bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Melatonin confers fenugreek tolerance to salinity stress by stimulating the biosynthesis processes of enzymatic, non-enzymatic antioxidants, and diosgenin content
Authors: Mohamadi Esboei Maryam , Ebrahimi Amin , Amerian Mohamad Reza , Alipour Hadi
Published: August 2022

Salinity-induced stress is widely considered a main plant-growth-limiting factor. The positive effects of melatonin in modulating abiotic stresses have led this hormone to be referred to as a growth regulator in plants. This study aims to show how melatonin protects fenugreek against the negative effects of salt stress. Different amounts of melatonin (30, 60, and 90 ppm), salinity stress (150 mM and 300 mM), and the use of both salinity and melatonin were used as treatments. The results showed that applying different melatonin levels to salinity-treated fenugreek plants effectively prevented the degradation of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid contents compared with salinity treatment without melatonin application. Besides, melatonin increases the biosynthesis of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, thereby adjusting the content of reactive oxygen species, free radicals, electrolyte leakage, and malondialdehyde content. It was observed that applying melatonin increased the activity of potassium-carrying channels leading to the maintenance of ionic homeostasis and increased intracellular water content under salinity stress. The results revealed that melatonin activates the defense signaling pathways in fenugreek through the nitric oxide, auxin, and abscisic acid-dependent pathways. Melatonin, in a similar vein, increased the expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of diosgenin, a highly important steroidal sapogenin in medical and food industries, and hence the diosgenin content. When 150 mM salinity stress and 60 ppm melatonin were coupled, the diosgenin concentration rose by more than 5.5 times compared to the control condition. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate the potential of melatonin to enhance the plant tolerance to salinity stress by stimulating biochemical and physiological changes.
Epigenetics and its role in effecting agronomical traits
Authors: Gupta Chainika , Salgotra Romesh K.
Published: August 2022

Climate-resilient crops with improved adaptation to the changing climate are urgently needed to feed the growing population. Hence, developing high-yielding crop varieties with better agronomic traits is one of the most critical issues in agricultural research. These are vital to enhancing yield as well as resistance to harsh conditions, both of which help farmers over time. The majority of agronomic traits are quantitative and are subject to intricate genetic control, thereby obstructing crop improvement. Plant epibreeding is the utilisation of epigenetic variation for crop development, and has a wide range of applications in the field of crop improvement. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene expression that are heritable and induced by methylation of DNA, post-translational modifications of histones or RNA interference rather than an alteration in the underlying sequence of DNA. The epigenetic modifications influence gene expression by changing the state of chromatin, which underpins plant growth and dictates phenotypic responsiveness for extrinsic and intrinsic inputs. Epigenetic modifications, in addition to DNA sequence variation, improve breeding by giving useful markers. Also, it takes epigenome diversity into account to predict plant performance and increase crop production. In this review, emphasis has been given for summarising the role of epigenetic changes in epibreeding for crop improvement.
A new technique for stain-marking of seeds with safranine to track seed dispersal and seed bank dynamics
Authors: Zhang Zheng , Shi Xinglei , Li Ruhai , Qiang Sheng
Published: August 2022

Accurate tracking of seed dispersal is critical for understanding gene flow and seed bank dynamics, and for predicting population distributions and spread. Available seed-tracking techniques are limited due to environmental and safety issues or requirements for expensive and specialized equipment. Furthermore, few techniques can be applied to studies of water-dispersed seeds. Here we introduce a new seed-tracking method using safranine to stain seeds/fruits by immersing in (ex situ) or spraying with (in situ) staining solution. The hue difference value between pre- and post-stained seeds/fruits was compared using the HSV color model to assess the effect of staining. A total of 181 kinds of seeds/fruits out of 233 tested species of farmland weeds, invasive alien herbaceous plants and trees could be effectively stained magenta to red in hue (320–360°) from generally yellowish appearance (30–70°), in which the other 39 ineffectively-stained species were distinguishable by the naked eye from pre-stained seeds. The most effectively stained seeds/fruits were those with fluffy pericarps, episperm, or appendages. Safranine staining was not found to affect seed weight or germination ability regardless of whether seeds were stained ex situ or in situ. For 44 of 48 buried species, the magenta color of stained seeds clearly remained recognizable for more than 5 months after seeds were buried in soil. Tracking experiments using four species (Beckmannia syzigachne, Oryza sativa f. spontanea, Solidago Canadensis, and Acer buergerianum), representing two noxious agricultural weeds, an alien invasive plant, and a tree, respectively, showed that the safranine staining technique can be widely applied for studying plant seed dispersal. Identifying and counting the stained seeds/fruits can be executed by specially complied Python-based program, based on OpenCV library for image processing and Numpy for data handling. From the above results, we conclude that staining with safranine is a cheap, reliable, easily recognized, automatically counted, persistent, environmentally safe, and user–friendly tracking-seed method. This technique may be widely applied to staining most of the seed plant species and the study of seed dispersal in arable land and in disturbed and natural terrestrial or hydrophytic ecological systems.
Macroeconomic effects of crude oil shocks: Evidence from South Asian countries
Authors: Ahmad Iftikhar , Iqbal Shahid , Khan Salim , Han Heesup , Vega-Muñoz Alejandro , Ariza-Montes Antonio
Published: August 2022

