High Frequency Of Interaction Research Articles

Abstract 405: Translocation detection in cancer using low-pass pore-c sequencing

Abstract Complex chromosomal rearrangements, including translocations, play a critical role in oncogenesis and are often identified as recurrent genetic aberrations in hematologic malignancies and solid tumors[1]. Translocation detection by karyotyping of an individual’s metaphase chromosomes remains challenging for detection of balanced rearrangements, which have no gain or loss of genetic material. Rearrangement detection using whole-genome sequencing is a viable alternative, but it relies on breakpoint-spanning reads and requires high sequencing depth (30-60x) with long reads to achieve high sensitivity, especially in repetitive regions of the genome[2]. Here, we describe a workflow for translocation detection at low sequencing depth with Oxford Nanopore’s long read chromatin conformation capture technique, Pore-C[3]. Importantly, for translocation calling, Pore-C does not rely on breakpoint-spanning reads but rather the high intrachromosomal interaction frequency of genomic regions around the breakpoint, thus largely lowering sequencing depth requirements and reducing mapping issues in low complexity regions. We prepared, barcoded, and sequenced Pore-C libraries of 3 cancer cell lines including lung cancer (A549), Acute Monocytic Leukemia (THP-1), melanoma (COLO 829) and its matching normal (COLO 829 BL) on a single Q20+ MinION flow cell (FLO-MIN114). Genome-wide contact maps of low-pass data (<1.5 Gbps per sample) were compared against higher depth (>30 Gbps per sample) Hi-C maps [4], revealing that low-pass Pore-C successfully captured large-scale genomic rearrangement. For example, chromosomal pairs chr8-chr11 and chr15-chr19 in A549, chr9-chr11 and chr1-chr20 in THP1, and chr7-chr15 in Colo829 were detected at <0.5X depth of sequencing coverage. These translocation events were further validated by breakpoint analysis using adaptive sampling, where targeted regions were previously confirmed by independent studies[4],[5]. Low-pass Pore-C detects translocations in an unbiased manner and does not require prior knowledge of the translocation structure. Combined with its simple sample-preparation workflow and the capability to provide genome-wide copy-number information in a single experiment, it can serve as a cost-effective and comprehensive tool for cancer genomic studies. [1] Chromosomal translocations in human cancer, Nature, 372, 143 (1994) [2] Hi-C as a tool for precise detection and characterisation of chromosomal rearrangements and copy number variation in human tumors, Genome Biology, 18, 125 (2017) [3] Identifying synergistic high-order 3D chromatin conformations from genome-scale nanopore concatemer sequencing, Nature Biotechnology, 40, 1488(2022) [4] Chromosomal translocations detection in cancer cells using chromosomal conformation capture data, Genes (Basel), 13, 7 (2022) [5] A multi-platform reference for somatic structural variation detection, Cell Genomics, 2, 6 (2022) Citation Format: Scott Hickey, Xiaoguang Dai, Sergey Aganezov, John Beaulaurier, Eoghan Harrington, Sissel Juul. Translocation detection in cancer using low-pass pore-c sequencing [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 405.

Binding Pattern and Structural Interactome of the Anticancer Drug 5-Fluorouracil: A Critical Review.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) stands as one of the most widely prescribed chemotherapeutics. Despite over 60 years of study, a systematic synopsis of how 5-FU binds to proteins has been lacking. Investigating the specific binding patterns of 5-FU to proteins is essential for identifying additional interacting proteins and comprehending their medical implications. In this review, an analysis of the 5-FU binding environment was conducted based on available complex structures. From the earliest complex structure in 2001 to the present, two groups of residues emerged upon 5-FU binding, classified as P- and R-type residues. These high-frequency interactive residues with 5-FU include positively charged residues Arg and Lys (P type) and ring residues Phe, Tyr, Trp, and His (R type). Due to their high occurrence, 5-FU binding modes were simplistically classified into three types, based on interactive residues (within <4 Å) with 5-FU: Type 1 (P-R type), Type 2 (P type), and Type 3 (R type). In summary, among 14 selected complex structures, 8 conform to Type 1, 2 conform to Type 2, and 4 conform to Type 3. Residues with high interaction frequencies involving the N1, N3, O4, and F5 atoms of 5-FU were also examined. Collectively, these interaction analyses offer a structural perspective on the specific binding patterns of 5-FU within protein pockets and contribute to the construction of a structural interactome delineating the associations of the anticancer drug 5-FU.

