849 research outputs found

    OL-053 Screening and identification of genes trans-regulated by HCV p7 protein with microarray assay

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    The environmental assessment of landfill based on stakeholder analysis

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    AbstractFor the current issue that harmful landfill caused serious harm but had passed the environmental assessment, the paper uses the stakeholder analysis theory to analyze the stakeholders of landfill, and find the reasons existed in environmental assessment of landfill based on the simple review of the development and application of stakeholder analysis. And then it gave the countermeasure to the improvement of environmental assessment index system of landfill and the perfection of environmental assessment mechanism

    Dynamic feedbacks among tree functional traits, termite populations and deadwood turnover

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    Changes in the composition of plant functional traits may affect ecosystem processes through influencing trophic interactions. Bottom-up control by plant species through food availability to animals may vary with time. However, such dynamics and their consequences for deadwood turnover are poorly known for detrital food webs. We introduce a dynamic conceptual model of the feedback of tree functional traits, (deadwood-feeding) termite populations and deadwood decomposition. We hypothesized that tree functional diversity (in terms of a wood resource economic spectrum [WES]) supports the sustenance of termite populations via complementary food supplied through time, as deadwood varies in traits both initially across species and because of different decomposition rates. Simultaneously, driven by this temporal dynamics of food quality, the consumption of deadwood by termites should hypothetically sustain deadwood turnover in a functionally diverse forest over time. We tested our hypothesis through an 18-month termite-exclusion decomposition experiment by incubating coarse (i.e. 5 cm diameter) deadwood of 34 woody species in two subtropical forests in East China. One site still sustained a healthy population of pangolins as the keystone termite predator, whereas another had lost its pangolins due to hunting and illegal wildlife trade. The results supported our hypothesis: in the first 12 months, termites amplified the positive linear relationship between % wood mass loss and initial wood quality (WES). In contrast, between 12 and 18 months, termite-mediated consumption, and associated wood mass loss, showed a humpback relation with the initial WES. This shift in termite preference of deadwood species along the WES reflects complementary food availability to termites through time. Synthesis. Our findings imply that tree functional composition, with variation in deadwood quality through decomposition time, can help to sustain termite populations and thereby forest carbon turnover. Future studies need to test whether and how our conceptual model may apply to other detrital systems and food webs. In general, food web research would benefit from a stronger focus on temporal patterns for better understanding the interactions of basal resource functional traits and consumers on ecosystem functions

    Influences of the bark economics spectrum and positive termite feedback on bark and xylem decomposition

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    The plant economics spectrum integrates trade-offs and covariation in resource economic traits of different plant organs and their consequences for pivotal ecosystem processes, such as decomposition. However, in this concept stems are often considered as one unit ignoring the important functional differences between wood (xylem) and bark. These differences may not only affect the performance of woody plants during their lifetime, but may also have important “afterlife effects.” Specifically, bark quality may strongly affect deadwood decomposition of different woody species. We hypothesized that (1) bark quality strongly influences bark decomposability to microbial decomposers, and possibly amplifies the interspecific variation in decomposition by invertebrate consumption, especially termites; and (2) bark decomposition has secondary effects on xylem mass loss by providing access to decomposers including invertebrates such as termites. We tested these hypotheses across 34 subtropical woody species representing five common plant functional types, by conducting an in situ deadwood decomposition experiment over 12-month in two sites in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China. We employed visual examination and surface density measurement to quantify termite consumption to both bark and the underlying xylem, respectively. Using principal component analysis, we synthesized seven bark traits to provide the first empirical evidence for a bark economics spectrum (BES), with high BES values (i.e., bark thickness, nitrogen, phosphorus, and cellulose contents) indicating a resource acquisitive strategy and low BES values (i.e., carbon, lignin, and dry matter contents) indicating a resource conservative strategy. The BES affected interspecific variation in bark mass loss and this relationship was strongly amplified by termites. The BES also explained nearly half of the interspecific variation in termite consumption to xylem, making it an important contributor to deadwood decomposition overall. Moreover, the above across-species relationships manifested also within plant functional types, highlighting the value of using continuous variation in bark traits rather than categorical plant functional types in carbon cycle modeling. Our findings demonstrate the potent role of the BES in influencing deadwood decomposition including positive invertebrate feedback thereon in warm-climate forests, with implications for the role of bark quality in carbon cycling in other woody biomes

    Time-frequency spectral estimation of multichannel EEG using the Auto-SLEX method

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    BKB\to K Transition Form Factor up to O(1/mb2){\cal O}(1/m^2_b) within the kTk_T Factorization Approach

