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Anisotropic photonic structures play a vital role in tailoring micro- and nanoscale light-matter interactions. In this work, we investigate the interference and localization effects in two-dimensional disordered media containing dipolar scatterers with anisotropic positional correlations. We study the anisotropy-induced frequency shifts in the transmission spectra, which cannot be accounted for by the independent scattering approximation or effective medium theory. We reveal that the distribution of eigenmodes strongly depends on the anisotropic structural correlations, and in all cases, Anderson localized modes are observed although their spatial extent exhibits different degrees of anisotropy. By calculating the level statistics, we demonstrate that the introduction of anisotropy to structural correlations has nontrivial effects on the level spacing statistics, which can be somewhat captured by a critical distribution function that works in the metal–insulator transition regime. This work can provide physical insights into the wave aspects of light transport in disordered media due to anisotropic structural correlations and guide the design of novel nanophotonic devices based on resonant scatterers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the topological plasmon polaritons (TPPs) in one-dimensional dimerized doped silicon nanoparticle chains, as an analogy of the topological edge states in the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model. The photonic band structures are analytically calculated by taking all near-field and far-field dipole–dipole interactions into account. For longitudinal modes, it is demonstrated that the band topology can be well characterized by the complex Zak phase irrespective of the lattice constant and doping concentration. By numerically solving the eigenmodes of a finite system, it is found that a dimerized chain with a nonzero complex Zak phase supports nontrivial topological eigenmodes localized over both edges. By changing the doping concentration of Si, it is possible to tune the resonance frequency of the TPPs from far-infrared to near-infrared, and the localization lengths of the edge modes are also modulated accordingly. In addition, it is shown that a higher working temperature can lead to significantly smaller decay rates. Since these TPPs are highly protected modes that can achieve a strong confinement of electromagnetic waves and are also immune to impurities and disorder, they can provide a potentially tunable tool for robust and enhanced light–matter interactions in the infrared spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rise of artificial magnetism and metamaterials, the toroidal family recently attracted more attention for its unique properties. Here, we propose an all-dielectric pentamer metamolecule consisting of nano-cylinders with two toroidal dipolar resonances, whose frequencies, EM distributions, and Q factor can be efficiently tuned due to the additional electric dipole mode offered by a central cylinder. To further reveal the underlying coupling effects and the formation mechanism of toroidal responses, the multiple scattering theory is adopted. It is found that the first toroidal dipole mode, which can be tuned from 2.21 to 3.55 μ m , is mainly induced by a collective electric dipolar resonance, while the second one, which can be tuned from 1.53 to 1.84 μ m , relies on the cross coupling of both electric and magnetic dipolar responses. The proposed low-loss metamolecule and mode coupling analyses may pave the way for the efficient design of toroidal responses in advanced optical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural correlations in the microscopic structures of random media can induce the dependent scattering mechanism and thus influence the optical scattering properties. Based on our recent theory on the dependent scattering mechanism in random media composed of discrete dipolar scatterers [B. X. Wang and C. Y. Zhao, Phys. Rev. A 97, 023836 (2018)], in this paper, we study the hard-sphere Yukawa random media, in order to further elucidate the role of structural correlations in the dependent scattering mechanism and hence optical scattering properties. Here, we consider charged colloidal suspensions, whose effective pair interaction between colloids is described by a screened Coulomb (Yukawa) potential. By means of adding salt ions, the pair interaction between the charged particles can be flexibly tailored and therefore the structural correlations are modified. It is shown that this strategy can affect the optical properties significantly. For colloidal TiO2 suspensions, the modification of electric and magnetic dipole excitations induced by the structural correlations can substantially influence the optical scattering properties, in addition to the far-field interference effect described by the structure factor. However, this modification is only slightly altered by different salt concentrations and is mainly because of the packing-density-dependent screening effect. On the other hand, for low refractive index colloidal polystyrene suspensions, the dependent scattering mechanism mainly involves the far-field interference effect, and the effective exciting field amplitude for the electric dipole almost remains unchanged under different structural correlations. The present study has profound implications for understanding the role of structural correlations in the