Phosphorylation-based control of cellular asymmetry and the cell cycle in Caulobacter crescentus

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.Asymmetric cell division allows for better environmental adaptation and organismal complexity. Cells often divide by binary fission to form two identical daughter cells with similar developmental fates. However, a cell can also divide asymmetrically to form two daughter cells with different developmental fates. This process makes possible diverse behaviors such as differing life cycles respondent to environmental stimuli and specialization of cellular functions to generate organ systems. How cells divide asymmetrically and how they enforce the differential fates of daughter cells remain unsolved, fundamental problems in biology. In this work, I use the model organism Caulobacter crescentus to investigate how intracellular asymmetry within the mother cell is translated into the formation of two developmentally distinct daughter cells. Caulobacter is an alpha-proteobacterium that always divides asymmetrically to generate two daughter cells that are morphologically distinct and have different replicative capacities. I show that kinase and phosphatase activities at opposite poles of the cell generate a spatial gradient in the phosphorylation level of an essential cell cycle regulator called CtrA. This spatial gradient of CtrA phosphorylation enforces replicative asymmetry and couples it to the asymmetric morphogenesis of the daughter cells. I then investigate how CtrA's control of replicative asymmetry relates to the control of replication periodicity. I show that the activity of an essential replication initiator DnaA dictates the timing of replication initiation and oscillates independently of CtrA activity. The genetic separability of the spatial and temporal controls of replication in Caulobacter suggests that DnaA comprises an ancient and phylogenetically widespread control module for replication in almost all bacteria while CtrA developed later in c-proteobacteria and was recruited to enforce replicative asymmetry in daughter cells. This work provides a foundation for understanding cellular asymmetry and evolution of the cell cycle in bacteria.by Yiyin Erin Chen.Ph.D

The impact of different sentiment in investment decisions: evidence from China’s stock markets IPOs

In this study, we used data on China’s initial public offerings (IPOs), market volatility and macro environment before and after two stock crashes during 2006–2016 to investigate how different investor sentiment affects IPO first-day flipping. The empirical results show that the expected returns of allocated investors are affected by sentiment, with allocated investors having higher psychological expectations of future returns during an optimistic bull market and their optimism discouraging first-day flipping, while higher risk-free interest rate levels and rising broad market indices also discourage first-day flipping and tend to sell in the future. The pessimistic bear market during which allocated investors have lower psychological expectations of future returns, their pessimism will promote first-day flipping, and the increase in the risk-free rate level will also promote first-day flipping, which is the opposite of the optimistic bull market, indicating that their risk aversion has increased and they tend to sell on the same day. We also found an anomaly that the greater the decline in the broad market index during a pessimistic bear market, the more inclined the allocated investors are to sell in the future when the broad market index rises in an attempt to gain higher returns. These findings help explain and understand the impact of market and macro index fluctuations on investor behavior under different investor sentiments

Four-dimensional wind field generation for the aeroelastic simulation of wind turbines with lidars

Lidar-assisted control of wind turbines requires a wind field generator capable of simulating wind evolution. Out of this need, we extend the Veers method for 3D wind field generation to 4D and propose a two-step Cholesky decomposition approach. Based on this, we develop a 4D wind field generator - evoTurb - coupled with TurbSim and Mann turbulence generator. We further investigate the impacts of the spatial discretization in 4D wind fields on lidar simulations to provide practical suggestions

Using crop intercepted solar radiation and vegetation index to estimate dry matter yield of Choy Sum

An accurate assessment of vegetable yield is essential for agricultural production and management. One approach to estimate yield with remote sensing is via vegetation indices, which are selected in a statistical and empirical approach, rather than a mechanistic way. This study aimed to estimate the dry matter of Choy Sum by both a causality-guided intercepted radiation-based model and a spectral reflectance-based model and compare their performance. Moreover, the effect of nitrogen (N) rates on the radiation use efficiency (RUE) of Choy Sum was also evaluated. A 2-year field experiment was conducted with different N rate treatments (0 kg/ha, 25 kg/ha, 50 kg/ha, 100 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 200 kg/ha). At different growth stages, canopy spectra, photosynthetic active radiation, and canopy coverage were measured by RapidScan CS-45, light quantum sensor, and camera, respectively. The results reveal that exponential models best match the connection between dry matter and vegetation indices, with coefficients of determination (R2) all below 0.80 for normalized difference red edge (NDRE), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), red edge ratio vegetation index (RERVI), and ratio vegetation index (RVI). In contrast, accumulated intercepted photosynthetic active radiation (Aipar) showed a significant linear correlation with the dry matter of Choy Sum, with root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.4 and R2 values of 0.82, implying that the Aipar-based estimation model performed better than that of spectral-based ones. Moreover, the RUE of Choy Sum was significantly affected by the N rate, with 100 kg N/ha, 150 kg N/ha, and 200 kg N/ha having the highest RUE values. The study demonstrated the potential of Aipar-based models for precisely estimating the dry matter yield of vegetable crops and understanding the effect of N application on dry matter accumulation of Choy Sum

Using crop intercepted solar radiation and vegetation index to estimate dry matter yield of Choy Sum

An accurate assessment of vegetable yield is essential for agricultural production and management. One approach to estimate yield with remote sensing is via vegetation indices, which are selected in a statistical and empirical approach, rather than a mechanistic way. This study aimed to estimate the dry matter of Choy Sum by both a causality-guided intercepted radiation-based model and a spectral reflectance-based model and compare their performance. Moreover, the effect of nitrogen (N) rates on the radiation use efficiency (RUE) of Choy Sum was also evaluated. A 2-year field experiment was conducted with different N rate treatments (0 kg/ha, 25 kg/ha, 50 kg/ha, 100 kg/ha, 150 kg/ha, and 200 kg/ha). At different growth stages, canopy spectra, photosynthetic active radiation, and canopy coverage were measured by RapidScan CS-45, light quantum sensor, and camera, respectively. The results reveal that exponential models best match the connection between dry matter and vegetation indices, with coefficients of determination (R2) all below 0.80 for normalized difference red edge (NDRE), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), red edge ratio vegetation index (RERVI), and ratio vegetation index (RVI). In contrast, accumulated intercepted photosynthetic active radiation (Aipar) showed a significant linear correlation with the dry matter of Choy Sum, with root mean square error (RMSE) of 9.4 and R2 values of 0.82, implying that the Aipar-based estimation model performed better than that of spectral-based ones. Moreover, the RUE of Choy Sum was significantly affected by the N rate, with 100 kg N/ha, 150 kg N/ha, and 200 kg N/ha having the highest RUE values. The study demonstrated the potential of Aipar-based models for precisely estimating the dry matter yield of vegetable crops and understanding the effect of N application on dry matter accumulation of Choy Sum