Group Size and Composition of Black-and-White Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) Estimated by Faecesof Sleeping Sites at Baima Snow Mountain

This study was designed to introduce a new method of estimating group size and composition of black-andwhite snub-nosed monkeys （Rhinopithecus bieti ） on the basis of faecal amount at sleeping sites at Mt. Baima Nature Reserve. The monkeys spend nights in the form of one-male, multi-female units （OMUs） and all-male units （AMU）, and their faecal pellets can be classified into three categories： adult males （the largest）, adult females （moderate） and immatures （the smallest） based on their size. Total pellets were counted under sleeping trees used for two nights at Nanren village （99°04′E, 28°34′N, northwest of Yunnan Province, China） in each of four seasons in 2000- 2001. Moreover, data on group composition were collected when the monkeys were passing through an open gully in November 2001. Since the number of adults in OMUs shows a positive significant correlation with the amount of pellets amount in each season, the mean number of feces produced per night per individual is the slope of the regression lines. Thus, group size and composition can be relatively reliably and accurately estimated by the faeces under trees compared with the previous methods of estimation, including the use of monkeys＇ activities and tracks such as broken branches on steep slopes, in deep gorges and under lower visibility. The use of pellets for population estimates displayed 9.4% deviation in regards to population size of adult females. Some causes of the bias were also discussed. The method might be applicable to other monkey groups of this species if their habitats and main foods are similar to those of the study group.

A New Structure for a CMOS Audio Power AMP with Extremely Low THD and Low Power Consumption

A new system-corrected CMOS audio power AMP is presented. Consisting of four single-end OPAs,this structure is a pseudo-differential system. Compared to conventional CMOS power AMPs, it has the merits of low power consumption, extremely low THD,easy compensation, and good driving capability. With 1st silicon 0.25μm 1P4M CMOS technology and a 3V power supply,the output range can be 4Vpp when driving an 8Ω‖ 300pF load, while its power dissipation is less than 3mW. The THD is better than 0. 003% at 1kHz. A new over-current protection circuit, which can effectively protect the power output circuits on the chip, is also demonstrated.

Molecular Cloning, Escherichia coli Expression and Genomic Organization of Squalene Synthase Gene from Artemisia annua

A 1 539 by squalene synthase (AaSQS) cDNA was cloned from a high-yield Artemisia annua L. strain 001 by reverse transcription-polymerise chain reaction (RT-PCR). The amino acid sequence of AaSQS is 70%, 77%, 44% and 39%a identical to that of squalene synthases from Arabidopsis thaliana, tobacco, human and yeast, respectively. The AaSQS genomic DNA has a complex organization containing 14 exons and 13 introns. Full-length or C-terminal truncated cDNA was subcloned into prokaryotic expression vector pET30a and the constructed plasmid was introduced to Escherichia coli strain BL21 (DE3) for induced overexpression. No squalene synthase protein with expected molecular mass was observed in E. cola containing the putative full-length squalene synthase cDNA, however, overexpression in E. coli was achieved by truncating 30 amino acids of hydrophobic region at the carboxy terminus.

Increased Endogenous Methyl Jasmonate Altered Leaf and Root Development in Transgenic Soybean Plants

Methyl jasmonate （MeJA） is a plant-signaling molecule that regulates plant morphogenesis and expression of plant defense genes. To determine the role of the endogenous MeJA levels in the development of plants, transgenic soybean [Glycine max （L.） Merrill] plants harboring NTR1 gene encoding for jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase （JMT） were produced. The activation of NTR1 gene expression resulted in the production of MeJA. Overexpression of the NTR1 cDNA under the regulation of cauliflower mosaic virus （CaMV） 35S promoter in the transgenic soybean plants was confirmed using Northern blot analysis. The significant differences in leaf and root growth patterns were observed between the transgenic plants and the wild-type plants. The leaves of the transgenic plants were slightly elongated in length but dramatically narrowed in width compared with the nontrans-formed wild-type plants. In addition, elongation of primary root was inhibited in the overexpressed transgenic soybean plantlets, whereas the development of lateral root was stimulated relative to the nontransformed plants. The leaves of the transgenic plants showed 2-2.5-fold higher levels of MeJA than the control plants. These results indicated that the increased endogenous levels of MeJA is involved in regulation of morphogenesis in soybean plants.

