Two novel genes identified by large-scale transcriptomic analysis are essential for biofilm and rugose colony development of Vibrio vulnificus.

Many pathogenic bacteria form biofilms to survive under environmental stresses and host immune defenses. Differential expression (DE) analysis of the genes in biofilm and planktonic cells under a single condition, however, has limitations to identify the genes essential for biofilm formation. Independent component analysis (ICA), a machine learning algorithm, was adopted to comprehensively identify the biofilm genes of Vibrio vulnificus, a fulminating human pathogen, in this study. ICA analyzed the large-scale transcriptome data of V. vulnificus cells under various biofilm and planktonic conditions and then identified a total of 72 sets of independently co-regulated genes, iModulons. Among the three iModulons specifically activated in biofilm cells, BrpT-iModulon mainly consisted of known genes of the regulon of BrpT, a transcriptional regulator controlling biofilm formation of V. vulnificus. Interestingly, the BrpT-iModulon additionally contained two novel genes, VV1_3061 and VV2_1694, designated as cabH and brpN, respectively. cabH and brpN were shared in other Vibrio species and not yet identified by DE analyses. Genetic and biochemical analyses revealed that cabH and brpN are directly up-regulated by BrpT. The deletion of cabH and brpN impaired the robust biofilm and rugose colony formation. CabH, structurally similar to the previously known calcium-binding matrix protein CabA, was essential for attachment to the surface. BrpN, carrying an acyltransferase-3 domain as observed in BrpL, played an important role in exopolysaccharide production. Altogether, ICA identified two novel genes, cabH and brpN, which are regulated by BrpT and essential for the development of robust biofilms and rugose colonies of V. vulnificus.

Purified Pyropia yezoensis Pigment Extract-Based Tandem Dye Synthesis.

Red phycoerythrin (R-PE) is a highly valuable protein found in an edible seaweed, Pyropia yezoensis. It is used extensively in biotechnological applications due to its strong fluorescence and stability in diverse environments. However, the current methods for extracting and purifying R-PE are costly and unsustainable. The aim of the present study was to enhance the financial viability of the process by improving the extraction and purification of R-PE from dried P. yezoensis and to further enhance R-PE value by incorporating it into a tandem dye for molecular biology applications. A combination of ultrafiltration, ion exchange chromatography, and gel filtration yielded concentrated (1 mg·mL-1) R-PE at 99% purity. Using purified PE and Cyanine5 (Cy5), an organic tandem dye, phycoerythrin-Cy5 (PE-Cy5), was subsequently established. In comparison to a commercially available tandem dye, PE-Cy5 exhibited 202.3% stronger fluorescence, rendering it suitable for imaging and analyzes that require high sensitivity, enhanced signal-to-noise ratio, broad dynamic range, or shorter exposure times to minimize potential damage to samples. The techno-economic analysis confirmed the financial feasibility of the innovative technique for the extraction and purification of R-PE and PE-Cy5 production.

A rapid and multi-endpoint ecotoxicological test using Mychonastes afer for efficient screening of metals and herbicides.

Microalgal growth-based tests are international standards for ecotoxicity assessment; however, their long exposure times, large sample volumes, and reliance on a single growth-endpoint make them inadequate for rapid toxicity screening. Here, we aimed to develop a rapid and simple ecotoxicological test using the fast-growing green alga Mychonastes afer, with multiple endpoints-growth, lipid content, and photosynthesis. We exposed M. afer to two metals-silver and copper-and two herbicides-atrazine and diuron-for 24 h and identified the most sensitive and reliable endpoints for each toxicant: the maximum electron transport rate (ETRmax) for Ag, Cu and atrazine, and the lipid content for diuron. Lipid content was found to be both a sensitive and reliable biomarker, meeting the effluent limit guidelines in both the Republic of Korea and the USA. The sensitivity of M. afer to Ag and atrazine also closely matched the HC5 values derived from the species sensitivity distribution approach, confirming its reliability for setting regulatory concentrations of these contaminants. Our calculated predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) values were similar to established European Union PNECs for Ag, Cu, atrazine, and diuron, underlining the utility of these biological endpoints for ecological risk assessment and regulatory decision making. This method required lower sample volume (2 mL vs 100 mL) and exposure time (24 h vs 72-120 h) than conventional green algal tests, and eliminated the need for labour-intensive cell counting, expensive equipment, and chlorophyll fluorescence measurement expertise. Overall, this M. afer test can be a valuable tool for the rapid screening of wastewater for metals and herbicides, contributing to environmental protection and management practices.

