A cartridge type sensor head was fabricated to detect the level of corrosion in steel cables with consistent or varying cross sections by assessing the LMA (Loss of Metallic Area) damage. Two coil sensor cartridges were made to cater to cables with up to 70mm and 150mm. The developed system was verified through lab experiment using a tapered steel cable specimen, and through a field test conducted in cable bridge. The result showed that the developed system is capable of assessing a cable with varying cross section.

A Finite-Element (FE) model updating method is widely used for identifying structural integrities such as support conditions and material properties. However, it is still difficult to properly estimate support conditions using limited number of data. This study proposed a novel FE model updating method, which can identify support conditions by adding artificial springs at the supports, and by measuring the rotational angles of the supports.

The China state historical and cultural cities are important constituent of tourism resources in our country. However, for all sorts of reasons, the development condition of every city is extremely imbalanced. This paper with quantitative analysis the three main essential factors which are destination of tourists, source of tourists and traveling channel of Leiper's traveling geography system model, are calculate by geographical index and economic index, such as the average nearest distance, the Gini's coefficient, the non-equilibrium index and the coefficient of geographical and so on. The paper reveals the relations amongthe destination, source of tourists and the traveling channel. The research can provide the basis for tourism’s development of the China state historical and cultural cities.

In the genus Chrysanthemum, repetitive DNA sequences, the dominant part of a genome, are still to be elucidated. To explore the matter, the present study applied fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to the mitotic metaphase chromosome of Chrysanthemum boreale with C0t DNA as probes. Based on DNA re-assotiation kinetics, three kinds of C0t DNA exhibiting different degrees of repetitive nature were fractionated and used as FISH probes to map the repetitive sequences. Signals from all C0t DNAs were successfully observed but their coverage on the chromosomes was different among C0t-1, C0t-10, and C0t-100. C0t-1 FISH signals resulted to have its intensity on the telomeric region and were also dispersed on both chromosome arms except for some distal regions. In C0t-10, signals were observed in all parts of the chromosome with greater intensity around pericentromeric regions. FISH with C0t-100 DNA was observed in bright signals all over the chromosome. Signals of C0t FISH found in this study covered the regions where ribosomal DNAs and telomeric repeats of C. boreale have been distributed (previous report), thus signifying their repetitive attributes. The present results could enhance the efficiency of studying genomes, chromosomes and repetitive sequences of C. boreale and subsequently hasten the realization of the genetic scheme of Chrysanthemum.

The transposable element is a DNA sequence that can be changed its position within the genome, sometimes it can create or reverse mutations and altering the cell's genome size. Target region amplification polymorphism (TRAP) is a rapid and efficient PCR-based marker technique, which uses bioinformatics tools and expressed sequence tag (EST) database information to generate polymorphic markers around targeted candidate gene sequences. TE-TRAP is a new marker system which used terminal inverted repeat (TIR) instead of targeted candidate gene sequences. Sorghum holds a good potential plant organism for transposon tagging due to its small genome size, low amount of repetitive DNA and co-linearity with other cereal genomes, which allows the use of information derived from sorghum in other cereal grasses. IS2868 of sorghum accession was treated Gamma irradiation on seed. To define availability and utilization of TE-TRAP, twenty-one accessions were used to evaluate the genetic diversity and underlying relationships. One-thousand thirty-three TE-TRAP markers were amplified by thirty-one primer combination. Altogether, 712 (62.8%) markers were observed polymorphic segregation, whereas 421 (37.2%) showed monomorphic patterns. To estimate genetic differentiation of population by various gamma radiation doses, the analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed using 4 to 5 different radiation doses population of M1 sorghum individuals. This study and marker system will provide valuable information to assist radiation mutation breeding.

Plants have evolved elaborate innate immune systems against invading pathogens, such as bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses and insects. Among them, intracellular immune receptors known as nucleotide-binding site and leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) play critical roles in effector-triggered immunity (ETI) regarding to plant defense. Here, we identified potential NB-LRR coding sequences from pepper genome using bioinformatics analysis and performed comparative analysis with Solanaceae plants. As a result, we identified 267, 443, and 755 NBS-encoding genes in the genome of tomato, potato, and pepper, respectively. These may indicate that the Solanaceae NB-LRRs were evolved through species-specific unequal-duplication event. Further phylogenetic and clustering analyses revealed that Solanaceae NB-LRRs were classified into the 14 subgroups with 1 TNL and 13 CNL types. We found that the genes in CNL-G1 and CNL-G2 subgroup were highly expanded compared to other subgroup showing a large portion of NB-LRR in pepper genome. Among 755 NB-LRRs in pepper genome, 623 were physically mapped on all 12 pepper chromosome pseudomolecules. Furthermore, a number of NB-LRRs in the same group were physically clustered by tandem array in the specific chromosome. Genome-wide identification of pepper NB-LRR family and their evolutionary analysis could provide an important resource for identification and characterization of genes for breeding of disease resistance crops.

Fusarium crown root rot (FCRR) is a severe fungal disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL) in tomato. Resistance to FORL is conferred by single dominant locus Frl on chromosome 9, but its precise genomic location is not clearly determined. In this study, detailed location of Frl was assessed by using a set of molecular markers physically anchored on Chr.9 and F2 and RIL population derived from FORL-resistant inbred AV107-4 (S.lycopersicum) x susceptible L3708 (S. pimpinellifolium). Bioassay of the two populations with a FORL strain isolated from Korea resulted in single dominant heritance of the resistance. Two SCAR and 11 CAPS markers encompassing 3.6Mb~72Mb of Chr.9 were developed from the Tomato-EXPEN 2000 map and SolCAP SNP-array analysis. These markers were genotyped on 345 F2 plants. A high level of cosegregation with the resistance were observed for 5 markers which were mapped at a large physical interval of 5.1Mb (T1212) to 46.4Mb (SSR237), indicating that genetic recombination was highly suppressed in this region. Cosegregation of these markers with Frl was confirmed by using 126 RILs. The results implied that, in contrast with the previously reported long arm, Frl is present on a pericentromeric region of short arm of Chr. 9, in which crossing-over is severely suppressed. The marker set was further tested on 12 FORL-resistance or susceptibility commercial cultivars. Unlike the biparental populations, frequent linkage break was observed for T1212 and D4 in commercial cultivars. T1212 and D4 showed 50% and 100% match with the phenotype, respectively. D4, a CAPS, was converted to a high resolution melting (HRM) marker and tested on 55 breeding lines from private seed companies (Fig.3). All breeding lines showed the HRM genotype for resistance allele, indicating that D4 can be useful for selecting FORL-resistance tomato plants.

To identify genes that play critical roles during male gametogenesis in Arabidopsis, we have isolated several pollen morphological mutants from a mutagenized seed pool generated with a T-DNA activation vector. In this study, we have focused on a mutant plant producing ~50% abnormal pollen grains including high levels of collapsed pollen at maturity. The pollen developmental analysis showed that the mutant pollen phenotype was first observed at tricellular stage. Interestingly, the mutation was only maintained as a heterozygote due to the severely reduced genetic transmission through both sexes. TAIL PCR analysis led to the identification of the responsible gene which encodes a conserved oligomeric golgi complex component-related protein (COGCC). RT-PCR analysis showed predominant expression of the gene in reproductive organs including developing spores. The gene identity was confirmed by the result that mutant plants harboring a T-DNA containing corresponding wild type gene produced less level of mutant pollen grains. Furthermore, confocal laser scanning microscopy using mature pollen expressing COGCC-RFP driven under the native promoter showed small punctate signals, which are likely to be from the Golgi complex. Further experiments for co-localization of the COGCC-RFP with the Golgi markers are underway.

This study was carried out to determine the amount of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose in six kenaf cultivars during different harvesting stages. Three mutant cultivars (Jangdae, Jeokbong and Baekma), two original cultivars (Jinju, C14), and one Chinese cultivar (Auxu) were planted on May 14, 2013. Four harvesting times were made at intervals of 20 days from 15 July to 16 September, 2013. The overall growth characters of mutant cultivar ‘Jeokbong’ such as plant height, stem diameter, flowering time, and dry mass were similar with those of the original variety. The mutant cultivar ‘Baekma’ occurred 10-day late flowering in comparison with the original variety and also displayed higher dry mass than the original variety. Jinju, Auxu and Jangdae, mid-late maturing kenaf cultivars, had high dry weight compared to early maturing cultivars such as Jeokbong, Baekma and C14. In all cultivars, the lignin contents were increased by a late harvest. The Mid-late maturing kenaf cultivars showed high lignin content in comparison with those of the early maturity cultivars. There were no significant differences of cellulose, and hemicellulose content between the cultivars, however cellulose content in stems of these kenaf cultivars were significantly decreased by a late harvest. These results may provide valuable information to assist the parental selection of kenaf breeding.

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) native to Africa can be used as fiber, food, feedstock and bio plastic. This study was carried out to evaluate the mineral, amino acid and vitamin contents of six selected kenaf cultivars which are enable to produce seed under Korean circumstance. The leaves of three mutant cultivars (Jangdae, Jeokbong and Baekma), two original cultivars (Jinju, C14) and one Chinese cultivar (Auxu) were harvested at flowering time. Mineral components of kenaf leaves, such as calcium, potassium, and mineral, did not showed significant differences among the cultivars. As major amino acids including proline and phenylalanine, significant differences were found in these kenaf cultivars. The Auxu cultivar contained the highest amount of essential amino acid (Phenylalanine, Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine, Methionine and Lysine). The amount of vitamin displayed significant differences such as vitamin E and vitamin K among these cultivars. Especially, Jangdae cultivar contained the highest amount of vitamin E and vitamin K. Thus, these data suggested that Jangdae and Auxu is the most desirable cultivar containing high amount of vitamin and amino acid.

