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The continuous cultivation with excessive application of agrochemicals has led to the deterioration of soils. Incorporating leguminous green manure (GM) was found to improve the physicochemical and biological properties of soils. However, the influence of GM soybean intercropping on the temporal distribution of bacterial communities in strongly acidic soils is less explored. In this study, a nine-month field trial of soybean intercropping was conducted in a deteriorated tea plantation. This was used to test the hypothesis that GM treatment ameliorates tea-cultivated environments through changing bacterial communities as well as edaphic properties. GM treatment was demonstrated to increase both functional and population diversity during all the months that were considered. An alteration of life strategies exhibited by bacterial communities in GM treatment was observed, which shifted from oligotrophy (Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and the candidate phylum WPS-2) to copiotrophy (Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria). This also contributed to the remarkable increase in metabolic potential of bacterial communities toward all six carbon source categories. The potentially versatile organic matter decomposers and/or plant growth-promoting bacteria, such as Burkholderiaceae, Chitinophagaceae, Sphingobacteriaceae, and Sphingomonadaceae bacteria, were identified as the most effective biomarkers in GM treatment. These bacterial groups showed strong correlation with soil pH, organic matter, and available K, Ca, and Mg. The increased diversity, metabolic potential, and copiotrophic taxa provided insight into the benefits brought by soybean intercropping, with enhanced community stability, facilitated nutrient cycling, and microbe–plant interactions in the strongly acidic tea plantation.

Several large or mid-scale collections of Drosophila enhancer traps have been recently created to allow for genetic swapping of GAL4 coding sequences to versatile transcription activators or suppressors such as LexA, QF, split-GAL4 (GAL4-AD and GAL4-DBD), GAL80 and QS. Yet a systematic analysis of the feasibility and reproducibility of these tools is lacking. Here we focused on InSITE GAL4 drivers that specifically label different subpopulations of olfactory neurons, particularly local interneurons (LNs), and genetically swapped the GAL4 domain for LexA, GAL80 or QF at the same locus. We found that the major utility-limiting factor for these genetic swaps is that many do not fully reproduce the original GAL4 expression patterns. Different donors exhibit distinct efficacies for reproducing original GAL4 expression patterns. The successfully swapped lines reported here will serve as valuable reagents and expand the genetic toolkits of Drosophila olfactory circuit research.

The present study was performed to investigate root-associated bacteria from Platycodon grandiflorum, a medicinal plant commonly grown in East Asia. Isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere or root interior with various culture media, and phylogenetic analyses were performed based on their 16S rDNA sequences. In consideration of practical applications, traits related to plant growth promotion and niche adaptation were assessed in several endophytic strains with fewer biosafety concerns. The effects of a bacterial inoculation on seedling and mature plant growth were evaluated. Seventeen genera that encompassed more than 30 bacterial lineages were successfully retrieved from the roots, the majority of which have not been reported as P. grandiflorum-associated bacteria, particularly for non-negligible Proteobacteria. Although nitrogen-fixing or phosphate-solubilizing and indole acetic acid-producing activities were recorded in all of the strains selected, these strains were beneficial or detrimental to plant growth as evidenced by their influence on the length of seedlings and biomass of mature plants. Among the 4 endophytic Rhizobium species tested in the present study, the potentially novel Rhizobium sp. BF-E16, which was more compatible with the non-leguminous medicinal plant P. grandiflorum, was identified. Other than plant growth-promoting traits, characteristics such as plant constituent-hydrolyzing activities need to be taken into consideration and their roles clarified when investigating plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria.

