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At present, with the advance of satellite image processing technology, remote sensing images are becoming more widely used in real scenes. However, due to the limitations of current remote sensing imaging technology and the influence of the external environment, the resolution of remote sensing images often struggles to meet application requirements. In order to obtain high-resolution remote sensing images, image super-resolution methods are gradually being applied to the recovery and reconstruction of remote sensing images. The use of image super-resolution methods can overcome the current limitations of remote sensing image acquisition systems and acquisition environments, solving the problems of poor-quality remote sensing images, blurred regions of interest, and the requirement for high-efficiency image reconstruction, a research topic that is of significant relevance to image processing. In recent years, there has been tremendous progress made in image super-resolution methods, driven by the continuous development of deep learning algorithms. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of deep-learning-based image super-resolution methods. Specifically, we first introduce the research background and details of image super-resolution techniques. Second, we present some important works on remote sensing image super-resolution, such as training and testing datasets, image quality and model performance evaluation methods, model design principles, related applications, etc. Finally, we point out some existing problems and future directions in the field of remote sensing image super-resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalpol, an iridoid glucoside extracted from the traditional Chinese herbal medicine, Rehmannia glutinosa, is reported to exert neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and anti-apoptotic effects. The main aim of the present study was to investigate whether catalpol ameliorates experimental acute pancreatitis (AP) induced by sodium taurocholate (STC). AP was induced in rats via retrograde injection of 4% STC (0.1 mL/100 g) into the biliopancreatic duct. Rats were pre-treated with saline or catalpol (50 mg/kg) 2 h before STC injection. At 12, 24 and 48 h after injection, the severity of AP was evaluated using biochemical and morphological analyses. Pretreatment with catalpol led to a significant reduction in serum amylase and lipase activities, pancreatic histological damage, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-a levels, and activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Moreover, administration of catalpol increased the viability of pancreatic acinar cells and inhibited NF-κB expression in vitro. Our results collectively support the potential of catalpol as a highly effective therapeutic agent for treatment of AP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usher syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by sensorineural hearing loss, age-dependent retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and occasionally vestibular dysfunction. The most severe form is Usher syndrome type 1 (USH1). Mutations in the MYO7A gene are responsible for USH1 and account for 29–55% of USH1 cases. Here, we characterized a Chinese family (no. 7162) with USH1. Combining the targeted capture of 131 known deafness genes, next-generation sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis, we identified two deleterious compound heterozygous mutations in the MYO7A gene: a reported missense mutation c.73G>A (p.G25R) and a novel nonsense mutation c.462C>A (p.C154X). The two compound variants are absent in 219 ethnicity-matched controls, co-segregates with the USH clinical phenotypes, including hearing loss, vestibular dysfunction, and age-dependent penetrance of progressive RP, in family 7162. Therefore, we concluded that the USH1 in this family was caused by compound heterozygous mutations in MYO7A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper attempts to characterize failure behaviour of small satellites through statistical analysis of actual in-orbit failures. A unique Small Satellite Anomalies Database comprising empirical failure data of 222 small satellites has been developed. A nonparametric analysis of the failure data has been implemented by means of a Kaplan–Meier estimation. An innovative modelling method, i.e. Bayesian theory in combination with Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulations, has been proposed to model the reliability of small satellites. An extensive parametric analysis using the Bayesian/MCMC method has been performed to fit a Weibull distribution to the data. The influence of several characteristics such as the design lifetime, mass, launch year, mission type and the type of satellite developers on the reliability has been analyzed. The results clearly show the infant mortality of small satellites. Compared with the classical maximum-likelihood estimation methods, the proposed Bayesian/MCMC method results in better fitting Weibull models and is especially suitable for reliability modelling where only very limited failures are observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] The impact of market concern derived from the Web on oil volatility is analysed. [•] It has an equilibrium relationship between oil prices and long-run market concern. [•] The short-run market concerns have an asymmetric influence on oil price volatility. [•] The Internet can exaggerate the impact of information shocks on oil price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomedical research often requires primary cultures of specific cell types, which are challenging to obtain at high purity in a reproducible manner. Here we engineered the murine Rosa26 locus by introducing the diphtheria toxin receptor flanked by loxP sites. The resultant strain was nicknamed the Terminator mouse. This approach results in diphtheria toxin-receptor expression in all non-Cre expressing cell types, making these cells susceptible to diphtheria toxin exposure. In primary cultures of kidney cells derived from the Terminator mouse, over 99.99% of cells were dead within 72 h of diphtheria toxin treatment. After crossing the Terminator with the podocin-Cre (podocyte specific) mouse or the Ggt-Cre (proximal tubule specific) mouse, diphtheria toxin treatment killed non-Cre expressing cells but spared podocytes and proximal tubule cells, respectively, enriching the primary cultures to over 99% purity, based on both western blotting and immunostaining of marker proteins. Thus, the Terminator mouse can be a useful tool to selectively and reproducibly obtain even low-abundant cell types at high quantity and purity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The DFT-B3LYP/6-311++G(3df,2p) and MP2(full)/6-311++G(3df,2p) calculations were carried out on the binary complex formed by HM (M = Li, Na, K) and HF or the π-electron donor (CH, CH, CH), as well as the ternary system FH∙∙∙HM∙∙∙CH/CH/CH. The cooperativity effect between the dihydrogen-bonding and H-M∙∙∙π interactions was investigated. The result shows that the equilibrium distances R and R in the ternary complex decrease and both the H∙∙∙H and H-M∙∙∙π interactions are strengthened when compared to the corresponding binary complex. The cooperativity effect of the dihydrogen bond on the H-M∙∙∙π interaction is more pronounced than that of the M∙∙∙π bond on the H∙∙∙H interaction. Furthermore, the values of cooperativity effect follow the order of FH∙∙∙HNa∙∙∙π > FH∙∙∙HLi∙∙∙π > FH∙∙∙HK∙∙∙π and FH∙∙∙HM∙∙∙CH > FH∙∙∙HM∙∙∙CH > FH∙∙∙HM∙∙∙CH. The nature of the cooperativity effect was revealed by the analyses of the charge of the hydrogen atoms in H∙∙∙H moiety, atom in molecule (AIM) and electron density shifts methods. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soluble starch synthases (SSs) play important roles in the synthesis of cassava starch. However, the expression characteristics of the cassava SSs genes have not been elucidated. In this study, the MeSSIII-1 gene and its promoter, from SC8 cassava cultivars, were respectively isolated by PCR amplification. MeSSIII-1 protein was localized to the chloroplasts. qRT-PCR analysis revealed that the MeSSIII-1 gene was expressed in almost all tissues tested, and the expression in mature leaves was 18.9 times more than that in tuber roots. MeSSIII-1 expression was induced by methyljasmonate (MeJA), abscisic acid (ABA), and ethylene (ET) hormones in cassava. MeSSIII-1 expression patterns were further confirmed in proMeSSIII-1 transgenic cassava. The promoter deletion analysis showed that the −264 bp to −1 bp MeSSIII-1 promoter has basal activity. The range from −1228 bp to −987 bp and −488 bp to −264 bp significantly enhance promoter activity. The regions from −987 bp to −747 bp and −747 bp to −488 bp have repressive activity. These findings will provide an important reference for research on the potential function and transcriptional regulation mechanisms of the MeSSIII-1 gene and for further in-depth exploration of the regulatory network of its internal functional elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a cellular lane-changing model where the traffic lanes are discretized into cells and formulates the lane-changing process as a multi-player non-zero-sum non-cooperative game in a connected environment where the real-time surrounding traffic data is shared. In a congested traffic scenario where a large quantity of mandatory lane-changing maneuvers are required simultaneously, the size of the game is extended dynamically (i.e., 2–5 players in this case, and it can be extended more if necessary) based on the traffic situation. Discretionary lane-changing maneuvers are also considered in the decision-making process to maximize the use of the capacity of each traffic lane, i.e., distributing the vehicles to each traffic lane as uniform as possible. Moreover, the competing vehicle on the target lane has more flexible actions (i.e., changing to other lanes) except for accelerating and decelerating actions. Thus, its temporary benefit is sometimes sacrificed by taking these actions to pursue the global benefit so that other vehicles could complete mandatory lane-changing maneuvers. It is a known fact that the space complexity expands exponentially as the game size increases, so a novel decomposition algorithm based on game theory is proposed to reduce the complexity and improve computational efficiency. Finally, a rule-based approach, a classic Nash equilibrium approach and the proposed decomposition algorithm are compared by the critical indicators such as the number of lane-changing vehicles, the maximum incoming queues during the process, the mean of computational time per iteration, etc. The performance shows no significant difference in the efficacy of lane-changing maneuvers among these approaches under the uncongested traffic condition. At the same time, the decomposition algorithm is more efficient in computing time than the classic Nash equilibrium approach. As the traffic gets congested, the game theory-based approaches prove more effective in lane-changing behaviours than the rule-based approach. Meanwhile, the decomposition algorithm outperforms the classic Nash equilibrium approach more significantly in terms of computational time. • A lane-changing model is discretized into cells. • The system is formulated as multi-player games in a connected environment. • A novel decomposition algorithm is proposed to reduce the complexity. • The proposed algorithm and other approaches are examined and compared. • The proposed algorithm shows high efficacy with a short computational time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laminitis is the inflammation of the lamella, and it has caused great economic loss to the dairy industry and attracted wide attention around the world. In recent years, microbiota are considered to play a significant role in various diseases processes. Therefore, our study aimed to explore the characteristics of ruminal microbiota in laminitis cows. The serum of bovines with or without laminitis was collected to detect concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), lactic acid, and histamine, and ruminal fluid was collected for 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The results showed a significant increase in LPS and lactic acid levels in the laminitis group compared to the control group cows. In addition, a higher abundance of Candidatus Saccharimonas, Saccharofermentans, Erysipelotrichaceae UCG-009 genus, Acetobacter pasteurianus, Clostridium papyrosolvens, Ruminococcaceae bacterium AE2021, Porphyromonas crevioricanis, Pseudomonas boreopolis, Pseudomonas psychrotolerans, Rothia nasimurium, and Rothia pickettii was detected in the rumen fluid of laminitis bovines. In conclusion, this article confirms that there are differences in rumen microbiota between healthy and laminitis bovines. The elevated abundance of bacteria that enrich acid-enhancing metabolites, as well as increase the concentration of lactic acid and LPS, could be harmful factors to bovines and increase the risk of laminitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One way to increase the ductility of metallic glasses is to induce heterogeneous microstructures, as for example in nanoglasses and crystal-glass composites. The heterogeneities have important consequences not only on the development of shear bands, but also on the structural relaxations in the glass phase. Experiments using dynamic mechanical spectroscopy (DMS) have been conducted, but an atomic-scale picture is still lacking. Here we apply DMS within molecular dynamics simulations to a classical CuZr metallic glass to study how structural relaxations and mechanical energy dissipation are affected by different microstructures, including nanoglasses, crystal-glass nanolaminates and glasses with spherical crystalline inclusions. We find that in a fully glassy system, not only the fraction but also the spatial homogeneity of "hard" icosahedral environments matter. When hard crystalline particles are introduced, the storage modulus simply results from volumetric averages consistent with the classical Voigt and Reuss bounds. On the other hand, loss moduli are much more complex and can be smaller or larger than in a pure glass depending on the microstructure and loading condition. Atomistic processes leading to these evolutions are discussed and remaining open questions are highlighted. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Effects of reducing the upwind area of conical-strip tube inserts on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of turbulent flow are experimentally investigated. The conical-strip insert resembles one quarter of the conical-ring insert in terms of its upwind area. Results show that the Nusselt number for the case with conical-strip inserts is only 53–56% of that for the case with conical-ring inserts, the friction factor for the former is merely 4–6% of that for the latter, and thus the thermo-hydraulic performance factor can be enhanced by 36–61% if replacing conical-ring inserts with conical-strip inserts for turbulent flow within Re range 5000–25,000. In addition, a comparative study of the short conical strip and the T-type conical strip, which can be regarded as boundary-cutting and core-cutting to the normal conical strip respectively, is performed. Results indicate that the flow resistance can be reduced by both methods. However, a weakened heat transfer and a worsened thermo-hydraulic performance are obtained for the case with boundary-cutting strip inserts. In contrast, the case with T-type core-cutting conical-strip inserts, if a suitable core-cutting size is taken, shows a better thermo-hydraulic performance as compared with the case with normal conical-strip inserts when the Reynolds number is relatively large. Effects of the pitch between neighboring strips have also been examined. It is found that smaller pitch leads to higher heat transfer rate whereas the flow resistance is increased. A moderate pitch between conical strips is beneficial to the overall thermo-hydraulic performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] WPU emulsions as surface sizing agents are synthesized with TDI and IPDI. [•] Particle size increases as the NCO/OH and TDI/IPDI molar ratio increase. [•] Viscosity increases as the NCO/OH molar ratio and DMPA content increase. [•] Water resistance increases as the NCO/OH and TDI/IPDI molar ratio increase. [•] The sized papers have much better mechanical properties than the unsized ones. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The facile method to functionalize graphene oxide through surface modification with acetone was studied and improved. The resulting nanomaterials showed variable characteristics as the surface energy could be tailored according to the combination (proportion of H2O to acetone) of mixed solvent under sonication. Stability test and contact angle measurement showed that the treated graphene oxide exhibited different dispersibility and wettability. SEM images of graphene oxide films corroborated the changes in chemical composition of the sheets. FT-IR, XPS, and TGA observation provided direct evidence for chemical composition changes occurred on the surface. The presence of alkyl chain could decrease the surface energy and obviously control the hydrophilicity of the graphene oxide sheets. These results will provide significant guidance for the study of graphene-based bio-materials and nano-composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forkhead box O (FOXO) transcription factors are emerging as key regulators of cell survival and growth. The transcriptional activity and subcellular localization of FOXO are tightly regulated by post-translational modifications. Here we report that IKBKE regulates FOXO3a through phosphorylation of FOXO3a-Ser644. The phosphorylation of FOXO3a resulted in its degradation and nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation. Previous studies have shown that IKBKE directly activates Akt and that Akt inhibits FOXO3a by phosphorylation of Ser32, Ser253 and Ser315. However, the activity of Akt-nonphosphorytable FOXO3a-A3 (i.e., converting 3 serine residues to alanine) was inhibited by IKBKE. Furthermore, overexpression of IKBKE correlates with elevated levels of pFOXO3a-S644 in primary lung and breast tumors. IKBKE inhibits cellular function of FOXO3a and FOXO3a-A3 but, to a much less extent, of FOXO3a-S644A. These findings suggest that IKBKE regulates FOXO3a primarily through phosphorylation of SerS644 and that IKBKE exerts its cellular function, at least to some extent, through regulation of FOXO3a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used meta-analysis to synthesize the relation between visual skills and Chinese reading acquisition based on the empirical results from 34 studies published from 1991 to 2011. We obtained 234 correlation coefficients from 64 independent samples, with a total of 5,395 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that visual skills as a global construct had a medium correlation effect size ( r = 0.32) associated with Chinese reading acquisition. The various visual processing skills differed in their relation to Chinese reading acquisition in different stages. Visual perception, speed of processing visual information, and pure visual memory had low-to-moderate correlations with Chinese reading acquisition in the lower grades (i.e., below second grade), whereas these relations did not retain their magnitude for children in the higher grades (i.e., second through sixth grades). By contrast, visual-verbal association skill was found to account for 34 and 41 % of the variance in children's Chinese reading acquisition in both lower and higher grade levels, respectively. Greater attention to this construct can significantly benefit reading research and instructional practice. No regional differences between studies in Mainland China and Hong Kong were found in the meta-analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aimed at the stability of surrounding rock in Pingdingshan Coal Mine, took a typical deep roadway with joint fissured surrounding rock as study object, used discrete element numerical simulation, simulated the deformation and failure mechanism of surrounding rock, and the control technologies of joint fissured surrounding rock roadway were proposed. The results show that the tensile failure appears at vault and two side-walls and in the middle of floor at first. Then, the shear failure appears at spandrel and two base angles. The failure zone extends into the deep area until the roadway is instable. According to the in-situ monitor data, it is concluded that the stress in anchor and cable tends to be stable after supporting for two months, as well as the horizontal convergence, vault subsidence and floor heave. It means that the supporting technology works and the stability of soft surrounding rock in deep rock roadway is controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen is an important nutrient element that limits plant growth and yield formation, but excessive nitrogen has negative effects on plants and the environment. It is important to reveal the molecular mechanism of high NUE (nitrogen use efficiency) for breeding peach rootstock and variety with high NUE. In this study, two peach rootstocks, Shannong–1 (S) and Maotao (M), with different NUE were used as materials and treated with 0.1 mM KNO3 for transcriptome sequencing together with the control group. From the results of comparison between groups, we found that the two rootstocks had different responses to KNO3, and 2151 (KCL_S vs. KCL_M), 327 (KNO3_S vs. KCL_S), 2200 (KNO3_S vs. KNO3_M) and 146 (KNO3_M vs. KCL_M) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, respectively, which included multiple transcription factor families. These DEGs were enriched in many biological processes and signal transduction pathways, including nitrogen metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction. The