Lake Superior herring gulls benefit from anthropogenic food subsidies in a prey–impoverished aquatic environment

Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are used as ecological indicators of the coastal Lake Superior ecosystem in Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario, Canada. Their populations have declined by 70 % over the last 40 years, suggesting changes in the park ecosystem. Previous studies highlighted declining prey abundance as a possible contributing factor to population declines. Here, we assess herring gull diets via stable isotope (nitrogen, carbon) and fatty acid indicators to investigate how diet may influence population trends through effects on physiology (stress-related hormones), reproduction (egg size) and behavior (nest attentiveness). Diets were variable among individual herring gulls. Gulls utilizing anthropogenic food sources exhibited reduced levels of stress-associated hormones, increased egg size, and increased nest attentiveness. Anthropogenic food sources are likely buffering the impacts of declines in aquatic food availability; however, populations are still declining. Understanding factors contributing to population trends in ecological indicator species is critical for species management and for identifying stressors that are likely affecting the broader ecosystem. Herring gulls are archetypal examples of the “canary in a coalmine” indicator but in an ecosystem context. Changes in their diets and in variables associated with their physiology, reproduction, and behavior point to very significant changes occurring in the Lake Superior ecosystem. Integrated research across the Great Lakes is required to understand the extent of this change and its implications for the sustainability of wildlife populations.     

The effects of ozone,ultrasound and coating with shellac and lysozyme–chitosan on fresh egg during storage at ambient temperature – part 1: interior quality changes

The objective of this research was to investigate and compare the effect of different treatments including gaseous ozone (6-ppm/4-min), ultrasound (450 W/4 min) and coating of shellac, lysozyme–chitosan (L-C) on fresh eggs internal quality during storage for six weeks at ambient temperature. The internal quality attributes such as weight loss (WL), albumen viscosity, Haugh unit (HU), yolk index, total soluble solids, albumen and yolk's pH were monitored. Control groups had the worst HU (50.04), WL (8.35%), albumen pH (9.27) and viscosity (7.72 mPa·s) values after storage. The best interior qualities were obtained by shellac coating [HU (72.37), WL (1.37) and viscosity (30.10 mPa·s)] and sonication (albumen pH: 8.22). Thus, the shellac-coated eggs maintained all the internal quality parameters at the highest values, while the ozone and ultrasound only helped to keep the internal quality and enhance the shelf life of eggs.     

Spectroscopic investigations on high efficiency deep red-emitting Ca2SiO4:Eu3+ phosphors synthesized from agricultural waste

Europium doped calcium orthosilicate (Ca₂SiO₄) phosphors have been synthesized by the conventional high temperature solid-state reaction method in various concentrations from agricultural waste (egg shell as a CaO and rice husk as a SiO₂). These phosphors structure from X-ray diffraction and morphology from scanning electron microscopy have been examined. Concentration dependent Eu³⁺ ions luminescent properties in Ca₂SiO₄ phosphors have been studied from the excitation, emission and decay curves analysis. The ⁵D₀ → ⁷F_J transitions observed in luminescence spectrum allows to determine the site symmetry of the Eu³⁺ ion. A charge transfer band (CTB) at around 260?nm which is due to the Eu–O interaction in the host along with the 4f – 4f excitation bands due to Eu³⁺ ions in UV and blue regions are observed. The color co-ordinates determined from emission spectra varies with concentrations of Eu³⁺ ions and are found to fall in the red region. The decay curves show single exponential behavior for all concentrations of Eu³⁺ ions (0.01–0.4?mol%) and the lifetimes varied from 2.67 to 2.78?ms. It is worth noting that the present material is found to be far better than many red phosphors synthesized by using agricultural waste as raw materials.     

Extraction of Phospholipids from Structured Dry Egg Yolk

Chicken egg yolk is a concentrated source of phospholipids (PL). Extracting egg PL with high efficiency is vital to the availability and economics of this high-valued lipid product. In this study, two types of structured dry egg yolk materials, yolk flakes and pellets, were prepared. Two commonly used solvents, hexane and ethanol, were tested on the extraction of total yolk lipids including the PL. The PL fraction was obtained by the conventional cold acetone precipitation. The drum-dried yolk flakes were shown to be an ideal starting material for total lipid and PL extraction. Anhydrous ethanol can extract almost all the neutral lipids and PL with little change to the individual components of the native PL. A PL product with a purity of more than 90 % and a yield of 99 % can be prepared using this method.     

