Temperature-Dependent Persistence of Human Norovirus Within Oysters (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Crassostrea virginica</Emphasis>)

This study characterizes the persistence of human norovirus in Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) held at different seawater temperatures. Oysters were contaminated with human norovirus GI.1 (Norwalk strain 8FIIa) by exposing them to virus-contaminated water at 15 °C, and subsequently holding them at 7, 15, and 25 °C for up to 6 weeks. Viral RNA was extracted from oyster tissue and hemocytes and quantitated by RT-qPCR. Norovirus was detected in hemocytes and oysters held at 7 and 15 °C for 6 weeks and in hemocytes and oysters held at 25 °C for up to 2 and 4 weeks, respectively. Results confirm that NoV is quite persistent within oysters and demonstrate that cooler water temperatures extend norovirus clearance times. This study suggests a need for substantial relay times to remove norovirus from contaminated shellfish and suggests that regulatory authorities should consider the effects of water temperature after a suspected episodic norovirus-contamination event.     

Detection and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Hepatitis E Virus in a Canadian Swine Production Network

Viral contamination along the production chain is a significant concern in both food safety and livestock health. Pigs have been reported to act as a reservoir for zoonotic viruses, sometimes emerging ones, and epidemiological studies have shown direct links between the consumption of uncooked pork offal and cases of hepatitis caused by the hepatitis E virus (HEV) genotype 3 in humans. The presence of HEV in swine herds has been reported, but its dissemination in pork production environments is still unknown. To investigate viral contamination sources in the swine industry, 452 environment and fecal samples, including samples from livestock transportation vehicles, were collected over a period of 11 months from ten farms and one slaughterhouse that together represent a single production network. Hepatitis E virus RNA was detected by nested RT-PCR in 32 samples from both inside and outside farm buildings, on trucks, and, mostly, from fomites collected in the slaughterhouse yard, such as on a utility vehicle. Phylogenetic analysis showed a wide diversity of HEV genotype 3 strains, similar to human and swine strains previously found. According to the results of this study, the movements of trucks and utility vehicles might play an important role in HEV dissemination on a slaughterhouse site and throughout an entire network.     

基于RS和GIS的贺兰山高山林线初步研究

论文基于RS和GIS方法,运用Landsat 8-OLI影像和DEM数据获取贺兰山高山林线分布信息,并对林线植被NDVI特征和林线分布特征进行研究。结果表明：1）生长季初期山地针叶林和高山灌丛草甸NDVI值差异明显,两种植被NDVI栅格像元的分布及其数量在山地垂直空间的变化指示出贺兰山2 900~3 200 m海拔范围出现高山林线现象。2）贺兰山高山林线主要分布在中部顶峰周边区域,林线上边界平均高度3 106 m,下边界平均高度3 022 m。主山脊两侧区域的东坡和北坡林线的平均高度较高,西坡和南坡低。3）山地针叶林与高山灌丛草甸NDVI栅格数据可以作为影像分类数据的补充,对影像分类方式确定的高山林线分布区域进行修正,能够提高林线提取的准确性。     

钢渣吸附剂吸附机理的研究

采用间歇振荡法,研究了钢渣吸附模式、选择性以及等温吸附方程。结果表明,钢渣对阳离子的吸附容量远远大于对阴离子的吸附容量,其吸附模式属于离子交换;其对重金属离子具有一定的吸附选择性,其选择性能与离子的电性、电价、离子半径和水化热等因素有关;钢渣吸附Pb2＋是单层吸附,符合Langmuir等温吸附方程。     

A multidisciplinary study of archaeological grape seeds

We report here the first integrated investigation of both ancient DNA and proteins in archaeobotanical samples: medieval grape (Vitis vinifera L.) seeds, preserved by anoxic waterlogging, from an early medieval (seventh–eighth century A.D.) Byzantine rural settlement in the Salento area (Lecce, Italy) and a late (fourteenth–fifteenth century A.D.) medieval site in York (England). Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry documented good carbohydrate preservation, whilst amino acid analysis revealed approximately 90% loss of the original protein content. In the York sample, mass spectrometry-based sequencing identified several degraded ancient peptides. Nuclear microsatellite locus (VVS2, VVMD5, VVMD7, ZAG62 and ZAG79) analysis permitted a tentative comparison of the genetic profiles of both the ancient samples with the modern varieties. The ability to recover microsatellite DNA has potential to improve biomolecular analysis on ancient grape seeds from archaeological contexts. Although the investigation of five microsatellite loci cannot assign the ancient samples to any geographic region or modern cultivar, the results allow speculation that the material from York was not grown locally, whilst the remains from Supersano could represent a trace of contacts with the eastern Mediterranean.     

