Study on cellular internalization of poly（vinyldiaminotriazine）-based hydrogen bonding type non-viral transgene vector

Previously we successfully prepared poly（vinyldiaminotriazine）（PVDT）-based non-viral vectors which complexed piasmid DNA via hydrogen bonding with adenine-thymine base pairs, in this report, surface charges and complex sizes of this system were further examined. The results showed that PVDT-based polymer could cover surface charges of DNA resulting in slightly negative or neutral complexes. It was also found that the complex sizes were governed by two events： the aggregation induced by the instability of neutral particles, and more compact complexes produced by PVDT-based polymers. In the study of cellular uptake, chlorpromazine and filipin III were used to inhibit clathrin-and caveolae-mediated endocytosis, respectively. We found that PVDT-based systems were transported into cells via a non-clathrin, non-caveolae mediated endocytosis. This special process was studied by temperature inhibition and kinetics assays. It was revealed that such a pathway was characterized by （i） a more en- ergy dependent process and （ii） a much slow transfection-effective internalization.     

An endpoint damage oriented model for life cycle environmental impact assessment of buildings in China

The midpoint impact assessment methodology and several weighting methods that are currently used by most building Life cycle assessment （LCA） researchers in China, still have some shortcomings. In order to make the evaluation results have better temporal and spatial applicability, the endpoint impact assessment methodology was adopted in this paper. Based on the endpoint damage oriented concept, four endpoints of resource exhaustion, energy exhaustion, human health damage and ecosystem damage were selected according to the situation of China and the specialties of the building industry. Subsequently the formula for calculating each endpoint, the background value for normalization and the weighting factors were defined. Following that, an endpoint damage oriented model to evaluate the life cycle environmental impact of buildings in China was established. This model can produce an in- tegrated indicator for environmental impact, and consequently provides references for directing the sustainable building design.     

Investigation of an energy nonadditivity for nonextensive systems

We investigate the energy nonadditivity relationship E(AαB) = E(A) + E(B) + αE(A)E(B) which is often considered in the development of the statistical physics of nonextensive systems. It was recently found that α in this equation was not constant for a given system in a given situation and could not characterize nonextensivity for that system. In this work, we select several typical nonextensive systems and compute the behavior of α when a system changes its size or is divided into subsystems in different fashions. Three kinds of interactions are considered. It is found by a thought experiment that α depends on the system size and the interaction as expected and on the way we divide the system. However, one of the major results of this work is that, for given system, α has a minimum with respect to division position. Around this position, there is a zone in which α is more or less constant, a situation where the sizes of the subsystems are comparable. The width of this zone depends on the interaction and on the system size. We conclude that if α is considered approximately constant in this zone, the two mathematical difficulties raised in previous studies are solved, meaning that the nonadditive relationship can characterize the nonadditivity of the system as an approximation. In all the cases, α tends to zero in the thermodynamic limit (N→∞) as expected.     

Parametric effects on the combustion flow field of a typical strut-based scramjet combustor

The flame-holding mechanism in hypersonic propulsion technology is the most important factor in prolonging the duration time of hypersonic vehicles.The two-dimensional coupled implicit Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations,the shear-stress transport k-ω turbulence model and the finite-rate/eddy-dissipation reaction models were used to simulate the combustion flow field of a typical strut-based scramjet combustor.We investigated the effects of the hydrogen-air reaction mechanism and fuel injection temperature and pressure on the parametric distributions in the combustor.The numerical results show qualitative agreement with the experimental data.The hydrogen-air reaction mechanism makes only a slight difference in parametric distributions along the walls of the combustor,and the expansion waves and shock waves exist in the combustor simultaneously.Furthermore,the expansion wave is formed ahead of the shock wave.A transition occurs from the shock wave to the normal shock wave when the injection pressure or temperature increases,and the reaction zone becomes broader.When the injection pressure and temperature both increase,the waves are pushed out of the combustor with subsonic flows.When the waves are generated ahead of the strut,the separation zone is formed in double near the walls of the combustor because of the interaction of the shock wave and the boundary layer.The separation zone becomes smaller and disappears with the disappearance of the shock wave.Because of the horizontal fuel injection,the vorticity is generated near the base face of the strut,and this region is the main origin for turbulent combustion.     

Identification of thermal effects involved in DSC experiment on Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys with high Cu:Mg ratio

Precipitation reactions in the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of an Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloy were identified by analyzing the results from hardness test, electrical conductivity test, and transmission electron microscope (TEM) examination. It is discovered that thermal effects can be identified through selected area electron diffraction and bright-field images. The reaction peaks around 171, 231, and 276℃ can be attributed to a structural rearrangement of coherent zones, to the precipitation of Ω phases, and to the precipitation of Ω and θ' and possible combination with the transition of θ'→θ, respectively. In addition, the hardness and electrical conductivity of the alloy change proportionately with the progression of reactions during the heating process. This phenomenon can be attributed to the evolution of the microstructure.     

Potential release of hydrogen fluoride from domestic coal in endemic fluorosis area in Guizhou,China

Almost half of the total rural area of Guizhou Province and many regions within the 11 adjacent provinces in southwestern China have a long history(at least 70 years) of endemic fluorosis,including dental fluorosis and osteofluorosis along with its associated deformities and disabilities.Over decades of research,this specific type of endemic fluorosis has been defined as coal-burning fluorosis,which is distinct from drinking-water fluorosis.It is generally acknowledged that indoor burning and combustion of high-fluorine coal leads to food contamination,and fluorine then enters the human body.However,the exact chemical form of fluorine during its release and transfer to the body is still unknown.In the present study,21 domestic coal samples from outcrop and semi-outcrop coal collected in five villages with fluorosis were analyzed by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry(TOF-SIMS).The total mass fraction of sulfur in the samples ranged from 0.24%-5.58% and total fluorine content ranged 90.2-149.2 mg/kg.H3O+,H2SO4+ and HSO4-were detected in the samples by TOF-SIMS,which indicated that sulfuric acid hydrate(H2SO4.H2O) was present in the samples.F-was detected in all of these,which suggested the samples contain ionic fluorine compounds.Under certain circumstances,such as heating or burning,the prevalence and coexistence of the acid(H2SO4.H2O) and base(F-) would lead to a neutralization reaction producing volatile hydrogen fluoride(HF,bp = 19.5℃).This would be the chemical form of fluorine released from the coal.Further studies using HF and SO2 test tubes on headspace gas over coal samples heated to 200℃ in the laboratory and on headspace gas over stoves or chimney tops at rural residences confirmed the release of HF.     

Aluminum matrix composites reinforced by molybdenum-coated carbon nanotubes

To extend the application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and explore novel aluminum matrix composites, CNTs were coated by molybdenum layers using metal organic chemical vapor deposition, and then Mo-coated CNT (Mo-CNT)/Al composites were prepared by the combination processes of powder mixing and spark plasma sintering. The influences of powder mixing and Mo-CNT content on the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the composites were investigated. The results show that magnetic stirring is better than mechanical milling for mixing the Mo-CNTs and Al powders. The electrical conductivity of the composites decreases with increasing Mo-CNT content. When the Mo-CNT content is 0.5wt%, the tensile strength and hardness of Mo-CNT/Al reach their maximum values. The tensile strength of 0.5wt% Mo-CNT/Al increases by 29.9%, while the electrical conductivity only decreases by 7.1%, relative to sintered pure Al. The phase analysis of Mo-CNT/Al composites reveals that there is no formation of Al carbide in the composites.     

Simulation of the continuous casting process in a mold of free-cutting steel 38MnVS based on a MiLE method

A new method called mixed Lagrangian and Eulerian (MiLE) method was used to simulate the continuous casting process in a mold of free-cutting steel 38MnVS. The simulation results are basically in agreement with experimental data in the literature, achieving the three-dimensional visualization of temperature distribution, melt flow, shell thickness, and stress distribution of blooms in a mold. It is shown that the flow velocity of steel melt becomes smaller gradually as the casting proceeds. When the flow reaches a certain depth, two types of flow patterns can be observed in the upper zone of the mold. The first flow pattern is to flow downwards, and the second one is to flow upwards to the meniscus. The corner temperature is higher, and the thickness is thinner than those in the mid-face. The effective stress in the corner area is much bigger than that in the mid-face, indicating that the corner area is the dangerous zone of cracking.     

Research of technique for synthesizing carbonyl diethyl malonate

Diethyl malonate being an initial raw material,processed with chlorination-replacement-desalination-vacuum rectification,is used to produce carbonyl diethyl malonate.An experiment for optimization determines that the best reaction condition was:① reaction for 7 h at 10 ℃ with mole-ratio being 2.4︰1 between chloride and raw material(diethyl malonate);② reaction for 4.5 h at 118 ℃ with mole-ratio being 1.2︰1 between the anhydrous sodium acetate and intermediate Ⅰ.The final product carbonyl diethyl malonate recovery ratio reaches up to as high as 79.12% with a purity of 96.4%,which meets the market requirement.This synthesis technique has the advantages of simple process,moderate reaction conditions,high yield and low cost,being suitable for industrial scale production.     

A novel data embedding method for H.264 stereo video codec with joint prediction scheme

It is important to reduce data redundancy of stereo video in practical applications. In this paper,first,a data embedding method for stereo video(DEMSV) is investigated by embedding the encoding data into the reference frame to encode stereo video. It can use only one channel to transfer all the video data and the receiver can choose a monocular video decoder or stereo video decoder adaptively. Then,introducing the joint prediction scheme in the coding process of DEMSV,we propose a novel data embedding meth...