Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative analysis of drought stress-induced physiological and transcriptional changes of two black sesame cultivars during anthesis

Sesame production is severely affected by unexpected drought stress during flowering stage. However, little is known about dynamic drought-responsive mechanisms during anthesis in sesame, and no particular attention was given to black sesame, the most common ingredient in East Asia traditional medicine. Herein, we investigated drought-responsive mechanisms of two contrasting black sesame cultivars (Jinhuangma, JHM, and Poyanghei, PYH) during anthesis. Compared to PYH, JHM plants showed higher tolerance to drought stress through the maintenance of biological membrane properties, high induction of osmoprotectants’ biosynthesis and accumulation, and significant enhancement of the activities of antioxidant enzymes. For instance, the drought stress induced a significant increase in the content of soluble protein (SP), soluble sugar (SS), proline (PRO), glutathione (GSH), as well as the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) in leaves and roots of JHM plants compared to PYH plants. RNA sequencing followed by differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis revealed that more genes were significantly induced under drought in JHM than in PYH plants. Functional enrichment analyses disclosed that several pathways related to drought stress tolerance, such as photosynthesis, amino acids and fatty acid metabolisms, peroxisome, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, and glutathione metabolism, were highly stimulated in JHM than in PYH plants. Thirty-one (31) key highly induced DEGs, including transcription factors and glutathione reductase and ethylene biosynthetic genes, were identified as potential candidate genes for improving black sesame drought stress tolerance. Our findings show that a strong antioxidant system, biosynthesis and accumulation of osmoprotectants, TFs (mainly ERFs and NACs), and phytohormones are essential for black sesame drought tolerance. Moreover, they provide resources for functional genomic studies toward molecular breeding of drought-tolerant black sesame varieties.
Developments in module ready SI backside-contact solar cells

Moderate quantities of high-efficiency Si backside-contact solar cells were fabricated. Compromises were made at the design level in order to investigate the possibilities for obtaining a high fabrication yield. The cells were tested in a module-ready state, soldered down to copper cell mounts. The efficiencies for the best cells peak at 26% for a range of 5-12 W/cm/sup 2/ (50-120 suns). For a design point of 36 W/cm/sup 2/, a majority of the 283 cells from two successive runs have efficiencies in a tight distribution around 23%. The performance difference between these cells and the best laboratory cells demonstrated to date (26% versus 28.3%) is primarily due to the sunward-side dopant diffusion, not present in the previous cells but incorporated in the current designs in order to make them stable to degradation in ultraviolet light. Accordingly, improved performance is expected to come primarily from improvements in stable front-surface passivations. <<ETX>>
Effects of the particle deformability on the critical separation diameter in the deterministic lateral displacement device

Abstract Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) technology is a newly developed method which can separate microscale and nanoscale particles continuously and efficiently. In this paper, a direct numerical simulation method (i.e. a fictitious domain method) is used to simulate the motion of an elastic particle (modelled as homogeneously elastic body) in the DLD device. The effects of the particle deformability on the critical separation diameter are investigated. Our results indicate that there exists a critical deformability, below which the critical diameter decreases with increasing deformability, whereas beyond which the critical diameter increases with increasing deformability. The reasons are discussed via the consideration of the effects of the particle deformation and the lubrication force on the lateral position of the particle centre point. In addition, our results show that the increase in the gap distance between adjacent posts in both directions or in the longitudinal direction alone leads to the increase in the critical particle size with respect to the gap size, which can be explained by the lateral position of the separation streamline of the undisturbed flow.
Generating a jet of deagglomerated small particles in vacuum

We describe a dust jet generator, which is a device for the deagglomeration of micron-sized and submicron-sized dust particles. In contrast to other mechanisms, it principally works without any gas and generates a dust jet with a speed up to 100 m/s relative to the surrounding gas. Compressed dust powder is fed onto the front side of a fast rotating cogwheel. Upon contact with the cogwheel, the dust is deagglomerated and the single particles are accelerated at a tangent to the circumference. Design details of the mechanism and characteristics of the dust jet are presented. We will use the dust jet for the investigation of collisions of individual particles with surfaces or other particles. Other possible applications of the dust jet generator are proposed.
A Comparison of Five Methods for Combining Multiple Criteria into a Single Composite

Five weighting methods for combining multiple criteria into a single composite were evaluated on 117 bank tellers. It was found that four out of the five methods (Management Weights, Equal Weights, Unit Weights and Factor Weights) yielded nearly identical results, whereas the fifth method (Canonical Weights) correlated almost zero with the other methods.
A Preliminary measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background spectrum by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite

A preliminary spectrum is presented of the background radiation between 1 and 20/cm from regions near the north Galactic pole, as observed by the FIRAS instrument on the COBE satellite. The spectral resolution is 1/cm. The spectrum is well fitted by a blackbody with a temperature of 2.735 + or - 0.06 K, and the deviation from a blackbody is less than 1 percent of the peak intensity over the range 1-20/cm. These new data show no evidence for the submillimeter excess previously reported by Matsumoto et al. (1988) in the cosmic microwave background. Further analysis and additional data are expected to improve the sensitivity to deviations from a blackbody spectrum by an order of magnitude. 31 refs.
A General Approach for Geometric Error Modeling of Lower Mobility Parallel Manipulators

This paper presents a general and systematic approach for geometric error modeling of lower mobility manipulators. The approach can be implemented in three steps: (1) development of a linear map between the pose error twist and source errors within an individual limb using the homogeneous transformation matrix method; (2) formulation of a linear map between the pose error twist and the joint error intensities of a lower mobility parallel manipulator; and (3) combination of these two models. The merit of this approach lies in that it enables the source errors affecting the compensatable and uncompensatable pose accuracy of the platform to be explicitly separated, thereby providing designers and/or field engineers with an informative guideline for the accuracy improvement achievable by suitable measures, i.e., component tolerancing in design, manufacturing and assembly processes, and kinematic calibration. Three typical and well-known parallel manipulators are taken as examples to illustrate the generality and effectiveness of this approach. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4003845]
Scanning tip microwave near field microscope

A microwave near field microscope has a novel microwave probe structure wherein the probing field of evanescent radiation is emitted from a sharpened metal tip instead of an aperture or gap. This sharpened tip, which is electrically and mechanically connected to a central electrode, extends through and beyond an aperture in an endwall of a microwave resonating device such as a microwave cavity resonator or a microwave stripline resonator. Since the field intensity at the tip increases as the tip sharpens, the total energy which is radiated from the tip and absorbed by the sample increases as the tip sharpens. The result is improved spatial resolution without sacrificing sensitivity.
Distributed Relative Localization Algorithms for Multi-Robot Networks: A Survey

For a network of robots working in a specific environment, relative localization among robots is the basis for accomplishing various upper-level tasks. To avoid the latency and fragility of long-range or multi-hop communication, distributed relative localization algorithms, in which robots take local measurements and calculate localizations and poses relative to their neighbors distributively, are highly desired. Distributed relative localization has the advantages of a low communication burden and better system robustness but encounters challenges in the distributed algorithm design, communication protocol design, local network organization, etc. This paper presents a detailed survey of the key methodologies designed for distributed relative localization for robot networks. We classify the distributed localization algorithms regarding to the types of measurements, i.e., distance-based, bearing-based, and multiple-measurement-fusion-based. The detailed design methodologies, advantages, drawbacks, and application scenarios of different distributed localization algorithms are introduced and summarized. Then, the research works that support distributed localization, including local network organization, communication efficiency, and the robustness of distributed localization algorithms, are surveyed. Finally, popular simulation platforms are summarized and compared in order to facilitate future research and experiments on distributed relative localization algorithms.
The Role of Bacteria–Mitochondria Communication in the Activation of Neuronal Innate Immunity: Implications to Parkinson’s Disease

Mitochondria play a key role in regulating host metabolism, immunity and cellular homeostasis. Remarkably, these organelles are proposed to have evolved from an endosymbiotic association between an alphaproteobacterium and a primitive eukaryotic host cell or an archaeon. This crucial event determined that human cell mitochondria share some features with bacteria, namely cardiolipin, N-formyl peptides, mtDNA and transcription factor A, that can act as mitochondrial-derived damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). The impact of extracellular bacteria on the host act largely through the modulation of mitochondrial activities, and often mitochondria are themselves immunogenic organelles that can trigger protective mechanisms through DAMPs mobilization. In this work, we demonstrate that mesencephalic neurons exposed to an environmental alphaproteobacterium activate innate immunity through toll-like receptor 4 and Nod-like receptor 3. Moreover, we show that mesencephalic neurons increase the expression and aggregation of alpha-synuclein that interacts with mitochondria, leading to their dysfunction. Mitochondrial dynamic alterations also affect mitophagy which favors a positive feedback loop on innate immunity signaling. Our results help to elucidate how bacteria and neuronal mitochondria interact and trigger neuronal damage and neuroinflammation and allow us to discuss the role of bacterial-derived pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in Parkinson’s disease etiology.
Analysis on the Motivation of Live Game Streaming Audience—Taking League of Legends Live Streaming as an Example

