玉簪品种的引种，栽培和组织培养

本研究通过对玉簪属植物的组织培养，发现以腋芽、花序、试管苗的叶片为外植体，均可达到迅速繁殖的目的，但对于不同的玉簪品种来说，所能采用的外植体的种类又不尽相同：对于非嵌合体玉簪品种，以腋芽、花序、试管苗的叶片作外植体都可以;而对于嵌合体玉簪品种，如果以花序或试管苗的叶片为外植体，通过诱导不定芽进行快繁，在所得的试管苗中，超过50%的个体失去斑叶特性，这在实际生产中是不可行的，如果以腋芽为外植体，所得试管苗中多于95%的可保持原有嵌合体特征，故为理想的外植体。 在以腋芽为外植体的离体培养中，取嵌合玉簪品种H. ‘Francee’和H. ‘Ground Master’的芽作材料，通过对试验结果的分析、比较，选出了合适的繁殖培养基：MS ＋ BA0.5mg/L + NAA0.5mg/L + KH2PO4150mg/L + 水解乳蛋白500mg/L + 蔗糖30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L，其可提高腋芽分化率，达到了快速繁殖的目的，此外，该培养基还可保持原来的生长势，降低斑叶特性分离比;同时选出了生根培养基：MS + IAA1mg/L + 蔗糖30g/L + 琼脂5.6g/L。 以花葶为外植体的试验，证实了此种方式仅适合非嵌合体玉簪的快速繁殖。 在以叶片为外植体的研究中，取了嵌合体品种H. ‘Francee’、H. ‘Ground Master’、H. ‘Gold Standard’、H. ‘Color Glory’和H. ‘Little Ming’的再生叶征作材料，通过对试验结果的分析、比较、观察到在培养基：MS + BA4mg/L + NAA0.1mg/L + 蔗糖 30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L上只有芽的形成，培养基：MS + BA0.4mg/L + NAA0.4mg/L + 蔗糖 30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L则利于根的发生，而培养基：MS + BA4mg/L + NAA0.4mg/L + 蔗糖 30g/L + 琼脂 5.6g/L促进根或（和）不定芽的产生，则因品种的不同而变化，另外还发现，经诱导不定芽途径所得到的试管苗，仅少于5%的个体保持斑叶特性，所以不可用于嵌合体玉簪的组织培养，但可快速繁殖非嵌合体玉簪。

Experimental Infection of Culex Annulirostris, Culex Gelidus, and Aedes Vigilax With a Yellow Fever/Japanese Encephalitis Virus Vaccine Chimera (Chimerivax TM-JE)

Australian mosquitoes from which Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) has been recovered (Culex annulirostris, Culex gelidus, and Aedes vigilax) were assessed for their ability to be infected with the ChimeriVax-JE vaccine, with yellow fever vaccine virus 17D (YF 17D) from which the backbone of ChimeriVax-JE vaccine is derived and with JEV-Nakayama. None of the mosquitoes became infected after being fed orally with 6.1 log(10) plaque-forming units (PFU)/mL of ChimeriVax-JE vaccine, which is greater than the peak viremia in vaccinees (mean peak viremia = 4.8 PFU/mL, range = 0-30 PFU/mL of 0.9 days mean duration, range = 0-11 days). Some members of all three species of mosquito became infected when fed on JEV-Nakayama, but only Ae. vigilax was infected when fed on YF 17D. The results suggest that none of these three species of mosquito are likely to set up secondary cycles of transmission of ChimeriVax-JE in Australia after feeding on a viremic vaccinee.

Do androids dream of electric chimera?

This paper describes the use of the Chimera Architecture as the basis for a generative rhythmic improvisation system that is intended for use in ensemble contexts. This interactive soft- ware system learns in real time based on an audio input from live performers. The paper describes the components of the Chimera Architecture including a novel analysis engine that uses prediction to robustly assess the rhythmic salience of the input stream. Analytical results are stored in a hierarchical structure that includes multiple scenarios which allow ab- stracted and alternate interpretations of the current metrical context. The system draws upon this Chimera Architecture when generating a musical response. The generated rhythms are intended to have a particular ambiguity in relation to the music performance by other members of the ensemble. Ambi- guity is controlled through alternate interpretations of the Chimera. We describe an implementation of the Chimera Ar- chitecture that focuses on rhythmic material, and present and discuss initial experimental results of the software system playing along with recordings of a live performance.

Computation of Viscous Incompressible Flow using Pressure Correction Method on Unstructured Chimera Grid

In this paper, a pressure correction algorithm for computing incompressible flows is modified and implemented on unstructured Chimera grid. Schwarz method is used to couple the solutions of different sub-domains. A new interpolation to ensure consistency between primary variables and auxiliary variables is proposed. Other important issues such as global mass conservation and order of accuracy in the interpolations are also discussed. Two numerical simulations are successfully performed. They include one steady case, the lid-driven cavity and one unsteady case, the flow around a circular cylinder. The results demonstrate a very good performance of the proposed scheme on unstructured Chimera grids. It prevents the decoupling of pressure field in the overlapping region and requires only little modification to the existing unstructured Navier–Stokes (NS) solver. The numerical experiments show the reliability and potential of this method in applying to practical problems.

A Salmonella Typhimurium-Typhi genomic chimera: a model to study Vi polysaccharide capsule function in vivo.

