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The nitrogen isotope ratio ^14 N/ ^15 N is a powerful tool to trace Galactic stellar nucleosynthesis and constrain Galactic chemical evolution. Previous observations have found lower ^14 N/ ^15 N ratios in the Galactic center and higher values in the Galactic disk. This is consistent with the inside-out formation scenario of our Milky Way. However, previous studies mostly utilized double isotope ratios also including ^12 C/ ^13 C, which introduces additional uncertainties. Here we present observations of C ^14 N and its rare isotopologue, C ^15 N, toward a sample of star-forming regions measured by the IRAM 30 m and/or the ARO 12 m telescope at λ ∼ 3 mm wavelength. For those 35 sources detected in both isotopologues, physical parameters are determined. Furthermore, we have obtained nitrogen isotope ratios using the strongest hyperfine components of CN and C ^15 N. For those sources showing small deviations from local thermodynamical equilibrium and/or self-absorption, the weakest hyperfine component, likely free of the latter effect, was used to obtain reliable ^14 N/ ^15 N values. Our measured ^14 N/ ^15 N isotope ratios from C ^14 N and C ^15 N measurements are compatible with those from our earlier measurements of NH _3 and ^15 NH _3 (Paper I), i.e., increasing ratios to a Galactocentric distance of ∼9 kpc. The unweighted second-order polynomial fit yields $\tfrac{{{\rm{C}}}^{14}{\rm{N}}}{{{\rm{C}}}^{15}{\rm{N}}}\,=\,(-4.85\pm 1.89)\,{\mathrm{kpc}}^{-2}\times {R}_{\mathrm{GC}}^{2}+(82.11\pm 31.93)\,{\mathrm{kpc}}^{-1}\times {R}_{\mathrm{GC}}\,-(28.12\pm 126.62)$ . Toward the outer galaxy, the isotope ratio tends to decrease, supporting an earlier finding by H ^13 CN/HC ^15 N. Galactic chemical evolution models are consistent with our measurements of the ^14 N/ ^15 N isotope ratio, i.e., a rising trend from the Galactic center region to approximately 9 kpc, followed by a decreasing trend with increasing R _GC toward the outer Galaxy.

Radio observations of pulsars offer a potential method to probe the intricate microstructure in the turbulent interstellar medium. Here we report on a high-resolution dynamic spectral analysis of the “swooshing pulsar” B0919+06 observed with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope over multiple epochs and with the ultrawideband receiver on the Parkes radio telescope. For all observations, the dynamic scintillation spectra, two-dimensional autocovariance functions, and secondary spectra are presented. At 1250 MHz, the decorrelation bandwidth, diffraction timescale, and the drift rate are determined to be Δ ν _d = 25.89 ± 7.55 MHz, ${\rm{\Delta }}{\tau }_{d}=14.42\pm 3.98$ minutes, and ${dt}/d\nu =0.07\pm 0.14\,\mathrm{minutes}$ MHz ^−1 , respectively. The frequency dependencies of the scintillation parameters exhibit single power-law spectral behaviors, indicating that the electron density fluctuations in the interstellar medium approximately follow the Kolmogorov spectrum. The secondary spectra exhibit two distinct parabolic arcs with well-determined curvatures of 0.002 and 0.02 s ^3 for the outer and inner arcs, respectively. The locations of the scattering screens are approximately determined to be 157.3 and 726.0 pc, respectively, from the pulsar for isotropic scattering. The inner scintillation arc is present contemporaneously over a wide frequency range, indicating that the scintillation arc is a broadband phenomenon. The arc curvature scales with observing frequency as a power law with an index of −2.05 ± 0.05, which implies that the scattering screen spans a physical distance from 689.7 to 883.3 pc from the pulsar.

We have carried out a detailed study of individual pulse emission from the pulsar J2022+5154 (B2021+51), observed at 2250 MHz using the Jiamusi 66 m radio telescope. We have investigated the modulations in single-pulse behavior using fluctuation spectral analysis, which shows the presence of two prominent periodicities, around 5 and 40 rotation periods, respectively. The shorter periodicity is associated with the phenomenon of subpulse drifting. In the absence of aliasing, the emission pattern is demonstrated to consist of eight subbeams, which rotate around the magnetic axis in about 45 periods. In addition to subpulse drifting, the pulsar also shows the presence of periodic amplitude modulation with a longer periodicity in the single-pulse sequence. The pulsar joins a select group that shows the presence of periodic phase-modulated drifting as well as amplitude-modulated drifting. This provides further evidence for the two phenomena being distinct from each other with different physical origins.

