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Fermentation of pulses as a clean processing technique has been reported to have a favorable impact on the functional and nutritional quality of the starting materials. Compared to commonly fermented pulses such as peas and chickpeas, limited information is available on the effect of fermentation on lentils, especially when using a high protein isolate (>80% protein) as compared to seeds or flours. Therefore, in the present work, lentil protein isolate was used as a feedstock for submerged fermentation with Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, or Lactobacillus plantarum. After 48 h, the samples showed increased protein content with enhanced solubility and oil‐holding capacity. Controlled fermentation, as opposed to spontaneous fermentation, maintained the high foaming capacity; however, all fermented samples had lower foam and emulsion stabilizing properties and reduced water‐holding capacity compared to the control. The fermented proteins were also less digestible, possibly due to an increase in phenolics and saponins. New volatile compounds were identified in fermented samples that show promise for improved sensory attributes. Significant differences were observed in specific quality attributes depending on the microbial strain used. Further research is required to better understand the fermentative metabolism of microbial communities when provided high‐protein lentil ingredients as growth substrates. Practical Application: Fermented lentil protein isolate has promising flavor profiles that may improve its sensory properties for food application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overarching goal of this research was to investigate the effect of trypsin hydrolysis on the functional properties, protein quality, and flavour of chickpea and lentil protein isolates (CPI and LPI, respectively) at varying levels of hydrolysis (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%). The protein content remained in the range of ~ 69-74% and ~ 80-83%, and lipid was increased from 2.1% to 0.5% to ~ 17% and ~ 2% for CPI and LPI, respectively. The surface charge and hydrophobicity were generally enhanced while changes to surface and interfacial tension varied greatly. The solubility of CPI and LPI increased by 10 and 30 times, respectively. The oil holding capacity also improved from ~ 1 to ~ 1.5–2.6 g/g. Most hydrolysates maintained emulsion stability at pH 7.8, whereas decreases were observed at pH 4.5. Modifications to water holding capacity and foaming properties varied between pulses with CPI having reductions in the attributes while those for LPI were generally positive. However, the LPI protein quality decreased (from 55 to 32%), while it improved for CPI (from 55 to 60%), with the limiting amino acid for both being tryptophan. Flavour compounds including aldehydes, alcohols and ketones were present before and post hydrolysis. Based on the findings, the present pulse hydrolysates could be applied into liquid-based formulations and processed meats for their enhanced solubility and fat retention, while LPI and CPI could also find use as a foaming agent or to improve amino acid nutrition, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The morphology and microstructure of metallic thin films synthesized by magnetron sputtering deposition are sensitive to incident energy and incident angle. The role of incident energy and incident angle in films' morphology evolution of the beryllium thin films' growth on beryllium (0001) surface was studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The analytical bond order potential was used to represent the interatomic interactions, and the common neighbor analysis algorithm for crystal structures was used for the structural characterization of the simulated films. It is found that when the incident energy is between 1 eV and 20 eV, the increased incident energy is beneficial to grow uniform crystal films and, when the incident energy is greater than 15 eV, the interstitial atoms formed inside the films. Furthermore, under the small incident angle conditions, the morphology of a smooth surface was formed, which means that the vertical incident conditions are desired for the growth of high quality films. In short, vertically inserted atoms with hyperthermal energy (5–10 eV) are more propitious for the growth of perfect crystal Be thin films. The obtained results can be used to guide the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observability analysis of a bioinspired flexible flapping wing system provides a measure of how well the states of flexible flapping wing micro-aerial vehicles can be estimated from real-time measurements during high-speed flight. However, the traditional observability analysis approaches have trouble in terms of lack of quantitative analysis index, high computational complexity, low accuracy, and unavailability in stochastic systems with memory, including bioinspired flexible flapping wing systems. Therefore, a novel derivative-free observability analysis method is proposed here based on the generalized polynomial chaos expansion. By formulating a surrogate model to represent the relationship between the cumulative measurement and the random initial state, the observability coefficient matrix is calculated and the