Comparative study of Cambrian lobopods <Emphasis Type="Italic">Miraluolishania</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Luolishania</Emphasis>

The rare fossil Miraluolishania described by Liu et ah from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte in 2004 is regarded as an arthropod sphinx because it bears mosaic features of both Iobopods and arthropods. The discovery of this rare transitional form offers direct fossil evidence for exploring the relationship between Iobopods and arthropods. However, some scientists consider Miraluolishania to be a junior synonym of Luolishania because the former superficially resembles the latter in general appearance. Considering the significant differences between the two taxa, a thorough comparative study of Miraluolishania and Luolishania leads to the conclusion that there are definitely two different genera. Nevertheless, the ＂Luolishania＂ of the Haikou area is indeed ＂Miraluolishania＂, whereas Luolishania is most likely the typical genus of the Maotianshan area of Chengjiang County.     

Fabrication of copper nanorods by low-temperature metal organic chemical vapor deposition

Copper nanorods have been synthe-sized in mesoporous SBA-15 by a low-temperature metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) employing copper (II) acetylacetonate, Cu(acac)2, and hydrogen as a precursor and reactant gas, re- spectively. The hydrogen plays an important role in chemical reduction of oganometallic precursor which enhances mass transfer in the interior of the SBA-15 porous substrate. Such copper nanostructures are of great potentials in the semiconductor due to their unusual optical, magnetic and electronic properties. In addition, it has been found that chemically modi- fying the substrate surface by carbon deposition is crucial to such synthesis of copper nanostructures in the interior of the SBA-15, which is able to change the surface properties of SBA-15 from hydrophilic to hydrophobic to promote the adsorption of organic cupric precursor. It has also been found that the copper nanoparticles deposited on the external sur- face are almost eliminated and the copper nanorods are more distinct while the product was treated with ammonia. This approach could be achieved under a mild condition: a low temperature (400℃) and vac-uum (2 kPa) which is extremely milder than the con- ventional method. It actually sounds as a foundation which is the first time to synthesize a copper nanorod at a mild condition of a low reaction temperature and pressure.     

Earliest record of megaphylls and leafy structures, and their initial diversification

Evolutionary changes in the structure of leaves have had far-reaching effects on the anatomy and physiology of vascular plants, resulting in morphological diversity and species expansion. People have long been interested in the question of the nature of the morphology of early leaves and how they were attained. At least five lineages of euphyllophytes can be recognized among the Early Devonian fossil plants (Pragian age, ca. 410 Ma ago) of South China. Their different leaf precursors or "branch-leaf complexes" are believed to foreshadow true megaphylls with different venation patterns and configurations, indicating that multiple origins of megaphylls had occurred by the Early Devonian, much earlier than has previously been recognized. In addition to megaphylls in euphyllophytes, the laminate leaf-like appendages (sporophylls or bracts) occurred independently in several distantly related Early Devonian plant lineages, probably as a response to ecological factors such as high atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. This is a typical example of convergent evolution in early plants.     

A venomous arthropod in the Early Cambrian Sea

A number of recently evolved animals possess poison glands for feeding and/or defense.However,examples of such animals are rare in the fossil record.We report a fossil arthropod Isoxys curvirostratus from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China.This species is regarded as the oldest known venomous arthropod based on the presence of venomous glands in its head region.The adult animal is 2-5 cm long and the body is covered entirely with a carapace.The presence of large stalk eyes and a pair of stout grasping appendages with a terminal spine suggest it was raptorial.Interestingly,the two pear-shaped,three-dimensionally preserved objects that are present in the head region and at the base of the grasping appendages closely resemble the venom glands of some living arthropods in size,shape,and position.These features indicate that the presence of venomous predators could date back 520 million years.Furthermore,our observations suggest that the feeding strategies and organs adapted for this purpose had already reached a high level of diversity and anatomical sophistication in the Early Cambrian ecosystems.     

