The extent of intertidal flats in the Yellow Sea region has declined significantly in the past few decades, resulting in severe population declines in several waterbird species. The Yellow Sea region holds the primary stopover sites for many shorebirds during their migration to and from northern breeding grounds. However, the functional roles of these sites in shorebirds’ stopover ecology remain poorly understood. Through field surveys between July and November 2015, we investigated the stopover and moult schedules of migratory shorebirds along the southern Jiangsu coast, eastern China during their southbound migration, with a focus on the ‘Critically Endangered’ Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea and ‘Endangered’ Nordmann’s Greenshank Tringa guttifer. Long-term count data indicate that both species regularly occur in globally important number in southern Jiangsu coast, constituting 16.67–49.34% and 64.0–80.67% of their global population estimates respectively, and it is highly likely that most adults undergo their primary moult during this southbound migration stopover. Our results show that Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank staged for an extended period of time (66 and 84 days, respectively) to complete their primary moult. On average, Spoon-billed Sandpipers and Nordmann’s Greenshanks started moulting primary feathers on 8 August ± 4.52 and 27 July ± 1.56 days respectively, and their moult durations were 72.58 ± 9.08 and 65.09 ± 2.40 days. In addition, some individuals of several other shorebird species including the ‘Endangered’ Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris, ‘Near Threatened’ Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica, ‘Near Threatened’ Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata and Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii also underwent primary moult. Our work highlights the importance of the southern Jiangsu region as the primary moulting ground for these species, reinforcing that conservation of shorebird habitat including both intertidal flats and supratidal roosting sites in this region is critical to safeguard the future of some highly threatened shorebird species.

According to Townsend’s attached eddy hypothesis (AEH), a boundary layer flow is comprised of wall-attached eddies, but to extract the part of the flow whose statistical behaviours are well described by the AEH is not at all straightforward. The objective of this work is to extract the part of the flow that can be described by the AEH, and study the statistical behaviours of the other part, which cannot be described by the AEH. In this process, two types of eddies are identified in addition to the Kolmogorov-scale eddies, i.e. wall-attached eddies and wall-detached eddies. The statistical behaviours of the wall-attached eddies are shown to be very well described by the AEH, i.e. the eddies are wall-attached, self-similar and, importantly, Gaussian, whereas the wall-detached eddies cannot be modelled by the AEH. Specifically, a decomposition scheme is proposed following Townsend (The Structure of Turbulent Shear Flow, Cambridge University Press, 1976). We apply our decomposition scheme to three different flows, i.e. channel, boundary layer and atmospheric surface layer flows. The results are similar with only quantitative differences, suggesting possible universality in both the wall-attached eddies and the wall-detached eddies.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of maternal dietary butyrate supplementation on energy metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis in offspring skeletal muscle and the possible mediating mechanisms. Virgin female rats were randomly assigned to either control or butyrate diets (1 % butyrate sodium) throughout gestation and lactation. At the end of lactation (21 d), the offspring were killed by exsanguination from the abdominal aorta under anaesthesia. The results showed that maternal butyrate supplementation throughout gestation and lactation did not affect offspring body weight. However, the protein expressions of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPR) 43 and 41 were significantly enhanced in offspring skeletal muscle of the maternal butyrate-supplemented group. The ATP content, most of mitochondrial DNA-encoded gene expressions, the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 and 4 protein contents and the mitochondrial DNA copy number were significantly higher in the butyrate group than in the control group. Meanwhile, the protein expressions of type 1 myosin heavy chain, mitochondrial transcription factor A, PPAR-coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) and uncoupling protein 3 were significantly increased in the gastrocnemius muscle of the treatment group compared with the control group. These results indicate for the first time that maternal butyrate supplementation during the gestation and lactation periods influenced energy metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis through the GPR and PGC-1α pathways in offspring skeletal muscle at weaning.

