Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms

Today's surface ocean is saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, but increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are reducing ocean pH and carbonate ion concentrations, and thus the level of calcium carbonate saturation. Experimental evidence suggests that if these trends continue, key marine organisms--such as corals and some plankton--will have difficulty maintaining their external calcium carbonate skeletons. Here we use 13 models of the ocean-carbon cycle to assess calcium carbonate saturation under the IS92a 'business-as-usual' scenario for future emissions of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. In our projections, Southern Ocean surface waters will begin to become undersaturated with respect to aragonite, a metastable form of calcium carbonate, by the year 2050. By 2100, this undersaturation could extend throughout the entire Southern Ocean and into the subarctic Pacific Ocean. When live pteropods were exposed to our predicted level of undersaturation during a two-day shipboard experiment, their aragonite shells showed notable dissolution. Our findings indicate that conditions detrimental to high-latitude ecosystems could develop within decades, not centuries as suggested previously.     

Experimental validation of inter-subspecific genetic diversity in rice represented by the differences between the DNA sequences of ‘Nipponbare’ and ‘93-11’

The pedigrees of three sequenced rice cultivars were analyzed to show that a majority of the genetic composition of 'Nipponbare' originates from japonica cultivars while the minority originates from indica cultivars. In contrast, '93-11' is derived mainly from indica cultivars with a smaller contribution from japonica cultivars. All ancestors of 'Guang lu ai 4' appeared to be indica lines. A set of molecular markers (46 InDels and 53 SSRs) polymorphic between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' were examined in 46 typical indica and 47 typical japonica cultivars selected from 443 accessions according to Cheng's index. All cultivars were divided into indica and japonica groups without overlapping when clustered by Cheng's index, InDels and SSRs. Much higher InDel and SSR diversity between groups than within groups implies that the marker polymorphisms between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' represent a large proportion of inter-subspecific diversity. About 85% of indica cultivars and more than 90% of japonica cultivars were confirmed to have the same PCR banding patterns as '93-11' and 'Nipponbare', respectively. Some polymorphic loci between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' cannot be validated in other indica and japonica cultivars, either as subspecies-specific but not predominant alleles, or alleles not specific between the two groups. It was concluded that molecular markers developed from sequence polymorphism between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' often represent inter-subspecific diversity, although some exceptions were sensitive to either particular marker loci or particular cultivars.     

A novel metalloproteinase gene specifically expressed in stromal cells of breast carcinomas.

A gene has been identified that is expressed specifically in stromal cells surrounding invasive breast carcinomas. On the basis of its sequence, the product of this gene, named stromelysin-3, is a new member of the family of metalloproteinase enzymes which degrade the extracellular matrix. The suggestion is that stromelysin-3 is one of the stroma-derived factors that have long been postulated to play an important part in progression of epithelial malignancies.     

An organic thyristor

Thyristors are a class of nonlinear electronic device that exhibit bistable resistance--that is, they can be switched between two different conductance states. Thyristors are widely used as inverters (direct to alternating current converters) and for the smooth control of power in a variety of applications such as motors and refrigerators. Materials and structures that exhibit nonlinear resistance of this sort are not only useful for practical applications: they also provide systems for exploring fundamental aspects of solid-state and statistical physics. Here we report the discovery of a giant nonlinear resistance effect in the conducting organic salt theta-(BEDT-TTF)2CsCo(SCN)4, the voltage-current characteristics of which are essentially the same as those of a conventional thyristor. This intrinsic organic thyristor works as an inverter, generating an alternating current when a static direct-current voltage is applied. Whereas conventional thyristors consist of a series of diodes (their nonlinearity comes from interface effects at the p-n junctions), the present salt exhibits giant nonlinear resistance as a bulk phenomenon. We attribute the origin of this effect to the current-induced melting of insulating charge-order domains, an intrinsically non-equilibrium phenomenon in the sense that ordered domains are melted by a steady flow.     

Lateral gene transfer and the nature of bacterial innovation

Unlike eukaryotes, which evolve principally through the modification of existing genetic information, bacteria have obtained a significant proportion of their genetic diversity through the acquisition of sequences from distantly related organisms. Horizontal gene transfer produces extremely dynamic genomes in which substantial amounts of DNA are introduced into and deleted from the chromosome. These lateral transfers have effectively changed the ecological and pathogenic character of bacterial species.     

