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In this paper, we investigate the possible deviations of the cosmic distance duality relation (CDDR) using the combination of the largest SNe Ia (Pantheon) and compact radio quasar (QSO) samples through two model-independent approaches. The deviation of CDDR is written as $D_L(z)/D_A(z)(1+z)^{-2}=\eta(z)$ and $\eta(z)=e^{\tau(z)/2}$, with the parameterizations of $F_1$ ($\tau(z) = 2\epsilon_1 z$) and $F_2$ ($\tau(z) = (1+z)^{2\epsilon_2}-1$). Furthermore, in order to compare the two resulting distances, two cosmological-model-independent methods, i.e., the nearby SNe Ia method and the GP method are employed to match the two distinct data at the same redshift. Our findings indicate that, compared with the results obtained in the literature, there is an improvement in precision when the latest SNe Ia and QSO samples are used. Specially, in the framework of nearby SNe Ia method, the CDDR would be constrained at the precision of $\Delta\epsilon_{1} = 0.013$ in Model $F_1$ and $\Delta\epsilon_{2}=0.018$ in Model $F_2$. Regarding the GP method, one observes that a larger data size would produce more stringent constraints on the CDDR parameters. Therefore, accompanied by further developments in cosmological observations and the analysis methods, our analysis provides an insight into the evidence for unaccounted opacity sources at an earlier stage of the universe, or at the very least the new physics involved., Comment: Accepted by CJP, 10 pages, 9 figures

Cu-based MOFs, i.e., HKUST-1, etc., have been pertinently chosen as the pristine materials for CO2ER due to the unique ability of copper for generation hydrocarbon fuel. However, the limited conductivity and stability become the stumbling-block that prevents the development of it. The exploring of MOFs-derived M−C materials starts a new chapter for the MOFs precursors, which provides a remarkable electronic connection between carbon matrix and metals/metal oxides. N-doped M−N−C with extensive M−N sites scattering into the carbon matrix are more popular because of their impressive contribution to catalytic activity and specific product selectivity. Nevertheless, Cu–N–C system remained undeveloped up to now. The lack of ideal precursor, the sensitivity of Cu to be oxidized, and the difficulties in the synthesis of small size Cu nanoparticles are thus known as the main barriers to the development of Cu–N–C electrocatalysts. Herein, a nitrogen-rich Cu–BTT MOF is employed for the derivation of N-doped Cu–N–CT composite electrocatalysts by the pyrolyze method. High-temperature pyrolysis product of Cu–N–C1100 exhibits the best catalytic activity for productions of CO (−0.6 V vs. RHE, jCO = 0.4 mA/cm2) and HCOOH (−0.9 V vs. RHE, jHCOOH = 1.4 mA/cm2).

Spiking neural networks (SNNs) have attracted extensive attentions in Brain-inspired Artificial Intelligence and computational neuroscience. They can be used to simulate biological information processing in the brain at multiple scales. More importantly, SNNs serve as an appropriate level of abstraction to bring inspirations from brain and cognition to Artificial Intelligence. In this paper, we present the Brain-inspired Cognitive Intelligence Engine (BrainCog) for creating brain-inspired AI and brain simulation models. BrainCog incorporates different types of spiking neuron models, learning rules, brain areas, etc., as essential modules provided by the platform. Based on these easy-to-use modules, BrainCog supports various brain-inspired cognitive functions, including Perception and Learning, Decision Making, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, Motor Control, and Social Cognition. These brain-inspired AI models have been effectively validated on various supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning tasks, and they can be used to enable AI models to be with multiple brain-inspired cognitive functions. For brain simulation, BrainCog realizes the function simulation of decision-making, working memory, the structure simulation of the Neural Circuit, and whole brain structure simulation of Mouse brain, Macaque brain, and Human brain. An AI engine named BORN is developed based on BrainCog, and it demonstrates how the components of BrainCog can be integrated and used to build AI models and applications. To enable the scientific quest to decode the nature of biological intelligence and create AI, BrainCog aims to provide essential and easy-to-use building blocks, and infrastructural support to develop brain-inspired spiking neural network based AI, and to simulate the cognitive brains at multiple scales. The online repository of BrainCog can be found at https://github.com/braincog-x., This paper was accepted by Patterns. The accepted version can be seen at https://www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S2666-3899(23)00144-7

