Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bionomics of the Pear Psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster in Pear Orchards of the Kootenay Valley of British Columbia, 1960

Of the fruits grown in the Kootenay Valley of British Columbia, pears are third in importance; in the more arid Okanagan Valley 300 miles to the wrest they are second. During 1959 the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster, caused severe losses for fruit growers in the Okanagan Valley. The damage was much greater than had occurred during the previous 17 years. It became clear that the insect was a major economic pest, and that it was not being adequately controlled by the recommended insecticides. Obviously, more information was needed on the biological aspects of the situation. The roie of climatic conditions was particularly in question. In 1960 a start was made on a biological study of the pear psylla at Creston in the Kootenay Valley. This paper deals with observations thnf were made there.
Evidence of the presence of genetically different rhizobial strains in a single cluster of a lupinoid nodule, the case of Lupinus luteus

In this study, we have identified fourteen different rhizobial strains from a single tap-root cluster of nodules obtained from the species Lupinus luteus. Genetic diversity of the strains was assessed by DNA fingerprinting using REP-PCR. Patterns obtained on agar gel were strain specific, indicating the presence of different strains and a considerable diversity. UPGMA clustering analysis divided the strains into two major groups that were linked at 62% of similarity level. Strains displayed a wide tolerance to salinity (50% tolerated up to 1530 mM), to acidity and alkalinity and to extreme temperatures ranging from 4 to 42°C. They were also highly resistant to some antibiotics such as erythromycin (200 µg ml -1 ) and to heavy metals like aluminum, zinc and manganese (400 µg ml -1 ). All the strains were infective, but they differed in their nitrogen fixation effectiveness. Numerical analysis yielded a dendrogram with three clusters showing relatively the same clustering linkage delimited by REP analysis. ARDRA analysis set up the Lupinus strains in clusters which are different from all the reference strains used.
Time-Frequency Energy Spectral Analysis of Broadband PLC Channel Impulsive Noise

In this work, we introduce the field of time-frequency ($t, f$) spectral analysis for energy spectral analysis of Power Line Communication (PLC) impulsive noise. This analysis is done in the broadband frequency range of 1–30 MHz. ($t, f$) spectral analysis concerns the analysis and processing of signals with time-varying frequency content. PLC impulsive noise being such a signal is best represented by a time-frequency representation (TFR) through a time-frequency distribution (TFD). This is intended to show how the energy of the signal is distributed over the two-dimensional ($t, f$) space. As such, this will allow exploitation of the features produced by the concentration of signal energy in two dimensions (time and frequency) instead of only one (time or frequency). This analysis is based on measurement data collected from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Torque Ripple Reduction of a Salient-Pole Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine With an Advanced Step-Skewed Rotor Design

In this paper, a salient-pole permanent magnet synchronous machine (SPPMSM) is introduced to high-speed trains, taking advantage of its high utilization of the reluctance torque from the unbalanced reactance. Torque characteristics, such as average torque and torque ripple, are rather important and should be carefully concerned during the optimal design of the SPPMSM. Both the eccentric air-gap and the advanced step-skewed rotor (ASSR) design are developed and implemented to reduce the torque ripple for comfort and safety issues. Compared to the conventional step-skewed rotor (CSSR), the ASSR takes advantage of the high utilization of permanent magnets (PMs), which are axial continuous assembled, and the easier manufacture with a single rotor lamination model, which is asymmetrically designed with pole shoes skewed by individual skewing angles. No skewing arrangement is applied to the rotor yoke and the PM chambers. The impacts of the eccentric air-gap and the ASSR on the torque characteristics are comprehensively investigated by finite element analysis. The results show that the proposed technique can significantly reduce the torque ripple with a slight expense of the average torque. Based on the optimal eccentric design, experiments of the SPPMSM with the non-skewed rotor, CSSR, and ASSR under various conditions are carried out to validate the estimated results.
Interference Minimization for Uplink Channel Reusing in Device-to-Device Communication Underlaying Cellular Networks

