Natural selection on EPAS1 (HIF2 alpha) associated with low hemoglobin concentration in Tibetan highlanders

By impairing both function and survival, the severe reduction in oxygen availability associated with high-altitude environments is likely to act as an agent of natural selection. We used genomic and candidate gene approaches to search for evidence of such genetic selection. First, a genome-wide allelic differentiation scan (GWADS) comparing indigenous highlanders of the Tibetan Plateau (3,200 3,500 m) with closely related lowland Han revealed a genome-wide significant divergence across eight SNPs located near EPAS1. This gene encodes the transcription factor HIF2 alpha, which stimulates production of red blood cells and thus increases the concentration of hemoglobin in blood. Second, in a separate cohort of Tibetans residing at 4,200 m, we identified 31 EPAS1 SNPs in high linkage disequilibrium that correlated significantly with hemoglobin concentration. The sex-adjusted hemoglobin concentration was, on average, 0.8 g/dL lower in the major allele homozygotes compared with the heterozygotes. These findings were replicated in a third cohort of Tibetans residing at 4,300 m. The alleles associating with lower hemoglobin concentrations were correlated with the signal from the GWADS study and were observed at greatly elevated frequencies in the Tibetan cohorts compared with the Han. High hemoglobin concentrations are a cardinal feature of chronic mountain sickness offering one plausible mechanism for selection. Alternatively, as EPAS1 is pleiotropic in its effects, selection may have operated on some other aspect of the phenotype. Whichever of these explanations is correct, the evidence for genetic selection at the EPAS1 locus from the GWADS study is supported by the replicated studies associating function with the allelic variants.

Effects of unconditioned and conditioned aversive stimuli in an intense fear conditioning paradigm on synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal CA1 area in vivo

Repeated vivid recalls or flashbacks of traumatic memories and memory deficits are the cardinal features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The underlying mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Here, we examined the effects of very strong fear conditioning (20 pairings of a light with a 1.5-mA, 0.5-s foot shock) and subsequent reexposure to the conditioning context (chamber A), a similar context (chamber B), and/or to the fear conditioned stimulus (CS) (a light) on synaptic plasticity in the hippocampal CA1 area in anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats. The conditioning procedure resulted in very strong conditioned fear, as reflected by high levels of persistent freezing, to both the contexts and to the CS, 24 h after fear conditioning. The induction of long-term potentiation ON was blocked immediately after fear conditioning. It was still markedly impaired 24 h after fear conditioning; reexposure to the conditioning chamber A (CA) or to a similar chamber 13 (CB) did not affect the impairment. However, presentation of the CS in the CA exacerbated the impairment of LTP, whereas the CS presentation in a CB ameliorated the impairment so that LTP induction did not differ from that of control groups. The induction of long-term depression (LTD) was facilitated immediately, but not 24 h, after fear conditioning. Only reexposure to the CS in the CA, but not reexposure to either chamber A or B alone, or the CS in chamber B, 24 h after conditioning, reinstated the facilitation of LTD induction. These data demonstrate that unconditioned and conditioned aversive stimuli in an intense fear conditioning paradigm can have profound effects on hippocampal synaptic plasticity, which may aid to understand the mechanisms underlying impairments of hippocampus-dependent memory by stress or in PTSD. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Stochastic resonance in single-mode semiconductor lasers

Owing to the considerable virtues of semiconductor lasers for applications, they have become the main optical source for fiber communication systems recently. The behavior of stochastic resonance (SR) in direct-modulated semiconductor laser systems is investigated in this article. Considering the carrier and photon noises and the cross-correlation between the two noises, the power spectrum of the photon density and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the modulated laser system were calculated using the linear approximation method. We found that the SR always appears in the dependence of the SNR upon the bias current density, and is strongly affected by the cross-correlation coefficient of the carrier and photon noises, the frequency of modulation signal and the photon lifetime in the laser cavity. Hence, it is promising to use the SR mechanism to enhance the SNR of direct-modulated semiconductor laser systems and improve the quality of optical communication. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

一种自治水下机器人垂直面避碰规划方法

为提高自治水下机器人在垂直面跨越坡型、台阶型障碍的能力,提出了一种基于模糊控制的垂直面避碰规划方法。该方法以避碰声纳的输出作为输入,垂直面的深度调节量作为输出,直接建立了从障碍感知到避碰行为的映射。半物理仿真实验表明,该方法有效提高了某型自治水下机器人垂直面操纵性能,具有反应迅速、稳定性好、便于工程实现的优点。

设备维护模式选择决策支持框架研究

给出了设备维护的定义,对设备维护策略进行了分类。对工厂中比较常用的设备维护管理模式进行了比较和分析,指出每种设备维护管理模式的优缺点。最后,根据工厂设备维护管理的发展趋势与需求,提出了设备维护模式选择的决策支持框架,为工厂进行先进的设备维护管理提供决策支持。

地震勘探三维可视化方法研究与实现

This thesis mainly studies the technologies of 3-D seismic visualization and Graphic User Interface of seismic processing software. By studying Computer Graphics and 3-D geological modeling, the author designs and implements the visualization module of seismic data processing software using OpenGL and Motif. Setting seismic visualization flow as the subject, NURBS surface approximation and Delaunay Triangulation as the two different methods, the thesis discusses the key algorithms and technologies of seismic visualization and attempts to apply Octree Space Partitioning and Mip Mapping to enhance system performance. According to the research mentioned above, in view of portability and scalability, the author adopts Object-oriented Analysis and Object-oriented Design, uses standard C++ as programming language, OpenGL as 3-D graphics library and Motif as GUI developing tool to implement the seismic visualization framework on SGI Irix platform. This thesis also studies the solution of fluid equations in porous media. 2-D alternating direction implicit procedure has been turned into 3-D successive over relaxation iteration, which possesses such virtues as faster computing speed, faster convergence rate, better adaptability to heterogeneous media and less memory demanding.

