Sorex bedfordiae has the Smallest Diploid Chromosome Number of the XY Group in the Genus Sorex (Mammalia, Soricidae)

Karyological data on the lesser stripe-backed shrew, Sorex bedfordiae, were obtained from four specimens collected on Mt. Laojun, Lijiang District, Yunnan Province, China. Three of the four S. bedfordiae specimens had karyotypes consisting of 2n=26, NFa=4

Influencing factors of successful transitions towards product-service systems: A simulation approach

Product-Service Systems (PSS) are new business strategies moving and extending the product value towards its functional usage and related required services. From a theoretical point of view the PSS concept is known since a decade and many Authors reported reasonable possible success factors: higher profits over the entire life-cycle, diminished environmental burden, and localization of required services. Nevertheless the PSS promises remain quantitatively unproven relaying on a simple theory that involves a few constructs with some empirical grounding, but that is limited by weak conceptualization, few propositions, and/or rough underlying theoretical logic. A plausible interpretation to analyze the possible evolution of a PSS strategy could be considering it as a new business proposition competing on a traditional Product-Oriented (PO) market, assumed at its own equilibrium state at a given time. The analysis of the dynamics associated to a possible transition from a traditional PO to a PSS strategy allows investigating the main parameters and variables influencing an eventual successful adoption. This research is worthwhile because organizations undergoing fundamental PSS strategy are concerned about change and inertia key processes which, despite equilibrium theory and because of negative feedback loops, could undermine, economically, the return of their PSS proposition. In this paper Authors propose a qualitative System Dynamics (SD) approach by considering the PSS as a perturbation of an existing PO market featured by a set of known parameters. The proposed model incorporates several PSS factors able to influence the success of a PSS proposition under a set of given and justified assumptions, attempting to place this business strategy in a dynamic framework.

The geometry and the number of contacts of monodisperse sphere packs using X-ray tomography

The three-dimensional structure of very large samples of monodisperse bead packs is studied by means of X-Ray Computed Tomography. We retrieve the coordinatesofeach bead inthe pack and wecalculate the average coordination number by using the tomographic images to single out the neighbors in contact. The results are compared with the average coordination number obtained in Aste et al. (2005) by using a deconvolution technique. We show that the coordination number increases with the packing fraction, varying between 6.9 and 8.2 for packing fractions between 0.59 and 0.64. © 2005 Taylor & Francis Group.

The electrochemical behavior of a system with a limited number of molecules

In this paper, based on Einstein relationship between diffusion and random walk, the electrochemical behavior of a system with a limited number of molecules was simulated and explored theoretically. The transition of the current vs time responses from discrete to continuous was clearly obtained as the number of redox molecules increased from 10 to 10(6).

Effect of pore ring number of zeolites on catalytic performance of Mo/Zeolite in methane aromatization under non-oxygen condition

The catalytic behavior of Mo-based zeolite catalysts with different pore structure and size, particularly with 8 membered ring ( M R), 10 M R, coexisted 10 and 12 M R, and 12 M R, was studied in methane aromatization under the conditions of SV=1500 ml/(g.h), p=0.1 MPa and T = 973 K. It was found that the catalytic performance is correlated with the pore structure of the zeolite supports. The zeolites that possess 10 MR or 10 and 12 MR pore structure with a pore diameter equal to or slightly larger than the dynamic diameter of benzene molecule, such as ZSM-5, ZSM-11, ZRP-1 and MCM-22, are fine supports. Among the tested zeolite supports, MCM-22 exhibits the highest activity and selectivity for benzene. A methane conversion of 10.5% with benzene selectivity of 80% was achieved over Mo/MCM-22 catalyst. The Mo/ERS-7 catalyst with 8 MR (0.45 nm) does not show any activity in methane dehydro-aromatization, while Mo/JQX-1 and Mo/SBA-15 catalysts with 12 MR pore exhibit little activity in the reaction. It can be concluded that the zeolites with 10 MR pore or coexisted 10 and 12 MR, having pore size equal to or slightly larger than the dynamic diameter of benzene molecule, are fine supports for methane activation and aromatization.