光整滚光和开缝衬套挤压孔结构 表面完整性及疲劳行为研究

目的 澄清光整滚光和开缝衬套挤压孔结构疲劳行为和强化机制的区别。方法 采用传统钻-铰、光整滚光、开缝衬套挤压等三种不同工艺,制备TA15钛合金含ø8.75中心圆孔疲劳试样,通过恒幅拉-拉对比疲劳试验和疲劳数据统计分析方法,评价不同工艺制备孔结构的抗疲劳性能。采用体式显微镜观察孔端和孔壁形貌,用触针式表面粗糙度轮廓仪测试孔壁表面粗糙度,用X射线衍射应力测定法测定孔端表面残余应力,用透射电子显微镜观察孔壁材料微观结构,用显微硬度计测定孔壁显微硬度点阵等技术和方法,分析了不同工艺制备孔结构表面完整性。通过扫描电子显微镜标定疲劳断口辉纹平均间距与裂纹长度,用数码长焦显微镜标定孔端表面裂纹长度与疲劳循环周次的关系,并定量分析了不同工艺制备的孔结构疲劳裂纹萌生寿命和裂纹扩展速率。结果 光整滚光和挤压强化分别提高连接孔中值疲劳寿命63%和317%。光整滚光可降低孔壁表面粗糙度Ra至0.52 μm,但改变孔壁附近残余应力状态能力有限,且会在孔端形成尖锐的材料凸瘤;挤压强化后,孔壁表面粗糙度Ra为0.73 μm,在孔壁引入4 mm深、峰值达-500 MPa的残余压应力区,并大幅提高孔壁材料位错密度,且孔端无材料凸瘤产生。结论 光整滚光提高孔结构疲劳寿命的主要机制是,通过降低孔壁表面粗糙度延长裂纹萌生寿命。挤压强化主要机制是,通过引入大深度、高幅值的残余压应力和改善材料微观结构延长裂纹萌生寿命和裂纹扩展寿命。因此,挤压强化优于光整滚光技术。考虑到实际机械结构中多为叠层特征孔结构,挤压强化因为不会在孔端遗留材料凸瘤,更有利于保证夹层间隙安装要求。     

弹条扣件的发展及高速铁路的扣件选择

阐述了高速铁路扣件性能要求以及各型弹条扣件的特性，对现有各扣件绝缘性能进行了比选，并对我国高速铁路有碴轨道扣件的选择提出了建议，以促进我国各型弹条扣件的发展。     

木结构剪力墙钉节点变形研究

对已有木结构剪力墙钉节点变形公式与实验数据进行比较,分析影响钉节点变形性能的主要因素,进而通过对大量实验数据的拟和,提出另一种钉节点变形公式以求更符合试验结果.将提出的公式代入到剪力墙整体变形公式中与实验结果相比较,二者吻合情况较好,说明提出的钉节点变形公式具有较好的实用价值.     

Short-term exposure to the environmentally relevant estrogenic mycotoxin zearalenone impairs reproduction in fish

Zearalenone (ZON) is one of the worldwide most common mycotoxins and exhibits estrogenic activity in the range of natural steroid estrogens such as 17β-estradiol (E2). The occurrence of ZON has been reported in drainage water, soil, wastewater effluents and rivers, but its ecotoxicological effects on fish have hardly been investigated.In this study the estrogenic potency of the ZON was compared to E2 in a recombinant yeast estrogen screen (rYES) and the effects of waterborne ZON exposure on reproduction, physiology and morphology of zebrafish (Danio rerio) were investigated in a 42-day reproduction experiment. E2 as well as ZON evoked a sigmoid concentration-response curve in the rYES with a mean EC₅₀ of 2 and 500 μg/L, respectively, resulting in an E2:ZON EC₅₀ ratio of 1:250. Exposure to ZON for 21 days reduced relative spawning frequency at 1000 and 3200 ng/L to 38.9 and 37.6%, respectively, and relative fecundity at 100, 320, 1000 and 3200 ng/L to 74.2, 41.7, 43.8 and 16.7%, respectively, in relation to the 21-day pre-exposure period. A 4.4 and 8.1 fold induction of plasma vitellogenin (VTG) was observed in male zebrafish at 1000 and 3200 ng/L ZON, respectively. Exposure to ZON did not affect fertility, hatch, embryo survival and gonad morphology of zebrafish.The results of this study demonstrate that although ZON possesses a moderate estrogenic potency in vitro, it exhibits a comparably strong effect on induction of VTG and reproduction in vivo. This indicates that ZON might contribute to the overall estrogenic activity in the environment and could therefore pose a risk for wild fish in their natural habitat.     

五金紧固件锌铝复合涂层及其防腐蚀性能

针对湛江海洋环境冶金设施紧固件防腐蚀需要,设计并研究了粉末渗锌和锌铝膜复合涂层防腐蚀体系。采用浸涂烘干焙烧方法制备锌铝膜涂层,利用电化学方法测试粉末渗锌和锌铝膜复合涂层的性能。结果表明,采用主要成分为鳞片锌粉285g/L、鳞片铝粉65g/L和钼酸钠30g/L等组成的涂液体系进行浸涂并经70~80℃干燥及300℃焙烧可制备性能较好的锌铝膜,锌铝膜和渗锌层与钢基体相比同属于阳极,其自腐蚀电位和自腐蚀电流密度明显低于40Cr钢基体;3.5%NaCl中锌铝膜在约-0.80V~-0.30V(Ag/AgCl)电位区间存在钝化现象。     

横琴口岸工程ST-100塔式模架支撑体系应用技术

结合工程实例进行研究分析,针对ST-100塔式模架支撑体系,对比扣件式钢管脚手架和承插式盘扣脚手架,研究分析S T-100塔式模架支撑体系的优势。并结合高大模板施工技术,详细探讨和研究S T-100塔式模架支撑体系在其中的应用。总结的技术和经验可供类似工程借鉴。