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Because blending hydrogen with natural gas can allow the mixture to burn leaner, reducing the emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx), hydrogen blended with natural gas (HCNG) is a viable alternative to pure fossil fuels because of the effective reduction in total pollutant emissions and the increased engine efficiency. In this research, the performance and emission characteristics of an 11-L heavy duty lean burn engine using HCNG were examined, and an optimization strategy for the control of excess air ratio and of spark advance timing was assessed, in consideration of combustion stability. The thermal efficiency increased with the hydrogen addition, allowing stable combustion under leaner operating conditions. The efficiency of NOx reduction is closely related to the excess air ratio of the mixture and to the spark advance timing. With the optimization of excess air ratio and spark advance timing, HCNG can effectively reduce NOx as much as 80%.

Bremia lactucae is one of the most important pathogens in lettuce production. Recent molecular studies revealed considerable genetic variation in this species complex. However, only few accessions from the same host have been examined for most species and no study investigating the morphological distinctiveness of phylogenetic lineages of Bremia has so far been reported. Thus it is believed that morphological species delimitation in Bremia is not feasible. In the present study, multiple accessions of neglected species, which had been described decades ago, but have not been widely accepted, were investigated, considering both multi-gene phylogenies and morphological characters. All previously described species from host genera other than Lactuca investigated, Bremia microspora, Bremia ovata, Bremia saussureae, and Bremia sonchicola, could be confirmed as distinct, host-specific entities. Also, morphological characteristics of their conidiophores and conidia allowed delimitation of these species. Therefore, not only the wide species concept to merge all Bremia species on the Asteraceae under B. lactucae is inappropriate but also their delimitation on the basis of morphological characters seems feasible. In addition, it has been shown that Bremia elliptica is phylogenetically distinct from the other species infecting the genus Lactuca, B. lactucae. It is therefore concluded that B. lactucae is most likely limited to Lactuca sativa and closely-related species, and that most species of Bremia are highly host specific. This finding might stimulate the search for durable resistance genes in genera closely related to the genus Lactuca and in divergent species of the genus itself.

Pseudoperonospora cubensis is one of the most devastating diseases of cucurbitaceous crops. The pathogen has a worldwide distribution and occurs in all major cucurbit growing areas. It had been noticed for the first time at the end of the 19th century, but it became a globally severe disease as recently as 1984 in Europe and 2004 in North America. Despite its economic importance, species concepts in Pseudoperonospora are debated. Here, we report that the genus Pseudoperonospora contains cryptic species distinct from the currently accepted ones. Pseudoperonospora on Celtis is split into two phylogenetic lineages and Pseudoperonospora humuli is confirmed as a species distinct from the Cucurbitaceae-infecting lineages. A cryptic species occupying a basal position within the Pseudoperonospora cubensis complex is revealed to be present on Humulus japonicus, thus providing evidence that the host jump that gave rise to Pseudoperonospora cubensis likely occurred from hops. Notably, Cucurbitaceae infecting pathogens are present in two cryptic sister species or subspecies. Clade 1 contains primarily specimens from North America and likely represents Pseudoperonospora cubensis s.str.. Pre-epidemic isolates in clade 2 originate from Japan and Korea, suggesting this cryptic species or subspecies is indigenous to East Asia. Recent samples of this lineage from epidemics in Europe and the United States cluster together with clade 2. It thus seems possible that this lineage is associated with the recent severe epidemics of cucurbit downy mildew and is now naturalised in North America and Europe.

The Stra8 gene is a retinoic acid responsive gene. Its expression in premeiotic germ cells in both sexes implies that STRA8 protein plays roles for the progression of meiosis. Stra8 deficient germ cells do not initiate meiotic chromosome condensation and DNA double strand breaks. Its deficient mice were infertile. STRA8 is required for the transition into meiosis in both female and male germ cells. In addition its expression was confirmed in trophoblast giant cells in placenta, indicating another physiological role of STRA8 in other tissues. Yet it is still unclear how STRA8 is related in molecular level to meiosis and placentation. Here we report a possible function of STRA8 as a transcription factor. We have discovered that Stra8 gene is present in the nucleus and can activate basal transcription in F9 and P19 cells. Deletion mutant study revealed that C-terminus of STRA8 protein is important for its transcriptional activation activity. And N-terminus of the protein is critical for its nucleus localization. Moreover, random oligonucleotide electrophoresis mobility shift assay shows that the STRA8 directly binds to double strand DNA.

Zoysia japonica Steud. is widely used for turfgrass, particularly on golf courses and teeing areas in East Asia (China, Japan, Korea). In Korea, zoysiagrass use has recently increased about threefold between 2003 and 2012 (Kang et al. 2016). In October 2016, zoysiagrass showing leaf spot symptom, with disease incidence of less than 5 % of the plants, was observed in a public park (37°20'39"N, 126°56'50"E) in Gyeonggi province, Korea. Infection began as yellow to brown spots on leaf sheaths. The spots measured 0.1‒0.3 cm in diameter and often enlarged up to 0.5 cm. Diseased leaf pieces were rinsed in distilled water and placed on PDA with streptomycin (50 µg/mL), and after 3 days white mycelia were observed. Pure cultures were obtained from transferring the agar plugs onto CMA, PDA, and V8A. After one week at 25 °C, colonies were dark greenish to grayish black, velvety, and measured 2 cm, 5 cm, and 7 cm diameters, respectively, in the three media. Conidiophores were brown to pale brown, simple but rarely b...

