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In order to explore the best packaging form and storage method of rice-wheat mixed steamed bread, the effects of breathable packaging, deoxidized packaging and sealed packaging on the quality of rice-wheat mixed steamed bread were studied by analyzing the microbial content, moisture content, texture characteristics and sensory properties of steamed bread after steaming. The results showed that the moisture content, elasticity and hardness of steamed bun were the fastest, and the sensory score was the lowest. In the whole storage, the moisture content and hardness of deoxidized steamed bread were slightly less than that of sealed steamed bread, and the elasticity was greater than that of sealed steamed bread. When stored at 25 ℃, the total number of bacterial colonies in aerated, deoxidized and sealed steamed buns exceeded 6 lg CFU/g at 1, 6 and 3 d, respectively. The mold count exceeded the national standard GB/T 21118-2007 200 CFU/g on days 2, 5 and 4, and the sensory quality deteriorated on days 1, 3 and 5. When stored at 4 ℃, sealed, deoxidized and breathable steamed buns were stored at 8, 14 and 12 days, respectively, the total number of colonies exceeded 6 lg CFU/g at 8, 14 and 12 days, the mold count exceeded GB/T 21118-2007 200 CFU/g at 10, 12 and 10 days, and the sensory quality deteriorated at 8, 12 and 10 days. Therefore, the low-temperature storage form of deoxidized packaging makes the steamed bread have better storage quality.

With the continuous development of modified starch, people's demand for the functional characteristics, safety, and convenience of modified starch has increased significantly. Pre-gelatinized starch (PGS) is a type of starch modified by physical methods, which is a modified starch particle without obvious crystallization obtained by rapid dehydration and drying after starch gelatinization. PGS has a porous and hydrogen-bonded fracture structure, which has the advantages of good cold water solubility, strong water retention ability and high viscoelasticity. Cold water can be mixed into paste during application, eliminating the step of heating and gelatinization. Therefore, as a biodegradable raw material with excellent performance, PGS has important application value in the fields of flour products, low-temperature meat products, condiments and other leisure starch-based foods. This paper briefly introduces the definition, preparation methods, properties, and influencing factors of PGS performance, focuses on the current application status of PGS in starch-based foods, and points out the future research direction of PGS in the field of food, aiming to provide some references for promoting the application of PGS in the food industry.

Starch provides essential calories for the body's vital activities, but it usually has a high glycemic index. The digestion of starch tends to lead to a steep increase in blood sugar levels, insulin resistance and health risk. The digestibility of starch is related to its multi-scale structure. The regulations of starch digestibility can be achieved by altering its multi-scale structure through the modifications. However, the physical modification has received more and more attention due to its safety, simplicity and environmental friendliness. Based on this, the digestibility of starch is outlined. The relationship between the multi-scale structure and digestive properties of starch is analyzed. The digestive properties of starch regulated by physical modifications, such as hydrothermal treatment, microwave, extrusion, high-pressure homogenization, ultrasonic, cold plasma and physical encapsulation are reviewed. The future research directions on starch digestibility are also provided.

In order to investigate the effects of different degrees of substitution (DS) on physicochemical properties of rice starch malate and on the quality of noodles, rice starch malate with different degrees of substitution (DS=0~0.603) was prepared. The solubility, swelling, gelatinization and rheological properties of rice starch malate were investigated, as well as its improvement effect on the cooking characteristics, texture characteristics and sensory characteristics of noodles. The results indicated that a new absorption peak appeared at a spectral wavenumber of approximately 1720 cm−1 on the infrared spectrum curve of malic acid starch esters. After esterification, the solubility of starch significantly increased (P

Soymilk is an ideal plant protein drink with rich nutritional value and can prevent and control diseases such as hyperlipidemia, hypertension, atherosclerosis, iron deficiency anemia, etc. Regular consumption can promote and protect human health, and can even be used as a high-quality food for the prevention of new crowns. However, the naturally occurring legume odor in soybeans reduces the acceptance of consumers, but also limits the further development of soybean products. This paper presents a systematic review of the volatile compounds (aldehydes, alcohols, furans, ketones) that can contribute to soybean milk legume odor and the reaction pathways leading to their formation, and further elaborates on the impact of legume odor on the development of soy milk. Subsequently, the development status of soymilk deodorization process is discussed from four aspects: Physical, chemical, biological, and masking, and the problems existing in the current soymilk deodorization research as well as the future research direction are summarized and prospected, with a view to providing theoretical basis for the development of low or no-soymilk deodorization soybean products and the promotion of soybean consumption.

Abstract Homotypic membrane fusion of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is mediated by dynamin-like GTPase atlastin (ATL). This fundamental process relies on GTP-dependent domain rearrangements in the N-terminal region of ATL (ATLcyto), including the GTPase domain and three-helix bundle (3HB). However, its conformational dynamics during the GTPase cycle remain elusive. Here, we combine single-molecule FRET imaging and molecular dynamics simulations to address this conundrum. Different from the prevailing model, ATLcyto can form a loose crossover dimer upon GTP binding, which is tightened by GTP hydrolysis for membrane fusion. Furthermore, the α-helical motif between the 3HB and transmembrane domain, which is embedded in the surface of the lipid bilayer and self-associates in the crossover dimer, is required for ATL function. To recycle the proteins, Pi release, which disassembles the dimer, activates frequent relative movements between the GTPase domain and 3HB, and subsequent GDP dissociation alters the conformational preference of the ATLcyto monomer for entering the next reaction cycle. Finally, we found that two disease-causing mutations affect human ATL1 activity by destabilizing GTP binding-induced loose crossover dimer formation and the membrane-embedded helix, respectively. These results provide insights into ATL-mediated homotypic membrane fusion and the pathological mechanisms of related disease.