Abstract B008: Alternative PER2 (Period2) enhancer usage drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in epithelial ovarian cancer (OC)

Abstract B008: Alternative <i>PER2</i> (Period2) enhancer usage drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in epithelial ovarian cancer (OC)

PRAGMATIC IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ADVANCE CARE PLANNING INITIATIVE: MOVING KNOWLEDGE INTO ACTION

Abstract Primary care is an important setting for patient and family-centered communication with older adults given the high frequency of interactions, longitudinal trusted relationships, and patient preferences for advance care planning (ACP). Increasing ACP conversations and documentation of advance directives in primary care is a focus of quality-of-care initiatives and is particularly relevant for older adults, including those with dementia. The SHARING Choices ACP program evaluation was designed to examine the fidelity of implementation with the two partner health systems. SHARING Choices includes a mailing (introductory letter, an agenda-setting checklist, a blank advance directive, and information about shared-portal access for family) sent two weeks prior to scheduled primary care visits for patients aged 65 and above along with access to an ACP facilitator in each practice. Embedding SHARING Choices within primary care practices involved a multi-step process, including onboarding of health system partners, facilitator identification and training, tailored onboarding, practice champion engagement, and practice orientation and ongoing support. Of 23,220 candidate patients, 17,931 outreach attempts by phone (77.9%) and the patient portal (22.1%) were made by ACP facilitators and 645 conversations occurred. Most conversations (94.8%) were less than 45 minutes in duration. Study findings reinforce the value of adaptable study design; co-designing workflow adaptations with frontline staff; adapting implementation processes to fit the operational and organizational priorities of the health system.

Bursty star formation and galaxy–galaxy interactions in low-mass galaxies 1 Gyr after the Big Bang

ABSTRACT We use CANUCS JWST/NIRCam imaging of galaxies behind the gravitationally-lensing cluster MACS J0417.5-1154 to investigate star formation burstiness in low-mass (M⋆ ∼ 108 M⊙) galaxies at z ∼ 4.7–6.5. Our sample of 123 galaxies is selected using the Lyman break selection and photometric emission-line excess methods. Sixty per cent of the 123 galaxies in this sample have Hα-to-UV flux ratios that deviate significantly from the range of Hα-to-UV ratio values consistent with smooth and steady star formation histories. This large fraction indicates that the majority of low-mass galaxies is experiencing bursty star formation histories at high redshift. We also searched for interacting galaxies in our sample and found that they are remarkably common ($\sim 40~{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the sample). Compared to non-interacting galaxies, interacting galaxies are more likely to have very low Hα-to-UV ratios, suggesting that galaxy–galaxy interactions enhance star formation burstiness and enable faster quenching (with time-scales of ≲100 Myr) that follows the rapid rise of star formation activity. Given the high frequency of galaxy–galaxy interactions and the rapid SFR fluctuations they appear to cause, we conclude that galaxy–galaxy interactions could be a leading cause of bursty star formation in low-mass, high-z galaxies. They could thus play a significant role in the evolution of the galaxy population at early cosmological times.

