高压扭转过程中不混溶Al/Zn体系的机械合金化和相变

通过高压扭转工艺(HPT)对两个半圆盘的纯铝和纯锌进行合金化处理以及合金化后的退火处理(PDA)。通过扫描电子显微镜、透射电子显微镜和分子动力学(MD)模拟研究Al-Zn合金的微观结构演变过程。结果表明,高压扭转处理的Al/Zn组件由纳米晶相和非晶相混合组成。变形产生的(0001)Al//(111)Zn特殊晶面取向促进了原子扩散,高固溶度的钉扎效应使位错密度达到2.17×10^(17)m^(-2)。Al-Zn合金中的晶体向非晶的转变可能主要归因于纳米晶、高扩散度和高局部位错密度。此外,结果表明,退火后结构呈现150~250 nm和500~900 nm的双峰粒度分布,并且在后续的PDA中晶界处出现锌原子富集。这种异质微观结构使材料的伸长率达到160%,展现出优良的塑性。

Experimental investigation on the factors affecting VWF damage based on an in vitro blood-shearing platform

With the increasing number of people suffering from heart failure,ventricular assist devices have gradually become an effective way to treat end-stage heart failure.However,the blood damage caused by ventricular assist devices has not been effectively solved,which is an obstacle to its clinical promotion.Most research focused on erythrocyte damage under shear stress,while few researches were conducted on the interaction between blood under shear stress and the induction of von Willebrand factor(VWF)damage.This research used a vortex oscillator blood-shearing platform to conduct in vitro experiments and used immunoblotting to quantify VWF damage in sheared samples to study the laws of shear-induced VWF damage under different shear stress,different exposure times,different blood components,and hemolysis conditions.It was found that VWF damage increased with exposure time and shear stress.At the same time,under lower shear stress,other blood components had little effect on VWF damage,while in a higher shear stress,other blood components would accelerate VWF damage.Hemolysis will also affect VWF damage,and the higher the degree of hemolysis,the higher the rate of VWF degradation in the plasma.The results of this research provide a reference for VWF damage evaluation standards and follow-up research and also guide for improving the design of ventricular assist devices to reduce VWF damage.

Allele-specific expression and alternative splicing in horse×donkey and cattle×yak hybrids

Divergence of gene expression and alter native splicing is a crucial driving force in the evolution of species;to date, however the molecular mechanism remains unclear. Hybrids of closely related species provide a suitable model to analyze allele-specific expressi on (ASE) and allele-specific alter native splicing (ASS). Analysis of ASE and ASS can uncover the differences in cis-regulatory elements between closely related species, while eliminating interferenee of trans-regulatory elements. Here, we provide a detailed characterization of ASE and ASS from 19 and 10 transcriptome datasets across five tissues from reciprocal-cross hybrids of horsex don key (mule/hi nny) and cattlexyak (dzo), respectively. Results showed that 4.8%-8.7% and 10.8%-16.7% of genes exhibited ASE and ASS, respectively. Notably, IncRNAs and pseudogenes were more likely to show ASE than protein-coding genes. In addition, genes showing ASE and ASS in mule/hinny were found to be involved in the regulation of muscle strength, whereas those of dzo were involved in high-altitude adaptati on. In con clusi on, our study dem on strated that explorati on of genes showing ASE and ASS in hybrids of closely related species is feasible for species evolution research.

Rosmarinic acid ameliorates hypoxia/ischemia induced cognitive deficits and promotes remyelination

Rosmarinic acid,a common ester extracted from Rosemary,Perilla frutescens,and Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge,has been shown to have protective effects against various diseases.This is an investigation into whether rosmarinic acid can also affect the changes of white matter fibers and cognitive deficits caused by hypoxic injury.The right common carotid artery of 3-day-old rats was ligated for 2 hours.The rats were then prewarmed in a plastic container with holes in the lid,which was placed in 37°C water bath for 30 minutes.Afterwards,the rats were exposed to an atmosphere with 8% O2 and 92% N2 for 30 minutes to establish the perinatal hypoxia/ischemia injury models.The rat models were intraperitoneally injected with rosmarinic acid 20 mg/kg for 5 consecutive days.At 22 days after birth,rosmarinic acid was found to improve motor,anxiety,learning and spatial memory impairments induced by hypoxia/ischemia injury.Furthermore,rosmarinic acid promoted the proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the subventricular zone.After hypoxia/ischemia injury,rosmarinic acid reversed to some extent the downregulation of myelin basic protein and the loss of myelin sheath in the corpus callosum of white matter structure.Rosmarinic acid partially slowed down the expression of oligodendrocyte marker Olig2 and myelin basic protein and the increase of oligodendrocyte apoptosis marker inhibitors of DNA binding 2.These data indicate that rosmarinic acid ameliorated the cognitive dysfunction after perinatal hypoxia/ischemia injury by improving remyelination in corpus callosum.This study was approved by the Animal Experimental Ethics Committee of Xuzhou Medical University,China (approval No.20161636721) on September 16,2017.

Formulae for secondary electron yield from insulators and semiconductors

The processes and characteristics of secondary electron emission in insulators and semiconductors were studied, and the formulae for the maximum yield(δ_m) at W_(pOm)≤ 800 eV and the secondary electron yield from insulators and semiconductors δ at the primary incident energy of 2 keV≤ W_(pO) < 10 keV(δ_(2-10)) and10 keV ≤ W_(pO)≤100 keV(δ_(10-100)) were deduced. The calculation results were compared with their corresponding experimental data. It is concluded that the deduced formulae can be used to calculate δ_(2-100)at W_(pOm)≤ 800 eV.

Measurement of Superconductivity and Edge States in Topological Superconductor Candidate TaSe_(3)

Topological superconductors(TSCs)have been widely investigated in recent years due to their novel physics and ability to host Majorana fermions(MFs)which are key to topological quantum computation.Despite the great interest,only a few compounds have been proposed as candidates of intrinsic TSCs,such as iron-based superconductor FeSe_(0.55)Te_(0.45) and 2M-WS_(2).Among them,quasi-one-dimensional superconductor TaSe_(3) possesses fascinating properties such as its simple stoichiometry,layered nature and chemical stability.Here,using scanning tunneling microscope/spectroscopy(STM/STS),we systematically investigate the topography and electronic structure of TaSe_(3).Our STM/STS measurement reveals large atomically flat,defect-free surfaces suitable for the search of MF;electronic density of states consistent with our angle-resolved photoemission result and band-structure calculations,and a uniform superconducting gap with a typical size of∼0.25 meV.Remarkably,additional edge states are observed in the vicinity of the terrace edge,suggesting they may have a topological origin.Our result proves the coexistence of superconductivity and topological electronic structure in TaSe_(3),making it an intriguing platform to investigate topological superconductivity.

Geoeffectiveness of the coronal mass ejections associated with solar proton events

The intensity-time profiles of solar proton events（SPEs） are grouped into three types in the present study. The Type-I means that the intensity-time profile of an SPE has one peak, which occurs shortly after the associated solar flare and coronal mass ejection（CME）. The Type-II means that the SPE profile has two peaks： the first peak occurs shortly after the solar eruption, the second peak occurs at the time when the CME-driven shock reaches the Earth, and the intensity of the second peak is lower than the first one.If the intensity of the second peak is higher than the first one, or the SPE intensity increases continuously until the CME-driven shock reaches the Earth, this kind of intensity-time profile is defined as Type-III. It is found that most CMEs associated with Type-I SPEs have no geoeffectiveness and only a small part of CMEs associated with Type-I SPEs can produce minor（–50 n T ≤ Dst ≤–30 n T） or moderate geomagnetic storms（–100 n T≤ Dst ≤–50 n T）, but never an intense geomagnetic storm（–200 n T ≤ Dst 〈-100 n T）. However,most of the CMEs associated with Type-II and Type-III SPEs can produce intense or great geomagnetic storms（Dst ≤-200 n T）. The solar wind structures responsible for the geomagnetic storms associated with SPEs with different intensity-time profiles have also been investigated and discussed.

The properties of solar active regions responsible for ground level enhancements during solar cycles 22 and 23

This is a study designed to analyze the relationship between ground level enhancements（GLEs）and their associated solar active regions during solar cycles 22and 23.Results show that 90.3%of the GLE events that are investigated are accompanied by X-class flares,and that 77.4%of the GLE events originate from super active regions.It is found that the intensity of a GLE event is strongly associated with the specific position of an active region where the GLE event occurs.As a consequence,the GLE events having a peak increase rate exceeding 50%occur in a longitudinal range from W20 to W100.Moreover,the largest GLE events occur in a heliographic longitude at roughly W60.Additionally,an analysis is made to understand the distributional pattern of the Carrington longitude of the active regions that have generated the GLE events.

Measurement of the electronic structure of a type-Ⅱ topological Dirac semimetal candidate VAI_(3) using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

Type-Ⅱ topological Dirac semimetals are topological quantum materials hosting Lorentz-symmetry breaking type-Ⅱ Dirac fermions,which are tilted Dirac cones with various exotic physical properties,such as anisotropic chiral anomalies and novel quantum oscillations.Until now,only limited material systems have been confirmed by theory and experiments with the type-Ⅱ Dirac fermions.Here,we investigated the electronic structure of a new type-Ⅱ Dirac semimetal VA1_(3) with angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy.The measured band dispersions are consistent with the theoretical prediction,which suggests the Dirac points are located close to(at about 100 meV above) the Fermi level.Our work demonstrates a new type-Ⅱ Dirac semimetal candidate system with different Dirac node configurations and application potentials.