191 research outputs found
The fear of bad smell: Health risk awareness related to using waste in agricultural production in Vietnam
Waste watersWater reuseAgricultural productionFish farmingIrrigation waterPublic healthRisksSkin diseasesOrganic fertilizersWomen
Behavior or culture? Investigating the use of cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce across the USA and China
Purpose
This paper claims to identify the behavioral and cultural features that push to use, or not, cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce. Indeed, despite the use of cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce spreading worldwide at a fast and growing pace, there are supporters and detractors among their users. The analysis of what distinguish these two groups of users is fundamental for understanding their different intention to use cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey has been administered to 2,532 cryptocurrencies’ users across the USA and China, collecting data on their behavioral predispositions and cultural features. Results were then analyzed through structured equation modeling.
Findings
Results showed that while attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and herding behavior have a positive impact on the intention to use cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce, financial literacy has no influence. Cultural dimensions amplified or reduced the discovered relationships and caused different effects: positive for the USA and negative for China when considering illegal attitude and perceived risk.
Originality/value
Theory of planned behavior, financial behavior and cultural factors can, all together, represent a useful framework for envisioning the behavior of users in adopting cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce purposes through a test of all its elements. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study considering behavior and cultural variables on the intention to use cryptocurrencies for electronic commerce as well as being the largest carried out, in terms of sample, on the cryptocurrency topic
Dust-Gas Scaling Relations and OH Abundance in the Galactic ISM
Observations of interstellar dust are often used as a proxy for total gas
column density . By comparing thermal dust data
(Release 1.2) and new dust reddening maps from Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS (Green et
al. 2018), with accurate (opacity-corrected) HI column densities and
newly-published OH data from the Arecibo Millennium survey and 21-SPONGE, we
confirm linear correlations between dust optical depth , reddening
and the total proton column density in the range
(130)10cm, along sightlines with no molecular gas
detections in emission. We derive an / ratio of
(9.41.6)10cmmag for purely atomic sightlines
at 5, which is 60 higher than the canonical value of
Bohlin et al. (1978). We report a 40 increase in opacity
=/, when moving from the low column
density (510cm) to moderate column
density (510cm) regime, and suggest that
this rise is due to the evolution of dust grains in the atomic ISM. Failure to
account for HI opacity can cause an additional apparent rise in ,
of the order of a further 20. We estimate molecular hydrogen column
densities from our derived linear relations, and hence
derive the OH/H abundance ratio of 110
for all molecular sightlines. Our results show no evidence of systematic trends
in OH abundance with in the range
(0.110)10cm. This suggests
that OH may be used as a reliable proxy for H in this range, which includes
sightlines with both CO-dark and CO-bright gas.Comment: The revised manuscript is accepted for publication in The
Astrophysical Journa
Host-genetic-based outcome of co-infection by PCV2b and PRRSV in pigs
Replication of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), an important worldwide swine pathogen, has been demonstrated to be influenced by host genotype. Specifically, a missense DNA polymorphism (SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys) within the SYNGR2 gene was demonstrated to contribute to variation in PCV2b viral load and subsequent immune response following infection. PCV2 is known to induce immunosuppression leading to an increase in susceptibility to subsequent infections with other viral pathogens such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). In order to assess the role of SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys in co-infections, pigs homozygous for the favorable SYNGR2 p.63Cys (N = 30) and unfavorable SYNGR2 p.63Arg (N = 29) alleles were infected with PCV2b followed a week later by a challenge with PRRSV. A lower PCV2b viremia (P \u3c 0.001) and PCV2-specific IgM antibodies (P \u3c 0.005) were observed in SYNGR2 p.63Cys compared to SYNGR2 p.63Arg genotypes. No significant differences in PRRSV viremia and specific IgG antibodies were observed between SYNGR2 genotypes. Lung histology score, an indicator of disease severity, was lower in the pigs with SYNGR2 p.63Cys genotypes (P \u3c 0.05). Variation in the lung histology scores within SYNGR2 genotypes suggests that additional factors, environmental and/or genetic, could be involved in disease severity.
