Current Advanced Technologies Research Articles

Various classifications for architectural form finding process

In the age of digital revolution, architects have to keep pace with latest advances in technology and computing, which in turn affected architectural design and fabrication. In architectural form finding process, some schools of thought encourage personal inspiration, intuition of the architect and his sense of beauty, while others depend on specific design approaches based on rules and fulfillment of design requirements in generating architectural form. This paper presents a review on various form finding philosophies that have been existed in architectural design over the past century till now. In addition, a taxonomy for digitally generated forms is presented herein into two categories. Through investigating these different approaches of form finding process, some of them focus only on the qualitative and aesthetic aspects of the architectural form and didn’t take into consider building performances such as functional, environmental, structural or acoustic, while others focus on the performative aspects. Moreover, dealing with the current complex geometries and advanced technologies made it important to depend on an Integrated design: a Generative performative design Approach that achieves balance and takes into consider both aesthetic aspects as well as the performative considerations of the building such as functional, environmental, structural or economic, in order to find the optimal solution at early stages of the form finding process.

Three-Dimensional Imaging and Interface Analysis of Battery Materials Via Plasma FIB-SEM

In the past decades, the rapid growth of electric vehicles and consumer electronics market leads battery technology to attract significant attention. In order to further advance battery technology, in-depth understanding on the electrode and interface structure of battery materials are essential. Focused ion beam – scanning electron microscope is an analytical method combines ion beam for materials processing and electron column for imaging. It enables both 2D interface analysis and 3D imaging capability as well as multimodal information collection, which is an effective analytical approach for battery structure analysis.To date, conventional Ga+ FIB-SEM has been widely employed for battery materials development including interface/interphase characterization, 3D quantification and simulation analysis. However, Ga+ FIB materials removal efficiency limits its capability to access representative area and volume in some battery materials systems, e.g. electrode with tens of micron particle size. In addition, the reactive property of Ga+ ion with alkali metals, e.g. Li metal, results in the complex experimental procedure to limit the Ga+ contamination during FIB-SEM characterization.Recently, the emerging Plasma FIB-SEM (PFIB-SEM) technology has been developed with different ion source and high removal efficiency. It promises great potential for battery materials characterization, due to accessing representative 2D area and 3D volume via 40 times faster (than Ga+ system) milling rate as well as enabling Ga+ free sample preparation on advanced battery system with alkali metal electrode through non-reactive ion source (Xe+ and Ar+ ion). In this presentation, PFIB-SEM has been used to perform 2D interfacial structure analysis and 3D imaging on different battery systems. First, to evaluate the performance of plasma ions processing with Ga+ reactive battery system, lithium metal was selected for the study. Furthermore, the interfacial structure between Li-metal and sulfide based solid electrolyte in all solid-state battery system was investigated. In order to demonstrate the capability of accessing large representative 3D volume through PFIB-SEM, the microstructure of thick NMC 811 cathode (>100 µm field of view with > 70 µm thickness) was selected for 3D reconstruction and quantification. The microstructural characteristics extracted from representative 3D volume helps the understanding of correlation between electrode microstructural evolution and performance deterioration.The success demonstration of PFIB-SEM opens up exciting opportunities for exploring both current and future generation advanced battery technologies, which is expected to become a critical analytical approach for battery development.

Channel Optimization of Marketing Based on Users’ Social Network Information

Marketing in the social network environment integrates current advanced internet and information technologies. This marketing method not only broadens marketing channels and builds a network communication platform but also meets the purchase needs of customers in the entire market and shortens customer purchases. The process is also an inevitable product of the development of the times. However, when companies use social networks for product marketing, they usually face the impact of multiple realistic factors. This article takes the maximization of influence as the main idea to find seed users for product information dissemination and also considers the users’ interest preferences. The target users can influence the product, and the company should control marketing costs to obtain a larger marginal benefit. Based on this, this paper considers factors such as the scale of information diffusion, user interest preferences, and corporate budgets, takes the influence maximization model as a multiobjective optimization problem, and proposes a multiobjective maximization of influence (MOIM) model. To solve the NP-hard problem of maximizing influence, this paper uses Monte Carlo sampling to calculate high-influence users. Next, a seed user selection algorithm based on NSGA-II is proposed to optimize the above three objective functions and find the optimal solution. We use real social network data to verify the performance of models and methods. Experiments show that the proposed model can generate appropriate seed sets and can meet different purposes of information dissemination. Sensitivity analysis proves that our model is robust under different actual conditions.

