Persistence of parental age effect on somatic mutation rates across generations in Arabidopsis.

In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, parental age is known to affect somatic mutation rates in their immediate progeny but it is not clear if this age-associated effect on mutation rates persist across successive generations. Using a set of detector lines carrying the mutated uidA gene, we examined if a particular parental age maintained across five consecutive generations affected the rates of base substitution (BSR), intrachromosomal recombination (ICR), frameshift mutation (FS), and transposition. The frequency of functional GUS (blue colored spots) reversions were examined in seedlings as a function of identical/different parental ages across generations. When parental age remained constant, no change was observed in BSR/ICR rates in the first three generations, following which it drops significantly in the 4th and in most instances, is elevated in the 5th generation. On the other hand, with advancing parental age, BSR/ICR rates respectively remained high in the first two/three generations with a striking resemblance in the pattern of mutation rates. We followed a novel approach of identifying and tagging flowers pollinated on a particular day, thereby avoiding possible emasculation induced stress responses, as it may influence mutation rates. By and large there is no correlation in the expression of candidate genes involved in DNA repair to the pattern of reversion events and possibly, the expression patterns may correspond to the genomewide somatic mutations rates. Our results suggest a time component in counting the number of generations a plant has passed through self-fertilization at a particular age in determining the somatic mutation rates.

Physiological Characters and Alimentary Needs of Both Divergent Lines of the Barbary Partridge (Alectoris barbara, Bonnaterre, 1792) in Algeria

Background: The Barbary partridge (Alectoris barbara) is a wild endemic species of North-Africa. The lack of information about this species, allows putting research focus in the hunting center of Zeralda, on the selection of a line for an improvement on the zootechnical characteristics of this population. Methods: Over 13 weeks of follow-up, we have performed weekly measurements on 3 successive generations F12-F14 with daily measurements of food intake. We are interested at the fundamental level of the biological characterization of both divergent lines. The analysis of the effects of selection pressures on the growth to estimate the metabolizable energy of each line. Result: During 273 days of study period, we noticed that the metabolizable energy has an average divergence between the fast line and the slow one with 0.328 Kcal/day since birth and an average divergence of 8.899 Kcal/day towards the 13th week in favour of the fast line. Significance noticed between males and females with a favour of the males which are more important. In addition to that, the values of weight-based consumption index imply higher indices for the slow line compared to the values of the fast line. Our results highlight the efficiency of the selection scheme. This progress will allow developing the restoration methods and/or the natural restocking populations on scientific bases.

Inventory Replenishment Policies for Two Successive Generations of Technology Products under Permissible Delay in Payments

In this age of digitalization, when every industry is undergoing technological disruption, there is a big role of digital gadgets and technology products. A key feature of these digital gadgets is the short length of the product life cycle, since the newer and more advanced generations of technologies are developed regularly to replace the earlier conventional technologies. The traditional EOQ models that assume a constant demand cannot be used here. This research paper formulates an inventory optimization model for the multi-generational products under the trade credits and the credit-linked and innovation diffusion dependent demand. The study also performs a numerical illustration of the proposed model, and establishes important dynamics among the key variables. It also performs the sensitivity analysis with the cost of credit and the trade credit period. The paper concludes with the managerial implications for the inventory practitioners and the possible areas of extension for this research in the future.

Emerging Molecular Dependencies of Mutant EGFR-Driven Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are the molecular driver of a subset of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC); tumors that harbor these mutations are often dependent on sustained oncogene signaling for survival, a concept known as “oncogene addiction”. Inhibiting EGFR with tyrosine kinase inhibitors has improved clinical outcomes for patients; however, successive generations of inhibitors have failed to prevent the eventual emergence of resistance to targeted agents. Although these tumors have a well-established dependency on EGFR signaling, there remain questions about the underlying genetic mechanisms necessary for EGFR-driven oncogenesis and the factors that allow tumor cells to escape EGFR dependence. In this review, we highlight the latest findings on mutant EGFR dependencies, co-operative drivers, and molecular mechanisms that underlie sensitivity to EGFR inhibitors. Additionally, we offer perspective on how these discoveries may inform novel combination therapies tailored to EGFR mutant NSCLC.