On the family Brassicaceae, the causal agent responsible for downy mildew disease was originally regarded as a single species, Peronospora parasitica (now under Hyaloperonospora), but it was recently reconsidered to consist of many distinct species. In this study, 11 specimens of Peronospora drabae and P. norvegica parasitic on the genus Draba were investigated morphologically and molecularly. Pronounced differences in conidial sizes (P. drabae: 14-20 × 12.5-15.5 μm; P. norvegica: 20-29 × 15.5-22 μm) and 7.8% sequence distance between their ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA sequences confirmed their status as distinct species. Based on ITS phylogeny and morphology (monopodially branching conidiophores, flexuous to sigmoid ultimate branchlets, hyaline conidia and lobate haustoria), the two species unequivocally belong to the genus Hyaloperonospora and not to Peronospora to which they were previously assigned. Therefore, two new combinations, Hyaloperonospora drabae and H. norvegica, are proposed. The two taxa are illustrated and compared using the type specimen for H. norvegica and authentic specimens for H. drabae, which is lectotypified.

A thermal plasma process was used to synthesize nanosized zirconia and yttria-stabilized zirconia powders. This paper presents a new method on the synthesis of nanosized zirconia and yttria-stabilized zirconia powders from the carbonates (zirconium carbonate and/or yttrium carbonate). The products from this process using zirconium carbonate were mixtures of monoclinic and tetragonal phases of zirconia. The amount of the tetragonal phase in the mixture increased as the plasma torch power or plasma gas flow rate increased. This is attributed to the formation of metastable tetragonal phase by rapid quenching. With the addition of yttria precursor, two combinations of zirconia phases were formed depending on the yttria contents. Pure tetragonal phase was obtained at 3.8 mol% yttria, while a mixture of tetragonal and cubic phases was produced at 7.7 mol% yttria. The yttria-doped tetragonal phase was stable at high temperatures without the tetragonal-monoclinic phase transition. The grain size of each phase, the particle size, and the BET are also discussed in this paper.

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) is an increasingly important vegetable crop in Turkey as is the case for many parts of the world. In March 2017, detailed field surveys were conducted to investigate the occurrence of leaf diseases in major spinach fields in Hatay Province of Turkey. White blister rust disease was sporadically present in many production fields. The disease incidence on affected crops ranged from 21 to 45% across all the areas surveyed. Initial symptoms were small chlorotic spots on the upper leaf surface. As the disease developed, white pustules (sori) or blisters were frequently produced as irregularly oval, elongated concentric rings, 3 to 4 mm in diameter, mostly on the lower leaf surface but also often on the upper surface. In the advanced stages of the disease, the white pustules often coalesced, and lesions appeared grainy due to the production of numerous oospores, rendering infected leaves unmarketable. A representative specimen (SAL2) was deposited in the Korea University Herbarium (KUS-F30037). Microscopic examination revealed that sporangia were born in basipetal chains, globose to oval, with a smooth wall surface and measured 12.5 to 15.0 × 17.5 to 20.0 μm (n = 100). The small stalked spherical haustoria, which were produced within mesophyll cells, were connected to the intercellular coenocytic hyphae, and measured 5.0 μm in diameter (n = 50). Dark-colored oospores were produced in subepidermal tissue, finely reticulated, 45 to 60 µm in diameter, with a wall thickness of 5 μm (n = 50). The morphological characteristics closely resembled those reported for Albugo occidentalis by Choi and Priest (1995). To confirm the morphological identification, both the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA and the cytochrome oxidase II (cox2) mtDNA were amplified with ITS1-O and LR0 for ITS and cox2-F and cox2-RC4 and directly sequenced (Choi et al. 2015). The resulting sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. MF991148 for ITS, MF991149 for cox2). A BLASTn search revealed that the Turkish isolate is identical to the ITS and the cox2 sequences (KC676794, KC676795) of A. occidentalis in GenBank. A pathogenicity test was conducted by spraying a sporangial suspension (10⁵ sporangia/ml) onto 10 healthy leaves of 3-week-old spinach plants (cv. Matador). Inoculated plants were incubated in a dew chamber for 72 h at 18°C and then maintained in a greenhouse at 20°C with a 10-h photoperiod. Ten control plants were sprayed with distilled water and maintained under the same conditions as the inoculated plants. After 10 to 12 days, white rust pustules similar to the original symptoms observed in the field developed on inoculated plants, whereas the control plants remained symptomless. The pathogen present on the inoculated plants was morphologically identical to the original one observed on the diseased plants, fulfilling Koch’s postulates. Based on morphological characteristics, molecular sequencing data, and pathogenicity test, it was concluded that the pathogen on spinach in Turkey is A. occidentalis. The causal agent has been reported as an economically important pathogen of spinach in the United States, Mexico, Greece (Farr and Rossman 2017), and Iran (Ebrahimi and Afzali 2000). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. occidentalis in Turkey. Although prevalence and host range of the causal disease agent is limited, major spinach production areas may be vulnerable to the introduction of this disease due to an increasing demand for this crop.

Metal–N–H systems have recently attracted considerable attention as alternative hydrogen storage materials to traditional metal hydrides. In this work, the reactions of the mixture LiNH 2 –MgH 2 (1:1) during different mechanical milling processes and the subsequent dehydrogenation reaction were investigated by using TGA, XRD and FT-IR in order to determine an optimal condition for the formation of pure LiMgN. High-energy milling (SPEX mill) and low-energy milling (rolling jar) techniques were used in this work. The results demonstrated that monolithic LiMgN can be produced using the low-energy ball milling technique. The hydrogenation properties of the as-prepared LiMgN were investigated by a Sieverts’ type instrument. In contrast, multiple reactions including the metathesis reaction between LiNH 2 and MgH 2 and release of H 2 and/or NH 3 took place during high-energy milling using the SPEX mill, which resulted in complicated and unexpected reactions during the subsequent dehydrogenation experiments. Consequently, the dehydrogenated products from the high-energy milled samples consisted of multi-phase mixtures.

