Effect of dietary supplement of inactivated Lactobacillus plantarum Ep-M 17 on growth performance,immune response,disease resistance,and intestinal microbiota in Penaeus vannamei

Our previous study found that feeding with Lactobacillus plantarum Ep-M17 could effectively affect the growth performance,immune response,and gut microbiota of Penaeus vannamei.However,high temperature and pressure during feed pelletizing is the main problem that can lead to a decrease in the activity of probiotics or cause their inactivation.Further investigation needs to investigate whether inactivated Ep-M17 can exert similar effects as live Ep-M17.Therefore,we evaluated the effects of inactivated L.plantarum Ep-M17 on growth performance,immune response,disease resistance,and gut microbiota in P.vannamei.Results show that adding inactivated Ep-M17 to the feed also promoted body weight gain and increased relative immune protection in shrimp.Also,histological examination revealed that the administration of inactivated Ep-M17 led to improvements in the density and distribution of microvilli in the intestines and enhancements in the abundance of B and R cells in the hepatopancreas.Additionally,the inactivated Ep-M17 supplementation resulted in increased activity levels of nutrient immune-related enzymes in both the shrimp hepatopancreas and intestines.Moreover,it stimulated the expression of Lvlec,PEN-3a,Crustin,LGBP,Lysozyme,and proPo genes in both the hepatopancreas and intestines.Furthermore,the inactivated Ep-M17 also increased bacterial diversity in the gut of shrimp and promoted the abundance of specific flora,facilitating the host organism’s metabolism and immunity to improve the disease resistance of shrimp.Therefore,supplementation of inactivated L.plantarum Ep-M17 in shrimp diets can exert similar effects as live L.plantarum Ep-M17 effectively improving growth performance,gut microbiota,immune response,and disease resistance in P.vannamei.

Experimental investigation on weak shock wave mitigation characteristics of flexible polyurethane foam and polyurea

In recent years,explosion shock wave has been considered as a signature injury of the current military conflicts.Although strong shock wave is lethal to the human body,weak shock wave can cause many more lasting consequences.To investigate the protection ability and characteristics of flexible materials and structures under weak shock wave loading,the blast wave produced by TNT explosive is loaded on the polyurethane foam with the density of 200.0 kg/m3(F-200)and 400.0 kg/m3(F-400),polyurea with the density of 1100.0 kg/m^(3)(P-1100)and structures composed of the two materials,which are intended for individual protection.Experimental results indicate that the shock wave is attenuated to weak pressure disturbance after interacting with the flexible materials which are not damaged.The shock wave protective capability of single-layer materials is dependent on their thickness,density and microscopic characteristics.The overpressure,maximum pressure rise rate and impulse of transmitted wave decrease exponentially with increase in sample thickness.For the same thickness,F-400 provides better protective capability than F-200 while P-1100 shows the best protective capability among the three materials.In this study,as the materials are not destroyed,F-200 with a thickness more than10.0 mm,F-400 with a thickness more than 4.0 mm,and P-1100 with a thickness more than 1.0 mm can attenuate the overpressure amplitude more than 90.0%.Further,multi-layer flexible composites are designed.Different layer layouts of designed structures and layer thickness of the single-layer materials can affect the protective performance.Within the research range,the structure in which polyurea is placed on the impact side shows the optimal shock wave protective performance,and the thicknesses of polyurea and polyurethane foam are 1.0 mm and 4.0 mm respectively.The overpressure attenuation rate reached maximum value of 93.3%and impulse attenuation capacity of this structure are better than those of single-layer polyurea and polyurethane foam with higher areal density.

Accumulation of carotenoids and expression of carotenoid biosynthesis genes in fruit flesh during fruit development in two Cucurbita maxima inbred lines

Mesocarp color is an important agronomic trait of Cucurbita maxima and is determined mainly by the contents and compositions of the carotenoids.The two inbred lines with significant differences in fruit flesh color were used in the study,the orange’312-1’and white’98-2’.Changes in seven carotenoid contents and compositions in the flesh of fruit produced by inbred lines’312-1’and’98-2’were analyzed during fruit development.The expression of eight key carotenoid biosynthesis genes in the fruit flesh were investigated during five fruit development stage in two inbred lines.As the flesh color intensified,the orange flesh color of’312-1’was determined mainly by the increased contents of lutein,β-carotene and zeaxanthin and the lack of carotenoid accumulation led to the formation of white flesh in’98-2’fruit.The expression of the LCY-e and CHYb genes was significantly stronger in’312-1’than in’98-2’,and their expression was strongly correlated with lutein andβ-carotene contents during fruit development.This study provides a deep understanding of the molecular mechanism of carotenoid biosynthesis in fruit flesh and provides a basis for additional studies on the highly refined improvement of squash quality.

