Gene action studies in early maturing maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines

The present investigation was aimed to investigate the gene action in early maturing maize (Zea mays L.) inbred lines. The experimental material comprised of 30 crosses generated by crossing six maize inbred lines in a diallel mating design during Kharif 2013. These 30 crosses along with standard checks viz., SMH-2 and VMH-45 were evaluated in randomized block design in three replications during Kharif 2014 and Kharif 2015. Significant variation was observed for all studied traits during both the seasons. Both additive (D) and dominance (H1 and H2) components of genetic variance were found significant under the study. Preponderance of non-additive gene action was observed for all traits under study. Average degree of dominance was in over dominance range for all characters. The gene distribution was asymmetrical for all traits. The value of KD / KR indicated presence of excess of dominant genes for all traits except 100-grain weight and ear girth. Heritability of most of the traits was low to medium

The Supernova Relic Neutrino Background

An upper bound to the supernova relic neutrino background from all past Type II supernovae is obtained using observations of the Universal metal enrichment history. We show that an unambiguous detection of these relic neutrinos by the Super-Kamiokande detector is unlikely. We also analyze the event rate in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (where coincident neutrons from anti-nu_e + D --> n + n + e+ might enhance background rejection), and arrive at the same conclusion. If the relic neutrino flux should be observed to exceed our upper bound and if the observations of the metal enrichment history (for z<1) are not in considerable error, then either the Type II supernova rate does not track the metal enrichment history or some mechanism may be responsible for transforming anti-nu_{mu,tau} --> anti-nu_e.Comment: Matches version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

The DUNE far detector vertical drift technology. Technical design report

DUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

Phytohormones and Stress Responsive Secondary Metabolites

Phytohormones and Stress Responsive Secondary Metabolites provides a deep dive into the signaling pathways associated with phytohormones and phytometabolites. With a strong focus on plant stress responses and DNA technology, the book highlights plant biotechnology and metabolic engineering principles. Biotechnology, by using DNA editing technologies, allows the expression of plant genes into other plant species with desirable modulation on plant behavior. Beginning with an overview of phytohormone signaling, growth and abiotic and biotic stresses, subsequent chapters explore DNA modification strategies, epigenetic and epigenomic regulation, and miRNA regulation. This book will be an essential resource for students, researchers and agriculturalists interested in plant physiology, plant genetics and plant biotechnology. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

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Not AvailableIn fish, as in higher animals, the normal ontogenesis of the gonads is the basis for successful reproduction. Gonadal differentiation and development depend on the genetic cascade that programmes the events. Eventually, gonads become the sites for the maturation of gametes, which are originally derived from the primordial germ cells (PGCs) and form the cellular basis of reproduction. In fish hormones of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis regulate reproduction and fertility by promoting or inhibiting the production of gonadal sex steroids and their function. Gonadal sex steroids not only guide proper gonadal development and function but also play a key role in the activation and regulation of the HPG axis through two feedback control systems. In this review, we discuss the general outline and expression pattern of the major genes involved in testicular development and gonadal steroidogenesis in fish. The review attempts, for the first time, to collect and discuss recent information regarding the regulation of sex differentiation and steroidogenic genes during the stages of testicular development and in response to different external factors. Furthermore, clear insights into the important genes and their regulation involved in the HPG axis and spermatogenesis are presented briefly. This review can serve as a guide for fish breeders on the substances that have a positive impact on reproduction in males.Not Availabl