Emergence Stage Research Articles

Accelerate Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning in Zero-Sum Games with Subgame Curriculum Learning

Learning Nash equilibrium (NE) in complex zero-sum games with multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) can be extremely computationally expensive. Curriculum learning is an effective way to accelerate learning, but an under-explored dimension for generating a curriculum is the difficulty-to-learn of the subgames –games induced by starting from a specific state. In this work, we present a novel subgame curriculum learning framework for zero-sum games. It adopts an adaptive initial state distribution by resetting agents to some previously visited states where they can quickly learn to improve performance. Building upon this framework, we derive a subgame selection metric that approximates the squared distance to NE values and further adopt a particle-based state sampler for subgame generation. Integrating these techniques leads to our new algorithm, Subgame Automatic Curriculum Learning (SACL), which is a realization of the subgame curriculum learning framework. SACL can be combined with any MARL algorithm such as MAPPO. Experiments in the particle-world environment and Google Research Football environment show SACL produces much stronger policies than baselines. In the challenging hide-and-seek quadrant environment, SACL produces all four emergent stages and uses only half the samples of MAPPO with self-play. The project website is at https://sites.google.com/view/sacl-neurips.

Abstract 4653: Unraveling the vulnerabilities of targeted therapy-tolerant persister cells in NSCLC

Abstract Genetic profiling and the development of targeted therapy has improved survival of many cancer patients, but resistance to targeted therapy remains a major barrier to long-term patient survival. To develop more pro-active strategies to improve clinical outcomes, our research focuses on drug-tolerant persister cells that constitute a reservoir of cancer cells that survive and adapt during the initial stage of therapy. These cells typically display therapy resistance in a reversible manner and set the stage for the subsequent emergence of cells with full acquired resistance. We utilized quantitative proteomics to characterize persister cells generated from EGFRmut, KRASmut, and ALKmut non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines after treatment with osimertinib, sotorasib, and lorlatinib, respectively. Integrating proteomics data with network analysis revealed a decrease in the signaling network associated with cell cycle regulation and DNA replication. Meanwhile, persister cells exhibited an enrichment in proteins linked to lysosomes, amino acids, and fatty acid metabolism. The data revealed a consistent metabolic shift in persister cells, with an increased dependence on oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) for ATP generation. Small-scale drug screening was performed based on findings from proteomics and confirmed that persister cells are vulnerable to inhibitors of OXPHOS mitochondrial complexes. Combination treatment of OXPHOS inhibitors and each targeted therapy delayed the emergence of resistance. One complex V inhibitor, Gboxin, selectively inhibited the growth of persister cells. The therapeutic potential of complex V was further validated by CRISPR-based genetic knockdown studies. The metabolic transition in drug tolerant persister cells may serve as a critical adaptive resistance mechanism to provide a survival advantage under targeted therapy-induced stress. Understanding this metabolic shift may lead to new treatments that aim to prevent or delay the onset of acquired resistance in NSCLC. Citation Format: Donghwa Kim, Dmitry Kuchenov, Aubhishek Zaman, Neal Bennett, Emilio Ramos, Ken Nakamura, Arun P. Wiita, Sourav Bandyopadhyay, Trever Bivona. Unraveling the vulnerabilities of targeted therapy-tolerant persister cells in NSCLC [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 4653.

Weaving the Nodes: Actor Relations in Forest Fire Handling

This study aims to identify and describe the actor-network on forest fire handling in South Sumatra in its all three stages. This study collects data through interviews and documents. R Studio is used to analyze and visualize the connection between actors. The results of this study show a formal division of activities among actors in forest fire handling based on Governor decree involving state and non-state actors. However, non-state actors were not involved in every operational activity, especially in the pre-disaster stage. Furthermore, the Head of the Forest and Land Fire Control Section plays an essential role in the pre-disaster stage, the Regional Disaster Management Agency in the emergency stage, while there is no actor interactions in the post-disaster stage. Such situation requires a better actor-network by weaving the nodes to ensure effective coordination considering the role, interaction, and intervention of the actors as well as the nature of inclusiveness through the involvement of all actors, especially that of non-state actors. The limitation of this study is dealing with its focus just on one perspective that is based on the legal framework. Future research is expected to broaden the perspective with empirical and factual research.
 Keywords: forest fire handling, network, social network analysis, south Sumatra

