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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2017. This study proposes a fault estimation (FE)-based fault-tolerant control (FTC) strategy to maintain system reliability and achieve desirable control performance for a 3-DOF helicopter system with both actuator drift and oscillation faults and saturation. The effects of the faults and saturation are combined into a composite non-differentiable actuator fault function, which is approximated by a differentiable function and estimated together with the system state using a non-linear unknown input observer. An adaptive sliding mode controller based on the estimates is developed to compensate the effects of the faults and saturation. Taking into account the bi-directional robustness interactions between the FE and FTC functions, an integrated design approach is proposed to obtain the observer and controller gains in a single step, so as to achieve robust overall FTC system performance. In fault-free cases, the proposed strategy can be considered as a new approach for anti-windup control to compensate the effect of input saturation. Comparative simulations are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed design under different actuator fault scenarios.

Most Relevant Explanation (MRE) is an inference problem in Bayesian networks that finds the most relevant partial instantiation of target variables as an explanation for given evidence. It has been shown in recent literature that it addresses the overspecification problem of existing methods, such as MPE and MAP. In this paper, we propose a novel hierarchical beam search algorithm for solving MRE. The main idea is to use a second-level beam to limit the number of successors generated by the same parent so as to limit the similarity between the solutions in the first-level beam and result in a more diversified population. Three pruning criteria are also introduced to achieve further diversity. Empirical results show that the new algorithm outperforms local search and regular beam search.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common allergic disease which is characterized by the promotion of Th2 differentiation of CD4+ T cells. However, the mechanisms underlying Th2 differentiation remain unclear. Non-coding RNAs play a critical role in Th2 differentiation, whereas few studies have revealed the interactions among long non-coding RNAs, circular RNAs, and microRNAs. In this study, the differential expressions of several circRNAs and lncRNAs were compared in nasal mucosa samples of AR patients and mice with experimentally induced AR as compared to healthy controls. The results showed that the highly expressed CircHIPK3 and LncGAS5 promoted Th2 differentiation of ovalbumin-induced CD4+ T cells and aggravated nasal symptoms of AR mice. We also found that CircHIPK3 and LncGAS5 induced the upregulation of Th2 cell-specific transcript factor GATA-3 via modulating their common target miR-495. Meanwhile, the intranasal administration of CircHIPK3 or LncGAS5 knockdown lentivirus decreased nasal symptoms of AR mice. In conclusion, our findings indicated that the interactions among CircHIPK3, LncGAS5, and miR-495 play a critical role in the regulation of Th2 differentiation in AR.

Background Rice blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) is one of the most destructive diseases in rice production. Development of resistant varieties through pyramiding of resistant (R) genes is considered as an effective strategy to cope with the disease. However, is it really essential to pyramid more R genes in a specific ecological regions? To answer this question, a set of rice improved lines were developed in this study. Afterwards, the blast disease resistance and agronomic traits of the recurrent parent (RP), donor parents (DPs) and improved lines were investigated. Results We developed seven improved lines, comprising three monogenic lines, three two-gene pyramids and one three-gene pyramid, by introgression of R gene(s) into a common genetic background using marker-assisted backcross breeding (MABB). Based on 302 SSR markers, the recurrent genome of the seven improved lines reached a range of 89.1 to 95.5%, with the average genome recovery of 92.9%. The pathogenicity assays inoculated with 32 different blast isolates under artificial conditions showed that the resistance spectrum of all the improved lines was significantly broadened. The assays further showed that the two-gene pyramids and the three-gene pyramid exhibited wider resistance spectrum than the monogenic lines. At natural nurseries, the three monogenic lines still showed high ratios of infected panicles, whereas the two-gene pyramids and the three-gene pyramid showed high level of panicle blast resistance. However, the two-gene pyramid R504 reached the similar resistance effect of the three-gene pyramid R507 considering resistance spectrum under artificial conditions and panicle blast resistance under field conditions. Generally, the improved lines showed comparable agronomic traits compared with the recurrent parent (RP), but the three-gene pyramid showed reduced grain yield per plant. Conclusions All the improved lines conferred wider resistance spectrum compared with the RP. Yet, the three monogenic lines did not work under field conditions of the two nurseries. Given the similar performances on the main agronomic traits as the RP, the two-gene pyramids have achieved the breeding goals of broad resistance spectrum and effective panicle blast resistance. Whereas, the three-gene pyramid harboring Pi2, Pi46 and Pita seems superfluous considering its reduced yield, although it also showed displayed high level of blast resistance. Thus, rational use of R genes rather than stacking more R genes is recommended to control the disease.

Rice bacterial leaf blight is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and produces substantial losses in rice yields. Resistance breeding is an effective method for controlling bacterial leaf blight disease. The mutant line H120 derived from the japonica line Lijiangxintuanheigu is resistant to all Chinese Xoo races. To identify and map the Xoo resistance gene(s) of H120, we examined the association between phenotypic and genotypic variations in two F2 populations derived from crosses between H120/CO39 and H120/IR24. The segregation ratios of F2 progeny consisted with the action of a single dominant resistance gene, which we named Xa46(t). Xa46(t) was mapped between the markers RM26981 and RM26984 within an approximately 65.34-kb region on chromosome 11. The 12 genes predicted within the target region included two candidate genes encoding the serine/threonine-protein kinase Doa (Loc_Os11g37540) and Calmodulin-2/3/5 (Loc_Os11g37550). Differential expression of H120 was analyzed by RNA-seq. Four genes in the Xa46(t) target region were differentially expressed after inoculation with Xoo. Mapping and expression data suggest that Loc_Os11g37540 allele is most likely to be Xa46(t). The sequence comparison of Xa23 allele between H120 and CBB23 indicated that the Xa46(t) gene is not identical to Xa23.

In an effort to bridge the scientist-practitioner gap in employee selection, some researchers have advocated telling stories to better communicate the value of evidence-based hiring practices to human resource (HR) professionals. In this paper, we conducted two experiments that examine the efficacy of storytelling for overcoming managers’ resistance to using structured job interviews. In two experiments, we found that participants who read a story regarding the effectiveness of structured interviews, as opposed to receiving evidence-based advice, reported more favorable attitudes toward structured job interviews. Serial mediation analysis revealed that the observed attitude change was mediated by an increase in narrative transportation and reduction in counterarguing. Implications for using stories in communicating the value of evidence-based HR practices are discussed.

