Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Review on in vitro Culture of Aloe vera, Type of Explants and Impact of Growing Media and Growth Regulators

The science and development of plant tissue culture is linked with the discovery of cell followed by propounding of cell theory. In 1839, Schleiden and Schwann proposed that cell is the basic unit of organisms and is capable of autonomy. Each cell has the ability to regenerate into whole plant and this potential of a cell to grow and divide in a selfregularity manner is known as totipotency, a term coined by Steward in 1968. Based on this premise, in 1902, a German physiologist, Gottlieb Haberlandt developed the concept of in vitro cell culture. Despite lack of success, Haberlandt made several predictions about the requirements in media in experimental conditions which could possibly induce cell division, proliferation and embryo induction. Haberlandt is thus regarded as father of tissue culture. Haberlandt presented the fundamental principles of plant tissue cultures which marked the commencement of golden era in the field of plant tissue culture. When Haberlandt (1902) attempted the first cell culture study, his intentions was to develop a International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 06 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Modeling the magnitude and time dependence of non - conductive heat - transfer effects in taiga and

Thermal radiation, or any incoherent radiation at the desired wavelenths, is converted into laser energy by using radiant absorption from a radiation source by a cold gas. The cold gas absorbs vibrational energy while remaining otherwise cold, and exchange of vibrational energy between molecules at this low temperature causes population inversions.
Chicory demonstrates substantial water uptake from below 2 m, but still did not escape topsoil drought

Deep-rooted agricultural crops can potentially utilize deep-water pools and thus reduce periods where growth is water limited. Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) is known to be deep-rooted, but the contribution of deep roots to water uptake under well-watered and drought conditions by the deep root system has not been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate whether chicory reached 3 m depth within a growing season and demonstrated significant water uptake from the deeper part of the root zone. We tested if chicory exposed to either topsoil drought or resource competition from shallow-rooted species would increase deep water uptake in compensation for reduced topsoil water uptake. We grew chicory in 4 m deep soil filled rhizotrons and found that the roots reached 3 m towards the end of the growing season. We found that water uptake from below 1.7 m in 2016 and 2.3 m in 2017 contributed significantly to chicory water use. However, neither drought nor intercropping increased the deep water uptake. We conclude that chicory benefits from being deep-rooted during drought events, yet it still succumbs to drought-induced growth reduction. Highlight Chicory water uptake from below 2 m contributes significantly to chicory water use. Still, chicory succumbs to topsoil drought-induced growth reduction.
Microclimate predicts frost-hardiness of alpine Arabidopsis thaliana populations better than altitude because the microclimate effect increases with altitude

In mountain regions average temperatures decrease at higher altitudes. In addition, microenvironmental conditions can strongly affect microclimate and may counteract average effects of altitude. We investigated winter frost hardiness of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions originating from 13 sites along altitudinal gradients in the Southern Alps during three winters on an experimental field station on the Swabian Jura and compared levels of frost damage with the observed number of frost days (<1°C) in eight collection sites. We found that frost-hardiness increased with altitude in a log-linear fashion. This is consistent with adaptation to higher frequency of frost conditions, but also indicates a decreasing rate of change in frost hardiness with increasing altitude. Moreover, the number of frost days measured with temperature loggers at the original collection sites correlated much better with frost-hardiness than the altitude of collection sites, suggesting that populations were adapted to their local microclimate. Notably, the variance in frost days across sites increased exponentially with altitude. Together, our results suggest that strong microclimate heterogeneity of high alpine environments may preserve functional genetic diversity in small populations. This challenges the suitability of habitat predictions based on large scale climatic variables (or proxies, such as altitude) for topographically complex areas.
Binding Surface in Zβ Domain from Human ZBP1 Does Not Require Conserved Proline Residues for Z-DNA Binding and B-to-Z-DNA Conversion Activities

Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Center for Molecular Medicine, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, Korea. *E-mail: kkim@med.skku. ac.kr Department of Biological Science, School of Natural Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea Department of Chemistry, School of Natural Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Korea *E-mail: ygkimmit@skku.edu Received October 8, 2007
Vegetative reproduction and phylogeny of a new subtidal alga from Korea: Dipterocladia yongdeokkoi sp. nov. (Ceramiales, Rhodophyta)

ABSTRACT Dipterocladia yongdeokkoi sp. nov. was collected at depths of 6–15 m at three locations at Jeju Island, Korea: Biyangdo, Hado and Shinchang. All plants were vegetative without reproductive structures. For two years in laboratory culture, plants were consistently vegetative. Cultured plants formed single-celled diaspores and multicellular propagules that grew into mature plants. Dipterocladia yongdeokkoi is distinguished by its flattened thallus arising from a thick, cylindrical stipe, compressed axes, irregular branches and alternately pinnate determinate adventitious laterals and pseudolaterals. Analyses of mitochondrial cox1, plastid rbcL, and nuclear small subunit (SSU) sequences support the monophyly of Dipterocladia and the distinctness of D. yongdeokkoi from other species of Dipterocladia.
RNA-seq reveals few differences in resistant and susceptible responses of barley to infection by the spot blotch pathogen Bipolaris sorokiniana

