Nitric oxide alleviates cadmium-impeded growth by limiting ROS accumulation in pea seedlings

Cadmium (Cd) causes oxidative stress, which leads to the oxidation of various biomolecules by the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) to facilitate programmed cell death (PCD). The antioxidant defense system fails to detoxify ROS when it is produced in excess. Nitric oxide (NO), a gaseous free radical and a phytohormone, regulates various physiological processes of plants. Therefore, this work was undertaken to study the effects of the application of exogenous sodium nitroprusside (SNP, a NO donor) on growth parameters, oxidative stress, accumulation of secondary metabolites, and activities of antioxidant enzymes under Cd stress. Mild (50 µM) and severe (200 µM) Cd stress were applied to hydroponically grown pea (Pisum sativum L.) plants with or without 50 µM SNP. Severe Cd stress had a substantial impact on the plants. The effectiveness of NO in reducing Cd-induced negative effects on plant height, fresh weight, dry weight, protein content, nitrite content, nitrate reductase (NR) activity, catalase activity, and peroxidase activity were investigated. Seedling development, protein content, nitrite content, nitrate reductase (NR) activity, antioxidant defense systems disruption, overproduction of reactive oxygen species, and oxidative damage were observed. The antioxidant defense system (catalase and peroxidase activities) was activated by NO, which resulted in lower lipid peroxidation and lower hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) levels in Cd-exposed plants. SNP treatment boosted endogenous NO levels and NR activity in Cd-stressed plants while also enhanced proline levels to preserve osmotic equilibrium. The presence of total phenols and flavonoids increased after SNP treatment, indicating that SNP enhanced stress recovery and boosted plant development in Cd-stressed plants.

     

Surface plasmon oscillations in a semi-bounded semiconductor plasma

We study the dispersion properties of surface plasmon (SP) oscillations in a semi-bounded semiconductor plasma with the effects of the Coulomb exchange (CE) force associated with the spin polarization of electrons and holes as well as the effects of the Fermi degenerate pressure and the quantum Bohm potential.Starting from a quantum hydrodynamic model coupled to the Poisson equation,we derive the general dispersion relation for surface plasma waves.Previous results in this context are recovered.The dispersion properties of the surface waves are analyzed in some particular cases of interest and the relative influence of the quantum forces on these waves are also studied for a nano-sized GaAs semiconductor plasma.It is found that the CE effects significantly modify the behaviors of the SP waves.The present results are applicable to understand the propagation characteristics of surface waves in solid density plasmas.     

岩石节理直剪试验颗粒流宏细观分析

 基于颗粒流理论和PFC程序,在解决建模过程中悬浮颗粒的消除、恒定法向荷载伺服机制的施加、拟静力加载状态的选取等问题后,较为完善地实现岩石节理PFC数值直剪试验,并分别从宏观和细观角度深入探讨节理在直剪试验过程中的力学演化特征和破坏机制。结合已有的节理直剪试验成果,进行室内试验和计算结果的对比分析,验证计算方法的可靠性。研究成果如下：(1) 随恒定法向荷载的增大,剪切应力及其峰值时刻的剪切位移增大,节理面上黏结破坏颗粒增多,而剪切阻抗和节理剪胀效应却降低;(2) 随剪切位移的增加,节理面上粒间法向接触数不断减少,接触矢量方向逐渐向剪切荷载施加方向偏转,而粒间接触压力不断增大,裂纹不断沿节理面附近产生,破裂频数在剪切应力达到峰值时最为强烈;(3) 数值试验得到的剪切阻抗值普遍高于试验值,但减小模型颗粒半径可有效降低计算剪切阻抗值。室内试验和计算结果对比分析表明,新提出的颗粒流计算方法非常适用于岩石节理直剪试验的数值模拟,可为室内节理直剪试验和PFC节理模型细观力学参数选取的深入研究提供有益的参考。     

Specimen thickness dependence of hydrogen evolution during cryo‐transmission electron microscopy of hydrated soft materials

The evolution of hydrogen from many hydrated cryo‐preserved soft materials under electron irradiation in the transmission electron microscope can be observed at doses of the order of 1000 e nm^?2 and above. Such hydrogen causes artefacts in conventional transmission electron microscope or scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging as well as in analyses by electron energy‐loss spectroscopy. Here we show that the evolution of hydrogen depends on specimen thickness. Using wedge‐shaped specimens of frozen‐hydrated Nafion, a perfluorinated ionomer, saturated with the organic solvent DMMP together with both thin and thick sections of frozen‐hydrated porcine skin, we show that there is a thickness below which hydrogen evolution is not detected either by bubble observation in transmission electron microscope image mode or by spectroscopic analysis in STEM electron energy‐loss spectroscopy mode. We suggest that this effect is due to the diffusion of hydrogen, whose diffusivity remains significant even at liquid nitrogen temperature over the length scales and time scales relevant to transmission electron microscopy analysis of thin specimens. In short, we speculate that sufficient hydrogen can diffuse to the specimen surface in thin sections so that concentrations are too low for bubbling or for spectroscopic detection. Significantly, this finding indicates that higher electron doses can be used during the imaging of radiation‐sensitive hydrated soft materials and, consequently, higher spatial resolution can be achieved, if sufficiently thin specimens are used in order to avoid the evolution of hydrogen‐based artefacts.     