Responses of Membrane Lipid Peroxidation and Endogenous Hormones of Soybean Seedlings to UV-B Radiation and Rare Earth

[ Objective] The aim was to provide strategies for development of rare earth and control of environmental pollution. [ Method] Responses of membrane lipid peroxidation and endogenous hormones of soybean seedlings to UV-B radiation and rare earth were studied through hydroponics in laboratory. [ Result] The results showed that under irradiation of UV-B（ T1-0.15 W/m^2 and T2-0.45 W/m^2）, chlorophyll and indole-3-acetic acid（IAA） contents firstly decreased during the stress phase （1 -5 d） and then increased during the restoration phase （6 -9 d） while contents of malonadialdehyde（MDA） and abscisic acid（ABA） gradually increased during the imposition of UV-B radiation （1 -5 d） and subsequently decreased during recovery from UV-B stress （6 -9 d） . With adding of La （III） with the concentration of 20 mg · L^-1 , the decline/dse trend of chlorophyll, IAA, MDA and ABA contents was slowed down during the stress period while the rise/decline speed was accelerated during the recovery period. [ Conclusion] It suggests that the regulation of La （ III ） on membrane lipid peroxidation and endogenous hormones could increase chlorophyll and IAA contents, improve the metabolism of reactive oxygen species （ ROS）, inhibit membrane lipid peroxidation, decrease the accumulation amount of ABA and alleviate injury of UV-B radiation to soybean seedlings. Further, the protective potential of La （ III ） was better under low UV-B radiation than under high one.

Design of an OP-AMP Based on a LDO Regulator

An operational amplifier （OP-AMP） with a ground current of about 0.6μA is presented. Moreover, this amplifier reaps the benefits of incorporating a foldback current limiting circuit,which enables the low-dropout voltage regulator without the need of a special current limiting subblock. Therefore,the object of ultra-low power is realized because of a great reduction in transistors and current limbs.

College English autonomous teaching and learning research and practice

This paper intends to promote a college English autonomous teaching and learning approach by introducing the whole process of its implementation and feedback from the learners. The theoretical and practical framework of this approach is： with multiple autonomous learning research and practice models as its core, with process syllabus as its guidance, with task-based teaching as its essential principle, with group cooperation and reciprocal learning as its means, with extracurricular activities, online learning and self-access center as its learning environment, with formative assessment system as its guarantee and with cultivation of learners＇ comprehensive English practical skills and autonomy as its goal. Through this approach, we provide the learners with a favorable learning environment where they can learn by themselves and learn by reflection and practice so that they can learn how to learn and how to behave and how to survive.

Heterogeneous Uptake of Hydrogen Peroxide on Mineral Oxides

The interaction of mineral oxides （α-A12O3, MgO, Fe2O3, and SiO2） with hydrogen peroxide was investigated using the Knudsen cell reactor. The initial reactive uptake coefficients for tile commercially available powders are measured as （1.00±0.11）×10-4 for α-A1203, （1.66±0.23）×10-4 for MgO, （9.70±1.95）×10-5 for Fe203, and （5.22±0.9）×10-5 for SiO2. These metal oxide powders exhibit some catalytic behavior toward the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide excluding SiO2. H2O2 can be destroyed on Fe2O3 surface and O2 is formed. The experimental results suggest that the heterogeneous loss on mineral surface can represent an important sink of hydrogen peroxide.

