We exploit the reduced space of C. elegans postures to develop a novel tracking algorithm which captures both simple shapes and also self-occluding coils, an important, yet unexplored, component of 2D worm behavior. We apply our algorithm to show that visually complex, coiled sequences are a superposition of two simpler patterns: the body wave dynamics and a head-curvature pulse. We demonstrate...

The study presented in this paper attempts to evaluate the spatial pattern of soil available phosphorus, as well as the relation between soil available phosphorus and environment factors including elevation, slope, precipitation, percentage of cultivated land, percentage of forest land, percentage of construction land and NDVI using statistical methods and GIS spatial analysis techniques. The r...

In order to separate genetic from postnatal parental influences, 2 strains of mice were reared during infancy by foster parents of the same 2 strains in the 4 possible combinations. Offspring of both the BALB/c and C57BL/10 strains engaged in more visual exploration at 60 days of age (p < .001), weighed more at weaning and at 60 days of age (p < .001), and had a higher probability of survival t...

Uncoupling between molecular and morphological evolution is common in many animal and plant lineages. This is especially frequent among groups living in ancient deep lakes, because these ecosystems promote rapid morphological diversification, and has already been demonstrated for Tanganyika cychlid fishes and Baikal amphipods. Ostracods are also very diverse in these ecosystems, with 107 candon...

In recent years, water quality degradation associated with rapid socio-economic development in the Taihu Lake Basin, China, has attracted increasing attention from both the public and the Chinese government. The primary sources of pollution in Taihu Lake are its inflow rivers and their tributaries. Effective water environmental management strategies need to be implemented in these rivers to imp...

The C. elegans genome contains sequences similar to a large number of mammalian genes implicated in the assembly, processing, and modification of glycans. In recent years, spectacular progress has been made in developing and refining tools to obtain structural information with small amounts of material, increasing our understanding of glycan structural complexity in this organism. These approac...

Given the important role of lake ecosystems in social and economic development, and the current severe environmental degradation in China, a systematic diagnosis of the ecological security of lakes is essential for sustainable development. A Driving-force, Pressure, Status, Impact, and Risk (DPSIR) model, combined with data screening for lake ecological security assessment was developed to over...

We measured total mercury concentrations in water and fish of Lake Managua and Lake Apoyo. Water mercury concentrations were 10-fold higher in Lake Managua than in Lake Apoyo, although differences in mercury concentration in the most common native fish were not significant. One-fourth of the commercially fished tilapia in Lake Managua exceeded maximum recommended mercury levels for consumption ...

Fan Wu, Yuping Li, Fuxin Wang, Nobuo N. Noda and Hong Zhang Graduate Program in Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, 100730, P.R. China State Key Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, P.R.China National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, 102206, P.R. China Institute of Microbial Chemistry,...

Despite continuous investment and various efforts to control pollution, urban water environments are worsening in large parts of the developing world. In order to reveal potential constraints and limitations of current practices of urban water management and to stimulate proactive intervention, we conducted a material flow analysis of the urban water system in Kunming City. The results demonstr...