Precision Measurement of the Proton Flux in Primary Cosmic Rays from Rigidity 1 GV to 1.8 TV with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station

A precise measurement of the proton flux in primary cosmic rays with rigidity (momentum/charge) from 1 GV to 1.8 TV is presented based on 300 million events. Knowledge of the rigidity dependence of the proton flux is important in understanding the origin, acceleration, and propagation of cosmic rays. We present the detailed variation with rigidity of the flux spectral index for the first time. The spectral index progressively hardens at high rigidities.</p

Metal complexes of meso-tetra-(p-chlorophenyl)porphyrin and meso-tetra-(p-bromophenyl)porphyrin: Tl (p-Cl)(4)tpp (OAc) and In (p-X)(4)tpp (OAc) X=Cl, Br, tpp=5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrinate

The crystal structures of acetato-[meso-tetra(p-chlorophenyl)porphyrinato]thallium(III) Tl[(p-Cl)(4)tpp](OAc) (1), acetato-[mesotetra(p-chlorophenyl)porphyrinato]indium(III) In[(p-Cl)(4)tpp](OAc) (2) and acetato-[meso-tetra(p-bromophenyl)porphyrinato]indium(III) In[(p-Br)(4)tpp](OAc) (3) were determined. The coordination sphere around the Tl3+ ion in I is described as six-coordinate distorted square-based pyramid in which the apical site is occupied by a chelating bidentate OAc- group, whereas for the In3+ ion in 2 and 3, it is a five-coordinate regular square-based pyramid in which the unidentate OAc- ligand occupies the axial site. The plane of the four pyrrole nitrogen atoms [i.e. N(l)-N(4)] strongly bonded to Tl3+ (or In3+) is adopted as a reference plane 4N. The Tl3+ is moderately out of the 4N plane; its displacement of 0.69 Angstrom is in the same direction as that of the acetate oxygen for 1. The In3+ are located at 0.57 Angstrom from its 4N plane for 2 and 3. The free energy of activation at the coalescence temperature T-c for the intermolecular acetate exchange for I in CD2Cl2 is found to be DeltaG(200)(not equal) = 42.54 kJ mol(-1) whereas the intermolecular OAc- exchange for acetato-[meso-tetra(p-bromophenyl)porphyrinato]thallium(III) Tl[(p-Br)(4)tpp](OAc) (4) in CD2Cl2 is determined to be DeltaG(200)(not equal) = 42.46 U mol(-1) through H-1 NMR temperature-dependent measurements. Moreover, the two oxygen atoms of the acetato group for 2 and 3 are asymmetrically and chelating bidentately bound to the indium atom in CD2Cl2 (or CDCl3) solvent. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Photoelectrocatalytic Degradation of Sodium Oxalate by TiO2/Ti Thin Film Electrode

The photocatalytically active TiO2 thin film was deposited on the titanium substrate plate by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, and the photoelectrocatalytic degradation of sodium oxalate was investigated by TiO2 thin film reactor prepared in this study with additional electric potential at 365nm irradiation. The batch system was chosen in this experiment, and the controlled parameters were pH, different supporting electrolytes, applied additional potential, and different electrolyte solutions that were examined and discussed. The experimental results revealed that the additional applied potential in photocatalytic reaction could prohibit recombination of electron/hole pairs, but the photoelectrocatalytic effect was decreased when the applied electric potential was over 0.25 V. Among the electrolyte solutions added, sodium sulfate improved the photoelectrocatalytic effect most significantly. At last, the better photoelectrocatalytic degradation of sodium oxalate occurred at pH3 when comparing the pH influence

Maternal age-specific risk of down syndrome in an Asian population: A report of the Taiwan Down syndrome screening group

This study is a novel approach in establishing the maternal age-specific risk for Down syndrome screening in an Asian population. The relative frequency by one-year maternal age interval in women who had live births in the Taiwan area between 1975 and 1995 was used as the age-specific distribution of women who had unaffected pregnancies. Data about Down syndrome live births were obtained from the Taiwan Down Syndrome Association to establish the age distribution of women who had Down syndrome live births. The relative frequencies and the likelihood ratio by one-year maternal age interval was calculated and smoothed by running median and moving average smoothing methods. The age-specific risk was established by multiplying the total population risk by thee likelihood ratio of the specific maternal age. The total live births in the Taiwan area between 1975 and 1995 were 7 232 689. A total of 527 cases of Down syndrome live births were registered in the Taiwan Down Syndrome Association. PI total of 466 cases (88.43 per cent) of Down syndrome live births occurred before age 35, which was higher than occidental reports. This study established the first sizeable database of maternal age-specific risk for Down syndrome in an Asian population. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

A Modified Block Copolymer Nano-Patterning Method for High Density Sub-30 nm Polystyrene Nanosphere and Gold Nanomesh Formation

