Comparison Of Distances Research Articles

The Application of DNA Barcoding in Crustacean Larvae Identification from the Zhongsha Islands, South China Sea

Marine crustaceans are known as a group with high morphological diversity and great economic value. Most species have planktonic larval stages that are difficult to identify to species level using traditional approaches because of insufficient morphological diagnostic characters or taxonomic descriptions. We used DNA barcoding and molecular species identification to investigate the species diversity and distribution of crustacean larvae in the Zhongsha Islands waters, South China Sea. In total, 108 sequences were obtained from crustacean larvae collected in the Zhongsha Islands waters in 2019 using vertical hauls between the depths of 5 and 200 m. The molecular classification approach confirmed that 108 sequences represented crustaceans typical to the South China Sea, with 70 species identified, representing 43 genera, 23 families, and 4 orders. However, the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene sequences of only 27 species identified from the larval samples matched with available sequences taken from adults in GenBank. The comparison of K2P distances yielded a notable gap of 3.5–10.7% between intraspecific and interspecific distances across the sequence dataset. More than 80% of the crustacean larvae species belonged to the order Decapoda, and they displayed marked differences in their distributionsin the Zhongshan Islands waters. The orders Calanoida and Amphipoda were represented by the fewest species, which were recorded only at the edge of the Zhongsha Atoll.

Supply Chain Design for Blending Technologies

When optimizing blending technologies, the main objective is to determine the right mixing ratio of the raw materials, depending on the different qualities and costs of the raw materials available. It can be concluded that research is mainly focused on answering technological questions, and only very few studies take into account the logistics processes related to blending technologies, their design, cost-efficiency, utilization and sustainability including energy efficiency and environmental impact. Based on this fact, within the frame of this research the authors describe a new approach, extending the basic model of blending problems by adding new supply chain efficiency-related components that makes it possible to take logistics parameters related to the raw materials supply (available stocks, batch sizes, transport and storage costs, supply chain structure) into consideration. A mathematical model of this supply chain optimization problem for blending technologies is described including routing and assignment problems in the supply chain, while technological objectives are also taken into consideration as technological objective functions and constraints. The optimization problem described in the model is a problem with non-deterministic polynomial-time hardness (NP-hard), which means that there are no known efficient analytical methods to solve the logistics-related supply chain optimization of blending technologies. As a solution algorithm, the authors have used an evolutive solver and a new metrics, which improved the efficiency of the comparison of distances between solutions of routing problems represented by permutation arrays. The scenario analysis, which focuses on the integrated optimization of technological and logistics problems validates the model and evaluates the solution algorithm and the new metrics. Using the mentioned algorithm, the supply chain processes of the blending technologies can be improved from availability, efficiency, sustainability point of view.

A Comparison of Distance and Face-to-Face Learning Regarding Anxiety Factors Among 5th Grade EFL Students: A Case Study

In the general sense, anxiety is a feeling that causes trouble in mind. Accordingly, language learning anxiety can be listed as one of the factors affecting learners negatively in and out of the educational settings due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For this reason, being aware of students’ learning conditions that affect their anxiety level is significant for language teachers to set clear expectations about the learning outcomes of the school subjects. Regarding young learners in Turkey, the distance education context is a highly new way to be pursued in the scope of experience. Considering this information, the current study aims to profile and compare individual language anxiety levels of 5th-grade students in face-to-face learning and distance learning. Research is valuable since distance learning is a new concept for young learners in Turkey, resulting from the pandemic, and very few researchers have focused on young learners in Turkey. The study was conducted in a state school in Kütahya. Participants were 5th-grade students from three different sections of the school. In the study, the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) and its modified distance learning version were used. The results of the two tests were compared. While some factors do not show a significant difference, some aspects of fear of communication increase in the target foreign language. However, some items related to fear of making mistakes have noticeably reduced in distance learning.

