Lateral Modules Research Articles

A numerical simulation research on fish adaption behavior based on deep reinforcement learning and fluid–structure coupling: Implementation of the “perceive-feedback-memory” control system

The autonomous swimming of fish in a complex flow environment is a nonlinear and intricate system, which is the focus and challenge in various fields. This study proposed a novel simulation framework for artificial intelligence fish. It employed a high-precision immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann coupling scheme to simulate the interactions between fish and flow in real time, and utilized the soft actor-critic (SAC) deep reinforcement learning algorithm for fish brain decision-making module, which was further divided into a vision-based directional navigation and a lateral line-based flow perception modules, each matched with its corresponding macro-action space. The flow features were extracted using a deep neural network based on a multi-classification algorithm from the data perceived by the lateral line and were linked to the fish actions. The predation swimming and the various Kármán gait swimming were explored in terms of training, simulation, and generalization. Numerical results demonstrated significant advantages in the convergence speed and training efficiency of the SAC algorithm. Owing to the closed-loop “perceive-feedback-memory” mode, intelligent fish can respond in real-time to changes in flow fields based on reward-driven requirements and experience, and the accumulated experience can be directly utilized in other flow fields, and its adaptability, model training efficiency, and generalization were substantially improved.

Development and Architecture of the <i>Nepeta transiliensis</i> (Lamiaceae) Rhizome

The ontogeny and structural organization of the rhizome of Nepeta transiliensis individuals in the high-mountain conditions of the Zailiyskiy Alatau have been studied. Various types of buds (renewal buds, dormant buds) take part in shoot formation, from which various types of elongated shoots are formed. Using the architectural approach to the description of plants, the main structural units – rhizome modules – are identified. Different branching of modules leads to the construction of different rhizome axes. In the rhizomatous axes, the angles of departure of the lateral modules from the maternal one differ, the development of the modules occurs sequentially from the renewal buds or with a delay from the dormant buds. The set of rhizomatous axes forms a branched rhizome complex and leads to the formation of rhizome tiers. In general, the rhizome of N. transiliensis is of the “intermediate” type, which combines the features of a geometric and non-geometric rhizome.

Attention-Based Multi-Level Feature Fusion for Object Detection in Remote Sensing Images

We study the problem of object detection in remote sensing images. As a simple but effective feature extractor, Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) has been widely used in several generic vision tasks. However, it still faces some challenges when used for remote sensing object detection, as the objects in remote sensing images usually exhibit variable shapes, orientations, and sizes. To this end, we propose a dedicated object detector based on the FPN architecture to achieve accurate object detection in remote sensing images. Specifically, considering the variable shapes and orientations of remote sensing objects, we first replace the original lateral connections of FPN with Deformable Convolution Lateral Connection Modules (DCLCMs), each of which includes a 3×3 deformable convolution to generate feature maps with deformable receptive fields. Additionally, we further introduce several Attention-based Multi-Level Feature Fusion Modules (A-MLFFMs) to integrate the multi-level outputs of FPN adaptively, further enabling multi-scale object detection. Extensive experimental results on the DIOR dataset demonstrated the state-of-the-art performance achieved by the proposed method, with the highest mean Average Precision (mAP) of 73.6%.

Membrane Chromatography and Fractionation of Proteins from Whey—A Review

Membrane chromatography (MC) is an emerging bioseparation technology combining the principles of membrane filtration and chromatography. In this process, one type of molecule is adsorbed in the stationary phase, whereas the other type of molecule is passed through the membrane pores without affecting the adsorbed molecule. In subsequent the step, the adsorbed molecule is recovered by an elution buffer with a unique ionic strength and pH. Functionalized microfiltration membranes are usually used in radial flow, axial flow, and lateral flow membrane modules in MC systems. In the MC process, the transport of a solute to a stationary phase is mainly achieved through convection and minimum pore diffusion. Therefore, mass transfer resistance and pressure drop become insignificant. Other characteristics of MC systems are a minimum clogging tendency in the stationary phase, the capability of operating with a high mobile phase flow rate, and the disposable (short term) application of stationary phase. The development and application of MC systems for the fractionation of individual proteins from whey for investigation and industrial-scale production are promising. A significant income from individual whey proteins together with the marketing of dairy foods may provide a new commercial outlook in dairy industry. In this review, information about the development of a MC system and its applications for the fractionation of individual protein from whey are presented in comprehensive manner.

Ecogeochemical evaluation of soils under conditions of technogenesis

The distribution of total forms of heavy metals Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, Zn, Co, Hg, and As in technogenic soils has been evaluated using geochemical research methods. Diagnostic indicators of damage of soil natural properties in the area of technogenesis are revealed. Statistically significant empirical dependences toxic elements migration on the buffer properties of soils (pH, N, Corg) and salinity factor of the territory are obtained. It is shown that in the zone of industrial objects in the soil surface layer, lateral technogenic geochemical pollution modules can be formed at depth down to 30-50 cm. This should be taken into account when evaluating the environmentalrisk of a territory and in the environmental control of soil pollution.

