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The effects of temperature on the development duration and longevity of adult of Chelonus murakatae were studied under five constant temperatures including 22.5, 25, 27.5, 30 and 32.5 ± 0.5 °C under laboratory conditions. It was observed that the development time was inversely proportional to the temperature within the range of 22.5 to 32.5 °C. The results indicated that the optimum temperature for development ranged from 25 to 30 °C. Thermal threshold was estimated by a linear model which was recorded as 15.5 and 18.5 °C for males and females, respectively. Number of degree days required to complete the development from egg to adult were 439.6 degree days in males and 336.8 degree days in females. Adult longevity also decreased with increase in temperature. This information can be used for optimizing mass culturing and field release for an efficient biological control of Chilo suppressalis in this specie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The Yellow River is the sixth longest river in the world, and it is considered the mother river of China. Biodiversity conservation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River is an urgent concern due to the impact of topography, sediment deposition, and human activities. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate the diversity of plant communities in wetlands along the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River from the perspectives of the natural environment and human disturbance. Materials and Methods: In this study, 830 plots were set up in seven nature reserves in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to investigate wetland plant diversity. The distribution characteristics of plant diversity and the effects of environmental and human activities on plant diversity were analyzed. Results: (1) A total of 184 plant species belonging to 52 families and 135 genera were found in the seven nature reserves. Network analysis showed that the connectance index was 0.3018. (2) Betadisper analysis followed by ANOVA revealed differences in the community composition of the wetland plants (F = 21.123, p < 0.001) in the different nature reserves. (3) Analysis of variation partitioning indicated that the effects of pure environmental factors (elevation, precipitation, evaporation, and temperature) on the beta diversity of the wetland plants in the nature reserves was the strongest (15.45% and 17.08%, respectively), followed by the effects of pure human disturbance factors (population density, industrial output value, and agricultural output value) (15.13% and 16.71%, respectively). Conclusions: Variations occurred in the assemblage characteristics of the wetland plants in the different Yellow River wetland nature reserves. The wetland species exhibited strong associations with the reserves in the Yellow River wetland in Henan Province. Elevation, longitude, precipitation, and evaporation were important factors that affected the diversity of wetland plants in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in China. The findings provide insights into plant biodiversity conservation in riverine wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Geoscientica Sinica is the property of Acta Geoscientica Sinica Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Developing robust nonprecious electrocatalysts towards hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions is crucial for widespread use of electrochemical water splitting in hydrogen production. Here, we report that intermetallic Co3Mo spontaneously separated from hierarchical nanoporous copper skeleton shows genuine potential as highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline hydrogen/oxygen evolution reactions in virtue of in-situ hydroxylation and electro-oxidation, respectively. The hydroxylated intermetallic Co3Mo has an optimal hydrogen-binding energy to facilitate adsorption/desorption of hydrogen intermediates for hydrogen molecules. Associated with high electron/ion transport of bicontinuous nanoporous skeleton, nanoporous copper supported Co3Mo electrodes exhibit impressive hydrogen evolution reaction catalysis, with negligible onset overpotential and low Tafel slope (~40 mV dec−1) in 1 M KOH, realizing current density of −400 mA cm−2 at overpotential of as low as 96 mV. When coupled to its electro-oxidized derivative that mediates efficiently oxygen evolution reaction, their alkaline electrolyzer operates with a superior overall water-splitting output, outperforming the one assembled with noble-metal-based catalysts. Electrochemical water splitting is an attractive energy conversion technology, but it usually suffers from low efficiency. Here, the authors report intermetallic Co3Mo integrated on porous Cu as highly efficient electrocatalysts for alkaline HER/OER due to in-situ hydroxylation and electro-oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of versatile electrodes that boost the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is crucial for electrochemical water splitting with high efficiency. Here we present monolithic hybrid electrodes of chromium-doped NiFe oxyhydroxide nanosheets, which are quasi-vertically oriented along three-dimensional nanoporous gold (NP Au/Cr–NiFe), as high-performance OER electrocatalysts in an alkaline