In vitro and in silico assessment of cytotoxicity of dinitramine via calcium dysregulation and mitochondrial dysfunction in bovine mammary glands.

The herbicide market is expanding rapidly due to the global increase in herbicide usage. Dairy cows are susceptible to herbicide exposure through the ingestion of contaminated plants, which can adversely affect the mammary gland health and reduce milk production. Dinitramine, a synthetic herbicide in the dinitroaniline family, is typically used to control weeds by inhibiting their sprouting and root development. While previous studies have demonstrated the cytotoxicity of dinitramine in aquatic organisms, research on its toxicity in cattle is limited. In this study, bovine mammary epithelial cells (MAC-T) were used to verify the detrimental effects on dairy cows, especially on the mammary glands. First, we evaluated the cytotoxic effects of dinitramine on MAC-T cells and examined various cellular responses to dinitramine treatment, including alterations in apoptotic cells, mitochondrial dysfunction, and calcium dysregulation. Moreover, the expression levels of AKT and MAPK signaling proteins were confirmed in response to dinitramine treatment. Alterations in the mRNA levels of genes related to milk production and inflammatory response following dinitramine exposure were evaluated using quantitative PCR. Finally, we assessed the binding affinity between dinitramine and the target proteins using in silico molecular docking analysis. Overall, the cumulative evidence of the various toxic effects of dinitramine on MAC-T cells suggests its potential to reduce both milk yield and quality.

Yoke-Type Elasto-Magnetic Sensor-Based Tension Force Monitoring Method for Enhancement of Field Applicability.

Tension members are key members that maintain stability and improve the strength of structures such as cable-stayed bridges, PSC structures, and slopes. Their application has recently been expanded to new fields such as mooring lines in subsea structures and aerospace fields. However, the tensile strength of the tension members can be abnormal owing to various risk factors that may lead to the collapse of the entire structure. Therefore, continuous tension monitoring is necessary to ensure structural safety. In this study, an improved elasto-magnetic (E/M) sensor was used to monitor tension force using a nondestructive method. General E/M sensors have limitations that make it difficult to apply them to operating tension members owing to their solenoid structure, which requires field winding. To overcome this problem, the magnetization part of the E/M sensor was improved to a yoke-type sensor, which was used in this study. For the development of the sensors, the numerical design and magnetization performance verification of the sensor were performed through eddy current solution-type simulations using ANSYS Maxwell. Using the manufactured yoke-type E/M sensor, the induced voltage signals according to the tension force of the specimen increasing from 0 to 10 tons at 1-ton intervals were repeatedly measured using DAQ with wireless communication. The measured signals were indexed using peak-to-peak value of induced voltages and used to analyze the signal change patterns as the tension increased. Finally, the analyzed results were compared with those of a solenoid-type E/M sensor to confirm the same pattern. Therefore, it was confirmed that the tension force of a tension member can be estimated using the proposed yoke-type E/M sensor. This is expected to become an effective tension monitoring technology through performance optimization and usability verification studies for each target tension member in the future.

Tebufenpyrad induces cell cycle arrest and disruption of calcium homeostasis in porcine trophectoderm and luminal epithelial cells.

Tebufenpyrad is classified as a pyrazole acaricide and insecticide. It is widely used for several crops, especially in greenhouses, in several countries. While its unfavorable effects on non-target organisms have already been established, relatively little is known about its reproductive toxicity. Therefore, we demonstrated the biochemical effects of tebufenpyrad using porcine trophectoderm and porcine luminal epithelial cells, which are involved in implantation. We found that tebufenpyrad had antiproliferative effects and reduced cell viability. Tebufenpyrad also triggered apoptosis and excessive reactive oxygen species production. Furthermore, it induced cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase and disrupted calcium homeostasis in the cytosol and mitochondria. MAPK signaling pathways and the crosstalk among them were altered following tebufenpyrad treatment. In addition, the migration ability of cells was reduced after treatment with tebufenpyrad. Lastly, tebufenpyrad influenced the expression of genes related to pregnancy. Collectively, these results reveal the mechanism of the biochemical and physiological effects of tebufenpyrad to both trophectoderm and uterine cells and suggest that tebufenpyrad reduces the potential of successful implantation.

Bifenthrin induces cell death in bovine mammary epithelial cells via ROS generation, calcium ion homeostasis disruption, and MAPK signaling cascade alteration.

