While China continues to develop capitalistic capacities, the party-state has increasingly tightened control of the economy and synchronized political and economic stratification – a tendency towards ...a centrally managed capitalism. Under centrally managed capitalism, the party-state commands the economy by controlling personnel, organizations, and capital in both political and economic arenas. At the same time, it delegates fiscal and administrative authorities to multiple and diversely formed corporations to compete in the marketplace. I further speculate on future ideological alternatives: a western-style democracy, a mature-stage socialism, or an enlightened authoritarianism – Xiaokang (小康 moderate prosperity or well-off society). After eliminating or casting doubt on the former two, I argue that a two-step transformation towards Xiaokang is under way. In the first step, the party-state leadership gradually decouples its position from Marxist ideology of communism and socialism, and moves towards the maintenance of economic growth and social order. The second step then allows the legitimacy of party rule to be based on indigenous Confucian ideology that emphasizes enlightened leaders, moral institutions, and social relations (i.e., Xiaokang). Finally, I explore the feasibility and paths towards an indigenous ideology of democracy (Datong: 大同 – universal harmony).
Ultraviolet (UV) radiation, particularly ultraviolet A (UVA), is known to play a major role in photoaging of the human skin. Many studies have demonstrated that UV exposure causes the skin cells to ...generate reactive oxygen species and activates the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Previous studies have also demonstrated that cycloheterophyllin has an antioxidant effect and can effectively scavenge free radicals. Extending the aforementioned investigations, in this study, human dermal fibroblasts were used to investigate the protective effect of cycloheterophyllin against UV-induced damage. We found that cycloheterophyllin not only significantly increased cell viability, but also attenuated the phosphorylation of MAPK after UVA exposure. Furthermore, cycloheterophyllin could reduce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) generation and down-regulate H2O2-induced MAPK phosphorylation. In the in vivo studies, the topical application of cycloheterophyllin before UVA irradiation significantly decreased trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), erythema, and blood flow rate. These results indicate that cycloheterophyllin is a photoprotective agent that inhibits UVA-induced oxidative stress and damage, and could be used in the research on and prevention of skin photoaging.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The dark matter profiles in the Milky Way Lin, Hai-Nan; Li, Xin
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
08/2019, Letnik:
487, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
We investigate the dark matter profile of the Milky Way using the observed rotation curve data out to 100 kpc. The baryonic matter of the Milky Way is divided into bulge, disc, and gas ...components, and each component is modelled using various possible mass profiles available in literature. The arbitrary combination of seven bulge profiles, four disc profiles, and two gas profiles results in 56 baryon models. These baryon models are combined with one of the four dark matter profiles: Burkert profile, core-modified profile, pseudo-isothermal profile, and NFW profile, to fit the observed rotation curve data. Results show that in general the NFW profile fits the data better than the Burkert profile, while the core-modified profile and the pseudo-isothermal profile are essentially ruled out. The best-fitting NFW model has the scale length r0 = 8.1 ± 0.7 kpc, and the corresponding local density of dark matter is ρdm(R = R⊙) = 0.51 ± 0.09 GeV cm−3.
The advent of intense ultrashort optical pulses spanning a frequency range from terahertz to the visible has opened a new era in the experimental investigation and manipulation of quantum materials. ...The generation of strong optical field in an ultrashort time scale enables the steering of quantum materials nonadiabatically, inducing novel phenomenon or creating new phases which may not have an equilibrium counterpart. Ultrafast time‐resolved optical techniques have provided rich information and played an important role in characterization of the nonequilibrium and nonlinear properties of solid systems. Here, some of the recent progress of ultrafast optical techniques and their applications to the detection and manipulation of physical properties in selected quantum materials are reviewed. Specifically, the new development in the detection of the Higgs mode and photoinduced nonequilibrium response in the study of superconductors by time‐resolved terahertz spectroscopy are discussed.
The advent of ultrashort optical pulses has provided unprecedented opportunities to probe and manipulate physical properties of quantum materials. There have been rapid growing discoveries of photoinduced new phenomena and nonlinear properties. A review on recent progress of ultrafast optical characterization and manipulation of quantum states, specifically in systems with broken‐symmetry states or phase transitions, and prospects are provided.
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The low ionic conductivity at room temperature and poor dimensional stability at high temperature of polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based solid electrolytes greatly limit the development ...and utilization of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs). To reconcile the contradiction between electrochemical performance and mechanical strength of PEO-based SPEs, a cross-linking structure with active –CH2CH2O- soft chains that doped with rigid segments is designed and prepared through a method of green ultraviolet irradiation without solvent. The obtained solid film shows a high ionic conductivity of 0.2 mS·cm−1 and an ionic transference number of 0.51 at room temperature. The activation energy value of 1.92 kJ·mol−1 gives evidence for a favorable migration mechanism of PTP-SPE. A combination of flexibility and strength can be realized by molecular structure design with a tensile elongation of 40%. The reversible overpotential in galvanostatic cycling over 500 h of a Li||Li symmetrical cell indicates that the compact PTP-SPE can inhibit the formation of lithium dendrites. This work provides a new strategy for designing high-performance composite solid electrolytes at room temperature.
