Description: We obtained Core KX97322-4 (00°01.73′S, 159°14.66′E, 2362 m) from the Ontong Java Plateau in the central WPWP using a giant piston corer on the Science-1 vessel during the Warm Pool Subject Cruise executed in 2008. The sedimentation rate is 0.39–4.95 cm kyr^-1^, with an average time resolution of 0.57 kyr cm^-1^. The age model was established based on downcore stable oxygen isotope measurements on the benthic foraminifer Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi (〉500 μm) correlated with the reference benthic stack LR04 using Match 2.3.1 software, combined with five accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (^14^C) dates on the planktonic foraminifer Trilobatus sacculifer (with a sac) (350–500 μm) measured at the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facility, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA. We measured stable oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca ratio of planktic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), using GV IsoPrime mass spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES, Thermo-Fisher, iCAP6300 radial) to rebuild paleo-temperature and salinity of the central western Pacific warm pool during the last 360, 000 years, aiming to probe paleo-ENSO progress in late Quaternary.

Description: Using a large piston corer on the Science-1 vessel during the Warm Pool Subject Cruise in 2008, we recovered Core KX97322-4 (00°01.73′S, 159°14.66′E, 2362 m) from the Ontong-Java Plateau in the central western Pacific warm pool. The sedimentation rate is 0.39-4.95 cm/kyr, with an average time resolution of 0.57 kyr/cm. The age model was established based on downcore stable oxygen isotope measurements on the benthic foraminifer Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi (〉500 μm) correlated with the reference benthic stack LR04 using Match 2.3.1 software, combined with seven accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (14C) data on the planktonic foraminifer Trilobatus sacculifer (with a sac) (350–500 μm), five data published before and another two new data was performed at NOSMAS and Beta Analytic Inc., USA. We measured stable oxygen isotope and Mg/Ca ratio of planktic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber, T.sacculifer, Neogloboquadrina dutertrei, Globigerinella siphonifera, Globorotalia crassaformis and Globorotalia truncatulinoides dextral at the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), using GV IsoPrime mass spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES, Thermo-Fisher, iCAP6300 radial) to rebuild paleo-temperature and salinity of the central western Pacific warm pool during the last 30,000 years, aiming to probe paleo-ENSO progress during the last deglaciation.

Description: Modern observations have presented linkages between subsurface waters of the western Pacific warm pool and both El Niño/Southern Oscillation-related and extratropic-controlled upper-ocean stratification on interannual timescales. Moreover, studies have showed that such controls may operate on orbital cycles, although the details remain unclear. Here we present paired temperature and salinity reconstructions for the surface and thermocline waters in the central western Pacific warm pool over the past 360,000 years, as well as transit modeling results from an Earth system model. Our results show that variations in subsurface temperature and salinity in the western Pacific warm pool have consistently correlated with the shallow meridional overturning cell over the past four glacial-interglacial cycles, and they vary on eccentricity and precession cycles. The shallow meridional over- turning cell regulates subsurface waters of the western Pacific warm pool by changing subtropical surface water density and thus equatorial upper-ocean stratification, acting as an El Niño/Southern Oscillation-like process in the precession band. Therefore, the western Pacific warm pool is critical in connecting the austral shallow meridional overturning cell to the Earth’s climate system on orbital timescales.

Description: Author(s): Guoquan Zhang, Shuai Dong, Zhibo Yan, Yanyan Guo, Qinfang Zhang, Seiji Yunoki, Elbio Dagotto, and J.-M. Liu [Phys. Rev. B 84, 174413] Published Mon Nov 14, 2011

Description: Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data DOI: 10.1021/je201196q

Description: Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data DOI: 10.1021/je201239s

Description: A series of polycrystalline orthorhombic manganites Sm 1−x Lu x MnO 3 have been synthesized in order to study the magnetism-induced ferroelectricity. Detailed measurements of the magnetic and electric properties of Sm 1−x Lu x MnO 3 (0 ≤  x  ≤ 0.3) compounds have been performed. The obtained Mn-O-Mn bond angle and the Néel temperature decrease with increasing x , indicating the strengthened frustration of original A-type antiferromagnetic (A-AFM) order of Mn spins. For lower x concentrations, no ferroelectricity is detected, implying the stability of the A-AFM ordering. Further increasing x , a dielectric anomaly begins to develop at 28 K since x  = 0.15 which is not observed in SmMnO 3 . Coinciding with this dielectric anomaly, a ferroelectric polarization emerges, implying the multiferroicity. For intermediate compositions, a possible complex phase separation exists.

Description: The initiation of innate immunology system could play an important role in the aspect of protection for sperms long-term storage when the sperms got into oviduct of turtles and come into contact with epithelium. The exploration of TLR2/4 distribution and expression in oviduct during hibernation could help make the storage mechanism understandable. The objective of this study was to examine the gene and protein expression profiles in Chinese soft-shelled turtle during hibernation from November to April in the next year. The protein distribution of TLR2/4 was investigated in the magnum, isthmus, uterus, and vagina of the turtle oviduct using immunohistochemistry, and the gene expression of TLR2/4 was analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The results showed positive TLR2 protein expression primarily in the epithelium of the oviduct. TLR4 immunoreactivity was widely observed in almost every part of the oviduct, particularly in the epithelium and secretory gland membrane. Analysis of protein, mRNA expression revealed the decreased expression of TLR2/4 in the magnum compared with the isthmus, uterus, and vagina during hibernation. The protein and mRNA expression of TLR2 in the magnum, isthmus, uterus, and vagina was decreased in April compared with that in November. TLR4 protein and mRNA expression in the magnum, isthmus, uterus and vagina was decreased in November compared with that in April. These results indicated that TLR2/4 expression might protect the sperm from microbial infections. In contrast to the function of TLR2, which protects sperm during the early stages of hibernation, TLR4 might play a role in later stages of storage. The present study is the first to report the functions of TLR2/4 in reptiles. Positive TLR2 protein expressed primarily in the epithelium of the oviduct. TLR4 immunoreactivity had widely spread in the oviduct, particularly in the epithelium and secretory gland membrane. In contrast to the function of TLR2, which protects sperm during the early stages of hibernation, TLR4 might play a role in later stages of storage.

Description: We report on structural, magnetic, ferroelectric, and thermodynamic properties of polycrystalline orthorhombic manganites Dy1−xHoxMnO3 for Ho substitution levels 0 ≤ x ≤ 1. This system offers a possibility to systemically modulate the multiferroicity of RMnO3 via tuning the A-site ionic radii as well as the A-site magnetism. The successive transition of the multiferroic ground state is traced from the bc-cycloidal (DyMnO3) to the E-type antiferromagnetic phase (HoMnO3). In the middle substitution range 0.4 〈 x 〈 0.5, the phase separation is prominent, which's residual may survive in an even wider range. Accompanied with the phase transition and phase separation, obvious enhancement of both the polarization and magnetoelectric response is observed. Our experimental study also confirmed that the rare earth (Dy/Ho)-Mn exchange striction is a crucial role in deciding the multiferroicity of manganites. Scientific Reports 4 doi: 10.1038/srep06506

Description: Author(s): Shuyi Zhang, Shuai Yin, and Fan Zhong We study the imaginary-time relaxation critical dynamics of a quantum system with a vanishing initial correlation length and an arbitrary initial order parameter M0. We find that in quantum critical dynamics, the behavior of M0 under scale transformations deviates from a simple power law, which was ... [Phys. Rev. E 90, 042104] Published Thu Oct 02, 2014