Experimental Study on Impingement Processes of Fuel Sprays on Biomimetic Structured Surfaces

To improve the controllability of the wall-wetting process after the fuel spray-wall impingement in internal combustion engines,the methods of laser etching,chemical etching and surface free energy modification are used to prepare biomimetic structured surfaces with different wettability.The impingement processes of diesel and n-butanol sprays on the walls under different conditions are experimentally investigated.As the surface oleophilicity increases,the spreading radius of wall-impinging sprays decreases.At about 5 s after the fuel injections,the fuel spray droplets hit the walls for the first time,and the secondary breakup and rebound occur.The mixture concentrations of different fuels hitting the various walls reach the peak value.Under a higher surface temperature,the peak value of the mixture concentration is mainly related to the heat flux to the fuel droplets in different boiling regimes from the metal surfaces.The concentration of the air-fuel mixture in the near wall region increases with increasing surface oleophilicity,increasing wall temperature and decreasing ambient pressure.Compared with diesel,n-butanol presents a higher air-fuel mixture concentration in the near wall region.     

Experimental perspective on fallback foods and dietary adaptations in early hominins

The robust jaws and large, thick-enameled molars of the Plio–Pleistocene hominins Australopithecus and Paranthropus have long been interpreted as adaptations for hard-object feeding. Recent studies of dental microwear indicate that only Paranthropus robustus regularly ate hard items, suggesting that the dentognathic anatomy of other australopiths reflects rare, seasonal exploitation of hard fallback foods. Here, we show that hard-object feeding cannot explain the extreme morphology of Paranthropus boisei. Rather, analysis of long-term dietary plasticity in an animal model suggests year-round reliance on tough foods requiring prolonged postcanine processing in P. boisei. Increased consumption of such items may have marked the earlier transition from Ardipithecus to Australopithecus, with routine hard-object feeding in P. robustus representing a novel behaviour.     

绿孔雀在中国的分在现状调查

绿孔雀在中国现仅见于云南西部、中部和南部,通过１９９１年至１９９３年的调查,绿孔雀现存数量较多的地区有云南省瑞丽县、陇川县、昌宁县、永德县、新平县、普洱县、墨江县、景东县、楚雄市、双柏县、南华县。过去有分布记录现已绝迹或濒临绝迹的地区有盈江县、沪水县、腾冲县、蒙自县、河口县。永仁县的中和、直左为新近发现的分布点,据当地群众反映,在维西县的叶枝,德钦县的拖顶和奔子栏也发现绿孔雀。由于栖息地生境的破坏,导致绿孔雀现存种群形成小家族群点状隔离分布。据估计,中国现存野生种群数量约为８００～１１００只。     

Investigations on the Physical Structure and the Mechanism of Drug Release from an Enteric Matrix Microspheres with a Near-Zero-Order Release Kinetics Using SEM and Quantitative FTIR

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the physical structure and the release mechanisms of theophylline microspheres made of Eudragit S 100 polymer as an enteric polymer, combined with a nonerodible polymer, Eudragit RL 100. In the preparation process, polymer combinations (1:1) were dissolved in an organic solvent mixture composed of acetone and methanol at a specific ratio containing a theoretical drug loading of approximately 15%. Two microsphere formulations (LS1 and LS2) were prepared at two different total polymer concentrations (10% in LS1 and 12.7% in LS2). Dissolution studies were carried out using US Pharmacopeia Dissolution Apparatus II in an acidic medium for 8 h and in an acidic medium (2 h) followed by a slightly basic-buffered medium for 10 h. Both LS1 and LS2 microsphere formulations produced particles that were spherical in shape and had very narrow size distributions with one size fraction comprising 70–80% of the yield. Scanning electron microscopy and quantitative Fourier transform infrared were used for microsphere physical structure evaluation. Except for the absence of drug crystals, photomicrographs of both LS microspheres after dissolution in pH 1.2 and 7.2 buffer solutions were similar to those before dissolution. Dissolution results indicated the ability of LS microspheres to minimize drug release during the acid stage. However, in the slightly basic medium that followed the acidic stage, the drug release was sustained and controlled in its kinetics and data fitted to Peppas equation indicated a case II transport suggesting that the drug release is mainly through swelling/erosion mechanism.     

