Phase Sensitivity Research Articles

Effect of Temperature on Growth, Quality, Yield Attributing Characters and Yield of Rice – A Review

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the second most important food in the world after wheat. Most rice is now grown in areas where the temperature is higher than the optimum growing temperature (28/22°C); therefore, a further increase in average temperature or high temperature occurring in the sensitive phase of the crop can affect growth and yield. Clutter. For every 1°C increase in daytime maximum/night minimum temperature from 28°C/21°C to 34°C/27°C, rice yield decreases by 7% to 8%. Additionally, the benefits that crops derive from high atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations must be lost due to warming. The thermal stability of cell membranes is thought to correlate well with yield performance. Temperature is important in photosynthesis, but too hot can cause reduced photosynthesis of leaves and reduced distribution of dry matter to shoots and roots. The disadvantage of temperature is not limited to the above-ground rice. The underground area is affected, if not more, by the flood, and the temperature of the soil changes due to the heat. Future increases in global temperatures threaten people worldwide who depend on crops for their health and food security. In the past, the stress of the crisis on rice production focused on the rice crop. This review highlights the importance of rice in the world, the effect of high temperature on the growth, quality, yield and properties of rice, and the need for future research.

Spatial Effects of Phase Dynamics on Oscillators Close to Bifurcation

The phase reduction approach has manifested its efficacy in investigating synchronization behaviors in limit-cycle oscillators. However, spatial distributions of the phase value on the limit cycle may lead to illusions of synchronizations for oscillators close to bifurcations. In this paper, we compared the phase sensitivity function in the spatial domain and time domain for oscillators close to saddle-node homoclinic (SNH) bifurcation, also known as saddle-node bifurcation on an invariant circle. It was found that the phase sensitivity function in the spatial domain can show the phase accumulation feature on the limit cycle, which can be ignored in the phase sensitivity function in the time domain. As an example, the synchronization distributions of uncoupled SNH oscillators driven by common and independent noises were investigated, where the space-dependent coupling function was considered on common noise. These results shed some light on the phase dynamics of oscillators close to bifurcations.

Double grazing bifurcation route in a quasiperiodically driven piecewise linear oscillator.

Considering a piecewise linear oscillator with quasiperiodic excitation, we uncover the route of double grazing bifurcation of quasiperiodic torus to strange nonchaotic attractors (i.e., SNAs). The maximum displacement for double grazing bifurcation of the quasiperiodic torus can be obtained analytically. After double grazing of quasiperiodic orbits, the smooth quasiperiodic torus wrinkles increasingly with the continuous change of the parameter. Subsequently, the whole quasiperiodic torus loses the smoothness by becoming everywhere non-differentiable, which indicates the birth of SNAs. The Lyapunov exponent is adopted to verify the nonchaotic property of the SNA. The strange property of SNAs can be characterized by the phase sensitivity, the power spectrum, the singular continuous spectrum, and the fractal structure. Our detailed analysis shows that the SNAs induced by double grazing may exist in a short parameter interval between 1 T quasiperiodic orbit and 2 T quasiperiodic orbit or between 1 T quasiperiodic orbit and 4 T quasiperiodic orbit or between 1 T quasiperiodic orbit and chaotic motion. Noteworthy, SNAs may also exist in a large parameter interval after double grazing, which does not lead to any quasiperiodic or chaotic orbits.

Hypersensitivity Reactions to Native E. coli L-asparaginase in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated in Trial ALL-BFM 2000: Impact of Treatment Schedule and Type of Glucocorticoid in Induction.

Hypersensitivity Reactions to Native E. coli L-asparaginase in Children With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated in Trial ALL-BFM 2000: Impact of Treatment Schedule and Type of Glucocorticoid in Induction.

Detection of electromagnetic phase transitions using a helical cavity susceptometer.

Fast and sensitive phase transition detection is one of the most important requirements for new material synthesis and characterization. For solid-state samples, microwave absorption techniques can be employed for detecting phase transitions because it simultaneously monitors changes in electronic and magnetic properties. However, microwave absorption techniques require expensive high-frequency microwave equipment and bulky hollow cavities. Due to size limitations in conventional instruments, it is challenging to implement these cavities inside a laboratory cryostat. In this work, we designed and built a susceptometer that consists of a small helical cavity embedded into a custom insert of a commercial cryostat. This cavity resonator operated at sub-GHz frequencies is extremely sensitive to changes in material parameters, such as electrical conductivity, magnetization, and electric and magnetic susceptibilities. To demonstrate its operation, we detected superconducting phase transition in Nb and YBa2Cu3O7-δ, metal-insulator transitions in V2O3, ferromagnetic transition in Gd, and magnetic field induced transformation in meta magnetic NiCoMnIn single crystals. This high sensitivity apparatus allows the detection of trace amounts of materials (10-9-cc) undergoing an electromagnetic transition in a very broad temperature (2-400K) and magnetic field (up to 90 kOe) ranges.