dependent scattering mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molten salt electrolysis was applied for the boronizing of nickel with Na2B4O7·10H2O-Na2CO3 as the electrolyte and characterizations and the growth kinetics of borided layer is reported. The experiment was carried out in silicon carbide crucible at 1193 K, 1223 K, and 1243 K for 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, and 4 h. The morphology and phases formed on the surface of pure nickel were analyzed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The surface hardness and corrosion resistance of the boronized sample were tested by micro hardness tester and electrochemical workstation, respectively. The borided layer was composed of nickel borides and its thickness ranged from 71 to 184 µm. After 1 h of boronizing, the hardness of the silicon rich borides is 966 HK, which is a little lower than that of the nickel borides (992-1008 HK); the surface hardness reached 1755 HK after 4 h electrolysis. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis showed that the corrosion resistance of boronized sample is better than that of pure nickel. Borided layer growth kinetics was studied by analyzing the relationship between thickness of the borided layer and time by mathematical method. Then the diffusion coefficient constant of boron atom in nickel at 1193 K, 1223 K and 1243 K was calculated accordingly and an equation was obtained to estimate the thickness of the borided layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The typical yttria-stabilized zirconia material for making the thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) is intrinsically semitransparent to thermal radiation, and the unique disordered microstructures in TBCs make them surprisingly highly scattering. To quantitatively understand the influence of disordered microstructures, this paper presents a quantitative prediction on the radiative properties, especially the transport scattering coefficient of plasma sprayed TBC based on microstructure analysis and rigorous electromagnetic theory. The impact of the porosity, shape, size, and orientation of different types of voids on transport scattering coefficient is comprehensively investigated under the discrete dipole approximation. An inverse model integrating these factors together is then proposed to quantitatively connect transport scattering coefficient with microstructural information, which is also validated by available experimental data. Afterwards, an optimization procedure is carried out based on this model to obtain the optimal size and orientation distribution of the microscale voids to achieve the maximal radiation insulation performance at different operating temperatures, providing guidelines for practical coating design and fabrication. This work suggests that the current model is effective and also efficient for connecting scattering properties to microstructures and can be implemented as a quantitative tool for further studies like non-destructive infrared imaging as well as micro/nanoscale thermal design of TBCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most cermet-based coatings achieve their solar selectivities by the tandem interference effect, which has been widely studied. This study focused on the spectral selectivity achieved by the scattering effect of metal particles in cermet-based coatings. Previous research proved that reasonable solar selectivities can be obtained for cermets in the regime of particles with a radius of the order of 100 nm, but their solar absorptance is low (<90%). In our research, the effect of metal particles on the spectral selectivity of cermets was studied by the Mie theory and Monte Carlo simulation for Cr, Ni, and W particles with radii of 10 nm, 50 nm, 100 nm, and 200 nm, which were embedded in Al2O3 and occupied 5% of the volume fraction. It was found that by arranging different particles in different layers, a very high solar absorptance (95.6%) could be achieved. Since their thermal emittance (~25% at 600 °) was higher than that of normal coatings, these coatings are recommended to be used in solar absorbers that have a high concentration factor. Finally, the dependent scattering effect was qualitatively considered by the coupled-dipole approach. With a metal volume fraction of 5%, it was found that the effect of dependent scattering was small and should not change the conclusions made based on independent scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topological photonic crystals inherit the unique properties of topological insulators, including topologically protected energy transfer and unidirectional propagation, which offer an excellent platform for exploring exotic physics and developing photonic devices. However, topological photonic crystals possessing mid-infrared edge modes that have potential applications in infrared imaging, biosensing, thermal radiation energy transfer, etc., are seldom brought into focus. In this work, we study the topological properties of a photonic crystal slab (PCS) consisting of silicon square veins in the mid-infrared, which is intended to mimic the two-dimensional Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model. By interfacing topologically trivial and nontrivial PCSs, mid-infrared edge modes can appear at domain wall, according to the principle of bulk-edge correspondence. It is also demonstrated high-efficiency mid-infrared light transport can be achieved by these edge modes. In