Science Letters：Application of new tissue microarrayer-ZM-1 without recipient paraffin block

The ZM-1 tissue microarrayer designed by our groups is manufactured in stainless steel and brass and contains many features that make TMA （tissue microarray） paraffin blocks construction faster and more convenient. By means of ZM-1 tissue microarrayer, biopsy needles are used to punch the donor tissue specimens respectively. All the needles with the punched specimen cylinders are arrayed into the array-board, with an array of small holes dug to fit the needles. All the specimen cylinders arraying and the TMA paraffin block shaping are finished in only one step so that the specimen cylinders and the paraffin of the TMA block can very easily be incorporated and the recipient paraffin blocks need not be made in advance, and the paraffin used is the same as that for conventional pathology purpose. ZM-1 tissue microarrayer is easy to be manufactured, does not need any precision location system, and so is much cheaper than the currently used instrument. Our method＇s relatively cheap and simple ZM-1 tissue microarrayer technique of constructing TMA paraffin block may facilitate popularization of the TMA technology.     

Application of new tissue microarrayer-ZM-1 without recipient paraffin block

INTRODUCTION Biochip is developed since the 1990s high-throughput technology tool developed for mo- lecular biology research in the biological technology revolution (Watson and Akil, 1999) that closely fol- lowed the advent of Large Scale Integrated circuit. Biochip is usually divided into several different kinds, such as gene chip, protein chip, cell chip, microbiol- ogy chip, tissue chip and so on. In 1998, Kononen et al.(1998) reported the technology of tissue chip: tis- sue microarr…     

Application of new tissue microarrayer-ZM-1 without recipient paraffin block

The ZM-1 tissue microarrayer designed by our groups is manufactured in stainless steel and brass and contains many features that make TMA (tissue microarray) paraffin blocks construction faster and more convenient. By means of ZM-1 tissue microarrayer, biopsy needles are used to punch the donor tissue specimens respectively. All the needles with the punched specimen cylinders are arrayed into the array-board, with an array of small holes dug to fit the needles. All the specimen cylinders arraying and the TMA paraffin block shaping are finished in only one step so that the specimen cylinders and the paraffin of the TMA block can very easily be incorporated and the recipient paraffin blocks need not be made in advance, and the paraffin used is the same as that for conventional pathology purpose. ZM-1 tissue microarrayer is easy to be manufactured, does not need any precision location system, and so is much cheaper than the currently used instrument. Our method's relatively cheap and simple ZM-1 tissue microarrayer technique of constructing TMA paraffin block may facilitate popularization of the TMA technology. Project (No. G1998051200) supported by the National Basic Research Program (973) of China     

Science Letters:A new quantitative model of ecological compensation based on ecosystem capital in Zhejiang Province, China

Ecological compensation is becoming one of key and multidiscipline issues in the field of resources and environ-mental management. Considering the change relation between gross domestic product (GDP) and ecological capital (EC) based on remote sensing estimation, we construct a new quantitative estimate model for ecological compensation, using county as study unit,and determine standard value so as to evaluate ecological compensation from 2001 to 2004 in Zhejiang Province, China. Spatial differences of the ecological compensation were significant among all the counties or districts. This model fills up the gap in the field of quantitative evaluation of regional ecological compensation and provides a feasible way to reconcile the conflicts among benefits in the economic, social, and ecological sectors.     

Science Letters: Lattice type transmission line of negative refractive index

In this letter, we introduce a novel passive transmission line of negative refractive index (i.e., left-handedness) based on identical symmetrical lattice type structures [thus called "lattice type transmission line" (LT-TL)]. The dispersion characteristic and the transmission response of the proposed LT-TL are analyzed. While all the other left-handed passive transmission lines are of high pass, the present passive left-handed transmission line is of low pass. Compared with a conventional transmission line, the LT-TL has a phase shift of 180° in the entire wide pass-band.     

