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Discovery and mapping of a susceptibility factor located on the short arm of wheat chromosome 7A whose deletion makes plants resistant to Fusarium head blight. Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease of wheat caused by Fusarium spp. deteriorates both quantity and quality of the crop. Manipulation of susceptibility factors, the plant genes facilitating disease development, offers a novel and alternative strategy for enhancing FHB resistance in plants. In this study, a major effect susceptibility gene for FHB was identified on the short arm of chromosome 7A (7AS). Nullisomic–tetrasomic lines for homoeologous group-7 of wheat revealed dosage effect of the gene, with tetrasomic 7A being more susceptible than control Chinese Spring wheat, qualifying it as a genuine susceptibility factor. Five chromosome 7A inter-varietal substitution lines and a tetraploid Triticum dicoccoides 7A substitution line showed similar susceptibility as that of Chinese Spring, indicating toward the commonality of the susceptibility factor among these diverse genotypes. The susceptibility factor was named as Sf-Fhb-7AS and mapped on chromosome 7AS to a 48.5–50.5 Mb peri-centromeric region between del7AS-3 and del7AS-8. Our results showed that deletion of Sf-Fhb-7AS imparts 50–60% type 2 FHB resistance and its manipulation can be used to enhance resistance against FHB in wheat.

The wheat gliadins are a complex group of flour proteins that can trigger celiac disease and serious food allergies. As a result, mutation breeding and biotechnology approaches are being used to develop new wheat lines with reduced immunogenic potential. Key to these efforts is the development of rapid, high-throughput methods that can be used as a first step in selecting lines with altered gliadin contents. In this paper, we optimized matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) methods for the separation of gliadins from Triticum aestivum cv. Chinese Spring (CS). We evaluated the quality of the resulting profiles using the complete set of gliadin gene sequences recently obtained from this cultivar as well as a set of aneuploid lines in CS. The gliadins were resolved into 13 peaks by MALDI-TOF-MS. α- or γ-gliadins that contain abundant celiac disease epitopes and are likely targets for efforts to reduce the immunogenicity of flour were found in several peaks. However, other peaks contained multiple α- and γ-gliadins, including one peak with as many as 12 different gliadins. In comparison, separation of proteins by RP-HPLC yielded 28 gliadin peaks, including 13 peaks containing α-gliadins and eight peaks containing γ-gliadins. While the separation of α- and γ-gliadins gliadins achieved by RP-HPLC was better than that achieved by MALDI-TOF-MS, it was not possible to link peaks with individual protein sequences. Both MALDI-TOF-MS and RP-HPLC provided adequate separation of ω-gliadins. While MALDI-TOF-MS is faster and could prove useful in studies that target specific gliadins, RP-HPLC is an effective method that can be applied more broadly to detect changes in gliadin composition.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease of wheat caused by Fusarium spp. deteriorates both quantity and quality of the crop. Manipulation of susceptibility factors, the genes facilitating disease development in plants, offers a novel and alternative strategy for enhancing FHB resistance in plants. In this study, a major effect susceptibility gene for FHB was identified on the short arm of chromosome 7A (7AS). Nullisomic-tetrasomic lines for homoeologous group-7 of wheat revealed dosage effect of the gene, with tetrasomic 7A being more susceptible than control Chinese Spring wheat, qualifying it as a bonafide susceptibility factor. The gene locus was conserved in six chromosome 7A inter-varietal wheat substitution lines of diverse origin and a tetraploid Triticum dicoccoides genotype. The susceptibility gene was named as SF7ASFHB and mapped on chromosome 7AS to 48.5-50.5 Mb peri-centromeric region between del7AS-3 and del7AS-8. Our results showed that deletion of SF7ASFHB imparts ~ 50-60% type 2 FHB resistance (against the spread of the fungal pathogen) and its manipulation may lead to enhanced resistance against FHB in wheat.HighlightDiscovery and mapping of a conserved susceptibility factor located on the short arm of wheat chromosome 7A whose deletion makes plants resistant to Fusarium Head Blight.

Research has shown that the growing holiday travel demand in modern society has a significant influence on daily travel patterns. However, few studies have focused on the distinctness of travel patterns during a holiday season and as a specified case, travel behavior studies of the Chinese Spring Festival (CSF) at the city level are even rarer. This paper adopts a text-mining model (latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA)) to explore the travel patterns and travel purposes during the CSF season in Shenzhen based on the metro smart card data (MSC) and the points of interest (POIs) data. The study aims to answer two questions&mdash, (1) how to use MSC and POIs inferring travel purpose at the metro station level without the socioeconomic backgrounds of the cardholders? (2) What are the overall inner-city mobility patterns and travel activities during the Spring Festival holiday-week? The results show that six features of the CSF travel behavior are found and nine (three broad categories) travel patterns and trip activities are inferred. The activities in which travelers engaged during the CSF season are mainly consumption-oriented events, visiting relatives and friends and traffic-oriented events. This study is beneficial to metro corporations (timetable management), business owners (promotion strategy), researchers (travelers&rsquo, social attribute inference) and decision-makers (examine public service).

During the Chinese Spring Festival travel rush in 2020, a new type of pneumonia disease, named COVID-19 subsequently broke out in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. The COVID-19 was quickly spreading in China and emerged nearly all over the world. In this chapter, our motivation is to adopt the deep learning techniques to help clinic doctors to diagnose the patients of COVID-19 and predict the trend of COVID-19. To realize our motivation, we on the one hand adopt deep learning techniques to analyse CT images of patients. The transfer learning and data augmentation techniques are adopted for the lacking of samples in our obtained CT image data set. We build a model by designing and training a new deep network to help clinic doctors to make an appropriate diagnose decision. On the other hand, according to the spreading characteristics of COVID-19 and the controlling measures adopted by Chinese government, we propose to modify the classic SEIR (susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered) model and establish a new SEIR dynamics model with considering the infectiousness of the people in the latent period and the quarantine period. The appropriate parameters of our modified SEIR model are learned by using deep learning techniques. Our proposed deep learning-based diagnosis for COVID-19 can help medicine doctors to make an appropriate diagnostic decision. Our modified SEIR model can effectively predict the transmission trend of COVID-19 and can be used for short-term trend prediction of the epidemic.

