Prebiotic synthesis of sequential peptides on the Hadean beach by a molecular engine working with nitrogen oxides as energy sources

Addressing the still open question of the prebiotic origin of sequential macromolecules (peptides, nucleic acids) on the primitive Earth, we describe a molecular engine (the primary pump), which works at ambient temperature and continuously generates, elongates and complexifies sequential peptides. This new scenario is based on a cyclic reaction sequence, whose keystep is the activation of amino acids into their N‐carboxyanhydrides (NCA) through nitrosation by NOx. This process could have taken place on tidal beaches; it requires a buffered ocean, emerged land and a nitrosating atmosphere. With the help of geochemical studies and computer simulations of atmosphere photochemistry, we show that the primitive Earth during the Hadean may have satisfied all these requirements. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry.     

Planar and axially symmetric slow shearing granular flows: a comparative evaluation of assembly evolution incorporating wavelet transforms

We demonstrate the enhanced capacities of our analysis toolset for three-dimensional data. In particular, we provide supporting evidence for some of the conclusions reached in our previous studies of two-dimensional avalanching heaps. Segregation by self-diffusion is shown to take place in three-dimensional assemblies and self-diffusion velocities are shown to be of a comparable order of magnitude to those found in plane-strain situations. The effect on assembly evolution by discrete avalanching of the availability of a third dimension for translation is investigated. The discrete wavelet transform is again shown to be a useful component of the toolset in coupling process variables in the context of the discrete defining events associated with assembly evolution. In particular, we move towards the determination of time constants by correlating wavelet coefficients with a time shift.     

Relation between structural evolution of the Longmenshan orogenic zone and sedimentation of its foreland basin

In order to determine the area for oil and gas exploration in China's north Sichuan basin, we have divided the time during which the Longmenshan foreland basin was formed into five periods, based on the sedimentary response relationship of the fore-land basin to structural evolution: 1) a late Triassic Noric period; 2) an early-Middle Jurassic period; 3) a late Jurassic to early Cre-taceous period; 4) a late Cretaceous to Paleogene-Neogene period and 5) the Quaternary period. As well, we analyzed the sedimen-tary environment and lithologic features of every basin-forming period. The results show that there are several favorable source-reservoir-cap assemblages in our study area, making it a major region for future oil and gas exploration in China's northern Sichuan basin.     

Experimental Study of Microstructure Evolution during Tempering of Quenched Steel and Its Application

LARGE-SIZED FORGINGS are usually intensivelyquenched to obtain the desired microstructuredistribution,high strength and hardness.Becauseresidual stresses are high in quenched large-sizedforgings,tempering processes follow quenchingprocesses to reduce the residual stress and obtain goodmechanical properties.Several differentmicrostructures are generated in quenched steelforgings,such as martensite,bainite and retainedaustenite.Modeling of microstructure evolution inquenched steel during …     

灾害中生活类物资的供应分析——以汶川地震重灾区物资供应为例

救灾生活类物资在供应中面临着优化运输路线、降低运输成本、缩短运输时间3个难题。文章采用相关机会多目标规划模型,以汶川地震为例,总结并完善了自然灾害救助中的多物资的协作供应模式,为突发性重大灾害中多物资的协作供应的组织、实施、管理提供参考支持。     

An ant direction hybrid differential evolution heuristic for the large-scale passive harmonic filters planning problem

This article presents a heuristic which combines the orthogonal array experiment technique and an ant direction hybrid differential evolution algorithm (ADHDEOA) for planning of a large-scale passive harmonic filters problem. The addressed problem has a multi-bus and under abundant harmonic current sources in the system. In this study, an orthogonal array is first conducted to obtain the initial solution. Next, an ant direction hybrid differential evolution (ADHDE) is applied to search for a near optimum solution. The objective is to minimize the cost of the filter, the total demand distortion of harmonic currents and the total harmonic distortion of voltages at each bus simultaneously. In order to determine a set of weights of each term in the objective function, the simplest and most efficient form of triangular membership functions has been considered. The designed heuristic ADHDEOA is applied to a practical harmonic problem in a steel plant, and three design schemes are compared to demonstrate the performance of the ADHDEOA.     

中国传统符号的演变——门

人类学会构筑房屋并为自己的进出留下一个进出方便的口,门就产生了。门是一个极为抽象的形态,一个变化万千的符号,这个古老的符号——门的形态变化一直在随着科技的发展而演变,无论是古人还是后人都在其中精心地演绎着中国的传统民族文化。     

Coordination components for collaborative virtual environments

This paper deals with the behavior of virtual environments from the collaboration point-of-view, in which actors (human or virtual beings) interact and collaborate by means of interdependent tasks. In this sense, actors may realize tasks that are dependent on tasks performed by other actors, while the interdependencies between tasks (through resource management and temporal relations) delineate the overall behavior of a virtual environment. Our main goal is to propose an approach for the coordination of those behaviors. Initially a generic study of possible interdependencies between collaborative tasks is presented, followed by the formal modeling (using Petri Nets) of coordination mechanisms for those dependencies. In order to implement such mechanisms, an architecture of reusable and pluggable coordination components is also introduced. These components are used in an implementation of a multi-user videogame. The presented approach is a concrete step to create virtual societies of actors that collaborate to reach common goals without the risk of getting involved in conflicting or repetitive tasks.     

Haptic Cooperative Virtual Workspace: Architecture and evaluation

The Haptic Cooperative Virtual Workspace (HCVW), where users can simultaneously manipulate and haptically feel the same object, is beneficial and in some cases indispensable for training a team of surgeons, or in application areas in telerobotics and entertainment. In this paper we propose an architecture for the haptic cooperative workspace where the participants can kinesthetically interact, feel and push each other simultaneously while moving in the simulation. This involves the ability to manipulate the same virtual object at the same time. A set of experiments carried out to investigate the haptic cooperative workspace is reported. A new approach to quantitatively evaluate the cooperative haptic system is proposed, which can be extended to evaluate haptic systems in general.