Helicopter is a typical strongly coupled nonlinear complex system, and the design of its attitude controller is challenging. Helicopter flight performances can easily be affected by wind gusts especially when they are executing aggressive tasks. Furthermore, actuator input saturation can also influence helicopter attitude control performance. Considering these problems, this paper firstly establishes a helicopter dynamics model with the consideration of input saturation constraint, and then $H_{\infty}$ performance is applied to design a robust controller in order to improve the wind resistance of helicopter. Finally, the designed attitude robust controller effectiveness is validated. Experimental results demonstrate that compared with the PID and LQR methods, the proposed control strategy can better suppress the adverse effects of wind disturbances.

Additional file 1: Table S1. The 110 polymorphic markers between the RP and the DPs. Table S2. The information of the remaining 14 markers showing the DPsâ genotype at homozygous or heterozygous state. Table S3. The percentage of parental genome recovery of the 28 BC3F4 plants. Table S4. Performances of main agronomic traits of the tested lines during the early crop season (March to July) of 2016. Figure S1. Genetic background analysis of the seven improved lines by the remaining 14 SSR markers which detected polymorphic between the RP and the BC3F1 sample.

China is the world’s largest carbon emitter, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region is an energy-intensive area in China. Under the requirements of the national policy of regional green development, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region needs to shift to a low-carbon development mode to achieve regional emission reduction targets. The varying characteristics of industrial carbon emissions resulting from differences in the industrial development and resource endowment of each city make it difficult to implement the same emission reduction policy, so different cities need to be treated differently. Based on data from three provinces and eight cities in the region from 2002 to 2016, this study used the multi-regional (M-R) spatial decomposition method to compare the carbon emissions and the effects of their influencing factors in each city, so as to provide a targeted emission reduction policy for each city. The estimation results revealed that carbon emissions in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region peaked in 2012, and energy intensity and population size are the main reasons for the differences in carbon emissions at the provincial level. At the city level, Tangshan, Handan and Shijiazhuang are high carbon emission cities, while Hengshui, Baoding, Langfang, Qinhuangdao and Xingtai are low carbon emission cities. The total amount of carbon emission in all industries in Tangshan ranks the first, and economic scale and energy intensity are the main reasons for the high carbon emissions in its manufacturing and transportation sectors. Energy intensity and energy structure are the main reason why the carbon emission of Handan is higher than that of Baoding, a city with the same economic level. Shijiazhuang has high energy efficiency, but its economic development and carbon emissions have not yet been decoupled. Hengshui’s high energy intensity is an obstacle to emission reductions in all industries. Xingtai’s energy structure contributes to carbon emission reduction. The current industrial structures of Qinhuangdao, Langfang, and Shijiazhuang may help these cities reduce emissions. Lastly, we offer recommendations for urban emission reduction policies.

This paper presents a comparative research of robust attitude control for helicopter system. Considering the actuator saturation problem in the controller design process, two control approaches are mainly investigated. A mixed H∞ performance and linear quadratic regulator (LQR) based robust controller is proposed as the first approach, in which the control input is indirectly constrained in the cost function. While a constrained H∞ performance based robust attitude controller is developed as the other approach, in which the actuator saturation problem is directly considered in the dynamical model as well as following controller gain calculation. Based on Lyapunov stability theory, sufficient conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMI) are given. By using Quanser’s 3-DOF laboratory helicopter platform, comparative simulation and experimental tests are conducted. Payload variation and wind disturbance are all considered in the experimental test. And the results demonstrate the effectiveness as well as different performance of proposed robust attitude controllers.

This is the first report that GLP gene (OsGLP2-1) is involved in panicle blast and bacterial blight resistance in rice. In addition to its resistance to blast and bacterial blight, OsGLP2-1 has also been reported to co-localize with a QTLs for sheath blight resistance in rice. These suggest that the disease resistance provided by OsGLP2-1 is quantitative and broad spectrum. Its good resistance to these major diseases in rice makes it to be a promising target in rice breeding. Rice (Oryza sativa) blast caused by Magnaporthe oryzae and bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae are the two most destructive rice diseases worldwide. Germin-like protein (GLP) gene family is one of the important defense gene families which have been reported to be involved in disease resistance in plants. Although GLP proteins have been demonstrated to positively regulate leaf blast resistance in rice, their involvement in resistance to panicle blast and bacterial blight, has not been reported. In this study, we reported that one of the rice GLP genes, OsGLP2-1, was significantly induced by blast fungus. Overexpression of OsGLP2-1 quantitatively enhanced resistance to leaf blast, panicle blast and bacterial blight. The temporal and spatial expression analysis revealed that OsGLP2-1is highly expressed in leaves and panicles and sub-localized in the cell wall. Compared with empty vector transformed (control) plants, the OsGLP2-1 overexpressing plants exhibited higher levels of H2O2 both before and after pathogen inoculation. Moreover, OsGLP2-1 was significantly induced by jasmonic acid (JA). Overexpression of OsGLP2-1 induced three well-characterized defense-related genes which are associated in JA-dependent pathway after pathogen infection. Higher endogenous level of JA was also identified in OsGLP2-1 overexpressing plants than in control plants both before and after pathogen inoculation. Together, these results suggest that OsGLP2-1 functions as a positive regulator to modulate disease resistance. Its good quantitative resistance to the two major diseases in rice makes it to be a promising target in rice breeding.

Excavation of resistance genes is one of the most effective and environment-friendly measures to control the devastating rice disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae. Many resistance genes have been mapped and characterized in the last century. Nevertheless, only a few of the total resistance genes could be really applied in the rice breeding program. Huazhan (HZ) is a new native rice restorer line developed in China and widely used in hybrid rice in recent years. HZ and its crossed combinations usually show a broad spectrum of resistance against rice blast in different rice ecosystems in China. Dissection of the genetic background of HZ is very useful for its further application. In this study, a combined method based on bulked segregation analysis (BSA) and specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) was used to identify blast resistance gene(s) in HZ. A total of 56,187 SLAFs labels were captured and 9051 polymorphic SLAFs markers were analysed and procured in this study. One trait associated with candidate resistance genes region on chromosome 12 overlapping 10.2–17.6 Mb has been identified, in which 10 NBS-LRR (nucleotide-binding site-leucine-rich repeat) coding genes were used as resistance gene candidates. Our result indicated that SLAF-seq with BSA is a rapid and effective method for initial identification of blast resistance genes. The identification of resistance gene in HZ will improve its molecular breeding and resistance variety application.

