Ellagic Acid Enhances Antioxidant System Activity and Maintains the Quality of Strawberry Fruit during Storage

Ellagic acid(EA)is a natural antioxidant,widely present in a lot of forms’soft fruits,nuts,and other plant tissues,and helpful for promoting human health;however,its protective effect on postharvest fruit and improving the quality index of postharvest fruit have rarely been studied.In this experiment,the strawberries were soaked in 0,100,200,300,400,and 500 mg L^(−1) EA,respectively,and the influential EA on fruit quality and the antioxidant system of strawberries were studied.Compared with the control,EA treatment can reduce the browning degree and rotting rate of strawberry fruit during storage and augment the soluble solid content(SSC).EA treatment can also increase the content of related stuff and enzyme activity in antioxidant systems;the gene expression level of polyphenol oxidase(PPO)in strawberries treated with EA was always down-regulated,correspondingly,the expression of other antioxidant enzyme genes was enhanced.Among the strawberry fruits treated with EA of different concentrations,300 mg L^(−1) EA had the best effect in the process of strawberry preservation.The results suggested that the proper concentration of exogenous EA at 300 mg L−1 could maintain strawberries’quality and enhance the antioxidant system by improving the activities of antioxidative enzymes and the ascorbateglutathione(AsA-GSH)cycle during storage.

Vascular resection in pancreatic adenocarcinoma with portal or superior mesenteric vein invasion

AIM:To evaluate long-term survival after the Whipple operation with superior mesenteric vein/portal vein resection(SMV/PVR)in relation to resection length.METHODS:We evaluated 118 patients who underwent the Whipple operation for pancreatic adenocarcinoma at our Department of Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Surgery between 2005 and 2010.Fifty-eight of these patients were diagnosed with microscopic PV/SMV invasion by frozen-section examination and underwent SMV/PVR.In 28 patients,the length of SMV/PVR was≤3 cm.In the other 30 patients,the length of SMV/PVR was>3cm.Clinical and survival data were analyzed.RESULTS:SMV/PVR was performed successfully in 58patients.There was a significant difference between the two groups(SMV/PVR≤3 cm and SMV/PVR>3 cm)in terms of the mean survival time(18 mo vs 11 mo)and the overall 1-and 3-year survival rates(67.9%and14.3%vs 41.3%and 5.7%,P<0.02).However,there was no significant difference in age(64 years vs 58years,P=0.06),operative time(435 min vs 477 min,P=0.063),blood loss(300 mL vs 383 mL,P=0.071)and transfusion volume(85.7 mL vs 166.7 mL,P=0.084)between the two groups.CONCLUSION:Patients who underwent the Whipple operation with SMV/PVR≤3 cm had better long-term survival than those with>3 cm resection.

Langerhans cell histiocytosis misdiagnosed as thyroid malignancy: A case report

BACKGROUND The incidence of Langerhans cell histiocytosis(LCH) is low, and involvement of the thyroid is even rarer, which results in high missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis rates.CASE SUMMARY We report a young woman with a thyroid nodule. Thyroid malignancy was suggested by fine needle aspiration, but she was eventually diagnosed with multisystem LCH, thus avoiding thyroidectomy.CONCLUSION The clinical manifestations of LCH involving the thyroid are atypical, and the diagnosis depends on pathology. Surgery is the main method for treating primary thyroid LCH, while chemotherapy is the main treatment method for multisystem LCH.

Rainwater utilization and storm pollution control based on urban runoff characterization