Photosynthetic responses of Aegilops comosa genotypes were compared to those of wheat Mv9kr1 and Chinese spring in order to verify whether Ae. comosa TA2760 and MvGB1039 genotypes are potentially suitable gene sources for improving the drought and salt tolerance of bread wheat. Although there are some differences between the non-stressed plants and the measure of the decrease of the net-photosynthesis (PN), it was strongly inhibited by water deficit. Salt stress had similar effect on PN but at the highest (300 mM) NaCl concentration PN of the genotypes showed some activity. Severe drought induced a strong decrease in the effective quantum yield of PS II (ɸPSII) in the genotypes, while it was moderate in the case of salt treatment. Moreover, ɸPSII was unaffected by the increase of NaCl concentration in wheat lines. Parallel with the decrease in ɸPSII, the photoprotective mechanisms were enhanced in the wheat and wild wheat genotypes during water deficit. These results suggest that the Ae. comosa genotypes seem to respond to these stress factors with similar photosynthetic activity to the wheat lines. Thus, based on the above-mentioned facts, the examined Ae. comosa lines are not particularly good candidates for improving drought tolerance of wheat.

Wheat processing quality is mainly correlated with high-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (HMW-GS) of grain endosperm. In bread wheat, the number of HMW-GS alleles are limited. However, wheat relative species possess numerous HMW-GS genes. In our previous study, a pair of novel HMW-GS 1Ux3.5+1Uy1.9 was characterized in Aegilops umbellulata. In this work, a novel wheat-Ae. umbellulata addition line, GN05, carrying a pair of 1U chromosome was developed and identified via cytogenetic analysis. Protein composition analysis indicated that GN05 carried HMW-GS of Ae. umbellulata. Accumulation of glutenin macropolymer (GMP) showed that GN05 had a much higher GMP content than the recurrent parent Chinese Spring. Rheological characteristics were analyzed by mixing test and the dough quality of GN05 was significantly improved compared to Chinese Spring. The results presented here may provide a valuable resource for the improvement of bread wheat quality.

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has quickly swept through China, and mass internal migration during the Chinese Spring Festival is now widely blamed for this. This statement, we argue, is misleading. Internal migrants should not be held responsible for the initial spread of COVID-19, as those cities first affected are megacities that connect with the epicentre Wuhan more with regard to business and tourism than migration. The scale of the epidemic can only be partially explained by internal migration. Severe outbreaks are not limited to cities that neighbour Hubei Province and that have large migration to Wuhan. They also occurred in provincial capitals that are neither contiguous with Hubei nor connected with Wuhan in terms of migration. Even though a few cities far away from the epicentre were hit severely by COVID-19 due to migration, the major contributor is not the migrant job seekers but business people. The responsibility of spreading COVD-19 so fast, on such a large scale and so far is by no means fully on internal migrants.

Fireworks burning releases massive fine particles and gaseous pollutants, significantly deteriorating air quality during Chinese Lunar New Year (LNY) period. To investigate the impact of the fireworks burning on the atmospheric aerosol chemistry, 1-hr time resolution of PM2.5 samples in Xi'an during the winter of 2016 including the LNY were collected and detected for inorganic ions, acidity and liquid water content (LWC) of the fine aerosols. PM2.5 during the LNY was 167 ± 87 μg/m3, two times higher than the China National Ambient Air Quality Standard (75 μg/m3). K+ (28 wt.% of the total ion mass) was the most abundant ion in the LNY period, followed by SO42 − (25 wt.%) and Cl− (18 wt.%). In contrast, NO3− (34 wt.%) was the most abundant species in the haze periods (hourly PM2.5 > 75 μg/m3), followed by SO42 − (29.2 wt.%) and NH4+ (16.3 wt.%), while SO42 - (35 wt.%) was the most abundant species in the clean periods (hourly PM2.5

This paper summarizes a number of fatal accidents that occurred in the Chinese construction industry from 2004 to 2016, and more detailed analysis is conducted on the data between 2010 and 2016. The data collected from 2010 to 2016 reveal that 3817 fatal accidents occurred during the construction of buildings and municipal facilities. Analysis is conducted to reveal the reasons of these construction accidents. The number of fatalities and accidents, the types of accidents, the effect of climate factors, the time period distribution of accidents, and provincial distribution are analyzed and compared. The results show that, falling from heights is the main cause of fatal accidents. The number of fatalities and accidents varies sharply across provinces and is closely related to the climate (the same gross output with less accidents in the cold weather areas). Due to annual transferring and traditional Chinese Spring Festival, project schedule is generally arranged less in December, January, and February so that a lower number of accidents are reported in these months. Daily, accidents in the afternoon are higher than that in the morning.

The common wheat landrace Chinese Spring (CS) was made famous by the work of Ernie Sears, a great cytogenetist, who developed a number of CS-based aneuploid series that were used to identify individual wheat chromosomes. Based on this, a standard karyotype and nomenclature system was developed for wheat chromosomes that allowed wheat researchers to analyze and manipulate the wheat genome with unprecedented precision and efficiency. Nevertheless, not much is known about the utilization of CS at its hometown, Chengdu in Sichuan province, during early wheat breeding activity. In this review, we follow the speculation that CS is a selection from the Cheng-du-guang-tou (CDGT) landrace. We provide a description of how CDGT became a founder landrace for wheat breeding activities in early times. We show that CDGT-derived varieties were reinforced genetically by crosses to six more exotic parents. These varieties remained the major elite cultivar for several decades. Later, synthetic hexaploid wheats were introduced into the breeding program, firstly using those from CIMMYT and later using materials produced with local tetraploid wheat and goat grass. Finally, we discuss the strategies and future directions to improve wheat yield and resistance through an expanded genetic basis, especially by recapturing lost genetic variations from landraces and related wild species, a process that may set an example for wheat breeders in China and elsewhere.

