Rapid determination of the larval species composition and understanding of their genetic structure is important to establish the appropriate management system for multiple species infesting in fruits. We established accurate and rapid diagnostic methods based on multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic techniques to discriminate the three major lepidopteran species in orchard, Carposina sasakii, Grapholita dimorpha, and Grapholita molesta. Each species was identified by amplifying species-specific PCR products (375 bp for C. sasakii, 125 and 234 bp for G. dimorpha, and 125 bp for G. molesta). Based on species composition analysis from six types of infested fruits, G. dimorpha constituted the highest proportion (47.8%), followed by 35.2 and 13.5% for G. molesta and C. sasakii, respectively. Interestingly, high prevalence was found in G. dimorpha and G. molesta for plum and peach, respectively. Based on genetic diversity analysis, the three insect species exhibited moderate or high haplotype diversity and low nucleotide diversity, ranging from 0.319 to 0.699 and 0.0006 to 0.0045, respectively. Demographic expansion was not detected according to either a neutrality test or mismatch distribution analysis. Moreover, no significant genetic structure corresponding to province, host plant, fruit type, or collection period was observed. These results suggest that the population of each species would have high dispersal ability following fruit-generating periods via intrinsic host adaptation ability regardless of the spatial and temporal conditions. Determination of larval composition on fruit is valuable for establishing appropriate management systems that take the species into consideration; additionally, population genetic approaches can be utilized to understand the effects of environmental factors (province, host fruit, fruit type, etc.) on population structures.

Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential for new knowledge to be gained from future Antarctic science is substantial. Therefore, the international Antarctic community came together to ‘scan the horizon’ to identify the highest priority scientific questions that researchers should aspire to answer in the next two decades and beyond. Wide consultation was a fundamental principle for the development of a collective, international view of the most important future directions in Antarctic science. From the many possibilities, the horizon scan identified 80 key scientific questions through structured debate, discussion, revision and voting. Questions were clustered into seven topics: i) Antarctic atmosphere and global connections, ii) Southern Ocean and sea ice in a warming world, iii) ice sheet and sea level, iv) the dynamic Earth, v) life on the precipice, vi) near-Earth space and beyond, and vii) human presence in Antarctica. Answering the questions identified by the horizon scan will require innovative experimental designs, novel applications of technology, invention of next-generation field and laboratory approaches, and expanded observing systems and networks. Unbiased, non-contaminating procedures will be required to retrieve the requisite air, biota, sediment, rock, ice and water samples. Sustained year-round access to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean will be essential to increase winter-time measurements. Improved models are needed that represent Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the Earth System, and provide predictions at spatial and temporal resolutions useful for decision making. A co-ordinated portfolio of cross-disciplinary science, based on new models of international collaboration, will be essential as no scientist, programme or nation can realize these aspirations alone.

Bulk metallic glasses foams are under consideration as highly functional material, such as energy absorbers or ultra-lightweight parts, due to their porous structure combined with desirable strengths at relatively low densities. Also, the characteristics of high surface area of foams synthesized from metallic glasses make them viable candidates as emerging materials such as high-sensitivity sensors, catalysts or hydrogen storage media. In current study, bulk metallic glass foams were fabricated by extruding powder mixtures comprised of metallic glasses blended with various kinds of fugitive phases followed by dissolution of the fugitive phases in an aqueous chemical solution, for example HNO3, to yield the final porous structure. As a result of dissolution process, porous metallic glass having uniformly distributed micro-scale porosity was fabricated using a sequential synthesis technique beginning with composite particles comprised of composites of MG and a fugitive phase followed by consolidation of the composite powders via warm extrusion.

In this study, Ti-based metallic glass matrix composites with high plasticity have been developed by controlling characteristic and volume fraction of primary phase embedded in the glass matrix. By careful alloy design procedure, the compositions of β/glass phases, which are in metastable equilibrium have been properly selected, therefore the mechanical properties can be tailored by selecting the alloy compositions between the composition of β and glass phases. The relation between the compressive yield strength and volume fraction of β phase is well described using the rule of mixtures.

The effect of minor addition (MA) of metallic alloying elements in Cu–Ti-rich Cu–Ti–Zr–Ni–Si bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) has been investigated. MA of elements having a relatively small positive enthalpy of mixing (partial substitution of Zr with Nb) leads to enhancement of compressive plasticity (up to about 5% of fracture strain) when the addition leads to improvement in glass-forming ability (GFA). If the GFA is reduced (partial substitution of Ni with Ag or Co), the plasticity is also reduced. On the one hand, the MA of elements having a relatively large positive enthalpy of mixing (partial substitution of Zr with Y) can lead to the liquid-state phase separation in Cu–Ti–Zr–Ni–Si(–Sn) BMGs, although the addition can lead to drastic deterioration in GFA and plasticity. This concept would be considered to be effective even in design of other BMG systems with tailored properties.

