The essential Mcm7 protein PROLIFERA is localized to the nucleus of dividing cells during the G(1) phase and is required maternally for early Arabidopsis development

PROLIFERA (PRL) encodes a homologue of the DNA replication licensing factor Mcm7, a highly conserved protein found in all eukaryotes. Insertions in the PROLIFERA gene are lethal, resulting in decreased transmission through the female gametophyte, and homozygous embryonic lethality. We show here that PROLIFERA is specifically expressed in populations of dividing cells in sporophytic tissues of the plant body, such as the palisade layer of the leaf and founder cells of initiating flower primordia, Gene fusions with the green fluorescent protein (GFP) reveal that the PROLIFERA protein accumulates during the G(1) phase of the cell cycle, and is transiently localized to the nucleus. During mitosis, the fusion protein rapidly disappears, returning to daughter nuclei during G(1), PROLIFERA::GUS fusions are strongly expressed in the central cell nucleus of mature megagametophytes, which have a variety of arrest points reflecting a leaky lethality. Expression is also observed in the endosperm of mutant prl embryo sacs that arrest following fertilization. Crosses with wild-type pollen result in occasional embryonic lethals that also stain for GUS activity, In contrast, embryos resulting from crosses of wild-type carpels with PRL::GUS pollen do not stain and are phenotypically normal. In situ hybridization of GUS fusion RNA indicates transcription is equivalent from maternally and paternally derived alleles, so that accumulation of maternally derived gametophytic protein is likely to be responsible for the 'maternal' effect

Pasture Land Management System Decision Support Software

Controlled or rotational grazing provides benefits to producers and society through profitable and sound management of grazing land and livestock. Pasture land management system (PLMS) is a decision support system developed to help university, government, and professionals provide technical pasture management assistance to beef and dairy producers. The PLMS focuses on the balance between seasonal forage supply and nutrient demand in a dairy or beef cattle operation. It allows users to explore and compare alternatives (dividing fields into multiple paddocks, changing stocking rates, and forage species) through a visual display and embedded simulation. Users enter a description of the farm by drawing a map. Maps can be drawn freehand, traced over a scanned image, or GIS data may be incorporated. Once map and field data are entered the grazing options are specified via input screens. Grazing systems can be easily compared without economic risk and with almost immediate feedback on how these alternative systems affect variables like milk production and pounds of beef sold. PLMS serves as both an educational tool and a strategic planning tool for evaluating alternative grazing operations and management related investments (website: http://clic.cses.vt.edu/PLMS/)

An automated coding and classification system with supporting database for effective design of manufacturing systems

The philosophy of group technology (GT) is an important concept in the design of flexible manufacturing systems and manufacturing cells. Group technology is a manufacturing philosophy that identifies similar parts and groups them into families. Beside assigning unique codes to these parts, group technology developers intend to take advantage of part similarities during design and manufacturing processes. GT is not the answer to all manufacturing problems, but it is a good management technique with which to standardize efforts and eliminate duplication. Group technology classifies parts by assigning them to different families based on their similarities in: (1) design attributes (physical shape and size), and/or (2) manufacturing attributes (processing sequence). The manufacturing industry today is process focused; departments and sub units are no longer independent but are interdependent. If the product development process is to be optimized, engineering and manufacturing cannot remain independent any more: they must be coordinated. Each sub-system is a critical component within an integrated manufacturing framework. The coding and classification system is the basis of CAPP and the functioning and reliability of CAPP depends on the robustness of the coding system. The proposed coding system is considered superior to the previously proposed coding systems, in that it has the capability to migrate into multiple manufacturing environments. This article presents the design of a coding and classification system and the supporting database for manufacturing processes based on both design and manufacturing attributes of parts. An interface with the spreadsheet will calculate the machine operation costs for various processes. This menu-driven interactive package is implemented using dBASE-IV. Part Family formation is achieved using a KAMCELL package developed in TURBO Pascal.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46606/1/10845_2004_Article_BF00123696.pd

