DLC2 modulates angiogenic responses in vascular endothelial cells by regulating cell attachment and migration.

Deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1) is a RhoGTPase activation protein-containing tumor suppressor that associates with various types of cancer. Although DLC2 shares a similar domain structure with that of DLC1, the function of DLC2 is not well characterized. Here, we describe the expression and ablation of DLC2 in mice using a reporter-knockout approach. DLC2 is expressed in several tissues and in endothelial cells (ECs) of blood vessels. Although ECs and blood vessels show no histological abnormalities and mice appear overall healthy, DLC2-mutant mice display enhanced angiogenic responses induced by matrigel and by tumor cells. Silencing of DLC2 in human ECs has reduced cell attachment, increased migration, and tube formation. These changes are rescued by silencing of RhoA, suggesting that the process is RhoA pathway dependent. These results indicate that DLC2 is not required for mouse development and normal vessel formation, but may protect mouse from unwanted angiogenesis induced by, for example, tumor cells

Higgs radiation off quarks in supersymmetric theories at e^+e^- colliders

Yukawa couplings between Higgs bosons and quarks in supersymmetric theories can be measured in the processes e^+e^- -> Q Qbar + Higgs. We have determined the cross sections of these processes in the minimal supersymmetric model including the complete set of next-to-leading order QCD corrections for all channels.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 3 figure

Measuring and analysing vibration motors in insoles via accelerometers

Purpose: Falling is a major public health concern among elderly people, and they often cause serious injuries1,2. They most frequently occur during walking and are associated with the chronic deterioration in the neuromuscular and sensory systems, as well as with ankle muscle weakness and lower endurance of these muscles to fatigue1,3. Vibrating insoles, providing a subsensory mechanical noise signal to the plantar side of the feet, may improve balance in healthy young and older people and in patients with stroke or diabetic neuropathy4. The object of this study is to find the most suitable vibrator to put into the insole which can effectively improve the balance control of the elderlies. Method: We choose three different vibration actuators (micro vibration motor, brushless motor and eccentric motor) with two different weights on the insole. First, we put three same motors and two accelerometers on the insole, as shown in Figure1, then attach another layer on both side of the insole. Second, connect the motors to the power supply and the accelerometer to NI PXI-1033 spectrum analyzer which is used to collect the accelerometers' data. At last, using Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to analyze and compare the results to see which motor is the most stable and suitable to put into the insole. Results & Discussion: The results showed that the most stable one is the brushless motor. The reason why the frequency is stable is that the relationship between voltage and frequency is linear, and the error is small through continuous measurements. On the other hand, when a person weight 55 kg stands on the insole, the frequency isn't affected by the weight. These two results appear very similar to each other, as shown in Figure 2. According to the result, we use the brushless motor to be our vibrator in the insole, and hope this will help the elderlies improve their balance control ability more efficiency

Increase in soil organic carbon by agricultural intensification in northern China

Acknowledgements. This research was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 31370527 and 31261140367) and the National Science and Technology Support Program of China (no. 2012BAD14B01-2). The authors gratefully thank the Huantai Agricultural Station for providing of the Soil Fertility Survey data. We also thank Zheng Liang from China Agricultural University for the soil sampling and analysis in 2011. Thanks are extended to Jessica Bellarby for helpful discussion and suggestions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Bibliometric Review on Risk Management and Building Information Modeling for International Construction

International construction is complicated and involves high risks. However, with the development of technological innovation, Building Information Modeling (BIM) emerged and seems to be able to address certain risks. To understand BIM applications in risk management for international construction, a state-of-the-art review is required. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the research trends and opportunities for risk management in BIM-enabled international construction by reviewing 526 peer-reviewed journal articles for the years 2007-2017. Thus five steps of bibliometric analysis were conducted based on the proposed frameworks of BIM risk management in international construction (BIM-RM-INTL). The results show that the popularization of BIM not only attracts all stakeholders' interests but also brings some risks. For example, financial factors are hard to detect and control through BIM, information loss during transmission stands out, and BIM has no unified standards and regulations for international construction. The research has mapped existing research results and their relationships for future risk management in BIM-enabled international construction

Note on CKM Matrix Renormalization

A simple inspection of the one loop quark self-energy suggests a prescription of the CKM matrix renormalization in the standard model. It leads to a CKM matrix counterterm which is gauge parameter independent and satisfies the unitarity constraint, and renormalized physical amplitudes which are gauge parameter independent and smooth in quark mass difference. We make a point that caution should be practiced when interpreting the CKM martix counterterm in terms of those of parameters in a given representation due to rephasing effects from renormalization. We show how this can be done using the degrees of freedom in the on-shell renormalization scheme.Comment: version 1: 10 pages, no figures; version 2: proofread version for Phys Rev D with minor revisions: (1) divided into 3 sections; (2) added a footnote Comment on Ref. [8] as Ref. item [13]; (3) typos fixed and minor rewordin