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The Ophiostomatales is an Ascomycete order of fungi that accommodates several tree pathogens and many species that degrade wood. These fungi are commonly vectored by Scolytine bark and ambrosia beetles. In recent years it has also been shown that hyperphoretic mites on these beetles can vector some Ophiostomatales. Little is known regarding the Ophiostomatales in China and we have consequently explored the diversity of these fungi associated with conifer-infesting beetles and mites in Yunnan province. Galleries and beetles were collected for 17 beetle species, while 13 mite species were obtained from six of these beetle species. Collectively, 340 fungal isolates were obtained, 45 from beetles, 184 from mites, 56 from galleries and 55 isolates where the specific niche was not clear. DNA sequences for five gene regions (ITS, LSU, BT, EF, and CAL) were determined for fungal isolates representing different morphological groups. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed the presence of 19 fungal taxa, including five novel species described here as Ophiostoma acarorum sp. nov., Ophiostoma brevipilosi sp. nov., Graphilbum kesiyae sp. nov., Graphilbum puerense sp. nov., and Leptographium ningerense sp. nov. Ophiostoma ips was the most frequently isolated species, representing approximately 31% of all isolates. Six of 19 taxa were present on mites, beetles and in the galleries of the beetles, while three species were found on mites and galleries. Two species were found only on mites and one species only on a beetle. Although the numbers of beetles and mites were insufficient to provide statistical inferences, this study confirmed that mites are important vectors of the Ophiostomatales in China. We hypothesize that these mites are most likely responsible for horizontal transfer of fungal species between galleries of different beetle species. The fact that half of the fungal species found were new to science, suggests that the forests of east Asia include many undescribed Ophiostomatales yet to be discovered.

The genomes of Cercospora zeina, Fusarium pininemorale, Hawksworthiomyces lignivorus, Huntiella decipiens, and Ophiostoma ips are presented in this genome announcement. Three of these genomes are from plant pathogens and otherwise economically important fungal species. Fusarium pininemorale and H. decipiens are not known to cause significant disease but are closely related to species of economic importance. The genome sizes range from 25.99 Mb in the case of O. ips to 4.82 Mb for H. lignivorus. These genomes include the first reports of a genome from the genus Hawksworthiomyces. The availability of these genome data will allow the resolution of longstanding questions regarding the taxonomy of these species. In addition these genome sequences through comparative studies with closely related organisms will increase our understanding of how these species or close relatives cause disease.

In this study, we investigated to possible role of Ras2 in Fusarium circinatum- a fungus that causes pine pitch canker disease on many different pine species and has a wide geographic distribution. This protein is encoded by the RAS2 gene and has been shown to control growth and pathogenicity in a number of fungi in a mitogen-activated protein kinase- and/or cyclic adenosyl monophosphate pathway-dependent manner. The aim was therefore to characterize the phenotypes of RAS2 gene knockout and complementation mutants of F. circinatum. These mutants were generated by transforming protoplasts of the fungus with suitable split-marker constructs. The mutant strains, together with the wild type strain, were used in growth studies as well as pathogenicity assays on Pinus patula seedlings. Results showed that the knockout mutant strain produced significantly smaller lesions compared to the complementation mutant and wild type strains. Growth studies also showed significantly smaller colonies and delayed conidial germination in the knockout mutant strain compared to the complement mutant and wild type strains. Interestingly, the knockout mutant strain produced more macroconidia than the wild type strain. Collectively, these results showed that Ras2 plays an important role in both growth and pathogenicity of F. circinatum. Future studies will seek to determine the pathway(s) through which Ras2 controls these traits in F. circinatum.

A comparison was made to investigate the structures and bonding of nickel complex that carry tetrylone and tetrylene ligands [(CO)2Ni-{E(PH3)2}] (Ni1E) and [(CO)2Ni-{NHEMe}] (Ni2E) (E = C to Pb) using quantum chemical calculations at the BP86 level with various basis sets (SVP, TZVPP, TZ2P+). The nature of the Ni–E bonds was analyzed with charge- and energy decomposition methods. The structures of tetrylone complexes Ni1E exhibit an interesting trend with the ligands E(PH3)2 are bonded in a tilted orientation relative to the fragment Ni(CO)2. In contrast, the calculated equilibrium structures of complexes Ni2E exhibit the NHEMe ligands (E = C to Sn) bonded in a head-on way to the Ni(CO)2 fragment, while the bending angle gives the strongest side-on bonded ligand NHPbMe when E = Pb. The interesting trend of the bond dissociation energy (BDE) is observed for the tetrylone, which has the same trend BDEs compared with tetrylene complexes. The EDA-NOCV results indicate that the tetrylone ligands {E(PH3)2} in complexes are similar to the tetrylene ligands NHEMe as strong σ-donors and weak π-acceptors. The BDEs calculated for the Ni–E bonds in Ni1E and Ni2E show that the effect of bulky ligands may obscure the intrinsic Ni–E bond strength. The bonding analysis shows that the tetrylone ligands in Ni1E may act in a similar fashion to the tetrylene ligands in Ni2E. All complexes Ni1E and Ni2E are suitable targets for synthesis.