A Cilia-inspired Closed-loop Sensor-actuator Array

© 2018, Jilin University. Cilia are finger-like cell-surface organelles that are used by certain varieties of aquatic unicellular organisms for motility, sensing and object manipulation. Initiated by internal generators and external mechanical and chemical stimuli, coordinated undulations of cilia lead to the motion of a fluid surrounding the organism. This motion transports micro-particles towards an oral cavity and provides motile force. Inspired by the emergent properties of cilia possessed by the pond organism P. caudatum, we propose a novel smart surface with closed-loop control using sensor-actuators pairings that can manipulate objects. Each vibrating motor actuator is controlled by a localised microcontroller which utilises proximity sensor information to initiate actuation. The circuit boards are designed to be plug-and-play and are infinitely up-scalable and reconfigurable. The smart surface is capable of moving objects at a speed of 7.2 millimetres per second in forward or reverse direction. Further development of this platform will include more anatomically similar biomimetic cilia and control

The Populus holobiont: dissecting the effects of plant niches and genotype on the microbiome

Background: Microorganisms serve important functions within numerous eukaryotic host organisms. An understanding of the variation in the plant niche-level microbiome, from rhizosphere soils to plant canopies, is imperative to gain a better understanding of how both the structural and functional processes of microbiomes impact the health of the overall plant holobiome. Using Populus trees as a model ecosystem, we characterized the archaeal/bacterial and fungal microbiome across 30 different tissue-level niches within replicated Populus deltoides and hybrid Populus trichocarpa × deltoides individuals using 16S and ITS2 rRNA gene analyses. Results: Our analyses indicate that archaeal/bacterial and fungal microbiomes varied primarily across broader plant habitat classes (leaves, stems, roots, soils) regardless of plant genotype, except for fungal communities within leaf niches, which were greatly impacted by the host genotype. Differences between tree genotypes are evident in the elevated presence of two potential fungal pathogens, Marssonina brunnea and Septoria sp., on hybrid P. trichocarpa × deltoides trees which may in turn be contributing to divergence in overall microbiome composition. Archaeal/bacterial diversity increased from leaves, to stem, to root, and to soil habitats, whereas fungal diversity was the greatest in stems and soils. Conclusions: This study provides a holistic understanding of microbiome structure within a bioenergy relevant plant host, one of the most complete niche-level analyses of any plant. As such, it constitutes a detailed atlas or map for further hypothesis testing on the significance of individual microbial taxa within specific niches and habitats of Populus and a baseline for comparisons to other plant species

Defining the industrial and engineering management professional profile: a longitudinal study based on job advertisements

The engineering professional profiles have been discussed by several branches of the engineering field. On the one hand, this discussion helps to understand the professional practice and contributes to the specification of the competences that are suitable for each function and company culture. On the other hand, it is an essential starting point for the definition of curricula in engineering schools. Thus, this study aims to characterize, in an innovative way based on job advertisements, the demand for competences and areas of practice for Industrial Engineering and Management contributing for the definition of a professional profile. This characterization is based on the analysis of 1391 job advertisements, collected during seven years from a Portuguese newspaper. The data analysis takes into account the job description in which two categories were considered: areas of professional practice (e.g. project management) and transversal competences (e.g. teamwork). Considering the total number of job advertisements, it was possible to identify 1,962 cumulative references for 11 professional practice areas and 5,261 cumulative references for transversal competences. The contribution of this study lies on the identification of the main areas of practice and the main transversal competences demanded by employers.This work was partially funded by COMPETE-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT-UID-CEC-00319-2013

