Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Winter Storms on Sediment Transport Through a Narrow Strait, Bohai, China

The Yellow River is one of themost significant sources of terrestrial sediment to the global seas, and the Bohai Strait is the only pathway that delivers Yellow River‐derived sediments from the shallow Bohai Sea to the Yellow Sea. To investigate sediment transport processes through the strait under the influence of storms (strong northerly winds) that frequently occur in winter, we deployed two sets of observing platforms equipped with Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) and a suite of other sensors in the strait in January 2018. Aided by a system of high‐resolution models, we reconstructed sediment dynamics in response to the strong northerly wind of a winter storm. Model results show that the instantaneous suspended sediment flux (SSF) is highly aligned with tidal currents, while the net sediment flux has a clear dependence on variations in exchange flow and sediment resuspension. Enhanced coastal currents, intensified wave motions, and higher suspended sediment concentrations indicate that the through‐strait sediment flux during outflows is greater than during inflow conditions. Such SSF asymmetries are believed responsible for the net sediment export through the Bohai Strait in wintertime. Diagnostic analyses provided insights into the dynamic mechanisms of exchange flow variations influenced by both the strong northerly winds and the wind‐triggered coastal trapped waves in the shallow, narrow strait via geostrophic effects. This study highlights the importance of storm‐induced horizontal exchange processes in a coupled bay‐shelf system. Plain Language Summary The aim of this study is to characterize the dominant processes that control net wintertime sediment fluxes through a narrow strait. Flows, waves, and sediment concentration were measured in the strait during a winter storm. A well‐validated model showed that wintertime flows in the strait are dominated by alternating, strait‐wide inflow and outflow. Occasionally, however, inflows and outflows are concurrent over different sections of the strait. Based on a numerical model, our calculations of sediment flux for the entire winter revealed that large net sediment flux occurred when both winds and waves were strong. These results provide a better understanding of how sediment transport in a bay‐shelf system has driven by both local and remote forcing mechanisms.
Effects of timings of inoculation with Mycosphaerella pinodes on yield and seed infection of field pea

Inoculated field experiments were carried out in 1994 and 1995 to study the effect of the timing of inoculation with Mycosphaerella pinodes (Berk. & Bloxam) Vestergren on disease development, yield reduction and seed infection, in three field pea (Pisum sativum L.) cv. Bohatyr, cv. Scorpio and cv. Triumph. The greatest impact of inoculation on all disease and yield parameters was at the 8–10 node stage in 1994, and at the mid-flowering stage in 1995. The lowest impact of inoculation was at the pod swell stage for both years. When inoculated at 8–10 nodes, mid-flowering and pod swell stages, M. pinodes reduced yield by 31, 24 and 19%, respectively, in 1994 and 33, 43 and 30%, respectively, in 1995. The 1000-seed weight was not affected by the timing of inoculation; however, all inoculations reduced seed weight in both years. Plant-to-seed transmission of M. pinodes was affected by the timing of inoculation in 1994, but not in 1995. Results of this study suggest that prevention of early infection by M. pino.
Complete mitochondrial genome of the lemon damsel, Pomacentrus moluccensis (Perciformes, Pomacentridae)

Abstract Pomacentrus moluccensis Bleeker, 1853 (Pomacentridae) is a bright yellow damselfish. Here, we assembled a complete 16,801 bp genome for P. moluccensis mitochondrion by employing the Illumina MiSeq platform. The complete mitochondrial genome contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and one putative control region. The overall genomic structure of P. moluccensis mitochondrion was conserved with the gene arrangements of mitogenomes published in subfamily Pomacentrinae, and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the sister relationship among the genus Amblyglyphidodon, Amphiprion, and Chrysiptera. This complete mitochondrial DNA information of P. moluccensis will provide essential molecular reference to elucidate the geographical distribution, the phylogenetic relationship, and evolutionary history of the damselfish genus Pomacentrus.
Estrogen Receptors α and β Differentially Regulate the Transcriptional Activity of the Urocortin Gene