To investigate the relative amount of ejecta from high-mass versus intermediate-mass stars and to trace the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, we have performed a systematic study of Galactic interstellar ^18 O/ ^17 O ratios toward a sample of 421 molecular clouds with IRAM 30 m and the 10 m Submillimeter Telescope, covering a galactocentric distance range of ∼1–22 kpc. The results presented in this paper are based on the J = 2–1 transition and encompass 364 sources showing both C ^18 O and C ^17 O detections. The previously suggested ^18 O/ ^17 O gradient is confirmed. For the 41 sources detected with both facilities, good agreement is obtained. A correlation of the ^18 O/ ^17 O ratios with heliocentric distance is not found, indicating that beam dilution and linear beam sizes are not relevant. For the subsample of IRAM 30 m high-mass star-forming regions with accurate parallax distances, an unweighted fit gives ^18 O/ ^17 O = (0.12 ± 0.02) R _GC + (2.38 ± 0.13) with a correlation coefficient of R = 0.67. While the slope is consistent with our J = 1–0 measurement, the ratios are systematically lower. This should be caused by larger optical depths of C ^18 O 2–1 lines with respect to the corresponding 1–0 transitions, which is supported by RADEX calculations and the fact that C ^18 O/C ^17 O is positively correlated with ^13 CO/C ^18 O. When we consider that optical depth effects with C ^18 O J = 2–1 typically reach an optical depth of ∼0.5, the corrected ^18 O/ ^17 O ratios from the J = 1–0 and J = 2–1 lines are consistent. A good numerical fit to the data is provided by the MWG-12 model, which includes both rotating stars and novae.

We have carried out a detailed study of polarimetric individual pulse emission from the pulsar J1701−3726 (B1658−37), observed at 1369 MHz using the Parkes 64 m radio telescope. The single-pulse sequences reveal the presence of the three major emission phenomena of pulse nulling, mode changing, and subpulse drifting. Trimodal distribution of the pulse energy is present, implying one population of nulls and two others of emission in the phase window. The mean flux density of the normal mode is almost two times that of the abnormal mode. Our data show that, for PSR J1701−3726, 64% of the time was spent in the normal mode and 12% was in the abnormal mode. The single pulses show the presence of two distinct periodic modulations using a fluctuation spectral analysis. About 24% of the nulls are found to create alternating bunches of nulls and bursts in a quasiperiodic manner with a longer periodicity of 48 ± 4 rotational periods. Additionally, the pulsar presents a steady even–odd modulated feature with a stationary longitude within the pulse window. The ramifications for constraining the viewing geometry and understanding the radio emission mechanisms are discussed.

We carried out a spectral line survey of CH _3 OH toward a large sample of 175 high-mass star-forming regions in the 3 mm, 2 mm, and 1.3 mm bands with the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (IRAM) 30 m telescope. Out of our 175 targets, 148 sources were detected with one or more CH _3 OH transition lines. Nineteen CH _3 OH transition lines, including 13 thermal lines and 6 maser lines, were detected. The 8 _0 → 7 _1 A ^+ (∼95.169 GHz) CH _3 OH maser line, one of the strongest class I CH _3 OH maser lines, was detected in 52 sources. Forty-two of them are previously reported masers and the other 10 are new detections. Through analyzing the rotational diagram of the detected CH _3 OH emission lines (nonmasing lines), we obtained the rotational temperature and the column density for 111 sources. Our results show that E -type CH _3 OH tends to have lower column density than A -type CH _3 OH. The column density ratio of E / A was derived in 55 sources with the majority having a ratio less than 1.0 (about 70%), with a peak ratio of ∼0.6. This is consistent with theoretical predictions, i.e., overabundance of A -type CH _3 OH at low temperature leading to a low E / A ratio. Furthermore, we found that CH _3 OH abundance decreases beyond T _dust ∼ 30 K, which is supported by modeling results. All these support the fact that CH _3 OH is easily formed at low-temperature environments, via successive hydrogenation of CO on cold dust surfaces.

Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), we have recorded over 1.2 × 10 ^4 single pulses from PSR B0823+26 (J0826+2637) at 1.25 GHz with 500 MHz bandwidth. These high-sensitivity observations detected with FAST are unprecedented. We investigated potentially interesting emission features by analyzing the polarimetric individual pulses during the bright state. The average pulse profile has a weak postcursor component and a wide interpulse along with a narrow main pulse. The pulse energy distribution of the main pulse shows the presence of triple emission modes. When the emission ceases in the main pulse component, low-level emission in the interpulse component is detected, whereas the absence of any emission in the postcursor component is shown. In the postcursor emission region, bright pulses are detected in 422 rotations with the relative pulse energy described by a power-law distribution with index of −2.52 ± 0.09, while the peak flux density ratio appears to follow a logarithmic normal distribution. The intervals between bright pulses can be described with a Poisson process with the occurrence rate estimated to be one bright pulse every 14 s. The fluctuation spectral analysis reveals the existence of a form of periodic amplitude modulation unrelated to subpulse drifting in both the main pulse and interpulse components. Furthermore, the modulation patterns in the main pulse and interpulse are found to be locked in pulse longitude, signifying some information transfer between the two magnetic polar regions.

We conducted observations of multiple HC _3 N ( J = 10−9, 12−11, and 16−15) lines and the N _2 H ^+ ( J = 1−0) line toward a large sample of 61 ultracompact (UC) H ii regions, through the Institut de Radioastronomie Millmétrique 30 m and the Arizona Radio Observatory 12 m telescopes. The N _2 H ^+ J = 1−0 line is detected in 60 sources and HC _3 N is detected in 59 sources, including 40 sources with three lines, 9 sources with two lines, and 10 sources with one line. Using the rotational diagram, the rotational temperature and column density of HC _3 N were estimated toward sources with at least two HC _3 N lines. For 10 sources with only one HC _3 N line, their parameters were estimated, taking one average value of T _rot . For N _2 H ^+ , we estimated the optical depth of the N _2 H ^+ J = 1−0 line, based on the line intensity ratio of its hyperfine structure lines. Then the excitation temperature and column density were calculated. When combining our results in UC H ii regions and previous observation results on high-mass starless cores, the N (HC _3 N)/ N (N _2 H ^+ ) ratio clearly increases from the region stage. This means that the abundance ratio changes with the evolution of high-mass star-forming regions (HMSFRs). Moreover, positive correlations between the ratio and other evolutionary indicators (dust temperature, bolometric luminosity, and luminosity-to-mass ratio) are found. Thus we propose the ratio of N (HC _3 N)/ N (N _2 H ^+ ) as a reliable chemical clock of HMSFRs.

As one of the most popular surveillance technologies in the 21st century, Lidar is applied in commercial, military and civilian applications. paper mainly introduces the development process of Chinese and American marine lidar detection technology, compares the hardware technical parameters of marine airborne laser lidar between China and the United States, and summarizes China's current airborne lidar detection technology and developed countries. Find the gap between developed countries. It introduces the most important application of this technology, and its contribution to the development of science and technology. Finally, summarize the various problems encountered in the development of the technology, analyse the reasons, and look forward to the future development trend.

There are many intertidal zones and island reefs in the coastal area, the traditional shipborne acoustic measurement method is extremely inefficient, so the coastal area three-dimensional integrated measurement has always been a difficult point in the field of remote sensing. Because the sea blue-green light window has good transparency and the laser point cloud data can quickly and accurately distinguish the characteristics of shallow sea water topography. At present, the most effective detection method for coastal areas in the world is the airborne dual-frequency laser radar detection technology, which has high measurement rate and wide coverage. The laser outputs both 1064nm and 532nm dual-wavelength laser, 1064nm laser forms sea surface echo, and 532nm laser penetrates sea water to form shallow sea and deep sea echo. However, during the propagation of seawater, the number of photon scattering increases with the increase of water depth, which will cause the attenuation of the echo signal. As a result, the detection of weak light in the large dynamic range is not high, which has been a difficult point for near-shore airborne sounding. To solve this problem, we designed a split-field, three-channel optical receiving system. The ZEMAX simulation results show that the dual-channel laser radar three-channel receiving optical system effectively reduces the optical crosstalk between the optical components and the channels, and achieves energy harvesting in different water depth channels. The structure dynamically compresses the photoelectric signal and improves the signal to noise ratio.

