We demonstrated a method to improve the output performance of a Ti:sapphire laser in the long-wavelength low-gain region with an efficient stimulated Raman scattering process. By shifting the wavelength of the high-gain-band Ti:sapphire laser to the long-wavelength low-gain region, high-performance Stokes operation was achieved in the original long-wavelength low-gain region of the Ti:sapphire laser. With the fundamental wavelength tuning from 870 to 930 nm, first-order Stokes output exceeding 2.5 W was obtained at 930–1000 nm, which was significantly higher than that directly generated by the Ti:sapphire laser, accompanied by better beam quality, shorter pulse duration and narrower linewidth. Under the pump power of 42.1 W, a maximum first-order Stokes power of 3.24 W was obtained at 960 nm, with a conversion efficiency of 7.7%. Furthermore, self-mode-locked modulations of first- and second-order Stokes generation were observed in Ti:sapphire intracavity solid Raman lasers for the first time.

The plant Camellia fascicularis, belonging to family Theaceae, has high ornamental and medicinal value, and rare gene resources for genetic improvement of Camellia crops, but is currently threatened with extinction because of the unique and extremely small wild populations. Molecular markers have clarified the wild plant species’ genetic diversity structure, new gene resources and relationship with crops. This will be beneficial for conservation of these valuable crop-related wild species and crop improvement. In this study, we identified 95,979 microsatellite loci from 155,011 transcriptome unigenes, and developed 14 polymorphic expressed sequence tag-derived simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) microsatellite markers for C. fascicularis. The number of alleles (Na) per locus was 2–8 with a mean of 4.86. The genetic diversity of 40 individuals from four natural populations of C. fascicularis was analysed using these polymorphic markers. The number of alleles (Na) for EST-SSR ranged from 2 to 5, with the expected heterozygosities (He) and observed heterozygosities (Ho) in all loci ranging from 0.183 to 0.683, and from 0.201 to 0.700, respectively, implying a rich genetic variation present in wild C. fascicularis populations. Moreover, the phylogenetic analysis among four populations, using the 14 EST-SSR markers developed in this study, grouped 40 individuals into three groups, which coincide with their geographic distribution. These results showed that 14 EST-SSR markers are available for the analysis of genetic variation in C. fascicularis populations and genetic improvement of new Camellias cultivars by interspecific hybridization, and are beneficial for conservation of the endangered species.

Chinese sprangletop [Leptochloa chinensis (L.) Nees] is one grass weed severely affecting rice (Oryza sativa L.) growth in paddies in China. Cyhalofop-butyl is the main herbicide used to control grass weeds in Chinese paddy fields, especially for controlling L. chinensis; however, L. chinensis has evolved resistance to cyhalofop-butyl due to continuous and extensive application. To investigate cyhalofop-butyl resistance levels and mechanisms in L. chinensis in some of the Chinese rice areas, 66 field populations were collected and treated with cyhalofop-butyl. Of these tested populations, 10 showed a high level of resistance to cyhalofop-butyl; the 50% effective dose ranged within 108.4 to 1,443.5 g ai ha−1 with resistance index values of 9.1 to 121.8 when compared with the susceptible population. Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase genes (ACCase) of susceptible and all 10 resistant populations were amplified and sequenced. Among them, Ile-1781-Leu, Trp-2027-Cys, Trp-2027-Ser, and Ile-2041-Asn mutations were found in five resistant populations. No known resistance-related mutations were found in the other five resistant populations, indicating that resistance to cyhalofop-butyl in these populations was likely to be endowed by non–target site resistance mechanisms. Notably, the Ile-1781-Leu and Trp-2027-Cys substitutions have previously been reported, but this is the first report of Trp-2027-Ser and Ile-2041-Asn mutations in L. chinensis. Furthermore, three derived cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence methods were developed to rapidly detect these mutations in L. chinensis.

