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Whitening cosmetics market has a bright future, and pure natural whitening products of traditional Chinese medicine have always been a research hotspot. In this research, the whitening active ingredient of Chinese medicine Trichosanthes pulp was isolated and purified for the first time, and its whitening mechanism was clarified. Chromatographic methods such as silica gel, ODS, and HPLC were used to isolate and purify them. B16 cells were used to measure the antioxidant activity, tyrosinase activity, and melanin removal activity. A total of 20 compounds were isolated, including p-hydroxybenzaldehyde (1), salicylic acid (2), vanillic acid (3), isovanillic acid (4), protocatechuate (5), trans-cinnamic acid (6), 4-coumaric acid (7), trans-ferulic acid (8), drechslerol-B (9), cyclotucanol 3-palmitate (10), 5-acetoxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (11), 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (12), diosmetin (13), apigenin (14), chrysoeriol (15), luteolin (16), 4′-hydroxyscutellarin (17), quercetin (18), 3′,5-dihydroxy-7-(β-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-4′-methoxyflavone (19), and cofloxacin-7-O-β-D-glucoside (20). Among them, compounds 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 have good antioxidant repairing effects; compounds 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 have high black inhibition; compounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 have obvious tyrosine acidase inhibitory activity. The results laid foundation for the further development and utilization of Trichosanthes pulp resources and also provide a basis for the development of natural whitening cosmetics.

From the viewpoint of earth system science, this paper discusses the observation capability of the second-generation of Chinese polar-orbiting, sun-synchronous operational meteorological satellite observation systems, Fengyun-3 (FY-3), based on the function and performance test results from the FY-3D satellite observation system in orbit. The FY-3 series of satellites have numerous remote sensing instruments and a wide range of imaging and sounding electromagnetic spectrometers onboard. These instruments can obtain reflectivity data for land surface, soil, vegetation, water body, snow cover, ocean color, and sea ice on earth’s surface over a wide spectral range, as well as information on the absorption and scattering radiative transfer of molecules and particles (clouds and aerosols) in earth’s atmosphere. All of these data can be used to retrieve physical and chemical information about the land, ocean, and atmosphere of the earth system. Comprehensive observation of the earth system by the FY-3 meteorological satellites is preliminarily realized.

Vacuum preloading is a commonly used method for improving the properties of soft clayey dredged slurry deposits. However, the clogging effect has a significant influence on the effectiveness of vacuum preloading. In this study, soils with initial water contents of 95, 86, 75, and 67 % were investigated to determine the corresponding clogging effect. The results indicated that the difference in water content between 30 and 120 mm from the prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) for initial water content of 67 % was 32.35, 38.18, and 51.43 % lesser than that for initial water contents of 75, 86, and 95 %, respectively. The dissipation in pore water pressure 75 mm from the PVD for initial water contents of 95, 86, and 75 % was respectively 24.21, 17.39, and 8.40 % lesser than that 30 mm from the PVD; however, the dissipation in pore water pressure for initial water content of 67 % decreased by 6.9 % after vacuum preloading. Comparing scanning electron microscope images of the specimens after vacuum preloading, the clogging of PVDs in soils with an initial water content of 67 % or less was not apparent. This result may be useful for those committed to the consolidation of dredged slurry.

Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim. (TK) is a dioecious plant in the Cucurbitaceae for which different sexes have separate medicinal uses. In order to study the genes related to sex determination, transcriptome sequencing was performed on flower buds of male and female plants using the high-throughput sequencing technology. A total of 145,975 unigenes and 7110 DEGs were obtained. There were 6776 DEGs annotated to 1234 GO terms and enriched to 18 functional groups, including five biological processes related to sugar metabolism. KEGG pathway analysis indicated genes involved in hormone transduction, hormone synthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. Many DEGs of TK are involved in reproductive organ formation, hormone signal transduction and regulatory networks. Combining the results of GO, KEGG and qRT-PCR, 11 sex determining candidate genes of TK were selected, including MYB80, MYB108, CER1, CBL9, ABCB19, SERK1, HSP81-3, ACS9, SEP3, AUX1 and YUC6. The results provide a foundation for the study of sex differentiation in TK.

