The genome of the mesopolyploid crop species Brassica rapa

Wang, Xiaowu,Wang, Hanzhong,Wang, Jun,Sun, Rifei,Wu, Jian,Liu, Shengyi,Bai, Yinqi,Mun, Jeong-Hwan,Bancroft, Ian,Cheng, Feng,Huang, Sanwen,Li, Xixiang,Hua, Wei,Wang, Junyi,Wang, Xiyin,Freeling, Michael Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan P 2011 Nature genetics Vol.43 No.10

We report the annotation and analysis of the draft genome sequence of Brassica rapa accession Chiifu-401-42, a Chinese cabbage. We modeled 41,174 protein coding genes in the B. rapa genome, which has undergone genome triplication. We used Arabidopsis thaliana as an outgroup for investigating the consequences of genome triplication, such as structural and functional evolution. The extent of gene loss (fractionation) among triplicated genome segments varies, with one of the three copies consistently retaining a disproportionately large fraction of the genes expected to have been present in its ancestor. Variation in the number of members of gene families present in the genome may contribute to the remarkable morphological plasticity of Brassica species. The B. rapa genome sequence provides an important resource for studying the evolution of polyploid genomes and underpins the genetic improvement of Brassica oil and vegetable crops.

Fast, ethical and sustainable - The challenge for twenty-first century fashion producers -

Michael Hann,Chaoran Wang 복식문화학회 2016 服飾文化硏究 Vol.24 No.1

It is recognized that the global apparel market of the twenty-first century is largely profit driven, and that the majority of producers and retailers have sourced products from the lowest cost locations. Purchase tickets of fashion goods available from ‘fast’ fashion retailers (at least within the UK) refrain from providing the consumer with details of the full circumstances of production. It seems that the majority of major retailers and producers are not willing to engage in levels of self-regulation which could ensure that the products offered to consumers are ethically produced and offer acceptable levels of sustainability. Meanwhile many fashion consumers have the desire to purchase sustainable products, produced ethically by workers paid fair wages in safe working environments. Consumer demand could be a powerful tool to adjust the behaviour of manufacturers and buyers. This paper proposes the introduction of international legislation demanding greater degrees of transparency than exist currently and that the full sourcing and production details of fashion products are stated clearly on the product’s purchase ticket within its retail setting. With the introduction of such legislation, consumers could thus be given the opportunity of purchasing goods which they feel accommodate their own views on ethical manufacture and sustainable products. In turn, consumer pressure could ensure indirectly that retail buyers consider all ethical and sustainable aspects of production when negotiating with garment producers/suppliers. Further to this, such a negotiating stance could ensure the improvement of the terms and conditions of employment of the numerous garment workers worldwide.

Tetrathiafulvalene Hetero Radical Cation Dimerization in a Redox-Active [2]Catenane

Wang, Cheng,Dyar, Scott M.,Cao, Dennis,Fahrenbach, Albert C.,Horwitz, Noah,Colvin, Michael T.,Carmieli, Raanan,Stern, Charlotte L.,Dey, Sanjeev K.,Wasielewski, Michael R.,Stoddart, J. Fraser American Chemical Society 2012 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY - Vol.134 No.46

<P>The electronic properties of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) can be tuned by attaching electron-donating or electron-withdrawing substituents. An electron-rich macrocyclic polyether containing two TTF units of different constitutions, namely 4,4′-bis(hydroxymethyl)tetrathiafulvalene (OTTFO) and 4,4′-bisthiotetrathiafulvalene (STTFS), has been synthesized. On two-electron oxidation, a hetero radical dimer is formed between OTTFO<SUP>•+</SUP> and STTFS<SUP>•+</SUP>. The redox behavior of the macrocyclic polyether has been investigated by electrochemical techniques and UV–vis and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies. The [2]catenane in which the macrocyclic polyether is mechanically interlocked with the cyclobis(paraquat-<I>p</I>-phenylene) (CBPQT<SUP>4+</SUP>) ring has also been prepared using template-directed protocols. In the case of the [2]catenane, the formation of the TTF hetero radical dimer is prevented sterically by the CBPQT<SUP>4+</SUP> ring. After a one-electron oxidation, a 70:30 ratio of OTTFO<SUP>•+</SUP> to STTFS<SUP>•+</SUP> is present at equilibrium, and, as a result, two translational isomers of the [2]catenane associated with these electronically different isomeric states transpire. EPR titration spectroscopy and simulations reveal that the radical states of the two constitutionally different TTF units in the [2]catenane still experience long-range electronic intramolecular coupling interactions, despite the presence of the CBPQT<SUP>4+</SUP> ring, when one or both of them are oxidized to the radical cationic state. These findings in the case of both the free macrocyclic polyether and the [2]catenane have led to a deeper fundamental understanding of the mechanism of radical cation dimer formation between constitutionally different TTF units.</P><P><B>Graphic Abstract</B> <IMG SRC='http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/jacsat/2012/jacsat.2012.134.issue-46/ja307577t/production/images/medium/ja-2012-07577t_0013.gif'></P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/ja307577t'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Nanostructured gold films for SERS by block copolymer-templated galvanic displacement reactions.

Wang, Yong,Becker, Michael,Wang, Li,Liu, Jinquan,Scholz, Roland,Peng, Juan,Gö,sele, Ulrich,Christiansen, Silke,Kim, Dong Ha,Steinhart, Martin American Chemical Society 2009 Nano letters Vol.9 No.6

<P>Up to now, little effort has been made to exploit large-area high-throughput patterning by block copolymer (BCP) lithography to generate nanostructured substrates with periods well below 100 nm for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). We show that simple BCP-templated galvanic displacement reactions yield dense arrays of mushroom-shaped gold nanopillars with a period of 50 nm. The nanoporous BCP films used as templates were obtained by swelling-induced reconstruction of reverse micelle monolayers deposited on silicon wafers. Coupling of adjacent mushroom caps almost impinging on each other combined with their strong local curvature results in a high spatial density of hot spots in the narrow gaps between them. Thus, substrates characterized by high SERS efficiencies are obtained.</P>

EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGY-BASED SELF-SERVICE CHANNEL EXTENSIONS ON CROSS-BUYING INTENTION

Michael, Chih-Hung Wang,Ya-Yun Tang 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2018 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2018 No.07

The flourishing trend of using multiple technology-based self-service channels (hereafter, SSCs) can be found across various service industries. So far, no studies have explored the effect of multichannel interaction on breadth consumer relationship breadth (i.e., cross-buying intention). Based on brand extension theory and the cross-buying literature, this study proposed a conceptual model for understanding the key determinants of consumer cross-buying intention in the context of multiple SSCs. A total of 262 respondents who had experience with using both online and mobile banking were collected. The result revealed that perceived online banking quality (i.e., original SSC), image congruity, and value congruity facilitate consumer trust and satisfaction toward a mobile banking service (i.e., extension SSC). In addition, the trust and satisfaction toward mobile banking have a positive influence on crossbuying intention. The result of this study not only provides an academic contribution to the multichannel service and SSC literature but also provides suggestions for service providers who wish to develop their multiple-SSC strategies.

EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA-BASED BRAND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT ON CONSUMER BRAND EVALUATION

Michael Chih-Hung Wang,Ya-Yun Tang 글로벌지식마케팅경영학회 2018 Global Marketing Conference Vol.2018 No.07

Social media-based brand community becomes an important information channel strategy for marketing firms. Despite the growing academic interest in the issue, little knowledge exists on how social media-based brand community (hereafter SMBBC) could influence consumer brand evaluation. Accordingly, this study attempts to remedy the literature gap by integrating the community integration model, engagement in the OBC or SMBBC, and consumer brand evaluation to propose a conceptual model for investigating the effect of SMBBC environment on consumer brand evaluation. This study collected data from 402 respondents experienced in using SMBBC. The result revealed that SMBBC identification and company identification have a positive impact on brand engagement; whereas brand identification has a positive effect on SMBBC engagement, peer identification has a positive influence on company identification. In addition, both brand engagement and SMBBC engagement are found to benefit corporate brand equity and corporate reputation, respectively.

