Search

This study investigates smartphone addiction prevalence among Tunisian middle school students and its associations with sleep quality, fatigue, cognitive functioning, and academic achievement. Using structured interviews, we collected demographic data, grade point averages, and phone usage details from 1015 students aged 14–16. Participants also completed the smartphone addiction scale: short version (SAS-SV), fatigue assessment scale (FAS), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), and cognitive failures questionnaire (CFQ). The results categorized 85.1% as "normal smartphone users" (NSUs) and 14.9% as "problematic smartphone users" (PSUs). Troublingly, higher SAS-SV scores correlated with poorer sleep quality, increased fatigue, and impaired cognitive functioning. Lower academic achievement was also associated with elevated SAS-SV scores. Though the percentage of addicted students seems modest, addressing smartphone addiction in Tunisian middle schools is crucial due to its associations with various psycho-physiological and cognitive impairments, underscoring the need for intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

APX proteins are H2O2-scavenging enzymes induced during oxidative stress. In the first part of this study, we provided an extensive knowledge on the APX family of Triticum durum, TdAPX and their related TdAPX-R, via the genome wide analysis. The outcomes showed that these proteins are clustered into four major subgroups. Furthermore, the exon–intron structure and the synteny analyses revealed that during evolution the genes TdAPX and TdAPX-R are relatively conserved. Besides, during their evolution, these genes underwent purifying selection pressure and were duplicated in segmental. In parallel, the analysis of the conserved motifs and the multiple sequence alignment demonstrated that the residues involved in the active sites, heme- and cations-binding are conserved only in TdAPX proteins. Following the RNA-seq data and the regulatory elements analyses, we focused in the second part of this study on the functional characterization of TdAPX7B-2. The qRT-PCR data showed the upregulation of TdAPX7B-2 essentially in leaves of durum wheat exposed to salt, cold, drought, metals and ABA treatments. The tolerance phenotype of the TdAPX7B-2-expressing Arabidopsis lines to salt, direct-induced oxidative stress and heavy metals was manifested by the development of root system, proline accumulation and induction of the antioxidant CAT, SOD and POD enzymes to maintain the non-toxic H2O2 levels. Likewise, the response to salt stress and direct-oxidative stress of the transgenic lines was accompanied mainly by the induction of AtNCED3, AtRD29A/B and AtERD1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plants, the pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins have been identified as important regulators of biotic and abiotic stresses. PR proteins branch out into 19 different classes (PR1–PR19). Basically, all PR proteins display a well-established method of action, with the notable exception of PR1, which is a member of a large superfamily of proteins with a common CAP domain. We have previously isolated and characterized the first PR1 from durum wheat, called TdPR-1.2. In the current research work, TdPR1.2 gene was used to highlight its functional activities under various abiotic (sodium chloride (100 mM NaCl) and oxidative stresses (3 mM H2O2), hormonal salicylic acid (SA), abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA), and abiotic stresses (Botrytis cinerea and Alternaria solani). Enhancement survival index was detected in Arabidopsis transgenic plants expressing TdPR1.2 gene. Moreover, quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis demonstrated induction of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). It equally revealed a decrease of malondialdehyde (MDA) as well as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels in transgenic Arabidopsis plants compared to control lines, confirming the role of TdPR1.2 in terms of alleviating biotic and abiotic stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Eventually, RT-qPCR results showed a higher expression of biotic stress-related genes (PR1 and PDF1.2) in addition to a downregulation of the wound-related gene (LOX3 and VSP2) in transgenic lines treated with jasmonic acid (JA). Notably, these findings provide evidence for the outstanding functions of PR1.2 from durum wheat which can be further invested to boost tolerance in crop plants to abiotic and biotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dynamics of ultrashort light pulses inside an inhomogeneous optical medium that displays all orders of dispersion up to the fourth order as well as self-steepening, self-frequency shift, and linear gain or loss is investigated. By adopting a novel approach of the amplitude function derived from the trial equation method, three types of dipole solitons are discovered. Unlike conventional dipole solitons obtained in Kerr-type media, this new soliton structure is embedded within a continuous-wave (cw) background, which influences its propagation properties. Also, the dynamic behaviors of these new soliton pulses are thoroughly explored based on the modulation of medium and pulse parameters. The results show that the shape and dynamics of the dipole-pulses on a cw background can be controlled efficiently by choosing the gain or loss and the inter-modal dispersion functions appropriately. Besides, the study conducts numerical exploration into the collision dynamics involving two and three adjacent similar solitons impacted by the inhomogeneity of medium. Finally, the stability of the dipole soliton solution on a cw background is numerically studied under the finite perturbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The method applied in this study to develop conventional sintered varistors is based on liquid synthesis, The percentage of raw materials used is as follows: 98 mol% ZnO, 0.5 mol% Bi2O3, 0.5 mol% Sb2O3, 0.5 mol% Co2O3, 0.5 mol% MnO2 was sintered in a sintering temperature cycle from 900 to 1200 °C with different sintering times up to 120 min, the highest densification rates, 98.56%, are obtained at the temperature of 1200 °C, the grain sizes are greater than 1.61 µm for the temperature of 900 °C