Quinoa is a resilient crop known for its adaptability to diverse environmental conditions. This study examined the agronomic performance and ecological adaptability of quinoa across four distinct altitudes in the northwestern regions of China. Six quinoa genotypes were assessed for agronomic traits, phenology and yield performances, and nutritional quality characteristics in Yining city, Nilka County, Tekes County and Zhaosu County under varied environmental conditions. Our findings demonstrate significant variations in all measured traits including agronomic and nutritional quality traits across the various altitudes and genotypes. In Yining City, a warmer and lower altitude area, genotypes exhibit superior traits for fodder production, including increased branches, longer panicles, robust stems, and high seed protein content. Genotypes Jinli 1 and Beijing 2 achieve yields exceeding 3 tons per hectare (T/ha), highlighting the region’s productivity. Nilka and Tekes counties boasted the shortest quinoa crop cycles, with Jinli 1 yielding 4.05 T/ha seeds in Tekes County, exhibiting high protein and fat content alongside low saponins, making it prime location for yield production. Zhaosu County, with its cooler climate and fertile chernozem soil, elicited high 1000 seed weight and more robust protein response than Nilka and Tekes counties, illustrating the impact of soil fertility on nutritional composition. Correlation analyses further elucidated that the plants characterized by shorter flowering times, crop cycles, compact inflorescence, and taller heights exhibited superior seed yields. Our study contributes significant insights into the ecological adaptability and nutritional dynamics of quinoa, with implications for sustainable crop production and food security in diverse agroecosystems.

Present work investigates, in photon energy domains of specific interest for medical imaging, the effect of the escape of X-ray fluorescence from the scintillator materials on the energy resolution of scintillation detector itself. Monolithic as well as pixelated crystals differently sized are considered, in the case of the NaI because it is the gold standard in the field. The volumetric ratio is introduced, as a figure of merit, taking into account, alongside the surface-to-volume ratio, the geometric shape, the elemental composition and also the mean-free-path for the given scintillator and energy. The inter-crystal XRF escape is finally suggested to be considered among the effects producing image blurring in segmented scintillatros due to the spread of events between the primary pixel and the first neighbors ones.

Recent technological advancements in conservation genetics and genomics have resulted in diverse tools for aiding conservation of species. The precision and resolution of high throughput sequencing technologies provide valuable insights to aid conservation decisions, but these technologies are often financially unfeasible or unavailable in resource constrained countries. Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers, when combined with sensitive automated detection systems, provide a simple, cheap means to investigate genetic diversity and discriminate closely related species. Here we apply this technology to assess genetic diversity and taxonomic delimitation in the Encephalartos eugene-maraisii species complex, a highly threatened, taxonomically dubious group of cycads in South Africa. Silica dried cycad leaflets were extracted using the Oktopure robot employing Sbeadex chemistry and amplified with fluorescently tagged ISSR primers. Band presence was scored with an ABI 3130 genetic sequencer under three different fluorescence cut-off values. Phenetic analyses were performed in NTSYS software while Bayesian analysis was performed in STRUCTURE, and haplotype network analysis, AMOVA and Tajima’s D statistic was computed with PopART. Our analyses support taxonomic singularity of E. dyerianus, E. dolomiticus and E. eugene-maraisii. Relationships between E. nubimontanus and E. cupidus remain uncertain. E. middelburgensis samples showed no clustering but had poor amplification success. This study demonstrated the suitability of automated ISSR fingerprinting as a method for plant conservation studies, especially in resource-constrained countries.

Conduct problems (CP) in childhood and adolescence have a significant impact on the individual, family, and community. To improve treatment for CP, there is a need to better understand the developmental pathways of CP in boys and girls. Prior research has linked the child’s fearlessness and callous-unemotional (CU) traits, as well as experiences of parental warmth and punitive parenting, to CP. However, few studies have tested the interplay of these factors in contributing to future CP development. The present study aimed to test the InterFear model (Fanti et al., 2023), which suggests that fearlessness in early childhood leads to CP through an indirect pathway involving low positive parenting, high negative/punitive parenting, and callous-unemotional (CU) traits. The sample included 2,467 Spanish children (48.1% girls; Mage = 4.25; SD = 0.91), followed-up across a five-year period. In addition to a direct association between fearlessness in early childhood and future CP, the results found an indirect pathway whereby fearlessness reduces positive parenting and increases punitive parenting, which contributes to the development of CU traits and sets the stage for CP in later childhood. The specific indirect effect from fearlessness to CP via CU traits accounted for most of the variance, suggesting the existence of a temperamental pathway independent of parental variables. Further, two additional indirect pathways, exclusive of fearlessness, were found and started with low parental warmth and positive parenting leading to CP via CU traits. These findings support the InterFear model, demonstrating multiple pathways to CP with the involvement of fearlessness, parenting practices, and CU traits. This model may play a pivotal role in the development of targeted prevention strategies for CP.

The search of DNA polymorphisms useful for the genetic improvement of dairy farm animals lasts more than 40 years with relevant findings in cattle for milk traits, where the best combination of alleles for dairy processing have been found in casein genes and in the DGAT1. Nowadays, similar results are not reached yet in river buffaloes despite advanced genomic technologies and accurate phenotype records are available. The aim of the present study was to investigate and validate in a larger buffalo population the effect on six milk traits of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the CSN1S1, CSN3, SCD and LPL genes, previously reported to be associated with or affect dairy traits in smaller populations often belonging to one farm. A total of 800 buffaloes were genotyped. Daily milk yield (dMY, kg), protein yield (dPY, kg) and fat yields (dFY, kg), fat and protein contents (dFP, % and dPP, %), somatic cell count (SCC, 103cell/ml) and urea (mg/dl) were individually recorded in each month for the whole lactation from 2010 to 2021. A total of 15,742 individual milk test day records (2,496 lactations) were available on 680 buffalo cows with 3.6±1.7 parity (from 1 to 13) and 6.1±1.2 test day records per lactation on average. Three out four SNP in CSN1S1, CSN3 and LPL were associated with at least one of analyzed traits. In particular, the CSN1S1 (AJ005430:c.578C>T) gave favorable associations with all yield traits (dMY, p=0.022; dPY, p=0.014 ; dFY, p=0.029) and SCS (p=0.032), whereas the CSN3 (HQ677596: c.536C>T) positively associated with SCS (p=0.005) and milk urea (p=0.04). Favorable effect on dMY (p=0.028), dFP (p=0.027) and dPP (p=0.050) were observed for the LPL. Conversely, SCD did not show any association with milk traits. This is the first example of confirmation study carried out in the Mediterranean river buffalo for genes of economic interest in dairy field and it represents a very important indication for the preselection of young bulls destined to breeding programs in the view of a more sustainable dairy production.

Ultrasound, as mechanical waves with frequencies exceeding 20 thousand hertz, has found wide applications in medicine, physiotherapy, and more recently in agriculture. This study aimed to investigate the impact of ultrasound on potato yield and its parameters, particularly on seed potato yield, quantity, mass, and multiplication coefficient of potato tubers. The research was based on a three-year field experiment, utilizing the randomized block design in a split-split-plot arrangement, in the central-eastern region of Poland. The primary factor were technologies: a) technology with employing ultrasonic pre-planting treatment, b) traditional cultivation without this treatment. The secondary factors were potato varieties. Sonication of tubers was conducted using a bath-type ultrasonic device equipped with piezoe-lectric transducers. Results revealed a significant influence of cultivation technology, cultivar, and weather conditions on seed tubers yield, quantity, and multiplication coefficient of potato tubers. However, genetic traits of the examined varieties and random factors significantly affected the individual seed tuber mass and the number of shoots emerging from a single tuber. Future Outlook: Future research could focus on further optimizing ultrasound application techniques in potato cultivation, considering diverse varieties and environmental conditions. Additionally, it would be worthwhile to analyze the long-term effects of ultrasound on tuber seed potato quality and their ability to adapt to changing climatic and soil conditions. Furthermore, studies investi-gating the impact of ultrasound on other plant species could broaden our understanding of po-tential benefits in agriculture.

Modular steel buildings (MSBs) interlocking inter-module connections (IMCs) have piqued researchers’ interest. However, the existing literature has not yet studied the optimisation of its plate thicknesses. This paper, therefore, focuses on optimising interlocking (IMCs) plate thickness in (MSBs), leveraging previous experimental and numerical simulation methodologies. Various numerical models for four MSBs interlocking (IMCs) with plate thicknesses (4 mm, 6 mm, 10 mm, and 12 mm) were developed under compression loading conditions. The study’s novelty lay in its comprehensive parametric analysis, which evaluated the slip phenomenon in (MSBs) connections and introduced a slip prediction model validated against empirical data. Further innovative machine learning approach was utilised to predict slip values based on applied force through a random forest regression model trained using the 'Treebagger' function. Sensitivity analysis and comparisons with alternative methods were utilised to underscore the reliability and applicability of the findings. The results showed that 11.03 mm was the optimal plate thickness for interlocking (IMCs) in modular steel buildings, with up to 8.08% reduced material costs. Increasing plate thickness boosts its deformation resistance by up to 50.75%. ‘TreeBagger’ random forest for anomaly detection and machine learning improves slip prediction up to 7% at higher force levels.

Understanding the genotype x environment (GE) interaction for traget trait is valuable for growers, agronomists, breeders and the seed industry. The objective of this study was to see and explore the genotype x environment interaction for grain yield of wheat to better guide genotype selection and breeding. The genotype main effect and GE interaction effect (GGE) biplots resolved the following three genotypes: 85 (ETW17-377), 82 (ETW17-374) and 13 (ETW17-281) for being the best yielding and stable. The Kulumsa site planted on 4^th of July 2017 (environment 7=E7) and the DebreZeit site on 20^th of July 2017 (E3) were the most effective environments in distinguishing the test genotypes and are thus suitable environments for future evaluation and selection with specific adaptation. Melkasa site planted on 4^th July (E9) was a representative environment where genotypes can be evaluated for wide adpaptation. The genetic covariate biplot indicated that thousand kernel weight (TKW) and plant height (PH) had significant positive associations with grain yield implying the possible concurrent indirect selection of both traits for exploiting GE interaction for grain yield of wheat.

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) transmit information over time through recurrent connections. In contrast, biological neural networks use many other temporal processing mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is the inter-neuron delays caused by varying axon properties. Recently, this feature was implemented in echo state networks (ESNs), a type of RNN, by assigning spatial locations to neurons and introducing distance-dependent inter-neuron delays. These delays were shown to significantly improve ESN task performance. However, thus far it is still unclear why distance-based delay networks (DDNs) perform bettern than ESNs. In this paper, we show that by optimizing inter-node delays, the memory capacity of the network matches the memory requirements of the task. As such, networks concentrate their memory capabilities to the points in the past which contain the most information for the task at hand. Moreover, we show that DDNs have more total linear memory capacity, with the same amount of non-linear processing power.

The inter-tip times (ITTs) of tipping-bucket rain gauges potentially provide the highest-resolution intensity data that can be acquired from this type of gauge. At an intensity of 100 mm h-1, a typical gauge with a sensitivity of 0.2 mm of rainfall would be expected to tip every 7.2 seconds. However, TBRGs are often equipped with syphons, to reduce the dynamic calibration error that results from continued (and unmeasured) inflow to a bucket as it tips. This increases the accuracy of rainfall depth recording, but the time to fill and empty the syphon can reduce the ability of a TBRG to respond to (and for the ITTs to reflect) short-term intensity fluctuations. This ability is already limited by the discretisation arising from the filling and emptying of the buckets themselves. Laboratory tests with controlled water inflow rates were performed using two high-quality TBRGs, one a 'straight-through' design and the other syphon-equipped. These confirmed that at all intensities at which the syphon operates, a regular sequence of fixed-duration ITTs (such as the 7.2 s mentioned above) does not occur. Rather, the ITTs are perturbed by the syphon cycling. The gauges were also co-located in the field, and linked to carefully synchronised event data loggers. Data collected during several rainfall events revealed differences in the ITTs, and again confirm that the ITT sequence of a syphon-equipped TBRG exhibits artefacts related to syphon operation, that are not present in the 'straight-through' data. These artefacts can result in ITT differences of many minutes, depending on the rainfall intensity, and are problematic for the use of ITTs to estimate intensity. Peaks and troughs in the intensity profile also differed between the two gauges. It is recommended that in the application of TBRGs for studies where short-term intensity data are required, 'straight-through' gauges should be used, and syphon-equipped gauges avoided.

This study presents the interaction with human host metabolism of SARS-CoV-2 ORF7b protein (43 aa), using a Protein-Protein-Interaction Networks analysis. After pruning, we selected from BioGRID the 51 most significant proteins among 2,753 proven interactions and 1,708 interactors, specific to ORF7b. We used these proteins as functional seeds and we got a significant network of 551 nodes via STRING. We performed topological analysis and calculated topological distributions by Cytoscape. Seven high ranked proteins as hub and seven as bottleneck following a hub-and-spoke network-architectural-model were found. Through this interaction model, we identified significant GO-processes (5,057 terms in 15 categories) induced in human metabolism by ORF7b. High statistical significance processes of dysregulated molecular cell mechanisms by the action of ORF7b were discovered. We detected disease-related human proteins and their involvement in metabolic roles, how they relate in a distorted way to signaling and/or functional systems, in particular intra- and inter-cellular signaling systems and the molecular mechanisms that supervise to programmed cell death, with mechanisms similar to that of cancer metastasis diffusion. A cluster analysis showed 10 compact and significant functional clusters, where two of them overlap in a Giant-Connected-Components core of 206 total nodes. These two clusters contain most of the high-rank nodes. ORF7b mainly acts through these two clusters, inducing most of the metabolic dysregulation. We conducted a co-regulation, transcriptional analysis by hub and bottleneck proteins. This analysis allowed us to define the transcription factors and miRNAs that control the high-ranking proteins and the dysregulated processes, within the limits of the poor knowledge that these sectors still impose.

