General mechanisms of drought response and their application in drought resistance improvement in plants

Plants often encounter unfavorable environmental conditions because of their sessile lifestyle. These adverse factors greatly affect the geographic distribution of plants, as well as their growth and productivity. Drought stress is one of the premier limitations to global agricultural production due to the complexity of the water-limiting environment and changing climate. Plants have evolved a series of mechanisms at the morphological, physiological, biochemical, cellular, and molecular levels to overcome water deficit or drought stress conditions. The drought resistance of plants can be divided into four basic types-drought avoidance, drought tolerance, drought escape, and drought recovery. Various drought-related traits, including root traits, leaf traits, osmotic adjustment capabilities, water potential, ABA content, and stability of the cell membrane, have been used as indicators to evaluate the drought resistance of plants. In the last decade, scientists have investigated the genetic and molecular mechanisms of drought resistance to enhance the drought resistance of various crops, and significant progress has been made with regard to drought avoidance and drought tolerance. With increasing knowledge to comprehensively decipher the complicated mechanisms of drought resistance in model plants, it still remains an enormous challenge to develop water-saving and drought-resistant crops to cope with the water shortage and increasing demand for food production in the future.     

Aristotle Said “Happiness is a State of Activity” — Predicting Mood Through Body Sensing with Smartwatches

We measure and predict states of Activation and Happiness using a body sensing application connected to smartwatches. Through the sensors of commercially available smartwatches we collect individual mood states and correlate them with body sensing data such as acceleration, heart rate, light level data, and location, through the GPS sensor built into the smartphone connected to the smartwatch. We polled users on the smartwatch for seven weeks four times per day asking for their mood state. We found that both Happiness and Activation are negatively correlated with heart beats and with the levels of light. People tend to be happier when they are moving more intensely and are feeling less activated during weekends. We also found that people with a lower Conscientiousness and Neuroticism and higher Agreeableness tend to be happy more frequently. In addition, more Activation can be predicted by lower Openness to experience and higher Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Lastly, we find that tracking people’s geographical coordinates might play an important role in predicting Happiness and Activation. The methodology we propose is a first step towards building an automated mood tracking system, to be used for better teamwork and in combination with social network analysis studies.     

Predicting Initial Formation Temperature for Deep Well Engineering with a New Method

With the progress of science and technology, human beings explore the energy under-ground with thousands of meters. As a thermophysical parameter, initial formation temperature (IFT) plays an essential...     

The expansion of GPCR transactivation-dependent signalling to include serine/threonine kinase receptors represents a new cell signalling frontier

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling is mediated through transactivation-independent signalling pathways or the transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors and the recently reported activation of the serine/threonine kinase receptors, most notably the transforming growth factor-β receptor family. Since the original observation of GPCR transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors, there has been considerable work on the mechanism of transactivation and several pathways are prominent. These pathways include the “triple membrane bypass” pathway and the generation of reactive oxygen species. The recent recognition of GPCR transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors enormously broadens the GPCR signalling paradigm. It may be predicted that the transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors would have mechanistic similarities with transactivation of tyrosine kinase pathways; however, initial studies suggest that these two transactivation pathways are mechanistically distinct. Important questions are the relative importance of tyrosine and serine/threonine transactivation pathways, the contribution of transactivation to overall GPCR signalling, mechanisms of transactivation and the range of cell types in which this phenomenon occurs. The ultimate significance of transactivation-dependent signalling remains to be defined but it appears to be prominent and if so will represent a new cell signalling frontier.     

高考走向的争鸣与思考

高考走向何方,成为人们热议的话题。有人主张废除高考,有人反对废除,主张改革;有人赞成统一高考,有人赞成高校单独招考……笔者认为高考要改不宜废,但改革要考虑国情,要遵循一定原则,要有比较稳定的思路,要有灵活应变的策略和科学的方法。     

Hamilton线图中的泛圈性

对于图Ｇ的边ｅ＝ｕｖ，定义ｄ（ｅ）－ｄ（ｕ）＋ｄ（ｖ），这里ｄ（ｕ）和ｄ（ｖ）分分别表示ｕ和ｖ的度，该文的主要结果是：对阶为ｎ（ｎ≥４０）的简单连通图Ｇ，如果对Ｇ中任意两条边距离为２的边ｅ１，ｅ２都有ｄ（ｅ１）＋ｄ（ｅ２）≥ｎ，并且线图Ｌ（Ｇ）是Ｈａｍｉｌｔｏｎ的，则Ｌ（Ｇ）是泛圈的，并且条件Ｌ（Ｇ）是Ｈａｍｉｌｔｏｎ是必要的。     

Photon emission of phagocytes in relation to stress and disease.

Phagocytes, the first-line cells of the body's defence mechanisms against invading pathogens, kill microorganisms by means of lysosomal degradative enzymes and highly toxic reactive oxygen intermediates. The reactive oxygen compounds are produced, in a process called the 'respiratory burst', by the NADPH oxidase complex in plasma membranes, and by myeloperoxidase in phagolysosomes after degranulation. These processes generate electronically excited states which, on relaxation, emit photons, giving rise to phagocyte chemiluminescence (CL). This paper describes the conditions for the measurement of CL, and reviews the activity of phagocytes from individuals undergoing stress or disease. The capability of phagocytes to emit photons reflects remarkably well the pathophysiological state of the host. In many cases even the magnitude of the stress, the presence of a pathogen in the body, or the activity of the disease can be estimated. Physiological changes, e.g. in the reproductive cycle, can also be predicted.     

并行工程产品开发过程的建模方法学

在并行工程中，为了实现产品开发过程的集成、并行和最优化，首先要建立能够充分反映产品开发过程各方面信息的产品开发过程模型。通过对模型的仿真分析和优化，指导产品开发过程的实施。本文首先提出了并行工程产品开发过程模型是集成多视图模型，随后提出了采用集成多视图建模理论的并行工程产品开发过程建模、分析和管理的方法学框架     

借助Matlab遗传算法反演火山区压力源参数

首先分析了Mogi模型的经典最小二乘反演由于出现矩阵奇异或接近奇异而发散的局限性,决定采用具有全局高效搜索性和优化计算时不需要求导的遗传算法来反演火山区压力源参数。反演程序调用Matlab7.0 Release14工具箱中的选择、交叉和变异等相关程序。最后应用该程序和长白山天池火山区水准和GPS观测资料联合反演火山区压力源参数,经过比较遗传算法和阻尼最小二乘方法的反演结果,可看出2种方法结果近似,可见此方法方便快捷地实现了目标函数的最小化。     

Experimental gout from alloxan in pigeons. Findings in the joints and serous membranes

Zusammenfassung Bei Tauben erzeugt intravenös gegebenes Alloxan bekanntlich Läsionen, die denen der Eingeweidegicht ähneln. Chemische und mikroskopische Untersuchungen zeigten eine große Menge von Uraten auf Perikardium, Peritoneum und Pleura. Die große Zunahme der Harnsäure im Blute, die von anderen Autoren kolorimetrisch festgestellt wurde, wird durch die Urikasemethode bestätigt. In der vorliegenden Mitteilung wird weiterhin über ein der Gelenkgicht ähnliches Bild bei alloxanbehandelten Tauben berichtet. Verschiedene Tierarten mit einem «ureotelic-proteic metabolism» zeigen nach Alloxan weder eine nennenswerte Harnsäurezunahme im Blut noch eine Gicht der Eingeweide oder der Gelenke.