New organic/inorganic mesoporous luminescent hybrid materials containing lanthanide (Eu, Tb) complexes chemically bonded to mesoporous SBA-15 [a kind of mesoporous silica with two-dimensional hexagonal (P6mm) structure] have been successfully synthesized by co-condensation of the modified hexafluoroacetylacetone (HFAASi) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) in the presence of Pluronic P123 surfactant as a template. The luminescent properties of these resulting mesoporous hybrid materials [denoted as Ln(HFAASi-SBA-15)3phen, Ln = Eu, Tb; phen = 1,10-phenanthroline] were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, small-angle powder x-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption measurements, transmission electron microscope, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflection absorption spectra, and photoluminescent spectra, and the results exhibit that they all have uniformity in mesostructure and high surface area. Moreover, the mesoporous hybrid materials Eu(HFAASi-SBA-15)3phen and Tb(HFAASi-SBA-15)3phen exhibit the characteristic luminescence of Eu3+ and Tb3+, respectively, indicating that the effective intramolecular energy transfer between HFAASi and the lanthanide ions has been achieved.

To investigate whether the effect of maternal dietary protein on offspring lipid metabolism is mediated by microRNA (miRNA), fourteen Meishan sows were fed either low-protein (LP, half of standard protein (SP) level, n 7) or SP (n 7) diets throughout gestation and lactation periods. PPAR-γ and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-β (C/EBP-β) protein expression was evaluated. The expression of miRNA predicted to directly target PPAR-γ and C/EBP-β in the subcutaneous fat of offspring at weaning age was determined, and the functions of these potential miRNA were verified. The results showed that piglet body weight and back fat thickness were significantly decreased in the LP group compared with the SP group (P< 0·05). The protein level of PPAR-γ was significantly decreased and C/EBP-β protein expression was also decreased, though not significantly (P= 0·056), in the subcutaneous fat of the LP group. Furthermore, miRNA expression analysis showed that miR-130b, targeting the PPAR-γ 3′-untranslated region (UTR), and miR-374b, targeting the C/EBP-β 3′-UTR, were significantly increased in the LP group compared with the SP group; other candidate regulatory miRNA were expressed similarly in both groups. Dual luciferase activity assay results indicated that miR-130b directly recognised and bound to the 3′-UTR of PPAR-γ and thereby suppressed PPAR-γ gene expression. Similar results were found for miR-374b and the 3′-UTR of C/EBP-β. The present study showed that miR-130b and miR-374b are involved in the effect of maternal dietary protein on offspring lipid metabolism in pigs. These results shed new light on our understanding of the maternal effect on offspring lipid deposition.

Owing to their ability and flexibility to describe individual gene expression at different time points, random regression (RR) analyses have become a popular procedure for the genetic analysis of dynamic traits whose phenotypes are collected over time. Specifically, when modelling the dynamic patterns of gene expressions in the RR framework, B-splines have been proved successful as an alternative to orthogonal polynomials. In the so-called Bayesian B-spline quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, B-splines are used to characterize the patterns of QTL effects and individual-specific time-dependent environmental errors over time, and the Bayesian shrinkage estimation method is employed to estimate model parameters. Extensive simulations demonstrate that (1) in terms of statistical power, Bayesian B-spline mapping outperforms the interval mapping based on the maximum likelihood; (2) for the simulated dataset with complicated growth curve simulated by B-splines, Legendre polynomial-based Bayesian mapping is not capable of identifying the designed QTLs accurately, even when higher-order Legendre polynomials are considered and (3) for the simulated dataset using Legendre polynomials, the Bayesian B-spline mapping can find the same QTLs as those identified by Legendre polynomial analysis. All simulation results support the necessity and flexibility of B-spline in Bayesian mapping of dynamic traits. The proposed method is also applied to a real dataset, where QTLs controlling the growth trajectory of stem diameters in Populus are located.

As an emerging powerful approach for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for dynamic traits, functional mapping models the time-dependent mean vector with biologically meaningful equations and are likely to generate biologically relevant and interpretable results. Given the autocorrelation nature of a dynamic trait, functional mapping needs the implementation of the models for the structure of the covariance matrix. In this article, we have provided a comprehensive set of approaches for modelling the covariance structure and incorporated each of these approaches into the framework of functional mapping. The Bayesian information criterion (BIC) values are used as a model selection criterion to choose the optimal combination of the submodels for the mean vector and covariance structure. In an example for leaf age growth from a rice molecular genetic project, the best submodel combination was found between the Gaussian model for the correlation structure, power equation of order 1 for the variance and the power curve for the mean vector. Under this combination, several significant QTLs for leaf age growth trajectories were detected on different chromosomes. Our model can be well used to study the genetic architecture of dynamic traits of agricultural values.