The impact of COVID-19 on the resilience of rural and island Scotland: implications for transitioning to a resilient rural and island future

ABSTRACT Negligible attention has been given to how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted upon social and economic attributes of rural and island (R&I) places. The paper considers impacts of COVID-19 on the resilience of Scottish R&I communities during the crisis or emergency stage of the pandemic and then after its shift to what may be described as an everyday disruption, suggesting ways that communities could transition to a resilient future in a post-COVID world. The paper’s longitudinal, qualitative, Scotland-wide, and holistic assessment of community change and responses represents a novel approach to exploring the impacts of the pandemic on resilience between 2020 and 2022. It allows greater understanding to be gained about both the pandemic’s impacts on socio-economic aspects of Scottish R&I communities and the implications for transitioning to a more resilient post COVID-19 rural world. The paper reports that, when those who participated in the research discussed transitioning to a new future for R&I places, their thoughts about how it should change altered over time. Specifically, by addressing dual discourses of emergency and everyday resilience, the paper identifies how the impacts of COVID-19 affected resilience during different stages of the pandemic and what might be learned about ongoing resilience in R&I communities.

Differences of waterlogging tolerance in winter pulse crop between emergence and vegetative stages

AbstractPulse production is decreased when grown on waterlogged soil in rice‐based cropping. This study evaluated four pulse crops—grass pea, field pea, cowpea and lentil—to find out their responses to waterlogging (WL) stress at emergence and vegetative stages. The treatment levels at emergence were drained control, 4‐, 7‐ and 10‐day WL, while in the vegetative stage they were drained control, 6‐, 10‐ and 14‐day WL. In the emergence stage, %emergence was significantly reduced as WL duration increased. After 10‐day WL, emergence was reduced to 65% for grass pea, 30% for field pea, 5% for lentil and 7% for cowpea. At the vegetative stage, in both the WL and recovery phases, the WL treatment reduced plant height, tap root length, shoot and root dry mass compared to those in drained control with a significant difference in crops. In recovery as compared to the WL phase at 14‐day WL, the chlorophyll content was increased 15% in cowpea and 14% in grass pea but decreased in field pea (26%) and lentil (35%). Similarly, in the recovery phase at 14‐day WL, shoot relative growth rates (RGRs) of cowpea, grass pea, field pea and lentil were 20, 66, 10 and 5 mg plant−1 d−1; which were 66%, 70%, 8% and 14% of drained control, respectively. The RGR of root at 14‐day WL was also higher in cowpea and grass pea with the rate of 13.8 and 16 mg−1 plant−1 d−1, respectively; in sharp contrast to a reduction of −4.3 mg−1 plant−1 d−1 in field pea and −3.9 mg−1 plant−1 d−1 for lentil than drained control. Furthermore, the higher number of adventitious roots was found in cowpea (14) and grass (9) pea than in field pea (6) and lentil (4). Comparison between growth stages, grass pea was tolerant to WL in both stages. Cowpea was WL sensitive at emergence, but tolerant to vegetative stage. Field pea was moderately tolerant to emergence but was sensitive at vegetative stage. Lentil was sensitive at WL at both stages. These novel insights will allow the fitting of winter pulses to various cropping systems according to the perceived risk of WL at various growth stages.

Matching decision support modeling frameworks to disease emergence stages and associated management objectives

AbstractWildlife disease management decisions often require rapid responses to situations that are fraught with uncertainty. By recognizing that management is implemented to achieve specific objectives, resource managers and science partners can identify an analysis technique and develop a monitoring plan to evaluate management effectiveness. For emerging infectious diseases, objectives may take several distinct forms, dependent on the perceived stage of disease emergence (i.e., pre‐epidemic, early outbreak, mid‐epidemic, and endemic), the expected rate of spread, and the anticipated effect of the disease on host populations. Identifying modeling techniques and metrics that are linked to management objectives will require early and consistent communication between managers and science partners. We link modeling approaches that can be used to forecast and evaluate the performance of intervention strategies with a range of disease management objectives. Our aim is to help scientists recognize alternative modeling approaches which may better align with different forms of disease management objectives, and to help managers evaluate the relevance of proposed modeling approaches to their specified objectives for disease management. Recognizing that disease management objectives can take different forms, and thus require different modeling approaches, can help wildlife disease response teams (i.e., natural resource managers, scientists, and stakeholders working collaboratively) better prepare and respond to disease threats.

