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Construction dust falls to the snow cover and the surface of the glacier to form a fouling layer to absorb more solar radiation and reduce the intensity of surface albedo, thereby accelerating the melting of the glacier, which is the main factor affecting the glacial environment in the Highway construction. This article adopts the combination method of wind tunnel experiment and numerical simulation was used to calculate the impact range of construction dust. The results show that with increasing of particle size, the diffusion range of dust decreased while the settlement speed increased. High dust concentration area (> 4mg / m3) is generally distributed within 1000m around the construction site. The specific extension direction is directly related to the local terrain and wind direction, and the height direction is generally not more than 300m. According to the above simulation results, for preventing and reducing the impact of highway construction on the glacial environment, the requirements of route selection and construction dust control measures was put forward, which played an important role and significance in guiding the highway design and construction and reducing the impact of highway construction on the glacial environment.

Background Monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS) is a recently defined group of renal diseases caused by monoclonal immunoglobulin secreted by nonmalignant proliferative B cell or plasma cell. Monoclonal immunoglobulin can form different types of structures deposited in renal tissue, including fibrils, granules, microtubules, crystals and casts, and has mostly been reported in multiple myeloma patients. Here we report a rare case with κ light chain crystals in both podocytes and tubular epithelial cells associated with MGRS, which adds more information to the spectrum of MGRS-related renal diseases. Case presentation A 53-year old woman presented with albumin–predominant moderate proteinuria and renal failure. She had monoclonal IgGκ in the serum and monoclonal IgGκ plus free κ in the urine. Multiple myeloma and lymphoproliferative disorders were excluded. Renal biopsy confirmed κ-restricted crystal-storing renal disease involving the podocytes and proximal tubular epithelial cells. The patient was treated with bortezomib followed by lenalidomide-based chemotherapy, and renal function was stable after 1 year of follow-up. Conclusions This is a rare case of combined crystalline podocytopathy and tubulopathy associated with MGRS, in which diagnosis was dependent on electron and immuno-electron microscopy.

Perfluoro-3-methyl-2-butanone (CF

Hydroquinone (HQ) is produced commercially from benzene by multi-step Hock-type processes with equivalent amounts of acetone as side-product. We describe an efficient biocatalytic alternative using the cytochrome P450-BM3 monooxygenase. Since the wildtype enzyme does not accept benzene, a semi-rational protein engineering strategy was developed. Highly active mutants were obtained which transform benzene in a one-pot sequence first into phenol and then regioselectively into HQ without any overoxidation. A computational study shows that the chemoselective oxidation of phenol by the P450-BM3 variant A82F/A328F leads to the regioselective formation of an epoxide intermediate at the C3=C4 double bond, which departs from the binding pocket and then undergoes fragmentation in aqueous medium with exclusive formation of HQ. As a practical application, an E. coli designer cell system was constructed, which enables the cascade transformation of benzene into the natural product arbutin, which has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activities.

Heptafluoroisobutyronitrile (C4) has been utilized as a dielectric compound to replace sulfur hexafluoride for the sake of environmental concern. Energetic profiles of the potential energy surface for the unimolecular reaction of C4 were calculated using density functional theory (M06-2X), quadratic complete basis set (CBS-QB3), Gaussian-4, multireference Rayleigh–Schrodinger perturbation theory (RS2, RS2C), and state-averaged multiconfiguration self-consistent-field (SA-MCSCF) ab initio methods. Among 38 production channels, the most energetically accessible reaction path is the three-centered rearrangement of cyanide to isocyanide. The C—CF3 bond appears to be the weakest bond in C4(X1A′) and the symmetry-breaking C—CF3 bond cleavage undergoes to form the ground-state CF3(X2A1) and CF3CFCN (X2A″) radicals. All the possible isomerization pathways involving F- and CF3-migration together with the concerted elimination and stepwise decomposition routes were revealed for C4 and i-C4. Various isomers and pote...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is approximately 850 million worldwide and 120 million in China. Approximately 2% of the CKD population will progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal replacement therapy or transplantation. The total health care expenditure on dialysis for the entire ESRD population in China is estimated to be 240 billion RMB per year. Using mobile health information technologies to conduct low-cost, large-scale, and personalized populational health interventions show a great promise. OBJECTIVE In this pilot study, we assessed the feasibility and clinical effectiveness of a mobile application designed to improve patient's self-management of chronic kidney disease over a 3-month intervention with a pre-post design and a quasi-trial design. METHODS Patients with CKD stage 1-3 and uncontrolled proteinuria (proteinuria>1g per day) were recruited. Eligible patients who were waitlisted served as the control. Patients in the experiment group were invited to install a mobile application known as Shen Shang Xian (Chinese pinyin for kidney online) for CKD self-management. The enrollment included a questionnaire for medical history and self-reported objective physical parameters and laboratory values. Each participant was assigned to one nephrologist who communicated with the patient on an ad-hoc basis. Blood pressure and laboratory test results were entered by the patients on a regular basis. The application has a built-in clinical decision algorithm to generate health recommendations to users based on one's data-entry. The application also sends various alerts to patient's nephrologist for timely interventions. Blood pressure, proteinuria, serum creatinine and eGFR were measured before and after the management period. RESULTS Fifty-three patients were enrolled in the experimental group and 11 patients were in the control group. The average daily usage in minutes was 11.2 (25%-75% quartile [7.5, 16]) and the average of total physician-patient conversation was 116 (25%-75% quartile [51, 274]). There is a significant correlation between average daily usage and physician-patient conversation (R2=0.30, P CONCLUSIONS Participants used the mobile app on a daily basis and communicated with the nephrologists for their CKD management. Patients who used the CKD self-management app exhibited a non-statistically significant trend of proteinuria reduction after 3 months. This pilot study was underpowered and the follow-up period was short. A larger retrospective controlled trial is needed to confirm the effectiveness of mHealth app in CKD self-management.