The Vi capsular polysaccharide is a virulence-associated factor expressed by Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi but absent from virtually all other Salmonella serotypes. In order to study this determinant in vivo, we characterised a Vi-positive S. Typhimurium (C5.507 Vi(+)), harbouring the Salmonella pathogenicity island (SPI)-7, which encodes the Vi locus. S. Typhimurium C5.507 Vi(+) colonised and persisted in mice at similar levels compared to the parent strain, S. Typhimurium C5. However, the innate immune response to infection with C5.507 Vi(+) and SGB1, an isogenic derivative not expressing Vi, differed markedly. Infection with C5.507 Vi(+) resulted in a significant reduction in cellular trafficking of innate immune cells, including PMN and NK cells, compared to SGB1 Vi(-) infected animals. C5.507 Vi(+) infection stimulated reduced numbers of TNF-α, MIP-2 and perforin producing cells compared to SGB1 Vi(-). The modulating effect associated with Vi was not observed in MyD88(-/-) and was reduced in TLR4(-/-) mice. The presence of the Vi capsule also correlated with induction of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in vivo, a factor that impacted on chemotaxis and the activation of immune cells in vitro.

A Pressure-Correction Method And Its Applications On An Unstructured Chimera Grid

In this paper, an unstructured Chimera mesh method is used to compute incompressible flow around a rotating body. To implement the pressure correction algorithm on unstructured overlapping sub-grids, a novel interpolation scheme for pressure correction is proposed. This indirect interpolation scheme can ensure a tight coupling of pressure between sub-domains. A moving-mesh finite volume approach is used to treat the rotating sub-domain and the governing equations are formulated in an inertial reference frame. Since the mesh that surrounds the rotating body undergoes only solid body rotation and the background mesh remains stationary, no mesh deformation is encountered in the computation. As a benefit from the utilization of an inertial frame, tensorial transformation for velocity is not needed. Three numerical simulations are successfully performed. They include flow over a fixed circular cylinder, flow over a rotating circular cylinder and flow over a rotating elliptic cylinder. These numerical examples demonstrate the capability of the current scheme in handling moving boundaries. The numerical results are in good agreement with experimental and computational data in literature. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computation of flow over a rotating body on unstructured Chimera mesh

Flow around moving boundary is ubiquitous in engineering applications. To increse the efficienly of the algorithm to handle moving boundaries is still a major challenge in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The Chimera grid method is one type of method to handle moving boundaries. A concept of domain de-composition has been proposed in this paper. In this method, sub-domains are meshed independently and governing equations are also solved separately on them. The Chimera grid method was originally used only on structured (curvilinear) meshes. However, in a problem which involves both moving boundary and complex geometry, the number of sub-domains required in a traditional (structured) Chimera method becomes fairly large. Thus the time required in the interior boundary locating, link-building and data exchanging also increases. The use of unstructured Chimera grid can reduce the time consumption significantly by the reduction of domain(block) number. Generally speaking, unstructured Chimera grid method has not been developed. In this paper, a well-known pressure correction scheme - SIMPLEC is modified and implemented on unstructured Chimera mesh. A new interpolation scheme regarding the pressure correction is proposed to prevent the possible decoupling of pressure. A moving-mesh finite volume approach is implemented in an inertial reference frame. This approach is then used to compute incompressible flow around a rotating circular and elliptic cylinder. These numerical examples demonstrate the capability of the proposed scheme in handling moving boundaries. The numerical results are in good agreement with other experimental and computational data in literature. The method proposed in this paper can be efficiently applied to more challenge cases such as free-falling objects or heavy particles in fluid.

Flower color chimera and abnormal leaf mutants induced by C-12(6+) heavy ions in Salvia splendens Ker-Gawl.

The effect of C-12(6+) heavy ions bombardment on mutagenesis in Salvia splendens Ker-Gawl. was studied. Dose-response studies indicated that there was a peak of malformation frequency of S. splendens at 200 Gy. Abnormal leaf mutants of the bileaf, trileaf and tetraleaf conglutination were selected. Meanwhile, a bicolor flower chimera with dark red and fresh red flower was isolated in M1 generation of S. splendens. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis demonstrated that DNA variations existed among the wild-type, fresh and dark red flower shoots of the chimera. The dark red flower shoots of the chimera were conserved and cultivated at a large-scale through micropropagation. MS supplemented with 2.0 mg/L BA and 0.3 mg/L NAA was the optimal medium in which the maximum proliferation ratio (5.2-fold) and rooting rate (88%) were achieved after 6 weeks. Our findings provide an important method to improve the ornamental quality of S. splendens.

Artificial muscle: the human chimera is the future.

Severe heart failure and cerebral stroke are broadly associated with the impairment of muscular function that conventional treatments struggle to restore. New technologies enable the construction of "smart" materials that could be of great help in treating diseases where the main problem is muscle weakness. These materials "behave" similarly to biological systems, because the material directly converts energy, for example electrical energy into movement. The extension and contraction occur silently like in natural muscles. The real challenge is to transfer this amazing technology into devices that restore or replace the mechanical function of failing muscle. Cardiac assist devices based on artificial muscle technology could envelope a weak heart and temporarily improve its systolic function, or, if placed on top of the atrium, restore the atrial kick in chronic atrial fibrillation. Artificial sphincters could be used to treat urinary incontinence after prostatectomy or faecal incontinence associated with stomas. Artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis due to stroke or nerve injury to blink. Smart materials could be used to construct an artificial oesophagus including peristaltic movement and lower oesophageal sphincter function to replace the diseased oesophagus thereby avoiding the need for laparotomy to mobilise stomach or intestine. In conclusion, in the near future, smart devices will integrate with the human body to fill functional gaps due to organ failure, and so create a human chimera.