Simulation of Authentication in Information-Processing Electronic Devices Based on Poisson Pulse Sequence Generators

Poisson pulse sequence generators are quite well studied, have good statistical properties, are implemented both in software and hardware, but have not yet been used for the purpose of authentication. The work was devoted to modeling authenticators of information-processing electronic devices by creating a bit template simulator based on a Poisson pulse sequence generator (PPSG). The generated templates imitated an important property of real bit templates, which reflected the physical uniqueness of electronic devices, namely Hamming distances between arbitrary template pairs for the same device were much smaller than the distance between arbitrary template pairs for two different devices. The limits of the control code values were determined by setting the range of the average frequency values of the output pulse sequence with the Poisson distribution law. The specified parameters of the output pulse sequence were obtained due to the optimization of the parameters of the PPSG structural elements. A combination of pseudo-random sequences with the control code’s different values formed the bit template. The comparison of the Hamming distance between the standard and real-time templates with a given threshold value was used as a validation mechanism. The simulation experiment results confirmed the unambiguous authentication of devices. The simulation results also showed similarities with the real data obtained for the bit templates of personal computers’ own noise. The proposed model could be used for improving the cybersecurity of a corporate network as an additional factor in the authentication of information-processing electronic devices for which the measurement of noise with the required accuracy is not possible or significantly difficult.

Abstract 2286: Profiling the complex rearrangement landscape of sarcoma

Abstract Genomic rearrangements are key mutational processes in a number of bone and soft tissue tumors (sarcomas). These events are used for both disease classification and as prognostic and predictive biomarkers. However, the rearrangement architecture and mutational processes giving rise to many of these events remain poorly characterized. Recent data indicate that sarcomas show particularly high frequencies of complex structural rearrangements, including patterns which do not fit those of known mutational mechanisms. As the largest whole genome sequencing (WGS) dataset of sarcomas to date, the Genomics England (GE) 100,000 Genomes Project represents a unique cohort in which to examine these events. Structural variants (SVs) were identified using five SV callers (Manta, Delly, LUMPY, SvABA and GRIDSS) in WGS data from 1330 GE samples. SVs were filtered to retain only those passing the quality filter, and to remove variants present in either matched germline samples or >1% of a panel of normal variants. Caller performance was evaluated by comparison of distances between SV and copy number call breakpoints generated by Battenberg. SVs identified by at least two callers were taken forward as high-quality calls. Chromothriptic events, extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) and breakage-fusion-bridges were identified using established algorithms. In keeping with previous data, the prevalence of structural variants varies by tumor type, with particularly high numbers of SVs observed in liposarcoma and osteosarcoma. Many tumor types included notable outlier samples; these were more likely to show evidence of chromothripsis, as identified by a dedicated chromothripsis caller. Liposarcomas show the highest frequency of chromothripsis, as described previously. In addition, we have examined some tumor types at higher granularity than previously available, demonstrating directly that the prevalence of chromothripsis varies by histological subtype. For example, chromothriptic events are identified in 100% of well-differentiated liposarcomas, but less than 10% of myxoid liposarcomas. Similarly, the presence of ecDNA varies by tumor type, with the novel observation of particularly high rates in angiosarcoma. Despite recent advances in histological classification, the survival for patients with sarcoma has remained largely static for over 40 years. Determination of the mutational processes generating these rearrangements will shed light on the pathogenesis of these tumors. Citation Format: Sara Waise, Tom Lesluyes, Jonas Demeulemeester, Maxime Tarabichi, Sarcoma Genomics England Clinical Interpretation Partnership, Nischalan Pillay, Adrienne M. Flanagan, Peter Van Loo. Profiling the complex rearrangement landscape of sarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2286.

Development of a modified cross-over hop test to reduce measurement errors in return-to-competition testing.

Hop tests play an important role in the rehabilitation process after injuries. A comparison of the jumping distances of both extremities allows for an evaluation of the injured limb. In the conventional cross-over hop test for distance, the jump width (medial vs. lateral) that the athlete has to cross during the jump is not standardised and therefore highly variable. This affects the absolute jump length in each jump series. Modifying the test may reduce the jump length variance between test series of an athlete as well as the test-dependent variations in the cross-over hop for distance. N = 47 athletes from the German and French national Judo youth teams were included in the study (age: 15.3 years ± 13-17). A modified version of the cross-over hop for distance was developed with a cross-over width of 50 cm and a fixed landing zone of 10 cm. The jump lengths of the conventional test and the modified test were documented. The change in jump length variations of the two sexes were compared. The mean value of the coefficient of variation decreased significantly from 4.09 % to 2.83 % (p < 0.01) due to the test modification. This resulted in an absolute improvement in accuracy of 1.26 % and a relative improvement of 30.8 %. A comparison of the limb symmetry index between the conventional and the modified cross-over hop for distance revealed no significant differences. The modified cross-over hop for distance showed a significantly lower variation in jump lengths compared with the conventional cross-over hop for distance. As a result, more accurate statements can be made regarding the patient's return-to-competition progress.

