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Much is known about the molecular interactions between positive-strand RNA viruses and dicotyledon plants. However, many important viral pathogens of the monocotyledon rice crop contain negative-strand or double-strand RNA genomes. Recent studies have shown that virus-derived small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs), host microRNAs and phytohormones regulate antiviral responses in rice plants and that rice-infecting RNA viruses encode a diverse repertoire of multifunctional proteins with counter-defensive activities. Moreover, the interactions between viral virulence proteins and host susceptibility factors also shape the virus-rice arms race. This review will focus on these recent advances and discuss strategies and challenges in the translation of discoveries made on molecular virus-rice interactions into practical virus control measures.

A series of SrMg2 (PO4 )2 : Eu2+ -Eu3+ , Dy3+ phosphors were successfully synthesized by a high temperature solid state method in air atmosphere. The structures using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and luminescent properties of the samples were studied in detailed. SrMg2 (PO4 )2 : Eu2 + -Eu3+ samples can emit adjustable blue-violet light by controlling the proportion of dopant concentration of europium and dysprosium under 340 nm excitation. While Dy3+ exhibits typical blue and yellow emission under 350 nm excitation. The energy transferred from Eu3+ to Dy3+ in Dy and Eu co-doped system is discovered by comparing the fluorescence spectra of single-doped system. In addition, the color coordinates of the International Commission on lighting (CIE) to indicate that SrMg2 (PO4 )2 : Eu2+ -Eu3+ , Dy3+ can be considered as a potential blue-purple phosphor for white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) applications.

We sought to analyse the expression characteristics of cytochrome C oxidase subunit I in mitochondrial of MRL/lpr lupus mice.The whole blood of MRL/lpr lupus mice was detected for whole mitochondrial genome sequencing performed by Illumina HiSeq PE150 instrument, compared with house mouse (NC_005089.1) and screened for the maximum difference gene, MT-CO1. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blot were used to detect the mRNA and protein expression of MT-CO1 in lupus mice and control mice. The total antioxidant capacities of lupus mice and control mice were measured using the rapid 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS) method.The mitochondrial genome sequencing showed that five mitochondrial genes had base differences and MT-CO1 was the maximum difference gene, 31 in total. Among the 31 base difference sites, 2 were missense mutations and 29 were synonymous_variant. qRT-PCR test results showed that the MT-CO1 expression in lupus mouse blood was statistically lower than that in control mice blood (t=4.333; p=0.0003). Western blot test results revealed that the expression of MT-CO1 was lower in the lupus mice compared with the control mice at the protein level. Serum total antioxidant capacity testing showed that: the serum total antioxidant capacity of lupus mice was statistically lower than that of the control mice (t=9.957; p0.0001).High mutation rate and decreased expression of MT-CO1 in MRL/lpr lupus mice accompanied the decrease of antioxidant capacity, which indicated that abnormal MT-CO1 might be involved in the pathogenesis of SLE and the production of anti-dsDNA antibodies.

SrBPO5 :Eu2+ -Eu3+ phosphors were synthesized using a conventional solid self-reduction reaction in an air atmosphere. Samples were characterized using thermogravimetry analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, fluorescence spectra and Commission International de l'Eclairage (CIE) data. The results of TGA and DSC showed that the raw materials could completely react at 1000°C. FTIR spectra and XRD results displayed that europium ions of different concentrations do not effect the structure of the hosts. Fluorescence spectra displayed that europium ions exist in bivalent and trivalent forms, and that the emission peak at 403 nm was attributed to the typical 5d-4f transition for Eu2+ ; 597 nm and 620 nm emissions were assigned to the characteristic transitions of 5 D0 -7F1, 2 for Eu3+ . CIE results depicted that the colour tone of the phosphors could be macro-controlled from blue to purple by controlling the doping amount of Eu3+ .Therefore, relative luminescence intensity between Eu2+ and Eu3+ could be adjusted by controlling the doping concentration of europium to tune the luminescence colour of SrBPO5 .