Improving ductility by coherent nanoprecipitates in medium entropy alloy

Controlling precipitates in spatial density and size distribution is essential for tailoring the microstructure and mechanical properties through precipitation hardening. We herein obtained heterogeneous grain structures with coherent L12 nanoprecipitates in (CrCoNi)94Al4Ti2 medium entropy alloy (MEA) by annealing and aging. Additional pre-aging leads to a high spatial density and more random distribution nucleation sites of the coherent L12 nanoprecipitates. The pre-aging doubled the ductility without apparently sacrificing the strength. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that, in pre-aged MEA, finely dispersed L12 nanoprecipitates with higher spatial density were sheared by dislocation, promoting planar slips, which favors geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) piling up to increased hetero-deformation-induced (HDI) stress and work-hardening. Stacking faults, Lomer-Cottrell locks, and 9R structures were formed in aged and pre-aged MEA after tensile deformation. The formation of these defects enormously enhanced strain hardening by blocking dislocation movements and accumulating dislocations. Moreover, a higher frequency of interactions between defects and coherent L12 nanoprecipitates can be observed in the pre-aged MEA due to the more randomly distributed L12 nanoprecipitates, substantially increasing ductility. This work demonstrates a new route to achieving a super strength-ductility combination of single-phase FCC high entropy alloys by nanoscale coherent precipitation strengthening.

Phenotype predicts interspecific dominance hierarchies in a cloud‐forest hummingbird guild

AbstractCompetition over resources often leads to intra‐ and interspecific interactions, which can be detrimental to the individuals involved. Thus, natural selection should favor communication systems that reliably convey information regarding the relative competitive abilities of an individual, reducing the need for physically damaging confrontation. Body size, sex, age, relatedness, and ornamentation are important factors determining dominance across diverse taxa in intraspecific interactions. These traits, when perceptible, may serve as signals across species in guilds that have frequent interspecific interactions. Hummingbirds provide a tractable system to study such community dynamics due to their high frequency of interactions, variable ornamentation, diverse body sizes, fast metabolism, and large overlap in resource utilization. Even in this system, potential interactions between morphology and coloration are rarely accounted for together when analyzing dominance between species. We take a novel approach to understanding interspecific dominance by assessing behavior, morphology, and coloration across different types of behavioral interactions. Across 11 tropical montane hummingbird species, we find that dominance is predicted by wing size and some metrics of plumage coloration. However, the biological significance of these factors varies between the different dominance behaviors performed. These results inform our understanding of interspecific signaling and its role in the evolution of intraguild communication and resource competition.

The use of co-creation within the community-based tourism experiences

This study aims to design community-based tourism(CBT) using a combination of the co-creation viewpoints of service-dominant logic(SDL) and customer journey mapping(CJM). This study conducts four field experiments in traditional fishing villages. Via t-tests it was found that: (1) The design of CBT tours using a combination of SDL and CJM leads to tourists' positive experiences and satisfaction, overall life satisfaction, and willingness to revisit; (2) Based on field experiments, this study proves that, in contrast to CBT tours with a low frequency of interactions, tours with a high frequency of interactions result in more positive responses among tourists. The contributions of this study include proof that it is possible to combine SDL and CJM, both of which focus on the demand side, to design innovative and attractive CBT tours. Moreover, with the frequency of interactions as an easy-to-understand criterion, this study can help community service personnel design various tourist activities.

A needs assessment for suicide prevention training within community pharmacies

BackgroundSuicide is a leading cause of deaths globally, with over 700,000 deaths by suicide reported annually. In Ireland, numbers of suicides increased by 5.4% from 2015 to 2019. Community pharmacists are one of the most accessible and trusted healthcare professionals, and together with their staff they are well placed to identify those who may be at risk of suicide and guide them towards care pathways. Furthermore, their role in medication management can limit vulnerable patient access to potentially harmful medications. This study aims to explore the experience of community pharmacists and their staff in dealing with patients at risk of suicide and to identify ways of increasing education and support in this area. MethodsPharmacists registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland (PSI) were invited to complete an anonymous online survey via Google Forms in May 2020, and to circulate the online survey link to their community pharmacy staff (CPS). The survey comprised 29 questions across the following categories: interactions with at-risk patients; communication; training and resources. Free text responses to the following question were invited: “Without any identifying information, please tell us briefly about a time when you interacted with a patient who you were concerned may hurt himself or herself”. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. ResultsOf 219 eligible responses (67% female, 94% pharmacists, 6% other pharmacy staff), 61% percent (n = 134) reported having a patient die by suicide. Forty percent (n = 87) of participants reported feeling either very or moderately uncomfortable communicating with patients that may be at risk of suicide or self-harm. Most respondents (88.5%, n = 194) had not completed any suicide training. Online/webinar style trainings (82.1%, n = 180), and local/regional in-person events (50%, n = 111) were the most preferred education mode. Qualitative themes that emerged were: (i) accessibility; (ii) medication management; (iii) therapeutic relationship; (iv) knowledge and training; and (v) continuum of care pathways. ConclusionThis study highlights the high frequency of community pharmacy interactions with those at risk of suicide and the necessity for appropriate training in suicide prevention. Further research-informed action is required to facilitate navigation of such interactions with knowledge and confidence.