and increase little from one sample to another for all sintering temperatures. The presence of a spinel phase Zn7Sb2O12 as well as Bi2O3. The nonlinearity coefficient was high for the majority of sintered varistors at temperatures of 1000 °C and 1100 °C such that α > 35. The trigger field values (Ea) are nearly identical for all sintering temperatures, The electric fields for sintering at 1000 °C are a little high at about 373 V.mm−1 as a maximum value, 263 V.mm−1 for sintering at 1100 °C and 258 V. mm−1 for sintering at 1200 °C and we can also note that the density value of the leakage current is very low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thioredoxins (Trxs) are ubiquitous and they play a crucial role in various biological processes like growth and stress response. Although the functions of Trxs proteins are described in several previous reports, the function of the isoform Trxh2 of durum wheat (Triticum durum L.), designated as TdTrxh2, in abiotic stress response still unknown. Thus, we aimed in this study the functional characterization of TdTrxh2 through its expression in yeast cells and Arabidopsis plants. Sequence analysis revealed that TdTrxh2 protein shared the conserved redox site with the other Trxh from other plant species. Under various abiotic stresses, TdTrxh2 was up-regulated in leaves and roots of durum wheat. Interestingly, we demonstrated that TdTrxh2 exhibit protective effect on LDH activity against various treatments. Besides, the expression of TdTrxh2 in yeast cells conferred their tolerance to multiple stresses. Moreover, transgenic Arabidopsis expressing TdTrxh2 showed tolerance phenotype to several abiotic stresses. This tolerance was illustrated by high rate of proline accumulation, root proliferation, low accumulation of reactive oxygen species like H2O2 and O2·-, and high antioxidant CAT and POD enzymes activities. All these findings suggested that TdTrxh2 promotes abiotic stress tolerance through the redox homoeostasis regulation and its protective role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research, employing computational methodologies, aimed to discover potential inhibitors for the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), an intracellular sensor pivotal in inflammation and various disease processes. Despite NLRP3's critical role, there remains a research gap in the identification of novel inhibitors, making this study's objective significant. Through statistical techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering, data refinement and division was conducted in this research, leading to a more targeted set of potential inhibitors. By employing stepwise and subset multiple linear regression, a two-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship (2D-QSAR) model was developed, revealing six essential molecular descriptors for inhibitory activity. The interpretation of these descriptors led to the proposition of five potential compounds. One of these proposed compounds demonstrated remarkable binding affinity through molecular docking studies, marking it as a promising inhibitor of NLRP3. Further verification of this compound's potential was conducted via molecular dynamics simulations, affirming its stability and interactions within the protein–ligand system. Compliance with lipinski's rule of five indicated the drug-like properties of the proposed compounds and their potential for oral bioavailability. This study not only underscores the power of computational techniques in drug discovery but also highlights a promising candidate for therapeutic intervention against NLRP3-mediated inflammatory conditions. The identified compounds, particularly the one with remarkable binding affinity, may pave the way for future pharmacological advancements in treating inflammation-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron-doped hydrochar can effectively remove the methyl orange dye (MO). In this study, iron-doped hydrochar (5% Fe@BC) was successfully synthesized through a two-step hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process, using FeSO4.7H2O and sawdust. It was subsequently employed for MO removal. The characterization of the synthesized Fenton-like catalyst (5% Fe@BC) was conducted, using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared and X-ray diffraction techniques to confirm the presence of iron species. The effects of different operating parameters such as catalyst mass, H2O2 concentration, solution pH, organic pollutant concentration, and reaction temperature have been examined. The Box-Behnken design combined with three factors: catalyst mass X1, temperature X2, organic pollutant concentration X3. The response surface methodology coupled with Box-Behnken Design was used to optimize the key variables and response. With this approach, an exhaustive assessment of the variables influencing the optimization process was performed. A significant quadratic model was generated through analysis of variance with a P-value of 0.0001 and an R2 of 0.99. This confirms a strong relationship between the variables and the response, as well as a high level of model predictability. The optimum conditions were achieved with a catalyst mass of 0.5 g/L, a temperature of 35.5 °C, and an MO concentration of 50 mg/L. The result indicates that 93% of the discoloration efficiency was achieved within 60 min under the optimal conditions. Iron doping in the (5% Fe@BC) plays a crucial role in the degradation and removal of MO. Therefore, the 5% Fe@BC prepared from sawdust and iron salts (FeSO4·7H2O) through a two-step HTC process is an inexpensive and effective catalyst for removing organic pollutant from aqueous solutions, using heterogeneous Fenton-like process.Article Highlights: Novel iron-doped hydrochar (5%Fe@BC) was synthesized by two-step HTC method. 