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The Totem-pole rectifier working in Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) suffers the obvious current distortion at the zero-crossing area. The traditional closed-loop current controller design tries to reduce the zero-crossing distortion by making a tradeoff between the low-frequency reference tracking effect and high-frequency disturbance suppression, resulting in the harmonics increase. To solve this problem, this research analyzes the distortion from a different view and proposes the Precise Correction method. The distorted condition of current is extracted in the zero-crossing vicinity. And then an additional nonlinear compensation is added outside the original current control loop, which can eliminate the current distortion without introducing extra harmonics. The proposed control strategy is verified by simulation and experiment. With the Precise Correction method, the current distortion is eliminated and the unity power factor is achieved.

The monocot family Melanthiaceae with varying genome sizes in a range of 230-fold is an ideal model to study the genome size fluctuation in plants. Its family member Paris genus demonstrates an evolutionary trend of bearing huge genomes characterized by an average c-value of 49.22 pg. Here, we report a 70.18 Gb genome assembly out of the 82.55 Gb genome of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis (PPY), which represents the biggest sequenced genome to date. We annotate 69.53% repetitive sequences in this genome and 62.50% of which are long-terminal repeat (LTR) transposable elements. Further evolution analysis indicates that the giant genome likely results from the joint effect of common and species-specific expansion of different LTR superfamilies, which might contribute to the environment adaptation after speciation. Moreover, we identify the candidate pathway genes for the biogenesis of polyphyllins, the PPY-specific medicinal saponins, by complementary approaches including genome mining, comprehensive analysis of 31 next-generation RNA-seq data and 55.23 Gb single-molecule circular consensus sequencing (CCS) RNA-seq reads, and correlation of the transcriptome and phytochemical data of five different tissues at four growth stages. This study not only provides significant insights into plant genome size evolution, but also paves the way for the following polyphyllin synthetic biology.

Conservative gene families in plants, which are closely related to innovations in flowering plants, have long and complex evolutionary histories. Here, we used the SQUAMOSA promoter-binding protein (SBP-box) gene family as an example to study conservative gene families in flowering plants. In total, 11 groups, including nine angiosperm-conservative groups and two monocot- and eudicot-specific groups, were identified. Among the nine angiosperm-conservative groups, four are conserved in all land plants and the remaining five are angiosperm-specific. The five angiosperm-specific groups exhibit structural and functional diversity and evolved together, along with the evolution of flowering plants. The expansion of SBP genes was affected by miR156, and the miR156-regulated SBP genes tend to retain more copies. Our results reflect the dynamic evolutionary process of the different groups, with the identification of two genetic lines via synteny analyses. In addition, miR156 showed a close evolutionary relationship with SBP genes, suggesting that it may originate from face-to-face tandem duplication of SBP genes. SBP genes without an miR156 binding locus are usually functionally conservative or housekeeping like, belonging to the terrestrial-conservative group. In contrast, SBP genes with miR156 binding sites are selected by angiosperms to regulate more complex physiological processes.

Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis can synthesize Paris saponins with multiple effective therapies, and its rhizome has become an indispensable ingredient in many patented drugs. However, how Paris saponin content changes in tissues at different stages and the molecular mechanisms underlying the production and accumulation of the bioactive compounds are unclear. This study aimed to uncover the mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis and accumulation by integrating transcriptome sequencing and phytochemical investigation of the leaves and rhizomes at different growth stages. Paris saponin content in leaves was lower during the fruiting stage than the vegetative stage, whereas the content in rhizomes increased during the fruiting stage. The candidate genes related to Paris saponin biosynthesis were determined by transcriptome analyses. Most biosynthetic genes were found to be abundantly expressed in the leaves during the vegetative stage in the light of expression profiles and functional enrichment results. The expression patterns of the differentially expressed genes related to the biosynthesis were positively correlated with the accumulation of saponins in tissues. These findings suggest that both leaves and rhizomes are capable of biosynthesizing Paris saponins, and that aerial plant parts can be used to extract them. The different patterns of biosynthesis and accumulation in the leaves and rhizomes were also determined here. This study will help improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis and accumulation of Paris saponins, and aid in the comprehensive development and utilization of this medicinal plant.