In this paper, the Eu3+ -Eu2+ (4%, molar ratio)-doped xAl2 O3 -ySiO2 (x = 0-2.5, y = 1-5) and xAl2 O3 -zMgO (x = 0-1.5, z = 0-3) composites phosphors with different Al2 O3 to SiO2 (A/S) and Al2 O3 to MgO (A/M) ratios were prepared using a high-temperature solid-state reaction under air atmosphere. The effects of the A/S and A/M on luminescence properties, crystal structure, electron spin resonance, and Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage chromaticity coordinates of the samples were systematically analyzed. These results indicated that the different A/S and A/M ratios in the matrix effectively affected the crystal phase, degrees of self-reduction of Eu3+ , and led the relative emission intensity of Eu2+ /Eu3+ to change and adjust.

Nontarget data acquisition for target analysis (nDATA) workflows using liquid chromatography-high-resolution accurate mass (LC-HRAM) spectrometry, spectral screening software, and a compound database have generated interest because of their potential for screening of pesticides in foods. However, these procedures and particularly the instrument processing software need to be thoroughly evaluated before implementation in routine analysis. In this work, 25 laboratories participated in a collaborative study to evaluate an nDATA workflow on high moisture produce (apple, banana, broccoli, carrot, grape, lettuce, orange, potato, strawberry, and tomato). Samples were extracted in each laboratory by quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS), and data were acquired by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to a high-resolution quadrupole Orbitrap (QOrbitrap) or quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF) mass spectrometer operating in full-scan mass spectrometry (MS) data-independent tandem mass spectrometry (LC-FS MS/DIA MS/MS) acquisition mode. The nDATA workflow was evaluated using a restricted compound database with 51 pesticides and vendor processing software. Pesticide identifications were determined by retention time (tR, ±0.5 min relative to the reference retention times used in the compound database) and mass errors (δM) of the precursor (RTP, δM ≤ ±5 ppm) and product ions (RTPI, δM ≤ ±10 ppm). The elution profiles of all 51 pesticides were within ±0.5 min among 24 of the participating laboratories. Successful screening was determined by false positive and false negative rates of

A series of SrMg

Secretory phospholipase A2 group IB (sPLA2-IB) and M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) are closely associated with proteinuria in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). Podocytes constitute an important component of glomerular filtration, and high basal autophagy is indispensable for podocyte function. The current study aimed to analyze the relationship between sPLA2-IB and podocyte autophagy in IMN and determine whether sPLA2-IB mediates abnormal autophagy regulation in podocytes. The serum sPLA2-IB level and podocyte autophagy were detected, and clinical data were collected from IMN patients with different proteinuria levels. Then, the effects of sPLA2-IB on autophagy signaling pathways were evaluated in cultured human podocytes treated with sPLA2-IB, rapamycin, p38 inhibition, and PLA2R-siRNA in vitro. We found that IMN patients with nephrotic-range proteinuria have a significantly higher level of sPLA2-IB and fewer autophagosomes than those with non-nephrotic-range proteinuria. In vitro sPLA2-IB-induced insufficient autophagy in podocytes and promoted podocyte injury via activation of the mTOR/ULK1ser757 signaling pathway. Moreover, inhibition of p38 MAPK evidently abrogated sPLA2-IB-induced autophagy and the activation of mTOR/ULK1ser757 . Additionally, PLA2R silencing demonstrated that sPLA2-IB-induced abnormal autophagy was also PLA2R-dependent. In conclusion, the results revealed that sPLA2-IB downregulated autophagy and contributed to podocyte injury via PLA2R though activation of the p38MAPK/mTOR/ULK1ser757 signaling pathway.

Background and purpose. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) proliferation and migration is the important pathological process of diabetic atherosclerosis. Bromine domain protein 4 (BRD4) is involved in cell proliferation and inflammatory disease. Pin1 enhances BRD4 stability and its transcriptional activity. This study aimed to explore the possible mechanism of Pin1/BRD4 in diabetic atherosclerosis. Methods. Diabetic Apoe-/- mice induced by streptozotocin were treated with vehicle, the Pin1 inhibitor juglone, or the BRD4 inhibitor JQ1 for 3 weeks. VSMCs were pretreated with juglone, JQ1, or vehicle for 45 min, and then exposed to high glucose for 48 h. Hematoxylin–eosin staining was performed to assess atherosclerotic plaques of the thoracic aorta. Western blotting was used to detect expression levels of Pin1, BRD4, cyclin D1, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the thoracic aorta and VSMCs. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and transwell assay were used to measure proliferation and migration of VSMCs. Results. Juglone and JQ1 significantly improved atherosclerosis of diabetic Apoe-/- mice and reduced high glucose-induced VSMC proliferation and migration. Cyclin D1 and MMP-9 levels in the thoracic aorta were lower in diabetic Apoe-/- mice treated with juglone and JQ1 compared with vehicle-treated diabetic Apoe-/- mice. Additionally, BRD4 protein expression in high glucose-induced VSMCs was inhibited by juglone and JQ1. Upregulation of Pin1 expression by transduction of the Pin1 plasmid vector promoted BRD4 expression induced by high glucose, and stimulated proliferation and migration of VSMCs. Conclusions. Inhibition of Pin1/BRD4 pathway may improve diabetic atherosclerosis by inhibiting proliferation and migration of VSMCs.

