The key factor that enables pathogenic bacteria to establish successful infections lies largely in their ability to escape the host's immune response and adhere to host surfaces. Vitronectin (Vn) is a multi-domain glycoprotein ubiquitously present in blood and extracellular matrix of several tissues, where it plays important roles as regulator of membrane attack complex (MAC) formation and as mediator of cell adhesion. Vn has emerged as intriguing target for several microorganisms. Vn-binding by bacterial receptors confers protection from lysis resulting from MAC deposition. Furthermore, through its Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif, Vn can bind several host cell integrins. Therefore, Vn recruited to the bacterial cell functions as a molecular bridge between bacteria and host surfaces, where it triggers several host signalling events that could promote bacterial internalisation. Each bacterium uses different receptors that recognise specific Vn-domains. In this review, we update the current knowledge of Vn receptors of major bacterial pathogens, emphasising the role they may play in the host upon Vn-binding. Focusing on the structural properties of bacterial proteins, we provide details on the residues involved in their interaction with Vn. Furthermore, we discuss the possible involvement of Vn adsorption on biomaterials in promoting bacterial adhesion on abiotic surfaces.

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are bursts of high-energy particles that originate from the Sun and can last for hours or even days. The aim of this study is to understand how the characteristics of energetic particles was affected by the characteristic parameters of corotating interaction regions (CIRs). In particular, the particle intensity distribution with time and space in different CIRs are studied. The propagation and acceleration of particles are described by the focused transport equation (FTE). We used a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model to simulate the background field including CIRs. By changing the inner boundary conditions, we constructed CIRs with different solar wind speeds, angles between the polar axis and rotation axis, and the azimuthal widths of the fast streams. Impulsive particles are injected at the inner boundary. We then study the SEPs in different backgrounds. The results show that the CIR widths are related to the solar wind speed, tilt angles, and the azimuthal widths of the fast stream. The acceleration of particles in the reverse and forward compression regions is mainly influenced by the solar wind speed difference and the slow solar wind speed, respectively. Particles with lower energy (sub-MeV) are more sensitive to the parameters of CIRs. Different CIR parameters also greatly affect the spatio-temporal distribution of particle intensities in different ways. These results indicate that, it is crucial to consider the conditions of large-scale structure in interplanetary space when studying or predicting energetic particles. Additionally, our findings provide empirical guidance for forecasting the characteristics of SEPs.

A change in the wettability of liquid sodium due to sodium implantation was evaluated theoretically. Interface models between sodium and a sodium-implanted substrate metal were created, and their electronic states were calculated. The discrete variational Xα cluster method was used in the calculations. The calculations show that the bond order, indicating the strength of the covalent bonds between atoms, decreases within the substrate metal and increases at the interface between sodium and the substrate metal due to sodium implantation. Their ratio, the bond order ratio, increased with the increasing sodium implantation. Previous studies have shown that wettability is better as the bond order ratio increases. Therefore, from the calculations results, wettability improves with increasing sodium implantation. The wettability of sodium-implanted metals was experimentally evaluated using the contact angle of the sodium droplets. The contact angle decreased, and the wettability improved due to sodium implantation. The change rate in the contact angle increased with the bond order ratio. The experimental and calculation results correlate well, without contradiction. In conclusion, sodium implantation changes the electronic state of the interface, affecting the wettability of liquid sodium.

Biological systems have a unique ability inherited through their genome. It allows them to build, operate, and manage a society of cells with complex organizational structures where autonomous components execute specific tasks and collaborate in groups to fulfill systemic goals with shared knowledge. The system receives information from various senses, makes sense of what is being observed, and acts using its experience, while the observations are still in progress. We use the General Theory of Information (GTI) to implement a digital genome, specifying the operational processes that design, deploy, operate, and manage a cloud-agnostic distributed application that is independent of IaaS and PaaS infrastructure, which provides the resources required to execute the software components. The digital genome specifies the functional and non-functional requirements that define the goals and best-practice policies to evolve the system using associative memory and event-driven interaction history to maintain stability and safety while achieving the system’s objectives. We demonstrate a structural machine, cognizing oracles, and knowledge structures derived from GTI used for designing, deploying, operating, and managing a distributed video streaming application with autopoietic self-regulation that maintains structural stability and communication among distributed components with shared knowledge while maintaining expected behaviors dictated by functional requirements.

Cancer is one of the most dreaded illnesses of the 20th century, cancer is continuing to spread and is becoming more common in the 21 st century.As of right now, breast cancer seems to be the most common cancer worldwide and the leading cause of cancer-related fatalities.In present study we used different network pharmacology tools for identification of target that involved in breast cancer that network pharmacology tool used target identification and validation process in drug discovery.In present study we used UniprotKB as text mining tool for identification of breast cancer gene in that we got the 2,658 gene in that we take the 165 in study the we done the GO and KEGG enrichment analysis in that we take pathways related to the breast cancer further we used STRING for determination protein-protein interaction in that we got the interaction between NDUFA1 with NDUFA3 and EREG,MYO1B with ACTN4 and XRCC3 with XRCC2.The interaction network was drawn and the network was analyzed by Cytoscape.

In this work we outline a general method for calculating Auger spectra in molecules, which accounts for the underlying symmetry of the system. This theory starts from Fano’s formulation of the interaction between discrete and continuum states and generalizes this formalism to deal with the simultaneous presence of several intermediate quasi-bound states and several non-interacting decay channels. Our theoretical description is specifically tailored to resonant autoionization and Auger processes, and includes explicitly the incoming wave boundary conditions for the continuum states and an accurate treatment of the Coulomb repulsion. This approach is implemented and applied to the calculation of the K−LL Auger and autoionization spectra of ozone, which is a C2v symmetric molecule, whose importance in our atmosphere to filter out radiation has been widely confirmed. We also show the effect that the molecular point group, and in particular the localization of the core-hole in the oxygen atoms related by symmetry operations, has on the electronic structure of the Auger states and on the spectral lineshape by comparing our results with experimental data.

The biotic and abiotic stresses are the main causes of the loss of agricultural crops productivity, their normal growth and development in the environment. It has been calculated that two-thirds of the major crops are frequently lost due to adverse environmental conditions. The productivity of crops under unfavorable environmental stresses is apparently the main challenge to the breeders and farmers where polyamines (PAs) play diverse roles in environmental stimuli. PAs (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) are low molecular weight positively charge compounds have the active potential power to negative charge molecules (DNA, RNA, and proteins) is widely distributed in all living organisms. Evidence showed that PAs contribute a lot of different physiological and biological functions, such as cell growth and development, controlling the cell cycle, involve in gene expression, cell signaling, replication, transcription, translation, and membrane stabilization. Naturally occurring polyamines activity acuminated to their involvement with different biotic and abiotic stresses and contribute to the survival of the plant in the environment. Here, we have described the potential mechanisms, synthesis, and various roles of PAs during stresses tolerant and disease resistance.

Anthracnose (ANT) and angular leaf spot (ALS) are significant diseases in common bean, leading to considerable yield losses under specific environmental conditions. The California Dark Red Kidney (CDRK) bean cultivar is known for its resistance to multiple races of both pathogens. Previous studies have identified the CoPv01CDRK/PhgPv01CDRK resistance loci on chromosome Pv01. Here, we evaluated the expression levels of ten candidate genes near the CoPv01CDRK/PhgPv01CDRK loci and plant defense genes using quantitative real-time PCR in CDRK cultivar inoculated with races 73 of Colletotrichum lindemuthianum and 63-39 of Pseudocercospora griseola. Gene expression analysis revealed that the Phvul.001G246300 gene exhibited the most elevated levels, showing remarkable 7.8-fold and 8.5-fold increases for ANT and ALS, respectively. The Phvul.001G246300 gene encodes an abscisic acid (ABA) receptor pyrabactin resistance - PYR1-like (PYL) protein, which plays a central role in crosstalk between ABA and jasmonic acid responses. Interestingly, our results also showed that the other defense genes were initially activated. These findings provide critical insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying plant defense against these diseases and could contribute to the development of more effective disease management strategies in the future.

An attempt is made to model the atomic nucleus as a combination of bound and free or unbound nucleons. Due to strong interaction, bound nucleons help in increasing nuclear binding energy and due to electroweak interaction, free or unbound nucleons help in decreasing nuclear binding energy. In this context, with reference to proposed 4G model of final unification and strong interaction, recently we have developed a unified nuclear binding energy scheme with four simple terms, one energy coefficient of 10.1 MeV and two small numbers 0.0016 and 0.0019. In this paper, by eliminating the number 0.0019, we try to fine tune the estimation procedure of number of free or unbound nucleons pertaining to the second term with an energy coefficient of 11.9 MeV. It seems that, some kind of electroweak interaction is playing a strange role in maintaining free or unbound nucleons within the nucleus. It is possible to say that, strong interaction plays a vital role in increasing nuclear binding energy and electroweak interaction plays a vital role in reducing nuclear binding energy. Interesting observation is that, Z can be considered as a characteristic representation of range of number of bound isotopes of Z. For medium, heavy and super heavy atoms, beginning and ending mass numbers pertaining to bound states can be understood with 2Z+0.004Z^2 and 3Z+0.004Z^2 respectively. With further study, neutron drip lines can be understood. Based on this kind of data fitting procedure and by considering the mass ratio of pions and electroweak bosons, existence of our 4G model of electroweak fermion of rest energy 584.725 GeV can be confirmed confidently.

With the recent coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) online sales of clothing retail have become a necessity to survive in the market. It is for this reason that the objective of the research was to know the purchase intention of clothing by young consumers through the online channel of small and micro companies (MiPyMe) located in the countries of Mexico, Colombia and Peru. To do this, using a structural equations model, it was intended to analyze the relationships between the variables trust, satisfaction, perceived value, quality of interaction and image in the electronic context as antecedent variables of online purchase intention, in accordance with the theoretical framework. 638 surveys were applied to young consumers in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. Sociodemographic characteristics included gender, age, country, and knowledge of a MiPyMe online clothing store. The results reveal that, of the total of young people surveyed, 62.7% stated that they did not know of any online clothing store of a MiPyMe. The contrasting of the hypotheses indicates that the quality of interaction directly and positively influences perceived value, that the image directly and positively influences the satisfaction and purchase intention of the consumer of the MiPyMe of Colombia, Mexico and Peru. These results may be useful for entrepreneurs in this business sector to rethink their online business strategies, as well as for the governments of these nations to promote this sector with training and specialized technical assistance.

Caregiver burden, a response to the challenges faced by those caring for sick loved ones, combines objective caregiving aspects with subjective experiences. This study aimed to describe the caregiver burden in guardians of ailing animals with dermatological and oncological pathologies. Additionally, the study aimed to correlate the degree of caregiver burden with the duration of the animal's treatment, disease stability, family income, owner's age, and the number of people living in the same household responsible for the animal's treatment. Using a cross-sectional approach, questionnaires were administered to guardians at a veterinary hospital. Out of 182 valid responses, 50.55% related to oncological patients and 49.45% to dermatological patients. Notably, 36.9% of oncological and 37.8% of dermatological guardians exhibited clinically significant burden, with no statistical differences between the groups. Of the respondents, 84.6% were dog guardians, with 34.4% showing a significant burden. Feline guardians (15.4% of respondents) exhibited a higher burden (53.5%) compared to dog guardians (p = 0.02). Disease stability, time since diagnosis, and guardian age significantly influenced the burden, while household composition, income, and treatment duration showed no substantial impact. These findings underscore the psychosocial impact of caring for animals, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive understanding of the caregiver's perspective.

We discuss the topic of the transparency of the Universe in gamma-rays due to the Extragalactic Background Light, and its cosmological and physical implications. Rather than a review, this is a personal account on the development of 30 years of this branch of physical science. Extensive analysis of the currently available information appears to us as revealing a global coherence among the astrophysical, cosmological, and fundamental physics data, or, at least, no evident need so far of substantial modification of our present understanding. Deeper data from future experiments will verify to what extent and in which directions this conclusion should be modified.

The objective was to model the teams’ style of play (SoP) in elite football and relate them to the match result. For this, the twenty Spanish first division teams in the 2016-17 season were analysed, using nine interaction performance indicators (IRi). A principal component (PC) analysis was applied. From two PCs four SoPs were established: deep or high-pressure defending, and elaborate or direct attack. The SoPs were distributed according to average performance obtained throughout the championship. The connection between the preferred SoP and the final result was estimated. Teams with elaborate offensive styles and teams defensively minded got better results. In addition, most of the teams showed variability in their SoP. The applications of the study are: 1) the IRi have served to identify SoP and can be used as a reference to optimize team performance; 2) teams should have a varied SoP repertoire, as well as being prepared to deal with different SoPs; 3) particular player profiles should be connected with the desired SoP when creating the squad. 4) clubs should develop a varied range of SoPs at their academies.