The correlation among apparent global plasticity, Poisson’s ratio, and fragility in monolithic bulk metallic glass (BMG) alloys has been investigated in the present study. The shear and bulk moduli in monolithic Cu-based BMG alloys have been measured by resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) and ultrasonic technique. The Cu43Zr43Al7Ag7 BMG alloy showing a large apparent global plasticity (∼8%) exhibits a high Poisson’s ratio when compared with that of Cu43Zr43Al7Be7 BMG alloy. In addition, the fragility of Cu-based BMG alloys can be obtained by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The fragility index m of Cu43Zr43Al7Ag7 BMG alloy is slightly larger than that of Cu43Zr43Al7Be7 BMG alloy. The correlation between Poisson’s ratio and fragility in BMG alloys can be presented by a simple relation of m − 17 = 14 (B∞/G∞ − 1). Poisson’s ratio and fragility might be regarded as an important parameter that controls global plasticity of glass-forming alloys.

The effect of replacement of Ti with Y or Nb in Ti-rich Ti–Zr–Be–Cu–Ni bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) has been investigated. The minor addition (MA) of Y (Y–Ti: +58 kJ/mol) induced phase separation into Y-rich crystalline particles and Ti-rich amorphous matrix, while the MA of Nb (Nb–Ti: +10 kJ/mol) led to nanocrystallization in Ti-rich BMGs with icosahedral nuclei. This result indicates that MA of elements having positive enthalpy of mixing can induce a different degree of instability in the single amorphous matrix depending on the amount of repulsive interaction energy. In particular, MA of Nb (up to 4 at.%) significantly increased the compressive fracture strain (ϵf) up to ∼9.35 ± 0.2%, which indicates that the plasticity of BMGs can be enhanced by the size-modulated icosahedral phase embedded in the amorphous matrix.

In this study we have investigated the efficiency of in vitro maturation (IVM) as a basic way to study the development of canine oocytes after in vitro fertilization (IVF). We decided, therefore, to perform two-part experiments. Firstly, experiment I compared the effects of TCM199 without fetal bovine serum (FBS) with TCM199 supplemented with 5% FBS on the in vitro nuclear maturation rate of canine oocytes. For the efficiency of meiotic development to the metaphase II (MII) stage, we found that 4.7% (4/64) of all oocytes grown in TCM199 without FBS developed to the MII stage compared with only 1.7% (1/59) of those grown in TCM199 with 5% FBS for 48 h. Therefore, FBS did not increase in vitro nuclear maturation. In experiment II, the cleavage rate of canine oocytes used for IVF was investigated following heparin treatment. Canine oocytes were fertilized in four groups: Fert–TALP medium without heparin (Fert I) or Fert–TALP medium supplemented with 10, 20 or 30 µg/ml heparin (Fert II, Fert III, Fert IV, respectively). Oocytes that were grown for 24 h in Fert I following fertilization showed the highest rate of all of the groups, 6.5% (5/77) and developed to the early morula stage. Markedly, the oocytes cultured in Fert I for 24 h following insemination had a higher rate of embryonic development than other groups. We can assert that, unlike findings in other mammals, heparin treatment in canine IVF does not increase the efficiency of the fertilization rate and is therefore not an important factor.

We present a simple method for preparing nanometer-sized, Ti-based amorphous powders from the Y28Ti28Al24Co20and Y36Ti20Al24Co20two-phase amorphous alloys. The initial microstructure of these rapidly quenched alloys is composed of Ti-based, amorphous, spherical, nanometer-sized particles embedded in a Y-based amorphous matrix, with particle size dependent on the alloy composition. The Ti-based powders were extracted from the two-phase amorphous alloys through selective dissolution of the Y-rich matrix in a 0.1 M HNO3solution. The powders of size ranging between 20 and 200 nm have smooth and spherical morphology, and exhibit different magnetic behavior than the bulk alloy of identical composition.

In the present study, we show by tailoring the combinations of the bonding energy among the elements in the liquid state, glass forming ability and compressive mechanical properties of the metallic glasses (MGs) can be improved. The mixing enthalpy values for binary atom pairs in the ternary Mg–Ni–Gd alloys (Mg–Ni: −12 kJ/mol, Mg–Gd: −27 kJ/mol, Ni–Gd: −161 kJ/mol) covers a wide range, although they are all negative. Mg-rich Mg–Ni–Gd (Mg > 70 at.%) alloys can be readily solidified into an amorphous state in a wide composition range up to 4 mm in diameter using the injection casting method; they exhibit the highest level of glass transition temperature Tg among those reported in Mg-based MGs so far. In particular, Mg-rich Mg–Ni–Gd bulk metallic glasses with 10–15 at.% Ni and 10–15 at.% Gd exhibit high strength over 900 MPa and large plastic strain up to ∼2% during compressive loading.

