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The literature to date features two very different approaches to the study of syntax, the formal or structure-based approach and the functional or semantics-based approach, both of which have advantages and disadvantages. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the “ngp1 + vgp + ngp2 + ngp3” construction in English by identifying the relationship between the clausal elements in terms of clause types. The theoretical support is Systemic Functional Linguistics which is semantics-based and which regards form/structure as the realization of meaning/semantics. Specifically, the paper discusses the issue by keeping in mind questions such as “What kind of process is it?”, “How many participants can/must be involved in the process?”, and “What roles can/must those participants play?”. By analyzing three pairs of clauses that share the same “ngp1 + vgp + ngp2 + ngp3” structure, it is found that the clause types SVOO, SOVA, SVOC, and SVO all exhibit the same “ngp1 + vgp + ngp2 + ngp3” structure. The identification of the clause types is conducted by examining the Process in the Transitivity system of the clause. The implication of the present study is that a functional-syntactic analysis should start from meaning and consider how the meaning is realized and that although syntactic analysis at the level of form is necessary, the focus of a good functional-syntactic analysis should be based on semantic analysis at the level of meaning.

Objective To observe the expression of microRNA(miRNA, miR)-181d in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues and to explore its clinical significance. Methods Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR(RT-qPCR) was used to detect the miR-181d expression in 37 cases of ESCC tissues and matched adjacent tissues. The correlations of miR-181d expression with clinicpathological features and clinical prognosis were analyzed. Results miR-181d expression was up-regulated in 89.2%(33/37) of ESCC tissues, compared with the matched adjacent tissues (P < 0.01). The expression level of miR-181d was not significantly correlated with gender, age, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, histological grade or tumor location(P > 0.05), but significantly related to TNM staging (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the overall survival rate and the disease-free survival rate of the high miR-181d expression group was significantly lower than that of the low miR-181d expression group (P < 0.05). Conclusion miR-181d expression is related to TNM and prognosis of ESCC patients. miR-181d may be used as a potential predictor to evaluate the prognosis of ESCC patients.

2D tin sulfide with adjustable dual crystal plane and band gap was synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method and applied for effective photodegradation of organic pollutants. The as-synthesized SnS2 showed a peony flower-like structure composed of 2D nanosheets. UV-vis spectra showed that the introduction of N can extend the light absorption range to the visible region. Compared with pristine SnS2, the as-prepared SnS2 exhibited better photodegradation performance for rhodamine B removal under simulated sunlight irradiation; after 120 min, the removal rate could reach 94.5%. Transient photocurrent, photoluminescence, and UV-vis spectra show that this superior photocatalytic performance is due to the effective separation of photo induced carriers and the enhancement of light absorption. According to the active free radical capture experiments, a possible mechanism was proposed, which explained the reason for the enhancement of photocatalytic ability. The results show that SnS2 is a highly effective and metal-free photocatalyst for the removal of pollutants from wastewater. Our research provides a novel idea for the synthesis of SnS2 materials with effective removal of environmental pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]