Silva Theutonica. Las jako mitologem niemieckiej odrębności

Since the fifteenth century, when Tacitus’ Germania was discovered, the Teutonic Forest has been the central mythologeme of the German imagined community created by successive generations of philosophers, theologians and artists. The interest in multiple relationships between the prototype native landscape of the forest and the Germanic national character grew throughout the nineteenth century, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the interwar period, up to the times of Nazism.

Versatile Video Coding for 3.0 Next Generation Digital TV in Brazil

In the past few decades, the video broadcast ecosystem has gone through major changes; Originally transmitted using analog signals, it has been more and more transitioned toward digital, leveraging compression technologies and transport protocols, principally developed by MPEG. Along this way, the introduction of new video formats was achieved with standardization of new compression technologies for their better bandwidth preservation. Notably, SD with MPEG-2, HD with H.264, 4K/UHD with HEVC. In Brazil, the successive generations of digital broadcasting systems were developed by the SBTVD Forum, from TV-1.0 to TV-3.0 nowadays. The ambition of TV-3.0 is significantly higher than that of previous generations as it targets the delivery of IPbased signals for applications, such as 8K, HDR, virtual and augmented reality. To deliver such services, compressed video signals shall fit into a limited bandwidth, requiring even more advanced compression technologies. The Versatile Video Coding standard (H.266/VVC), has been finalized by the JVET committee in 2021 and is a relevant candidate to address the TV3.0 requirements. VVC is versatile by nature thanks to its dedicated tools for efficient compression of various formats, from 8K to 360°, and provides around 50% of bitrate saving compared to its predecessor HEVC. This paper presents the VVC-based compression system that has been proposed to the SBTVD call for proposals for TV-3.0. A technical description of VVC and an evaluation of its coding performance is provided. In addition, an end-to-end live transmission chain is demonstrated, supporting 4K real-time encoding and decoding with a low glass-to-glass latency.

The prerequisites for the emergence of industrial revolutions

Global technological challenges facing humanity have increased the importance of understanding the prerequisites for the emergence of industrial revolutions. The purpose of the article is the development and improvement of scientific and theoretical basics of industrial revolutions origins and consideration for their impact on the economic development for a comprehensive understanding of modern industrial and innovation transformations. In order to achieve the objective, the system analysis, induction and deduction methods are used to describe the evolution of economic thinking towards a theoretical and methodological framework; historical, logical and dialectical methods for revealing the relationship between the system of socio-economic relations and technological methods of production; and methods of summarization and classification to determine the patterns of development of industrial revolutions and the drivers that cause it. Based on the systematization of the scientific work of foreign and domestic scientists to study the prerequisites of technological transformations under the influence of industrial revolutions, the article provides a historical analysis of their occurrence. This made it possible to identify the prerequisites for the emergence of industrial revolutions and reveal the main factors that determine the transformation of production methods. In particular, this is a combination of factors: the accumulation of knowledge and the seeking for new methods of processing raw materials at lower costs; concentration of capital; the availability of resources (human, raw-material, and financial ones), and the formation of a unified information space and an innovative institutional system. In this process, emphasis should be laid on creation of an enabling environment in which the transformation of society towards a next industrial revolution can take place. This is accomplished by a certain mechanism of technological transformations, including a set of factors, processes, stages (phases) and resources for their implementation. The following key characteristics of the industrial revolutions are identified: the reduction in the time periods between them; changing role and place of the human; and strengthening the creative and innovative activities of employees. The examination revealed that industrial revolution is not an incidental phenomenon in the development of human civilization, but a natural process conditioned by internal and external factors, and regularities of socio-economic cyclical dynamics. The emergence of the next industrial revolution is accompanied by a change in the technological order, manifested in the alternation of successive generations of devices and technologies as the material basis of human civilization. Deepening scientific approaches to substantiating the conceptual foundations of the emergence of industrial revolutions is the basis for assessing the possibilities and consequences of their impact on socio-economic development, which can facilitate adaptation to technological challenges.