Spot blotch, caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana (Sacc.) Shoem. , is an economically important disease affecting barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). The disease has largely been controlled in the Upper Midwest region of the USA through a suite of quantitative trait loci (QTL) termed the Midwest Six-rowed Durable Resistance Haplotype (MSDRH). These QTL have been bred into all six-rowed Midwest barley cultivars, including the widely used cultivar Morex. We identified a gamma ray- induced Morex mutant (MUT) that exhibits spot blotch susceptibility at the seedling stage. This mutant also spontaneously develops extremely large necrotic lesions in the absence of the pathogen at the adult plant stage. Spot blotch susceptibility at the seedling stage and necrotic lesion formation at the adult plant stage are highly correlated. To start dissecting the molecular responses underlying the observed symptoms at the seedling stage, we conducted a time course RNA-seq experiment comparing the wild type (WT) and the mutant (MUT) Morex at 12, 24 and 36 h after B. sorokiniana inoculation. Mock-inoculated controls were also included. A total of 10,772 and 11,530 genes were differentially expressed between treatments for WT and MUT genotypes, respectively, while 277 and 195 genes were differentially expressed between fungal and mock-inoculated genotypes, respectively. The transcript expression profiles of WT and MUT Morex samples were similar for most treatments. Two genes whose expression was putatively knocked out in the MUT were identified: HORVU3Hr1G019920 (glycine-rich protein) and HORVU5Hr1G120850 (Long- chain-fatty-acid—CoA ligase 1). The latter appears to be genetically intact, but not expressed. Collectively, these data suggest that MUT susceptibility to B. sorokiniana is a result of minor, rather than major, differences in the defense responses.
RNA-sequencing Analysis Identifies Genes Associated with Chilling-mediated Endodormancy Release in Apple

A . release and the fulﬁllment of the chilling requirement (CR) are critical physiological processes that enable uniform blooming in fruit tree species, including apple ( Malus · domestica ). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these traits have not been fully characterized. The objective of this study was to identify potential master regulators of endodormancy release and the CR in apple. We conducted RNA-Sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses and narrowed down the number of candidates among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) based on the following two strict screening criteria: 1) the gene must be differentially expressed between endodormant and ecodormant buds under different environmental conditions and 2) the gene must exhibit chill unit (CU)– correlated expression. The results of our cluster analysis suggested that global expression patterns varied between ﬁeld-grown buds and continuously chilled buds, even though they were exposed to similar amounts of chilling and were expected to have a similar dormancy status. Consequently, our strict selection strategy resulted in narrowing down the number of possible candidates and identiﬁed the DEGs strongly associated with the transition between dormancy stages. The genes included four transcription factor genes, PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 4 ( PIF4 ), FLOWERING LOCUS C ( FLC ) -LIKE , APETALLA2 ( AP2 )/ ETHYLENE-RESPONSIVE 113 ( ERF113 ), and MYC2. Their expressions were upregulated during endodormancy release, and were correlated with the CU, suggesting that these transcription factors are closely associated with chilling-mediated endodormancy release in apple.
Niche construction and extra-genetic adaptation: Their roles as mechanisms in evolutionary change

ABSTRACT. The niche construction concept has triggered much controversy related to its tensions with the natural selection concept and with its potential role as an updated version of the “adaptation” concept. Empirical data are providing evidence of certain explanatory weaknesses in the dominant evolutionary theory. The contributions of extra-genetic adaptation studies, together with epigenetic research ones, are shaping a new scenario in evolutionary explanations. The aim of this work is to analyze the interrelation between niche construction, extra-genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity as evolutionary explanatory mechanisms. In this respect, this work may act as a bridge between classical approaches of evolutionary theory and as an alternative perspective based on the reversibility of extra-genetic or physiological inheritance. KEY WORDS. Evolution, adaptation, extra-genetic adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, niche construction, evolutionary explanatory mechanisms.
Predictive and Structural Analysis for High-Dimensional Vector

