Enhancement of the thermo-mechanical properties and efficacy of mixing technique in the preparation of graphene/PVC nanocomposites compared to carbon nanotubes/PVC

Thin films of poly vinyl chloride(PVC)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes(MWCNT) and PVC/graphene(GN) nanocomposites were prepared by mixing in the presence of different quantities of nanoparticles. Film casting was performed using tetrahydrofuran as a solvent. The as-prepared PVC/MWCNT and PVC/GN nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction,thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, and diffused reflectance spectroscopy. Only the PVC/GN nanocomposite films were evaluated further for detailed mechanical analysis because of the poor dispersion of MWCNTs in PVC. The PVC/GN nanocomposite films were thermo-mechanically more stable than the PVC films. These nanocomposites have potential as a replacement material for PVC and PVC/MWCNT owing to their better dispersion and high stability.     

A Decision Support Method for Truck Scheduling and Storage Allocation Problem at Container

Truck scheduling and storage allocation, as two separate subproblems in port operations, have been deeply studied in past decades. However, from the operational point of view, they are highly interdependent. Storage allocation for import containers has to balance the travel time and queuing time of each container in yard. This paper proposed an integer programming model handling these two problems as a whole. The objective of this model is to reduce congestion and waiting time of container trucks in the terminal so as to decrease the makespan of discharging containers. Due to the inherent complexity of the prob-lem, a genetic algorithm and a greedy heuristic algorithm are designed to attain near optimal solutions. It shows that the heuristic algorithm can achieve the optimal solution for small-scale problems. The solutions of small-and large-scale problems obtained from the heuristic algorithm are better than those from the genetic algorithm.     

Genome-wide mapping with biallelic markers in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms, as well as small insertions and deletions (here referred to collectively as simple nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs), comprise the largest set of sequence variants in most organisms. Positional cloning based on SNPs may accelerate the identification of human disease traits and a range of biologically informative mutations. The recent application of high-density oligonucleotide arrays to allele identification has made it feasible to genotype thousands of biallelic SNPs in a single experiment. It has yet to be established, however, whether SNP detection using oligonucleotide arrays can be used to accelerate the mapping of traits in diploid genomes. The cruciferous weed Arabidopsis thaliana is an attractive model system for the construction and use of biallelic SNP maps. Although important biological processes ranging from fertilization and cell fate determination to disease resistance have been modelled in A. thaliana, identifying mutations in this organism has been impeded by the lack of a high-density genetic map consisting of easily genotyped DNA markers. We report here the construction of a biallelic genetic map in A. thaliana with a resolution of 3.5 cM and its use in mapping Eds16, a gene involved in the defence response to the fungal pathogen Erysiphe orontii. Mapping of this trait involved the high-throughput generation of meiotic maps of F2 individuals using high-density oligonucleotide probe array-based genotyping. We developed a software package called InterMap and used it to automatically delimit Eds16 to a 7-cM interval on chromosome 1. These results are the first demonstration of biallelic mapping in diploid genomes and establish means for generalizing SNP-based maps to virtually any genetic organism.     

浅谈杂散电流的产生、危害和防治

该文通过对井下架线式电机车直流牵引网络系统中杂散电流产生原因的分析,较全面地介绍了杂散电流在井下的危害,有针对性地提出了防止杂散电流产生和扩散的有效措施,对掌握和治理杂散电流有较大的帮助。     

Influence of CO2 laser welding parameters on the microstructure, metallurgy, and mechanical properties of Mg-Al alloys

This study investigated the microstructural characteristics, metallurgy, microhardness, and tensile strength of AZ31 and AZ61 magnesium alloy weldments, fabricated in a CO₂ laser welding process with the adjustment of various parameters. The results show that the AZ31 weldment contains equiaxed grains within the fusion zone (FZ). By contrast, the FZ of the AZ61 weldment contains refined cellular grains and the partially melted zone (PMZ) contains bulk grains. We infer that the difference in aluminum content between the two magnesium alloys results in different supercooling rates and solid grain structures. For both weldments, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) decreases following the CO₂ laser welding process. However, no significant difference is noted between the UTS of the two weldments, suggesting that tensile strength is insensitive to the Al content of the magnesium alloy. The CO₂ laser welding process is shown to increase the microhardness of both magnesium alloys. Furthermore, grain refinement is responsible for the maximum hardness in the FZ of both weldments. The AZ61 weldment has a higher content of Al, resulting in a greater grain refinement.     