Grain refinement impact on the mechanical properties and wear behavior of Mg-9Gd-3Y-2Zn-0.5Zr alloy after decreasing temperature reciprocating upsetting-extrusion

Based on the deforming technique of severe plastic deformation(SPD), the grain refinement of a Mg-9Gd-3Y-2Zn-0.5Zr alloy treated with decreasing temperature reciprocating upsetting-extrusion(RUE) and its influence on the mechanical properties and wear behavior of the alloy were studied. The RUE process was carried out for 4 passes in total, starting at 0 ℃ and decreasing by 10 ℃ for each pass. The results showed that as the number of RUE passes increased, the grain refinement effect was obvious, and the second phase in the alloy was evenly distributed. Room temperature tensile properties of the alloy and the deepening of the RUE degree showed a positive correlation trend, which was due to the grain refinement, uniform distribution of the second phase and texture weakening. And the microhardness of the alloy showed that the microhardness of RUE is the largest in 2 passes. The change in microhardness was the result of dynamic competition between the softening effect of DRX and the work hardening effect. In addition, the wear resistance of the alloy showed a positive correlation with the degree of RUE under low load conditions. When the applied load was higher, the wear resistance of the alloy treated with RUE decreased compared to the initial state alloy. This phenomenon was mainly due to the presence of oxidative wear on the surface of the alloy, which could balance the positive contribution of severe plastic deformation to wear resistance to a certain extent.

Improved Method and Application of EMD Endpoint Continuation Processing for Blasting Vibration Signals

In order to deal with the non-stationary characteristics of blasting vibration signals and the end issue in the empirical mode decomposition(EMD), an improved endpoint continuation method is proposed. First, the linear continuation method of extreme points is used to determine the extremum of the signal endpoint fast. Secondly, the extreme points of transition section outside the signal ends are obtained by a mirror continuation method of extreme points, and then the envelope and continuation curve of the transition section of the signal are constructed. Lastly, the sinusoid of the stationary section outside the signal is constructed to achieve the continuation curve from the transition section to the stationary section. Based on the "singular extreme points" phenomenon of blasting vibration signal, the negative maxima and positive minimum are eliminated, then the maximum and minimum are guaranteed to appear at intervals. Thus,the number of iterations is reduced and the instability of EMD decomposition is improved. The calculation formula of amplitude, cycle and initial phase are given for the transition section and stationary section outside the signal. The endpoint processing effect of the simulated signal and the measured blasting vibration signal show that the improved endpoint continuation method can suppress the signal endpoint effect well.

Vertical variations in the bio-optical properties of seawater in the northern South China Sea during summer 2008

Vertical variability in the bio-optical properties of seawater in the northern South China Sea(NSCS)including inherent optical properties(IOPs)and chlorophyll a concentration(Chl)were studied on the basis of in situ data collected in summer 2008 using an absorption/attenuation spectrophotometer.An empirical model was developed to estimate Chl profiles based on the absorption line height at long wavelengths,with a relative root mean square error of 37.03%.Bio-optical properties exhibited large horizontal and vertical spatial variability.As influenced by coastal upwelling and the Zhujiang River(Pearl River)discharge,both IOPs and Chl exhibited high values in the surface waters of the inner shelf,which tended to decrease with distance offshore.Subsurface maximum layers of IOPs and Chl were observed in the middle and outer shelf regions,along with significantly higher values of attenuation coefficients beneath this layer that rapidly increased towards the bottom.In the open ocean,both IOPs and Chl exhibited consistent variability,with the subsurface maximum layer typically located at34–84 m.Phytoplankton were found to be one of the major components in determining the vertical variability of bio-optical properties,with their vertical dynamics influenced by both physical forcing and light attenuation effects.The depth of the subsurface maximum layer was found to be closely related to the fluctuation of the oceanic thermocline and the depth of the euphotic zone,which also affected the total integrated biomass of the upper ocean.Typically high values of attenuation coefficients observed in the bottom waters of the continental shelf reflected the transport of particulate matter over the bottom boundary layer.Our results reveal large spatial differences in bio-optical profiles in response to complex marine ecodynamics in the NSCS.From the perspective of marine research,high-resolution optical measurements are clearly advantageous over conventional bottle sampling.

