Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genome-wide association analysis reveals the optimal genomic regions for pod size in bean

The snap bean is the most commonly grown vegetable legume worldwide, and its pod size is both an important yield and appearance quality trait. However, the improvement of pod size in snap beans grown in China has been largely hindered by a lack of information on the specific genes that determine pod size. In this study, we identified 88 snap bean accessions and evaluated their pod size traits. Through a genome-wide association study (GWAS), 57 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) significantly associated with pod size were detected. Candidate gene analysis showed that cytochrome P450 family genes, WRKY, and MYB transcription factors were the predominant candidate genes for pod development, and eight of these 26 candidate genes showed relatively higher expression patterns in flowers and young pods. A significant pod length (PL) SNP and a single pod weight (SPW) SNP were successfully converted into kompetitive allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP) markers and validated in the panel. These results enhance our understanding of the genetic basis of pod size, and also provide genetic resources for the molecular breeding of pod size in snap beans.
The Spreading of Hostility: Unraveling of Social Norms in Communication

This work investigates the relationship between social norms, the shared rules that provide the standard of behavior, and online hate speech. We test our hypotheses empirically with three different online field experiments. Each chapter thus addresses a particular perspective of the relation between social norms and hate speech. In the first study, we compare informal verbal sanctions and censoring hateful content as interventions to tackle online hate. The interventions are based on two conceptualizations of social norms commonly found in the literature: i) the observed pattern of behavior or descriptive norm, and ii) informal social sanctions or the injunctive norm. The results suggest that adherence to the social norm in online conversations might be motivated by the observed pattern of behavior. In the second study, we test the assumption that observing an increasing number of norm violations in the local context will result in a decreased willingness to follow the norm, which will eventually result in the breakdown of the norm. In the last study, we explain the rise in online hate speech after terrorist attacks by the terrorist attacks creating a situation of normative uncertainty in which the previous consensus on the social norm against the public expression of hate erodes. Taken as a whole, the chapters represent an up-to-date general picture of the determinants of how social norms affect hate speech. All the conclusions come from original empirical work. Our data show that highlighting the anti-hate norm results in reduced levels of online hate speech. We also show that the presentation of the norm matters and the observed pattern of behavior is often a powerful normative cue. The descriptive norm seems of key importance for the regulation and they might help to design effective social norm interventions against online hate speech. Different individual characteristics, such as gender, might also affect the way people respond to normative cues. Finally, not only the behavior of others produce normative changes, but events that affect the normative certainty can also impact the anti-hate norm. Particularly events that increase normative uncertainty can amplify influence processes because people resolve the uncertainty by looking at existing patterns of behavior in the context.
Synthesis and Crystal Structures of Dioxomolybdenum(VI) Complexes With Catalytic Property

Two new dioxomolybdenum(VI) complexes, [MoO2L1(CH3 OH)] (1) and [MoO2L2(CH3OH)] (2), where L1 and L2 are the dianionic form of isonicotinic acid (1-methyl-3-oxobutylidene) hydrazide and nicotinic acid (1-methyl-3-oxobutylidene)hydra- zide, respectively, were prepared and structurally characterized by physicochemical and spectroscopic methods and single crystal X-ray determination. The complexes are mononuclear molybdenum compounds. The Mo atom in each complex is in octahedral coordination. The catalytic property of the complexes indicates that they are effective catalyst for sulfoxidation.
Chikungunya virus infection induces ultrastructural changes and impaired neuronal differentiation of human neurospheres