Construction analysis on integral lifting of steel structure by the vector form intrinsic finite element

A newnumerical method based on vector form intrinsic finite element（VFIFE） is proposed to simulate the integral lifting process of steel structures. First, in order to verify the validity of the VFIFE method, taking the steel gallery between the integrated building and the attached building of Nanjing M obile Communication Buildings for example, the static analysis was carried out and the corresponding results were compared with the results achieved by the traditional finite element method. Then, according to the characteristics of dynamic construction of steel structure integral lifting, the tension cable element was employed to simulate the behavior of dynamic construction. The VFIFE method avoids the iterative solution of the stiffness matrix and the singularity problems. Therefore, it is simple to simulate the complete process of steel structure lifting construction.Finally, by using the VFIFE, the displacement and internal force time history curves of the steel structures under different lifting speeds are obtained. The results show that the lifting speed has influence on the lifting force, the internal force, and the displacement of the structure. In the case of normal lifting speed, the dynamic magnification factor of 1. 5 is safe and reasonable for practical application.

Bioinformatics Analysis on B cell Epitopes of Rice Allergen RAG1

[Objective] To predict the secondary structure and B cell epitopes of the rice major allergen RAG1. [Method] The amino acid sequence of rice allergen RAG1 was acquired from Expasy protein database. The secondary structure of RAG1 was predicted by DNAStar Protean software with Gamier-Robson program, Chou-Fasman program and Karplus-Schulz program; the B cell epitopes of RAG1 was predicted with the Kyte Doolittle hydrophilic program, Emini surface accessibility program and Jameson-Wolf antigenic index program. [Result] The predictions on secondary structure and B cell epitopes showed that the regions of 33-44, 119-129, 155-163 were the dominant B cell epitopes. [Conclusion] This study predicted the potential dominant B cell epitopes in rice allergen RAG1 by comprehensive use of multi-methods and multi-parameters, and provided a theoretical basis for further researches on identification, antigen modification and epitope vaccine design of RAG1 B cell epitopes.

Investigation on Characteristics and the Improving Method of Double Loop Optical Buffer

We establish an equivalent cascaded semiconductor optical amplifier system model to analyze the characteristics of the double loop optical buffer （DLOB）. The theoretical analysis finds that the performance of the DLOB can be improved by inserted amplifying process in an interval of some cycles. The experiment demonstrates that the buffered cycles can be improved from 20 to 50 and the bit error rate is less than 10-9 by inserting amplifying process in an interval of about 10 cycles.

Mechanisms of Inhibitory Effects of Breviscapine on Lipid Peroxidation in Rat Brain Mitochondria

The mechanisms by which breviscapine (Bre) inhibits the lipid preoxidation in rat brain mitochondria were investigated. The mitochondrial lipid peroxidation of rat brain induced by oxygen free radical was measured by thiobarbituric acid spectrophotometry. The chelating activities of Bre for Fe 2+ were tested by differential spectrum. Superoxide anion (O 2)from xanthine xanthine oxidase (Xan XO) system and hydroxyl radical (·OH) from FeSO 4 H 2O 2 system were determined with spectrophotometry. It was found that Bre could effectively inhibit the lipid peroxidation of brain mitochondria induced by free radicals driven from Xan XO and FeSO 4 H 2O 2 system. The IC 50 of Bre were 93 01 μmol·L -1 for Xan XO system and 62 18 μmol·L -1 for FeSO 4 H 2O 2 system. Bre also scavenged O 2 and ·OH produced by Xan XO and FeSO 4 H 2O 2 systems. The IC 50 of Bre were 32 63 μmol·L -1 for O - 2 and 20 22 μmol·L -1 for ·OH. Furthermore, the chelating Fe 2+ activity of Bre was shown. It may be concluded that Bre inhibited lipid peroxidation at different stages of the reaction of oxygen free redial with the mitochondria membrane: (1) the formation of ·OH; (2) the initiation of the lipid peroxidation, by chelating Fe 2+ and scavenging O 2 as well as ·OH. The scavenging oxygen free radicals and chelating iron are the mechanisms of inhibitory effect of Bre on lipid peroxidation.

