Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) in surface sediments of the Yangtze and Yellow River Estuaries, China

The concentrations and congener profiles of poly-chlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) in surface sediment samples collected from the Yangtze and Yellow River Estuaries were inves-tigated. PCN congeners (from MoCNs to OCN) were determined by isotope dilution/high-resolution gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC-HRMS). The total concentrations of PCNs were 34.3-303.0 pg/g (dry weight, dw) in the Yangtze Estuary samples and 6.2-408.0 pg/g (dw) in the Yellow River Estuary samples, which were lower compared with that in other sediments reported by previous studies. In addition, the remarkably different homologue or congener profiles of PCNs have been obtained in this study. Samples dominated with MoCNs to TrCNs might be attributed to atmospheric deposition and global fractionation, while in other samples taken from the surrounding industrial areas the enrichment of higher chlorinated homologues suggested that the industrial and human activities should be the main potential sources.     

Levels and distributions of polychlorinated naphthalenes in sewage sludge of urban wastewater treatment plants

Over seventy congeners of polychlorinated naphthalenes （PCNs） in sewage sludge of 8 urban waste- water treatment plants （WWTPs） in Beijing were analyzed by isotope dilution, and high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry （HRGC/HRMS） method, The total PCN concentrations determined in the samples range from 1.48 to 28.21 ng/g dw （dry weight） with TEQ concentrations of 0.11--2.45 pg/g dw. These levels were lower than those found in other regions, DiCNs and TrCNs were the most dominant homologues of PCNs, The similar congener profiles in all the samples suggest the similarity in certain sources, Contamination from industrial input might be the most significant source of PCNs in the sludges in this study, and thermal processes such as waste incineration and coal combustion may be another source of the PCNs contamination.     

Persistent organic pollutants PCNs and PBDEs in sediments from coastal waters of Qingdao,Shandong Peninsula

Thirty-one congeners of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and 21 congeners of polybrominated diphenylethers(PBDEs)in surface sediments at 5 stations and one mussel sample from Qingdao coastal waters were analyzed. The maximum contents occur at the station near the Haibo River mouth. The total PCNs contents are in the range of 212-1209 pg/g dw, dominated by tri-Cl CN. The total PBDEs contents are in the range of 117-5510 pg/g dw,dominated by tri- to hexa-BrBDEs. The local sources of PCNs are likely from combustion processes such as incinerations and coal burnings. The sources of PBDEs are molecular diffusion from the materials containing them. Except for the area near the river mouth where is affected by the sewage sludges, an important source of PCNs and PBDEs in this area is believed to be the atmospheric deposition. Mussels enrich PCNs and PBDEs relative to the sediments. The total TEQs of PCNs in mussels are lower than the total TEQs of PCBs.     

Effects of five heavy metals at sub-lethal concentrations on the growth and photosynthesis of Chlorella vulgaris

The impact of sub-lethal concentrations(0.05,0.5,5 μmol L 1) of the heavy metals copper(Cu),chromium(Cr),zinc(Zn),cadmium(Cd) and lead(Pb) on the growth and photosynthesis of Chlorella vulgaris was studied during 96 h exposure experiments.The results showed that the effects of these five metals on the growth of Chlorella vulgaris were dependent on both concentration and exposure time.It was found that 5 μmol L 1 treatments of Cu,Cr,Zn,Cd and Pb significantly inhibited the growth of Chlorella vulgaris,and the effect became weaker with an increase in exposure duration.Different effects on chlorophyll fluorescence were found for different metals,with Cu and Cr having an inhibiting effect and Zn and Cd having a promoting effect.The effects of heavy metals upon the growth and photosynthesis of Chlorella vulgaris were independent of each other and not causally related.     

Neuroendocrine regulation of structure and function in the endostyle of amphioxus, Branchiostoma belcheri

Using histological and histochemical methods the structure of the endostyle in amphioxus at different gonadal developmental stages is studied, and the immunocytochemical localization of thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyrotropin (TSH) in the endostyle, Hatschek's pit and brain vesicle is investigated. The results not only confirm the previous report that the endostyle is composed of 6 zones and the cells of zone 5 are thyroid hormone synthesizing cells, but also find the thyroxine synthesis in and secretion from zone 3. In addition, the epithelial cells in Hatschek's pit and the neural cells in brain vesicle are immunopositive for TSH, and the immunoactivity is correlated with gonadal cycle. The present study may provide morphological proof for the hypothesis that the secretory activity of thyroid cells is regulated by TSH from Hatschek's pit and brain vesicle.     