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arthropod-borne virus recently associated with large outbreaks in many parts of the world. Infection is typically manifested as a febrile and self-limited illness, characterized by joint pain and myalgia, albeit severe neurological manifestations are also reported. Although CHIKV is not recognized as a truly neurotropic virus, neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes are susceptible to infection in vitro. Here we employed a model of 3D cell culture to obtain neurospheres from ATRA/BNDF differentiated human neuroblastoma cells. We demonstrate that CHIKV is able to establish a productive infection, resulting in ultrastructural changes in cell morphology and impaired neuronal differentiation. Ultrastructural analysis of neurospheres infected with CHIKV during neuronal differentiation revealed diminished neuron dendrite formation, accumulation of viral particles associated with the plasma membrane, numerous cell vacuoles, and swollen mitochondria. Apoptotic cells were significantly increased at 72 h post-infection. Compared to Zika virus, a well-characterized neurotropic arbovirus, CHIKV infection resulted in a more discrete, albeit detectable upregulation of IL-6 levels. Finally, we found that CHIKV infection resulted in an altered profile expression, mainly downregulation, of a group of transcription factors named Hox genes. Altogether our findings highlight important features of CHIKV in the CNS, as well as the feasibility of neurospheres as robust experimental models that can support further studies for novel pharmacological interventions.
Gallbladder cancer: current and future treatment options

Surgery remains the preferred treatment option for early-stage gallbladder cancer (GBC). According to the anatomical position of the primary tumor, accurate preoperative stage and strict control of surgical indications, appropriate surgical strategies are selected to achieve the optimal surgical effect. However, most patients have already been at the locally advanced stage or the tumor has metastasized at the initial diagnosis. The postoperative recurrence rate and 5-year survival rate remain unsatisfactory even after radical resection for gallbladder cancer. Hence, there is an urgent need for more treatment options, such as neoadjuvant therapy, postoperative adjuvant therapy and first-line and second-line treatments of local progression and metastasis, in the whole-course treatment management of gallbladder cancer patients. In recent years, the application of molecular targeted drugs and immunotherapy has brought greater hope and broader prospects for the treatment of gallbladder cancer, but their effects in improving the prognosis of patients still lack sufficient evidence-based medicine evidence, so many problems should be addressed by further research. Based on the latest progress in gallbladder cancer research, this review systematically analyzes the treatment trends of gallbladder cancer.
The offshore renewables industry may be better served by new bespoke design guidelines than by automatic adoption of recommended practices developed for oil and gas infrastructure: A recommendation illustrated by subsea cable design

Introduction There is an emerging need for the offshore renewable industry to have their own bespoke design guidelines because the associated projects and offshore facilities differ in fundamental ways to oil and gas facilities. Offshore renewable energy (ORE) facilities have already surpassed the numbers of installed facilities in the oil and gas industry by an order of magnitude and demand is forecast to continue growing exponentially. In addition ORE facilities often have different response characteristics and limit states or failure modes as well as profoundly different risk and consequence profiles given they are generally uncrewed and do not contain explosive hydrocarbon fluids which might be released into the environment. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to advocate for licensing bodies and regulators (such as the various national PEL 114 committees) to challenge the process of automatic adoption of oil and gas design processes, while pushing for offshore renewables to be treated differently, when appropriate, with more relevant and applicable guidance. Methods To support this argument we present new bespoke design guidance developed for subsea cables based on specific modes of cable behaviour, which often differ from pipelines. We also show worked examples from recent project experience. The results from on-bottom stability analyses of a set of cables are compared between conventional oil and gas guidance following DNV-RP-F109 versus the stability using cable-optimised approaches. Results The outcomes from the ‘conventional’ oil and gas results are not simply biased compared to cable-optimised design methods, with a trend of being either conservative or unconservative. Instead, the results of the two methods are very poorly correlated. This shows that the oil and gas approach isn't simply biased when applied to cables, but is instead unreliable because it doesn't capture the underlying failure conditions. These analytical comparisons are supported by field observation - the ocean doesn't lie, and makes short work of any anthropogenic structures which are designed with inadequate appreciation of the real world conditions. Discussion To support the rapid growth of ORE, we should therefore actively pursue opportunities to rewrite the design rules and standards, so that they better support the specific requirements of ORE infrastructure, rather than legacy oil and gas structures. With more appropriate design practices, we can accelerate the roll out of ORE to meet net zero, and mitigate the climate crisis.
Toxicity of Zinc and Copper to Brassica Species: Implications for Phytoremediation

