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The increase in energy demand and environmental pollution issues has led to the growth of utilizing renewable energy. Wind energy has become one of the main alternatives for power generation. In order to enhance the performance of the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), the application of a diffuser is one of the innovative methods. At present, research on deploying the diffuser on the vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) remains scarce. This paper presents the experimental study on the aerodynamic characteristics of a small H-rotor VAWT integrated with a diffuser. The diffuser comprises a pair of flat plates with an inclined angle of 30° at the outlet, with the VAWT is located between the diffuser. A comparison between the turbine performance with and without the diffuser has been conducted. From the experiment, it shows that with the presence of the diffuser, the performance of the VAWT has increased significantly. The power obtained for the bare turbine and with the diffuser is 0.38 W and 0.48 W respectively which is increased by about 26.3% and occurring at 300 rpm. Moreover, with the diffuser, the incoming velocity is also increased. This is due to the presence of the diffuser which enables the flow expansion and creates a low-pressure region at the downwind; inducing a higher incoming wind flow to the VAWT and enhancing its performance. In addition, the rotational speed and a better self-start ability can be achieved with the presence of the diffuser.

Photoperiod is an important factor influencing many biological processes including population dynamics of many insect species in temperate zones. To determine the population response of Chrysoperla nipponensis under altered conditions (high temperature and short photoperiod) and to test whether the short photoperiod was suitable for artificial storage, the life table data of C. nipponensis were collected at 25 °C under a long photoperiod, 15:9 h (L:D), and a short photoperiod, 9:15 h (L:D) and analyzed using the age-stage, two-sex life table approach. We found that C. nipponensis developed faster under the long photoperiod than under the short photoperiod. The shorter developmental time, higher fecundity, and higher proportion of females found during the long photoperiod resulted in higher intrinsic and net reproductive rates, but a shorter mean generation time and life expectancy compared to those reared during the short photoperiod. Individuals reared under the short photoperiod also had a high reproductive value. Population projection demonstrated that C. nipponensis reared at the long photoperiod would complete four generations in 150 d, while reared under the short photoperiod would just be entering the second generation. Our results demonstrated that the different fitness values obtained for C. nipponensis individuals by varying photoperiod lengths, were readily distinguishable when using the age-stage, two-sex life table. High winter temperatures would be detrimental to a diapausing population, and diapause induced by the short photoperiod would be beneficial to the storage of natural enemies.

Loss of muscle protein is a serious complication of catabolic diseases and contributes substantially to patients' morbidity and mortality. This muscle loss is mediated largely by the activation of the ubiquitin–proteasome system; however, caspase-3 catalyzes an initial step in this process by cleaving actomyosin into small protein fragments that are rapidly degraded by the proteasome-dependent proteolytic pathway. We hypothesized that X-chromosome linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), an endogenous caspase-3 inhibitor, would block this first step in the cleavage of actomyosin that would make XIAP a candidate for treating muscle wasting. To determine if XIAP could attenuate muscle protein degradation, we used a recombinant lentivirus (Len-XIAP) encoding the full-length human XIAP cDNA to express XIAP in vivo . In muscle of streptozotocin-treated insulin-deficient mice, total muscle protein degradation, caspase-3 activity, and myofibril destruction were increased while XIAP was decreased. Overexpression of XIAP in these mice attenuated the excessive muscle protein degradation. Increased proteasome activity, caspase-3 activity and myofibril protein breakdown were all reduced. The ability of XIAP to prevent the loss of muscle protein suggests that XIAP could be a therapeutic reagent for muscle atrophy in catabolic diseases.

Background Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignancies and frequent cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play regulatory roles and serve as biomarkers of multiple cancers, including ESCC. Our previous studies have confirmed that lncRNA Kinectin 1 antisense RNA 1 (KTN1-AS1) is highly expressed in ESCC and exerts oncogene function through RBBP4/HDAC1 complex. Objective Our present study focused on exploring a novel molecular mechanism of KTN1-AS1 in ESCC. Methods In this study, qRT-PCR assay, Western blot assay, Luciferase reporter assay, and RNA immunoprecipitation assay were conducted. Results We found that KTN1-AS1 could bind to miR-885-5p in ESCC cells, and miR-885-5p was low expressed in ESCC. Overexpression of miR-885-5p inhibited esophageal cancer cells proliferation and invasion in vitro. Mechanistic analysis demonstrated that miR-885-5p specifically targeted striatin 3 (STRN3), and KTN1-AS1/miR-885-5p promoted the EMT process by Hippo pathway in STRN3/YAP1 dependent manner. Conclusion To sum up, KTN1-AS1 facilitates ESCC progression by acting as a ceRNA for miR-885-5p to regulate STRN3 expression and the Hippo pathway, and KTN1-AS1 maybe used as a promising therapeutic target for ESCC.

