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The sequence of LOD in the period from 1988 to 1991 (which was published in Bulletin B by IERS) is analyzed. Using the method of multiple filter, all the periodic terms are removed. Therefore, the rapid and outstanding variations of LOD that greater than 0.1ms in May, 1989 and Jan., 1990 are shown in the residual series. Because of many bursts of solar flares in the period of Mar.8 to 16 and Nov.7 to 17, there are geomagnetic storms in Mar. and Nov.1989. The strong geomagnetic variation probably induces the rapid variation of LOD.

As lack of forage resource, alternative roughage sources have been developed for ruminant production and their inclusion would exert a great effect on the dietary nutrition, consequently affecting animal performance. Four silages (corn silage (CS), corn stalk silage (SS), inoculated CS and inoculated SS) were separately offered to 60 Bohai Black cattle (15 cattle/group) during a 24-week finishing period, in which the growth performance, carcass trait, beef quality and oxidative stability of steers were determined. Neither silage material nor silage inoculant exerted a significant effect on the growth performance, carcass trait and oxidative stability of beef cattle (P>0.05). As to beef quality, cattle offered CS had higher (P<0.05) contents of intramuscular fat than those offered SS along with a lower moisture content (P<0.05). The contents (mg/g muscle) of C10 : 0, C12 : 0, C14 : 1, C16 : 0, C16 : 1, C18 : 1n9c, C18 : 2n6c, C18 : 3n3, C20 : 1n9, C20 : 2, C20 : 3n6, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids and n-6 fatty acids were higher (P<0.05) in the beef muscle of animals offered CS than those offered SS, whereas inoculated treatment made no difference (P>0.05) on the proximate components and fatty acids profile of beef muscle. There was neither an interaction (P>0.05) between inoculated treatment and silage material. There were no differences (P>0.05) in cholesterol content and meat quality traits in animals fed alternative silages. The collective findings suggest that it is not economical to substitute high-quality forage for relative low-quality forage in a high-concentrate finishing ration of beef cattle and silage inoculant inclusion would not exert a direct effect on animal performance.

Biomimetic motions are helpful to underwater vehicles and new conception airplanes design. The lattice Boltzmann method with an immersed boundary method technique is used to reveal the propulsion and lift enhancement mechanism of biomimetic motions. The flow past a sphere and an ellipsoidal flapping wing were validated respectively by comparing with other numerical methods. Then a single flapping wing and three flapping wings in a tandem arrangement are accomplished respectively. It founds that the mean thrust coefficient of three plate wings is bigger than the one of the single plate wing. Three ellipsoidal wings and single ellipsoidal wing are compared. It shows that the single ellipsoidal wing has larger thrust coefficients than the three ellipsoidal wings. Ellipsoidal flapping wing and plate wing were further compared to investigate the influence of wing shape. It indicates the mean thrust coefficient of the ellipsoidal wing is bigger than the plate wing.

