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Compared to colloidal quantum dots, nanostructured multilayer films may also be a promising emission layer in future light-emitting diodes, due to their excellent photoluminescence (PL), narrow full width at half-maximum (FWHM), and wide color gamut. In this paper, multilayer-structured deep-blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) were prepared, where nanostructured ZnSe/ZnS multilayer films act as the light-emitting layer. The device showed good blue electroluminescence (EL) spectrum locating at 448 nm with an FWHM of 31 nm. To improve the performance of the device, the effect of preparation parameters of different layers was investigated in detail. The results demonstrated that the preparation parameters of each layer affected the performance in different ways, and choosing the most suitable preparation parameters can achieve optimal performance. Furthermore, this multilayer-structured device based on nanostructured films as emission layer can also be applied in green and red LEDs or all-inorganic QLEDs.

The morphological, compositional and structural properties of the Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films and the device parameters of solar cells are strongly influenced by the sulfur partial pressure during the sulfurization process. To investigate the distribution of sulfur vapors along the sulfurization chamber, the uniformity of the CZTS thin films and solar cells during sulfurization process, several same samples were sequentially placed in the chamber. The device performance of CZTS thin film solar cells shows a strong correlation with the positions in the sulfurization zone and the morphologies of the CZTS thin films. An optimal position was found in the sulfurization furnace where could improve the crystallinity of CZTS thin films, reduce the formation of secondary phases, and improve the efficiency of solar cells. The best solar cell in the optimal position shows an efficiency of 3.49%, which was restrained by the Sn loss. The possible reasons for the non-uniform distribution of sulfur vapor are analyzed.

Nanostructured CePO4 thin films were prepared on silicon substrates by electron beam evaporation technique. In this work, the effects of annealing temperature on photoluminescence (PL) of CePO4 thin films were investigated. CePO4 thin films were annealed at different temperatures between 700 and 1100 °C for 30 min in nitrogen. The annealed CePO4 films show a strong ultraviolet emission at room temperature. Besides, a violet/blue emission was observed when the annealing temperature reached 1000 °C. The X-ray diffraction results show the monoclinic structure of CePO4 thin films. The scanning electron microscopy images were taken to confirm different crystallinities. The concentration of different elements was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The excellent PL emission in the annealed films indicates that the CePO4 thin films could be useful for silicon-based light sources.

This research work is devoted to studying optical properties of zinc selenide (ZnSe) thin films deposited by electron beam evaporation technique and annealed at different temperatures in a nitrogen environment. The structural analysis by X-ray diffraction confirmed that the obtained ZnSe films had cubic zinc-blende structure with preferred orientation along plane (111). Based on Swanepoel's envelope method, some important optical parameters such as absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient, refractive index and optical band gap, were evaluated through the transmission spectrum ranging from 300 to 1500 nm at room temperature. The optical band gap increased from 2.52 to 2.65 eV with the increasing annealing temperature. However, both the thickness and refractive index of the films decreased. In addition, the dispersion parameters of the refractive index and energy were also studied by using Wemple-DiDomenico single oscillator model.

The reproductive toxicity of SnS

Nanostructured ZnSe/ZnS multilayer thin films with excellent blue light emission were prepared using the electron beam evaporation technique. The structures and crystallization of the nanostructured ZnSe/ZnS multilayer thin films were studied by X-ray diffraction, which revealed a good crystallization with cubic structure of ZnSe and wurtzite structure of ZnS. The surface and inner morphologies of these films were analyzed by the Scanning Electron Microscopic and Transmission Electron Microscope, respectively. Optical transmission spectra were also investigated by UV–vis–NIR scanning spectrophotometer. Furthermore, the blue emission spectra of annealed films locating at about 440 nm were obtained, which corresponded to near band-edge emission of ZnSe. An obvious blue-shift of near band-edge emission was observed with annealing temperature increasing due to the quantum confinement effects. It is full of great potential for the nanostructured films to be used in optoelectronic devices based on outstanding blue luminescence performance.

