Energetic and Entropic Changes in Volume Work and Chemical Reactions

In the present study, energetic and entropic changes are investigated on a comparative basis, as they occur in the volume changes of an ideal gas in the Carnot cycle and in the course of the chemical reaction in a lead-acid battery. Differences between reversible and irreversible processes have been worked out, in particular between reversibly exchanged entropy (∆eS) and irreversibly produced entropy (∆iS). In the partially irreversible case, ∆eS and ∆iS add up to the sum ∆S for the volume changes of a gas, and only this function has an exact differential. In a chemical reaction, however, ∆eS is independent on reversibility. It arises from the different intramolecular energy contents between products and reactants. Entropy production in a partially irreversible Carnot cycle is brought about through work-free expansions, whereas in the irreversible battery reaction entropy is produced via activated complexes, whereby a certain, variable fraction of the available chemical energy becomes transformed into electrical energy and the remaining fraction dissipated into heat. The irreversible reaction process via activated complexes has been explained phenomenologically. For a sufficiently high power output of coupled reactions, it is essential that the input energy is not completely reversibly transformed, but rather partially dissipated, because this can increase the process velocity and consequently its power output. A reduction of the counter potential is necessary for this purpose. This is not only important for man-made machines, but also for the viability of cells.

Extraction of Pumpkin Polysaccharide by Complex Enzyme Method and Its Antioxidant Research

[Objective] This paper aims to study a new method of extracting pumpkin polysaccharide from pumpkin. Single factor experiments were conducted to examine the effects of extracting time,temperature,the solid-liquid ratio and pH value on the extraction yield of polysaccharide from pumpkin. [Method] The best enzyme ratio and extraction conditions for complex enzymes extraction were determined through orthogonal tests. Scavenging ·OH and O-2 activities of pumpkin polysaccharides were also investigated by salicylic acid and improved self-oxidation of o-pheno methods respectively. [Results] The results showed that the biggest extraction yield of polysaccharide from pumpkin can be got when adding 1% cellulose enzyme,1.5% pectinase,1.0% papain and Na2HPO4-citric acid buffer solution (pH was 4.6),and oscillating for 30 min under water at 40 ℃ with the solid-liquid ratio of 1:30. In addition,pumpkin polysaccharides had a strong activity of eliminating ·OH,but very weak activity to scavenge O-2. [Conclusion] This study provided basic data for research and application of Pumpkin polysaccharide.

Regulatory mechanisms of iron homeostasis in maize mediated by ZmFIT

Regulation of iron homeostasis in maize remains unclear,despite the known roles of FER-Like Fe deficiency-induced transcription factor(FIT)in Arabidopsis and rice.ZmFIT,like At FIT and Os FIT,interacts with iron-related transcription factors 2(ZmIRO2).Here,we investigate the involvement of ZmFIT in iron homeostasis.Mutant ZmFIT lines exhibiting symptoms of Fe deficiency had reduced shoot iron content.Transcriptome analysis revealed downregulation of Fe deficiency-responsive genes in the roots of a Zmfit mutant.ZmFIT facilitates the nuclear translocation of ZmIRO2 to activate transcription of downstream genes under Fe-deficient conditions.Our findings suggest that ZmFIT,by interaction with ZmIRO2,mediates iron homeostasis in maize.Notably,the binding and activation mechanisms of ZmFIT resemble those in Arabidopsis but differ from those in rice,whereas downstream genes regulated by ZmFIT show similarities to rice but differences from Arabidopsis.In brief,ZmFIT,orthgologs of Os FIT and At FIT in rice and maize,respectively,regulates iron uptake and homeostasis in maize,but with variations.

Multi-genome evolutionary study of the ABC1 gene family and identification of the pleiotropic effects of OsABC1-13 in rice development

In four rice genomes,85 ABC1-family genes were identified by comparative genomics,evolution,genetics,and physiology.One,OsABC1-13,was shown by knockdown and knockout experiments to affect plant height,grain size,and photosynthetic capability.

