Contributions of microbial biofilms to ecosystem processes in stream mesocosms

In many aquatic ecosystems, most microbes live in matrix-enclosed biofilms and contribute substantially to energy flow and nutrient cycling. Little is known, however, about the coupling of structure and dynamics of these biofilms to ecosystem function. Here we show that microbial biofilms changed the physical and chemical microhabitat and contributed to ecosystem processes in 30-m-long stream mesocosms. Biofilm growth increased hydrodynamic transient storage-streamwater detained in quiescent zones, which is a major physical template for ecological processes in streams-by 300% and the retention of suspended particles by 120%. In addition, by enhancing the relative uptake of organic molecules of lower bioavailability, the interplay of biofilm microarchitecture and mass transfer changed their downstream linkage. As living zones of transient storage, biofilms bring hydrodynamic retention and biochemical processing into close spatial proximity and influence biogeochemical processes and patterns in streams. Thus, biofilms are highly efficient and successful ecological communities that may also contribute to the influence that headwater streams have on rivers, estuaries and even oceans through longitudinal linkages of local biogeochemical and hydrodynamic processes.     

The bright optical afterglow of the nearby gamma-ray burst of 29 March 2003

Past studies of cosmological gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been hampered by their extreme distances, resulting in faint afterglows. A nearby GRB could potentially shed much light on the origin of these events, but GRBs with a redshift z 相似文献   

Reticular synthesis and the design of new materials

The long-standing challenge of designing and constructing new crystalline solid-state materials from molecular building blocks is just beginning to be addressed with success. A conceptual approach that requires the use of secondary building units to direct the assembly of ordered frameworks epitomizes this process: we call this approach reticular synthesis. This chemistry has yielded materials designed to have predetermined structures, compositions and properties. In particular, highly porous frameworks held together by strong metal-oxygen-carbon bonds and with exceptionally large surface area and capacity for gas storage have been prepared and their pore metrics systematically varied and functionalized.     

Adaptive terminal sliding mode control for high-order nonlinear dynamic systems

An adaptive terminal sliding mode control (SMC) technique is proposed to deal with the tracking problem for a class of high-order nonlinear dynamic systems. It is shown that a function augmented sliding hyperplane can be used to develop a new terminal sliding mode for high-order nonlinear systems. A terminal SMC controller based on Lyapunov theory is designed to force the state variables of the closed-loop system to reach and remain on the terminal sliding mode, so that the output tracking error then converges to zero in finite time which can be set arbitrarily. An adaptive mechanism is introduced to estimate the unknown parameters of the upper bounds of system uncertainties. The estimates are then used as controller parameters so that the effects of uncertain dynamics can be eliminated. It is also shown that the stability of the closed-loop system can be guaranteed with the proposed control strategy. The simulation of a numerical example is provided to show the effectiveness of the new method.     

Dynamic balancing of dual-rotor system with very little rotating speed difference

Unbalanced vibration in dual-rotor rotating machinery was studied with numerical simulations and experiments. A new method is proposed to separate vibration signals of inner and outer rotors for a system with very little difference in rotating speeds. Magnitudes and phase values of unbalance defects can be obtained directly by sampling the vibration signal synchronized with reference signal. The balancing process is completed by the reciprocity influence coefficients of inner and outer rotors method. Results showed the advantage of such method for a dual-rotor system as compared with conventional balancing.     

Life cycle assessment in the environmental impact evaluation of urbandevelopment——a case study of land readjustment project,Hyogo District, Japan

In this paper, the Life Cycle of Urban Development was firstly analyzed, and the phases of Life Cycle Assessment applied to Urban Development (ULCA) were described. As a case study, ULCA was applied in the environmental impact assessment of the land readjustment project of Hyogo District of Saga, Japan. In addition, mitigation proposals for reducing CO2 were also presented and the relevant environmental ef-fects were simulated.     

Phylogenetic position of Schnabelia, a genus endemic to China： Evidence from sequences of cpDNA matK gene and nrDNA ITS regions

The chloroplast gene matK and the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA from Schnabelia, a genus endemic to China, and 6 genera of Verbenaceae and 13 genera of Lamiaceae were sequenced. The phylogenetic signal and validity outgroups were measured and evaluated by means of the relatively apparent synapomorphy analysis (RASA). Independent and combined phylogenetic analyses for the matK and ITS sequences were performed using the maximum parsimony (MP), neighbor-joining (NJ) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods, indicating that Schnabelia oligophylla and Caryopteris terniflora form a sister-group relationship. The Caryopteris complex is not shown to be a monophyly because Trichostema, C. paniculata and C. forrestii are paraphyletic to the clade containing the remaining members of the complex. A monophyly of Ajugoideae proposed by Cantino et al., including 8 genera in this study, is strongly supported and the closest relatives of Schnabelia are in the Ajugoideae (Lamiaceae), especially near Caryopteris terniflora. The polygenetic analyses also showed that the genera of Lamiaceae and Verbenaceae sampled in this tudy are phylogenetically mixed and the genus Avicennia is distant to other genera of Verbenaceae. RASA and combined analysis can be used as effective approaches to determining the relationships among phylogenetically complex groups.     

X－ray reflectivity investigation of the foam bilayer film formed by hexaethylene glycol dodecyl ether

When the thickness of soap foam film varies in adefinite region, color changes of a soap bubble will be observed due to the interference of light. Black soap films are the final stages of thinning of soap films due to the drainage of water in the absence of evaporation and are generally formed from solutions of an ionic surfactant in the presence of salt. After a bubble is formed, in the beginning the soap film is relatively thick and it appearswhite; then the film thins gradually and finally …     

Mantle thermal pulses below the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and temporal variations in the formation of oceanic lithosphere

A 20-Myr record of creation of oceanic lithosphere is exposed along a segment of the central Mid-Atlantic Ridge on an uplifted sliver of lithosphere. The degree of melting of the mantle that is upwelling below the ridge, estimated from the chemistry of the exposed mantle rocks, as well as crustal thickness inferred from gravity measurements, show oscillations of approximately 3-4 Myr superimposed on a longer-term steady increase with time. The time lag between oscillations of mantle melting and crustal thickness indicates that the mantle is upwelling at an average rate of approximately 25 mm x yr(-1), but this appears to vary through time. Slow-spreading lithosphere seems to form through dynamic pulses of mantle upwelling and melting, leading not only to along-axis segmentation but also to across-axis structural variability. Also, the central Mid-Atlantic Ridge appears to have become steadily hotter over the past 20 Myr, possibly owing to north-south mantle flow.