[en] Comparison between the IBM-I, IBM-II and the U(15) theories of the ¹⁶⁸Er spectrum, together with an analysis of the boson weights, supports the incorporation of the g-boson. (orig.)

[en] We have observed the arrival times of EAS initiated by cosmic rays of E>10¹⁴ eV using the EAS array in Beijing. The distribution of arrival time intervals of EAS with E>2.6 x 10¹⁴ eV is considerably higher than the exponential distribution in the region of time intervals t<21 second. It is suggested that a time correlation component is probably present in the EAS events

[en] Objective: The most frequent brain tumors are the gliomas. Glioblastomas are largely incurable secondary, to their rapid, aggressive and diffusely infiltrative growth pattern and hypervascularity. This study aimed at investigating the possibility of transecting human sodium/iodide symporter (hNIS) gene into human glioma cell lines to facilitate radioactive iodide treatment in vitro. Methods: Transecting hNIS gene into human glioma cell lines U251 was performed by recombinant expression plasmids with lipofectamine 2000-plasmid complexes. The hNIS gene cell lines with stable expression (hNIS-U251) were selected through G418 antibiotic constraint. The hNIS-U251 gene cell lines were then evaluated for their biologic functions, including ¹²⁵I uptake assay, ¹²⁵I influx-course, ¹²⁵I-efflux-course, ¹³¹I inhibitory effect on cellular proliferation by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyhe-trazolium bromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometer. Results: We were successful in transecting hNIS gene into human glioma cell lines by recombinant expression plasmids, and were able to obtain hNIS gene cell lines (hNIS-U251) with stable expression. The hNIS-U251 cell lines could intake and bind radioactive iodide by hNIS gene. The uptakes of ¹²⁵I were 117 fold higher in hNIS-U251 cell lines than U251 cell lines [(50 469.88 ± 997.29), (432.92 ± 89.28) counts·min^-1, respectively]. And the proliferation index of hNIS-U251 cell lines was lower than U251 cell lines after incubating with ¹³¹I. Conclusion: The hNIS gene with stable gene expression (hNIS- U251) cell lines could be labeled by ¹³¹I with a high efficiency, thereby may function effectively in the treatment of glioma-related brain tumors. (authors)

[en] Highlights: • The scope of this paper is to apply solar energy to achieve the high-altitude long-endurance flight. • The equivalence of gravitational potential and rechargeable battery is discussed. • Four kinds of factors have been discussed to compare the two method of energy storage. • This work can provide some governing principles for the application of solar-powered aircraft. - Abstract: Applying solar energy is one of the most promising methods to achieve the aim of High-altitude Long-endurance (HALE) flight, and solar-powered aircraft is usually taken by the research groups to develop HALE aircraft. However, the crucial factor which constrains the solar-powered aircraft to achieve the aim of HALE is the problem how to fulfill the power requirement under weight constraint of rechargeable batteries. Motivated by the birds store energy from thermal by gaining height, the method of energy stored by gravitational potential for solar-powered aircraft have attracted great attentions in recent years. In order to make the method of energy stored in gravitational potential more practical in solar-powered aircraft, the equivalence of gravitational potential and rechargeable battery for aircraft on energy storage has been analyzed, and four kinds of factors are discussed in this paper: the duration of solar irradiation, the charging rate, the energy density of rechargeable battery and the initial altitude of aircraft. This work can provide some governing principles for the solar-powered aircraft to achieve the unlimited endurance flight, and the endurance performance of solar-powered aircraft may be greatly improved by the application of energy storage using gravitational potential

[en] Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a selective loss of dopamine in the striatum with age. At present, the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease is mainly remained in clinical standard. According to the clinical symptoms and the response to DOPA treatment, it is not difficult to diagnose typical PD. But it is difficult to diagnose early stage PD, which lacks the typical clinical symptoms and signs. A 99Tcm -labeled tropane derivative that binds to dopamine transporter with high selectivity is [2- [ [2- [ [ [3- (4-chlorophenyl)- 8-methyl- 8-azabicyclo [3,2,1 ] oct-2-yl]methyl] (2-mercaptoethyl)amino] eth yl]amino]ethanethiolato(3-)-N2,N2',S2,S2'] oxo-[1R-(exo-exo)] (TRODAT-1). Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical application of 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 SPECT/CT imaging in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) in early stage. Methods: Twenty-four patients with early-stage idiopathic Parkinson's disease were recruited. For all patients, the severity was assessed by the Hoehnand Yahrscale. Twenty-four early stage PD patients (15 Hoehn Yahr stage I and 9 Hoehn Yahr stage II), eight advanced PD patients and ten healthy volunteers (five men, five women) were studied by 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 SPECT/CT imaging. 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 was prepared from a lyophilized kit. Brain SPECT imaging was performed 2 hours after injection, using GE Discovery VH equipped with FanBeam collimators. Data were obtained using energy window of 20% centered on 140 KEV for 99Tcm. The brain SPECT data were acquired after Hawkeye CT acquisition. Regions of interest were delineated over the striata and the cerebella, and the ratios of striatum-to-cerebellum (ST/CB) were calculated. Specific uptake in the striatum and its subregions, including the putamen and caudate nucleus, was calculated and compared with that of the other side as well as that of healthy volunteers. Results: Dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging of the 10 healthy volunteers showed normal distribution. The radio-activity concentrated mainly on the two striata and distributed symmetrically. The radio-activity distributed sparsely in striata of stage I PD patients, but with their integrity in general. However, the radio-activity distributed even more sparsely or showed defects in striata of stage II PD patients without their integrity. A continuous reduction in specific striatal uptake of 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 (healthy volunteer, stage I PD, stage II PD and advanced PD were 1.91, 1.68, 1.44, 1.22, respectively, P<0.01) with increasing disease severity was found in Parkinson's patients. The mean values of specific putaminal uptake significantly decreased compared with caudate nucleus in both stage I and stage II groups (1.59 vs. 1.77 for stage I and 1.36 vs. 1.53 for stage II, P<0.01). But there was no significant difference between the two nucleus in advanced group (1.24 vs. 1.19, P>0.05 ). No remarkable adverse reactions were found in either healthy volunteers or Parkinson' s disease patients during or after imaging. Conclusion: 99Tcm-TRODAT-1 SPECT imaging is a potential tool for the early diagnosis of PD. (authors)