Complex-Valued Neural Networks:A Comprehensive Survey

Complex-valued neural networks(CVNNs)have shown their excellent efficiency compared to their real counterparts in speech enhancement,image and signal processing.Researchers throughout the years have made many efforts to improve the learning algorithms and activation functions of CVNNs.Since CVNNs have proven to have better performance in handling the naturally complex-valued data and signals,this area of study will grow and expect the arrival of some effective improvements in the future.Therefore,there exists an obvious reason to provide a comprehensive survey paper that systematically collects and categorizes the advancement of CVNNs.In this paper,we discuss and summarize the recent advances based on their learning algorithms,activation functions,which is the most challenging part of building a CVNN,and applications.Besides,we outline the structure and applications of complex-valued convolutional,residual and recurrent neural networks.Finally,we also present some challenges and future research directions to facilitate the exploration of the ability of CVNNs.

An approach for complex activity recognition by key frames

A new method for complex activity recognition in videos by key frames was presented. The progressive bisection strategy(PBS) was employed to divide the complex activity into a series of simple activities and the key frames representing the simple activities were extracted by the self-splitting competitive learning(SSCL) algorithm. A new similarity criterion of complex activities was defined. Besides the regular visual factor, the order factor and the interference factor measuring the timing matching relationship of the simple activities and the discontinuous matching relationship of the simple activities respectively were considered. On these bases, the complex human activity recognition could be achieved by calculating their similarities. The recognition error was reduced compared with other methods when ignoring the recognition of simple activities. The proposed method was tested and evaluated on the self-built broadcast gymnastic database and the dancing database. The experimental results prove the superior efficiency.

Syntheses,Crystal Structures and Antibacterial Activities of Schiff Base of Nickel(Ⅱ)and Copper(Ⅱ)Complexes

A new kind of Schiff base HL（HL= 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-（p-methylbenzoyl）-5-pyrazolone with L-Leucine methyl ester） and complexes Ni L′_2·0.75C_2H_5OH·0.25H_2O,Cu L′′2（L′ = 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-（p-methylbenzoyl）-5-pyrazolone with L-leucine ethyl,L′′ = 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-（p-methylbenzoyl）-5-pyrazolone with L-leucine） have been synthesized and structurally determined by X-ray diffraction. For HL： crystal structure determination indicates that there are two independent HLs with different conformations in one asymmetric unit. For complex 1： the Ni（Ⅱ） ion is six-coordinated by two carbonyl oxygen atoms from pyrazolone ring,two nitrogen atoms from different HL′ and two oxygen atoms from L-Leucine ethyl ester to form a distorted octahedral geometry. For complex 2： the Cu（Ⅱ） ion is four-coordinated by one carbonyl oxygen atom from the pyrazolone ring,one nitrogen atom from HL′′,and two different carboxylic oxygen atoms from L-leucine with the same conformation to form a distorted quadrilateral geometry.

Smart Devices Based Multisensory Approach for Complex Human Activity Recognition

Sensors based Human Activity Recognition(HAR)have numerous applications in eHeath,sports,fitness assessments,ambient assisted living(AAL),human-computer interaction and many more.The human physical activity can be monitored by using wearable sensors or external devices.The usage of external devices has disadvantages in terms of cost,hardware installation,storage,computational time and lighting conditions dependencies.Therefore,most of the researchers used smart devices like smart phones,smart bands and watches which contain various sensors like accelerometer,gyroscope,GPS etc.,and adequate processing capabilities.For the task of recognition,human activities can be broadly categorized as basic and complex human activities.Recognition of complex activities have received very less attention of researchers due to difficulty of problem by using either smart phones or smart watches.Other reasons include lack of sensor-based labeled dataset having several complex human daily life activities.Some of the researchers have worked on the smart phone’s inertial sensors to perform human activity recognition,whereas a few of them used both pocket and wrist positions.In this research,we have proposed a novel framework which is capable to recognize both basic and complex human activities using builtin-sensors of smart phone and smart watch.We have considered 25 physical activities,including 20 complex ones,using smart device’s built-in sensors.To the best of our knowledge,the existing literature consider only up to 15 activities of daily life.