Blockchain‐enhanced trust management for mobile edge computing‐enabled intelligent vehicular collaboration in the 6G era

AbstractThe rapid development and increasing popularity of mobile devices have facilitated the development of computation‐intensive applications and services, but their constrained compute, storage and battery capabilities have also created the requirements for optimized resource provision and service orchestration. Emerging mobile edge computing (MEC) and next‐generation networks (6G) can meet these requirements of mobile devices by migrating complex computing tasks and large volumes of data to edge servers with acceptable latency, thus effectively enhancing the quality of experience (QoE) of mobile users. Intelligent Vehicular Collaboration, as an intelligent mobile application or service in intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) applications, enables precise and effective driving decisions based on a large amount of real‐time traffic information statistics and intelligent analysis of vehicle status to improve the user driving experience and the efficiency of intelligent transportation systems(ITS). However, the openness and dynamics of wireless communications and the high frequency of information interaction of MEC‐enabled intelligent vehicular collaboration services in the 6G era make them highly vulnerable to cyber attacks. How to achieve dynamically trustworthy, secure, and intelligent vehicular collaboration services in the presence of malicious node access and cyber attacks in the 6G MEC‐enabled vehicular network is a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose a novel blockchain‐enabled trust management mechanism to address this challenge. First, we design a spatiotemporal‐correlated message credibility assessment method and a dynamic mutual trust evaluation method to obtain accurate ratings for messages and mobile nodes respectively. Based on the above methods, we propose an improved blockchain‐based intelligent trust management mechanism that enables transparent, tamper‐evident, and trustworthy secure intelligent vehicular collaboration services while maintaining stable and efficient system performance. Simulation results show that our suggested solutions can efficiently evaluate the trust level of ICVs and achieve efficient and secure intelligent vehicular collaboration with acceptable communication and computation overheads.

The Influence of Motives for Media Use, News Selection, and Attractiveness Level of Online Media on Reader Engagement

Efforts to increase online media traffic can be realized by increasing reader engagement. The high frequency and intensity of readers and interactions in reading news online, such as commenting and sharing the article, indicate a high level of reader involvement. The article attempts to show the influence between the motives of using online media, news selection, and news attractiveness on the level of reader involvement. Through distributing questionnaires to 95 students, the study uses a survey method with an explanative quantitative approach. Data are analyzed using multivariate analysis techniques with correlation coefficient test and multiple linear regression. The results show a strong and positive correlation between the motive for media use, news selection, the level of media attractiveness, and the level of reader involvement of 0.659. The multiple linear regression test also proves a significant influence between the three independent variables on the level of reader involvement with an influential contribution of 43.4%.

Meeting with a male can lead to stress: Female reaction to a pairing with a partner in Felidae

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the level of sexual dimorphism modulates the effects of male-female social interaction on the female physiological condition in felids. We predicted that: 1 – contacts of females with males in species with low level of sexual dimorphism in body size will not lead to significant changes in the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (female stress); 2 - contacts of females with males in species with a high level of sexual dimorphism can result in significant increase in the cortisol level in females. Our study did not support these hypotheses. Despite the fact that sexual dimorphism influenced partner relationships, changes of the activity of HPA in response to social interaction with a partner appeared to be determined by the biology of the species rather than by the degree of sexual dimorphism. In species with unexpressed sexual dimorphism in body size, females determined the character of relationships in the pair. In species with pronounced sexual dimorphism biased towards males, the pattern of relationships was determined by males. However, meeting a partner led to increased cortisol levels in females not in pairs with pronounced sexual dimorphism, but in pairs with a high frequency of partner interactions. This frequency was determined by the species life history and was probably related to the seasonality of reproduction and the degree of monopolization of the home range.

