Parentage determination of an isolated Yangtze finless porpoise population Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis in the Yangtze Tian-e-Zhou Baiji National Natural Reserve based on molecular data

Reproductive behaviors are poorly known for the Yangtze finless porpoise Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis. In this study, the parentage of an isolated Yangtze finless porpoise population inhabiting the Yangtze Tian-e-Zhou Baiji National Natural Reserve is determined by analysis of microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences, and the porpoise's reproductive behaviors are studied. Overall 4 full parentage assignments and additional 3 single parentage assignments were determined for the population of 23 individuals. The analysis shows that their estimated reproductive cycle is shorter than that reported previously and there probably exists an overlapping between gestation and lactation period. The Study also shows that the female does not show fidelity to a particular male for breeding and vice versa, the oldest males did not monopolize mating and the dominance rank could not be so strict for the porpoise society. Moreover, the porpoise's mating pattern and relatedness among candidate parents are discussed here. These results provide important information for making guidelines of management and conservation for this protected population.

Phylogenetic relationships of the subclass Peritrichia (Oligohymenophorea, Ciliophora) inferred from small subunit rRNA gene sequences

The phylogenetic relationships among peritrichs remain unresolved. In this study, the complete small subunit rRNA (SSrRNA) gene sequences of seven species (Epistylis galea, Campanella umbellaria, Carchesium polypinum, Zoothamnium arbuscula, Vaginicola crystallina, Ophrydium versatile, and Opercularia microdiscum) were determined. Trees were constructed using distance-matrix, maximum-likelihood and maximum-parsimony methods, all of which strongly supported the monophyly of the subclass Peritrichia. Within the peritrichs, 1) E. galea grouped with Opercularia microdiscum and Campanella umbellaria but not the other Epistylis species, which indicates that the genus Epistylis might not be monophyletic; 2) the topological position of Carchesium and Campanella suggested that Carchesium should be placed in the family Zoothammidae, or be elevated to a higher taxonomic rank, and that Campanella should be independent of the family Epistylididae, and probably be given a new rank; and 3) Opisthonecta grouped strongly with Asty/ozoon, which suggested that Opisthonecta species were not the ancestors of the stalked peritrichs.

Local transformation of mixed states of two qubits to Bell diagonal states

The optimal entanglement manipulation for a single copy of mixed states of two qubits is to transform it to a Bell diagonal state. In this paper we derive an explicit form of the local operation that can realize such a transformation. The result obtained is universal for arbitrary entangled two-qubit states and it discloses that the corresponding local filter is not unique for density matrices with rank n = 2 and can be exclusively determined for that with n = 3 and 4. As illustrations, a four-parameter family of mixed states are explored, the local filter as well as the transformation probability are given explicitly, which verify the validity of the general result.

on lin-bose problem

This paper study generalized Serre problem proposed by Lin and Bose in multidimensional system theory context [Multidimens. Systems and Signal Process. 10 (1999) 379; Linear Algebra Appl. 338 (2001) 125]. This problem is stated as follows. Let F ∈ Al×m be a full row rank matrix, and d be the greatest common divisor of all the l × l minors of F. Assume that the reduced minors of F generate the unit ideal, where A = K[x 1,...,xn] is the polynomial ring in n variables x 1,...,xn over any coefficient field K. Then there exist matrices G ∈ Al×l and F1 ∈ A l×m such that F = GF1 with det G = d and F 1 is a ZLP matrix. We provide an elementary proof to this problem, and treat non-full rank case.