A review of friction models in interacting joints for durability design.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of friction modelling to provide an understanding of design for durability within interacting systems. Friction is a complex phenomenon and occurs at the interface of two components in relative motion. Over the last several decades, the effects of friction and its modelling techniques have been of significant interests in terms of industrial applications. There is however a need to develop a unified mathematical model for friction to inform design for durability within the context of varying operational conditions. Classical dynamic mechanisms model for the design of control systems has not incorporated friction phenomena due to non-linearity behaviour. Therefore, the tribological performance concurrently with the joint dynamics of a manipulator joint applied in hazardous environments needs to be fully analysed. Previously the dynamics and impact models used in mechanical joints with clearance have also been examined. The inclusion of reliability and durability during the design phase is very important for manipulators which are deployed in harsh environmental and operational conditions. The revolute joint is susceptible to failures such as in heavy manipulators these revolute joints can be represented by lubricated conformal sliding surfaces. The presence of pollutants such as debris and corrosive constituents has the potential to alter the contacting surfaces, would in turn affect the performance of revolute joints, and puts both reliability and durability of the systems at greater risks of failure. Key literature is identified and a review on the latest developments of the science of friction modelling is presented here. This review is based on a large volume of knowledge. Gaps in the relevant field have been identified to capitalise on for future developments. Therefore, this review will bring significant benefits to researchers, academics and industrial professionals

Digital Gene Expression Analysis Based on Integrated De Novo Transcriptome Assembly of Sweet Potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.]

Background: Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. [Lam.]) ranks among the top six most important food crops in the world. It is widely grown throughout the world with high and stable yield, strong adaptability, rich nutrient content, and multiple uses. However, little is known about the molecular biology of this important non-model organism due to lack of genomic resources. Hence, studies based on high-throughput sequencing technologies are needed to get a comprehensive and integrated genomic resource and better understanding of gene expression patterns in different tissues and at various developmental stages. Methodology/Principal Findings: Illumina paired-end (PE) RNA-Sequencing was performed, and generated 48.7 million of 75 bp PE reads. These reads were de novo assembled into 128,052 transcripts ($100 bp), which correspond to 41.1 million base pairs, by using a combined assembly strategy. Transcripts were annotated by Blast2GO and 51,763 transcripts got BLASTX hits, in which 39,677 transcripts have GO terms and 14,117 have ECs that are associated with 147 KEGG pathways. Furthermore, transcriptome differences of seven tissues were analyzed by using Illumina digital gene expression (DGE) tag profiling and numerous differentially and specifically expressed transcripts were identified. Moreover, the expression characteristics of genes involved in viral genomes, starch metabolism and potential stress tolerance and insect resistance were also identified

Obesity Takes Its Toll on Visceral Pain: High-Fat Diet Induces Toll-Like Receptor 4- Dependent Visceral Hypersensitivity

Exposure to high-fat diet induces both, peripheral and central alterations in TLR4 expression. Moreover, functional TLR4 is required for the development of high-fat diet-induced obesity. Recently, central alterations in TLR4 expression have been associated with the modulation of visceral pain. However, it remains unknown whether there is a functional interaction between the role of TLR4 in diet-induced obesity and in visceral pain. In the present study we investigated the impact of long-term exposure to high-fat diet on visceral pain perception and on the levels of TLR4 and Cd11b (a microglial cell marker) protein expression in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus. Peripheral alterations in TLR4 were assessed following the stimulation of spleenocytes with the TLR4-agonist LPS. Finally, we evaluated the effect of blocking TLR4 on visceral nociception, by administering TAK-242, a selective TLR4-antagonist. Our results demonstrated that exposure to high-fat diet induced visceral hypersensitivity. In parallel, enhanced TLR4 expression and microglia activation were found in brain areas related to visceral pain, the PFC and the hippocampus. Likewise, peripheral TLR4 activity was increased following long-term exposure to high-fat diet, resulting in an increased level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Finally, TLR4 blockage counteracted the hyperalgesic phenotype present in mice fed on high-fat diet. Our data reveal a role for TLR4 in visceral pain modulation in a model of diet-induced obesity, and point to TLR4 as a potential therapeutic target for the development of drugs to treat visceral hypersensitivity present in pathologies associated to fat diet consumption