Effects of lanthanum and gadolinium on proliferation and differentiation of primary osteoblasts

The effects of La3 and Gd3 on the proliferation, differentiation and adipogenic transdifferentiation of rat calvarial osteoblast-like cells (ROB cells) were evaluated by MTT method, measuring the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Oil red O measurement. Both of La3 and Gd3 inhibited the proliferation of ROB cells at all concentrations (1×10-5, 1×10-6, 1×10-7, 1×10-8, 1×10-9 mol·L-1). La3 at concentration of 1×10-5mol·L-1 significantly increased the alkaline phosphatase activity of ROB cells up to 3 folds (P<0.01). However, the effects reversed to inhibit at other concentrations. Gd played a negative role in the alkaline phosphatase activity. La3 inhibited the adipogenic transdifferentiation of ROB cells at all concentrations in a dose-dependent way. However, Gd promoted the adipogenic transdifferentiation of ROB cells at 1×10 and 1×10 mol·L . These findings suggested that the effects of rare earth elements on the proliferation, differentiation and adipogenic transdifferentiation of ROB cells were dependent on their concentrations and species.     

Toxicity of Diphenyl-pentenone Against Three Aphids （Homoptera： Aphididae） and Its Effects on the Esterases and Glutathione S-transferase

The most provocative aspect of this study is its original findings on the toxicity of diphenyl-pentenone (1,5-diphenyl-2-penten-l-one, DP) against the three kinds of aphids (Maerosiphum granarium Kirby, Lipaphis erysimi (kaltenbaeh), Schizaphis aurantiae (Fosc.) and the inhibitory effects of DP againstdetoxification enzyme system of the aphid (S aurantiae). The result of bioassay in the laboratory shows that the product has strong contact activity and very good antifeeding activity, with higher efficacy than anabasine and nicotine, two botanical aphidicides. The median lethal concentrations of the three products against the apterous adult (Mgranarium) are 175.85, 217.23 and 245.22 mg/L, respectively, at 24h of pest treatment. DP is inferior to methomyl in contact assay but superior in antifeeding activity assay against the three aphides. DP has strong inhibitory effects on nonspecific esterases, carboxylesterase of aphid (S aurantiae), but it can not inhibit AchE. DP also has strong inhibitory effects on glutathione Stransferase of the aphid.     

Morphological control of zinc tricarbohydrazide perchlorate crystals: Theoretical and experimental study

The theoretical crystal-morphology of zinc tricarbohydrazide perchlorate (ZnCP) was studied using the morphology simulation software. The growth trends and surface characteristics were calculated using the Bravais-Friedel-Donnay- Harker (BFDH), Growth Morphology, and Equilibrium Morphology methods; these provide theoretical guidance for the choice of crystal-control reagents. On the basis of the simulations, experiments were carried out to study the effects of five different crystal-control reagents, including carboxymethylcellulose (A), polyacrylamide (B), dextrin (C), Tween 40 (D), and Tween 60 (E), in the control of the crystal-morphology of ZnCP. Mixtures of two reagents and higher temperatures were used to further optimize the ZnCP crystals. The results show that ZnCP crystals are well dispersed, and have a large apparent density and regular crystal-morphology under the control of a mixture of reagents A and E in a mass ratio of 1:4 at 80°C.     

Dissecting anxiety-related QTLs in mice by univariate and multivariate mapping

To detect genes underlying anxiety-related traits in mice,we performed univariate and multivariate QTL mapping analyses of phenotypes obtained from 71 mice of the BXD recombinant inbred (RI) strains (n=528 mice) and their parental strains (C57BL/6J and DBA/2J).Separate and joint mapping analyses were carried out using a linkage map composed of 506 simple sequence repeats (SSRs).The main QTL effects,interactions between pairs of QTLs (epistasis),and their environmental interactions were estimated.The results showed that anxiety-related traits were influenced by multiple QTLs (five main effect QTLs and three epistatic QTLs).Ten potential anxiety-related candidate genes within the QTL intervals on chromosomes 5,13 and 15 were identified.Some of these genes have been reported previously to be associated with the anxiety response.Based on our results,it is suggested that the multivariate QTL mapping approach improves the statistical power for detecting QTL and the precision of parameter estimation.Moreover,multivariate mapping can also detect pleiotropic QTL effects.     