5%Fe@BC demonstrated excellent performance in degrading and removing MO. Characterized catalyst using SEM, FTIR, and XRD, confirming iron species presence. Explored effects of catalyst mass, H2O2 concentration, pH, MO concentration, and temperature. Employed BBD and RSM for optimization, yielding a significant quadratic model (P = 0.0001, R2 = 0.99). MO removal efficiency achieved 93% under optimal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we extend the work of F. Abdmouleh in Abdmouleh (Indian J. Pure Appl. Math. 47:23–31, 2016) for the operator pencils U - λ S where U and S two bounded linear operators acting on a Banach space X. Precisely, we define the S.B-Weyl spectrum of U and we study the S.B-Weyl spectrum of sum of two bounded linear operators acting on a Banach space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ship detection in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images has been of great attraction over the last two decades. Being a popular method, Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) detection has been widely used in the SAR literature. Influenced mainly by the presence of outliers such as high-target-density situations, busy shipping lines, crowded harbors, lands and oil spills, conventional CFAR detectors suffer Probability of Detection ( P D ) degradation or Probability of False Alarm ( P FA ) increase. In this paper, we propose a new robust and fast detector named Median Absolute Deviation-CFAR (MAD-CFAR) for ship detection in SAR images embedded in heterogeneous log-normal clutter. As it is well known, the Standard Deviation around the Mean (SDM) is a spread of data measure which can be very affected by strong and/or weak outliers and non-Gaussianity of the background clutter. To alleviate this problem, we resort to the absolute deviation around the median, commonly known as the Median Absolute Deviation (MAD) measure which happens to be more resilient to outliers in multiple target situations. Simulations results show that compared to the performances of recent CFAR detectors on both simulated and real SAR images, the MAD-CFAR detector exhibits a good false alarm regulation and a high detection in a heterogeneous log-normal background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although plant MAPK cascades play decisive roles in stress responses, their contribution in wheat remains largely unknown. The bread wheat TMPK3 (wheat Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase) was previously recognized as a serine/threonine protein kinase carrying a Thr-Glu-Tyr (TEY) activation domain, but its functional role in environmental stress response is insufficiently studied. Here in, we showed that TMPK3 is auto-phosphorylated in vitro and can be phosphorylated by the constitutively active Arabidopsis AtMKK2. TMPK3 was also capable to phosphorylate its substrate, the MAP kinase phosphatase 1. Moreover, we investigated the involvement of TMPK3 in plant tolerance to salt/osmotic stresses. Our results show that TMPK3 complements the salt sensitivity of the Arabidopsis loss-of-function mpk3-1 mutant, where its overexpression promotes salt and osmotic stress tolerance to levels exceeding those observed in wild type plants. This tolerance is associated to a lower sensitivity to exogenous ABA, and increased stronger accumulation of proline contents, higher survival, and lower water loss rates as well as attenuated oxidative stress status. In summary, our data provide evidence that TMPK3 plays a positive role in salt and drought stress responses in plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent survey has revealed that radar researchers still encounter difficulties to develop detectors that cope with non-Gaussian backgrounds. On another note, in real-world applications, many modeling research papers show a high agreement between radar sea clutter data and the Weibull distribution. In this paper, we propose and analyze the Quantile Matching Constant False Alarm Rate (QM-CFAR) detector for a Weibull background. Specifically, assuming a non-stationary Weibull clutter with the presence or not of interfering targets, the Quantile Matching (QM) and the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) are concomitantly used to allow the proposed detector to perform robustly in multiple target situations with a priori unknown Weibull parameters. By that means, we first rank order the reference samples to select quantile information that shares the same clutter parameters as the Cell Under Test and eliminate any outliers within the data. Then, we resort to the QM and the MLE to get the parameters. Finally, we carry out target decision-making. The subsequent CFAR detection threshold allows then fixed censoring of the upper end of the reference window. Monte-Carlo simulations show that, compared to recent existing CFAR algorithms, the QM-CFAR detector provides robust and accurate estimates of the Weibull distribution parameters and achieves less degradation of the P D (Detection Probability) in multiple target situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective desired is the elaboration of varistors based on zinc oxide-doped by the addition of SrCO3 with a different quantity of 1, 2, 3 and 4 mol% SrCO3, such that the base quantity is 0.5 mol% of Bi2O3, 0.5 mol% of Sb2O3 and 99 mol% of ZnO. The varistors were sintered at the temperature 1000–1200 °C in a solid way, the microstructural characteristics are carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) where we could determine several secondary phases such as Zn2.33Sb0.67O4, Bi3Sb3Zn2O14, Bi6Sr2O11, Bi2O3 and Sb2O3 have been formed. These latter were the result of a competition between diffusion and segregation of oxides into the grain core and the grain boundaries of matrix. High SrCO3 content was originally the segregation of the Bi2O3, Sb2O3 oxides and of solid solution (Bi6Sr2O11) in the grain boundaries. Grain size, relative density, electrical permittivity ( ε ′ ), loss factor (tanδ) and leakage current (IL) are reduced when increasing the amount of SrCO3, on the other hand, the non-linearity coefficient (α) and electric voltage (Vb) increased, the sample with the highest amount of SrCO3 presents a better coefficient of non-linearity 29.37 and 1020 V in comparison with others varistors. In all of these results it can be said that the addition of SrCO3 was given an improvement on the electrical property, dielectric and microstructure of the base varistor. The obtained varistor would be very promising in low-voltage power transmission systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper is devoted to the development of a novel four-node quadrilateral finite element for mechanical buckling and free vibration responses of functionally graded material plates. Methods: This element which possesses five essential