The interaction between different regions normally is reflected by the form of the stream. For example, the interaction of the flow of people and flow of information between different regions can reflect the structure of cities’ network, and also can reflect how the cities function and connect to each other. Since big data has become increasingly popular, it is much easier to acquire flow data for various types of individuals. Currently, it is a hot research topic to apply the regional interaction model, which is based on the summary level of individual flow data mining. So far, previous research on spatial interaction methods focused on point-to-point and area-to-area interaction patterns. However, there are a few scholars who study the hotspot interaction pattern between two regional groups with some predefined neighborhood relationship by starting with two regions. In this paper, a method for identifying a similar hotspot interaction pattern between two regional groups has been proposed, and the Geo-Information-Tupu methods are applied to visualize the interaction patterns. For an example of an empirical analysis, we discuss China’s air traffic flow data, so this method can be used to find and analyze any hotspot interaction patterns between regional groups with adjoining relationships across China. Our research results indicate that this method is efficient in identifying hotspot interaction flow patterns between regional groups. Moreover, it can be applied to any analysis of flow space that is used to excavate regional group hotspot interaction patterns.

In atomic GdFe$_2$ films capped by 4$d$ and 5$d$ transition metals, we show that skyrmions with diameters smaller than 12 nm can emerge. The Dzyaloshinskii--Moriya interaction (DMI), exchange energy, and the magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA) energy were investigated based on density functional theory. Since DMI and MCA are caused by spin--orbit coupling (SOC), they are increased with 5$d$ capping layers which exhibit strong SOC strength. We discover a skyrmion phase by using atomistic spin dynamic simulations at small magnetic fields of $\sim$1 T. In addition, a ground state that a spin spiral phase is remained even at zero magnetic field for both films with 4$d$ and 5$d$ capping layers.

The Aβ cascade and alternations of biomarkers in neuro-inflammation, synaptic dysfunction and neuronal injury followed by Aβ have progressed. But the question is how to use the biomarkers. Here, we examine the evidence and pathogenic implications of protein interactions and the time order of alternation. After the deposition of Aβ, the change of tau, NfL and NG is the main alternation and connection to others. The neuro-inflammation, synaptic dysfunction and neuronal injury function is exhibited prior the structural and metabolic changes in the brain following Aβ deposition. The time order of such biomarkers compared to the tau protein is not clear. Despite the close relationship between biomarkers and plaque Aβ deposition, several factors favor one or the other. There is an interaction between the proteins that CSF SNAP-25, VILIP-1 and YKL-40 can predict the brain amyloid burden. The Aβ cascade hypothesis could be the pathway, but not all subjects are converted to AD, even with very high elevated Aβ. The interaction of biomarkers and the time order of change require further research to identify the right subjects and right molecular target for precision medicine therapies.

Three body systems in which one of the bodies is ejected without escaping the binary system have previously been studied in various restricted forms. However, none of these studies dwells on the problem in a general setting. Thus, to study this phenomenon qualitatively, we try to expand this problem's scope to unequal mass systems and generalize them by considering various configurations of fixed initial points with precisely calculated initial velocities, some zero velocity models and some optimized models. We will see the use of terminology similar to the previous studies done in this domain but incorporate different analytical and evaluation methods.

Objective: The aim of study is to find key genes and enriched pathways associated with lung cancer. Participants and Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) data of 54674 genes based on stage, tumor and status of lung cancer was taken from 66 patients of African American (AAs) origin. 2392 DEGs were found based on stage, 13502 DEGs were found based on tumor, 2927 DEGs were found based on status having p value (p<0.05). Results: Total 33 common DEGs were found from stage, tumor and status of lung cancer. Gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis was performed and 49 significant pathways were obtained, out of which 10 pathways were found to be exclusively involved in lung cancer development. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis found 69 nodes and 324 edges and identified 10 hub genes based on their highest degrees. Module analysis of PPI found that ‘Viral carcinogenesis’, ‘pathways in cancer’, ‘notch signaling pathway’, ‘AMPK signaling pathways’ had a close association with lung cancer. Conclusion: These identified DEGs regulate other genes which play important role in growth of lung cancer. The key genes and enriched pathways identified can thus help in better identification and prediction of lung cancer.

In this paper, we investigate the so-called electronic dressed states, a unified quasiparticle resulting from the interaction between electrons in a two-dimensional material with an off-resonance optical dressing field. If the frequency of this field is much larger than all characteristic energies in the system, such as the Fermi energy or bandgap(s), the electronic band structure is affected by radiation so that some important properties of the electron dispersions could be modified in a way desirable for practical applications. For example, a circularly polarized light can be used to vary the bandgap of Dirac materials: it opens a gap in graphene and other metallic and semimetallic lattices, or modifies the magnitude of an existing gap. This will either enhance or reduce a gap, depending on its initial value as well as properties of a host material. Here, we consider gaped dice and Lieb lattices as samples, and put forward a full theoretical model to reveal how these electronic states are deformed by an elliptically-polarized irradiation with a focus on generation and modification of a bandgap.

This study presents a literature review focused on nonverbal communication in human-robot interaction (HRI) that involves service robots with social capabilities. We aim to list the types of robots used and nonverbal communication cues examined in the reviewed studies; and the main research objectives, participant characteristics, data collection methods, and primary findings of these studies. To achieve this, we conducted a literature review of 39 relevant open access academic papers published from 2006 to 2023 that examined the utilization of nonverbal cues by both humans and robots during HRI. The results suggest that enhancing the quality of communication between humans and service robots must be improved, while there are several aspects that require more thorough exploring, needed to strengthen robot self-efficacy, trust and trustworthiness in HRI or overcome cultural differences. The results emphasize the importance of nonverbal communication in shaping the dynamics of interactions between humans and service robots.

In an historic perspective on the development of the Standard Model of particle physics it is shown how mathematically driven axioms have masked the merits of a physically comprehensible structural view. It is concluded that the difference between the two approaches can be traced back to two major issues. Whereas in the Standard Model the quark is a Dirac particle with a single real dipole moment, the quark in the structural model, in confinement with other quarks, is a Dirac particle with two real dipole moments. The second issue is the view that empty space does not exist, but that space is filled with a polarisable energetic fluid. It is shown how recognition of these two issues pave a road to reconcile particle physics with gravity, in which the quark can be seen as a magnetic electron and in which the gluon, as the strong force carrier, can be seen as a massive photon.

Astrocytes are morphological intricate cells and actively modulate the function of the brain. Through the numerous fine processes, astrocytes contact with neurons, blood vessels and other glia cells. Emerging evidence have shown that astrocytes exhibit brain-regional diversity in the morphology, transcriptome, calcium signaling and functions. However, little is known about the brain regional heterogeneity of astrocyte-astrocyte structural interaction. So far, the visualization and characterization of the morphological features for the adjacent astrocytes with high resolution has been difficult, and as a result, it is still well accepted that astrocytes in the adult brain share non-overlapped territory. In contrast, by using an approach that combines sparse viral labeling with dual-fluorescent dyes, which allows for efficient and specific labeling of adjacent astrocytes, thus enabling a comprehensive visualization of their fine processes and the degree of their territorial overlap. Our study in the hypothalamic regions revealed a marked spatial overlap among adjacent astrocytes. Additionally, we revealed the heterogeneity of astrocyte-neuron ratio across brain regions, and conducted an assessment of the photostability and labeling efficiency of fluorescent dyes used for labeling adjacent astrocytes. Our study here provides new insights for studying the morphological heterogeneity of astrocytes across the central nervous system.

Background: Studies have linked bats to outbreaks in human populations such as SARS-CoV-1 and MERS-CoV and the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Method: We carried out a longitudinal survey from August 2020 to July 2021 at two sites in Zimbabwe with bat-human interactions: Magweto cave and Chirundu farm. A total 1732 and 1866 individual bat faecal samples were collected respectively. Coronaviruses and bat species were amplified using PCR systems respectively. Results: Analysis of the coronavirus sequences revealed a high genetic diversity and we identified different sub-viral groups in the Alphacoronavirus and Betacoronavirus genus. The established sub-viral groups fell within the described Alphacoronavirus sub-genera: Decacovirus, Duvinacovirus, Rhinacovirus, Setracovirus and Minunacovirus and for Betacoronavirus sub-genera: Sarbecoviruses, Merbecovirus and Hibecovirus. Our results showed an overall proportion for CoV positive PCR tests of 23.7% at Chirundu site, 16.5% and 38.9% at Magweto site for small insectivorous bats and Macronycteris gigas respectively. Conclusion: The higher risk of bat coronaviruses exposure for humans ranged from December to March in relation to higher viral shedding peaks of coronaviruses in the parturition, lactation and weaning months of the bat populations at both sites. We also highlight the need to further document viral infectious risk in human/domestic animal populations surrounding bat habitats in Zimbabwe.

Recently, due to the decrease in labor force, increase in labor costs, and the desire for improved quality of life, research on robots has been actively conducted to address these issues. However, it is currently difficult to find robots that physically interact with humans. The reason is that the actuators of robots do not have high torque density on their own. To solve this problem, high torque density motors, such as proprioceptive actuators, are being researched. However, the torque density is still insufficient for physical interaction with humans, so we have developed a motor with higher torque density. However, high torque density motors have the disadvantage of lower speed characteristics due to increased Back-EMF. Therefore, to address the deterioration of speed characteristics in the developed motor, we applied the Independent 3-Phase winding structure to improve the speed characteristics. Consequently, through comparison with Y-Connection and Delta-Connection, we propose the most suitable winding structure for high torque density motors intended for physical interaction with humans.

Stemborer pests contribute to significant maize crop yield loses incurred by the smallholder famers in Ethiopia. The problem requires requires concerted effort to learn and adopt new innovations to find a long lasting solution. In this study, the on-farm implementation of the push-pull technology (PPT) was used as a platform for interaction and enhancing the social learning among the stakeholders in the maize growing Woredas of Bako Tibe, Jimma Arjo and Yayu in the Oromia region. The main stakeholders were the smallholder maize farmers, researchers and the extension staffs. The study took place between August 2014 to May 2015. The PPT is a biological based strategy addresses the stemborer pest problem in maize crop. Under the strategy, maize crop is intercropped with a stemborer moth repellent fodder legume, Desmodium (the push) together with an attractant trap plant, Napier/Brachiaria grass (the pull) planted around maize-legume intercrop. The study was implemented based on the transdisciplinary action research approach and qualitative data collected during focus group discussions, key informant interviews, stakeholder workshops, participant observations and on-farm PPT demonstrations. The findings show that, the involvement of different stakeholders in joint PPT activities in an interactive environment is an innovation in itself. It creates opportunities for the stakeholders’ empowerment as well as deliberating on the contributions from each other to overcome uncertainties about the technology and create new knowledge. The intercropping strategy of maize with Desmodium and Napier/Brachiaria is used to reintroduce the traditional mixed cropping system of smallholder agriculture as strategy for control of pests.

This study explores the relationship between mental and physical therapeutic through three dimensions: man-environment relationships; a sense of place and symbolic landscapes. The study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Local residents living in the coastal area of Xinglin Bay are the research objects. Quantitative data analysis revealed that the frequency of residents' visits was an important variable affecting their physical and treatment perceptions. In addition, the significance is higher for females than for males. The text analysis shows that the environment, especially the ecological restoration of water quality and migratory birds, is of great significance to the identity of local residents. Daily activities contribute to a sense of place and are what make the coast a place of therapeutic landscape function.

Abstract: A fertilisation experiment with aim to determine the effect of different potassium fertiliser rates and their interaction with nitrogen and phosphorus on field rotation productivity, potassium balance, fertiliser utilization and changes in content of potassium in soil was carried out in Lithuania between 1971 and 2020. The multi-factorial scheme with 45-treatment plots, where seven (including zero) rates of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers were studied. The experimental treatments during the study period included winter wheat, spring wheat, spring barley, sugar beet, spring rapeseed, annual and perennial grasses. It was found that potassium fertilisers was the most effective on agricultural crops when used in combination with other major plant nutrients – nitrogen and phosphorus. The balance of potassium (K2O) in soil, when nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers were applied together, to compensate for potassium removal, when applying low nitrogen (N) 72 kg ha-1 and phosphorus (P2O5) 64 kg ha-1 fertiliser rates, 128 kg ha-1 of potassium fertilisers is required. When using high nitrogen 180 kg ha-1 and phosphorus 160 kg ha-1 fertiliser rates, 160 kg ha-1 of potassium is needed. The highest potassium uptake, reaching 51.6%, was achieved when plants had been fertilised with nitrogen 108 kg ha-1, phosphorus 96 kg ha-1, and potassium 96 kg ha-1. When fertilising with potassium fertilisers alone, the content of plant available K2O content in the soil increased, while fertilisation with nitrogen and phosphorus combined it’s decreased, except in the plots where the plants had been fertilised with potassium fertiliser at rates of 128 kg ha-1 and higher. Due to the influence of fertilizers, the amount of non-exchangeable potassium in the soil also increased, but relatively less compared to the amount of available potassium content.

