Competition of spatial and temporal instabilities under time delay near codimension-two Turing-Hopf bifurcations

Competition of spatial and temporal instabilities under time delay near the codimension-two Turing-Hopf bifurcations is studied in a reaction-diffusion equation. The time delay changes remarkably the oscillation frequency, the intrinsic wave vector, and the intensities of both Turing and Hopf modes. The application of appropriate time delay can control the competition between the Turing and Hopf modes. Analysis shows that individual or both feedbacks can realize the control of the transformation between the Turing and Hopf patterns. Two dimensional numerical simulations validate the analytical results.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Thermal properties of coal during low temperature oxidation using a grey correlation method

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The low temperature oxidation of coal is a contradictory and unified dynamic process of coexisting mass and heat transfer. The thermophysical properties are crucial during coal spontaneous combustion. In the current paper, the variations of moisture, ash, volatiles, fixed carbon and thermophysical properties (thermal diffusivity, specific heat and thermal conductivity) of three coal samples from 30 °C to 300 °C were studied, and their grey correlation was analyzed. The results indicated that with the increase of temperature, the free moisture of Coals A and B decreased first but then increased, while the free moisture of Coal C kept decreasing without a later increase. The variation of surface moisture was consistent with that of free moisture. The trend of volatiles and fixed carbon was completely the opposite, showing a significant negative correlation. Ash was less affected by temperature. Along with the rise of temperature, the thermal diffusivity of three coal samples decreased first but later increased, and the specific heat was always in a state of increasing. The change in thermal conductivity was mainly affected by specific heat. By calculating the gray correlation degree, the major factors affecting the thermophysical properties were obtained

The Ethics of IT Professionals in Japan and China

The ethical integrity and accountability of Information Technology (IT) professionals is important given our reliance on various forms of IT. We examined the applicability of Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of Cognitive Moral Development (CMD) in non-Western contexts by investigating the ethical values of IT professionals in Asia’s two largest economies. Analysis of survey data from Japan (n=289) and China (n=290) indicates support for the basic six-stage model of CMD. The concept of abiding by universal laws and rules (termed stage 4 reasoning by Kohlberg) was widely accepted by IT professionals in both Japan and China, despite the Confucian cultural emphasis on personal relationships with particularistic obligations. However, differences between Japanese and Chinese IT professionals were found while, in direct contrast with the stage-wise theory of CMD, the respondents from Japan and especially China exhibited significant volatility, reasoning at different stages simultaneously. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed

Genetic characterisation and cytological identification of a male sterile mutant in maize (Zea mays L.)

Male sterile mutants play an important role in the utilisation of crop heterosis. Male sterile plants were found in S5 generations of maize hybrid ZH2, through continuous sib-mating by using the fertile plants in the same population, we obtained a male sterile sibling population K932MS including sterile plants K932S and a fertile plant K932F. The objective of this study was to clarify the genetic characterisation and abortion characteristics by nucleus and cytoplasm effect analyses, cytoplasm grouping, and cytological observation. The results showed that no difference was found between K932S and K932F in the vegetative growth stage, but K932S had no emerging anther or pollen grains. The segregation ratio of fertile plants to sterile plants was 1:1 in the sibling progenies, while it was 3:1 in self-crossing progenies of K932F. The sterility of K932S could be restored among reciprocal progenies when seven normal inbred lines were used as females respectively. The fertility expression of K932S crossed with 30 testers would be changed in different test-crosses and some backcross progenies. The C-type restorer Zifeng-1 (Rf4Rf4) was able to restore the fertility of K932S, and the specific PCR amplification bands of K932MS were consistent with CMSCMo17. The anther of K932S began abortion at dyad with its tapetum expanded radically and vacuolated: this induced abnormality in the shapes of both dyads and tetrads. The microspore could not develop normally, and then it collapsed and gradually disappeared. Hence, K932MS is a C-type cytoplasmic male sterile mutant with a pollen-free, stable inheritance: it has potential application value for further research

Molecular characterization of seven novel Glu-A1^mx alleles from Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum

Seven Glu-A1m allelic variants of the Glu-A1mx genes in Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum, designated as 1Ax2.1a, 1Ax2.1b, 1Ax2.1c, 1Ax2.1d, 1Ax2.1e, 1Ax2.1f, and 1Ax2.1g were characterized. Their authenticity was confirmed by successful expression of the coding regions in E. coli, and except for the 1Ax2.1a with the presence of internal stop codons at position of 313 aa, all correspond to the subunit in seeds. However, all the active six genes had a same DNA size although their encoding subunits showed different molecular weight. Our study indicated that amino acid residue substitutions rather than previously frequently reported insertions/deletions played an important role on the subunit evolution of these Glu-A1mx alleles. Since variation in the Glu-A1x locus in common wheat is rare, these novel genes at the Glu-A1mx can be used as candidate genes for further wheat quality improvement

