Quantity and quality of China's water from demand perspectives

China is confronted with an unprecedented water crisis regarding its quantity and quality. In this study, we quantified the dynamics of China's embodied water use and chemical oxygen demand (COD) discharge from 2010 to 2015. The analysis was conducted with the latest available water use data across sectors in primary, secondary and tertiary industries and input-output models. The results showed that (1) China's water crisis was alleviated under urbanisation. Urban consumption occupied the largest percentages (over 30%) of embodied water use and COD discharge, but embodied water intensities in urban consumption were far lower than those in rural consumption. (2) The 'new normal' phase witnessed the optimisation of China's water use structures. Embodied water use in light-manufacturing and tertiary sectors increased while those in heavy-manufacturing sectors (except chemicals and transport equipment) dropped. (3) Transformation of China's international market brought positive effects on its domestic water use. China's water use (116-80 billion tonnes (Bts))9 and COD discharge (3.95-2.22 million tonnes (Mts)) embodied in export tremendously decreased while its total export values (11-25 trillion CNY) soared. Furthermore, embodied water use and COD discharge in relatively low-end sectors, such as textile, started to transfer from international to domestic markets when a part of China's production activities had been relocated to other developing countries

WARM STANDBY REPAIRABLE SYSTEM CONSISTS OF TWO COMPONENTS WITH PRIORITY AND A UNRELIABLE SWITCH

Based on References, the paper studies a more commonly used system in project, that is, under the condition of unreliable switch, we study the warm standby repairable system which consists of two components with priority and a repair facility. A repairable model of this system is set up where both the lifetime and repaired time of the components and the switch obey the general time-distribution and the system fails immediately when the switch fails. Finally, several reliability indices of this model are obtained. Key words: Priority, Warm Standby Repairable System, Markov Renewal Proces

Tetra­aqua­{1-[(1H-1,2,3-benzotriazol-1-yl)meth­yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole}sulfato­cadmium dihydrate

In the title complex, [Cd(SO4)(C9H8N6)(H2O)4]·2H2O, the CdII ion is six-coordinated by one N atom from a 1-[(1H-1,2,3-benzotriazol-1-yl)meth­yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole ligand and by five O atoms from four water mol­ecules and one monodentate sulfate anion in a distorted octa­hedral geometry. The sulfate tetra­hedron is rotationally disordered over two positions in a 0.651 (12):0.349 (12) ratio. In the crystal, adjacent mol­ecules are linked through O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds into a three-dimensional network

Thymol exerts anti-inflammatory effect in dextran sulfate sodium-induced experimental murine colitis

Purpose: To investigate the effect of thymol on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced experimental colitis in mice.Methods: Colitis in mice was induced by drinking water with 2.5 % (w/v) DSS. The levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and superoxide (SOD) in colonic tissues were determined using commercial kits. Histological changes were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The production of nitric oxide (NO) was measured by Griess assay. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 were assessed by quantitative PCR and ELISA kits. Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB) pathway activation was determined by Western blot.Results: Thymol markedly reduced disease activity index (DAI) scores, and recovered the colon length. Histological damage and MPO levels in the colonic tissues were markedly inhibited (p < 0.05) by thymol, which also reduced mRNA expressions of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in the colon. In addition, it downregulated MDA level but elevated GSH and SOD levels. Moreover, in vitro data showed that thymol significantly inhibited (p < 0.05) lipopolysaccharide-induced secretion of NO, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in macrophages, and suppressed (p < 0.05) the activation of NF-κB pathway.Conclusion: Thymol attenuates experimental colitis by down-regulating the activation of NF-κB pathway. Therefore, thymol is a potential candidate drug for the management of ulcerative colitis.Keywords: Thymol, Ulcerative colitis, Dextran sulfate sodium, Macrophages, Nuclear factor-kappa

Simultaneous determination of ten compounds in two main medicinal plant parts of Tibetan herb, Pterocephalus hookeri (CB Clarke) Höeck, by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array

