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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by synovial joint hyperplasia, joint inflammation, cartilage erosion and bone destruction. Macrophages play an essential role in the pathogenesis of RA, and folate receptor β (FR-β) is highly expressed on the surface of activated synovial macrophages in RA patients. Triptolide (TP) has anti-inflammatory properties, and it can protect the cartilage matrix, but its clinical application has been limited due to poor solubility, low bioavailability and systemic toxicity. Therefore, we constructed folate-modified triptolide liposomes (FA-TP-Lips) to target macrophages, thereby treating RA in a safe and effective way. The experiments indicated that FA-TP-Lips had properties of small particle size, uniform particle size distribution, high drug encapsulation and long circulation. Furthermore, FA-TP-Lips showed reduced cytotoxicity, increased cellular uptake and significant anti-inflammatory effects

Piezoelectric materials embedded into plates and shells make the structures being capable of sensing and actuation, usually called smart structures, which are frequently used for shape and vibration control, noise control, health monitoring, and energy harvesting. To give a precise prediction of static and dynamic behavior of smart structures, the linear/nonlinear multi-physics coupled modeling technique is of great importance. The article attempts to present the available research on modeling of piezoelectric integrated plates and shells, including (1) through thickness hypotheses for beams, plates, and shells; (2) geometrically nonlinear theories for plates and shells; (3) electroelastic material linear/nonlinear modeling; (4) multi-physics coupled modeling; and (5) modeling of advanced piezo-fiber composite bonded structures.

To study the advance distance of guide signs of expressway exit, we divide driving behavior in expressway exit into five processes according to the characteristics of the driving psychology principle and drivers' response to signs. A model of guide signs of expressway exit is built to calculate the advance distance of guide signs that meets safety and comfort requirements. The proposed model is established on the basis of the insertion gap travel distance model and isokinetic deviation sine curve model of vehicle lane changing distance. Through the analysis of the setting mode of guide signs, we calculate a reasonable distance for guide signs under different road conditions and different driver characteristics. The proposed model is developed with the UC-win/road and simulated by the Forum8 driving simulator. Simulation results show that only the distance of the advance signs of a two-way four-lane expressway exit is close to the specified value of Road Traffic Signs and Markings, which is reasonable; while for expressway with six lanes and above, the specified value is small.

Choice-making in diverging in an interchange is affected by multiple external factors. Along with an analysis of the characteristics of drivers' choice-making in expressway interchanges, this study settles many other fundamental variables, including the selection tree, utility function, speed of vehicles on the main line, accelerated speed, hourly traffic volume of the ramp, time headway in the deceleration lane, and type of vehicle, etc. The two-level nested-logit probability model for drivers accepting ramp diverging and drivers' diverging choice behaviors modes is established. Based on the radar tracking data of part of diverging areas of interchanges in Guanghe expressway, the model parameters are estimated by the phased estimation method.According to t-test result, the influence degree of the characteristic variables is judged and the model is optimized. Results suggest that the choice behaviors of diverging at interchange is affected by multiple factors comprehensively, the two-layer nested logit probability model is featured by a higher prediction accuracy.

This study is aimed to report the development, the reliability and validity of the Chinese Children Physical Activity Questionnaire (CCPAQ) which was designed for the assessment of physical activity pattern in young population in China.The CCPAQ was administered for two times in 119 children (mean age 13.1 ± 2.4 years; boys 47%) to examine reliability by using intraclass correlation coefficients. Validity was determined in 106 participants by agreement with the CCPAQ measures and the objective method, the ActiGraph accelerometer. Data on physical activity pattern including time spent on different intensities and total physical activity, sedentary behavior as well as physical activity energy expenditure were used to assess the validity with Spearman's correlation coefficient and the Bland-Altman plots.The reliability coefficient of the CCPAQ ranged from 0.63-0.93 (Intra-class correlation coefficient). Spearman's correlation coefficient for validity of time spent on total physical activity and sedentary behavior were all 0.32 (P0.001), and for physical activity energy expenditure was 0.58 (P0.001). Time spent on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and light physical activity showed a relatively low correlation with the accelerometer (rho = 0.20, P = 0.040; rho = 0.19, P = 0.054).The CCPAQ appears to be a promising and feasible method to assess physical activity pattern in Chinese children.

In this paper, a camera ranging method for agricultural robot localization in arable farming is described. Three calibration objects in different directions in the field are set. The distances between the robot are calculated, and the calibration objects are used the camera to obtain the robot position. The benchmarking procedure in Matlab includes image binarization of the calibration object and the curve fitting method was used to establish the relationship between the pixels number of the calibration object and the actual distance. The verification results show that the relative error of ranging is less than 1.5%. Furthermore, the camera ranging method for agricultural robot localization is proved to be easy and feasible.

This paper designed the posture initialization calibration method by the inertial sensor in human limb movement with any attitude toward. By initializing the target specific actions can be implemented to identify timing corresponding sensors and joint, and calculate the coordinate transformation relation of human skeletal coordinates corresponding to each inertial sensor's coordinate system and the 3D human skeleton model. Then through the coordinate conversion of inertial sensor attitude coordinates and depth first traversal calculation on human skeletal tree, real-time update of human motion body attitude data, driven simulation of human skeletal model by human motion, realize the real-time tracking of motion capture.

In response to pathogen attack, plants prioritize defense reactions generally at the expense of plant growth. In this work, we report that changes in phytohormone signaling pathways are associated with the stunted plant growth caused by blast disease in rice seedlings. Infection of rice seedlings with blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae (race 007.0) at the four-leaf stage (three true leaves) resulted in considerable inhibition of the growth of the upper uninfected distal leaves; the length of leaf blade and leaf sheath of the sixth and seventh leaf was reduced by 27 and 82%, and 88 and 72%, respectively, compared to that in the uninoculated plant control. Interestingly, cutting off the blast-infected fourth leaf blade within 2 days post inoculation (dpi) significantly rescued the inhibition of leaf growth, implying that an inhibitory substance(s) and/or signal was generated in the blast-infected leaves (fourth leaf) and transmitted to the upper distal leaves (sixth and seventh) during the 2-dpi period that induced growth inhibition. Expression analysis of marker genes for phytohormone pathways revealed acute activation of the jasmonate (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathways, and repression of auxin, gibberellic acid (GA) and salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathways, in the sixth leaf. The genes related to cell wall expansion were also significantly downregulated. In the blast-infected fourth leaf, JA pathway was activated within 2 dpi, followed by activation of ABA pathway 3 dpi. Further, leaf inhibition caused by blast infection was partially rescued in the rice mutant line coleoptile photomorphogenesis 2 (cpm2), which is defective in the gene encoding allene oxide cyclase (OsAOC). These results indicate that the JA signaling pathway is at least partly involved in the growth inhibition processes. Collectively, our data suggest that, upon pathogen attack, rice seedlings prioritize defense reactions against the infecting pathogen by temporarily ceasing plant growth through the systemic control of phytohormone pathways.

Correction for ‘A new AIE multi-block polyurethane copolymer material for subcellular microfilament imaging in living cells’ by Yu-qing Niu et al., Chem. Commun., 2017, DOI: 10.1039/c7cc02555f.

A design of mechanical arm for laser weeding robot is described. The long term objective of the project is the replacement of chemical weeding by laser weeding. The distinguishing feature of this design is the use of a mechanical arm, which is equipped with a laser generator and a control center consisted of a single chip microcomputer and two driver hybrid ICs. The mechanical arm comprises two stepping motors vertically linked together. The robot moves ahead one step, the working area of laser generator is divided into 10×10 grids. Through the inverse operation of mechanical arm, the motor displacement angle of each grid is calculated. Mechanical arm turns to designated position if single chip gets weeds position information. The result of the design is a key executive mechanism of laser weeding. The operation error of mechanical arm is analyzed. The arm can point the laser beam towards the target weeds with small error. After the order of the execution areas is optimized, the length of arm moving path is shorter. Analysis of the running track shows that the sequence of execution area is feasible and reasonable.