Science Letters: Lattice type transmission line of negative refractive index

In this letter, we introduce a novel passive transmission line of negative refractive index （i.e., left-handedness） based on identical symmetrical lattice type structures [thus called ＂lattice type transmission line＂ （LT-TL）]. The dispersion characteristic and the transmission response of the proposed LT-TL are analyzed. While all the other left-handed passive transmission lines are of high pass, the present passive left-handed transmission line is of low pass. Compared with a conventional transmission line, the LT-TL has a phase shift of 180° in the entire wide pass-band.     

Science Letters: A robust polysilicon-assisted SCR in ESD protection application

A novel polysilicon-assisted silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) is presented and analyzed in this paper, which is fabricated in HHNEC's 0.18 μm EEPROM process. The polysilicon-assisted SCRs take advantage of polysilicon layer to help bypass electro-static discharge (ESD) current without occupying extra layout area. TLP current-voltage (Ⅰ-Ⅴ) measurement results show that given the same layout areas, robustness performance of polysilicon-assisted SCRs can be improved to 3 times of conventional MLSCR's. Moreover, one-finger such polysilicon-assisted SCRs, which occupy only 947 μm2 layout area, can undergo 7-kV HBM ESD stress. Results further demonstrate that the S-type Ⅰ-Ⅴcharacteristics of polysilicon-assisted SCRs are adjustable to different operating conditions by changingthe device dimensions. Compared with traditional SCRs, this new SCR can bypass more ESD currents and consumes smaller IC area.     

Science Letters:Chemically processed Nb-doped SrTiO_3 films and properties

INTRODUCTION Perovskite-type oxides have attracted consider-able interest regarding their various electronic, mag-netic and optical properties, such as superconductiv-ity, colossal magnetoresistance and ferroelectricity caused by strong interactions of their charge, spin and lattice characteristics (Millis, 1998; Wu et al., 2000; Gariglio et al., 2001). Currently, many investigations are underway to harmonize these properties and cre-ate new functional materials for applications to oxide…     

Science Letters:Anodic oxidation of salicylic acid at Ta/BDD electrode

Boron-doped diamond (BDD) film electrodes using Ta as substrates were employed for anodic oxidation of salicylic acid (SA). The effects of operational variables including initial concentration,current density,temperature and pH were examined. The results showed that BDD films deposited on the Ta substrates had high electrocatalytic activity for SA degradation. There was little effect of pH on SA degradation. The current efficiency (CE) was found to be dependent mainly on the initial SA concentration,current density and temperature. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) was reduced from 830 mg/L to 42 mg/L under a current density of 200 A/m2 at 30 °C.     

Science Letters: Low-cost fault tolerance in evolvable multiprocessor systems: a graceful degradation approach

The evolvable multiprocessor (EvoMP), as a novel multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC) machine with evolvable task decomposition and scheduling, claims a major feature of low-cost and efficient fault tolerance. Non-centralized control and adaptive distribution of the program among the available processors are two major capabilities of this platform, which remarkably help to achieve an efficient fault tolerance scheme. This letter presents the operational as well as architectural details of this fault tolerance scheme. In this method, when a processor becomes faulty, it will be eliminated of contribution in program execution in remaining run-time. This method also utilizes dynamic rescheduling capability of the system to achieve the maximum possible efficiency after processor reduction. The results confirm the efficiency and remarkable advantages of the proposed approach over common redundancy based techniques in similar systems.     

Science Letters:Proteomic analysis of differentially expressed proteins in mice with concanavalin A-induced hepatitis

Objective:To find new protein biomarkers for the detection and evaluation of liver injury and to analyze the relationship between such proteins and disease progression in concanavalin A (Con A)-induced hepatitis.Methods:Twenty-five mice were randomly divided into five groups:an untreated group,a control group injected with phosphate buffered saline (PBS),and groups with Con A-induced hepatitis evaluated at 1,3 and 6 h.Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry (MS) were used to identif...     

Science Letters:Detection of Catabacter hongkongensis in polluted European water samples

The Catabacteriaceae is a new bacterial family with a unique member: Catabacter hongkongensis is a strictly anaerobic, non-sporulating, Gram-positive coccobacillus that is phylogenetically related to some clostridial clusters. Little is known of its epidemiology and environmental distribution, but the inclusion of its 16S rRNA gene sequence in GenBank has allowed it to be detected qualitatively. As a first approach for prospective surveys, a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure to identify C. hongkongensis has been developed. The presence of Catabacteriaceae in 29 water bodies subjected to possible human or animal impact has been investigated. Four of them were positive. The results confirm that highly polluted water can contain C. hongkongensis.     

