Long-term increases in clutch size in common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) and diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin)

Clutch size (CS) is a well-studied life history characteristic, and optimal egg size theory predicts that CS should correlate positively with reproductive investment. Turtles are good subjects for studies of reproductive strategies because few turtle species exhibit parental care; therefore quantifying their short-term reproductive investment is mostly limited to measuring egg size and number. Clutch size is usually reported as an average value for each turtle population, and where CS variation is noted, it is usually attributable to variation in adult body size. In two long-term studies of ecologically dissimilar species we detected a dramatic increase in CS in a common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) population and in a diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) population. It is unknown whether these changes are due to either variation in adult body size or resource availability; but the temporal patterns we observed have apparently never been reported previously. These trends remain unexplained and should be explored further.     

基于耦合目标的近场双站散射测试方法

对于近场散射测试中存在多次耦合目标,从近场数据外推远场雷达散射截面时,需要完备的双站散射信息。传统的双站散射测试方法中,远场观测点的数目等于扫描面上的天线数目,测量所需时间成倍增加,难以工程化。因此,根据截断角域的选取原则,结合采样间隔设计了一种“一发多收结合转台旋转”的近场散射测试方法,用以验证“多发多收”双站模式的近远场外推方法的有效性和误差大小。通过在微波暗室对二面角进行测试,验证了该外推算法的正确性以及实验系统的可行性。     

正交试验优化手性镍催化不对称反应条件研究

用正交试验法优化手性镍催化二乙基锌对α，β不饱和酮的不对称麦克尔加成反应条件，优化后的不对称麦克尔加成反应的一般条件为：低温(近反应溶剂冰点)，常压，非质子非极性溶剂(环己烷)．     

Supercritical Fluid Carbon Dioxide in the Extraction of Lanolin and Its Alcohol

The use of supercritical fluid carbon dioxide (SF-CO_2) in extraction of lanolin and its alcohol issuperior to the conventional solvent extractionmethod. Its distinctive advantages include highextractive ratio, nontoxic and nonflammablesolvents, and minimal by-product pollution. The     

Variations in Variation and Selection: The Ubiquity of the Variation-and-Selective-Retention Ratchet in Emergent Organizational Complexity, Part II: Quantum Field Theory

If the general arguments concerning theinvolvement of variation and selection inexplanations of ``fit'' are valid, then variationand selection explanations should beappropriate, or at least potentiallyappropriate, outside the paradigm historisticdomains of biology and knowledge. In thisdiscussion, I wish to indicate some potentialroles for variation and selection infoundational physics – specifically inquantum field theory. I will not be attemptingany full coherent ontology for quantum fieldtheory – none currently exists, and none islikely for at least the short term future. Instead, I wish to engage in some partiallyspeculative interpretations of some interestingresults in this area with the aim ofdemonstrating that variation and selectionnotions might play a role even here. Ifvariation and selection can survive in even asinhospitable and non-paradigmatic a terrain asfoundational physics, then it can surviveanywhere.     

自主机器人人工进化方法研究

在介绍人工进化研究状况的基础上 ,着重阐述了进化机器人学的关键问题 :基本概念、进化技术、进化计算和实验研究方法等 ,探索了进化机器人学未来的研究趋势及所面临的挑战 .