It is widely recognized that the water flow in pipes can be affected by trapped air pockets. However, the underlying air–water interactions of free flow with non-jacking downstream of the pipe are rarely investigated. There are no studies at this time that clearly elucidate the differences in pipe flow between the vacuum and the presence of air in the free flow case. To this end, the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is applied to study the air–water hydraulic dynamics in the pipe under free flow. We perform SPH simulations in several different scenarios and find that (i) the SPH method is competent to simulate both single- and two-phase flows in the pipe due to its outstanding advantages in capturing complex interfaces; (ii) only when the upstream water level is higher than the top of the pipe inlet, and the water level in the pipe rises to the top of the pipe due to air resistance, can a full pipe flow be formed; and (iii) the presence of air can cause the water to form a full pipe flow, causing a siphon-like effect that promotes pipe drainage. These results provide insights into the underlying complex air–water hydraulic properties in pipe flows. HIGHLIGHTS The smoothed particle hydrodynamics method is performed for air–water simulations of pipe drainage.; The air–water hydraulic dynamics in the pipe under free flow conditions are systematically explored by analyzing changes in the flow rate and flow state.; The results show that, contrary to the commonly recognized blocking effect of trapped air in submerged flow, air in free flow can actually facilitate pipe draining.;

Abstract Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) are employed to solve the classical compressible flow problem in a converging–diverging nozzle. This problem represents a typical example described by the Euler equations, a thorough understanding of which serves as a guide for solving more general compressible flows. Given a geometry of the channel, analytical solutions for the steady states do indeed exist, and they depend on the ratio between the back pressure of the outlet and the stagnation pressure of the inlet. Moreover, in the diverging region, the solution may branch into subsonic flow, supersonic flow, or a mixture of both with a discontinuous transition where a normal shock occurs. Classical numerical schemes with shock fitting and capturing methods have been developed to solve this type of problem effectively, whereas the original PINNs are unable to predict the flows correctly. We make a first attempt to exploit the power of PINNs to solve this problem directly by adjusting the weights of different components of the loss function to acquire physical solutions and in the meantime, avoid trivial solutions. With a universal setting yet no exogenous data, we are able to solve this problem accurately; that is, for different given pressure ratios, PINNs provide different branches of solutions at both steady and unsteady states, some of which are discontinuous in nature. For an inverse problem such as unknown specific-heat ratio, it works effectively as well.

In order to improve the quality of rice bread and reveal the effects of transglutaminase (TGase) on the quality of rice flour, rice dough and rice bread, and reveal the relationship among the indexes. The silty properties and pasting properties of TGase containing different mass fractions in rice flour, the water distribution, rheological properties and fermentation capability of rice dough, and the specific volume, gas cells and texture of bread were tested. The results showed that 0.60% TGase could improve the silty and pasting properties of rice flour, and increase the stabilization time of rice flour to 8.00±0.77 min. The peak viscosity (PV), valley viscosity (VV) and final viscosity (FV) were increased to 5801.00±30.41, 3805.67±76.14 and 5836.33±106.17 cP, respectively. Breakdown (BD) and setback (SB) of rice flour were reduced to 1990.00±128.11 and 1991.67±34.08 cP. At the same time, TGase increased the tightness of water binding, improved the rheological properties and fermentation capability of rice dough, increased S21 to 9.24%±13.07%, decreased T21 and T22 to 1.40±1.80 and 30.45±2.28 ms, and increased Hm to 8.60±0.11 mm. The porosity was increased to 50.51%±0.90%, which reduced the hardness, adhesiveness and chewiness of rice bread, improved the springiness of rice bread and improved the textural properties of rice bread. Correlation analysis showed that T23 was negatively correlated with the formation time, and Hm was positively correlated with C3, C3~C2 and VV. And BD and SB were negatively correlated, chewiness was positively correlated with C1, specific volume was positively correlated with FV and PV were positively correlated. The results showed that TGase improved the quality of rice flour, rice dough and rice bread, and there were different degrees of correlation among the improved indexes.

With economic growth and improved living standards, the incidence of metabolic diseases such as diabetes mellitus caused by over-nutrition has risen sharply worldwide. Elevated blood glucose and complications in patients seriously affect the quality of life and increase the economic burden. There are limitations and side effects of current hypoglycemic drugs, while probiotics, which are safe, economical, and effective, have good application prospects in disease prevention and remodeling of intestinal microecological health and are gradually becoming a research hotspot for diabetes prevention and treatment, capable of lowering blood glucose and alleviating complications, among other things. Probiotic supplementation is a microbiologically based approach to the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which can achieve anti-diabetic efficacy through the regulation of different tissues and metabolic pathways. In this study, we summarize recent findings that probiotic intake can achieve blood glucose regulation by modulating intestinal flora, decreasing chronic low-grade inflammation, modulating glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), decreasing oxidative stress, ameliorating insulin resistance, and increasing short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) content. Moreover, the mechanism, application, development prospect, and challenges of probiotics regulating blood glucose were discussed to provide theoretical references and a guiding basis for the development of probiotic preparations and related functional foods regulating blood glucose.

Cell-cultured meat, which is obtained by adsorbing cells on the three-dimensional scaffold, is considered a potential solution to animal welfare issues. Edible and safe cell-cultured meat scaffolds are a key part of its research. Soy protein isolate (SPI) hydrogel has a three-dimensional network structure and has been studied for L929 cell culture because of its non-toxicity and biocompatibility. However, the toughness and mechanical properties of SPI hydrogel are not enough to bear the requirements of cell cultivation. In this paper, sodium alginate (SA) was added to SPI hydrogel, and the interpenetrating network (IPN) technology was used to construct SPI-SA IPN hydrogel by transglutaminase and Ca2+ double crosslinking method. SPI-SA IPN hydrogel has excellent mechanical properties, structural stability and biodegradable performance than SPI hydrogel. The bio-compatibility and degradability of L929 and C2C12 cells on SPI-SA IPN hydrogel were studied by cytotoxicity, trypan blue and living/dead cell staining, and the growth law of the hydrogel as a scaffold for cell culture was analyzed. The results showed that L929/C2C12 cells can proliferate normally and adhere in hydrogel and have good bio-compatibility. L929 cells with size about 20–50 µm have better adhesion and growth abilities on SPI-SA IPN hydrogel than C2C12 cells with 100–300 µm. Therefore, the SPI-SA IPN hydrogel is non-toxic and supports the growth of cells in the pores of the material. This study provides a reference for the application of SPI-SA IPN hydrogels in vitro cell growth.

Rice is a food with a high starch content, comprising over 75% of its composition. However, prolonged and excessive consumption of this cereal may lead to elevated blood glucose levels, which can increase the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Butyric acid (BA), the primary energy source for colonic epithelial cells, exhibits the highest utilization rate among short-chain fatty acids, underscoring its importance for human health. In this study, rice starch butyrate (RSB) samples were synthesized using the aqueous phase process, with broken rice starch (RS) and butyric anhydride serving as the substrate. RSB samples with different degrees of substitution (DS) were produced by modulating the addition amount of butyric anhydride. The crystal structures, morphology of starch granules, pasting properties, thermal stability, and in vitro digestibilities of the RSB were investigated and compared with those of native rice starch. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed the successful incorporation of butyryl into the starch molecules. With the increase in DS, the roughness of the RSB material's surface gradually increased, leading to the deterioration of the smooth structure on certain surfaces, which resulted in the appearance of cracks and collapses. Additionally, the crystallinity diminished from 24.77% to 7.41% with increasing DS. Concurrently, in vitro digestive characterisation revealed that the percentage of resistant starch increased from 24.33% to 47.72%. Thus, this study can provide a theoretical basis for the development of novel products of amyl butyrate.