[en] An efficient protocol for the synthesis of 12-aryl or 12-alkyl-8,9,10,12-tetrahydro-benzo[a] xanthen-11-one derivatives has been developed via three-component reaction of aldehyde, 2-naphthol and 1,3-cyclohexadione or 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexadione in the presence of 12-tungstophosphoric acid (H₃PW₁₂O₄₀) under solvent-free conditions. The present methodology offers several advantages such as high yields, simple procedure, low cost, short reaction times, and mild conditions. (author)

[en] A series of azobenzene liquid crystals with one or two terminal acrylate groups were synthesized and their polymers were fabricated. The azobenzene liquid crystals and their polymers achieved the photoisomerization from the liquid crystalline trans-isomer to the isotropic cis-isomer with UV irradiation. Then, the cis to trans isomerization induced by an electric field was studied, the time required for electro-isomerization was measured, the texture change and absorption variation from cis to trans form induced by the electric field were observed clearly, and the time required for electro-isomerization was much shorter than that for thermal relaxation. The influence of the polar group (fluorine), terminal acrylate group, and flexible alkyl chain on the time of electro-isomerization was studied. The results show that the compounds with polar fluorine group require shorter time for electro-isomerization and the polymerization of terminal acrylate group delays the electro-isomerization. (special topic)

[en] Objective: To evaluate the possible interactions among different impact factors possibly affecting the treatment efficacy of ¹³¹I in Graves' disease (GD). Methods: Six hundred and thirty two GD patients that had been treated by ¹³¹I, with or without antithyroid drugs (ATD), were included in this study. The impact factors were pre-defined as age (x₁), sex (x₂), mass of thyroid (x₃), course of disease (x₄), initial symptom (x₅), condition of disease (x₆), ATD treatment duration (x₇), effective half life time (x₈), maximum ¹³¹I uptake rate (x₉), total dose of ¹³¹I (x₁₀), dose of ¹³¹I per gram of thyroid (x₁₁), TRAb (x₁₂), TSI (x₁₃), TgAb (x₁₄), and thyroid microsomal antibody(TMAb) level (x₁₅). Interactions among different impact factors were studied by t-test, χ² test and multi-variant logistic regression. Results: Age, mass of thyroid, ATD treatment duration, maximum ¹³¹I uptake rate, dose of ¹³¹I per gram of thyroid tissue and TSI level were identified as independent impact factors affecting the ¹³¹I treatment efficacy on GD (χ²=6.908, t=-4.063, χ²=13.558, t=-2.553, t=4.528, χ²=9.716, all P<0.05) by uni-variant and multi-variate analyses. Loglinear and general linear model analyses showed that there existed multiple multiplicative and additive interactions among the factors of age, mass of thyroid, ATD treatment duration and maximum ¹³¹I uptake rate (likelihood χ²=8.176, P>0.05; F=2.928, 1.992, 2.629, 2.215, all P<0.05), which indicated that the treatment efficacy with co-existing multiple factors was not equal to simple summation of single factors. Conclusions: The interactions among multiple factors can cause indirect effect on ¹³¹I treatment, which might guide the prescription of ¹³¹I dosage for GD treatment. (authors)

[en] $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric quantum mechanics, the extension of conventional quantum mechanics to the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian invariant under the combined parity ($\mathcal{P}$) and time reversal ($\mathcal{T}$) symmetry, has been successfully applied to a variety of fields—such as solid state physics, mathematical physics, optics, quantum field theory. Recently, the extension of $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetrical theory to entangled quantum systems has been challenged, in that $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$ formulation within the conventional Hilbert space violates the no-signaling principle. Here, we revisit the derivation of non-signaling principle in the framework of $\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$ inner product prescription. Our results preserve the no-signaling principle for a two-qubit system, reaffirm the invariance of the entanglement, and reproduce the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt (CHSH) inequality. We conclude that $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric quantum mechanics satisfies the requirements for a fundamental theory and provides a consistent description of quantum systems. (paper)

[en] A nonlinear controller for disturbances rejection and collision avoidance is proposed for spacecraft formation flying. The formation flying is described by a nonlinear model with the J ₂ perturbation and atmospheric drag. Based on the theory of the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE), a finite time nonlinear control law is developed for the nonlinear dynamics involved in formation flying. Then, a compensative internal mode (IM) control law is added to eliminate disturbances. These two control laws compose a finite time nonlinear tracking controller with disturbances rejection. Moreover, taking safety requirements into account, the repulsive control law is incorporated in the composite controller to perform collision avoidance manoeuvres. A numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Compared to the conventional control method, the proposed method provides better performance in the presence of the obstacles and external disturbances. (paper)