The boom in bike-sharing is receiving growing attention as societies become more aware of the importance of active non-motorized traffic modes. However, the low usage of this transport mode in China ...raises concerns. The primary objective of this study is to explore factors affecting bike-sharing usage and satisfaction degree of bike-sharing among the bike-sharing user population in China. Data were collected by a questionnaire survey in Ningbo. A bivariate ordered probit (BOP) model was developed to examine simultaneously those factors associated with both bike-sharing usage and satisfaction degree of bike-sharing among users. Marginal effects for contributory factors were calculated to quantify their impacts on the outcomes. The results showed that the BOP model can account for commonly shared unobserved characteristics within usage and satisfaction of bike-sharing. The BOP model results showed that the usage of bike-sharing was affected by gender, household bicycle/e-bike ownership, trip model, travel time, bike-sharing stations location, and users' perception of bike-sharing. The satisfaction degree of bike-sharing was affected by household income, bike-sharing stations location, and users' perception of bike-sharing. It is also found that bike-sharing usage and satisfaction degree are strongly correlated and positive in direction. The results can enhance our comprehension of the factors that affect usage and satisfaction degree of bike-sharing. Based on the results, some suggestions regarding planning, engineering, and public advocacy were discussed to increase the usage of bike-sharing in Ningbo, China.
The health-threatening air pollution, especially from particulate matter (PM), has triggered increasing demands for developing low-cost and long-service-life air-cleaning technologies. In the present ...contribution, a range of high-efficiency textiles/metal–organic framework (MOF) composites (MOFs@textiles) air filters with excellent washable reusability is presented. By processing MOFs onto textile substrates via an eco-friendly solvent-free method to enable the microporous feature and also strong PM adhesion, we develop flexible, highly effective air filters with >95.00% PM removal efficiency (e.g., MiL-53(Al)@Aramid, PM2.5: 95.30%, PM10: 96.11%) under harmful air quality conditions (average PM2.5 mass concentration > 280 μg m–3 and PM10 > 360 μg m–3). Therefore, these MOFs@textiles are promising composites for producing efficient and recyclable out-/indoor air purifiers.
Tibet’s ancient topography and its role in climatic and biotic evolution remain speculative due to a paucity of quantitative surface-height measurements through time and space, and sparse fossil ...records. However, newly discovered fossils from a present elevation of ∼4,850 m in central Tibet improve substantially our knowledge of the ancient Tibetan environment. The 70 plant fossil taxa so far recovered include the first occurrences of several modern Asian lineages and represent a Middle Eocene (∼47 Mya) humid subtropical ecosystem. The fossils not only record the diverse composition of the ancient Tibetan biota, but also allow us to constrain the Middle Eocene land surface height in central Tibet to ∼1,500 ± 900 m, and quantify the prevailing thermal and hydrological regime. This “Shangri-La”–like ecosystem experienced monsoon seasonality with a mean annual temperature of ∼19 °C, and frosts were rare. It contained few Gondwanan taxa, yet was compositionally similar to contemporaneous floras in both North America and Europe. Our discovery quantifies a key part of Tibetan Paleogene topography and climate, and highlights the importance of Tibet in regard to the origin of modern Asian plant species and the evolution of global biodiversity.
