Tight Revenue Gaps among Multi-Unit Mechanisms

This paper considers Bayesian revenue maximization in the $k$-unit setting, where a monopolist seller has $k$ copies of an indivisible item and faces $n$ unit-demand buyers (whose value distributions can be non-identical). Four basic mechanisms among others have been widely employed in practice and widely studied in the literature: {\sf Myerson Auction}, {\sf Sequential Posted-Pricing}, {\sf $(k + 1)$-th Price Auction with Anonymous Reserve}, and {\sf Anonymous Pricing}. Regarding a pair of mechanisms, we investigate the largest possible ratio between the two revenues (a.k.a.\ the revenue gap), over all possible value distributions of the buyers. Divide these four mechanisms into two groups: (i)~the discriminating mechanism group, {\sf Myerson Auction} and {\sf Sequential Posted-Pricing}, and (ii)~the anonymous mechanism group, {\sf Anonymous Reserve} and {\sf Anonymous Pricing}. Within one group, the involved two mechanisms have an asymptotically tight revenue gap of $1 + \Theta(1 / \sqrt{k})$. In contrast, any two mechanisms from the different groups have an asymptotically tight revenue gap of $\Theta(\log k)$

Characterization of photosystem II in transgenic tobacco plants with decreased iron superoxide dismutase

AbstractIron superoxide dismutases (FeSODs) play an important role in preventing the oxidative damage associated with photosynthesis. To investigate the mechanisms of FeSOD in protection against photooxidative stress, we obtained transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants with severely decreased FeSOD by using a gene encoding tobacco chloroplastic FeSOD for the RNAi construct. Transgenic plants were highly sensitive to photooxidative stress and accumulated increased levels of O2•− under normal light conditions. Spectroscopic analysis and electron transport measurements showed that PSII activity was significantly reduced in transgenic plants. Flash-induced fluorescence relaxation and thermoluminescence measurements revealed that there was a slow electron transfer between QA and QB and decreased redox potential of QB in transgenic plants, whereas the donor side function of PSII was not affected. Immunoblot and blue native gel analyses showed that PSII protein accumulation was also decreased in transgenic plants. PSII photodamage and D1 protein degradation under high light treatment was increased in transgenic plants, whereas the PSII repair was not affected, indicating that the stability of the PSII complex was decreased in transgenic plants. The results in this study suggest that FeSOD plays an important role in maintaining PSII function by stabilizing PSII complexes in tobacco plants

Identification and characterization of chloroplast casein kinase II from Oryza sativa (rice)

Plastid casein kinase II is an important regulator of transcription, posttranscriptional processes, and, most likely, different metabolic functions in dicotyledonous species. Here we report the identification and characterization of pCKII from the monocotyledonous species Oryza sativa. OspCKII activity was enriched from isolated rice chloroplasts using heparin-Sepharose chromatography, in which it co-elutes with the transcriptionally active chromosome (TAC) and several ribosomal proteins. Inclusion mass scanning of the kinase-active fraction identified the gene model for OspCKII. Transient expression of GFP fused to the 184 N-terminal amino acids of the OspCKII sequence in rice confirmed the chloroplastic localization of the kinase. OspCKII activity shows the characteristic features of casein kinase II, such as the utilization of GTP as phosphate donor, inhibition by low concentrations of heparin and poly-lysine, and utilization of the canonical pCKII motif E-S-E-G-E in the model substrate RNP29. Phosphoproteome analysis of a protein extract from rice leaves combined with a meta-analysis with published phosphoproteomics data revealed differences in the target protein spectrum between rice and Arabidopsis. Consistently, several pCKII phosphorylation sites in dicotyledonous plants are not conserved in monocots and algae, suggesting that details of pCKII regulation in plastids have changed during evolutio

Performance and fatigue analysis of an integrated floating wind-current energy system considering the aero-hydro-servo-elastic coupling effects

Peer reviewe

Strain-restricted transfer of ferromagnetic electrodes for constructing reproducibly superior-quality spintronic devices

Spintronic device is the fundamental platform for spin-related academic and practical studies. However, conventional techniques with energetic deposition or boorish transfer of ferromagnetic metal inevitably introduce uncontrollable damage and undesired contamination in various spin-transport-channel materials, leading to partially attenuated and widely distributed spintronic device performances. These issues will eventually confuse the conclusions of academic studies and limit the practical applications of spintronics. Here we propose a polymer-assistant strain-restricted transfer technique that allows perfectly transferring the pre-patterned ferromagnetic electrodes onto channel materials without any damage and change on the properties of magnetism, interface, and channel. This technique is found productive for pursuing superior-quality spintronic devices with high controllability and reproducibility. It can also apply to various-kind (organic, inorganic, organic-inorganic hybrid, or carbon-based) and diverse-morphology (smooth, rough, even discontinuous) channel materials. This technique can be very useful for reliable device construction and will facilitate the technological transition of spintronic study

Stabilization of anti-aromatic and strained five-membered rings with a transition metal

1981年诺贝尔化学奖获得者、美国康奈尔大学RoaldHoffmann教授评价该项工作说：'The　paper is an excellent one--it's　quite a mazing that the parent Os　system,molecule 1,chooses to give the osmapentalyne'。德国化学家Uwe Rosenthal教授等在同期《自然—化学》杂志的《News and Views》栏目以《Breaking the rules》为题撰文评述了这一研究成果。全文地址：http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nchem.1702.pdfAnti-aromatic compounds, as well as small cyclic alkynes or carbynes, are particularly challenging synthetic goals. The combination of their destabilizing features hinders attempts to prepare molecules such as pentalyne, an 8π-electron anti-aromatic bicycle with extremely high ring strain. Here we describe the facile synthesis of osmapentalyne derivatives that are thermally viable, despite containing the smallest angles observed so far at a carbyne carbon. The compounds are characterized using X-ray crystallography, and their computed energies and magnetic properties reveal aromatic character. Hence, the incorporation of the osmium centre not only reduces the ring strain of the parent pentalyne, but also converts its Hückel anti-aromaticity into Craig-type Möbius aromaticity in the metallapentalynes. The concept of aromaticity is thus extended to five-membered rings containing a metal–carbon triple bond. Moreover, these metal–aromatic compounds exhibit unusual optical effects such as near-infrared photoluminescence with particularly large Stokes shifts, long lifetimes and aggregation enhancement

Detection and Measurement of ROS in Tobacco Leaves

Leaf metabolism produces hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at high rates, high level H2O2 accumulation can cause oxidative stress. This protocol describes a method for determining H2O2 concentration in tobacco leaves. In this method all extractions were performed with HClO4, neutralized, and pretreated with ascorbate oxidase to eliminate ascorbate interferences. H2O2 content was determined using a colorimetric assay spiked with an internal control. Interfering peroxides were determined in parallel using a negative control treated with catalase and subsequently subtracted