The automatic identification and tracking of coronal flux ropes

Context. Constructing the relevant magnetic field lines from active region modelling data is crucial to understanding the underlying instability mechanisms that trigger the corresponding eruptions. Aims. We present a magnetic flux rope (FR) extraction tool for solar coronal magnetic field modelling data that builds upon a recent methodology. The newly developed method is then compared against its previous iteration. Furthermore, we apply the scheme to magnetic field simulations of active regions AR12473 (similar to our previous study) and AR11176. We compare the method to its predecessor and study the 3D movement of the newly extracted FRs up to heights of 200 and 300 Mm, respectively. Methods.The extraction method is based on the twist parameter Tw and a variety of mathematical morphology (MM) algorithms, including the opening transform and the morphological gradient. We highlight the differences between the methods by investigating the circularity of the FRs in the plane we extract from. The simulations for the active regions are carried out with a time-dependent data-driven magnetofrictional model (TMFM). We investigate the FR trajectories by tracking their apex throughout the full simulation time span. Results. Comparing the newly developed method to the previous extraction scheme, we demonstrate that this upgrade provides the user with more tools and less a priori assumptions about the FR shape, which in turn leads to a more accurate set of field lines. Despite some differences, both the newly extracted FR of AR12473 and the FR derived with the old iteration of the method show a similar general appearance, confirming that the two methods indeed extract the same structure. The methods differ the most in their emergence and formation stages, where the newly extracted FR deviates significantly from a perfectly circular cross-section (which was the basic assumption of the initial method). The propagation analysis yields that the erupting FR from AR12473 indeed shows stronger dynamics than the AR11176 FR and a significant deflection during its ascent through the domain. The modelling results are also verified with observations: AR12473 is dynamic and eruptive, while AR11176 only features an eruption outside of our simulation time window. Conclusions. We implemented a FR extraction method, incorporating mathematical morphology algorithms for 3D solar magnetic field simulations of active region FRs. This scheme was applied to AR12473 and AR11176. We find that the clearly eruptive FR of AR12473 experiences significant deflection during its rise. The AR11176 FR appears more stable, though there is still a notable deflection. This confirms that at these low coronal heights, FRs undergo significant changes in the direction of their propagation even for less dynamic cases.

THE IMPORTANCE OF IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL EDUCATION TO ENHANCE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' ABILITY TO COPE WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL CRISIS

This paper combines ideological and political education and mental health education in universities and universities innovates the psychological crisis intervention methods for university students, enriches the teaching content of ideological and political education, and provides new work perspectives and ideas for university students psychological crisis intervention. This paper defines the concepts of university students' psychological crisis and intervention and summarises the relevant connotations of university ideological and political education intervention in university students' psychological crisis. Taking the questionnaire data as the research basis, this paper analyses the current mental health status of university students, the status of psychological crisis intervention and the status of psychological crisis intervention involving ideological and political education. Its summaries the problems existing in the emergence stage. Finally, put forward psychological crisis intervention countermeasures for university Students Based on ideological and Political Education perspectives. According to the questionnaire results and the problems summarized, constructive and feasible implementation paths and countermeasures are put forward for ideological and political education to intervene in the psychological crisis of university students.

