福建省土地利用碳排放空间关联性与碳平衡分区

全球变暖与二氧化碳浓度升高密不可分，在工业化及城镇化发展过程中，人类对土地的利用和改造是造成全球大气中含碳量迅速增加的重要原因，且土地在利用过程中碳减排的潜力较大。因此，从不同土地利用方式视角研究福建省碳排放量，采用基尼系数来衡量福建省各设区市碳收支的空间差异，探索区域内土地利用碳收支规模和空间分异；运用社会网络分析方法对福建省土地利用碳排放空间网络结构的整体特征和设区市在网络结构中的角色进行考察，有助于从基础层面对人类活动所造成的环境影响进行评估，及时调整土地利用方式从而促进低碳经济发展。结果表明：2006-2018年福建省土地利用净碳排放量逐年递增，呈现东高西低的空间分布特征，建设用地是主要碳源，而林地起到主要碳汇的作用；区域内碳补偿率逐年递减且存在明显的空间差异，经济较发达的区域碳补偿率低于经济欠发达的区域，生态承载系数东西差距不断加强，东部地区碳排放的比例明显超过了碳吸收的比例；福建省土地利用碳排放在空间上具有明显的关联性和溢出效应，碳排放空间关联网络越来越复杂、稳定，各设区市在网络中所处地位和作用存在明显的不均衡性，厦门市在整个碳排放网络中占据领导地位，其他城市的碳影响力在网络中的地位及作用随着经济联系逐渐加强正在逐步提高；对网络空间聚类发现，第一模块和第三模块对模块内外均有溢出效应且密度值较大，属于"双向溢出模块"，其余第二、四模块均属于"净收益模块"。在研究的基础上将福建省各设区市分为3类区域：低碳优化区、碳总量控制区和碳汇功能区，并提出协同减排的差异性对策建议。     

Biochemical evidence accumulates across neurons to drive a network-level eruption

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Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality

Sociality is primarily a coordination problem. However, the social (or communication) complexity hypothesis suggests that the kinds of information that can be acquired and processed may limit the size and/or complexity of social groups that a species can maintain. We use an agent-based model to test the hypothesis that the complexity of information processed influences the computational demands involved. We show that successive increases in the kinds of information processed allow organisms to break through the glass ceilings that otherwise limit the size of social groups: larger groups can only be achieved at the cost of more sophisticated kinds of information processing that are disadvantageous when optimal group size is small. These results simultaneously support both the social brain and the social complexity hypotheses.     

Substitutions at Nonconserved Rheostat Positions Modulate Function by Rewiring Long-Range,Dynamic Interactions

Amino acid substitutions at nonconserved protein positions can have noncanonical and “long-distance” outcomes on protein function. Such outcomes might arise from changes in the internal protein communication network, which is often accompanied by changes in structural flexibility. To test this, we calculated flexibilities and dynamic coupling for positions in the linker region of the lactose repressor protein. This region contains nonconserved positions for which substitutions alter DNA-binding affinity. We first chose to study 11 substitutions at position 52. In computations, substitutions showed long-range effects on flexibilities of DNA-binding positions, and the degree of flexibility change correlated with experimentally measured changes in DNA binding. Substitutions also altered dynamic coupling to DNA-binding positions in a manner that captured other experimentally determined functional changes. Next, we broadened calculations to consider the dynamic coupling between 17 linker positions and the DNA-binding domain. Experimentally, these linker positions exhibited a wide range of substitution outcomes: Four conserved positions tolerated hardly any substitutions (“toggle”), ten nonconserved positions showed progressive changes from a range of substitutions (“rheostat”), and three nonconserved positions tolerated almost all substitutions (“neutral”). In computations with wild-type lactose repressor protein, the dynamic couplings between the DNA-binding domain and these linker positions showed varied degrees of asymmetry that correlated with the observed toggle/rheostat/neutral substitution outcomes. Thus, we propose that long-range and noncanonical substitutions outcomes at nonconserved positions arise from rewiring long-range communication among functionally important positions. Such calculations might enable predictions for substitution outcomes at a range of nonconserved positions.     

Molecular Simulation of Solution Conformations of the Amyloid β-Peptide Aβ(1–42) by a Backpropagation Neural Network Model

Abstract

The predictive power of solution-dependent conformational states of the Aβ(1–42) peptide of Alzheimer's disease by an optimized backpropagation neural network was tested. It was found that the neural network simulates well the solution-dependent conformations. The model was also examined by using geometry-optimized conformations (hybrid approach of Gasteiger charges plus MM+ molecular-mechanics) where the initial coordinates were obtained by NMR solution spectroscopy.     

Some structural and functional properties of nerves and muscles in the oviduct of the pink bollworm moth,Pectinophora gossypiella (Saund.)

The oviduct of the pink bollworm is innervated by an intrinsic neural network arising from 4 nerves from the terminal ganglion. The nerve tracts in this network often contained elliptical swellings, each with a central nucleus.

A distinct surface topography was evident in the muscular sheath of the common and lateral oviduct. A very thin muscular envelope consisting of an inner band of circular fibers and an outer layer of longitudinal fibers was also found in the ovarioles. Although conventional A and I bands were recognized, the z-disk was composed of an irregular and loose meshwork, suggesting that the visceral muscles of the reproductive tract possess super-contracting properties. Even when the oviduct and the ovarioles were isolated from the central nervous system, an endogenous rhythmic activity was evident.

Two types of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic potentials were detected in the oviduct. The type most frequently observed had a complex of multiple spikes with a duration of 18–32 msec. The other type had a saw-tooth shape and a duration of 80–160 msec. Spontaneous action potentials with a plateau-type configuration and a duration of 280–320 msec were also observed. After the removal of the terminal ganglion, endogenous electrical activity distinct from the events just described was found in the midand upper common oviduct. Such discharges seem to originate from the intrinsic neural network and had durations similar to those found for neurosecretory cells.