Emerging evidence has illustrated the vital roles of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in human cancers. However, the role of lncRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still elusive and poorly understood. In the current study, our team conducted extensive experiments to identify the role of long intergenic nonprotein coding (LINC01296) on NSCLC tumorigenesis. The results illustrated that the elevated LINC01296 expression in NSCLC tissue specimens and cell lines were closely correlated with the poor prognosis of patients with NSCLC. Functional studies revealed that LINC01296 knockdown silenced by small interfering RNAs inhibited proliferation, accelerated apoptosis in vitro, and impaired tumor growth in vivo. Mechanical studies showed that INC01296 harbored miR-598, acting as a microRNA "sponge." Besides, miR-598 targeted the 3'-UTR of Twist1. Interestingly, transcription factor Twist1 could bind with the promoter of INC01296 and activate its transcriptional level. In summary, we conclude that INC01296/miR-598/Twist1 constitutes a positive feedback loop to promote the tumorigenesis of NSCLC, providing a novel insight and a valuable therapeutic strategy.

A brain tumor is a growth of abnormal cells in the tissues of the brain, which is difficult for treatment and severely affects patients' cognitive ability. Recent year magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been widely used imaging technique to assess brain tumors. However manual segmentation and artificial extracting features block MRI's practice when facing with the huge amount of data produced by MRI. An efficient and automatic image segmentation of brain tumor is still needed. In this paper, a novel automatic segmentation framework of brain tumors, which have 5 parts and resnet-50 use as a backbone, is proposed based on convolutional neural network. A dilated convolution refine (DCR) structure is introduced to extract the local features and global features. After investigating different parameters of our framework, it is proved that DCR is an efficient and robust method in Brain Tumor Segmentation. The experiments are evaluated by Multimodal Brain Tumor Image Segmentation (BRATS 2015) dataset. The results show that our framework in complete tumor segmentation achieved excellent results with a DEC score of 0.87 and a PPV score of 0.92. (GitHub: https://github.com/wei-lab/DCR)

When drivers opt for carpooling, road capacity will be freed up, and this will reduce congestion. Therefore, carpooling is interesting for policy makers as a possible solution to congestion. We investigate the effects of carpooling in a dynamic equilibrium model of congestion, which captures various dimensions of heterogeneity: heterogeneity in preference for carpooling, "ratio heterogeneity" between the values of time and the values of schedule delay, and "proportional heterogeneity" that scales all values equally. We investigate three policy scenarios: no-toll, first-best pricing, and subsidization of carpooling. The optimal second-best subsidy equals each type’s heterogeneous marginal external benefit (MEB) of switching to carpooling. If such differentiation is impossible, the third-best subsidy is a weighted average of the MEBs, where the weights depend on the number of each type and their sensitivity to the subsidy. In our numerical example, we find that when increasing the degree of "ratio heterogeneity", the relative efficiency of the second-best subsidization first increases and then falls with the degree of heterogeneity and L type carpoolers benefit more than H type carpoolers. However, when increasing the degree of "proportional heterogeneity", H type users benefit more than L types for both solo drivers and carpoolers. Moreover, the relative efficiency of the second-best subsidization decreases throughout.

