A NUMERICAL SHALLOW WATER MODEL BASED ON THE NON-ORTHOGONAL CURVILINEAR GRIDS

ABSTRACT According to the transformation relationships between the Cartesian coordinates and the general curvilinear coordinates, the governing equations of the model are derived as the forms in the general curvilinear coordinates from those in the Cartesian coordinates. In the model, the contravariant velocities are adopted as the independent variables in non-orthogonal grids. The momentum equations keep strongly conservative forms and the boundary conditions can be given easily. The model used a staggered grid arrangement. The discrete equations are solved using the SIMPLIC algorithms. The numerical model has been validated against the bifurcated flow of which the diversion angle is 30 degree. Compared with the measured values, the numerical shallow water model is shown to be capable of simulating the water domains with irregular boundaries

Propagation of tidal waves up in Yangtze Estuary during the dry season

Tide is one of the most important hydrodynamic driving forces and has unique features in the Yangtze Estuary (YE) due to the complex geometry of third-order bifurcations and four outlets. This paper characterizes the tidal oscillations, tidal dampening, tidal asymmetry, and tidal wave propagation, which provides insights into the response of the estuary to tides during the dry season. The structural components of tidal oscillations are initially attained by tidal analysis. The increasingly richer spectrum inside the estuary shows an energy transfer corresponding to the generation and development of nonlinear overtides and compound tides. A 2-D numerical model is further set up to reproduce tidal dynamics in the estuary. The results show that the estuary is a strongly dissipative estuary with a strong nonlinear phenomenon. Three amplifications are presented in the evolution process of tidal ranges due to the channel convergence. Tidal asymmetry is spatiotemporally characterized by the M-4/M-2 amplitude ratio, the 2M(2)-M-4 phase difference, and the flood-ebb duration-asymmetry parameter, and the estuary tends to be flood-dominant. There exists mimic standing waves with the phase difference of the horizontal and vertical tide close to 90 degrees when tidal wave propagates into the estuary, especially during the neap tide. In addition, the differences in tidal distortion, tidal ranges, and tidal waves along the two routes in the South Branch (S-B) suggest the branched system behaves differently from a single system

The mitochondrial gene orfH79 plays a critical role in impairing both male gametophyte development and root growth in CMS-Honglian rice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) has often been associated with abnormal mitochondrial open reading frames. The mitochondrial gene <it>orfH79 </it>is a candidate gene for causing the CMS trait in CMS-Honglian (CMS-HL) rice. However, whether the <it>orfH79 </it>expression can actually induce CMS in rice remains unclear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Western blot analysis revealed that the ORFH79 protein is mainly present in mitochondria of CMS-HL rice and is absent in the fertile line. To investigate the function of ORFH79 protein in mitochondria, this gene was fused to a mitochondrial transit peptide sequence and used to transform wild type rice, where its expression induced the gametophytic male sterile phenotype. In addition, excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the microspore, a reduced ATP/ADP ratio, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and a lower respiration rate in the transgenic plants were found to be similar to those in CMS-HL rice. Moreover, retarded growth of primary and lateral roots accompanied by abnormal accumulation of ROS in the root tip was observed in both transgenic rice and CMS-HL rice (YTA).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that the expression of <it>orfH79 </it>in mitochondria impairs mitochondrial function, which affects the development of both male gametophytes and the roots of CMS-HL rice.</p

ORP4L Extracts and Presents PIP2 from Plasma Membrane for PLC beta 3 Catalysis : Targeting It Eradicates Leukemia Stem Cells

Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) are a rare subpopulation of abnormal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that propagates leukemia and are responsible for the high frequency of relapse in therapies. Detailed insights into LSCs' survival will facilitate the identification of targets for therapeutic approaches. Here, we develop an inhibitor, LYZ-81, which targets ORP4L with high affinity and specificity and selectively eradicates LCSs in vitro and in vivo. ORP4L is expressed in LSCs but not in normal HSCs and is essential for LSC bioenergetics and survival. It extracts PIP2 from the plasma membrane and presents it to PLC beta 3, enabling IP3 generation and subsequentCa(2+)-dependent bioenergetics. LYZ-81 binds ORP4L competitively with PIP2 and blocks PIP2 hydrolysis, resulting in defective Ca2+ signaling. The results provide evidence that LSCs can be eradicated through the inhibition of ORP4L by LYZ-81, which may serve as a starting point of drug development for the elimination of LSCs to eventually cure leukemia.Peer reviewe

