Amino acid profiles and liposomes: Their role as chemosensory information carriers in the marine environment

Yellowfin tuna enhance their hunting success in the vast pelagic environment by using their sense of smell to detect intact (uninjured) prey that are beyond visual range. However, the olfactory cues that tuna use would normally face huge and rapid dilution in the open ocean. We demonstrate that these prey odors are complexed within biologically derived lipid structures that probably delay the dilution of the amino acids to subthreshold concentrations and provide persistent arousal and search cues for the tuna. This may be the first demonstration of an extracorporeal biological function for liposomes. Tuna may also form chemical search images to maximize feeding efficiency. We demonstrate that the amino acid profiles of various prey species are consistent over time and between schools, which makes the formation of search images feasible.     

Pressure-induced conversion of α-connectin to β-connectin

The mechanism of the pressure-induced tenderization of meat has not been fully established in spite of its beneficial effect. To detect the changes in the large structural proteins of the myofibrils induced by pressurization without heat treatment, high hydrostatic pressure (100-300 MPa) was applied to rabbit at-death skeletal muscle for 10 min at low temperature (0-2°C). Significant differences in the electrophoretic pattern of connectin (also called titin) in isolated myofibrils were observed between the control and pressurized muscle samples. The conversion of α-connectin (2800 kDa) to β-connectin (2100 kDa) was accelerated with increasing pressure applied to the muscle; also nebulin (800 kDa) was degraded by pressure treatment. From the results it is clear that the degradation of connectin is induced by pressurization alone without heat treatment. If the conversion of α-connectin to β-connectin during conditioning has some influence on meat tenderization, the pressure-induced conversion of α- to β-connectin is possibly one of the causes of pressure-induced tenderization of meat.     

Infiltration behaviour of an internal electrode and electrical properties of multilayer capacitors by electrode infiltration

The infiltration behaviour of a tin melt, as an internal electrode, to the porous layers, and the electrical properties of multilayer ceramic capacitors was investigated by electrode infiltration. By preventing green-state delamination between the dielectric green sheet and the carbon paste, uniform porous layers, 5 m thick, could be formed after sintering. When 15 vol % ceramic pillars were added to the carbon paste, the porous layer of the sintered samples could be considered as a porous solid formed by many pores larger than 4 m. The critical pressure for the infiltration of tin melt into such a porous layer was found to be 0.5 MPa. With a high infiltration pressure, the resistivity of multilayer capacitors was decreased to 10⁸–10⁹cm due to the growth of micro-defects formed on the surface of the dielectric layers during the lamination process.     

Dielectric properties and microstructural behaviour of B-site calcium-doped barium titanate ceramics

Dielectric properties and microstructural behaviour of Ba_1–x Sr _x Ti_1–y Ca _y O_3–y ceramics, where strontium and calcium were doped on the barium and titanium sites, respectively, within the range 0x0.24 and 0y0.05, were investigated. Calcium addition decreased the tetragonality,c/a, increased the unit cell volume, and lowered the Curie temperature, which were all attributed to the occupancy of Ca²⁺ ions on titanium sites. When sintered at a low oxygen partial pressure of 10^–9 MPa, a resistivity higher than 10¹¹ cm was maintained for the formulations containing B-site calcium substitution more than 0.5 mol %. With increasing the amount of calcium addition, the Curie peak was depressed and completely broadened for the compositions with calcium addition more than 3 mol %, where the average grain size was smaller than 1 m. Co-firing with nickel electrodes in a reducing atmosphere also depressed the Curie peak and inhibited the grain growth due to the diffusion of nickel into the dielectrics.     

改进蚁群算法的无线传感器网络路径优化

研究无线传感器网络路径优化问题,针对无线传感器网络(WSN)路径优化问题,在分析了遗传算法和蚁群算法各自优缺点的基础上,通过把蚁群算法作为WSN路径优化的主框架,采用遗传算的选择、交叉和变异算子提高蚁群算法搜索速度,提出一种改进蚁群算法的WSN路径优化方法。仿真结果表明,改进蚁群算法有效地克服了基本蚁群算法的缺陷,提高了WSN路径优化效率和成功率,减少了能理消耗,有效延长了网络生存时间。     

面向云计算环境的分布式软件部署算法

分布式软件在云计算环境中的优化部署是云计算应用中的一个关键问题。针对该问题提出了一个软件部署算法,它具有多项式时间复杂度。对云计算环境的优化部署问题进行了描述,提出了相应的算法,介绍了实验并对实验结果进行了分析和讨论。     

基于CUDA编程模型的稀疏对角矩阵向量乘优化

稀疏矩阵向量乘是很多科学计算问题中的核心问题。本文针对稀疏对角矩阵,在DIA存储格式的基础上,设计了一种新型压缩存储格式CDIA,结合CUDA编程模型的特点,在计算线程上进行了细粒度的任务分配,同时为满足CUDA对存储器的合并访问要求,将压缩矩阵做了相应的转置处理,设计了细粒度算法与程序,并根据稀疏矩阵向量乘特点,做了相应的程序优化。实验数据显示,这种存储格式能够很好地发挥CUDA在数据处理方面的优势,在测试数据中,最高获得了单精度39.6Gflop/s和双精度19.6Gflop/s的浮点计算性能,性能在Nathan Bell和Michael Garland的基础上分别提高了7.6%和17.4%。     

浅谈ILLUSTRATOR教学中“外观面板”的用法

在Illustrator教学中,"外观面板"的作用是非常重要的,但在大多数教材中涉及实例及用法太少."外观面板"在对象的样式控制方面有着神奇的功能,"外观面板"中的每一项都是活动的,这意味着你可以随时更改它们。掌握好"外观面板"的使用,可以高效高质量的完成设计任务。     

Indices of the nutritional status of workers in the oil and gas production industry adapting to the extreme conditions of an arid zone

The authors studied actual nutrition and certain parameters of food (supply of vitamins A, E, C and the content of phospholipids, cholesterol, NEFA, triglycerides and cholesterol esters) for oil derrick installers working during summer at the "Mangyschlakneft" amalgamation. Incorrect structure of their nutrition and insufficient supply with vitamins A and C, revealed as the result of the study, necessitate rationalization of the nutrition for such workers.     

The influence of environmental fluids and temperature on the cut-surface morphology of single-crystal silicon

Single-crystal (Cz) silicon wafers [(100) p-type] were cut in air, d6onked (DI) water and ethanol, at room temperature, 150 and 200°C by a diamond impregnated dicing wheel using a specially designed apparatus. The effects of environmental fluids and temperature on the cut surface morphology were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM investigation showed that gouging and ploughing is predominant when silicon is cut in DI water or ethanol. Debris size analysis showed that the mean diameter of the volume distribution (MV) of debris formed in ethanol at room temperature was 9.5 m while that formed in air was 1.3 m. The surface morphology is significantly different at 150 and 200° C as compared to room temperature, i.e. the width of individual wear tracks varied from 0,8 m for room temperature to 1.6 m for 200° C.