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The image information and spectral information of wood sections can be used to identify wood species. Hyperspectral images have both image information and spectral information, but they have disadvantages such as large data capacity, slow reading speed, and the necessity of expensive equipment for their acquisition. In this study, the classification results of Pterocarpus by using visible/near infrared (VIS/NIR) spectral information and RGB images were compared with hyperspectral images. The VIS/NIR spectral curves, Hyperspectral, and RGB images of five wood species of Pterocarpus with similar transverse-sections were collected. In feature-level fusion, the feature vectors are directly connected in series, and features fused by canonical correlation analysis are compared. In decision-level fusion, an extreme learning machine and a composite-kernel support vector machine (SVM) are used and compared. In the feature- and decision-level fusion methods, the recognition results of VIS/NIR spectral curves plus RGB images were largely similar to those of hyperspectral images. Therefore, a recognition effect similar to that of the hyperspectral image can be obtained by collecting the spectral information and image information of wood sections separately, which can reduce the cost of data acquisition and improve the speed of data processing.

Drug‐mediated or medical condition‐mediated disruption of hERG function accounts for the main cause of acquired long‐QT syndrome (acLQTs), which predisposes affected individuals to ventricular arrhythmias (VA) and sudden death. Many Chinese herbal medicines, especially alkaloids, have risks of arrhythmia in clinical application. The characterized mechanisms behind this adverse effect are frequently associated with inhibition of cardiac hERG channels. The present study aimed to assess the potent effect of Rutaecarpine (Rut) on hERG channels. hERG‐HEK293 cell was applied for evaluating the effect of Rut on hERG channels and the underlying mechanism. hERG current (IhERG) was measured by patch‐clamp technique. Protein levels were analysed by Western blot, and the phosphorylation of Sp1 was determined by immunoprecipitation. Optical mapping and programmed electrical stimulation were used to evaluate cardiac electrophysiological activities, such as APD, QT/QTc, occurrence of arrhythmia, phase singularities (PSs), and dominant frequency (DF). Our results demonstrated that Rut reduced the IhERG by binding to F656 and Y652 amino acid residues of hERG channel instantaneously, subsequently accelerating the channel inactivation, and being trapped in the channel. The level of hERG channels was reduced by incubating with Rut for 24 hours, and Sp1 in nucleus was inhibited simultaneously. Mechanismly, Rut reduced threonine (Thr)/ tyrosine (Tyr) phosphorylation of Sp1 through PI3K/Akt pathway to regulate hERG channels expression. Cell‐based model unables to fully reveal the pathological process of arrhythmia. In vivo study, we found that Rut prolonged QT/QTc intervals and increased induction rate of ventricular fibrillation (VF) in guinea pig heart after being dosed Rut for 2 weeks. The critical reasons led to increased incidence of arrhythmias eventually were prolonged APD90 and APD50 and the increase of DF, numbers of PSs, incidence of early after‐depolarizations (EADs). Collectively, the results of this study suggest that Rut could reduce the IhERG by binding to hERG channels through F656 and Y652 instantaneously. While, the PI3K/Akt/Sp1 axis may play an essential role in the regulation of hERG channels, from the perspective of the long‐term effects of Rut (incubating for 24 hours). Importantly, the changes of electrophysiological properties by Rut were the main cause of VA.

Progressive memory loss and cognitive impairment are the main clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Currently, there is no effective drug available for the treatment of AD. Previous studies have demonstrated that the cognitive impairment of AD is associated with oxidative stress and the inhibition of AKT and ERK phosphorylation. Grape seed proanthocyanidin extract (GSPE) has been shown to have strong antioxidant effect and can protect the nervous system from oxidative stress damage. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of GSPE on the cognitive and synaptic impairments of AD using a sporadic AD rat model induced by intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) (ICV-STZ). Rats were treated with GSPE (50, 100, or 200 mg/kg every day) by intragastrical (ig.) administration for continuous 7 weeks, and ICV-STZ (3 mg/kg) was performed on the first day and third day of week 5. Learning and memory abilities were assessed by the Morris water maze (MWM) test at week 8. After behavioral test, hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) was recorded, and the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutases (SOD), glutathione (GSH) and the protein expression of AKT and ERK were measured in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex of rats. Our study revealed that ICV-STZ significantly impaired the working learning ability and hippocampal LTP of rats, significantly increased the levels of MDA, and decreased the activity of SOD and GSH in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. In contrast, GSPE treatment prevented the impairment of cognitive function and hippocampal LTP induced by ICV-STZ, decreased the level of MDA, and increased the level of SOD and GSH. Furthermore, Western blot results showed that GSPE treatment could prevent the loss of AKT and ERK activities in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex induced by ICV-STZ. Our findings demonstrate that GSPE treatment could ameliorate the impairment of cognitive ability and hippocampal synaptic plasticity in a rat model of sporadic AD by inhibiting oxidative stress and preserving AKT and ERK activities. Therefore, GSPE may be an effective agent for the treatment of cognitive deficits associated with sporadic AD.

Glycine tomentella Hayata is characterized by a lack of adventitious roots. In China, G. tomentella is distributed only on the southeastern coast. Here, 59 G. tomentella natural populations on the islands and coasts in Fujian and Guangdong Provinces were morphologically investigated. We discovered G. tomentella (2n = 80 tetraploid) having adventitious roots existed ubiquitously along the southeastern coast of China. Fasciated stem variation was also discovered in populations at three sites.