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    In the paper, we apply the kTk_T factorization approach to deal with the BKB\to K transition form factor F+,0BK(q2)F^{B\to K}_{+,0}(q^2) in the large recoil regions. The B-meson wave functions ΨB\Psi_B and ΨˉB\bar\Psi_B that include the three-particle Fock states' contributions are adopted to give a consistent PQCD analysis of the form factor up to O(1/mb2){\cal O} (1/m^2_b). It has been found that both the wave functions ΨB\Psi_B and ΨˉB\bar\Psi_B can give sizable contributions to the form factor and should be kept for a better understanding of the BB meson decays. Then the contributions from different twist structures of the kaon wavefunction are discussed, including the SUf(3)SU_f(3)-breaking effects. A sizable contribution from the twist-3 wave function Ψp\Psi_p is found, whose model dependence is discussed by taking two group of parameters that are determined by different distribution amplitude moments obtained in the literature. It is also shown that F+,0BK(0)=0.30±0.04F^{B\to K}_{+,0}(0)=0.30\pm0.04 and [F+,0BK(0)/F+,0Bπ(0)]=1.13±0.02[F^{B\to K}_{+,0}(0)/F^{B\to \pi}_{+,0}(0)]=1.13\pm0.02, which are more reasonable and consistent with the light-cone sum rule results in the large recoil regions.Comment: 22 pages and 6 figure

    Microstructure and Velocity of Field-Driven SOS Interfaces: Analytic Approximations and Numerical Results

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    The local structure of a solid-on-solid (SOS) interface in a two-dimensional kinetic Ising ferromagnet with single-spin-flip Glauber dynamics, which is driven far from equilibrium by an applied field, is studied by an analytic mean-field, nonlinear-response theory [P.A. Rikvold and M. Kolesik, J. Stat. Phys. 100, 377 (2000)] and by dynamic Monte Carlo simulations. The probability density of the height of an individual step in the surface is obtained, both analytically and by simulation. The width of the probability density is found to increase dramatically with the magnitude of the applied field, with close agreement between the theoretical predictions and the simulation results. Excellent agreement between theory and simulations is also found for the field-dependence and anisotropy of the interface velocity. The joint distribution of nearest-neighbor step heights is obtained by simulation. It shows increasing correlations with increasing field, similar to the skewness observed in other examples of growing surfaces.Comment: 18 pages RevTex4 with imbedded figure

    Evidence for MBM_B and MCM_C phases in the morphotropic phase boundary region of (1x)[Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3]xPbTiO3(1-x)[Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3]-xPbTiO_3 : A Rietveld study

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    We present here the results of the room temperature dielectric constant measurements and Rietveld analysis of the powder x-ray diffraction data on (1x)[Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3]xPbTiO3(1-x)[Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_3]-xPbTiO_3(PMN-xxPT) in the composition range 0.20x0.450.20 \leq x \leq 0.45 to show that the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) region contains two monoclinic phases with space groups Cm (or MBM_B type) and Pm (or MCM_C type) stable in the composition ranges 0.27x0.300.27 \leq x \leq 0.30 and 0.31x0.340.31 \leq x \leq 0.34, respectively. The structure of PMN-xxPT in the composition ranges 0x0 \leq x \leq 0.26, and 0.35x10.35 \leq x \leq1 is found to be rhombohedral (R3m) and tetragonal (P4mm), respectively. These results are compared with the predictions of Vanderbilt & Cohen's theory.Comment: 20 pages, 11 pdf figure

    Genetic characterisation and cytological identification of a male sterile mutant in maize (Zea mays L.)

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    Male sterile mutants play an important role in the utilisation of crop heterosis. Male sterile plants were found in S5 generations of maize hybrid ZH2, through continuous sib-mating by using the fertile plants in the same population, we obtained a male sterile sibling population K932MS including sterile plants K932S and a fertile plant K932F. The objective of this study was to clarify the genetic characterisation and abortion characteristics by nucleus and cytoplasm effect analyses, cytoplasm grouping, and cytological observation. The results showed that no difference was found between K932S and K932F in the vegetative growth stage, but K932S had no emerging anther or pollen grains. The segregation ratio of fertile plants to sterile plants was 1:1 in the sibling progenies, while it was 3:1 in self-crossing progenies of K932F. The sterility of K932S could be restored among reciprocal progenies when seven normal inbred lines were used as females respectively. The fertility expression of K932S crossed with 30 testers would be changed in different test-crosses and some backcross progenies. The C-type restorer Zifeng-1 (Rf4Rf4) was able to restore the fertility of K932S, and the specific PCR amplification bands of K932MS were consistent with CMSCMo17. The anther of K932S began abortion at dyad with its tapetum expanded radically and vacuolated: this induced abnormality in the shapes of both dyads and tetrads. The microspore could not develop normally, and then it collapsed and gradually disappeared. Hence, K932MS is a C-type cytoplasmic male sterile mutant with a pollen-free, stable inheritance: it has potential application value for further research

    Power-law entropy-corrected HDE and NADE in Brans-Dicke cosmology

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    Considering the power-law corrections to the black hole entropy, which appear in dealing with the entanglement of quantum fields inside and outside the horizon, the holographic energy density is modified accordingly. In this paper we study the power-law entropy-corrected holographic dark energy in the framework of Brans-Dicke theory. We investigate the cosmological implications of this model in detail. We also perform the study for the new agegraphic dark energy model and calculate some relevant cosmological parameters and their evolution. {As a result we find that this model can provide the present cosmic acceleration and even the equation of state parameter of this model can cross the phantom line wD=1w_D=-1 provided the model parameters are chosen suitably}.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure, accepted by IJT
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