Silicified microfossils preserved in chert nodules of the Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China have great potential to improve the biostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the Ediacaran System. This potential can be realized only if solid taxonomy is available. However, a systematic treatment of these microfossils (particularly acanthomorphic acritarchs) is lacking, greatly limiting their biostratigraphic potential. This paper presents the systematic paleontology of silicified microfossils from upper Doushantuo Formation (Member III) chert nodules at three sections in the Yangtze Gorges area. More than 90 species of microfossils are described, including 66 named taxa of acanthomorphs, seven named taxa of sphaeromorphs, 12 taxa of cyanobacterial filaments and coccoids, four taxa of algal thalli, and two species of tubular microfossils. Several acritarch species, including Appendisphaera clava n. sp., Mengeosphaera grandispina n. sp., M. stegosauriformis n. sp., Leiosphaeridia, and possibly Sinosphaera rupina, are shown to be multicellular organisms, consistent with the proposition that some Ediacaran acritarchs may be diapause eggs of early animals. This study supports the view that the Tianzhushania spinosa acanthomorph biozone is unique to the lower Doushantuo Formation in South China (and perhaps its equivalent in northern India) and that Ediacaran acanthomorph assemblages from Australia, Siberia, and East European Platform are younger than the Tianzhushania spinosa biozone. It is proposed that the first occurrence of Hocosphaeridium anozos, a species with easily recognizable morphology and wide taphonomic and geographic distributions, be used to define the second Doushantuo acanthomorph biozone succeeding the Tianzhushania spinosa biozone. New taxa described in this paper include three new genera (Bispinosphaera n. gen.; Yushengia n. gen.; and Granitunica n. gen.) and 40 new species: Appendisphaera? brevispina n. sp., A. clava n. sp., A.? hemisphaerica n. sp., A. longispina n. sp., A. setosa n. sp., Bispinosphaera peregrina n. gen. n. sp., Crinita paucispinosa n. sp., Ericiasphaera densispina n. sp., Hocosphaeridium dilatatum n. sp., Knollisphaeridium denticulatum n. sp., K. longilatum n. sp., K. obtusum n. sp., K. parvum n. sp., Mengeosphaera angusta n. sp., M. bellula n. sp., M. cf. bellula n. sp., M. constricta n. sp., M.? cuspidata n. sp., M.? gracilis n. sp., M. grandispina n. sp., M. latibasis n. sp., M. minima n. sp., M. spicata n. sp., M. spinula n. sp., M. stegosauriformis n. sp., M. triangularis n. sp., M. uniformis n. sp., Sinosphaera asteriformis n. sp., Tanarium acus n. sp., T. elegans n. sp., T. longitubulare n. sp., T.? minimum n. sp., T. obesum n. sp., T. varium n. sp., Urasphaera fungiformis n. sp., U. nupta n. sp., Yushengia ramispina n. gen. n. sp., Granitunica mcfaddeniae n. gen. n. sp., Osculosphaera arcelliformis n. sp., and O. membranifera n. sp.

Objectives: Mental arithmetic is essential to daily life. Researchers have explored the mechanisms that underlie mental arithmetic. Whether mental arithmetic fact retrieval is dependent on surface modality or knowledge format is still highly debated. Chinese individuals typically use a procedure strategy for addition; and they typically use a rote verbal strategy for multiplication. This provides a way to examine the effect of surface modality on different arithmetic operations. Methods: We used a series of neuropsychological tests (i.e., general cognitive, language processing, numerical processing, addition, and multiplication in visual and auditory conditions) for a patient who had experienced a left frontotemporal stroke. Results: The patient had language production impairment; but preserved verbal processing concerning basic numerical abilities. Moreover, the patient had preserved multiplication in the auditory presentation rather than in the visual presentation. The patient suffered from impairments in an addition task, regardless of visual or auditory presentation. Conclusions: The findings suggest that mental multiplication could be characterized as a form of modality-dependent processing, which was accessed through auditory input. The learning strategy of multiplication table recitation could shape the verbal memory of multiplication leading to persistence of the auditory module. (JINS, 2017, 23, 1–8)