Dynamic quasi-continuum model for plate-type nano-materials and analysis of fundamental frequency

A dynamic quasi-continuum model is presented to analyze free vibration of plate-type cubic crystal nano-materials.According to the Hamilton principle,fundamental governing equations in terms of displacement components and angles of rotations are given.As an application of the model,the cylindrical bending deformation of the structure fixed at two ends is analyzed,and a theoretical formula evaluating the fundamental frequency is obtained by using Galerkin's method.Meanwhile,the solution for the classical continuous plate model is also derived,and the size-dependent elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio are taken in computation.The frequencies corresponding to different atomic layers are numerically presented for the plate-type NaC l nano-materials.Furthermore,a molecular dynamics(MD)simulation is conducted with the code LAMMPS.The comparison shows that the present quasi-continuum model is valid,and it may be used as an alternative model,which reflects scale effects in analyzing dynamic behaviors of such plate-type nano-materials.

Fabrication of super-elastic graphene aerogels by ambient pressure drying and application to adsorption of oils

Three-dimensional graphene-based aerogels have promising applications in oil adsorption and environmental restoration.However,current research of graphene-based aerogels is often hindered by high preparation cost,poor mechanical properties and low recycling efficiency.Here,superelastic graphene aerogel(SGA)was prepared through one-step freezing and twice hydrothermal reduction followed by drying under ambient pressure.The simple atmospheric drying provides a possibility for large-scale preparation of high performance graphene-based aerogels.The prepared SGA not only has the ability of highly repeatable compression rebound,but also exhibits excellent oil adsorption performance.And the overall performance of SGA is better than most of graphenebased aerogels prepared by freeze drying.After the SGA was cyclically compressed with 70%strain for 300 times,it can return to the original shape and height substantially.SGA retained about 90%of the initial adsorption capacity after 50 cycles of adsorption and compression regeneration for cyclohexane.

Anisotropic WM conductivity reconstruction based on diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging: a simulation study

The present study aims to estimate the in vivo anisotropic conductivities of the White Matter (WM) tissues by means of Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT) technique. The realistic anisotropic volume conductor model with different conductivity properties (scalp, skull, CSF, gray matter and WM) is constructed based on the Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DT- MRI) from a healthy human subject. The Radius Basic Function (RBF)-MREIT algorithm of using only one magnetic flux density component was applied to evaluate the eigenvalues of the anisotropic WM with target values set according to the DT-MRI data based on the Wolter’s model, which is more physiologically reliable. The numerical simulations study performed on the five-layer realistic human head model showed that the conductivity reconstruction method had higher accuracy and better robustness against noise. The pilot research was used to judge the feasibility, meaningfulness and reliability of the MREIT applied on the electrical impedance tomography of the complicated human head tissues including anisotropic characteristics.

Reconstruction of conductivity distribution of brain tissue from two components magnetic flux density

In this paper the recent Magnetic resonance electrical impedance imaging (MREIT) technique is used to image non-invasively the three-dimensional continuous conductivity distribution of the head tissues. With the feasibility of the human head being rotated twice in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, a continuous conductivity reconstruction MREIT algorithm based on two components of the measured magnetic flux density is introduced. The reconstructed conductivity image could be obtained through solving iter- atively a non-linear matrix equation. According to the present algorithm of using two magnetic flux den- sity components, numerical simulations were per- formed on a concentric three-sphere and realistic human head model (consisting of the scalp, skull and brain) with the uniform and non-uniform isotropic target conductivity distributions. Based on the algorithm, the reconstruction of scalp and brain conductivity ratios could be figured out even under the condition that only one current is injected into the brain. The present results show that the three-dimensional continuous conductivity reconstruction method with two magnetic flux density components for the realistic head could get better results than the method with only one magnetic flux density component. Given the skull conductivity ratio, the relative errors of scalp and brain conductivity values were reduced to less than 1% with the uniform conductivity distribution and less than 6.5% with the non-uniform distribution for different noise levels. Furthermore, the algorithm also shows fast convergence and improved robustness against noise.