Why do <Emphasis Type="Italic">Manduca sexta</Emphasis> feed from white flowers? Innate and learnt colour preferences in a hawkmoth

Flower colour is an important signal used by flowering plants to attract pollinators. Many anthophilous insects have an innate colour preference that is displayed during their first foraging bouts and which could help them locate their first nectar reward. Nevertheless, learning capabilities allow insects to switch their colour preferences with experience and thus, to track variation in floral nectar availability. Manduca sexta, a crepuscular hawkmoth widely studied as a model system for sensory physiology and behaviour, visits mostly white, night-blooming flowers lacking UV reflectance throughout its range in the Americas. Nevertheless, the spectral sensitivity of the feeding behaviour of naïve moths shows a narrow peak around 450 nm wavelengths, suggesting an innate preference for the colour blue. Under more natural conditions (i.e. broader wavelength reflectance) than in previous studies, we used dual choice experiments with blue- and white-coloured feeders to investigate the innate preference of naïve moths and trained different groups to each colour to evaluate their learning capabilities. We confirmed the innate preference of M. sexta for blue and found that these moths were able to switch colour preferences after training experience. These results unequivocally demonstrate that M. sexta moths innately prefer blue when presented against white flower models and offer novel experimental evidence supporting the hypothesis that learning capabilities could be involved in their foraging preferences, including their widely observed attraction to white flowers in nature.     

秦皇岛市大气颗粒物来源解析研究

对秦皇岛海港区和山海关区的颗粒物来源进行了定性识别和定量解析。并考察了重点污染源——我国最大的煤码头秦皇岛港煤码头对市区扬尘和TSP中的碳的影响。得出秦皇岛市海港区和山海关区TSP主要来源为风沙、扬尘,其次为燃煤飞灰和海盐尘。气象条件特别是风向对TSP各源分担率的影响很大,秦皇岛市煤码头是该区域TSP中碳的主要来源。不同气象条件下,煤码头对海港区和山海关区的影响程度明显不一样。      

Prevalence of Rotaviruses Groups A and C in Egyptian Children and Aquatic Environment

The objective of this study is to compare the prevalence of rotaviruses groups A and C in Egyptian children and aquatic environment. From 110 stool specimens of children with acute diarrhea and using RT-PCR, 35 samples (31.8 %) were positive for human rotavirus group A and 15 samples (13.6 %) were positive for human rotavirus group C. From 96 samples collected from Zenin wastewater treatment plant over a 2-year period (November 2009–October 2011) and using RT-PCR, rotavirus group A was detected in (4/24) 16.7 %, (5/24) 20.8 %, (4/24) 16.7 %, and (4/24) 16.7 %, while rotavirus group C was detected in (2/24) 8.3 %, (3/24) 12.5 %, (3/24) 12.5 %, and (0/24) 0 % in raw sewage, after primary sedimentation, after secondary sedimentation, and after final chlorination, respectively. Moreover, from 96 samples collected from El-Giza water treatment plant over a 2-year period (November 2009–October 2011), rotavirus group A was detected in (7/24) 29.2 %, (6/24) 25 %, (5/24) 20.8 %, and (3/24) 12.5 %, while rotavirus group C was detected in (3/24) 12.5 %, (1/24) 4.2 %, (1/24) 4.2 %, and (0/24) 0 % in raw Nile water, after sedimentation, after sand filtration, and after final chlorination, respectively. Using SYBR Green real-time RT-PCR, the number of human rotavirus group A genome or infectious units was higher than rotavirus group C. VP6 sequence analysis of the RT-PCR positive rotavirus group C samples revealed that four clinical specimens and three environmental samples showed similar sequences clustered with Moduganari/Human Nigerian strain AF 325806 with 98 % homology, and two clinical specimens and one environmental sample showed similar sequences clustered with Dhaka CB/Human Bangladesh strain AY 754826 with 97 % homology.     

基于ArcIMS实现切片式WebGIS及其在地震应急中的应用

利用ArcIMS提供的地图服务功能,实现切片式WebGIS,从而可以获得更稳定、更快速的系统应用,以及更友好的用户体验。文章提出了以ArcIMS为基础实现切片式WebGIS的基本原理与思路,实现了所涉及的关键技术,主要包括:地图切片与实际地理坐标间的转换、地图切片的生成、地图切片的存储管理策略及网络发布与应用等。文章就基于切片式WebGIS实现地震应急指挥系统进行了简单的讨论,并且利用本文讨论的原理和方法,实现了地震应急日常运维管理系统,在实际工作中得到成功应用。     

Managing the cost of emissions for durable,carbon-containing products

We recognize that carbon-containing products do not decay and release CO₂ to the atmosphere instantaneously, but release that carbon over extended periods of time. For an initial production of a stock of carbon-containing product, we can treat the release as a probability distribution covering the time over which that release occurs. The probability distribution that models the carbon release predicts the amount of carbon that is released as a function of time. The use of a probability distribution in accounting for the release of carbon to the atmosphere realizes a fundamental shift from the idea that all carbon-containing products contribute to a single pool that decays in proportion to the size of the stock. Viewing the release of carbon as a continuous probabilistic process introduces some theoretical opportunities not available in the former paradigm by taking advantage of other fields where the use of probability distributions has been prevalent for many decades. In particular, theories developed in the life insurance industry can guide the development of pricing and payment structures for dealing with the costs associated with the oxidation and release of carbon. These costs can arise from a number of proposed policies (cap and trade, carbon tax, social cost of carbon, etc), but in the end they all result in there being a cost to releasing carbon to the atmosphere. If there is a cost to the emitter for CO₂ emissions, payment for that cost will depend on both when the emissions actually occur and how payment is made. Here we outline some of the pricing and payment structures that are possible which result from analogous theories in the life insurance industry. This development not only provides useful constructs for valuing sequestered carbon, but highlights additional motivations for employing a probability distribution approach to unify accounting methodologies for stocks of carbon containing products.