Modular organization of cerebellar climbing fiber inputs during goal-directed behavior.

The cerebellum has a parasagittal modular architecture characterized by precisely organized climbing fiber (CF) projections that are congruent with alternating aldolase C/zebrin II expression. However, the behavioral relevance of CF inputs into individual modules remains poorly understood. Here, we used two-photon calcium imaging in the cerebellar hemisphere Crus II in mice performing an auditory go/no-go task to investigate the functional differences in CF inputs to modules. CF signals in medial modules show anticipatory decreases, early increases, secondary increases, and reward-related increases or decreases, which represent quick motor initiation, go cues, fast motor behavior, and positive reward outcomes. CF signals in lateral modules show early increases and reward-related decreases, which represent no-go and/or go cues and positive reward outcomes. The boundaries of CF functions broadly correspond to those of aldolase C patterning. These results indicate that spatially segregated CF inputs in different modules play distinct roles in the execution of goal-directed behavior.

Separation of Biological Particles in a Modular Platform of Cascaded Deterministic Lateral Displacement Modules

Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) has been extensively implemented in the last decade for size-based sample preparation, owing to its high separation performances for a wide range of particle dimensions. However, separating particles from 1 μm to 10 μm in one single DLD device is challenging because of the required diversity of pillar dimensions and inherent fabrication issues. This paper presents an alternative approach to achieve the extraction of E. coli bacteria from blood samples spiked with prostate cancer cells. Our approach consists in cascading individual DLD devices in a single automated platform, using flexible chambers that successively collect and inject the sample between each DLD stage without any external sample manipulation. Operating DLD separations independently enables to maximize the sorting efficiency at each step, without any disturbance from downstream stages. The proposed two-step automated protocol is applied to the separation of three types of components (bacteria, blood particles and cancer cells), with a depletion yield of 100% for cancer cells and 93% for red blood cells. This cascaded approach is presented for the first time with two DLD modules and is upscalable to improve the dynamic range of currently available DLD devices.

Purification of complex samples: Implementation of a modular and reconfigurable droplet-based microfluidic platform with cascaded deterministic lateral displacement separation modules.

Particle separation in microfluidic devices is a common problematic for sample preparation in biology. Deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) is efficiently implemented as a size-based fractionation technique to separate two populations of particles around a specific size. However, real biological samples contain components of many different sizes and a single DLD separation step is not sufficient to purify these complex samples. When connecting several DLD modules in series, pressure balancing at the DLD outlets of each step becomes critical to ensure an optimal separation efficiency. A generic microfluidic platform is presented in this paper to optimize pressure balancing, when DLD separation is connected either to another DLD module or to a different microfluidic function. This is made possible by generating droplets at T-junctions connected to the DLD outlets. Droplets act as pressure controllers, which perform at the same time the encapsulation of DLD sorted particles and the balance of output pressures. The optimized pressures to apply on DLD modules and on T-junctions are determined by a general model that ensures the equilibrium of the entire platform. The proposed separation platform is completely modular and reconfigurable since the same predictive model applies to any cascaded DLD modules of the droplet-based cartridge.

Evolutionary modularity and morphological integration in the haptoral anchor structures of Ligophorus spp. (Monogenea: Dactylogyridae)

An important question in the study of phenotypic evolution is whether characters are independent of each other or behave and evolve as integrated modules. Morphological integration and modularity provide a powerful framework for the analysis of the evolution of morphological traits. We used geometric morphometrics and phylogenetically independent contrasts (PIC) to test four different modularity hypotheses in the haptoral anchors of 14 monogenean species of Ligophorus. Integration between the modular units identified was further evaluated with two-block partial least squares analysis. Roots and points represented two modules in the dorsal and ventral anchors, but modularity was not statistically supported when parasite phylogeny was accounted for, which may indicate convergent evolution related to host characteristics and gill morphology. In contrast, PIC revealed medial and lateral modules in ventral anchors only. Moreover, we found evidence for ventral and dorsal anchor pairs forming two modules, supporting the notion that they play different functional roles. Integration between all identified modules was strong. We conclude that there is modular structure in the anchors of Ligophorus spp., accounted by adaptive and phylogenetic factors acting at different levels, and ventral and dorsal anchors evolve as integrated modules with specific roles in attachment.

Thienyl-BOPHY dyes as promising templates for bulk heterojunction solar cells.

