Development of a novel forward dynamic programming method for weather routing

This paper presents a novel forward dynamic programming method for weather routing to minimise ship fuel consumption during a voyage. Compared with traditional weather routing methods which only optimise the ship's heading, while the engine power or propeller rotation speed is set as a constant throughout the voyage, this new method considers both the ship power settings and heading controls. A float state technique is used to reduce the iterations required during optimisation and thus save computation time. This new method could lead to quasiglobal optimal routing in comparison with the traditional weather routing methods

Meat tenderness and water holding capacity are associated with a 959 A G mutation in the MyoG gene of Chinese indigenous cattle

Myogenin (MyoG) gene has mapped at 25 to 73 cm interval on BTA 16 where several quantitative trait loci for carcass weight and marbling are located. In this study, we determined the associations between gene-specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in MyoG gene, to investigate whether this polymorphism affected meat quality characteristics and to evaluate the allelic and genotypic frequencies of six native Chinese cattle breeds. The breeds were Jiaxian red (JXR), Luxi (LX), Nan-yang (NY), Qinchuan (QC), Xia-Nan (XN) and Xue long (XL). Our results suggested a transition of A → G at position 959 in exon 1 of the MyoG gene in cattle that caused the substitution (959Serine/959Cysteine). The A959G SNP was significantly associated with water holding capacity and meat tenderness (P < 0.05), while no effect of genotype on back fat thickness, rib area, loin eye height, eye muscle width and marbling was disclosed (P > 0.05). The x2-test revealed that the genotype distributions among the five cattle breeds (JXR, LX, NY, QC and XL) agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05), although, one breed (XN) was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.01). We concluded that, A959G SNP can be used as an efficacious genetic marker for meat quality traits in native Chinese cattle breeds but a much large number of animals are required for Marker assisted selection.Key words: Cattle, genotypic frequencies, myogenin (MyoG) gene, meat quality, single nucleotide polymorphism

Enrichment of Two Isomeric Heparin Oligosaccharides Exhibiting Different Affinities toward Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1

Chemokine-GAG interactions are crucial to facilitate chemokine immobilization, resulting in the formation of chemokine gradients that guide cell migration. Here we demonstrate chromatographic isolation and purification of two heparin hexasaccharide isomers that interact with the oligomeric chemokine Monocyte Chemoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1)/CCL2 with different binding affinities. The sequences of these two hexasaccharides were deduced from unique MS/MS product ions and HPLC compositional analysis. Ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) showed that the two isolated oligosaccharides have different conformations and both displayed preferential binding for one of the two distinct conformations known for MCP-1 dimers. A significant shift in arrival time distribution of close to 70 Å2 was observed, indicating a more compact protein:hexasaccharide conformation. Clear differences in the MS spectra between bound and unbound protein allowed calculation of Kd values from the resulting data. The structural difference between the two hexasaccharides was defined as the differential location of a single sulfate at either C-6 of glucosamine or C-2 of uronic acid in the reducing disaccharide, resulting in a 200-fold difference in binding affinity for MCP-1. These data indicate sequence specificity for high affinity binding, supporting the view that sulfate position, and not simply the number of sulfates, is important for heparan sulfate protein binding

Hamming weights and Betti numbers of Stanley-Reisner rings associated to matroids

To each linear code over a finite field we associate the matroid of its parity check matrix. We show to what extent one can determine the generalized Hamming weights of the code (or defined for a matroid in general) from various sets of Betti numbers of Stanley-Reisner rings of simplicial complexes associated to the matroid

Novel polymorphism of the bovine fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene are related to backfat thickness and longissimus muscle area in five Chinese native cattle breeds

