MAP kinase specifically mediates the ABA-induced H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript> generation in guard cells of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Vicia faba</Emphasis> L.

The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) is involved in regulating adverse physiological processes, including stomatal closure, seed development and germination, and mediating many environmental stress responses, such as drought, salinity and extreme temperatures[1,2]. In re-sponse to various stress stimuli, ABA synthesis is in-creased in plant cells, which triggers a series of physio-logical responses to adapt the stress conditions[1—3]. For example, under water deficit, ABA acts directly on…     

Cloning and expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">AtPLC6</Emphasis>, a gene encoding a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

A full-length cDNA clone corresponding to a putative phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C(PIPLC) was isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana by screening a cDNA library and using RT-PCR strategy.The cDNA,designated AtPLC6,encodes a putative polypeptide of 578 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 66251.84 D and a pI of 7.24. The sequence analysis indicates that the polypeptide contains X, Y, EF-hand and C2 domains.The overall structure of putative AtPLC6 protein, like other plant PI-PLCs,is most similar to that of mammalian PLCδ The recombinant AtPLC6 protein expressed in E. coil was able to hydrolyze phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biophosphate (PIP2) to generate inositol 1,4,5-trisphate (IP3) and 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG).The protein hydrolyzes PIP2 in a Ca^2 -dependent manner and the optimum concentration of Ca^2 is 10μmol/L.These results suggested that AtPLC6 gene encodes a genuine PIPLC.Northern blot analysis showed that the AtPLC6 gene is expressed at low level in all examined tissues, such as roots,stems,leaves,flowers,siliques and seedlings under normal growth conditions.The gene is strongly induced under low temperature and weakly induced under various stresses,such as ABA, high-salt stress and heat. These results suggested that AtPLC6 might be involved in the signal-transduction pathways of cold responses of the plants.     

Effect of Preparation Condition on Low-density PS Particle Size and Distribution

The preparation conditions were studied in order to obtain smaller, narrow size-distributed and low-density polystyrene (PS) micro-particles by suspension polymerization. The results show that some of preparation conditions, the shape and position of stirrers, and stirring rate etc., have important influence on the size and distribution of particles. The preparation conditions must be carefully designed and controlled in order to obtain high-quality PS beads. A bow-shaped stirrer is helpful to produce small-sized particles and narrow size distribution, and the upper edge of a stirrer should be set to the same level as the surface of mixture, and the stirring rate should be controlled in the range of 520-600 r/min.     

Is there an anatomical endophenotype for neurodevelopmental disorders？ A review of dual disorder anatomical likelihood estimation （ALE） meta-analyses of grey matter volumes

The term "neurodevelopmental disorder" broadly encompasses conditions thought to arise early in development and includes schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism among others. These conditions share a number of genetic and environmental risk factors postulated to lead to common difficulties in socio-emotional processing, communication and cognitive function. The alternative position is that, while the same traits are affected across these conditions, the nature or direction in which they are modified may be distinct. MRI studies provide a rapidly expanding and rich database which we propose can be used to contribute to this debate. Anatomical likelihood estimation (ALE) is a method of meta-analysis applied to voxel-based MRI studies. We have adapted this method to explore the extent to which schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and autism share a common brain structural phenotype. We will review this work here and discuss whether there is sufficient other evidence to justify a common framework for further research into the inter-relatedness of such conditions.     

Sulfuric acid leaching kinetics of South African chromite

The sulfuric acid leaching kinetics of South African chromite was investigated. The negative influence of a solid product layer constituted of a silicon-rich phase and chromium-rich sulfate was eliminated by crushing the chromite and by selecting proper leaching conditions. The dimensionless change in specific surface area and the conversion rate of the chromite were observed to exhibit a proportional relationship. A modified shrinking particle model was developed to account for the change in reactive surface area, and the model was fitted to experimental data. The resulting model was observed to describe experimental findings very well. Kinetics analysis revealed that the leaching process is controlled by a chemical reaction under the employed experimental conditions and the activation energy of the reaction is 48 kJ·mol-1.     

