Mature Products Research Articles

Tunnel Detection Equipment and Recognition Method Discussion and Prospects

Traffic construction has always been an important prerequisite to achieve China's economic development and social progress. In a country with rich landforms, mountains and hills account for about 67% of the land area, tunnels play a positive role in improving transportation efficiency and alleviating urban traffic pressure, and the diagnosis and treatment of lining diseases is the primary task to ensure the safe operation of tunnels. In this paper, the development status of lining disease identification criteria, identification technology and identification integrated equipment are elaborated and analyzed in detail, and the treatment of lining disease is briefly discussed. The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: 1. All countries have relevant provisions on the judgment and management of tunnel safety, and the safety classification of tunnels has been basically defined. 2. In view of different disease characteristics of tunnels, the integration of multiple detection technologies is the mainstream trend at present. 3. The development of lining disease detection technology and methods has been relatively perfect, and major countries have mature commercial products for tunnel safety hidden danger detection.

The Warring States period faience beads excavated from Majiayuan Cemetery: characterization and new insights

In 2006, the Majiayuan Cemetery of the Warring States period (475 BCE to 221 BCE) was discovered in Zhangjiachuan county of Gansu province, northwest China. The thousands of exquisite gold/silver artifacts, bronze wares, potteries, and beads unearthed, and have attracted great interest when investigating the dynamics of exchange, mobility, and transcultural encounters in Eurasian artifacts. During the excavation, plenty of blue and purple faience beads were found arranged around the tomb owner in grave M52. Faience beads of the same style unearthed from other graves of the region indicate their mature production at the time of burials. By adopting scientific methods for the chemical and compositional characterization of the faience beads, this study explained their materials and production techniques and provided new insights into faience production in the late Warring States period.

Comparison of two different anionic supplements and a low calcium diet fed to transition cows prepartum on DM intake, mineral homoeostasis and performance.

This study evaluates the effects of two rations with a positive dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) and varying Ca content and two anionic diets on mineral homoeostasis and performance in early lactation cows. For this purpose, 48 pregnant dairy cows stratified for mature equivalent milk production, parity, body condition score (BCS), and BW were randomly assigned to four treatment groups and fed the following rations during the last 3weeks of gestation: LC: low Ca (0.24% Ca, 1.14% K, DCAD: +86mEq/kg DM), HC: high Ca (1.23% Ca, 1.17% K, DCAD: +95mEq/kg DM), AS: Anionic salt (1.21% Ca, 1.21% K, DCAD: -112mEq/kg DM, and SC: SoyChlor (1.28% Ca, 1.16% K, DCAD: -115mEq/kg DM). After parturition, all animals were fed a common postpartum diet. Data were collected until 21days in milk. Urinary pH was significantly decreased with the AS and SC treatment in comparison to the LC and HC groups. The highest prepartum DM intake (DMI) was found in the LC group, while DMI in AS cows was lowest. Postpartum, DMI was significantly greater in LC and SC cows than in animals fed the HC and AS rations. Prepartum serum concentrations of Ca, P, and Mg as well as postpartum serum concentrations of P and Mg did not differ, while postpartum Ca was lower in the HC group, especially 24 and 48h after parturition. The greatest energy-corrected milk (ECM) yield was observed in cows fed the LC ration prepartum. Interestingly, milk protein production was lower in SC cows compared to LC, HC and AS. This study indicates that a ration containing a restricted Ca content fed prepartum is as suitable as a low DCAD diet to improve Ca balance without compromising DMI and performance.

