Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
4,015
result(s) for
"Gu, Ming"
Sort by:
Imperial Chinese robes : from the forbidden city
Focusing on the dress and accessories of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), this exquisite book captures the grandeur of the garments worn by emperors and empresses for defined formal engagements. In Qing dynasty China, there were clear rules on what to wear on different occasions. Official dress was worn when the emperor performed sacrifices at the 'Temple of Heaven' and at other important rituals. Auspicious dress was for New Year, birthdays and weddings. Military dress for troop inspection; travelling dress for hunting and royal visits to provinces, and ordinary dress for events of a non-celebrative nature, such as mourning. When not performing public duties, however, the imperial family could freely choose which garments to wear - and this book also illustrates these more casual clothes with colourful and stunning fashion dresses made for the court ladies.
Book
GS9 acts as a transcriptional activator to regulate rice grain shape and appearance quality
Identification of grain shape determining genes can facilitate breeding of rice cultivars with optimal grain shape and appearance quality. Here, we identify
GS9
(
Grain Shape Gene on Chromosome 9
) gene by map-based cloning. The
gs9
null mutant has slender grains, while overexpression
GS9
results in round grains.
GS9
encodes a protein without known conserved functional domain. It regulates grain shape by altering cell division. The interaction of GS9 and ovate family proteins OsOFP14 and OsOFP8 is modulated by OsGSK2 kinase, a key regulator of the brassinosteroids signaling pathway. Genetic interaction analysis reveals that
GS9
functions independently from other previously identified grain size genes. Introducing the
gs9
allele into elite rice cultivars significantly improves grain shape and appearance quality. It suggests potential application of
gs9
, alone or in combination with other grain size determining genes, in breeding of rice varieties with optimized grain shape.
Rice grain shape or size is an important trait associated with both yield and appearance quality. Here, the authors identify GS9 as a negative transcription regulator of slender grain and show it can improve grain shape and appearance independently from other previously identified grain size genes.
Journal Article
Electrode interface optimization advances conversion efficiency and stability of thermoelectric devices
Although the CoSb
3
-based skutterudite thermoelectric devices have been highly expected for wide uses such as waste heat recovery and space power supply, the limited long-term service stability majorly determined by the degradation of electrode interface obstructs its applications. Here, we built up an effective criterion for screening barrier layer based on the combination of negative interfacial reaction energy and high activation energy barrier of Sb migration through the formed interfacial reaction layer. Accordingly, we predicted niobium as a promising barrier layer. The experimental results show the skutterudite/Nb joint has the slowest interfacial reaction layer growth rate and smallest interfacial electrical resistivity. The fabricated 8-pair skutterudite module using Nb as barrier layer achieves a recorded conversion efficiency of 10.2% at hot-side temperature of 872 K and shows excellent stability during long-time aging. This simple criterion provides an effective guidance on screening barrier layer with bonding-blocking-conducting synergetic functions for thermoelectric device integration.
Long-term service stability of thermoelectric devices is one of the major obstacles for their application. Here, the authors combine interfacial reaction energy and Sb migration activation energy barrier as a criterion to determine the interfacial reliability for skutterudite thermoelectric devices.
Journal Article
Revealing the missing dimension at an exceptional point
The radiation of electromagnetic and mechanical waves depends not only on the intrinsic properties of the emitter but also on the surrounding environment. This principle has laid the foundation for the development of lasers, quantum optics, sonar, musical instruments and other fields related to wave–matter interaction. In the conventional wisdom, the environment is defined exclusively by its eigenstates, and an emitter radiates into and interacts with these eigenstates. Here we show experimentally that this scenario breaks down at a non-Hermitian degeneracy known as an exceptional point. We find a chirality-reversal phenomenon in a ring cavity where the radiation field reveals the missing dimension of the Hilbert space, known as the Jordan vector. This phenomenon demonstrates that the radiation field of an emitter can become fully decoupled from the eigenstates of its environment. The generality of this striking phenomenon in wave–matter interaction is experimentally confirmed in both electromagnetic and acoustic systems. Our finding transforms the fundamental understanding of light–matter interaction and wave–matter interaction in general, and enriches the intriguing physics of exceptional points.
The modes of the radiation field generated from an emitter are usually determined by the eigenstates of the surrounding environment. However, this scenario breaks down in a non-Hermitian system, at the spectral degeneracy known as an exceptional point.
Journal Article
Reflected wavefront manipulation based on ultrathin planar acoustic metasurfaces
The introduction of metasurfaces has renewed the Snell's law and opened up new degrees of freedom to tailor the optical wavefront at will. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that the generalized Snell's law can be achieved for reflected acoustic waves based on ultrathin planar acoustic metasurfaces. The metasurfaces are constructed with eight units of a solid structure to provide discrete phase shifts covering the full 2π span with steps of π/4 by coiling up the space. By careful selection of the phase profiles in the transverse direction of the metasurfaces, some fascinating wavefront engineering phenomena are demonstrated, such as anomalous reflections, conversion of propagating waves into surface waves, planar aberration-free lens and nondiffracting Bessel beam generated by planar acoustic axicon. Our results could open up a new avenue for acoustic wavefront engineering and manipulations.