Oncogene-induced senescence as an initial barrier in lymphoma development

Acute induction of oncogenic Ras provokes cellular senescence involving the retinoblastoma (Rb) pathway, but the tumour suppressive potential of senescence in vivo remains elusive. Recently, Rb-mediated silencing of growth-promoting genes by heterochromatin formation associated with methylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9me) was identified as a critical feature of cellular senescence, which may depend on the histone methyltransferase Suv39h1. Here we show that Emicro-N-Ras transgenic mice harbouring targeted heterozygous lesions at the Suv39h1, or the p53 locus for comparison, succumb to invasive T-cell lymphomas that lack expression of Suv39h1 or p53, respectively. By contrast, most N-Ras-transgenic wild-type ('control') animals develop a non-lymphoid neoplasia significantly later. Proliferation of primary lymphocytes is directly stalled by a Suv39h1-dependent, H3K9me-related senescent growth arrest in response to oncogenic Ras, thereby cancelling lymphomagenesis at an initial step. Suv39h1-deficient lymphoma cells grow rapidly but, unlike p53-deficient cells, remain highly susceptible to adriamycin-induced apoptosis. In contrast, only control, but not Suv39h1-deficient or p53-deficient, lymphomas senesce after drug therapy when apoptosis is blocked. These results identify H3K9me-mediated senescence as a novel Suv39h1-dependent tumour suppressor mechanism whose inactivation permits the formation of aggressive but apoptosis-competent lymphomas in response to oncogenic Ras.     

Activation of specific interneurons improves V1 feature selectivity and visual perception

Inhibitory interneurons are essential components of the neural circuits underlying various brain functions. In the neocortex, a large diversity of GABA (γ-aminobutyric acid) interneurons has been identified on the basis of their morphology, molecular markers, biophysical properties and innervation pattern. However, how the activity of each subtype of interneurons contributes to sensory processing remains unclear. Here we show that optogenetic activation of parvalbumin-positive (PV+) interneurons in the mouse primary visual cortex (V1) sharpens neuronal feature selectivity and improves perceptual discrimination. Using multichannel recording with silicon probes and channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2)-mediated optical activation, we found that increased spiking of PV+ interneurons markedly sharpened orientation tuning and enhanced direction selectivity of nearby neurons. These effects were caused by the activation of inhibitory neurons rather than a decreased spiking of excitatory neurons, as archaerhodopsin-3 (Arch)-mediated optical silencing of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα (CAMKIIα)-positive excitatory neurons caused no significant change in V1 stimulus selectivity. Moreover, the improved selectivity specifically required PV+ neuron activation, as activating somatostatin or vasointestinal peptide interneurons had no significant effect. Notably, PV+ neuron activation in awake mice caused a significant improvement in their orientation discrimination, mirroring the sharpened V1 orientation tuning. Together, these results provide the first demonstration that visual coding and perception can be improved by increased spiking of a specific subtype of cortical inhibitory interneurons.     

Passenger deletions generate therapeutic vulnerabilities in cancer

Inactivation of tumour-suppressor genes by homozygous deletion is a prototypic event in the cancer genome, yet such deletions often encompass neighbouring genes. We propose that homozygous deletions in such passenger genes can expose cancer-specific therapeutic vulnerabilities when the collaterally deleted gene is a member of a functionally redundant family of genes carrying out an essential function. The glycolytic gene enolase 1 (ENO1) in the 1p36 locus is deleted in glioblastoma (GBM), which is tolerated by the expression of ENO2. Here we show that short-hairpin-RNA-mediated silencing of ENO2 selectively inhibits growth, survival and the tumorigenic potential of ENO1-deleted GBM cells, and that the enolase inhibitor phosphonoacetohydroxamate is selectively toxic to ENO1-deleted GBM cells relative to ENO1-intact GBM cells or normal astrocytes. The principle of collateral vulnerability should be applicable to other passenger-deleted genes encoding functionally redundant essential activities and provide an effective treatment strategy for cancers containing such genomic events.     

PPAR-γ is a major driver of the accumulation and phenotype of adipose tissue Treg cells

Obesity and type-2 diabetes have increased markedly over the past few decades, in parallel. One of the major links between these two disorders is chronic, low-grade inflammation. Prolonged nutrient excess promotes the accumulation and activation of leukocytes in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and ultimately other tissues, leading to metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance, type-2 diabetes and fatty-liver disease. Although invasion of VAT by pro-inflammatory macrophages is considered to be a key event driving adipose-tissue inflammation and insulin resistance, little is known about the roles of other immune system cell types in these processes. A unique population of VAT-resident regulatory T (Treg) cells was recently implicated in control of the inflammatory state of adipose tissue and, thereby, insulin sensitivity. Here we identify peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, the 'master regulator' of adipocyte differentiation, as a crucial molecular orchestrator of VAT Treg cell accumulation, phenotype and function. Unexpectedly, PPAR-γ expression by VAT Treg cells was necessary for complete restoration of insulin sensitivity in obese mice by the thiazolidinedione drug pioglitazone. These findings suggest a previously unknown cellular mechanism for this important class of thiazolidinedione drugs, and provide proof-of-principle that discrete populations of Treg cells with unique functions can be precisely targeted to therapeutic ends.