Genetically determined differences in learning from errors

The role of dopamine in monitoring negative action outcomes and feedback-based learning was tested in a neuroimaging study in humans grouped according to the dopamine D2 receptor gene polymorphism DRD2-TAQ-IA. In a probabilistic learning task, A1-allele carriers with reduced dopamine D2 receptor densities learned to avoid actions with negative consequences less efficiently. Their posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC), involved in feedback monitoring, responded less to negative feedback than others' did. Dynamically changing interactions between pMFC and hippocampus found to underlie feedback-based learning were reduced in A1-allele carriers. This demonstrates that learning from errors requires dopaminergic signaling. Dopamine D2 receptor reduction seems to decrease sensitivity to negative action consequences, which may explain an increased risk of developing addictive behaviors in A1-allele carriers.     

Comment on "Genetically determined differences in learning from errors"

Klein et al. (Reports, 7 December 2007, p. 1642) used individuals with a polymorphism adjacent to the dopamine receptor 2 gene as naturally occurring models for reduced brain dopamine receptor density in a probabilistic learning task. We raise the concern that this polymorphism resides in the gene for the kinase ANKK1, where it causes a nonconservative amino acid exchange.     

History of meteorites from the moon collected in antarctica

In large asteroidal or cometary impacts on the moon, lunar surface material can be ejected with escape velocities. A few of these rocks were captured by Earth and were recently collected on the Antarctic ice. The records of noble gas isotopes and of cosmic ray-produced radionuclides in five of these meteorites reveal that they originated from at least two different impact craters on the moon. The chemical composition indicates that the impact sites were probably far from the Apollo and Luna landing sites. The duration of the moon-Earth transfer for three meteorites, which belong to the same fall event on Earth, lasted 5 to 11 million years, in contrast to a duration of less than 300,000 years for the two other meteorites. From the activities of cosmic ray-produced radionuclides, the date of fall onto the Antarctic ice sheet is calculated as 70,000 to 170,000 years ago.     

Evolution of the ratio of strontium-87 to strontium-86 in seawater from cretaceous to present

A detailed record of the strontium-87 to strontium-86 ratio in seawater during the last 100 million years was determined by measuring this ratio in 137 well-preserved and well-dated fossil foraminifera samples. Sample preservation was evaluated from scanning electron microscopy studies, measured strontium-calcium ratios, and pore water strontium isotope ratios. The evolution of the strontium isotopic ratio in seawater offers a means to evaluate long-term changes in the global strontium isotope mass balance. Results show that the marine strontium isotope composition can be used for correlating and dating well-preserved authigenic marine sediments throughout much of the Cenozoic to a precision of +/-1 million years. The strontium-87 to strontium-86 ratio in seawater increased sharply across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary, but this feature is not readily explained as strontium input from a bolide impact on land.     

Fever: reciprocal shift in brain sodium to calcium ratio as the set-point temperature rises

A bacterial pyrogen acts on the brain by disturbing the natural balance between two essential cations in the cerebral region involved in thermoregulation. After typhoid vaccine is administered to the unanesthetized cat, (45)Ca(2+) efflux into the third cerebral ventricle increases while (22)Na(+) is retained in hypothalamic tissue at the same time that the set-point temperature begins to rise. The subsequent rates of (22)Na(+) and (45)Ca(2+) efflux parallel the course of the bacterial fever but in a reciprocal fashion. This supports the theory that a change in the set-point temperature is determined by an alteration in the inherent ratio of Na(+) to Ca(2+) ions in the hypothalamus.     

附红细胞体对仔猪Ea花环率和 EAC花环率的影响

为探讨附红细胞体对仔猪免疫水平的影响,选择4头附红细胞体病仔猪和4头健康仔猪,每周采血1次,连续4次,测定T淋巴细胞Ea花环率和B淋巴细胞EAC花环率.比较结果表明,附红细胞体病仔猪的Ea花环率和EAC花环率均明显低于健康仔猪,且差异极显著(P<0.01),表明仔猪患附红细胞体病后,机体的免疫水平明显下降.     

中国国有农场化肥投入效率测度及其时空分异

为探讨中国垦区国有农场化肥投入效率及其时空分布情况,基于1994—2017年的省级面板数据,采用随机前沿投入距离函数测算了各省国有农场的化肥投入效率,并分析其时空分异特征。研究发现:1)国有农场化肥投入效率均值仅为0.485,存在严重的利用低效问题,化肥削减潜力巨大;2)在时间维度,国有农场化肥投入效率整体上呈现下降趋势;在空间维度,国有农场化肥投入效率呈现东部中部西部、南方北方的非均衡格局;3)国有农场化肥施用强度远高于其他生产经营主体,且施用强度与投入效率之间存在较强的负相关性。     

1978—2018年中国农村环境管理政策演进特征——基于206份政策文本的量化分析

基于手工搜集的1978—2018年中国政府颁布的206份农村环境管理政策文本,从政策发布年度、政策发布主体、政策发布形式、政策作用对象、政策工具及政策效力6个维度构建分析框架,运用政策文献计量和内容分析方法分析了中国农村环境管理政策的演进特征。结果表明:1978年改革开放以来,中国农村环境管理政策在数量上呈整体持续上升态势;农村环境管理政策经历了探索起步(1978—1989年)、初步形成(1990—2004年)、快速发展(2005—2013年)和全面推进(2014年以后)4个阶段的演进;政策发布主体的行政级别较高且呈现多元化特征,政策联合决策程度高,但政策之间统筹性和协调性较低;政策绝大多数以通知、意见等形式发出,缺乏权威性和规范性;政策的着力点主要在原生态保护层面,对农村人居环境整治的重视程度不够;命令控制型政策是政府最为偏好的农村环境管理政策工具,经济激励型、信息公开型和自愿参与型政策工具使用不足;政策整体效力的提升主要由政策发布数量驱动,政策反馈不足、政策措施较少和政策目标量化程度低是导致政策平均效力较低的主要原因。     

The breakup of a meteorite parent body and the delivery of meteorites to Earth

Whether many of the 10,000 meteorites collected in the Antarctic are unlike those failing elsewhere is contentious. The Antarctic H chondrites, one of the major classes of stony meteorites, include a number of individuals with higher induced thermoluminescence peak temperatures than observed among non-Antarctic H chondrites. The proportion of such individuals decreases with the mean terrestrial age of the meteorites at the various ice fields. These H chondrites have cosmic-ray exposure ages of about 8 million years, experienced little cosmic-ray shielding, and suffered rapid postmetamorphic cooling. Breakup of the H chondrite parent body, 8 million years ago, may have produced two types of material with different size distributions and thermal histories. The smaller objects reached Earth more rapidly through more rapid orbital evolution.     

Large-scale thermal events in the solar nebula: evidence from Fe,Ni metal grains in primitive meteorites

Chemical zoning patterns in some iron, nickel metal grains from CH carbonaceous chondrites imply formation at temperatures from 1370 to 1270 kelvin by condensation from a solar nebular gas cooling at a rate of approximately 0.2 kelvin per hour. This cooling rate requires a large-scale thermal event in the nebula, in contrast to the localized, transient heating events inferred for chondrule formation. In our model, mass accretion through the protoplanetary disk caused large-scale evaporation of precursor dust near its midplane inside of a few astronomical units. Gas convectively moved from the midplane to cooler regions above it, and the metal grains condensed in these parcels of rising gas.     

Accretion rates of meteorites and cosmic dust in the Early Ordovician

Abundant fossil meteorites in marine, condensed Lower Ordovician limestones from Kinnekulle, Sweden, indicate that accretion rates of meteorites were one to two orders of magnitude higher during an interval of the Early Ordovician than at present. Osmium isotope and iridium analyses of whole-rock limestone indicate a coeval enhancement of one order of magnitude in the influx rate of cosmic dust. Enhanced accretion of cosmic matter may be related to the disruption of the L chondrite parent body around 500 million years ago.     

Disulfate ion as an intermediate to sulfuric Acid in Acid rain formation

The oxidation of the bisulfite ion by dissolved oxygen to produce sulfate ion involves the formation of a previously undetected intermediate. This intermediate has a fairly strong Raman band at 1090 wave numbers and a weak Raman band at 740 wave numbers, both of which are probably due to sulfur-oxygen stretches. The intermediate is proposed to be the disulfate ion S(2)O(7)(2-), which hydrolyzes into H(+) and either SO(4)(2-) or HSO(4)(2-) with a half-life of about 52 seconds at 25 degrees C.     