environment. As a result of incorporation of chromium ions that prefer to locate near the electroactive Fe sites in the NiFe oxyhydroxides, the intrinsic activity and turnover frequency value of the constituent Cr–NiFe oxyhydroxide are significantly enhanced relative to those of the NiFe hydroxide by a factor of ∼4 at an overpotential of 0.340 V. As a result of the unique nanoarchitecture featuring both the quasi-vertical orientation of highly electroactive Cr–NiFe oxyhydroxide nanosheets, which offer abundant active edge sites, and the bicontinuous nanoporous channels and gold skeleton, which facilitate ion and electron transport, the NP Au/Cr–NiFe electrodes exhibit high and stable OER activity in a 0.1 M KOH solution, with an ultralow Tafel slope of ∼33 mV dec−1 and an overpotential of 0.323 V at 10 mA cmgeo−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Progress in Modern Biomedicine is the property of Publishing House of Progress in Modern Biomedicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Progress in Modern Biomedicine is the property of Publishing House of Progress in Modern Biomedicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

There are numerous information technology solutions including hardware and software. A company that provides the solution should have knowledge of the customer needs in the purpose of sailing strategy or upgrade policy. The needs are also directly connected to the user satisfaction. However, the users have respective points of view in the needs as well as they may not identify the requirements to improve the solution. SERVQUAL can be an appropriate method to define and measure the customer satisfaction for the information technology solutions. As a case study of the customer satisfaction, the modified SERVQUAL items and scoring method are applied to a cyber-infrastructure system named CyberLab in Korea. The measurement results of user satisfaction for CyberLab are provided to confirm that our proposed method performs as we intended. From the results, we can score the satisfaction level of users and identify their needs in the various aspects. The total user satisfaction level for CyberLab is scored by 88.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to image the 3-D velocity structure of its shallow crust in Kunming region, China, finite-difference seismic tomography is used to invert the seismic data selected carefully from six-shot data. The result lays a foundation for the discussion of the relationship between the obtained velocity structure and the hidden faults, and for the illumination of the depth extents of main active faults surrounding Kunming city. Puduhe-Xishan fault lies on the western margin of the Kunming basin and is just situated on the west edge of the low velocity anomaly zone found at all depth levels. This indicates that this fault is a borderline fault of the Kunming basin. It can be concluded that the fault dips eastwards with a steep angle and its depth extent is large. Puji-Hanjiacun fault and Heilongtan-Guandu fault play a role in controlling the low velocity anomaly zone in middle basin. The depth extents of the two faults are comparatively small, without traversing the interface of basin floor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kunming basin is a Cenozoic faulted basin under the control of mainly SN-trending active faults. In and around the basin, there are a total of eight major active faults. Seismo-geological survey and fault slip observation show that the SN-and NE-trending active faults are mostly sinistral strike-slip faults, while the NW-trending faults are mostly dextral strike-slip faults. Using stress tensor inversion method with 706 active fault striation data at 22 measurement sites, we determined tectonic stress field of the study area. The result shows that modern tectonic stress field in and around Kunming basin is characterized by NNW-SSE compression, ENE-WSW extension, and strike-slip stress regimes. The maximum principal compressional stress ( σ 1) is oriented 335°–2°, with an average dip angle of 21°; the minimum ( σ 3) is oriented 44°∼93°, with an average dip angle of 14°, and the intermediate ( σ 2) has a high, or nearly vertical, dip angle. The inversion result from fault slip data is consistent with the result from focal mechanism solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic hazard assessment based on urban active faults can provide scientific bases for city planning and project construction, while numerical simulation of strong ground motion is an important method for seismic hazard prediction and assessment. A 3-D physical model in conformity with real strata configuration of (mainly) the Quaternary is a prerequisite to ensure the reliability of the simulation results. In this paper, we give a detailed account of the technical scheme and process for creating a 3-D physical model in Kunming basin. The data used are synthesized from seismogeological data, borehole data, topographic data, digital elevation mode (DEM) data, seismic exploration results and wave velocity measurements. Stratigraphic division is based mainly on shear wave velocity, with strata sequence taken into consideration. The model construction is finally accomplished with ArcGIS and many relevant programming techniques via layer-by-layer stacking (in depth direction) of the adjacent