This research would take audiences of live game streaming as subjects of the study. Besides real-life research, the paper uses the "Uses and Gratifications" theory to obtain these audiences' motivation and their behavior on live game streaming. Users' demand generates motivation. Through in-depth interviews, the paper summarizes five significant motivations for audiences to watch online game streaming: the pursuit of presence, entertainment and recreation, communication and seeking identification, improving game skills, and pursuing stars. Game live-streaming can effectively satisfy its audience regarding decompression, emotional, social, and personal integration needs. For two different types of live-streaming audiences, the apparent difference between them lies in the level of cognitive needs. For example, game players tend to focus more on the game itself and improve their understanding of the game by watching the live broadcast. On the contrary, non-players will focus more on anchors themselves to satisfy their curiosity about the unknown content.
The generation of noise by isotropic turbulence

A finite region, with fixed boundaries, of an infinite expanse of compressible fluid is in turbulent motion. This motion generates noise and radiates it into the surrounding fluid. The acoustic properties of the system are studied in the special case in which the turbulent region consists of decaying isotropic turbulence. It is assumed that the Reynolds number of the turbulence is large, and that the Mach number is small. The noise appears to be generated mainly by those eddies of the turbulence whose contribution to the rate of dissipation of kinetic energy by viscosity is negligible. It is shown that the intensity of sound at large distances from the turbulence is the same as that due to a volume distribution of simple acoustic sources occupying the turbulent region. In this analogy, the whole fluid is to be regarded as a stationary and uniform acoustic medium. The local value of the acoustic power output P per mass of turbulent fluid is given approximately by the formula P = ─3/2αdu2 ¯/dt(u2¯/c2)5/2, where α is a numerical constant, u2¯ is the mean-square velocity fluctuation, t is the time, and c is the velocity of sound in the fluid. The constant α is expressed in terms of the well-known velocity correlation function f(r) by assuming the joint probability distribution of the turbulent velocities and their first two time-derivatives at two points in space to be Gaussian. The numerical value α ~ 38 is then obtained by substituting the form of f(r) corresponding to Heisenberg’s theoretical spectrum of isotropic turbulence. It is found that the effects of decay make only a small contribution to the value of α, and that the order of magnitude of α is not changed when widely differing forms of the function f(r) are used.
The wake from a cylinder subjected to amplitude-modulated excitation

Controlled, amplitude-modulated excitation of a cylinder at low Reynolds number (Re equals; 136) in the cross-stream direction generates several states of response of the near wake including: a locked-in wake structure, which is periodic at the modulation frequency; a period-doubled wake structure, which is periodic at a frequency half the modulation frequency; and a destabilized structure of the wake, which is periodic at the modulation frequency, but involves substantial phase modulations of the vortex formation relative to the cylinder displacement. The occurrence of each of these states depends upon the dimensionless modulation frequency, as well as the nominal frequency and amplitude of excitation. Transition through states of increasing disorder can be attained by either decreasing the modulation frequency or increasing the amplitude of excitation at a constant value of nominal frequency. These states of response in the near wake are crucial in determining whether the far wake is highly organized or incoherent. Both of these extremes are attainable by proper selection of the parameters of excitation.
Minimum complexity estimator for RBF networks architecture selection

The problem of nonparametric probability density estimation using neural networks methodologies is addressed here. We investigate a criterion that leads to an appropriate choice of the network architecture complexity. In the present work each unknown density is approximated in terms of a linear combination of radial basis functions (RBFs). Both the parameters of the approximating function and the number of RBFs units are estimated using a modified Kullback-Leibler distance as a criterion of optimality. This modification consists of the addition of a term that penalizes complex architectures. Experimental results show the reliability of the methodology.
Rate equation model for nonequilibrium operating conditions in a self-organized quantum-dot laser

A nonequilibrium rate equation model is presented and analyzed for the self-organized quantum dot (QD) laser. The model assumes the QD zero dimensional levels are coupled to a thermal electron distribution in the wetting layer through reservoir rate equations. By including the energy dependence of the wetting layer reservoir versus temperature, the model accounts for the spectral narrowing of the gain with increasing temperature, the negative temperature coefficient of the lasing threshold, and a reduction of the spectral hole burning with increasing temperature, all found experimentally in QD lasers.
History of Polish Canidae (Carnivora, Mammalia) and Their Biochronological Implications on the Eurasian Background