LIDAR-BASED MULTI-SENSOR MODULE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF APPLICABILITY FOR DAMAGE INVESTIGATION OF INDOOR DISASTER

Abstract. As the risk of disaster scenes increases, the number of cases of acquiring disaster scenes information using unmanned robots is increasing. Because unmanned robots can be remotely controlled, sensors such as LiDAR and optical cameras are installed so that investigators can safely observe disaster scenes and acquire information. In particular, the information that can be acquired is different depending on the sensor characteristics, and a sensor module suitable for the purpose is being developed. Accordingly, the National Disaster Management research Institute(NDMI) also developed a investigation robot capable of acquiring information on disaster sites independently. Based on 3D point cloud data, we developed a multi-sensor module and SLAM algorithm customized to the investigation robot to collect quantitative information on the damage situation. To test the performance of the independently developed multi-sensor module, SLAM mapping was performed in a disaster building reproduced like a disaster scene, and various SLAM algorithms and distance comparison were performed. As a result, PackSLAM developed in this study showed the lowest error. In the future, to increase applicability at disaster sites, more precise experiments will be conducted by conducted by establishing a rough terrain environment.

Extracranial guiding structures for navigation to specific topographical sectors of the equine neopallium: an anatomical investigation performing three-dimensional distance measurements in adult warm-blooded horses.

This basically anatomical study focuses on two items; firstly, the establishment of a system for the cartographic subdivision of the neopallium; secondly, the topographical correlation of extracranial landmarks and intracranial sites on the neopallium. The surface of the neopallium was subdivided into 15 sectors with reference to a newly introduced pattern of Primary Sulci. The topographical link between extracranial landmarks and certain intracranial sites (i.e. neopallium sectors) was elaborated by using a simple stereotactic device and a computer-assisted measurement device. Measurements were performed between points on the head's outer surface and on the isolated brain. The introduction of an anatomical three-dimensional coordinate system was an essential key issue for this investigation. This setting facilitated the measurements and calculations of the so-called indirect distances that were characterised by their alignment along the three orthogonal axes (x, y, z) of the anatomical coordinate system. The inter-individual comparison (16 adult horses [Equus caballus]) of the indirect distances revealed that each sector centre lay within a distinct morphometric residence area. The measured and calculated data also showed that each sector centre could be assigned to its proper extracranial landmark that - in comparison with other landmarks - was best suited for the optimal allocation of the sector centre point.

Fed-Fi: Federated Learning Malicious Model Detection Method Based on Feature Importance

Federated learning, as a new security exchange paradigm, is widely used in medical care, driverless cars, finance, and other fields. However, federated learning still faces the problem of sybil attacks common in distributed frameworks. The existing schemes mainly defend against malicious model attacks with distance comparison, neural network, and confidence vote. But they are significantly limited in dealing with collusive sybil attacks. Therefore, we propose a federated learning malicious model detection method based on feature importance (Fed-Fi). Firstly, we screen important features by feature importance reasoning method based on LRP and compare the similarity based on Hamming distance between important features. Then, we adjust model learning rate adaptively to reduce the effect of collusive sybil attacks on the global model. The experimental results indicate that it can effectively resist the attack of collusive sybils in federated learning.

Comparison of preoperative simulated and postoperative real safety distances using anterior segment OCT in patients with phakic IOL according to iris configuration.