The characteristics of urban runoffs and their impact on rainwater utilization and storm pollution control were investigated in three different functional areas of Zhengzhou City, China. The results showed that in the same rain event the pollutant loads （chemical oxygen demand （COD） and total suspended solids （TSS）） in the sampling areas were in the order of industrial area 〉 commercial area 〉 residential area, and within the same area the COD and TSS concentrations of road runoffs were higher than those of roof runoffs. The first flush effects in roof and road runoffs were observed, hence the initial rainwater should be treated separately to reduce rainwater utilization cost and control storm pollution. The initial roof rainfall of 2 mm in residential area, 5 mm in commercial area and 10 mm in industrial area, and the initial road rainfall of 4 mm in residential area and all the road rainfall in commercial and industrial areas should be collected and treated accordingly before direct discharge or utilization. Based on the strong correlation between COD and TSS （R2, 0.87-0.95） and the low biodegradation capacity （biochemical oxygen demand BOD5/COD 〈 0.3）, a sedimentation process and an effective filtration system composed of soil and slag were designed to treat the initial rainwater, which could remove over 90% of the pollutant loads. The above results may help to develop better rainwater utilization and pollution control strategies for cities with water shortages.

Suppression of starch synthase I(SSI) by RNA interference alters starch biosynthesis and amylopectin chain distribution in rice plants subjected to high temperature

Based on known cDNAs of rice starch synthase isoforms,we constructed dsRNA interference vectors for starch synthase I(SSI)to produce transgenic plants containing starch with a moderately high amylose content.We investigated the effect of SSI suppression on grain quality traits,starch biosynthesis,and amylopectin chain distribution in rice plants exposed to two different temperature regimes.The activities and transcripts of BEs,DBEs,and other SS isoforms were further investigated to clarify the effect of SSI suppression on these key enzymes and their specific isoforms under different temperature treatments.Suppression of SSI by RNAi altered grain starch component and amylopectin chain distribution,but it exerted only a slight effect on total starch content(%)and accumulation amount(mg kernel?1)and on starch granule morphology and particle size distribution.Under normal temperature(NT),insignificant differences in kernel weight,chalky kernel proportion,chalky degree,and starch granule morphology between SSI-RNAi line and its wild type(WT)were observed.However,amylose content(AC)level and granule-bound starch synthase(GBSS)activity in rice endosperms were markedly increased by SSI-RNAi suppression.The chalky kernel proportion and chalky degree of SSIRNAi lines were significantly higher than those of WT under high temperature(HT)exposure at filling stage.Inhibition of SSI by RNAi affected amylopectin chain distribution and raised starch gelatinization temperature(GT)in two ways:directly from the SSI deficiency itself and indirectly by reducing BEIIb amounts in an SSI-deficient background.The deficiency of SSI expression led to an alteration in the susceptibility of grain chalkiness occurrence and starch gelatinization temperature to HT exposure,owing to a pleiotropic effect of SSI deficiency on the expression of other genes associated with starch biosynthesis.

Microbial biodegradation of microcystin-RR by bacterium Sphingopyxis sp. USTB-05

A strain, USTB-05, isolated from Lake Dianchi, China, degraded the cyanobacterial toxin microcystin-RR （MC-RR） at the rate of 16.7 mg/L per day. Analysis of 16S rDNA sequence showed that the strain was Sphingopyxis sp. Enzymatic degradation pathways for MC-RR by Sphingopyxis sp. USTB-05 were identified. Adda-Arg peptide bond of MC-RR was cleaved and then a hydrogen and a hydroxyl were combined onto the NH2 group of Adda and the carboxyl group of arginine to form a linear molecule as intermediate product within the first few hours. Then, through dehydration reaction, two hydrogen of amino group on arginine reacted with adjacent hydroxyl on carbon to form a linear MC-RR with two small peptide rings as the final product after 24 hr. These biodegradation pathways were different from those reported for other strains, implying that MC-RR may undergo different transformations and different products were formed due to various bacteria in natural lakes and reservoirs.

