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The dispersal of rice (Oryza sativa) following domestication influenced massive social and cultural changes across South, East, and Southeast (SE) Asia. The history of dispersal across islands of SE Asia, and the role of Taiwan and the Austronesian expansion in this process remain largely unresolved. Here, we reconstructed the routes of dispersal of O. sativa ssp. japonica rice to Taiwan and the northern Philippines using whole-genome resequencing of indigenous rice landraces coupled with archaeological and paleoclimate data. Our results indicate that japonica rice found in the northern Philippines diverged from Indonesian landraces as early as 3,500 years before present (BP). In contrast, rice cultivated by the indigenous peoples of the Taiwanese mountains has complex origins. It comprises two distinct populations, each best explained as a result of admixture between temperate japonica that presumably came from northeast Asia, and tropical japonica from the northern Philippines and mainland SE Asia, respectively. We find that the temperate japonica component of these indigenous Taiwan populations diverged from northeast Asia subpopulations at about 2,600 BP, whereas gene flow from the northern Philippines had begun before ∼1,300 BP. This coincides with a period of intensified trade established across the South China Sea. Finally, we find evidence for positive selection acting on distinct genomic regions in different rice subpopulations, indicating local adaptation associated with the spread of japonica rice.

Background The early-ripening rice races are important because they may escape droughts, avoid floods and reduce the growing period. Thus, they could be cultivated for at least two cropping seasons each year in sub-tropical or tropical areas. According to Song Dynasty history, many rice accessions were brought to China from the Champa Kingdom, and these lines were drought-resistant and non-photoperiod–sensitive. Here, we address the impact of Champa rice on rice production, and which subtype the Champa rice belong to.Results We performed a phylogenetic analysis of rice landraces in China and Taiwan that had the word “Champa” in their names. We also cooperated with rice breeders in Vietnam, where the ancient Champa Kingdom was. Together with the publicly available genome sequencing data, we confirmed that many Taiwan landraces are also Champa rice. We also showed that these Champa rice played important roles in ancient and modern rice production. The most famous landrace is Dee Geo Woo Gen, one of the parental lines of IR8. This landrace had a loss-of-function semi-dwarf 1 gene and thus is lodging-resistant. In addition, Champa rice is indica type but not aus.Conclusions Champa rice is a group of indica rice. Many Champa rice accessions are early maturing and are resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses. Some are key accessions in the “green revolution” and have been very important in the modern breeding program.

To examine the capability to detect and localise damage using the Measurement- and Model-based Structural Analysis (MeMoS), a small-scale truss bridge (1520 mm × 720 mm × 720 mm) made of aluminium profiles is built as a test specimen for this purpose. The truss frame of the test bridge is made of aluminium profiles with a sophisticated design of the cross-sectional area. In comparison, with solid profiles, only a fraction of the material is needed to produce the profiles, while their bending resistance decreases slightly. The profiles are built into a truss frame by connecting them by means of fastening sets made of steel. The bridge model is mounted on four steel bearings which each of them consist of a cylinder arranged between two plates. Fixed bearings are made by holding onto one end of the bridge. The bridge is subjected by an external load by placing a heavy object beneath it. At the same time, measurements can be conducted below the bridge. Therefore, the bridge specimen is elevated by attaching it on a pedestal with four columns. Damages can be induced by loosening the fastening pieces.

Within the presented research project, experimental and numerical investigations were performed to develop a thin-shelled, modular, mobile element system made of a micro-reinforced ultra-high-performance ductile concrete (DUCON®). Material parameters were experimentally determined to adapt the material model within the numerical analysis applying the Drucker-Prager relationship. Afterwards, for validation of the numerical models, quasi-static and high-velocity impact tests were performed on plate-like structures. Finally, a suitable geometry of transportable barrier elements will be designed, which provides a maximum of resistance against impact by a minimum of weight and a maximum of mobility.

By means of a small-scale truss bridge, the ability of the Measurement- and Model-based Structural Analysis to detect and localise damage was examined in [1]. Although there was no noteworthy difficulty in detecting damage, it turned out that damage localisation responds sensitively to systematic influences, i.e. non-modelled properties of the mechanical model. Therefore, another experiment is being conducted to re-examine the Measurement- and Model-based Structural Analysis. For this purpose, the bending test is carried out as it has been already theoretically respectively numerically discussed in [2]. In this attempt, the systematic influences such as residual stress are kept as low as possible.

