Glc-TOR signalling leads transcriptome reprogramming and meristem activation

Meristems encompass stem/progenitor cells that sustain postembryonic growth of all plant organs. How meristems are activated and sustained by nutrient signalling remains enigmatic in photosynthetic plants. Combining chemical manipulations and chemical genetics at the photoautotrophic transition checkpoint, we reveal that shoot photosynthesis-derived glucose drives target-of-rapamycin (TOR) signalling relays through glycolysis and mitochondrial bioenergetics to control root meristem activation, which is decoupled from direct glucose sensing, growth-hormone signalling, and stem-cell maintenance. Surprisingly, glucose-TOR signalling dictates transcriptional reprogramming of remarkable gene sets involved in central and secondary metabolism, cell cycle, transcription, signalling, transport and folding. Systems, cellular and genetic analyses uncover TOR phosphorylation of E2Fa transcription factor for an unconventional activation of S-phase genes, and glucose-signalling defects in e2fa root meristems. Our findings establish pivotal roles of glucose-TOR signalling in unprecedented transcriptional networks wiring central metabolism and biosynthesis for energy and biomass production, and integrating localized stem/progenitor-cell proliferation through inter-organ nutrient coordination to control developmental transition and growth

Evaluation of anti-smoking television advertising on tobacco control among urban community population in Chongqing, China

Background China is the largest producer and consumer of tobacco in the world. Considering the constantly growing urban proportion, persuasive tobacco control measures are important in urban communities. Television, as one of the most pervasive mass media, can be used for this purpose. Methods The anti-smoking advertisement was carried out in five different time slots per day from 15 May to 15 June in 2011 across 12 channels of Chongqing TV. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the main municipal areas of Chongqing. A questionnaire was administered in late June to 1,342 native residents aged 18–45, who were selected via street intercept survey. Results Respondents who recognized the advertisement (32.77 %) were more likely to know or believe that smoking cigarettes caused impotence than those who did not recognize the advertisement (26.11 %). According to 25.5 % of smokers, the anti-smoking TV advertising made them consider quitting smoking. However, females (51.7 %) were less likely to be affected by the advertisement to stop and think about quitting smoking compared to males (65.6 %) (OR = 0.517, 95 % CI [0.281–0.950]). In addition, respondents aged 26–35 years (67.4 %) were more likely to try to persuade others to quit smoking than those aged 18–25 years (36.3 %) (OR = 0.457, 95 % CI [0.215–0.974]). Furthermore, non-smokers (87.4 %) were more likely to find the advertisement relevant than smokers (74.8 %) (OR = 2.34, 95 % CI [1.19–4.61]). Conclusions This study showed that this advertisement did not show significant differences on smoking-related knowledge and attitude between non-smokers who had seen the ad and those who had not. Thus, this form may not be the right tool to facilitate change in non-smokers. The ad should instead be focused on the smoking population. Gender, smoking status, and age influenced the effect of anti-smoking TV advertising on the general population in China

Electrical energy harvesting by connected form stable phase change material composites

Over the years, thermoelectric energy harvesting has been becoming a topic of intensive research and thermoelectric power generator has been utilized in various energy harvesting applications. However, a thermoelectric device is required to harvest energy, which has relatively low efficiency and high cost. To overcome such a common problem, the objective of this study is to generate electrical energy without using thermoelectric devices. To this end, an advanced energy harvester composed of two different phase change material composites was explored. It was hypothesized that based on the well-known Seebeck effect, stable electrical energy output would be feasible without a thermoelectric device, by directly connecting two types of phase change materials with different electrical conductivities and different phase transition temperatures. In this study, polydimethylsiloxane open-cell foam embedded with single walled carbon nanotubes was prepared and utilized as a supporting material to fabricate form stable phase change material composites. Two types of polydimethylsiloxane open-cell foams were prepared by embedding single walled carbon nanotubes, which had a weight fraction of 0.33 % and 0.1 %, respectively, leading to different electrical conductivities. The different electrical conductivities of the supporting foams are vital to cause electron motion. Two types of phase change materials with different phase change temperatures were selected as working materials by filling them into the polydimethylsiloxane open-cell foams. Based on the test results, it is found that direct connection of 1-tetradecanol and polyethylene glycol composites can produce stable electrical voltage and current under different thermal energy inputs: through the change of external temperature from 25 °C to 80 °C, through the light-on/-off process, and through heat flow treatment. The maximum output voltage was up to 1.18 mV with a 50 % energy harvesting efficiency and the harvesting time was maintained for 50 min. To confirm the temperature profiles of the phase change material composites, numerical simulation was conducted and the thermal properties during the phase transition process were estimated, with good agreement. This research would create a new concept of thermoelectric energy harvesting for further development in practical applications

Study on NO Heterogeneous Reduction Mechanism under Gasification Condition

Chemisorption of NO and successive heterogeneous reduction mechanisms on the well-defined char models under carbon/char-CO2 gasification condition were investigated using density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-31G (d) level of theory. The characteristics of gasification process were concluded and incorporated into the theoretical calculations by establishing three gasification char models and taking into account the presence of CO in ambient gas pool. The results indicate that both the configuration of char model and adsorption mode have significant influence on the NO adsorption energy. Intensive gasification surface is likely to be thermally unfavorable and the O-down mode is regarded as the most inactive approach for NO’s adsorbing. Finally, NO heterogeneous reduction mechanisms on the three char models under gasification are proposed based on detailed analysis on thermodynamic data and atomic bond populations

Precision Measurement of M1 Optical Clock Transition in Ni12+

Highly charged ions (HCIs) have drawn significant interest in quantum metrology and in search for new physics. Among these, Ni12+ is considered as one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of HCI optical clocks, due to its two E1-forbidden transitions M1 and E2, which occur in the visible spectral range. In this work, we used the Shanghai-Wuhan Electron Beam Ion Trap to perform a high-precision measurement of the M1 transition wavelength. Our approach involved an improved calibration scheme for the spectra, utilizing auxiliary Ar+ lines for calibration and correction. Our final measured result of the M1 transition wavelength demonstrates a five-fold improvement in accuracy compared to our previous findings, reaching the sub-picometer level accuracy. In combination with our rigorous atomic-structure calculations to capture the electron correlations and relativistic effects, the quantum electrodynamic (QED) corrections were extracted. Moreover, comparing with an estimate of the one-electron QED contributions by using the GRASP2018 package, we found that the present experimental accuracy is high enough for testing the higher-order QED corrections for such a complex system with four electrons in the p subshell.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure