Photonic crystal fiber half-taper probe based refractometer

A compact singlemode - photonic crystal fiber - singlemode fiber tip (SPST) refractive index sensor is demonstrated in this paper. A CO2 laser cleaving technique is utilised to provide a clean-cut fiber tip which is then coated by a layer of gold to increase reflection. An average sensitivity of 39.1 nm/RIU and a resolvable index change of 2.56 x 10-4 are obtained experimentally with a ~3.2 µm diameter SPST. The temperature dependence of this fiber optic sensor probe is presented. The proposed SPST refractometer is also significantly less sensitive to temperature and an experimental demonstration of this reduced sensitivity is presented in the paper. Because of its compactness, ease of fabrication, linear response, low temperature dependency, easy connectivity to other fiberized optical components and low cost, this refractometer could find various applications in chemical and biological sensing

Construction of Potential Glioblastoma Multiforme-Related miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Network

Background: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive human malignant brain tumor, is notorious for its limited treatment options and poor prognosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are found to be involved in tumorigenesis of GBM. However, a comprehensive miRNA-mRNA regulatory network has still not been established.Methods: A miRNA microarray dataset (GSE90603) was obtained from GEO database. Then, we employed GEO2R tool to perform differential expression analysis. Potential transcription factors and target genes of screened differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRNAs) were predicted. The GBM mRNA dataset were downloaded from TCGA database for identifying differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Next, GO annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis was conducted. PPI network was then established, and hub genes were identified via Cytoscape software. The expression and prognostic roles of hub genes was further evaluated.Results: Total 33 DE-miRNAs, consisting of 10 upregulated DE-miRNAs and 23 downregulated DE-miRNAs, were screened. SP1 was predicted to potentially regulate most of screened DE-miRNAs. Three thousand and twenty seven and 3,879 predicted target genes were obtained for upregulated and downregulated DE-miRNAs, respectively. Subsequently, 1,715 upregulated DEGs and 1,259 downregulated DEGs were identified. Then, 149 and 295 potential downregulated and upregulated genes commonly appeared in target genes of DE-miRNAs and DEGs were selected for GO annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis. The downregulated genes were significantly enriched in cGMP-PKG signaling pathway and calcium signaling pathway whereas the upregulated genes were enriched in pathways in cancer and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Construction and analysis of PPI network showed that STXBP1 and TP53 were recognized as hub genes with the highest connectivity degrees. Expression analytic result of the top 20 hub genes in GBM using GEPIA database was generally identical with previous differential expression analysis for TCGA data. EGFR, PPP3CB, and MYO5A expression was significantly associated with patients' OS.Conclusions: In this study, we established a potential GBM-related miRNA-mRNA regulatory network, which explores a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms and provides key clues in seeking novel therapeutic targets for GBM. In the future, more experiments need to be performed to validate our current findings

A potential explanation for the effect of carbon source on the characteristics of acetate-fed and glucose-fed aerobic granules

This paper proposes a new theory to account for the effect of carbon source on the characteristics of acetate-fed and glucose-fed aerobic granules. It is well known that reactor pH can vary in response to the oxidation of glucose or sodium acetate. As such, the effects associated with the carbon sources may be explained by the changed pH. The proposal was explored by experiments. Aerobic granules were cultivated in three identical sequencing batch reactors (SBRs, R1, R2 and R3), fed with sodium acetate, glucose, glucose and maintained pH at 4.5 - 5.5 (the variation of reactor pH in the oxidation of glucose), 4.5 - 5.5 and 7.5 - 8.5 (the variation of reactor pH in the oxidation of sodium acetate), respectively, and the effects of carbon source and reactor pH on the characteristics of aerobic granules were assessed. The results showed that the characteristics of aerobic granules, including microbial structure, mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), sludge volume index (SVI) and nitrification-denitrification, were strongly affected by reactor pH, but were independent with the carbon source supplied. These results fully supported the validity of the new theory. The theory suggests that the cultivation of aerobic granules with glucose or sodium acetate should take more attention to reactor pH rather than carbon source itself. The implications of this theory are discussed with regards to the other common carbon sources as well as better understanding of the mechanisms of aerobic granulation.Keywords: Acetate-fed granules, glucose-fed granules, reactor pH, carbon source, characteristicsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(33), pp. 5357-5365, 16 August, 201

Оценки жесткости поперечного стыка сборного тоннеля на основе физических представлений

Предложена основанная на физических представлениях модель для расчета жесткости поперечных соединений сборных многоцелевых тоннелей. В качестве натурного объекта взят тоннель дороги Южный Кемугун города Гуанчжоу. Положение поперечного стыка анализируется с точки зрения конструкции и внутренних сил. Для разработки и анализа трехмерной модели поперечного стыка используется программное обеспечение Midas FEA. Выбраны расчетные параметры, граничные условия и методы нагружения материалов и конструкций, что позволило получить модели расчета изгиба и осевой жесткости поперечного стыка. Полученные результаты показывают, что теоретические значения согласуются с экспериментальными данными. Созданная модель может хорошо описывать деформационное и внутреннее силовое состояние соединения в условиях нагрузки. Жесткость поперечного соединения на сдвиг составляет 3.524·106 кН/м, а жесткость поперечного соединения на изгиб – 1.001·105 кН/рад при условии горизонтальной осевой силы 500 кН/м на погонный метр

Gender Gaps in the Measurement of Public Opinion About Homosexuality in Cross-national Surveys: A Question-Wording Experiment

Measures of attitudes towards homosexuality in cross-national studies have received criticism for not being ‘gender-sensitive’. The current study used a split-ballot design allowing for separate analyses of the attitudes towards ‘gay men and lesbian women’, ‘gay men’, and ‘lesbian women’ in a pooled sample of 3,381 participants from Great Britain, Hungary, and Portugal. Analyses controlling for sociodemographics showed that differences in attitudes towards male and female targets were generally small and did not interact with the gender of the rater. In addition, results showed that men’s attitudes towards homosexuality were more strongly related to their gender ideology than women’s attitudes. Implications of these findings for cross-national studies measuring attitudes towards homosexuality are discussed