Aluminum is a component in many promising hydrogen storage materials such as aluminum hydride and complex aluminum hydrides. In this research, Al and TiAl 3 -containing Al nanopowders were prepared by a chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) process using Mg as the reducing agent. XRD and EDS results indicated that the produced powder was composed of Al or Al with TiAl 3 . The shape of the powder was spherical with the average size in the range of 10–50 nm measured by SEM, TEM, BET and ZetaPALS compared with the typically larger than 100 nm for commercially available fine Al powders. In addition, the effects of the operating conditions such as Ar flow rate, precursor feed rate and reaction temperature on the properties of the product powder were investigated.

Downy mildew is an economically important and widespread disease in quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) growing areas. Although in many studies Peronospora farinosa is most commonly regarded as the causal agent of the disease, identification and classification of the pathogen remain still uncertain due to its taxonomic confusion. Thirty-six Peronospora isolates from quinoa with different geographic origins including Argentina, Bolivia, Denmark, Ecuador, and Peru were morphologically and molecularly compared with Peronospora species from other Chenopodium species. The morphology of three herbarium specimens was similar to that of P. variabilis, which originated from C. album, characterized by flexuous to curved ultimate branchlets and pedicellated conidia. Phylogenetic analysis based on ITS rDNA sequences also placed the quinoa pathogen within the same clade as P. variabilis. Within the ITS rDNA sequences of the quinoa pathogens, two base substitutions were found, which separated the majority of the Danish isolates from isolates from South America, but no sequence difference was found among the isolates from different cultivars of quinoa. The present results indicate that the pathogen responsible for the quinoa downy mildew is identical to Peronospora variabilis and that it should not be lumped with P. farinosa as claimed previously by most studies.

We present an extended finite element method (XFEM) for the direct numerical simulation of the flow of viscoelastic fluids with suspended particles. For moving particle problems, we devise a temporary arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) scheme which defines the mapping of field variables at previous time levels onto the computational mesh at the current time level. In this method, a regular mesh is used for the whole computational domain including both fluid and particles. A temporary ALE mesh is constructed separately and the computational mesh is kept unchanged throughout the whole computations. Particles are moving on a fixed Eulerian mesh without any need of re-meshing. For mesh refinements around the interface, we combine XFEM with the grid deformation method, in which nodal points are redistributed close to the interface while preserving the mesh topology. Our method is verified by comparing with the results of boundary fitted mesh problems combined with the conventional ALE scheme. The proposed method shows similar accuracy compared with boundary fitted mesh problems and superior accuracy compared with the fictitious domain method. If the grid deformation method is combined with XFEM, the required computational time is reduced significantly compared to uniform mesh refinements, while providing mesh convergent solutions. We apply the proposed method to the particle migration in rotating Couette flow of a Giesekus fluid. We investigate the effect of initial particle positions, the Weissenberg number, the mobility parameter of the Giesekus model and the particle size on the particle migration. We also show two-particle interactions in confined shear flow of a viscoelastic fluid. We find three different regimes of particle motions according to initial separations of particles.

Purpose: We wanted to evaluate the results of treating acromioclavicular joint dislocation using an AO hook plate. Materials and Methods: Between February 2008 and September 2009, 10 patients underwent implant removal after surgical treatment of acromioclavicular joint dislocation using a AO hook plate. The Constant-Murley scoring system was administered postoperatively for evaluating the clinical results, and simple X-ray was taken for evaluating the state of reduction. Results: All cases showed satisfactory results on the clinical and radiological study. The mean Constant-Murley score at follow-up was 90.5 (range: 84~95). Three patients had some degree of discomfort with the hook plate, but these symptoms were relieved on removal of the plate. The radiological evaluation showed restoration of the vertical displacement of the clavicle in all the patients. No complications occurred such as infection, plate failure or redislocation after removal of the plate. Conclusion: The short term follow-up results of treating acromioclvicular joint dislocation using an AO hook plate were satisfactory both clinically and radiologically.

Magnesium-based alloys are promising candidates as potential hydrogen storage materials due to their inherent high hydrogen contents. Small particle size which can be achieved by milling and small amounts of transition-metal compounds as catalysts result in increased hydrogen release/uptake kinetics. In this work, we examined the effects of various milling parameters and TiH2 content on the dehydrogenation properties of the Mg−Ti−H system. The samples were prepared with different amounts of TiH2 using various milling methods and conditions. The activation energy and the enthalpy change of dehydrogenation of the milled samples were determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The results indicated that, among a variety of MgH2/TiH2 ratios and milling conditions, samples with 9.1 mol % TiH2 milled in a dual-planetary high energy mill for 4 h under 15 MPa hydrogen pressure were found to be the optimal materials, displaying a substantially reduced activation energy a...

Magnesium-based alloys are among the promising materials for hydrogen storage and fuel cell applications due to their high hydrogen contents. In this work, the hydrogen release and uptake properties of Mg/5%Ti nanopowder mixture prepared by a chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) process were investigated. Samples were made in a CVS reactor, in which reactant powders were fed into evaporator placed inside the reactor by means of specially designed powder feeders. The produced Mg/5%Ti was hydrogenated in an autoclave under 10.3 MPa pressure and 150 °C for 12 h. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that 5.2 wt% of hydrogen began to be released from 190 °C while temperature was increased at a heating rate of 5 °C/min up to 350 °C under an argon flow. This onset temperature of Mg–Ti nanopowder dehydrogenation was much lower than that of MgH2 alone, which is 381 °C. In addition, the activation energy of dehydrogenation was 104 kJ/mol, which is much smaller than that of as-received MgH2 (153 kJ/mol).

