Observed increase in local cooling effect of deforestation at higher latitudes

Deforestation in mid- to high latitudes is hypothesized to have the potential to cool the Earth's surface by altering biophysical processes. In climate models of continental-scale land clearing, the cooling is triggered by increases in surface albedo and is reinforced by a land albedo-sea ice feedback. This feedback is crucial in the model predictions; without it other biophysical processes may overwhelm the albedo effect to generate warming instead. Ongoing land-use activities, such as land management for climate mitigation, are occurring at local scales (hectares) presumably too small to generate the feedback, and it is not known whether the intrinsic biophysical mechanism on its own can change the surface temperature in a consistent manner. Nor has the effect of deforestation on climate been demonstrated over large areas from direct observations. Here we show that surface air temperature is lower in open land than in nearby forested land. The effect is 0.85 ± 0.44 K (mean ± one standard deviation) northwards of 45° N and 0.21 ± 0.53 K southwards. Below 35° N there is weak evidence that deforestation leads to warming. Results are based on comparisons of temperature at forested eddy covariance towers in the USA and Canada and, as a proxy for small areas of cleared land, nearby surface weather stations. Night-time temperature changes unrelated to changes in surface albedo are an important contributor to the overall cooling effect. The observed latitudinal dependence is consistent with theoretical expectation of changes in energy loss from convection and radiation across latitudes in both the daytime and night-time phase of the diurnal cycle, the latter of which remains uncertain in climate models.     

Comprehensive analysis of the chromatin landscape in Drosophila melanogaster

Chromatin is composed of DNA and a variety of modified histones and non-histone proteins, which have an impact on cell differentiation, gene regulation and other key cellular processes. Here we present a genome-wide chromatin landscape for Drosophila melanogaster based on eighteen histone modifications, summarized by nine prevalent combinatorial patterns. Integrative analysis with other data (non-histone chromatin proteins, DNase I hypersensitivity, GRO-Seq reads produced by engaged polymerase, short/long RNA products) reveals discrete characteristics of chromosomes, genes, regulatory elements and other functional domains. We find that active genes display distinct chromatin signatures that are correlated with disparate gene lengths, exon patterns, regulatory functions and genomic contexts. We also demonstrate a diversity of signatures among Polycomb targets that include a subset with paused polymerase. This systematic profiling and integrative analysis of chromatin signatures provides insights into how genomic elements are regulated, and will serve as a resource for future experimental investigations of genome structure and function.     

PDGF signalling controls age-dependent proliferation in pancreatic β-cells

Determining the signalling pathways that direct tissue expansion is a principal goal of regenerative biology. Vigorous pancreatic β-cell replication in juvenile mice and humans declines with age, and elucidating the basis for this decay may reveal strategies for inducing β-cell expansion, a long-sought goal for diabetes therapy. Here we show that platelet-derived growth factor receptor (Pdgfr) signalling controls age-dependent β-cell proliferation in mouse and human pancreatic islets. With age, declining β-cell Pdgfr levels were accompanied by reductions in β-cell enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (Ezh2) levels and β-cell replication. Conditional inactivation of the Pdgfra gene in β-cells accelerated these changes, preventing mouse neonatal β-cell expansion and adult β-cell regeneration. Targeted human PDGFR-α activation in mouse β-cells stimulated Erk1/2 phosphorylation, leading to Ezh2-dependent expansion of adult β-cells. Adult human islets lack PDGF signalling competence, but exposure of juvenile human islets to PDGF-AA stimulated β-cell proliferation. The discovery of a conserved pathway controlling age-dependent β-cell proliferation indicates new strategies for β-cell expansion.     

使命与转型——云计算时代与信息设计

云计算将会给明天我们所处的信息时代带来什么样的新气象?在时代发展的机遇和挑战中,信息设计应该担负什么样的社会使命、体现何种文化功用?我们认为,无论是云计算产业的宏观规划还是产业链的软实力突破,都需要对设计有足够的重视。在提升硬件的同时,未来IT产业的关键更在于提升中国的文化软实力。不掌握设计,我们就不可能参与到软实力竞争的核心。信息设计的发展是决定我国云计算产业链条能否由低端制造向非物质盈利跨越的关键一步。     

