Biennialism and Vernalization-Promoted Flowering in \u3cem\u3eHyoscyamus niger\u3c/em\u3e: a Comparison with \u3cem\u3eArabidopsis\u3c/em\u3e

There are genetic similarities between the biennial growth habit of Hyoscyamus niger (H. niger) and winter annual ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana, including the response to demethylating agents. One focus of our research group at Marquette is to determine whether FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) homologs or FLC-related MADS-box genes are involved in biennialism of H. niger. This review also summarizes our initial characterization of expression profiles of 4 groups of H. niger MADS-box genes. Our results suggest that B-class floral homeotic gene homologs of H. niger are differentially expressed in flowers of annual and vernalized, biennial plants

Two Magnetic Impurities with Arbitrary Spins in Open Boundary t-J Model

From the open boundary t-J model, an impurity model is constructed in which magnetic impurities of arbitrary spins are coupled to the edges of the strongly correlated electron system. The boundary R matrices are given explicitly. The interaction parameters between magnetic impurities and electrons are related to the potentials of the impurities to preserve the integrability of the system. The Hamiltonian of the impurity model is diagonalized exactly. The integral equations of the ground state are derived and the ground state properties are discussed in details. We discuss also the string solutions of the Bethe ansatz equations, which describe the bound states of the charges and spins. By minimizing the thermodynamic potential we get the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz equations. The finite size correction of the free energy contributed by the magnetic impurities is obtained explicitly. The properties of the system at some special limits are discussed and the boundary bound states are obtained.Comment: 18 pages, Revte

Mitochondrial heteroplasmy in an avian hybrid form (Passer italiae: Aves, Passeriformes)

Mitochondrial heteroplasmy is the result from biparental transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to the offspring. In such rare cases, maternal and paternal mtDNA is present in the same individual. Though recent studies suggested that mtDNA heteroplasmy might be more common than previously anticipated, that phenomenon is still poorly documented and was mostly detected in case studies on hybrid populations. The Italian sparrow, Passer italiae is a homoploid hybrid form that occurs all across the Italian Peninsula mostly under strict absence of either of its parent species, the house sparrow (P. domesticus) and the Spanish sparrow (P. hispaniolensis). In this study, we document a new case of mitochondrial heteroplasmy from two island populations of P. italiae (Ustica and Lipari). Our analysis was based on the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (ND2) that allows for a clear distinction between mitochondrial lineages of the two parental species. We amplified and sequenced the mitochondrial ND2 gene with specifically designed primer combinations for each of the two parental species. In two of our study populations, a single individual carried two different ND2 haplotypes from each of the two parental lineages. These findings contribute to current knowledge on the still poorly documented phenomenon of paternal leakage in vertebrates

MOIM: a novel design of cryptographic hash function

A hash function usually has two main components: a compression function or permutation function and mode of operation. In this paper, we propose a new concrete novel design of a permutation based hash functions called MOIM. MOIM is based on concatenating two parallel fast wide pipe constructions as a mode of operation designed by Nandi and Paul, and presented at Indocrypt 2010 where the size of the internal state is significantly larger than the size of the output. And the permutations functions used in MOIM are inspired from the SHA-3 finalist Grøstl hash function which is originally inspired from Rijndael design (AES). As a consequence there is a very strong confusion and diffusion in MOIM. Also, we show that MOIM resists all the generic attacks and Joux attack in two defense security levels

Transnuclear CD8 T cells specific for the immunodominant epitope Gra6 lower acute-phase Toxoplasma gondii burden.

We generated a CD8 T-cell receptor (TCR) transnuclear (TN) mouse specific to the Ld -restricted immunodominant epitope of GRA6 from Toxoplasma gondii as a source of cells to facilitate further investigation into the CD8 T-cell-mediated response against this pathogen. The TN T cells bound Ld -Gra6 tetramer and proliferated upon unspecific and peptide-specific stimulation. The TCR beta sequence of the Gra6-specific TN CD8 T cells is identical in its V- and J-region to the TCR-β harboured by a hybridoma line generated in response to Gra6 peptide. Adoptively transferred Gra6 TN CD8 T cells proliferated upon Toxoplasma infection in vivo and exhibited an activated phenotype similar to host CD8 T cells specific to Gra6. The brain of Toxoplasma-infected mice carried Gra6 TN cells already at day 8 post-infection. Both Gra6 TN mice as well as adoptively transferred Gra6 TN cells were able to significantly reduce the parasite burden in the acute phase of Toxoplasma infection. Overall, the Gra6 TN mouse represents a functional tool to study the protective and immunodominant specific CD8 T-cell response to Toxoplasma in both the acute and the chronic phases of infection

Atomic Effective Pseudopotentials for Semiconductors

We derive an analytic connection between the screened self-consistent effective potential from density functional theory (DFT) and atomic effective pseudopotentials (AEPs). The motivation to derive AEPs is to address structures with thousands to hundred thousand atoms, as given in most nanostructures. The use of AEPs allows to bypass a self-consistent procedure and to address eigenstates around a certain region of the spectrum (e.g., around the band gap). The bulk AEP construction requires two simple DFT calculations of slightly deformed elongated cells. The ensuing AEPs are given on a fine reciprocal space grid, including the small reciprocal vector components, are free of parameters, and involve no fitting procedure. We further show how to connect the AEPs of different bulk materials, which is necessary to obtain accurate band offsets. We derive a total of 20 AEPs for III-V, II-VI and group IV semiconductors and demonstrate their accuracy and transferability by comparison to DFT calculations of strained bulk structures, quantum wells with varying thickness, and semiconductor alloys.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR

Advanced Electrodes for Solid Acid Fuel Cells by Platinum Deposition on CsH_(2)PO_4

We demonstrate cathodes for solid acid fuel cells fabricated by vapor deposition of platinum from the metalorganic precursor Pt(acac)_2 on the solid acid CsH_(2)PO_4 at 210 °C. A network of platinum nanoparticles with diameters of 2−4 nm serves as both the oxygen reduction catalyst and the electronic conductor in the electrode. Electrodes with a platinum content of 1.75 mg/cm^2 are more active for oxygen reduction than previously reported electrodes with a platinum content of 7.5 mg/cm^2. Electrodes containing <1.75 mg/cm^2 of platinum show significantly reduced catalytic activity and increased ohmic resistance indicative of a highly discontinuous catalytic-electronic platinum network

Acoustic estimates of methane gas flux from the seabed in a 6000 km2 region in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Seeps of free methane gas escaping the seabed can be found throughout the ocean basins. To understand the role of methane gas seeps in the global carbon cycle—including both gas added to the atmosphere and that which is dissolved and potentially oxidized in the ocean volume—it is important to quantify the amount of methane escaping the seabed. Few large-scale mapping projects of natural methane seeps have been undertaken, however, and even among these, quantitative estimates of flux are rare. Here we use acoustic mapping techniques to survey 357 natural methane seeps in a large region (6000 km2) of the northern Gulf of Mexico and outline a general approach for methane seep mapping using a combination of multibeam and split-beam echo sounders. Using additional measurements collected with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) together with the acoustic mapping results, we estimate the total gas flux within the 6000 km2 region to be between 0.0013 and 0.16 Tg/yr, or between 0.003 and 0.3% of the current estimates for global seabed methane seepage rates