function of PpNRT2.1, which showed up-regulated expression under KNO3 treatment, was verified by heterologous expression in Arabidopsis. The plant height, SPAD (soil and plant analyzer development) of leaf and primary root length of the transgenic plants were increased compared with those of WT, indicating the roles of PpNRT2.1 in nitrogen metabolism. The study uncovered for the first time the different molecular regulatory pathways involved in nitrogen metabolism between two peach rootstocks and provided gene reserve for studying the molecular mechanism of nitrogen metabolism and theoretical basis for screening peach rootstock or variety with high NUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the explosive growth of data in the Internet, more and more applications are being deployed on Big Data platforms. However, as the scale of data continues to increase, the probability of anomalies in the platform is also increasing. However, traditional anomaly detection techniques cannot effectively handle the massive amount of historical data and can hardly meet the security requirements of big data platforms. In order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes a security anomaly detection method for big data platforms based on quantum optimization clustering. Firstly, a framework of big data platform anomaly detection system is designed based on distributed software architecture through Hadoop and Spark big data open source technology. The system achieves effective detection of network anomalies by collecting and analyzing big data platform server log data. Secondly, an offline anomaly detection algorithm based on quantum ant colony optimized affinity propagation clustering is designed for various anomalies mined from historical data. The bias parameters of the affinity propagation clustering are treated as individual ants to construct an ant colony, and the clustering accuracy is set as fitness. Finally, in order to improve the accuracy of the optimal path search of the ant colony, quantum bit encoding is applied to the ant colony position to refine the granularity of the individual ant colony position update. The experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively complete the anomaly clustering detection of massive data. With a reasonable threshold, the quantum ant colony–based affinity propagation clustering has high detection accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Erythraeid mite members are large, larvae usually parasitize other arthropods, whereas the nymphs and adults are free-living predators of a small insect. Free-living adults/nymphs and parasitic larvae vary greatly in morphology, and classification is usually treated independently. To date, more than 850 species of erythraeid mites have been recorded. Among them, more than 580 species were described only as larvae. Eatoniana Cambridge, 1898 is a small genus within Erythraeidae comprising, 10 valid species worldwide, three species of which were only reported based on larvae. Erythraeus Latreille, 1806 includes 123 species distributed worldwide, with 69 species reported based on larvae alone. Here, two new species, Eatoniana nanlingensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. from Guangdong Province and Erythraeus (Erythraeus) kunyuensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. from Shandong Province, are described based on larval stage. We believe that the study will contribute to further studies on the taxonomy and phylogeny of Erythraeidae. The species Eatoniana yangshuonicus (Haitlinger) comb. nov. is transferred from the genus Erythraeus to Eatoniana based on the basifemoral setal formula 2-2-1. Two new species, Eatoniana nanlingensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. and Erythraeus (Erythraeus) kunyuensis Xu and Jin sp. nov. are described and illustrated based on larvae. Eatoniana nanlingensis sp. nov. from the Oriental region (Guangdong Province), Er. (Er.) kunyuensis sp. nov. from the Palaearctic region (Shandong Province). An updated key to larval species of the genus Eatoniana of the world is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although researchers have demonstrated that studying multiple examples is more effective than studying one example to facilitate learning, the principles found in the literature for designing multiple examples remain ambiguous. This paper reviews variation theory research on example design which sheds light on unclear issues regarding the effects of example variability. First, the distinction of surface/structural should be replaced by critical/uncritical in example study. Aspects and features that are critical to students' understanding should be identified and compared in example design. Second, variation as well as similarity among examples should be taken into consideration in example design. Certain patterns of variation and invariance should be adopted to systematically determine the variability of examples. Third, students with different levels of prior knowledge perceive different aspects of examples that are critical for their learning. Examples should be designed according to aspects that are critical to specific students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzes TOMS AOD at 500 nm (1980–2001), along with MODIS data (2000–2008) at 550 nm to investigate variations at one-degree grid over eight typical regions in China and the trends in AODs, temporally and spatially. In contrast to recently reported global decrease in AOD over global ocean beginning around 1990, we find there virtually exists no apparent AOD transition in China for that: firstly no notable upward tendencies in AOD during 1980–1992 for the relative low value (+0.001/decade), then during 1996–2001 a discernible ascending tendency with larger magnitude at 0.01/decade, and finally, since 2000, a weak upward trend with +0.004/decade. The large increases during 1996–2001 are presumably consequences of large increases in industrial activities and bear a strong resemblance to the long-term decreasing observations of incident solar radiation and cloud cover in China. Specifically, in late 1990’s, only in Taklimakan Desert a negative trend with a maximum magnitude of −0.04/decade is detected. However, over regions such as Jingjinji and Pearl River Delta influenced by industrial activities, positive tendencies at +0.01/decade are observed. Seasonal patterns in the AOD regional long-term trend are evident. AODs exhibit generally similar seasonality and the summer dominates higher AOD value than the autumn. In particular, during the period 1980–2001, all the eight regions except Taklimakan Desert witness the maximum aerosols in winter while there is not such seasonality during the period 2000–2008. Geographically, we also document spatial patterns of AOD variations over China. Results reveal that no apparent upward trends in AOD (about 15% per decade) are observed in 1980’s, while beginning 1990 till 2008, both data (TOMS and MODIS) are indicative of a significant AOD increase across China, especially in 1990’s it is indeed the case, roughly in accordance with the overall trends at regional scale. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In experiment 1, novice fourth-grade students ( N = 92) who compared multiple examples that separately varied each critical aspect and then simultaneously varied all critical aspects developed better conceptual knowledge about the altitude of a triangle than students who compared multiple examples that did not separately vary each critical aspect but simultaneously varied all critical aspects. In experiment 2, this pattern was the same for fourth-grade students ( N = 90) but not for sixth-grade students ( N = 94) who had greater prior knowledge about the concept. Aspects that are critical for learning should be varied first separately and then simultaneously, and students with different levels of prior knowledge may perceive different aspects as critical for their learning and thus benefit differently from the identical instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Twisted tape is a widely used technique for heat transfer enhancement. In the present paper, we proposed a center-cleared twisted tape aiming at acxhieving good thermohydraulic performance. A comparative study between this type and the short-width twisted tape was performed numerically in laminar tubular flows. The computation results demonstrated that the flow resistance can be reduced by both methods; however, the thermal behaviors are very different from each other. For tubes with short-width twisted tapes, the heat transfer and thermohydraulic performance are weakened by cutting off the tape edge. Contrarily, for tubes with center-cleared twisted tapes, the heat transfer can be even enhanced in the cases with a suitable central clearance ratio. The thermal performance factor of the tube with center-cleared twisted tape can be enhanced by 7–20% as compared with the tube with conventional twisted tape. All these demonstrated that the center-cleared twisted tape is a promising technique for laminar convective heat transfer enhancement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective. SS is an autoimmune disease characterized by salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction leading to dry mouth (xerostomia) and dry eyes (xerophthalmia). Anti-muscarinic acetylcholine type-3 receptor (anti-M3R) autoantibodies have been shown to be a good serum marker in primary SS (pSS). The aim of this study was to assess the clinical correlations of anti-M3R-derived peptide antibodies in patients with pSS.Methods. Sequences of the first to fourth cycle-M3R (c1M3R–c4M3R)-derived peptide was synthesized by a solid-phase technique on an Applied Biosytems Peptide Synthesizer. Synthesized cM3R peptide (cM3RP) was used as substrate in an ELISA to detect IgG anti-cM3RP antibodies in serum samples of patients and controls. The clinical and biological parameters of the diseases were also evaluated. The EULAR SS disease activity index (ESSDAI) score was used to measure disease activity in patients with primary SS.Results. (i) Anti-c2M3RP antibodies were highly prevalent in pSS patients, and the titre is much higher than anti-c1,3,4M3RP antibodies. (ii) The prevalence of anti-c2M3RP antibodies in pSS, SLE, RA and healthy controls was 62.2, 7.1, 5.3 and 1.6%, respectively. The prevalence of anti-linear-2-M3RP antibodies in pSS, SLE and RA patients and healthy controls were 56.1, 20.0, 14.7 and 9.4%. (iii) The specificity of anti-c2M3RP antibodies was 95.1%, much higher than that of linear polypeptide (84.7%) for pSS diagnosis. (iv) In pSS patients, anti-c2M3RP positivity had significantly increased frequency in patients who were RF or ANA positive, and had several haematological abnormalities, such as leucopenia, anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Furthermore, the ESSDAI score was significantly higher in anti-c2M3RP-positive pSS patients (P < 0.05).Conclusion. Anti-c2M3RP antibody was highly specific for patients with pSS. The presence of anti-c2M3RP antibody in pSS indicates that c2M3RP may act as an autoantigen that may play a role in the pathogenesis of pSS. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The clearance in joints influences the dynamic stability and the performance of deployable space structures (DSS). A virtual experimental modal analysis (VEMA) method is proposed to deal with the effects of joint clearance and link flexibility on the dynamic characteristics of the DSS in this paper. The focus is on the finite element modeling of the clearance joint, VEMA and the modal parameters identification of the DSS. The finite element models (FEM) of the clearance joint and the deployable structure are established in ANSYS. The transient dynamic analysis is conducted to provide the time history data of excitation and response for the VEMA. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) technique is used to transform the data from time domain to frequency domain. The frequency response function is calculated to identify the modal parameters of the deployable structure. Experimental verification is provided to indicate the VEMA method is both a cost and time efficient approach to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the DSS. Finally, we analyze the effects of clearance size and gravity on the dynamic characteristics of the DSS. The analysis results indicate that the joint clearance and gravity strongly influence the dynamic characteristics of the DSS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: 2,3-Diamino-9,9-dioctylfluorene (DADOF), as a new multifunctional intermediate for π conjugated molecules, was efficiently synthesized via a seven-step procedure with an overall yield of 30%. Novel 9,9-dihydro-9,9-dioctyl-2-phenylfluoreno[3,2-d]imidazole (DOFIPh)-type fluorophores with polar substituents were designed and conveniently synthesized from DADOF, and their absorption and fluorescence properties were investigated in solution and in the solid state. The fluorophore DOFIPh exhibits strong blue emission in solid state and fine-tuning of the emission is possible depending on the electronic nature of the substituents. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Gaussian graphical models explore dependence relationships between random variables, through the estimation of the corresponding inverse covariance matrices. In this paper we develop an estimator for such models appropriate for data from several graphical models that share the same variables and some of the dependence structure. In this setting, estimating a single graphical model would mask the underlying heterogeneity, while estimating separate models for each category does not take advantage of the common structure. We propose a method that jointly estimates the graphical models corresponding to the different categories present in the data, aiming to preserve the common structure, while allowing for differences between the categories. This is achieved through a hierarchical penalty that targets the removal of common zeros in the inverse covariance matrices across categories. We establish the asymptotic consistency and sparsity of the proposed estimator in the high-dimensional case, and illustrate its performance on a number of simulated networks. An application to learning semantic connections between terms from webpages collected from computer science departments is included. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: A new plasmonic photocatalyst of Ag–AgI/Fe3O4@SiO2 was prepared by deposition–precipitation and photoreduction method. The catalyst exhibited efficient photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B dye and 4-chlorophenol under visible light irradiation. The degradation rate of rhodamine B and 4-chlorophenol over Ag–AgI/Fe3O4@SiO2 was about 10 times and 4.1 times faster than that of N–TiO2, respectively. The catalyst could be easily recovered due to its paramagnetic property. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope were used to characterize the catalyst. The specified photocatalytic reaction and the study of electron paramagnetic resonance verified that both the O2 − glyph name="rad" />OH radicals were the main active species in this reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose a new method for principal component analysis (PCA), whose main objective is to capture natural 'blocking' structures in the variables. Further, the method, beyond selecting different variables for different components, also encourages the loadings of highly correlated variables to have the same magnitude. These two features often help in interpreting the principal components. To achieve these goals, a fusion penalty is introduced and the resulting optimization problem solved by an alternating block optimization algorithm. The method is applied to a number of simulated and real datasets and it is shown that it achieves the stated objectives. The supplemental materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many high-dimensional microarray classification problems, an important task is to identify subsets of genes that best discriminate the classes. Nevertheless, existing gene selection methods for microarray classification cannot identify which classes are discriminable by these selected genes. In this paper, we propose an improved linear discriminant analysis (LDA) method that simultaneously selects important genes and identifies the discriminable classes. Specifically, a pairwise fusion penalty for LDA was used to shrink the differences of the class centroids in pairs for each variable and fuse the centroids of indiscriminable classes altogether. The numerical results in analyzing 2 gene expression profiles demonstrate the proposed approach help improve the interpretation of important genes in microarray classification problems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Ni–P alloy with overall composition of 7.0wt.% phosphorus was fabricated via electroless plating on substrate of aluminum foil. The effects of this Ni–P master alloy on the modification and the processing for hypereutectic Al–20wt.%Si alloy have been investigated. Primary silicon of hypereutectic alloy can be refined sufficiently by adding this Ni–P master alloy with total amount of 0.008wt.% phosphorus above 800°C. There is no phosphorus burning loss during fabrication of hypereutectic Al–Si alloy modifier by electroless deposition, and environment pollution is reduced. Refinement of primary silicon can be achieved with less addition and a shorter time of processing by use of this electroless deposited Ni–P master alloy as modifier. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) are being developed for the treatment of various human cancers. Methods: MTT assay was used to test the proliferation of SKOV3 and CaOV3. The splice variant expression of GHRH receptors was examined by RT-PCR. The expression of protein in signal pathway was examined by Western blotting. siRNA was used to block the effect of EGFR. Results: In this study, we investigated the effects of a new GHRH antagonist JMR-132, in ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3 and CaOV3 expressing splice variant (SV)1 of GHRH receptors. MTT assay showed that JMR-132 had strong antiproliferative effects on SKOV3 and CaOV3 cells in both a time-dependent and dose-dependent fashion. JMR-132 also induced the activation and increased cleaved caspase3 in a time- and dose-dependent manner in both cell lines. In addition, JMR-132 treatments decreased significantly the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) level and the phosphorylation of Akt (p-Akt), suggesting that JMR-132 inhibits the EGFR-Akt pathway in ovarian cancer cells. More importantly, treatment of SKOV3 and CaOV3 cells with 100 nM JMR-132 attenuated proliferation and the antiapoptotic effect induced by EGF in both cell lines. After the knockdown of the expression of EGFR by siRNA, the antiproliferative effect of JMR-132 was abolished in SKOV3 and CaOV3 cells. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that the inhibitory effect of the GHRH antagonist JMR-132 on proliferation is due, in part, to an interference with the EGFR-Akt pathway in ovarian cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using one year of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite and particular matter (PM) contents measured at eleven sites located mostly in the eastern China in 2007, the relationship between columnar AOD and hourly and daily average (DA) PM were established. The peak AOD observed from MODIS was generally consistent with the surface PM measurements in eastern China, where Zhengzhou had the maximum annual mean PM10 of 182.1 μg m−3, while Longfengshan had the minimum annual mean of 38.1 μg m−3. Ground level observations indicated that PM concentration varies widely across different regions, which was mainly due to the difference in weather conditions and anthropogenic emissions. The coarse particles accounted for the main air pollution in Zhengzhou and Benxi whiles the fine particles, however, were the main constituents in other sites. Results showed that MODIS AOD (averaged over the box of 5 × 5 and 3 × 3 pixels) had a better positive correlation with the coincident hourly average (HA) PM concentration than with DA due to diurnal variation in PM mass measurements. After correcting AOD for relative humidity (RH), the correlation did not improve significantly, suggesting that the RH was not the main factor affecting the correlation of PM with AOD. The statistical regression analysis between MODIS AOD and PM mass suggested that the satellite-derived AOD is a useful tool for mapping PM distribution over large spatial domains. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Four sets of remote sensing images from 1987, 1994, 2000, and 2006, 50 years of meteorological and soil moisture data corresponding to different desertified lands were combined with populations and livestock data to analyze the process and cause of desertification in a portion of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP). It showed that surface soil temperature in the region has increased at an average rate of 0.6 °C per decade between 1980 and 2005, the thawing days on the surface have increased by 60 days from 1983 to 2001, and the depth of the seasonal thawing layer has increased by 54 cm, 102 cm and 77 cm in April, May and June, respectively, from 1983 to 2003. As a result, the upper soil layer has become drier due to the thickening active layer and soil water infiltration. These changes, in turn, have inhibited the growth of alpine meadow vegetation that has shallow root systems. It is concluded that climate warming and permafrost thawing have caused desertification in grazing regions of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The static and dynamic instabilities of a torsional MEMS/NEMS actuator caused by capillary effects are studied, respectively. An instability number, η, is defined, and the critical gap distance, , between the mainplate and the substrate