A diffusion model for products with indirect network externalities

This paper develops a new diffusion model that incorporates the indirect network externality. The market with indirect network externalities is characterized by two‐way interactive effects between hardware and software products on their demands. Our model incorporates two‐way interactions in forecasting the diffusion of hardware products based on a simple but realistic assumption. The new model is parsimonious, easy to estimate, and does not require more data points than the Bass diffusion model. The new diffusion model was applied to forecast sales of DVD players in the United States and in South Korea, and to the sales of Digital TV sets in Australia. When compared to the Bass and NSRL diffusion models, the new model showed better performance in forecasting long‐term sales. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relativistic jet activity from the tidal disruption of a star by a massive black hole

Supermassive black holes have powerful gravitational fields with strong gradients that can destroy stars that get too close, producing a bright flare in ultraviolet and X-ray spectral regions from stellar debris that forms an accretion disk around the black hole. The aftermath of this process may have been seen several times over the past two decades in the form of sparsely sampled, slowly fading emission from distant galaxies, but the onset of the stellar disruption event has not hitherto been observed. Here we report observations of a bright X-ray flare from the extragalactic transient Swift J164449.3+573451. This source increased in brightness in the X-ray band by a factor of at least 10,000 since 1990 and by a factor of at least 100 since early 2010. We conclude that we have captured the onset of relativistic jet activity from a supermassive black hole. A companion paper comes to similar conclusions on the basis of radio observations. This event is probably due to the tidal disruption of a star falling into a supermassive black hole, but the detailed behaviour differs from current theoretical models of such events.     

利用松材线虫的内寄生真菌Esteya vermicola防治松萎蔫病

Esteya vermicola是首次发现的松材线虫的内寄生真菌。最近从韩国土壤中发现了该菌的一个新菌株。该菌株能产生两种孢子,并能在4~5 d内感染几乎所有测试的松材线虫分离物。最近2年里在韩国进行了该菌株的温室和林间的接种试验,使用了3种方法进行接种,即喷施、注干和将感染的松材线虫接种到松树上。结果证明,该菌在松树幼树中生长并侵染到接种松树中的松材线虫,在松树中也观察到该菌的存在。目前,对该菌的使用方法和施用配方的评价和商品化工作正在展开。     

Stream-power incision model in non-steady-state mountain ranges： An empirical approach

Stream-power incision model has always been applied to detecting the steady-state situation of ranges. Oblique arc-continent collision occurring during the period of Penglai Orogeny caused the Taiwan mountain belt to develop landscape of three evolution stages, namely stages of pre-steady-state (growing ranges in southern Taiwan), steady-state (ranges in central Taiwan) and post-steady-state (decaying ranges in northern Taiwan). In the analysis on streams of the Taiwan mountain belt made by exploring the relationship between the slope of bedrock channel (S) and the catchment area (A), the topographic features of the ranges at these three stages are acquired. The S-A plot of the steady-state ranges is in a linear form, revealing that the riverbed height of bedrock channel does not change over time (dz/dt = 0). The slope and intercept of the straight line S-A are related to evolution time of steady-state topography and tectonic uplift rate respectively. The S-A plots of the southern and northern ranges of Taiwan mountain belt appear to be in convex and concave forms respectively, implying that the riverbed height of bedrock channel at the two ranges rises (dz/dt > 0) and falls (dz/dt < 0) over time respectively. Their tangent intercept can still reflect the tectonic uplift rate. This study develops an empirical stream-power erosion model of pre-steady-state and post-steady-state topography.     

面向对象环境参数设置与模拟研究

模拟一般是为了应用于特定领域的问题而设计的,而模拟语言可以设计通用领域的问题,相对难度较大.开发模拟软件,有必要提供使用者容易掌握的参数和模拟技术环境,从而降低开发难度.介绍一种灵活的利用总体构造信息和各种规模参数自动建立模型的设计方法.构建以程序文档作为模拟技术中各种模型的基础,储存于模型数据库,选定相应模型的模板,输入相应参数,就可自动生成所需的特定模型.利用这一系统,建模者可以用最小的工作量形成复杂的大模型.选用两个案例实验验证其实用性和有效性.     

DNA-programmable nanoparticle crystallization

It was first shown more than ten years ago that DNA oligonucleotides can be attached to gold nanoparticles rationally to direct the formation of larger assemblies. Since then, oligonucleotide-functionalized nanoparticles have been developed into powerful diagnostic tools for nucleic acids and proteins, and into intracellular probes and gene regulators. In contrast, the conceptually simple yet powerful idea that functionalized nanoparticles might serve as basic building blocks that can be rationally assembled through programmable base-pairing interactions into highly ordered macroscopic materials remains poorly developed. So far, the approach has mainly resulted in polymerization, with modest control over the placement of, the periodicity in, and the distance between particles within the assembled material. That is, most of the materials obtained thus far are best classified as amorphous polymers, although a few examples of colloidal crystal formation exist. Here, we demonstrate that DNA can be used to control the crystallization of nanoparticle-oligonucleotide conjugates to the extent that different DNA sequences guide the assembly of the same type of inorganic nanoparticle into different crystalline states. We show that the choice of DNA sequences attached to the nanoparticle building blocks, the DNA linking molecules and the absence or presence of a non-bonding single-base flexor can be adjusted so that gold nanoparticles assemble into micrometre-sized face-centred-cubic or body-centred-cubic crystal structures. Our findings thus clearly demonstrate that synthetically programmable colloidal crystallization is possible, and that a single-component system can be directed to form different structures.     

Compressive deformation behavior of an indirect-extruded Mg-8Sn-1Al-1Zn alloy

The medium and warm deformation behaviors of an indirect-extruded Mg-8Sn-1Al-1Zn alloy were investigated by compression tests at temperatures between 298 and 523 K and strain rates of 0.001–10 s?1. It was found that the twinning-slip transition temperature was strain rate dependent, and all the true stress-true strain curves could be divided into two groups: concave and convex curves. Associated microstructural investigations indicated that the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of the alloy varied with deformation conditions. At high strain rate and low temperature, dynamically recrystallized grains preferentially nucleated and developed in the twinned regions, indicating that twinning-induced DRX was dominant. While, at low strain rate, DRX developed extensively at grain boundaries and twins, and the process of twinning contributed to both oriented nucleation and selective growth. For the studied alloy, cracks mainly initiated from the shear band and twinning lamellar over the ranges of temperature and strain rate currently applied.