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This study investigates the strengthening mechanism and carbide precipitation behavior of medium Mn steel with Nb-Mo microalloy after cyclic quenching and austenite reverse transformation treatment. The results show that the Nb/Mo element not only precipitates (Nb,Mo)C in the grains, hindering the movement of dislocations and increases the strength, but also segregates at the austenite/ferrite grain boundary, thus delaying the transformation from austenite to ferrite. In addition, a large amount of nano-scale cementite is retained after cyclic quenching and austenite reverse transformation, which has a positive effect on the proportion of retained austenite in medium Mn steel. Moreover, the carbides with small size and low Mn content are dissolved, and the decomposed C and Mn content are beneficial to the nucleation of austenite during the intercritical annealing process at a temperature of 690 °C.

Carotenoids are natural functional pigments produced by plants and microorganisms and play essential roles in human health. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata L.) is an economically important vegetable in terms of production and consumption. It is highly nutritious and contains β-carotene, lutein, and other antioxidant carotenoids. Here, we systematically analyzed carotenoid biosynthetic genes (CBGs) on the whole genome to understand the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in cabbage. In total, 62 CBGs were identified in the cabbage genome, which are orthologs of 47 CBGs in Arabidopsis thaliana. Out of the 62 CBGs, 46 genes in cabbage were mapped to nine chromosomes. Evolutionary analysis of carotenoid biosynthetic orthologous gene pairs among B. oleracea, B. rapa, and A. thaliana revealed that orthologous genes of B. oleracea underwent a negative selection similar to that of B. rapa. Expression analysis of the CBGs showed functional differentiation of orthologous gene copies in B. oleracea and B. rapa. Exogenous phytohormone treatment suggested that ETH, ABA, and MeJA can promote some important CBGs expression in cabbage. Phylogenetic analysis showed that BoPSYs exhibit high conservatism. Subcellular localization analysis indicated that BoPSYs are located in the chloroplast. This study is the first to study carotenoid biosynthesis genes in cabbage and provides a basis for further research on carotenoid metabolic mechanisms in cabbage.

Rabies is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by rabies virus (RABV), and its mortality rate is as high as 100%. Globally, an average of 60,000 people die from rabies each year. The most effective method to prevent and limit rabies is vaccination, but it is currently expensive and inefficient, consisting of a 3-dose series of injections and requiring to be immunized annually. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a single dose of long-acting rabies vaccine. In this study, recombinant rabies virus (rRABV) overexpressing interleukin-33 (IL-33) was constructed and designated as rLBNSE-IL33, and its effect was evaluated in a mouse model. The results showed that rLBNSE-IL33 could enhance the quick production of RABV-induced immune antibodies as early as three days post immunization (dpi) through the activation of dendritic cells (DCs), a component of the innate immune system. Furthermore, rLBNSE-IL33 induced high-level virus-neutralizing antibodies (VNA) production that persisted for 8 weeks by regulating the T cell-dependent germinal center (GC) reaction, thus resulting in better protection against rabies. Our data suggest the IL-33 is a novel adjuvant that could be used to enhance innate and humoral immune responses by activating the DC-GC reaction, and thus, rLBNSE-IL33 could be developed as a safe and effective vaccine for animals.

Site investigations of the soils are considered very important for evaluation of the site conditions, as well as the design and construction for the project built in it. Taihu tunnel is thus far the longest tunnel constructed in the lake in China, with an entire length of over 10 km. However, due to the very insufficient site data obtained for the lacustrine clay in the Taihu lake area, a series of self-boring pressuremeter (SBPM) field tests was therefore carried out. Undrained shear strengths were deduced from the SBPM test, with the results showing generally higher than those obtained from the laboratory tests, which may be attributed to the disturbance to the soil mass during the sampling process. Degradation characteristics of the soil shear modulus (Gs) were mainly investigated, via a thorough comparison between different soil layers, and generally, the shear modulus would cease its decreasing trends and become stable when the shear strain reaches over 1%. Meanwhile, it was found that a linear relationship between the plasticity index and the shear modulus, and between the decay rate of the shear modulus and the plasticity index as well, could be developed. Further statistical analysis over the undrained shear strength and shear modulus distribution of the soils shows that the undrained shear strength of the soils follows a normal distribution, while the shear modulus follows a log-normal distribution. More importantly, the spatial correlation length of the shear modulus is found much smaller than that of the undrained strength.

Simple Summary In insects, the precise timing of metamorphosis and diapause is regulated by hormones. The Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi, is a typical pupal diapause insect. Bivoltine species enter diapause in winter and terminate it under suitable environmental conditions in the following year; they produce 70% of total cocoons, whereas univoltine species in lower-latitude areas enter diapause in summer and contribute just one generation a year. A long photoperiod can trigger termination of pupal diapause. It is not clear how photoperiod influences hormone gene expression. Here, hormone-related genes were cloned, and their expression patterns were studied under different photoperiod treatments. The results will help us to understand the molecular changes during diapause termination under long photoperiods and improve breeding of multi-generation tussah pupae in areas where they are naturally univoltine. Abstract The Chinese oak silkworm is commonly used in pupal diapause research. In this study, a long photoperiod was used to trigger pupal diapause termination. Genes encoding three hormones, namely prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH), ecdysis triggering hormone (ETH), and eclosion hormone (EH), were studied. Additionally, ecdysteroids (mainly 20-hydroxyecdysone, 20E) were quantified by HPLC. Pupal diapause stage was determined by measuring respiratory intensity. The pupae enter a low metabolic rate, which starts approximately 1 month after pupal emergence. ApPTTH expression showed a small increase at 14 days and then a larger increase from 35 days under the long photoperiod treatment. A similar pattern was observed for the titer of 20E in the hemolymph. However, ApETH expression later increased under the long photoperiod treatment (42 days) just before eclosion. Moreover, ApEH expression increased from 21 to 35 days, and then decreased before ecdysis. These results suggest that hormone-related gene expression is closely related to pupal development. Our study lays a foundation for future diapause studies in A. pernyi.

This paper proposed a solid-mounted (SM) longitudinally excited shear wave resonator (i.e., YBAR). By adopting a 200 nm x-cut LiNbO3 film, top (aluminum) and bottom (platinum) electrodes in 50 nm thickness and 500 nm width, this resonator simultaneously achieves an operating frequency over 5 GHz with an electromechanical coupling coefficient exceeding 50%. Compared with previously proposed YBAR with suspended structure, the proposed SM-YBAR can effectively suppress unwanted spurious modes with only a slight loss of the electromechanical coupling coefficient. The SM-YABR also provides better device stability, possible low-temperature drift coefficient, and a more convenient and mature device processing. It has the potential to meet the multiple requirements for the next generation signal processing devices in terms of high frequency, large bandwidth, stability, and low cost, etc.