Reactivity at metal-oxide interfaces is of fundamental importance in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we report a thorough surface-science study on the growth and chemical activity of ultrathin ZnO...

In this paper microencapsulation of magnesium hydroxide, red phosphorus, inorganic phosphorus and organic flame retardants have been reviewed. The effects of different shell materials on the properties of microencapsulated flame retardant and composites have been carefully and thoroughly discussed. It has been demonstrated that microencapsulation provide better water resistance, flame retardancy, compatibility and higher pyrolysis temperature, etc. With proper shell material, the microcapsules not only possess better properties, but also can be used in more rigorous situation.

Textured NiFeCrO x film has been synthesized by electrochemically treating a Fe–Cr–Ni alloy surface. The special surface configuration was favorable for light selective absorption, absorptance exceeding 0.9 and emittance near 0.1 were achieved. The thermal stability of this film was tested by heat treatment at 300 °C for 300 h in air. Optical performance was found no obvious changes. AFM and Raman spectroscopy were applied to investigate the detailed information of surface structure and chemical composition. It was found that the effective absorbing materials were mainly oxidation-resistant Cr 2 O 3 and NiFe 2 O 4 spinel. Both the chemical composition and urchin-like surface structure showed excellent stability at 300 °C in air. The considerable optical performance and thermal stability enabled the NiFeCrO x film promising candidate for mid-to-high temperature photo-thermal conversion material.

Structure-based virtual screening of a commercial library identified pentanedioic acid derivatives (6 and 13b) as a kind of novel scaffold farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs). Chemical modifications of the lead compounds, biological assays and analysis of the structure–activity relationships (SAR) were conducted to discover more potent FTIs. Some of them displayed excellent inhibition against FTase, and among them, the most active compound 13n with an IC50 value of 0.0029 μM and SAR analysis might be helpful to the discovery of more potent FTIs.

Polymer/graphene-analogous nanosheet composites have great potential for improving their physical and mechanical properties during the past few years. Herein, ultrathin molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanosheets were simultaneously exfoliated and non-covalently modified by ultrasonication in an aqueous solution of chitosan. The chitosan-modified MoS2 (CS-MoS2) nanosheets were then transferred from the aqueous solution to tetrahydrofuran by a simple solvent-exchange method for the fabrication of epoxy (EP) nanocomposites. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were performed to display the homogeneous dispersion of CS-MoS2 in an EP matrix. On incorporating 2 wt% CS-MoS2 into an EP matrix, EP nanocomposites exhibited reductions of up to 43.3% and 14.6% in peak heat-release rate and total heat release derived from cone calorimeters compared to those of neat EP, respectively. Moreover, toxic volatiles, such as hydrocarbons, aromatic compounds and CO, that escaped from the flaming EP nanocomposites were decreased compared to that of neat EP, demonstrating the higher smoke safety. Combined with the analyses of char residues and thermal stability of EP nanocomposites, the reduced fire hazards of EP nanocomposites could be attributed to the nano-barrier effects of MoS2, which could effectively inhibit the release of combustible gas to support burning and restrain the effusion of volatile toxic substances that cause the majority of deaths in fires.

According to the factors of affecting the employment quality for the university graduates, we established the index system of evaluation on the employment quality for the university graduates. The factor analysis was used to establish the model for evaluating the employment quality for the university graduates. Several data sets were analyzed to illustrate the proposed method with the SPSS software. The results not only included the employment quality for the graduates from different colleges, but also included the employment quality for the graduates from different departments in one university. The results coincide with the statistical data about the employment on the official website. Some advice and countermeasures were given on the personnel training and the employment promotion to the universities and education authorities, which can provide the regulatory on employment quality and services of the graduate employment.

An atomic-level understanding of dioxygen activation on metal oxides remains one of the major challenges in heterogeneous catalysis. By performing a thorough surface-science study of all three low-index single-crystal surfaces of ceria, probably the most important redox catalysts, we provide a direct spectroscopic characterization of reactive dioxygen species at defect sites on the reduced ceria (110) and (100) surfaces. Surprisingly, neither of these superoxo and peroxo species was found on ceria (111), the thermodynamically most stable surface of this oxide. Applying density functional theory, we could relate these apparently inconsistent findings to a sub-surface diffusion of O vacancies on (111) substrates, but not on the less-closely packed surfaces. These observations resolve a long standing debate concerning the location of O vacancies on ceria surfaces and the activation of O

The photoreactivity of ceria, a photochemically inert, large band-gap oxide, can be increased to competitive values by introducing defects. We have investigated this previously unexplained phenomenon by monitoring UV-induced N2O decomposition on well-defined single crystals of this material using polarization-dependent infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). The IRRAS data, in conjunction with theory, provide direct evidence that reducing the ceria (110) surface yields high photoreactivity. On the (111) surface no such effects are seen. The low-temperature N2O photo¬decomposition occurs at surface O-vacancy sites on the (110) surface, where the electron-rich cerium cations with significantly lowered coordination number cause a local lowering of the huge band gap (~6 eV). The quantum efficiency of strongly reduced ceria (110) surfaces in N2O photodecomposition amounts to 0.03%, and is thus comparable to that reported for CO photooxidation on rutile TiO2(110).

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is one of the most extensively studied and utilized viral vectors in clinical gene transfer research. However, the serum instability and immunogenicity of AAV vectors significantly limit their application. Here, we endeavored to overcome these limitations by developing a straightforward approach for site-specific PEGylation of AAV via genetic code expansion. This technique includes incorporation of the azide moiety into the AAV capsid protein followed by orthogonal and stoichiometric conjugation of a variety of polyethylene glycols (PEGs) through click chemistry. Using this approach, only the chosen site(s) was consistently PEGylated under mild conditions, preventing nonselective conjugation. Upon a series of in vitro examinations, AAVs conjugated with 20-kD PEG at sites Q325+1, S452+1, and R585+1 showed a 1.7- to 2.4-fold stability improvement in pooled human serum and a nearly twofold reduction in antibody recognition. Subsequent animal research on Sprague Dawley rats displayed a promising 20% reduction in antibody inducement and a higher virus titer in the blood. Together, our data demonstrate successful protection of an AAV vector from antibody neutralization and blood clearance, thereby increasing the efficiency of therapeutic gene delivery.

The adsorption of CO

To investigate the relationship between sagittal spinal alignment and the incidence of vertebral fracture in patients with osteoporosis. A cohort of 1,044 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis were prospectively observed for the incidence of lumbar vertebral fracture. Baseline characteristics of the subjects were recorded, including age, year post-menopause, body height and weight, lumbar spine BMD (LSBMD) and femoral neck BMD (FNBMD). Patients with radiologically diagnosed lumbar vertebral fractures were assigned to the fracture group, and 150 randomly selected participants were assigned to the non-fracture group. Parameters depicting sagittal spinal alignment, including sacral slope (SS), pelvic tilt, pelvic incidence (PI), thoracic kyphpsis, lumbar lordosis (LL), lumbar lordosis index (LLI) and sagittal vertical axis, were measured for both groups. Comparison between the two groups was carried out by Student’s t test. Variables showing significant differences were entered into a logistic regression analysis to determine the independent risk factors. Patients with fracture events had significantly lower LSBMD as well as a significantly longer year post-menopause. Besides, patients with vertebral fracture were found to have significantly lower LL, LLI, SS and PI. Regression analysis showed that LSBMD (OR = 0.27), LL (OR = 0.3), LLI (OR = 0.43) and PI (OR = 0.67) had significant associations with the risk of vertebral fracture. Osteoporosis patients with low LL, LLI, and PI could be at high risk of lumbar vertebral fracture. In addition to BMD, the abnormal sagittal spinal profile should also be taken into consideration when predicting the incidence of vertebral fracture in such patients.

This study advances existing tourism research on revisit intention to its temporal dimension, intended revisit timing, which is defined as the time interval between the current visit and the intended next visit. This study also examines the possible antecedents of intended revisit timing: travel distance, length of stay, and attitude to the destination. A sample of 604 pleasure travelers who reported likely revisit intentions was selected from a visitor profile dataset. A framework of antecedents of intended revisit timing was proposed and empirically examined across the three loyalty groups of respondents: first-time visitors, frequent visitors (2−5 visitations), and loyal visitors (over 5 visitations). It is found that the travel distance consistently has a positive effect on the intended revisit timing. The results of the present research indicate the positive relationship between tourists’ travel distance and their intended revisit timing to the destination. In addition, this study suggests that only ...