The present study was aimed to investigate the mechanism underlying the influence of maternal low-protein (LP) diet on offspring growth in the chicken. One hundred and twenty Chinese inbred Langshan breeder hens were allocated randomly into two groups fed diets containing low (10 %, LP) or normal (15 %) crude protein levels. Low dietary protein did not affect the body weight of hens, but significantly decreased the laying rate and egg weight. The yolk leptin content was significantly lower in eggs laid by LP hens, while no differences were detected for yolk contents of corticosterone, tri-iodothyronine (T3) or thyroxine. Despite significantly lower hatch weight, the LP offspring demonstrated obviously higher serum T3 concentration, which is in accordance with the faster post-hatch growth rate achieving significantly heavier body weight and pectoralis major muscle weight 4 weeks post-hatching. Expression of 20-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20-HSD) mRNA in the yolk-sac membrane was significantly down-regulated at embryonic day 14, whereas that of transthyretin and leptin receptor (LepR) was not altered. Moreover, hypothalamic expression of 20-HSD, glucocorticoid receptors, thyrotropin-releasing hormone and LepR mRNA was significantly up-regulated in the LP group compared with their control counterparts. In the pectoralis major muscle, significantly higher expression of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and IGF-I receptor mRNA was observed in LP embryos. The present study provides evidence that maternal LP diet programmes post-hatch growth of the offspring. The associated alterations in yolk leptin deposition as well as in yolk-sac membrane, fetal hypothalamus and muscle gene expression may be involved in mediating such programming effect in the chicken.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate and long-term effects of early feed restriction (ER) on morphology and gene expression of lateral gastrocnemius muscle. Newly hatched crossbred broiler chickens were allocated into control and ER groups, the latter being free-fed on alternate days from hatch to 14 days of age (14 d), followed by ad libitum feeding as the control group until 63 d. The lateral gastrocnemius muscle was taken at 14 and 63 d, respectively for myofibre typing by both myosin ATPase staining and relative quantification of myosin heavy chain (MyHC) mRNA for slow-twitch (SM), red fast-twitch (FRM) and white fast-twitch (FWM) myofibres. The body weight and lateral gastrocnemius weight were significantly lower in the ER group, accompanied by significantly reduced serum triiodothyronine. The ER group exhibited significantly higher SM and FRM MyHC expression at 14 d, but lower SM expression at 63 d. Myosin ATPase staining revealed a similar pattern. The percentage of SM was higher at 14 d while lower at 63 d in the ER group. These morphological changes were accompanied by changes of mRNA expression for growth-related genes. The ER group expressed lower insulin-like growth factoar I (IGF-I) and higher IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR) at 14 d, yet significantly increased growth hormone receptor and IGF-IR mRNA at 63 d. These results indicate that ER may delay the slow to fast myofibre conversion as an immediate effect, but would result in a lower percentage of slow fibres owing to compensatory growth in the long term, which involves changes of mRNA expression for the growth-related genes in the muscle.

Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) has been widely used in analysis of ceramic, minerals and semiconductors. It can provide the unique advantage of sensitivity to composition, coordination and valency, while providing nano-scale spatial resolution. Due to the electron irradiation sensitivity, EELS studies on glass are quite rare. However, using special care in glass-composition selection and by recording time series of EELS-spectra to monitor any structural changes, EELS then becomes a very useful technique to study glass-chemistry and glass structure with the highest spatial resolution of all chemically sensitive techniques. Alkali borosilicate glasses (ABS) doped with Cr2O3 (2 mol%), CeO2 (4 mol%) and ZrO4 (4 mol%) were melted, cooled and annealed in the context of simulating radionuclide immobilisation glasses. Precipitates with diameter in the range of ∼20 nm to ∼200 nm were found homogeneously distributed in the glass. In preliminary studies we measured the oxidation state in the glass and in precipitates via evaluation of the Ce-M-edge double white line ratio, confirming the crystals as Ce(IV) oxide. We also found Boron K-edge ELNES spectra as a sensitive signal to boron coordination (N4 = BO4/(BO3+BO4)), which is found at N4 ratios of around 35-45%.