This research tends to convey the relationship between crude oil price volatility and key macroeconomics indicators, i.e., gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate (IR), interest rate, and exchange rate. The study collected the time-series data (2000–2020) from the South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka), and employed macroeconomic policy modeling tools (impulse response function and the prediction error variance decomposition technique) in the vector autorepression (VAR) setup. The outcome of the impulse response function explained considerable variance among macroeconomic indicators in response to crude oil price shocks. The macroeconomic indicators are extremely susceptible to minor fluctuations in oil prices causing a significant impact on the region's socioeconomic situation. The result of variance decomposition indicates that each country in the region reacts differently to crude oil price volatility which reflects their macroeconomics fundamentals, independent policy, sector structure, and country differences. The findings support change in public policies in a way to reduce their dependency on oil energy and encourage them toward renewal and green energy sources for better environmental results and sustainable development.
Associations of depressive symptoms and chronic diseases with activities of daily living among middle-aged and older population in China: A population-based cohort study
Authors: Hu Yingyun , Zhou Feixiang , Kaminga Atipatsa Chiwanda , Yan Shipeng , Hu Zhao
Published: August 2022

Background

Activities of daily living (ADL) disability is a concern in the aging population and can lead to increased health service demands and lower quality of life. The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess the associations of chronic conditions and depressive symptoms with ADL disability.

Methods

This prospective cohort study used two waves of data (2011 and 2015) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A total of 10,864 participants aged 45 and older were included for analysis. Chronic diseases were assessed by self-report and depressive symptoms were assessed using the validated 10-item of Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale at baseline. Incidents of ADL disability during follow-up were assessed using the Katz ADL scales.

Results

After 4 years of follow-up, there were 704 participants incidents of ADL disability. The incident rate was 17.22 per 1,000 person-years. Having at least one chronic disease was independently associated with a 39% increased risk of incident ADL disability (adjusted HR, 1.39; 95%CI: 1.16, 1.67). The presence of depression symptoms was independently associated with a 54% increased risk of incident ADL disability (adjusted HR, 1.54; 95%CI: 1.30, 1.82). However, there was no significant additive interaction effect between chronic diseases and depressive symptoms on ADL disability.

Conclusion

Chronic diseases and depressive symptoms are associated with an increased risk of ADL disability in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Improving chronic diseases and depressive symptoms can prevent ADL disability.
Factors associated with suicidality among school attending adolescents in morocco
Authors: Tom Abdallah , Mahfoud Ziyad R.
Published: August 2022

Suicide amongst adolescents is a growing epidemic accounting for 6% of all adolescent deaths. Even though 79% of adolescent suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries, where suicide is the second leading cause of death, research is relatively lacking. As such, we aim to gain a greater understanding of suicide in said countries by assessing ideation and planning and associated factors in Morocco. Global Schools Health Survey data was analyzed. Approximately 14.4 and 12.9% reported ideation and planning respectively during the prior year in 2016, indicating a decrease from the reported rates of ideation of 16.0 and 17.0% and planning of 14.6 and 15.0% in 2006 and 2010 surveys respectively. Increased ideation was found to be positively associated with identifying as female and increasing age, whereas planning was positively associated with a lower educational level and living in a rural area. Both were positively associated with increased hunger frequency. Several factors increased the likelihood of ideation: bullying, feeling lonely, current cigarettes smoking, and current marijuana use. Studying factors associated with suicide is challenging, alternatively, factors affecting ideation and planning can be assessed. Sociocultural differences may impact trends in a specific region, though countries in said region may have comparable trends. The study adds to the limited data available in the region. Reverse causality and under-reporting could be the main limitations of this study. Interventions taking into account those results should be tested to decrease such a prevalence.
State resilience and rate of recovery among addicts: Moderating role of social skills
Authors: Abbasi Najam ul Hasan , Muhammad Saghir
Published: August 2022

The present study intended to explore the moderating role of social skills in State Resilience and the rate of recovery among drug addicts. The sample size was 100 recovering addicts from different drug rehabilitation centers were recruited from twin cities (Islamabad and Rawalpindi) of Pakistan. The Social Skills Inventory (SSI) was used to assess social skills, while Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Substance Use Recovery Evaluator (SURE) was used to assess state resilience and recovery among study participants. Results suggest a significant positive correlation between social skills and recovery (r = 0.27; p < 0.01). Similarly, state resilience was found to be significantly correlated with social skills (r = 0.35; p < 0.01), while state resilience was not significantly correlated with recovery. The moderation analysis for the interaction of social skills on state resilience was non-significant [β = 0.002, 95% CI (−0.002, 0.00), t = 1.01, p = 0.316]. Results also indicate the significant relationship of social skills in the prevention of relapse against drug use.
Long-term effects of COVID-19 in diabetic and non-diabetic patients
Authors: Alberca Ricardo Wesley , Ramos Yasmim Álefe Leuzzi , Pereira Nátalli Zanete , Beserra Danielle Rosa , Branco Anna Cláudia Calvielli Castelo , Leão Orfali Raquel , Aoki Valeria , Duarte Alberto Jose da Silva , Sato Maria Notomi
Published: August 2022

