Isolation of a transcriptionally active element of high copy number retrotransposons in sweetpotato genome

Many plant retrotransposons have been characterized, but only three families (Tnt1, Tto1 and Tos17) have been demonstrated to be transpositionally competent. We followed a novel approach that enabled us to identify an active element of the Ty1-copia retrotransposon family with estimated 400 copies in the sweetpotato genome. DNA sequences of Ty1 -copia reverse transcriptase (RTase) from the sweetpotato genome were analyzed, and a group of retrotransposon copies probably formed by recent transposition events was further analyzed. 3’RACE on callus cDNA amplified transcripts containing long terminal repeats (LTR) of this group. The sequence -specific amplification polymorphism (S-SAP) patterns of the LTR sequence in the genomic DNA were compared between a normal plant and callus lines derived from it. A callus -specific S-SAP product was found into which the retrotransposon detected by the 3’RACE had been transposed apparently during cell culture. We conclude that our approach provides an effective way to identify active elements of retrotransposons with high copy numbers.</p

Spectroscopic Observations of the Outflowing Wind in the Lensed Quasar SDSS J1001+5027

We performed spectroscopic observations of the small-separation lensed quasar SDSS J1001+5027, whose images have an angular separation $\theta \sim 2.^{\!\!\prime\prime}86$, and placed constraints on the physical properties of gas clouds in the vicinity of the quasar (i.e., in the outflowing wind launched from the accretion disk). The two cylinders of sight to the two lensed images go through the same region of the outflowing wind and they become fully separated with no overlap at a very large distance from the source ($\sim 330$ pc). We discovered a clear difference in the profile of the CIV broad absorption line (BAL) detected in the two lensed images in two observing epochs. Because the kinematic components in the BAL profile do not vary in concert, the observed variations cannot be reproduced by a simple change of ionization state. If the variability is due to gas motion around the background source (i.e., the continuum source), the corresponding rotational velocity is $v_{rot}\geq 18,000$ km/s, and their distance from the source is $r\leq 0.06$ pc assuming Keplerian motion. Among three MgII and three CIV NAL systems that we detected in the spectra, only the MgII system at $z_{abs} = 0.8716$ shows a hint of variability in its MgI profile on a rest-frame time scale of $\Delta t_{rest}$ $\leq 191$ days and an obvious velocity shear between the sightlines whose physical separation is $\sim 7$ kpc. We interpret this as the result of motion of a cosmologically intervening absorber, perhaps located in a foreground galaxy.Comment: 15 pages, including 7 figures; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Electrochemical Oxidation of Glucose Using Copper Hydroxide Nanosheets

In this study, we synthesized copper hydroxide nanosheet and investigated electrochemical oxidation of glucose using the copper hydroxide nanosheets. The precursor of the nanosheet was a layered copper hydroxide synthesized by the ion exchange of dodecylbenzene sulfonate with acetate in Cu2(OH)3(CH3COO)·H2O. Delamination of the layered copper hydroxide prepared the nanosheet by dispersion in 1-butanol. Atomic force microscopy images of the nanosheets showed lateral dimensions of ca. 2 μm with a height of ca. 4.5 nm. Cyclic voltammogram of the nanosheet coated electrode showed oxidation current peak depend on the concentration of glucose at around +0.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Amperometry was measured at +0.6V vs. Ag/AgCl with successive addition of glucose solution. Glucose concentration and catalytic current were almost proportional. When the linear range is 0.1 to 4.9 mM, the sensitivity was 1.16 mA mM-1cm-2 from the slope

Complementary Data as Metadata: Building Context for the Reuse of Video Records of Practice

Data reuse is often dependent on context external to the data. At times, this context is actually additional data that helps data reusers better assess and/or understand the target data upon which they are focused. We refer to these data as complementary data and define these as data external to the target data which could be used as evidence in their own right. In this paper, we specifically we focus on video records of practice in education. Records of practice are a type of data that more broadly document events surrounding teaching and learning. Video records of practice are an interesting case of data reuse as they can be extensive (e.g., days or weeks of video of a classroom), result in large files sizes, and require both metadata and other complementary data in order for reusers to understand the events depicted in the video. Through our mixed methods study, consisting of a survey of data reusers in 4 repositories and 44 in-depth interviews, we identified the types of complementary data that assist reusers of video records of practice for either teaching and/or research. While there were similarities in the types of complementary data identified as important to have when reusing VROP, the rationales and motivations for seeking out particular complementary data differed depending on whether the intended use was for teaching or research. While metadata is an important and valuable means of describing data for reuse, data’s meaning is often constructed through comparison, verification, or elucidation in reference to other data. &nbsp

Behavior-based Price Discrimination in the Domestic and International Mixed duopoly

We investigate mixed markets in which a social welfare-maximizing public firm and a private firm engage in behavior-based price discrimination. We consider two cases: one where the private firm is completely owned by domestic shareholders and one where it is completely owned by foreign shareholders. In the domestic mixed duopoly, BBPD is irrelevant from the viewpoint of social welfare. This is because poaching does not occur. In the international mixed duopoly, BBPD reduces the public firm’s market share but improves domestic social welfare. This is because the outflow to foreign shareholders decreases. We also consider domestic and international pure duopoly and find that the presence of public firms reduces welfare loss caused by BBPD