Sea lion and fur seal interactions with fisheries and aquaculture in South American waters: threats and management perspectives

Abstract The main issue affecting the conservation of most pinniped species has been identified as interactions with fisheries and aquaculture. In South American waters in particular, this problem has not been well evaluated. Consequently, there is an urgent need for research and conservation measures to address the problem, particularly for species of conservation concern. In this study, we reviewed published and unpublished research and observations from the last 25 years on operational and biological interactions between pinnipeds and fisheries and salmonid aquaculture activities in South American waters, and the conservation and management implications of these interactions in the near future. Two species of pinnipeds are primarily involved in biological and operational interactions with fisheries and aquaculture in South America: the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens and the South American fur seal Arctocephalus australis. Although phocids are present in South American waters, there is no published research on conflicts between phocids and human activities. Interactions between fisheries and pinnipeds have been reported by many countries. In South American waters, interactions mostly involve male and subadult male South American sea lions. However, despite the high frequency of interactions, the estimated economic losses to fisheries and aquaculture related to sea lion depredation are generally low. Incidental capture and mortality of pinnipeds has been reported, especially in artisanal gillnet fisheries and in industrial purse seine and trawl fisheries. Mortality of sea lions in salmonid aquaculture has been reported, but the magnitude of the problem is unknown. In South America, limited progress has been made to incorporate mitigation measures, such as time‐area closures, acoustic deterrent devices, and modifications to fishing gear, into fisheries and aquaculture. This is likely to be due to our limited understanding of ecosystem complexity, the costs of modifying fishing gear or incorporating acoustic deterrent devices, and the scarcity of fishing controls. We suggest that strategies for effectively reducing conflicts between pinnipeds, fisheries, and aquaculture should involve all stakeholders in participative research to facilitate co‐management.

Resettlement, mental health, and coping: a mixed methods survey with recently resettled refugee parents in Canada

BackgroundResettlement experiences of refugee parents are under-researched despite evidence indicating higher risk of poor mental health. The current study integrates family systems and social determinants of refugee mental health frameworks to examine: (1) Refugee parents’ experiences of resettlement stressors and mental health; (2) Perceived impacts of resettlement stressors on individual and family indicators of well-being; and (3) Refugee parents’ coping strategies and resources.MethodsThe study draws on data from a mixed methods survey conducted with 40 Government-Assisted Refugee parents who had resettled to Hamilton, Canada within the past 4 years. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately and then integrated at the results stage using a weaving approach.ResultsResults indicate significant exposure to economic and social stressors across multiple domains of daily life, as well as high levels of parental psychological distress. Parents drew linkages between resettlement stressors and negative mental health impacts that were compounded by intersecting risk factors of ill health, caregiving burden, single parenthood, and low levels of education and literacy. Most parents rated themselves as coping well or very well and described various coping strategies such as positive reframing, problem solving, planning, and turning to religion. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicate high frequency of positive parent-child interaction and low frequency of family conflict, and highlight the importance of family as a protective resource for coping with adversity. Exploratory regression analyses suggest that longer stay in Canada, poorer self-rated health, higher levels of resettlement stressors, and more conflict between adults in the household may be associated with greater psychological distress.ConclusionStudy findings highlight both the resilience of refugee parents and the psychological toll of navigating their families through a new and challenging environment. Policies and programs to provide comprehensive social and economic supports to refugees beyond the first one to two years after arrival are necessary to mitigate the mental health impacts of displacement over time and strengthen individual and family resilience. Such programs should include culturally responsive and family-based models of mental health care that acknowledge collective experiences and impacts of adversity, as well as harness family resources to overcome past and present challenges.

Behaviour and welfare of African lion (Panthera leo) cubs used in contact wildlife tourism.

