This study investigates the effects of fat-emulsion-based early parenteral nutrition in patients following hemihepatectomy, addressing a critical gap in clinical knowledge regarding parenteral nutrition after hemihepatectomy. We retrospectively analyzed clinical data from 274 patients received non-fat-emulsion-based parenteral nutrition (non-fatty nutrition group) and 297 patients received fat-emulsion-based parenteral nutrition (fatty nutrition group) after hemihepatectomy. Fat-emulsion-based early parenteral nutrition significantly reduced levels of postoperative aspartate aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and direct bilirubin, while minor decreases in red blood cell and platelet counts were observed in the fatty nutrition group. Importantly, fat-emulsion-based early parenteral nutrition shortened lengths of postoperative hospital stay and fasting duration, but did not affect the incidence of short-term postoperative complications. Subgroup analyses revealed that the supplement of omega-3 fish oil emulsions was significantly associated with a reduced inflammatory response and risk of postoperative infections. These findings indicate that fat-emulsion-based early parenteral nutrition enhances short-term postoperative recovery in patients undergoing hemihepatectomy.

In order to improve the regional applicability of existing evaporative misting systems, a new evaporative misting system based on photovoltaic/thermal and ventilation heat exchange is proposed for sow farms. Compared to traditional systems, the proposed system can help to improve their regional applicability and reduce their energy consumption. Meanwhile, its simulation model is constructed and the reliability is verified for its core equipment. The maximum error is less than 14.5% for the above models. Through simulation, the optimal regulation variable ranges in the proposed system are determined for mass flow rate of working fluid (MFWF) and misting power by analysing its operating characteristics. The results show that its optimal ranges of MFWF and misting power are 7245–9245 kg/h and 40–45 kW, respectively. The annual performance is further quantified and analysed under different load ratios for the proposed system in Guangzhou. It can be found that the annual exergy loss, heat exchange coefficient and solar energy benefits of the proposed system in Guangzhou are negatively correlated with load ratio, but its annual energy consumption and energy efficiency ratio are positively correlated. Meanwhile, the system performance and benefits are not significantly improved by increasing device investment and sow density when load ratio exceeds 120% in sow farms. The above conclusion can contribute to improving the existing evaporative misting systems in sow farms and guiding the operating regulation of the proposed system.

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been applied in underground mine inspection and other similar works depending on their versatility and mobility. However, accurate localization of UAVs in perceptually degraded mines is full of challenges due to the harsh light conditions and similar roadway structures. Due to the unique characteristics of the underground mines, this paper proposes a semantic knowledge database-based localization method for UAVs. By minimizing the spatial point-to-edge distance and point-to-plane distance, the relative pose constraint factor between keyframes is designed for UAV continuous pose estimation. To reduce the accumulated localization errors during the long-distance flight in a perceptual-degraded mine, a semantic knowledge database is established by segmenting the intersection point cloud from the prior map of the mine. The topological feature of the current keyframe is detected in real time during the UAV flight. The intersection position constraint factor is constructed by comparing the similarity between the topological feature of the current keyframe and the intersections in the semantic knowledge database. Combining the relative pose constraint factor of LiDAR keyframes and the intersection position constraint factor, the optimization model of the UAV pose factor graph is established to estimate UAV flight pose and eliminate the cumulative error. Two UAV localization experiments conducted on the simulated large-scale Edgar Mine and a mine-like indoor corridor indicate that the proposed UAV localization method can realize accurate localization during long-distance flight in degraded mines.

Mineral-microbe interactions are widespread in a number of environmental processes such as mineral weathering, decomposition, and transformation. Both clay minerals and silicate-weathering bacteria are widely distributed in nature, and the latter contribute to weathering, diagenesis, and mineralization of major rock-forming minerals. The purpose of this study was to observe changes in the chemical composition and structure, especially the phase transformation, of smectite after processing by a silicate-weathering bacterium. The interaction between Bacillus mucilaginosus and bentonite was studied using custom culture media. Results from Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry revealed that the bacterium promoted release of Si and Al from solid bentonite to solution. Concomitantly, the Ka nd Fe contents of the mineral increased as shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. After interaction with the bacterium, the montmorillonite underwent a possible structure transformation to smectite, as indicated by the emergence of a new weak peak (d = 9.08 Å) shown by X-ray diffraction patterns. The mineralogical changes were also demonstrated by the decrease in the specific surface area of the mineral from 33.0 to 24.0 m2/g (these lower values for SSA of bentonite are related to the particle size of the smectite examined (120-160 mesh) and the weakened absorption bands in Al-O-H and Si-O-Si vibrations by Micro Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The morphology changes in the bacteria observed by environmental scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy revealed an obvious growth of the flagella in the presence of bentonite.

