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Using isochronous mass spectrometry at the experimental storage ring CSRe in Lanzhou, the masses of 82Zr and 84Nb were measured for the first time with an uncertainty of ∼10 keV, and the masses of 79Y, 81Zr, and 83Nb were re-determined with a higher precision. The latter are significantly less bound than their literature values. Our new and accurate masses remove the irregularities of the mass surface in this region of the nuclear chart. Our results do not support the predicted island of pronounced low α separation energies for neutron-deficient Mo and Tc isotopes, making the formation of Zr–Nb cycle in the rp-process unlikely. The new proton separation energy of 83Nb was determined to be 490(400) keV smaller than that in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2012. This partly removes the overproduction of the p-nucleus 84Sr relative to the neutron-deficient molybdenum isotopes in the previous νp-process simulations. Keywords: Atomic masses, Ion storage ring, Isochronous mass spectrometry, rp-Process, νp-Process

Short-lived 46Cr, 50Fe and 54Ni were studied by isochronous mass spectrometry at the HIRFL-CSR facility in Lanzhou. The measured precision mass excesses (ME) of 46Cr, 50Fe and 54Ni are −29471(11) keV, −34477(6) keV and −39278(4) keV, respectively. The superallowed 0+→0+ β-decay Q values were derived to be QEC(Cr46)=7604(11) keV, QEC(Fe50)=8150(6) keV and QEC(Ni54)=8731(4) keV. The values for 50Fe and 54Ni are by one order of magnitude more precise than the adopted literature values. By combining the existing half-lives and branching ratios, we obtained the corrected Ft values to be Ft(Fe50)=3103(70) s and Ft(Ni54)=3076(50) s. The main contribution to the Ft uncertainties is now due to β-decay branching ratios, still, more high-precision measurements of the half-lives, the masses, and especially the branching ratios are needed in order to satisfy the requirements for a stringent CVC test.

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) play a regulatory role in various physiological processes in mammals and act as endogenous ligands for the G protein-coupled receptors (GPR) 41 and 43. The role of GPR41 and GPR43 in mediating SCFA signaling in the rabbit remains unclear. The present study was to investigate the sequence of the GPR41 and GPR43 messenger RNA (mRNA) and their expression pattern in different tissues and developmental stages in New Zealand rabbit. Comparison of genomic sequences in GenBank using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool program suggested that the New Zealand rabbit GPR41 mRNA has high similarities with the human (84%), bovine (84%) and Capra hircus (84%) genes. Similarly, GPR43 mRNA has high similarity with the rat (84%) and mouse (84%) genes. Real-time PCR results indicated that GPR41 and GPR43 mRNA were expressed throughout rabbit’s whole development and were expressed in several tissues. G protein-coupled receptor 41 and GPR43 mRNA were most highly expressed in pancreas (P

Sintered metal fiber sheets (MFSs) made by sequential-overlap method are transversely isotropic open-cell cellular materials with paper-like fiber network architectures, which exhibit auxeticity and are promising for various potential applications due to the reentrant micro-structure. The thickness effect on the out-of-plane auxeticity (negative Poisson's ratio) of MFSs samples of 2–20 mm thick subjected to in-plane tensile loading is investigated with digital image correlation technique. Furthermore, the deformation modes of fibers within MFSs during various loading stages are examined with X-ray tomography. It is found that in addition to the straightening of reentrant fibers, fiber layers with defects and joints failure induced slippage between adjacent layers leads to local shear and results in unique umbrella-like local deformation termed umbrella effect, which gradually dominates the auxeticity during tensile loading. Although remarkably increasing lateral deformation, the umbrella effect significantly diminishes the in-plane mechanical performance such as rigidity and strength. In particular, this effect is suppressed by sample thickness: the overall performance tends to stabilize with sample thickness greater than a certain value, provided that the MFS is uniform with all fibers randomly distributed. The finding facilitates wider application of auxetic MFSs with further understanding on the relationship between the thickness effect and performance. Keywords: Metal fiber network, Auxetic behavior, Micro-structure, Size effect