Evolution of stomatal and trichome density of the Quercus delavayi complex since the late Miocene

A fossil oak species,Quercus tenuipilosa Q.Hu et Z.K.Zhou,is reported from the upper Pliocene Ciying Formation in Kunming,Yunnan Province,southwestern China.The establishment of this species is based on detailed morphologic and cuticular investigations.The fossil leaves are elliptic,with serrate margins on the apical half.The primary venation is pinnate,and the major secondary venation is craspedodromous.The tertiary veins are opposite or alternate-opposite percurrent with two branches.The stomata are anomocytic,occurring only on the abaxial epidermis.The trichome bases are unicellular or multicellular.The new fossil species shows the closest affinity with theextant Q.delavayi and the late Miocene Q.praedelavayi Y.W.Xing et Z.K.Zhou from the Xiaolongtan Formation of the Yunnan Province.All three species share similar leaf morphology,but differ with respect to trichome base and stomatal densities.Q.tenuipilosa.Q.praedelavayi,and Q.delavayi can be considered to constitute the Q.delavayi complex.Since the late Miocene,a gradual reduction in trichome base density has occurred in this complex.This trend is the opposite of that of precipitation,indicating that increased trichome density is not an adaptation to dry environments.The stomatal density(SD)of the Q.delavayi complex was the highest during the late Miocene,declined in the late Pliocene,and then increased during the present epoch.These values show an inverse relationship with atmospheric CO_2 concentrations,suggesting that the SD of the Q.delavayi complex may be a useful proxy for reconstruction of paleo-CO_2 concentrations.     

Effect of annealing temperature on the microstructure and optoelectrical properties of ZnO thin films and their application in self-powered accelerometers

This paper reports a piezoelectric nanogenerator (NG) with a thickness of approximately 80 μm for miniaturized self-powered acceleration sensors. To deposit the piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film, a magnetron sputtering machine was used. Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) were used as the insulating layer and the top electrode of the NG, respectively. The experimental results show that the ZnO thin films annealed at 150℃ exhibited the highest crystallinity among the prepared films and an optical band gap of 3.24 eV. The NG fabricated with an AZO/PMMA/ZnO/stainless steel configuration exhibited a higher output voltage than the device with an AZO/ZnO/PMMA/stainless steel configuration. In addition, the annealing temperature affected the open-circuit voltage of the NGs; the output voltage reached 3.81 V when the annealing temperature was 150℃. The open-circuit voltage of the prepared self-powered accelerometer increased linearly with acceleration. In addition, the small NG-based accelerometer, which exhibited excellent fatigue resistance, can be used for acceleration measurements of small and lightweight devices.     

Correlation between intrinsic dipole moment and pyroelectric coefficient of Fe-Mg tourmaline

Single-crystal X-ray diffraction structural data of four Fe-Mg tourmalines with different Fe contents from Xinjiang, Sichuan, and Yunnan Provinces, China, were collected at room temperature and ?100℃. The intrinsic dipole moments of polyhedra and the total intrinsic dipole moment of the unit cell were calculated. By comparing the intrinsic electric dipole moments of the X, Y, Z, T, and B site polyhedra, it is found that the T site polyhedron makes the greatest contribution to the total intrinsic dipole moment. The pyroelectric coefficients of four Fe-Mg tourmalines were experimentally determined, and the influence of intrinsic dipole moments on their pyroelectric properties was investigated. The experimental results show that, compared with the case at room temperature, the intrinsic dipole moments change with the total Fe content at ?100℃ in a completely different way. With the decrease of temperature, the total intrinsic dipole moments of tourmaline decrease. Over the same temperature interval, the pyroelectric coefficients increase with the increase in intrinsic dipole moment.     

Tensile properties and fracture reliability of a glass-coated Co-based amorphous microwire

Co_68.15Fe_4.35Si_12.25B_15.25 (at%) amorphous microwires with a smooth surface and a circular cross-section were fabricated by the glass-coated melt spinning method. Their mechanical properties were evaluated through tensile tests of the glass-coated amorphous microwires, and their fracture reliability was estimated using two- and three-parameter Weibull analysis. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy results showed that these glass-coated Co-based microwires were mostly amorphous. The coated Co-based microwires exhibit a tensile strength of 1145 to 2457 MPa, with a mean value of 1727 MPa and a variance of 445 MPa. Weibull statistical analysis showed that the tensile two-parameter Weibull modulus of the amorphous microwires is 4.16 and the three-parameter Weibull modulus is 1.61 with a threshold value as high as 942 MPa. These results indicate that the fabricated microwires exhibit good tensile properties and fracture reliability, and thus appear to be good candidates for electronics reliability engineering applications.     