Geochronological, elemental and isotopic data of the Dashizhuzi granites and lamprophyre dykes from the eastern Hebei – western Liaoning on the northern North China Craton (NCC) provide an insight into the nature of their magma sources and subcontinental lithospheric mantle. The Dashizhuzi granites have an emplacement age of 226 Ma. They have enriched lithospheric mantle type 1 (EM1-like) Sr–Nd isotopic compositions, and have distinctive features of high Na2O and Sr and low Y with high Sr/Y and (La/Yb)N ratios. These characteristics show that the Dashizhuzi granites originated directly from melting of mafic lower crust composed of pre-existing ancient crustal and enriched mantle-derived juvenile crustal materials at normal continental crustal depth of 33–40 km. The lamprophyre dykes are dated at 167 Ma, and can be divided into two groups. The Group 1 dykes have variable Sr–Nd isotopic compositions and mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB-) like Th/U, Ba/Th and Ce/Pb ratios, whereas the Group 2 dykes have enriched Sr–Nd isotopic compositions and notable high Co, Cr, MgO and low Al2O3 characteristics. These distinctive features suggest that the Group 1 dykes were derived from a relatively fertile lithospheric mantle source (garnet-facies amphibole-bearing lherzolite) which has experienced variable degrees of asthenospheric mantle-derived melt–peridotite interaction prior to melting. However, the Group 2 dykes were derived from an ancient garnet-facies phlogopite and/or amphibole-bearing lherzolite lithospheric mantle. Thinning of the Early Mesozoic lithospheric mantle beneath the northern NCC is dominantly through melt–peridotite interaction and thermo-mechanical erosion prior to Middle Jurassic time. The chemical compositions have been modified at the bottom of the lithospheric mantle through melt–peridotite interaction processes.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of a Crop Circle sensor-based precision nitrogen (N) management (PNM) strategy in different winter wheat cropping systems under on-farm conditions in North China Plain (NCP). Four farmer’s fields were selected for on-farm experiments in Laoling County, Shandong Province of NCP in 2015-2016. In each field, the PNM strategy was evaluated in two winter wheat cropping systems: farmer’s conventional management (FCM) and regional optimum crop management (ROCM). In each cropping system, there were two N management strategies: 1) FCM or ROCM; 2) PNM. The results indicated that the PNM strategy significantly increased partial factor productivity (PFP) by 29% in the FCM system, but did not have any significant improvement in the ROCM system. The ROCM system, using either regional optimum N management or PNM, significantly increased both grain yield and PFP than the FCM system.

It has been well established that better educated individuals enjoy better health and longevity. In theory, the educational gradients in health could be flattening if diminishing returns to improved average education levels and the influence of earlier population health interventions outweigh the gradient-steepening effects of new medical and health technologies. This paper documents how the gradients are evolving in China, a rapidly developing country, about which little is known on this topic. Based on recent mortality data and nationally representative health surveys, we find large and, in some cases, steepening educational gradients. We also find that the gradients vary by cohort, gender and region. Further, we find that the gradients can only partially be accounted for by economic factors. These patterns highlight the double disadvantage of those with low education, and suggest the importance of policy interventions that foster both aspects of human capital for them.

Non-biomineralizing Ediacaran macrofossils are rare in carbonate facies, but they offer valuable information about their three-dimensional internal anatomy and can broaden our view about their taphonomy and palaeoecology. In this study, we report a new Ediacaran fossil, Curviacus ediacaranus new genus and species, from bituminous limestone of the Shibantan Member of the Dengying Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area of South China. Curviacus is reconstructed as a benthic modular organism consisting of serially arranged and crescent-shaped chambers. The chambers are confined by chamber walls that are replicated by calcispars, and are filled by micritic sediments. Such modular body construction is broadly similar to the co-occurring Yangtziramulus zhangii and other Ediacaran modular fossils, such as Palaeopascichnus. The preservation style of Curviacus is similar to Yangtziramulus, although the phylogenetic affinities of both genera remain unresolved. The new fossil adds to the diversity of Ediacaran modular organisms.

We consider nonparametric identification and estimation of truncated regression models with unknown conditional heteroskedasticity. The existing methods (e.g., Chen (2010, Review of Economic Studies 77, 127–153)) that ignore heteroskedasticity often result in inconsistent estimators of regression functions. In this paper, we show that both the regression and heteroskedasticity functions are identified in a location-scale setting. Based on our constructive identification results, we propose kernel-based estimators of regression and heteroskedasticity functions and show that the estimators are asymptotically normally distributed. Our simulations demonstrate that our new method performs well in finite samples. In particular, we confirm that in the presence of heteroskedasticity, our new estimator of the regression function has a much smaller bias than Chen’s (2010, Review of Economic Studies 77, 127–153) estimator.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

The constitutive equation was established based on the consideration of strain compensation to describe the hot deformation behavior of low carbon reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steels at the temperatures of 850–1050 °C and the strain rates of 0.01–10 s−1. The result indicates that the flow stress is increased with the increase of strain rate but decreased with increase of deformation temperature. During the hot deformation process, the increase of temperature is beneficial to attain the complete dynamic recrystallization (DRX). However, excessively high temperature leads to grow up of dynamic recrystallized grain. Higher strain rate leads to finer recrystallized grains. The material constants (α, n, A) and deformation activation energy (Q) are calculated by the regression analysis. The increase of strain caused the decrease of Q, indicating the DRX occurred more easily. In addition, the developed constitutive equation could accurately predict the hot deformation behavior of the low carbon RAFM steel.

