Icefish (Salangidae) as an indicator of anthropogenic pollution in freshwater systems using nitrogen isotope analysis

We investigated differences in delta N-15 of seston and icefishes from seven freshwater ecosystems with different trophic states in China. An increase of seston delta N-15 values was accompanied by an increase of total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. Significantly positive correlations were observed between delta N-15 of icefishes and delta N-15 of seston, total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. This study demonstrated that icefishes could be preferred indicators of anthropogenic contamination in test systems because they integrated waste inputs over long time periods and reflected the movement of waste through the pelagic food chain.

Rapid bioassay as indicator of potentially harmful effects for dioxin-like compounds in sample of Ya-Er Lake, China: Requirements for clean-up and comparison to chemical analysis

A rapid bioassay was established measuring the extracts of wildlife samples which were taken from Ya-Er Lake area, China. In extracts of these samples containing PCDD/Fs and PCBs, bioassay and chemically derived TCDD-equivalents (TEQs) were nearly identical. Our results indicate this bioassay is an excellent complement to chemical residue analysis and a useful tool in understanding the complex interactions of halogenated hydrocarbons. However, it must be mentioned that the proper prior clean-up method is very important for using the bioassay.

process trustworthiness as a capability indicator for measuring and improving software trustworthiness

Chinese Acad Sci, ISCAS Lab Internet Software Technologies

Nitrogen-15 signals of leaf-litter-soil continuum as a possible indicator of ecosystem nitrogen saturation by forest succession and N loads

National Key Research and Development Program [2010CB833502]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [30600071, 40601097, 30590381]; Chinese Academy of Sciences [KZCX2-YW-432, O7V70080SZ, LENOM07LS-01]; GUCAS [O85101PM03]

Application of rough set-based analysis to extract spatial relationship indicator rules: An example of land use in Pearl River Delta

Spatial relations, reflecting the complex association between geographical phenomena and environments, are very important in the solution of geographical issues. Different spatial relations can be expressed by indicators which are useful for the analysis of geographical issues. Urbanization, an important geographical issue, is considered in this paper. The spatial relationship indicators concerning urbanization are expressed with a decision table. Thereafter, the spatial relationship indicator rules are extracted based on the application of rough set theory. The extraction process of spatial relationship indicator rules is illustrated with data from the urban and rural areas of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, located in the Pearl River Delta. Land use vector data of 1995 and 2000 are used. The extracted spatial relationship indicator rules of 1995 are used to identify the urban and rural areas in Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Macao. The identification accuracy is approximately 96.3%. Similar procedures are used to extract the spatial relationship indicator rules of 2000 for the urban and rural areas in Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Macao. An identification accuracy of about 83.6% is obtained.

Methylene blue as an indicator for sensitive electrochemical detection of adenosine based on aptamer switch

In this paper, a simple, label-free and regenerative method was proposed to study the interaction between aptamer and small molecule by using methylene blue (MB+) as an electrochemical indicator. A thiolated capture probe containing twelve bases was firstly self-assembled on gold electrode by gold-sulfur affinity. Aptamer probe containing thirty two bases, which was designed to hybridize with capture DNA sequence and specifically recognize adenosine, was then immobilized on the electrode surface by hybridization reaction. MB+ was abundantly adsorbed on the aptamer probe by the specific interaction between MB+ and guanine base in aptamer probe. MB+-anchored aptamer probe can be forced to dissociate from the sensing interface after adenosine triggered structure switching of the aptamer. The peak current of MB+ linearly decreased with the concentration of adenosine over a range of 2 x 10 (8)- x 10 (6) M with a detection limit of 1 x 10 (8) M. In addition, we examined the selectivity of this electrochemical biosensor for cytidine, uridine and guanosine that belonged to the nucleosides family and possessed 1 similar structure with adenosine.

THE COMPOUND EYE AS AN INDICATOR OF AGE AND SHRINKAGE IN ANTARCTIC KRILL

Laboratory studies have shown that Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) shrink if maintained in conditions of low food availability. Recent studies have also demonstrated that E. superba individuals may be shrinking in the field during winter. If krill shrink during the winter, conclusions reached by length-frequency analysis may be unreliable because smaller animals may not necessarily be younger animals. In this study, the correlation between the body-length and the crystalline cone number of the compound eye was examined. Samples collected in the late summer show an apparent linear relationship between crystalline cone number and body-length. From a laboratory population, it appears that when krill shrink the crystalline cone number remains relatively unchanged. If crystalline cone number is little affected by shrinking, then the crystalline cone number may be a more reliable indicator of age than body-length alone. The ratio of crystalline cone number to body-length offers a method for detecting the effect of shrinking in natural populations of krill. On the basis of the crystalline cone number count, it appears from a field collection in early spring that E. superba do shrink during winter.