Wheel Replacing Pyramid: Better Paradigm Representing Totality of Evidence-Based Medicine.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM), as originally conceived, used all types of peer-reviewed evidence to guide medical practice and decision-making. During the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the standard usage of EBM, modeled by the Evidence-Based Medicine Pyramid, undermined EBM by incorrectly using pyramid levels to assign relative quality. The resulting pyramid-based thinking is biased against reports both in levels beneath randomized control trials (RCTs) and those omitted from the pyramid entirely. Thus, much of the evidence was ignored. Our desire for a more encompassing and effective medical decision-making process to apply to repurposed drugs led us to develop an alternative to the EBM Pyramid for EBM. Herein, we propose the totality of evidence (T-EBM) wheel. To create an easily understood graphic that models EBM by incorporating all peer-reviewed evidence that applies to both new and repurposed medicines, and to demonstrate its potential utility using ivermectin as a case study. The graphics were produced using Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2003 except for part of the T-EBM wheel sunburst chart, which was produced using Microsoft 365 Excel. For the case study, PubMed® was used by searching for peer-reviewed reports containing "ivermectin" and either "covid" or "sars" in the title. Reports were filtered for those using ivermectin-based protocols in the treatment of COVID-19. The resulting 265 reports were evaluated for their study design types and treatment outcomes. The three-ringed graphical T-EBM wheel was composed of two inner rings showing all types of reports and an outer ring showing outcomes for each type. The T-EBM wheel avoids the biases of the EBM Pyramid and includes all types of reports in the pyramid along with reports such as population and mechanistic studies. In both early and late stages of medical emergencies, pyramid-based thinking may overlook indications of efficacy in regions of the T-EBM wheel beyond RCTs. This is especially true when searching for ways to prevent and treat a novel disease with repurposed therapeutics before RCTs, safety assessments, and mechanisms of action of novel therapeutics are established. As such, T-EBM Wheels should replace the EBM Pyramids in medical decision-making and education. T-EBM Wheels can be expanded upon by implementing multiple outer rings, one for each different kind of outcome (efficacy, safety, etc.). A T-EBM Wheel can be created for any proprietary or generic medicine. The ivermectin (IVM) T-EBM Wheel displays the efficacy of IVM-based treatments of COVID-19 in a color-coded graphic, visualizing each type of evidence and the proportions of each of their outcomes (positive, inconclusive, negative).

Phenological growth stages of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton): Detailed identification and description using the extended BBCH scale

AbstractCardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) is an important spice crop with high market value. In this study, we describe the phenological growth stages of cardamom using a three‐digit extended Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt und CHemische Industrie (BBCH) scale, which includes eight principal growth stages, comprising four vegetative, two reproductive and two capsule development stages. Additionally, we identified 45 secondary stages within these principal growth stages, providing a comprehensive characterisation of the crop's growth progression, including bud development, leaf emergence, tillering and shoot development, while the reproductive stages included inflorescence emergence and flowering. The capsule development stage details the maturation process of capsules. The study also highlights the parallel occurrence of tillering, shoot development and inflorescence emergence stages during specific growth phases. The knowledge of growth stages facilitates timely interventions, optimising crop management strategies and enhancing overall crop productivity. Additionally, these findings offer valuable insights for breeding programmes and the selection of superior genotypes, contributing to the sustainable cultivation and economic viability of cardamom as an important export‐oriented spice crop.Highlights BBCH scale provides uniform coding for different growth stages of cardamom. Identified and described eight principal growth stages (PGS). PGS comprises of 4 vegetative, 2 reproductive and 2 capsule development stages. 45 secondary stages were identified within 8 principal growth stages. Tillering, shoot development and inflorescence emergence occurs parallelly.

Production digital twin: a systematic literature review of challenges

ABSTRACT The manufacturing industry is entering the fourth industrial revolution, which aims to shift the manufacturing paradigm to data-driven smart manufacturing. Many barriers still limit the adoption of this new revolution, although enabling technologies such as a digital twin (DT) have the potential to overcome them. Since the appearance of the digital twin technology, this has led to a significant increase in academic publications and industrial applications. However, significant challenges facing the implementation of this technology stem from the emergent field stage, a need for more comprehensive information, and a need for clarity and consistency in definitions and concepts. This review identifies and categorizes the potential digital twin challenges and provides a novel conceptual framework that structures them and links them to the principal digital twin components, along with an example that elucidates the proposed framework’s utilization. The emerging relationships unveil interesting insights into the current status and future research requirements.