This study examines the optimal reporting time a regulator should choose for firms to report their information when the firms' effort choices influence the outcome of projects. Our analysis shows ...that, the regulator's optimal choice of reporting time to maximize overall efficiency is contingent on a trade‐off between motivating a firm's effort to improve the outcome and saving the liquidation value for the creditor to reduce the firm's financing cost. We also find that to induce the firm's effort, the reporting time should be either early enough or late enough—depending on the effectiveness of the effort to turn bad projects into successes. Furthermore, we examine the regulator's optimal choice of reporting time for an economy with heterogenous firms/industries, and we show that the optimal reporting time changes nonmonotonically in the probability of good projects in the economy.
Centrioles are cylindrical structures that are usually composed of nine triplets of microtubules (MTs) organized around a cartwheel‐shaped structure. Recent studies have proposed a structural model ...of the SAS‐6‐based cartwheel, yet we do not know the molecular detail of how the cartwheel participates in centriolar MT assembly. In this study, we demonstrate that the human microcephaly protein, CEP135, directly interacts with hSAS‐6 via its carboxyl‐terminus and with MTs via its amino‐terminus. Unexpectedly, CEP135 also interacts with another microcephaly protein CPAP via its amino terminal domain. Depletion of CEP135 not only perturbed the centriolar localization of CPAP, but also blocked CPAP‐induced centriole elongation. Furthermore, CEP135 depletion led to abnormal centriole structures with altered numbers of MT triplets and shorter centrioles. Overexpression of a CEP135 mutant lacking the proper interaction with hSAS‐6 had a dominant‐negative effect on centriole assembly. We propose that CEP135 may serve as a linker protein that directly connects the central hub protein, hSAS‐6, to the outer MTs, and suggest that this interaction stabilizes the proper cartwheel structure for further CPAP‐mediated centriole elongation.
Different organism‐dependent centriole biogenesis roles have been suggested for CEP135/Bld10. Analysis of the human homologue CEP135/MCPH8 supports a key role in connecting the centriolar cartwheel hub SAS‐6, the elongation factor CPAP, and outer microtubules.
UV irradiation can injure the epidermis, resulting in sunburn, inflammation, and cutaneous tissue disorders. Previous studies demonstrate that EGFR in keratinocytes can be activated by UVB and ...contributes to inflammation. Poly (ADP‐ribose) polymerase‐1 (PARP‐1) is a nuclear enzyme and plays an essential role in DNA repair under moderate stress. In this study, we set out to understand how PARP‐1 regulates UVB irradiation‐induced skin injury and interplays with EGFR to mediate the inflammation response. We found that PARP‐1 deficiency exacerbated the UVB‐induced inflammation, water loss, and back skin damage in mice. In human primary keratinocytes, UVB can activate PARP‐1 and enhance DNA damage upon PARP‐1 gene silencing. Moreover, PARP‐1 silencing and PARP inhibitor olaparib can suppress UVB‐induced COX‐2 and MMP‐1 expression, but enhance TNF‐α and IL‐8 expression. In addition, EGFR silencing or EGFR inhibition by gefitinib can decrease UVB‐induced COX‐2, TNF‐α, and IL‐8 expression, suggesting EGFR activation via paracrine action can mediate UVB‐induced inflammation responses. Immunoblotting data revealed that PARP‐1 inhibition decreases UVB‐induced EGFR and p38 activation. Pharmacological inhibition of p38 also dramatically led to the attenuation of UVB‐induced inflammatory gene expression. Of note, genetic ablation of PARP‐1 or EGFR can attenuate UVB‐induced ROS production, and antioxidant NAC can attenuate UVB‐induced EGFR‐p38 signaling axis and PARP‐1 activation. These data suggest the regulatory loops among EGFR, PARP‐1, and ROS upon UVB stress. PARP‐1 not only serves DNA repair function but also orchestrates interactions to EGFR transactivation and ROS production, leading to p38 signaling for inflammatory gene expression in keratinocytes.
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected at high redshift can be used to trace the Hubble diagram of the universe. However, the distance calibration of GRBs is not as easy as that of SNe Ia. For the ...calibration method based on the empirical luminosity correlations, there is an underlying assumption that the correlations should be universal over the whole redshift range. In this paper, we investigate the possible redshift dependence of six luminosity correlations with a completely model-independent deep-learning method. We construct a network combining the recurrent neural networks (RNN) and the Bayesian neural networks (BNN), where RNN is used to reconstruct the distance-redshift relation by training the network with the Pantheon compilation, and BNN is used to calculate the uncertainty of the reconstruction. Using the reconstructed distance-redshift relation of Pantheon, we test the redshift dependence of six luminosity correlations by dividing the full GRB sample into two subsamples (low-z and high-z subsamples), and find that only the Ep − Eγ relation has no evidence for redshift dependence. We use the Ep − Eγ relation to calibrate GRBs, and the calibrated GRBs give tight constraints on the flat ΛCDM model, with the best-fitting parameter M = 0.307 − 0.073 + 0.065 .
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