observability rank condition is stated. Consequently, several observability indices are proposed to quantity the observability of the system. Altogether, the proposed method avoids the disadvantages of the traditional approaches, especially in assessing the observability degree of each state and the effect of stochastic noise on observability. The validation of the proposed method is first provided by demonstrating the equivalence between the traditional and proposed methods and subsequently by comparing the observability of the Lorenz system calculated via three different approaches. Finally, the proposed method is applied on a bioinspired flexible wing system to optimize the placement of sensors, which is consistent with the natural configuration of campaniform sensilla on the wing of the hawkmoth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fast frequency response (FFR) function in renewable energy source (RES)-based power stations has proved to be able to improve the frequency stability of power systems with high RES penetration significantly. However, most current FFR functions in photovoltaic (PV) power stations typically show power response deviations and unnecessary power loss issues that are caused by inadequate station power distribution strategies. This is particularly important in cases where the power must be increased when the system frequency shows a downward disturbance. This paper proposes a new distribution strategy for FFR in PV power stations and studies related distribution strategies, system structures, calculation algorithms, function execution effect, and active power regulation technology. The proposed approach uses a proportional distribution strategy based on an evaluation of the real-time potential maximum power capability values of the subarrays or generation regions, which are evaluated using a few reference inverters located in every subarray or region. Real-site deployments and tests have been completed in PV power stations to verify the effectiveness of this new distribution strategy, and the proposed FFR solution using this distribution strategy has demonstrated strong performance and potential for wider application scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present work studies the dynamical properties of the O + O2 collision by the quasi-classical trajectory method on the double many-body expansion potential energy surface. Our study includes both the exchange and dissociation reactions. For different rovibrational levels of O2, the integral cross-sections (ICSs) distributions of both channels as a function of translational energy were obtained in a range of collision energy from 0.1 to 30 eV, and the dissociation rate was calculated in the temperature range of 1000–20 000 K. Appreciable differences are found for the excitation functions between the two channels as expected for the dissociation with no barrier and exchange having a small barrier. The initial collision energy and vibrational excitation both play an enormous role in the ICSs for both channels, while the rotational excitation of the reagent has a weak effect on it. The results show that vibrationally excited states have some contribution to the dissociation rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For aerospace vehicles with uncertainty, strong nonlinearity, and high-performance requirements, the model predictive control (MPC) method has attracted many researchers' attention with its unique advantages. Although this method has a good effect, it is computationally expensive, especially for the nonlinear MPC. In addition, it cannot guarantee the stability performance requirements and limited flexibility in dealing with large initial errors. To overcome these limitations, this article is implemented to obtain a control scheme that can handle uncertainty, initial deviation, and has less online calculation. To ensure the stability requirements, the guardian maps (GM) theory is combined with multimodel predictive control, and a switching rule based on GM is proposed. Then, fully considering the characteristics of linear matrix inequalities used, the idea of "offline design and online optimization" is adopted to solve the control law, which reduces the burden of online computing. Furthermore, in the case of large initial errors, a transient trajectory design method is established to reconstruct the trajectory online, and to modify the tracking command. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the designed control scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing non-convexity plays a fundamental role in solving the optimal electricity-gas flow models. In this paper, an improved spatial branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed to solve the non-convex problem, which is formulated as a mixed-integer bilinear programming, for its exact solution. The core of the algorithm is to divide the non-convex model into convex and small sub-models by branching on specific continuous variables, so that the non-convex problem can be equivalent to a rooted tree for exploration. The exactness of the algorithm is guaranteed by the same criterion as the classical branch-and-bound algorithm. To alleviate the computational burden, a novel two-stage spatial branching strategy is developed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the branching operations. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified on two integrated electricity-gas systems with different sizes. Numerical results demonstrate that our method achieves a balance among feasibility, optimality, and efficiency. The comparison with another 6 convexification-based methods, 3 state-of-the-art non-convex optimization solvers, and 2 spatial branch-and-bound algorithms with classical branching rules further shows the superiority of our algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a typical climate that occurs in the Yangtze-Huaihe River basin of China with a size of 500,000 km2, plum rain can reduce the photovoltaic (PV) potential by lowering the surface irradiance (SI) in the affected region. Based on hourly meteorological data from 1980 to 2020, we find that plum rain can lower the SI in the affected region with a weekly peak drop of more than 20% at the most affected locations. This SI drop, coupled with a large number of deployed PV systems, can cause incremental CO2 emissions (ICEs) of local power systems by increasing the additional thermal power. Using a cost optimization model, we demonstrate that the ICEs in 2020 already reached 1.22 megatons and could range from 2.21 to 4.73 megatons, 3.47 to 7.19 megatons, and 2.97 to 7.43 megatons in 2030, 2040, and 2050, respectively, considering a change trend interval of a ±25% fluctuation in power generation and demand in the different years. To offset these ICEs, we compare four pathways integrated with promising technologies. This analysis reveals that the advanced deployment of complementary technologies can improve the PV utilization level to address climate impacts. Plum rain may reduce photovoltaic potential due to lowered surface irradiance (SI). Here the authors note lowered SI in the Yangtze-Huaihe River basin by up to 20% due to rains, which, coupled with a large number of deployed PV systems, can cause incremental CO2 emissions of local power systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of commonly used antibiotics against Helicobacter Pylori (H. pylori) in South China and compare their resistance rates by using EUCAST breakpoints and other breakpoints. Methods: Patients who had not previously received H. pylori treatment in clinical centers in South China were enrolled in this study from 2017 to 2020. Gastric biopsies were obtained for H. pylori culture. The MICs of amoxicillin (AMX), clarithromycin (CLA), metronidazole (MTZ), levofloxacin (LEV), tetracycline (TET) and furazolidone (FZD) were tested by broth microdilution method and assessed by two different breakpoints. ATCC43504 standard strain served as a control. Results: A total of 208 H. pylori strains were isolated from patients' biopsy samples. The MICs of AMX, CLA, MTZ, LEV, TET and FZD for H. pylori were 0.0156-256mg/L (MIC50 0.125mg/L, MIC90 4mg/L), 0.0156- >256 mg/L (MIC50 0.0312mg/L, MIC90 64mg/L), 0.0156- >256mg/L (MIC50 8mg/L, MIC90 256mg/L), 0.0156-256mg/L (MIC50 0.25mg/L, MIC90 16mg/L), 0.0156-256mg/L (MIC50 0.0625mg/L, MIC90 4mg/L), and 0.0156- >256mg/L (MIC50 0.0312mg/L, MIC90 2mg/L), respectively. The MICs of AMX, CLA, MTZ, LEV, TET and FZD for ATCC43504 strain were 0.25mg/L, 0.0625mg/L, 64mg/L, 0.5mg/L, 1mg/L and 0.25mg/L, respectively. The resistance rate of FZD was 11.05%. The overall resistance rates according to EUCAST breakpoints and other breakpoints were 57.21% and 14.90% for AMX (p<0.001), 38.94% and 38.94% for CLA (p = 1), 39.42% and 50.96% for MTZ (p<0.001), 12.98% and 10.58% for TET (p = 0.025), 35.10% and 35.10% for LEV (p = 1), respectively. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that AMX, FZD, and TET, but not MTZ, CLR or LEV, showed good anti-H. pylori activity in vitro in South China. When different breakpoints were used, similar results were found with CLA, and LEV, but not with AMX, MTZ, or TET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to develop a coach state estimation and prediction system to enhance driving safety. Different from existing vehicle stability estimation studies, the authors propose a hybrid method to estimate and predict the state of a coach in real time. First, the vehicle sideslip angle and yaw rate are estimated by a three‐degrees‐of‐freedom vehicle model combined with an extended Kalman filter (EKF) estimation algorithm. Then, a steering system is established that replaces the front‐wheel angle with the steering wheel input torque. Next, a seven‐degrees‐of‐freedom vehicle model analyses the effects of various driving influencing factors on the vehicle sideslip angle and the boundary of the stable region of the phase plane of the vehicle sideslip angle rate, and a boundary value parameter database is obtained. A back propagation neural network (BPNN) model is then established to obtain the boundary function parameter values under multifactor coupling conditions. Furthermore, an online prediction of the steering wheel input torque in a time series is done, and the prediction value is input to the steering system and neural network model. The effectiveness of the proposed method was evaluated via simulations based on MATLAB/Simulink and TruckSim software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the future development of an integrated energy system (IES) with ultra-high penetration of renewable energy, a planning model for an