63,639 research outputs found
First-principles studies of the electronic structure and magnetism in fayalites: M2SiO4 (M=Fe and Co)
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Isochronal Superposition of the Structural α-Relaxation and Invariance of Its Relation to the β-Relaxation to Changes of Thermodynamic Conditions in Methyl m-Toluate
No full textThe dielectric spectra of methyl m-toluate (MMT) in supercooled liquid and glassy states were measured over wide ranges of temperature T at ambient and elevated pressures P. We found that the frequency dispersion of the loss peak contributed by the structural α-relaxation is invariant to changes of P and T, while keeping the loss peak frequency fα(T,P) constant. This isochronal superposition property of the α-relaxation holds for different choices of fα(T,P). The invariant frequency dispersions for the same fα(T,P) are also indicated by the fractional exponent βKWW in the Fourier transform of the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts (KWW) function. Similarly, the fragility m index of MMT keeps approximately constant on varying pressure, largely different from H-bonded glass formers. The secondary β-relaxation at a frequency higher than fα(T,P) is found to shift to lower frequencies by elevating pressure in concert with the α-relaxation. The ratio τα(T,P)/τβ(T,P) is approximately unchanged to variations of T and P while keeping τα(T,P) constant. These properties observed in MMT offer experimental evidence of the dynamic correlation between α- A nd β-relaxations in pure small-molecule glass-formers
Dioszegia kandeliae Q. M. Wang, F. Y. Bai, L. D. Guo & A. H. Li 2020, sp. nov.
No full text<p> <i>Dioszegia kandeliae</i> Q.M. Wang, F.Y. Bai, L.D. Guo & A.H. Li <i>sp. nov.</i> MycoBank MB828763. Fig. 8I.</p> <p> <i>Etymology</i>: the specific epithet <i>kandeliae</i> refers to <i>Kandelia</i>, the plant genus from which the type strain was isolated.</p> <p> <i>Culture characteristics</i>: In YM broth, after 7 d at 17 °C, cells are ellipsoidal to subglobosal, 2.5– 4.2 × 3.2– 5.5 μm and single, budding is polar (Fig. 8I), a ring and a sediment are formed. After 1 mo at 17 °C, a ring and sediment are present. On YM agar, after 1 mo at 17 °C, the streak culture is orange-red, butyrous, smooth and glossy. The margin is entire. In Dalmau plate culture on corn meal agar, pseudohyphae are not formed. Sexual structures are not observed on YM, PDA, V8 and CM agar. Ballistoconidia are not produced.</p> <p> <i>Physiological and biochemical characteristics</i>: Glucose fermentation is absent. Glucose, galactose, L-sorbose, sucrose, maltose, cellobiose, trehalose, lactose, melibiose, melezitose, inulin (weak), soluble starch (delayed and weak), D-xylose (delayed and weak), L-arabinose (delayed and weak), Dglucosamine (delayed and weak), N-Acetyl-D-glucosamine (delayed and weak), ethanol (delayed and weak), glycerol (delayed and weak), ribitol (delayed and weak) and D-glucitol are assimilated as sole carbon sources. Raffinose, D-arabinose, Dribose, L-rhamnose, methanol, erythritol, galactitol, D-mannitol, Methyl-α- D-glucoside, salicin, DL-lactate, succinate, citrate, myo-inositol and hexadecane are not assimilated. Ammonium sulfate, potassium nitrate, ethylamine hydrochloride and cadaverine dihydrochloride are assimilated as sole nitrogen sources. Sodium nitrite and L-lysine are not assimilated. Maximum growth temperature is 30 °C. Growth in vitamin-free medium is negative. Starch-like substances are produced. Growth on 50 % (w/w) glucose-yeast extract agar is negative. Urease activity is positive. Diazonium Blue B reaction is positive.</p> <p> Physiologically, <i>Di. kandeliae</i> and the closely related species <i>Di. ovata</i>, <i>Di. maotaiensis</i>, <i>Di. zsoltii</i>, <i>Di. catarinoi</i>, <i>Di. takashimae</i> and <i>Di. athyrii</i> can be distinguished from one another. <i>Di. kandeliae</i> differs from the other six species in its inability to assimilate raffinose and L-rhamnose (Table S1.9).</p> <p> <i>Typus</i>: <b>China</b>, Beilunhekou natural reserve, Guangxi province, obtained from a leaf of <i>Kandelia candel</i>, Apr. 2014, L.-D. Guo (<b>holotype</b> CGMCC 2.5658 T preserved in a metabolically inactive state, ex-type CBS 13951 = 224191).</p>Published as part of <i>Li, A. - H., Yuan, F. - X., Groenewald, M., Bensch, K., Yurkov, A. M., Li, K., Han, P. - J., Guo, L. - D., Aime, M. C., Sampaio, J. P., Jindamorakot, S., Turchetti, B., Inacio, J., Fungsin, B., Wang, Q. - M. & Bai, F. - Y., 2020, Diversity and phylogeny of basidiomycetous yeasts from plant leaves and soil: Proposal of two new orders, three new families, eight new genera and one hundred and seven new species, pp. 17-140 in Studies In Mycology 96</i> on page 90, DOI: 10.1016/j.simyco.2020.01.002, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/10497182">http://zenodo.org/record/10497182</a>