We present total-intensity and polarized-intensity images of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant (SNR) observed by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The high angular-resolution and high-sensitivity images enable us to thoroughly compare the properties of the northern part with the southern part of the SNR. The central filament in the northern part and the southern part have a similar foreground rotation measure, meaning their distances are likely similar. The polarization analysis indicates that the random magnetic field is larger than the regular field in the northern part, but negligible in the southern part. The total-intensity image is decomposed into components of various angular scales, and the brightness-temperature spectral index of the shell structures in the northern part is similar to that in the southern part in the component images. All these evidence suggest that the northern and southern part of the Cygnus Loop are situated and thus evolved in different environments of interstellar medium, while belonging to the same SNR., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication at RAA

In China, Glycine tabacina (Labill.) Benth. is only distributed in the southeast coast and islands. In this study, 28 natural populations of G. tabacina species were sampled from 13 islands using 22 SSR markers. The Chinese G. tabacina was characterized by higher outcrossing rate and within-population genetic variation, extensive migration, greater population genetic differences and geographically weak-associated genetic differentiation, with higher level of heterogeneity within the natural populations along the southeast islands of China even though this species is a self-pollinating plant. The number of alleles per locus averaged 5.77 and ranged from 2 to 16. The expected heterozygosity (He) per locus averaged a value of 0.51, varying from 0.08 to 0.80. As an autogamous species, the Chinese G. tabacina unexpectedly showed a relatively high mean outcrossing rate in single locus (ts = 6.52%) and multilocus (tm = 6.75%), higher mean gene flow (Nm = 0.315), lower mean gene differentiation index (Gst = 0.436), and particularly, relatively lower among-population genetic variation (43.55%) and higher within-population genetic variation (49.66%) revealed by analysis of molecular variance. Spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed that populations within a radius of approximately 14.7 km would have a positive and significant genetic relationship to one another. However, the event of long-distance genetic background dispersal was revealed by individual assignment test and haplotype analysis (> 200 km dispersal was inferred, but > 56 km dispersal was observed). The north and middle-north islands of Fujian Province seemed to be the center of genetic diversity.

Glycine tomentella Hayata is a species of Glycine Willd. subgenus Glycine, and in China it is distributed along the southeast coast. In this study, 11 natural G. tomentella populations were collected and their genetic diversity levels and population structures were analyzed using 25 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The number of alleles per locus averaged 7.16 and ranged from 2 to 17. The expected heterozygosity (He) per locus averaged 0.60, varying from 0.19 to 0.86. The G. tomentella populations on these Chinese islands showed a greater average genetic variation (60.96%) among populations and gene differentiation index (Gst= 0.607), and a lower average within-population genetic variation (33.47%) and gene flow (Nm= 0.162). In this study, these G. tomentella island populations were characterized by a relatively greater average multilocus outcrossing rate of 5.74%, which may the result of heterogeneity owing to the perennation of G. tomentella. A spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed that populations within a radius of approximately 30.45 km had positive and significant genetic relationships. The Neighbor-Joining (NJ) and STRUCTURE analyses strongly showed a pattern of ‘island differentiation’ for the populations on southeast islands of China and also suggested that some genetic interconnection occurred along the southeast coast of China. The F-statistics suggested that geographically different G. tomentella populations had specific population structures. We propose that when collecting this species as a genetic resource, every G. tomentella population should be sampled.

We report on the continuum and polarization observations of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant (SNR) conducted by the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). FAST observations provide high angular resolution and high sensitivity images of the SNR, which will help to disentangle its nature. We obtained Stokes I, Q and U maps over the frequency range of 1.03 – 1.46 GHz split into channels of 7.63 kHz. The original angular resolution is in the range of ∼ 3 ′ − ∼ 3 ′ .8 , and we combined all the data at a common resolution of 4 ′ . The temperature scale of the total intensity and the spectral index from the in-band temperature-temperature plot are consistent with previous observations, which validates the data calibration and map-making procedures. The rms sensitivity for the band-averaged total-intensity map is about 20 mK in brightness temperature, which is at the level of confusion limit. For the first time, we apply rotation measure (RM) synthesis to the Cygnus Loop to obtain the polarization intensity and RM maps. The rms sensitivity for polarization is about 5 mK, far below the total-intensity confusion limit. We also obtained RMs of eight extragalactic sources, and demonstrate that the wide-band frequency coverage helps to overcome the ambiguity of RM determinations.

Soyasaponins, natural chemical compounds in soybean seeds, have important health benefits and also influence soyfood taste. A total of 3795 wild soybean (Glycine soja) accessions, collected from almost all the areas where wild soybean grows in China, were analysed using thin-layer chromatography to clarify saponin composition polymorphisms within Chinese wild soybeans. Twenty-three saponin components were distinguished, including four new components. The four new saponin components were a Sg-6 saponin K-αg [29–acetyl H-αg] in 18 accessions, an HAb-αg [29-hydroxy Ab] in an Ab type accession, an A-αg [3-O-(Glc-Gal-GlcUA)-soyasapogenol A (SS-A)] which is a biosynthetic precursor compound of the Aa and Ab types and its derivative KA-αg [29-O-acetyl A-αg] in the sg-7 mutant. Eight sg-1 0 variant accessions without the second sugar (xylose or glucose) at the C-22 position and one high-content group-E saponin Bd and one high-content group-A saponin Ae accessions were detected. Our present results can be expected to play vital roles in clarifying the biosynthetic pathway for soyasaponins. We suggest that the A-αg is the precursors for group-A and Bd components, and the Sg-6 saponin is biosynthesized from the Bd component in the relationship between the biosyntheses of group-A and Sg-6 saponins. The above new components and variants contribute to develop healthy and functional foods in soybean breeding programs.