The wavelet threshold method is widely used in signal denoising. However, traditional hard threshold method or soft threshold method is deficient for depending on fixed threshold and instability. In order to achieve efficient denoising of echo signals, an adaptive wavelet threshold denoising method, absorbing the advantages of the hard threshold and the soft threshold, is proposed. Based on the advantages of traditional threshold method, new threshold function is continuous, steerable and flexibly changeable by adjusting two parameters. The threshold function is flexibly changed between the hard threshold and the soft threshold function by two parameter adjustments. According to the Stein unbiased risk estimate (SURE), this new method can determine thresholds adaptively. Adopting different thresholds adaptively at different scales, this method can automatically track noise, which can effectively remove the noise on each scale. Therefore, the problems of noise misjudgement and incomplete denoising can be solved, to some extent, in the process of signal processing. The simulation results of MATLAB show that compared with hard threshold method and soft threshold method, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the proposed de-noising method is increased by nearly 2dB, and 4dB respectively. It is safely to conclude that, when background noise eliminated, the new wavelet adaptive threshold method preserves signal details effectively and enhances the separability of signal characteristics.

Acute injury to aged individuals represents a significant challenge to the global healthcare community as these injuries are frequently treated in a reactive method due to the infeasibility of frequent visits to the hospital for biometric monitoring. However, there is potential to prevent a large number of these cases through passive, at-home monitoring of multiple physiological parameters related to various causes that are common to aged adults in general. This research strives to implement wearable devices, ambient “smart home” devices, and minimally invasive blood and urine analysis to test the feasibility of implementation of a multitude of research-level (i.e. not yet clinically validated) methods simultaneously in a “smart system”. The system comprises measures of balance, breathing, heart rate, metabolic rate, joint flexibility, hydration, and physical performance functions in addition to lab testing related to biological aging and mechanical cell strength. A proof-of-concept test is illustrated for two adult males of different ages: a 22-year-old and a 73-year-old matched in body mass index (BMI). The integrated system is test in this work, a pilot study, demonstrating functionality and age-related clinical relevance. The two subjects had physiological measurements taken in several settings during the pilot study: seated, biking, and lying down. Balance measurements indicated changes in sway area of 45.45% and 25.44%, respectively for before/after biking. The 22-year-old and the 73-year-old saw heart rate variabilities of 0.11 and 0.02 seconds at resting conditions, and metabolic rate changes of 277.38% and 222.23%, respectively, in comparison between the biking and seated conditions. A smart camera was used to assess biking speed and the 22- and 73-year-old subjects biked at 60 rpm and 28.5 rpm, respectively. The 22-year-old subject saw a 7 times greater electrical resistance change using a joint flexibility sensor inside of their index finger in comparison with the 73-year-old male. The 22 and 73-year-old males saw respective 28% and 48% increases in their urine ammonium concentration before/after the experiment. The average lengths of the telomere DNA from the two subjects were measured to be 12.1 kb (22-year-old) and 6.9 kb (73-year-old), consistent with their biological ages. The study probed feasibility of 1) multi-metric assessment under free living conditions, and 2) tracking of the various metrics over time.

In this paper, changes of sediment yield and sediment transport were assessed using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). This model was based on the integrated use of precipitation data, Landsat images in 2000, 2005 and 2010, terrain parameters (slope gradient and slope length) and soil composition in Zhifanggou watershed, Gansu Province, Northwestern China. The obtained results were basically consistent with the measured values. The results showed that the mean modulus of soil erosion is 1224, 1118 and 875 t km−2 yr−1 and annual soil loss is 23 130, 21 130 and 16 536 in 2000, 2005 and 2010 respectively. The measured mean erosion modulus were 1581 and 1377 t km−2 yr−1, and the measured annual soil loss were 29 872 and 26 022 t in 2000 and 2005. From 2000 to 2010, the amount of soil erosion was reduced yearly. Very low erosion and low erosion dominated the soil loss status in the three periods, and moderate erosion followed. The zones classified as very low erosion were increasing, whereas the zones with low or moderate erosion were decreasing. In 2010, no zones were classified as high or very high soil erosion.