A family net of giant pandas in the Tangjiahe Natural Reserve： Assessment of current individual migration

In the present study, formalin-fixed feces, oligonucleotide fingerprinting and SRY-gene based sexing were used to construct a family net for giant pandas in the Tangjiahe Natural Reserve and to assess contemporary gene flow （migration） in this population. A total of 124 fecal samples were attributed to 37 individuals （22 females and 15 males） that were then analyzed for family relationships. Based on DNA fingerprints, the deduced family net revealed the following facts： （i） First-order relatives possessed similarities from 50% to 90%, and similarities between unrelated individuals or distant relatives were as high as 77%, indicating that the Tangjiahe pandas are characterized by high genetic similarity; （ii） 15 matings were identified and 5 ones occurred between close relatives, implying that there is potential for inbreeding to impact the pandas; （iii） four mating pairs and 5 offspring presented long distance migrations, demonstrating the intra-reserve habitat is continuous; （iv） four pairs of full sibs （also female-male dyads） dispersed short distance and all of them gave birth to highly inbred offspring, reflecting long distance migration is vital for inbreeding avoidance; （v） 17 adult individuals dispersed short or moderate distance and formed three clusters on the landscape, indicating that it is necessary to find out whether there is a negative factor impacting the pandas.     

The earliest-known ancestors of Recent Priapulomorpha from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstaette

The taxonomy of an early ancestor of Recent Priapulidae, Xiaoheiqingella peculiaris (= Yunnanpriapulus halteroformis Huang et al., 2004) from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang fossil Lagerstaette, is revised. Morphological characters comprise a pair of caudal appendages rather than a single appendage flanking the trunk end and a possible urogenital duct found inside the preanal region. An additional extremely rare fossil priapulid worm, Paratubiluchus bicaudatus gen. nov., sp. nov. is also described herein. Its diagnostic characters are: an introvert bearing 25 longitudinal rows of scalids, a distinct neck region, no annulus on the oval trunk, and a pair of caudal appendages. The proportion of body parts is similar in size to that of loricate larvae of Recent priapulids and larva-formed Palaeopriapulitidae. Taking account of the features of Xiaoheiqingella, bicaudal appendages are considered to be a synapomorphy of Priapulidae and Tubiluchidae. Paratubiluchus gen. nov. is most likely a candidate for the ancestor of the Tubiluchidae; it probably originated from a larva-formed priapulid with 25 rows of scalids, thus representing an intermediate link between the priapulids in mature-form and the priapulids with lorica.     

Mantle plumes： Why the current skepticism？

The present reappraisal of the mantle plume hypothesis is perhaps the most exciting current debate in Earth science. Nevertheless, the fundamental reasons for why it has arisen are often not well understood. They are that 1） many observations do not agree with the predictions of the original model, 2） it is possible that convection of the sort required to generate thermal plumes in the Earth＇s mantle does not occur, 3） so many variants of the original model have been invoked to accommodate conflicting data that the plume hypthesis is in practice no longer testable, and 4） alternative models are viable, though these have been largely neglected by researchers. Regardless of the final outcome, the present vigorous debate is to be welcomed since it is likely to stimulate new discoveries in a way that unquestioning acceptance of the conventional plume model will not.     

Rise and Fall of the Peer-to-Peer Empire

The essence of the peer-to-peer design philosophy is to design protocols for end hosts, or "peers", to work in collaboration to achieve a certain design objective, such as the sharing of a large file. From a theoretical perspective, it has been recognized that the peer-to-peer design paradigm resembles gossip protocols, and with appropriate algorithmic design, it maximizes the network flow rates in multicast sessions. Over the past ten years, research on peer-to-peer computing and systems, a unique and intriguing category of distributed systems, has received a tremendous amount of research attention from academia and indus-try alike. Peer-to-peer computing eventually culminated in a number of successful commercial systems, showing the viability of their design philosophy in the Internet. The peer-to-peer design paradigm has pushed all design choices of innovative protocols to the edge of the Internet, and in most cases to end hosts themselves. It represents one of the best incarnation of the end-to-end argument, one of the frequently dis-puted design philosophies that guided the design of the Internet. Yet, research on peer-to-peer computing has recently receded from the spotlight, and suffered from a precipitous fall that was as dramatic as its me-teoric rise to the culmination of its popularity. This article presents a cursory glimpse of existing results over the past ten years in peer-to-peer computing, with a particular focus on understanding what has stimulated its rise in popularity, what has contributed to its commercial success, and eventually, what has led to its pre-cipitous fall in research attention. Our insights in this article may be beneficial when we develop our thoughts on the design paradigm of cloud computing.     