Group A saponins are the principal factors underlying the undesirable bitter and astringent tastes in soybean food products. Therefore, the genetic reduction or elimination of the undesirable tastes is of great significance in soybean taste breeding. Using thin-layer chromatography and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, we identified a novel mutant lacking group A saponins in a wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.), reflecting the failed arabinose binding of arabinosyltransferase to the C-22 hydroxyl group, consequently leading to a lack of group A saponins and the concomitance expression of two new components A-αg and KA-αg in seeds. The C-3 glycosylated soyasapogenol A (SS-A), A-αg, is a steady precursor compound in biosynthesis of Aa and Ab types in the seeds of soybean plants and exhibits stable inheritance. In this study, we observed a critical step necessary for arabinose binding to the C-22 hydroxyl group in the biosynthetic pathway of group A saponins and identified an important germplasm accession for the genetic improvement in the tastes of soybean milk and processed soybean foods.

To segment the overlapping cells in microscopic images, an automatic method for cell image segmentation based on bottleneck detection and ellipse fitting is proposed. Firstly, cell image is segmented by threshold method, followed by a polygonal approximation to extract the feature points of cell edge. Secondly, candidate splitting point pairs are obtained by calculating the bottleneck rate between each feature point pair, and further judged by ellipse fitting to find the correct splitting point pair. Then, a cell is separated from the overlapping cells according to the splitting point pair, and the remaining edge is patched up to form a new closed contour by an improved ellipse fitting method. Finally, repeat the above steps on the new closed contour until all cells are separated. The performance of this method is evaluated on the blood and fluorescent cell databases. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively segment overlapping cells with high accuracy and less time, which is superior to many existing methods. Splitting point pairs are obtained by bottleneck detection and ellipse fitting.The application of polygonal approximation greatly reduces the computing time.A novel edge modification method is proposed to connect the splitting point pair.Cells can be separated from the overlapping cell contour integrally and completely.Our method outperforms most of the existing algorithms with higher accuracy.

Group A saponins are thought to be the cause of bitter and astringent tastes in processed foods of soybean (Glycine max), and the elimination of group A saponins is an important breeding objective. The group A saponins include two main Aa and Ab types, controlled by codominant alleles at the Sg-1 locus that is one of several key loci responsible for saponin biosynthesis in the subgenus Glycine soja. However, A0 mutant lacking group A saponin is a useful gene resource for soybean quality breeding. Here, eight Chinese wild soybean A0 accessions were sequenced to reveal the mutational mechanisms, and the results showed that these mutants were caused by at least three kinds of mechanisms involving four allelic variants (sg-10-b2, sg-10-b3, Sg-1b-0, and Sg-1b-01). The sg-10-b2 had two nucleotide deletions at positions + 72 and + 73 involving in the 24th and 25th amino acids. The sg-10-b3 contained a stop codon (TGA) at the 254th residue. The Sg-1b-0 and Sg-1b-01 were two novel A0-type mutants, which likely carried normal structural alleles, and nevertheless did not encode group A saponin due to unknown mutations beyond the normal coding regions. In addition, to reveal the structural features, allelic polymorphism, and mechanisms of the abiogenetic absence of group A (i.e., A0 phenotype), nucleotide sequence analysis was performed for the Sg-1 locus in wild soybean (Glycine soja). The results showed that Sg-1 alleles had a lower conservatism in the coding region; as high as 18 sequences were found in Chinese wild soybeans in addition to the Sg-1a (Aa) and Sg-1b (Ab) alleles. Sg-1a and Sg-1b alleles were characterized by eight synonymous codons and nine amino acid substitutions. Two evolutionarily transitional allelic sequences (Sg-1a7 and Sg-1b2) from Sg-1a toward Sg-1b were detected.

Seed weight is one of the most important botanical and phylogenetic characteristics. The study objective was to understand whether there is genetic difference in different seed weights of wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.). A total of 563 wild soybean samples, which belonged separately to genebank germplasm accessions (220 samples), one regional population samples (293 plants) and one natural population (150 plants), were analyzed using microsatellite markers. Of four size classes, the smallest seed size type had the highest coefficient of variation in seed weight; small and large seed types had relatively great genetic differences. In the national genebank germplasm accessions, genetic diversity gradually decreased from quantitatively dominant small and middling seed types to less frequent large seed types. In the regional and natural populations, generally, small to middling seed sizes had higher genetic diversity than the smallest and larger seed sizes. Cluster analysis revealed genetic differences in seed size traits. The semi-wild type (Glycine gracilis Skvortzow) was the most genetically differentiated from other seed sizes. However, it was also clearly shown that the phylogenic genetic differentiation among seed sizes was less than the genetic differentiation among geographical habitat populations in the wild soybean species.

Thicker, erect stem and enlarged seeds are characteristic of the domestication of cultivated soybeans (Glycine max) from its progenitor, wild soybean (G. soja). Wild soybeans have different stem thicknesses but the thick stem as defined here appears in a small number of small-seeded wild soybeans (≤2.0 g/100-seeds) in China. However, little attention has been paid to this phenomenon in considering the origin of thick stem in wild soybean. Here, we addressed this question through the study of a mixed field of wild, semi-wild and cultivated soybeans. Thick-stemmed samples had lower sensitivity to light period, higher mean genetic diversity (H e = 0.090, H = 0.535) and higher mean multilocus outcrossing rate (t m = 9.77 %), while thin-stemmed plants were the opposite (H e = 0.029, H = 0.416) and lower mean outcrossing rate (t m = 5.88 %). F statistics calculations indicated that there was genetic differentiation between the thin and thick stems. UPGM cluster analysis showed that not only were thick-stemmed wild soybeans genetically different from thin-stemmed ones, but they were also genetically closer to semi-wild soybean, to varying degrees completely dependent on seed size. These data strongly implied that the plants with thick stems had more complicated genetic backgrounds than the thin-stemmed ones, and that they were related to cultivated soybeans. This study suggests that if plants have distinctly thick stems (an average 2.5-fold thicker than other thin-stemmed plants) or stems similar to semi-wild plants and/or near to local soybeans in a natural wild population adjacent to farmlands, such plants could be cultivar-introgressive offspring.

The genus Glycine subgenus Soja includes two species, the important crop, soybean (G. max), and its wild progenitor (G. soja), and an intermediate semi-wild type (G. gracilis). However, the origin of the semi-wild type is in dispute, from independent evolutionary processes or from sympatric hybridization, although many studies support the hypothesis of a hybridization origin. Here, we reveal conclusive evidence for the natural occurrence of sympatric hybridization between wild and cultivated soybeans leading to G. gracilis by capturing natural F1 seeds based on phenotypic and molecular signatures. The F1 hybrids occurred through pollen flow between wild and cultivated soybeans, with many heterozygous loci and similar genetic parameters compared to the maternal wild populations; while paternal soybeans showed the lowest genetic diversity. The F-statistics showed genetic differentiation of the hybrids from the paternal soybeans and maternal wild populations; the differentiation of hybrids from wild soybeans was less than that of hybrids from cultivated soybeans. Natural F1 hybrids generated various seed sizes in the offspring, suggesting that cultivar-genes introgressed into wild soybeans, and the degree of outcrossing in wild soybeans seems to be very important for gene spread, exchange and recombination in the evolution of populations.

Thus far, there is little knowledge of the genetic diversity, structure and gene flow dynamics in rare wild and semi-wild soybean mixed populations, and such information is vital for understanding of the origin of semi-wild soybean (Glycine gracilis) and the biosafety protection of wild soybean from transgenic soybeans. Population eco-genetic data are necessary to provide a more coherent and comprehensive understanding of the genetic events that occurred in the natural habitats of wild soybean (Glycine soja). We tested genetic diversity and structure of 11 wild mixed populations of wild soybean (Glycine soja) and semi-wild soybean (G. gracilis), 1 wild soybean population, and 1 cultivated soybean variety population were studied using 20 nuclear microsatellite markers (SSRs). We found based on microsatellite polymorphisms that the mixed populations were characterized by higher mean heterozygosity (H o = 0.029) and outcrossing rate (t m = 6.35 %), and lower fixation index (F is = 0.891), and the semi-wild plants had distinctly higher heterozygosity (H o = 0.081) than that of the wild plants (H o = 0.007). The occurrence of semi-wild plants influenced population genetic structure but not geographical population differentiation. These mixed populations exhibited strong ecogeographical differentiation, which suggests that their original populations were colonized over a long phytogeographical history. The introgression occurred through pollen gene flow from the soybean fields into wild populations and created the semi-wild plants, with significant genetic differentiation from the typical wild ones. Introgressive genes could become established by two possible modes in wild soybean populations by both self-segregation and/or intrapopulation secondary hybridization. The latter deserves attention because of the possibility of rapid transgene escape.

This In this paper, a specific system is developed to recognize images of flower types. The proposed automatic flower boundary extraction method consists of two major procedures: the detection of four edge points and boundary tracing. Flower recognition includes two stages: feature extraction and matching. For the flower boundary extraction portion, we present a new technique for automatically identifying a flower’s boundary in an image. For boundary tracing, an intelligent scissors algorithm is applied. The color gradient magnitude cost term is implemented so that it can act directly on the three components of the color image. Suggested extraction of the characteristics has used division of the image in three levels (level 1, level 2, and level 3), the RGB and YCbCr of each level, the minimum Euclidean distance value of eight colors, and the number of petals. Using multi-class SVM, this dissertation derived 97.07% recognition of thirteen different types of flower images.

The performance of an automatic system for extracting flower boundaries for ten different types of wild flowers has been improved. The proposed flower boundary extraction method consists of three major procedures: the detection of four edge points, boundary tracing and performance improvement part. The flower boundary extraction part involves a new technique for automatically identifying the boundary of a flower in an image. An Intelligent Scissor algorithm is applied for boundary tracing. The color gradient magnitude and Canny edge detection are analyzed and included as the cost terms of the Intelligent Scissor algorithm. The color gradient magnitude cost term is implemented so that it can act directly on the three components of the color image. For the third procedure, we implement performance improvement. The main advantage of the proposed method was that when the program detected the wrong four edge points, using the mouse the correct positions could be clicked. The proposed method was applied to 500 photos of 10 different flowers, with 50 photos of each flower all in a complex background. The experimental results showed an extraction rate of 79.4%, which was better than before.

The evaluation on land exploitation and consolidation project are fuzzy multiple attributes group decision-making under uncertain environments of some qualitative and quantitative indicators. Due to the plurality of the evaluation indicators and the limitations of traditional methods, the evaluations on land exploitation and consolidation project were not so effective. How to synthesize the decision-makers' qualitative judgments with the quantitative forecast data of the actual project is the key to solve the evaluation issues of land exploitation and consolidation project. Vague set theory is superior to fuzzy set theory in quantifying the decision-makers' judgments. This paper proposed a new approach for the pre-evaluation and decision-making of land exploitation and consolidation project based on vague set theory. The illustrative example indicates that the proposed approach is effective.