The study evaluated the impact of supplementing ZH in combination with D3 on growth performance, energy efficiency, carcass traits, and meat quality of feedlot lambs. Thirty-two Dorper x Katahdin cross lambs (37.3±5.72 kg) were utilized in a 29 d experiment in a complete randomized block design with a 2x2 factorial structure consisting of two levels of ZH for 26 d (0 and 0.20 mg /kg PV-1) and two levels of D3 for 7 d (0 and 1.5x106 IU/d-1). ZH improved (P≤0.05) average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency by 9.9% and 17.8%, respectively, as well as hot carcass weight (HCW) and dressing carcass by 4.3% and 2.6%, respectively. (p≤0.03). However, ZH increased (p<0.01) muscle pH and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) (2.5 and 23.0%, respectively). D3 supplementation negatively affected (P≤0.02) dry matter intake (DMI) (last 7 d) and ADG by 15.7% and 18.1%. On the other hand, D3 improved the pH of the longissimus muscle (LM) by 1.7% (p=0.03) without affecting WBSF. When D3 was supplemented in combination with ZH, it was observed that meat quality was improved by reducing muscle pH compared to lambs treated only with ZH. However, D3 did not improve meat tenderness produced by ZH supplementation.

Understanding morphological and genetic diversity of forest trees is essential to facilitate their conservation, sustainable management and genetic improvement for addressing the economic and environmental demands and challenges. We have examined variation in morphometric seed and pod traits and seed germination of multipurpose and widely distributed forest tree Albizia lebbek (Indian siris) from 12 provenances covering the species’ range in northern India and its relationships with bioclimatic factors. Highly significant inter-provenance variation was observed in seed size (seed length (SL), seed width (SW), SW/SL, SL×SW), seed mass (1000 seed weight), pod size (pod length (PL), pod width (PW), PW/PL), seed germination, number of seeds per pod, and insect infected seeds (IIS). The provenance effect contributed a major portion to the total phenotypic variance. Morphometric variation in all traits except for IIS was not clinal related to longitude, latitude, altitude or rainfall. There was an indication of the presence of ecotypic variation. IIS showed clinal variation with significant negative correlation with latitude. Most seed size and pod size traits showed positive correlations with several temperature bioclimatic factors and negative correlations with several precipitation bioclimatic factors. Our results have significance for genetic improvement, population genetics and genomics studies and conservation and sustainable management of A. lebbek genetic resources.

Recent research has highlighted associations between sleep and microbial taxa and pathways. However, the causal effect of these associations remains unknown. To investigate this, we performed a two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis using summary statistics of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) from 412 gut microbiome traits (N = 7,738) and GWAS studies from seven sleep-associated traits (N = 345,552 to 386577). We employed multiple MR methods to assess causality, with Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) as the primary method. We further applied Cochran’s Q statistical analysis, MR-Egger intercept, and MR-PRESSO for heterogeneity and pleiotropy assessment, alongside a Bonferroni correction ((P

This study investigated interactions between sugar-related dietary patterns (DP), personality traits, cognitive-behavioural, and emotional functioning. The study involved females aged 18-54. Data were collected between the Winter and Spring of 2020/21. The survey was conducted using anonymized questionnaires. The Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) was used to examine personality traits based on the Big Five Personality Trait Model. Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) was used to measure eating behaviours: cogni-tive restraint (CR), uncontrolled eating (UE), and emotional eating (EE). The KomPAN question-naire collected the frequency of intake. Dietary patterns (DPs) were derived by principal component analysis (PCA). A logistic regression (OR) was applied to verify the association between the DPs, personality traits, cognitive-behavioural and emotional functioning. Three DPs were identified: sweet-western (SWDP), pro-healthy (PHDP) and dairy (DDP). Women with high conscientiousness were less likely, by 33%, to adhere to the upper tercile of SWDP and 80% more likely to the upper tercile of PHDP. Elevated CR intensity increased by almost 2-fold (OR: 1.93; p

The growing demand for nutritious foods has spurred investigations into alternative sources of nutrition beyond traditional options. For this reason, the present study approaches the amaranth, which is a plant with high potential, highlighting the morphological growth, grain biomass pro-duction, and quantitative traits of seven varieties of amaranth cultivated in the pedoclimatic con-ditions of Somes meadow in Transylvania. A bifactorial trial was implemented with factors ama-ranth species and amaranth varieties. Two amaranth species and seven varieties were studied. Differences are reported between morpho-productive and quantitative traits of the seven amaranth varieties studied in this research. The interrelationships between amaranth morphological traits quantified by using Pearson simple correlations show that morphological traits moderately con-tribute to grain fresh biomass yield, while morphological traits and fresh biomass strongly con-tributed to grains dry biomass yield. Our study shows that morpho-productive, and nutritional characteristics of the seven amaranth varieties comprised by our study recommend the plans to be used in various nutritional aims, being a valuable replacer of traditional raw materials in specific food and feed industry sectors.

B4GALNT2 is a vital candidate gene that affects the growth traits litter size in and growth traits of sheep, but whether it has the same function in goats remains to be further investigated. In this study, we utilized 348 Nanjiang Yellow goats as experimental subjects, conducted a whole exon, and the conserved the non-coding region SNP scanning of the B4GALNT2 gene. Our results revealed the presence of a synonymous mutation, rs672215506, within the exon of the B4GALNT2 gene in the Nanjiang Yellow goat population. This mutation was found to be associated with reduced mRNA stability of the B4GALNT2 gene. The results of SNPs detection of conserved non-coding region of B4GALNT2 gene showed that there were five potential regulatory SNPs in the Nanjiang Yellow goat population, except for rs66095343, the ~500 bp fragments of four SNPs (rs649127714, rs649573228, rs652899012 and rs639183528) could significantly increase luciferase activity both in goat skeletal muscle cells and 293T cells . Genetic diversity indexes indicated low or intermediate levels for all six SNPs analyzed, each conforming to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium regarding genotypic frequencies. Association analysis indicated that rs660965343, rs649127714 and rs649573228 were significantly correlated with growth traits in the later stage of growth and development of Nanjiang Yellow goat. The haplotype combinations of H2H3 and H2H2 had higher body weight and greater body size; moreover, H2H2 haplotype combinations were significantly correlated with the litter size of Nanjiang Yellow goat. The results of our study demonstrate the potential utility of the B4GALNT2 gene as a functional genetic marker in breeding programs for Nanjiang Yellow goats.

In a dynamic production processes, mechanical degradation poses a significant challenge, impacting product quality and process efficiency. This paper explores a novel approach for monitoring degradation in the context of viscose fiber production, a highly dynamic manufacturing process. Using causal discovery techniques, our method allows domain experts to incorporate background knowledge into the creation of causal graphs. Further, it enhances the interpretability and increases the ability to identify potential problems via changes in causal relations over time. The case study employs a comprehensive analysis of the viscose fiber production process within a prominent textile industry, emphasizing the advantages of causal discovery for monitoring degradation. The results are compared with state-of-the-art methods, which are not considered to be interpretable, specifically LSTM-based autoencoders, showcasing the alignment and validation of our approach. This paper provides valuable information on degradation monitoring strategies, demonstrating the efficacy of causal discovery in dynamic manufacturing environments. The findings contribute to the evolving landscape of process optimization and quality control.

Grain quality, cooking quality and nutritional quality traits are some of the major attributes that enhance uptake and utilisation of improved cowpea varieties. Therefore, there is need for a better understanding of the genetic variation and inter-relationships among these quality traits in cowpea to integrate them in cowpea breeding programs. The study was conducted to determine genetic variability among 306 cowpea genotypes for grain quality, cooking quality and nutritional quality traits and to understand the interrelationships among these traits for exploitation in breeding programs. The results showed highly significant differences (P

Climate warming profoundly affect vegetative growth, flowering phenology and sexual reproduction of plants, therefore the ornamental value of wild flowers. Despite this, the extent and mechanism of the impact remain unclear. Here, we conducted warming experiment for two growing seasons (1.89 ℃ in 2017 and 2.37 ℃ in 2018 increases) with infrared heaters to examine the effects of warming on ornamental value of wild flower I. oxyanthera, endemic to China, in Mount Emei. We fitted generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and generalized linear model (GLM) to examine how warming affected plant morphology and floral traits. We evaluated comprehensive ornamental value based on plant morphology and flowering characteristics using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and disentangled the impact of the two traits on ornamental value using principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) under the ambient and warming treatments. Warming decreased significantly plant height and crown width, while increased branch number and single leaf area. Warming also decreased vexillum length, corolla tube length, nectar spur length and pedicel length. In addition, warming shortened flowering duration per plant and reduced flower number, while there was no significant effect on flower longevity, flower color at full-bloom stage between the control and warming treatment. Therefore, comprehensive ornamental value under warming was lower than that under the control. Pedicel length, flower color, flower longevity and flowering duration per plant were the main factors of affecting comprehensive ornamental value. PLS-SEM showed that warming had an indirect negative effect on ornamental value via direct negative effects on flowering traits. Collectively, these results indicate that although promoting vegetative growth, short-term warming decreased significantly ornamental value of I. oxyanthera due to warming-caused smaller flowers and shorter flowering duration.

Orchids are among the plants most threatened by anthropic impact and environmental changes. Therefore, all known orchid species are protected in several countries by regional, national and international legislation. Several studies cast doubts on the effectiveness of legislation to ensure protection of wild orchids. We assessed the vitality of four orchid populations in a coastal area in Northern Italy, by monitoring vegetative and reproductive traits of orchid populations growing both in protected sites comprised in the Natura 2000 network and in non-protected sites. We also monitored the level of environmental threat to orchid vitality. Early flowering deceptive species (Ophrys sphegodes and Anacamptis morio) exhibited high vegetative vitality and experienced similar levels of environmental threat in protected and non-protected areas. However, their reproductive success was strongly jeopardized probably by failed pollination that impeded fruit set. Late-flowering, partially or totally rewarding species (Anacamptis pyramidalis and Anacamptis coriophora) were more strongly impacted by spring mowing, ungulate herbivory and alien species. Only for A. coriophora were herbivory and alien species invasion lower at protected vs. non-protected sites which ensured higher population vitality at protected sites. We conclude that environmental protection is ineffective for preserving orchids without targeted actions against specific environmental threats.

Phytoplankton guilds are commonly characterised by dominance effects, while the main contribution to biological diversity is given by rare species. Here, we analysed the influence of rare species on taxonomic and functional diversity, described by taxa richness and composition, cell size and size abundance relationships in phytoplankton guilds. We explore these relationships at global and regional scales by analysing phytoplankton guilds from five biogeographical regions: Northern Atlantic Ocean (Scotland), South-Western Atlantic Ocean (Brazil), South-Western Pacific Ocean (Australia), Indo-Pacific Ocean (Maldives) and Mediterranean Sea (Greece and Turkey). We have comparatively analysed the phytoplankton taxonomic diversity of the whole dataset and with the datasets obtained by progressively subtracting taxa occurring in the last 1%, 5%, 10% and 25% of both numerical abundance and overall biomass. Globally 306 taxa were identified across five ecoregions with only 27 taxa accounting for the 75% of overall numerical abundance and biomass; almost the 50% of taxa were lost on every step. The removal of 1% most rare taxa significantly affected the phytoplankton size-abundance relationships and body-size structure, strongly impacting on small taxa. The progressive removal of additional rare taxa did not further affect phytoplankton size-abundance relationships and size structure.

The split of the brain into two hemispheres is pivotal to human existence, enabling incompatible versions of the world, with quite different priorities and values, to exist concomitantly. Neuroimaging techniques are usually the adopted methods to assess hemispherical bias. However, can differences in thinking orientation, behavioural style, and personality emerging from laterality be observed without the use of neuroimaging techniques? This paper investigates whether a personality test based on the Five-factor model (FFM) is also able to identify hemispherical bias. It does so by testing five hypotheses on personality differences related to handedness. The aim is to contribute to the instantiation of the FFM in neuroscience by testing its validity against the neuroscientific literature on brain laterality. The findings pointed to no statistically significant differences due to handedness in three out of five personality traits (namely, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and Extraversion). As to the other two traits – Openness and Agreeableness – the hypotheses were only partially confirmed by the data, as the relevant difference found was not between left-handed and right-handed groups, but between ambidextrous and the others.

Upon the outbreak of the COVID-19, countries worldwide developed policies with the goal to introduce restrictive measures geared towards mitigating the spread of the virus. Although these health initiatives were put in place through top-down public directives, they relied heavily on the cooperation of citizens who had to be willing to carry them out. As a consequence, we could observe differences in compliance with governmental restrictions within and between countries. Increasing policy stringency was the method adopted overall to promote people’s compliance. This article used survey data from 10308 participants in Brazil to examine whether there was a positive correlation between policy stringency and compliance with restrictive measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The results revealed, however, that there was no direct influence of policy stringency on people’s health behaviors. Accordingly, I hypothesized that individual differences in personality traits were one of the drivers behind policy compliance, as they would support self-interests such as the duty to support authorities as well as the perceived health risks of certain behaviors and ultimately motivate compliance. The findings’ implications for both compliance research and for authorities wanting to nurture voluntary compliance with public health orders are discussed and suggestions are provided.

Postoperative headaches (POH) following retrosigmoid microsurgery for ves-tibular schwannoma (VS) can significantly diminish patients' perceived health benefits (PHB). A survey of 101 VS patients, utilizing the Rostock Headache Compendium, Glasgow Benefit Inventory, Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TI-PI-G), and German pain processing questionnaire (FESV), revealed that almost half experienced POH, leading to a markedly reduced overall PHB compared to those without POH. This decrease in PHB was linked to higher levels of pain-related helplessness, depression, anxiety, and anger. Positive associations were found between PHB and action-planning competence, cognitive restruc-turing, and experience of competence. Personality traits, particularly low emo-tional stability and openness, were associated with pain-related psychological impairment. Interestingly, hearing loss and facial paresis did not impact PHB. The study underscores the influence of pain-related mental interference and coping strategies on PHB in long-term POH patients, suggesting a role for personality traits in their pain management. The findings advocate for short-term psychological interventions, emphasizing adaptive coping mecha-nisms like cognitive restructuring, to enhance PHB in VS patients post-microsurgery.