electricity-hydrogen integrated energy system (EH-IES) is proposed with the considerations of hydrogen production and storage technologies. In this EH-IES, a reasonable power to heat and hydrogen (P2HH) model with startup/shutdown constraints and a novel model of seasonal hydrogen storage (SHS) are proposed for the first time. To cope with the challenges faced by EH-IES, we use a combination of stochastic and robust optimization approaches to address the generation-load uncertainties, making the planning results robust. The N-1 contingency of crucial devices is further considered to make the system reliable. Additionally, the effects of the annual ratios of different seasons on the optimal allocation and operation of SHS are investigated. The min-max-min model with binary variables is solved by a nested column-and-constraint generation algorithm. Finally, case studies verified the advantages and effectiveness of the proposed model and planning method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Static stability margin is a critical parameter in flight control design. The feasible range of it must cover the uncertainty through the flight. To reasonably identify the feasible range of static stability margin in advance, an approach based on guardian maps is proposed for flight control of hypersonic flight vehicles with input saturation. First, the model of hypersonic flight vehicle (HFV) is established as a parametric plant. Then, flying quality requirements for the closed-loop system are formulated as inequality constraints using guardian maps. Moreover, by using linear matrix inequality, the saturation of elevators is taken into account in the integrated control of attitude control. The prescribed minimum of static stability margin that ensures the flying quality of hypersonic flight vehicles with input saturation is obtained. Furthermore, from the prospective of integrated control, it is shown that the feasible range of static stability margin can be enlarged by changing aerodynamic characteristics. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by numerical simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel type of swarm intelligence algorithm referred as the anas platyrhynchos optimizer is proposed by simulating the cluster action of the anas platyrhynchos. Starting from the core of swarm intelligence algorithm, on the premise of the use of few parameters and ease in implementation, the mathematical model and algorithm flow of the anas platyrhynchos optimizer are given, and the balance between global search and local development in the algorithm is ensured. The algorithm was applied to a benchmark function and a cooperative path planning solution for multi-UAVs as a means of testing the performance of the algorithm. The optimization results showed that the anas platyrhynchos optimizer is more superior in solving optimization problems compared with the mainstream intelligent algorithm. This study provides a new idea for solving more engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the future integrated energy market, the traditional centralized planning method cannot solve the planning problem for multi-stakeholder integrated energy systems (MSIESs). To cope with this problem, this paper proposes a synchronously decentralized adaptive robust programming (SDARP) model for MSIESs based on the analytical target cascading (ATC) algorithm. In this model, different stakeholders are planned in parallel under the source-load uncertainties, aiming at minimizing the annual investment and operation costs and fully taking into account the interactive heating/cooling power transmitted by the district heating/cooling network. In each stakeholder, the column-and-constraint generation algorithm is used to address the robustness problems in the three-layer adaptive robust programming model. In addition, a tractable alternating optimization procedure is used to solve the non-convex SDARP model with finite convergence. Case studies verify the superiority and effectiveness of the SDARP method in dealing with the planning problem of MSIESs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a method has been presented to analyze the influence of control saturation and structural flexibility on the stable radius of highly flexible aircraft. A dynamic model of aircraft is constructed followed by the analysis of kinetic characteristics. In this paper, the closed-loop stability boundary of highly flexible aircraft with open-loop instability is studied. The amplitude limit and bandwidth limit of the control signal are considered in the closed-loop stability boundary calculation. Our analysis shows that the boundary is related to the left eigenvector corresponding to the unstable poles and the amplitude constraint of the control signals. Stability of the boundary of feedback control system further reduces the limitation of the bandwidth of actuators. Focused on the phugoid instability of highly flexible aircraft, computational formulation of the closed-loop stable boundary is achieved. The Monte Carlo analysis has been employed to validate the stable region, under the LQR controller. Both the theory and simulations have nice correlations with each other which verify the stability of the closed-loop system, restricted by the open-loop system, and the influence of control signal