The regeneration of hyaline articular cartilage remains a major challenge due to the limited potential for cartilage to self-repair. Mesenchymal stem cell and hydrogel scaffold-based cartilage tissue engineering is a promising technique for articular cartilage therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of rabbit synovial fluid mesenchymal stem cells (rbSF-MSCs) encapsulated in an injectable chitosan-based hydrogel to repair full-thickness cartilage defects in femoral patellar grooves in rabbits. The rbSF-MSCs were obtained from rabbit synovial fluid and the surface markers of rbSF-MSCs were coincidental to the identification criteria of MSCs according to flow cytometry. The rbSF-MSCs were able to differentiate into osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic lineages. In the present study, rbSF-MSCs encapsulated in glycol chitosan (GC) and benzaldehyde capped poly (ethylene oxide) (OHC-PEO-CHO) hydrogel were introduced into rabbits to repair articular cartilage defects. The modulus of the hydrogel could be regulated by the concentrations of GC and OHC-PEO-CHO and the hydrogel has a good biocompatibility to rbSF-MSCs. Assessment of in vivo repair indicates using hydrogel/rbSF-MSCs was superior to using the hydrogel scaffold only and the untreated control based on gross appearance and histological grading and evaluation. These preliminary findings suggest using the injectable chitosan-based hydrogel as a scaffold and rbSF-MSCs as seed cells is an alternative for tissue engineering of in vivo treatments for cartilage defects and these rbSF-MSCs allografts may be promising for use in clinical applications.

The ion specific effects on the microscopic structural and macroscopic thermo-physical properties of molten AF-ThF4 systems (A+ = Li+, Na+ and K+) have been studied using molecular dynamics simulations and quantum chemical calculations. The [ThF8]4− and [ThF7]3− clusters dominate in LiF-ThF4 and KF-ThF4 systems respectively, and they turn out to be comparable in amount in NaF-ThF4. The Th4+-F− clusters become more stable and more isolated along with the size of the alkali species. The alkali ions tend to surround Th4+-F− clusters, and the association between A+ and Th4+-F− cluster becomes stronger when passing from LiF-ThF4 to NaF-ThF4, and then to KF-ThF4. The cage-out time and energy needed for the escape of F− from the first solvation shell of Th4+ show large growth with the size of the alkali species. The electronic structure of the [ThA8F8]4+ complexes indicates that the association between Th4+ and AF is mainly driven by the charge transfer contribution, and the charge transfer between Th centers and AF molecules increase with the size of alkali species. The calculated densities and shear viscosities follow the order of NaF-ThF4 > LiF-ThF4 > KF-ThF4. The computed thermal expansions and massic enthalpies of the three systems increase along with the size of the alkali species. The temperature has little effect on the relative strength of the microscopic Th4+ solvation shells and macroscopic thermos-physical properties for the AF-ThF4 systems.

As a new member of 2D materials, the phosphorene possesses many unique characteristics compared with other carbon-based materials, which is strongly correlated to the structure and the electronic properties of phosphorus, can enable its use in electrochemical energy storage devices. Herein, we present a simpler approach to prepare phosphorene and then use it as an electrode in a new supercapacitor, which has a battery performance but works via the redox reaction of iodide ions on the interface of phosphorene electrode and electrolyte. The phosphorene is prepared by an electrochemical cathodic exfoliation method and the exfoliation mechanism is discussed. The high-quality phosphorene can be obtained within 5 min without ultrasonication and the yield is ∼93.1%. The dimension of phosphorene reaches micrometer grade. By virtue of the merit of the great electrocatalysis effect of phosphorene to iodide ions, the specific discharge capacity reaches to 3181.5 F/g in a three-electrode system and the largest specific energy density is 203.7 Wh/kg in an asymmetric hybrid system.

