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• Fog and haze control can promote enterprises to improve green total factor productivity. • This effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises. • This effect is more pronounced in enterprises located in the central region. Advancing fog and haze control and improving environmental quality levels reflect the Chinese government's institutional efforts to establish a green economic system. This paper examines the relationship between fog and haze control and enterprise green total factor productivity. The results show that fog and haze control can promote enterprises to improve green total factor productivity, and this effect is more pronounced in state-owned enterprises and enterprises in the central region. The government should advance environmental governance policies, induce enterprises to innovate in related green technologies, and achieve a win-win for both the environment and economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity has long been thought to be a main cause of hyperlipidemia. As a systemic disease, the impact of obesity on organs, tissues and cells is almost entirely negative. However, the relationship between obesity and bone loss is highly controversial. On the one hand, obesity has long been thought to have a positive effect on bone due to increased mechanical loading on the skeleton, conducive to increasing bone mass to accommodate the extra weight. On the other hand, obesity-related metabolic oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in vivo causes a gradual increase of oxidized LDL (ox-LDL) in the bone marrow microenvironment. We have reported that low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) acts as a receptor of ox-LDL and mediates the bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) uptake of ox-LDL. We detected elevated serum ox-LDL in obese mice. We found that ox-LDL uptake by LRP6 led to an increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in BMSCs, and N -acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) alleviated the cellular senescence and impairment of osteogenesis induced by ox-LDL. Moreover, LRP6 is a co-receptor of Wnt signaling. We found that LRP6 preferentially binds to ox-LDL rather than dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1), both inhibiting Wnt signaling and promoting BMSCs senescence. Mesoderm development LRP chaperone (MESD) overexpression inhibits ox-LDL binding to LRP6, attenuating oxidative stress and BMSCs senescence, eventually rescuing bone phenotype. • Obesity induces BMSCs senescence via ox-LDL and decreases osteogenic differentiation. • LRP6 promotes BMSCs senescence by uptake of ox-LDL. • Excessive intracellular ox-LDL disrupts cellular redox homeostasis, leading to the senescence of BMSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Ultrathin γ-Fe 2 O 3 magnetic nanosheets (2.0 nm) rich in oxygen vacancies were synthesized by a facile NaBH 4 reduction-low temperature calcination method. • γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanosheets show superior photocatalytic performance and cycle performance for water oxidation. • The mechanism of O V -assisted carrier separation in the Ru(bpy) 3 2+/S 2 O 8 2− photocatalytic water oxidation system was proposed reasonably. • This work provides an idea for the design and construction of defect-rich metal oxide nanosheets. Oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the bottleneck of photocatalytic water splitting due to the slow four-electron transfer kinetics, and the construction of ultrathin materials is considered to be an effective means to solve the above problem. Herein, ultrathin γ-Fe 2 O 3 nanosheets (Fe 2 O 3 -NS) were prepared by a facile solution reduction-low temperature calcination method. The prepared photocatalyst has a leaf-like morphology with an average thickness of 2.0 nm and a large number of slit-like pores. Compared with γ-Fe 2 O 3 bulk, Fe 2 O 3 -NS exhibits excellent photocatalytic OER activity. The apparent quantum yield (AQE) and oxygen yield (measured at 420 nm) are 12.95% and 57.04%, respectively. The OER efficiency is superior to those reported iron oxide photocatalysts. This excellent performance may benefit from the ultrathin porous structure, appropriately narrow bandgap, and abundant oxygen vacancies. In addition, the photocatalyst shows good cycling stability, retaining 91.5% of the initial capacity in the fifth cycle test, which may be attributed to the magnetic cycling capability and good structural stability. This study confirms that Fe 2 O 3 -NS is a competitive candidate material for photocatalytic oxygen evolution and provides ideas for the design and construction of other defect-rich metal oxide nanosheets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A rutin hydrolyzing enzyme (RHE) was isolated from Fagopyrum tataricum Moench seeds by using ammonium sulphate fractionation, anion exchange and size exclusion chromatography. The purified RHE has an apparent molecular weight of about 70kDa determined by SDS–PAGE, with an isoelectric point (pI) (determined by isoelectric focusing) of 6.7. RHE has a specific catalytic activity toward rutin when incubated together with rutin at 37°C for 30min in the presence of 20% ethanol, and its K m value for rutin is 1.04×10−3 M. The RHE catalytic product analyzed by HPLC displayed high similarity with