Light histories influence the impacts of solar ultraviolet radiation on photosynthesis and growth in a marine diatom, Skeletonema costatum

Phytoplanktonic species acclimated to high light are known to show less photoinhibition. However, little has been documented on how cells grown under indoor conditions for decades without exposure to UV radiation (UVR, 280-400 nm) would respond differently to solar UVR compared to those in situ grown under natural solar radiation. Here, we have shown the comparative photosynthetic and growth responses to solar UVR in an indoor-(IS) and a naturally grown (WS) Skeletonema costatum type. In short-term experiment (<1 day), phi(PSII) and photosynthetic carbon fixation rate were more inhibited by UVR in the IS than in the WS cells. The rate of UVR-induced damages of PSII was faster and their repair was significantly slower in IS than in WS. Even under changing solar radiation simulated for vertical mixing, solar UVR-induced higher inhibition of photosynthetic rate in IS than in WS cells. During long-term (10 days) exposures to solar radiation, the specific growth rate was much lower in IS than WS at the beginning, then increased 3 days later to reach an equivalent level as that of WS. UVR-induced inhibition of photosynthetic carbon fixation in the IS was identical with that of WS at the end of the long-term exposure. The photosynthetic acclimation was not accompanied with increased contents of UV-absorbing compounds, indicating that repair processes for UVR-induced damages must have been accelerated or upgraded. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Elevated levels of urinary 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in male electrical and electronic equipment dismantling workers exposed to high concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and polychlorinated biphenyls

To investigate the occupational exposure levels to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), indoor dust (n = 3) in workshops and hair samples from male workers (n = 64) were collected at two electrical and electronic equipment waste (E-waste) dismantling factories located in the LQ area in east China in July 11-13, 2006. Pre- and postworkshift urines (64 of each) were also collected from the workers to study oxidative damage to DNA using 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) as a biomarker. The concentrations of PCDD/Fs, PCDD/F-WHO-TEQs, PBDEs, PCBs and PCB-WHO-TEQs were (50.0 +/- 8.1) x 10(3), 724.1 +/- 249.6, (27.5 +/- 5.8) x 10(6), (1.6 +/- 0.4) x 10(9), (26.2 +/- 3.0) x 10(3) pg/g dry weight (dw) in dust, and (2.6 +/- 0.6) x 10(3), 42.4 +/- 9.3, (870.8 +/- 205.4) x 10(3), (1.6 +/- 0.2) x 10(6), 41.5 +/- 5.5 pg/g dw in hair, respectively. The homologue and congener profiles in the samples demonstrated that high concentrations of PCDD/Fs, PBDEs, and PCBs were originated from open burning of E-waste. The 8-OHdG levels were detected at 6.40 +/- 1.64 mu mol/mol creatinine in preworkshift urines. However, the levels significantly increased to 24.55 +/- 5.96 mu mol/mol creatinine in postworkshift urines (p < 0.05). Then, it is concluded that there is a high cancer risk originated from oxidative stress indicated by the elevated 8-OHdG levels in the E-waste dismantling workers exposed to high concentrations of PCDD/Fs, PBDEs, and PCBs.

Dietary phosphorus requirement of juvenile black seabream, Sparus macrocephalus

A growth trial was conducted to estimate the optimum requirement of dietary available phosphorus (P) for black seabream (Sparus macrocephalus) in indoor net cages (1.5x1.0x1.0 m). Triplicate groups of black seabream (11.45 +/- 0.02 g) were fed diets containing graded levels (0.18, 0.36, 0.54, 0.72, 0.89 and 1.07%) of available P to satiation for 8 weeks. The basal diet (diet 1), containing 0.18% available P, was supplemented with graded levels of monosodium phosphate (NaH2PO4 2H(2)O) to formulate five experimental diets. The fish were fed twice daily (08:00 h and 16:00 h) and reared in seawater (salinity, 26-29 g l(-1)) at a temperature of 28 +/- 1 degrees C. Dissolved oxygen during the experiment was above 5 mg l(-1). The specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain (WG), feed efficiency (FE) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were all significantly improved by dietary phosphorus up to 0.54% (P<0.05) and then leveled off beyond this level. Hepatosomatic index (HSI) was inversely correlated with dietary phosphorus levels (P< 0.05). Efficiency of P utilization stabled in fish fed diets containing 0.18%-0.54% available P and then decreased dramatically with further supplementation of dietary phosphorus. Body composition analysis showed that the whole-body lipid, ash, calcium and phosphorus contents were all significantly affected by dietary available P concentration (P<0.05), however, no significance were found in whole-body calcium/phosphorus (Ca/P) ratios among all the treatments (P>0.05). Dietary phosphorus levels also affected the mineralization of vertebrae, skin and scale (P<0.05). Ca/P ratios in vertebrae and scale were not influenced by dietary P supplementation, while skin Ca/P ratio increased statistically with dietary available P levels (quadratic effect, P<0.001). The blood chemistry analysis showed that dietary available P had distinct effects on enzyme activities of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and plasma lysozyme (LSZ), as well as contents of triacyglycerol (TG) and total cholesterol (T-CHO) (P<0.05). Broken-line analysis showed maximum weight gain (WG) was obtained at dietary available P concentrations of 0.55%. Quadratic analysis based on P contents in whole fish, vertebrae or scale indicated that the requirements were 0.81, 0.87 and 0.88%, respectively. Signs of phosphorus deficiency were characterized by poor growth, slightly reduced mineralization and an increase in body lipid content. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Experimental investigation of antenna selection and transmit beamforming for capacity enhancement in 3×3 MIMO-enabled radio-over-fiber DAS