A new fluorescent probe for ratiometric detection of phosgene is reported. This probe was constructed with classic 1,8-naphthalimide and 2-(2-aminophenyl)benzimidazole by Ullmann coupling reaction. After exposure to phosgene, yellow fluorescence weakened while blue fluorescence enhanced significantly. There was a ratiometric response between 542 nm and 490 nm. The detection limit (LOD) was 6.7 nM and the response time was within 200 s in CHCl3. Meaningfully, a new chromophore, benzo [4,5]imidazo[1,2-c]quinazolin-6(5H)-one, was formed after 2-(2-aminophenyl)benzimidazole unit reacted with phosgene, and the ratiometric response was achieved by two chromophores in which the mechanism was confirmed by 1H NMR spectra, HRMS and theoretical calculation. Furthermore, test papers and nanofibers were fabricated with the probe, which could sensitive detection of phosgene within 10 min and 1 min respectively.

This study investigated microwave extraction approach to extract lipids from the black soldier fly larval containing high lipids for biodiesel production. The comparison of the effects of different factors (solvent types, extraction temperature, and solute-solvent ratio) on the kinetics and thermodynamic of lipids extraction from the energy insect was investigated in detail. A mathematical model of lipids extraction from the pretreatment insect powder was proposed. The solid-solvent ratio and temperature can have a pronounced effect on lipids extraction rate k. The final yield of lipids increased by a factor of about 1.0–1.04 for extraction temperature elevated by 10 °C. The diffusion of lipids in the solvent constituted the limitation step in the process of extraction. The magnitudes of the diffusion coefficients range from 6.7 × 10−12–16.1 × 10−12 m2/s for three solvents used. The values of the activation energy Ea were 84.26 kJ mol−1 during the diffusion stage (30 °C–60 °C). At last, the three thermodynamic parameters results (ΔH, ΔS, ΔG) were also obtained from the extraction process.

Convergent evolution, often viewed as the inevitable outcome of natural selection, has received special attention since the time of Darwin. Clematis is well known for its climbing habit, but it has some shrubby species, known as sect. Fruticella s.l. The shrubby Clematis species are distributed in the dry habitats of Central Asia and adjacent areas showing possible convergent evolution. In this study, we assembled the complete plastome and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) sequences of 56 Clematis species, representing most sections and covering most of the shrubby species, to reconstruct their evolutionary histories. Using both maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods, the plastome and nrDNA datasets generated similar, but not identical, phylogenetic relationships, which are better resolved than in previous studies. Then, molecular dating, historical range reconstruction, and character optimization analyses were conducted based on this updated phylogenetic framework. All the morphological characters widely used for taxonomy were shown to have evolved multiple times. Molecular dating inferred that Clematis diverged from its sister in the mid Miocene, and all six major clades of Clematis originated during the late Miocene, with a species radiation during the Pliocene to Pleistocene. The results clearly showed that the shrubby habit evolved independently in four lineages of Clematis in Asia. We also revealed that the shrubby lineages have emerged since the very beginning of Pliocene. Asian monsoon variation in the Pliocene and glacial period fluctuation in the Pleistocene may be the driving forces for the origin and diversification of the shrubby Clematis in Central Asia and adjacent dry areas.

Black soldier fly, a high lipids containing insect, can be used as a new and viable biomass feed-stock, using organic matters (animal manure, restaurant waste, and fermentation straw) and increasing the overall biodiesel yield. This study proposed microwave extraction method to extract lipid from the insect for biodiesel production. The factors influencing the extraction yield % (w/w) were discussed in detail. Response surface methodology was used to investigate the effect of extraction conditions on the lipid extraction yield. The results obtained by statistical analysis showed that the quadratic model fits in the cases. Gas chromatography mass spectra of the obtained insect lipid revealed 22.54% oleic, 12.67% linoleic, and 6.45% palmitoleic acid in its composition. These compositional data were qualitatively confirmed with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermal gravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analyses of extracted lipid sample. The comparison of the insect fatty acids profile from the energy insect black soldier fly larvae with common biodiesel feed-stocks showed suitability of the insect for production of biodiesel.