degrees of freedom per node is formulated within the framework of the strain approach and the first-order shear deformation theory. The element displacement functions contain higher-order terms that satisfy the rigid body modes and they are based on assumed strains satisfying compatibility equations. Material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded across the thickness direction using a simple power-law distribution of the volume fractions constituents. The concept of the neutral plane is introduced to avoid the membrane-bending coupling. Results: The performance of the suggested element is evaluated through various numerical tests and the obtained results are compared with available solutions from the literature. These tests are conducted on functionally graded plates with various shapes, boundary conditions, side-to-thickness ratios, several values of gradient index n and under different types of in-plane loading. Conclusion: The present element results have proved excellent accuracy and efficiency in predicting free vibration and buckling of functionally graded plates and they show that this element is free from any shear locking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SOD family has been extensively analyzed at genome wide level in several crops. However, little is known about this family in durum wheat. In this study, a total of 14 TdSOD genes were identified in whole durum wheat genome including 8 TdCu-ZnSODs, 2 TdMnSODs, and 4 TdFeSODs. In silico analysis evinced that TdSOD family members displayed a closer evolutionary relationship, similar gene structure and protein features with their homologs from other plant species. Furthermore, the analysis of their promoter regions revealed the presence of a great number of cis-regulatory elements related to plant development, abiotic and biotic stresses, phytohormones, and several potential binding sites for transcription factors. Interestingly, 3D structure analysis revealed that TdCu-ZnSOD2A-2 and TdCu-ZnSOD2B-2, belonging to the Cu–Zn group, were modeled as copper chaperone for SOD like their homologs from rice and Arabidopsis. The expression profile of eight TdSOD candidate genes was investigated under salt, drought, cold, and ABA treatments. Notably, TdCu-ZnSOD2A-1, TdFeSOD4A-1, and TdFeSOD7A-1 were significantly up-regulated under all stress treatments. On the other hand, TdCu-ZnSOD7B and TdMnSOD2B were strongly expressed in roots and leaves under cold stress and TdCu-ZnSOD2B-2 was particularly up-regulated in leaves under ABA treatment. Ultimately, these findings provide valuable information for the identification of attractive candidate genes to improve wheat resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this note, we provide some characterizations of left (right) Browder and upper (lower) semi-Browder operators, and get some results regarding boundaries and connected hulls of essential spectra of bounded linear operator pencils. Also, we investigate some geometric characteristics of these spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce and study the pseudo left (right)-Fredholm and pseudo left (right)-Browder essential spectra of bounded linear operators in a Banach space. We start by giving the definition and we investigate some proprieties of these pseudo essential spectra like the stability under Riesz operator perturbations. Moreover, we describe the pseudo left (right)-Fredholm and pseudo left (right)-Browder essential spectra of the sum of two bounded linear operators. Finally, we apply the obtained result to characterize the pseudo left (right)-Fredholm and pseudo left (right)-Browder spectra of 2 × 2 block operator matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-affinity K+ (HKT) transporters which mediate Na+-specific transport or Na+-K+ co-transport play a key role in plant salt tolerance. In our previous functional study in Xenopus oocytes, we demonstrated that the durum wheat TdHKT1;4–1 acts as a Na+-selective transporter. Here, we investigated the function of TdHKT1;4–1 and its contribution in salt stress tolerance in the Arabidopsis athkt1 mutant background. Our results revealed that TdHKT1;4–1 partially complements the salt sensitivity phenotype of the athkt1 transgenic lines. Comparative physiological analyses and oxidative stress status under moderate salt stress (50 mM NaCl) showed that both transgenic lines SH3 and SH5 restored the salt stress tolerance comparable to the level observed in Wt plants. Whereas, under severe salt stress treatment (100 mM NaCl), the athkt1 transgenic lines exhibited an intermediate salt stress tolerance between Wt and athkt1 mutant. Moreover, TdHKT1;4–1 was highly expressed in leaves under moderate and severe salt stress, while in roots, it was largely expressed only under severe salt stress. In addition, antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were significantly expressed in SH3 and SH5 lines compared to athkt1 and Wt under moderate stress. Therefore, TdHKT1;4–1 seems to differ from its Arabidopsis homologous counterpart, as it contributes to salt stress tolerance up to a specific threshold, above which the TdHKT1;4–1 expression may lead to higher root Na+ influx, hence increasing its toxicity during salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work introduces a novel four-node quadrilateral finite element based on the strain approach and the first-order shear deformation theory for static and free vibration responses of functionally graded (FG) material plates. Material properties of the plate are assumed to be graded across the thickness direction by using a simple power law distribution of the volume fractions constituents. The developed element possesses five essential degrees of freedom per node. This element is obtained by the superposition of two strain-based elements where the first is a membrane with two degrees of freedom per node and the second is a Reissner–Mindlin plate that has three degrees of freedom per node. The displacements field of the proposed element which contains higher-order terms is based on assumed strain functions satisfying compatibility equations. The performance of the suggested element is evaluated through several tests and the obtained results are compared with available solutions from the literature. The results of the present