The synthesis and characterization of bis(difluoroboryl)-1,2-bis((1H-pyrrol-2-yl)methylene)hydrazone functionalized with two lateral vinyl-thienyl modules and exhibiting strong absorption in the 400-800 nm window in thin films are reported. Bulk heterojunction solar cells assembled with these dyes and a fullerene derivative (PC71BM), using very small quantities of the additive diiodooctane, give a power conversion efficiency as high as 4.3% with short-circuit current values of 10.9 mA cm(-2), an open-circuit voltage of 0.7 V and external quantum efficiencies higher than 70% over a broad range of wavelengths (580 to 720 nm).

Karrabina gen. nov. (Cunoniaceae), for the Australian species previously placed in Geissois, and a synopsis of genera in the tribe Geissoieae

Comparison of the four species groups comprising the tribe Geissoieae (Lamanonia in South America, Geissois sensu stricto from islands in the south-western Pacific, and Pseudoweinmannia and Geissois in Australia) showed differences in the stipules, inflorescences and flowers. Molecular phylogenetic analyses suggested that Geissois sensu lato is paraphyletic, with Australian Geissois being closer to Pseudoweinmannia than to New Caledonian Geissois. The name Karrabina is published to accommodate the Australian species formerly placed in Geissois, namely K. benthamiana Rozefelds & H.C.Hopkins and K. biagiana Rozefelds & H.C.Hopkins. Distinguishing characters for Karrabina are: four lateral stipules per node that vary from free to largely fused between and sometimes across the petioles; inflorescences with a variable number of metamers and racemes, with both median and lateral modules that always lack a median raceme; and pale flowers with five or six calyx lobes and shortly exserted stamens. Geissois s.s. differs in having: two intrapetiolar stipules per node; inflorescences consisting of few metamers and few racemes, with the modules being always lateral and possessing a median raceme; flowers with four red calyx lobes and prominently exserted stamens. The generic limits of Lamanonia and Pseudoweinmannia remain unchanged.

Based on the Theory of Thin-Walled Bar Flexure-Torsion Analysis of the Oblique Combined Structure

This paper assumes that a row of the frame, shear wall structure as affected by lateral bending and torsion modules coupling effect of thin-walled members, through the floor to work together to establish a collaborative analysis of structural bias of the Hamiltonian on the dual system, with precise integration method for the numerical solution of high-precision systems, analysis of bias is given a set of construction the structure of collaborative work. The results make the structure more in line with the actual deformation.

Impact of Kinetic Beds on the Incidence of Atelectasis in Mechanically Ventilated Patients

We investigated the impact of kinetic beds on the incidence of atelectasis in mechanically ventilated patients in an intensive care unit (ICU). All bronchoscopies performed for atelectasis on mechanically ventilated patients between July 2000 and June 2001 and between July 2002 and June 2003 were reviewed. On July 26, 2001, 50 kinetic beds, 20 continuous lateral rotation therapy modules, and 20 percussion and vibration modules were introduced to our institution. Of the 3399 ICU admissions between July 2000 and June 2001, 71 patients developed atelectasis while being mechanically ventilated. Of the 3065 ICU admissions between July 2002 and June 2003, 83 patients developed atelectasis while being mechanically ventilated. Of these, 48 (58%) patients had left-sided atelectasis, 30 (36%) had right-sided atelectasis, and 5 (6%) had bilateral atelectasis. There was no decrease in the incidence of atelectasis in mechanically ventilated patients at our institution after the introduction of kinetic beds and vibration, percussion, and rotation modules despite their widespread availability.

Chapter 18 Control of the three-dimensional dynamic characteristics of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex by the nodulus and uvula

Publisher Summary This chapter explains that spatial orientation of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (aVOR) is controlled by the nodulus and uvula. The data suggest that nodulo-uvular modules separately control the time constants of velocity storage about individual semicircular canal-related axes, as well as crosscoupling among these axes. The aVOR is a sensorimotor system with unique properties for studying behavioral manifestations of the zonal structure of the cerebellar cortex. It is naturally subdivided according to the coordinate frame of the semicircular canals into three functional components, which are separately represented in the vestibular nuclei and the cerebellar cortex. The chapter shows that computations performed by the nodulus and uvula differentially control the three-dimensional dynamic characteristics of velocity storage that determine the spatial orientation of the aVOR. Time constants about a vertical axis are represented in lateral modules, whereas time constants about horizontal axes are represented in more medial zones.

Task Decomposition in Cut-Off Dimensioning: A Frame-Based Model

Abstract The cut-off dimensioning problem is characterized by the complexity of the problem, and by environmental uncertainty. A solution is proposed using deeomposition into lateral modules and vertical layers Lateral decomposition permits the distribution of expertise, hence the reduction in the complexity of the problem. The vertical decomposition permits greater expert decision-making, hence the reduction in uncertainty. A synergy of three knowledge representation methods is used: Declarative knowledge is used for rule-based reasoning, heuristic methodologies are used for the deterministic, context-dependent decision-making, and strictly algorithmic procedures are used for the tasks inclined to data abstraction and mathematical manipulations. The frame is used as the common knowledge carrier among all three tasks.