Large Deviation Theorem for Empirical Measures of Degenerate Diffusion Processes

A class of multi dimensional degenerate diffusion processes X ε(t) in R r(r≥2) are considered and the asymptotic properties of empirical measures are investigated; here X ε(t) saitisfies the stochastic differential equation dX ε(t)=σ(X ε(t)) d W(t)+B(X ε(t)) d t+ εσ～(X ε(t)) d W(t),ε>0. X ε(t) are small random perturbations of the degenerate diffusion process X(t), which satisfies the stochastic differential equation dX(t)=σ(X(t)) d W(t)+B(X(t)) d t. A large deviation theorem for projection measures ν on R r-n (n<r) of empirical measures μ are proved

Glucose Metabolic and Gluconeogenic Pathways Disturbance in the Intrauterine Growth Restricted Adult Male Rats

Objective To explore the molecular mechanism of type 2 diabetes in intrauterine growth restricted adult rats through determination of blood glucose and expression of gluconeogenic enzymes in liver.Methods Male intrauterine growth restriction(IUGR) offspring induced by maternal protein-malnutrition and normal controls were studied.The body weights of offspring rats were weighted from birth to 12 weeks of age.Fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels were determined by glucose oxidase method and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) respectively at 1 week,8 weeks,and 12 weeks.Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α(PGC-1α),phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase(PEPCK),and glucose-6-phosphatase(G6Pase) mRNA and protein levels in liver were measured by real time RT-PCR and Western blot in newborn rats(Week 1) and adult rats(Week 12).Results Birth weights of IUGR rats were significantly lower than those of controls until 4 weeks later,when IUGR rats caught up to controls.Between 8 and 12 weeks,the growth of IUGR rats surpassed that of controls.No significant differences were observed in blood glucose and insulin levels at newborn rats between the two groups.However,by the end of 8 weeks IUGR rats developed hyperinsulinemia and high insulin resistance index.At the age of 12 weeks,IUGR rats had mild fasting hyperglycemia.In addition,hepatic PGC-1α mRNA and protein levels as well as hepatic mRNA levels of PEPCK and G6Pase at Week 1 and Week 12 in IUGR rats were all significantly higher than those of controls(P<0.05).Conclusions As a result of intrauterine malnutrition,the expression of gluconeogenic genes is exaggerated in offspring.This change stays through adulthood and may contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes.

Applying Analytical Derivative and Sparse Matrix Techniques to Large-Scale Process Optimization Problems

The performance of analytical derivative and sparse matrix techniques applied to a traditional dense sequential quadratic programming (SQP) is studied, and the strategy utilizing those techniques is also presented.Computational results on two typical chemical optimization problems demonstrate significant enhancement in efficiency, which shows this strategy is promising and suitable for large-scale process optimization problems.

Pepsinogen C Gene Expression in Epithelial Cells of Rat Stomach During Development

Pepsinogens are zymogens of pepsins,aspecific proteases working as digestive enzymes in vertebrate stomach,of which biological and molecular properties have been extensively studied.Several exhaustive studies have been performed in the pepsinogen producing cells in developing rat stomachs,but little is known about the expression of pepsinogen gene in these cells.In this study,the ontogeny of pepsinogen producing cells in rat fundic glands was studied by in situ hybridization using a digoxigenin-labeled RNA probe.The rat gastric epithelium was stratified but was morphologically undifferentiated at the stage of 18.5 days of gestation.The pepsinogen mRNA was expressed both in chief cells and mucous neck cells in adult rats,which was first detected by in situ hybridization in the stomach of the rats at 3.5 days after birth.The development of pepsinogen producing cells could be classified into four stages:(1) 18.5 days of gestation to 0.5 day after birth;(2) 3.5 days to 2 weeks after birth;(3) 3～4 weeks after birth;(4) 8 weeks after birth.Pepsinogen expression is strictly limited to these cells,the distribution of which shown a developmental stage-specific manner.We concluded the pepsinogen C could offer excellent molecular markers of differentiation during stomach epithelial cellulur development.