Existing studies agree that owner dynamic capabilities are crucial in dynamic environments. Based on a systematic literature review of 44 research with CiteSpace and the content analysis method, this study aims to elucidate the dimensions and key factors of owner dynamic capabilities. Owner dynamic capabilities are studied in the context of a construction project due to their resource-constrained, goal-urgent, and uncertainty characteristics. Cognition capabilities, resilient change management capabilities, integrated organization capabilities, and strategic innovation capabilities are identified as the dimensions. Critical factors have also been analyzed at different levels. This study proposes a discriminatory framework of owner dynamic capabilities that combined organizational ambidexterity and resilience. Moreover, this study contributes to the clarification of the concept of owner dynamic capabilities and the enrichment of their knowledge hierarchy. Practitioners can track the main contradictions that owners are currently facing against the actual situation and seek strategies.

The surface energy budget over the Antarctic sea ice from 8 April 2016 through 26 November 2016 are presented. From April to October, Sensible heat flux (SH) and subsurface conductive heat flux (G) were the heat source of surface while latent heat flux (LE) and net radiation flux (Rn) were the heat sink of surface. Our results showed larger downward SH (due to the warmer air in our site) and upward LE (due to the drier air and higher wind speed in our site) compared with SHEBA data. However, the values of SH in N-ICE2015 campaign, which located at a zone with stronger winds and more advection of heat in the Arctic, were comparable to our results under clear skies. The values of aerodynamic roughness length (z0m) and scalar roughness length for temperature (z0h), being 1.9 × 10−3 m and 3.7 × 10−5 m, were suggested in this study. It is found that snow melting might increase z0m. Our results also indicate that the value of log(z0h/z0m) was related to the stability of stratification. In addition, several representative parameterization schemes for z0h have been tested and a couple of schemes were found to make a better performance.

Considering that traditional visual navigation cannot be utilised in low illumination and sparse feature environments, a novel visual-inertial integrated navigation method using a Structured Light Visual (SLV) sensor for Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) is proposed in this paper. First, the measurement model based on an SLV sensor is studied and built. Then, using the state model based on error equations of an Inertial Navigation System (INS), the measurement model based on the error of the relative motion measured by INS and SLV is built. Considering that the measurements in this paper are mainly related to the position and attitude information of the present moment, the state error accumulation in traditional visual-inertial navigation can be avoided. An Adaptive Sage-Husa Kalman Filter (ASHKF) based on multiple weighting factors is proposed and designed to make full use of the SLV measurements. The results of the simulation and the experiment based on real flight data indicate that high accuracy position and attitude estimations can be obtained with the help of the algorithm proposed in this paper.

Dairy cows with fatty liver or ketosis display decreased insulin sensitivity and defects in the insulin receptor substrate (IRS)/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is a well-known tumor suppressor and also a negative regulator of insulin signaling and peripheral insulin sensitivity. We investigated the hypothesis that PTEN may affect the insulin pathway-mediated hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism in dairy cows. Adenovirus vectors that over-express and silence PTEN were constructed, and then transfected into hepatocytes isolated from calves to investigate the effect of PTEN on PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. PTEN silencing increased the phosphorylation of AKT and the expression of PI3K but decreased the phosphorylation of IRS1, which increased the phosphorylation levels of glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) and expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c). Increased GSK-3β phosphorylation further up-regulated expression of the key enzymes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6-Pase) involved in gluconeogenesis. Furthermore, the expression of SREBP-1c target gene fatty acid synthase (FAS) also increased significantly. We further showed that PTEN over-expression could reverse the above results. PTEN negatively regulates the enzymes involved in hepatic gluconeogenesis and lipid synthesis, which suggests that PTEN may be a therapeutic target for ketosis and fatty liver in dairy cows.

