Search Results (9)

A necessary condition for the success of the 7 October 2023 Hamas deadly incursion into Israel was the absence of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from that region. The IDF was involved in helping the settlers in their conflicts with Palestinians on the West Bank, many miles from the Gaza border. Absent the settlers, it is likely that either the Hamas attack might not have occurred or would have been blunted at the outset, yielding a much more measured Israeli response. Hence it is imperative that we understand the origins of the settler movement. It is to be found in Biblical injunctions that were to be amplified considerably by the outcomes of the extraordinarily successful Six-Day war of 1967 and its sequel the Yom Kippur war of 1973. In the third chapter of the Book of Genesis, that is, of the entire Hebrew Bible, God commands Abraham to leave his current domicile and travel to Canaan where a great nation would be formed. Effectively, this is the religious foundation of the connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel, then called Canaan. The contrast between the outcomes of 1967 and 1973 was striking. Instead of a lopsided victory in the earlier war, the human losses in 1973 were surprising, even terrifying. This intense ephemeral gain combined with a world view defense engendered by mortality salience established the basis for later religious Zionist extremism. The vastly increased number of casualties in 1973 set the stage for the victory of Likud, much more amenable to West Bank settlements than the ousted Labor government had been. Religious Zionists leaped at this opportunity, justifying this activity by referring to God’s commandment to settle the entire land of Israel in the West Bank territories using their Biblical Hebrew names: Yehuda (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria), whatever the cost in violent Palestinian land dispossession. Full article

This study systematically investigated the genetic characteristics and germplasm conservation strategies of Xinjiang Thompson Seedless grapes (Vitis vinifera Thompson Seedless) and Munake grapes (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Munake) using SSR molecular markers and whole-genome resequencing technology. A genetic diversity analysis of 165 Thompson Seedless accessions with 16 SSR markers identified 442 alleles (27.63 alleles per locus on average), with the expected heterozygosity (He = 0.76) and observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.83) indicating moderate-to-low genetic diversity. A molecular variance analysis (AMOVA) further revealed that 96% of the genetic variation originated within populations, with minimal inter-population differentiation (Fst = 0.04). Phylogenetic reconstruction using SSR markers demonstrated significant genealogical associations between the two cultivars, supporting the hypothesis that Thompson Seedless may have originated from a domesticated lineage of Munake. The selected SSR markers exhibited high discriminatory power (PIC = 0.92), enabling the precise differentiation of accessions with closely related genetic backgrounds. Whole-genome resequencing identified 20,074,046 and 69,214,080 high-quality SNPs in 100 Thompson Seedless and 141 Munake accessions, respectively. Core germplasm banks were subsequently established: the Thompson Seedless core collection (25 accessions) captured 94% of genetic variation, reflecting genetic homogenization driven by intensive clonal cultivation, while the Munake core collection (42 accessions) retained 95% of allelic diversity and resolved regional synonym issues through highly polymorphic SNP markers. A comparative analysis revealed that Munake maintains higher genetic diversity due to natural gene flow, whereas Thompson Seedless faces heightened risks of genetic erosion from prolonged asexual propagation. These findings provide a theoretical foundation and technical framework for precise conservation, varietal improvement, and sustainable utilization of grape germplasm resources in Xinjiang. Full article

Barley is one of the most important cereal crops in the world, and its value as a food is constantly being revealed, so the research into and the use of barley germplasm are very important for global food security. Although a large number of barley germplasm samples have been collected globally, their specific genetic compositions are not well understood, and in many cases their origins are even disputed. In this study, 183 barley germplasm samples from the Shanghai Agricultural Gene Bank were genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) technology, SNPs were identified and their genetic parameters were estimated, principal component analysis (PCA) was preformed, and the phylogenetic tree and population structure of the samples were also analyzed. In addition, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was carried out for the hulled/naked grain trait, and a KASP marker was developed using an associated SNP. The results showed that a total of 181,906 SNPs were identified, and these barley germplasm samples could be roughly divided into three categories according to the phylogenetic analysis, which was generally consistent with the classification of the traits of row type and hulled/naked grain. Population structure analysis showed that the whole barley population could be divided into four sub-populations (SPs), the main difference from previous classifications being that the two-rowed and the hulled genotypes were sub-divided into two SPs. The GWAS analysis of the hulled/naked trait showed that many associated loci were unrelated to the Nud/nud locus, indicating that there might be new loci controlling the trait. A KASP marker was developed for one exon-type SNP on chromosome 7. Genotyping based on the KASP assay was consistent with that based on SNPs, indicating that the gene of this locus might be associated with the hulled/naked trait. The above work not only lays a good foundation for the future utilization of this barley germplasm population but it provides new loci and candidate genes for the hulled/naked trait. Full article