Research progress of annular flume technology

The background and principle of the annular flume technology were introduced. A complete literature review of the research progress by using the annular flume in China and other countries was presented including annular flume numerical simulation, experiments on the scene etc. On the basis of the existing progress, the potential application prospects of annular flume technology in the study of cohesive sediment characteristics are summarized briefly. There are lots of rivers in China with many different types. A huge amount sediments was carried into the sea every year, for example, the actual sediment carried into the sea from Yangtze river has the maximum amount of 0.678 billion tons,of whichthe cohesive fine sediments accounts for the majority, part of which settles down in the estuary area[1]. The research on the deposition, erosion and some other movement principles of the cohesive fine sediment is the important part of the study of fine sediment and pollutant transport and diffusion. Fine sediment movement not only subjects to the control of flow condition, bioturbation, but also depends largely on the sediment itself geometric, physical and chemical properties(such as particle size, shape, pore water, mineral components, etc.), these result a big difference of motion compared to non-viscous coarse sediment. Partheniades and his partner designed the annular flume. After that, annular flume is widely used in the study of sediment erosion, deposition, transport, and other aspects by researchers, and the researchers have made a series of progress, bring an important impact on estuary development and evolution, channel regulation and coastal engineering construction

Kelvin-Helmholtz Billows Induced by Shear Instability along the North Passage of the Yangtze River Estuary, China

Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability plays a significant role in mixing. To investigate the existence of K-H instability along the North Passage of the Yangtze River Estuary, the non-hydrostatic model NHWAVE is utilized to simulate the fresh-salt water mixing process along the North Passage of the Yangtze River Estuary. Using high horizontal resolution, the structure of K-H billows have been successfully captured within the Lower Reach of the North Passage. The K-H instability occurs between the max flood and high-water slack. The duration and length scale of the K-H billows highly depends on the local interaction between fresh-water discharge and tide. The horizontal length scale of the instability is about 60 m, similar to the observations in other estuaries. In the vertical direction, the K-H billows exist within the pycnocline with length scale ranging from 6 to 7 m. The timescale of the billows is approximate 6 min. By analyzing the changes of potential energy during the mixing process, results show that the existence of K-H instability induces intense vertical mixing, which can greatly increase mixing efficiency in the North Passage of the Yangtze River Estuary

An Integrated Scheme of a Smart Net Capturer for MUAVs

Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (MUAVs), including consumer-grade ones, have been frequently threatening urban low-altitude security in recent years. This article analyses the necessity to develop specialized technology of anti-MUAVs. Then the article proposes an engineering scheme of a Smart Weapon Capturing MUAVs (SWCM) in an automatic and soft-killing way. The scheme includes a ground subsystem and an aircraft subsystem. The ground subsystem mainly includes optical sighting equipment and handheld launch control device. The aircraft subsystem includes guidance, control, structure, aerodynamic, etc. The design principle of this scheme embodies the technical characteristics of autonomy, high efficiency, low cost and civil-military dual use. The validity of the smart weapon system design is proved by numerical simulations and experiments, and its application is also prospected

BAG3 and HIF-1α Coexpression Detected by Immunohistochemistry Correlated with Prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Liver Transplantation

Objective. The objective is to determine the effects of BAG3 and HIF-1α expression on the prognosis of HCC patients after liver transplantation. Methods. Samples from 31 patients with HCC receiving liver transplantation were collected for this study. The immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of BAG3 and HIF-1α of HCC samples. Results. According to the immunohistochemistry results, BAG3 and HIF-1α staining were significantly associated with tumor TNM stage (P=0.004, P=0.012). A significant association between high BAG3/HIF-1α levels and a shorter overall survival was detected, so as the combined BAG3 and HIF-1α analysis. Conclusion. The results suggested that the expression level of BAG3 and HIF-1α is efficient prognostic parameters in patients with HCC after liver transplantation