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A novel CeO2-MoO3-WO3/TiO2 (CMWT) catalyst was prepared by a single step sol-gel (SG) method. It exhibited 93.8%–98.9% of NO conversion at 275–450 °C and high tolerance to 10% H2O and 1000 ppm SO2 at a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 90,000 h− 1. Superior SCR activity of CMWT catalyst could be attributed to the presence of more Ce3 + and chemisorbed oxygen, higher redox ability, stronger adsorption capacity of NH3 species and the strong interaction among ceria, molybdenum, tungsten and titania.

Background: A compression-ventilation (C:V) ratio of 30:2 is recommended for adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) by the current American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines. However, continuous chest compression (CCC) is an alternative strategy for CPR that minimizes interruption especially when an advanced airway exists. In this study, we investigated the effects of 30:2 mechanical CPR when compared with CCC in combination with regular ventilation in a porcine model. Methods: Sixteen male domestic pigs weighing 39±2 kg were utilized. Ventricular fibrillation was induced and untreated for 7 min. The animals were then randomly assigned to receive CCC combined with regular ventilation (CCC group) or 30:2 CPR (VC group). Mechanical chest compression was implemented with a miniaturized mechanical chest compressor. At the same time of beginning of precordial compression, the animals were mechanically ventilated at a rate of 10 breaths-per-minute in the CCC group or with a 30:2 C:V ratio in the VC group. Defibrillation was delivered by a single 150 J shock after 5 min of CPR. If failed to resuscitation, CPR was resumed for 2 min before the next shock. The protocol was stopped if successful resuscitation or at a total of 15 min. The resuscitated animals were observed for 72 h. Results: Coronary perfusion pressure, end-tidal carbon dioxide and carotid blood flow in the VC group were similar to those achieved in the CCC group during CPR. No significant differences were observed in arterial blood gas parameters between two groups at baseline, VF 6 min, CPR 4 min and 30, 120 and 360 min post-resuscitation. Although extravascular lung water index of both groups significantly increased after resuscitation, no distinct difference was found between CCC and VC groups. All animals were successfully resuscitated and survived for 72 h with favorable neurologic outcomes in both groups. However, obviously more numbers of rib fracture were observed in CCC animals in comparison with VC animals Conclusions: There was no difference in hemodynamic efficacy and gas exchange during and after resuscitation, therefore identical 72 h survival with intact neurologic function was observed in both VC and CCC groups. However, the incidence of rib fracture increases during the mechanical CPR strategy of CCC combined with regular ventilations.

In electrical discharge machining (EDM), material is heated to an extremely high temperature then moved by melting and vaporization. Understanding the energy distribution and heat transfer during the process is conducive to knowing more about the machining mechanism of EDM. Many researches have been conducted to explore the energy distribution in micro EDM. Almost all of these efforts did not consider the difference in material removal mechanism between conventional and micro EDM, which has severe effects on the accuracy of their research. This paper proposes a method in regard to micro EDM for estimating plasma radius and energy distribution through comparing the results of experiment and theoretical calculation. In this method, the differences in the material removal mechanism between conventional and micro EDM are properly considered. The results of single discharge experiment were analyzed by this method. The plasma radius and fraction of energy transferred into workpiece are determined by the discharge current and discharge duration. The increase of discharge current and discharge duration led to the increase of plasma radius, while low discharge current and high discharge duration is helpful for improving the fraction of energy transferred into workpiece.

With the development of micro electro mechanical system (MEMS), the application of micro components is becoming increasingly wide. Micro electrical discharge machining (micro EDM) is one of the most effective manufacturing processes for micro components. During past few decades, some innovative methods for improving micro EDM performance have been proposed. Using special-shaped electrode is just one of them. Although micro EDM with helical electrode has been proposed and the availability has been proved for several years, relatively little is known about the precise effect of helical electrode rotation on micro EDM performance. In this study, micro through-holes were machined on Ti6Al4V sample with a cylindrical electrode and helical electrode. The helical electrode achieves better machining performance overall compared to the cylindrical electrode due to its favorable debris removal ability. The higher the rotational speed of helical electrode, the higher the material removal rate (MRR). When using the cylindrical electrode, the MRR first increases and then decreases after reaching a peak at 3000 rpm. Higher MRR is obtainable with the helical electrode with reverse rotation; with forward rotation, it yields higher machining precision (lower overcut and taper rate).

This paper presents a control approach for bounding gait of quadruped robots by applying the concept of Virtual Constraints (VCs). A VC is a relative motion relation between two related joints imposed to the robots in terms of a specified gait, which can drive the robot to run with desired gait. To determine VCs for highly dynamic bounding gait, the limit cycle motions of the passive dynamic model of bounding gait are analyzed. The leg length and hip/shoulder angle trajectories corresponding to the limit cycles are parameterized by leg angles using 4 th-order polynomials. In order to track the calculated periodic motions, the polynomials are imposed on the robot as virtual motion constraints by a high-level state machine controller. A bounding speed feedback strategy is introduced to stabilize the robot running speed and enhance the stability. The control approach was applied to a newly designed lightweight bioinspired quadruped robot, AgiDog. The experimental results demonstrate that the robot can bound at a frequency up to 5 Hz and bound at a maximum speed of 1.2 m·s−1 in sagittal plane with a Froude number approximating to 1.

To further study the discharge characteristics and machining mechanism of micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM), the variation trends of the discharge energy and discharge crater size with actual discharge duration are discussed based on single-pulse experiments. The polarity effect of micro-EDM was analyzed according to the motion characteristics of electrons and ions in the discharge plasma channel. The results show that the discharge current and voltage of micro-EDM were independent of the discharge width and open-circuit voltage. The energy utilization rate of the short-pulse discharge was relatively high, and the energy utilization rate decreased gradually as the discharge duration increased. Even if the mass of the positive ion was much larger than that of the electron, the kinetic energy of the positive ion was still less than that of the electron when bombarding the surface of the electrode. The acceleration and speed of electrons were very high, and the number of times that electrons bombarded the surface of positive electrode was more than 600 times that of positive ions bombarding the surface of the negative electrode during the same time.

