A family study of endophenotypes for psychosis within an early intervention programme in Hong Kong: Rationale and preliminary findings

The study of endophenotypes may be a viable strategy to tackle the genetic complexity and phenotypic heterogeneity of psychosis, but this research direction is relatively under-developed in China as compared to Western countries. We have recently initiated one of the first family studies of endophenotypes for psychosis in China. Patients entering an established early psychosis intervention service are recruited into this research project for phenotyping, endophenotyping and genotyping. At the endophenotypic...     

The approximation of long‐memory processes by an ARMA model

A mean square error criterion is proposed in this paper to provide a systematic approach to approximate a long‐memory time series by a short‐memory ARMA(1, 1) process. Analytic expressions are derived to assess the effect of such an approximation. These results are established not only for the pure fractional noise case, but also for a general autoregressive fractional moving average long‐memory time series. Performances of the ARMA(1,1) approximation as compared to using an ARFIMA model are illustrated by both computations and an application to the Nile river series. Results derived in this paper shed light on the forecasting issue of a long‐memory process. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Waterfowl distribution and abundance during spring migration in southern Oregon and northeastern California

We used aerial surveys to study abundance and distribution of waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans, and coots) during spring in southern Oregon and northeastern California (SONEC). Total waterfowl-use days in SONEC during the 119-day, 5 January–3 May, spring period was similar during 2002 (127,977,700) and 2003 (128,076,200) and averaged 1,075,900 birds per day (bpd); these estimates should be adjusted upward 4%–10% to account for areas not surveyed. Waterfowl abundance peaked in mid-March in both years: 2,095,700 in 2002 and 1,681,700 in 2003. Northern Pintail ( Anas acuta ) was the most abundant species in both years, accounting for 25.6% of the 2002 and 24.5% of the 2003 waterfowl-use days. Pintail abundance peaked during the 13 March survey at 689,300 in 2002 and 532,100 in 2003. All other dabbling ducks accounted for 27.6% and 28.6%, diving ducks for 13.5% and 9.2%, geese for 24.6% and 29.3%, swans for 2.8% and 1.9%, and coots for 5.8% and 6.4% of the spring waterfowl-use days in SONEC during 2002 and 2003, respectively. Although use days changed little for total waterfowl (+0.08%) and dabbling ducks (–0.1%), diving duck use was lower (–32%), and goose use days were greater (+19%) in 2003 than in 2002. Distribution was similar in both years, with the most waterfowl use in the Lower (66%) and Upper (14%) Klamath subregions; 2%–6% occurred in each of the other subregions. Although the Lower Klamath subregion received the greatest overall waterfowl use, distribution among subregions varied among species and surveys, and all subregions were important during some part of the spring for 1 or more species. Peak spring abundance in SONEC during 2002 and 2003 averaged 50.3% of the midwinter abundance in California (all survey regions) and southern Oregon (69-3 survey region) for all waterfowl, 46.1% for dabbling ducks, 62.4% for diving ducks, 68.8% for geese, 109.4% for swans, and 43.8% for coots. Each spring, 75% of all waterfowl use in SONEC occurred on federal, state, or Nature Conservancy lands (i.e., protected areas). On protected areas there was a higher percentage of dabbling ducks (80.5%), geese (70.5%), and coots (81.5%) than diving ducks (60.4%) and swans (49%). Waterfowl use of Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) averaged 42% greater during spring 2002–2003 (568,500 bpd) than during 1998–2001 (Gilmer et al. 2004). Numerous factors likely impacted magnitude and distribution of waterfowl use of SONEC during spring, including weather, waterfowl populations, SONEC habitat, and species ecology. SONEC is a critical spring staging area for waterfowl that winter in the Central Valley of California and other Pacific Flyway regions and should be a major focus area for waterfowl-habitat conservation efforts.     

Detection of Design Fault in Dart Placement - intersecting Dart

It is easy to apply lines in design drawings to create different styles, however, there is no guarantee that all the style lines drawn are able to be manufactured. In this paper, we focus on one undeliverable style to enhance our understanding of the relationship between the design sketch and the pattern design process. In order to evidence that such style is unworkable, a systematic display of pattern development, and to be reinforced by mathematical evaluation, will be introduced and addressed. When one can easily detect design fault, waste of product development time can be minimized.     

左思《蜀都赋》的创作观及资料来源初探

左思,既非蜀人,又未曾涉足蜀地,其《蜀都赋》却成就了＂洛阳纸贵＂的千古文章盛事。从史料中还原左思潜心十年的写作情形,结合历来评论,考辩他重本实的创作观。进而以文本为依据探讨左思既从史书方志、前人诗赋作品,以及寻访人物等广泛的资料来源。     

Plant genetics: increased outcrossing in hothead mutants

Arising from: S. J. Lolle, J. L. Victor, J. M. Young & R. E. Pruitt 434, 505-509 (2005); Lolle et al. reply. Lolle et al. report that loss-of-function alleles of the HOTHEAD (HTH) gene in Arabidopsis thaliana are genetically unstable, giving rise to wild-type revertants. On the basis of the reversion of many other genetic markers in hth plants, they suggested a model in which a cache of extragenomic information could cause genes to revert to the genotype of previous generations. In our attempts to reproduce this phenomenon, we discovered that hth mutants show a marked tendency to outcross (unlike wild-type A. thaliana, which is almost exclusively self-fertilizing). Moreover, when hth plants are grown in isolation, their genetic inheritance is completely stable. These results may provide an alternative explanation for the genome wide non-mendelian inheritance reported by Lolle et al.     

苏州城市竞争力的理性思考

城市是一个相对独立的利益主体,在发展和竞争中追求自身利益的最大化,由城市所具有的竞争优势、比较优势、领先优势、绝对优势等因素综合形成的力量即是城市竞争力。城市竞争是关于其价值增长以及地位提升的竞争,研究城市竞争力的主要目的在于制定竞争战略。     

Comparative studies on phenotypic plasticity of two herbs, Changium smyrnioides and Anthriscus sylvestris

The endangered medicinal herb, Changium smyrnioides can only be found in deciduous forest gaps within the middle to northern subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forest zone of China. The considerable plasticity of its shoot and root structure helps it to capture light more effectively in winter and early spring, and to adapt to the soil moisture conditions in its narrow habitat. Another medicinal plant, Anthriscus sylvestris, is of similar economic importance but commonly distributed widely. In contrast to C. smyrnioides, it has low structural plasticity. It is also specialized to adapt to the moist and sunny environment, where habitat, such as the banks of creeks and rivers, is abundant.