Lepton Flavor Violation in the SUSY-GUT Models with Lopsided Mass Matrix

The tiny neutrino masses measured in the neutrino oscillation experiments can be naturally explained by the supersymmetric see-saw mechanism. If the supersymmetry breaking is mediated by gravity, the see-saw models may predict observable lepton flavor violating effects. In this work, we investigate the lepton flavor violating process $\mu\to e\gamma$ in the kind of neutrino mass models based on the idea of the ``lopsided'' form of the charged lepton mass matrix. The constraints set by the muon anomalous magnetic moment are taken into account. We find the present models generally predict a much larger branching ratio of $\mu\to e\gamma$ than the experimental limit. Conversely, this process may give strong constraint on the lepton flavor structure. Following this constraint we then find a new kind of the charged lepton mass matrix. The feature of the structure is that both the elements between the 2-3 and 1-3 generations are ``lopsided''. This structure produces a very small 1-3 mixing and a large 1-2 mixing in the charged lepton sector, which naturally leads to small $Br(\mu\to e\gamma)$ and the LMA solution for the solar neutrino problem.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Characterization of an expressed Triticum monococcum Glu-A1y gene containing a premature termination codon in its C-terminal coding region

Premature termination codons (PTCs) are an important reason for the silence of highmolecular- weight glutenin subunits in Triticum species. Although the Glu-A1y gene is generally silent in common wheat, we here isolated an expressed Glu-A1y gene containing a PTC, named 1Ay8.3, from Triticum monococcum ssp. monococcum (AmAm, 2n = 2x = 14). Despite the presence of a PTC (TAG) at base pair positions 1879–1881 in the C-terminal coding region, this did not obviously affect 1Ay8.3 expression in seeds. This was demonstrated by the fact that when the PTC TAG of 1Ay8.3 was mutated to the CAG codon, the mutant in Escherichia coli bacterial cells expressed the same subunit as in the seeds. However, in E. coli, 1Ay8.3 containing the PTC expressed a truncated protein with faster electrophoretic mobility than that in seeds, suggesting that PTC translation termination suppression probably occurs in vivo (seeds) but not in vitro (E. coli). This may represent one of only a few reports on the PTC termination suppression phenomenon in genes

The energy spectrum of all-particle cosmic rays around the knee region observed with the Tibet-III air-shower array

We have already reported the first result on the all-particle spectrum around the knee region based on data from 2000 November to 2001 October observed by the Tibet-III air-shower array. In this paper, we present an updated result using data set collected in the period from 2000 November through 2004 October in a wide range over 3 decades between $10^{14}$ eV and $10^{17}$ eV, in which the position of the knee is clearly seen at around 4 PeV. The spectral index is -2.68 $\pm$ 0.02(stat.) below 1PeV, while it is -3.12 $\pm$ 0.01(stat.) above 4 PeV in the case of QGSJET+HD model, and various systematic errors are under study now.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Advances in space researc

Moon Shadow by Cosmic Rays under the Influence of Geomagnetic Field and Search for Antiprotons at Multi-TeV Energies

We have observed the shadowing of galactic cosmic ray flux in the direction of the moon, the so-called moon shadow, using the Tibet-III air shower array operating at Yangbajing (4300 m a.s.l.) in Tibet since 1999. Almost all cosmic rays are positively charged; for that reason, they are bent by the geomagnetic field, thereby shifting the moon shadow westward. The cosmic rays will also produce an additional shadow in the eastward direction of the moon if cosmic rays contain negatively charged particles, such as antiprotons, with some fraction. We selected 1.5 x10^{10} air shower events with energy beyond about 3 TeV from the dataset observed by the Tibet-III air shower array and detected the moon shadow at $\sim 40 \sigma$ level. The center of the moon was detected in the direction away from the apparent center of the moon by 0.23$^\circ$ to the west. Based on these data and a full Monte Carlo simulation, we searched for the existence of the shadow produced by antiprotons at the multi-TeV energy region. No evidence of the existence of antiprotons was found in this energy region. We obtained the 90% confidence level upper limit of the flux ratio of antiprotons to protons as 7% at multi-TeV energies.Comment: 13pages,4figures; Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic