Light in the Darkness: A Chronotopic Analysis of Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is regarded as one of the greatest novellas, which reveal the darkness of humanity in colonial activities. In this novella, the character Kurtz’s experiences shed light on the nature of colonialism—he is inspired by the ideology of enlightenment and goes to Congo, and soon he becomes crazy about the ivory trade. At the end of his life, his last words are “The horror! The horror!” that are usually explained as the symbol of the “heart of darkness” of the Belgian Congo in terms of imperialism that brings violence and brutality. However, if we look at the novella from a dialogic perspective across space and time, the novella can open a “gate of light” of confessional quality into the dark period of the imperial enlightenment-era. This study will explore the “light” in Kurtz’s last words from the dialogic aspect and the theory of chronotope by Bakhtin. The brand new perspective of analyzing this novella helps us understand deeper about the imperial history and human nature

Three-dimensional gait analysis of orthopaedic common foot and ankle joint diseases

Walking is an indispensable mode of transportation for human survival. Gait is a characteristic of walking. In the clinic, patients with different diseases exhibit different gait characteristics. Gait analysis describes the specific situation of human gait abnormalities by observing and studying the kinematics and dynamics of limbs and joints during human walking and depicting the corresponding geometric curves and values. In foot and ankle diseases, gait analysis can evaluate the degree and nature of gait abnormalities in patients and provide an important basis for the diagnosis of patients’ diseases, the correction of abnormal gait and related treatment methods. This article reviews the relevant literature, expounds on the clinical consensus on gait, and summarizes the gait characteristics of patients with common ankle and foot diseases. Starting from the gait characteristics of individuals with different diseases, we hope to provide support and reference for the diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of clinically related diseases

Current situation and related factors of occupational stress of employees of a petrochemical enterprise

BackgroundOccupational stress has become one of the main factors affecting people's physical and mental health, and there are many sources of occupational stress in petrochemical enterprises. ObjectiveTo evaluate the current situation of occupational stress and its related factors among employees in a petrochemical enterprise, and to provide a scientific basis for reduing the risk of occupational stress among employees in petrochemical enterprises. MethodsIn June 2022, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in a petrochemical enterprise in Hainan, including a general information questionnaire for basic information, the Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) for occupational stress, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) for sleep quality. Chi-square test was used to compare differences in positive occupational stress by demographic characteristics, occupational characteristics, behavior, and occupational disease hazards. Logistic regression was employed to evaluate factors associated with occupational stress. ResultsOf the 1129 questionnaire distributed, a total of 999 valid questionnaire were returned,with a valid recovery rate of 88.5%. The positive rate of occupational stress among employees in the petrochemical enterprise was 29.5%. There were statistically significant differences in the positive rate of occupational stress among the employees grouped by gender, age, marital status, body mass index (BMI), monthly income, length of service, smoking, weekly working hours, type of work, working mode, sleep quality, noise exposure, and high temperature exposure (P<0.05). In terms of positive occupational stress among subcategories: workers being male (vs. female), working ＞40 h per week (vs. ≤40 h per week), regular day shift (vs. shift work), smoking (vs. not smoking), with exposure to noise and heat (vs. without such exposure), and having poor sleep quality (vs. good sleep quality) reported higher positive occupational stress rates (P＜0.05). The results of pairwise comparison showed that the positive rate of occupational stress in divorced (50.0%) or married (32.0%) workers was higher than that in single (27.1%) workers, and higher in operation workers (30.6%) than in other types of work (20.5%) (P＜0.05). The trend chi-square results showed that the positive rate of occupational stress increased linearly with the increase of age, length of service, BMI, or monthly income (P＜0.05). The results of logistic regression analysis after adjustment showed that workers who worked ＞40 h a week had a higher risk of occupational stress than those who worked ≤40 h a week, and the OR (95%CI) was 1.909 (1.135, 3.211); the workers of other types of work had a lower risk of reporting occupational stress than operation workers, and the OR (95%CI) was 0.513 (0.272, 0.968); the workers with noise exposure had a higher risk of occupational stress than the workers without, and the OR (95%CI) was 2.457 (1.070, 5.642). ConclusionThe positive rate of occupational stress among employees in this petrochemical enterprise is high. Among them, operators, working hours per week＞40 h, and noise exposure may increase the incidence of occupational stress. The enterprise should actively take measures to reduce the occurrence of occupational stress among employees