Resistant starch (RS) was recently approved to exert a powerful influence on gut health, but the effect of RS on the caecal barrier function in meat ducks has not been well defined. Thus, the effect of raw potato starch (RPS), a widely adopted RS material, on microbial composition and barrier function of caecum for meat ducks was determined. A total of 360 Cherry Valley male ducks of 1-d-old were randomly divided and fed diets with 0 (control), 12, or 24 % RPS for 35 d. Diets supplemented with RPS significantly elevated villus height and villus height:crypt depth ratio in the caecum. The 16S rRNA sequence analysis indicated that the diet with 12 % RPS had a higher relative abundance of Firmicutes and the butyrate-producing bacteria Faecalibacterium, Subdoligranulum, and Erysipelatoclostridium were enriched in all diets. Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium were significantly increased in the 24 % RPS diet v. the control diet. When compared with the control diet, the diet with 12 % RPS was also found to notably increase acetate, propionate and butyrate contents and up-regulated barrier-related genes including claudin-1, zonula occludens-1, mucin-2 and proglucagon in the caecum. Furthermore, the addition of 12 % RPS significantly reduced plasma TNF-α, IL-1β and endotoxin concentrations. These data revealed that diets supplemented with 12 % RPS partially improved caecal barrier function in meat ducks by enhancing intestinal morphology and barrier markers expression, modulating the microbiota composition and attenuating inflammatory markers.

Many shorebird populations are in decline along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The rapid loss of coastal wetlands in the Yellow Sea, which provide critical stop-over sites during migration, is believed to be the cause of the alarming trends. The Yalu Jiang coastal wetland, a protected area in the north Yellow Sea, supports the largest known migratory staging populations of Bar-tailed Godwits Limosa lapponica (menzbieri and baueri subspecies) and Great Knots Calidris tenuirostris. Monitoring of the macrozoobenthos food for these shorebirds from 2011 to 2016 showed declines of over 99% in the densities of the bivalve Potamocorbula laevis, the major food here for both Bar-tailed Godwits and Great Knots. The loss of the bivalve might be caused by any combination of, but not limited to: (1) change in hydrological conditions and sediment composition due to nearby port construction, (2) run-off of agrochemicals from the extensive shoreline sea cucumber farms, and (3) parasitic infection. Surprisingly, the numbers of birds using the Yalu Jiang coastal wetland remained stable during the study period, except for the subspecies of Bar-tailed Godwit L. l. menzbieri, which exhibited a 91% decline in peak numbers. The lack of an overall decline in the number of bird days in Great Knots and in the peak numbers of L. l. baueri, also given the published simultaneous decreases in their annual survival, implies a lack of alternative habitats that birds could relocate to. This study highlights that food declines at staging sites could be an overlooked but important factor causing population declines of shorebirds along the Flyway. Maintaining the quality of protected staging sites is as important in shorebird conservation as is the safeguarding of staging sites from land claim. Meanwhile, it calls for immediate action to restore the food base for these beleaguered migrant shorebirds at Yalu Jiang coastal wetland.

The endoparasitoid Microplitis prodeniae Rao and Chandry is an important potential augmentative biological control agent for lepidopteran pests of vegetables and tobacco. However, cold storage of pupae is required to ensure that sufficient parasitoids are available when they are needed in the field. In this study, pupae were maintained at 0, 4 or 10°C for 5–50 days after which the adults were evaluated for emergence, pre-emergence period, sex ratio, female longevity, oviposition period, and fecundity. Cold storage did not affect the pre-emergence period or proportion of females; however, there was a significant reduction in emergence, female longevity, oviposition period, and fecundity with increased exposure to cold. The pre-emergence period was approximately 5 days, and approximately 50% of the emergent parasitoids were females. A cold storage regime of 10 days at 10°C had no effect on the parasitoids and adult emergence was greater than 50% even after 20 days at 10°C. There was no carryover of the cold treatment from parental to F1 and F2 generations. Thus, M. prodeniae can be stockpiled for field release by exposing the pupae to a cold regime and subsequently holding them for adult emergence at 28°C.

