Paleoenvironmental Characteristics of Paleogene Lacustrine Source Rocks in the Western Bozhong Sag,Bohai Bay Basin,China:Evidence from Biomarkers,Major and Trace Elements

The organic matter(OM)enrichment mechanisms and depositional environment characteristics of lacustrine source rocks in the western Bozhong Sag,Bohai Bay Basin in Northeast China remain controversial.To address these issues,based on Rock-Eval pyrolysis,kerogen macerals,H/C and O/C ratios,GC-MS,major and trace elements,the Dongying Formation Member(Mbr)3(E_(3)d_(3)),the Shahejie Formation mbrs 1 and 2(E_(2)s_(1+2)),and the Shahejie Mbr 3(E_(2)s_(3))source rocks in the western Bozhong Sag were studied.The above methods were used to reveal their geochemical properties,OM origins and depositional environments,all of which indicate that E_(2)s_(1+2)and E_(2)s_(3)are excellent source rocks,and that E_(3)d_(3)is of the second good quality.E_(3)d_(3)source rocks were formed under a warm and humid climate,mainly belong to fluvial/delta facies,the E_(3)d_(3)sediments formed under weakly oxidizing and freshwater conditions.Comparatively,the depositional environments of E_(2)s_(1+2)source rocks were arid and cold climate,representing saline or freshwater lacustrine facies,and the sediments of E_(2)s_(1+2)belong to anoxic or suboxic settings with large evaporation and salinity.During the period of E_(2)s_(3),the climate became warm and humid,indicating the freshwater lacustrine facies,and E_(2)s_(3)was characterized by freshwater and abundant algae.Moreover,compared with other intervals,the OM origin of E_(3)d_(3)source rocks has noticeable terrestrial input.The OM origin of the E_(2)s_(1+2)and E_(2)s_(3)are mainly plankton and bacteria.Tectonic subsidence and climate change have affected the changes of the depositional environment in the western Bozhong Sag,thus controlling the distribution of the source rocks,the geochemical characteristics in the three intervals of lacustrine source rocks have distinct differences.Overall,these factors are effective to evaluate the paleoenvironmental characteristics of source rocks by biomarkers,major and trace elements.The established models may have positive implications for research of lacustrine source rocks in offshore areas with few drillings.

Enriched Constant Elements in the Boundary Element Method for Solving 2D Acoustic Problems at Higher Frequencies

The boundary element method(BEM)is a popular method for solving acoustic wave propagation problems,especially those in exterior domains,owing to its ease in handling radiation conditions at infinity.However,BEM models must meet the requirement of 6–10 elements per wavelength,using the conventional constant,linear,or quadratic elements.Therefore,a large storage size of memory and long solution time are often needed in solving higher-frequency problems.In this work,we propose two new types of enriched elements based on conventional constant boundary elements to improve the computational efficiency of the 2D acoustic BEM.The first one uses a plane wave expansion,which can be used to model scattering problems.The second one uses a special plane wave expansion,which can be used tomodel radiation problems.Five examples are investigated to showthe advantages of the enriched elements.Compared with the conventional constant elements,the new enriched elements can deliver results with the same accuracy and in less computational time.This improvement in the computational efficiency is more evident at higher frequencies(with the nondimensional wave numbers exceeding 100).The paper concludes with the potential of our proposed enriched elements and plans for their further improvement.

Trace elements in magmatic and hydrothermal quartz:Implications on the genesis of the Xingluokeng Tungsten Deposit,South China