Science Letters:Dual structure of composite right/left-handed transmission line

INTRODUCTION An artificial dielectric medium that exhibits si- multaneously negative electric permittivity and magnetic permeability, also known as a left-handed (LH) material, was first envisaged by Veselago, who theoretically predicted that such a medium would exhibit a negative refractive index (NRI) (Veselago, 1968). An artificial NRI medium exhibiting back- ward-wave propagation characteristics (and therefore a negative refractive index) was first realized ex- perimentally in (She…     

Science Letters:Development of supported boron-doping TiO2 catalysts by chemical vapor deposition

In this study, supported nonmetal (boron) doping TiO2 coating photocatalysts were prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to enhance the activity under visible light irradiation and avoid the recovering of TiO2. Boron atoms were successfully doped into the lattice of TiO2 through CVD, as evidenced from XPS analysis. B-doped TiO2 coating catalysts showed drastic and strong absorption in the visible light range with a red shift in the band gap transition. This novel B-TiO2 coating photocatalyst showed higher photocatalytic activity in methyl orange degradation under visible light irradiation than that of the pure TiO2 photocatalyst.     

Science Letters:Multi-frequency proportional-resonant (MFPR) current controller for PWM VSC under unbalanced supply conditions

This letter presents a multi-frequency proportional-resonant (MFPR) current controller developed for PWM voltage source converter (VSC) under the unbalanced supply voltage conditions. The delta operator is used in place of the shift operator for the implementation of MFPR by using a low-cost fixed-point DSP. The experimental results with an alternative control strategy validated the feasibility of the proposed MFPR current controller for the PWM VSC during voltage unbalance.     

Science Letters:Filament geometrical model and nozzle trajectory analysis in the fused deposition modeling process

The geometrical model of the filament during the fused deposition modeling (FDM) process was firstly proposed based on three different models, tractrix, parabola, and catenary. Comparing with the actual measured filament curves on the Stratasys 1600 FDM machine, it is indicated that the tractrix model had the best agreement with the actual measured curves. With the analytical simulation, the nozzle trajectories in the straight-line deposition road, circle road, and arbitrary continuous curve road were deduced, according to the traxtric based geometrical model of the filament.     

Science Letters: Quantification of Helicobacter pylori levels in soil samples from public playgrounds in Spain

Helicobacter pylori are ubiquitous Gram-negative bacteria with a high estimated level of infection in the world populations, but a majority of the infected persons are asymptomatic. This pathogen has been classified by the World Health Organization as a class I carcinogen and recognized as the causal agent of most peptic ulcers and chronic gastritis that might lead to stomach cancer. Although not all the transmission pathways of these bacteria into humans have been properly identified, enough data have sugg...     

Science Letters:Dechlorination mechanism of 2,4-dichlorophenol by Ni/Fe nanoparticles in the presence of humic acid

To understand the feasibility of its application to the in situ remediation of contaminated groundwater, the dechlori-nation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) by Ni/Fe nanoparticles in the presence of humic acid (HA) was investigated. We found that, as high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used, the 2,4-DCP was first quickly reduced to o-chlorophenol (o-CP) andp-chlorophenol (p-CP), and then reduced to phenol as the final product. Our experimental results indicated that HA had an adverse effect on the dechlorination of 2,4-DCP by Ni/Fe nanoparticles, as the HA concentration increased, the removal rate decreased evidently. It also demonstrated that 2,4-DCP was reduced more easily to o-CP than to p-CP, and that the sequence of the tendency in dechlorination of intermediates was p-CP>o-CP. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) showed that HA could act as an adsorbate to compete reactive sites on the surface of Ni/Fe nanoparticles to decrease the dechlorination rate. Also we con-cluded that the dechlorination reaction of 2,4-DCP over Ni/Fe nanoparticles progressed through catalytic reductive dechlorination.