甲醇-汽油混合燃料对汽油机性能和排放的影响

通过汽油机燃用甲醇-汽油混合燃料（其中甲醇的体积分数为109／6，汽油的体积分数为90％，简称M10燃料）和汽油的对比试验，研究了M10燃料对汽油机性能和排放的影响，并用气相色谱仪测量了尾气中的甲醇和甲醛排放．试验研究表明：汽油机燃用M10燃料对汽油机动力性影响不大，但汽油机有效热效率和燃油经济性提高，排温有所降低；CO和HC排放减少，NOx排放与燃用汽油时相当；甲醇和甲醛排放增加．排气经三效催化转化器后，CO、HC和NOx排放可以被控制在与常规汽油机排放相当的水平，甲醇和甲醛排放可以被控制在接近零排放的水平．     

乙醇汽油发动机排放特性研究

在一台JL368Q3多点电喷汽油机上，开展了乙醇汽油（不同掺混比）发动机排放特性的研究，并用GC2010气相色谱仪测量了排气中未燃醇醛的排放浓度．试验结果表明：在发动机运转参数相同的条件下，燃用E10、E20（乙醇的体积分数分别为10％、20％）混合燃料时，发动机的CO和NOx排放有了较好的改善，降幅可分别达到15％和5％，但在高负荷时发动机的HC排放增加；乙醇汽油发动机排气中的醇醛排放随发动机的转速和负荷增加而增加，其中乙醛排放随燃料中乙醇含量的增加而增加；经过三效催化转化后，乙醇汽油发动机的醇醛在大部分工况下可以实现零排放．     

Double Penalized Semi-Parametric Signed-Rank Regression with Adaptive LASSO

In this paper, a semi-parametric regression model with an adaptive LASSO penalty imposed on both the linear and the nonlinear components of the mode is considered. The model is rewritten so that a signed-rank technique can be used for estimation. The nonlinear part consists of a covariate that enters the model nonlinearly via an unknown function that is estimated using Bsplines. The author shows that the resulting estimator is consistent under heavy-tailed distributions and asymptotic normality results are given. Monte Carlo simulations as well as practical applications are studied to assess the validity of the proposed estimation method.     

Haploinsufficiency of protamine-1 or -2 causes infertility in mice

Protamines are the major DNA-binding proteins in the nucleus of sperm in most vertebrates and package the DNA in a volume less than 5% of a somatic cell nucleus. Many mammals have one protamine, but a few species, including humans and mice, have two. Here we use gene targeting to determine if the second protamine provides redundancy to an essential process, or if both protamines are necessary. We disrupted the coding sequence of one allele of either Prm1 or Prm2 in embryonic stem (ES) cells derived from 129-strain mice, and injected them into blastocysts from C57BL/6-strain mice. Male chimeras produced 129-genotype sperm with disrupted Prm1 or Prm2 alleles, but failed to sire offspring carrying the 129 genome. We also found that a decrease in the amount of either protamine disrupts nuclear formation, processing of protamine-2 and normal sperm function. Our studies show that both protamines are essential and that haploinsufficiency caused by a mutation in one allele of Prm1 or Prm2 prevents genetic transmission of both mutant and wild-type alleles.     

Arabian Sea tropical cyclones intensified by emissions of black carbon and other aerosols

Throughout the year, average sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea are warm enough to support the development of tropical cyclones, but the atmospheric monsoon circulation and associated strong vertical wind shear limits cyclone development and intensification, only permitting a pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period for cyclogenesis. Thus a recent increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones over the northern Indian Ocean is thought to be related to the weakening of the climatological vertical wind shear. At the same time, anthropogenic emissions of aerosols have increased sixfold since the 1930s, leading to a weakening of the southwesterly lower-level and easterly upper-level winds that define the monsoonal circulation over the Arabian Sea. In principle, this aerosol-driven circulation modification could affect tropical cyclone intensity over the Arabian Sea, but so far no such linkage has been shown. Here we report an increase in the intensity of pre-monsoon Arabian Sea tropical cyclones during the period 1979-2010, and show that this change in storm strength is a consequence of a simultaneous upward trend in anthropogenic black carbon and sulphate emissions. We use a combination of observational, reanalysis and model data to demonstrate that the anomalous circulation, which is radiatively forced by these anthropogenic aerosols, reduces the basin-wide vertical wind shear, creating an environment more favourable for tropical cyclone intensification. Because most Arabian Sea tropical cyclones make landfall, our results suggest an additional impact on human health from regional air pollution.     

Nonspecific integration of the HTLV provirus genome into adult T-cell leukaemia cells

Human T-cell leukaemia virus (HTLV), previously also reported as ATLV, is a recently identified retrovirus which is closely associated with adult T-cell leukaemia (ATL) endemic in southwestern Japan and the Caribbean. Determination of the total nucleotide sequence of the HTLV genome has revealed no typical onc gene acquired from the cellular sequence. Screening of the HTLV provirus genome in tumour cells has shown that in all cases of ATL examined, the primary tumour cells contained the provirus genome and were monoclonal with respect to the integration site of the provirus. These findings suggest that ATL leukaemogenesis may be due to insertional mutagenesis in which the provirus genome is integrated into a specific locus on the chromosomal DNA and then activates an adjacent cellular onc gene, a mechanism already demonstrated in avian lymphoma and erythroblastosis induced by avian leukosis viruses. A common site of HTLV provirus integration in leukaemic cells among some ATL patients was reported by Hahn et al. but subsequently retracted. However, this retraction does not imply the random integration of the proviruses. Independently, we have been testing this insertional mutagenesis model in ATL and report here that the provirus did not have a common locus of integration in 35 ATL patients and did not integrate on the same chromosome in 2 ATL patients.