Tin dioxide (SnO 2 ) nanosheets/graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) composite was prepared by a hydrothermal method using mercapto acetic acid as the morphology directing agent in an acidic medium. The as-obtained composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; the results of this study show that in the composite, SnO 2 nanosheets with a thickness in the range ∼20–25 nm dispersed well on the g-C 3 N 4 . The lithium storage capability of the composite was investigated. The cycling performance of the composite was improved and is believed to be attributed by the presence of g-C 3 N 4 support.

We computationally investigated the structure and bonding situation of bis-gold chloride complexes, (AuCl)2, containing N-heterocyclic carbenes and analogues, called tetrylenes [(AuCl)2-NHEMe] (Au2-NHE) with E=C to Pb, using density functional theory (DFT) at the BP86 level with the basis sets def2-SVP, def2-TZVPP, and TZ2P+. The nature of the (AuCl)2-NHEMe bond in the Au2-NHE complexes was analyzed using charge and energy decomposition methods. The calculated equilibrium structures of the Au2-NHE complexes showed that the tetrylene ligands, NHEMe (E=C to Ge), are bonded in a head-on fashion to the bis-gold chloride fragment, (AuCl)2, and that the structure of Au2-NHSn contains a distorted head-on NHSn ligand, and the NHPb ligand is bonded in a side-on mode to the bis-gold chloride fragment, (AuCl)2. The theoretical calculation of bond dissociation energy (BDE) suggests that the bis-gold chloride-NHEMe bond strength increases from Au2-NHC to Au2-NHSi and then significantly decreases from Au2-NHSi to Au2-NHSn, and the strongest bond is exhibited for Au2-NHPb. The EDA-NOCV results and NOCV pairs indicate that the NHEMe ligand in the Au2-NHE complexes is a strong σ-donor and a weak π-acceptor, as well as a very weak π-donor (AuCl)2←{NHEMe}. The trend in the Au-E bond strength resulted from the increase in (AuCl)2←NHEMe donation. The results of this study may establish an interesting class of compounds worthy of further study.

Draft genomes for the fungi Ceratocystis fagacearum, C. harringtonii, Grosmannia penicillata, and Huntiella bhutanensis are presented. Ceratocystis fagacearum is a major causal agent of vascular wilt of oaks and other trees in the family Fagaceae. Ceratocystis harringtonii, previously known as C. populicola, causes disease in Populus species in the USA and Canada. Grosmannia penicillata is the causal agent of bluestain of sapwood on various conifers, including Picea spp. and Pinus spp. in Europe. Huntiella bhutanensis is a fungus in Ceratocystidaceae and known only in association with the bark beetle Ips schmutzenhorferi that infests Picea spinulosa in Bhutan. The availability of these genomes will facilitate further studies on these fungi.

This letter presents a new approach for designing a high-selectivity diplexer, which is based on compact and high unloaded quality factor hybrid resonator (HR) bandpass filters. The proposed HR is composed of a microstrip line and a short-circuit coaxial line, which has great saving of space in the shielding case of RF module. Additional transmission zeros on both sides of the passband response, which are created by the source–load (S–L) coupling and mixed electromagnetic coupling scheme, can easily be realized to enhance the out-of-band rejection of the filters. A diplexer prototype at center frequencies 2.4/2.7 GHz with 3-dB bandwidth of 80/102 MHz, respectively is designed. The measured insertion losses are better than 1.5 dB for the two channels with greater than 40 dB in output isolation, which shows good agreement with simulation results.

Aim To estimate the direct medical cost of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its complications in Vietnam. Methods Using the public payer perspective, the direct medical cost was estimated using routine data in the national claims database in Vietnam in 2017. People were identified as being diagnosed with T2DM if they were aged ≥ 30 years and who either (1) had at least one ICD-10 code E11 or (2) had been prescribed with oral antihyperglycemic medication on two separate visit records. The Diabetes Severity Complications Index was used to assess the presence of diabetes-related complications. All costs were standardized to 2017 United States dollars (USD). Results Of the 1,395,204 people identified with T2DM, 55% had diabetes-related complications. The most common complication was cardiovascular diseases (34%). The total direct medical cost was USD 435 million, of which 24% was spent on hospitalization, 20% on outpatient care, 7% on emergency care, 36% on non-diabetes-related medication, and 13% on antihyperglycemic medication. About 70% of the total direct medical costs were attributed to diabetes-related complications. Conclusion The high proportion of hospitalization and complications costs in Vietnam suggests that the possibility exists to make economic savings through better preventative care.

Draft genomes of the fungal species Fusarium xylarioides, Teratosphaeria gauchensis and T. zuluensis are presented. In addition an annotation of the genome of Ceratocystis fimbriata is presented. Overall these genomes provide a valuable resource for understanding the molecular processes underlying pathogenicity and potential management strategies of these economically important fungi.

Amorphous molybdenum sulfide is an attractive electrode material for Li/Mg batteries and an efficient Pt-free catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction in water. By using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) analysis, new insights were gained into the electrochemical polymerization of the [Mo

Security is a major concern in wireless sensor network designing which suffers from many stringent hardware and software restrictions. It has attracted a large amount of attention from the research circle as security requirements became more and more indispensable in the Internet of Thing (IoT) evolution. An effective security mechanism is essential for deploying sensor networks. This paper proposes a security technique based on MAC behaviors for lightweight digital watermarking which aims to attain confidentiality and authentication for data. Embedded watermark values are constructed by information from MAC layer parameters which are simple to implement and resistant to attack. The numerical results and security analysis show proficiency of the proposed watermark scheme and evaluate the tradeoff between watermark detection probability and energy consumption of the network model.

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) exhibiting superparamagnetic properties might generate large magnetic dipole–dipole interaction with electron spins in organic semiconductors (OSECs). This concept could be considered analogous to the effect of hyperfine interaction (HFI). In order to investigate this hypothesis, Fe3O4 MNPs are used as a dopant for generating random hyperfine-like magnetic fields in a HFI-dominant π-conjugated polymer host, poly(2-methoxy-5-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene) (MeH-PPV). The magnetoconductance (MC) response in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) made by MeH-PPV/MNP blends is used to estimate the effective hyperfine field in the blends. Firstly, we find that the shape of the MC response essentially remains the same regardless of the MNP concentration, which is attributed to the similar functionality between the nuclear spins and magnetic moments of the MNPs. Secondly, the width of the MC response increases with increasing MNP concentration. Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) experiments and micromagnetic simulation indicate that the additional increase of the MC width is associated with the magnetization of the blend. Finally, the MC broadening has the same temperature dependent trend as the magnetization of the MNPs where the unique effect of the MNPs in their superparamagnetic and ferromagnetic regimes on the MC response is observed. Magneto-photoinduced absorption (MPA) spectroscopy confirms that the MC broadening is not due to defects introduced by the MNPs but a result of their unique superparamagnetic behavior. Our study yields a new pathway for tuning OSECs’ magnetic functionality, which is essential for organic optoelectronic devices and magnetic sensor applications.

Ips typographus (Coleoptera, Scolytinae) is a spruce-infesting bark beetle that occurs throughout Europe and Asia. The beetle can cause considerable damage, especially when colonized trees are stressed and beetle populations increase. Although some studies have shown that populations of I. typographus in Europe, China and Japan are genetically distinct, these populations are biologically similar, including a strong association with ophiostomatoid fungi. To date, only two Leptographium spp. have been reported from the beetle in China, while 40 species have been reported from Europe and 13 from Japan. The aims of this study were to identify the ophiostomatoid fungal associates of I. typographus in north-eastern China, and to determine whether the fungal assemblages reflect the different geographical populations of the beetle. Field surveys in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces yielded a total of 1046 fungal isolates from 145 beetles and 178 galleries. Isolates were grouped based on morphology and representatives of each group were identified using DNA sequences of the ribosomal LSU, ITS, β-tubulin, calmodulin and elongation factor 1-α gene regions. A total of 23 species of ophiostomatoid fungi were identified, including 12 previously described species and 11 novel species, all of which are described here. The dominant species were Ophiostoma bicolor, Leptographium taigense and Grosmannia piceiperda D, representing 40.5 %, 27.8 % and 17.8 % of the isolates, respectively. Comparisons of species from China, Europe and Japan are complicated by the fact that some of the European and all the Japanese species were identified based only on morphology. However, assuming that those identifications are correct, five species were shared between Europe, Japan and China, two species were shared between China and Japan, five between Europe and China, and two between Europe and Japan. Consequently, Ips typographus populations in these different geographic areas have different fungal assemblages, suggesting that the majority of these beetle-associations are promiscuous. The results also suggested that the symbionts of the bark beetle do not reflect the population structures of the beetle. The use of fungal symbiont assemblages to infer population structures and invasion history of its vectors should thus be interpreted with circumspection.