A blind digital image forensic method for detecting copy-paste forgery between JPEG images was proposed. Two copy-paste tampering scenarios were introduced at first: the tampered image was saved in an uncompressed format or in a JPEG compressed format. Then the proposed detection method was analyzed and simulated for all the cases of the two tampering scenarios. The tampered region is detected by computing the averaged sum of absolute difference (ASAD) images between the examined image and a resaved JPEG compressed image at different quality factors. The experimental results show the advantages of the proposed method: capability of detecting small and/or multiple tampered regions, simple computation, and hence fast speed in processing.

The Glycine subgenus Soja includes two species, cultivated soybean [(Glycine max (L.) Merr.)] and the progenitor wild soybean (G. soja). However, a morphologically intermediate form, the semi-wild soybean (G. gracilis), exists between the two species, and its taxonomic position is under debate. In this study, we evaluated phylogenetic relationships and occurrence events within the subgenus Soja based on genetic variation of SSR loci using a set of accessions comprising wild soybeans (≤3.0 g 100-seed weight), semi-wild soybeans (>3.0 g) and soybean landraces (≥4.0 g). The results showed that semi-wild soybean accessions collected in natural fields should be treated as a variant of G. soja and not of G. max, and were genetically differentiated from the soybean landraces, even large-seeded semi-wild soybean accessions (6.01–9.0 g) with seed weights overlapping with or exceeding those of soybean landraces. Evolutionary bottleneck analysis indicated that semi-wild soybean is not a transitional form in the domestication of cultivated soybeans from wild soybean. G. soja contained two genetically differentiated forms, small-seeded type (typical, plus 2.01–2.50 g) and a large-seeded type (2.51–3.0 g). Genetically, the large-seeded wild soybean was closer to the semi-wild soybean, although in morphology it resembled the typical wild soybean. Ancestry analysis confirmed that cultivated soybean genes have introgressed into modern wild soybean populations. The green cotyledon character and other rare characters such as white flower, grey pubescence, no-seed bloom, and coloured seed-coats (brown, green, and yellow) in wild soybean were shown to be involved in introgression from cultivated soybeans.

To design appropriate strategies for ex situ and in situ conservation of wild soybean and safeguard the biosafety of the wild soybean gene pool when genetically modified soybeans are grown, it is important to understand its genetic characteristics, and to quantify gene flow and kinship within and between neighboring populations. We analyzed 9 pairs of neighboring populations of wild soybeans using 20 pairs of nuclear SSR markers. Results showed that Chinese wild soybean natural populations had outcrossing rates of 0–3.5% and that most populations contained many kinship families. The kinship families could be attributed to the accumulation of outcrossed offspring within populations during the history of population colonization. Wild soybean is very sensitive to environmental selection, which results in genetic differentiation of populations, and the emergence of specific alleles. We used an index τ to explain why genetic differences would exist between the pairwise populations; the interpopulation genetic differentiation chiefly consisted in the differences of allele frequencies over the genome. We found long-distance dispersal (1.5 km) of wild soybean seeds in a land ecosystem. There was close correlation between genetic and geographical distance among natural populations of Chinese wild soybean. Within a distance of 50 km, there was greater gene flow when the distance between populations was shorter. These findings have implications for ex situ and in situ conservation in an ecogeographical region, and also for protection of the gene pool from contamination by GM soybeans in wild soybean species.

Switchgrass contains high content of cellulose which is suitable to enzymetically hydrolyze to glucose, and is a good potential biomass for biofuel production. The paper studied a kind (Alamo, CA993,CA992,Kanlow) switchgrass ball milled lignin structure using 13C NMR and 31P NMR. Both NMR lignin spectrums showed little difference of this switchgrass. Its extractive-free compositional components were also analyzed like acid insoluble lignin, acid soluble lignin, ash and carbohydrates separately. Its acid insoluble and soluble lignin contents were close to each other in the range of 21% and 2.5% respectively. Their carbohydrates are made mainly up of glucose and xylose, which fractions are around 52% to 40% based on the whole carbohydrates.

Wild and cultivated species of soybeans have coexisted for 5000 years in China. Despite this long history, there is very little information on the genetic relationship of Glycine soja and G. max. To gain insight into the major events in the history of the subgenus Soja, we examined 20 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers of a large number of accessions (910). The results showed no significant differences between wild and semi-wild soybeans in genetic diversity but significant differences between G. soja and G. max. Ancestry and cluster analyses revealed that semi-wild soybeans should belong to the wild category and not to G. max. Our results also showed that differentiation had occurred not only among G. soja, G. gracilis, and G. max but also within G. soja and within G. gracilis. Glycine soja had 3 clear genetic categories: typical small-seeded (≤2.0 g 100-seed weight), dual-origin middle-seeded (2.0-2.5 g), and large-seeded plants (2.51-3.0 g). These last were genetically close to G. gracilis, their defining some traits having been acquired mainly by introgression from soybeans. Small-seeded G. gracilis (3.01-3.5 g) were genetically different from larger seeded ones (from 3.51 to 4.0 to over 10 g). Seed size predominated over seed coat color in evolutionary degree. Typical and large-seeded G. soja were found to have 0.7% and 12% introgressive cultivar genes, respectively. The genetic boundary of G. gracilis was at the range of 2.51-3.0 g of G. soja. In the great majority of wild accessions, traits such as white flowers, gray pubescences, no-seed bloom, and colored seed coats were likely introgressive from domesticated soybeans.