Checks, grids and tartans

Chaoran Wang,Michael Andrew Hann 복식문화학회 2015 服飾文化硏究 Vol.23 No.5

Checks are best considered as a (visible) sub-set of grids, and each check consists of two assemblies of parallel lines, one superimposed on the other at ninety degrees. In the conventional textile context, one assembly of parallel yarns is superimposed on another at ninety degrees. These parallel lines caused by the yarns remain visually apparent in the finished composition. Commonly, checks are considered simply as a variety of woven textile and Scottish clan tartans, or plaids (common terminology for tartans in the USA), famously display a checked feature, using differently colored yarns in woven-textile form. Often the sequence of colours and the numbers of yarns used is equal in both warp and weft directions. Where this is the case, the tartan may be considered to be ‘balanced’ or ‘regular’, with the component yarns creating square units repeating across and down the fabric. Thus in balanced tartans, lengthways components have identical ordering, colouring and measured width to those used widthways. Meanwhile an unbalanced check lacks one or more of these attributes. This paper explores further the nature of Scottish clan tartans, using data collected from collections of rare tartans held at ULITA – An Archive of International Textiles at the University of Leeds.

Measuring the competition between bimolecular charge recombination and charge transport in organic solar cells under operating conditions

Heiber, Michael C.,Okubo, Takashi,Ko, Seo-Jin,Luginbuhl, Benjamin R.,Ran, Niva A.,Wang, Ming,Wang, Hengbin,Uddin, Mohammad Afsar,Woo, Han Young,Bazan, Guillermo C.,Nguyen, Thuc-Quyen The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018 ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Vol.11 No.10

<P>The rational design of new high performance materials for organic photovoltaic (OPV) applications is largely inhibited by a lack of design rules for materials that have slow bimolecular charge recombination. Due to the complex device physics present in OPVs, rigorous and reliable measurement techniques for charge transport and charge recombination are needed to construct improved physical models that can guide materials development and discovery. Here, we develop a new technique called impedance-photocurrent device analysis (IPDA) to quantitatively characterize the competition between charge extraction and charge recombination under steady state operational conditions. The measurements are performed on actual lab scale solar cells, have mild equipment requirements, and can be integrated into normal device fabrication and testing workflows. We perform IPDA tests on a broad set of devices with varying polymer:fullerene blend chemistry and processing conditions. Results from the IPDA technique exhibit significantly improved reliability and self-consistency compared to the open-circuit voltage decay technique (OCVD). IPDA measurements also reveal a significant negative electric field dependence of the bimolecular recombination coefficient in high fill factor devices, a finding which is inaccessible to most other common techniques and indicates that many of these techniques may overestimate the value that is most relevant for describing device performance. Future work utilizing IPDA to build structure-property relationships for bimolecular recombination will lead to enhanced design rules for creating efficient OPVs that are suitable for commercialization.</P>

Thermolytic Grafting of Polystyrene to Porous Silicon

Wang, Joanna,Joo, Jinmyoung,Kennard, Rhiannon M.,Lee, Sang-Wha,Sailor, Michael J. American Chemical Society 2016 Chemistry of materials Vol.28 No.1

<P>Inert-atmosphere thermolysis of polystyrene, preloaded into a porous silicon (pSi) template, generates a composite in which styrenic fragments are chemically grafted via Si C bonds to the surface of the pore walls. The quantity of styrenic material in the pores, and thus the final porosity of the composites, is controlled by the amount of polystyrene initially loaded into the pSi host and the time and temperature of thermolysis. For a host template with a porosity of 64 +/- 1%, the porosity of the resulting composite can be varied from 10 to 50%. The composites are significantly more hydrophobic than bulk polystyrene, displaying water contact angles ranging from 110 to 138 degrees compared to a value of 89 for a pure polystyrene film. The contact angle follows the Cassie rule for porosity values up to 40%, increasing with increasing porosity. For composite porosity values >40%, the contact angle is observed to decrease, and this correlates with increasing silicon oxide content and a decrease in hydrophobicity. The stability of the grafted composite material in aqueous base (>pH 12) is enhanced with increasing styrenic content.</P>

Hydrocarbon-based Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Fuel Cells

Michael D. Guiver,Nanwen Li,Chenyi Wang,Young Moo Lee 한국에너지학회 2010 한국에너지공학회 학술발표회 Vol.2010 No.10