Interspecies Behavioral Variability of Medaka Fish Assessed by Comparative Phenomics

Recently, medaka has been used as a model organism in various research fields. However, even though it possesses several advantages over zebrafish, fewer studies were done in medaka compared to zebrafish, especially with regard to its behavior. Thus, to provide more information regarding its behavior and to demonstrate the behavioral differences between several species of medaka, we compared the behavioral performance and biomarker expression in the brain between four medaka fishes, Oryzias latipes, Oryzias dancena, Oryzias woworae, and Oryzias sinensis. We found that each medaka species explicitly exhibited different behaviors to each other, which might be related to the different basal levels of several biomarkers. Furthermore, by phenomics and genomic-based clustering, the differences between these medaka fishes were further investigated. Here, the phenomic-based clustering was based on the behavior results, while the genomic-based clustering was based on the sequence of the nd2 gene. As we expected, both clusterings showed some resemblances to each other in terms of the interspecies relationship between medaka and zebrafish. However, this similarity was not displayed by both clusterings in the medaka interspecies comparisons. Therefore, these results suggest a re-interpretation of several prior studies in comparative biology. We hope that these results contribute to the growing database of medaka fish phenotypes and provide one of the foundations for future phenomics studies of medaka fish.     

Importance of Low-Temperature Melt-Mixing on the Construction of Stereocomplex Crystallites with Superior Nucleation Efficiency in Asymmetric Poly(l-lactide)/Poly(d-lactide) Blends

The nucleation efficiency (NE) of stereocomplex crystallites (SCs) formed in asymmetric poly(L-lactide)/poly(D-lactide) (PLLA/PDLA) blends is generally unsatisfactory because the competition between stereocomplexation and chain mixing involved in the melt-mixing process can cause low formation efficiency and even severe aggregation of SCs. Herein, it is attempted to achieve high-efficient formation of finely dispersed SCs particles by designing a unique melt-mixing procedure, where the mixing of PLLA with 0.75 wt% PDLA is first performed at elevated temperatures (far above the melting temperature of SCs) to allow the homogeneous mixing of PLLA/PDLA chains and then at a low temperature (slightly above that of homocrystallites) to permit the full stereocomplexation of the premixed chains. It is found that the SCs formed in the blends exhibit unexpectedly low NEs (e.g., 54.5%), much inferior to that (73.6%) in the counterpart without undergoing premixing. This is because the introduction of premixing leads to a remarkable deterioration in the amount of SCs particles formed, despite decreased particle size, highlighting that the direct mixing at low temperatures of 170–180 °C (about 20–30 °C lower than that used in common melt-processing of PLA) is more effective for the construction of SCs with superior NE. The mechanisms for these striking findings are discussed.     

Thermal evaluation of the use of porous ceramic plates on ventilated façades—part II: Thermal behavior

The effects of porous ceramic plates on the thermal behavior of ventilated façades were evaluated, and the results are presented herein. Thermal behavior in a ventilated façade of specimens containing 40 wt% of lime mud and a firing temperature of 1100°C was evaluated and compared with a commercial porcelain ceramic tile, which was the reference material. An experimental apparatus was designed to evaluate the thermal performance of the studied ventilated façades. The results revealed that the ventilated façade composed of the studied porous ceramic tiles produced a greater reduction in temperature between the external environmental and the interior of a box representing a building (ΔT5) of 65.7°C, compared with the façade composed of the commercial porcelain ceramic tiles (ΔT5 = 56.0°C) and even the traditional façade (ΔT5 = 49.1°C). Thus, porous ceramic tiles based on byproducts are promising candidates for ventilated façade systems.     

