Compact Branch Research Articles

CNGC20 plays dual roles in regulating plant growth and immunity in Brassica napus

Inflorescence architecture is determined by inflorescence length, branch angles and the density of siliques, which affects planting density, lodging resistance and mechanical operation in rapeseed. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling inflorescence architecture are poorly understood, restricting the progress of breeding varieties with ideal plant architecture in oilseed rape. In this study, we have identified and characterized a rapeseed inflorescence development mutant, reduced inflorescence length (ril), which exhibits determinate and shortened inflorescences, reduced plant height, compact branches, and increased silique density. Through BSA-seq and map-based cloning, we find that RIL encodes a cyclic nucleotide-gated channel 20 (BnaA01.CNGC20). A substitution of proline at the 304th position to leucine (P304L) was identified in the conserved transmembrane domain of BnaA01.CNGC20. This P304L substitution neither affects the subcellular localization and self-assembly of BnaA01.CNGC20, nor disrupts the interactions with BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1-associated receptor kinase 1 (BAK1), which interacts with CNGC20 and phosphorylates it to regulate Ca2+ channel stability. However, the P304L substitution increases channel activity and Ca2+ influx, which in turn induces immune responses such as cell death, H2O2 accumulation, upregulation of pathogenesis-related genes, and pattern-triggered immunity. The enhanced immunity improves the resistance to Leptosphaeria biglobosa and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Transcriptome analysis further revealed that CNGC20 plays dual roles in regulating plant growth and immunity via the brassinosteroid and auxin signaling pathways. The findings in this study provide deeper insights into the intricate relationship between cytosolic Ca2+ level and plant development and immunity, as well as the trade-off between immunity and the performance of yield-related traits in the heterozygous plants (+/ril), which may serve as a guide for balancing yield and disease resistance in oilseed rape breeding.

A Compact Wideband Branch Line Coupler for Lower 5G Applications

A Compact Wideband Branch Line Coupler for Lower 5G Applications

A multi-objective genetic algorithm approach applied to compact meander branch line couplers design for 5G-enabled IoT applications

A multi-objective genetic algorithm approach applied to compact meander branch line couplers design for 5G-enabled IoT applications

The effect of coral colony morphology, coral surface condition, particle size, and seeding point on the trapping and deposition of microplastics

Coral reefs are increasingly identified as microplastic sinks. Understanding the trapping and deposition effects on microplastics among coral colonies of different morphologies can help identify which corals and coral reefs are at higher risk of microplastic exposure. Here, we used a current-generating saltwater flume to explore microplastic trapping and deposition among branching coral, Pocillopora acuta, colonies with contrasting morphologies (open and compact), together with varying coral surface conditions (live, dead, and waxed), microplastic sizes (400 to 500 μm and 900 to 1000 μm), and seeding points (above-colony and mid-colony). Results revealed that more microplastics were trapped by, and deposited nearer to, compact colonies compared to those with a more open morphology—likely due to differences in flow dynamics. More of the larger microplastics were trapped, as were those introduced at the mid seeding point, but coral surface condition had no significant effect. These findings add to the growing evidence that corals are effective at trapping and facilitating deposition of microplastics. Branching corals with compact structures are potentially at high risk of microplastic pollution impact. We posit that coral composition, i.e. the relative abundance of compact branching colonies, will affect microplastic accumulation in natural reef environments. SynopsisThis study demonstrates the effects of coral morphology on microplastic trapping and deposition, providing mechanistic insights into the factors that contribute to coral reefs acting as microplastic sinks.

A Novel Compact Broadband Quasi-Twisted Branch Line Coupler Based on a Double-Layered Microstrip Line.

