A major isoform of the maize plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase: characterization and induction by auxin in coleoptiles

The plasma membrane (PM) H(+)-ATPase has been proposed to play important transport and regulatory roles in plant physiology, including its participation in auxin-induced acidification in coleoptile segments. This enzyme is encoded by a family of genes differing in tissue distribution, regulation, and expression level. A major expressed isoform of the maize PM H(+)-ATPase (MHA2) has been characterized. RNA gel blot analysis indicated that MHA2 is expressed in all maize organs, with highest levels being in the roots. In situ hybridization of sections from maize seedlings indicated enriched expression of MHA2 in stomatal guard cells, phloem cells, and root epidermal cells. MHA2 mRNA was induced threefold when nonvascular parts of the coleoptile segments were treated with auxin. This induction correlates with auxin-triggered proton extrusion by the same part of the segments. The PM H(+)-ATPase in the vascular bundies does not contribute significantly to auxin-induced acidification, is not regulated by auxin, and masks the auxin effect in extracts of whole coleoptile segments. We conclude that auxin-induced acidification in coleoptile segments most often occurs in the nonvascular tissue and is mediated, at least in part, by increased levels of MHA2.     

Cognitive training and strategy behavior: comparative evaluation of 2 cognitive training programs

Combining a non-comparative with a comparative evaluation, two modern programs for fostering inductive reasoning, namely the German version of the "Cognitive training for children" by Klauer and Phye (1994; Klauer 1989), and the "DenkMit" by Sydow and Meincke (1994), are compared to each other and to a control program which intends to enhance aspects of memory instead of inductive reasoning. The programs were performed with N = 49 children between six and eight years who had been postponed from regular school because of various reasons or who had been selected as especially in need for particular interventions from first classes. Besides the psychometric test often used for assessing inductive reasoning, i.e. three subtests of the German form of the Culture Fair Test by Cattell (Weiss a. Osterland 1980), tasks of concept formation were applied for assessing changes in strategic behavior of children--a type of task which has been used in connection with inductive reasoning since many years. Counter to expectations, the children whose memory was trained, showed changes in performance in the psychometric test in a similar size as the children whose inductive reasoning was trained. These effects are interpreted in terms of special attention directed to the children during the intervention situation. Moreover, it was found that despite the authors claim to the opposite the DenkMit did not cause any changes in visual perception. In contrast to the author's intentions, the "Cognitive Training for Children" did cause some substantive changes in the area of visual perception. The pattern of results with the concept formation tasks, however, overall indicates that the reasoning programs caused some changes in strategic behaviors of the children. Although these changes are not very impressive, they cannot be attributed to extraneous factors such as special attention.     

Mesh generation for confined fusion plasma simulation

XGC1 and M3D-C ¹ are two fusion plasma simulation codes being developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. XGC1 uses the particle-in-cell method to simulate gyrokinetic neoclassical physics and turbulence (Chang et al. Phys Plasmas 16(5):056108, 2009; Ku et al. Nucl Fusion 49:115021, 2009; Admas et al. J Phys 180(1):012036, 2009). M3D-\(C^1\) solves the two-fluid resistive magnetohydrodynamic equations with the \(C^1\) finite elements (Jardin J comput phys 200(1):133–152, 2004; Jardin et al. J comput Phys 226(2):2146–2174, 2007; Ferraro and Jardin J comput Phys 228(20):7742–7770, 2009; Jardin J comput Phys 231(3):832–838, 2012; Jardin et al. Comput Sci Discov 5(1):014002, 2012; Ferraro et al. Sci Discov Adv Comput, 2012; Ferraro et al. International sherwood fusion theory conference, 2014). This paper presents the software tools and libraries that were combined to form the geometry and automatic meshing procedures for these codes. Specific consideration has been given to satisfy the mesh configuration and element shape quality constraints of XGC1 and M3D-\(C^1\).     

