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Fresh rice (Oryza sativa ssp. japonica) at the medium-milk stage is rich in soluble dietary fiber (SDF), leading to potential effects on type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this study, we analyzed each monosaccharide, the relative molecular weight, and the molecular linkages of fresh rice (grain, stem, husk, and leaf) SDF. The examined fresh rice leaf SDF consisted of 31.9% glucose, 35.7% galactose, 15.3% arabinose, 11.7% mannose, and a small amount of rhamnose and xylose. The molecular weight (Mw) was 232.5±19.1×104 u, and the radius of gyration (Rg) was 298.8±25.4 nm. The glycosidic bonds consisted mainly of Araf and Glc/Gal and included 1,3-Araf, 1,5-Araf, and 3,5-Araf glycosidic bonds. The effect of fresh rice leaf SDF on insulin resistance (IR) in HepG2 cells showed that it could significantly enhance glucose consumption (P

A time and covariance threshold triggered optimal maneuver planning method is proposed for orbital rendezvous using angles-only navigation (AON). In the context of Yamanaka-Ankersen orbital relative motion equations, the square root unscented Kalman filter (SRUKF) AON algorithm is developed to compute the relative state estimations from a low-volume/mass, power saving, and low-cost optical/infrared camera’s observations. Multi-impulsive Hill guidance law is employed in closed-loop linear covariance analysis model, based on which the quantitative relative position robustness and relative velocity robustness index are defined. By balancing fuel consumption, relative position robustness, and relative velocity robustness, we developed a time and covariance threshold triggered two-level optimal maneuver planning method, showing how these results correlate to past methods and missions and how they could potentially influence future ones. Numerical simulation proved that it is feasible to control the spacecraft with a two-line element- (TLE-) level uncertain, 34.6% of range, initial relative state to a 100 m v-bar relative station keeping point, at where the trajectory dispersion reduces to 3.5% of range, under a 30% data gap per revolution on account of the eclipse. Comparing with the traditional time triggered maneuver planning method, the final relative position accuracy is improved by one order and the relative trajectory robustness and collision probability are obviously improved and reduced, respectively.

Reference evapotranspiration (RET) plays an important role in the terrestrial hydrological cycle. Applying the Penman-Monteith method, the RET over Mongolia was estimated from 1980 to 2006. The changing trends and magnitude of RET were detected by the Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen’s slope methods. Meanwhile, aridity indices were estimated using two different indices. The impacts of meteorological variables on RET were assessed through sensitive analysis by comparing the resulting RETs from artificially disturbed meteorological variables. The results indicated that the RET for 16 stations in Mongolia showed an increasing trend, particularly in the center and south. The calculated RET was higher than precipitation, which means severe droughts in Mongolia. The spatial patterns of RET are significantly influenced by climatic conditions as well as characteristics of the underlying surface (e.g., elevation and vegetation). The mean annual RET decreased from the south to the north, owing to sparse vegetation in the south of Mongolia. The sensitivity analysis revealed that the changes of RET were strongly affected by air temperature and relative humidity.

The objective of this study was to compare the clinical results and complications of proximal femoral nail antirotation (PFNA) on treatment of intertrochanteric fractures in 120 elderly Chinese patients using Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). Totaly 120 cases enrolled were randomly assigned to a lateral decubitus position group and supine position group. The hospital stay, operating time, intraoperative blood loss, length of incision, X-ray fluoroscopy time, and out-of-bed activity time in the lateral decubitus position group were significantly lower than those in the supine position group. There was not statistical significance on union time and Harris values in the two position groups. Moreover, only complications of superficial wound infection were observed in the lateral decubitus position group, but two complications of deep venous thrombosis and wound deep infection were found in the supine position group. The present findings suggested that PFNA applied in elderly patients with intertrochanteric fracture can get satisfactory effects, and the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures using lateral decubitus position showed a satisfactory clinical outcome and a lower radiological complication rate.