Caregiver Satisfaction and Effectiveness of Teleconsultation in Children and Adolescents With Migraine During the Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures have forced clinicians across the world to look on telemedicine. Although migraine as such seems an ideal option for telemedicine, a systematic study reviewing feasibility, efficacy, and advantages of current advanced telecommunication technologies in children with migraine is lacking. Clinical details of telephonic consultations performed between March 25 and June 4, 2020, including migraine characteristics, analgesic/prophylactic drug regimens, headache frequency/severity/disability, compliance, drug-related/unrelated adverse effects and unavailability of drugs were recorded. Suitable change in the dose/commercial brand of drug regimen and the addition of new drugs were done as required. Voice call, text messages, picture/video messages, and all other possible measures were used to accumulate maximum clinical information in real time. Unless contacted for trivial reasons, most children were later followed up telephonically to ensure health care concern was resolved and to fill up one 6-item trichotomous quality control questionnaire. A total of 146 telephone consultations were performed in 51 participants. Thirty-six patients were identified to have 42 significant clinical events (worsening clinical status/partial response to medications [18; 44%], drug-related adverse effects [10; 19%], unrelated systemic complaints [7; 13%], and worsening of headache due to stress/triggers [7; 13%]). In the rest of the patients, the query of the caregiver included concern regarding COVID-19-related symptoms. Twenty-nine children required increment in drug dose or addition of new drug or commercial brand. Around 90% of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of teleconsultation. Teleconsultation is a feasible and efficacious option, with excellent caregiver satisfaction for children with migraine.

Construction of a chromosome-scale long-read reference genome assembly for potato.

BackgroundWorldwide, the cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum L., is the No. 1 vegetable crop and a critical food security crop. The genome sequence of DM1–3 516 R44, a doubled monoploid clone of S. tuberosum Group Phureja, was published in 2011 using a whole-genome shotgun sequencing approach with short-read sequence data. Current advanced sequencing technologies now permit generation of near-complete, high-quality chromosome-scale genome assemblies at minimal cost.FindingsHere, we present an updated version of the DM1–3 516 R44 genome sequence (v6.1) using Oxford Nanopore Technologies long reads coupled with proximity-by-ligation scaffolding (Hi-C), yielding a chromosome-scale assembly. The new (v6.1) assembly represents 741.6 Mb of sequence (87.8%) of the estimated 844 Mb genome, of which 741.5 Mb is non-gapped with 731.2 Mb anchored to the 12 chromosomes. Use of Oxford Nanopore Technologies full-length complementary DNA sequencing enabled annotation of 32,917 high-confidence protein-coding genes encoding 44,851 gene models that had a significantly improved representation of conserved orthologs compared with the previous annotation. The new assembly has improved contiguity with a 595-fold increase in N50 contig size, 99% reduction in the number of contigs, a 44-fold increase in N50 scaffold size, and an LTR Assembly Index score of 13.56, placing it in the category of reference genome quality. The improved assembly also permitted annotation of the centromeres via alignment to sequencing reads derived from CENH3 nucleosomes.ConclusionsAccess to advanced sequencing technologies and improved software permitted generation of a high-quality, long-read, chromosome-scale assembly and improved annotation dataset for the reference genotype of potato that will facilitate research aimed at improving agronomic traits and understanding genome evolution.

Fit-for-purpose urban wastewater reuse: Analysis of issues and available technologies for sustainable multiple barrier approaches

A selective approach for multiple wastewater recovery is nowadays desirable and technologically feasible, to provide water at specific quality standards for each reuse objective. This “fit-for-purpose” approach to water reuse could both save water and would reduce production cost and energy demand by eliminating unnecessary treatment and long-range conveyance, as it typically aims at local reuses. The appropriate choice of technologies for such approaches is perhaps the most critical planning and design decision when evaluating systems for implementation or refurbishing. This article examines wastewater reuse goals (direct potable use, indirect potable use, non-potable uses and industrial uses) and related requirements as relevant case studies, and issues that may arise during implementation. It then proposes an overview of current conventional and advanced technologies and their possible combination to meet foreseen uses under a multiple barrier treatment (MBT) approach, which implies a sequence of complementary processes at an increasing level of protection for both conventional and emerging pollutants according to reuse goals.