Titanium alloys are widely used in various fields, but their machinability is poor because the chip would easily adhere to the tool surface during cutting, causing poor surface quality and tool wear. To improve the cutting performance of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V, experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of micro textured tool on the cutting performances. The cemented carbide tools whose rake faces were machined with line, rhombic, and sinusoidal groove textures with 10% area occupancy rates were adopted as the cutting tools. The effects of cutting depth and cutting speed on feed force and main cutting force were discussed based on experimental results. The results show that the cutting force produced by textured tools is less than that produced by non-textured tools. Under different cutting parameters, the best cutting performance can be obtained by using sinusoidal textured tools among the four types of tools. The wear of micro textured tools is significantly lower than that of non-textured tools, due to a continuous lubrication film between the chip and the rake face of the tool that can be produced because the micro texture can store and replenish lubricant. The surface roughness obtained using the textured tool is better than that using the non-textured tool. The surface roughness Ra can be reduced by 35.89% when using sinusoidal textured tools. This study is helpful for further improving the cutting performance of cemented carbide tools on titanium alloy and prolonging tool life.

This paper investigates the problem of dim frequency line detection and recovery in the so-called lofargram. Theoretically, long enough time integration can always enhance the detection characteristic. But this does not hold for irregularly fluctuating lines. Deep learning has been shown to perform very well for sophisticated visual inference tasks. With the composition of multiple processing layers, very complex high level representations that amplify the important aspects of input while suppressing irrelevant variations can be learned. Hence, DeepLofargram is proposed, composed of a deep convolutional neural network and its visualization counterpart. Plugging into specifically designed multi-task loss, an end-to-end training jointly learns to detect and recover the spatial location of potential lines. Leveraging on this deep architecture, performance limits of low SNR can be achieved as low as -24 dB on average and -26 dB for some. This is far beyond the perception of human vision and significantly improves the state-of-the-art.

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a closed long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) formed by covalently closed loops through back-splicing. Emerging evidence indicates that circRNA can influence cellular physiology through various molecular mechanisms. Thus, accurate circRNA identification and prediction of its regulatory information are critical for understanding its biogenesis. Although several computational tools based on machine learning have been proposed for circRNA identification, the prediction accuracy remains to be improved. Here, first we present circLGB, a machine learning-based framework to discriminate circRNA from other lncRNAs. circLGB integrates commonly used sequence-derived features and three new features containing adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) deamination, A-to-I density and the internal ribosome entry site. circLGB categorizes circRNAs by utilizing a LightGBM classifier with feature selection. Second, we introduce circMRT, an ensemble machine learning framework to systematically predict the regulatory information for circRNA, including their interactions with microRNA, the RNA binding protein, and transcriptional regulation. Feature sets including sequence-based features, graph features, genome context, and regulatory information features were modeled in circMRT. Experiments on public and our constructed datasets show that the proposed algorithms outperform the available state-of-the-art methods. circLGB is available at http://www.circlgb.com. Source codes are available at https://github.com/Peppags/circLGB-circMRT.

The whole loading and unloading operation of automated container terminal is carried out by means of mechanization and large-scale production, which requires close cooperation of various operations to realize the high efficiency of loading and unloading process system. Reasonable layout of facilities on container terminals and their organic connection form an organic whole of coordinated and coordinated operations, forming an efficient and perfect assembly line. In order to shorten the berthing time of vehicles, ships and boxes at port terminals, accelerate the turnover of vehicles, ships and boxes, reduce transportation costs and loading and unloading costs, and achieve the best economic benefits. In this paper, the container transshipment vehicle based on lidar navigation is taken as the research object, so that the container autopilot has certain autopilot ability and is suitable for the needs of the automated container terminal.

With the continuous development of robotic welding automation, the weld seam tracking system plays a decisive role in guiding the welding robot to perform accurate and real-time space welding operations. At present, the seam tracking is mostly performed by a laser with a laser. The laser triangulation method is used to identify and judge the position of the inflection point of the line segment in the image. However, the identification method relies heavily on the processing algorithm of the inflection point position in the image, and the recognition result lacks welding. Sewing space pose information. Therefore, how to obtain the full spatial information of the weld by the collection and processing of the line and the surface is of great significance to the development of the weld tracking. The grating projection technique based on Fourier transform profilometry can realize the full collection of the local information of the weld seam. Through the subsequent algorithm processing of the local features, the whole feature information of the weld seam is continuously extracted to guide the space position and attitude of the weld gun. Avoid the deviation of traditional weld seam tracking due to unmatched factors such as weld joints and bumps in the weld. On this basis, the correlation feature recognition of the collected spatial point cloud is proposed. Based on the proximity probability feature extraction method, accurate and real-time identification and tracking of non-standard welds are realized. Finally, the experimental results show that the weld seam tracking based on Fourier transform profilometry is more complete and accurate for the full-feature information of the weld seam, and has better recognition effect.