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of the bisphosphonate zoledronate on calcification induced by inorganic phosphate (Pi) and/or bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) and the underlying mechanisms. Primary vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from rats were treated with 3 mM Pi or 3 mM Pi/BMP-2, with and without addition of zoledronate; 1.4 mM Pi served as a control. Calcium deposits, expression of core binding factor α-1 (Cbfa-1), osteopontin (OPN), parathyroid pituitary-specific transcription factor (Pit)-1 and Pit-2, and Pi uptake of VSMCs was determined. The calcification of VSMCs induced by elevated Pi or Pi/BMP-2 was significantly inhibited by zoledronate. The expression of Cbfa-1, OPN and Pit-1 was increased significantly after treatment with an elevated level of Pi or Pi/BMP-2, and this expression was significantly suppressed by addition of zoledronate. Pi uptake of VSMCs increased following treatment with elevated Pi and significantly decreased by addition of zoledronate. These results indicated that zoledronate effectively inhibited calcification induced by Pi/BMP-2, and this may have been achieved by means of the downregulation of expression of calcification-related proteins and uptake of Pi.

A scene understanding method of combining semantic segmentation and ontology description is proposed in this paper. The method not only obtains the object of each part of the scene but also gets the relationship between the parts of the scene. Firstly, to realize the semantic segmentation of indoor scenes for 3D point clouds, PointNet is used in this paper as a tool for processing point clouds, and the S3DIS as PointNet datasets for training and testing. Secondly, in order to combine semantic segmentation and ontology, an ontology to describe the relationship between objects and scenes of the semantic segmentation result is used in this paper. Finally, we build indoor scenes ontology based on IndoorGML and use Protégé to display the spatial position ontology of the indoor scene.

In China, irrigation is widespread in 40.7% cropland to sustain crop yields. By its action on water cycle, irrigation affects water resources and local climate. In this study, a new irrigation module, including flood and paddy irrigation technologies, was developed in the ORCHIDEE‐CROP land surface model which describes crop phenology and growth in order to estimate irrigation demands over China from 1982 to 2014. Three simulations were performed including NI (no irrigation), IR (with irrigation limited by local water resources), and FI (with irrigation demand fulfilled). Observations and census data were used to validate the simulations. Results showed that the estimated irrigation water withdrawal ( W) based on IR and FI scenarios bracket statistical W with fair spatial agreements ( r=0.68±0.07; p<0.01). Improving irrigation efficiency was found to be the dominant factor leading to the observed W decrease. By comparing simulated total water storage (TWS) with GRACE observations, we found that simulated TWS with irrigation well explained the TWS variation over China. However, our simulation overestimated the seasonality of TWS in the Yangtze River Basin due to ignoring regulation of artificial reservoirs. The observed TWS decrease in the Yellow River Basin caused by groundwater depletion was not totally captured in our simulation, but it can be inferred by combining simulated TWS with census data. Moreover, we demonstrated that land use change tended to drive W locally but had little effect on total W over China due to water resources limitation. Key Points A new irrigation module is developed in ORCHIDEE including drip, flood, and paddy irrigation Simulations can explain broad scale patterns and the trends of irrigation amount from census data Irrigation efficiency and land use change are key factors affecting the trend of irrigation

A wurtzite nitrogen-doped MgZnO (MgZnO:N) film was grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy (PAMBE) on c-plane sapphire using radical NO as oxygen source and nitrogen dopant. The as-grown film shows n-type conduction at room temperature, but transforms into p-type conduction after annealed. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum measured at 80 K is dominated by neutral donor-bound exciton emission (D0X) located at 3.522 eV for the n-type MgZnO:N film, but by neutral acceptor-bound exciton emission (A0X) located at 3.515 eV for the p-type MgZnO:N film. By fitting exciton emission intensity of temperature-dependent PL spectra, the binding energies of the D0X and A0X were estimated to be 32 and 43 meV, respectively. Based on the energy shift of exciton emission, the band gap of the MgZnO:N film is estimated to be 3.613 eV, which is 179 meV larger than that of ZnO. Using the Haynes rule, the acceptor energy level of the MgZnO:N film was evaluated to be about 176 meV above the valence band.

When military vehicles are subjected to a mine blast, the vehicles will be damaged and the occupants will be injured. The main objective of this paper is to study the feasibility and accuracy of the drop tower to simulate the response of the vehicle body under the actual explosion condition. The equivalent damage method of impact waveform simulation was studied, and the feasibility of the equivalent damage principle of impact waveform based on change in velocity was verified. By analyzing a large number of data of simplified seat impact simulation, the mechanical model of the drop tower was analyzed. Through the correlation study of the parameters of the drop impact load, the relation formula of the drop height required by the target load was constructed, and the customization of the impact load was realized. The response simulation of the protective seat in the explosion was completed in the drop tower, which verifies the accuracy of the drop tower in simulating the explosion impact load. In addition, the results provide a good basis for the follow-up research.

In this paper, a scheme to measure the position of precision stages, with a high precision, is presented. The encoder is composed of a scale grating and a compact two-probe reading head, to read the zero position pulse signal and continuous incremental displacement signal. The scale grating contains different codes, multiple reference codes with different spacing superimposed onto the incremental grooves with an equal spacing structure. The codes of reference mask in the reading head is the same with the reference codes on the scale grating, and generate pulse signal to locate the reference position primarily when the reading head moves along the scale grating. After locating the reference position in a section by means of the pulse signal, the reference position can be located precisely with the amplitude of the incremental displacement signal. A kind of reference codes and scale grating were designed, and experimental results show that the primary precision of the design achieved is 1 μ m. The period of the incremental signal is 1μ m, and 1000/N nm precision can be achieved by subdivide the incremental signal in N times.