The SMP domain of E-Syts is a newly identified lipid transfer module with unclear mechanisms. Here, authors show that it uses its tip region to associate with the extremely curved or negatively charged membranes to extract and unload lipids.

Abstract Background Defect in proofreading exonuclease activity of polymerases epsilon and delta (Pols ε and δ) leads to mutagenesis and genomic instability and has been described in several cancer types. Somatic POLE exonuclease domain mutations (EDMs) have been reported in 7–12% endometrial cancers (ECs) and defined a subgroup of endometrial cancers with ultrahigh somatic mutation frequencies, high tumor infiltrated lymphocytes and favorable outcomes. Case presentation Herein, we presented a novel somatic mutation in POLE exonuclease domain associated with ultra-mutational signature and MMR deficiency in endometrial cancer. A novel POLE EDM (p.T278K) was found by a 11-gene NGS panel. The MSS status detected by the MSI test was inconsistent with the dMMR status by IHC. The loss of MSH6 expression in the tumor could be interpreted by the two nonsense mutations (p.E1234* and p.E1322*) of the MSH6 gene which may lead to truncated proteins. The T278K mutation was pathogenic identified by a 602-gene NGS panel with 27.3% of C > A substitution, 0.6% of indels, 0.6% of C > G substitution and a high TMB of 203.8 mut/Mb. Conclusions We report an endometrial cancer patient harbored a novel somatic POLE T278K mutation. This mutation was a novel pathogenic POLE EDM should be considered as “POLE (ultramutated)” in clinical practice for the molecular classification of EC.

The behavior of a droplet under shear flow in a confined channel is studied numerically using a multi-phase smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. With an extensive range of Reynolds number, capillary number, wall confinement, and density/viscosity ratio between the droplet and the matrix fluid, we are able to investigate systematically the droplet dynamics such as deformation and breakup. We conduct the majority of the simulations in two dimensions due to economical computations, while perform a few representative simulations in three dimensions to corroborate the former. Comparison between current results and those in literature indicates that the SPH method adopted has an excellent accuracy and is capable of simulating scenarios with large density or/and viscosity ratios. We generate slices of phase diagram in five dimensions, scopes of which are unprecedented. Based on the phase diagram, critical capillary numbers can be identified on the boundary of different states. As a realistic application, we perform simulations with actual parameters of water droplet in air flow to predict the critical conditions of breakup, which is crucial in the context of atomization.

The study of microswimmers’ behavior, including their self-propulsion, interactions with the environment, and collective phenomena, has received significant attention over the past few decades due to its importance for various biological and medical applications. Microswimmers can easily access micro-fluidic channels and manipulate microscopic entities, enabling them to perform sophisticated tasks as untethered mobile microrobots inside the human body or microsize devices. Thanks to the advancements in micro/nano-technologies, a variety of synthetic and biohybrid microrobots have been designed and fabricated. Nevertheless, a key challenge arises: how to guide the microrobots to navigate through complex fluid environments and perform specific tasks. The model-free reinforcement learning (RL) technique appears to be a promising approach to address this problem. In this review article, we will first illustrate the complexities that microswimmers may face in realistic biological fluid environments. Subsequently, we will present recent experimental advancements in fabricating intelligent microswimmers using physical intelligence and biohybrid techniques. We then introduce several popular RL algorithms and summarize the recent progress for RL-powered microswimmers. Finally, the limitations and perspectives of the current studies in this field will be discussed.

In order to meet the demand of high mechanical strength hydrogels in the food field, broken rice protein and sodium alginate were used as the main raw materials to prepare a food-grade broken rice protein (RP)-sodium alginate (SA) interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogels with high mechanical properties through heat treatment and ion cross-linking in this study. The mechanical properties of IPN hydrogels were adjusted by changing the concentration of rice protein (80, 100, 120, 140, 160 mg/mL) in the gel system of rice protein and sodium alginate, and the properties of the hydrogels, such as texture, rheological properties, whiteness, swelling and water content, were measured after the mixture was heated and Ca2+ cross linked. The results showed that: With the increase of the concentration of broken rice protein in the gel system, the storage modulus G', loss modulus G" and gel hardness of RP-SA IPN hydrogels increased. When the broken rice protein concentration was 140 mg/mL, the increase of gel hardness became smaller. The swelling property of hydrogels first decreased and then tended to be flat, but the water distribution was more uniform. Therefore, proper amount of broken rice protein could fill the RP-SA IPN hydrogels network very well, and the morphology of the hydrogel was not changed greatly. At the same time, the mechanical properties of hydrogels could be regulated by regulating the amount of protein added. This study provides a theoretical basis for the application of rice protein in the field of food.

With the improvement of people’s living standard, the number of patients with thromboembolism is increasing gradually. Among the existing thrombotic drugs, nattokinase attracts great attention due to its advantages of long half-life, strong specificity, small side effects, and can be taken orally directly. Based on the related research results at home and abroad, the structure features of nattokinase, the fibrinolytic activity and the mechanism of action of antithrombotic activity of NK are described. Also, the hard work in strain breeding, strain transformation for higher enzyme yield or better enzyme character and medium optimization are also summarized. Moreover, the physiological function of nattokinase are expounded. Finally, the challenges and future development trends of nattokinase application are prospected in order to provide theoretical basis for further research on nattokinase.

In order to improve the retrogradation of rice starch (RS) and the quality of rice products, soy protein isolate (SPI), whey protein isolate (WPI), and rice flour were mixed and further extruded into mixed flour. The physicochemical properties and morphology of starch of extruded rice flour (ERS) and starch of extruded mixtures of SPI, WPI, and rice flour (SPI-WPI-ERS) were analyzed. The distribution of amylopectin chain length, molecular weight, microstructure, crystallinity, short-range ordered structure, pasting properties, and thermodynamic properties of RS, ERS, and SPI-WPI-ERS were measured. The results showed that, compared with rice starch, the proportion of long-chain starch, total starch content, and molecular weight were decreased in ERS and SPI-WPI-ERS, but the proportion of short-chain and amylose content was increased. The short-range order structure was destroyed. The water absorption of ERS and SPI-WPI-ERS was much higher than rice starch at 55 °C, 65 °C, and 75 °C, but lower than that of rice starch at 95 °C. Therefore, the retrogradation characteristics of SPI-WPI-ERS were improved. The setback of rice starch products was reduced and the setback of SPI-WPI-ERS was lower than that of ERS. Overall, the retrogradation of rice starch was delayed by adding exogenous protein and extrusion technology, and the application range of rice flour in staple food products was broadened.

This paper introduces an innovative non-contact heart rate monitoring method based on Wi-Fi Channel State Information (CSI). This approach integrates both amplitude and phase information of the CSI signal through rotational projection, aiming to optimize the accuracy of heart rate estimation in home environments. We develop a frequency domain subcarrier selection algorithm based on Heartbeat to subcomponent ratio (HSR) and design a complete set of signal filtering and subcarrier selection processes to further enhance the accuracy of heart rate estimation. Heart rate estimation is conducted by combining the peak frequencies of multiple subcarriers. Extensive experimental validations demonstrate that our method exhibits exceptional performance under various environmental conditions. The experimental results show that our subcarrier selection method for heart rate estimation achieves an average accuracy of 96.8%, with a median error of only 0.8 bpm, representing an approximately 20% performance improvement over existing technologies.

In the process of data transmission in mobile ad hoc networks, it is essential to establish optimal routes from source nodes to destination nodes. However, as network density increases, this process is often accompanied by a significant rise in network overhead. To address this issue, the ND-AODV (neighborhood density AODV) protocol has been introduced, which reduces the probability of transmitting control information in high-density node environments to mitigate network overhead. Nevertheless, this may come at the cost of reduced routing accuracy, potentially leading to unnecessary resource wastage in certain scenarios. Furthermore, ND-AODV does not comprehensively consider the location of the receiving nodes, which limits its ability to reduce network overhead effectively. To overcome these limitations, this paper introduces a novel routing approach, known as CND-AODV (common neighborhood density AODV). In comparison to ND-AODV, CND-AODV offers a more comprehensive solution to the challenges posed by high-density network environments. It intelligently processes control information based on the special positioning of the receiving nodes, thereby significantly reducing unnecessary network overhead. Through simulation experiments comparing performance metrics such as throughput, packet delivery rate, and latency, the results clearly indicate that CND-AODV substantially decreases network overhead, enhancing network performance. Compared to ND-AODV, this innovative routing approach exhibits significant advantages. It provides a more efficient and reliable solution for ad hoc networks in high-density environments.

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is one of the most common metabolic diseases in old women, and supplementing estrogen through bioactive substances is one of the important ways to improve menopausal syndrome. Some studies have confirmed that soybean isoflavone has estrogenic activity, and the main active component of soybean isoflavones is isoflavone aglycones. However, few studies have investigated the improvement effect of high-purity soy isoflavone aglycones on postmenopausal osteoporosis. Thus, the effect of different doses of high-purity soybeans isoflavone aglycone on the ovariectomized female osteoporosis rat model was evaluated by oral gavage. The rats were divided into seven experimental groups including SHAM, OVX, EE, SIHP, AFDP-L, AFDP-M, and AFDP-H, which was administered for 60 days from 30 days after ovariectomy. We collected blood from the abdominal aorta of rats on the 30th, 60th, and 90th days respectively, analyzed its serum biochemistry, and took out the femur for micro-CT imaging and bone microstructure parameter analysis. Results showed that the intervention effect of AFDP-H group on osteoporosis rats at 60 and 90 days was similar to that of EE group, and superior to the OVX group, SIHP group, AFDP-L group, AFDP-M group. The AFDP-H group inhibited the decrease in serum bone markers, bone density, trabeculae quantity, trabeculae thickness, and bone volume fraction, and increased the trabecular separation caused by ovariectomy, thereby significantly improving bone microstructure. It also prevented continuous weight gain and increased cholesterol levels in female rats. This study provided theoretical to application of soybean isoflavone aglycone in the intervention of osteoporosis. and confirmed that could replace chemical synthetic estrogen drugs.

ObjectivesThe superstructure participates in the overall longitudinal bending of a ship, which leads to stress concentration in certain parts and threatens the safety of the ship's structure. The large-scale steel model test can truly reflect the structural response characteristics of superstructures. MethodsThis paper studies the structural strength of a certain ship's superstructure. Through the equivalent simplification of the main hull structure, a large-scale steel model including the superstructure and main body is designed, and structural strength model testing is carried out under hogging moment load. ResultsThe test and finite element calculation results show obvious stress concentration phenomena in the corners of the side opening groups of the superstructure and the edges of the round transitions between the sidewall and main deck. The bending efficiency of the superstructure is 0.315. ConclusionsThe results of this study can provide references for the local structural strengthening and optimal superstructure design of target ships. The simplified design method of the ship hull model provided in this paper can also serve as a reference for the design of large-scale ship models.

Soybean protein is a kind of high quality plant protein resource which has great gelatability, biocompatibility and safety. It is also one of the main sources for preparing protein-based hydrogel materials. The latest research progress of hydrogels based on soybean protein is summarized in this paper. After a brief introduction of soybean protein and its structure, the main preparation methods and gel mechanism of soybean protein hydrogels are discussed. The application of soybean protein hydrogels in food industry is summarized, the existing problems and future research directions of soybean protein hydrogels are put forward to provide theoretical basis for preparing higher performance soybean protein hydrogels and promoting its wide application in the food field.

The freeze-thaw stability of Pickering emulsion refers to the relatively stable characteristics of Pickering emulsion after undergoing a freeze-thaw cycle. In recent years, the research on the freeze-thaw stability of Pickering emulsion has been intensified. Research suggests that Pickering emulsion has a viscoelastic layer and a gel network structure that can effectively block the damage caused by ice crystals stress, and has good freeze-thaw stability. At present, Pickering emulsion is widely used in food as an active substance embedding agent, food packaging material and lipid substitute. Therefore, Pickering emulsion with freeze-thaw stability has potential commercial value. There are many factors affecting freeze-thaw stability, mainly temperature, ionic strength, particle composition, modification and preparation techniques, etc. This paper reviews the mechanism of freeze-thaw stability of Pickering emulsion and the research progress of factors affecting freeze-thaw stability. With the development of Pickering emulsion in food and various fields, the mechanism of freeze-thaw stability of Pickering emulsion based on molecular level will arouse people's interest.

Abstract The intestinal microecological environment is critical to an infant's growth. For those infants consuming milk power, it is very important to improve the intestinal microecological environment to promote the healthy growth of infants. In this paper, Milk protein hydrolysate (MPH), consisting of different proportions of proteins and small molecule peptides (5:5, 4:6, 3:7, 2:8, 1:9) were added to infant formula powder (IFP). The effects of MFP-enriched IFP addition on proliferation and metabolism of Bifidobacterium L80 were studied. Compared with MPH-free IFP, MFP-enriched IFP with 1:9 of proteins to small molecule peptides significantly enhanced the proliferation of Bifidobacterium L80, resulting in higher cell density, greater viable counts and higher titratable acidity. MFP-enriched IFP increased the content of seven organic acids and H2O2 in the system, and improved the antibacterial activity to E. coli BL21. This study suggested that MPH could be an effective addition to infant formula powder to promote the growth of Bifidobacterium, so to improve the intestinal health of infants.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become the leading cause of death, and it is critical to develop new functional foods to prevent intravascular thrombosis, the key cause of CVD. Fermented soy-based food is a good choice because of its native fibrinolytic enzyme (FE) activity. In this study, a strain that can produce a new type of fibrinolytic enzyme was selected from Chinese Douchi and identified as Bacillus licheniformis SFD-Y5 by molecular biology experiments and physiological and biochemical experiments. Single factor experiments combined with statistical experiments, including Plackett–Burman experiment, steepest ascent experiment and RSM (Box–Behnken design), were used to optimize the fermentation of FE by B. licheniformis SFD-Y5. The final FE activity was 2434.45 ± 28.49 IU/mL under optimal conditions, which is the highest FE activity produced by wild B. licheniformis so far. Further studies showed that Y5 FE is a serine metalloproteinase with good stability at alkaline pHs (pH 8.0–11.0). The results of our study could lay a foundation for the future production, molecular modification and further application in functional foods of Y5 FE.

Lipid transfer proteins (LTPs) transfer lipids between different organelles, and thus play key roles in lipid homeostasis and organelle dynamics. The lipid transfer often occurs at the membrane contact sites (MCS) where two membranes are held within 10–30 nm. While most LTPs act as a shuttle to transfer lipids, recent experiments reveal a new category of eukaryotic LTPs that may serve as a bridge to transport lipids in bulk at MCSs. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying lipid transfer and MCS formation are not well understood. Here, we first review two recent studies of extended synaptotagmin (E-Syt)-mediated membrane binding and lipid transfer using novel approaches. Then we describe mathematical models to quantify the kinetics of lipid transfer by shuttle LTPs based on a lipid exchange mechanism. We find that simple lipid mixing among membranes of similar composition and/or lipid partitioning among membranes of distinct composition can explain lipid transfer against a concentration gradient widely observed for LTPs. We predict that selective transport of lipids, but not membrane proteins, by bridge LTPs leads to osmotic membrane tension by analogy to the osmotic pressure across a semipermeable membrane. A gradient of such tension and the conventional membrane tension may drive bulk lipid flow through bridge LTPs at a speed consistent with the fast membrane expansion observed in vivo . Finally, we discuss the implications of membrane tension and lipid transfer in organelle biogenesis. Overall, the quantitative models may help clarify the mechanisms of LTP-mediated MCS formation and lipid transfer.

In this study, the polysaccharides were firstly extracted from the tamarind seeds in which the crude polysaccharides have been extracted once by hot water extraction. The structure was characterized by FTIR, SEM, and X-ray diffraction after removing protein and small molecule impurities. Furthermore, the rheological and bioactivity of tamarind seed polysaccharides (TSP) were also investigated. The results indicated that the yield of the obtained polysaccharide was 3.42%. TSP was mainly composed of glucose (45.09%), galactose (22.80%), and xylose (28.89%), while it contained characteristic structure of polysaccharides, such as –OH, pyranose, and uronic acid at 3,418, 1,150, and 1,040 cm−1 respectively, which demonstrated that it was a uronic acid heteropolysaccharide. Moreover, the XRD pattern revealed the amorphous behavior of TSP, and it was found to consist of films or “sheets” reflected by SEM. The flow behavior testing confirmed its pseudoplastic character, and the flow behavior index (n) was between 0.4539 and 0.9201. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of TSP was 40.34% at 10 mg/mL. Furthermore, TSP displayed moderate hydroxyl radical scavenging and anti-bacterial activities, owing to its special structure and composition. Overall, our results suggested that TSP could be used as a food ingredient with anti-oxidative and antibacterial activities, which provides useful information on the potential utilization of TSP in the food industry.

Although Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology is still the key transmission waveform technology in 5G, traditional channel estimation algorithms are no longer sufficient for the high-speed multipath time-varying channels faced by both existing 5G and future 6G. In addition, the existing Deep Learning (DL) based OFDM channel estimators are only applicable to Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs) in a small range, and the estimation performance of the existing algorithms is greatly limited when the channel model or the mobile speed at the receiver does not match. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel network model NDR-Net that can be used for channel estimation under unknown noise levels. NDR-Net consists of a Noise Level Estimate subnet (NLE), a Denoising Convolutional Neural Network subnet (DnCNN), and a Residual Learning cascade. Firstly, a rough channel estimation matrix value is obtained using the conventional channel estimation algorithm. Then it is modeled as an image and input to the NLE subnet for noise level estimation to obtain the noise interval. Then it is input to the DnCNN subnet together with the initial noisy channel image for noise reduction to obtain the pure noisy image. Finally, the residual learning is added to obtain the noiseless channel image. The simulation results show that NDR-Net can obtain better estimation results than traditional channel estimation, and it can be well adapted when the SNR, channel model, and movement speed do not match, which indicates its superior engineering practicability.

Excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) is an important cause of aging, and supplementing antioxidants through diet is one of the important ways to delay aging. Some studies have confirmed that rice protease hydrolysate has antioxidant activity, but was rarely been investigated on cells. Thus, commercial enzymes, alkaline enzyme, neutral enzyme, pepsin, chymotrypsin, and trypsin were selected to hydrolyze broken rice protein (BRP) to obtain the corresponding hydrolysates, which were A-broken rice protein hydrolysate (BRPH), N-BRPH, P-BRPH, C-BRPH, and T-BRPH, respectively. Then the antioxidant properties of BRPHs were evaluated by different chemical and cellular antioxidation. Molecular weight, peptide length distribution, and amino acid sequence were detected to insight into the antioxidant properties. Among BRPHs, the A-BRPH displayed the strongest hydroxyl radical scavenging activity (IC50 = 1.159 mg/ml) and metal ion-chelating activities (IC50 = 0.391 mg/ml). Furthermore, cellular antioxidation confirmed that A-BRPH significantly increased cell viability and inhibited the intracellular ROS release in both aging cells and cell-aging processes. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) results revealed that peptides with molecular weight

There is growing interest in enhancing the freeze–thaw stability of a Pickering emulsion to obtain a better taste in the frozen food field. A Pickering emulsion was prepared using a two-step homogenization method with soybean protein and maltose as raw materials. The outcomes showed that the freeze–thaw stability of the Pickering emulsion increased when prepared with an increase in soybean protein isolate (SPI) and maltose concentration. After three freeze–thaw treatments at 35 mg/mL, the Turbiscan Stability Index (TSI) value of the emulsion was the lowest. At this concentration, the surface hydrophobicity (H0) of the composite particles was 33.6 and the interfacial tension was 44.34 mN/m. Furthermore, the rheological nature of the emulsions proved that the apparent viscosity and viscoelasticity of Pickering emulsions grew with a growing oil phase volume fraction and concentration. The maximum value was reached in the case of the oil phase volume fraction of 50% at a concentration of 35 mg/mL, the apparent viscosity was 18 Pa·s, the storage modulus of the emulsion was 575 Pa, and the loss modulus was 152 Pa. This research is significant for the production of freeze–thaw resistant products, and improvement of protein-stabilized emulsion products with high freeze–thaw stability.

The aim of this research was to characterize differences and sources of volatile flavor compounds by using headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS) and principal component analysis (PCA). Three sweet cherry fruits from different cultivars (cv. Tie, Van, and Lap) and their wines that were produced by the same yeast were detected. The results showed that 27 flavor compounds were identified in cherry fruits, including 10 alcohols, 7 esters, 7 aldehydes, 2 ketones, and 1 organic acid. Twenty-three flavor compounds were identified in cherry wines, including nine esters, eight alcohols, three aldehydes, two organic acids, and one ketone. In cherry fruits, aldehydes, several alcohols, and one ketone were the most prevalent in cv. Tie, and the majority of esters and alcohols in cv. Van. After fermentation, ethanol, butanol, butanal, ethyl propionate, propionaldehyde, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone, and acetic acid increased, whereas 1-hexanol, 3-methyl-3-buten-1-ol, 1-penten-3-ol, ethyl acetate, methyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenal and hexanal decreased. Few differences were detected in the type and content of volatile compounds in cherry wines from cv. Tieton (WT) and cv. Van (WV). Almost all aldehydes are derived from cherry fruits, which cannot be produced during wine-making, and other volatile compounds are almost all produced by saccharomyces cerevisiae. The volatile compounds of cherry wines were determined by row materials and fermentation cultures. Flavor fingerprints were established by HS-GC-IMS and PCA, which provided a theoretical foundation for the evaluation and improvement of flavor quality in cherry wine-making.

Channel estimation is an important component of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The existence of virtual subcarriers leads to energy spreading in the time-domain when using Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT), resulting in poor noise reduction by the conventional Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)-based channel estimation algorithm. To tackle this problem, this paper first proposes a segmental threshold-assisted DFT-based channel estimation algorithm. The key idea is that, by utilizing the distribution characteristics of the channel and the noise components of the channel impulse response in the time-domain, different thresholds for channel estimation under different SNR conditions are set. Compared with the traditional single-threshold DFT-based algorithm, the performance of the proposed algorithm is improved. However, it still has an estimation performance floor under high SNR. Motivated by the fact that the discrete wavelet transform (DWT)-based channel estimation algorithm can achieve better estimation performance under high SNR, we propose a joint channel estimation algorithm based on DFT and DWT, which can achieve dynamic optimal selection of the two estimation methods without any prior information. Simulation results of the Wi-Fi 6 system show that the mean square error (MSE) simulation performance of the joint channel estimation algorithm is close to its theoretical approximation. It achieves the optimal estimation of MSE and BER performance across the entire SNR range compared with the separated DFT-based or DWT-based channel estimation algorithms.

Heat-soak and quick freezing could deteriorate the texture of vegetables. In this work, it was found that calcium chloride-sodium alginate (SA) could improve the appearance, brittleness, and chewiness of processed Heracleum moellendorffii (HM), a kind of popular nutritious wild vegetable in China. The effect resulted from the increase of calcium content in the vegetable, which was closely related to the ratio of calcium chloride to SA, the concentration of texture retaining agent, and soaking time significantly (P

In order to combat the impulse noise and channel time-frequency selective fading, it is essential to use channel interleavers. Among them, the block interleaver has been widely used in terrestrial broadcasting systems such as DVB-T2 and ATSC 3.0, since it can better reflect the mapping relationship of data units on time-frequency resources. Due to the limited value of the interleaving structure parameter, the existing block interleavers cannot fully exploit time and frequency diversities, which leads to a loss of partial diversity gains. To address this problem, this paper proposes a generic block interleaver for channel interleaving through jointly considering the time and frequency diversities. First, row crossing is performed according to a certain interval, which will increase the interleaving distance; then, cyclic shift is used to achieve a greater time diversity gain. The proposed method can achieve flexible parameter configuration, which can effectively increase the scalability of the parameters and make the interleaver more versatile. Theoretical analysis shows that a larger interleaving distance is obtained and the multiplicity of minimum distance is significantly reduced. The simulation results of the fixed and mobile reception scenarios in the terrestrial broadcasting systems demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed interleaver compared to existing block interleavers.

