Molecular cytogenetic mapping of Cucumis sativus and C. melo using highly repetitive DNA sequences

Chromosomes often serve as one of the most important molecular aspects of studying the evolution of species. Indeed, most of the crucial mutations that led to differentiation of species during the evolution have occurred at the chromosomal level. Furthermore, the analysis of pachytene chromosomes appears to be an invaluable tool for the study of evolution due to its effectiveness in chromosome identification and precise physical gene mapping. By applying fluorescence in situ hybridization of 45S rDNA and CsCent1 probes to cucumber pachytene chromosomes, here, we demonstrate that cucumber chromosomes 1 and 2 may have evolved from fusions of ancestral karyotype with chromosome number n= 12. This conclusion is further supported by the centromeric sequence similarity between cucumber and melon, which suggests that these sequences evolved from a common ancestor. It may be after or during speciation that these sequences were specifically amplified, after which they diverged and specific sequence variants were homogenized. Additionally, a structural change on the centromeric region of cucumber chromosome 4 was revealed by fiber-FISH using the mitochondrial-related repetitive sequences, BAC-E38 and CsCent1. These showed the former sequences being integrated into the latter in multiple regions. The data presented here are useful resources for comparative genomics and cytogenetics of Cucumis and, in particular, the ongoing genome sequencing project of cucumbe

Enhancement of electrical properties in Al-doped ZnO films by tuning dc bias voltage during radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were deposited at room temperature on glass substrates by rf magnetron sputtering with simultaneous dc bias through an external inductor coil. The deposition rates of AZO films deposited using simultaneous rf and dc power along with an inductor coil were 20 higher than those deposited using only rf power. The effects of simultaneous rf and dc bias voltage during the deposition of AZO films were investigated in terms of their resistivity and compressive stress. It was observed that the AZO films deposited at 120 W rf power with 600 μH inductor coil exhibit the lowest resistivity of 6.71 à 10-4 Ïṡcm. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Thermodynamic Potential for Superfluid 3He in Aerogel

We present a free energy functional for superfluid 3He in the presence of homogeneously distributed impurity disorder which extends the Ginzburg-Landau free energy functional to all temperatures. We use the new free energy functional to calculate the thermodynamic potential, entropy, heat capacity and density of states for the B-phase of superfluid 3He in homogeneous, isotropic aerogel.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Bistable Organic Memory Device with Gold Nanoparticles Embedded in a Conducting Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) Colloids Hybrid

We report on the nonvolatile memory characteristics of a bistable organic memory (BOM) device with Au nanopartides (NPs) embedded in a conducting poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) colloids hybrid layer deposited on flexible poly(ethylenete-rephthalate) (PET) substrates. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images show the Au nanoparticles distributed isotropically around the surface of a PVK colloid. The average induced charge on Au nanoparticles, estimated using the C-V hysteresis curve, was large, as much as 5 holes/NP at a sweeping voltage of +/-3 V. The maximum ON/OFF ratio of the current bistability in the BOM devices was as large as 1 x 10(5). The cycling endurance tests of the ON/OFF switching exhibited a high endurance of above 1.5 x 10(5) cycles, and a high ON/OFF ratio of similar to 10(5) could be achieved consistently even after quite a long retention time of more than 1 x 10(6) s. To clarify the memory mechanism of the hole-mediated bistable organic memory device, the interactions between Au nanoparticles and poly(N-vinylcarbazole) colloids was studied by estimating the density of states and projected density of state calculations using density functional theory. Au atom interactions with a PVK unit decreased the band gap by 2.96 eV with the new induced gap states at 5.11 eV (HOMO, E(0)) and LUMO 4.30 eV and relaxed the HOMO level by 0.5 eV (E(1)). E(1) at similar to 6.2 eV is very close to the pristine HOMO, and thus the trapped hole in E(1) could move to the HOMO of pristine PVK From the experimental data and theoretical calculation, it was revealed that a low-conductivity state resulted from a hole trapping at E(o) and E(1) states and subsequent hole transportation through Fowler-Nordheim tunneling from E(1) state to Au NPs and/or interface trap states leads to a high conductivity state

Mean-field model of the ferromagnetic ordering in the superconducting phase of ErNi_2B_2C

A mean-field model explaining most of the details in the magnetic phase diagram of ErNi_2B_2C is presented. The low-temperature magnetic properties are found to be dominated by the appearance of long-period commensurate structures. The stable structure at low temperatures and zero field is found to have a period of 40 layers along the a direction, and upon cooling it undergoes a first-order transition at T_C = 2.3 K to a different 40-layered structure having a net ferromagnetic component of about 0.4 mu_B/Er. The neutron-diffraction patterns predicted by the two 40-layered structures, above and below T_C, are in agreement with the observations of Choi et al.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures (Revtex4

Extreme waves generated by Typhoon Bolaven (201215) in Southern Korean waters

Unusual extreme waves were generated by Typhoon Bolaven (201215) in the Southern Korean Waters\ud (SKW) and gave destructive damages to the breakwaters of Seogwipo Harbor at Jeju Island. The waves were far\ud exceeding the design wave height (Hs50yrs 9.3m) and their duration was 14hours. The duration is a very significant\ud factor as much as the design wave height for breakwater armor stability in terms of cumulative damages. A significant\ud increase in strong typhoon intensity and duration in North West Pacific (NWP) due to global warming has been reported\ud and also in landfall typhoons on Korea/Japan in a recent decade. The frequency of typhoon passed SKW region had an\ud inter-annual and also a decadal variation and decreased in recent years, but several strong typhoons were occurred.\ud Bolaven was affected by high pressure distribution located above the warm eddy region to track toward NNW rather\ud than NE as usual in August. The extreme waves were analyzed with respect to typhoon genesis, evolution of the waves\ud through extensive measured data and model simulation. Numerical models of TC96 for the wind fields and WAM4.5.2\ud for the waves were used after calibration with measured data and correction of Cd in wave growth term. They produced\ud reasonably good results. It was found that the extreme waves were evolved by combination of distant large swell and\ud strong wind seas generated by consistent strong winds from front right quadrant of typhoon track for such a long time.\ud The variation of those waves was relatively small as 1-2m, which might be due to limitation of wave growth for\ud U>30m/s and bottom energy dissipation of long period waves in the region. It is essential to hindcast accurately the\ud extreme waves for design of the breakwaters and also for assessment of coastal flooding and coastal erosion in a\ud warming climate

Lockin to Weak Ferromagnetism in TbNi2B2C and ErNi2B2C

This article describes a model in which ferromagnetism necessarily accompanies a spin-density-wave lockin transition in the borocarbide structure provided the commensurate phase wave vector satisfies Q = (m/n)a* with m even and n odd. The results account for the magnetic properties of TbNi2B2C, and are also possibly relevant also for those of ErNi2B2C.Comment: 4 page

Degenerations of ideal hyperbolic triangulations

Let M be a cusped 3-manifold, and let T be an ideal triangulation of M. The deformation variety D(T), a subset of which parameterises (incomplete) hyperbolic structures obtained on M using T, is defined and compactified by adding certain projective classes of transversely measured singular codimension-one foliations of M. This leads to a combinatorial and geometric variant of well-known constructions by Culler, Morgan and Shalen concerning the character variety of a 3-manifold.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures; minor changes; to appear in Mathematische Zeitschrif