The Ce-TiO 2 /KL (diatomite) ball photocatalyst was prepared and characterized based on the pretreated diatomite. The results showed that comparing with the crude diatomite, proper pretreatment could significantly improve its SiO 2 purity and specific surface area. The surface of diatomite was clear with uniform pore structure and big pore size. With diatomite ball as carrier, the supported Ce-TiO 2 /KL ball photocatalyst was prepared by sol-gel method. The photocatalytic performances of the supported Ce-TiO 2 / KL ball and Ce-TiO 2 /KL powder photocatalysts under various preparation conditions were studied in view of photocatalytic degradation rate of Rhodamine B (Rh B) solution. The degradation rate of the ball photocatalysts for Rh B reached 94.6% and could be reused for many times, which showed much better photocatalytic performance and stability than powder photocatalysts.

Developing the environment-friendly insulation gases to replace sulfur hexafluoride (SF

Compared with conventional central circulating pumps (CCCPs) in the district heating system (DHS), the DHS with distributed variable speed pumps (DVSPs) shows a great potential for energy saving. In this paper, a hybrid control scheme both using electric control valves (ECVs) and DVSPs is applied to the district heating system in Shenyang, China. This new hybrid control system results in reduction of the boiler outlet pressure from 1.27 MPa to 0.81 MPa, which ensures safe operation of the heating network. In addition, the hydraulic imbalance of the primary pipelines is effectively reduced by using the DVSPs. It is found that the relative error between the designed and the measured total flow rates is 7.71%. Results show that the annual average value of electricity consumption by using the DVSPs is 28.52% smaller than that in the CCCP system. Therefore, there is a great potential for building energy saving if the DVSPs are installed into the DHS. In order to evaluate the heating quantity and guide the optimal operation for the DHS, indoor temperature acquisition devices will be installed in the near future.

Landscape ponds are vulnerable to eutrophication due to continuous pollutant load from surface run-off and excessive fish feeding. A combined recycling purification system consisting of an aquatic plant filter, bio-zeolite filter, bio-ceramic filter, gravel bed filter, and in situ algal control facility was built to solve this problem. The advantage of this system is its ability to preserve landscape pond water quality and control algal biomass without periodically refreshing water. A pilot-scale experiment was conducted within an artificial landscape pond. The results suggested that the system performed well in pollutant removal; the removal efficiencies for SS, TN, NH 4 + -N, NO 3 − -N, NO 2 − -N, and PO 4 3− -P were all above 50% at hydraulic loading rate of 1.2 m/d. The aquatic plant filter performed the best for SS, NH 4 + -N and phosphorus removal. The bio-ceramic filter accounted for the primary COD removal. The gravel bed filter built for denitrophication eliminated 60.6% of TN load and 62.0% of NO 3 − -N load. When the purification system was stopped, the pond water quality deteriorated rapidly in six days. When the system resumed operation, COD, TP, TN immediately declined in the landscape area. Additionally, the purification system showed high efficiency in algal removal. To further understand the algal reduction mechanism, floating plants and the aerator were removed. In response, an increase of Chl-a was observed, suggesting that in situ treatment was an important supplement to the purification system.

Given the rising popularity of online research in tourism and hospitality, an imperative question is whether it can substitute or complement the more traditional survey modes. By measuring and controlling for coverage, sampling, nonresponse, and measurement errors, this study explores the validity of the online survey mode, comparing responses to a visitor survey across the following two modes: online and the frequently used tourism research tool of on-site, face-to-face survey. The results reveal a lower response rate to the online survey, and differences between the two tested modes in demographics (gender, travel party size, and age composition), tripographics, and travel behaviors. The findings support the notion that a mixed-mode survey has the potential of increasing response rate, mitigating the nonresponse error, and can be used to target certain segments for bet- ter representation.

A method was established for the simultaneous determination of 23 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air with combination of thermal desorption (TD) and gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The air samples were collected by active sampling method using Tenax-TA sorbent tubes, and desorbed by thermal desorption. The analytes were determined by GC-MS/MS in selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode, and internal standard method was applied to quantify the VOCs. The results of all the 23 VOCs showed good linearities in low level (0. 01-1 ng) and high level (1-100 ng) with all the correlation coefficients (r2) more than 0. 99. The method quantification limits were between 0. 000 08-1 µg/m3. The method was validated by means of recovery experiments (n = 6) at three spiked levels of 2, 10 and 50 ng. The recoveries between 77% and 124% were generally obtained. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) in all cases were lower than 20%, except for chlorobenzene at the low spiked level. The developed method was applied to determine VOCs in ambient air collected at three sites in Shanghai. Several compounds, like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m-xylenes, p-xylenes, styrene, 1, 2, 4-trimethylbenzene and hexachlorobutadiene were detected and confirmed in all the samples analyzed. The method is highly accurate, reliable and sensitive for monitoring the VOCs in ambient air.