Extraction of catechins and caffeine from different tealeaves and comparison with micellar electrokinetic chromatography

This work describes the simultaneous determination of catechins and caffeine in green, black tealeaves and canned tea-drink using micellar electrokinetic chromatography. The catechins analyzed include ( )-catechin, (-)-epicatechin, (-)-epigallocatechin, (-)-epieatechin gallate and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate. Using UV absorption method at 280 nan, the limits of detections of catechins and caffeine are 10^-6mol/L, which is suitable for the real sample determination. Using this analytical method, the extraction of these compounds from the tealeaves with hot water is compared under different temperatures. The effects of temperature on the amount of eatechins and caffeine extracted are evident,showing that (-)-epigallocatechin gallate is the most easiest to be extracted at 100℃. The stability of eatechins and caffeine in stocking solution of tea-drink at 4℃ is also compared on five consecutive days. The contents of catechins and caffeine in green and black teas are discussed and the difference of the content between different tealeaves can provide a reference for the assessment of tea quality.     

Vanadyl ions binding to GroEL （HSP60） and inducing its depolymerization

Several vanadium compounds have been known for the hypoglycemic and anticancer effects. However, the mechanisms of the pharmacological and toxicological effects were not clear. In this work, we in- vestigated the potential targets of vanadium in mitochondria. Vanadyl ions were found to bind to mi- tochondria from rat liver with a stoichiometry of 244±58 nmol/mg protein and an apparent dissocia- tion constant (Kd) of (2.0±0.8)×10·16 mol/L. Using size exclusion chromatography, a vanadium-binding protein was isolated and identified to be the 60-kDa heat shock protein (HSP60) by mass spectrometry analysis and immunoassays. Additionally, binding of vanadyl ions was found to result in depolymeri- zation of homo-oligomeric HSP60 (GroEL). HSP60 is an indispensable molecular chaperone and in- volved in many kinds of pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, e.g. type 1 diabetes. Our results suggested that HSP60 could be a novel important target involved in the biological and/or toxicological effects of vanadium compounds.     

Analysis of PR and near-PR cosine-modulated filter banks with odd and even numbers of channels

It is well known that M-channel filter banks, satisfying either the perfect-reconstruction (PR) or near-PR property, can be obtained by cosine modulation of a linear-phase prototype filter. In this work, we investigated the effects of choosing odd or even number of channels on the performance of both PR and near-PR cosine-modulated filter banks (CMFBs). Given the same m, a performance degradation happens in the PR case with odd numbered M. Contrarily, the choice of even or odd M has little effects on the whole system quality for near-PR one. In addition, we made some comparisons between the constrained optimization and the Parks-McClellan algorithm with cosine roll-off characteristic in designing near-PR CMFBs. Detailed analyses and numerical comparisons show that the PR and near-PR systems have their individual characteristics in terms of M and m selection. Studies here can provide useful and practical guidelines for choosing right filter systems.     

Solution chemistry of carbonate minerals and its effects on the flotation of hematite with sodium oleate

The effects of carbonate minerals (dolomite and siderite) on the flotation of hematite using sodium oleate as a collector were investigated through flotation tests, supplemented by dissolution measurements, solution chemistry calculations, zeta-potential measurements, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic studies, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. The results of flotation tests show that the presence of siderite or dolomite reduced the recovery of hematite and that the inhibiting effects of dolomite were stronger. Dissolution measurements, solution chemistry calculations, and flotation tests confirmed that both the cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) and CO₃2- ions dissolved from dolomite depressed hematite flotation, whereas only the CO₃2- ions dissolved from siderite were responsible for hematite depression. The zeta-potential, FTIR spectroscopic, and XPS analyses indicated that Ca2+, Mg2+, and CO₃2- (HCO₃-) could adsorb onto the hematite surface, thereby hindering the adsorption of sodium oleate, which was the main reason for the inhibiting effects of carbonate minerals on hematite flotation.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Compatibilizer TLCP-b-PC

The compatibilizer ( TLCP-b-PC) of 60PHB/PET thermotropic liquid crystal polymer (TLCP) and polycarbonate (PC) blend system was prepared. The synthesis and characterization of the compatibilizer as well as its effects on the microscopic morphology and the mechanical properties of the TLCP/PC blend system were studied with a series of analysis ways, such as Soxhlet extraction, infrared absorption spectroscopy, electron microscopy, etc. It is shown that the ideal reaction condition for preparing the compatibilizer is: the reaction temperature of 275℃, the reaction time of 20 minutes and without catalyst. And the compatibilizer can improve the compatibility of the blending system of 60PHB/PET and PC.     

