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Dieser Artikel untersucht das Verhältnis zwischen räumlichem Eingeschlossensein und dystopischem Alltag in fiktionalen Filmen. Unser empirischer Ausgangspunkt ist die Darstellung des Eingeschlossenseins in den Filmen Parasite (2019) und Dogtooth (2009). Beide Filme erzählen mit düsterem Humor verflochtene Geschichten über Erfahrungen des Einschlusses in sozialen Hierarchien (Parasite) und patriarchalischen Strukturen (Dogtooth) sowie über den unmöglichen Versuch, aus diesen Ordnungen auszubrechen. Wir lesen diese Erfahrungen als langweilige Dystopien, also als Dystopien, die in den Alltag eingeschrieben sind und eine grausame Realität normalisieren. Wir nutzen die fiktionalen Erzählungen von Dogtooth und Parasite für eine kulturgeographische Analyse, die das Eingeschlossensein neben seinen räumlichen und materiellen Bedingungen als eine affektive Atmosphäre (Anderson 2014) versteht. Aufbauend auf der zunehmenden Stadtforschung über Affekte und Emotionen vermittelt dieser Zugang, wie das Eingeschlossensein sich als alltägliche, dystopische Erfahrung normalisiert. Wir argumentieren, dass eine Analyse affektiver Atmosphären die unsichtbar gewordenen Gewalterfahrungen des Eingeschlossenseins greifbar machen kann.

Abstract Humboldtian science aims at an empirically supported transdisciplinary and at the same time transareal development of a world consciousness that is fundamentally based on a world-spanning conviviality in peace and difference. In the development of this world consciousness, not only Europe and the Americas, but also Central Asia and especially China play an important role. The Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies (HCTS) in Changsha, China, is attempting to address the fact that China has been largely left out of international Humboldt studies and that Alexander von Humboldt was intensively engaged with Central Asia and China for decades. The Humboldtian cosmos would remain incomplete without this region of the world. Therefore, the Humboldt Center in Changsha sets itself the goal of expanding Humboldt Studies to include this important aspect, to stimulate and coordinate special research work, and to build scientific and cultural bridges between Germany and China, Europe and Asia. Zusammenfassung Die Humboldt’sche Wissenschaft zielt auf eine empirisch gestützte transdisziplinäre und zugleich transareale Entfaltung eines Weltbewusstseins, das auf fundamentale Weise an einer weltumspannenden Konvivenz in Frieden und Differenz aufruht. Bei der Entwicklung dieses Weltbewusstseins spielen nicht allein Europa und die Amerikas, sondern auch Zentralasien und insbesondere China eine wichtige Rolle. Das Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies (HCTS) im chinesischen Changsha versucht, der bisher weitgehenden Ausblendung Chinas aus den internationalen Humboldt-Studien und der Tatsache Rechnung zu tragen, dass Alexander von Humboldt sich jahrzehntelang intensiv mit Zentralasien und China beschäftigte. Der Humboldt’sche Kosmos bliebe ohne diese Weltregion unvollständig. Daher setzt sich das Humboldt-Zentrum in Changsha zum Ziel, die Humboldt-Studien um diesen wichtigen Aspekt zu erweitern, spezielle Forschungsarbeiten anzuregen und zu koordinieren sowie wissenschaftliche und kulturelle Brücken zwischen Deutschland und China, Europa und Asien zu bauen. Resumen La Ciencia Humboldtiana intenta desarrollar, mediante una estrategia a la vez transdisciplinaria y transareal siempre empíricamente fundada, una conciencia mundial (Weltbewusstsein) que se basa en una convivencia en paz y diferencia. Dentro de la concepción de esta conciencia mundial, Asia Central y específicamente China ocupan un lugar importante dentro de las concepciones humboldtianas. A pesar del hecho de que Alejandro de Humboldt estudiara, durante largos años, tanto a la Asia Central y a China, los estudios humboldtianos ofrecen una especie de blind spot en esta área. El Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies (HCTS) en Changsha quiere remediar esta situación, fomentar y coordenar estudios especializados sobre China y el mundo de Asia Central en la obra humboldtiana y crear asimismo un punete científico y cultural entre Alemania y China, entre Europa y Asia Central. el cosmos de Alejandro de Humboldt hubiera quedado incompleto sin la integrqción de esta parte del mundo en su conciencia mundial.