Peridynamics (PD) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) are definitely attractive theories in amounts of numerical mechanical methods these years, and numerous researchers have studied the ...similarities of these two methods. In this paper, the smoothed peridynamics (SPD) is proposed to unify these two theories in the meshless view. The SPD employs an update‐Lagrangian (UL) method, which is useful for the extremely large deformation and cracking problem. The SPD governing equation, nonlocal interaction, micro‐bond modules for elastic material are derived. In addition, the choice of the nonlocal kernel and logarithmic stretch is investigated. Finally, numerical experiments are studied to confirm the ability of SPD. The numerical results show that SPD has an excellent performance and application prospect in computational solid mechanics. Since the SPD model formulations are derived for general 3D conditions, it can be straight forwardly extended for large‐scale practical applications across disciplines.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a severe neurological disease with few efficacious drugs. Autophagy is a cellular process to confront with stress after SCI and considered to be a therapeutic target of ...SCI. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of metformin on functional recovery after SCI and its underlying mechanism of autophagy regulation. Using a rat model of traumatic SCI, we found improved function recovery which was paralleled by a reduction of apoptosis after metformin treatment. We further examined autophagy via detecting autophagosomes by transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence, as well as autophagy markers by western blot in each groups. The results showed that the number of autophagosomes and expression of autophagy markers such as LC3 and beclin1 were increased in SCI group, while autophagy substrate protein p62 as well as ubiquitinated proteins were found to accumulate in SCI group, indicating an impaired autophagy flux in SCI. But, metformin treatment attenuated the accumulation of p62 and ubiquitinated proteins, suggesting a stimulative effect of autophagy flux by metformin. Blockage of autophagy flux by chloroquine partially abolished the apoptosis inhibition and functional recovery effect of metformin on SCI, which suggested that the protective effect of metformin on SCI was through autophagy flux stimulation. Activation of AMPK as well as inhibition of its downstream mTOR signaling were detected under metformin treatment in vivo and in vitro; inhibition of AMPK signaling by compound C suppressed autophagy flux induced by metformin in vitro, indicating that AMPK signaling was involved in the effect of metformin on autophagy flux regulation. Together, these results illustrated that metformin improved functional recovery effect through autophagy flux stimulation and implied metformin to be a potential drug for SCI therapy.
We designed and synthesized a series of fused-ring electron acceptors (FREAs) based on naphthalene-fused octacyclic cores end-capped by 3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-5,6-difluoro-1- indanone (NOICs) using ...a bottom-up approach. The NOIC series shares the same end groups and side chains, as well as similar fused-ring cores. The butterfly effects, arising from different methoxy positions in the starting materials, impact the design of the final FREAs, as well as their molecular packing, optical and electronic properties, charge transport, film morphology, and performance of organic solar cells. The binary-blend devices based on this NOIC series show power conversion efficiencies varying from 7.15% to 14.1%, due to the different intrinsic properties of the NOIC series, morphologies of blend films, and voltage losses of devices.
Eliminating malaria and preventing re-establishment of malaria transmission in border areas requires universal coverage of malaria surveillance and a rapid response to any threats (i.e. malaria cues) ...of re-establishing transmission.
Strategy 1: Intensive interventions within 2.5 km-wide perimeter along the border to prevent border-spill malaria. The area within 2.5 km along the international border is the travel radius of anopheline mosquitoes. Comprehensive interventions should include: (1) proactive and passive case detection, (2) intensive vector surveillance, (3) evidence-based vector control, and (4) evidence-based preventative treatment with anti-malarial drugs. Strategy 2: Community-based malaria detection and screening of migrants and travellers in frontier townships. Un-permitted travellers cross borders frequently and present in frontier townships. Maintenance of intensified malaria surveillance should include: (1) passive malaria detection in the township hospitals, (2) seek assistance from villager leaders and health workers to monitor cross border travellers, and refer febrile patients to the township hospitals and (3) the county's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention maintain regular proactive case detection. Strategy 3: Universal coverage of malaria surveillance to detect malaria cues. Passive detection should be consolidated into the normal health service. Health services personnel should remain vigilant to ensure universal coverage of malaria detection and react promptly to any malaria cues. Strategy + 1: Strong collaborative support with neighbouring countries. Based on the agreement between the two countries, integrated control strategies should be carried out to reduce malaria burden for both countries. There should be a clear focus on the border areas between neighbouring countries.
The 3 + 1 strategy is an experience summary of border malaria control and elimination, and then contributed to malaria elimination in Yunnan's border areas, China. Nevertheless, Yunnan still has remaining challenges of re-establishment of malaria transmission in the border areas, and the 3 + 1 strategy should still be carried out.