medium interfaces (meshes). Meanwhile, a database of 3-D physical models is set up, which provides model data and parameters for strong ground motion simulation. Some processing methods and significant issues are also addressed in the paper in accordance with different types of exploration and experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the earthquake sequences and the source mechanisms of the strong earthquakes show that Yunnan has more obvious subarea characteristics of earthquake type. Strike-slip seismic fault and mainshock-aftershock earthquake sequences are dominant in whole Yunnan area. Considering the ratio of non strike-slip faults and non mainshock-aftershock, Yunnan area can be divided into four subareas with different characteristics, which are strike-slip mainshock-aftershock in central Yunnan ( A 1), incline-slip swarm in northwestern Yunnan ( A 2), strike-slip double shocks in western Yunnan ( B 1) and quasi-strike-slip mainshock-aftershock in southwestern Yunnan ( B 2), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methods were discussed to calculate the gravity variation due to crustal deformation based on a model of dislocation on a finite rectangular plane. Taking the Lijiang M S=7.0 earthquake as an example the calculating principle of fault parameters were determined, and the results were given. Of particular interests were the characteristics of the gravity variations in different dislocation types. With comparison between the calculated results and the practical measurements, it was found that the model could to some extent account for the observations. But it failed to give explanations to the more far spatial gravity variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on data collected by deep seismic sounding carried out in 1999, a three-dimensional P wave velocity structure is determined with tomographic inversion. The tomographic result shows that there is a P wave low velocity zone (LVZ) in the upper crust beneath the Tengchong volcanic area. The LVZ is in the depth of 7–8 km and may be a small magma chamber or a partial melting body. The result also shows that the LVZ is in the northeastern side of the Rehai hydrothermal field, which is located in another LVZ near the surface. The shallow LVZ may represent a well-developed fracture zone. The strong hydrothermal activity in Rehai area can attribute to the existence of fractures between two LVZs. These fractures are the channels for going upwards of the deep hot fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the deep seismic sounding profile conducted in the Tengchong volcanic-geothermal area, a two-dimensional crustal P velocity structure is obtained by use of the finite-difference inversion and the forward travel-time fitting method. The crustal model shows that there is a low velocity zone in upper crust in the Tengchong area, which may be related to the volcanic-geothermal activities, and two intracrustal faults (the Longling-Ruili fault and Tenchong fault) exist on the profile, where the Tengchong fault may extend to the Moho discontinuity. Meanwhile, based on teleseismic data recorded by a temporary seismic network, we obtained the S-wave velocity structures beneath the Rehai-Retian region in the Tengchong area, which show the low S-wave velocity anomaly in upper crust. The authors discuss the causes of Tengchong volcanic eruption based on the deep crustal structure. The crustal structure in the Tengchong volcanic-geothermal area is characterized by low P-wave and S-wave velocity, low resistivity, high heat-flow value and low Q value. The P-wave velocity in the upper mantle is also low. For this information, it can be induced that the magma in the crust is derived from the upper mantle, and the low velocity anomaly in upper crust in the Tengchong area may be related to the differentiation of magma. The Tengchong volcanoes are close to an active plate boundary and belong to ‘plate boundary’ volcanoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Progress in Modern Biomedicine is the property of Publishing House of Progress in Modern Biomedicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: To increase understanding of human bacterial and parasitic pathogens in bats, we investigated the prevalence of Babesia spp., Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp. and Coxiella burnetii in bats from China. Methods: Bats were captured from Mengyin County, Shandong Province of China using nets. DNA was extracted from the blood and spleen of bats for molecular detection of Babesia spp., Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp. and Coxiella burnetii with specific primers for each species. Results: A total of 146 spleen samples and 107 blood samples of insectivorous bats, which belonged to 6 species within two families, were collected from Mengyin County, Shandong Province of China. We found that two Eptesicus serotinus (2/15, 13.3%) were positive for Babesia vesperuginis. We were unable to detect genomic sequences for Rickettsia spp., Anaplasma spp. and Coxiella burnetii. Conclusions: To our knowledge, our study showed for the first time the presence of Babesia vesperuginis in Eptesicus serotinus collected from China, suggesting that Babesia vesperuginis has a broad host species and geographical distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]