Abstract Background Compared to medium-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, high-density SNP data contain abundant genetic variants and provide more information for the genetic evaluation of livestock, but it has been shown that they do not confer any advantage for genomic prediction and heritability estimation. One possible reason is the uneven distribution of the linkage disequilibrium (LD) along the genome, i.e., LD heterogeneity among regions. The aim of this study was to effectively use genome-wide SNP data for genomic prediction and heritability estimation by using models that control LD heterogeneity among regions. Methods The LD-adjusted kinship (LDAK) and LD-stratified multicomponent (LDS) models were used to control LD heterogeneity among regions and were compared with the classical model that has no such control. Simulated and real traits of 2000 dairy cattle individuals with imputed high-density (770K) SNP data were used. Five types of phenotypes were simulated, which were controlled by very strongly, strongly, moderately, weakly and very weakly tagged causal variants, respectively. The performances of the models with high- and medium-density (50K) panels were compared to verify that the models that controlled LD heterogeneity among regions were more effective with high-density data. Results Compared to the medium-density panel, the use of the high-density panel did not improve and even decreased prediction accuracies and heritability estimates from the classical model for both simulated and real traits. Compared to the classical model, LDS effectively improved the accuracy of genomic predictions and unbiasedness of heritability estimates, regardless of the genetic architecture of the trait. LDAK applies only to traits that are mainly controlled by weakly tagged causal variants, but is still less effective than LDS for this type of trait. Compared with the classical model, LDS improved prediction accuracy by about 13% for simulated phenotypes and by 0.3 to ~ 10.7% for real traits with the high-density panel, and by ~ 1% for simulated phenotypes and by − 0.1 to ~ 6.9% for real traits with the medium-density panel. Conclusions Grouping SNPs based on regional LD to construct the LD-stratified multicomponent model can effectively eliminate the adverse effects of LD heterogeneity among regions, and greatly improve the efficiency of high-density SNP data for genomic prediction and heritability estimation.

Abstract Background Growth traits are of great importance for poultry breeding and production and have been the topic of extensive investigation, with many quantitative trait loci (QTL) detected. However, due to their complex genetic background, few causative genes have been confirmed and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear, thus limiting our understanding of QTL and their potential use for the genetic improvement of poultry. Therefore, deciphering the genetic architecture is a promising avenue for optimising genomic prediction strategies and exploiting genomic information for commercial breeding. The objectives of this study were to: (1) conduct a genome-wide association study to identify key genetic factors and explore the polygenicity of chicken growth traits; (2) investigate the efficiency of genomic prediction in broilers; and (3) evaluate genomic predictions that harness genomic features. Results We identified five significant QTL, including one on chromosome 4 with major effects and four on chromosomes 1, 2, 17, and 27 with minor effects, accounting for 14.5 to 34.1% and 0.2 to 2.6% of the genomic additive genetic variance, respectively, and 23.3 to 46.7% and 0.6 to 4.5% of the observed predictive accuracy of breeding values, respectively. Further analysis showed that the QTL with minor effects collectively had a considerable influence, reflecting the polygenicity of the genetic background. The accuracy of genomic best linear unbiased predictions (BLUP) was improved by 22.0 to 70.3% compared to that of the conventional pedigree-based BLUP model. The genomic feature BLUP model further improved the observed prediction accuracy by 13.8 to 15.2% compared to the genomic BLUP model. Conclusions A major QTL and four minor QTL were identified for growth traits; the remaining variance was due to QTL effects that were too small to be detected. The genomic BLUP and genomic feature BLUP models yielded considerably higher prediction accuracy compared to the pedigree-based BLUP model. This study revealed the polygenicity of growth traits in yellow-plumage chickens and demonstrated that the predictive ability can be greatly improved by using genomic information and related features.