SnS2 nanoflowers (SnS2 NFs) have been widely used in photoelectric and catalytic applications. However, its explosure and reproductive toxicity is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exposure to 3 different sized-SnS2 flowers (dose: 38 mg/kg; size: 50, 80, and 200 nm) in testes of mice for 4 weeks by intraperitoneal injection. Though the body weight of mice treated or not with SnS2 NFs was not different, and SnS2 NFs were distributed to the organs including liver, kidney, spleen, heart, brain, and testis, more distribution SnS2 NFs (50 and 80 nm) were found in testicle tissues compared with SnS2 flowers (200 nm) in those tissues. The results of sperm count and survival analysis, histopathological evaluation, and qRT-PCR detection showed that there was moderate reproductive toxicity induced by the small-sized SnS2 NFs in testicle tissues. Furthermore, elevated malondialdehyde level and decreased superoxide dismutase activity were also observed in the SnS2 NFs (dose: 38 mg/kg; size: 50 and 80 nm) treated groups. Likewise, the qRT-PCR data indicated that SnS2 NFs can induce apoptosis and inflammation responses. Although the pro-inflammation marker of TNF-α, IL-1β, iNOS, and COX-2 at the mRNA levels were higher expression in 50 and 80 nm groups than that in control and 200 nm group, no statistical significance existed between 50 and 80 nm groups. Accordingly, the repeated-dose toxicity of SnS2 NFs in testicle tissues was also observed in a dose-dependent manner by intraperitoneal injection of SnS2 NFs (size: 50 nm; 0.38, 3.8, and 38 mg/kg) for 4 weeks, when determined by sperm count, survival rate, and qRT-PCR analysis. In addition, transmission electron microscopy showed that the ultrastructural abnormalities formed by the small-sized SnS2 NFs in testes were more severe than those formed by the large-sized SnS2 in testes. Taken together, these findings implied that the SnS2 NFs activated inflammation responses that signified apoptosis in murine testes. This study provided useful information for risk analysis and regulation of SnS2 NFs by administration agencies.

Inorganic perovskites (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br and I) have aroused great interest due to their extraordinary optoelectronic properties. Despite their rapid progress, device performances are hindered by the instabilities of perovskites. Herein, we employed a thermal co-evaporation method to prepare stable and compact CsPbCl3 films. These films could maintain stability in ambient air for 12 months. The effect of annealing temperature and annealing time on the CsPbCl3 films were researched. Films had high crystallinity and luminescent intensity with 3 μm large grains at optimal annealing condition. This result provides an insightful understanding of annealing process on CsPbCl3 films, as well as to offer a valuable approach for the future of optoelectronic devices based on perovskite materials.

Inorganic lead halide perovskites have gained extensive attention in a variety of optoelectronic applications. Herein, we prepared CsPbCl3 films with high crystallinity by thermal evaporation method and attempted to produce all-inorganic CsPbCl3 violet/blue LEDs for the first time. To enhance the luminescence performance, the influence of CsPbCl3 films thickness was discussed. The turn-on voltage of the device was about 3 V and current density could reach the maximum with high brightness at forward bias of 6 V. This work not only demonstrated a facile strategy to prepare high-quality CsPbCl3 perovskite films, but also provided an important insight in blue LEDs based on CsPbCl3 materials.

Tb2O3:Er light-emitting diodes were prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method and the EL performance of the devices were studied. The crystal structure and morphology of the annealed films were investigated by XRD and SEM, respectively. The EL spectrum was achieved and the EL principle was discussed. Six emission peaks of Er[Formula: see text] located at 402, 517, 548, 649, 691, and 1,538[Formula: see text]nm were observed, achieving energy transfer from Tb[Formula: see text] to Er[Formula: see text]. In order to study the effect of Er+ doping concentration, the doping concentrations of Tb2O3:Er films were from 5[Formula: see text]at.% to 20[Formula: see text]at.%. The effect on electroluminescence intensity of doping concentration was investigated and the optimal doped concentration was 15[Formula: see text]at. %.

Tin sulfide (SnS2) nanoflowers (NFs) with highly photocatalytic activity for wastewater treatment may lead to potential health hazards via oral routes of human exposure. No studies have reported the hepatic effects of SnS2 NFs on the metabolic function and hepatotoxicity. In this study, we examined the hepatic effects of the oral administration of SnS2 NFs (250-1000 mg/kg) to ICR mice for 14 days, with the particle size ranging from 50 to 200 nm. Serum and liver tissue samples were assayed using biochemical analysis, liver histopathology and metabolic gene expression. The different sizes of SnS2 NFs (250 mg/kg dose), such as 50, 80, and 200 nm, did not induce any adverse hepatic effect related to biochemical parameters or histopathology in the treated mice compared with controls. The oral administration of 50-nm SnS2 NFs at doses of 250, 500, and 1000 mg/kg for 14 days produced dose-dependent hepatotoxicity and inflammatory responses in treated mice. Furthermore, the expression of metabolic genes in the liver tissues was altered, supporting the SnS2 NF-related hepatotoxic phenotype. The oral administration of SnS2 NFs also produced abnormal microstructures in the livers of the treated mice. Taken together, these data indicate that the increased risk of hepatotoxicity in SnS2 NF-treated mice was independent of the particle size but was dependent on their dose. The no-observed-adverse effect level was

Adapting daily meteorological data provided by China International Exchange Station, and using principal component analysis of meteorological index for dimension reduction comprehensive, the regression analysis model between PM2.5 and comprehensive index is established, by making use of Eviews time series modeling of the comprehensive principal component, finally puts forward opinions and suggestions aim at the regression analysis results of using artificial rainfall to ease haze.