With increasing output of petroleum coke, the value-added exploitation of petroleum coke has become a tough problem. Preparing porous carbons is a traditional way to the value-added exploitation of petroleum coke. Here, we used a facile and efficient hard-templating strategy to synthesize mesoporous carbon with high surface area from petroleum coke. N2 adsorption analyses show that the BET specific area and pore volume of the carbons can reach up to 864 m2/g and 1.37 cm3/g, respectively. To utilize the abundant mesopores of the carbons, anthraquinone-modified mesoporous carbon was tested as an electrode material for supercapacitor applications. Electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the specific capacitance reached up to 366 F/g at the current density of 1 A/g, indicating a promising prospect of using this carbon in electrochemical energy-storage field. More importantly, the strategy used in this work can be easily modified to prepare other nano-carbon materials from petroleum coke.

The late Palaeoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks of southwestern China are characterized by a number of mafic intrusions and dykes. However, the origin and tectonic implications of these mafic intrusions and dykes remain unclear. The Hekou mafic intrusion, intruding into the Hekou Group in the Hekou area, SW China, is the biggest and most representative one. The intrusion is mainly composed of coarse-grained in the central zone (CZ) and medium- to fine-grained gabbroic rocks in the outer zone (OZ). Cameca secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) U–Pb zircon ages, and geochemical and Nd isotopic results for the intrusion are reported in this paper. SIMS U–Pb zircon ages indicate that the gabbroic rocks from the CZ and OZ were emplaced at 1735±6.5 Ma and 1736±4.0 Ma, respectively. This suggests that the Hekou intrusion originated from c. 1.7 Ga mafic magmatism in the southwestern Yangtze Block. The coarse-grained rocks in the CZ of the intrusion show fairly homogeneous major- and trace-element compositions. In contrast, the medium- to fine-grained rocks from the OZ display slightly evolved compositions, with relatively lower Mg nos, MgO, Al2O3, Cr and Ni contents, and higher SiO2, CaO and Zr concentrations than those of the rocks from the CZ. Although the gabbroic rocks of the intrusion have low total rare earth element (REE) contents (REE = 29.3–40.2 ppm) with slightly light REE (LREE)-enriched and heavy REE (HREE)-depleted patterns, they exhibit distinct trace-element and Nd isotopic features. The rocks from the CZ are characterized by slightly LREE-enriched and ‘convex upwards’ incompatible trace-element patterns with significant Th depletion and insignificant Nb and Ta depletion relative to La. However, the rocks from the OZ have relatively flatter REE patterns than those of the rocks from the CZ. In addition, the rocks from the OZ are slightly enriched in Th and depleted in Nb and Ta relative to La. The εNd(T) values of the CZ and the OZ rocks are +0.70 to +2.3 and −0.30 to +0.24, respectively. The parental magma for the Hekou gabbroic intrusion exhibits affinity with a subalkaline basaltic magma, which was possibly generated by relatively high degrees of partial melting of a slightly depleted asthenospheric mantle source. Their geochemical and isotopic variations were due to slight crystal fractionation with varying degrees of crustal contamination. The Hekou intrusion was therefore supposed to form in an anorogenic extensional environment. It is further suggested that c. 1.7 Ga is an important onset timing of widespread anorogenic magmatism in the southwestern Yangtze Block. We interpret the late Palaeoproterozoic gabbroic intrusion to represent anorogenic mafic magmatism, which was most likely related to the break-up of the Columbia supercontinent.

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites were prepared by solution mixing. Differential scanning calorimetry results indicated that GO was an effective nucleating agent. The size of spherulites decreased, the density of spherulites increased with increasing GO and the crystallinity of PLA increased from 4.34 to 49.01%. For isothermal crystallization, the crystallization rates of PLA/GO nanocomposites were significantly higher than that of neat PLA, in which t 0.5 reduced from 9.0 to 2.8. Spindle-like nanopores (about 100–200 nm) that arranged like spherulites were prepared by low temperature foaming. It was found that the crystallization rate increase and spherulite morphology change were insignificant when the content of GO exceeded 0.5 wt%, because the excessive GO increased the number of nucleation sites while restricting the PLA crystal growth. Thus, the arrangement of nanopores did not mimick the spherulites because of imperfect crystal morphology.