通过化学结构修饰提高虫草素抗菌活性的试验研究

本文以我国传统药用真菌蛹虫草(Cordyceps militaris)的主要活性成分虫草素为先导化合物,合成了4个虫草素的正构烷酰胺同系物(Cn-AAC),即N-丙酰基虫草素(C3-AAC)、N-正辛酰胺虫草素(C8-AAC)、N-月桂酰基虫草素(C12-AAC)和N-硬脂酰基虫草素(C18-AAC),并通过抑菌试验对比测定了虫草素和4个Cn-AAC的最低抑菌浓度(MIC)。在此基础上,用SPSS10.0对MIC和Cn-AAC烷酰基侧链中碳原子数目(n)之间的关系进行了定量分析。结果表明:通过化学结构修饰的手段将虫草素改变成Cn-AAC同系物后,其抗菌活性会发生有规律的变化。Cn-AAC的MIC和n之间的关系可以用一个一元二次方程进行定量描述,其中抗菌活性最强的为C8-AAC;和虫草素相比,C8-AAC对枯草杆菌的MIC降低5倍,并可对虫草素本身不能产生抗菌活性的金黄色葡萄球菌和白色念珠菌产生抗菌活性。     

Product Design in Food Industry Using the Example of Emulsification

Designing a product according to the consumers’ needs is one of the key targets in food industry. Having once defined the target product properties, it is of imperative importance to know which microstructure of the product is required (property function) and how the target microstructure can then be determined by process parameters (process function). Many food products are emulsions, either during production and/or in the moment of distribution and consumption. This review intends to depict the design of emulsions according to target needs. Even if we concentrate on typical food emulsions as an example, the concept can be widely applied, since emulsification in other branches of industry is governed by the same principles.     

Laboratory Drop Towers for the Experimental Simulation of Dust-aggregate Collisions in the Early Solar System

For the purpose of investigating the evolution of dust aggregates in the early Solar System, we developed two vacuum drop towers in which fragile dust aggregates with sizes up to ~10 cm and porosities up to 70% can be collided. One of the drop towers is primarily used for very low impact speeds down to below 0.01 m/sec and makes use of a double release mechanism. Collisions are recorded in stereo-view by two high-speed cameras, which fall along the glass vacuum tube in the center-of-mass frame of the two dust aggregates. The other free-fall tower makes use of an electromagnetic accelerator that is capable of gently accelerating dust aggregates to up to 5 m/sec. In combination with the release of another dust aggregate to free fall, collision speeds up to ~10 m/sec can be achieved. Here, two fixed high-speed cameras record the collision events. In both drop towers, the dust aggregates are in free fall during the collision so that they are weightless and match the conditions in the early Solar System.     

Investigations on the stratification of forestomach contents in ruminants: an ultrasonographic approach

The degree of stratification in the reticulorumen contents is considered a major explanatory factor for other morphological and physiological differences between ruminant feeding types. However, information on reticulorumen (RR) contents is usually gathered from dead animals or indirect such as passage kinetics. We hypothesized that, although the contents of the gastrointestinal tract can usually not be evaluated by ultrasonography, the three typical layers of stratified RR contents (gas dome, fibre mat, fluid) can be demonstrated by this technique. In three domestic cows, the gas dome in the cows’ rumens could be demonstrated sonographically by reverberation lines running in parallel to the line demarcating the rumen mucosa, as is typical for the sonographic image of large, gas-filled spaces. More ventrally, the area behind the rumen mucosa showed typical pattern indicating gaseous inclusions, corresponding to the fibre mat inside the rumen. Further ventrally, in two of the animals, the area behind the demarcation line appeared dark without reverberation lines, as is typical for large fluid-filled spaces. When the technique was applied to a captive, habituated, browse-fed moose, no gas dome could be demonstrated, supporting the hypothesis that the reticulorumen contents of browsers are less stratified. The results of this study indicate that sonography represents a useful tool for the demonstration of RR contents stratification in live animals.     

