Values and actions in aversion

Model-based and model-free controllers can, in principle, learn arbitrary actions to optimize their behavior, at least those actions that can be expressed and explored. Indeed, these are often referred to as instrumental controllers because their choices are learned to be instrumental for the delivery of desired outcomes. Although this flexibility is very powerful, it comes with an attendant cost of learning. Evolution appears to have endowed everything from the simplest organisms to us with powerful, pre-specified, but inflexible alternatives. These responses are termed Pavlovian, after the famous Russian physiologist and psychologist Pavlov. The responses of the Pavlovian controller are determined by evolutionary (phylogenetic) considerations rather than (ontogenetic) aspects of the contingent development or learning of an individual. These responses directly interact with instrumental choices arising from goal-directed and habitual controllers. This interaction has been studied in a wealth of animal paradigms, and can be helpful, neutral, or harmful, according to circumstance. Although there has been less careful or analytical study of it in humans, it can be interpreted as underpinning a wealth of behavioral aberrations. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

C-values of seven marine mammal species determined by flow cytometry

C-values, which estimate genome size, have puzzled geneticists for years because they bear no relationship to organismal complexity. Though C-values have been estimated for thousands of species, considerably more data are required in order to better understanding genome evolution. This is particularly true for mammals, in which C-values are known for less than 8% of the total number of mammalian species. Among marine mammals, a C-value has been estimated only for the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Thus examination of additional species of marine mammals is necessary for comparative purposes. It will enable a better understanding of marine mammal genome evolution, and it is also relevant to conservation, because larger genome size has been linked to increased likelihood of extinction in some plant and animal groups. Our study presents C-values of seven marine mammal species, including five cetacean species that are endangered to varying degrees. Similarly to the results for other groups, our results suggest that larger genome size in cetaceans is related to an increased likelihood of extinction.

Phylogenetic relationships among Trichodinidae (Ciliophora : Peritricha) derived from the characteristic values of denticles

The phylogenetic relationships among trichodinids remain obscure. As an important diagnostic marker, the morphology of the denticles in the adhesive disc as well as the adoral spiral has been widely used in generic discrimination and species identification of trichodinids. We studied the characters of denticles of the ten genera of Trichodinidae and the sole genus Urceolaria of Urceolariidae by using a quantitative method. The characteristic values were used to generate Manhattan distance, on which the dendrogram was based to construct with the Unweighted Paired Group Method using the Arithmetic mean (UPGMA). The investigations show that all the genera of the family Trichodinidae were clearly separate from the outgroup Urceolaria, and within the Trichodinidae: (i) Dipartiella grouped with Trichodinella and Tripartiella and lay in the closest position to the outgroup with a low dissimilarity, suggesting Dipartiella might be the most primitive genus in the family; (ii) Hemitrichodina clustered in a single clad and lay in the farthest position to the outgroup with the highest dissimilarity, indicating that it might be the most advanced genus; and (iii) the other 6 genera, Trichodina, Paratrichodina, Semitrichodina, Vauchomia, Pallitrichodina and Trichodoxa clustered in a big clad with very low dissimilarity, showing that they are closely related to each other. We discuss the evolutionary trend of the denticle and conclude that the denticles of the adhesive disc should be an apomorphic feature of the trichodinids and their changes could reflect the evolutionary tendencies of these ciliates.

Determination of the values of hole-mixing coefficients due to interface and electric field in GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs superlattices

Numerical calculations within the envelope function framework have been performed to analyze the relations between the magnitude of in-plane optical anisotropy and the values of the additional hole-mixing coefficients due to interface and electric field in (001) symmetric GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs superlattices for light propagating along the [001] direction. It is found that the heavy- and light-hole states are mixed independently by interface and electric field. The numeric results demonstrate that the line shape of the in-plane anisotropic spectrum is determined by the ratio of the two hole-mixing coefficients. Theoretical analysis shows that with the help of simple calculation of the anisotropy at k=0, reliable values of the hole-mixing coefficients can be determined by reflectance-difference spectroscopy (IDS) technique, demanding no tedious fitting of experimental curves. The in-plane optical anisotropy measured by RDS provides a new method of getting the information on buried interfaces through the Value of the hole-mixing coefficient due to interface.

Dependence of the cross sections for Ir isotopes on the values of Qgg in the heavy ion collision

197Au were irradiated with 47 MeV/u 12C ions. Iridium was produced via the multinucleon transfer reactions in bombardments of 197Au with 12C. and was separated radiochemically from Au and the mixture of the reaction products. The γ radioactivities of Ir isotopes were measured by using a HPGe detector. The production cross sections of Ir isotopes were determined from activities of Ir isotopes at the end of bombardment and the other relative data. It has been found that the cross sections for neutron-rich iso...

Species；valve size；and pretreatment effects on delta O-18 and delta C-13 values of ostracod valves from Lake Qinghai；Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

IEECAS SKLLQG

alpha-decay half-lives and Q(alpha) values of superheavy nuclei

The alpha-decay half-lives of recently synthesized superheavy nuclei (SHN) are investigated by employing a unified fission model (UFM) where a new method to calculate the assault frequency of alpha emission is used. The excellent agreement with the experimental data indicates the UFM is a useful tool to investigate these alpha decays. It is found that the alpha-decay half-lives become more and more insensitive to the Q(alpha) values as the atomic number increases on the whole, which is favorable for us to predict the half-lives of SHN. In addition, a formula is proposed to compute the Q(alpha) values for the nuclei with Z >= 92 and N >= 140 with a good accuracy, according to which the long-lived SHN should be neutron rich. Several weeks ago, two isotopes of a new element with atomic number Z = 117 were synthesized and their alpha-decay chains have been observed. The Q(alpha) formula is found to work well for these nuclei, confirming its predictive power. The experimental half-lives are well reproduced by employing the UFM with the experimental Q(alpha) values. This fact that the experimental half-lives are compatible with experimental Q(alpha) values supports the synthesis of a new element 117 and the experimental measurements to a certain extent.

Inactive and mutagenic effects induced by carbon beams of different LET values in a red yeast strain

To evaluate biological action of microorganism exposed to charged particles during the long distance space exploration. Induction of inactivation and mutation in a red yeast strain Rhodotorula glutinis AY 91015 by carbon beams of different LET values (14.9-120 0 keV mu m(-1)) was investigated It was found that survival curves were exponential, and mutation curves were linear for all LET values The dependence of inactivation cross section on LET approached saturation near 120 0 keV mu m(-1) The imitation cross section saturated when LET was higher than 582 keV mu m(-1) Meanwhile, the highest RBEI for inactivation located at 120 0 key mu m(-1) and the highest RBEm for mutation was at 58.2 key mu m(-1) The experiments imply that the most efficient mutagenic part of the depth dose profile of carbon ion is at the plateau region with intermediate LET value in which energy deposited is high enough to Induce mutagenic lesions but too low to induce over kill effect in the yeast cells (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

New uniform algorithm to predict reversed phase retention values under different gradient conditions

A new numerical emulation algorithm was established to calculate retention parameters in RP-HPLC with several retention times under different linear or nonlinear binary gradient elution conditions and further predict the retention time under any other binary gradient conditions. A program was written according to this algorithm and nine solutes were used to test the program. The prediction results were excellent. The maximum relative error of predicted retention time was less than 0.45%. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.