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum) is a global staple food crops. However, saline soil reduces the production of durum wheat in a lot of countries including Tunisia. This problem would be more severe as soil salinization ascribed by the global climate changes and worldwide water deficiencies. To overcome this circumstance, we performed two experiments related to salinity stress tolerance of durum wheat. Two Tunisian durum wheat cultivars (‘Om Rabia’, ‘Mahmoudi’) were applied to examine the reaction to salt stress. At the third leaf stage, salt stress was treated by submerging the pots into 500 mM NaCl for 5 mins everyday instead of irrigation in greenhouse. The treatment was applied for 1 week and their tolerances to salt stress were determined by comparing their growth parameters to the control plants. Total RNA was extracted and Quantitative reverse transcript PCR (qRT-PCR) using the genes linked with the salt tolerance was performed. The plant height and leaf chlorophyll content were reduced during salt stress treatment in both cultivars. The growth parameters of ‘Om Rabia’ was reduced less than that of ‘Mahmoudi’. The transcription level of the genes linked with the salt tolerance was greater in ‘Om Rabia’ than in ‘Mahmoudi’. These results will be fruitful to future breeding program for salt tolerant tetraploid durum wheat.

Blackleg disease caused by Leptosphaeria maculans, is the most devastating disease of Brassica germplam worldwide that causes million tonnes of crop losses per year throughout the world. To date, a total of 12 race-specific resistance genes of Brassica napus to L. maculans have been reported but linkage mapping analysis reveals that all of those loci are located in A genome i.e., in B. rapa chromosomes. B. oleracea has high ancestral synteny with B. rapa through their evolution. We believe that presence of qualitative resistance is possible in B. oleracea germplasm. The present study was therefore planned to find out any race-specific qualitative resistance gene present in C genome of B. oleracea. A total of 16 microsatellite markers were used which are linked to seven different Rlm and Lep genes of B. napus to screen 32 inbred lines of cabbage. Primers were designed based on homology assessment in corresponding nucleotide sequence available in Bolbase (a B. oleracea genome database, http://www.ocri-genomics.org/bolbase/index.html), located in B. oleracea scaffolds/chromosomes. Out of 16 SSR markers, 13 were found polymorphic which indicates possible existence of resistant genes in cabbage lines. The inbred lines are then assessed against two L. maculans stains with known avirulent genes. Some inbred lines were hypersensitive against gene-specific virulent strains of L. maculans that confirmed existence of Rlm1, Rlm2, Rlm4, LepR3 and LepR4 in the cabbage lines. In this way we were able to select out resistant and susceptible lines against each resistant gene. The gene-specific polymorphic SSR marker regions were cloned and sequenced and candidate SNPs were identified for confirmation of their functionality.

urposeThisresearchinvestigatestheeffectofdisclosure–qualitywithtwomaincomponents,reliabilityandtimeliness,oneconomicvalueaddedinIran. cludes170TehranStockExchangelistedcompaniesfrom2008-12.Multipleregressionanalysiswasappliedtotestthehy-pothesesandestimatesofthecoefficients.Firmsizeandreturnonassetswerethecontrolvariables. ResultsTheresultsshowthattimelinessofinformationhas–apositiveimpactoneconomicvalueadded.Wedidnotfindanysignificantrelationshipbetweendisclosurequalityandreli-abilityofinformationandeconomicvalueadded.Theregressedmodelshowsthatthereisnosignificantassociationbetweenfirmsizeandeconomicvalueadded.Theresultsalsoshowthatthereisapositiveassociationbetweenreturnonassetsandeconomicvalueadded. Conclusions–Theoretically,timelyinformationiseffectiveindecision-making.Thisstudyshowsthattimelinessofinformationhaspositiveeffectonthecreationofeconomicvalueadded.However,disclosurequality,reliability,andfirmsizedonotef-fectoneconomicvalueadded.Companieswithgreaterreturnonassetsproducegreatereconomicvalueadded.

In this paper the DRC model is presented for solving multi objective problem. The proposed model is a combination of data envelopment analysis, Cuckoo algorithm and the response surface method. Due to reasons like costs, time and irreversible damages, it is not possible to analyze each and every one of the proposed models in practice, so the simulation is used. Since the number of experiments for simulation process is high then the optimization has gone to practice and directs the simulation process. The response surface method is used as one of the approaches of simulation optimization. Furthermore, data envelopment analysis is used to consider several response surfaces as efficiency response surface. Then this efficiency response surface is solved by Cuckoo algorithms. The main advantage of DRC model is to make one efficiency response surface function instate of multi surface function for every output and also using the advantages of Cuckoo algorithms. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the branches of Refah bank in Mashhad is analyzed and the results are presented.

Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) is a prominent mean of controlling structural vibration. Typically the TMDs are installed at the top of the structure. In this study, the effectiveness of the multiple tuned mass dampers (MTMD) distributed along with the height of structure is investigated for seismic loading. A ten storey building with lateral degree of freedom is modeled with distributed tuned mass dampers in the platform of MatLab R2010a. Though the first mode of a MDOF system dominates in response of the structure, it is also observed that the other mode can also have a significant role in the response reduction. Suitable location for the installation of the TMDs and there tuning frequencies are selected based on the mode shape and frequencies of the uncontrolled structure respectively. It is observed that distributed TMD is more effective than Single TMD and Multiple TMD installed at top of the structure in response reduction.