Lay Summary: Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is an important virus involved in the onset of a group of severe disease symptoms commonly known as porcine circovirus associated diseases (PCVAD). Vaccination options exist for PCV2, though the severity of PCVAD can be influenced by the presence of additional co-infecting pathogens, such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), for which vaccination is still a challenge. Host genetic resistance is a potential avenue for solving this problem. Previously, a genetic polymorphism in the SYNGR2 gene was found to be associated with PCV2b viremia and immune response. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of this polymorphism in pigs experimentally co-infected with PCV2b and PRRSV. Pigs were weighed, and blood was collected at various days following infection to measure viremia and antibodies. Histological analysis was performed at the experiment completion to assess disease severity in lungs and lymph nodes. The results showed that variation within the SYNGR2 gene is involved in PCV2b disease progression including lung histology scores, but no evidence was seen in response to PRRSV infection
GNOMES II: Analysis of the Galactic diffuse molecular ISM in all four ground state hydroxyl transitions using Amoeba
We present observations of the four 2 Pi 3/2 J = 3/2 ground-rotational state
transitions of the hydroxyl molecule (OH) along 107 lines of sight both in and
out of the Galactic plane: 92 sets of observations from the Arecibo telescope
and 15 sets of observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA).
Our Arecibo observations included off-source pointings, allowing us to measure
excitation temperature (Tex) and optical depth, while our ATCA observations
give optical depth only. We perform Gaussian decomposition using the Automated
Molecular Excitation Bayesian line-fitting Algorithm 'AMOEBA' (Petzler, Dawson,
and Wardle 2021) fitting all four transitions simultaneously with shared
centroid velocity and width. We identify 109 features across 38 sightlines
(including 58 detections along 27 sightlines with excitation temperature
measurements). While the main lines at 1665 and 1667 MHz tend to have similar
excitation temperatures (median Tex(main) difference = 0.6 K, 84% show
Tex(main) difference < 2 K), large differences in the 1612 and 1720 MHz
satellite line excitation temperatures show that the gas is generally not in
LTE. For a selection of sightlines we compare our OH features to associated
(on-sky and in velocity) HI cold gas components (CNM) identified by Nguyen et
al. (2019) and find no strong correlations. We speculate that this may indicate
an effective decoupling of the molecular gas from the CNM once it accumulates.Comment: Accepted for publication to PASA. 41 pages, 27 figure
Invariant Synthesis for Incomplete Verification Engines
We propose a framework for synthesizing inductive invariants for incomplete
verification engines, which soundly reduce logical problems in undecidable
theories to decidable theories. Our framework is based on the counter-example
guided inductive synthesis principle (CEGIS) and allows verification engines to
communicate non-provability information to guide invariant synthesis. We show
precisely how the verification engine can compute such non-provability
information and how to build effective learning algorithms when invariants are
expressed as Boolean combinations of a fixed set of predicates. Moreover, we
evaluate our framework in two verification settings, one in which verification
engines need to handle quantified formulas and one in which verification
engines have to reason about heap properties expressed in an expressive but
undecidable separation logic. Our experiments show that our invariant synthesis
framework based on non-provability information can both effectively synthesize
inductive invariants and adequately strengthen contracts across a large suite
of programs
Synaptogyrin-2 influences replication of Porcine circovirus 2
Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is a circular single-stranded DNA virus responsible for a group of diseases collectively known as PCV2 Associated Diseases (PCVAD). Variation in the incidence and severity of PCVAD exists between pigs suggesting a host genetic component involved in pathogenesis. A large-scale genome-wide association study of experimentally infected pigs (n = 974), provided evidence of a host genetic role in PCV2 viremia, immune response and growth during challenge. Host genotype explained 64% of the phenotypic variation for overall viral load, with two major Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) identified on chromosome 7 (SSC7) near the swine leukocyte antigen complex class II locus and on the proximal end of chromosome 12 (SSC12). The SNP having the strongest association, ALGA0110477 (SSC12), explained 9.3% of the genetic and 6.2% of the phenotypic variance for viral load. Dissection of the SSC12 QTL based on gene annotation, genomic and RNA-sequencing, suggested that a missense mutation in the SYNGR2 (SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys) gene is potentially responsible for the variation in viremia. This polymorphism, located within a protein domain conserved across mammals, results in an amino acid variant SYNGR2 p.63Cys only observed in swine. PCV2 titer in PK15 cells decreased when the expression of SYNGR2 was silenced by specific-siRNA, indicating a role of SYNGR2 in viral replication. Additionally, a PK15 edited clone generated by CRISPR-Cas9, carrying a partial deletion of the second exon that harbors a key domain and the SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys, was associated with a lower viral titer compared to wildtype PK15 cells (\u3e24 hpi) and supernatant (\u3e48hpi)(P \u3c 0.05). Identification of a non-conservative substitution in this key domain of SYNGR2 suggests that the SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys variant may underlie the observed genetic effect on viral load
Synaptogyrin-2 influences replication of Porcine circovirus 2
Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is a circular single-stranded DNA virus responsible for a group of diseases collectively known as PCV2 Associated Diseases (PCVAD). Variation in the incidence and severity of PCVAD exists between pigs suggesting a host genetic component involved in pathogenesis. A large-scale genome-wide association study of experimentally infected pigs (n = 974), provided evidence of a host genetic role in PCV2 viremia, immune response and growth during challenge. Host genotype explained 64% of the phenotypic variation for overall viral load, with two major Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) identified on chromosome 7 (SSC7) near the swine leukocyte antigen complex class II locus and on the proximal end of chromosome 12 (SSC12). The SNP having the strongest association, ALGA0110477 (SSC12), explained 9.3% of the genetic and 6.2% of the phenotypic variance for viral load. Dissection of the SSC12 QTL based on gene annotation, genomic and RNA-sequencing, suggested that a missense mutation in the SYNGR2 (SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys) gene is potentially responsible for the variation in viremia. This polymorphism, located within a protein domain conserved across mammals, results in an amino acid variant SYNGR2 p.63Cys only observed in swine. PCV2 titer in PK15 cells decreased when the expression of SYNGR2 was silenced by specific-siRNA, indicating a role of SYNGR2 in viral replication. Additionally, a PK15 edited clone generated by CRISPR-Cas9, carrying a partial deletion of the second exon that harbors a key domain and the SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys, was associated with a lower viral titer compared to wildtype PK15 cells (\u3e24 hpi) and supernatant (\u3e48hpi)(P \u3c 0.05). Identification of a non-conservative substitution in this key domain of SYNGR2 suggests that the SYNGR2 p.Arg63Cys variant may underlie the observed genetic effect on viral load
Dust–Gas Scaling Relations and OH Abundance in the Galactic ISM
Observations of interstellar dust are often used as a proxy for total gas column density NH. By comparing Planck thermal dust data (Release 1.2) and new dust reddening maps from Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS, with accurate (opacity-corrected) H I column densities and newly published OH data from the Arecibo Millennium survey and 21-SPONGE, we confirm linear correlations between dust optical depth τ353, reddening E(B − V), and the total proton column density NH in the range (1–30) × 1020 cm−2, along sightlines with no molecular gas detections in emission. We derive an NH/E(B − V) ratio of (9.4 ± 1.6) × 1021 cm−2 mag−1 for purely atomic sightlines at |b| \u3e 5°, which is 60% higher than the canonical value of Bohlin et al. We report a ~40% increase in opacity σ353 = τ 353/NH, when moving from the low column density (NH \u3c 5 × 1020 cm−2) to the moderate column density (NH \u3e 5 × 1020 cm−2) regime, and suggest that this rise is due to the evolution of dust grains in the atomic interstellar medium. Failure to account for H I opacity can cause an additional apparent rise in σ353 of the order of a further ~20%. We estimate molecular hydrogen column densities NH2 from our derived linear relations, and hence derive the OH/H2 abundance ratio of XOH ~ 1 × 10−7 for all molecular sightlines. Our results show no evidence of systematic trends in OH abundance with NH2 in the range NH2 ~ (0.1−10) × 1021 cm−2. This suggests that OH may be used as a reliable proxy for H2 in this range, which includes sightlines with both CO-dark and CO-bright gas
- …