Recent studies suggested that serum secretory phospholipase A2 group IB (sPLA2-IB) was increased in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). However, the interference of high lipemia on the sPLA2-IB levels was not taken into account in these studies. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between sPLA2-IB and lipemia, and the clinical merit of sPLA2-IB in the prediction of prognosis of IMN patients. A total of 64 IMN patients, 39 immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) patients and 64 healthy controls were included in the study. The levels of serum sPLA2-IB, lipemia and proteinuria were measured. Fifty IMN patients were followed up for 6 months. Pathologic stages were made for all IgAN and IMN patients. The results showed that the levels of serum sPLA2-IB, cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly higher, and the levels of albumin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were significantly lower in IMN patients than in healthy controls and IgAN patients. Serum sPLA2-IB levels were also found to be higher in IgAN patients than in heathy controls, but the association of serum sPLA2-IB levels with proteinuria, cholesterol and albumin was only shown in IMN patients. Antibody against M-type receptor for secretory phospholipase A2 (PLA2R1) was positive in 81.3% IMN patients. Glomerular sPLA2-IB deposition, podocyte fused processes, and density deposition on thickened basement membrane were seen in IMN patients, but not in IgAN patients. IMN patients with lower sPLA2-IB and proteinuria levels were found to have better outcome after the 6-month follow-up. In IMN patients, sPLA2-IB levels were significantly increased in both serum and renal tissue. In conclusion, serum sPLA2-IB was closely correlated with proteinuria, albumin and cholesterol, and IMN patients with lower sPLA2-IB levels were more likely to achieve a better outcome.

Secretory phospholipase A2 group IB (sPLA2-IB) and M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R) are closely associated with proteinuria in idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). Podocytes constitute an important component of glomerular filtration, and high basal autophagy is indispensable for podocyte function. The current study aimed to analyze the relationship between sPLA2-IB and podocyte autophagy in IMN and determine whether sPLA2-IB mediates abnormal autophagy regulation in podocytes. The serum sPLA2-IB level and podocyte autophagy were detected, and clinical data were collected from IMN patients with different proteinuria levels. Then, the effects of sPLA2-IB on autophagy signaling pathways were evaluated in cultured human podocytes treated with sPLA2-IB, rapamycin, p38 inhibition, and PLA2R-siRNA in vitro. We found that IMN patients with nephrotic-range proteinuria have a significantly higher level of sPLA2-IB and fewer autophagosomes than those with non-nephrotic-range proteinuria. In vitro sPLA2-IB-induced insufficient autophagy in podocytes and promoted podocyte injury via activation of the mTOR/ULK1

This paper presents a new transmission mechanism with multistage face gears as the core components for realizing variable speeds with differential meshing. To improve face gear transmission smoothness, suppress meshing resonance, reduce noise, and optimize power transmission performance during the gear shifting process, load distribution between meshing teeth during the transmission process and impact loads during various shifting stages must be determined. Herein, we present a gear impact model considering double crown gear meshing configuration, contact deformation, variable working conditions, and jump impact at meshing points. A single-stage face gear pair is considered as object that the impact characteristics are comparatively studied under four conditions: with/without load and constant/variable speed. The results were used to analyze transient characteristics of the crown gear under contact deformation or frequent shifting impact. Based on this, the impact characteristics of multistage face gear pairs between ratio switching were extendedly investigated under four input conditions: constant/variable torque or constant/variable speed. The results were used to determine the meshing force and impact force fluctuation characteristics of multistage face gear pairs while adapting to various loads and continuous acceleration/deceleration. The proposed model can be beneficial to evaluate the feasibility of multistage gear structures with crown configuration and to obtain boundary conditions for transmission systems.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are used abundantly as food additives (E171). For the purpose of risk assessment, it is imperative to understand the behavior of these nanoparticles in a food relevant environment, and their consequent toxicology impacts. However, most of such studies use model TiO2 NPs (P25) as substitutes for E171. To understand the suitability of this approach, we investigated the functional behavior of E171 and P25 in solutions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and sucrose as model food ingredients. Our data showed that E171 were better dispersed in BSA than P25. In sucrose, E171 displayed a reduction in agglomerated size while P25 agglomerated extensively. Adsorption studies showed that P25 attracted more pronounced corona formation per unit mass of material compared to E171. In vitro sedimentation, diffusion and dosimetry (ISDD) results demonstrated that the time-weighted dosage of E171 was more than two-folds higher than P25, implying that any test performed using P25 to model E171 would underestimate actual dosage and potential toxicity. Taken collectively, this study demonstrated the specificity of TiO2 nanoparticle interaction with food ingredients, and the importance of using food-grade E171 TiO2 for food-relevant toxicological assessments. Accepted version

SrBPO

Renal interstitial fibrosis (RIF) is the common irreversible pathway by which chronic kidney disease (CKD) progresses to the end stage. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway is a common factor leading to inflammation-mediated RIF, but its downstream regulatory mechanism is still unclear. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that serum amyloid A protein 1 (SAA1) was one of the target genes for transcriptional activation of STAT3 signaling. As an acute phase reaction protein, SAA1 plays an important role in many inflammatory reactions, and research has suggested that SAA1 is significantly elevated in the serum of patients with CKD. In this research, multiple experiments were performed to investigate the role of SAA1 in the process of RIF. SAA1 was abnormally highly expressed in kidney tissue from individuals who underwent unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and TGF-β-induced HK2 cells, and the abnormal expression was directly related to the transcriptional activation of STAT3. Additionally, SAA1 can directly target and bind valosin-containing protein (VCP)-interacting membrane selenoprotein (VIMP) to inhibit the function of the Derlin-1/VCP/VIMP complex, preventing the transportation and degradation of the misfolded protein, resulting in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress characterized by an increase in glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) levels and ultimately promoting the occurrence and development of RIF.

Superhydrophobic surfaces with anti-icing performance have been the focus of research but few studies have reported an effective strategy that met the requirements of excellent mechanical properties and durability. In this article, superhydrophobic coatings were prepared from a mixture of superfine polytetrafluoroethylene powder, polydimethylsiloxane and tetraethyl orthosilicate through spin-coating on aluminum substrate followed by solidification at 150 °C. The static contact angle (CA) of the prepared coatings was as high as 163.6°. The surface morphology of the coatings was shown to be rough at micro/nano-scale with honeycomb microstructure, which allowed them to demonstrate excellent anti-icing properties. The experiments show that the superhydrophobic surface exhibits excellent mechanical abrasion resistance after mechanical abrasion against 1000 grit SiC sandpaper for 1.0 m at the applied pressure of 14.4 kPa. The surfaces CA remained unchanged after one month and decreased to be 140.0° after 34 subsequent icing/deicing experiments, which suggests good mechanical properties and durability of the prepared coatings. The present study may suggest a method for promising anti-icing applications in various fields.

With the extensive use of peer-to-peer applications in recent years, the network traffic becomes more dynamic and less predictable, which leads to the decline of network resource utilization and the degradation of network performance. Aiming towards the above problems, we explore how to strengthen the cooperation between peer-to-peer applications and networks, making the application adjust its own traffic mode according to current network traffic status to enhance the stability of network traffic. We improve two key algorithms of peer selection and choking/unchoking in the protocol and introduce traffic relaxation to characterize traffic state while taking the current most popular peer-to-peer application (bit torrent protocol) as an example. In our improved method, peers are selected probabilistically according their traffic relaxation, and the double-parameter selection problem that simultaneously considers the traffic relaxation and transfer rate of peers is also solved. Finally, we conduct simulation experiments in two real network typologies with real traffic matrix data and different sizes of bit torrent swarms, the experimental results show that our method can significantly improve the stability of the network traffic without sacrificing or even improving the performance of the bit torrent protocol when compared with original BT protocol.