Comparison of α particle detectors based on single-crystal diamond films grown in two types of gas atmospheres by microwave plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition

Chemical vapor deposition(CVD)-grown diamond films have been developed as irradiation-resistant materials to replace or upgrade current detectors for use in extreme radiation environments. However, their sensitivity in practical applications has been inhibited by space charge stability issues caused by defects and impurities in pure diamond crystal materials. In this study, two high-quality CVD-grown single-crystal diamond(SCD) detectors with low content of nitrogen impurities were fabricated and characterized. The intrinsic properties of the SCD samples were characterized using Raman spectroscopy, stereomicroscopy, and X-ray diffraction with the rocking curve mode, cathode luminescence(CL), and infrared and ultraviolet-visible-near infrared spectroscopies. After packaging the detectors, the dark current and energy resolution under α particle irradiation were investigated. Dark currents of less than 5 pA at 100 V were obtained after annealing the electrodes, which is comparable with the optimal value previously reported. The detector that uses a diamond film with higher nitrogen content showed poor energy resolution, whereas the detector with more dislocations showed poor charge collection efficiency(CCE). This demonstrates that the nitrogen content in diamond has a significant effect on the energy resolution of detectors, while the dislocations in diamond largely contribute to the poor CCE of detectors.     

Progress in the stratigraphy and geochronology of the Shuidonggou site, Ningxia, North China

In the past years we carried out further stratigraphy division in field and it is found that rich stone artifacts can be found in fluvial-shallow lake-alluvial sediments on the terrace Ⅱ of Biangou River, inShuidonggou site, Ningxia and they are SDG1, 2 and 7. More luminescence and AMS ^14C dating in laboratory show that Paleolithic culture develops during the Upper Paleolithic period with ages of 35--20 ka. The Paleolithic culture of SDG 1 is a little earlier than that of SDG 2 similar to SDG 7. The sandy sediments on terrace Ⅱ of Biangou River deposits in the past 72--18 ka, corresponding to Last Glacial. SDG2 has a stable sedimentary environment, resulting in the continuous stratigraphy, thickest deposits and rich environment and culture information, which can be regarded as the important and classic paleoanthropological section of Late Pleistocene in this region.     

Effects of Suspension Casting on Solidification Process of GCr15 Steel Ingot

The mechanism of inoculation in the case of suspension casting process has been studied through solidification kinetics. The effect of suspension casting process on temperature field, solidification rate, temperature gap of crystallization, effective distribution coefficient of solute and nucleation frequency during solidification process in steel ingot were discussed on the base of experiments. It has been found that the suspension casting process can increase both cooling at and solidification rate of steel ingot, improve the temperature field and solute distribution, narrow the temperature gap of crystallication, and increase the nucleation frequency. Thus, the solidification time can be shorten, the solute can be well distributied, the shrinkage porosity can be reduced and the grain of crystallization can be fined.     

Gas-liquid mass transfer and flow phenomena in the Peirce-Smith converter: a water model study

A water model with a geometric similarity ratio of 1:5 was developed to investigate the gas-liquid mass transfer and flow characteristics in a Peirce-Smith converter. A gas mixture of CO₂ and Ar was injected into a NaOH solution bath. The flow field, volumetric mass transfer coefficient per unit volume (Ak/V; where A is the contact area between phases, V is the volume, and k is the mass transfer coefficient), and gas utilization ratio (η) were then measured at different gas flow rates and blow angles. The results showed that the flow field could be divided into five regions, i.e., injection, strong loop, weak loop, splashing, and dead zone. Whereas the Ak/V of the bath increased and then decreased with increasing gas flow rate, and η steadily increased. When the converter was rotated clockwise, both Ak/V and η increased. However, the flow condition deteriorated when the gas flow rate and blow angle were drastically increased. Therefore, these parameters must be controlled to optimal conditions. In the proposed model, the optimal gas flow rate and blow angle were 7.5 m3·h-1 and 10°, respectively.     

Synthesis and properties of a Pr(III) complex with 2-acetyl- benzimidazoledehyde-glycine Schiff-base ligand

Exhibiting a broad spectrum of biological activities and outstanding optical properties, complexes of d- and rare-earth metals Schiff-base type ligands derived from amino acids attract a great interest of researchers in recent years[1-4]. The metel comple…     

Development of inclusions in 3104 alloy melt during heating and holding treatments

Developments in the contents of different typical inclusions in 3104 alloy melt were described during heating and holding processing. The settling process of inclusion particles was investigated by measuring the contents of inclusions in the surface, center, and bottom layers of the molten metal. In the results, main inclusions observed and determined by Prefil and PoDFA methods are MgO, Al₂O₃, spinel (MgAl₂O₄), and TiB₂ particles or thin films. It is found that some small particles of Al₂O₃ and MgO are transformed into spinel particles, and the formation rate increases as the temperature and the holding period of melt increase. The content of inclusions increases from 3.37 mm2·kg-1 to 7.54 mm2·kg-1 and then decreases to 3.08 mm2·kg-1 after holding for 90 min. This is attributed to a settling phenomenon and a significant increase in settling velocity after holding for 60 min. The content of inclusion particles decreases by means of settlement and flotation in liquid aluminum with an increase in holding time. The theoretical analysis and experiment results are in essential agreement with those from industrial production.