A New Species of Japalura (Squamata: Sauria:Agamidae) from Upper Lancang (Mekong) Valley of Eastern Tibet, China

A new species of the agamid genus Japalura is described based on 15 specimens from the upper Lancang（Mekong） Valley of eastern Tibet, PR China. Populations of the new species, Japalura vela sp. nov., were previously recognized as J. flaviceps. The new species is morphologically most similar to J. batangensis, J. micangshanensis, J. variegata, and J. zhaoermii, but is distinguished from the four species and all remaining congeners by the following combination of morphological characters： 1） small adult size（SVL 56–69 mm in males, 59–66 mm in females）; 2） ratio of tail TAL/SVL 1.85–2.06; 3） ratio of hind limb HLL/SVL 0.72–0.81; 4） T4 S 24 or 25; 5） concealed tympanum; 6） transverse gular fold present; 7） gular pouch present; 8） axillary fold present; 9） a pronounced, continuous, sail-like vertebral crest along length of body in males; 10） ground dorsal coloration black in males; 11） distinct gray transverse streaks on dorsal surface of head; 12） black radiated streaks around eyes; 13） distinct, black vermiculate stripes on ventral surface of head in both sexes; 14） a strongly jagged dorsolateral stripe from neck to base of tail on each side of vertebral crest in males; and 15） absence of gular spots in both sexes. General distribution patterns of the genus in the Hengduan Mountains region are also discussed.

Photochemical degradation of environmentally persistent perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the presence of Fe(Ⅲ)

Environmentally persistent and bioaccumulative perfluorooctanic acid （PFOA） was difficult to be decomposed under the irradiation of 254 nm UV light. However, in the presence of 80μmol/L Fe（Ⅲ）, 80% of PFOA with initial concentration of 48μmol/L （20 mg/L） was effectively degraded and 47.8% of fluorine atoms in PFOA molecule were transformed into inorganic fluoride ion after 4 h reaction. Shorter chain perfluorocarboxylic acids bearing C3-C7 and fluoride ion were detected and identified by LC/MS and IC as the degradation products in the aqueous solution. It was proposed that complexes of PFOA with Fe（Ⅲ） initiated degradation of PFOA irradiated with 254 nm UV light.

Study on the Ground Cover Plant in Tibetan Herb Garden

This paper conducts a comprehensive survey of the ground cover plant in Tibetan herb garden for the first time using " five-point sampling method". Survey results show that:(i) A total of 46 families,95 genera,119 species of ground cover plants in herb garden are applied in Tibet,and Asteraceae,Gramineae,Leguminosae,Labiatae,Iridaceae and Liliaceae are used most,with the species number of 22,15,8,7,6 and 5,respectively,accounting for 18. 49%,12. 61%,6. 72%,5. 88%,5. 04% and 4. 20% of the plants surveyed,respectively.(ii) In terms of importance value for the herbaceous layer,the top three plants are Poa pratensis L.,Festuca arundinace and Lolium multiflorum L.,with the importance value of 45. 950,34. 610 and 29. 880,respectively; in terms of importance value for the non-turf ground cover herb plants,the top three plants are Trifolium L.,Cosmos bipinnata Cav. and Althaea rosea(Linn.) Cavan.,with the importance value of4. 372,3. 437 and 2. 062,respectively.(iii) The overall level of greening is low and uneven in the region,with large regional differences. In terms of ground cover plant abundance,Nyingchi > Lhasa > Shannan > Changdu > Xigaze > Ali > Nagqu.

Integrated utilization of low-grade thermal energy in hot coal mine

This paper explores the integrated utilization of low-grade thermal energy in hot coal mines, based on analysis of original heating, refrigerating, mine draining, bath draining and air exhaust systems, and in combination with the actual conditions of Tangkou Coal Mine in Shandong Province. It presents a set of comprehensive and integrated utilization schemes for the various different kinds of low quality heat energy. With heat pumps, the recycling of the low quality heat energy from the drainage, bathing water and the exhaust air can occur in winter, and in summer, there exists condensed heat of the refrigerating system. When in conjunction with solar collectors, the thermal utilization of solar power can be realized for the whole year. The system achieves mine drainage and bathing water purification and recycling, as well as purifying exhaust air by water spraying. It also satisfies the demands of a whole year＇s bathing heat for the coal mine, with refrigeration in summer, and heating for the ground house and shaft house in winter. It is able to integrate different kinds of low quality heat energy and low emission drainage and dust, and can replace the traditional boiler heating system. Finally, the system reduces conventional energy consumption and the amount of mine water drainage.