This paper examines the impact of two simple precoding schemes on the capacity of 3 × 3 MIMO-enabled radio-over-fiber (RoF) distributed antenna systems (DAS) with excess transmit antennas. Specifically, phase-shift-only transmit beamforming and antenna selection are compared. It is found that for two typical indoor propagation scenarios, both strategies offer double the capacity gain that non-precoding MIMO DAS offers over traditional MIMO collocated antenna systems (CAS), with capacity improvements of 3.2-4.2 bit/s/Hz. Further, antenna selection shows similar performance to phase-only beamforming, differing by <0.5% and offering median capacities of 94 bit/s/Hz and 82 bit/s/Hz in the two propagation scenarios respectively. Because optical DASs enable precise, centralized control of remote antennas, they are well suited for implementing these beamforming schemes. Antenna selection, in particular, is a simple and effective means of increasing MIMO DAS capacity. © 2013 IEEE.

Experimental evaluation of layout designs for 3 × 3 MIMO-enabled radio-over-fiber distributed antenna systems

This paper experimentally demonstrates that, for two representative indoor distributed antenna system (DAS) scenarios, existing radio-over-fiber (RoF) DAS installations can enhance the capacity advantages of broadband 3 × 3 multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radio services without requiring additional fibers or multiplexing schemes. This is true for both single-and multiple-user cases with a single base station and multiple base stations. First, a theoretical example is used to illustrate that there is a negligible improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when using a MIMO DAS with all N spatial streams replicated at N RAUs, compared with a MIMO DAS with only one of the N streams replicated at each RAU for N ≤ 4. It is then experimentally confirmed that a 3 × 3 MIMO DAS offers improved capacity and throughput compared with a 3 × 3 MIMO collocated antenna system (CAS) for the single-user case in two typical indoor DAS scenarios, i.e., one with significant line-of-sight (LOS) propagation and the other with entirely non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation. The improvement in capacity is 3.2% and 4.1%, respectively. Then, experimental channel measurements confirm that there is a negligible capacity increase in the 3 × 3 configuration with three spatial streams per antenna unit over the 3 × 3 configuration with a single spatial stream per antenna unit. The former layout is observed to provide an increase of ∼1% in the median channel capacity in both the single-and multiple-user scenarios. With 20 users and three base stations, a MIMO DAS using the latter layout offers median aggregate capacities of 259 and 233 bit/s/Hz for the LOS and NLOS scenarios, respectively. It is concluded that DAS installations can further enhance the capacity offered to multiple users by multiple 3 × 3 MIMO-enabled base stations. Further, designing future DAS systems to support broadband 3 × 3 MIMO systems may not require significant upgrades to existing installations for small numbers of spatial streams. © 2013 IEEE.

Effects of solar UV radiation on morphology and photosynthesis of filamentous cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis

To study the impact of solar UV radiation (UVR) (280 to 400 nm) on the filamentous cyanobacterium Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis, we examined the morphological changes and photosynthetic performance using an indoor-grown strain (which had not been exposed to sunlight for decades) and an outdoor-grown strain (which had been grown under sunlight for decades) while they were cultured with three solar radiation treatments: PAB (photosynthetically active radiation [PAR] plus UVR; 280 to 700 nm), PA (PAR plus UV-A; 320 to 700 nm), and P (PAR only; 400 to 700 nm). Solar UVR broke the spiral filaments of A. platensis exposed to full solar radiation in short-term low-cell-density cultures. This breakage was observed after 2 h for the indoor strain but after 4 to 6 h for the outdoor strain. Filament breakage also occurred in the cultures exposed to PAR alone; however, the extent of breakage was less than that observed for filaments exposed to full solar radiation. The spiral filaments broke and compressed when high-cell-density cultures were exposed to full solar radiation during long-term experiments. When UV-B was screened off, the filaments initially broke, but they elongated and became loosely arranged later (i.e., there were fewer spirals per unit of filament length). When UVR was filtered out, the spiral structure hardly broke or became looser. Photosynthetic 0, evolution in the presence of UVR was significantly suppressed in the indoor strain compared to the outdoor strain. UVR-induced inhibition increased with exposure time, and it was significantly lower in the outdoor strain. The concentration of UV-absorbing compounds was low in both strains, and there was no significant change in the amount regardless of the radiation treatment, suggesting that these compounds were not effectively used as protection against solar UVR. Self-shading, on the other hand, produced by compression of the spirals over adaptive time scales, seems to play an important role in protecting this species against deleterious UVR. Our findings suggest that the increase in UV-B irradiance due to ozone depletion not only might affect photosynthesis but also might alter the morphological development of filamentous cyanobacteria during acclimation or over adaptive time scales.

Evaluation of soot particles of biomass fuels with endocrine-modulating activity in yeast-based bioassay

Exposure to indoor air pollution (IAP) from the combustion of biomass fuels is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. In the work discussed in this paper we evaluated the endocrine activity of soot particles from biomass fuels by using yeast bioassay. These pollutants could have beta-galactosidase activity with a relative potency (RP) about 10(-7)-10(-9) that of estradiol. Soot particles from wood and straw combustion only partially induced beta-galactosidase activity whereas others produced fully inductive activity in the yeast assay system. These pollutants did not have estrogen antagonist and progesterone agonist activity within the defined concentration range. However, these pollutants require 2-4 orders of magnitude higher IC50 to inhibit the activity of progesterone in a similar dose-response manner to mifepristone. We therefore propose that the endocrine activity of some environmental pollutants may be because of inhibition of the progesterone receptor (hPR). GC-MS results showed that substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds, substituted phenolic compounds and derivatives, aromatic carbonyl compounds, and phytosteroids in these soot particles may be mimicking endogenous hormones.

Biologically inspired visual odometer for navigation of a flying robot

Experimental research in biology has uncovered a number of different ways in which flying insects use cues derived from optical flow for navigational purposes, such as safe landing, obstacle avoidance and dead reckoning. In this study, we use a synthetic methodology to gain additional insights into the navigation behavior of bees. Specifically, we focus on the mechanisms of course stabilization behavior and visually mediated odometer by using a biological model of motion detector for the purpose of long-range goal-directed navigation in 3D environment. The performance tests of the proposed navigation method are conducted by using a blimp-type flying robot platform in uncontrolled indoor environments. The result shows that the proposed mechanism can be used for goal-directed navigation. Further analysis is also conducted in order to enhance the navigation performance of autonomous aerial vehicles. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Culture of the terrestrial cyanobacterium, Nostoc flagelliforme (Cyanophyceae), under aquatic conditions

Both colonies and free-living cells of the terrestrial cyanobacterium, Nostoc flagelliforme (Berk. & Curtis) Bornet & Flahault, were cultured under aquatic conditions to develop the techniques for the cultivation and restoration of this endangered resource. The colonial filaments disintegrated with their sheaths ruptured in about 2 days without any desiccating treatments. Periodic desiccation played an important role in preventing the alga from decomposing, with greater delays to sheath rupture with a higher frequency of exposure to air. The bacterial numbers in the culture treated with seven periods of desiccation per day were about 50% less compared with the cultures without the desiccation treatment. When bacteria in the culture were controlled, the colonial filaments did not disintegrate and maintained the integrity of their sheath for about 20 days even without the desiccation treatments, indicating the importance of desiccation for N. flagelliforme to prevent them from being disintegrated by bacteria. On the other hand, when free-living cells obtained from crushed colonial filaments were cultured in liquid medium, they developed into single filaments with sheaths, within which multiple filaments were formed later on as a colony. Such colonial filaments were developed at 15, 25, and 30degreesC at either 20 or 60 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1); colonies did not develop at 180 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1), though this light level resulted in the most rapid growth of the cells. Conditions of 60 mumol photons.m(-2).s(-1) and 25degrees C appeared to result in the best colonial development and faster growth of the sheath-held colonies of N. flagelliforme when cultured indoor under aquatic conditions.