The sintering behavior of nanosized tungsten powder (25 nm average size) synthesized by a thermal plasma process, in which ammonium paratungstate (APT) was reduced by hydrogen was investigated, compared with submicron W powder (0.5 μm average size) and nanosized W powder (23 nm average size) produced from the latter by high energy milling. The hardness of the compact of the plasma-synthesized powder (315 VHN) sintered at 1400 °C was higher than that of submicron-sized powder (193 VHN) and was similar to that of the milled powder (309 VHN). The plasma-synthesized powder, however, yielded a compact with much lower tendency to form cracks than the milled powder.

The obligate biotrophic lineages of the white blister rusts (Albuginales, Oomycota) are of ancient origin compared to the rather recently evolved downy mildews, and sophisticated mechanisms of biotrophy and a high degree of adaptation diversity are to be expected in these organisms. Speciation in the biotrophic Oomycetes is usually thought to be the consequence of host adaptation or geographic isolation. Here we report the presence of two distinct species of Albugo on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, Albugo candida and Albugo laibachii, the latter being formally described in this manuscript. Both species may occupy the same host within the same environment, but are nevertheless phylogenetically distinct, as inferred from analyses of both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Different ways of adapting to their host physiology might constitute an important factor of their different niches. Evidence for this can be gained from the completely different host range of the two pathogens. While Albugo candida is a generalist species, consisting of several physiological varieties, which is able to parasitize a great variety of Brassicaceae, Albugo laibachii has not been found on any host other than Arabidopsis thaliana. Therefore, Albugo laibachii belongs to a group of highly specialised species, like the other known specialist species in Albugo s.s., Albugo koreana, Albugo lepidii and Albugo voglmayrii. The comparative investigation of the effector genes and host targets in the generalist and the specialist species may constitute a model system for elucidating the fundamental processes involved in plant pathogen co-adaptation and speciation.

Capers (Capparis spinosa) are affected by white blister rust attributed to Albugo capparidis or, applying a broad species concept, to Albugo candida. Within the past 3 years, a great diversity within Albugo parasitic to the Brassicaceae has been observed. This has led to the description of two new specialized species within the parasites to Brassicaceae and the confirmation that Albugo lepidii is distinct from Albugo candida. In addition, it has been realized that Albugo candida has a broad host spectrum within the Brassicaceae, extending to the closely related Cleomaceae. Through molecular phylogenetic analysis of cox2 sequences and morphological comparison, it is demonstrated that the host range of A. candida extends to the Capparaceae. These findings are both relevant for practical plant pathology and raise questions regarding the mechanisms involved in the exceptional broad host range of Albugo candida, compared to other Albugo species.

Reversible dehydrogenation and hydrogenation reactions have been reported for a number of reactions based on lithium alanate and lithium amide materials. The dehydrogenation and hydrogenation reactions involving these materials are, however, usually very complex. Significant discrepancies exist among different studies published in literature. Understanding the reaction mechanism and the dependence of the reaction pathway on material preparation processes and processing parameters is critical. In this paper, the hydrogenation reactions of the mixture of 3Li2NH/Al/4 wt%TiCl3 were investigated as a function of the heating rate. The hydrogenated products were characterized by means of TGA, XRD and solid-state NMR. These new results showed that the re-formation of Li3AlH6 depends strongly on the heating rate during the hydrogenation process. The dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation reaction pathways and possible mechanisms of the combined system are, however, still under investigation.

During the past two years the integrity of Albugo candida as the only species of Albugo parasitic to Brassicaceae has been challenged. The existence of two distinct species parasitic to Brassicaceae has been confirmed, to which a third species was added. For the purpose of further exploring the diversity of the A. candida complex, eight Albugo specimens on Draba lasiocarpa, D. nemorosa, and D. verna (Brassicaceae) were morphologically and molecularly compared with other Albugo species. Based on sequence comparisons and thorough investigation of the characteristics of the oospores, especially surface ornamentation, Albugo voglmayrii sp. nov., parasitic to Draba nemorosa, is described from five specimens collected in Korea and China. It differs from the previously described species, A. candida, A. koreana, and A. lepidii, by its oospore wall ornamentation. The morphological discrepancy is supported by high genetic distances to other species of Albugo in ITS rDNA and cox2 mtDNA. Albugo specimens from D. lasiocarpa and D. verna were grouped with A. candida, revealing that two distinct species may cause white blister rust on the genus Draba. Therefore, the paradigms that: (1) there is only a single species parasitic to Brassicaceae, that (2) oospore morphology is useful only for distinguishing between largely unrelated species; and (3) in general only one species of Albugo may occur on a single host genus need to be discarded.

축육 단백질 회수물을 어육연육 대체 수준을 검토하기에 앞서 명태연육과 축육 단백질 회수물의 적정 혼합 비율을 구명하고자 수세법으로 제조된 수리미 원료육인 명태연육(C)에 대해 pH 조절법을 이용한 닭가슴살 수리미를 T1은 33.33%, T2는 50%, T3는 66.66%, T4는 100% 및 T5는 MDCM(기계발골계육) 수리미를 20% 대체하여 각각의 처리구에 동일한 함량의 전분, 수분(ice) 및 첨가제 등을 넣어 제조된 게맛 어육소시지의 조직적 특성을 분석한 결과는 다음과 같다. 표면경도, 경도, 검성, 씹힘성, 파괴강도, 겔강도, 젤리강도 및 관능평가의 맛, 결착성 및 전체적 기호도는 대조구에 비하여 모든 처리구들이 유의적으로 낮게 나타났으며, 닭가슴살 수리미의 명태연육 대체비율이 높아질수록 유의적으로 낮게 나타난(p 【This study was carried out to compare the textural properties of crab-flavored sausage manufactured with six different formulations. We prepared crab-flavored sausage from Alaska pollack surimi as a control by the washing method, and various mixtures of surimi and chicken breast meat were manufactured (pH 11.0) with 33.33% chicken breast meat (CBM) (T1), 50% CBM (T2), 66.66% CBM (T3), 100% CBM (T4) and 20% commercial mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) (T5). Brittleness, gumminess, chewiness, breaking force, gel strength, jelly strength, sensory flavor. texture, and overall acceptability were significantly lower in the formulations containing chicken meat in proportion to the % CBM (p】