An automatic watering controller with AT89S52 single-chip microcomputer was developed. According to the moisture condition detected by soil moisture sensor, the system could control the watering quantity by using fuzzy control rules to limit opening and closing time of electromagnetic valve of the irrigation system. Mamdani inference algorithm was employed as fuzzy control model for this closed-loop control system. Soil moisture sensor was put into the substrate for roots growth to obtain moisture information and used as the input. By comparing the water needed for plant growth, water demand and the electromagnetic valve opening and closing time was determined by the single-chip microcomputer program. Centroid method of defuzzification was used to determine the quantitative level of watering quantity. This fuzzy controller was designed by MATLAB fuzzy logic toolbox. The control system was simulated by Simulink. Simulation results show that this control method has good stability.

A variable rate fertilizer application system with ARM microprocessor as control core was developed. The structure and realization principle of the system were introduced. The system consists of two velocity sensors of photoelectric encoder and proximity transducer, an ARM controller, and an executive unit of stepper motor. The system has automatic and manual variable rate fertilization modes. In the automatic mode, the system can be positioned automatically without GPS, and controls the stepping motor’s rotational speed according to the fertilizing amount in different grid to realize variable rate fertilization. In the manual mode, the controller combines the fertilizing amount in different grid input manually through the keys with the velocity of the applicator, and calculates the stepping motor’s rotational speed to realize the variable rate fertilizer application. The applicator working status can be seen in LCD on the controller. The experimental results show that the system can work properly.

The diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is based on a combination of characteristic symptoms and electrophysiologic abnormalities. However, the electrodiagnostic examination remains an expensive and time-consuming procedure. Therefore, more investigators have reported on their experiences on CTS diagnosis with ultrasound image. CTS is generally attributed to external compression of the median nerve. Thus, distinguishing the median nerve shape from speckle-obscured ultrasound image provides a potential for the diagnosis of CTS. To lower the speckle interference, we propose a novel compound imaging strategy to reveal the significant signatures of median nerve. We observed that patient's fingers motion in ultrasound imaging deforms nerve shape and produces tissue movement. Based on speckle decorrelation of image under different fingers motion conditions, speckle variations can be reduced by compounding technique. The primary assumption of compounding is that the ensemble average of a speckle image is the same as the incoherent average of the original object. In this study, the multi-level block matching and block sum pyramid integrated algorithms were adopted for speckle tracking and compounding between ultrasound images. The results indicate that the efficacy of speckle reduction is clear and the positions of the two median nerve boundaries are unchanged. In particular, the internal punctuated echoes of medial nerve become more distinct.

Because the colonic mucosa is in direct contact with digesta, luminal exposure to potentially carcinogenic or chemopreventive agents may be important in colorectal carcinogenesis, independently of the effects of systemic exposure through the circulation. To date, few biomarkers for luminal exposure have been identified, and isolation of reasonably good quality fecal human RNA remains difficult. In this study, we assessed the yield and quality of RNA extracted from 10 human stool samples after storage with several commercially available preservatives compared with stool samples immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. This study shows that careful design of primer pairs which amplify a short length of DNA is key to obtaining interpretable and reproducible results. Moreover, the use of commercially available RNA preservation kits enables investigators to collect usable fecal samples from large populations. Of all the preservative methods tested, RNAlater had the best performance in terms of overall quality, quantity, and level of genomic DNA contamination, and thus deserves further investigation. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2008;17(2):455–8)

A method though the combination of a phase array plate and linear interpolation has been used to substitute phase-shifting, where effect of nonlinear interpolation is neglected. In this paper we mainly study the effect of non-linear interpolation in a phase array plate. The results of reconstructed image under several nonlinear interpolations such as cubic and nearest interpolations are given and are compared with those of linear interpolation and standard interpolation. Because only one hologram is needed in our method, it can be used in real-time measurement of a moving object.