Cementing mechanism of algal crusts from desert area

34-, 17-, 4-, 1.5-year old natural algal crusts were collected from Shapotou Scientific Station of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 40-day old field and greenhouse artificial algal crusts were in situ developed in the same sandy soil and the same place (37degrees27'N, 104degrees57'E). Their different cohesions both against wind force and pressure were measured respectively by a sandy wind-tunnel experiment and a penetrometer. On the basis of these algal crusts, the cementing mechanism was revealed from many subjects and different levels. The results showed that in the indoor artificial crusts with the weakest cohesion bunchy algal filaments were distributed in the surface of the crusts, produced few extracellular polymers (EPS), the binding capacity of the crusts just accomplished by mechanical bundle of algal filaments. For field crusts, most filaments grew toward the deeper layers of algal crusts, secreted much more EPS, and when organic matter content was more than 2.4 times of chlorophyll a, overmuch organic matter (primarily is EPS) began to gather onto the surface of the crusts and formed an organic layer in the relatively lower micro-area, and this made the crust cohesion increase 2.5 times. When the organic layer adsorbed and intercepted amounts of dusts, soil particles and sand grains scattered down from wind, it changed gradually into an inorganic layer in which inorganic matter dominated, and this made the crusts cohesion further enhanced 2-6 times. For crust-building species Microcoleus vaginatus, 88.5% of EPS were the acidic components, 78% were the acidic proteglycan of 380 kD. The uronic acid content accounted for 8% of proteglycan, and their free carboxyls were important sites of binding with metal cations from surrounding matrix.

Growth of juvenile Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis fed live and formulated diets

Triplicate groups of 3.8-g juvenile Chinese sturgeon Acipenser sinensis were reared for 8 weeks in indoor flow-through systems on one of four diets: a natural diet consisting solely of live tubificid worms, a semimoist practical diet, a dry practical diet, and a purified diet. The formulated diets were prepared in the laboratory and had protein contents of 47-50%. Except for the group fed the purified diet, fish showed high survival (94-96%) and growth (final weight, 41-45 g). Survival and specific growth rate did not differ significantly between groups fed the natural, semimoist, and dry practical diets, but were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in fish fed the purified diet. Proximate analysis showed that fish fed purified diet had lower protein and lipid levels but a higher moisture content than fish fed other diets. Our results demonstrated that growth and survival of cultured juvenile Chinese sturgeon fed practical diets were comparable with those fed live tubificid worms. However, Chinese sturgeon fed a purified diet showed inferior growth and survival.

草本植物对土质路面径流水动力学特征及水沙过程的影响

通过室内人工模拟降雨,研究了草本植物不同覆盖度土质路面的径流水动力学特征以及路面的产流产沙过程。结果表明,路面径流的弗劳德数和雷诺数属层流的急流范畴,并且二者与径流流速及过水断面单位能量相同,均随草本植物覆盖度的增大而减小。而Darcy-weisbach阻力系数以及曼宁糙率系数则均随覆盖度的增大而增大。在不同覆盖度土质路面上,径流量随径流时间急剧增大后趋于稳定,且二者符合移轴双曲线关系,而输沙率则经历了先增大后减小的过程。随着植被覆盖度的增大,土质道路的水分入渗率逐渐增大,而径流量、输沙率及含沙率均逐渐减小。该研究表明土质路面种植的草本植物具有较好的水土保持功能,为阐明草本植物与土壤侵蚀的关系提供了理论依据。

薄层水流水力特性试验研究

对粘砂床面的薄层水流进行定床试验,研究了不同流量、坡度下薄层水流的水力学参数(流态、水深、流速及阻力系数)随坡度和流量的变化规律。结果表明:水流雷诺数Re随着坡度和流量的增大而增大,但Re主要是由流量决定的,坡度对Re的影响不大,水流流态基本上在过渡流区和紊流区;平均水深-单宽流量,流速-单宽流量,水流阻力系数-单宽流量均成很好的幂函数形式,平均水深和流速均随单宽流量的增大而增大,阻力系数随着单宽流量的增大而减小。

花椒水浸液及酚酸类化感物质对作物种子萌发和幼苗生长的影响效应

花椒（Zanthoxylum piperitum）是川西干旱河谷地区的重要经济作物，化感作用是花椒连作障碍的原因之一。系统研究花椒化感作用有助于深入理解并最终解决花椒连作障碍。本文通过研究花椒叶、林下土壤浸提液及单一纯化感物质对花椒幼苗生长、苜蓿种子萌发及幼苗生长的影响作用，从生理生化角度揭示浸提液及纯化感物质的作用方式。通过室外和室内模拟实验，对浸提液及纯化感物质的化感效应进行比较，为花椒连作障碍的解决和化感作用机制的深入理解提供依据。主要结果如下： 1.花椒叶及林下土壤浸提液对地下生物量影响作用强与对地上生物量的化感效应，两种浸提液的化感效应强度不同，叶浸提液作用表现更显著。其中在Y6、Y8 、T6和T8处理时，花椒幼苗地下生物量分别降低了31.2%、32.1%、31.6%和31.7%。 2.两种浸提液均能显著影响花椒幼苗体内的保护性酶活性，总体说来，在高浓度下抑制各种抗氧化物酶活性，幼苗体内丙二醛含量增加，幼苗受害严重；在较低浓度下，各种保护性酶活性有所增加，丙二醛含量减少，幼苗伤害减轻。同时，不同月份里，各种酶的活性高低显著不同，9月份的活性显著低于7月份的酶活性。对于养分含量的影响，Y8、T8的影响强度最大，分别使碳元素含量降低了27.8%和30.8%，使钾元素含量降低了34.7%和25.6%。 3.花椒叶及林下土壤浸提液对苜蓿种子萌发及幼苗生长有化感作用，表现在最终萌发率、不同物质代谢及保护性酶活性的差异上。两种浸提液对苜蓿种子萌发过程中蛋白质的含量均无显著性影响，对淀粉和可溶性糖的影响作用类似，高浓度处理无明显化感效应，较低浓度处理显著降低二者在萌发苜蓿种子中的含量。Y2、Y4与T4处理分别使可溶性糖含量减少了32.3%、29.1%和18.8%，Y2与T2处理分别使淀粉含量降低了29.3%和26.8%。 4.苜蓿种子在4种单一化感物质最高浓度即10-3 mol•L-1处理下，萌发率显著降低，半数萌发时间推迟，随着处理浓度降低，抑制作用逐渐减弱，当降低到10-6 mol•L-1时，又能够表现出对苜蓿种子萌发的促进作用。 5.纯化感物质在10-6 mol•L-1时使苜蓿幼苗叶片的保护性酶活性显著升高，丙二醛含量显著降低；在10-3 mol•L-1时使苜蓿叶片中保护性酶活性显著降低，丙二醛含量增加，膜脂过氧化程度加重。 Zanthoxylum piperitum is one of the most important cash crops and has been extensively cultivated in Eastern Tibetan Plateau, especially in the fragile dry valley areas. Allelopathic effects could be a reason for Z. piperitum’s continuous cropping impediment. Systemmatically research of the effect of Z. piperitum allelopathy could help to comprehend the continuous cropping impediment. The allelopathic effects on seedlings growth and seed germination of aqueous extracts of Zanthoxylum piperitum and phenolic allelochemicals were studied, and the action mechanism of the two substances was also discussed from physiology. Indoor and outdoor experiments were set to compare the difference between aqueous extracts and pure allelochemicals. The main results showed that: 1. The aqueous extracts of leaf and soil had significant allelopathic effects on aboveground and underground biomass, but the effect on underground biomass was stronger than the effect on underground evidently. Treated with Y6、Y8 、T6 and T8, the underground biomass was reduced 31.2%、32.1%、31.6% and 31.7% respectively. 2. The activity of activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase were significantly reduced, while the content of MDA was increased and the seedlings were suffered stronger, when treated by the high concentration; but at the low concentration, these were reversed. And then, at the different month, the activities of antioxidant enzyme were significantly distinct. As for the contents of nutrient element, Y8、T8 had the more intensive effects than other treatments. 3. The results showed that the two types of aqueous extracts had significant allelopathic effects on seed germination, substances metabolize and the activity of antioxidant enzyme. But the aqueous extracts had no effects on the content of protein, while had the similar effects on the content of starch and soluble sugar. At Y2、Y4 and T4, the content of soluble sugar decreased 32.3%、29.1% and 18.8% respectively. 4. Treated with 10-3 mol•L-1 of the four allelochemicals, the seed germination of alfalfa was significantly inhibited. Ferulic acid, coumarin and vanillic acid at 10-3 mol•L-1 significantly reduced the activities of antioxidant enzyme, while the content of MDA in alfalfa seedling was significantly increased. The restrain effects became weakened with the treat concentration falled. However, ferulic acid, coumarin and vanillic acid could increase the activities of antioxidant enzyme at 10-6mol•L-1.