The Xingluokeng deposit is the largest gran-ite-related tungsten deposit within the Wuyi metallogenic belt in South China.The Xingluokeng intrusion primarily consists of porphyritic biotite granite,biotite granite,andfine-grained granite.The deposit is represented by veinlet-disseminated mineralization with K-feldspathization and biotitization,alongside quartz-vein mineralization with gre-isenization and sericitization.This study investigates in-situ analyses of quartz compositions from both the intrusion and hydrothermal veinlets and veins.Trace element correlations indicate that trivalent Al^(3+)and Fe^(3+)replace Si^(4+)within the quartz lattice,with monovalent cations(such as Li^(+),Na^(+),and K^(+))primarily serving as charge compensators.Low Ge/Al ratios(<0.013)of quartz from granites suggest a mag-matic origin.The low Al/Ti and Ge/Ti ratios,accompanied by high Ti contents in quartz,suggest that the porphyritic biotite granite and biotite granite are characterized by rela-tively low levels of differentiation and high crystallization temperatures.In contrast,thefine-grained granite exhibits a higher degree of fractionation,lower crystallization tem-peratures,and a closer association with tungsten miner-alization.Ti contents in quartz from quartz veins indicate Qz-Ⅰformed at temperatures above 400°C,while Qz-Ⅱto Qz-Ⅴformed at temperatures below 350°C.Variations in different generations of quartz,as indicated by Al content and(Al+Fe)/(Li+Na+K)ratio,suggest that Qz-Ⅰprecipi-tated from a less acidicfluid with a stable pH,whereas Qz-Ⅱto Qz-Ⅴoriginated from a more acidicfluid with notable pH variations.Consequently,alkaline alteration and acidic alteration supplied the essential Ca and Fe for the precipita-tion of scheelite and wolframite,respectively,highlighting a critical mechanism in tungsten mineralization at the Xin-gluokeng deposit.

Distribution, health and ecological risk assessments of trace elements in Nigerian oil sands

The Nigerian oil sands represent the largest oil sand deposit in Africa, yet there is little published information on the distribution and potential health and ecological risks of trace elements in the oil resource. In the present study, we investigated the distribution pattern of 18trace elements(including biophile and chalcophile elements) as well as the estimated risks associated with exposure to these elements. The results of the study indicated that Fe was the most abundant element, with a mean concentration of 22,131 mg/kg while Br had the lowest mean concentration of 48 mg/kg. The high occurrence of Fe and Ti suggested a possible occurrence of ilmenite(Fe TiO_(3)) in the oil sands. Source apportionment using positive matrix factorization showed that the possible sources of detected elements in the oil sands were geogenic, metal production, and crustal. The contamination factor, geo-accumulation index, modified degree of contamination, pollution load index, and Nemerow pollution index indicated that the oil sands are heavily polluted by the elements. Health risk assessment showed that children were relatively more susceptible to the potentially toxic elements in the oil sands principally via ingestion exposure route(HQ > 1E-04). Cancer risks from inhalation are unlikely due to CR < 1E-06 but ingestion and dermal contact pose severe risks(CR > 1E-04). The high concentrations of the elements pose serious threats due to the potential for atmospheric transport, bioaccessibility, and bioavailability.

Pig H3K4me3,H3K27ac,and gene expression profiles reveal reproductive tissue-specific activity of transposable elements

Regulatory sequences and transposable elements(TEs)account for a large proportion of the genomic sequences of species;however,their roles in gene transcription,especially tissue-specific expression,remain largely unknown.Pigs serve as an excellent animal model for studying genomic sequence biology due to the extensive diversity among their wild and domesticated populations.Here,we conducted an integrated analysis using H3K27ac ChIP-seq,H3K4me3 ChIP-seq,and RNA-seq data from 10 different tissues of seven fetuses and eight closely related adult pigs.We aimed to annotate the regulatory elements and TEs to elucidate their associations with histone modifications and mRNA expression across different tissues and developmental stages.Based on correlation analysis between mRNA expression and H3K27ac and H3K4me3 peak activity,results indicated that H3K27ac exhibited stronger associations with gene expression than H3K4me3.Furthermore,1.45%of TEs overlapped with either the H3K27ac or H3K4me3 peaks,with the majority displaying tissue-specific activity.Notably,a TE subfamily(LTR4C_SS),containing binding motifs for SIX1 and SIX4,showed specific enrichment in the H3K27ac peaks of the adult and fetal ovaries.RNA-seq analysis also revealed widespread expression of TEs in the exons or promoters of genes,including 4688 TE-containing transcripts with distinct development stage-specific and tissue-specific expression.Of note,1967 TE-containing transcripts were enriched in the testes.We identified a long terminal repeat(LTR),MLT1F1,acting as a testis-specific alternative promoter in SRPK2(a cell cycle-related protein kinase)in our pig dataset.This element was also conserved in humans and mice,suggesting either an ancient integration of TEs in genes specifically expressed in the testes or parallel evolutionary patterns.Collectively,our findings demonstrate that TEs are deeply embedded in the genome and exhibit important tissue-specific biological functions,particularly in the reproductive organs.