Addition of metal inhibitor to corrosive transformer oil was employed to prevent the formation of semi-conductive Cu 2 S on copper surface. The formation of impermeable layer is the key process, however, little attention were paid on this process. Here, we performed aging experiment with benzotriazole and benzimidazole type inhibitors on copper strips in corrosive transformer oil. The experiment shows that the N1 position required free coordinating site for the protective layer formation. And molecules with substituent in C2 position are sensitive to the effectiveness of inhibition. Also, DFT calculation was employed to investigate the molecular structure, electronic properties. It is found that none of E HOMO , E LUMO , energy gap and dipole moment is correlated to the structure-reactivity. However, the steric analysis shows strong impact on the impermeable layer formation, suggesting end-on orientation stacking model in the chemisorption process. Furthermore, we afforded inhibiting results by introducing free coordinating size like amino and thiol group at C2 position. These experiments and analysis results offered us deeper understanding to the process of suppression with inhibitor and theoretical guide for inhibitor design in transformer oil.

Here we demonstrate that sulfur dioxide (SO2) is efficiently captured via heterogeneous oxidation into sulfate on the surface of hydroxylated manganese dioxide (MnO2). Lab-scale activity tests in a fluidized bed reactor showed that the removal efficiency for a simulated flue gas containing 5000 mg·Nm(-3) SO2 could reach nearly 100% with a GHSV (gas hourly space velocity) of 10000 h(-1). The mechanism was investigated using a combination of experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations. It was found that formation of surface bound sulfate proceeds via association of SO2 with terminal hydroxyls. Both H2O and O2 are essential for the generation of reactive terminal hydroxyls, and the indirect role of O2 in heterogeneous SO2 oxidation at low temperature was also revealed. We propose that the high reactivity of terminal hydroxyls is attributed to the proper surface configuration of MnO2 to adsorb water with degenerate energies for associative and dissociative states, and maintain rapid proton dynamics. Viability analyses suggest that the desulfurization method that is based on such a direct oxidation reaction at the gas/solid interface represents a promising approach for SO2 capture.

Background: Crescentic IgA nephropathy (CreIgAN) has a poor prognosis despite aggressive immunosuppressive therapy. The efficacy of plasma exchange (PE) in CreIgAN is not well defined. Methods: Twelve patients with severe CreIgAN who received PE as addition to routine immunosuppressive therapy, followed for more than 6 months, were involved. Twelve matched historical controls who received immunosuppressive therapy alone were selected by propensity score matching. Renal survival, plasma IgA-IgG complex and active complement products were assessed. Results: Nine men and 3 women received a median of 7 PE courses (range 5-10). Their baseline urine protein excretion rate was 5.8 (4.5-8.7) g/day, and their serum creatinine level was 705.3 ± 296.4 μmol/l. During a mean follow-up of 15.6 months (6-51 months), 6 of the 12 PE group patients were free of dialysis, while all the control patients were dialysis dependent (6 of 12 vs. 0 of 12, p = 0.014). In the PE group, dialysis had to be restarted for 1 patient owing to the development of severe pneumonia and pulmonary failure. PE was associated with a higher kidney survival rate (log rank test, p = 0.026) during follow-up. It also significantly decreased plasma IgA-IgG complex levels (pre-PE: 85.3 ± 25.9% vs. post-PE: 38.4 ± 12.4%, p < 0.001) and plasma and urinary active complement product levels, including C3a, C5a and soluble C5b-9. The latter levels remained low until the last follow-up. Conclusion: This study indicated that PE could increase renal recovery rates in severe CreIgAN.

Using a large-scale visitors' survey data, this study empirically investigates the question of who is a tourist from the tourist's perspective, and contrasts the findings with elements of more formal definitions. the study contributes to the literature on tourism definition and measurement by demon strating how tripographic and socioeconomic factors affect visitors' propensity to self-categorize as tourists. the results point to a clear distance threshold of around 75 miles and provide support for the technical approach to the definition of tourism. First-time visitors, visitors whose main purpose was pleasure, women, and lower middle class income are more inclined to self-categorize as tourists, while those who visit friends and relatives are not. these findings could be used to further improve the definition and measurement of tourism, as well as enhance destination marketing practices.

This paper presents the design considerations, simulation results, and test results for an S-band 22-kW-average-power 7.14%-relative-bandwidth klystron design with 4-min startup, which was developed in the Institute of Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IECAS) before December 2009. Ten klystrons were built and tested. Over 1.1-MW peak output power with 7.14% relative bandwidth was measured at a 2% radio-frequency (RF) duty cycle. The measured startup time is 4 min. A method of supplying the heater with electricity is proposed, the manner of improving the RF output performance is also described, and both of them have been validated through the further experiments with a specialized electron gun and the hot-test results of the klystron, respectively.

