Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study on Non-contact Piezoelectric Actuators With Spherical Rotors

Based on near-field acoustic levitation(NFAL),a novel nocontact piezoelectric actuator with spherical rotor was given.Two B04 flexural standing waves at different phase was piezoelectrically generated and led to a traveling wave in the bowl type stator.Then the induced high intensity sound could apply levitation and driving force for the global rotor.In this paper,finite element model of the bowl type actuator has been built,and the dynamic analysis and optimization for the stator has been conducted.The prototype was manufactured and vibration parameters of the stator were experimentally obtained.The test system for the global actuator was built,and measured its levitation and driving characteristics.The experimentally results preliminarily confirm that the spherical rotor successfully achieved non-contact rotation based on NFAL effect.
Low-profile and end-fire antennas for airborne applications

vi LIST OF FIGURES . ix LIST OF TABLES . xviii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.1.1 End-Fire Array. 1 1.1.2 Traditional End-Fire Antennas . 3 1.1.3 Surface Wave Antennas . 5 1.1.4 Superdirective Antennas . 6 1.1.5 Conformal Antennas . 7 1.2 Motivation . 8 1.2. 1 Limitations of Traditional End-Fire Antennas . 9 1.2. 2 Limitations of Surface Wave Antennas . 10 1.2. 3 Limitations of Superdirective Antennas . 11 1.2. 3.1 Narrow Bandwidth . 11 1.2. 3.2 Sensitivity to the Excitation Amplitude and Phase . 11 1.2. 3.3 Low Radiation Efficiency . 12 1.3 Objectives . 12 1.4 Major Contributions of the Thesis . 13 1.5 Organization of the Thesis . 16 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 18 2.
Indirect Faculty Development and the Role of Sociability

Informal socialization is an essential ingredient in effective faculty development, and a necessary component of successful centers for teaching and learning. There is more to assisting faculty than providing workshops, even assuming faculty retain and use the methods discussed at the workshops. Foundational learning theories apply to faculty as well as any learner, and identifying how to create sustainable relationships with faculty is a key component of successful development. Theoretical models of socialization apply partly to this context, but a new model informed by emotional intelligence is needed for authentically connecting faculty with developers.
Deep learning in different remote sensing image categories and applications: status and prospects

ABSTRACT In recent years, the combination of deep learning and remote sensing has been a boiling state. However, because of the difference between remote sensing images and natural images, it is still an open question of whether deep learning methods can revolutionize remote sensing field. This work provides a brief review of 2674 related papers in deep learning with remote sensing (DL-RS) from 2014 to 2020. Keywords, publication years, journals, countries, and other essential characteristics of the papers were extracted. Also, we had set up some data items for information collection, such as remote sensing image categories, remote sensing applications, commonly used public datasets, and basic deep learning models. Our analysis shows that the number of research articles in DL-RS is still exploding, growing exponentially every year, and that DL methods have been applied to virtually all types of images and all applications of remote sensing. CNNs continue to be the most used deep learning model, accounting for 70% of all articles, GANs has now turned out to be the most used model after CNNs. Finally, we make some recommendations for future studies for the development of the DL-RS field.
Sibling relationship qualities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A brief report of protective effect

We explored child sibling relationship qualities during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Chinese setting. Using a web-based survey, 154 parents reported on their kindergarten children’s (age range = 3 to 6 years) sibling relationships. The descriptive data and correlations analysis showed that the siblings had a good degree of interaction and acceptance. Regression analysis results revealed that the parents/guardians perceived significant differences in sibling relationship qualities. Specifically, female child siblings were more interactive and emotionally secure compared to male child siblings. This sex effect was stronger for female first born children. Further research is needed to examine the quality of sibling relationships in other critical life situations to assist in improving the quality of sibling relationships.
NtrC expression at lag-phase improves competitive fitness under low and fluctuating nutrient condition

