Patterns of transcriptional parallelism and variation in the developing olfactory system of Drosophila species

Organisms have evolved strikingly parallel phenotypes in response to similar selection pressures suggesting that there may be shared constraints limiting the possible evolutionary trajectories. For example, the behavioral adaptation of specialist Drosophila species to specific host plants can exhibit parallel changes in their adult olfactory neuroanatomy. We investigated the genetic basis of these parallel changes by comparing gene expression during the development of the olfactory system of two specialist Drosophila species to that of four other generalist species. Our results suggest that the parallelism observed in the adult olfactory neuroanatomy of ecological specialists extends more broadly to their developmental antennal expression profiles, and to the transcription factor combinations specifying olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) fates. Additionally, comparing general patterns of variation for the antennal transcriptional profiles in the adult and developing olfactory system of the six species suggest the possibility that specific, non-random components of the developmental programs underlying the Drosophila olfactory system harbor a disproportionate amount of interspecies variation. Further examination of these developmental components may be able to inform a deeper understanding of how traits evolve

Occurrence of Regulated and Emerging Iodinated DBPs in the Shanghai Drinking Water

10.1371/journal.pone.0059677PLoS ONE83

Predicting Dam Flood Discharge Induced Ground Vibration with Modified Frequency Response Function

Ground vibrations induced by large flood discharge from a dam can damage surrounding buildings and impact the quality of life of local residents. If ground vibrations could be predicted during flood discharge, the ground vibration intensity could be mitigated by controlling or tuning the discharge conditions by, for example, changing the flow rate, changing the opening method of the orifice, and changing the upstream or downstream water level, thereby effectively preventing damage. This study proposes a prediction method with a modified frequency response function (FRF) and applies it to the in situ measured data of Xiangjiaba Dam. A multiple averaged power spectrum FRF (MP-FRF) is derived by analyzing four major factors when the FRF is used: noise, system nonlinearity, spectral leakages, and signal latency. The effects of the two types of vibration source as input are quantified. The impact of noise on the predicted amplitude is corrected based on the characteristics of the measured signal. The proposed method involves four steps: signal denoising, MP-FRF estimation, vibration prediction, and noise correction. The results show that when the vibration source and ground vibrations are broadband signals and two or more bands with relative high energies, the frequency distribution of ground vibration can be predicted with MP-FRF by filtering both the input and output. The amplitude prediction loss caused by filtering can be corrected by adding a constructed white noise signal to the prediction result. Compared with using the signal at multiple vibration sources after superimposed as input, using the main source as input improves the accuracy of the predicted frequency distribution. The proposed method can predict the dominant frequency and the frequency bands with relative high energies of the ground vibration downstream of Xiangjiaba Dam. The predicted amplitude error is 9.26%

Predicting Dam Flood Discharge Induced Ground Vibration with Modified Frequency Response Function

Ground vibrations induced by large flood discharge from a dam can damage surrounding buildings and impact the quality of life of local residents. If ground vibrations could be predicted during flood discharge, the ground vibration intensity could be mitigated by controlling or tuning the discharge conditions by, for example, changing the flow rate, changing the opening method of the orifice, and changing the upstream or downstream water level, thereby effectively preventing damage. This study proposes a prediction method with a modified frequency response function (FRF) and applies it to the in situ measured data of Xiangjiaba Dam. A multiple averaged power spectrum FRF (MP-FRF) is derived by analyzing four major factors when the FRF is used: noise, system nonlinearity, spectral leakages, and signal latency. The effects of the two types of vibration source as input are quantified. The impact of noise on the predicted amplitude is corrected based on the characteristics of the measured signal. The proposed method involves four steps: signal denoising, MP-FRF estimation, vibration prediction, and noise correction. The results show that when the vibration source and ground vibrations are broadband signals and two or more bands with relative high energies, the frequency distribution of ground vibration can be predicted with MP-FRF by filtering both the input and output. The amplitude prediction loss caused by filtering can be corrected by adding a constructed white noise signal to the prediction result. Compared with using the signal at multiple vibration sources after superimposed as input, using the main source as input improves the accuracy of the predicted frequency distribution. The proposed method can predict the dominant frequency and the frequency bands with relative high energies of the ground vibration downstream of Xiangjiaba Dam. The predicted amplitude error is 9.26%

Development of Ultrafine Mineral Admixture from Magnesium Slag and Sequestration of CO₂

To upcycle magnesium slag solid waste (MS) as well as sequester CO2, a new wet carbonation process was proposed to activate the volcanic ash activity of MS and use it as an ultrafine mineral admixture for cement. The effects of different carbonation times on the activity of MS were investigated, and the phase assemblage, as well as the changes in the microstructure and pore structure during the carbonation process, was also characterized using multiple techniques, such as TG-DTG, XRD, FT-IR, 29Si NMR spectrum, SEM, and BET, to further reveal the carbonation activation mechanism of MS under wet carbonation. Moreover, the effects of MS before and after carbonation on the compressive strength of the composite cement paste were investigated to verify the feasibility of carbonated MS as an ultrafine mineral admixture. The results show that the products of MS generated after a short carbonation reaction were mainly highly polymerized calcium–silicate–hydrate gel and a large amount of calcium carbonate in the form of calcite and aragonite with a size of about 1 μm. The CO2 sequestration rate of MS reached 22.14%. Compared to pure cement, carbonated MS can replace 30% of the cement clinker without compromising compressive strength. The above results offer potential possibilities for upgrading the utilization of MS and CO2 sequestration in the cement industry