In this paper, the Eu

In this study, a dual photoluminescence (PL) carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are obtained using two common raw materials, phenylenediamines and phosphorus acid, with a one-step hydrothermal method. The three typical CQDs are obtained by using three phenylenediamine isomers as carbon source, which can emit a bright and stable turquoise, green and yellow light under a single ultraviolet-light excitation, respectively. In addition, the effect of reaction temperature and ambient pH on the performance of CQDs is systematically researched in the hydrothermal process. The results show that tunable optical properties of CQDs can be achieved by changing the reaction temperature, carbon sources and the surrounding pH value.

A series of Sr2P2O7:Eu2+-Eu3+ phosphors were successfully synthesized by the high temperature solid state method. The experimental results show that the existence of different network formers (SiO2, GeO2) has a certain influence on the microstructure and luminescent properties of the phosphor. It is interesting that the addition of SiO2 and GeO2 can dramatically improve the luminous intensity of Eu2+. By introducing Li+ or Na+ to compensate for vacancy defects, the purpose of harmonizing the luminescent color of the phosphor can be achieved. In this paper, Eu2+ / Eu3+ co-activated Sr2P2O7 phosphors have good luminous properties and can be adjusted through a variety of channels. Therefore, Sr2P2O7: Eu2+-Eu3+ phosphors can be an ideal choice for a new type of luminescent material.

Self-assembled flower-like nickel hydroxide was obtained by adding a small amount of (NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O (NMH) in the hydrothermal process. The research mainly focuses on the influence of NMH on the structure and phase composition of nickel hydroxide. As the electrode material of supercapacitor, the electrochemical performance of the products obtained by adding NMH is significantly improved, showing higher specific capacitance and better cycling performance. The specific surface area and electrochemical properties of conducts reach the 218.66 m2 g−1 and 1111.3 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, respectively. The prepared samples also show excellent cycle performance (after1000 cycles, 90.4% capacitance retention) and prominent multiplier performance (720 F g−1 at 20 A g−1).

Recent studies have shown that serum secretory phospholipase A2 group IB (sPLA2-IB) is associated with proteinuric kidney diseases and plays a pivotal role in podocyte injury via its natural receptor. Arachidonic acid (AA), as a major metabolite of sPLA2-IB, regulates the actin bungling remodeling and contributes to the podocyte injury. However, the underlying mechanism of AA in the regulation of podocyte actin remodeling and human podocyte injury is unclear. Here, we reported that AA induced F-actin cytoskeletal ring formation and promoted protein kinase A (PKA), nephrin and c-Abl phosphorylation. Moreover, AA promoted c-Abl translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and increased the recruitment of c-Abl to p-nephrin by the interaction between them. H89 (PKA inhibitor) provided protection against AA-induced F-actin bunching remodeling, down-regulated nephrin phosphorylation, and suppressed the c-Abl translocation and activation. STI571 (c-Abl inhibitor) also improved the AA associated F-actin bunching remodeling. In addition, H89 and STI571 both alleviated apoptosis and adhesion damage of podocyte. These results indicate that an excess of AA treatment is detrimental to the podocyte actin cytoskeleton and promotes podocyte injury due to the activation of PKA-c-Abl signaling.

The heavy metal ATPase (HMA) subfamily is mainly involved in heavy metal (HM) tolerance and transport in plants, but an understanding of the definite roles and mechanisms of most HMA members are still limited. In the present study, we identified 14 candidate HMA genes named BrrHMA1–BrrHMA8 from the turnip genome and analyzed the phylogeny, gene structure, chromosome distribution, and conserved domains and motifs of HMAs in turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa). According to our phylogenetic tree, the BrrHMAs are divided into a Zn/Cd/Co/Pb subclass and Cu/Ag subclass. The BrrHMA members show similar structural characteristics within subclasses. To explore the roles of BrrHMAs in turnip, we compared the gene sequences and expression patterns of the BrrHMA genes between a Cd-tolerant landrace and a Cd-sensitive landrace. Most BrrHMA genes showed similar spatial expression patterns in both Cd-tolerant and Cd-sensitive turnip landraces; some BrrHMA genes, however, were differentially expressed in specific tissue in Cd-tolerant and Cd-sensitive turnip. Specifically, BrrHMA genes in the Zn/Cd/Co/Pb subclass shared the same coding sequence but were differentially expressed in Cd-tolerant and Cd-sensitive turnip landraces under Cd stress. Our findings suggest that the stable expression and up-regulated expression of BrrHMA Zn/Cd/Co/Pb subclass genes under Cd stress may contribute to the higher Cd tolerance of turnip landraces. Keywords: Heavy metal ATPase, Cadmium, Turnip, Transmembrane helix, Differential gene expression