Resource management for fisheries plays a pivotal role in fostering a sustainable fisheries industry. In Japan, resource surveys rely on manual measurements by staff, incurring high costs and limitations on the number of feasible measurements. This study endeavors to revolutionize resource surveys by implementing image-recognition technology. Our methodology involves developing a system that detects individual fish regions in images and automatically identifies crucial keypoints for accurate fish length measurements. We use grounded-segment-anything (Grounded-SAM), a foundation model for fish instance segmentation. Additionally, we employ a Mask Keypoint R-CNN trained on the fish image bank (FIB), which is an original dataset of fish images, to accurately detect significant fish keypoints. Diverse fish images were gathered for evaluation experiments, demonstrating the robust capabilities of the proposed method in accurately detecting both fish regions and keypoints. Full article

The extreme weather that humanity has been confronting in recent years is the result of climate change. All over the world, unknown plant species are disappearing daily, which humankind has not discovered and will never know. Since 1900, the angiosperms and gymnosperms have been disappearing at a frequency of three species per year, but it is worrying that this rate of disappearance is up to 500 times higher currently. These data, correlated with the information provided by the United Nations (the world population will reach 10 billion by the year 2050) and FAO (food insecurity and the decrease of feedstock) lead to a crucial need to conserve and study plant germplasm. Therefore, plant germplasm conserved, especially in gene banks, can represent an important source for the development of varieties with an increased resistance to abiotic stress factors. Considering the origin of the current species of Phaseolus vulgaris L. as being in two distinct centers with different gene pools (Andean and Mesoamerica), the aim of the article is to infer the ancestry of 27 landraces according to their sampling geographical origin and morphological and molecular traits based on DNA sequences of three genes associated with abiotic stress tolerance (drought and thermal stress): PvREB5A, PvDREB6B, and PvRPS4. Phaseolus vulgaris L. has two different centers of origin: the Mesoamerican and the Andean basins. In this research, 27 landraces were evaluated from different counties in Romania. Three genes, PvREB5A, PvDREB6B, and PvRPS4, were amplified by the PCR reaction, sequenced by the Sanger technique, and the data obtained were analyzed using MEGA XI software. For morphological data, the GraphPad Prism 9 software was used. According to PvDREB5A, 81.5% of all studied landraces belong to the Mesoamerican gene pool and 18.5% belong to the Andean. PvDREB6B revealed a high nucleotide and amino acid diversity between the Andean and Mesoamerican genotypes compared to the other evaluated genes. Also, the PvRPS4 gene from the chloroplast genome showed one SNP within its coding region, different for those two gene pools, which is directly involved in a nonsynonymous substitution. The morphological characteristics, such as weight for 100 seeds, length, height, width, weight, seed flatness, flatness index, seed elongation, and eccentricity index were determined. European landraces of Mesoamerican origin indicated a large seed size compared to Andean genotypes. This work can be a foundation for the identification of interesting traits that establish plant adaptation to abiotic stress and conserve landraces of common beans from genetic depletion. Full article