Fe element was partially substituted by Zr and Co in an attempt to enhance the glass-forming ability, and mechanical and soft magnetic properties of Fe74-xNb6B17Y3(Zr, Co)x (x = 3, 5, 8) amorphous alloys. Both partial replacements resulted in the enhancement of the glass-forming ability, and 3-mm diameter rods with a fully amorphous structure were prepared by a copper mold casting method. Zr and Co containing Fe-based bulk amorphous alloys exhibited high compressive fracture strength of about 4 and 3.5 GPa, respectively. However, Zr and Co induced different effects on the magnetic properties. Whereas the partial replacement of Fe by Zr was found to decrease dramatically the saturation magnetization, the partial replacement of Fe by Co provided an increase of about 25% of the saturation magnetization.

The effect of Ag substitution for Cu on the glass forming ability (GFA) and mechanical properties of Mg65Cu25−xAgxGd10 (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25) alloyswere investigated using x-ray diffractometry and differential scanning calorimetry.The partial substitution of Cu by Ag in Mg65Cu25Gd10 promoted the GFA. Mg65Cu20Ag5Gd10 bulk metallic glass (BMG) with a diameter of 11 mm could be fabricated by conventional copper-mold casting method in air atmosphere. The Mg65Cu20Ag5Gd10 BMG exhibits yielding and plastic deformation during compressive loading. The compressive fracture strength, total strain to failure, and plastic strain to failure of the Mg65Cu20Ag5Gd10 BMG were 909 MPa, 2.21% and 0.5%, respectively.

A new Mg–Cu–Ni–Ag–Zn–Y–Gd alloy with significantly improved glass forming ability (GFA) was developed in this work. Mg65Cu7.5Ni7.5Ag5Zn5Y5Gd5 bulk metallic glass (BMG) with a diameter of 14 mm was successfully fabricated by conventional copper mold casting method in air atmosphere. The critical cooling rate for glass formation was estimated to be about 20 K/s. When the maximum diameter for glass formation was compared with those previously reported for Mg-based alloys, the Mg65Cu7.5Ni7.5Ag5Zn5Y5Gd5 alloy showed the highest GFA. However, when the GFA was compared with those of Mg-TM-RE alloys (TM: Cu, Ni, Zn, and Ag; RE: Y and Gd), the significant improved GFA of the Mg–Cu–Ni–Zn–Ag–Y–Gd alloy cannot be properly represented by ΔTx, Trg, K, and γ parameters. In contrast to most of the Mg-based BMGs reported so far, the Mg65Cu7.5Ni7.5Ag5Zn5Y5Gd5 BMG exhibits yielding and plastic deformation during compressive loading.

Activation of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) thin films doped as n-type using selective ion implantation of phosphorous was performed employing field-enhanced rapid thermal annealing where rapid thermal annealing of halogen lamps is combined with alternating magnetic fields. The ion activation was evaluated using Hall effect measurements incorporating the resistivity, the charge carrier concentration, and the mobility. Statistical design of experiments is attempted in order to clarify the effects and interactions of processes variables on field-enhanced rapid thermal annealing towards ion activation: the three processing variables are furnace temperature, power of halogen lamp, and the alternating magnetic field. Hall effect measurements indicate that the furnace temperature and RTA power are found to be dominant in activating the doped polycrystalline Si in dose. The activation process results from the competition between charge carrier concentration and mobility: the increase in mobility is larger than the decrease in charge carrier concentration.

We present a supercritical CO2 (SCCO2) process for the preparation of nanoporous organosilicate thin films for ultralow dielectric constant materials. The porous structure was generated by SCCO2 extraction of a sacrificial poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) from a nanohybrid film, where the nanoscopic domains of PPG porogen are entrapped within the crosslinked poly(methylsilsesquioxane) (PMSSQ) matrix. As a comparison, porous structures generated by both the usual thermal decomposition (at approximately 450 °C) and by a SCCO2 process for 25 and 55 wt% porogen loadings were evaluated. It is found that the SCCO2 process is effective in removing the porogen phase at relatively low temperatures (<200 °C) through diffusion of the supercritical fluid into the phase-separated nanohybrids and selective extraction of the porogen phase. Pore morphologies generated from the two methods are compared from representative three-dimensional (3D) images built from small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) data.