element have proved excellent accuracy and efficiency in predicting bending and free vibration of FG plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TdAnn6 is a gene encoding an annexin protein in durum wheat (Triticum durum). The function of TdAnn6 in plant response to stress is not yet clearly understood. Here, we isolated TdAnn6 and characterized it in genetically modified Arabidopsis thaliana. Expressing TdAnn6 in Arabidopsis coincided with an improvement in stress tolerance at germination and seedling stages. In addition, TdAnn6-expressing seedling antioxidant activities were improved with lower level of malondialdehyde, and enhanced transcript levels of six stress-related genes during salt/osmotic stresses. Under greenhouse conditions, the TdAnn6 plants exhibited increased tolerance to salt or drought stress. To deepen our understanding of TdAnn6 function, we isolated a 1515-bp genomic fragment upstream of its coding sequence, designated as PrTdAnn6. The PrTdAnn6 promoter was fused to the β-glucuronidase reporter gene and transferred to Arabidopsis. By histochemical GUS staining, GUS activity was detected in the roots, leaves, and floral organs, but no activity was detected in the seeds. Furthermore, we noticed a high stimulation of promoter activity when A. thaliana seedlings were exposed to NaCl, mannitol, ABA, GA, and cold conditions. This cross-talk between tissue-specific expression and exogenous stress stimulation may provide additional layers of regulation for salt and osmotic stress responses in crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Recent updates in JA biosynthesis, signaling pathways and the crosstalk between JA and others phytohormones in relation with plant responses to different stresses. In plants, the roles of phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA), amino acid conjugate (e.g., JA-Ile) and their derivative emerged in last decades as crucial signaling compounds implicated in stress defense and development in plants. JA has raised a great interest, and the number of researches on JA has increased rapidly highlighting the importance of this phytohormone in plant life. First, JA was considered as a stress hormone implicated in plant response to biotic stress (pathogens and herbivores) which confers resistance to biotrophic and hemibiotrophic pathogens contrarily to salicylic acid (SA) which is implicated in plant response to necrotrophic pathogens. JA is also implicated in plant responses to abiotic stress (such as soil salinity, wounding and UV). Moreover, some researchers have recently revealed that JA controls several physiological processes like root growth, growth of reproductive organs and, finally, plant senescence. JA is also involved in the biosynthesis of various metabolites (e.g., phytoalexins and terpenoids). In plants, JA signaling pathways are well studied in few plants essentially Arabidopsis thaliana, Nicotiana benthamiana, and Oryza sativa L. confirming the crucial role of this hormone in plants. In this review, we highlight the last foundlings about JA biosynthesis, JA signaling pathways and its implication in plant maturation and response to environmental constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the inhomogeneous higher-order nonlinear Schrödinger (INHLS) equation including cubic–quintic–septic (CQS) nonlinear terms and gain or loss with variable coefficients. The exact analytic solution that describes dark soliton-type pulse propagation is found for the model by employing the ansatz method. Unlike the traditional tanh dark soliton in Kerr-type media, the functional form of this novel dark-managed soliton structure takes a sech 2 / 3 profile. Parametric conditions are presented in which these optical solitons exist. We also investigated the stability of these dark-managed solitons under some initial perturbations by employing the numerical simulation methods. Finally, the interaction dynamics of two and three dark-managed solitons has been numerically explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plants, pathogenesis-related 1 protein (PR1) is considered as important defense protein. The production and accumulation of PR proteins in plants are one of the important responses to several biotic and abiotic stresses. In this regard, PR1 gene was isolated from Triticum turgidum ssp durum and was named as TdPR1.2. The amino acid sequence of TdPR1.2 protein showed 100%, 97.13%, and 44.41% with known PR1 proteins isolated from Triticum aestivum TdPR1-18, PRB1.2 of Aegilops tauschii subsp. tauschii and Arabidopsis thaliana respectively. qRT-PCR showed that TdPR1.2 was induced specially in leaves of durum wheat treated with Salicylic acid for 48 h. Besides, bioinformatic analysis showed that the durum wheat TdPR1.2 harbors a calmodulin binding domain located in it's C-terminal part and that this domain is conserved among different PR1 proteins isolated so far. However, no information is available about the regulation of PR genes by calmodulin and Ca2+ complex (CaM/Ca2+). Here, we showed that TdPR1.2 gene exhibits an antibacterial effect as revealed by the in vitro tests against 8 different bacteria and against the fungi Septoria tritici. In addition, we demonstrate for the first time that PR1 proteins are able to bind to CaM in a Ca2+-dependent manner via a GST-Pull down assay. Finally, in presence of Mn2+ cations, CaM/Ca2+ complex stimulated the antimicrobial effect of TdPR1.2. Such effects were not reported so far, and raise a possible role for CaM/Ca2+ complex in the regulation of plant PRs during cellular response to external signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion: Bioinformatic, molecular, and biochemical analysis were performed to get more insight into the regulatory mechanism by which TmHKT1;4-A2 is regulated. HKT transporters from different plant species have been shown to play important role in plant response to salt. In previous work, TmHKT1;4-A2 gene from Triticum monococcum has been characterized as a major gene for Nax1 QTL (Tounsi et al. Plant Cell Physiol 57:2047–2057, 2016). So far, little is known about its regulatory mechanism. In this study, the promoter region of TmHKT1;4-A2 (1400 bp) was isolated and considered as the full-length promoter (PA2-1400). In silico analysis revealed the presence of important cis-acting