Most Relevant Explanation (MRE) is an inference task in Bayesian networks that finds the most relevant partial instantiation of target variables as an explanation for given evidence by maximizing the Generalized Bayes Factor (GBF). No exact MRE algorithm has been developed previously except exhaustive search. This paper fills the void by introducing two Breadth-First Branch-and-Bound (BFBnB) algorithms for solving MRE based on novel upper bounds of GBF. One upper bound is created by decomposing the computation of GBF using a target blanket decomposition of evidence variables. The other upper bound improves the first bound in two ways. One is to split the target blankets that are too large by converting auxiliary nodes into pseudo-targets so as to scale to large problems. The other is to perform summations instead of maximizations on some of the target variables in each target blanket. Our empirical evaluations show that the proposed BFBnB algorithms make exact MRE inference tractable in Bayesian networks that could not be solved previously.

Though GF14e has been reported to negatively regulate bacterial blight and sheath blight resistance in rice, its effect on panicle blast, the most destructive disease in rice is still unknown. In the present study, we identified that GF14e was highly expressed in panicles and was induced in panicles infected by blast pathogen. Overexpression of GF14e enhances resistance to panicle blast whereas silencing GF14e results in increased susceptibility to panicle blast, suggesting that GF14e plays a positive role in quantitative panicle blast resistance in rice. Our results also demonstrate that GF14e is regulated by WRKY71 and GF14e-mediated panicle blast resistance is related to activation of SA-dependent pathway and suppression of JA-dependent pathway. The functional confirmation of GF14e in panicle blast resistance makes it to be a promising target in molecular rice breeding.

Exploitation of the heterosis of hybrid rice has shown great success in the improvement of rice yields. However, few genotypes exhibit strong restoration ability as effective restorers of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in the development of hybrid rice. In this study, we developed a platform for the breeding by design of CMS restorer lines based on a library of chromosomal single segment substitution lines (SSSLs) in the Huajingxian74 (HJX74) genetic background. The target genes for breeding by design, Rf34 and Rf44, which are associated with a strong restoration ability, and gs3, gw8, Wxg1 and Alk, which are associated with good grain quality, were selected from the HJX74 SSSL library. Through pyramiding of the target genes, a restorer line, H121R, was developed. The H121R line was then improved regarding blast resistance by pyramiding of the qBLAST11 gene. Hence, a new restorer line with blast resistance, H131R, was developed. The platform involving the Rf34 and Rf44 restorer genes would be used for the continuous improvement of restorer lines through breeding by design in rice.

Although 14-3-3 proteins have been reported to be involved in responses to biotic stresses in plants, their functions in rice blast, the most destructive disease in rice, are largely unknown. Only GF14e has been confirmed to negatively regulate leaf blast. We report that GF14b is highly expressed in seedlings and panicles during blast infection. Rice plants overexpressing GF14b show enhanced resistance to panicle blast but are susceptible to leaf blast. In contrast, GF14b-silenced plants show increased susceptibility to panicle blast but enhanced resistance to leaf blast. Yeast one-hybrid assays demonstrate that WRKY71 binds to the promoter of GF14b and modulates its expression. Overexpression of GF14b induces expression of jasmonic acid (JA) synthesis-related genes but suppresses expression of salicylic acid (SA) synthesis-related genes. In contrast, suppressed GF14b expression causes decreased expression of JA synthesis-related genes but activation of SA synthesis-related genes. These results suggest that GF14b positively regulates panicle blast resistance but negatively regulates leaf blast resistance, and that GF14b-mediated disease resistance is associated with the JA- and SA-dependent pathway. The different functions for 14-3-3 proteins in leaf and panicle blast provide new evidence that leaf and panicle blast resistance are controlled by different mechanisms.

In this paper an integrated clutch filling phase control for gearshifts on wet clutch transmissions is developed. In a clutch-to-clutch shift of an automatic transmission, in order to obtain smooth gearshift, it should synchronize the oncoming clutch and the off-going clutch timely as well as precise pressure control for the engagement of the oncoming clutch. However, before the oncoming clutch pressure starts to increase, the initial cavity of the clutch chamber has to be filled first. The filling time and stability of the fill phase are very important for the clutch control. In order to improve the shift quality of the automatic transmission which is equipped on heavy-duty vehicles, the electro-hydraulic clutch actuation system is analysed and modelled. A new fill phase control strategy is proposed based on the system analysis as well as the control parameters are optimized according to the variation of the oil temperature and engine speed. The designed strategy is validated by a simulation work. The results demonstrate that the proposed control strategy and parameters modified method can transit the shift process from the fill phase to the torque phase effectively.

This paper presents a robust speed synchronization controller design for an integrated motor–transmission powertrain system in which the driving motor and multi-gearbox are directly coupled. As the controller area network (CAN) is commonly used in the vehicle powertrain system, the possible network-induced random delays in both feedback and forward channel are considered and modeled by using two Markov chains in the controller design process. For the application perspective, the control law adopted here is a generalized proportional–integral (PI) control. By employing the system-augmentation technique, a delay-free stochastic closed-loop system is obtained and the generalized PI controller design problem is converted to a static output feedback (SOF) controller design problem. Since there are external disturbances involved in the closed-loop system, the energy-to-peak performance is considered to guarantee the robustness of the controller. And the controlled output is chosen as the speed synchronization error. To further improve the transient response of the closed-loop system, the pole placement is also employed in the energy-to-peak performance based speed synchronization control. The mode-dependent control gains are obtained by using an iterative linear matrix inequality (LMI) algorithm. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is the second most common malignancy of the salivary glands, also found at lower frequency rates in other secretory glands such as the mammary and lacrimal glands. Salivary ACCs are slow-growing but aggressive neoplasms, with propensity to perineural invasion and high recurrence rates. MYB is the most frequently altered gene in ACCs, as approximately 40% of the ACCs contain MYB-NFIB gene fusions, and the full-length MYB is overexpressed in over 50% of the fusion-negative ACCs. However, it is still unclear whether MYB activities promote ACC development. To assess the oncogenic potential of MYB in vivo, we generated transgenic mice that overexpress MYB using the TetO system. In these mice, focal MYB overexpression was directed to salivary and mammary glands using the activator line MMTV-tTA. We found that 25% of these mice developed tumors with an average latency of 23 months. Remarkably, all the tumors that developed in these mice were ACCs, and the three main phenotypic variants of human ACCs (cribriform, tubular and solid) were represented in this cohort. Using the same transgenic system, we found that the MYB-NFIB fusion also induced ACCs, with similar incidence and lower latency. Immunohistochemical analysis of these mouse ACCs for several biomarkers of human ACC, including p63 and c-kit, provided additional evidence of the similarity of the mouse ACCs that developed in these models, and human ACCs. RNAseq global expression profiling uncovered the activation of several cancer-associated pathways in MYB-induced mouse ACCs. Most notably, activation NOTCH signaling was highly enriched in these tumors. Additional analysis for the presence of the NOTCH intracellular domain demonstrated that all of the MYB- and MYB-NFIB-induced ACCs contain NOTCH activation. These findings, and the recent identification of activating mutations in NOTCH1 and NOTCH2 in human ACCs, suggest that NOTCH activities may contribute to ACC development. To test this hypothesis, ongoing studies in the lab are directed to assess the role of NOTCH signaling in ACC development, by generating mouse models in which constitutive activation of NOTCH is induced in mice alone or in combination with MYB alterations. Overall, these studies demonstrate that MYB activities are the main oncogenic driver of ACC. Genomic rearrangements that result in MYB-NFIB fusions may enhance the oncogenic potential of MYB. Citation Format: Yuan Hu, Xiaoyuan Zhu, Han Luo, Adel El-Naggar, Carlos Caulin. MYB and the MYB-NFIB fusion induce adenoid cystic carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 1611.

With the consistent tendency of electrification and intelligentization of marine systems in recent years, the electric propulsion system has been a prospective candidate for ships due to its potential in energy saving, environmental protection, high efficiency, and high reliability. However, time-varying delays of communication networks would be induced due to increasing information exchange requirement that caused by the increasing number of devices connecting to the communication networks as well as bandwidth limitation of marine network. Meanwhile, the propeller load is difficult to model due to the complexity of ship dynamics, which increases the uncertainty of marine electric propulsion system. Thus, robust control of the marine electric propulsion system is necessary and challenging. This paper presents a mixed H ∞ ∕ L Q R robust controller design for marine electric propulsion system to address robust speed tracking problem under possible network-induced delays. The propeller dynamic model is built via open-water experimental data to reflect propeller load characteristics. Then, a delay-free model is established for the marine electric propulsion system by using system augmentation technique, with the random network-induced delay characterized by polytopic inclusions and Taylor series expansion. A mixed H ∞ ∕ L Q R robust controller design is proposed for the marine electric propulsion system. Finally, based on a detailed controller area network model, the performance and effectiveness of the mixed H ∞ ∕ L Q R robust controller are demonstrated by comparative simulation tests of a marine electric propulsion system with 4.088 MW permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM).

This is the first time to dissect the mechanism of NACs-mediated disease resistance in plants using metabolomic approach and discover the involvement of ABA signaling pathway in NACs-mediated disease resistance. NAC transcription factors have been validated as important regulators in stress responses, but their molecular mechanisms in plant disease resistance are still largely unknown. Here we report that the NAC gene ONAC066 (LOC_Os01g09550) is significantly activated by rice blast infection. ONAC066 is ubiquitously expressed and this protein is localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of ONAC066 quantitatively enhances resistance to blast disease and bacterial blight in rice. The transcript levels of PR genes are also dramatically induced in ONAC066 overexpressing plants. Exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) strongly activates the transcription of ONAC066 in rice. Further analysis shows that overexpression of ONAC066 remarkably suppresses the expression of ABA-related genes, whereas there are no obvious differences for salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA)-related genes between wild-type and ONAC066 overexpressing plants. Consistently, lower endogenous ABA levels are identified in ONAC066 overexpressing plants compared with wild-type plants before and after blast inoculation, while no significant differences are observed for the SA and JA levels. Yeast one-hybrid assays demonstrate that ONAC066 directly binds to the promoters of LIP9 and NCED4 to modulate their expression. Moreover, the metabolomic study reveals that the ONAC066 overexpressing plants accumulated higher contents of soluble sugars and amino acids both before and after pathogen attack, when compared to wild-type plants. Taken together, our results suggest that ONAC066 positively regulates rice resistance to blast and bacterial blight, and ONAC066 exerts its functions on disease resistance by modulating of ABA signaling pathway, sugars and amino acids accumulation in rice.

An integrated motor transmission (IMT) system in which motor and gearbox are directly coupled is emerging as an attractive powertrain alterative for electric vehicles (EVs). It can better balance efficiency and dynamic performance of EVs, and also reduce the size requirement of electric driving motors. However, elimination of damping components makes oscillation damping control of an IMT powertrain system a challenging problem. Time-varying delays caused by bandwidth limitation in the controller area network (CAN) further lead to powertrain vibration or even destabilize the powertrain control system. Therefore, in this chapter, a robust energy-to-peak controller is proposed for the IMT system to address the oscillation damping problem. The control law adopted here is based on a multivariable PI control, which can ensure the applicability and performance of the proposed controller in a practical powertrain control system. With the linearized delay uncertainties characterized by polytopic inclusions, a delay-free closed-loop augmented system is established for the IMT powertrain system under a discrete-time framework. Then, the proposed controller design problem is converted to a static output feedback controller design problem where the feedback control gains are obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). Finally, comparative simulation studies are conducted to validate the effectiveness as well as robustness of the proposed controller.