A low-voltage programmable gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet poly-Si thin-film transistor (TFT) nonvolatile memory (NVM), which uses band-to-band tunneling induced hot electron (BBHE) programming, is demonstrated. The BBHE method is extremely efficient for programming data in the p-type GAA nanosheet TFT NVM because the GAA nanosheet structure enhances the source-to-drain component of the electric field in its channel. Therefore, the enhanced electric field of the BBHE phenomenon creates energetic electrons that surmount the tunneling oxide barrier easily and pass shallow traps in the charge trapping layer of the GAA TFT NVM. Consequently, the p-type GAA TFT NVM achieves low-voltage programming bias and satisfactory data retention

The acidic nature of red soil commonly found in tea plantations provides unique niches for bacterial growth. These bacteria as well as soil properties are dynamic and vary with agricultural management practices. However, less is known about the influence of manipulation such as cover cropping on bacterial communities in tea plantations. In this study a field trial was conducted to address the short-term effects of soybean intercropping on a bacterial community. Diversity, metabolic potential and structure of the bacterial community were determined through community level physiological profiling and amplicon sequencing approaches. Cover cropping was observed to increase soil EC, available P, K, and microelements Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn after three months of cultivation. Bacterial functional diversity and metabolic potential toward six carbon source categories also increased in response to cover cropping. Distinct bacterial communities among treatments were revealed, and the most effective biomarkers, such as Acidobacteriaceae, Burkholderiaceae, Rhodanobacteraceae, and Sphingomonadaceae, were identified in cover cropping. Members belonging to these families are considered as organic matter decomposers and/or plant growth promoting bacteria. We provided the first evidence that cover cropping boosted both copiotrophs (Proteobacteria) and oligotrophs (Acidobacteria), with potentially increased functional stability, facilitated nutrient cycling, and prospective benefits to plants in the tea plantation.

Agriculture land has been treated as the urban reserved land which has potential value for transformation. Especially for the land development strategy by “Developmental Government”, agriculture land’s value is twisted and encouraging trading activity, that result in lower production and short in food supply. The threats from extreme weather and environmental change has increased the potential hazards of landuse and challenges toward town planning. This study uses environmental diagnosis and field survey with in-depth interviews, along with the result from FLO-2D flood model and GIS overlay of hazard risk maps, to proceed with a case of “property-led development” in (Taiwan, Xinzhu) Zhubei city. The findings indicate that run-off volume of some area has changed and the flooding depth / area has increased. By interpreting the empirical results, it has exposed the environmental hazard issues and land commodification by the failure of urban planning policy in Zhubei city.

Drosophila olfactory local interneurons (LNs) in the antennal lobe are highly diverse and variable. How and when distinct types of LNs emerge, differentiate, and integrate into the olfactory circuit is unknown. Through systematic developmental analyses, we found that LNs are recruited to the adult olfactory circuit in three groups. Group 1 LNs are residual larval LNs. Group 2 are adult-specific LNs that emerge before cognate sensory and projection neurons establish synaptic specificity, and Group 3 LNs emerge after synaptic specificity is established. Group 1 larval LNs are selectively reintegrated into the adult circuit through pruning and re-extension of processes to distinct regions of the antennal lobe, while others die during metamorphosis. Precise temporal control of this pruning and cell death shapes the global organization of the adult antennal lobe. Our findings provide a road map to understand how LNs develop and contribute to constructing the olfactory circuit., Local interneurons (LNs) in the Drosophila olfactory system are highly diverse. Here, the authors labeled different LN types and described how different LN subtypes are integrated into the developing circuit.

The choice of medical services affects an individual’s treatment and health. However, few studies have focused on medical electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), which has the greatest impact on such choices. This study was performed to explore the need for and general public’s attitude toward medical eWOM and provide a reference for government, media, and medical practitioners. In this study, 84% of the respondents had experience using online evaluation platforms to search for eWOM, and those who were satisfied with the online evaluation platforms substantially outnumbered those who were dissatisfied. The respondents generally believed that there is a need for physician evaluation platforms, although a difference remained between respondents who needed the online evaluation platforms (72.0%) and were willing to reference them (72.0%) and those who trusted them (46.5%) and were willing to provide their opinions (55.0%). These results could signify that despite the public’s need, the public remains doubtful of the information provided by these online evaluation platforms.