To explore the clinical characteristics and early sensitive indicators of severe heat stroke patients in order to predict the development of severe heat stroke in the early stage.Thirty-eight patients with severe heat stroke admitted to emergency department of Beijing Daxing District People's Hospital from July 30th to August 5th in 2018 were enrolled. There were 18 patients suffered from exertional heat stroke (EHS), and 12 patients suffered from classical heat stroke (CHS), and 8 patients with heat spasm and heat exhaustion were selected as control group. The gender, age, onset time, body temperature, heart rate (HR), lactic acid (Lac), platelet (PLT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alanine aminotransferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (SCr), serum sodium at admission of hospital, as well as positive rate of myoglobin (MYO) and D-dimer (the positive threshold of MYO and D-dimer was 107 μg/L and 600 μg/L respectively) were recorded and compared among the groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to analyze the prognostic value of MYO and D-dimer on heat stroke. The outcome of all patients was followed up, and the 28-day mortality between EHS and CHS patients was compared. The patient's body temperature was measured again after 4 hours of active cooling treatment (TThe majority of severe heat stroke patients were male, especially in EHS patients. EHS patients were younger than CHS ones, and had shorter onset time, with significant differences among the groups. The body temperature and HR at admission in the EHS group and the CHS group were significantly higher than those in the control group [body temperature (centigrade): 41.34±0.67, 40.39±0.58 vs. 37.80±1.39; HR (bpm): 139.78±15.63, 113.08±17.70 vs. 92.00±15.89, all P0.05], PLT was significantly lowered (×10The decreased PLT and the increased D-dimer in the early stage of heat stroke indicate that the damage of coagulation mechanism is prominent in patients with heat stroke. EHS patients have the characteristics of acute onset, severe condition, rapid progression and poor prognosis, and the 28-day mortality is significantly higher than that of CHS patients. MYO and D-dimer are sensitive indicators in early stage of heat stroke patients, which can be used as reference for early diagnosis of heat stroke.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are widely expressed in human cells and tissues and can form a covalently closed exon circularization, which have stable patterns and play important regulatory roles in physiological or pathological process. There is still lack of a comprehensively disease-related knowledge base for in-depth analysis of circRNAs. In this paper, a cancer circRNAs-related database (CCRDB) was established. The CCRDB’s initial circRNAs data were collected by sequencing experimental data of 10 samples from 5 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), where a total of 11 501 circRNAs were found and can easily be expanded by collecting and analyzing external data sources such as circBASE (1). Using CCRDB, we have further studied the relationships between circRNAs and HCC and found that circRNAs (hsa_circ_ 0002130, hsa_circ_0084615, hsa_circ_0001445, hsa_circ_0001727 and hsa_circ_0001361) and the corresponding genes ID [C3 (2, 3), ASPH (4), SMARCA5 (5), ZKSCAN1 (6) and FNDC3B (7)], respectively, might be the potential biomarker targets for HCC. Furthermore, our experiment also found that some new circRNAs chromosome sites chr12:23998917 24048958 and chr16:72090429 72093087 and the corresponding genes ID (SOX5 (8) and HP (9), respectively), might be the potential biomarker targets for HCC. These results indicate that CCRDB can effectively reveal the relationships between circRNAs and HCC. As the first circRNAs database to provide analysis and comparison functions, it is of great significance for researchers to further study the rules of circRNAs, to understand the causes of circRNAs in disease discovery and to find target genes for therapeutic approaches.

In view of characteristics of users’ data in the university library and based on big data technology, in this paper we propose a data mining process and discuss some applications of data mining in the university library. Besides, we inveterate the problems in the application of big data mining in the university library and provide some suggestions to solve these problems.

Aiming to ensure the quality of final effluent, combined with the existing research reports and similar engineering experience, the process of “Coagulation Sedimentation Contact Oxidation MBR” is selected as the main body to treat the wastewater in this paper. After the wastewater treatment system operates normally for one year, the results show that the removal rates of COD, BOD5, SS and chroma can reach 97.8%, 97.7%, 97.4% and 96.0% respectively, and the corresponding effluent concentrations are 96 mg/L, 25 mg/L, 18 mg/L and 20 mg/L, respectively, which meets and is better than the secondary discharge standard of the Integrated Discharge Standard of Water Pollutants in Haihe River Basin of Shandong Province (DB37/675-2007). The process has certain engineering advantages as the quality of wastewater treatment is high and the total cost of electricity and medicament for the wastewater treatment is low.

In this paper, chemical precipitation process is used for the treatment of the desulfurization wastewater generated by the waste gas treatment system of the limestone-gypsum flue gas desulfurization process of a thermal power plant. After one year of operation, the technology is reliable and stable. The removal rate of suspended matter, COD, fluoride, mercury and sulfate reached 99.5%, 98.3%, 87.5%, 99.8% and 85.6% respectively, and the corresponding effluent concentrations were 54 mg/L, 20 mg/L and 9.6 mg/L, 0.04 mg/L, 980 mg/L. Finally, the effluent quality of the system is better than the discharge requirements of “Discharge standard of wastewater from limestone-gypsum flue gas desulfurization system in fossil fuel power plants” (DL/T997-2006). In addition, the total electricity and chemical charges per ton of wastewater treatment were 6.50 yuan, which is lower than most of the engineering project under the same discharge requirements. Therefore, the process has certain engineering advantages.

As a novel catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), nitrogen-doped carbon xerogel was prepared via a sol-gel followed by the subsequent pyrolysis in ammonia atmosphere and post-treatment process. The resultant catalysts were characterized by BrunauereEmmetteTeller (BET), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and electrochemical measurements. The role of metal in the catalyst was studied by comparing catalytic activities of the catalysts with and without post-treatment. Results show that the catalyst with nitrogen doped on the surface possesses an amorphous microstructure. The catalysts with and without post-treatment showed almost the same ORR electrocatalytic activities, which clearly demonstrated the negligible influence of metal removal on ORR performance. The catalyst with post-treatment displayed comparable ORR activity to that of Pt/C in alkaline medium as well as superior stability. A maximum power density of 115 mW cm −2 at 40 °C was achieved on the single cell with the as-prepared catalyst as cathode, demonstrating its application as promising alternative for Pt-based electrocatalysts in direct borohydride fuel cells.

Porous metals and alloys are ideal lightweight and damping materials which have garnered significant research attention owing to their superior mechanical and metallurgical characteristics. Micro electrical discharge machining (micro EDM) is an alternative method for machining porous metals. In this study, experiments on porous stainless steel (PSS) were conducted to determine the micro EDM performance of austenitic stainless steel (AISI 304) and PSS samples with various porosities and pore sizes. The results were analyzed based on the thermal conduction theory of porous materials. PSS achieved better machining performance overall compared to AISI 304 due to its porosity; further, porosity and pore size were shown to have a significant influence on the machining characteristics of PSS. The larger the porosity and pore size, the higher the material removal rate (MRR) and the lower the relative tool wear ratio (RTWR). Thermal conductivity decreases due to the existence of pores, causing less heat to be lost by heat conduction and more energy to be consumed in order to remove the material. High capacitance in the experimental circuit proved suitable for machining PSS, while high open circuit voltage appeared to be more suitable for machining AISI 304.