Device-to-Device (D2D) communication as an underlay to cellular networks is a promising paradigm to help complement the Next Generation Networks (NGNs). D2D communication leverages the physical proximity of users by allowing direct communication between these proximate users, with improved system throughput, higher power efficiency and increased traffic offload in the core network. Despite the lofty benefits aligned with D2D communications, interference management is one of the major concerns. Hence, this paper studies the challenges of interference in cellular networks underlaid by D2D users. We propose a heuristic channel allocation algorithm that ensures fairness to cellular users when D2D pairs are sharing their channels, as well as minimizing interference and improving the number of permitted D2D pairs. Performance of the heuristic algorithm is compared with a proposed optimal algorithm. The simulation results show that the proposed heuristic method has a close performance to the optimal algorithm.
A Method of Side-lobe Suppression for Reactance Modulated Antennas

This paper reveals the mechanism of the high side-lobe level (SLL) phenomenon in reactance modulated antennas (RMAs) and proposes a method to suppress the side-lobe for RMAs. The wave-guiding mode in RMAs is a surface wave with considerable EM field exposed to the free-space. We found that it is the exposure of EM power results in the slow-wave radiation phenomenon deteriorating the SLL, which is always neglected in conventional waveguides with local EM confined structures, such as rectangular waveguides and microstrip lines. To eliminate the slow-wave radiation, a ‘complementary decoupling’ method is proposed in this paper by introducing another RMA with inverse periodic variation to the original one. The two parallel antennas are excited with equal amplitude and reversed phase forming a complementary radiation pair. With the proposed method, the slow-wave radiation is eliminated and the SLL is improved. Meanwhile, all of the even radiation modes are also suppressed. Especially for the −2nd mode, which also carries considerable power and often appears in most RMAs.
Parking IoT: An IoT Architecture to Collect Availability Data from Parking Lots

City centers have been, are, and will be the focus of people's attention. One of the current problems of this focus is parking slot scarcity. The aim of this study is to ease the management of scarce parking resources by efficiently detecting and reporting empty slots. The presented design includes best practices during data collection through low-cost IoT devices, which include a single bit light sensor to detect the availability of parking slots, as well as efficient routing over IoT devices by data aggregation. The simulation results indicate that the proposed architecture led to a trade-off between network delay versus energy consumption as well as network delay versus unit cost. Therefore, the proposed architecture lets an investor parameterize the costs and efficiency prior to deployment.
Microstrip Fed Elliptical Slot UWB Antenna for Band Notch Response

A simple, low cost, small size printed microstrip-fed elliptical slot ultra-wideband antenna having band-notched response are proposed in this paper. By incorporating concentric elliptical arc within the elliptical shaped slot the band notch response is realised. The proposed antennas are optimized using IE3D, fabricated on low cost FR-4 substrate with dielectric constant 4.3 followed by measurement. The measured results indicates that the proposed antenna having dimensions of 60 × 60 × 1.6 mm3 has a impedance bandwidth over the frequency range 2.15-10.6 GHz with Return Loss ≤ -10 dB, except 2.8-3.6 GHz with elliptical slot with concentric elliptical arc. The proposed antenna shows stable gain, almost omnidirectional radiation pattern, insignificant group delay variation in the passband frequencies. Acceptable results are achieved in frequency as well as time-domain analysis for antenna.
Eight-Element Dual-Band MIMO Antenna System for Sub-6 GHz 5G Smartphone Applications

In this paper, an eight-element dual-band MIMO antenna system for future sub-6 GHz 5G smartphone application is proposed. The proposed MIMO antenna is consists of a coupled-fed inverted-L and F-shaped monopole elements with a small size of 12.5 x 5.2 mm2 which are printed on two longer side frames of the smartphone. The dual-band 8x8 MIMO antenna is designed to cover both 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz operating bands with the antenna efficiencies over 76% at first resonant band and 49% at second resonant band are obtained respectively. Good isolation of -12.60 dB for the lower band LTE 42/43 (3.4-3.8 GHz) and -17.95 dB for the higher band (4.8-5.0 GHz) without decoupling structure are achieved. The calculated ECCs and diversity gain (DG) is less than 0.1 and 10 respectively which shows a favorable candidate for MIMO diversity performance within sub-6 GHz 5G smartphone applications.
Optimal Cooperative Strategies for PHY Security Maximization Subject to SNR Constraints