This paper presents a lateral motion control strategy for four-wheel independently actuated (FWIA) electric ground vehicles that use the controller area network as a communication medium. The proposed controller design aims to guarantee vehicle stability while tracking the desired yaw rate, in spite of random network-induced delays that exist in both the feedback and forward channels. By modeling the random network-induced delays in both channels as two homogenous Markov chains, statistic information of these delays is incorporated in the mode-dependent tracking controller design. The control law consists of state feedback control and integral control. To fully compensate for the network-induced delays, a delay-free stochastic closed-loop system is first obtained in a discrete-time framework by using a system augmentation technique. Then, a robust linear quadratic regulator-based $\boldsymbol{H}_{\infty}$ controller is developed to achieve the tradeoff between the tracking error and the control input while also attenuating the effect of external disturbance. Considering the physical limitation of in-wheel motors, the eigenvalue positions of the state matrix are constrained in a predefined area to further balance the control inputs and transient responses by using pole placement. Finally, an iterative linear matrix inequality algorithm is adopted to obtain the delay-dependent feedback control gains. Simulation results based on a high-fidelity, CarSim, full-vehicle model show the effectiveness of the proposed lateral motion control approach.

A new BoSW model for hyperspectral image data representation is proposed.High-dimension hyperspectral image is reduced to a compact vector by BoSW model.Spatial and full-spectral information are jointly considered.Spectrum prototype is searched and counted to reflect the severity of panicle blast.Classification accuracy is up to 81.41% for six and 96.40% for two infection levels. Rice panicle blast grading is very important in gauging cultivar resistance and in the precise control of a blast epidemic. However, the development of an automated, rapid, and accurate panicle blast grading system is a challenging task. This is mainly because of the complexity of the pathology, appearance, and definition of the blast disease level. In this study, a new method for grading panicle blast based on hyperspectral imaging technology is proposed. The method is based on the concept of the "bag of textons," which is widely used in the document analysis field and which defines a "bag of spectra words" (BoSW) model for hyperspectral image data representation. Hyperspectral image data representation based on the BoSW model is used as the input to a chi-square kernel support vector machine (chi-SVM) classifier for predicting the rice panicle blast level. Specifically, the BoSW model jointly considers the image-spectrum information to attain improved classification accuracy. It reduces a high-dimension hyperspectral image into a compact, low-dimension representation. It also highlights the histogram statistics of a typical spectrum prototype to reflect the panicle blast severity level. In this way, it avoids the fine segmentation and morphological analysis of blast lesions. Experiments were conducted on a total of 312 fresh rice panicles covering more than 50 cultivars, which were collected from an experimental field under natural conditions. The results showed that the proposed method could effectively grade panicle blast with classification accuracies of up to 81.41% for six-class grading and 96.40% for two-class grading in the validation datasets. Comparison experiments were conducted on different data batches or combinations thereof. The results showed that the technique is viable for different types of rice cultivar and planting seasons, pointing to its widespread practical applicability.

Knowledge of driveshaft torque is very important to powertrain oscillation damping control as well as gear shift quality improvement. However, the driveshaft torque cannot be easily measured by using affordable sensors. This paper provides a robust driveshaft torque observer design for electric vehicle equipped with stepped ratio transmission. The proposed observer is constructed using the measurable angular velocity signals and designed to be robust against modeling error, system uncertainties as well as external load disturbance. Torsion angle of the driveshaft is selected to be estimated instead of direct torque observation, which can be further used to calculate the driveshaft torsion based on driveshaft?s spring-damper model. The H∞ performance is adopted in the observer design to minimize the effect of the disturbance on the estimation error. Furthermore, the decay rate of the estimation error and transient response of the observer are also considered by using an eigenvalue placement technique. The observer gain is derived by solving the linear matrix inequality while simulation results are adopted to show the effectiveness of the proposed observer design.

Integrated motor-transmission (IMT) powertrain system with directly coupled motor and gearbox is a good choice for electric commercial vehicles (e.g., pure electric buses) due to its potential in motor size reduction and energy efficiency improvement. However, the controller design for powertrain oscillation damping becomes challenging due to the elimination of damping components. On the other hand, as controller area network (CAN) is commonly adopted in modern vehicle system, the network-induced time-varying delays that caused by bandwidth limitation will further lead to powertrain vibration or even destabilize the powertrain control system. Therefore, in this paper, a robust energy-to-peak controller is proposed for the IMT powertrain system to address the oscillation damping problem and also attenuate the external disturbance. The control law adopted here is based on a multivariable PI control, which ensures the applicability and performance of the proposed controller in engineering practice. With the linearized delay uncertainties characterized by polytopic inclusions, a delay-free closed-loop augmented system is established for the IMT powertrain system under discrete-time framework. The proposed controller design problem is then converted to a static output feedback (SOF) controller design problem where the feedback control gains are obtained by solving a set of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The effectiveness as well as robustness of the proposed controller is demonstrated by comparing its performance against that of a conventional PI controller.

Landers and Behrend (2015) call for editors and reviewers to resist using heuristics when evaluating samples in research as well as for researchers to cautiously consider choosing the samples appropriate for their research questions. Whereas we fully agree with the former conclusion, we believe the latter can be extended even further to encourage researchers to embrace the strengths of their samples for understanding their research rather than simply defending their samples. We believe that samples are not inherently better or worse but rather better suited for different research objectives. In this commentary, we identify three continua on which research goals can differ to demonstrate that all samples can inform science. Depending on the position of one's research on these continua, different samples exhibit different strengths; the continua described below can be used to anchor one's sample to demonstrate how it can benefit, rather than limit, research conclusions. As discussed in the focal article, researchers will often apologize for their convenience samples as one of a litany of limitations; we hope that researchers will move sampling issues out of the limitations section and into the main discussion.

