Leaf proteomic analysis of three rice heritable mutants after seed space flight

To explore the proteomic changes of heritable variant rice plants induced by space environment, three mutants were selected after seed space flight by comparing the phenotypes with their on-ground controls. R955 grew more tillers and became dwarf, 971-5 acquired higher grain yield and better stress resistance, 974-5 matured earlier. Leaf proteins were extracted during the tiller development and analyzed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE). More than 300 proteins were detected as reproducible Coomassie Brilliant Blue stained spots with pI values from around 4.0 to 7.0. Five proteins that changed significantly over the controls were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The main functions of these proteins were photosynthesis, stress defense and metabolism including RuBisCO activase, glycine rich RNA binding protein, peroxidase, triosephosphate isomerase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, which might be probably associated with the altered phenotypes. Quantitative analyses were also applied: less total protein spots and more down-regulated protein spots were detected in the mutants, indicating there might be a major loss of protein in heritable variant rice plants after seed space flight. These results may provide new insights to understand the biological effects of space environment to rice.     

A conceptual configuration of the lunar base bioregenerative life support system including soil-like substrate for growing plants

The paper presents a conceptual configuration of the lunar base bioregenerative life support system (LBLSS), including soil-like substrate (SLS) for growing plants. SLS makes it possible to combine the processes of plant growth and the utilization of plant waste. Plants are to be grown on SLS on the basis of 20 kg of dry SLS mass or 100 kg of wet SLS mass per square meter. The substrate is to be delivered to the base ready-made as part of the plant growth subsystem. Food for the crew was provided by prestored stock 24% and by plant growing system 76%. Total dry weight of the food is 631 g per day (2800 kcal/day) for one crew member (CM). The list of candidate plants to be grown under lunar BLSS conditions included 14 species: wheat, rice, soybean, peanuts, sweet pepper, carrots, tomatoes, coriander, cole, lettuce, radish, squash, onion and garlic. From the prestored stock the crew consumed canned fish, iodinated salt, sugar, beef sauce and seafood sauce. Our calculations show that to provide one CM with plant food requires the area of 47.5 m². The balance of substance is achieved by the removal dehydrated urine 59 g, feces 31 g, food waste 50 g, SLS 134 g, and also waters 86 g from system and introduction food 236 g, liquid potassium soap 4 g and mineral salts 120 g into system daily. To reduce system setup time the first plants could be sowed and germinated to a certain age on the Earth.     

CREAM: 70 days of flight from 2 launches in Antarctica

The Cosmic-Ray Energetics And Mass balloon-borne experiment has been launched twice in Antarctica, first in December 2004 and again in December 2005. It circumnavigated the South Pole three times during the first flight, which set a flight duration record of 42 days. A cumulative duration of 70 days within 13 months was achieved when the second flight completed 28 days during two circumnavigations of the Pole on 13 January 2006. Both the science instrument and support systems functioned extremely well, and a total 117 GB of data including 67 million science events were collected during these two flights. Preliminary analysis indicates that the data extend well above 100 TeV and follow reasonable power laws. The payload recovered from the first flight has been refurbished for the third flight in 2007, whereas the payload from the second flight is being refurbished to be ready for the fourth flight in 2008. Each flight will extend the reach of precise cosmic-ray composition measurements to energies not previously possible.     

Gamma-ray detector on board lunar mission Chang’E-1

Gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) is included in the payload of Chinese first lunar mission Chang’E-1 that will be launched in 2007. Specific objectives of the GRS are to map abundance of O, Si, Fe, Ti, U, Th, K, and perhaps, Mg, Al, and Ca to depths of about 20 cm. There are remarkable advantages for GRS application to remote sensing elemental materials over the entire lunar surface: large effective area and good ability for background rejection. We will describe the design of GRS and present its performance in this paper. Moreover, the GRS calibration will also be introduced.     

On the time of minimum ionization in the F2 region

Using measurements of the critical frequency of F2 region (f_oF2) the validity of the International Reference Ionosphere model to predict the time of minimum ionization is checked. Data obtained at different ionospheric stations have been considered. The CCIR and URSI options are used to model calculations. For CCIR option the results show that good predictions were obtained for about 40% of the considered cases. For the rest of the considered data, the model predicts the minimum at times earlier than that observed in the measurements. The percentages of good predictions obtained with URSI option are lower than those corresponding to CCIR one.     