The urban climatic map (UCMap) is an urban climate information tool for planning purpose commonly used in German-speaking countries while local climate zone (LCZ) scheme is developed to link the characteristics urban climate and urban morphology at the city level world widely. These two frameworks differ with each other on the aspect of data sources, classification standards, and planning implementation. This study explores the potential of integrating these two complementary frameworks to identify problematic hot spots and propose some generic urban planning recommendations according to current urban climate standards. To address this issue, the Toulouse Metropole area is taken as a case study; a hybrid Climatope-LCZ map is derived by synthetizing the classification of climatopes, based on the German standard (VDI 3787-Part 1), and LCZs at equivalent spatial positions. Furthermore, the simulated meteorological data about wind and thermal environments of Toulouse Metropole during typical summer season are introduced as evidence for analyzing the mutual benefits on urban climate study and application. According to the results, both the heterogeneous urban geometric characteristics and urban climatic issues within a climatope are well identified spatially by the corresponding composition of LCZ. Likewise, the differences of thermal stress between climatopes but in the same LCZ are also clearly illustrated. Lastly, a list of urban climatic planning recommendations for LCZs is proposed followed by the guidelines in VDI 3787-Part 1. This study proves that hybrid Climatope-LCZ map offers more detailed urban climate information to planners or decision-makers than classic urban climate map framework.

There has been a proliferation of contemporary art biennials in the past 20 years, especially in cities outside of North America and Europe. What biennials represent to their host cities and what is represented at these events reveal a great deal about the significance of this proliferation. The biennial platform entails formalistic notions of representation with regards to place branding or the selection of artists as emissaries of countries where they were been born, reside, or to which they have some kind of affinity. This notion of representation is obscured considering the instability of center and periphery, artists' biographies, practices, and references. In contradistinction to the colonial world fair, the biennial thwarts the notion or possibility of “authentic” representation. The analysis incorporates works shown at the 2018 biennials in Dakar and Taipei, interviews with artists, curators, and stakeholders, and materials collected during fieldwork in both cities.

Different from ordinary discourse, the institutional nature of courtroom discourse has attracted much scholarly attention in the field of applied linguistics and professional discourse studies. Previous studies have examined the lexico-grammatical features and asymmetric power relations inherent in courtroom communication. However, little research has investigated the hybridizing construction of judges’ discourse and the contextual clues that may shape such discursive construction. Under the framework of Critical Genre Analysis (Bhatia, 2017), this study examines 25 video recordings of criminal court trials in the Chinese mainland. The findings indicate a reciprocal relationship between the interdiscursive mechanism of judges’ discourse in criminal trials and the relevant social, cultural, and institutional background. The study also discusses the constituents of the overall courtroom discourse against the background of the social and political realities of the Chinese mainland

The traditional life cycle hypothesis believes that the aging of population will not only drag down the level of social savings, but also adversely affect economic growth. However, the human capital factor may change the influence mechanism of population structure change. This study attempts to focus on a specific factor of improving healthy human capital (HHC), through endogenous treatment of fertility rate and survival rate, considering the aging expectation of rational man, to explore its effect de facto on savings rate and economic growth while using the inter-provincial panel data of China from 1996 to 2012 to verify the inherent logical relationship between the rapid improvement of HHC and the “high savings-high growth” model. The findings of this research are as follows: The improvement of HHC is an important factor to improve China’s savings rate and economic growth in corresponding period. It means that the improvement of HHC is enough to alter the mechanism of macro-impact of demographic changes, and therefore constitutes a crucial long-term regulation and control means outside the adjustment of birth policy. Among them, promoting public environmental governance, improving the social security system, strengthening individual expectations for health and driving the expected behavior of aging while achieving linkages with investment in educational human capital are worthy of attention.

Abstract Background The size and type of ears are important conformation characteristics that distinguish pig breeds. A significant quantitative trait locus (QTL) for ear size has been identified on SSC5 (SSC for Sus scrofa chromosome) but the underlying causative gene and mutation remain unknown. Thus, our aim was to identify the gene responsible for enlarged ears in pig. Results First, we narrowed down the QTL region on SSC5 to a 137.85-kb interval that harbors only the methionine sulfoxide reductase B3 (MSRB3) gene. Then, we identified a 38.7-kb copy number variation (CNV) that affects the last two exons of MSRB3 and could be the candidate causative mutation for this QTL. This CNV showed complete concordance with genotype at the QTL of the founder animals in a white Duroc × Erhualian F2 intercross and was found only in pigs from six Chinese indigenous breeds with large ears and from the Landrace breed with half-floppy ears. Moreover, it accounted for the significant association with ear size on SSC5 across the five pig populations tested. eQTL mapping revealed that this CNV was significantly associated with the expression of the microRNA (miRNA) miR-584-5p, which interacts with MSRB3, one of its target genes. In vivo and in vitro experiments confirmed that miR-584-5p inhibits the translation of MSRB3 mRNA. Taken together, these results led us to conclude that presence of the 38.7-kb CNV in the genome of some pig breeds affects ear size by altering the expression of miR-584-5p, which consequently hinders the expression of one of its target genes (e.g. MSRB3). Conclusions Our findings shed insight into the underlying mechanism of development of external ears in mammals and contribute to a better understanding of how the presence of CNV can regulate gene expression.