考虑加权传播率和随机干扰的谣言传播模型

在线社交网络已经成为互联网信息时代的信息传播的主要途径,对社交网络中谣言的性质、特征以及信息传播的研究一直是一项重要的研究课题。考虑社交网络环境及用户都会受到不确定因素的影响,网络结构和用户数量都会随时间发生变化,因此,在谣言传播过程中引入随机噪声;同时针对个体间的差异性,以及不同个体间连接紧密程度不同,引入加权传播率,基于此建立考虑加权传播率和随机干扰的谣言传播模型,并对此模型进行了传播动力学研究。推导了全局正解存在唯一性,推导了谣言消亡条件;并通过蒙特卡洛方法在BBV网络(加权无标度网络)以及LW网络(局域世界演化网络)上进行了仿真,验证了理论推导的合理性。实验结果表明,局域世界特性会加速谣言传播,扩大谣言最终规模;传播率的差异性能够抑制谣言峰值和最终规模;在保证网络拓扑结构不出现剧烈变化的情况下,弱噪声的加入会加速谣言的传播。

Study on force chain evolution of rice straw with different length during vibrational compression

This paper explores the mechanism of force chain evolution and voidage change under vibrational and non-vibrational compression conditions of rice straw of different lengths.Simulations were used to explore the force chain evolution and voidage variation mechanism under different conditions.The re-sults show that under non-vibrational compression,the strong force chain passes from top to bottom in vertical direction and from center to periphery in tangential direction.Under vibrational compression,the force chain passes from top and bottom to center in vertical direction and the force chain evolves from outer ring to interior and exterior in tangential direction.The number of strong chains,voidage and standard deviation of the mean pressure under vibratory compression are lower than the values under non-vibratory compression.Vibration promotes stress transfer and enhancement,velocity enhancement and density enhancement.This study analyzes the mechanical properties of different lengths straw during vibrational and non-vibrational compression from a detailed viewpoint.

Achieving Excellent Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Effectiveness in High Rare Earth Mg-12Gd-3Y alloy via Nd Addition Combined with Hot Rolling and Aging

Achieving excellent electromagnetic interference(EMI)shielding effectiveness(SE)in high rare earth(RE)-content Mg alloys is currently a significant technical challenge.This work systematically investigated the effects of different Nd elements on the electrical conductivity and EMI SE of Mg-12Gd-3Y-xNd alloy by adding Nd elements to the high RE content Mg-12Gd-3Y alloy,followed by a combined process of hot rolling and aging(R-A).The results indicate that the addition of Nd elements leads to reduced solid solubility of Gd and Y,resulting in a large amount of precipitation.The Mg-12Gd-3Y-2.0Nd alloy has the optimum EMI SE after 63%R-A treatment,reaching 88-118 dB at 30-1500 MHz.The Mg-12Gd-3Y-xNd alloy has acicular and granular forms of the Mg5(Gd,Y,Nd)(abbreviated as Mg5RE)phase after R-A treatment.The granular Mg5RE phase gradually breaks up and refines into more minor scales with increasing rolling reduction and is diffusely distributed in the matrix.The acicular Mg5RE phase is densely arranged,with cross-distribution in some areas.The cross-distributed acicular Mg5RE phase,the delicate granular Mg5RE phase,and the denseβ′phase provide more interfaces for reflecting electromagnetic waves and increase the multiple reflection loss of incident electromagnetic waves.In addition,the Mg-12Gd-3Y-xNd alloy deflects most of the c-axis of the grains parallel to the normal direction(ND)as the rolling reduction increases,making the impedance difference between the plate surface and air larger.The increased impedance makes the material reflect more loss to incident electromagnetic waves.The combined use of these two leads to an excellent EMI SE of Mg-12Gd-3Y-xNd with high RE content after R-A treatment.