Lion (Panthera leo) cubs are used in wildlife interaction tourism but the effects on cub welfare are unknown. We assessed the behaviour of three cohorts of lion cubs, twelve animals in total, at three different interaction facilities, using continuous and scan-sampling methodologies for the entire duration of cub utilisation for human interactions. Cubs spent most time inactive (62%), particularly sleeping (38%), but also spent a substantial amount of time playing (13%) and being alert (12%). A generalised linear mixed model revealed that cub behaviour was similar in two facilities but different from cubs in the third. In these two similar facilities, as human interactions increased, the time spent resting, sleeping and playing with other cubs decreased, and alert behaviour, grooming of humans and flight responses increased. In the third facility, cubs had an abnormal activity budget, with high levels of inactivity (80%) accompanied by a lack of response to human interactions. We conclude that in some facilities normal cub behaviour cannot be achieved and may be compromised by a high frequency of human interactions, which therefore needs to be controlled to limit adverse effects on cub behaviour.

The Frequency of Use of Warfarin-Interfering Drugs in Patients Suffering from Warfarin Toxicity Referred to the Emergency Department of Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad

Aims: With the progress made in the treatment of cardiovascular patients, the use of anticoagulants such as warfarin, aspirin, ticlopidine, etc. have increased. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of use of warfarin-interfering drugs in warfarin toxicity patients admitted to the emergency ward of Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, from March to August 2016.&#x0D; Materials and Methods: In this original cross-sectional study after obtaining the approval of the university's ethics committee, 133 patients with warfarin toxicity admitted from March to August 2016 were included in the study. The hospital records of the patients were reviewed, and based on the detailed history taken from the patients the information related to the simultaneous use of different drugs, the duration of warfarin use, the reasons for warfarin use, and the symptoms of warfarin toxicity were extracted. SPSS version 24 software was used for data analysis (p&lt;0.05).&#x0D; Results: Artificial heart valve was the most common indication for warfarin use (48%). Potentially fatal bleeding occurred in 85% of patients, and gastrointestinal bleeding was the most common symptom of warfarin toxicity (37.6%). The most common drugs used were aspirin (62.4%), metoprolol (33.1%), and statins (28.8%).&#x0D; Conclusion: In this study, a high frequency of drug interactions with warfarin was observed, which seems to play a significant role in the occurrence of warfarin toxicity. The most common drug interactions were observed in the simultaneous use of aspirin, metoprolol, and statins. Careful monitoring of the type of drugs used by patients is extremely important in providing safe and effective treatment and reducing side effects.

Favourite plants of wild bees

Flower strips are a commonly used tool for improving agricultural landscapes for pollinators. The plant composition of the seed mixtures employed is based on logistic decisions, e.g. costs or seed availability, the literature and expert opinion, and only rarely on direct information about bee-plant interactions. We combined two datasets on bee-plant interactions involving 460 bee species. The first consisted of 23,864 bee-plant interactions, recorded in twenty locations in Germany from 2018 and 2019, whereas the second consisted of 86,509 bee-plant interactions sampled across multiple sites in southwest Germany over more than 30 years. We explored three objectives. (1) Which plant species attract the greatest number of wild bee species and individuals across plant communities within and across seasons of bee activity? (2) Do the most attractive plant species also support threatened and specialized wild bees? (3) Do seed mixtures contain attractive plant species? High attractiveness was defined as a consistently high interaction frequency and number of visiting bee species to a plant species across the sampled communities. Our results identified 34 herbaceous key plant species that were highly attractive for wild bees independently of plant abundance and across locations. Further, we identified a large number of plant species for which the attractiveness for wild bees depended on the sampled community. The identified key plant species attracted between 2% and 32% of oligolectic or red-listed bees present in our datasets. Although some of these plant species, such as Centaurea cyanus or C. jacea, are commonly found in seed mixtures, others, such as Stachys recta or Carduus nutans, are not. These large-scale and robust interaction data highlight key plant species that provide an attractive core for herbaceous floral strips aimed at supporting high numbers of wild bee species.