A novel micro in-pipe robot using an internally threaded profile for propulsion is proposed in this paper, and the dynamic model of the robot in the turbulent liquid pipeline is established, and the computational fluid dynamics method is used to solve the influence of environmental parameters and operating parameters on the robotic performance. By the orthogonal experimental optimization method, the optimal inner spiral structural parametrical combination is obtained. According to the working principle of the inner spiral robot, an inner spiral driving device is designed and fabricated, and the running experiment in the pipeline full of 201 methyl silicone oil verifies the feasibility of the proposed robot. Adopting the pulsating blood flow function as the inlet condition, in a pulsating period, the robotic performance is numerically analyzed.

The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that low concentrations of coated ZnO, as a substitute for a high concentration of ZnO (2250 mg Zn/kg), could improve intestinal immunity function and regulate microbiota composition, thus alleviating the incidence of diarrhoea in weaned piglets. A total of eighty-four cross-bred piglets, weaned at an age of 28 (sem 1) d, were allocated randomly, on the basis of average initial body weight (7·72 (sem 0·65) kg), to seven treatment groups as follows: a 250 mg Zn (ZnO)/kg group (low Zn; LZ) and a 2250 mg Zn (ZnO)/kg group (high Zn; HZ) that were offered diets containing ZnO at 250 and 2250 mg Zn/kg, respectively; and five experimental groups in which coated ZnO was added at 250, 380, 570, 760 and 1140 mg Zn/kg basal diet, respectively. The trial lasted 2 weeks. The results indicated that, compared with LZ treatment, supplementation with coated ZnO at 380 or 570 mg Zn/kg reduced (P< 0·05) diarrhoea index, increased (P< 0·05) duodenal villus height and the ratio of villus height:crypt depth, up-regulated (P< 0·05) the gene expression of insulin-like growth factor 1, zonula occludens protein-1, occludin, IL-10 and transforming growth factor β1, and elevated (P< 0·05) secretory IgA concentration in the jejunal mucosa. Microbiota richness and the Shannon diversity index were also decreased (P< 0·05). Furthermore, piglets in the group fed coated ZnO at 380 or 570 mg Zn/kg did not differ from those in the HZ-fed group in relation to the aforementioned parameters. Collectively, a low concentration of coated ZnO (380 or 570 mg Zn/kg) can alleviate the incidence of diarrhoea by promoting intestinal development, protecting the intestinal mucosal barrier from damage, stimulating the mucosal immune system and regulating the microbiota composition.

In-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) method is powerful in a way that it can directly correlate the atomic-scale structure with physical and chemical properties. We will report on the construction and applications of the homemade in-situ TEM electrical and optical holders. Electrical transport of carbon nanotubes and photoconducting response on bending of individual ZnO nanowires have been studied inside TEM. Oxygen vacancy electromigration and its induced resistance switching effect have been probed in CeO2 films.

A coupled model, capable of simulating transonic flow, solid heat conduction, species transport, and gas radiation, is developed that provides better computational treatment of infrared radiation from hot exhaust nozzles. The modeling of gas radiation is based on a statistical narrow-band correlated-k analysis, whose parameters are deduced from the HITEMP line-by-line database. To improve computational efficiency, several methods are employed. A mixed analytical-numerical algorithm is described for the stiffness of the two-equation turbulence model and an alternating direction implicit pretreatment for the ill-conditioned matrix appearing in the coupled problem of flow and solid heat conduction. Moreover, an improved multigrid method and a symmetry plane treatment of the radiation transfer-energy equations are also introduced. Four numerical simulations are given to confirm the efficiency and accuracy of the numerical method. Finally, an account of the aerothermodynamics and infrared characteristics for two types of nozzles are presented. The infrared radiation intensity of the Chevron ejecting nozzle is clearly smaller than that of the common axisymmetric ejecting nozzle. All computations can be performed on a personal computer.