Evidence of potential change in nonsequential double ionization

Recently,the quantitative rescattering model(QRS)for nonsequential double ionization(NSDI)is modified by taking into account the potential change(PC)due to the presence of electric field at the time of recollision.Using the improved QRS model,we simulate the longitudinal momentum distributions of doubly charged ions He2+by projecting the correlated two-electron momentum distributions for NSDI of He onto the main diagonal.The obtained results are compared directly with the experimental data at different intensities.It is found that when the PC is considered,the width of momentum distributions reduces and the agreement between theory and experiment is improved.

Hydraulic and volume change behaviors of compacted highly expansive soil under cyclic wetting and drying

The wide engineered application of compacted expansive soils necessitates understanding their behavior under field conditions.The results of this study demonstrate how seasonal climatic variation and stress and boundary conditions individually or collectively influence the hydraulic and volume change behavior of compacted highly expansive soils.The cyclic wetting and drying(CWD)process was applied for two boundary conditions,i.e.constant stress(CS)and constant volume(CV),and for a wide range of axial stress states.The adopted CWD process affected the hydraulic and volume change behaviors of expansive soils,with the first cycle of wetting and drying being the most effective.The CWD process under CS conditions resulted in shrinkage accumulation and reduction in saturated hydraulic conductivity(k sat).On the other hand,CWD under CV conditions caused a reduction of swell pressure while has almost no impact on k sat.An elastic response to CWD was achieved after the third cycle for saturated hydraulic conductivity(k sat),the third to fourth cycle for the volume change potential under the CV conditions,and the fourth to fifth cycle for the volume change potential under the CS conditions.Finally,both swell pressure(s s)and saturated hydraulic conductivity(k sat)are not fundamental parameters of the expansive soil but rather depend on stress,boundary and wetting conditions.

Changes of evoked potential in different hippocampal regions induced by electrostimulation at medial mamillary nucleus of rats

BACKGROUND： Morphological data have shown that the most important afferent fibers of papillary body come from hippocampal structure.OBJECTIVE： To observe the changes of evoked potential in hippocampus and the significance after electrostimulation at medial mamillary nucleus. DESIGN： An observational control experiment.SETTING： Department of Physiology, Shenyang Medical College.MATERIALS ： Twenty-three male or female Wistar rats, 3-4 months old, weighing 270-350 g, were provided by bhe animal room of Shenyang Medical College [the license number was scxk（Liao）2003-0016]. METHODS： The Wistar rats were anaesthetized by intraperintoneal injection of 20% urethane （1 g/kg）, tracheal intubation was also given. The self-made double-pole metal stimulating electrode with the point diameter of 1 mm was inserted into medial mamillary nucleus, the wanted hippocampal guidance spot was found within the rang of the hippocampal region at the same side of tee mamillary body range （CA1-CA4）, inserted with same-core guidance electrode, a sole square-wave stimulation of wave wide 0.2 ms stimulated with electrodes at the applied intensity of 7-9 V, the evoked potential was induced through guidance electrodes, and then input to the ATAC-350 data-processing machine for memory showing wave processing, the memory recorded wave recording graph was separately drawn up by the X-Y recording instrument to observe the latency, time procedure and amplitude of the evoked potential in each hippocampal region of the rats and calculate the percentage of the evoked potential in each hippocampal region. Totally 78 guidance spots in hippocampus were recorded, including 30 positive reaction spots and 48 negative ones. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： ① Latency, time procedure and amplitude of the evoked potentials in each hippocampal region of rats; ②percentage of the evoked potentials in each hippocampal region; ③ the wave shapes of the evoked potentials in each hippocampal region from different arrangement in the same positive reaction spot. RESULTS ：① Of the 30 recorded positive reactions, 9 positive spots fused into the stimulated false marks because of the short latency. The analysis of variance showed that the latency had significant difference （P 〈 0.05）, time procedure had highly significant difference （P 〈 0.01 ）, but there was no significant difference in the amplitude （P 〉 0.05） among the hippampal regions.② Among the 30 positive spots, the percentage of evoked potential in the hippocampal regions were 34.5% for CA1, 2.0% for CA2, 24.1% for CA3 and 22.4% for CA4. ③ In different levels of the same positive spot, different changes of the evoked potential wave shapes could be observed, and the most obvious change was that of positive wave amplitude. At different positive spots, evoked potentials of positive phase, negative and the double-phase could be observed. CONCLUSION： There are nerve associations between mamillary body and hippocampus, afferent fibers of mamillary body come from hippocampal CA1 region are a little more.