Abstract The local electronic and atomic structures of the high-quality single crystal of SrFeO3-δ (δ~0.19) were studied using temperature-dependent x-ray absorption and valence-band photoemission spectroscopy (VB-PES) to investigate the origin of anisotropic resistivity in the ab-plane and along the c-axis close to the region of thermal hysteresis (near temperature for susceptibility maximum, Tm~78 K). All experiments herein were conducted during warming and cooling processes. The Fe L 3,2-edge X-ray linear dichroism results show that during cooling from room temperature to below the transition temperature, the unoccupied Fe 3d e g states remain in persistently out-of-plane 3d 3z 2 -r 2 orbitals. In contrast, in the warming process below the transition temperature, they change from 3d 3z 2 -r 2 to in-plane 3d x 2 -y 2 orbitals. The nearest-neighbor (NN) Fe-O bond lengths also exhibit anisotropic behavior in the ab-plane and along the c-axis below Tm. The anisotropic NN Fe-O bond lengths and Debye-Waller factors stabilize the in-plane Fe 3d x 2 -y 2 and out-of-plane 3d 3z 2 -r 2 orbitals during warming and cooling, respectively. Additionally, a VB-PES study further confirms that a relative band gap opens at low temperature in both the ab-plane and along the c-axis, providing the clear evidence of the charge-density-wave nature of SrFeO3-δ (δ~0.19) single crystal.

Be-implanted GaN thin films grown by low-pressure Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (LP-MOCVD), the postimplantation rapid thermal annealing (RTA) samples and the postimplantation RTA samples after 18 years’ room temperature (RT) aging were investigated by Resonant Raman scattering (RRS). It was observed that the Resonant Raman scattering intensity is most enhanced in the 4th order A1 (LO) mode in the after aging sample rather than both the 4th and 5th order A1(LO) mode at different temperatures in the postimplantation RTA sample, which is attributed to a different prominent laser excited emission involved in the RRS processes in the sample before and after aging. A jump step of the intensities of RRS modes was observed at 170 K. Based on the temperature dependent and power dependent RRS spectra, we estimate quantitatively the properties of the optical emission participated in RRS processes below and above this temperature, with the assumption that the intensity of the RRS modes is linearly proportional to the intensity of the optical emission involved in it. We obtained the activation energy of 65 meV and 85 meV for two emissions, respectively, and confirmed both emissions are not band edge related emission with power density dependent RRS spectra. We proposed the dominant optical emission changed from band edge emission to dopant related emission after aging. This study provides an evidence of evolution of optical properties and microstructures in postimplantation RTA GaN epilayers over long time RT aging, which could be a benefit to studying reliability control of devices based on this material.

The effects of foliar application of 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) on chlorophyll content, oxidative damage, and antioxidant capacity in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) seedlings during a short-term chilling stress and subsequent recovery were investigated. The eggplant seedlings pretreated with 0.1 μM EBR were exposed to 5 °C for 12 h in the dark and then recovered under a normal temperature for another 12 h. The results show that EBR alleviated a chilling-induced oxidative stress reflected by a decrease in malondialdehyde and H2O2 content, O2 .- production rate, and an increase in chlorophyll content and activities of superoxide dismutase, guaicol peroxidase, and catalase. The EBR pretreatment also promoted activities of ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase, as well as the accumulation of ascorbic acid (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) involved in the AsA-GSH cycle. Moreover, after the12 h recovery, EBR plus chilling treated leaves showed no significant changes in content of MDA and chlorophyll a, lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) content, and greater activities of AsA-GSH cycle enzymes than in seedlings only chilled. The results suggest that EBR alleviated an oxidative damage caused by the dark chilling stress and accelerated a recovery rate mainly through increasing the ROS scavenging system including the AsA-GSH cycle.

Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at linear chromosome termini, protecting chromosomes against end-to-end fusion and damage, providing chromosomal stability. Telomeres shorten with mitotic cellular division, but are maintained in cells with high proliferative capacity by telomerase. Loss-of-function mutations in telomere-maintenance genes are genetic risk factors for cirrhosis development in humans and murine models. Telomerase deficiency provokes accelerated telomere shortening and dysfunction, facilitating genomic instability and oncogenesis. Here we examined whether telomerase mutations and telomere shortening were associated with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) secondary to cirrhosis. Telomere length of peripheral blood leukocytes was measured by Southern blot and qPCR in 120 patients with HCC associated with cirrhosis and 261 healthy subjects. HCC patients were screened for telomerase gene variants (in TERT and TERC) by Sanger sequencing. Age-adjusted telomere length was comparable between HCC patients and healthy subjects by both Southern blot and qPCR. Four non-synonymous TERT heterozygous variants were identified in four unrelated patients, resulting in a significantly higher mutation carrier frequency (3.3%) in patients as compared to controls (p = 0.02). Three of the four variants (T726M, A1062T, and V1090M) were previously observed in patients with other telomere diseases (severe aplastic anemia, acute myeloid leukemia, and cirrhosis). A novel TERT variant, A243V, was identified in a 65-year-old male with advanced HCC and cirrhosis secondary to chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) and alcohol ingestion, but direct assay measurements in vitro did not detect modulation of telomerase enzymatic activity or processivity. In summary, constitutional variants resulting in amino acid changes in the telomerase reverse transcriptase were found in a small proportion of patients with cirrhosis-associated HCC.

In order to study the generation and distribution of plastic zone of cohesive soil foundation with the change of foundation pressure and foundation width, particle image velocimetry testing technology and discrete element method are used to study the dynamic distribution characteristics of plastic zone of cohesive soil, foundation failure mode and corresponding foundation bearing capacity values. By using particle image velocimetry testing technology, the plastic zone of clay under different foundation load is obtained, in which the ultimate foundation bearing capacity can be taken as 120 kPa. The development law of foundation plastic zone simulated by UDEC is highly consistent with that of foundation plastic zone based on PIV test. Through the parameterized numerical simulation test of the foundation plastic zone, this paper discusses the variation law of foundation plastic zone with the changes in the foundation load and the width of foundation, which can be used to study the dynamic development process of plastic zone of the shallow foundation. The research has important guiding significance for evaluating the range of foundation plastic zone in foundation design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The telomerase reverse transcriptase synthesizes new telomeres onto chromosome ends by copying from a short template within its integral RNA component. During telomere synthesis, telomerase adds multiple short DNA repeats successively, a property known as repeat addition processivity. However, the consequences of defects in processivity on telomere length maintenance are not fully known. Germline mutations in telomerase cause haploinsufficiency in syndromes of telomere shortening, which most commonly manifest in the age-related disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We identified two pulmonary fibrosis families that share two non-synonymous substitutions in the catalytic domain of the telomerase reverse transcriptase gene hTERT: V791I and V867M. The two variants fell on the same hTERT allele and were associated with telomere shortening. Genealogy suggested that the pedigrees shared a single ancestor from the nineteenth century, and genetic studies confirmed the two families had a common founder. Functional studies indicated that, although the double mutant did not dramatically affect first repeat addition, hTERT V791I-V867M showed severe defects in telomere repeat addition processivity in vitro. Our data identify an ancestral mutation in telomerase with a novel loss-of-function mechanism. They indicate that telomere repeat addition processivity is a critical determinant of telomere length and telomere-mediated disease.

Monolayer (ML) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are of great research interest due to their potential use in ultrathin electronic and optoelectronic applications. They show promise in new concept devices in spintronics and valleytronics. Here we present a growth study by molecular-beam epitaxy of ML and sub-ML MoSe _2 , an important member of TMDs, revealing its unique growth characteristics as well as the formation processes of domain boundary (DB) defects. A dramatic effect of growth temperature and post-growth annealing on DB formation is uncovered.

