SMTnet

Field Trials and Baking Studies of Ultra-Low Asparagine, Genome Edited (CRISPR/Cas9) and Mutant (TILLING) Wheat

Apr 07, 2026 | Navneet Kaur | Sarah Raffan | Suzanne J. Clark | Shpresa Musa | Katharina Scherf | J. Stephen Elmore | Tanya Y. Curtis | Emma Honan6 | Nigel G. Halford

Field trials were conducted of wheat (Triticum aestivum) cv. Cadenza in which asparagine synthetase gene, TaASN2, had been knocked out, either on its own or together with a partial knockout of the related gene, TaASN1, using CRISPR/Cas9. Chemical mutagenesis (TILLING) TaASN2 nulls in the Claire background were also included. The main aim was to assess the free asparagine content of the grain and the conversion of free asparagine to acrylamide, a toxic contaminant, in bread, toast and biscuits. Over 2 years of trials combined, the TaASN2 and TaASN1/2 CRISPR knockouts resulted in a reduction of free asparagine in the grain of 59% and 93%, respectively, compared with Cadenza. The reduction in the TaASN2 total knockout TILLING line compared with Claire was 50%. Yield was not affected in the edited lines but was reduced in the TILLING lines. Acrylamide in bread made from a TaASN1/2 CRISPR line was below detection levels, while in a TaASN2 CRISPR line it was 14% of the Cadenza control. Even after 4min of toasting, acrylamide levels remained at 8% and 23%, respectively, of the control. The concentration in bread made from the TILLING TaASN2 knockout was 21% that for the Claire control, rising to 46% after 4min of toasting. Acrylamide in biscuits made from a TaASN1/2 CRISPR line was reduced by 93% compared with the control. The relationship between acrylamide and colour was altered in the edited and mutant lines compared with the controls, with less acrylamide forming for the same degree of colour....

Vehicles of change: two exceptional deposits of destroyed chariots or wagons from Late Iron Age Britain

Apr 01, 2026 | Sophia Adams, Jamie Armstrong, Alex Bayliss, Tom Moore & Emily Williams

Two exceptional metalwork deposits, discovered at Melsonby, North Yorkshire, together constitute one of the largest Iron Age hoards recovered in Britain. Dominated by ornate horse harness and vehicle parts, these first-century AD assemblages provide possibly the first evidence for four-wheeled wagons from Iron Age Britain. Associated geographically and temporally with another hoard found in 1843 and with the Late Iron Age 'royal site' at Stanwick, these deposits have the potential to broaden our understanding not only of the varied forms of wheeled transport but also of expressions of wealth, status and elite mortuary practices in Iron Age Britain....

Grey wolf optimization for color quantization

Mar 17, 2026 | María-Luisa Pérez-Delgado , Jesús-Ángel Román-Gallego, M. Emre Celebi

Color quantization is an image processing operation that attempts to reduce the number of distinct colors used to represent an image without significant loss of quality. This operation is useful as an initial step to perform further processing on the image. The interest in this operation has led to several solution methods being proposed over the years. Within these methods several swarm-based methods have been used in recent years to solve the problem. This article discusses the application of one of these methods, called grey wolf optimization, to perform color quantization. This algorithm has generated good results when applied to a variety of optimization problems. Among the features that differentiate this algorithm from other swarm algorithms are its ability to converge toward better solutions, its speed, and the existence of a single control parameter. The article describes in detail how the grey wolf optimization method should be adapted to perform color quantization, so that it generates a quantized palette that allows the quantized image to be represented. In this case, each individual in the group represents a quantized palette, which is improved with the information provided by the group. The detailed description of the algorithm is complemented by an extensive testing section that compares the results of the proposed method to those of 16 others techniques. The results, based on the comparison of MSE, MAE, PSNR, SSIM, and runtime, show that grey wolf optimization can generate good quality images, better than most of the compared methods....

Large Surface‐Rupturing Earthquakes and a >12 kyr, Open Interseismic Interval on the Tintina Fault

Mar 17, 2026 | Theron Finley, Edwin Nissen , John F. Cassidy, Guy Salomon, Lucinda J. Leonard and Duane Froese

The Tintina fault is a major ∼1,000‐km‐long geologic fault in the Yukon Territory of northwestern Canada, previously believed to have last been active around 40 million years ago, but speculated to remain capable of generating large earthquakes. Using new high‐resolution topographic data collected from satellites, airplanes, and drones, we have identified a 130‐km‐long segment of the fault where 2.6 million‐year‐old, and 132 thousand‐year‐old geological formations are laterally shifted across the fault by ∼1,000 and 75 m, respectively. From this, we surmise that the Tintina fault has ruptured in numerous large earthquakes in the recent geologic past, and continues to accumulate strain at an average rate of 0.2–0.8 mm/yr. We further show that the fault has not ruptured in a major earthquake for at least 12 thousand years, and could generate an earthquake of at least magnitude 7.5 in the future. The Tintina fault therefore represents an important, previously unrecognized, seismic hazard to the region....

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications for marketing: A literature-based study

Mar 17, 2026 | Abid Haleem, Mohd Javaid, Mohd Asim Qadri, Ravi Pratap Singh, Rajiv Suman

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has vast potential in marketing. It aids in proliferating information and data sources, improving software's data management capabilities, and designing intricate and advanced algorithms. AI is changing the way brands and users interact with one another. The application of this technology is highly dependent on the nature of the website and the type of business. Marketers can now focus more on the customer and meet their needs in real time. By using AI, they can quickly determine what content to target customers and which channel to employ at what moment, thanks to the data collected and generated by its algorithms. Users feel at ease and are more inclined to buy what is offered when AI is used to personalise their experiences. AI tools can also be used to analyse the performance of a competitor's campaigns and reveal their customers' expectations. Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI that allows computers to analyse and interpret data without being explicitly programmed. Furthermore, ML assists humans in solving problems efficiently. The algorithm learns and improves performance and accuracy as more data is fed into the algorithm. For this research, relevant articles on AI in marketing are identified from Scopus, Google scholar, researchGate and other platforms. Then these articles were read, and the theme of the paper was developed. This paper attempts to review the role of AI in marketing. The specific applications of AI in various marketing segments and their transformations for marketing sectors are examined. Finally, critical applications of AI for marketing are recognised and analysed....

Autochthonous Rat Lungworm Angiostrongylus cantonensis Infections in Accidental and Definitive Hosts, San Diego, California, USA

Mar 17, 2026 | Shotaro Nakagun, Carlo G. Gonzalez Vera, Alexis Wohl, Deana L. Clifford, Garrett A. Fraess, Jordyn R. Nylander, Estefanía Montero, Javier Asin, Steven V. Kubiski, Rachel E. Burns

The rat lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, is an emerging veterinary and public health concern. We describe A. cantonensis infections in a zoo-housed parma wallaby and free-ranging Virginia opossums and roof rats in San Diego, California, USA. Angiostrongyliasis should be considered in central nervous system disease in humans and animals in this region....

IPC Apex Expo 2020 Remarks

Mar 12, 2020 | Roland Girouard

IPC's APEX EXPO is always exciting & always fun and, most importantly, always beneficial to those who exhibit and attend. From technical conferences to standards committees to new and exciting things on the show floor - APEX 2020 was indeed a success...

Internet Marketing Article 01-24-2013

Jan 24, 2013 | Roland Girouard

Being found in the search engines for a wide variety of terms directly related to my business would be my 1st priority......