The Value Co-Creation of Exchange Programme in British Higher Education for Chinese Students-A Case Study in University of Nottingham UK campus with the perspective of Chinese students from Ningbo campus

With the rapid development of globalisation, more and more Chinese students choose to engage in the exchange programme for an international vision and education experience. Many researchers have explored benefits and drawbacks of exchange programme for the students, however, there is still a lack of research concerning the value co-creation in exchange programme for Chinese students. Hence, take the exchange programme provided by the University of Nottingham as an example, this research aims to investigate the marketing concept of value co-creation in British higher education sector, especially the value co-creation in exchange programme for Chinese students. In order to achieve the aim of this study, the qualitative in-depth semi-structured interview was applied with documentary data about the exchange programme within the University of Nottingham. The primary data was collected from the total of twenty-one participants, who had studied in the University of Nottingham as an exchange student for at least one semester, and the secondary data was mainly from the official website of University of Nottingham in the International section. Based on the findings, it showed that the Value Co-Creation of Exchange Programme at the University of Nottingham for Chinese students is successful to a large extent, by analysing the documentary data about the programme offered and the Chinese students’ response to the interview. The study gives new perspectives for British education in exchange programme, particularly for Chinese students. It provides British universities with a better understanding when co-create value with the Chinese students. Finally, future additional research area is recommended in the British higher education sector by value co-creation

Research Progress on the pathogenic mechanism of Streptococcus suis 2

Streptococcus suis (S.suis) is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause many diseases in pigs, such as sepsis, arthritis, endocarditis, and meningitis, of which meningitis is the most serious. There are 35 serotypes, and serotype two is the most virulent. At the same time, Streptococcus suis serotype 2(SS2) can also infect humans, causing severe public health problems. Although SS2 has attracted significant attention worldwide, the research on its pathogenesis is still limited. The adhesion of pathogenic bacteria to the surface of host cells or tissues and its subsequent invasion and diffusion are the critical steps of pathogenic bacteria. Moreover, the interaction between pathogen and host is involved in these processes. Therefore, to study the pathogenic mechanism of pathogenic bacteria is to study the interaction between pathogenic bacteria and host. This paper described several common virulence factors, such as CPS, SLY, MRP, EF, SAO, Srt, FBPS, SadP, and Eno. Under the actions of virulence factors, SS2 adheres and colonizes to the mucosal and epithelial surface of host cells. Then SS2 invades into deeper tissues and bloodstream. If SS2 in the blood does not cause fatal sepsis, It can go to the third stage. The third stage is to cross the BBB and access the CNS and ultimately causes meningitis. During pathogenesis, SS2 interacts with multiple host cells, such as neutrophils, macrophages, epithelial cells, and microvascular endothelial cells to evade the innate or adaptive immunity of the host

Solid-state laser refrigeration of a semiconductor optomechanical resonator

Photothermal heating represents a major constraint that limits the performance of many nanoscale optoelectronic and optomechanical devices including nanolasers, quantum optomechanical resonators, and integrated photonic circuits. Although radiation-pressure damping has been reported to cool an individual vibrational mode of an optomechanical resonator to its quantum ground state, to date the internal material temperature within an optomechanical resonator has not been reported to cool via laser excitation. Here we demonstrate the direct laser refrigeration of a semiconductor optomechanical resonator >20K below room temperature based on the emission of upconverted, anti-Stokes photoluminescence of trivalent ytterbium ions doped within a yttrium-lithium-fluoride (YLF) host crystal. Optically-refrigerating the lattice of a dielectric resonator has the potential to impact several fields including scanning probe microscopy, the sensing of weak forces, the measurement of atomic masses, and the development of radiation-balanced solid-state lasers. In addition, optically refrigerated resonators may be used in the future as a promising starting point to perform motional cooling for exploration of quantum effects at mesoscopic length scales,temperature control within integrated photonic devices, and solid-state laser refrigeration of quantum material

The Role of Social Support and Environment: The Mediating Effect of College Students’ Psychology and Behavior

Purpose: explore the interaction mechanism among college students’ social support, environment, behavior and psychology, so as to provide reference for college students’ behavior guidance and mental health intervention. Methods: 2,510 college students were investigated by general situation questionnaire and college students' quality of life evaluation concise scale (QOLCS-23). Result: (1) social support has a significant positive correlation with environment, behavior and psychology; (2) behavior plays a partial mediating role between social support, environment and college students’ psychology. The mediating effect is significant, and the proportion of mediating effect is 55.22%; (3) compared with life behavior, time management contributes more to college students’ behavior ( β = 0.75, P < 0.001). Conclusion: social support and environment can directly predict the psychology of college students, and can also indirectly affect their psychology through behavior. To improve college students’ mental health level, we should pay attention to college students’ feelings and satisfaction of social support and environment, guide college students to build good behavior, especially establish the awareness of time management