addition, adjusting the vertical offset near the interface can manipulate the bandwidth for various applications and turns the connected PCS structure to a photonic realization of Rice–Mele model. We further fabricate the PCS and provide an experimental observation of transverse-electric-like edge modes in mid-infrared by using the scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope. Additionally, we integrate it with phase change material of nanoscale thickness, Ge2Sb2Te5, to realize an ultrafast and switchable topological waveguide with zero static power. This work not only enriches the fundamental understanding of topological physics in mid-infrared optical settings, but also shows promising prospects in compact devices for energy transfer and information processing for light sources in these wavelengths, for instance, thermal radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This work is aiming at investigating algicidal characterization of a bacterium isolate DHQ25 against harmful alga Alexandrium tamarense. Methods and Results: 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that the most probable affiliation of DHQ25 belongs to the γ-proteobacteria subclass and the genus Vibrio. Bacterial isolate DHQ25 showed algicidal activity through an indirect attack. Xenic culture of A. tamarense was susceptible to the culture filtrate of DHQ25 by algicidal activity assay. Algicidal process demonstrated that the alga cell lysed and cellular substances released under the visual field of microscope. DHQ25 was a challenge controller of A. tamarense by the above characterizations of algicidal activity assay and algicidal process. Conclusion: Interactions between bacteria and harmful algal bloom (HAB) species proved to be an important factor regulating the population of these algae. Significance and Impact of Study: This is the first report of a Vibrio sp . bacterium algicidal to the toxic dinoflagellate A. tamarense. The findings increase our knowledge of the role of bacteria in algal-bacterial interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon content in pig iron has long been used as one of the most important indices to represent the thermal state of a blast furnace. The control of silicon at a low level has been regarded as one of the most important operational techniques. In this paper, a mathematical program was developed to predict and control the silicon content in pig iron. The program includes three main models: the self-learning model, the prediction model and the control model. The first is to train the program by the intelligent method integrating artificial neural network with genetic algorithm according to the past processing variables. The second is to predict the next silicon content according to the current processing variables. The last is to control the subsequent behaviour of silicon based on the expert knowledge. From practical applications it was found that the program can provide both accurate predicted silicon content and corresponding operational guidance. It is very useful to stabilise silicon content and as low as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a Gleeble 1500 hot simulator, the dynamic recrystallisation (DRX) behaviour and changes of DRX grain size of a Mn–Cr type gear steel have been investigated at deformation temperatures of 900–1150°C, strain rates of 0·1–1 s-1, and initial austenite grain sizes of 70–150μm. The experimental results show that the Mn–Cr gear steel exhibits a typical DRX behaviour under higher deformation temperatures, lower strain rates and smaller initial austenite grain sizes. The DRX takes place under conditions such that the Zener–Hollomon parameter Z is less than a critical value Zc. By regression analysis, activation energy and stress exponent were determined to be 378 kJ mol-1 and 5·8 respectively. The DRX grain size is a power law function of Z with an exponent of -0·25. The reason why the Z parameter determines uniquely the DRX grain size was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yellow horn ( Xanthoceras sorbifolia ) is a woody deciduous shrub or small tree native to northwest China that has been widely planted for bioactive oil production and ecological restoration. Ten years of field experiments indicate that yellow horn is well adapted to desert and xeric habitats of Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang, China, and is an excellent prospect for alternative agricultural production and revegetation of arid regions as well as production of bioactive oils. In Horqin Sandy Lands, 7–11 year old unselected mixed lines averaged 152.30 kg/ha seeds, and selected pure lines averaged 1944.89 kg/ha, with average seed oil content of 25% and 34%, respectively. Seeds contain about 90% unsaturated fatty acids (C18:1, C18:2, C18:3, C20:1, C20:2, C20:5, C22:1 and C24:1) and 10% fatty acids comprised primarily of C16:0 and C18:0. Yellow horn seed oils are very high quality with low acid levels of 0.52 mg KOH/g (73% of which is unsaturated C18). Interestingly, the concentration of C24:1, an important bioactive compound is over 2%. Yellow horn is a unique plant species with potentially strong value for both ecological restoration of arid habitats and control of desertification, as well as an important and sustainable producer of high quality bioactive oils, which are used for food, healthy diets, and medical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of forage: concentrate ratio (F:C) on growth performance, ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites of housing-feeding yaks. Thirty-two Maiwa male yaks (initial body weight = 207.99±3.31 kg) were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (8 yaks per treatment). Experimental diets were: A, B, C, D which contained 70:30, 60:40, 50:50 and 40:60 F:C ratios, respectively. Dry matter intake and average daily gain in yaks fed the C and D diets were greater (p<0.05) than yaks fed the A and B diets. No differences were found in ruminal NH3-N, total volatile fatty acids, acetate, butyrate, valerate, and isovalerate concentrations. The propionate concentration was increased (p<0.05) in the C and D groups compared with the A and B diets. In contrast, the acetate to propionate ratio was decreased and was lowest (p<0.05) in the C group relative to the A and B diets, but was similar with the D group. For blood metabolites, no differences were found in serum concentrations of urea-N, albumin, triglyceride, cholesterol, low density lipoprotein, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase (p>0.05) among treatments. Treatment C had a higher concentration of total protein and high density lipoprotein (p<0.05) than A and B groups. In addition, there was a trend that the globulin concentration of A group was lower than other treatments (p = 0.079). Results from this study suggest that increasing the level of concentrate from 30% to 50% exerted a positive effect on growth performance, rumen fermentation and blood metabolites in yaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a coupled heat and stress model, an artificial intelligence optimisation program was developed to optimise the process parameters in the continuous casting of steel. The program can be used to identify the key factors for the cracks of the strand and obtain the optimum process parameters of continuous casting. The optimisation program contains two models, one is the thermomechanical model developed using the finite difference method, and the other is the optimisation model developed using the subproblem approximation method. The whole program works by automatic iteration between the two models. This study has taken the stress constraint in the solidified shell into consideration when studying the metallurgical constraints. The application of the achieved optimum parameters would make it possible to run the caster at maximum productivity, with minimum cost and fewer defects. After manufacturing verification of this optimisation project, the incidence of cracks has reduced from 8% to 2%, and water consumption in the secondary cooling zone has been decreased by 25%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical investigations were conducted to understand forced laminar fluid flow over coiled pipes with circular cross-section. The focus was addressed on exploring the convective heat transfer from conical and helical coils with comparative studies. The same numerical investigation method was applied to the two differentially coiled pipes (helical and conical) and for different Reynolds numbers corresponding to five cases of exterior flow arrangement. The results show better heat transfer performance for cases of conical coils where much flow turbulence was observed due to an effective flow arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An investigation was conducted to understand thermally fully developed convective transport phenomena induced by both electroosmosis and pressure gradients in a narrow parallel channel. A model was developed to describe the fluid flow and associated heat transport phenomena. Both the dimensionless temperature profile and the Nusselt number were obtained analytically with and without Joule heating with an investigation conducted to understand the importance of Joule heating and the ratio of the hydraulic flow rate to the electroosmotic flow rate. The emphasis of the comprehensive discussion is on understanding the physical significance of the singularities of the flow behavior and heat transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experimental facility was set up to study the flow and boiling heat transfer characteristics of water and methanol flowing through V-shape microchannels. The microchannels have hydraulic diameters ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 mm and V-shape groove angles 0 of 30 to 60°. Both the heat transfer and the pressure drop were affected by the thermofluid and geometric parameters such as liquid flow velocity, subcooling, and the hydraulic diameter and groove angle of the microchannels. The experiments indicted that there exists both an optimum hydraulic diameter and an optimum groove angle. The visualization experiments showed that, if there was a good seal between the glass cover and the microchanneled test plate, no bubbles were observed in the microchannels for flow boiling with heat fluxes as high as of the order of 106 W/m2, at which fully nucleate boiling with a large number of bubbles would be expected in conventional situations. Fluctuating liquid flow was induced in the microchannels when many bubbles formed in the inlet plenum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The forced-flow convection of water through rectangular microchannels having hydraulic diameters of 0.133-0.367 mm and aspect ratios of H/W = 0.333-1 was investigated experimentally. The flow friction was measured to analyze the heat transfer regimes and to explore the physical aspects of the connective heat transfer. The