Influence of coal characteristics on laser-induced plasmas

peer reviewedEight kinds of typical coal samples were chosen for studying the influence of coal characteristics on laser—induced plasmas．Element analysis and industry analysis were carried out for every sample．Experimental study on the interaction between laser and different coal samples was completed，and factors affecting laser plasma were analyzed，such as coal moisture and coal dust．The experiment result indicates that the coal samples with different coalification degrees have different plasma time—resolved spectral characteristics，all of them tend to rise at the beginning of plasma formation (< 1us)，then with the decay of plasmas emission．they tend to decrease in about 1us，while secondary ionization occurs in highly coalificated coals after 2 us．The plasma temperature differs from one kind to another，the higher the coalification degree is，the higher the plasma temperature will be

A genome-wide association study of Chinese and English language phenotypes in Hong Kong Chinese children

Funding: This study was partially supported by a Theme-based Research Scheme (T44-410/21-N) and a Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) (C4054-17W) from the Research Grants Council. HCS was partially supported by the KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research of Common Diseases, and the Hong Kong Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, as well as the Lo Kwee Seong Biomedical Research Fund.Dyslexia and developmental language disorders are important learning difficulties. However, their genetic basis remains poorly understood, and most genetic studies were performed on Europeans. There is a lack of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on literacy phenotypes of Chinese as a native language and English as a second language (ESL) in a Chinese population. In this study, we conducted GWAS on 34 reading/language-related phenotypes in Hong Kong Chinese bilingual children (including both twins and singletons; total N = 1046). We performed association tests at the single-variant, gene, and pathway levels. In addition, we tested genetic overlap of these phenotypes with other neuropsychiatric disorders, as well as cognitive performance (CP) and educational attainment (EA) using polygenic risk score (PRS) analysis. Totally 5 independent loci (LD-clumped at r2 = 0.01; MAF > 0.05) reached genome-wide significance (p 0.3 and having at least 2 correlated SNPs (r2 > 0.5) with p < 1e-3). The loci were associated with a range of language/literacy traits such as Chinese vocabulary, character and word reading, and rapid digit naming, as well as English lexical decision. Several SNPs from these loci mapped to genes that were reported to be associated with EA and other neuropsychiatric phenotypes, such as MANEA and PLXNC1. In PRS analysis, EA and CP showed the most consistent and significant polygenic overlap with a variety of language traits, especially English literacy skills. To summarize, this study revealed the genetic basis of Chinese and English abilities in a group of Chinese bilingual children. Further studies are warranted to replicate the findings.Peer reviewe

Strength degradation mechanism of iron coke prepared by mixed coal and Fe2O3

Iron coke, as a new type of blast furnace burden is helpful for energy saving, emission reduction and green production of iron making. This study aims to investigate the strength degradation mechanism of iron coke prepared by mixed coal and Fe2O3 to provide a theoretical direction to improve its strength. Coking and pyrolysis experiments of mixed coal and Fe2O3 were carried out between 400 and 500 ℃ temperature. Gieseler plastometer and derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) showed that added Fe2O3 inhibited the thermoplasticity and pyrolysis process of mixed coal during coking. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) results showed that added Fe2O3 decreased the aromaticity and average stacking height, but increased the interlayer spacing of crystallite, aliphatic chain length and hydrocarbon-generating potential of mixed coal during coking. Further, gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GCsingle bondMS) analysis suggested that the added Fe2O3 inhibited the cleavage of Calsingle bondO, Calsingle bondS, Calsingle bondN, Calsingle bondCar and Calsingle bondCal bonds, reduced the generation of ethylbenzene, o-xylene and unbranched alkanes with carbon atoms in 24–26, thus decreased the amount of fluid phase generated in coking and ultimately degraded the strength of iron coke