Magnesium-based alloys are among the promising materials for hydrogen storage and fuel cell applications due to their high hydrogen content. In the present work, we investigated the hydrogen release/uptake properties of the Mg–Ti–H system. Samples were prepared from the mixtures of MgH 2 and TiH 2 in molar ratios of 7:1 and 4:1 using a high-energy-high-pressure (HEHP) mechanical ball-milling method under 13.8 MPa hydrogen pressure. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that a relatively large amount of hydrogen (5.91 and 4.82 wt.%, respectively, for the above two samples) was released between 126 and 313 °C while temperature was increased at a heating rate of 5 °C min −1 under an argon flow. The onset dehydrogenation temperature of these mixtures, which is 126 °C, is much lower than that of MgH 2 alone, which is 381 °C. The activation energy of dehydrogenation was 71 kJ mol −1 , which is much smaller than that of as-received MgH 2 (153 kJ mol −1 ) or as-milled MgH 2 (96 kJ mol −1 ). Furthermore, the hydrogen capacity and the dehydrogenation temperature remained largely unchanged over five dehydrogenation and rehydrogenation cycles.

About 20 species of Peronospora have been reported to cause downy mildew on Chenopodium, but, particularly in plant pathology literature, only one species, P. farinosa, is considered to be involved. We performed sequence analysis of the ITS rDNA to reveal the phylogenetic relationships of Peronospora specimens from five species of Chenopodium, viz. C. album, C. ambrosioides, C. bonus-henricus, C. hybridum, and C. polyspermum. The five clades corresponded to particular Chenopodium species, and showed a high level of sequence divergence. Differences in the morphology of the conidia and ultimate branchlets also supported the separation of the five groups at the host species level. These results suggest that the names P. variabilis, P. boni-henrici, P. chenopodii, and P. chenopodii-polyspermi should be used for the four downy mildew pathogens specific to C. album, C. bonus-henricus, C. hybridum, and C. polyspermum, respectively. The Peronospora on C. ambrosioides was found to be an independent species.

Chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) is a process for making fine solid particles by the vapor-phase chemical reactions of precursors. At the University of Utah, this process has been applied to the synthesis of the aluminides of titanium and nickel, other metallic and intermetallic powders, and subsequently aluminum nanopowder and WC-Co nanocomposite powder. This work has demonstrated that it is possible to prepare fine particles of 5–200 nm size by CVS. Further, it has been shown that this technique has a unique capability to produce uniformly mixed powders of different solids. This is possible because the reactants are perfectly mixed in the gas phase. More recently, the CVS process has been carried out in a plasma reactor. This system has shown considerable promise for many applications as a method of producing nanosized powders.

Metal hydrides and amides are potential candidate materials for hydrogen storage. Lithium- and magnesium-based material systems are among the most promising materials owing to their high hydrogen contents. In the present work, we investigated hydrogenation/dehydrogenation reactions of a binary nitride, LiMgN. LiMgN can be formed by a reaction of MgH2 with LiNH2 in 1:1 ratio. The reaction also releases approximately ∼8.1 wt % H2 (theoretical value is 8.2 wt %) between 160 and 220 °C. The reaction product LiMgN can be rehydrogenated by reacting with H2 under 2000 psi of hydrogen pressure and 160 °C with a small amount of TiCl3 doping. TGA results showed that about 8.0 wt % of hydrogen was stored in TiCl3-doped LiMgN during the hydrogenation process. The reversible hydrogenation and dehydrogenation mechanisms involving LiMgN and H2 are discussed.

Functional Analyses of Three Gα and One Gβ Subunits in Gibberella zeaeComparison between Wild Strains of Pitoporus betulinus Collected from a Single TreeEcological Study of Sparassis crispa in Gwan...

Bremia lactucae Regel (Chromista, Peronosporaceae) is an economically destructive pathogen, which causes downy mildew disease on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) worldwide. The ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of Bremia lactucae isolates was analyzed for the first time. The ITS region of lettuce downy mildew was observed to have a size of 2458 bp; thereby, having one of the longest ITS sizes recorded to date. The majority of the extremely large sized ITS2 length of 2086 was attributed to the additional presences of nine repetitive elements with lengths of 179-194 bp, which between them shared the low homology of 48-69%. Comparison of the ITS2 sequences with the B. lactucae isolates from other host plants showed that isolates present on Lactuca sativa were distinct from those on L. indica var. laciniata, as well as Hemistepta and Youngia. We suggest the high degree of sequence heterogeneity exhibited in the ITS2 region of B. lactucae may warrant the specific detection and diagnosis of this destructive pathogen or its division into several distinct species.

A methodology for the simulation of heart function that combines an MRI-based model of cardiac electromechanics (CE) with a Navier-Stokes based hemodynamics (NSH) model is presented. The cardiac electromechanics model consists of two coupled components that simulate the electrical and the mechanical functions of the heart. Accurate representations of ventricular geometry and fiber orientations are constructed from the structural magnetic resonance and the diffusion tensor MR images, respectively. The deformation of the ventricle obtained from the electromechanical model serves as input to the hemodynamics model in this one-way coupled approach via imposed kinematic wall-velocity boundary conditions and at the same time, governs the blood flow into and out of the ventricular volume. The time-dependent endocardial surfaces are registered using a diffeomorphic mapping algorithm while the intraventricular blood flow patterns are simulated using a sharp-interface immersed boundary method based flow solver. The utility of the combined heart function model is demonstrated by comparing the hemodynamic characteristics of a normal canine heart beating in sinus rhythm (SR) against that of the dyssynchronously-beating failing heart. We also discuss the potential of coupled cardiac electromechanics and hemodynamics models for various clinical applications.