experimental measurements indicated that the upper bound of the laminar heat transfer regime occurred at a Reynolds number of 200-700, and fully turbulent connective heat transfer was reached at Reynolds numbers of 400-1,500. The transition Reynolds number diminished with the reduction of the microchannel dimension, and the transition range was observed to become smaller in magnitude. For the laminar heat transfer regime, the Nusselt number was found to be proportional to Re0.62while the turbulent heat transfer case exhibited a typical relationship between Nu and Re, but with a different empirical coefficient, CH,t. The geometric parameters were found to be important variables that could significantly affect the flow characteristics and heat transfer. The laminar connective heat transfer had a maximum value when the aspect ratio, H/W, was approximately equal to 0.75, and the turbulent heat transfer was optimal when the aspect ratio was in the range 0.5-0.75. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Experiments were conducted to investigate the flow characteristics of water flowing through rectangular microchannels having hydraulic diameters of 0.133-0.367 mm and H/W ratios of 0.333-1. Experimental results indicated that the laminar flow transition occurred at Reynolds numbers of 200-700. This critical Re for the laminar transition was strongly affected by the hydraulic diameter, decreasing with corresponding decreases in the microchannel. In addition, the size of the transition range was diminished and fully developed turbulent flow also occurred at much lower Re. The friction behavior of both the laminar and turbulent flow was found to depart from the classical thermqfluid correlations. lite friction factor, f, was found to be proportional to Re−1.98 rather than Re for the laminar condition, and proportional to Re−1.72i for turbulent flow. The geometric parameters, hydraulic diameter, and H/W were found to be the most important parameters and had a critical effect on the flow. Generally, increasing the ratio H/W increases the friction factor. The reduction of the microchannel hydraulic radius decreases the friction factor significantly for a given H/W. There exists a special range of ratio H/W (approximately 0.5 mm) at which the experimental data are lower than the predictions obtained from classical correlations. Continued reduction of channel size increases the difference between fI,expf1,theo at REcri, and the quantity of fI,exp becomes smaller within the region adjacent to H/W = 0.5, and larger when H /Wis out of this region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This prospective, randomized, phase III trial shows that prophylactic cranial irradiation prolongs disease-free survival, decreases the rate of cerebral metastases and does not affect quality-of-life for patients with fully resected postoperative pathologically confirmed stage IIIA-N2 non-small-cell lung cancer and high risk of cerebral metastases after adjuvant chemotherapy.Background This study compared prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) with observation in patients with resected stage IIIA–N2 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and high risk of cerebral metastases after adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients and methods In this open-label, randomized, phase III trial, patients with fully resected postoperative pathologically confirmed stage IIIA–N2 NSCLC and high cerebral metastases risk without recurrence after postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy were randomly assigned to receive PCI (30 Gy in 10 fractions) or observation. The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS). The secondary end points included the incidence of brain metastases, overall survival (OS), toxicity and quality of life. Results This trial was terminated early after the random assignment of 156 patients (81 to PCI group and 75 to control group). The PCI group had significantly lengthened DFS compared with the control group, with a median DFS of 28.5 months versus 21.2 months [hazard ratio (HR), 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.46–0.98; P = 0.037]. PCI was associated with a decrease in risk of brain metastases (the actuarial 5-year brain metastases rate, 20.3% versus 49.9%; HR, 0.28; 95% CI 0.14–0.57; P < 0.001). The median OS was 31.2 months in the PCI group and 27.4 months in the control group (HR, 0.81; 95% CI 0.56–1.16; P = 0.310). While main toxicities were headache, nausea/vomiting and fatigue in the PCI group, they were generally mild. Conclusion In patients with fully resected postoperative pathologically confirmed stage IIIA–N2 NSCLC and high risk of cerebral metastases after adjuvant chemotherapy, PCI prolongs DFS and decreases the incidence of brain metastases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims This study investigated the role of L-3- n-Butylphthalide ( NBP) in cardiac protection. Methods The left anterior descending coronary arteries (LAD) of the rats were occluded for 30 min following by 2-h reperfusion to make the ischaemia/reperfusion models. Neonatal cardiomyocytes were cultured and subjected to hypoxia. L-3- n-Butylphthalide was administered intraperitoneally 2 h before the surgery and right after the reperfusion in the in vivo experiments or added to the culture medium in vitro. Haemodynamic parameters were recorded to evaluate the cardiac functions, triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) and