几何非线性固体壳单元新列式的研究

通过定义广义应力，提出了一个改进的刚度矩阵，以克服固体壳元的厚度自锁问题；由一个基于广义应力的新的非线性变分泛函，推导了一个用于几何非线性分析的十八节点固体壳单元，精心选择低、高阶应力插值模式，保证二者正交，且对应于低阶项的刚度阵与减缩积分单元相当，对应高阶项的刚度阵用于克服单元的零能模式且可推得显式，从而显著提高了计算效率，此外该单元还拥有优秀的收敛性能，即使在非常大的载荷步下也能取得好的收敛结果。     

Combustion modeling in a model combustor

The flow-field of a propane-air diffusion flame combustor with interior and exterior conjugate heat transfers was numerically studied.Results obtained from four combustion models,combined with the re-normalization group(RNG) k-ε turbulence model,discrete ordinates radiation model and enhanced wall treatment are presented and discussed.The results are compared with a comprehensive database obtained from a series of experimental measurements.The flow patterns and the recirculation zone length in the combustion chamber are accurately predicted,and the mean axial velocities are in fairly good agreement with the experimental data,particularly at downstream sections for all four combustion models.The mean temperature profiles are captured fairly well by the eddy dissipation(EDS),probability density function(PDF),and laminar flamelet combustion models.However,the EDS-finite-rate combustion model fails to provide an acceptable temperature field.In general,the flamelet model illustrates little superiority over the PDF model,and to some extent the PDF model shows better performance than the EDS model.      

Slow Solar Wind: Observations and Modeling

While it is certain that the fast solar wind originates from coronal holes, where and how the slow solar wind (SSW) is formed remains an outstanding question in solar physics even in the post-SOHO era. The quest for the SSW origin forms a major objective for the planned future missions such as the Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus. Nonetheless, results from spacecraft data, combined with theoretical modeling, have helped to investigate many aspects of the SSW. Fundamental physical properties of the coronal plasma have been derived from spectroscopic and imaging remote-sensing data and in situ data, and these results have provided crucial insights for a deeper understanding of the origin and acceleration of the SSW. Advanced models of the SSW in coronal streamers and other structures have been developed using 3D MHD and multi-fluid equations.However, the following questions remain open: What are the source regions and their contributions to the SSW? What is the role of the magnetic topology in the corona for the origin, acceleration and energy deposition of the SSW? What are the possible acceleration and heating mechanisms for the SSW? The aim of this review is to present insights on the SSW origin and formation gathered from the discussions at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) by the Team entitled “Slow solar wind sources and acceleration mechanisms in the corona” held in Bern (Switzerland) in March 2014 and 2015.     

A novel way for the formation of alpha-amino acids and their derivatives in an aqueous medium.

In the course of a study of possible mechanism for chemical evolution in the primeval sea, we observed the formation of alpha-amino acids and N-acylamino acids from alpha-oxo acids and ammonia in an aqueous medium. Glyoxylic acid reacted with ammonia to form N-oxalylglycine, which gave glycine in a 5-39% yield after hydrolysis with 6N HCl. Similarly when glyoxylic acid was treated with methylamine it yielded N-oxalylsarcosine, which could be hydrolyzed to sarcosine with 17-25% overall yield upon hydrolysis. Pyruvic acid and ammonia reacted to give N-acetylalanine, which formed alanine in a 3-7% overall yield upon hydrolysis. The pH optima in these reactions were pH 3-4. These reactions were further extended to the formation of other amino acids. Glutamic acid, phenylalanine and serine were formed from alpha-ketoglutaric acid, phenylpyruvic acid and hydroxypyruvic acid, respectively, under similar conditions. N-Succinylglutamic acid was obtained as an intermediate for glutamic acid synthesis. Phenylacetylphenylalanineamide was also isolated as an intermediate for phenylalanine synthesis. Alanine, rather than aspartic acid, was produced from oxaloacetic acid. These reactions provide a novel route for the prebiotic synthesis of amino acids. A mechanism for the reactions is proposed.