The wild soybean (Glycine soja), which is the progenitor of cultivated soybean (Glycine max), is expected to offer more information about genetic variability and more useful mutants for evolutionary research and breeding applications. Here, a total of 1,600 wild soybean samples from China were investigated for genetic variation with regard to the soybean Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (SKTI). A new mutant SKTI, Tik, was identified. It was found to be a Tia-derived codominant allele caused by a transversion point mutation from C to G at nucleotide +171, leading to an alteration of one codon (AAC → AAG) and a corresponding amino acid substitution (Asn → Lys) at the ninth residue. Upon examination of this variant and others previously found in wild soybeans, it became clear that SKTI has undergone high-level evolutionary differentiation. There were more abundant polymorphisms in the wild than in the cultivated soybean.

Tibet is the highest Plateau in China and the world, however wild soybean has been found in its southeastern fringe region adjacent to the northwest of Yunnan Province. Tibetan wild soybean was distributed only in the Gongrigabuqu-River Gorge in southeast Tibet. This regional plant species belong to the flora of Himalayan-Hengduan Mountains, which comprises composite elements of ancient arcto-tertiary flora, tropical and semitropical flora. To date, few studies have been carried out on Tibetan wild soybean. Studying Tibetan wild soybean together with other regional ones helps to understand the history of the origin and dissemination of wild soybean species in China. Here we reported the status of genetic diversity in Tibetan wild soybean and the genetic relationship between Tibetan and other regional wild soybeans revealed by nuclear SSR markers. The results showed that the Tibetan wild soybean sample was significantly differentiated from other regional ones, as characterized by the lowest mean allelic richness ( $$ {\hat{\text{r}}} $$ = 1.40) and gene diversity (H e = 0.130) and the highest ratios of regionally unique alleles (63.26%) and fixed alleles (46.94%). These genetic attributes suggested that Tibetan wild soybean may have undergone severe adaptation selection for the plateau climate and ecogeographical conditions, and had less genetic exchange with inland populations. The regional population south of the Changjiang River (Central and South China) showed higher genetic richness. UPGMA cluster analysis revealed two large geographical groups, Tibetan and inland, and revealed closer relationship among the eastern populations, which suggested that the dissemination of this species in the eastern part of China might be rapider.

Genetic diversity is reduced from wild soybean to cultivars and from landraces to modern varieties. However, intraspecies genetic diversity loss between characters or phenotypes also existed in wild soybean. We revealed the phylogenic relationship of character types in Chinese wild soybean using 42 SSR markers. We conjectured that white flower, no-seed bloom, grey pubescence, and four seed coat colours were evolutionarily acquired phenotypes. There were a small decrease (∆H = 0.1–6.46%) of gene diversity and a moderate reduction (∆Na = 10.81–53.54%) of number of alleles but a violent loss (80.74–98.59%) of unique alleles in the acquired phenotypes. Our results seemed to suggest that ovoid and elliptic leaves were differentiated at the earliest and subsequently lanceolate leaf appeared before the domestication of soybeans within wild soybean, and that G. gracilis type was another earliest type, maybe emerged since the appearance of soybeans or it was concomitant with the domestication of soybean.

Saponin chemical composition was phenotyped and genotyped, and saponin composition-based geographical genetic diversity and differentiation were evaluated in Chinese wild soybean (Glycine soja Sieb. & Zucc.). Thirty-two phenotypes and 34 genotypes were confirmed from 3805 wild soybean accessions. Eleven phenotypes (AaαK, AaαIK, AaαIJK, AaBcEαJ, AaBcαK, AbEαIJ, AbαK, AbαIK, AbαIJK, AbβHAb and Aβ0) were newly detected. Four genes had frequencies: Sg-1a 78.8% and Sg-1b 21.0% at the Sg-1 locus; Sg-4 30.7% and Sg-6e 13.7% at their respective loci. The north-eastern and southern populations showed high genetic diversity; the Northeast region contained more novel variants (AuAe, A0, A0Bc, αH, αI αJ, αK, and AbβHAb), and the southern populations contained high frequencies of the Sg-4 gene. Gene differentiation (Fst) analysis suggested that Sg-4 and four group-α saponin alleles or genes (Sg-6e, Sg-6h, Sg-6i, Sg-6j) were important factors influencing the genetic structure and differentiation in Chinese wild soybeans. Geographical differentiation was characterised mainly by latitudinal differences, with two primary groups (north and south) based on saponin genes. Chinese wild soybean accessions differed from Japanese and South Korean ones in genetic structure based on saponin composition, the latter two being likely to have spread from southern China in the glacial stages during the last Ice Age.

Introgression from soybean cultivars to its wild progenitor species is an interesting antidromic recombination in natural ecosystem with many consequences, including the alteration of genetic diversity, the origin of semi-wild soybean, and implication for biosafety of the wild progenitor species with future release of the genetically modified varieties. Although such interspecific introgression is not suspected to be ubiquitous in the sympatric regions of wild and cultivated soybeans, the documentations published based on some molecular experimental analyses on the introgression have been little substantiated by the occurring process morphologically and remain deficient for unquestionable evidence, owing to the lack of actual insight into the population dynamics. Here, we found the phenomenon of gene escape and presented the evidence for occurrence of introgression from soybeans into the wild species and for how originates about the semi-wild type soybean based on morphological investigation of population dynamics. Our results suggest that more attention should be paid to the escape of genetically modified genotypes to safeguard the biosafety of wild soybean gene pool, if GM soybeans are released in China, the place of origin of cultivated soybeans.