The cooperative jamming (CJ) and decode–and–forward (DF) protocols for physical layer security are studied in this paper. We propose a design that aims at maximizing the security gap, which is defined as the signal–to–noise ratio (SNR) difference between the destination and an eavesdropper, subject to security and reliability constraints defining the thresholds on the received signals’ SNR values at the destination and the eavesdropper. A fractional quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP) is formulated, which is solved analytically and closed–form expressions are determined for both protocols. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed designs achieve the same performance for the secrecy rate under both strategies compared with state–of–the–art approaches, for a proper choice of thresholds on SNR values. Additionally, for relaxed thresholds and at the cost of a slight decrease on the optimal secrecy rate value, the received SNR values at the eavesdropper are greatly decreased for the CJ protocol and even more for the DF protocol, while guaranteeing target SNR values at the destination, compared with previous state–of–the–art approaches.
Transmit-Arrays at Ka-band for Harsh Environment

This paper demonstrates a promising antenna solution for operation in harsh environment: it consists of a metal-only transmitarray antenna. The latter is based on a C-shaped slot unit-cell exhibiting a phase variation of 360 degrees with insertion loss below 1-dB at 29 GHz. Various prototypes have been fabricated and then characterized in anechoic chamber to evaluate their performance. Here, two different antenna prototypes are presented demonstrating, respectively, beam pointing at 30 degree and 50 degree with good agreement between simulated and measured results. For beam pointing at boresight, the aperture efficiency is greater than 50% and the half power bandwidth is around 7.5% at 29 GHz.
3D Instance Embedding Learning With a Structure-Aware Loss Function for Point Cloud Segmentation

This letter presents a framework for 3D instance segmentation on point clouds. A 3D convolutional neural network is used as the backbone to generate semantic predictions and instance embeddings simultaneously. In addition to the embedding information, point clouds also provide 3D geometric information which reflects the relation between points. Considering both types of information, the structure-aware loss function is proposed to achieve discriminative embeddings for each 3D instance. To eliminate the quantization error caused by 3D voxel, the attention-based $k$-nearest neighbor (kNN) is proposed. Different from the average strategy, it learns different weights for different neighbors to aggregate and update the instance embeddings. Our network can be trained in an end-to-end style. Experiments show that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on two challenging datasets for instance segmentation.
Understanding of Multiple Resistance States by Current-sweep Measurement and Compliance Current Modulation in 2D MoS2-based Non-volatile Resistance Switching Devices

Various two-dimensional materials, such as graphene oxide, solution-processed or phase-change transitional metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), degraded black phosphorus and multilayer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) [ 1 - 5 ], have been reported to exhibit non-volatile resistance switching (NVRS) phenomenon, in which the resistance can be reversibly switched between a high resistance state (HRS) and a low resistance state (LRS) through external electrical bias and maintained without power supply. Recently, we reported the observation of NVRS in single-layer TMDs and h-BN atomristors (memristor effect in atomically thin nanomaterials) with forming-free characteristic, large on/off current ratio (up to 10 7 ) and fast switching speed (< 15 ns) [ 6 - 8 ]. Here, to investigate the switching mechanisms in the 2D monolayers, we introduced a new electrical characterization method by current sweeping to illustrate the detailed information hidden in the commonly used voltage-sweep curves, showing multiple transition steps in the SET process. Moreover, by varying the SET compliance current in voltage-sweep measurement, multiple resistance states can be obtained with a range of five orders of magnitude. These results provide strong evidence for the previously reported conductive-bridge-like model of 2D atomristors [8] , and enable further applications in multi-bit data storage and analog-like neuromorphic computing.
Microwave Metasurface-based Lens Antennas for 5G and Beyond

