Oscillatory thermopower of carbon chains: First-principles calculations

We investigate the thermoelectric transport through carbon chains connected by two Al leads. Using a Landauer-Buttiker-like formula, we calculate the thermopower and thermoconductance of Al-Cn-Al from first principles. We find that the charge transfer plays an important role in the thermoelectric transport. Because of the charge transfer, the thermopower changes sign for even-odd number of carbon atoms. The thermopower and electric conductance as a function of the gate voltage also exhibit oscillatory behaviors with a phase difference of pi/2.published_or_final_versio

An increase in adenosine-5’-triphosphate (ATP) content in rostral ventrolateral medulla is engaged in the high fructose diet-induced hypertension

BACKGROUND: The increase in fructose ingestion has been linked to overdrive of sympathetic activity and hypertension associated with the metabolic syndrome. The premotor neurons for generation of sympathetic vasomotor activity reside in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM). Activation of RVLM results in sympathoexcitation and hypertension. Neurons in the central nervous system are able to utilize fructose as a carbon source of ATP production. We examined in this study whether fructose affects ATP content in RVLM and its significance in the increase in central sympathetic outflow and hypertension induced by the high fructose diet (HFD). RESULTS: In normotensive rats fed with high fructose diet (HFD) for 12 weeks, there was a significant increase in tissue ATP content in RVLM, accompanied by the increases in the sympathetic vasomotor activity and blood pressure. These changes were blunted by intracisternal infusion of an ATP synthase inhibitor, oligomycin, to the HFD-fed animals. In the catecholaminergic-containing N2a cells, fructose dose-dependently upregulated the expressions of glucose transporter 2 and 5 (GluT2, 5) and the rate-limiting enzyme of fructolysis, ketohexokinase (KHK), leading to the increases in pyruvate and ATP production, as well as the release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine. These cellular events were significantly prevented after the gene knocking down by lentiviral transfection of small hairpin RNA against KHK. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that increases in ATP content in RVLM may be engaged in the augmented sympathetic vasomotor activity and hypertension associated with the metabolic syndrome induced by the HFD. At cellular level, the increase in pyruvate levels via fructolysis is involved in the fructose-induced ATP production and the release of neurotransmitter

Managing The Combination Of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease And Metabolic Syndrome With Chinese Herbal Extracts In High-fat-diet Fed Rats

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (MetS). The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of Chinese herbal extracts from Salvia miltiorrhiza and Gardenia jasminoides (SGE) on the combination of NAFLD and MetS induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) in rats. After 6 weeks of HFD feeding, rats ( each group) were treated with saline, rosiglitazone (RSG), and SGE for 4 weeks. HFD rats were obese, hyperinsulinemic, hyperlipidemic and increased hepatic enzymes with the histological images of NAFLD. Treatment with SGE significantly reduced serum triglycerides (TG), nonesterified fatty acids and enhanced insulin sensitivity, and ameliorated the elevated serum hepatic enzymes compared with HFD-saline group. SGE treatment also attenuated hepatic TG by 18.5% (). Histological stains showed SGE decreased lipids droplets in hepatocytes () and normalized macrovesicular steatosis in HFD rats. Significant reduction of TNF-a and IL6 in adipose tissue was detected in SGE treated rats. The anti-inflammatory action may be, at least in part, the mechanism of SGE on MetS associated with NAFLD. This study discovered that SGE is capable of managing metabolic and histological abnormalities of NAFLD and MetS. SGE may be an optimal treatment for the combination of NAFLD and MetS

