Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Charge Control in Schottky-Type p-GaN Gate HEMTs With Partially and Fully Depleted p-GaN Conditions

The Schotty-type p-GaN gate high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMT) feature a unique gate structure. A comprehensive understanding of the charge control mechanism in the p-GaN gate region is a fundamental step for the optimization of this technology. In this work, a physics-based analytical model is presented which takes into consideration all the capacitive effects from gate metal deep into the GaN buffer. According to our analysis, the p-GaN layer can be either partially depleted by the metal/p-GaN Schottky junction or fully depleted, depending on the doping concentration and thickness of the p-GaN layer. Our model accurately captures the charge control properties under both conditions and is validated against TCAD numerical simulations. For a certain p-GaN thickness, a lightly doped p-GaN leads to a full-depletion condition, such that the acceptor concentration directly affects the band diagram at AlGaN/GaN interface. The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of the HEMT increases quickly with acceptor concentration in p-GaN. With sufficiently high acceptor concentration in p-GaN, the device reaches the partial-depletion condition, the acceptor concentration loses its influence over the band diagram at the location of the AlGaN/GaN interface, since the Fermi-level at the AlGaN surface is pinned near the valence band of p-GaN. The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> starts to decrease with acceptor concentration, but at a relatively slow rate. The maximum <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is obtained near the boundary between partial-and full-depletion conditions. In consideration of the process margin, the device designed with a partially depleted p-GaN is preferable, since it ameliorated the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> sensibility against acceptor concentration.
Consensus Control of Multi-Agent Systems Based on Adaptive Disturbance Observer

In this paper, a consensus problem of the directed connection topology with unknown external disturbances in multi-agent systems is considered. First, in order to approximate each agent's state and disturbance, an adaptive disturbance observer is presented. Next, based on the estimated value of the observer and related state information, a distributed consensus control protocol is designed. The conditions of global consensus control are determined by using the characteristics in real Jordan form of the Laplacian matrix. In particular, the proposed observer is completely decoupled from the consensus control. Then, the asymptotic convergence of the observer estimation error and the closed-loop stability of the proposed control protocol in time domain are analyzed under the framework of Lyapunov functions. Finally, simulations show the validity of the theoretical research.
Automatic Optimization Method of Commutation for Position Sensorless Brushless DC Motor Based on DC-link Voltage

High-precision commutation is an important factor to ensure the high-efficiency operation and smooth torque performance of the brushless DC motor (BLDCM). In order to implement the position sensorless commutation, the commutation error is inevitably introduced from hardware and software implementation. To eliminate the commutation error, a automatic optimization method of commutation based on the DC-link voltage is proposed in this paper. First, the relationship between the commutation position and the voltage deviation of the DC-link voltage sampled before and after the commutation point is analyzed. Then, using the voltage deviation as the feedback quantity, a closed-loop controller is established to compensate the commutation point. Along with the voltage deviation converging to zero, a high-precision commutation is automatically reached. Therefore, the motor efficiency and output torque is optimized. Finally, the verification of the method is given by a magnetically suspended flywheel.
Automated Diagnosis of Pneumonia through Capsule Network in conjunction with ResNet50v2 model

The world has witnessed one of the most devastating phases in the history of mankind after being hit with the COVID-19 pandemic which still continues to spread rapidly all across the globe. The disease is believed to majorly cause respiratory disorders in humans. Detecting COVID-19 patients through X-Ray images is the only way to slow down the expansion of the pandemic, detecting pneumonia has equally become a demanding task as both exhibit similar properties of affecting the human lungs. Pneumonia is said to be an illness caused by a bacteria in the alveoli of lungs that may accompany to the death of an individual if its treatment is ignored. Hence, developing an automated system to detect the disease can be beneficial to the human race. With continuous progressions in the expertise of deep learning and machine learning; its fundamentals are observed to continuously contribute towards analysis of medical images and classification of patients exhibiting the disease. In this work, we appraise the concepts of ResNet50v2 model and capsule network to predict the affected and unaffected patients using chest X-Ray images. The authors propose a novel classification framework consisting of a convolutional layer, primary capsule layer and digit capsule layer, wherein the radiographic images are categorized through dynamic routing followed by disease prediction through ResNet50v2 model. The proposed work is implemented on images with a resolution of $224 \times 224$ and a batch size of 10. Further, parametric functions are applied to verify the model being trained.
An intranasal stringent response vaccine targeting dendritic cells as a novel adjunctive therapy against tuberculosis