Lens antennas have long been used at millimeter-wave bands and above because of their excellent power focusing performance, aperture sharing, and simple feeding structures. However, the conventional high-gain dielectric lens at microwave bands usually are too bulky. With the development of metasurfaces, the lens design has been replaced by single or multiple layered planar structures such as patterned PCB boards. This paper first briefs the mechanism of metasurfaces in the design of a planar lens. Then microwave lens antennas recently developed by our team from National University of Singapore are summarized to show the progress in this field. After that, one design for 5G NR (the fifth-generation new radio) demonstrates the feasibility of metasurface-based lens in multibeam antenna design. The progress of microwave metasurface lens antennas shows us the huge potential of metamaterial-based antennas (metantennas in short) in advanced wireless systems.
Linezolid for therapy of Staphylococcus aureus meningitis: a cohort study of 26 patients

Abstract Background Linezolid has good penetration to the meninges and could be an alternative for treatment of Staphylococcus aureus meningitis. We assessed the efficacy and safety of linezolid therapy for this infection. Methods Retrospective multicenter cohort study of 26 adults treated with linezolid, derived from a cohort of 350 cases of S. aureus meningitis diagnosed at 11 university hospitals in Spain (1981-2015). Results There were 15 males (58%) and mean age was 47.3 years. Meningitis was postoperative in 21 (81%) patients. The infection was nosocomial in 23 (88%) cases, and caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus in 15 cases and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus in 11. Linezolid was given as empirical therapy in 10 cases, as directed therapy in 10, and due to failure of vancomycin in 6. Monotherapy was given to 16 (62%) patients. Median duration of linezolid therapy was 17 days (IQR 12-22 days) with a daily dose of 1,200 mg in all cases. The clinical response rate to linezolid was 69% (18/26) and microbiological response was observed in 14 of 15 cases evaluated (93%). Overall 30-day mortality was 23% and was directly associated with infection in most cases. When compared with the patients of the cohort, no significant difference in mortality was observed between patients receiving linezolid or vancomycin for therapy of methicillin-resistant S. aureus meningitis (9% vs. 20%; p = .16) nor between patients receiving linezolid or cloxacillin for therapy of methicillin-susceptible S. aureus meningitis (20% vs 14%; p = .68). Adverse events appeared in 14% (3/22) of patients, but linezolid was discontinued in only one patient. Conclusions Linezolid appears to be effective and safe for therapy of S. aureus meningitis. Our findings showed that linezolid may be considered an adequate alternative to other antimicrobials in meningitis caused by S. aureus.
Adhesin Expression in Matched Nasopharyngeal and Middle Ear Isolates of Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzaefrom Children with Acute Otitis Media

ABSTRACT The HMW1 and HMW2 proteins, Hia, and hemagglutinating pili are important adherence factors in nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae. To gain insight into the relative importance of these adhesins in nasopharyngeal colonization and localized respiratory tract disease, we assessed their expression in matched nasopharyngeal and middle ear isolates of nontypeable H. influenzae from 17 children with acute otitis media. In all patients, including 11 with bilateral disease, the matched isolates were isogenic based on total protein profiles and genomic fingerprints. Of the nasopharyngeal isolates, 14 expressed only HMW1/HMW2-like proteins, 1 expressed only Hia, 1 expressed only pili, and 1 expressed both Hia and pili. Further analysis revealed concordance between nasopharyngeal isolates and the matched middle ear isolates for expression of the HMW1/HMW2-like proteins and Hia. In contrast, in the two children whose nasopharynges were colonized by piliated organisms, the corresponding middle ear isolates were nonpiliated and could not be enriched for piliation. Nevertheless, Southern analysis revealed that these two middle ear isolates contained all five hif genes required for pilus biogenesis and had no evidence of major genetic rearrangement. In summary, the vast majority of isolates of nontypeable H. influenzae associated with acute otitis media express HMW1/HMW2-like proteins, with expression present in both the nasopharynx and the middle ear. A smaller fraction of nasopharyngeal isolates express pili, while isogenic strains recovered from the middle ear are often refractory to enrichment for piliation. We speculate that the HMW adhesins and Hia are important at multiple steps in the pathogenesis of otitis media while pili contribute to early colonization and then become dispensable.
Morality

