Effect of transgene introgression site on gene migration from transgenic b. napus to b. rapa [abstract]

Abstract only availableThere is a growing concern of the possible transgenic introgression from GM plants into agricultural weeds, which has stimulated research in the process of crop to weed gene flow. Crop to weed gene flow often involves the hybridization of a polyploidy crop to a diploid weed. An example is canola (Brassica napus with AACC genomes) which can hybridize with B. rapa (AA) to produce fertile triploid F1 hybrids (ACC) in the wild. It is hypothesized that there are "safe sites" on the C genome because the C genome is likely to be lost from wild populations after a few generations of repeated backcrossing with B. rapa. However, there is homoeology between the A and C genomes of Brassica, which allows potential recombination between genomes and the movement of transgenes from the C to A genomes by chromosomal rearrangements. Recent advances in molecular markers and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) now allow us to observe the frequency of homoeologous exchanges following hybridization. Our research is focused on finding safe sites within the B. napus genome which are least likely to be transferred into B. napus and B. rapa hybrids and their progeny. To test this, we have crossed a transgenic B. napus with a natural B. rapa three times to make three different F1events. Then we backcrossed each of the three F1 three times with B. rapa. We are measuring the germination rate of each generation and using transgene specific PCR primers to check the presence or absence of the transgene in hybrids. We will also use molecular cytogenetics (FISH) to count chromosome numbers. This study will help determine the possibilities of a "safe" site in B. napus and offer insight in the mechanisms of crop to weed transgene introgression in B. napus x B. rapa hybrids.MU Monsanto Undergraduate Research Fellowshi

Real-Time Data Analytics for Monitoring Electricity Consumption Using IoT Technology

Rising electricity bills as a result of climate variability and new home electrical and electronic appliances are becoming a major source of concern for most end users. Consumers are typically unaware of their household electricity consumption patterns and the costs associated with them, making proper planning and budgeting difficult. Monitoring and controlling energy consumption on appliances can reduce energy costs for end-users. The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to provide remote monitoring and control of devices via automated monitoring and control. In this study, we propose an IoT-enabled system for monitoring and controlling energy consumption in homes to save money and make electricity more affordable to low-income people. Autonomous sensor nodes attached to power outlets collect and route power consumption data to the GSM-enabled gateway. Data aggregation is performed by the gateway for data received from all end-nodes within its coverage area. The gateway sends the data to the cloud, where real-time data analytics is performed. We also developed an algorithm that enables users to not only understand their usage patterns but also remotely control their appliances at any time. Mobile phones are used to remotely turn on and off household appliances via a machine-to-machine interface, as well as to provide real-time visualization of household energy consumption patterns

Understanding Workplace Relationships - LMX quality, Turnover intention and employee job satisfaction, Mediating role of Superior Subordinate Communication

Workplace relationship is a very vital phenomenon at the workplace. The relationship between a leader & his subordinates can have a major impact on the performance of the employees. The focus of this research is on the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX), superior subordinate communication (SSC), Turnover intention with employee job satisfaction. This study explores Leader Member Exchange Theory (LMX Theory), which theorizes when leaders and followers have good exchanges or high quality effective LMX relationships, they share mutual trust, feel better, accomplish more, and the overall unit performance within organization is enhanced. It was hypothesized that LMX would directly influence SSC, and SSC would directly influence employee job satisfaction. It was also hypothesized that turnover intention would directly influence employee job satisfaction. Data derived from a self-administered questionnaire, and this will be distributed to employees working in fast food industry of Kedah Malaysia

Chromosomal evolution in Brassicacae: Allopolyploidy, aneuploidy and transgene transmission [abstract]