Investigation and Application of Colored-leaf Plants in Tibet

For the quantitative analysis of colored-leaf plants in Tibet,the five-point sampling method is used for stratified investigation of garden plant communities in Tibet.(i)There are a total of 46 families,76 genera and 110 species of garden colored-leaf plants in Tibet,including 56 kinds of trees,40 kinds of bushes,9 kinds of herbs,4 kinds of vines and 1 kind of bamboo.There are too few colored-leaf herbs and bamboos,and there is a serious imbalance between evergreen and deciduous trees,between coniferous and broad leaved forests.(ii)The most widely applied families include Rosaceae(26),Salicaceae(12),Fabaceae(6),Aceraceae(5),Oleaceae(4)and Elaeagnaceae(4),accounting for 23.64%,10.91%,5.46%,4.55%,3.64% and 3.64% of the investigated colored-leaf plants,respectively.(iii)In terms of color,there are 55 kinds of red plants,43 kinds of yellow plants and 12 kinds of plants with other colors,accounting for 50.00%,39.09%and 10.91% of colored-leaf plants,respectively.There are 9 kinds of spring color leaf plants,63 kinds of autumn color leaf plants,29 kinds of constant color leaf plants,7 kinds of double color leaf plants and 2 kinds of spot color leaf plants,accounting for 8.18%,57.27%,26.36%,6.36% and 1.82% of colored-leaf plants,respectively,indicating that it is dominated by autumn color leaf and constant color leaf plants.(iv)In terms of importance value of trees,the top two are Salix alba(37.623)and Prunus cerasifera f.atropurpurea(26.063); in terms of importance value of bushes,the top three are Ligustrum × vicaryi Hort(22.577),Berberis thunbergii‘atropurpurea Nana'(18.987)and Platycladus orientalis Franco cv.Sieboldii(10.529); in terms of importance value of herbs,the top two are Taraxacum sherriffii(0.915)and Oxalis triangu laris cv.purpurea(0.326).(v)In terms of species abundance of colored-leaf plants,it is in the order of Nyingchi(94)> Lhasa(47)> Qamdo(43)> Shannan(34)> Xigaze(21)> Ali(7)> Nagqu(5).There are great differences between regions: it is highest in Nyingchi while it is lowest in Nagqu.Based on the main problems in the application of colored-leaf plants in Tibet,this paper makes the corresponding recommendations.

Summary study of data-driven photometric stereo methods

Background A photometric stereo method aims to recover the surface normal of a 3D object observed under varying light directions.It is an ill-defined problem because the general reflectance properties of the surface are unknown.Methods This paper reviews existing data-driven methods,with a focus on their technical insights into the photometric stereo problem.We divide these methods into two categories,per-pixel and all-pixel,according to how they process an image.We discuss the differences and relationships between these methods from the perspective of inputs,networks,and data,which are key factors in designing a deep learning approach.Results We demonstrate the performance of the models using a popular benchmark dataset.Conclusions Data-driven photometric stereo methods have shown that they possess a superior performance advantage over traditional methods.However,these methods suffer from various limitations,such as limited generalization capability.Finally,this study suggests directions for future research.

昆虫机器混合系统:从自由状态控制到自主智能调控

以昆虫作为载体,采用光/电等外部调控手段对其运动行为进行干预或控制,实现可静态预设或动态控制的昆虫机器混合系统,也被称作昆虫机器人.这类微型动物机器人在运动稳定性、环境适应性、隐蔽性等方面拥有天然的优势,在搜救侦查、科学研究等众多领域具有重要的应用价值.随着神经科学、微机电系统、人工智能等研究领域的快速发展,昆虫机器混合系统研究正从自由状态控制发展至自主智能调控阶段.本文回顾了昆虫机器人在受控运动模式、可控动作类型、达成控制任务等方面的研究现状,总结了昆虫机器混合系统研究框架,评述了基于不同调控原理实现的典型昆虫机器混合系统研究进展.在此基础上,分析了昆虫机器混合系统在神经调控机制、微型控制系统、刺激技术及方法、智能控制系统等研究中面临的困难、存在的问题,预测了未来的发展趋势.

Positional variation in grain mineral nutrients within a rice panicle and its relation to phytic acid concentration

Six japonica rice genotypes, differing in panicle type, grain density, and phytic acid （PA） content, were applied to investigate the effect of grain position on the concentrations of major mineral nutrients and its relation to PA content and grain weight within a panicle. Grain position significantly affected the concentrations of the studied min- erals in both the vertical and horizontal axes of a rice panicle. Heavy-weight grains, located on primary rachis and top rachis, generally had higher mineral concentrations, but were lower in PA concentration and molar ratios of PNZn, compared with the small-weight grains located on secondary rachis and bottom rachis, regardless of rice genotypes. However, on the basis of six rice genotypes, no significant correlations were found among mineral elements, PA, and grain weight. These results suggested that some desired minerals, like Zn and Fe, and their bioavailability, can be enhanced simultaneously by the modification of panicle patterns, and it will be helpful in the selection of rice genotypes with low PA and high mineral nutrients for further breeding strategy without sacrificing their high yields.

Ion exchange coupled biomineral self-sacrificial template synthesis of N-enriched porous carbon as robust electrocatalyst for rechargeable Zn-air battery

To realize the commercialize of rechargeable Zn-air battery(RZAB),developing metal-free bifunctional electrocatalysts with satisfactory activity for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and oxygen evolution reaction(OER)is one of the emerging issues.Herein,a prawn shells-derived N-enriched porous carbon(PSNC)is synthesized via an ion exchange coupled biomimetic selfsacrificing template strategy.The resulting PSNC displays unique functional components,including the interconnected macro-meso-micropores structure to shorten charge and mass transfer pathway,high content of pyridinic and graphitic nitrogen to construct rich catalytic active site and improve conductivity.As electrocatalysts in alkaline condition,the optimized PSNC-0.8 achieves excellent bifunctional catalytic propriety with a narrow potential gap(ΔE)value of 0.80 V.Meanwhile,PSNC-0.8-based RZAB displays a high peak power density of 176.5 mW·cm^(-2)and considerable cycling durability with a small battery efficiency delay of 6.5%after 480 cycles(320 h).This study enlightens a simple and effective conception to design high-performance metal-free bifunctional electrocatalysts from seafood waste.

Pyramid-VAE-GAN:Transferring hierarchical latent variables for image inpainting

Significant progress has been made in image inpainting methods in recent years.However,they are incapable of producing inpainting results with reasonable structures,rich detail,and sharpness at the same time.In this paper,we propose the Pyramid-VAE-GAN network for image inpainting to address this limitation.Our network is built on a variational autoencoder(VAE)backbone that encodes high-level latent variables to represent complicated high-dimensional prior distributions of images.The prior assists in reconstructing reasonable structures when inpainting.We also adopt a pyramid structure in our model to maintain rich detail in low-level latent variables.To avoid the usual incompatibility of requiring both reasonable structures and rich detail,we propose a novel cross-layer latent variable transfer module.This transfers information about long-range structures contained in high-level latent variables to low-level latent variables representing more detailed information.We further use adversarial training to select the most reasonable results and to improve the sharpness of the images.Extensive experimental results on multiple datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method.Our code is available at https://github.com/thy960112/Pyramid-VAE-GAN.

