When Online Auction Meets Virtual Reality: An Empirical Investigation

The online auction is becoming increasingly popular in e-commerce, which allows to sell a product to the buyer with the highest bid. However, the lack of authentic product details for a thorough evaluation still poses challenges to its success. Recently, virtual reality (VR) is introduced to online auctions. We employ a unique dataset to investigate the effects of VR on auction outcomes and bidding activities. Results show that VR enhances buyers’ bidding competition, which in turn increases auction success and price, resulting in a competitive effect. Additionally, we find VR boosts buyers’ strategic responses to the bidding war, leading to a late-bidding effect. Findings contribute to both the theory and practice of VR and online auctions in selling houses

A secure dynamic cross-chain decentralized data consistency verification model

The continuous increase in the number of transactions is exerting significant pressure on the storage capacity of blockchains. By storing data on multiple blockchains and interacting with each other with cross-chain technology, the storage pressure can be relieved to a large degree. Nevertheless, the feature of immutability may impede the further development of blockchains, e.g., some expired identity information cannot be updated due to immutability. The decentralized chameleon hash function can resolve the issue while ensuring the feature of decentralization. Unfortunately, how to ensure the consistency of dynamic data updating in cross-chain interaction is still a question worth considering. In this paper, we propose a dynamic cross-chain decentralized data consistency verification (DCCV) model, in which we adopt an audit chain and design a dynamic Merkle hash tree to guarantee the consistency of dynamic data updating between the source chain and the target chain. In addition, in order to enhance the relevance of calculations across different smart contracts and improve audit efficiency, we propose a way to develop cross-chain smart contracts collaboratively. Moreover, Cosi protocol and multi-signcryption are utilized to ensure the security and privacy of cross-chain data transmission. Finally, theoretical and experimental analysis demonstrates that DCCV can achieve dynamic data consistency verification in the process of cross-chain interaction

Genome Wide Identification and Expression Profiling of SWEET Genes Family Reveals Its Role During Plasmodiophora brassicae-Induced Formation of Clubroot in Brassica rapa

Plasmodiophora brassicae is a soil borne pathogen and the causal agent of clubroot, a devastating disease of Brassica crops. The pathogen lives inside roots, and hijacks nutrients from the host plants. It is suggested that clubroot galls created an additional nutrient sink in infected roots. However, the molecular mechanism underlying P. brassicae infection and sugar transport is unclear. Here, we analyzed sugar contents in leaves and roots before and after P. brassicae infection using a pair of Chinese cabbage near-isogenic lines (NILs), carrying either a clubroot resistant (CR) or susceptible (CS) allele at the CRb locus. P. brassicae infection caused significant increase of glucose and fructose contents in the root of CS-NIL compared to CR-NIL, suggesting that sugar translocation and P. brassicae growth are closely related. Among 32 B. rapa SWEET homologs, several BrSWEETs belonging to Clade I and III were significantly up-regulated, especially in CS-NIL upon P. brassicae infection. Moreover, Arabidopsis sweet11 mutant exhibited slower gall formation compared to the wild-type plants. Our studies suggest that P. brassicae infection probably triggers active sugar translocation between the sugar producing tissues and the clubbed tissues, and the SWEET family genes are involved in this process

Marker-Assisted Pyramiding of Genes for Multilocular Ovaries, Self-Compatibility, and Clubroot Resistance in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa L. ssp. pekinensis)

Molecular marker-assisted gene pyramiding combined with backcrossing has been widely applied for crop variety improvement. Molecular marker identification could be used in the early stage of breeding to achieve the rapid and effective pyramiding of multiple genes. To create high-quality germplasm for Chinese cabbage breeding, multi-gene pyramiding for self-compatibility, multilocular, and clubroot resistance was performed through molecular marker-assisted selection. The results showed that self-compatibility and multilocular traits were controlled by a pair of recessive genes. Two flanking markers, sau_um190 and cun_246a, and marker Teo-1, based on the gene sequence related to multilocular ovaries, were used for multilocular ovary trait selection. Two flanking markers, SCF-6 and SC-12, and marker Sal-SLGI /PK1+PK4, based on the gene sequence, were used for self-compatibility selection. Two flanking markers, TCR74 and TCR79, closely linked to clubroot resistance gene CRb, were used as foreground selection markers. Based on Chinese cabbage genomic information, 111 SSR markers covering 10 chromosomes were applied for background selection. After multiple generations of selection, a multi-gene pyramided line from a BC4F2 population with self-compatibility, multilocular ovaries, and clubroot resistance was obtained with a high genomic background recovery rate. The improved pyramided line is expected to be utilized as a potential material in further breeding programs