The reconsolidation settlement of marine sedimentary clay subgrade subjected to cyclic dynamic loading under intermittent drainage conditions needs to be further studied. In this study, a series of triaxial tests was conducted on natural Wenzhou soft clays to investigate the reconsolidation responses induced by staged cyclic loading under intermittent drainage conditions. The dynamic behaviours of the test specimens, such as the evolution of excess pore water pressure, variations in stress-strain hysteresis loops and resilient modulus, and cumulative strain development, are analysed and discussed. The experimental results show that during the intermittent quiescent drainage period, the dissipation of the excess pore pressure generated during the cyclic loading period results in reconsolidation of the test specimen. Hardening occurs throughout the tests, as determined by observing the variations in the hysteresis loops and resilient modulus. Throughout the tests, a higher percentage of the axial plastic strain in the quiescent period to the total axial plastic strain indicates that the reconsolidation deformation of the soft clay subgrade caused by intermittent drainage cannot be ignored. These conclusions have significant value for performing in-depth research on the dynamic behaviours of marine sedimentary clays subjected to cyclic traffic loading and predicting the settlement of roads in engineering practice.

The synthesis of a series of ribose-modified anilinopyrimidine derivatives was efficiently achieved by utilizing DBU or tBuOLi-promoted coupling of ribosyl alcohols with 2,4,5-trichloropyrimidine as key step. Preliminary biological evaluation of this type of compounds as new EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors for combating EGFR L858R/T790M mutant associated with drug resistance in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer revealed that 3-N-acryloyl-5-O-anilinopyrimidine ribose derivative 1a possessed potent and specific inhibitory activity against EGFR L858R/T790M over WT EGFR. Based upon molecular docking studies of the binding mode between compound 1a and EGFR, the distance between the Michael receptor and the pyrimidine scaffold is considered as an important factor for the inhibitory potency and future design of selective EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors against EGFR L858R/T790M mutants.

Ports are facing increasing environmental concerns with their importance to the global economy. Numerous studies indicated sediment quality deterioration in ports; however, the deterioration is not discriminated for each port activity. This study investigated a spectrum of contaminants (metals and organic pollutants) in surface sediments at 20 sampling points in Port Ningbo, China, one of the top five world ports by volume. The spectrum of contaminants (metals and organic pollutants) was quantified following marine sediment quality guidelines of China and USA and surface sediment quality was assessed according to thresholds of the two guidelines. Coupling a categorical matrix of port activities with the matrix of sedimentary contaminants revealed that contaminants were highly associated with the port operations. Ship repair posed a severe chemical risk to sediment. Operations of crude oil and coal loadings were two top activities related to organic pollutants in sediments while port operations of ore and container loadings discharged metals. Among the 20 sampling points, Cu, Zn, Pb, and DDT and its metabolites were the priority contaminants influencing sediment quality. Overall, surface sediments in Port Ningbo had relatively low environmental risks but ship repair is an environmental concern that must be addressed. This study provides a practical approach for port activity-related quality assessment of surface sediments in ports that could be applicable in many world sites.

A highly selective β-cyclodextrin polymer solid-phase spectrophotometric (β-CDPSPS) method is described for the determination of total mercury(II) sub microgram per liter. The methods are based on the chromogenic reaction of mercury(II) with 1,3-di-(4-nitrodiazoamino)-benzene (DNAAB) loaded on β-cyclodextrin polymer (β-CDP). In pH 10.0 borax buffer, Hg(II)-DNAAB complex on β-CDP gives a positive peak at 445 nm and a negative one at 545 nm. The absorbance was measured at two peaks and the net absorbance (As) was calculated between the difference of positive and negative peaks. The apparent molar absorptivity is 1.1 × 107 l mol−1 cm−1 (82-fold of it in solution) for 100 ml sample and the linear range of the determination is 0.062–250 μg l−1. The selectivity for coexistent ions was greatly improved, only silver(I) interfered with the mercury determination and the amount of the others was reduced 25–1000 times compared to previous solution method. The interference caused by silver(I) can be eliminated using tri-n-octylmethylammonium bromide as masking agent. The detection limit and the quantification limit were found to be 0.024 and 0.062 μg l−1, respectively. The relative standard deviation of ten replicate determinations of 5.0 μg mercury(II) in 100 ml sample was of 2.4%. The method was validated by analyzing the water and soil reference materials and successfully applied to the determination of mercury(II) in locally collected water and dust samples.

As described in this paper, we present a novel ripple effect based approach to construct coarse-grained system dependence graph by analyzing the defects which traditional system dependence graph have. Our approach could perfect object-oriented program semantics and reduce the computation complexity. Based on defining the coarse-grained, system dependence graph is simplified. Analysis of ripple effect is mapped to the dependence graph in order to embody semantic interaction among multiple objects. Finally, object-oriented program semantics are described in detail.