1,953 research outputs found
Sustainable Energy Crop Production: A Case Study for Sugarcane and Cassava Production in Yunnan, China
No full textThe possibility of using biomass as a source of energy in reducing the greenhouse-effect imposed by carbon dioxide emission and relieving energy crisis is a matter of great interest, such as bioethanol production. Nevertheless, the cultivation of dedicated energy crops dose meet with some criticisms (conflict with food security and environmental degradation, for example). Nowadays sugarcane and cassava are regarded as the potential energy crops for bioethanol production. Endowed with natural resources and favorable weather condition, Yunnan province, China, is the major sugarcane and cassava production area in China. This paper presents production structures of these two crops in Yunnan and compares the sustainable production between the usages of sugarcane and cassava as bioethanol feedstock. Firstly, we estimated the technical efficiency for sugarcane and cassava production by adopting the production function and stochastic frontier production function. Field surveys from 61 sugarcane farmers and 50 cassava farmers were collected in June and September, 2008. Secondly, the sustainability of each crop production was evaluated. Since there is no generally accepted definition of sustainable production, a set of criteria was defined including 2 concerns (employment and food supply) from socio-economic area and 3 concerns (conversion rate to ethanol, water requirement, and fertilizer pollution) from environmental area. Empirical results demonstrated that the average production function was located below the frontier production function, 5% for sugarcane production and 7% for cassava production. These findings reflect the existence of technical inefficiency not only in the sugarcane production but also in the cassava production as well. But after considering sustainable production, cassava, which requires low agro-chemical, should be recommended as a prior energy crop in Yunnan with higher rates in ethanol conversion and dry matter.International Development, Production Economics, Energy crop, stochastic frontier production, Sustainable production, Yunnan province, Bioethanol,
sj-docx-1-jcn-10.1177_08830738221075886 - Supplemental material for Severity of Hospitalized Children with Anti-NMDAR Autoimmune Encephalitis
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-jcn-10.1177_08830738221075886 for Severity of Hospitalized Children with Anti-NMDAR Autoimmune Encephalitis by Mingxing Fan, MS, Wenjie Sun, MS, Danrong Chen, MS, Tianyu Dong, PhD, Wu Yan, PhD, Mingzhi Zhang, PhD, Haibo Yang, MS, Jun Li, MS, and Xu Wang, MD, PhD in Journal of Child Neurology</p
sj-docx-1-pib-10.1177_09544054231189763 – Supplemental material for Influences of thermal crown and wear crown of work roll on strip shape in tandem cold rolling using a novel 3D multi-pass FE model
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-pib-10.1177_09544054231189763 for Influences of thermal crown and wear crown of work roll on strip shape in tandem cold rolling using a novel 3D multi-pass FE model by Lianjie Li, Haibo Xie, Tao Zhang, Di Pan, Tianwu Liu, Xingsheng Li, Xu Liu, Enrui Wang, Hongqiang Liu, Li Sun and Zhengyi Jiang in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture</p
Task placement and selection of data consistency mechanisms for real-time multicore applications
No full textMulticores are today used in automotive, controls and avionics systems supporting real-time functionality. When real-time tasks allocated on different cores cooperate through the use of shared communication resources, they need to be protected by mechanisms that guarantee access in a mutual exclusive way with bounded worst-case blocking time. Lock-based mechanisms such as MPCP and MSRP have been developed to fulfill this demand, and research papers are today tackling the problem of finding the optimal task placement in multicores while trying to meet the deadlines against blocking times. In this paper, we propose a resource-aware task allocation algorithm for systems that use MSRP to protect shared resources. Furthermore, we leverage the additional opportunity provided by wait-free methods as an alternative data consistency mechanism for the case that the shared resource is communication or state memory. An algorithm that performs both task allocation and data consistency mechanism (MSRP or wait-free) selection is proposed. The selective use of wait-free methods can significantly extend the range of schedulable systems at the cost of memory.</p
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Lycium barbarum polysaccharide alleviates IL-1β-evoked chondrogenic ATDC5 cell inflammatory injury through mediation of microRNA-124
