A new procedure for canning of squids

A new canning procedure for squid mantles aimed at increasing the fill and retaining the sweet flavour of squids was evolved. In the new method, after blanching smaller mantles are inserted inside bigger ones to reduce voids and thus increase the fill to 56% and above as compared to 46% when packed as rings. In addition, spent blanching medium containing desirable flavour constituents of squid was modified and used as covering medium which increased the flavour of canned product.

New rotenoids from roots of Mirabilis jalapa

Four new rotenoids named mirabijalone A-D-1) (1-4), together with 9-O-methyl-4-hydroxyboeravinone B (5), boeravinone C (6) and F (7), and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-methylisoquinoline-7,8-diol (8), were isolated from the roots of Mirabilis jalapa. The structures of these compounds were determined on the basis of their HR-EI-MS, IR, UV, H-1- and C-13-NMR (DEPT). and 2D NMR (HMQC, HMBC, NOESY) data. Among them, 1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-methylisoquinoline-7,8-diol (8) showed a 48% inhibition against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase at 210 mug/ml.

Bibarba bibarba: A new genus and species of Cobitinae (Pisces : Cypriniformes : Cobitidae) from Guangxi Province (China)

A new genus of Cobitinae, Bibarba gen. n., and a new species, B. bibarba sp. n., were discovered and are described for the Chengjiang River, a tributary of the Hongshuihe River in Guangxi Province of southern China. This river region is characterized by a Karst landscape, and the river that is inhabited by the new genus is a slowly moving stream with arenaceous and cobblestone beds. The new genus resembles Cobitis Linnaeus, 1758 (subfamily Cobitinae) in the shape and pigmentation pattern of their body, the absence of scales on their head, and the presence of a suborbital spine, but differs from it by a single Lamina circularis on the third pectoral fin ray instead of on the base of the second pectoral fin ray; two pairs of barbels (one rostral pair and one maxillo-mandibular pair) instead of three pairs of barbels (one rostral pair, one maxillary pair, and one maxillo-mandibular pair); a relatively thick and short suborbital spine with a strong medio-lateral process instead of a suborbital spine without or with a weakly formed medio-lateral process as in Cobitis; and the lack of a black stripe extending from the occiput through the eye to the insertion of the rostral barbel. The first two characters have not been reported in any other genus of the subfamily Cobitinae. A morphometric character analysis based on PCA reveals differences between B. bibarba and C. sinensis in body size, barbel length, interorbital width, pectoral fin length in males, and the position of the dorsal and ventral fins. Type specimens of the new species are kept in the Freshwater Fishes Museum of the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, Hubei Province. (c) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Acrossocheilus malacopterus, a new non-barred species of cyprinid from South China

Acrossocheilus malacopterus n. sp. is described from the Yuan Jiang (Red River) and Zhu Jiang basins in I South China. It is separated from other congeners by a combination of the following characters: an inconspicuously stripped body, 16 circumpeduncular scales, 47-49 lateral line scales, depth of caudal peduncle 7.8-9.3% SL, snout length 37.9-41.7% SL, dorsal-fin length 18.7-21.0% SL and last simple dorsal-fin ray slender with 8-10 fine serrations along posterior margin.

Qianlabeo striatus, a new genus and species of Labeoninae from Guizhou Province, China (Teleostei : Cyprinidae)

Qianlabeo striatus gen. et sp. nov. is described from a stream tributary to the Beipan Jiang of the upper Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) drainage in Matou, Anshun County, Guizhou Province, China. This monotypic genus is mainly characterized by its oromadibular morphology, namely an upper lip only present in and fully adnate to the side of the upper jaw, not covered by the pendulous rostral fold; the median portion of the upper jaw lacking an upper lip but bearing a thin, flexible and cornified cutting edge that is fully covered by the pendulous rostral fold; a postlabial groove prolonged, extended anteromedially close to the anteromost point of the midline of the lower lip but not to meet with its counterpart. The type species of this genus, Q. striatus has a longitudinal dark stripe along the side of the body.

A new genus and species of freshwater monostiliferous hoplonemertean (Nemertea, Enopla) from the People's Republic of China

A new genus and species of freshwater monostiliferous hoplonemertean, Limnemertes poyangensis gen. et sp. nov., from Poyang Lake, People's Republic of China, is described and illustrated. The taxon is compared and contrasted with previously described freshwater hoplonemerteans. This is the fourth species of freshwater nemertean to be described from China and the first recorded from Poyang Lake.

A new Schottky barrier structure of GaN-based ultraviolet photodetector

A new GaN-based ultraviolet photodetector with Schottky barrior structure is proposed. Comparied with the conventional i-GaN/n(+) -GaN structure, there is an additional thin n-AlGaN cap layer on the i-GaN in the new structure. The simulation result demonstrates that the new structure leads to an increased quantum efficiency in GaN photodetection, since the negative effect of surface states on the photodetector is reduced in the new structure. In addition, it is suggested that the performance of device with the new structure could be further improved by employing an even thinner AlGaN cap layer with higher carrier concentration.

A new interface anisotropic potential of zinc-blende semiconductor interface induced by lattice mismatch

A new interface anisotropic potential, which is proportional to the lattice mismatch of interfaces and has no fitting parameter, has been deduced for (001) zinc-blende semiconductor interfaces. The comparison with other interface models is given for GaAs/AlAs and GaAs/InAs interfaces. The strong influence of the interface anisotropic potential on the inplane optical anisotropy of GaAs/AlGaAs low dimensional structures is demonstrated theoretically within the envelope function approximation.

Adhesive strength of new thermal barrier coatings of rare earth zirconates

La2Zr2O7 (LZ) and La-2(Zr0.7Ce0.3)(2)O-7 (LZ7C3) as novel candidate materials for thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) were prepared by electron beam-physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD). The adhesive strength of the as-deposited LZ and LZ7C3 coatings were evaluated by transverse scratch test. Meanwhile, the factors affecting the critical load value were also investigated. The critical load value of LZ7C3 coating is larger than that of LZ coating, whereas both values of these two coatings are lower than that of the traditional coating material, i.e. 8 wt% yttria stabilized zirconia (8YSZ). The micro-cracks formed in the scratch channel can partially release the stress in the coating and then enhance the adhesive strength of the coating. The width of the scratch channel and the surface spallation after transverse scratch test are effective factors to evaluate the adhesive strength of LZ and LZ7C3 coatings.