Virtual Garment Sewing

Introduction3D garment CAD tools are increasingly required byclothing industries to assist the cloth design andmanufacturing process for quick response when faced withrapidly changing in style and fabrics with variable materialproperties. In the context of virtual prototyping, modelingand simulation of garment fitting to mannequin areattracting more and more people from both research andindustrial communities.Different approaches and techniques can be used…     

Common deletion polymorphisms in the human genome

The locations and properties of common deletion variants in the human genome are largely unknown. We describe a systematic method for using dense SNP genotype data to discover deletions and its application to data from the International HapMap Consortium to characterize and catalogue segregating deletion variants across the human genome. We identified 541 deletion variants (94% novel) ranging from 1 kb to 745 kb in size; 278 of these variants were observed in multiple, unrelated individuals, 120 in the homozygous state. The coding exons of ten expressed genes were found to be commonly deleted, including multiple genes with roles in sex steroid metabolism, olfaction and drug response. These common deletion polymorphisms typically represent ancestral mutations that are in linkage disequilibrium with nearby SNPs, meaning that their association to disease can often be evaluated in the course of SNP-based whole-genome association studies.     

Common variation in three genes, including a noncoding variant in CFH, strongly influences risk of age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common, late-onset disease with seemingly typical complexity: recurrence ratios for siblings of an affected individual are three- to sixfold higher than in the general population, and family-based analysis has resulted in only modestly significant evidence for linkage. In a case-control study drawn from a US-based population of European descent, we have identified a previously unrecognized common, noncoding variant in CFH, the gene encoding complement factor H, that substantially increases the influence of this locus on AMD, and we have strongly replicated the associations of four other previously reported common alleles in three genes (P values ranging from 10(-6) to 10(-70)). Despite excellent power to detect epistasis, we observed purely additive accumulation of risk from alleles at these genes. We found no differences in association of these loci with major phenotypic categories of advanced AMD. Genotypes at these five common SNPs define a broad spectrum of interindividual disease risk and explain about half of the classical sibling risk of AMD in our study population.     

Molt-induced muscle atrophy decreases the zinc content of the pectoralis of the Giant Canada Goose (Branta canadensis maxima)

Summary During molt-induced atrophy of the pectoralis muscle of the Giant Canada Goose (Branta canadensis maxima), the zinc content of the muscle was significantly reduced (p0.0139), though the concentration of zinc per unit weight of muscle appeared higher (p0.0232). Zinc lost from the muscle during molt could be utilized for growth of the new flight feathers.Acknowledgments. Funds for this study were obtained from an operating grant awarded to J. C. G. by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.     

21世纪前夕世界经济所面临的问题

通过对二战后世界经济发展的回顾与分析,论述了技术革命与全球化和在此进程中产生的问题：“精简”,以及由此带来的社会影响。介绍了西方国家学者关于解决上述问题的不同建议和主张,进而提出了自己的观点和对策。     

Molecular cloning and polymorphism of major histocompatibility complex class I genes from grass carp (Ctenophayngodon idellus)

In order to clarify the molecular sequences,allelic polymorphism and the tertiary structure of grass carp (Ctenophayngodon idellus) MHC class I,and to further study their relationship with disease resistances,grass carp MHC class I gene (Ctid-MHC I) was cloned from a cDNA library and the allelic polymorphism in the population was investigated.The results showed that most of the variations exist in the peptide-binding domain (PBD) and high polymorphism was identified in the Ctid-MHC I allelic genes from 12 individuals.Based on the genetic distance,Ctid-MHC class I can be classified into 6 types (from Ctid-MHC I-UA to Ctid-MHC I-UF) which were subdivided into 9 lineages (from A to I).Comparison of the Ctid-MHC I among animals and humans showed that the key amino acids of the peptide binding sites are conserved.Analysis of the tertiary structure of the PBD between Grass carp and human crystallographic data of HLA-A2,the variation with insertion or deletion was found in eight regions (A～H).The phylogenetic tree of MHC class I indicates the evolution of MHC class I among grass carp,fish,amphibian,birds,higher vertebrates and humans.     

Low beta diversity of herbivorous insects in tropical forests

Recent advances in understanding insect communities in tropical forests have contributed little to our knowledge of large-scale patterns of insect diversity, because incomplete taxonomic knowledge of many tropical species hinders the mapping of their distribution records. This impedes an understanding of global biodiversity patterns and explains why tropical insects are under-represented in conservation biology. Our study of approximately 500 species from three herbivorous guilds feeding on foliage (caterpillars, Lepidoptera), wood (ambrosia beetles, Coleoptera) and fruit (fruitflies, Diptera) found a low rate of change in species composition (beta diversity) across 75,000 square kilometres of contiguous lowland rainforest in Papua New Guinea, as most species were widely distributed. For caterpillars feeding on large plant genera, most species fed on multiple host species, so that even locally restricted plant species did not support endemic herbivores. Large plant genera represented a continuously distributed resource easily colonized by moths and butterflies over hundreds of kilometres. Low beta diversity was also documented in groups with differing host specificity (fruitflies and ambrosia beetles), suggesting that dispersal limitation does not have a substantial role in shaping the distribution of insect species in New Guinea lowland rainforests. Similar patterns of low beta diversity can be expected in other tropical lowland rainforests, as they are typically situated in the extensive low basins of major tropical rivers similar to the Sepik-Ramu region of New Guinea studied here.