Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Assay for Genetic Identification of Lophophora williamsii*

Lophophora is a member of the Cactaceae family, which contains two species: Lophophora williamsii and L. diffusa. Lophophora williamsii is an illegal plant containing mescaline, a hallucinogenic alkaloid. In this study, a novel method based on a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay was developed for identifying L. williamsii; this assay reliably detects SNPs within chloroplast DNA (rbcL, matK, and trnL-trnF IGS) and was validated for identifying Lophophora and L. williamsii simultaneously. The chloroplast DNA sequences from four L. williamsii and three L. diffusa plants were obtained and compared using DNA sequence data from approximately 300 other Cactaceae species available in GenBank. From this sequence data, a total of seven SNPs were determined to be suitable for identifying L. williamsii. A multiplex assay was constructed using the ABI PRISM^® SNaPshot™ Multiplex Kit (Applied Biosystems, Forster City, CA) to analyze species-specific SNPs. Using this multiplex assay, we clearly distinguished the Lophophora among 19 species in the Cactaceae family. Additionally, L. williamsii was distinguished from L. diffusa. These results suggest that the newly developed assay may help resolve crimes related to illegal distribution and use. This multiplex assay will be useful for the genetic identification of L. williamsii and can complement conventional methods of detecting mescaline.     

边界功能、威胁认知与中国对陆上边界问题的应对

2017年6月,中印在洞朗地区发生边界对峙。中方在此次危机中始终保持了克制,并未通过武力方式解决边界危机。这与中国在1962年运用军事手段应对印度的挑衅截然不同。为何针对与同一个对象国出现的同类性质危机,中国的应对方式存在显著差异?文章认为,中国对陆上边界问题的处理方式,主要受到边界功能和决策者对威胁程度的认知这两个因素的影响。基于中国决策者对边界功能是政治与安全功能凸显还是经济功能优先,以及对对象国行为所带来的威胁认知高低程度不同的判断,将导致中国对边界问题采取四种应对方式:诉诸武力、展示决心(包括军事对峙等)、外交谈判、互利合作。通过对中国处理1962年与2017年两次中印边界危机、1956年中缅边界问题、2004年中俄边界问题的方式进行分析,可以发现上述分析框架得到了初步验证。文章通过探讨中国对陆上边界问题采取不同应对措施的原因,不仅有助于厘清影响中国政府针对陆上边界问题采取差异化应对措施的因素,还有利于为中国恰当地处理中印领土争端及其他陆上争议边界问题提供一定的启示,进而为改善中国周边外交、保障中华民族的伟大复兴提供初步的政策建议。     

Patterns of Young Adult Social Roles Transitions Across 24 Months and Subsequent Substance Use and Mental Health

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Young adults experience social role transitions across multiple life domains, and a deeper understanding of the ways in which these simultaneous transition...     

Molecular Identification of Necrophagous Dermestes Species in South Korea Using Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit I Nucleotide Sequences (Genus Dermestes)

Species identification of necrophagous insects found on a dead body is an essential key in applying medicolegal entomology to the estimation of postmortem interval (PMI). Due to limited morphological identification of insect evidence, several studies have identified species using molecular information such as DNA markers. While considerable cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene sequence data of necrophagous fly species have been collected and annotated, those of necrophagous beetle species have not. Since necrophagous beetles such as Dermestes species have a larval period longer than that of flies, beetles are useful in even the late decomposition phase in estimating minimum PMI. To obtain the full-length COI gene sequences of six Dermestes species collected from South Korea, we designed primers for polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing. The obtained full COI nucleotide sequences were used for performing phylogenic analysis and comparison with previously reported sequences. The results demonstrated that the COI gene sequences could be used to identify forensically important Dermestes species in South Korea.     

Reassembling Linux-based Hybrid RAID

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a system that uses a redundant array of disks (RAID) to create virtual disks comprising multiple disks and provide network services such as FTP, SSH, and WebDAV. Using these services, the NAS's virtual disks store data about individuals or groups, making them a critical analysis target for digital forensics. Well-known storage manufacturers like Seagate, Synology, and NETGEAR use Linux-based software RAID, and they usually support Berkeley RAID (e.g., RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10) as well as self-developed hybrid RAID. Those manufacturers have published data on the introduction and features of hybrid RAID, but there is not enough information to reassemble RAID from a digital forensic perspective. Besides, digital forensic tools (such as EnCase, FTK, X-ways, and RAID Reconstructor) do not support automatic RAID reassembly for hybrid RAID, so research on hybrid RAID reassembly methods is necessary. This paper analyzes the disk array composed of hybrid RAID and explains the layout of disk array, partition layout in hybrid RAID, and hybrid RAID configuration strategy. Furthermore, it suggests parameters that are required for RAID reassembly and then propose a hybrid RAID reassembly procedure using them. Finally, we propose a proof-of-concept tool (Hybrid RAID Reconstructor) that identifies hybrid RAID from disk array and parse RAID parameters.