Lengthy tuberculosis (TB) treatment is required to address the ability of a subpopulation of persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to remain in a non-replicating, antibiotic-tolerant state characterized by metabolic remodeling, including induction of the RelMtb-mediated stringent response. We developed a novel therapeutic DNA vaccine construct involving fusion of the relMtb gene with the immature dendritic cell-targeting gene encoding chemokine MIP-3α/CCL20. To augment mucosal immune responses, intranasal delivery was also evaluated. We found that the intramuscular MIP-3α/relMtb (fusion) vaccine potentiates isoniazid activity more than a similar DNA vaccine expressing relMtb alone in a chronic TB mouse model (absolute reduction of Mtb burden: 0.63 log10 colony-forming units, P=0.0001), inducing pronounced Mtb-protective immune signatures. The intranasal fusion vaccine, an approach combining relMtb fusion to MIP-3α and intranasal delivery, demonstrated the greatest therapeutic effect compared to each approach alone, as evidenced by robust Th1 and Th17 responses systemically and locally and the greatest mycobactericidal activity when combined with isoniazid (absolute reduction of Mtb burden: 1.13 log10, P<0.0001, when compared to the intramuscular vaccine targeting relMtb alone). This DNA vaccination strategy may be a promising adjunctive approach combined with standard therapy to shorten curative TB treatment, and also serve as proof-of-concept for treating other chronic infections.
Macrophages undergo necroptosis during severe influenza A infection and contribute to virus-associated cytokine storm

Influenza A virus (IAV) causes a major public health concern, because it is one of the leading causes of respiratory tract infections and hospitalization. Severe influenza has been associated with the cytokine storm, and IAV productive infection cell death in airway epithelial cells may contribute to the exacerbation of this proinflammatory event. On the other hand, IAV replication in macrophages is non-permissive and whether this immune cell may contribute to severe influenza physiopathology requires more details. Here, we investigated IAV-induced macrophage death, along with potential therapeutic intervention. We found that IAV or simply its surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) triggers necroptosis in human and murine macrophages in a Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4) and TNF-dependent manner. Anti-TNF treatment, with the clinically approved drug etanercept, prevented the engagement of the necroptotic loop and mice mortality. impaired IAV-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine storm and lung injury. Our results implicate macrophage necroptosis with severe influenza in experimental models and potentially repurpose a clinically available therapy. Author Summary Various fates of cell death have an integral role in the influenza A virus (IAV) pathogenesis and lung/respiratory dysfunction. IAV physiopathology is not restricted to airway epithelial cells, where this virus actively replicated. Macrophages should support both viral clearance and priming of adaptative immune response in patients that adequately control influenza. However, during severe IAV infection, macrophages – which are unable to support a permissive viral replication - undergo disruptive cell death and contribute to the exacerbated production of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines. We characterized this process by showing that IAV or just its surface glycoprotein hemagglutinin (HA) trigger necroptosis, a disruptive and TNF-dependent cells death. Since TNF is a hallmark of pro-inflammatory cell death, we blocked this mediator with a repurposed biomedicine etanercept, which prevented the severe IAV infection in the experimental model. The present work improves the knowledge of influenza pathophysiology by highlighting the importance of macrophage cell death during severe infection.
Functional specialization of parallel distributed networks revealed by analysis of trial-to-trial variation in processing demands

Multiple large-scale networks populate human association cortex. Here we explored the functional properties of these networks by exploiting trial-to-trial variation in component processing demands. In two behavioral studies (N=136 and N=238), participants quantified strategies used to solve individual task trials that spanned remembering, imagining future scenarios, and various control trials. These trials were also all scanned in an independent sample of functional MRI participants (N=10), each with sufficient data to precisely define within-individual networks. Stable latent factors varied across trials and correlated with trial-level functional responses selectively across networks. One network linked to parahippocampal cortex, labeled Default Network A (DN-A), tracked scene construction, including for control trials that possessed minimal episodic memory demands. To the degree a trial encouraged participants to construct a mental scene with vivid imagery and awareness about spatial locations of objects or places, the response in DN-A increased. The juxtaposed Default Network B (DN-B) showed no such response but varied in relation to social processing demands. Another adjacent network, labeled Frontoparietal Network B (FPN-B), robustly correlated with trial difficulty. These results support that DN-A and DN-B are specialized networks differentially supporting information processing within spatial and social domains. Both networks are dissociable from a closely juxtaposed domain-general control network that tracks cognitive effort.
Route of oxytetracycline administration differentially impacts the growth and gut microbiome of pigs co-infected with Bordetella bronchiseptica and Pasteurella multocida

Along with judicious antibiotic use, there is great interest in how the dose regimen of an antibiotic affects the animal gut microbiota. This study evaluated the impact of experimental respiratory infection alone or respiratory infection followed by oxytetracycline (oxytet) treatment on the animal’s health and its fecal microbiome. Piglets of approximately three weeks-of-age were separated into four groups (n=20 per group). One group remained non-infected and administered non-medicated feed and the other three groups were infected with Bordetella bronchiseptica (day 0) and Pasteurella multocida (day 4), with one group receiving non- medicated feed and the remaining two groups receiving oxytetr starting on day 7 by injection or in-feed (day 7-14). Infection with B. bronchiseptica and P. multocida negatively impacted piglet growth and induced mild pneumonia. Infection alone had minimal effect on the fecal microbiota community. When oxytet was administered either by injection or in-feed to treat the respiratory infections, both routes had minimal effect on clearing B. bronchiseptica and P. multocida in the animal. However, both routes appeared to limit lung lesion severity, and injected oxytet reduced the negative impact of infection on weight gain. Both routes had limited impact on the animal’s overall gut microbiome, including relative abundances of bacterial taxa and antibiotic resistance genes tet32, tetW, and aph2. Overall, oxytet administered by either route did not clear the respiratory infection, but oxytet administration minimized the negative health impacts of infection and had minor impact on the pig gut microbiome. Importance Efforts to address antibiotic resistance calls for improved antibiotic stewardship, including considering antibiotic administration route. While our previous study found in-feed oxytet had greater impact on the gut microbiome of healthy piglets than injected oxytet, it remained unknown if oxytet treatments would have the same impact on the microbiota of infected piglets. We evaluated the impact of respiratory infection alone or respiratory infection followed by oxytet treatment on the animals’ health and their gut microbiome profile. Respiratory infection negatively affected piglets’ health, but infection alone had minimal impact on the gut community. When oxytet was administered either in-feed or by injection to treat the respiratory infection, neither route of administration led to the clearance of the respiratory pathogens. However, oxytet minimized the negative health impacts of infection, and had minor impact on the pig gut microbiome. These findings are informative for disease management in food animals while integrating antibiotic stewardship practices.
Two interdigitated fine-scale channels for encoding motion and stereopsis within the human magnocellular stream

In humans and non-human primates (NHPs), motion and stereopsis are processed within fine-scale cortical sites, including V2 thick stripes and their extensions into areas V3 and V3A that are believed to be under the influence of magnocellular stream. However, in both species, the functional organization (overlapping vs. interdigitated) of these sites remains unclear. Using high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI), we found evidence for two interdigitated channels within human extrastriate areas that contribute to processing motion and stereopsis. Across multiple experiments that included different stimuli (random dots, gratings, and natural scenes), the functional selectivity of these channels for motion vs. stereopsis remained consistent. Furthermore, an analysis of resting state functional connectivity revealed stronger functional connectivity within the two channels rather than between them. This finding provides a new perspective toward the mesoscale organization of the magnocellular stream within the human extrastriate visual cortex, beyond our previous understanding based on animal models.
COVID-19 infection and transmission includes complex sequence diversity

SARS-CoV-2 whole genome sequencing has played an important role in documenting the emergence of polymorphisms in the viral genome and its continuing evolution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we present data from over 360 patients to characterize the complex sequence diversity of individual infections identified during multiple variant surges (e.g., Alpha and Delta). Across our survey, we observed significantly increasing SARS-CoV-2 sequence diversity during the pandemic and frequent occurrence of multiple biallelic sequence polymorphisms in all infections. This sequence polymorphism shows that SARS-CoV-2 infections are heterogeneous mixtures. Convention for reporting microbial pathogens guides investigators to report a majority consensus sequence. In our study, we found that this approach would under-report sequence variation in all samples tested. As we find that this sequence heterogeneity is efficiently transmitted from donors to recipients, our findings illustrate that infection complexity must be monitored and reported more completely to understand SARS-CoV-2 infection and transmission dynamics. Many of the nucleotide changes that would not be reported in a majority consensus sequence have now been observed as lineage defining SNPs in Omicron BA.1 and/or BA.2 variants. This suggests that minority alleles in earlier SARS-CoV-2 infections may play an important role in the continuing evolution of new variants of concern.
The baseline immunological and hygienic status of pigs impact disease severity of African swine fever

