Search

Iris loczyi is a perennial rhizomatous herb distributed in Central Asia. We examined genomic architecture of the complete chloroplast genome in I. loczyi by assembling the Illumina MiSeq reads using de novo strategy. The chloroplast genome is 150,940 bp in length harboring 79 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes, and four rRNA genes. It exhibits typical quadripartite structure comprising LSC (80,907 bp), SSC (17,853 bp), and a pair of IRs (26,090 bp). Phylogenetic analysis of 20 chloroplast genomes from Asparagales revealed that Iridaceae is a monophyletic group and the I. loczyi is clustered together with the congener, I. sanguinea.

We report a complete chloroplast genome sequence of Malus sieversii. The CP genome was 160,223 bp in length with a typical quadripartite structure. Length of large single-copy (LSC) was 88,334 bp, ...

Background The genus Hosta is a group of economically appreciated perennial herbs consisting of approximately 25 species that is endemic to eastern Asia. Due to considerable morphological variability, the genus has been well recognized as a group with taxonomic problems. Chloroplast is a cytoplasmic organelle with its own genome, which is the most commonly used for phylogenetic and genetic diversity analyses for land plants. To understand the genomic architecture of Hosta chloroplasts and examine the level of nucleotide and size variation, we newly sequenced four (H. clausa, H. jonesii, H. minor, and H. venusta) and analyzed six Hosta species (including the four, H. capitata and H. yingeri) distributed throughout South Korea. Results The average size of complete chloroplast genomes for the Hosta taxa was 156,642 bp with a maximum size difference of ~ 300 bp. The overall gene content and organization across the six Hosta were nearly identical with a few exceptions. There was a single tRNA gene deletion in H. jonesii and four genes were pseudogenized in three taxa (H. capitata, H. minor, and H. jonesii). We did not find major structural variation, but there were a minor expansion and contractions in IR region for three species (H. capitata, H. minor, and H. venusta). Sequence variations were higher in non-coding regions than in coding regions. Four genic and intergenic regions including two coding genes (psbA and ndhD) exhibited the largest sequence divergence showing potential as phylogenetic markers. We found compositional codon usage bias toward A/T at the third position. The Hosta plastomes had a comparable number of dispersed and tandem repeats (simple sequence repeats) to the ones identified in other angiosperm taxa. The phylogeny of 20 Agavoideae (Asparagaceae) taxa including the six Hosta species inferred from complete plastome data showed well resolved monophyletic clades for closely related taxa with high node supports. Conclusions Our study provides detailed information on the chloroplast genome of the Hosta taxa. We identified nucleotide diversity hotspots and characterized types of repeats, which can be used for developing molecular markers applicable in various research area.

A family of copolymers (P(NDIOD-T2Fx)) based on naphthalenediimide (NDI) and 2,2′-bithiophene (T2) units with different amounts of 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene (T2F) decoration were synthesized, ...

The cellular distribution of silica nanoparticles (NPs) in the liver is not well understood. Targeting specific cells is one of the most important issues in NP-based drug delivery to improve delivery efficacy. In this context, the present study analyzed the relative cellular distribution pattern of silica NPs in the liver, and the effect of surface energy modification on NPs. Hydrophobic NP surface modification enhanced NP delivery to the liver and liver sinusoid fFendothelial cells (LSECs). Conversely, hydrophilic NP surface modification was commensurate with targeting hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) rather than other cell types. There was no notable difference in NP delivery to Kupffer cells or hepatocytes, regardless of hydrophilic or hydrophobic NP surface modification, suggesting that both the targeting of hepatocytes and evasion of phagocytosis by Kupffer cells are not associated with surface energy modification of silica NPs. This study provides useful information to target specific cell types using silica NPs, as well as to understand the relationship between NP surface energy and the NP distribution pattern in the liver, thereby helping to establish strategies for cell targeting using various NPs.

