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Arkansas Cotton Variety Tests 2024
Get PDFThe primary goal of the Arkansas Cotton Variety Tests is to provide unbiased data regarding the agronomic performance of cotton varieties and advanced breeding lines in the major cotton-growing areas of Arkansas. This information helps seed companies establish marketing strategies and assists producers in choosing varieties to plant. These annual evaluations will then facilitate the inclusion of new, improved genetic material in Arkansas cotton production. Adaptation of varieties is determined by evaluating the lines at five University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture research sites (Manila, Keiser, Judd Hill, Marianna, and Rohwer). The 2024 tests at Keiser were adversely affected by excessive rain and subsequent slow drainage, which hindered plant development and insect control. Yields from the Keiser tests are reported but not included in the overall location means. Entries in the 2024 Arkansas Cotton Variety Tests were evaluated in two groups—transgenic and conventional varieties. The 44 entries in the transgenic test included 15 B3XF, 18 B3TXF, and 11 B3TXF lines, which were evaluated at all five locations. Five of ten varieties having the ThryvOn® technology (B3TXF), which were evaluated in the 2023 Arkansas Cotton Variety Tests, were also tested in 2024. The conventional test included 12 entries, which were evaluated at all locations except Manila. Reported data include lint yield, lint percentage, plant height, percent open bolls, yield component variables, fiber properties, leaf pubescence, stem pubescence, and bract trichome density. All entries in the experiments were evaluated for response to tarnished plant bug and bacterial blight in separate tests at Keiser. This 2024 report includes results of large-plot variety tests in 7 counties that were coordinated by Zachary Treadway
Dental Microwear of Miocene Primates from the Carpathian Basin, Rudabánya, Hungary
Get PDFThis study reconstructs and compares the dietary habits of the late Miocene primates Anapithecus hernyaki and Rudapithecus hungaricus by analyzing dental microwear patterns on fossilized teeth recovered from Rudabánya, Hungary. Previous research suggested that these sympatric species were both primarily frugivores but were unable to separate them by diet. However, earlier studies were limited by smaller sample sizes and less advanced methodologies. This study used an expanded sample and modern microwear texture analysis techniques to compare molar and incisor microwear patterns between the two species. Results revealed that Rudapithecus molars exhibited higher complexity compared to Anapithecus molar complexity, suggesting a diet that included harder foods compared to Anapithecus. Despite this difference, both species maintained relatively low complexity values, reinforcing that their diet was primarily frugivory. These findings provide new insights into niche partitioning, suggesting that subtle differences in fallback food consumption may have contributed to the ecological coexistence of these Miocene primates
Glufosinate Additive For Improved Weed Control
Get PDFDisclosed herein is a herbicide and methods for the control of a grass or a broadleaf weed in a crop. The herbicide comprises an effective amount glufosinate, or a salt thereof, and an effective amount of a metabolic inhibitor
Protein Structural Changes of Envelope Glycoprotein in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1
Get PDFThe envelope glycoprotein (Env), present on the viral surface of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) facilitates host cell infection, making it a critical target for immune responses and vaccine development. Env is able to transition through three prevalent prefusion conformational states, state-1 (pre-triggered), state-2 (closed), and state-3 (open). By transitioning through these conformation states, Env can successfully evade immune responses and initiate viral entry into the host cell. This study uses molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to analyze the conformational dynamics of the mature, cleaved Env glycoprotein in the state-2 conformation (PDB ID: 4ZMJ). Simulations were conducted with five replicates, each simulation running for 500 nanoseconds. Structural stability and flexibility were assessed through root mean square deviation (RMSD), root mean square fluctuation (RMSF), hydrogen bonding, and salt bridge analyses. Results indicate that the variable loop regions, particularly V2 in gp120, contribute significantly to Env flexibility, while gp41 remains rigid. Strong hydrogen bonds and salt bridges were identified. These findings enhance the understanding of Env conformational dynamics and highlight critical structural elements that could contribute to laying a foundation for a functional HIV-1 vaccine
Templated Antimicrobial Microgels And Methods Of Making And Using The Same