Moral psychology is a rapidly growing field with two principle lineages. The main line began with Jean Piaget and includes developmental psychologists who have studied the acquisition of moral concepts and reasoning. The alternative line began in the 1990s with a new synthesis of evolutionary, neurological, and social-psychological research in which the central phenomena are moral emotions and intuitions. In this essay, I show how both of these lines have been shaped by an older debate between two 19th century narratives about modernity: one celebrating the liberation of individuals, the other mourning the loss of community and moral authority. I suggest that both lines of moral psychology have limited themselves to the moral domain prescribed by the liberation narrative, and so one future step for moral psychology should be to study alternative moral perspectives, particularly religious and politically conservative ones in which morality is, in part, about protecting groups, institutions, and souls.
The ERG-Regulated LINC00920 Promotes Prostate Cancer Cell Survival via the 14-3-3ϵ–FOXO Pathway

Numerous noncoding transcripts have been reported to correlate with cancer development and progression. Nevertheless, there remains a paucity of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA) with well-elucidated functional roles. Here, we leverage the International Cancer Genome Consortium-Early Onset Prostate Cancer transcriptome and identify the previously uncharacterized lncRNA LINC00920 to be upregulated in prostate tumors. Phenotypic characterization of LINC00920 revealed its positive impact on cellular proliferation, colony formation, and migration. We demonstrate that LINC00920 transcription is directly activated by ERG, an oncogenic transcription factor overexpressed in 50% of prostate cancers. Chromatin isolation by RNA purification-mass spectrometry revealed the interaction of LINC00920 with the 14-3-3ϵ protein, leading to enhanced sequestration of tumor suppressive FOXO1. Altogether, our results provide a rationale on how ERG overexpression, partly by driving LINC00920 transcription, could confer survival advantage to prostate cancer cells and potentially prime PTEN-intact prostate cells for cellular transformation through FOXO inactivation. Implications: The study describes a novel lncRNA-mediated mechanism of regulating the FOXO signaling pathway and provides additional insight into the role of ERG in prostate cancer cells.
Topical odorant application of the specific olfactory receptor OR2AT4 agonist, Sandalore®, improves telogen effluvium‐associated parameters

Human hair follicles (HFs) express the olfactory receptor (OR)2AT4, which is selectively stimulated by the synthetic sandalwood‐like odorant, Sandalore®. In organ‐cultured, human scalp HFs, Sandalore® prolongs anagen and suppresses apoptosis by up‐regulating intrafollicular IGF‐1 mediated signaling.
Mechanistic studies on the drug metabolism and toxicity originating from cytochromes P450

Abstract Cytochromes P450 are oxidizing enzymes; a few families of cytochromes P450 are implicated in drug metabolism. These enzymatic reactions involve many processes including (i) prodrug to drug conversion, (ii) easy excretion of drug, (iii) generation of reactive metabolites, many of which cause toxicity. In this review, the fundamental biochemical mechanisms associated with the conversion of drugs into the useful or toxic metabolites have been discussed. The mechanisms can be established with the help of many experimental methods like mass spectral analysis, NMR and in vitro analysis etc. Computational methods provide detailed atomic level information, which is generally not available from experimental studies. Thus, the in silico efforts in elucidating the molecular mechanisms are complementary to the known experimental methods and are often clearer (especially in providing 3D information about the metabolites and their reactions). Quantum chemical methods and molecular docking become especially very useful. This review includes five case studies, which explain how the atomic level details were obtained to explore the reaction mechanisms of drug metabolism by cytochromes P450.