The effective conductivity of a composite containing cylindrical fibers of graded materials has been theoretically investigated. Typical graded profiles were considered and the response to an applied electric field was studied in detail. The effective conductivity of the composites was calculated based on the analytic solution for an isolated graded fiber inclusion in the dilute limit. A composite containing fibers of graded shells was considered, which is a useful model to simulate the effect of a general graded conductivity profile.

In postmenopausal women, obesity, falls, unknown osteoporosis status, and osteoporosis are associated with high risk of distal radius fracture. If comorbidities and advanced age are also present, this group of persons may be at higher risk for unstable distal radius fractures.

e digital image correlation method (DICM) has been applied to similar material simulation experiments for rock-like materials, to overcome the weakness of traditional measurements, for example, data discontinuous. In this paper, the movement and fracturing process of the overlying strata during excavation are observed and studied, and the distributions of stress, strain, and deformation in the overlying strata are obtained based on similar material simulation. e DICM is applied to improve the testing method and to optimize the discontinuity of testing points; of course, the difference of rock deformation in the overlying strata during excavation is considered. Full-field deformation and strain are analyzed by the DICM. To verify the accuracy of the DICM, results obtained from the DICM, numerical simulation and similar material simulation, are compared. e DICM can reflect the characteristics of locality and randomness of rock-like materials more real than numerical simulation, and comparing with similar material simulation, it can directly reproduce the movement and fracturing process of the overlying strata during full-field excavation. It shows that, the DICM is entirely feasible to using in the large scale full-field deformation measurement on complex rock structure, and it is of theoretical importance for testing for rock-like materials.

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the potential systemic antitumor effects of stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) and apatinib (a novel vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 inhibitor) via reversing the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment for lung carcinoma.Materials and MethodsLewis lung cancer cells were injected into C57BL/6 mice in the left hindlimb (primary tumor; irradiated) and in the right flank (secondary tumor; nonirradiated). When both tumors grew to the touchable size, mice were randomly divided into eight treatment groups. These groups received normal saline or three distinct doses of apatinib (50 mg/kg, 150 mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg) daily for 7 days, in combination with a single dose of 15 Gy radiotherapy or not to the primary tumor. The further tumor growth/regression of mice were followed and observed.ResultsFor the single 15 Gy modality, tumor growth delay could only be observed at the primary tumor. When combining SABR and apatinib 200 mg/kg, significant retardation of both primary and secondary tumor growth could be observed, indicated an abscopal effect was induced. Mechanism analysis suggested that programmed death-ligand 1 expression increased with SABR was counteract by additional apatinib therapy. Furthermore, when apatinib was combined with SABR, the composition of immune cells could be changed. More importantly, this two-pronged approach evoked tumor antigen–specific immune responses and the mice were resistant to another tumor rechallenge, finally, long-term survival was improved.ConclusionOur results suggested that the tumor microenvironment could be managed with apatinib, which was effective in eliciting an abscopal effect induced by SABR.

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The perturbation method is developed to investigate the effective nonlinear dielectric response of Kerr composites when the external ac and dc electric field is applied. Under the external ac and dc electric field Eapp=Ea(1+sin ωt), the effective coupling nonlinear response can be induced by the cubic nonlinearity of Kerr nonlinear materials at the zero frequency, the finite basic frequency ω, the second and the third harmonics, 2ω and 3ω, and so on. As an example, we have investigated the cylindrical inclusions randomly embedded in a host and derived the formulas of the effective nonlinear dielectric response at harmonics in dilute limit. For a higher concentration of inclusions, we have proposed a nonlinear effective-medium approximation by introducing the general effective nonlinear response. With the relationships between the effective nonlinear response at harmonics and the general effective nonlinear response, we have derived a set of formulas of the effective nonlinear dielectric responses at harmonics for a larger volume fraction.

The expression of skeletal muscle contractile proteins is tightly regulated during embryonic development. In the mouse, the myosin light chain (MLC) 1f/3f gene locus is not activated until E9.5, exclusively in skeletal muscle precursor cells. A potent enhancer downstream of the MLC1f/3f locus confers correct temporal and spatial activation of linked reporter gene in transgenic mouse embryos. To examine roles of the MLC downstream enhancer (MLCE) in its native context of the MLC1f/3f gene locus, we eliminated a 1.5-kb DNA segment containing the enhancer from the mouse genome by targeted deletion, leaving no exogenous sequences at the deletion site. Mouse embryos homozygous for the MLCE deletion were smaller and developmentally delayed, formed no mesoderm by E7.5, and were resorbed almost completely at E8.5. In situ hybridization and RT-PCR analyses of affected mutant embryos at E7.5 revealed ectopic MLC transcripts, whose products would be predicted to interfere with a variety of nonmuscle cell functions determining differentiation of mesoderm. These results suggest that the MLC downstream enhancer and its flanking sequences include negative regulatory elements which block precocious activation of MLC expression in mesodermal precursors during a critical window of development, as well as positive elements which subsequently permit tissue-restricted MLC transcription in differentiating skeletal muscles.

Abstract. The thermal conductivity of periodic composite media with spherical or cylindrical inclusions embedded in a homogeneous matrix is discussed. Using Green functions, we show that the Rayleigh identity can be generalized to deal with thermal properties of these systems. A new calculating method for effective conductivity of composite media is proposed. Uselul formulae for effective thermal conductivity are derived, and meanings of contact resistance in engineering problems are explained. volume fraction of inclusion for two-dimensional and three-dimensional system Ql,, VI, definite integrals, defined in (22) and (23) S , , T, definite integrals, defined in (28) and (29)