Assessment of health-related behaviors among medical students: A cross-sectional study.

Students sometimes participate in harmful activities that adversely influence their behaviors and well-being throughout college, which is one of the sensitive phases in an individual's life. Aim: To assess the health-related behaviors of university students. A cross-sectional study that includes systematic randomly selected 383 students from various colleges of Ras Al Khaimah Medical and Health Sciences University (RAKMHSU),Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, United Arab Emirates. A self-reported questionnaire included students' demographic traits and behaviors, including safety, medication intake, cigarette smoking, nutrition, physical activity, and health-related topics. Most participants were females (69.7%), 13.3% were obese while 28.2% were overweight. The data revealed a significant difference between male and female students regarding medication intake without prescription, nutrition, physical activity, and health-related topics. The data also revealed that the majority of the students were attempting to lose weight, and the former male smokers had fewer trials to quit the use of all tobacco products than females. More than a quarter of participants were overweight, and the majority of students did not adhere to the guidelines for safety and nutritious eating. This study recognized significant health promotion opportunities for university students that can be carried out to establish a healthier youth for society.

Controlling fluidic oscillator flow dynamics by elastic structure vibration

In this study, we introduce a design of a feedback-type fluidic oscillator with elastic structures surrounding its feedback channel. By employing phase reduction theory, we extract the phase sensitivity function of the complex fluid–structure coupled system, which represents the system’s oscillatory characteristics. We show that the frequency of the oscillating flow inside the fluidic oscillator can be modulated by inducing synchronization with the weak periodic forcing from the elastic structure vibration. This design approach adds controllability to the fluidic oscillator, where conventionally, the intrinsic oscillatory characteristics of such device were highly determined by its geometry. The synchronization-induced control also changes the physical characteristics of the oscillatory fluid flow, which can be beneficial for practical applications, such as promoting better fluid mixing without changing the overall geometry of the device. Furthermore, by analyzing the phase sensitivity function, we demonstrate how the use of phase reduction theory gives good estimation of the synchronization condition with minimal number of experiments, allowing for a more efficient control design process. Finally, we show how an optimal control signal can be designed to reach the fastest time to synchronization.

RP UFLC method for estimation of valsartan chemometricaly

A simple, sensitive, rapid, precise and economical reverse phase HPLC method has been developed for the estimation of valsartan from pharmaceutical dosage forms. The method was carried out using Chromatographic conditions were established by employing a C18 analytical phenomenal (Kinetex) column (5micron -C18, 250x4.6mm) with a mobile phase of phosphate buffer (PH 3.5) and acetonitrile in a 60:40 ratio. The sample was injected at a volume of 20 microliters, and the mobile phase was degassed using a Sonica ultrasonic sonicator before being pumped into the HPLC system. The flow rate was set at 1 ml per minute, and the wave length 273 nm was chosen for detection. The column temperature was kept at 25oC respectively. The developed method was validated in terms of accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation and solution stability. The proposed method can be used for the estimation of these drugs in dosage forms.

A laboratory-based beam tracking x-ray imaging method achieving two-dimensional phase sensitivity and isotropic resolution with unidirectional undersampling

Beam tracking X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging is a “Shack-Hartmann” type approach which uses a pre-sample mask to split the x-rays into “beamlets” which are interrogated by a detector with sufficient resolution. The ultimate spatial resolution is determined by the size of the mask apertures, however achieving this resolution level requires “stepping” the sample or the mask in increments equal to the aperture size (“dithering”). If an array of circular apertures is used (which also provides two-dimensional phase sensitivity) instead of long parallel slits, this stepping needs to be carried out in two directions, which lengthens scan times significantly. We present a mask design obtained by offsetting rows of circular apertures, allowing for two-dimensional sensitivity and isotropic resolution while requiring sample or mask stepping in one direction only. We present images of custom-built phantoms and biological specimens, demonstrating that quantitative phase retrieval and near aperture-limited spatial resolutions are obtained in two orthogonal directions.