This work quantifies glacier variations in the Naimona’nyi area of the western Himalaya by integrating glacier spatial data from ASTER and the Landsat series of satellite imagery at four different times: 1976, 1990, 1999 and 2003. Comparison of the results from individual images with those from the integrated method indicates that the integrated approach provides a better result. Glacier variations were mapped and analyzed; discrepancies between images could be detected and removed from the integrated data using remap tables in Arc/Info grid both graphically and numerically. Our results show that glaciers in the region both retreated and advanced during the last 28 years; however, retreat dominates. The variation of glaciers in the western Himalayan region is dramatic compared with other regions in high Asia. From 1976 to 2003, glacier area decreased from 84.41 km2 to 77.29 km2. Sequential images show that glacier areas shrank by 0.17, 0.19 and 0.77 km2 a−1, on average, during the periods 1976–90, 1990–99 and 1999–2003, respectively, suggesting that glacier retreat has accelerated.

Using Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote-sensing technologies, we describe quantitative measurements of glacier variations in the Geladandong mountain region of central Tibet. Data from Landsat images at three different times, 1973–76, 1992 and 2002, are compared with glacier areas digitized from a topographic map based on aerial photographs taken in 1969. We find that while some glaciers have advanced during the past 30 years, others have retreated. The area of retreat is much larger than that of advance. The total glacier area has decreased from 889km2 in 1969 to 847km2 in 2002, a reduction of almost 43 km2 (i.e. 4.8% decrease, or an average of 1.29km2 a–1). The variation of glacier area in the Geladandong mountain region is not as large as in other regions within the Tibetan Plateau. Glacier areas decreased 4.7km2 (i.e. an average of 0.68km2 a–1) during 1969–76, 15.4km2 (0.96km2 a–1) during 1976–92, and 22.4km2 (2.24km2 a–1) during 1992–2002, suggesting accelerated glacier retreat in recent years. The recession rates of glacier termini also increased. It is likely that the increase in summer air temperature is the major reason for glacier shrinkage in the Geladandong mountain region.

The TiO2 hollow spheres (TiO2HS) were successfully prepared by a hydrothermal method and added to Vulcan XC-72 carbon black as the support materials for Pd nanoparticles. A facile approach to promote ethylene glycol (EG) electrooxidation in alkaline medium was carried out by the PdBi/TiO2HS-C catalyst. The results show that Pd and Bi nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed on the surface of carbon-doped TiO2 hollow spheres, the appropriate amount of Bi modification into Pd/TiO2HS-C catalyst can enhance remarkably the electrocatalytic activity for EG oxidation, in which the PdBi/TiO2HS-C (Pd:Bi = 1:0.1) catalyst exhibits excellent stability. The high electrochemical performance is attributed to the unique structure and high surface area of the TiO2HS, metal nanoparticles uniform distribution, the electronic effect between Pd and Bi as well as the bifunctional effect between metal nanoparticles and the support TiO2HS-C. The results obtained are significant for the development of new Pd-based TiO2HS-C electrocatalysts for alcohol fuel cells.

Dairy cows with fatty liver or ketosis exhibit hyperketonemia, oxidative stress, and a low rate of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) assembly, and there may be a potential link among these characteristics. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effect of acetoacetic acid (AcAc) on the assembly of VLDL in cow hepatocytes. Cultured cow hepatocytes were treated with different concentrations of AcAc with or without N-acetylcysteine (NAC, an antioxidant). AcAc treatment decreased the mRNA expression and activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA) content, indicative of oxidative stress. Furthermore, AcAc treatment significantly down-regulated the mRNA expression of apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100), apolipoprotein E (ApoE), and low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), which thus decreased VLDL assembly and increased triglyceride (TG) accumulation in these bovine hepatocytes. Importantly, NAC relieved AcAc-induced oxidative stress and increased VLDL assembly. In summary, these results suggest that AcAc-induced oxidative stress affects the assembly of VLDL, which increases TG accumulation in bovine hepatocytes.

This paper focuses on non-radiative wireless power transfer implemented by means of a resonant magnetic coupling. The case of one transmitter and two receivers is considered and a rigorous analytical procedure is developed demonstrating that maximum power transfer or maximum efficiency can be achieved by appropriately selecting the load values. Both cases of coupled and uncoupled receivers are solved; closed formulas are derived for the optimal loads, which maximize either power or efficiency. It is shown that the resistances that realize maximum power transfer are always greater than the resistances that realize maximum efficiency. According to this observation, an optimal range of operation for the load resistances is also determined. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in the case where the receivers are coupled the introduction of appropriate compensating reactances allows retrieving the same results corresponding to the uncoupled case both for powers and efficiency. Theoretical data are validated by comparisons with numerical results.