Electrical discharge machining(EDM) is a promising non-traditional micro machining technology that offers a vast array of applications in the manufacturing industry. However, scale effects occur when machining at the micro-scale, which can make it difficult to predict and optimize the machining performances of micro EDM. A new concept of “scale effects” in micro EDM is proposed, the scale effects can reveal the difference in machining performances between micro EDM and conventional macro EDM. Similarity theory is presented to evaluate the scale effects in micro EDM. Single factor experiments are conducted and the experimental results are analyzed by discussing the similarity difference and similarity precision. The results show that the output results of scale effects in micro EDM do not change linearly with discharge parameters. The values of similarity precision of machining time significantly increase when scaling-down the capacitance or open-circuit voltage. It is indicated that the lower the scale of the discharge parameter, the greater the deviation of non-geometrical similarity degree over geometrical similarity degree, which means that the micro EDM system with lower discharge energy experiences more scale effects. The largest similarity difference is 5.34 while the largest similarity precision can be as high as 114.03. It is suggested that the similarity precision is more effective in reflecting the scale effects and their fluctuation than similarity difference. Consequently, similarity theory is suitable for evaluating the scale effects in micro EDM. This proposed research offers engineering values for optimizing the machining parameters and improving the machining performances of micro EDM.

The material removal process of micro electrical discharge machining is based on the instantaneous ultra-high temperature generated by a series of repetitive discharge pulses. Due to the size effects, the polycrystal cannot be considered as continuous and homogeneous material when machining is in micron scale, and the effects of material microstructure should not be neglected. In this article, the thermoelectric characteristics of grain and grain boundary are discussed, and the influence of grain size on the machining performances in micro electrical discharge machining is researched. Two kinds of austenitic stainless steels (AISI 304) which are different in grain size are chosen as the workpieces in experiments. It is verified by both theory models and experimental results that the smaller the grain size, the higher the material removal rate, under the same discharge conditions. Both thermal conductivity and melting point of the grain boundary are lower than those of the grain because of the grain boundary segregation. The effective thermal conductivity and local effective melting point of polycrystalline materials vary with their grain sizes since the grain boundary volume fractions change. As a consequence, the material removal rate of micro electrical discharge machining has direct relationship with grain size of the workpiece.

Graphitic mesoporous carbon xerogel (GMCX) with high surface area and comparable mesoporous structure is prepared via a sol–gel process with cobalt acetate, followed by the subsequent pyrolysis in nitrogen flow at 1800 °C. 20 wt.% Pt/GMCX catalyst is synthesized using the as-prepared GMCX powder as support. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterizations for Pt/GMCX indicate that Pt nanoparticles dispersed on GMCX have a much smaller average nanoparticle size and narrower size distribution than Pt nanoparticles grown on commercial XC-72 carbon black and GCX powder which we reported before. The results of linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) test demonstrate that the Pt/GMCX catalyst exhibits a higher oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalytic activity than commercial Pt/C and Pt/GCX. The corrosion resistance of the catalysts was evaluated by potential cycling accelerated aging test (AAT). Pt/GMCX catalyst exhibits very nearly the same Pt electrochemical active surface area (EASA) retention as Pt/GCX (53.3% for Pt/GMCX and 53.0% for Pt/GCX), which is higher than that of commercial Pt/C (39.2%). Combined with its facile synthesis process, GMCX powder is a promising substitute for commercial Pt electrocatalyst support in achieving high catalytic activity and good durability for ORR.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) and emerging electro-arc machining (EAM) are machining processes sharing a similar material erosion mechanism. However, the input parameters and the output responses of them exhibit significant differences. To gain a deeper understanding of these differences, a study was performed adopting single pulse discharges and machining parameters covering EDM and EAM. A full factorial experiment including 50 trials with consideration of the polarity, the discharge current, and the pulse duration, was designed and carried out. For more detailed research and for the sake of comparison, the trials were divided into die-sinking EDM, short pulse EAM, normal EAM, and low current EAM. While the crater geometries including the heat affected zone diameter, the crater depth, the white layer thickness, the removal volume, and the removal ratio, were acquired as results and analyzed. The heat affected zone diameter under both polarities grew with increasing the discharge current and longer the pulse duration. The crater geometry of EDM and EAM was similar when positive polarity was adopted. The crater under negative polarity became shallower as the discharge current decreased and as the pulse duration increased: this led to a significant difference between EDM and EAM. Furthermore, the removal volume and the removal ratio exhibited similar trends. The shallow craters of negative polarity with little removal volume were likely to appear in the normal EAM and low current EAM trials. The characteristics of EAM are such that the high discharge current and the long pulse duration together result in a large material removal rate (MRR) while the long pulse duration alone results in a low electrode wear ratio (EWR). However, the removal ratio of EAM is lower than that of EDM.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is one of the most promising non-traditional micro-scale machining methods. Because several operating parameters that are insignificant in macro EDM cannot be neglected during micro EDM process, models derived from the macro EDM process may be inappropriate at the micro scale. This paper contains a comprehensive review of size effects in traditional micro-machining and characteristics specific to micro EDM compared to macro EDM techniques. The very concept of size effects in micro EDM is thoroughly defined and three categories of effects are presented: material microstructure, processing parameter and thermal conduction size effects. Future potential research directions on the subject are also summarized. We assert that careful research and precise attention must be given to size effects in micro EDM. Size effect information especially benefits the machining speed and machining precision of micro EDM.

This study aims to report on the feasibility of enhancing light olefins production from ex-situ catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass by co-feeding with steam and determine the role of steam. Effects of steam on catalyst and pyrolysis/catalysis reactions in ex-situ CFP were investigated using a two-stage fluidized-bed/fixed-bed reactor. Carbon yield of olefins + monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) increased by 23.80% after proper steam dealumination of HZSM-5 framework, which suggests that HZSM-5 can be activated at the initial exposure to steam. For activated HZSM-5, olefins carbon yield increased by 35.65% and olefins to MAHs (O/M) ratio boosted from 0.83 to 1.60 as steam concentration in carrier gas increased from 0% to 40%, while the total carbon yield of olefins and MAHs still kept at the same level. Steam enhanced olefins production by: (1) promoting the formation of light compounds in bio-oil, which are the main precursors of hydrocarbons, during pyrolysis; (2) inhibiting aromatization reactions during catalysis. It provides a possibility for the control of O/M ratio of hydrocarbon products and the enhancement of light olefins production from CFP of biomass.