In China, hundreds of millions of people move out of the large cities before the Chinese Spring Festival (CSF) or Chinese New Year holiday and return after every year, spurring the greatest short-term migration of human beings on earth. Surface relative humidity is a key meteorological variable that has profound impacts on the lives of city dwellers. However, it remains unknown to what extent or how mass human migration during the CSF holiday can affect urban relative humidity. Here, we focus on the period of 2005–2014 with the Olympic year of 2008 excluded, and present observational evidence for the impacts of human migration on urban relative humidity with Beijing used as an example. Note that urban relative humidity variations induced by population movements are relative to nearby non-urban values in this study. Averaged over the study period, Beijing's urban relative humidity increased by 4.00% during the CSF week relative to the non-holiday background period, statistically significant at the 99% confidence level. In relative terms, this change amounts to 76% of relative humidity difference between urban and nearby non-urban areas during the background period. This significant increase of urban relative humidity during the CSF week is also apparent in central China's Zhengzhou, supporting the robustness of the signal. These findings offer vital yet previously unknown evidence for population movement impacts on urban relative humidity from the observations, and can add value to our understanding of the human-cities nexus.

A wheat-Aegilops searsii substitution line GL1402, in which chromosome 1B was substituted with 1Ss from Ae. searsii, was developed and detected using SDS-PAGE and GISH. The SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the HMW-GS encoded by the Glu-B1 loci of Chinese Spring was replaced by the HMW-GS encoded by the Glu-1Ss loci of Ae. searsii. Glutenin macropolymer (GMP) investigation showed that GL1402 had a much higher GMP content than Chinese Spring did. A dough quality comparison of GL1402 and Chinese Spring indicated that GL1402 showed a significantly higher protein content and middle peak time (MPT), and a smaller right peak slope (RPS). Quality tests of Chinese steamed bread (CSB) showed that the GL1402 also produced good steamed bread quality. These results suggested that the substitution line is a valuable breeding material for improving the wheat processing quality.

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) can reveal minor structural differences of chromosomes. The karyotype of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) based on FISH pattern is seldom reported. In this study, non-denaturing FISH (ND-FISH) using Oligo-pSc119.2-1, Oligo-pTa535-1 and (AAG)6 as probes was used to investigate the chromosomal structure of 85 common wheat including 83 wheat-rye 1RS.1BL translocation cultivars/lines, a wheatrye 1RS.1AL translocation cultivar Amigo and Chinese Spring (CS). Two, three, two, three, six, three and four structural types respectively for 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and 7A chromosomes were observed. Two, eight, two, two, four and six types of chromosome for 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B and 7B were respectively detected. The structure of 1B chromosomes in Amigo and CS is different. Five, two, two and two types of chromosomal structure respectively for 1D, 2D, 3D and 5D were distinguished. Polymorphisms of 1RS.1BL, 4D, 6D and 7D chromosomes were not detected. Chromosomes 1AI, 2AI, 3AI, 4AI, 5AIII, 6AI, 7AIII, 2BI, 3BV, 4BI, 5BII, 6BIII, 7BI, 1DIV, 2DI, 3DI and 5DII appeared in these 85 wheat cultivars/lines at high frequency. Each of the 85 wheat cultivars/lines has a unique karyotype. Amigo is a complex translocation cultivar. The FISH karyotype of wheat chromosomes built in this study provide a reference for the future analyzing wheat genetic stocks and help to learn structural variations of wheat chromosomes. In addition, the results in this study indicate that oligonucleotide probes and ND-FISH technology can be used to identify individual wheat cultivar.

Grains of 12 accessions of Triticum timopheevii (Zhuk.) Zhuk. ssp. timopheevii (AAGG, 2n = 4x = 28) and one bread wheat cultivar Chinese Spring (CS) and one durum wheat cultivar Langdon (LDN) grown across two years were analyzed for grain iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) concentrations. All the 12 tested T. timopheevii ssp. timopheevii genotypes showed significantly higher concentration of grain Fe and Zn than CS and LDN. Aboundant genetic variability of both the Fe and Zn concentrations was observed among the T. timopheevii ssp. timopheevii accessions, averagely varied from 47.06 to 90.26 mg kg−1 and from 30.05 to 65.91 mg kg−1, respectively. Their grain Fe and Zn concentrations between years exhibited a significantly positive correlation with the correlation coefficients r = 0.895 and r = 0.891, respectively, indicating the highly genetic stability. Flag leaf possessed twice or three times higher concentrations for both Fe and Zn than grain, and a significantly high positive correlation appeared between the two ...

The purpose. To identify recombinant-and-inbred lines of combination of crossing Orenburgskaya 48//Cappelle Desprez/2B Chinese Spring and to assess effects of alleles of gene Vrd2 on some economically valuable attributes. Methods. Temporal vernalization, genetic research, biological statistics. Results. Genotypes are identified of parent ingredients and recombinant-and-inbred lines of wheat Orenburgskaya 48//Cappelle Desprez/2B Chinese Spring for allelic state of gene Vrd2. Cappelle Desprez/2B Chinese Spring and 43 lines are the carrying agents of dominant allele of gene Vrd2, while grade Orenburgskaya 48 and 18 lines – of recessive vrd2. Effect of alleles of gene Vrd2 on separate economically valuable attributes is evaluated. Conclusions. In comparison with lines-carriers of recessive allele vrd2, presence of dominant allele Vrd2 results into decrease of winter- and frost resistance, cutting time to heading increase of weight of grains for an ear and grain yield.

We have identified a 31.7 Mbp interval on the short arm of wheat chromosome 4D that is involved in increased Type II susceptibility to Fusarium head blight., Fusarium head blight (FHB) causes significant grain yield and quality reductions in wheat and barley. Most wheat varieties are incapable of preventing FHB spread through the rachis, but disease is typically limited to individually infected spikelets in barley. We point-inoculated wheat lines possessing barley chromosome introgressions to test whether FHB resistance could be observed in a wheat genetic background. The most striking differential was between 4H(4D) substitution and 4H addition lines. The 4H addition line was similarly susceptible to the wheat parent, but the 4H(4D) substitution line was highly resistant, which suggests that there is an FHB susceptibility factor on wheat chromosome 4D. Point inoculation of Chinese Spring 4D ditelosomic lines demonstrated that removing 4DS results in high FHB resistance. We genotyped four Chinese Spring 4DS terminal deletion lines to better characterize the deletions in each line. FHB phenotyping indicated that lines del4DS-2 and del4DS-4, containing smaller deletions, were susceptible and had retained the susceptibility factor. Lines del4DS-3 and del4DS-1 contain larger deletions and were both significantly more resistant, and hence had presumably lost the susceptibility factor. Combining the genotyping and phenotyping results allowed us to refine the susceptibility factor to a 31.7 Mbp interval on 4DS.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) causes significant grain yield and quality reductions in wheat and barley. Most wheat varieties are incapable of preventing FHB spread through the rachis, but disease is typically limited to individually infected spikelets in barley. We point inoculated wheat lines possessing barley chromosome introgressions to test whether FHB resistance could be observed in a wheat genetic background. The most striking differential was between 4H(4D) substitution and 4H addition lines. The 4H addition line was similarly susceptible to the wheat parent, but the 4H(4D) substitution line was highly resistant, which suggests that there is an FHB susceptibility factor on wheat chromosome 4D. Point inoculation of Chinese Spring 4D ditelosomic lines demonstrated that removing 4DS results in high FHB resistance. We genotyped four Chinese Spring 4DS terminal deletion lines to better characterise the deletions in each line. FHB phenotyping indicated that lines del4DS-2 and del4DS-4, containing smaller deletions, were susceptible and had retained the susceptibility factor. Lines del4DS-3 and del4DS-1 contain larger deletions and were both significantly more resistant, and hence had presumably lost the susceptibility factor. Combining the genotyping and phenotyping results allowed us to refine the susceptibility factor to a 31.7 Mbp interval on 4DS.HighlightWe have identified a Type II Fusarium head blight susceptibility factor on the short arm of wheat chromosome 4D and refined its position to a 31.7 Mbp interval.

The 2019-nCoV outbreak occurred near the Chinese Spring Festival transport period in Wuhan. As an important transportation center, the migration of Wuhan accelerated the spread of 2019-nCoV across mainland China. Based on the cumulative Baidu migration index (CBMI), we first analyzed the proportion of Wuhan’s migrant population to other cities. Our results confirm that there is a significant correlation between the export population of Wuhan and reported cases in various regions. We subsequently found that the mortality rate in Hubei Province was much higher than that in other regions of mainland China, while the investigation of potential cases in Wuhan was far behind other provinces in Mainland China, which indicates the effectiveness of early isolation.

The ongoing large-scale pneumonia outbreak in China is caused by the 2019-nCoV, a new coronavirus highly similar to SARS-CoV in the SARS outbreak. The cause and consequence of the outbreak remain largely unknown as it is still in its early stage. As many aspects of the new virus are similar to SARS in 2003, knowledge, patterns and lessons of the SARS-CoV outbreak are valuable resources for responding to the Wuhan 2019-nCoV outbreak. Using epidemiological surveys and analyses from the early stage of the SARS outbreak, we assessed and compared the characteristics of those two outbreaks and predicted the possible outcome for the current 2019-nCoV outbreak. Like the SARS-CoV, the 2019-nCoV has a high human-to-human transmission capability and healthcare workers and family members are high risk populations. Because the early outbreak stage coincides with the Chinese spring festival travel rush, it is a challenge to prevent and control the spread of the virus. In this situation, the emergence and movement of a 2019-nCoV super-spreader is difficult to identify. Using the reported case data so far (as of Jan 23, 2019), a logistic model was built and the cumulative and daily counts of the 2019-nCoV cases were predicted. The cumulative counts of 2019-nCoV cases was estimated about 2-3 times the total number of SARS, and the peak incidence is predicted to be in early or middle February. Regional migration should be limited or prohibited to prevent emergence and movement of a super-spreader. There is an urgent need to establish enhanced surveillance and implement efficient measures nationwide to control this epidemic.

There is a significant difference in the electricity consumption patterns of different users. Recognizing and extracting the electricity consumption patterns can help analyze the user behaviors and support the market decision-makings. Clustering algorithms have proven to be an effective technique to identify the load patterns. In this work, we propose a shape-based clustering method based on seasonal decomposition and parallel computing to identify the electricity consumption patterns in Changsha residential areas. The seasonal decomposition is first used to extract the representative curve which serves as the inputs of the clustering. A shape-based clustering algorithm, which better considers the shape characteristics of load curves and requires less computational cost, is introduced to partition the load data into different groups with different electricity consumption patterns. In addition, the parallel computing is employed to further accelerate the computing time. The experimental results demonstrate that our method can identify different electricity consumption patterns effectively. Moreover, our method surpasses the traditional DTW-based and fuzzy clustering algorithm and is 30 times faster than the DTW-based clustering algorithm. At last, we analyze the electricity consumption patterns in the Chinese Spring Festival in Changsha residential area that further validate the efficiency of our method.

Black garlic is made from the fresh kind, submitting it to a controlled temperature (~65 &deg, C) and humidity (&gt, 85 &deg, C) for a prolonged period of time. The aim of this study was to assess the differences in the process and in the final product as a result of employing three garlic varieties (Spanish Roja, Chinese Spring and California White), and to check the influence of the storage time on fresh garlic in the quality of the final product by using garlic obtained in two different agricultural seasons, that of the current year (2014) and of the previous one (2013). The results revealed some differences in the parameters analysed during the manufacturing of the black garlic from the three varieties used, and even according to the harvest in question. However, when comparing initial and final values of the samples, a very similar evolution in their acidity, reducing sugars, &deg, Brix, pH, polyphenol content, and antioxidant capacity was noted.