The enteric pathogens cycle between nutrient rich host and nutrient poor external environment. These pathogens compete for nutrients in the host as well as in external environment and also often experience starvation. In this context, we have studied the role of a global nitrogen regulator (NtrC) of Salmonella Typhimurium. The ntrC mutation caused extended lag phase and slow growth in minimal media. In lag phase the wild-type cells showed ∼60 fold more expression of ntrC as compared to log phase cells. The role of ntrC gene is often studied with respect to nitrogen scavenging in a low nitrogen growing condition. However, our observation indicates that, even in the adequate supply of nitrogen, the ntrC null mutants failed to adapt to new nutrient conditions and were slow to exit from the lag phase. Gene expression studies at lag phase showed down-regulation of the genes involved in carbon/nitrogen transportation and metabolism in ΔntrC mutant. In the co-culture competition studies, we observed that ntrC knockout was unable to survive with the wild-type Salmonella and E. coli. We also observed that the ΔntrC mutant did not survive long term nitrogen starvation (150 days). Critical analysis of starvation survival revealed that, ntrC gene is essential for recycling of nutrients from the dead cells. The nutrient recycling efficiency of ΔntrC mutant was ∼ 12 times less efficient than wild-type. Hence, the current work establishes that ntrC expression at the lag phase is essential for competitive fitness of Salmonella to survive in an environment having low and fluctuating nutrient conditions. Importance Salmonella Typhimurium, both inside or outside of the host organism face enormous competition from other microorganisms. The competition may take place either in steady or in fluctuating climatic conditions. Thus, how Salmonella Typhimurium survive under such overlapping stress conditions, remained unclear. Therefore, here we report that, a global regulator NtrC, which is also a part of two-component system, activates the set of genes and operons involved in rapid adaptation and efficient nutrient recycling/scavenging. These properties, make cell able to compete with other microbes, under characteristic feast- or-famine life style of Salmonella Typhimurium. Therefore, this piece of work helps us to understand the starvation physiology of enteric bacterial pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium.
Structural insights into crista junction formation by the Mic60-Mic19 complex

Mitochondrial cristae membranes are the oxidative phosphorylation sites in cells. Crista junctions (CJs) form the highly curved neck regions of cristae and are thought to function as selective entry gates into the cristae space. Little is known about how CJs are generated and maintained. We show that the central coiled-coil domain of the mitochondrial contact and cristae organizing system (MICOS) subunit Mic60 forms an elongated, bow tie-shaped tetrameric assembly. Mic19 promotes Mic60 tetramerization via a conserved interface between the Mic60 mitofilin and Mic19 CHCH domains. Dimerization of mitofilin domains exposes a crescent-shaped membrane-binding site with convex curvature tailored to interact with curved CJ necks. Our study suggests that the Mic60-Mic19 subcomplex transverses CJs as a molecular strut, thereby controlling CJ architecture and function.
CRISPRi screen for enhancing heterologous α-amylase yield in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract Yield improvements in cell factories can potentially be obtained by fine-tuning the regulatory mechanisms for gene candidates. In pursuit of such candidates, we performed RNA-sequencing of two α-amylase producing Bacillus strains and predict hundreds of putative novel non-coding transcribed regions. Surprisingly, we found among hundreds of non-coding and structured RNA candidates that non-coding genomic regions are proportionally undergoing the highest changes in expression during fermentation. Since these classes of RNA are also understudied, we targeted the corresponding genomic regions with CRIPSRi knockdown to test for any potential impact on the yield. From differentially expression analysis, we selected 53 non-coding candidates. Although CRISPRi knockdowns target both the sense and the antisense strand, the CRISPRi experiment cannot link causes for yield changes to the sense or antisense disruption. Nevertheless, we observed on several instances with strong changes in enzyme yield. The knockdown targeting the genomic region for a putative antisense RNA of the 3′ UTR of the skfA-skfH operon led to a 21% increase in yield. In contrast, the knockdown targeting the genomic regions of putative antisense RNAs of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (ctaD), the sigma factor sigH, and the uncharacterized gene yhfT decreased yields by 31 to 43%.
scAllele: a versatile tool for the detection and analysis of variants in scRNA-seq