Get PDFDisclosed herein are antimicrobial materials comprising a carbohydrate-templated microgel and a plurality of metal ions complexed thereto. The carbohydrate-templated microgel comprises a network copolymer molecule comprising a monoacrylate monomer, a crosslinking monomer, and a ligand monomer and wherein the microgel is prepared by the copolymerization of the monoacrylate monomer, the crosslinking monomer, and the ligand monomer in the presence of a carbohydrate or a carbohydrate derivative. The microgels have antimicrobial activity and allow for implementation of multiple, simultaneous mechanisms of antimicrobial action
Understanding factors that drive wildlife mortality during prescribed fire management of prairie restorations
Get PDFFire is a key ecological disturbance, which plays a vital role in maintaining biodiversity and early successional species. For today’s land managers, prescribed fire is key in the restoration and maintenance of prairie ecosystems, halting woody encroachment and creating habitat desperately needed by many species. However, fire may have unintended effects on wildlife populations through direct mortality. Among taxa living in fire-dependent ecosystems, reptiles are predisposed to direct mortality, and several studies have recorded significant mortality during prescribed burns. However, the few studies investigating reptile mortality in prescribed fire are limited by small sample sizes and generally have limited analysis of environmental variables and spatial distribution. Consequently, my objective was to investigate factors driving reptile mortality in prescribed fire. To do this, I 1) correlated environmental characteristics, wind speed, soil temperature, and air temperature with snake mortality using a long-term data set of collected over the course of 10 years at prairie restoration sites in Northwest Arkansas, 2) investigated how different categories of snake habitat may differ in fire severity, which has significant implications for wildlife mortality, and 3) georeferenced and analyzed the distribution of snake mortalities through clustering and zonal analysis. We found a significant correlation between snake mortality and minimum temperature preceding the burn, as well as significant clustering of mortalities around prairie mounds. These findings will help implement prescribed fire in ways that minimize negative direct impacts to wildlife populations
Mathematics-AI Based Phylogenetic Analysis of Influenza Virus Mutation Data
No full textThe influenza virus is one of the most common viral infections each year and can mutate rapidly. Viral mutations pose significant threats to public health by increasing infectivity and strengthening vaccine resistance. To track these evolving patterns, agencies like the CDC annually evaluate thousands of virus strains to understand viral mutagenesis and evolution in depth. Therefore, a computational method for analyzing high-dimensional, noisy virus data could aid in the rapid identification of antigens essential for an effective influenza vaccine for the upcoming season. Through the integration of genomic analysis, clustering, and dimensionality reduction methods, this study specifically aims to develop such a computational method for tracking influenza virus mutation patterns. Additionally, this method can be applied to further investigate the differences in the mutagenesis of the influenza virus before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially due to preventative measures such as quarantining and wearing masks. More specifically, K-means clustering is applied to pre- and post-COVID-19 influenza datasets that are reduced by principal component analysis (PCA), t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), and uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) then labeled by time collected. Post-COVID-19 influenza data is transformed onto the embedding from pre-COVID-19 influenza data to identify unique clustering of most recent influenza sequences. Furthermore, the latent space of a variational graph autoencoder is explored as a dimensionality reduction method. This method can include embeddings of similarities between sequences in both time collected and specific mutation changes for future mutation predictions. Findings indicate that clustering and dimensionality reduction provide insight into the complex dynamics of viral mutation, informing both future research directions and strategies for public health intervention
English King and German Commoner: An Exploration of Sixteenth Century Clothing and Identity
No full textThere is perhaps no other external article which is more closely tied to one’s sense of identity than clothing. With a quick glance, one can readily gauge a person by their dress. So too, in the sixteenth century; clothing was used to construct identity, and in some cases to deconstruct it as well. This paper seeks to explore how identity and clothing are in many ways, inseparable. Concepts of religiosity, gender, nationalism, and “the other” were all intimately tied to dress and fashion. During the sixteenth century, perhaps even more strongly than now, clothing could be read like a book in order to divine a person’s social standing, religious affiliation (Catholic/Protestant, Jew, or Muslim), indeed, even the nation, state, or city they were from
