A Change in Value

A Wall Street Journal report on May 3 said the International Monetary Fund （IMF） is likely to declare. for the first time in more than a decade, that the yuan is fairly valued. ＂China＇s contributions to the world economy in recent years are obvious to all. It＇s natural for the IMF, a multilaterat international organization, to change its attitude toward the Chinese currency,＂ Tan Yaling, President of China Forex Investment Research Institute said during an interviewwith China Radio International

Preface:Value and dynamics of salt lakes in a changing world

The statement that the world’s ecosystems are rapidly deteriorating due to human intervention and global warming is nowadays commonplace.Some of the ecosystems most heavily impacted are inland salt lakes.The salt lakes are among the most valuable and fascinating ecosystems on Earth,and their study has both basic scientifi c interest as well as applied aspects.

Early Detection of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Identification of Novel Candidate Genes and Potential Biomarkers Using Integrative Genomics Analysis

Currently afflicting more than 50 million people worldwide, epilepsy is the spectrum disorder characterizing seizures that occur without other plausible medical explanations. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common forms of epilepsy. Current clinical methods;including MRI scans, EEG tests, and doctor visits;can take upwards of several months to confirm a TLE diagnosis;during this time, patients may experience additional seizures and are at an increased risk for other psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study is to identify candidate genetic biomarkers to facilitate the earlier detection and diagnosis of TLE through gene-based testing (e.g., genomic heatmap analysis or genetic and/or microarray testing). It was hypothesized that potential biomarkers could be identified by analyzing genes that are normally significantly overexpressed in the temporal lobe relative to the gray matter. Statistical and functional analysis was performed on significantly overexpressed genes (≥3.000 fold change) in the gene expression profiles of four donors without epilepsy. The experimental-evidence-based STRING protein interactions analysis showed associations between genes found in DAVID keyword search and other genes facilitating network interconnectivity. After evaluation of the genes’ STRING enriched functions, changes in the expression of the genes CAMK2A, NPY, DLG4, MEF2C, and MAPK7 were concluded to be potential biomarkers for TLE, confirming the original hypothesis. Specifically, the identification of MEF2C and MAPK7 for this purpose is relatively novel in the fields of bioinformatics and neurogenetics. Future work includes investigating the utility of the candidate genes in real-world gene-based diagnostic methods.

Temperature variation and abrupt change analysis in the Three-River Headwaters Region during 1961-2010

In this study, a monthly dataset of temperature time series （1961-2010） from 12 meteorological stations across the Three-River Headwater Region of Qinghai Province （THRHR） was used to analyze the climate change. The temperature variation and abrupt change analysis were examined by using moving average, linear regression, Spline interpolation, Mann-Kendall test and so on. Some important conclusions were obtained from this research, which mainly contained four aspects as follows. （1） There were several cold and warm fluctuations for the annual and seasonal average temperature in the THRHR and its three sub-headwater regions, but the temperature in these regions all had an obviously rising trend at the statistical significance level, especially after 2001. The spring, summer, autumn and annual average temperature increased evidently after the 1990s, and the winter average temperature exhibited an obvious upward trend after entering the 21st century. Except the standard value of spring temperature, the annual and seasonal temperature standard value in the THRHR and its three sub-headwater regions increased gradually, and the upward trend for the standard value of winter average temperature indicated significantly. （2） The tendency rate of annual average temperature in the THRHR was 0.36℃ 10a^-1, while the tendency rates in the Yellow River Headwater Region （YERHR）, Lancangjiang River Headwater Region （LARHR） and Yangtze River Headwater Region （YARHR） were 0.37℃ 10a^-1, 0.37℃ 10a^-1 and 0.34℃10a^-1 respectively. The temperature increased significantly in the south of Yushu County and the north of Nangqian County. The rising trends of temperature in winter and autumn were higher than the upward trends in spring and summer. （3） The abrupt changes of annual, summer, autumn and winter average temperature were found in the THRHR, LARHR and YARHR, and were detected for the summer and autumn average temperature in the YERHR. The abrupt changes of annual and summer average temperatures were mainly in the late 1990s, while the abrupt changes of autumn and winter average temperatures appeared primarily in the early 1990s and the early 21st century respectively. （4） With the global warming, the diversities of altitude and underlying surface in different parts of the Tibetan Plateau were possibly the main reasons for the high increasing rate of temperature in the THRHR.

Different pathways of the second demographic transition in four East Asian societies:evidence from the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys

This study uses the 2006 and 2016 East Asian Social Surveys to map value changes related to the second demographic transition in China's Mainland,Japan,South Korea,and Taiwan.The study examines trends in attitudes towards cohabitation,childrearing,and divorce over a 10-year period in the four East Asian societies.The findings suggest that the second demographic transition,if any in East Asia,is an uneven process between societies,and China's Mainland stands out as the only society in which attitudes had become more conservative,even after controlling for compositional differences in population.In the other three societies,attitudes had shifted to be more liberal.Moreover,the study finds little evidence on the diffusion within societies,given their similar trends across different sociodemographic groups.From an ideational perspective,China's Mainland and the other three East Asian societies illustrated different patterns of attitude changes regarding marriage and family.From a behavioral perspective,trends in attitudes do not always align with demographic patterns at the macro level,especially in China's Mainland.More studies are needed to understand the nuanced differences in ideational shifts between societies and the relationship between ideational and behavioral changes in East Asia.