Mobility of Major and Trace Elements during the Bauxitization Processes in Ngaoundal Area (Adamawa Cameroon): Implication on Mining Perspectives

This study was focused to assess major and trace elements in bauxitic duricrusts from Ngaoundal and its surroundings in order to establish their mining interest. To this end, fieldworks, mineralogical and geochemical analyses were carried out. Four facies of duricrust were identified and characterized from the summit to the top of the slope of the Ngaoundal mountain: scoriaceous, pisolitic, nodular and massive. Mineralogical and geochemical analyses performed on 16 samples, revealed a significant concentration of Al2O3 mainly in the scoriaceous facies (over 45% in grade), moderate in Fe2O3 (averaging 23.69%) and SiO2 (averaging 21.7%). Trace elements were generally low, excluding Cr (421 ppm on average), Zr (327 ppm on average and V (213 ppm on average). In addition, the limited quantities of alkalis (Na2O, K2O) and alkaline earths metals (MgO, CaO) coupled with the very high values of Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) and Mineralogical Index of Alteration (MIA), (more than 99%) attest to the intense weathering of the studied materials. Allitization and monosiallitization constituted the crystallochemical phenomena that have led to the development of bauxitic minerals. More than 90% of gibbsite in scoriaceous facies, 52.21% - 76.01% of kaolinite in pisolitic facies and more than 40% of hematite in nodular facies were quantified. The relationships between the constitutive components indicated their interdependency during the bauxitization phenomenon. The mineralogical and geochemical properties highlighted the mining interest of the studied duricrusts to be valorized.

Mobile genetic elements facilitate the transmission of antibiotic resistance genes in multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from duck farms

Multidrug-resistant(MDR)Enterobacteriaceae critically threaten duck farming and public health.The phenotypes,genotypes,and associated mobile genetic elements(MGEs)of MDR Enterobacteriaceae isolated from 6 duck farms in Zhejiang Province,China,were investigated.A total of 215 isolates were identified as Escherichia coli(64.65%),Klebsiella pneumoniae(12.09%),Proteus mirabilis(10.23%),Salmonella(8.84%),and Enterobacter cloacae(4.19%).Meanwhile,all isolates were resistant to at least two antibiotics.Most isolates carried tet(A)(85.12%),blaTEM(78.60%)and sul1(67.44%)resistance genes.Gene co-occurrence analysis showed that the resistance genes were associated with IS26 and integrons.A conjugative IncFII plasmid pSDM004 containing all the above MGEs was detected in Proteus mirabilis isolate SDM004.This isolate was resistant to 18 antibiotics and carried the blaNDM-5 gene.MGEs,especially plasmids,are the primary antibiotic resistance gene transmission route in duck farms.These findings provide a theoretical basis for the rational use of antibiotics in farms which are substantial for evaluating public health and food safety.

Genesis of the Nuri Cu-W-Mo Deposit,Tibet,China:Constraints from in situ Trace Elements and Sr Isotopic Analysis of Scheelite