Aquilegia is a popular garden plant in the northern hemisphere as well as a native plant in the UK and continental Europe. In 2000, Semiaquilegia adoxoides was found infected by downy mildew in Korea, and since 2013 there have been several confirmed records of a Peronospora sp. affecting Aquilegia in the UK, with symptomatic plants being observed several years prior. Symptoms include yellow patches delineated by the veins on the leaves of affected plants, but systemically infected plants were also recorded, which are generally chlorotic and show curled leaf margins. A greyish down of conidiophores and conidia was observed on the lower side of infected leaves. Preliminary molecular phylogenetic analyses could not identify the causal agent at the species level, but revealed its affinities to other Peronospora species parasitic on the Ranunculales and Saxifragaceae. To our knowledge, this is the first occurrence of a downy mildew affecting a species of Aquilegia. Already, about 1 year after its confirmed first occurrence in the UK and 3 years after reported symptoms, a huge impact on infested gardens and nurseries has occurred. As oospore production has been observed and the pathogen can grow systemically, rendering seed transmission likely, this pathogen should be classified as a high risk pathogen for Aquilegia. Appropriate quarantine measures should be taken to restrict the pathogen from spreading.

RRP12 (ribosomal RNA processing 12 homolog), a nucleolar protein, plays important roles in cell cycle progression and the response to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage in yeast cells. However, its role has not been investigated in mammalian cells that possess p53, which has close functional association to nucleolus. We explored the role of RRP12 in nucleolar stress condition using an osteosarcoma cell line, U2OS. To induce DNA damage and nucleolar disruption, two cytotoxic drugs, doxorubicin and actinomycin D were used. Cytotoxic stress resulted nucleolar disruption induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in U2OS cells. However, RRP12 overexpression promoted resistance to cytotoxic stress. In contrast, RRP12 silencing enhanced susceptibility to cytotoxic stress. During drug treatment, p53 activity and cell death were suppressed by RRP12 overexpression but promoted by RRP12 silencing. This study demonstrated that RRP12 was crucial for cell survival during cytotoxic stress via the repression of p53 stability. Thus, targeting RRP12 may enhance chemotherapeutic effect in cancers.

The composite 2LiBH4:MgH2 has been studied as a potential hydrogen storage material due to its high storage capacity. The present work is aimed at clarifying the thermodynamic behavior of the system, especially within the temperature region above 400 °C. Different reaction paths which have important implication for storage applications during hydrogen absorption and desorption at various temperatures were revealed. At temperatures over 413°C, two different absorption pressure plateaus are observed. This indicates that two different reactions occur: Mg hydrogenation at higher pressures and the re-formation of LiBH4 from H2, LiH, and MgB2 at lower pressures. On the other hand, at temperatures below 413°C only one plateau is present in the system. During desorption, the double plateau can be observed at temperatures as low as 375°C. This effect restricts the applicability of this composite as a hydrogen storage material. Fil: Cova, Federico Hector. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Rönnebro, Ewa C. E.. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Estados Unidos Fil: Choi, Young Joon. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Estados Unidos. Globalfoundries; Estados Unidos Fil: Gennari, Fabiana Cristina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Arneodo Larochette, Pierre Paul. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Energía Nuclear. Instituto Balseiro; Argentina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Bariloche; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

Cellular prion protein (PrP(C)) is widely expressed in various cell types, including cells of the immune system. However, the specific roles of PrP(C) in the immune system have not been clearly elucidated. In the present study, we investigated the effects of a soluble form of recombinant PrP(C) protein on human natural killer (NK) cells. Recombinant soluble PrP(C) protein was generated by fusion of human PrP(C) with the Fc portion of human IgG1 (PrP(C)-Fc). PrP(C)-Fc binds to the surface of human NK cells, particularly to CD56(dim) NK cells. PrP(C)-Fc induced the production of cytokines and chemokines and the degranulation of granzyme B from NK cells. In addition, PrP(C)-Fc facilitated the IL-15-induced proliferation of NK cells. PrP(C)-Fc induced phosphorylation of ERK-1/2 and JNK in NK cells, and inhibitors of the ERK or the JNK pathways abrogated PrP(C)-Fc-induced cytokine production in NK cells. In conclusion, the soluble form of recombinant PrP(C)-Fc protein activates human NK cells via the ERK and JNK signaling pathways.

Background Psoriasis is one of the most common chronic inflammatory diseases of the skin. Recently, IL-17–producing T cells have been shown to play a critical role in psoriatic inflammation. Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) is a coinhibitory receptor expressed on T cells in various chronic inflammatory diseases; however, the expression and function of PD-1 during psoriatic inflammation have not previously been characterized. Objective We examined PD-1 expression on IL-17A–producing T cells from imiquimod-treated mice and patients with psoriasis. Additionally, we investigated the therapeutic effect of recombinant programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein on imiquimod-induced psoriatic inflammation. Methods PD-1 expression on IL-17A–producing γδ T cells from imiquimod-treated mice was examined by means of multicolor flow cytometric analysis. In the psoriatic skin of patients, PD-1 and IL-17A expression was analyzed by using immunofluorescence. The therapeutic effect of PD-L1–Fc fusion protein (PD-L1-Fc) was assessed in imiquimod-treated mice ex vivo and in vivo . Results During imiquimod-induced psoriatic inflammation, PD-1 is overexpressed on CD27 − Vγ1 − γδ T cells. Furthermore, PD-1 expression on IL-17A + T cells was confirmed in psoriatic skin tissues from patients and imiquimod-treated mice. In the CD27 − Vγ1 − γδ T-cell population, Vγ4 − γδ T cells with Vγ6 mRNA expression showed a high level of PD-1 expression. Furthermore, these PD-1 hi Vγ4 − (Vγ6 + ) γδ T cells were specialized for anti-CD3–induced IL-17A production, which was inhibited by PD-L1-Fc treatment. In imiquimod-treated mice PD-L1-Fc reduced psoriatic inflammation when given alone and enhanced the therapeutic effect of anti-p40 when given in combination. Conclusion PD-1 is overexpressed in IL-17A–producing T cells in both imiquimod-treated mice and patients with psoriasis. Moreover, recombinant PD-L1-Fc alleviates psoriatic inflammation in imiquimod-treated mice.