An alternative stochastic model for the fundamental diagram of traffic flow with minimal number of parameters is proposed. The key features of the model lie in its “catastrophic” potential function as well as the stochastic nature, which makes it possible to describe the main features of the flow-concentration relation. In particular, the inverse-λ shape as well as the wide scattering of congested traffic data are both reproduced. In our model, the inverse-λ shape and the associated sudden jump of physical quantities arise due to the existence of two simultaneous stable traffic flow states and the scattering of the data, on the other hand, is attributed to the noise terms introduced in the stochastic differential equations. The model parameters are then calibrated and compared qualitatively with the data. It is shown that both the fundamental diagram and its variance are reasonably reproduced.

Aimed at maximizing project value while reducing waste and cost, the lean construction (LC) approach was formally and successfully introduced to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry in 1993. Although LC has rapidly developed since that time, it was not applied to a Chinese construction project until 2005. However, due to insufficient knowledge and poor execution, this first attempt at lean construction in China was inadequate. The aim of this study was therefore to discover if the Chinese construction industry has since discovered how to use lean practices to maximize project value, shorten the project schedule, improve project quality, and reduce waste. This was achieved by conducting a case study of a LC project in Suzhou, China. The case study revealed that implementation of lean practices during the project, including Last Planner System (LPS), Kanban system, Just-In-Time (JIT), prefabrication, Internet of Things (IoT), quality and safety management, and continuous improvement, all contributed to the improvement of project performance. To supplement the case study and to provide insights on the differences between Chinese and international LC, interviews with project stakeholders and a questionnaire survey of global lean experts were conducted. Results indicated that interviewees and survey respondents both held the view that project waiting times and defects can be greatly reduced through the implementation of LC, and that improvement of construction workflow along with project productivity and quality were the two most valuable benefits of using lean practices; there was also a consensus that lack of trust and the abilities of stakeholders are the biggest challenges.

Infrared imaging has been an efficient anti-drone approach due to its low-cost, anti-interference and all-weather working characteristics. However, the detection of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) through infrared camera is still a challenging issue because infrared targets in the field-of-view are usually small and lack of shape and texture features. In this paper, we propose an infrared small target detection and tracking method based on deep learning. We improve the network architecture of Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) for infrared small target detection, called Single Shot MultiBox Detector for Small Target (SSD-ST), by dropping low-resolution layers and enhance high-resolution layer. In addition, in order to further reduce the false alarm rate and improve the precision, we also design an Adaptive Pipeline Filter (APF) based on the temporal correlation and motion information to correct the detection results. We have evaluated our method over a dataset with 16177 infrared images and 30 trajectories. The results show our method is more robust than traditional methods in complex scenes, and achieve a recall rate higher than 90% and a precision higher than 95%, which prove that our method can well complete the detection and tracking task of infrared small targets.

In this paper, sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride (CNS) was synthesized by a facile and efficient heating method, phthalocyanine sensitized CNS via an ultrasound-assisted impregnation method to construct dye/CNS composite materials. The structure and morphology of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis diffused reflectance spectra (DRS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric Analysis Meter (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR). Under visible-light irradiation, the products exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performances for degrading methylene blue (MB). The dramatically improved performance of the composites can be attributed to the increase of specific surface area, the enhancement of the visible-light absorption, and the efficient separation of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T16:32:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-05-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) In this work, we propose an alternative stochastic model for the fundamental diagram of traffic flow with minimal number of parameters. Our approach is based on a mesoscopic viewpoint of the traffic system in terms of the dynamics of vehicle speed transitions. A key feature of the present approach lies in its stochastic nature which makes it possible to study not only the flow-concentration relation, namely, the fundamental diagram, but also its uncertainty, namely, the variance of the fundamental diagram an important characteristic in the observed traffic flow data. It is shown that in the simplified versions of the model consisting of only a few speed states, analytic solutions for both quantities can be obtained, which facilitate the discussion of the corresponding physical content. We also show that the effect of vehicle size can be included into the model by introducing the maximal congestion density kmax. By making use of this parameter, the free flow region and congested flow region are naturally divided, and the transition is characterized by the capacity drop at the maximum of the flow-concentration relation. The model parameters are then adjusted to the observed traffic flow on the 1-80 Freeway Dataset in the San Francisco area from the NGSIM program, where both the fundamental diagram and its variance are reasonably reproduced. Despite its simplicity, we argue that the current model provides an alternative description for the fundamental diagram and its uncertainty in the study of traffic flow. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Univ Sao Paulo, Escola Engn Lorena, Dept Ciencias Basicas & Ambientais, BR-05508 Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Shanghai Inst Appl Phys, Shanghai, Peoples R China Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Engn Guaratingueta, Dept Quim & Fis, Pres Prudente, SP, Brazil Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Engn Guaratingueta, Dept Quim & Fis, Pres Prudente, SP, Brazil