Studies on the dermal toxicity of p-phenylene diamine

Single dermal application of p-phenylene diamine in guinea-pigs caused pathomorphological lesions over a period of 24 h which later disappeared. Lipid peroxidation activity of skin homogenate showed significant inhibition, whereas superoxide dismutase was unaffected. Histamine content increased initially but showed drastic reduction during recovery. The significance of the data in the potential dermal toxicity of hair dyes is discussed.     

Optimum production lot size model for a system with deteriorating inventory

A production lot size model has been developed for an inventory system with deteriorating items. Both the varying and constant rate of deterioration have been included in the analysis. For the case of a varying rate, it seems impossible to obtain a simple expression for the production lot size, so a numerical method has been suggested. For the constant rate of deterioration case, an approximate expression has been derived for the production lot size. Finally, a numerical example is solved to show the impact of deterioration.     

An inheritance complexity metric for object-oriented code: A cognitive approach

Software metrics should be used in order to improve the productivity and quality of software, because they provide critical information about reliability and maintainability of the system. In this paper, we propose a cognitive complexity metric for evaluating design of object-oriented (OO) code. The proposed metric is based on an important feature of the OO systems: Inheritance. It calculates the complexity at method level considering internal structure of methods, and also considers inheritance to calculate the complexity of class hierarchies. The proposed metric is validated both theoretically and empirically. For theoretical validation, principles of measurement theory are applied since the measurement theory has been proposed and extensively used in the literature as a means to evaluate the software engineering metrics. We applied our metric on a real project for empirical validation and compared it with Chidamber and Kemerer (CK) metrics suite. The theoretical, practical and empirical validations and the comparative study prove the robustness of the measure.     

Influence of different solution methods on microstructure,precipitation behavior and mechanical properties of Al–Mg–Si alloy

The effects of different solution methods on microstructure, mechanical properties and precipitation behavior of Al–Mg–Si alloy were investigated by scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, tensile test, and differential scanning calorimetry. The results revealed that the recrystallized grains of the alloy after the solution treatment with hot air became smaller and more uniform, compared with solution treatment with electrical resistance. The texture of the alloy after two solution treatment methods was different. More rotated cube components were formed through solution treatment with electrical resistance, which was better for improving the drawability of the alloy. The strength of the alloy under the solution treatment with hot air was higher before stamping, because of the small uniform grains and many clusters in the matrix. The alloy solution treated with hot air also possessed good bake hardenability, because the transformation occurred on more clusters in the matrix.     

Electro-osmotic flow of a second-grade fluid in a porous microchannel subject to an AC electric field

Studies on electro-osmotic flows of various types of fluids in microchannel are of great importance owing to their multifold applications in the transport of liquids, particularly when the ionized liquid flows with respect to a charged surface in the presence of an external electric field. In the case of viscoelastic fluids, the volumetric flow rate differs significantly from that of Newtonian fluids, even when the flow takes place under the same pressure gradient and the same electric field. With this end in view, this paper is devoted to a study concerning the flow pattern of an electro-osmotic flow in a porous microchannel, which is under the action of an alternating electric field. The influence of various rheological and electro-osmotic parameters, e.g., the Reynolds number, Debye-Huckel parameter, shape factor and fluid viscoelasticity on the kinematics of the fluid, has been investigated for a secondgrade viscoelastic fluid. The problem is first treated by using analytical methods, but the quantitative estimates are obtained numerically with the help of the software MATHEMATICA. The results presented here are applicable to the cases where the channel height is much greater than the thickness of the electrical double layer comprising the Stern and diffuse layers. The study reveals that a larger value of the Debye-Huckel parameter creates sharper profile near the wall and also that the velocity of electro-osmotic flow increases as the permeability of the porous microchannel is enhanced. The study further shows that the electro-osmotic flow dominates at lower values of Reynolds number. The results presented here will be quite useful to validate the observations of experimental investigations on the characteristics of electro-osmotic flows and also the results of complex numerical models that are necessary to deal with more realistic situations, where electro-osmotic flows come into the picture, as in blood flow in the micro-circulatory system subject to an electric field.