This paper tackles the problem of estimating a high-dimensional vector autoregression (VAR). The estimation of these high-dimensional systems is done via regularization procedures that select the model and estimates the parameters simultaneously and is particularly useful in vector autoregressive context. This paper builds on the penalized least square procedures proposed by Nicholson et al. (2018). All procedures consist of penalty functions that are made up of hierarchically nested Euclidean norms of the model-coefficients. I augment these regularization models with a function that increases with the variables’ lag, incorporating the temporal dependence of the VAR more accurately. Moreover, I propose a new regularization model that is able to estimate high-dimensional VARs. The efficacy of the procedures, both in terms of forecasting and model discovery, is demonstrated in a simulation study as well as an empirical study. In addition, I show that high-dimensional VARs estimated by the proposed regularization methods produce credible impulse responses and are suitable for structural analysis.
Effects of roasting conditions on physicochemical properties of the watermelon seed

Roasted watermelon seeds are consumed as snack foods. In this research, the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used in order to examine the effect of roasting on some physicochemical properties of watermelon seeds. The Central Composite Design (CCD) was applied to investigate the effects of two independent variables, i.e. temperature (180-260 C) and time (5-15 min), on moisture content, texture, color, total phenol and antioxidant activity. According to the results, increasing the temperature and prolonging the duration of roasting caused reductions in the moisture content, E and texture hardness. Meanwhile, the total phenol content and antioxidant activity increased. The linear, quadratic and interactive effects between the independent variables (temperature and time) were significant on moisture content and texture hardness (p
Perceiving Hesitation requires both the Motor and Mentalizing systems

The mentalizing network and the putative mirror neuron system (pMNS) are two important large scale brain networks for social cognition, with very little overlap between them. Evidence suggests however that the two networks can collaborate for understanding the state of mind of others on the basis of their body movements. Here using fMRI we find that when participants view hand actions to detect hesitations they activate both their mentalizing and pMNS networks and information is exchanged across these networks. In a follow-up experiment using repetitive TMS we find that disturbing activity in either network slows hesitation attribution. In contrast, watching the same actions to determine the size of the object being grasped only triggered activity in the pMNS network, and rTMS over the mentalizing network then no longer slowed reactions. When we see others’ actions, we recruit our own motor system. Our results suggest that for detecting a simple mental state like hesitation, this pre-processed motor information becomes a necessary input into a mentalizing network that is essential for associating deviations from a predicted motor program with a specific mental state.
Examining the Value of a TESOL Service-Learning Study Abroad for U.S. Pre- and In-Service Teachers and Montenegrin Community Stakeholders.

In response to the call to include experiential learning opportunities in our TESOL program and an invitation by a Montenegrin community to collaborate on the establishment of a summer English language institute, we designed and implemented a hybrid service-learning study abroad (SLSA) program which included two weeks spent in Montenegro in 2018 and 2019. This article examines the perceived value of this SLSA program for participating preand in-service TESOL teachers from a Midwestern university and EFL learners, educators, and families from the host community. Data from end-of-the program surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation notes demonstrate an overwhelmingly positive impact on all participants, including program-initiated identity shifts in a number of stakeholders. The data also supports our call for a new, community-focused definition of SLSA that concludes this article. TESOL Teacher education has increasingly incorporated experiential learning into its curriculum. Reliance on microteaching demonstrations involving peers pretending to be English learners have long been complemented, if not completely replaced, by more authentic teaching formats in most TESOL programs. In the literature review that follows, we highlight two high-impact experiential learning practices—study abroad (SA) and service-learning (SL)—that have been increasingly integrated in TESOL teacher education. We make a case for combining these practices when designing programs to maximize benefits for TESOL teacher candidates and participating community stakeholders.
Genome-wide discovery of local RNA structural elements in Zika virus

In addition to encoding RNA primary structures, genomes also encode RNA secondary and tertiary structures that play roles in gene regulation and, in the case of RNA viruses, genome replication. Methods for the identification of functional RNA structures in genomes typically rely on scanning analysis windows, where multiple partially-overlapping windows are used to predict RNA structures and folding metrics to deduce regions likely to form functional structure. Separate structural models are produced for each window, where the step size can greatly affect the returned model. This makes deducing unique local structures challenging, as the same nucleotides in each window can be alternatively base paired. In the presented approach, all base pairs from all analysis windows are considered and weighted by favorable folding metrics throughout all windows. This results in unique base pairing throughout the genome and the generation of local regions/structures that can be ranked by their propensity to form unusually thermodynamically stable folds. This approach was applied to the Zika virus (ZIKV) genome. ZIKV is linked to a variety of neurological ailments including microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome and its (+)-sense RNA genome encodes two, previously described, functionally essential structured RNA regions. Our approach is able to successfully identify and model the structures of these regions, while also finding additional regions likely to form functional RNA structures throughout the viral polyprotein coding region. All data for the ZIKV genome have been archived at the RNAStructuromeDB, a repository of RNA folding data for humans and their pathogens.
Q-Learning Algorithm for Mean-Field Controls, with Convergence and Complexity Analysis

This paper studies multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) collaborative games under a mean-field control (MFC) approximation framework. It develops a model-free kernel-based Q-learning algorithm (MFC-K-Q) on a probability measure space and shows that the convergence rate and the sample complexity of MFC-K-Q are independent of the number of agents $N$. Empirical studies on the network traffic congestion problem demonstrate that MFC-K-Q outperforms existing MARL algorithms (when $N$ is large) and MFC algorithms.
The role of postoperative radiotherapy for thymomas: a multicentric retrospective evaluation from three Italian centers and review of the literature

Background Thymoma is a rare mediastinal neoplasia. Surgery is the backbone of the treatment, but the role of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) remains controversial. We aimed to obtain data on survival and safety in patients treated with PORT in three different Italian institutions. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 183 consecutive patients who underwent surgery from 1981 to 2015. According to the Masaoka-Koga staging system, 39.3%, 32.7%, 18.6% and 9.8% patients were in stage I, II, III and IV of disease, respectively. PORT was indicated in 114 patients (62.3%), while 69 subjects underwent surgery alone. Complete resection was obtained in 68 patients who underwent PORT. Adverse events (AEs) were graded according to CTCAE v4.0. We analyzed the recent literature to describe the current reports on PORT for resected thymoma. Results Mean follow-up was 130 months (range, 3–417 months). Overall survival (OS) at 1-, 5- and 10-year from surgery was 98.3%, 90.2% and 69.7% respectively. One-, 5- and 10-year disease specific survival (DSS) was 98.9%, 92.3% and 89.8% respectively. Disease free survival (DFS) at 1, 5 and 10 years from surgery was 96.7%, 88.3% and 82.8% respectively. Univariate analysis showed that complete resection, cell histology A-AB-B1 and stages I–II were significant predictors of better DSS and DFS. Multivariate analysis showed that sex, R0 margins and WHO histology was independent prognostic factors. Among patients treated with PORT, a trend towards better OS was evident with Masaoka stage I–II (P=0.09). Patients with R0 margins treated with PORT showed better OS and DSS (P=0.05). No differences in DSS for performance status (P=0.70), WHO histology (P=0.19), paraneoplastic syndrome (P=0.23) and surgical procedure (P=0.53) were evident. Patients treated with PORT had a higher level of acute AEs compared to surgery alone, but none of these was graded ≥3. Conclusions Our results confirmed that patients with incompletely resected thymoma had the worst OS and DSS. High grade acute toxicity was not different between PORT and surgery alone. Other trials reported a significant benefit in OS, DSS and DFS in stage IIb–IV thymoma treated with PORT.
Effects of diet on female fecundity and larval development in the carrion beetle Necrophila japonica

The carrion beetle subfamily Silphinae (Coleoptera: Silphidae) contains dominant macroinvertebrates of soil ecosystems in temperate zones. However, their feeding habits, which determine the role of each species in the ecosystem, have not been sufficiently studied. Moreover, although a diet shift from necrophagy on vertebrate carcasses to predatory feeding on invertebrates is known to occur in this subfamily, the processes and mechanisms of this shift have also been inadequately addressed. We examined female fecundity and larval development on various diets in a Silphinae species, Necrophila (Eusilpha) japonica (Motschulsky). The experimental diets included a meat diet and various invertebrate diets, which reflect the ‘ancestral’ feeding habit in Silphinae, necrophagy, and the ‘derivative’ feeding habit, predatory feeding. Female fecundity was significantly higher on the meat diet (minced beef) than on an insect larvae diet (mealworms and dipteran larvae) but did not significantly differ from that on an earthworm diet. Larval developmental performance was significantly higher on the earthworm diet than on the meat and insect larvae diets. Our results for larval development were consistent with those of previous stable isotope analyses of the same species, in which isotopic values of larval samples agree with those of hypothetical consumers that utilize earthworms. The consistency of results among different methods indicates that N. japonica larvae are most likely earthworm feeders. In contrast, our results for the female fecundity experiment differed from those of previous stable isotope analyses, in which vertebrate carcasses unlikely serve as the staple diet of adults in the field; thus, the feeding habits of N. japonica adults remain unresolved. Our observations that females and larvae performed best on the meat and earthworm diets, respectively, may indicate that, in Silphinae, the diet shift from necrophagy to predatory habits occurs earlier in larvae than in adults.
Identifying Forest Health Gaps: A Needs Assessment of Tree and Forest Health Extension Education

There is growing demand for a broader conception of tree and forest health by commercial and private timberland owners, who make up a substantial proportion of Extension clientele in the southeastern United States. There has been little research to comprehensively capture and represent Extension agents' needs, concerns, and perceived barriers as they respond to client questions and requests regarding tree and forest health topics. Our needs assessment results highlight needs and barriers Extension agents encounter as they address tree and forest health requests from clientele. We provide recommendations for research and practical applications for improving relevant resource support in Extension.