The present study was undertaken to explore acidotolerant rhizobial and non-rhizobial bacteria associated with root nodules of soybean (Glycine max L.). Genotypic and phenotypic characterization regarding nitrogen fixation, nodulation and other potentially plant growth-promotion traits were performed in several isolates. Influences of bacterial inoculation on symbiotic nitrogen fixation and soybean growth were evaluated through flask and pot experiments in a greenhouse. The highest nitrogen-fixing activity was recorded in isolate Bra6, which was closely related to Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens based on 16S rDNA, nifH, and nodD gene sequences. All the non-rhizobial Pseudomonas isolates possessed multiple plant growth-promoting traits, with various hydrolytic patterns toward plant constituents. In sterile water agar-containing flasks, Bra6 + Pse2 treatment significantly (p &lt, 0.05) increased the number of nodules, fresh weight, and dry weight of both root and shoot. This also led to the increment of most of the nutrients in the soybean plant compared with the uninoculated control or sole inoculation of Bra6. In non-sterile strongly acidic soil-containing pots, co-inoculation with Bra6 and various Pseudomonas isolates showed distinctively positive effects on symbiotic nitrogen fixation and soybean growth. The highest symbiotic nitrogen-fixing activity, root and shoot biomass, as well as N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Mn, Cu, and Zn contents of soybean plant were observed in Bra6 + Pse2 treatment. Synergistic symbiosis occurred through co-inoculation with Bradyrhizobium and Pseudomonas isolates, which further enhanced nutrients’ acquisition and growth of soybean in the strongly acidic soils.

Overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is known to mediate glutamate excitotoxicity in neurological diseases. However, how ROS burdens can influence neural circuit integrity remains unclear. Here, we investigate the impact of excitotoxicity induced by depletion of Drosophila Eaat1, an astrocytic glutamate transporter, on locomotor central pattern generator (CPG) activity, neuromuscular junction architecture, and motor function. We show that glutamate excitotoxicity triggers a circuit-dependent ROS feedback loop to sculpt the motor system. Excitotoxicity initially elevates ROS, thereby inactivating cholinergic interneurons and consequently changing CPG output activity to overexcite motor neurons and muscles. Remarkably, tonic motor neuron stimulation boosts muscular ROS, gradually dampening muscle contractility to feedback-enhance ROS accumulation in the CPG circuit and subsequently exacerbate circuit dysfunction. Ultimately, excess premotor excitation of motor neurons promotes ROS-activated stress signaling that alters neuromuscular junction architecture. Collectively, our results reveal that excitotoxicity-induced ROS can perturb motor system integrity through a circuit-dependent mechanism.

This work analyzes and optimizes the design with emphasis on the inversion charge characteristics for InGaAs negative-capacitance FinFETs (NC-FinFETs) by using theoretical calculation corroborated with numerical simulation. Our study indicates that, optimized ferroelectric remnant-polarization (Pr) for InGaAs devices can be chosen by the capacitance matching at the optimized sub-band of the inversion capacitance. In addition, the optimized sub-band is different for the InGaAs devices with different fin-width. The P r optimization of the InGaAs device is also different from the Si device. After the optimization, the quantum-capacitance induced inversion charge loss for InGaAs devices can be mitigated from ∼2.4X to ∼1.1X due to the action of negative capacitance.

Background Given the global trend of aging societies, medical expenditure has hit record highs in many countries. Because medical advice-seeking behaviors can affect the health of whole societies, how members of a society make medical-related decisions with limited available resources is worthy of investigation. Although transaction cost theory has been extensively applied in commercial research, it is yet to be applied in studies on medical advice-seeking behaviors. Method and results This study conducted in-depth interviews with 15 participants and verified that transaction cost theory is applicable for analyzing people’s medical advice-seeking behaviors. Conclusion This study verified that transaction cost theory influenced the participants’ choices of physicians and treatment methods, which implies that improved transparency of medical information could considerably reduce transaction costs in relation to medical behaviors and enhance people’s well-being.

Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks are expected to support vast numbers of connected devices and device-to-device (D2D) communication is expected to play a key role in 5G mobile networks. This paper studies the optimization problem of resource allocation that provides rate guarantee by fewest resource blocks. To solve it efficiently, we combine several optimization techniques such as relaxation and the block successive upper bound minimization (BSUM) method and derive a closed-form formula for each iteration in BSUM. Simulation results show that our method outperforms existing algorithms.