elements related to abiotic stresses and phytohormones. Interestingly, our real-time RT-PCR analysis provided evidence that TmHKT1;4-A2 is regulated not only by salt stress but also by osmotic, heavy metal, oxidative, and hormones stresses. In transgenic Arabidopsis plants, TmHKT1;4-A2 is strongly active in vascular tissues of roots and leaves. Through 5′-end deletion analysis, we showed that PA2-1400 promoter is able to drive strong GUS activity under normal conditions and in response to different stresses compared to PA2-824 and PA2-366 promoters. These findings provide new information on the regulatory mechanism of TmHKT1;4-A2 and shed more light on its role under different stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies in the field of human–computer interaction have focused on the importance of emotional factors related to the interaction of humans with computer systems. According to the knowledge of the users' emotions, intelligent software can be developed for interacting and even influencing users. However, such a scenario is still a challenge in the field of human–computer interaction. This article endeavors to enhance intelligence in such types of systems by adopting an ensemble-based model that is able to identify and classify emotions. We developed a system (music player) that can be used as a mechanism to interact and/or persuade someone to "change" his/her current emotional state. In order to do this, we also designed a generic model that accepts any kind of interaction or persuasion mechanism (e.g., preferred YouTube channel videos, games, etc.) to be deployed at runtime based on the needs of each user. We showed that the approach based on a genetic algorithm for the weight assignment of the ensemble achieved an accuracy average of 80%. Moreover, the results showed a 60% increase in the level of user's satisfaction regarding the interaction with users' emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Thioredoxin h-type isoforms are tissue-specific, differentially expressed in germinating seeds and under salinity stress and highly regulated by H2O2, suggestive of a role in germination and salinity adaptation in durum wheat through redox regulation. Thioredoxins (Trxs) are protein-disulfide reductases that perform multiple functions related to cellular redox homoeostasis. The most complex cluster in the family of plant Trxs is formed by h-type Trxs since their identity and functions are still largely unknown. Here, h-type Trxs from durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) (stated TdTrxh1, TdTrxh2, TdTrxh3, and TdTrxh9) were identified and characterized in response to oxidative stress either generated naturally (germination) or induced by salinity and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). In silico expression analysis, based on RNA-seq data, revealed a tissue-specific expression for TdTrxh genes. Real-time q-PCR analysis showed differential expression patterns for TdTrxh genes between and within seed tissues during germination and a marked induction of TdTrxh2 and h3 ones. Moreover, the four TdTrxh isoforms were found to be differentially modulated by salinity in two durum wheat varieties contrasting in their salinity tolerance. Particularly, an upregulation of the four TdTrxh genes (mainly TdTrxh2 and h3) was noted in root tissues of the tolerant variety, while they were markedly downregulated in those of the sensitive one. This upregulation of TdTrxh genes in the tolerant variety coincided with an accumulation of H2O2 in root tissues. When exogenously applied, H2O2 increased mRNA transcripts of all TdTrxh genes in both varieties regardless of their salinity-tolerance degree. Collectively, our data suggest a non-redundant function for h-type Trxs besides to be potentially involved in salinity tolerance in durum wheat through redox regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucose metabolism in atherosclerotic arteries has been shown to be an indicator of inflammation, which might be a precursor of plaque rupture. In this prospective study, we assessed the correlation between artery calcification and glucose metabolism by means of 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in elderly subjects. Nineteen elderly subjects, with age ranging from 65 to 85 years, underwent CT and dynamic 18F-FDG-PET imaging. The artery calcification was determined with a threshold of 130 Hounsfield units. Intensity of calcification and ratio of calcification area to total artery area were classified in four sequential classes from CT images. The CT artery images were also classified as having single or multi-spot calcifications. Their respective glucose metabolism was assessed with fractional uptake rate (FUR). Factor analysis was used in this study to separate blood images from tissue to extract the blood time activity curves for FUR calculations. The artery images in PET data were corrected for partial volume effect. The total arterial segments analyzed were 1332, with 1085 without calcification (81%), 247 (19%) with calcification, and 94 segments were having multi-spot of calcifications. There was a statistically significant difference in FUR values between non-calcified to calcified segments and between subjects under medication to non-medication when comparing the subjects based on calcification area. No statistically significant differences of FUR were found between single spot as a function of intensity, while in the multi-spots, there was a statistically significant difference for all artery segments. Metabolism activity varies for non-calcified to calcified segments. Based on the metabolic activity represented by FUR, calcifications in multi-spots have different effects than in single spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditions for the elaboration of varistors by spark plasma sintering (SPS) are investigated, using 70 nm zinc oxide nano-particles. For this purpose, the system constituted of zinc oxide, bismuth oxide and other metal oxide is used. Material sintering has been performed by SPS at various temperatures and dwell times. Determination of the microstructure and chemical composition of the as-prepared ceramics are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. Micro-structural analysis revealed the presence of ZnO, spinel and bismuth rich phases. ZnO based