Disassembled DJ-1 high molecular weight complex in cortex mitochondria from Parkinson's disease patients

Correction to Nural H, He P, Beach T, Sue L, Xia W, Shen Y. Disassembled DJ-1 high molecular weight complex in cortex mitochondria from Parkinson's disease patients Molecular Neurodegeneration 2009, 4:23

On approximation of Markov binomial distributions

For a Markov chain $\mathbf{X}=\{X_i,i=1,2,...,n\}$ with the state space $\{0,1\}$, the random variable $S:=\sum_{i=1}^nX_i$ is said to follow a Markov binomial distribution. The exact distribution of $S$, denoted $\mathcal{L}S$, is very computationally intensive for large $n$ (see Gabriel [Biometrika 46 (1959) 454--460] and Bhat and Lal [Adv. in Appl. Probab. 20 (1988) 677--680]) and this paper concerns suitable approximate distributions for $\mathcal{L}S$ when $\mathbf{X}$ is stationary. We conclude that the negative binomial and binomial distributions are appropriate approximations for $\mathcal{L}S$ when $\operatorname {Var}S$ is greater than and less than $\mathbb{E}S$, respectively. Also, due to the unique structure of the distribution, we are able to derive explicit error estimates for these approximations.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.3150/09-BEJ194 the Bernoulli (http://isi.cbs.nl/bernoulli/) by the International Statistical Institute/Bernoulli Society (http://isi.cbs.nl/BS/bshome.htm

Identity, gender, nation : a comparative study of the science fiction writings of Han Song and Xia Jia

La science-fiction chinoise contemporaine gagne une attention considérable de la part du milieu académique et du public ces dernières années. Ce mémoire se concentre sur deux écrivains de science-fiction chinoise représentatifs, Han Song 韩松 (1965–) et Xia Jia 夏笳 (1984–), et examine comment leurs œuvres reflètent de manière critique la société moderne (chinoise) à travers trois sujets : l’identité, le genre et la nation. Les textes analysés sont : « The Passengers and The Creator 乘客与创造者 » et « Beauty Hunting Guide 美女狩猎指南 » de Han Song, « Goodnight, Melancholy 晚安忧郁 » et « A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight 百鬼夜行街 » de Xia Jia. En s’appuyant sur les théories en matière de la subjectivité et du langage ainsi que sur les critiques posthumanistes, le premier chapitre montre que les écrits de Han Song et Xia Jia réfutent le point de vue métaphysique de la possession de soi et produisent une vision critique de la subjectivité humaniste (anthropocentrique). Basé sur la discussion de la politique d’identité dans le premier chapitre, la deuxième partie du mémoire porte sur les représentations de genre dans « Goodnight, Melancholy » et « Beauty Hunting Guide ». Ces deux textes révèlent la construction sociale du genre à travers une narration hautement spéculative. « Goodnight, Melancholy » intègre subtilement la critique de l’hétéronormativité dans l’histoire, et « Beauty Hunting Guide » critique la violence et la consommation interhumaine dans la société moderne (chinoise) d’une manière similaire au « A Madman’s Diary 狂人日記 » de Lu Xun. En discutant les discours sur l’État- nation et le sinofuturisme, nous démontrons au troisième chapitre que les nouvelles de Han Song et Xia Jia illustrent pleinement l’ambivalence du concept de « Chineseness ». En un mot, ce mémoire aborde le pouvoir épistémologique des œuvres de Han Song et Xia Jia qui nous permet de reconceptualiser ce que nous comprenons comme « réalité ».Contemporary Chinese science fiction has gained considerable attention from academics and the public in recent years. This thesis focuses on two representative Chinese science fiction writers, Han Song 韩松 (1965–) and Xia Jia 夏笳 (1984–), and examines how their works critically reflect on modern (Chinese) society through three topics: identity, gender, and nation. The texts analyzed are: Han Song’s “The Passengers and The Creator 乘客与创造者” and “Beauty Hunting Guide 美 女狩猎指南,” Xia Jia’s “Goodnight, Melancholy 晚安忧郁” and “A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight 百鬼夜行街.” Relying on theories about subjectivity and language as well as posthumanist critics, I argue in the first chapter that Han Song and Xia Jia’s writings refute the metaphysical view of self-possession and produce a critical vision of humanistic (anthropocentric) subjectivity. Based on the discussion of identity politics in Chapter One, the second chapter focuses on gender representations in “Goodnight, Melancholy” and “Beauty Hunting Guide.” I contend that these two texts reveal the social construction of gender through highly speculative storytelling. “Goodnight, Melancholy” subtly integrates the criticism of heteronormativity into the story, while “Beauty Hunting Guide” critiques the violence and inter-human consumption in modern (Chinese) society in a way similar to Lu Xun’s “A Madman’s Diary 狂人日記.” By discussing discourses about nation-state and Sinofuturism, I demonstrate in Chapter Three that Han Song and Xia Jia’s novels fully reveal the ambivalence of the concept of “Chineseness.” In a word, this thesis addresses the epistemological power of Han Song and Xia Jia’s works that allows us to reconceptualize what we understand as “reality.

Two-log-convexity of the Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence

The Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence $\{P_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ arises in a series expansion of the complete elliptic integral of the first kind. It has been proved that the sequence is log-balanced. In the paper, by exploring a criterion due to Chen and Xia for testing 2-log-convexity of a sequence satisfying three-term recurrence relation, we prove that the new sequence $\{P^2_n-P_{n-1}P_{n+1}\}_{n\geq 1}$ are strictly log-convex and hence the Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence is strictly 2-log-convex.Comment: 8 pages in Journal of Inequality and Applications,201

Interview with Xia Vue Yang

Vue Yang was born in Nong Het, Laos, though his family moved to Xieng Khouang province after the defeat of the French in 1954. He began school in 1958 in Long Tieng, but moved to study in Vientiane in 1961. He was later one of a small number of Lao students sent to study in Paris, where he eventually chose to study engineering. After 1973, Yang stayed in France, where he was offered—and turned down—an opportunity to earn a Ph.D. in Chemistry. After working in the United Arab Emirates, he finally came to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where his parents had settled. He is the founder and producer of Hmong Sheboygan Radio, which he established in September 1983