Ontogeny reversal and phylogenetic analysis of Turritopsis sp.5 (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Oceaniidae), a possible new species endemic to Xiamen, China

Ontogeny reversal, as seen in some cnidarians, is an unprecedented phenomenon in the animal kingdom involving reversal of the ordinary life cycle. Three species of Turritopsis have been shown to be capable of inverted metamorphosis, a process in which the pelagic medusa transforms back into a juvenile benthic polyp stage when faced with adverse conditions. Turritopsis sp.5 is a species of Turritopsis collected from Xiamen, China which presents a similar ability, being able to reverse its life cycle if injured by mechanical stress. Phylogenetic analysis based on both 16S rDNA and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) genetic barcodes shows that Turritopsis sp.5 is phylogenetically clustered in a clade separate from other species of Turritopsis. The genetic distance between T. sp.5 and the Japanese species T. sp.2 is the shortest, when measured by the Kimura 2-Parameter metric, and the distance to the New Zealand species T. rubra is the largest. An experimental assay on the induction of reverse development in this species was initiated by cutting medusae into upper and lower parts. We show, for the first time, that the two dissected parts have significantly different potentials to transform into polyps. Also, a series of morphological changes of the reversed life cycle can be recognised, including medusa stage, contraction stage I, contraction stage II, cyst, cyst with stolons, and polyp. The discovery of species capable of reverse ontogeny caused by unfavorable conditions adds to the available systems with which to study the cell types that contribute to the developmental reversal and the molecular mechanisms of the directional determination of ontogeny.

Numerical and Experimental Study of Bubble Impact on a Solid Wall

The dynamic characteristics of a bubble initially very close to a rigid wall, or with a very narrow gap, are different from those of a bubble away from the wall. Especially at the contraction stage, a high-speed jet pointing toward the wall will be generated and will impact the rigid surface directly, which could cause more severe damage to the structure. Based on the velocity potential theory and boundary element method (BEM), the present paper aims to overcome the numerical difficulty and simulate the bubble impact on a solid wall for the axisymmetric case. The convergence study has been undertaken to verify the developed numerical method and the computation code. Extensive experiments are conducted. Case studies are made using both experimental data and numerical results. The effects of dimensionless distance on the bubble dynamics are investigated.

Die Casting Improvements through Melt Shear

Melt flow and solidification within a die casting cavity is a complex process dependent in part on melt pressure (with or without intensification), melt velocity, melt flow path, thermal gradients within the die, die lubrication and melt viscosity. Casting defects such as short shots, cold shuts and shrinkage porosity can readily occur if casting conditions are not optimised. Shrinkage porosity in particular is difficult to eradicate from castings that comprise thick sections, since these sections will usually solidify late in the casting cycle and may be starved of melt supply during the critical solidification (and contraction) stage. The current work seeks to elucidate the influence of the melt shearing on the die casting process and demonstrates that the modifications made to the melt through introduction of a local constriction in the melt path can generate improvements in casting microstructure and reduce shrinkage porosity.

Meiotic events in Oenothera — a non-standard pattern of chromosome behaviour

The genus Oenothera shows an intriguing extent of permanent translocation heterozygosity. Reciprocal translocations of chromosome arms in species or populations result in various kinds of chromosome multivalents in diakinesis. Early meiotic events conditioning such chromosome behaviour are poorly understood. We found a surprising uniformity of the leptotene–diplotene period, regardless of the chromosome configuration at diakinesis (ring of 14, 7 bivalents, mixture of bivalents and multivalents). It appears that the earliest chromosome interactions at Oenothera meiosis are untypical, since they involve pericentromeric regions. During early leptotene, proximal chromosome parts cluster and form a highly polarized Rabl configuration. Telomeres associated in pairs were seen at zygotene. The high degree of polarization of meiotic nuclei continues for an exceptionally long period, i.e., during zygotene–pachytene into the diplotene contraction stage. The Rabl-polarized meiotic architecture and clustering of pericentromeres suggest a high complexity of karyotypes, not only in structural heterozygotes but also in bivalent-forming homozygous species.

FLAT COSMOLOGICAL MODELS WITH MASSIVE SCALAR FIELD IN GAUGE THEORIES OF GRAVITY

Solutions of gravitational equations of gauge theories of gravity in homogeneous isotropic world with massive scalar field are investigated in the case of flat cosmological models. Special attention is dedicated to behavior of solutions on contraction stage. It is shown, that on expansion stage inflationary solutions are generic feature of the model. At the same time on contraction stage an effective equation of state can be similar to the case of massless scalar field p=ρ at the beginning of evolution and tends to the equation of ultrarelativistic gas p=ρ/3. The Hubble parameter tends to some negative value on contraction stage, depending on the mass of the scalar field. Nonsingular solutions in this model are unstable.

Galactic Distribution, Kinematics, Locations in Clusters and H-R Diagrams, and Duplicity of Be Stars (Review Paper)

The locations of 143 B0e-B7e III-V stars listed in the Bright Star Catalogue are similar to those of the early-B Gould Belt stars. Therefore the Be stars have roughly the same ages and origins as early B stars. The frequency of runaway Be stars must be less than several percent. The radial velocities of Be stars show primarily the reflex of solar motion and show no evidence for systematically negative velocities attributable to mass-loss effects upon the absorption profiles. The scatter in the residual velocities is such that there is unlikely to be many undetected binaries with orbital amplitudes greater than 10 km s-l. We are unable to state whether or not Be stars tend to occur during the overall contraction stage, but we do observe Be stars in roughly constant frequency in clusters of all ages. About 18% of the field B0-B7 III-V stars are Be stars. Clusters show both lower and higher frequencies that may be real or may be due to different observational techniques. The frequencies and distribution of binary periods for Be stars is the same as for non-emission B stars except for the lack of periods less than 10-1 yr. Statistically the 12 classical Be stars with known orbital elements have mass functions indicating that their secondaries are more massive than neutron stars and their secondary mass distribution is like that of normal B stars. We observe 35 companions for 100 Be primaries, so after correction for undetected companions, it seems likely that most Be stars have companions, mostly with periods of years.