Urocortin (Ucn), a highly conserved metazoan gene, is related to stress and feeding, behaviors with significant gender differences. We investigated whether estrogens regulate the expression of the Ucn gene using transient transfection in PC12 cells with the human Ucn (hUcn) promoter coupled to luciferase and either α or β estrogen receptors (ERα or ERβ, respectively). The results demonstrate that estradiol (E2) increases the activity of the hUcn promoter via ERα, and decreases hUcn promoter activity through ERβ. Deletions of the hUcn promoter show that the increase in promoter activity mediated by E2-ERα depends on a promoter region containing a half-estrogen response element and an Sp1 site, and the decrease mediated by E2-ERβ depends on a proximal promoter region containing a cAMP response element. Ucn and ERs coexist in neurons of rat hypothalamic nuclei, giving anatomical support for a direct effect of estrogen receptors on the Ucn gene. By in situ hybridization, we observed that cycling female rats have a higher number of cells expressing Ucn mRNA than males in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) and the septum. Both of these brain nuclei are related to stress behaviors and express moderate levels of Ucn. Furthermore, Ucn mRNA was significantly decreased in the PVN and increased in the septum 30 d after ovariectomy. Acute E2 administration to ovariectomized rats significantly increased Ucn mRNA expression in the PVN and septum. In conclusion, our in vitro and in vivo evidence suggests that estrogens exert a direct and differential transcriptional regulation of the Ucn gene.
Single-Phase Grid-Connected Inverters With Simplified SPWM Control

The conventional grid-connected inverters require a sophisticated digital signal processor to generate the demanded reference signal as a feedforward signal for the sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) control. However, the reference signal needs to be re-calculated to maintain the demanded power control as the ac mains varies. It increases the computation burden of the controller and has become a major obstacle of the grid connected energy storage system with demanded power flow control. Therefore, a simplified approach to reduce the computation burden of the controller is proposed in this paper. With the proposed simplified equation for the power flow control, the usage of a low cost microcontroller unit becomes possible. In additional, no additional sensors or circuitries are needed. Meanwhile, the performance of desired power flow control by using the simplified control is almost unaffected. The proposed simplified algorithm is validated via mathematical calculations, computer simulation and experimental results. By using the proposed simplified control, 52.3% of the computational clock cycles can be reduced. Different operation scenarios were tested to validate the performance of the proposed simplified control via the MATLAB/Simulink simulations and the 1kVA prototype experiments.
Porewater Sampling for NH4+ with Rhizon Soil Moisture Samplers (SMS): Potential Artifacts induced by NH4+ Sorption

Abstract: Biogeochemical studies done to elucidate sediment—water transfer of solutes and benthic reaction rates in limnic and marine ecosystems often rely on the study of porewater distribution and temporal dynamics of target solutes and subsequent diagenetic modeling. Hydrophilic poly-ether-sulfone (PES) membranes are used increasingly often to sample soil and sediment porewater because they are versatile and easily adapted to field studies in benthic biogeochemistry. Nevertheless, possible interference with components of filtered water by membrane surface properties impedes accurate measurement of concentrations of solutes in filtrates. We identified and described NH4+ sorption onto PES membranes. We quantified and constrained sorption characteristics of these samplers because of the potential influence of PES membranes on NH4+ filtrate composition. Maximum adsorption capacity was associated with low operational temperatures and reduced filtrate salinity. NH4+ partition coefficients (K>*) > 8 × 10-2 cm were measured at 5°C and 0‰ salinity. However, K>* followed an exponential decay curve with salinity and a negative exponential decay with temperature. NH4+ desorption from the membranes was rapid, but affected the 1st mL of filtered sample after removal of internal volume. We put forward recommendations for improved practice to minimize the influence of membrane adsorption capacity on measurement of NH4+ composition of porewater samples when using PES membranes.
Effect of tillage and crop management on runoff, soil erosion and organic carbon loss

