Electrolyzed functional water possesses a wide variety of antimicrobial activities. Electrolyzed functional water, which used to take place of tap water in producing mung bean sprouts, was studied in this paper. The results showed that electrolyzed water can not only reduce the quantity of microorganism on the surface of mung bean sprouts, but also promote the growth of sprouts. Further research showed that electrolyte leakage rate of mung bean soaked in electrolyzed water was the lowest, while the catalase's activity of mung bean soaked in electrolyzed water was the highest. All of these contribute to the high activity of mung bean. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This study investigated the changes of toxic compounds in coking wastewater with biological treatment (anaerobic reactor, anoxic reactor and aerobic-membrane bioreactor, A1/A2/O-MBR) and advanced physicochemical treatment (Fenton oxidation and activated carbon adsorption) stages. As the biological treatment stages preceding, the inhibition effect of coking wastewater on the luminescence of Vibrio qinghaiensis sp. Nov. Q67 decreased. Toxic units (TU) of coking wastewater were removed by A1/A2/O-MBR treatment process, however approximately 30 % TU remained in the biologically treated effluent. There is a tendency that fewer and fewer residual organic compounds could exert equal acute toxicity during the biological treatment stages. Activated carbon adsorption further removed toxic pollutants of biologically treated effluent but the Fenton effluent increased acute toxicity. The composition of coking wastewater during the treatment was evaluated using the three-dimensional fluorescence spectra, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The organic compounds with high polarity were the main cause of acute toxicity in the coking wastewater. Aromatic protein-like matters in the coking wastewater with low biodegradability and high toxicity contributed mostly to the remaining acute toxicity of the biologically treated effluents. Chlorine generated from the oxidation process was responsible for the acute toxicity increase after Fenton oxidation. Therefore, the incorporation of appropriate advanced physicochemical treatment process, e.g., activated carbon adsorption, should be implemented following biological treatment processes to meet the stricter discharge standards and be safer to the environment.

Aside from monoamine disturbances, recent evidence has implicated particular intracellular pathways, including Wnt signaling, in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder. In the present study, we investigated the role of Wingless (Wnt)-Dishevelled (DVL)-glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3 beta) signaling in the depression-like behaviors exhibited by rats exposed to chronic forced swim stress. We found that the rats subjected to forced swim stress for 14 consecutive days exhibited obvious depression-like behaviors and showed decreased levels of phosphorylated GSK3 beta and beta-catenin in the hippocampus. Chronic citalopram treatment alleviated the depression-like behaviors and reversed the disruptions of the phosphorylated GSK3 beta and beta-catenin in stressed rats. Furthermore, when the stressed rats with citalopram treatment received bilateral, dorsal hippocampus infusions of a DVL inhibitor, sulindac, the depression-like effects induced by chronic stress reappeared. These findings suggest that the Wnt-DVL-GSK3 beta signaling in the hippocampus is markedly involved in the pathophysiology of depression induced by chronic stress. The Wnt-DVL-GSK3 beta pathway may mediate the therapeutic action of citalopram, and the manipulation of DVL could be a target for novel antidepressants. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aims: ApoL-I is a newly found component of high-density lipoprotein, and has a potential role in lipid metabolism. This study was mainly to examine the possible association of the ApoL-I gene polymorphism with obesity and plasma lipid levels in the Chinese population. Methods: Three hundred nineteen Han Chinese (109 obese and 210 nonobese control subjects) in Chengdu area were studied using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Results: The Lys and Glu allele frequencies of the apoL-I gene at the Lys166Glu site in obese and nonobese control groups were 0.830, 0.170 and 0.814, 0.186, respectively. The Ile and Met allele frequencies of the gene at Ile244Met site in the obese and the control groups were 0.844, 0.156 and 0.831, 0.169, respectively. The 166Glu and 244Met allele frequencies of the two polymorphisms in obese subjects were not different from those in the controls, respectively ( p>0.05). In the nonobese group, subjects with genotype Lys/Lys at the Lys166Glu site or Ile/Ile at the Ile244Met site had a higher serum mean concentration of triglyceride (TG) as compared with those of corresponding Glu or Met allele carriers ( p<0.05). In addition, serum apoC-III and apoE levels were affected by genotypes of Lys166Glu and Ile224Met polymorphisms, respectively, in the control group (all p<0.05). Conclusion: The current study, for the first time, provides evidence that Lys166Glu and Ile244Met polymorphisms in apoL-I gene are associated with TG, apoC-III, and apoE levels in nonobese Chinese. However, these polymorphisms are not associated with obesity in the population.

The present study developed a new algorithm to find the implementation plan that had the smallest variance of resources while meeting a fixed duration. And the proposed algorithm modified a population-based search procedure； particle swarm optimization； by adopting an elite archiving scheme to store nondominated solutions and by aptly using members of the archive to direct further search. The termination of the proposed algorithm was set to that no new members have entered into the elite archive. In addition； this paper also established an evaluation function between the resource variance and the actual start time of activities by introducing a virtual variable. Through a practical network； the proposed algorithm is shown effective and efficient in conducting resource optimization analysis. Future applications of the proposed algorithm are suggested in the conclusions.