Radioresistance severely restricts the clinical treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). microRNAs (miRs) have been demonstrated to affect cancer progression and radiosensitivity. Thus, the aim of the present study was to identify miRs associated with radioresistance in NPC. A radioresistant NPC cell line (CNE-2-1) was established by continuously exposing CNE-2 cells to radiation. Subsequently, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to detect the regulation of miRs in radioresistant CNE-2-1 cells, and it was observed that miR-21 was among the three most upregulated miRs in CNE-2-1 cells. Therefore, the expression levels of miR-21 were quantified using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Finally, the function of miR-21 was investigated by downregulating the expression in the CNE-2-1 cells. The results indicated that the expression of miR-21 was significantly increased in the CNE-2-1 cells, as compared with the CNE-2 cells. In addition, downregulation of miR-21 resulted in enhanced radiosensitivity in the CNE-2-1 cells, as demonstrated by the inhibition in cell viability of these radioresistant cells. Further analysis indicated that miR-21 was able to inhibit the proliferation of CNE-2-1 cells at the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Therefore, these results indicated that miR-21 was able to regulate radioresistance in NPC cells; however, further studies are required to confirm this hypothesis.

More attention is being given to the stable, dispositional tendency to maximize when making decisions. Within the growing body of research has been an exchange regarding the appropriate means of measuring maximizing tendency. Guided primarily by psychometric and statistical analyses, these studies have critiqued and revised existing maximizing tendency scales and/or introduced new measures. Importantly, many of these discussions seem to ignore theoretical considerations of the construct of maximizing. In this article, we revisit the original work of Herbert Simon, from where the theory of maximizing tendency was developed, and provide a theoretical account for how maximizers can be distinguished from satisficers and the implications therein for the measurement of maximizing tendency. Across two studies, we provide an updated psychometric, correlational, and behavioral comparison of the two most popular maximizing tendency scales: the Maximization Scale and the Maximizing Tendency Scale. Results demonstrate that the Maximizing Tendency Scale is more theoretically and psychometrically valid than the Maximization Scale

The fungal pathogen Ustilaginoidea virens is now widespread in most rice producing areas of the world and attacks the seed spikes of rice, causing sterility, reduced seed weight and accumulation of mycotoxins. The lack of appropriate data relating to the mechanisms of infection leaves a gap within the pathosystem, forcing the search for new methodologies for monitoring the disease. Here, we developed an efficient A. tumefaciens mediated transformation system for rice false smut disease. In addition, infection patterns were explored in rice using the green fluorescent protein gene (gfp) transformed U. virens. ATMT uses both the Hygromycin B resistance (hph) gene and green fluorescent protein as the selection agents. The T-DNA integration into the fungal genome was assessed by PCR. Expression of the gfp gene did not affect the pathogenicity of the U. virens transformants. U. virens pathogenicity was examined on the floral structures using a fluorescence microscope. Fluorescence microscopy allowed in vivo imaging of this pathogen during infection of rice spikelets. These studies will allow us to develop strategies to determine the mechanisms of U. virens–rice interaction in greater detail and to apply functional genomics for the characterization of involved genes at the molecular level either by insertional mutagenesis or gene knock-out.

This paper develops a robust wheel slip controller for in-wheel-motors-driven electric vehicles equipped with both hydraulic anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and regenerative braking (RB) systems. Based on a combination of optimal predictive control design and Lyapunov theory, the issue of uncertain vehicle parameters is well addressed. A novel braking torque distribution strategy is also introduced to achieve smooth regulation of the hydraulic pressure, such that pedal pulsating effect of the traditional ABS system can be relieved. By utilizing the larger working range of the hydraulic braking (HB) system and the faster response of the RB system, a better wheel slip control performance can be obtained. Moreover, the torque distributer helps to reach a good compromise between braking distance and the magnitude of the RB torque, which is directly related to the amount of regenerated energy. The effectiveness of the proposed control system has been validated in various simulations.

Rice blast, caused by the fungal pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most devastating diseases of rice (Oryza sativa) worldwide. Identification and utilization of resistance genes in rice breeding is considered to be an effective and economical method to control this disease. Hanghui 1179 (HH1179) is a new native rice restorer line developed in South China. The hybrids derived from HH1179 show broad-spectrum resistance against rice blast in South China, and a further understanding of the genetic resistance in HH1179 will provide useful information for breeding resistant cultivars. In the present study, we used bulked segregant analysis combined with specific-length amplified fragment sequencing to identify a dominant gene from HH1179 that provides resistance against the rice blast isolate GD13-14. Association analysis indicated that the resistance gene is located on chromosome 6 and we mapped the target gene to a 100.8 kb region (between markers InDel-8 and RM19818) that contains the Pi2/Pi9/Piz/Piz-t/Pi50 gene cluster. Candidate gene prediction and cDNA sequencing indicated that the target resistance gene in HH1179 is Pi2. Our findings will be valuable for resistance breeding with restorer line HH1179.

This paper is concerned with the speed synchronization optimal controller design problem for clutchless automated manual transmission systems in electric vehicles. It is well known that speed synchronization is one of the main challenges in a transmission system. In electric vehicles, clutchless automated manual transmission systems are regarded as promising transmission devices and are generally required to have high-precision speed synchronization capabilities. In order to satisfy this requirement, a robust optimal speed synchronization control scheme is proposed in this paper. The control law consists of preview control, integral control, and state-feedback control. Using an augmentation method, the proposed controller design problem is transformed into a state-feedback design problem for the augmented system first. As the external input is involved in the augmented system, the H∞ control scheme is employed to minimize the effect of disturbance on the controlled output. In addition, to ensure tradeoff between the transient response and the maximal control effort, the linear quadratic cost function and the pole placement technique are also adopted in the design. Finally, the controller gains are calculated by solving the linear matrix inequality. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control approach.

Rice false smut is a severe fungal disease worldwide, but the mechanisms underlying resistance to the causal agent Ustilaginoidea virens in rice remain unknown. We performed RNA-Seq to investigate the transcriptional modulation in resistant and susceptible rice varieties for the responses to U. virens infection. In total, 1405 and 1066 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in resistant ‘IR28’ and susceptible ‘HXZ’ cultivars, respectively. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed a set of GO terms differentially enriched in the two rice varieties. Functional analysis of DEGs showed that a large number of genes encoding secondary metabolites, flavin-containing monooxygenases and peroxidases were differentially regulated. Classification analysis of DEGs revealed that brassinosteroids may have more important roles than salicylic acid and ethylene in response to U. virens infection; the crosstalk of other hormones such as auxin, gibberellins and jasmonates may also affect U. vire...