Introduction It is known that the level of the maxillary sinus floor varies with age. Because few studies have investigated whether the position of the posterior roots relative to the maxillary sinus varied with the variation of the sinus floor or not, the present study assessed the position according to age. Methods Cone-beam computed tomographic images of 848 patients were reconstructed to evaluate the position of the posterior roots relative to the sinus floor, which were divided into 3 types, and quantify the distances between posterior root apexes and the adjacent border of the sinus floor. Measurements were taken for each root, and data were correlated with age, which was divided into 4 groups (≤20 years, 21–40 years, 41–60 years, and >60 years). Results A total of 3063 premolars and 3095 molars were evaluated. The mean distances from the root tips to the border of the maxillary sinus floor increased with increasing age. From the first and second premolar roots, the mean distances ranged from 3.6 ± 4.1 mm to 8.9 ± 4.6 mm and from 0.7 ± 3.3 mm to 5.3 ± 3.9 mm, respectively. From the mesiobuccal, distobuccal, and palatinal roots of the first molars, the mean distances were −0.4 ± 2.8 mm to 4.6 ± 4.0 mm, −0.3 ± 2.4 mm to 4.4 ± 3.8 mm, and −0.4 ± 3.5 mm to 3.9 ± 4.1 mm, respectively. From the mesiobuccal, distobuccal, and palatinal roots of the second molars, the mean distances were −0.5 ± 2.2 mm to 3.4 ± 3.5 mm, 0.3 ± 2.2 mm to 3.9 ± 3.7 mm, and 1.1 ± 3.2 mm to 4.6 ± 4.5 mm, respectively. The frequency of type IS decreased with increasing age. It was very low in first premolars (0%–8.13%) and higher in second premolars (0%–25.68%), first molars (0%–44.75%), and second molars (0%–32.89%). Age significantly influenced the mean distances to the sinus floor and the frequencies of type IS (inside). Conclusions Cone-beam computed tomographic imaging is an effective method to study the position of the posterior roots to the maxillary sinus floor. Variation in proximity measurements was found by age, with those under the age of 40 showing a greater likelihood of the position of maxillary roots above/inside the sinus floor.

A series of different mass ratio of SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 hybrids are fabricated via a low temperature co-precipitation method and cobalt phthalocyanine dye sensitized SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 composites (CoPc-SnIn4S8/g-C3N4) obtained through an ultrasonic impregnation method. The existence of CoPc structure over SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 sample has been characterized via XRD, SEM, FT-IR, XPS etc. The vital research of samples on photocatalytic activity is detected by the means of the diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), thermal gravity and differential thermal gravity (TG-DTG) analysis and photoluminescence (PL). The results of photo-degradation activities and hydrogen production abilities confirm that 25 %-SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 composites possess better photocatalytic ability than pure SnIn4S8 or g-C3N4 sample. Besides, the 0.5844 mg CoPc sensitized 50 mg of 25 %-SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 composites (11.6‰ CoPc-25/Sn-C, mass ratio) exhibit the maximum value of H2 evolution around 636.99 μmol g−1 h−1, being 1.35 times as high as the value of 25 %-SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 composites. What’s more, during the degradation process of malachite green (MG), 11.6‰ CoPc-25/Sn-C composites possess highest kapp value of around 0.02086 min-1, which is 2.67 times as much value as the 25 %-SnIn4S8/g-C3N4 composite owns. It can be concluded that not only the incorporation of SnIn4S8 strengthen the utilization of solar energy but also the CoPc dye accelerate the rate of electron migration. Furthermore, the potential photocatalytic mechanism has been proposed.