First-principles calculations are performed to investigate the dissolving, trapping and detrapping of H in six bcc (V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W) and six fcc (Ni, Pd, Pt, Cu, Ag, Au) metals. We find that the zero-point vibrations do not change the site-preference order of H at interstitial sites in these metals except Pt. One vacancy could trap a maximum of 4 H atoms in Au and Pt, 6 H atoms in V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Ni, Pd, Cu and Ag, and 12 H atoms in Mo and W. The zero-point vibrations never change the maximum number of H atoms trapped in a single vacancy in these metals. By calculating the formation energy of vacancy-H (Vac-Hn) complex, the superabundant vacancy in V, Nb, Ta, Pd and Ni is demonstrated to be much more easily formed than in the other metals, which has been found in many metals including Pd, Ni and Nb experimentally. Besides, we find that it is most energetically favorable to form Vac-H1 complex in Pt, Cu, Ag and Au, Vac-H4 in Cr, Mo and W, and Vac-H6 in V, Nb, Ta, Pd and Ni. At last, we examine the detrapping behaviors of H atoms in a single vacancy and find that with the heating rate of 10 K/min a vacancy could accommodate 4, 5 and 6 H atoms in Cr, Mo and W at room temperature, respectively. The detrapping temperatures of all H atoms in a single vacancy in V, Nb, Ta, Ni, Pd, Cu and Ag are below room temperature.

The structure, magnetostriction magnetic properties of melt-spun [Fe.sub.100-x][Ga.sub.x] (15 lesser than or equal to x lesser than or equal to 30) ribbons are investigated. The melt-spun FeGa alloys display a large saturation magnetization and high Curie temperature, which allow the alloys to achieve the saturation magnetostriction under easily attainable fields.

By estimating the genetic parameters of various semen quality traits in Beijing-You chickens, this study aims to elucidate the inheritance patterns of these traits and the correlations between them to facilitate setting up appropriate breeding strategies for enhanced semen quality. Semen samples were collected from 518 Beijing-You roosters at 43 wk of age from 3 selection lines related to meat flavor traits. Seven semen quality traits, consisting of semen volume, pH, and color, and sperm viability, motility, percent deformity, and concentration, were determined. Sizeable variations (18-24% CV) were observed for all traits, except for semen pH. The effects of semen collection time and origin of the chickens (line) were analyzed to optimize the proper models for estimating genetic parameters for each trait. The multiple-trait derivative-free restricted maximum likelihood method was used for estimating variance components. The results revealed that sperm viability, motility, and percent deformity exhibited high heritabilities (h2 = 0.52, 0.85, and 0.60, respectively). Semen volume, semen color, and sperm concentration had moderate heritabilities (h2 = 0.28, 0.19, and 0.12, respectively). Semen pH showed low heritability (h2 0.03). Genetic and phenotypic correlations between sperm motility and viability were positive and high (rA = 0.88 and rp = 0.59). In addition, these 2 traits were genetically negatively correlated with percent deformity. This implied the possibility of reducing sperm deformity, which is difficult to measure, by indirect selection. It is concluded from this study that semen quality can be improved by selection. The traits with high variations and heritabilities such as semen volume are promising traits for selection to improve semen quality and likely reproductive performance of native chicken breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The open reading frame of chicken calpastatin (CAST) gene composed of 2,301 base pairs was ligated into a prokaryotic expression vector pET21a (+) to yield pET21a - CAST. The C-terminal His-tagged CAST protein was then expressed in E. coli. BL21 (DE3). SDS-PAGE analysis confirmed the successful expression of the fusion protein following induction with isopropyl-ß-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). The recombinant protein consisted of 776 amino acid residues with an apparent molecular weight of approximately 110 kDa. It was primarily expressed as a soluble protein with a heat-stable feature. After being puriied by Ni2+ -NTA affinity resin, a polyclonal antibody was raised against the purified His-tagged CAST protein in rabbits. The reactivity and speciicity of the polyclonal antibody were both subsequently characterized by ELISA. The study provides an important experimental tool for further research on the quantiication of chicken CAST protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure, magnetic properties and martensitic transformation behaviour were investigated for as-spun Co50Ni20Ga30ribbons under various heat-treatment conditions. When the as-spun ribbons were annealed at 400??C, the saturation magnetization decreased from 49.5 to 40.1?emu?g?1and the coercivity increased from 18 to 2622?Oe, accompanied by the disappearance of the martensitic transformation. Re-treating the annealed sample at different temperatures from 600 to 1200??C, the martensitic transformation reoccurred and the TMwas adjusted between 132 and 249?K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]