First record of a spindle cowry Crenovolva (Ovulidae, Gastropoda) from Bulleji, Karachi, on the gorgonian coral Muricella sp. and with a note on their association

Attached to hard substrata on our shores occur the branching colonies of gorgonian corals of the genus Muricella (Fig. 1A, Pl. 1B, C, D). Since there is no report on this genus from Pakistan this report be taken as the first record from here. The family Ovulidae comprises several hundred species of marine gastropods, all of which appear to be obligate associates of cnidarians as stated by Robertson (1970) and Hadfield (1976); the present ovulid gastropod genus Crenovolva lives exclusively on the gorgonians (Morton, 1989). Tirmizi and Zehra (1984) recorded thirty-two families of gastropods from Pakistan, but not any representative of the Ovulidae, so the material at hand may be the first record from Pakistan. Since we are unable to reach to specific level the material is being reported as unspecified.

Impact of mangrove conversion

The article presents the impact of mangrove conversion on fisheries and on coastal areas. The mangrove areas which serve as nursery grounds for important species of fish and crustaceans are also rich feeding ground for many species from various trophic levels. Thus, the destruction of mangroves could affect the availability of fry and broodstock and, consequently, aquaculture production and fisheries. While in coastal areas, the destruction of mangroves increased the risk of coastal erosion from storm surges and winds, accelerates the erosion of riverbanks, exposes acid sulfate soils, leading to poor production and mass mortality of stocks, and affects the freshwater supply through salt intrusion upstream among others.

Bunga rus bunga roides , A Record New to China ( Xizang AR) with a Note on Trimeresurus tibeta nus( Plate Ⅵ, lower)

1998 年在西藏墨脱县海拔1000 m 左右地方采到成年雌性环蛇1 号, 系我国新纪录。该蛇全长/ 尾长(mm) 1095/ 112 (尾尖断) 。通身背面黑褐色, 后3/ 4 有由背鳞白色点斑缀成的窄横纹约40 个; 腹面浅黑 色, 每隔3 或4 枚腹鳞有不规则的黄白色横斑。尾背有少数不完整的白色纹, 但尾腹面有7 条很明显的横斑。头 部斑纹与M. Smith (1943 : 410) 描述一致, 可能由于蛇龄较老而不清晰。背鳞通身15 行, 脊鳞略扩大; 腹鳞 233 , 尾下鳞35 (略低于文献记载的44～51 , 可能与尾尖断有关) , 除前端第三、四两枚成单外, 其余均成对。 没有颊鳞; 眶前鳞1 , 眶后鳞2 ; 颞鳞1 + 2 ; 上唇鳞7 (22223 式) ; 下唇鳞7 , 第一对在颏鳞后彼此相接, 前4 对 接前颔片; 前颔片大于后颔片, 后者后半介一小鳞。检查一侧, 除前沟牙及其预备牙外, 没有发现其他上颌齿。

Microrasbora Annandale, a new genus record in China, with description of a new species (Teleostei: Cyprinidae)

A new species of genus Microrasbora Annandale (1918), M. microphthalma, is described from the Nanwan River, a tributary of the Ruili River, Irrawaddy drainage, in southwest Yunnan province, China. This new species is the first record of the genus Microras

Two new species and a new record of the genus Sinogastromyzon (Teleostei: Balitoridae) from Yunnan, China

Two new species and a new record of Sinogastromyzon are described from Lixianjiang River of Yunnan province, China. Sinogastromyzon lixianjiangensis, new species, can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: pectoral fin with XIII-XIV, 15-17 rays; pelvic fin with X-XI, 10-12 rays; 60-65 lateral-line scales; no scales on the dorsum of paired fins or the region between axilla of pectoral fin and pelvic-fin origin; tip of pelvic fin close to anus; tip of anal fin close to caudal-fin base; anal-fin origin nearer to the caudal-fin base than to the posterior pelvic-fin base; anus nearer to anal-fin origin than to the posterior pelvic-fin base; dorsal side of the body with 9-11 black blotches. Sinogastromyzon macrostoma, new species can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: pectoral fin with XII-XIV, 12-15 rays; pelvic fin with VII-IX, 11-13 rays; 48-56 lateral-line scales; mouth extremely big, slightly arched; no scales on the dorsum of paired fins or the region between axilla of pectoral fin and pelvic-fin origin; tip of pelvic fin far beyond anus; tip of anal fin far from caudal-fin base; anal-fin origin about midway between the posterior pelvic-fin base and caudal-fin base; anus nearer to posterior pelvic-fin base than to anal-fin origin; dorsal side of the body uniformly gray, without regular blotches in formalin preserved specimen. Sinogastromyzon cf. multiocellum is firstly recorded in China.

Experimental demonstration of a record high 11.25Gb/s real-time optical OFDM transceiver supporting 25km SMF end-to-end transmission in simple IMDD systems.

