Geochemistry of the Early Paleozoic Baiyin Volcanic Rocks (NW China): Implications for the Tectonic Evolution of the North Qilian Orogenic Belt

The Qilian Mountains in NW China comprise the North Qilian Orogenic Belt, Central Qilian Block, and South Qilian Orogenic Belt. The North Qilian Orogenic Belt consists of the Northern and Southern terranes separated by a volcanic rock belt. This belt is composed mainly of felsic and mafic volcanic rocks. Volcanic rocks in the Baiyin area of the eastern part of the belt include rhyolites, rhyodacite, andesitic basalts, and basalts. New zircon U-Pb isotopic data yield a crystallization age of ca. 445 Ma for the rhyolite, 30 m.yr. younger than the associated basalts. The mafic volcanic rocks are relatively enriched in Th, Sr, and light rare earth element with (La/Yb) N ratios ranging from 4.2 to 5.6 and LaN ranging from 40 to 49, and depleted in high field strength elements, with high Th/Nb ratios (0.9-1.3). These features together with their εNd(T) values (-1.4 to +3.1) are consistent with a subduction-related origin, most likely in a mature island arc or an arc built on thin continental crust in an active continental margin. The felsic volcanic rocks show a calc-alkaline affinity and a strong suprasubduction zone signature with negative Nb, Sr, and Ti anomalies and relatively high Th/Nb ratios (0.8-1.6). They have significantly high εNd(T) values (+4.4 to +7.7) relative to the mafic volcanic rocks. Such radiogenic Nd isotopic compositions rule out a crustal origin and indicate the derivation from a depleted mantle source in a volcanic arc environment. Therefore, the geochemistry of the mafic and felsic volcanic rocks demonstrates an Ordovician volcanic arc above a northward subduction zone. The northward drifting of the Central Qilian Block eventually resulted in the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern terranes to form the North Qilian Orogenic Belt in the Early Paleozoic. © 2005 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Iron-Catalyzed Nitrene Insertion Reaction for Facile Construction of Amide Compounds

A facile method for the construction of amide compounds from aldehydes by an iron-catalyzed nitrene insertion reaction has been developed. Both aryl and aliphatic aldehydes can directly afford the corresponding amides with an iron(II)-terpyridine (tpy) complex formed in situ as catalyst, and PhI=NTs as nitrogen source under mild reaction conditions. An ESI-MS study revealed the formation of [Fe(tpy)NTs)]+ as a reaction intermediate. © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart - New York.postprin

Decision support for personalized cloud service selection through multi-attribute trustworthiness evaluation

Facing a customer market with rising demands for cloud service dependability and security, trustworthiness evaluation techniques are becoming essential to cloud service selection. But these methods are out of the reach to most customers as they require considerable expertise. Additionally, since the cloud service evaluation is often a costly and time-consuming process, it is not practical to measure trustworthy attributes of all candidates for each customer. Many existing models cannot easily deal with cloud services which have very few historical records. In this paper, we propose a novel service selection approach in which the missing value prediction and the multi-attribute trustworthiness evaluation are commonly taken into account. By simply collecting limited historical records, the current approach is able to support the personalized trustworthy service selection. The experimental results also show that our approach performs much better than other competing ones with respect to the customer preference and expectation in trustworthiness assessment. © 2014 Ding et al

Differential expression of chemokines and their receptors in adult and neonatal macrophages infected with human or avian influenza viruses

In 1997, avian influenza virus H5N1 was transmitted directly from chicken to human and resulted in a severe disease that had a higher mortality rate in adults than in children. The characteristic mononuclear leukocyte infiltration in the lung and the high inflammatory response in H5N1 infection prompted us to compare the chemokine responses between influenza virus-infected adult and neonatal monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs). The effects of avian influenza virus A/Hong Kong/483/97 (H5N1) (H5N1/97), its precursor A/Quail/Hong Kong/G1/97 (H9N2) (H9N2/G1), and human influenza virus A/Hong Kong/54/98 (H1N1) (H1N1/98) were compared. Significantly higher expression of CCL2, CCL3, CCL5, and CXCL10 was induced by avian influenza viruses than by human influenza virus. Moreover, the increase in CCL3 expression in H5N1/97-infected adult MDMs was significantly higher than that in neonatal MDMs. Enhanced expression of CCR1 and CCR5 was found in avian virus-infected adult MDMs. The strong induction of chemokines and their receptors by avian influenza viruses, particularly in adult MDMs, may account for the severity of H5N1 disease. © 2006 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Functional tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand production by avian influenza virus-infected macrophages

Severe human disease associated with influenza A H5N1 virus was first detected in Hong Kong in 1997. Its recent reemergence in Asia and high associated mortality highlight the need to understand its pathogenesis. We investigated the roles of death receptor ligands (DRLs) in H5N1 infection. Significant up-regulation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and TNF-α, but not Fas ligand (FasL) mRNA, was detected in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) infected with avian influenza viruses A/Hong Kong/483/97 (H5N1/97) or its precursor, A/Quail/Hong Kong/G1/97. H5N1/97-infected MDMs exhibited the strongest induction of apoptosis in Jurkat T cells, and it could be reduced by TRAIL-receptor 2 blocking antibody. Furthermore, influenza virus infection enhanced the sensitivity of Jurkat T cells to apoptosis induced by TNF-α, TRAIL, and FasL. Our data suggested that functional TRAIL produced by influenza virus-infected MDMs was related to their cytotoxicity and that the enhanced sensitization to DRL-induced apoptosis detected in avian influenza may contribute to disease pathogenesis. © 2006 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Heterogeneous mantle source and magma differentiation of quaternary arc-like volcanic rocks from Tengchong, SE margin of the Tibetan Plateau