The literature presents several reports of the impact of glycemic control and diabetes in the inflammatory and coagulatory response during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Nevertheless, the long-term impact of the COVID-19 in diabetic patients is still to be explored. Therefore, we recruited 128 patients and performed a longitudinal analysis on COVID-19-associated biomarkers of patients with COVID-19, tree and 6 months after COVID-19 recovery and put into perspective the possible long-term complication generated after COVID-19. In our investigation, we failed to verify any long-term modification on inflammatory biomarkers, but detected an increase in the glycemia and glycated hemoglobin in patients without any pre-existing history or diagnosis of diabetes (non-diabetic patients). Although diabetic and non-diabetic patients presented elevated levels of glycated hemoglobin, the c-peptide test indicated a normal beta cell function in all patients.
Scientific motivations and future directions of whole atmosphere modeling
Authors: Pedatella N. M.
Published: August 2022

The recent development of whole atmosphere models that extend from the surface to the upper thermosphere represents a significant advance in modeling capabilities of the ionosphere-thermosphere. Whole atmosphere models have had an especially important influence on understanding the role of terrestrial weather on generating variability in the ionosphere-thermosphere. This paper provides an overview of the scientific motivations and contributions made by whole atmosphere modeling. This is followed by a discussion of future directions in whole atmosphere modeling and the science that they will enable.
Case report: Lower eyelid Reconstruction with the rotation flap pedicled by orbicularis oculi muscle
Authors: Duan Mengying , Yue Chao , Peng Jianzhong
Published: August 2022

Background

Loss of eyelid tissue can be caused by trauma, congenital defects or tumors. Eyelid reconstruction is complicated and challengingly difficult because of the complex anatomy of the eyelid. Several types of surgical procedures for the reconstruction of eyelid defects are available.

Objective

To describe reconstruction of lower-eyelid defects using a rotation flap pedicled by the orbicularis oculi.

Methods

Fourteen patients (mean age = 67 years old; ages range of 53–86 years old) who suffered from tumor excision from the lower eyelid were treated by the method.

Results

The mean duration of follow-up was 14 (range, 12–16) months. Ectropion, abnormal eyelid position and donor-site morbidity were not observed during follow-up.

Conclusion

A rotation flap pedicled by the orbicularis oculi can be a good choice for single-stage reconstruction of lower-eyelid defects.
Topical Application of Metal Allergens Induces Changes to Lipid Composition of Human Skin
Authors: Knox Sophie , Hagvall Lina , Malmberg Per , O'Boyle Niamh M.
Published: August 2022

Lipids are an important constituent of skin and are known to be modified in many skin diseases including psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. The direct effects of common metallic contact allergens on the lipid composition of skin has never been investigated, to the best of our knowledge. We describe skin lipid profiles in the stratum corneum and viable epidermis ofex vivohuman skin from a female donor upon exposure to three metal allergens (nickel, cobalt and chromium) visualised using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), which allows for simultaneous visualisation of both the allergen and skin components such as lipids. Multivariate analysis using partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) indicated that the lipid profile of metal-treated skin was different to non-treated skin. Analysis of individual ions led to the discovery that cobalt and chromium induced increases in the content of diacylglycerols (DAG) in stratum corneum. Cobalt also induced increases in cholesterol in both the stratum corneum and viable epidermis, as well as monoacylglycerols (MAG) in the viable epidermis. Chromium caused an increase in DAG in viable epidermis in addition to the stratum corneum. In contrast, nickel decreased MAG and DAG levels in viable epidermis. Our results indicate that skin lipid content is likely to be altered upon topical exposure to metals. This discovery has potential implications for the molecular mechanisms by which contact allergens cause skin sensitization.
Transcription factor SS18L1 regulates the proliferation, migration and differentiation of Schwann cells in peripheral nerve injury
Authors: Qian Tianmei , Qiao Pingping , Lu Yingnan , Wang Hongkui
Published: August 2022

Transcription factors bind to specific DNA sequences, modulate the transcription of target genes, and regulate various biological processes, including peripheral nerve regeneration. Our previous analysis showed that SS18L1, a gene encoding the transcription factor SS18-like protein 1, was differentially expressed in the distal sciatic nerve stumps after rat sciatic nerve transection injury, but its effect on peripheral nerve injury has not been reported. In the current study, we isolated and cultured primary Schwann cells, and examined the role of SS18L1 for the biological functions of the cells. Depletion of SS18L1 by siRNA in Schwann cells enhanced cell proliferation and inhibited cell migration, as determined by EdU assay and transwell migration assay, respectively. In addition, silencing of SS18L1 inhibited Schwann cell differentiation induced by HRG and cAMP. Bioinformatics analyses revealed an interaction network of SS18L1, including DF2, SMARCD1, SMARCA4, and SMARCE1, which may be implicated in the regulatory functions of SS18L1 on the proliferation, migration and differentiation of Schwann cells. In conclusion, our results revealed a temporal expression profile of SS18L1 in peripheral nerve injury and its potential roles during the process of nerve recovery.
Why Were Innovators Motivated to Be Entrepreneurs? An Empirical Study of Taiwanese Start-Ups
Authors: Hung Chia-Liang
Published: August 2022

Background: According to the lead user theory, lead users at the front of a market, benefiting significantly from new products, usually have more innovation intension than general users. However, little research depicts the entrepreneurship motivations that drive innovators to become businesspeople. Hence, this study investigates Taiwanese entrepreneurs to fill this gap in the research. Method: This study examines motivations for becoming an entrepreneur from small- and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan. A multiple regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between lead user inclination and entrepreneurial motivations as well as to test the moderating effect of community involvement. Results: The research results summarise entrepreneurial motivations into five categories: product knowledge advantage, industry expertise, inducements to innovation, career expectations, and benchmarking and indicate the positive moderating effect of community involvement on the association between innovators and entrepreneurs. Conclusions: Additional research is suggested to catalyse motivations to aspire lead users to pursue business success as well as to enhance entrepreneurship education policy. This study contributes to understanding the inclination of lead users towards becoming entrepreneurs and, especially, to emphasise the role of community involvement, which increases the likelihood of innovators to be entrepreneurs.
Attitude Stabilization of a Satellite Having Only Electromagnetic Actuation Using Oscillating Controls
Authors: Misra Rahul , Wisniewski Rafał , Zuyev Alexander
Published: August 2022

We consider the problem of attitude stabilization for a low Earth orbit satellite having only electromagnetic actuation. Such a satellite is not fully actuated, as the control torque is the cross-product of magnetic moment due to magnetorquers and the geomagnetic field. The aim of this work is to study whether oscillating controls can be designed such that a satellite actuated via magnetorquers alone can achieve full three-axis control irrespective of the position of the satellite. To this end, we propose considering oscillating feedback controls which generate the motion of the closed-loop system in the direction of appropriate Lie brackets. Simulation studies show that the proposed control scheme is able to stabilize the considered system.
Design and Analysis of a Compression and Separation Device for Multi-Satellite Deployment
Authors: Zhao Yong , Zhao Qingguang , Yang Fei , Yue Honghao , Yang Xiaoze , Li Huaiyu
Published: August 2022

The launch method of one arrow with multiple satellites can greatly shorten the time for constellation networking and improve the deployment efficiency. A new compression and separation device with a four-bar perimeter arrangement is proposed for multi-satellite compaction and in-orbit release. A compression device with gap elimination is designed to implement the reliable compaction of stacked flat satellites. An electromagnetic separation device is proposed to achieve the fast, low-interference release of multi-satellites. The dynamic model with flexible guide bars is established. The separation characteristics of multiple satellites are analyzed by the kinematic simulation. The prototype is developed, and the related experiment is implemented. The results show that the four-guide-bar-edge arrangement scheme with a gap elimination device achieves reliable locking and fast separation under a vibration environment. The dynamic separation characteristics of satellites are investigated by the air floatation experiments. The results show that a stable separation speed and low disturbance angular velocity are achieved under 10% spring error.
Application of a Fractional Order Differential to the Hyperspectral Inversion of Soil Iron Oxide
Authors: Zhao Hailong , Gan Shu , Yuan Xiping , Hu Lin , Wang Junjie , Liu Shuai
Published: August 2022

Iron oxide is the main form of iron present in soils, and its accumulation and migration activities reflect the leaching process and the degree of weathering development of the soil. Therefore, it is important to have information on the iron oxide content of soils. However, due to the overlapping characteristic spectra of iron oxide and organic matter in the visible-near infrared, appropriate spectral transformation methods are important. In this paper, we first used conventional spectral transformation (continuum removal, CR; standard normal variate, SNV; absorbance, log (1/R)), continuous wavelet transform (CWT), and fractional order differential (FOD) transform to process original spectra (OS). Secondly, competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) was used to extract characteristic wavelengths. Finally, two regression models (backpropagation neural network, BPNN; support vector regression (SVR) were used to predict the content of iron oxide. The results show that the FOD can significantly improve the correlation with iron oxide compared with the CR, SNV, log (1/R) and CWT; the baseline drift and overlapping peaks decrease with increasing the order of FOD; the CARS algorithm based on 50th averaging can select more stable characteristic wavelengths; the FOD achieves better results regardless of the modelling method, and the model based on 0.5-order differential has the best prediction performance (R2 = 0.851, RMSE = 5.497, RPIQ = 3.686).
Research on Integrated Navigation System of Agricultural Machinery Based on RTK-BDS/INS
Authors: Huang Yourui , Fu Jiahao , Xu Shanyong , Han Tao , Liu Yuwen
Published: August 2022

To improve the positioning accuracy and reliability of autonomous navigation agricultural machinery and reduce the cost of high-precision positioning, an integrated navigation system based on Real-Time Dynamic Kinematic BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (RTK-BDS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) is designed in this study. On the one hand, an autonomous navigation control board is designed and made in the system, which integrates BDS high-precision analysis module, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) module, and radio module, and realizes the integrated navigation algorithm on the control board. On the other hand, low-cost RTK technology is realized by building differential reference stations and vehicle-mounted mobile stations. Experiments are carried out on actual farm machinery under different road conditions including open road, signal-shielded road, and urban congested road. According to the angular velocity and acceleration information from INS and the position and velocity information from the BDS high-precision analysis module, the system uses Kalman filter algorithm for data fusion to calculate the precise position, velocity, and attitude information of agricultural machinery in real time. The experimental results show that the position error of the integrated navigation system on the open road is within 3 cm, the azimuth error is within 0.6°, and the inclination error is within 1°, all of which converge rapidly when encountering bad road conditions. It can be known from the experimental results that the RTK-BDS/INS integrated navigation system has high positioning accuracy, strong adaptive anti-interference ability, and low implementation cost of RTK technology, which provides a reliable way for automatic navigation control of agricultural machinery.
Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Finishers with Herbal Probiotics, Ascorbic Acid and Allicin on the Cost and Quality Characteristics of Pork
Authors: Rybarczyk Artur
Published: August 2022

This study analyzed the effect of finishing diet supplementation with herbal probiotic preparation, ascorbic acid, and allicin on mortality rates of pigs, and longissimus lumborum (LL) and semimembranosus (SM) muscle quality, including the levels of cholesterol, macroelements and microelements. The experiment was carried out on 3614 hybrid pigs (equal share of gilts and barrows), of the offspring of PIC410 boars and DanBred sows (Landrace-Yorkshire), divided into two groups. The experimental group of pigs received Fermented Herbs Extract (Multikraft, Austria) enriched with probiotics (S. cerevisiae, L. casei, L. plantarum) in addition to ascorbic acid (E300) and allicin during the finishing period (95 days), while the control group was fed a typical finishing diet containing levels of antibiotics consistent with those used in commercial pig production. Our results showed a positive effect of supplementation with herbal probiotics, allicin and ascorbic acid in lowering finishing pig mortality and increasing pork quality as evidenced by higher pH (40 min post mortem in the SM muscle; 24 h and 48 h in the LL muscle), lower thaw loss, higher dry matter and intramuscular fat (IMF), and higher yellowness (b*) and chroma (C*) while maintaining similar carcass lean/fat content. However, results showed no effect of the supplements on the levels of cholesterol, macroelements, and microelements in the LL muscle, except for Mn, whose concentration was higher in the control group. Compared to barrows, the carcasses of gilts were characterized by a greater share of lean meat and lower backfat thickness, with similar physicochemical and functional characteristics of meat. The results also showed interactions between the groups of pigs (control and supplementation) and their sex in shaping L* and the content of ash, potassium and phosphorus in the muscles. In summary, from the point of view of production economics, the use of the analyzed supplements in the finishing feed and through fogging resulted in better health (no need for the use of antibiotics) and lower mortality of pigs, which ultimately resulted in better financial results. In addition, the use of these additives in pig fattening had a beneficial effect on meat quality.
A Dead Broiler Inspection System for Large-Scale Breeding Farms Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Hao Hongyun , Fang Peng , Duan Enze , Yang Zhichen , Wang Liangju , Wang Hongying
Published: August 2022

Stacked cage is the main breeding method of the large-scale farm in China. In broiler farms, dead broiler inspection is a routine task in the breeding process. It refers to the manual inspection of all cages and removal of dead broilers in the broiler house by the breeders every day. However, as the total amount of broilers is huge, the inspection work is not only time-consuming but also laborious. Therefore, a dead broiler inspection system is constructed in this study to replace the manual inspection work. It mainly consists of an autonomous inspection platform and a dead broiler detection model. The automatic inspection platform performs inspections at the speed of 0.2 m/s in the broiler house aisle, and simultaneously collects images of the four-layer broilers. The images are sent to a server and processed by a dead broiler detection model, which was developed based on the YOLOv3 network. A mosaic augment, the Swish function, an spatial pyramid pooling (SPP) module, and complete intersection over union (CIoU) loss are used to improve the YOLOv3 performance. It achieves a 98.6% mean average precision (intersection of union (IoU) = 0.5) and can process images at 0.007 s per frame. The dead broiler detection model is robust to broilers of different ages and can adapt to different lighting conditions. It is deployed on the server with a human–machine interface. By observing the processing results using the human–machine interface, the breeders could directly find the cage position of dead broilers and remove them, which could reduce the workload of breeders and promote the intelligent development of poultry breeding.
The Effect of Transplant Date and Plant Spacing on Biomass Production for Floral Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.)
Authors: Linder Eric R. , Young Sierra , Li Xu , Henriquez Inoa Shannon , Suchoff David H
Published: August 2022