No full textWe, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, have retracted the following article:Huawei Ni, Guoxiu Wang, Yu Xu, Xiaomin Gu, Chengzhang Sun & Haibo Li (2019) Lycium barbarum polysaccharide alleviates IL-1β-evoked chondrogenic ATDC5 cell inflammatory injury through mediation of microRNA-124. Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 47(1), 4046–4052, DOI:10.1080/21691401.2019.1673765Since publication, concerns have been raised about the integrity of the data in the article. When approached for an explanation, the authors checked their data and confirmed there are fundamental errors present. Therefore, they have agreed to the retraction of this article. The authors apologise for this oversight.We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions.The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’
A Non-invasive Method for Removing a Non-Deflatable Bladder Catheter.mp4
No full textTitle: A Non-invasive Method for Removing a Non-Deflatable Bladder CatheterJournal: International Urology and NephrologyAuthor: Qing Cheng; Haibo Zhang; Guoren Wang; Zhenxiang Liu; Zhiming BaiCorresponding author: Zhiming BaiE-mail: [email protected] </p
Tailoring Microenvironment and Orientation of Immobilized Lactase for Improved Catalysis at Suboptimal pH
No full textThe U.S. Greek yogurt market has experienced significant growth, rising from 1-2% in 2004 to 40% in 2015, resulting in a large amount of lactose-rich acid whey as a byproduct. Using lactase to transform this waste into valuable products has emerged as a promising solution. Covalent immobilization allows enzymes to be reused and prevents contamination of the product. While immobilizing lactases has been found to enhance their pH and temperature stability, undesired enzyme-substrate interactions can still lead to reduced enzyme activity.
This study investigates novel approaches for enhancing the performance of immobilized lactase enzyme through controlled orientation and microenvironment modification. We utilized initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) to fabricate tailored polymeric thin films as enzyme immobilization supports. A site-specific spycatcher/spytag system was employed for direct immobilization of lactase, while polycationic polymers were incorporated to modify the local chemical environment.
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed the retention of key functional groups in the polymeric supports. The epoxide-amine ring-opening reaction between the support and enzyme was verified, indicating covalent immobilization. Directed immobilization resulted in significantly improved enzyme activity compared to random immobilization, particularly at pH 7 and 8. Incorporation of hydrophobic crosslinkers further enhanced the activity of directedly immobilized Lactase, even exceeding that of the free LacZ-ST by 155% at pH 7, while no effect was observed for randomly immobilized LacZ. The inclusion of pH-responsive polycationic moieties in the support enabled LacZ to catalyze at pH 4, where the free enzyme is typically inactive. This study demonstrates the potential of combining controlled enzyme orientation with tailored microenvironments to optimize the performance of immobilized biocatalysts across a broader pH range.Master of Science in Life SciencesWith the booming Greek yogurt industry generating substantial amounts of lactose-rich acid whey as a byproduct, there is a pressing need for effective waste management to avoid negative environmental impact. However, the abundance of this acidic byproduct also presents a unique opportunity for product valorization. Lactose, the primary component of acid whey, can be transformed into valuable prebiotics and sweeteners through biotransformation via lactase, an enzyme commonly used for producing lactose-free milk. Nonetheless, the acidic nature of acid whey (~pH 4) inhibits lactase activity, which typically thrives at neutral pH levels (~pH 7).
To tackle this challenge, we explored enzyme immobilization that is, fixing the enzymes on a solid support to improve the stability and reusability of lactase under non-ideal pH environment. Our approach involved using initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) to create specialized polymeric supports for enzyme immobilization via covalent bonds. We employed a site-specific immobilization strategy using the spycatcher/spytag system to ensure optimal enzyme orientation, which we hypothesized to be critical for enhancing activity. Additionally, we modified the chemical environment around the immobilized lactase by incorporating a positively charged polymer to allow the local pH to be more neutral than the bulk pH, thus improving the activity of the immobilized lactases.