Additional file 3: Fig. S2: The synteny relationships among Euphorbiaceae and A. thaliana.

This paper is concerned with secure synchronization of multi-agent systems under deception attacks in the impulsive control framework. False data is injected into sensor-to-controller channels, which causes the transmittal signals being changed. Some stochastic variables obeying the Bernoulli distribution associated with communication channels between neighbouring agents are proposed to describe the case whether channels are suffered from the attack. A distributed impulsive controller is proposed and bounded synchronization, caused by false data injection is studied. Several mean-square bounded synchronization conditions are derived and the error bound is also given. Finally, two examples are provided to verify the theoretical results.

Background Euphorbiaceae is one of the largest families of flowering plants. Due to its exceptional growth form diversity and near-cosmopolitan distribution, it has attracted much interest since ancient times. SBP-box (SBP) genes encode plant-specific transcription factors that play critical roles in numerous biological processes, especially flower development. We performed genome-wide identification and characterization of SBP genes from four economically important Euphorbiaceae species. Results In total, 77 SBP genes were identified in four Euphorbiaceae genomes. The SBP proteins were divided into three length ranges and 10 groups. Group-6 was absent in Arabidopsis thaliana but conserved in Euphorbiaceae. Segmental duplication played the most important role in the expansion processes of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes, and all the duplicated genes were subjected to purify selection. In addition, about two-thirds of the Euphorbiaceae SBP genes are potential targets of miR156, and some miR-regulated SBP genes exhibited high intensity expression and differential expression in different tissues. The expression profiles related to different stress treatments demonstrated broad involvement of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes in response to various abiotic factors and hormonal treatments. Conclusions In this study, 77 SBP genes were identified in four Euphorbiaceae species, and their phylogenetic relationships, protein physicochemical characteristics, duplication, tissue and stress response expression, and potential roles in Euphorbiaceae development were studied. This study lays a foundation for further studies of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes, providing valuable information for future functional exploration of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes.

This paper proposes a multi-robot formation control algorithm. The controller is designed by the difference between the distance and the angle of the two robots. It is proved that the algorithm can guarantee the stability of the formation. Furthermore, the obtained formation control algorithm is tested on the software platform and Pioneer3-DX platform. According to the multi-robot formation control algorithm, a control method of adaptive parameters is proposed. The existing parameters are replaced by fitting equations, which improves the efficiency of parameter adjustment. Simulation and experimental results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

In this paper, a discrete-time online optimal control via time-based adaptive dynamic programming is developed for dynamic positioning (DP) of vessels in the presence of unknown system dynamic, energy conservation and wastage decrease of equipment. Firstly, a model network is established by a neural network (NN) to identify the DP system. And then, a NN optimal control scheme is developed, in which current and recorded data of DP vessel are utilized to train the critic network and action network. The optimal cost and control law are updated once at the sampling instant. The designed DP optimal control policy can maintain the vessel at desired position and heading angle, and guarantee the uniform ultimate boundedness of all the signals in the closed-loop system simultaneously. Finally, simulation results involving a supply vessel demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DP optimal control law.

Additional file 1. This file contains the additional tables (Table S1-S5) associated with the manuscript. Table numbers and titles were listed as follows: Table S1: The information of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes. Table S2: The protein physicochemical properties of Euphorbiaceae SBP proteins. Table S3: The parallel table of scaffold IDs and serial number. Table S4: The information of duplications. Table S5: The identified synteny relationships between Euphorbiaceae species.

