Genetic analysis and fine mapping of the pubescence gene GL6 in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The pubescence of the leaf blade surface is an important agronomic characteristic for rice morphology and significantly influences rice growth as well as physiological characteristics. This characteristic was analyzed in F1 and F2 plants derived by crossing cultivar 75-1-127 with the indica cultivar Minghui 63, as well as the glabrous cultivar Lemont and indica cultivar 9311. Results indicated that the pubescence of the leaf blade surface was a dominant trait and controlled by a single gene. The GL6 gene was primarily mapped on rice chromosome 6 with recessive F2 population derived from 75-1-127/Minghui 63 by combining bulked segregation analysis and recessive class analysis using the Mapmaker3.0/MapDraw software. The genetic distances between the simple sequence repeat markers RM20491 and RM20547 were 7.2 and 2.2 cM, respectively. The GL6 gene was fine mapped in the interval between InDel-106 and InDel-115 at genetic distances of 0.3 and 0.1 cM, respectively. The large, recessive F2 population was derived from 75-1-127/Minghui 63. A high-resolution genetic and physical map of GL6 was constructed. Derived from the map-based sequences published by the International Rice Genome Sequencing Project, the GL6 gene was localized at an interval of 79 (japonica) and 116.82 kb (9311) bracketed by InDel-106 and InDel-115 within the BAC accession numbers AP008403 and AP005760. Seven annotated genes (japonica) and eight annotated genes (9311) were present. The basis was further set for GL6 cloning and function analysis.     

A Multi-Scale Method for PM2.5 Forecasting with Multi-Source Big Data

In the age of big data, the Internet big data can finely reflect public attention to air pollution, which greatly impact ambient PM_2.5 concentrations; however, it has not been applied to PM_2.5 prediction yet. Therefore, this study introduces such informative Internet big data as an effective predictor for PM_2.5, in addition to other big data. To capture the multi-scale relationship between PM_2.5 concentrations and multi-source big data, a novel multi-s...     

Optimum Transmitter Power Control in WCDMA Cellular Systems

1 .ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＰｏｗｅｒｃｏｎｔｒｏｌｉｓａｎｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｉｎＷＣＤＭＡｍｏｂｉｌｅｓｙｓｔｅｍｓｆｏｒｂｏｔｈｉｎｃｒｅａｓｉｎｇｔｈｅｓｙｓｔｅｍｃａｐａｃｉｔｙａｎｄｇｕａｒａｎｔｅｅｉｎｇｔｈｅｒｅｑｕｉｒｅｄＱｏＳ (ｄｅｌａｙａｎｄｔｒａｎｓｍｉｓｓｉｏｎｑｕａｌｉｔｙ)ｏｆｍｕｌｔｉｍｅｄｉａｓｅｒｖｉｃｅｓ [1 ,2 ].ＩｎＣＤＭＡｃｅｌｌｕ ｌａｒｍｏｂｉｌｅｓｙｓｔｅｍｓｗｈｉｃｈｈａｖｅｏｎｌｙｏｎｅｔｙｐｅｏｆｔｒａｆｆｉｃ,ｔｈｅｔｒａｎｓｍ…     

New technology for recyclingmaterials from oily cold rollingmill sludge

Oily cold rolling mill (CRM) sludge is one of metallurgical industry solid wastes. The recycle of these wastes can not only protect the environment but also permit their reutilization. In this research, a new process of “hydrometallurgical treatment + hydrothermal synthesis” was investigated for the combined recovery of iron and organic materials from oily CRM sludge. Hydrometallurgical treatment, mainly including acid leaching, centrifugal separation, neutralization reaction, oxidizing, and preparation of hydrothermal reaction precursor, was first utilized for processing the sludge. Then, micaceous iron oxide (MIO) pigment powders were prepared through hydrothermal reaction of the obtained precursor in alkaline media. The separated organic materials can be used for fuel or chemical feedstock. The quality of the prepared MIO pigments is in accordance with the standards of MIO pigments for paints (ISO 10601-2007). This clean, effective, and economical technology offers a new way to recycle oily CRM sludge.     

