Does aging affect the period of the circadian pacemaker in vertebrates?

Dedicated to Prof. Jürgen Aschoff on the occasion of his 80th birthday.     

Maternal sex chromosome mosaicism diagnosed by amniocentesis and percutaneous umbilical cord sampling

We present a remarkable chain of events in which percutaneous umbilical cord sampling was performed in an attempt to clarify a situation of possible fetal sex chromosome mosaicism in an amniotic fluid culture and led to the discovery that the mother herself had a 45,X/46,XX/ 47.XXX chromosome constitution. This may have simply represented the chance concurrence of pseudo-mosaicism in the amniotic fluid culture of a woman with an abnormal sex chromosome constitution, but it is also possible that the 45,X colony was maternal in origin. Although clearly a most unusual circumstance, the possibility should be kept in mind when termination of a pregnancy is being considered because of apparent mosaicism in a prenatal diagnostic study.     

Total nitrogen and community turnover determine phosphorus use efficiency of phytoplankton along nutrient gradients in plateau lakes

Numerous studies support that biodiversity predict most to ecosystem functioning, but whether other factors display a more significant direct impact on ecosystem functioning than biodiversity remains to be studied. We investigated 398 samples of the phytoplankton phosphorus resource use efficiency (RUE_P = chlorophyll-a concentration/dissolved phosphate) across two seasons in nine plateau lakes in Yunnan Province, China. We identified the main contributors to phytoplankton RUE_P and analyzed their potential influences on RUE_P at different lake trophic states. The results showed that total nitrogen (TN) contributed the most to RUE_P among the nine lakes, whereas community turnover (measured as community dissimilarity) explained the most to RUE_P variation across the two seasons. Moreover, TN also influenced RUE_P by affecting biodiversity. Species richness (SR), functional attribute diversity (FAD2), and dendrogram-based functional diversity (FDc) were positively correlated with RUE_P in both seasons, while evenness was negatively correlated with RUE_P at the end of the rainy season. We also found that the effects of biodiversity and turnover on RUE_P depended on the lake trophic states. SR and FAD2 were positively correlated with RUE_P in all three trophic states. Evenness showed a negative correlation with RUE_P at the eutrophic and oligotrophic levels, but a positive correlation at the mesotrophic level. Turnover had a negative influence on RUE_P at the eutrophic level, but a positive influence at the mesotrophic and oligotrophic levels. Overall, our results suggested that multiple factors and nutrient states need to be considered when the ecosystem functioning predictors and the biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships are investigated.     

环境经济投入产出模型的应用发展

本文回顾和报投入产出模型在我国环境经济领域的应用发展情况。并在简要介绍环境经济投入产出模型分类和基本原理的基础上，结合工作和学习实践，总结并提出了环境经济投入产出模型在今后的应用和发展方向。     

旋流雾化水雾膜提高文丘里水膜除尘效率的实验研究

应用低压旋流雾化水喷嘴 (不同运行压力和组合方式 )实验研究了旋流雾化水雾膜对除尘效率的影响。研究结果表明 :喉部喷嘴布置及运行情况直接影响喉部水雾均匀度和除尘效率 ;采用两两相向的低压旋流雾化水喷嘴组合布置 ,保证喷嘴入口水压力为 0 2～ 0 4MPa ,液气比为 0 1～ 0 2L/m3 时 ,除尘效率将大大提高 ,且有节水节能和脱硫效果。     

新型环境材料提铯离子筛的研制

合成六种有离子交换性能的焦磷杂多酸盐 ,其中焦磷钼酸锆在 3M硝酸介质中有较高的化学稳定性和铯离子交换容量。经正交实验确定了合成焦磷钼酸锆的最佳工艺条件。以焦磷钼酸锆为基体 ,通过特殊的化学制筛手段 ,制成了对铯离子有高效选择性、抗强酸的提铯离子筛 ,可适用于直接从高放废液中提取铯。     

First observation of different diffusion coefficients for two conformers in a neat liquid

 Self-diffusion coefficients were studied for the highly polar liquid N-methylformamide at pressures up to 200 MPa between the melting pressure curves and 420 K by the spin-echo method. N-Methylformamide exists as a mixture of two conformers in the neat liquid. These conformers have large differences at lower temperatures in their dynamic and structural properties. The self-diffusion coefficient of the cis-conformer being 17% lower than that of the trans-conformer at the same T and p. This is the first observation of such an effect. The experimental study is supported by Monte Carlo (MC) calculations which show that the first neighbors around a cis conformer are arranged differently than in an all trans liquid. The difference leads in the simulations to a much lower dielectric constant for the trans-cis mixture and might also explain the retardation of diffusion for the cis conformer. Received: 15 November 1999 / Accepted in revised form: 28 February 2000