Modeling and Analysis of ETC Control System with Colored Petri Net and Dynamic Slicing

Nowadays, an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) control system in highways has been widely adopted to smoothen traffic flow. However, as it is a complex business interaction system, there are inevitably flaws in its control logic process, such as the problem of vehicle fee evasion. Even we find that there are more than one way for vehicles to evade fees. This shows that it is difficult to ensure the completeness of its design. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a novel formal method to model and analyze its design, detect flaws and modify it. In this paper, a Colored Petri net (CPN) is introduced to establish its model. To analyze and modify the system model more efficiently, a dynamic slicing method of CPN is proposed. First, a static slice is obtained from the static slicing criterion by backtracking. Second, considering all binding elements that can be enabled under the initial marking, a forward slice is obtained from the dynamic slicing criterion by traversing. Third, the dynamic slicing of CPN is obtained by taking the intersection of both slices. The proposed dynamic slicing method of CPN can be used to formalize and verify the behavior properties of an ETC control system, and the flaws can be detected effectively. As a case study, the flaw about a vehicle that has not completed the payment following the previous vehicle to pass the railing is detected by the proposed method

Endophyte Chaetomium globosum D38 Promotes Bioactive Constituents Accumulation and Root Production in Salvia miltiorrhiza

Salvia miltiorrhiza is known for tanshinones and salvianolic acids, which have been shown to have a protective effect against ROS, especially for cardiovascular diseases and other various ailments of human organs. Due to the low yield of tanshinones and their analogs in S. miltiorrhiza, multiple stimulation strategies have been developed to improve tanshinones production in plant tissue cultures. Endophytic fungi have been reported to form different relationships with their host plants, including symbiotic, mutualistic, commensalistic, and parasitic interactions. Thus we take the assumption that endophytic fungi may be a potential microbial tool for secondary metabolism promotion in medicinal plants. We recently isolated Chaetomium globosum D38 from the roots of S. miltiorrhiza and our study aimed to examine the effects of this live endophytic fungus D38 and its elicitor on the accumulation of tanshinones in the hairy root cultures of S. miltiorrhiza. Our results revealed that C. globosum D38 mainly colonized in the intercellular gap of xylem parenchyma cells of S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots during the long term co-existence without any toxicity. Moreover, both of the live fungus and its mycelia extract could increase the production of tanshinones, especially for dihydrotanshinone I and cryptotanshinone. The effect of the mycelia extract was much stronger than that of the live fungus on tanshinones synthesis, which significantly increased the transcriptional activity of those key genes in tanshinone biosynthetic pathway. Furthermore, the live C. globosum D38 could also be made into biotic fertilizer used for S. miltiorrhiza seedlings culture, which not only significantly promoted the growth of the host plant, but also notably enhanced the accumulation of tanshinones and salvianolic acids. We thus speculated that, in the soil environment D38 could form bitrophic and mutual beneficial interactions with the host and enhance the plant growth and its secondary metabolism on the whole so as to have facilitative effects on both tanshinones and salvianolic acids accumulation. In conclusion, Chaetomium globosum D38 was a highly beneficial endophytic fungus for the growth and metabolism of S. miltiorrhiza

Effect of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on impaired glucose tolerance: a pilot randomized study

Background: Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is a pre-diabetic state of hyperglycemia that is associated with insulin resistance, increased risk of type II diabetes, and cardiovascular pathology. Recently, investigators hypothesized that decreased vagus nerve activity may be the underlying mechanism of metabolic syndrome including obesity, elevated glucose levels, and high blood pressure. Methods: In this pilot randomized clinical trial, we compared the efficacy of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) and sham taVNS on patients with IGT. 72 participants with IGT were single-blinded and were randomly allocated by computer-generated envelope to either taVNS or sham taVNS treatment groups. In addition, 30 IGT adults were recruited as a control population and not assigned treatment so as to monitor the natural fluctuation of glucose tolerance in IGT patients. All treatments were self-administered by the patients at home after training at the hospital. Patients were instructed to fill in a patient diary booklet each day to describe any side effects after each treatment. The treatment period was 12 weeks in duration. Baseline comparison between treatment and control group showed no difference in weight, BMI, or measures of systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-hour plasma glucose (2hPG), or glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc). Results: 100 participants completed the study and were included in data analysis. Two female patients (one in the taVNS group, one in the sham taVNS group) dropped out of the study due to stimulation-evoked dizziness. The symptoms were relieved after stopping treatment. Compared with sham taVNS, taVNS significantly reduced the two-hour glucose tolerance (F(2) = 5.79, p = 0.004). In addition, we found that taVNS significantly decreased (F(1) = 4.21, p = 0.044) systolic blood pressure over time compared with sham taVNS. Compared with the no-treatment control group, patients receiving taVNS significantly differed in measures of FPG (F(2) = 10.62, p < 0.001), 2hPG F(2) = 25.18, p < 0.001) and HbAlc (F(1) = 12.79, p = 0.001) over the course of the 12 week treatment period. Conclusions: Our study suggests that taVNS is a promising, simple, and cost-effective treatment for IGT/ pre-diabetes with only slight risk of mild side-effects

Enhanced removal of dissolved effluent organic matter in wastewater using lignin-based biochar supported Fe–Cu bimetallic oxide catalyst

