Measurement and evaluation methods for damage of fibers from dry sand erosion in a hot environment

Bag filters composed of fibrous components are widely used to clean exhaust gas. It is reported that filter damage during dust collection involves erosion wear caused by particle collision. Thus, it is necessary to determine the life of bag filters in a hot environment and to clarify the erosion mechanism of fibrous materials. Experiments and evaluation methods were developed to investigate the erosion of fiber at high temperatures. The experiments involved reproducing the erosion of fibrous materials in various temperatures. Analysis of the relationship between the erosion damage rate of a specimen and the total kinetic energy of particles before colliding indicates the erosion resistance of fibrous materials at various temperatures. Using the suggested damage energy curve, we can evaluate the erosion wear characteristics of fiber under different experimental conditions.ArticleTEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL. 82(15):1612-1617 (2012)journal articl

MOS2, a Protein Containing G-Patch and KOW Motifs, Is Essential for Innate Immunity in Arabidopsis thaliana

SummaryInnate immunity is critical for sensing and defending against microbial infections in multicellular organisms. In plants, disease resistance genes (R genes) play central roles in recognizing pathogens and initiating downstream defense cascades [1]. Arabidopsis SNC1 encodes a TIR-NBS-LRR-type R protein with a similar structure to nucleotide binding oligomerization domain (Nod) proteins in animals [2, 3]. A point mutation in the region between the NBS and LRR of SNC1 results in constitutive activation of defense responses in the snc1 mutant. Here, we report the identification and characterization of mos2-1, a mutant suppressing the constitutive defense responses in snc1. Analysis of mos2 single mutants indicated that it is not only required for resistance specified by multiple R genes, but also for basal resistance. Map-based cloning of MOS2 revealed that it encodes a novel nuclear protein that contains one G-patch and two KOW domains and has homologs across the animal kingdom. The presence of both G-patch and KOW domains in the MOS2 protein suggests that it probably functions as an RNA binding protein critical for plant innate immunity [4, 5]. Our discovery on the biological functions of MOS2 will shed light on functions of the MOS2 homologs in animals, where they may also play important roles in innate immunity

Reply

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/88118/1/24749_ftp.pd

Joint Learning-based Causal Relation Extraction from Biomedical Literature

Causal relation extraction of biomedical entities is one of the most complex tasks in biomedical text mining, which involves two kinds of information: entity relations and entity functions. One feasible approach is to take relation extraction and function detection as two independent sub-tasks. However, this separate learning method ignores the intrinsic correlation between them and leads to unsatisfactory performance. In this paper, we propose a joint learning model, which combines entity relation extraction and entity function detection to exploit their commonality and capture their inter-relationship, so as to improve the performance of biomedical causal relation extraction. Meanwhile, during the model training stage, different function types in the loss function are assigned different weights. Specifically, the penalty coefficient for negative function instances increases to effectively improve the precision of function detection. Experimental results on the BioCreative-V Track 4 corpus show that our joint learning model outperforms the separate models in BEL statement extraction, achieving the F1 scores of 58.4% and 37.3% on the test set in Stage 2 and Stage 1 evaluations, respectively. This demonstrates that our joint learning system reaches the state-of-the-art performance in Stage 2 compared with other systems.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Towards superior biopolymer gels by enabling interpenetrating network structures:A review on types, applications, and gelation strategies

Gels derived from single networks of natural polymers (biopolymers) typically exhibit limited physical properties and thus have seen constrained applications in areas like food and medicine. In contrast, gels founded on a synergy of multiple biopolymers, specifically polysaccharides and proteins, with intricate interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) structures, represent a promising avenue for the creation of novel gel materials with significantly enhanced properties and combined advantages. This review begins with the scrutiny of newly devised IPN gels formed through a medley of polysaccharides and/or proteins, alongside an introduction of their practical applications in the realm of food, medicine, and environmentally friendly solutions. Finally, based on the fact that the IPN gelation process and mechanism are driven by different inducing factors entwined with a diverse amalgamation of polysaccharides and proteins, our survey underscores the potency of physical, chemical, and enzymatic triggers in orchestrating the construction of crosslinked networks within these biomacromolecules. In these mixed systems, each specific inducer aligns with distinct polysaccharides and proteins, culminating in the generation of semi-IPN or fully-IPN gels through the intricate interpenetration between single networks and polymer chains or between two networks, respectively. The resultant IPN gels stand as paragons of excellence, characterized by their homogeneity, dense network structures, superior textural properties (e.g., hardness, elasticity, adhesion, cohesion, and chewability), outstanding water-holding capacity, and heightened thermal stability, along with guaranteed biosafety (e.g., nontoxicity and biocompatibility) and biodegradability. Therefore, a judicious selection of polymer combinations allows for the development of IPN gels with customized functional properties, adept at meeting precise application requirements.</p

Prenatal diagnosis and molecular cytogenetic characterization of hereditary complex chromosomal rearrangements in a Chinese family

Objectives: To report a family with an extremely rare and previously undescribed complex chromosomal rearrangement (CCR). To explore the molecular cytogenetic mechanism of ‘octaradial chromosome’. Material and methods: G-banding karyotype analysis was performed on all the members of the family. Chromosomal microarray analysis(CMA) was performed on the five members of the family. Results: This case presented with a karyotypically balanced CCR (46,XX,t(2;4;11;5)(p21;q34;q21;p15)). The familial CCR was stably transmitted across three generations. Conclusions: We report an extremely rare and previously undescribed complex chromosomal arrangement that is transmitted across three generations. The clinical outcome of this CCR is complex. Careful characterization of all the breakpoint regions is required for prenatal diagnosis and genetic counseling