Journal Article
A comparative study of the wind characteristics of three typhoons based on stationary and nonstationary models
This study presents the results of a comparative study of the wind characteristics of three typhoons presenting similar characteristics, based on stationary and nonstationary models. The original data were collected at four different heights along the seaside of the Fujian Province (China), where the typhoons passed through. First, the run-test method and discrete wavelet transform were employed to evaluate the stationarity and extract the time-varying mean wind speed after data filtering. Then, the gust factor, turbulence intensity and turbulence integral scale were compared. The results demonstrated that the wind characteristics described by the nonstationary model were more centralized and stable than those obtained by the stationary model. Lastly, the power spectral density and evolutionary power spectral density (EPSD) were compared, revealing that the von Karman spectra fitted well the measured spectra. In addition, two methods for the analysis of nonstationary wind spectra were compared. The direct extension from stationary model to nonstationary model was found not to be reasonable from the results of this comparison. Considering the instantaneous energy concentration shown in the EPSD, a nonstationary approach is recommended when analyzing near surface typhoon wind data.
Journal Article
A systematic review and meta-analysis of direct anterior approach versus posterior approach in total hip arthroplasty
Background
This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the postoperative clinical outcomes and safety of the direct anterior approach (DAA) versus posterior approach (PA) in total hip arthroplasty (THA).
Methods
We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, and Google databases from inception to June 2018 to select studies that compared the DAA and PA for THA. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included. Outcomes included Harris hip score at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 1 year; VAS at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h; incision length, operation time, postoperative blood loss, length of hospital stay, and complications (intraoperative fracture, postoperative dislocation, heterotopic ossification (HO), and groin pain).
Results
Nine RCTs totaling 754 THAs (DAA group = 377, PA group = 377) met the criteria to be included in this meta-analysis. The present meta-analysis indicated that, compared with PA group, DAA group was associated with an increase of the Harris hip score at the 2-week and 4-week time points. No significant difference was found between DAA and PA groups of the Harris hip scores at 12 weeks, 1 year length of hospital stay (
p
> 0.05). DAA group was associated with a reduction of the VAS at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h with statistical significance (
p
< 0.05). What is more, DAA was associated with a reduction of the incision length and postoperative blood loss (
p
< 0.05). There was no significant difference between the operation time and complications (intraoperative fracture, postoperative dislocation, HO, and groin pain).
Conclusion
In THA patients, compared with PA, DAA was associated with an early functional recovery and less pain scores. What is more, DAA was associated with shorter incision length and blood loss.
Journal Article
Anti-influenza A virus activity of rhein through regulating oxidative stress, TLR4, Akt, MAPK, and NF-κB signal pathways
Rhein, an anthraquinone compound existing in many traditional herbal medicines, has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, antiviral, hepatoprotective, and nephroprotective activities, but its anti-influenza A virus (IAV) activity is ambiguous. In the present study, through plaque inhibition assay, time-of-addition assay, antioxidant assay, qRT-PCR, ELISA, and western blotting assays, we investigated the anti-IAV effect and mechanism of action of rhein in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that rhein could significantly inhibit IAV adsorption and replication, decrease IAV-induced oxidative stress, activations of TLR4, Akt, p38, JNK MAPK, and NF-κB pathways, and production of inflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinases in vitro. Oxidant H2O2 and agonists of TLR4, Akt, p38/JNK and IKK/NF-κB could significantly antagonize the inhibitory effects of rhein on IAV-induced cytopathic effect (CPE) and IAV replication. Through an in vivo test in mice, we also found that rhein could significantly improve the survival rate, lung index, pulmonary cytokines, and pulmonary histopathological changes. Rhein also significantly decreased pulmonary viral load at a high dose. In conclusion, rhein can inhibit IAV adsorption and replication, and the mechanism of action to inhibit IAV replication may be due to its ability to suppress IAV-induced oxidative stress and activations of TLR4, Akt, p38, JNK MAPK, and NF-κB signal pathways.
Journal Article
Emodin Inhibition of Influenza A Virus Replication and Influenza Viral Pneumonia via the Nrf2, TLR4, p38/JNK and NF-kappaB Pathways
Lasting activations of toll-like receptors (TLRs), MAPK and NF-κB pathways can support influenza A virus (IAV) infection and promote pneumonia. In this study, we have investigated the effect and mechanism of action of emodin on IAV infection using qRT-PCR, western blotting, ELISA, Nrf2 luciferase reporter, siRNA and plaque inhibition assays. The results showed that emodin could significantly inhibit IAV (ST169, H1N1) replication, reduce IAV-induced expressions of TLR2/3/4/7, MyD88 and TRAF6, decrease IAV-induced phosphorylations of p38/JNK MAPK and nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65. Emodin also activated the Nrf2 pathway, decreased ROS levels, increased GSH levelss and GSH/GSSG ratio, and upregulated the activities of SOD, GR, CAT and GSH-Px after IAV infection. Suppression of Nrf2 via siRNA markedly blocked the inhibitory effects of emodin on IAV-induced activations of TLR4, p38/JNK, and NF-κB pathways and on IAV-induced production of IL-1β, IL-6 and expression of IAV M2 protein. Emodin also dramatically increased the survival rate of mice, reduced lung edema, pulmonary viral titer and inflammatory cytokines, and improved lung histopathological changes. In conclusion, emodin can inhibit IAV replication and influenza viral pneumonia, at least in part, by activating Nrf2 signaling and inhibiting IAV-induced activations of the TLR4, p38/JNK MAPK and NF-κB pathways.
Journal Article