Nasogastric tubes are a widely used and vital piece of medical equipment for providing daily nutrition to patients, particularly in cases involving elderly patients or those with chronic diseases. However, current methods for stabilising nasogastric tubes are inadequate. Therefore, in this study, we employed a questionnaire survey to analyse the opinions and needs of medical staff. Subsequently, we incorporated these opinions with the innovation principles of the teoriya resheniya izobretatelskikh zadatch (meaning “the theory of inventive problem solving”) to develop a novel type of nasogastric tube stabiliser.

Future 5G mobile networks are expected to support high numbers of simultaneously connected devices and to achieve high system spectrum efficiency at low power consumption. To attain these goals, device-to-device (D2D) communication is a key component. We allow any cellular user equipment to share its radio resource with multiple D2D devices and then develop the MiSo algorithm, which considers spectrum reuse and power control jointly. Simulation results confirm that compared with several algorithms, MiSo achieves highest system throughput and power efficiency with shortest run time.

This study presents the numerical simulation of three-dimensional incompressible steady and laminar and turbulent fluid flow of a trapezoidal micro-channel heat sink (MCHS) using CuO/water nanofluid as a cooling fluid. Navier–Stokes equations with conjugate energy equation are discretized by the finite-volume method. CFD predictions of laminar and turbulent forced convection of CuO/water nanofluids by single-phase and two-phase models (mixture model) are compared. The parameters studied include the particle volume fraction ( ϕ = 0.204 %, 0.256%, 0.294% and 0.4%), and the volumetric flow rate ( V ˙ = 10 mL / min , 15 mL/min and 20 mL/min). Comparisons of the thermal resistance predicted by the single-phase and two-phase models with corresponding experimental results show that the two-phase model is more accurate than the single-phase model. In the laminar flow, the thermal resistance of nanofluids is smaller than that of the water, which decreases as the particle volume fraction and the volumetric flow rate increase. In addition, the pressure drop of both nanofluid-cooled MCHS and pure water-cooled MCHS is discussed. For the laminar flow case, the pressure drop increases slightly for nanofluid-cooled MCHS.

Although the androgen receptor (AR) has been implicated in the promotion of apoptosis in testicular cells (TSCs), the molecular pathway underlying AR-mediated apoptosis and its sensitivity to environmental hormones in TSCs and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) remain unclear. We generated the iPSCs from bovine TSCs via the electroporation of OCT4. The established iPSCs were supplemented with leukemia inhibitory factor and bone morphogenetic protein 4 to maintain and stabilize the expression of stemness genes and their pluripotency. Apoptosis signaling was assessed after exposure to mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), the active metabolite of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate. Here, we report that iPSCs were more resistant to MEHP-induced apoptosis than were original TSCs. MEHP also repressed the expression of AR and inactivated WNT signaling, and then led to the commitment of cells to apoptosis via the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor p21CIP1. The loss of the frizzed receptor 7 and the gain of p21CIP were responsible for the stimulatory effect of MEHP on AR-mediated apoptosis. Our results suggest that testicular iPSCs can be used to study the signaling pathways involved in the response to environmental disruptors, and to assess the toxicity of environmental endocrine disruptors in terms of the maintenance of stemness and pluripotency.

Compared to current mobile networks, next-generation mobile networks are expected to support higher numbers of simultaneously connected devices and to achieve higher system spectrum efficiency and lower power consumption. To achieve these goals, we study the multi-sharing device-to-device (D2D) communication, which allows any cellular user equipment to share its radio resource with multiple D2D devices. We jointly consider resource block reuse and power control and then develop the MISS algorithm. Simulation results show that MISS performs very well in terms of transmission power consumption, system throughput, and the number of permitted D2D devices.