is derived. According to the values of η and g, the instability criteria of the actuator are presented. The dimensionless motion equation of the MEMS/NEMS torsional actuator is derived when it makes nonlinear oscillation under capillary force. The qualitative analysis of the nonlinear equation is made, and the phase portraits are presented on the phase plane. In addition, the bifurcation phenomena in the system are also analyzed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Interval analysis is a new uncertainty analysis method for engineering structures. In this paper, a new sensitivity analysis method is presented by introducing interval analysis which can expand applications of the interval analysis method. The interval analysis process of sensitivity factor matrix of soil parameters is given. A method of parameter intervals and decision-making target intervals is given according to the interval analysis method. With FEM, secondary developments are done for Marc and the Duncan-Chang nonlinear elastic model. Mutual transfer between FORTRAN and Marc is implemented. With practial examples, rationality and feasibility are validated. Comparison is made with some published results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The lack of a safe and reliable alternative to hormone therapy (HT) for treating menopausal symptoms underscores the need for alternative therapies. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the in vivo estrogenic effects of the botanical dietary supplements Trifolium pratense (red clover) and Humulus lupulus (hops), and two compounds obtained from H. lupulus, isoxanthohumol and 8-prenylnaringenin (8-PN) using the ovariectomized uterotrophic adult rat model. A H. lupulus extract and a 30% isoflavone extract of T. pratense were tested at three escalating doses as was one dose of isoxanthohumol for 21d. 8-Prenylnaringenin, the major estrogen in H. lupulus, was also tested at three relevant escalating doses. In order to determine the in vivo metabolism of 8-PN, the major phases I and II metabolites were also identified. The primary outcome measure, uterus weight gain, indicated that H. lupulus and T. pratense did not have an estrogenic effect on the uterus, and none of the secondary outcome measures were positive. In contrast, there was a clear dose response when 8-PN was evaluated where the middle and high doses of 8-PN were active. 8-Prenylnaringenin in rat plasma, liver, and mammary gland was measured and the major phases I and II 8-PN metabolites were detected. Our findings suggest that while both the H. lupulus and T. pratense extracts do not have an effect on the rat uterus, 8-PN at equivalent doses to those previously used in humans did have an effect, and may therefore have a deleterious effect in women. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It has been proved by recent works that reputation can help to improve the efficiency of blockchain and enhance the fairness of energy trading markets. However, the application of distributed reputation in the energy field has not been fully studied yet. In this paper, we design a distributed reputation system to simulate real-world trust in blockchain-based peer-to-peer energy trading. It is a comprehensive reputation system in the sense that reputation scores are decided by the behavior of participants as consensus nodes, energy buyer, and energy sellers. Its implementation relies on blockchain, especially the smart contract technology, to achieve distributed and automatic reputation management. The distributed reputation system in turn helps to implement a delegated consensus algorithm for blockchain and a reputation-based k -double auction matchmaking scheme for peer-to-peer energy trading. In addition, we define a fairness indicator to capture the reputation-based average benefits and costs when considering reputation as the contribution to the peer-to-peer energy trading market. By simulating the comprehensive system, the numerical results demonstrate the effects of distributed reputation in improving the efficiency of blockchain and balancing fairness indicators between sellers and buyers during peer-to-peer energy trading. As far as we know, this paper is one of the few works to provide a formal method of evaluating the fairness of the peer-to-peer energy trading market. • A distributed reputation system is designed based on the blockchain technology. • Reputation is used to improve blockchain consensus and peer-to-peer energy trading fairness. • A formal definition of fairness of peer-to-peer energy trading is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2: HAP) was co-substituted with Ti(IV) and antibacterial ions (Ag+, Cu2+ or Zn2+) (HAPTiM), by coprecipitation and ion-exchange methods. Both HAPTiAg and HAPTiCu coated on porous spumous nickel film showed high efficiency for killing Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the dark and under weak UVA irradiation, respectively. Moreover, their bactericidal activities were much higher than that of P25-TiO2 film. The studies of ESR revealed that not only O2 − was formed on HAPTiM, HAPTi, HAP and P25-TiO2 films under weak UVA irradiation, but also at ambient temperature without light O2 − was generated on HAPTiCu, HAPTiAg, and HAPTi. The redox couples of Cu0/Cu2+ and Ag0/Ag+ in the structure of HAPTiCu (Ag) caused the transfer of electron leading to the O2 − generation under the above conditions. The higher bactericidal activities of HAPTiM were due to the synergy of the oxidation role of the O2 − and the bacteriostatic action of antibacterial ions. The process of the damage of the cell wall and the cell membrane was directly observed by TEM, and further confirmed by the determination of potassium ion (K+) leakage from the killed bacteria. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

l-cystine and l-cysteine have been intercalated into magnesium–aluminum layered double hydroxide by the methods of coprecipitation and ion-exchange. The structure and composition of the intercalated materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and elemental analysis. For l-cysteine intercalated composites, two kinds of well-crystallized materials with different basal spacing were obtained, as a result of the different charge on an ion and orientation of the gallery anions. The schematic models of the intercalation structures were proposed. In addition, the thermal decomposition of l-cystine and l-cysteine intercalated LDHs has been investigated by means of thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The influence of van der Waals (vdW) force on the stability of electrostatic torsional nano-electro-mechanical systems (NEMS) actuators is analyzed in the paper. The dependence of the critical tilting angle and voltage is investigated on the sizes of structure with the consideration of vdW effects. The pull-in phenomenon without the electrostatic torque is studied, and a critical pull-in gap is derived. A dimensionless equation of motion is presented, and the qualitative analysis of it shows that the equilibrium points of the corresponding autonomous system include center points, stable focus points, and unstable saddle points. The Hopf bifurcation points and fork bifurcation points also exist in the system. The phase portraits connecting these equilibrium points exhibit periodic orbits, heteroclinic orbits, as