Infrastructure in animal husbandry refers to fundamental facilities and services necessary for better living conditions of animals and its economy to function through better productivity. Mainly, infrastructure can be divided into two categories: hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure. Physical infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, and water supplying systems, belongs to hard infrastructure. Soft infrastructure includes services which are required to maintain economic, health, cultural and social standards of animal husbandry. Therefore, the proper management of infrastructure in animal husbandry is necessary for animal welfare and its economy. Among various technologies to improve the quality of infrastructure, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology is an effectively applicable technology in different stages of animal husbandry. NTP is mainly helpful in maintaining better health conditions of animals in several ways via decontamination from microorganisms present in air, water, food, instruments and surfaces of animal farming systems. Furthermore, NTP is used in the treatment of waste water, vaccine production, wound healing in animals, odor-free ventilation, and packaging of animal food or animal products. This review summarizes the recent studies of NTP which can be related to the infrastructure in animal husbandry.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primer list for genomic PCR and RT-PCR. Figure S1. Alignment of reported BLOC1S2 m-RNA sequences for crab-eating monkey, rhesus monkey and human. Figure S2. Multiple sequence alignment of the integrated MIR and AluSp region in the BLOC1S2 gene. Figure S3. Structural analysis of gDNA PCR products of 10 primates. Figure S4. RT-PCR amplification for validation of the MIR_AluSp-derived V1 transcript. The 5′- and 3′-ends of MIR_AluSp-derived exon were validated using Validation Primers 1 and 2. A) 531 bp product and 389 bp product of the V1 transcript were detected in the crab-eating monkey, rhesus monkey, and African green monkey. For the African green monkey, a 506 bp product of a different 5′-end transcript (V2) was detected. B) The 531 bp product and 389 bp product of the V1 transcript were not detected in the human, chimpanzee, and gibbon samples. Figure S5. RT-PCR amplification for validation of the V2 transcript using Primer 3. A 239 bp product of the V2 transcript was detected in the crab-eating monkey, rhesus monkey, and African green monkey and was not detected in human, chimpanzee, and gibbon samples. Figure S6. RT-PCR amplification for expression pattern of V2 transcript (239 bp) in the crab-eating monkey (A), rhesus monkey (B), and human (C). The experiments were performed with 35 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, 59 °C for 30 s, and 72 °C for 30 s because 30 cycles of V2 PCR amplification in Fig. 4 doesn’t show clear target bands. Figure S7. Multiple alignment of the amino acid sequences of the reference transcript, V1, and V2 transcripts of BLOC1S2. Lysine (K), Leucine (L) in green rectangular part are equivalent to the last part of the 4th exon nucleotide sequences of BLOC1S2 transcript and see Fig. 5 for more details. Table S2. Calculation of MIR_AluSp combination throughout the genome.

Additional file 1: Table S1. The repeats shared by six Hosta species in Korea. The types are abbreviated as follows: F-forward, P-inverted (palindromic), C-complement, and R-reverse repeats. Table S2. The summary of the chloroplast genome sequences downloaded from GenBank for phylogenetic analysis. Table S3. Sample list used in the level of polymorphism test for the four hypervariable sites (ndhF-rpl32 IGS, ndhD, psbA, and trnL). No. refers to number. Spp. indicates species. Table S4. Variable sites found in the six Hosta species in Korea. The species acronyms are as following: CAP- H. capitata; CLA- H. clausa; JON-H. jonesii; MIN- H. minor; VEN- H. venusta; YIN- H. yingeri. Dashes represent indels. Figure S1. Gel image of size variation in trnK-UUU ~ trnQ-UUG region amplified for the six Korean Hosta species. The size of the PCR fragments was determined by electrophoresis using the QIAxcel Advanced System and QIAxcel ScreenGel Software (Qiagen). The 5000 bp and 15 bp reference markers are marked in green. Lane A, H. capitata; lane B, H. clausa; lane C, H. jonesii; lane D, H. minor; lane E, H. venusta; lane F, H. yingeri. bp refers to the base pair. R indicates the reference marker. Figure S2. Codon contents for the optimal codons, i.e. codons occurring significantly more often in highly expressed genes, encoding 20 amino acids in the six Hosta chloroplast genomes in Korea. RSCU denotes for relative synonymous codon usage. S1. The method of amplification for LSC and IRb border to examine 278 bp deletion in Hosta capitata. S2. The method of amplification to identify intraspecific sequence polymorphism for the four hypervariable sites (psbA, ndhD, trnL, and ndhF-rpl32 IGS) in the six Koran Hosta species.

Introduction Pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) is the most challenging abdominal surgery. In spite of the popularization of laparoscopic procedures for most GI surgery, laparoscopic PD is not so widely spread. Recently, robotic PD has gained popularity due to many merits. So we investigated current trends of types of PD and the clinical role of robotic surgery. Methods Between 2015 and 2020, a total of 1,263 PD was performed. 929 patients underwent open PD, and 334 underwent robotic PD. Demographics and surgical outcomes were analyzed according to the time period, and propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis was performed to evaluate complications and oncologic outcomes. Results Patients undergoing robotic PD were younger (63.7 vs. 65.2 years, p = 0.035); however, no significant difference was observed in sex (p = 0.152) and BMI (p = 0.742). Robotic PD patients were more likely to have the benign disease (30.2%) than those who received open surgery (13.7%). Robot PD has gradually increased from 6.3% to 71.6%. Operation time was longer in the robot group (338.8 vs. 296.5 minutes, p < 0.001); however, estimated blood loss did not significantly differ (473.5 vs. 429.2 mL, p = 0.335). Overall complication (18.6% vs. 17.9%, p = 0.843) and CR-POPF rates (9.9% vs. 8.4%, p = 0.478) were similar. The hospital stay was shorter in robot PD (10.9 days) than open PD (15.3 days). After PSM analysis, no significant difference of morbidity and survival outcome in cancer patients was observed. Conclusions The number of robot PD has markedly increased in a relatively short time showing comparable morbidity/mortality and oncologic outcome. Considering better recovery and cosmetic outcomes, robot PD has become one of standard surgical methods in pancreatic surgery.