To compare the simulated safe distance (SSD) preoperatively versus real safe distance (RSD) postoperatively in patients with iris-claw phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) implantation according to iris configuration. Totally 60 eyes of 60 patients underwent pIOL implantation for surgical correction of myopia. Anterior chamber depth (ACD) was measured with the IOLMaster 700, and nasal and temporal safety distances (SD) were measured pre- and postoperatively using Anterior Segment Visante-OCT. SD was defined as a line measured between the edge of the optic or its simulated image to the endothelium. Eyes were divided into 3 groups: convex, concave, and plane according to preoperatory iris configuration. Statistical analysis was performed using the R program, for the comparison of independent groups and multiple comparisons, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Dunn test were used respectively. Mean difference between nasal preoperative SSD and postoperative RSD was -0.36±0.38, -0.29±0.48, and -0.18±0.30 mm in the concave, convex, and plane group, respectively. Mean difference between temporal SSD and RSD was -0.36±0.37, -0.14±0.38, and -0.24±0.33 mm in the concave, convex, and plane group, respectively. There were statistically significant differences between SSD and RSS for both nasal and temporal sides in the concave and plane group (P<0.002). Preoperative SSD and postoperative RSD for iris-claw pIOL shows significant differences in patients with concave and plane iris.

Jerky Motion of the Reaction Front during Discontinuous Dissolution in a Fe-13.5 at.% Zn Alloy.

This paper studies the go- and -stop movement of a receding reaction front (RF) during a discontinuous dissolution (DD) process. A special simulation procedure was applied for the DD reaction to predict a jerky motion of the RF. The Fe-13.5 at.% Zn alloy was selected in which go- and -stop behaviour was revealed in the form of characteristic lines (called “ghost lines”) showing successive positions of receding RF. The results presented for the DD process are quite different from those relevant for the DP reaction at the same Fe-13.5 at.% Zn alloy in terms of go- and -stop motion and movement distance. For the presented case, the go- and -stop periods are relatively long and obtain an order of several dozen seconds, while for the DP reaction, it was only a few seconds. A similar conclusion was formulated after a comparison of the movement distance which, for the DD reaction, is usually longer by 1–2 orders of magnitude. The simulation results of the DD reaction indicate a good agreement with the experimental data presented in the literature for the same dissolution rate. It is necessary to emphasize that the simulation is the only source of data for z parameter changes during the -stop period of the DD reaction.

Distance education quality evaluation based on multigranularity probabilistic linguistic term sets and disappointment theory

Distance education quality evaluation is extremely important in improving the quality of education under COVID-19. As traditional teaching-quality evaluation methods are no longer applicable, it is crucial to construct effective evaluation methods. In the evaluation of distance education quality, decision-makers have different linguistic expression preferences, and the evaluation information may be biased due to an improper grasp of the problem. In addition, the correlation between the criteria of distance education quality evaluation is common, and the results of existing evaluation methods are quite different. In this paper, to compensate for these deficiencies, we utilize the multi-granularity probabilistic linguistic term set (MGPLTS), which can reflect the linguistic expression preference of decision-makers and the importance of linguistic terms, and propose a multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) method. First, the dispersion and concentration degrees are proposed as the theoretical basis for judging the hesitancy of decision-makers’ evaluation information, and the decision-maker weight adjustment model is constructed. To reflect the importance and correlation of criteria, the SWARA method and the CRITIC method are constructed as criteria weight methods. To obtain reliable decision results, decision-makers’ psychological expectations are taken into account, the MULTIMOORA method is improved upon, and a new integration theory is proposed to improve its robustness. Finally, through an example case of distance education quality evaluation and comparison with other methods, the effectiveness, practicability and superiority of this method are verified.

Geometric accuracy investigations of terrestrial laser scanner systems in the laboratory and in the field

