Default Priors for Neural Network Classification

Feedforward neural networks are a popular tool for classification, offering a method for fully flexible modeling. This paper looks at the underlying probability model, so as to understand statistically what is going on in order to facilitate an intelligent choice of prior for a fully Bayesian analysis. The parameters turn out to be difficult or impossible to interpret, and yet a coherent prior requires a quantification of this inherent uncertainty. Several approaches are discussed, including flat priors, Jeffreys priors and reference priors.     

朝鲜奎章阁本的<授时历立成>

立成表是古历中推算日、月、五星运动时,为简化计算所造的表.元代<授时历>是中国古代历法的巅峰之作,可惜<元史*历志>中没有收录它的立成表部分.在韩国保存有署名王恂的<授时历立成>奎章阁本1册.该文对这册立成表的内容进行了分析和研究,证明它确是在元代所做,其刊行时间为朝鲜世宗时代,具有珍贵的史料价值;而且,其中出现的四暗星内容对于<授时历>本身的历法内容是一个重要的补充.     

Fecundity and longevity of houseflies after space flight

Summary After 7 days of space flight house flies,Musca domestica, exhibited similar longevity, but a reduction in reproductive output as compared to earthbound controls. This reduction was not observed in later generations. These data suggest that space flight directly alters the rate of ovarian development, but that this effect is not genetically transmitted.Acknowledgment. We thank Todd E. Nelson, student participant in the Space Shuttle Student Involvement Project, John T. Jackson, NASA/Johnson Space Center, and James R. Peterson, Honeywell, Inc. for providing us with the flies and information related to the in-flight experiments.     

Nano-Structured Carbide-Derived Carbon Films and Their Tribology

Carbide-derived carbon （CDC） is a form of carbon produced by reacting metal carbides, such as SiC or TiC, with halogens at temperatures high enough to produce fast kinetics, but too low to permit the rearrangement of the carbon atoms into an equilibrium graphitic structure. The structure of CDC is derivative of the original carbide structure and contains nanoscale porosity and both sp2 and sp3 bonded carbon in a variety of nanoscale structures. CDC can be produced as a thin film on hard carbides to improve their tribological performance. CDC coatings are distinguished by their low friction coefficients and high wear resistance in many important industrial environments and by their resistance to spallation and delamination. The tribology of CDC coatings on SiC surfaces is described in detail.     

基于生存模型的沥青路面预防性养护经济性评价

为探索经济、有效的沥青路面养护方法,降低沥青路面的养护费用,对沥青路面的预防性养护进行了全寿命经济性评价.首先根据美国加利福尼亚州交通部门的路面观测数据,采用生存模型建立了沥青路面在裂缝类预防性养护情况下的全寿命周期的性能模型;进而,通过概率分析建立了路面的性能-成本模型,分析了不同破坏准则下预防性养护措施的经济性,并与矫正性修复措施的经济性进行了对比.结果表明,在沥青路面的寿命周期内,一直采用预防性养护的成本较采用矫正性修复的成本平均节约了27%,采用每两次矫正性修复间加入两次预防性养护的成本较一直使用矫正性修复的成本平均节约了17%.分析结果还表明,越早进行预防性养护,沥青路面的寿命周期成本越低.     

Sequence and analysis of chromosome 2 of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana

Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) is unique among plant model organisms in having a small genome (130-140 Mb), excellent physical and genetic maps, and little repetitive DNA. Here we report the sequence of chromosome 2 from the Columbia ecotype in two gap-free assemblies (contigs) of 3.6 and 16 megabases (Mb). The latter represents the longest published stretch of uninterrupted DNA sequence assembled from any organism to date. Chromosome 2 represents 15% of the genome and encodes 4,037 genes, 49% of which have no predicted function. Roughly 250 tandem gene duplications were found in addition to large-scale duplications of about 0.5 and 4.5 Mb between chromosomes 2 and 1 and between chromosomes 2 and 4, respectively. Sequencing of nearly 2 Mb within the genetically defined centromere revealed a low density of recognizable genes, and a high density and diverse range of vestigial and presumably inactive mobile elements. More unexpected is what appears to be a recent insertion of a continuous stretch of 75% of the mitochondrial genome into chromosome 2.     

Emergent excitations in a geometrically frustrated magnet

Frustrated systems are ubiquitous, and they are interesting because their behaviour is difficult to predict; frustration can lead to macroscopic degeneracies and qualitatively new states of matter. Magnetic systems offer good examples in the form of spin lattices, where all interactions between spins cannot be simultaneously satisfied. Here we report how unusual composite spin degrees of freedom can emerge from frustrated magnetic interactions in the cubic spinel ZnCr(2)O(4). Upon cooling, groups of six spins self-organize into weakly interacting antiferromagnetic loops, whose directors -- the unique direction along which the spins are aligned, parallel or antiparallel -- govern all low-temperature dynamics. The experimental evidence comes from a measurement of the magnetic form factor by inelastic neutron scattering; the data show that neutrons scatter from hexagonal spin clusters rather than individual spins. The hexagon directors are, to a first approximation, decoupled from each other, and hence their reorientations embody the long-sought local zero energy modes for the pyrochlore lattice.     

长白山区次生林恢复过程中天然更新的动态

以长白山区天然次生林为研究对象,采用空间代替时间的方法,分别对不同年度进行择代后形成的天然次生林进行群落学调查,分析择伐后28年恢复期间高度小于3m的幼苗幼树的天然更新过程及特点。结果表明,恢复初期更新幼苗幼树的树种出现比率较低,随着次生林恢复时间的增加,更新幼苗幼树的树种出现比率超过75％,且15年后变化相对较小;次生林内更新幼苗幼树的分布密度随着恢复时间的增加呈增加的趋势,恢复15年时分布密度达7500株／hm^2,此后分布密度的变化相对较小;在次生林内幼苗幼树主要是集中分布在距最近立木1．5～3．5m的范围内,随着次生林恢复时间的增加,幼树的分布范围相对靠近立木,幼苗的分布范围则相对远离立木。     

Common deletion polymorphisms in the human genome

The locations and properties of common deletion variants in the human genome are largely unknown. We describe a systematic method for using dense SNP genotype data to discover deletions and its application to data from the International HapMap Consortium to characterize and catalogue segregating deletion variants across the human genome. We identified 541 deletion variants (94% novel) ranging from 1 kb to 745 kb in size; 278 of these variants were observed in multiple, unrelated individuals, 120 in the homozygous state. The coding exons of ten expressed genes were found to be commonly deleted, including multiple genes with roles in sex steroid metabolism, olfaction and drug response. These common deletion polymorphisms typically represent ancestral mutations that are in linkage disequilibrium with nearby SNPs, meaning that their association to disease can often be evaluated in the course of SNP-based whole-genome association studies.     

The development of a protoplanetary disk from its natal envelope

Class 0 protostars, the youngest type of young stellar objects, show many signs of rapid development from their initial, spheroidal configurations, and therefore are studied intensively for details of the formation of protoplanetary disks within protostellar envelopes. At millimetre wavelengths, kinematic signatures of collapse have been observed in several such protostars, through observations of molecular lines that probe their outer envelopes. It has been suggested that one or more components of the proto-multiple system NGC 1333-IRAS 4 (refs 1, 2) may display signs of an embedded region that is warmer and denser than the bulk of the envelope. Here we report observations that reveal details of the core on Solar System dimensions. We detect in NGC 1333-IRAS 4B a rich emission spectrum of H2O, at wavelengths 20-37 microm, which indicates an origin in extremely dense, warm gas. We can model the emission as infall from a protostellar envelope onto the surface of a deeply embedded, dense disk, and therefore see the development of a protoplanetary disk. This is the only example of mid-infrared water emission from a sample of 30 class 0 objects, perhaps arising from a favourable orientation; alternatively, this may be an early and short-lived stage in the evolution of a protoplanetary disk.