As increased agricultural insecticide uses and trends in insecticide resistance, increased labor cost to apply insecticide and limited its application to fertility season in green house. There is a need of a safe, labor-saving and confined space application concept to manage control tiny-scale insect pest such as thrips and whitefly. Fumigation with ethyl formate (EF), which is considered as effective to various insect pest and safely use in quarantine treatment, was evaluated in the confined space (glass house) and semi-confined space (vinyl house). The new application technology for application of liquid EF could be the one of the key options for control of tiny flying insects in greenhouses that would save labor and operation costs. It could be connected to smartfarm technologies in the near future.

There have been significantly increased reports of finding invasive quarantine pests with increasing import plants into Korea. Moreover, the efficacy and work safety issues have been reported regarding use of methyl bromide (MeBr) for fumigation of imported nursery plants. For replacement of MeBr use on imported plants, a new technology of using liquid ethyl formate has been registered in South Korea as FumateTM. The technology involved to mix ethyl format with nitrogen gas to form non-flamable ethyl format formulation. It has been evaluated on various imported plants. The FumateTM is recently developed and commercialized in Republic of Korea and Australia for quarantine treatments on fresh fruits, grains etc. Fumigation with FumateTM offers environmental-friendly and practically safe use of liquid ethyl formate. We have extended the use of liquid EF application technology to quarantine treatment of imported nursery plants.

Phosphine is a dangerous gas commonly used in fumigations throughout the world. Grain that has not fully released the phosphine it absorbed during fumigation may continue to desorb phosphine into the headspace of a storage structure. U.S. OSHA standards for handling phosphine state the acceptable limit at 0.3 ppm. If this limit is exceeded grain handling may become dangerous. It is important to understand the process of phosphine venting and desorption in order to ensure safe handling of fumigated grain in silos and during shipments. In order to achieve this, the venting and release of phosphine was studied on location in a well-sealed grain silo in Lake Grace, Western Australia, to serve as a set of data for verification of a computational model. This situation was then modeled using a 3D finite element model and compared to the real world results. Results were calculated using two fumigant desorption models based on previous literature, a reversed sorption model and an air-grain equilibrium model. Simulations reproduced accurate trends of desorption but did not accurately reproduce the quantity of fumigant, with a 55.5% error for the model based on reversed sorption equations and 86.3% error for the air-grain equilibrium based model. For both models, simulations were conducted to compare the effectiveness of existing grain venting regulations at producing grain that is within safe handling limits. These results highlight the necessity for continued desorption research and the importance of following venting guidelines.

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, using the electricity generated from renewable energy sources, has the potential of rendering a carbon-neutral energy economy. Developing selective, efficient and robust electrocatalysts is the key step towards establishing this promising technology. While different nanostructures of Cu have been extensively studied for the formation of C1–C3 alcohols and hydrocarbons, Cu-based bimetallic catalysts showed better activity compared to monometallic Cu. In this review, we will first summarize recent advances in designing Cu-X bimetallic catalysts. We categorized the bimetallic catalysts into different groups based on the CO2 reduction activities of the ' X ' metal, including hydrogen-producing metals, formate-producing metals and CO-producing metals. The key factors in determining the selectivity are discussed. Additionally, representative examples of Cu-free bimetallic catalysts, with appreciable selectivity towards hydrocarbons/alcohols, will also be presented. We will conclude this review with challenges and promising research directions.

