Combining 1,3-Ditriazolylbenzene and Quinoline to Discover a New G-Quadruplex-Interactive Small Molecule Active against Cancer Stem-Like Cells

Quadruplex nucleic acids are promising targets for cancer therapy. In this study we used a fragment-based approach to create new flexible G-quadruplex (G4) DNA-interactive small molecules with good calculated oral drug-like properties, based on quinoline and triazole heterocycles. G4 melting temperature and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-stop assays showed that two of these compounds are selective G4 ligands, as they were able to induce and stabilize G4s in a dose- and DNA sequence-dependent manner. Molecular docking studies have suggested plausible quadruplex binding to both the G-quartet and groove, with the quinoline module playing the major role. Compounds were screened for cytotoxicity against four cancer cell lines, where 4,4′-(4,4′-(1,3-phenylene)bis(1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,1-diyl))bis(1-methylquinolin-1-ium) ( 1 d ) showed the greater activity. Importantly, dose–response curves show that 1 d is cytotoxic in the human colon cancer HT-29 cell line enriched in cancer stem-like cells, a subpopulation of cells implicated in chemoresistance. Overall, this study identified a new small molecule as a promising lead for the development of drugs targeting G4 in cancer stem cells.     

Expert evaluation of traffic signs: conventional vs. alternative designs

Traffic sign comprehension is significantly affected by their compliance with ergonomics design principles. Despite the UN Convention, designs vary among countries. The goal of this study was to establish theoretical and methodological bases for evaluating the design of conventional and alternative signs. Thirty-one conventional signs and 1–3 alternatives for each conventional sign were evaluated for their compliance with three ergonomics guidelines for sign design: physical and conceptual compatibility, familiarity and standardisation. Twenty-seven human factors and ergonomics experts from 10 countries evaluated the signs relative to their compliance with the guidelines. Analysis of variance across alternatives revealed that for 19 of the 31 signs, an alternative design received a significantly higher rating in its ergonomics design than the conventional sign with the same meaning. We also found a very high correlation between the experts’ ratings and comprehension from previous studies. In conclusion, many countries use signs for which better alternative designs exist, and therefore UN Convention signs should be re-examined, and ergonomics experts evaluation can serve as a good surrogate for road users’ comprehension surveys.

Practitioner summary: This study presents theoretical and methodological bases for evaluating the design of UN Conventional and alternative traffic signs. Human factors and ergonomics experts evaluated 31 conventional and 68 alternative road signs, based on ergonomics principles for sign design. Results indicated the need to re-examine poorly designed UN Convention signs.     

Eliciting and measuring hesitance in decision-making

Hesitance is an innate human psychological phenomenon pervasive in our daily life. Although it is very complex and still not fully understood, there have been many studies related to this interesting topic. In this study, we proposed two fundamental problems about hesitance: the first is the generating problem, which is related to how to elicit hesitance information from human thinking; the second is the measuring problem, which is related to how to devise effective and reasonable methods to measure hesitance degrees from given hesitance information. With these two fundamental questions, we first discussed and analyzed several examples in real life involving hesitance, showing that it can indeed be recorded and represented. Then we roughly classified the hesitance information into two major classes: static hesitance and dynamic hesitance. Some simple and interesting methods were proposed to elicit hesitance, and more reasonable methods were proposed to measure the hesitance degree from the two classes of hesitance information. All methods that have been discussed in this study try to avoid complexity in every aspect while reserving strictness and reasonability; therefore, the present study provides suitable information for practitioners with different backgrounds.     

A gradient boosting decision tree approach for insider trading identification: An empirical model evaluation of China stock market

Insider trading is a kind of criminal behavior in stock market by using nonpublic information. In recent years, it has become the major illegal activity in China’s stock market. In this study, a combination approach of GBDT (Gradient Boosting Decision Tree) and DE (Differential Evolution) is proposed to identify insider trading activities by using data of relevant indicators. First, insider trading samples occurred from year 2007 to 2017 and corresponding non-insider trading samples are collected. Next, the proposed method is trained by the GBDT, and initial parameters of the GBDT are optimized by the DE. Finally, out-of-samples are classified by the trained GBDT–DE model and its performances are evaluated. The experiment results show that our proposed method performed the best for insider trading identification under time window length of ninety days, indicating the relevant indicators under 90-days time window length are relatively more useful. Additionally, under all three time window lengths, relative importance result shows that several indicators are consistently crucial for insider trading identification. Furthermore, the proposed approach significantly outperforms other benchmark methods, demonstrating that it could be applied as an intelligent system to improve identification accuracy and efficiency for insider trading regulation in China stock market.     

某雷达风机组件防护设计改进

对保证某型雷达数字阵列模块（DAM）有效散热的风机组件批量报故问题进行系统分析，兼顾产品外购及其自身特点，并从保证可靠性、控制成本支出的角度，统筹改进方案。完成产品设计、工艺、维护的研究，完成相关改进及实物验证。最终把改进的技术成功用于产品上，以提高产品环境适应性，提升装备可靠性。     

轻量级电驱水下机械臂设计与运动学分析

设计了一款四功能水下机械臂，并对驱动关节进行了模块化设计和密封测试。为了保证水下机械臂的可靠性，在水下机械臂水下测试前，进行了强度校核和模态分析。为了验证水下机械臂的性能，通过 Ｄ- Ｈ法建立了其运动学模型，在此基础上分别进行了正、逆运动学分析。此外还采用蒙特卡洛法，在正运动学分析的基础上研究了工作空间特点。研究结果将为进一步的运动控制提供有益的帮助。     

电化学反应器隔膜材料的分子设计与介尺度策略

电化学反应器中隔膜材料是将正极和负极在电子通路上隔开但在离子传输通路上保持畅通的特殊材料。作为电化学反应器三个关键材料之一，隔膜材料还需耐强酸/强碱和高电压等环境。围绕电化学反应器中隔膜材料，从分子设计的角度针对材料电化学性能与化学稳定性的调控、电化学装置的介观传质性能的促进和改善等研究思路与进展进行了综述，为相关研究提供性能导向的分子设计参考。     

罗河铁矿采空区三维激光扫描及应用分析研究

针对传统采空区探测依靠全站仪测量存在劳动强度大、测量结果不准确等问题,采用BLSS-PE矿用三维激光扫描系统对罗河铁矿45-3^#和47-3^#采空区进行了现场扫描,构建了采空区三维实体模型,并在此基础上计算了采空区体积,说明了传统统计方式存在的不足;计算了矿房的超欠挖体积,为准确量化矿房损失率和贫化率提供了基础数据;基于采空区边界进行了二步骤回采设计,说明了采空区边界对于降低矿房损失贫化的重要意义。     

热仿真技术在加固显示器热设计中的应用

根据某型加固显示器的应用环境及内部功能模块的热特性,选择强迫风冷的散热方式,并通过热仿真计算指导风扇选型,根据仿真结果验证散热方案的可行性。最终,依据试验结果验证仿真结果的准确性,为加固显示器的热设计提供思路。