Supply hubs in industrial parks (SHIP): research perspectives

An industrial park is a cluster of enterprises located in one location to share common infrastructure, service and market opportunities. It has been adopted in many countries as an important tool for promoting the economic and industrial development. However, its further development has been impeded by the shortage of land resources especially for enterprises' construction of warehouses. The supply hub, having been employed by large suppliers to warehouse raw materials near manufacturers provides a promising way of solving such problem. In this paper, it is extended to "Supply Hub in Industrial Park (SHIP)" in the sense that warehouses of individual enterprises could be integrated into a single public warehouse and centrally serves the manufacturing processes of all the enterprises in an industrial park. Through the functioning of SHIP, it is expected that the land utilization and cost savings could be improved. As the initial study of SHIP, this paper focuses on several fundamental research perspectives: conceptual framework, working process, and potential benefits. Despite of the qualitative analysis, a mathematical model of SHIP is formulated. This work will contribute to the further research of logistics solutions in industrial parks.published_or_final_versionThe 40th International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering (CIE 2010), Awaji, Japan, 25-28 July 2010. In Proceedings of CIE40, 2010, p. 1-6The 40th International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering (CIE 2010), Awaji, Japan, 25-28 July 2010. In Proceedings of CIE40, 2010, p. 1-

Topological Photonics

Topology is revolutionizing photonics, bringing with it new theoretical discoveries and a wealth of potential applications. This field was inspired by the discovery of topological insulators, in which interfacial electrons transport without dissipation even in the presence of impurities. Similarly, new optical mirrors of different wave-vector space topologies have been constructed to support new states of light propagating at their interfaces. These novel waveguides allow light to flow around large imperfections without back-reflection. The present review explains the underlying principles and highlights the major findings in photonic crystals, coupled resonators, metamaterials and quasicrystals.Comment: progress and review of an emerging field, 12 pages, 6 figures and 1 tabl

Production of Embryonic and Fetal-Like Red Blood Cells from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

We have previously shown that human embryonic stem cells can be differentiated into embryonic and fetal type of red blood cells that sequentially express three types of hemoglobins recapitulating early human erythropoiesis. We report here that we have produced iPS from three somatic cell types: adult skin fibroblasts as well as embryonic and fetal mesenchymal stem cells. We show that regardless of the age of the donor cells, the iPS produced are fully reprogrammed into a pluripotent state that is undistinguishable from that of hESCs by low and high-throughput expression and detailed analysis of globin expression patterns by HPLC. This suggests that reprogramming with the four original Yamanaka pluripotency factors leads to complete erasure of all functionally important epigenetic marks associated with erythroid differentiation regardless of the age or the tissue type of the donor cells, at least as detected in these assays. The ability to produce large number of erythroid cells with embryonic and fetal-like characteristics is likely to have many translational applications

The Complete Chloroplast and Mitochondrial Genome Sequences of Boea hygrometrica: Insights into the Evolution of Plant Organellar Genomes

The complete nucleotide sequences of the chloroplast (cp) and mitochondrial (mt) genomes of resurrection plant Boea hygrometrica (Bh, Gesneriaceae) have been determined with the lengths of 153,493 bp and 510,519 bp, respectively. The smaller chloroplast genome contains more genes (147) with a 72% coding sequence, and the larger mitochondrial genome have less genes (65) with a coding faction of 12%. Similar to other seed plants, the Bh cp genome has a typical quadripartite organization with a conserved gene in each region. The Bh mt genome has three recombinant sequence repeats of 222 bp, 843 bp, and 1474 bp in length, which divide the genome into a single master circle (MC) and four isomeric molecules. Compared to other angiosperms, one remarkable feature of the Bh mt genome is the frequent transfer of genetic material from the cp genome during recent Bh evolution. We also analyzed organellar genome evolution in general regarding genome features as well as compositional dynamics of sequence and gene structure/organization, providing clues for the understanding of the evolution of organellar genomes in plants. The cp-derived sequences including tRNAs found in angiosperm mt genomes support the conclusion that frequent gene transfer events may have begun early in the land plant lineage

Multi-susceptibility genes associated with the risk of the development stages of esophageal squamous cell cancer in Feicheng County