In order to meet the requirements of high system throughput, massive connectivity, and asynchronous transmission for 5G and beyond, non-orthogonal transmission techniques, including modulation techniques and multiple access techniques, have attracted a great deal of attention in both academia and industry. Traditional non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes are investigated mainly based on the orthogonal waveform, i.e., orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). However, OFDM is not the most suitable waveform for the foreseeable mMTC scenarios because it is vulnerable to carrier frequency offset (CFO). To employ the advantages of both NOMA and non-orthogonal waveforms, in this paper, we focus on NOMA transmissions with the non-orthogonal waveform modulation. Specifically, an uplink transmission scheme for pattern-division multiple access (PDMA) based on discrete Fourier transform spread generalized multi-carrier (DFT-S-GMC) modulation, DFT-S-GMC-PDMA for short, is studied. First, implementation schemes of the proposed DFT-S-GMC-PDMA in the time domain and frequency domain are presented, respectively. Second, the equivalent channel response matrix and noise formulas of both implementation schemes are derived. Furthermore, simulation results are given to show that the DFT-S-GMC-PDMA can achieve a comparable performance to PDMA based on discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM-PDMA), while the improvement of complexity is less than 3%. system performance under different equalizers and different PDMA patterns are also evaluated where neglectable performance loss is observed. Thanks to the robustness against CFO, the multiple-access interference performance of the DFT-S-GMC-PDMA scheme is about 0.5 dB superior to that of the corresponding the DFT-S-OFDM-PDMA scheme. It indicates by simulation that the proposed DFT-S-GMC-PDMA is robust to CFO at the cost of neglectable performance loss, and thus it is a more attractive candidate for the uplink transmission of mMTC.

Multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) is a basic technique which has been widely investigated for its ability to increase system capacity. However, the inter-user interference (IUI) is one of the obstacles to obtain system capacity. With the help of pre-coding technique, the IUI can be canceled or reduced at the base station (BS). Vector perturbation (VP) is one of the most celebrated precoding schemes that can approach system capacity. By perturbing users' data vector with a certain integer vector offset at the BS, the VP scheme can offer the users a higher effective signal-to-noise ratio. To reach the theory bound of VP, the BS has to select the optimal integer vector from all candidate integer vectors globally. This exhaustive search has been proved to be NP-hard, which is hard to be implemented. In this paper, we analyze several state-of-the-art modified low-complexity VP schemes and propose the subset VP (SVP) scheme to reduce the complexity of the VP. The basic principle of the SVP is that some vectors are selected as the optimal vector with high probability, whereas the others are scarcely selected. So, we try to form a subset consists of vectors with a relatively higher probability. First, we calculate the probability of all candidate vectors which have been selected as the optimal vector. Second, we propose a method to divide all vectors into several subgroups. Vectors in the same subgroup have a similar probability, whereas vectors in different subgroups have distinguished probability. Third, we build a subset that is comprised of several subgroups in which vectors have a relatively higher probability. Simulation results show that we get almost the same bit-error rate performance with a significant complexity reduction.

In recent years, Faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) transmission has been regarded as one of the key technologies for future 6G due to its advantages in high spectrum efficiency. However, as a price to improve the spectrum efficiency, the FTN system introduces inter-symbol interference (ISI) at the transmitting end, whicheads to a serious deterioration in the performance of traditional receiving algorithms under high compression rates and harsh channel environments. The data-driven detection algorithm has performance advantages for the detection of high compression rate FTN signaling, but the current related work is mainly focused on the application in the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel. In this article, for FTN signaling in multipath channels, a data and model-driven joint detection algorithm, i.e., DMD-JD algorithm is proposed. This algorithm first uses the traditional MMSE or ZFinear equalizer to complete the channel equalization, and then processes the serious ISI introduced by FTN through the deepearning network based on CNN or LSTM, thereby effectively avoiding the problem of insufficient generalization of the deepearning algorithm in different channel scenarios. The simulation results show that in multipath channels, the performance of the proposed DMD-JD algorithm is better than that of purely model-based or data-driven algorithms; in addition, the deepearning network trained based on a single channel model can be well adapted to FTN signal detection under other channel models, thereby improving the engineering practicability of the FTN signal detection algorithm based on deepearning.

Foodborne pathogens are a major source of morbidity and mortality worldwide. For this cause, exploring various effective ways of suppressing their spread is at the forefront of many research projects. The current study aims to investigate the in vitro organic acid production of S. thermophilus KLDS 3.1003 and L. bulgaricus KLDS 1.0207 strains, their in vivo suppression of and immuno-modulatory effects against E. coli ATCC 25922 and S. aureus ATCC 25923 pathogens. First, lactic and acetic acid production using three carbon sources – 1% glucose (control), 1% sucrose, and 1% fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) – was determined by HPLC. For the in vivo section, a total of 40 BALB/c mice were purchased and divided into 10 treatment groups (control and nine treatments). Animals were given 1 week to acclimatize and then fed treatment diets for 14 days. Afterward, hematological (RBC, WBC, HB, PLT, Neutrophils, Eosinophils, Lymphocytes, and Monocytes) and histopathological analyses were carried out. All analyses were done in triplicate. Results show that lactic and acetic acid productions for both strains increased with supplementation and were highest after 1% FOS addition. Regardless of carbon source, L. bulgaricus KLDS 1.0207 produced higher (P < 0.05) amounts of lactic and acetic acids than S. thermophilus KLDS 3.1003. Also, generally better hematological parameters in probiotic groups than the control (P < 0.05) were observed. In some instances, mice in probiotic treatment groups had better immunity levels (lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils) than those in the control and pathogen groups. Histopathological studies showed that no anomalies were associated with S. thermophilus KLDS 3.1003 and L. bulgaricus KLDS 1.0207 administration. In conclusion, S. thermophilus KLDS 3.1003 and L. bulgaricus KLDS 1.0207 strains are not only probiotic candidates but can have therapeutic applications.

Modulating gut microbiota to promote host health is well recognized. Therefore, people consume dietary products containing traditional probiotics in wishing to improve their health, and they need more research-based advices on how to select products with suitable probiotic species. Probiotic designers are sometimes confused about how to design precision products for different consumers by taking advantages of different probiotic species’ strengths. Additionally, large-scale analyses on traditional probiotic complementarity potentials and their roles in gut microbiome related to common diseases are not well understood. Here, we comprehensively analyzed 444 genomes of major traditional probiotic (sub) species (MTPS, n = 15) by combining one newly sequenced genome with all of the public NCBI-available MTPS-related genomes. The public human fecal metagenomic data (n = 1,815) of eight cohorts were used to evaluate the roles of MTPS, compared to other main gut bacteria, in disease association by examining the species enrichment direction in disease group or the control group. Our work provided a comprehensive genetic landscape and complementarity relations for MTPS and shed light on personalized probiotic supplements for consumers with different health status and the necessity that researchers and manufactures could explore novel probiotics as well as traditional ones.