三维油藏数值模拟正反演算法研究

The dynamic prediction of complex reservoir development is one of the important research contents of dynamic analysis of oil and gas development. With the increase development of time, the permeabilities and porosities of reservoirs and the permeability of block reservoir at its boundaries are dynamically changing. How to track the dynamic change of permeability and porosity and make certain the permeability of block reservoir at its boundary is an important practical problem. To study developing dynamic prediction of complex reservoir, the key problem of research of dynamic prediction of complex reservoir development is realizing inversion of permeability and porosity. To realize the inversion, first of all, the fast forward and inverse method of 3-dimension reservoir simulation must be studied. Although the inversion has been widely applied to exploration and logging, it has not been applied to3-dimension reservoir simulation. Therefore, the study of fast forward and inverse method of 3-dimension reservoir simulation is a cutting-edge problem, takes on important realistic signification and application value. In this dissertation, 2-dimension and 3-dimension fluid equations in porous media are discretized by finite difference, obtaining finite difference equations to meet the inner boundary conditions by Peaceman's equations, giving successive over relaxation iteration of 3-dimension fluid equations in porous media and the dimensional analysis. Several equation-solving methods are compared in common use, analyzing its convergence and convergence rate. The alternating direction implicit procedure of 2-dimension has been turned into successive over relaxation iteration of alternating direction implicit procedure of 3-dimension fluid equations in porous media, which possesses the virtues of fast computing speed, needing small memory of computer, good adaptability for heterogeneous media and fast convergence rate. The geological model of channel-sandy reservoir has been generated with the help of stochastic simulation technique, whose cross sections of channel-sandy reservoir are parabolic shapes. This method makes the hard data commendably meet, very suit for geological modeling of containing complex boundary surface reservoir. To verify reliability of the method, theoretical solution and numerical solution are compared by simplifying model of 3-dimension fluid equations in porous media, whose results show that the only difference of the two pressure curves is that the numerical solution is lower than theoretical at the wellbore in the same space. It proves that using finite difference to solve fluid equations in porous media is reliable. As numerical examples of 3-dimension heterogeneous reservoir of the single-well and multi-well, the pressure distributions have been computed respectively, which show the pressure distributions there are clearly difference as difference of the permeabilities is greater than one order of magnitude, otherwise there are no clearly difference. As application, the pressure distribution of the channel-sandy reservoir have been computed, which indicates that the space distribution of pressure strongly relies on the direction of permeability, and is sensitive for space distributions of permeability. In this dissertation, the Peaceman's equations have been modified into solving vertical well problem and horizontal well problem simultaneously. In porous media, a 3D layer reservoir in which contain vertical wells and horizontal wells has been calculated with iteration. For channel-sandy reservoir in which there are also vertical wells and horizontal wells, a 3D transient heterogeneous fluid equation has been discretized. As an example, the space distribution of pressure has been calculated with iteration. The results of examples are accord with the fact, which shows the modification of Peaceman's equation is correct. The problem has been solved in the space where there are vertical and horizontal wells. In the dissertation, the nonuniform grid permeability integration equation upscaling method, the nonuniform grid 2D flow rate upscaling method and the nonuniform grid 3D flow rate upscaling method have been studied respectively. In those methods, they enhance computing speed greatly, but the computing speed of 3D flow rate upscaling method is faster than that of 2D flow rate upscaling method, and the precision of 3D flow rate upscaling method is better than that of 2D flow rate upscaling method. The results also show that the solutions of upscaling method are very approximating to that of fine grid blocks. In this paper, 4 methods of fast adaptive nonuniform grid upscaling method of 3D fluid equations in porous media have been put forward, and applied to calculate 3D heterogeneous reservoir and channel-sandy reservoir, whose computing results show that the solutions of nonuniform adaptive upscaling method of 3D heterogeneous fluid equations in porous media are very approximating to that of fine grid blocks in the regions the permeability or porosity being abnormity and very approximating to that of coarsen grid blocks in the other region, however, the computing speed of adaptive upscaling method is 100 times faster than that of fine grid block method. The formula of sensitivity coefficients are derived from initial boundary value problems of fluid equations in porous media by Green's reciprocity principle. The sensitivity coefficients of wellbore pressure to permeability parameters are given by Peaceman's equation and calculated by means of numerical calculation method of 3D transient anisotropic fluid equation in porous media and verified by direct method. The computing results are in excellent agreement with those obtained by the direct method, which shows feasibility of the method. In the dissertation, the calculating examples are also given for 3D reservoir, channel-sandy reservoir and 3D multi-well reservoir, whose numerical results indicate: around the well hole, the value of the sensitivity coefficients of permeability is very large, the value of the sensitivity coefficients of porosity is very large too, but the sensitivity coefficients of porosity is much less than the sensitivity coefficients of permeability, so that the effect of the sensitivity coefficients of permeability for inversion of reservoir parameters is much greater than that of the sensitivity coefficients of porosity. Because computing the sensitivity coefficients needs to call twice the program of reservoir simulation in one iteration, realizing inversion of reservoir parameters must be sustained by the fast forward method. Using the sensitivity coefficients of permeability and porosity, conditioned on observed valley erosion thickness in wells (hard data), the inversion of the permeabilities and porosities in the homogeneous reservoir, homogeneous reservoir only along the certain direction and block reservoir are implemented by Gauss-Newton method or conjugate gradient method respectively. The results of our examples are very approximating to the real data of permeability and porosity, but the convergence rate of conjugate gradient method is much faster than that of Gauss-Newton method.