KPP transition fronts in a one-dimensional two-patch habitat

This paper is concerned with the existence of transition fronts for a one-dimensional twopatch model with KPP reaction terms. Density and flux conditions are imposed at the interface between the two patches. We first construct a pair of suitable super-and subsolutions by making full use of information of the leading edges of two KPP fronts and gluing them through the interface conditions. Then, an entire solution obtained thanks to a limiting argument is shown to be a transition front moving from one patch to the other one. This propagating solution admits asymptotic past and future speeds, and it connects two different fronts, each associated with one of the two patches. The paper thus provides the first example of a transition front for a KPP-type two-patch model with interface conditions

Synthesis and utilization of low dispersity acrylic macromonomer as dispersant for non-aqueous dispersion polymerization

Non-aqueous poly(acrylic) dispersions (NADs) used in automotive coating formulations are heterogeneous high-solids suspension of polymeric nano-size particles (\u3c 200 nm) produced by radical polymerization in organic hydrocarbon medium. An important component of the system is the low molecular weight (MW) reactive polymeric dispersant (5000-6000 Da) that stabilizes the particles formed. A vinyl-terminated butyl methacrylate (BMA) macromonomer dispersant synthesized by cobalt chain transfer polymerization (CCTP) has been shown to be more effective at stabilizing the nanoparticles formed during the NAD process than a BMA based grafted dispersant with vinyl groups attached at random positions along the backbone.[1] The macromonomer, although having controlled double-bond placement through CCT chemistry, still have a molecular weight dispersity of close to two (Figure 1A). While the role of dispersity of a self-assembling amphiphilic block copolymer has been studied in emulsion polymerization,[2] no such study exists for dispersion polymerization, which commences as a homogeneous solution. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstrac

Stability analysis and Hopf bifurcation at high Lewis number in a combustion model with free interface

In this paper we analyze the stability of the traveling wave solution for an ignition-temperature, first-order reaction model of thermo-diffusive combustion, in the case of high Lewis numbers (${\rm Le} >1$). The system of two parabolic PDEs is characterized by a free interface at which ignition temperature $\Theta_i$ is reached. We turn the model to a fully nonlinear problem in a fixed domain. When the Lewis number is large, we define a bifurcation parameter $m=\Theta_i/(1-\Theta_i)$ and a perturbation parameter $\varepsilon= 1/{\rm Le}$. The main result is the existence of a critical value $m^c(\varepsilon)$ close to $m^c=6$ at which Hopf bifurcation holds for $\varepsilon$ small enough. Proofs combine spectral analysis and non-standard application of Hurwitz Theorem with asymptotics as $\varepsilon\to 0$

Case Report: Etoposide-nedaplatin induced rhabdomyolysis in a small cell lung cancer patient

Rhabdomyolysis syndrome refers to the breakdown and necrosis of muscle tissue due to various reasons and caused by the release of intracellular contents into the blood stream, which can lead to acute renal failure or even death. In this article, we describe for the first time a case report of severe rhabdomyolysis induced by etoposide-nedaplatin chemotherapy in a small cell lung cancer (SCLC IIIb) patient. The patient developed progressive general muscle pain and weakness after the first cycle of chemotherapy, accompanied by elevated creatine kinase (CK), myoglobin (Mb), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), spartate aminotransferase (AST), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Examination of and inquiry regarding the medical history were used to exclude various factors of rhabdomyolysis caused by trauma, strenuous activities, infections, drugs, hyperthermia, and immunity; the patient was diagnosed with severe rhabdomyolysis induced by chemotherapy. After treatment with intravenous fluids and methylprednisolone, the patient’s symptoms were relieved and laboratory results were significantly improved. An unexpected situation arose, in that the lung CT scan showed that the lung mass was significantly smaller than that before chemotherapy; the reason for this is not clear. Rhabdomyolysis induced by anti-cancer drugs, especially chemotherapy drugs, is rarely reported and easily overlooked. Therefore, physicians should be aware of this rare but potentially serious complication when using chemotherapy drugs

BAAP: A Behavioral Animation Authoring Platform for Emotion Driven 3D Virtual Characters

Abstract. Emotion, as an important aspect of human intelligence, has been playing a significant role in virtual characters. We propose an improved threelevel structure of affective model as "personality-emotion-mood" for intelligent and emotional virtual characters. We also present the emotion state space, as well as the emotion updating functions, to generate authentic and expressive emotions. In order to achieve the complexity and variety of behaviors, we bring forward a behavior organizing structure as the behavior tree, which defines four kinds of behavior organizations as well as the behavior tag and behavior message, to manage virtual characters' behaviors. At the end, we achieve an experimental platform BAAP, which prove our emotion model and behavior organizing structure to be effective and practical in generating intelligent and emotional behavioral animations. Keywords: virtual character, affective computing, behavior tree, behavioral animation, authoring platform Introduction In previous work [1], we proposed a computational emotion model which can be incorporated into physiological and social components of emotions. We improve it in this paper and present an experimental platform BAAP. We mainly focus on two subjects: emotion modeling and behavior organizing. Based on the OCEAN mode

Correlation of 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate synthase 1 (PAPSS1) expression with clinical parameters and prognosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Background. In recent years, 3'- phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate synthase 1 (PAPSS1) has been found to be highly expressed in some cancers and significantly associated with prognosis. Nevertheless, the role of PAPSS1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is poorly understood. Methods. In this study, PAPSS1 expression in ESCC samples was researched through real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and western blot (WB) techniques. siRNA technology was then used to inhibit PAPSS1 expression in ESCC cells, and cytologic tests were conducted to research gene affection on cell apoptosis, proliferation, and migration. Then, the expression of Bcl2, Ki67, and Snail was detected using qPCR and WB tests. These experimental data were analyzed by GraphPad software, where the P-value <0.05 was statistically significant. Results. The results showed that PAPSS1 expression level in ESCC tissues was higher than in the adjacent tissues. The data also showed that PAPSS1 was significantly correlated with N stage, and that the patients with high expressions had longer survival time. After transfection for 48 hours, the cell apoptosis rate of siRNA-PAPSS1 transfected groups decreased significantly, whereas the cell proliferation rate and migration ability increased relative to the control. At the same time, the expression levels of Bcl2, Ki67 and Snail were all upregulated by siRNA-PAPSS1. PAPSS1, however, was suppressed. Conclusions. PAPSS1 may be an ESCC suppressor gene, and its specific molecular mechanism in ESCC needs to be further studied

Sustainable and scalable in-situ synthesis of hydrochar-wrapped Ti3AlC2-derived nanofibers as adsorbents to remove heavy metals

To ensure a sustainable future, it is imperative to efficiently utilize abundant biomass to produce such as platform chemicals, transport fuels, and other raw materials; hydrochar is one of the promising candidates derived by hydrothermal carbonization of biomass in pressurized hot water. The synthesis of “hydrochar-wrapped Ti3AlC2-derived nanofibers” was successfully achieved by a facile one-pot hydrothermal reaction using glucose as the hydrochar precursor. Meanwhile, cellulose and pinewood sawdust as raw materials were also investigated. Products were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, SEM, TEM and FT-IR to investigate their crystal structures, textural properties, morphologies, and surface species. In the adsorption test to remove Cd(II) and Cu(II) in aqueous solution, hydrochar-wrapped nanofibers outperformed pure nanofibers derived from Ti3AlC2, hydrothermal carbon derived from glucose and commercial activated carbon. Finally, the regeneration, sorption kinetics, and possible adsorption mechanism were also explored