The results showed that our directed immobilization method significantly improved lactase activity, especially at neutral pH levels, compared to immobilized enzymes with random orientation. Furthermore, by adding positively charged components to the immobilization support, we enabled the immobilized lactase to function even at pH 4, where free lactase is completely inactive. This shows promise for using immobilized lactase to process acid whey without pH adjustment. This research highlights the potential for transforming dairy waste into useful products while addressing the limitations of current enzymatic processes, paving the way for more sustainable practices in food production and biomanufacturing
STATISTICAL ANALYSES OF HIGH THROUGHPUT GENETICS AND GENOMICS DATA
No full textMixed effects models are commonly used for modeling the dependence structure between twin pairs in twin studies. However, mixed effects models are extremely computationally intensive for eQTL (expression quantitative trait loci) analysis. To overcome the computational challenge, twin pairs can be randomly split into two independent groups on which multiple linear regression analysis can be performed. In my first topic, a computationally efficient score statistic is proposed to combine non-independent analysis results from the two groups. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) aim to identify genetic variants associated with complex traits. The standard first pass GWAS analysis where SNPs are tested one at a time may fail to detect associations due to, for example, multiple causal SNPs. Alternatively, regional SNP-set analyses have been established to test the association between a set of SNPs and a phenotype through a mixed effects model where testing the association is equivalent to testing whether one or more of the variance components are equal to 0. However, the null distribution of the likelihood ratio test (LRT) does not follow the conventional 50:50 mixture chi-square distribution in this setting. My second topic investigates the spectral representation of LRT, based on which an empirical resampling procedure is proposed to approximate the null distribution of LRT. When both GWAS and gene expression data are available on the same set of samples, it is natural to add gene expression as a covariate into the SNP-set analysis to jointly model the SNP and transcript association with the trait. One biologically interesting question is whether the complex phenotype is associated with the gene expression conditional on the SNP effects. My last research topic jointly models the association between the gene expression and SNP-set with the trait. Unlike traditional mixed effects models, our model allows the gene expression to be dependent on the random SNP effects since the independent assumption is likely to be violated when the gene expression is also associated with the SNP set. With relaxed independence assumption, we can make valid statistical inference and parameter estimation.Doctor of Philosoph
Valosin-Containing Protein/p97 as a Novel Therapeutic Target in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
No full textB acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) cells are distinctively vulnerable to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Recently, inhibition of p97 was shown to induce ER stress and subsequently cell death in solid tumors and in multiple myeloma. We investigated the role of a novel, orally available, p97 inhibitor (CB-5083; Cleave Biosciences) in B-ALL. CB-5083 induced a significant reduction in viability in 10 human B-ALL cell lines, harboring the most common fusion-genes involved in pediatric and adult B-ALL, with IC50s ranging from 0.34 to 0.76 μM. Moreover, CB-5083 significantly reduced the colony formation of OP1 and NALM6 cells. Early and strong induction of apoptosis was demonstrated in BALL1 and OP1 cells, together with a robust cleavage of PARP. CB-5083 induced ER stress, as documented through: 1) prominent expression of chaperones (GRP78, GRP94, PDI, DNAJC3, and DNAJB9); 2) increased activation of IRE1-alpha, as demonstrated by the splicing of XBP1; and 3) activation of PERK, which resulted in a significant overexpression of CHOP, and its downstream genes. CB-5083 reduced the viability also in GRP78−/−, GRP94−/−, and XBP1−/− cells, suggesting that none of these proteins alone was strictly required for CB-5083 activity. Moreover, we showed that the absence of XBP1 (XBP1−/−) increased the sensitivity to CB-5083, leading to the hypothesis that XBP1 splicing counteracts the activity of CB-5083, probably mitigating ER stress. Finally, vincristine was synergistic with CB-5083 in both BALL1 and OP1 cells. In summary, the targeting of p97 with CB-5083 is a novel promising therapeutic approach that should be further evaluated in B-ALL
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