Trophic transfer of microplastics from producer (Lemna minuta) to primary consumer (Cataclysta lemnata) in a freshwater food chain

Contamination by microplastics (0.1 μm–5 mm plastic fragments) is currently one of the major threats to the conservation of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Growing awareness on this issue has led to an increase in studies on the effects of microplastics on freshwater organisms, although there are still few investigations on possible transfer of this contaminant along water trophic chains from producers to primary consumers. In this study, aquatic herbivorous larvae of the moth Cataclysta lemnata were fed on microplastic-free (control) and contaminated (MPs treatment) Lemna minuta fronds. For treatments, Lemna fronds were grown in mineral water enriched with fluorescent microparticles of poly(styrene-co-methyl methacrylate) (MPs, 100 mg/L) and then fed to the larvae as a food source. Microplastics effects on larvae were tested at 0, 7, 14 and 21 days of exposure, corresponding to sensitive phases of the insect life cycle. Contaminant impact was assessed based on some parameters such as viability, larva body size/weight, feeding alterations and regularity of the insect life cycle. Using scanning electron and fluorescence microscopy, the presence of microplastics in the larvae was verified. The finding of fluorescent microplastics in both the intestinal lumen and excrement samples showed that larvae ingested contaminated Lemna fronds. In addition, larvae fed contaminated fronds were strongly affected by the presence of microplastic contaminant over time, showing high mortality (90 %) and total inability to complete the life cycle after 21 days by failing to reach the winged adult phase. In control tests, survival rates were higher than in treatments, and 50 % of the larvae managed to pupate and emerge as moths, reaching the adult phase. The results show that there was a trophic transfer of microplastics from producer to primary consumer along a freshwater food chain, generating negative effects on the life cycle of this aquatic herbivore.

Optimal phase measurements in a lossy Mach–Zehnder interferometer with coherent input light

This work discusses the single-intensity and difference-intensity detection schemes for lossy Mach–Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) and gives the corresponding optimal conditions to achieve the best phase measurements. The interferometer is fed by a coherent state in one port and a vacuum state in the other. When the core parameters (reflectivities, phase difference) are optimal, the phase sensitivity of these two detection schemes can reach a generalized precision bound: the standard interferometric limit (SIL). In the experiment, we design an MZI with adjustable beam splitters to verify the phase sensitivity optimization compared to the conventional MZI with 50:50 beam splitters. The sensitivity improvements at loss rates from 0.4 to 0.998 are demonstrated based on difference-intensity detection, matching the theoretical results well. With a loss up to 0.998 in one arm, we achieve a sensitivity improvement of 2.5 dB by adjusting reflectivity, which equates to a 5.5 dB sensitivity improvement in single-intensity detection. Such optimal phase measurement methods provide practical solutions for the correct use of resources in lossy interferometers.

The paradox of learned song in a semi‐solitary mammal

AbstractLearning can occur via trial and error; however, learning from conspecifics is faster and more efficient. Social animals can easily learn from conspecifics, but how do less social species learn? In particular, birds provide astonishing examples of social learning of vocalizations, while vocal learning from conspecifics is much less understood in mammals. We present a hypothesis aimed at solving an apparent paradox: how can harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) learn their song when their whole lives are marked by loose conspecific social contact? Harbor seal pups are raised individually by their mostly silent mothers. Pups' first few weeks of life show developed vocal plasticity; these weeks are followed by relatively silent years until sexually mature individuals start singing. How can this rather solitary life lead to a learned song? Why do pups display vocal plasticity at a few weeks of age, when this is apparently not needed? Our hypothesis addresses these questions and tries to explain how vocal learning fits into the natural history of harbor seals, and potentially other less social mammals. We suggest that harbor seals learn during a sensitive period within puppyhood, where they are exposed to adult males singing. In particular, we hypothesize that, to make this learning possible, the following happens concurrently: (1) mothers give birth right before male singing starts, (2) pups enter a sensitive learning phase around weaning time, which (3) coincides with their foraging expeditions at sea which, (4) in turn, coincide with the peak singing activity of adult males. In other words, harbor seals show vocal learning as pups so they can acquire elements of their future song from adults, and solitary adults can sing because they have acquired these elements as pups. We review the available evidence and suggest that pups learn adult vocalizations because they are born exactly at the right time to eavesdrop on singing adults. We conclude by advancing empirical predictions and testable hypotheses for future work.