Floral hemp cultivated for the extraction of cannabinoids is a new crop in the United States, and agronomic recommendations are scarce. The objective of this study was to understand the effects of plant spacing and transplant date on floral hemp growth and biomass production. Field trials were conducted in North Carolina in 2020 and 2021 with the floral hemp cultivar BaOx. Transplant date treatments occurred every two weeks from 11 May to 7 July (±1 d). Plant spacing treatments were 0.91, 1.22, 1.52, and 1.83 m between plants. Weekly height and width data were collected throughout the vegetative period, and dry biomass was measured at harvest. Plant width was affected by transplant date and spacing. Plant height was affected by transplant date. Earlier transplant dates resulted in taller, wider plants, while larger plant spacing resulted in wider plants. Individual plant biomass increased with earlier transplant dates and larger plant spacing. On a per-hectare basis, biomass increased with earlier transplant dates and smaller transplant spacing. An economic analysis found that returns were highest with 1.22 m spacing and decreased linearly by a rate of −163.098 USD ha−1 d−1. These findings highlight the importance of earlier transplant timing to maximize harvestable biomass.
The Economic Burden of Chromosome Translocations and the Benefits of Enhanced Screening for Cattle Breeding
Authors: Lewis Nicole M. , Canedo-Ribeiro Carla , Rathje Claudia C. , Jennings Rebecca L. , Danihel Maxim , Bosman Lisa M. , Silvestri Giuseppe , Griffin Darren K.
Published: August 2022

The cattle breeding industry, through both of its derivatives (dairy and beef), provides 81% of milk and 22% of meat required globally. If a breeding bull is sub-fertile, this impacts herd conception and birth rates, and it is generally accepted that having a proactive genetic screening programme can prevent further losses. Chromosome translocations are the leading genetic cause of infertility in livestock and, in cattle, this extends beyond the classical 1:29 to other Robertsonian translocations (RobTs) and to reciprocal translocations (RECTs). The incidence of both (collectively termed RTs) varies between breeds and herds; however, we estimate that RECTs are, most likely, at least twice as common as RobTs. The purpose of this study was to develop an industry economic model to estimate the financial impact of an RT event at the herd level. If we assume a conservative incidence rate of 0.4% for Rob1:29 with each one impacting the conception rate by 5%, we calculate that actively screening for and removing a Rob1:29 bull could benefit an impacted herd by GBP 2.3 million (approx. USD 2.8 million) over six years. A recently updated screening protocol developed in our lab for all RTs, however (with a projected combined incidence of 1.2%, impacting conception rates by 10%), could benefit an impacted herd by GBP 7.2 million (nearly USD 9 million) for each RT found. For an industry worth USD 827.4 billion (dairy) and USD 467.7 billion (beef), expanding knowledge on incidence and further dissection of the potential costs (financial and environmental) from RTs is essential to prevent further losses.
Evaluation of the Effect of Storage Time on ROTEM S® Parameters in Healthy and Ill Dogs
Authors: Weingand Nicole , Vuille-dit-Bille Johanna , Jud Schefer Rahel , Kutter Annette P. N. , Stirn Martina , Adamik Katja-Nicole , Sigrist Nadja E.
Published: August 2022

Viscoelastic testing as a bedside test to assess global haemostasis has gained popularity in the past decade, with rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) and thromboelastography (TEG) being the two commonly used devices. TEG studies suggest analysis 30 min after blood sampling. However, the reproducibility of results over time for ROTEM analysis using lyophilized samples in dogs has not been established. In this study, we investigated the influence of time on viscoelastic testing, using 33 healthy staff-/client-owned dogs for blood sampling and repeated measurements of ROTEM tracings at three different time points after blood collection. Additionally, a group of 21 hospitalized patients with suspected coagulation disorders were included to investigate whether stability over time was comparable between healthy and ill dogs. We demonstrated a significant difference of ROTEM tracings over time, with a tendency towards hypocoagulability over time. These changes do have a clinical relevance as they exceed reference intervals and could therefore lead to erroneous conclusions about a patient’s coagulation status. Therefore, time-specific reference intervals are proposed and presented in this publication.
Relationship between Bruises on Carcasses of Beef Cattle and Transport-Related Factors
Authors: Zanardi Emanuela , De Luca Silvio , Alborali Giovanni Loris , Ianieri Adriana , Varrà Maria Olga , Romeo Claudia , Ghidini Sergio
Published: August 2022

The assessment of bruises on carcasses at the slaughterhouse has been lately indicated as a valid method to evaluate cattle welfare. However, little is known about the prevalence and the causes of bruises of cattle slaughtered in Italy. The aim of this study was to collect information concerning the prevalence of bruises on the carcasses of beef cattle slaughtered in an Italian abattoir and to determine a relationship between fresh bruises and transport-related factors. In total, 1265 animals were included in this study, with 21.6% of them being positive for at least one bruise, either fresh or old. In most cases, the bruising was mild, with lesions exclusively located in one area of the carcass. Most of the bruised animals (63%) showed at least one red lesion. Occurrence of such red, fresh bruises varied significantly depending on the body parts (p < 0.0001), with the flank being the most affected area (39.5%), followed by the butt (36.0%) and the front (23.8%). The probability of fresh bruising varied significantly depending on the category of each animal (p < 0.0001), with steers showing fewer red bruises than both heifers and veal. Finally, animals transported in conditions of a high density had a lower probability of bruising (p = 0.0003). These findings support the use of a monitoring scheme based on the presence of bruises to assess cattle welfare at the abattoir level in order to provide feedback to farmers and to implement procedures carried out during transport.
Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) Suppress Fertility by Activating Autophagy, Apoptosis, and Oxidative Stress in the Developing Oocytes of Female Zebrafish
Authors: Mawed Suzan Attia , Marini Carlotta , Alagawany Mahmoud , Farag Mayada R. , Reda Rasha M. , El-Saadony Mohamed T. , Elhady Walaa M. , Magi Gian E. , Di Cerbo Alessandro , El-Nagar Wafaa G.
Published: August 2022