The fastest ever 11.25Gb/s real-time FPGA-based optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OOFDM) transceivers utilizing 64-QAM encoding/decoding and significantly improved variable power loading are experimentally demonstrated, for the first time, incorporating advanced functionalities of on-line performance monitoring, live system parameter optimization and channel estimation. Real-time end-to-end transmission of an 11.25Gb/s 64-QAM-encoded OOFDM signal with a high electrical spectral efficiency of 5.625bit/s/Hz over 25km of standard and MetroCor single-mode fibres is successfully achieved with respective power penalties of 0.3dB and -0.2dB at a BER of 1.0 x 10(-3) in a directly modulated DFB laser-based intensity modulation and direct detection system without in-line optical amplification and chromatic dispersion compensation. The impacts of variable power loading as well as electrical and optical components on the transmission performance of the demonstrated transceivers are experimentally explored in detail. In addition, numerical simulations also show that variable power loading is an extremely effective means of escalating system performance to its maximum potential.

Agyrius watanabeorum Ishikawa, a New Record Genus and Species from China and Vietnam(Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

瓦氏阿猎蝽Agyrius watanabeorum 为日本半翅目学者石川忠2002 年根据采自泰国北部的标本所命 名，其描记较为详细，配有正模的整体黑白照片和部分特征图，但对该种的阳茎结构没有提及。在研 究中国和越南的猎蝽时，我们发现了该种。本文中我们重新描述了瓦氏阿猎蝽，绘制了较详细的整体 图和局部特征图。阿猎蝽属Agyrius Stål, 1863 为中国和越南的新记录属，瓦氏阿猎蝽Agyrius watanabeorum Ishikawa, 2002 为中国和越南的新记录种；其在中国和越南的分布也是该属种最北的分布 记录。

Making a shallow network deep: Conversion of a boosting classifier into a decision tree by boolean optimisation

This paper presents a novel way to speed up the evaluation time of a boosting classifier. We make a shallow (flat) network deep (hierarchical) by growing a tree from decision regions of a given boosting classifier. The tree provides many short paths for speeding up while preserving the reasonably smooth decision regions of the boosting classifier for good generalisation. For converting a boosting classifier into a decision tree, we formulate a Boolean optimization problem, which has been previously studied for circuit design but limited to a small number of binary variables. In this work, a novel optimisation method is proposed for, firstly, several tens of variables i.e. weak-learners of a boosting classifier, and then any larger number of weak-learners by using a two-stage cascade. Experiments on the synthetic and face image data sets show that the obtained tree achieves a significant speed up both over a standard boosting classifier and the Fast-exit-a previously described method for speeding-up boosting classification, at the same accuracy. The proposed method as a general meta-algorithm is also useful for a boosting cascade, where it speeds up individual stage classifiers by different gains. The proposed method is further demonstrated for fast-moving object tracking and segmentation problems. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Photovoltaic measurements in carbon nanotube - Amorphous silicon core/shell nanowire

Carbon nanotube is one of the promising materials for exploring new concepts in solar energy conversion and photon detection. Here, we report the first experimental realization of a single core/shell nanowire photovoltaic device (2-4μm) based on carbon nanotube and amorphous silicon. Specifically, a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNTs) was utilized as the metallic core, on which n-type and intrinsic amorphous silicon layers were coated. A Schottky junction was formed by sputtering a transparent conducting indium-tin-oxide layer to wrap the outer shell of the device. The single coaxial nanowire device showed typical diode ratifying properties with turn-on voltage around 1V and a rectification ratio of 104 when biased at ±2V. Under illumination, it gave an open circuit voltage of ∼0.26V. Our study has shown a simple and useful platform for gaining insight into nanowire charge transport and collection properties. Fundamental studies of such nanowire device are important for improving the efficiency of future nanowire solar cells or photo detectors. © 2012 IEEE.

Soft ferrite used as thermal-magnetic conversion intermedium in the flux pumping technology

Recent progress in material science has proved that high-temperature superconductors, such as bulk melt-processed yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) single domains, have a great potential to trap significant magnetic fields. In this paper, we will describe a novel method of YBCO magnetization that only requires the applied field to be at the level of a permanent magnet. Instead of applying a pulsed high magnetic field on the YBCO, a thermally actuated material (TAM), such as Mg0.15}hbox{Cu}0.15} hbox{Zn0.7 Ti0.04}Fe1.96boxO4, has been used as an intermedium to create a travelling magnetic field by changing the local temperature so that the local permeability is changed to build up the magnetization of the YBCO gradually after multiple pumping cycles. It is well known that the relative permeability of ferrite is a function of temperature and its electromagnetic properties can be greatly changed by adding dopants such as Mg or Ti; therefore, it is considered to be the most promising TAM for future flux pumping technology. Ferrite samples were fabricated by means of the conventional ceramic method with different dopants. Zinc and iron oxides were used as raw materials. The samples were sintered at 1100 C, 1200 C} , and 1300 C. The relative permeability of the samples was measured at temperatures ranging from 77 to 300 K. This work investigates the variation of the magnetic properties of ferrites with different heat treatments and doping elements and gives a smart insight into finding better ferrites suitable for flux pumping technology. © 2002-2011 IEEE.

Enhanced down conversion of photons emitted by photoexcited Er xY2-xSi2O7 films grown on silicon

Photon cutting with efficiencies up to 400% is demonstrated in Erx Y2-x Si2 O7 films grown on Si and its concentration dependence is analyzed. The cutting is the result of cross-energy-transfer processes occurring within a single rare earth (Er3+) acting as both sensitizer and activator. Similarities with upconversion are revealed and possible applications in solar cells are discussed. © 2010 The American Physical Society.