Varistor samples sintered within climb speeds 100 and 400 °C/min are compared. The nonlinear electrical characteristics, current-voltage, are measured. The breakdown voltage of the varistors strongly depends on grain sizes. The results show that the best varistors are obtained by SPS at sintering temperatures ranging from 900 to 1200 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agave americana extract was analyzed by reverse phase HPLC for characterization. Among phenolic compounds identified, apigenin was observed to be present. The finding showed an inhibitory effect of apigenin towards Human and Aspergillus oryzae S2 α-amylases. Apigenin inhibition towards Human and A. oryzae α-amylase activities was observed to be competitive. IC50 and  % inhibition of apigenin for A. oryzae α-amylase were 3.98 and 1.65 fold higher than for Human α-amylase. The inhibition of the described biocatalyst activity was significantly lowered when apigenin was pre-incubated with starch. In addition to the catalytic residues, 44 amino acid residues were involved on A. oryzae α-amylase-apigenin interactions while only 11 amino acid residues were exposed for Human α-amylase-apigenin complex. The binding site of apigenin showed 76 polar contacts for A. oryzae S2 α-amylase against 44 interactions for Human α-amylase. The docking studies confirmed the mode of action of apigenin and strongly suggested a higher inhibitory activity towards fungal amylase which was experimentally exhibited. These findings provided a rational reason to establish apigenin capability as a therapeutic target for postprandial hyperglycaemia modulation and antifungal therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sintering effect on the microstructure, electrical properties, and dielectric characteristics of ZnO–V2O3–Cr2O3-based ceramics was investigated. With the increase of sintering temperature from 950 to 1250 °C, the density of the sintered pellets decreased from 98.2 to 97.5% and the average grain size increased from 15.95 to 24.65 μm. The breakdown field decreased noticeably from 127.5 to 67 V/cm with the increase of sintering temperature. The varistor ceramics sintered at 1050 °C exhibited the best nonlinear properties: 11.6 in the nonlinear coefficient. The dielectric constant in frquence 10 kHz increased sharply from 1862 to 2790 with the increase of sintering temperature. On the whole, the dielectric loss exhibited a fluctuation with the increase of the sintering temperature, and a minimum value of 0.0098 at 950 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have shown previously that the durum wheat TdSOS1 excludes Na and Li ions outside cells. Moreover, this protein is activated by Arabidopsis kinase SOS2 through phosphorylation. The elimination of both SOS2 phosphorylation sites and the auto-inhibitory domain produces a hyperactive TdSOS1∆972 form, which have a maximal activity independent from the regulatory SOS2/SOS3 complex. We demonstrated that the expression of TdSOS1 enhances salt tolerance of the transgenic Arabidopsis plants. In this study, we analyzed the response to HO-induced oxidative stress of the transgenic Arabidopsis expressing one of the two TdSOS1 forms. Firstly, we showed that the exogenous HO treatment leads to an accumulation of SOS1 transcripts in leaves and roots of the durum wheat and also in the transgenic plants. These transgenic plants showed significant oxidative stress tolerance compared to control plants, especially the plants expressing the hyperactive form. This tolerance was manifested by high proline accumulation and low malonyldialdehyde (MDA), O˙ and HO contents. Furthermore, the activities of three essential ROS scavenging enzymes (SOD, CAT, and POD) were higher in the transgenic plants under oxidative stress, as compared to control plants. Taken together, these data suggested that TdSOS1 plays a crucial role in response to oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt stress responses implicate a complex mechanism and differ from plant species to another. In this study, we analyzed the physiological, biochemical and molecular responses to salt stress of the diploid wheat ( T. monococcum) and compared to the tetraploid wheat ( T. durum). Our results showed that the diploid wheat cultivar (cv. Turkey) is relatively tolerant to different salt stress conditions than the tetraploid wheat cultivar (cv. Om Rabia3). This tolerance was manifested by significant germination, plant growth and uptake of water generating cell turgor and development. Moreover, total chlorophyll content was higher in the diploid wheat than that in the tetraploid wheat. The Na content in leaf blade of the cv. Om Rabia3 was significantly higher than that of the cv. Turkey, suggesting that the diploid cultivar accumulates less toxic sodium in the photosynthetic tissues. This mechanism could be explained by the recirculation of the toxic ions Na into the xylem sap by SOS1 protein, which coordinates with HKT-like proteins to reduce the accumulation of Na ions in leaf blade. Interestingly, the expression of the three genes SOS1, HKT and NHX was enhanced under salinity especially in leaf blade of the cv. Turkey. Moreover, this wheat cultivar induced the antioxidative enzymes CAT and SOD activity more efficiently than the other cultivar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion : This paper provides an overview on vitamins with inducing activities in plants, the molecular and cellular mechanisms implicated, and the hormonal signalling-network regulating this process. Moreover, it reports how vitamins might be part of the molecular events linked to induced resistance by the conventional elicitors. Induced resistance (IR), exploiting the plant innate-defense system is a sustainable strategy for plant disease control. In the last decade, vitamins have been proven to act as inducers of disease resistance, and these findings have received an important attention owing to their safety and cost effectiveness. Vitamins, including thiamine (TH, vitamin B1), riboflavin (RF, vitamin B2), menadione sodium bisulfite (MSB, vitamin K3), Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA, vitamin Bx), and folic acid (FA, vitamin B9) provided an efficient protection against a wide range of pathogens through the modulation of specific host-defense facets. However, other