Description: Highlights • The vent fluids discharged from the Lutao hydrothermal field experienced low-degree subcritical phase separation. • The temperature and chemical compositions of the vent fluids were modulated by tides. • The time delay between tides and the response of hydrothermal system was about 3 h. • The typhoon “Fung-wong” cooled the reaction zone and decreased the degree of phase separation. • The hydrothermal system began to recover after the typhoon passed by. Abstract The Lutao hydrothermal field is an intertidal arc-volcanic system located offshore southeast Taiwan, hosting a Zhudanqu (ZDQ) vent and a Huwaichi (HWC) spring with strongly contrasting fluid chemistry. Low Mg, moderately enriched Cl, and H+ with respect to seawater indicate that the ZDQ endmember was derived from the brine phase that was formed during low-degree subcritical phase separation. In contrast, the endmember for the HWC vent fluids is related to the vapor phase. Temperature and pressure of the phase separation were estimated as ~150 °C and ~7 bar, respectively. The water/rock ratio was roughly calculated as about 2. The Lutao hydrothermal system was slightly affected by semi-diurnal tides, by some combination of tidal loading and tidal currents. The time delay between tides and the response of the hydrothermal system was about 3 h. While freshwater was almost absent in the HWC vent fluids at normal conditions, the typhoon “Fung-wong” on Sep 21st, 2014, led to intrusions of freshwater into the vent fluids with a percentage of ~16%. Both the ZDQ and the HWC endmember compositions showed some changes after the typhoon event, suggesting a cooling of the reaction zone. After the typhoon passed by, the hydrothermal system began to recover, evidenced by increasing percentages of the HWC endmember and decreasing freshwater contributions. The flux of the HWC endmember was estimated as 460–560 L h−1 based on these observations. This study, for the first time, reports a shallow-depth tidal-influenced hydrothermal system that was temporarily cooled by a tropical storm.

Description: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5b00227

Description: Sustainability, Vol. 9, Pages 1760: Transport Emissions and Energy Consumption Impacts of Private Capital Investment in Public Transport Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su9101760 Authors: Yunqiang Xue Hongzhi Guan Jonathan Corey Bing Zhang Hai Yan Yan Han Huanmei Qin Introducing private capital into the public transport system for its sustainable development has been increasing around the world. However, previous research ignores emissions and energy consumption impacts, which are important for private capital investment policy-making. To address this problem, the system dynamic (SD) approach was used to quantitatively analyze the cumulative effects of different private capital investment models in public transport from the environmental perspective. The SD model validity was verified in the case study of Jinan public traffic. Simulation results show that the fuel consumption and emission reductions are obvious when the private capital considering passenger value invests in public transport compared with the no private capital investment and traditional investment models. There are obvious cumulative reductions for fuel consumption, CO2, CO, SO2, and PM10 emissions for 100 months compared with no private capital investment. This research verifies the superiority of the passenger value investment model in public transport from the environmental point of view, and supplies a theoretical tool for administrators to evaluate the private capital investment effects systematically.

Description: High glucose-induced proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays an important role in the development of diabetic vascular diseases. However, molecular mediators responding for the proliferation of VSMCs remain to be determined. In this study, VSMCs were isolated from the rat thoracic aorta, and two cell models with Irf-1 knockdown and overexpression were established by transfecting cells with pGCsi-FU-Irf-1 and pGC-FU-Irf-1 respectively. Subsequently high glucose was added to cells to induce proliferation. Proliferation assays were performed to see whether Irf-1 was involved in high glucose-induced proliferation of VSMCs. In addition, the expression of Irf-1 was detected in VSMCs stimulated with high glucose and the thoracic aorta of diabetic rats to confirm the relationship between Irf-1 expression and the proliferation of hyperglycemia-dependent VSMCs. The results showed that Irf-1 expression was significantly higher in the thoracic aorta of diabetic rats and VSMCs stimulated with high glucose than that in non-diabetic rats and untreated cells. Overexpression of Irf-1 accelerated the proliferation of VSMCs, and down-regulation of Irf-1 expression significantly depressed the proliferative ability of VSMCs under high-glucose conditions, indicating that Irf-1 was a positive regulator for high glucose-induced proliferation of VSMCs. It could be presumed that Irf-1 is associated with the accelerated proliferation of VSMCs in diabetic vascular diseases and may prove to be a potential target gene for disease treatment. J. Cell. Biochem. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Description: Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is introduced to optimize the control rod positions in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) core. The widely used 3D-IAEA benchmark problem is selected as the typical PWR core and the neutron flux field is solved. Besides, some additional thermal parameters are assumed to obtain the temperature distribution. Then the total and local entropy production is calculated to evaluate the energy dissipation. Using RSM, three directions of optimization are taken, which aim to determine the minimum of power peak factor Pmax, peak temperature Tmax and total entropy production Stot. These parameters reflect the safety and energy dissipation in the core. Finally, an optimization scheme was obtained, which reduced Pmax, Tmax and Stot by 23%, 8.7% and 16%, respectively. The optimization results are satisfactory.