Preface

Materials Engineering and Nano Sciences is a key ingredient of current advanced technologies supporting modern society. The tremendous rapid growth of these fields makes them highly interdisciplinary and then inevitably demands their mutual interactions. Under these circumstances, the 2020 4th International Conference on Materials Engineering and Nano Sciences (ICMENS 2020) was organized as a series of successful international conferences held in Singapore (2017), Hong Kong (2018) and Japan (2019).The main goal of ICMENS 2020, which will be held from 13 to 15 March 2020, in Pattaya, Thailand, is to address the latest original results in materials engineering and the nano sciences, including both theoretical advances and practical implementations, which are becoming more and more popular in industry and in our daily lives. The ICMENS 2020 will provide a premier interdisciplinary platform for scientists, researchers, industry leaders, engineers and educators throughout the world to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, concerns, as well as practical challenges encountered, and streamline solutions in the fields of materials engineering and nano sciences.Submissions were received from 10 countries, including China, Japan, Russia, Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, Croatia, India, and Mexico. After several rounds of paper submission and reviewing, 17 papers have been selected to be published in the IOP conference proceedings.On behalf of the Organising Committee, I wish to thank the keynote speakers, invited speakers and authors of the selected papers for their outstanding contributions. I would also like to thank members of the organizing committee, anonymous reviewers and volunteers for their great efforts. Without their contribution, dedication and commitment, we would not have achieved so much. Thanks also go to the Conference Secretaries (Dana Chan & Jessi Mars) for their dedicated cooperation. We sincerely hope that you will find the ICMENS 2020 beneficial and fruitful for your professional development. We also hope that you will enjoy our hospitality and will have an enjoyable and memorable time in Pattaya.Conference Chair, ICMENS 2020Prof. Richard HaverkampMassey University, New Zealand

Preface

Automation and Mechatronics Engineering is a key ingredient of current advanced technologies supporting modern society. The tremendous rapid growth of these fields makes them highly interdisciplinary and inevitably demands their mutual interactions. Towards this end, the 2019 3rd International Conference on Automation and Mechatronics Engineering (ICAME 2019) was organized in Phuket, Thailand during October 25-27 2019.ICAME 2019 was the conference for Scientists, Researchers, Engineers, Industry Leaders, and Educators to gather at a single platform for discussing the most recent innovations, trends, concerns as well as practical challenges encountered and streamline solutions in the field of Automation and Mechatronics Engineering. The platform provided an opportunity for them to address the latest original results in Automation and Mechatronics Engineering, including both theoretical advances and practical implementations, that are gaining popularity in industries and our daily lives. Furthermore, it also provided an opportunity to highlight recent developments and to identify emerging and future areas of growth in Automation and Mechatronics Engineering.This proceeding consists of 17 technical papers that are divided into two sub-disciplines namely, Electronic and electrical engineering and Civil and construction engineering. These papers were selected from 30 original contributions, and all papers published in this volume have been peer-reviewed through processes administered by the proceedings Editors.I wish to extend my gratitude to the keynote speakers, who have accepted our invitation to present their share of knowledge, invited speakers and authors of selected papers for their outstanding contributions. I am also grateful to members of the organizing committee, anonymous reviewers and volunteers for their great efforts. Prof. Ir. Dr Andrew Ragai Henry Rigit Organizing Chairman, ICAME 2019

Preface

Aeronautical, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering is a key ingredient of current advanced technologies supporting modern society. The tremendous rapid growth of these fields makes them highly interdisciplinary and then inevitably demands their mutual interactions. Under these circumstances, 2019 the 2nd International Conference on Aeronautical, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering (AAME 2019) was organized as a series of successful international conferences held in Malaysia(2018).The main goal of AAME 2019, which will be held from 26 to 28 July 2019, in CULS Prague, Czech, is to address latest original results in aeronautical, aerospace and mechanical engineering, including both theoretical advances and practical implementations, which are becoming more and more popular in industry and in our daily lives. AAME 2019 will provide a premier interdisciplinary platform for scientists, researchers, industry leaders, engineers and educators throughout the world to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, concerns, as well as practical challenges encountered, and streamline solutions in the fields of aeronautical, aerospace and mechanical engineering.Towards this end, the Technical Programme Committee has assembled an excellent programme comprising of 4 excellent Keynote Speeches from renowned scientists from the world, 2 parallel technical sessions comprising of 19 presentations. A total of 19 full papers were selected from 35 original contributions after a rigorous review process.On behalf of the Organising Committee, I wish to thank the keynote speakers and authors of selected papers for their outstanding contributions. I would also like to thank members of the organizing committee, anonymous reviewers for their great efforts. Without their contribution, dedication and commitment, we would not have achieved so much. We sincerely hope that you will find the AAME 2019 beneficial and fruitful for your professional development. We also hope that you will enjoy our hospitality and will have an enjoyable and memorable time in Prague.Conference Organizing Chair, AAME 2019Assoc. Prof. Petr Valášek,Czech University of Life Science Prague, Czech Republic

