Timing of closure of the Mesozoic-Tethys Ocean: Constraints from remnants of a 141-135 ocean island within the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone, Tibetan Plateau

Knowledge of the timing of the closure of the Meso-Tethys Ocean as represented by the Bangong–Nujiang Suture Zone, i.e., the timing of the Lhasa-Qiangtang collision, is critical for understanding the Mesozoic tectonics of the Tibetan Plateau. But this timing is hotly debated; existing suggestions vary from the Middle Jurassic (ca. 166 Ma) to Late Cretaceous (ca. 100 Ma). In this study, we describe the petrology of the Zhonggang igneous–sedimentary rocks in the middle segment of the Bangong–Nujiang Suture Zone and present results of zircon U–Pb geochronology, whole-rock geochemistry, and Sr–Nd isotope analysis of the Zhonggang igneous rocks. The Zhonggang igneous–sedimentary rocks have a thick basaltic basement (>2 km thick) covered by limestone with interbedded basalt and tuff, trachyandesite, chert, and poorly sorted conglomerate comprising limestone and basalt debris. There is an absence of terrigenous detritus (e.g., quartz) within the sedimentary and pyroclastic rocks. These observations, together with the typical exotic blocks-in-matrix structure between the Zhonggang igneous–sedimentary rocks and the surrounding flysch deposits, lead to the conclusion that the Zhonggang igneous–sedimentary rocks are remnants of an ocean island within the Meso-Tethys Ocean. This conclusion is consistent with the ocean island basalt-type geochemistry of the Zhonggang basalts and trachyandesites, which are enriched in light rare earth elements (LaN/YbN = 4.72–18.1 and 5.61–13.7, respectively) and have positive Nb–Ta anomalies (NbPM/ThPM > 1, TaPM/UPM > 1), low initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.703992–0.705428), and positive mantle εNd(t) values (3.88–5.99). Zircon U–Pb dates indicate that the Zhonggang ocean island formed at 141–135 Ma; therefore, closure of the Meso-Tethys Ocean and collision of the Lhasa and Qiangtang terranes must have happened after ca. 135 Ma

THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PLYOMETRIC-SQUAT TRAINING ON TAEKWONDO POWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE LOWER EXTREMITY

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect on three different training methods by combining the typical plyometric training method (drop jump) and traditional weight training (112squat). The subjects were fifteen male high school athletes. The training duration for all subjects was eight weeks, and the frequency was twice a week. One Kistler force plate was used to record the power abilities of the subjects performing counter-movement jump (CMJ) and one PEAK camera (120 Hz) was also used to record the Axe-kicking movement time. Based on the results of this study, combining the vertical drop jump and horizontal drop jump with weight training could improve the maximum power and Axe-kick movement time. Therefore, it is important to consider the movement specific character when the muscular strength training of Taekwondo athletes

Heat transport of electron-doped Cobaltates

Within the t-J model, the heat transport of electron-doped cobaltates is studied based on the fermion-spin theory. It is shown that the temperature dependent thermal conductivity is characterized by the low temperature peak located at a finite temperature. The thermal conductivity increases monotonously with increasing temperature at low temperatures T $<$ 0.1$J$, and then decreases with increasing temperature for higher temperatures T $>$ 0.1$J$, in qualitative agreement with experimental result observed from Na$_{x}$CoO$_{2}$ .Comment: 4 pages, 1 fig, corrected typos, accepted for publication in Commun. Theor. Phy

Machine learning framework for assessment of microbial factory performance

Metabolic models can estimate intrinsic product yields for microbial factories, but such frameworks struggle to predict cell performance (including product titer or rate) under suboptimal metabolism and complex bioprocess conditions. On the other hand, machine learning, complementary to metabolic modeling necessitates large amounts of data. Building such a database for metabolic engineering designs requires significant manpower and is prone to human errors and bias. We propose an approach to integrate data-driven methods with genome scale metabolic model for assessment of microbial bio-production (yield, titer and rate). Using engineered E. coli as an example, we manually extracted and curated a data set comprising about 1200 experimentally realized cell factories from ~100 papers. We furthermore augmented the key design features (e.g., genetic modifications and bioprocess variables) extracted from literature with additional features derived from running the genome-scale metabolic model iML1515 simulations with constraints that match the experimental data. Then, data augmentation and ensemble learning (e.g., support vector machines, gradient boosted trees, and neural networks in a stacked regressor model) are employed to alleviate the challenges of sparse, non-standardized, and incomplete data sets, while multiple correspondence analysis/principal component analysis are used to rank influential factors on bio-production. The hybrid framework demonstrates a reasonably high cross-validation accuracy for prediction of E.coli factory performance metrics under presumed bioprocess and pathway conditions (Pearson correlation coefficients between 0.8 and 0.93 on new data not seen by the model)

Foreign Exchange Market Pressure and Monetary Policy: An Empirical Study Based on China’s Data

The reform of exchange rate system in 2005 has settled down the floating exchange rate system with management in China. Until August this year, RMB/USD has appreciated about 16.65%. This paper measures the exchange market pressure (EMP) on RMB/USD, and use VAR model to analyze the relationship between EMP and domestic monetary policy . And from the results we find that the increase of China’s domestic interest rate of is the main cause of RMB pressure of appreciation, but the foreign interest rate has little effects on the pressure and it can affect the growth rate of China’s domestic credit. So,we deem that the theory of "ternary paradox" may not applicable to China, at least in the period of our investigation