Biphasic (Lu,Gd)_(3)Al_(5)O_(12)-based transparent nanoceramic color converters for high-power white LED/LD lighting

Ce doped Lu_(3)Al_(5)O_(12)(Ce:LuAG)transparent ceramics are considered as promising color converters for solid-state lighting because of their excellent luminous efficiency,high thermal quenching temperature,and good thermal stability.However,Ce:LuAG ceramics mainly emit green light.The shortage of red light as well as the expensive price of Lu compounds are hindering their application for white lighting.In this work,transparent(Lu,Gd)_(3)Al_(5)O_(12)–Al_(2)O_(3)(LuGAG–Al_(2)O_(3))nanoceramics with different replacing contents of Gd^(3+)(10%–50%)were successfully elaborated via a glass-crystallization method.The obtained ceramics with full nanoscale grains are composed of the main LuGAG crystalline phase and secondary Al_(2)O_(3) phase,exhibiting eminent transparency of 81.0%@780 nm.After doping by Ce^(3+),the Ce:LuGAG–Al_(2)O_(3) nanoceramics show a significant red shift(510 nm→550 nm)and make up for the deficiency of red light component in the emission spectrum.The Ce:LuAG–Al_(2)O_(3) nanoceramics with 20%Gd^(3+)show high internal quantum efficiency(81.5%in internal quantum efficiency(IQE),96.7%of Ce:LuAG–Al_(2)O_(3) nanoceramics)and good thermal stability(only 9%loss in IQE at 150℃).When combined with blue LED chips(10 W),0.3%Ce:LuGAG–Al_(2)O_(3) nanoceramics with 20%Gd^(3+)successfully realize the high-quality warm white LED lighting with a color coordinate of(0.3566,0.435),a color temperature of 4347 K,CRI of 67.7,and a luminous efficiency of 175.8 lm·W^(−1).When the transparent 0.3%Ce:LuGAG–Al_(2)O_(3) nanoceramics are excited by blue laser(5 W·mm^(−2)),the emission peak position redshifts from 517 to 570 nm,the emitted light exhibits a continuous change from green light to yellow light,and then to orange-yellow light,and the maximum luminous efficiency is up to 234.49 lm·W^(−1)(20%Gd^(3+)).Taking into account the high quantum efficiency,good thermal stability,and excellent and adjustable luminous properties,the transparent Ce:LuGAG–Al_(2)O_(3) nanoceramics with different Gd^(3+)substitution contents in this paper are believed to be promising candidates for high-power white LED/LD lighting.

Planning and Control for Passive Dynamics Based Walking of 3D Biped Robots

Efficient walking is one of the main goals of research on biped robots. Passive Dynamics Based Walking （PDBW） has been proven to be an efficient pattern in numerous previous approaches to 2D biped walking. The goal of this study is to develop feasible method for the application of PDBW to 3D robots. First a hybrid control method is presented, where a previously proposed two-point-foot walking pattern is employed to generate a PDBW gait in the sagittal plane and, in the frontal plane, a systematic balance control algorithm is applied including online planning of the landing point of the swing leg and feedback control of the stance foot. Then a multi-space planning structure is proposed to implement the proposed method on a 13-link 3D robot. Related kinematics and planning details of the robot are presented. Furthermore, a simulation of the 13-link biped robot verifies that stable and highly efficient walking can be achieved by the proposed control method. In addition, a number of features of the biped walking, including the transient powers and torques of the joints are explored.

Adsorption performance and mechanism of Schiff base functionalized polyamidoamine dendrimer/silica for aqueous Mn(Ⅱ) and Co(Ⅱ)

Schiff base functionalized polyamidoamine(PAMAM) dendrimer/silica were prepared for the adsorption of aqueous Mn(Ⅱ) and Co(Ⅱ).The effects that influence the adsorption were investigated systematically and the adsorption mechanism was illustrated by theoretical calculation.The optimum adsorption pH are 4 and 6 for Mn(II) and Co(Ⅱ).Adsorption kinetics follow pseudo-second-order model and the ratecontrolling step is film diffusion process.Adsorption isotherm shows that high initial metal ion concentration facilitates the uptake of metal ions.The adsorption capacity increases first and then decreases in the temperature range of 15-35℃.Density functional theory(DFT) calculation demonstrates that Schiff base functionalized PAMAM dendrimer tends to coordinate Mn(Ⅱ) and Co(Ⅱ) with the oxygen atoms of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups,nitrogen of tertiary amine and imino groups.The imino and tertiary amine groups mainly dominate the adsorption.The reproducibility of the adsorbents indicates they can be regenerated by 5% thiourea and 0.5 mol/L HNO_(3) solution efficiently.

