Experimental determination of surface energy for high-energy surface: A review.

The experimental determination of surface free energy is of great importance for engineering applications. However, there is no universal, reliable, and convenient measurement means to achieve experimental determination of solid surface energy for high-energy surface. In this work, the existing techniques for experimental determination of surface energy of solids, including indirect (4 kinds) and direct methods (3 kinds), were critically reviewed. In the indirect methods: the explicit interfacial bonding characteristics are required for the multiphase equilibrium technique and for the determination method from crystal equilibrium shape; the critical surface energy technique does not satisfy Zisman's hypothesis that the solid-liquid interface tension is zero (or close to zero), and the parameters fitted by empirical equations cannot have definite physical meaning; the derivation based on the surface tension in the liquid state can only obtain the surface energy of the solid phase near the melting point, and is limited to the prediction of the surface energy of elemental metal. Among the direct determination methods, except for the zero-creep method, are based on generalized determination technologies. All determined results are strongly influenced by the accuracy of the particle (grain) size, scale effect, the atmosphere, etc. This leads to the fact that the errors are still huge regardless of the determination method used, and it is difficult to achieve uniformity of the data. All methods rely to some extent on specific assumptions or theoretical models.

Kinetic analysis of wetting and spreading at high temperatures: A review.

The kinetic factors of the liquid-solid interface formation process are extremely useful in the design of composite preparation methods and the manufacture of comprehensive performance-controlled metal- or ceramic-based composites. Here, we review the available spreading dynamic models, focusing on wetting at high temperatures. There is yet to be developed a general spreading dynamic model with complete physical meaning that can accurately describe complicated surface-interface kinetic processes at high temperatures. In this work, we highlight common analysis errors in the description of the spreading dynamics for metal-ceramic and metal-metal systems. By unifying the expressions of the spreading dynamic models as the function f(v, θd) and fitting the experimental data reported in the literature, we discovered that the molecular-kinetic model commonly used to describe adsorption-controlled spreading at room temperature and reaction-limited spreading model used at high temperature have a certain range of overlap. When the condition σlv(cosθe-cosθd) < <2nkBT is satisfied, these models are consistent in terms of mathematical functional expressions. As a result, distinguishing between them when the spreading behavior includes both adsorption and reaction is challenging.

[The molecular evolution of rice stress-related genes].

In the processes of evolution, plants have formed a perfect regulation system to tolerate adverse environmental conditions. However, there has not been any report about the molecular evolution of rice stress-related genes. We derived a family of 22 stress-related genes in rice from Plant Stress Gene Database, and analyzed it by bioinformatics and comparative genome method. The results showed that these genes are relatively conservative in low organisms, and their copy numbers increase along with the environmental changes and the evolution. We also found four conserved sequence motifs and three other specific motifs. We propose that these motifs are closely associated with the function of rice stress-related genes. The analysis of selection pressure showed that about 50% rice stress-related genes have positive selection sites, although they were subject to a strong purifying selection. Positive selection sites might be very significant for plants to adapt to environmental changes.

Subcellular distribution and toxicity of cadmium in Potamogeton crispus L.

The submerged macrophyte Potamogeton crispus L. was subjected to varying doses of cadmium (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 µM) for 7 d, and the plants were analyzed for subcellular distribution of Cd, accumulation of mineral nutrients, photosynthesis, oxidative stress, protein content, and ultrastructural distribution of calcium (Ca). Leaf fractionation by differential centrifugation indicated that 48-69% of Cd was accumulated in the cell wall. At all doses of Cd, the levels of Ca and B rose and the level of Mn fell; the levels of Fe, Mg, Zn, Cu, Mo, and P rose initially only to decline later. Exposure to Cd caused oxidative stress as evident by increased content of malondialdehyde and decreased contents of chlorophyll and protein. Photosynthetic efficiency, as indicated by the quenching of chlorophyll a fluorescence (Fv/Fm, Fo and Fm), decreased significantly, the extent of decrease being directly proportional to the concentration of Cd. Increased amounts of precipitates of calcium were noticed in the treated plants, located either outside the cell membrane or in chloroplasts, mitochondria, the nucleus, and the cytoplasm whereas control plants showed small deposits of the precipitates around surface of the vacuole membrane and in the intercellular space but rarely in the cytoplasm. Photosynthetic efficiency and oxidative stress could be used as indicators of physiological end-points in determining the extent of Cd phytotoxicity.