Odorranalectin Is a Small Peptide Lectin with Potential for Drug Delivery and Targeting

BACKGROUND: Lectins are sugar-binding proteins that specifically recognize sugar complexes. Based on the specificity of protein-sugar interactions, different lectins could be used as carrier molecules to target drugs specifically to different cells which express different glycan arrays. In spite of lectin's interesting biological potential for drug targeting and delivery, a potential disadvantage of natural lectins may be large size molecules that results in immunogenicity and toxicity. Smaller peptides which can mimic the function of lectins are promising candidates for drug targeting. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Small peptide with lectin-like behavior was screened from amphibian skin secretions and its structure and function were studied by NMR, NMR-titration, SPR and mutant analysis. A lectin-like peptide named odorranalectin was identified from skin secretions of Odorrana grahami. It was composed of 17 aa with a sequence of YASPKCFRYPNGVLACT. L-fucose could specifically inhibit the haemagglutination induced by odorranalectin. (125)I-odorranalectin was stable in mice plasma. In experimental mouse models, odorranalectin was proved to mainly conjugate to liver, spleen and lung after i.v. administration. Odorranalectin showed extremely low toxicity and immunogenicity in mice. The small size and single disulfide bridge of odorranalectin make it easy to manipulate for developing as a drug targeting system. The cyclic peptide of odorranalectin disclosed by solution NMR study adopts a beta-turn conformation stabilized by one intramolecular disulfide bond between Cys6-Cys16 and three hydrogen bonds between Phe7-Ala15, Tyr9-Val13, Tyr9-Gly12. Residues K5, C6, F7, C16 and T17 consist of the binding site of L-fucose on odorranalectin determined by NMR titration and mutant analysis. The structure of odorranalectin in bound form is more stable than in free form. CONCLUSION: These findings identify the smallest lectin so far, and show the application potential of odorranalectin for drug delivery and targeting. It also disclosed a new strategy of amphibian anti-infection

Privacy-Preserving Indoor Trajectory Matching with IoT Devices

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Wi-Fi signals have been widely used for trajectory signal acquisition. Indoor trajectory matching aims to achieve the monitoring of the encounters between people and trajectory analysis in indoor environments. Due to constraints ofn the computation abilities IoT devices, the computation of indoor trajectory matching requires the assistance of a cloud platform, which brings up privacy concerns. Therefore, this paper proposes a trajectory-matching calculation method that supports ciphertext operations. Hash algorithms and homomorphic encryption are selected to ensure the security of different private data, and the actual trajectory similarity is determined based on correlation coefficients. However, due to obstacles and other interferences in indoor environments, the original data collected may be missing in certain stages. Therefore, this paper also complements the missing values on ciphertexts through mean, linear regression, and KNN algorithms. These algorithms can predict the missing parts of the ciphertext dataset, and the accuracy of the complemented dataset can reach over 97%. This paper provides original and complemented datasets for matching calculations, and demonstrates their high feasibility and effectiveness in practical applications from the perspective of calculation time and accuracy loss

Mapping Urban Functional Areas Using Multisource Remote Sensing Images and Open Big Data