Temporal aggregation of seasonally near-integrated processes

We investigate the implications that temporally aggregating, either by average sampling or systematic (skip) sampling, a seasonal process has on the integration properties of the resulting series at both the zero and seasonal frequencies. Our results extend the existing literature in three ways. First, they demonstrate the implications of temporal aggregation for a general sea- sonally integrated process with S seasons. Second, rather than only considering the aggregation of seasonal processes with exact unit roots at some or all of the zero and seasonal frequen- cies, we consider the case where these roots are local-to-unity such that the original series is near-integrated at some or all of the zero and seasonal frequencies. These results show, among other things, that systematic sampling, although not average sampling, can impact on the non- seasonal unit root properties of the data; for example, even where an exact zero frequency unit root holds in the original data it need not necessarily hold in the systematically sampled data. Moreover, the systematically sampled data could be near-integrated at the zero frequency even where the original data is not. Third, the implications of aggregation on the deterministic kernel of the series are explored

Improving corporate governance in state-owned corporations in China: which way forward?

This article discusses corporate governance in China. It outlines the basic agency problem in Chinese listed companies and questions the effectiveness of the current mechanisms employed to improve their standards of governance. Importantly, it considers alternative means through which corporate practice in China can be brought into line with international expectations and stresses the urgency with which this task must be tackled. It concludes that regulators in China must construct a corporate governance model which is compatible with its domestic setting and not rush to adopt governance initiatives modelled on those in cultures which are fundamentally different in the hope of also reproducing their success

Water Policies and Conflict Resolution of Public Participation Decision-Making Processes Using Prioritized Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) Operators

[EN] There is a growing interest in environmental policies about how to implement public participation engagement in the context of water resources management. This paper presents a robust methodology, based on ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operators, to conflict resolution decision-making problems under uncertain environments due to both information and stakeholders' preferences. The methodology allows integrating heterogeneous interests of the general public and stakeholders on account of their different degree of acceptance or preference and level of influence or power regarding the measures and policies to be adopted, and also of their level of involvement (i.e., information supply, consultation and active involvement). These considerations lead to different environmental and socio-economic outcomes, and levels of stakeholders' satisfaction. The methodology establishes a prioritization relationship over the stakeholders. The individual stakeholders' preferences are aggregated through their associated weights, which depend on the satisfaction of the higher priority decision maker. The methodology ranks the optimal management strategies to maximize the stakeholders' satisfaction. It has been successfully applied to a real case study, providing greater fairness, transparency, social equity and consensus among actors. Furthermore, it provides support to environmental policies, such as the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), improving integrated water management while covering a wide range of objectives, management alternatives and stakeholders.Llopis Albert, C.; Merigó-Lindahl, JM.; Liao, H.; Xu, Y.; Grima-Olmedo, J.; Grima-Olmedo, C. (2018). Water Policies and Conflict Resolution of Public Participation Decision-Making Processes Using Prioritized Ordered Weighted Averaging (OWA) Operators. 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Environ Eng Sci. https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2016.0546Maia R (2017) The WFD Implementation in the European Member States. Water Resour Manag 31(10):3043–3060. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1723-5Malczewski J, Chapman T, Flegel C, Walters D, Shrubsole D, Healy MA (2003) GIS - multicriteria evaluation with ordered weighted averaging (OWA): case study of developing watershed management strategies. Environ Plan A 35:1769–1784. https://doi.org/10.1068/a35156Merigó JM, Casanovas M (2011) The uncertain generalized owa operator and its application to financial decision making. Int J Inf Technol Decis Mak 10(2):211–230Merigó JM, Yager RR (2013) Generalized moving averages, distance measures and OWA operators. Int J Uncertain, Fuzziness Knowl-Based Syst 21(4):533–559Merigó JM, Palacios-Marqués D, Ribeiro-Navarrete B (2015) Aggregation systems for sales forecasting. J Bus Res 68:2299–2304Mesiar R, Stupnanová A, Yager RR (2015) Generalizations of OWA Operators. 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Early changes in cardiovascular structure and function in adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Children with type 1 diabetes (T1D) are at higher risk of early adult-onset cardiovascular disease. We assessed cardiovascular structure and function in adolescents with T1D compared with healthy controls and the relationships between peripheral vascular function and myocardial parameters. METHODS AND RESULTS: 199 T1D [14.4 ± 1.6 years, diabetes duration 6.2 (2.0-12.8) years] and 178 controls (14.4 ± 2.1 years) completed endothelial function by flow mediated vasodilatation (FMD), arterial stiffness using pulse wave velocity (PWV) along with M-mode, pulse wave and tissue Doppler, and myocardial deformation echocardiographic imaging. Systolic (113 ± 10 vs. 110 ± 9 mmHg; p = 0.0005) and diastolic (62 ± 7 vs. 58 ± 7 mmHg; p < 0.0001) blood pressures, carotid femoral PWV and endothelial dysfunction measurements were increased in T1D compared with controls. Systolic and diastolic left ventricular dimensions and function by M-mode and pulse wave Doppler assessment were not significantly different. Mitral valve lateral e' (17.6 ± 2.6 vs. 18.6 ± 2.6 cm/s; p < 0.001) and a' (5.4 ± 1.1 vs. 5.9 ± 1.1 cm/s; p < 0.001) myocardial velocities were decreased and E/e' (7.3 ± 1.2 vs. 6.7 ± 1.3; p = 0.0003) increased in T1D. Left ventricular mid circumferential strain (-20.4 ± 2.3 vs. -19.5 ± 1.7 %; p < 0.001) was higher, whereas global longitudinal strain was lower (-19.0 ± 1.9 vs. -19.8 ± 1.5 % p < 0.001) in T1D. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents with T1D exhibit early changes in blood pressure, peripheral vascular function and left ventricular myocardial deformation indices with a shift from longitudinal to circumferential shortening. Longitudinal follow-up of these changes in ongoing prospective trials may allow detection of those most at risk for cardiovascular abnormalities including hypertension that could preferentially benefit from early therapeutic interventions.Funding was provided by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation- Canadian Clinical Trial Network (JDRF-CCTN), the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Sick Kids Labatt Family Heart Center Innovation fund. Funding was also provided by the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Developmental changes in the role of different metalinguistic awareness skills in Chinese reading acquisition from preschool to third grade