Genetic improvement through mass selection in madura local maize (Zea mays L.), Indonesia

Mass selection is a breeding method used to increase the productivity of two Madura local maize. The study used a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), repeated three times with ten genotypes of treatment. The plant material used was ten genotypes of the 0th to 4th generation mass selection on two Madura local maize (cultivars: Tambin and elos), i.e., T-C0, T-C1, T-C2, T-C3, T- C4, E-C0, E-C1, E-C2, E-C3, E-C4. Heritability values in the broad sense of the ten observed characters have a high category, ranging from 0.65-0.97. Production per hectare has a significant positive correlation with the character of ear length, ear circumference, ear diameter, seed weight per plant, and weight of 1000 seeds. Mass selection on two Madura local maize for four cycles showed an increase in production of 611.20 kg/ha or an average selection response of 145.16 in the tambin cultivar, while in the elos cultivar, there was an increase in production of 754.55 kg/ha or an average selection response of 179.21. Mass selection of tambin and elos cultivars in four cycles decreased days to tasseling by -1.33 days (the average selection response is -0.22) and -1.00 days (the average selection response is -0.16), respectively. Mass selection is an effective breeding method for assembling maize varieties with early maturity and high production on tambin and elos cultivars. Keywords: Heritability, the correlation between characters, selection response, mass selection, madura local maize.

Male Germ Cell Proliferation in Fish Under The Influence of Various Factors With Special Reference to Indian Major Carps

The end product of germ cell maturation is the spermatozoa that are produced through a definite pattern in nature that requires a special environment. During proliferation of diploid germ cells, the spermatogonia repopulate the testis lobules by mitotic cell division. The natural germ cell proliferation and maturation has been modulated and manipulated by various factors to get maximum viable sperms for aquaculture practice. Environment and chemicals of natural and synthetic origin can interact with the endocrine system and alter the male germ cell generation and proliferation/inhibition in fish. In the present investigative review, an attempt has been made to ascertain various factors that influence the spermatogonial proliferation and maturation of fish with a special reference to Indian major carps, viz. catla, Catla catla, rohu, Labeo rohita and, mrigal, Cirrhinus mrigala. It was observed that physical factors such as temperature and photoperiod, and the chemical stimulants such as clomephene citrate, hormones and other chemicals stimulate the process. However, if not applied in optimal conditions/doses it may retract the germ cell proliferation and the entire spermatogenesis.

Life Cycle Assessment of a large commercial kelp farm in Shandong, China

The environmental benefits of seaweed cultivation have gained a lot of attention, both in policy strategies and by private companies. Sustainability evaluations of seaweed farming have however focused on a very small part of global production of seaweed - on European cultivations at research and pilot-scales although Asia stands for 99 % of global production with China alone producing 60 %. In this study, we use Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental performance of a 400-hectare Chinese kelp farm with a yearly harvest of 60,000 tons. Primary data from the farm was used to assess impacts up until harvest for the functional unit of 1 ton of fresh-weight kelp. Included in the LCA were impact on climate change, acidification terrestrial and marine eutrophication, and use of land water and energy. In addition, we calculated nutrient uptake. Further, we extracted inventory data of four published LCA studies of farmed kelp and recalculated environmental impacts, applying the same background data and method choices with the aim to compare the effects of scale and cultivation system. The results of the hotspot analysis showed that the plastic ropes and buoys dominated impacts on climate change, freshwater and marine eutrophication, and energy consumption. Consequently, the most effective improvement action was recycling after use. The yearly harvest of the Chinese farm was 1000–4000 times larger than previously evaluated farms compared. Results suggest that streamlined and mature production in the large-scale Chinese kelp farm led to lower electricity and fuel consumption compared to small-scale production, thus placing the Chinese farm with a climate impact of 57.5 kg CO2 eq. per ton fresh-weight kelp on the lower end when comparing the carbon footprint. There was a large variation in carbon footprints, which implies that the kelp cultivation sector has considerable room for optimization.

Factors Associated with the Efficacy of Mature Oocyte Production after Dual-Trigger Controlled Ovarian Stimulation using A GnRH Antagonist Protocol.