The original version of this Article contained errors in Figs. 4 and 6. In Fig. 4, panel a, text labels UAS-FLP and LexAop2>stop>myr::smGdP-HA were shifted upwards during typesetting of the figure, and in Fig. 6, panel h, the number 15 was incorrectly placed on the heat map scale. These have now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

The growing popularity of blogs has drawn an increasing amount of attention from corporations keen to expand market share and establish better customer relationships. It is thus imperative to probe into why some blogs attract a tremendous amount of interest and why they are sustainable. Although there are a number of studies exploring the factors underlying popular or successful blogs, few results have been reported from the integrated perspective of IS success and marketing. By segregating blog quality into information quality and system quality, this study investigates the linkage between blog quality and blog-user satisfaction within the expectation-disconfirmation paradigm. It establishes nine key constructs for blog-user satisfaction and tests the relationships among them. The results of this study provide directions for bloggers and system administrators to achieve higher levels of blog-user satisfaction by developing multi-faceted strategies based on the reported dimensions of blog quality.

Chang K-V, Wu S-H, Lin S-H, Shieh J-Y, Wang T-G, Chen W-S. Power Doppler presentation of shoul- ders with biceps disorder. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2010;91: 624-31. Objectives: To investigate the patterns of power Doppler signals on the long head of the biceps tendon at asymptom- atic controls and shoulders with clinically diagnosed biceps disorder. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Hospital rehabilitation department. Participants: Asymptomatic adults (n27) were included in the control group, and patients with unilateral biceps disor- der (n17) were recruited for the patient group. Basic gray color ultrasound screening was performed for rotator cuff ten- dons antecedently. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Three scan views were taken on the anterior shoulder by power Doppler sonography, includ- ing the transverse plane of the long head of the biceps tendon, and the longitudinal planes along the lateral and medial edge of the bicipital groove. We compared the patterns and the power Doppler signal area within and between both groups. Results: In shoulders of healthy controls and the asymptom- atic side of patients, the power Doppler signal area of the longitudinal planes along the lateral edge of the bicipital groove was significantly larger than that along the medial edge of the bicipital groove. However, there was no significant difference in the painful side of patients. Moreover, the painful shoulders had a higher prevalence of power Doppler signal medial to the biceps tendon in the transverse plane, which paralleled bicipital peritendinous effusion and rotator cuff abnormalities. Conclusions: The power Doppler signal was more fre- quently observed medial to the biceps tendon in shoulders with clinically diagnosed biceps disorder. Whether shoulders with this specific power Doppler signal pattern benefit more from anti-inflammatory therapy needs further exploration.

A new modified CMOS buffer amplifier with rail-to-rail input and output range is proposed by TSMC 0.35μm 2P4M process at 3.3V supply. The technique adds dummy pairs to sense the common mode range of the input differential pair and adjusts the output current accordingly. The amplifier provides high gain for a wider range of output voltages. Design considerations for reducing the impact of the additional circuitry on the core are provided. The technique described can be adapted for use with traditional fully-differential rail-to-rail amplifiers, which performs 86.9dB ~92dB dc gain, 15 MHz unit-gain bandwidth, high driving ability with high slew rate under a 100pF capacitance and a 3kΩ series resistance loading. The simulation results indicate that the settling times of rising and falling edge are within 3.5μs. It is effective for a high resolution and high speed LCD driver.

Organ formation requires a delicate balance of positive and negative regulators. In Drosophila eye development, wingless (wg) is expressed at the lateral margins of the eye disc and serves to block retinal development. The T-box gene optomotor-blind (omb) is expressed in a similar pattern and is regulated by Wg. Omb mediates part of Wg activity in blocking eye development. Omb exerts its function primarily by blocking cell proliferation. These effects occur predominantly in the ventral margin. Our results suggest that the primary effect of Omb is the blocking of Jak/STAT signaling by repressing transcription of upd which encodes the Jak receptor ligand Unpaired.