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data contain rich information at the gene, transcript, and nucleotide levels. Most analyses of scRNA-seq have focused on gene expression profiles, and it remains challenging to extract nucleotide variants and isoform-specific information. Here, we present scAllele, an integrative approach that detects single nucleotide variants, insertions, deletions, and their allelic linkage with splicing patterns in scRNA-seq. We demonstrate that scAllele achieves better performance in identifying nucleotide variants than other commonly used tools. In addition, the read-specific variant calls by scAllele enables allele-specific splicing analysis, a unique feature not afforded by other methods. Applied to a lung cancer scRNA-seq data set, scAllele identified variants with strong allelic linkage to alternative splicing, some of which being cancer-specific. scAllele represents a versatile tool to uncover multi-layer information and novel biological insights from scRNA-seq data.
Cellular compartmentalisation and receptor promiscuity as a strategy for accurate and robust inference of position during morphogenesis

Precise spatial patterning of cell fate during morphogenesis requires accurate inference of cellular position. In making such inferences from morphogen profiles, cells must contend with inherent stochasticity in morphogen production, transport, sensing and signalling. Motivated by the multitude of signalling mechanisms in various developmental contexts, we show how cells may utilise multiple tiers of processing (compartmentalisation) and parallel branches (multiple receptor types), together with feedback control, to bring about fidelity in morphogenetic decoding of their positions within a developing tissue. By simultaneously deploying specific and nonspecific receptors, cells achieve a more accurate and robust inference. We explore these ideas in the patterning of Drosophila melanogaster wing imaginal disc by Wingless morphogen signalling, where multiple endocytic pathways participate in decoding the morphogen gradient. The geometry of the inference landscape in the high dimensional space of parameters provides a measure for robustness and delineates stiff and sloppy directions. This distributed information processing at the scale of the cell highlights how local cell autonomous control facilitates global tissue scale design.
Generation of raptor diversity in Europe: linking speciation with climate changes and the ability to migrate

Aim Europe should be considered as a diversity hotspot for diurnal raptors, but just during the breeding season, as it holds the higher proportion of transcontinental migratory species of any landmass, and the area becomes depleted during the winter period. This study will test the hypothesis that the high diversification of the raptor assemblage in Europe is a recent event, occurring mainly during the Quaternary, and that closely related species sharing the same trophic niches can only coexist in sympatry during the breeding period, when food availability is higher. Location Continental Europe. Taxon Diurnal birds of prey (Accipitriformes and Falconiformes). Methods A consensus molecular phylogeny for the 38 regular breeding species of raptors in Europe was obtained from BirdTree. For the same species, a trophic niche cluster dendrogram was constructed. Size and migratory strategy were introduced in the resulting phylogeny, where trophic groups were also identified. Results A total of 16 trophic groups were identified. Multispecific trophic groups tended to be composed of reciprocal sister species, while monospecific groups (only three) were composed of highly specialized species. According to time calibrated phylogenies, the speciation events took place during the glacial cycles of the Quaternary period in a majority of cases. During the non-breeding season, the smaller species in every trophic group migrate to sub-Saharan Africa, whereas larger species are either non-migratory or perform shorter migrations within Europe and/or northern Africa. Main conclusions This investigation illustrates how the rich assemblage of diurnal birds of prey in Europe, more diverse and more migratory than the North American assemblage at equivalent latitudes, has emerged recently due to the multiplication of look-alike species with similar trophic ecologies, mainly in climate refugia during cold periods. In the non-breeding season, when shared food resources are limited, smaller species migrate to Africa and alleviate competition.
Endothelial Caspase-9 Promotes Glial Changes, Inflammation, and Contrast Sensitivity Decline in Retinal Vascular Injury