bandwidth constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Bipartite graphs are widely used to model relationships between pairs of heterogeneous data types. Maximal bicliques are foundational structures in such graphs, and their enumeration is an important task in systems biology, epidemiology and many other problem domains. Thus, there is a need for an efficient, general purpose, publicly available tool to enumerate maximal bicliques in bipartite graphs. The statistical programming language R is a logical choice for such a tool, but until now no R package has existed for this purpose. Our objective is to provide such a package, so that the research community can more easily perform this computationally demanding task. Results: Biclique is an R package that takes as input a bipartite graph and produces a listing of all maximal bicliques in this graph. Input and output formats are straightforward, with examples provided both in this paper and in the package documentation. Biclique employs a state-of-the-art algorithm previously developed for basic research in functional genomics. This package, along with its source code and reference manual, are freely available from the CRAN public repository at https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/biclique/index.html. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cesarean section (CS) rate has risen dramatically and stayed at a very high level in China over the past two to three decades. Given the short- and long-term adverse effects of CS, effective strategies are needed to reduce unnecessary CS. We aimed to evaluate whether a multifaceted intervention would decrease the CS rate in China.Methods: We carried out a cluster-randomized field trial with a multifaceted intervention in Shanghai, China, from 2015 to 2017. A total of 20 hospitals were randomly allocated into an intervention or a control group. The intervention consisted of more targeted health education to pregnant women, improved hospital CS policy, and training of midwives/doulas for 8 months. The study included a baseline survey, the intervention, and an evaluation survey. The primary outcome was the changes of overall CS rate from the pre-intervention to the post-intervention period. A subgroup analysis stratified by the Robson classification was also conducted to examine the CS change among women with various obstetric characteristics.Results: A total of 10,752 deliveries were randomly selected from the pre-intervention period and 10,521 from the post-intervention period. The baseline CS rates were 42.5% and 41.5% in the intervention and control groups, respectively, while the post-intervention CS rates were 43.4% and 42.4%, respectively. Compared with the control group, the intervention did not significantly reduce the CS rate (adjusted OR = 0.92; 95% CI 0.73, 1.15). Similar results were obtained in subgroup analyses stratified by the risk level of pregnancy, maternal age, number of previous CS, or parity. Scarred uterus and maternal request remained the primary reasons for CS after the interventions in both groups. The intervention did not alter the perinatal outcomes (adjusted change of risk score = - 0.06; 95%CI - 0.43, 0.31).Conclusions: A multifaceted intervention including more targeted prenatal health education, improved hospital CS policy, and training of midwives/doulas, did not significantly reduce the CS rate in Shanghai, China. However, our experience in implementing a multifaceted intervention may provide useful information to other similar areas with high CS use.Trial Registration: This trial was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (www.chictr.org.cn) (ChiCTR-IOR-16009041) on 17 August 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gliotoxin (GT) is a fungal secondary metabolite that has attracted great interest due to its high biological activity since it was discovered by the 1930s. It exhibits a unique structure that contains a N-C = O group as the characteristics of the classical PSII inhibitor. However, GT's phytotoxicity, herbicidal activity and primary action targets in plants remain hidden. Here, it is found that GT can cause brown or white leaf spot of various monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, being regarded as a potential herbicidal agent. The multiple sites of GT action are located in two photosystems. GT decreases the rate of oxygen evolution of PSII with an I 50 value of 60 µM. Chlorophyll fluorescence data from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells and spinach thylakoids implicate that GT affects both PSII electron transport at the acceptor side and the reduction rate of PSI end electron acceptors' pool. The major direct action target of GT is the plastoquinone QB-site of the D1 protein in PSII, where GT inserts in the QB binding niche by replacing native plastoquinone (PQ) and then interrupts electron flow beyond plastoquinone QA. This leads to severe inactivation of PSII RCs and a significant decrease of PSII overall photosynthetic activity. Based on the simulated modeling of GT docking to the D1 protein of spinach, it is proposed that GT binds to the-QB-site through two hydrogen bonds between GT and D1-Ser264 and D1-His252. A hydrogen bond is formed between the aromatic hydroxyl oxygen of GT and the residue Ser264 in the D1 protein. The 4-carbonyl group