Influence Of Quarantine Measures Against The New Coronavirus Infection Covid-19 On The State Of Black Sea Coastal Waters

The Black Sea is one of the main recreational facilities in Russia subject to a high annual anthropogenic stress. Anthropogenic activity led to high coastal sea waters pollution, eutrophy, and endangered the sea’s self-purification capabilities. The total quarantine introduced on the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar territory associated with the new coronavirus infection COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in anthropogenic pressure on coastal ecosystems and provided a unique opportunity to trace the dynamics of the most important hydrochemical indicators of coastal waters in the Tuapse district. The study aimed to characterize the impact of quarantine measures against the coronavirus on the state of coastal waters in the eastern part of the Russian Black Sea. For this, we identified and characterized the hydrochemical indicators and determined the effect of quarantine measures on their dynamics. The study used the standardized methods. The results obtained showed that a decrease in the recreational stress led to a proportional decrease in the pollutants supply to coastal sea waters; with the recreational stress resumption the concentrations of mobile pollutants tended to increase; a proportional relationship was established between biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5 ) and the ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) concentration; the nitrates’ (NO3–) concentration, in the seawater did not depend on the recreational stress degree. In particular, a proportional increase in NH4+ concentration and BOD5 in seawater was detected: in the third quarter of 2019 the concentration of NH4+ and BOD5 amounted to 3.0 mg/dm3 and 8.5 mg/dm3 , and 3.8 mg/dm3 and 7.5 mg/dm3 in the fourth quarter, respectively; in the 2020 samples, a decrease in the NH4+ concentration to 0.8 mg/dm3 in the third and to 1.2 mg/dm3 in the fourth quarter led to a proportional decrease in BOD5 4.5 mg/dm3 and 3.9 mg/dm3 , respectively. Thus, it was shown that the quarantine measures were shown to have a positive effect on the processes of self-purification of coastal sea waters in recreational zones.

Deficiency of the Ribosomal Protein uL5 Leads to Significant Rearrangements of the Transcriptional and Translational Landscapes in Mammalian Cells

Protein uL5 (formerly called L11) is an integral component of the large (60S) subunit of the human ribosome, and its deficiency in cells leads to the impaired biogenesis of 60S subunits. Using RNA interference, we reduced the level of uL5 in HEK293T cells by three times, which caused an almost proportional decrease in the content of the fraction corresponding to 80S ribosomes, without a noticeable diminution in the level of polysomes. By RNA sequencing of uL5-deficient and control cell samples, which were those of total mRNA and mRNA from the polysome fraction, we identified hundreds of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at the transcriptome and translatome levels and revealed dozens of genes with altered translational efficiency (GATEs). Transcriptionally up-regulated DEGs were mainly associated with rRNA processing, pre-mRNA splicing, translation and DNA repair, while down-regulated DEGs were genes of membrane proteins; the type of regulation depended on the GC content in the 3′ untranslated regions of DEG mRNAs. The belonging of GATEs to up-regulated and down-regulated ones was determined by the coding sequence length of their mRNAs. Our findings suggest that the effects observed in uL5-deficient cells result from an insufficiency of translationally active ribosomes caused by a deficiency of 60S subunits.

Crop formation and green mass quality of maize under the conditions of central agroclimatic region of Komi Republic

In the field experiment on the area of 100 m2 the impact of weather conditions on green mass formation and chemical composition of early ripe three-line maizehybrid DorkaMGT grown in the central agroclimatic region of the Komi Republic was studied. According tothe data of three vegetation seasons (2018-2020), the maize plants can form up to 56.5 t/ha green mass in the northern non-black earth region withthe sum of average daily active temperatures over 10 °C (GDD10) of about 1500 °C and a hydrothermal coefficient (HTC) of about 2. The decrease in GDD10 of 30 % and moderate precipitation (HTC = 2.3) resulted in a proportional decrease in green mass yield. During the growing season with abundant precipitation (HTC = 4), the production potential efficiency of maize plants fell significantly as evidenced by a decrease in yield by more than 4 times. The average yield of green mass over 3 years was 35.5 t/ha. No significant effects of vegetation conditions on the content of basic chemical elements and nutrients (sugars, protein) in plant biomasshave been revealed. The rate of visible photosynthesis of maize leaves reached 13-14 pmol CO2 / (m2s) during the period of intensive vegetative growth (phase of five leaves) and decreased during the transition to generative development (“heading of panicle” phase). In general, the data obtained indicate the possibility of growing early ripe maize hybrid Dorka MGT in the central agroclimatic region of the Komi Republic to obtain high-quality green feed and silage.

