Resistance to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp fragariae and Predicted Breeding Values in Strawberry

Fusarium wilt of strawberry, incited by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. fragariae (Fof), is a major disease of the cultivated strawberry (Fragaria xananassa) worldwide. An increase in disease outbreaks of the pathogen in Western Australia and Queensland plus the search for alternative disease management strategies place emphasis on the development of resistant cultivars. In response, a partial incomplete diallel cross involving four parents was performed for use in glasshouse resistance screenings. The resulting progeny were evaluated for their susceptibility to Fof. Best-performing progeny and suitability of progenies as parents were determined using data from disease severity ratings and analyzed using a linear mixed model incorporating a pedigree to produce best linear unbiased predictions of breeding values. Variation in disease response, ranging from highly susceptible to resistant, indicates a quantitative effect. The estimate of the narrow-sense heritability was 0.49 +/- 0.04 (SE), suggesting the population should be responsive to phenotypic recurrent selection. Several progeny genotypes have predicted breeding values higher than any of the parents. Knowledge of Fof resistance derived from this study can help select best parents for future crosses for the development of new strawberry cultivars with Fof resistance.

Computational Methods for Locating and Analyzing Conserved Gene Regulatory DNA Elements

This thesis presents methods for locating and analyzing cis-regulatory DNA elements involved with the regulation of gene expression in multicellular organisms. The regulation of gene expression is carried out by the combined effort of several transcription factor proteins collectively binding the DNA on the cis-regulatory elements. Only sparse knowledge of the 'genetic code' of these elements exists today. An automatic tool for discovery of putative cis-regulatory elements could help their experimental analysis, which would result in a more detailed view of the cis-regulatory element structure and function. We have developed a computational model for the evolutionary conservation of cis-regulatory elements. The elements are modeled as evolutionarily conserved clusters of sequence-specific transcription factor binding sites. We give an efficient dynamic programming algorithm that locates the putative cis-regulatory elements and scores them according to the conservation model. A notable proportion of the high-scoring DNA sequences show transcriptional enhancer activity in transgenic mouse embryos. The conservation model includes four parameters whose optimal values are estimated with simulated annealing. With good parameter values the model discriminates well between the DNA sequences with evolutionarily conserved cis-regulatory elements and the DNA sequences that have evolved neutrally. In further inquiry, the set of highest scoring putative cis-regulatory elements were found to be sensitive to small variations in the parameter values. The statistical significance of the putative cis-regulatory elements is estimated with the Two Component Extreme Value Distribution. The p-values grade the conservation of the cis-regulatory elements above the neutral expectation. The parameter values for the distribution are estimated by simulating the neutral DNA evolution. The conservation of the transcription factor binding sites can be used in the upstream analysis of regulatory interactions. This approach may provide mechanistic insight to the transcription level data from, e.g., microarray experiments. Here we give a method to predict shared transcriptional regulators for a set of co-expressed genes. The EEL (Enhancer Element Locator) software implements the method for locating putative cis-regulatory elements. The software facilitates both interactive use and distributed batch processing. We have used it to analyze the non-coding regions around all human genes with respect to the orthologous regions in various other species including mouse. The data from these genome-wide analyzes is stored in a relational database which is used in the publicly available web services for upstream analysis and visualization of the putative cis-regulatory elements in the human genome.

Regioselective synthesis and antimicrobial studies of ester linked 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-bistriazoles

A series of 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-bistriazoles was synthesized via click chemistry by cycloaddition of various bisalkynes with benzyl/2-phenylethyl azide. Synthesized triazoles were characterized by IR, H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR and mass spectral techniques. All the compounds were evaluated for antibacterial/antifungal activities and found to possess moderate to good antimicrobial activities. Further the docking study for the most active compound against DNA Gyrase was also carried out. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prior image-constrained l(1)-norm-based reconstruction method for effective usage of structural information in diffuse optical tomography

A novel approach that can more effectively use the structural information provided by the traditional imaging modalities in multimodal diffuse optical tomographic imaging is introduced. This approach is based on a prior image-constrained-l(1) minimization scheme and has been motivated by the recent progress in the sparse image reconstruction techniques. It is shown that the proposed framework is more effective in terms of localizing the tumor region and recovering the optical property values both in numerical and gelatin phantom cases compared to the traditional methods that use structural information. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America

Competencia imperfecta

De utilidad para:•Alumnos de Tª Microeconómica IV, curso 3º LE. •Alumnos de las asignaturas de Tª de Juegos y Organización Industrial del Máster en Economía: Instrumentos del Análisis Económico. Estas notas sobre competencia imperfecta están dedicadas al estudio de estructuras de mercado caracterizadas por la existencia de poder de mercado. Se estudia en primer lugar el monopolio, dedicando una atención especial a los diferentes tipos de discriminación de precios. A continuación se presenta la Tª de juegos no cooperativos y se muestra su utilidad para analizar diferentes fenómenos económicos caracterizados por la interdependencia estratégica. Finalmente, se estudian diferentes modelos de competencia oligopolística y la estabilidad de los acuerdos colusivos

A matriz eletronuclear no Brasil proposta de um marco jurídico adequado: natureza de serviço público das atividades do ciclo nuclear e a necessidade de uma entidade reguladora autônoma.

Partindo de uma análise histórica comparativa do tratamento da questão nuclear no Brasil, buscou-se compreender os condicionantes da estrutura normativa constitucional do tema atômico na atual Carta de 1988 para então lançar-se a uma análise crítica do atual quadro institucional, posto que é anterior à Constituição, mas que teria sido pela mesma recepcionado. Após esta análise crítica, tenta-se, no mesmo ambiente, reconstruir uma tessitura mínima para um ramo jurídico da energia nuclear, analisando, juntamente, a natureza das atividades do chamado ciclo nuclear. Enfim, cotejando todos estes dados, procura-se demonstrar que o atual marco legal é, ao menos, desatualizado e não atende a um projeto maior de desenvolvimento e controle das atividades nucleares no Brasil. Insta ainda salientar que, devido à própria natureza de uma tese de doutoramento, fez-se um recorte temático na questão nuclear, propositadamente não se aprofundando na temática referente à responsabilidade civil por dano nuclear, uma vez que já é tema tratado com bastante propriedade por variados escritos e autores.