三叶木通叶片保存时间对基因组DNA提取效果的影响

为了考察三叶木通叶片保存时间与基因组DNA提取质量的关系,以低温保存1个月和6个月的三叶木通〔Akebia trifoliata(Thunb)Koidz〕叶片为材料,采用改良的CTAB法提取其基因组DNA,用琼脂糖凝胶电泳和紫外分光光度计检测获得的DNA质量。结果表明:低温保存1个月三叶木通叶片中提取的DNA质量较高,检测条带清晰,可用于后期的分子生物学研究。结论:三叶木通叶片保存时间过长,其核酸结构易发生改变而降解,从而影响DNA的提取质量。     

水泵并联运行工作点确定方法的研究

针对横加法确定水泵并联运行工作点的不足,通过对并联系统各水泵装置的能量供需情况及其水力特性的分析,推导出了利用能量方程确定水泵并联运行工作点的新方法。用此方法可直接确定系统各部分流量、扬程、水位及水头损失之间的关系。     

5-methyltetrahydrofolic Acid as a mediator in the formation of pyridoindoles

Enzymes from chick and rat tissues catalyze the reaction of N-methyl tryptamine with 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid to form 2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-2-methyl-1H-pyrido[3,4b] indole. N,N-Dimethyltryptamine was not formed. With tryptamine as substrate the product is 2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4b] indole and not N-methyltryptamine. These pyridoindoles were not formed when S-adenosylmethionine was cosubstrare.     

与时俱进,加快推进农村经营体制创新

当前,增加农民收入的制约因素很多,农村经营体制不适应农村商品生产的发展是至关重要的因素.而思想观念保守,不合时宜,是妨碍农村经营体制创新的主要原因.江泽民同志在十六大报告中关于"尊重农户的市场主体地位,推动农村经营体制创新"的论述,深刻地指出了农村经营体制创新的重要性和紧迫感.我们必须通过思想解放的再讨论,加快推动我区农村经营体制创新.     

Electric power from differences in salinity: the dialytic battery

An array of alternating anion and cation exchange membranes can be used to generate electric power from the free energy of mixing of river and sea waters. A simple mathematical model, which predicts experimental results well, is useful in exploring conditions for optimization of the process. Major, but not impossible, improvements in technology would be required to bring the cost of power from the dialytic battery into line with foreseeable energy prices.     

Chondrules in apollo 14 samples: implications for the origin of chondritic meteorites

Chondrules have been observed in several breccia samples returned by the Apollo 14 mission. These lunar chondrules are believed to have formed during a large impact event, perhaps the one that formed the Imbrian Basin. This suggests that some meteoritic chondrules are also formed by impact processes such as crystallization after shock melting and abrasion and diffusion in base-surge and fall-back deposits generated by impacts on planetary surfaces.     

Fossil echinoderms as monitor of the Mg/Ca ratio of Phanerozoic oceans

Opinion has long been divided as to whether the Mg/Ca ratio of seawater remained constant during the Phanerozoic or underwent substantial secular change. Existing empirical evidence for the Mg/Ca of ancient seawater provides a poorly resolved and often controversial signal. Echinoderm fossils that have retained their bulk original chemistry, despite micrometer-scale changes, preserve a record of seawater Mg/Ca and confirm that major changes in Mg/Ca occurred during the Phanerozoic. Echinoderms from the Cambrian and from the Carboniferous to the Triassic indicate a seawater Mg/Ca of approximately 3.3, whereas echinoderms from the Jurassic to the Cretaceous indicate a Mg/Ca of approximately 1.4. The present seawater Mg/Ca is approximately 5.     

Kinematics of the asal rift (djibouti) determined from the deformation of fieale volcano

Because of its subaerial exposure the Asal rift segment provides an exceptional opportunity to quantify the deformation field of an active rift and assess the contribution of tectonics and volcanism to rifting processes. The present topography of the Asal rift results from the tectonic dismemberment during the last 100,000 years of a large central volcanic edifice that formed astride the rift zone 300,000 to 100,000 years ago. Three-dimensional deformation of this volcano has been quantified from the combined analysis of the topography and geology. The analysis indicates that spreading at 17 to 29 millimeters per year in a N40 degrees +/- 5 degrees E direction accounts for most of the separation between Arabia and Somalia. The small topographic subsidence relative to extension suggests that tectonic thinning of the crust has been balanced by injection and underplating of magmatic material of near crustal density. The methodology developed in this study could also be applied to quantify deformation in relatively inaccessible areas where the main available information is topography or bathymetry.