Abstract only availablePolyploidy is a eukaryotic phenomenon common to plants that serves as an evolutionary mechanism for speciation. Diploid species undergo polyploidization through single genome duplication (autopolyploidy) or by the hybridization of genomes from two or more distinct progenitor species (allopolyploidy). Aneuploidy can arise where offspring possess extra or fewer chromosomes than their progenitors. Over successive generations, changes in chromosomal number and rearrangement can lead to speciation or differentiation of ecotypes within a species. Using advanced molecular cytogenetics and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), we can distinguish chromosomes and genomic markers among different ecotypes and species. In the agricultural industry where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are used, aneuploidy and homoeologous recombination of transgenic elements presents a potential mechanism of moving transgenes from GMO crops into the genomes of wild diploids. These wild diploids then have the potential to become "superweeds" that can disrupt ecological systems. The goal of this study was to investigate the movement of a transgene from an allopolyploid to a diploid in controlled greenhouse crosses. Transgenic Brassica napus allopolyploid plants (AACC) were backcrossed to natural Brassica rapa (AA) recurrently over three generations. We examined each of the three backcross generations for chromosome number and gene transmission. Molecular cytogenetic analysis was performed on flower buds from each backcross, chromosome numbers were recorded and gene transmission was analyzed by PCR. As expected, we found aneuploidy in Brassica napus x Brassica rapa hybrids suggesting potential for homoeologous recombination of transgenes into non-transgenic diploid species. Surprisingly, despite aneuploidy, we also found a high rate of both germination and transmission of the transgene into wild Brassica rapa, suggesting the need to find safe sites in Brassica napus to insert transgenes

A General Framework for Designing Sparse FIR MIMO Equalizers Based on Sparse Approximation

In broadband communications, the long channel delay spread, defined as the duration in time, or samples, over which the channel impulse response (CIR) has significant energy, is too long and results in a highly-frequency-selective channel frequency response. Hence, a long CIR can spread over tens, or even hundreds, of symbol periods and causes impairments in the signals that have passed through such channels. For instance, a large delay spread causes inter-symbol interference (ISI) and inter-carrier interference (ICI) in multi-carrier modulation (MCM). Therefore, long finite impulse response (FIR) equalizers have to be implemented at high sampling rates to avoid performance degradation. However, the implementation of such equalizers is prohibitively expensive as the design complexity of FIR equalizers grows proportional to the square of the number of nonzero taps in the filter. Sparse equalization, where only few nonzero coefficients are employed, is a widely-used technique to reduce complexity at the cost of a tolerable performance loss. Nevertheless, reliably determining the locations of these nonzero coefficients is often very challenging. In this work, we first propose a general framework that transforms the problem of design of sparse single-input single-output (SISO) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) linear equalizers (LEs) into the problem of sparsest-approximation of a vector in different dictionaries. In addition, we compare several choices of sparsifying dictionaries under this framework. Furthermore, the worst-case coherence of these dictionaries, which determines their sparsifying effectiveness, are analytically and/or numerically evaluated. Second, we extend our framework to accommodate SISO and MIMO non-linear decision-feedback equalizers (DFEs). Similar to the sparse FIR LEs design problem, the design of sparse FIR DFEs can be cast into one of sparse approximation of a vector by a fixed dictionary whose solution can be obtained by using either greedy algorithms, such as Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP), or convex-optimization-based approaches, with the former being more desirable due to its low complexity. Third, we further generalize our sparse design framework to the channel shortening setup. Channel shortening equalizers (CSEs) are used to ensure that the cascade of a long CIR and the CSE is approximately equivalent to a target impulse response (TIR) with much shorter delay spread. Channel shortening is essential for communication systems operating over highly-dispersive broadband channels with large channel delay spread. Fourth, as an application of recent practical interest for power-line communication (PLC) community, we consider channel shortening for the impulse responses of medium-voltage power-lines (MV-PLs) with length of 10 km and 20 km to reduce the cyclic prefix (CP) overhead in orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) and, hence, improves the data rate accordingly. For all design problems, we propose reduced-complexity sparse FIR SISO and MIMO linear and non-linear equalizers by exploiting the asymptotic equivalence of Toeplitz and circulant matrices, where the matrix factorizations involved in our design analysis can be carried out efficiently using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and inverse FFT with negligible performance loss as the number of filter taps increases. Finally, the simulation results show that allowing for a little performance loss yields a significant reduction in the number of active filter taps, for all proposed LEs and DFEs design filters, which in turn results in substantial complexity reductions. The simulation results also show that the CIRs of MV-PLs with length of 10 km and 20 km can be shortened to fit within the broadband PLC standards. Additionally, our simulations validate that the sparsifying dictionary with the smallest worst-case coherence results in the sparsest FIR filter design. Furthermore, the numerical results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed approach compared to conventional sparse FIR filters in terms of both performance and computational complexity.Qscienc