Optical assembly of nanostructures mediated by surface roughness

Rigorous understanding of the self-assembly of colloidal nanocrystals is crucial to the development of tailored nanostructured materials. Despite extensive studies, a mechanistic understanding of self-assembly under non-equilibrium driven by an external field remains an ongoing challenge. We demonstrate self-assembly by optical tweezers imposing an external attractive field for cubic-phase sodium yttrium fluoride nanocrystals. We show that surface roughness of the nanocrystals is a decisive factor for contact leading to assembly between the nanocrystals, manifested by the roughness-dependent hydrodynamic resistivity. This provides direct evidence that dynamics are equally important to energetics in understanding self-assembly. These results have implications in a wide variety of different fields, such as in understanding the factors that mediate oriented attachment-based crystal growth or in interpreting the structure of binding sites on viruses.Comment: 21 pages, 3 main figures, 8 supplemental figures, 2 supplemental videos. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1α promotes hypoxia-induced A549 apoptosis via a mechanism that involves the glycolysis pathway

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1α (HIF-1α), which plays an important role in controlling the hypoxia-induced glycolysis pathway, is a "master" gene in the tissue hypoxia response during tumor development. However, its role in the apoptosis of non-small cell lung cancer remains unknown. Here, we have studied the effects of HIF-1α on apoptosis by modulating HIF-1α gene expression in A549 cells through both siRNA knock-down and over-expression. METHODS: A549 cells were transfected with a HIF-1α siRNA plasmid or a HIF-1α expression vector. Transfected cells were exposed to a normoxic or hypoxic environment in the presence or absence of 25 mM HEPES and 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) (5 mM). The expression of three key genes of the glycolysis pathway, glucose transporter type 1(GLUT1), phosphoglycerate kinase 1(PGK1), and hexokinase 1(HK1), were measured using real-time RT-PCR. Glycolysis was monitored by measuring changes of pH and lactate concentration in the culture medium. Apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay and flow cytometry. RESULTS: Knocking down expression of HIF-1α inhibited the glycolysis pathway, increased the pH of the culture medium, and protected the cells from hypoxia-induced apoptosis. In contrast, over-expression of HIF-1α accelerated glycolysis in A549 cells, decreased the pH of the culture medium, and enhanced hypoxia-induced apoptosis. These effects of HIF-1α on glycolysis, pH of the medium, and apoptosis were reversed by treatment with the glycolytic inhibitor, 2-DG. Apoptosis induced by HIF-1α over-expression was partially inhibited by increasing the buffering capacity of the culture medium by adding HEPES. CONCLUSION: During hypoxia in A549 cells, HIF-1α promotes activity of the glycolysis pathway and decreases the pH of the culture medium, resulting in increased cellular apoptosis

Genetically modified adenoviral vector with the protein transduction domain of Tat improves gene transfer to CAR-deficient cells

The transduction efficiency of Ad (adenovirus) depends, to some extent, on the expression level of CAR (coxsackievirus and Ad receptor) of a target cell. The low level of CAR on the cell surface is a potential barrier to efficient gene transfer. To overcome this problem, PTD.AdeGFP (where eGFP is enhanced green fluorescent protein) was constructed by modifying the HI loop of Ad5 (Ad type 5) fibre with the Tat (trans-activating) PTD (protein transduction domain) derived from HIV. The present study showed that PTD.AdeGFP significantly improved gene transfer to multiple cell types deficient in expression of CAR. The improvement in gene transfer was not the result of charge-directed binding between the virus and the cell surface. Although PTD.AdeGFP formed aggregates, it infected target cells in a manner different from AdeGFP aggregates precipitated by calcium phosphate. In addition, PTD.AdeGFP was able to transduce target cells in a dynamin-independent pathway. The results provide some new clues as to how PTD.AdeGFP infects target cells. This new vector would be valuable in gene-function analysis and for gene therapy in cancer

Case report: A rare case of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery accompanied with unilateral absence of pulmonary artery in an adult patient

Both the anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) and unilateral absence of the pulmonary artery (UAPA) are rare congenital malformations, ALCAPA accompanied with UAPA is extremely rare. Here, we reported a middle-aged man admitted to our department for evaluation of chest pain during exercise. Physical examination and lab tests did not unveil obvious abnormality; however, transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) revealed multivessel myocardial collateral blood flow signals in the left ventricular wall and ventricular septum, a shunting flow from the left coronary artery into the pulmonary artery and dilated right coronary artery (RCA), which supported but did not confirm the diagnosis of ALCAPA. Coronary angiography (CAG) showed an absent left coronary ostium and a dilated RCA, with extensive collaterals supplying the left coronary system. Multidetector computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) was then performed and revealed the anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) arising from the pulmonary artery, and it incidentally unveiled another rare congenital malformation of UAPA. The patient underwent surgical correction of ALCAPA by reimplantation of the LMCA to the aorta, without surgical treatment of UAPA. The patient had been in good clinical condition and remained angina free with good exercise tolerance during follow-up (∼6 months so far). In this case, we discussed the diagnostic value of TTE, CAG, and MDCTA on rare abnormalities as ALCAPA and UAPA. We highlighted the role of multiple non-invasive imaging modalities in diagnosing rare causes of angina in adult patients, and the importance of careful examination in avoiding misdiagnosis. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of ALCAPA accompanied with UAPA in an adult patient