Studies of molecular mechanisms integrating carbon metabolism and growth in plants

Plants use light energy, carbon dioxide and water to produce sugars and other carbohydrates, which serve as stored energy reserves and as building blocks for biosynthetic reactions. Supply of light is variable and plants have evolved means to adjust their growth and development accordingly. An increasing body of evidence suggests that the basic mechanisms for sensing and signaling energy availability in eukaryotes are evolutionary conserved and thus shared between plants, animals and fungi. I have used different experimental approaches that take advantage of findings from other eukaryotes in studying carbon and energy metabolism in plants. In the first part, I developed a novel screening procedure in yeast aimed at isolating cDNAs from other organisms encoding proteins with a possible function in sugar sensing or signaling. The feasibility of the method was confirmed by the cloning of a cDNA from Arabidopsis thaliana encoding a new F-box protein named AtGrh1, which is related to the yeast Grr1 protein that is involved in glucose repression. In the second part of the study, plant homologues of key components in the yeast glucose repression pathway were cloned and characterized in the moss Physcomitrella patens, in which gene function can be studied by gene targeting. We first cloned PpHXK1 which was shown to encode a chloroplast localized hexokinase representing a previously overlooked class of plant hexokinases with an N-terminal chloroplast transit peptide. Significantly, PpHxk1 is the major hexokinase in Physcomitrella, accounting for 80% of the glucose phosphorylating activity. A knockout mutant deleted for PpHXK1 exhibits a complex phenotype affecting growth, development and sensitivities to plant hormones. I also cloned and characterized two closely related Physcomitrella genes, PpSNF1a and PpSNF1b, encoding type 1 Snf1-related kinases. A double knockout mutant for these genes was viable even though it lacks detectable Snf1-like kinase activity. The mutant suffers from pleiotropic phenotypes which may reflect a constitutive high energy growth mode. Significantly, the double mutant requires constant high light and is therefore unable to grow in a normal day/night light cycle. These findings are consistent with the proposed role of the Snf1-related kinases as energy gauges which are needed to recognize and respond to low energy conditions

Spectroscopic and theoretical approaches for studying radical reactions in class I ribonucleotide reductase

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) catalyze the production of deoxyribonucleotides, which are essential for DNA synthesis and repair in all organisms. The three currently known classes of RNRs are postulated to utilize a similar mechanism for ribonucleotide reduction via a transient thiyl radical, but they differ in the way this radical is generated. Class I RNR, found in all eukaryotic organisms and in some eubacteria and viruses, employs a diferric iron center and a stable tyrosyl radical in a second protein subunit, R2, to drive thiyl radical generation near the substrate binding site in subunit R1. From extensive experimental and theoretical research during the last decades, a general mechanistic model for class I RNR has emerged, showing three major mechanistic steps: generation of the tyrosyl radical by the diiron center in subunit R2, radical transfer to generate the proposed thiyl radical near the substrate bound in subunit R1, and finally catalytic reduction of the bound ribonucleotide. Amino acid- or substrate-derived radicals are involved in all three major reactions. This article summarizes the present mechanistic picture of class I RNR and highlights experimental and theoretical approaches that have contributed to our current understanding of this important class of radical enzymes

Are sustainable funds sustainable in terms of return?

Sustainable investments have become a highly popular choice amongst private investors over the last decades and the number of alternatives has increased on the Swedish market. Sustainable funds have become one of the more popular options for Swedish investors that looks for sustainable investment options. Sustainable funds should however not be able to compete with conventional funds, according to the modern portfolio theory. The theory state that sustainable funds should perform a lower return than conventional funds due to placement restrictions. Previous studies about sustainable funds are inconclusive on how sustainable funds have performed compared to conventional ones. This research aims to examine if there are any differences between sustainable and conventional funds in terms of risk-adjusted return on the Swedish market. Through a matched pair approach, 13 sustainable and 13 conventional funds were analyzed during a 6-year period between 2013 and 2018. The performance of the two fund categories were evaluated with Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen’s alpha to measure their risk-adjusted return. The performance of these funds was tested over time as well as during sub-periods of 2 years each. The results of this study indicate that the conventional funds performed a higher risk-adjusted return during the full sample period. The sustainable funds however performed a higher risk-adjusted return during the last sub-period between 2017 and 2018. However, there was no significant difference between sustainable and conventional funds during the full sample period or the sub-periods. Therefore, private investors can expect sustainable and conventional funds to yield the same risk-adjusted return over time

Electrical properties of InAs1-xSbx and InSb nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Results of electrical characterization of Au nucleated InAs1-xSbx nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy are reported. An almost doubling of the extracted field effect mobility compared to reference InAs nanowires is observed for a Sb content of x = 0.13. Pure InSb nanowires on the other hand show considerably lower, and strongly diameter dependent, mobility values. Finally, InAs of wurtzite crystal phase overgrown with an InAs1-xSbx shell is found to have a substantial positive shift in threshold voltage compared to reference nanowires. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4726037

Thermoelectric power factor limit of a 1D nanowire

In the past decade, there has been significant interest in the potentially advantageous thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires, but it has been challenging to find high thermoelectric power factors based on 1D effect in practice. Here we point out that there is an upper limit to the thermoelectric power factor of non-ballistic 1D nanowires, as a consequence of the recently established quantum bound of thermoelectric power output. We experimentally test this limit in quasi-ballistic InAs nanowires by extracting the maximum power factor of the first 1D subband through I-V characterization, finding that the measured maximum power factors conform to the theoretical limit. The established limit predicts that a competitive power factor, on the order of mW/m-K^2, can be achieved by a single 1D electronic channel in state-of-the-art semiconductor nanowires with small cross-section and high crystal quality

Strategies to Support Online Student Success

Online coursework in health care professional programs was increasing prior to Covid-19 pandemic emergency online coursework, and will likely continue to expand. Numerous current strategies to improve student engagement and skill instruction are presented. Opportunities to reflect on challenges and benefits of online coursework will allow for translation from literature to curriculum development to successful instructional experiences. Incorporation of Culturally Responsive Theory will encourage online students to share their diverse knowledge and perspectives

A Radial Basis Function Method for Approximating the Optimal Event-Based Sampling Policy

In networked control systems it is desirable to have efficient wireless communication (saving energy and bandwidth) while still ensuring good control performance. By abandoning periodic sampling, communication can be made more efficient by sampling and updating the control signal only "when required" based on the system’s behaviour. This is the concept of event-based control. In this work we consider the classic LQG problem with an added penalty on the average sampling rate, and derive a numerical method using radial basis functions (RBFs) to approximate the optimal sampling policy. The method is validated numerically, and we prove guaranteed uniqueness and existence of the optimal RBF weights

Laminar flow control leading edge glove flight test article development

A laminar flow control (LFC) flight test article was designed and fabricated to fit into the right leading edge of a JetStar aircraft. The article was designed to attach to the front spar and fill in approx. 70 inches of the leading edge that are normally occupied by the large slipper fuel tank. The outer contour of the test article was constrained to align with an external fairing aft of the front spar which provided a surface pressure distribution over the test region representative of an LFC airfoil. LFC is achieved by applying suction through a finely perforated surface, which removes a small fraction of the boundary layer. The LFC test article has a retractable high lift shield to protect the laminar surface from contamination by airborne debris during takeoff and low altitude operation. The shield is designed to intercept insects and other particles that could otherwise impact the leading edge. Because the shield will intercept freezing rain and ice, a oozing glycol ice protection system is installed on the shield leading edge. In addition to the shield, a liquid freezing point depressant can be sprayed on the back of the shield