新疆天山中段北部空中花粉数量的时空变化及其气候与植被指示意义

空中花粉是植被类型、气候状况与大气环境质量的指示物之一。空中花粉雨的取样实验对化石花粉谱的解释和古植被的恢复具有指导意义，因此空中花粉分析成为第四纪孢粉学和古生态学研究的有效辅助手段。本研究在新疆天山中段北坡进行了短期的空中花粉监测（2001年7月~2006年7月），目的是获得局域性和区域性植被所散发的花粉类型及其数量信息，并探讨花粉数量的植被与气候指示意义、花粉传播以及受环境条件影响的程度，同时分析和检测花粉浓度受气候条件的影响情况。空中花粉的收集使用Cour-type捕捉器，分别在3个不同海拔梯度进行5年连续的空中花粉收集（夏秋季节每周一个样品，冬春季节每两周一个样品）。取样地点分别是新疆天山中段北部的天池气象观测站（43°53'58.38"N, 88°07'15.75"E , 海拔1942.5m）、中科院阜康荒漠生态系统定位站（44°17'27.41"N, 87°55'52.65"E, 海拔477m）和准噶尔盆地古尔班通古特沙漠南缘的北沙窝试验站(44°22'40.74"N, 87°55'9.74"E, 海拔443m），取样点的植被带跨度天山北坡的森林草原到低海拔的典型荒漠。 光学显微镜鉴定的空中花粉主要有43种类型（24科30属），而蕨类、苔藓与真菌孢子数量较少。孢粉类型多样性指数为2.45（Shannon Index）。显然，从样品中所鉴定的空中花粉种类与所观察的植物种类有很大的差距。花粉类型与数量在三个不同海拔梯度的取样点上也有明显差异。天池取样点的花粉类型较丰富，与天山北坡垂直带植被分布以及丰富的植被成分相对应，花粉的优势种类为雪岭云杉(Picea schrenkiana)、蒿属(Artemisia)、藜科(Chenopodiaceae)、柽柳科(Tamaricaceae)和麻黄属(Ephedra)，高代表性的外源荒漠花粉类型“削弱了”本地花粉类型的代表性;阜康与北沙窝取样点的花粉类型主要来自荒漠成分的藜科、蒿属、麻黄属、蒺藜科(Zygophyllaceae, 白刺属Nitraria为主）、柽柳科（柽柳属为主）、蓼科(Polygonaceae, 沙拐枣属Calligonum为主）等耐旱植物。花粉数量与植被数量并非简单的线性关系。空中和表土花粉的数量分析表明，藜科、蒿属、麻黄属花粉具有超代表性;雪岭云杉花粉的代表性适中;禾本科(Gramineae)、榆属(Ulmus)、白刺属、柽柳科、沙拐枣属花粉代表性较差。 5年平均花粉浓度大小依次是阜康（81.668 grains/100m3）>天池（51.726 grains/100m3）>北沙窝（45.7685 grains/100m3）。蒿属花粉的峰值出现在秋季，并且出现双峰现象（可能与不同蒿类花期分布不均有关），而其它木本和草本类植物花粉浓度的峰值为单峰，具有明显的季节性，春夏之交开花的桦木属、榆属等类型较为明显。藜科花粉的峰值出现在夏季，麻黄和柽柳的峰值出现在盛夏，桦木属、柳属Salix、雪岭云杉等花粉浓度峰值出现在初夏，与其花期物候相对应。木本植物花粉以雪岭云杉为主，其次为桦木属(Betula)、榆属、柳属、胡颓子科(Elaeagnaceae)花粉，柳属花粉百分比在三个取样点分配比较均匀，桦木属花粉在空间分布上差异明显，与植物分布数量相关。胡颓子科的花粉出现时间短，数量也较少。榆属花粉出现的季节性明显，代表性也较差。因此解释地层中出现类似的低代表性和高代表性的花粉类型时，需要注意其百分比数量的适当校正。木本植物花粉百分比随海拔高度变化成正比关系，对植被的指示性较好。雪岭云杉的年平均花粉浓度在天池取样点明显高于其它两个取样点，5年的平均花粉浓度和百分比与海拔高度呈正比。天池取样点的百分比最高为28.85%，平均为21.15%，而北沙窝与阜康两地5年平均百分比含量分别为0.69%和1.57%，这种时空变化规律与植被数量的关系密切。藜科花粉百分比在阜康和北沙窝取样点占绝对优势，5年的平均花粉浓度与海拔高度呈反比。蒿属花粉年平均浓度与海拔高度关系微弱（R2=0.04，p =0.46），而花粉百分比与海拔高度有显著的线性正比关系（R2=0.72，p<0.0001）。但在低海拔的两个取样点之间差异不明显。 年平均花粉百分比和花粉浓度随海拔梯度而变化，主要花粉类型的变化规律存在差异。暗针叶林雪岭云杉花粉的年平均百分比在低海拔的阜康和北沙窝地区低于3%，在盛花期的6月初，低海拔的取样点也未见超过5%，雪岭云杉花粉的传播在研究区范围内数量分布变化较大，再次表明该类型的花粉在原地沉积效率很高。空中花粉数量能够较好地指示主要的植被带，盛花期内50%以上的雪岭云杉花粉含量则指示了雪岭云杉森林植被带，而高含量的蒿属植物花粉指示了天山山前冲积平原上的蒿类荒漠，相反，高含量的藜科花粉代表了低海拔地区的荒漠。雪岭云杉花粉百分比与浓度均与海拔高度呈显著的线性正比关系，表明雪岭云杉花粉传播的局限性。主要的非木本植物藜科花粉的浓度与海拔高度成反比，蒿属则相反，表明藜科与蒿属花粉在研究区具有很好的植被与气候指示意义。 花粉绝对数量、百分比、浓度具有明显的年际变化，其原因与气候状况的变化有关，年平均花粉浓度、主要类型的花粉浓度与气候参数（降水量、平均温度、最高和最低温度、相对湿度等）的相关分析表明，降水量和湿度与花粉浓度呈负相关程度较高，与其它气候参数则呈显著的正相关。干旱指数、花粉比值、花粉百分比（AP，NAP）与七月份平均气温，年平均降水量的相关系数（Pearson correlation），Ar/Ch与七月平均温度在0.01水平上呈显著的正相关（R2=0.894）, 与年平均降水量在0.01水平上呈显著的负相关（R2=0.874）。AP花粉百分比与七月份平均温度呈显著的负相关（R2=0.71, p<0.0001），与年降水量呈正相关（R2=0.43, p=0.01），而NAP花粉正相反。利用短期监测的空中花粉雨数据计算得到的花粉比值以及干旱指数在研究区具有明确的指示意义，尤其是干旱指数、Ar/Ch、Ar/Ep，这些都可为表土花粉、植被与气候关系模型的建立提供重要的参考信息。 气候参数在很大程度上影响大气花粉的浓度，而风速和风向对空中花粉的传播、散布影响较大，花粉的来源与传播受风向和风速的控制。不同取样点的空中花粉数量差异受地形条件影响很明显，这种差异也可利用地形空气动力学特征的差异来解释，天池监测站因“逆坡”（upslope）的气流促进了低海拔的花粉流向高海拔传播。 研究区的空中花粉数量信息是研究表土花粉、植被和气候关系以及第四纪古生态学的重要基础。本研究提高了对研究区空中孢粉的类型及其传播规律的认识和理解，增加了解空中花粉受环境影响的主要因素及其影响程度，对地层孢粉类型鉴定和花粉数据的解释提出指导性建议，对本地区的古植被与古环境研究增加现代孢粉学的参考依据和信息，并可为建立区域性的现代孢粉－植被－气候关系模型提供可靠依据。 同时，本报告也讨论了存在问题和不足，并提出了今后工作的可能完善方案。