OGSM: A Parallel Implicit Assembly Algorithm and Library for Overlapping Grids

The assembly of overlapping grids is a key technology to deal with the relative motion of multi-bodies in computational fluid dynamics. However, the conventional implicit assembly techniques for overlapping grids are often confronted with the problem of complicated geometry analysis, and consequently, they usually have a low parallel assembly efficiency resulting from the undifferentiated searching of grid nodes. To deal with this, a parallel implicit assembly method that employs a two-step node classification scheme to accelerate the hole-cutting operation is proposed. Furthermore, the aforementioned method has been implemented as a library, which can be conveniently integrated into the existing numerical simulators and enable efficient assembly of large-scale multi-component overlapping grids. The algorithm and relevant library are validated with a seven-sphere configuration and multi-body trajectory prediction case in the aspects of parallel computing efficiency and interpolation accuracy

Mining of Brassica-Specific Genes (BSGs) and Their Induction in Different Developmental Stages and under Plasmodiophora brassicae Stress in Brassica rapa

Orphan genes, also called lineage-specific genes (LSGs), are important for responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, and are associated with lineage-specific structures and biological functions. To date, there have been no studies investigating gene number, gene features, or gene expression patterns of orphan genes in Brassica rapa. In this study, 1540 Brassica-specific genes (BSGs) and 1824 Cruciferae-specific genes (CSGs) were identified based on the genome of Brassica rapa. The genic features analysis indicated that BSGs and CSGs possessed a lower percentage of multi-exon genes, higher GC content, and shorter gene length than evolutionary-conserved genes (ECGs). In addition, five types of BSGs were obtained and 145 out of 529 real A subgenome-specific BSGs were verified by PCR in 51 species. In silico and semi-qPCR, gene expression analysis of BSGs suggested that BSGs are expressed in various tissue and can be induced by Plasmodiophora brassicae. Moreover, an A/C subgenome-specific BSG, BSGs1, was specifically expressed during the heading stage, indicating that the gene might be associated with leafy head formation. Our results provide valuable biological information for studying the molecular function of BSGs for Brassica-specific phenotypes and biotic stress in B. rapa

Marker-Assisted Pyramiding of Genes for Multilocular Ovaries, Self-Compatibility, and Clubroot Resistance in Chinese Cabbage (<i>Brassica rapa</i> L. ssp. <i>pekinensis</i>)

Molecular marker-assisted gene pyramiding combined with backcrossing has been widely applied for crop variety improvement. Molecular marker identification could be used in the early stage of breeding to achieve the rapid and effective pyramiding of multiple genes. To create high-quality germplasm for Chinese cabbage breeding, multi-gene pyramiding for self-compatibility, multilocular, and clubroot resistance was performed through molecular marker-assisted selection. The results showed that self-compatibility and multilocular traits were controlled by a pair of recessive genes. Two flanking markers, sau_um190 and cun_246a, and marker Teo-1, based on the gene sequence related to multilocular ovaries, were used for multilocular ovary trait selection. Two flanking markers, SCF-6 and SC-12, and marker Sal-SLGI /PK1+PK4, based on the gene sequence, were used for self-compatibility selection. Two flanking markers, TCR74 and TCR79, closely linked to clubroot resistance gene CRb, were used as foreground selection markers. Based on Chinese cabbage genomic information, 111 SSR markers covering 10 chromosomes were applied for background selection. After multiple generations of selection, a multi-gene pyramided line from a BC4F2 population with self-compatibility, multilocular ovaries, and clubroot resistance was obtained with a high genomic background recovery rate. The improved pyramided line is expected to be utilized as a potential material in further breeding programs

Core-shell Au@PtIr nanowires with dendritic alloy shells as efficient bifunctional catalysts toward methanol oxidation and hydrogen evolution reactions

Nanocatalysts with combination of unique morphologies and synergistic interactions have a potential to enhance electrocatalytic ability related to the reactions in fuel cells. Here, we show a wet-chemistry-based synthesis of dendritic Au@PtIr nanowires (NWs) with core-shell constructions regarding Te NWs as sacrificial templates for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Regarding the synthesis of Au@PtIr NWs, Au NWs are firstly obtained through galvanic replacement with Te templates, followed by growth of alloy PtIr shells in subsequent seed-mediated growth. The as synthesized core-shell Au@PtIr nanowires combine the advantage of one-dimensional (1D) dendritic feature that facilitate fast electron transport and provide more interfaces and interstices between catalytic active sites and electrolyte, with the synergistic interactions in alloy shells. Consequently, the as-prepared Au@PtIr NWs show good catalytic properties in MOR and HER in terms of higher activity, larger electrochemically active surface areas (ECSAs) and better anti-toxicity than commercial Pt/C. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved