SEMI-QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION FORECASTS FOR RIVER PUN PUN BY SYNOPTIC ANALOGUE METHOD

An attempt has been made to issue semi-quantitative precipitation forecasts for river Pun Pun by synoptic analogue method. Based upon twelve years data (1982-93) the study reveals that it is possible to issue semi-quantitative precipitation forecasts with confidence. The severe floods in the river Pun Pun pose problems to Patna town due to blocking effect of Ganga.

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure Evolution of Mg-Gd Alloy during Aging Treatment

Rare-earth-containing Mg alloys are a group of widely investigated alloys due to the disperse nano-sized precipitations formed during heat treatment. The underlying formation and strengthening mechanisms of precipitation is critical for their industrial applications. In this work, we systematically studied the evolution of precipitations in a Mg-10Gd alloy, based on the atomic-scaled TEM and HAADF-STEM observations. Especially, the in-depth transition mechanism from G.P. Zone to β”, β’, βT and βM is proposed, as well as their relationships with mechanical properties. It is found that blocking effect of precipitations improves the strength significantly, according to the Orowan mechanism. The elliptic cylinder shaped β’ phase, with a base-centered orthorhombic lattice structure, provides significant strengthening effects, which enhance the hardness and ultimate tensile strength from 72 HV and 170 MPa to 120 HV and 300 MPa.

Colliding respiratory jets as a mechanism of air exchange and pathogen transport during conversations

Air exchange between people has emerged in the COVID-19 pandemic as the important vector for transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We study the airflow and exchange between two unmasked individuals conversing face-to-face at short range, which can potentially transfer a high dose of a pathogen, because the dilution is small when compared to long-range airborne transmission. We conduct flow visualization experiments and direct numerical simulations of colliding respiratory jets mimicking the initial phase of a conversation. The evolution and dynamics of the jets are affected by the vertical offset between the mouths of the speakers. At low offsets the head-on collision of jets results in a `blocking effect', temporarily shielding the susceptible speaker from the pathogen carrying jet, although, the lateral spread of the jets is enhanced. Sufficiently large offsets prevent the interaction of the jets. At intermediate offsets (8-10 cm for 1 m separation), jet entrainment and the inhaled breath assist the transport of the pathogen-loaded saliva droplets towards the susceptible speaker's mouth. Air exchange is expected, in spite of the blocking effect arising from the interaction of the respiratory jets from the two speakers.

The PyPIF5-PymiR156a-PySPL9-PyMYB114/MYB10 module regulates light-induced anthocyanin biosynthesis in red pear

Some cultivars of pear (Pyrus L.) show attractive red fruit skin due to anthocyanin accumulation. This pigmentation can be affected by environmental conditions, especially light. To explore the light-induced regulation network for anthocyanin biosynthesis and fruit coloration in pear, small RNA libraries and mRNA libraries from fruit skins of ‘Yunhongyihao’ pear were constructed to compare the difference between bagging and debagging treatments. Analysis of RNA-seq of fruit skins with limited light (bagged) and exposed to light (debagged), showed that PyPIF5 was down-regulated after bag removal. PymiR156a was also differentially expressed between bagged and debagged fruit skins. We found that PyPIF5 negatively regulated PymiR156a expression in bagged fruits by directly binding to the G-box motif in its promoter. In addition, PymiR156a overexpression promoted anthocyanin accumulation in both pear skin and apple calli. We confirmed that PymiR156a mediated the cleavage of PySPL9, and that the target PySPL9 protein could form heterodimers with two key anthocyanin regulators (PyMYB114/PyMYB10). We proposed a new module of PyPIF5-PymiR156a-PySPL9-PyMYB114/MYB10. When the bagged fruits were re-exposed to light, PyPIF5 was down-regulated and its inhibitory effect on PymiR156a was weakened, which leads to degradation of the target PySPL, thus eliminating the blocking effect of PySPL on the formation of the regulatory MYB complexes. Ultimately, this promotes anthocyanin biosynthesis in pear skin.

Effects of Sub-Micro Sized BaTiO3 Blocking Particles and Ag-Deposited Nano-Sized BaTiO3 Hybrid Particles on Dielectric Properties of Poly(vinylidene-fluoride) Polymer

This work provided an alternative route to balance the significantly increased dielectric permittivity (ε′) and effectively retained tanδ using an effective two-step concept. Ag-deposited nano-sized BaTiO3 (Ag-nBT) hybrid particle was used as the first filler to increase the ε′ of the poly(vinylidene-fluoride) (PVDF) polymer via the strong interfacial polarization and a high permittivity of nBT and suppress the increased loss tangent (tanδ) owing to the discrete growth of Ag nanoparticles on the surface of nBT, preventing a continuous percolating path. The ε′ and tanδ values at 103 Hz of the Ag-nBT/PVDF composite with fAg-nBT~0.29 were 61.7 and 0.036. The sub-micron-sized BaTiO3 (μBT) particle was selected as the blocking particles to doubly reduce the tanδ with simultaneously enhanced ε′ due to the presence of the tetragonal BT phase. The μBT blocking particles can effectively further inhibit the formation of conducting network and hence further reducing tanδ. By incorporation of μBT clocking particles with fμBT = 0.2, the ε′ value of the Ag-nBT/PVDF-μBT composite (fAg-nBT = 0.30) can significantly increase to 161.4, while the tanδ was reduced to 0.026. Furthermore, the tanδ was lower than 0.09 in the temperature range of −60–150 °C due to the blocking effect of μBT particles.

Bare singulars and singularity in Turkish

This paper explores the semantics of bare singulars in Turkish, which are unmarked for number in form, as in English, but can behave like both singular and plural terms, unlike in English. While they behave like singular terms as case-marked arguments, they are interpreted number neutrally in non-case-marked argument positions, the existential copular construction, and the predicate position. Previous accounts (Bliss, in Calgary Papers in Linguistics 25:1–65, 2004; Bale et al. in Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 20:1–15, 2010; Görgülü, in: Semantics of nouns and the specification of number in Turkish, Ph.d. thesis, Simon Fraser University, 2012) propose that Turkish bare singulars denote number neutral sets and that morphologically plural marked nouns denote sets of pluralities only. This approach leads to a symmetric correlation of morphological and semantic (un)markedness. However, in this paper, I defend a strict singular view for bare singulars and show that Turkish actually patterns with English where this correlation is exhibited asymmetrically. I claim that bare singulars in Turkish denote atomic properties and that bare plurals have a number neutral semantics as standardly assumed for English. I argue that the apparent number neutrality of bare singulars in the three cases arises via singular kind reference, which I show to extend to the phenomenon called pseudo-incorporation and a construction that I call kind specification. I argue that pseudo-incorporation occurs in non-case-marked argument positions following Öztürk (Case, referentiality, and phrase structure, Amsterdam, Benjamins, Publishing Company, 2005) and the existential copular construction, whereas kind specification is realized in the predicate position. The different behaviors of bare singulars in Turkish and English stem from the fact that singular kind reference is used more extensively in Turkish than in English. Furthermore, while there are well-known asymmetries between singular and plural kind reference cross-linguistically, Turkish manifests a more restricted distribution for bare plurals than English in the positions where pseudo-incorporation and kind specification are in evidence. I explain this as a blocking effect, specific to Turkish, by singular kind terms on plural kind terms.