Flowering in cassava is crucial for generation of botanical seed for breeding. However, most farmer preferred genotypes are poor at flowering, exhibit great disparity in time and amount of flowering or never flower. To elucidate the genetic basis of such a flowering behaviour, 293 diverse cassava accessions were evaluated for flowering traits under two locations and seasons in Uganda. Genotyping by the Diversity Array Technology Pty Ltd. (DArTseq) platform identified 24,040 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed on the 18 cassava chromosomes. Population structure analysis using principal components (PC) and kinships showed clustering, the first five PCs accounted for 49.2% of the observed genetic variation. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) estimation was averagely 0.32 at a distance of ~2850kb (kilo base pairs). Polymorphism information content (PIC) and minor allele frequency (MAF) were 0.25 and 0.23, respectively. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis uncovered 53 significant marker-trait associations (MTA) with flowering traits involving 27 loci. Two loci, SNPs S5_29309724 and S15_11747301 were associated with all the flowering traits. Using five of the 27 SNPs with Phenotype_Variance_Explained (PVE) ≥ 5%, 37 candidate genes were identified in the peak SNP sites located within 50kb upstream or downstream, most were associated with branching traits. Eight of the genes, orthologous to Arabidopsis and other plant species, had known functional annotations related to flowering, e.g. eukaryotic translation initiation factor and myb family transcription factor. This study identified genomic regions associated with flowering in cassava, the identified SNPs could be useful in marker-assisted selection to overcome hybridization challenges like unsynchronized flowering, and candidate gene validation.

Collaboration among individuals with diverse skills and personalities is crucial in producing high-quality software. The success of any software project depends on the team’s cohesive functionality and mutual complementation. This study introduces a data-centric methodology for forming Software Engineering (SE) teams centred around personality traits. Our study analyzed data from an SE course where 157 students in 31 teams worked through four project phases and were evaluated based on deliverables and instructor feedback. Using the Five Factor Model (FFM) and a variety of statistical tests, we determined that teams with higher levels of extraversion and conscientiousness and lower neuroticism consistently performed better. We examined team member interactions and developed a predictive model using extreme gradient boosting. The model achieved a 74% accuracy rate in predicting inter-member satisfaction rankings. Through graphical explainability, it underscored incompatibilities among members, notably those with differing levels of extraversion. Based on our findings, we introduce a team formation algorithm using Simulated Annealing (SA), built upon the insights from our predictive model and additional heuristics.

Aedes aegypti is the main vector of various arboviruses including dengue, yellow fever, Zika and chikungunya virus. This mosquito species originated in Africa but has a wide range of distribution, colonising various ecological zones. The transmission dynamics of arboviruses depends on environmental factors, but also on mosquito life history traits including development time, fecundity, and longevity. The objective of the current study was to assess the Aedes aegypti immature development time, adult longevity, fecundity and body variation from different sampling localities. Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were collected as eggs from different geographical zones and cohorts of mosquitoes were reared in standardized laboratory conditions to assess the life history traits parameters. Emerged adults were discriminated into morphotypes according to the density of white scales on the first abdominal tergite. The means of fecundity, longevity, development time and body size were assessed, and linear models were fitted to the traits parameters to assess the effects of other covariables. Average Aedes aegypti development time was estimated to 7.35 days; 7.40 days; 6.98 days and 7.40 days respectively for Dori, 1200 logements, Bobo-Dioulasso and Toudweogo. The fecundity did not vary across study sites and was not associated with the body size. The longevity varied according to the study sites with the mosquitoes from Bobo-Dioulasso having the longest longevity while the shortest longevity was found at Dori. Fed mosquitoes had longer longevity compared to unfed ones. Morphological identification showed that Aedes aegypti aegypti-like mosquitoes were more predominant than Aedes aegypti formosus-like mosquitoes in all the study sites, suggesting the predominance of Aedes aegypti in the urban environment. Our data suggest that the geographical origin of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in Burkina Faso has a little effect on its life history traits.

In the face of climate change, bringing more useful alleles and genes from wild relatives of wheat is crucial to develop climate-resilience varieties. We used two populations of backcrossed recombinant inbred lines (BIL1 and BIL2), developed using two intra-specifically diverse Aegilops tauschii accessions from lineage 1 and lineage 2, respectively, and backcrossing to common wheat cultivar ‘Norin 61’. The study aimed to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with heat stress (HS) tolerance. The two BILs were evaluated under heat stress environments in Sudan for phenology, plant height (PH), grain yield (GY), biomass (BIO), harvest index (HI), and thousand kernel weight (TKW). Grain yield was significantly correlated with BIO and TKW under HS; therefore, stress tolerance index (STI) was calculated for these traits as well as for GY. A total of 16 heat tolerant lines were identified based on GY and STI-GY. The QTL analysis performed using inclusive composite interval mapping identified a total of 40 QTLs in BIL1 and 153 QTLs in BIL2 across all environments. We detected 39 QTLs associated with GY-STI, BIO-STI, and TKW-STI in both populations (14 in BIL1 and 25 in BIL2). The QTL associated with STI were detected on chromosomes 1A, 3A, 5A, 2B, 4B, and all the D-subgenomes. We found that QTL detected only under HS for GY on chromosome 5A, TKW on 3B and 5B, PH on 3B and 4B, and grain filling duration on 2B. The higher number of QTLs identified in BIL2 for heat stress tolerance suggests the importance of assessing the effects of intraspecific variation of Ae. tauschii in wheat breeding as it could modulate the heat stress responses/adaptation. Our study provides useful genetic resources for uncovering heat-tolerant QTLs for wheat improvement for heat stress environments.

The leading role of Italy in the cultivation of durum wheat stimulated intense breeding activities in the country from the beginning of the 20th century, much earlier than any other country involved in durum wheat production. Older, genetically more heterogeneous landraces became replaced with new highly productive, superior quality varieties, and this led an inevitable reduction in overall genetic diversity among new cultivars, which makes the genetic variability of the old cultivars preserved particularly valuable and important. The aim of this paper was to assist future breeding programmes by providing a detailed description of the history of durum wheat breeding in Italy and of the changes in yield, quality and related traits that subsequently occurred, starting from the most diffuse landraces present between 1900 and 1920 up until the present day. The parallel evolution of breeding techniques, breeding goals and agricultural systems in this period is also described, and some future breeding goals suggested. In the current context of climate change and of rapidly mutating pathogen populations, preserving the yield level with the continuous introduction of new cultivars by exploiting the reservoir of largely unused genetic variation stored in old cultivars and landraces could be as important as increasing grain yield and quality.

Mesothelioma is a cancer arising from mesothelial cells lining the thoracic (pleura) or the abdominal (peritoneum) cavities, and more rarely from transformed mesothelial cells of pericardium or tunica vaginalis testis. The development of mesothelioma has been related to the exposure to carcinogenic mineral fibers, mainly asbestos. Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive disease with diffuse nature, low median survival, and prolonged latency presenting difficulty in prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment. We here review all these aspects to underline the progress being made in investigation and to emphasise how much work remains to be done to improve prognosis and treatment.

. Colchicine (C22H25NO6) is a substance used for inducing mutations in order to regulate important agronomic traits. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations (0.0, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08 and 0.1%) and treatment time (6, 12 and 24 h) of colchicine on agronomic traits of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) and to assess the genetic diversity of M2 generations using inter simple sequence repeat markers (ISSR). The experiment was conducted in 2021 for the M1-generation and in 2022 for the M2-generation, from May to September. The percentage of the field germination was decreased with the increasing colchicine concentration and exposure duration. The chlorophyll-defective M1-M2 plants were obtained using various concentrations and exposure periods of colchicine. The highest amount of mutational modifications was attained at 0.08-0.1% concentrations colchicine. A total of 248 plant families with chlorophyll-defective mutations based on the research results were selected from 2214 families. The growing season of M1- and M2 plants were diminished under higher colchicine concentration (0.08-0.1%) combined with soaking time. Thus, the highest indicator of growing season (84 days) was observed at six h treatment time for PI 289324, while the fewest (78 days) was recorded at 12 and 24 h. The possibility of obtaining morphological mutations using colchicine has been confirmed. The ISSR primers amplified a total of 1333 fragments, 1281 bands were found to be polymorphic and 52 bands monomorphic. The percentage of polymorphism varied from 80 to 100 % with an average of 96.11%. Our results showed that most of the bands were found at 0.08% colchicine concentration. These positive variations are a great opportunity to use colchicine as a tool for improving agronomic traits in plant breeding.

Increasing CO2 concentration ([CO2]) in atmosphere decreases mineral nutrients concentration in crops whereas increasing water use efficiency (WUE) especially in drought conditions. Partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) could stimulate soil nutrient mineralization and improve crop nutrient status. Yet the effect of PRI combined with elevated CO2 concentration (e[CO2]) on the element stoichiometry of tomato leaves remains unknown. This study was to investigate the responses of leaf mineral nutrients status and element stoichiometric ratio in tomato grown at PRI exposed to e[CO2]. Tomato plants (cv. Ailsa Craig) were grown in pots in climate-controlled growth chambers with ambient [CO2] (a[CO2], 400ppm) and elevated [CO2] (e[CO2] 800ppm), respectively. Three irrigation regimes (IR) i.e. full irrigation (FI), deficit irrigation (DI) and partial root-zone irrigation (PRI) were applied to tomato plants at flowering stage. The result showed that plants exposed to both reduced irrigations had a similar biomass, an enhanced root growth including greater root to shoot ratio (R/S), root length (RL), surface area (RS), volume (RV) and specific length (RSL), and an improved WUE under e[CO2]. Compared to a[CO2], e[CO2] growth environment resulted in a similar leaf [C], [K] and [Mg], leaf C/K and C/Mg, increased leaf [Ca], [S] and leaf C/N, C/P and N/P, but decreased leaf [N], [P], leaf C/Ca, C/S and N/K at PRI. Additionally, under e[CO2], PRI showed an increase in leaf [C], [N] and [S], no decrease in leaf [K], Ca], [Mg], [S] and [15N], but a decrease in leaf C/N and C/S as compared with FI. Conclusively, PRI had the ability to alleviate the negative effects on mineral nutrient concentrations and maintain or improve most leaf element stoichiometric ratios under e[CO2]. Therefore PRI would be a practicable irrigation for optimizing WUE and nutrient status in tomato leaves in a future freshwater-limited and higher CO2 environment.

Facial expression recognition is crucial for understanding human emotions and nonverbal communication. With the growing prevalence of facial recognition technology and its various applications, accurate and efficient facial expression recognition has become a significant research area. However, most previous methods have focused on designing unique deep-learning architectures while overlooking the loss function. This study presents a new loss function that allows simultaneous consideration of inter- and intra-class variations to be applied to CNN architecture for facial expression recognition. More concretely, this loss function reduces the intra-class variations by minimizing the distances between the deep features and their corresponding class centers. It also increases the inter-class variations by maximizing the distances between deep features and their non-corresponding class centers, and the distances between different class centers. Numerical results from several benchmark facial expression databases, such as Cohn-Kanade Plus, Oulu-Casia, MMI, and FER2013, are provided to prove the capability of the proposed loss function compared with existing ones.

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have recently evolved rapidly, which requires development of highly trustworthy and effective communication technologies for uses, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication; where Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is regarded as a strong candidate and highly popular option technique among these methods. However, the movement of vehicles introduces Doppler frequencies which produce inter-carrier interference (ICI), that is frequently occurs in V2X channels. This interference has the potential to compromise the integrity of subcarrier orthogonality within OFDM, leading to lower-quality communication and an increased likelihood of data transmission errors. When employing channels with doubly dispersive fading, OFDM necessitates the usage of a complex equalization based on the minimum mean-square error (MMSE) equalizer, which requires channel matrix inversion. Several low-complexity equalizers for OFDM have been developed and are based on band factorization, time domain LSQR (Least-Square QR) iterative computing, and banded minimum mean squared error (BMMSE). This paper proposes Conjugate Gradient Least Squares (CGLS), which is a novel iterative computation algorithm integrated with nonlinear equalizers. The suggested nonlinear equalization technique determines the trade-off between computations and performance. According to simulation data, the suggested nonlinear equalizer performs better than the current BMMSE and linear CGLS algorithms across doubly dispersive fading channels.

More and more people quantify their sleep using wearables and are getting obsessed in their pursuit of optimal sleep (“orthosomnia”). However, it is criticized that many of these wearables are giving inaccurate feedback and even can lead to negative daytime consequences. Acknowledging these facts, we here aim to extend previous findings [] in a new sample of 136 self-reported poor sleepers by implementing optimization procedures to minimize erroneous classification when ambulatory sensing sleep. Firstly, here, we introduce an advanced interbeat-interval (IBI) quality control using a random forest method to account for wearable recordings in naturalistic and more noisy settings. We further aim to improve sleep classification by opting for a loss function model instead of overall epoch-by-epoch accuracy to avoid model biases towards the majority class (i.e., “light sleep”). Using these implementations, we compare the classification performance between the optimized (loss function model) and the accuracy model. We use signals derived from PSG, one-channel ECG, and two consumer wearables: the ECG breast belt Polar® H10 (H10) and the Polar® Verity Sense (VS), an optical Photoplethysmography (PPG) heart-rate sensor. Results reveal high overall accuracy for the new model for ECG (86.3 %, κ=.79), H10 (84.4%, κ=.76), and VS (84.2%, κ=.75) with intended improvements in deep sleep and wake. In addition, the new optimized model displays moderate to high correlations and agreement with PSG on primary sleep parameters, while measures of reliability, expressed in intra-class correlations, suggest excellent reliability for most sleep parameters. Finally, it is demonstrated that the new model is still classifying sleep accurately in 4-classes in users taking heart-affecting and/or psychoactive medication which can be considered a prerequisite for use also in high age groups and/or with common disorders. Further improving and validating sleep stage classification algorithms with affordable wearables may resolve existing scepticism and open the door for such approaches in clinical practice.

Spectacularly, particulate matter pollution influences human health by aggravating numerous diseases and causing premature deaths. In order to eliminate its concentration in the ambient air, plant species can act as natural bio-filters and capture, degrade, and metabolize air pollutants inside their foliage. In a study carried out at three sites with different pollution levels and plant types. The immobilization efficiency of Particulate Matter (PM) was investigated in the leaves of three species (shrub, climber, and herb) in the southwestern of Japan with a time gap of 14 days. Two healthy mature leaf samples of each specimen were carefully collected and analyzed using the gravimetric analytical method. A significant quantity of PM in three-size fractions with aerodynamic diameters ranging between (0.1-100 μm) was captured inside the leaf foliage of the analyzed species. Fine particles (2.5 -10 μm) dominated the highest portion of the PM deposition captured by the analyzed species with 70.6 μg.cm-2(39.5%). Shrub species represented with Elaeagnus pungens proved to be the most efficient species among the analyzed species. Leaf traits such as grooves, trichomes, roughness, and margin are considered key factors associated with positive PM deposition, whereas the total surface area of the leaves had no direct correlation to PM deposition.