Particularităţile influenţei componenţilor minori asupra eficienţei feromonilor sexuali ai viermelui oriental în plantaţiile de măr

The scope of the research was to determine the biological efficiency of the multicomponent blend of Orienthal fruit moth sex pheromone in the apple orchard. The introduction of the minor component M1 in doses of 10% to the basic components on dispensers had led to a increase in number of males caught in sex pheromone traps by 1,7 times. While the male captures on traps where was added 10% of minor component M2 to the basic ones had led to a increase by 1,2 times. The minor component M2 in-crease of doses had led to a proportional decrease of the male caught in traps. Research will be continued.

An Unsupervised Deep Unfolding Framework for Robust Symbol Level Precoding

Symbol Level Precoding (SLP) has attracted significant research interest due to its ability to exploit interference for energy-efficient transmission. This paper proposes an unsupervised deep neural network (DNN) based SLP framework. Instead of naively training a DNN architecture for SLP without considering the specifics of the optimization objective of the SLP domain, our proposal unfolds a power minimization SLP formulation based on the interior point method (IPM) proximal ‘log’ barrier function. Furthermore, we extend our proposal to a robust precoding design under channel state information (CSI) uncertainty. The results show that our proposed learning framework provides near-optimal performance while reducing the computational cost from O(n^7.5) to O(n³ ) for the symmetrical system case where n = number of transmit antennas = number of users. This significant complexity reduction is also reflected in a proportional decrease in the proposed approach’s execution time compared to the SLP optimization-based solution.

An Unsupervised Deep Unfolding Framework for Robust Symbol Level Precoding

Symbol Level Precoding (SLP) has attracted significant research interest due to its ability to exploit interference for energy-efficient transmission. This paper proposes an unsupervised deep neural network (DNN) based SLP framework. Instead of naively training a DNN architecture for SLP without considering the specifics of the optimization objective of the SLP domain, our proposal unfolds a power minimization SLP formulation based on the interior point method (IPM) proximal ‘log’ barrier function. Furthermore, we extend our proposal to a robust precoding design under channel state information (CSI) uncertainty. The results show that our proposed learning framework provides near-optimal performance while reducing the computational cost from O(n^7.5) to O(n³ ) for the symmetrical system case where n = number of transmit antennas = number of users. This significant complexity reduction is also reflected in a proportional decrease in the proposed approach’s execution time compared to the SLP optimization-based solution.

Mitigating outbreaks in congregate settings by decreasing the size of the susceptible population

While many transmission models have been developed for community spread of respiratory pathogens, less attention has been given to modeling the interdependence of disease introduction and spread seen in congregate settings, such as prisons or nursing homes. As demonstrated by the explosive outbreaks of COVID-19 seen in congregate settings, the need for effective outbreak prevention and mitigation strategies for these settings is critical. Here we consider how interventions that decrease the size of the susceptible populations, such as vaccination or depopulation, impact the expected number of infections due to outbreaks. Introduction of disease into the resident population from the community is modeled as a branching process, while spread between residents is modeled via a compartmental model. Control is modeled as a proportional decrease in both the number of susceptible residents and the reproduction number. We find that vaccination or depopulation can have a greater than linear effect on anticipated infections. For example, assuming a reproduction number of 3.0 for density-dependent COVID-19 transmission, we find that reducing the size of the susceptible population by 20% reduced overall disease burden by 47%. We highlight the California state prison system as an example for how these findings provide a quantitative framework for implementing infection control in congregate settings. Additional applications of our modeling framework include optimizing the distribution of residents into independent residential units, and comparison of preemptive versus reactive vaccination strategies.

