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The residue behaviours of difenoconazole, bifenthrin, thiamethoxam and its metabolite clothianidin on representative crops such as cucumber, bitter gourd, loofah, zucchini, tomato, cherry tomato, eggplant, cowpea, kidney bean, celery, and fennel were investigated. The effects of factors such as fruit size, property of epidermis, leaf size and others on pesticide residues were studied, and then analysed whether these crops are suitable for the same group. Results indicated residue extrapolation could be made between the different crop groups or subgroups. It could be extrapolated from high-risk residue crops to the low-risk residue crops. Cherry tomato or eggplant could be extrapolated to tomato, and bitter gourd or loofah could be extrapolated to cucumber or zucchini, and the reverse was unacceptable. For these four vegetable groups, the different edible parts led to a significant difference in pesticide residues, celery and fennel had higher residue risk because the edible parts were whole plants including the leaves. The residue difference in the same edible parts of the different crop groups was not obvious, such as the Fruiting vegetables, Cucurbits group and the Fruiting vegetables, other than Cucurbit group. The processing factor (PF) extrapolation was more reasonable because crop varieties had no significant effect on pesticide residues in processed commodities. From the perspective of pesticide residues, representative crops were proposed and the rationality of crop classification and residue extrapolation was analysed. These results could promote the process of pesticide registration and the settlement of Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) standards, and further solve the missing of MRL for minor crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical model of eddy current field under sinusoidal excitation of a planar spiral coil is established, taking into account the gap between the turns of a spiral coil and displacement current. The developed model is firstly validated by FEM and experiments, and then was applied to investigate the influences of displacement current on eddy current signal. The results show that the increase of the excitation frequency and the permittivity of the specimen, the influence of the displacement current increase as well for thin samples. Basically, high-frequency eddy current testing allows for the measurement of relative permittivity of thin samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a hybrid modelling approach for early urban flood warning and forecasting purpose. The hybrid model structure proposed combines a deterministic sewer model with a probabilistic logistic regression model. By varying the sewer model structures from complex hydrodynamic models to simple conceptual models, different hybrid models are constructed in order to accommodate different levels of available knowledge and data about the urban hydrological system. The hybrid models are optimized using crowdsourced flooding records. They can predict the probability of flooding at the urban sub-catchment scale. The proposed methodology is tested for two cases in Antwerp, Belgium. Promising results show its potential in making fast and reliable urban flood predictions. Reasonable predictions are made even by the simplest model form, indicating the method could work also for sub-catchments with limited information. It also shows that the proposed methodology allows identifying the most dominant hydrological processes explaining urban flooding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-linked supramolecular polymers generally show distinct mechanical properties with intriguing functions, which have become one of the hot research topics in recent years. However, the cross-linked supramolecular polymers functionalised with fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) properties have been rarely reported yet. Herein, a new cross-linked supramolecular polymer equipped with efficient FRET property was constructed successfully. The oligo(p-phenylenevinylene)-linked pillar[5]arene dimer (PA-OPV) functioned as a host and energy donor, while four pentanenitrile groups coupled porphyrin (CN-Por) acted as guest with energy acceptor. The supramolecular polymerisation and FRET properties were investigated by using NMR, viscosity, Fluorescence, UV–vis and SEM. A new cross-linked supramolecular polymer equipped with efficient FRET property was constructed successfully, the oligo(p-phenylenevinylene)-linked pillar[5]arene dimer (PA-OPV) functioned as both host and energy donor, while four pentanenitrile groups coupled porphyrin (CN-Por) acted as guest with energy acceptor. The supramolecular polymerization and FRET properties were investigated by using NMR, viscosity, Fluorescence, UV–vis and SEM. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prokineticin 2 (PK2) has been indicated as an output signaling molecule for the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) circadian clock. Most of these studies were performed with nocturnal animals, particularly mice and rats. In the current study, the PK2 and its receptor, PKR2, was cloned from a species of diurnal macaque monkey. The macaque monkey PK2 and PKR2 were found to be highly homologous to that of other mammalian species. The mRNA expression of PK2 and PKR2 in the macaque brain was examined byin situhybridization. The expression patterns of PK2 and PKR2 in the macaque brain were found to be quite similar to that of the mouse brain. Particularly, PK2 mRNA was shown to oscillate in the SCN of the macaque brain in the same phase and with similar amplitude with that of nocturnal mouse brain. PKR2 expression was also detected in known primary SCN targets, including the midline thalamic and hypothalamic nuclei. In addition, we detected the expression of PKR2 mRNA in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) of both macaque and mouse brains. As a likely SCN to dorsal raphe projection has previously been indicated, the expression of PKR2 in the raphe nuclei of both macaque and mouse brain signifies a possible role of DR as a previously unrecognized primary SCN projection target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of imipenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanni isolated from surgical wards in a university hospital, China. A total of 143 non-duplicate A. baumannii were isolated from 517 inpatients in surgery intensive care units (ICUs), burn wards, and general surgery wards. Of these, 102 isolates of A. baumannii (71.3%) were resistant to imipenem. Among imipenem-resistant isolates, all isolates were resistant to almost all antimicrobial agents except polymyxin E, all isolates were positive for blaOXA-23 and bla OXA-51 in addition to IS Aba1, 52 (51%) were positive for blaOXA-58 , 8 (7.8%) contained blaVIM-2 , which co-harbored with blaOXA-58 . Molecular typing revealed the presence of three clones among imipenem-resistant isolates. This study confirmed that A. baumannii strains harboring OXA or VIM type β-lactamases are widely distributed throughout the surgery wards. The data demonstrate that there was a high prevalence of imipenem-resistant A. baumannii infection in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]