The urban functional areas (UFAs) are the basic spatial units of a city, identifying their category information and spatial distribution is of great significance for studying urban spatial structure and formulating scientific and reasonable urban planning policies. However, traditional classification systems are still limited due to the data processing costs and time-consuming process. With the development of high-resolution satellite, the 2-D image has been able to identify more ground object information on a fine scale, but it lacks the application of 3-D characteristics and social attributes. At the same time, machine learning and deep learning have shown great utility in extracting features, and they should be applied more to the classification of urban functional areas to improve efficiency. To solve these problems, we propose an efficient and accurate framework for mapping UFA using multisource geospatial data. It can grasp the dynamic changes in the city more accurately, and provide a reference for the study of urban functional areas. An improved frequency density (IFD) model was proposed to improve the overall classification accuracy by 4.4&#x0025;. Besides, the nighttime light (NTL) data from SDGSAT-1 satellite glimmer imagers are also used to classify UFA. By combining NTL and urban building height data, a sky view enhanced nightlight index (SVENI) was proposed, which can improve the overall classification accuracy of UFA by 5.8&#x0025;. This study systematically clarifies the role of data sources, methods, and automatic integration models in the classification framework for UFA, which is of great significance for urban planning and sustainable development

Numerical simulation of tectonic stress field and prediction of fracture target in the Longmaxi Formation, southeastern Chongqing

Shale reservoirs are well developed in Southeast Chongqing, of which the Longmaxi Formation is the main reservoir.Compared with other types of reservoirs, structural fractures are very well developed in this type of shale reservoirs, making this area potential for shale exploration.In this paper, based on the field survey data and typical regional geological sections, structural characteristics of the study area were analyzed.On this basis, a geological model for the shale reservoir was established.In order to restore the process of structural evolution within the study area of the Himalayan period, further, the finite element analysis software Ansys 15.0 are used.Simulation results fit the actual structural development well.Based on the results as well as Griffith fracture criterion and Coulomb-Moore fracture criterion, multiple influencing factors of shale reservoirs were comprehensively analyzed, and comprehensive fracture development coefficient IF were used to quantification of the fractures distribution prediction in shale reservoirs.The larger comprehensive fracture development coefficient IF is, the more developed the shale reservoir fractures would be.Therefore, shale reservoirs in the study area are classified into three categories: fracture favorable zone Type Ⅰ(IF ≥ 3.0, fracture very well developed), fracture favorable zone Type Ⅱ(3.0, 2.0], fracture good developed) and fracture favorable zone Type Ⅲ(2.0, 1.0]

Analysis on Cloning and Expression of Histone Demethylase Gene OsJMJ719 in Rice

【Objective】A novel rice histone demethylase gene OsJMJ719 was cloned. The expression pattern of this gene under abiotic stress was analyzed to provide theoretical basis for exploring the function of OsJMJ719 in response to abiotic stress.【Method】The complete OsJMJ719 gene was obtained by cloning with ZH11 as material. 35S: : OsJMJ719-GFP expression vector integrated with OsJMJ719 and green fluorescent protein was established for subcellular localization. Transient tobacco expression system and rice protoplast transformation method was employed to observe the subcellular localization and real-time PCR was used to analyze the expression profile of OsJMJ719 in different tissues of rice and the expression pattern under abiotic stress treatments.【Result】The coding region of OsJMJ719 gene (LOC_Os02g01940) is 2 994 bp in length, encoding 997 amino acids. The promoter region of OsJMJ719 contains 10 phytohormone response elements and 3 environmental stress regulation related elements. Phylogenetic analysis shows that OsJMJ719 has high homology with JMJ protein in wild Zizania palustris, Aegilops tauschii, Triticum aestivum and Hordeum vulgare. The subcellular localization results reveal that OsJMJ719 protein is localized in the nucleus. Fluorescence quantitative results reveal that OsJMJ719 is highly expressed in seeds, and the expression of this gene is induced by ABA, NaCl and PEG6000, suggesting that it plays an important role in the process of abiotic stress.【Conclusion】The study shows the location of OsJMJ719 in the phylogenetic tree and its homologous species, reveals the localization, structure and characteristics of the protein, and the main external factors responsible for the regulation of this gene. These results provide a fundamental data basis for further research on the function of OsJMJ719 gene