This study identified the determinants of legislator participation in the stock market and investment portfolio preference. All of the data used for this study were hand collected during 2010-2013 from the property declarations provided by legislators to the Sunshine Acts website of the Control Yuan, Republic of China (Taiwan). Statistical analysis shows that all of the legislators studied have a high education level and relatively uniform above-average assets. The study findings indicate that the stock market participation of legislators is strongly associated with political orientation, higher education level, and higher wealth than median citizens; the two most important factors influencing legislators to participate in the stock market are party and wealth. Furthermore, the wealth and education levels of Kuomintang party legislators are obviously higher than those of legislators of the other parties. The empirical results show that legislators prefer stocks in the electronic and others categories more than those in other categories. This information provides evidence that legislators use their political power in ruling legislative processes to impact the stock price of listed-stock firms, thereby benefitting their investments. In conclusion, this work is focussed on helping voters to understand the implied information behind the ruling effect of legislators.

Place query is one of the most fundamental applications, and traditional use cases include finding the exact spatial location of a place and searching for a specific type of places in a given spatial range. On the other hand, there is another possibility that you may want to recommend a visited place to friends but forget the complete name of it. You have vague impressions on it and only remember the information of the place type, the rough range of the place, and some places near it. To enable the capability of query by impression that has not been fully explored in the literature, we define a new place query problem called Place Query with Adjacency Constraints (abbreviated as PQAC). We propose a naive approach and two enhancement algorithms, distance pre-calculating algorithm and grid indexing algorithm, to achieve greater efficiency that can satisfy the real-time need of this place query service. We implement the Query By Impression (abbreviated as QBI) system with a real metropolitan place dataset consisting of more than 40,000 place records from Google Place API. Several experiments are conducted to validate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed QBI system.

A novel gate-all-around ultra-thin p-channel poly-Si TFT functioning as transistor and flash memory with silicon nanocrystals have been successfully demonstrated. The process is simple and mask free. For the 3-nm-thick channel devices, the S.S. of 88 mV/dec and I on /I off ratio of more than 108 can be achieved. Extreme low applied voltage for band-to-band-tunneling-induced hot electron injection tunneling (BBHE) operation and excellent retention are proposed.

This study presents a patient with a stroke who had total paralysis of his left-side limbs after intracranial haemorrhaging, who later experienced partial weakness of the right-side limbs after a subdural hygroma. Both conditions occurred without major trauma. He received two separate operations, a craniotomy and placement of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, before the appearance of the subdural hygroma.According to the literature, heterotopic ossification is often reported with major trauma-associated diseases, but is less frequently found in patients with non-traumatic conditions, from which this patient suffered. Although the patient had experienced no major trauma, he had multiple heterotopic ossifications on the side of the subdural hygroma-affected limbs, which exhibited better motor control and were less spastic than those of the opposite side. These heterotopic ossifications were around joints of the hip, knee and shoulder on his right side, as proven by plain radiography and a triple-phase bone scan and resulted in marked limitations of joint motions. This patient thus had major disabilities of his limbs bilaterally.The occurrence of heterotopic ossifications in the less-paretic limbs might have worsened this patient's functional outcome.

The embedded multicore DSP systems are playing increasingly important role for consumer electronic design. Such systems try to optimize the objective for both performance and power with mobile devices. Embedded application developers will then devise designs to optimize embedded applications for not only performance but also power. However, currently there are no power metrics support for popular application design platforms such as QEMU and SID, where application developers develop their applications. This hinders application developers to help tune optimizations for power. In this paper, we propose a power aware simulation framework on embedded multicore DSP subsystems for SID framework. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to attempt to build a power aware simulator based on SID simulation framework. The power estimation flow includes two phases, IP level power modeling and system level power prower profiling. In the IP level power modeling, PowerMixerIP is employed to build up the power model for PAC DSP and major IPs. In the system level power profiling, we provide a power profiling hierarchy that meets the demand of embedded software developers. The granularity of power profiling can be configured to the whole simulation stage or any specific time slot in the simulation such as a dedicated function loop. In our experiments, DSP programs with SIMD intrinsics for DSPStone benchmark are examined with our proposed power aware simulator. In addition, a face detection application is deployed as a running example on multi-core DSP systems to show how our power simulator can be used to help collaborate with developers in the optimization process to illustrate views of power dissipations of applications.