By reviewing the ideas of Yu Keping, one of the most prominent Chinese theorists on Chinese-style democracy and a key contributor to Chinese intellectual discourse on good governance, this article has two objectives: to fill a research gap in China studies by examining influential discourse during the past decade; and to shed light on Yu's controversial conception of Chinese-style democracy, which is intertwined with his views on good governance. We find that the discourse revolves around the call to “move China towards good governance.” First, the ultimate objective of China's political reform is to move towards good governance, and not towards what Western social scientists call “democracy.” Second, “good government” and civil society are two keys for achieving good governance, which demonstrates that Yu's basic orientation is liberal. Third, governance reform, constituting a major component of China's political reform, has achieved much progress.

The efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) cloning remains low, thus limiting the applications of this technique. In this study, we used immunochemistry and confocal microscopy to detect the microtubule component, β-tubulin, in SCNT, parthenogenetic (PA), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) embryos before the first mitotic division. β-Tubulin is the component subunit of microtubule, which plays critical roles in regulating localization of cellular organelles, and the growth, maturation and fertilization of oocytes. Our results demonstrated similar changes of spindle patterns in PA and ICSI embryos. The second meiotic division resumed 1 h post-treatment, and the cytoplasmic asters (CAs) disappeared. After about 4–6 h of treatment, pronuclei formed with the midbodies connecting each other. Meanwhile, the CAs reappeared and a microtubule network developed in the cytoplasm. However, SCNT embryos showed abnormal multipolar spindles, and the pseudopronuclei that contained many nucleoli existed after 6 h of SrCl2 activation. Enucleated oocytes alone did not form spindle-like structures when they were artificially activated for 6 h, indicating that somatic cell chromosomes might be necessary for spindle formation in SCNT embryos. These results demonstrated abnormal changes of β-tubulin in mouse SCNT embryos, compared with PA and ICSI embryos.

Antiperovskite manganese nitrides Mn3MN (M = Zn, Ni, Cu…) have been extensively studied in the past decade due to their many interesting properties, such as negative thermal expansion. To get a better understanding of the origin of these phenomena, the information from the microscopic scale is necessary, so we performed systematic transmission electron microscopic study of Mn3Zn0.8Ni0.2N and found that the sample particle is wrapped in a thin MnO layer. The same result was also found in Mn3Zn0.5Ni0.5N and Mn3ZnN, indicating that it is a common phenomenon in this kind of compound. The presence of the MnO surface layer was also confirmed by the macroscopic XPS measurements. Our study suggests that M is easier to be lost than Mn in manganese nitrides Mn3MN (M = Zn, Ni, Cu…), and this character is much more obvious on the surface, i.e., this kind of compound has a strong surface activity. Figure 6 could best represent this manuscript.

Twins could play a crucial role in our understanding of genetic contributions to numerous etiologically complex disorders. In China, although adult twins are relatively rare, twins will become increasingly available due to increasing twin birth rates. Thus, child twin data will be a valuable resource to contribute to the field of child and adolescent psychopathology. The first twin database of children aged from 6 to 16 was established in Chongqing, R.P., China. In this article, we will discuss our experiences in establishing the twin database, completed in three steps — the first step being to search and identify twins, the second being to keep contact with the twins and the final being to seek cooperation with the twin families, and its future prospects. Our twin database has proven to be an efficient method for the investigation and data collection of twin children in China. The results of our present study suggest that the inclusion of twin information in the residence registration of the public security bureaus in the future may ensure a smooth run of research based on the demographic resources. We propose that school networks may be adopted as the preferred method of collection of twin records for future studies.

We present preliminary results on Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations of three Luminous Infrared Galaxies (LIRGs) and one infrared Quasi Stellar Object (IR QSO). The galaxies were observed at sub-kpc spatial resolution in lines of CO and 13CO, as well as in the continuum at 1.3mm. The moment maps show that the molecular gas in these galaxies is distributed in rotating disks with velocity gradients ranging from ~30 to 120 km s−1 kpc−1. Combined with archival CO J=3-2 data, the spatial distributions of the CO J=3-2/J=2-1 ratios shows clear variations across the galaxies. The brightness temperature of the overlap region in VV 114 is found to be lower than that in the nuclear region of VV 114E, suggesting that that the bulk of molecular gas in this region is sub-thermalized.