Preface

Materials Engineering based on Nano Sciences is a key ingredient of current advanced technologies supporting modern society, especially Information and Energy Technologies. The tremendous rapid growth of these fields makes them highly interdisciplinary and then inevitably demands their mutual interactions. Under these circumstances, the 2019 the 3rd International Conference on Materials Engineering and Nano Sciences (ICMENS 2019) was organized as a series of successful international conferences held in Singapore (2017) and Hong Kong (2018).The main goal of ICMENS 2019, which will be held from 26 to 28 March 2019, in Hiroshima, is to address latest original results in Materials Engineering and Nano Sciences, including both theoretical advances and practical implementations, which are becoming more and more popular in industry and in our daily lives. The ICMENS 2019 will provide a premier interdisciplinary platform for scientists, researchers, industry leaders, engineers and educators throughout the world to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, concerns, as well as practical challenges encountered, and streamline solutions in the fields of Materials Engineering and Nano Sciences. The meeting will provide an opportunity to highlight recent developments and to identify emerging and future areas of growth in Quantum Technology.Towards this end, the Technical Programme Committee has assembled an excellent programme comprising of 2 excellent Keynote Speeches and 2 Plenary Talks from renowned scientists from the world, 6 parallel technical sessions comprising of more than 40 presentations. A total of 31 full papers were selected from 46 original contributions after a rigorous review process. In addition to the reqular sessions, a special session was set with four Invited Talks leading to the quantum manipulation technology, which is newly emerging reseach fields.On behalf of the Organising Committee, I wish to thank the keynote speakers, invited speakers and authors of selected papers for their outstanding contributions. I would also like to thank members of the organizing committee, anonymous reviewers and volunteers for their great efforts. Without their contribution, dedication and commitment, we would not have achieved so much. Thanks also go to the Conference Secretaries (Dana Chan & Jessi Mars) for their dedicated cooperation. We sincerely hope that you will find the ICMENS 2019 beneficial and fruitful for your professional development. We also hope that you will enjoy our hospitality and will have an enjoyable and memorable time in Hiroshima.Conference Chair, ICMENS 2019Professor Toshikazu EkinoHiroshima University, Japan

Stakes and solutions for in-plane sheet-metal formability assessment

In body design, Finite Element Analysis becomes an unavoidable step in optimizing forming processes to ensure the feasibility of a specific designed shape. Different failure criteria exist but the Forming Limit Diagram remains the most used criterion. It can be built in a wide variety of forms but the most usual one is composed only of a Forming Limit Curve (FLC) which represents the onset of localized necking limit of sheet metal. FLC is determined experimentally by standardized Nakajima or Marciniak tests. However, both present lots of roadblocks in the accurate determination of product formability limits due to the use of counter-blanks, no linear strain paths and because they are not adapted for high ductility steels. Tensile tests were performed in the past to determine the left hand side of the FLCs. They were not included into the ISO 12004-2 standard because of technical reasons although they present lots of advantages (frictionless, no curvature effect and planar configuration). Now, thanks to the current advanced technologies and tools, these issues are overcome. In this paper, the advantages of tensile tests compared to Nakajima or Marciniak ones are briefly discussed. The design and conceptualization of specific jaws to perform plane strain tensile tests on AHSS are presented. A wide range of AHSS was characterized through plane strain tensile tests and results were compared to formability limits determined by the usual practice using Nakajima tests. Different evaluation strategies were used to determine the maximum formability: the position dependent method, the time dependent one and close to fracture.