Direct numerical simulations of the flow-nanoparticle interaction in a colloidal suspension are presented using an extended finite element method (XFEM) in which the dynamics of the nanoparticles is solved in a fully-coupled manner with the flow. The method is capable of accurately describing solid-fluid interfaces without the need of boundary-fitted meshes to investigate the dynamics of particles in complex flows. In order to accurately compute the high interparticle shear stresses and pressures while minimizing computing costs, an adaptive meshing technique is incorporated with the fluid-structure interaction algorithm. The particle-particle interaction at the microscopic level is modeled using the Lennard-Jones (LJ) potential and the corresponding potential parameters are determined by a scaling procedure. The study is relevant to the preparation of inks used in the fabrication of catalyst layers for fuel cells. In this paper, we are particularly interested in investigating agglomeration of the nanoparticles under external shear flow in a sliding bi-periodic Lees-Edwards frame. The results indicate that the external shear has a crucial impact on the structure formation of colloidal particles in a suspension.

Functionalities of drum-dried fish muscle protein from pH shifting process have been investigated by determining solubility, emulsion activity, rehydration, fat-adsorption capacity, viscosity, and color. Solubility was higher in recovered protein at pH 7.0 than that at pH 5.5, and not dependent on ionic strength. Solubility of the dried protein recovered at pH 7.0 depended on pH of solvent, and lowest in the range of pH 3 to pH 6. The dried protein showed relatively low emulsion capacity in all the samples. Emulsion stability, foam capacity and foam stability were not observed in the samples. Viscosity was in the range of . Rehydration and fat-binding capacities were -water/g and -oil/g, respectively, and not dependent on particle size and pH. Drum-dried fish muscle protein has a potential application as an ingredient of meat patty products.

Brachial neuritis is a rare disorder of unknown etiology that affects the lower motor neurons of the brachial plexus. The clinical course is characterized by acute onset of severe pain followed by weakness and gradual recovery. Among diagnostic tests, electromyography may be useful. The brachial neuritis has been confused with other painful shoulder conditions. The awareness of this disorder helps prevent unwarranted diagnostic studies & treatment. The authors report a case of brachial neuritis.

Notes on Three Species of the Genus Euphoriomyces (Laboulbeniales) from KoreaTaxonomic Studies on Myelochroa from KoreaMolecular Analysis of Korean Anzia opuntiella (Lichenized Ascomycota) Based on...

New equations of motion governing dynamic behavior of thin-walled curved beams were investigated based on the study of Kang and Yoo [Thin-walled curved beams, I: formulation of nonlinear equations, J. Eng. Mech., ASCE 120 (10) (1994) 2072-2101; Thin-walled curved beams, II: analytical solutions for buckling of arches, J. Eng. Mech., ASCE 120 (10) (1994) 2102-2125]. Explicit numerical expressions were derived to predict the complex dynamic behavior of the thin-walled curve beams. Stiffness and mass matrix of the curved beam element for finite element analyses were formulated to allow explicit evaluation of the dynamic behavior. The formulations were conducted using not only typical six degree of freedom but also additional warping degree of freedom at each node. This paper proved the validity and the convergence of the presented formulation using the curved beam element. The paper included comparisons of the natural frequencies of the thin-walled curved beams from the finite element formulations with those from other researchers' study. The presented formulation and the new equations are sufficiently accurate for use in study and evaluation of curved architectural structures and bridges.

Albugo candida is a destructive fungus infecting brassicaceous hosts. The genetic diversity within the A. candida complex from various host plants was investigated by sequence analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA and the cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (COX2) region of mtDNA. The aligned nucleotide sequences of A. candida shared significantly high distances, up to 20.4 and 8.9%, in two genes. The phylogenetic trees, obtained using the Bayesian method and maximum parsimony analysis, showed two separate groups that corresponded to the host genera. Group I included A. candida isolates infecting Arabis, Autrieta, Berteroa, Biscutella, Brassica, Cardaminopsis, Diplotaxis, Eruca, Erysimum, Heliophila, Iberis, Lunaria, Raphanus, Sinapis, Sisymbrium, and Thlaspi. Group II contained all isolates from Capsella, Descurainia, Diptychocarpus, Draba, and Lepidium. The genetic similarities between the two genes among isolates within Group I were 99.0-100% and 99.6-100%, while those within Group II were 90.4-100% and 91.1-100%, respectively, showing considerably lower values than for Group I. The A. candida isolates from Capsella bursa-pastoris in Korea are clearly separated by sequence analysis for the two genes compared to those from Wales, England, and the USA. Based on the molecular data from the two genes, we suggest the high degree of genetic diversity exhibited within A. candida complexes warrants their division into several distinct species.