The Spring Festival is the most important holiday in China. During this time, the levels of particulate matter (PM) as well as gaseous copollutants significantly increase because of the widespread enjoyment of fireworks. The expression patterns of microRNAs may serve as valuable signatures of exposure to environmental constituents. We exposed macrophages to the whole stream of outdoor air at the air-liquid interface aiming at closely approximating the physiological conditions and the inhalation situation in the lung. 58 miRNAs were up-regulated, and 68 miRNAs were down-regulated in the night of the New Year's Eve (exposure group E2N1) compared to filtered-air exposed control cells. The target genes of the up-regulated miRNAs were enriched in immunity- and inflammation-linked pathways, such as the TLR-NF-κB pathway. Compared to the E2N1 group, 29 miRNAs were up-regulated, and 23 miRNAs were down-regulated in the cells exposed to air from the daytime of the Chinese New Year with higher concentrations of particles, SO2, and nitrogen oxide. The target genes of the up-regulated miRNAs were mostly enriched in apoptosis, adhesion, and junction-related pathways. These results preliminarily unravel part of the toxic mechanisms of air constituents and provide clues for discovering the main drivers of air pollution-induced disorders.

Breeding wheat for higher grain yield can contribute to global food security and sustainable production on less land. Tropospheric ozone can injure wheat plants and subsequently reduce grain yield. Identification of ozone tolerance in the wheat genome can assist plant breeders in developing new sources of tolerant germplasm. Our objective was to use the &lsquo, Chinese Spring&rsquo, monosomic lines to screen for ozone response and identify the chromosomic locations contributing to ozone tolerance based on foliar injury. Two methodologies, Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors and Outdoor Plant Environment Chambers, were used to expose wheat monosomic lines to varying concentrations and durations of ozone. Each wheat monosomic line in &lsquo, has a missing chromosome in each of the wheat subgenomes (A, B, and D). In both methodologies, we found significant and repeatable data to identify chromosome 7A as a major contributor to tolerance to ozone injury in &lsquo, In every experiment, the absence of chromosome 7A resulted in significant injury to wheat due to ozone. This was not the case when any other chromosome was missing.

Although Pythium root rot in wheat (Triticum aestivum) is well documented, limited information is available concerning which species of Pythium are most responsible for disease damage. The objective of this study was to examine the variation in virulence on wheat among isolates of Pythium collected from cereal grain fields in eastern Washington. Isolates of nine Pythium species were tested for virulence on spring wheat cultivars Chinese Spring and Spillman. Cultivars were planted in pasteurized soil infested with Pythium isolates and placed in a growth chamber maintained at a constant 16°C and ambient humidity. Plant height, length of the first true leaf, and number of seminal roots were recorded, and roots were digitally scanned to create computer files that were analyzed using WinRhizo software. Pythium isolates caused a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the number of root tips, root length, and length of the first leaf. Differences in virulence were detected among species and among isolates within species. Isolate Pythium debaryanum 90136 and P. ultimum 90038 were the most virulent and may prove useful in future disease screening assays of Triticum germ plasm.

This paper analyzes the temporal variations of public bike riding over the hours, the days and the months. A whole year of usage data (34,098,787 trips) are collected using Internet of Things(IoT) for the bikesharing system in Ningbo, China. Data Mining shows significant seasonal variations of bike rental amounts. The seasonal reductions of bike riders are explained mainly by three factors: nonpermanent residents leaving the city during the Chinese Spring Festival, uncomfortable high/low outdoor temperature, and rainy/snowy weather. Weather impact analysis suggests that rainfall decreases rental amounts significantly, with 1mm of daily rainfall expected to reduce daily rental amount by about 10%. The results also show significant day-of-the-week variations, with rental amounts in weekends 20-30% lower than in weekdays, indicating a clear commuter pattern of usage. The commuter pattern is further proven by the time of day variation with the double rental peaks of morning and afternoon. It should be noted that the total usage in either morning or afternoon rush hours only accounts for 60% of the total bike supply, which indicates that some bikes in the system may have been positioned in the wrong place at peak times. It is further shown that peak hour usage accounts for only 10∼12% of AADT (annual average daily traffic), much lower than the peak hour percentages for other modes, indicating insufficient bike supply and improper positioning of infrequently used bikes. These temporal characteristics imply that the bike turnover rate could increase further if the efficiency of the bike supply is improved with proper location and relocation of bikes. Understanding these temporal characteristics of bikesharing ridership could help the service provider and policy maker to improve the bikesharing services for building Smart City.

To comparatively analyze lead (Pb)-containing particles during and after the Chinese Spring Festival (SF), real-time single-particle aerosol mass spectrometry (SPAMS) was conducted in Xiamen during February 9-19 and March 4-14, 2013. Pb-containing particles were found in 2.4% and 5.3% of the total particle numbers during and after SF, respectively. Based on the SPAMS mass spectral results, the Pb-containing particles were classified into three major types and 11 subtypes: Pb-rich particles comprising Pb-nitrate, Pb-sulfate and Pb-chloride; K-rich particles comprising K-nitrate, K-sulfate, K-metal, K-carbonaceous, K-phosphate, and K-chloride; and metal particles including Fe-rich and Mn-nitrate particles. During SF, lower contributions of Pb-containing particles were due to the effect of the SF holiday. Firework emissions contributed little to the Pb-containing particles. K-rich particles were a major contribution to Pb-containing particles during SF, accounting for approximately 70% of the total number of Pb-containing particles. After SF, significantly increased Pb-containing particles were observed, coincided with NO2 and SO2, due to increased industrial activities and other anthropogenic activities, and Pb-rich particles increased to approximately 50.3% of the total number of Pb-containing particles. Local industrial emissions and the stagnant meteorological conditions resulted in the higher concentrations of Pb-containing particles in the early morning after SF, especially Pb-nitrate particles. This study provides data on the in-situ monitoring of Pb emissions during and after SF and could be helpful for the mitigation of Pb pollution.

This paper firstly introduces the significance of seasonal adjustments of the consumer price index (CPI). Then this paper focuses on the theory of seasonal adjustments and the ARIMA model with regression. Based on X-13 ARIMA-SEATS program, we develop a statistically robust method to conduct seasonal adjustment on China’s monthly CPI with respect to moving holidays, especially, Chinese Spring Festival. It is demonstrated that seasonally adjusted CPI time series are more sensitive and conducive to monitor the macro economy.

Twenty-four PM 2.5 samples were collected at a suburban site of Xinxiang during Chinese Spring Festival (SF) in 2015. 10 water-soluble ions, 19 trace elements and 8 fractions of carbonaceous species in PM 2.5 were analyzed. Potential sources of PM 2.5 were quantitatively apportioned using principal component analysis (PCA)-multivariate linear regressions (MLR). The threat of heavy metals in PM 2.5 was assessed using incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR). During the whole period, serious regional haze pollution persisted, the average concentration of PM 2.5 was 111 ± 54 μg m − 3 , with 95.8% and 79.2% of the daily samples exhibiting higher PM 2.5 concentrations than the national air quality standard I and II. Chemical species declined due to holiday effect with the exception of K, Fe, Mg, Al and K + , Cl − , which increased on Chinese New Year (CNY)'s Eve and Lantern Festival in 2015, indicating the injection of firework burning particles in certain short period. PM 2.5 mass closure showed that secondary inorganic species were the dominant fractions of PM 2.5 over the entire sampling (37.3%). 72-hour backward trajectory clusters indicated that most serious air pollution occurred when air masses transported from the Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Zhengzhou. Health risk assessment revealed that noncancerous effects of heavy metals in PM 2.5 of Xinxiang were unlikely happened, while lifetime cancer risks of heavy metals obviously exceeded the threshold, which might have a cancer risk for residents in Xinxiang. This study provided detailed composition data and first comprehensive analysis of PM 2.5 during the Spring Festival period in Xinxiang.

The OC/EC online monitoring campaign was carried out in Tianjin of China from 8th February to 15th March 2015 during the Chinese Spring Festival period (CSFP). The concentrations of OC, EC, BC and other ambient pollutants (e.g. SO2, NO2 and PM2.5, etc.) in high time resolution were measured with related online-monitoring instruments. During the CSFP, according to the peaks of PM2.5 concentrations and number concentrations (NC) of aerosol particles with aerodynamic diameters between 0.3 and 2.5 μm, five pollution-events were generally identified and displayed. These pollution-events were closely associated with large-scale fireworks displaying, combustion activities such as heating for winter, and the stable meteorological conditions, etc. During the CSFP, EC and OC concentrations showed variations up to one order of magnitude. The uncertainty of instrument itself and the difference for measured methods, further caused the differences between thermal OC (measured OC by thermal method) and optical OC (measured OC by optical method) concentrations, as well as between thermal EC (measured EC by thermal method) and optical EC (measured EC by optical method) concentrations. The high-concentration carbonaceous aerosols could enlarge the uncertainty of measuring instrument, reducing the correlations between OC and EC, and enhance the differences among thermal EC, optical BC and optical EC. The OC/EC ratios and the percentages of SOC/OC would be declined, when the pollution-events formed during the CSFP. Due to the different sources for thermal POC and thermal SOC, the correlation of the two was relatively lower (R2 = 0.39). Thermal POC dominated over thermal OC during the CSFP.

Wildfires are a significant problem for power line maintenance that can lead to widespread power outages and economic loss in China. Remote sensing RS and geographic information system GIS technologies and their derived applications are effective tools for power line surveillance and disaster prevention. Using multi-source data and remote-sensing techniques, a risk assessment of wildfire occurrence in high-voltage power line corridors in Hubei Province, China, is presented in this study. Both natural and human causes are considered in the assessment, including a traditional Chinese spring custom. Historical ignition points along power line corridors in Hubei Province that occurred from 2009 to 2014 were collected as training data to create a quantitative analysis. Next, a logistic regression model was applied, and ignition probability maps were produced for power lines. Several wildfire accidents that occurred in 2015 were used as validation data to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results indicated that the drought conditions significantly influenced wildfires as natural cause, and human activities play important roles in causing wildfires during specific time periods. The effectiveness and robustness of our method is thereby demonstrated, and our method can be used to provide valuable suggestions for wildfire management for the electrical department in Hubei Province.

Increasing ambient ozone (O3) concentrations and resurgent rust diseases are two concomitant limiting factors to wheat production worldwide. Breeding resilient wheat cultivars bearing rust resistance and O3 tolerance while maintaining high yield is critical for global food security. This study aims at identifying ozone tolerance among key rust-susceptible wheat genotypes [Rust near-universal susceptible genotypes (RnUS)], as a first step towards achieving this goal. Tested RnUS included seven bread wheat genotypes (Chinese Spring, Line E, Little Club, LMPG 6, McNair 701, Morocco and Thatcher), and one durum wheat line (Rusty). Plants were treated with five O3 concentrations (CF, 50, 70, 90, and 110 ppb), in two O3 exposure systems [continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR) and outdoor-plant environment chambers (OPEC)], at 21&ndash, 23 Zadoks decimal growth stage. Visible injury and biomass accumulation rate were used to assess O3 responses. Visible injury data showed consistent order of genotype sensitivity (Thatcher, LMPG 6 &gt, McNair 701, Rusty &gt, Line E, Morocco, Little Club &gt, Chinese Spring). Additionally, leaves at different orders showed differential O3 responses. Biomass accumulation under O3 stress showed similar results for the bread wheat genotypes. However, the durum wheat line &ldquo, Rusty&rdquo, had the most O3-sensitive biomass production, providing a contrasting O3 response to the tolerance reported in durum wheat. Chinese Spring was the most tolerant genotype based on both parameters and could be used as a source for O3 tolerance, while sensitive genotypes could be used as sensitive parents in mapping O3 tolerance in bread wheat. The suitability of visible symptoms and biomass responses in high-throughput screening of wheat for O3 tolerance was discussed. The results presented in this research could assist in developing future approaches to accelerate breeding wheat for O3 tolerance using existing breeding materials.