German cockroaches have become a large problem in the Shenzhen area because of their pesticide resistance, especially to pyrethroid. A pyrethroid called “Jia Chong Qing” to prevent pests for a long time were found to be resistant to “Jia Chong Qing” with resistance index of 3.88 measured using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry analysis showed that both CYP4G19 mRNA and CYP4G19 protein expression levels in the wild strain were substantially higher than that of a sensitive strain. dsRNA segments derived from the target gene CYP4G19 were prepared using in vitro transcription and were microinjected into abdomens of the wild strain. Two to eight days after injection, the result showed that CYP4G19 mRNA expressions were significantly reduced in the groups injected with dsRNAs.

Because the performance of single FAM is affected by the sequence of sample presentation for the offline mode of training, a fuzzy ARTMAP (FAM) ensemble approach based on the improved Bayesian belief method is supposed to improve the classification accuracy. The training samples are input into a committee of FAMs in different sequence, the output fromthese FAMs is combined, and the final decision is derived by the improved Bayesian belief method. The experiment results show that the proposed FAMs' ensemble can classify the different category reliably and has a better classification performance compared with single FAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on a TiO2 photoanode have been considered as an alternative source in the field of renewable energy resources. In DSSCs, photoanode plays a key role to achieve excellent photo-to-electric conversion efficiency. The surface morphology, surface area, TiO2 crystal phase, and the dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticles are the most important factors influencing the properties of a photoanode. The smooth TiO2 surface morphology of the photoanode indicates closely packed arrangement of TiO2 particles which enhance the light harvesting efficiency of the cell. In this paper, a smooth TiO2 photoanode has been successfully prepared using a well-dispersed anatase TiO2 nanosol via a simple hydrothermal process. The above TiO2 photoanode was then compared with the photoanode made from commercial TiO2 nanoparticle pastes. The morphological and structural analyses of both the aforementioned photoanodes were comprehensively characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The DSSC fabricated by using a-TiO2 nanosol-based photoelectrode exhibited an overall light conversion efficiency of 7.20% and a short-circuit current density of 13.34mA cm-2, which was significantly higher than those of the DSSCs with the TiO2 nanoparticles-based electrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pure rutile-phase TiO2 (r-TiO2) was synthesized by a simple one pot experiment under hydrothermal condition using titanium (IV) n-butoxide as a Ti-precursor and HCl as a peptizer. The TiO2 products were characterized by XRD, TEM, ESCA, and BET surface area measurement. The r-TiO2 were rodlike in shape with average size of ~61 × 32nm at hydrothermal temperature of 220?C for 10 h. Hydrothermal treatment at longer reaction time increased the tendency of crystal growth and also decreased the BET surface area. The degradation of methylene blue was selected as a test reaction to confer the photocatalytic activity of as-obtained r-TiO2. The results showed a strong correlation between the structure evolution, particle size, and photocatalytic performance of r-TiO2. Furthermore, the r-TiO2-based solar cell was prepared for the photovoltaic characteristics study, and the best efficiency of ~3.16% was obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano-porous TiO2 thin films have been widely used as the working electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this work, the phase-pure anatase TiO2 (a-TiO2) and rutile TiO2 (r-TiO2) have been prepared using hydrothermal processes. The investigation of photo-to-electron conversion efficiency of DSSCs fabricated from mixed-TiO2 with a-TiO2 and r-TiO2 ratio of 80 : 20 (A8R2) was performed and compared to that from commercial TiO2 (DP-25). The results showed higher efficiency of DSSC for A8R2 cells with same dependence of cell efficiency on the film thickness for both A8R2 and DP-25 cells. The best efficiency obtained in this work is 5.2% from A8R2 cell with TiO2 film thickness of 12.0 μm. The correlation between the TiO2 films thickness and photoelectron chemical properties of DSSCs fabricated from A8R2 and DP-25 was compared and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]