A membrane can be represented by an energy landscape that solutes or colloids must cross. A model accounting for the momentum and the mass balances on the membrane energy landscape establishes a new way of writing for the Darcy law. The counter pressure in the Darcy law is no longer written as the result of an osmotic pressure difference but rather as a function of colloid-membrane interactions. The ability of the model to describe the physics of the filtration is discussed in detail. This model is solved on a simplified energy landscape to derive analytical relationships that describe the selectivity and the counter pressure from ab-initio operating conditions. The model shows that the stiffness of the energy landscape has an impact on the process efficiency: a gradual increase in interactions (like with hourglass pore shape) can reduce the separation energetic cost. It allows the introduction of a new paradigm to increase membrane efficiency: the accumulation that is inherent to the separation must be distributed across the membrane. Asymmetric interactions thus lead to direction-dependent transfer properties and the membrane exhibits diode behavior. These new transfer opportunities are discussed.

Human and Computer interaction has been a part of our day-to-day life. Speech is one of the essential and comfortable ways of interacting through devices as well as a human being. The device, particularly smartphones have multiple sensors in camera and microphone, etc. speech recognition is the process of converting the acoustic signal to a smartphone as a set of words. The efficient performance of the speech recognition system highly enhances the interaction between humans and machines by making the latter more receptive to user needs. The recognized words can be applied for many applications such as Commands & Control, Data entry, and Document preparation. This research paper highlights speech recognition through ANN (Artificial Neural Network). Also, a hybrid model is proposed for audio-visual speech recognition of the Tamil and Malay language through SOM (Self-organizing map0 and MLP (Multilayer Perceptron). The Effectiveness of the different models of NN (Neural Network) utilized in speech recognition will be examined.

Appling the controlling relative permittivity and permeability in the equations for the gravitational-magnetic-electric field interaction, a very large variation of the gravitational acceleration of the Earth by electric/magnetic field could be arrived at. This conclusion may be supported by some of the experiments for the gravitational effect of superconductivity.

On February 28th, 2023, Spanish Royal Decree 150/2023 as published, approving the plans for the management of the maritime space of the five Spanish marine demarcations. This Royal Decree Law inaugurates the Planning of the Maritime Space in Spain. Terrestrial Space Planning is very advanced, both in the legislation and in the instruments that are enabled to organize this space, from the national scale to the municipal scale, passing through the regional, provincial, and supra-municipal scales. Naturally, both Planning must converge and thus speak of an Integrated Space Planning. In some of the countries that we can take as global references, this convergence in the form of integration is taking place. On the other hand, and within the context of climate change, coastal cities will be the most affected, both by the potential rise in sea level and by the increasingly continuous and greater extreme events. Integrated Space Planning is postulated as the most effective tool to carry out adequate territorial and urban planning of our coastal cities, as well as to analyse the influence and possible corrective measures to apply against the effects produced by climate change.

Yeast two-hybrid approaches, which are based on fusion proteins that must co-localise to the nucleus to reconstitute the transcriptional activity of GAL4 have greatly contributed to understand the nitrogen interaction network of cyanobacteria, whose main hubs are the trimeric PII and the monomeric PipX regulators. The bacterial two-hybrid system, based on the reconstitution in the E. coli cytoplasm of the adenylate cyclase of Bordetella pertussis, should provide a relatively faster and presumably more physiological assay for cyanobacterial proteins than the yeast system. Here we use the bacterial two-hybrid system to gain additional insights into the cyanobacterial PipX interaction network while simultaneously assessing the advantages and limitations of the two most popular two-hybrid systems. Comprehensive mutational analysis of PipX and bacterial two-hybrid assays were performed to compare outcomes between yeast and bacterial systems. We detected interactions previously recorded in the yeast two-hybrid system as negative as well as a “false positive”, the self-interaction of PipX, which is rather an indirect interaction dependent on PII homologs from the E. coli host, a result confirmed by Western analysis with relevant PipX variants. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of the molecular basis of a false positive in the bacterial two-hybrid system.

Cytokines secreted by individual immune cells regulate tissue regeneration and allow communication between various cell types. Cytokines bind to cognate receptors and trigger the healing process. Determining the orchestration of cytokine interactions with their receptors on their cellular targets is essential to fully understand the process of inflammation and tissue regeneration. To this end, we have investigated the interactions of Interleukin-4 cytokine (IL-4)/Interleukin-4 cytokine receptor (IL-4R) and Interleukin-10 cytokine (IL-10)/Interleukin-10 cytokine receptor (IL-10R) using in situ Proximity Ligation Assays in a regenerative model of skin, muscle and lung tissues in the mini-pig. The pattern of protein-protein interactions was distinct for the two cytokines. IL-4 bound predominantly to receptors on macrophages and endothelial cells around the blood vessels while the target cells of IL-10 were mainly receptors on muscle cells. Our results show that in situ studies of cytokine-receptor interactions can provide unravel the fine details of the mechanism of action of cytokines.

I present an experimental paradigm to explore the interpersonal dynamics generating a collective mind. I hypothesized that collective organization is based on dual interpersonal modes: (1) symmetrical and (2) anti‑symmetrical. I specified the geometric topology of these modes by detecting the spatiotemporal patterns that embed cooperative agents in a three‑dimensional matrix. I found that the symmetrical mode is executed automatically and without guidance. Conversely, the anti‑symmetrical mode required explicit direction and recruited attention for execution. I demonstrate that self‑other mirror‑symmetry stabilized group dynamics, enabled fast and efficient symmetrical imitation that optimized information transmission, whereas anti‑symmetrical imitation was comparatively slow, inefficient, and unstable. I determined that the anti‑symmetrical mode spontaneously transitioned to the symmetrical mode under perturbations. Crucially, this renormalization mechanism never transitioned from symmetrical to anti‑symmetrical. These self-organizing dynamics speak to interpersonal symmetry‑breaking. In the present work, spontaneous group choice mandated that agents synchronize cooperative cycles in symmetrical space under internal or external perturbations. I provide examples to illustrate that this self-regulating pullback attractor manifests in invertebrates and vertebrates alike. I conclude by suggesting that inter‑agent symmetry provides the social stability manifold through which attention-driven interactions enable intrapersonal and interpersonal change.

Enteroviruses are members of Pichornaviridae family consisting of human enterovirus group A, B, C, and D as well as nonhuman enteroviruses. Human enterovirus type 71 (EV71) has emerged as a major cause of viral encephalitis Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in children worldwide especially in the Asia‐Pacific region. EV71 and coxsackievirus A16 are two viruses responsible for HFMD which are members of group A enterovirus. The identified EV71 receptors provide useful information for understanding viral replication and tissue tropism. Host factors interact with the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) of EV71 to regulate viral translation. However, the specific molecular features of the EV71 genome that determine virulence remain unclear. Although an EV71 vaccine has been currently approved, there is no effective therapy for treating EV71 infected patients. Therefore, understanding the host-pathogen interaction could provide the knowledge in viral pathogenesis and further benefit in the anti-viral therapy development. The aim of this study was to investigate the latest findings about the interaction of viral ligands to the host receptor as well as the activation of immune related signalling pathways for the activation of innate immunity and involvement of different cytokines and chemokines in the host pathogen interaction of EV71 along with interaction of viral proteins, mainly 2A and 3C protease, and Interferons production/signaling pathway and their inhibitory effects.

At present there is a renewed interest in theories of ”modified” gravity. Here, under a more drastic modification enforced by Galilei group, we obtain a completely new gravitational structure, and which exists in addition to the already available general relativity of today. Correlated with this, we show that in addition, there is a new ”modified” quantum mechanics, in as much as it exists as an independent and new ”pure” non-relativistic quantum me- chanics, and which has no relativistic counterpart. This is in addition to the present quantum mechanics, where the relativistic and non-relativistic structures are counterparts of each other. The above holds, firstly due to the correlation between Galilei group and quantum mechanics. These math- ematical conclusions are consolidated by the fact that there exists a physical Majorana interaction between each neutron- proton pairs in nuclei. Galilei invariance of Majorana exchange in Majorana interaction, shows that the mass here is of pure gravitational nature, and which is immune to the other three forces. This makes an amazing connection between the gravitational force and the quantum mechanics. This pure gravitational mass would man- ifest itself as dark matter of the universe. It is our new modified gravity that generates the dark matter.

(1) Background: The social robot interaction design is critical in determining acceptance and user experience. However, few studies have systematically discussed the current focus and future research directions of social robot interaction design from a bibliometric perspective. Therefore, in order to identify the latest research progress and evolution trajectory of research hotspots in social robot interaction design over the last decade. (2) Methods: based on 2416 papers related to social robot interaction design collected in the Web of Science (WOS) database, a comprehensive review was conducted by using bibliometrics to draw a knowledge map using VOSviewer and CiteSpace in an integrated manner. (3) Conclusions: The current research hotspots of social robot interaction design mainly focus on #1the study of human-robot relationships in social robot, #2Research on the Emotional Design of Social Robot, #3research on social robot for children's psychotherapy, #4research on companion robot for elderly rehabilitation, and #5research on educational social robot. The reference co-citation identifies the classic literature that forms the basis of the current research, which provides theoretical guidance and methods for the current research. Finally, we discuss several future research directions and challenges in this field.

Overimitation, the copying of causally irrelevant or non-functional actions, is well-known from humans but completely absent in other primates. Recent studies from our lab have provided evidence for overimitation in canines. Previously, we found that half of tested pet dogs copied their human caregiver's irrelevant action, while only few did so when the action was demonstrated by an unfamiliar experimenter. Therefore, we hypothesized that dogs show overimitation as a result of socio-motivational grounds. To test this more specifically, here we investigated how the relationship with the caregiver influenced the eagerness to overimitate. Given the high variability in the tendency to overimitate their caregiver, we hypothesized that not only familiarity, but also relationship quality influences whether dogs faithfully copy their caregiver. For this purpose, we measured on the one hand the overimitation tendency (with the same test as in the two studies before) and on the other hand the relationship quality between the dogs and their caregivers. Although not significant, results revealed that dogs who overimitated seemed to show more referential and affiliative behaviours towards the owner (like gazing, synchronization and greeting) than dogs who showed less or no copying of the irrelevant action. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.

One of the most prevalent and deadly types of cancer is breast cancer. The value and effectiveness of the current pharmacological therapy are, however, constrained. Using computational methods and publicly available data, the current study set out to identify the genes and molecular pathways linked to breast cancer. It also looked into potential treatments for the disease that would target these molecular processes. In this study, we mined genes that were strongly associated with breast cancer using text mining and GeneCodis. Using STRING and Cytoscape, protein-protein interaction (PPI) study was carried out. Candidate medications were then derived based on the drug-gene interaction study of the final genes. 2,658 genes linked to breast cancer were found by our investigation using text mining searches. Out of which 166 genes have been taken which are relevant to breast cancer. Ten genes representing ten pathways—which a total of ten proteins could target—were found by gene enrichment analysis. We have taken Holy Basil as our lead as it contains various bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, terpenoids, and phenolics, which have shown antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties. For this analysis we choose the molecular docking technique to check the effects of different chemical constituents of Holy Tulsi on breast cancer targeted protein and compare their results. We’ve performed the molecular docking in between chemical constituents of Holy Basil and the targeted proteins and determined the binding affinity with the help of PyRx and BIOVIA Discovery studio software. Anti-mitotic activity of Pisum sativum using tulsi extract to check the cytotoxicity effect was done. To determine the toxicity level of the extract on rat liver was performed in the end. In conclusion, investigating candidate medications that target the genes/pathways relevant to breast cancer in order to uncover possible treatments may be accomplished through drug discovery employing in silico text mining and pathway analysis technologies along with the wet lab experimentation with plants and preclinicals.

