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.     

Essential role of limiting telomeres in the pathogenesis of Werner syndrome

Mutational inactivation of the gene WRN causes Werner syndrome, an autosomal recessive disease characterized by premature aging, elevated genomic instability and increased cancer incidence. The capacity of enforced telomerase expression to rescue premature senescence of cultured cells from individuals with Werner syndrome and the lack of a disease phenotype in Wrn-deficient mice with long telomeres implicate telomere attrition in the pathogenesis of Werner syndrome. Here, we show that the varied and complex cellular phenotypes of Werner syndrome are precipitated by exhaustion of telomere reserves in mice. In late-generation mice null with respect to both Wrn and Terc (encoding the telomerase RNA component), telomere dysfunction elicits a classical Werner-like premature aging syndrome typified by premature death, hair graying, alopecia, osteoporosis, type II diabetes and cataracts. This mouse model also showed accelerated replicative senescence and accumulation of DNA-damage foci in cultured cells, as well as increased chromosomal instability and cancer, particularly nonepithelial malignancies typical of Werner syndrome. These genetic data indicate that the delayed manifestation of the complex pleiotropic of Wrn deficiency relates to telomere shortening.     

Room-temperature ferroelectricity in strained SrTiO3

Systems with a ferroelectric to paraelectric transition in the vicinity of room temperature are useful for devices. Adjusting the ferroelectric transition temperature (T(c)) is traditionally accomplished by chemical substitution-as in Ba(x)Sr(1-x)TiO(3), the material widely investigated for microwave devices in which the dielectric constant (epsilon(r)) at GHz frequencies is tuned by applying a quasi-static electric field. Heterogeneity associated with chemical substitution in such films, however, can broaden this phase transition by hundreds of degrees, which is detrimental to tunability and microwave device performance. An alternative way to adjust T(c) in ferroelectric films is strain. Here we show that epitaxial strain from a newly developed substrate can be harnessed to increase T(c) by hundreds of degrees and produce room-temperature ferroelectricity in strontium titanate, a material that is not normally ferroelectric at any temperature. This strain-induced enhancement in T(c) is the largest ever reported. Spatially resolved images of the local polarization state reveal a uniformity that far exceeds films tailored by chemical substitution. The high epsilon(r) at room temperature in these films (nearly 7,000 at 10 GHz) and its sharp dependence on electric field are promising for device applications.     

Flexible organic light-emitting diodes with ITO／Ag／ITO multi-layers as anodes

The transparent ITO/Ag/ITO multi-layers are developed as anodes on flexible PET (poly(ethylene terephthalate)) substrates. The influence of these anodes on FOLED (Flexible Organic Light-emitting Diodes) is investigated. From the results of research, it can be seen that the multi-layer anode has optimum characteristics, whose sheetresistance is 11 Ω and optical transmittance is about 80%,when the thickness of Ag sandwiched by two ITO layers is in the range of 14--18 nm. It is demonstrated that the OLED devices with multi-layer anodes give better luminescence and higher efficiency compared with those with single ITO anodes.     

Oxygen sensation and social feeding mediated by a C. elegans guanylate cyclase homologue

Specialized oxygen-sensing cells in the nervous system generate rapid behavioural responses to oxygen. We show here that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans exhibits a strong behavioural preference for 5-12% oxygen, avoiding higher and lower oxygen levels. 3',5'-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is a common second messenger in sensory transduction and is implicated in oxygen sensation. Avoidance of high oxygen levels by C. elegans requires the sensory cGMP-gated channel tax-2/tax-4 and a specific soluble guanylate cyclase homologue, gcy-35. The GCY-35 haem domain binds molecular oxygen, unlike the haem domains of classical nitric-oxide-regulated guanylate cyclases. GCY-35 and TAX-4 mediate oxygen sensation in four sensory neurons that control a naturally polymorphic social feeding behaviour in C. elegans. Social feeding and related behaviours occur only when oxygen exceeds C. elegans' preferred level, and require gcy-35 activity. Our results suggest that GCY-35 is regulated by molecular oxygen, and that social feeding can be a behavioural strategy for responding to hyperoxic environments.     

Infrared metaphysics: radiation and theory-choice. Part 2

We continue our discussion of the competing arguments in favour of the unified theory and the pluralistic theory of radiation advanced by three nineteenth-century pioneers: Herschel, Melloni, and Draper. Our narrative is structured by a consideration of the epistemic criteria relevant to theory-choice; the epistemic focus highlights many little-known aspects of this relatively well-known episode. We argue that the acceptance of light-heat unity (and of the unified theory of radiation more generally) in this period cannot be credibly justified on the basis of common evaluative criteria such as simplicity and standard notions of explanatory power. Whether the consensus was justified by some other criteria remains an open question.     

基于分层着色Petri网的装备战场抢修系统建模

讨论了一种基于分层着色Petri网理论建立装备战场抢修系统模型的方法。这种方法是通过引入复杂库所和Petri子网来对原有的装备战场抢修系统模型进行改造，克服了以往用普通Petri网建模的不足之处，使模型变得直观、简单，并有利于模型分析和仿真实现。     

基本财务比率分析

财务分析以企业财务报告及其他相关资料为主要依据，对企业的财务状况和经营成果进行评价和剖析，反映企业在运营过程中的利弊得失和发展趋势，从而为投资者、债权人、经营决策者等相关人员提供重要的财务信息。财务分析是评价财务状况、衡量经营业绩的重要依据；是挖掘潜力、改进工作、实现财务管理目标的重要手段：是合理实施投资决策的重要步骤。     

Analysis of Alignment Influence on 3-D Anthropometric Statistics

Three-dimensional （3-D） surface anthropometry can provide much more useful information for many applications such as ergonomic product design than traditional individual body dimension measurements. However, the traditional definition of the percentile calculation is designed only for 1-D anthropometric data estimates. The same approach cannot be applied directly to 3-D anthropometric statistics otherwise it could lead to misinterpretations. In this paper, the influence of alignment references on 3-D anthropometric statistics is analyzed mathematically, which shows that different alignment reference points （for example, landmarks） for translation alignment could result in different object shapes if 3-D anthropometric data are processed for percentile values based on coordinates and that dimension percentile calculations based on coordinate statistics are incompatible with those traditionally based on individual dimensions.     

Formation of the Yazi Spring Stream and its significance on tectonics-climate on the northern slope of Kunlun Mountains

The sequences of fluvial terraces in the Yazi Spring Stream are signs of the stepwise uplift of the Kunlun Mountains in the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau since the Late Pleistocene. Geomorphic and sedimentary features of the terraces reveal that they have resulted from the phased tectonic uplift and the consequent river incision in the northern plateau. Using the method of Single-aliquot Regenerative-dose （SAR） Protocol and Radiocarbon ^14C dating, the deposit ages of three-grade terraces were obtained, which are 57.5, 12.8 and 5.7 kaBP, respectively. The features and ages of terraces reveal that the incision rate of the stream accelerated at the beginning of the Holocene. The incision rate changed suddenly at 12.8 KaBP, from 0.43±0.07 mm/a to 1.59±0.55 mm/a. This implicates that uplift of the Kunlun Mountains is intensive at the first onset of the Holocene, corresponding to the obvious change of slip-rate on the AItyn Tagh Fault. But its uplift rate is much lower than that of the latter, which suggests that growth of the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is stronger than its interior.