A New Tetranuclear Silver Complex [Ag4(MMPzA)2(dmPz)4(H2DPC)2](H2O)4 and Its Antibacterial Activity

A new tetranuclear silver（I） complex with the formula of [Ag4（MMPzA）2（dmPz）4（H2DPC）2]（H2O）4（1, MMPz A = mono（3,5-bimethyl-pyrazolmethyl）amine）, dm Pz = 3,5-dimethylpyrazole, H2DPC = pyridine-3,4-dicarboxylic acid） has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction method. The title complex crystallizes in the triclinic system, space group P1 with a = 10.5532（13）, b = 11.5071（18）, c = 13.3951（17） A, α = 97.3190（10）, β = 106.7360（10）, γ = 108.0770（10）o, V = 1438.3（3） A3, Z = 1, Dc = 1.691 g/cm3, F（000） = 736, μ = 1.421 mm-1, the final R = 0.0400 and w R = 0.0942 for 5097 observed reflections（I 〉 2σ（I））. The intermolecular hydrogen bonding interaction extends the complex into a 1D chain structure. In addition, the complex was tested in vitro for its antibacterial activity and it exhibited significant activity, especially against penicillium.

CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF THE COMPLEX OF MUNG BEAN TRYPSIN INHIBITOR LYSINE ACTIVE FRAGMENT WITH BOVINE TRYPSIN AT 1.8 A RESOLUTION

The structure of the complex of mung bean trypsin inhibitor lysine active fragment with bovine trypsin has been determined at a resolution of 1.8 A by A-ray crystallographic analysis and the complex model refined by restrained least-squares minimization with the data between 10 and 1.8 resolution.The current conventional R factor is 17.3%,and the model con- tains 1648 protein atoms,219 inhibitor atoms and 126 water molecules.The most prominent feature of the inhibitor fragment is that it does not contain any alpha-helices.Most of the chain fold in an irregular fashion.The seven residues of the binding segment of the inhibitor lysine active frag- ment are in specific contact with bovine trypsin.The binding interaction and geometry around the reactive site are similar to that observed in other studies of trypsin-inhibitor complexes.

Syntheses, Crystal Structures and Antibacterial Activities of Cobalt(Ⅱ) and Manganese(Ⅱ) Complexes with Schiff Base Ligand Derived from Tryptamine

Two new mononuclear complexes, namely [Co（L）2]（1） and [Mn（L）2]（2）（HL = N-（3-methylsalicylidene）tryptamine）, have been synthesized by the reactions of the ligand with cobalt acetate or manganese acetate in anhydrous ethanol. The crystal structures of the complexes were characterized by IR spectrum, elemental analysis, PXRD and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Complex 1 crystallizes in monoclinic, space group C2/c, with a = 23.146（2）, b = 9.4864（10）, c = 13.9261（15）A, β = 102.898（2）°, V = 2980.6（5） ？3, Z = 4, Dc = 1.367 g/cm3, F（000） = 1284 and μ = 0.616 mm^-1. Complex 2 crystallizes in monoclinic, space group P21/n, with a = 14.807（11）, b = 13.118（10）, c = 16.663（13） A, β = 111.237（14）°, V = 3017（4） A^3, Z = 4, Dc = 1.342 g/cm^3, F（000） = 1276 and μ = 0.477 mm-1. The units of complex 1 are linked by intermolecular N–H…π hydrogen bonds into infinite 1D chains, which are further extended into a 3D supramolecular structure by a series of π···π stacking interactions. The units of complex 2 are linked by intermolecular N–H…π hydrogen bonds and C–H…π hydrogen bonds into an infinite 3D supramolecular structure. Meanwhile, the antibacterial activities of the ligand and its complexes have been tested against four kinds of bacteria. The results show that the three compounds all have excellent antibacterial activities and that 1 and 2 possess stronger inhibiting effects against the bacteria than the Schiff base.

Automatic Recognition of Construction Worker Activities Using Deep Learning Approaches and Wearable Inertial Sensors

The automated evaluation and analysis of employee behavior in an Industry 4.0-compliant manufacturingfirm are vital for the rapid and accurate diagnosis of work performance,particularly during the training of a new worker.Various techniques for identifying and detecting worker performance in industrial applications are based on computer vision techniques.Despite widespread com-puter vision-based approaches,it is challenging to develop technologies that assist the automated monitoring of worker actions at external working sites where cam-era deployment is problematic.Through the use of wearable inertial sensors,we propose a deep learning method for automatically recognizing the activities of construction workers.The suggested method incorporates a convolutional neural network,residual connection blocks,and multi-branch aggregate transformation modules for high-performance recognition of complicated activities such as con-struction worker tasks.The proposed approach has been evaluated using standard performance measures,such as precision,F1-score,and AUC,using a publicly available benchmark dataset known as VTT-ConIoT,which contains genuine con-struction work activities.In addition,standard deep learning models(CNNs,RNNs,and hybrid models)were developed in different empirical circumstances to compare them to the proposed model.With an average accuracy of 99.71%and an average F1-score of 99.71%,the experimentalfindings revealed that the suggested model could accurately recognize the actions of construction workers.Furthermore,we examined the impact of window size and sensor position on the identification efficiency of the proposed method.

POLYMORPH CONTROL OF ANTIMONY WHITE(Sb_2O_3)PREPARED BY HYDROMETALLURGY METHOD

The effects of reaction solvent, the properties of Sb 4O 5Cl 2 material and the ligand additives on the reaction rate and polymorph of antimony white(Sb 2O 3) in the reaction of Sb 4O 5Cl 2 transforming into Sb 2O 3 have been investigated by XRD and IR method. It is revealed that the reaction solvent and the properties of Sb 4O 5Cl 2 are the key factors affecting the reaction rate. The polymorph of antimony trioxides is determined by the reaction mechanism, i.e. the coordination state of the antimony activated complex. Adding a little ligand such as EDTA is the most economical and effective method of synthesizing cubic antimony white(Sb 2O 3)in hydrometallurgical transformation process.

Systematic Identification of Rice ABC1 Gene Family and Its Response to Abiotic Stress

Members of the activity of bc1 complex (ABC1) family are protein kinases that are widely found in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Previous studies showed that several plant ABC1 genes participated in the abiotic stress response. Here, we present the systematic identification of rice and Arabidopsis ABC1 genes and the expression analysis of rice ABC1 genes. A total of 15 and 17 ABC1 genes from the rice and Arabidopsis genomes, respectively, were identified using a bioinformatics approach. Phylogenetic analyses of these proteins suggested that the divergence of this family had occurred and their main characteristics were established before the monocot-dicot split. Indeed, species-specific expansion contributed to the evolution of this family in rice and Arabidopsis after the monocot-dicot split. Intron/exon structure analysis indicated that most of the orthologous genes had similar exon sizes, but diverse intron sizes, and the rice genes contained larger introns, moreover, intron gain was an important event accompanying the recent evolution of the rice ABC1 family. Multiple sequence alignment revealed one conserved amino acid segment and four conserved amino acids in the ABC1 domain. Online subcellular localization predicted that nine rice ABC1 proteins were localized in chloroplasts. Real-time RT-PCR established that the rice ABC1 genes were primarily expressed in leaves and the expression could be modulated by a broad range of abiotic factors such as H2O2, abscisic acid, low temperature, drought, darkness and high salinity. These results reveal that the rice ABC1 gene family plays roles in the environmental stress response and specific biological processes of rice.

Solid-phase Synthesis of Acyl-plasminogen-Streptokinase Activator Composite(APSAC) and Its Thrombolytic Properties

The dialysis method has been traditionally used for the conversion of native human plasminogen(Glu-Hpg) to lys-plasminogen(Lys-Hpg). Here is described a solid-phase synthesis method for the preparation of an acyl-plasminogen-streptokinase activator complex(APSAC) from Lys-Hpg, streptokinase(SK) and chemical modification (agent(4-amidinophenyl-4′-aminobenzoate hydrochloride)) with the L-lysine-Sepharose 4B Column as the carrier. The new method significantly increases the product yield and purity over the liquid-phase methods. The APSAC prepared with the new method exhibits a significant thrombolytic effect with a long half-life of about 8.8 h in rabbits.

DETECTING BILATERAL FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY IN THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX DURING A STROOP TASK BY NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY

Near infrared spectroscopy(NIRS)is generally accepted as a functional brain imaging technology for brain activation study.With multichannel highly sensitive NIRS instruments,it has become possible to assess functional connectivity of different brain negions by NIRS.However,the feasibility needs to be validated in complex cognitive activities.In this study,we recorded the hemodynamic activity of the bilateral prefrontal cortex(PFC)during a color-word matching Stroop task.Wavelet transform coberence(WTC)analysis was applied to ascss the functional conectivity of all homologous channel pairs within the left/right PFC.Both the behavioral and brain activ ation results showed signifcant Stroop effects.The results of WTC analysis revealed that,bilateral functional connectivity was significantly stronger during both the incongruent stimuli and neutral stimuli compared to that of the rest period.It also showed significant Stroop effect.Our findings demonstrate that,NIRS bcomes a valuable tool to elucidate the functional conectivity of brain cortex in complex cognitive activities.

