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This article delves into the effects of interactive visual communication design on online learning, as learners increasingly turn to digital tools. The research aims to assess how interactive visual communication design can improve learning experiences in online education, focusing on its influence on student engagement, knowledge retention, and inclusivity. By examining these aspects, the study offers insights into crafting more effective digital learning environments. Furthermore, it puts forth hypotheses suggesting that integrating visual communication design elements into courses can lead to greater effectiveness compared to traditional instructional methods. Employing a qualitative systematic literature review, the study investigates the potential of interactive visual communication design to transform online education. Five pertinent articles meeting strict inclusion and exclusion criteria are meticulously chosen for analysis based on relevance, recent publication, and their contributions to understanding the efficacy and challenges of visual design in digital education. Additionally, synthesizing findings from 30 selected papers yields a comprehensive model comprising a detailed set of outcomes and fundamental elements related to interactive visual communication design in online learning. This model revolves around key themes such as Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT), various types of Video Lectures, Challenges in Online Learning Behaviour in Higher Education, and Future Trends in e-learning. Notably, the study's findings highlight that interactive visual design substantially enhances student engagement, facilitates better knowledge retention, and promotes inclusivity in online learning settings. These insights culminate in a holistic model that underscores the transformative potential of visual design elements in the realm of digital education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative study of taxa that are morphologically close to Elymus caninus, occurring in the territory of Russia and Kazakhstan, was carried out based on the ISSR molecular fingerprints. Data showed that the studied taxa are groups of individuals phylogenetically closely related to E. caninus. The assumption is confirmed that E. viridiglumis, as an Elymus species, has a polyphyletic origin as a part of microevolutionary processes in populations E. caninus s. l., possibly involving E. mutabilis. For the Caucasian endemic E. prokudinii and Kazakhstan endemic E. goloskokovii, the origin as result of introgression or spontaneous mutagenesis, i.e. a manifestation of the natural intraspecific polymorphism of E. caninus, is also assumed.

This paper, based on the literature review and field investigation, studied the status quo of maker spaces in main urban district of Chengdu at a time when the development of the maker spaces has received strong support from national and local governments. In addition to introducing the related concepts and policy support of the maker space, it summarized its distribution characteristics, audience characteristics and status quo as well as problems and presented the direction for the development of the maker space in main urban area of Chengdu grounded on a survey of the status quo of national maker spaces in main urban area of Chengdu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND Competition from weedy rice can cause serious yield losses to cultivated rice. However, key traits that facilitate competitiveness are still not well understood. To explore the mechanisms behind the strong growth and competitive ability, replacement series experiments were established with six genotypes of weedy rice from different regions and one cultivated rice cultivar. RESULTS (1) Weedy rice from southern China had the greatest impact on growth and yield of cultivated rice throughout the entire growing season. Weedy rice from the northeast was very competitive during the early vegetative stage while the competitive effects of eastern weedy rice were more detrimental at later crop-growth stages. (2) As the proportion of weedy rice increased, plant height, tillers, above-ground biomass, and yield of cultivated rice significantly declined; the crop always being at disadvantage regardless of proportion. (3) Weedy biotypes with greater diversity as estimated by their Shannon indexes were more detrimental to the growth and yield of cultivated rice. CONCLUSION Geographic origin (latitude) of weedy rice biotype, its mixture proportion under competition with the crop and its genetic diversity are determinant factors of the outcome of competition and the associated decline in the rice crop yield. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pedigrees of three sequenced rice cultivars were analyzed to show that a majority of the genetic composition of 'Nipponbare' originates from japonica cultivars while the minority originates from indica cultivars. In contrast, '93-11' is derived mainly from indica cultivars with a smaller contribution from japonica cultivars. All ancestors of 'Guang lu ai 4' appeared to be indica lines. A set of molecular markers (46 InDels and 53 SSRs) polymorphic between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' were examined in 46 typical indica and 47 typical japonica cultivars selected from 443 accessions according to Cheng's index. All cultivars were divided into indica and japonica groups without overlapping when clustered by Cheng's index, InDels and SSRs. Much higher InDel and SSR diversity between groups than within groups implies that the marker polymorphisms between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' represent a large proportion of inter-subspecific diversity. About 85% of indica cultivars and more than 90% of japonica cultivars were confirmed to have the same PCR banding patterns as '93-11' and 'Nipponbare', respectively. Some polymorphic loci between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' cannot