quercetin and this is confirmed by 1H NMR spectroscopy and LC-ESI-MS/MS, suggesting that the RHE hydrolysis product is quercetin. These results suggest that the RHE from tartary buckwheat seeds is a specific rutin-hydrolyzing enzyme, providing a new enzymatic preparation method for quercetin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In order to solve the problem that the work efficiency in distribution center becomes low because of the unreasonable store area location, this paper studies the location adjustment model of store area in distribution center. The store area location 0-1 integer-programming model is established with the shortest total picking time as target function, store capacity and picking points as constraint conditions and a heuristic method is provided for calculating. The practical example shows that the proposed method to adjust store area location is reasonable so as to prove the validity of the location adjustment model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A Ti:sapphire oscillator emitting an octave-spanning spectrum that ranges from 460 to 1000nm is demonstrated. To our knowledge, it is the first time that a supercontinuum as a whole measured after the output coupler extending beyond 500nm in the blue end is generated from a femtosecond Ti:sapphire oscillator. In the Ti:sapphire oscillator operating in self-Q-switched and self-mode locked mode, two chirped mirrors and a prism pair were used for dispersion compensation. These experimental results would open a new option for the construction of simple continuum sources. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The preconditioner for solving the linear system introduced in [D.J. Evans, M.M. Martins, M.E. Trigo, The AOR iterative method for new preconditioned linear systems, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 132 (2001) 461–466] is generalized. Results obtained in this paper show that the convergence rate of Jacobi and Gauss–Seidel type methods can be increased by using the preconditioned method when is an -matrix. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work was designed to observe the effects of nociceptin(13–17), one of the main metabolites of nociceptin (also termed orphanin FQ), in pain modulation at supraspinal level in mice. Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) administration of nociceptin/orphanin FQ(13–17) (N/OFQ(13–17)) (5, 0.5, 0.05, 0.005 nmol/mouse) dose-dependently induced potent hyperalgesic effects in the 48 °C warm-water tail-flick test in mice. I.c.v. pretreatment with N/OFQ(13–17) (5, 0.5, 0.05 nmol/mouse) potentiated the analgesic effects induced by morphine (i.p., 2 mg/kg) and reversed the hyperalgesic effects induced by N/OFQ (i.c.v., 5 nmol/mouse). The hyperalgesic effects induced by N/OFQ(13–17) could not be antagonized by [Nphe1]N/OFQ(1–13)NH2 or naloxone. These findings suggest that N/OFQ(13–17) may play important roles in pain modulation at supraspinal level in mice and elicits these effects through a novel mechanism independent of the N/OFQ receptor and the μ, δ and κ opioid receptors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A series of new dyes with bright colors have been synthesized and exhibit excellent dyeing performance for PLA fabrics. • Dye with lower polarity generally having higher exhaustions on PLA fabrics. • Dyes having long alkyl groups and minimal steric hindrance during its adsorption facilitate the dye-PLA interaction, increasing dye exhaustion on PLA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A molecular probe BNP based on 2,3-modified boron-dipyrromethene (Bodipy) derivatives toward copper ion was synthesized. [•] The probe BNP treated with Cu2+ in H2O/DMSO displays remarkable solution color change from the light yellow to purple, which is further confirmed by TD-DFT calculations. [•] The low naked-eye detection limit (2.5μM) and real-time detection for Cu2+ give the possibly direct detection by the naked eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The molecular mechanisms and the possible effects of a recombinant buckwheat trypsin inhibitor (rBTI) on the induction of apoptosis in the human solid tumor cells (EC9706, HepG2 and HeLa) were investigated. An MTT assay showed that rBTI could specifically inhibit the growth of solid tumor cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Analysis by flow cytometry indicated that the apoptosis of several tumor cells increased after treatment with rBTI in range of 6.25–50μg/ml. DNA electrophoresis analysis showed the ‘DNA ladder’, typical of apoptosis. rBTI-induced apoptosis was shown to involve Bax and Bak up-regulation, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl down-regulation, release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to the cytosol, activation of caspase-3 and -9 and disruption of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψ m). The z-DEVD-fmk caspase-3 inhibitor significantly inhibited rBTI-induced apoptosis. We concluded that rBTI can induce the apoptosis in several types of human solid tumor cells and promotes apoptosis through the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In general, a continuous network design problem (CNDP) is formulated as a bi-level program. The objective function at the upper level is defined as the total travel time on the network, plus total investment costs of link capacity expansions. The lower