A high-birefringence(HB) photonic quasi-crystal fiber(PQF) with all-circular air holes is designed and ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF(ZBLAN) is used to increase the birefringence and reduce confinement loss of the PQF in the infrared region. The structure of the PQF is analyzed and optimized numerically using the full-vector finite element method by adopting the perfectly matched layer boundary conditions. The PQF possesses higher birefringence in the wavelength range between 1.3 and 1.8μm and the maximum birefringence value of 4.1×10−2 is achieved at 1.55μm. This is the highest birefringence value reported from all-circular-hole PQFs so far suggesting that the novel structure has great potential in high-performance optical devices.

Background: Utilize quantitative computed tomography (QCT) to detect and evaluate the severity of lung injury after successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in a porcine cardiac arrest (CA) model with different downtimes. Methods: Twenty-one male domestic pigs weighing 38±3 kg were randomized into 3 groups: the sham group (n=5), the ventricular fibrillation (VF) 5 min (VF5) group (n=8), and the VF 10 min (VF10) group (n=8). VF was induced and untreated for 5 (VF5 group) or 10 (VF10 group) min before the commencement of manual CPR. Eight animals (8/8, 100%) in VF5 and 6 (6/8, 75%) in VF10 were successfully resuscitated. Chest QCT scans and arterial blood gas tests were performed at baseline and 6 h post-resuscitation. The QCT score, volume, and weight of ground-glass opacification (GGO), which was defined as poorly aerated regions with a CT value ranging from −500 Hounsfield units (HU) to −100 HU, and intense parenchymal opacification (IPO), which was defined as a non-aerated area with a CT value greater than −100 HU, were quantitatively measured. Results: Significantly shorter durations of CPR and fewer defibrillations were observed in the VF5 group compared with the VF10 group [duration of CPR: VF5 (6±0 minutes) versus VF10 (8.3±1.5 minutes), P

We consider the scenario where a sender periodically sends a batch of data to a receiver over a multi-hop network, possibly using multiple paths. Our objective is to minimize peak/average Age-of-Information (AoI) subject to throughput requirements. The consideration of batch generation and multi-path communication differentiates our AoI study from existing ones. We first show that our AoI minimization problems are NP-hard, but only in the weak sense, as we develop an optimal algorithm with a pseudo-polynomial time complexity. We then prove that minimizing AoI and minimizing maximum delay are "roughly" equivalent, in the sense that any optimal solution of the latter is an approximate solution of the former with bounded optimality loss. We leverage this understanding to design a general approximation framework for our problems. It can build upon any $\alpha$-approximation algorithm of the maximum delay minimization problem, to construct an $(\alpha+c)$-approximate solution for minimizing AoI. Here $c$ is a constant depending on the throughput requirements. Simulations over various network topologies validate the effectiveness of our approach., Comment: Accepted by the ACM Twentieth International Symposium on Mobile Ad Hoc Networking and Computing (ACM MobiHoc 2019)

The adsorption of a new antibiotic, daptomycin, on two magnetic ultra-fine wood-based biochars were investigated in detail using batch experiments. The adsorbent materials was prepared by ball milling method, which was characterized by laser particle size analyzer, elemental analyzer, ICP-OES, VSM, BET, TG-DTG, FTIR and SEM. Furthermore, the effects of most important variables in the adsorption process, including solution pH, contact time, initial concentration and temperatures were investigated. The results exhibited that the adsorption of daptomycin was highly pH-dependent, and the capacity decreased with increasing pH. The adsorption process follows pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order models, analysis indicated that their adsorption was dominantly by physisorption. Equilibrium data were fitted well with Freundlich isotherm model, implying a multilayer adsorption. Thermodynamic parameters demonstrated that the adsorption was spontaneous, endothermic and increased randomness process. Mechanism study suggested the boundary layer diffusion was the rate limiting step.

This paper examines a matrix-regularized multiple kernel learning (MKL) technique based on a notion of (r,p) norms. For the problem of learning a linear combination in the support vector machine-based framework, model complexity is typically controlled using various regularization strategies on the combined kernel weights. Recent research has developed a generalized ℓp-norm MKL framework with tunable variable p(p≥1) to support controlled intrinsic sparsity. Unfortunately, this ``1-D'' vector ℓp-norm hardly exploits potentially useful information on how the base kernels ``interact.'' To allow for higher order kernel-pair relationships, we extend the ``1-D'' vector ℓp-MKL to the ``2-D'' matrix (r,p) norms (1 ≤ r,p∞). We develop a new formulation and an efficient optimization strategy for (r,p)-MKL with guaranteed convergence. A theoretical analysis and experiments on seven UCI data sets shed light on the superiority of (r,p)-MKL over ℓp-MKL in various scenarios.

A promising UV nonlinear optical material, beryllium-free nitrate Ba2NO3(OH)3, has been synthesized via modified high-temperature solid state reactions in a self-made high-pressure apparatus which exhibits a perfect balance of a large second harmonic generation coefficient, an appropriate birefringence for phase matching, a short UV absorption cutoff edge and physicochemical stabilities.