Abstract 513: Antitumor miR-451a regulatory network is associated with poor prognosis of renal cell carcinoma

Abstract Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common neoplasm of the kidney, and approximately 70-80% of RCCs are classified as clear cell-type (ccRCC). Approximately 350,000 new cases are diagnosed worldwide, with over 140,000 deaths, every year. Although surgical resection remains the only known curative treatment for localized RCC, a significant percentage of these patients develop relapses or metastatic disease, which are associated with a poor prognosis. Recently developed targeted molecular therapies and immunomodulatory agents are currently being widely used for patients with metastatic or recurrent RCC. However, those advanced treatments are restricted to RCC patients in advanced stages of disease and the 5-year survival rate of the patients is only 5-10%. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to a class of noncoding RNA molecules that fine-tune the expression of protein coding/noncoding RNAs by repressing translation or cleaving RNA transcripts in a sequence-dependent manner. Aberrantly expressed miRNAs contribute to the initiation, development, and metastasis of several types of cancers, including RCC. Current advanced technologies can be used to identify dysregulated miRNAs in HNSCC clinical specimens. Identification of differentially expressed miRNAs is the first step to elucidating novel miRNA-mediated RNA networks in cancer cell. Analyses of miRNA expression signature by RNA sequencing revealed that miR-451a is significantly downregulated in RCC tissues. Here, we aimed to identify novel RNA networks for miR-451a regulation in RCC cells. Ectopic expression of miR-451a significantly inhibited cancer cell aggressiveness in RCC cells. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) showed that low expression of miR-451a was significantly associated with poor survival of patients with RCC (p=0.00305). Genome-wide gene expression analyses were applied to identify miR-451a target genes. A total of 16 genes were identified as putative targets of miR-451a in RCC cells. Among these targets, high expression of 8 genes (F2, CRELD2, MSC, LENG8, CLEC2D, SPC25, PMM2, BST2 and NSMAF) were significantly associated with poor prognosis of the patients with RCC by large numbers of cohort analyses. Downregulated miR-451a acted as an antitumor miRNA in RCC cells. Antitumor miR-451a regulatory network was contributed to RCC aggressiveness. The identification of antitumor-mediated oncogenic networks may lead to a better understanding of RCC pathogenesis. Citation Format: Yasutaka Yamada, Sho Sugawara, Takayuki Arai, Atsushi Okato, Satoko Kojima, Yukio Naya, Tomohiko Ichikawa, Naohiko Seki. Antitumor miR-451a regulatory network is associated with poor prognosis of renal cell carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 513.

US Army Soldiers With Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

US Army soldiers diagnosed with type 1 diabetes were previously considered unfit for duty. For highly motivated soldiers, current advanced technologies allow the possibility of not only retention on active duty, but military deployment. We present our experience at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, taking care of soldiers newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Through intensive diabetes education, extensive military and physical training, optimization of diabetes technology, and remote real-time monitoring, soldiers are able to continue to serve their country in the most specialized roles.

Challenges and Opportunities of Very Light High-Performance Electric Drives for Aviation

The demand for alternative fueling methods to reduce the need for fossil fuels is not limited to the electrification of ground vehicles. More-electric and all-electric aircraft pose challenges, with extensive requirements in terms of power density, efficiency, safety, and environmental sustainability. This paper focuses on electrical machines and their components, especially for high-power applications like the main propulsion. The electrical machine is evaluated from different aspects, followed by a closer look at the components and materials to determine the suitability of the current standard materials and advanced technologies. Furthermore, the mechanical and thermal aspects are reviewed, including new and innovative concepts for the cooling of windings and for the use of additive manufacturing. Aircraft have special demands regarding weight and installation space. Following recent developments and looking ahead to the future, the need and the possibilities for light and efficient electrical machines are addressed. All of the approaches and developments presented lead to a better understanding of the challenges to be expected and highlight the upcoming opportunities in electrical machine design for the use of electric motors and generators in future aircraft. Several prototypes of electrical machines for smaller aircraft already exist, such as the electric drive of the Siemens powered Extra 330LE. The focus of this paper is to provide an overview of current technical possibilities and technical interrelations of high performance electric drives for aviation. A 1 MW drive is exemplified to present the possibilities for future drives for airplanes carrying a larger number of passengers. All presented techniques can also be applied to other drive power classes.

Process design of microdomains with quantum mechanics for giant pulse lasers

The power scaling of laser devices can contribute to the future of humanity. Giant microphotonics have been advocated as a solution to this issue. Among various technologies in giant microphotonics, process control of microdomains with quantum mechanical calculations is expected to increase the optical power extracted per unit volume in gain media. Design of extensive variables influencing the Gibbs energy of controlled microdomains in materials can realize desired properties. Here we estimate the angular momentum quantum number of rare-earth ions in microdomains. Using this process control, we generate kilowatt-level laser output from orientation-controlled microdomains in a laser gain medium. We also consider the limitations of current samples, and discuss the prospects of power scaling and applications of our technology. This work overturns at least three common viewpoints in current advanced technologies, including material processing based on magnetohydrodynamics, grain-size control of transparent polycrystals in fine ceramics, and the crystallographic symmetry of laser ceramics in photonics.

