Speeding up global optimization with the help of intelligent supervisors

It is shown in the paper that Developmental Genetic Programming is an efficient tool for evolutionary development of intelligent supervisors that solve an extension of Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem. The extension assumes that resources are only partially available. It also assumes that renewable resources affect the project cost. The cost should be as low as possible and a deadline of the project must be met. This is apparent with regard to software houses and building enterprises. Computational experiments showed that supervisors find solutions of the problem much faster than other genetic approaches. A specific property of the supervisor is that it has various strategies of allocating the resources to the tasks. The supervisor uses the strategies in order to develop a procedure for producing the best schedule for the whole project. The analysis of the evolutionary process was performed and experimental results were compared with the optimal ones obtained by means of the exhaustive search method.     

3D‐vision based detection,localization, and sizing of broccoli heads in the field

This paper describes a 3D vision system for robotic harvesting of broccoli using low‐cost RGB‐D sensors, which was developed and evaluated using sensory data collected under real‐world field conditions in both the UK and Spain. The presented method addresses the tasks of detecting mature broccoli heads in the field and providing their 3D locations relative to the vehicle. The paper evaluates different 3D features, machine learning, and temporal filtering methods for detection of broccoli heads. Our experiments show that a combination of Viewpoint Feature Histograms, Support Vector Machine classifier, and a temporal filter to track the detected heads results in a system that detects broccoli heads with high precision. We also show that the temporal filtering can be used to generate a 3D map of the broccoli head positions in the field. Additionally, we present methods for automatically estimating the size of the broccoli heads, to determine when a head is ready for harvest. All of the methods were evaluated using ground‐truth data from both the UK and Spain, which we also make available to the research community for subsequent algorithm development and result comparison. Cross‐validation of the system trained on the UK dataset on the Spanish dataset, and vice versa, indicated good generalization capabilities of the system, confirming the strong potential of low‐cost 3D imaging for commercial broccoli harvesting.     

Effects of Subclinical Depression and Aging on Generative Reasoning About Linear Orders: Same or Different Processing Limitations?

The performance of older adults and depressed people on linear order reasoning is hypothesized to be best explained by different theoretical models. Whereas depressed younger adults are found to be impaired in generative inference making, older adults are well capable of making such inferences but exhibit problems with working memory (Experiments 1 and 2). Restriction of the available study time impairs reasoning by nondepressed control participants and. as such, proves to be a good model of older adults' but not depressed participants' limitations (Experiment 3). These results are replicated comparing depressed and older participants with a control group in the same study, providing increased power and linking the results to additional control measures of processing speed and working memory (Experiment 4). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consequences of the Reproductive Effort of Dioecious Taxus baccata L. Females in a Generative Bud Removal Experiment—Important Role of Nitrogen in Female Reproduction

Dioecious species differ in the pattern and intensity of male and female reproductive investments. We aimed to determine whether female shoots deprived of generative buds show biochemical features, indicating their less-pronounced reproductive effort. For this purpose, the same branches of mature Taxus baccata females were deprived of generative organs. In the second and third years of the experiment, measurements were made in every season from the control and bud-removed shoots of females and control males. Bud removal caused an increase in nitrogen concentration almost to the level detected in the needles of male specimens, but only in current-year needles. Moreover, differences between male and control female shoots were present in the C:N ratio and increment biomass, but they disappeared when bud removal was applied to females. Additionally, between-sex differences were observed for content of phenolic compounds, carbon and starch, and SLA, independent of the female shoot reproductive effort. The study revealed that nitrogen uptake in seeds and arils may explain the lower nitrogen level and consequently the lower growth rate of females compared to males. At the same time, reproduction did not disturb carbon level in adjacent tissues, and two hypotheses explaining this phenomenon have been put forward.     

Modern Advances in CARs Therapy and Creating a New Approach to Future Treatment

Genetically engineered T and NK cells expressing a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) are promising cytotoxic cells for the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Despite the successful therapies using CAR-T cells, they have some disadvantages, such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS), neurotoxicity, or graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). CAR-NK cells have lack or minimal cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity, but also multiple mechanisms of cytotoxic activity. NK cells are suitable for developing an “off the shelf” therapeutic product that causes little or no graft versus host disease (GvHD), but they are more sensitive to apoptosis and have low levels of gene expression compared to CAR-T cells. To avoid these adverse effects, further developments need to be considered to enhance the effectiveness of adoptive cellular immunotherapy. A promising approach to enhance the effectiveness of adoptive cellular immunotherapy is overcoming terminal differentiation or senescence and exhaustion of T cells. In this case, EVs derived from immune cells in combination therapy with drugs may be considered in the treatment of cancer patients, especially effector T and NK cells-derived exosomes with the cytotoxic activity of their original cells.     