Multifractal analysis of resting state fMRI series in default mode network: age and gender effects

Age-related changes of resting state in default mode network （DMN） may provide new clues to the developing mechanism of normal brain as well as early diagnosis and therapy of some neuropsychiatric disorders. The application of multifractal theory to functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI） signals has recently raised increasing attention. We aim to explore the multifractal characteristics underlying the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging （rs-fMRI） series extracted from DMN, and two issues are mainly discussed： （1） whether there exist multifractals in rs-fMRI series; （2） whether it is possible to distinguish between the different ages or genders by means of multifractal characteristics. Results demon- strated the existence of multifractals in rs-fMRI series in DMN. In addition, slight differences between young subjects and middle-aged or elderly subjects can be successfully detected by △asα, a modified measure we proposed. Furthermore, it is revealed that the rs-fMRI series from young subjects possess smaller averaged scale index and weaker long range correlation, while those from middle-aged or elderly people present increasing averaged scale index andstronger long range correlation. Whereas no significant statistical differences has been found between male and female group. Our results, therefore, highlight the potential useful- ness of multifractal analysis in fMRI series of a certain brain region, and provide important insights into healthy aging in DMN.     

Use of Internet Technology for the Improvement of Execution Management in Geotechnical Engineering Projects

An internet-based information and monitoring platform for the specific requirements of geotechnical engineering projects is presented. The platform is based on a hybrid-model approach consisting of a model-based information management system and a resource management system, the latter also referred to as DCMS. Project key information can be accessed via the main user interface, the "graphical navigator". The graphical navigator provides also a direct access to additional information in the DCMS. Prompt reac-tion in exceptional situations as well as in daily work gets an extensive support. In practical applications it has been proven that this platform seems to be an adequate tool especially for risk assessment and management in geotechnical engineering projects. Components and advantages of the platform as well as ex periences from the applications are presented and discussed in the paper.     

Numerical Analysis for Temperature Characteristics of Open Boundary Crushed-rock Embankment on Qinghai-Tibet Railway

At present, in order to protect the stability of permafrost beneath embankment, the crushed-rock embankment, as a new type of embankment structure, has widely been used in the construction of Qinghai- Tibet Railway. Its crushed-rock layer is almost open in tow bilateral boundaries and closed at top and bottom, and air can flow into/out of the ballast layer and crushed-rock layer. Therefore, the convection and transfer heat patterns are very complicated in the ballast layer and crushed-rock layer of the embankment, which are regarded as porous media. In this paper, based on the wind, temperature and geology conditions of Qinghai- Tibet Plateau, a numerical approach of the unsteady two-dimensional continuity, momentum （non-Darcy flow） and energy equations of heat convection for incompressible fluid in porous media is provide to analyse the velocity and temperature characteristics of the crushed-rock embankment with different embankment heights under open boundary condition for the coming 50 years. The calculated results indicate that, due to the influence of the external wind, the convective heat transfer mainly relies on the forced convection in the open crushed-rock emban kment. Even if the air temperature will be wanned up by 2.6℃ in the coming 50 years, it still has a better cooling effect on the underlying soils and a low temperature frozen-soil core is formed in the permafrost below it if the embankment is constructed in the regions whose present mean annual air temperature is - 4.0℃. Furthermore, the cooling effect of high crushed-rock embankment is better than that of low embankment. This results from the fact that the wider bottom of high emban kment has a more influence dimension on the underlying frozen soil. However, cardinal winds on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau disturb its convection pattern, so that an asymmetric temperature distribution occurs under high embankment and it is possible to induce a transverse uneven deformation of emban kment, but no similar situation occurs under low embankment. This asymmetric temperature field problem should be considered when crushed-rock emban kment is designed and constructed.     

