Search

Soil salinization seriously affects the growth and distribution of flax. However, there is little information about the salt tolerance of flax. In this study, the salt tolerance of 200 diverse flax accessions during the germination stage was evaluated, and then the Genome-wide Association Study (GWAS) was carried out based on the relative germination rate (RGR), relative shoot length (RSL) and relative root length (RRL), whereby quantitative trait loci (QTLs) related to salt tolerance were identified. The results showed that oil flax had a better salt tolerance than fiber flax. A total of 902 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified on 15 chromosomes. These SNPs were integrated into 64 QTLs, explaining 14.48 to 29.38% (R2) of the phenotypic variation. In addition, 268 candidate genes were screened by combining previous transcriptome data and homologous gene annotation. Among them, Lus10033213 is a single-point SNP repeat mapping gene, which encodes a Glutathione S-transferase (GST). This study is the first to use GWAS to excavate genes related to salt tolerance during the germination stage of flax. The results of this study provide important information for studying the genetic mechanism of salt tolerance of flax, and also provide the possibility to improve the salt tolerance of flax.

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon that causes biased expression of maternally and paternally inherited alleles. In flowering plants, genomic imprinting predominantly occurs in the triploid endosperm and plays a vital role in seed development. In this study, we identified 248 candidate imprinted genes including 114 maternally expressed imprinted genes (MEGs) and 134 paternally expressed imprinted genes (PEGs) in flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) endosperm using deep RNA sequencing. These imprinted genes were neither clustered in specific chromosomal regions nor well conserved among flax and other plant species. MEGs tended to be expressed specifically in the endosperm, whereas the expression of PEGs was not tissue-specific. Imprinted single nucleotide polymorphisms differentiated 200 flax cultivars into the oil flax, oil-fiber dual purpose flax and fiber flax subgroups, suggesting that genomic imprinting contributed to intraspecific variation in flax. The nucleotide diversity of imprinted genes in the oil flax subgroup was significantly higher than that in the fiber flax subgroup, indicating that some imprinted genes underwent positive selection during flax domestication from oil flax to fiber flax. Moreover, imprinted genes that underwent positive selection were related to flax functions. Thirteen imprinted genes related to flax seed size and weight were identified using a candidate gene-based association study. Therefore, our study provides information for further exploration of the function and genomic variation of imprinted genes in the flax population.

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic phenomenon caused by the biased expression of maternally and paternally inherited alleles. In flowering plants, genomic imprinting predominantly occurs in triploid endosperm and plays a vital role in seed development. In this study, we identified 241 candidate imprinted genes including 143 maternally expressed imprinted genes (MEGs) and 98 paternally expressed imprinted genes (PEGs) in flax (Linum usitatissimumL.) endosperm using deep RNA sequencing. The conservation of imprinting in plants is very limited and imprinting clustering is not a general feature. MEGs tends to be endosperm expression specific, while PEGs are non-tissue specific. Imprinted SNPs differentiated 200 flax cultivars into oil flax, oil-fiber dual purpose flax (OF) and fiber flax subgroups, suggesting that genomic imprinting contributes to intraspecific variation in flax. The nucleotide diversity (π) of imprinted genes in oil flax subgroup is significantly higher than that in fiber flax subgroup, indicating that some imprinted genes undergo positive selection during flax domestication from oil flax to fiber flax. Imprinted genes undergo positive selection is related to the functions. Eleven imprinted genes related to seed size and weight were identified using the candidate gene-based association study. Our study provides information for further exploring the function and genomic variation of imprinted genes in flax population.

Environmental measurement programs can add value by providing not just accurate data, but also a measure of that accuracy. While quality assurance (QA) has been recognized as necessary since almost the beginning of automated weather measurement, it has received less attention than the data proper. Most QA systems examine data limits and rate of change for gross errors and examine data for unchanging values. Others compare data from other locations using spatial tools or examine temporal consistency. There exists a need for analytical tools that can increase the likelihood of detecting small errors, such as a calibration drift, or increased variation in a sensor reading. Two such empirical tools are described herein that can inform a first level QA process. One operates on data from a single sensor, using comparisons between a current and a prior datum; the other leverages additional information from a duplicate sensor and operates on only the current datum. The objectives of this paper are to describe the computational methods, illustrate results with multiple-month datasets representing both nominal and failing sensors, provide some indications of validity of assumptions made in the derivation, and suggest where in a quality assurance program these methods could be applied. With little additional datalogger programming to obtain both the period average and the ending value, these tools could be added to QA toolkits in many automated weather stations.

Seed size and weight are key traits determining crop yield, which often undergo strongly artificial selection during crop domestication. Although seed sizes differ significantly between oil flax and fiber flax, the genetic basis of morphological differences and artificial selection characteristics in seed size remains largely unclear. Here we re-sequenced 200 flax cultivated accessions to generate a genome variation map based on chromosome assembly reference genomes. We provide evidence that oil flax group is the ancestor of cultivated flax, and the oil-fiber dual purpose group (OF) is the evolutionary intermediate transition state between oil and fiber flax. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were combined with LD Heatmap to identify candidate regions related to seed size and weight, then candidate genes were screened based on detailed functional annotations and estimation of nucleotide polymorphism effects. Using this strategy, we obtained 13 candidate genes related to seed size and weight. Selective sweeps analysis indicates human-involved selection of small seeds during the oil to fiber flax transition. Our study shows the existence of elite alleles for seed size and weight in flax germplasm and provides molecular insights into approaches for further improvement.