After the completion of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), there was a significant and drastic transformation of the original river habitat. These changes led to the loss of the original fish habitat and the emergence of a new habitat. To effectively classify and assess fish-spawning habitats in the TGR, a novel coastal complexity index (CCI) was developed. The CCI was formulated utilizing satellite remote sensing data and considering the river coastal line and river centerline on the river-reach scale. By integrating the CCI with river morphology, five river habitats were identified: the backwater bay, point bar, straight river channel, convex-bank point bar, and concave-bank deep pool. In order to evaluate the suitability of these habitats for sticky-egg-spawning fish, a single-factor habitat suitability curve was constructed using three key habitat factors: the CCI, slope, and vegetation coverage. This process involved the employment of two distinct methods: the habitat utilization method and the habitat preference method. The former only considered the survey data of spawning grounds, while the latter integrated the overall distribution of habitats in the TGR. Subsequently, a habitat suitability index (HSI) was established to assess the overall suitability of the identified habitats for sticky-egg-spawning fish. The results demonstrated a high classification accuracy, with the backwater bay representing the most prevalent habitat type, accounting for 43.31% of the total habitat types. When considering slope and vegetation coverage, the optimal ranges obtained through the two habitat suitability analysis methods were similar. However, for the CCI, there were variations in the optimal ranges obtained using the two methods. The habitat utilization method indicated an optimal interval of 2–4, while the habitat preference method provided an optimal interval of 4–8. Nonetheless, the assessment results for the spawning habitats’ suitability using both methods yielded essentially identical outcomes. Specifically, the backwater bay, convex-bank point bar, and concave-bank deep pool habitats exhibited higher suitability for spawning than point bar and straight river channel habitats. Further analysis revealed that approximately 75% of the 230 identified backwater bays were categorized as high-quality or higher-quality spawning habitats. In the time since this research was conducted, its findings have served as a theoretical foundation for the protection of aquatic biological resources and habitats. Full article

Plant research and breeding depends on plant genotypes; therefore, genotype authenticity of accessions is the basic requirement for users of gene banks. Surprisingly, this extremely important topic is rarely reported in the scientific community. Non-authentic are accessions that are mislabelled and undesirable genotypes of heterogeneous accessions. In barley, we try to uncover both named problems on the basis of postulated major powdery mildew resistance genes. These are diverse, environmentally stable and their use is well documented and suitable for genotype characterization. In this contribution, we postulate resistance genes in 15 varieties represented by 157 derived lines of 32 accessions originating from seven foreign gene banks and compare these findings with previous results including those 15 identically labelled varieties from our domestic gene bank. We found that 37.5% of the gene bank accessions investigated herein were heterogeneous, and at least 20.0% were mislabelled. A large-scale molecular characterisation of varieties is now being carried out, and using authentic varieties must be one of the key requirements. Therefore, accessions of each variety from a minimum of three gene banks whose identity has been verified by reliable methods should be compared before starting new experiments. These will involve molecular varietal characterisation to serve as a foundation for future plant science research and effective crop improvement. Full article

Social impact investments represent a cultural revolution, as they offer the opportunity to pursue financial and social goals simultaneously. However, Social impact investing market configurations are not evolving equally across national contexts. Therefore, in different contexts, different actors may play the pivotal role to make social impact investments more attractive. The present work, by looking at the Italian context, applies a qualitative methodology to study Foundations of Banking Origin (FBOs). This is a specific category of foundation which is bound by law to work and expand the charity sector. It emerges that the role of these entities, inside the philanthropy system, should develop from “impact facilitators” to “impact generators” in promoting social initiatives. Furthermore, the work sustains the importance of introducing a social impact rating system as a formalized methodology to select and finance the worthiest social project. In this perspective, the definition of a clear social rating philosophy and its correct application in the rating system design and use is a necessary condition to increase the solidity of a social impact assessment model. Full article

With the international growth of English-medium education, tertiary institutions are increasingly providing academic support services to L2 students, and thus, the number of writing centers working with L2 student writers has also increased. Writing center practices originated in L1 English educational contexts and their appropriateness for L2 English writers requires examination. This study investigated the effect of writing center consultations on the essay writing skills of L1 Arabic foundation level students at an English-medium university in the Gulf region. Analysis was based on quantitative measures of writing ability of two distinct groups of students: an experimental group who participated in tutoring sessions at the university’s writing center and a control group who did not. Findings indicated that students who participated in writing center consultations scored significantly higher in overall essay writing scores, as well as in two aspects of writing: task fulfilment (that is ideas) and text organization/coherence. These findings contribute to a limited bank of similar empirical studies on effectiveness of writing center sessions on students’ essay writing ability. They also support the case for the expansion of writing center work beyond the domains of predominantly L1 English academic communities. Full article