Prediction of urban human mobility using large-scale taxi traces and its applications

This paper investigates human mobility patterns in an urban taxi transportation system. This work focuses on predicting human mobility from discovering patterns of in the number of passenger pick-ups quantity （PUQ） from urban hotspots. This paper proposes an improved ARIMA based prediction method to forecast the spatial-temporal variation of passengers in a hotspot. Evaluation with a large-scale real- world data set of 4 000 taxis＇ GPS traces over one year shows a prediction error of only 5.8%. We also explore the applica- tion of the pl^di^fioti approach to help drivers find their next passetlgerS, The sinatllation results using historical real-world data demonstrate that, with our guidance, drivers can reduce the time taken and distance travelled, to find their next pas- senger＋ by 37.1% and 6.4% respectively,

Impacts of algal blooms removal by chitosan-modified soils on zooplankton community in Taihu Lake,China

It is important to assess the effect on zooplankton when perform the environmental protection or restoration technology, especially removing algal blooms, because algae were the major primary producer in algal lakes. The influence on zooplankton community after half a year of algal blooms removed by chitosan-modified soils in Taihu Lake was assessed and the rationality of carrying out the process semiannually was evaluated in the present study. Morphological composition and genetic diversity of zooplankton community were investigated by microscope checkup and polymerase chain reaction-denatured gradient gel electrophoresis （PCR-DGGE）. A total of 44 zooplankton taxa （23 protozoa, 17 rotifers, 3 copepoda and 1 cladocera） were detected by microscope checkup, and a total of 91 bands （28 bands amplified by primers F1427-GC and R1616, 63 bands amplified by primers Fung-GC and NS1） were detected by PCR-DGGE. The results of cluster analysis or detrended correspondence analysis indicated that there was no considerable difference in morphological composition of zooplankton and DGGE profiles between experimental and control sites, and DGGE profiles could represent the biologic diversity. The study showed that zooplankton community could recover original condition after half year of algal blooms removed by chitosan-modified soils and it was acceptable to apply this process semiannually. In addition, the results revealed that PCR-DCJGE could be applied to investigate the impacts of the environmental protection or restoration engineering on zooplankton community diversity.

Influence of zeta potential on the flocculation of cyanobacteria cells using chitosan modified soil

Using chitosan modified soil to flocculate and sediment algal cells has been considered as a promising strategy to combat cyanobacteria blooms in natural waters. However, the flocculation efficiency often varies with algal cells with different zeta potential（ZP） attributed to different growth phases or water conditions. This article investigated the relationship between ZP of Microcystis aeruginosa and its influence to the flocculation efficiency using chitosan modified soil. Results suggested that the optimal removal efficiency was obtained when the ZP was between- 20.7 and- 6.7 m V with a removal efficiency of more than 80% in 30 min and large floc size of 〉 350 μm. When the algal cells were more negatively charged than- 20.7 m V, the effect of chitosan modified soil was depressed（〈 60%） due to the insufficient charge density of chitosan to neutralize and destabilize the algal suspension. When the algal cells were less negative than- 6.7 m V or even positively charged, a small floc size（〈 120 μm） was formed, which may be difficult to sink under natural water conditions. Therefore, manipulation of ZP provided a viable tool to improve the flocculation efficiency of chitosan modified soil and an important guidance for practical engineering of cyanobacteria bloom control.

A Monte Carlo Neural Fictitious Self-Play approach to approximate Nash Equilibrium in imperfect-information dynamic games

Solving the optimization problem to approach a Nash Equilibrium point plays an important role in imperfect information games,e.g.,StarCraft and poker.Neural Fictitious Self-Play(NFSP)is an effective algorithm that learns approximate Nash Equilibrium of imperfect-information games from purely self-play without prior domain knowledge.However,it needs to train a neural network in an off-policy manner to approximate the action values.For games with large search spaces,the training may suffer from unnecessary exploration and sometimes fails to converge.In this paper,we propose a new Neural Fictitious Self-Play algorithm that combines Monte Carlo tree search with NFSP,called MC-NFSP,to improve the performance in real-time zero-sum imperfect-information games.With experiments and empirical analysis,we demonstrate that the proposed MC-NFSP algorithm can approximate Nash Equilibrium in games with large-scale search depth while the NFSP can not.Furthermore,we develop an Asynchronous Neural Fictitious Self-Play framework(ANFSP).It uses asynchronous and parallel architecture to collect game experience and improve both the training efficiency and policy quality.The experiments with th e games with hidden state information(Texas Hold^m),and the FPS(firstperson shooter)games demonstrate effectiveness of our algorithms.