In vertebrates, the core mechanisms that control gametogenesis are largely multiple, complex, successive, and orchestrated by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. However, age, health status, and hormonal activity are important factors for good fertility; other intangible intracellular molecular mechanisms that manage oocyte development are still unclear. The present study was designed to elucidate the ultrastructure changes in the ovary in response to its exposure to zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) and to explore the role of autophagy and apoptosis during egg maturation and ovulation on the fertility of female zebrafish. In our study, ZnO-NPs could induce cytotoxicity in the maturing oocyte by activating autophagy and apoptosis in a caspase-dependent manner and could induce oxidative stress by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) that elevated the mutated ovarian tP53 protein. Simultaneously, necroptosis developed, mimicking the features of apoptosis and necrosis. Collectively, ZnO-NPs created a suitable necrotic environment that led to follicular developmental retardation that altered oocyte ovulation and reduced fecundity of female zebrafish.
Effects of Ocular Hypertension on Cytoskeleton and Stiffness of Trabecular Meshwork Cells in Rats
Authors: Huang Shan , Yu Yang , Li Lin , Li Shanshan , Liu Zhicheng
Published: August 2022

Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) has been considered to be the major risk factor for glaucoma. The trabecular meshwork (TM), serving as the primary outflow pathway of aqueous humor (AH), has an essential role in controlling IOP. However, the mechanism of the interaction between ocular hypertension (OHT) and TM has not been completely understood. This research intended to investigate the effect of OHT on cell stiffness, cytoskeletal structure, and vimentin expression of TM cells in rats. Polystyrene microspheres were injected into the left eye of Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats to establish the OHT animal models. TM cells were extracted from the rat eyes with 2-week duration of OHT using the trypsin digestion method. The effect of OHT on the cytoskeletal structure and expression level of vimentin in TM cells were evaluated by immunofluorescence and western blot analyses, respectively. An atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to measure the cell elastic modulus. On the eighth day after microsphere injection, the IOP of experimental eyes increased to 24.25 ± 2.21 mmHg, and the IOP was maintained above 24 mmHg until the end of the experiment. TM cells extracted from the OHT group showed cytoskeleton rearrangement and the formation of cross-linked actin networks (CLANs). Compared to the control group, the cell stiffness in the OHT group was significantly increased. Moreover, the expression level of vimentin was obviously decreased in TM cells of the OHT group. The results demonstrate that OHT induces the rearrangement of the cytoskeleton, increase of cell stiffness, and downregulation of vimentin expression in TM cells.
Carbon Nanoparticles and Their Biomedical Applications
Authors: Holmannova Drahomira , Borsky Pavel , Svadlakova Tereza , Borska Lenka , Fiala Zdenek
Published: August 2022

This review summarizes the current knowledge on current and future applications of carbon nanoparticles in medicine. The carbon nanoparticle family has a large number of representatives with unique physicochemical properties that make them good candidates for use in clinical medicine. The best-known (and most researched) carbon nanoparticles include graphene, graphene oxide, and carbon nanotubes. The main direction of use involves medical diagnostics, which includes bioimaging and the detection of chemicals or metabolites present in the body. Since the question of nanoparticle toxicity has not been fully answered, the use of nanoparticles in the fields of therapeutics (drug delivery), regenerative medicine (cell scaffolding, tissue engineering), and vaccine production is still under research and many in vivo studies are ongoing. These preclinical studies suggest that carbon nanoparticles have great potential for diagnosis and treatment; the results show that the nanoparticles used do not have significant toxic effects; however, great caution is needed before nanoparticles are introduced into routine clinical practice.
Soil Liquefaction and Other Seismic-Associated Phenomena in the City of Chone during the 2016 Earthquake of Coastal Ecuador
Authors: Ortiz-Hernández Eduardo , Chunga Kervin , Toulkeridis Theofilos , Pastor José Luis
Published: August 2022