Statistical experimental designs were used to optimize the process of phenol degradation by Candida tropicalis Z-04, isolated from phenol-degrading aerobic granules. The most important factors influencing phenol degradation (p < 0.05), as identified by a two-level Plackett-Burman design with 11 variables, were yeast extract, phenol, inoculum size, and temperature. Steepest ascent method was undertaken to determine the optimal regions of these four significant factors. Central composite design (CCD) and response surface analysis were adopted to further investigate the mutual interactions between these variables and to identify their optimal values that would generate maximum phenol degradation. The analysis results indicated that interactions between yeast extract and temperature, phenol and temperature, inoculum size and temperature affected the response variable (phenol degradation) significantly. The predicted results showed that the maximum removal efficiency of phenol (99.10%) could be obtained under the optimum conditions of yeast extract 0.41 g/L, phenol 1.03 g/L, inoculum size 1.43% (V/V) and temperature 30.04 degrees C. These predicted values were further verified by validation experiments. The excellent correlation between predicted and experimental values confirmed the validity and practicability of this statistical optimum strategy. This study indicated the excellent ability of C. tropicalis Z-04 in degrading high-strength phenol. Optimal conditions obtained in this experiment laid a solid foundation for further use of this microorganism in the treatment of high-strength phenol effluents.

Background: The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is approximately 850 million worldwide and 120 million in China. Approximately 2% of the CKD population will progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring renal replacement therapy or transplantation. The total health care expenditure on dialysis for the entire ESRD population in China is estimated to be 240 billion RMB per year. Using mobile health information technologies to conduct low-cost, large-scale, and personalized populational health interventions show a great promise. Objective: In this pilot study, we assessed the feasibility and clinical effectiveness of a mobile application designed to improve patient's self-management of chronic kidney disease over a 3-month intervention with a pre-post design and a quasi-trial design. Methods: Patients with CKD stage 1-3 and uncontrolled proteinuria (proteinuria>1g per day) were recruited. Eligible patients who were waitlisted served as the control. Patients in the experiment group were invited to install a mobile application known as Shen Shang Xian (Chinese pinyin for kidney online) for CKD self-management. The enrollment included a questionnaire for medical history and self-reported objective physical parameters and laboratory values. Each participant was assigned to one nephrologist who communicated with the patient on an ad-hoc basis. Blood pressure and laboratory test results were entered by the patients on a regular basis. The application has a built-in clinical decision algorithm to generate health recommendations to users based on one's data-entry. The application also sends various alerts to patient's nephrologist for timely interventions. Blood pressure, proteinuria, serum creatinine and eGFR were measured before and after the management period. Results: Fifty-three patients were enrolled in the experimental group and 11 patients were in the control group. The average daily usage in minutes was 11.2 (25%-75% quartile [7.5, 16]) and the average of total physician-patient conversation was 116 (25%-75% quartile [51, 274]). There is a significant correlation between average daily usage and physician-patient conversation (R2=0.30, P

Well-ordered hexagonal mesoporous tungsten trioxide with crystalline pore walls were synthesized at low hydrothermal temperature by using cationic quaternary ammonium gemini surfactants as structure-directing agents and sodium tungstate dihydrate (Na2WO4·2H2O) as a precursor. The effects of alkyl chain length of gemini surfactants, hydrothermal temperature and molar ratio of tungsten to gemini surfactants have been investigated in detail. The strong self-assembly ability of gemini surfactants, strong electrical interaction between gemini surfactants and tungsten trioxide, and solvent extraction strategy contributed together to the coexistence of WO3 mesostructures and crystalline pore walls.

Using long-chain room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (abbreviated as C 16 mim + Br − ) as the templating agent, ordered mesoporous tin oxide materials with cassiterite-type crystalline walls were synthesized by a thermal treatment. The properties of these materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), N 2 adsorption/desorption and Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR). The results showed that the obtained mesoporous tin oxide with ordered mesoporous structure in short range possessed high thermal stability (up to 973 K) and high specific surface area ( ca . 350 m 2 /g). The mesopore walls were composed of crystalline nanoparticles of tin oxide with size of ca. 2.5 nm. The high thermal stability of such mesoporous tin oxide materials was attributed to the wide interactions between the templating agent C 16 mim + Br − molecules and tin oxide, that is, electrostatic interaction and hydrogen-bonding between C 16 mim + Br − molecules and tin oxide, as well as π – π stacking of the imidazolium ring. The synthesized mesoporous tin oxide in this report might be advantageously used as anode materials for lithium–ion batteries, chemical sensors, catalysts and so on.

