Learning from vernacular buildings : climate responsive design strategies in Yangzi River Delta, China

textVernacular buildings are famous for their climate and site responsive design strategies. In this modern world with highly developed scientific knowledge, we already own a clear understanding of building physics and energy efficient design strategies. There are already lots of generalized observations on vernacular buildings' climate responsive design strategies. However, detailed and reliable measurements and researches on one particular vernacular building really lack, especially vernacular buildings in developing countries. Hui Style Building is a specific building type in the Southeastern China with more than 1000 years' history. This paper focuses on analyzing its design strategies and all the parameters which influence its energy performance and tries to answer this question: what kind of design strategies derived from vernacular buildings in southeastern China, can be used in modern buildings, to promote climate responsive design? A typical residential vernacular house in Xinye Village, Zhejiang, China is chosen as the target house. A three-days field study was conducted to measure this building's microclimate by hobo logger. Professor Yuyu Zhang provided detailed drawings of this house for further analysis. With all those information collected, passive design strategies used in this building were simulated and analyzed by ClimateTool and EnergyPlus. The finding of my research is a thorough report of a typical Hui Style Building. Suggestions of how to combine ancient wisdom with modern building techniques to meet modern living standards were given. The purpose of this thesis is to give contemporary architects guidance and some inspirations for climate responsive design with cultural roots in southeastern China.Architectur

The Importance of People on Delivering Service Quality : A study in Svenska Handelsbanken of Gävle

Aim: Banks in Sweden appear extend through different distribution channels. The role of branch banking has changed to provide advisory services and sell the banks' products and service which is an approach involves the people interactions. Service employees are associated with the organization service quality and customer satisfaction. A comprehensive human resource strategy thus can help the organization develop a more customer-orientation employee, in order to deliver service quality.  With the help of the human resources strategies wheel (Wilson et al., 2008), how a bank develop people to deliver service quality will be showed, which finally lead to the purpose of this paper - revealing the importance of people on delivering service quality. Method: By reading relevant literatures, the theory about service culture and human resource strategy is defined. Svenska Handelsbanken chose to be the research object. Its decentralized organization which focuses on the interplay between strong branches, highly-trained specialists and efficient support functions is useful to this research. Through face-to-face interview with branch managers, a holistic view of the situation in bank will be showed, additionally, detail information can be digging out. Result & Conclusions: The human resources strategies used by Handelsbanken is a process generally including hire the right people, provides effective and sufficient training and needed support systems, retain the best people. As a result, this research indicates with the service culture which establishes deeply inside the organization; Handelsbanken realizes the important of people on delivering service quality. And then by choosing the right people, training them, supporting them, and retaining them as a serious of human resources strategies, the service quality is delivered. In addition, the authors find out the relation among service culture, human resources strategies and people work as a triangle, constraining and assisting each other. Suggestions for future research: One of the limitations of this thesis is lack of employee perception. Another is hard to find a lot of information about the unique reward system in Handelsbanken - Oktogonen Fundation in English. The document is in Swedish so that the authors only can get general information from the annual report 2008 of the bank. The suggestion for future research is to conduct a study which it includes bank perspective and employee perspective. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution of this study is to show how importance of people in service quality delivery by complementing a framework which is integrated service culture and human resource strategies

Effect of Hindered Phenol Crystallization on Properties of Organic Hybrid Damping Materials

Organic hybrid damping materials have achieved sustainable development in recent years for superior damping properties due to the hydrogen bonding of hindered phenol. However, the aggregation and crystallization of hindered phenol in the matrix can lead to a sharp decline in material properties. Thus, a series of hindered phenol hybrid carboxylated nitrile rubber (XNBR) composites with different types and contents of hindered phenol were prepared by melt blending to study the effects of different hindered phenol on the properties of organic hybrid damping materials. A dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to study the dynamic mechanical properties and cross-section morphology of composites. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to study the crystallization of hindered phenol. The results show that the properties of organic hybrid damping materials were affected by the structure of hindered phenol, and that hindered phenol molecules with a linear structure had better performances. The greater the number of hydrogen bonds between hindered phenol and the XNBR matrix, the more difficult it was for the hindered phenol to crystallize

Improving the Dynamic Mechanical Properties of XNBR Using ILs/KH550-Functionalized Multilayer Graphene