The cylinderized liquid ethyl formate (EF) formulated with CO2 is one of the great potential fumigants to replace methyl bromide (MeBr) for fresh fruit. However, it is too expensive to adapt commercial practices, and also involves work place safety issue including handling of heavy cylinders as well as restrict emission of CO2, particularly for use in large scale commercial fumigationw. Therefore, it is urgently needed to develop environmental friendly, safe for workers and cost-effective alternative method for application of liquid ethyl formate as a MeBr alternative for perishable commodities. Recently, the environmentally friendly, cost-effective and practically safe use of liquid EF (FumateTM, registered name) with nitrogen gas has been developed and commercialized in Republic of Korea and Australia. The new technology for application of liquid EF is 100 times safer than MeBr in terms of threshold values (EF, TLV = 100 ppm). Ethyl formate is known as food additive and naturally occurred substances as well as a non-ozone depletion chemical. In this report, we demonstrate the liquid EF application technology that offers a clean environment (no ozone depletions and CO2 emissions), safe to fumigators and related workers and practically cost-effective technology to fumigation industry.

Abstract Background The number of teats in pigs is related to a sow’s ability to rear piglets to weaning age. Several studies have identified genes and genomic regions that affect teat number in swine but few common results were reported. The objective of this study was to identify genetic factors that affect teat number in pigs, evaluate the accuracy of genomic prediction, and evaluate the contribution of significant genes and genomic regions to genomic broad-sense heritability and prediction accuracy using 41,108 autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from genotyping-by-sequencing on 2936 Duroc boars. Results Narrow-sense heritability and dominance heritability of teat number estimated by genomic restricted maximum likelihood were 0.365 ± 0.030 and 0.035 ± 0.019, respectively. The accuracy of genomic predictions, calculated as the average correlation between the genomic best linear unbiased prediction and phenotype in a tenfold validation study, was 0.437 ± 0.064 for the model with additive and dominance effects and 0.435 ± 0.064 for the model with additive effects only. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using three methods of analysis identified 85 significant SNP effects for teat number on chromosomes 1, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 14. The region between 102.9 and 106.0 Mb on chromosome 7, which was reported in several studies, had the most significant SNP effects in or near the PTGR2, FAM161B, LIN52, VRTN, FCF1, AREL1 and LRRC74A genes. This region accounted for 10.0% of the genomic additive heritability and 8.0% of the accuracy of prediction. The second most significant chromosome region not reported by previous GWAS was the region between 77.7 and 79.7 Mb on chromosome 11, where SNPs in the FGF14 gene had the most significant effect and accounted for 5.1% of the genomic additive heritability and 5.2% of the accuracy of prediction. The 85 significant SNPs accounted for 28.5 to 28.8% of the genomic additive heritability and 35.8 to 36.8% of the accuracy of prediction. Conclusions The three methods used for the GWAS identified 85 significant SNPs with additive effects on teat number, including SNPs in a previously reported chromosomal region and SNPs in novel chromosomal regions. Most significant SNPs with larger estimated effects also had larger contributions to the total genomic heritability and accuracy of prediction than other SNPs.

The study of motivation based on non-English languages has attracted increasing attention in recent years, but related research in China is still limited. In an attempt to address this situation and with Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) as a framework, this paper studied seventeen Chinese university students’ motivational disposition to learn Spanish as their university major without abandoning their English study. Based on Q-methodology and complementary interviews, the results of our experiment showed that these Chinese students displayed two types of foreign-language learning motivation, one being “Multilingual group with an English orientation”, and the other “Strong Spanish”. The first group, profoundly influenced by their ideal L2 selves, had a strong motivation to learn English instead of Spanish, while the second group learned Spanish with a motivation closely related to their ought-to L2 selves. A variety of analyses were applied to answer questions pertaining to group differences and students’ attitudes towards Spanish and English learning mediated by individual, educational, and social factors.