Objective To explore the effects and the mechanism of Wuwei Dilong Decoction ( Schisandra Fruit and Earthworm Decoction) for treatment of asthma. Methods The asthma guinea pig model was established with spray of ovalbumin (OVA). Fifteen days later, the guinea pigs were administered by intra-gastric perfusion of Wuwei Dilong Decoction once a day for 8 consecutive days. Blood samples were taken for testing the total leucocytes, eosinophil (EOS), lymphocytes, interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and leukotriene B 4 (LTB 4 ). Results In the asthma model group, the total leucocytes, EOS and lymphocytes were all increased, with significant differences as compared with the different dosage Wuwei Dilong Decoction groups ( P P 4 in the asthma model group was significantly increased and IFN-γ decreased. After administration of Wuwei Dilong Decoction of the large, medium and small dosages, LTB 4 decreased, while IFN-γ increased ( P P Conclusion Wuwei Dilong Decoction can inhibit infiltration and diffusion of the inflammatory cells in the asthma model guinea pigs, and regulate LTB 4 and IFN-γ, which is probably one of the important mechanisms of Wuwei Dilong Decoction for relieving asthma.

Wild soybean (Glycine soja), the progenitor of soybeans, has become an important germplasm source for soybean breeding. The Chinese G. soja germplasm collection includes two subcollections, one typical wild soybean (G. soja) and the other ‘big seed type’ (semi-wild soybean, G. gracilis). In order to understand the nature of this big seed type subcollection, a considerable number of 1,185 accessions were investigated focusing on phenotypes, compositional structure and genetic diversity of this subcollection. The results showed that there were 617 combined morphotypes formed by six major morphological traits. The morphotype number and diversity gradually decreased among four sections from small to large 100-seed weight sizes. The big seed subcollection accumulated distinctly high frequencies for white flower, grey pubescence, seed non-bloom and four seed coat colours (green, yellow, brown and black), differing from the typical G. soja. Between the two subcollections, only the compositional structures of leaf shapes were almost in agreement. A rare strip-shaped leaf only appeared in typical G. soja and small-seeded grade (100-seed wt) of the big seed type. Seed non-bloom trait showed that the increased frequencies were concomitant with the augmenting of 100-seed weight. The data suggested that white flower accumulated rapidly in the big seed type, followed by seed non-bloom, while the slowest rate of accumulation was grey pubecence, and that the ‘large-seeded type (2.51–3 g 100-seed wt)’ of typical G. soja and the ‘smallest-seeded type (3.01–3.5 g 100-seed wt)’ of the big seed type could have a closer genetic relationship. The morphotype number and genetic diversity showed reduced values with increased 100-seed weights. The geographical distribution of genetic diversity indicated two tendencies: decreased from north to south and also from east to west. Our results suggested that Northeast China was the first centre of morphological diversity for the big seed type, and the North was the secondary centre in China.

In order to examine the intensity of surficial sediment resuspension in Lake Taihu, a large shallow lake in eastern China, suspended sediment concentrations (SSCs) were measured on the basis of analysis of water samples collected using an innovative multi-level water sampler. The results show that under calm weather conditions, the SSC is relatively homogenous through the entire water column. However, when strong winds occur, the SSC in the bottom layer is 1–2 orders of magnitude greater than in the surface layer; thus, in this case, the amount of total suspended matter in the water column cannot be estimated using the SSC values of the surface layer alone. Furthermore, the depth of disturbance, or the thickness of the sediment layer that is set in motion by wind-wave induced currents, is of the order of 100 mm.

The rheologic action of the soft rock-soil could be accelerated by the dynamic load, which induces catastrophe instability failure and more geo-technical engineering accidents and geologic disasters. Marine deposit soft-soil in Xiamen region is taken as the test sample, of which the rheological dynamics characteristics are tested under the dynamic load by adopting the dynamic rheological tri-axial device; the failure process of the accelerating rheological catastrophe is analyzed based on the catastrophe theory. The research shows that such different changing stages as decelerating rheology, relatively stable rheology and accelerating rheology are manifested under the process of the different amplitude dynamic load, and the catastrophe way in the accelerating rheological process is the gradual failure instability. The research results is of important and theoretical significance in revealing the dynamic rheological characteristics of the soft rock-soil, exploring the accelerating rheological failure process and conditions of catastrophe instability; they are also of important and practical significance in improving and ameliorating the indicator-monitoring system and technical method for the geo-technical geological disaster, enhancing the forecast scientific and accuracy.

By the body-fixed coordinate, Coriolis' theorem and Cardan angles, a kinetic model of a high-temperature ladle carrier vehicle, which has 30 degree-of –freedoms, is built. The model could be used to predict the rollover of the vehicle. The inputs of the model are steer angle and rotational velocity of every tire, and the outputs are the motions of the vehicle’s body and the forces on the body and the tires. The model is easily to be applied on other vehicles, which have different numbers of shafts.

This paper firstly has systemically discussed on the concept and theory of urban fabric; Secondly This paper discussed the basic principles of applying GIS (Geographic-Information-System) and MAS (Multi-Agent-System) technologies in the research of urban fabric; Lastly Wuchang District of Wuhan City has been studied as an example in this paper, Based on GIS technology, urban fabric characteristics and indicators was computed and analysed to obtain the cognitive and interpretation of the status of an urban fabric.

To design and synthesize a novel class of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPAR)alpha agonists, which is obtained by the combination of the classical fibrate "head group", a linker with appropriate length and a chalcone.Thirty seven compounds were designed and identified employing the virtual screening approach. Six compounds were then selected for synthesis and bioassay according to the virtual screening results, structural similarity, and synthetic complexity.Six new compounds (4b and 4d-h) were synthesized and bioassayed. All were found to be potent PPARalpha agonists, compound 4 h being the most prominent with a 50% effective concentration value of 0.06 micromol/L.This study provides a promising novel family of chalcones with a potential hypolipidemic effect.

To investigate the effect of Earthworm decoction on the airway inflammation of experimental bronchial asthma in guinea pigs and inquire into the mechanism in the decoction.Forty-eight guinea pigs were randomly divided into six groups: the control group, the model group, the dexamethasone group, the Xiaoqinglong decoction group, the earthworm decoction large dosage group and the Earthworm decoction low dosage group, 8 guinea pigs in each group. Except the control group, the other groups were sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA) by a combination of intraperitional injection and repeated intranasal challenges to establish the guinea pigs asthma model. However, in the control group, normal saline was used. The morphological changes of bronchial tube, the lung tectology and the inflammation germ cell quantity of eosinophils (Eos), lymphocytes (Ly), neutrophils (Neu) and total blood cells in the blood and bronchoalveolar lavaga fluid (BALF) were examinated in each group respectively.The levels of Eos, Ly, Neu and total cell quantity in the blood and BALF after the earthworm decoction treatment in the large dosage group were significantly lower than those in the model group (P0.01), and in the low dosage group were lower too (P0.05). The Earthworm decoction large dosage could obviously improve the bronchial tube epidermis damage, the mucous membrane gland proliferation and hydrops, asthma pathology change and basilar membrane accumulation. Eos apoptosis was obsered in the bronchoalveolar, blood and BALF. The Earthworm decoction small dosage had a similar effect but slightly to the large dosage.The Earthworm decoction can lighten the airway inflammation in asthmatic guinea pigs, its mechanism is related with the inhibition of Eos infiltration, acceleration of Eos apoptosis and improvement of the bronchial tube and the lung tectology changes. The effect of the decoction is dose-dependent.

We present a statistical study of the non-thermal X-ray emission of 27 young rotation powered pulsars (RPPs) and 24 pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) by using the Chandra and the XMM-Newton observations, which with the high spatial resolutions enable us to spatially resolve pulsars from their surrounding PWNe. We obtain the X-ray luminosities and spectra separately for RPPs and PWNe, and then investigate their distribution and relation to each other as well as the relation with the pulsar rotational parameters. In the pair-correlation analysis we find that: (1) the X-ray (2-10 keV) luminosities of both pulsar and PWN (L_{psr} and L_{pwn}) display a strong correlation with pulsar spin down power Edot and characteristic age, and the scalings resulting from a simple linear fit to the data are L_{psr} \propto Edot^{0.92 \pm 0.04} and L_{pwn} \propto Edot^{1.45 \pm 0.08} (68% confidence level), respectively, however, both the fits are not statistically acceptable; (2) L_{psr} also shows a possible weak correlation with pulsar period P and period derivative Pdot, whereas L_{pwn} manifests a similar weak correlation with Pdot only; (3) The PWN photon index Gamma_{pwn} is positively correlated with L_{pwn} and L_{pwn}/Edot. We also found that the PWN X-ray luminosity is typically 1 to 10 times larger than that from the underlying pulsar, and the PWN photon indices span a range of ~1.5 to ~2. The statistic study of PWN spectral properties supports the particle wind model in which the X-ray emitting electrons are accelerated by the termination shock of the wind., Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, 3 Tables, ApJ accepted version. Substantial revision, especially luminosity uncertainty taken into accounted and one fig added. Main conclusions unchanged

Driven by the prevailing south wind in summer, floating mat-like algal blooms in the open area of Taihu Lake would drift into Meiliang Bay located in the northern part of Taihu Lake. An exponential relationship between wind speed and algal drift velocity was found through controlled flume experiments and field observations. Then the relationship was applied to compute drift importation into Meiliang Bay in six dates when mat-like algal blooms were happening. During the six dates, except on 2004-07-31 the algal boom drifted outwards from Meiliang Bay with slight amounts of 0.05 km2; for the rest of dates, the importations were inwards positive, the maximum importation occurred on 2004-06-11, being 17.4 km2, and the minimum importation on 2004-07-30, being 4.8 km2; The results indicated importation of wind-driven algae drift during 24 hours accounts for 3.7% - 13.3% of the area of Meiliang Bay.

Main-effect QTL, epistatic effects and their interactions with environment are important genetic components of quantitative traits. In this study, we analyzed the QTLs, epistatic effects and QTL by environment interactions (QE) underlying nine traits of yield and yield-component, using a doubled-haploid (DH) population consisted of 190 lines from the cross between an indica parent Zhenshan 97 and a japonica parent WYJ 2, and tested in two-year replicated field trials. A genetic linkage map with 179 SSR (simple sequence repeat) marker loci was constructed. A mixed linear model approach was applied to detect QTLs, digenic interactions and QEs for the nine traits. In total, 57 QTLs of main effects, 41 digenic interactions, eight QEs and seven interactions of epistasis by environment were detected. Each of the main-effect QTLs individually explained 1.3 % to 25.8% of the phenotypic variations. And they collectively explained 11.5% to 66.8% of the phenotypic variations for these traits. Most of the traits (except seed setting) had the QTLs simultaneously detected in two years. Many of the traits shared same QTLs with each other, which is consistent with their significant phenotypic correlations. The pleiotropism or tight linkage of QTLs for different traits might be the important genetic base for trait correlations. The environmental influences on the stability of the trait performance were also discussed.

We identified 16 pulsars from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST) at 1.4 GHz. Their positions and total flux densities are extracted from the FIRST catalog. Comparing the source positions with those in the PSRcatalog, we obtained better determined positions of PSRs J1022+1001, J1518+4904, J1652+2651, and proper motion upper limits of another three pulsars PSRs J0751+1807, J1012+5307, J1640+2224. Proper motions of the other 10 pulsars are consistent with the values in the catalog., 6 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, submited to CJAA