly-L-Phe-L-Pro-L-Tyr), respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 showed moderate to high antifungal activities as compared with the positive control. Conclusions: Compounds 1 and 2 are new cyclopeptides with moderate antifungal activity being worthy of consideration for the development and research of antifungal agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated and compared the effects of 2 forms of sales promotion, namely, price discounts and bonus packs, on online impulse buying. Participants were 280 undergraduate business students at a Chinese university, who responded to a promotion on a mock website. Previous researchers have shown that bonus packs have a greater impact on offline impulse buying than do price discounts. However, our findings were different in the online impulse buying context, in which price discounts resulted in greater impulse buying intention than did bonus packs when the product was hedonic, and bonus packs were a more effective sales promotion than price discounts when the product was utilitarian. In addition, price discounts resulted in greater impulse buying intention than did bonus packs when the product was inexpensive, whereas bonus packs were a more effective sales promotion than were price discounts when the product was expensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While collaboration is increasingly recognized to be important for research, researchers' collaboration networks are still not adequately recognized as a form of research capacity in the literature. Research is a knowledge creation activity and interpersonal research collaboration networks are important for knowledge cross-fertilization and research productivity. By referring to social network theories, this paper argues that research collaboration networks are a form of research capacity at interpersonal level. It complements capacity building at individual, organizational and inter-organizational levels. However, building research collaborations can be challenging. Three key issues are raised for discussion. First, collaboration networks have nonlinear effect on research productivity. Second, fostering heterophilous communications and maintaining degrees of heterophily can be contradicting and thus challenging. Third, building research collaboration networks proactively requires shift of research management philosophy as well as invention of analytical tools for research management. Debates and solutions with regard to these issues may contribute to the advancement of theory and practice of research management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by work of Enright and Willenbring, we prove a generalized Littlewood's restriction formula in terms of Dirac cohomology. Our approach is to use a character formula of irreducible unitary lowest weight modules instead of the Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand resolution, and the proof is much simpler. We also show that our branching formula is equivalent to the formula of Enright and Willenbring in terms of nilpotent Lie algebra cohomology. This follows from the close relationship between the Dirac cohomology and the corresponding nilpotent Lie algebra cohomology for unitary representations of semisimple Lie groups of Hermitian type, which was established by Huang, Pandzic, and Renard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aristolochia mulunensis Y.S. Huang & Yan Liu, a new species of Aristolochiaceae from Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It is similar to A. kwangsiensis, but differs from it by its calyx limb that is discoid-orbicular, nearly quadrilateral, and has an entire margin; by its protuberance that is adaxially densely verrucose, abaxially purple; and by its purple throat, plus 3-lobed gynostemium with mammillate lobes and a glabrous margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by recent developments in our understanding of the formation and evolution of massive galaxies, we explore the detailed photometric structure of a representative sample of 94 bright, nearby elliptical galaxies, using high-quality optical images from the Carnegie-Irvine Galaxy Survey. The sample spans a range of environments and stellar masses, from M" = 1010.2 to 1012.0M☉. We exploit the unique capabilities of two-dimensional image decomposition to explore the possibility that local elliptical galaxies may contain photometrically distinct substructure that can shed light on their evolutionary history. Compared with the traditional one-dimensional approach, these two-dimensional models are capable of consistently recovering the surface brightness distribution and the systematic radial variation of geometric information at the same time. Contrary to conventional perception, we find that the global light distribution of the majority (≳75%) of elliptical galaxies is not well described by a single Sérsic function. Instead, we propose that local elliptical galaxies generically contain three subcomponents: a compact (Re ≲1 kpc) inner component with luminosity fraction f ≈ 0.1-0.15; an intermediate-scale (Re ≈ 2.5 kpc) middle component with f ≈ 0.2-0.25; and a dominant (f = 0.6), extended (Re ≈ 10 kpc) outer envelope. All subcomponents have average Sérsic indices n ≈ 1-2, significantly lower than the values typically obtained from single-component fits. The individual subcomponents follow well-defined photometric scaling relations and the stellarmass-size relation. We discuss the physical nature of the substructures and their implications for the formation of massive elliptical galaxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For mission critical programs, integer overflow is one of the most dangerous faults. Different testing methods provide several effective ways to detect the defect. However, it is hard to validate the testing outputs, because the oracle of testing is not always available or too expensive to get, unless the programthrows an exception obviously. In the present study, the authors conduct a case study, where the authors apply a metamorphic testing (MT) method to detect the integer overflow defect and alleviate the oracle problem in testing critical program of Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). Experimental results show that, in revealing typical integer mutations, compared with traditional safety property testing method, MT with a novel symbolic metamorphic relation is more effective than the traditional method in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection and avoidance of impending obstacles is crucial to preventing head and body injuries in daily life. To safely avoid obstacles, locations of objects approaching the body surface are usually detected via the visual system and then used by the motor system to guide defensive movements. Mediating between visual input and motor output, the posterior parietal cortex plays an important role in integrating multisensory information in peripersonal space. We used functional MRI to map parietal areas that see and feel multisensory stimuli near or on the face and body. Tactile experiments using full-body air-puff stimulation suits revealed somatotopic areas of the face and multiple body parts forming a higher-level homunculus in the superior posterior parietal cortex. Visual experiments using wide-field looming stimuli revealed retinotopic maps that overlap with the parietal face and body areas in the postcentral sulcus at the most anterior border of the dorsal visual pathway. Starting at the parietal face area and moving medially and posteriorly into the lower-body areas, the median of visual polar-angle representations in these somatotopic areas gradually shifts from near the horizontal meridian into the lower visual field. These results suggest the parietal face and body areas fuse multisensory information in peripersonal space to guard an individual from head to toe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primulina gongchengensis Y.S. Huang & Yan Liu (Gesneriaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species from Guangxi, China. It is similar to P. macrodonta, but its leaves are densely glandular-pubescent on both surfaces, with a cuneate or broadly cuneate base and a repand or crenate margin; densely glandular-pubescent petiole and peduncle; purple corolla, with the tube ca. 1.5 cm long, 6-8 mm in diam. at the mouth; ca. 2 mm long, glabrous anthers; 3 staminodes, the lateral ones 1 mm long and the middle one 0.5 mm long; 1.5-1.8 cm long pistil; ca. 4 mm long ovary; and ca. 1 mm long stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important issue in low-latitude ionospheric space weather is how magnetic storms affect the generation of equatorial plasma bubbles. In this study, we present the measurements of the ion density and velocity in the evening equatorial ionosphere by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites during 22 intense magnetic storms. The DMSP measurements show that deep ion density depletions (plasma bubbles) are generated after the interplanetarymagnetic field (IMF) turns southward. The time delay between the IMF southward turning and the first DMSP detection of plasma depletions decreases with the minimum value of the IMF Bz, the maximum value of the interplanetary electric field (IEF) Ey , and the magnitude of the Dst index. The results of this study provide strong evidence that penetration electric field associated with southward IMF during the main phase of magnetic storms increases the generation of equatorial plasma bubbles in the evening sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagonal discriminant rules have been successfully used for high-dimensional classification problems, but suffer from the serious drawback of biased discriminant scores. In this article, we propose improved diagonal discriminant rules with bias-corrected discriminant scores for high-dimensional classification. We show that the proposed discriminant scores dominate the standard ones under the quadratic loss function. Analytical results on why the bias-corrected rules can potentially improve the predication accuracy are also provided. Finally, we demonstrate the improvement of the proposed rules over the original ones through extensive simulation studies and real case studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the dynamical mass generation in the Abelian Higgs model in 2 + 1 dimensions. Instead of adopting the approximations in [Jiang H et al., J. Phys. A 41 2008 255402.], we numerically solve the coupled Dyson—Schwinger Equations (DSEs) for the fermion and gauge boson propagators using a specific truncation for the fermion-photon vertex ansatz and compare our results with the corresponding ones in the above mentioned paper. It is found that the results quoted in the above paper remain qualitatively unaffected by refining the truncation scheme of the DSEs, although there exist large quantitative differences between the results presented in the above paper and ours. In addition, our numerical results show that the critical number of fermion flavor Ne decreases steeply with the the gauge boson mass ma (or the ratio of the Higgs mass mh to the gauge boson mass ma, r = mh/ma ) increasing. It is thus easier to generate a finite fermion mass by the mechanism of DCSB for a small ratio r for a given ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Vogan diagram is a set of involution and painting on a Dynkin diagram. It selects a real form, or equivalently an involution, from a complex simple Lie algebra. We introduce the double Vogan diagram, which is two sets of Vogan diagrams superimposed on an affine Dynkin diagram. They correspond to pairs of commuting involutions on complex simple Lie algebras, and therefore provide an independent classification of the simple locally symmetric pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies (EGs) are still an open question. In particular, recent observations suggest that EGs are not only simple spheroidal systems of old stars. In this paper, we analyse a sample of EGs selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in order to study the star-forming activity in local EGs. Among these 487 ellipticals, we find that 13 EGs show unambiguous evidence of recent star formation activity betrayed by conspicuous nebular emission lines. Using the evolutionary stellar population synthesis models and Lick absorption line indices, we derive stellar ages, metallicities and α-element abundances, and thus reconstruct the star formation and chemical evolution history of the star-forming elliptical galaxies (SFEGs) in our sample. We find that SFEGs have relative younger stellar population age, higher metallicity and lower stellar mass, and that their star formation history can be well described by a recent minor and short starburst superimposed on old stellar component. We also detect 11 E+A galaxies whose stellar population properties are closer to those of quiescent (normal) ellipticals than to star-forming ones. However, from the analysis of their absorption line indices, we note that our E+A galaxies show a significant fraction of intermediate-age stellar populations, remarkably different from the quiescent galaxies. This might suggest an evolutionary link between E+As and star-forming