Experimental demonstration of the insurance value of extra eggs in an obligately siblicidal seabird

A variety of organisms regularly produce more offspring thanthey raise. Despite the apparent energetic waste of such areproductive tactic, overproduction may be favored by naturalselection in some cases. One such case is when surplus offspringcan serve as replacements, or insurance, for failed siblings.We tested the Insurance Egg Hypothesis (IEH) as an explanationfor the overproduction of offspring in an obligately siblicidal seabird, the Nazca booby (Sula grant)i, which fledges a maximumof one nestling regardless of its clutch size. We manipulatedclutch sizes within the range of natural variation encounteredin this species (one-two eggs). The IEH predicts that parentswith two-egg clutches should have higher reproductive successthan those with one-egg clutches because the second egg canprovide a nestling when the first egg fails to hatch, or when the first chick dies young. Consistent with the IEH, naturalone-egg clutches that were enlarged to two eggs produced morehatchlings and fledglings than control one-egg clutches did,and natural two-egg clutches that were reduced to one egg producedfewer hatchlings and fledglings than control two-egg clutchesdid. We also evaluated aspects of the Individual Optimization Hypothesis, which proposes that individual optimal clutch sizesdiffer, as an explanation for clutch size variation in thisspecies. In Nazca boobies, selection driven by replacementvalue appears to favor clutches larger than one even thoughfinal brood size is invariably one. One-egg clutches may be produced by parents experiencing some proximate limitation,such as a lack of food.     

Changes in Carotenoid Composition and Function of the Photosynthetic Apparatus during Light-dependent Chloroplast Differentiation in Mutant C-6D of Scenedesmus obliquus*

Changes in pigment composition during light-dependent chloroplast differentiation in mutant C-6D of Scenedesmus obliquus were followed by HPLC. The system used enables the separation and quantitative determination of five xanthophylls (neoxanthin, violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, lutein and zeaxanthin), α- and β-carotene and chlorophyll a and b (and their epimeric forms). Dark-grown cells of the mutant contain only chlorophyll a, traces of chlorophyll b and acyclic precursors of carotenoids. During subsequent illumination, precursors decrease and high amounts of xanthophylls, carotenes and chlorophyll a and b are formed. Dark-grown cultures of mutant C-6D show high photosystem I-activity and contain the photosystem I-complex CP I, but lack photosystem II-activity, the photosystem II-complex CPa and the LHCP. Immediately after transfer to light, photosystem II-activity increases rapidly, as also do the amounts of CPa and lutein. Under anaerobiosis no lutein and PS II-activity can be detected. This indicates a role of lutein in the assembly of an active photosystem II-complex. All other xanthophylls and the LHCP exhibit high rates of synthesis only after a delay of about 1 hour. Thus, our results reveal an asynchronous fashion of formation of CPa and LHCP.     

Microbial Investigations in Opalinus Clay,an Argillaceous Formation under Evaluation as a Potential Host Rock for a Radioactive Waste Repository

Various deep, compact, sedimentary formations have been studied in recent years as potential host rock for a repository for high-level, long-lived radioactive waste. Considering that microbial activities may influence radionuclide chemistry and migration in such environments, we investigated the potential presence of microorganisms in the Opalinus Clay formation, from unperturbed sediment samples (i.e., not affected by gallery excavation and borehole drilling) recovered under aseptic conditions in the Mont Terri Underground Rock Laboratory (Switzerland). A combination of molecular biology techniques and a cultivation-based approach suggested the presence of a few sparse autochthonous microbial cells in the Opalinus Clay. For the first time, ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes were sequenced from enrichment cultures from such samples. The results suggested that at least two of the bacterial strains isolated were likely unknown species of the Sphingomonas and Alicyclobacillus genera, as their fully-sequenced 16S-rRNA genes shared less than 97% similarity with validly published sequences. Early genetic divergence occurring after physical isolation of bacterial ancestors in the geosphere by the sedimentation process or following later geological events may have resulted in the generation of particular taxa in the subsurface.     

Experimental manipulation of egg quality in chickens: influence of albumen and yolk on the size and body composition of near-term embryos in a precocial bird

The importance of avian egg components in the determination of hatchling size and quality has yet to be fully evaluated. In the first experiment, 20% of the albumen and/or the yolk was removed from chicken eggs to determine the impact of each egg component on metabolism and various size measures in near-term embryos. Results show that metabolic rate, dry body mass, and internal organ mass are largely independent of egg composition. Removal of albumen resulted in a decrease in wet body mass corresponding to decreases in water content in the body and the yolk sac, and decreased tibiotarsus length. Removal of yolk resulted in no change in body mass, but decreases in both wet and dry yolk sac mass. In a second experiment, removal of 15% of either egg component led to reductions in hatchling mass similar to those observed in whole near-term embryos. Albumen, as the primary source of water in the egg, is the primary determinant of hatchling size and may influence hatchling success through size-related limiting factors. Differences in yolk content may influence neonatal quality as a nutritional supplement, but seem not to result in greater tissue formation during embryonic development. Accepted: 2 September 1997