The C. elegans genome sequencing project: a beginning.

The long-term goal of this project is the elucidation of the complete sequence of the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. During the first year methods have been developed and a strategy implemented that is amenable to large-scale sequencing. The three cosmids sequenced in this initial phase are surprisingly rich in genes, many of which have mammalian homologues.     

新型铸造铝合金的耐酸雨腐蚀性能研究

本文模拟酸雨试验研究了酸雨的PH值及温度对新型铸造铝合金进行耐蚀性能的影响。结果表明:在模拟酸雨试验中,随着腐蚀液PH值的降低、温度的升高试样的腐蚀速率增加,随着试验时间的延长试样的腐蚀速率降低。含Cr铝合金有较好的耐酸雨腐蚀性能。     

耦合 mKdV系统的非奇异正子解、负子解及复子解

研究从二层流体模型中导出的变系数耦合mKdV模型,利用达布变换法,并依据系统中Lax对的谱参数的性质,给出了耦合mKdV系统的正子解、负子解、复子解及这些解的具体结构图形.其中所得到的耦合mKdV系统的正子解、负子解和复子解都是解析的,而复子解可看作一种形式的周期波解.     

Prioritizing global conservation efforts

One of the most pressing issues facing the global conservation community is how to distribute limited resources between regions identified as priorities for biodiversity conservation. Approaches such as biodiversity hotspots, endemic bird areas and ecoregions are used by international organizations to prioritize conservation efforts globally. Although identifying priority regions is an important first step in solving this problem, it does not indicate how limited resources should be allocated between regions. Here we formulate how to allocate optimally conservation resources between regions identified as priorities for conservation--the 'conservation resource allocation problem'. Stochastic dynamic programming is used to find the optimal schedule of resource allocation for small problems but is intractable for large problems owing to the "curse of dimensionality". We identify two easy-to-use and easy-to-interpret heuristics that closely approximate the optimal solution. We also show the importance of both correctly formulating the problem and using information on how investment returns change through time. Our conservation resource allocation approach can be applied at any spatial scale. We demonstrate the approach with an example of optimal resource allocation among five priority regions in Wallacea and Sundaland, the transition zone between Asia and Australasia.     

Cortical substrates for exploratory decisions in humans

Decision making in an uncertain environment poses a conflict between the opposing demands of gathering and exploiting information. In a classic illustration of this 'exploration-exploitation' dilemma, a gambler choosing between multiple slot machines balances the desire to select what seems, on the basis of accumulated experience, the richest option, against the desire to choose a less familiar option that might turn out more advantageous (and thereby provide information for improving future decisions). Far from representing idle curiosity, such exploration is often critical for organisms to discover how best to harvest resources such as food and water. In appetitive choice, substantial experimental evidence, underpinned by computational reinforcement learning (RL) theory, indicates that a dopaminergic, striatal and medial prefrontal network mediates learning to exploit. In contrast, although exploration has been well studied from both theoretical and ethological perspectives, its neural substrates are much less clear. Here we show, in a gambling task, that human subjects' choices can be characterized by a computationally well-regarded strategy for addressing the explore/exploit dilemma. Furthermore, using this characterization to classify decisions as exploratory or exploitative, we employ functional magnetic resonance imaging to show that the frontopolar cortex and intraparietal sulcus are preferentially active during exploratory decisions. In contrast, regions of striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex exhibit activity characteristic of an involvement in value-based exploitative decision making. The results suggest a model of action selection under uncertainty that involves switching between exploratory and exploitative behavioural modes, and provide a computationally precise characterization of the contribution of key decision-related brain systems to each of these functions.     

排污权不是权利——评《国务院办公厅关于进一步推进排污权有偿使用和交易试点工作的指导意见》

许多人认为排污权是一种权利。但基于污染物的性质、权利客体的要求以及污染物减排的目标,排污只是一种客观事实,并不是权利的依据,排污权不是一种权利。因此,排污权也不能有偿使用和交易,只有如此才能更好地减排。