We consider a single-unicast networking scenario where a sender streams a flow at a fixed rate to a receiver across a multi-hop network, possibly using multiple paths. Transmission over a link incurs a traffic-dependent link delay. We optimize network delay concerning two popular metrics, namely maximum delay and average delay. Well-known pessimistic results state that a flow cannot simultaneously achieve a maximum delay and an average delay both within bounded-ratio gaps to optimal. Instead, we pose an optimistic note on the fundamental compatibility of the two delay metrics. Specifically, we design two polynomial-time solutions each of which can deliver $(1-\epsilon)$ -fraction of the flow with maximum delay and average delay simultaneously within $(1/\epsilon)$ -ratio gap to optimal, for any $\epsilon \in (0,1)$ . We prove that the ratio $(1/\epsilon)$ is at least near-tight. Moreover, our solutions can be extended to the multiple-unicast setting. In this setting, the two delay metrics of our solutions are both within a bounded-ratio gap of $(R/(R_{\min }\cdot \epsilon))$ to optimal, where $R$ (resp. $R_{\min }$ ) is the aggregate (resp. minimum) flow rate requirement of all sender-receiver pairs. Hence we pose a similar optimistic note. Simulations based on real-world continent-scale network topology show that the empirical delay gaps observed under practical settings can be much smaller than their theoretical counterparts. In addition, our solutions can achieve over 10% reduction on the maximum delay and average delay simultaneously, only in the cost of losing 3% traffic, as compared to a conceivable delay-aware baseline without traffic loss. Our results can be of particular interest to delay-centric networking applications that can tolerate a small fraction of traffic loss, including cloud video conferencing that recently attracts substantial attention.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of bradykinin (BK) on an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) model in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells through exposure to transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). The aim was to improve the effect of BK on proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) progression, and to find a novel method of clinical prevention and treatment for PVR. The morphology of ARPE-19 cells was observed using an inverted phase-contrast microscope. A Cell Counting Kit-8 was used to assess the effects of TGF-β1 on the proliferation of ARPE-19 cells. Western blotting and immunofluorescence were used to detect the expression levels of the epithelial marker E-cadherin, mesenchymal markers α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) and vimentin, and phosphorylated (p) mothers against decapentaplegic homolog (Smad)3 and Smad7 of the TGF/Smad signaling pathway. Wound healing tests and Transwell assays were performed to detect cell migration ability. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis was performed to detect the expression levels of pSmad3 and Smad7 in the TGF/Smad signaling pathway. The results revealed that the addition of 10 ng/ml TGF-β1 resulted in the expression of factors associated with EMT in ARPE-19 cells. BK decreased the expression levels of the mesenchymal markers α-SMA and vimentin, and increased the expression of the epithelial marker E-cadherin. BK decreased cell migration in TGF-β1-induced EMT. These effects were reversed by HOE-140, a specific BK 2 receptor antagonist. BK significantly downregulated the expression of pSmad3 and upregulated the expression of Smad7 in TGF-β1-treated ARPE-19 cells, and the protective alterations produced by BK were inhibited by HOE-140. In conclusion, 10 ng/ml TGF-β1 resulted in EMT in ARPE-19 cells and BK served a negative role in TGF-β1-induced EMT. BK had effects in TGF-β1-induced EMT by upregulating the expression of Smad7 and downregulating the expression of pSmad3 in TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway, indicating that BK may be a novel and effective therapy for PVR.

Based on inverse piezoelectric effect, a new micro-EDM method called piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM was proposed in this paper. The tool structure and working principle of this new method is simple and it is different from the conventional micro-EDM system. A piezoelectric actuator with high resolution and high response frequency was employed as the micro driven mechanism in this system. Because of the special structure, this new technology could regulate the discharge gap depending on discharge condition and even could realize self-elimination of short circuits during machining process. Working principle and processing of the new method was introduced, and the distinct machining characteristics were analyzed in this paper. Based on orthogonal experimental design and S/N analysis method, the effects of machining parameters such as open voltage, capacitance, current-limiting resistance, spindle rotational speed and initial feed speed on surface roughness (SR) were researched. The experimental results show that the open voltage and capacitance were the main influence factors. With the increase of open voltage and capacitance, the SR rapidly increased.

Piezoelectric self-adaptive micro electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) is a new micro-EDM technology, which is based on inverse piezoelectric effect. Compared to conventional micro-EDM, piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM can obtain better machining performances by facilitating the ejectment of debris and reducing the abnormal discharge. However, micro size effects also occur in piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM, which can result in the difficulty to predict and optimize the machining results. In this paper, the working principle and advantages of piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM are presented and the theory of similarity is introduced to quantify the size effects. The evolutions of machining time and tool wear length of micro-EDM with and without piezoelectric actuator are evaluated by discussing the similarity precision and similarity difference. It is found that the similarity precision and similarity difference increase with the decrease of the scale of the open-circuit voltage, regardless of whether the micro-EDM is with or without piezoelectric actuator. It is indicated that micro-EDM is more susceptible to the size effects in the case of machining with lower open-circuit voltage. Both the similarity precision and similarity difference of machining time of micro-EDM with piezoelectric actuator are lower than those of conventional micro-EDM. It is concluded that the smoother machining process of piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM can result in a weaker size effects, so the machining performances of piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM are easier to be predicted. The similarity theory is an effective method for investigating the size effects in the micro-EDM.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) gets the advantage of less cutting force. However, a transient force named the impulse force exists in the machining process. The impulse force has effects on the efficiency, stability and accuracy of EDM. The peak current plays a major role in the impulse force, which has been studied and verified. However, the effects of other process parameters on the impulse force are lack of systematically study. Five single-factor experiments adopting different dielectric medium, polarity, gap width, tool geometry, and immersion depth, were designed and carried out. The single pulsed power source used in the experiments had constant discharge durations by detecting and shutting discharge current, which made the experiments to get rid of the randomness of discharge durations and be accurate. However, the vibration characteristics of the force sensor were changed by the dielectric medium, the fixture and the electrode weight, which made the measure of the impulse force to be complicated. The force balance method was simplified and adopted to acquire the maximum impulse force. It was found that these machining parameters had effects on the impulse force. There was little impulse force when the dielectric medium was air. The impulse force of positive polarity was a little higher than that of negative polarity. The impulse force of sphere tools was larger than that of needle tools. The increasing of gap width or immersion depth enlarged the impulse force. Moreover, the gap width had effects on the crater diameter while the depth of immersion did not. It is verified that these process parameters affected the impulse force by their effects on the bubble.