Copper Iodide (CuI) thin films were prepared by iodination technique. The transmission spectrum showed band gap of prepared CuI thin film was 3.0 eV. A main emission at 404 nm (near-band emission), a defect emission at 412 nm (CBM→VCu) and another defect emission at 710 nm (VI→CuI) were found in photoluminescence spectrum. Transition mechanism of CuI was proposed by low-temperature photoluminescence spectrum. Emission at 412 nm is greatly affected by ambient temperature. The results show that the thermal activation at room temperature inhibits the emission at 412 nm, and the inhibition decreases when the temperature dropped, resulting in an increase in emission intensity at 412 nm and a decrease in emission intensity at 710 nm.

After radio- and chemo-therapy, human tumors display many dead eukaryotic cells with pyknotic nuclei. But amitotic metakaryotic cells with hollow, bell-shaped nuclei appear unaffected as expected of treatment-resistant cancer stem cells. These same phenomena may be observed in vitro using any of many tumor- or metastasis-derived cell lines, for which their immortality is conferred by the presence of amitotic, metakaryotic cancer stem cells. About 5% of human colonic adenocarcinoma-derived HT-29 cells in exponential growth are immortal metakaryotic stem cells that increase by symmetric amitoses and continuously create mortal mitotic eukaryotic cells by asymmetric amitoses. Two assays for agents/conditions lethal to metakaryotic stem cells have been devised: (1) microscopic recognition of necrotic metakaryotic nuclei; and (2) survival of cells forming large immortal colonies visibly containing metakaryotic stem cells in vitro. X-rays and chemotherapeutic agents (i.e., alkylating agents, antimetabolites, and mitocides) kill eukaryotic cells, but not metakaryotic cells, at doses commonly used in cancer therapy. In contradistinction, multiple classes of common drugs are preferentially cytotoxic to metakaryotic stem cells including NSAIDS, antibiotics, and drugs used to treat diabetes or hypertension. Given lesion penetration and treatments of sufficient duration, regimens using multiple metakaryocidal drugs offer means to treat and prevent cancers.

Physical exercise is considered to exert a positive effect on health, whereas strenuous or excessive exercise (Exe) causes fatigue and damage to muscle and immune functions. The underlying molecular mechanisms are still unclear. We designed a protocol to mimic Exe and explore the ensuing cellular damage and involvement of mitochondrial dynamics. We found that Exe was prone to decrease endurance capacity and induce damage to renal function and the immune system. Muscle atrophy markers atrogin-1 and MuRF1 mRNA were increased by Exe, accompanied by increased autophagy and mitochondrial fission in skeletal muscle. Exe caused a decrease in PGC-1α and complex I expression; it also activated JNK and Erk1/2 pathways and consequently induced p53, p21, and MnSOD expression in skeletal muscle. The involvement of oxidant-induced autophagy and mitochondrial dysfunction was confirmed in C2C12 myoblasts. Hydroxytyrosol (HT), a natural olive polyphenol, efficiently enhanced endurance capacity and prevented Exe-induced renal and immune system damage. Also, HT treatment inhibited both the Exe-induced increase in autophagy and mitochondrial fission and the decrease in PGC-1α expression. In addition, HT enhanced mitochondrial fusion and mitochondrial complex I and II activities in muscle of Exe rats. These results demonstrate that Exe-induced fatigue and damage to muscle and immune functions may be mediated via the regulation of mitochondrial dynamic remodeling, including the downregulation of mitochondrial biogenesis and upregulation of autophagy. HT supplementation may regulate mitochondrial dynamic remodeling and enhance antioxidant defenses and thus improve exercise capacity under Exe conditions.

