Estimating the critical shear stress for incipient particle motion of a cohesive soil slope.

The critical shear stress is a vital reference indicator for soil erosion. Soil erosion will occur when soil slope suffers from a exceed shear stress, and then causing soil loss and destruction of soil structure. In this work, an equation was proposed based on the force equilibrium of a single particle to estimate the critical shear stress for incipient particle motion of a cohesive soil slope.

A Closed-Form Solution for Free- and Seepage-Flow Field in Axisymmetric Infilled Conduit.

Numerous continuous conduits exist in rock masses. These conduits affect the specific discharge distribution of the bulk rock mass. In this study, a modified theoretical model is presented to explore the specific discharge distribution in bedrock with an axisymmetric infilled conduit.

Biochemical Comparison of dsRNA Degrading Nucleases in Four Different Insects.

Double stranded RNAs (dsRNA) degrading nuclease is responsible for the rapid degradation of dsRNA molecules, and thus accounts for variations in RNA interference (RNAi) efficacy among insect species. Here, the biochemical properties and tissue-specific activities of dsRNA degrading nucleases in four insects (, and ) from different orders were characterized using a modified assay method. The results revealed that all insect dsRNA degrading nucleases tested showed high activity in alkaline environments at optimal Mg concentrations and elevated temperatures.

Variation in RNAi efficacy among insect species is attributable to dsRNA degradation in vivo.

RNA interference (RNAi) has become an essential technique in entomology research. However, RNAi efficiency appears to vary significantly among insect species. Here, the sensitivity of four insect species from different orders to RNAi was compared to understand the reason for this variation.