Background Species of Paris Sect. Marmorata are valuable medicinal plants to synthesize steroidal saponins with effective pharmacological therapy. However, the wild resources of the species are threatened by plundering exploitation before the molecular genetics studies uncover the genomes and evolutionary significance. Thus, the availability of complete chloroplast genome sequences of Sect. Marmorata is necessary and crucial to the understanding the plastome evolution of this section and facilitating future population genetics studies. Here, we determined chloroplast genomes of Sect. Marmorata, and conducted the whole chloroplast genome comparison. Results This study presented detailed sequences and structural variations of chloroplast genomes of Sect. Marmorata. Over 40 large repeats and approximately 130 simple sequence repeats as well as a group of genomic hotspots were detected. Inverted repeat contraction of this section was inferred via comparing the chloroplast genomes with the one of P. verticillata. Additionally, almost all the plastid protein coding genes were found to prefer ending with A/U. Mutation bias and selection pressure predominately shaped the codon bias of most genes. And most of the genes underwent purifying selection, whereas photosynthetic genes experienced a relatively relaxed purifying selection. Conclusions Repeat sequences and hotspot regions can be scanned to detect the intraspecific and interspecific variability, and selected to infer the phylogenetic relationships of Sect. Marmorata and other species in subgenus Daiswa. Mutation and natural selection were the main forces to drive the codon bias pattern of most plastid protein coding genes. Therefore, this study enhances the understanding about evolution of Sect. Marmorata from the chloroplast genome, and provide genomic insights into genetic analyses of Sect. Marmorata. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5281-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In order to explore the in vitro giant magnetoresistive (GMR) biodetection procedure, exchange-biased GMR sensors with a Wheatstone bridge were adopted to detect a series of concentrations of MnFe2O4 magnetic microparticle alcohol solution using a direct current in-plane magnetic field measuring method. It is revealed that the output voltage $V_{\text {out}}$ of the transfer curve in the GMR sensor is sensitive to the magnetic microparticles and the maximum $V_{\text {out}}$ appears at a bias field around 2 Oe. The $V_{\mathrm {out}}$ difference between with and without magnetic particles, $\vert \Delta V\vert $ , linearly increases with particle concentration $x$ undergoing a relationship of $\vert \Delta V\vert =11.84x-93$ .30, indicating that the unknown concentration $x$ of MnFe2O4 particles can be deduced from the measurement of $V_{\mathrm {out}}$ . A lower detectable concentration limit of 12.5 $\mu \text{g}$ /mL is available in the device at this moment, and it can be further improved by reducing the size of magnetic particles.

Fully epitaxial FeCo/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junctions on silicon substrates were fabricated using in situ shadow-masks in an electron-beam deposition system. An inverse tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) of −39% was observed at 77 K after annealing, which was not obtained in MTJs grown in better vacuum with the same device structure. This inverse TMR is attributed to the oxidation of the FeCo/MgO interface, which provides a negative spin polarization. Our work highlights the importance of interfacial properties on tunneling magnetoresistance and points to a simple processing route to achieve inverse TMR by carefully controlling the oxidation condition of the bottom layer.

A key step in pre-mRNA splicing is the recognition of 3’ splicing sites by the U2AF large and small subunits, a process regulated by numeroustrans-acting splicing factors. How thesetrans-acting factors interact with U2AFin vivois unclear. From a screen for suppressors of the temperature-sensitive (ts) lethality of theC. elegansU2AF large subunit geneuaf-1(n4588)mutants, we identified mutations in theRNAbindingmotif generbm-5, a homolog of the tumor suppressorRBM5.rbm-5mutations can suppressuaf-1(n4588)ts-lethality by loss of function and neuronal expression ofrbm-5was sufficient to rescue the suppression. Transcriptome analyses indicate thatuaf-1(n4588)affected the expression of numerous genes andrbm-5mutations can partially reverse the abnormal gene expression to levels similar to that of wild type. Thoughrbm-5mutations did not obviously affect alternative splicing per se, they can suppress or enhance, in a gene-specific manner, the altered splicing of genes inuaf-1(n4588)mutants. Specifically, the recognition of a weak 3’ splice site was more susceptible to the effect ofrbm-5. Our findings provide novelin vivoevidence that RBM-5 can modulate UAF-1-dependent RNA splicing and suggest that RBM5 might interact with U2AF large subunit to affect tumor formation.Author summaryRNA splicing is a critical regulatory step for eukaryotic gene expression and has been involved in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases. How RNA splicing factors interactin vivoto affect the splicing and expression of genes is unclear. In studying the temperature-sensitive lethal phenotypes of a mutation affecting the splicing factor U2AF large subunit geneuaf-1in the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegans, we isolated suppressive mutations in therbm-5gene, a homolog of the human tumor suppressor geneRBM5.rbm-5is broadly expressed in neurons to enhance the lethality of theuaf-1mutants. We found that the uaf-1 mutation causes aberrant expression of genes in numerous biological pathways, a large portion of which can be corrected byrbm-5mutations. The abnormal splicing of multiple genes caused by theuaf-1mutation is either corrected or enhanced byrbm-5mutations in a gene-specific manner. We propose that RBM-5 interacts with UAF-1 to affect RNA splicing and the tumor suppressor function of RBM5 might involve U2AF-dependent RNA splicing.