Quantitative analysis of atmosphere by laser—induced breakdown spectroscopy

peer reviewedIn order to investigate the feasibility of quantitative analysis with laser—induced breakdown spectroscopy， plasmas were produced by a Q—switched Nd ：YAG laser interacted with the air at atmospheric pressure，then the light of plasmas entered the monochrom eter and transferred into an electric signal，and the spectra of these plasmas in the range of 600～ 800 nm were stored and analyzed by the calibration—free mode1．Under the condition of delay time of 8 s and gating pulse of 0．4 s，the temperature of plasmas，which was in local thermal equilibrium (LTE)，was 1．62× 10 K which was obtained by means of the two—dimensional Boltzmann plane．The 20．75 oxygen content and 79．25％nitrogen content in air were detected on the assum ption that there were only oxygen and nitrogen constituents in the air．The results coincide well with the fact．The feasibility was validated by the experiment，and it built a strong basis for the further study and experiment of air pollutant monitoring

Disruption of a Cadherin Gene Associated with Resistance to Cry1Ac δ-Endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis in Helicoverpa armigera

A laboratory strain (GY) of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) was established from surviving larvae collected from transgenic cotton expressing a Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki insecticidal protein (Bt cotton) in Gaoyang County, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China, in 2001. The GYBT strain was derived from the GY strain through 28 generations of selection with activated Cry1Ac delivered by diet surface contamination. When resistance to Cry1Ac in the GYBT strain increased to 564-fold after selection, we detected high levels of cross-resistance to Cry1Aa (103-fold) and Cry1Ab (>46-fold) in the GYBT strain with reference to those in the GY strain. The GYBT strain had a low level of cross-resistance to B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki formulation (Btk) (5-fold) and no cross-resistance to Cry2Aa (1.4-fold). Genetic analysis showed that Cry1Ac resistance in the GYBT strain was controlled by one autosomal and incompletely recessive gene. The cross-resistance pattern and inheritance mode suggest that the Cry1Ac resistance in the GYBT strain of H. armigera belongs to “mode 1,” the most common type of lepidopteran resistance to B. thuringiensis toxins. A cadherin gene was cloned and sequenced from both the GY and GYBT strains. Disruption of the cadherin gene by a premature stop codon was associated with a high level of Cry1Ac resistance in H. armigera. Tight linkage between Cry1Ac resistance and the cadherin locus was observed in a backcross analysis. Together with previous evidence found with Heliothis virescens and Pectinophora gossypiella, our results confirmed that the cadherin gene is a preferred target for developing DNA-based monitoring of B. thuringiensis resistance in field populations of lepidopteran pests

Study on the Property of Laser-induced Plasma of Pulverized Coal

peer reviewe

Measurement of carbon content in coal with laser—induced breakdown spectroscopy

peer reviewedThe feasibility of rapid quantitative analysis of coal by Laser—Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy technique was studied．The calibration curve method for LIBS quantitative analysis is introduced．Five coal samples were selected as investigation subjects，the carbon plasma line of 505．2 nm was chosen as analysis spectrum line，and the carbon content of coal was analyzed quantitatively with delay of 0．8us， 1．2us， 1．6 us， 2．0 us and 2．4us． The results were compared with the results measured with Element Analysis Instrument．The error measured in1．6us delay was the minimum ，the effect of delay time on the quantitative analysis was analyzed．The results indicate that LIBS has a great potential in fast analysis of coal content

FEM analysis of influence of vertical roll shape on head and tail shape of rolled piece during multipass V-H rolling process

The multipass V-H rolling process with different vertical roll shape was simulated by explicit dynamic FEM and updating geometric method and the head and tail shape of rolled piece for different pass and vertical roll shape was analyzed. The results show that when using flat vertical roll, the wedge angle appears in tail, but it does not appear when using shape vertical roll , and the length of rolled piece is shorter than that using shape vertical roll, so its elongation is larger; when using shape vertical roll, the head and tail shape of rolled piece changs little as the groove fillet radius of roll changes. At the same time, the calculated head and tail shape of rolled piece for flat vertical roll in different pass is consistent with the measured one when the model material is lead