The use of self-assembled block copolymer structures to direct producing mesoscopic (1-100 nm) features requires potentially lower cost and can also be applied for large scale method as compared to conventional lithographic techniques, which may attracts many research interests. Here we demonstrate a simple, uniform, ease to control and efficient single step process to prepare polystyrene nanospheres based on the modified block copolymer nanopatterning with a diameter of 30 nm. The density of closely packed PS nanosphere was as high as 10(11)/cm(2). The formation of PS nanospheres was insensitive to the immersion temperature and time. The interiors of the resulting mask technique features have been developed to prepare large scale arrays of Au nanomesh on substrate at room temperature with lesser processing cost. Our result shows that the transmission rate of gold nanomesh was very similar to that of ITO. This technique provides an effective way to fabricate, control and reproduce plasmonic metal nanostructures with tunable surface plasmon resonances

Observation and Simulation of Meteorology and Surface Energy Components over the South China Sea in Summers of 2004 and 2006

Measurements of meteorological variables and surface energy components over the South China Sea (SCS) are compared with the NCEP-DOE AMIP-II reanalysis (NCEP2). The observations were conducted on a research vessel in the summers of 2004 and 2006. In addition, a one-column ocean model is used to simulate surface energy components and upper-level water temperatures (at 4 and 10 m depths). The simulated upper-level water temperatures agree well with the observations during the two cruises (OR1-728, OR1-802) with a root-mean-square difference (RMSD) smaller than 0.4 K. The observations and the simulations show that the solar radiation (with a mean of similar to 200 W m(-2)) is stronger than the latent heat flux (similar to 160 W m(-2)), and the latent heat flux is stronger than the sensible heat flux (similar to 10 W m(-2)) during both periods. Nonetheless, the magnitude of variability in heat flux caused by the sporadic wind is not seen in the reanalysis, it appears in the turbulent heat flux simulated by the model. The major differences between the model estimate and the NCEP2 reanalysis are the value of emissivity and the inclusion of diurnal cycles in key variables, with the value of NCEP2 for emissivity as 1. The emissivity of this part of ocean is observed to be 0.96 with albedo at 0.07

Characterization of insertions of IS476 and two newly identified insertion sequences, IS1478 and IS1479, in Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris

Thirty-two plasmid insertion mutants were independently isolated from two strains of Xanthomonas campestris pv, campestris in Taiwan, Of the 32 mutants, 14 (44%), 8 (25%), and 4 (12%) mutants resulted from separate insertions of an IS3 family member, IS476, and two new insertion sequences (IS), IS1478 and IS1479. While PS1478 does not have significant sequence homology with any IS elements in the EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database, IS1479 demonstrated 73% sequence homology with IS1051 in X. campestris pv, dieffenbachiae, 62% homology with IS52 in Pseudomonas syringae pv, glycinea, and 60% homology with IS5 in Escherichia coli. Based on the predicted transposase sequences as well as the terminal nucleotide sequences, IS1478 by itself constitutes a new subfamily of the widespread IS5 family, whereas IS1479, along with IS1051, IS52, and IS5, belongs to the IS5 subfamily of the IS5 family. All but one of the IS476 insertions had duplications of 4 bp at the target sites without sequence preference and were randomly distributed. An IS476 insertion carried a duplication of 952 bp at the target site. A model for generating these long direct repeats is proposed, Insertions of IS1478 and IS1479, on the other hand, were not random, and IS1478 and IS1479 each showed conservation of PyPuNTTA and PyTAPu sequences (Py is a pyrimidine, Pu is a purine, and N is any nucleotide) for duplications at the target sites. The results of Southern blot hybridization analysis indicated that multiple copies of IS476, IS1478, and IS1479 are present in the genomes of all seven X: campestris pv, campestris strains tested and several X. campestris pathovars

C/D Class MADS Box Genes from Two Monocots, Orchid (Oncidium Gower Ramsey) and Lily (Lilium longiflorum), Exhibit Different Effects on Floral Transition and Formation in Arabidopsis thaliana

We have characterized three CID class MADS box genes from an orchid (Oncidium Gower Ramsey) and a lily (Lilium longiflorum). OMADS4 of orchid and LMADS10 of lily are C class gene orthologs, whereas OMADS2 of orchid is a putative D class gene ortholog. The identity of these three genes is further supported by the presence of conserved motifs in the C-terminal regions of the proteins. The mRNA for these three genes can be detected in flowers and is absent in vegetative leaves. In flowers, OMADS4 and LMADS10 show similar expression patterns, being specifically expressed in the stamens and carpels. The expression of OMADS2 is restricted to the stigmatic cavity and ovary of the carpel. The similarities of the expression patterns of OMADS4/LMADS10 and OMADS2 to those of C and D class genes, respectively, indicate that their transcriptional regulation is highly evolutionarily conserved in these monocot species. Yeast two-hybrid analysis indicates that both OMADS2 and OMADS4 form homodimers and heterodimers with each other. Similar interactions are observed for LMADS2 and LMADS10. Ectopic expression of LMADS10 causes extremely early flowering, terminal flower formation and conversion of the sepals into carpel-like structures, similar to ectopic expression of the lily D class gene LMADS2. In contrast, 35S::OMADS2 and 35S::OMADS4 cause only early or moderately early flowering in transgenic Arabidopsis plants without floral organ conversion. This result indicates that C/D class genes from the lily have stronger effects than those from the orchid in transgenic Arabidopsis, revealing possible functional diversification of C/D class genes from the two monocots in regulating floral transition and formation