Biochemical evidence of cannibalism at a prehistoric Puebloan site in southwestern Colorado

The existence of cannibalism is one of the most controversial issues in the archaeology of the American Southwest. Disarticulated, cut-marked and heat-altered human remains from non-burial contexts at prehistoric Puebloan (Anasazi) archaeological sites in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest have been interpreted by some scholars as evidence of cannibalism. Osteological studies indicate that many of the disarticulated bodies found at these sites were processed in a manner consistent with food preparation. Opponents of this interpretation point out that non-cannibalistic practices such as secondary interment, corpse mutilation and ritualized witch executions might account for the assemblages. Osteological evidence alone does not document the actual ingestion of human flesh. Here we show consumption of human flesh did occur as demonstrated in preserved human waste containing identifiable human tissue remains from a site with osteological evidence of cannibalism.     

Ordering and self-organization in nanocrystalline silicon

The spontaneous formation of organized nanocrystals in semiconductors has been observed during heteroepitaxial growth and chemical synthesis. The ability to fabricate size-controlled silicon nanocrystals encapsulated by insulating SiO2 would be of significant interest to the microelectronics industry. But reproducible manufacture of such crystals is hampered by the amorphous nature of SiO2 and the differing thermal expansion coefficients of the two materials. Previous attempts to fabricate Si nanocrystals failed to achieve control over their shape and crystallographic orientation, the latter property being important in systems such as Si quantum dots. Here we report the self-organization of Si nanocrystals larger than 80 A into brick-shaped crystallites oriented along the (111) crystallographic direction. The nanocrystals are formed by the solid-phase crystallization of nanometre-thick layers of amorphous Si confined between SiO2 layers. The shape and orientation of the crystallites results in relatively narrow photoluminescence, whereas isotropic particles produce qualitatively different, broad light emission. Our results should aid the development of maskless, reproducible Si nanofabrication techniques.     

温州中小企业的品牌战略

随着市场经济的深入发展,中小企业已经成为我国经济发展的重要支柱。企业间的竞争已由过去的质量、价格竞争转变为信誉、企业形象和服务水平等综合素质的竞争,进而发展为打造知名品牌的竞争。一切成功企业最终经营的并非"产品"而是"品牌"。温州的中小企业在历经多年的蓬勃发展之后,陷入了瓶颈期,而解决这一困境的方法就是利用品牌战略来实现突围,走创立品牌、注重品牌发展的道路。     

浅析ZPW-2000A型无绝缘轨道电路系统

通过分析ZPW-2000A型无绝缘轨道电路系统,阐述了该系统的原理、构成、特点、防雷等性能。同时分析了设备的应用及客运专线补偿电容的设置。     

Progress and challenges in translating the biology of atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease of the arterial wall, and a leading cause of death and loss of productive life years worldwide. Research into the disease has led to many compelling hypotheses about the pathophysiology of atherosclerotic lesion formation and of complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Yet, despite these advances, we still lack definitive evidence to show that processes such as lipoprotein oxidation, inflammation and immunity have a crucial involvement in human atherosclerosis. Experimental atherosclerosis in animals furnishes an important research tool, but extrapolation to humans requires care. Understanding how to combine experimental and clinical science will provide further insight into atherosclerosis and could lead to new clinical applications.     

Habenular α5 nicotinic receptor subunit signalling controls nicotine intake

Genetic variation in CHRNA5, the gene encoding the α5 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit, increases vulnerability to tobacco addiction and lung cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Here we report markedly increased nicotine intake in mice with a null mutation in Chrna5. This effect was 'rescued' in knockout mice by re-expressing α5 subunits in the medial habenula (MHb), and recapitulated in rats through α5 subunit knockdown in MHb. Remarkably, α5 subunit knockdown in MHb did not alter the rewarding effects of nicotine but abolished the inhibitory effects of higher nicotine doses on brain reward systems. The MHb extends projections almost exclusively to the interpeduncular nucleus (IPN). We found diminished IPN activation in response to nicotine in α5 knockout mice. Further, disruption of IPN signalling increased nicotine intake in rats. Our findings indicate that nicotine activates the habenulo-interpeduncular pathway through α5-containing nAChRs, triggering an inhibitory motivational signal that acts to limit nicotine intake.     

宏大爆破：依靠自主创新 引领企业可持续发展

广东宏大爆破股份有限公司是广东省广业资产经营有限公司属下企业,是国有控股的有限责任公司,全资拥有广东宏大增化民爆器材有限责任公司、广东力拓民爆器材有限公司、北京中科力爆炸技术工程有限公司等高新技术企业及广东明华机械有限公司、北京广业宏大矿业设计研究院有限公司。公司把自主创新提升到战略高度,充分利用自身科技资源及优势,整合社会资源（人才、技术、管理等方面）,把握行业发展趋势,     

Orbital excitation blockade and algorithmic cooling in quantum gases

Interaction blockade occurs when strong interactions in a confined, few-body system prevent a particle from occupying an otherwise accessible quantum state. Blockade phenomena reveal the underlying granular nature of quantum systems and allow for the detection and manipulation of the constituent particles, be they electrons, spins, atoms or photons. Applications include single-electron transistors based on electronic Coulomb blockade and quantum logic gates in Rydberg atoms. Here we report a form of interaction blockade that occurs when transferring ultracold atoms between orbitals in an optical lattice. We call this orbital excitation blockade (OEB). In this system, atoms at the same lattice site undergo coherent collisions described by a contact interaction whose strength depends strongly on the orbital wavefunctions of the atoms. We induce coherent orbital excitations by modulating the lattice depth, and observe staircase-like excitation behaviour as we cross the interaction-split resonances by tuning the modulation frequency. As an application of OEB, we demonstrate algorithmic cooling of quantum gases: a sequence of reversible OEB-based quantum operations isolates the entropy in one part of the system and then an irreversible step removes the entropy from the gas. This technique may make it possible to cool quantum gases to have the ultralow entropies required for quantum simulation of strongly correlated electron systems. In addition, the close analogy between OEB and dipole blockade in Rydberg atoms provides a plan for the implementation of two-quantum-bit gates in a quantum computing architecture with natural scalability.