《算数之钥》中球形穹顶的测量法

中世纪中亚数学家阿尔·卡西在《算术之钥》中不但给出了5种伊斯兰建筑风格拱形门和球形穹顶的设计方案,而且用初等方法计算了其中拱形部分的表面积和体积,遗憾的是,他没有给出球形穹顶部分的表面积和体积的具体计算过程,只用文字叙述了用初等数学方法来计算其中第四类球形穹顶表面积和体积的基本思路,并直接给出了球形穹顶表面积和体积分别与其直径平方和直径立方之比的近似值.讨论了阿尔·卡西的初等算法,并用微积分方法来验证其算法的正确性,同时指出阿尔·卡西得到的数据与实际数据之间的误差.     

枣大球蚧的监测与预报办法

枣大球蚧是森林生态系统组成的一部分,其发生发展受到众多环境因素的影响,由于枣大球蚧发生发展对林果业的发展影响比较大,因此研究枣大球蚧监测、预报和防治具有重要的意义。该文从林果业对地区经济发展和农民收入影响出发,系统的介绍枣大球蚧的虫情监测、检测结果分析、定级标准、系统虫情调查以及预测预报方法,对促进森林资源的可持续发展和林业生态建设的良性循环,以及维护森林生态环境的稳定都有着十分重要的现实意义。     

浅谈静电除尘技术发展前景分析

我国对于粉尘浓度排放的标准日益走向高要求化,这就为静电除尘技术的发展提出了更大的难题,需要加快对静电除尘技术的研究和发展,增强静电除尘器的使用效果。本文主要讨论了静电除尘技术的发展前景,为促进该技术的发展提供建议。     

干旱灾害及我国西北干旱气候的研究综述

我国西北地区由于深居内陆,海洋上的温暖气流难以到达此处,西北地区的水资源日益短缺,土地荒漠化严重,干旱灾害频发。西北干旱地区是我国生态环境系统最脆弱的地区,加强对西北干旱灾害的研究,在能力技术范围内减轻环境的干旱程度是目前环境保护要重点关注的。本文在对西北干旱问题进行充分了解的基础上,分析西北干旱的成因,并在此基础上提出应对对策。     

Strong dipolar effects in a quantum ferrofluid

Symmetry-breaking interactions have a crucial role in many areas of physics, ranging from classical ferrofluids to superfluid (3)He and d-wave superconductivity. For superfluid quantum gases, a variety of new physical phenomena arising from the symmetry-breaking interaction between electric or magnetic dipoles are expected. Novel quantum phases in optical lattices, such as chequerboard or supersolid phases, are predicted for dipolar bosons. Dipolar interactions can also enrich considerably the physics of quantum gases with internal degrees of freedom. Arrays of dipolar particles could be used for efficient quantum information processing. Here we report the realization of a chromium Bose-Einstein condensate with strong dipolar interactions. By using a Feshbach resonance, we reduce the usual isotropic contact interaction, such that the anisotropic magnetic dipole-dipole interaction between 52Cr atoms becomes comparable in strength. This induces a change of the aspect ratio of the atom cloud; for strong dipolar interactions, the inversion of ellipticity during expansion (the usual 'smoking gun' evidence for a Bose-Einstein condensate) can be suppressed. These effects are accounted for by taking into account the dipolar interaction in the superfluid hydrodynamic equations governing the dynamics of the gas, in the same way as classical ferrofluids can be described by including dipolar terms in the classical hydrodynamic equations. Our results are a first step in the exploration of the unique properties of quantum ferrofluids.     

South-polar features on Venus similar to those near the north pole

Venus has no seasons, slow rotation and a very massive atmosphere, which is mainly carbon dioxide with clouds primarily of sulphuric acid droplets. Infrared observations by previous missions to Venus revealed a bright 'dipole' feature surrounded by a cold 'collar' at its north pole. The polar dipole is a 'double-eye' feature at the centre of a vast vortex that rotates around the pole, and is possibly associated with rapid downwelling. The polar cold collar is a wide, shallow river of cold air that circulates around the polar vortex. One outstanding question has been whether the global circulation was symmetric, such that a dipole feature existed at the south pole. Here we report observations of Venus' south-polar region, where we have seen clouds with morphology much like those around the north pole, but rotating somewhat faster than the northern dipole. The vortex may extend down to the lower cloud layers that lie at about 50 km height and perhaps deeper. The spectroscopic properties of the clouds around the south pole are compatible with a sulphuric acid composition.     

Glucose sensing by POMC neurons regulates glucose homeostasis and is impaired in obesity

A subset of neurons in the brain, known as 'glucose-excited' neurons, depolarize and increase their firing rate in response to increases in extracellular glucose. Similar to insulin secretion by pancreatic beta-cells, glucose excitation of neurons is driven by ATP-mediated closure of ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channels. Although beta-cell-like glucose sensing in neurons is well established, its physiological relevance and contribution to disease states such as type 2 diabetes remain unknown. To address these issues, we disrupted glucose sensing in glucose-excited pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons via transgenic expression of a mutant Kir6.2 subunit (encoded by the Kcnj11 gene) that prevents ATP-mediated closure of K(ATP) channels. Here we show that this genetic manipulation impaired the whole-body response to a systemic glucose load, demonstrating a role for glucose sensing by POMC neurons in the overall physiological control of blood glucose. We also found that glucose sensing by POMC neurons became defective in obese mice on a high-fat diet, suggesting that loss of glucose sensing by neurons has a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. The mechanism for obesity-induced loss of glucose sensing in POMC neurons involves uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2), a mitochondrial protein that impairs glucose-stimulated ATP production. UCP2 negatively regulates glucose sensing in POMC neurons. We found that genetic deletion of Ucp2 prevents obesity-induced loss of glucose sensing, and that acute pharmacological inhibition of UCP2 reverses loss of glucose sensing. We conclude that obesity-induced, UCP2-mediated loss of glucose sensing in glucose-excited neurons might have a pathogenic role in the development of type 2 diabetes.