Fast and globally convergent pose estimation from video images

Determining the rigid transformation relating 2D images to known 3D geometry is a classical problem in photogrammetry and computer vision. Heretofore, the best methods for solving the problem have relied on iterative optimization methods which cannot be proven to converge and/or which do not effectively account for the orthonormal structure of rotation matrices. We show that the pose estimation problem can be formulated as that of minimizing an error metric based on collinearity in object (as opposed to image) space. Using object space collinearity error, we derive an iterative algorithm which directly computes orthogonal rotation matrices and which is globally convergent. Experimentally, we show that the method is computationally efficient, that it is no less accurate than the best currently employed optimization methods, and that it outperforms all tested methods in robustness to outliers     

Development of gluten-free fresh egg pasta based on oat and teff flour

Due to increased awareness of consumers about the relationship between food and health as well as the requirements of people following a gluten-free diet, the production of cereal products from raw materials other than wheat is of interest. However, the elimination of the visco-elastic gluten protein represents a technological challenge. During this study, response surface methodology was applied to determine optimal formulations for the production of egg pasta from oat and teff flour. Wheat flour was used as a control. The resulting products were characterised regarding firmness and elasticity, stickiness and cooking loss. The results showed that the mechanical texture of oat and teff pasta was comparable to wheat pasta, however, elasticity was significantly reduced. Compositional analysis was carried out on flour raw materials as well as on the final pasta products, showing that regarding fibre and mineral content, oat and teff samples are nutritionally superior to wheat. In addition, the microstructure was investigated by means of scanning electron microscopy, allowing also the observation of structural changes occurring during cooking. Upon cooking, a distinct outer layer can be observed, resulting from protein denaturation and starch gelatinisation. This structural feature is clearly visible for cooked wheat pasta and but is less apparent for teff and oat pasta.     

Lactic acid production using waste generated from sweet potato processing

Organic waste generated from industrial sweet potato canning is estimated to be 30% of incoming raw material with significant residual carbohydrate content. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of waste generated from sweet potato processing material to support the growth of lactic acid bacteria and the production of lactic acid. The waste was comprised of 16.5% solids consisting of 18.5% ash, 4.4% protein, 20.5% simple sugars and 19% soluble starch. Following a screening of three lactic acid bacteria strains, Lactobacillus rhamnosus was deemed the best candidate for lactic acid production. The potential of various dilutions of the enzyme‐hydrolysed waste, with and without pH control, as a fermentation substrate was evaluated. Lactic acid production was highest in hydrolysed waste (without dilution) at pH set point 5.0, yielding 10 g L^?1 in 72 h. Thus, lactic acid, a valuable organic compound, can be generated from sweet potato waste.     

Thermal properties of new molybdenum oxyfluoride glasses

New oxyfluoride glasses were prepared in the form MoO₃-BaF₂-xRF where RF is alkali fluoride (LiF, NaF and mixed NaF–LiF) with x = 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 mol%. The densities of the studied glasses were measured and the molar volumes were calculated. Thermal properties like glass transition temperature T _g, the onset of crystallization temperature T _x , crystallization temperature T _c and melting temperature T _m were determined by using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique and from which the glass stability S and the glass forming tendency K _g were calculated. Values of thermal expansion coefficient and specific heat C _p of the present glasses were also measured. All the above properties are correlated with composition alkali fluoride RF content and structure of the glass.     

Thermodynamic properties of the Cu−Sn and Cu−Au systems by mass spectrometry

The activities and partial molar heats of mixing have been determined in the liquid Cu?Sn system at 1320°C and the liquid Cu?Au system at 1460°C. The experimental technique consisted of the analysis of Knudsen cell effusates with a T.O.F. mass spectrometer. The ion current ratio for the alloy components was measured for each system over a range of temperature and composition and the thermodynamic values calculated by a modified Gibbs-Duhem equation. Both systems exhibited negative deviations from ideal behavior. The results can be partially represented by the equations $$\begin{gathered} \log \gamma _{Cu} = - 0.0175x^2 _{Sn} - 0.302 (0 \leqslant x_{Cu} \leqslant 0.20) \hfill \\ log \gamma _{Sn} = - 0.342x^2 _{Cu} + 1.084(0 \leqslant x_{Sn} \leqslant 0.20) \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ for the Cu?Sn system at 1320°C and by $$\begin{gathered} \log \gamma _{Cu} = - 0.703x^2 _{Au} - 0.083(0 \leqslant x_{Cu} \leqslant 0.52) \hfill \\ \log \gamma _{Au} = - 1.057x^2 _{Cu} + 0.098(0 \leqslant x_{Au} \leqslant 0.47) \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ for the Cu?Au system at 1460°C.