There are often greater risks in the process of tunnel construction, and because of the unpredictable tunnel features, the risks during tunnel operation are also great. Due to the substantial growth of TTAs during the recent years, the safety issues of the tunnel traffic accidents (TTAs) have become a widely discussed topic in China. This study examined 2703 TTAs that occurred in the expressway tunnels of China, from 2001 to the present. The datasets from these accidents were analyzed in detail to determine the temporal and spatial characteristics of the traffic accidents as well as the source of the traffic accident distributions in the expressway tunnels. According to the analysis results, 58% of TTAs took place in the entrance and exit zones, and the rear end accident is the most common accident. In addition, the special festivals are liable to traffic accidents, especially during the Chinese Spring Festival. In order to reduce the accidents, special traffic service needs to be taken in key periods, the expressway tunnel operation departments should improve the management rules, and all the drivers should be educated to be more careful when they enter the tunnel.

Transgenesis through biolistic of immature embryos is the most convenient way to introduce artificially new genes in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). However, only a few genotypes can be efficiently transformed. To improve the transformation of wheat varieties, we stored immature seeds at room temperature or 4 degrees C during 4 or 7 days and extracted immature embryos prior to transformation. Shelling stops the embryo's growth and almost all the embryos formed a callus on selective media when stored at 4 degrees C for 4 or 7 days (respectively 87% and 99%). We also used hybrid immature embryos derived from a cross between a transformable line (Courtot) and a non-transformable line (Chinese Spring) for biolistic transformation. Hybrid embryos showed the same response to biolistic than the responsive parent. All together, these results improve significantly the biolistic protocol for wheat transformation by reducing the number of mother plants in the greenhouse, and improve the transformation of additional genotypes through hybrid transformation.

The shortage of polymorphic markers for the regions of wheat chromosomes that encode commercially valuable traits determined the need for studying wheat microsatellite loci. In this work, SSR markers for individual regions in the short arm of bread wheat chromosome 5B (5BS) were designed based on sequencing data for BAC clones, and the regions of the corresponding chromosome were saturated with these markers. Totally, 130 randomly selected BAC clones from the 5BS library were sequenced on the Ion Torrent platform and assembled in contigs using MIRA software. The assembly characteristics (N50 = 4 136 bp) are comparable to the recently obtained data for wheat and relative species and acceptable for identification of microsatellite loci. An algorithm utilizing the properties of complexity decompositions in he sliding-window mode was used to detect DNA sequences with a repeat unit of 2–4 bp. Analysis of 17 770 contigs with the total length of 25 879 921 bp allowed for designing 113, 79, and 67 microsatellite (SSR) loci with a repeat unit of 2, 3, and 4 bp, respectively. The SSR markers with a motif of 3 bp were tested using nullitetrasomic lines of Chinese Spring wheat homoeologous group 5. Thus, 21 markers specific for chromosome 5B were detected. Eight of these markers were mapped to the distal region of this chromosome (bin 5BS6) using a set of Chinese Spring deletion lines for 5BS. Eight and four markers were mapped to the interstitial region (bins 5BS5 and 5BS4, respectively). One marker was mapped to a pericentromeric bin. A comparative analysis of the distribution of trinucleotide microsatellites over wheat chromosome 5B and in different cereal species suggests that the (AAG)n repeat has proliferated and has been maintained during the evolution of cereals.

Our paper is aimed at understanding consumption patterns of new generation migrant workers during the Chinese spring festival. The purpose of this...

Daily PM2.5 samples were collected at a suburban site of Nanjing around 2014 Chinese Spring Festival (SF) and analyzed for 18 kinds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by GC-MS. Comparison of PAH concentrations during different periods, with different air mass origins and under different pollution situations was done. Sources were analyzed by diagnostics ratios and principal component analysis (PCA). The threat of PAHs was assessed by BaP equivalent concentrations (BaPeq) and incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR). The averaged PAHs for pre-SF, SF and after SF periods were 50.6, 17.2 and 29 ng m(-3), indicating the variations of PAH sources, with reduced traffic, industrial and construction activities during SF and gradually re-starting of them after-SF. According to PAH mass concentrations, their relative abundance to particles, ratio of PAHs (3-ring+4-ring)/PAHs(5-ring+6-ring), mass concentrations of combustion-derived and carcinogenic PAHs, fireworks burning is an important source for PAHs during SF. The ILCR values for Chinese New Year day were 0.68 and 3.3 per 100,000 exposed children and adults. It suggested the necessity of controlling fireworks burning during Chinese SF period which was always companied with serious regional haze pollution. PAH concentrations exhibited decreasing trend when air masses coming from the following directions as North China Plain (63.9 ng m(-3))>Central China (53.0 ng m(-3))>Shandong Peninsula (46.6 ng m(-3))>Northwest China (18.8 ng m(-3))>Sea (15.8 ng m(-3)). For different pollution situations, they decreased as haze (44.5 ng m(-3))>fog-haze (28.4 ng m(-3))>clear (12.2 ng m(-3))>fog day (9.2 ng m(-3)). Coal combustion, traffic emission, industrial processes and petroleum (only for non-SF holiday periodss) were the main sources of PM2.5 associated PAHs. Fireworks burning contributed 14.0% of PAHs during SF period. Directly measurement of PAHs from fireworks burning is urgently needed for source apportionment studies in the future.

Quantification of the tissue and cellular structure of plant material is essential for the study of a variety of plant sciences applications. Currently, many methods for sectioning plant material are either low throughput or involve free-hand sectioning which requires a significant amount of practice. Here, we present an updated method to provide rapid and high-quality cross sections, primarily of root tissue but which can also be readily applied to other tissues such as leaves or stems. To increase the throughput of traditional agarose embedding and sectioning, custom designed 3D printed molds were utilized to embed 5–15 roots in a block for sectioning in a single cut. A single fluorescent stain in combination with laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to obtain high quality images of thick sections. The provided CAD files allow production of the embedding molds described here from a number of online 3D printing services. Although originally developed for roots, this method provides rapid, high quality cross sections of many plant tissue types, making it suitable for use in forward genetic screens for differences in specific cell structures or developmental changes. To demonstrate the utility of the technique, the two parent lines of the wheat (Triticum aestivum) Chinese Spring × Paragon doubled haploid mapping population were phenotyped for root anatomical differences. Significant differences in adventitious cross section area, stele area, xylem, phloem, metaxylem, and cortical cell file count were found.