In air defense operation, the target identification of air is an important part. The BP network is more commonly used for target identification, but it has a slow convergence speed and easy to fall into local optimal disadvantages. Immune algorithm clone and mutation operation in reference to the wolves in the update mechanism improve the convergence speed of wolves in the algorithm, using immune wolf pack algorithm to optimize initial weights and threshold value of BP network, improve the defect of easily plunged into local optimum and improve the convergence speed of BP network, the optimized BP network is used to solve the problem of target recognition. The simulation results show that the algorithm is efficient and effective.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is an effective method for studying electrochemical systems. The interpretation of EIS is the biggest challenge in this technology, which requires reasonable modeling. To overcome the subjectivity of human analysis, this work uses machine learning to carry out EIS model recognition. Raw EIS data and their equivalent circuit models are collected from the literature, and the support vector machine (SVM) is used to analyze these data. Comparing with other machine learning algorithms, SVM achieves the best comprehensive performance in this database. As a result, the optimized SVM model can efficiently figure out the most suitable equivalent circuit model of the given EIS spectrum. This study demonstrates the great potential of machine learning in electrochemical researches.

Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a debilitating autoimmune disease affecting tens of millions of people in the world. The genetics of AS is unclear. Analysis of rare AS pedigrees might facilitate our understanding of AS pathogenesis. Methods We used genome-wide linkage analysis and whole-exome sequencing in combination with variant co-segregation verification and haplotype analysis to study an AS pedigree and a sporadic AS patient. Results We identified a missense variant in the ankyrin repeat and death domain containing 1B gene ANKDD1B from a Han Chinese pedigree with dominantly inherited AS. This variant (p.L87V) co-segregates with all male patients of the pedigree. In females, the penetrance of the symptoms is incomplete with one identified patient out of 5 carriers, consistent with the reduced frequency of AS in females of the general population. We further identified a distinct missense variant affecting a conserved amino acid (p.R102L) of ANKDD1B in a male from 30 sporadic early onset AS patients. Both variants are absent in 500 normal controls. We determined the haplotypes of four major known AS risk loci, including HLA-B*27, 2p15, ERAP1 and IL23R, and found that only HLA-B*27 is strongly associated with patients in our cohort. Conclusions Together these results suggest that ANKDD1B variants might be associated with AS and genetic analyses of more AS patients are warranted to verify this association. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12881-018-0622-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) is a species of flowering plant with great potential for biofuel production and as an emerging model organism for functional genomic analysis, particularly in the Euphorbiaceae family. DNA binding with one finger (Dof) transcription factors play critical roles in numerous biological processes in plants. Nevertheless, the knowledge about members, and the evolutionary and functional characteristics of the Dof gene family in physic nut is insufficient. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide screening and characterization of the Dof gene family within the physic nut draft genome. In total, 24 JcDof genes (encoding 33 JcDof proteins) were identified. All the JcDof genes were divided into three major groups based on phylogenetic inference, which was further validated by the subsequent gene structure and motif analysis. Genome comparison revealed that segmental duplication may have played crucial roles in the expansion of the JcDof gene family, and gene expansion was mainly subjected to positive selection. The expression profile demonstrated the broad involvement of JcDof genes in response to various abiotic stresses, hormonal treatments and functional divergence. This study provides valuable information for better understanding the evolution of JcDof genes, and lays a foundation for future functional exploration of JcDof genes.

Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) is a species of flowering plant with great potential for biofuel production and as an emerging model organism for functional genomic analysis, particularly in the Euphorbiaceae family. DNA binding with one finger (Dof) transcription factors play critical roles in numerous biological processes in plants. Nevertheless, the knowledge about members, and the evolutionary and functional characteristics of the Dof gene family in physic nut is insufficient. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide screening and characterization of the Dof gene family within the physic nut draft genome. In total, 24 JcDof genes (encoding 33 JcDof proteins) were identified. All the JcDof genes were divided into three major groups based on phylogenetic inference, which was further validated by the subsequent gene structure and motif analysis. Genome comparison revealed that segmental duplication may have played crucial roles in the expansion of the JcDof gene family, and gene expansion was mainly subjected to positive selection. The expression profile demonstrated the broad involvement of JcDof genes in response to various abiotic stresses, hormonal treatments and functional divergence. This study provides valuable information for better understanding the evolution of JcDof genes, and lays a foundation for future functional exploration of JcDof genes.

Table S5. ANKDD1B PCR and sequencing primers. (PPTX 40 kb)

Figure S1. Venn diagram analysis for gene composition from chloroplast genomes of Sect. Marmorata via different assembly methods and reference genomes. Figure S2. Six kinds of SSR motifs in fifteen Paris chloroplast genomes. P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis0 was sequenced by Song et al (2015). P. marmorata0, P. luquanensis0, P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis were sequenced by Huang et al (2016). P. marmorata and P. luquanensis were sequenced in this study. Figure S3. Phylogenetic trees of genes spacer regions harbored repeat sequence, using NJ (bootstrap values on the left of slashes) and ML (bootstrap values on the right of slashes) algorithms. Figure S4. The Ka/Ks ratios of 71 protein-coding genes from chloroplast genome of Sect. Marmorata. Red bars and blue bars denote P. marmorata (PMa) and P. luquanensis (PLa) sequenced previously; green bars and yellow bars denote P. marmorata (PMb) and P. luquanensis (PLb) sequenced in this study. Figure S5. Comparison of Ka, Ks, and Ka/Ks ratios of Sect. Marmorata chloroplast genes. (A-C) denote Ka, Ks, and Ka/Ks, respectively. Red highlight boxplots indicate photosynthesis genes, green ones indicate genes involved in self-replication, and blue ones indicate other genes. SR: small subunit of ribosome, LR: large subunit of ribosome, DR: DNA-dependent RNA, TF: translational initiation factor, ND: NAPH dehydrogenase, PI: photosystem I, PII: photosystem II, CC: cytochrome b/f complex, AS: ATP synthase gene, LS: large subunit of rubisco, SA: subunit of acetyl-CoA, CS: cytochrome synthesis, CT: c-type cytochrome synthesis, PR: protease, MA: maturase, CO: conserved ORF. (PDF 793 kb)

Table S6. PCR primers for haplotype genotyping. (PPTX 41 kb)

Table S1. Summary of chloroplast genome characteristics of Sect. Marmorata. Table S2. List of gene function in the chloroplast genomes. Table S3. Distribution of tandem repeats from the chloroplast genomes. Table S4. Distribution of dispersed, forward and inverted/palindromic repeats from chloroplast genomes. Table S5. Type and number of SSRs in the chloroplast genomes. (PDF 396 kb)

Table S4. List of candidate genes. (PPTX 46 kb)

Table S1. List of patients from the AS9 pedigree and sAS_P1. (PPTX 45 kb)

Table S2. Exome sequencing quality metrics. (PPTX 46 kb)

The paper investigates an approximation method of dynamic positioning (DP) vessel optimal control problem. The approximation method is used for sequential improvement of the control law which converges to the optimal by designing a recursive algorithm. It is proved that the designed control law can maintain vessel’s position and heading at desired values, while guaranteeing the asymptotical stability in the control system. The optimal control problem of DP vessel can be solved by this method. Finally, simulation results involving a supply vessel demonstrate the validity of the proposed control law.

Table S3. NGS summary. (PPTX 54 kb)

A novel frequency reconfigurable microstrip antenna based on $({\rm Ba}, {\rm Sr}){\rm TiO}_{3}$ (BST) substrate is presented. Compared to the complicated structures in traditional reconfigurable antennas, our work is featured by a quite concise design. A theoretical model is proposed to calculate the initial antenna parameters. Both the simulation and the experiment indicate that the coupled aperture structure can efficiently overcome impedance mismatch of BST substrate and obtain a frequency tunability of 10% in Ku band by a DC electric field changing from 0 to 10 ${\rm V}/\mu$ m. Besides, similar radiation patterns are obtained in the operating band for both the E plane and H plane. Our study shows that the using of BST material on the frequency reconfigurable antenna is promising, and can be easily extended to reconfigurable antenna arrays.

To document arid Northern China as a diversification center for desert plants, and to better understand the mechanisms of desert taxa diversification, we used five cpDNA spacers (trnL-trnF, rps16, psbA-trnH, psbK-psbI and trnS-trnG) to investigate Lagochilus ilicifolius in all distribution areas, including Northern China, Mongolia and Russia. Phylogenetic analyses showed that L. ilicifolius comprises two distinctive lineages, one distributed in China, and another in Mongolia–Russia. Our data confirmed that arid Northern China, is a distinctive area with many endemic genera. Biogeographic inferences, based on a Bayesian uncorrelated lognormal model together with molecular dating, suggested that the main diversification within the species occurred in the Pleistocene (ca. 1.38–0.3 Ma), resulting from the transition of the climate of Eurasia to a dry-cold pattern as well as the desertification caused the vicariance of desert plants.

Halomonas zhanjiangensis Chen et al. 2009 is a member of the genus Halomonas, family Halomonadaceae, class Gammaproteobacteria. Representatives of the genus Halomonas are a group of halophilic bacteria often isolated from salty environments. The type strain H. zhanjiangensis JSM 078169(T) was isolated from a sea urchin (Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus) collected from the South China Sea. The genome of strain JSM 078169(T) is the fourteenth sequenced genome in the genus Halomonas and the fifteenth in the family Halomonadaceae. The other thirteen genomes from the genus Halomonas are H. halocynthiae, H. venusta, H. alkaliphila, H. lutea, H. anticariensis, H. jeotgali, H. titanicae, H. desiderata, H. smyrnensis, H. salifodinae, H. boliviensis, H. elongata and H stevensii. Here, we describe the features of strain JSM 078169(T), together with the complete genome sequence and annotation from a culture of DSM 21076(T). The 4,060,520 bp long draft genome consists of 17 scaffolds with the 3,659 protein-coding and 80 RNA genes and is a part of Genomic Encyclopedia of Type Strains, Phase I: the one thousand microbial genomes (KMG) project.

Despite the absence of major Quaternary glaciations in arid Northwest China, significant climatic oscillations definitely impacted the evolution of the biota in situ. Phylogeography has grown as a discipline because it has provided explicit tools for the study of geographical subdivision among populations. But phylogeographical application for arid Northwest China has begun to blossom, which has provided evidence that aridification played a significant role in the increase of genetic diversity and species diversification. The time frame corresponds with Pleistocene climatic oscillations, which caused extreme aridity and the expansion of sandy deserts. In the Asian desert flora subkingdom and Eurasian forest subkingdom of Northwest China, the recurrent phylogeographical scenarios, identified by different case studies, broadly agree with longstanding biogeographic, floristic, and topographic concepts: (i) aridification promoted diversification and speciation of desert plants; (ii) desert expansion caused habitat fragmentation; (iii) the Altay-Tianshan Mountains included glacial refugia for plants; (iv) population expansion and recolonization from glacial refugia occurred during the postglacial period; and (v) desert plants persistence and alpine plants retreat during climate oscillations. We discuss the main phylogeographical findings in light of molecular and paleo-environmental evidence, emphasizing notable gaps in our knowledge and outlining future research perspectives for disentangling the evolutionary history of this arid region's flora.

Soft magnetic films (SMFs) are key materials for miniaturization and multifunctionality of radio frequency and microwave components and integrated circuits (ICs) due to the good high-frequency soft magnetic performances and the compatibility to IC processing technologies. Magnetic micro-inductors are one of widely used microwave IC components. The SMFs in magnetic micro-inductors should have a well-defined in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in order to reach a high ferromagnetic resonance frequency f FMR . On the other hand, a high permeability is only available when excitation magnetic field being along the magnetic hard-axis (HA) direction, i.e. HA excitation. However, the typical planar micro-inductors are round or square, the magnetic anisotorpy characterisitics of the SMFs above indicates that the efficiency of SMFs can only reach 50% in inductors. Although many attempts have been made to enhance the efficiency of SMFs in inductors,1 100% HA excitation is still difficult to be reached.