The Nuri deposit is the only Cu-W-Mo polymetallic deposit with large-scale WO3 resources in the eastern section of the Gangdese metallogenic belt,Tibet,China.However,the genetic type of this deposit has been controversial since its discovery.Based on a study of the geological characteristics of the deposit,this study presents mineralization stages,focusing on the oxide stage and the quartz-sulfide stage where scheelite is mainly formed,referred to as Sch-A and Sch-B,respectively.Through LA-ICP-MS trace element and Sr isotope analyses,the origin,evolutionary process of the oreforming fluid and genesis of the ore deposit are investigated.Scanning Electron Microscope-Cathodoluminescence(SEMCL)observations reveal that Sch-A consists of three generations,with dark gray homogenous Sch-A1 being replaced by relatively lighter and homogeneous Sch-A2 and Sch-A3,with Sch-A2 displaying a gray CL image color with vague and uneven growth bands and Sch-A3 has a light gray CL image color with hardly any growth band.In contrast,Sch-B exhibits a‘core-rim’structure,with the core part(Sch-B1)being dark gray and displaying a uniform growth band,while the rim part(Sch-B2)is light gray and homogeneous.The normalized distribution pattern of rare earth elements in scheelite and Sr isotope data suggest that the early ore-forming fluid in the Nuri deposit originated from granodiorite porphyry and,later on,some country rock material was mixed in,due to strong water-rock interaction.Combining the O-H isotope data further indicates that the ore-forming fluid in the Nuri deposit originated from magmatic-hydrothermal sources,with contributions from metamorphic water caused by water-rock interaction during the mineralization process,as well as later meteoric water.The intense water-rock interaction likely played a crucial role in the precipitation of scheelite,leading to varying Eu anomalies in different generations of scheelite from the oxide stage to the quartz-sulfide stage,while also causing a gradual decrease in oxygen fugacity(fO2)and a slow rise in pH value.Additionally,the high Mo and low Sr contents in the scheelite are consistent with typical characteristics of magmatic-hydrothermal scheelite.Therefore,considering the geological features of the deposit,the geochemical characteristics of scheelite and the O-H isotope data published previously,it can be concluded that the genesis of the Nuri deposit belongs to porphyry-skarn deposit.

Weathering and accumulation of trace elements in the soils of the Porali Plain, Balochistan: repercussions in agriculture

This study is thefirst attempt to assess the nature of the soil,especially on the western side of the Porali Plain in Balochistan;a new emerging agriculture hub,using weathering and pollution indices supplemented by multi-variate analysis based on geochemical data.The outcomes of this study are expected to help farmers in soil manage-ment and selecting suitable crops for the region.Twenty-five soil samples were collected,mainly from the arable land of the Porali Plain.After drying and coning-quarter-ing,soil samples were analyzed for major and trace ele-ments using the XRF technique;sieving and hydrometric methods were employed for granulometric analysis.Esti-mated data were analyzed using Excel,SPSS,and Surfer software to calculate various indices,correlation matrix,and spatial distribution.The granulometric analysis showed that 76%of the samples belonged to loam types of soil,12%to sand type,and 8%to silt type.Weathering indices:CIA,CIW,PIA,PWI,WIP,CIX,and ICV were calculated to infer the level of alteration.These indices reflect mod-erate to intense weathering;supported by K_(2)O/AI_(2)O_(3),Rb/K_(2)O,Rb/Ti,and Rb/Sr ratios.Assessment of the geo-ac-cumulation and Nemerow Pollution indices pinpoint rela-tively high concentrations of Pb,Ni,and Cr concentration in the soils.The correlation matrix and Principal Compo-nent Analysis show that the soil in this study area is mainly derived from the weathering of igneous rocks of Bela Ophiolite(Cretaceous age)and Jurassic sedimentary rocks of Mor Range having SEDEX/MVT type mineralization.Weathering may result in the undesirable accumulation of certain trace elements which adversely affects crops.

Evaluation of Trace Elements in the Soil of Typical Peach Orchards in Zunyi City

[Objectives]This study was conducted to clarify the enrichment and paucity of trace elements in the soil environment of peach orchards in Zunyi City,and to provide reference for supplementary application of microelement fertilizers and high-quality peach production in peach orchards.[Methods]Taking the soil of three typical peach orchards(Taoli Renjia peach orchard,Pengrui peach orchard and Taohuadao peach orchard)in Shenxi Town,Honghuagang District,Zunyi City as the research object,the contents of trace elements in soil were analyzed through field sampling and indoor determination of trace elements.[Results]The effective contents of trace elements in the soil of peach orchard bases in the study area were at a medium level,and the soil of the peach orchards was rich in available Fe and Se.The contents of available Cu,Mo and Mn were relatively rich.The contents of available B were not high overall.The contents of available Zn were at a moderate to low level overall.The soil of Taoli Renjia peach orchard was relatively rich in trace elements.[Conclusions]The research results can provide a scientific basis for the production of high-quality crispy peaches in peach orchards.

