Hysteresis of soil temperature under different soil moisture and fertilizer in solar greenhouse conditions

Soil temperature is one of the important variables in spatial prediction of soil energy balance in a solar greenhouse. The objective of this study was to find a simple method to estimate the hysteresis of soil temperature under three soil moisture and two fertilizer levels in solar greenhouse conditions with tomato crop (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill). The results show that the soil moisture had no significant effects on the soil mean temperature and had significant effects on the soil hysteresis. The mean soil temperature could not express the relationship between the soil temperature and the air temperature accurately due to the soil hysteresis existence, while the correlation between the diurnal variations, air temperature and soil temperature could describe the soil hysteresis. We applied the phase of sinusoidal curve Ti = ̄Ti + Ai sin(ωt − φi )   to best approximate the hysteresis effect of soil temperatures. The soil hysteresis increased with the increase of soil depth, and the hysteresis effect of soil temperature was more and more obvious with the increase of soil moisture and the amount of fertilizer. When forecasting the soil hysteresis, we need to take into account, the change of the diurnal variations, soil temperature, the amplitude of soil temperature and initial phase.Key words: Soil moisture, fertilizer, soil temperature, solar greenhouse

Si solid-state quantum dot-based materials for tandem solar cells

The concept of third-generation photovoltaics is to significantly increase device efficiencies whilst still using thin-film processes and abundant non-toxic materials. A strong potential approach is to fabricate tandem cells using thin-film deposition that can optimise collection of energy in a series of cells with decreasing band gap stacked on top of each other. Quantum dot materials, in which Si quantum dots (QDs) are embedded in a dielectric matrix, offer the potential to tune the effective band gap, through quantum confinement, and allow fabrication of optimised tandem solar cell devices in one growth run in a thin-film process. Such cells can be fabricated by sputtering of thin layers of silicon rich oxide sandwiched between a stoichiometric oxide that on annealing crystallise to form Si QDs of uniform and controllable size. For approximately 2-nm diameter QDs, these result in an effective band gap of 1.8 eV. Introduction of phosphorous or boron during the growth of the multilayers results in doping and a rectifying junction, which demonstrates photovoltaic behaviour with an open circuit voltage (VOC) of almost 500 mV. However, the doping behaviour of P and B in these QD materials is not well understood. A modified modulation doping model for the doping mechanisms in these materials is discussed which relies on doping of a sub-oxide region around the Si QDs

Cancer care in China: A general review

This article is to provide a general overview of cancer in China including the statistics, most common cancers, their epidemiological characteristics and the treatments

Lower hybrid current drive and ion cyclotron range of frequencies heating experiments in H-mode plasmas in experimental advanced superconducting Tokomak

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LHCD and ICRF heating experiments in H-mode plasmas on EAST

An ICRF system with power up to 6.0 MW and a LHCD system up to 4MW have been applied for heating and current drive experiments on EAST. Intensive lithium wall coating was intensively used to reduce particle recycling and Hydrogen concentration in Deuterium plasma, which is needed for effective ICRF and LHCD power absorption in high density plasmas. Significant progress has been made with ICRF heating and LHW current drive for realizing the H-mode plasma operation in EAST. In 2010, H-mode was generated and sustained by LHCD alone, where lithium coating and gas puffing launcher mouth were applied to improve the LHCD power coupling and penetration into the core plasmas at high density of H-modes. During the last two experimental campaigns, ICRF Heating experiments were carried out at the fixed frequency of 27MHz, achieving effective ions and electrons heating with the H Minority Heating (H-MH) mode, where electrons are predominantly heated by collisions with high energy minority ions. The H-MH mode gave the best plasma performance, and realized H-mode alone in 2012. Combination of ICRF and LHW power injection generated the H-mode plasmas with various ELMy characteristics. The first successful application of the ICRF Heating in the D (He3) plasma was also achieved. The progress on ICRF heating, LHCD experiments and their application in achieving H-mode operation from last two years will be discussed in this report

A novel, molybdenum-containing methionine sulfoxide reductase supports survival of Haemophilus influenzae in an in vivo model of infection