Topdressing nitrogen applied at different phenological stages and growth regulator on wheat in subtropical regions in southern Brazil

There are doubts about nitrogen (N) management and the use of growth regulator in wheat. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the wheat performance as a function of topdressing N applied at different phenological stages of crop, and the use of trinexapac-ethyl (TE) growth regulator associated with N fertilization in subtropical regions in southern Brazil. In each environment, two experiments were carried out, all with an experimental design in 2 × 4 factorial scheme. The factors in experiment 1 were topdressing N application at seedling emergence and tillering stages and N rates (0, 40, 80, and 120 kg N ha−1); and in experiment 2: use of TE (with and without) and N rates (0, 40, 80, and 120 kg N ha−1) applied at tillering. The augment of N in topdressing increases the lodging. The use of TE minimizes the lodging. In environment with irrigation, the application of intermediate N rates at crop emergence reduces lodging. The yield components are altered by the rates and stages of N application, with variable responses according to the cultivation environment. The stage of application does not affect grain yield. N fertilization increases the yield, being that in Ponta Grossa the wheat is more responsive to higher N input. In certain environments, TE reduces the number of spikes m−2 and increases the number of grains per spike. TE impairs yield when associated with N non-application in topdressing. On the other hand, it maximizes the effect of N fertilization on yield, when using higher N rates in topdressing.

Genome-wide association mapping for seedling and adult resistance to powdery mildew in barley

Key messageTwo new major QTL were identified for powdery mildew resistance. We confirmed that the QTL on 7HS contributed mainly to the adult-plant resistance, while another one on chromosome arm 1HS made a significant contribution to the seedling resistance.Powdery mildew (PM), caused by Blumeria hordei, can occur at all post emergent stages of barley and constantly threatens crop production. To identify more genes for effective resistance to powdery mildew for use in breeding programs, 696 barley accessions collected from different regions of the world were evaluated for PM resistance at seedling and adult growth stages in three different states of Australia. These barley accessions were genotyped using DArTSeq with over 18,000 markers for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Using the FarmCPU model, 54 markers showed significant associations with PM resistance scored at the seedling and adult-plant stages in different states of Australia. Another 40 markers showed tentative associations (LOD > 4.0) with resistance. These markers are distributed across all seven barley chromosomes. Most of them were grouped into eleven QTL regions, coinciding with the locations of most of the reported resistance genes. Two major MTAs were identified on chromosome arms 3HS and 5HL, with one on 3HS contributing to adult plant resistance and the one on 5HL to both seedling and adult plant resistance. An MTA on 7HS contributed mainly to the adult-plant resistance, while another one on chromosome arm 1HS made a significant contribution to the seedling resistance.

The Narrative of terrorism and accountability of reality in a novel (Cue and river dance) / semiotics approach

بات من الضروري التوقف عند علاقة الخطاب الروائي في العراق بقضايا الواقع، ولاسيما قضية الإرهاب، ضمن إطار مقاربة المتن الروائي، ومحاولة فهم علاقة الإرهاب بالأدب وأثرها على النص السردي، إذ نسعى للإجابة على السؤال الآتي: كيف وظف الروائي قضية الإرهاب من خلال تجربته السردية؟
 إنّ البحث في ظاهرة الإرهاب وعلاقتها بالخطاب الروائي يقودنا إلى استقراء النصوص التي ارتبط ظهورها بمرحلة بروز الإرهاب في المجتمع العراقي ؛ لأن ما سجلته هذه النصوص يمثل توثيقامهما لهذه المرحلة ، فضلا عن أنها تحدد موقف الكاتب وإحساسه تجاه ما يحصل. وعليه جاء اختيارنا لرواية (رقصة الجديلة والنهر) لـ وفاء عبد الرزاق لتكون مدونة بحثنا التي تزامن صدورها مع ما يشهده العراق من أحداث إرهابية، لتستمد الدراسة مادتها من الواقع، في محاولة لمساءلة قضاياه الفاعلة، عبر استنطاق النص الروائي وعلى وفق معطيات المنهج السيميائي.