Phosphorylation of OsFD1 by OsCIPK3 promotes the formation of RFT1-containing florigen activation complex for long-day flowering in rice

Heading date is a critical trait that determines the regional adaptability and grain productivity of many crops.Although rice is a facultative short-day plant,its domestication led to the Ghd7-Ehd1-Hd3a/RFT1 pathway for adaptation to long-day conditions(LDs).The formation of the"florigen activation complex"(FAC)containing florigen Hd3a has been characterized.However,the molecular composition of the FAC that contains RFT1 for long-day flowering is unclear.We show here that RFT1 forms a ternary FAC with 14-3-3 proteins and OsFD1 to promote flowering under LDs.We identified a calcineurin B-like-interacting protein kinase,OsCIPK3,which directly interacts with and phosphorylates OsFD1,thereby facilitating the localization of the FAC to the nucleus.Mutation in OsCIPK3 results in a late heading date under LDs but a normal heading date under short-day conditions.Collectively,our results suggest that OsCIPK3 phosphorylates OsFD1 to promote RFT1-containing FAC formation and consequently induce flowering in rice under LDs.

Synthesis, characterization, biological activities and luminescent properties of lanthanide complexes with [2-thiophenecarboxylic acid, 2-(2-pyridinylmethylene)hydrazide] Schiff bases ligand

A Schiff base L [2-thiophenecarboxylic acid, 2-（2-pyridinylmethylene）hydrazide] with its lanthanide metal complexes was synthesized. These complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity measurements, spectral analysis（NMR, FT-IR, and UV-Vis）, luminescence and thermal gravimetric analysis. The Schiff base ligand was a tridentate chelate and coordinates to the central lanthanide ion with 1：2 metal：ligand ratio. The conductivity data showed a 1：1 electrolytic nature with a general formula [LnL_2（NO_3）_2]NO_3. The luminescence emission properties for Sm, Tb, and Eu complexes were observed and showed that the ligand L could absorb and transfer energy to Sm（III）, Tb（III） and Eu（III） ions. The complexes possessed a good antibacterial activity against different bacterial strains. In addition, the scavenging activity of the Ln（III） complexes on DPPH was concentration dependant and the complexes were significantly more efficient in quenching DPPH than the free Schiff base ligand.

The CARMA3-BCL10-MALT1 （CBM） complex contributes to DNA damage-induced NF-κB activation and cell survival

Dear Editor,Chemotherapy is one of major means for cancer treatments, and many of chemotherapeutic drugs are DNA damaging agents that reduce tumor growth through triggering cancer cell apoptosis or necrosis. Following DNA damage, ataxia telangiectasia mutated （ATM）, a protein kinase, was acti- vated and a cytosolic complex containing ATM, NEMO, RIP1 were formed （Biton and Ashkenazi, 2011）.

Synthesis, chemical nuclease activity, and in vitro cytotoxicity of benzimidazole-based Cu(Ⅱ)/Co(Ⅱ) complexes

In this study, novel mono/di-nuclear Cu（p-2-bmb）（OH）（Cl O4）（1） and Co2（p-2-bmb）2Cl4（2）（p-2-bmb = 1-（（2-（pyridin-2-yl）-benzoimidazol-1-yl）methyl）-1H-benzotriazole） complexes with the nitrogen heterocyclic benzimidazole-based ligand were synthesized and characterized. The two complexes showed antiproliferative effects in various carcinoma cell lines, especially complex 1 in the SMMC7721 tumor cell line. Complex 1 was also able to pass through the cell membrane and enter the nucleus and mitochondrion. An analysis of in vitro chemical nuclease activity revealed that complex 1 partially intercalated to calf thymus DNA and exhibited strong unwinding activity against p BR322 superhelical plasmid DNA. The comet assay and flow cytometry analysis confirmed that 1 caused extensive DNA damage and arrested SMMC7721 tumor cells at G2/M phase of the cell cycle, leading to loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptosis. These results suggest that these benzimidazole-based metal complexes could be potential anti-cancer agents.