A novel quasi-twisted miniaturized wideband branch line coupler (BLC) is proposed. The design is based on bisecting the conventional microstrip line BLC transversely and folding bisected sections on double-layered substrates with a common ground plane in between. The input and output terminals, each with a length of λg/4, and the pair of quarter-wavelength horizontal parallel arms are converted into a Z-shaped meandered microstrip line in the designed structure. Conversely, the pair of quarter-wavelength vertical arms are halved into two lines and transformed into a periodically loaded slow-wave structure. The bisected parts of the BLC are placed on the opposite side of the doubled-layer substrate and connected through four vias passing through the common ground plane. This technique enabled a compact BLC size of 6.4 × 18 mm2, which corresponds to a surface area miniaturization by ~50% as compared to the classical BLC size of 10 × 23 mm2 at 6 GHz. Moreover, the attained relative bandwidth is 73.9% (4.6-10 GHz) for S11, S33, S21, and the phase difference between outputs (∠S21 - ∠S41). However, if a coupling parameter (S41) of up to -7.5 dB is considered, then the relative bandwidth reduces to 53.9% (4.6-10 GHz) for port 1 as the input. Similarly, for port 3 as the input, the obtained bandwidth is 75.8% (4.5-10 GHz) for S33, S11, S43, and the phase difference between outputs (∠S43 - ∠S23). Likewise, this bandwidth reduces to 56% (4.5-8 GHz) when a coupling parameter (S23) of up to -7.5 dB is considered. In contrast, the relative bandwidth for the ordinary BLC is 41% at the same resonant frequency. The circuit is constructed on a double-layered low-cost FR4 substrate with a relative permittivity of 4.3 and a loss tangent of 0.025. An isolation of -13 dB was realized in both S13 and S31 demonstrating an excellent performance. The transmission coefficients between input/output ports S21, S41, S23, and S43 are between -3.1 dB to -3.5 dB at a frequency of 6 GHz. Finally, the proposed BLC provides phase differences between output ports of 90.5° and 94.8° at a frequency of 6 GHz when the input ports 1 and 3 are excited, respectively. The presented design offers the potential of being utilized as a unit cell for building a Butler matrix (BM) for sub-6 GHz 5G beamforming networks.

Compact Branch Line Coupler with Rectangular Defected Ground Structure (DGS) for 6G

This Article presents a Compact Branch Line Coupler operating at 95 GHz using FR4 substrate εr = 3.4 for Radar Applications with Rectangular Defected ground structure at the Ground Layer using ADS tool .The Designed Coupler exhibits , The Return Loss (S11), Insertion Loss (S21), Coupling Factor (S31), Isolation Value (S14) . The proposed DGS design confers size reduction because of the shift of the operating frequency to higher values. Key Words: Defected Ground Structure, Compact Branch Line Coupler

A Compact Rat-Race Coupler with Harmonic Suppression for GSM Applications: Design and Implementation Using Artificial Neural Network.

In this paper, a compact microstrip rat-race coupler at a 950 MHz operating frequency is designed, simulated, and fabricated. New branches are proposed in this design using high-/low- impedance open-ended resonators. In the conventional rat-race coupler, there are three long λ/4 branches and a 3λ/4 branch, and they occupy a very large area. In the presented designed, three compact branches are proposed for use instead of three λ/4 branches and an ultra-compact branch is suggested for use instead of the 3λ/4 branch. Additionally, an artificial neural network (ANN) approach is incorporated to improve the performance of the resonators using a radial basis function (RBF) network. The proposed compact structure has achieved a reduction of more than 82% compared with the size of the conventional coupler structures. Additionally, the proposed coupler can suppress the 2nd up to the 5th harmonic to improve the performance of the device.

Compact interactive dual-branch network for real-time semantic segmentation

The traditional complete dual-branch structure is effective for semantic segmentation tasks. However, it is redundant in some sense. Moreover, the simple additive fusion of the features from the two branches may not achieve the satisfactory performance. To alleviate these two problems, in this paper we propose an efficient compact interactive dual-branch network (CIDNet) for real-time semantic segmentation. Specifically, we first build a compact interactive dual-branch structure by constructing a compact detail branch and a semantic branch. Furthermore, we build a detail-semantic interactive module to fuse several specific stages of the two branches in the backbone network with the corresponding stages of the detail resolution branch. Finally, we propose a dual-branch contextual attention fusion module to deeply fuse the extracted features and predict the final segmentation result. Extensive experiments on Cityscapes and CamVid dataset demonstrate that the proposed CIDNet achieve satisfactory trade-off between segmentation accuracy and inference speed, and outperforms 20 representative real-time semantic segmentation methods.

A new species of Nama (Namaceae) from the Vizcaino Desert, Mexico

Background: Although most of the Nama taxa grow on sandy substrates, none of them is restricted to the coastal dune environment. A small population of a unique looking taxon was found on the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula, which is here presented as a new species.
 Question and/or Hypothesis: In the morphological analysis in the individuals of a putative new taxon, some peculiarities stand out, such as a suffruticose herbaceous perennial growth form with erect and compact branching, featuring a small cushion, unlike the rest of the known species, which are rather procumbent, or erect in form. It also has revolute leaf margins in the blade.
 Studied Species: Nama asuncionensis sp. nov. (Namaceae) and morphologically similar species. 
 Study Site: Central Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico.
 Method: Through bibliographic consultation, review of herbarium specimens, and photographs, a comparative morphological analysis was carried out with other Nama species of the peninsula and mainland Mexico.
 Results: Based on the comparative analyses, Nama asuncionensis is here presented and illustrated as a new species.
 Conclusions: Nama asuncionensis is a micro-endemic species restricted to the Pacific coastal environment of the peninsula. We propose that this new taxon be included in the Eunama section of the genus based on its morphological characteristics, including a membranous loculicidal dehiscent capsule, free styles, and sepals divided to the base. This taxon seems to be limited to a narrow coastal strip, with high relative humidity, where it develops its fresh leaves and flowers during the mild season.

