Giant spin-vorticity coupling excited by shear-horizontal surface acoustic waves

A non-magnetic layer can inject spin-polarized currents into an adjacent ferromagnetic layer via spin vorticity coupling (SVC), inducing spin wave resonance (SWR). In this work, we present the theoretical model of SWR generated by shear-horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) via SVC, which contains distinct vorticities from well-studied Rayleigh SAW. Both Rayleigh- and SH-SAW delay lines have been designed and fabricated with a Ni81Fe19/Cu bilayer integrated on ST-cut quartz. Given the same wavelength, the measured power absorption of SH-SAW is four orders of magnitudes higher than that of the Rayleigh SAW. In addition, a high-order frequency dependence of the SWR is observed in the SH-SAW, indicating SVC can be strong enough to compare with magnetoelastic coupling

Functional characterization of a short peptidoglycan recognition protein from Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus)

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 31302221, 31172408 and 31272666) and Jiangsu Province (Grant no. BK20171274 and BK2011418), and partially by the Opening Project of Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Marine Wetland (Grant no. K2016-08). QZ was supported by the “Qinglan” project of Jiangsu province of China.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Observation of Enhanced Dynamic {\Delta}G effect near Ferromagnetic Resonance Frequency

The field-dependence elastic modulus of magnetostrictive films, also called {\Delta}E or {\Delta}G effect, is crucial for ultrasensitive magnetic field sensors based on surface acoustic waves (SAWs). In spite of a lot of successful demonstrations, rare attention was paid to the frequency-dependence of {\Delta}E or {\Delta}G effect. In current work, shear horizontal-type SAW delay lines coated with a thin FeCoSiB layer have been studied at various frequencies upon applying magnetic fields. The change of shear modulus of FeCoSiB has been extracted by measuring the field-dependent phase shift of SAWs. It is found that the {\Delta}G effect is significantly enhanced at high-order harmonic frequencies close to the ferromagnetic resonance frequency, increasing by ~82% compared to that at the first SAW mode (128 MHz). In addition, the smaller the effective damping factor of magnetostrictive layer, the more pronounced {\Delta}G effect can be obtained, which is explained by our proposed dynamic magnetoelastic coupling model

Some observations on the effects of EGR, oxygen concentration, and engine speed on the homogeneous charge combustion of n-heptane

Paper presented at the 2004 SAE Fuels and Lubricants Meeting and Exhibition, June 2004, Toulouse, France. Retrieved 3/16/2006 from http://www.mem.drexel.edu/cnf/.NOx and soot emissions remain critical issues in diesel engines. One method to address these problems is to achieve homogeneous combustion at lower peak temperatures – the goal of research on controlled autoignition. In this paper n-heptane is used to represent a large hydrocarbon fuel and some of the effects of internal and external EGR, oxygen concentration, and engine speed on its combustion have been examined through simulation and experiment. Simulations were conducted using our existing skeletal chemical kinetic model, which combines the chemistry of the low, intermediate, and high temperature regimes. Experiments were carried out in a single cylinder, four-stroke, air cooled engine and a single cylinder, two stroke, water cooled engine. In the four-stroke engine experiments the effects of EGR were examined using heated N2 addition as a surrogate for external EGR and engine modifications to increase internal EGR. Two-stage ignition was observed in both the simulations and experiments. The modeling results indicate that the ignition times were sensitive to EGR through both thermal and chemical effects. High levels of EGR completely suppressed autoignition. The most apparent effect of oxygen concentration is a shortening of the time between the first stage and second stage ignition. The modeling shows that EGR or extra air are key factors in eliminating knock during mid-load conditions. For higher load operation knock is serious and the only way to avoid it is to control reaction timing through the use of spark ignition. The experimental and modeling results from the two-stroke engine show that autoignition can be avoided by increasing the engine speed. This appears to result from shortened reaction time at lower temperatures thereby reducing the extent of the low and intermediate temperature chemical reactivity. The two-stroke engine experiments indicate that high levels of internal EGR (obtained by increasing the engine back pressure) can enable spark ignition at lean/dilute conditions. Based on the similarity between two-stoke and four-stroke engines, spark ignition may be possible at higher load conditions using internal EGR (simultaneously keeping peak temperature lower) for four-stroke engines

Altered brain spontaneous activity in patients with cerebral small vessel disease using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation of different frequency bands