Voces Del Canal: Building Safe Communities Through Strong Partnerships in the Canal

The Canal, a vibrant community of Latino immigrant families, is rich in diversity and cultural traditions, strong family networks, and a determination towards economic selfsufficiency. Latino immigrants in Marin County are heavily concentrated in the Canal and have the highest labor force participation rates in the County.i Despite being a vital part of Marin’s social, economic, and cultural society, Canal residents continue to struggle to meet basic necessities for their families. To this end, a coalition of resident leaders from the community came together to form Voces del Canal to lead an unprecedented community-driven research project. Residents wanted to affirm their role as authentic, local experts and give power to the collective experiences of 678 residents who shared their personal stories, opinions, and vision for a stronger and safer Canal

Software development team composition: Personality types of programmer and complex network

Several authors have identified the different personality types for software team composition. Effective personality types for software development roles is still a question.This study aims to measure the relationship between different personality types by using complex network approach for finding effective nodes of personality type for software programmer.In order to achieve the objective, the study was conducted on student population. Myer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality assessment tool was used to obtain the personality types of participants. Furthermore, degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality measures were used on data. These measures were used to find the strongly liked personality types among team members, personality types that can create effective communication, and personality types which can work close with other personality types. Basically, two types of results were obtained from applied measures: personality types which are weighted and frequent and personality types which are weak and less frequent.For example, ISTJ, INFJ, ISTP, and INFP personality types were found very less lucrative in working close with other personality types.On the other hand, ISTJ has been found very effective personality type for programmer role in software development literature. The results suggest that each personality type has its own complex behavior which should be extracted for better outcomes. Deciding one particular personality type for programmer role would be an injustice with it. Therefore, this paper recommends to use complex network phenomenon to extract the hidden facts behind each personality types for software development roles

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

There was no funding support for this study. Disclosure. The authors declare no conflict of interest.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The state of ambient air quality in Pakistan—a review

Background and purpose: Pakistan, during the last decade, has seen an extensive escalation in population growth, urbanization, and industrialization, together with a great increase in motorization and energy use. As a result, a substantial rise has taken place in the types and number of emission sources of various air pollutants. However, due to the lack of air quality management capabilities, the country is suffering from deterioration of air quality. Evidence from various governmental organizations and international bodies has indicated that air pollution is a significant risk to the environment, quality of life, and health of the population. The Government has taken positive steps toward air quality management in the form of the Pakistan Clean Air Program and has recently established a small number of continuous monitoring stations. However, ambient air quality standards have not yet been established. This paper reviews the data being available on the criteria air pollutants: particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and lead. Methods: Air pollution studies in Pakistan published in both scientific journals and by the Government have been reviewed and the reported concentrations of PM, SO2, O3, CO, NO2, and Pb collated. A comparison of the levels of these air pollutants with the World Health Organization air quality guidelines was carried out. Results: Particulate matter was the most serious air pollutant in the country. NO2 has emerged as the second high-risk pollutant. The reported levels of PM, SO2, CO, NO2, and Pb were many times higher than the World Health Organization air quality guidelines. Only O3 concentrations were below the guidelines. Conclusions: The current state of air quality calls for immediate action to tackle the poor air quality. The establishment of ambient air quality standards, an extension of the continuous monitoring sites, and the development of emission control strategies are essential. © Springer-Verlag 2009

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely