Isolation, purification, and full NMR assignments of cyclopamine from Veratrum californicum

The Hedgehog signaling pathway is essential for embryogenesis and for tissue homeostasis in the adult. However, it may induce malignancies in a number of tissues when constitutively activated, and it may also have a role in other forms of normal and maladaptive growth. Cyclopamine, a naturally occurring steroidal alkaloid, specifically inhibits the Hedgehog pathway by binding directly to Smoothened, an important Hedgehog response element. To use cyclopamine as a tool to explore and/or inhibit the Hedgehog pathway in vivo, a substantial quantity is required, and as a practical matter cyclopamine has been effectively unavailable for usage in animals larger than mice.

云南两种雨燕的生态和燕窝利用与保护

雨燕目雨燕科的短嘴金丝燕Collocalia brevirostris和白腰雨燕．apus pacificus所筑之 巢．云南民间有将其作为滋补药品利用的传统。这两种雨燕在云南分布很广．营巢于岩洞或石崖 硝壁上。根据其繁殖时间．应在8月中旬后一次采集育过雏的燕窝。

Sensor graphs for guaranteed cooperative localization performance

A group of mobile robots can localize cooperatively, using relative position and absolute orientation measurements, fused through an extended Kalman filter (ekf). The topology of the graph of relative measurements is known to affect the steady-state value of the position error covariance matrix. Classes of sensor graphs are identified, for which tight bounds for the trace of the covariance matrix can be obtained based on the algebraic properties of the underlying relative measurement graph. The string and the star graph topologies are considered, and the explicit form of the eigenvalues of error covariance matrix is given. More general sensor graph topologies are considered as combinations of the string and star topologies, when additional edges are added. It is demonstrated how the addition of edges increases the trace of the steady-state value of the position error covariance matrix, and the theoretical predictions are verified through simulation analysis.

Industrial ecology at factory level: A prototype methodology

The concept of sustainable manufacturing is a form of pollution prevention that integrates environmental considerations in the production of goods while focusing on efficient resource use. Taking the industrial ecology perspective, this efficiency comes from improved resource flow management. The assessment of material, energy and waste resource flows, therefore, offers a route to viewing and analysing a manufacturing system as an ecosystem using industrial ecology biological analogy and can, in turn, support the identification of improvement opportunities in the material, energy and waste flows. This application of industrial ecology at factory level is absent from the literature. This article provides a prototype methodology to apply the concepts of industrial ecology using material, energy and waste process flows to address this gap in the literature. Various modelling techniques were reviewed and candidates selected to test the prototype methodology in an industrial case. The application of the prototype methodology showed the possibility of using the material, energy and waste resource flows through the factory to link manufacturing operations and supporting facilities, and to identify potential improvements in resource use. The outcomes of the work provide a basis to build the specifications for a modelling tool that can support those analysing their manufacturing system to improve their environmental performance and move towards sustainable manufacturing. © IMechE 2012.

静止和充气培养条件下短期紫外辐射对钝顶螺旋藻光化学效率的影响

为了研究短期太阳紫外辐射对钝顶螺旋藻的影响,作者将静止和充气培养的藻体,暴露在全波长太阳辐射PAB(PAR+UVA+UVB),去除UVB辐射PA(PAR+UVA)及切断所有紫外辐射的光合有效辐射P(PAR)三种光处理条件下,测定了其光化学效率的变化。结果表明,紫外辐射(UVP)及光合有效辐射(PAR)均能导致钝顶螺旋藻的光化学效率降低,表现出了明显的光抑制,但是,UVR可导致更大程度的光抑制。充气培养条件下,与早晨(07:00)初始值相比,PAR导致了11%~20%的光抑制,而UVR(PAB-P)所产生的

五氯苯酚在武汉东湖底质颗粒物上的吸附研究

通过静态吸附实验,研究了五氯苯酚在武汉东湖底质颗粒物上的吸附行为,并考察了pH值、颗粒物浓度、盐度和腐殖酸对吸附行为的影响.结果表明,25℃时五氯苯酚在该颗粒物上的吸附行为可用Freundlich吸附等温式描述,在pH值3.0~10.0范围内,五氯苯酚在颗粒物上的平衡吸附量先减小后又缓慢增加;颗粒物浓度在0.1~2.0g.L-1之间变化时,东湖底质颗粒物对五氯苯酚的吸附具有浓度效应;腐殖酸和盐度在一定范围内对五氯苯酚在颗粒物上吸附行为的影响为先促进其平衡吸附量增加,然后这种促进作用趋于缓和.

Electronic load interface for improving PV dual-converter system operational margin

An electronic load interface (ELI) for improving the operational margin of a photovoltaic (PV) dual-converter system under dynamic conditions is presented. The ELI - based on a modified buck-boost converter - interfaces the output of the converters and the load system. It improves the operational margin of the PV dual-converter system by extending the conditions under which the dual-converter system operates at the maximum power point. The ELI is activated as and when needed, so as minimise system losses. By employing the ELI, utilisation and efficiency of a PV dual-converter system increases. In general, the concept of the ELI can be applied to multi-converter PV systems - such as multi-converter inverters, and multi-converter DC-DC converter systems - for performance and efficiency improvement. © 2013 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Single-sensor maximum power point tracking algorithms

Single-sensor maximum power point tracking algorithms for photovoltaic systems are presented. The algorithms have the features, characteristics and advantages of the widely used incremental conductance (INC) algorithm. However; unlike the INC algorithm which requires two sensors (the voltage sensor and the current sensor), the single-sensor algorithms are more desirable because they require only one sensor: the voltage sensor. The algorithms operate by maximising power at the DC-DC converter output, instead of the input. © 2013 The Institution of Engineering and Technology.