Ordination can be said to be the core of Buddhism and maintaining this tradition is the key to maintaining Buddhism. This was the realization of the monastics in early 19th century Korea by the 19th century Korean monks such as Paekp’a (1767–1852), Taeŭn (1780–1841), and Manha (d.u.) who were the pioneers who revived the ordination tradition at a time when the saṃgha must have suffered a severe decline of this all too important tradition. Among these three monks, there were some commonalities such as the common geography of Chirisan area in the Hoam region where they started this movement and the fact that other than Manha, the other two, Paekp’a and Taeŭn, belonged to the Pyŏngyang lineal clan, the lineal descendants of the great masters Hyujŏng and P’yŏnyang. The effort to revitalize the ordination tradition by Paekp’a and other monks were successful in establishing their lineal clan and, at the same time, significantly contributed to securing their lineage within the history of Korea Buddhism. However, because Paekp’a’s method of the Ten Wholesome Precepts was seen to be quite different from the traditional methods of ordination, its influence was not as outstanding. Taeŭn’s methods, on the other hand, by borrowing notions from the Brahmā’s Net Sutra which allowed monks to revitalize their lineal clan through one’s own effect, drew support from eminent monks and became widely practiced. Similarly, the lineage that was formed by Manha by traveling to China being recognized for its legitimacy came to be established as part of the mainline of Korean Buddhism. While such methods were successful in responding to the dire situation of the early 19th century, this movement also provided the foundation for the continuation to the modern times of the traditional orthodox lineage that was started some 300 years earlier.

A silicon-based bipolar compound, 2-(4-((4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)dimethylsilyl)phenyl)-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole (COHS), was designed and prepared as a host material for phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The conjugated analogue of COHS, 2-(4′-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl-4-yl)-5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole (COH), was also prepared to investigate their structure–property relationships. Thermal-, photophysical- and electrochemical properties as well as their single-crystal X-ray structures were studied for COHS and COH. The central silicon atom in COHS successfully disconnected the electronic communication between the carbazole and oxadiazole groups, resulting in relatively high triplet energy of ca. 2.71 eV, which were capable of hosting green phosphorescent emitters. DFT calculations were conducted to investigate the electronic structures of COHS and COH, and the results showed good correlation to experimental results. Finally, COHS and COH were used as a bipolar host material for a green phosphorescence organic light-emitting diode (PHOLED) devices with Ir(ppy)3 (tris[2-phenylpyridinato-C2,N]iridium(III)) as a dopant. The resulting device with COHS (device I) showed higher performance than the device with COH (device II), exhibiting high efficiencies and low-efficiency roll-off. Device I achieved maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQE) of 15.8%, whereas device II exhibited a relatively lower EQE of 13.0%.

This paper presents a magnetically driven micromanipulator for biological and microscale (bio/micro-) object manipulation in a microfluidic chip. The proposed micromanipulator mainly consists of a gaseous bubble that functions as a gripping tool and twin permanent magnets allowing for two-dimensional (2D) motion control in an aqueous medium. First, the 2D motion control of the micromanipulator (horizontal, vertical, and rotational motions) was demonstrated by using an external magnetic controller attached to the bottom of the chip, capable of altering the interaction forces induced by twin magnets installed inside both the micromanipulator and controller. Second, the micro-object manipulation was separately tested with glass beads (100 μm diameter) and steel balls (600 μm diameter) using an acoustically oscillating bubble. When the bubble was acoustically excited around its natural frequency by a piezoactuator, the radiation force generated from it attracted neighboring objects. The capturing force generated from an acoustically excited bubble was indirectly measured using the glass beads in a mini-channel. The maximum capturing force occurring at the natural frequency of the bubble was approximately 390 nN. Finally, the manipulation of the steel balls on a chip was achieved with the use of both the magnetic and acoustic actuation. This micromanipulation technique can be applied to cell manipulation, micro-assembly, etc., with the advantage of minimizing any contact damage through the use of the bubble.

This paper describes a new type of magnetic droplet microfluidic system incorporated with acoustic excitation for the enhancement of mixing performance. The oscillation amplitudes of acoustically oscillating droplets with different volumes (6 μl and 8 μl) in different frequencies are measured by high-speed images. When a droplet is acoustically excited, it only strongly responds to the droplet’s natural frequency. Internal flow inside an acoustically oscillating droplet is visualized using fluorescent particles (15 μm diameter). Mixing performance is investigated using a methylene blue and glycerol (5 wt%) mixture droplet. The mixture droplet (6 μl) is completely mixed within 60 s with acoustic excitation; whereas, the mixture droplet remains unmixed without the excitation. The mixing efficiency is quantitatively evaluated through mixing indexes obtained by image analysis. The transportation of a magnetic droplet (6 μl) containing magnetic particles (500 nm dia.) is separately demonstrated using a neodymium magnet beneath a chip. The maximum manipulation speeds of magnetic droplets (approximately 25 mm/s for 6 μl droplet and 20 mm/s for 8 μl droplet) are measured by the magnetic droplet rotation test. As proof of concept, the manipulation of four magnetic droplets with two different volumes (3 μl and 4 μl) and colors (red and blue) is experimentally achieved by incorporating magnetic actuation for the transportation of droplets and acoustic excitation for the oscillation of droplets. This result shows the highly reliable manipulation of magnetic droplets with high mixing performance.

This study aimed to explore whether a rubric was effective for promoting raters’ scoring consistency when evaluating English learners’ essays. The...