九寨沟核心景区湖泊硅藻的组成及其密度与环境因子的关系

九寨沟自然保护区地处四川盆地北部岷山山脉南段，属川西高原气候中的暖温带。保护区内分布着118 个串珠状排列的高山湖泊，核心景区共有湖泊20 个（组），集中在海拔2000 米到3000 米之间。水资源是九寨沟的灵魂，保护水生生态系统是九寨沟生态旅游可持续发展的立足之本。本研究以九寨沟湿地生物多样性保护项目为依托，于2007 年5 月～2008 年4 月对九寨沟核心景区湖泊水体硅藻植物进行调查，分析了其密度与环境因子的相互关系，旨在为九寨沟湖泊生态系统保护提供科学依据和基础资料。主要有以下几点结论： （1）九寨沟硅藻植物丰富，调查统计为2 纲6 目10 科35 属159 种（包括变种和变型），水体硅藻中真性浮游种类较少，着生种类多，羽纹纲的脆杆藻属、舟形藻属、桥弯藻属、异极藻属、曲壳藻属的种类最多，常为优势属组成湖泊硅藻群落，只在长海是小环藻属占绝对优势。 （2）九寨沟水体中硅藻细胞密度不大，多在4×104～30×104 个/L，长海最高，五花海最低。在年变化上，不同的湖泊水体中硅藻的生长高峰季节不尽相同，在夏季、秋末和冬末春初均有可能出现高密度。在空间上，整体看来密度与海拔有一定的正相关，但由于水温不是单一主导因素，密度受多种环境因子影响，在海拔梯度上呈现一定的波浪状变化。 （3）影响九寨沟湖泊水体硅藻细胞密度较重要的环境因子是海拔、水温和pH。硅藻细胞密度年变化幅度大的湖泊水体，年平均细胞密度大。因此，环境因素不太稳定的湖泊水体，更可能出现高的硅藻细胞密度。11 月份响应于水量剧烈的减少，细齿菱形藻大量出现在五彩池成为优势种群，造成水体硅藻细胞密度的大幅增加。 （4）九寨沟湖泊水体水质几乎达到国家地表水I 类标准，但是，硅藻商指数以及代表多样性的Cairns 指数计算的结果不能反映水质的情况，这是由于水质状况不是决定九寨沟湖泊水体中硅藻生存的种类和数量的主要因素。因此在用各种指数分析水质的时候，都应该先判断计算该指数的参数是否主要由水质状况决定，然后再综合理化性质等其他指标分析和比较。 （5）人类的活动对九寨沟湖泊水生态系统有一定的影响。一方面，在低海拔景点人类活动的干扰比海拔高处相对要大，干扰引起低海拔景点湖泊硅藻Cairns指数较高；另一方面，旺季的影响比淡季大，水体中出现了典型富营养种类。因此，应加强低海拔景点和旺季的管理，并限制淡季的人类活动以保证九寨沟生态系统的自我恢复。 Jiuzhaigou nature reserve is located in north Sichuan, at the south section of Minshan Mountain, having a warm temperate climate which belongs to West Sichuan plateau climate. It includes 118 mountain lakes, and 20 of them between 2000 and 3000 altitude degree constitute the core area of Jiuzhaigou. The water is Jiuzhaigou's soul, so it is the basis of sustainable tourism development of Jiuzhaigou to protect the water ecological environment. Research depends on Jiuzhaigou wetland biodiversity protection program in this paper, invested the diatom plants in 17 lakes at the core area from May 2007 to April 2008. The composition and the correlation of diatom density and the environment were studied, which could provide scientific and basic information for the protection of the ecological environment of Jiuzhaigou. The main conclusions were: 1 The diatom species were in abundance, investigation showed that there were 159 species belong to 10 families and 35 genera. Most diatoms were benthos, euplankton were less. Genera Fragilaria, Navicula, Cymbella, Gomphonema and Achnanthes had the most species, which always were the dominant genera. Only in The Long Lake genus Cyclotella possessed a predominant status. 2 The diatom cell density was not very high, always between 4×104 cell/L and 30×104 cell/L, highest in The Long Lake and lowest in The Colorful Lake. In one year's time, diatom in different lakes had different growth type. The maximum could be in summer, late autumn and late winter early spring. The cell density showed a positive correlation to altitude in the whole, but fluctuated in details along altitude because of comprehensive influence by many environmental factors. 3 Altitude, water temperature and pH were the more important factors to determine the cell density. There was a positive correlation between the range of cell density in one year and the average cell density. So high annual cell average density probably will appear in lakes which has an unstable environmental condition. The boom of Denticula elegans in The Jade-Colored Lake in November was corresponding to the large decrease in water quantity. 4 The water quality of Jiuzhaigou was near the National Surface Water Standard rank I, but the Diatom Quotient and the Cairns Index didn't reflect the water quality accordingly. It was because the water quality wasn't the most important factor here which determined the species number and species quantity, so the index based on these items would not reflect it. Therefore, it is recommended that, when we use indices to evaluate the water quality, we should know first whether the water quality is the main determinative factor inflects the items used to compute the indices, and then combined with other chemical indices to analyze and do comparison. 5 The tourists' activities had influenced the water ecosystem of Jiuzhaigou. On the one hand, disturbance was relatively high at the lower altitude, it resulted in higher Cairns index; on the other hand, influence in high season was more severe than in low season, some typical species indicating eutrophication were observed in the water. It is suggested that the management at lower altitude and in high season must be strengthen, and less people activity in low season is necessary to fulfill the recovery of the water ecosystem.

