De novo transcriptome analysis of high growth rate Pyropia yezoensis (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) mutant with high utilization of nitrogen

Pyropia yezoensis (Ueda) M.S.Hwang et H.G.Choi (Bangiales, Rhodophyta) has potentially high economic value. P. yezoensis has been used as food in East Asian countries for a long time, and, in addition to that its consumption is increasing worldwide owing to the growing interest in healthy seaweed food. A mutant (Py2K) with a high growth rate was developed using gamma rays to increase the production of P. yezoensis. De novo transcriptome analysis was performed to determine the mechanism underlying the high growth rate of this mutant. The transcriptomes from wild-type (PyWT) and mutant (Py2K) strains were assembled, and 167,165 genes were analyzed. A total of 15,979 genes were differentially expressed. Transcriptome analysis of nitrogen pathway revealed the increase in nitrogen availability through the upregulation of nitrate transporter gene (nrt) expression. Activation of nitrogen assimilation and re-assimilation and upregulation in alternative oxidase (aox) gene contributed to the increase in cellular nitrogen availability, thereby affecting the synthesis of phycobiliprotein. As a consequence, the efficiency of photosynthesis and the subsequent growth rate increased, which contributed to the color differences in thalli between PyWT and Py2K

Non-concord in Existential-There Constructions : A Corpus-Based Study

Non-concord between the notional subject and the verb is an oft-cited characteristic of existential there-constructions. Recognizing some limitations of the previous studies(Meechan & Foley, 1994; Insua & Martinez, 2003), this papers seeks to resolve them by leading a more focused corpus-based research with in-depth analyses of the factors involved: the coordination of NPs, the characteristics of the quantifiers positioned between the verb and the NP, and the medium of expression(i.e. sppech vs. writing). The findings confirm the prevalence of non-concord in speech, to a degree that non-concord in existential-there is deemed acceptable in speech. It is also suggested that it is not merely the length of the NP but the number information conveyed by the element immediately following the verb tht affects ones memory to produce non-concordant sentences

Improving Zero-shot Reader by Reducing Distractions from Irrelevant Documents in Open-Domain Question Answering

Large language models (LLMs) enable zero-shot approaches in open-domain question answering (ODQA), yet with limited advancements as the reader is compared to the retriever. This study aims at the feasibility of a zero-shot reader that addresses the challenges of computational cost and the need for labeled data. We find that LLMs are distracted due to irrelevant documents in the retrieved set and the overconfidence of the generated answers when they are exploited as zero-shot readers. To tackle these problems, we mitigate the impact of such documents via Distraction-aware Answer Selection (DAS) with a negation-based instruction and score adjustment for proper answer selection. Experimental results show that our approach successfully handles distraction across diverse scenarios, enhancing the performance of zero-shot readers. Furthermore, unlike supervised readers struggling with unseen data, zero-shot readers demonstrate outstanding transferability without any training.Comment: Findings of EMNLP 2023 Camera Read

Molecular docking and kinetic study of transglycosylation reaction for naringenin using amylosucrase from Deinococcus wulumuqiensis

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THE EFFECT OF GAS TEMPERATURE AND VELOCITY ON COAL DRYING IN FLUIDIZED BED DRYER

The objective of this research work is to develop fluidized bed coal dryer to overcome the disadvantages of low rank coal with high moisture such as low calorific values, costly transportation, high emissions of pollutants, and operational problem. In this paper, laboratory scale bubbling fluidized bed was used to dry high moisture, low-rank Indonesian coal to produce low moisture, high-rank coal. The effects of temperature, gas velocity and bed height to diameter ratio (L/D) on drying rate were studied to obtain information relating to optimum operating conditions. Coal characterizations (proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), BET, Higher Heating Value (HHV), Lower Heating Value (LHV)) were performed to identify the effect of the change of moisture content. This investigation aims to study the drying process under moderated heating conditions. As a result of the experiments the conclusion is that the thermal fluidized bed process can be successfully applied to reducing moisture in Indonesian coal. Results also indicate that about 80~90% of total moisture could be reduced, including some of the inherent moisture, yielding high heating value product. The drying rate of coal in a fluidized bed is increased by increasing the temperature and velocity of the drying gas. However gas temperature had limitations causing from the spontaneous combustion and gas velocity has to be decided considering energy efficiency

COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSION OF HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS IN COMMERCIAL FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTORS FOR SEWAGE SLUDGE

Since the disposal of sewage sludge in ocean has been prohibited recently according to London Dumping Convention, technological need for treating sewage sludge safely and efficiently are getting increased in Korea. FBC (Fluidized Bed Combustor) technology has been selected and utilized as one of the alternatives because of combustible content in sludge, on-going process development to maintain the best combustion efficiency, and good heat recovery for energy utilization. In this paper, the process and combustion characteristics of commercially operating FBC incineration plants with the capacity ranging from 50 – 150 tons of sludge per day were investigated by comparing emission data from 4 different plants. Concentrations of hazardous gaseous pollutants (HAPs) such as fine particulate matter, heavy metals, and dioxin from sludge combustion before and after air pollution control devices were measured and analyzed at commercial operating conditions of one typical incinerator. Most of emission data at stack showed under the environmental regulatory limits. Mercury and some heavy metals emission have been reduced significantly as co-beneficial effect since the air pollution control configuration was well arranged and installed to control the regulatory gases such as NOx, SO2, particulates, and dioxin. Sludge, especially generated from industrial plants, contained measurable amounts of acidic materials and heavy metals including Hg. Therefore, such metal emission should receive an attention by monitoring them and further mass balance study for better understanding their fates in the process must proceed in future

Copy Number Variation of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Relevant Genes in the Korean Population

PURPOSE: Studies that analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in various genes have shown that genetic factors are strongly associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) susceptibility. Copy number variation (CNV) may be an additional type of genetic variation that contributes to AMD pathogenesis. This study investigated CNV in 4 AMD-relevant genes in Korean AMD patients and control subjects. METHODS: Four CNV candidate regions located in AMD-relevant genes (VEGFA, ARMS2/HTRA1, CFH and VLDLR), were selected based on the outcomes of our previous study which elucidated common CNVs in the Asian populations. Real-time PCR based TaqMan Copy Number Assays were performed on CNV candidates in 273 AMD patients and 257 control subjects. RESULTS: The predicted copy number (PCN, 0, 1, 2 or 3+) of each region was called using the CopyCaller program. All candidate genes except ARMS2/HTRA1 showed CNV in at least one individual, in which losses of VEGFA and VLDLR represent novel findings in the Asian population. When the frequencies of PCN were compared, only the gain in VLDLR showed significant differences between AMD patients and control subjects (p = 0.025). Comparisons of the raw copy values (RCV) revealed that 3 of 4 candidate genes showed significant differences (2.03 vs. 1.92 for VEGFA, p<0.01; 2.01 vs. 1.97 for CFH, p<0.01; 1.97 vs. 2.01, p<0.01 for ARMS2/HTRA1). CONCLUSION: CNVs located in AMD-relevant genes may be associated with AMD susceptibility. Further investigations encompassing larger patient cohorts are needed to elucidate the role of CNV in AMD pathogenesis