An in-depth understanding of the Se uptake and metabolism in plants is necessary for developing Se biofortification strategies. Thus, hydroponic experiments were conducted to investigate the associated processes and mechanisms of organic Se [selenomethionine (SeMet) and selenomethionine-oxide (SeOMet)] uptake, translocation, transformation and their interaction in wheat, in comparison to inorganic Se. Results showed that Se uptake by roots and the root-to-shoot translocation factor under the SeMet treatment were higher than those under the selenite, selenate, and SeOMet treatments. The uptake and translocation of SeMet were higher than those of SeOMet within 72 h, although the differences gradually narrowed with time. The uptake of SeMet and SeOMet was also sensitive to the aquaporin inhibitor: AgNO3 addition resulted in 99.5% and 99.9% inhibition of Se in root in the SeMet and SeOMet treatments, respectively. Once absorbed by root, were rapidly assimilated to other Se forms, and SeMet and Se-methyl-selenocysteine (MeSeCys) were the dominant species in SeMet and SeOMet-treated plants, while notably, an unidentified Se form was also found in the root and xylem sap under the SeMet treatment. In addition, within 16 h, SeOMet inhibited the uptake and translocation of SeMet, while the interaction was weakened with longer treatment time. Taken together, the present study provides new insights for the uptake and transformation processes of organic Se within plants.

In the computational prediction of bridge vibrations due to high-speed train traffic, the most accurate results can be obtained by considering the interaction dynamics between the train, the superstructure, and the supporting structure. To achieve this, a detailed understanding of the coupling properties of all elements is crucial as they significantly influence the calculated vibrations. The studies in this article investigate the influence of different levels of modeling complexity on the computational acceleration results of single-span girder bridges with a ballasted superstructure. A numerical study on an extensive parameter field of single-span girder bridges is conducted to investigate the influence of modeling the bridge structures as coupling beams, i.e., by considering them as two vertically coupled beams representing the track (rails and sleepers) and the supporting structure. The connection between both beams reflects the stiffness and damping properties of the ballasted superstructure and can reproduce its load-distribution capacity. The excitation is applied as either a moving load or a multi-body model of the train, an Austrian Railjet, to evaluate interdependencies of interaction effects between the vehicle and track, and between track and bridge structure. The reference model is a simply-supported Bernoulli-Euler beam excited by moving axle loads. The comparison of acceleration results allows for identifying critical combinations of structural and train parameters for which the implementation of interaction dynamics has a particularly significant impact on the calculated vibrations and quantifying that impact. These findings provide the possibility of formulating structure-dependent recommendations concerning the targeted application of more complex modeling of the structure (coupling beam model) on the one hand and train (multi-body model) on the other.

By providing useful tools to study host-pathogen interactions, next-generation omics has recently enabled the study of gene expression changes in both pathogen and infected host simultaneously. However, since great discriminative power is required to study pathogen and host simultaneously throughout the infection process, the depth of quantitative gene expression profiling has proven to be unsatisfactory when focusing on bacterial pathogens, thus preferentially requiring specific strategies or the development of novel methodologies based on complementary omics approaches. In this review, we focus on the difficulties encountered when making use of omics approaches to study bacterial pathogenesis. Besides, we review different omics strategies (i.e. transcriptomics, proteomics and secretomics) and their applications for studying interactions of pathogens with their host.

Chronic pulmonary diseases such as asthma, COPD, and Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis are significant causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Currently, there is no radical treatment for many chronic pulmonary diseases, and the treatment options focus on relieving the symptoms and improving lung function. Therefore, efficient therapeutic agents are highly needed. Bronchial epithelial cells and airway smooth muscle cells and their crosstalk play a significant role in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Thus, targeting the interactions of these two cell types could open the door to a new generation of effective therapeutic options. However, the studies on how these two cell types interact and how their crosstalk adds up to respiratory diseases are not well established. With the rise of modern research tools and technology, such as lab-on-chip, organoids, co-culture techniques, and advanced immunofluorescence imaging, a substantial degree of evidence about these cell interactions emerged. Hence, this contribution aims to summarize the growing evidence of bronchial epithelial cells and airway smooth muscle cells crosstalk under normal and pathophysiological conditions. The review first deliberates the effects of both healthy and stressed epithelial cells on airway smooth muscle cells, taking into account three themes; contraction, migration, and proliferation. Then, it discusses the impact of airway smooth muscle cells on the epithelium in inflammatory settings. Later, it examines the role of airway smooth muscle cells in the early development of bronchial epithelial cells and their recovery after injury.

In ocean engineering, accurate and efficient numerical simulations are crucial. Leveraging axisymmetry vastly enhances the efficiency of a simulation, reducing a three-dimensional scenario to a two-dimensional simulation. Exploiting axisymmetry enables a significant reduction in computational demand while maintaining simulation fidelity. In this paper, axisymmetry is leveraged to perform a large ensemble of simulations, in order to evaluate and maximise the accuracy and efficiency of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. In particular, the free decay motion and wave radiation from a heaving semi-submerged sphere are simulated, using the Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) solver, interFOAM, in the opensource finite volume CFD software OpenFOAM. Validated against highly accurate experimental data, extensive parametric studies are conducted, previously limited by computational constraints, which facilitate the refinement of simulation setups. More than 50 iterations of the same heaving sphere simulation are performed, informing efficient trade-offs between computational cost and accuracy across various simulation parameters and mesh configurations. Ultimately, by employing axisymmetry, this research contributes to the development of more accurate and efficient numerical modeling in ocean engineering.

Abstract Introduction Exercise is an effective component in rehabilitation of a range of chronic conditions. There is a growing interest in the use of exercise-based nature interacted rehabilitation (EBNIR), but an overview of current evidence is missing. To provide an informed base for future work within this field of EBNIR, the objective of this scoping review was to map existing exercise-based rehabilitation interventions conducted with incidental or intentional nature interaction focusing on its populations, types of outcomes, and theoretical rationale for people with physical and mental disabilities. Methods This scoping review identified peer-reviewed publications, registered upcoming trials and grey literature. To map all available knowledge, we performed a comprehensive search of selected databases (MEDLINE; EMBASE; CINAHL; Cochrane; Web of Science; Pedro) from inception to October 2022. Data was synthesised in a thematic presentation guided by TIDieR, supplemented by a checklist developed for this study accounting nature incidental or intentional interaction by measuring all nature elements implemented in the intervention. Results Twelve studies including 856 participants met the inclusion criteria. 11 were completed trials and 1 was registered in clinicaltrials.gov to be run in 2023. A total of 856 patients were enrolled in the 12 studies (range 18-262, median 50). The included studies were different in terms of design (observational n=4, qualitative n=1, RCT=7), intervention dosage and frequency, control intervention, diagnosis, number of patients, and outcomes included. The used exercise-based interventions consisted of outdoor walks, neck exercises and surfing interventions in patients with physical or mental health conditions. The interventions were incidental or intentional interacted with nature to a varying degree. Conclusion This scoping review presents an overview of limited and diverse evidence within the field of exercise-based rehabilitation incidental or intentional interacting with nature, in patients with physical or mental health conditions. Our review provides an overview that will be helpful in the design of future EBNIR trials.

Transcription factors (TFs) regulate gene expression by recognizing specific target enhancers in the genome. The DNA-binding and regulatory activity of TFs depend on the presence of additional protein partners, leading to the formation of versatile and dynamic multimeric protein complexes. Visualizing these protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in the nucleus is key for decrypting the molecular cues underlying TF specificity in vivo. Over the last years, Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) has been developed in several model systems and applied for the analysis of different types of PPIs. In particular, BiFC has been applied for analyzing PPIs with hundreds of TFs in the nucleus of live Drosophila embryos. However, the visualization of PPIs at the level of specific target enhancers or genomic regions of interest awaits the advent of DNA-labelling methods that could be coupled with BiFC. Here, we present a novel experimental strategy that we called BiFOR and that is based on the coupling of BiFC with the bacterial ANCHOR DNA-labelling system. We demonstrate that BiFOR enables to precisely quantify the enrichment of specific dimeric protein complexes on target enhancers in Drosophila salivary gland nuclei. Given its versatility and sensitivity, BiFOR could be applied more largely in other tissues during Drosophila development. Our work set up the experimental basis for these future applications.

Newly designed pentacyclic benzimidazole derivatives, featuring amino or amido side chains, were synthesized to assess their in vitro antiproliferative activity. Additionally, we conducted investigations into their direct interaction with nucleic acids, aiming to uncover potential mechanisms of biological action. These compounds were synthesized using conventional organic synthesis methodologies, alongside photochemical and microwave-assisted reactions. Upon synthesis, the newly derived compounds underwent in vitro testing for their antiproliferative effects on various human cancer cell lines. Notably, derivatives 6 and 9 exhibited significant antiproliferative activity within the submicromolar concentration range. Our biological assessment highlighted that the biological activity was strongly influenced by both the position of the N atom on the quinoline moiety and the position and nature of the side chain on the pentacyclic skeleton. Findings from fluorescence, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and thermal melting assays indicated a mixed binding mode—comprising intercalation and the binding of aggregated compounds along the polynucleotide backbone—of these pentacyclic benzimidazoles with DNA and RNA.

An increased risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) had been found when individuals had consumed large amounts of processed meat and sausages at young age (Lauer, 2014). Furthermore it was found in many studies that MS patients had acquired a number of common childhood infections at higher ages than controls. Therefore, MS patients from an epidemiological long-term investigation in Germany and different hospital controls, were evaluated for a statistical interaction of these two factors. 324 MS patients and 242 hospital controls were inquired. The study focussed on age 0 - 16. Subjects were tested for additive interaction by multiple linear regression analysis (Knol et al., 2007). There was an additive interaction of the age at any common childhood infection with the consumption of scalded sausages (regression estimate = 0.1370; standard error = 0.0603; p = 0.0239). In contrast, no such interaction could be shown for: animal fats; smoked meat (e.g. ham and bacon); and cold - smoked German salami. Thus there was a synergy of the intake of scalded sausages (e.g. frankfurters, bolognas, etc.) and age at common childhood infections, for the later risk of MS.

With the long-term and large-scale use, herbicides have been well known to influence tritrophic interactions particularly natural enemies of pests in agro-ecosystems. On the other hand, herbivorous insects, especially the generalist pests, have developed antagonistic interaction to different insecticides, toxic plant secondary metabolites and even heavy metals. However, whether exposure to herbicides would affect resistance of insects against insecticides is largely unknown, especially in agricultural pests. Here, we first reported that pre-exposure to two widely used herbicides butachlor and haloxyfop-methyl for 48 h can prime resistance of a generalist agricultural pest Helicoverpa armigera Hübner against insecticide methomyl and fungal toxin aflatoxin B1. In addition, there were no significant differences between control and herbicides-treated caterpillars on weight gain, pupal weight and pupation rates, suggesting that exposure to herbicides induce resistance of H. armigera accompanied with no fitness cost. Moreover, by determining detoxifying enzyme activities and toxicity bioassay with additional inhibitor of cytochrome P450 piperonyl butoxide (PBO), we showed that exposure to herbicides might prime P450-mediated detoxification of H. armigera against insecticide. Based on these results, we propose that exposure to herbicides primes resistance of H. armigera against insecticide by eliciting a clear elevation of predominantly P450 monooxygenase activities in midgut and fat body.

Abstract In This research we will describe how to deal the system with users to make the work in the company or in any work space . in application forms interact with users inside the system . application form of any system must creates a many graphical interface for user ant we should take care about who is dealing with the system , Additionally, application forms used from different type of user so that we must take care about this points during designing the system for different users . Application Forms in the system consists of many programs, or components and function we are designing it. the instructions inside program can be execute by clicking on the command button and we can create specific process in the system.

The microbiota in the oral cavity has a strict connection to its host. Its unbalance may determine oral diseases and can also have an impact on the systemic health. Probiotic strains may help in the restoration of a balanced condition. For this purpose, we screened the antibacterial and antiadhesive activities of many viable probiotic strains (Lactobacillus acidophilus PBS066, Lactobacillus crispatus LCR030, Lactobacillus gasseri LG050, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum PBS067, Limosilactobacillus reuteri PBS072, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus LRH020, Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BL050, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei LPC 1101, L. paracasei LPC 1082, and L. paracasei LPC 1114) against two main oral pathogens, Streptococcus mutans and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, involved in dental caries and periodontal disease development and progression. Our results, obtained through agar overlay assay, plate count method, and scanning electron microscope imaging, indicate that the tested probiotics prevent the growth and adhesion of oral pathogens in a strain-specific manner, improving oral health. L. plantarum PBS067, L. rhamnosus LRH020, L. paracasei LPC 1101, L. paracasei LPC 1082, and L. paracasei LPC 1114 performed in a significant way against both pathogens in all the tests used. They can be considered as an effective adjuvant to guarantee oral and systemic well-being.