MnO2-doped barium strontium titanate–MgO (BST/MgO) composites were sintered by the solid-state reaction method. The effect of MnO2-doping on the microstructure and microwave dielectric properties of the BST/MgO composites was investigated. The MgO grains were found to be surrounded by Mn-rich oxides, which hindered the incorporation of Mg2+ into the lattice of BST. As a result, enhanced comprehensive microwave dielectric performances, such as the reduction of dielectric loss and leakage current about 0.78 nA/cm2, and an increase of electric field tunability of dielectric constant about 13.8% at 5 kV/mm were obtained in MnO2-doped BST/MgO ceramics.

Clarifying the relationship between distribution patterns of organisms and geological events is critical to understanding the impact of environmental changes on organismal evolution. Quercus sect. Heterobalanus is now distributed across the Himalaya-Hengduan Mountains (HHM) and warm lowland in East China, yet how the distribution patterns of this group changed in response to the HHM uplift remains largely unknown. This study examines the effect of tectonic events in the HHM region on the oaks, providing a biological perspective on the geological history of this region. Fifty-six populations of Quercus sect. Heterobalanus were genotyped using four chloroplast DNA regions and nine nuclear simple sequence repeat loci to assess population structure and diversity, supplemented by molecular dating and ancestral area reconstructions. The underlying demographic dynamics were compared using ecological niche models of the species distributions during the last glacial maximum and the present. These analyses illustrate that Quercus sect. Heterobalanus diversified as the HHM uplifted and climatic cooling during the mid-Miocene, colonizing the cold habitats from warm broadleaf mixed forests. Lineages in cold highlands and warm lowlands have diverged as a consequence of local adaptation to diverging climates since the late Miocene. Our results suggest that continuous uplift of the HHM in the late Miocene to early Pliocene accompanied by simultaneous cooling triggered the differentiation of oaks. The biogeography of Quercus sect. Heterobalanus illuminates the geological events responsible for the modern-day HHM.

An optical temperature sensor based on the upconversion luminescence of Tm3+ has been developed. Under a 980 nm diode laser excitation, the fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) between 700 (Tm3+:3F2,3 → 3H6) and 800 nm (Tm3+:3H4 → 3H6) upconversion emissions from Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped oxyfluoride glass ceramic was studied as a function of temperature in the range of 293–703 K. The 3F2,3 and 3H4 states of Tm3+ are verified to be thermally coupled levels. By using FIR technique, the sensitivity for detecting temperature variations achieved here is better than previous reported rare earth ions fluorescence based temperature sensors. With the advantages of intense upconversion luminescence and absolutely separated 700 and 800 nm emission bands, the Tm3+/Yb3+ codoped oxyfluoride glass ceramic is a very promising candidate for accurate optical temperature sensors with much higher sensitivity and resolution.

Empirical optimizers like ATLAS have been very effective in optimizing computational kernels in libraries. The best choice of parameters such as tile size and degree of loop unrolling is determined in ATLAS by executing different versions of the computation. In contrast, optimizing compilers use a model-driven approach to program transformation. While the model-driven approach of optimizing compilers is generally orders of magnitude faster than ATLAS-like library generators, its effectiveness can be limited by the accuracy of the performance models used. In this paper, we describe an approach where a class of computations is modeled in terms of constituent operations that are empirically measured, thereby allowing modeling of the overall execution time. The performance model with empirically determined cost components is used to select library calls and choose data layout transformations in the context of the Tensor Contraction Engine, a compiler for a high-level domain-specific language for expressing computational models in quantum chemistry. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through experimental measurements on representative computations from quantum chemistry.

In this paper, an auxiliary polarization sensitive array(APSA) model is proposed, which can reduce the cost of receiving polarization information and further improve the performance of the filter. On the basis of a single polarized linear array, a partial array element is selected to transform into an orthogonal dipole array element, so that the array has the ability to receive polarization information. At the same time a new steering vector and received signal model are constructed. Received signal is filtered based on that, and the filtering capability and performance of the array are analysed in detail. The computer simulation shows that the proposed array model can effectively improve the filtering performance of the traditional array. The simplified structure can effectively reduce the cost of the traditional polarization sensitive array on the premise of guaranteeing the signal to noise ratio of the receiving letter.

