Search

SYW is funded by the National Scientific Foundation of China (31372187). MGR is funded by the NERC, UK (grants NE/E015255/1 and NE/J020818/1). Male-specific wing spots are usually associated with wing displays in the courtship behavior of Drosophila and may play important roles in sexual selection. Two closely related species, D. nepalensis and D. trilutea, differ in wing spots and scissoring behavior. Here we compare male morphological characters, pigmentation intensity of male wing spots, wing-scissoring behavior, courtship songs and reproductive isolation between two species. F1 fertile females and sterile males result from the cross between females of D. nepalensis and males of D. trilutea. The pigmentation of wing spots is significantly weaker in D. trilutea than in D. nepalensis and the F1 hybrid. Males scissor both wings in front of the female during courtship, with a posture spreading wings more widely, and at a faster frequency in D. nepalensis than in D. trilutea and the F1s. Males of D. trilutea vibrate wings to produce two types (A and B) of pulse songs, whereas D. nepalensis and the F1s sing only type B songs. The incidence of wing vibration and scissoring during courtship suggests that wing vibration is essential but scissoring is a facultative courtship element for successful mating in both species. The association between the darker wing spots with more elaborate scissoring might be the consequence of correlated evolution of these traits in D. nepalensis, however D. trilutea retains wing scissoring during courtship despite having weaker pigmentation of wing spots. The genetic architecture of two traits differs in the F1s, consistent with maternal or sex-linked effects for spots but non-additive effects for scissoring. Postprint

T-Ag/ZnO nanoflowers were successfully fabricated via two steps methods on zinc foil. The chemical composition of norfloxacin was investigated by FTIR spectroscopy. The morphology, composition, and structural and optical properties of the as-synthesized materials were characterized. The results show that triangular silver nanoplates exhibit unique surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption spectra, and the absorption spectrum range of ZnO nanoflowers are effectively expanded by coating triangular silver nanoplates. The photocatalytic degradation of norfloxacin activity can be obviously improved because of a synergetic effect and unique SPR of triangular silver nanoplates in the T-Ag/ZnO nanoflowers under visible light. In addition, the possible mechanism for T-Ag/ZnO nanoflowers for the photodegradation of norfloxacin are discussed. The stability of T-Ag/ZnO nanoflowers are also studied.

Norfloxacin (NF) is an effective antimicrobial drug that poses a threat to human health because of its environmental residues. In this research, ZnO nanoflowers and triangular silver nanoplates (T-Ag) were synthesized using a facile sol–gel method. The synergistic photocatalytic effects of the adding different triangular silver nanoplates concentration over ZnO nanoflowers on the NF removal under visible light was studied for the first time. Photodegradation results demonstrated that T-Ag could significantly enhance the activity of ZnO nanoflowers. The degradation efficiency of NF by T-Ag/ZnO nanoflowers was affected in the different water matrices, including ultra-pure, tap, and river water. The effects of the dosage of ZnO nanoflowers, initial NF concentration, and pH on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoflowers were also explored. The results show that the highest rate constant for the degradation of NF is obtained with 1 mg L −1 of T-Ag, 0.1 g L −1 of ZnO, initial NF concentration of 10 mg L −1 , and pH of 11 in ultra-pure water. The possible mechanism of the photocatalytic degradation of NF using T-Ag/ZnO nanoflowers through the addition of scavenger agents (i.e., EDTA and methanol) was also studied.

In some tunnels of railway lines located in water-rich region, due to the long-term water leakage and erosion, the foundation of railway lines showed large uneven settlement deformation, so the above concrete roadbed slabs also experienced uneven settlement accordingly. The smoothness of railway tracks diminished, and the speed of passing trains had to be limited to ensure safety. To restore the smoothness of the tracks, a dedicated polymer injection technology for quick uplift rehabilitation of uneven settlement concrete roadbed slabs was studied on site just within the specified daily skylight time (about 3 hours every day) of the railway lines. A hydrophobic polymer with low-viscosity, quick-setting and high-strength properties was used for injecting, filling and uplifting the concrete slabs in water-rich foundations. The high-precision electronic levels were adopted to monitor rising height of the tracks in real time. After rehabilitation, the filling quality of polymer injection under roadbed slabs was examined using Φ50 mm core samples and the strength of hardened polymer was verified by compressive strength test. Results indicated that the polymer could uplift the concrete roadbed slabs effectively and restore the smoothness of railway tracks accurately even in the water-rich environment. The research can provide some valuable references for quick rehabilitation of uneven settlement concrete roadbed slabs in water-rich tunnels.