Graphene has been considered an ideal nanoscale reinforced phase for preparing high-performance composites, but the poor compatibility and weak interfacial interaction with the matrix have limited its application. Here a highly effective and environmentally friendly method for the functionalization of graphene is proposed through an interaction between as-exfoliated graphene and (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (KH550), in which 1-butylsulfonate-3-methylimidazolium bisulfate (BSO3HMIm)(HSO4) ionic-liquids-modified graphene was prepared via an electrochemical exfoliation of graphite in (BSO3HMIm)(HSO4) solution, then (BSO3HMIm)(HSO4)-modified graphene as a precursor was reacted with amine groups of KH550 for obtaining (BSO3HMIm)(HSO4)/KH550-functionalized graphene. The final products as filler into carboxylated acrylonitrile‒butadiene rubber (XNBR) improve the dynamic mechanical properties. The improvement in the dynamic mechanical properties of the nanocomposite mainly depends on high interfacial interaction and graphene’s performance characteristics, as well as a good dispersion between functionalized graphene and the XNBR matrix

Advancing targeted combination chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer: nucleolin aptamer-mediated controlled drug release

Abstract Background Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a recurrent, heterogeneous, and invasive form of breast cancer. The treatment of TNBC patients with paclitaxel and fluorouracil in a sequential manner has shown promising outcomes. However, it is challenging to deliver these chemotherapeutic agents sequentially to TNBC tumors. We aim to explore a precision therapy strategy for TNBC through the sequential delivery of paclitaxel and fluorouracil. Methods We developed a dual chemo-loaded aptamer with redox-sensitive caged paclitaxel for rapid release and non-cleavable caged fluorouracil for slow release. The binding affinity to the target protein was validated using Enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assays and Surface plasmon resonance assays. The targeting and internalization abilities into tumors were confirmed using Flow cytometry assays and Confocal microscopy assays. The inhibitory effects on TNBC progression were evaluated by pharmacological studies in vitro and in vivo. Results Various redox-responsive aptamer-paclitaxel conjugates were synthesized. Among them, AS1411-paclitaxel conjugate with a thioether linker (ASP) exhibited high anti-proliferation ability against TNBC cells, and its targeting ability was further improved through fluorouracil modification. The fluorouracil modified AS1411-paclitaxel conjugate with a thioether linker (FASP) exhibited effective targeting of TNBC cells and significantly improved the inhibitory effects on TNBC progression in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions This study successfully developed fluorouracil-modified AS1411-paclitaxel conjugates with a thioether linker for targeted combination chemotherapy in TNBC. These conjugates demonstrated efficient recognition of TNBC cells, enabling targeted delivery and controlled release of paclitaxel and fluorouracil. This approach resulted in synergistic antitumor effects and reduced toxicity in vivo. However, challenges related to stability, immunogenicity, and scalability need to be further investigated for future translational applications

Transcriptomic characterization revealed that METTL7A inhibits melanoma progression via the p53 signaling pathway and immunomodulatory pathway

METTL7A is a protein-coding gene expected to be associated with methylation, and its expression disorder is associated with a range of diseases. However, few research have been carried out to explore the relationship between METTL7A and tumor malignant phenotype as well as the involvement potential mechanism. We conducted our research via a combination of silico analysis and molecular biology techniques to investigate the biological function of METTL7A in the progression of cancer. Gene expression and clinical information were extracted from the TCGA database to explore expression variation and prognostic value of METTL7A. In vitro, CCK8, transwell, wound healing and colony formation assays were conducted to explore the biological functions of METT7A in cancer cell. GSEA was performed to explore the signaling pathway involved in METTL7A and validated via western blotting. In conclusion, METTL7A was downregulated in most cancer tissues and its low expression was associated with shorter overall survival. In melanoma, METTL7A downregulation was associated with poorer clinical staging, lower levels of TIL infiltration, higher IC50 levels of chemotherapeutic agents, and poorer immunotherapy outcomes. QPCR results confirm that METTL7A is down-regulated in melanoma cells. Cell function assays showed that METTL7A knockdown promoted proliferation, invasion, migration and clone formation of melanoma cells. Mechanistic studies showed that METTL7A inhibits tumorigenicity through the p53 signaling pathway. Meanwhile, METTL7A is also a potential immune regulatory factor

Targeting loop3 of sclerostin preserves its cardiovascular protective action and promotes bone formation

Antibodies targeting sclerostin can ameliorate postmenopausal osteoporosis but present some cardiovascular risk. Here the authors show that the cardiovascular and skeletal effects of sclerostin are mediated by different loops, suggesting ways to preserve the positive effects on bone formation while avoiding the negative cardiovascular consequences