Environmental antiandrogenic (AA) contaminants in effluents from wastewater treatment plants have the potential for negative impacts on wildlife and human health. The aim of our study was to identify chemical contaminants with likely AA activity in the biological effluents and evaluate the removal of these antiandrogens (AAs) during advanced treatment comprising adsorption onto granular activated carbon (GAC). In this study, profiling of AA contaminants in biological effluents and tertiary effluents was conducted using effect-directed analysis (EDA) including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fractionation, a recombinant yeast screen containing androgen receptor (YAS), in combination with mass spectrometry analyses. Analysis of a wastewater secondary effluent from a membrane bioreactor revealed complex profiles of AA activity comprising 14 HPLC fractions and simpler profiles of GAC effluents with only 2 to 4 moderately polar HPLC fractions depending on GAC treatment conditions. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-nanospray mass spectrometry analyses of AA fractions in the secondary effluent resulted in detection of over 10 chemical contaminants, which showed inhibition of YAS activity and were potential AAs. The putative AAs included biocides, food additives, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals and industrial contaminants. To our knowledge, it is the first time that the AA properties of N-ethyl-2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexanecarboxamide (WS3), cetirizine, and oxcarbazepine are reported. The EDA used in this study was proven to be a powerful tool to identify novel chemical structures with AA activity in the complex aquatic environment. The adsorption process to GAC of all the identified antiandrogens, except WS3 and triclosan, fit well with the pseudo-second order kinetics models. Adsorption to GAC could further remove most of the AAs identified in the biological effluents with high efficiencies. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper explains the petroleum engineering technologies of petroleum enterprise supported by G/S model, which combine process of exploring, developing, and transporting of petroleum enterprise, these key technologies with spatial information technology supported by Digital Earth Platform, resulting in the improvement of the scientificity, accuracy, and rationality of the petroleum engineering technologies and the reduction of the cost and the increase of the benefits. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ICAPIE Organization Committee.

With the development of modern computing technology and medical physics,radiotherapy has made great progress.The theoretical basis of radiobiology seems to lag behind the clinical application of radiotherapy,which hampers the further improvement of treatment efficacy and the optimization of treatment modality.In this paper,some emerging challenges of precision radiotherapy technology to the traditional theory of radiobiology,such as radiosensitivity,dose-response curve and survival curve,linear-quadratic model,4Rs theory,as well as the interaction between cancer and microenvironment,radiation-induced second primary cancers(RISPC),will be discussed.The interplay between precision radiotherapy and traditional radiobiology theories will be addressed with the aim to potentially solve some of the challenging problems.

In the system on a chip； some cells should be placed along a predefined coordinate within a relatively small region. This constraint comes from the requirement that the data should be ready on the common bus at the same time. In this paper； the module placement problem is studied where some modules have the predefined coordinate alignment (PCA) constraint. The relations are given between constrained modules； from which a necessary condition is induced. A polynomial-time algorithm is developed that can guarantee a feasible placement is always obtainable. The algorithm is implemented and tested on ami33 and ami49. The experimental results show that it is effective.

This research used both ERS and Envisat images to investigate the feasibility of differential radar interferometry (DInSAR) for mine subsidence monitoring in Tang Shan； Hebei Province； China. DInSAR results are analyzed and validated with the aid of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. The drawbacks of using interferometric measurements for mine subsidence monitoring are discussed. The repeat-pass tandem and Envisat DInSAR results are presented.

Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) is an approach to incipient fault detection； predict impending faults and estimate remaining useful life； which is significant to improve operational readiness and reduce support acquisition costs. Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a systematic methodology used to identify the maintenance tasks at the lowest possible cost. After PHM-technology is introduced to materiel in the design and development phase； the PHM technology will exert a profound influence on the maintenance concept for the capability of fault prediction. The impact could be seen from corrective maintenance and preventive maintenance. As corrective maintenance is concerned with fault mode and operation requirements； it chooses the preventive maintenance as the important context to analyze in this paper. In the development phase； it is necessary to develop a scheduled preventive maintenance program； which is considered as a significant task subsequent after PHM-technology has been applied to materiel. However； there are some differences with traditional support system after PHM technology application. In this paper； it talks about these differences and raise some new issues about RCMA process. To solve these issues； the paper gives the corresponding solutions. Comparing with traditional Reliability-centered Maintenance(RCM) process； it obtains a new RCMA logical decision analysis process. Simultaneously； in order to overcome the weakness of PHM such as the uncertainty of fault diagnosis； the paper provides an appropriate approach to achieve maintenance scientifically and support accurately. Furthermore； an approach for determining the items of preventive maintenance intervals in system design and development phase is outlined. After PHM-technology is used in aero materiel； the paper proposes a basis for making support decision about preventive maintenance which is benefit for making preventive maintenance program.