Reactions of 3-(2-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)pyrazole (H2Meppz) with different iron salts and bases in solutions lead to compounds [Fe(HMeppz)2Cl] (1) and [Na3Fe6O(OH)7(Meppz)6] (2). These two compounds are then structurally characterized. In mono-nuclear complex 1, iron(III) ion has a square-pyramidal geometry. The mono-nuclear units are further inter-connected by the hydrogen bonds between the N–H of pyrazole ring and the halogen of neighboring molecule to form ladder-like 1D chain. In contrast, substituting the chloride salt with acetate salt, a hexa-nuclear iron(III) cluster 2 is obtained. In 2, the octa-hedral iron ions are interacted with eachother by the hydroxyl bridges, and stabilized by the fully deprotonated Meppz2– ligands. In addition, the magnetic properties of compound 2 had been investigated. Magnetic analysis indicates the presence of antiferromagnetic interactions within the Fe6 cluster.

This study investigates the synergistic effect of combining multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and Fe2O3nanoparticles on thermal conductivity of nanofluid. Results show that low percentage hybrid fillers loading improve thermal conductivity of water based nanofluid, due to the good dispersion and interfacial adhesion, which is confirmed by scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, the hybrid fillers provide synergistic effect on heat conductive networks. The thermal conductivity enhancement of water based nanofluid containing 0.05 wt % MWNTs and 0.02 wt % Fe2O3nanoparticles is 27.75%, which is higher than that of nanofluid containing 0.2 wt % single MWNTs or Fe2O3nanoparticles.

Kruppel-like factor 8 (KLF8) plays important roles in cell cycle and oncogenic transformation. On other hand, androgen receptor (AR) is crucial in development of both androgen-dependent and independent prostatic malignancies. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of KLF8 in prostate cancer (PCa) and the relationship between KLF8 and AR. Eight human PCa cell lines, including androgen-dependent LNCap cells and androgen-independent 22Rv1 cells, as well as human PCa samples were studied. LNCap cells and 22Rv1 cells were transfected with plasmids encoding full-length wild-type KLF8 or KLF8 shRNA. The expression of KLF8 protein was detected using Western blotting or immunohistochemical staining. Cell proliferation in vitro was measured with MTT assay, and in vivo in a xenograft nude mouse model. Yeast two-hybrid screening, co-immunoprecipitation and pull down assays were used to examine the binding of KLF8 to AR. Luciferase reporter gene assay was used to measure the transcriptional activity of the genes targeted by AR. In 133 human PCa samples, KLF8 protein staining was observed in 92.65% (63/68) of high-grade PCa, 66.15% (43/65) of low-grade PCa, and 6.82% (3/44) of adjacent normal tissues. The expression of KLF8 was significantly associated with poorer overall survival. Overexpression of KLF8 enhanced the proliferation of both LNCap and 22Rv1 cells, while knockdown of endogenous KLF8 suppressed the proliferation. These manipulations exerted similar effects on the tumor volumes in the xenograft nude mouse model. Yeast two-hybrid screening revealed that KLF8 was a novel AR-interacting protein. With pull down assay and co-immunoprecipitation assay, we demonstrated that KLF8 bound directly to AR, and KLF8 enhanced AR target gene transcription. The results demonstrate that KLF8 is a novel AR transcriptional co-activator that is overexpressed in PCa and may play a role in progression of hormone-refractory PCa.

There is a close relationship between the stability of vehicle and the suspension. In this paper, an air spring suspension stability model is established by MATLAB/Simulink based on vehicle stability theories. This air spring suspension stability model is used to analyze the performance of air spring suspension and the stability of vehicle by the simulation of gyratory motion and linear motion, after that real vehicle tests is performed, the contrast between them will be used to judge the accuracy and effectiveness of the air spring suspension stability model. In this paper, some original data come from a sedan. The data of this paper has proved the vehicle installing the cylindrical air spring suspension, has a good stability performance.

In order to improve the precision of revolution-modulation north-finder, a filtering method based on wavelet de-noising method is studied. The continuous revolution in constant rate is used to modulate the output signals of gyroscopes and accelerometers, and the signals are demodulated by using the integrated method. The filtering method based on wavelet de-noising method is used to filter the signals of gyroscopes. The disturbance is filtered by maximum modulus, whose Lipschitz exponent is bigger than zero. The mean value of non-maximum modulus adjacent to the selected maximum modulus is used to alternate the maximum value. The noise is filtered by soft-thresholding, whose Lipschitz exponent is smaller than zero. The experimental results show the filtering method based on wavelet de-noising method effectively restrains the effect of random drift of gyroscopes and disturbance of system, and improves the precision of the revolution-modulation north-finder.