To achieve extremely high planarity and processability simultaneously, we have newly designed and synthesized copolymers composed of donor units of 2,2'-(2,5-dialkoxy-1,4-phenylene)dithieno[3,2-b]thiophene (TT-P-TT) and acceptor units of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP). These copolymers consist of a highly planar backbone due to intramolecular interactions. We have systematically investigated the effects of intermolecular interactions by controlling the side chain bulkiness on the polymer thin-film morphologies, packing structures, and charge transport. The thin-film microstructures of the copolymers are found to be critically dependent upon subtle changes in the intermolecular interactions, and charge transport dynamics of the copolymer based field-effect transistors (FETs) has been investigated by in-depth structure-property relationship study. Although the size of the fibrillar structures increases as the bulkiness of the side chains in the copolymer increases, the copolymer with the smallest side chain shows remarkably high charge carrier mobility. Our findings reveal the requirement for forming efficient 3-D charge transport pathway and highlight the importance of the molecular packing and interdomain connectivity, rather than the crystalline domain size. The results obtained herein demonstrate the importance of tailoring the side chain bulkiness and provide new insights into the molecular design for high-performance polymer semiconductors.

To systematically address the intriguing question of how siloxane termini of the side chains relative to alkyl-terminal groups affect the various inherent properties of conjugated polymers—including optical, electrical, and morphological characteristics—we have synthesized model polymers (PDPPTT-RTG and PDPPTT-SiTG, together with an accompanying reference PDPPTT-ref) containing an identical backbone yet possessing different terminal groups. In order to fairly compare the end functionalities by eliminating molecular weight (Mn) and polydispersity index (PDI) variations that may act as complicating factors, the polymers used in this study have been controlled to have similar Mn and PDI by carefully optimizing the catalyst system and reaction conditions. Although the molecular packing and orientation behaviors of PDPPTT-RTG and PDPPTT-SiTG are very different from each other, both polymers exhibit very high mobility exceeding 4.5 cm2 V–1 s–1. More meaningfully, organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) based o...

This study explores the variation within native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) when evaluating English learners’ essays in terms of their teaching experiences. It was assumed that those who had been teaching at the same institute for more than five years (experienced NESTs) would understand better what their students wanted to convey, with deeper understandings of Korean culture and possibly the different writing styles based on Korean language, resulting in more lenient evaluating patterns, than those who just came to Korea to teach English (new NESTs). Interestingly, in contrast to the previous studies, the experienced NESTs evaluated more severely than the new NESTs. Additionally, based on the previous studies comparing NESTs with non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs), the experienced group demonstrated similarities to NNESTs after more than five years of assimilation in contrast to the new NESTs. This was a conclusion reached by the result that the new NESTs regarded content more substantially than the experienced NESTs. Lastly, unlike the previous studies, the NESTs’ perceived-difficulty played a more important role in grading than their perceived-importance regarding the three criteria (grammar, content, and vocabulary). The paper elaborates the details of the results and suggests a new approach to reduce the rater-biases even before rater-training is discussed.

A series of modified bis(4-(4,5-diphenyl-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)phenyl)dimethylsilane (ST), ST-CF3, ST-Me, ST-tBu, and ST-OMe, were designed and prepared by introducing electron-withdrawing groups or electron-donating groups at the 4-position of the end-on phenyl groups on the triazole ring. Systematic investigations of their thermal-, photophysical-, and electron-transporting (ET) properties were successfully carried out. Depending on the electronic characteristics of the substituents at the end-phenyl group on the triazole, their frontier orbital energy levels were controlled while maintaining energy band gaps. Low-temperature photoluminescence spectra indicate that all the prepared ST moieties maintained high triplet energy states up to 2.85 eV owing to the suppression of electron delocalization by the silicon centre. The electron mobilities of all the compounds were investigated by fabricating electron only devices (EODs). The EOD of ST-tBu showed significantly higher current density than the other analogs. Finally, the EL device utilizing ST-tBu as an electron transporting material in phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with bis[(4,6-di-fluorophenyl)-pyridinate-N,C2]picolinate (FIrpic) as a dopant showed an external quantum efficiency of 15.9%.

In order to elucidate the influence of π-conjugation on photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and intramolecular charge transfer processes, donor-π-acceptor dyads (D-π-A (1) and D-π-Si-π-A (2)) were newly synthesized. In these dyads, carbazole and triazine moieties acted as the electron donor and acceptor, respectively. The fluorescence of dyad 1 red-shifted as the solvent polarity was increased. The electron charge distribution of the excited state of dyad 1 was delocalized in the acceptor moiety, forming the charge transfer D(δ+)-π-A(δ-) dyad in the excited state. In the excited state of dyad 1, the π-conjugation acted as the linker for charge transfer between the donor and acceptor moieties. A large dipole moment change (Δμ = 45.6 D) between the ground and excited states was determined using the Lippert-Mataga plot. Furthermore, the fluorescence of dyad 1 was observed upon two-photon excitation. In contrast, dyad 2, in which the π-conjugation is disconnected by a Si-atom in the linker, displayed weak dual-emission: a short-wavelength emission at around 350 nm arising from the monomeric species and a long-wavelength one assigned to the emission from an intramolecular exciplex between the donor and acceptor moieties. The weak emission of dyad 2 indicates that the D(+)˙-π-Si-π-A(-)˙ species was generated through a PET process in the excited state. The cationic radical species of the carbazole and the anionic radical species of the triazine, which show transient absorption (TA) bands at around 780 and 530 nm, respectively, were characterized using the femtosecond TA method.