© 2016 Dhouib, Othman, Lin, Lai, Wijesinghe, Essilfie, Davis, Nasreen, Bernhardt, Hansbro, McEwan and Kappler. Haemophilus influenzae is a host adapted human mucosal pathogen involved in a variety of acute and chronic respiratory tract infections, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, all of which rely on its ability to efficiently establish continuing interactions with the host. Here we report the characterization of a novel molybdenum enzyme, TorZ/MtsZ that supports interactions of H. influenzae with host cells during growth in oxygen-limited environments. Strains lacking TorZ/MtsZ showed a reduced ability to survive in contact with epithelial cells as shown by immunofluorescence microscopy and adherence/invasion assays. This included a reduction in the ability of the strain to invade human epithelial cells, a trait that could be linked to the persistence of H. influenzae. The observation that in a murine model of H. influenzae infection, strains lacking TorZ/MtsZ were almost undetectable after 72 h of infection, while ~3.6 × 103 CFU/mL of the wild type strain were measured under the same conditions is consistent with this view. To understand how TorZ/MtsZ mediates this effect we purified and characterized the enzyme, and were able to show that it is an S- and N-oxide reductase with a stereospecificity for S-sulfoxides. The enzyme converts two physiologically relevant sulfoxides, biotin sulfoxide and methionine sulfoxide (MetSO), with the kinetic parameters suggesting that MetSO is the natural substrate of this enzyme. TorZ/MtsZ was unable to repair sulfoxides in oxidized Calmodulin, suggesting that a role in cell metabolism/energy generation and not protein repair is the key function of this enzyme. Phylogenetic analyses showed that H. influenzae TorZ/MtsZ is only distantly related to the Escherichia coli TorZ TMAO reductase, but instead is a representative of a new, previously uncharacterized clade of molybdenum enzyme that is widely distributed within the Pasteurellaceae family of pathogenic bacteria. It is likely that MtsZ/TorZ has a similar role in supporting host/pathogen interactions in other members of the Pasteurellaceae, which includes both human and animal pathogens

Electric-field-induced alignment of electrically neutral disk-like particles: modelling and calculation

This work reveals a torque from electric field to electrically neutral flakes that are suspended in a higher electrical conductive matrix. The torque tends to rotate the particles toward an orientation with its long axis parallel to the electric current flow. The alignment enables the anisotropic properties of tiny particles to integrate together and generate desirable macroscale anisotropic properties. The torque was obtained from thermodynamic calculation of electric current free energy at various microstructure configurations. It is significant even when the electrical potential gradient becomes as low as 100 v/m. The changes of electrical, electroplastic and thermal properties during particles alignment were discussed

An instability criterion for nonlinear standing waves on nonzero backgrounds

A nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with repulsive (defocusing) nonlinearity is considered. As an example, a system with a spatially varying coefficient of the nonlinear term is studied. The nonlinearity is chosen to be repelling except on a finite interval. Localized standing wave solutions on a non-zero background, e.g., dark solitons trapped by the inhomogeneity, are identified and studied. A novel instability criterion for such states is established through a topological argument. This allows instability to be determined quickly in many cases by considering simple geometric properties of the standing waves as viewed in the composite phase plane. Numerical calculations accompany the analytical results.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Unexpected elevated alanine aminotransferase, asparte aminotransferase levels and hepatitis E virus infection among persons who work with pigs in accra, ghana

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several studies have suggested that elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and asparte aminotransferase (AST) may be markers of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection. Thus, individuals with elevated ALT and AST may have ongoing subclinical infection of HEV. We estimated the prevalence of anti-HEV antibodies and serum ALT and AST levels among persons who work with pigs in Accra, Ghana.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three hundred and fifty- persons who work with pigs provided blood samples for unlinked anonymous testing for the presence of antibodies to HEV, ALT and AST levels. The median age of participants was 32.85 ± 11.38 years (range 15-70 years). HEV seroprevelance was 34.84%. Anti-HEV IgG was detected in 19.26% while anti-HEV IgM was detected in 15.58% of the persons who tested positive. On multivariate analysis, the independent determinants of HEV infection were, being employed on the farm for less than six months [odds ratio (OR) 8.96; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 5.43-14.80], having piped water in the household and/or on the farm (OR 13.33; 95% CI 5.23-33.93) and consumption of alcohol (OR 4.91: 95% CI 2.65-9.10). Levels >3× the expected maximum were found for both ALT and AST among individuals who tested positive for anti-HEV IgG (ALT, 210.17 ± 11.64 U/L; AST, 127.18 ± 11.12 U/L) and anti-HEV IgM (ALT, 200.97 ± 10.76 U/L; AST, 120.00 ± 15.96 U/L).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Consistent with similar studies worldwide, the results of our studies revealed a high prevalence of HEV infection, ALT and AST values in pig handlers.</p