The product from reaction of lanthanum chloride heptahydrate with salicylic acid and thioproline, [La(Hsal)2·(tch)]·2H2O, was synthesized and characterized by IR, elemental analysis, molar conductance, thermogravimatric analysis and chemistry analysis. The standard molar enthalpies of solution of LaCl3·7H2O (s), [2C7H6O3 (s)], C4H7NO2S (s) and [La(Hsal)2·(tch)]·2H2O (s) in a mixed solvent of absolute ethyl alcohol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and 3 mol·L−1 HCl were determined by calorimetry to be ΔsHm⊖[LaCl3·7H2O (s), 298.15 K] = (−102.36±0.66) kJ·mol−1, ΔsHm⊖[2C7H6O3 (s), 298.15 K] = (26.65±0.22) kJ·mol−1, ΔsHm⊖[C4H7NO2S (s), 298.15 K] = (−21.79±0.35) kJ·mol−1 and ΔsHm⊖{[La(Hsal)2·(tch)]·2H2O (s), 298.15 K}= (−41.10±0.32) kJ·mol−1. The enthalpy change of the reaction LaCl3·7H2O (s)+2C7H6O3 (s)+C4H7NO2S (s) = [La(Hsal)2·(tch)]·2H2O (s)+3HCl (g)+5H2O (l) (Eq. 1) was determined to be ΔrHm⊖= (41.02±0.85) kJ·mol−1. From date in the literature, through Hess' law, the standard molar enthalpy of formation of [La(Hsal)2·(tch)]·2H2O (s) was estimated to be ΔfHm⊖{[La(Hsal)2·(tch)]·2H2O (s), 298.15 K}= (−3017.0±3.7) kJ·mol−1.

In the title compound, 2C5H7N2+·C7H4O6S2−, the ions are linked by six N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into layers parallel to the (100) plane. The adjacent layers are cross-linked into a double layer by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

We evaluated the combined effect of As(2)O(3) and ionizing radiation on cultured renal carcinoma cells. The cells receiving both As(2)O(3) and radiotherapy had more DNA damage, more apoptosis, more reactive oxygen species produced, more cells in G(2)/M phase, and a lower mitochondrial membrane potential than cells treated with As(2)O(3) only or with radiotherapy only (for all comparisons, p < .05). Renal carcinoma cells can be sensitized to ionizing radiation with As(2)O(3), and combining As(2)O(3) and radiation had larger effects than As(2)O(3) only or radiation only.

To control chlorine concentration stable in case of changeable hydraulic conditions with the method of input-output model, the situation that flow changed largely in water distribution systems was analyzed. The principle of homologous coverage and the expression that was to evaluate the influence of homologous coverage on node response matrix were proposed. The coverage region was decomposed into two regions named influenced region and reflowed region. Iteration was presented after analyzing the properties of output time series, and calculation procedures for stable control of chlorine concentration in water distribution systems were also proposed. After evaluating an example network, the method of setting boosters in reflowed region showed better control on single node, and the capacity of stable control could be improved when the ratio about operation time of tank and pump was reduced. Achieving coverage and dosing in reflowed region could obtain better stable control of chlorine concentration in water distribution systems.

To study the effects of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on the adhesiveness and invasiveness of prostate cancer cells.We determined the effect of IFN-gamma on the adhesiveness of prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and PC-3 by treating the plate with fibronectin and laminin, on the invasiveness of prostate cancer cells into the artificial basal membrane consisting of Matrigel and fibronectin using the Transwell chamber, and on the expression of annexin-2 in these cells by Western blot.The adhesion rates of prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and PC-3 were 21% and 23% in the IFN-gamma treatment group, significantly lower than 46% and 40% in the untreated group (P0.05). The invasiveness of the cells was markedly decreased in the former as compared with the latter (P0.05). IFN-gamma significantly inhibited the expression of annexin-2 in prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and PC-3 (P0.05).IFN-gamma can decrease the adhesiveness and invasiveness of the prostate cancer cell line by down-regulating the expression of annexin-2.

The standard talc sample was fused with Na2CO3 and Na2B4O7 and then the fused disc was dissolved with HCl solution. SiO2, MgO, Al2O3, Fe3O2 and CaO in talc samples were determined simultaneously by ICP-AES. The optimum analytical line with high sensitivity and low spectral interference were carefully chosen. The sources and properties of the interference were discussed. The recoveries for these elements were 98.8%-104.4%, with precision of 0.12%-2.4% RSD (n = 6). The results of major and minor components in talc samples by this method were in agreement with those provided by the standard method.

The asymmetric unit of the title structure, C3H5N2+·C7H5O6S−, consists of an imidazolium cation and a sulfosalicylate anion connected via an N—H⋯O hydrogen bond. In the crystal structure, inter­molecular hydrogen bonds and π–π stacking inter­actions [with centroid–centroid distances of 3.655 (2)–4.075 (2) A] link the mol­ecules into a three-dimensional framework.

The anion of the title compound, 2C6H13N4+·C6Cl2O42−·4H2O, is centrosymmetric. The crystal structure is stabilized by a network of inter­molecular hydrogen bonds. The solvent water mol­ecules are disordered, each with approximate 2:1 occupancy of two positions.