In order to make HPI have a wide application prospect in the food industry, we used EGCG to modify HPI. In this study, we prepared different concentrations (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 mM) of (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) covalently linked to HPI and use methods such as particle size analysis, circular dichroism (CD), and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy to study the changes in the structure and functional properties of HPI after being covalently combined with EGCG. The particle size data indicated that the covalent HPI-EGCG complex was larger than native HPI, and the particle size was mainly distributed at about 200 μm. CD and three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy analyses showed that the conformation of the protein was changed by conjugation with EGCG. The β-sheet content decreased from 82.79% to 66.67% after EGCG bound to the protein, and the hydrophobic groups inside the protein were exposed, which increased the hydrophobicity of the protein and changed its conformation. After HPI and 1 mM of EGCG were covalently bonded, the solubility and emulsifying properties of the covalent complex were improved compared with native HPI. These results indicated that HPI-EGCG conjugates can be added in some foods.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a prevailing indicator to present the status and trend of sustainability of nations, hereby offers a valuable measurement on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Revealing the dynamics of the HDI of the Eastern Hemisphere countries is vital for measurement and evaluation of the human development process and revealing the spatial disparities and evolutionary characteristics of human development. However, the statistical data-based HDI, which is currently widely applied, has defects in terms of data availability and inconsistent statistical caliber. To tackle such an existing gap, we applied nighttime lights (NTL) data to reconstruct new HDI indicators named HDINTL and quantify the HDINTL at multispatial scales of Eastern Hemisphere countries during 1992–2013. Results showed that South Central Asia countries had the smallest discrepancies in HDINTL, while the largest was found in North Africa. The national-level HDINTL values in the Eastern Hemisphere ranged between 0.138 and 0.947 during 1992–2013. At the subnational scale, the distribution pattern of HDINTL was spatially clustered based on the results of spatial autocorrelation analysis. The evolutionary trajectory of subnational level HDINTL exhibited a decreasing and then increasing trend along the northwest to the southeast direction of Eastern Hemisphere. At the pixel scale, 93.52% of the grids showed an increasing trend in HDINTL, especially in the urban agglomerations of China and India. These results are essential for the ever-improvement of policy making to reduce HDI’s regional disparity and promote the continuous development of humankind’s living qualities. This study offers an improved HDI accounting method. It expects to extend the channel of HDI application, e.g., potential integration with environmental, physical, and socioeconomic data where the NTL data could present as well.

In order to improve system coverage performance, in this paper, a multi-service transmission scheme on the basis of the puncturing technique, namely layered division multiplexing extension frequency-division multiplexing (LDM-Ex-FDM), is proposed. The key idea of the proposed scheme is that the symbols punctured from the enhanced layer (EL) of fixed services will be independently transmitted on a certain number of subcarriers orthogonal to the LDM signal of the core layer (CL) and most of the EL. By doing so, the punctured symbols will be demodulated with a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on the receiver side and can be recovered well, thus improving the reception performance of the EL fixed services. Moreover, two puncturing strategies based on bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) symbols of the LDM-Ex-FDM scheme, namely equal interval symbol puncturing (EISP) and non-equal interval symbol puncturing (NEISP), are developed to improve the performance of the EL services. Simulation results are given to show that, when the puncturing rate in the LDM-Ex-FDM scheme is configured as 1/12, the performance of the fixed service can be improved by 1.8 dB, meanwhile the bit error rate (BER) performance of the mobile service is not affected. Thus, the overall system coverage performance can be improved. Furthermore, to reduce the computational complexity and the demodulation delay of fixed service carried in the EL, at the receiver, a direct interference cancellation (DIC) detector is proposed as well. Simulation results are given to show that, under high injection level and high modulation order, the proposed DIC scheme is able to achieve almost the same BER performance as that of the traditional successive interference cancellation (SIC) scheme while with lower computational complexity.

In the traditional layered division multiplexing (LDM) system, by simply adjusting the injection level, the reception performance of the core layer (CL) mobile services will be decreased significantly, resulting in the deterioration of system coverage performance. Thus, it is necessary to improve the performance of the enhanced layer (EL) service reception without affecting the reception threshold of CL service. To achieve this, in this paper, an enhanced LDM (En-LDM) scheme that supports multi-service transmission is proposed for the next-generation broadcasting network. In this scheme, at the transmitter end, part of the low-density parity-check (LDPC) coded data stream of fixed service conveyed in the EL will be extracted out through puncturing, and then, it will be transmitted over the CL of the LDM signal along with the original CL data in a frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) manner. At the receiving end, the punctured data of the EL fixed service will be recovered with a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Compared to the traditional LDM scheme, the proposed En-LDM scheme can significantly improve the reception performance of fixed services without decreasing the SNR threshold of mobile services. Moreover, the En-LDM can achieve a higher channel capacity than that of the traditional LDM for both the fixed services and the overall services. The superiority of the proposed En-LDM scheme over the traditional LDM scheme is validated by the simulation under the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and fading channels.

In reverberation chambers, the multipath channels with different delay characteristics can be generated by loading the chamber with different amounts of absorbers. This paper investigates the impacts of absorber loadings on the delay characteristics based on realistic measurements. An efficient method for estimating the root-mean-square (rms) delay spread in the chamber is presented. Furthermore, it is found that the chamber loadings also significantly affect the quality of a digitally modulated signal and the corresponding modulation quality measurements are performed.

In order to distinguish between the intrinsic modulation errors of vector signal generator and the measurement errors of vector signal analyzer,a method based on experimental measurement and analytical calculation was proposed,then numberical simulation and actual measurement were presented for verification.This method can not only improve accuracy and reliability of calibration for vector signal generator and vector signal analyzer,but also provide some theoretical basis for the establishment of traceability in the measurement of digital modulation quality parameters.

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.01.016

Neuroblastic (N) type neuroblastoma (NB) is the predominant cell type in NB tumors. Previously, we determined that activated nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) is required for doxorubicin and etoposide to kill N-type NB cells. This study was undertaken to determine how NF-κB is activated by these agents. The results show that p53 protein levels increase within 15 to 30 minutes of treatment. This increase occurs before the degradation of inhibitor of NF-κB (I-κB) a and the NF-κB-dependent activation of gene transcription. Moreover, p53 is necessary for NF-κB activation because cells with inactive p53 were resistant to NF-κB-mediated cell death. This pathway was further defined to show that p53 leads to the activation of MAPK/ERK activity kinase (MEK) 1 through a process that depends on protein synthesis and H-Ras. MEK1, in turn, mediates I-κB kinase activation. Together, these results demonstrate for the first time how NF-κB is activated in NB cells in response to conventional drugs. Furthermore, these findings provide an explanation as to why H-Ras expression correlates with a favorable prognosis in NB and identify intermediary signaling molecules that are targets for discovering treatments for NB that is resistant to conventional agents.