The remains of 12 canid species that date back ca. 4.9 myr have been found at 116 paleontological localities. Among these localities, eight are dated to the Pliocene age, 12 are dated to the Early Pleistocene age, 12 are from the Middle Pleistocene age, while the most numerous group includes 84 sites from the Late Pleistocene–Holocene age. Some, especially older forms such as Eucyon odessanus and Nyctereutes donnezani, have only been found at single sites, while the remains of species from the genus Lycaon, Canis and Vulpes have been recorded at numerous sites from the last 2 myr. Ancient canids such as Eucyon and Nyctereutes had already vanished from Poland in the Earliest Pleistocene, between 2.5 and 2.2 myr ago. Poland’s extant canid fauna is characterised by the presence of two new species, which spread into the territory due to a human introduction (Nyctereutes procyonoides) or natural expansion (Canis aureus). Research indicates a strong competition between dogs, especially between Lycaon, Canis and Cuon, with a strong lycaon-limiting effect on the wolf between 2.5 and 0.4 myr ago. After the extinction of Lycaon lycaonoides, Canis lupus evolved rapidly, increasing in number and size, and taking over the niche occupied by Lycaon. In order to reduce competition, the body size of Cuon alpinus gradually reduced, and it became an animal adapted to the forest, highland and mountain environments. Generally, the history of canids in Poland is similar to that known of Eurasia with some noteworthy events, such as the early occurrence of Canis cf. etruscus from Węże 2 (2.9–2.6 myr ago), Lycaon falconeri from Rębielice Królewskie 1A or one of the latest occurrences of L. lycaonoides from Draby 3 (430–370 kyr). Predominantly lowland or upland in the southern part and devoid of significant ecological barriers, Poland is also an important migration corridor in the East–West system. This 500–600 km wide corridor was the Asian gateway to Europe, from where species of an eastern origin penetrated the continent’s interior. In colder periods, it was in turn a region through which boreal species or those associated with the mammoth steppe retreated.
Diagnosis and Pharmacologic Management of Fibrotic Interstitial Lung Disease

Interstitial lung disease is an umbrella term that encompasses a spectrum of parenchymal lung pathologies affecting the gas exchanging part of the lung. While many of these disease entities are not fibrotic in nature, a number can lead to pulmonary fibrosis which may or may not progress over time. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the prototypical, progressive fibrotic interstitial lung disease, which can lead to worsening hypoxemic respiratory failure and mortality within a number of years from the time of diagnosis. The importance of an accurate and timely diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases, which is needed to inform prognosis and guide clinical management, cannot be overemphasized. Developing a consensus diagnosis requires the incorporation of a variety of factors by a multidisciplinary team, which then may or may not determine a need for tissue sampling. Clinical management can be challenging given the heterogeneity of disease behavior and the paucity of controlled trials to guide decision making. This review addresses current paradigms and recent updates in the diagnosis and pharmacologic management of these fibrotic interstitial lung diseases.
Rogue wave management in an inhomogeneous Nonlinear Fibre with higher order effects

We consider an inhomogeneous Hirota equation with variable dispersion and nonlinearity. We introduce a novel transformation which maps this equation to a constant coefficient Hirota equation. By employing this transformation we construct the rogue wave solution of the inhomogeneous Hirota equation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that one can control the rogue wave dynamics by suitably choosing the dispersion and the nonlinearity. These results suggest an efficient approach for controlling the basic features of the relevant rogue wave and may have practical implications for the management of the rogue waves in nonlinear optical systems.
Polyhedral elements: a new algorithm for capturing all the equilibrium points of piecewise-linear circuits

An entirely new algorithm to find all the equilibrium points of piecewise-linear (PWL) circuits is presented. To this aim, the new class of the so-called polyhedral circuits, associated to the PWL ones, are defined by replacing the PWL elements with the polyhedral elements. The algorithm is structured as a genealogical tree, whose nodes represent specific polyhedral circuits. All the equilibrium points of the original PWL circuit can be captured by the analysis of these nodes. This analysis requires the solution of the phase I of linear programming (LP) problems, one problem for each node. An example shows the capabilities of this algorithm. >
Twin Paradox: A Complete Treatment from the Point of View of Each Twin.

A specific round trip situation is set up, and is worked through from the point of view of each twin. The gravitational field equations, and geodesic equations of motion, are solved in the traveling twin’s reference frame, in order to determine the time elapsed on the Earth during the periods of acceleration. The equality of the results obtained by each twin is explicitly exhibited.
The Effect of Improper Priors on Gibbs Sampling in Hierarchical Linear Mixed Models

Abstract Often, either from a lack of prior information or simply for convenience, variance components are modeled with improper priors in hierarchical linear mixed models. Although the posterior distributions for these models are rarely available in closed form, the usual conjugate structure of the prior specification allows for painless calculation of the Gibbs conditionals. Thus the Gibbs sampler may be used to explore the posterior distribution without ever having established propriety of the posterior. An example is given showing that the output from a Gibbs chain corresponding to an improper posterior may appear perfectly reasonable. Thus one cannot expect the Gibbs output to provide a “red flag,” informing the user that the posterior is improper. The user must demonstrate propriety before a Markov chain Monte Carlo technique is used. A theorem is given that classifies improper priors according to the propriety of the resulting posteriors. Applications concerning Bayesian analysis of animal breeding.