Exploring Sustainable Design Strategies for Venetian Lagoon Coastal Districts: A Preliminary Investigation

Zixuan Zhang Korea Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences 2024 Journal of design futures (JDF) Vol.1 No.-

Background: The imminent threats posed by climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, with rising sea levels endangering the livelihoods and habitats of millions. Objectives: Coastal cities, at the forefront of these challenges, must grapple with the urgent need to adopt sustainable urban renewal concepts to confront the impending crisis. Methods: This paper takes a future design project in Venice, a century from now, as a case study to delve into three aspects of sustainable design principles and the corresponding design strategies. Results: The study reveals a transformative approach to urban design in response to sea-level rise, proposing a symbiotic integration of Venice's unique aquatic architecture and historical salt production with contemporary urban planning and sustainable design principles, effectively blending cultural preservation with innovative strategies for economic and environmental resilience. Conclusions: The aim is to preserve the city's characteristics, sustain local culture, and establish a foundation for supporting sustainable social and economic development.

Geniposide attenuates the level of Ab1–42 via enhancing leptin signaling in cellular and APP/PS1 transgenic mice

Zixuan Liu,Yonglan Zhang,Jianhui Liu,Fei Yin 대한약학회 2017 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.40 No.5

An large body of evidence indicates that leptinhas protective role against Alzheimer’s disease, where itreduces b-amyloid (Ab) production in both cell culture andanimal models. Our previous studies revealed that geniposidecould attenuate the production of Ab1–42 andantagonize the neurotoxicity of Ab1–42 in neurons. However,the mechanism that underlies these effects remains tobe clarified. To investigate whether leptin signaling isinvolved in regulating the production of Ab1–42 by geniposide,we treated primary neurons with leptin antagonist(LA), and determined the influence of LA on the activitiesof leptin signaling molecules and the expressions of secretasesassociated with the production of Ab1–42. Thefinding showed that, accompanied with the inhibition onthe level of Ab1–42 in primary neurons and APP/PS1transgenic mice, geniposide induced the phosphorylation ofJAK2 and STAT3, regulated the expression level of a- andb-secretase, and all of these could be prevented by the preincubationwith LA. The results of this study suggest thatgeniposide may regulate the production of Ab1–42 vialeptin signaling.

Study on the Mechanical Behavior of Composite Special-Shaped Columns under Compression-Bending Without End Rotation Constraints

Jian Zhang,Hongjun Wang,Ting Zhou,Zixuan Wang,Zhihua Chen 한국강구조학회 2023 International Journal of Steel Structures Vol.23 No.1

In this study, three double-plate connected L-shaped concrete-filled steel tube composite (LCFST-D) columns were subjected to axial and eccentric loading tests using spherical-hinge supports to relieve the bidirectional rotation constraints. By analyzing the failure phenomenon of the LCFST-D specimen, the rotation of the endplate, and the comparison of similarities and differences between the support of the knife-edge and the support of the spherical-hinge, the bidirectional eccentric loading performance of the LCFST-D column when the bidirectional rotation constraint was released was studied. The test results show that when the spherical-hinge support was loaded, the out-of-the-plane deflection was more evident than the knife hinge. The bearing capacity of the LCFST-D specimen decreases as the eccentricity increased. When the end rotation constraints were relieved, the failure mode of the axial and eccentric loading was nontorsional bidirectional instability. In addition, the loading tests using spherical-hinge supports were verified to effectively release end rotation constraints. A finite element model for the LCFST-D column was established, and its accuracy was confirmed. From the failure mode, deflection, bearing capacity, and rotation of the endplate, the differences between spherical-hinge, knife-edge hinge, and rigid pad loading supports and their influence on bidirectional eccentric loading tests performed on special-shaped columns were investigated. The results show that the bidirectional eccentric loading performance of the LCFST-D column can be reflected by spherical-hinge supports. The theoretical formula was used simultaneously to verify the data from the finite element model and the test.

Pd–Fe bimetallic nanoparticles anchored on N‑doped carbon‑modified graphene for efficient catalytic organic reactions

Yue Zhang,Jie Huang,Zixuan Dong,Yu Zhan,Jiangbo Xi,Jian Xiao,Shaohua Huang,Fan Tian 한국탄소학회 2023 Carbon Letters Vol.33 No.1

