A new cave-dwelling loach of the genus Triplophysa, T. xichouensis, is described from an outlet of a subterranean river in Xisa Town, Xichou County, Yunnan Province, China. It can be distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: dorsal-fin rays iii, 8; anal-fin rays ii, 6; pectoral-fin rays i, 9 or 10; pelvic-fin rays i, 5 or 6; branched caudal-fin rays 16(8+8); eyes highly degenerated to a very tiny black dot; dorsal-fin origin closer to snout tip than to caudal-fin base and anterior to vertical line of pelvic-fin origin; pectoral fin length about two-thirds the distance between pectoral-fin origin to pelvic-fin origin; caudal peduncle slender, its length about three times its depth; caudal fin emarginate; body smooth and scaleless; lateral line complete and straight; anterior chamber of air bladder wrapped in dumbbell-shaped bony capsule and the posterior one well developed, long, oval; intestine short, bending in zigzag shape behind stomach. A key for the cave-dwelling species of Triplophysa is provided. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9162FFB1-7911-47C3-AE50-6A00E9590327.

The pore characteristics and pore size distribution of porous near-equiatomic NiTi shape memory alloy fabricated by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) are described in detail. The effects of different heat treatments on the transformation of porous NiTi alloy were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that heat treatment had strong influences on the transformation temperatures and latent heats of transformation. When the porous alloy was annealed at 648K and 748K for 3.6ks, two steps transformation including R transformation occurred during cooling and heating and the R transformation temperatures are lower than B2↔B19' transformation temperatures. However, no transformation was detected within the experimental temperature range if the porous alloy was solution treated at 1133K for 2.4ks. This novel phenomenon was the results of extensive Ti2Ni intermetallic compound precipitation. The transformation temperatures of porous NiTi alloy after annealing at 1323K for 3.6ks were much lower than those of the untreated alloy.