The toxicity of Zn and Cu in three species from the genus Brassica was examined to determine if these plants showed sufficient tolerance and metal accumulation to be used to phytoremediate a site contaminated with these two heavy metals. Hydroponically grown 12-d-old plants of Brassica juncea, B. rapa, and B. napus were grown for an additional 14 d in the presence of either elevated Zn (6.5 mg L{sup {minus}1}), Cu (0.32 mg L{sup {minus}1}), or Zn+Cu to quantify the toxic effects of these metals on several different growth parameters. With few exceptions, both root and shoot dry weight for all three species decreased significantly in the presence of heavy metals. Cu inhibited lateral root elongation in B. rapa, B. napus, and, to a lesser extent, B. juncea, while Zn tended to decrease only lateral root diameter. Both metals reduced shoot Fe and Mn concentrations in all three Brassica spp. to levels associated with Fe and Mn deficiencies. These deficiencies, however, did not correlate with observed patterns of leaf chlorosis. Nonetheless, heavy metal-induced inhibition of Fe and Mn accumulation may have been a significant factor in reducing plant growth. In terms of heavy metal removal, the Brassica spp, were more effectivemore » at removing Zn from the nutrient solution than Cu. The extent of Zn and Cu removal was reduced in the presence of both metals, as compared to the single heavy metal treatments. The implications of these results for phytoremediation are discussed. 20 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab. « less
Meta-SpikePropamine: learning to learn with synaptic plasticity in spiking neural networks

We propose that in order to harness our understanding of neuroscience toward machine learning, we must first have powerful tools for training brain-like models of learning. Although substantial progress has been made toward understanding the dynamics of learning in the brain, neuroscience-derived models of learning have yet to demonstrate the same performance capabilities as methods in deep learning such as gradient descent. Inspired by the successes of machine learning using gradient descent, we introduce a bi-level optimization framework that seeks to both solve online learning tasks and improve the ability to learn online using models of plasticity from neuroscience. We demonstrate that models of three-factor learning with synaptic plasticity taken from the neuroscience literature can be trained in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) with gradient descent via a framework of learning-to-learn to address challenging online learning problems. This framework opens a new path toward developing neuroscience inspired online learning algorithms.
A Novel Method To Examine Surface Composition in Mixtures of Chemically Identical Two Polymers with Different Molecular Weights

The bulk glass transition temperature, Tgb, of miscible binary blends can be well expressed by the Gordon−Taylor equation. Extending this notion to surface, the surface composition in the blend would be obtained by measuring the surface glass transition temperature, Tgs, of each constituent as well as their blend. The most intriguing advantage of this technique is that labeling of a component is not necessary, unlike conventional spectroscopy. To confirm the validity of our technique, the surface composition in a mixture of polystyrene (PS) and deuterated PS (dPS) was evaluated and compared with the results by well-established surface characterization techniques, static secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and neutron reflectivity. They were in good accordance with one another within the experimental accuracy. Hence, it was claimed that the proposed method was powerful to study the surface concentration in miscible binary blends. Finally, the surface composition in blend films of two PSs with different molecu.
Gelation Kinetics of Gelatin: A Master Curve and Network Modeling

The gelation kinetics of gelatin has been exhaustively studied using oscillatory rheometry for six molecular weight distributions, three concentrations, and four temperatures. Measurements lasted up to 31/2 months, much longer than previous studies. Remarkably, all of the data can be superimposed on a single master curve using suitable shift factors. The existence of a master curve shows that, over the broad range of variables studied, the gelation processes are identical; altering the variables just changes the scaling factors for elasticity and time. Empirically, it is found that neither high nor low molecular weight chains contribute to the elasticity. A statistical network model has been developed, based on Flory's phantom network formalism. It gives reasonable fits to the experimental gel times and is compatible with the observed dependence of elasticity on molecular weight distribution. A second order reaction kinetics model has also been developed which satisfactorily models the early stages of gel.
SULPHUR(IV) OXIDATION BY OXYGEN IN THE PRESENCE OF COBALT(II) IONS IN ATMOSPHERIC WATERS

The paper presents results of study on catalytic effect of Co(II) ions on the oxidation of S(IV) in aqueous solutions. Laboratory experiments were carried out at concentrations of reactants and pH found in atmospheric waters in heavily pol luted atmospheres. The kinetic law parameters, i.e. the observed rate constant and the reaction order with respect to S(IV) concentration, were determined. Depending on the initial pH of the reaction solution and Co(II) ion concentrations the S(IV) oxidation rates range between 2.2·10 -8 -1.6·10 -5 mol·dm -3 ·s -1 . The results obtained show that at an initial pH of 3.5- 5.0 catalytic activity of Co(II) is slight and it becomes significant at an initial pH of 6.0.
Competing atomic and molecular hydrogen pathways in the photodissociation of methanol at 157 nm

Photofragment translational spectra at m/e=1(H), 2(H2,D), 3(HD), and 4(D2) have been obtained for CH3OH, CH3OD, and CD3OH at 157 nm excitation. Analysis of the time-of-flight spectra reveals two different atomic H loss channels: hydroxyl H elimination, and methyl H elimination. While the hydroxyl H elimination seems to be a single fast process, the methyl H loss exhibits clearly two significantly different mechanisms: one fast and one slow. Experimental results also show two molecular hydrogen elimination channels: three-center elimination from the methyl group, which displays two different micropathways, and four-center elimination involving hydrogen atoms on both the C and O sites. The relative branching of the atomic versus molecular hydrogen elimination channels was found to be 1:0.15. These results present a uniquely clear picture of methanol photodissociation at 157 nm, and thus provide an excellent case for quantitative theoretical investigations.
Self‐diffusion and viscosity of some liquids as a function of temperature

Self-diffusion coefficients of 15 liquids have been measured as a function of temperature between their melting and boiling points. The systems investigated were the benzenes, C6H5X where X = H, F, Cl, Br, and I, n-paraffins, CnHn + 2 where n = 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18, acetone, acetic acid and water. The pulsed nmr technique was employed for the diffusion measurements. In addition, the viscosities of the halogenated benzenes have been measured between 20°C and their melting points. The diffusion results obtained in this study have been found in excellent agreement with the best values available for benzene (Collings and Mills, 1970) and water (Longworth, 1960). The relation between the apparent molecular diameter d (d = 2.24(η VD/RT)1/2) and the critical volume as suggested by Dullien (1972) has been extended to include the temperature dependence of d. It is also shown that the temperature dependence of d is similar for all liquids studied here with respect to the reduced temperature. The increase of d for Tr < 0.46 shows the invalidity of the Stokes-Einstein relation for this temperature range (Tr = T/Tc). A normalized plot of d has been found very useful in checking the consistency of viscosity and self-diffusion data. The relations proposed in this work can be used to predict self-diffusion coefficients and viscosities over the normal liquid range.
Comparison of Butyric Acid, Ethanol, Lactic Acid, and Propionic Acid as Hydrogen Donors for the Reductive Dechlorination of Tetrachloroethene

Previous studies indicated that dechlorinators can utilize H2 at lower concentrations than can methanogens. This suggests a strategy for selective enhancement of dechlorinationmanaging H2 delivery so as to impart a competitive advantage to dechlorinators. Four H2 donorsbutyric and propionic acids, which can only be fermented when the H2 partial pressure is lower than 10-3.5 or 10-4.4 atm, respectively, and ethanol and lactic acid, which are readily fermented at H2 partial pressures 2−3 orders of magnitude higherwere administered to anaerobic mixed cultures. Comparison of the resulting enrichment cultures during time-intensive, short-term tests showed significant differences in patterns of donor degradation, H2 production and use, and distribution of reduction equivalents between dechlorination and competing methanogenesis. Amendment with butyric and propionic acids resulted in less methanogenesis than did amendment with ethanol or lactic acid, which generated much higher H2 levels. Ethanol did not support.
Preparation and Characterization of Fe-Pilcs. Influence of the Synthesis Parameters

Iron-pillared clays (Fe-PILCs) were synthesized from hydrolyzed FeCl3 solutions added to NaOH solutions using different synthesis conditions. X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption, chemical analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia and temperature-programmed reduction were used to characterize the resulting Fe-pillared clays (Fe-PILCs). A higher degree of pillaring was obtained when the Fe content was adjusted to 60 mmoles of Fe/g of clay. It was observed that higher values of this ratio led to worse acidity and textural characteristics, a consequence of the probable formation of Fe oxides that could not only deposit on the surface but also block the pores formed during the pillaring process. Likewise, it was found that the amount of Fe that can be introduced depended on the OH/Fe ratios. Total surface and micropore area decreased and Fe content increased with increasing pillaring solution concentrations. Finally, all pillared samples prepared here were thermally stable at temperatures up to 400°C.
Thermodynamics of strongly‐coupled Yukawa systems near the one‐component‐plasma limit. II. Molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulations are employed to study the equilibrium thermodynamics of strongly‐coupled systems of particles interacting through the Yukawa potential. Such systems serve, under the Debye–Huckel approximation, as a model for the physical behavior of plasma or colloidal suspensions of charged particulates. The thermodynamics may be characterized in terms of two dimensionless parameters—the ratio κ of the mean interparticle distance to the Debye length, and an approximate measure Γ of the interparticle potential energy in units of the thermal kinetic energy. Employing an accurate representation of infinite periodic boundary conditions, we focus on the regime of weak Debye screening (κ ≲ 1) and strong coupling (Γ≫1). Excess internal energies measured at many points (κ,Γ) are fitted to simple functional forms for the fluid and solid phases, representing extrapolations of the classical one‐component plasma (OCP) limit, κ=0. Quantitative expressions for the Helmholtz free energy and the ‘‘equatio.
Studies of ZnxCd1-xS films and ZnxCd1-xS/CuGaSe2 heterojunction solar cells

Thin film ZnxCd1-xS/CuGaSe2 heterojunction solar cells were prepared by laser evaporating CuGaSe2 onto sprayed ZnxCd1-xS films. The physical properties of ZnxCd1-xS films are discussed to study the influence of zinc content in the ZnxCd1-xS layer on the performance of the heterojunction. The photovoltaic properties of the cells were studied using illuminated current-voltage characteristics and spectral response measurements. The typical cell parameters obtained for a Zn0.5Cd0. 5S/CuGaSe2 junction were Voc=710 mV, Jsc=11.8 mA cm-2, FF=0.50 with an efficiency of 4.9% on an active area of 1 cm2 without any antireflection coating.
Consumo e digestibilidade em ovinos alimentados com dietas contendo grão de milho moído, inteiro ou tratado com uréia, com três níveis de concentrado

In this study corn grain was used as whole, ground or urea treated grain to prepare diet containing 30, 50 or 70% concentrate. Eighteen castrated lambs (34.48 average body weight) were used during three periods to measure food intake and digestibility. The intake of dry matter (DMI), crude protein (CPI) and neutral detergent fiber (NDFI) were not affected by treatment of corn grain. Level of concentrate in diet affected (P<0.05) DMI and CPI which reached a maximum at 55.5 and 58.7% concentrate, respectively. The NDFI decreased linearly (P<0.05) with the increasing level of concentrate. Grain treatment did not affected the digestibility of nutrient except for crude protein apparent digestibility which was higher (P<0.05) for diet containing UG. Apparent digestibility of dry and organic matter and total carbohydrates increased linearly with increasing proportion of concentrate in diet. Whole corn grain can be used to prepare concentrate mixtures to be fed to sheep.