Classification of CRISPR/Cas system and its application in tomato breeding

Remarkable diversity in the domain of genome loci architecture, structure of effector complex, array of protein composition, mechanisms of adaptation along with difference in pre-crRNA processing and interference have led to a vast scope of detailed classification in bacterial and archaeal CRISPR/Cas systems, their intrinsic weapon of adaptive immunity. Two classes: Class 1 and Class 2, several types and subtypes have been identified so far. While the evolution of the effector complexes of Class 2 is assigned solely to mobile genetic elements, the origin of Class 1 effector molecules is still in a haze. Majority of the types target DNA except type VI, which have been found to target RNA exclusively. Cas9, the single effector protein, has been the primary focus of CRISPR-mediated genome editing revolution and is an integral part of Class 2 (type II) system. The present review focuses on the different CRISPR types in depth and the application of CRISPR/Cas9 for epigenome modification, targeted base editing and improving traits such as abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, yield and nutritional aspects of tomato breeding.

Technical and Forensic Support for the Prevention of Penitentiary Crimes

Crimes committed by convicts serving criminal punishments present an urgent social problem. Although inmates are isolated and under constant control, the number of penitentiary crimes is growing. The identification of the whole complex of circumstances contributing to penitentiary crimes and their elimination are a guarantee of successful work on preventing crimes of this type. The potential of modern achievements in science and technology should be actively used in preventive work. Many legal scholars stress that the possibilities of using technical means, techniques and methods in the process of preventing crime (including penitentiary crime) are undervalued. Employees of preliminary investigation bodies and penitentiary institutions, in their turn, do not give value to the technical-forensic support (and sometime do not simply understand its possibilities) of preventing penitentiary crime. At the same time, their high priority and value in the organization of preventive work is beyond doubt. The article describes the theoretical basis of using technical-forensic means, offers their classification, shows key spheres of their use. The author stresses the preventive potential of special equipment available in each correctional institution (technical means of security and supervision). The article presents and offers a detailed classification of technical-forensic means, techniques and methods of preventing penitentiary crimes.

Investor behavior patterns in the financial market

The article summarizes the approaches to the formation of the model of investor behavior and identifies the cause and effect relationships between the actions of individual financial market players, highlights their sustainable priorities and irrational components of behavior, as well as market conditions and experience. It is argued that in unstable conditions the behavior and opinion of individual investors is transformed into collective behavior and market sentiment on the basis of which stable advantages of investors are formed: macroeconomic status, market maturity, political and social structure, values, quality of life, human capital. The characteristics of the investor behavior model that take into account both sustainable priorities and the irrational component are presented, and a detailed classification of investor behavior models is proposed. The Asian, Islamic, Latin American and post-Soviet models are singled out and characterized, the similarities and differences between them are highlighted. It is proposed to understand the model of investor behavior as sustainable benefits (risk, expected levels of return, liquidity, propensity to invest in certain financial instruments) and the consequent consistent actions of market players, as well as a set of factors that explain it, including expectations moment of time. It is substantiated that the behavior of investors is also explained by the irrational component (anomalies, stress response, etc.). It is proved that emerging markets are more volatile than developed ones, are in a state of instability and a significant manifestation of the irrational component, which must be taken into account when assessing their behavioral characteristics. The Asian, Islamic, Latin American and post-Soviet models are singled out and characterized, the similarities and differences between them are highlighted. It is established that the Latin American and post-Soviet models of investor behavior are similar in the following characteristics: low risk tolerance, high income orientation, prominent role of the banking system, concentration of property, behavioral anomalies, manipulation and corruption, high collectivism.

NARRATIVE SPECIFICITY OF THE SHORT STORY "HEY YOU, LITTLE BARRELL..." BY V. VYNNYCHENKO

The paper discusses the methodological potential of narratology that extends beyond the boundaries of traditional poetics taking the text of Volodymyr Vynnychenko’s short story "Hey you, little barrell..." as a case study. G. Genette’s definitions of the basic categories of narratology, such as story, discourse, anachronies, narrator’s types and functions, narrative distance and focalization are discussed. First and foremost, categories and paradigms introduced by G. Genette increase the possibilities of literary analysis. For example, there is no concept of a subject of vision (a focalizer) in traditional poetics. The paradigm of narrative perspective (focalization) developed by G. Genette is very important for studies of the narratives, besides, the narrative technique of modernism without this category is incomprehensible at all. Traditional poetics does not pay enough attention to anachrony, considering it together with other "off-plot elements", although analepsis and prolepsis are neither discursive nor descriptive. G. Genette presents detailed classification of analepsises and prolepsises, that determines the functionality of the analysis in context. Secondly, the paper clarifies, that the method of G. Genette’s narratology is not limited to tracing narrative categories as elements – it is also about their constant interrelation, i.e. the narrative model of the stories. Vynnychenko’s short story is analyzed in terms of correlations between telling, showing and talking, as well as displays of character’s discourse and attributive discourse. The artistic viability of anachronies (analepses and prolepses) is examined in the compositional and semantic aspects. The paper focuses on some specific features of Vynnychenko’s narrative style, such as dominance of mimesis over diegesis, as well as narrative distance and the author’s self-elimination by means of focalization (both the internal and external one) that are typical for modernist writing.

