Identifying crop water stress using deep learning models

Neural Computing and Applications - The identification of water stress is a major challenge for timely and effective irrigation to ensure global food security and sustainable agriculture. Several...     

Masking the Peroxidase-Like Activity of the Molybdenum Disulfide Nanozyme Enables Label-Free Lipase Detection

Two-dimensional MoS₂ nanoparticles (2D-nps) exhibit artificial enzyme properties that can be regulated at bio-nanointerfaces. We discovered that protein lipase is able to tune the peroxidase-like activity of MoS₂ 2D-nps, offering low-nanomolar, label-free detection and identification in samples with unknown identity. The inhibition of the peroxidase-like activity of the MoS₂ 2D-nps was demonstrated to be concentration dependent, and as low as 5 nm lipase was detected with this approach. The results were compared with those obtained with several other proteins that did not display any significant interference with the nanozyme behavior of the MoS₂ 2D-nps. This unique response of lipase was characterized and exploited for the successful identification of lipase in six unknown samples by using qualitative visual inspection and a quantitative statistical analysis method. The developed methodology in this approach is noteworthy for many aspects; MoS₂ 2D-nps are neither labeled with a signaling moiety nor modified with any ligands for signal readout. Only the intrinsic nanozyme activity of the MoS₂ 2D-nps is exploited for this detection approach. No analytical equipment is necessary for the visual detection of lipase. The synthesis of the water-soluble MoS₂ 2D-nps is low costing and can be performed in bulk scale. Exploring the properties of 2D-nps and their interactions with biological materials reveals highly interesting yet instrumental features that offer the development of novel bioanalytical approaches.     

Series equivalence/operation of current-controlled boost-typesingle-phase voltage source converters for bidirectional power flow

Single-phase voltage source power converters (VSCs) under consideration are AC-DC current-controlled boost-type power converters with bidirectional power-handling capability. Equivalence between two series-connected two-level power converters and a single three-level power converter is considered here. Further considered is the series operation of three-level power converters. Simulation results and experimental verification for both are provided. Economical configurations of three-level power converters leading to multilevel waveforms are presented thereafter     

Simulation of frequency nonselective mobile channel with LOScomponent: a deterministic approach

A deterministic digital simulation model with finite sum of properly weighted sinusoids is used to simulate a frequency nonselective mobile channel with LOS component. Measurement data are used to optimise the parameters. Which are then used in the deterministic simulation model. The probability distribution and level cross rate (LCR) obtained from the measured data agree well with the analytical and simulation results     

Cell-mediated cytotoxicity: a predictor of chronic rejection in pediatric HLA haploidentical renal transplants

BACKGROUND: Recipient antidonor cytotoxic T-cell activity has been associated with graft loss and acute rejection in renal allograft recipients. The role of immunologic mechanisms in the development of chronic graft rejection is controversial. We analyzed all living related renal transplants performed at Children's Hospital (Boston, MA) from 1983 to 1995 to assess whether cell-mediated cytotoxicity, determined in vitro and measured before transplantation, was predictive of chronic rejection. METHODS: Eighty-three patients were studied retrospectively. Fifty-seven patients with one haplotype-matched renal transplants from living related donors were studied to determine the association between cell-mediated lympholysis (CML) level, acute rejection, chronic rejection, and graft failure. Acute rejection was defined by the decision to treat. Chronic rejection was defined by histology and/or the absolute serum creatinine value using an increasing serum creatinine level >1.0 mg/dl for children less than 3, a creatinine level >1.5 mg/dl for children between 3 and 10 years of age, and a creatinine level >2.0 mg/dl for children above 10 years of age. Return to dialysis or retransplantation was considered graft failure. RESULTS: Of the 57 haploidentical patients, there were 33 males and 24 females. The mean age at transplant was 11.1 years (SD=6.7). Twelve patients developed chronic rejection, 24 patients developed acute rejection, and 7 patients had graft failure. Pretransplant cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity was associated with chronic rejection (P=0.001) and graft failure (P=0.013) but only marginally with acute rejection (P=0.058). Controlling for age and sex, Cox's proportional hazards model revealed that CML level was predictive of time to chronic rejection (P<0.01) but not acute rejection (P=0.11). It was estimated that every 1-unit increase in CML level raises the monthly risk of chronic rejection by 7%. Ten children received HLA-identical kidneys from their siblings. There were no episodes of chronic rejection after 5 years. Two patients with high CML levels had episodes of acute rejection; both patients responded to treatment. CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrate an association between pretransplant cell-mediated cytotoxicity and the occurrence of chronic rejection in living related one-haploidentical renal transplants in pediatric patients.     

Viscous behaviour of glass-forming liquids: a thermodynamic approach

The temperature dependence of the viscosity of the undercooled melts exhibits an important role in the study of nucleation, crystal growth and the glass-forming ability of materials. Several attempts have been made to study the viscous behaviour of the glass-forming melts and these investigations are mainly based on free volume theory as well as on the configurational entropy model. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to correlate the thermodynamic parameters with the viscosity of the glass-forming melts and to study the temperature dependence of the viscosity of undercooled liquids on the basis of the free volume theory as well as on the basis of the configurational entropy model of Adam and Gibbs. The entire study is confined on the expression for thermodynamic parameters reported by the authors recently. The expression obtained has been successfully applied to study the temperature dependence of the viscosity of the metallic, molecular and oxide glass-forming liquids.     

A STUDY OF EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN OPTIMALITY FOR WIENER SYSTEMS

In the context of nonlinear dynamic system identification for Hammerstein systems, Rollins et al. (2003a) studied the information efficiency of the following two competing experimental design approaches: statistical design of experiments (SDOE) and pseudo-random sequences design (PRSD). The focus of this study is the Wiener system and evaluates SDOE against PRS under D-optimal efficiency. Three cases are evaluated and the results strongly support SDOE as the better approach.     

Ongoing verification of a multiphysics community code: FLASH

When developing a complex, multi‐authored code, daily testing on multiple platforms and under a variety of conditions is essential. It is therefore necessary to have a regression test suite that is easily administered and configured, as well as a way to easily view and interpret the test suite results. We describe the methodology for verification of FLASH, a highly capable multiphysics scientific application code with a wide user base. The methodology uses a combination of unit and regression tests and an in‐house testing software that is optimized for operation under limited resources. Although our practical implementations do not always comply with theoretical regression‐testing research, our methodology provides a comprehensive verification of a large scientific code under resource constraints.Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Workflow Scheduling Method for Cloud Computing Platform

Wireless Personal Communications - Scheduling in computing environments such as homogeneous and heterogonous is very challenging and faces various difficulties computationally. This computing needs...