The Potential Scenarios of the Impacts of Climate Change on Egyptian Resources and Agricultural Plant Production

The emissions of greenhouse gasses in Egypt are about 0.58% of the total emissions of the world in the year 2015, although Egypt is one of the countries most affected by the impacts of climate change. By assessment and analysis of the expected economic impacts of climate change by the year 2030, the Egyptian cultivated area will be reduced to about 0.949 million acres, equal to about 8.22% of the Egyptian cultivated area compared with the case of no sinking part of the Delta land, thus reducing crop area in Egypt to about 1.406 million acres, approximately to about 6.25% of crop area compared with the case of no sinking part of the Delta land, in addition to surplus in the Egyptian balance water to about 2.48 billion m3. In this case value of the Egyptian agriculture production will decrease by about 6.19 billion dollars, equal to about 6.19% compared with presumably no sinking of the Delta land. In the case of sinking 15% of Delta lands, with the change of the productivity and water consumption of most crops, the result will be a reduction in the cultivated area to about 0.94 million acres. In addition to decreasing the Egyptian crop area to about 1.39 million acres, with a deficit in the Egyptian balance water to about 4.74 billion m3 compared to the case of no sinking part of the Delta land, the cultivated area will decrease to about 8.17%, and the crop area will decrease 6.18%. Also, the value of the Egyptian agriculture production will decrease by about 12.51%. While compared to sinking part of the Delta land to about 15% of the total Delta area without the other impacts of climate change, the cultivated area will increase by about 0.06%;the crop area will increase by about 0.08%;also, the value of the Egyptian agriculture production will decrease by about 5.57%.

An Updated Estimation of Radiative Forcing due to CO_2 and Its Effect on Global Surface Temperature Change

New estimations of radiative forcing due to CO2 were calculated using updated concentration data of CO2 and a high-resolution radiative transfer model. The stratospheric adjusted radiative forcing （ARF） due to CO2 from the year 1750 to the updated year of 2010 was found to have increased to 1.95 W m-2, which was 17% larger than that of the IPCC＇s 4th Assessment Report because of the rapid increase in CO2 concentrations since 2005. A new formula is proposed to accurately describe the relationship between the ARF of CO2 and its concentration. Furthermore, according to the relationship between the ARF and surface temperature change, possible changes in equilibrium surface temperature were estimated under the scenarios that the concentration of CO2 increases to 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 and 4 times that of the concentration in the year 2008. The result was values of ＋2.2℃, ＋3.8℃, ＋5.1℃, ＋6.2℃, ＋7.1℃ and ＋8.0℃ respectively, based on a middle-level climate sensitivity parameter of 0.8 K （W m 3）-1. Non-equilibrium surface temperature changes over the next 500 years were also calculated under two kinds of emission scenarios （pulsed and sustained emissions） as a comparison, according to the Absolute Global Temperature change Potential （AGTP） of CO2. Results showed that CO2 will likely continue to contribute to global warming if no emission controls are imposed, and the effect on the Earth-atmosphere system will be difficult to restore to its original level.

Organic matter quality of forest floor as a driver of C and P dynamics in acacia and eucalypt plantations established on a Ferralic Arenosols, Congo

Background: Land-use change and forest management may alter soil organic matter(SOM) and nutrient dynamics,due in part to alterations in litter input and quality. Acacia was introduced in eucalypt plantations established in the Congolese coastal plains to improve soil fertility and tree growth. Eucalypt trees were expected to benefit from N2 fixed by acacia. However, some indicators suggest a perturbation in SOM and P dynamics might affect the sustainability of the system in the medium and long term. In tropical environments, most of the nutrient processes are determined by the high rates of organic matter(OM) mineralization. Therefore, SOM stability might play a crucial role in regulating soil-plant processes. In spite of this, the relationship between SOM quality, C and other nutrient dynamics are not well understood. In the present study, OM quality and P forms in forest floor and soil were investigated to get more insight on the C and P dynamics useful to sustainable management of forest plantations.Methods: Thermal analysis(differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and thermogravimetry(TGA)) and nuclear magnetic resonance(solid state13 C CPMASS and NMR and31 P-NMR) spectroscopy have been applied to partially decomposed forest floor and soils of pure acacia and eucalypt, and mixed-species acacia-eucalypt stands.Results: Thermal analysis and13 C NMR analysis revealed a more advanced stage of humification in forest floor of acacia-eucalypt stands, suggesting a greater microbial activity in its litter. SOM were related to the OM recalcitrance of the forest floor, indicating this higher microbial activity of the forest floor in this stand might be favouring the incorporation of C into the mineral soil.Conclusions: In relation with the fast mineralization in this environment, highly soluble orthophosphate was the dominant P form in both forest floor and soils. However, the mixed-species forest stands immobilized greater P in organic forms, preventing the P losses by leaching and contributing to sustain the P demand in the medium term.This shows that interactions between plants, microorganisms and soil can sustain the demand of this ecosystem.For this, the forest floor plays a key role in tightening the P cycle, minimizing the P losses.

Impact of Climate Change on Maize Potential Productivity and the Potential Productivity Gap in Southwest China

The impact of climate change on maize potential productivity and the potential productivity gap in Southwest China（SWC） are investigated in this paper.We analyze the impact of climate change on the photosynthetic,light-temperature,and climatic potential productivity of maize and their gaps in SWC,by using a crop growth dynamics statistical method.During the maize growing season from 1961 to 2010,minimum temperature increased by 0.20℃ per decade（p 〈 0.01） across SWC.The largest increases in average and minimum temperatures were observed mostly in areas of Yunnan Province.Growing season average sunshine hours decreased by 0.2 h day^（-1） per decade（p 〈 0.01） and total precipitation showed an insignificant decreasing trend across SWC.Photosynthetic potential productivity decreased by 298 kg ha^（-1）per decade（p 〈 0.05）.Both light-temperature and climatic potential productivity decreased（p 〈 0.05） in the northeast of SWC,whereas they increased（p 〈 0.05） in the southwest of SWC.The gap between lighttemperature and climatic potential productivity varied from 12 to 2729 kg ha^（-1）,with the high value areas centered in northern and southwestern SWC.Climatic productivity of these areas reached only 10%-24%of the light-temperature potential productivity,suggesting that there is great potential to increase the maize potential yield by improving water management in these areas.In particular,the gap has become larger in the most recent 10 years.Sensitivity analysis shows that the climatic potential productivity of maize is most sensitive to changes in temperature in SWC.The findings of this study are helpful for quantification of irrigation water requirements so as to achieve maximum yield potentials in SWC.

Changes of summating potentials in the guinea pig cochlea after impulse sound exposure

Compound action potentials (CAP) and action potential-summating potential com-plex (AP-SP) evoked by click and tone burst respectively were recorded from the round window in guinea pigs. Correlations between the positive and negative summating potentials (SP+ and SP-) were examined befroe and after impulse sound exposure. The results show that the SP-is related to CAP threshold shift. In comparison to normai condition, it appears with high incidence when auditory threshold shift reaches 30 dB or more. SP- increases in amplitude when SP+ decreases. The smaller the amplitude of SP+, the larger that of SP-. This suggests that in normai hearing condition SP- may be suppressed by SP+. Such suppression may be released if OHC are injured. The dominant SP- as a sign of recruitment may be due to the change in the nonlinear character of IHC following OHC damage.

CHANGES IN THE ENDOCOCHLEAR POTENTIAL AND COCHLEAR BLOOD FLOW INDUCED BY ATP INFUSION AND ARTERIAL OCCLUSION

To assess the relationship between cochlear blood flow (CBF) and auditory function, a procedure of intravital microscopy for observations of the lateral wall vessels of the cochlea coupled with the simultaneous measurement of the endocochlear potential (EP) was established in guinea pigs with gradual ischemia of the cochlea. It was found that occlusions of both common carotid arteries and one of the vertebral arteries produced a minor reduction in CBF with no significant alteration in the EP. When intravenous infusion of ATP induced sharp and severe decreases in CBF, the EP varied only slightly from the baseline in some animals while there were no alteration in others. Furthermore, ATP infusions combined with arterial occlusions caused even more severe declines in CBF and a moderate decrease in the EP. The results indicate that not only does the CBF satisfy the basic needs of the processes of cochlear function, but also has a regulatory mechanism to ensure the normal function of the cochlea in the ischemia condition. It was also found that the changes in the stria vascularis vessels induced by decreases in blood pressure (BP) and heart rates were more severe than those of the spiral ligament vessels. This phenomenon indicated that the stria vascularis vessels were more sensitive to decreases of BP and heart rates.