用改进的MC法分析圆柱壳扭转屈曲可靠性

本文提出一种改进的MorLte—Carlo(MC)法以进行结构的失效概率计算,并将其用于圆柱壳的扭转屈曲可靠性分析。这种改进的MC法可以对某些抽样点不进行结构分析,便可确定其是否位于失效区域之内,从而极大地减少了计算工作量。     

Inactivation of the apoptosis effector Apaf-1 in malignant melanoma

Metastatic melanoma is a deadly cancer that fails to respond to conventional chemotherapy and is poorly understood at the molecular level. p53 mutations often occur in aggressive and chemoresistant cancers but are rarely observed in melanoma. Here we show that metastatic melanomas often lose Apaf-1, a cell-death effector that acts with cytochrome c and caspase-9 to mediate p53-dependent apoptosis. Loss of Apaf-1 expression is accompanied by allelic loss in metastatic melanomas, but can be recovered in melanoma cell lines by treatment with the methylation inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5aza2dC). Apaf-1-negative melanomas are invariably chemoresistant and are unable to execute a typical apoptotic programme in response to p53 activation. Restoring physiological levels of Apaf-1 through gene transfer or 5aza2dC treatment markedly enhances chemosensitivity and rescues the apoptotic defects associated with Apaf-1 loss. We conclude that Apaf-1 is inactivated in metastatic melanomas, which leads to defects in the execution of apoptotic cell death. Apaf-1 loss may contribute to the low frequency of p53 mutations observed in this highly chemoresistant tumour type.     

带哨嘴喷嘴射流流场的离散涡模拟

采用离散涡方法模拟了两种不同形状哨嘴的喷嘴出口流场旋涡结构和压力分布。模拟结果表明 ,射流在喷嘴出口和哨嘴出口形成的旋涡结构在流场及其他涡元的作用下 ,向下游运动 ,在流场中某个地方形成低压区 ,这有助于诱发空化现象。对两种不同喷嘴的出口流场进行比较发现 ,哨嘴形状对形成的射流流场的旋涡结构有很大影响。因此 ,研究和应用空化射流必须考虑喷嘴出口哨嘴形状的影响     

Coherent spin manipulation without magnetic fields in strained semiconductors

A consequence of relativity is that in the presence of an electric field, the spin and momentum states of an electron can be coupled; this is known as spin-orbit coupling. Such an interaction opens a pathway to the manipulation of electron spins within non-magnetic semiconductors, in the absence of applied magnetic fields. This interaction has implications for spin-based quantum information processing and spintronics, forming the basis of various device proposals. For example, the concept of spin field-effect transistors is based on spin precession due to the spin-orbit coupling. Most studies, however, focus on non-spin-selective electrical measurements in quantum structures. Here we report the direct measurement of coherent electron spin precession in zero magnetic field as the electrons drift in response to an applied electric field. We use ultrafast optical techniques to spatiotemporally resolve spin dynamics in strained gallium arsenide and indium gallium arsenide epitaxial layers. Unexpectedly, we observe spin splitting in these simple structures arising from strain in the semiconductor films. The observed effect provides a flexible approach for enabling electrical control over electron spins using strain engineering. Moreover, we exploit this strain-induced field to electrically drive spin resonance with Rabi frequencies of up to approximately 30 MHz.     

柴达木盆地冷湖地区大地水准面模拟精化计算

根据青海石油局物探处在柴达木冷湖昆特依地区进行ＧＰＳ定位提供的高程信息，对该区大地水准面做了模拟精化计算分析，结果表明：该地区大地水准面起伏明显，南北向如ＬＨ３７—ＬＨ２４两点距为４３．４ｋｍ，高程异常值之差为０．７５ｍ，且由北向南逐渐降低；东西向如Ｓ２０５—ＧＢＧ０两点距离为２６ｋｍ，高程异常值之差为１．６２ｍ，由西向东逐渐抬高．在获得准确的高程异常情况下，就可得到精度较高的ＧＰＳ高程．同时也说明了用ＧＰＳ高程代替部分水准测量工作是可行的，这就为柴达木盆地大地水准面精化指出了研究方向．用ＧＰＳ精化大地水准是获取精密的大地水准面起伏的一种有效的方法，对地球物理及地球力场模型的建立等科研工作有着重要的意义     

Beta-catenin/TCF4 transactivates miR-30e during intestinal cell differentiation

The Wnt/beta-catenin/TCF4 pathway plays critical roles in the maintenance of small intestinal epithelium; however, downstream targets of the beta-catenin/TCF4 complex are not extensively characterized. We identified miR-30e as an immediate target activated by the beta-catenin/TCF4 complex. miR-30e was detected in the peri-nuclear region of the intestinal crypt IEC-6 cells. Bioinformatics analysis revealed clustered beta-catenin/TCF4 binding sites within the miR-30e promoter region. This promoter region was cloned into pGL3-control luciferase reporter vector, with the enhancer region removed. Transfection of pCMV-SPORT6-beta-catenin expression vector dose-dependently increased luciferase activity, and co-transfection of pCMV-SPORT6-TCF4 expression vector further enhanced the promoter activity. Dexamethasone-induced IEC-6 cells differentiation caused a 2.5-fold increase in miR-30e expression, and upon beta-catenin siRNA transfection, miR-30e increased 1.3-fold. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay confirmed the binding between beta-catenin/TCF4 complexes from IEC-6 nuclear extracts and the putative sequences in the miR-30e promoter. These results demonstrate that beta-catenin/TCF4 transactivates miR-30e during intestinal cell differentiation.     

Ecological notes of the alien species Godiva quadricolor (Gastropoda: Nudibranchia) occurring in Faro Lake (Italy)

The first record from Sicily of the introduced facelinid nudibranch Godiva quadricolor allowed the detection of trophic relationships with the polycerid Polycera hedgpethi, another non-native nudibranch, and with two bryozoan species, namely the naturalized Cheilostomatida Bugula neritina and the cryptogenic Ctenostomatida Amathia verticillata. The settlement of both nudibranchs was presumably promoted by a trophic shift of P. hedgpethi from the natural prey B. neritina towards the largely available and not exploited A. verticillata. This short food web, without evident links with native fauna and having G. quadricolor as the top predator, is described. A DNA barcoding approach was used to confirm the identity of this facelinid species and to explore the possible genetic divergence occurring among the samples analysed.     

Spatial dependence model with feature difference

This paper presents a new spatial dependence model with an adjustment of feature difference. The model accounts for the spatial autocorrelation in both the outcome variables and residuals. The feature difference adjustment in the model helps to emphasize feature changes across neighboring units, while suppressing unobserved covariates that are present in the same neighborhood. The prediction at a given unit incorporates components that depend on the differences between the values of its main features and those of its neighboring units. In contrast to conventional spatial regression models, our model does not require a comprehensive list of global covariates necessary to estimate the outcome variable at the unit, as common macro-level covariates are differenced away in the regression analysis. Using the real estate market data in Hong Kong, we applied Gibbs sampling to determine the posterior distribution of each model parameter. The result of our empirical analysis confirms that the adjustment of feature difference with an inclusion of the spatial error autocorrelation produces better out-of-sample prediction performance than other conventional spatial dependence models. In addition, our empirical analysis can identify components with more significant contributions.