Retinal glial cells— microglia, astrocytes, and Müller glia—provide homeostatic support, regulate vascular blood flow, and react to injury by releasing inflammatory cytokines. Glial reactivity has been shown to be relevant for retinal vascular pathology and neuronal death. Non-apoptotic expression of endothelial caspase-9 (EC Casp9) was recently identified as a key mediator of retinal edema, hypoxic-ischemic injury, and neurodegeneration in retinal vein occlusion (RVO). In the current study we aimed to determine the glial responses that are modulated by EC Casp9 as a means to identify relevant neuro-immune mechanisms for the development of retinal edema and neurodegeneration. To this end we used a mouse model of RVO and a tamoxifen inducible EC Casp9 KO mouse line. We show that EC Casp9 leads to an increase in reactive microglia and to macrogliosis in a time-dependent manner. RVO induced an EC Casp9 dependent astroglial caspase-6 and cleavage of GFAP. Cytokine array analysis revealed that RVO increases expression of inflammatory cytokines out of which CX3CL1, IGF-1, IL-4, LIX, IL-1α, M-CSF, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-10, and VEGF-A, were regulated by EC Casp9. Moreover, we found that EC Casp9 deletion resulted in protection from contrast sensitivity decline one day post-RVO. These results demonstrate that caspase-9 in hypoxic endothelial cells regulates retinal inflammatory signaling in microglia, astrocytes and Müller cells and changes in visual function.
A New Method to Improve Pressure Sensor Precision Based on RBF Neural Network

As temperature drift exist in many sensors, a new method of sensor compensation is put forward. Intelligent temperature sensor DS18B20 is adopted as auxiliary sensor. A network model with two inputs and single output is constructed by radial basis function neural network. The two inputs include DS18B20 sensor and a main sensor. High precision temperature compensation of pressure sensor is achieved by gradient descend algorithm with a momentum factor in this network model. Measurement precision is improved 2～5 times comparing with general compensation method.
Convergent impact of schizophrenia risk genes

Schizophrenia is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder with a complex genetic risk architecture that reflects the additive impact of hundreds of risk variants. While many schizophrenia-associated risk variants are thought to regulate the expression of target genes in a cell-type-specific manner, the mechanisms by which the effect of these myriad variants combine to contribute to risk remain unclear. Here we apply a CRISPR-based approach to evaluate in parallel twelve schizophrenia eGenes (that encompass common variation) in human glutamatergic neurons. Querying the shared neuronal impacts across risk genes uncovers a convergent effect concentrated on pathways of brain development and synaptic signaling. Our analyses reveal shared and divergent downstream effects of these twelve genes, independent of their previously annotated biological roles. General convergence of gene expression increases with increasing polygenicity, while the specificity of convergence increases between functionally similar genes. Convergent networks show brain-region and developmental period-specific enrichments, as well as disorder-specific enrichments for both rare and common variant target genes across schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disability. These gene targets are drug-able and potentially represent novel points of therapeutic intervention. Convergent signatures are also resolved in the post-mortem brain. Overall, convergence suggests a model to explain how non-additive interactions arise between risk genes and may explain cross-disorder pleiotropy of genetic risk for psychiatric disorders. consequences of activating SCZ eGene expression in two distinct sets of genes, at two developmental timepoints (day 7 or day 21) in human NGN2 -induced glutamatergic neurons across three donors and generated either directly from hiPSCs or instead from hiPSC-derived neural progenitor cells (NPCs) 31,32 . The clinical relevance of our results was further supported through replication of target convergent networks reconstruction of perturbation groupings based on post-mortem gene signatures of our targets in the dorsa-lateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC). In the post-mortem DLPFC, convergence was stronger in clusters diagnosed were more between with overlap in upregulation of the 12 eGenes.
Holobiont transcriptomes for the critically endangered staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) from two environmentally distinct sites on Turneffe Atoll, Belize