The number of mature oocytes retrieved plays a significant role in determining embryo development and pregnancy outcomes of in-vitro fertilization (IVF). However, studies investigating factors predictive of the efficacy of mature oocyte production (EMOP) after dual-trigger controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) are rare. This study aims to identify key predictors of EMOP during dual-trigger COS with a GnRH antagonist protocol for IVF. This retrospective cohort study included 359 first-time IVF patients undergoing dual-trigger COS with a GnRH antagonist protocol. EMOP was defined as the ratio of MII oocyte count to antral follicle count (AFC). Based on EMOP results, patients were divided into two groups: Group A (EMOP < 70%; n = 232) and Group B (EMOP ≥ 70%; n = 127). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that day-2 follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), stimulation duration, and total oocyte count were the most significant predictors of EMOP (p < 0.05; odds ratios: 1.637, 3.400, and 1.530, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated that total oocyte count < 9.5 (AUC, 0.782; sensitivity, 76.2%; specificity, 69.2%; p < 0.001), and stimulation duration < 9.5 days (AUC, 0.725; sensitivity, 63.5%; specificity, 66.7%; p < 0.001) significantly predicted EMOP < 70%. Stimulation duration combined with total oocyte count exhibited the highest power in predicting EMOP < 70% (AUC, 0.767; sensitivity, 92.3%; specificity, 42.4%). Stimulation duration combined with total oocyte count was identified as the most important factor associated with the efficacy of mature oocyte production during dual-trigger COS in IVF using a GnRH antagonist protocol.

Crash test analysis of an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) chassis.

All-terrain vehicle (ATVs) is a mature and well-cultivated product with prominent significance all over the world. As these products are made to be driven by hoonigans, safety is the main matter of concern. This research paper conducts a crash test analysis on an All- Terrain Vehicle (ATV) chassis to evaluate its structural integrity and occupant safety during collisions. Using advanced computational modeling and finite element analysis, various crash scenarios like Frontal and Side impact crash (considering the driver’s weight) with a wall, Modal analysis, and Static structural analysis are simulated. The 3D finite element model considers material properties and geometry, analyzing acceleration, displacement, deformation, and stress distribution within the chassis. The study assesses the chassis’s ability to absorb impact energy and protect occupants, examining the effectiveness of safety features like roll cages and seat restraints

Key-Value Pairs and NoSQL Databases: A Novel Concept to Manage Biologging Data in Data Repositories

Key-Value Pairs and NoSQL Databases: A Novel Concept to Manage Biologging Data in Data Repositories

Linking cell cycle to hematopoietic stem cell fate decisions.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have the properties to self-renew and/or differentiate into any blood cell lineages. In order to balance the maintenance of the stem cell pool with supporting mature blood cell production, the fate decisions to self-renew or to commit to differentiation must be tightly controlled, as dysregulation of this process can lead to bone marrow failure or leukemogenesis. The contribution of the cell cycle to cell fate decisions has been well established in numerous types of stem cells, including pluripotent stem cells. Cell cycle length is an integral component of hematopoietic stem cell fate. Hematopoietic stem cells must remain quiescent to prevent premature replicative exhaustion. Yet, hematopoietic stem cells must be activated into cycle in order to produce daughter cells that will either retain stem cell properties or commit to differentiation. How the cell cycle contributes to hematopoietic stem cell fate decisions is emerging from recent studies. Hematopoietic stem cell functions can be stratified based on cell cycle kinetics and divisional history, suggesting a link between Hematopoietic stem cells activity and cell cycle length. Hematopoietic stem cell fate decisions are also regulated by asymmetric cell divisions and recent studies have implicated metabolic and organelle activity in regulating hematopoietic stem cell fate. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of the mechanisms underlying hematopoietic stem cell fate decisions and how they are linked to the cell cycle.

IL-1β turnover by the UBE2L3 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme and HECT E3 ligases limits inflammation

The cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) has pivotal roles in antimicrobial immunity, but also incites inflammatory disease. Bioactive IL-1β is released following proteolytic maturation of the pro-IL-1β precursor by caspase-1. UBE2L3, a ubiquitin conjugating enzyme, promotes pro-IL-1β ubiquitylation and proteasomal disposal. However, actions of UBE2L3 in vivo and its ubiquitin ligase partners in this process are unknown. Here we report that deletion of Ube2l3 in mice reduces pro-IL-1β turnover in macrophages, leading to excessive mature IL-1β production, neutrophilic inflammation and disease following inflammasome activation. An unbiased RNAi screen identified TRIP12 and AREL1 E3 ligases of the Homologous to E6 C-terminus (HECT) family in adding destabilising K27-, K29- and K33- poly-ubiquitin chains on pro-IL-1β. We show that precursor abundance determines mature IL-1β production, and UBE2L3, TRIP12 and AREL1 limit inflammation by shrinking the cellular pool of pro-IL-1β. Our study uncovers fundamental processes governing IL-1β homeostasis and provides molecular insights that could be exploited to mitigate its adverse actions in disease.