Compile-time optimizations involve a number of transformations such as loop permutation, fusion, tiling, array contraction etc. The selection of the appropriate transformation to minimize the execution time is a challenging task. We address this problem in the context of tensor contraction expressions involving arrays too large to fit in main memory. Domain-specific features of the computation are exploited to develop an integrated framework that facilitates the exploration of the entire search space of optimizations. In this paper, we discuss the exploration of the space of loop fusion and tiling transformations in order to minimize the disk I/O cost. These two transformations are integrated and pruning strategies are presented that significantly reduce the number of loop structures to be evaluated for subsequent transformations. The evaluation of the framework using representative contraction expressions from quantum chemistry shows a dramatic reduction in the size of the search space using the strategies presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Species of the genus Halomonas are halophilic and their flexible adaption to changes of salinity and temperature brings considerable potential biotechnology applications, such as degradation of organic pollutants and enzyme production. The type strain Halomonas lutea YIM 91125(T) was isolated from a hypersaline lake in China. The genome of strain YIM 91125(T) becomes the twelfth species sequenced in Halomonas, and the thirteenth species sequenced in Halomonadaceae. We described the features of H. lutea YIM 91125(T), together with the high quality draft genome sequence and annotation of its type strain. The 4,533,090 bp long genome of strain YIM 91125(T) with its 4,284 protein-coding and 84 RNA genes is a part of Genomic Encyclopedia of Type Strains, Phase I: the one thousand microbial genomes (KMG-I) project. From the viewpoint of comparative genomics, H. lutea has a larger genome size and more specific genes, which indicated acquisition of function bringing better adaption to its environment. DDH analysis demonstrated that H. lutea is a distinctive species, and halophilic features and nitrogen metabolism related genes were discovered in its genome.

As both electronic structure methods and the computers on which they are run become increasingly complex, the task of producing robust, reliable, high-performance implementations of methods at a rapid pace becomes increasingly daunting. In this paper we present an overview of the Tensor Contraction Engine (TCE), a unique effort to address issues of both productivity and performance through automatic code generation. The TCE is designed to take equations for many-body methods in a convenient high-level form and acts like an optimizing compiler, producing an implementation tuned to the target computer system and even to the specific chemical problem of interest. We provide examples to illustrate the TCE approach, including the ability to target different parallel programming models, and the effects of particular optimizations.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the most frequent human congenital motor neuron degenerative disease, is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the highly conserved survival motor neuron gene SMN1. Mutations in SMN could affect several molecular processes, among which aberrant pre-mRNA splicing caused by defective snRNP biogenesis is hypothesized as a major cause of SMA. To date little is known about the interactions of SMN with other splicing factor genes and how SMN affects splicing in vivo. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans carries a single ortholog of SMN, smn-1, and has been used as a model for studying the molecular functions of SMN. We analyzed RNA splicing of reporter genes in an smn-1 deletion mutant and found that smn-1 is required for efficient splicing at weak 3' splice sites. Genetic studies indicate that the defective lifespan and motor functions of the smn-1 deletion mutants could be significantly improved by mutations of the splicing factor U2AF large subunit gene uaf-1. In smn-1 mutants we detected a reduced expression of U1 and U5 snRNAs and an increased expression of U2, U4 and U6 snRNAs. Our study verifies an essential role of smn-1 for RNA splicing in vivo, identifies the uaf-1 gene as a potential genetic modifier of smn-1 mutants, and suggests that SMN-1 has multifaceted effects on the expression of spliceosomal snRNAs.

This paper provides an overview of a program synthesis system for a class of quantum chemistry computations. These computations are expressible as a set of tensor contractions and arise in electronic structure modeling. The input to the system is a a high-level specification of the computation, from which the system can synthesize high-performance parallel code tailored to the characteristics of the target architecture. Several components of the synthesis system are described, focusing on performance optimization issues that they address.