Preliminary Study of Chemical Elements Distribution in Petroleum Source Rocks Donga and Yogou Formations of the Termit Sedimentary Basin (Est-Niger)

XRF and EDX analyses were carried out on 18 batches of representative raw samples to determine the distribution of major chemical elements in the petroleum source rocks of Donga and Yogou formations of Termit sedimentary basin. The chemical composition of these formations is dominated by silicon (Si), aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe). This is consistent with the oxide composition, which is also dominated by silicon oxide (SiO2), aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and iron monoxide (FeO). No less important chemical elements are calcium (Ca), potassium (K), sulfur (S), titanium (Ti), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn) and barium (Ba), as well as some of their oxides. All these major chemical elements are carried by silicate detrital minerals associated with pyrite and goethite and/or clay minerals such as kaolinite and interstratified illite, smectite and chlorite. This trend is illustrated by the values of the Si/Al and SiO2/Al2O3 ratios.

Research on Narrative Design of Creative Products Based on Regional Cultural Elements

The research explored the ways and means of narrative design in which regional cultural elements are integrated into cultural and creative products.It also researched a new way of thinking and methods of creative product design based on regional cultural elements in order to satisfy consumers’emotional and cultural experiences.Narrative theory takes the perspective of narrative expression in the design of cultural and creative products.The regional cultural elements were used for better interactive communication with consumers in the form of cultural and creative products.In the narrative of cultural and creative product design,intervening in the development of regional cultural and creative design from the perspective of narratology can better exert and create the cultural value of the region itself,with cultural and creative products playing an important role in“local cultural stories.”This research adopted a qualitative approach and provided ideas and guidance for the narrative design and expression of regional cultural elements in creative products through comparative analysis of case studies.The research highlighted the role of narrative design in creating multi-layered experiences,weaving regional cultural stories into products,and the importance of deep understanding and effective use of regional cultural elements in design.

Teaching Research and Effect Observation on the Integration of Clinical Medicine Integrated Course and Ideological and Political Elements from the Perspective of“Sanquan Education”

Purpose:To analyze the application path of the integration of clinical medicine integrated courses with the elements of ideology and politics under the theory of“Sanquan Education,”and to provide references for the promotion of educational reform in medical schools.Methods:60 clinical medicine undergraduates at Jiamusi University in 2018 and 2019 were randomly selected as research subjects.On the basis of the analysis of students’characteristics and pre-study content,the students were divided into the integration group and the traditional group,each with 30 students.Students in the integration group carried out clinical medicine integrated class with the integration of ideological and political elements.Students in the traditional group carried out the traditional clinical medicine integrated class.Classroom evaluation scales,anonymous questionnaires,and interviews were used to conduct research,collect data,and compare and observe the application effects.Results:After carrying out different modes of clinical medicine integrated courses,the undergraduates of the Excellent Physician Class in the integration group were higher than those in the traditional group in terms of teaching satisfaction,comprehensive quality,basic knowledge test,and case analysis scores through questionnaire analysis(P<0.05).In the evaluation of the effect of ideological education,the undergraduates of the Excellent Physician Class of the integration group were higher than the traditional group in terms of the acceptance of doctor-patient communication,the correct rate of mastering the history of the discipline,and the correct rate of mastering the frontiers and policies(P<0.05).Conclusion:Through the integration of clinical medicine integrated course and ideological and political elements,we can help students establish correct values while teaching them professional knowledge,improve the implementation of moral education in medical schools,cultivate excellent medical workers with high morality and firm beliefs for the society,and realize the fundamental educational task of establishing morality and educating people in medical schools in the context of“Sanquan Education.”

The Psychosomatic Traits of“People with the Five Elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine”:A Qualitative Study

Objective To identify the representative attributes of the five elements of a person with a qualitative methodology and provide the basis for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of“people with the five elements in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).”Methods Data collected from the literature review,two sessions of brainstorming of experts with related experience in“people with the five elements in TCM”from October 2020 to December 2020,and six rounds of in-depth interviews with 30 participants who had various attributes of the five elements from March 2021 to October 2021 were analyzed.Triangulation was used in this study,and theming and synthesizing were used to analyze the data.Results A total of 31 experts and 30 interviewees participated in this study.The median age of the experts and interviewees were 48.0 and 38.5 years,respectively;51.66%and 54.8%of experts and interviewees,respectively,were men.The descriptors of facial diagrams of“people with the five elements in TCM”were complexion,shape,distribution state of facial bones,convergence trend of facial muscles,and facial expression.A theoretical model of“people with the five elements in TCM”was shaped based on these findings.Conclusion The study suggests a possibility for bridging the gap between personality and bodily state,identifying an avenue for personality research from the perspective of TCM.

Trace Elements of Multi-stage Minerals and Titanite U-Pb Dating for the Gneisses from Liansan Island,Sulu UHPM Belt

Gneisses with anatectic characteristics from the Liansan island in the Sulu UHPM(ultra-high pressure metamorphic)belt were studied for petrography,titanite U-Pb dating and mineral geochemistry.Three origins of garnets are distinguished:metamorphic garnet,peritectic garnet and anatectic garnet,which are formed in the stages of peak metamorphism,retrograde anatexis and melt crystallization,respectively.The euhedral titanite has a high content of REE and high Th/U ratios,which is interpreted as indicating that it was newly-formed from an anatectic melt.The LA-ICP-MS titanite U-Pb dating yields 214-217 Ma ages for the titanite(melt)crystallization.The distribution of trace elements varies in response to the different host minerals at different stages.At the peak metamorphic stage,Y and HREE are mainly hosted by garnet,Ba and Rb by phengite,Sr,Nb,Ta,Pb,Th,U and LREE by allanite and Y,U and HREE by zircon.During partial melting,Y,Pb,Th,U and REE are released into the melt,which causes a dramatic decline of these element contents in the retrograde minerals.Finally,titanite absorbs most of the Nb,U,LREE and HREE from the melt.Therefore,the different stages of metamorphism have different mineral assemblages,which host different trace elements.

Relationship of Trace Elements Concentration and Growth Rate in Alsidium triquetrum (Rhodophyta)

Minerals and trace elements content and concentration in marine algae vary depending on species morphology and physiology;as well as growing environmental conditions. Despite this variability, accumulation of magnesium, and especially iron, seems to be common in Chlorophyta;while Rhodophyta and Heterokontophyta show higher affinity to manganese. The red agarophyte Alsidium triquetrum was used to analyze the relationship between metal concentration, environmental conditions and growth rate. Specimens grown in situ showed a large variability of Fe, Mn, Mg, and Al, in thallus tissue concentrations. Further, a compelling relationship between the growth rate and the thallus concentration of Mg and Mn, Zn, and Al was detecte. Manganese, unlike the other trace elements analyzed showed a positive linear relationship between growth rate and tissue content during the period of greatest vegetative growth.

Identification of clade-wide putative cis-regulatory elements from conserved non-coding sequences in Cucurbitaceae genomes

Cis-regulatory elements regulate gene expression and play an essential role in the development and physiology of organisms.Many conserved non-coding sequences(CNSs)function as cis-regulatory elements.They control the development of various lineages.How-ever,predicting clade-wide cis-regulatory elements across several closely related species remains challenging.Based on the relationship between CNSs and cis-regulatory elements,we present a computational approach that predicts the clade-wide putative cis-regulatory elements in 12 Cucurbitaceae genomes.Using 12-way whole-genome alignment,we first obtained 632112 CNSs in Cucurbitaceae.Next,we identified 16552 Cucurbitaceae-wide cis-regulatory elements based on collinearity among all 12 Cucurbitaceae plants.Furthermore,we predicted 3271 potential regulatory pairs in the cucumber genome,of which 98 were verified using integrative RNA sequencing and ChIP sequencing datasets from samples collected during various fruit development stages.The CNSs,Cucurbitaceae-wide cis-regulatory elements,and their target genes are accessible at http://cmb.bnu.edu.cn/cisRCNEs_cucurbit/.These elements are valuable resources for functionally annotating CNSs and their regulatory roles in Cucurbitaceae genomes.