To investigate the protective effects, and the mechanisms involved, of an extract of the medicinal herb radix paeoniae rubra (PE) on cardiovascular disease, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was induced by ligation of the left coronary artery in Sprague Dawley rats. Animals were randomly divided into six groups: control, sham-operated, AMI, AMI+PE low dose, AMI+PE high dose, and AMI+positive control. Myocardial enzymes, cytokines, oxidative stress, blood coagulation times, a marker for early stage apoptosis, caspase-3 activity, and expression levels of bax, bcl-2 and fas in isolated primary cardiomyocytes were examined. In contrast with control and sham groups, significant increases in the following parameters were measured in the blood of AMI group animals: activities of cardiac enzymes including glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, creatine kinase, creatine kinase-MB, lactate dehydrogenase, α-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase, and levels of IL-10, TNFα, and lipid peroxidation. Under the same conditions, superoxide dismutase activity, thrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time decreased significantly. PE showed a dose-dependent protection against AMI-induced alterations in cardiac enzymes, cytokines, oxidative stress, and coagulation. In AMI cardiomyocytes, compared with control and sham groups, the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, early stage apoptosis, caspase-3 activity and expression levels of bax, bcl-2 and fas significantly increased, while the ratio bcl-2/bax decreased. PE showed dose-dependent protection. These results suggest that PE is an effective agent for protecting against AMI; possible mechanisms may include the regulation of cardiac enzymes, cytokines, oxidative stress, coagulation and apoptosis.

DNA can be used to create a very soft gel with liquid-like properties that can return to a preset solid shape when water is added.

To the problems of online real-time temperature inspecting of the electric cable interface, this paper designs an inspecting and alarming system based on AT89C51 single chip. The hardware circuit of this system is composed of collector, host control machine and PC. Through the key courses of collection, storage, conversion and transmission, the temperature data of electric cable interface is sent to real-time show and alarm, thus achieves inspecting and alarming for the interface of electric cable and prevents the fire effectively.

In order to realize that the staff can control the distal lighting equipment's state and status query timely and effectively in the control room, we developed a remote light control box system based on AT89C51 MCU (Micro Control Unit). This system is composed of two major parts such as the software design and the hardware design. Put out control signals by AT89C51, and signal through ULN2803 amplifies current to drive relays, for controlling lighting equipment control. Software via RS-485 bus transfers instructions serially, and outputs control signals. The system bus via RS-485 communicates with the PC host computer, to achieve long-range, multi-node control.

RNA-binding protein QKI, a member of the Signal Transduction and Activation of RNA family, is found to be essential in the blood vessel development and postnatal myelination in central nervous system (Woo et al., Oncogene 28:1176-1186, 2009; Lu et al., Nucleic Acids Res 31(15):4616-4624, 2003; Bohnsack et al., Genesis 44(2):93-104, 2006). However, its wide expression pattern suggests other fundamental roles in vivo (Kondo et al., Mamm Genome 10(7):662-669, 1999). To facilitate the understanding of QKI function in various systems, we prepared the polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies against QKI. To obtain the antigen, recombinant His-tagged QKI was expressed in Escherichia coli and highly purified by Ni(2+)-chelated column combined with hydrophobic and ion exchange methods. Following three types of immunizations with different adjuvants, including Freund's, PAGE gel, and nitrocellulose membrane, only the antiserum produced with Freund's adjuvant is effective for Western blot detection. Several McAb clones are able to recognize both endogenous and over-expressed QKI with high affinity in Western blot and immunofluorescence. The specificity of Ab was validated as weakening, and no specific signals were observed in cells with QKI knocking down. Immunohistochemistry analysis further showed positive staining of QKI in kidney where QKI mRNA was abundantly expressed, ensuring the wide applications of the QKI Abs in the ongoing mechanistic studies.

Aimed to solve the problem of low classification accuracy caused by poor distribution estimation by training naive bayes document classfier on word clusters, we build a sequential word list based on mutual information between words and their semantic cluster labels, then construct a sample set of the same size with the word list through bootstrap sampling and use the average of the corresponding parameters estimated from the sample set as the last parameter to classify unknown documents. Experiment results on benchmark document data sets show that the proposed strategy gains higher classification accuracy comparing to naive bayes documents classifier on word clusters or on words.

To the problems of online real-time temperature inspecting of the electric cable interface, this paper designs an inspecting and alarming system based on AT89C51 microcontroller. The hardware circuit of this system is composed of collector, host control machine and PC. Through the key courses of collection, storage, conversion and transmission, the temperature data of electric cable interface is sent to real-time show and alarm, achieves inspecting and alarming for the interface of electric cable and avoids the happenings of fire effectively.