Background: Evidence suggests that there is substantial comorbidity between fibromyalgia and Axis II pathology (i.e., personality disorders - PDs). The aim of the current study was to find out the exact cluster (A, B, C) PDs or traits that are more prominent in FM and may be predictors of FM diagnosis. Methods: Data from 86 subjects (53 with FM and 33 controls without FM) was analyzed in an observational, cross-sectional, comparative study. The assessment of categorical PDs and traits was performed independently with the Structured Clinical Interview for Personality Disorders (SCID-II). Binary logistic regression was used to determine FM predictors among PDs traits. Results. Compared with controls, FM patients had higher rate of PDs diagnoses (56.7 vs 18.2%, P&lt;.001). However, the rate was significantly higher only for borderline PD diagnosis (28.3% vs 6.1% P&lt;.05). The binary logistic regression analysis showed that schizotypal and schizoid (cluster A), borderline (cluster B), and dependent (cluster C) personality traits may be significant predictors of fibromyalgia (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.415). Conclusions: Our results may reflect association of FM with personality traits of all three PD clusters: A (eccentric), B (dramatic), C (anxious). However, the most consistent evidence seems to be for borderline PD.

There is a substantial lack of data relating to the hygrothermal traits of existing buildings and building materials. Moisture analysis in building envelopes is 1D (one-dimensional), and 2D and 3D effects and feedback can be neglected. Many European standards treat a moisture percentage in building envelopes as surface and interstitial moisture condensation, such as BS EN ISO 10211, BS EN ISO 13788, BS EN ISO 15148, and BS EN 15026. In this manuscript, there was a tendency to capture a relative quantity of superficial moisture, by metering spots on the inner and outer surface of wall lining systems with a moisture meter. The metering specimens were the buildings with different envelopes: a wooden hut-house, a masonry building and a building partially sheeted in stone. The referent heights on wall linings, for taking the moisture data were specified as 50 cm for a wooden and masonry building and 80 cm for a stone-sheeted building, from the ground. The obtained numeric results were palpable with no regard to the current state of the weather outside. The listed conclusions highlight the significance of a well-tailored building envelope, and its dependence on weather, junctions, gaskets, appropriate materials, etc.

Legumes play a significant role in the alleviation of food insecurity, maintaining soil fertility and achieving sustainable crop production under adverse environmental conditions. The increased demand in legume production contemplates that attention on the genetic improvement of these crops through various means such as genetic engineering and mutation breeding should take a centre stage in global agriculture. Therefore, this paper provides succinct analysis of currently available literature on morphological and physiological traits in polyploidised leguminous plants to counter the adverse effects of drought stress. The effects of colchicine on various morphological and physiological traits of polyploidised legumes compared to their diploid counterparts were examined. Numerous reports revealed variations in these traits such as improved root and shoot growth, plant biomass, chloroplastidic content, protein, RNA and DNA. The differences observed were also associated with the strong relationship between plant ploidy-induction and colchicine application. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that polyploidisation remains dose-dependent, and may be achievable at a shorter space of time as this antimitotic chemical interferes with chromosome separations in somatic plant cells. The efficiency of this process also depends on the advancement of treatment conditions (in vitro, in vivo or ex vitro) and successful regeneration of polyploidised plants for adaptation under drought stress conditions. As such, the improvement in metabolite profile and other essential growth characteristics serves as a clear indication that induced polyploidy needs to be further explored to confer resilience to environmental stress, and improve crop yield under drought stress conditions in leguminous plants.

Abstract:The objects of fine-grained image categories(e.g., bird species) are various subclass under different categories. Because the differences between subclass are very subtle and most of them are concentrated in multiple local areas, the task of fine-grained image recognition is very challenging. At the same time, some fine-grained networks tend to focus on a certain region when judging the target category, resulting in the lack of other auxiliary regional features. To this end, Inception V3 is used as the backbone network, and an enhanced and complementary fine-grained image classification network is designed. While adopting the method of reinforcement learning to obtain more detailed fine grain image features, the complementary network can obtain the complementary discriminant area of the target through the method of attention erasure to increase the network's perception of the overall target. Finally, experiments are conducted on CUB-200-2011, FGVC Aircraft and Stanford dogs three open datasets. The experimental results show that the proposed model has better performance.

This study investigated novel quantitative traits loci (QTLs) associated with the control of grain shape and size as well as grain weight in rice. We employed a joint strategy multiple GAPIT (Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool) models [(Bayesian-information and Linkage-disequilibrium Iteratively Nested Keyway (BLINK)), Fixed and random model Circulating Probability Uniform (FarmCPU), Settlement of MLM Under Progressive Exclusive Relationship (SUPER), and General Linear Model (GLM)]–High Density SNP Chip DNA Markers (60,461) to conduct a Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS). GWAS was performed using genotype and grain-related phenotypes of 143 recombinant inbred lines (RILs). Data show that parental lines (Ilpum and Tung Tin Wan Hein 1, TTWH1, Oryza sativa L., ssp. japonica and indica, respectively) exhibited divergent phenotypes for all analyzed grain traits), which was reflected in their derived population. GWAS results revealed the association between seven SNP Chip makers and quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for grain length, co-detected by all GAPIT models on (Chr) 1–3, 5, 7, and 11), were qGL1-1BFSG (AX-95918134, Chr1: 3820526 bp) explains 65.2%–72.5% of the phenotypic variance explained (PVE). In addition, qGW1-1BFSG (AX-273945773, Chr1: 5623288 bp) for grain width explains 15.5%–18.9% of PVE. Furthermore, BLINK or FarmCPU identified three QTLs for grain thickness independently, and explain 74.9% (qGT1Blink, AX-279261704, Chr1: 18023142 bp) and 54.9% (qGT2-1Farm, AX-154787777, Chr2: AX-154787777 bp) of the observed PVE. For t length-to-width ratio, the qLWR2BFSG (AX-274833045, Chr2: 10000097 bp) explains nearly 15.2%–32% of PVE for LWR. Likewise, the major QTL for thousand-grain weight (TGW) was detected on Chr6 (qTGW6BFSG, AX-115737727, 28484619 bp) and explains 32.8%–54% of PVE. The qTGW6BFSG QTL coincides with qGW6-1Blink for grain width and explained 32.8%–54% of PVE. Putative Candidate genes pooled from major QTLs for each grain traits have interesting annotated functions that require functional studies to elucidate their function in the control of grain size, shape, or weight in rice. Genome selection analysis proposed makers useful for downstream marker-assisted selection based on genetic merit of RILs.

Proso millet is an important allotetraploid cereal crop, however, it is the least studied species of the Poaceae family as it is an under-utilized crop. Genomic resources of proso millet are very limited compared to the major crops. Understanding of genetic relationships among germplasm resources is important for future breeding endeavors. In the present study, the SSR markers were employed to assess the polymorphism and genetic diversity of 100 millet accessions from different countries, which were tested in the dry steppe zone conditions of the Akmola region from 2020 to 2022. The use of 20 SSR markers detected a total of 47 alleles with an average allele number of 2.35 per locus among these proso accessions. Nine of them were polymorphic among genotypes, which suggests that these SSR markers can be used for genetic studies. The results showed a moderate level of polymorphism information content (PIC) averaged at 0.424, ranging from 0.125 to 0.795. The markers SSR 67, SSR-82, SSR-85 and SSR-109 showed high PIC values, 0.536, 0.756, 0.795 and 0.758 respectively. Markers SSR 85 and SSR 86 significantly correlated to agronomic traits, such as productive tillering (PT) and grain yield (GY). The genetic structure, UPGMA cluster and PCoA assay indicated that the accessions originated from Central Asia had higher genetic diversity. Based on Structure (K=3), all the accessions were divided into three groups, whereas the gene pool originated from Central Asia were detected in all the three clusters. Based on principal component analysis (PCA), the accessions of Central Asian origin were genetically closer to the North Asian group.

Crossbreeding in dairy cattle with exotic breeds continues to be an appealing practice to the dairy farmers of Bangladesh. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the impact of crossbreeding on both the physical attributes and milk quality traits of crossbred cattle in Bangladesh. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of crossbreeding Bangladeshi local cattle with the exotic Holstein breed on their body characteristics and milk quality. To achieve the goal, data pertaining to body traits and milk samples were gathered from a total of 981 cows from 19 dairy farms located in the northwestern region of Bangladesh. A trained evaluator measured body condition score (BCS), udder score, locomotion score, and body conformation traits. Milk yield information was acquired from official records, while milk composition details were determined through milk analysis. The average measurements for body traits were as follows: wither height (WH) at 138 cm, body length (BL) at 155 cm, and heart girth (HG) at 203 cm. Notably, crossbred cows (Holstein x Local cattle) exhibited greater values for WH, BL, HG, BCS, and udder score than their Bangladeshi local counterparts. Furthermore, the average daily milk yield of sampled cows was recorded at 8.7 kg, with fat and protein contents of 3.78% and 3.67%, respectively. It is worth noting that crossbred cows produced a higher volume of milk compared to Bangladeshi local cattle. However, milk from crossbred cows displayed lower fat and protein content, although their somatic cell score (SCS) remained similar. Additionally, milk from crossbred cows exhibited a longer coagulation time when compared to that of Bangladeshi local cattle. A more comprehensive assessment of the crossbreeding scheme, particularly in comparison to Holstein, would necessitate further research, including an examination of its impact on cheese yield traits, health, fertility, and longevity.

The diverse physical appearances and wide density range of polymer bead foams offer immense potential across various applications and future advancements. The multi-scale and multi-level structural features of bead foams involve many fundamental scientific topics. This review presents a comprehensive overview of recent progress in bead foams preparation and molding techniques. Initially, a comparative analysis is conducted among bead foam characteristics of distinct polymers, based on their unique properties. Subsequently, a summary and comparison of molding processes employed for fabricating bead foam parts are provided. Beyond traditional methods like steam-chest molding (SCM) and adhesive-assisted molding (AAM), emerging techniques like in-mold foaming and molding (IMFM) and microwave selective sintering (MSS) are highlighted. Lastly, the bonding mechanisms behind the diverse molding methods are discussed.

Durum wheat is an economically and nutritionally important cereal. The increase in durum wheat yield is mostly associated with improving grain traits. The grain size and shape-related traits are directly related to wheat yield. In addition, grain size influences the seed germination rate and seedling vigour, which play key roles in stand establishment and yield. Thus, it is important to investigate grain traits both agro-morphologically and genetically. In this study, a panel of durum wheat, consisted of 146 genotypes, was evaluated for grain traits agro-morphologically, and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to dissect the genomic regions associated with these traits. As a result of GWAS, a total of 41 marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified on different chromosomes of durum wheat. Of these MTAs, only 11 were stable across environments. A BLAST search for flanking sequences of every stable MTAs in the Svevo genome identified 18 putative candidate genes directly associated with seed traits of different plants, particularly wheat seeds. In conclusion, the annotation results and literature information provide strong evidence that identified stable MTAs and their candidate genes may have important functions in the formation of wheat grain traits. After the validation of these MTAs with different fine-mapping and functional characterization studies, these loci may provide valuable information for geneticists and breeders to improve wheat yield.

To utilize heterosis and combining ability for grain yield and its attributing traits along with three physiological traits viz., leaf area index, chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll content in bread wheat (Tritium aestivum L.) the crosses were attempted during rabi, 2019-20 in a half diallel mating scheme among 8 wheat varieties and the study was carried out during rabi, 2020-21 at Block No. D-13 field of Mahua block, Simradha research farm, Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University, Jhansi. Analysis of variance showed significant differences for treatments. Based on per se performance the hybrids NW 5054 x PBW 723 (23.3 g), and HI 1544 x NIAW 34 (23.14 g), were identified for the higher grain yield. The hybrid HI 544 x NIAW 34 (18.41 %) was identified as the best heterotic cross for grain yield per plant and its component traits. The hybrids HI 1544 x NIAW 34 (3.40) and HI 1544 x GW 322 (2.76), as well as the parents HD 3086 (21.85) and PBW 723 (20.68), were identified as superior economic hybrids and parents based on SCA/GCA effects, per se performance for grain yield per plant, and its component trait in bread wheat. Days to heading, flag leaf length, biological yield per plant, harvest index, number of grains per spike, 1000 grain weight, spike length, leaf area index, chlorophyll fluorescence, and chlorophyll content were all positively correlated with grain yield per plant.

Good health and the promotion of well-being for all is the third of the 17 Global Goals included in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Contributing to this goal, the current study aimed to examine the relationships between one kind of athletes’ well-being, namely state organic self-talk, with personality traits, and basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration within their sport. Athletes (N = 691; mean age 21.65) from a variety of individual (n = 270) and team sports (n = 421) completed a multisection questionnaire capturing the targeted variables. Three-step hierarchical regression analyses revealed that: In step 1, all personality traits were to some extent a significant predictor of athletes’ organic, spontaneous self-talk dimensions and goal-directed self-talk functions. In step 2, need satisfaction significantly contributed to all spontaneous self-talk dimensions and goal-directed self-talk functions (except for creating functional deactivated states) over and above personality. Finally, in step 3, need frustration significantly contributed to negative spontaneous self-talk dimensions, and to all goal-directed self-talk functions (except for instruction) over and above personality and need satisfaction. Overall, our results indicate the importance of personality traits as personal antecedents, and perceptions of basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration as social-environmental antecedents, in shaping athletes’ state organic self-talk.

Soybean are vulnerable to drought and temperature increases potentially induced by climate change. The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of cover crops (CC) can influence the gas exchange potential of glyphosate tolerant soybean when the vapor pressure deficit (Vpd) increases. This two years study was conducted in an open experimental field comprising Direct Seeding plots without CC (DS) or with CC (DSCC). Stomatal conductance (Gs) was measured five times on the same identified leaves following GBH application. These leaves were then collected in order to observe the stomata (size, density and stomatal index) with a scanning electron microscope and to perform measurements on foliar traits (venation density, width of midrib). The Vpd was calculated concomitantly to Gs measurements at the leaf surface. The results suggest that the use of CC promotes phenotypic change in soybean leaves (more elaborate venation and a higher stomatal density), which in turn may enhance their tolerance to drier conditions. In 2019, Gs could be up to 29% higher in DSCC plots compared to DS ones along with similar Vpd values. This study shows that the benefits of using CC can be observed through the morphological development strategies of the crop plants and their higher tolerance to drought.

Unlike trees, shrubs (i.e., multiple-stemmed woody plants) do not need evenly spaced large diameter structural roots and thus can spread further per unit belowground biomass. We therefore hypothesized that compared to trees, shrubs respond more to asymmetric distributions of nutrients and reach nutrient-rich patches of soil faster and with less below-ground biomass. To test these hypotheses we planted individual seedlings of shrubs (Cornus racemosa, Rhus glabra, and Viburnum dentatum) and trees (Acer rubrum, Betula populifera, and Fraxinus americana) in the centers of sand-filled rectangular boxes. In one direction we created stepwise gradients of increasing soil nutrients with slow-release fertilizer; in the other direction no fertilizer was added. Seedlings were harvested when their first root reached the plexiglass-covered fertilized end of their box; time taken as well as above- and below-ground biomass by nutrient segment were determined. There were no consistent differences between the shrubs and trees in belowground architectural plasticity (= ratio of biomass in fertilized and unfertilized volumes of soil) or in the rate and efficiency of lateral growth. Interspecific variation appeared more related to edaphic characteristics of the native habitats than to growth form. The fastest and most efficient roots were produced by the shrub (R. glabra) and the tree (B. populifolia) that are characteristic of poor soils. Root foraging by R. glabra was also facilitated by rapid rhizomatous expansion. The tested shrubs and trees did not consistently differ in nutrient foraging efficiencies or rates but further study is warranted with larger plants and more species.

This trial was carried out to find out the effects of the parent flocks and the hatching time of broiler chickens on the production traits and bacteriota development of animals. Two times 730 hatching eggs were collected from two different parent flocks with age of 22-23 and 65-66 weeks. In the hatchery both groups were divided into two subgroups, when the day-old chickens were separated according to their hatching time. A feeding trial was carried out afterwards, using the 4 treatments in 6 replicate floor pens, feeding commercial starter, grower, and finisher diets, that contained all the nutrients according to the breeder’s recommendations. The day-old chickens of the parent older flock and those hatched later were heavier and this advantage of the birds remained until end of the production period. The different age and origin of parent flocks failed to modify the microbiological parameters of the chicken’s ceca. However, the hatching time significantly influenced the different bacteriota diversity indices. The late hatched chickens showed higher Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria and lower Firmicutes abundances at day 11. These treatments resulted differences in the main families, Ruminococcaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Bacteroidaceae. These differences could not be found at day 39.

The growth of plant and process of yield formation in crops are moderated by surrounding conditions as well as interaction of genetic background of plants and environment. In the last two decades significant changes in climate can be observed generating unfavorable and harmful impact on plant development. Drought stress can be considered as one of the most dangerous environmental factor influencing plant life cycle and decreasing production of biomass and finally the yield. Plants can react to water deficit in a wide degree what is dependent on the species, the genetic variability within the species, the phase of the plant ontogenesis, the intensity of stress, and other potential stress factors. In plants there can be observed hybrids between distinct taxa which exhibit certain traits adopted to tolerate stress conditions better than parental plants. Oat × maize addition (OMA) plants are good example of fertile hybrids with retained maize chromosomes as addition to complete oat genome. Hybrids generated via wide crossing can exhibit morphological, physiological and biochemical variations implemented by the occurrence of extra chromosomes of maize, as well as interaction of maize and oat chromatin. The molecular analysis indicated 12.5% OMA lines among all tested descendants of wide oat-maize crossing. On the fourteenth day of the drought, a significant effect of stress on the content of soluble sugars and phenolic compounds was observed, soil drought significantly reduced plant biomass above ground and several yield components. Less water lost revealed by results of the excised leaf water loss test was correlated with high yield of OMA lines. Phenolic compounds content might be used as biochemical indicator of plant drought tolerance since there were significant correlation with high kernel yields of plants subjected to drought stress.

Chronic heat stress (CHS) has been exerting great pressure on the poultry industry due to the global warming. CHS-induced negative impacts deeply change the physiology, metabolism, egg production and meat quality of ducks. To reduce the increasing economic loss, different environmental strategies have been adopted. Here, we comprehensively compared three rearing modes for Cherry-Valley ducks (CVds) mainly by changing the environmental temperature. Plus, the transcriptome analysis and physiological anatomy were implied to investigate the underlying molecular biology and pneumonocyte dynamics. It turns out that the CVds affected by CHS have poor growth performance and bad carcass traits. In addition, the irreversible damage caused by CHS in the lung tissue of CVds was observed. Furthermore, several potential genes related to CHS have been found, such as HSPA8, IGF1, FGFR1, ACSL3, ACSL6, NR1H3 and GAPDH. This study strongly indicates the severe injury of CHS from the high-temperature environment and points out one of the adopting directions for duck rearing.

In the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard, affine motion models have been applied to enhance the resolution of complex motion patterns. However, due to the high computational complexity involved in affine motion estimation, real-time video processing applications face significant challenges. This paper focuses on optimizing affine motion estimation algorithms in the VVC environment and proposes a fast gradient iterative algorithm based on edge detection for efficient computation. Firstly, we establish judging conditions during the construction of affine motion candidate lists to streamline the redundant judging process. Secondly, we employ the Canny edge detection method for gradient assessment in the affine motion estimation process, thereby enhancing the iteration speed of affine motion vectors. Experimental results demonstrate that our affine motion estimation algorithm reduces encoding time by approximately 15%-35% while maintaining video bitrate and quality.

Phenotypic plasticity is widely acknowledged as one of the most common solutions for coping with novel environmental conditions following climate change. However, it is less known wheth-er current amounts of trait plasticity, which is sufficient for matching with contemporary climate, will be adequate when global temperatures exceed historical levels. We addressed this issue by ex-ploring the responses of functional and structural leaf traits in Iris pumila clonal individuals to ex-perimentally increased temperature (~1.5°C), using an open top chamber (OTC) design. We de-termined phenotypic values of specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf water con-tent and leaf thickness in leaves sampled from the same clone inside and outside of the OTC de-ployed on it, over seasons and years within two natural populations. We analyzed the data by a repeated multivariate analysis of variance, which is primarily focused on profiles (reaction norms, RNs) of a variable gathered from the same individual at several different time points. We found that the mean RNs of all analyzed traits were parallel regardless of experienced temperatures, but differed in the level and the shape. The populations RNs were similar as well. Since the amount of plasticity in analyzed leaf trait was adequate for coping with elevated temperatures inside the OTCs, we predict that it will be also sufficient for responding to increased temperatures if they exceed the 1.5°C target.

Human disturbance, such as trampling, is an integral component of global change, yet we lack a comprehensive understanding of its effects on alpine ecosystems. Many alpine systems are seeing a rapid increase in recreation, and in understudied regions, such as the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, disturbance impacts on alpine plants remain unclear. We surveyed disturbed (trail-side) and undisturbed (off-trail) transects along elevational gradients of popular hiking trails in the T’aḵ’t’aḵ’múy̓in tl’a In̓inyáx̱a7n region (Garibaldi Provincial Park), Canada, focusing on dominant shrubs (Phyllodoce empetriformis, Cassiope mertensiana, Vaccinium ovalifolium) and graminoids (Carex spp). We used a hierarchical Bayesian framework to test for disturbance by elevation effects on total plant percent cover, maximum plant height and diameter (growth proxies), and buds, flowers, and fruits (reproduction proxies). We found that trampling reduces plant cover and impacts all species, but that effects vary by species and trait, and disturbance effects only vary with elevation for one species’ trait. Growth traits are more sensitive to trampling than reproductive traits, which may lead to differential impacts on population persistence and species level fitness outcomes. Our study highlights that disturbance responses are species-specific, and this knowledge can help land managers minimize disturbance impacts on sensitive vegetation types.

In the research, we studied the typical functional plant traits and life forms of plants that colonize forest gaps. In the research, we analysed functional plant traits of plant species growing on five forest gaps in the Dinaric fir-beech forest in Slovenia. The forest gaps were created as a result of natural disturbances. We selected 18 functional plant traits, whose values were obtained from the BiolFlor database. With the help of the JUICE program, we calculated the frequency of its occurrence on individual forest gap for each functional plant trait. Then we calculated Sperman's correlation coefficient at p&lt;0.05, between the occurrence of individual functional plant traits and single forest gap. We found out that forest gaps are mainly colonized by perennials and herbaceous perennials and hamephytes. These are plant species that begin to flower in June and July, bloom for two or three months and are pollinated by insects, mainly hover flys and wild bees. Characteristic of colonizing plant species is also that, in addition to reproducing by seeds and spores, they also reproduce vegetatively. Besides that, birds and forest mammals are the vectors of fruit and seed dispersal of colonizing plant species.

Background: To implement the new marker in clinical practice, reliability assessment, validation, and standardization of utilization must be applied. This study evaluated the reliability of TILs and TSR assessment through conventional microscopy by comparing observers’ estimations. Methods: Intratumoral and tumor-front stromal TILs, and TSR were assessed by three pathologists using 86 HE slides CRC. TSR and TILs were categorized using one and four different proposed cut-off systems, respectively and agreement was assessed using the intraclass coefficient (ICC) and Cohen’s kappa statistics. Pairwise evaluation of agreement was performed using the Fliess Kappa statistic and the concordance rate and it was visualized by Bland-Altman plots. Results: For the evaluation of intratumoral stromal TILs, ICC of 0.505 (95% CI:0.35-0.64) was obtained, Kappa values were in the range of 0.21 to 0.38, and concordance rates in the range of 0.61 to 0.72. For the evaluation of tumor-front TILs, ICC was 0.52 (95% CI:0.32 - 0.67), the overall kappa value ranged from 0.24 to 0.30, and the concordance rate ranged from 0.66 to 0.72. For estimating the TSR, the ICC was 0.48 (95% CI:0.35 - 0.60), the kappa value was 0.49 and the concordance rate was 0.76. Conclusion: The agreement between pathologists in estimating these markers corresponds to poor to the moderate agreement, however, implementing immune scores in daily practice requires more concentration in inter-observer agreements.

Genes encoding retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), follicle stimulating hormone subunit beta (FSHB) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) have been proposed as candidate genes for reproduction traits in pigs. The study presented in this paper aimed to find associations between variants of these genes and reproduction traits in pigs reared in Poland. Investigation included Polish Large White x Polish Landrace (n=288) and Yorkshire (n=195) sows. Individual genotypes were determined by means of PCR-RFLP (single nucleotide polymorphism in RBP4, FSHB) or PCR (insertion/deletion in EGF) methods. Obtained result showed that RBP4 variants were related to total number born (TNB) and number born alive (NBA) in 1st, 2nd and 5th parities, FSHB to TNB and NBA in first two parities, however EGF with both traits in all parities (P≤0.05 or P≤0.01). In case of RBP4 gene, heterozygous genotype (AB) was favorable for analyzed traits, however in case of FSHB and EGF homozygous genotype, AA and BB respectively. Obtained results indicate that polymorphism in three analyzed genes is associated with important reproductive traits of pigs kept in Poland.

Winged bean productivity and the potential to enhance food and nutrition security in sub-Saharan Africa are recurrently affected by several constraints, including but not limited to the lack of genetic improvement. The dearth of adequate information on the genetic diversity that guides the choice of progenitors’ selection among other advantages has been a major setback in planning appropriate improvement programs. This study assessed 15 winged bean accessions for genetic diversity using 10 quantitative traits and 10 microsatellites (SSRs) markers. These accessions were evaluated using RCBD with three replicates for two growing seasons. Ten plants constitute each accession during evaluation from where leaf samples were obtained for SSR marker genotyping. Phenotypic results revealed significant variation (p < 0.05) in the performances of the accessions for the measured traits. H2 estimates varied from 18.92% for seed length to 72.67% for seed weight per plant. Pod weight had a positive and significant correlation with pod length (0.53), pod width (0.70), and number of seeds per pod (0.64). However, the number of seeds per pod negatively correlated with days to maturity (-0.71). The number of seeds per pod was positively predicted by pod weight, seed thickness, and days to maturity. Cluster analysis revealed two genetic groups characterized by different traits. The ten SSRs revealed an average allele count of 4.2, gene diversity of 0.25, and polymorphic information content of 0.22. Analysis of molecular variance revealed within the population of 95% as compared to between population variance of 5%. Phylogeny analysis revealed two primary genetic groups from where five secondary genetic subgroups were identified and only three accessions (TPt-6, TPt-126, and TPt-48) showed genetic purity. This study provides the basis for further studies aimed at exploiting existing variations in winged bean germplasm for its improvement.

Electrical rotating machines like Induction Motors (IMs) are widely used in several industrial applications since their robust elements, provide high efficiency and give versatility in industrial applications. Nevertheless, the occurrence of faults in IMs is inherent to their operating conditions, hence, Inter-turn short-circuit (ITSC) is one of the most common failures that affect IMs and its appearance is due to electrical stresses leads to the degradation of the stator winding insulation. In this regard, this work proposes a diagnosis methodology for the assessment and detection of incipient ITSC in IMs, the proposed method is based on the processing of vibration, stator currents and magnetic stray-flux signals. Certainly, the novelty and contribution include the characterization of different physical magnitudes by estimating a set of statistical time domain features, as well as, their fusion and reduction through the Linear discriminant Analysis technique within a feature-level fusion approach. Furthermore, the fusion and reduction of information from different physical magnitudes leads to perform the automatic fault detection and identification by a simple Neural-Network (NN) structure. The proposed method is evaluated under a complete set of experimental data and the obtained results demonstrate that the fusion of information from different sources (physical magnitudes) allows to improve the accuracy during the detection of ITSC in IMs , the results make this proposal feasible to be incorporated as a part of condition-based maintenance programs in the industry.

Our aim was to compare the inter-rater agreement of Transvaginal ultrasonography (TVS) with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) regarding diagnosing adenomyosis and for various predefined imaging features of adenomyosis in the same set of women. MRIs were assessed by four experienced radiologists and 2D TVS videoclips and 3D ultrasound volumes were assessed by five experienced sonographers. Each rater subjectively evaluated the presence or absence of adenomyosis, assessed various imaging. Fleiss kappa (κ) was used to reflect inter-rater agreement for categorical data and the Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to reflect the reliability of quantitative data. Agreement between raters for diagnosing adenomyosis was higher for TVS than for MRI (κ =0.42 vs.0.28). MRI had a higher inter-rater agreement in assessing wall asymmetry irregular Junctional Zone (JZ) presence of myometrial cysts, while TVU had a better agreement for globular shape. MRI showed a moderate-good reliability for measuring the JZ (ICC=0.57-0.82). For TVS, JZ was unmeasurable in &gt; 50% of cases and the remaining cases had a low reliability (ICC=-0.31-0.08). We found that Inter-rater agreement for diagnosing adenomyosis was higher for TVS than for MRI, despite that MRI showed a higher inter-rater agreement in most specific features. Measurements of JZ in the coronal plane with 3D TVS were unreliable and thus unlikely to be useful for diagnosing adenomyosis.