Marker-assisted selection (MAS) for qualitative traits such as grain quality and resistance to certain diseases has proven to be highly effective. Multiple genes responsible for various quality components and disease resistances can be simultaneously stacked to boost the performance and to lengthen the commercial lifespan of high-yield varieties. Grain quality genes (fgr and Wx) and three disease resistance genes (Pita, Pik and Xa23) have been well characterized and used in MAS breeding. However, stacking all of them together into a single variety has not been reported. We reported here the stacking of the five genes into elite lines in rice. We achieved this through the development of functional markers from causal mutations at fgr, Wx and Pita, a gene-targeted marker at Pik and the use of a linked marker for Xa23. We employed and optimized the high-resolution melting (HRM) analysis method for use as the genotyping platform of fgr, Wx, Pik and Pita. By combining high-throughput DNA isolation, multiplex and nested-PCR methods, we showed that HRM could serve as cost-effective, highly automated, moderate-throughput and reliable non-gel genotyping platform for a small-scale MAS program.

In the present study, we performed the resistance assessment by rice blast inoculation on IRBLta2-Re and IRBLta-CP1, the experimental lines supposed to carry rice blast resistance genes Pita2 and Pita, respectively. The analysis by using 196 rice blast isolates derived from China indicated that the resistance spectrum of IRBLta2-Re was broader than that of IRBLta-CP1. Both IRBLta2-Re and IRBLta-CP1 have the Pita gene by analyzing the functional single amino acid difference of Pita/pita locus. To identify the additional gene in IRBLta2-Re, 1250 F2 individuals from the cross between CO39 and IRBLta2-Re were used as the mapping population. The F2 population was inoculated with the blast isolate 08-T4 which was incompatible to IRBLta2-Re, but compatible to CO39 and IRBLta-CP1. In the phenotypic data analysis, the F2 population segregated in a 3:1 ratio for resistant and susceptible plants, respectively, suggesting that IRBLta2-Re has an additional resistance gene other than Pita, which was tentatively designated Pita3(t) (supposed to be Pita2). To identify the Pita3(t), a total of 50 microsatellite and 12 position specific microsatellite markers distributed by two sides of the Pita gene were selected in the parent polymorphism screening. The results showed that PT4 and PT5 were co-segregated with the target gene. A contig map corresponding to the resistance gene and Pita genes was constructed based on the fine mapping and bioinformatics assay. The resistance gene, Pita3(t), was, thus, assumed to be in an interval of approximately 178 kb which containing a total of 5 NBS–LRR genes, and was about 500 kb away from the Pita gene.

Store-operated Ca2+entry (SOCE) is critical for Ca2+signaling in nonexcitable cells; however, its role in the regulation of cardiomyocyte Ca2+homeostasis has only recently been investigated. The increased understanding of the role of stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) in regulating SOCE combined with recent studies demonstrating the presence of STIM1 in cardiomyocytes provides support that this pathway co-exists in the heart with the more widely recognized Ca2+handling pathways associated with excitation-contraction coupling. There is now substantial evidence that STIM1-mediated SOCE plays a key role in mediating cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, both in vitro and in vivo, and there is growing support for the contribution of SOCE to Ca2+overload associated with ischemia/reperfusion injury. Here, we provide an overview of our current understanding of the molecular regulation of SOCE and discuss the evidence supporting the role of STIM1/Orai1-mediated SOCE in regulating cardiomyocyte function.

The major quantitative trait locus qBR9.1 confers broad-spectrum resistance to rice blast, and was mapped to a ~69.1 kb region on chromosome 9 that was inherited from resistant variety Sanhuangzhan No 2 (SHZ-2). Within this region, only one predicted disease resistance gene with nucleotide binding site and leucine-rich repeat (NBS-LRR) domains was found. Specific markers corresponding to this gene cosegregated with blast resistance in F2 and F3 populations derived from crosses of susceptible variety Texianzhan 13 (TXZ-13) to SHZ-2 and the resistant backcross line BC-10. We tentatively designate the gene as Pi56(t). Sequence analysis revealed that Pi56(t) encodes an NBS-LRR protein composed of 743 amino acids. Pi56(t) was highly induced by blast infection in resistant lines SHZ-2 and BC-10. The corresponding allele of Pi56(t) in the susceptible line TXZ-13 encodes a protein with an NBS domain but without LRR domain, and it was not induced by Magnaporthe oryzae infection. Three new cosegregating gene-specific markers, CRG4-1, CRG4-2 and CRG4-3, were developed. In addition, we evaluated polymorphism of the gene-based markers among popular varieties from national breeding programs in Asia and Africa. The presence of the CRG4-2 SHZ-2 allele cosegregated with a blast-resistant phenotype in two BC2F1 families of SHZ-2 crossed to recurrent parents IR64-Sub1 and Swarna-Sub1. CRG4-1 and CRG4-3 showed clear polymorphism among 19 varieties, suggesting that they can be used in marker-assisted breeding to combine Pi56(t) with other target genes in breeding lines.

Ustilaginoidea virens is a flower-infecting fungus that forms false smut balls in rice panicle. Rice false smut has long been considered a minor disease, but recently it occurred frequently and emerged as a major disease in rice production. In vitro co-cultivation of U. virens strain with young rice panicles showed that U. virens enters inside of spikelets from the apex and then grows downward to infect floral organs. In response to U. virens infection, rice host exhibits elevated ROS accumulation and enhanced callose deposition. The secreted compounds of U. virens can suppress rice pollen germination. Examination of sectioning slides of freshly collected smut balls demonstrated that both pistil and stamens of rice flower are infected by U. virens, hyphae degraded the contents of the pollen cells, and also invaded the filaments. In addition, U. virens entered rice ovary through the thin-walled papillary cells of the stigma, then decomposed the integuments and infected the ovary. The invaded pathogen could not penetrate the epidermis and other layers of the ovary. Transverse section of the pedicel just below the smut balls showed that there were no fungal hyphae observed in the vascular bundles of the pedicel, implicating that U. virens is not a systemic flower-infecting fungus.

