Stress corrosion cracking and its anisotropy of a PZT ferroelectric ceramics

It is known that some types of ceramics, like Al2O3 and ZrO2, undergo stress corrosion cracking (SCC) or static fatigue fracture under static loading, ever in a rela-tively mild environment, such as moist atmosphere or water at room temperature, which leads to a time-dependent fracture[1—4]. For a transmission electron microscopy specimen of YBa2Cu3O7-x ceramics superconductor, SCC induced by residual stress can occur in an atmosphere with low moisture content[5]. For a lead zirconate ti…     

Do multiple cycles of aeolian deposit-pedogenesis exist in the reticulate red clay sections in southern China?

Since the Quaternary scientists successfully dis-closed the paleoclimatic significance of the loess-paleo- sol sequence in the Loess Plateau, Northwest China, the loess-paleosol sequence has become well-known terres-trial materials revealing the multiple cyclic changes of Quaternary climates. As a carrier of paleoenvironmental information, it could compare beauty with the deep ocean deposit[8]. In recent years, however, the researchers began to put their sights to southern China. They try t…     

The age of formation of the mirabilite and sand wedges in the Hexi Corridor and their paleoclimatic interpretation

The Hexi Corridor is located at the transition zone of the Asian summer monsoon and westerly airflow, and lies in an important position in terms of its ecological fragility and climatic sensitivity. During a recent field expedition to this region, we found a sedimentary mirabilite layer in a number of localities including Suwushan, Yanchi, Baitujing, Yanchi Gaotai, Huahai, Yumen, Halanuo扙r, and Dunhuang (Fig. 1), which have the potential to provide important information about environmenta…     

Temperature variations on the Tibetan Plateau over the last two millennia

The paleoclimate data recovered from ice cores,tree rings and lake sediments indicate regional features of cfimatic change on the Tibeta n Plateau (TP) during the last 2000 years. The composite temperature reconstructions in-dicate that several main climatic episodes, such as the “LittleIce Age“ between 1400 and 1900, the “Medieval Warm Pe-riod“ in 1150-1400, a less warm period in 800-1100, and an earlier cold period between the 3rd and 5th centuries,occurred in the TP. In addition, temperature varied from region to region. The period from AD 800 to 1100, which waswarm in northeastern TP, was contemporaneous with cool-ing in the western and southern TP. The southern TP ex-perienced warming between 1150 and 1400. For western TP,the δ^18O records of the Guliya ice core indicate that the pe-Hod 1250-1500 witnessed a clear warming. Large-scaletrends in the temperature history from northeastern TP aremore similar to those in eastern China than are the trendsfrom the Guliya ice cap far to the west and southern TP. The most prominent similarities between the temperature varia-tions of the TP and eastern China are such cold phases as 1100-1150, 1500-1550, 1650-1700 and 1800-1850, andthe latter three cold events match with three widespreadg lacial advances which occurred on the TP during the Little Ice A2e.     

Time-division phase modulated single-photon interference in a Sagnac interferometer

We introduce a stable, long-distance singlephoton Sagnac interferometer, which has a balanced configuration to efficiently compensate phase drift caused by change of the fiber-optic path. By using time-division phase modulation, single-photon interference was realized at 1550nm in a 5-km-long as well as 27-km-long Sagnac fiber loops,with a fringe visibility higher than 90% and long-term stability. The stable performance of the single-photon interference indicated that the time-division phase-modulated Sagnac interferometer might readily lead to practical applications in single-photon routing and quantum cryptography.     

高速弧齿锥齿轮动频计算

建立了旋转轮盘动力学模型，提出了基于刚度矩阵的离心刚度矩阵修正了模式下的动频求解有限元法，实现了弧齿锥齿传频的数值求解，数值计算与实测值基本一致且由算例得出结论，旋转效应对低阶模态，节径型振型影响较大，本算法对旋转轮盘类的动频计算具有通用性。     

Antioxidant survey to assess antagonism to redox stress using a prokaryotic and an eukaryotic system

Using a prokaryote (Escherichia coli) and a metazoa-resembling eukaryote (Ochromonas danica), we surveyed antioxidants which might overcome redox stress imposed by menadione sodium bisulphite (MD) and buthionine sulphoximine (BSO). BSO oxidant stress was evident only inO. danica; MD oxidant stress was evident in both organisms. Glutathione, its precursors, e.g. cysteine, homocysteine, and 2-oxo-4-thiazolidine carboxylic acid, and red blood cells, emerged as prime antioxidants for relieving BSO and MD oxidant stress. BSO and MD oxidant activity and antioxidant-annulling effect inO. danica were judged comparable to those found in animal cells whereas the resultsE. coli were not entirely equivalent. TheO. danica system emerged as a practical, rapid, and useful system for pinpointing oxidant stressors and antioxidants, and shows promise for studies with mammalian systems.     

(−)-Epigallocatechin gallate,a polyphenolic tea antioxidant,inhibits peroxynitritemediated formation of 8-oxodeoxyguanosine and 3-nitrotyrosine

Reaction with peroxynitrite at pH 7.4 and 37°C was found to increase the 8-oxodeoxyguanosine levels in calf thymus DNA 35-38-fold. This oxidation of deoxyguanosine, as well as the peroxynitrite-mediated nitration of tyrosine to 3-nitrotyrosine, was significantly inhibited by ascorbic acid, glutathione and (–)-epigallocatechin gallate, a polyphenolic antioxidant present in tea. For 50% inhibition of the oxidation of deoxyguanosine to 8-oxodeoxyguanosine, 1.1, 7.6 of 0.25 mM ascorbate, glutathione or (–)-epigallocatechin gallate, respectively, was required. For 50% inhibition of tyrosine nitration, the respective concentrations were 1.4, 4.6 or 0.11 mM. Thus, (–)-epigallocatechin gallate is a significantly better inhibitor of both reactions than either ascorbate or glutathione. Reaction of (–)-epigallocatechin gallate with peroxynitrite alone resulted in the formation of a number of products. Ultraviolet spectra of two of these suggest that the tea polyphenol and/or its oxidation products are nitrated by peroxynitrite.