ellipticals. Finally, we confirm the relations between age, metallicity, α-element abundance and stellar mass for local EGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new difluoride monomer bilaterally substituted with rigid benzimidazole groups was synthesized efficiently. A series of new poly(aryl ether)s (PAEs) containing benzimidazole pendants were prepared from the novel difluoride monomer with various commercially available aromatic bisphenols using nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction. All the PAEs show high glass transition temperatures ( Tg > 205 °C), excellent thermal stability ( Td > 420 °C), and good solubility in common organic solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visually guided eating, biting and kissing, and avoiding objects moving toward the face and toward which the face moves require prompt, coordinated processing of spatial visual and somatosensory information in order to protect the face and the brain. Single-cell recordings in parietal cortex have identified multisensory neurons with spatially restricted, aligned visual and somatosensory receptive fields, but so far, there has been no evidence for a topographic map in this area. Here we mapped the organization of a multisensory parietal face area in humans by acquiring functional magnetic resonance images while varying the polar angle of facial air puffs and close-up visual stimuli. We found aligned maps of tactile and near-face visual stimuli at the highest level of human association cortex—namely, in the superior part of the postcentral sulcus. We show that this area may code the location of visual stimuli with respect to the face, not with respect to the retina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of genes that affect quantitative traits has been of great interest to geneticists for many decades, and many statistical methods have been developed to map quantitative trait loci (QTL). Most QTL mapping studies in experimental organisms use purely inbred lines, where the two homologous chromosomes in each individual are identical. As a result, many existing QTL mapping methods developed for experimental organisms are applicable only to genetic crosses between inbred lines. However, it may be difficult to obtain inbred lines for certain organisms, e.g., mosquitoes. Although statistical methods for QTL mapping in outbred populations, e.g., humans, can be applied for such crosses, these methods may not fully take advantage of the uniqueness of these crosses. For example, we can generally assume that the two grandparental lines are homozygous at the QTL of interest, but such information is not be utilized through methods developed for outbred populations. In addition, mating types and phases can be relatively easy to establish through the analysis of adjacent markers due to the large number of offspring that can be collected, substantially simplifying tile computational need. In this article, motivated by a mosquito intercross experiment involving two selected lines that are not genetically homozygous across the genome, we develop statistical methods for QTL mapping for genetic crosses involving noninbred lines. In our procedure, we first infer parental mating types and use likelihood-based methods to infer phases in each parent on the basis of genotypes of offspring and one parent. A hidden Markov model is then employed to estimate the number of high-risk alleles at marker positions and putative QTL positions between markers in each offspring, and QTL mapping is finally conducted through the inferred QTL configuration across all offspring in all crosses. The performance of the proposed methods is assessed through simulation studies, and the usefulness of this method is demonstrated through its application to a mosquito data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using CH4 and CF4 gases, fluorinated amorphous carbon films were deposited by inductively coupled plasmas at various gas flow ratio R, R =[CH4]/([CH4]+[CF4]). The optical properties and structural evolution of the films were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared transmission spectroscopy and the X-ray photoemission spectroscopic spectra respectively. Hydrogen and fluorine exert influence on the optical band gap in a similar way by forming σ bonds with carbon and decreasing the number of π bonds. The variation of hydrogen and fluorine atomic densities in the films are main factors that cause firstly decrease and then increase of the optic band gap with increasing R. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Dirac cohomology is a new tool to study unitary and admissible representations of semisimple Lie groups. Vogan's conjecture on Dirac cohomology reveals an algebraic: nature of Dirac operators. In this paper, we explain the joint work with Padzic on a proof of Vogan's conjecture. As applications, we also describe how to simplify the proof of the Atiyah-Schmid theorem on geometric constructions of discrete series and sharpen the Langlands-Hotta-Parthasarathy formula on automorphic forms. We also indicate the relation between Dirac cohomology and Lie algebra cohomologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the result of defective activation of c-Src in cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells. Loss of tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced gap function regulation; Identification of the tyrosine kinase c-Src as a possible pathway between the mediators of inflammation and the gap junction protein connexin42; Contribution of altered regulation of s-Src to the dysregulated inflammatory response.

Describes the three-dimensional (3-D) facial model estimation from single front-view facial image. Acquisition of stereo images by two different cameras at the same time; Importance of precise location of the camera; Information of the 3-D facial model parameters from the single front-view facial image.

Determines when and how to attach unitary representations to a coadjoint nilpotent orbit for the real orthogonal and symplectic groups. Spherical nilpotent orbits; Notion of rank; Non-existence of quantization for certain nilpotent orbits; Construction and exhaustion; Boundary cases.

Ophiopogon yangshuoensis R.H. Jiang & W.B. Xu (Asparagaceae), a new species from limestone areas in Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It is similar to O. intermedius, but differs by its abaxially glaucous leaves, white streaked, broad-lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate bracts, narrow-lanceolate innermost bracts, and ovate, reflexed tepals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]