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of multi-genotype polymorphisms with the stepwise progression of esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESCC) and the possibility of predicting those at higher risk.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 1,004 subjects were recruited from Feicheng County, China, between Jan. 2004 and Dec. 2007 and examined by endoscopy for esophageal lesions. These subjects included 270 patients with basal cell hyperplasia (BCH), 262 patients with esophageal squamous cell dysplasia (ESCD), 226 patients with ESCC, and 246 controls with Lugol-voiding area but diagnosed as having normal esophageal squamous epithelial cells by histopathology. The genotypes for <it>CYP2E1 </it>G1259C, <it>hOGG1 </it>C326G, <it>MTHFR </it>C677T, <it>MPO </it>G463A, and <it>ALDH2 </it>allele genes were identified in blood samples collected from all participants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The alleles <it>ALDH2 </it>and <it>MTHFR </it>C677T were critical for determining individual susceptibility to esophageal cancer. Compared to the <it>ALDH </it>1*1 genotype, the <it>ALDH </it>2*2 genotype was significantly associated with increased risks of BCH, ESCD, and ESCC. However, the TT genotype of <it>MTHFR </it>C677T only increased the risk of ESCC. Further analysis revealed that the combination of the high-risk genotypes 2*2/1*2 of <it>ALDH </it>2 and TT/TC of <it>MTHFR </it>C677T increased the risk of BCH by 4.0 fold, of ESCD by 3.7 fold, and ESSC by 8.72 fold. The generalized odds ratio (OR_G) of the two combined genotypes was 1.83 (95%CI: 1.55-2.16), indicating a strong genetic association with the risk of carcinogenic progression in the esophagus.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study demonstrated that the genotypes <it>ALDH2*2 </it>and <it>MTHFR </it>677TT conferred elevated risk for developing esophageal carcinoma and that the two susceptibility genotypes combined to synergistically increase the risk.</p

QTL meta-analysis of root traits in Brassica napus under contrasting phosphorus supply in two growth systems

A high-density SNP-based genetic linkage map was constructed and integrated with a previous map in the Tapidor x Ningyou7 (TNDH) Brassica napus population, giving a new map with a total of 2041 molecular markers and an average marker density which increased from 0.39 to 0.97 (0.82 SNP bin) per cM. Root and shoot traits were screened under low and ‘normal’ phosphate (Pi) supply using a ‘pouch and wick’ system, and had been screened previously in an agar based system. The P-efficient parent Ningyou7 had a shorter primary root length (PRL), greater lateral root density (LRD) and a greater shoot biomass than the P-inefficient parent Tapidor under both treatments and growth systems. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis identified a total of 131 QTL, and QTL meta-analysis found four integrated QTL across the growth systems. Integration reduced the confidence interval by ~41%. QTL for root and shoot biomass were co-located on chromosome A3 and for lateral root emergence were co-located on chromosomes A4/C4 and C8/C9. There was a major QTL for LRD on chromosome C9 explaining ~18% of the phenotypic variation. QTL underlying an increased LRD may be a useful breeding target for P uptake efficiency in Brassica

Clinical research evidence of cupping therapy in China: a systematic literature review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Though cupping therapy has been used in China for thousands of years, there has been no systematic summary of clinical research on it.</p> <p>This review is to evaluate the therapeutic effect of cupping therapy using evidence-based approach based on all available clinical studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We included all clinical studies on cupping therapy for all kinds of diseases. We searched six electronic databases, all searches ended in December 2008. We extracted data on the type of cupping and type of diseases treated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>550 clinical studies were identified published between 1959 and 2008, including 73 randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 22 clinical controlled trials, 373 case series, and 82 case reports. Number of RCTs obviously increased during past decades, but the quality of the RCTs was generally poor according to the risk of bias of the Cochrane standard for important outcome within each trials. The diseases in which cupping was commonly employed included pain conditions, herpes zoster, cough or asthma, etc. Wet cupping was used in majority studies, followed by retained cupping, moving cupping, medicinal cupping, etc. 38 studies used combination of two types of cupping therapies. No serious adverse effects were reported in the studies.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>According to the above results, quality and quantity of RCTs on cupping therapy appears to be improved during the past 50 years in China, and majority of studies show potential benefit on pain conditions, herpes zoster and other diseases. However, further rigorous designed trials in relevant conditions are warranted to support their use in practice.</p