The city of Chone, being situated on the Ecuadorian coast, was affected due to the close-by epicenter of the earthquake of 16 April 2016, which reached a magnitude of Mw 7.8. This catastrophic event presented settlements in the ground, sand boils and land subsidence, being the most damaging in a variety of civil works among these several buildings. The main objective of the current study is to select data using the standard penetration test (SPT) for the evaluation of the probability of liquefaction considering a maximum acceleration seismic risk of amax = 0.5 g. With the tabulated information, a liquefaction hazard map was generated for the city of Chone, where a safety factor of 1228 was obtained, determining the potentially liquefiable strata at an approximate depth between 9 and 11 m. Hereby, we were able to demonstrate results that were obtained experimentally through a quantitative analysis, indicating that the urban area of the city of Chone has a high probability of liquefaction, which was supported due to the presence of Holocene-aged soils developed in alluvial deposits, located in an alluvium mid catchment area. This novel research, due to the combination of a variety of used tools in the seismic risk evaluation, provides a relevant contribution to territorial planning and risk management in construction, in addition to the territorial reorganization of the canton as an example for different regions worldwide with similar geodynamics, soil mechanics and seismic vulnerabilities.
DFT Insight to Ag2O Modified InN as SF6-N2 Mixture Decomposition Components Detector
Authors: Dong Haibo , Li Wenjun , Junaid Muhammad , Lu Zhuo , Luo Hao , Sun Weihu
Published: August 2022

In gas-insulated switchgear (GIS), partial discharge (PD) can be monitored by detecting sulfur hexafluoride-nitrogen (SF6-N2) decomposition components. In this paper, silver oxide (Ag2O) modification was introduced to improve the gas-sensing properties of graphene-like indium nitride (InN). The adsorption process of NO2, SO2F2, SOF2 and SOF4 on Ag2O-InN was simulated based on the first principles calculation and density functional theory (DFT). The gas sensing mechanism was revealed by density of states theory and molecular orbital theory. It is found that Ag2O doping greatly improves the adsorption properties of InN to NO2 and SOF2 molecules. The adsorption capacity of Ag2O-InN to the four gas molecules is: NO2 > SOF2 > SOF4 > SO2F2. All adsorptions can proceed spontaneously, and the gas molecules are electron donors and Ag2O-InN is an electron acceptor. Through the analysis of recovery time, it is found that NO2 is difficult to desorb from the substrate due to the significant adsorption energy of −2.201 eV, while SOF4, SOF2 and SO2F2 have a moderate adsorption energy of −0.185 eV, −0.754 eV and 0.173 eV and extremely short desorption time. The conductivity of the whole system changed after these four gases were adsorbed on the Ag2O-InN monolayer. In summary, Ag2O-InN can be used as NO2 adsorbent and gas sensors to detect SOF4, SOF2 and SO2F2. This paper provides a method for on-line monitoring of partial discharge in GIS.
Robust Malware Family Classification Using Effective Features and Classifiers
Authors: Hammad Baraa Tareq , Jamil Norziana , Ahmed Ismail Taha , Zain Zuhaira Muhammad , Basheer Shakila
Published: August 2022

Malware development has significantly increased recently, posing a serious security risk to both consumers and businesses. Malware developers continually find new ways to circumvent security research’s ongoing efforts to guard against malware attacks. Malware Classification (MC) entails labeling a class of malware to a specific sample, while malware detection merely entails finding malware without identifying which kind of malware it is. There are two main reasons why the most popular MC techniques have a low classification rate. First, Finding and developing accurate features requires highly specialized domain expertise. Second, a data imbalance that makes it challenging to classify and correctly identify malware. Furthermore, the proposed malware classification (MC) method consists of the following five steps: (i) Dataset preparation: 2D malware images are created from the malware binary files; (ii) Visualized Malware Pre-processing: the visual malware images need to be scaled to fit the CNN model’s input size; (iii) Feature extraction: both hand-engineering (Tamura) and deep learning (GoogLeNet) techniques are used to extract the features in this step; (iv) Classification: to perform malware classification, we employed k-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM). The proposed method is tested on a standard Malimg unbalanced dataset. The accuracy rate of the proposed method was extremely high, making it the most efficient option available. The proposed method’s accuracy rate was outperformed both the Hand-crafted feature and Deep Feature techniques, at 95.42 and 96.84 percent.
Risk Assessment of Tunnel Face Instability under Multi Factor Coupling Based on Conditional Probability and Tunnel Construction Mechanics
Authors: Huang Mingli , Zhang Zhien , Song Yuan , Gao Song , Yu Chunbo
Published: August 2022

The factors leading to the collapse of tunnel face are diverse, and there is an interaction relationship between multiple influencing factors at the physical and mechanical level. By analyzing the coupling relationship between the factors affecting the instability of tunnel working face, this paper deduces the calculation method of the coupling effect of tunnel construction risk factors for a certain risk event based on conditional probability theory, and makes reasonable assumptions on the monitoring data and risk probability. Finally, it is verified by a model test. The results show that the tunnel construction risk factors have a coupling effect by affecting other risk factors or changing the physical and mechanical parameters of surrounding rock, in which the coupling amplification effect will significantly change the failure probability of the risk carrier, so it is unfavorable to the stability of the tunnel face. The coupling amplification effect of risk factors will cause the increase of tunnel face extrusion deformation. Even if it causes a small deformation increment, it can also make the transition of risk probability and grade of tunnel face unstable, and cause tunnel face instability collapse. The research results of this paper can quantitatively evaluate and predict the stability of the working face in the process of tunnel construction.