Downy mildew of spinach (Spinacia oleracea), caused by Peronospora effusa, is a production constraint on production worldwide, including in California, where the majority of U.S. spinach is grown. The aim of this study was to develop a real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for detection of airborne inoculum of P. effusa in California. Among oomycete ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences examined for assay development, the highest nucleotide sequence identity was observed between rDNA sequences of P. effusa and P. schachtii, the cause of downy mildew on sugar beet and Swiss chard in the leaf beet group (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms were detected between P. effusa and P. schachtii in the 18S rDNA regions for design of P. effusa- and P. schachtii-specific TaqMan probes and reverse primers. An allele-specific probe and primer amplification method was applied to determine the frequency of both P. effusa and P. schachtii rDNA target sequences in pooled DNA samples, enabling quantification of rDNA of P. effusa from impaction spore trap samples collected from spinach production fields. The rDNA copy numbers of P. effusa were, on average, ≈3,300-fold higher from trap samples collected near an infected field compared with those levels recorded at a site without a nearby spinach field. In combination with disease-conducive weather forecasting, application of the assays may be helpful to time fungicide applications for disease management.

Isolation of Inonotus obliquus from Betula costata in KoreaTaxonomic Study on Some Unrecorded Taxa of Korean AphyllophoralesSurveys of Host Plants of Pestalotiopsis spp. in KoreaBacillus subtilis B...

The mDaIP2 protein is a mouse orthologue of human Nostrin (a regulator of eNos). The absence of eNos activity in RA-treated F9 cell implies that the protein plays somehow different role from Nostrin. In this experiment, this protein has been shown to repress the expression of its own gene, via a feedback mechanism which involves binding to the promoter region. Data from cotransfection, DNAP, mDaIP2-silenced F9 cell, and EMSA analyses clearly support the repression activity and direct binding of the protein to the promoter region. The protein contains N-terminal FCH domain and C-terminal SH3 domain. The SH3 domain is known to interact with the proline-rich domain of mDab2, while even no function has been reported about the FCH domain. Here, we report a novel function of mDaIP2 as a transcriptional repressor and suggest the possible association of the FCH domain with transcriptional regulation.

The change of food components in seaweeds, masangi (Capsosiphon fulvecense), gashiparae (Enteromorpha prolifera) and cheonggak (Codium fragile) was investigated at various harvest times. The crude protein was for masangi and for gashiparae, respectively. The content of glutamic acid, aspartic acid and leucine among total amino acid was high. The major free amino acids were proline and alanine for masangi, asparagine and glutamic acid for gashipare, and hdyrolxyproline, glutamic acid and alanine for cheonggak. In gashipare, the content of aspargine was greatly decreased, while one of sarcosine was increased in March. The ratio of polyene was for masangi, for gashipare, and for cheonggak. The levels of Ca, K, Mg and Fe were high. In masangi and gashiparae, the chlorophyll a and b was greatly decreased in March.

Horizontally curved box girder bridges inherently exhibit complex torsional and distortional behavior as well as bending due to the initial curvature. Distortional warping and transverse bending normal stresses, two major stress components resulting from distortion, are generally limited to a specific level for efficient use of the cross section by installing adequate intermediate diaphragms. The objectives of the present study are to develop a curved box beam finite element and to propose tentative design charts for adequate maximum spacing of intermediate diaphragms. The validity of the developed box beam element having nine degrees of freedom per node including two distortional degrees of freedom is verified from a series of thorough comparative studies using conventional shell element models. Extensive parametric studies using the box beam elements are performed and the design charts for the maximum spacing of the intermediate diaphragms are presented. Bridges taken into account are single-span, two-span, and three-span continuous horizontally curved box girder bridges. The design parameters considered are the central angle, the number of spans, the span length, the aspect ratio of the box section, the spacing of the intermediate diaphragms, and the desired ratio of the distortional warping normal stress to the bending normal stress. Unlike the current practice where the ratio of the distortional warping normal stress to the bending stress is fixed to a specific value, the proposed design charts facilitate the determination of the maximum spacing of intermediate diaphragm for various desired stress ratios.

Presented herein is a finite element formulation for free vibration analysis of horizontally curved steel I-girder bridges. Stiffness as well as mass matrices of the curved and the straight beam elements is formulated. Each node of both of them possesses seven degrees of freedom including the warping degree of freedom. The curved beam element is derived based on the Kang and Yoo's thin-walled curved beam theory in 1994. A computer program is developed to carry out free vibration analyses of the various bridges. Comparing with the frequencies using the general purpose program ABAQUS, the validity of the presented numerical formulation is shown. The numerical formulation is extensively applied to investigate free vibration characteristics of the bridges considering effects of the initial curvature, boundary condition, modeling method, and degrees of freedom of cross frame. Invaluable information which help practicing engineers better understand the vibration characteristics is provided.

Gel properties of recovered protein from mackerel, frozen blackspotted croaker, chicken breast and pork leg using acidic and alkaline processing were evaluated. Myofibrillar protein from mackerel by acidic processing did not form a heat-induced gel. However, the recovered protein including sarcoplasmic protein formed heatinduced gel. Breaking force of gel from mackerel processed at pH 10.5 was the lowest. A deformation value of frozen blackspotted croaker was the highest, followed by chicken breast, pork leg and mackerel. Whiteness of frozen blackspotted croaker was the highest among heat-induced gel. Breaking force, deformation and whiteness were decreased by addition of recovered protein from mackerel, but price was increased. A breaking force and whiteness of heat-induced gel added recovered protein from chicken breast were increased, and the price was greatly decreased. When the constraint of breaking force, deformation and price of raw material were set up above 110 g, 4.5 mm and below 2,000 won/kg. A optimum formulation for blending protein was 36∼50% for frozen blackspotted croaker, 34∼40% for chicken breast, 14∼25% for pork leg. The heat-induced gel of recovered protein from frozen blackspotted croaker showed compact structure compared to that of recovered protein from mackerel. A formulation of chicken breast and pork leg based on blackspotted croaker can be used in surimi based seafood products having various texture.