Relaxor behavior and superior ferroelectricity of Y2O3-doped (Ba0.98Ca0.02) (Ti0.94Sn0.04Zr0.02)O3 lead-free ceramics

To upgrade the electric properties of lead-free piezoceramics, (1–x)(Ba_0.98Ca_0.02Ti_0.94Sn_0.04Zr_0.02)O₃-xY₂O₃ (abbreviated as (1–x)BCTSZ-xY, x = 0 mol%, 0.02 mol%, 0.04 mol%, 0.06 mol%, 0.08 mol% and 0.1 mol%) ceramics were successfully synthesized by traditional solid-state sintering method. The phase structure and microstructure of ceramics were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and piezoresponse force microscopyeramics (PFM). The electric properties of ceramics were researched through piezoelectric, dielectric and ferroelectric test instruments. The results show that all samples have pure perovskite structure and favorable electric properties. The optimal electric properties which especially include superior ferroelectric properties are gained when Y₂O₃ content is 0.06 mol% (d₃₃ = 419 pC/N, k_p = 52%, T_c = 89.5 °C, ε_r = 26900, tanδ = 2.86%, P_r = 14.41 μC/cm², E_c = 1.8 kV/cm). Moreover, the temperature-dependent dielectricity of samples shows apparent relaxor behavior under different frequencies. The Curie–Weiss law further proves that all samples are typical relaxor ferroelectrics, and the relaxor degree of samples decreases with increase of Y₂O₃ content. In conclusion, Y₂O₃ plays a significant role in enhancing electric properties of BCTSZ ceramics.     

Effects of can parameters on canned—forging process of TiAl base alloy（Ⅱ）——Mechanical behavior

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原位反应自发渗透法TiC／AZ91D镁基复合材料及AZ91D镁合金的拉伸变形与断裂行为

利用原位反应自发渗透技术合成了47．5％碳化钛TiC（体积分数，下同）增强AZ91D镁基复合材料，对比研究了该复合材料与铸态镁合金AZ91D基体的室温与高温拉伸变形行为，观察了拉伸断口微观组织形貌，并分析了这两种材料的断裂特征。结果表明，TiC／Mg复合材料具有良好的高温力学性能，在拉伸变形速率为0．001s^-1以及温度为723K，时其拉伸强度可达91．1MPa，而此时相同变形条件下的铸态AZ91D镁合金拉伸断裂强度只有41．1MPa，增幅达120％。而在室温下，镁基复合材料的拉伸断裂强度仅高出基体铸态镁合金23．4％。镁基复合材料的断裂应变较低，高低温时均表现为脆性断裂；而镁合金则由室温下的脆性断裂向高温下的韧性断裂过渡。     

化学沉积Ni-Zn-P合金制备和腐蚀性能研究

采用柠檬酸钠为络合剂 ,在氨性缓冲介质中化学镀Ni Zn P合金 .考察了工艺参数 (pH、ZnSO4·7H2 O浓度和温度 )对沉积速度和镀层组成的影响 .发现Zn离子在沉积过程中起阻碍作用 ,致使镀层中Zn含量不高 (最多含16 .0mass% ) .采用差示扫描量热 (DSC)和X射线衍射 (XRD)技术研究所得化学镀Ni Zn P合金 (Ni=78.7mass % ,Zn =11.7mass % )的晶化行为和结构 .结果表明 ,镀态Ni Zn P合金主要由非晶相和少量立方镍两相构成 .热处理至 384 .8℃时出现四方Ni3 P相 ,至 5 80 .7℃时出现Ni5Zn2 1相 .镀态及热处理后的Ni Zn P合金 (Ni=78.7mass% ,Zn =11.7mass% .)在 3.5 %NaCl中 (pH =7.0 )的腐蚀失重及阳极极化测量 .结果表明 ,该合金的耐腐蚀性能优良 ,特别是镀态Ni Zn P合金 .     

快速凝固铝硅合金粉末加热过程中硅颗粒的粗化行为

利用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)、电子显微镜等设备对Al-12.8%Si合金粉末的原始状态及热处理后的状态进行了分析。发现其显微组织有两个连续的变化过程:在156℃时,固溶在基体Al中的过饱和Si开始析出,并在340℃发生粗化,随着加热温度的升高,粗化现象仍然存在。另外,对Si颗粒的粗化机理进行了研究,发现其粗化符合经典的LSW理论。     

非晶态Pd—Cu—Si合金的晶化动力学研究

本文应用DSC研究了非晶态Pd-Cu-Si合金的晶化过程动力学.根据Kissinger峰移法和Arrhenius方程分别计算了晶化激活能,发现等温晶化动力学在0.15相似文献