Structural-based engineering expands the substrate scope of a cyclodipeptide synthase

Cyclodipeptide synthases (CDPSs) are a growing family of enzymes capable of producing a large variety of cyclodipetide products using aminoacylated tRNA. Histidine-containing cyclic dipeptides have important biological activities as anticancer and neuroprotective molecules. Out of the 120 experimentally validated CDPS members, only two are known to accept histidine as a substrate. Here, we studied the activities of both Para-CDPS from Parabacteroides sp. 20_3 and Parcu-CDPS from Parcubacteria bacterium RAAC4_OD1_1 which synthesise cyclo(His-Phe) and cyclo(His-Pro) respectively. Both enzymes accepted canonical and non-canonical amino acids as substrates to generate a library of novel molecules. In order to understand the substrate selectivity of these CDPSs, the crystal structure of Parcu-CDPS was solved (alongside a number of mutants) and the role of residues important for catalysis and histidine recognition were probed using mutagenesis. Three successive generations of mutants containing both single and double residue substitutions were generated leading to a change in substrate selectivity from histidine to phenylalanine and leucine. The research detailed herein is the first instance of successful engineering of a CDPS to yield different products, paving the way to direct the promiscuity of these enzymes to produce molecules of our choosing.

Weather based forewarning of leaf folder attack on kharif rice and operational crop protection at Pattambi, Kerala

Kharif and Rabi rice grown extensively over Kerala is mainly infested by gall midge, leaf folder and green jassid in kharif season. Under favourable weather conditions leaf folder become the dreaded pest and cause considerable damage to the crop. The study revealed that maximum and minimum temperature, morning and afternoon relative humidity and weekly total of rainfall have profound effect on the development of leaf folder at their successive generations on kharif rice crop. Weather based multiple regression models for the peak infestation period for each of the generations of the pest were developed using data for the period 1987-99 and validated using observed meteorological as well as pest data for 2000-2001. Based on the findings of this study pest weather calendar for leaf folder of kharif rice was prepared. This calendar would be useful for early warning and operational rice crop protection from leaf folder attack.

The divisiveness of Chinese identities in Singapore

In July 2019, the Jamestown Foundation, an American think tank, published a report accusing China of imposing a Chinese identity onto Singapore through propaganda and influence operations. In this article, I argue that the Jamestown report is factually inaccurate and is itself an influence operation aimed at engendering distrust towards China. The re-discovery of a Chinese cultural identity by some Chinese Singaporeans—from Lee Kuan Yew to Nathan Hartono—is fuelled not by China’s clandestine influence operations, but by an intrinsic desire to mend ruptures in one's cultural heritage. Historically, the Chinese in Singapore have discarded or re-adopted their Chinese cultural identities depending on the degree to which contact is kept with China. When contact with China diminishes, successive generations of Singapore Chinese inevitably cease to identify China as a cultural motherland. When contact with China resumes, the Chinese in Singapore have frequently become divided, split into those who culturally identify as Chinese and those who do not. Since the 1978 reform and opening-up of China, the restoration of contact between China and Singapore have led to a rekindling of interest amongst Chinese Singaporeans in their cultural identities. This rekindling yields three major consequences. Firstly, Chinese Singaporeans may become further divided in terms of their cultural identity, with de-Sinicised, monolingual English speakers on one extreme and re-Sinicised, cultural Chinese on the other. Secondly, successive generations of re-Sinicised Singaporeans may grow up imbibing China’s cultural exports, thereby becoming less distinct from their mainland Chinese counterparts. Thirdly, Singapore’s government will remain incentivised to continually emphasise the distinctness of the Chinese Singaporean identity from Chinese elsewhere.