Bifenthrin is one of the widely used synthetic pyrethroid insecticides, employed for various purposes worldwide. As lipophilic pyrethroids can easily bind to soil particles, which is why their residues are detected in various environments. Consequently, the toxicity of bifenthrin to non-target organisms can be regarded as an environmental concern. The toxic effects of bifenthrin have been studied in various animal models and cell lines; however, its toxic effects on cattle remain unclear. In particular, gaining insights into the toxic effects of bifenthrin on the mammary lactation system is crucial for the dairy industry. Therefore, we proceeded to investigate the toxic effects of bifenthrin on the bovine mammary epithelial cells (MAC-T cells). We established that bifenthrin inhibited cell proliferation and triggered apoptosis in MAC-T cells. Additionally, bifenthrin induced mitochondrial dysfunction and altered inflammatory gene expression by disrupting mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and generating excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS). We also demonstrated that bifenthrin disrupted both cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium ion homeostasis. Furthermore, bifenthrin altered mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades and downregulated casein-related genes. Collectively, we confirmed the multiple toxic effects of bifenthrin on MAC-T cells, which could potentially reduce milk yield and quality.

Bifenox induces programmed cell death in bovine mammary epithelial cells by impairing calcium homeostasis, triggering ER stress, and altering the signaling cascades of PI3K/AKT and MAPK.

Bifenox (methyl 5-(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)-2-nitrobenzoate), a nitrophenyl ether herbicide, was first introduced in the 1980s to control broadleaf weeds. As a result of its wide and frequent application in diverse agricultural settings and reports on residual traces, potential adverse effects of bifenox have been studied extensively in rat hepatocytes, bovine peripheral lymphocytes, and mice. Despite the reported risks of bifenox exposure in dairy cows, the toxicity of bifenox on bovine lactation system has not been extensively investigated. Therefore, we used bovine mammary epithelial (MAC-T) cells to study the toxic effects of bifenox on mammary glands. We found that bifenox inhibited MAC-T cells proliferation and disturbed the cell cycle, especially in the sub-G1 and G1 phases. Bifenox also disrupted the calcium homeostasis within the cell and impaired mitochondrial membrane potential. We also examined phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascades. The findings indicated hyperactivation of phosphorylated protein kinase B (AKT), p70 ribosomal S6 kinase (p70S6K), S6, extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2), p38, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and c-Jun, as well as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress caused by bifenox treatment. In conclusion, based on our in vitro study employing MAC-T cells, we report that bifenox can induce damage to the bovine mammary glands, potentially impacting milk production.

Bensulide exposure causes cell division cycle arrest and apoptosis in porcine trophectoderm and uterine luminal epithelial cells.

As the use of herbicides in agriculture has increased worldwide, the importance of identifying unexpected toxic effects on non-target organisms is emerging. Bensulide is used on various agricultural crops as an organophosphate herbicide; however, it can pose a high risk to non-target organisms because of its long half-life and accumulative potential. Despite its high risk, the hazardous effects of bensulide on implantation and mechanisms in cells have not been reported. Therefore, in this study, intracellular mechanisms and potential risk of implantation failure were identified in porcine trophectoderm (pTr) and uterine luminal epithelial (pLE) cells derived from pigs with human-like molecular mechanisms in implantation. The LC50 values of bensulide were 5.21 mg/L in pTr cells and 6.49 mg/L in pLE cells. Both cell lines were exposed to bensulide at concentrations <5 mg/L in subsequent experiments. Treatment with 5 mg/L bensulide activated ERK1/2 and JNK. Disrupted mitochondrial membrane potentials of both cell types were identified. In addition, mitochondrial Ca2+ concentration increased to 261.24% and 228.04% in pTr and pLE cells, respectively, and cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentrations decreased by approximately 50% in both cell types. The abnormal regulation of various intracellular environments by bensulide causes cell division cycle arrest and apoptosis. Finally, 5 mg/L bensulide inhibited transcription of implantation-related genes. Collectively, our results suggest that bensulide may interrupt implantation during early pregnancy by disrupting maternal-fetal interaction.

Oxyfluorfen induces cell cycle arrest by regulating MAPK, PI3K and autophagy in ruminant immortalized mammary epithelial cells.

