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To explore the effects of occupational aluminum exposure on workers’ cognitive function and blood glucose concentration, and to analyze whether blood glucose concentration can mediate the cognitive changes caused by aluminum.

Previous epidemiologic research has shown that phthalate exposure in pregnant women is related to birth outcomes in a sex-specific manner. These outcomes may be mediated by placental inflammation, which is the proposed biological mechanism. This is the first study to address the relationship between phthalate exposure and gene expression in placental inflammation in a sex-specific manner. We performed quantitative PCR to measure placental inflammatory mRNAs (CRP, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, MCP-1, IL-8, CD68, and CD206) in 2469 placentae that were sampled at birth. We estimated the associations between mRNA and urinary phthalate monoesters using multiple linear regression models. Mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP) was correlated with higher IL-1β, IL-6, and CRP expression in placentae of male fetuses and with higher IL-6, CRP, MCP-1, IL-8, IL-10, and CD68 expression in placentae of female fetuses. Mono benzyl phthalate (MBzP) increased the expression of TNF-α, MCP-1, and CD68 only in placentae of male fetuses. Mono (2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP) was negatively correlated with CRP, MCP-1, and CD68 in placentae of female fetuses. Maternal phthalate exposure was associated with inflammatory variations in placental tissues. The associations were stronger in placentae of male than of female fetuses. Compared with the other metabolites, MBP plays a strong role in these associations. The placenta is worth being further investigated as a potential mediator of maternal exposure-induced disease risk in children.

Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) is a key enzyme catalyzing sucrose metabolism in plants. In this study, we isolated the SPS cDNA from Saccharum spontaneum and designated as SsSPS (GenBank accession no. MF398541). The full-length of SsSPS cDNA was 4153-bp with an opening reading frame (ORF) of 3132 nucleotides, which encoded a 1043-amino acid protein. The nucleotide sequences alignment showed that it had 98%, 97% and 87% homology with S. officinarum, Setaria italica and Lolium perenne, respectively. Moreover, the SsSPS was detected to express in leaf and stem tissues of S. spontaneum and exhibited a predominant expression in the stem tissue. However, there was no significant difference in the expression level of SsSPS between young leaves and mature ones. Additionally, we generated transgenic S. spontaneum using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Our data will provide a valuable foundation for further study of the potential role of SPS in plants.

Genes encoding enzymes involved in the lignin biosynthesis through phenylpropanoid pathway were not only associated with the lignin content, but also related to the abiotic stress resistances. As far as the production of liquid biofuels and cultivation within the marginal land are concerned, switchgrass could be the better candidate to determine the relationship between lower lignin content and physiological function under stress. Caffeoyl-coenzyme A 3-O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT) is a key enzyme for the methylation reaction of lignin biosynthesis. For this purpose, we cloned a CCoAOMTgene from switchgrass and identified its expression patterns under abiotic stresses. The full-length CCoAOMTgene, designated PvCCoAOMT(GenBank accession no. KF041775), was 1005-bp in length, has an opening reading frame of 777 nucleotides encoding a 258-amino acid protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of PvCCoAOMT shared a high degree of similarity (up to 98%) with CCoAOMTs from Panicum virgatumallele (BAO20881), Sorghum bicolor(XP002436550) and Zea mays(NP001131288). Using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), the significant upregulation of PvCCoAOMTwas observed in stem tissues at a later stage (24 h) after drought treatment, with the transcript level increasing 33-fold compared that of the controls. Moderate and insignificant inductions of PvCCoAOMTwere also observed in both stems and leaves during the later stages after cold (48 h in stems, 12 h in leaves) and mechanical wounding (48 h in stems, 12 h in leaves) treatments, respectively. Our results showed the different expression patterns of PvCCoAOMTin drought, cold and mechanical wounding stresses. PvCCoAOMTcan be highly induced by drought and cold stresses, which indicates that it may play a role in plant abiotic stress resistance, particularly in the regulation of drought and cold resistance.

With the continuous development of the Internet of things technology, the high-speed vehicles to prevent rear-end collision warning system which is from the traditional passive to the current vehicle-to-vehicle communication active warning also continues to develop. In this paper, a vehicle ranging system is composed of Zigbee wireless communication and GPS positioning system. Through setting maneuvering model, establishing ranging system state equation and observation equation, error model, integrating the two vehicles’ distance, relative velocity, relative acceleration and the distance error, we can get the vehicle distance estimation by using of centralized Kalman filter techniques. The simulation results show that the method can provide vehicle-to-vehicle communication ranging system with the high precision data of anti-collision distance. The system has good tracking performance.