A retrospective analysis of changes in lymphocyte levels in patients with multiple sclerosis during and after Tecfidera® treatment

Background There are currently no best practice recommendations for lymphocyte subset monitoring for patients with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) on disease-modifying therapies including Tecfidera® (dimethyl fumarate, DMF). However, there have been several cases of pwMS on DMF without severe lymphopenia who had high CD4:CD8 T cell ratios and went on to develop progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Objective Our objective was to characterize the changes in immune profile during and after DMF treatment in pwMS. Methods A retrospective analysis of longitudinal data from 299 pwMS who have been treated with DMF at the Fraser Health Multiple Sclerosis Clinic in British Columbia, Canada. The blood test results were taken from January 1, 2013 to April 1, 2020. Results Our results suggest that CD8+ T cells had the highest proportional decrease compared to other lymphocyte subset populations and overall lymphocyte count in response to DMF treatment. CD56+ Natural Killer cells were similarly decreased in response to DMF treatment. CD4:CD8 T cell ratio was the measurement that had the highest rate of change in response to DMF initiation and discontinuation. Conclusion CD8+ T cell count and CD4:CD8 T cell ratio may be a more sensitive measurement of the immune landscape of patients with MS on DMF.

Evaluation of Wood Ash as Additive for Cow Manure Composting

This study was conducted to produce high-quality compost using both cow manure and wood ash that can specifically be used to increase the fertility of soils in tropical regions. Increased proportions of wood ash were co-composted with cow manure. During composting, the composts produced presented the classical composting temperature curve and attain a thermophilic composting phase (about 60 oC). After 117 days of composting, the produced composts (CMA 0%; CMA 5%; CMA 10% and CMA15%) had a C/N ratio between 16 and 30, and their pH, was basic, indicating maturity. They were rich in minerals (Mg; Ca; K+; and Na+) and poor in heavy metals (Zn; Cu and Pb). Wood ash addition raise the fungal communities except for CMA 0% and did not impair significantly on bacteria communities; however, addition of high amounts of wood ash could reduce the metabolism of the microbial communities including cellulase activity that showed a proportional decrease according to the added amount except for CMA 15%. The composts showed a germination index greater than 80% at all concentrations, indicating the absence of phytotoxicity. Therefore, co-composting of cow manure with wood ash (<15%) allowed to obtain a good organic fertilizer with higher liming potential, nutrient content, and less hazardous material which could be used in farms to remediate acidity of tropical soils

The effect of the vacuum drying process on the appearance of cracks in the seeds

Annotation Purpose. Theoretically analyze the effect of vacuum drying parameters on the appearance of cracks in seeds. Methods. The theoretical positions of drying capillary-porous bodies and physicochemical foundations of the food industry are used. The analysis of mathematical dependencies was performed based on the methods of analytical algebra and mathematical analysis. Results. Based on the analysis of the movement of moisture during drying of a single seed, it was found that drying without cracks on the surface of the seed is possible when the rates of moisture diffusion inside the seed and evaporation of moisture from the surface layers are equal. The analytical dependence, which implements this condition and obtained using the differential equation of diffusion, made it possible to obtain the dependence of the vacuum in the drying chamber on the temperature of seed heating. This dependence shows that it is possible to realize the condition of drying without cracks only by changing the vacuum in the drying chamber in an inverse exponential manner. Heating seeds reduces the vacuum in the drying chamber, at which drying begins. Conclusions. An analysis of the operational parameters of vacuum drying of seeds revealed that for guaranteed drying of seeds without cracks, it is necessary that the rate of diffusion of moisture inside the seed be equal to the rate of evaporation of moisture from the surface layers. Technically, this is achieved by varying the vacuum in the drying chamber in time by the inverse exponent, using data from the sensor for heating the seeds. An increase in the heating temperature of the seeds requires a proportional decrease in the initial vacuum in the drying chamber. Keywords: seeds, vacuum in the drying chamber, heating temperature, evaporation rate, vacuum drying, diffusion, equivalent ball of seed.