Background: It is unavoidable for learners undergoing health professions training to encounter different complex clinical scenarios related to diagnoses, treatment and ethical dilemmas. The lack of standard answers to such clinical challenges can cause uncertainty in the process of teaching, learning and assessment as learners grapple with the need to critically appraise the specific context, past practices and extant literature to arrive at a thoughtful decision. In this aspect, debate can be a useful pedagogical tool to consider multiple, different perspectives regarding these issues. As the use of debate within the health professions education has not been reviewed, we conducted a systematic review of the current literature on the adoption of debate as a pedagogical tool to clarify the specific context of use as well as its effectiveness in the learning of skills and content within the health professions education. Methods: A systematic review was conducted on relevant published literature in English within journal databases until September 2018 that employed debate as a pedagogical tool within health professions education. Results: Out of 626 screened articles, 12 studies were finally included based on inclusion/exclusion criteria. The 12 studies (9 undergraduate, 3 postgraduate) covered a diverse range of disciplines and debate in health professions education was adopted for acquisition of skills (such as critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork), or learning of specific topics (such as patient safety, ethical issues, teaching of new topics) as well as to examine evidence based practice. In the majority of studies (10 of 12 studies, 83.3%), debate has been deemed by the learners to be effective in facilitating the learning of new content and skills such as communication and critical thinking, which are related to processes aligned with adult learning, motivational, reflective and social learning theories.Conclusion: Overall, sparse studies to date with relatively low risk of bias found debate to be effective in enabling the learning of skills and content within health professions education. Future studies may want to incorporate more objective measures of the learning outcomes of learners following the adoption of debate as a teaching tool as well as to examine the combinatorial use of debate with other pedagogical tools and their longitudinal impact on learners and learning.

Abstract Puberty is a fundamental development process experienced by all reproductively competent adults, yet the specific factors regulating age at puberty remain elusive in pigs. In this study, we performed a genome scan to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting age at puberty in gilts using a White Duroc × Erhualian intercross. A total of 183 microsatellites covering 19 porcine chromosomes were genotyped in 454 F2 gilts and their parents and grandparents in the White Duroc × Erhualian intercross. A linear regression method was used to map QTL for age at puberty via QTLexpress. One 1% genome-wise significant QTL and one 0.1% genome-wise significant QTL were detected at 114 cM (centimorgan) on SSC1 and at 54 cM on SSC7, respectively. Moreover, two suggestive QTL were found on SSC8 and SSC17, respectively. This study confirmed the QTL for age at puberty previously identified on SSC1, 7 and 8, and reports for the first time a QTL for age at puberty in gilts on SSC17. Interestingly, the Chinese Erhualian alleles were not systematically favourable for younger age at puberty.

Abstract ATP-citrate lyase (ACL), one of the lipogenic enzymes, catalyses the formation of acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) involved in the synthesis of fatty acid and cholesterol. In pig, very little is known about the ACL gene. In this work, the mRNA differential display technique was used to analyse the differences in gene expression between Meishan and Large White pigs and the F1 hybrids of both direct and reciprocal crosses. Our results show that among the differentially expressed genes ACL is up-regulated in the backfat of the F1 hybrids. After cloning and analysing the fulllength cDNA and the 870 bp 5'-flanking sequence of the porcine ACL gene, a C/T mutation at position -97 bp upstream of the transcription site was detected. Luciferase activity detection showed that this mutation changed the transcriptional activity. In F1 hybrids, the heterozygous genotype CT was more frequent than the homozygous genotypes CC and TT. Real-time PCR analysis showed that in Meishan pigs, ACL mRNA expression was more abundant in individuals with genotype CT than in those with genotype CC or TT or in Large White pigs. These results indicate that the C/T mutation affects ACL mRNA expression, probably via the activator protein 2.

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to hydrocarbons and alcohols holds great promise as a sustainable and green method to produce valuable carbon fuels. In this work, we review the catalysts used in the selective reduction of CO2 to formate, carbon monoxide, methane and ethylene.