Investigation of the composition, structure and magnetic properties of the Nd2Fe14B ceramics dependence on the initial powder characteristics and spark plasma sintering modes

High phase and structural sensitivity of magnetic properties strongly impacts the fabrication quality of the permanent magnets, therefore revealing effects of synthesis conditions on physico-chemical characteristics of magnetic materials is of paramount importance for optimization of magnet production especially in case when non-conventional techniques are involved. Here we report for the influence of pulse current frequency on structure, composition, and magnetic properties of an industrially-important Nd2Fe14B magnetic ceramics on the initial powder characteristics and the modes of its spark plasma sintering (SPS) in a vacuum environment. The influence of initial powder mechanical grinding as well as the number of generated electric current pulses (in the range from 3.3 to 326.7 ms) in SPS conditions on the structure (defects and pores formation, grain size), phase and element composition (formation of secondary nonmagnetic phases and oxides, impurities) of Nd2Fe14B alloy was studied by SEM, TEM, EDS and XRD methods. The regularity of changes in the magnetization saturation value (σ) and coercive force (Нс) depending on the morphology, structure and composition of the initial Nd2Fe14B powder and the alloy obtained by mechanical milling and subsequent sintering at different modes of pulse current has been established.

Effect of Substrate Bed Temperature on Solute Segregation and Mechanical Properties in Ti–6Al–4V Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Titanium alloys are particularly sensitive to temperature during additive manufacturing processes, due to their dual phase microstructure and sensitivity to oxygen uptake. In this paper, laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) was used in conjunction with a heated substrate bed at 100 °C, 570 °C and 770 °C to produce specimens of Ti–6Al–4V, to investigate the change in mechanical properties and segregation of alloying elements. An initial increase in ductility was observed when increasing the temperature from 100 °C to 570 °C, followed by a significant loss in ductility when samples were produced at 770 °C. A suite of multi-scale characterisation techniques revealed that the as-printed microstructure was drastically different across the range of temperatures. At 100 °C, α + α′ phases were identified. Deformation twinning was extensively observed in the a phase, with Al and V segregating at the twin interfaces. At 570 °C (the most ductile sample), α′, α and nano-particles of β were observed, with networks of entangled dislocations showing V segregation. At 770 °C, no martensitic α′ was identified. The microstructure was an α + β microstructure and an increased volume fraction of tangled dislocations with localised V segregation. Thermodynamic modelling based on the Gibbs-free energy of formation showed that the increased V concentration at dislocations was insufficient to locally nucleate β phase. However, b-phase nucleation at grain boundaries (not dislocations) caused pinning of grain boundaries, impeding slip and leading to a reduction in ductility. It is likely that the increased O-content within specimens printed at increased temperatures also played a key role in high-temperature embrittlement. Building operations are therefore best performed below sub-transus temperatures, to encourage the growth of strengthening phases via solute segregation, and the build atmosphere must be tightly controlled to reduce oxygen uptake within the samples.

Support-Free Thermally Insensitive Hollow Core Fiber Coil

Light traversing an optical fiber is subject to various local phase perturbations driven by temperature. This thermal phase sensitivity is undesirable in fiber interferometers and their applications which require that a fixed, stable phase be received after propagation. The use of hollow core fiber (HCF) has been shown to reduce this thermal phase sensitivity over solid core fibers and here we propose and demonstrate how coiling HCF to a prescribed geometry can further significantly reduce this sensitivity. Our proof-of-concept experiment shows reduction by a factor of ∼90 with respect to the uncoiled HCF, and over three orders of magnitude with respect to uncoiled solid core optical fiber. Our strategy exploits a nuance of the elastic properties of fiber coils whereby the constrained thermal expansion of the composite material (fiber + coating) can result in a coil having compressed inner layers and expanded outer layers. Thermal expansion is the dominant effect responsible for thermal phase sensitivity in HCFs, and in this scheme the compressed inner coil layers compensate the thermal expansion of the outer layers. In this study we design the coil parameters using finite element simulations, studying the relationship between coil performance and its key parameters. The proof-of-principle coil has 160 mm diameter and incorporates a 548 m length of HCF out of which a 230 m section shows almost zero (slightly negative) thermal phase sensitivity. Though the coil shows low thermal phase sensitivity over tens of hours, the long-time constant viscoelastic properties of the coating materials used in the HCF under study are shown to limit these benefits. To make this strategy practical for systems with fast temperature dynamics, a coating having more stable mechanical properties could be used. For precision timing systems in which long thermal time constants are already the norm, this scheme represents a low-cost and provides a significant reduction to thermal sensitivity which is immediately practicable.