Proper management of soil organic matter is an important issue in the context of sustainable agriculture. The intensification of production and the loss of organic carbon associated with agriculture reduce the efficiency of production and the quality of the environment, especially in relation to areas exposed to erosion. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of specific tillage systems and plant cover on the organic carbon losses, as well as on runoff and soil losses, over a 6‐year study period following the introduction of no‐till. The first factor in the experiment was the tillage system: conventional tillage (CT) and no‐till (NT). The second factor was plant cover: horse bean, spring wheat and winter oilseed rape. The results showed that runoff was 4.3 ± 0.6% higher under NT than under CT, while soil loss was 66.8 ± 2.7% lower under NT than under CT. Compared to CT, NT limited the total organic carbon losses by an average of 46.0 ± 2.9% and organic carbon bound with sediment losses by 53.2 ± 0.7%, whereas for dissolved organic carbon, there were no significant differences for the tillage systems. The anti‐erosion effectiveness of NT was lower in the first year, but it increased in subsequent years after the introduction of this tillage system. Plant cover also had a significant impact on organic carbon losses and soil protection. The crops were ranked according to runoff, soil losses and organic carbon losses in the following order from lower to higher losses: winter oilseed rape > spring wheat > horse bean.
Degradation of starch in feed concentrates by enzymes, rumen fluid and rumen enzymes

The degradation of starch from various feedstuffs was investigated with rumen fluid, α-amylase, pancreatin and a freeze-dried, cell-free preparation of rumen fluid. Rumen fluid was taken from either a hay-fed cow or a concentrate-fed cow. It was shown that incubations with rumen fluid at a constant pH of 6·5 gave a higher degradation of starch than those with a decreasing pH. The degree of starch degradation varied widely for the 21 feedstuffs investigated. Sorghum, maize and millet degraded slowly whereas tapioca showed fast degradation. Processed feedstuffs showed a higher level of degradation than unprocessed ones. The use of enzymes did not allow an accurate prediction of starch degradation by rumen fluid. However, this was made possible by the use of a freeze-dried, cell-free preparation of rumen fluid. Scanning electron microscopic observations showed that for the degradation of starch granules additional enzymes, present in rumen fluid, are necessary.
PolarScout: Wi-Fi Interference-Resilient ZigBee Communication via Shell-Shaping

The prosperity of IEEE 802.11-based Wi-Fi networks aggravates cross-technology interference to IEEE 802.15. 4-enabled ZigBee networks widely deployed to enable various Internet-of-Things applications. To make ZigBee communication reliable and robust even in a dense Wi-Fi environment, taming Wi-Fi interference in ZigBee networks especially from the perspective of physical layer is of paramount importance. In this context, this work takes aim to design a novel Wi-Fi interference-resilient ZigBee decoder called PolarScout, which separates collided ZigBee signal samples out of Wi-Fi interference to bootstrap ZigBee data decoding. Unlike several existing solutions which need clear signal preamble, tremendous signal strength difference between ZigBee and Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi interference recognition in prior to ZigBee decoding, PolarScout aims at direct ZigBee decoding in a more generic and challenging case where Wi-Fi interference features a wide range of power levels and arises within a ZigBee packet at an arbitrary position. At the heart of PolarScout lies a subtle shell-shaping technique which harnesses a customized sample sequence to smooth the shell of corrupted signal samples. PolarScout then refers to the resulting shell to recover each contaminated ZigBee sample. Experimental results validate the superiority of PolarScout and its resilience to a wide range of Wi-Fi interference types.
THE USE OF THE PHOSPHOTUNGSTIC ACID (PTA) AS A STAIN FOR THE PLASMA MEMBRANE