Ammonium uptake and assimilation are required for rice defense against sheath blight disease

Nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient for plant growth and yield production, and rice grown in paddy soil mainly uses ammonium (NH4+) as its N source. Previous studies have shown that N status is tightly connected to plant defense; however, the roles of NH4+ uptake and assimilation in rice sheath blight disease response have not been studied previously. Here, we analyzed the effects of different N sources on plant defense against Rhizoctonia solani. The results indicated that rice plants grown in N-free conditions had higher resistance to sheath blight than those grown under N conditions. In greater detail, rice plants cultured with glutamine as the sole N source were more susceptible to sheath blight disease compared to the groups using NH4+ and nitrate (NO3–) as sole N sources. N deficiency severely inhibited plant growth; therefore, ammonium transporter 1;2 overexpressors (AMT1;2 OXs) were generated to test their growth and defense ability under low N conditions. AMT1;2 OXs increased N use efficiency and exhibited less susceptible symptoms to R. solani and highly induced the expression of PBZ1 compared to the wild-type controls upon infection of R. solani. Furthermore, the glutamine synthetase 1;1 (GS1;1) mutant (gs1;1) was more susceptible to R. solani infection than the wild-type control, and the genetic combination of AMT1;2 OX and gs1;1 revealed that AMT1;2 OX was less susceptible to R. solani and required GS1;1 activity. In addition, cellular NH4+ content was higher in AMT1;2 OX and gs1;1 plants, indicating that NH4+ was not directly controlling plant defense. In conclusion, the present study showed that the activation of NH4+ uptake and assimilation were required for rice resistance against sheath blight disease

Peculiarities of the Tail-Withdrawal Reflex Circuit in Aplysia: a Model Study

The circuit of the tail-withdrawal reflex in Aplysia opens up possibilities to construct model systems allowing researchers to effectively investigate simple forms of learning and memory. Using the Python interface of the NEURON software, we simulated this reflex circuit and studied various characteristics of the latter. The phenomenon of spike frequency adaptation (SFA) and the period-adding bifurcation of the minimum were found in sensory neurons, when the latter were stimulated by square-wave stimuli. In all neurons of the circuit, variation of the stimulus strength first increased and then decreased the number of spikes in a burst. In addition, with decreases in the number of stimulated sensory neurons, a subliminal firing other than that in an intact burst appeared at the outputs of interneurons and motor neuron. Moreover, the potentials produced in the motor neuron induced corresponding oscillations of the muscle fiber force, which was indicative of a procedure of excitement-contraction coupling in the tail part of Aplysia. Finally, upon alteration of the conductance of synapses between interneurons and motoneuron, the duration of long-lasting responses increased regularly, implying synaptic plasticityОрганізація нервової мережі відсмикування „хвоста” в аплізії дозволяє побудувати модельну систему, за допомогою якої можна ефективно досліджувати прості форми навчання та пам’яті. Використовуючи інтерфейс Python та програмний засіб NEURON, ми змоделювали даний рефлекс та дослідили декілька властивостей модельної мережі. Феномени адаптації частоти розряду (SFA) та біфуркації з доданням періоду при мінімумі частоти спостерігалися в сенсорних нейронах в умовах стимуляції прямокутними стимулами. В усіх нейронах мережі зміни сили стимуляції призводили спочатку до збільшення числа піків у пачках, а потім до його зменшення. Окрім того, при зменшенні кількості стимульованих сенсорних нейронів на виходах інтернейронів та моторного нейрона з’являлася підпорогова кайма, що відрізнялася від такої в інтактних пачок. Більш того, потенціали, продуковані моторним нейроном, індукували відповідні осциляції сили, розвинутої м’язовим волокном, що свідчило про сполучення процесів збудження/скорочення у хвостовій частині аплізії. Нарешті, при змінах провідності синапсів між інтернейронами та мотонейронами тривалість „довгих” імпульсних відповідей закономірно збільшувалася, що вказувало на прояви синаптичної пластичності

Gradient Trigger Mechanisms Related to Bistability Regimes in a Leech Heartbeat Model

We studied bursting patterns underlied by bifurcation phenomena and chaotic spiking in a computational leech heartbeat model. We observed the gradient physical properties of the ISI trains and amplitude (shift of the membrane potential) when the parameter gleak was mildly changed and found different bistable areas. The resulting computation implies that (i) classification of the intensity of the input information is feasible in this regime, (ii) a neuron’s working level can be marked by its range in a typical bifurcation, and (iii) there are invisible triggers underlying subtle mechanisms in the model.Ми досліджували пачкові імпульсні патерни, що формувалися на основі феноменів біфуркації, та хаотичну імпульсну активність у комп’ютерній моделі керування серцевими скороченнями у п’явки. Ми спостерігали градієнтність фізичних властивостей, що визначали характеристики послідовностей імпульсів та амплітуду (зміщення мембранного потенціалу), при невеликих змінах параметра gleak (провідності витоку). Було також виявилено, що існують різні зони бістабільності. Результати комп’ютерного моделювання вказують на те, що, по-перше, в такому режимі може забезпечуватися класифікація інтенсивності вхідної інформації; по-друге, робочий рівень для нейрона визначаеться його положенням у типовій біфуркації, і, по-третє, існують «невидимі» тригери, на яких базуються тонкі механізми моделі