Optimal integration modeling of Co – Electrolysis in a power-to-liquid industrial process

High temperature co-electrolysis using solid-oxide electrolysis cells is a highly efficient pathway for green syngas production owing to the possibility of heat integration with other processes. Therefore, this study described and evaluates a flexible and efficient configuration for producing sustainable synthetic fuels using electricity from renewables and captured CO2 by integrating co-electrolysis in a power-to-liquid industrial plant. Thereafter, novel and efficient technologies were implemented for green syngas production and its subsequent purification, increasing the overall process efficiency and achieving a significant reduction in the carbon footprint compared to mature synthetic crude production processes. Catalytic partial oxidation and dual pressure swing adsorption were integrated with co-electrolysis and Fischer–Tropsch synthesis in a scaled industrial plant, using residual streams from the complex or those of renewable origin as feed, which allowed the continuous operation of the process independent of renewable power generation. The mass and energy balance, performance, and efficiency estimations were also included in this study. A solid-oxide electrolytic cell (SOEC) plant using renewable electricity and heat input from thermal integration with the outlet syngas stream of the catalytic partial oxidation reactor was selected as a case study. Both the performance and efficiency analyses of the co-electrolysis unit demonstrated the benefits of such thermal integration in comparison with current solutions. In this study, both the thermal integration of the process streams, as well as the energy and heat consumed by the syngas purification process were considered.

MBD3 Regulates Male Germ Cell Division and Sperm Fertility in Arabidopsis thaliana.

DNA methylation plays important roles through the methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD) to realize epigenetic modifications. Thirteen AtMBD proteins have been identified from the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, but the functions of some members are unclear. AtMBD3 was found to be highly expressed in pollen and seeds and it preferably binds methylated CG, CHG, and unmethylated DNA sequences. Then, two mutant alleles at the AtMBD3 locus were obtained in order to further explore its function using CRISPR/Cas9. When compared with 92.17% mature pollen production in the wild type, significantly lower percentages of 84.31% and 78.91% were observed in the mbd3-1 and mbd3-2 mutants, respectively. About 16-21% of pollen from the mbd3 mutants suffered a collapse in reproductive transmission, whereas the other pollen was found to be normal. After pollination, about 16% and 24% of mbd3-1 and mbd3-2 mutant seeds underwent early or late abortion, respectively. Among all the late abortion seeds in mbd3-2 plants, 25% of the abnormal seeds were at the globular stage, 31.25% were at the transition stage, and 43.75% were at the heart stage. A transcriptome analysis of the seeds found 950 upregulated genes and 1128 downregulated genes between wild type and mbd3-2 mutants. Some transcriptional factors involved in embryo development were selected to be expressed, and we found significant differences between wild type and mbd3 mutants, such as WOXs, CUC1, AIB4, and RGL3. Furthermore, we found a gene that is specifically expressed in pollen, named PBL6. PBL6 was found to directly interact with AtMBD3. Our results provide insights into the function of AtMBD3 in plants, especially in sperm fertility.

Bioinformatic mining for RiPP biosynthetic gene clusters in Bacteroidales reveals possible new subfamily architectures and novel natural products.