As the time and cost of sequencing decrease, the number of available genomes and transcriptomes rapidly increases. Yet the quality of the assemblies and the gene annotations varies considerably and often remains poor, affecting downstream analyses. This is particularly true when fragments of the same gene are annotated as distinct genes and consequently wrongly appear as paralogs. In this study, we introduce two novel phylogenetic tests to infer non-overlapping or partially overlapping genes that are in fact parts of the same gene. One approach collapses branches with low bootstrap support and the other computes a likelihood ratio test. We extensively validated these methods by 1) introducing and recovering fragmentation on the bread wheat, Triticum aestivum cv. Chinese Spring, chromosome 3B; 2) by applying the methods to the low-quality 3B assembly and validating predictions against the high-quality 3B assembly; and 3) by comparing the performance of the proposed methods to the performance of existing methods, namely Ensembl Compara and ESPRIT. Application of this combination to a draft shotgun assembly of the entire bread wheat genome revealed 1221 pairs of genes which are highly likely to be fragments of the same gene. Our approach demonstrates the power of fine-grained evolutionary inferences across multiple species to improving genome assemblies and annotations. An open source software tool is available at https://github.com/DessimozLab/esprit2.

A wild non-progenitor species from wheat tertiary gene poolAegilops peregrinaaccession pau3519 (UUSS) was used for introgression of leaf rust and stripe rust resistance in bread wheat. It was crossed and backcrossed with hexaploid wheat line Chinese SpringPhIto develop two homozygous BC2F6wheat-Ae. peregrinaintrogression lines (ILs) viz. IL pau16058 and IL pau16061 through induced homoeologous recombination. Homozygous lines were screened against sixPuccinia triticinaand twoPuccinia striiformisf. sp.triticipathotypes at the seedling stage and a mixture of prevalent pathotypes of both rust pathogens at the adult plant stage. IL pau16061 showed resistance to leaf rust only while IL pau16058 was resistant to both leaf and stripe rust pathotypes throughout plant life. Molecular characterization of these ILs aided in defining the introgressed regions. Identification of linked markers with advance genomic technologies will aid in marker assisted pyramiding of alien genes in cultivated wheat background.

In order to address the worldwide growing demand for food, agriculture is facing certain challenges and limitations. One of the important threats limiting crop productivity is salinity. Identifying salt tolerate varieties is crucial to mitigate the negative effects of this abiotic stress in agricultural production systems. Traditional measurement methods of this stress, such as biomass retention, are labor intensive, environmentally influenced, and often poorly correlated to salinity stress alone. In this study, hyperspectral imaging, as a non-destructive and rapid method, was utilized to expedite the process of identifying relatively the most salt tolerant line among four wheat lines including Triticum aestivum var. Kharchia, T. aestivum var. Chinese Spring, (Ae. columnaris) T. aestivum var. Chinese Spring, and (Ae. speltoides) T. aestivum var. Chinese Spring. To examine the possibility of early detection of a salt tolerant line, image acquisition was started one day after stress induction and continued on three, seven, and 12 days after adding salt. Simplex volume maximization (SiVM) method was deployed to detect superior wheat lines in response to salt stress. The results of analyzing images taken as soon as one day after salt induction revealed that Kharchia and (columnaris)Chinese Spring are the most tolerant wheat lines, while (speltoides) Chinese Spring was a moderately susceptible, and Chinese Spring was a relatively susceptible line to salt stress. These results were confirmed with the measuring biomass performed several weeks later.

Background: Genetic diversity is an essential resource for breeders to improve new cultivars with desirable characteristics. Recently, genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), a next generation sequencing (NGS) technology that can simplify complex genomes, has now be used as a high-throughput and cost-effective molecular tool for routine breeding and screening in many crop species, including the species with a large genome. Results: We genotyped a diversity panel of 369 Iranian hexaploid wheat accessions including 270 landraces collected between 1931 and 1968 in different climate zones and 99 cultivars released between 1942 to 2014 using 16,506 GBS-based single nucleotide polymorphism (GBS-SNP) markers. The B genome had the highest number of mapped SNPs while the D genome had the lowest on both the Chinese Spring and W7984 references. Structure and cluster analyses divided the panel into three groups with two landrace groups and one cultivar group, suggesting a high differentiation between landraces and cultivars and between landraces. The cultivar group can be further divided into four subgroups with one subgroup was mostly derived from Iranian ancestor(s). Similarly, landrace groups can be further divided based on years of collection and climate zones where the accessions were collected. Molecular analysis of variance indicated that the genetic variation was larger between groups than within group. Conclusion: Obvious genetic diversity in Iranian wheat was revealed by analysis of GBS-SNPs and thus breeders can select genetically distant parents for crossing in breeding. The diverse Iranian landraces provide rich genetic sources of tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and they can be useful resources for the improvement of wheat production in Iran and other countries.

Eight wheat varieties (Chinese Spring, Pavon, Gabo, Saleem-2000, Zamindar-04, Siren, NR-264 and Marvi) were compared for their response to exogenous application of abscisic acid (ABA), Water Stress (WS) and Control (C) during invitro condition. Their responses were studied in the form of seedlings growth and antioxidant enzymes. Exogenous application of ABA reflected ameliorating effect on catalase activity. Water stress treatment led to increase in levels of catalase except Pavon. Increased activity of antioxidant enzymes showed tolerance capacity under water stress. Correlation coefficient analysis reflected negative and significant relationship between total protein contents and peroxidase and catalase. Further, investigations are needed to enhance the understanding on the effect of different abiotic stresses and growth hormones during early seed development.