Evens blue staining were used to determine the area of risk and infarct area, apoptotic cell numbers were counted with terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) staining. Western blotting was used to determine the apoptotic protein levels and immune staining to determine the translocation of Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) protein. Results Our research showed for the first time that L-3- n-Butylphthalide had great effects in improving cardiac hemodynamic function and decreasing cardiac infarct areas and apoptotic cell numbers in the peri-infarct areas. The apoptotic signals investigation showed that L-3- n-Butylphthalide affected the mitochondrial pathway including Bcl-2 protein expression, inhibition of caspase 3 activation and cytochrome C releasing. Besides, Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase protein translocation was inhibited by L-3- n-Butylphthalide treatment, and this effect was mediated by endogenous reactive oxygen species ( ROS). Conclusion L-3- n-Butylphthalide protects cardiomyocytes from ischaemia/reperfusion-induced apoptosis by antioxidant effect and affecting mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 13C(9Be,8Li)14N angular distribution was measured with a 9Be beam of 40 MeV. The proton spectroscopic factor of the 9Be ground state was extracted to be 0.73 ± 0.15 by the normalization of the calculated differential cross sections with the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) to the experimental data. The spectroscopic factor was compared to existing theoretical and experimental values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One novel ytterbium complex [Yb(HEgta)] · 4HO ( I), where HEgta = ethylene glycol-bis(2-aminoethylether)-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid, has successfully been synthesized by the reaction of YbO with HEgta in an aqueous solution after refluxing for 18 h. The crystal and molecular structures were determined by the infrared spectrum and X-ray crystallography. The crystal structural analysis reveals that central Yb(III) in I is eight-coordinated in a geometry of pseudo-square antiprismatic polyhedron by two amine N atoms, two ethylene glycol O atoms, and four carboxyl O atoms from one HEgta ligand and crystallizes in the orthorhombic crystal system with P222 space group. The crystal data are as follows: a = 9.4927(8), b = 12.2627(13), c = 18.3657(17) Å, V=2137.9(4) Å, Z = 4, ρ = 1.934 mg/m, μ = 4.448 mm, F(000) = 1236, R = 0.0291, and wR = 0.0714 for 8850 observed reflections with I ≥ 2σ( I). In addition, there is a protonated coordinated carboxyl O atom (O(5)) in the [Yb(HEgta)] moiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the possible influence of metallic environment on the alpha decay process, we have measured the Sm activities in the hosts of metal samarium and SmO . The Sm half-life was found to be (1.06±0.01)×10 y in metal samarium and (1.07±0.01)×10 y in SmO , respectively. No significant change has been observed within the experimental uncertainty. The absolute half-life presented here is consistent with the recommended value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The angular distribution of the 2H ( 6He,7Li n reaction was measured with a secondary 6He beam of 36.4MeV for the first time. The proton spectroscopic factor of 7Li ground state was extracted to be 0.42±0.06 by normalizing the calculational differential cross-sections with the distorted-wave Born approximation to the experimental data. It was discussed that the uncertainty of extracted spectroscopic factors from the one-nucleon transfer reactions induced by deuteron might be reduced by determining the volume integrals of imaginary optical potentials precisely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study was to investigate the effects of oil sources in the diet on milk yield, milk composition, and fatty acid (FA) profiles in mid-lactating dairy cows. Forty-eight Chinese Holstein dairy cows averaging 150 days in milk (DIM) at the start of the experiment (body weight = 596±19 kg; milk yield = 29.7±3.00 kg/d) were used in a completely randomized block design. The animals were assigned into four dietary treatments according to DIM and milk yield, and supplemented with no oil (control), 2% flaxseed oil (FSO), 2% soybean oil (SBO), and 2% oil from extruded soybeans (ESB). The experiment lasted nine weeks including the first week for adaptation. Milk yields, milk compositions (fat, protein, and lactose), and milk FA profiles were measured. Daily milk yield from cows fed with FSO, SBO, and ESB were higher than milk yield of the control cows (27.0, 27.0, and 26.5 vs. 25.4 kg/d). Milk fat percentage of the control cows was greater than those cows fed with oil-supplemented diets. However, increasing dietary fat content resulted with no change in fat-corrected milk yield. The FA profile of milk was changed by fat supplementation. Feeding oil reduced the proportion of both short-chain (C8:0 to C12:0) and medium-chain (C14:0 to C16:1) FAs, and increased the proportion of long-chain (≥C18:0) FAs in milk fat. Cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk fat was increased from 0.38% for the control to 0.79, 1.51, and 1.56% of fat for the cows supplemented with FSO, SBO, and ESB, respectively. Feeding oils rich in linoleic acid (SBO and ESB) was more effective in enhancing cis-9, trans-11 CLA in milk fat than oils containing linolenic acid (FSO). There was a linear relationship