Observations of water-flea Daphnia magna and avian fecalia in rock pools: is traditional natural history reporting still relevant for science?

Unexpected observation of freshwater invertebrate Daphnia magna in temporary rock pools on a small island off the Norwegian Atlantic coast confirms colonising ability, mediated through avian dispersal. Robust diapausal eggs of D. magna pass the gut of migrating geese and subsequently hatch in environments where such waterfowl forage and rest along migrating routes. The incubation experiment demonstrates that decomposing fecalia of geese constitute sufficient feed to support developing populations of D. magna in experimental oligotrophic conditions. The findings also show that D. magna is highly adapted for colonisation of temporary pools north of the Arctic Polar Circle, with excellent tolerance to low temperatures. Discussion part I relates the findings to published evidence on avian transport of invertebrate propagules, such as correlations between migration patterns of waterfowl and geographical patterns of aquatic invertebrate diversity. Discussion part II reflects on academic cultures, epistemological aspects of natural history reporting, the presence of a whale cadaver as an ecological indicator and the relevance of simple observation as a starting point for further discourse.     

Google Trends and the forecasting performance of exchange rate models

In this paper, we use Google Trends data for exchange rate forecasting in the context of a broad literature review that ties the exchange rate movements with macroeconomic fundamentals. The sample covers 11 OECD countries’ exchange rates for the period from January 2004 to June 2014. In out‐of‐sample forecasting of monthly returns on exchange rates, our findings indicate that the Google Trends search query data do a better job than the structural models in predicting the true direction of changes in nominal exchange rates. We also observed that Google Trends‐based forecasts are better at picking up the direction of the changes in the monthly nominal exchange rates after the Great Recession era (2008–2009). Based on the Clark and West inference procedure of equal predictive accuracy testing, we found that the relative performance of Google Trends‐based exchange rate predictions against the null of a random walk model is no worse than the purchasing power parity model. On the other hand, although the monetary model fundamentals could beat the random walk null only in one out of 11 currency pairs, with Google Trends predictors we found evidence of better performance for five currency pairs. We believe that these findings necessitate further research in this area to investigate the extravalue one can get from Google search query data.     

创新开展新时期科技名词规范化工作,努力发挥支撑服务作用

科技名词规范化工作具有深厚的历史基础和现实需要,是支撑科技创新和经济社会发展的一项基础性系统工程。当前,中国特色社会主义进入新时代,我们要深刻领会“新时代”的丰富内涵,深化认识科技名词规范化工作的特殊意义,创新开展各项工作,更好肩负起新时代赋予的历史使命。     

门捷列夫的“旷缺”与中国公使的感叹

1869年门捷列夫完成了世界上第一张化学元素周期表,除了把当时所知的全部63种元素按原子量大小分组(族)排列外,还在表中留下一些空位,预言了与硼、铝、硅类似的元素的存在及其性质。随后的20多年内,这些空位相继被新发现的元素填补。1877年中国首任驻英公使郭嵩焘听到了门捷列夫的预言与元素镓的发现这一故事,联想到发现海王星的经过,由衷感叹西方科学的精致与功效。     

基于频控阵的递推最小二乘波束形成算法

频控阵通过在阵元间加入远小于载频的频率增量,使波束的空间分布距离角度二维相关。基于频控阵基本结构,引入两种接收信号处理机制,并对其进行理论推导分析,仿真表明两种机制均能有效接收信号。针对指向误差存在,导向矢量失配导致主瓣发生偏移问题,采用递推最小二乘波束形成算法处理。仿真结果表明,存在指向误差时,该算法在两种机制中均能在目标位置形成主瓣,在干扰位置形成零陷,验证了算法在频控阵中应用的稳健性。     

双重不确定冷贮备系统的可靠性分析

运用不确定理论研究了无充足样本的冷贮备冗余系统。假设系统所有元件的寿命服从具有不确定参数且相互独立的不确定分布,基于可靠度函数和平均寿命建立了3类冗余系统可靠性的数学模型:转换开关完全可靠型、转换开关离散型、转换开关连续型的冷贮备系统。此外,针对元件寿命为独立同分布的特殊情况进行了分析,给出数值算例,进一步印证模型的合理性。     

工程实践中的体系与系统

 介绍了国际上通行的体系概念，通过实例阐述了常见的体系类型，从多个维度描述了系统与体系的区别，根据实践总结，提出体系与系统的核心界定准则，并结合工程实践进行了详细描述。     

基于高斯字典原子稀疏表示的高精度宽角SAR成像方法

为了提高从宽角合成孔径雷达(synthetic aperture radar, SAR)图像中提取目标后向散射各向异性特性的性能,在宽角SAR字典稀疏表示模型的基础上,提出一种基于高斯字典原子的高精度宽角SAR成像方法。在字典构造上,采用不同中心位置、相同方差的高斯函数。在求解稀疏表示系数上,采用广义最小最大凹惩罚稀疏重构算法求解。最后，根据稀疏表示系数的重构结果以及构造的字典得到目标的后向散射各向异性特性。通过仿真实验和Backhoe数据对算法进行验证,结果表明,该方法能够高精度地提取目标的后向散射各向异性特性。     

自发光转录激活子样效应因子的功能分析

目的:对转录激活子样效应因子(TALE)蛋白进行特异性标记.方法:通过分子生物学技术,在TALE蛋白的C-端融合了一种具有优异光学性能的萤光素酶.结果:融合蛋白不仅可对目的 DNA进行特异性识别,还可产生萤光素酶的特征光谱.结论:萤光素酶的融合不影响TALE蛋白的正常功能,其光谱信息有望成为分析TALE蛋白与DNA相互作用的特异性检测信号.     

基于参数化分位回归模型的非寿险准备金评估

准备金及其风险边际对保险公司的偿付能力具有决定性影响.均值回归模型在非寿险准备金评估中的应用较为普遍,但需要通过Bootstrap等方法计算准备金的风险边际.分位回归模型可以一次性求得准备金及其风险边际的预测值,所以在非寿险准备金评估中具有独特的应用价值.基于GB2(Generalized Beta type 2)分布建立了一种参数化分位回归模型,该模型首先对GB2分布中的位置参数和尺度参数同时引入流量三角形数据中的事故年和进展年作为解释变量,增加了模型的灵活性;其次,根据模型参数的极大似然估计结果,借助分位数函数的表达式,计算了不同分位数水平下的准备金预测值;最后,利用极大似然估计的渐近性质,通过Delta方法给出了准备金预测值的误差.基于一组增量赔款数据的实证研究结果表明,GB2参数化分位回归模型在非寿险准备金评估及其风险边际的预测中具有良好的应用价值.