Oxyfluorfen, a phenoxy phenyl-type herbicide, causes significant damage to ecosystems through chronically effecting invertebrates, fish, and mammals. Considering its adverse effect on ecosystem conservation, it is necessary to investigate its toxic effects on animals. However, the mechanisms of oxyfluorfen toxicity on bovines are not well established. This study investigated the cytotoxic effect of oxyfluorfen on bovine mammary epithelial cells (MAC-T). We conducted several functional experiments to examine the response of MAC-T to oxyfluorfen under various concentrations (0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 ppm). Oxyfluorfen decreased cell viability and increased apoptotic cells by regulating the expression of apoptotic genes and proteins in MAC-T. In addition, oxyfluorfen-treated cells exhibited reduced PCNA expression with a low 3D spheroid formation as compared to that of control cells. Furthermore, oxyfluorfen treatment suppressed cell cycle progression with a decrease in cyclin D1 and cyclin A2 in MAC-T. Next, we performed western blot analysis to verify intercellular signaling changes in oxyfluorfen-treated MAC-T. The phosphor-AKT protein was increased, whereas MAPK signal pathways were decreased. Particularly, the combination of oxyfluorfen with U0126 or SP600125 completely blocked the ERK1/2 and JNK pathways leading to cell viability in MAC-T. Moreover, oxyfluorfen induced inflammatory gene expression and autophagy by increasing phosphorylation of P62 and LC3B in MAC-T. These results demonstrated that oxyfluorfen has cytotoxic effect on MAC-T, implying that the milk production capacity in cows may eventually harm humans.

Pendimethalin exposure induces bovine mammary epithelial cell death through excessive ROS production and alterations in the PI3K and MAPK signaling pathways.

Herbicides are chemicals that have been established to have adverse impacts. However, they are still widely used in agriculture. Pendimethalin (PDM) is an herbicide that is widely used in many countries to control annual grasses. The possibility of livestock being exposed to PDM is relatively high, considering the half-life of PDM and its residues in water, soil and crops. However, the toxicity of PDM in cattle, especially in the mammary glands, has not been reported. Therefore, we investigated whether PDM has toxic effects in the mammary epithelial cells (MAC-T) of cattle. MAC-T cells were treated with various doses (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 µM) of PDM. We found that PDM affected cell viability and cell proliferation and causes cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, PDM triggered cell apoptosis, induced excessive ROS production and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss, and disrupted calcium homeostasis. In addition, PDM altered the activation of proteins associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response and modified PI3K and MAPK signaling cascades. In conclusion, our current study unveiled the mechanism of PDM in MAC-T cells and we suggest that PDM might be harmful to the mammary gland system of cattle, possibly affecting milk production.

Survival of a Blank Cartridge Gunshot Injury to the Soft Palate in a Soldier.

ABSTRACT: The authors report a case of a soldier who survived after shooting a blank round from a K2 rifle into the oral cavity.For committing suicide, a 22-year-old male soldier shot a K2 rifle into his oral cavity. Because the first shot was a blank fire, he received an injury to his oral cavity, especially to his palate. On arrival hospital via air evacuation, the patient's vital signs were relatively stable and Glasgow Coma Scale score was 15. Profound epistaxis was noted from both nostrils, and his mouth was filled with blood. Intubation was performed immediately, followed by tracheostomy. On computed tomography scan, the palate was injured and laryngeal edema was seen.On operative field, severe swelling of the larynx was observed. Gunpowder remained present throughout nearly the entire palate. His palate was burned, and there was a 3-cm-diameter mucosal defect. The bleeding point was cauterized, and bleeding was controlled using oral packing. The packing was changed every morning for the first 2 days, and finally removed on the third day of hospitalization. On the eighth day of hospitalization, the defect of his soft palate showed healing by secondary intention, and a planned reconstructive operation was not needed. Tracheostomy was removed on the 45th day. He was able to eat and speak at the time of discharge (93rd day).The authors cannot overemphasize the importance of the airway in oral injuries. Packing for bleeding control under a safe airway should be followed as a routine part of the protocol for similar cases.

Cross Encoder-Decoder Transformer with Global-Local Visual Extractor for Medical Image Captioning.

Transformer-based approaches have shown good results in image captioning tasks. However, current approaches have a limitation in generating text from global features of an entire image. Therefore, we propose novel methods for generating better image captioning as follows: (1) The Global-Local Visual Extractor (GLVE) to capture both global features and local features. (2) The Cross Encoder-Decoder Transformer (CEDT) for injecting multiple-level encoder features into the decoding process. GLVE extracts not only global visual features that can be obtained from an entire image, such as size of organ or bone structure, but also local visual features that can be generated from a local region, such as lesion area. Given an image, CEDT can create a detailed description of the overall features by injecting both low-level and high-level encoder outputs into the decoder. Each method contributes to performance improvement and generates a description such as organ size and bone structure. The proposed model was evaluated on the IU X-ray dataset and achieved better performance than the transformer-based baseline results, by 5.6% in BLEU score, by 0.56% in METEOR, and by 1.98% in ROUGE-L.