Many investigations on the structure of cell membranes have been carried out on OsO4 or KMnO4 fixed material; however, these procedures fail to demonstrate any basic difference between the various membranes forming the outer coat of the cytoplasm, the endoplasmic reticulum, the nuclear envelope, and the mitochondria. Thus, Robertson (1959) introduced the concept of the unit membrane, 75 A thick; however, Finean (1961) found that in some specialized cell surfaces the unit membrane is thicker (100–120 A). The bleaching procedure with strong oxidants solubilizes and removes from the sections the lower osmium oxides (Merriam, 1958) and makes it possible to evaluate a specific stainability, which otherwise would be masked by the overall staining. Marinozzi and Gautier (1961) introduced the use of phosphotungstic acid (PTA) after the bleaching procedure, and noted that the plasma membrane and some pinocytotic vesicles could be preferentially stained. More recently Latta (1962) obtained similar results, staining with PTA sections of tissues embedded in Epon. The present paper deals with the properties and the nature of the PTA staining.
Systematics of Conidiobolus (Entomophthorales) using numerical taxonomy. I. Biology and cluster analysis

The morphology and taxonomic history of the genus is reviewed. In field studies, substrates yielding isolates of Conidiobolus were varied, and success in obtaining isolates appeared to be correlated with high moisture. Conidiobolus coronatus was very abundant. Isolates of this fungus varied greatly in abundance of villose resting spores and 14 did not produce microconidia. Ranges in diameters of microconidia and primary conidia were greater than previously described. Thick walls developed in conidia from the field isolates projected onto Petri-dish lids. This phenomenon could be a means for surviving unfavorable conditions. Morphological examinations were performed on 17 type specimens of Conidiobolus species, and on cultures representing 36 of the named taxa after obtaining single-spore isolates. The ability to produce various spore types was readily lost in culture. The primary conidia of all type cultures were determined to be multinucleate. Optical density at 725 nm and dry weight of known packed cell.
The comparison of shell morphology and genetic relationship between meretrix lusoria and m. petechialis in Japan and Korea

Morphological and genetic traits of Meretrix lusoria and M. petechialis were compared among individuals from Japan and Korea. Multivariate analysis of shell morphology revealed that M. lusoria from all localities of Japan (Aomori to Kyushu) and from the southern and southwestern coasts of Korea (Sacheon Bay and Gangjin Bay) have some common characters, namely more linear shape in posterior-dorsal margin, smaller width of socket and larger shell breadth rather than M. petechialis from the western coasts of Korea (Baeksu and Saemangeum). Among M. lusoria, individuals from the Japan/East Sea coasts (Yuya Bay, Aso Sea and Mutsu Bay) have more linear shape in posterior-dorsal margin than those from other localities. The distribution border between M. lusoria and M. petechialis is located around the southwestern coasts of Korea (from Gangjin Bay to Baeksu). Analyses of mitochondrial COI and nucleus ITS also revealed that individuals from Japan and the southern coasts of Korea (Sacheon Bay) were classified as M. lusoria, and those from the western coasts of Korea (Baeksu and Saemangeum) as M. petechialis. However, all individuals from Gangjin Bay were classified as M. petechialis based on the analysis of mitochondrial COI, although most individuals were classified as M. lusoria by the analysis of nucleus ITS. These results suggest that hybridization between M. lusoria and M. petechialis occurs around Gangjin Bay. Further, we established a method to identify M. lusoria and M. petechialis from shell morphology. The modified discriminant score using the 5 selected characters, i.e. shell length (L), shell breadth (B), width of socket (SW), length of posterior-dorsal margin (LPM) and height of posterior-dorsal margin (HPM), is D = 110.26−61.61(log B/log L) + 10.90(log SW/log L) − 81.72(log LPM/log L) + 27.27(log HPM/log L). Using this discriminant score, we can identify M. petechialis and M. lusoria with 98.89% correct percentage.
Phenoloxidase of peach (Prunus persica) endocarp: Its relationship with peroxidases and lignification