ERP dissociation and connection between implicit and explicit memory

ERP dissociations between implicit and explicit memory have been confirmed by a large amount of evidence in theories of human memory. However, similarities between the two forms of memory have scarcely been studied. A possibility is that while implicit memory and explicit memory have independ- ent components, they might additionally have shared components. To explore this question, an ERP experiment was conducted with a study-to-test paradigm, in which participants performed a "shallow" (color) study task or a "deep" (pleasant) study task, followed by either a lexical decision (implicit) test (Section 1) or a recognition (explicit) test (Section 2). An interference task was performed concurrently with either the encoding or the retrieval phase of the memory task for encoding interference condition or retrieval interference condition. We compared ERP signatures of implicit and explicit memory as a function of depth of processing or interference. Under the action of the same variables, 300―500 ms old/new ERP effects of implicit and explicit memory showed the same trend. These effects maybe all link with a perceptual representational system. 500―700 ms old/new ERP effects of the two memories were dissociated. They may probably reflect voluntary and involuntary recollection respectively. These results suggested that implicit and explicit memories are not completely independent of each other, but have both independent and shared components.     

Relationship between the microstructure and reaction performance of aluminosilicate

A systematic study was conducted to comprehend the mechanism of thermal activation of silica-alumina materials by using 29Si and 27Al magnetic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) spectroscopy. The reaction performance of silica-alumina-based materials with different molar ratios of Si/Al, which were thermally activated, was also investigated. With the increase in calcining temperature, the coordination of Al in metakaolin becomes four, five, and six firstly, and then transforms completely to four and six. It is indicated by identical coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP) and NMR that, the reaction performance of monomeric silicate anions is better than that of polymeric silicate anions which are primarily cross-linked in the alkali solution. Moreover, it also shows that the thermal activation temperature, cooling method, and the molar ratio of Na/Ca have remarkable effects on the reaction performance.     

Effect and sensitivity analysis of the rotational speed on the fluid-induced force characteristics of the straight-through labyrinth gas seal

The effects of the rotational speed on the fluid-induced force characteristics of a straight-through labyrinth gas seal( STLGS) are numerically investigated using the steady computational fluid dynamics( CFD) method based on a three-dimensional model of the STLGS. The fluid-induced force characteristics of the STLGS for five rotational speeds at a pressure drop of △P = 5000 Pa with and without eccentricity are computed. The grid density analysis ensures the accuracy of the present steady-CFD method. The effect and sensitivity analysis show that the changes in rotational speed affect the pressure forces,viscous forces and total pressure distributions on the rotor surface,velocity streamlines,leakage flow rates,and maximum flow velocities. The results indicate that the rotational speed inhibits the pressure forces,leakage flow rates and maximum flow velocities and promotes the viscous forces and total pressure on the rotor surface.     

Oscillation Reduction of Breast for Cup-Pad Choice

Traditional studies of evaluating breast displacement included cup fabrics, shoulder straps, and under-bands restricted by own features of sports bras(SBs). The effects of pads on breast support during movement were investigated by conducting trials with the motion capture experiment. The three-dimensional breast displacements at five breast positions were collected and values in the vertical direction were evaluated. Results indicate that the effectiveness of the cup pad depends on the pad diam...     

Energy and Exergy Analysis, and Thermoeconomic Performance of a BCHP System

Building cooling, heating and power (BCHP) systems should play an important role in achieving the goals of energy efficient use and environment protection in China. It will make big sense when this type of system shows a good performance energetically and economically. An on-site BCHP system being the first in the country was installed and put to use five years ago. As the first step to evaluate the project, com~tations were made based on thermodynamic and themoeconomic theories to evaluate the system on full load and off-design conditions in summer. Discussion and analyses are made mainly in terms of exergetic efficiency and costs of unit amount of useful exergy produced in this paper.