This article was not made open access when initially published online, which was corrected before print publication. In addition, ORCID links were missing for 12 authors and have been added to the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

The genus Oryza is a model system for the study of molecular evolution over time scales ranging from a few thousand to 15 million years. Using 13 reference genomes spanning the Oryza species tree, we show that despite few large-scale chromosomal rearrangements rapid species diversification is mirrored by lineage-specific emergence and turnover of many novel elements, including transposons, and potential new coding and noncoding genes. Our study resolves controversial areas of the Oryza phylogeny, showing a complex history of introgression among different chromosomes in the young 'AA' subclade containing the two domesticated species. This study highlights the prevalence of functionally coupled disease resistance genes and identifies many new haplotypes of potential use for future crop protection. Finally, this study marks a milestone in modern rice research with the release of a complete long-read assembly of IR 8 'Miracle Rice', which relieved famine and drove the Green Revolution in Asia 50 years ago.

The determination of material parameters from displacement field measurement is being examined for linear elastic solid. A frequently used approach to compute material constants can be found in many studies. Even though they presented the approach in many different variations, but in the end they are essentially based on the same algorithm: Parameters are iteratively tuned until the computed results are in accordance with the measurements. The main drawback of this approach is that mainly commercial software is used that hinders us to investigate its inner evaluation process. This leads to the question, how the results from this commercial software can be trusted. On the contrary to these debatable approaches, we present a method that inverts the procedure of finite element method by using the most general model for a least-squares adjustment – the Gauss - Helmert Model.

Many polymer-type materials show a rate-dependent and nonlinear rheological behavior. Such a response may be modeled by using a series of spring-dashpot systems. However, in order to cover different time scales the number of systems may become unreasonably large. A more appropriate treatment based on continuum mechanics will be presented herein. This approach uses representation theorems for deriving material equations and allows for a systematic increase in modeling complexity. Moreover, we propose an approach based on energy to determine thematerial parameters.This method results in a simple linear regression problemeven for highly nonlinearmaterial equations. Therefore, the inverse problem leads to a unique solution. The significance of the proposed method is that the stored and dissipated energies necessary for the procedure are measurable quantities. We apply the proposed method to a “semi-solid” material and measure its material parameters by using a simple-shear rheometer.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the impediments and proposed solutions during the e-invoice implementation and promotion. Design/methodology/approach – A participant observation-based case study research approach was utilized to examine the process and challenges for enabling the national e-invoice service. Findings – The e-invoice evolution process is summarized into three phases: the paperless phase, the diffusion phase and the cloud-enabled phase. The co-evolutionary adaptation process was drawn to highlight the broader issues of constructing a national-level information system. Research limitations/implications – Although this research is limited from the perspective of Taiwan, it provides a good illustrative example of e-invoice implementation. Originality/value – The findings can provide preliminary understanding of how an integrated e-invoice platform can enable the development of smart government. This paper also highlights issues of legal, technical, political and organizational challenges in e-government development.

The cloud-based environment has been viewed as an elastic alternative to hosting information systems. Although a lot of attention is paid in cloud system applications, organizations in business are still skeptical of adopting cloud framework. The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants on firms' reactions toward cloud systems adoption from status quo bias perspective. By using cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) as a research target, data were collected from the leading manufacturing firms in Taiwan. The results indicate that institutional pressures, switching benefits, and switching costs have significant influence on perceived value. Switching benefits and switching costs are key determinants of perceived risk. Perceived value contributes towards organizational adoption intentions, while perceived risk has significant influence on organizational resistance. The findings provide a foundation for understanding the possible determinants of cloud systems adoption as well as valuable im...

Background Genetic data for traditional Taiwanese (Formosan) agriculture is essential for tracing the origins on the East Asian mainland of the Austronesian language family, whose homeland is generally placed in Taiwan. Three main models for the origins of the Taiwanese Neolithic have been proposed: origins in coastal north China (Shandong); in coastal central China (Yangtze Valley), and in coastal south China. A combination of linguistic and agricultural evidence helps resolve this controversial issue. Results We report on botanically informed linguistic fieldwork of the agricultural vocabulary of Formosan aborigines, which converges with earlier findings in archaeology, genetics and historical linguistics to assign a lesser role for rice than was earlier thought, and a more important one for the millets. We next present the results of an investigation of domestication genes in a collection of traditional rice landraces maintained by the Formosan aborigines over a hundred years ago. The genes controlling awn length, shattering, caryopsis color, plant and panicle shapes contain the same mutated sequences as modern rice varieties everywhere else in the world, arguing against an independent domestication in south China or Taiwan. Early and traditional Formosan agriculture was based on foxtail millet, broomcorn millet and rice. We trace this suite of cereals to northeastern China in the period 6000–5000 BCE and argue, following earlier proposals, that the precursors of the Austronesians, expanded south along the coast from Shandong after c. 5000 BCE to reach northwest Taiwan in the second half of the 4th millennium BCE. This expansion introduced to Taiwan a mixed farming, fishing and intertidal foraging subsistence strategy; domesticated foxtail millet, broomcorn millet and japonica rice; a belief in the sacredness of foxtail millet; ritual ablation of the upper incisors in adolescents of both sexes; domesticated dogs; and a technological package including inter alia houses, nautical technology, and loom weaving. Conclusion We suggest that the pre-Austronesians expanded south along the coast from that region after c. 5000 BCE to reach northwest Taiwan in the second half of the 4th millennium BCE. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12284-018-0247-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Table S1. Aboriginal rice accessions, control varieties and their domestication-related phenotypes. Table S2. Information on functionally characterized genes and mutations that underlie phenotypic changes during rice domestication. Table S3. Tribe, village and gender of informants. Table S4. Accessions used in the phylogenetic study, regions collected and their DNA accession numbers. Table S5. Primers used in the studies. (DOCX 67 kb)

Rice, Oryza sativa L., is one of the most important crops in the world. With the rising world population, feeding people in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way becomes increasingly important. Therefore, the rice research community needs to share resources to better understand the functions of rice genes that are the foundation for future agricultural biotechnology development, and one way to achieve this goal is via the extensive study of insertional mutants. We have constructed a large rice insertional mutant population in a japonica rice variety, Tainung 67. The collection contains about 93 000 mutant lines, among them 85% with phenomics data and 65% with flanking sequence data. We screened the phenotypes of 12 individual plants for each line grown under field conditions according to 68 subcategories and 3 quantitative traits. Both phenotypes and integration sites are searchable in the Taiwan Rice Insertional Mutants Database. Detailed analyses of phenomics data, T-DNA flanking sequences, and whole-genome sequencing data for rice insertional mutants can lead to the discovery of novel genes. In addition, studies of mutant phenotypes can reveal relationships among varieties, cultivation locations, and cropping seasons.

Purpose – The paper aims to clarify the relationship between organizational identification, knowledge sharing and work characteristics. It proposes hierarchical linear modeling analysis of work context and social support climate with regard to organizational identification. The study aims to understand and prescribe the cross-level effects of a supportive climate and the effect of job design on organizational identification and knowledge sharing. Librarians need to share knowledge with their colleagues to provide timely responses for readers. Through a cross-level study, the authors' findings provide insights for both practice and academia. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis approach in this paper consisted of the following steps. First, this study applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess the validity and reliability of the authors' instrument. Second, this study checked the viability of aggregating the responses of the librarians to library-level constructs. Third, this study adapted hier...

Since the software industry significantly differs from traditional manufacturing in numerous ways, the development effort of software products originate mainly from human resources. In particular, enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is a virtual intelligence and customer service-oriented product. Software developers are thus concerned with how to estimate ERP project effort during the developmental stage. Despite significant advances in procedures that facilitate project management, product managers in the software industry still encounter guesswork and subjective judgment-related problems, frequently resulting in inaccurate estimates. No concrete functional relationship exists between effort estimation and the design requirements of ERP system development. Companies can thus lose their market competitiveness during the marketing phase of attracting customers owing to inefficient and ineffective responses. In addition to reviewing pertinent literature on estimation approaches, this work adopts information system projects developed by the primary Taiwan-based ERP solutions provider as an empirical database. Furthermore, based on analysis of recent ERP software projects, this work presents a feasible estimation model to satisfactorily estimate the person-hour of an ERP system development project efficiently. Based on systematic modeling, the proposed estimation model enables project decision makers or sales departments to react immediately to preliminary project cost with rate per person-hour, ultimately increasing their decision making quality, estimation efficiency and accuracy.