Soil Actinomycetes as Promising Alternative to Synthetic Herbicides


 Weed management is a key agronomic practice in agriculture. Since decades, synthetic herbicides played an indispensable role in weed control due to high effectiveness. However, recently there has been growing interest on exploring alternative weed control methods due to negative impacts of synthetic herbicides on the environment. Besides, there is an increasing demand for organic farm products. Actinomycetes, a group of filamentous, Gram-positive bacteria known for their bioactive secondary metabolites, have emerged as potential candidates for bioherbicides. In this study, we investigated herbicidal potential of twenty-three morphologically distinct actinomycetes strains isolated from soil using lettuce (Lactuca sativa) as a model plant. Eight weeks-old cell-free culture fermentation broth of actinomycetes strains were used for screening the effect on seed germination and seedling growth. Lettuce seeds were exposed to fermentation broth for two weeks while for control, sterilized distilled water was used. Ten seeds per treatment in three replicates were used. The results showed that sixteen actinomycetes strains, ACM25, 26, 29, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 49.1 and 49.2 and ACM50 were able to completely inhibit seed germination while seeds treated with ACM32 did not produce roots although seed germination had initiated. It appears that these seventeen strains would be effective at pre-emergence weed control. Seeds that treated with the rest of the six strains had no effect on the seed germination. However, seedlings of ACM24, 45 and ACM46-treated seeds showed deaths by two weeks. Their gradual death started with discoloration of leaves followed by watery rotting of the entire plant. Seedlings of ACM30, 31, 37- treated seeds survived, and their growth performance were observed for two weeks compared to the control. Seedlings were dwarf and exhibited growth deformations such as reduced leaf size, chlorosis, leaf curling and stunted roots. Further, number of leaves, shoot length and root length were significantly different (p<0.05) from that of the control. These observations suggest that the effect of ACM24, 30, 31, 37, 45 and ACM46 would be systemic. In conclusion, our results clearly showed strong herbicidal effects of all tested twenty-three strains of actinomycetes at pre- and post- emergence stages of seed germination. Thus, they can be promising candidates for bioherbicide formulations.
 
 Keywords: Actinomycetes, Bioherbicides, Weed management, Sustainable agriculture

Intercropping in maize silage versus solo‐seeding for alfalfa establishment in Wisconsin and Idaho

AbstractAlfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) intercropping with maize (Zea mays L.) silage is being developed in the northern United States to improve the profitability and environmental sustainability of forage production. This study, conducted under rainfed conditions in Wisconsin and semiarid irrigated conditions in Idaho, compared the establishment of alfalfa and dry matter yield of four intercropping systems to three conventional systems. The former systems included alfalfa interseeded at planting or the vegetative emergence (VE) stage of maize and grown with or without prohexadione growth retardant. The latter systems included alfalfa seeded in spring, summer‐seeded after barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), or late summer‐seeded after maize silage. Spring seeded and interseeded alfalfa in Wisconsin also received foliar fungicide and insecticide during establishment. During alfalfa establishment, yield of intercropped maize silage was 1.8‐ to 4.4‐fold greater than spring‐seeded alfalfa. Compared to spring‐seeded alfalfa, interseeded alfalfa had similar or somewhat lower stand density but similar first cut yield the following year, provided that intercropped maize was harvested near September 1 to allow ample alfalfa fall regrowth. Shifting interseeding from maize planting to the VE stage decreased early‐season alfalfa growth, but improved maize silage yield, with minor effects on alfalfa fall growth, stand density, and first cut yield. Prohexadione application had little impact on establishment or yield of interseeded alfalfa. While having high plant density, alfalfa seeded after barley or especially maize had less fall growth and low first cut yield. Overall, alfalfa establishment and yield of intercropping systems compared favorably with conventional systems.

Performance of Clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) Varieties under Different Temperature and Relative Humidity Profiles

A study was performed at Department of Plant Pathology during year 2020, CCS Haryana Agricultural University to find the effect of different growing environments on temperature and humidity profile development, yield and its attributes in clusterbean crop. Three varieties of clusterbean varieties i.e. HG 365 (V1), HG 563 (V2) and HG 2-20 (V3) with each sown at three different dates of sowing i.e first (D1), third (D2) and fourth (D4) week of July in factorial randomized block design and replicated thrice. The diurnal range of temperature profiles at the emergence stage and flowering stage were higher in the crop sown in the first fortnight of July as compared to the second and third fortnights of July. Crops sown in the fourth week of July had a greater diurnal range of relative humidity profiles at the vegetative and pod formation stage while at flowering stage higher diurnal variation were present in first week of July sown crop. However, among different cultivars of clusterbean, no variation in temperature and humidity profile were observed. Significantly higher number of branches per plant, number of pods per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod, harvesting index, grain and straw yield were found in D1 (first week of July) and V2 (HG 563) as compared to remaining dates of sowing and varieties, respectively.