氧化铁纳米颗粒固定化溶藻菌的除藻作用

为了探讨氧化铁纳米颗粒固定化溶藻菌后对铜绿微囊藻的溶藻作用和降解微囊藻毒素LR(MC-LR)的作用,从太湖水体中分离获得一株属于芽孢杆菌属的溶藻菌,将其与氧化铁纳米颗粒固定化后,以普通Fe2O3作为实验对照,测定其溶藻作用和降解MC-LR作用.以激光粒度仪测定氧化铁纳米颗粒与溶藻菌两者单独和同时存在时的粒径大小及粒径分布,以获得氧化铁纳米颗粒固定化溶藻菌的证据.分析结果表明:在太湖水体中分离获得的一株芽孢杆菌具有较强的溶藻和降解MC-LR的作用,作用24 h后的溶藻率和MC-LR降解率分别达到44.3%和20.5%.同时加入氧化铁纳米颗粒后,溶藻率达到53.0%,MC-LR的降解率达到33.0%.激光粒度仪检测发现,氧化铁纳米颗粒与细菌混合后的颗粒物的平均直径增加到氧化铁纳米颗粒的12.3倍,同时氧化铁纳米颗粒和细菌单独存在时的粒径分布峰消失.氧化铁纳米颗粒是一种具有良好性能的生物固定化材料,可能通过其特有的途径有效地固定化溶藻菌,并增强溶藻菌的溶藻和降解藻毒素作用.     

基于判别矩阵的潜艇作战态势认知决策建模方法

潜艇作战具备复杂环境中的动态博弈对抗特点,作战人员的态势认知与决策行为对潜艇作战效能有着重要影响。针对潜艇交战级作战实验中的态势认知决策建模难题,在分析态势认知决策过程的基础上提炼表征变量集合,提出基于判别矩阵的潜艇作战态势认知决策建模方法,并以某型潜艇交战级对抗为例研究给定想定条件下的态势认知决策过程,验证了方法的可行性和有效性。建立的模型能够有效刻画作战人员认知决策过程,支持潜艇作战实验中的交战机理和制胜机理研究。     

Incorporating textual and management factors into financial distress prediction: A comparative study of machine learning methods

Financial distress prediction (FDP) has been widely considered as a promising approach to reducing financial losses. While financial information comprises the traditional factors involved in FDP, nonfinancial factors have also been examined in recent studies. In light of this, the purpose of this study is to explore the integrated factors and multiple models that can improve the predictive performance of FDP models. This study proposes an FDP framework to reveal the financial distress features of listed Chinese companies, incorporating financial, management, and textual factors, and evaluating the prediction performance of multiple models in different time spans. To develop this framework, this study employs the wrapper-based feature selection method to extract valuable features, and then constructs multiple single classifiers, ensemble classifiers, and deep learning models in order to predict financial distress. The experiment results indicate that management and textual factors can supplement traditional financial factors in FDP, especially textual ones. This study also discovers that integrated factors collected 4 years prior to the predicted benchmark year enable a more accurate prediction, and the ensemble classifiers and deep learning models developed can achieve satisfactory FDP performance. This study makes a novel contribution as it expands the predictive factors of financial distress and provides new findings that can have important implications for providing early warning signals of financial risk.     

考虑氯离子侵蚀时变劣化效应的近海斜拉桥地震易损性分析

为研究氯离子侵蚀对近海大型桥梁地震易损性的时变影响规律,以某近海斜拉桥为对象,建立非线性数值模型并开展增量动力分析,获得主塔等构件及桥梁系统的时变易损性曲线.结果表明,材料腐蚀会导致构件及结构的损伤概率出现不同程度的增加.桥梁结构第1阶自振周期对应的谱加速度Sa(T1)为0.3g时,主塔严重损伤的概率在0、25、50、...     

基于X语言的起飞场景民机协同设计与仿真一体化方法

针对大型复杂产品,传统基于模型的系统工程(model-based system engineering, MBSE)方法存在系统设计和仿真验证的多语言、多平台集成实现,难以保证高效、准确地反馈系统设计的缺陷,无法达到快速优化设计目的等问题,提出采用基于面向复杂系统支持MBSE的新一代一体化建模仿真语言—X语言实现面向起飞场景的民机跨域子系统的一体化建模仿真。从民机起飞过程需求分析出发,建立了起飞场景的系统级模型和物理级模型,并在X语言的建模仿真软件—XLab进行统一的建模仿真验证,给出了基于X语言面向复杂产品协同设计与仿真一体化方法,为不同领域的设计人员实现复杂产品设计的协同与优化提供了全新的理论与方法参考。