Energy consumption of communication networks is growing very fast due to the rapidly increasing traffic demands. It is important and valuable to find a way to save power for such networking systems. In this paper, we propose a Cross-Layer Optimization and Design (CLOD) approach to improve the energy efficiency of Internet Protocol (IP) over Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) backbone networks under QoS constraints. CLOD makes use of the skew spatial distribution (i.e. 80-20 law) of traffic demands to construct the virtual topology of IP layer with a consideration of the cross-layer resource constraints. Also, CLOD takes advantage of the constraint-based routing to satisfy the QoS constraints in terms of allowed maximum hop count and allowed maximum link utilization. Taking into account the connection between base network design and network operation, CLOD dimensions the base network by using pattern of network operation and optimizes network power consumption by reconfiguring network to adapt traffic variation and the available resources. Simulation results indicate that CLOD can save power significantly and achieve near energy-proportional networks. In addition, an analysis on trade-off performance between the hop count and power consumption is given.

Selenium (Se) is an essential trace element for humans. About 70% of the regions in China, including most of the Tibetan Plateau, are faced with Se deficiency problems. Turnip is mainly distributed around the Tibetan Plateau and is one of the few local crops. In the present study, we compared the absorption and translocation differences of Se (IV) selenite and Se (VI) selenate in turnip. The results showed that Se treatment, either by soil addition (0.2–2 mg Se kg−1 dry soil) or by foliar spraying (50–200 mg L−1 Se), could significantly increase the Se concentrations in turnips, and 0.5 mg Se (IV) or Se (VI) kg−1 dry matter in soils could improve the biomasses of turnips. Moreover, turnip absorbed significantly more Se (VI) than Se (IV) at the same concentration and also transferred much more Se (VI) from roots to leaves. Based on the Se concentrations, as well as the bioconcentration factors and translocation coefficients, we considered that turnip might be a potential Se indicator plant. Subsequently, we estimated the daily Se intake for adults based on the Se concentrations in turnip roots. The results indicated that Se (IV) should be more suitable as an artificial Se fertilizer for turnips, although the levels found in most samples in this study could cause selenosis to humans. In addition, we also estimated the optimum and maximum Se concentrations for treating turnips based on the linear relations between Se concentrations in turnip roots and Se treatment concentrations. The results provided preliminary and useful information about Se biofortification in turnips.

Phytoextraction is a phytoremediation technique used for remediating polluted soils and it greatly relies on the plants' capacities to accumulate contaminants. Turnip is a high cadmium (Cd)-accumulating plant. We compared the Cd tolerance, growth, and Cd accumulation characteristics of two turnip landraces with three additional commonly known high Cd-accumulating species to systematically estimate its Cd phytoremediation potential. Results showed that the turnips could tolerate relatively lower Cd concentrations than other plants. Growth characteristics analyses indicated that the turnips initially grew rapidly and then gradually slowed down, and their photosynthetic parameters indicated that biomass accumulation was easily affected by light. However, the Cd uptake and translocation capacities of the two turnip landraces were higher than those of Phytolacca americana Linn. and Bidens pilosa Linn. but close to that of Brassica napus Linn.. Ultimately, large amounts of Cd accumulated in turnips during early growth and slightly increased as the fleshy roots increased in size. Based on these findings, the present turnip landraces have potential for soil remediation, but additional research is needed before these landraces can be practically used. Moreover, turnips are good candidates for studying the molecular mechanism of high Cd accumulation in plants.