Historically, staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) was a preeminent reef-builder in the Caribbean and Tropical Western Atlantic, where it constructed extensive thickets at 5-20 m depth that supported diverse ecosystems and provided coastal populations with food, storm protection, and income from tourism. In recent decades, A. cervicornis declined precipitously, up to 97% in some localities. To reverse its decline, widespread efforts are underway to characterize the phenotypic and genetic diversity of persisting populations with the goal of restoring them to historical levels by out-planting nursery grown specimens. To support this target, we developed transcriptomes for two A. cervicornis populations located in Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve, Belize. These populations experience significantly different temperatures, light levels and water currents, and they harbor individuals that differ in key phenotypes. Because differentiating the gene activity of diverse taxa—i.e., coral host, algal photosymbiont, plus associated eukaryotes, bacteria, archaea, and viruses— is critical to understanding the function of the coral holobiont, we developed a pipeline for parsing transcripts by taxon. Separate transcriptomes for each population contain complete representatives for >96% of 978 conserved metazoan single copy orthologs. The taxonomic breakdown of transcripts differed between sites, with more bacterial transcripts recovered from Calabash Caye and more symbiont transcripts from Blackbird Caye. The assembled transcriptomes will facilitate gene expression studies and in silico cloning from this endangered coral.
Constitutive, calcium-independent endoplasmic reticulum-plasma membrane contact site oscillations and its implications in store-operated calcium entry

The endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membrane (ER-PM) contact site dynamics plays a central role for store-operated calcium entry (SOCE). ER localized calcium sensor STIM1 translocates to the contact sites, interacts with Orai and mediates calcium influx from the extracellular environment. Different species of phosphoinositides (PIPs) have been reported to be involved in contact site dynamics as well as STIM1 translocation. However, most of the studies were based on loss-of-function experiments or conditions that generate massive calcium store depletion. The kinetics of ER-PM contact site dynamics during physiological stimuli -induced calcium oscillations are not well understood. Using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM), we investigated the relationship between dynamics of STIM1 as well as cortical ER (cER) proteins and calcium oscillations in rat basophilic leukemia (RBL) mast cells. Surprisingly, a significant percentage of cells displayed cyclic STIM1 and cER dynamics that were calcium-independent. Using specific lipid sensors, we showed that cyclic ER-PM contact site assembly was in phase with PI(4)P oscillation, but preceded phases of PI(4,5)P2 or PI(3,4,5)P3 oscillation. Optogenetic recruitment of the phosphoinositide 5-phosphatase from INPP5E, which decreased PI(4,5)P2 and increased PI(4)P levels on the plasma membrane, stimulated the translocation of STIM1 and inhibited calcium oscillations. Interestingly, prolonged stable translocation of STIM1 to the plasma membrane had an inhibitory effect on calcium oscillations. Collectively, our findings suggest that ER-PM contact sites formation is PI(4)P-dependent. In addition, reversibility of ER-PM contact sites dynamics and intermediate strength of ER-PM contact are needed for calcium oscillation.
Sex differences in allometry for mouse phenotypic traits indicate that females are not scaled males

Sex differences in the lifetime risk and expression of disease are well-known. Preclinical research targeted at improving treatment, increasing health span, and reducing the financial burden of health care, has mostly been conducted on male animals and cells. The extent to which sex differences in phenotypic traits are explained by sex differences in body weight remains unclear. We quantify sex differences in the allometric relationship between trait value and body weight for 375 phenotypic traits in male and female mice, recorded in >2.1 million measurements from the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium. We find sex differences in allometric parameters (slope, intercept, residual SD) are common (76% traits). Body weight differences do not explain all sex differences in trait values but scaling by weight may be useful for some traits. Our results support a trait-specific patterning of sex differences in phenotypic traits, promoting case-specific approaches to drug dosage scaled by body weight.