Integration of Novel Materials and Advanced Genomic Technologies into New Vaccine Design.

Designing new vaccines is one of the most challenging tasks for public health to prevent both infectious and chronic diseases. Even though many research scientists have spent great efforts in improving the specificity, sensitivity and safety of current available vaccines, there are still much space on how to effectively combine different biomaterials and technologies to design universal or personalized vaccines. Traditionally, vaccines were made based on empirical approaches designed to mimic immunity induced by natural infection. Either live attenuated or killed whole microorganisms were used as vaccines. With the development of biomaterial science, DNA/RNA, recombinant vector, adjuvant and nanoparticles greatly expand the category of vaccines. More importantly, with the tremendous advances of new technologies including genomics, proteomics and immunomics, the paradigm of vaccine design has shifted from microbiological to sequence-based approaches. This ever-growing large amount of genomic data and new genomic approaches such as comparative genomics, reverse vaccinology and pan-genomics, will play critical roles in novel vaccine design and enable development of more effective vaccines to cure and control both chronic and infectious diseases. In this review, we summarize current various vaccine materials, advanced technologies and combinational strategies to integrate biomaterials and advanced technologies for vaccine design, which we hope will provide some very useful guidelines and perspectives for the vaccine design.

SIPMI: Superimposing palatal profile from maxillary impression onto midsagittal articulographic data

Palatal traces reconstructed by current advanced technologies of real-time mid-sagittal articulatory tracking (e.g., EMA, ultrasound, rtMRI, etc.) are mostly in low-resolution and lack concrete anatomical/orthodontic reference points as firm articulatory landmarks for determining places of articulation. The present study proposes a method of superimposing a physical palatal profile extracted from maxillary impression, onto mid-sagittal articulatory data. The whole palatal/dental profile is first obtained from performing an alginate maxillary impression, and a plaster maxillary mold is made from the impression. Then, the mold is either (1) cut into halves for hand-tracing or (2) 3D-scanned to extract a high resolution mid-sagittal palatal line. The mid-sagittal palatal line made from maxillary mold is further sub-divided into articulatory zones, following definitions of articulatory landmarks in the literature (e.g., Catford 1988), by referring to anatomical/orthodontic landmarks imprinted on the mold. Lastly, the high-resolution, articulatorily divided palatal line can be superimposed, by using modified Iterative Closet Point (ICP) algorithm, onto the reconstructed, low-resolution palatal traces in the real-time mid-sagittal articulatory data, so that clearly divided places of articulation on palate can be visualized with articulatory movements. Evaluation results show that both hand-tracing and 3D-scanned palatal profiles yield accurate superimpositions and satisfactory visualizations of place of articulation in our EMA data.

Summary and Overview of Development Technologies of Unconventional Oil and Gas Reservoir

Conventional reservoirs and unconventional reservoirs differ a lot in terms of accumulation mechanism, distribution, exploration evaluation method and technique. Therefore the accumulation study and exploration evaluation for unconventional reservoir are different from that of traditional reservoir. This paper presents five development techniques of unconventional oil and gas resources, their features, advantages and disadvantages and summarizes the current advanced technologies and their development trends.

Epigenomics comes of age with expanding roles in biological understanding and clinical application

Epigenetics is a mechanism that regulates gene expression not depending on the underlying DNA sequence, but on the chemical modification of DNA or histone proteins. Thanks to current advanced technologies, the understanding of epigenetic modifications or ‘epigenome’ in the human genome has been growing rapidly.

Quinolizidine alkaloid biosynthesis: recent advances and future prospects.

Lys-derived alkaloids, including piperidine, quinolizidine, indolizidine, and lycopodium alkaloids, are widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom. Several of these alkaloids have beneficial properties for humans and have been used in medicine. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the biosynthesis of these alkaloids are not well understood. In the present article, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of Lys-derived alkaloids, especially the biochemistry, molecular biology, and biotechnology of quinolizidine alkaloid (QA) biosynthesis. We have also highlighted Lys decarboxylase (LDC), the enzyme that catalyzes the first committed step of QA biosynthesis and answers a longstanding question about the molecular entity of LDC activity in plants. Further prospects using current advanced technologies, such as next-generation sequencing, in medicinal plants have also been discussed.