A preliminary characterization of a phenoloxidase from extracts of soluble and ionically-bound cell wall proteins of peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch, cv. Redhaven) endocarp is described in the present study to establish differences with peroxidases from the same plant tissue. The phenoloxidase activity was detected mainly in the first stage of peach fruit growth, while peroxidase activity and lignin content increased along the second stage of growth. There were clear differences between the two enzymes. The phenoloxidase had a pI value of 5.6, different from those of peroxidases isoenzymes with various pIs ranging from 3.6 to 9.6. The oxidase molecular mass was 112 kDa, similar to other phenoloxidases described in the literature, while all peroxidase isoenzymes showed a molecular mass of around 40 kDa. The specific activities of phenoloxidase against different substrates and its inhibition by various effectors suggest that the endocarp oxidase described here is probably a metal-dependent polyphenol oxidase, displaying attributes of both catechol oxidase (EC 1.10.3.1) and laccase (EC 1.10.3.2).
Genetic Perspectives of the Identification and Conservation of Scandinavian Stocks of Fish

Intraspecific planting and introduction of new species of fish has been much more restricted in northern Scandinavia than in many other parts of the world. Further, the general geography, with a large number of independent drainages and numerous impassable waterfalls, often prevented extensive spread of planted freshwater fish. Therefore, the genetic patterns observed among Scandinavian populations, e.g. their structure and the amount of distribution of genetic variation, may more accurately picture a natural situation than that reflected by stocks which have been influenced by a variety of fishery management activities. Natural populations of Scandinavian salmonids seem to be characterized by a more apparent subdivision than is usually observed, and multiple cases of genetically distinct sympatric demes have been identified within many species. Detailed electrophoretic analyses of natural populations have revealed the existence of previously unrecognized reproductive units exhibiting quite different ecol.
Usefulness of organic manures and their nitrogen fertilizer equivalents

Organic manures, despite their low nutrient analysis, play a significant role in meeting fertilizer needs of crops. When manures are applied in conjunction with fertilizers, yields are generally higher than with equivalent fertilizers alone. An increase in the yield optima leads to uncertainties in working out fertilizer economy in quantitative terms. In order to overcome this, a concept of fixed yield is described in this paper.
Practical Attacks on Deep Neural Networks by Memory Trojaning

Deep neural network (DNN) accelerators are widely deployed in computer vision, speech recognition, and machine translation applications, in which attacks on DNNs have become a growing concern. This article focuses on exploring the implications of hardware Trojan attacks on DNNs. Trojans are one of the most challenging threat models in hardware security where adversaries insert malicious modifications to the original integrated circuits (ICs), leading to malfunction once being triggered. Such attacks can be conducted by adversaries because modern ICs commonly include third-party intellectual property (IP) blocks. Previous studies design hardware Trojans to attack DNNs with the assumption that adversaries have full knowledge or manipulation of the DNN systems’ victim model and toolchain in addition to the hardware platforms, yet such a threat model is strict, limiting their practical adoption. In this article, we propose a memory Trojan methodology that implants the malicious logics merely into the memory controllers of DNN systems without the necessity of toolchain manipulation or accessing to the victim model and thus is feasible for practical uses. Specifically, we locate the input image data among the massive volume of memory traffics based on memory access patterns and propose a Trojan trigger mechanism based on detecting the geometric feature in input images. Extensive experiments show that the proposed trigger mechanism is effective even in the presence of environmental noises and preprocessing operations. Furthermore, we design and implement the payload and verify that the proposed Trojan technique can effectively conduct both untargeted and targeted attacks on DNNs.
Exploring firms’ fan page behavior and users’ participation: evidence from airline industry on Twitter

ABSTRACT Firms motivate users to enhance their fan page engagement. Existing research has thus far concentrated on firms’ fan page management strategies which lead to different results in terms of numbers of followers and followings and the rate of users’ participation. Drawing on the insights of Social Practice Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT), we aim to examine firms’ strategies in relation to users’ activities on fan pages, and the methods firms utilize for content management of their fan pages. Our empirical study consisted of a sample of 36 prominent airlines in the world. We applied an exploratory mixed method to analyze the data obtained from a set of 153,992 postings (including tweets, retweets, and replies) which were published on the airlines’ fan pages. Our results showed that firms’ behavior from two perspectives of fan page strategy and content management has a significant relationship with users’ participation.