Electroneutral quaternization and sulfosuccination of cornstarch for improving the properties of its low-temperature sizing to viscose yarns

The objective of this work is to evaluate the influences of electroneutral quaternization and sulfosuccination(electroneutral QS) on the adhesion of starch to viscose fibres and sizing properties of starch to viscose yarns at lowtemperature in order to study if the derivatization can improve the serviceability of starch applied for sizing viscose yarns atlow temperature. The quaternized and sulfosuccinylated starch (QSS) with electroneutrality has been synthesized in aqueousdispersion by a quaternization of hydrolyzed cornstarch (HS) with N-(3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl) trimethylammoniumchloride and a further sulfosuccination is done for introducing a fixed mole ratio of 3-(trimethylammonium chloride)-2-hydroxypropyl (TACHP) substituents to sulfosuccinate (SS) substituents onto starch chains. It is found that electroneutralQS is available to ameliorate the adhesion at different temperatures. The amelioration in the adhesion depends on the levelof the modification. In addition, the modification improves the mechanical properties of the sized viscose yarns,and decreases hairiness of sized yarns, even if the temperature of the electroneutral QSS paste is lowered to 60 °C.Electroneutral QSS with a degree of substitution of 0.0438 is expected to show a potential application in sizing viscoseyarns at 60 °C

Shoshonitic enclaves in the high Sr/Y Nyemo pluton, southern Tibet: Implications for Oligocene magma mixing and the onset of extension of the southern Lhasa terrane

Post-collisional potassic and high Sr/Y magmatism in the Lhasa terrane provides critical constraints on the timing and mechanism of subduction of Indian lithosphere and its role in the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Here, we report whole-rock geochemistry, mineral geochemistry, zircon U Pb ages, and in situ zircon Hf isotope ratios for the Nyemo pluton, a representative example of such magmatism. The Nyemo pluton is composed of high Sr/Y host rocks and coeval shoshonitic mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs). Whole-rock compositions of the host rocks and MMEs form linear trends in Harker diagrams, consistent with modification of both end-members by magma mixing. Although the main high Sr/Y phase of the pluton formed by partial melting of the lower crust of the thickened Lhasa terrane, the MMEs display abnormally enriched light rare earth elements, low whole-rock ε_(Nd)(t) and low zircon ε_(Hf)(t) that suggest derivation from low degree melting of hydrous and enriched mantle. Based on the occurrence of shoshonitic magma and high La/Yb and high Sr/Y with adakitic affinity host rocks around 30 Ma, the Nyemo pluton is best explained as a record of onset of extension that resulted from convective removal of the mantle lithosphere beneath Tibet in the Oligocene

Rho GTPase Signaling Activates Microtubule Severing to Promote Microtubule Ordering in Arabidopsis

SummaryBackgroundOrdered cortical microtubule (MT) arrays play a critical role in the spatial control of cell division and expansion and are essential for plant growth, morphogenesis, and development. Various developmental, hormonal, and mechanical signals and a large number of MT-associated proteins are known to impact cortical MT organization, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Our previous studies show that auxin signaling, which is mediated by the ROP6 Rho GTPase and its effector RIC1, promotes the ordering of cortical MTs in pavement cells, but it is unknown how RIC1 controls the organization of cortical MTs into well-ordered arrays.ResultsOur genetic screens identified the conserved MT-severing protein katanin (KTN1) as a downstream component of the ROP6-RIC1 signaling pathway leading to well-ordered arrangement of cortical MTs. KTN1 and RIC1 proteins displayed overlapping localization. In vivo and in vitro studies showed that RIC1 physically interacts with and promotes the MT-severing activity of KTN1. Live-cell imaging reveals a role for RIC1 in promoting detachment of branched MTs that is known to rely on KTN1.ConclusionWe have demonstrated that a Rho GTPase signaling pathway regulates katanin-mediated MT severing in plant cells and uncovered an explicit regulatory mechanism underpinning the alignment and ordering of cortical MTs in plants. Our findings provide new insights into regulatory mechanisms underlying growth stimuli such as auxin promote the organization of cortical MTs into parallel arrays in plants

Could the global financial crisis improve the performance of the G7 stocks markets?

Financial crises are normally associated with negative effects on financial markets. In this paper, we investigate whether the most recent Global Financial Crisis (GFC) had any positive impact on the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) indices. We carry out our investigation by employing mean-variance (MV) analysis, CAPM statistics, a runs test, a multiple variation ratio test, and stochastic dominance (SD) tests. Our MV and CAPM results conclude that most of the G7 stock indices are significantly less volatile and have a higher beta, higher Sharpe ratios and a higher Treynor’s index after the GFC. Run tests and multiple variation ratio results confirm that efficiency improved in the post-GFC period. Finally, SD results conclude that there is no arbitrage opportunity and the markets are efficient due to the GFC, and, in general, investors prefer investing in the indices after the GFC. Overall, we conclude that the GFC led to markets that are more efficient and mature, confirming that crises can also have positive impacts on stock markets

A New Nonlinearity Test to Circumvent the Limitation of Volterra Expansion with Applications

In this paper, we propose a quick, efficient, and easy method to examine whether a time series Yt possesses any nonlinear feature. The advantage of our proposed nonlinearity test is that it is not required to know the exact nonlinear features and the detailed nonlinear forms of Yt. We find that our proposed test can be used to detect any nonlinearity for the variable being examined and detect GARCH models in the innovations. It can also be used to test whether the hypothesized model, including linear and nonlinear, to the variable being examined is appropriate as long as the residuals of the model being used can be estimated. Our simulation study shows that our proposed test is stable and powerful. We apply our proposed statistic to test whether there is any nonlinear feature in the sunspot data and whether the S&P 500 index follows a random walk model. The conclusion drawn from our proposed test is consistent those from other tests