of GT provides another hydrogen bond to the residue D1-His252. So, it is concluded that GT is a novel natural PSII inhibitor. In the future, GT may have the potential for development into a bioherbicide or being utilized as a lead compound to design more new derivatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cluster analysis is a core task in modern data-centric computation. Algorithmic choice is driven by factors such as data size and heterogeneity, the similarity measures employed, and the type of clusters sought. Familiarity and mere preference often play a significant role as well. Comparisons between clustering algorithms tend to focus on cluster quality. Such comparisons are complicated by the fact that algorithms often have multiple settings that can affect the clusters produced. Such a setting may represent, for example, a preset variable, a parameter of interest, or various sorts of initial assignments. A question of interest then is this: to what degree do the clusters produced vary as setting values change? Results: This work introduces a new metric, termed simply "robustness", designed to answer that question. Robustness is an easily-interpretable measure of the propensity of a clustering algorithm to maintain output coherence over a range of settings. The robustness of eleven popular clustering algorithms is evaluated over some two dozen publicly available mRNA expression microarray datasets. Given their straightforwardness and predictability, hierarchical methods generally exhibited the highest robustness on most datasets. Of the more complex strategies, the paraclique algorithm yielded consistently higher robustness than other algorithms tested, approaching and even surpassing hierarchical methods on several datasets. Other techniques exhibited mixed robustness, with no clear distinction between them. Conclusions: Robustness provides a simple and intuitive measure of the stability and predictability of a clustering algorithm. It can be a useful tool to aid both in algorithm selection and in deciding how much effort to devote to parameter tuning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the control design approach for perching maneuvers of fixed-wing aircraft in the presence of both initial deviations and mismatched disturbances. The highly nonlinear longitudinal dynamics is transformed into a piecewise linear model. A disturbance observer is designed and a piecewise linear controller using the estimates of disturbances is constructed. System stability and disturbance attenuation are analyzed theoretically. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) contribute to the dysfunction of serum lipoproteins, which triggers lipid metabolism abnormalities in the development of atherosclerosis and hypertension. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is involved in ROS modifications, triggering lipid peroxidation and aldehyde formation. However, the relationship between the entirety of the MPO reaction system and oxidative modification of serum lipoproteins in atherosclerotic patients with hypertension remains unclear. Methods: We measured MPO activity (peroxidation and chlorination), 4-hydroxynonenal-modified low-density lipoprotein (HNE-LDL), malondialdehyde-modified low-density lipoprotein (MDA-LDL), H2O2, reduced glutathione (GSH), and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) using a corresponding commercial kit in atherosclerotic patients with hypertension and healthy participants. We used Spearman's correlation analysis to investigate the correlation between MPO activity and the levels of these oxidative and anti-oxidative stress-related indices and performed response surface regression to investigate the relationship between the MPO reaction system and the levels of HNE-LDL, MDA-LDL, and the GSH/GSSG ratio. Results: Our results showed no association between the levels of MPO peroxidation activity, MPO chlorination activity, H2O2, and Cl- and those of HNE-LDL, MDA-LDL, GSH, and GSSG, and the GSH/GSSG ratio in healthy participants. In addition, no effects of the peroxidation reaction system of MPO (PRSM) and the chlorination reaction system of MPO (CRSM) on GSH/GSSG were found in this investigation. However, we found that the PRSM rather than the CRSM correlated with progressive low-density lipoprotein (LDL) modifications by HNE-LDL and MDA-LDL in atherosclerotic patients with hypertension. Conclusion: The PRSM rather than the CRSM correlated with progressive LDL modifications via reactive aldehydes in atherosclerotic patients with hypertension. Further investigation is warranted to evaluate whether the PRSM may serve as a potential index for monitoring LDL function in atherosclerosis and hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emphasis of this paper lies in the development of an efficient approach to reproduce the behaviors of the scramjet-powered hypersonic system with high fidelity. The modeling of the dual-mode scramjet powered hypersonic vehicle dynamics with shock interaction, Ram-to-Scram transition, and finite rate chemistry reaction is firstly introduced. The structure of surrogate model is identified with the implement of iterative fractional factorial design (IFFD). In order to declare the reliability of the surrogate models, ν-gap metric is applied to distinguish the difference among these surrogate models in terms of closed-loop performance. The results show that the influence of Mach number on the aerodynamics should not be overlooked, and the effect of propulsion system to the aerodynamic pitch moment is dramatic. Further, the partial Kriging model appears to have the closest plants throughout the flight envelope compared with the full Kriging model and polynomials model. Nevertheless, considering the briefness of analytical expression, the polynomials model may be an alternative approach for design-oriented modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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With the continuing incoming connection of distributed generation (DG), in order to guaranty that the DG as a distributed power source provides strong support to the electric system when there is a fault in the electric system, if DG has enough capacity to support part of local loading, allow it to run in island mode and recover to grid-connected mode after the fault is isolated. Because the formation of island is a dynamic process, how to effectively split to island running mode without affecting the stability of the electric system's running, also, ensure that there is a certain power quality in the island meanwhile keeping and protecting effectively in both island mode and grid-connected mode. To achieve the aforementioned goals, it needs to develop a plan for comprehensive protection and island division; the plan requires the coordination between the protection and the automatic devices and also needs to take the following into consideration: the capacity of the DG, the location of connection, and the balancing ability of the local loading. This paper will introduce one such comprehensive scheme: It takes consideration of the DG's own characteristics and its ability to support the local loading; it adopts different protection strategy and realizes the fault isolation and island division through the coordination between the protection and the automatic devices. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are proposed to be responsible for high recurrence rate in cervical carcinoma. Reagents that can suppress the proliferation and differentiation of CSCs would provide new opportunities to fight against tumor recurrence. Doxycycline has been reported as a potential anti-cancer compound. However, few studies investigated its inhibitory effect against cervical cancer stem cells. Methods: HeLa cells were cultured in cancer stem cell conditional media in a poly-hema-treated dish. In this non-adhesive culture system, HeLa cells were treated with cisplatin until some cells survived and formed spheroids, which were then collected and injected into the immunodeficient mice. Cisplatin was administered every three days for five times. The tumor xenografts with CSC enrichment were cultured in cancer stem cell specific medium again to form tumorsphere, which we called HeLa-CSCs. Expression of cancer stem cell markers in HeLa-CSCs was measured by flow cytometry and qPCR. HeLa-CSCs were then treated with doxycycline. Proliferation and differentiation rates were determined by the size of spheres formed in vitro and tumor formed in vivo. Results: We developed a new strategy to selectively enrich CSCs from human cervical carcinoma cell line HeLa, and these HeLa-CSCs are CD133+/CD49f+ cell populations with significantly enhanced expression of stem cell markers. When these HeLa-CSCs were treated with doxycycline, the colony formation, proliferation, migration and invasion, and differentiation were all suppressed. Meanwhile, stem cell markers SOX-2, OCT-4, NANOG, NOTCH and BMI-1 decreased in doxycycline treated cells, so as the surface markers CD133 and CD49f. Furthermore, proliferation markers Ki67 and PCNA were also decreased by doxycycline treatment in the in vivo xenograft mouse model. Conclusions: Cancer stem cells are enriched from sphere-forming and chemoresistant HeLa-derived tumor xenografts in immunodeficient mice. Doxycycline inhibits proliferation, invasion, and differentiation, and also induces apoptosis of these HeLa-CSCs in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypersonic waveriders have a large flight envelope, leading to the difficulty in keeping overall flight stability for a fixed geometry. Accordingly, hypersonic waveriders can be considered to design as a morphing vehicle such that the flight range is expanded for waveriding stability. To this end, this paper investigates the collaborative deformation design using control integrated analysis methods for the hypersonic waverider. Firstly, a parametric model is applied to combine the shape deformation with the geometrical properties. Secondly, the morphing process with regard to the change in a single geometric parameter and the static and dynamic characteristics affected by this deformation are analyzed. Afterwards, the collaborative relations are discussed for the changes in the lower forebody angle and elevon area. Furthermore, a flight control law is designed to guarantee flight stability while implementing the collaborative deformation, and the morphing results are evaluated based on the control-oriented idea. Finally, a simulation example is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods for the hypersonic waverider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]