Perspective: strain and strain gradient engineering in membranes of quantum materials

Strain is powerful for discovery and manipulation of new phases of matter; however, the elastic strains accessible to epitaxial films and bulk crystals are typically limited to small ($<2\%$), uniform, and often discrete values. This Perspective highlights new directions for strain and strain gradient engineering in free-standing single crystalline membranes of quantum materials. Membranes enable large ($\sim 10\%$), continuously tunable strains and strain gradients via bending and rippling. Moreover, strain gradients break inversion symmetry to activate polar distortions, ferroelectricity, chiral spin textures, novel superconductivity, and topological states. Recent advances in membrane synthesis by remote epitaxy and sacrificial etch layers enable extreme strains in new materials, including transition metal oxides and Heusler compounds, compared to natively van der Waals (vdW) materials like graphene. We highlight new opportunities and challenges for strain and strain gradient engineering in membranes of non-vdW materials

A Study on Integrating Cultural Signs of “Global Village” into Cultivating Chinese English Major Students’ Foreign Language Competence with the Vision of Global Community of Shared Future

The fundamental task of cultivating foreign language talents in the new era is to cultivate talents. English major students are supposed to have solid Chinese language skills and cultural knowledge, to be able to skillfully apply language teaching skills related to foreign languages, and have the competence to adopt foreign languages for cross-cultural communication. This article aims to study the “global village” as a unique language practice base of Jilin International Studies University and integrate it into the instruction of higher education to nurture talents for international communication. Based on exploring the connotation of cultural signs that highlights the “global village” and their application of them in cultivating English major students’ foreign language competence, we intend to improve English major students’ humanistic and cultural literacy to nurture their sense of self-national identity under the internationality of globalization. Thus, they are prepared to possess the comprehensive language competence constituted mainly by the broad vision, international consciousness, global village outlook, and cross-culture consciousness and competence, etc. which will necessarily help them to actively and effectively participate in international communication and eventually dedicate themselves to constructing a global community with a shared future for mankind, which essentially makes up the core of cross-cultural competence

Cultivation of Core Competences of English Major Students under the Inter-discinplinary Guidance A Case Study of “The Survey of British and American Culture” Course

The newly issued National Standards by the Ministry of National Education for the Quality of Foreign Language and Literature Teaching (hereinafter referred to as the “National Standards”) clearly points out that the curriculum system of foreign language majors should emphasize the cultivation of competences and the construction of professional knowledge, especially the cultivation of cross-cultural, critical, and innovative abilities. Therefore, in order to enhance college students’ autonomous study ability and cross-cultural skills, this study, based on the concepts of content and language integration, aims to explore the way to combine Willis’ outline of procedure for task-based learning with the five principles of intercultural teaching, and utilize task-based teaching method, and rely on the course—“British and American Culture: A Course to Develop Critical Thinking from a cross-cultural perspective” to respectively consider the design of autonomous study worksheets for English majors before, during, and after class, so as to improve their autonomous learning ability, cultural critical thinking and intercultural communication skills. It will be helpful for the implementation of similar courses

Mg2+-dependent facilitation and inactivation of L-type Ca2+ channels in guinea pig ventricular myocytes

AbstractThis study aimed to investigate the intracellular Mg2+ regulation of the L-type Ca2+ channels in guinea pig ventricular myocytes. By adopting the inside-out configuration of the patch clamp technique, single channel currents of the L-type Ca2+ channels were recorded at different intracellular Mg2+ concentrations ([Mg2+]i). At free [Mg2+]i of 0, 10−9, 10−7, 10−5, 10−3, and 10−1 M, 1.4 μM CaM + 3 mM ATP induced channel activities of 44%, 117%, 202%, 181%, 147%, and 20% of the control activity in cell-attached mode, respectively, showing a bell-shaped concentration-response relationship. Moreover, the intracellular Mg2+ modulated the Ca2+ channel gating properties, accounting for alterations in channel activities. These results imply that Mg2+ has a dual effect on the L-type Ca2+ channels: facilitation and inhibition. Lower [Mg2+]i maintains and enhances the basal activity of Ca2+ channels, whereas higher [Mg2+]i inhibits channel activity. Taken together, our data from the application of an [Mg2+]i series suggest that the dual effect of Mg2+ upon the L-type Ca2+ channels exhibits long open-time dependence

The botanical origin and antioxidant, anti-BACE1 and antiproliferative properties of bee pollen from different regions of South Korea

Abstract Background Bee pollen (BP) has been used as a traditional medicine and food diet additive due to its nutritional and biological properties. The potential biological properties of bee pollen vary greatly with the botanical and geographical origin of the pollen grains. This study was conducted to characterize the botanical origin and assess the antioxidant effects of ethanol extracts of 18 different bee pollen (EBP) samples from 16 locations in South Korea and their inhibitory activities on human β-amyloid precursor cleavage enzyme (BACE1), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), human intestinal bacteria, and 5 cancer cell lines. Methods The botanical origin and classification of each BP sample was evaluated using palynological analysis by observing microscope slides. We measured the biological properties, including antioxidant capacity, inhibitory activities against human BACE1, and AChE, and antiproliferative activities toward five cancer cell lines, of the 18 EBPs. In addition, the growth inhibitory activities on four harmful intestinal bacteria, six lactic acid-producing bacteria, two nonpathogenic bacteria, and an acidulating bacterium were also assessed. Results Four samples (BP3, BP4, BP13 and BP15) were found to be monofloral and presented four dominant pollen types: Quercus palustris, Actinidia arguta, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Amygdalus persica. One sample (BP12) was found to be bifloral, and the remaining samples were considered to be heterofloral. Sixteen samples showed potent antioxidant activities with EC50 from 292.0 to 673.9 μg mL− 1. Fourteen samples presented potent inhibitory activity against human BACE1 with EC50 from 236.0 to 881.1 μg mL− 1. All samples showed antiproliferative activity toward the cancer cell lines PC-3, MCF-7, A549, NCI-H727 and AGS with IC50 from 2.7 to 14.4 mg mL− 1, 0.9 to 12.7 mg mL− 1, 5.0 to > 25 mg mL− 1, 2.7 to 17.7 mg mL− 1, and 2.4 to 8.7 mg mL− 1, respectively. In addition, total phenol and flavonoid contents had no direct correlation with antioxidant, anti-human BACE1, or antiproliferative activities. Conclusion Fundamentally, Korean bee pollen-derived preparations could be considered a nutritional addition to food to prevent various diseases related to free radicals, neurodegenerative problems, and cancers. The botanical and geographical origins of pollen grains could help to establish quality control standards for bee pollen consumption and industrial production