The etiology of esophageal cancer in high- and low- risk areas of Jiangsu province, China
No full text [Background]Esophageal cancer (EC) remains one of the most common and fatal malignancies worldwide. The geographic variation in EC occurrence is striking, and China is an area with one of the highest incidences of EC. A number of epidemiological studies have been conducted toward EC in the past decades, results suggested that tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking, unhealthy dietary factors and chronic injuries of the esophageal mucosa are important in the development of this disease. Genetic polymorphisms in enzymes involved in metabolism of carcinogens may also influence individual susceptibility. However, the effects of major lifestyle and hereditary risk factors on the development of EC remain poorly understood in China. Moreover, little attention has been paid to the etiological heterogeneity between similar areas with great risk gradient. [Methods]From 2003 to 2007, a large population-based case-control study of EC has been conducted in a selected high-risk area and a selected low-risk area of Jiangsu Province, one of the highest cancer incidence areas in China. In total, 1,520 cases and 3,879 controls were recruited. In this thesis, we evaluated the role of major lifestyle factors such as tobacco smoking, alcohol drinking and dietary factors, as well as inherited determinants including family history of cancer and genetic polymorphisms of alcohol-metabolizing related genes on the risk of EC. In addition, we investigated how much of the risk gradient between two areas could be explained by variation in the distributions of major risk factors. [Results] Tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking moderately increased the risk of EC, while the positive associations were only found among men but not among women. Dietary factors were observed to play important roles in the development of EC. Specific dietary habits i.e., fast eating speed, and hot eating and/or drinking substantially elevated EC risk and could explain more than 20% of EC cases each. High intake of salty foods and fried foods, low consumption of raw garlic were also observed to increase the risk of EC. In addition to environmental and lifestyle factors, we confirmed that a positive family history can significantly increase EC risk, and found the inheritance may modify the effect of some unhealthy lifestyles. Moreover, we further explored the relationship between EC and single nucleotide polymorphismsof ADH1B, ADH1C and ALDH2 genes. Results showed that the slow metabolizing ADH1B G allele, ADH1C G allele and ALDH2 A allele significantly increased EC risk among moderate-to-heavy alcohol drinkers, and a significant interaction was observed between ALDH2 gene and alcohol consumption. Lastly, we found that more than 60% of EC cases could be attributable to major lifestyle risk factors in the study population; furthermore, dissimilar distribution of several lifestyle factors, together with variations of hereditary factors may be largely responsible for the incidence difference between two study areas. [Conclusion]The findings in this thesis confirm that unhealthy lifestyles including smoking, alcohol drinking and some dietary factors are the predominant risk factors of EC in China, and a large proportion of incidence difference between regions at varying risk could be attributed to the different prevalence of lifestyle factors. As most of the identified risk factors are modifiable, these could be translated into risk reduction prevention programs in China, and a substantial proportion of new EC cases are expected to be prevented by eliminating or avoiding these risk factors in the population. </p