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Abstract Four missense substitutions (T30N, G52S, V199I and R200Q) in the porcine PRKAG3 gene were considered as the likely candidate loci affecting meat quality. In this study, the R200Q substitution was investigated in a sample of 62 individuals from Hampshire, Chinese Min and Erhualian pigs, and the genetic variations of T30N, G52S and V199I substitutions were detected in 1505 individuals from 21 Chinese indigenous breeds, 5 Western commercial pig breeds, and the wild pig. Allele 200R was fixed in Chinese Min and Erhualian pigs. Haplotypes II-QQ and IV-QQ were not observed in the Hampshire population, supporting the hypothesis that allele 200Q is tightly linked with allele 199V. Significant differences in allele frequencies of the three substitutions (T30N, G52S and V199I) between Chinese indigenous pigs and Western commercial pigs were observed. Obvious high frequencies of the "favorable" alleles 30T and 52G in terms of meat quality were detected in Chinese indigenous pigs, which are well known for high meat quality. However, the frequency of the "favorable" allele 199I, which was reported to have a greater effect on meat quality in comparison with 30T and 52G, was very low in all of the Chinese indigenous pigs except for the Min pig. The reasons accounting for this discrepancy remain to be addressed. The presence of the three substitutions in purebred Chinese Tibetan pigs indicates that the three substitutions were ancestral mutations. A novel A/G substitution at position 51 in exon 1 was identified. The results suggest that further studies are required to investigate the associations of these substitutions in the PRKAG3 gene with meat quality of Chinese indigenous pigs, and to uncover other polymorphisms in the PRKAG3 gene with potential effects on meat quality in Chinese indigenous pigs.

Ideological and Political courses are compulsory lessons for Chinese students throughout their schooling, which also are taken for granted as Citizenship Education courses by the authority. What's the real state of the lesson? Here we show you one example of the lesson.

Three new R-isophthalic acid-based (R = H or Br) coordination polymers have been designed and synthesized. By changing the N-containing ligand in the system, we are able to tune the dimensionality of coordination polymers from one-dimension (1D) to two-dimensions (2D) with the same basic building unit. Also, different metal ions can be incorporated into the same structures. Compound 1 [Cu(bipa)(py)2]·0.5(H2O) (H2bipa = 5-bromoisophthalic acid; py = pyridine) and compound 2 [Co(bipa)(py)2] are 1D chain structures. Compound 3 [Cu8(ipa)8(bpe)8]·2(bpe)·4(H2O) (bpe=1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane) is a 2D layered structure.

Medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs) are bacterial polyesters which are produced in nature by certain Pseudomonas strains. These biopolymers are of interest because of their chirality, biodegradability and elastomeric property, while the 3-hydroxy acid monomers are a potential source of chiral synthons. Since wild-type bacteria can only be used to a limited extent for the production of tailor-made functionalized PHAs, various recombinant bacteria have been generated in order to elucidate the PHA synthesis pathway and to control and modify the metabolic carbon flux towards PHA synthesis. Production of PHAs with altered monomer composition and physical properties has already been achieved by pathway engineering. An alternative to the in vivo synthesis strategies using whole microorganisms is PHA synthesis in vitro with isolated enzymes, which is of interest for incorporation of specific monomers that are not taken up or metabolized by bacterial cells. The various synthesis strategies are discussed in the context of the possible future production of tailor-made functionalized PHAs.

Abstract Background Ear size and shape are distinct conformation characteristics of pig breeds. Previously, we identified a significant quantitative trait locus (QTL) influencing ear surface on pig chromosome 5 in a White Duroc × Erhualian F2 resource population. This QTL explained more than 17% of the phenotypic variance. Methods Four new markers on pig chromosome 5 were genotyped across this F2 population. RT-PCR was performed to obtain expression profiles of different candidate genes in ear tissue. Standard association test, marker-assisted association test and F-drop test were applied to determine the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) on ear size. Three synthetic commercial lines were also used for the association test. Results We refined the QTL to an 8.7-cM interval and identified three positional candidate genes i.e. HMGA2, SOX5 and PTHLH that are expressed in ear tissue. Seven SNP within these three candidate genes were selected and genotyped in the F2 population. Of the seven SNP, HMGA2 SNP (JF748727: g.2836 A > G) showed the strongest association with ear size in the standard association test and marker-assisted association test. With the F-drop test, F value decreased by more than 97% only when the genotypes of HMGA2 g.2836 A > G were included as a fixed effect. Furthermore, the significant association between g.2836 A > G and ear size was also demonstrated in the synthetic commercial Sutai pig line. The haplotype-based association test showed that the phenotypic variance explained by HMGA2 was similar to that explained by the QTL and at a much higher level than by SOX5. More interestingly, HMGA2 is also located within the dog orthologous chromosome region, which has been shown to be associated with ear type and size. Conclusions HMGA2 was the closest gene with a potential functional effect to the QTL or marker for ear size on chromosome 5. This study will contribute to identify the causative gene and mutation underlying this QTL.