Evidence for Positive Selection on the Osteogenin (BMP3) Gene in Human Populations

Background: Human skeletal system has evolved rapidly since the dispersal of modern humans from Africa, potentially driven by selection and adaptation. Osteogenin (BMP3) plays an important role in skeletal development and bone osteogenesis as an antagonist of the osteogenic bone morphogenetic proteins, and negatively regulates bone mineral density. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we resequenced the BMP3 gene from individuals in four geographically separated modern human populations. Features supportive of positive selection in the BMP3 gene were found including the presence of an excess of nonsynonymous mutations in modern humans, and a significantly lower genetic diversity that deviates from neutrality. The prevalent haplotypes of the first exon region in Europeans demonstrated features of long-range haplotype homogeneity. In contrast with findings in European, the derived allele SNP Arg192Gln shows higher extended haplotype homozygosity in East Asian. The worldwide allele frequency distribution of SNP shows not only a high-derived allele frequency in Asians, but also in Americans, which is suggestive of functional adaptation. Conclusions/Significance: In conclusion, we provide evidence for recent positive selection operating upon a crucial gene in skeletal development, which may provide new insight into the evolution of the skeletal system and bone development.

Mathematical relationships between representations of structure in linear interconnected dynamical systems

A dynamical system can exhibit structure on multiple levels. Different system representations can capture different elements of a dynamical system's structure. We consider LTI input-output dynamical systems and present four representations of structure: complete computational structure, subsystem structure, signal structure, and input output sparsity structure. We then explore some of the mathematical relationships that relate these different representations of structure. In particular, we show that signal and subsystem structure are fundamentally different ways of representing system structure. A signal structure does not always specify a unique subsystem structure nor does subsystem structure always specify a unique signal structure. We illustrate these concepts with a numerical example. © 2011 AACC American Automatic Control Council.

半导体双稳态激光器特性研究

Submitted by zhangdi (zhangdi@red.semi.ac.cn) on 2009-04-13T11:45:31Z

A method to estimate the strain state of SiGe/Si by measuring the bandgap

sing the result of model-solid theory, we have obtained the relationship between bandgap and strain of Si1-x Ge-x alloy on Si (100) substrate with x < 0.85. It was shown that the deviation between the bandgap of strained SiGe and relaxed SiGe is proportional to the strain. According to the theoretical result, a novel method was suggested to determine the strain state of SiGe/ Si through measuring the bandgap. The strain in the SiGe/Si multi-quantum wells was measured using the new method and the results had good agreement with that from XRD measurement.