A Turbo-Detection Aided Serially Concatenated MPEG-4/TCM Videophone Transceiver
No full textA Turbo-detection aided serially concatenated inner Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) scheme is combined with four different outer codes, namely with a Reversible Variable Length Code (RVLC), a Non-Systematic Convolutional (NSC) code a Recursive Systematic Convolutional (RSC) code or a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code. These four outer constituent codes are comparatively studied in the context of an MPEG4 videophone transceiver. These serially concatenated schemes are also compared to a stand-alone LDPC coded MPEG4 videophone system at the same effective overall coding rate. The performance of the proposed schemes is evaluated when communicating over uncorrelated Rayleigh fading channels. It was found that the serially concatenated TCM-NSC scheme was the most attractive one in terms of coding gain and decoding complexity among all the schemes considered in the context of the MPEG4 videophone transceiver. By contrast, the serially concatenated TCM-RSC scheme was found to attain the highest iteration gain among the schemes considered
"Thinking about non-thinking": neural correlates of conceptual processing during Zen meditation
No full textRecent neuroimaging studies have identified a set of brain regions that are metabolically active during wakeful rest and consistently deactivate in a variety of demanding tasks. This "default network" has been functionally linked to the stream of thoughts occurring automatically in the absence of goal-directed activity and which constitutes an aspect of mental behavior specifically addressed by many meditative practices. Zen meditation, in particular, is traditionally associated with a mental state of full awareness but reduced conceptual content, to be attained via a disciplined regulation of attention and bodily posture. Using fMRI and a simplified meditative condition interspersed with a lexical decision task, we investigated the neural correlates of conceptual processing during meditation in regular Zen practitioners and matched control subjects. While behavioral performance did not differ between groups, Zen practitioners displayed a reduced duration of the neural response linked to conceptual processing in regions of the default network, suggesting that meditative training may foster the ability to control the automatic cascade of semantic associations triggered by a stimulus and, by extension, to voluntarily regulate the flow of spontaneous mentation
Landsat MSS classification of fire fuel types in Wood Buffalo National Park, northern Canada
No full textJ1: Global Ecology & Biogeography Letters; M3: Article; Milne, David Franklin, Steven E. Wilson, Bradley A. Ghitter, Geoff Heathcott, Mark McCaffrey, Thomas M. Ow, Charlotte F. Y.; Source Information: Mar1994, Vol. 4 Issue 2, p33; Subject Term: FOREST fires; Author-Supplied Keyword: Canada (Wood Buffalo National Park); Author-Supplied Keyword: Forest fire; Author-Supplied Keyword: Fuel type classification; Author-Supplied Keyword: Landsat data; Number of Pages: 0p; Document Type: Articl
Soft Decoding Assisted Interference Cancellation in a Non-Binary LDPC Coded Fast Frequency Hopping Multiuser System Using Product Combining
Full text linkIn this contribution, soft-input-soft-output (SISO) decoding aided successive interference cancellation (SIC) is considered in fast frequency hopping (FFH), M-ary frequency shift keying (MFSK) using product combining (PC), when operating in multiple access (MA) Nakagami-m channels. All users’ Mary source symbols are encoded using non-binary LDPC codes and the encoded symbols are transmitted using FFH-MFSK modulation. A sub-optimum soft metric is proposed which is based on self-normalization of the diversity combiner outputs. In the context of the proposed SIC scheme, the receiver exploits the soft information fed back by the LDPC decoder to the demodulator in order to cancel the interference imposed by the reliably detected symbols. Our simulation results show that the proposed scheme is capable of combatting the effects of multiuser interference and outperforms conventional iterative decoding by about 1dB
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