TSEN54encodes a subunit of the tRNA-splicing endonuclease complex, which catalyzes the identification and cleavage of introns from precursor tRNAs. Previously, we identified anAluSx-derived alternative transcript inTSEN54of cynomolgus monkey. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification andTSEN54sequence analysis of primate and human samples identified five novel alternative transcripts, including theAluSxexonized transcript. Additionally, we performed comparative expression analysis via RT-qPCR in various cynomolgus, rhesus monkey, and human tissues. RT-qPCR amplification revealed differential expression patterns. Furthermore, genomic PCR amplification and sequencing of primate and human DNA samples revealed thatAluSxelements were integrated in human and all of the primate samples tested. Intriguingly, in langur genomic DNA, an additionalAluYelement was inserted intoAluSxof intron eight ofTSEN54. The newAluYelement showed polymorphic insertion. Using standardized nomenclature forAlurepeats, the polymorphicAluYof the langurTSEN54was designated as being of theAluYl17subfamily. Our results suggest that integration of theAluSxelement inTSEN54contributed to diversity in transcripts and induced lineage- or species-specific evolutionary events such as alternative splicing and polymorphic insertion during primate evolution.

An electret filter composed of electrically charged fibers exhibits high efficiency, while maintaining a low pressure drop. Therefore, the electret filter is used in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. However, charges on the fiber can be shielded or neutralized by collected dust particles, degrading the collection efficiency of the electret filter. Alternatively, non-electret (mechanical) filters can also be used in HVAC systems. In this study, an external electric field of 5 kV/cm was applied to a non-electret filter module used in HVAC systems to investigate the effect of dust loading on filtration performance. The pressure drop with dust loading less increased in the presence of the electric field than in the absence of the electric field, resulting in a higher dust holding capacity of the filter module. The electric field significantly affected not only the pressure drop but also the collection efficiency. The initial collection efficiency of the filter module was increased by the electric field. In addition, the electric field continuously increased the collection efficiency of the HVAC filter module under dust loading.

Purpose To evaluate the benefits and risks of splenic artery embolization (SAE) in patients with American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) grade V blunt spleen injury (BSI) Materials and Methods Medical records of 88 patients treated with SAE between April 2013 and May 2017 at a regional trauma care center were reviewed retrospectively. The BSI grade according to the AAST spleen injury scale (revised version 2018) was determined by using computed tomography (CT) images. A total of 42 patients (46.6%) had AAST grade V injury and were included in the analysis. Patient demographics, angiographic findings, embolization techniques, and technical and clinical outcomes, including splenic salvage rate and procedure-related complications, were examined. Results SAE was performed within 2 hours after admission for 78.5% of the patients. All patients underwent selective distal embolization (n = 42). Primary clinical success rate was 80.9% (n = 34), and secondary clinical success rate was 88.1% (n = 37). The clinical failure group consisted of 5 patients. Four patients underwent splenectomy, and 1 patient died due to acute respiratory distress syndrome after embolization. The splenic salvage rate was 85.7% (n = 36). No patient had sepsis at follow-up (median, 247.0 days; interquartile range, 92.0–688.0). Clinical success rates (P = .356) and spleen salvage rates (P = .197) of patients who were hemodynamically stable (n = 19) showed no significant differences from those who were unstable (n = 23). Conclusions Distal embolization of grade V BSI is a safe and feasible procedure which is effective for successful spleen salvage.

Geldart groups A (NiO – 1300 μm, green), B (MoO3 - 480 μm, white), and C (NiO – 30 μm, gray color and MoS2 – 25 μm, black) particles were used in a transparent, acrylic fluidized bed reactor. The experiment was carried out for four cases by setting the position of the particles injected in the reactor as a variable. For these cases, Geldart group C particles (which are typically difficult to fluidize) were included. When easily fluidizable particles were placed at the bottom of the fluidized bed reactor, particle circulation and bubbling occurred. Channeling occurred when there were particles that were difficult to fluidize. Homogeneous fluidization was possible with vibration when channeling occurred. With the increasing vibration frequency, the pressure drop increased, and the minimum fluidization velocity decreased. The occurrence of channeling via vibration resulted in a high mixing index and variations in the pressure drop.

This research has examined fluidization and product characteristics through hydrogen reduction for nickel oxide (NiO) of contained in the Geldart group C assisted by vertical vibration in a fluidized bed reactor. It has confirmed that as vibration frequency and reaction temperature increase, the pressure drop trend becomes stable and minimum fluidization velocity reduces. As the gas–solid reaction increased with the increase in reaction temperature, oxygen contained in NiO was removed with a fast reaction time and therefore, the mass loss drastically decreased. When reaction temperature increased, the reacted fraction quickly increased because of the short reaction time. In the case of fluidization that was not under vibration, SEM and TEM analysis of the products showed agglomeration and chemical bonding. However, with a vibration, no agglomeration occurred, and a porous surface appeared. For fluidization under vibration, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and mapping analysis of products showed that the oxygen content and distribution decreased, and a small amount of oxygen remained surrounding the product surface. Agglomeration occurred again at higher values, with a superficial gas velocity of 0.45 m/s and vibration frequency of 60 Hz. It has also confirmed that the vertical vibration relieves the forces between fine cohesive particles to eliminate agglomeration and give them an active fluidization state.

Key message Genotyping data of a comprehensive Korean soybean collection obtained using a large SNP array were used to clarify global distribution patterns of soybean and address the evolutionary history of soybean. Abstract Understanding diversity and evolution of a crop is an essential step to implement a strategy to expand its germplasm base for crop improvement research. Accessions intensively collected from Korea, which is a small but central region in the distribution geography of soybean, were genotyped to provide sufficient data to underpin population genetic questions. After removing natural hybrids and duplicated or redundant accessions, we obtained a non-redundant set comprising 1957 domesticated and 1079 wild accessions to perform population structure analyses. Our analysis demonstrates that while wild soybean germplasm will require additional sampling from diverse indigenous areas to expand the germplasm base, the current domesticated soybean germplasm is saturated in terms of genetic diversity. We then showed that our genome-wide polymorphism map enabled us to detect genetic loci underlying flower color, seed-coat color, and domestication syndrome. A representative soybean set consisting of 194 accessions was divided into one domesticated subpopulation and four wild subpopulations that could be traced back to their geographic collection areas. Population genomics analyses suggested that the monophyletic group of domesticated soybeans was likely originated at a Japanese region. The results were further substantiated by a phylogenetic tree constructed from domestication-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms identified in this study. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00122-018-3271-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Human-driven habitat fragmentation leads to spatial isolation of endangered plant species, increasing extinction risk. An endangered medicinal herb, Aconitum austrokoreense, is a species with limited dispersal ability. Our molecular analysis revealed that within-population level genetic diversity is low, whereas the among-population divergence is high in this species. Moreover, several populations of A. austrokoreense might have experienced recent bottlenecks. The results suggested that the species might have declined and/or still decline in population size, resulting in increased extinction risk. Coupled with the life history traits such as dispersal and pollination, recent habitat fragmentation may further increase the extinction risk of the species., Human-driven habitat fragmentation leads to spatial isolation of endangered plant species increasing extinction risk. Understanding genetic variability and population structure of rare and isolated plant species is of great importance for assessing extinction risk and setting up conservation plans. Aconitum austrokoreense, an endangered and endemic species in Korea, is a perennial herb commonly used for medicinal purposes. We used five nuclear microsatellites and one chloroplast marker to investigate genetic diversity and population structure for 479 individuals of A. austrokoreense from seven populations throughout South Korea. A multivariate approach, discriminant analysis of principal components analysis, revealed broad-scale spatial patterns of A. austrokoreense populations across three major mountains that were composed of seven genetically distinct subgroups. High pairwise FST values (mean FST = 0.35; highest FST = 0.55) suggested significant differentiation among populations. Overall within population genetic variation was low. Based on Mantel test, there was significant correlation between geographical and genetic distances indicating pattern of isolation by distance. Our results suggest that A. austrokoreense populations may have undergone recent population bottlenecks. Given the limited dispersal ability of the species and ongoing habitat fragmentation, population isolation may further be exacerbated leading to increased extinction risk.

Table S4. On-targeted reads and average depth with accumulative depth coverage on CG sites. (DOCX 31 kb)

Table S2. CG site distribution according to the genomic region in the redefined target region. (DOCX 28 kb)

Table S3. Summary of alignment statistics about sequenced reads. (DOCX 28 kb)

Table S5. Average methylation level on CG sites for each genomic regions (meanâ Âąâ s.d.). (DOCX 27 kb)

Table S1.The length (Mb) of aligned homologous probe region according to identities and e-value. (DOCX 27 kb)

Para- and meta-substituted o-carboranes with a dimesityl(phenyl)borane (dmpb) group, namely, p-1, p-2, m-1, and m-2, were prepared and their electronic natures were evaluated by steady-state photophysical methods. It was found that excited states were greatly influenced by the linking position of the dimesityl-borane group(s) at the phenyl unit of diphenyl-o-carboranes. While intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) prevails in both para- and meta-regioisomers, para-isomers show much enhanced ICT character, as evidenced by observation of a new emission band at λmax ≈ 570 nm in dichloromethane (DCM) solution. Furthermore, the solvatochromic shifts, Δυf, from n-hexane to DCM were significantly different for para- and meta-isomers, which showed 8105, 8184, 1834, and 1895 cm−1 for p-1, p-2, m-1, and m-2, respectively. The difference in dipole moment between ground and excited states for para- (∼31.8 D) and meta-isomers (∼15.0 D) by using Mataga–Lippert plot confirmed that the ICT occurs from dimesityl-borane to o-carborane in para-isomers while the ICT occurs only from dimesityl-borane to the bridged phenyl group in meta-isomers. Excited state estimation by electrochemical and DFT studies corroborated well to the ICT character, and even with engagement of the strong electron withdrawing dimesityl-borane group o-carborane unit still acts as an electron accepter as found in the para-isomers, p-1 and p-2.