The effect of fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibition on resistance exercise training-induced adaptation of bone and muscle quality in mice.

Aging in mammals, including humans, is accompanied by loss of bone and muscular function and mass, characterized by osteoporosis and sarcopenia. Although resistance exercise training (RET) is considered an effective intervention, its effect is blunted in some elderly individuals. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and its receptor, FGFR, can modulate bone and muscle quality during aging and physical performance. To elucidate this possibility, the FGFR inhibitor NVP-BGJ398 was administrated to C57BL/6n mice for 8 weeks with or without RET. Treatment with NVP-BGJ398 decreased grip strength, muscular endurance, running capacity and bone quality in the mice. FGFR inhibition elevated bone resorption and relevant gene expression, indicating altered bone formation and resorption. RET attenuated tibial bone resorption, accompanied by changes in the expression of relevant genes. However, RET did not overcome the detrimental effect of NVP-BGJ398 on muscular function. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that FGFR signaling may have a potential role in the maintenance of physical performance and quality of bone and muscles.

Defect-mediated ab initio thermodynamics of metastable γ-MoN(001).

Refractory transition metal nitrides exhibit a plethora of polymorphic expressions and chemical stoichiometries. To afford a better understanding of how defects may play a role in the structural and thermodynamics of these nitrides, using density-functional theory calculations, we investigate the influence of point and pair defects in bulk metastable γ-MoN and its (001) surface. We report favorable formation of Schottky defect pairs of neighboring Mo and N vacancies in bulk γ-MoN and apply this as a defect-mediated energy correction term to the surface energy of γ-MoN(001) within the ab initio atomistic thermodynamics approach. We also inspect the structural distortions in both bulk and surfaces of γ-MoN by using the partial radial distribution function, g(r), of Mo-N bond lengths. Large atomic displacements are found in both cases, leading to a broad spread of Mo-N bond length values when compared to their idealized bulk values. We propose that these structural and thermodynamic analyses may provide some insight into a better understanding of metastable materials and their surfaces.

The Effects of Virtual Reality Treatment on Prefrontal Cortex Activity in Patients With Social Anxiety Disorder: Participatory and Interactive Virtual Reality Treatment Study.

BACKGROUND: Attempts to use virtual reality (VR) as a treatment for various psychiatric disorders have been made recently, and many researchers have identified the effects of VR in psychiatric disorders. Studies have reported that VR therapy is effective in social anxiety disorder (SAD). However, there is no prior study on the neural correlates of VR therapy in patients with SAD. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to find the neural correlates of VR therapy by evaluating the treatment effectiveness of VR in patients with SAD using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). METHODS: Patients with SAD (n=28) were provided with 6 sessions of VR treatment that was developed for exposure to social situations with a recording system of each participant's self-introduction in VR. After each VR treatment session, the first-person view (video 1) and third-person view (video 2) clips of the participant's self-introduction were automatically generated. The functional activities of prefrontal regions were measured by fNIRS while watching videos 1 and 2 with a cognitive task, before and after whole VR treatment sessions, and after the first session of VR treatment. We compared the data of fNIRS between patients with SAD and healthy controls (HCs; n=27). RESULTS: We found that reduction in activities of the right frontopolar prefrontal cortex (FPPFC) in HCs was greater than in the SAD group at baseline (t=-2.01, P=.049). Comparing the frontal cortex activation before and after VR treatment sessions in the SAD group showed significant differences in activities of the FPPFC (right: t=-2.93, P<.001; left: t=-2.25, P=.03) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (right: t=-2.10, P=.045; left: t=-2.21, P=.04) while watching video 2. CONCLUSIONS: Activities of the FPPFC and OFC were associated with symptom reduction after VR treatment for SAD. Our study findings might provide a clue to understanding the mechanisms underlying VR treatment for SAD. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Research Information Service (CRIS) KCT0003854; https://tinyurl.com/559jp2kp.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of Adolescent Students in Daegu, Korea.