A new piezoelectric self-adaptive micro electrical discharge machining (PSA micro-EDM), based on inverse piezoelectric effect, was developed in this paper. The working mechanism and working process were illustrated, and characteristics of the new system were analyzed. The self-adaptive regulation of discharge gap according to discharge conditions is achieved during the machining process. And the system has some specific merits, such as in favor of removing the debris, reducing the occurrence of arcing and shorting circuits, realizing self-elimination of short circuits, and so on. All these advantages can improve the discharge stability of the working process, and then the machining efficiency can be increased and the electrode wear can be reduced. Besides, the servo control system of this new technique is easy to implement and micro-EDM with micro-energy at low open voltage can be achieved. Based on this new concept, a piezoelectric self-adaptive micro-EDM device was set up. To validate the processability of the new micro-EDM device, some micro holes and structures were machined.

A MoO 3 modified CeO 2 /TiO 2 catalyst was prepared by a single step sol–gel method for selective catalytic reduction of NO with NH 3 . The experimental results indicates that MoO 3 modified CeO 2 /TiO 2 catalyst exhibited higher SCR activity and resistance to 10% H 2 O and 1000 ppm SO 2 . From the characterization results, it can be concluded that good physical properties, highly dispersed active species of Ce and Mo, more appearance of Ce 3+ and chemisorbed oxygen, strong interaction among ceria, molybdenum and titania, and high oxygen storage capacity might contribute to the excellent deNO x performance of CeO 2 –MoO 3 /TiO 2 catalyst prepared by a single step sol–gel method.

Both electrical discharge machining and electro-arc machining are non-contact machining processes, which use high temperatures produced by discharges to erode material. The gap between the tool and the workpiece is usually filled with liquid dielectric medium. Moreover, liquid flushing is commonly used in the machining processes of electrical discharge machining and electro-arc machining. Much research has been conducted to study the effects of flushing on these processes. However, there has been little study on the mechanism of the flushing procedure for these machining processes. In this article, electrical discharge machining and electro-arc machining experiments adopting different polarities and flow rates were designed and implemented. The plasma tunnel and crater morphology were studied. It was found that the plasma tunnel was lengthened, compressed and broken by flushing in the electro-arc machining experiment; however, the electrical discharge machining experiment did not produce this result. Similarly, tailing discharge craters and polarity effects caused by flushing were observed in the electro-arc machining experiment, while no such performances caused by flushing were found in the electrical discharge machining experiment. The flushing in electro-arc machining was able to reduce the material removal rate, tool wear rate and surface roughness simultaneously, while the effects of flushing in electrical discharge machining were inconspicuous. Moreover, the characteristics of the plasma tunnels of the electro-arc machining experiment were similar to those of arcs, which were different from those of the electrical discharge machining experiment. These results help to verify that the electro-arc machining process adopts arcs, while the electrical discharge machining process adopts sparks, during their respective material removal processes.

A Ce–W–Ti mixed oxide catalyst prepared by a single step sol–gel method exhibited excellent SCR activity and high resistance to H2O and SO2. The excellent catalytic performance might be attributed to the improved dispersion of Ce species on TiO2, the increase in the amount of Ce3+ and chemisorbed oxygen and the strong interaction among ceria, tungsten and titania owing to the addition of WO3.

Understanding the effect of processing parameters on the tool electrode wear during micro-electrical discharge machining (micro-EDM) is helpful to predict and compensate the electrode wear, so as to improve the machining precision. In this paper, experiments are carried out and the influences of tool electrode diameter on the micro-EDM process are discussed based on the skin effect and area effect. It is demonstrated that the machining speed, tool wear, and taper rate are different with the increase of tool electrode diameter. Due to the skin effect and area effect, larger electrode diameter results in higher material removal rate along with higher tool wear rate. The electrode material removal increment is more than the workpiece material removal increment with the increase of tool electrode diameter, which leads to the increase of relative tool wear ratio. Discharge energy is concentrated on the tool surface which enhances the possibility of discharge on the side face and the corner of the tool electrod...

A microscopic applied force exists during the electrical discharge (EDM) machining process. Researches on the impulse force in EDM are meaningful for revealing mechanisms and optimizing processes of EDM. Two methods are commonly adopted to measure the impulse force, including the direct method and Hopkinson bar method. The direct method which measures the impulse force directly by sensors is simple but inaccurate, while Hopkinson bar method which measures two displacements in a bar to calculate the impulse force is more accurate than the direct method but complex in measuring setup and calculating. To measure the impulse force simply and accurately, a new method containing an impulse model and an impulse force model based on the mass-spring-damper system of vibration theory is proposed. Experiments were designed to verify the validity of the new method and study the impulse force. The impulse and the impulse force were calculated by the experimental results and verified each other. It was found that the impulse force had two durations as the corresponding discharge process, namely the bubble expanding duration and the plasma pressure duration. The bubble expanding duration appeared as the dielectric was broken down and lasted for about 25 μs, during which the bubble expanding played a major role. The impulse force of the bubble expanding duration grew to its positive maximum value and dropped to negative dramatically. Then the plasma pressure duration appeared until about 80 μs when the plasma pressure was dominant. The impulse force of the plasma pressure duration became stable, positive, and attenuating.

Hui Shi,1,2* Tao Guo,3* Peng-Cheng Liu,1 Qian-Yi Wang,1 Ya-Ru Du,1,2 Qing-Yu Liu,1 Meng-Mei He,1 Jun-Ling Liu,1 Jing Yu1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 2Department of First Clinical Medical College, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 3Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Third People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao TongUniversity, Shanghai, People’sRepublic of China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Background: This meta-analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of steroids as an adjunct following rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) surgery. Methods: RRD patients with or without proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) were included. The treatment group included patients in whom steroids were used as an adjunct and a control group in which placebo was used. Only randomized controlled trials were included. We searched the main electronic databases and included studies published until July 2014. PVR odds ratio, visual acuity, retinal reattachment rate, and complications were evaluated in three trials. Results: Three randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. There was no significant difference in the incidence of postoperative PVR between groups (heterogeneity I2=48%, P=0.14). However, the incidence of postoperative PVR was lower in the treatment group (I2=0%, P

