A photometric redshift of z = 6.39 +/- 0.12 for GRB 050904

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and their afterglows are the most brilliant transient events in the Universe. Both the bursts themselves and their afterglows have been predicted to be visible out to redshifts of z approximately 20, and therefore to be powerful probes of the early Universe. The burst GRB 000131, at z = 4.50, was hitherto the most distant such event identified. Here we report the discovery of the bright near-infrared afterglow of GRB 050904 (ref. 4). From our measurements of the near-infrared afterglow, and our failure to detect the optical afterglow, we determine the photometric redshift of the burst to be z = 6.39 - 0.12 + 0.11 (refs 5-7). Subsequently, it was measured spectroscopically to be z = 6.29 +/- 0.01, in agreement with our photometric estimate. These results demonstrate that GRBs can be used to trace the star formation, metallicity, and reionization histories of the early Universe.     

Detection of a direct carbon dioxide effect in continental river runoff records

Continental runoff has increased through the twentieth century despite more intensive human water consumption. Possible reasons for the increase include: climate change and variability, deforestation, solar dimming, and direct atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) effects on plant transpiration. All of these mechanisms have the potential to affect precipitation and/or evaporation and thereby modify runoff. Here we use a mechanistic land-surface model and optimal fingerprinting statistical techniques to attribute observational runoff changes into contributions due to these factors. The model successfully captures the climate-driven inter-annual runoff variability, but twentieth-century climate alone is insufficient to explain the runoff trends. Instead we find that the trends are consistent with a suppression of plant transpiration due to CO2-induced stomatal closure. This result will affect projections of freshwater availability, and also represents the detection of a direct CO2 effect on the functioning of the terrestrial biosphere.     

Gene network shaping of inherent noise spectra

Recent work demonstrates that stochastic fluctuations in molecular populations have consequences for gene regulation. Previous experiments focused on noise sources or noise propagation through gene networks by measuring noise magnitudes. However, in theoretical analysis, we showed that noise frequency content is determined by the underlying gene circuits, leading to a mapping between gene circuit structure and the noise frequency range. An intriguing prediction from our previous studies was that negative autoregulation shifts noise to higher frequencies where it is more easily filtered out by gene networks--a property that may contribute to the prevalence of autoregulation motifs (for example, found in the regulation of approximately 40% of Escherichia coli genes). Here we measure noise frequency content in growing cultures of E. coli, and verify the link between gene circuit structure and noise spectra by demonstrating the negative autoregulation-mediated spectral shift. We further demonstrate that noise spectral measurements provide mechanistic insights into gene regulation, as perturbations of gene circuit parameters are discernible in the measured noise frequency ranges. These results suggest that noise spectral measurements could facilitate the discovery of novel regulatory relationships.     

螺旋压缩机：数学模型和性能计算

本书是施普林格出版社2005年出版的一本关于螺旋压缩机的新著。螺旋式压缩机是一种最常见的用于压缩气体的机器,由于其构造简单、工作效率高而受到人们的关注。本书系统阐述了螺旋压缩机的种类、几何参数转子的设计工作原理和螺旋压缩机的计算。     

钎焊后冷却对6XXX铝合金复合板人工时效性能和组织的影响

以6XXX铝合金为芯材,3XXX铝合金为两侧中间层,4343铝合金为皮材,经熔炼、铸造、复合、热轧、冷轧及退火制备了厚度为1.20 mm的4层铝合金复合板。在605 ℃下模拟钎焊,并在空冷以及不同冷却速率之后进行人工时效。结果显示：空冷方式下,在200 ℃进行人工时效120 min时,试样抗拉强度、屈服强度达到最大值,分别为253.0 MPa、200.3 MPa,随着人工时效温度继续升高,其抗拉强度、屈服强度不断降低;200 ℃温度下保温时间从20 min增加至150 min时,抗拉强度、屈服强度呈先增加后降低的变化趋势;随着炉门开口的不断减小,试样的冷却速率不断减小,对应的时效强化效果也逐步减弱,炉门打开3 cm时对应的冷却速率为有无时效强化效果的临界速率;钎焊空冷后以及经人工时效之后芯材中不规则的粗大第二相为AlFeMnSiCu相。     

VC++环境下使用MFC类库的网络程序设计

网络的优点使其在技术开发中的应用增多,利用网络互传信息需要设计网络应用程序。文中首先说明了网络编程界面Socket（套接字）的基本原理及Microsoft Windows网络程序设计接口WindowsSockets的构成;然后介绍了VC 环境下利用MFC的CSocket类,结合CSocketFile类和CArchive类,设计网络程序的原理和方法。     

带有互助保险的二元复合非齐次Poisson风险模型

考虑在二元Cramér-Lundberg风险过程下,保险公司索赔到达率服从非齐次Poisson过程,且两个保险公司之间拥有互相弥补亏损协议,用鞅方法得到一元风险过程有限时间破产概率的一个上界;结合二元生存概率Laplace变换的核方程,得到二元Cramér-Lundberg风险过程下两个保险公司生存概率的一个下界;最后,给出了两个保险公司险种的个体索赔额均服从指数分布时生存概率的下界估计,为保险公司预留必要的准备金提供参考。     

Presence-absence cycles of the mother and not light-darkness are the zeitgeber for the circadian rhythm of newborn mice

The relative roles of conflicting zeitgebers [presence/absence (PA) cycles versus light/dark (LD) cycles] on entrainment of circadian rhythm of locomotor activity were tested in pups of the night active mouse Mus booduga. During the early days of the pups' life the PA cycles of the mother acted as a zeitgeber and entrained their activity rhythm, even though the LD cycles were available. Entrainment by LD cycles took place only when the pups' eyes opened and probably became functional.     

Elastase digested urokinase (ED-UK)

Summary Elastase digested urokinase (ED-UK) was prepared from human high mol. wt urokinase (HMW-UK). It resembled low mol. wt urokinase (LMW-UK) in its mol. wt, specific activity, and active sites. The steady-state kinetic parameters of each enzyme for the activation of human Glu-plasminogen also resembled each other, as did their amidase parameters (with pyro-Glu-Gly-Arg-pNA).