be validated in other indica and japonica cultivars, either as subspecies-specific but not predominant alleles, or alleles not specific between the two groups. It was concluded that molecular markers developed from sequence polymorphism between 'Nipponbare' and '93-11' often represent inter-subspecific diversity, although some exceptions were sensitive to either particular marker loci or particular cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: • Post-pollination competition is reported here in cultivated rice (Oryza sativa ) and a perennial wild rice (O. rufipogon ) to investigate the occurrence of crop-to-wild gene flow. • Wild and cultivated rice (variety Minghui-63) were grown in a common garden in Hunan province, China, and crop-specific genetic markers were used to detect hybridization following hand-pollinations. Using 11 sequential pollination treatments, the effects of the relative timing of pollination on the success of foreign pollen was investigated. • Foreign pollen from the crop resulted in lower pollen germination, fewer pollen tubes per style, and a significant reduction of seed set, demonstrating a disadvantage of foreign pollen even in the absence of pollen competition. When 1: 1 pollen mixtures were applied, only 2% of the resulting seeds were hybrids, revealing a much stronger disadvantage of foreign pollen when competing with conspecific pollen. Testing the effects of the relative timing of pollination on the success of foreign pollen suggested that conspecific pollen is often more successful than foreign pollen. Nonetheless, hybridization is possible following the deposition of pollen mixtures, especially when foreign pollen arrives earlier than conspecific pollen. • Pollen competition between wild and cultivated rice could slow the rate of crop-to-wild gene flow, but even if pollen competition was ubiquitous it would not prevent gene flow from the crop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Predator avoidance mechanisms play a critical role in the survival and stable population growth of prey. Here, we describe a new defense strategy for Cyclops vicinus, which is vulnerable to fish predation. Long-term data (January 2014 to February 2019) showed that C. vicinus was abundant in winter when the foraging activity of fish was lower. This pattern was reversed in spring, summer, and autumn. C. vicinus is consumed frequently by fish because it has a body size larger than that of other cyclopoid copepods (Mescyclops leuckarti and Thermocyclop sp.). In this respect, winter formed a seasonal refuge when C. vicinus populations could grow efficiently. In addition, there was an abundant phytoplankton presence (Cyclotella sp. and Rhodomonas sp.) in winter. These species formed a food source that supported the population growth of C. vicinus. The evolution of the predator avoidance mechanisms of prey contributes significantly to the security of local biodiversity and the stability of the freshwater food web. Frequent predation induces various defense strategies in prey, including morphological changes or migration patterns in zooplankton. We hypothesized that the winter dominance of Cyclops vicinus in the Upo Wetlands, South Korea, is an evolved temporal defense mechanism to avoid fish predation. Long-term data (2014–2019) showed that fish consumed the most cyclopoid copepods from spring to autumn. Lepomis macrochirus preferentially consumed C. vicinus; thus, C. vicinus density was lower from spring to autumn. However, C. vicinus was abundant in winter when fish consumed fewer copepods. Nauplii density began to increase in late autumn (October–November), and their population growth was fueled through consumption of Cyclotella sp. and Rhodomonas sp. Culture experiments showed that Cyclotella sp. contributed more to the growth stage (copepodite or subadult) after nauplii than Rhodomonas sp. C. vicinus density was lower in the winters of 2013 and 2016 when the densities of these phytoplankton prey species were lower. In summary, although winter conditions were suitable for copepod survival and population growth, C. vicinus relied heavily on the diversity and species composition of its food sources. The winter dominance of C. vicinus could increase regional biodiversity and contribute significantly to the stability of the freshwater food web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of biotechnology, particularly the transgenic technology, has brought us with tremendous opportunities to solve the world's starvation problems that have been caused by the continued expanding of the global population. However, the application of transgenic biotechnology and the environmental release of transgenic organisms have evoked a series of extraordinary debates on biosafety issues related to the prosperity and the future of transgenic technology. The public and scientific communities are desperately interested in knowing whether the transgenic products would pose negative influences on plants and animals, human life and health, as well as on genetic resources and environment. These concerns have become universal hot topics over the last decade. Among the most debated biosafety issues caused potentially by transgenic products, transgene escape to the environment and its consequent ecological risks become one of the appealing focal points. In this review, a series of biosafety issues concerned by public, including the possibility of transgene escape and its various paths, as well as the potential ecological risks caused by such escape were discussed, and various approaches for controlling for transgene escape and the factors to consider when designing safety isolation distance between transgenic varieties and other concerned plants were also examined. The objective of this review is to allow readers to understand the potential biosafety problems caused by environmental release of transgenic crops and by the escape of foreign transgenes in particular, and to use the effective tools to control and avoid transgene escape.