An Artificial Reflex Arc That Perceives Afferent Visual and Tactile Information and Controls Efferent Muscular Actions

Neural perception and action-inspired electronics is becoming important for interactive human-machine interfaces and intelligent robots.A system that implements neuromorphic environmental information coding,synaptic signal processing,and motion control is desired.Wereport aneuroinspired artifcialreflex arcthat possesses visual and'somatosensory dual aferent nerve paths and an eferent nerve path to control artificial muscles.A self-powered photoelectric synapse between the afferent and efferent nerves was used as thekey information processor.The artificial reflex arc successfully responds to external visual and tactile information and controls the actions of artificial muscle in response to these external stimuli and thus emulates reflex activities through a full refex arc.The visual and somatosensory information is encoded as impulse spikes,the frequency of which exhibited a sublinear dependence on the obstacle proximity orpressure stimuli.The artificial reflex arc suggests a promising strategy toward developing soft neurorobotic systems and prostheses.

Recent progress on electrohydrodynamic nanowire printing

Electrohydrodynamic nanowire printing(eNWP)technology can be used to print ultra-fine nanowires(NWs)in patterns at high precision.This technology has enabled advances in large-area patterned NWs,high-precision and high-integration devices,nanoelectromechanical systems,and bio-inspired devices.The electrical properties of the devices printed using e-NWP can be adjusted by controlling the gaps and diameters of the NWs.These forms have widespread application in field effect transistors,synaptic mimicry and masks.This review summarizes the basic principles,materials,printing methods and applications of e-NWP,and then outlines the research direction and obstacles that should be overcome to expand the applications of e-NWPs,and enable their commercialization.

Adsorption of aqueous Cu(Ⅱ) and Ag(Ⅰ) by silica anchored Schiff base decorated polyamidoamine dendrimers: Behavior and mechanism

A class of silica anchored Schiff base decorated polyamidoamine(PAMAM) dendrimers were synthesized for removing aqueous Cu(Ⅱ) and Ag(Ⅰ). The adsorption performance was investigated synthetically and the adsorption mechanism was revealed. Results indicate the adsorption capacity depends on dendrimer generation, solution p H, contact time, temperature and initial metal ion concentration.The optimum adsorption pH is 6 for both metal ion. Adsorption kinetic suggests the adsorption can achieve equilibrium at 180 and 150 min for Cu(Ⅱ) and Ag(Ⅰ). The kinetic process is found to be in good agreement with pseudo-second-order model and film diffusion is the rate-controlling step. The adsorption isotherm indicates the adsorption is proceeded by monolayer behavior with chemical mechanism. These adsorbents exhibit competitive adsorption capacity as compared with other reported adsorbents. Theoretical calculation demonstrates the participation of hydroxyl, carbonyl, and amide groups during the adsorption of Cu(Ⅱ), while hydroxyl and amide groups are mainly responsible for capturing Ag(Ⅰ).

Structures,properties,and applications of zwitterionic polymers

Zwitterionic polymers have attracted research attention in recent years owing to their unique molecular struc-tures.In the same repeat unit,positive and negative charges are simultaneously located on a pair of cationic and anionic groups;therefore,zwitterionic polymers have a large dipole moment and numerous charged groups.Al-though the molecular chain of the zwitterionic polymer can be maintained in an electrically neutral state overall,the coexistence of the oppositely charged groups confers extremely high polarity and excellent hydrophilicity to the polymer.At the same time,the electricality of the polymer can be further regulated by the environmental pH and salt ions,which greatly broadens the scope of applications in different fields.This review introduces various structures of zwitterionic polymers and analyzes the reasons why zwitterionic polymers exhibit pH responsive-ness,anti-polyelectrolyte effects,and superior electrical conductivity.The application fields are also summarized by generalizing the research status of zwitterionic polymers,including applications in antifouling coatings,drug delivery,wastewater treatment,and sensors,etc.