The article reveals distinctive features of the interaction between architectural and structural solutions for the design of tall buildings as well as spotlights the most distinctive cases of expression. In the contemporary world, interaction is turning into the antithesis of the formerly dominant utilitarian attitude and standardization of tall buildings architectural solutions. Meanwhile, the search for rational structural solutions leads to new possibilities of architectural expression. This necessitates the transformation of a structural solution and its adaptation to the need of a modern architect to be exceptional and noticed. Interaction covers the current as well as retrospective and perspective periods. SWOT analysis was used by the authors of the article to assess the interaction between architectural and structural solutions in tall buildings design, select the most important criteria that could be used searching for rational architectural and structural solutions in future by applying multi-criteria decision making methods.

Despite well-documented health benefits of probiotics Saccharomyces, its application in oral health has not been comprehensively assessed. Dental caries is a transmissible disease initiated by acid production of cariogenic bacteria and yeast, such as Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans, on tooth enamel and followed by subsequent enamel demineralization. Here, we investigated the effect of two Saccharomyces strains (Saccharomyces boulardii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on S. mutans-C. albicans cross-kingdom interactions using a cariogenic planktonic model. Viable cells, pH changes and gene expression were measured. S. cerevisiae and S. boulardii inhibited the growth of C. albicans either in dual-, or multi-species conditions. Saccharomyces also inhibited C. albicans hyphal formation. Furthermore, Saccharomyces reduced the acidity of the culture medium which usually plummeted below pH 5 when S. mutans and C. albicans were present in the model. The presence of Saccharomyces maintained the culture medium above 6 even after overnight incubation, demonstrating a protective potential against dental enamel demineralization. S. boulardii significantly downregulated S. mutans atpD and eno genes expression. Overall, our results shed light on a new promising candidate, Saccharomyces, for dental caries prevention due to its potential to create a less cariogenic environment marked by a neutral pH and reduced growth of C. albicans.

In previous papers we have shown how Schrödinger’s equation which includes an electromagnetic field interaction can be deduced from a fluid dynamical Lagrangian of a charged potential flow that interacts with an electromagnetic field. The quantum behaviour was derived from Fisher information terms which were added to the classical Lagrangian. It was thus shown that a quantum mechanical system is driven by information and not only electromagnetic fields. This program was applied also to Pauli’s equations by removing the restriction of potential flow and using the Clebsch formalism. Although the analysis was quite successful there were still terms that did not admit interpretation, some of them can be easily traced to the relativistic Dirac theory. Here we repeat the analysis for a relativistic flow, pointing to a new approach for deriving relativistic quantum mechanics.

This paper explores the interactions of dynamic dark energy with other components of the cosmos, such as dark matter and baryonic matter, and its wide-ranging implications in cosmology. By investigating the interplay between dynamic dark energy and the universe's large-scale structure, we aim to provide a deeper understanding of cosmic evolution and the behavior of dark energy in different cosmological epochs. We also examine the potential of dynamic dark energy to offer novel insights into long-standing cosmological puzzles and their impact on the formation and evolution of cosmic structures.

Examining the clustering characteristics and fluctuations within urban areas during peak hours through the lens of bike-sharing is of utmost importance in the optimization of bike-sharing systems and urban transportation planning. This investigation adopts the principles of urban spatial interaction network construction and employs streets as the fundamental units of analysis to model bike-sharing activities during morning and evening peak hours within Beijing's six central districts. Subsequent to this, a comprehensive analysis of the network's structural attributes was carried out. A walktrap method rooted in modularity analysis was introduced to discern and scrutinize the clustering patterns and characteristics of communities within the network across different temporal intervals. Empirical findings reveal a predominant usage pattern of shared bicycles for short-distance travel during both morning and evening peak hours. Notably, distinctive community structures manifest during these periods, characterized by two large communities and multiple smaller ones during the morning peak, while the evening peak showcases a single large community alongside several medium-sized and smaller ones. Moreover, the extended interaction radius points to an expanded geographic range of interactions among streets. These findings bear significant implications for the management of urban transportation, bike-sharing enterprises, and urban residents, proffering valuable insights for the optimization of bike-sharing schemes and transportation strategies.

The clinical interaction between stroke and periodontitis has been consistently studied and confirmed. Hence, forecasting potentially new protein interactions in this association using bioinformatic strategies presents potential interest. In this exploratory study, we conducted a protein-protein network interaction (PPI) search with documented encoded proteins for both stroke and periodontitis. Genes of interest were collected via GWAS database. The STRING database was used to predict the PPI networks, first in a sensitivity purpose (confidence cut-off of 0.7), and then with a highest confidence cut-off (0.9). Genes over-representation was inspected in the final network. As a result, we foresee a prospective protein network of interaction between stroke and periodontitis. Inflammation, pro-coagulant/pro-thrombotic state and ultimately atheroma plaque rupture is the main biological mechanism derived from the network. These pilot results may pave the way to future molecular and therapeutic studies to further comprehend the mechanisms between these two conditions.

Non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) is a DNA repair pathway required to detect, process, and ligate DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) throughout the cell cycle. The NHEJ pathway is necessary for V(D)J recombination in developing B and T lymphocytes. During NHEJ, Ku70 and Ku80 form a heterodimer that recognizes DSBs and promotes recruitment and function of downstream factors PAXX, MRI, DNA-PKcs, Artemis, XLF, XRCC4, and LIG4. Mutations in several known NHEJ genes result in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Inactivation of Mri, Paxx or Xlf in mice results in normal or mild phenotype, while combined inactivation of Xlf/Mri, Xlf/Paxx, or Xlf/Dna-pkcs leads to late embryonic lethality. Here, we describe three new mouse models. We demonstrate that deletion of Trp53 rescues embryonic lethality in mice with combined deficiencies of Xlf and Mri. Furthermore, Xlf^-/-Mri^-/-Trp53^+/- and Xlf^-/-Paxx^-/-Trp53^+/- mice possess reduced body weight, severely reduced mature lymphocyte counts, and accumulation of progenitor B cells. We also report that combined inactivation of Mri/Paxx results in live-born mice with modest phenotype, and combined inactivation of Mri/Dna-pkcs results in embryonic lethality. Therefore, we conclude that XLF is functionally redundant with MRI and PAXX during lymphocyte development in vivo. Moreover, Mri genetically interacts with Dna-pkcs and Paxx.

Background: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a serious fungal disease of crop plants due to substantial yield reduction and production of mycotoxins in the infected grains. The breeding progress in increasing resistance with maintaining a high yield is not possible without a thorough examination of the molecular basis of plant immunity responses; Methods: LC-MS based metabolomics approaches powered by three-way ANOVA and differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) selection, correlation network and functional enrichment were conducted on grains of resistant and susceptible to FHB genotypes of barley and wheat as well as model grass Brachypodium distachyon (Bd) still poorly known at metabolomic level; Results: We selected common and genotype-specific DAMs in response to F. culmorum inoculation. Immunological reaction at metabolomic level was strongly diversified between resistant and susceptible genotypes. DAMs common for all tested species from porphyrins, flavonoids and phenylpropanoids metabolic pathways were highly correlated and reflects conservativeness in FHB response in Poaceae family. Resistant related DAMs belonged to different structural classes including tryptophan derived metabolites, pirimidines, amino acids proline and serine as well as phenylpropanoids and flavonoids. Physiological response to F. culmorum of Bd was close to barley and wheat genotypes however, metabolomic changes were strongly diversified. Conclusions: Combined targeted and untargeted metabolomics provides comprehensive knowledge about significant elements of plant immunity with potential of being molecular biomarkers of enhance resistance to FHB in grass family. Thorough examination of Bd21 metabolome in juxtaposition with barley and wheat diversified genotypes facilitate their setting as model grass for plant-microbe interaction.

OpenAI has managed to turn 100 million heads in two months towards their new Language model tool (LM) ChatGPT. The third generation Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT-3) has the capacity to tackle simple to complex and sophisticated problems, while providing reasoning behind its generated answers. ChatGPT can be used to increase productivity and improve efficiency and face challenging problems. Programming mobile applications is a challenging task that requires professional software engineers, skills and abilities to be developed. The following paper takes a case study approach to assess how novice app developers can use ChatGPT to generate Java scripts that will be used in Android studio to create a functional application. The results after, many iterations and ongoing conversations with ChatGPT managed to create an application for the anticipated function. Important insights have been drawn from the case study that could set the ground for any novice user seeking to create applications using Java scripting and Android Studio.

Abstract: Assessing infection by a parasite, such as Haemonchus contortus, requires time and experienced personnel. Field-based diagnostics using metagenomic species-specific targeting methods would be beneficial. Here, we examine two helminth control methods, zoledronic acid (ZA), an activator of γ δ T cells, and a neutralizing antibody (AB) against γ δ T cells. We conducted a randomized complete block designed investigation for the effects of Haemonchus contortus (Hc) infection on Alpine wethers (young castrated male goats) to identify if metagenomic methods will provide strong evidence for diagnostics. Different tissues were collected from wethers and the microbiome compositions were identified. The relative proportion of microbial community members in the environments; the richness of the microbial community; and the evenness of distribution in microbial community members were determined. It was hypothesized that numerous parameters that include many data points will provide a more precise means to identify infection or health based on similarity to uninfected control data parameters. We found that samples did not sequence well, when multiplexed with high concentration libraries, giving taxonomic numbers that had residual and unmeasured confounding bias related to analysis or selection that define significance of OTUs in the tissue samples at the phylum or species level.

Cocrystallizaiton could improve most physicochemical properties of specific active pharmaceutical ingredients, which has great potential in pharmaceutical development. In this study, the cocrystal of nitrofurantoin and 4-aminobenzoic acid was prepared with solid-state (solvent-free or green-chemistry) grinding approach, and the above cocrystal has been characterized by Raman and terahertz vibrational spectroscopic techniques. Spectral results show that the vibrational modes of the cocrystal within the whole spectral region are different from those of the corresponding parent materials. The dynamic process of such pharmaceutical cocrystal formation has also been monitored directly with Raman spectra. These results offer us unique means for characterizing the cocrystal conformation from molecule-level and also provide us rich information about the reaction dynamic of cocrystal formation within pharmaceutical fields.

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

This study investigates the expression and prognostic value of TRIM6 in gliomas, the most prevalent primary brain and spinal cord tumors. Our results show that TRIM6 is predominantly overexpressed in glioma tissues and is associated with reduced overall survival, disease-specific survival, and progression-free interval. Furthermore, TRIM6 expression is correlated with WHO grade and primary treatment outcomes. Functional analysis indicates that interactions between cytokines and their receptors play a critical role in the prognosis of glioma patients. A protein-protein interaction network reveals 10 hub genes closely linked to cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. In vitro experiments demonstrate that silencing TRIM6 impairs the proliferation, invasion, and migration of glioma cells, while overexpressing TRIM6 enhances these abilities. Additionally, TRIM6 expression is positively associated with the abundance of innate immune cells and negatively associated with the abundance of adaptive immune cells. In summary, TRIM6 is significantly upregulated in gliomas and linked to poor prognosis, making it a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. TRIM6 plays a crucial role in promoting cell viability, clonogenic potential, migration, and invasion in glioma cells. It may regulate glioma progression by modulating cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, leading to an inflammatory response and an imbalance in immunomodulation, thereby representing a potential therapeutic target.

Recent studies supported a clinical association between Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and periodontitis. Hence, investigating possible protein interactions between these two conditions is of interest. In this study, we conducted a protein-protein network interaction analysis with recognized genes encoding proteins for PD and periodontitis. Genes of interest were collected via GWAS database. Then, we conducted a protein interaction analysis using STRING database, with a highest confidence cut-off of 0.9. Our protein network casted a comprehensive analysis of potential protein-protein interactions between PD and periodontitis. This analysis may underpin valuable information for new candidate molecular mechanisms between PD and periodontitis and may serve new potential targets for research purposes. These results should be carefully interpreted giving the limitations of this approach.

The growing prevalence of social robots in various fields necessitates a deeper understanding of touch in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). This study investigates how human-initiated touch influences physiological responses during interactions with robots, considering factors such as anthropomorphic framing of robot body parts and attributed gender. Two types of anthropomorphic framings are applied: the use of anatomical body part names and assignment of male or female gender to the robot. Higher physiological arousal is observed when touching less accessible body parts than when touching more accessible body parts in both conditions. Results also indicate that using anatomical names intensifies arousal compared to the control condition. Additionally, touching the male robot resulted in higher arousal in all participants, especially when anatomical body part names were used. This study contributes to the understanding of how anthropomorphic framing and gender impact physiological arousal in touch interactions with social robots, offering valuable insights for social robotics development.