The general particle dynamics (GPD), which is based on the kernel approximation method and Navier–Stokes equation, was developed from smoothed‐particle hydrodynamics to simulate the fracture ...behaviors by using the collective of damage variable to describe the damage evolution behaviors. In this paper, an advanced GPD with a nonlocal foundation is proposed for better description of the solid mechanics. The nonlocal vector calculus and microscopic constitutive model are employed to derive the governing equations in the proposed theory. The novel GPD with a nonlocal core is a generalization, which permits the inclusion of the microscopic constitutive model and the multi‐scale modeling compared with the previous GPD. To accomplish this generalization, the relationship between GPD and the previous kernel‐based theory is established. The novel GPD is superior in the fracture problems and multi‐scale modeling. Some numerical experiments are launched to verify the ability of the novel GPD.
Highlights
Advanced GPD with nonlocal foundation for is proposed for better description of the solid mechanics.
The governing equations are re‐derived by nonlocal vector calculus and micro‐bond model.
The advanced GPD is good at handling with multi‐scale problem and fracture problems.
Recently, extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves (GbE) have become widely known phytomedicines and have shown various pharmacological activities, including improvement of blood circulation, protection of ...oxidative cell damage, prevention of Alzheimer's disease, treatment of cardiovascular disease and diabetes complications. This study was designed to investigate the effects of an ethanolic GbE on renal fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy (DN) and to clarify the possible mechanism by which GbE prevents renal fibrosis.
We investigated the protective effects of GbE on renal fibrosis in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Rats were randomized into six groups termed normal control, diabetes mellitus, low dose of GbE (50 mg/kg/d), intermediate dose of GbE (100 mg/kg/d), high dose of GbE (200 mg/kg/d) and rapamycin (1 mg/kg/d).
After 12 weeks, the rats were sacrificed and then fasting blood glucose (FBG), creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), urine protein, relative kidney weight, glycogen and collagen accumulation, and collagen IV and laminin expression were measured by different methods. The amounts of E-cadherin, α-SMA and snail, as well as the phosphorylation of Akt, mTOR and p70S6K in the renal cortex of rats, were examined by western blotting.
Compared with diabetic rats, the levels of Cr, BUN, urine protein, relative kidney weight, accumulation of glycogen and collagen, and expression of collagen IV and laminin in the renal cortex were all decreased in GbE treated rats. In addition, GbE reduced the expression of E-cadherin, α-SMA, snail and the phosphorylation of Akt, mTOR and p70S6K in diabetic renal cortex.
GbE can prevent renal fibrosis in rats with diabetic nephropathy, which is most likely to be associated with its abilities to inhibit the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.
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The mid-point quadrature rule is often used to solve the nonlocal integral differentiation equations, in which a central material point is used to calculate the integral of the subdomain in the ...meshless geometry. However, it can only achieve the linear approximation and the first order convergence rate, and it is only accurate enough when the entire cell overlaps with the neighborhood of a material point. In this paper, to achieve the higher precision and the higher rate of convergence speed, a novel coupling method of reproducing kernel particle method and Gaussian-Legendre quadrature scheme is proposed to solve the nonlocal integral differentiation equations in the meshless geometry, in which the mid-point quadrature scheme is replaced with Gauss quadrature scheme to calculate the integral of the subdomain in the meshless geometry, the reproducing kernel particle method is employed to construct the shape functions for material points in the nonlocal model, and to approximate the value of the Gaussian quadrature node. Moreover, the meshless solution for the peridynamic equation is derived detailedly based on the proposed method. Compared with the traditional meshless solution for the nonlocal equations, the proposed solution has higher precision and higher rate of convergence speed in different problems. The numerical results demonstrate improved results in both mathematics and mechanical problems using the proposed method.
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