between transvaccenic acid and cis-9, trans-11 CLA content in milk. Overall, feeding the FSO, SBO, and ESB diets increased monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids and decreased the saturated fatty acid in milk fat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of experimental and theoretical investigations was conducted to understand moisture and heat transfer in different unsaturated porous media at pore scale level with the consideration of phase change, including water wetting of a dry wood, heat and mass transfer in sand packed beds with locally heating, boiling phenomena in bead-packed porous structures, vapor condensation and vapor/liquid transport in unsaturated materials, and drying of porous media containing concentrated solutions. A number of new phenomena were observed from the experiments, and important transport characteristics of these phenomena were discussed from theoretical investigations. Special attention was paid to the effects of pore structure, phase change interface, salt precipitation from solution, and some theoretical descriptions and explanations were developed to explore fundamentals of the phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Werner syndrome (WS) is an autosomal recessive inherited disease characterized by features of premature ageing. It is caused by mutations of the WRN gene encoding a protein with both exonuclease and helicase activities. The aim of this study was to identify gene mutations in a Chinese patient with WS. A 31-year-old Chinese man with typical features of WS was diagnosed as having probable WS. We performed PCR to scan 33 exons of the WRN gene of the patient, six members of his family, and 50 unrelated controls. Automated DNA sequencing identified the mutation in the patient as 3250delG. The proband’s parents, son, younger brother and paternal grandmother were heterozygous. We did not find this heterozygous mutation in the proband’s maternal grandmother or in any of 50 normal controls. The novel mutation in the WRN gene is responsible for the pathogenesis of WS and genetic detection is a useful method to confirm the diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims to simulate the solidification process during beam blank continuous casting, to determine the causes of defects, and to optimise the process parameters. A transient finite element model has been developed to compute the temperature and stress profile in beam blank continuous casting. It has been found that the surface temperature fluctuated greatly and that the equivalent stress and strain have their highest values at the flange tip and the web. By comparing the calculated values with metallurgical constraints, the key factor causing surface cracks on the web was determined and an optimum cooling regime was proposed. Online verification of this optimisation project has led to a reduction in the incidence of web surface cracks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagonal self-assembled InAs quantum wire (QWR) arrays with the stacked InAs/In[sup 0.52]Al[sub 0.48]As structure are grown on InP substrates, which are (001)-oriented and misoriented by 6° towards the [100] direction. Both the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and migration enhanced epitaxy (MEE) techniques are employed. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that whether a diagonal InAs QWR array of the stacked InAs/InAlAs is symmetrical about the growth direction or not depends on the growth method as well as substrate orientation. Asymmetry in the diagonal MEE-grown InAs QWR array can be ascribed to the influence of surface reconstruction on upward migration of adatoms during the self-assembly of the InAs quantum wires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article on the case of newborn onset reticulate pigmented anomaly of the flexures in a Chinese female that was published in the previous issue.

An optical-electronic method was developed for measurement of falling liquid film thicknesses. The method is based on the postulate that a sheet light beam passing tangentially through a vertical liquid film on a cylinder will be blocked by the falling liquid film. Hence, when the beam is much wider than the film, the output of a photodiode probe which is located on the opposite side of the cylinder from the light source will be reduced by an amount proportional to the film thickness. The shadow of the transient film shape will also appear on a screen behind the falling film. Therefore, the variation of the amplitude of the film waves can be measured from the output of the photodiode and the average film thickness can be measured from pictures of the shadow using computer aided image analysis. The average film thickness measured agrees well with commonly accepted empirical equations. The maximum relative deviation between the experimental and calculated results is 18.5% with a standard deviation of 4.34x10[sup -2] mm. Compared with popular conductance parallel-wire probes, this method has the advantages of convenience, noninvasive, higher spatial and temporal resolution, smaller hysteresis and it does not disturb the model's surface. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 38-year-old man diagnosed with unilateral eccrine chromhidrosis. Among the laboratory investigations are platelet count, urinalysis, and complete blood count. It notes that botulinum toxin type A injections or capsaicin cream were found effective for chromhidrosis treatment.