A promising approach to enhance catalytic performance of supported heterogeneous nano-metal catalysts is to uniformly disperse active nanoparticles on the support. In this work, N-doped carbon-modified graphene (G@NC) nanosheet is designed and prepared to anchor Pd–Fe bimetallic nanoparticles (Pd–Fe/G@NC). The N-doped carbon modification on graphene surface could construct a sandwich-like structure (G@NC), which not only prevented the re-stacking of graphene nanosheets but also provided confined space for stable anchoring of bimetallic Pd–Fe nanoparticles. Benefitted from the unique structural property and synergetic effect of metal Pd and Fe species, the as-obtained Pd–Fe/G@NC composite displays excellent catalytic activity toward 4-nitrophenol reduction reaction with a turnover frequency of 613.2 min? 1, which is far superior to that of the mono-metal counterparts (Fe/G@NC and Pd/G@NC). More importantly, Pd–Fe/G@NC catalyst also exhibits favorable catalytic performance in the reduction of other nitroaromatic compounds (nitrobenzene, 4-nitrotoluene, 4-chloronitrobenzene, and so on). In addition, Pd–Fe/G@NC can catalyze the oxidation of furfuraldehyde to furoic acid with a high yield of 88.64%. This work provides a new guide for rationally designing and developing advanced supported heterogeneous bimetallic catalyst.

An Engineered Outer Membrane-Defective Escherichia coli Secreting Protective Antigens against Streptococcus suis via the Twin-Arginine Translocation Pathway as a Vaccine

( Wenyu Li ),( Fan Yin ),( Zixuan Bu ),( Yuying Liu ),( Yongqing Zhang ),( Xiabing Chen ),( Shaowen Li ),( Lu Li ),( Rui Zhou ),( Qi Huang ) 한국미생물 · 생명공학회 2022 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.32 No.3

Live bacterial vector vaccines are one of the most promising vaccine types and have the advantages of low cost, flexibility, and good safety. Meanwhile, protein secretion systems have been reported as useful tools to facilitate the release of heterologous antigen proteins from bacterial vectors. The twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system is an important protein export system that transports fully folded proteins in a signal peptide-dependent manner. In this study, we constructed a live vector vaccine using an engineered commensal Escherichia coli strain in which amiA and amiC genes were deleted, resulting in a leaky outer membrane that allows the release of periplasmic proteins to the extracellular environment. The protective antigen proteins SLY, enolase, and Sbp against Streptococcus suis were targeted to the Tat pathway by fusing a Tat signal peptide. Our results showed that by exploiting the Tat pathway and the outer membrane-defective E. coli strain, the antigen proteins were successfully secreted. The strains secreting the antigen proteins were used to vaccinate mice. After S. suis challenge, the vaccinated group showed significantly higher survival and milder clinical symptoms compared with the vector group. Further analysis showed that the mice in the vaccinated group had lower burdens of bacteria load and slighter pathological changes. Our study reports a novel live bacterial vector vaccine that uses the Tat system and provides a new alternative for developing S. suis vaccine.

A Weighted Block-by-Block Decoding Algorithm for CPM-QC-LDPC Code Using Neural Network

( Zuohong Xu ),( Jiang Zhu ),( Zixuan Zhang ),( Qian Cheng ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2018 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.12 No.8

As one of the most potential types of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, CPM-QC-LDPC code has considerable advantages but there still exist some limitations in practical application, for example, the existing decoding algorithm has a low convergence rate and a high decoding complexity. According to the structural property of this code, we propose a new method based on a CPM-RID decoding algorithm that decodes block-by-block with weights, which are obtained by neural network training. From the simulation results, we can conclude that our proposed method not only improves the bit error rate and frame error rate performance but also increases the convergence rate, when compared with the original CPM-RID decoding algorithm and scaled MSA algorithm.

Uplink Achievable Rate analysis of Massive MIMO Systems in Transmit-correlated Ricean Fading Environments

Yixin Xu,Fulai Liu,Zixuan Zhang,Zhenxing Sun 한국인터넷정보학회 2023 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.17 No.1

In this article, the uplink achievable rate is investigated for massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) under correlated Ricean fading channel, where each base station (BS) and user are both deployed multiple antennas. Considering the availability of prior knowledge at BS, two different channel estimation approaches are adopted with and without prior knowledge. Based on these channel estimations, a two-layer decoding scheme is adopted with maximum ratio precoding as the first layer decoder and optimal second layer precoding in the second layer. Based on two aforementioned channel estimations and two-layer decoding scheme, the exact closed form expressions for uplink achievable rates are computed with and without prior knowledge, respectively. These derived expressions enable us to analyze the impacts of line-of-sight (LoS) component, two-layer decoding, data transmit power, pilot contamination, and spatially correlated Ricean fading. Then, numerical results illustrate that the system with spatially correlated Ricean fading channel is superior in terms of uplink achievable rate. Besides, it reveals that compared with the single-layer decoding, the two-layer decoding scheme can significantly improve the uplink achievable rate performance.