Mice deficient for p53 are developmentally normal but susceptible to spontaneous tumours.

Mutations in the p53 tumour-suppressor gene are the most frequently observed genetic lesions in human cancers. To investigate the role of the p53 gene in mammalian development and tumorigenesis, a null mutation was introduced into the gene by homologous recombination in murine embryonic stem cells. Mice homozygous for the null allele appear normal but are prone to the spontaneous development of a variety of neoplasms by 6 months of age. These observations indicate that a normal p53 gene is dispensable for embryonic development, that its absence predisposes the animal to neoplastic disease, and that an oncogenic mutant form of p53 is not obligatory for the genesis of many types of tumours.     

Direct splitting of water under visible light irradiation with an oxide semiconductor photocatalyst.

The photocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar energy is a potentially clean and renewable source for hydrogen fuel. The first photocatalysts suitable for water splitting, or for activating hydrogen production from carbohydrate compounds made by plants from water and carbon dioxide, were developed several decades ago. But these catalysts operate with ultraviolet light, which accounts for only 4% of the incoming solar energy and thus renders the overall process impractical. For this reason, considerable efforts have been invested in developing photocatalysts capable of using the less energetic but more abundant visible light, which accounts for about 43% of the incoming solar energy. However, systems that are sufficiently stable and efficient for practical use have not yet been realized. Here we show that doping of indium-tantalum-oxide with nickel yields a series of photocatalysts, In(1-x)Ni(x)TaO(4) (x = 0-0.2), which induces direct splitting of water into stoichiometric amounts of oxygen and hydrogen under visible light irradiation with a quantum yield of about 0.66%. Our findings suggest that the use of solar energy for photocatalytic water splitting might provide a viable source for 'clean' hydrogen fuel, once the catalytic efficiency of the semiconductor system has been improved by increasing its surface area and suitable modifications of the surface sites.     

基于多源浮动车数据融合的道路交通运行评估

针对当前出租车浮动车数据覆盖范围和数据质量不足的问题,在现有数据特征分析的基础上引入百度手机导航和公交车浮动车导航数据,面向道路运行评估和拥堵管理提出了基于出行时间的交通运行指数算法和一种基于出租车、百度、公交车多源浮动车数据融合的道路交通运行评估方法,构建了多源数据融合规则和融合算法.以深圳为例进行了融合效果分析,结果表明所提出的多源数据融合方法效果显著,很大程度上提高了融合结果精度、数据覆盖率、数据可靠性和数据样本量,最后提出了主要应用方向和初步应用效果,能够为国内外城市开展交通运行评估工作提供借鉴.     

Symmetrical directional cloning: An efficient method to prepare hairpin RNA interference constructs

RNA interference (RNAi) is a loss-of-function approach by which double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) initiates degradation of homologous mRNAs in a sequence specific manner. The dsRNA molecules can be produced in vitro or in vivo, and can be introduced to cells in a number of ways. Here we report a more efficient method for the cloning of inverted repeat DNA fragments into expression vectors that can be transcribed into effective dsRNA molecules in vivo or in vitro. This method, named Symmetrical Directional Cloning (SDC), takes the advantage of compatible non-palindromic restriction enezyme sites, which allow one to directionally clone a single PCR product in both the sense and antisense orientations together into a vector. SDC allows for the directional cloning of inverted repeats using a single PCR product; it requires only one cut site on each side of the loop. Hence this method is more cost effective and less time-consuming. At least 21 commercially available restriction endonucleases can be used as cloning sites for the SDC method. The efficacy of dsRNA expression vectors prepared by SDC has been demonstrated by targeting a negative regulator of the signaling pathway mediating the response of cells to phytohormone, gibberellins (GA), in the aleurone cells.     

函数再现机构的可靠性综合

以曲柄滑块机构为例，提出了函数再现机构的可靠性综合方法．首先由机构的允许输出误差应用可靠性概念确定各构件尺寸，然后用概率法分配各构件的尺寸公差．从而使机构具有预定的可靠度．