In view of the factors affecting the supportability of radar equipment are numerous and hierarchical, according to the requirements of supportability of radar equipment, the evaluation index system for supportability of radar equipment is constructed. In order to avoid the limitations of the single evaluation methods and improve the objectivity and accuracy of supportability evaluation of radar equipment, the concept of drift degree is introduced and the resultant analysis model for supportability evaluation of radar equipment based on drift degree is designed in this paper. The results for supportability evaluation of radar equipment based on cloud model method, the improved catastrophe progression method, the extension method and the grey method are analyzed to provide reference for the combination of evaluation results. The validity of the model is verified by an example.

We present a flexible hierarchical Bayesian model and develop a comprehensive Bayesian decision theoretic framework for point process theory. We closely investigate the commonly used point process model for independent events, the Poisson process, using a finite mixture of exponential family components to model the intensity function. We employ a Bayesian hierarchical framework for parameter estimation and illustrate the Bayesian computations involved. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the Bayes rule under the Kullback–Leibler and Hellinger loss functions and compare them with the usual estimator, the posterior mean under squared error loss. The methodology is exemplified through simulations and a motivating application involving estimation of the intensity surface of homicide incidents in Chicago during 2015.

A comprehensive evaluation method combining grey system theory and order relation analysis (G1) is proposed to solve the problems of various and uncertain factors affecting the supportability of radar equipment. Firstly, according to the requirement of radar equipment supportability, the evaluation index system of radar equipment supportability is constructed. Secondly, order relation analysis (G1) is used to determine the weight coefficient of each evaluation index. Finally, the grey scale and whitening weight function are determined by expert scoring value and grading standard, and the guarantee grade of radar equipment is obtained by using grey evaluation model. The accuracy of this method is verified by an example, which provides a new idea for the supportability evaluation of radar equipment.

PurposeThe fast and easy generation of personalized mannequin is the premise for the accurate 3D measurement for the customers in an electronic made to measure (e_MTM) system. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to propose a new virtual human mannequin modeling technique to meet this requirement.Design/methodology/approachThe customized human mannequin is constructed by assemblage of the body parts. The body parts including bust, waist and hip segments are achieved by modification of the standard body section templates, while the silhouette obtained from the front and side photos are used to confine the distortion of the parts.FindingsThe main findings are the section template base and assemblage method for mannequin modeling.Originality/valueThe proposed method can free the burden of high cost and inconvenience of 3D scanner in the measurement process of e_MTM system, and in the mean time without loss of measurement accuracy.

Q-WSL is a new model to registration and lookup of complex services in the Internet. The model is designed to quickly find complex Web services by using hierarchical registration method. This paper starts by presenting the basic architecture of Web services system and then describing the method of hierarchical registration of services. In particular, the paper concentrates on service query document description and service lookup procedure and addresses how to lookup these services which are registered in the Web services system. Furthermore, the paper presents an example design and an evaluation of its performance. Specifically, we show that the using of attribution-based service query document design and content-based hierarchical registration in Q-WSL allows service requesters to discover needed services more flexibly and rapidly. It is confirmed that Q-WSL is very suitable for Web services system.

Neuroendocrine tumors are unique and rare tumors originating from neuroendocrine cells. Large cell neuroendocrine tumors have been found in almost every organ such as gastrointestinal tract, bronchopulmonary, pancreas, uterine cervix, urinary bladder and salivary gland, but primary sites in gastrointestinal tract and lung are the most frequent. These neoplasms show neuroendocrine differentiation in organizational structure, which requires further confirmation with immunohistochemistry or electron microscope. In immunohistochemistry staining, pure neuroendocrine areas are diffusely stained positive for synaptophysin (Syn), chromogranin (CgA) and CD56.At least two neuroendocrine markers (Syn, CgA or CD56) must be diffusely stained positive to establish a diagnosis for large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. We studied a rare case of large cell neuroendocrine tumor that was originated from the ileocecal junction and showed CgA, Syn and CD56 triple-negative. The tumor, however, showed typical morphologic and immunohistochemical features of neuroendocrine differentiation; it also exhibited well differentiation and a significant peritumoral lymphoid reaction. Furthermore, we also found the intracytoplasmic neurosecretory granules through the electron micrograph examination.

For the realization of apparel Made-to-Measure (MTM) online, the paper presents a Made-to-Measure Web application scheme based on three-dimensional personalized digital mannequin. It will meet the needs of people with personalized clothing through the Web technology. To achieve this application, a number of key technologies need to be solved, including the generation and demonstration of three-dimensional personalized digital mannequin, the realization of online three-dimensional body measurement technology and etc. The paper puts an emphasis on related techniques and shows research results.

The main objective of the semantic Web is to make the interoperation among services or between users and services more flexible and automated. The basic step toward this interoperation is that users or services can discover the services according to their requirements. In this paper we present a practical application on semantic Web and Web services concepts where a flexible and automatic matching procedure in e-learning is shown. We illustrate how the requirements, Web services and domain knowledge are described in machine-understandable form to support the automatic and flexible discovery of Web services. Then a matchmaking algorithm based on the semantic information is proposed. Finally the design and implementation of a prototype of Web service automatic discovery is described.

Incomplete automation and lack of collaborative work can be frequently found in the traditional governmental information system. When using the system, a citizen has to discover the involved governmental services to satisfy his requirement and contacts with each of them. Semantic Web services (SWS) in e-government can allow the automated Web service discovery, selection and execution making the automatic composition of governmental services a reality. A citizen can gain the response conveniently after submitting the request to the platform of SWS. In this paper, SWS requirements in e-government are presented, and a conceptual architecture for SWS in e-government is proposed, furthermore a prototype system is designed to implement SWS in e-government.