A water-soluble perylene bisimide derivative of N,N-bis(2-phosphonoethyl)-3,4,9,10-perylenediimide (PPDI) was synthesized by introducing phosphoric acid units. PPDI self-assembled films were prepared controllably on hydroxylated ITO glass through a zirconium-phosphonate approach. There is a linear increase between the film thickness and the number of self-assembly layers. Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical analysis reveal that the PPDI self-assembled films show excellent reversible redox behavior and cathodic electrochromic character which can be switched from a neutral orange-red color to deep purple color in the reduced state. In particular, the PPDI self-assembled film with 10 layers have good integrated performance in term of reasonable optical contrast (31%), fast switching time (0.75 s) and good cycle stability. A large-scale patterned all-solid-state electrochromic device (50 mm × 60 mm) was fabricated by utilizing PPDI self-assembled film as the electrochromic layer and the device shows obvious reversible electrochromism, which provides a new direction for the production of electrochromic device, like smart-window, sunglasses and electronic tags.

Exact solutions of nonlinear models might explain real physical, engineering and biophysical problems, including blood pressure waves, α -helical protein, matter wave and hardening spring effect, and so on. We re-study the breaking soliton model and obtain eleven kinds of variable separation solution by means of the improved tanh-function method with three different ansatz, that is, positive-power ansatz, radical sign combined ansatz, and positive and negative power-symmetric ansatz. By careful analysis of these exact solutions, we find that these seemly independent variable separation solutions actually depend on each other. Therefore, different ansatz of improved tanh-function method are equivalent.

There is a considerable interest in the antennas which have high power handling capacity with beam steering functionality. The design of narrow side waveguide slot-array antenna for high power applications is introduced in this paper. An approach to achieve a uniform radiation slot waveguide antenna is presented. The large scale array antenna can be composed of such antenna cells. Moreover, it is possible to realize beam steering in the azimuth direction by adjusting the broad wall dimension of the waveguide. Besides, this slot waveguide antenna is expected to have high power handling capacity in vacuum environment, because there is no dielectric or electric field enhancement inside the antenna.

Event-by-event hydrodynamics (or hydrodynamics with fluctuating initial conditions) has been developed in the past few years. Here we discuss how it may help to understand the various structures observed in two-particle correlations., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, presented at the Workshop on Saturation, the Color Glass Condensate and Glasma: What Have we Learned from RHIC?

Strain OH11, a Gram-negative, nonspore forming, rod-shaped bacterium with powerful antagonistic activity, was isolated from rhizosphere of green pepper in Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences of China and characterized to determine its taxonomic position. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain OH11 belongs to the Gammaproteobacteria and had the highest degree of sequence similarity to Lysobacter enzymogenes strain C3(AY074793) (99%), Lysobacter enzymogenes strain N4-7(U89965) (99%), Lysobacter enzymogenes strain N4-7 (U89965) (99%), Lysobacter antibioticus strain (AB019582) (97%), and Lysobacter gummosus strain (AB16136) (97%). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that strain OH1I possesses a quinine system with Q-8 as the predominant compound and C(subscript 15:0) iso, C(subscript 17:1) iso ω9c as the predominant iso-branched fatty acids, all of which corroborated the assignment of strain OH11 to the genus Lysobacter. Results of DNA-DNA hybridization and physiological and biochemical tests clearly showed that strain OH11 was classified as Lysobacter enzymogenes. Strain OH11 could produce protease, chitinase, and β-1,3-glucanase. It showed strong in vitro antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia solani, Scierotinia scietotiorum, and several other phytopathogenic fungi. This is the first report of identification and characterization of Lysobacter enzymo genes as a biological control agent of plant diseases in China.