Design of a miniaturized branch line microstrip coupler with a simple structure using artificial neural network

Abstract In this paper, a compact branch microstrip coupler with the simple structure using T-shaped resonators and open-ended stubs at 1.8 GHz is designed and fabricated. The proposed coupler creates two transmission zeros at 3.4 and 3.87 GHz, with more than 50 dB attenuation level, which resulted in a good harmonic suppression at 2nd harmonic. Artificial neural network (ANN) has been utilized to extract the transfer function of the proposed coupler resonator for the first time, so the values of the transmission zeros can be located in the desired frequency. This technique can also be used for the other electrical devices. The designed device has a small size of 28 mm × 30 mm (0.9 λ × 0.95 λ), which shows more than 35% size reduction compared to the typical branch-line coupler with λ/4 branch lines. The proposed coupler is simulated using Advanced Design System (ADS) software and fabricated on Rogers Duroid 5880 substrate (ε r = 2.2, h = 31 mil). The simulation and measurement results verify the correct performance of the designed coupler.

Trapezoid-shaped resonators to design compact branch line coupler with harmonic suppression

This article proposes a new branch-line coupler design using two trapezoid-shaped resonators, applied in side and center. The standard 35 and 50 Ohms λ/4 transmission lines (TLs) are attained through the variations of the resonator’s TLs width. Since there are not explicit formulas for the suggested trapezoidal shape resonator, the design procedure will include the derivation of new formulas to configure the LC equivalent circuit. The proposed branch-line coupler, operating at 0.95 GHz, has achieved 79% of size reduction if compared to the conventional designs. Furthermore, the suggested design has successfully diminished the first six harmonics with a suppression level of (41, 29, 29, 28, 20, and 20) dB, respectively. The bandwidth is from 800 MHz to 1 GHz and The fractional bandwidth is 22.2%.

Mappings of Finite Distortion: Compactness of the Branch Set

We show that an entire branched cover of finite distortion cannot have a compact branch set if its distortion satisfies a certain asymptotic growth condition. We furthermore show that this bound is strict by constructing an entire, continuous, open and discrete mapping of finite distortion which is piecewise smooth, has a branch set homeomorphic to an (n − 2)-dimensional torus and distortion arbitrarily close to the asymptotic bound.

Molecular structure and rheological properties of a poly(ethylene terephthalate) modified by two different chain extenders

AbstractThis paper compares the molecular structure and rheological properties of a commercial poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) after reactive processing with different concentrations of either pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) or a multifunctional epoxide (Joncryl®ADR‐4368) as a chain extender. By size exclusion chromatography with triple detection, an increase of molar mass, a broadening of molar mass distribution, and the generation of long‐chain branched molecules were found for both chain extenders. While gel‐free materials were obtained with PMDA, the processing with Joncryl leads to the formation of gels. The effect of branching, indicated by the Mark–Houwink exponent, is more pronounced for materials with Joncryl compared to PMDA and points to a more compact branching structure of the PET/Joncryl molecules. Rheological measurements in shear and elongation support the analysis from SEC and reveal a complex tree‐like branching structure for both chain extenders. In addition, the role of the two modifiers with respect to processing was assessed.

Better together: Joint consideration of anatomy and morphology illuminates the architecture and life history of the Carboniferous arborescent lycopsid Paralycopodites

