Study on dynamic response of track structures under a variable speed moving harmonic load

Basing on the dynamic response characteristics of the periodic structure under a moving harmonic load in frequency domain and the superposition principle, the dynamic response of track structure under variable speeds moving harmonic load is investigated. Firstly, the track is simplified as an Euler beam model periodically supported by continuous discrete point, the dynamic differential equation of vertical vibration for the track structure is formulated. Secondly, for convenience of analysis, the analytical expression for the amplitude-frequency response of any point on the track structure under the moving harmonic load is derived in frequency domain. Based on the theory of the infinite periodic structure, the dynamic responses of the track structure under the variable speed moving harmonic load are analyzed theoretically. Finally, the influences of velocity and acceleration on the dynamic response of track structure are numerically analyzed in detail. The research results indicate that the amplitude-frequency response peaks of the track under moving harmonic load with variable and constant speeds occur near the excitation frequency. The displacement response of the track increases slightly with increase of the acceleration, and the variation trend of dynamic response is basically similar. The vibration displacement response of the rail can be effectively improved by increasing the initial velocity of the moving harmonic load, while the peak value of amplitude-frequency response remained constant

Efficient inhibition of hepatitis B virus replication by hepatitis delta virus ribozymes delivered by targeting retrovirus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) ribozyme is an attractive molecular tool that can specifically recognize and catalyze the self-cleavage of the viral RNA phosphodiester backbone. However, a major obstacle in the medical application of the HDV ribozyme is the lack of specificity in the delivery of the ribozyme to defined target cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The objective of this study was to determine whether retroviral vectors can deliver the HDV ribozyme into the target cells and to elucidate whether HDV ribozyme plays a role in hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication. In our study, the transduction of helper-free pseudotyped retrovirus, which showed a broad host range, in human hepatoma cells was performed under 2 conditions, that is, in the presence of polymerized human serum albumin (pHSA) and in the absence of pHSA. The transduction ability in the presence of pHSA was higher than in the absence of pHSA. Moreover, HBsAg and HBeAg levels after transductions with pHSA were significantly lower than those in the absence of pHSA, thus indicating that the recombinant retrovirus had HBV-specific cleavage activity and targeted HepG2215 cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data suggest that this system provides a new approach for targeting hepatocytes and has a great potential in gene therapy for HBV infection.</p

Numerical simulation and optimization for the vibration of the seed metering device based on a novel ML-IGA method

The reported researches only analyze vibration parameters of the seed-metering device. However, they do not adopt any algorithm to conduct a multi-objective optimization for the vibration performance of the seed-metering device. In this paper, the vibration of the seed-metering device is numerically computed firstly, and the correctness of the computational model is validated by experimental test. Then, some parameters including the plate thickness, inclination angle, excitation source position and supporting leg thickness of the seed-metering device are studied. In this way, those parameters which have serious impacts on the vibration are obtained. Therefore, the vibration performance is tried to optimize using these parameters as the design variables. This paper proposes a novel multi-layer immune algorithm based on genetic algorithms (ML-IGA). In order to further verify validity of the novel ML-IGA model for optimizing the vibration of the seed-metering device, it is compared with the traditional GA model and PSO-GA model. When the iteration of ML-IGA model was conducted to the 156th generation, the predicted error is smaller than the set critical error. Compared with other two kinds of algorithms, the optimized time is reduced. Regarding optimization of the GA model, the vibration amplitudes are increased by 2.49 % and 4.22 % respectively. Regarding optimization of the PSO-GA model, the vibration amplitudes are increased by 9.74 % and 6.024 % respectively. Regarding optimization of the ML-IGA model, the vibration amplitudes are increased by 17.34 % and 6.78 % respectively. Obviously, structures with better performance can be obtained through using the novel ML-IGA model

Lead contamination alters enzyme activities and microbial composition in the rhizosphere soil of the hyperaccumulator Pogonatherum crinitum

Pogonatherum crinitum is a promising lead (Pb) hyperaccumulator; however, the effects of Pb contamination on P. crinitum rhizosphere soil enzymatic activities and microbial composition remain largely unexplored. Thus, an indoor experiment was conducted by cultivating P. crinitum seedlings and exposing them to four Pb concentrations (0, 1,000, 2000 and 3000 mg/kg Pb). Protease, urease, acid phosphatase and invertase activities were determined using standard methods while soil bacterial composition was determined by 16 S rDNA sequencing. The results showed that rhizosphere soil acid phosphatase activity significantly increased with increasing Pb concentration, while urease activity was significantly greater in rhizosphere soil contaminated with 1000 and 2000 mg/kg than in the control. There was a clear shift in bacterial composition during phytoremediation by P. crinitum. Compared to the control, Bacteroidetes was more abundant in all Pb-contaminated soils, Actinobacteria was more abundant in 1000 mg/kg Pb-treated soil, and Firmicutes was more abundant in 3000 mg/kg Pb-treated soil. Positive correlations were observed between dominant bacterial phyla and soil enzyme activities. Metabolic pathways, such as ABC transporter, quinine reductase, and ATP-binding protein were significantly increased in rhizosphere soil bacteria with Pb contamination. In conclusion, Pb contamination differentially influenced the activities of rhizosphere soil enzymes, specifically increasing acid phosphatase and urease activities, and alters the dominance of soil bacteria through up-regulation of genes related to some metabolic pathways. The strong correlations between dominant bacterial phyla and enzymatic activities suggest synergetic effects on the growth of P. crinitum during Pb contamination

Differentiation between tuberculosis and leukemia in abdominal and pelvic lymph nodes: evaluation with contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography

PURPOSE: To compare the characteristics of tubercular vs. leukemic involvement of abdominopelvic lymph nodes using multidetector computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed multidetector computed tomography features including lymph node size, shape, enhancement patterns, and anatomical distribution, in 106 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed, untreated tuberculosis (55 patients; 52%) or leukemia (51 patients; 48%). In patients with leukemia, 32 (62.7%) had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and 19 (37.3%) had acute leukemias; of these, 10 (19.6%) had acute myeloid leukemia, and 9 (17.6%) had acute lymphocytic leukemia. RESULTS: The lower para-aortic (30.9% for tuberculosis, 63.2% for acute leukemias and 87.5% for chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and inguinal (9.1% for tuberculosis, 57.9% for acute leukemias and 53.1% for chronic lymphocytic leukemia) lymph nodes were involved more frequently in the three types of leukemia than in tuberculosis (both with

Testing and Data Reduction of the Chinese Small Telescope Array (CSTAR) for Dome A, Antarctica

The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (hereinafter CSTAR) is the first Chinese astronomical instrument on the Antarctic ice cap. The low temperature and low pressure testing of the data acquisition system was carried out in a laboratory refrigerator and on the 4500m Pamirs high plateau, respectively. The results from the final four nights of test observations demonstrated that CSTAR was ready for operation at Dome A, Antarctica. In this paper we present a description of CSTAR and the performance derived from the test observations.Comment: Accepted Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics (RAA) 1 Latex file and 20 figure