A hydride-centered dithiophosphate cluster [Cu8(μ4-H){S2P(OEt)2}6](PF6) (1)] previously developed by us was applied as a new catalyst to the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of organic azides and alkynes for preparing substituted trizoles. With the required catalyst loading as low as 0.4 mol%, the reactions of terminal alkynes with BnN3 all proceeded smoothly at ambient temperature in CH3CN to exclusively produce 1,4-triazoles in good yields. For these reactions, it is assumed that the formation of the requisite copper acetylide intermediate is facilitated by the abstraction of the terminal hydrogen of alkynes by the hydride released from the central of the cluster. With only few examples being documented in literatures, the reactions of a range of internal alkynes have also been realized under the catalysis of 1 (0.8 mol%) in DMF at elevated temperature, to yield 1,4,5-trisubstituted triazoles in moderate to high yields. Our study has provided a preliminary insight into the effect of sulfur-based ligands on the activity of copper ion.

Despite significant advances in procedures that facilitate project management, the continued reliance of software managers on guesswork and subjective judgment causes frequent project time overruns. This study uses an Evolutionary Support Vector Machine Inference Model (ESIM) for efficiently and accurately estimating the person-hour of ERP system development projects. The proposed ESIM is a hybrid intelligence model integrating a support vector machine (SVM) with a fast messy genetic algorithm (fmGA). The SVM mainly provides learning and curve fitting while the fmGA minimizes errors. The analytical results in this study confirm that, compared to artificial neural networks and SVM, the proposed ESIM provides preliminary prediction at early phase of ERP software development effort for the manufacturing firms with superior accuracy, shorter training time and less overfitting. Future research can develop user-friendly expert systems with window or browser interfaces that can be used by planning personnel to flexibly input related variables and to estimate development effort and corresponding project time/cost.

The formation of a C-N bond via the cross-couplings of aryl iodides with azoles, aryl amine, and amides can be successfully achieved in decent yield by the utilization of both [Cu8(H){S2P(O i Pr)2}6] + and [Cu8{S2P(OEt)2}6] 2+ as the pre-catalysts.

Rice is a facultative short-day plant, and it requires a photoperiod shorter than the critical day length to get flowering. Sensitivity to photoperiod has been suggested as a major selection target in cultivated or weedy rice. The modern rice varieties in Taiwan may be cultivated twice a year. These varieties contain loss-of-function of two important flowering-time related genes, Heading date 1 (Hd1) and Early heading date 1 (Ehd1), and are mainly from a mega variety, Taichung 65. However, the parental lines of this variety were sensitive to photoperiod, thus, how Taichung 65 loss its sensitivity is a mystery. In this study, we used accession-specific single nucleotide polymorphism analysis to reveal the gene flow that occurred between different rice accessions decades ago and demonstrate that two landraces introgressed during the breeding process, which led to the loss of photoperiod sensitivity. Both Hd1 and Ehd1 may be important during artificial selection for flowering time, especially in a subtropical region such as Taiwan. This is a good example of introgression playing important roles during rice domestication.

The InGaP/InGaAs metal–oxide–semiconductor pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (MOS-PHEMT) with an oxidized GaAs gate by liquid phase oxidation (LPO) is demonstrated. With the help of the LPO, the threshold voltage ( V th ) can be shifted positively to 0.07 V, and enhancement-mode MOS-PHEMT is fabricated. The device with a gate metal of 1 × 100 μm 2 shows a maximum transconductance of 171 mS/mm at V DS = 5 V and a maximum drain current density of 182 mA/mm at V GS = 2 V. It also exhibits a lower leakage current and an improved subthreshold swing compared to the referenced Schottky-gate InGaP/InGaAs PHEMT.

The use of open GIS standards offers a broad variety of potential, particularly in the field of data exchange, data storage, and interoperability. GML and CityGML are excellent examples for the ontological description of real world objects by means of an open standard whereas SensorML serves to describe measurements, sensors and measuring platforms. The use of such standards offers not only the possibility of using a common standardised language, but also the use of open service standards. The combination of spatial data and sensor standards in services and service-oriented architectures goes far beyond previous existing solutions on the market and provides a novel platform for monitoring structures. That in fact is far more than a simple data storage model. The methods and models presented in this contribution allow a direct integration of sensor data and its provision through an open standard language. In this case, all the intermediate steps at any time through an open service interface are addressed and may be made available and provided to different actors and stakeholders participating in a construction scenario. The great potential and the added value of such an information system is the permanent availability of measurement and object data and an associated integrated analysis of sensor data in combination with a finite element model (FEM). The automatic derivation of a finite element model from the 3D structure model, the visualisation of FEM, the provision of raw (measurement) data and sensor information for each time of measurement transform the platform into a universal tool in the field of structural monitoring. This contribution introduces the individual components, the standards used and the interaction between the components to an overall system.

Social interaction has been viewed as an important trigger for knowledge sharing. Previous studies have shown difference in both direction and magnitude of relationships between the determinants and knowledge sharing outcomes. By combing the social capital theory, the theory of reasoned action (TRA), and the technology acceptance model (TAM), the present study proposes an integrated model of knowledge sharing from the social capital perspective at individual level. A meta-analysis of 30 empirical studies provides support for the hypotheses. Social capital will play different roles toward different knowledge sharing outcomes. The implications of these results are discussed.

With the completion of the rice genome sequencing project, the next major challenge is the large-scale determination of gene function. A systematic phenotypic profiling of mutant collections will provide major insights into gene functions important for crop growth or production. Thus, detailed phenomics analysis is the key to functional genomics. Currently, the two major types of rice mutant collections are insertional mutants and chemical or irradiation-induced mutants. Here we describe how to manipulate a rice mutant population, including conducting phenomics studies and the subsequent propagation and seed storage. We list the phenotypes screened and also describe how to collect data systematically for a database of the qualitative and quantitative phenotypic traits. Thus, data on mutant lines, phenotypes, and segregation rate for all kinds of mutant populations, as well as integration sites for insertional mutant populations, would be searchable, and the collection would be a good resource for rice functional genomics study.

With the completion of the rice genome sequencing project, the next major challenge is the large-scale determination of gene function. A systematic phenotypic profiling of mutant collections will provide major insights into gene functions important for crop growth or production. Thus, detailed phenomics analysis is the key to functional genomics. Currently, the two major types of rice mutant collections are insertional mutants and chemical or irradiation-induced mutants. Here we describe how to manipulate a rice mutant population, including conducting phenomics studies and the subsequent propagation and seed storage. We list the phenotypes screened and also describe how to collect data systematically for a database of the qualitative and quantitative phenotypic traits. Thus, data on mutant lines, phenotypes, and segregation rate for all kinds of mutant populations, as well as integration sites for insertional mutant populations, would be searchable, and the collection would be a good resource for rice functional genomics study.

Accurate colorimetric characterization is an important step in establishing the color management system (CMS) for liquid crystal displays (LCDs). The difficulty in achieving accurate characterization of LCDs is mainly due to cross talks among color channels. In this paper, a model based on the concept of under color removal (UCR) and utilizing the correlations among color components is proposed to accurately estimate the XYZ values of the colors displayed on LCDs. Experimental results indicate that the proposed model outperforms many existing models in terms of the CIEDE2000 color difference between the XYZ values of the measured color samples and the estimated XYZ values.

Accurate colorimetric characterization is an important step in establishing the color management system (CMS) for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to achieve device-independent color reproduction. The gain-offset-gamma (GOG) model that is accurate enough in describing the tone reproduction curves (TRCs) for CRT displays has been found inadequate for characterizing LCDs due to mainly channel interaction and non-constancy of channel chromaticity. In this paper, a modified GOG model that takes channel interaction and backlight leakage into account is proposed to accurately characterize the TRCs of LCDs. Experimental results indicate that the proposed model outperforms the conventional GOG model in terms of the CIEDE2000 color difference between the XYZ values of the measured color sample and the estimated XYZ values.