Highly ordered supermicroporous silica was synthesized by short chains cationic trimeric surfactant [C10H21N+(CH3)2(CH2)2N+(CH3)(C10H21) (CH2)2N+(CH3)2C10H21] · 3Br− (denoted C10-2-10-2-10) with a short spacer group (s = 2) as the structure-directing agent and tetraethyl orthosilicate as the precursor. The obtained samples were characterized by small-angle X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and N2 adsorption–desorption. The results showed that the pore structure of the resulting samples belonged to the two-dimensional hexagonal structure (space group 2D-p6mm) with a pore size from 1.92 to 2.16 nm, which was within the supermicroporous range. The high-quality supermicroporous silica was formed at a low molar ratio of C10-2-10-2-10 to tetraethyl orthosilicate (0.08:1), which indicated that the self-assembly ability of C10-2-10-2-10 was stronger than that of corresponding monovalent surfactants. We strictly compared the methods of calculating surface area and pore size of supermicroporous materials, and the surface area was found to be in the range of 910–1,135 m2 g−1 by the αs plot method. With the increase of hydrothermal temperature, the ordering of the supermicroporous structure increased first then decreased, at the same time the pore size was enlarged.

A series of well-ordered lamellar mesoporous molybdenum oxides were prepared using gemini surfactant [C n H2n+1N+(CH3)2–(CH2)2–N+(CH3)2C n H2n+1] · 2Br−(denoted as C n-2-n , n = 12, 14 and 16) as the structure-directing agent and ammonium heptamolybdate tetrahydrate (NH4)6Mo7O24 · 4H2O as the precursor. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, thermal analysis, transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption–desorption. Results showed that contrary to complete structure collapse after removing tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) from molybdenum oxide/TTAB composite, the lamellar mesostructure was retained after removal of C n-2-n from corresponding composite. The effects of alkyl chain length and concentration of gemini surfactants on the structure of the mesoporous molybdenum oxide were also investigated. The specific surface area of extracted sample was as high as 116 m2 g−1. The maintenance of the lamellar mesostruture was due to the strong self-assembly ability of gemini surfactants and the strong electrical interaction between gemini surfactants and molybdenum oxide.

Well-ordered lamellar mesoporous molybdenum(V/VI) oxides were prepared using gemini surfactant [C14H29N+(CH3)2-(CH2)2-N+(CH3)2-C14H29]·2Br− (denoted C14-2-14) as the structure-directing agent and ammonium heptamolybdate tetrahydrate (NH4)6Mo7O24·4H2O as the precursor. The samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and N2 adsorption–desorption. A possible arrangement of gemini surfactant in the interlayer space of molybdenum oxide was proposed. Gemini surfactant possessed better self-assembly ability than monovalent surfactant to form well-ordered mesostructures in mild conditions. The lamellar mesopore structure is retained after removal of the gemini surfactant by soxhlet extraction. The cheap and air-stable precursor provided an advantageous access to synthesize mesoporous transition metal oxides.

Using a cationic trimeric surfactant [C 14 H 29 N + (CH 3 ) 2 (CH 2 ) 2 N + (CH 3 )(C 14 H 29 ) (CH 2 ) 2 N + (CH 3 ) 2 C 14 H 29 ]·3Br − (C 14-14-2-14 ), with a short spacer group ( s = 2) as structure-directing agent and sodium silicate as precursor, high quality, ordered two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal mesoporous silica was prepared through the S + I − route (S = surfactants, I = precursor). The samples were characterized by small-angle X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N 2 adsorption–desorption. Results showed that the pore structure belonged to 2D hexagonal structure with space group P 6 mm . The mesoporous silica possessed uniform pore arrays, which pore size was about 3.0 nm. The Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) surface area was up to 1000 m 2 /g. With the decrease of hydrothermal temperature and of the molar ratio of sodium silicate to C 14-2-14-2-14 , the mesostructure of silica became more ordered. Compared with tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB), which could be taken as the monomer of C 14-2-14-2-14 , and it was also used as structure-directing agent to synthesize mesoporous silica, C 14-2-14-2-14 was a good structure-directing agent for the synthesis of mesoporous materials due to its strong assembly ability.