Ebola Virus Disease: General Characteristics, Thoughts, and Perspectives

In December 2013, a new round of Ebola virus disease （EVD） first occurred in a remote countryside of Guinea and then spread in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria of West Africa. EVD, caused by Ebolavirus and previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is an acute infectious disease with fatality rates up to 90%. As of August 22, 2014, the number of suspected and confirmed cases was 2615, causing 1427 deaths[I]. On August 8, 2014, World Health Organization announced the current outbreak in West Africa as an international public health emergency. The global epidemic tendency remains ambiguous to date. In recent years, China closely collaborates with West Africa in labor, business, overseas education, and also sends aid medical team there. Thus, the risk of importing the disease cannot be ignored. We conduct this literature review of epidemiology, pathogen, prophylaxis, and treatment to provide evidence for controlling the risk and carrying out effective interventions.

The General Characteristics and Distribution of the Glaucophane-Schist Belts of China

On the basis of the temperature variation, the glaucophane-schist facies Gan be classified into two faciesgroups, the glaucophane-lawsonite facies group and the glaucophane-greenschist facies group, and forms vari-ous facies series with other metamorphic facies. Glaucophane-schist belts of China are of different types withregard to their average T-P gradients and tectonic environments. They are: (1) Proterozoic intracratonicglaucophane-schist belts, (2) Caledonian intracratonic glaucophane-schist belts, (3) Palaeozoic pericratonicglaucophane-schist belts along the northern margin of the Chinese Platform, and (4) Meso-Cenozoicglaucophane-schist belts related to subduction. The initiation and evolution of glaucophane-schist metamorphism are related to their tectonic environ-ments. Most glaucophane-schist belts of China were formed in sialic environments. First the crust began tobreak up and eventually oceanic crust was formed. It seems that a non-uniformitarian mechanism may be in-volved as this evolution is related to the change of the configuration of the heat flow within the crust.

GENERAL DYNAMIC EQUATION AND DYNAMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VISCOELASTIC TIMOSHENKO BEAMS

In this paper, a governing differential equation of viscoelastic Timoshenko beam including both extension and shear viscosity is developed in the time domain by direct method. To measure the complex moduli and three parameters of standard linear solid, the forced vibration technique of beam is successfully used for PCL and PMMA specimens. The dynamical characteristics of viscoelastic Timoshenko beams, especially the damping properties, are derived from a considerable number of numerical computations. The analyses show that the viscosity of materials has great influence on dynamical characteristics of structures, especially on damping, and the standard linear solid model is the better one for describing the dynamic behavior of high viscous materials.

Study on Characteristics and Reduction Countermeasures of the Agricultural Carbon Emission in China

Based on seven carbon sources including chemical fertilizer, pesticide, agricultural film, nitrogen fertilization, agricultural machinery, irri- gation and straw burning, the carbon emissions in agricultural production of China during 1995-2011 was calculated. The results showed that both total agricultural carbon emission and per capita agricultural carbon emission overall presented growth trends, and the growth rate began to slow in recent years. The agricultural carbon emission intensity decreased year by year. Straw burning was the primary carbon source in China＇s agricul- ture, followed by chemical fertilizer. Total agricultural carbon emission in China in 17 years experienced three stages of ＂fluctuated growth -slow drop-new growth＂. Finally, suggestions and countermeasures of the low-carbon agriculture development in China from three aspects were proposed.

General Evaluation of Biocide （Bt-ASF-1） Produced from Iraqi Isolate of Bacillus thuringiensis

General evaluation of isolate Bacillus thuringiensis （Bt-ASF-1） used as biocide in meddle scale application was conducted. Some morphological and confirmation tests were achieved. The sensitivity tests had been accomplished by diffusion and dilution techniques to determine the response of isolate against the antibiotics. The results of diffusion tests showed to the sensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics of cefixime, erythromycin, gentamicin and tetracycline respectively. It was resistant to trimethoprim sulfonamide （TMP）, bacitracin, penicillin and all its generations, and moderate resistance to nalidixic acid. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration （MIC） for amoxicillin was ranged between 30-40 pg/mL and these results are an approximation of the universal findings. Curing experiments showed the effective role of sodium dodecyl sulfate （SDS） （1.5%） comparing with temperature. The bacterial cells became sensitive to amoxicillin and TMP. The curing by temperature did not differ significantly from control treatment in plasmid pattern or antibiotics response. Plasmid profile referring that curing by SDS has been caused disturbance in beta -lactamase genes through the sensitivity to amoxicillin and remaining resistance to ampicillin. Curing isolate by SDS also became more sensitive to nalidixic acid, erythromycin and tetracycline respectively. It was found from the curing treatments the complexity distribution of r-genes between different plasmid size and chromosome but not effect on their insecticidal ability.

A Class of General Transformation of Characteristic Functions in Dynamic Games

The transformation of characteristic functions is an effective way to avoid time-inconsistency of cooperative solutions in dynamic games.There are several forms on the transformation of characteristic functions.In this paper,a class of general transformation of characteristic functions is proposed.It can lead to the time-consistency of cooperative solutions and guarantee that the irrational-behaviorproof conditions hold true.To illustrate the theory,an example of dynamic game on a tree is given.

Temperature variations evidenced by records on the latest spring snowing dates in Hangzhou of eastern China during 1131–1270AD

We collected and verified documentary records of the latest spring snowing dates(LSSD)in Hangzhou during Southern Song Dynasty.Furtherly,the statistical correlation between this proxy and February–April mean temperature in Hangzhou was examined,and samples later than the perennial mean of the LSSD during Southern Song Dynasty were transformed into the decadal mean of LSSD by means of Boltzmann function.General characteristics of this reconstructed LSSD series with a 10-year temporal resolution was analyzed,and it was also compared with other documentary evidences and reconstructed climate series in China for the period 1131–1270.The results and discussion suggested that:(1)Records of the LSSD in Hangzhou during Southern Song Dynasty did not refer to ice pellets and graupels,which had an explicit climate significance(–0.34℃/10 d,R2=0.37,p<0.001).However,when this proxy is used to reconstruct temperature changes,all dates should be converted into proleptic Gregorian style and meet the same criterion of"true Qi"as the Chinese traditional calendar after 1929.(2)The decadal mean of LSSD can be effectively estimated by using the forefront of LSSD in the decade on the basis of Boltzmann function,whose extrapolation has a lesser uncertainty than those on the basis of linear models or polynomial models.(3)The spring climate in Hangzhou during 1131–1270 was almost as warm as the period 1951–1980.At the centennial scale,this period can be divided into two phases:the cold 1131–1170 and the warm 1171–1270.In the latter,1181–1200 and 1221–1240 were two cold intervals at the multi-decadal scale.(4)The reconstructed LSSD series was consistent well with other documentary evidences and reconstructed climate series in China for 1131–1270,which may reflect the influence on the climate over most regions of China imposed by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO).

Definite Condition of the Evolutionary p(x)−Laplacian Equation

For the nonlinear degenerate parabolic equations,how to find an appropriate boundary value condition to ensure the well-posedness of weak solution has been an interesting and challenging problem.In this paper,we develop the general characteristic function method to study the stability of weak solutions based on a partial boundary value condition.