This paper summarizes recent research into current terrestrial laser scanners undertaken by the HafenCity University Hamburg and gives an assessment of the geodetic accuracy of the latest generation of scanners. Three separate independent test methods are presented to investigate the geometric accuracy of terrestrial laser scanners under laboratory conditions: (a) distance measurement accuracy to b/w targets and spheres on the 20-m comparator track, (b) comparison of spatial distances in the 3D test field on b/w targets, and (c) investigation of the flatness deviation following the guideline VDI/VDE 2634 (VDI/VDE 2012) on a flat stone slab. The following laser scanners were tested in the lab: Leica BLK360 (2017), Leica RTC360 (2019), Z+F IMAGER 5016 (2019, 2020), Z+F IMAGER 5010 (2020), and Faro Focus3D X330 (2020). The reference measurements were realised with the Leica Absolute Tracker AT960 (2017, 2020) and with the Leica TS60 total station (2019). The results of the geometric accuracy tests in the laboratory show very small deviations in the range of 1–2 mm for most of the scanners, thus corresponding to the manufacturer’s specifications. In addition, five laser scanners were tested in accordance with instruction sheet 7-2014 of the German Society for Geodesy, Geoinformation and Land Management (DVW) for standardised testing of terrestrial laser scanners in the outdoor area of HafenCity University Hamburg. For the execution of the field test procedure, only the standard equipment and software of the respective manufacturers were used. The entire field test procedure, including data acquisition and evaluation, was completed within 4 to 5 h for each scanner. As expected, no significant distance or angle deviations were detected in any of the measurement systems, so that the tested laser scanners are ready-to-use, taking into account the measurement volume recorded.

A Comparison of Distance and On-Campus Learning Models to Prepare Teachers of Students With Visual Impairments

Introduction Since the 1970s, many universities and agencies have prepared professionals in visual impairment through distance educational approaches, including concentrated off-campus courses, video and telephone connections, and synchronous or asynchronous online methods. Although online professional preparation in visual impairment has become common, there is little data that compares outcomes of on-campus instruction with distance education methods. This article reports follow-up data from a federally funded graduate university program that prepares teachers of students with visual impairments: It compares results from a survey that describes how on-campus and distance education students perceived the quality of their preparation. Methods An online survey was sent to 37 bachelor’s degree students who had earned certification as teachers of students with visual impairments. 27 students returned usable surveys, in which they reported relevant demographic information and current job roles. The survey included 13 demographic questions about employment and setting. Eight questions related to general evaluation of their preparation program, and 22 questions related to perceived competence in skills needed to prepare teachers of students with visual impairments. Results There were few differences between perceptions of students who were prepared in the full-time on-campus model and those who were prepared through distance education. Most respondents were graduates working as itinerant teachers in public schools or specialized school settings. With regard to perceptions of their own skills related to visual impairment, only the item on assistive technology showed a significant difference between the two models. Students in distance education perceived themselves as less well prepared in that area. Discussion Given the increased shift toward distance learning caused by the COVID-19 virus, the authors suggest that a broad-based national study of outcomes related to distance learning in visual impairment might offer more detailed insights into the quality of teaching produced through distance learning.

Fearless distasteful butterflies and timid mimetic butterflies: comparison of flight initiation distances in Papilioninae.

Prey are expected to flee from an approaching predator when the cost of remaining (i.e. being captured) exceeds the cost of fleeing. In species where individuals experience less predation pressure, delayed escape responses to predatory threats are predicted. Therefore, non-chalant behaviour should be observed in unpalatable and Batesian mimetic prey while rapid escape behaviour may be displayed in palatable and non-mimetic prey from closely related species. This study compared the flight initiation distances (FIDs; the distances at which a prey starts to flee during a standardized human approach) of several sympatric swallowtail butterflies (Papilionidae) in two areas with different temperate zones. As predicted, it was found that unpalatable species had significantly shorter FIDs than palatable species in both areas. By contrast, FIDs of Batesian mimic species were significantly longer than those of unpalatable model species and were not significantly different from those of palatable species. FIDs were not significantly different between mimetic and non-mimetic forms of the intraspecific polymorphic species Papilio polytes. The mimetic species or form may reduce the risk of revealing their identity (i.e. palatability) through early escape behaviour. These findings have implications for the selective forces that affect the escape tendency of prey.