Iberian holm oak meadows are savannah-like ecosystems that result from traditional silvo pastoral practices. However, such traditional uses are declining, driving changes in the typical tree – open grassland structure of these systems. Yet, there are no studies integrating the whole ecosystem — including the arboreal and the herbaceous layer — as drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG: CO2, CH4 and N2O) dynamics. Here we aim at integrating the influence of tree canopies and interactions among plant functional types (PFT: grasses, forbs, and legumes) of the herbaceous layer as GHG exchange drivers. For that purpose, we performed chamber based GHG surveys in plots dominated by representative canopy types of Iberian holm oak meadows, including Quercus species and Pinus pinea stands, the last a common tree plantation replacing traditional stands; and unravelled GHG drivers through a diversity interaction model approach. Our results show that the tree – open grassland structure especially drove CO2 and N2O fluxes, with higher emissions under the canopy than in the open grassland. Emissions under P. pinea canopies being higher than those under Quercus species. In addition, the inclusion of diversity and compositional terms of the herbaceous layer improve the explained variability, legumes enhancing CO2 uptake and N2O emissions. Changes in the tree cover and tree species composition, in combination with changes in the structure and composition of the herbaceous layer, will imply deep changes in the GHG exchange of Iberian holm oak meadows. These results may provide some guidelines to perform better management strategies of this vast but vulnerable ecosystem.

Background: As part of the Heart Healthy Lenoir Project, we developed a practice level intervention to improve blood pressure control. The goal of this study was: i) determine if single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that associate with blood pressure variation, identified in large case-control studies, are applicable to blood pressure control in subjects from a rural population; ii) measure the association of these SNPs with subjects’ responsiveness to the hypertension intervention; and iii) identify other SNPs that may help understand patient-specific responses to an intervention. Methods and Results: We used a combination of candidate SNPs and genome-wide analyses to test associations with either baseline systolic blood pressure (SBP) or change in systolic blood pressure one year after the intervention in two genetically defined ancestral groups: African Americans (AA) or Caucasian Americans (CAU). Of the 48 candidate SNPs, 13 SNPs associated with baseline SBP in our study; however, one candidate SNP, rs592582, also associated with a change in SBP after one year. Using our study data, we identified 4 and 15 additional loci that associated with a change in SBP in the AA and CAU groups, respectively. Our analysis of gene-age interactions identified genotypes associated with SBP improvement within different age groups of our populations. Moreover, our integrative analysis identified AQP4-AS1 and PADI2 as genes whose expression levels may contribute to the pleiotropy of complex traits involved in cardiovascular health and blood pressure regulation in response to an intervention targeting hypertension. Conclusions: Identification of SNPs associated with the success of a hypertension treatment intervention suggests that genetic factors in combination with age may contribute to an individual’s success in lowering SBP. If these findings prove to be applicable to other populations, the use of this genetic variation in making patient-specific interventions may help providers with making decisions to improve patient outcomes. Further investigation is required to determine the role of this genetic variance with respect to the management of hypertension such that more precise treatment recommendations may be made in the future as part of personalized medicine.

Various peptides or non-structural amino acids are recognized by their specific target proteins and perform biological role in various pathways in vivo. Understanding the interactions between target protein and peptides (or non-structural amino acids) provides key information on the molecular interactions, which can be potentially translated to the development of novel drugs. However, it is experimentally challenging to determine the crystal structure of protein-peptide complexes. To obtain structural information on substrate recognition of peptide-recognizing enzyme, X-ray crystallographic studies were performed using triglycine (Gly-Gly-Gly) as main-chain of peptide. The crystal structure of Parengyodontium album Proteinase K in complex with triglcyine was determined at 1.4 Å resolution. Two different bound conformations of triglycine were observed at the substrate recognition site. The triglycine backbone forms stable interactions with β5-α4 and α5-β6 loops of main-chain. One of the triglycine-binding conformations was identical with the binding mode of a peptide-based inhibitor from a previously reported crystal structure of Proteinase K. Triglycine has potential application X-ray crystallography to identify substrate recognition sites in peptide binding enzymes.

Background: Tele-rehabilitation has grown significantly in the past years, especially in 2020 when it has been a crucial tool for supporting patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the context of tele-rehabilitation, serious games have a significant role. However, realizing software for serious games capable of responding to the variety of user needs is resource demanding. Methods: we present Proteo, a modular framework for developing serious games from scratch, but with the ability of providing a high-level interface for game customization by therapists and researchers. We also present two serious game implementation examples with analysis of end user’s and therapists/researchers’ satisfaction. Results: by involving a group of 11 specialized therapists and 9 end users we analyzed the Proteo user’s satisfaction. We found that therapists and end users scored high level of involvement, and the therapists scored also high level of suitability. More in depth, both groups showed significant differences between positive and negative feeling, with positive feeling scoring higher than negative ones. Finally, concerning Users’ level of suitability the condition of successfulness of the system, ability to control, clarity and helpfulness were reported as high while the difficulty of the system and the difficulty of the task were reported as low. Conclusions: the proposed framework is a step forward in providing a comprehensive open-source, modular framework, to develop serious games for tele-rehabilitation. Proteo is distributed with a MIT license and available to researchers on GitHub and has been well accepted by the users we involved in the evaluation tests.

Introduction: The relation between physical well-being and chronic pain is complex and involves several subjective and objective covariates. We aimed to assess the role of media-tor, confounder, or interactor played by covariates, including sleep quality, physical activity, perceived stress, smoking, and alcohol drinking in the relation between physical well-being and chronic pain. Method: We used Poisson regression to obtain incidence rate ratios (IRR) of the associa-tion between physical well-being and chronic pain in a cohort study carried out among uni-versity students. We applied General Structural Equation Modeling (GSEM) to assess me-diation, and stratum-specific analysis to distinguish confounding from interaction. We computed Relative Excess Risks due to Interaction (RERI), Attributable Proportion (AP), and Synergy index (S) to measure additive interaction. Results: High physical well-being is related to a large decrease in the risk of chronic pain (IRRTotal Effect= 0.58; 95%CI 0.50-0.81). Perceived stress mediates 12.5% of the total effect of physical well-being on chronic pain. The stratum-specific IRRs of current smokers and non-current smokers were different from each other and were larger than the crude IRR (IRR=1.49; 95% CI: 1.24-1.80), which indicates that smoking could be both confounder and interactor. Interaction analyses showed that physical activity could act as a potential interactor (RERI=0.25; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.60). Conclusion: Perceived stress is an important mediator of the relation between physical well-being and chronic pain, while smoking is both a confounder and an interactor. Our findings may prove useful in distinguishing high-risk from low-risk groups, in the interven-tions aimed at reducing chronic pain.

The present paper reports an exact approach quantifying the electromagnetic contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment occurring in isolated system comprised of non-composite particle carrying elementary electric charge. Essential averaging procedure and regularization of the electromagnetic field potentials necessary when quantifying the electromagnetic self-interactions and when deriving equations of motion without singularities and obeying the conservation laws are thoroughly discussed. The study shows that the dynamics of the considered system is associated to unique classical transcendental equations of motion satisfied by the particle's velocity and the electromagnetic contribution to the anomalous $g$-factor known from the quantum electrodynamics. The equations of motion lead to an exact analytical expression for the anomalous $g$-factor that provides more accurate result than that calculated with the aid of quantum electrodynamics. It matches the experimentally measured value reported in the literature to a one part per trillion. We obtain a_e=0.00115965218000(65) thus reveling the potential of non-perturbative, non-probability methods in predicting the electron's anomalous g-factor.

As an important research content in cultural geography, the exploration and analysis of the laws of regional cultural differences has great significance for the discovery of distinctive cultures, protection of regional cultures and in-depth understanding of cultural differences. In recent years, with the "spatial turn" of sociology, scholars are paying more and more attention to the implicit spatial information in social media data and the various social phenomena and laws they reflect. One important aspect is to grasp the social cultural phenomena and its spatial distribution characteristics through the text. Using machine learning methods such as the popular natural language processing (NLP), this paper can not only extract hotspot cultural elements from text data but also accurately detect the spatial interaction pattern of some specific cultures and the characteristics of emotions towards non-native cultures. Taking the 6,128 answers to the question “what are the differences between South and North China that you never know” on the Zhihu Q&A Platform as an example, with the help of NLP, this paper has explored the cultural differences between South and North China in people’s mind. This paper probes into people’s feeling and cognition of the cultural differences between South and North China from three aspects, including spatial interaction patterns of hotspot cultural elements, components of hotspot culture and emotional characteristics under the influence of cultural differences between North and South. The study reveals that 1) people from North and South China have great differences in recognizing each other’s culture. 2) Food culture is the most popular among many cultural differences. 3) People tend to show negative attitude towards the food cultures different from their own. All these findings shed light upon the understanding of regional cultural differences and addressing cultural conflicts. In addition, this paper also provides an effective solution to the study from a macro perspective, which have been difficult for new cultural geography.

Background and Objectives: ACTION-France (Awareness, Care and Treatment In Obesity MaNagement in France) aims to identify the perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and potential barriers to effective obesity management in France and guide collaborative actions. Methods: ACTION-France is a cross-sectional survey of people with obesity (PwO) and healthcare professionals (HCPs), in France. The PwO and HCP questionnaires ran from 27/09/2022 to 01/02/2023 and from 19/12/2022 to 31/03/2023, respectively. Results: The study, encompassing 1226 PwO and 166 HCPs, reveals a shared recognition of obesity as a chronic condition. However, despite being requested by most PwO, weight-related discussions are surprisingly infrequent, leading to delayed diagnosis and care. PwO and HCPs held different views as to why: HCPs often attributed it to PwO’s lack of motivation or disinterest, whereas PwO avoided them because they felt weight managing was their own responsibility and were uncomfortable discussing it. When weight was discussed, primarily with general practitioners (GPs), discussions mostly focused on physical activity and dietary. However, results identified a strong psychosocial impact of obesity: 42% of respondents reported anxiety-depressive symptoms, and many more hesitated to engage in certain social activities because of their weight. Psychotherapy was only discussed by 55% of HCPs. Pharmaceutical options were also rarely discussed (19.5% of HCPs), though 56.1% of PwO reported they would want to. Conclusions: HCPs’ and PwO’s perceptions differed significantly and need to converge through enhanced communication. A holistic approach, integrating comprehensive training for GPs and psychological comorbidities, would help to bridge perceptual gaps effectively and foster more empathetic and effective patient care.

Insects possess an array of defense molecules allowing them to fight infections. They can also show a form of immune memory, named priming. However, the involvement of insect immune defense mechanisms in priming is unclear, since invertebrates lack the molecular machinery present in vertebrates to build an immune memory. In the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, larvae can be primed via the oral route with Bacillus thurigiensis var. tenebrionids (Btt). This results in changes in the expression of a large number of genes, among which some belong to families of ancient defense genes. In the present work, we tested whether three chosen candidate genes (a Thaumatin, a C-type Lectin and an Osiris-like gene) could be involved in the survival to a Btt exposure, as well as in the priming phenotype. We assessed changes in their expression over time and according to the priming treatment, knocked them down individually by RNA interference (RNAi), and observed how it affected survival upon challenge. The quantification of gene expression patterns in our larvae with RT-qPCR showed that up- and/or down-regulation of the genes, after the priming treatment, was quite volatile and time dependent. Upon knock-down, we did not observe the expected decrease in survival to Btt or the abolishment of the priming phenotype. We conclude that knocking down genes individually is probably insufficient to affect survival and priming in our system. This gives us insight into the complexity of the molecular processes underpinning priming.

A recent paper demonstrates the importance of the linker region joining the two SNARE motifs of the neuronal t-SNARE SNAP25 for maintaining rates of secretion with roles for distinct segments in speeding fusion pore expansion (Shaaban et al., 2019, Elife. 8). Remarkably, lipid perturbing agents rescue a palmitoylation-deficient phenotype that includes slow fusion pore expansion, suggesting that protein-protein interactions have a role not only in bringing together the granule or vesicle membrane with the plasma membrane but also in orchestrating protein-lipid interactions leading to the fusion reaction. Furthermore, biochemical investigations demonstrate the importance of the C-terminal domain of the linker in the formation of the plasma membrane t-SNARE acceptor complex for synaptobrevin2 (Jiang, et al., 2019, FASEB J. 33:7985-7994;Shaaban et al., 2019, Elife. 8). This insight, together with biophysical and optical studies from other laboratories (Wang, et al., 2008, Molecular Biology of the Cell. 19:3944-3955; Zhao, et al., 2013, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110:14249-14254) suggests that the plasma membrane SNARE acceptor complex between SNAP25 and syntaxin and the resulting trans SNARE complex with the v-SNARE synaptobrevin form just milliseconds before fusion.