Effects of Rare-earth and Microalloying Elements on the Microstructure Characteristics of Hypereutectoid Rails

We performed thermal simulation experiments of double-pass deformation of hypereutectoid rails with different microalloying elements at a cooling rate of 1℃/s and deformation of 80%to explore the influence of rare-earth and microalloying elements on the structure of hypereutectoid rails and optimize the composition design of hypereutectoid rails.Scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,X-ray diffraction,and other characterization techniques were employed to quantitatively analyzed the effects of different microalloying elements,including rare-earth elements,on pearlite lamellar spacing,cementite characteristics,and dislocation density.It was found that the lamellar spacing was reduced by adding various microalloying elements.Cementite lamellar thickness decreased with the refinement of pearlite lamellar spacing while the cementite content per unit volume increased.Local cementite spheroidization,dispersed in the ferrite matrix in granular form and thus playing the role of dispersion strengthening,was observed upon adding cerium(Ce).The contributions of dislocation density to the alloy strength of four steel sheet samples with and without the addition of nickel,Ce,and Ce–copper(Cu)composite were 26,27,32,and 37 MPa,respectively,indicating that the Ce–Cu composite had the highest dislocation strengthening effect.The Ce–Cu composite has played a meaningful role in the cementite characteristics and dislocation strengthening,which provides a theoretical basis for optimizing the composition design of hypereutectoid rails in actual production conditions.

Construction of a transposase accessible chromatin landscape reveals chromatin state of repeat elements and potential causal variant for complex traits in pigs

Background:A comprehensive landscape of chromatin states for multiple mammalian tissues is essential for elucidating the molecular mechanism underlying regulatory variants on complex traits.However,the genome-wide chromatin accessibility has been only reported in limited tissue types in pigs.Results:Here we report a genome-wide landscape of chromatin accessibility of 20 tissues in two female pigs at ages of 6 months using ATAC-seq,and identified 557,273 merged peaks,which greatly expanded the pig regulatory ele-ment repository.We revealed tissue-specific regulatory elements which were associated with tissue-relevant biologi-cal functions.We identified both positive and negative significant correlations between the regulatory elements and gene transcripts,which showed distinct distributions in terms of their strength and distances from corresponding genes.We investigated the presence of transposable elements(TEs)in open chromatin regions across all tissues,these included identifications of porcine endogenous retroviruses(PERVs)exhibiting high accessibility in liver and homology of porcine specific virus sequences to universally accessible transposable elements.Furthermore,we prior-itized a potential causal variant for polyunsaturated fatty acid in the muscle.Conclusions:Our data provides a novel multi-tissues accessible chromatin landscape that serve as an important resource for interpreting regulatory sequences in tissue-specific and conserved biological functions,as well as regula-tory variants of loci associated with complex traits in pigs.

Estimating heat capacities of liquid organic compounds based on elements and chemical bonds contribution

Molecular property depends on the property, the number of the elements, and the interaction between elements(such as chemical bonds). Based on the above-mentioned idea, two methods to estimate the isobaric heat capacity of liquids organic compounds were developed. Ten elements groups and 32 chemical bond groups were defined by considering the structure of organic compounds. The group contribution values and correlation parameters were regressed by the ridge regression method with the experiment data of 1137 compounds. The heat capacity can be calculated by summating the contributions of the elements and chemical bond groups. The two methods were compared with existing group contribution methods, such as Chickos, Zabransky-Ruzicka, and Zdenka Kolska. The results show that those new estimation methods' overall average relative deviations were 5.81% and 5.71%, which were lower than the other three methods. Those methods were more straightforward in compound splitting.Those new methods can be used to estimate the liquid heat capacity of silicon-containing compounds,which the other three methods cannot estimate. The new methods are more accessible, broader, and more accurate. Therefore, this research has important scientific significance and vast application prospects.