vitamins, such as ascorbic acid (AA, vitamin C) and tocopherols (vitamin E), have been shown to be a part of the molecular mechanisms associated to IR. The present review is the first to summarize what vitamins are acting as inducers of disease resistance in plants and how could they be modulated by the conventional elicitors. Thus, this report provides an overview on the protective abilities of vitamins and the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying their activities. Moreover, it describes the hormonal-signalling network regulating vitamin-signal transduction during IR. Finally, a biochemical model describing how vitamins are involved in the establishment of IR process is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring natural environments is a challenging task on account of their hostile features. The use of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data collection is a feasible method since these domains lack any infrastructure. However, further studies are required to handle the data collected for a better modeling of behavior and thus make it possible to forecast impending disasters. In light of this, in this paper an analysis is conducted on the use of data gathered from urban rivers to forecast flooding with a view to reducing the damage it causes. The data were collected by means of a WSN in São Carlos, São Paulo State, Brazil, which gathered and processed data about the river level and rainfall by means of machine learning techniques and employing chaos theory to model the time series; this meant that the inputs of the machine learning technique were the time series gathered by the WSN modeled on the basis of the immersion theorem. The WSNs were deployed by our group in the city of São Carlos where there have been serious problems caused by floods. After the data interdependence had been established by the immersion theorem, the artificial neural networks were investigated to determine their degree of accuracy in the forecasting models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we devote our research to the B-essential spectra of the sum of two bounded linear operators defined on a Banach space by means of the B-essential spectra of each of the two operators where their products are finite rank operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main conclusion: The wheat dehydrin (DHN-5) gives birth to salinity tolerance to transgenic Arabidopsis plants by the regulation of proline metabolism and the ROS scavenging system. Dehydrins (DHNs) are involved in plant abiotic stress tolerance. In this study, we reported that salt tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing durum wheat dehydrin (DHN-5) was closely related to the activation of the proline metabolism enzyme (P5CS) and some antioxidant biocatalysts. Indeed, DHN-5 improved P5CS activity in the transgenic plants generating a significant proline accumulation. Moreover, salt tolerance of Arabidopsis transgenic plants was accompanied by an excellent activation of antioxidant enzymes like catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxide dismutase (POD) and generation of a lower level of hydrogen peroxide (HO) in leaves compared to the wild-type plants. The enzyme activities were enhanced in these transgenic plants in the presence of exogenous proline. Nevertheless, proline accumulation was slightly reduced in transgenic plants promoting chlorophyll levels. All these results suggest the crucial role of DHN-5 in response to salt stress through the activation of enzymes implicated in proline metabolism and in ROS scavenging enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much is now known about proline multifunctionality and metabolism; some aspects of its biological functions are still unclear. Here, we discuss some cases in the proline, structure, definition, metabolism, compartmentalization, accumulation, plausible functions and also its implication in homeostasis and organism physiology. Indeed, we report the role of proline in cellular homeostasis, including redox balance and energy status and their implication as biocatalyst for aldolase activity. Proline can act as a signaling molecule to modulate mitochondrial functions, influence cell proliferation or cell death, and trigger specific gene expression, which can be essential for plant recovery from stresses. Although, the regulation and the function of proline accumulation, during abiotic stresses, are not yet completely understood. The engineering of proline metabolism could lead to new opportunities to improve plant tolerance against environmental stresses. This atypical amino acid has a potential role in the toxicity during growth of some microorganism, vegetal, and mammalian species. Furthermore, we note that the purpose through the work is to provide a rich, concise, and mostly cohesive source on proline, considered as a platform and an anchor between several disciplines and biological functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to investigate a detailed treatment of some subsets of essential spectrum and following we will establish the spectral mapping theorems essential approximate point spectrum and defect spectrum of multivalued linear operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dehydrins are a group of plant proteins that have been shown to be involved in the tolerance of various abiotic stresses such as dehydration, salinity, and low temperature. We have previously shown that the K-segments of the wheat dehydrin DHN-5 are essential for the protection of enzyme activities in vitro. In this study, we further investigate the role of the K-segments in the growth of Escherichia coli under various stresses, and we tested their antibacterial and antifungal activities. Our results showed that the truncated forms of DHN-5 containing the two K-segments enhanced tolerance of E. coli against diverse stresses by protecting proteins against aggregation. In addition, we demonstrated that the K-segments have antibacterial and antifungal activities against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. Based on these results, we propose that the K-segments may play a protective role in plants not only under abiotic stress conditions but also most likely during defense mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]