level problem is formulated as a certain traffic assignment model. It is well known that such bi-level program is non-convex and non-differentiable and algorithms for finding global optimal solutions are preferable to be used in solving it. Simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA) are two global methods and can then be used to determine the optimal solution of CNDP. Since application of SA and GA on continuous network design on real transportation network requires solving traffic assignment model many times at each iteration of the algorithm, computation time needed is tremendous. It is important to compare the efficacy of the two methods and choose the more efficient one as reference method in practice. In this paper, the continuous network design problem has been studied using SA and GA on a simulated network. The lower level program is formulated as user equilibrium traffic assignment model and Frank–Wolf method is used to solve it. It is found that when demand is large, SA is more efficient than GA in solving CNDP, and much more computational effort is needed for GA to achieve the same optimal solution as SA. However, when demand is light, GA can reach a more optimal solution at the expense of more computation time. It is also found that increasing the iteration number at each temperature in SA does not necessarily improve solution. The finding in this example is different from [Karoonsoontawong, A., & Waller, S. T. (2006). Dynamic continuous network design problem – Linear bilevel programming and metaheuristic approaches. Network Modeling 2006 Transportation Research Record (1964) (pp. 104–117)]. The reason might be the bi-level model in this example is nonlinear while the bi-level model in their study is linear. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper has adopted a fast and convenient analytical technique to detect dinitrophenol isomers directly and simultaneously. In 0.1molL−1 HAc–NaAc buffer solution (pH 5.8), 2,4- and 2,5-dinitrophenol exhibited good resolution by DPV at the GC electrode. By using the surfactant of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, the reduction peaks currents were enhanced and the detection sensitivity was improved dramatically. The action mechanism was investigated in detail and some valuable message has been found. The linear calibration ranges from 1.0×10−6 to 8.0×10−4 molL−1 for both 2,4- and 2,5-dinitrophenol, with detection limits of 2.4×10−7 for 2,4- and 1.5×10−7 molL−1 for 2,5-dinitrophenol. This method was applied in the determination of dinitrophenol isomers in model water sample, and the recovery was from 98% to 103%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examines the impact of air pollution on research and development (R&D) in China on the basis of province-level data for the period 2007—2016. The study discovers a significant adverse impact of air pollution on both R&D input and output in China. The estimation results in this study are robust to the different indicators used to measure R&D input and output and control for possible endogeneity problems via the instrumental variable approach. According to our estimates, if the concentration of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM 2.5) increases by 1%, then the scales of annual R&D personnel, expenditures, and new patents will decline by 0.359%, 0.169%, and 0.293%, respectively. The findings indicate that air pollution is a considerable threat to innovation and technological progress in China. Unlabelled Image • The study discovers a significant adverse impact of air pollution on both R&D input and output in China. • The empirical analysis is based on a panel data regression model using province-level data for the period 2007—2016. • The scales of annual R&D personnel, expenditures, and new patents all decline, in response to the increase in air pollution. • Air pollution is a considerable threat to innovation and technological progress in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lariciresinol (LA) is one of the main active ingredients in many traditional medicinal plants such as Patrinia , and has the role of anti-liver cancer. However, the precise mechanisms are unclear. This study investigated the molecular mechanisms of LA against HepG2 cells. LA anti-tumor activity was assessed with the CCK-8, Ki-67, and immunofluorescence staining. Cells apoptotic ratio was evaluated by Annexin V/PI double-staining assay. A proteomic approach was used to identify differentially expressed proteins after LA treatment. JC-1 staining was carried out to detect the mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and the Western blot analysis was used to analyse the apoptosis-associated proteins. Our results suggested that LA significantly suppressed the viability of HepG2 cells. The CCK-8 and Ki-67 expression indicated dose-dependent decreases in cell proliferation. Flow cytometry analysis showed that LA exhibited a apoptosis-inducing effect. The proteomic study observed the presence of apoptosis-associated proteins and mitochondrial dysfunction in HepG2 cells after LA-treatment. Further analysis showed that LA could trigger the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway, based on a decrease in ΔΨm; deliver of cytochrome c ; activation of caspase-9/−3 and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase; and decrease of the proportion of Bcl-2/Bax. Collectively, our studies found that LA exhibits significant cytotoxic effects by inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing apoptosis, possibly via activation of the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the majority of the photochemical states and pathways related to the biological capture of solar energy are now well understood and provide paradigms for artificial device design, additional low-energy states have been discovered in many systems with obscure origins and significance. However, as low-energy states are naively expected to be critical to function, these observations pose important challenges. A review of known properties of low energy states covering eight photochemical systems, and options for their interpretation, are presented. A concerted experimental and theoretical research strategy is suggested and outlined, this being aimed at providing a fully comprehensive understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni/C/TiO 2 nanocomposites have been prepared by base-catalyzed hydrolysis of tetrabutyl titanate in the Ni/C suspension and subsequent heat treatment at different temperatures. The Ni/C co-catalyst was fabricated by salt-templated pyrolysis of a nickel oleate complex. Phase and morphological analyses revealed that the Ni/C/TiO 2 nanocomposites were largely composed of anatase TiO 2 nanospheres. Hydrogen evolution measurements showed that the photocatalytic activity of TiO 2 nanospheres was improved by the Ni/C co-catalyst under simulated sunlight. The best-performing Ni/C/TiO 2 -T700 achieved a H 2 evolution rate of 1745.0 μmol h-1 g-1, which was 9-fold as high as pure TiO 2 (185.0 μmol h-1 g-1). Based on optical, electrochemical, and photo-electrochemical results, the enhanced catalytic activity could be attributed to the Ni/C co-catalyst promoting the photo-generated charge separation and suppressing the electron-hole pair recombination. This work provides an alternative type of Ni-based co-catalyst for enhancing the hydrogen evolution activity of TiO 2 -based photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the performance of a fast gas–solid separator was simulated based on the commercial software Fluent 6.2. The tangential velocity dominated the three-dimensional gas velocity, and decreased with the increase of the circumferential angle and radial position. In the separator housing, the swirling gas flow is similar to a modified or quasi free vortex. In the gas outlet tube, gas swirls with a rotation direction reverse to that in the separator housing. The ratio of circulation gas flow rate over the inlet gas flow rate changed only slightly with the increase of the inlet gas velocity, remaining at approximately 0.49. There was a stagnant particle layer on the separator base, inducing particle re-entrainment by circulation gas. In the present study, the separation efficiency of fine particles decreased with increasing inlet gas velocity, approximately remaining a constant as the particle diameter is greater than 12.5 μm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have implemented an optical manipulation system based on femtosecond laser tweezers for biological research. Stable optical trapping of human red blood cells was observed. We measured the optical trapping capability of the femtosecond laser tweezers in comparison with continuous-wave laser tweezers. Photodynamic therapy based on two-photon excitation at single cell level was also performed on our system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the present study, two analogues containing N-Me-Gly (Sarcosine, Sar) were synthesized to further investigate the structural–activity relationships of orphanin FQ/nociceptin (OFQ/NC, NC). The replacement of Gly2 or Gly3 with Sar increased the flexibility and decreased the hydrophobicity of the N-terminal tetrapeptide. The activity of the analogues was investigated in a series of assays in vivo and in vitro. [Sar2]NC(1–13)NH2 was found to (1) produce dose-dependent inhibition of the electrically induced contraction in MVD assay (pEC50 = 6.14); (2) produce significant hyperalgesia effects in a dose-dependent manner when intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) injected in mice. The inhibitive effects of [Sar2]NC(1–13)NH2 in MVD assay could be significantly antagonized by [Nphe1]NC(1–13)NH2, and partially antagonized by naloxone; the hyperalgesic effect of [Sar2]NC(1–13)NH2 could be significantly antagonized by naloxone, and partially antagonized by [Nphe1]NC(1–13)NH2. On the contrary, [Sar3]NC(1–13)NH2 showed no effects in these assays. All the findings suggest that the flexibility of the peptide bond between Phe1 and Gly2 and between Gly2 and Gly3 play an important role in NC–OP4 receptor interaction, and the hydrophobicity of the N-terminal tetrapeptide showed no significant effect on this interaction. The present work also helps to provide a novel method to elucidate structural and conformational requirements of the opioid peptide–receptor interaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Third-order nonlinearity induced by femtosecond pulses in ZnTe is investigated experimentally. We employ the transmission z-scan technique, using femtosecond pulses at 810nm, to determine Kerr-type nonlinearity in ZnTe. The implications of our results to the terahertz (THz) radiation generation are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]