Yb2+/Dy3+ doped Ca2Si3O2N4 oxynitride phosphors were successfully obtained from the precursor of rare earth doped Ca3(PO4)2, at a relatively low temperature without high-pressure environment. Their photoluminescence properties of Yb2+/Dy3+ singly doped Ca2Si3O2N4 phosphors were systematically investigated. A strong emission band is observed at 545 nm originating the typical transition between the allowed 4f135d and 4f14 configurations of Yb2+ under near ulreoviolet light (370 nm) excitation, which indicates that Yb2+ doped Ca2Si3O2N4 is a promising green phosphor for white LED (WLEDs). Dy3+ doped Ca2Si3O2N4 shows linear emission at 300 nm excitation.

With the exponential growth of Internet traffic, the energy consumption issue of core networks is increasingly becoming critical. Today's core networks are highly underutilized most of the time because of the over-provisioning and redundancy dimensioning, which results in severe energy inefficiency. In previous work, many non-deterministic polynomial-time hard mathematics formulation models have been proposed to minimize the energy consumption of core networks. However, effective heuristics are needed to solve these models in medium/large-size networks. This work studies the energy-minimized routing and virtual topology design problem of the power-hungry Internet protocol IP layer in core networks, aiming to achieve an energy-proportional IP layer by exploiting the variation of traffic with hours to reconfigure virtual topology and reroute traffic. We formulate energy-minimized routing and virtual topology design as an Integer linear programming problem and propose a LR algorithm, a heuristic based on the Lagrangian relaxation, to solve this problem in a polynomial-time. The simulation results indicate that the LR algorithm outperforms the best previous algorithm and can achieve a near energy-proportional IP layer with significant power saving. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of simulation results is conducted, which suggests a design principle of network equipment to facilitate the power saving. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background There is still no suitable mice model that can completely mimic the human fulminant hepatitis, which sets a block for drug effect evaluation and mechanism researching of human fulminant hepatitis. Objectives The aim of this study was to establish an animal model able to mimic the main features of human fulminant hepatitis. Materials and methods Dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) was peritoneally injected to mice for liver injury induction. Serum biochemicals, and Prothrombin Time were tested, and Prothrombin activity was calculated, the liver tissue pathological changes were evaluated via macroscopic view observation, HE staining, immunochemical staining, and electron microscopy observation. The mRNA levels of TNF-a, Fas, and IL-1beta were tested with quantitative PCR assay. Results The serum levels of both ALT and AST were elevated significantly and showed a high plateau. Liver pathological changes were progressed before 48 hours post DMN injection and then started to restore. The mRNA and protein expression levels of TNF-α and IL-1β were significantly elevated. The PT started to extend from 36 hours and PTA was lower than 40% from then on. Conclusions This kind of DMN induced mice liver injury is similar to human fulminant hepatitis in main features. This work provided a mice model which could mimic human fulminant hepatitis, and could be valuable for fulminant hepatitis mechanism research and liver protection drug evaluation.

Nowadays as low carbon economy is greatly advocated worldwide, the electricity consumption caused by a huge number of embedded computer systems is gaining more and more attention. Different instruction set, software algorithm and high-level software architecture can significantly affect the system energy consumption. In this paper, we first analyze the relations between software power consumption and some software characteristics on algorithm level. Through measuring three algorithm complexity characteristics, i.e., time complexity, space complexity and input scale, we propose an embedded software power model based on algorithm complexity. Then, we design and train a back propagation neural network to fit the power model accurately based on a sample training function set and more than 400 software power data. Simulation results show that the error between the estimation values of this model and the real measured values is below 10 percent, and this model can effectively estimate the power consumption of software in an early stage of software design.

We present a framework to detect the regions of singing voice in musical audio signals. This work is oriented towards the development of a robust transcriber of lyrics for karaoke applications. The technique leverages on a combination of low-level audio features and higher level musical knowledge of rhythm and tonality. Musical knowledge of the key is used to create a song-specific filterbank to attenuate the presence of the pitched musical instruments. This is followed by subband processing of the audio to detect the musical octaves in which the vocals are present. Text processing is employed to approximate the duration of the sung passages using freely available lyrics. This is used to obtain a dynamic threshold for vocal/ non-vocal segmentation. This pairing of audio and text processing helps create a more accurate system. Experimental evaluation on a small database of popular songs shows the validity of the proposed approach. Holistic and per-component evaluation of the system is conducted and various improvements are discussed.