Define of Optimal Addition Period of Osteogenic Peptide to Accelerate the Osteogenic Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Song Yameng,Li Hongjiao,Wang Zixuan,Shi Jiamin,Li Jing,Wang Lu,Liao Lingzi,Ma Shengqin,Zhang Yun,Liu Bin,Yang Yaling,Zhou Ping 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2024 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.21 No.2

Background: The addition of growth factiors is commonly applied to improve the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. However, for human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), their complex differentiation processes result in the unknown effect at different stages. In this study, we focused on the widely used bone forming peptide-1 (BFP-1) and investigated the effect and mechanisms of its addition on the osteogenic induction of hPSCs as a function of the supplementation period. Methods: Monolayer-cultured hPSCs were cultured in osteogenic induction medium for 28 days, and the effect of BFP-1 peptide addition at varying weeks was examined. After differentiation for varying days (0, 7, 14, 21 and 28), the differentiation efficiency was determined by RT–PCR, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and alizarin red staining assays. Moreover, the expression of marker genes related to germ layers and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was investigated at day 7. Results: Peptide treatment during the first week promoted the generation of mesoderm cells and mesenchymal-like cells from hiPSCs. Then, the upregulated expression of osteogenesis marker genes/proteins was detected in both hESCs and hiPSCs during subsequent inductions with BFP-1 peptide treatment. Fortunately, further experimental design confirmed that treating the BFP-1 peptide during 7–21 days showed even better performance for hESCs but was ineffective for hiPSCs. Conclusion: The differentiation efficiency of cells could be improved by determining the optimal treatment period. Our study has great value in maximizing the differentiation of hPSCs by adding osteogenesis peptides based on the revealed mechanisms and promoting the application of hPSCs in bone tissue regeneration. Background: The addition of growth factiors is commonly applied to improve the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. However, for human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), their complex differentiation processes result in the unknown effect at different stages. In this study, we focused on the widely used bone forming peptide-1 (BFP-1) and investigated the effect and mechanisms of its addition on the osteogenic induction of hPSCs as a function of the supplementation period. Methods: Monolayer-cultured hPSCs were cultured in osteogenic induction medium for 28 days, and the effect of BFP-1 peptide addition at varying weeks was examined. After differentiation for varying days (0, 7, 14, 21 and 28), the differentiation efficiency was determined by RT–PCR, flow cytometry, immunofluorescence, and alizarin red staining assays. Moreover, the expression of marker genes related to germ layers and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was investigated at day 7. Results: Peptide treatment during the first week promoted the generation of mesoderm cells and mesenchymal-like cells from hiPSCs. Then, the upregulated expression of osteogenesis marker genes/proteins was detected in both hESCs and hiPSCs during subsequent inductions with BFP-1 peptide treatment. Fortunately, further experimental design confirmed that treating the BFP-1 peptide during 7–21 days showed even better performance for hESCs but was ineffective for hiPSCs. Conclusion: The differentiation efficiency of cells could be improved by determining the optimal treatment period. Our study has great value in maximizing the differentiation of hPSCs by adding osteogenesis peptides based on the revealed mechanisms and promoting the application of hPSCs in bone tissue regeneration.

Mechanical behavior and sealing performance of HAR sealing system in roller cone bits

Yang Hu,Chuanjun Han,Jie Zhang,Zixuan Luo,Ruichuan Wang,Te Hu 대한기계학회 2021 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.35 No.10

Two numerical models of HAR ring and O-ring sealing systems for roller cone bits were established in this paper. The stress-strain distribution was analyzed by finite element method. Effects of compression ratio, fluid pressure, ambient temperature and friction coefficient on mechanical behavior and sealing performance were studied. The results show that the HAR ring has better sealing performance than O-ring in the same working condition. The HAR ring can realize multi-stage sealing to increase the reliability of sealing. The high stress region appears at the sharp corner below the shaft. The sealing performance and the von Mises stress is enhanced with compression ratio and fluid pressure increasing. Under a high working temperature field, the sealing surface of HAR ring fails easily. The contact pressure fluctuation of the sealing surface easily appears by friction coefficient. Sharp-angled regions of the HAR ring near S.S.3, S.S.5 and S.S.6 fail easily.

Augmented RBF metamodel for global sensitivity analysis enhanced by recursive evolution LHD and efficient K-fold cross-validation

Guosheng Li,Jiawei Yang,Wenjie Wang,Zixuan Zhang,Weihua Zhang,Zeping Wu 대한기계학회 2022 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.36 No.8

This paper proposes an enhanced augmented radial basis function (eARBF) metamodel combining radial basis function and polynomial chaos expansions for global sensitivity analysis. First, the conditions required for the augmented radial basis function are constructed from the perspective of variance decomposition, after which the analytical expressions of the Sobol’ indices are deduced. To improve the generalization performance of ARBF, an anisotropic technique is proposed based on the local density of sample points. Furthermore, the recursive evolution LHD and efficient K-fold cross-validation method are adopted to reduce computational efforts. Five cases are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach. In all cases, eARBF yields satisfactory results with lower computational effort. The results indicate that the approach proposed in this paper is promising for GSA of engineering problems.