AbstractParalycopodites Morey & Morey, a Carboniferous‐age arboreous lycopsid that grew in the tropical wetlands of Pangea, is the phylogenetically basalmost member of the Carboniferous stigmarian lycopsids to be conceptually reconstructed. We update its description through reciprocal illumination between anatomy (coal‐balls) and gross morphology (adpressions). Revised assessment of its architecture and development shows that the determinate, columnar main trunk eventually underwent several isotomous divisions to form a crown. Two opposite rows of closely‐spaced, compact lateral branches were initiated anisotomously throughout the trunk and crown, each branch further undergoing multiple anisotomous divisions to form an apparently planar scaffold for numerous bisporangiate cones. We infer that branches were initially emitted near‐vertically, but rapidly moved to a more horizontal position; they were abscised after the cones had matured but before the continuous phellogen had produced a centripetal periderm. Leaves were not abscised, though anatomy and morphology both suggest a photosynthetic economy that was localized within the plant body. Character content and clarity of interpretation make Paralycopodites the preferred name for the reconstructed plant rather than Anabathra, Ulodendron, or Bergeria. Phylogenetic analysis of rhizomorphic lycopsids based on a reduced spectrum of features observable in adpression returns the same topology as that based on a full matrix combining both anatomical and externally visible traits, permitting adpression fossils to be assigned to anatomically‐circumscribed genera rather than perpetuating an unnecessary parallel taxonomy.

Branch line strip loaded compact printed inverted-F antenna (IFA) for penta-band applications

A novel compact branch line strip loaded inverted-F antenna (IFA) for penta-band application is proposed. A pair of spiral-shaped strip resonators are connected to one end of the patch and the other side of the patch is grounded which acts as the branch line strip loaded IFA antenna. This branch line design is mainly responsible for the compact size and the penta-band operations. The total size of the antenna is (20 × 18 × 0.8) mm3 and fabricated on cheap FR4 substrate. The simulated results are well matched with the fabricated results of the antenna. The proposed antenna operates in global positioning system (GPS)/S-band applications/worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Wi-MAX)/5G/wireless local area network (WLAN) bands.

A Branch Line Coupler with improved stopband and miniaturized size for L-band applications

This paper offers a compact microstrip branch line coupler with amended stopband performance using stepped impedance resonators. The operational frequency is adjusted at 1.174 GHz for L-band applications. The proposed coupler has a 75% decrement of size compared with a typical branch line coupler at the operational frequency. Embedded stepped impedance resonators make attenuation (more than 12 dB) on 2nd to 17th harmonics. The insertion loss and coupling are −3.1 dB and −3.1 dB, respectively. The proposed branch line coupler has been simulated, fabricated and tested. Good accord has been attained between simulation and test results.

Design of Compact Hybrid Branch Line Coupler (BLC) for GSM Application

This paper presents a compact design of a hybrid branch line coupler (BLC) operating at 1.8 GHz frequency for the global system for mobile communication (GSM) applications. The miniaturization is achieved by using two short circuited stubs and one series transmission line (TL) instead of series quarter wavelength line of conventional BLC. The characteristic impedance of the shunt quarter wavelength section is optimized to improve the overall performances. Therefore, the proposed technique is 59% compact in size is compared to conventional BLC. The outputs at two ports (|S21| = |S31|) are 3.5 ± 0.3 dB with return loss (|S11|) and isolation (|S41|) is better than 20 dB. The prototype coupler is simulated using ANSYS HFSS EM simulator and fabricated on a substrate of dielectric constant (er) = 2.2, thickness (h) = 0.787 mm and loss tangent of 0.0009 and tested. The measured result is completely compiled with the simulated one.