Study of operator reliability in nuclear power plants

The study of the reliability of operator's diagnosis and decision-making during abnormal events with HCR model has been introduced. A new approach has been proposed by the authors to deal with the classification of HIs. The modification of T0.5 by PSFs coefficients has been discussed. In addition, it is emphasized that T0. 5 and SD(σ) of response times can be used as a scale to predict and evaluate the reliability of crew/operator behavior. These processings provide improvement and refinement to HCR model and its practical application. The experiment for operator response time of Chinese NPP using a lull-scale simulator has proved the above-mentioned processings and presented the quantitative results of operator reliability in Chinese NPP.     

Predicting disease genes for familial dilated cardiomyopathy based on the codon usage bias

Familial dilated cardiomyopathy （FDC） is a common monogenic disease mostly with autosomal dominant inheritance. Fifteen different loci for autosomal dominant FDC have been mapped; however, only eight FDC genes have been found, and it is still a big challenge to identify additional seven FDC genes in their chromosomal regions. We found that the codon usage frequencies in most of known FDC gene sequences are consistently biased, and significantly different from the average codon usage frequencies of human genes. This unique feature of codon usage was used to develop a novel approach to predicting FDC genes. Leave-oneout cross-validation results demonstrate that this approach can effectively detect FDC genes from numbers of genes in their chromosomal regions. Another advantage of this approach is that it is solely based on DNA sequences and therefore has the ability to identify potential FDC genes whose functions are completely unknown. Further, this approach has been used to analyze the seven FDC loci in which the FDC genes are still unknown. Both the detailed prediction results and the prediction program are available at http：// infosci.hust.edu.cn, which might provide help for relevant experimental researches to find new FDC genes.     

Advances in geochemical research on nanometer materials

Important advances have been made in the field of geochemistry since nanometer science and technology were introduced into the field of geoscience. The nanometer particulates have been discovered in naturally-occurring ore deposits, volcano-eruptive materials and geo-gases, and a more detailed exploration of the metallogenic mechanism of endogenic metallic ore deposits has been conducted. It is considered that some ore-forming metals may transport in the form of native particulates. Because they have very strong capabilities of adsorption, adsorption is always regarded as an important mechanism of metallogenesis under supergenic and low temperature conditions. Therefore, a new technology of ore exploration has also been developed. This paper attempts to review the new advances in geochemical research on nanometer materials, as well as its perspectivess.     

Environmental magnetism and paleoclimatic interpretation of the Sanmenxia loess-paleosol sequence in the southeastern extremity of the Chinese Loess Plateau

This is a report of multi-parameter mineral magnetic results of the Sanmenxia loess-pa-leosol couplets in the SE extremity of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) over the interval of L1- L13 spanning the last 1 Ma. These results show that mass-specific magnetic susceptibility (X), XARM and SIRM and their ratios exhibit parallel stratigraphic variations. Since superparamagnetic (SP) particles have significant contribution to X but no contribution to remanence, e.g., ARM and SIRM, the strong linear correlations between X and remanence (e.g., ARM and SIRM) suggest that the pedogenesis-produced magnetic grains are predominantly in small single domain range. Consequently, the significant contribution of SP particles to the bulk X as supposed in previous studies has been obviously overestimated. XARM/X data in Sanmenxia and median grain size records of typical loess sections from the hinterland of the CLP display a strong resemblance, implying that XARM/X may be regarded as a reliable indicator for monitoring the variations of ferrimagnetic grain sizes. The results of S-ratio and HIRM ((SIRM IRM-0.3T)/2) measurements indicate that there is significant enhancement of both soft magnetite/maghemite and hard hematite/goethite in paleosols associated with pedogenesis.     

Estimation of Mutual Coupling Coefficient of the Array by Simulated Annealing Algorithm

We propose a method for estimating the mutual coupling coefficient among antennas in this paper which is based on the principle of signal subspace and the simulated annealing （SA） algorithm. The computer simulation has been conducted to illustrate the＇ excellent performance of this method and to demonstrate that it is statistically efficient. The benefit of this new method is that calibration signals and unknown signals can be received simultaneously, during the course of calibration.     

