Evidence from carbon isotope measurements for diverse origins of sedimentary hydrocarbons

The organic matter found in sedimentary rocks must derive from many sources; not only from ancient primary producers but also from consumers and secondary producers. In all of these organisms, isotope effects can affect the abundance and distribution of 13C in metabolites. Here, by using an improved form of a previously described technique in which the effluent of a gas chromatograph is continuously analysed isotopically, we report evidence of the diverse origins of sedimentary organic matter. The record of 13C abundances in sedimentary carbonate and total organic carbon can be interpreted in terms of variations in the global carbon cycle. Our results demonstrate, however, that isotope variations within sedimentary organic mixtures substantially exceed those observed between samples of total organic carbon. Resolution of isotope variations at the molecular level offers a new and convenient means of refining views both of localized palaeoenvironments and of control mechanisms within the global carbon cycle.     

超声心动图象内外膜的自动检测与测量

为定量计算一些重要的心脏功能数据,提高心脏病的诊断水平,研究了超声心动图象内外膜的自动检测与测量技术．首先对超声心动图象进行滤波以消除图象中的噪声,并运用模糊数学理论进行模糊边缘增强,提取超声心动图象的内外膜边缘信息;接着对超声心动图象作二值化处理和椭圆曲线拟合,初步得到心脏的内外膜边缘;再采用相应的三次样条插值和平滑技术,得到光滑、连续的心脏内外膜边缘．在此基础上,再对心脏进行节段划分,并计算有关的心脏功能数据．经实验证实,用此方法可快速得到较准确的结果．     

新生儿出生监测结果分析

分析了１９８６年９月￣１９９０年６月,１９９６年７月￣１９９８年５月在齐齐哈尔市第二医院分娩的４８６０例新生儿出生监测结果。     

微波在白血病无损探测中的应用：FDTD分析模型

讨论应用微波对白血病进行无损探测的可能性,采用柱坐标系下时域有限差分（ＦＤＴＤ）法分析人体小腿的微波散射特性及白血病的存在对其微波散射特性产生的影响．数值结果表明,通过测量人体小腿上部的微波散射特性,可以反演出骨髓介电特性的变化情况,据此判断白血病存在的可能性及病变的程度．该技术可应用于白血病的无损探测及治疗过程中的监测     

A massive phytoplankton bloom induced by an ecosystem-scale iron fertilization experiment in the equatorial Pacific Ocean

The seeding of an expanse of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean with low concentrations of dissolved iron triggered a massive phytoplankton bloom which consumed large quantities of carbon dioxide and nitrate that these microscopic plants cannot fully utilize under natural conditions. These and other observations provide unequivocal support for the hypothesis that phytoplankton growth in this oceanic region is limited by iron bioavailability.     

遗传算法及其研究与应用新进展

近些年,一种新的优化算法--遗传算法（GeneticAlgorithm,即GA）正在迅速发展。这一算法最早是由美国的密西根（Michigan）大学的霍兰（Holland）教授和他的学生们在7O年代初提出而创立的。该算法植根于自然进化与遗传机理,原先是用于模拟自然界的自适应（适者生存）现象,后来被引向于广泛的工程问题,而快速发展成一种"自适应启发式概率性迭代式全局搜索算法"。由于遗传算法具有不依赖于问题模型的特性、全局最优性、隐含并行性、高效率及解决不同非线性问题的鲁棒性的特点,正越来越激发起人们研究与应用的兴趣。自80年代以来,对G…     

Illmensee inquiry: fraud charge unproven, researcher resumes duties

A summary is provided of the report of an international commission set up by the University of Geneva to investigate allegations of fraud against a leading embryologist, Professor Karl Illmensee. Illmensee is being allowed to resume his faculty duties because the report, while highly critical of the researcher's experimental records, found no compelling evidence that he fabricated his data.     

A new interstellar molecule: tricarbon monoxide

The cold dark interstellar Taurus Molecular Cloud One (TMC-1) is a rich source of acetylenic and polyacetylenic molecular species. As well as linear closed-shell molecules (H(C triple bond C)nCN) and symmetric rotors (CH3C triple bond CH, CH3C triple bond CCN), several radicals (C triple bond CH, C triple bond CCN, (C triple bond C2H) have also been identified, many of which had not been studied previously in the laboratory. Whether the observed abundances can be understood in terms of purely gas-phase ion-molecule chemical schemes, which produce reasonable agreement for the simplest polyatomic species, is unclear; alternative models involving the particulate interstellar grains as catalysts or sources have also been suggested. We now report the detection in TMC-1 of a new molecule, tricarbon monoxide (C3O), whose pure rotational spectrum has only very recently been studied in the laboratory. As C3O is the first known interstellar carbon chain molecule to contain oxygen, its existence places an important new constraint on chemical schemes for cold interstellar clouds. In fact, the observed abundance of tricarbon monoxide fits quite well into our model of galactochemistry.     

U.S. agrigenetics: suit filed against NIH

Three environmental groups have filed suit against the National Institutes of Health in an attempt to block an experiment approved in April by the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. The experiment, designed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, to enhance the frost resistance of crops, would release genetically engineered organisms into the general environment for the first time. The suit, filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia, claims that releasing frost-resistant bacteria into the environment could have damaging ecological consequences, that NIH should have issued an environmental impact assessment before approving any experiment involving the release of genetically engineered organisms, and that the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee lacks the expertise to assess environmental risks.