Microstructure and properties of hydrophobic films derived from Fe-W amorphous alloy

Amorphous metals are totally different from crystalline metals in regard to atom arrangement. Amorphous metals do not have grain boundaries and weak spots that crystalline materials contain, making them more resistant to wear and corrosion. In this study, amorphous Fe-W alloy films were first prepared by an electroplating method and were then made hydrophobic by modification with a water repellent (heptadecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetradecyl) trimethoxysilane. Hierarchical micro-nano structures can be obtained by slightly oxidizing the as-deposited alloy, accompanied by phase transformation from amorphous to crystalline during heat treatment. The micro-nano structures can trap air to form an extremely thin cushion of air between the water and the film, which is critical to producing hydrophobicity in the film. Results show that the average values of capacitance, roughness factor, and impedance for specific surface areas of a 600℃ heat-treated sample are greater than those of a sample treated at 500℃. Importantly, the coating can be fabricated on various metal substrates to act as a corrosion retardant.     

Patterning organic single-crystal transistor arrays

Field-effect transistors made of organic single crystals are ideal for studying the charge transport characteristics of organic semiconductor materials. Their outstanding device performance, relative to that of transistors made of organic thin films, makes them also attractive candidates for electronic applications such as active matrix displays and sensor arrays. These applications require minimal cross-talk between neighbouring devices. In the case of thin film systems, simple patterning of the active semiconductor layer minimizes cross-talk. But when using organic single crystals, the only approach currently available for creating arrays of separate devices is manual selection and placing of individual crystals-a process prohibitive for producing devices at high density and with reasonable throughput. In contrast, inorganic crystals have been grown in extended arrays, and efficient and large-area fabrication of silicon crystalline islands with high mobilities for electronic applications has been reported. Here we describe a method for effectively fabricating large arrays of single crystals of a wide range of organic semiconductor materials directly onto transistor source-drain electrodes. We find that film domains of octadecyltriethoxysilane microcontact-printed onto either clean Si/SiO(2) surfaces or flexible plastic provide control over the nucleation of vapour-grown organic single crystals. This allows us to fabricate large arrays of high-performance organic single-crystal field-effect transistors with mobilities as high as 2.4 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and on/off ratios greater than 10(7), and devices on flexible substrates that retain their performance after significant bending. These results suggest that our fabrication approach constitutes a promising step that might ultimately allow us to utilize high-performance organic single-crystal field-effect transistors for large-area electronics applications.     

Diffusion of point defects in two-dimensional colloidal crystals

Uniform colloidal microspheres dispersed in a solvent will, under appropriate conditions, self-assemble into ordered crystalline structures. Using these colloidal crystals as a model system, a great variety of problems of interest to materials science, physical chemistry, and condensed-matter physics have been investigated during the past two decades. Recently, it has been demonstrated that point defects can be created in two-dimensional colloidal crystals by manipulating individual particles with optical tweezers. Direct imaging of these defects verified that their stable configurations have lower symmetry than the underlying triangular lattice, as predicted by numerical simulations for a number of two-dimensional systems. It was also observed that point defects can dissociate into pairs of well-separated dislocations, a topological excitation especially important in two dimensions. Here we use a similar experimental system to study the dynamics of mono- and di-vacancies in two-dimensional colloidal crystals. We see evidence that the excitation of point defects into dislocation pairs enhances the diffusion of di-vacancies. Moreover, the hopping of the defects does not follow a pure random walk, but exhibits surprising memory effects. We expect the results presented in this work to be relevant for explaining the dynamics of other two-dimensional systems.     

A Neural Network Method for Reliability Optimizations of Complex Systems

0 Introduction The reliability has become a key factor in the design and operation of complex systems[1]. In general, the de- sign of a system involves numerous discrete choices among available component types based on reliability, cost, performance etc. …     

Citric acid cycle intermediates as ligands for orphan G-protein-coupled receptors

The citric acid cycle is central to the regulation of energy homeostasis and cell metabolism. Mutations in enzymes that catalyse steps in the citric acid cycle result in human diseases with various clinical presentations. The intermediates of the citric acid cycle are present at micromolar concentration in blood and are regulated by respiration, metabolism and renal reabsorption/extrusion. Here we show that GPR91 (ref. 3), a previously orphan G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR), functions as a receptor for the citric acid cycle intermediate succinate. We also report that GPR99 (ref. 4), a close relative of GPR91, responds to alpha-ketoglutarate, another intermediate in the citric acid cycle. Thus by acting as ligands for GPCRs, succinate and alpha-ketoglutarate are found to have unexpected signalling functions beyond their traditional roles. Furthermore, we show that succinate increases blood pressure in animals. The succinate-induced hypertensive effect involves the renin-angiotensin system and is abolished in GPR91-deficient mice. Our results indicate a possible role for GPR91 in renovascular hypertension, a disease closely linked to atherosclerosis, diabetes and renal failure.