共轨柴油机燃用生物柴油的排气颗粒粒径分布及核态纳米颗粒生成机理研究

在新一代轿车用共轨柴油机上对生物柴油及柴油燃烧排放的颗粒粒径分布和纳米颗粒的生成机理进行了研究．试验结果表明,柴油机的颗粒粒径分布为双态分布：核态和聚集态,基本以50nm为分界线．在2000r／min,50N．m工况下,颗粒粒径分布为单一的聚集态分布,当转矩超过100N．m后,颗粒粒径分布从单态转化为双态分布．对于本试验中的生物柴油混合燃料,当燃料混合比小于60％,发动机高负荷下其粒径分布也为双态,相同条件纯生物柴油的颗粒粒径分布仅为单一聚集态．低负荷时,对比所有燃料的颗粒粒径分布都为单一聚集态．生物柴油混合燃料可以明显降低柴油机的聚集态颗粒数量浓度．而颗粒中核态纳米颗粒的形成可解释为随着负荷的增大,燃料的耗油量和排气温度的上升,燃烧生成的SO2被氧化催化器转化为SO3,其水化物硫酸的形成促成了核态纳米颗粒的形成．所以生物柴油混合燃料的硫含量决定带有氧化催化器的轻型柴油机的纳米颗粒的形成和数量．     

Homodimer formation of retinoid X receptor induced by 9-cis retinoic acid.

Retinoid response pathways are mediated by two classes of receptors, the retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and the retinoid X receptors (RXRs). A central question is whether distinct response pathways are regulated by these two classes of receptors. The observation that the stereoisomer 9-cis-retinoic acid binds with high affinity to RXRs suggested that this retinoid has a distinct role in controlling RXR activity, but it was almost simultaneously discovered that RXRs function as auxiliary receptors for RARs and related receptors, and are essential for DNA binding and function of those receptors. Hence, although RARs seem to operate effectively only as heterodimeric RAR/RXR complexes, RXRs themselves apparently function predominantly, if not exclusively, as auxiliary receptors. Here we report that 9-cis-retinoic acid induces RXR homodimer formation. Our results demonstrate a new mechanism for retinoid action by which a ligand-induced homodimer mediates a distinct retinoid response pathway.     

湿地状态对石油污染和植物长势影响的模拟研究

模拟实验中建立了一系列不同状态的“湿地桶”,桶中装有从黄河三角洲采集的被石油污染的土壤和当地的湿地植物。通过监测湿地植物（芦苇、香蒲等）的长势和化验土壤中总石油烃（TPH）及油和脂（O/G）随时间的变化,以探讨湿地状态对石油污染和植物长势的影响。结果显示：湿地环境对土壤中的石油污染有明显的降解作用,芦苇等挺水植物的生长量与积水深度呈正相关,土壤中少量含油并不构成对湿地植物生长的威胁。此实验可为建立油田的湿地缓冲带提供科学依据。     

Formation of ordered ice nanotubes inside carbon nanotubes

Following their discovery, carbon nanotubes have attracted interest not only for their unusual electrical and mechanical properties, but also because their hollow interior can serve as a nanometre-sized capillary, mould or template in material fabrication. The ability to encapsulate a material in a nanotube also offers new possibilities for investigating dimensionally confined phase transitions. Particularly intriguing is the conjecture that matter within the narrow confines of a carbon nanotube might exhibit a solid-liquid critical point beyond which the distinction between solid and liquid phases disappears. This unusual feature, which cannot occur in bulk material, would allow for the direct and continuous transformation of liquid matter into a solid. Here we report simulations of the behaviour of water encapsulated in carbon nanotubes that suggest the existence of a variety of new ice phases not seen in bulk ice, and of a solid-liquid critical point. Using carbon nanotubes with diameters ranging from 1.1 nm to 1.4 nm and applied axial pressures of 50 MPa to 500 MPa, we find that water can exhibit a first-order freezing transition to hexagonal and heptagonal ice nanotubes, and a continuous phase transformation into solid-like square or pentagonal ice nanotubes.