Copyright @ 2014 Wei et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The present study investigated the relationship between Chinese reading skills and metalinguistic awareness skills such as phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness for 101 Preschool, 94 Grade-1, 98 Grade-2, and 98 Grade-3 children from two primary schools in Mainland China. The aim of the study was to examine how each of these metalinguistic awareness skills would exert their influence on the success of reading in Chinese with age. The results showed that all three metalinguistic awareness skills significantly predicted reading success. It further revealed that orthographic awareness played a dominant role in the early stages of reading acquisition, and its influence decreased with age, while the opposite was true for the contribution of morphological awareness. The results were in stark contrast with studies in English, where phonological awareness is typically shown as the single most potent metalinguistic awareness factor in literacy acquisition. In order to account for the current data, a three-stage model of reading acquisition in Chinese is discussed.National Natural Science Foundation of China and Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Altered thymic differentiation and modulation of arthritis by invariant NKT cells expressing mutant ZAP70

Various subsets of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells with different cytokine productions develop in the mouse thymus, but the factors driving their differentiation remain unclear. Here we show that hypomorphic alleles of Zap70 or chemical inhibition of Zap70 catalysis leads to an increase of IFN-gamma-producing iNKT cells (NKT1 cells), suggesting that NKT1 cells may require a lower TCR signal threshold. Zap70 mutant mice develop IL-17-dependent arthritis. In a mouse experimental arthritis model, NKT17 cells are increased as the disease progresses, while NKT1 numbers negatively correlates with disease severity, with this protective effect of NKT1 linked to their IFN-gamma expression. NKT1 cells are also present in the synovial fluid of arthritis patients. Our data therefore suggest that TCR signal strength during thymic differentiation may influence not only IFN-gamma production, but also the protective function of iNKT cells in arthritis