The Tengchong volcanic field north of the Burma arc comprises numerous Quaternary volcanoes in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The volcanic rocks are grouped into four units (1-4) from the oldest to youngest. Units 1, 3 and 4 are composed of olivine trachybasalt, basaltic trachyandesite and trachyandesite, and Unit 2 consists of hornblende dacite. The rocks of Units 1, 3, and 4 form a generally alkaline suite in which the rocks plot along generally linear trends on Harker diagrams with only slight offset from unit to unit. They contain olivine phenocrysts with Fo values ranging from 65 to 85 mol% and have Cr-spinel with Cr# ranging from 23 to 35. All the rocks have chondrite-normalized REE patterns enriched in LREE and primitive mantle-normalized trace element patterns depleted in Ti, Nb and Ta, but they are rich in Th, Ti and P relative to typical arc volcanics. Despite minor crustal contamination, 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios (0.706-0.709), εNd values (-3.2 to -8.7), and εHf values (+4.8 to -6.4) indicate a highly heterogeneous mantle source. The Pb isotopic ratios of the lavas ( 206Pb/ 204Pb = 18.02-18.30) clearly show an EMI-type mantle source. The underlying mantle source was previously modified by subduction of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic and Indian continental lithosphere. The present heterogeneous mantle source is interpreted to have formed by variable additions of fluids and sediments derived from the subducted Indian Oceanic lithosphere, probably the Ninety East Ridge. Magma generation and emplacement was facilitated by transtensional NS-trending strike-slip faulting. © 2011 The Author(s).published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 28 May 201

Effects of an On-Board Safety Device on the Emissions and Fuel Consumption of a Light Duty Vehicle

© 2018 SAE International. All Rights Reserved. Vehicle emissions and fuel consumption are significantly affected by driving behavior. Many studies of eco-driving technology such as eco-driving training, driving simulators and on-board eco-driving devices have reported potential reductions in emissions and fuel consumption. Use of on-board safety devices is mainly for safety, but also affects vehicle emissions and fuel consumption. In this study, an on-board safety device was installed to alert the driver and provide several types of warning to the driver (e.g. headway monitoring warning, lane collision warning, speed limit warning, etc.) to improve driving behavior. A portable emissions measurement system (PEMS) was used to measure vehicle exhaust concentrations, including hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The driving parameters including vehicle speed, acceleration and position were also recorded. A specific test route was designed for the experiment to investigate both urban and highway conditions. The driving parameters and emissions data were compared before and after the installation of the on-board safety device with the same driver. The Vehicle Specific Power (VSP) methodology was applied to evaluate the effects of the on-board safety device on driving behavior. The results indicated that the device had a positive effect on the driver's driving behavior. The percentage of time spent on excessive speeding and strong acceleration decreased from 22.2% to 14.7%. As a result, an average reduction of 25% in fuel consumption was observed. In addition, HC, CO2 and NOx emissions showed a reduction of 57%, 25% and 9% respectively. However, CO emission was increased and the time spent on idling showed no change with the installation of the device

Theory of high degree contact gear profile

2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Associations Between Parenting Styles and Perceived Child Effortful Control Within Chinese Families in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan

The current study examined the associations between parentally perceived child effortful control (EC) and the parenting styles of 122 Chinese mothers (36 first-generation Chinese immigrants in the United Kingdom, 40 first-generation Chinese immigrants in the United States, and 46 Taiwanese mothers) of 5- to 7-year-old (M age = 5.82 years, SD = .805; 68 boys and 54 girls) children. The findings showed significant cultural group differences in mothers’ reported authoritarian parenting style. Significant associations also emerged between mothers’ reports of their children’s EC and some parenting dimensions, although there were no cultural group differences in perceived child EC. Different patterns of associations between perceived child EC and parenting styles in these three groups also demonstrated heterogeneity within the Chinese population, and highlighted the need to consider differences between original and receiving societies when seeking to understand parenting and child development in different immigrant groups

Tellurium quantum dots: Preparation and optical properties

Herein, we report an effective and simple method for producing Tellurium Quantum dots (TeQDs), zero-dimensional nanomaterials with great prospects for biomedical applications. Their preparation is based on the ultrasonic exfoliation of Te powder dispersed in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. Sonication causes the van der Waals forces between the structural hexagons of Te to break so that the relatively coarse powder breaks down into nanoscale particles. The TeQDs have an average size of about 4 nm. UV-Vis absorption spectra of the TeQDs showed an absorption peak at 288 nm. Photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and photoluminescence (PL) are used to study the optical properties of TeQDs. Both the PLE and PL peaks revealed a linear relationship against the emission and excitation energies, respectively. TeQDs have important potential applications in biological imaging and catalysis as well as optoelectronics