Capacitive Touch Panel with Low Sensitivity to Water Drop employing Mutual-coupling Electrical Field Shaping Technique

This paper proposes a novel method to reduce the water interference on the touch panel based on mutual-capacitance sensing in human finger detection. As the height of a finger (height >10 mm) is far larger than that of a water-drop (height 10 mm) and low in the low-height space (height <1 mm), the sensing cell can be designed to distinguish the finger from the water-drop. To achieve this density distribution of the electrical field, the mutual-coupling electrical field shaping (MEFS) technique is employed to build the sensing cell. The drawback of the MEFS sensing cell is large parasitic capacitance, which can be overcome by a readout IC with low sensitivity to parasitic capacitance. Experiments show that the output of the IC with the MEFS sensing cell is 1.11 V when the sensing cell is touched by the water-drop and 1.23 V when the sensing cell is touched by the finger, respectively. In contrast, the output of the IC with the traditional sensing cell is 1.32 and 1.33 V when the sensing cell is touched by the water-drop and the finger, respectively. This demonstrates that the MEFS sensing cell can better distinguish the finger from the water-drop than the traditional sensing cell does.National Research Foundation (NRF)Accepted versionThis work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Grant 61771363, in part by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) under Grant 201706960042, and in part by the National Research Foundation of Singapore under Grant NRF-CRP11-2012-01

Vitamin E stabilizes iron and mitochondrial metabolism in pulmonary fibrosis

Introduction: Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a fatal chronic lung disease that causes structural damage and decreased lung function and has a poor prognosis. Currently, there is no medicine that can truly cure PF. Vitamin E (VE) is a group of natural antioxidants with anticancer and antimutagenic properties. There have been a few reports about the attenuation of PF by VE in experimental animals, but the molecular mechanisms are not fully understood.Methods: Bleomycin-induced PF (BLM-PF) mouse model, and cultured mouse primary lung fibroblasts and MLE 12 cells were utilized. Pathological examination of lung sections, immunoblotting, immunofluorescent staining, and real-time PCR were conducted in this study.Results: We confirmed that VE significantly delayed the progression of BLM-PF and increased the survival rates of experimental mice with PF. VE suppressed the pathological activation and fibrotic differentiation of lung fibroblasts and epithelial-mesenchymal transition and alleviated the inflammatory response in BLM-induced fibrotic lungs and pulmonary epithelial cells in vitro. Importantly, VE reduced BLM-induced ferritin expression in fibrotic lungs, whereas VE did not exhibit iron chelation properties in fibroblasts or epithelial cells in vitro. Furthermore, VE protected against mitochondrial dysmorphology and normalized mitochondrial protein expression in BLM-PF lungs. Consistently, VE suppressed apoptosis in BLM-PF lungs and pulmonary epithelial cells in vitro.Discussion: Collectively, VE markedly inhibited BLM-induced PF through a complex mechanism, including improving iron metabolism and mitochondrial structure and function, mitigating inflammation, and decreasing the fibrotic functions of fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Therefore, VE presents a highly potential therapeutic against PF due to its multiple protective effects with few side effects

New Ideas for Improving China's Coastal Zone Management Legislation：Drawing on the Experiences of the United States

姜玉环，厦门大学海洋与环境学院。 方珑杰，厦门大学海洋与环境学院。【中文摘要】中美两国都是海洋大国，对海岸带的合理开发和有效管理已成为中美两国海洋管理面临的共同现实问题。美国在海岸带综合管理理念上一直走在世界前列，依靠其制度的不断变革和创新，逐步迈向海岸带可持续发展的方向。中国海岸带资源开发与生态环境的可持续发展需要海岸带管理体制和政策、法律的不断完善，美国海岸带管理的实践经验和不断发展为中国提供了重要借鉴，本文重点讨论完善中国海岸带管理法律制度的对策，并提出建议。 【Abstract】As maritime powers, both the United States and China are facing the common issue of rational development and effective management of coastal zones. The United States, who has always been leading the world with its innovative concept of integrated coastal zone management, and relying on its ongoing institutional reform and innovation, is now gradually moving towards sustainable coastal zone development. China has yet to improve its coastal zone management system as well as relevant policies and laws in order to achieve sustainable development in coastal zone resource exploitation and ecological environment, while the United States' practical experience and continuous development of coastal zone management provide an important reference to China. This article focuses on measures to improve China's legal system for coastal zone management and attempts to make relevant suggestions

Cationic Albumin Encapsulated DNA Origami for Enhanced Cellular Transfection and Stability

DNA nanostructures, owing to their controllable and adaptable nature, have been considered as highly attractive nanoplatforms for biomedical applications in recent years. However, their use in the biological environment has been restricted by low cellular transfection efficiency in mammalian cells, weak stability under physiological conditions, and endonuclease degradation. Herein, we demonstrate an effective approach to facilitate fast transfection of DNA nanostructures and enhance their stability by encapsulating DNA origami with a biocompatible cationic protein (cHSA) via electrostatic interaction. The coated DNA origami is found to be stable under physiological conditions. Moreover, the cHSA coating could significantly improve the cellular transfection efficiency of DNA origami, which is essential for biological applications