The Bacteroidales order, widely distributed among diverse human populations, constitutes a key component of the human microbiota. Members of this Gram-negative order have been shown to modulate the host immune system, play a fundamental role in the gut's microbial food webs, or be involved in pathogenesis. Bacteria inhabiting such a complex environment as the human microbiome are expected to display social behaviors and, hence, possess factors that mediate cooperative and competitive interactions. Different types of molecules can mediate interference competition, including non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs), polyketides, and bacteriocins. The present study investigates the potential of Bacteroidales bacteria to biosynthesize class I bacteriocins, which are ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). For this purpose, 1,136 genome-sequenced strains from this order were mined using BAGEL4. A total of 1,340 areas of interest (AOIs) were detected. The most commonly identified enzymes involved in RiPP biosynthesis were radical S-adenosylmethionine (rSAM), either alone or in combination with other biosynthetic enzymes such as YcaO. A more comprehensive analysis of a subset of 9 biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) revealed a consistent association in Bacteroidales BGCs between peptidase-containing ATP-binding transporters (PCATs) and precursor peptides with GG-motifs. This finding suggests a possibly shared mechanism for leader peptide cleavage and transport of mature products. Notably, human metagenomic studies showed a high prevalence and abundance of the RiPP BGCs from Phocaeicola vulgatus and Porphyromonas gulae. The mature product of P. gulae BGC is hypothesized to display γ-thioether linkages and a C-terminal backbone amidine, a potential new combination of post-translational modifications (PTM). All these findings highlight the RiPP biosynthetic potential of Bacteroidales bacteria, as a rich source of novel peptide structures of possible relevance in the human microbiome context.

Improved sustainability of solar panels by improving stability of amorphous silicon solar cells

As the world grapples with global warming, it becomes imperative to carefully examine the sustainable energy technology choices. Solar is the fastest growing clean energy source but today it contributes little to the electricity generated, so future installations will dwarf the existing installed base. There is a factor of 2–4 decrease in the energy payback time from the dominant crystalline silicon technology to thin film technologies. Essential criteria like use of abundant materials and simple but mature production technology point to amorphous silicon (a-Si) technology. Here we delve into the primary issue impeding adoption of a-Si technology—the Staebler Wronski Effect (SWE), that generates metastable, light induced defects which reduce the performance of a-Si based solar cells. We demonstrate that a simple change leads to a significant reduction in SWE power loss and define a clear path to elimination of SWE, allowing the technology to be widely adopted.

Determining number of suppliers, duration of supply cycle and allocation to in-house production under supply uncertainty

Supply chain management has become an increasingly critical strategic capability to gain competitive advantage in the global business environment. The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with geopolitical conflicts, has caused unprecedented disruptions to global supply chains. Suggested strategies to cope with the uncertain supply environment include better supplier selection, review of the number of demand periods in the supply cycle and the possibility of in-house production. This research proposes a novel approach that considers the aforementioned strategies by considering that both the suppliers and the manufacturer have the capability to increase supply and production, respectively. The proposed model is applicable in manufacturing environments characterized by mature products and a well-consolidated pool of preferred suppliers. The effectiveness of the proposed model is evaluated through a set of experiments, revealing significant trade-offs among decision variables and model parameters. These trade-offs provide valuable managerial insights, such as the optimal percent allocation of in-house manufacturing increasing when both supplier and in-house manufacturing flexibility increase up to a certain point, but then decreasing. Overall, this research presents a valuable contribution to supply chain management literature, highlighting important insights that can inform decision-making in complex manufacturing environments.

Exsolved Nanoparticles Decorated Double Perovskites as High-Performance Anodes for Direct-Ammonia Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Due to the high energy density, mature production technology, ease of storage and transportation, and the no carbon/sulfur nature of ammonia fuel, direct-ammonia solid oxide fuel cells (DA-SOFCs) have received rapidly increasing attention, showing distinct advantages over H2-fueled SOFCs and low-temperature fuel cells. However, DA-SOFCs with conventional Ni-based cermet anodes still suffer from several drawbacks, including serious sintering and inferior activity for ammonia decomposition, strongly limiting the large-scale applications. To tackle the above-mentioned issues, exsolved NiCo nanoparticles decorated double perovskite oxides are fabricated and employed as high-performance anodes for DA-SOFCs in this work. By optimizing the Ni doping amount in Sr2CoMo1−xNixO6−δ (x = 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3), the reduced Sr2CoMo0.8Ni0.2O6−δ (r-SCMN2) anode exhibits superb catalytic activity for ammonia cracking reaction and high anti-sintering capability. More specifically, the electrolyte-supported single cell with r-SCMN2 nanocomposite anode delivers superior power outputs and operational durability in ammonia fuel as compared with other r-SCMN anodes owing to the significantly promoted nanoparticle exsolution and stronger interaction between alloy nanoparticles and the support. In summary, this study presents an effective strategy for the design of efficient and stable nanocomposite anodes for DA-SOFCs.

A Cost-Driven Method for Deep-Learning-Based Hardware Trojan Detection.

The Cyber-Physical System and even the Metaverse will become the second space in which human beings live. While bringing convenience to human beings, it also brings many security threats. These threats may come from software or hardware. There has been a lot of research on managing malware, and there are many mature commercial products, such as antivirus software, firewalls, etc. In stark contrast, the research community on governing malicious hardware is still in its infancy. Chips are the core component of hardware, and hardware Trojans are the primary and complex security issue faced by chips. Detection of hardware Trojans is the first step for dealing with malicious circuits. Due to the limitation of the golden chip and the computational consumption, the existing traditional detection methods are not applicable to very large-scale integration. The performances of traditional machine-learning-based methods depend on the accuracy of the multi-feature representation, and most of the methods may lead to instability because of the difficulty of extracting features manually. In this paper, employing deep learning, a multiscale detection model for automatic feature extraction is proposed. The model is called MHTtext and provides two strategies to balance the accuracy and computational consumption. After selecting a strategy according to the actual situations and requirements, the MHTtext generates the corresponding path sentences from the netlist and employs TextCNN for identification. Further, it can also obtain non-repeated hardware Trojan component information to improve its stability performance. Moreover, a new evaluation metric is established to intuitively measure the model's effectiveness and balance: the stabilization efficiency index (SEI). In the experimental results for the benchmark netlists, the average accuracy (ACC) in the TextCNN of the global strategy is as high as 99.26%, and one of its stabilization efficiency index values ranks first with a score of 71.21 in all comparison classifiers. The local strategy also achieved an excellent effect, according to the SEI. The results show that the proposed MHTtext model has high stability, flexibility, and accuracy, in general.

Effect of Restricted Feeding on Sexual Maturity and Productivity of Padjadjaran Quail

This study was to determine the effect of restricted feeding on the age of sexual maturity and the productivity of Padjadjaran quail. Experimental research using a completely randomized design (CRD), has 4 treatments and each is repeated 5 times. The research object used was Padjadjaran quail aged 7-9 weeks and used commercial feed SP-22 which contained 3998 kcal/kg metabolic energy and 18,28% protein. The treatments used were P0 = Provision of rations ad libitum, P1 = Provision of rations 90% of ad libitum, P2 = Provision of rations 80% of ad libitum, P3: Provision of rations 70% of ad libitum. The parameters used were age of sexual maturity, egg production (% Quail-Day), egg weight, body weight at sexual maturity. The results of the study concluded that ad libitum rations had a significant effect on sexual maturity and Quail Day Production, but rations of more than 90% ad libitum could reduce the productivity of Padjajdjaran quail

Good Publication Practice (GPP) 2022 Update: An Interview with Dikran Toroser

Dikran Toroser was educated in the UK and has a PhD in Biochemistry from Newcastle University in Newcastle upon Tyne. He did his post-doctoral research in the UK at the Cambridge lab on genetics and then moved to the US to work as a biochemist and researcher for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). He has an extensive background in scientific publications as well as medical writing. He has led scientific publication teams involved with pre-clinical, clinical, and mature product studies and publications. Dikran is one of the founding faculty for the University of California San Diego medical writing certificate and a consulting director for the program. Active in professional organizations such as American Medical Writers Association (AMWA) and International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP), Dikran most recently has been involved in compiling guidelines for the publication professionals, including the AMWA-EMWA-ISMPP joint position statement on the role of professional medical writers1 and GPP 2022, the latest 2022 update of Good Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines for company-sponsored biomedical research2.