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to compare the efficacy and safety of the combination of bevacizumab and photodynamic therapy (PDT) with bevacizumab monotherapy for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Patients with active choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to AMD were included in the present study. The treatment group included patients treated with a combination of bevacizumab and PDT and patients treated with bevacizumab monotherapy. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included in the analysis. The PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan v.5.3 software, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central retinal thickness (CRT) and the average number of bevacizumab retreatments were assessed. A total of 5 RCTs were included in the analysis. There were no significant differences observed in the mean BCVA change between the combination treatment group and the bevacizumab monotherapy group [standard mean difference 0.20; 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.53, 0.93, P=0.59]. There were also no significant differences in the CRT increases between the two groups [weighted mean difference (WMD) −22.16, 95% CI −52.01 to 7.69, P=0.15]. No significant differences were observed in the proportions of patients gaining >15 letters between the two groups [risk ratio (RR) 0.86, 95% CI 0.64, 1.15, P=0.30]. However, the average number of the ranibizumab retreatments was significantly lower in the combination treatment group compared with the bevacizumab monotherapy group (WMD, −2.70, 95% CI −3.93 to −1.46; P15 letters, or the incidences of ocular adverse events and systemic adverse events. However, combination treatment may significantly reduce the average number of bevacizumab retreatments compared with monotherapy.

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) are a kind of marine power multipliers, with extensive and important applications for scientific research. It is out of question that UUVs will play an irreplaceable role in marine detection. In this paper, the issue of model design for UUVs with the purpose of marine detection is studied. A well designed architecture for UUV model is proposed first, which includes the motion control model, the decision model and the detection model. Secondly, the motion control model is described in detail, which satisfies the navigation control for UUVs in three-dimensional space. Thirdly, the detection model based on the active sonar equation is addressed in order to obtain the detected position. The influence factors related to the sonar equation are taken into consideration. Afterwards, a decision model based on the particle filter (PF) is presented in order to improve the accuracy of target detection and ensure the stable and effective tracking. In the end, the detection simulation experiments in typical sea areas are designed. Experimental results prove the reliability and effectiveness of the designed UUV model.

Aim To assess the corneal sensitivity and the incidences of dry eye after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) and femtosecond laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (FS-LASIK). Methods The Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3. We searched on PubMed from inception to March 2016. Summary weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to analyze the datum. Random-effects or fixed-effects models were chosen up to between-study heterogeneity. The main outcomes were composed of the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) scores, tear film break-up time (TBUT), Schirmer Test and corneal sensitivity. Results Eight eligible studies including 772 eyes (386 in SMILE group and 386 in FS-LASIK group) were identified. The parameters have no significiant difference heterogeneity between SMILE and FS-LASIK group preoperatively. There were significant differences between the two groups in OSDI scores at one and three months postoperatively, in TBUT at one and three months postoperatively, in corneal sensitivity at one week, about one month and three months postoperatively. However, there was no significant difference observed in Schirmer Test at the follow-up periods. Conclusion Compare to FS-LASIK, dry eye and the corneal sensitivity recover better in the SMILE group, in first three months after the surgery.

Qingyu Liu,1,* Junling Liu,1,* Chengda Ren,1 Wenting Cai,1 Qingquan Wei,2 Yi Song,3 Jing Yu1 1Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 2Department of Ophthalmology, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 3Department ofOphthalmology, Shanghai Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People’sRepublic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether acupuncture is effective at treatingdry eye disease among postmenopausal women and to identify the possible mechanisms. Methods: Twenty-eight postmenopausal women with dry eye disease were randomly divided into two groups: an acupuncture plus artificial tears (AC + AT) group and an artificial tears (AT) only group. After baseline examination of clinical parameters and tear sample collection, each patient received the designated modality of topical therapy for 2 months. Posttreatment documentation of clinical parameters was recorded, and tear samples were collected. Tear samples from the AC + AT group were subjected to two-dimensional nano-liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (2D nano-LC-MS/MS). Western blot analysis was also performed on tear samples from both groups. Results: After treatment, the Ocular Surface Disease Index scores, symptom assessment scores, scores of sign assessment, and tear break-up time were significantly improved in both groups (P=0.000). Symptom assessment scores were significantly improved in the AC + AT group (P=0.000) compared with the AT group. 2D nano-LC-MS/MS identified 2,411 proteins, among which 142 were downregulated and 169 were upregulated. After combined AC + AT treatment, the abundance of secreted proteins was increased, whereas that of cytoplasmic proteins decreased (Pearson’s χ2 test, P=0.000, P=0.000, respectively). Proteins involved in immunity and regulation were also more abundant (Pearson’s χ2 test, P=0.040, P=0.016, respectively), while components and proliferation-related proteins were downregulated (Pearson’s χ2 test, P=0.003, P=0.011, respectively). Conclusion: AC + AT treatment increased protein synthesis and secretion, and improved clinical symptoms. These results indicate that acupuncture may be a complimentary therapy for treating postmenopausal dry eye disease. Keywords: acupuncture, menopausal dry eye, proteomics

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most malignant type of primary brain tumor in adults and can diffusely infiltrate adjacent normal tissue. GBM is therefore rarely cured by surgery or radiation therapy. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are involved in tissue remodeling and numerous other physiological progresses. The MMPs MMP-2 and MMP-9 are associated with the invasion ability of GBM. PT93 is a novel caffeic acid amide derivative that was first synthesized in 2013. In the present study, the human GBM T98G, U87 and U251 cell lines and the normal mouse neuron HT22 cell line were used to investigate the anticancer and cytotoxic effects of PT93 in vitro. The cytotoxicity of PT93 was measured using MTT and lactate dehydrogenase assays. The anti-proliferation effect was tested using a cell colony formation assay. Gelatin zymography analysis and a scratch test were used to investigate the anti-migration mechanism of PT93. Western blot analysis was used to measure the expression of MMP-2/-9. The experimental results showed that PT93 suppressed the proliferation of T98G cells, and showed cytotoxicity effects at high concentration in T98G, U87, U251 and HT22 cell lines. Furthermore, PT93 limited the migration ability of the cells and inhibited the extracellular MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity of T98G and U251 cells. Finally, the present study confirmed that PT93 affects the level of MMP-2/-9 expression in T98G cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The present study indicates that PT93, as a novel caffeic acid amide derivative, may be used in the treatment of GBM.