African Swine Fever virus (ASFV) is a large double-enveloped DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family that causes a lethal hemorrhagic disease in domestic pigs and wild boars. Since 2007, a highly virulent genotype II strain has emerged and spread in Europe and South-East Asia, where millions of animals succumbed to the disease. Field- and laboratory-attenuated strains of ASFV cause highly variable clinical disease severity and survival, and mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesized that the immunological and hygienic status of pigs is a determinant of ASF disease course. Here we compared the immunological profile at baseline and in response to ASFV infection in specific pathogen-free (SPF) and farm-raised Large White domestic pigs. At steady state, SPF pigs showed lower white blood cell counts and a lower basal inflammatory and antiviral transcriptomic profile compared to farm pigs associated with profound differences in gut microbiome composition. After inoculation with a highly virulent ASFV genotype II strain (Armenia 2008), severe clinical signs, viremia and pro-inflammatory cytokines appeared sooner in SPF pigs, indicating a reduced capacity to control early virus replication. In contrast, during infection with an attenuated field isolate (Estonia 2014), SPF pigs presented a milder and shorter clinical disease with full recovery, whereas farm pigs presented severe protracted disease with 50% lethality. Interestingly, farm pigs showed higher production of inflammatory cytokines, whereas SPF pigs produced more anti-inflammatory IL-1ra early after infection, and presented a stronger expansion of leukocytes in the recovery phase. Altogether, our data indicate that the hygiene-dependent innate immune status has a double-edge sword impact on immune responses in ASF pathogenesis. While the higher baseline innate immune activity helps the host in reducing initial virus replication, it promotes immunopathological cytokine responses, and delays lymphocyte proliferation after infection with an attenuated strain. Such effects should be considered for live vaccine development and vigilance.
Development of Transformation for Genome Editing of an Emerging Model Organism

With the advances in genomic sequencing, many organisms with novel biological properties are ripe for use as emerging model organisms. However, to make full use of them, transformation methods need to be developed to permit genome editing. Here, we present development of transformation for the fungus fly Sciara (Bradysia) coprophila; this may serve as a paradigm for development of transformation for other emerging systems, especially insects. Sciara has a variety of unique biological features including locus-specific developmentally-regulated DNA amplification; chromosome imprinting; a monopolar spindle in male meiosis I; non-disjunction of the X chromosome in male meiosis II; X chromosome elimination in early embryogenesis; germ line limited (L) chromosomes; high resistance to radiation. Mining the unique biology of Sciara requires a transformation system to test mutations of DNA sequences that may play roles for these features. We describe a Sciara transformation system using a modified piggyBac transformation vector and detailed protocols we have developed to accommodate Sciara-specific requirements. This advance will provide a platform for us and others in the growing Sciara community to take advantage of this unique biological system. In addition, the versatile piggyBac vectors described here and transformation methods will be useful for other emerging model systems. Author Biographies Susan A. Gerbi (Ph.D. with Joseph Gall at Yale University 1970) is the George Eggleston, Professor of Biochemistry at Brown University. Her research includes chromosomes, DNA replication and ribosomal RNA. She was President and is a Fellow of ASCB, a Fellow of AAAS and received the RI Governor’s Award for Scientific Achievement. Other honors include RNA Society/CSHL Press Distinguished Research Mentor award; GSA George Beadle award; ASCB Senior Leadership/ Mentoring Award. She is a national leader in graduate education, including member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Bridges to Independence that led to the NIH K99 program, Chair of the AAMC Graduate Research Education Training Group; Chair of the FASEB Consensus Conference on Graduate Education. Yutaka Yamamoto (M.D. Kansai Medical University 1990; Ph.D. with Walter Gehring at Biozentrum – Basel 1995; postdoc with David Glover at Dundee University and University of Cambridge) is a research associate at Brown University. Graphical Abstract
An approximate line attractor in the hypothalamus that encodes an aggressive internal state

The hypothalamus plays a key role in regulating innate behaviors. It is widely believed to function as a system of ‘labeled lines’, containing behavior-specific neurons with characteristic transcriptomic and connectomic profiles. This view however fails to explain why, although activation of estrogen receptor-1 (Esr1) expressing neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl) promotes aggression, few VMHvl neurons are tuned to attack. To address this paradox, we adopted an unsupervised dynamical systems framework to analyze population activity among VMHvlEsr1 neurons during aggression. We discovered that this activity contains an “integration” dimension exhibiting slow-ramping dynamics and persistent activity that correlates with escalating aggressiveness. These dynamics are implemented as an approximate line attractor in state space. Our analysis suggests a function for VMHvl to encode the intensity of behavior-relevant motive states using line attractors. This view reconciles observational and perturbational studies of VMHvl, and reveals a new mode of neural computation in the hypothalamus.