EARLY METFORMIN TREATMENT IMPROVES GLUCOSE TOLERANCE IN OVERFED LACTATING RATS

Metformin is the most widely used drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and metabolicdiseases worldwide. Lactation is understood as a sensitive phase of development capable ofprogramming the metabolism for health or disease in adult life. The aim of this study was toverify whether treatment with metformin during lactation could attenuate the metabolicdysfunctions in Wistar rats induced obesity by overfeeding during lactation. At birth, alllitters were adjusted to 9 pups (NL) for each mother and divided into two experimentalgroups: NL: Normal Litter Saline, NL-M: Normal Litter Metformin. Small Litter (SL) litterswere reduced to 3 pups per mother on the third day of life and were divided into twoexperimental groups: SL: Small Litter Saline and SL-M: Small Litter Metformin. Salina (S)pups received 0.9% saline solution from the first to the twelfth day of life via intraperitonealinjection. The other group received metformin (M) (100mg/kg of body weight (bw)/day) inthe same period of life. Early metformin treatment decreased body weight gain (BW) andfood intake (FI) in SL-M rats at 90 days old. The increase in retroperitoneal, mesenteric andgonadal fat reserves in SL animals not treated with metformin was shown to be reduced intreated SL animals. The intravenous glucose tolerance test showed greater tolerance in SL-M.We conclude that early treatment with metformin prevented BW gain and visceral adiposityin adult rats, caused by overfeeding during lactation, as well as improved glucose tolerance, aparameter also altered in small litter animals.

Phase estimation of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer via the Laguerre excitation squeezed state.

Quantum metrology has an important role in the fields of quantum optics and quantum information processing. Here we introduce a kind of non-Gaussian state, Laguerre excitation squeezed state as inputs of traditional Mach-Zehnder interferometer to examine phase estimation in realistic case. We consider the effects of both internal and external losses on phase estimation by using quantum Fisher information and parity detection. It is shown that the external loss presents a bigger effect than the internal one. The phase sensitivity and the quantum Fisher information can be improved by increasing the photon number and even surpass the ideal phase sensitivity by two-mode squeezed vacuum in a certain region of phase shift for realistic case. Our results can find significant practical applications in quantum metrology.

Border-collision bifurcation route to strange nonchaotic attractors in the piecewise linear normal form map

A new route to strange nonchaotic attractors (SNAs) is investigated in a quasiperiodically driven nonsmooth map. It is shown that the smooth quasiperiodic torus becomes nonsmooth (continuous and non-differentiable) due to the border-collision bifurcation of the torus. As the coefficients change, the nonsmooth torus gets gradually fractal, forming strange nonchaotic attractors. It is termed the border-collision bifurcation route to SNAs. A novel feature of this route is that a large number of SNAs are formed, and the parameter area of SNAs makes up about 40 % of the given parameter regions. These SNAs are identified by the largest Lyapunov exponents and the phase sensitivity exponents. They are also characterized by the distribution of finite-time Lyapunov exponents. Unlike other types of SNAs, the distribution of finite-time Lyapunov exponents has its maximum at a relatively small negative Lyapunov exponent, which contributes largely to lead to the abundance of SNAs.

Magnetic layered double hydroxides for the sensitive dispersive solid phase microextraction of hippuric acid in urine samples prior to HPLC-UV analysis

The core- shell structural layered double hydroxide (Fe3O4-SiO2-EN@Zn-Al-LDH) was successfully synthesized and applied as a solid sorbent in the magnetic dispersive micro solid-phase-extraction (M-DµSPE) method. It was combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for the trace analysis of hippuric acid (HA) from urine samples. The obtained magnetic layered double hydroxides (LDHs) were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, VSM, FE-SEM, and BET techniques. The characterization analysis indicated that Fe3O4- SiO2- EN@ Zn-Al-LDH has a sufficient surface area and good saturation magnetism. The affecting variables on the extraction of HA by the proposed method were optimized. Excellent adsorption capacity (127.8 mg g−1), wide linearity dynamic range (0.015–500 µg mL−1), and satisfactory limits of detection and quantification (0.055 and 0.014 µg mL−1, respectively) could be obtained under optimum conditions. The good repeatability and low relative standard deviation (7.2 %), low carry-over (2.7%), good matrix effect (93.6%), high reusability (up to 19 times), and an acceptable percent recovery value (97.2%) proved the selectivity and applicability of the proposed method for the extraction of the trace levels of HA in real urine samples.

Optimal Phase Sensitivity in an Unbalanced Mach-Zehnder Interferometer

In this work we address the problem of phase sensitivity optimization for an unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer. While the quantum Fisher information can be employed in order to obtain the optimum transmission coefficient for the first beam splitter, this is no longer true for the second one, whose optimization is detection-scheme dependent. We thus consider three commonly used detection schemes and provide the optimal solution for each case. We also provide applications of the optimization method showing that for some input states a non-balanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer can outperform its balanced counterpart in terms of phase sensitivity.