The effluent discharged from wastewater treatment facilities frequently enters the ocean, posing a considerable threat to the health of marine life and humans. In this paper, an alkali lignin-based biochar-loaded modified Fe–Cu catalyst (FeCu@BC) was prepared to remove soluble microbial products (SMP) from secondary effluent as disinfection by-products precursors at ambient temperature and pressure. The humic acid (HA) was taken as the representative substance of SMP. The results showed that the maximum removal efficiency of HA reached 93.2% when the FeCu@BC dosage, pH, initial HA concentration, and dissolved oxygen concentration were 5.0 g/L, 7, 100 mg/L, and 1.75 mg/L, respectively. After three cycles, the removal efficiency of HA could be maintained at more than 70%. The quenching experiments and electron spin resonance (EPR) results showed that •OH and 1O2 were involved in the degradation of HA in the FeCu@BC catalyst reaction system, with 1O2 playing a dominant role. Theoretical calculations confirmed that •OH and 1O2 were more prone to attack the C=O bond of the side chain of HA. After processing by the FeCu@BC catalyst, the yield of chlorinated disinfection by-products from secondary effluent had decreased in an obvious manner. This study provides a new solution to efficiently solve the problem of chlorinated disinfection by-products from HA

Research on the biological mechanism and potential application of CEMIP

Cell migration–inducing protein (CEMIP), also known as KIAA1199 and hyaluronan-binding protein involved in hyaluronan depolymerization, is a new member of the hyaluronidase family that degrades hyaluronic acid (HA) and remodels the extracellular matrix. In recent years, some studies have reported that CEMIP can promote the proliferation, invasion, and adhesion of various tumor cells and can play an important role in bacterial infection and arthritis. This review focuses on the pathological mechanism of CEMIP in a variety of diseases and expounds the function of CEMIP from the aspects of inhibiting cell apoptosis, promoting HA degradation, inducing inflammatory responses and related phosphorylation, adjusting cellular microenvironment, and regulating tissue fibrosis. The diagnosis and treatment strategies targeting CEMIP are also summarized. The various functions of CEMIP show its great potential application value

Copper-containing mesoporous bioactive glass promotes angiogenesis in an in vivo zebrafish model

The osteogenic and angiogenic responses of organisms to the ionic products of degradation of bioactive glasses (BGs) are being intensively investigated. The promotion of angiogenesis by copper (Cu) has been known for more than three decades. This element can be incorporated to delivery carriers, such as BGs, and the materials used in biological assays. In this work, Cu-containing mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) in the SiO2-CaO-P2O5 compositional system was prepared incorporating 5% mol Cu (MBG-5Cu) by replacement of the corresponding amount of Ca. The biological effects of the ionic products of MBG biodegradation were evaluated on a well-known endothelial cell line, the bovine aorta endothelial cells (BAEC), as well as in an in vivo zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo assay. The results suggest that ionic products of both MBG (Cu free) and MBG-5Cu materials promote angiogenesis. In vitro cell cultures show that the ionic dissolution products of these materials are not toxic and promote BAEC viability and migration. In addition, the in vivo assay indicates that both exposition and microinjection of zebrafish embryos with Cu free MBG material increase vessel number and thickness of the subintestinal venous plexus (SIVP), whereas assays using MBG-5Cu enhance this effect.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Andalusian Ministry of Economy, Science and Innovation (Proyectos Excelencia Grants no. P10-CTS-6681 and no. P12-CTS-1507) and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (BIO2014-56092-R). LBRS acknowledges the CONACYT-Mexico Fellowship PhD Program

The superhydrophobicity of polymer surfaces: Recent developments

Superhydrophobicity is the extreme water repellence of highly textured surfaces. The field of superhydrophobicity research has reached a stage where huge numbers of candidate treatments have been proposed and jumps have been made in theoretically describing them. There now seems to be a move to more practical concerns and to considering the demands of individual applications instead of more general cases. With these developments, polymeric surfaces with their huge variety of properties have come to the fore and are fast becoming the material of choice for designing, developing, and producing superhydrophobic surfaces. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 49: 1203–1217, 201

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Profiling of the TCP Family Genes in Spike and Grain Development of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The TCP family genes are plant-specific transcription factors and play important roles in plant development. TCPs have been evolutionarily and functionally studied in several plants. Although common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major staple crop worldwide, no systematic analysis of TCPs in this important crop has been conducted. Here, we performed a genome-wide survey in wheat and found 66 TCP genes that belonged to 22 homoeologous groups. We then mapped these genes on wheat chromosomes and found that several TCP genes were duplicated in wheat including the ortholog of the maize TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1. Expression study using both RT-PCR and in situ hybridization assay showed that most wheat TCP genes were expressed throughout development of young spike and immature seed. Cis-acting element survey along promoter regions suggests that subfunctionalization may have occurred for homoeologous genes. Moreover, protein–protein interaction experiments of three TCP proteins showed that they can form either homodimers or heterodimers. Finally, we characterized two TaTCP9 mutants from tetraploid wheat. Each of these two mutant lines contained a premature stop codon in the A subgenome homoeolog that was dominantly expressed over the B subgenome homoeolog. We observed that mutation caused increased spike and grain lengths. Together, our analysis of the wheat TCP gene family provides a start point for further functional study of these important transcription factors in wheat