Evolutionary status of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Entamoeba</Emphasis>

In addition to its medical importance as parasitic pathogen, Entamoeba has aroused people‘s interest in its evolutionary status for a long time. Lacking mitochondrion and other intracellular organelles common to typical eukaryotes, Entamoeba and several other amitochondrial protozoans have been recognized as ancient pre-mitochondriate eukaryotes and named “archezoa“, the most primitive extant eukaryotes. It was suggested that they might be living fossils that remained in a primitive stage of evolution before acquisition of organelles, lying close to the transition between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. However, recent studies revealed that Entamoeba contained an organelle, “crypton“ or “mitosome“, which was regarded as specialized or reductive mitochondrion. Relative molecular phylogenetic analyses also indicated the existence or the probable existence of mitochondrion in Entamoeba. Our phylogenetic analysis based on DNA topoisomerase Ⅱ strongly suggested its divergence after some mitchondriate enkaryotes. Here, all these recent researches are reviewed and the evolutionary status of Entamoeba is discussed.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of the deposition process of hydrogenated diamond-like carbon （DLC） films

The deposition process of hydrogenated diamond-like carbon （DLC） film greatly affects its frictional properties. In this study, CH3 radicals are selected as source species to deposit hydrogenated DLC films for molecular dynamics simulation. The growth and structural properties of hydrogenated DLC films are investigated and elucidated in detail. By comparison and statistical analysis, the authors find that the ratio of carbon to hydrogen in the films generally shows a monotonously increasing trend with the increase of impact energy. Carbon atoms are more reactive during deposition and more liable to bond with substrate atoms than hydrogen atoms. In addition, there exists a peak value of the number of hydrogen atoms deposited in hydrogenated DLC films. The trends of the variation are opposite on the two sides of this peak point, and it becomes stable when impact energy is greater than 80 eV. The average relative density also indicates a rising trend along with the increment of impact energy, while it does not reach the saturation value until impact energy comes to 50 eV. The hydrogen content in source species is a key factor to determine the hydrogen content in hydrogenated DLC films. When the hydrogen content in source species is high, the hydrogen content in hydrogenated DLC films is accordingly high.     

Statistical characteristics of the double ridges of subtropical high in the Northern Hemisphere

The generality and some climatological characteristics of the double ridge systems of subtropical high （SH） are investigated statistically by using the daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data from 1958 to 1998. The results show that the SH double-ridge event is a common phenomenon in the Northern Hemisphere, with the distinct seasonal and regional features, that is, the majority of SH double-ridge geneses concentrate over the eastern North India Ocean-western North Pacific as well as the central North Pacific in the period from mid-July to mid-September. Especially over the western North Pacific subtropics, the SH double-ridge events are extremely active. It is found that the life cycle of most double-ridge events of western Pacific subtropical high （WPSH） is shorter but some still last longer. The WPSH double-ridge events occur most frequently from July to September, while there is a paucity of occurrences during November-March. Also, it is shown that the WPSH double-ridge events have a strong interannual variation with a certain periodicity which possesses a remarkably abrupt change in the mid-1970s. Additionally, the relationship between the WPSH double ridges and the meridional movement of WPSH is discussed.     

Molecular identification and phylosenetic position of Cuora yunnanensis

The Yunnan box turtle （Cuora yunnanensis, Boulenger, 1906）, which has drawn much attention in conservation biology, was regarded as extinct since it was previously known only from 12 specimens collected in Yunnan, China, before 1908. Recently, live specimens have been discovered which are suggested to be C. yunnanensis. To determine whether the newly discovered specimens are really C. yunnanensis, we have established a molecular phylogeny, with a 1725-bp fragment of mitochondrial DNA, using samples from three live individuals of C. yunnanensis, together with sequence data from a museum specimen of C. yunnanensis （MNHN 1907.10） and other members of the genus Cuora. We found that the three newly discovered individuals and the old museum specimen of C. yunnanensis are very similar both in morphology and in mitochondrial DNA sequence, suggesting that the three new individuals are the very C. yunnanensis, and thus the species is not extinct. Our phylogenetic analysis also demonstrates that C. yunnanensis is not of recent hybrid origin, but rather represents a distinct evolutionary lineage.