BACKGROUND: In February 2020, as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread rapidly in Daegu, South Korea, students in that region experienced many emotional difficulties. In this study, we analyzed the stress and emotional crisis experienced by students during the COVID-19 pandemic, its causative factors, and the factors that affect negative emotions. METHODS: We identified the demographic information related to the experiences of unbearable stress and emotional crisis and their causal factors at three points in time: before the pandemic, during its peak, and at the time of the survey (2-3 months after the peak). In addition, we analyzed the factors related to depression and anxiety experienced by students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 and the Korean version of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 was used to assess for depressive and anxiety symptoms in the subject students, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 8,177 students participated in the analysis, with 4,072 boys (49.8%), 4,105 girls (50.2%), and 4,463 middle school students (54.6%) and 3,177 high school students (45.4%). The percentage of students who experienced unbearable stress was 9% before the COVID-19 pandemic, increased to 16% at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, then decreased to 12.7% at the time of the survey. Stress was experienced more by girls (18.1% versus 13.8% in boys; χ² = 28.159, P < 0.001) and high school students (19.0% versus 13.5% in middle school students; χ² = 45.437, P < 0.001). Overall, 7.6% experienced emotional crises during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was more prevalent in girls (10.1% versus 5.2% in boys; χ² = 71.025, P < 0.001) and in high school students (8.8% versus 6.7% in middle school students; χ² = 12.996, P < 0.001). Depression and anxiety was seen in 19.8% and 12.3% of students during the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The risk factors for depression and anxiety included unbearable stress before the COVID-19 pandemic (P < 0.001), mental health (P = 0.044), and age (P = 0.040), whereas resilience was identified as a protective factor for depression and anxiety (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Students in Daegu experienced lots of mental difficulties since the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be necessary to improve stress management and resilience to improve students' mental health in disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biomimicking Covert Communication by Time-Frequency Shift Modulation for Increasing Mimicking and BER Performances.

Underwater acoustic (UWA) biomimicking communications have been developed for covert communications. For the UWA covert communications, it is difficult to achieve the bit error rate (BER) and the degree of mimic (DoM) performances at the same time. This paper proposes a biomimicking covert communication method to increase both BER and DoM (degree of mimic) performances based on the Time Frequency Shift Keying (TFSK). To increase DoM and BER performances, the orthogonality requirements of the time- and frequency-shifting units of the TFSK are theoretically derived, and the whistles are multiplied by the sequence with a large correlation. Two-step DoM assessments are also developed for the long-term whistle signals. Computer simulations and practical lake and ocean experiments demonstrate that the proposed method increases the DoM by 35% and attains a zero BER at -6 dB of Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).

SSD-EMB: An Improved SSD Using Enhanced Feature Map Block for Object Detection.

The development of deep learning has achieved great success in object detection, but small object detection is still a difficult and challenging task in computer vision. To address the problem, we propose an improved single-shot multibox detector (SSD) using enhanced feature map blocks (SSD-EMB). The enhanced feature map block (EMB) consists of attention stream and feature map concatenation stream. The attention stream allows the proposed model to focus on the object regions rather than background owing to channel averaging and the effectiveness of the normalization. The feature map concatenation stream provides additional semantic information to the model without degrading the detection speed. By combining the output of these two streams, the enhanced feature map, which improves the detection of a small object, is generated. Experimental results show that the proposed model has high accuracy in small object detection. The proposed model not only achieves good detection accuracy, but also has a good detection speed. The SSD-EMB achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 80.4% on the PASCAL VOC 2007 dataset at 30 frames per second on an RTX 2080Ti graphics processing unit, an mAP of 79.9% on the VOC 2012 dataset, and an mAP of 26.6% on the MS COCO dataset.

Plasma-assisted electrochemical synthesis of monodisperse Au and Au@Ag core-shell nanoparticles.

The synthesis of well defined nanoparticles with green chemistry has been an area of intense investigation, but still requires development. In this study, we propose a novel approach for controlling the particle size and distribution through diffusion-controlled growth of plasma-assisted electrochemical synthesis. The continuous, controlled addition of an Au precursor with syringe pump successfully controls the particle size in the range of 50-300 nm with a monodisperse size distribution. Moreover, gold nanoparticles can be formed successfully without any stabilizer and reducing agent. Through optimization of the reaction parameters, including the reaction temperature, discharge current of the microplasma, pH, and concentration of D-(-)-fructose, we verify two distinct feature of diffusion-controlled growth that the particle growth is good agreement of theoretical growth rate (r âˆ¼ t 1/3) and the formed gold nanoparticles exhibit polyhedral or near-spherical shapes. This method has been applied to synthesize Au@Ag core-shell nanoparticles and control the Ag shell thickness.