The Assessment of Activity of Antiseptic Agents against Biofilm of Staphylococcus aureus Measured with the Use of Processed Microscopic Images

Staphylococcal biofilms are major causative factors of non-healing wound infections. Their treatment algorithms recommend the use of locally applied antiseptic agents to counteract the spread of infection. The efficacy of antiseptics against biofilm is assessed in vitro by a set of standard quantitative and semi-quantitative methods. The development of software for image processing additionally allowed for the obtainment of quantitative data from microscopic images of biofilm dyed with propidium iodine and SYTO-9 reagents, differentiating dead cells from live ones. In this work, the method of assessment of the impact of antiseptic agents on staphylococcal biofilm in vitro, based on biofilms’ processed images, was proposed and scrutinized with regard to clinically relevant antiseptics, polyhexanide, povidone–iodine and hypochlorite. The standard quantitative culturing method was applied to validate the obtained data from processed images. The results indicated significantly higher activity of polyhexanide and povidone–iodine than hypochlorite against staphylococcal biofilm. Taking into account the fact that in vitro results of the efficacy of antiseptic agents against staphylococcal biofilm are frequently applied to back up their use in hospitals and ambulatory units, our work should be considered an important tool; providing reliable, quantitative data in this regard.     

Properties,Physiological Functions and Involvement of Basidiomycetous Alcohol Oxidase in Wood Degradation

Extensive research efforts have been devoted to describing yeast alcohol oxidase (AO) and its promoter region, which is vastly applied in studies of heterologous gene expression. However, little is known about basidiomycetous AO and its physiological role in wood degradation. This review describes several alcohol oxidases from both white and brown rot fungi, highlighting their physicochemical and kinetic properties. Moreover, the review presents a detailed analysis of available AO-encoding gene promoter regions in basidiomycetous fungi with a discussion of the manipulations of culture conditions in relation to the modification of alcohol oxidase gene expression and changes in enzyme production. The analysis of reactions catalyzed by lignin-modifying enzymes (LME) and certain lignin auxiliary enzymes (LDA) elucidated the possible involvement of alcohol oxidase in the degradation of derivatives of this polymer. Combined data on lignin degradation pathways suggest that basidiomycetous AO is important in secondary reactions during lignin decomposition by wood degrading fungi. With numerous alcoholic substrates, the enzyme is probably engaged in a variety of catalytic reactions leading to the detoxification of compounds produced in lignin degradation processes and their utilization as a carbon source by fungal mycelium.     

Effects of Rhizosphere Bacteria on Strawberry Plants (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) under Water Deficit

Due to the observed climate warming, water deficiency in soil is currently one of the most important stressors limiting the size and quality of plant crops. Drought stress causes a number of morphological, physiological, and biochemical changes in plants, limiting their growth, development, and yield. Innovative methods of inducing resistance and protecting plants against stressors include the inoculation of crops with beneficial microorganisms isolated from the rhizosphere of the plant species to which they are to be applied. The aim of the present study was to evaluate 12 different strains of rhizosphere bacteria of the genera Pantoea, Bacillus, Azotobacter, and Pseudomonas by using them to inoculate strawberry plants and assessing their impact on mitigating the negative effects of drought stress. Bacterial populations were assessed by estimates of their size based on bacterial counts in the growth substrate and with bioassays for plant growth-promoting traits. The physiological condition of strawberry plants was determined based on the parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence. The usefulness of the test methods used to assess the influence of plant inoculation with rhizosphere bacteria on the response of plants growing under water deficit was also evaluated. A two-factor experiment was performed in a complete randomization design. The first experimental factor was the inoculation of plant roots with rhizosphere bacteria. The second experimental factor was the different moisture content of the growth substrate. The water potential was maintained at −10 to −15 kPa under control conditions, and at −40 to −45 kPa under the conditions of water deficit in the substrate. The tests on strawberry plants showed that the highest sensitivity to water deficiency, and thus the greatest usefulness for characterizing water stress, was demonstrated by the following indices of chlorophyll “a” fluorescence: F_M, F_V, F_V/F_M, PI, and Area. Based on the assessment of the condition of the photosynthetic apparatus and the analysis of chlorophyll “a” fluorescence indices, including hierarchical cluster analysis, the following strains of rhizosphere bacteria were found to have favorable effects on strawberry plants under water deficit: the Bacillus sp. strains DLGB2 and DKB26 and the Pantoea sp. strains DKB63, DKB70, DKB68, DKB64, and DKB65. In the tests, these strains of Bacillus sp. exhibited a common trait—the ability to produce siderophores, while those of Pantoea sp. were notable for phosphate mobilization and ACCD activity.