Effects of Transgenic Cry1Ac plus CpTI Cotton on the Bioecology of Main Parasitoids in Laboratory Studies

Effects of transgenic Cry1Ac plus CpTI cotton(double genes cotton) on development of main parasitoids were studied in the laboratory.Compared with the traditional cotton,the differences of

Laboratory Models for the Study of the Peri-implantation Period

The greatest risks to mammalian pregnancy occur during the peri-implantation period (passage through the uterotubal junction, blastulation, zona shedding, embryonic signaling and recognition, blastocyst attachment, postattachment events initiating placentation). Conventional markers and screening methods do not provide the means to clarify the relationship between exposure of a reproductively competent woman to a xenobiotic compound and the specific error in the functional expression of an embryogenetic process identified by impairment or deletion of that process. Laboratory models which provide the flexibility of in vitro culture methods and allow integration of cellular and molecular techniques have identified cell-specific, stage-specific markers that could focus on the mechanism of xenobiotic action. In vitro models have been used to define postattachment trophoblast cell differentiation. Trophoblast specific peptide hormones prove to be valid markers of established pregnancy. They provide no assessment of the risk to the embryo during the peri-implantation period. The relationship between developmental time of exposure and risk is discussed in terms of trophoblast differentiation.

Numerical and Experimental Study of the 3D Effect on Connecting Arm of Vertical Axis Tidal Current Turbine

Vertical axis tidal current turbine is a promising device to extract energy from ocean current. One of the important components of the turbine is the connecting arm, which can bring about a significant effect on the pressure distribution along the span of the turbine blade, herein we call it 3D effect. However, so far the effect is rarely reported in the research, moreover, in numerical simulation. In the present study, a 3D numerical model of the turbine with the connecting arm was developed by using FLUENT software compiling the UDF（User Defined Function） command. The simulation results show that the pressure distribution along the span of blade with the connecting arm model is significantly different from those without the connecting arm. To facilitate the validation of numerical model, the laboratory experiment has been carried out by using three different types of NACA aerofoil connecting arm and circle section connecting arm. And results show that the turbine with NACA0012 connecting arm has the best start-up performance which is 0.346 m/s and the peak point of power conversion coefficient is around 0.33. A further study has been performed and a conclusion is drawn that the aerofoil and thickness of connecting arm are the most important factors on the power conversion coefficient of the vertical axis tidal current turbine.

Long-chain alkanes in the atmosphere:A review

As a representative species of intermediate volatile organic compounds(IVOCs),long-chain alkanes are considered to be important precursors of secondary organic aerosols(SOA)in the atmosphere.This work reviews the previous studies on long-chain alkanes in the atmosphere:(1)the detection methods and filed observations of long-chain alkanes in both gas and particle phases are summarized briefly;(2)the laboratory studies of long chain alkanes are reviewed,the kinetic data,reaction mechanism,SOA yields,and physicochemical properties of SOA are included in detail;(3)the research progress related to model simulations of long-chain alkanes are also discussed.In addition,based on available research results,several perspective contents are proposed that can be used as a guideline for future research plans.

Comparative eye-tracking evaluation of scatterplots and parallel coordinates

We investigate task performance and reading characteristics for scatterplots(Cartesian coordinates)and parallel coordinates.In a controlled eye-tracking study,we asked 24 participants to assess the relative distance of points in multidimensional space,depending on the diagram type(parallel coordinates or a horizontal collection of scatterplots),the number of data dimensions(2,4,6,or 8),and the relative distance between points(15%,20%,or 25%).For a given reference point and two target points,we instructed participants to choose the target point that was closer to the reference point in multidimensional space.We present a visual scanning model that describes different strategies to solve this retrieval task for both diagram types,and propose corresponding hypotheses that we test using task completion time,accuracy,and gaze positions as dependent variables.Our results show that scatterplots outperform parallel coordinates significantly in 2 dimensions,however,the task was solved more quickly and more accurately with parallel coordinates in 8 dimensions.The eye-tracking data further shows significant differences between Cartesian and parallel coordinates,as well as between different numbers of dimensions.For parallel coordinates,there is a clear trend toward shorter fixations and longer saccades with increasing number of dimensions.Using an area-of-interest(AOI)based approach,we identify different reading strategies for each diagram type:For parallel coordinates,the participants’gaze frequently jumped back and forth between pairs of axes,while axes were rarely focused on when viewing Cartesian coordinates.We further found that participants’attention is biased:toward the center of the whole plot for parallel coordinates and skewed to the center/left side for Cartesian coordinates.We anticipate that these results may support the design of more effective visualizations for multidimensional data.