Analysis between ABO blood group and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients and the potential mediating role of ACE2

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become the most common coronavirus that causes large-scale infections worldwide. Currently, several studies have shown that the ABO blood group is associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and some studies have also suggested that the infection of COVID-19 may be closely related to the interaction between angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and blood group antigens. However, the relationship between blood type to clinical outcome in critically ill patients and the mechanism of action is still unclear. The current study aimed to examine the correlation between blood type distribution and SARS-CoV-2 infection, progression, and prognosis in patients with COVID-19 and the potential mediating role of ACE2. With 234 patients from 5 medical centers and two established cohorts, 137 for the mild cohort and 97 for the critically ill cohort, we found that the blood type A population was more sensitive to SARS-CoV-2, while the blood type distribution was not relevant to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute kidney injury (AKI), and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Further study showed that the serum ACE2 protein level of healthy people with type A was significantly higher than that of other blood groups, and type O was the lowest. The experimental results of spike protein binding to red blood cells also showed that the binding rate of people with type A was the highest, and that of people with type O was the lowest. Our finding indicated that blood type A may be the biological marker for susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and may be associated with potential mediating of ACE2, but irrelevant to the clinical outcomes including ARDS, AKI, and death. These findings can provide new ideas for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of COVID-19

The Interaction between Storm Surge and Concomitant Waves in Shandong Peninsula

Storm surge and concomitant waves induced by extreme weather systems can significantly modulate the marine dynamic environment. In this study, we used the Advanced Circulation-Simulating Waves Nearshore (ADCIRC-SWAN) coupled model to analyze spatiotemporal variation in dynamic processes during two types of weather systems, i.e., typhoons and extratropical storms, in the sea area near the Shandong Peninsula. The effects of waves on water level, water level change on wave height, and currents on wave height were investigated and quantified separately by performing sensitivity experiments. Our results showed that the interaction between water level change and waves occurred mainly in the nearshore zone. The wave-induced surge accounted for about 10–15% of the total storm surge. The water level change-induced significant wave height reached up to 0.9–1.3 m. Wave–current interaction occurred mainly in the offshore zone and was related to the relative angle between wave and current directions. The modulations of water level and wave height were strongly dependent on not only storm track and intensity but also topography and coastline shapes

Prediction of Significant Wave Height in Offshore China Based on the Machine Learning Method

Accurate wave prediction can help avoid disasters. In this study, the significant wave height (SWH) prediction performances of the recurrent neural network (RNN), long short-term memory network (LSTM), and gated recurrent unit network (GRU) were compared. The 10 m u-component of wind (U10), 10 m v-component of wind (V10), and SWH of the previous 24 h were used as input parameters to predict the SWHs of the future 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h. The SWH prediction model was established at three different sites located in the Bohai Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea, separately. The experimental results show that the performance of LSTM and GRU networks based on the gating mechanism was better than that of traditional RNNs, and the performances of the LSTM and GRU networks were comparable. The EMD method was found to be useful in the improvement of the LSTM network to forecast the significant wave heights of 12 and 24 h

Design of on-line monitoring system for self-excited deduster

Due to unobservable operating environment, gas-liquid mixing state of self-excited deduster can not be observed in real time, so it is difficult to avoid dust escape caused by fluctuation of liquid surface and intermittent excitation of traps in gas fluid coupling process, and determining of operating parameters (liquid level, wind speed, etc) of the deduster lacks of scientific basis, so it is difficult to guarantee removal efficiency of the deduster. In order to solve the above problems, an on-line monitoring system for self-excited deduster was designed. The system uses five characteristics parameters as the important identification basis of flow pattern to identify the gas-liquid flow pattern inside the deduster quantitatively, including resistance parameter, liquid level parameter, power spectral density value, relative power spectral density value and frequency characteristic segment of pressure signal. The system can adjust operating parameters of the deduster, and realizes on-line monitoring of gas-liquid mixing state in the self-excited deduster.Test results show that the system can realize real-time and precise recognition for gas-liquid flow pattern of deduster with 95.6% recognition rate

Additional file 1 of A novel prognostic signature and therapy guidance for hepatocellular carcinoma based on STEAP family

Additional file 1: Fig. S1. The histogram of the distribution of risk scores in the TCGA and GSE14520. Fig. S2. The validation of the prognostic risk model and the nomogram and calibration curve of the model in the GSE14520 cohorts. Fig. S3. The correlation between the expression of STEAP1, STEAP4 and risk score with particular etiology and liver fibrosis in the TCGA and GSE14520