Serological and molecular characterization of hepatitis B virus infection in chronic kidney disease patients from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) are more vulnerable to blood-borne viral infections due to frequent invasive procedures. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in this cohort of patients has been a matter of concern worldwide. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the frequency of serological markers for hepatitis B, and the occurrence of overt and occult HBV infection (OBI) and its molecular characterization in serum samples from 644 CKD patients in HD units located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2013 to 2017. HBV DNA was investigated in HBsAg reactive and “anti-HBc alone” samples to determine infecting genotypes and genetic relatedness between sequences. The prevalence of serological markers HBsAg+, anti-HBc alone, anti-HBc+/anti-HBs+, anti-HBs+, anti-HBc/anti-HBs/HBsAg were 5.9%, 2.8%, 30.7%, 26.6%, 34.0%, respectively. HBV DNA was detected in 39.5% (15/38) of the HBsAg+ and in 5/18 (27.8%) of the “anti-HBc alone” individuals, indicating a high prevalence of OBI within this group. We found a higher prevalence of HBV/A1 (65%), followed by HBV/D3 (20%), and HBV/A2 (15%). Bayesian MCC tree with a highly supported clade, genetic distance comparison, and identical nucleotide sequences suggested a nosocomial spread of HBV in some units. The high prevalence of HBV infection and low number of individuals immune to infection reinforces the need for vaccination in this group. The presence of closely related strains in the same HD unit reinforces the importance of continuous improvement of safety control measures and laboratory surveillance of serological markers to prevent the risk of infection and transmission of HBV.

Clustering Algorithm for Big Datasets with Mixed Attribute Features under Spark

This paper presents an in-depth study and analysis of large datasets of mixed and attribute features under Spark using a large dataset clustering algorithm. The classical algorithm K-means based on division and the density-based clustering algorithm DPC, which has become more popular in recent years, are selected as the research objects of this paper. Secondly, the original K-means algorithm is improved by combining holdout validation and K-means++ method to address the shortcomings of the K-means algorithm that the number of class clusters K needs to be set in advance and the initial class cluster centers are chosen randomly, which leads to unstable iterations and slow convergence of clustering results. The similarity matrix will be continuously updated during the iterative process. It mainly refers to the process of dividing objects into multiple classes according to the degree of similarity between objects. After the division, the objects within the class are like each other, while the objects between the classes are different from each other. The comparison experiments of the improved algorithm before and after the MovieLens dataset are conducted to verify that the new algorithm has better performance in terms of clustering accuracy and efficiency. Again, to address the drawback that the clustering results in the DPC algorithm rely heavily on the subjective selection of the truncation distance parameter cd, and it is difficult to handle datasets with complex distribution and large density variation, the algorithm can generate the optimal cd adaptively by combining K-nearest neighbors and introducing the distance comparison quantity, which has a better performance by considering the overall and local distribution of the data. The feasibility of the improved method is verified by validating the algorithm with artificial datasets and UCI datasets as well as separation tests. Finally, the parallelized design and implementation of the improved K-means algorithm and CDPC-KNN algorithm are completed by building a Spark clustering environment, and the parallelized algorithm is verified to have much better data processing capability and be more adaptable to the clustering analysis of large-scale data by comparing algorithm string parallelism experiments.

Reliable and Privacy-Preserving Top-k Disease Matching Schemes for E-Healthcare Systems

The integration of body sensors, cloud computing, and mobile communication technologies has significantly improved the development and availability of e-healthcare systems. In an e-healthcare system, health service providers upload real patients’ clinical data and diagnostic treatments to the cloud server. Afterward, the users can submit queries with specific body sensor parameters, to obtaining pertinent <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> diagnostic files. The results are ranked based on ranking algorithms that match the query parameters to the ones in diagnostic files. However, privacy concerns arise while matching disease, since the clinical data and diagnostic files contain sensitive information. In this work, we propose two reliable and privacy-preserving Top- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> disease matching schemes. The first scheme is constructed based on our proposed weighted Euclidean distance comparison algorithm under secure <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -nearest neighbor technique to get <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${k}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> diagnostic files. It allows users to set different weights for each body indicator as per their needs. The second scheme is designed by comparing Euclidean distances under the modified Paillier homomorphic encryption algorithm where a superlinear sequence is used to reduce the computational and communication overhead. The user side incurs slightly higher computational costs, but the trusted party does not need to execute encryption operations. Hence, the proposed two schemes can be applied in different application scenarios. Simulations on synthetic and real data prove the efficiency of the schemes, and security analysis establishes the privacy-preservation properties.