식물신품종보호제도 이후 나라꽃 무궁화의 국내외 연구동향 및 확대 이용 방안†

This study was carried out to investigate the domestic and international development of a new cultivar of the Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus L.), the Korean national flower, and the protection of the new plant variety. In addition, it will be used as basic data for the expansion of domestic distribution, promoting oversea export, and expanding the range of landscape architectural use. A total of 97 varieties received plant variety protection rights from the Korea Seed & Variety Service from 2004 to 2018. The selection criteria were plants having unique flowers, growth habits, and variegated leaves. Some cultivars with unique features, such as flower size, shape, and red eyes were available for focus planting. Plant varieties with tall and strong growth patterns have been highly valuable for street and focus planting. Cultivars with dwarf stems and compact branches are utilized for pot planting and bonsai. The protected cultivars were mostly single flower varieties, with two semi-double flowers. There were 57 cultivars of pink flowers with red eyes and 21 cultivars of white flowers with red eyes. There were 61 cultivars developed by crossing, 23 cultivars through interspecific hybridization and 7 cultivars developed through radiation treatment and mutation. The Hibiscus cultivars registered to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) consisted of seven cultivars each from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, four from South Korea, and three from Belgium. The Hibiscus cultivars registered to the European Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) consisted of 16 cultivars from France, 9 from the Netherlands, 5 from the UK and 1 from Belgium. The cultivars that received both plant patent and plant breeder rights in the United States and Canada were ‘America Irene Scott’, ‘Antong Two’, ‘CARPA’, ‘DVPazurri’, ‘Gandini Santiago’, ‘Gandini van Aart’, ‘ILVO347’, ‘ILVOPS’, ‘JWNWOOD 4’, ‘Notwood3’, ‘RWOODS5’, ‘SHIMCR1’, ‘SHIMRR38’, ‘SHIMRV24’, and ‘THEISSHSSTL’. ‘SHIMCR1’ and ‘SHIMRV24’ acquired both domestic plant protection rights and overseas plant patents. The 14 cultivars that received both US plant patents and European protection rights were ‘America Irene Scott’, ‘Bricutts’, ‘DVPAZURRI’, ‘Gandini Santiago’, ‘Gandini van Aart’, ‘JWNWOOD4’, ‘MINDOUB1’, ‘MINDOUR1’, ‘MINDOUV5’, ‘NOTWOOD3’, ‘RWOODS5’, ‘RWOODS6’, ‘Summer Holiday’, and ‘Summer Night’. The cultivars that obtained US patents consisted of 18 cultivars (52.9%) with double flowers, 4 cultivars (11.8%) with semi-double flowers, and 12 cultivars (35.3%) with single flowers. The cultivars that obtained European new variety protection rights, consisted of 11 cultivars (34.3%) with double flowers, 12 cultivars (21.9%) with semi-double flowers, and 14 cultivars (43.8%) with single flowers. In the future, new cultivars of H. syriacus need to be developed in order to expand domestic distribution and export abroad. In addition, when developing new cultivars, it is required to develop cultivars with shorter branches for use in flower beds, borders, hedges, and pot planting.

Design of compact Wilkinson power divider and branch line coupler using hairpin based line

In this paper hairpin unit based compact quarter wavelength line is proposed in order to miniaturize the Wilkinson power divider (WPD) and hybrid branch line coupler (HBLC). The proposed line consists of two series lines and a hairpin unit (HPU) in between them. The proposed line provides significant size reduction due to high slow-wave factor. The electrical lengths and impedances of the HPU are adjusted to produce two transmission zeros (TZs) above the operating frequency. These TZs are tuned to get good selectivity as well as suppress the harmonics. The proposed line is further utilized to design a compact WPD and HBLC operating at 1.5 GHz. The dimensions of those are 0.06λg × 0.184λg and 0.06λg × 0.25λg, respectively, where λg is the guided wavelength. A significant size reduction of 55% and 70% are obtained for WPD and HBLC, respectively, as compared to reference one at 1.5 GHz. The proposed designs (WPD and HBLC) are analyzed, fabricated and tested.

Karakterisasi Morfologi dan Komponen Hasil Cabai Rawit (Capsicum frutescens L.) Asal Pulau Timor

Cabai rawit merupakan salah satu plasma nutfah asal pulau Timor dikenal dengan sebutan un makaos, un lili, un fua melu atau un ana. Cabai rawit Timor memiliki kekhasan bentuk yakni berukuran kecil dengan panjang berkisar 0,5-2 cm dan rasa yang sangat pedas. Tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk mengidentifikasi karakter morfologi dan komponen hasil un makaos. Metode penelitian dilakukan berdasarkan kerangka ketentuan UPOV (International Union for The Protection of New Varieties of Plants) dan standar yang ditetapkan oleh IPGRI (International Plant Genetic Resources Institute). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa karakterisasi morfologi cabai rawit pulau Timor teridentifikasi memiliki habitus tanaman dengan percabangan yang kompak, bentuk batang silindris, pemendekan ruas lebih dari tiga dan memiliki batang berwarna hijau. Daun cabai berbentuk ovate (bentuk bulat telur, bagian terlebar dekat pangkal daun) dan berwarna hijau dengan tepi daun rata dan ujung daun meruncing. Mahkota bunga berwana putih dengan anter bunga berwarna biru serta kedudukan bunga tegak pada pohon cabai rawit. Warna buah hijau pada saat sebelum matang dan berwarna merah pada saat masak. Memiliki bentuk buah hornshaped (berbentuk tanduk) dengan ujung buah yang tumpul serta memiliki bentuk kaliks enveloping (membungkus). Karakter komponen hasil diantaranya bobot buah per tanaman memiliki nilai rata-rata sebesar 9,47-15,08 g, rata-rata jumlah buah per tanaman sebanyak 125,67-169,67 buah, cabai rawit memiliki panjang buah 0,73-0,82 cm dan buah memiliki diameter 0,36-0,38 cm.