Emergence and development stages of informatics in Azerbaijan

The article highlights the results of studies on the emergence history and formation of informatics in Azerbaijan, and chronologically interprets the development stages of informatics. It comparatively analyzes the evolution of the fields of informatics, computer science and information and communication technology in Azerbaijan during the Soviet Union period and independence years based on archival documents. Studies are conducted on the activities of the Azerbaijani scientists who played a significant role in the emergence and development of informatics in Azerbaijan, and their central scientific achievements are presented. The measures implemented for the establishment of the national network infrastructure of the Internet in Azerbaijan and the manufacture of national products in the field of ICT are reviewed. Computer generations in Azerbaijan, state policy in the field of informatics, measures implemented for the development and application of modern technologies, personnel training in this field, leading scientific schools, higher educational institutions, as well as the provision of information sovereignty in Azerbaijan and the implementation of the IV Industrial Revolution are explored, some statistical indicators on the development of information technology are presented. The main goal of conducting the research is to comprehensively examine the history of the establishment and development of informatics in Azerbaijan, to obtain complete scientific knowledge about the role of informatics in the development of society and the country.

Proteomic analysis during seed development provides insight into the early establishment of seed dormancy in Xanthium strumarium.

This experiment was carried out to provide a comprehensive insight into the protein activities involved in dormancy establishment in seeds of common cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium), an annual plant with two dimorphic seeds contained in one casing known as a burr. These consist of a smaller dormant seed and a larger non-dormant seed. The proteome profile was compared between developing dormant and non-dormant seeds of Xanthium strumarium at five consecutive stages including three, 10, 20, 30, and 45 days after burr emergence (stages 1 to 5). We identified 6524 proteins in total, and approximately 3.6% of these were differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) between the two seed types. Both seed types showed fundamental changes in developmental programs during the examined stages. More than 38% of all DAPs were observed at the first stage, supporting the importance of the early developmental stage in seed fate determination. The detected DAPs at stage 1 were mainly associated with the cell division phase, which showed a delay in the dormant seeds. Over-representation of proteins responsible for cell wall biosynthesis, cytokinesis, and seed development were detected for non-dormant seeds at the first stage, while dormancy-associated proteins showed less abundance. Stage 3 was the critical stage for switching processes toward seed maturation and abscisic acid (ABA) signaling. Interestingly, higher abundance proteins in the mature non-dormant seed were mainly involved in the facilitation of seed germination. Taken together, the temporal pattern of the accumulated proteins in developing dormant seeds demonstrated a delay in the initiation of active cell division, enriched response to ABA, and defects in seed maturation. Moreover, stored proteins in the mature dormant seed delay germination but not dormancy induction. Finally, our results suggest that dormancy may be established at a stage of seed development earlier than previously thought.

Comparative regulatory network of transcripts behind radicle emergence and seedling stage of maize (Zea mays L.)

The transition from radicle emergence to seedling growth in maize is a crucial phase in the plant's life cycle, where rapid physiological and biochemical changes occur to facilitate successful development. In this study, we conducted a comparative transcriptomic analysis to gain a deeper understanding of the molecular processes driving this critical transition. The early divergence in gene expression patterns highlighted the upregulation of a substantial number of genes during radicle emergence. During radicle emergence, gene ontology (GO) term enrichment analysis unveiled active participation in biological processes such as chromatin assembly, cellular response to abiotic stress, and hormone signaling. This indicates that the initial stages of growth are marked by cellular expansion and adaptation to environmental stimuli. Conversely, in the seedling growth stage, GO analysis demonstrated a shift toward processes such as photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism, and secondary metabolite biosynthesis, reflecting a transition to energy production and enhanced growth. In contrast, seedling growth was characterized by pathways related to photosynthesis and the production of gibberellins, crucial for robust seedling development. Hormonal regulation and starch metabolism were also prominent during radicle emergence, with various hormones, including auxins, diterpenoids, and brassinosteroids, driving processes like cell enlargement and stem growth. Moreover, starch and sucrose metabolism genes were expressed to mobilize stored reserves for energy during this stage. These findings offer valuable insights into the dynamic regulation of genes and pathways during this critical phase of maize development.