The History of Florence in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance

This article seeks to reexamine Medieval-Renaissance periodization as it has been presented by historians such as Jacob Burckhardt through the lens of Florentine historiography. By comparing and contrasting the Nuova Cronica by Giovani Villani and the Florentine Histories by Niccolò Machiavelli, this article will identify two significant intellectual developments that align with the conventional Medieval-Renaissance binary in historiography. This article thus proposes that what one might call ‘proto-Italian nationalism’ had emerged in the early Renaissance. In addition, this article will assert that while predestination played a significant role in medieval histories, Renaissance histories actively incorporated rational explanations for historical developments

A Novel Deformation Extraction Approach for Sub-Band InSAR and Its Application in Large-Scale Surface Mining Subsidence Monitoring

Differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) is widely used to monitor ground surface deformation due to its wide coverage and high accuracy. However, the large-scale and rapid deformation that occurs in mining areas often leads to densely spaced interference fringes, thus, severely limiting the applicability of D-InSAR in mining subsidence monitoring. Sub-band InSAR can reduce phase gradients in interferograms by increasing the simulated wavelength, thereby characterising large-scale surface deformations. Nonetheless, accurate registration between non-overlapping sub-band images with conventional sub-band InSAR is challenging. Therefore, our study proposed a new sub-band InSAR deformation extraction method, based on raw full-bandwidth single-look complex image pair registration data to facilitate sub-band interferometric processing. Simulations under noiseless conditions demonstrated that the maximum difference between the sub-band InSAR-monitored results and real surface deformations was 26 mm (1.86% of maximum vertical deformation), which theoretically meets the requirements for mining subsidence monitoring. However, when modelling dynamic deformation with noise, the sub-band InSAR-simulated wavelength could not be optimised for surface deformation due to the limitation in current SAR satellite bandwidths, which resulted in significantly noisy and undistinguishable interference fringes. Nonetheless, this method could still be advantageous in high-coherence regions where surface deformation exceeds 1/5th of the simulated wavelength

Research on monitoring method of shaft tilt deformation based on SLAM

In view of the problems existing in traditional shaft safety monitoring methods such as low efficiency(need monitoring after production stop), less data and large error, a method of monitoring shaft tilt deformation with laser SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) technology was proposed. The main shaft of Niuerzhuang Mine of Fengfeng Group was taken as the research object, the monitoring plan was designed and the laser SLAM technology was used to perceive the internal information of shaft. The K′-means algorithm was adopted to extract the point cloud of shaft boundary, the Markov mathematical model was established to get the center of point cloud slice, and then to the shaft center datum line was set up, the shaft tilt deformation was analyzed based on integral and subsection methods. The results showed that the overall vertical inclination of the shaft was 1.99‰, the vertical inclination of upper shaft(0-100 m away from the shaft head) was 3.06‰, and the vertical inclination of lower shaft(150-205 m away from the shaft head) was 1.85‰. Compared with the traditional monitoring method, the working time of laser SLAM can be shortened from one day or even longer to one hour. The monitoring work can be completed within the maintenance time of the shaft cage, and the work efficiency is significantly improved without stopping production

Simultaneous Determination of Six Coumarins in Rat Plasma and Metabolites Identification of Bergapten <i>in Vitro</i> and <i>in Vivo</i>

Coumarins are abundant in Umbelliferae and Rutaceae plants possessing varied pharmacological activities. The objectives of this study are to develop and validate the method for determination of six coumarins in rat plasma by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and identify the metabolites of bergapten by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS), respectively. Data-dependent acquisition mode (DDA) was applied to trigger enhanced product ion (EPI) scans by analyzing multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) signals. An efficient data processing method “key product ions (KPIs)” was used for rapid detection and identification of metabolites as an assistant tool. The time to reach the maximum plasma concentration (<i>T</i>_max) for the six compounds ranged from 1 to 6 h. A total of 24 metabolites of bergapten were detected <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>. The results could provide a basis for absorption and metabolism of coumarins

Cetrimonium bromide promotes lipid clearance via TFEB-mediated autophagy-lysosome activation in hepatic cells

Autophagy plays a key role in the metabolism of macromolecules by the lysosomal degradative machinery. The transcription factor EB (TFEB) regulates autophagosome biogenesis and lysosome function, and promoting TFEB activity has emerged as a potential strategy for the treatment of metabolic disorders. Here, we describe that cetrimonium bromide (CTAB), a quaternary ammonium compound, promotes autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis by inducing the nuclear translocation of TFEB in hepatic cells. shRNA-mediated TFEB knockdown inhibits CTAB-induced autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis. Mechanistically, CTAB treatment inhibits the Akt-mTORC1 signaling pathway. Moreover, CTAB treatment markedly promotes lipid metabolism in both palmitate and oleate-treated HepG2 cells, and this promotion was attenuated by the depletion of TFEB. Altogether, our results indicate that CTAB activates the autophagy-lysosome pathway by inducing the nuclear translocation of TFEB via the inhibition of mTORC1 signaling. These results deepen our understanding of TFEB function and provide new insights into CTAB-mediated lipid metabolism.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author