River Water Purification via a Coagulation-Porous Ceramic Membrane Hybrid Process

Membrane filtration technology combined with coagulation is widely used to purify river water.In this study,microfiltration(MF)and ultrafiltration(UF)ceramic membranes were combined with coagulation to treat local river water located at Xinghua,Jiangsu province,China.The operation parameters,fouling mechanism and pilot-scale tests were investigated.The results show that the pore size of membrane has small effect on the pseudo-steady flux for dead-end filtration,and the increase of flux in MF process is more than that in UF process for cross-flow filtration with the same increase of cross-flow velocity.The membrane pore size has little influence on the water quality.The analysis on membrane fouling mechanism shows that the cake filtration has significant influence on the pseudo-steady flux and water quality for the membrane with pore size of 50,200 and 500 nm.For the membrane with pore size of 200 nm and backwashing employed in our pilot study,a constant flux of 150L·m 2·h 1was reached during stable operation,with the removal efficiency of turbidity,total organic carbon(TOC)and UV254 higher than 99%,45%and 48%,respectively.The study demonstrates that coagulation-porous ceramic membrane hybrid process is a reliable method for river water purification.

Intention and automaticity toward physical and sedentary screen-based leisure activities in adolescents:A profile perspective

Purpose： Physical activity （PA） and sedentary behavior （SB） are increasingly considered independent health behaviors. Additionally, current research suggests that both controlled and automatic determinants account for their adoption. The purpose of this article was to identify intention-automaticity profiles toward PA and screen-based SB and to examine how those profiles are associated with different behavioral patterns. Method： Two cross-sectional studies based on self-report questionnaires were conducted with French high school students （Study 1： n = 198; Study 2： n = 185）. Results： In all, 4 distinct motivational profiles appeared. The first 3 clusters emerged in both studies： ＂PA＂ （high levels of automaticity and intention for PA, low levels of automaticity and intention for screen-based SB）; ＂screen＂ （high levels of automaticity and intention for screen-based SB, low levels of automatieity and intention for PA）, and ＂mixed＂ （high levels of all variables）, whereas the fourth cluster was observed only in Study 2： ＂high control＂ （below-mean levels of automaticity, high levels of intention toward both PA and screen-based SB）. Adolescents with a screen profile displayed the least healthy behavioral pattern, whereas those in the PA profile demonstrated the most favorable behaviors. Conclusion： Future research is needed to extend these results to other populations using complementary assessment methods of automatic psychological processes and PA and SB behaviors.2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.on behalf of Shanghai University of Sport. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.（http：//creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/）.

Full-Ring Experimental Study of the Lining Structure of Shanghai Changjiang Tunnel

Shanghai Changjiang Tunnel, 15 m in diameter, is one of the world＇s largest shield-driven tunnels in diameter. Tongji University has recently carried out a test on the full-scale three-ring lining structure of Changjiang Tunnel. This paper introduces the testing processes, including loading apparatuses, test contents, test cases, etc., and makes comparison with other shield lining structure tests conducted before, and finally gives some evaluations on the design of the tunnel.

Key Issues on Cryospheric Changes,Trends and Their Impacts

On the basis of analyzing the importance of cryospheric researches in China and current status of cryospheric sciences in the world, this paper addresses key issues and main contents of present cryospheric sciences in China. The key issues currently addressed are： i） mechanisms of different types of glaciers in response to climate change and the scale-conversion in water resources assessments; ii） modeling of water and heat exchanges between frozen soil and vegetation; iii） parameterization of physical processes in cryosphere as well as coupling with climate models. To gain full clarification of these key issues, works of the following three aspects should be highlighted, i.e., cryospheric processes and responses to climate change, influences of cryospheric changes, and adaptation strategies for cryospheric changes.