Understanding epigenome paths through which smoking contributes to cardiometabolic traits is important for downstream applications. In this study, I used a SNP-based analytical pipeline to integrate several publicly available datasets and identify CpG sites that mediate the impact of smoking on cardiometabolic traits. After applying stringent statistical criteria, 11 CpG sites were detected that showed significant association (P<5e-8) with cardiometabolic traits at both discovery and replication stage. By integrating eQTL data, I identified genes behind a number of these associations. cg05228408 was hypomethylated in smokers and contributed to higher blood pressure by lowering the expression of CLCN6 gene. cg08639339 was hypermethylated in smokers and lowered metabolic rate by increasing the expression of RAB29; furthermore, I noted TMEM120A mediated the impact of smoking-cg17325771 on LDL, and LTBP3 mediated the smoking-cg07029024 effect on heart rate. This study provides a list of CpG sites that mediates the impact of smoking on cardiometabolic traits and a framework to investigate epigenome path through which a lifestyle habit modifies disease risks.

Appetitive traits have been associated with eating behaviors and weight in youth. However, the relationships among adults have received less attention. In this study, we measured appetitive traits among 520 female college students from a University in eastern Chinese using the Chinese translated Adults Eating Behavior Questionnaire (C-AEBQ) and found that two food approach traits (food enjoyment and emotional over-eating) were positively while two food avoidance traits (slowness in eating and satiety responsiveness) were negatively associated with BMI. Individual trait was differentially associated with eating behaviors. Specifically, a positive correlation was found between food responsiveness and higher frequency of selecting delivery food, spicy food, and sugared beverage; conversely, satiety responsiveness was associated with higher frequency of skipping meals. Using latent profile analysis, participants were classified into four appetitive patterns: food approacher, food approacher with emotional under-eating, food avoider, and food avoider with emotional over-eating. Food avoiders had significant lower BMI and higher proportion of underweight than other three patterns. Compared to food approacher, food avoiders had higher frequency of skipping breakfast, and food avoiders with emotional over-eating had higher frequency of skipping both breakfast and lunch. No significant differences were observed in food choice and dieting behavior among four appetitive patterns. The findings suggested a correlation between an individual’s appetitive pattern and eating behaviors among female college students, those with food avoidance patterns are more likely to have irregular meals, which may contribute to their low BMI. The findings provide valuable insights for female college students to cultivate a healthy eating behavior and sustain a healthy body weight.

The slaughter value of live animals can be assessed during visual conformation scoring, as well as by examining different molecular genetic information, e.g. myostatin gene, which can be re-sponsible for muscle development. In this study F94L, Q204X, nt267, nt324 and nt414 alleles of the myostatin gene were examined in relation to birth weight (BIW), calving ease (CAE), 205-day weaning weight (CWW), muscle score of shoulder (MSS), muscle score of back (MSB), muscle score of thigh (MST), roundness score of thigh (RST), loin thickness score (LTS), and overall muscle development percentage (OMP) of Charolais weaned calves in Hungary. Multi-trait analysis of variance (GLM) and weighted linear regression analysis were used to process the data. Calves carrying the Q204X allele in heterozygous form achieved approximately 0.14 points higher MSB, MST and LTS and 1.2% higher OMP and gained 8.56 kg more CWW than their counterparts not carrying the allele (p<0.05). As for the F94L allele, there was a difference of 4.08 kg in CWW of the heterozygous animals, but this difference could not be proved statistically. The other alleles had no significant effect on the evaluated traits.

Soil salinity is one of the most serious problems for achieving better crop growth and yield. The study was conducted to isolate, characterize and screen salt tolerant microbes from spinach grown in saline soils. The efficient salt tolerant microbes were characterized for beneficial traits such as nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, indoleacetic acid (IAA), biofilm production, catalase and antagonistic activities, salt tolerance and optimization of bacterial fermentation. Molecular identification of potential microbes was done by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The collected soil samples were moderately to strongly saline, alkaline in nature, low in N and P while adequate in K and Ca concentration. A total of 17 salt tolerant bacteria differing in colony and cell morphology were characterized. All isolated rhizobacterial microbes had capability to biosynthesize phytohormone IAA, 14 were able to fix atmospheric N2, 11 microbes solubilized inorganic P, 10 produced biofilm and 15 were positive in catalase activity. The isolated rhizobacteria showed salt tolerance up to 10 % induced salinity, only six microbes tolerated salt concentration of 12.5% however, none of any rhizobacteria remained viable at 15% NaCl amended media plates. The two potential salt tolerant microbes (NIA SP-6 & NIA SP-11) were screened and found for optimum growth curve and fermentation at pH 7.0 after 48 hrs of incubation period. Both potential microbes were identified as Enterobacter cloacae (NIA SP-06) and Bacillus safensis (NIA SP-11). Hence, it can be concluded that isolated salt tolerant rhizobacterial microbes have potential for beneficial traits and have ability for salt tolerance under saline conditions.

One in 12 babies is born with a rare genetic disease. Sadly, most cases are undetected until later age, missing time for early treatment and opportunity to prevent complications. Humanity has entered a new era where Big Data collected by governments, including 2D and 3D facial scans, are available. Many rare genetic diseases can be identified by artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of the facial photo. Phenotyping AI utilizations facilitate comprehensive and accurate genetic evaluations. AI processing of this Big Data to identify rare genetic diseases could bring unimaginable benefits to healthcare, although this would be a questionable step in terms of citizen privacy and could lead to future "Orwellian" ramifications with government abuse. Going forward, a balance must be found between protecting the privacy of citizens and the enticing use of AI for their health risks and cost savings through prevention. The unimaginable potential of AI early diagnostics from facial photos also raises various ethical and legal concerns. This paper presents concept, protentional methods and legal and other limitations within EU legal framework in contrast with potential benefits. This paper is focused on AI utilization to early diagnostic of rare genetic diseases. Shift of paradigm in the screening for rare genetic diseases in population with AI face analysis is expected to have a significant impact. The potential of AI algorithms utilizations similar to face2gene app in general population or systematically on Big governmental datasets recording facial traits changes in time can have significant impact on public health but at the same time give raise to profound concern as violation of one’s privacy.

The results of experimental studies of ohmic conductivity degradation in the ensembles of nanostructured anatase bridges under long-term effect of direct current are presented. Stochastic sets of interelectrode partially conducting bridges consisting of close-packed anatase nanoparticles were formed by the seeding particles from drying aqueous suspensions on the surfaces of silica substrates with interdigital platinum electrodes. Multiple-run experiments at room temperature have shown that ohmic conductivity degradation in these systems is irreversible. It is presumably due to accumulated capture of conduction electrons by deep traps in anatase nanoparticles. The scaling analysis of voltage drops across the samples at the final stage of degradation gives a critical exponent for ohmic conductivity as 1.597. This value satisfactorily agrees with the reported model data for percolation systems. At an early stage of degradation, the spectral density of conduction current fluctuations wihin the frequency range of 0.01 Hz - 1 Hz decreases approximately as , while near the percolation threshold the decrease trend changes to . This transition is interpreted in terms of an increasing contribution of blockages and subsequent avalanche-like breakdowns of part of the local conduction channels in the bridges into electron transport near the percolation threshold.

Multicellular organisms organize themselves according to two principles; first, the equilibrium between the driving force of unstable state cells and apoptosis or senescence; and second, the mutual equilibrium between the functional requirements of different types of cells. For the first principle, we deduce that stem cells at different levels have their own growth limits, which are determined by two factors: the ability of the stem cells to enter an unstable state (specifically, the ability of cells to divide and differentiate); and the rate of cellular senescence, loss of function, and finally, apoptosis. The superposition of stem cell limits at different levels over each other can amplify small differences at the genetic level. Moreover, the growth limits of different organs are different, which lead to different individuals having completely different appearances. The second principle is that the sum of the specific output functions of an organ must be equal to the overall demand for the function to be provided by the organ. If negative entropy input can meet this equilibrium, defects in certain genes will cause these defective individuals to become larger or develop other morphology.

The winged bean is an underutilized legume that has the potential to contribute to nutrition and food security globally, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, very little research attention is paid to exploiting its full potential due to a lack of adequate knowledge of the existing genetic diversity in the available winged bean germplasm. To bridge this gap, seed morphometric and selected agro-morphological traits which are crucial for yield and seed quality determination in crop plants were used to assess the genetic diversity of thirty accessions of winged bean sourced from the Gene bank of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan. The thirty winged accessions were evaluated under field trials at three agro-ecological zones in Nigeria. The agro-morphological data as well as the seed morphometric dataset obtained from a Multi-Spectral Imaging (MSI) system were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Principal Component (PC) analysis, cluster analysis, and correlation analysis. Significant differences (p &lt; 0.05) were observed among the accessions for all measured traits. The first three PCs accounted for 93% of the variation observed among the accessions for all measured traits. Accessions were grouped into three clusters based on the agro- morphological traits and three clusters under the MSI system. Seed yield per plant had the highest estimates of significant positive correlation with hundred seed weight, pod weight per plant, etc. at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. TPt-31 had the highest seed yield per plant, pod weight per plant, and early maturity while TPt-7 had an extended flowering and maturity period, the highest number of pods per peduncle and pods per plant as well as the lowest seed yield. These accessions could serve as a good resource for future winged bean improvement programs. The result also confirmed that the MSI system is an invaluable tool for discriminating among accessions of the same crop species.

Polyploidy induction is recognized as one of the major evolutionary processes presenting remark-able morphological, physiological, and genetic variations in plants. Soybean (Glycine max L.), also known as soja bean or soya bean, is an annual leguminous crop of the pea family (Fabaceae) that shares a paleopolypoidy history, dating back to approximately 56.5 million years ago with other leguminous crops such as cowpea and other Glycine specific polyploids. This crop has been documented as one of the polyploid complex species among legumes whose gene evolution and result-ant adaptive growth characteristics, following induced polyploidization has not been fully explored. Furthermore, there are no successfully established in vivo or in vitro based polyploidy in-duction protocols that have been reported so far, particularly, with the intention to develop mutant plants showing strong resistance to abiotic salinity stress. This review, therefore, describes the role of synthetic polyploid plant production in soybean for the mitigation against high soil salt stress levels, and how this evolving approach could be used to further enhance nutritional, pharmaceutical and economic industrial value of soybeans, including addressing challenges involved during the polyploidization process.

Through an investigation of recently discovered Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment amulets from the Silla kingdom, this paper reveals that early Korea had more diverse forms of dhāraṇī practices than previously assumed. This paper’s analysis of these amulets from Korea contributes toward filling the gap in our current understanding of the material practice pertaining to the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment widely practiced in medieval East Asia. Based on an interdisciplinary analysis of the two amulet sheets of the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment from Silla, this paper explored hitherto unknown aspects of early Korean dhāraṇī practice. Previously, the only material dhāraṇī practice in early Korea was thought to be the enshrinement of textual relics in pagodas based on the Pure Light Incantation, which has little connection to contemporaneous Chinese dhāraṇī practice. However, the newly discovered Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment amulets, whose date this paper inferred to be between the eighth and ninth century, show that the Unified Silla also had a dhāraṇī practice closely linked to the Chinese practice. However, unlike the Chinese Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment amulets that were buried in tombs, the Silla amulets were likely enshrined in one of the pagodas erected on Mount Nam, Gyeongju. At the same time, the Silla epigraph from Myogilsang Pagoda at Haeinsa shows that the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment was placed in the pagoda so as to wish for good afterlives of the soldiers who died at the battle, suggesting that placing the Incantation of Wish-Fulfillment in a pagoda had a function similar to that of burying the Chinese amulet in the tomb.

There are increasing calls in education for deeper integration of disciplines and better preparation for the personal and job challenges of a fast-changing and smarter society. Thus, we need to search for new effective didactic strategies. However, current classrooms are isolated. They practically never connect. This hinders the exchange of ideas. It inhibits imitation and recombination, the basic blocks of cultural evolution and innovation. In this paper, we analyze online inter-class tournaments. These are lessons where entire elementary or middle school classes interconnect synchronously and play an educational game. These are new types of academic activities, and only possible thanks to digital communication technology. In this paper, we examine four online tournaments, we analyze how feasible it is to carry them out and the benefits they bring. One tournament is for teaching machine learning and statistics. The second one teaches the conservation of momentum in physics and an engineering optimization challenge. The third tournament is for learning to solve word problems. The fourth one is for teaching natural and sexual selection along with developing statistical and population thinking. We found that these inter-class tournaments are feasible to implement in schools and that they are a promising mechanism to facilitate imitation, recombination, and innovation of teaching strategies.

With the rise of powerful computational technologies, healthcare systems are going through a paradigm shift to the era of healthcare 5.0, also known as" smart healthcare". This new-age healthcare system not only enhances the life of patients but also aims to reduce healthcare costs significantly. People's health data collected through various means, including various Internet of Things (IoT) devices, is too sensitive to be regulated by particular organisations owing to increasing privacy and security threats. The sheer size of data makes it difficult for centralised bodies to regulate, due to which third-party involvement is introduced, which again poses threats to the privacy of the data holder. Motivated by the abovementioned gaps, we propose a decentralised approach using Ethereum blockchain technology and Oasis protocol. The patient-driven solution approach effectively solves the privacy problem by providing complete control of data to the owner. Along with this, byproducts such as fine-grained access control and on-chain data processing capabilities are also obtained.

Deficient minerals in overabundant populations could act as an attractant to cull sika deer (Cervus nippon). Because selective culling of female deer is reported to be effective in reducing sika deer populations, it is particularly important to clarify the differences in mineral requirements between male and female. Here, using global plant trait data and a published list of sika deer food plants in Japan, we estimated whether food plants provide sika deer sufficient sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg), and compared the results between male and female. An analysis of 191 food plant species suggested that food plants can provide sufficient Mg, whereas sufficient Na and Ca is not always provided, especially when the intake is small or the deer large. Na deficiency was more intense for lactating females than males, suggesting that Na can be an effective attractant for selectively culling female deer. In summary, this study demonstrated that sika deer in Japan might require extra Na and Ca sources in addition to food plants, and therefore these minerals could be useful for developing effective culling methods.

Nowadays, frameworks and models are critical to enabling organizations to identify their current sustainability integration into business and to follow up on these initiatives over time. In this context, the maturity models offer a structured way of analyzing how a supply chain meets specific sustainability requirements and which areas demand attention to reach maturity levels. This study proposes a five-level maturity model to help supply chains identify their level of engagement with sustainability practices combining three perspectives: intra and inter-organizational sustainability practices, triple-bottom-line approach and critical areas for sustainability. All the steps followed in constructing the maturity model were based on a literature review, and case studies supported its improvement, application, and testing. The proposed model presents many advantages, such as being used as a self-assessment tool, a roadmap for sustainability behaviour improvement, and a benchmarking tool to evaluate and compare standards and best practices among organizations and supply chains.

Earthworm invasions often reduce biodiversity and affect the ability of ecosystems to perform ecosystem functions. Over the past few decades, European lumbricide species have spread widely in natural habitats in Western Siberia, without completely displacing the native species. The aim of the present experiment is to study the survival, reproductive potential, vertical distribution, abundance, and biomass of Aporrectodea caliginosa and Lumbricus rubellus invasive for the region and the native species Eisenia nordenskioldi and their influence on each other. For this purpose, winter and vegetation experiments were conducted in mesocosms simulating the real situation of invasions in the same communities on the same types of soils with the same amount and composition of litter. The authors found that the native species was significantly inferior to A. caliginosa in reproduction rate, number of offspring, and final biomass, but had an advantage over L. rubellus. The native species was positively influenced by the presence of A. caliginosa. In the experiment, there was a significant rejuvenation of the populations of the studied species, an increase in abundance and relative mass under interaction conditions compared to mono variants. The native species had advantages over the invasive species in terms of winter survival. The natural volume of litter used in the experiment was insufficient for L. rubellus. According to the results of the experiment, it can be assumed that the spread of L. rubellus will continue to be limited to non-freezing biotopes rich in organic matter. A. caliginosa will spread in natural communities and agrocenoses of Western Siberia.

Ventricina del Vastese is a traditional dry fermented sausage from Central Italy not yet charac-terized for occurrence, identity and safety of coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS), a bacterial group technologically important for this kind of products. Therefore, in this study, 98 CNS isolates from four manufacturers were differentiated by Repetitive element palindromic PCR (Rep-PCR) and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. These were examined for genes encoding biogenic amine (BA) production, resistance to aminoglycosides, β-lactams and tetracyclines and staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs). Staphylococcus succinus (55%) predominated, followed by S. xylosus (30%), S. epidermidis (7.4%), S. equorum (3.1%), S. saprophyticus (3.1%) and S. warneri (1%). One S. succinus subsp. casei isolate was slightly β-hemolytic. SEs and the histidine decarboxylase gene hdcA were not detected, while the tyrosine decarboxylase gene tdcA was detected in four S. xylosus isolates. A blaZ beta-lactamase gene and tetracycline resistance genes tetK (six isolates) and tetA (one isolate also bearing tetK) were found, respectively. However, fewer hazardous and AR traits compared to CNS examined in other studies were found, as a probable consequence of using meat from animals reared in conditions that allow to minimize pathogen circulation and antibiotic use. Therefore, appropriate production conditions can reduce these threats.

The development of novel coherent and brilliant sources, such as soft X-ray Free Electron Laser (FEL) and High Harmonic Generation (HHG) enables new ultrafast analysis of the electronic and structural dynamics of a wide variety of materials. Soft X-ray FEL delivers high brilliance beams with short pulse duration, high spatial coherence and photon energy tunability. In com-parison with FELs, HHG X-ray sources are characterized by a wide spectral bandwidth and few to sub-femtosecond pulses. The approach will lead to time-resolved reconstruction of molecular dynamics, shedding light on different photochemical pathways. The high peak brilliance of soft X-ray FELs facilitates investigations in nonlinear regime, while the broader spectral bandwidth of the HHG sources may provide the simultaneous probing of multiple components. Significant technical breakthroughs in these novel sources are under way to improve brilliance, pulse dura-tion, and to control spectral bandwidth, spot size, and energy resolution. Therefore, in the next few years, the new generation of soft X-ray sources combined with novel experimental tech-niques, new detectors, and computing capabilities will allow the study of several extremely-fast dynamics, such as vibronic dynamics. In the present review, we shortly discuss recent devel-opments in experiments, performed with soft X-ray FELs and HHG sources, operating near car-bon K-absorption edge, being a key atomic component in biosystems and soft materials. Differ-ent spectroscopy methods such as time-resolved pump-probe techniques, nonlinear spectrosco-pies and photoelectron spectroscopy studies have been addressed in an attempt of a better un-derstanding of fundamental physico-chemical processes

Human pigmentation has been largely associated with different disease prevalence among populations, but most of these studies are observational and inconclusive. Known to be genetically determined, pigmentary traits have been largely studied by GWAS, mostly in Caucasian ancestry cohorts from North Europe, identifying robustly, several loci involved in many of the pigmentary traits. Here, we conduct a detailed analysis of 13 pigmentary-related traits in a South European cohort of Caucasian ancestry (n=20,000). We observed fair phototype strongly associated with non-melanoma skin cancer and other dermatoses and confirmed by PRS-approach the shared genetic basis with skin and eye diseases, such as melanoma (OR=0.95), non-melanoma skin cancer (OR=0.93), basal cell carcinoma (OR=0.97) and darker phototype with vitiligo (OR=1.02), and cataracts (OR=1.04). Detailed genetic analyses revealed 37 risk loci associated with 10 out of 13 analyzed traits, and 16 fine-mapped genes significantly associated with at least two pigmentary traits. Some of them widely reported, such as MC1R, HERC2, OCA2, TYR, TYRP1, SLC45A2, and unveiling three new candidates RP11-1084J3.4, C1QTNF3 and C17orf112, not reported in GWAS Catalog. These results highlight the importance of phototype assessment as a genetic proxy of skin functionality when evaluating disease screening in mixed populations.

It has been proposed that tumourigenicity was an intrinsic feature of embryonic/germ cell developmental axis as well as embryonic/germ cell-related genes play a crucial role in tumourigenicity. Our previous studies indicated that primordial germ cell (PGC)-like potential could be reactivated in tumourigenesis. In this study, 4T1, 168FARN and 67NR cells which originated from the same mouse breast cancer were studied and the results indicated that the acquisition of embryonic/germ cell-like state is essential for tumourigenicity. We further demonstrated that somatic to PGC-like transformation (SPLT) was activated in 4T1 cells and that inhibition of PGC-like cell formation by depleting pluripotency and/or PGC specification-related genes markedly repressed SPLT and the tumourigenicity. Collectively, our findings reveal that tumourigenicity is linked to the acquisition of PGC-like state through SPLT in 4T1 cells, provide new insight into deeper understanding the biological nature of tumours and novel therapeutical strategies for cancer targeting.

Malaria is one of the leading causes of illnesses and deaths in Africa at large and Nigeria in particular, especially amongst pregnant women and children under the age of five years. Our research revealed that though the government has deployed so many intervention systems to contend with this death-causing vector—the mosquitoes, malaria related deaths (MRDs) have continued to increase. This is because people have not sufficiently adopted those intervention systems to protect themselves. Further enquiries into the ineffective compliance of the people to the intervention systems revealed that the interventions are passive in nature. Based on these, we set up three measurable research outcomes to enable us to determine the appropriateness of persuasive technology in solving the malaria problem. We technically avoided a one-size-fits-all design approach and adopted Participatory System Design (PSD) and User-Centered Design (UCD) approaches in our system design methodologies. Well-structured questionnaires were used to extract information from the participants. The data obtained from the research survey was used in modeling the intervention system. The research was conducted in three phases: baseline, development and deployment of an intervention system—the Malaria Prevention and Control Support System (MPCSS), and an evaluation study to determine the performance of the intervention system. The research led to the following achievements: (1) encouraged an increase in the number of people who participated in malaria prevention and control activities by lowering the rate of malaria cases from 96.9% to 68.5% and increasing ownership of mosquito nets from 54% to 85.5%; (2) demonstrated that persuasive technology could be used to increase public awareness and knowledge of a given subject as noted in our evaluation result; and (3) demonstrated that persuasive technology is a veritable active intervention to combat malaria.

Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) combines technologies of autonomous vehicle (AV) and connected vehicles (CV) to develop quicker, more reliable and safer traffic. Artificial Intelligence (AI) based CAV solutions play significant roles in sustainable city. The convergence imposes stringent security requirements for CAV safety and reliability. In practice, vehicles are developed with increased automation and connectivity. Increased automation increases the reliance on the sensor-based technologies and decreases the reliance on driver; increased connectivity increases the exposures of vehicles vulnerability and increases the risk for an adversary to implement a cyber-attack. Much work has been dedicated to identifying the security vulnerabilities and recommending mitigation techniques associated with different sensors, controllers, and connection mechanisms, respectively. However, there is an absence of comprehensive and in-depth studies to identify how the cyber-attacks exploit the vehicles vulnerabilities to negatively impact the performance and operations of CAV. In this survey, we set out to thoroughly review the security issues introduced by AV and CV technologies, analyze how the cyber-attacks impact the performance of CAV, and summarize the solutions correspondingly. The impact of cyber-attacks on the performance of CAV is elaborated from both viewpoints of intra-vehicle system and inter-vehicle system. We pointed out that securing the perception and operations of CAV would be the top requirement to enable CAV to be applied safely and reliably in practice. Also, we suggested to utilize cloud and new AI methods to defend against smart cyber-attacks on CAV.

Use of rhizosphere microorganisms provides an alternative or supplement to conventional plant breeding to improve water deficit tolerance of tomato plants. Experiment was carried out to explore the effect of two microbial species, AMF (Rhizophagus irregularis) and Bacillus subtilis, in single and co-application, on growth, colonization, and molecular aspects of tomato plants under drought stress. Co-inoculated plants showed less reduction in growth traits, photosynthetic pigments, colonization rate, and increased compatible solutes like proline which help in sustaining relative water content than non-inoculated plants. Inoculation considerably enhanced proline dehydrogenase activity, and significantly reduced both Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase activity causing lower proline accumulation in inoculated plants under drought stress. Co-inoculated plants showed obvious upregulation of antioxidant system, thus facilitating amelioration of oxidative stress through exclusion of reactive oxygen species. No inoculation under drought stress upregulated abscisic acid related genes expression but have no effect in plants inoculated either sole or mixed inoculation. Expression of aquaporin genes was upregulated in plants co-inoculated and with AMF alone under normal condition. However the expression of aquaporin genes were decreased or unaffected in plants inoculated with Bacillus subtilis but increased in non-inoculated plants. Co-applied AMF and bacillus subtilis substantially increase drought tolerance by upregulating proline metabolism, antioxidant enzymes and aquaporin genes. Therefore our results suggest that co-inoculation mediated drought tolerance is linked with increased proline accumulation, enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities and differential regulation of ABA biosynthetic and aquaporin genes, which is vital for osmotic adjustment of host plant.

Complex problem-solving (CPS) tasks have become an increasingly popular tool for understand-ing and assessing cognitive ability. These tasks have been repeatedly shown to be predictors of academic and workplace success above and beyond traditional measures of general intelligence and fluid intelligence. To date, there has been little exploration of the underlying mechanisms that drive this additional predictive utility. In this study, we examined the role of a variety of non-cognitive personality and investment traits that could drive performance on CPS tasks. Adult participants (n = 152) were recruited via M-Turk and completed a battery of personality and in-vestment trait measures, a measure of general mental ability, and a 61-trial microworlds-style CPS task. Generalised linear mixed-effects models revealed a wide variety of personality and in-vestment traits influenced task performance above and beyond general mental ability. Specifical-ly, two clusters of traits emerged as important determinants of performance: one cluster that in-fluenced the capacity to deal with the introduction of system randomness (Conscientiousness and Extraversion) and one cluster that influenced the capacity to deal with the introduction of system delays (NFC, Learning Goal Orientation, and Intellect). These findings suggest that CPS tasks do capture more than just general mental ability and may be good predictors of academic and workplace success because they tap into both cognitive ability and the motivation and willingness to engage in cognitive exploration and mental effort.

In an attempt to improve free-range beef cattle herds and explore the economic viability of utilizing Opuntia ficus-indica (spineless cactus) cladodes as supplementary feed, we investigated the impact of cactus diets on animal growth performance and carcass characteristics of Nguni cattle heifers. Four dietary treatments were randomly assigned to 32 heifers aged 24-months, weighing on average 172.2±27.1 kg, with each dietary treatment replicated to 8 individually penned heifers for 90 days. The dietary treatments were control diet (pasture-based energy + protein sources), 10% cactus diet, 20% cactus diet and commercial diet (crop-based energy and commercial protein source). The heifers fed commercial and control diets attained significantly (P < 0.05) higher dry matter intake, average daily gains, fat thickness, carcass conformation scores and lower feed conversion ratio than those fed cactus diets. However, the final body weight gains, slaughter and carcass weights, rib-eye muscle area and meat pH45 min and 24h were comparable (P > 0.05) between heifers fed cactus diets and those fed commercial and control diets. The 10 and 20% cactus diets had greater gross margins (P < 0.05) of R278.6 and R296.9, respectively than the other diets, due largely to reduced total variable costs. The comparability of carcass traits of heifers fed cactus diets and those fed non-cactus diets as well as higher economic returns from cactus inclusion warrants the use of cactus diets, particularly during drought when commercial feed prices rise.

Abstract Background: Alcohol consumption is linked to urinary sodium excretion and both of these traits are linked to hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The interplay between alcohol consumption and sodium on hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is not well-described. Here, we used genetically predicted alcohol consumption and explored relationships between alcohol consumption, urinary sodium, hypertension, and CVDs. Methods: We performed a comparative analysis among 295,189 participants from the prospective cohort of the UK Biobank (baseline data collected between 2006 and 2010). We created a genetic risk score (GRS) using 105 published genetic variants in Europeans that were associated with alcohol consumption. We explored relationships between GRS, alcohol consumption, urinary sodium, blood pressure traits, and incident CVD. We used linear, logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards (PH) models in our analysis. Results: Our analyses supported an interaction effect between alcohol GRS and urinary sodium on hypertension (P interaction =0.03) and CVD (P interaction =0.03). In presence of high urinary sodium excretion, alcohol GRS increases blood pressure in a more enhanced fashion. Conclusions: Our results show that decrease in urinary sodium excretion offsets the risk posed by genetic risk of alcohol consumption.

The easternmost Mediterranean is a distinct transition zone from the ocean to the continent located at the junction between the largest Earth's lithospheric segments: Eurasian and African. The methodology of paleomagnetic mapping of such transition zones is based on integrating the mapping techniques for both continental and oceanic platforms: paleomagnetic reconstructions, results of radiometric dating of magnetized rocks, tectonic-structural reconstructions, biogeography, and utilization of the results of various geophysical surveys. The geodynamic-paleomagnetic mapping makes it possible to reveal the multilevel structural heterogeneity and display complex elements of the geodynamics of different ages inherent in this transition zone. Northern Israel is obviously the most complex area in the easternmost Mediterranean. For the combined paleomagnetic mapping, well-studied paleomagnetically and radiometrically areas were selected: (1) the Carmel area, (2) the Atlit area (internal part of the Carmel area), (3) the Sea of Galilee with the adjoining zones (primarily, the Kinnarot Valley), and (4) the area of the Hula Basin with adjacent areas of the Golan Plateau, Hermon Mt., and Galilea uplift. The constructed paleomagnetic profiles for the Carmel area (on the top of the accumulative surface of the Lower Cretaceous traps), and the Kinnarot Valley – Sea of Galilee – Hula Basin, evidently indicate the complex history of the paleogeodynamic evolution of the region. These studies demonstrate the effectiveness of paleomagnetic mapping interated with paleomagnetic profiling, which crosses these geologically complex areas.

This study aimed to exploring the intra-species distribution of genetic characters that favor the persistence in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and host interaction of bacteria belonging to the species Lacticaseibacillus genus. These bacterial species comprise commercial probiotics with the widest use among consumers and strains naturally occurring in GIT and in fermented food. Since little is known on the distribution of genetic traits for adhesion capacity, polysaccharide production, biofilm formation, utilization of substrates critically important for survival in GIT, that influence probiotic characteristics, a list of genetic determinants involved in such functions was created by a search for specific genes involved in the above aspects in the genome the extensively characterized probiotic L. rhamnosus GG. The presence/absence and variability of each gene in other Lacticaseibacillus spp. genomes was assessed by alignment with the publicly available fully annotated genome sequences. Eighty-two gene loci were compared, and 49 of these were found to be absent in some genomes in a species or strain-specific mode. A set of genes was found to be conserved, indicating that all strains of the genus may exert some probiotic effects. Among the variable loci a taurine utilization operon and a α-L-fucosidase were examined for presence/absence in 26 strains isolated from infant feces by PCR based tests. Results were variable among the isolates, though their common origin indicated the capacity to survive in the intestinal niche. This study indicated that the capacity to exert probiotic actions of Lacticaseibacillus spp. depends on a conserved set of genes and is enhanced by variable genetic factors whose role is only in part elucidated. The selection of strains of the most promising probiotic candidates to be used in food is feasible by analyzing presence/absence of a set of variable traits.

Molecular communication (MC) is a promising bio-inspired paradigm for exchanging molecule information among nanomachines. This paper proposes a synchronisation-assist photolysis MC system that aims to transmit the bio-sensing signal of the tumour microenvironment, facilitated by mitigating redundant molecules for improved bit error rate (BER) performance. Benefits from bio-compatible MC, biosensors could transmit bio-sensing signals of the tumour in $vivo$ instead of converting them to electrical signals. Due to diffusion motion's slow and stochastic nature, inter-symbol interference (ISI), resulting from previous symbols' residual information molecules, inevitably occurs in diffusion-based MC. ISI is one of the challenges in diffusion-based MC, which significantly impacts signal detection. Inspired by on-off keying (OOK) modulation, the proposed modulation implements a switch of molecules and light alternatively. The light emitted is triggered by a synchronisation signal, and the photolysis reactions could reduce the redundant molecules. An expression for the relevant channel impulse response (CIR) is derived from a hybrid channel model of diffusion and photolysis-reaction. This paper implements the maximum posterior estimation scheme to find the optimal decision threshold and analysis the BER performance in terms of different time intervals of the system. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed method can improve the channel capacity and BER performance. We believe that our work may pave the way for MC application in bio-sensing.

probiotics. However, these bacteria caused rare infections mostly in diabetic and immunocompromised subjects in presence of risk factors such as prosthetic hearth valves and dental procedures or caries. The scope of this survey was re-assessing the pathogenic potential of lactobacilli based on the infection case reports published in the last three years. In 2019, 2020 and 2021 17, 15 and 16 cases, respective-ly,.including endocarditis, bacteremia and other infections, were reported. These annual numbers are higher than observed previously. Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (13 cases), comprising strain GG (ATCC 53103) with established applications in healthcare, L. paracasei (7 cases), Lactobacillus acidophilus (5 cas-es), L. jensenii (5 cases), Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (3 cases), L. paraplantarum, L. delbrueckii subsp. del-brueckii, L. gasseri, L. paragasseri, Limosilactobacillus fermentum and L. reuteri (1 case each) were involved. Virulence characterization of two strains that caused infections, a derivative of L. rhamnosus GG and L.paracasei LP10266, indicated that increased biofilm forming capacity favors pathogenicity and it is determined by variable genetic traits. This survey highlighted that strains of lactobacilli able to cause infections were little characterized genet-ically. Instead, to avoid that these bacteria become a hazard, genetic stability should be periodically re-evaluated by whole genome sequencing (WGS) to ensure that only non-pathogenic variants are ad-ministered to vulnerable individuals.

Ecologists use the net biotic interactions among plants to predict fundamental ecosystem features. Following this approach, ecologists have built a giant body of theory founded on observational evidence. However, due to the limitations that a phenomenological approach raises both in empirical and theoretical studies, an increasing number of scientists claim the need for a mechanistic understanding of plant interaction outcomes, and a few studies have taken such a mechanistic approach. In this synthesis, we propose a modeling framework to study the plant interaction mechanistically. We first establish a conceptual ground to frame plant-plant interactions, and then, we propose to formalize this research line theoretically developing a family of individual-based, spatially-explicit models in which biotic interactions are an emergent property mediated by the interaction between plants’ functional traits and the environment. These models allow researchers to evaluate the strength and sign of biotic interactions under different environmental scenarios and thus constitute a powerful tool to investigate the mechanisms underlying facilitation, species coexistence, or the formation of vegetation spatial patterns.

Bayesian nonlinear mixed effects models for data in the form of continuous, repeated measurements from a population, also known as Bayesian hierarchical nonlinear models, are a popular platform for analysis when interest focuses on individual specific characteristics and relevant uncertainty quantification. Due to the limitation of computational power, this framework was relatively dormant until the late 1980s, but in recent years, the statistical research community saw vigorous development of new methodological and computational techniques for these models, the emergence of software, and wide application of the models in numerous industrial and academic fields. This article presents an overview of the formulation, interpretation, and implementation of Bayesian nonlinear mixed effects models and surveys recent advances and applications.

A procedure, dedicated to superconductivity, is extended to study the properties of interacting electrons in normal metals in the thermodynamic limit. Each independent-electron band is shown to split into two correlated-electron bands. Excellent agreement is achieved with Bethe's wave-function for the one-dimensional Hubbard model. The groundstate energy, reckoned for the two-dimensional Hubbard Hamiltonian, is found to be lower than values, obtained thanks to the numerical methods. This analysis applies for any spatial dimension and temperature.

The nutraceutical value of pomegranate in the treatment of many neoplastic, cardiovascular, viral, inflammatory, metabolic, microbial, intestinal, reproductive and skin diseases is well-documented and is linked to its richness in phenolic compounds. This study aims to evaluate nutraceutical and genetic diversity of novel pomegranate genotypes (G1-G5) in comparison to leading commercial pomegranate varieties i.e. ‘Wonderful’, ‘Primosole’, ‘Dente di Cavallo’ and ‘Valenciana’. Morphometric measurements were carried out on fruits, accompanied by chemical characterization and the development of four new polymorphic SSR markers involved in the flavonoid pathway. The cultivars displayed a marked variability in the weight and shape of fruits, as well as in the weight of arils and juice yield. The highest level of total phenolic content and antioxidant activity was found in ‘Wonderful’ and G4, while the lowest was in ‘Dente di Cavallo’. Furthermore, the results showed that the pomegranate juice, is an excellent source of minerals, especially potassium, which plays a key role in organ functioning. The new flavonoid-related markers effectively differentiated the cultivars with the same diversity pattern as morpho-chemical characterization, so the SSRs developed in the present study can be used as a rapid tool for the identification of pomegranate cultivars with relevant nutraceutical traits.

We aim to investigate if serum levels of microRNAs: miR-126, mir-197 and mir-223, previously implicated in cardiometabolic disease, are reproducibly associated with incident-diabetes (inc-DM), incident-cardiovascular disease (inc-CVD) and with carotid atherosclerosis (measured for the maximum thickness of the intima-media of the carotid bulb (IMT)). The microRNAs were measured, one: in serum of 553 subjects from the baseline exam of the Swedish prospective cohort, Malmö Diet and Cancer Study (MDC-CC), with 169 subjects who developed CVD and 140 DM (16 years follow-up) and, two: in 1221 subjects from the Malmö Offspring Study (MOS), with 14 de-veloped CVD and 12 DM (3.7 years follow-up). Multivariate logistic and linear regression models were used to investigate the relationship of serum-concentrations of the microRNAs and inc-DM, inc-CVD, IMT-bulb respectively. In MDC-CC, miR-126 showed significant positive association with inc-DM (p= 0.01) whereas in fully adjusted model, the association was borderline significant (p= 0.05). The results were not replicated in MOS. There was no consistent significant association between the microRNAs with IMT or inc-CVD in any cohort. Our results do not support previous reports on significant associations between these microRNAs and the risk of CMD, as they were not reproducible in our cohorts. In addition, the directionality of any associations found were not consistent with those previously reported.

Introduction: Body size is correlated with many aspects of an animal species' natural history, such as life span, abundance, dispersal capacity and diet breadth. However, contrasting trends have been reported for the relationship between body size and these ecological traits. Methods: Butterfly species from fruit-feeding guilds were used to investigate whether body size correlates with species abundances, dispersal, permanence, and diet breadth in a Neotropical savanna in Brazil (Cerrado). We used Blomberg’s K and Phylogenetic Generalized Least Squares models (PGLS) to measure phylogenetic signal strength in species traits, and to estimate size-dispersal-diet breadth associations while taking shared ancestry into account. Results: 539 individuals from 27 species were captured, and 190 individuals were recaptured, representing a 35% recapture rate. We found that body size negatively influenced butterfly abundance. In contrast, body size was positively associated with dispersal levels, distance traveled, number of traps visited, individual permanence, and diet breadth. These results indicate that larger butterflies have a greater proportion of dispersing individuals over longer distances, as they permanence were detected over longer periods than their smaller relatives. Moreover, larger butterflies are more generalized, based on the number of host plant families and genera they consume. Smaller butterflies demand fewer resources, which is reflected in their higher survival in small patches, and may explain their lower dispersal ability, and higher diet specialization. Nevertheless, lower dispersal ability, if not compensated by large population sizes, may threaten small-bodied species inhabiting environments with intense deforestation rates, such as the Cerrado. Conclusions: Body size positively influences dispersal and diet breadth in the fruit-feeding butterflies collected in this study.

Exploiting the relationship between the nutritional properties of seeds and the genetic background, constitutes an essential analysis which contributes to broadening our knowledge regarding the control of the nutritional quality of seeds or any other edible plant structure. This constitutes an important aspect when aiming at improving the nutritional characteristics properties of crops, including those of Chenopodium quinoa Willd (quinoa) which is intended to be one of the main nutrient sources ensuring food security worldwide. Changes in the nutritional properties of quinoa seeds due to the influence exerted by the environment, the genotype, or their interaction, have been already described in previous works, but there is an important limitation in the analyses carried out, including the outcomes that can be translated into agronomical practices by which quality can be improved selecting the most adequate genotype. In the present study, several seed nutritional-related parameters from fifteen quinoa cultivars grown in a particular environmental context were analyzed aiming at targeting compounds that can be determinants of seed quality. Important agronomical and nutritional differences were found among cultivars such as distinct mineral or protein contents and seed viability. More importantly, our analyses revealed key correlations between seed quality-related traits in some cultivars, including those that relate yield and antioxidants or the germination rate. These results highlight the importance of considering the genotypic variation in quinoa when selecting improved quinoa varieties with the best nutritional characteristics for new cultivation environments.

The demand of high data rate and ubiquitous coverage in heterogeneous cellular (HetNets) is increasing progressively. In order to meet this demand, sophisticated model having applied interference reduction scheme and cell association technique is needed. The small base station (sBS)are deployed inside the broadcasting area of macro base station (mBS), in heterogeneous cellular networks (HetNets). Since mBS has high transmission power therefore a large number of users get connected with mBS. This causes disproportion of load distribution across the HetNets. For load balancing users from high power mBS are migrated to low power sBS to increase network capacity and to decrease the load from mBS. This results in interference in the communication signal because of strong mBS Interference. Hence, we need interference management technique to mitigate interference and user association and to efficiently use sBSs’ resources. Inter-cell interference (ICI) limit the HetNets’ performance. Additionally, there exist deliberate jamming interference which depends on jammers transmission power and its proximity with the target, which notably degrades the network performance. In this paper, we employ reverse frequency allocation scheme (RFA) to reduce inter cell interference, deliberate jamming interference and to accomplish load balancing. The proposed setup is analyzed inquisitively and with the help of simulations. The result shows reduction in interferences as well as balance of load distribution in the network achieved by employing RFA scheme together with cell association.

The ability to efficiently recognize the emotions on others’ faces is something that most of us take for granted. Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits and impulsivity/conduct problems (ICP), such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, have been previously described as being “fear blind”. This is also associated with looking less at the eye regions of fearful faces, which are highly diagnostic. Previous attempts to intervene into emotion recognition strategies have not had lasting effects on participants’ fear recognition abilities. Here we present both (a) additional evidence that there is a two-part causal chain, from personality traits to face recognition strategies using the eyes, then from strategies to rates of recognizing fear in others; and (b) a pilot intervention that had persistent effects for weeks after the end of instruction. Further, the intervention led to more change in those with the highest CU traits. This both clarifies the specific mechanisms linking personality to emotion recognition and shows that the process is fundamentally malleable. It is possible that such training could promote empathy and reduce the rates of antisocial behavior in specific populations in the future.