Expanding the Boundaries of Traditional Enamel Plique à Jour through Hybrid Craft Practice

This practice based research investigates the traditional enamelling craft of plique à jour and approaches to innovation through hybrid craft. Today, while material science and technology provide potential opportunities for developing traditional craft, traditional making methods also promote new design thinking. Hybrid craft is a hybrid form of making, promoting the birth of new techniques through a combination of physical craft and digital technology. As a metal based enamel, plique à jour consists of enamel within a metal frame. A literature review revealed that in the past, the main techniques used to make the metal frames included piercing, wire soldering, and casting, with the enamel seen as a decorative material fired onto the metal body. The application of enamels and the making processes of metal frameworks have remained fundamentally the same since the 6th century A D. This study describes how the limits of these frames can be challenged by new design thinking, craft practice, and digital technology. This research uses reflection on studio practice as a practice based methodology and documentation to collect data, address issues, and achieve new findings. The studio practice is divided into four phases, starting with a new concept Mind the Gap (MTG) and initial material testing. The second phase of the experiments further validate the MTG notion mainly through the handmade approach. The third phase pursues precise modeling, with the production of metal scaffolding combined with digital technologies. The final phase explores the effective method of removing scaffolding, thus, rediscovering the value of traditional making knowledge. New enamelling technique and insights and have emerged in the use of enamel as a bonding agent in design, leading to the orderly connection of metal spheres as a bonding agent in design, leading to the orderly connection of metal spheres to the enamel through constructing modular scaffolding. After removing the to the enamel through constructing modular scaffolding. After removing the scaffold, new forms of enamel bridging and new visual languages were obtained, which expand the boundaries of traditional plique à jour. A new series of enamel objects, the Mind the Gap series, was achieved after iterative studio practices, providing a set of discoveries and potential for future practitioners and researchers in the field of craft and design

Carbon nanotubes affect the toxicity of CuO nanoparticles to denitrification in marine sediments by altering cellular internalization of nanoparticle

Denitrification is an important pathway for nitrate transformation in marine sediments, and this process has been observed to be negatively affected by engineered nanomaterials. However, previous studies only focused on the potential effect of a certain type of nanomaterial on microbial denitrification. Here we show that the toxicity of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) to denitrification in marine sediments is highly affected by the presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It was found that the removal efficiency of total NOX−-N (NO3−-N and NO2−-N) in the presence of CuO NPs was only 62.3%, but it increased to 81.1% when CNTs appeared in this circumstance. Our data revealed that CuO NPs were more easily attached to CNTs rather than cell surface because of the lower energy barrier (3.5 versus 36.2 kT). Further studies confirmed that the presence of CNTs caused the formation of large, incompact, non-uniform dispersed, and more negatively charged CuO-CNTs heteroaggregates, and thus reduced the nanoparticle internalization by cells, leading to less toxicity to metabolism of carbon source, generation of reduction equivalent, and activities of nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase. These results indicate that assessing nanomaterial-induced risks in real circumstances needs to consider the “mixed” effects of nanomaterials

A pair of orthologs of a leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase-like disease resistance gene family regulates rice response to raised temperature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rice <it>Xa3/Xa26 </it>disease-resistance gene encodes a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor kinase-type protein against <it>Xanthomonas oryzae </it>pv. <it>oryzae </it>(<it>Xoo</it>) and belongs to a multigene family. However, the functions of most genes in this family are unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we report that two orthologs of this family, the <it>NRKe </it>from rice variety Nipponbare and <it>9RKe </it>from variety 93-11 at the <it>RKe </it>locus, have similar functions although they encode different proteins. This pair of orthologs could not mediate resistance to <it>Xoo</it>, but they were transcriptionally induced by raised temperature. Transcriptional activation of <it>NRKe </it>or <it>9RKe </it>resulted in the formation of temperature-sensitive lesion mimics, which were spots of dead cells associated with accumulation of superoxides, in different organs of the transgenic plants. These plants were more sensitive to high temperature shock than wild-type controls. Transgenic plants carrying a chimeric protein consisting of the LRR domain of NRKe and the kinase domain of Xa3/Xa26 developed the same lesion mimics as the <it>NRKe</it>-transgenic plants, whereas transgenic plants carrying another chimeric protein consisting of the LRR domain of Xa3/Xa26 and the kinase domain of NRKe were free of lesion mimic. All the transgenic plants carrying a chimeric protein were susceptible to <it>Xoo</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that the <it>RKe </it>locus is involved in rice response to raised temperature. The LRR domain of RKe protein appears to be important to sense increased temperature. The RKe-involved temperature-related pathway and Xa3/Xa26-mediated disease-resistance pathway may partially overlap.</p