Mosquitoes are a public health concern because they are vectors of pathogen, which cause human-related diseases. It is well known that the occurrence of mosquitoes is highly influenced by meteorological conditions (e.g., temperature and precipitation) and land use, but there are insufficient studies quantifying their impacts. Therefore, three analytical methods were applied to determine the relationships between urban mosquito occurrence, land use type, and meteorological factors: cluster analysis based on land use types, principal component analysis (PCA) based on mosquito occurrence, and three prediction models, support vector machine (SVM), classification and regression tree (CART), and random forest (RF). We used mosquito data collected at 12 sites from 2011 to 2012. Mosquito abundance was highest from August to September in both years. The monitoring sites were differentiated into three clusters based on differences in land use type such as culture and sport areas, inland water, artificial grasslands, and traffic areas. These clusters were well reflected in PCA ordinations, indicating that mosquito occurrence was highly influenced by land use types. Lastly, the RF represented the highest predictive power for mosquito occurrence and temperature-related factors were the most influential. Our study will contribute to effective control and management of mosquito occurrences.

As consumers are aware of their health and are more conscious of environmental conditions, there is an increasing demand for agri-foods obtained from organic agricultural practices. The present study aimed to investigate the physicochemical quality characteristics of blueberries. The weight, length, moisture contents, color (Hunter L, a, b), soluble solids contents, pH, and acidity were measured for their quality characteristics. In addition, ABTS radical scavenging activity was analyzed for antioxidant activities of organically and conventionally grown blueberries. Organically grown blueberries showed a greater weight, soluble solid contents, and pH than conventionally grown ones. Especially, organically grown blueberries showed significantly (p

This paper presents a novel actuator for harvesting energy from ambient acoustic noise using acoustically oscillating droplets. When a liquid droplet sitting on a piezocantilever is excited by an acoustic wave around its natural frequency, its oscillation simultaneously bends the piezocantilever, which generates electric power owing to the piezoelectric effect. The oscillation amplitudes of water droplets with three different sizes (2, 4, and 6 μl) hanging from a solid substrate were first investigated using high-speed images. The results showed that the droplet oscillation amplitude was strongly dependent on the applied frequency and was proportional to the droplet size. The maximum droplet oscillation amplitude occurred at the natural frequency of the droplets. Energy harvesting based on acoustically oscillating droplets was separately tested using a commercial piezocantilever. The oscillation behaviors of water droplets hanging from a flexible piezocantilever were also studied using high-speed images. The bending displacement and generated voltage of the piezocantilever by the acoustically oscillating water droplets were measured with a high-speed camera and digital oscilloscope, respectively, for different droplet sizes and distances between the droplet and piezoactuator. Both the bending displacement and generated voltage were strongly affected by the applied frequency and proportional to the droplet size but were inversely proportional to the distance. The force generated from the acoustically oscillating droplets was measured by using a load cell. The maximum force generated from the acoustically oscillating droplet (4 μl) was about 123.9 μN at the maximum bending displacement (about 1.5 mm). The output voltage and power generated from the piezocantilever actuated by the acoustically oscillating droplets were measured with a custom-made electric circuit (mainly consisting of a voltage rectifier and load) for different droplet sizes. The maximum generated power for the load (10 Ω) was measured to be about 80 μW. As proof of concept, storage capacitor charging tests were conducted for 0.1 and 1 μF capacitors using the acoustically oscillating droplets in three different sizes.

A carbazole-functionalized silole, 9,9′-(4,4′-(2,3,4,5-tetraphenyl-1H-silole-1,1-diyl)bis(4,1-phenylene))bis(9H-carbazole) ( BPCTPS ), was prepared through the reaction of dilithium diene with tetrachlorosilane followed by a direct substitution reaction with (4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)lithium. Combining the carbazole donor with the silole acceptor resulted in a new type of donor–acceptor (D–A) dyad. Density function theory (DFT) calculations showed that the highest occupied molecular orbital was localized on the carbazole group whereas the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital was localized on the silole group. BPCTPS exhibited very weak emission properties in dilute solution but emitted intensely in the aggregated state, revealing that it was an aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active species. Furthermore, addition of electron donating groups to the silole ring resulted in a slight red shift of both the absorption and emission spectra compared with those of the reference compound hexaphenylsilole ( HTS ). The electrochemical properties of BPCTPS were also studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), which indicated that the compound formed a cross-linked film on the Pt electrode via electropolymerization.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like (EGFL) domain, a common structural module in numerous secreted or transmembrane proteins, is generally involved in protein-protein interactions. To date, several EGFL proteins have been identified and characterized, but little is known about EGFL domain 8 (EGFL8). The present study reported the molecular characterization and expression analysis of EGFL8 in mice. Mouse EGFL8 amplified using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction approach was sequenced and characterized. Mouse EGFL8 encodes a protein of 293 amino acids with two EGFL domains, an Emilin-like domain and a Ca(2+)-binding EGFL domain, which has a molecular mass of 32 kDa. The coding sequence has a high degree of amino acid sequence identity across species, and the EGFL domain has been highly conserved in various species during evolutionary radiation. A phylogenetic tree calculated using the neighbor-joining method revealed that EGFL8 and EGFL7 are more closely associated with each other than either is to EGFL3, and they cluster with EGFL6. It was found that mouse EGFL8 protein was highly expressed in diverse mouse tissue types, including the thymus, lymph nodes, testis, ovaries, epididymis, ductus deferens, ileum, colon, stomach, esophagus, lung, uterus, urinary bladder, skin, spleen, adrenal glands and penis. These results are of great use in understanding the biological roles of mouse EGFL8 for further study.