To implement a function of detecting phase change at a high precision in MIT system, a phase-change- detecting unit based on RF Lock-in Amplifier SR844 was designed at the frequency of 1 MHz. The unit provided a gain range of 3.52 dB ~ 61.1 dB and a phase resolution by 0.02 deg. And an experiment with neuron cell model from SD rat cortex was made to detect phase change produced by edema neuron cell model and normal neuron cell model respectively. The results of the experiment showed that the phase change produced by edema neuron cell model was smaller than that by normal neuron cell model and that the unit had good capability of detecting the phase change produced by edema neuron cell model and normal neuron cell model effectively. These may be of great help for further cerebral edema-detecting work.

Human Apr3 was first cloned from HL-60 cells treated by ATRA. In this study, we further demonstrated that Apr3 could be obviously upregulated by ATRA in many other ATRA sensitive cells, suggesting a common role of Apr3 in ATRA effects. Indirect immunofluorescence assay indicates that Apr3 is a membrane protein, while its truncated form without the predicted transmembrane and intracellular domain, was likely a secreted one. Furthermore, FACS analysis showed that Apr3 overexpression could cause an obvious G1/S phase arrest which might be induced by dramatic reduction of cyclin D1 expression. Strikingly, the truncated Apr3 antagonized the negative role of Apr3 on cell cycle and cyclin D1. Taken together, our data suggest that Apr3 should play an important role in ATRA signal pathway and the predicted transmembrane and/or the intracellular domain mediates Apr3 membrane localization and is vital for the negative regulation on cell cycle and cyclin D1.

Sefrioui introduced the Nash Genetic Algorithm in 1998.This approach combines genetic algorithms with Nash's idea. Another central achievement of Game Theory is the introduction of an Evolutionary Stable Strategy, introduced by Maynard Smith in 1982. In this paper, we will try to find ESS as a solution of MOPs using our game model based co-evolutionary algorithm.We present A Game model based co-evolutionary algorithm (GMBCA) to solve this class of problems and its performance is analyzed in comparing its results with those obtained with four others algorithms. Finally, the GMBCA is applied to solve the nutrition decision making problem to map the Pareto-optimum front. The results in the problem show its effectiveness.

DNA can be used to create a very soft gel with liquid-like properties that can return to a preset solid shape when water is added.

Background & Aims Colon cancer is one of the best understood neoplasms from a genetic perspective, yet it remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death. Post-transcriptional regulation mediated by RNA-binding proteins or microRNAs coordinately targets multiple genes, holding promise involved in colon cancer initiation and development. Here we studied the role of RNA-binding protein quaking (QKI) in colon cancer. Methods We observed the expression pattern of QKI in normal colon and colon cancers through reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. Bisulfite sequencing and methylation-specific PCR were applied for QKI promoter methylation analysis. We used enterocyte differentiation markers and soft agar assay to test the role of QKI in colon differentiation and colon cancer development. 3′ Untranslated region (UTR) reporter assay and RNA-immunoprecipitation were used to confirm the interaction between QKI and β-catenin or p27. Results QKI is significantly down-regulated and even absent in some colon cancers, which is at least partially because of the promoter hypermethylation. Forced expression of QKI in the colon cancer cells increased the expression of enterocyte differentiation marker intestinal alkaline phosphatase and lactase, together with the enhancement of p27Kip1 protein level, and membrane localized β-catenin. Finally, QKI overexpression reduced the proliferation and tumorigenesis ability. Conclusions Our study establishes that QKI functions as a principal regulator in the differentiation of colon epithelium and a suppressor of carcinogenesis through coordinately targeting multiple genes associated with cell growth and differentiation, whose deregulation by methylation is involved in colon cancer onset and progress.

APR3 (apoptosis related protein 3) is a novel gene highly conserved across species. Analysis of the data about APR3 available at GEO profiles revealed consistent and significant changes of APR3 expression level in certain developmental and inflammatory processes. Based on the search and analysis of all the submitted mRNA sequence, we postulated that the two transcripts may arise from separate promoter activities rather than previously assumed alternative splicing. Through reporter assay and PCR data, we identified the distinct promoters for the two transcripts of APR3. Furthermore, exogenous expression of a constitutively active mutant of transcription factor NFAT was able to enhance both the promoter activities of APR3. Sequential deletion of the promoter from the 5' side and mutation of the promoter suggested the functional NFAT binding sites might localize between -96 bp and -47 bp. In contrast, exogenous expression of a constitutively active mutant of the transcription factor NFkB inhibited APR3 transcription. Our data suggested that APR3 might be functionally important in certain processes under which NFAT and/or NFkappaB are/is activated.