Surface modelling of soil pH

In addition to classical methods, namely kriging, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and splines, which have been frequently used for interpolating the spatial patterns of soil properties, a relatively more accurate surface modelling technique is being developed in recent years, namely high accuracy surface modelling (HASM). It has been used in the numerical tests, DEM construction and the interpolation of climate and ecosystem changes. In this paper, HASM was applied to interpolate soil pH for assessing its feasibility of soil property interpolation in a red soil region of Jiangxi Province, China. Soil pH was measured on 150 samples of topsoil (0-20 cm) for the interpolation and comparing the performance of HASM, kriging. IDW and splines. The mean errors (MEs) of interpolations indicate little bias of interpolation for soil pH by the four techniques. HASM has less mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) than kriging, IDW and splines. HASM is still the most accurate one when we use the mean rank and the standard deviation of the ranks to avoid the outlier effects in assessing the prediction performance of the four methods. Therefore, HASM can be considered as an alternative and accurate method for interpolating soil properties. Further researches of HASM are needed to combine HASM with ancillary variables to improve the interpolation performance and develop a user-friendly algorithm that can be implemented in a GIS package. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AN ALGEBRAIC METHOD TO ESTIMATE GENERAL TYPE OF PHASES OF STRUCTURE FACTORS

The algebraic formulas of 1.5 and 2.5 rank are given for four space groups P2(1), Pn, Pna2(1), P2(1)2(1)2(1). It is better that the results of applying them to estimating general type of phases for four correspondent crystal structures. And a method of transforming algebraic formulas from 1.5(2.5) rank is proposed.

THE ALGEBRAIC-METHOD ESTIMATING +/-PI/2 TYPE OF PHASES OF STRUCTURE FACTORS

The algebraic formulas of 1.5 and 2.5 rank which can be applied to estimating +/- pi/2 type of phases for P2(1)2(1)2(1) space group were derived using the method of structure factor algebra. Both types of the formulas are satisfactory for two known crystal structures in estimating their +/- pi/2 type of phases.

Effects of different light sources and illumination methods on growth and body color of shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Shrimps Litopenaeus vannamei with initial body weight of 2.108 +/- 0.036 g were sampled for specific growth rates (SGR) and body color measurements for 50 days under different light sources (incandescent lamp, IL; cool-white fluorescent lamp, FL; metal halide lamp, MHL; and control without lamp) and different illumination methods (illumination only in day, IOD, and illumination day and night, IDN). Body color of L. vannamei was measured according to the free astaxanthin concentration (FAC) of shrimp. The SGR, food intake (FI), feed conversion efficiency (FCE) and FAC of shrimps showed significant differences among the experimental treatment groups (P < 0.05). Maximum and minimum SGR occurred under IOD by MHL and IDN by FL, respectively (difference 56.34%). The FI of shrimp for the control group did not rank lowest among treatments, confirming that shrimp primarily use scent, not vision, to search for food. FI and FCE of shrimps were both the lowest among treatment groups under IDN by FL and growth was slow, thus FL is not a preferred light source for shrimp culture. Under IOD by MHL, shrimps had the highest FCE and the third highest FI among treatment groups ensuring rapid growth. FAC of shrimp were about 3.31 +/- 0.20 mg/kg. When under IOD by MHL and IDN by FL, FAC was significantly higher than the other treatments (P < 0.05). To summarize, when illuminated by MHL, L. vannamei had not only vivid body color due to high astaxanthin concentration but also rapid growth. Therefore, MHL is an appropriate indoor light source for shrimp super-intensive culture. SGR of shrimp was in significantly negative correlation to FAC of shrimp (P < 0.05). Thus, when FAC increased, SGR did not always follow, suggesting that the purpose of astaxanthin accumulation was not for growth promotion but for protection against intense light. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.