A compact nanosecond pulsed X-ray source is described. The X-ray source consists of two important subassemblies: a high-voltage pulse generator and an X-ray diode. The high-voltage pulse generator is designed based on the principle of triple resonance circuit producing a high-voltage pulse across the X-ray diode with amplitude of up to 500 kV. The X-ray diode is a sealed transmission target X-ray tube. Its cathode is comb structure formed from thin tungsten sheets with thickness 50 µm, while its target is made of 100 µm titanium film. The X-ray dose at a distance of 20 cm from the diode is 20 mR per pulse, while the diode voltage is 512 kV. In the case, the full-width at half-maximum of the X-ray pulse is ~5 ns.

This article outlines the evolution of a rescue team in responding to adenovirus prevention with a deployable field hospital. The local governments mobilized a shelter hospital and a rescue team consisting of 59 members to assist with rescue and response efforts after an epidemic outbreak of adenovirus. We describe and evaluate the challenges of preparing for deployment, field hospital maintenance, treatment mode, and primary treatment methods. The field hospital established at the rescue scene consisted of a medical command vehicle, a computed tomography shelter, an X-ray shelter, a special laboratory shelter, an oxygen and electricity supply vehicle, and epidemic prevention and protection equipment. The rescue team comprised paramedics, physicians, X-ray technicians, respiratory therapists, and logistical personnel. In 22 days, more than 3000 patients with suspected adenovirus infection underwent initial examinations. All patients were properly treated, and no deaths occurred. After emergency measures were implemented, the spread of adenovirus was eventually controlled. An emergency involving infectious diseases in less-developed regions demands the rapid development of a field facility with specialized medical personnel when local hospital facilities are either unavailable or unusable. An appropriate and detailed prearranged action plan is important for infectious diseases prevention. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;page 1 of 6)

The study reported in this Research Communication was carried out to examine how parity and milking time affected donkey milk yield under a typical Chinese production system. Eighteen Jiangyue breed donkeys with good health condition, aged between 6 and 9 years, and with parities 3 and 4, were selected. Milk production was measured commencing from the fourth week post-foaling, with a total data collection of 170 d in milk (lactation length). Mean milk yield of the donkeys used in this study was 3·0 kg/donkey/d. Results showed milk yield decreased with days in milk from 3·3 kg/donkey/d at the start of the study, to 2·2 kg/donkey/d by the end of the 170 d. Parity 3 donkeys produced 22% more milk than parity 4 donkeys (3·3 kg/donkey/d vs 2·7 kg/donkey/d). The information provided by this study should aid producers in estimating the expected milk yields from individual donkey, and better predict milk yield over the course of a production cycle.

In 2014, the first two authors proved an extension to modules of a theorem of Camillo and Yu that an exchange ring has stable range 1 if and only if every regular element is unit-regular. Here, we give a Morita context version of a stronger theorem. The definition of regular elements in a module goes back to Zelmanowitz in 1972, but the notion of a unit-regular element in a module is new. In this paper, we study unit-regular elements and give several characterizations of them in terms of “stable” elements and “lifting” elements. Along the way, we give natural extensions to the module case of many results about unit-regular rings. The paper concludes with a discussion of when the endomorphism ring of a unit-regular module is a unit-regular ring.

Formation of a nanometer-scale oxide surface layer is common when a material is exposed to oxygen-containing environment. Employing aberration-corrected analytical transmission electron microscopy and using single crystal SnSe as an example, we show that for an alloy, a second thin amorphous layer can appear underneath the outmost oxide layer. This inner amorphous layer is not oxide based, but instead originates from solid-state amorphization of the base alloy when its free energy rises to above that of the metastable amorphous state; which is a result of the composition shift due to the preferential depletion of the oxidizing species, in our case, the outgoing Sn reacting with the oxygen atmosphere.