The Instrument That Never Was: Inventing,Manufacturing, and Branding Réaumur's Thermometer During the Enlightenment

At the beginning of the 1730s René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur published two long memoirs on a new type of thermometer equipped with a specially calibrated scale — known ever since as the Réaumur scale. It became one of the most common ‘standardized’ thermometers in Europe until the late nineteenth century. What made this thermometer so successful? What was it specifically? I will first argue that the real Réaumur thermometer as an instrument was a fiction, a ghost — an idealized instrument. On paper, it was theoretically flawless. In reality, the standardized Réaumur thermometer was most likely never achieved. This article shows that its success was essentially due to a recontextualisation from theoretical natural philosophy — Réaumur's principle of uniformity — to: 1) the context of artisanal knowledge and practices and 2) the context of making and reporting in the Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences actual measurements done in the field (in Paris at the Observatory, in Provincial France, in the Colonies, and in the rest of Europe). Réaumur's thermometer was essentially a theoretical method to which was associated a particular scale. It was the instrument's reification for market consumption and fieldwork that gave this specific type of thermometer materiality and authority. Although most Réaumur thermometers ever made were strikingly different from one another, over time the thermomètre de Réaumur designation became a brand, a seal of approval born from customary artisanal practices and cultural habitudes.     

Extensive characterization of sphere models established from colorectal cancer cell lines

Links between cancer and stem cells have been proposed for many years. As the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory became widely studied, new methods were developed to culture and expand cancer cells with conserved determinants of “stemness”. These cells show increased ability to grow in suspension as spheres in serum-free medium supplemented with growth factors and chemicals. The physiological relevance of this phenomenon in established cancer cell lines remains unclear. Cell lines have traditionally been used to explore tumor biology and serve as preclinical models for the screening of potential therapeutic agents. Here, we grew cell-forming spheres (CFS) from 25 established colorectal cancer cell lines. The molecular and cellular characteristics of CFS were compared to the bulk of tumor cells. CFS could be isolated from 72 % of the cell lines. Both CFS and their parental CRC cell lines were highly tumorigenic. Compared to their parental cells, they showed similar expression of putative CSC markers. The ability of CRC cells to grow as CFS was greatly enhanced by prior treatment with 5-fluorouracil. At the molecular level, CFS and parental CRC cells showed identical gene mutations and very similar genomic profiles, although microarray analysis revealed changes in CFS gene expression that were independent of DNA copy-number. We identified a CFS gene expression signature common to CFS from all CRC cell lines, which was predictive of disease relapse in CRC patients. In conclusion, CFS models derived from CRC cell lines possess interesting phenotypic features that may have clinical relevance for drug resistance and disease relapse.     

High-throughput sequencing provides insights into genome variation and evolution in Salmonella Typhi

Isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (Typhi), a human-restricted bacterial pathogen that causes typhoid, show limited genetic variation. We generated whole-genome sequences for 19 Typhi isolates using 454 (Roche) and Solexa (Illumina) technologies. Isolates, including the previously sequenced CT18 and Ty2 isolates, were selected to represent major nodes in the phylogenetic tree. Comparative analysis showed little evidence of purifying selection, antigenic variation or recombination between isolates. Rather, evolution in the Typhi population seems to be characterized by ongoing loss of gene function, consistent with a small effective population size. The lack of evidence for antigenic variation driven by immune selection is in contrast to strong adaptive selection for mutations conferring antibiotic resistance in Typhi. The observed patterns of genetic isolation and drift are consistent with the proposed key role of asymptomatic carriers of Typhi as the main reservoir of this pathogen, highlighting the need for identification and treatment of carriers.     

Mutations in myosin heavy chain 11 cause a syndrome associating thoracic aortic aneurysm/aortic dissection and patent ductus arteriosus

We have recently described two kindreds presenting thoracic aortic aneurysm and/or aortic dissection (TAAD) and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and mapped the disease locus to 16p12.2-p13.13 (ref. 3). We now demonstrate that the disease is caused by mutations in the MYH11 gene affecting the C-terminal coiled-coil region of the smooth muscle myosin heavy chain, a specific contractile protein of smooth muscle cells (SMC). All individuals bearing the heterozygous mutations, even if asymptomatic, showed marked aortic stiffness. Examination of pathological aortas showed large areas of medial degeneration with very low SMC content. Abnormal immunological recognition of SM-MHC and the colocalization of wild-type and mutant rod proteins in SMC, in conjunction with differences in their coimmunoprecipitation capacities, strongly suggest a dominant-negative effect. Human MYH11 gene mutations provide the first example of a direct change in a specific SMC protein leading to an inherited arterial disease.     

战区物资调运数学模型研究

如何优化分配,合理调运,及时准确地完成后勤保障任务,是现代战争中战区物资调运面临的重要问题之一.基于运输问题,就现代战争条件下战区物资调运问题的各种情况建立了数学模型.该模型可用于后勤物资保障的决策支持系统及指挥自动化系统,为解决战时后勤保障供应问题提供了新的理论方法和思路.     

非基线对称类信号的基线扣除新算法

在分析了现有基线扣除算法的基础上,根据非基线对称类基线信号的特征提出了一种新的基线扣除算法--基于小波滤波和梯度直方图最佳分割的非基线对称类信号基线扣除新算法.考虑到信号总是存在着噪声,含噪的基线信号梯度值也较大,并且分布无规律,采用了多分辨率小波变换滤波技术.通过合理选择最佳分割阈值门限,算法可精确提取出该类信号的基线.     

引信全电子安全系统程序控制组件设计

全电子安全系统是引信设计的发展方向,程序控制组件是实现引信安全控制的重要部件.介绍了一种引信全电子安全系统程序控制组件的技术要求、基本功能和工作顺序及原理,提出了提高系统可靠性的电路模式和设计原则,同时对程序控制组件的软件设计方法进行了介绍.采用先进的在系统可编程器件,实现系统逻辑功能的集成化、小型化,且具有易于功能扩展、设计升级等优点.     

一种采用混合进制的算术编码

针对许多实际应用中需要同时编码压缩来自多种不同符号集的数据,提出一种采用混合进制的算术编码,提高编码效率的同时增强了算术编码的抗误码扩散能力.从理论上分析了该算法并给出了实现过程.处理小波零树系数以及随机混合数据的实验结果表明,该算法明显优于单一进制的编码算法.     

一种基于串行总线的智能容错飞控计算机系统

从工程技术角度出发,讨论了适用于无人驾驶飞行器的容错飞控计算机系统的实现,给出了基于串行总线的智能容错飞控计算机系统结构,将工作状态检测系统和故障预测技术应用到容错计算机系统中,可在故障发生前采取容错措施,避免故障发生和故障造成的系统失效.给出了总线接口、运算控制单元、A/D转换单元、通讯模块的结构和实现方法,指出利用CPLD和HDL语言进行电路综合具有效率高、测试方便、易修改的特点,应在实践中广泛推广.     

电梯上高峰模式下动态分区算法的研究

研究了电梯群控系统(EGCS)上行高峰时期的动态分区群控方法.动态分区是根据大楼乘客流量的大小和分布情况动态地调整楼层区域的划分;同时提出了一致的UPPINT的目标函数,将动态分区问题归结为一个最优化问题,用直接搜索法对其进行求解;并对群控的几种算法进行了仿真比较,验证了动态分区算法的良好效果.