// Chae Hwa Kwon 1,* , Hye Ji Park 1,* , Jin Hwa Choi 1 , Ja Rang Lee 1 , Hye Kyung Kim 1 , Hong-jae Jo 2 , Hyun Sung Kim 2 , Nahmgun Oh 2 , Geun Am Song 3 and Do Youn Park 1 1 Department of Pathology, Pusan National University Hospital and Pusan National University School of Medicine, and BioMedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Seo-Gu, Busan, Korea 2 Department of Surgery, Pusan National University Hospital and Pusan National University School of Medicine, and BioMedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Seo-Gu, Busan, Korea 3 Department of Internal Medicine, Pusan National University Hospital and Pusan National University School of Medicine, and BioMedical Research Institute, Pusan National University Hospital, Seo-Gu, Busan, Korea * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Do Youn Park, email: // Keywords : colorectal cancer, snail, serpinA1, prognosis, fibronectin Received : December 16, 2014 Accepted : April 10, 2015 Published : April 29, 2015 Abstract The role of Snail and serpin peptidase inhibitor clade A member 1 (serpinA1) in tumorigenesis has been previously identified. However, the exact role and mechanism of these proteins in progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) are controversial. In this study, we investigated the role of Snail and serpinA1 in colorectal cancer (CRC) and examined the mechanisms through which these proteins mediate CRC progression. Immunohistochemical analysis of 528 samples from patients with CRC showed that elevated expression of Snail or serpinA1 was correlated with advanced stage, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis. Moreover, we detected a correlation between Snail and serpinA1 expression. Functional studies performed using the CRC cell lines DLD-1 and SW-480 showed that overexpression of Snail or serpinA1 significantly increased CRC cell invasion and migration. Conversely, knockdown of Snail or serpinA1 expression suppressed CRC cell invasion and migration. ChIP analysis revealed that Snail regulated serpinA1 by binding to its promoter. In addition, fibronectin mediated Snail and serpinA1 signaling was involved in CRC cell invasion and migration. Taken together, our data showed that Snail and serpinA1 promoted CRC progression through fibronectin. These findings suggested that Snail and serpinA1 were novel prognostic biomarkers and candidate therapeutic targets in CRC.

Many have called for re-examination of the “colorblind” philosophy to which some early educators have, tacitly or explicitly, adhered (e.g. Boutte et al. 2011; Derman-Sparks and Edwards 2010; Husband 2012). It has been argued that, while colorblind approaches may appear to be politically neutral, they actually exacerbate racial oppression. In this article, we advocate for a direct and active approach to raising conversations about race with younger preschool children. Based on the developmental nature of young children’s concepts of self and of other, our focus is on initiating discussions about concrete and observable physical aspects of human diversity associated with race. Young children notice and are curious about differences in skin color, hair texture, and facial features. Because these differences are salient, are accessible, and are of interest to young children they can serve as an effective starting point. We suggest shared reading of high quality illustrated children’s books, incorporating the principles of dialogic reading, as a potent springboard for discussions about race with very young children. Our purpose is to equip children, very early in their schooling, with a color-filled appreciation for and comfort with physical diversity of appearance. On that foundation, children may better proceed on the course of developing anti-racist attitudes.

Athletic performance is an important criteria used for the selection of superior horses. However, little is known about exercise-related epigenetic processes in the horse. DNA methylation is a key mechanism for regulating gene expression in response to environmental changes. We carried out comparative genomic analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation profiles in the blood samples of two different thoroughbred horses before and after exercise by methylated-DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-Seq). Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in the pre-and post-exercise blood samples of superior and inferior horses were identified. Exercise altered the methylation patterns. After 30 min of exercise, 596 genes were hypomethylated and 715 genes were hypermethylated in the superior horse, whereas in the inferior horse, 868 genes were hypomethylated and 794 genes were hypermethylated. These genes were analyzed based on gene ontology (GO) annotations and the exercise-related pathway patterns in the two horses were compared. After exercise, gene regions related to cell division and adhesion were hypermethylated in the superior horse, whereas regions related to cell signaling and transport were hypermethylated in the inferior horse. Analysis of the distribution of methylated CpG islands confirmed the hypomethylation in the gene-body methylation regions after exercise. The methylation patterns of transposable elements also changed after exercise. Long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) showed abundance of DMRs. Collectively, our results serve as a basis to study exercise-based reprogramming of epigenetic traits.