Identification of isolated or mixed strains from long reads: a challenge met on Streptococcus thermophilus using a MinION sequencer

This study aimed to provide efficient recognition of bacterial strains on personal computers from MinION (Nanopore) long read data. Thanks to the fall in sequencing costs, the identification of bacteria can now proceed by whole genome sequencing. MinION is a fast, but highly error-prone sequencing device and it is a challenge to successfully identify the strain content of unknown simple or complex microbial samples. It is heavily constrained by memory management and fast access to the read and genome fragments. Our strategy involves three steps: indexing of known genomic sequences for a given or several bacterial species; a request process to assign a read to a strain by matching it to the closest reference genomes; and a final step looking for a minimum set of strains that best explains the observed reads. We have applied our method, called ORI, on 77 strains of Streptococcus thermophilus . We worked on several genomic distances and obtained a detailed classification of the strains, together with a criterion that allows merging of what we termed ‘sibling’ strains, only separated by a few mutations. Overall, isolated strains can be safely recognized from MinION data. For mixtures of several non-sibling strains, results depend on strain abundance.

The cerebrofacial metameric syndromes: An embryological review and proposal of a novel classification scheme

The cerebrofacial metameric syndromes are a group of congenital syndromes that result in vascular malformations throughout specific anatomical distributions of the brain, cranium and face. Multiple reports of patients with high-flow or low-flow vascular malformations following a metameric distribution have supported this idea. There has been much advancement in understanding of segmental organization and cell migration since the concept of metameric vascular syndromes was first proposed. We aim to give an updated review of these embryological considerations and then propose a more detailed classification system for these syndromes, predominately incorporating the contribution of neural crest cells and somitomeres to the pharyngeal arches.

Features of the Higher Education for the Circular Economy: The Case of Italy

The higher education system plays a critical role in supporting the transition towards a circular economy (CE). It helps create business leaders and policymakers having appropriate skills, competences, and consciousness referring to the CE challenges. Nevertheless, few studies have specifically investigated how the higher education system is addressing the CE, how the current academic offering is integrating the CE principles, and which skills and competences are currently provided. This paper overcomes these limitations by investigating the current offering of the higher education for the CE in Italy. We analyze the academic programs, courses, and modules at different levels of 49 Italian universities and, by means of a detailed classification of the learning outcomes, provide a clear picture of the knowledge, skills, and competences offered by the CE education. We finally discuss implications of our findings concerning the development of CE education and CE jobs.

The Demographic Window of Opportunity and Economic Growth at Sub-National Level in 91 Developing Countries

Data for low- and middle- income countries (LMICs) are used to investigate the effect of the demographic transition on economic growth at sub-national level. We introduce a detailed classification of demographic window phases, determine how these phases are distributed among and within LMICs, and analyze the relationship between the demographic window of opportunity (DWO) and economic growth for 1921 urban and rural areas of sub-national regions within 91 LMICs. Many areas in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have entered the window, but most of Sub-Saharan Africa is still in the traditional or pre-window phase. Our analyses reveal higher growth rates in areas passing through the DWO. Positive growth effects are particularly strong in rural and more educated regions and in countries with lower levels of corruption. Policy measures aimed at effectively using the DW for achieving growth should combine investments in education and rural development with better governance.

A STATE OF ART AND PROSPECTS OF USED PNEUMATIC TIRES MANAGEMENT (REVIEW)

The basic data on the volume of production of pneumatic tires in the world and in Ukraine are presented. The need to improve the ways of handling pneumatic tires that have lost their con-sumer properties (worn out tires as a result of their intended use and tires rejected as a result of passing quality control during their manufacture) is shown as one of the most dangerous for the environment and promising in terms of using their properties. A detailed classification of methods for handling worn out and defective tires is proposed and a critical analysis of each of them is given. Particular attention is paid to the methods of utilization of tires, in particular, recycling, which makes it possible to efficiently use the secondary raw materials obtained from tires directly for their intended purpose. The features of physical, physicochemical and chemical processing methods, in particular combustion, gasification, pyrolysis of tires and their frag-ments, as well as the prospects for their decomposition under the influence of environmental factors, in particular microorganisms, are also considered. The main ways of solving the prob-lem of tires that have lost their consumer properties in Ukraine are proposed. Bibl. 88, Fig. 2.

Classifying simply connected wandering domains

While the dynamics of transcendental entire functions in periodic Fatou components and in multiply connected wandering domains are well understood, the dynamics in simply connected wandering domains have so far eluded classification. We give a detailed classification of the dynamics in such wandering domains in terms of the hyperbolic distances between iterates and also in terms of the behaviour of orbits in relation to the boundaries of the wandering domains. In establishing these classifications, we obtain new results of wider interest concerning non-autonomous forward dynamical systems of holomorphic self maps of the unit disk. We also develop a new general technique for constructing examples of bounded, simply connected wandering domains with prescribed internal dynamics, and a criterion to ensure that the resulting boundaries are Jordan curves. Using this technique, based on approximation theory, we show that all of the nine possible types of simply connected wandering domain resulting from our classifications are indeed realizable.