The analysis of sugars in the natural products propolis and bee pollen was carried by high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC), high-performance ligand exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPLEC-PAD) and HPLEC coupled to liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) in the positive ion mode. Eleven samples of propolis were analysed, most of which contained no sugars or only traces of sugars. Similar analysis was performed on five samples of bee pollen which were found to contain glucose, fructose and sucrose. These sugars were quantified by HPLEC-PAD. LC-ESI-MS analysis also indicated small amounts of a trisaccharide in the samples. Calibration curves were linear in the range 0.005-0.5 mg/ml and the LOD for all the sugars was

The quantificational and normative design is the precondition of improving the design of copper staves for blast furnaces. Based on a 3-dimensional temperature field calculation model, from the view point of heat transfer and long campaigns note with the core of forming accretion, the forming-accretion-ability (FAA) and the rib hot surface maximum temperature difference (△T(subscript max)) as quantificational indexes to direct and evaluate the design of copper staves for blast furnaces were presented. The application of the two indexes in design essentially embodies the new long campaigns in the stage of design. With the application of the two indexes, good results can be obtained. Firstly, it was suggested that the rib height of a copper stave can be reduced to 15 mm, which is a new method and theory for the reduction of copper staves. Secondly, the influence of insert on FAA and △T(subscript max) is decided by the volume of insert. According to this, the principle of design for the hot surface geometry of copper staves was put forward that the ratio of the rib hot surface to the copper stave hot surface (abbreviated as the ratio of rib to stave) must be maintained in the range of 45% to 55%; for the present copper stave with a 35-40 mm thick rib, the ratio of rib to stave in the range of 50% to 55% can optimize the design of copper staves; for the copper stave with a smaller rib thickness, for example 15 mm, the ratio of rib to stave in the range of 45% to 50% can optimize the design of copper staves. It can be summarized that the thicker the rib thickness, the larger is the ratio of rib to stave.

Granular metal/insulator (La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 doped with ZrO2) composites were prepared by high-temperature sintering. The effects of sintered time on structure and grain size, as well as on magnetic and electric properties have been investigated. The XRD patterns of all doped samples show that the crystal structure is predominantly a perovskite phase with R c symmetry, in addition to the minor secondary compounds (SrZrO3, La2Zr2O7 and ZrO2). The microscopic studies show that the long-time sintered samples have excellent connectivity between grains. The analysis of XPS reveals that the loss of oxygen occurs during the high-temperature sintering in air. It is also found that with sintered time increasing the paramagnetic insulator-ferromagnetic metal transition temperature T-C (or T-P) decreases gradually and the room-temperature magnetoresistance increases significantly. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The electronic and magnetic structures of both face-centered-cubic (FCC) and body-centered-cubic (BCC) FM 1− x Pd x (FM representing Co, Ni) ordered alloys at x=0.25, 0.5, 0.75 have been calculated using the first principles linearized augmented plane-wave method with the local spin density approximation. The results show that FCC-Co 1− x Pd x , BCC-Co 1− x Pd x and FCC-Ni 1− x Pd x are ferromagnetic at all the compositions considered, but BCC-Ni 1− x Pd x is ferromagnetic only at x =0.25 and 0.5 and is paramagnetic at x =0.75. The calculation also indicates that, except BCC-Ni 1− x Pd x at x =0.75, the Pd atoms are strongly spin polarized while the magnetic moments of Ni and Co atoms are significantly enhanced in the Ni 1− x Pd x and Co 1− x Pd x alloys compared to their pure metal phases.