A novel and stable "two-hit" acute lung injury model induced by oleic acid in piglets

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Children are susceptible to pulmonary injury, and acute lung injury (ALI) often results in a high mortality and financial cost in pediatric patients. Evidence has showed that oleic acid (OA) plays an important role in ALI. Therefore, it has special significance to study ALI in pediatric patients by using OA-induced animal models. Unfortunately, the animal model hs a high mortality due to hemodynamic instability. The aim of this study was to establish a novel hemodynamically stable OA-induced ALI model in piglets with two hits.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>18 Chinese mini-piglets were randomized into three groups: group C (received saline-ethanol solution), group T (received OA-ethanol solution in routine administration manner) and group H (received OA-ethanol solution in two-hit manner). Hemodynamic and pulmonary function data were measured. Histopathological assessments were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two piglets in group T died of radical decline of systemic blood pressure. Group T showed more drastic hemodynamic changes than group H especially during the period of 5 to 30 minutes after OA administration. Both Group T and group H all produced severe lung injury, while group C had no significant pathologic changes. OA-induced hypotension might be caused by pulmonary hypertension rather than comprised left ventricular function.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>OA leads to severe pulmonary hypertension which results in hemodynamic fluctuation in OA-induced ALI model. It is the first report on hemodynamic stable ALI animal model in piglets using two-hit method. The two-hit ALI animal model fulfils the ALI criteria and has the following characteristics: hemodynamic stability, stable damage to gas exchange and comparability with pediatric patients in body weight and corresponding age. The two-hit ALI animal model can be used to study the basic mechanism and the therapeutic strategies for pediatric ALI.</p

Breeding response of transcript profiling in developing seeds of Brassica napus

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The upgrading of rapeseed cultivars has resulted in a substantial improvement in yield and quality in China over the past 30 years. With the selective pressure against fatty acid composition and oil content, high erucic acid- and low oil-content cultivars have been replaced by low erucic acid- and high oil-content cultivars. The high erucic acid cultivar Zhongyou 821 and its descendent, low erucic acid cultivar Zhongshuang 9, are representatives of two generations of the most outstanding Chinese rapeseed cultivars (<it>B. napus</it>) developed the past 2 decades. This paper compares the transcriptional profiles of Zhongshuang 9 and Zhongyou 821 for 32 genes that are principally involved in lipid biosynthesis during seed development in order to elucidate how the transcriptional profiles of these genes responded to quality improvement over the past 20 years.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparison of the cultivar Zhongyou 821 with its descendent, Zhongshuang 9, shows that the transcriptional levels of seven of the 32 genes were upregulated by 30% to 109%, including <it>FAD3</it>, <it>ACCase, FAE1</it>, <it>GKTP</it>, <it>Caleosin</it>, <it>GAPDH</it>, and <it>PEPC</it>. Of the 32 genes, 10 (<it>KAS3, β-CT, BcRK6, P450, FatA, Oleosin, FAD6, FatB, α-CT </it>and <it>SUC1</it>) were downregulated by at least 20% and most by 50%. The <it>Napin </it>gene alone accounted for over 75% of total transcription from all 32 genes assessed in both cultivars. Most of the genes showed significant correlation with fatty acid accumulation, but the correlation in ZS9 was significantly different from that in ZY821. Higher <it>KCR2 </it>activity is associated with higher C16:0, C18:0, and C18:2 in both cultivars, lower C22:1 and total fatty acid content in ZY821, and lower 18:1 in ZS9.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This paper illustrates the response of the transcription levels of 32 genes to breeding in developing rapeseed seeds. Both cultivars showed similar transcription profiles, with the <it>Napin </it>gene predominantly transcribed. Selective pressure for zero erucic acid, low glucosinolate, high oleic acid and high oil content, as well as high yield, resulted in higher <it>FAD3</it>, <it>ACCase, FAE1</it>, <it>GKTP</it>, <it>Caleosin</it>, <it>GAPDH</it>, and <it>PEPC </it>expression levels and lower <it>KAS3, β-CT, BcRK6, P450, FatA, Oleosin, FAD6, FatB, α-CT </it>and <it>SUC1 </it>expression levels. It also resulted in altered relationships between these genes during storage accumulation in seed development.</p