A New Way of Rice Breeding: Polyploid Rice Breeding

Polyploid rice, first discovered by Japanese scientist Eiiti Nakamori in 1933, has a history of nearly 90 years. In the following years, polyploid rice studies have mainly focused on innovations in breeding theory, induction technology and the creation of new germplasm, the analysis of agronomic traits and nutritional components, the study of gametophyte development and reproduction characteristics, DNA methylation modification and gene expression regulation, distant hybridization and utilization among subspecies, species and genomes. In recent years, PMeS lines and neo-tetraploid rice lines with stable high seed setting rate characteristics have been successively selected, breaking through the bottleneck of low seed setting rate of polyploid rice. Following, a series of theoretical and applied studies on high seed setting rate tetraploid rice were carried out. This has pushed research on polyploid rice to a new stage, opening new prospects for polyploid rice breeding.

Evaluation of product quality with decibels

In modern Quality Engineering, the quality of process results, the quality of measuring instruments, and the quality of completed processes are considered according to their quality characteristics. However, in traditional engineering, only the quality of measuring instruments and the quality of completed processes (precision or accuracy indices PCI, PPI) can be successfully defined, while the quality of process results (semi-finished product, product, software, service) can only be described (has or does not have the required quality), good or bad quality, better or worse quality). In the modern consideration of quality, the quality of process results is now defined by the number of decibels [dB], according to the discovery of the genius Japanese scientist Genichi Taguchi (1924-2012), with the methods of Robust Technology Development and Standard Ratio (S/N). This paper discusses definition of the quality of process results with one input variable and continuous characteristics with three illustrative examples.

“The Enemy of Mankind”

This chapter analyzes the nature of the scientific discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus and preventative work against the epidemic through the lens of one of Robert Koch’s associates and friends, Kitasato Shibasaburō. Kitasato, a Japanese scientist and government employee, worked with Koch at the behest of the Japanese government, an organization with which he frequently clashed. Due to his personal foibles and recurrent arguments with politicians and other scientists in Japan, Kitasato’s work on tuberculosis, despite being groundbreaking, was often overlooked in his homeland. Thus, Kitasato’s personal problems, this chapter surmises, may have cost Japan proper tuberculosis prevention undertaken successfully in other countries.

X-RAY MICROBEAM AS ONE OF THE MOST MODERN ARTICULATORY METHODS OF INVESTIGATION

The article substantiates the necessity of phonetic, in particular articulation, researches. The role of articulatory research in the study of the nature of sound units and their significance for linguistics and practical use are determined. The preconditions for studying the sound system of the language with the help of experimental techniques are specified. The history of occurrence and development of experi- mental phonetic researches in Ukraine and in the world is analyzed. The main methods of articulation research, including types of X-ray examination as one of the most important articulatory techniques, are considered. There are brought to the light the history and procedure of film-roentgenography with its implementation in Ukrainian linguistics. A number of tasks performed by experimental phonetics, as well as the possibility of applying its results in different fields of knowledge are outlined. The article is focused on X-ray microbeam – one of the most contemporary types of X-ray re- search, which was created by the Japanese scientist Osama Fujimura in the second half of the last century. The history of creating the device for such studies is traced, the procedure of collecting articu- lation information (preparation for recording, the placement of tracking beads, type of the articulated material and tasks set forth) is described. The main advantages of X-ray microbeam in comparison with other methods are determined: it gives information about all the sounds of human speech, does not distort the pronunciation, causes minimal harm to health, allows studying large masses of information quickly and automatically. At the and, the conclusion about the feasibility of usage X-ray microbeam in experimental phonet- ics is made. It is confired the significance of such a method, which lies in the interdisciplinary type of research, the generation of new knowledge in the field of phonetics and the addition of existing infor- mation with the help of the latest technologies.

Polybromo-1 loss in cholangiocarcinoma development: Expressional analysis

Dear editor, the cholangiocarcinoma is a deadly hepatobiliary cancer. It results in high fatality in affected persons in endemic Southeast Asia. The patient usually manifests at large stage of cancer and has severe obstructive jaundice. The underlying genetic pathophysiology of cholangiocarcinoma is very interesting. As a cancer, the mutation can be expected (such as KRAS mutation). In a recent publication by Luchini et al., the loss of Polybromo-1 (PBRM1) was observed during the development of cholangiocarcinoma. The similar finding was also reported by another Japanese scientist group. Here, the authors use the standard gene ontology technique to assess the effect of PBRM1 loss comparing to the naïve case. The protocol for gene ontology analysis is the same as previously gene ontology analysis studied. According to analysis, the identified main affected function due to PBRM1 loss is “regulation of chromatin association.” This implies that loss of PMB1 during cholangiocarcinoma development is the important pathobiological process that promotes the abnormal cell division and might stimulate the cancer development. In fact, the loss of PBRM1 is proposed as an important predictor for poor outcome in several cancers such as renal cancer.

The Contribution of Kawada to the Analytical Solution for the Velocity Induced by a Helical Vortex Filament

The basic solution for the velocity induced by helical vortex filament is well known as Hardin's solution, published in 1982. A study of early publications on helical vortices now shows that the Japanese scientist Kawada from Tokyo Imperial University also produced many of these results in 1936, which predates Hardin by 46 years. Consequently, in order to honor both, we have studied their derivations to establish the originality of both solutions.