A study on the classification of the sciaenoid fishes of China, with description of new genera and species

This book was a thesis selected by The Collective Papers of Science and Technology Research of Shanghai City, 1960 . The article reviews the literature of past hundred years on sciaenid fishes, examines sciaenid specimens collected along our coastal areas, and contains a detailed description of the taxonomy of Chinese sciaenids. This book is for the use of the teachers and students of the biology departments in colleges and scientists of related specialties

Understanding effects of microstructural inhomogeneity on creep response – New approaches to improve the creep resistance in magnesium alloys

AbstractPrevious investigations indicate that the creep resistance of magnesium alloys is proportional to the stability of precipitated intermetallic phases at grain boundaries. These stable intermetallic phases were considered to be effective to suppress the deformation by grain boundary sliding, leading to the improvement of creep properties. Based on this point, adding the alloying elements to form the stable intermetallics with high melting point became a popular way to develop the new creep resistant magnesium alloys. The present investigation, however, shows that the creep properties of binary Mg–Sn alloy are still poor even though the addition of Sn possibly results in the precipitation of thermal stable Mg2Sn at grain boundaries. That means other possible mechanisms function to affect the creep response. It is finally found that the poor creep resistance is attributed to the segregation of Sn at dendritic and grain boundaries. Based on this observation, new approaches to improve the creep resistance are suggested for magnesium alloys because most currently magnesium alloys have the commonality with the Mg–Sn alloys

Unexpected formation of hydrides in heavy rare earth containing magnesium alloys

AbstractMg–RE (Dy, Gd, Y) alloys show promising for being developed as biodegradable medical applications. It is found that the hydride REH2 could be formed on the surface of samples during their preparations with water cleaning. The amount of formed hydrides in Mg–RE alloys is affected by the content of RE and heat treatments. It increases with the increment of RE content. On the surface of the alloy with T4 treatment the amount of formed hydride REH2 is higher. In contrast, the amount of REH2 is lower on the surfaces of as-cast and T6-treated alloys. Their formation mechanism is attributed to the surface reaction of Mg–RE alloys with water. The part of RE in solid solution in Mg matrix plays an important role in influencing the formation of hydrides

Simulation of Effective Slip and Drag in Pressure-Driven Flow on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

The flow on superhydrophobic surfaces was investigated using finite element modeling (FEM). Surfaces with different textures like grooves, square pillars, and cylinders immersed in liquid forming Cassie state were modeled. Nonslip boundary condition was assumed at solid-liquid interface while slip boundary condition was supposed at gas-liquid interface. It was found that the flow rate can be affected by the shape of the texture, the fraction of the gas-liquid area, the height of the channel, and the driving pressure gradient. By extracting the effective boundary slip from the flow rate based on a model, it was found that the shape of the textures and the fraction of the gas-liquid area affect the effective slip significantly while the height of the channel and the driving pressure gradient have no obvious effect on effective slip

Exploring causal relationships between inflammatory cytokines and allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and nasal polyps: a Mendelian randomization study

ObjectivesPrevious research has suggested connections between specific inflammatory cytokines and nasal conditions, including Allergic Rhinitis (AR), Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS), and Nasal Polyps (NP). However, a lack of robust research establishing the causal underpinnings of them. This Mendelian Randomization (MR) study aims to evaluate the causal relationships between 41 inflammatory cytokines and the incidence of AR, CRS and NP.MethodsThis study employed a two-sample MR design, harnessing genetic variations derived from publicly accessible genome-wide association studies (GWAS) datasets. AR data was sourced from a GWAS with 25,486 cases and 87,097 controls (identifier: ukb-b-7178). CRS data originated from a GWAS encompassing 1,179 cases and 360,015 controls (identifier: ukb-d-J32). NP data was extracted from a GWAS involving 1,637 cases and 335,562 controls (identifier: ukb-a-541). The data for 41 inflammatory cytokines were obtained from an independent GWAS encompassing 8,293 participants. Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR Egger regression and Weighted median were used to evaluate the causalities of exposures and outcomes. A range of sensitivity analyses were implemented to assess the robustness of the results.ResultsThe results revealed significant associations between elevated circulating levels of MIP-1α (odds ratio, OR: 1.01798, 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.00217–1.03404, p = 0.02570) and TNF-α (OR: 1.01478, 95% CI: 1.00225–1.02746, p = 0.02067) with an augmented risk of AR in the IVW approach. Heightened levels of circulating IL-2 exhibited a positive correlation with an increased susceptibility to NP in the IVW approach (OR: 1.00129, 95% CI: 1.00017–1.00242, p = 0.02434), whereas elevated levels of circulating PDGF-BB demonstrated a decreased risk of NP (OR: 0.99920, 95% CI: 0.99841–0.99999, p = 0.047610). The MR analysis between levels of 41 inflammatory cytokines and the incidence of CRS yielded no positive outcomes.ConclusionThis investigation proposes a potential causal association between elevated levels of MIP-1α and TNF-α with an elevated risk of AR, as well as an increased risk of NP linked to elevated IL-2 levels. Furthermore, there appears to be a potential association between increased levels of circulating PDGF-BB and a reduced risk of NP

Impact of NFL Players’ Off-field Misconduct on Sponsorship Returns

This paper studies the impact of NFL players’ off-field misconduct on their personal and stadium sponsors’ stock returns. The data of this study contains all the NFL players’ offfield misconduct incidents from 2000 to 2017, and sponsor stock returns data are from public companies traded in the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. An event study analysis is performed to quantify the financial impact of NFL players’ off-field misconduct. Also, several OLS regressions are employed to find the determinants of the impact. The event study analysis does not reveal any statistically significant result, while the regression results show that the incident team’s reaction is correlated with the financial impact of the incident on the related stadium sponsors. In addition, my findings provide some evidence of broader reputation risks of athletes’ off-field behaviors

Decision-Making Research on Tour Lines of Tourist-Dedicated Train Based on Vague Sets and Prospect Theory

Tourist-dedicated train is the product of the combination of railway transportation and tourism, and its tour line selection includes the selection of nodes and lines. Based on the principle of decision-making, taking technical factors, tourism factors, regional economic factors, and passenger flow factors as criteria, this paper analyzes the decision-making indices affecting the tour line and establishes the decision-making index system. Subsequently, the prospect theory considering the bounded rationality and psychological factors of decision makers is combined with vague set fuzzy decision theory, and a comprehensive decision method based on vague set and prospect theory is proposed. Finally, the feasibility of the proposed decision method is verified by an example. The research shows that the established decision-making index system is representative, and the proposed decision-making method is scientific and effective for the decision making of tourist lines of tourist-dedicated train. The decision-making results can be used as a reference for the formulation of tour lines and line plans of tourist-dedicated train

Recent research and developments on wrought magnesium alloys

Wrought magnesium alloys attract special interests as lightweight structural material due to their homogeneous microstructure and enhanced mechanical properties compared to as-cast alloys. In this contribution, recent research and developments on wrought magnesium alloys are reviewed from the viewpoint of the alloy design, focusing on Mg-Al, Mg-Zn and Mg-rare earth (RE) systems. The effects of different alloying elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties are described considering their strengthening mechanisms, e.g. grain refinement, precipitation and texture hardening effect. Finally, the new alloy design and also the future research of wrought magnesium alloys to improve their mechanical properties are discussed. Keywords: Wrought magnesium alloys, Alloy design, Mechanical propertie