Protein phosphorylation is involved in the water stress-induced ABA accumulation in the roots ofMalus hupehensis Rehd

Water stress-induced ABA accumulation plays a key role in the root to shoot communication and/or the cell to cell signaling under the soil stresses. The signaling of the water stress itself that leads to the accumulation, however, is less known. In this study, we subjected the roots of Malus hupehensis seedlings to water stress treatment and investigated the ABA accumulation in relation to protein phosphorylation. Our results showed that ABA accumulation could be substantially triggered in 40 min and reached 4 folds in 100 min after treatment with 30% PEG 6000 (polyethylene glycol). The water stress treatment also led to a substantial enhancement of total kinase activity, assessed with histone-Ⅲ as substrate, in 15 min and a maximum enhancement in 30 min before it declined to initial level. The Ca²⁺-dependent kinase activity showed a similar, if not more sensitive, trend. When the roots were fed with labeled ³²P- ATP, water stress enhanced the labeling of proteins, which showed a maximum labeling at 40 min. Two inhibitors of protein kinases, Quercetin and H7, effectively diminished or completely blocked the ABA accumulation under the stress treatment. It is therefore suggest that protein phosphorylation is involved in the signaling of the water stress-induced ABA accumulation.     

Hot deformation behavior andfl ow stress modeling of annealed AZ61 Mg alloys

In this study, the hyperbolic-sine type constitutive equation was used to model the flow stress of annealed AZ61 magnesium(Mg) alloys. Hot compression tests were conducted at the temperatures ranging from 250 1C to 450 1C and at the strain rates ranging from 1 10–3s 1to 1 s 1on a Gleeble-3500 thermo-simulation machine. Constitutive equations as a function of strain were established through a simple extension of the hyperbolic sine constitutive relation. The effects of annealing heat treatments on the variations in constitutive parameters with strain were discussed. The hot compressive flow curves exhibited typical features of dynamic recrystallization. Multiple peak flow curves were observed in the annealed specimens upon testing at a strain rate of 1 10 1s–1and at various temperatures. Variations in constitutive parameters with strain were related to flow behavior and dependent on the initial conditions of the test specimens. The flow stresses of annealed AZ61 Mg alloys were predicted well by the strain-dependent constitutive equations of the hyperbolic sine function under the deformation conditions employed in this study.     

Identification of Markovian open system dynamics for qubit systems

We discuss the problem of identification of the dynamical generators for open two-level quantum systems in a Markovian environment.Based on Bloch sphere representation,the identification problem is converted to the estimation of a 3-dimensional real process matrix A and an inhomogeneous term c.The parameter identifiability and sufficient conditions for completely identification of A and c are obtained.Further discussion shows that the obtained sufficient conditions are not always necessary.The approach can be generalized to finite-level open quantum systems in an arbitary Markovian environment.     

Protein tyrosine phosphatase is possibly involved in cellular signal transduction and the regulation of ABA accumulation in response to water deficit in Maize L.coleoptile

Water deficit-induced ABA accumulation is an ideal model or “stimulus-response”system to investigate cellular stress signaling in plant cels,using such a model the cellular stress signaling triggered by water deficit was investigated in Maize L.coleoptile.Water deficit-induced ABA accumulation was sensitively blocked by NaVO3,a potent inhibitor both to plasma membrane H^ -ATPase(PM-H^ -ATPase)and protein tyrosine phosphatase(PTPase).However,while PM-H^ -ATPase activity was unaffected under water deficit and PM-H^ -ATPase activator did not induce an ABA accumulation instead of water deficit,water deficit induced an increase in the protein phosphatase activity,and furthermore,ABA accumulation was inhibited by PAO,a specific inhibitor of PTPase.These results indicate that protein phosphtases may be involved in the cellular signaling in response to water deficit.Further studies identifiled at least four species of protein phosphtase as assayed by using pNPP as substrate,among which one component was especially sensitive to NaVO3.The NaVO3-sensitive enzyme was purified and finally showed a protein band about 66kD on SDS/PAGE.The purified enzyme showed a great activity to some specific PTPase substrates at pH 6.0.In addition to NaVO3,the enzyme was also sensitive to some other PTPase inhibitors such as Zn^2 and MO3^3 ,but not to Ca^2 and Mg^2 ,indicating that it might be a protein tyrosine phosphatase.Interestingly,the purified enzyme could be deactivated by some reducing agent DTT.which was previously proved to be an inhibitor of water deficit-induced ABA accumulation.This result further proved that PTPase might be involved in the cellular signaling of ABA accumulation in response to water deficit.     