In this study, genetic variation of the fat mass and obesity-associated gene (FTO) was detected by PCRSSCP and DNA sequencing in 618 individuals from five Chinese indigenous cattle breeds, and their genetic effects on meat quality traits were evaluated. The results showed that a novel single nucleotide polymorphism C1071T was detected in exon 5 and the allelic frequencies for the C and T alleles of the five breeds were 0.666/0.334, 0.583/0.417, 0.631/0.369, 0.653/0.347 and 0.689/0.311, respectively. Animals with CT genotype had higher mean values for backfat thickness than those with CC or TT genotypes (P < 0.01). Individuals with CC or CT genotypes had higher longissimus muscle area than those with TT genotype (P < 0.05). The FTO gene may be a candidate gene for identifying differences in meat quality traits and therefore, could be applied to marker-assisted selection of native Chinese cattle breeds.Key words: Cattle, fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), meat quality traits

Intensified impact of tropical Atlantic SST on the western North Pacific summer climate under a weakened Atlantic thermohaline circulation

The tropical North Atlantic (TNA) sea surface temperature (SST) has been identified as one of regulators on the boreal summer climate over the western North Pacific (WNP), in addition to SSTs in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. The major physical process proposed is that the TNA warming induces a pair of cyclonic circulation anomaly over the eastern Pacific and negative precipitation anomalies over the eastern to central tropical Pacific, which in turn lead to an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over the western to central North Pacific. This study further demonstrates that the modulation of the TNA warming to the WNP summer climate anomaly tends to be intensified under background of the weakened Atlantic thermohaline circulation (THC) by using a water-hosing experiment. The results suggest that the weakened THC induces a decrease in thermocline depth over the TNA region, resulting in the enhanced sensitivity of SST variability to wind anomalies and thus intensification of the interannual variation of TNA SST. Under the weakened THC, the atmospheric responses to the TNA warming are westward shifted, enhancing the anticyclonic circulation and negative precipitation anomaly over the WNP. This study supports the recent finding that the negative phase of the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation after the late 1960s has been favourable for the strengthening of the connection between TNA SST variability and WNP summer climate and has important implications for seasonal prediction and future projection of the WNP summer climate

THE STUDY AND MANUFACTURE OF 10 METERS LARGE-SCALE SIMULATED TRAINING TREADMILL

INTRODUCTION: In order to take a simulated training, make a scientific monitor and make technical diagnoses of biomechanics for the elite middle and long distance runners and walkers , we has developed a 10 meters large-scale treadmill all by itself. METHODS OF MANUFACTURE: 1. The mechanical component adopts frame structure, rolling rub, shaft drive and synthetic surface track. 2. The electrical component adopts speed controller of changing the frequency, computerized programming and manual two-way control. REQUIREMENT OF THE FUNCTION: 1. The track is 1m in width and 10m in length and can hold 4 sportsmen running on it simultaneously. 2. The track speed is controlled by computerized program. The max. speed is 12m/s.Scope of stable speed: 0.7-1.3/ms, infinitely variable speeds, a stable variation of the speed. Accelerated function: 1.2m/s2. 3. The noise i

Developmental and tissue-specific expression of NITRs

Novel immune-type receptors (NITRs) are encoded by large multi-gene families and share structural and signaling similarities to mammalian natural killer receptors (NKRs). NITRs have been identified in multiple bony fish species, including zebrafish, and may be restricted to this large taxonomic group. Thirty-nine NITR genes that can be classified into 14 families are encoded on zebrafish chromosomes 7 and 14. Herein, we demonstrate the expression of multiple NITR genes in the zebrafish ovary and during embryogenesis. All 14 families of zebrafish NITRs are expressed in hematopoietic kidney, spleen and intestine as are immunoglobulin and T cell antigen receptors. Furthermore, all 14 families of NITRs are shown to be expressed in the lymphocyte lineage, but not in the myeloid lineage, consistent with the hypothesis that NITRs function as NKRs. Sequence analyses of NITR amplicons identify known alleles and reveal additional alleles within the nitr1, nitr2, nitr3, and nitr5 families, reflecting the recent evolution of this gene family