Ensuring Quality in the Communication between Tutors-Counselors and Learners in Open and Distance Education. The Case of the Hellenic Open University

The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors that contribute to the quality of the communication process between tutors-counsellors and students in the departments of an Open University where group advisory meetings are organised through video conferencing. Communication in open distance education is multidimensional and since the most important form of communication is the interpersonal relationships, it is interesting to explore how the quality of communication is ensured when face-to-face meetings are replaced by teleconferencing in view of the current pandemic crisis. The research process that was followed is identified as descriptive-diagnostic, adopting a mixed research approach, through the collection, analysis and synthesis of quantitative and qualitative methods. Findings showed that adult students consider that the quality in communication requires the tutor to encourage participation, involvement in the process of learning and developing critical thinking. However, the respondents believe that through video conference there is not a high frequency of interaction. Therefore, it is important to investigate the effectiveness of other factors in the learning process in addition to the technological ones.

Incentive strategy models of household waste separation based on cost uncertainties: A perspective of social networks

Waste management has become a serious problem in China, with households generating an increasing amount of waste. To tackle this problem, many city administrations have implemented regulations on household waste separation and are stepping up efforts to improve awareness. Moreover, the existence of individual interactions in social networks makes the cost of raising awareness highly uncertain. Therefore, this paper aims to describe the individual interactions based on dynamics of opinion spread method and build the incentive strategy model that is extended to three robust incentive strategy models based on various uncertain sets by robust optimization: Box-SO Model, Ellipsoid-SO Model and Box-Ellipsoid-SO Model. The simulation results indicated that a higher uncertain level parameter or a lower interaction threshold leads to lower public awareness, in which the Ellipsoid-SO Model has the best robustness with sacrificing 7.96% of the total awareness value, but the Box-Ellipsoid-SO Model loses 24.24%. Meanwhile, cost constraint has a direct effect on public awareness, and people with a high frequency of social interactions are key to improving public awareness of household waste separation. Additionally, the results have several management implications that are conducive to improving public awareness and behavior of household waste separation in social networks: (1) The fundamental premise of improving public waste separation behavior is to stimulate awareness; (2) Small-scale activities are more efficient than large-scale activities in improving pro-environment opinion; (3) Given the existence of opinion leaders, propaganda for residents should be pertinently targeted. • Social interactions of awareness on household waste separation are studied. • Incentive models with cost uncertainties are proposed to improve awareness. • Awareness values of robust models are lower than basic model due to uncertainty. • Ellipsoid-SO Model has best robustness with losing 7.96% of the total awareness. • Small-scale activities are more efficient to improve public awareness.

Transfer of the ph1b Deletion Chromosome 5B From Chinese Spring Wheat Into a Winter Wheat Line and Induction of Chromosome Rearrangements in Wheat-Aegilops biuncialis Hybrids.

Effective utilization of genetic diversity in wild relatives to improve wheat requires recombination between wheat and alien chromosomes. However, this is suppressed by the Pairing homoeologous gene, Ph1, on the long arm of wheat chromosome 5B. A deletion mutant of the Ph1 locus (ph1b) has been used widely to induce homoeologous recombination in wheat × alien hybrids. However, the original ph1b mutation, developed in Chinese Spring (CS) background has poor agronomic performance. Hence, alien introgression lines are first backcrossed with adapted wheat genotypes and after this step, alien chromosome segments are introduced into breeding lines. In this work, the ph1b mutation was transferred from two CSph1b mutants into winter wheat line Mv9kr1. Homozygous genotypes Mv9kr1 ph1b/ph1b exhibited improved plant and spike morphology compared to Chinese Spring. Flow cytometric chromosome analysis confirmed reduced DNA content of the mutant 5B chromosome in both wheat genotype relative to the wild type chromosome. The ph1b mutation in the Mv9kr1 genotype allowed wheat-alien chromosome pairing in meiosis of Mv9kr1ph1b_K × Aegilops biuncialis F1 hybrids, predominantly with the Mb-genome chromosomes of Aegilops relative to those of the Ub genome. High frequency of wheat-Aegilops chromosome interactions resulted in rearranged chromosomes identified in the new Mv9kr1ph1b × Ae. Biuncialis amphiploids, making these lines valuable sources for alien introgressions. The new Mv9kr1ph1b mutant genotype is a unique resource to support alien introgression breeding of hexaploid wheat.