Roles of a sustained activation of NCED3 and the synergistic regulation of ABA biosynthesis and catabolism in ABA signal production in Arabidopsis

ABA, acting as a stress signal, plays crucial roles in plant resistance to water stress. Because ABA signal production is based on ABA biosynthesis, the regulation of NCED, a key enzyme in the ABA biosynthesis pathway, is normally thought of as the sole factor controlling ABA signal production. Here we demonstrate that ABA catabolism in combination with a synergistic regulation of ABA biosynthesis plays a crucial role in governing ABA signal production. Water stress induced a significant accumulation of ABA, which exhibited different patterns in detached and attached leaves. ABA catabolism followed a temporal trend of exponential decay for both basic and stress ABA, and there was little difference in the catabolic half-lives of basic ABA and stress ABA. Thus, the absolute rate of ABA catabolism, i.e. the amount of ABA catabolized per unit time, increases with increased ABA accumulation. From the dynamic processes of ABA biosynthesis and catabolism, it can be inferred that stress ABA accumulation may be governed by a synergistic regulation of all the steps in the ABA biosynthesis pathway. Moreover, to maintain an elevated level of stress ABA sustained activation of NCED3 should be required. This inference was supported by further findings that the genes encoding major enzymes in the ABA biosynthesis pathway, e.g. NCED3, AAO3 and ABA3 were all activated by water stress, and with ABA accumulation progressing, the expressions of NCED3, AAO3 and ABA3 remained activated. Data on ABA catabolism and gene expression jointly indicate that ABA signal production is controlled by a sustained activation of NCED3 and the synergistic regulation of ABA biosynthesis and catabolism.     

Effect of storage conditions on long-term stability of Ag nanoparticles formed via green synthesis

Spherical Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) with a diameter of 20 nm or smaller were biologically synthesized using algae Parachlorella kessleri. The effect of storage conditions on the long-term stability of AgNPs was investigated. UV/Vis spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy, and dynamic light scattering measurements revealed that the long-term stability of AgNPs was influenced by light and temperature conditions. The most significant loss of stability was observed for the AgNPs stored in daylight at room temperature. The AgNPs stored under these conditions began to lose their stability after approximately 30 d; after 100 d, a substantial amount of agglomerated particles settled to the bottom of the Erlenmeyer flask. The AgNPs stored in the dark at room temperature exhibited better long-term stability. Weak particle agglomeration began at approximately the 100th day. The AgNPs stored in the dark at about 5℃ exhibited the best long-term stability; the AgNPs stored under such conditions remained spherical, with a narrow size distribution, and stable (no agglomeration) even after 6 months. Zeta-potential measurements confirmed better dispersity and stability of AgNPs stored under these conditions.     

Constitutive behavior and processing maps of low-expansion GH909 superalloy

The hot deformation behavior of GH909 superalloy was studied systematically using isothermal hot compression tests in a temperature range of 960 to 1040℃ and at strain rates from 0.02 to 10 s-1 with a height reduction as large as 70%. The relations considering flow stress, temperature, and strain rate were evaluated via power-law, hyperbolic sine, and exponential constitutive equations under different strain conditions. An exponential equation was found to be the most appropriate for process modeling. The processing maps for the superalloy were constructed for strains of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 on the basis of the dynamic material model, and a total processing map that includes all the investigated strains was proposed. Metallurgical instabilities in the instability domain mainly located at higher strain rates manifested as adiabatic shear bands and cracking. The stability domain occurred at 960-1040℃ and at strain rates less than 0.2 s-1; these conditions are recommended for optimum hot working of GH909 superalloy.     

Kinematic characterization and optimization of vehicle front-suspension design based on ADAMS

To improve the suspension performance and steering stability of light vehicles, we built a kinematic simulation model of a whole independent double-wishbone suspension system by using ADAMS software, created random excitations of the test platforms of respectively the left and the right wheels according to actual running conditions of a vehicle, and explored the changing patterns of the kinematic characteristic parameters in the process of suspension motion. The irrationality of the suspension guiding mechanism design was pointed out through simulation and analysis, and the existent problems of the guiding mechanism were optimized and calculated. The results show that all the front-wheel alignment parameters, including the camber, the toe, the caster and the inclination, only slightly change within corresponding allowable ranges in design before and after optimization. The optimization reduces the variation of the wheel-center distance from 47.01 mm to a change of 8.28 mm within the allowable range of ?10 mm to 10 mm, promising an improvement of the vehicle steering stability. The optimization also confines the front-wheel sideways slippage to a much smaller change of 2.23 mm; this helps to greatly reduce the wear of tires and assure the straight running stability of the vehicle.     

Dynamic response to road roughness on a tractor-semitrailer system with driver body model

A linear mass-spring system model of a tractor-semitrailer together with driver body parts and sprung seat is presented. Natural frequencies of the system are calculated and response of components in the system to road roughness is completed by means of computer simulation and power spectral density (PSD) approach in all of road conditions and loading cases. The results show that the severest situation of response of the system occurs when the road in rough condition and vehicle unladen. The most sensitive frequency to human body parts is around 0.9Hz, and model types of a human body seem to be not significant tothe response of a heavy tractor-semitrailer system, including to the response of the driver himself.     

Spatiotemporal variability of vegetation phenology with reference to altitude and climate in the subtropical mountain and hill region, China

Understanding the seasonal behaviour of a subtropical forest and its inter-annual variation is crucial to understanding and monitoring its ecosystem function in the context of global warming. Based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index dataset, a wavelet transform method was used to investigate the inter-annual variations of vegetation phenology in a subtropical mountain and hill region in Fujian, China, during 2001-2010. The results show a distinct inter-annual variation of vegetation phenology related to climate variability even if most areas presented non-significant trends. The start dates significantly advanced and end dates delayed in 2003 and 2008, due to anomalously warm conditions. There was generally a gradient of increasing start dates, and earlier end dates of vegetation growing season, due to colder temperatures at higher altitudes. However, the altitudinal phenology relationship also depends on its corresponding rainfall conditions. Earlier start dates were observed at higher altitudes during rainfall deficit years such as 2008, which coincides with relatively abundant rainfall at higher altitudes. This paper reveals that vegetation phenology was coupled with altitudinal gradient, with distinct responses at different combinations of alternate temperature and precipitation conditions variability.     

养护湿度对充填体性能的影响规律

Cemented paste backfill (CPB), a mixture of tailings, binder, and water, is widely and extensively used for the recovery of mineral resources, the prevention of ground subsidence, and the management of mine waste. When installed, the CPB is subjected to complex environmental conditions such as water content, temperature, and power, which have a significant impact on its efficiency. Thus, this study conducts a series of laboratory programs, including investigation of moisture, temperature, stress–strain relation, and microstructure to show the effect of curing humidity on the CPB behaviors. The results obtained indicate that ambient humidity can have a dramatic effect on CPB in terms of its macro performance of internal relative humidity, temperature and strength, as well as the micro expression. Typical examples of these effects on CPB include an increase in curing humidity, which favors binder hydration, and then an increase in hydration materials, temperature and peak stress in the CPB. The results obtained will lead to a better understanding of CPB’s responses to various environmental conditions.     

Ultra fast microwave-assisted leaching for the recovery of copper and tellurium from copper anode slime

The decomposition of copper anode slime heated by microwave energy in a sulfuric acid medium was investigated. Leaching experiments were carried out in a multi-mode cavity with microwave assistance. The leaching process parameters were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Under the optimized conditions, the leaching efficiencies of copper and tellurium were 99.56% ±0.16% and 98.68% ±0.12%, respectively. Meanwhile, a conventional leaching experiment was performed in order to evaluate the influence of microwave radiation. The mechanism of microwave-assisted leaching of copper anode slime was also investigated. In the results, the microwave technology is demonstrated to have a great potential to improve the leaching efficiency and reduce the leaching time. The enhanced recoveries of copper and tellurium are believed to result from the presence of a temperature gradient due to the shallow microwave penetration depth and the superheating at the solid-liquid interface.     

Effect of curing humidity on performance of cemented paste backfill

Cemented paste backfill(CPB), a mixture of tailings, binder, and water, is widely and extensively used for the recovery of mineral resources, the prevention of ground subsidence, and the management of mine waste. When installed, the CPB is subjected to complex environmental conditions such as water content, temperature, and power, which have a significant impact on its efficiency. Thus, this study conducts a series of laboratory programs, including investigation of moisture, temperature, stress–strain relation, and microstructure to show the effect of curing humidity on the CPB behaviors. The results obtained indicate that ambient humidity can have a dramatic effect on CPB in terms of its macro performance of internal relative humidity, temperature and strength, as well as the micro expression. Typical examples of these effects on CPB include an increase in curing humidity, which favors binder hydration, and then an increase in hydration materials, temperature and peak stress in the CPB. The results obtained will lead to a better understanding of CPB's responses to various environmental conditions.     

Study of beat phenomenon on a pile-supported pipeline system subjected to wave loading

Classical beat phenomenon has been observed in most combined systems. The focus of this paper is to provide a better understanding of this phenomenon in an offshore pile-supported pipeline system. The beat phenomeon is caused by the coupling movement of the pipeline and its vertical pile support under certain conditions. It can induce excessive vibration and cause fatigue failure at pipe elbow. However, in some circumstances it does not exist. Numerical results in both frequency and time domains are presented to elucidate this phenomenon in a combined pipeline system. The conclusions of this paper could give constructive guidance to future design of simply supported pipeline systems.