Purpose: To develop an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) - photodiode array (PDA) method to compare the chemical composition of two different medicinal components of Pterocephalus hookeri.Methods: Samples were chromatographically separated in succession using Waters Acquity UPLCR BEH C18 column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) and gradient elution (0.2 % phosphoric acid aqueous -acetonitrile). Using partial least squares discriminant analysis and one-way analysis of variance, attempts were made to distinguish different medicinal parts of P. hookeri.Results: Regression equation for 10 compounds showed good linear regression (R2 > 0.9994). The relative standard deviations of precision, stability, repeatability and recovery were under 5 %. Compared with the aerial plant part, the root had significantly higher levels of sylvestroside I (p < 0.01), cantleyoside (p < 0.001), dipsanosides B (p < 0.01) and dipsanosides A (p < 0.01), but significantly lower levels of loganic acid (p < 0.001), chlorogenic acid (p < 0.01), and isochlorogenic acid (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences between loganin, sweroside and isochlorogenic acid C.Conclusion: The described method is simple, accurate and reproducible, and can be used for the simultaneous determination of 10 major compounds of P. hookeri. The results demonstrate that there is variation in the chemical composition of the aerialpart and root of P. hookeri and that loganic acid and cantleyoside are the primary chemical biomarkers.Keywords: Tibetan medicine, Pterocephalus hookeri, Medicinal parts, Loganic acid and Cantleyoside, UPLC-PD

Reliability Analysis of a Repairable C (2, 3; G ) System with Repair Priority and one is＂as good as new＂

In this paper, we discuss a repairable linear C (2, 3; G) system. One repairman carries out the maintenance of the system. It is assumed that the working time and the repair time of each component in the system are both exponentially distributed and only one component after repair is as good as new. Each component is classified as either a key component or an ordinary one according to its priority role to the system’s repair. We apply the geometric process, supplementary variable technique and generalized Markov process to study a repairable linear C (2, 3; G) system. We obtain Laplace transforms of some reliability indices such as availability and reliability.Key words: repairable system; generalized Markov process; key component; geometric proces

Data Processing Pipeline for Pointing Observations of Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope

We describe the data processing pipeline developed to reduce the pointing observation data of Lunar-based Ultraviolet Telescope (LUT), which belongs to the Chang'e-3 mission of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. The pointing observation program of LUT is dedicated to monitor variable objects in a near-ultraviolet (245-345 nm) band. LUT works in lunar daytime for sufficient power supply, so some special data processing strategies have been developed for the pipeline. The procedures of the pipeline include stray light removing, astrometry, flat fielding employing superflat technique, source extraction and cosmic rays rejection, aperture and PSF photometry, aperture correction, and catalogues archiving, etc. It has been intensively tested and works smoothly with observation data. The photometric accuracy is typically ~0.02 mag for LUT 10 mag stars (30 s exposure), with errors come from background noises, residuals of stray light removing, and flat fielding related errors. The accuracy degrades to be ~0.2 mag for stars of 13.5 mag which is the 5{\sigma} detection limit of LUT.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Minor changes and some expounding words added. Version accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science (Ap&SS

Spindle oscillations are generated in the dorsal thalamus and modulated by the thalamic reticular nucleus

Spindle waves occur during the early stage of slow wave sleep and are thought to arise in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), causing inhibitory postsynaptic potential spindle-like oscillations in the dorsal thalamus that are propagated to the cortex. We have found that thalamocortical neurons exhibit membrane oscillations that have spindle frequencies, consist of excitatory postsynaptic potentials, and co-occur with electroencephalographic spindles. TRN lesioning prolonged oscillations in the medial geniculate body (MGB) and auditory cortex (AC). Injection of GABA~A~ antagonist into the MGB decreased oscillation frequency, while injection of GABA~B~ antagonist increased spindle oscillations in the MGB and cortex. Thus, spindles originate in the dorsal thalamus and TRN inhibitory inputs modulate this process, with fast inhibition facilitating the internal frequency and slow inhibition limiting spindle occurrence