It is known that people perceive animacy in objects. However, many studies on animacy and emotional expressions are limited in that the investigated motions were created by experimenters themselves. This makes the objective validity unclear. Moreover, it remains unclear what types of movements can express emotions with animacy due to the limited number of investigations examining both animacy and emotional expressions. Therefore, we investigated the motion elements for both animacy perception and emotional expressions using simple objects that lack features of specific living things, such as eyes, ears, tails, and voices in this study. First, we investigated the motion elements for animacy perception and emotional expressions using a robot simulator that enabled participants to create undulatory motions by tuning parameters for speed, height, and randomness. In total, 64 participants created motions in Normal (neutral), Joy, Sad, Relaxed, and Angry conditions. The results showed that the medians of speed and height in Normal, related only to animacy, were 0.5569[Hz] and 3.050cm at the edges/4.575cm at the center. The differences in Joy were 0.4028[Hz] and 3.348cm/5.022cm, in Sad were −0.1652[Hz] and −0.9982cm/−1.497cm, in Relaxed were −0.1979[Hz] and −0.4902cm/−0.7353cm, and in Angry were 0.5212[Hz] and 4.688cm/7.032cm. Second, we investigated whether the motion elements revealed in the first experiment were sufficient to express emotions with animacy, using a robot simulator that reflected the results of the motion element investigation. In total, 44 online participants observed the simulator. The results showed that participants could understand emotional arousal levels at the same time as animacy, but they did not fully understand emotional valence. Our findings provide design guidelines for robots that exhibit emotional expressions and closely interact with humans.

Cigar stacking fermentation is a key step in tobacco aroma enhancement and miscellaneous gas reduction, which both have a great influence on increasing cigar flavor and improving industrial availability. To analyze the effect of cigar tobacco leaf (CTLs) microbial community structure on volatiles during cigar stacking fermentation, this study used multi-omics technology to reveal the changes in microbial community structure and volatiles of different cigar varieties during stacking fermentation, in addition to exploring the interaction mechanism of microbiome and volatiles. The results showed that the dominant microbial compositions of different CTL varieties during stacking fermentation were similar, which included Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium 1, Aerococcus, and Aspergillus. These dominant microbes mainly affected the microbial community structure and characteristic microorganisms of CTLs through microbial interactions, thereby influencing the transformation of volatiles. Characteristic microorganisms of different CTLs varieties such as Trichothecium, Trichosporon, Thioalkalicoccus and Jeotgalicoccus, were found to posively correlate with characteristic volatiles like megastigmatrienone 4, pyrazine, tetramethyl-, geranyl acetone, and 2-undecanone, 6,10-dimethyl-, respectively. This in turn affected the aroma and sensory quality of the CTLs. This study provides theoretical support for the analysis of the mechanism of microorganisms on volatiles and aroma, and development of microbial agents during cigar stacking fermentation.

In recent years, with the rapid development of computer vision technology and the popularization of intelligent hardware, as well as people’s increasing demand for intelligent products for human-computer interaction, visual grounding technology can help machines and humans identify and locate objects, thereby promoting human-computer interaction and intelligent manufacturing. At the same time, human-computer interaction is constantly evolving and improving, becoming increasingly intelligent, humane, and efficient. This paper proposes a new VG model and designs a language verification module that uses language information as the main information to increase the model’s interactivity. Additionally, we propose the combination of visual grounding and human-computer interaction, aiming to explore the research status and development trends of visual grounding and human-computer interaction technology, as well as their application in practical scenarios and optimization directions, to provide references and guidance for relevant researchers and promote the development and application of visual grounding and human-computer interaction technology.

Conversational spoken dialogue systems that interact with the user rather than merely reading text can be equipped with hesitations to manage the dialogue flow and the users' attention. Based on a series of empirical studies, we built an elaborated hesitation synthesis strategy for dialogue systems that inserts hesitations of scalable extent wherever needed in the ongoing utterance. So far, evaluations of hesitating systems have shown that synthesis quality is affected negatively by hesitations, but that there is improvement in interaction quality. We argue that due to its conversational nature, hesitation synthesis needs interactive evaluation rather than traditional MOS-based questionnaires. To prove this point, we dually evaluate our system’s speech synthesis component: on the one hand, linked to the dialogue system evaluation, on the other hand, in the traditional MOS way. This way we are able to analyze and discuss differences that arise due to the evaluation methodology. Our results suggest that MOS scales are not sufficient to assess speech synthesis quality, which has implications for future research that are discussed in this paper. Furthermore, our results indicate that hesitations work well to increase task performance and that an elaborated strategy is necessary to avoid likability issues.

. Shrub patches influence soil fertility and vegetation, impacting species composition and diversity. The Eastern Qilian Mountains' unique context provides insights into alpine ecosystems' response to environmental challenges. This study aimed to evaluate the physical characteristics and soil nutrient contents of shrub patches for four different shrub species. Four alpine shrub species (Salix oritrepha, Spiraea alpina, Rhododendron capitatum, and Potentilla fruticose) were studied, assessing their patch characteristics and soil nutrients at different depths within three patch microsites. Soil samples were collected and analyzed for organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate differences among shrub species and locations within the shrub patches. Our results showed that the shrub species exhibited variations in patch characteristics and soil nutrient distribution. Soil nutrient content varied by depth and location within the shrub patches, with higher concentrations at the center. The relative interaction intensity (RII) showed nutrient aggregation or dispersion trends. The study highlighted the complex interactions between shrub characteristics and soil nutrients, emphasizing their influence on nutrient cycling, vegetation dynamics, and soil properties. These findings contribute to our understanding of alpine ecosystem dynamics and inform conservation and management strategies.

The effective baryon-baryon potential can be derived in the framework of quark model. The configurations with different quark spatial distributions are mixed naturally when two baryons are getting close. The effect of configuration mixing in chiral quark model (ChQM) is studied by calculating the effective potential between two nonstrange baryons in the channels I J = 01, 10 and 03. For comparison the results of color screening model (CSM) are also presented. Generally the configuration mixing will lower the potential when the separation between two baryons is small, and its effect will be ignorable when the separation becomes large. Due to the screened color confinement, the configuration mixing is rather large, which leads to stronger intermediate-range attraction in CSM. while the effect of configuration mixing is small in ChQM due to the quadratic confinement and σ-meson exchange, which is responsible for the intermediate-range attraction.

Dysregulation of the Cyclin-dependent kinase 8 (CDK8) activity has been associated to many diseases including the colorectal and breast cancer. As usual in the CDK family, the activity of CDK8 is controlled by a regulatory protein called cyclin C (CycC). But while human CDK family members are generally activated in two steps that is, the binding of the cyclin to CDK and the phosphorylation of a residue in the CDK activation loop, CDK8 does not require the phosphorylation step to be active. Another peculiarity of CDK8 is its ability to be associated to CycC while adopted an inactive form. These specificities raise the question of the role of CycC in the complex CDK8-CycC, which appears to be more complex than for the other members of CDK family. Through MD simulations and binding free energy calculations, we investigated the effect of CycC on the structure and dynamics of CDK8 on the one hand, and the structural molecular basis of the protein-protein interaction between the two partners on the other hand. We found that CycC has a stabilizing effect on CDK8 and identified specific interaction hotspots within its interaction surface compared to other human CDK/Cyc pairs. Targeting these specific interaction hotspots could be a promising approach in terms of specificity, to effectively disrupt the interaction between CDK8. The simulation of the conformational transition from the inactive to the active form of CDK8 suggests that the residue Glu99 of the CycC may assume the role of the missing phosphorylation step in the activation mechanism of CDK8. In a more general view, these results point the importance of keeping the CycC in computational studies when studying the human CDK8 protein in both the active and the inactive form.

: Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L) R. Br) is a subtropical grain and forage crop. It is privileged with several desirable forage attributes. Nevertheless, research on pearl millet is limited especially as a forage crop in the developing countries. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the field performance and stability of pearl millet genotypes for forage yield across seven environments. The study was conducted in seven environments (combination of locations and seasons) during 2016/2017-2018/2019 seasons. Twenty-five pearl millet genotypes, selected based on forage yield from a core collection of 200 accessions, were arranged in alpha lattice design with three replications. The parameters measured were fresh forage yield, days to flowering, plant height, number of culms m-2, leaf to stem ratio, and stem girth. The combined analysis revealed that environments, genotypes and their interaction had significant effects on all traits studied except the genotypic effect on stem girth. Across the seven environments, four genotypes (G14, G01, G12, and G22) out-yielded the check genotype in fresh matter yield by 20.7, 16.5, 11.0 and 9.8%, respectively. The additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis showed that the genotype, environment and their interaction were highly significant (P≤0.001) for fresh matter yield. The results of AMMI Stability Values (ASV) and the genotype selection index (GSI) combined with the AMMI estimate-based selection showed that genotypes G14, G22 and G01 were the most stable and adapted genotypes and were superior to the check genotype. These results indicate that forage pearl millet varieties could be developed directly through evaluation of the wealth available collections or indirectly through hybridization in crop breeding programs.

The importance of performance excellence and operator’s safety is fundamental not only when operators perform repetitive and controlled industrial tasks, but also in case of abrupt gestures due to inattention and unexpected circumstances. Since optical systems work at too low frequencies and they are not able to detect gestures as early as possible, combining the use of wearable magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMUs) with the adoption of deep learning techniques can be useful to instruct the machine about human motion. To improve the initial training phase of neural networks for high classification performance, gestures repeatability over time has to be verified. Since test-retest approach has been poorly applied based on MIMUs signals in a context of human-machine interaction, the aim of this work was to evaluate the repeatability of pick-and-place gestures composed of both normal and abrupt movements. Overall, results demonstrated an excellent test-retest repeatability for normal movements and a fair-to-good test-retest repeatability for abrupt movements. Moreover whereas the reduction of time between test and retest sessions increased repeatability indices.. In detail, results of the test suggested how to improve the reinforcement learning for the identification of gestures onset, whereas results of the retest gave important information about the time necessary to retrain the network.

Non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) is a major DNA repair pathway in mammalian cells that recognizes, processes and fixes DNA damages throughout the cell cycle, and is specifically important for homeostasis of post-mitotic neurons and developing lymphocytes. Neuronal apoptosis increases in the mice lacking NHEJ factors Ku70 and Ku80. Inactivation of other NHEJ genes, either Xrcc4 or Lig4, leads to massive neuronal apoptosis in the central nervous system (CNS) that correlates with embryonic lethality in mice. Inactivation of either Paxx, Mri or Dna-pkcs NHEJ gene results in normal CNS development due to compensatory effects of Xlf. Combined inactivation of Xlf/Paxx, Xlf/Mri and Xlf/Dna-pkcs, however, results in late embryonic lethality and high levels of apoptosis in CNS. To determine the impact of NHEJ factors on early stages of neurodevelopment, we isolated neural stem and progenitor cells from mouse embryos and investigated proliferation, self-renewal and differentiation capacity of these cells lacking either Xlf, Paxx, Dna-pkcs, Xlf/Paxx or Xlf/Dna-pkcs. We found that XLF, DNA-PKcs and PAXX maintain the neural stem and progenitor cell populations and neurodevelopment in mammals, which is particularly evident in the double knockout models.

Breeding for low hydrogen cyanide (HCN) varieties is a major objective of programmes targeting boiled cassava food product. To enhance breeding for low HCN, knowledge on genetic variation and trait heritability is essential. In this study, 64 cassava clones established across four locations and evaluated for HCN using three HCN assessment methods; 1 to 9 scale, 0 ppm to 800 ppm scale and a quantitative assay based on spectrophotometer readings (HCN_Spec). Data were also collected on the weather variables precipitation, relative humidity, and temperature. Significant differences were observed among clones (P &lt; 0.001) and locations (p &lt; 0.001). There were also significant (p &lt; 0. 001) clone by environment interactions. Locations Arua and Serere posted higher HCN scores among clones and were associated with significantly higher (p &lt; 0.001) mean daily temperature (K) and lower relative humidity (%) across 12-hour and 18-hour intervals. Within locations HCN broad sense heritability estimates ranged 0.22 – 0.64 while combined location heritability estimates ranged 0.14 to 0.32. Relationships between the methods were positive and strong (R2 = 0.75 – 0.92). It is expected that the information herein will accelerate efforts towards breeding for low HCN cassava varieties.

Anthracnose, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, poses a significant and widespread threat to the common bean crop. The use of plant genetic resistance has proven to be the most effective strategy for managing anthracnose disease. The Amendoim Cavalo (AC) Andean cultivar has resistance against multiple races of C. lindemuthianum, which is conferred by the Co-AC gene. Fine mapping of this resistance gene to common bean chromosome Pv01 enabled the identification of Phvul.001G244300, Phvul.001G244400, and Phvul.001G244500 candidate genes for further validation. In this study, we assessed the relative expression of Co-AC candidate genes, as well as other putative genes in vicinity of this locus and known resistance genes, in the AC cultivar following inoculation with the race 73 of C. lindemuthianum. Gene expression analysis revealed significantly higher expression levels of Phvul.001G244500. Notably, Phvul.001G244500 encodes a putative Basic Helix-Loop-Helix transcription factor, suggesting its involvement in the regulation of defense responses. Furthermore, we observed a significant modulation of the expression of defense related genes PR1a, PR1b, and PR2, in a time-course experiment. These findings contribute to the development of improved strategies for breeding anthracnose-resistant common bean cultivars, thereby mitigating the impact of this pathogen on crop yields and ensuring sustainable bean production.

