The (Lack of) Gender Dynamics of Gubernatorial Executive Orders

How do governors utilize state executive orders to effect policy changes? Are there differences between male and female governors? Though various works have examined the dynamics of presidential executive orders, few have examined how governors employ executive orders at the state level. We present results of a pilot study on how gender influences use of gubernatorial executive orders. Contrary to much of the literature on gender dynamics, we find minimal differences in the ways that female and male governors use gubernatorial executive orders. Female governors do not appear to rely more or less on unilateral orders than do their male colleagues. Although we do find some evidence that female governors are less likely to issue cultural and economic executive orders than socialissue and public-health executive orders, the difference between female and male governors across most issue areas is minimal. These results have important implications on studies of gender dynamics, the unilateral executive, and gubernatorial behavior

Momentum-resolved tunneling between Luttinger liquids

We study tunneling between two nearby cleaved edge quantum wires in a perpendicular magnetic field. Due to Coulomb forces between electrons, the wires form a strongly-interacting pair of Luttinger liquids. We calculate the low-temperature differential tunneling conductance, in which singular features map out the dispersion relations of the fractionalized quasiparticles of the system. The velocities of several such spin-charge separated excitations can be explicitly observed. Moreover, the proposed measurement directly demonstrates the splintering of the tunneling electrons into a multi-particle continuum of these quasiparticles, carrying separately charge from spin. A variety of corrections to the simple Luttinger model are also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures (1 in color

Evaluation of four different strategies to characterize plasma membrane proteins from banana roots

Plasma membrane proteins constitute a very important class of proteins. They are involved in the transmission of external signals to the interior of the cell and selective transport of water, nutrients and ions across the plasma membrane. However, the study of plasma membrane proteins is challenging because of their poor solubility in aqueous media and low relative abundance. In this work, we evaluated four different strategies for the characterization of plasma membrane proteins from banana roots: (i) the aqueous-polymer two-phase system technique (ATPS) coupled to gelelectrophoresis (gel-based), and (ii) ATPS coupled to LC-MS/MS (gel free), (iii) a microsomal fraction and (iv) a full proteome, both coupled to LC-MS/ MS. Our results show that the gel-based strategy is useful for protein visualization but has major limitations in terms of time reproducibility and efficiency. From the gel-free strategies, the microsomal-based strategy allowed the highest number of plasma membrane proteins to be identified, followed by the full proteome strategy and by the ATPS based strategy. The high yield of plasma membrane proteins provided by the microsomal fraction can be explained by the enrichment of membrane proteins in this fraction and the high throughput of the gel-free approach combined with the usage of a fast high-resolution mass spectrometer for the identification of proteins

Characterizing fruit ripening in plantain and Cavendish bananas: A proteomics approach

The fruit physiology of banana cultivars other than Cavendish is poorly understood. To study the ripening process, samples were taken daily from plantain and Cavendish bananas and the ripening stages were determined. We present data from the green to the fully mature stage. By analyzing the protein abundances during ripening we provide some new insights into the ripening process and how plantains fruits are different. Multivariate analysis of the proteins was performed correlated to the starch dynamics. A drop in sucrose synthase and a rise of acid invertase during ripening indicated a change in the balance of the sucrose fate. During ripening, sugars may no longer be available for respiration since they are stored in the vacuoles, making citrate the preferred respiratory substrate. We found significant cultivar specific differences in granule-bound starch synthase, alpha- and beta amylases and cell wall invertase when comparing the protein content at the same ripening stage. This corroborates the difference in starch content/structure between both banana types. Differences in small heat shock proteins and in the cell wall-modifying enzyme xyloglucan endotransglucosylase/hydrolase support respectively the presumed higher carotenoid content and the firmer fruit structure of plantains

Cross-Over between universality classes in a magnetically disordered metallic wire

In this article we present numerical results of conduction in a disordered quasi-1D wire in the possible presence of magnetic impurities. Our analysis leads us to the study of universal properties in different conduction regimes such as the localized and metallic ones. In particular, we analyse the cross-over between universality classes occurring when the strength of magnetic disorder is increased. For this purpose, we use a numerical Landauer approach, and derive the scattering matrix of the wire from electron's Green's function.Comment: Final version, accepted for publication in New Journ. of Physics, 27 pages, 28 figures. Replaces the earlier shorter preprint arXiv:0910.427

Somatic embryogenesis in coffee: the evolution of biotechnology and the integration of omics technologies offer great opportunities

One of the most important crops cultivated around the world is coffee. There are two main cultivated species, Coffea arabica and C. canephora. Both species are difficult to improve through conventional breeding, taking at least 20 years to produce a new cultivar. Biotechnological tools such as genetic transformation, micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis (SE) have been extensively studied in order to provide practical results for coffee improvement. While genetic transformation got many attention in the past and is booming with the CRISPR technology, micropropagation and SE are still the major bottle neck and urgently need more attention. The methodologies to induce SE and the further development of the embryos are genotype-dependent, what leads to an almost empirical development of specific protocols for each cultivar or clone. This is a serious limitation and excludes a general comprehensive understanding of the process as a whole. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of which achievements and molecular insights have been gained in (coffee) somatic embryogenesis and encourage researchers to invest further in the in vitro technology and combine it with the latest omics techniques (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and phenomics). We conclude that the evolution of biotechnology and the integration of omics technologies offer great opportunities to (i) optimize the production process of SE and the subsequent conversion into rooted plantlets and (ii) to screen for possible somaclonal variation. However, currently the usage of the latest biotechnology did not pass the stage beyond proof of potential and needs to further improve

On the relevance of polyynyl-substituted PAHs to astrophysics

We report on the absorption spectra of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene carrying either an ethynyl (-C2H) or a butadiynyl (-C4H) group. Measurements were carried out in the mid infrared at room temperature on grains embedded in CsI pellets and in the near ultraviolet at cryogenic temperature on molecules isolated in Ne matrices. The infrared measurements show that interstellar populations of polyynyl-substituted PAHs would give rise to collective features in the same way non-substituted PAHs give rise to the aromatic infrared bands. The main features characteristic of the substituted molecules correspond to the acetylenic CH stretching mode near 3.05 mum and to the almost isoenergetic acetylenic CCH in- and out-of-plane bending modes near 15.9 mum. Sub-populations defined by the length of the polyynyl side group cause collective features which correspond to the various acetylenic CC stretching modes. The ultraviolet spectra reveal that the addition of an ethynyl group to a non-substituted PAH molecule results in all its electronic transitions being redshifted. Due to fast internal energy conversion, the bands at shorter wavelengths are significantly broadened. Those at longer wavelengths are only barely affected in this respect. As a consequence, their relative peak absorption increases. The substitution with the longer butadiynyl chain causes the same effects with a larger magnitude, resulting in the spectra to show a prominent if not dominating pi-pi* transition at long wavelength. After discussing the relevance of polyynyl-substituted PAHs to astrophysics, we conclude that this class of highly conjugated, unsaturated molecules are valid candidates for the carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ 2 April 201