Johnius sasakii, a new species of croaker (Perciformes: Sciaenidae) with a key to Johnius from East Malaysia, Borneo.

A new sciaenid fish, Johnius sasakii sp. nov. from the East Malaysian coastal waters of Sabah and Sarawak, Borneo is described herein. Johnius sasakii sp. nov. can be separated from the close congeners, Johnius heterolepis and Johnius carouna by having less gill rakers on the lower limb of the first gill arch (mode number 9 vs. 10 for J. heterolepis; 11 for J. carouna). It can be distinguished from J. heterolepis with the higher modal number of gill rakers on the upper limb of first gill arch (5 vs. 4), shorter anal-fin base length (9% vs. 10% of SL) and first anal-fin ray length (1012% vs. 1213% of SL) respectively. Furthermore, J. sasakii sp. nov. can be further differentiated from J. carouna by its shorter second anal-fin spine length 710% SL (usually 810%) vs. 1114% SL (usually 1112%) and slightly deeper body depth 2529% SL (usually 2628%) vs. 2328% SL (usually 2426%). Meanwhile, J. sasakii sp. nov. can be easily differentiated from J. macrorhynus by a present of molariform teeth on inner rows of jaws and stumpy gill rakers. Johnius (Johnius) sasakii sp. nov. can be clearly distinguished from species of the subgenus J. (Johnieops) by the lack of enlarged outer row teeth on upper jaw. A Kimura 2-parameter genetic distance comparison of 450 bp sequences of mitochondrial 16S rRNA and 488 bp nuclear gene S7 showed that J. sasakii sp. nov. are highly differentiated from J. heterolepis (16S: 10.4%, S7: 5.8%), J. carouna (16S:19.3%, S7:8.4%); and J. macrorhynus (16S: 16.7%, S7: 8.1%) respectively. The study highlights that the genetic approach from mtDNA and nDNA can contribute to the confirmation of taxonomic status of sympatric species in genus Johnius.

Rapid identification of adult plant wheat stripe rust resistance gene &amp;lt;italic&amp;gt;YrC271&amp;lt;/italic&amp;gt; using high-throughput SNP array-based bulked segregant analysis

<p id="C3">Wheat cultivar C271 registered as PI 210904 in the USDA National Small Grains Collection was developed from Punjab Pakistan in 1953 and it confers adult plant resistance (APR) to stripe rust both in the United States and China for many years. In the present study, we dissected the genetic basis of stripe rust resistance on 229 F_2:3 populations produced by crossing Jinmai 79 and C271 in the fields of Yangling and Jiangyou. Bulked segregant analysis coupled with wheat 660K SNP array placed the majority of SNPs differences on chromosome arm 3BS. After using allele-specific quantitative PCR based genotyping assay (AQP) to confirm the SNPs, a linkage map was constructed and a major locus was detected across all environments based on IciMapping v4.1 software. The QTL, designated as <italic>YrC271</italic>, was flanked by SNP markers <italic>AX-109001377 </italic>and <italic>AX-111087256</italic> with a genetic interval of 1.9 cM corresponding to a physical distance of 1.9 Mb in RefSeq v.1.0 (positions 6.1-8.0 Mb). Comparative genomics analysis was performed to detect the collinear genomic regions of different hexaploid wheat accessions (<italic>Triticum aestivum</italic>), <italic>T</italic>. <italic>dicoccoides</italic>, and <italic>T. turgidum. </italic>More than 340 SNPs in the physical region were extracted for haplotype analysis in a panel of over 1484 worldwide common wheat accessions, and five major haplotypes (Hap1, Hap2, Hap3, Hap4, and Hap5) were identified. And the favorable haplotype Hap1 was highly associated with stripe rust resistance. <italic>YrC271</italic> appeared to be similar to <italic>YrC271</italic> based on comparison of relative distance, stripe rust responses, and pedigree analyses, but allelism tests, cloning or precise phenotypic comparisons would be needed for confirmation. The <italic>YrC271</italic> region provided the opportunity for further map-based cloning and haplotypes analysis enabled pyramiding favorable alleles into commercial cultivars by marker-assisted selection.