The exchange coupling between two ferromagnetic thin films, one with magnetically hard and the other with soft phases, separated by a thin non-magnetic layer is studied. Nd-Fe-B/ Ti / Fe thin film heterostructures were fabricated using DC magnetron sputtering on Si substrates which were heated in situ at 650°C using a house-built vacuum-compatible heater. The effect of the thickness of the Ti buffer layer and the annealing temperature on the formation of various phases of NdFeB was investigated. The effect of the thickness of the non-magnetic Ti spacer layer on the exchange coupling strength between the hard phase Nd-Fe-B ferromagnetic thin layer and the soft phase transition metal Fe layer was experimentally investigated. Hysteresis loops of multilayer thin films indicate an antiferromagnetic coupling was observed when the thickness of the spacer layer was 2 nm. This is within the range of antiferromagnetic coupling calculation based on RKKY theory predictions.

This study explored the incidence of metaphorical virtual classrooms and interactive learning objects in the interaction of students in online mode. The main objective was to analyze how these digital tools, driven by a set of strategies to promote their use, affect the interaction of students in the virtual classroom system and their derived effects. To this end, the latest version of Moodle was implemented in conjunction with gamification plugins and interactive tools in the higher education institution used as a case study. The methodology consisted of data collection through ordinal instruments applied to the teachers and student performance metrics gathered using a plugin developed to extract accurate metrics of each student's usage and performance through direct queries to the Moodle database and its processing through a neural network. This facilitated the collection of standardized data on the actual metrics of each virtual classroom at the end of the teaching of each subject from both the previous LMS and the newly implemented one. This data was then analyzed using advanced statistical techniques, including Mahalanobis distances, confirmatory factor analysis, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. These methods provided a compelling comparison between the old and new systems, revealing significant improvements in the metrics and factors evaluated. The results showed a significant improvement in teachers' perceptions of the usability of the virtual classroom system and an increase in students' academic performance, interaction, progress, and time spent learning in virtual contexts. These results provide solid empirical evidence of the added value of these educational tools as effective strategies for improving student interaction, performance, and motivation in online education.

This conceptual paper explores the potential of integrating Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) with traditional physiological signals to enhance emotional contagion in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). A focused literature review identifies gaps in current HRI models that rely solely on visual, auditory, and known physiological cues for emotional exchange. A novel framework is proposed, incorporating EMF as a complementary modality, aiming to deepen emotional synchronization between humans and robots. The paper lays groundwork for future research to consider EMF detection as a complementary modality alongside traditional cues. It also addresses technological requirements and discusses potential limitations. By extending the modalities used in emotional contagion, this work seeks to advance the development of more intuitive and empathetic robotic systems.

This paper presents the results of experiments on the study of a hydraulic fracture interaction with a preliminary created fracture that simulates a natural fracture. A distinctive feature of the conducted experiments is the ability to use an ultrasonic sounding to measure the fracture propagation and opening simultaneously with the fluid pore pressure measurements at the several points of the porous saturated sample. It allows to obtain the pressure distributions at various experiment stages and to establish a relation between the pore pressure distribution and the hydraulic fracture propagation and its interaction with macroscopic natural fracture. The possibilities of active ultrasonic monitoring have been expanded due to preliminary calibration experiments, which make it possible to estimate the fracture opening value by attenuation of ultrasonic pulses. The experiments show that the fracture propagation is limited by the natural fracture. This is caused by the hydraulic fracturing fluid leaks into the natural fracture, so both hydraulic fracture and natural fracture compose united hydraulic system.

As an outstanding information carrier, skyrmion is increasingly widely used in devices based on complex geometries. To achieve the skyrmion-based spintronic devices, a reasonable and feasible nanotrack is essential. In this paper, we conducted a study on the current-driven skyrmion movement in a circular-ring-shaped nanotrack. Our results suggest that the asymmetry of the inside and outside boundary of the circular ring changed the stable position of the skyrmion, causing it to move like the skyrmion Hall effect when driven by currents. Moreover, the asymmetric boundaries have advantages in enhancing or weakening the skyrmion Hall effect. Additionally, we also compared the skyrmion Hall effect from the asymmetric boundary of circular ring nanotracks with that from inhomogeneous DMI. It is found that the skyrmion Hall effect caused by the circular ring is significantly greater than that caused by the inhomogeneous DMI. These results contribute to our understanding of the skyrmion dynamics in confined geometries and offer an alternative method for controlling the skyrmion Hall effect of skyrmion-based devices.

The fluid flow field at the upper airways is highly complex due to the complex structure of the airway. The inhaled particle flow, the air streamline and the interaction of the continuum and discrete phase could significantly affect the transport behaviour of the inhaled particles. A range of analytical, mathematical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models analyzed the airflow and particle transport in different idealized and asymmetric airway models. A precise understanding of the continuum and discrete phase interaction in realistic human airways is missing, and this study aims to develop a CFD-DEM model for particle transport in realistic airways. This study uses the CFD model for the continuum phase and the discrete element method (DEM) for the discrete phase. A soft sphere approach is used for the interaction of the discrete phase. Proper validation is performed for particle transport efficiency. The CFD-DEM model analyzed the particle transport in an idealized and realistic airway model, and different methods are used to analyze the transport behaviour. During the particle-particle interaction, a stagnation point and a high-pressure zone are observed at the airway model's carinal angle. The numerical results report higher deposition efficiency (DE) for particle-particle interaction than without interaction. The flow field becomes highly complex with the spring constant values, and higher DE is found for high spring constant values. The spring dashpot friction-dshf method shows higher deposition at the upper part of the airways than other interaction methods. The findings of this study and more case-specific analysis would improve the knowledge of aerosol transport in airways and the health risk assessment of the patient.

Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] in Australia has been transformed from a niche opportunistic crop into a major summer cropping option for dryland growers in the summer-dominant rainfall regions of Queensland and New South Wales. This transformation followed stepwise genetic improvements in both grain yields and disease resistance. For example, more recent cultivars such as ‘Crystal’, ‘Satin II’ and ‘Jade-AU‘ have provided up to a 20% yield advantage over initial introductions. Improved agronomic management to enable mechanised management and cultivation in narrow (<50 cm) rows has further promised to increase yields. Nevertheless, average yields achieved by growers for their mungbean crops remain less than 1 t/ha, and are much more variable than other broad acre crops. Further increases in yield and crop resilience in mungbean are vital. In this review, opportunities to improve mungbean have been analysed at four key levels including phenology, leaf area development, dry matter accumulation and its partitioning into grain yield. Improving the prediction of phenology in mungbean may provide further scope for genetic improvements that better match crop duration to the characteristics of target environments. There is also scope to improve grain yields by increasing dry matter production through the development of more efficient leaf canopies. This may introduce additional production risks as dry matter production depends on the amount of available water, which varies considerably within and across growing regions in Australia. Improving crop yields by exploiting photo-thermal sensitivities to increase dry matter is likely a less risky strategy for these variable environments. Improved characterisation of growing environments using modelling approaches could also better define and identify the risks of major abiotic constraints. This would assist in optimising breeding and management strategies to increase grain yield and crop resilience in mungbean for the benefit of growers and industry.

Contract farming can reduce transaction costs and improve agricultural productivity. With the establishment of stable and effective contractual relationships, not only have agricultural products been provided with a stable market, but the standardization, refinement, and branding transformation of agricultural products can also be realized, thus further promoting the progress of agricultural modernization. The willingness of farmers to renew their contracts is a key factor in maintaining long-term, stable cooperative relationships. This research has empirically verified the impact model of tie strength between companies and farmers in contractual agriculture on the willingness of farmers to renew their contracts and revealed the working mechanism of tie strength on sustainable participation of farmers in contract farming. This study has utilized the survey data from 286 agricultural households in Inner Mongolia, China, and the method of structural equation modeling（SEM）, with the following results:(1)Interaction and reciprocity have a significant positive influence on trust. (2)Trust has a significant positive impact on farmers' willingness to renew their contracts. Also, reciprocity and interaction have an indirect impact on contract renewal willingness through trust .(3)Perception of economic value can significantly increase the contract renewal willingness of farmers and plays a mediating role between trust and contract renewal willingness.Overall, on the basis of tie strength, this research has provided a new perspective for the investigation of the sustainable stability of contract farming and empirical evidence for the sustainable development of the contract farming supply chain.

Phagosomal escape and intracellular survival, often accompanied by Small Colony Variants (SCVs) formation, are typical features of infections caused by S. aureus. The survival in macro-phages favours S. aureus dissemination and complicates treatment. RAW 264.7 murine macro-phages infected with S. aureus USA300 and treated with erythromycin and 20mM carnosine, alone and in combination, were used as experimental model. SCVs were isolated from all treat-ment conditions, but only those undergoing the pressure of combined erythromycin and carnosine for 48 hours were stable for at least six passages on blood agar. Nucleic acid extraction was car-ried out for S. aureus USA300 wild-type and stable SCVs. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) was performed using Illumina DNA Prep and Illumina MiSeq, and quantitative reverse transcription PCR was performed. WGS analysis did not yield mutations pointing to differences between S. au-reus USA300 and stable SCVs, therefore the focus was shifted to evaluating gene expression vari-ations. Genes such as zur, mntR, uhpt, fur, sdrE were shown to be significantly up-regulated in SCVs compared to S. aureus USA300 wild-type, suggesting a global change that allows adapta-tion to intracellular persistence, including protection from inflammatory response and evasion of the immune system.

Hand tracking enables controller-free interaction with virtual environments, which can, compared to traditional handheld controllers, make virtual reality (VR) experiences more natural and immersive. As naturalness hinges on both technological and user-based features, fine-tuning the former while assessing the latter can be used to increase usability. For a grab-and-place use case in immersive VR, we compared a prototype of a camera-based hand tracking interface (Leap Motion) with customized design elements to the standard Leap Motion application programming interface (API) and a traditional controller solution (Oculus Touch). Usability was tested in 32 young healthy participants, whose performance was analyzed in terms of accuracy, speed and errors as well as subjective experience. We found higher performance and overall usability as well as overall preference for the handheld controller compared to both controller-free solutions. While most measures did not differ between the two controller-free solutions, the modifications made to the Leap API to form our prototype led to a significant decrease in accidental drops. Our results do not support the assumption of higher naturalness for hand tracking but suggest design elements to improve the robustness of controller-free object interaction in a grab-and-place scenario.

Studying the two famous old problems that why the moon can move around the Sun and why the orbit of the Moon around the Earth cannot be broken off by the Sun under the condition that calculating with F=GMm/R^2, the attractive force of the Sun on the Moon is almost 2.2 times that of the Earth. We found that the planet and moon are unified as one single gravitational unit which results in that the Sun cannot have the force of F=GMm/R^2 on the moon. The moon is moved by the gravitational unit orbiting around the Sun. It could indicate that the gravitational field of the moon is limited inside the unit and the gravitational fields of both the planet and moon is unified as one single field interacting with the Sun. The findings are further clarified by reestablishing Newton’s repulsive gravity.

The Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne Flavivirus and can be transmitted through an infected mosquito bite or through human-to-human interaction by sexual activity, blood transfusion, breastfeeding or perinatal exposure. After the 2015-2016 outbreak in Brazil, a strong link between ZIKV infection and microcephaly emerged. ZIKV specifically targets human neural progenitor cells, suggesting that proteins encoded by ZIKV bind and inactivate host cell proteins leading to microcephaly. Here, we present a systematic annotation of interactions between human proteins and the seven non-structural ZIKV proteins corresponding to a Brazilian isolate. The interaction network was generated by combining tandem-affinity purification followed by mass spectrometry with yeast two-hybrid screens. We identified 150 human proteins, involved in distinct biological processes, as interactors to ZIKV non-structural proteins. Our interacting network is composed of proteins that have been previously associated with microcephaly in human genetic disorders and/or animal models. This study builds on previously published interacting networks of ZIKV and genes related to autosomal recessive primary microcephaly to generate a catalog of human cellular targets of ZIKV proteins implicated in processes related to microcephaly in humans. Collectively, this data can be used as a resource for future characterization of ZIKV infection biology and help create a basis for the discovery of drugs which may disrupt the interaction and reduce the health damage to the fetus.