HPV + HNSCC patients have improved Overall Survival (OS), Disease Specific Survival (DSS), Disease Free Survival (DFS), and Progression Free Survival (PFS). The radiotherapy treatment can't improve the Survival of the HPV-negative HNSCC patients.To investigate the role of Human papillomavirus in head and neck cancer and the impact on radiotherapy outcome.A search in PubMed and Chinese CNKI (2000-2015) was performed. This meta-analysis was done using RevMan 5.1 software. Outcomes included OS, DSS, DFS, PFS, and Treatment responses rates (RR).A total of 2620 patients in 10 studies were included. The Positive detective rates of HPV and P16 are 32.5% (425/1309) and 42.5% (526/1239). OS and PFS were improved in HPV + patients compared to HPV - patients (HR = 0.48; 95% CI = 0.37-0.62, p 0.0001) and (HR = 0.49; 95% CI = 0.31-0.78, p 0.0001). The survival benefit was similar in HPV-16 + patients (adjusted HR = 0.39; 95% CI = 0.21-0.60, p 0.0001). The DFS of P16 + patients improved (HR = 0.70; 95% CI = 0.55-0.89, p 0.0001). The treatment response of p16 + patients didn't significantly improve compared with p16- patients (HR = 1.44; 95% CI = 1.01-2.05, p = 0.05).

Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) is a major Ca(2+) signaling pathway responsible for regulating numerous transcriptional events. In cardiomyocytes SOCE has been shown to play an important role in regulating hypertrophic signaling pathways, including nuclear translocation of NFAT. Acute activation of pathways leading to O-GlcNAc synthesis have been shown to impair SOCE-mediated transcription and in diabetes, where O-GlcNAc levels are chronically elevated, cardiac hypertrophic signaling is also impaired. Therefore the goal of this study was to determine whether changes in cardiomyocyte O-GlcNAc levels impaired the function of STIM1, a widely recognized mediator of SOCE. We demonstrated that acute activation of SOCE in neonatal cardiomyocytes resulted in STIM1 puncta formation, which was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by increasing O-GlcNAc synthesis with glucosamine or inhibiting O-GlcNAcase with thiamet-G. Glucosamine and thiamet-G also inhibited SOCE and were associated with increased O-GlcNAc modification of STIM1. These results suggest that activation of cardiomyocyte O-GlcNAcylation attenuates SOCE via STIM1 O-GlcNAcylation and that this may represent a new mechanism by which increased O-GlcNAc levels regulate Ca(2+)-mediated events in cardiomyocytes. Further, since SOCE is a fundamental mechanism underlying Ca(2+) signaling in most cells and tissues, it is possible that STIM1 represents a nexus linking protein O-GlcNAcylation with Ca(2+)-mediated transcription.

The posttranslational modification of nuclear and cytosolic proteins by O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) has been shown to play an important role in cellular response to stress. Although increases in O-GlcNAc levels have typically been thought to be substrate-driven, studies in several transformed cell lines reported that glucose deprivation increased O-GlcNAc levels by a number of different mechanisms. A major goal of this study therefore was to determine whether in primary cells, such as neonatal cardiomyocytes, glucose deprivation increases O-GlcNAc levels and if so by what mechanism. Glucose deprivation significantly increased cardiomyocyte O-GlcNAc levels in a time-dependent manner and was associated with decreased O-GlcNAcase (OGA) but not O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) protein. This response was unaffected by either the addition of pyruvate as an alternative energy source or by the p38 MAPK inhibitor SB203580. However, the response to glucose deprivation was blocked completely by glucosamine, but not by inhibition of OGA with 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-d-glucopyranosylidene)amino-N-phenylcarbamate. Interestingly, the CaMKII inhibitor KN93 also significantly reduced the response to glucose deprivation. Lowering extracellular Ca(2+) with EGTA or blocking store operated Ca(2+) entry with SKF96365 also attenuated the glucose deprivation-induced increase in O-GlcNAc. In C2C12 and HEK293 cells both glucose deprivation and heat shock increased O-GlcNAc levels, and CaMKII inhibitor KN93 attenuated the response to both stresses. These results suggest that increased intracellular calcium and subsequent activation of CaMKII play a key role in regulating the stress-induced increase in cellular O-GlcNAc levels.

Identification of R genes and development of associated molecular markers will facilitate their application in the development of crop cultivars resistant to disease. We evaluated the resistance of a resistant germplasm ‘D69’, 10 monogenic lines, and model cultivar ‘Nipponbare’ to 56 M. oryzae isolates of blast disease in rice. The results demonstrated that only D69 exhibited full-spectrum resistance among the 12 investigated materials. Resistance inheritance in D69 was analyzed using a stable isolate GD08T13 with strong pathogenicity, collected from diseased panicles. A single dominant R gene was revealed and designated as Pi51(t). Through linkage analysis and the development of new markers, Pi51(t) was subsequently delimited to an interval of ~100.8 kb flanked by markers Ind306 and RM19818, where Pi2, Pi9, Piz, Piz-t, Pigm(t), and Pi40(t) reside. Different genotypes identified by linked markers pB8, Pi9-2, zt56591, and T845, and different pathotypes to the same set of isolates, distinguished Pi51(t) from Pi2, Pi9, Piz, and Piz-t. The origin of Pi40(t) in wild rice suggests that Pi51(t) and Pi40(t) are different. Comparison of resistance spectra suggests multiple R genes in D69, making its resistance durable and valuable in breeding programs. The results of this work will facilitate future studies on cloning and functional analysis of blast resistance genes for rice improvement.

Rice blast, caused by fungal pathogen Magnaporthe grisea Barr., is one of the most devastating rice diseases worldwide. It has greatly affected the rice production and quality. Development of resistant cultivars is the most effective and economical way for controlling this disease in rice. In this study, 114 of the single-segment substitution lines (SSSLs) in rice were inoculated at seedling stage by 16 rice blast isolates. The substituted segments in the 114 SSSLs distributed on 12 chromosomes with coverage of 57.32% of rice genome. Fifteen of the SSSLs were different in blast resistance from the HJX74 recipient. The SSSL W23-7-6-5-2-2 showed 100% of resistance frequency. A total of 11 QTLs for blast resistance were detected on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11 and 12 in rice. They were mapped at chromosomal intervals of 2.2–46.2 cM, of which 6 QTLs were mapped at less than 10.0 cM. Six of the 11 QTLs were first reported in this paper.