Acrylamide-Forming Potential and Agronomic Properties of Elite US Potato Germplasm from the National Fry Processing Trial

Processed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) products, such as chips and French fries, contribute to the dietary intake of acrylamide, a suspected human carcinogen. One of the most promising approaches for reducing its consumption is to develop and commercialize new potato varieties with low acrylamide-forming potential. To facilitate this effort, a National Fry Processing Trial (NFPT) was conducted from 2011 to 2013 in five states. More than 140 advanced breeding lines were evaluated for tuber agronomic traits and biochemical properties from harvest through 8 mo of storage. Thirty-eight and 29 entries had significantly less acrylamide in French fries than standard varieties Russet Burbank and Ranger Russet, with reductions in excess of 50%, after one and 8 mo of storage, respectively. As in previous studies, the glucose content of raw tubers was predictive of acrylamide in finished French fries (R² = 0.64–0.77). Despite its role in acrylamide formation, tuber free asparagine was not significant, potentially because it showed relatively little variation in the NFPT population. Even when glucose was included in the model as a covariate, genotype was highly significant (p = 0.001) for predicting acrylamide, indicating there may be yet-unidentified genetic loci to target in breeding. The NFPT has demonstrated that there exist many elite US breeding lines with low acrylamide-forming potential. Our ongoing challenge is to combine this trait with complex quality attributes required by the fry processing industry.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the Crop Science Society of America and can be found at: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/c

Optimal design of N-UU parallel mechanisms

In this paper, we present the optimal design of N-UU (U stands for universal joints) parallel mechanisms (PM) with general geometry, for the achievement of maximal singularity-free tilt angle. We first briefly recall the synthesis condition and constraint analysis of the general N-UU PM, showing that static singularities may be factorized into active and passive constraint singularities. We then formulate the optimal design problem as the maximization of the end-effector tilt angle subject to closeness to active and passive constraint singularities. We conclude the paper by illustrating how an angle-equalizing device on the inner revolute pairs of the UU legs may help avoiding passive constraint singularities and increasing the maximal tilt angle

Loss of the polarity protein Par3 promotes dendritic spine neoteny and enhances learning and memory

Summary: The Par3 polarity protein is critical for subcellular compartmentalization in different developmental processes. Variants of PARD3, encoding PAR3, are associated with intelligence and neurodevelopmental disorders. However, the role of Par3 in glutamatergic synapse formation and cognitive functions in vivo remains unknown. Here, we show that forebrain-specific Par3 conditional knockout leads to increased long, thin dendritic spines in vivo. In addition, we observed a decrease in the amplitude of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents. Surprisingly, loss of Par3 enhances hippocampal-dependent spatial learning and memory and repetitive behavior. Phosphoproteomic analysis revealed proteins regulating cytoskeletal dynamics are significantly dysregulated downstream of Par3. Mechanistically, we found Par3 deletion causes increased Rac1 activation and dysregulated microtubule dynamics through CAMSAP2. Together, our data reveal an unexpected role for Par3 as a molecular gatekeeper in regulating the pool of immature dendritic spines, a rate-limiting step of learning and memory, through modulating Rac1 activation and microtubule dynamics in vivo

Sumatran Fleabane (<i>Conyza sumatrensis</i>) Control in No-Tillage Soybean with Diclosulam Plus Halauxifen-Methyl

Due to the limited availability of selective herbicides to control Sumatran fleabane after soybean emergence, it is essential to develop new options that provide effective control prior to planting. A new herbicide formulation containing diclosulam+halauxifen-methyl was evaluated for effectiveness at two Sumatran fleabane plant heights (5 to 10 cm, and 10 to 50 cm) and for soybean selectivity when applied at 7 or 3 d before planting. Combined results from the two sites showed that diclosulam+halauxifen, applied either alone or in a tank mixture with glyphosate, and the tank mixture of diclosulam+2,4-D amine+glyphosate are effective at all rates tested to control Sumatran fleabane in preplant applications. Crop response was observed with applications 7 days before planting at only one of the sites. A rate-dependent crop response was observed for pre-plant applications performed 3 days before soybean planting. However, crop yield was not significantly affected for either timing across all rates. All rates tested of diclosulam+halauxifen in this study were considered safe to soybean.</jats:p

Kitty Cats Center

This paper provides a method for computing force-feasible paths on the Stewart platform. Given two configurations of the platform, the method attempts to connect them through a path that, at any point, allows the platform to counteract any external wrench lying inside a predefined six-dimensional region. In particular, the Jacobian matrix of the manipulator will be full rank along such path, so that the path will not traverse the forward singularity locus at any point. The path is computed by first characterizing the force-feasible C-space of the manipulator as the solution set of a system of equations, and then using a higher-dimensional continuation technique to explore this set systematically from one configuration, until the second configuration is found. Examples are included that demonstrate the performance of the method on illustrative situations.Preprin

Navigating the Wrench-Feasible C-Space of Cable-Driven Hexapods

Abstract Motion paths of cable-driven hexapods must carefully be planned to ensure that the lengths and tensions of all cables remain within acceptable limits, for a given wrench applied to the platform. The cables cannot go slack –to keep the control of the platform – nor excessively tight –to prevent cable breakage – even in the presence of bounded perturbations of the wrench. This paper proposes a path planning method that accommodates such constraints simultaneously. Given two configurations of the platform, the method attempts to connect them through a path that, at any point, allows the cables to counteract any wrench lying inside a predefined uncertainty region. The resulting C-space is placed in correspondence with a smooth manifold, which allows defining a continuation strategy to search this space systematically from one configuration, until the second configuration is found, or path non-existence is proved by exhaustion of the search. The approach is illustrated on the NIST Robocrane hexapod, but it remains applicable to general cable-driven hexapods, either to navigate their full six-dimensional C-space, or any of its slices