In the present study we have extended this work to the acquisition of dense line scans (spectrum imaging) across an area of interest on our composite glass with emphasis on three questions:

(i) Change of cerium valence upon transition from the glass to the precipitates?

(ii) Possible oscillation of boron N4-ratio in the glass within a line scan as a consequence of random medium-order related glass fluctations when scanning the <5nm probe across a seemingly homogeneous area?

(iii) N4-changes in the immediate glass layer surrounding the precipitates?

Our ongoing research has produced results which prove a systematic change of the Ce oxidation state from precipitates (+IV) to glass (mixed +III/+IV). It is found that boron coordination is constant within the sensitivity given by signal-to-noise in the glass matrix. A change of the Boron K-edge fine structure upon crossing a nanoparticle during one particular linescan has been observed, which could hint to a coordination change of the glass layer surrounding the particle. Other linescan measurements have not shown any change and acquisition of an enlarged better statistic is work in progress.

The ABS-glass with distributed nanoparticles provides an ideal example of a 3D nanocomposite. The only proven technique for the three-dimensional reconstruction of such materials on the nanoscale is electron tomography. We present the first results of a 3D reconstructed nuclear waste glass by using a tilt series of ADF STEM images covering a glass fragment of 2000nm field of view containing several tens of nanoparticles distributed around its volume.

Nanoscale tomographic reconstructions from objects with diameters of 100nm or smaller can only be achieved non-destructively with transmission electron tomography. The application of this technique to W tips, which are common probes for scanning tunneling microscopy and nanoindentation, is demonstrated with emphasis on visualizing oxide layers and functionally attached nanoparticles. For the reconstruction of facetted free-standing catalyst nanoparticles, such as CeO2 octahedra, we propose a combination of energy-filtered (EF) and bright field (BF) TEM tomography to achieve high fidelity of the projection relationship via EFTEM, due to its incoherent imaging mode, and high resolution definition of the particle circumference from the edge-enhancement effects of the BF tomogram. Finally, electron tomography applications to CeO2 nanoprecipitates embedded in a multicomponent oxide glass matrix are shown, which comprises the first tomographic 3D reconstruction of a nanoscale dendrite.

The existence of periodic solutions for the nonlinear asymmetric oscillator $ x''{+}\alpha x^+{-}\beta x^- {=} h(t),\qquad (' = d/dt) $ is discussed, where $\alpha, \beta$ are positive constants satisfying $ {1}/{\sqrt{\alpha}} + {1}/{\sqrt{\beta}} = {2}/{n} $ for some positive integer $n\in {\bf \mathbb{N}}$ and $h(t)\in L^\infty(0,2\pi)$ is $2\pi$-periodic with $x^{\pm}=\max\{\pm x, 0\}$.

We consider the existence of unbounded solutions for the asymmetric oscillator $$(\vp_p(x'))'+(p-1)[\al \vp_p(x^+)-\be \vp_p(x^-)]=f(t)\eqno(1)$$where $\vp_p(u)=|u|^{p-2}u, p>1$, $\al$ and $\be$ are positive constants satisfying $$\al^{{-}\frac 1p}+\be^{{-}\frac 1p}=2m/n\eqno(2)$$ with ($m,n)=1,\,\, m, n\in N$ and $x^\pm=\max\{\pm x,0\}$, $f \in L^\infty[0,2\pi_p]$ is $2\pi_p$-periodic, $\pi_p={2\pi}/({p\sin (\pi/p)})$.

In this paper, we are concerned with the boundedness of all the solutions of the two-dimensional differential system $$ \left.\begin{array}{@{}l@{}}x'\,{=}\,{-}|y|^{p-2} y+f(t)\\ y'\,{=}\,|x|^{q-2} x+g(t) \end{array}\right\} $$ where $1\,{<}\,p$, $1\,{<}\,q\,{<}\,2$ and $5pq\,{>}\,3p+4q$, $pq/(p+q)\,{<}\,1$, $f, g$ are $C^5$ 1-periodic functions.