By means of the Furnstahl, Serot and Tang's model, the effects of surface tension and Coulomb interaction on the liquid-gas phase transition for finite nuclei are investigated. A limit pressure p-lim above which the liquid-gas phase transition cannot take place has been found. It is found that comparing to the Coulomb interaction, the contribution of surface tension is dominate in low temperature regions. The binodal surface is also addressed., Comment: LaTex, 8 pages with 6 figs

The optical constants used in metallic multilayer structures may differ from those measured in air using a two-phase model and thus will affect the design performance of an optical device. To understand the effect better, we used Dove prisms with different refractive indices as the substrates. The spectroscopic ellipsometry method was used to measure directly the optical constants of Ag and Au films which were thermally or electron-beam evaporated on the bottom of the prisms. In this configuration, the optical constants of the films can be measured at the metal-air and metal-substrate interfaces. Upon data reduction, we found that the optical constants of a given film measured at the metal-substrate interface do change with the refractive index of the substrate and differ from those measured at the metal-air interface in both of the Drude and interband transition regions. These results agree with those obtained by other authors in a liquid-contacting situation, and need to be studied in great detail in the future.

This paper presents a method for identifying elastic and damping properties of composite laminates by using vibration test data. The analysis model is established based on a finite element model which considers the effect of transverse shear deformation and hysteretic damping. The reduced elastic constants and material loss factors are selected as the updated parameters. Since the damping mainly causes a change of the imaginary part in eigenvalues and eigenvectors, the complex modal parameters are measured. The selected parameters are identified by minimizing an error function containing the deviations of eigenvalues and responses between experiment and analysis. The numerical study shows that satisfactory results including transverse shear moduli can be obtained by designing a suitable plate specimen. Experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. In principle, the present method allows all elastic constants and damping factors to be determined simultaneously.

Epitaxial growth of Ni thin films on GaAs(0 0 1) and their magnetic property have been investigated using reflection high energy electron diffraction and magneto-optical Kerr effect. The result shows that a body-centered-cubic (BCC) phase of Ni which does not exist in nature can grow epitaxially up to 2.5 nm on the GaAs(0 0 1) substrate, and it is determined to be ferromagnetic showing a four-fold in-plane magnetic anisotropy with the easy axes along the 〈1 0 0〉 directions.

To study the optical properties of the metal–insulator granular films, a series of Ni x SiO 2(1 −x ) and Au x SiO 2(1 −x ) granular films was made with variation of x and the annealing process. The complex dielectric function was measured in the 1.5–4.8 eV photon energy range. New spectral features were found in the dielectric functions. For AuSiO 2 samples, the new peak in e 2 spectra is seen around 2 eV, especially for x =0.67. The e 1 spectra change continuously from positive to negative at the low–photon energy range, resulting in a true e 1 associated with the plasmon occurred at 2.0–2.5 eV and at about 3.6 eV for the Au- and Ni-based films, respectively. Comparing to previous data, the experimental results obtained in this work provide richer information to understand better the optical properties of the metal-granular films that are not well predicated by the theoretical model. The effect will be useful in the metallic multilayer structure design applications.

The magneto-optical properties of Co x Ag 100− x granular films annealed at 100, 250, 400, 500°C, respectively, were carefully studied. Both the optical and magneto-optical constants were measured in the experiment. It was found the Kerr rotation and ellipticity increased with increasing content of Co. For the samples Co 2 Ag 98 , the Kerr effect is enhanced dramatically with the resonant peaks appearing in the 3.7–4.1-eV photon energy range after annealing. In terms of the optical constant and the magneto-optical quantity of e xy , the line shape of the Kerr spectra origin is analyzed. The peaks are attributed to the plasma oscillation correlated to the onset of the interband transition that is related to the band structure of the granular films with increasing granular size after annealing.

The electronic and magnetic structures of both face-centered-cubic (FCC) and body-centered-cubic (BCC) Co 1− x Pd x ordered alloys at x =0.25, 0.50, 0.75 have been calculated using the first principles linearized augmented plane-wave (LAPW) method with the local spin density approximation (LSDA). It is found that both FCC-Co 1− x Pd x and BCC-Co 1− x Pd x are ferromagnetic at all the compositions considered above. It is also noticed that the Pd atoms in these situations are strongly spin-polarized, meanwhile magnetic moments of Co are significantly enhanced.