Wind and orientation of migrating birds: A review

Summary Migratory flights are strongly affected by wind, and birds have developed many adaptations to cope with wind effects. By day, overland migrants at high altitudes may often allow crosswinds to drift their tracks laterally from the preferred heading. In contrast, many birds at low altitude adjust their headings to compensate for drift, and may overcompensate to allow for previous drift. The relative motion of landscape features is probably used to sense drift, at least by day. By night, some overland migrants compensate fully for drift but others do not; no pattern is obvious. Over the sea, compensation is rarely if ever total; wave patterns may allow partial compensation. Other adaptations can include reduction of drift by flying at times and/or altitudes without strong crosswinds. Some birds recognize the need to change course to allow for previous wind displacement, and reorient at least roughly toward the original route or destination. Some juveniles en route to previously-unvisited wintering grounds seem to have this ability, but corroboration is needed. Such reorientation may not require a true navigation ability. However, some birds have unexplained abilities to sense the wind while aloft.     

Mechanosensitivity of mammalian auditory hair cells in vitro

Intracellular responses recorded in vitro from the cochleas of anaesthetized mammals have shown that the mechanoreceptive inner and outer hair cells are sharply tuned, accounting for many of the properties of the afferent fibres in the auditory nerve. However, in vivo it has not been possible to measure directly the excitatory mechanical input to these cells (the displacement of their mechanosensitive stereocilia) and thus to determine the relationship between the receptor potentials and displacement of their stereocilia. As a means of circumventing this technical difficulty, we have developed an organ culture of the mouse cochlea and here we describe the receptor potentials generated by the hair cells in response to direct displacement of their stereocilia.     

半胱氨酸亚金铵的合成、理化性质及电镀金应用

以半胱氨酸为配体合成一种新型亚金配合物NH4Au(Cys)2,对该配合物进行元素分析、红外光谱、紫外光谱、热失重分析和导电性测量等理化性质研究;以该亚金配合物为金源开展相关的电镀金工艺探索,并通过四因素三水平的正交试验获得其最佳条件参数;采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和X线衍射(XRD)对镀金层的表面质量进行探讨。研究结果表明:该目标产物的分子式为NH4Au(Cys)2·2H2O,该配合物中以半胱氨酸的巯基和金配位为成健特征,在170℃以下热稳定性较好,该亚金配合物是一个典型的离子化合物。在电流密度为200~300 A/m2,p H为10.5~12.0,温度为35~45℃,金质量浓度为15~25 g/L的电镀工艺条件下,得到粒度为0.5~1.0μm的单质金,且主要沿着(111)面进行生长。     

随机纳米碳管网络及其渗流性质

数值模拟了实验上构造纳米碳管网络的溶液沉积方法.与一般的随机网络模型不同,将碳管的长度计算在内,而且考虑了不同的空间相交位形.数值模拟发现网络的度分布为高斯分布,平均集聚系数约为0.11.当网络中碳管平均面密度取值在σ0=179 200根/cm2附近时,网络系综达到渗流.在临界点附近,网络的连通概率p、两极之间电导G、...