Remote access for subsea blowout preventer system based on virtual private network technology over the Internet is developed. The hardware configuration and software development for remote access are described. The redundant Ethernet networks, cryptography with smart card and firewall are used to improve the security and reliability. With respect to common cause failure, the performances of Ethernet network are evaluated by using Markov method with multiple error shock model. Due to the complexity, the system is split into a set of independent modules which are merged with Kronecker product approach. The availability and reliability are researched. The reliability analysis shows that the redundant Ethernet network equipments have safety integrity level of 4, which meets the requirement of remote access of subsea blowout preventer system. In addition, the effects of failure rate of Ethernet card on the availability and reliability are obvious, which should be paid more attention when designing the Ethernet network.

A test system for subsea tree equipment is developed for tree function testing after repair. The test system mainly consists of hydraulic unit and electric unit. The hydraulic unit is developed by revamping an old hydraulic power unit, which consist of six components, including reservoir, flush/fill pump circuit, high pressure hydraulic pump circuits, accumulator group, hydraulic supply circuits and fluid return circuit. The electric unit for subsea tree is developed by using NI Compact DAQ system, In order to control the hydraulic unit and acquire the pressure signals easily. The test procedures for flowloops, valve, and hydrostatic hydraulic pressure cycling are proposed based on the factory acceptance testing of subsea tree. A test for a repaired subsea tree is performed by using the developed test system. The results show that the repaired subsea tree is good enough after repair, and verify that the developed test system works well.

Sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) molecular marker was used to detect the genetic diversity of 25 accessions of Phalaris arundinacea Linn that collected from the USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada, LanZhou and HuBei. The following results were obtained: 1) Sixteen primer pairs produced 131 polymorphic bands, with an average of 8.19 bands per primer pair. The percentage of polymorphic bands on average was 89.25%. The polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.784 to 0.9069, with an average of 0.8696. 2) The Neis genetic similarity coefficient of the tested accessions ranged from 0.5959 to 0.8425, and the average of Neis coefficient was 0.7422. These results suggested that there was rich genetic diversity among the resources of Phalaris arundinacea Linn. 3) Twenty-five accessions were clustered into five groups. Moreover, the accessions from the same or similar origin frequently clustered into one group. The findings implied that the correlation among the resources, geographical and ecological environment.

Bamboo plays an important role as a kind of vegetation with contribution to soil and water conservation, Mechanics property of roots play a crucial role in mechanics of soil-reinforcement. In order to find the tension properties of the bamboo roots underground, the tensile experiment for the roots of four kinds of sympodial bamboo, Bambusa distegia, Dendrocalamopsis oldhami, Dendrocalamus giganteus and Chimonocalamus dumosus, was implemented in the field. The experiment employed our own portable experimental equipment for testing tensile characteristics of root. Tensile force and strain rate of roots with different diameters was tested for these four kinds of bamboo. Then, their tensile strength and elastic modulus were obtained through calculation. The experimental results show that the tensile force of sympodial bamboo root increases regularly by the power function regular the increase of the root diameter, and the tensile strength of root reduces along with the increase of root diameter by the power function. The average anti-tension of these four bamboo roots is Bambusa distegia (59.47N), Chimonocalamus dumosus(58.65N), Dendrocalamus giganteus(43.51N) and Dendrocalamopsis oldhami(40.8N), and their average tensile strength is Dendrocalamus giganteus(30.24Mpa), Bambusa distegia(23.14MPa), Dendrocalamopsis oldhami(22.83MPa) and Chimonocalamus dumosus(18.14MPa). The ultimate strain has limitation from 14% to 18%. The average elastic modulus is Dendrocalamus giganteus(169.86MPa), Bambusa distegia(166.37MPa), Dendrocalamopsis oldhami(158.36Mpa) and Chimonocalamus dumosus(135.56MPa). Compared to the four kinds of bamboo, Dendrocalamus giganteus root has the best comprehensive tensile properties. Next are Bambusa Distegia root, Dendrocalamopsis oldhami root, and Chimonocalamus dumosus root respectively. Compared with the common of Pinus tabulaeformis, Betula platyphylla, Larix gmelinii,clumping bamboo roots have better tensile mechanical properties.

According to the biological characteristics of bamboo seedling, an automatic aeroponics growth system is developed for bamboo seedling and root observation, which can prepare good condition of water-fertilizer, air and warm during bamboo seedling. The ultrasonic atomizer is used to atomize the nutrient solution to the ultrafine particles of 1-5 microns diameter. Compared with traditional piezometrical atomization, this method can not only improve atomization efficiency of nutrient solution to promote uniform absorption at the roots, but also avoid the phenomenon of root-washing. In addition, considering the significant effect of temperature and humidity on bamboo root growth, a temperature-humidity control system is designed for automatic control of water-fertilizer and temperature in bamboo root growth environment. The system supplies an experimental platform with features of simple structure and convenient control. In the procedure of bamboo seedling, bamboo rhizome and shoot can grow fast because of enough moisture nutrition, good breathing, and low growth resistance. Furthermore, it is also convenient for morphologic observation of bamboo roots.

An automatic aeroponics growth system is developed in this paper on the base of ultrasonic atomization which has more advantages to product nutrient mist compared with other traditional atomizing type. The system is mainly consist of two parts including the aeroponics culture mechanism and automatic control device. The structure of the growth system and its working principle are introduced in detail, and its components, software and hardware designing are given in the paper. In order to improve atomization efficiency of nutrient solution for uniform nutriment absorption at the root system, the ultrasonic atomizer, which can atomize the nutrient solution to the ultrafine particles of 1-5 microns diameter, is employed as the key component of system. Considering the effects of temperature and humidity on plant root growth, a digital temperature-humidity sensor is used to detect the environmental signal of the plant root system . The temperature and humidity information can be transmitted to MCU which automatically controls the actuators to adjust the temperature and humidity of nutrient mist in a expected range. The system with features of simple structure and convenient control can supply a experimental platform which is not only comfortable for aeroponics culture, but also convenient for morphologic observation of plant roots.

The aim of this experiment was to determine the responses of reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) to salt stress during germination and vegetative growth. Therefore, effects of salinity (0, 50, 100,150, 200,250mMNaCl) on germination, changes in the percentage of germination, abnormal seedling and un-germinated seeds of two germplasms (Zxy06p-2449 and Zxy06p-2653) during germination under stress were determined. Moreover, during vegetative growth(40d old plants), changes in superoxide dismutase(SOD), peroxidase(POD), catalase (CAT), electrolyte leakage were also investigated after salt treatment for 5,10 and 15d. Salt stress decreased the germination percentage. Few seeds germinated at 200mMNaCl, abnormal seedlings and un-germinated seeds increased significantly under the higher salt concentration. During vegetative growth, increased activities of SOD, in 50,100 and 150mMNaCl treated-plants may help to avoid oxidative damage. Differential responses of antioxidant enzymes to salt stress during germination and vegetative growth suggested different antioxidant metabolism in reed canary grass. From the results obtained in present study, it can be suggested that reed canary grass is a moderately salt-tolerant specie with considerable germplasm differences. Zxy06p-2449 and Zxy06p-2653 will not be survive in long-term (>15d) salt treatment under 150mMNaCl, especially Zxy06p-2653 which shown more sensitive under higher salt concentrations

Lespedeza bicolor has developed root system and the ability of carbon sequestration, which can effectively improve the soil nutrient. We measured the correlation of net photosynthetic rate and physiological and environmental factors using space mutated Lespedeza bicolor of SP1 generation, the change of soil carbon and nitrogen content and microbial biomass was also discussed. The conclusion showed that the diurnal variation of photosynthesis was registered as double－peak curve and had "noon break" phenomenon. It showed strong ability of photosynthesis and its mean diurnal photosynthetic rates was 8.77 umolCO2·m-2s-1. Highly correlation was existed between net photosynthetic rate and atmospheric CO2 concentration ,the content of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen and soil microbial biomass displayed negatively relationship to the depth of the soil. Base on the study , we can conclude that the photosynthetic organic matter was effectively accumulated by Lespedeza bicolor of SP1 generation which made use of atmospheric CO2 and the root system located in the superficial soil has better potential of carbon sequestration.

In order to identify the relationship between diurnal changes in the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of Pueraria lobataand environmental factors, diurnal changes in the Pnof leaves of two P. lobatacultivars were measured using a CIRAS-1 portable photosynthesis measurement system (PP-Systems, UK). The results show that diurnal changes in Pnof both cultivars could be interpreted as double-peak curves, indicating the occurrence of an obvious midday depression. Further analyses indicate that the correlation between Pnand stomatal conductance was positive and extremely significant (p< 0.01). The correlations of Pnwith intercellular CO2concentration and transpiration rate were positive and significant (p< 0.05), while the correlations of Pnwith air and leaf temperatures were negative and significant (p< 0.05). The results indicate that among the factors affecting photosynthetic properties, some can be grouped as stomatal limitations while others are non-stomatal limitations.In order to identify the relationship between diurnal changes in the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of Pueraria lobataand environmental factors, diurnal changes in the Pnof leaves of two P. lobatacultivars were measured using a CIRAS-1 portable photosynthesis measurement system (PP-Systems, UK). The results show that diurnal changes in Pnof both cultivars could be interpreted as double-peak curves, indicating the occurrence of an obvious midday depression. Further analyses indicate that the correlation between Pnand stomatal conductance was positive and extremely significant (p< 0.01). The correlations of Pnwith intercellular CO2concentration and transpiration rate were positive and significant (p< 0.05), while the correlations of Pnwith air and leaf temperatures were negative and significant (p< 0.05). The results indicate that among the factors affecting photosynthetic properties, some can be grouped as stomatal limitations while others are non-stomatal limitations.