well as homoclinic orbits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective:: To selectively determine the role of leukocyte CC-chemokine receptor 2 (CCR2) in atherogenesis. Methods and results:: Bone marrow progenitor cells harvested from CCR2(+/+) mice were transplanted into irradiated CCR2(−/−) mice, representing the whole-body absence of CCR2 except in leukocytes. Transplantation of CCR2(−/−) bone marrow into CCR2(−/−) mice served as control. Eight weeks after bone marrow transplantation, the diet of regular chow was switched to a high-cholesterol diet for another 10 weeks in order to induce atherosclerosis. No significant differences in serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were observed between the two groups. However, the mean cross-sectional aortic root lesion area of CCR2(+/+)→CCR2(−/−) mice amounted up to 12.28±3.28×104 μm2, compared with only 3.08±0.74×104 μm2 observed in the CCR2(−/−)→CCR2(−/−) group. Thus, the presence of CCR2 exclusively on leukocytes induces a fourfold increase in aortic lesion area. This extent of lesion development was comparable to C57Bl/6 mice receiving CCR2(+/+) bone marrow (10.08±3.30×104 μm2). Conclusion:: These results point at a dominant role of leukocyte CCR2 in atherogenesis, implying that CCR2 from nonleukocyte sources, like endothelial cells or smooth muscle cells, is less critical in the initiation of atherosclerosis. Pharmacological inhibition of leukocyte CCR2 function might be a promising strategy to prevent atherosclerosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The microtubule-associated protein tau aggregates intracellularly by unknown mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. A contributing factor may be a failure to break down free cytosolic tau, thus creating a surplus for aggregation, although the proteases that degrade tau in brain remain unknown. To address this issue, we prepared cytosolic fractions from five normal human brains and from perfused rat brains and incubated them with or without protease inhibitors. D-Phenylalanyl-L-prolylarginyl chloromethyl ketone, a thrombin-specific inhibitor, prevented tau breakdown in these fractions, suggesting that thrombin is a brain protease that processes tau. We next exposed human recombinant tau to purified human thrombin and analyzed the fragments by N-terminal sequencing. We found that thrombin proteolyzed tau at multiple arginine and lysine sites. These include Arg155-Gly156, Arg209-Ser210, Arg230-Thr231, Lys257-Ser258, and Lys340-Ser341 (numbering according to the longest human tau isoform). Temporally, the initial cleavage occurred at the Arg155Gly156 bond. Proteolysis of the resultant C-terminal tau fragment then proceeded bidirectionally. When tau was phosphorylated by glycogen synthase kinase-3β, most of these proteolytic processes were inhibited, except for the first cleavage at the Arg155-Gly156 bond. Furthermore, paired helical filament tau prepared from Alzheimer's disease brain was more resistant to thrombin proteolysis than following dephosphorylation by alkaline phosphatase. The results suggest a possible role for thrombin in proteolysis of tau under physiological and/or pathological conditions in human brains. They are consistent with the hypothesis that phosphorylation of tau inhibits proteolysis by thrombin or other endogenous proteases, leading to aggregation of tau into insoluble fibrils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of van der Waals (vdW) and Casimir forces on the stability of the electrostatic torsional nanoelectrome-chanical systems (NEMS) actuators is analyzed in the paper. With the consideration of vdW and Casimir effects, the dependence of the critical tilting angle and pull-in voltage on the sizes of structure is investigated. And the influence of vdW torque is compared with that of Casimir torque. The modified coefficients of vdW and Casimir torques on the pull-in voltage are, respectively, calculated. When the gap is sufficiently small, pull-in can still take place with arbitrary small angle perturbation because of the action of vdW and Casimir torques even if there is not electrostatic torque. And the critical pull-in gaps for two cases are, respectively, derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We synthesized on cellulose membranes 4942 ten-amino-acid peptides which included all of the sequences predicted for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) corona virus. We probed these membranes with four pairs of acute and convalescent sera from recovered SARS cases. We correlated positively reacting peptides with the in vitro SARS-CoV neutralizing activity of the samples. We found that convalescent sera with high neutralizing activity recognized exclusively only a limited number of peptides on the membranes. This suggests that antibodies against the epitopes represented by these peptides could be responsible for much of the SARS-CoV neutralizing activity. The findings have implications for monitoring humoral responses to SARS-CoV as well as for developing a successful SARS vaccine. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As a well-known numerical approximation method, the least squares fitting method is widely applied in surveying engineering. The most important and difficult problem in this method is to determine the type of base function to be used, and polynomial is the most frequently used type. But if the degree of polynomial is too high (>=7), the normal equations are usually ill-conditioned. When we choose the uniform B-spline as the basis, there are two problems: (1) if we require the known data points to be an equidistant grid, it can only be applied in limited field; and (2) if the known data points are scattered, it is very difficult to obtain satisfactory results by using the uniform B-spline method. The purpose of this paper is to present the least squares fitting method based on a bivariate nonuniform B-spline. The principles and algorithms of this least squares fitting method are developed. Based on this method, two numerical simulations and one application in regional gravity field approximation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We cloned in silico a novel human UDP-GalNAc:polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (pp-GalNAc-T), pp-GalNAc-T12. The deduced amino acid sequence of pp-GalNAc-T12 contains all conserved motifs in pp-GalNAc-T family proteins. Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that the pp-GalNAc-T12 transcript was expressed mainly in digestive organs such as stomach, small intestine and colon. The recombinant pp-GalNAc-T12 transferred GalNAc to the mucin-derived peptides such as the Muc1a, Muc5AC, EA2 peptides and the GalNAc-Muc5AC glycopeptide. Since mucins are glycoproteins mainly produced in the digestive organs, our results suggest that pp-GalNAc-T12 plays an important role in the initial step of mucin-type oligosaccharide biosynthesis in digestive organs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the role of Rpm2 protein subunit of mitochondrial RNase P in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in the translation of mitochondrially-encoded subunits of cytochrome c oxidase. Spectra of mitochondrial cytochromes and protein levels of cytochrome c oxidase in wild type and rpm2-100 mutant; Activities of cytochrome c oxidase and NADH-cytochrome c reductase.