This study describes our development of a microfluidic reaction scheme for the synthesis of fused indoline ring systems found in several bioactive compounds. We have utilized a continuous-flow microfluidic reactor for the reaction of hydrazines with latent aldehydes through the interrupted Fischer indolization reaction to form fused indoline and azaindoline products. We have identified optimal conditions and evaluated the scope of this microfluidic reaction using various hydrazine and latent aldehyde surrogates. This green chemistry approach can be of general utility to rapidly produce indoline scaffolds and intermediates in a continuous manner.

It is challenging to sequence and assemble genomes of obligate plant pathogens and microorganisms because of limited amounts of DNA, comparatively large genomes and high numbers of repeat regions. We sequenced the 1.2 gigabase genome of an obligate rust fungus, Austropuccinia psidii, the cause of rust on Myrtaceae, with a Chromium 10X library. This technology has mostly been applied for single-cell sequencing in immunological studies of mammals. We compared scaffolds of a genome assembled from the Chromium library with one assembled from combined paired-end and mate-pair libraries, sequenced with Illumina HiSeq. Chromium 10X provided a superior assembly, in terms of number of scaffolds, N50 and number of genes recovered. It required less DNA than other methods and was sequenced and assembled at a lower cost. Chromium sequencing could provide a solution to sequence and assemble genomes of obligate plant pathogens where the amount of available DNA is a limiting factor.

A cavity-backed triangular-complimentary-split-ring-slot (TCSRS) antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed in this communication. Proposed antenna element is designed and implemented at 28 and 45 GHz for the fifth generation (5G) of wireless communications. The principle of the proposed antenna element is investigated first then the arrays with two and four elements are designed for high-gain operation. Antennas prototype along with their arrays are fabricated using standard printed circuit board (PCB) process at both frequencies—28 and 45 GHz. Measured result shows that the 16.67% impedance bandwidth at 28 GHz and 22.2% impedance bandwidth at 45 GHz is achieved, while maintaining the same substrate height at both frequencies. The measured peak gains of the $2\times 2$ antenna array at 30 or 50 GHz are 13.5 or 14.4 dBi, respectively.

The genomes of Armillaria fuscipes, Ceratocystiopsis minuta, Ceratocystis adiposa, Endoconidiophora laricicola, E. polonica, and Penicillium freii DAOMC 242723 are presented in this genome announcement. These six genomes are from plant pathogens and otherwise economically important fungal species. The genome sizes range from 21 Mb in the case of Ceratocystiopsis minuta to 58 Mb for the basidiomycete Armillaria fuscipes. These genomes include the first reports of genomes for the genus Endoconidiophora. The availability of these genome data will provide opportunities to resolve longstanding questions regarding the taxonomy of species in these genera. In addition these genome sequences through comparative studies with closely related organisms will increase our understanding of how these pathogens cause disease.

Quantum chemical calculations at the BP86 level with various basis sets (SVP, TZVPP, and TZ2P+) were carried out for the Fe(CO)4 of group-13 half-sandwich ECp* [Fe(CO)4-ECp*] (Fe4-E) (E = B to Tl). The chemical bonding of the Fe(CO)4-ECp* bond was analyzed with charge- and energy decomposition methods. The calculated equilibrium structures of complexes Fe4-E show that the ligands ECp* are bonded in an end-on way to the fragment Fe(CO)4 in Fe4-E with E = B to Ga. The compound Fe4-In has a distorted end-on ligand InCp*. In contrast, Fe4-Tl has a side-on bonded ligand TlCp*. The calculated bond dissociation energies (BDEs) suggest that the bond in the iron group-13 half-sandwich complexes Fe4-E decreases from Fe4-B to Fe4-Tl. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis of the bonding situation reveals that the Fe(CO)4ECp* donation in Fe4-E comes from the σ lone-pair orbital of ECp*. Bonding analysis indicates that the ligand ECp* in complexes are strong σ donors and the NOCV pairs of the bonding show small π-back donation from the Fe(CO)4 to the ECp* ligands.