BackgroundPrevious studies showed that cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) is a leading cause of cognitive decline in elderly people and the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Although brain structural changes of cSVD have been documented well, it remains unclear about the properties of brain intrinsic spontaneous activity in patients with cSVD.MethodsWe collected resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) and T1-weighted 3D high-resolution brain structural images from 41 cSVD patients and 32 healthy controls (HC). By estimating the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) under three different frequency bands (typical band: 0.01–0.1 Hz; slow-4: 0.027–0.073 Hz; and slow-5: 0.01–0.027 Hz) in the whole-brain, we analyzed band-specific ALFF differences between the cSVD patients and controls.ResultsThe cSVD patients showed uniformly lower ALFF than the healthy controls in the typical and slow-4 bands (pFWE < 0.05). In the typical band, cSVD patients showed lower ALFF involving voxels of the fusiform, hippocampus, inferior occipital cortex, middle occipital cortex, insula, inferior frontal cortex, rolandic operculum, and cerebellum compared with the controls. In the slow-4 band, cSVD patients showed lower ALFF involving voxels of the cerebellum, hippocampus, occipital, and fusiform compared with the controls. However, there is no significant between-group difference of ALFF in the slow-5 band. Moreover, we found significant “group × frequency” interactions in the left precuneus.ConclusionOur results suggested that brain intrinsic spontaneous activity of cSVD patients was abnormal and showed a frequency-specific characteristic. The ALFF in the slow-4 band may be more sensitive to detecting a malfunction in cSVD patients

Plant Functional Traits Are the Mediators in Regulating Effects of Abiotic Site Conditions on Aboveground Carbon Stock-Evidence From a 30 ha Tropical Forest Plot

Understanding the relative contribution of abiotic and biotic factors to the formation of ecosystem functioning across scales is vital to evaluate ecosystem services. Here, we elucidate the effects of abiotic site conditions (i.e., soil and topographic properties) and plant functional traits on variations of stand aboveground carbon (AGC) stock in an old-growth tropical montane rain forest. The response-effect framework in functional ecology is adopted in examining how plant functional traits respond to environmental changes and affect ecosystem functioning. We measured specific leaf area and wood density of 270 woody plant species and estimated stand AGC stocks in a 30-ha forest plot. The relationships among environmental factors (ENVIRONMENT), community-weighted means of functional traits (TRAITS) and stand AGC stocks across nested spatial scales were disentangled by structural equation modeling. The results showed that the stands composed of ‘acquisitive’ species (high specific leaf area and low wood density) had low AGC, whereas stands composed of ‘conservative’ species (low specific leaf area and high wood density) had high AGC. TRAITS responded to ENVIRONMENT and affected AGC directly. ENVIRONMENT had an indirect effect on AGC through its direct effect on TRAITS. TRAITS were more important than ENVIRONMENT in driving variations of AGC. The effects of TRAITS on AGC increased, while the effects of ENVIRONMENT on AGC decreased with the increase of spatial scales in the tropical montane rain forest. Our study suggests that plant functional traits are the mediators in regulating effects of abiotic site conditions on ecosystem functions

Red Aesthetics, Intermediality and the Use of Posters in Chinese Cinema after 1949

Abstract: This article focuses on the aesthetic and affective techniques of saturation through which posters legitimated the Party-State in Mao’s China by closing the gap between everyday experience and political ideology. Propaganda posters were designed to put into practice the principle of unity, as conceptua- lised by Mao Zedong. The argument posits that while the “poster” is normally a printed edition of a painting or design intended for mass distribution in this way, the term may fairly be deployed to capture other cultural objects that function as “posters”, in that they provide public, political information that expresses or con- structs a political self in aesthetic form. This approach requires a metonymic understanding of a visual field in which cultural objects are interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The essay draws on recent in-depth interviews with poster artists of the 1960s and 1970s

Genetic Variation of HvCBF Genes and Their Association with Salinity Tolerance in Tibetan Annual Wild Barley

The evaluation of both the genetic variation and the identification of salinity tolerant accessions of Tibetan annual wild barley (hereafter referred to as Tibetan barley) (Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. Spontaneum and H. vulgare L. ssp. agriocrithum) are essential for discovering and exploiting novel alleles involved in salinity tolerance. In this study, we examined tissue dry biomass and the Na+ and K+ contents of 188 Tibetan barley accessions in response to salt stress. We investigated the genetic variation of transcription factors HvCBF1, HvCBF3 and HvCBF4 within these accessions, conducting association analysis between these three genes and the respective genotypic salt tolerance. Salt stress significantly reduced shoot and root dry weight by 27.6% to 73.1% in the Tibetan barley lines. HvCBF1, HvCBF3 and HvCBF4 showed diverse sequence variation in amplicon as evident by the identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 3, 8 and 13 haplotypes, respectively. Furthermore, the decay of Linkage disequilibrium (LD) of chromosome 5 was 8.9 cM (r2<0.1). Marker bpb-4891 and haplotype 13 (Ps 610) of the HvCBF4 gene were significantly (P<0.05) and highly significantly (P<0.001) associated with salt tolerance. However, HvCBF1 and HvCBF3 genes were not associated with salinity tolerance. The accessions from haplotype 13 of the HvCBF4 gene showed high salinity tolerance, maintaining significantly lower Na+/K+ ratios and higher dry weight. It is thus proposed that these Tibetan barley accessions could be of value for enhancing salinity tolerance in cultivated barley