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.     

A terahertz metamaterial with unnaturally high refractive index

Controlling the electromagnetic properties of materials, going beyond the limit that is attainable with naturally existing substances, has become a reality with the advent of metamaterials. The range of various structured artificial 'atoms' has promised a vast variety of otherwise unexpected physical phenomena, among which the experimental realization of a negative refractive index has been one of the main foci thus far. Expanding the refractive index into a high positive regime will complete the spectrum of achievable refractive index and provide more design flexibility for transformation optics. Naturally existing transparent materials possess small positive indices of refraction, except for a few semiconductors and insulators, such as lead sulphide or strontium titanate, that exhibit a rather high peak refractive index at mid- and far-infrared frequencies. Previous approaches using metamaterials were not successful in realizing broadband high refractive indices. A broadband high-refractive-index metamaterial structure was theoretically investigated only recently, but the proposed structure does not lend itself to easy implementation. Here we demonstrate that a broadband, extremely high index of refraction can be realized from large-area, free-standing, flexible terahertz metamaterials composed of strongly coupled unit cells. By drastically increasing the effective permittivity through strong capacitive coupling and decreasing the diamagnetic response with a thin metallic structure in the unit cell, a peak refractive index of 38.6 along with a low-frequency quasi-static value of over 20 were experimentally realized for a single-layer terahertz metamaterial, while maintaining low losses. As a natural extension of these single-layer metamaterials, we fabricated quasi-three-dimensional high-refractive-index metamaterials, and obtained a maximum bulk refractive index of 33.2 along with a value of around 8 at the quasi-static limit.     

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.     

Integrated Quay Crane and Yard Truck Schedule Problem in Container Terminals

Quay crane and yard truck scheduling are two important subproblems in container terminal operations which have been studied separately in previous research. This paper proposes a new problem for the integrated quay crane and yard truck scheduling for inbound containers. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model. Due to the intractability, a genetic algorithm (GA) and a modified Johnson's Rule-based heuristic algorithm (MJRHA) are used for the problem solution. In addition, two closed form lower bounds are given to evaluate the solution accuracy. Computational experiments show that the solution algorithm can efficiently handle the scheduling problem and that the integrated methods are very useful.     

MODELLING RANDOM CONVEX SETS

A model is developed for convex-set valued data,which are the Minkowski sum of aconvex parameter set and a convex noise set.This model is generalized to include location and scaleparameters.A further generalization results in a model for convex sets which is analogous to aone-way analysis of variance models.In each case,estimators of the parameters are given which,under certain conditions,are shown to be consistent.Data generated from the model and theestimators are studied.An outlier detection method is examined.