Active headrest combined with a depth camera-based ear-positioning system

Active headrests can reduce low-frequency noise around ears based on active noise control (ANC) system. Both the control system using fixed control filters and the remote microphone-based adaptive control system provide good noise reduction performance when the head is in the original position. However, their performance degrades significantly when the head is in motion. In this paper, a human ear-positioning system based on the depth camera is introduced to address this problem. The system uses RTMpose model to estimate the two-dimensional (2D) positions of the ears in the color frame, and then derives the corresponding three-dimensional (3D) coordinates in the depth frame with a depth camera. Experimental results show that the ear-positioning system can effectively track the movement of ears, and the broadband noise reduction performance of the active headrest combined with the system is significantly improved when the human head is translating or rotating

Blastocyst quality and reproductive and perinatal outcomes : a multinational multicentre observational study

Funding H.Z. is supported by a Monash Research Scholarship. B.W.J.M. is supported by an NHMRC Investigator grant (GNT1176437). R.W. is supported by an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Investigator grant (2009767).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A SPectroscopic Survey of Biased Halos in the Reionization Era (ASPIRE): A First Look at the Rest-frame Optical Spectra of z > 6.5 Quasars Using JWST

© 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Studies of rest-frame optical emission in quasars at z > 6 have historically been limited by the wavelengths accessible by ground-based telescopes. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now offers the opportunity to probe this emission deep into the reionization epoch. We report the observations of eight quasars at z > 6.5 using the JWST/NIRCam Wide Field Slitless Spectroscopy as a part of the “A SPectroscopic survey of biased halos In the Reionization Era (ASPIRE)” program. Our JWST spectra cover the quasars’ emission between rest frame ∼4100 and 5100 Å. The profiles of these quasars’ broad Hβ emission lines span a full width at half maximum from 3000 to 6000 km s−1. The Hβ-based virial black hole (BH) masses, ranging from 0.6 to 2.1 billion solar masses, are generally consistent with their Mg ii-based BH masses. The new measurements based on the more reliable Hβ tracer thus confirm the existence of a billion solar-mass BHs in the reionization epoch. In the observed [O iii] λ λ 4960,5008 doublets of these luminous quasars, broad components are more common than narrow core components (≤ 1200 km s−1), and only one quasar shows stronger narrow components than broad. Two quasars exhibit significantly broad and blueshifted [O iii] emission, thought to trace galactic-scale outflows, with median velocities of −610 and −1430 km s−1 relative to the [C ii] 158 μm line. All eight quasars show strong optical Fe ii emission and follow the eigenvector 1 relations defined by low-redshift quasars. The entire ASPIRE program will eventually cover 25 quasars and provide a statistical sample for the studies of the BHs and quasar spectral properties.Peer reviewe

Research on Wind Turbine Blade Surface Damage Identification Based on Improved Convolution Neural Network

Wind turbine blades are easily affected by the working environment and often show damage features such as cracks and surface shedding. An improved convolution neural network, ED Net, is proposed to identify their damage features. An EAC block based on the improved asymmetric convolution is introduced which strengthens the feature extraction during convolution. A DPCI_SC block, which is improved based on the attention module, is embedded to enhance the ability to obtain spatial location information of the damage. GELU is used as the activation function. The loss function is smoothed and labeled during training. Finally, three sets of experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 confirmed the efficacy of the ED Net for identifying damaged wind turbine blades. Experiment 2 confirmed the efficacy of the relevant improvements proposed in this work. Experiment 3 compares the recognition of wind turbine blade damage by commonly used lightweight networks and shows that the ED Net model proposed has a better performance with an accuracy range of 99.12% to 99.23% and a recall of 99.23

Effects of frequency and amount of stover mulching on the microbial community composition and structure in the endosphere and rhizosphere

Stover mulching, as a sustainable agricultural conservation practice, has been shown to effectively increase soil organic matter and enhance crop yields. The impact of stover mulching on soil microorganisms has been extensively studied. However, less attention has been given to endophytic and rhizospheric microorganisms that have closer relationships with crops. How do the quality and frequency of stover mulching affect the composition and structure of these endosphere and rhizosphere microbial communities? And what is their influence on critical indicators of soil health such as bacterial plant pathogen and Rhizobiales? These questions remain unresolved. Therefore, we investigated the responses of the microbial functional guilds in the endosphere and rhizosphere to maize stover mulching qualities (0%, 33%, 67%, and total stover mulching every year) and frequencies (once every 3 years and twice every 3 years) under 10-year no-till management. Results showed significant correlations between Bacillales and Rhizobiales orders and soil SOC, NO3−N, and NH4+N; Hypocreales and Eurotiales orders were significantly correlated with soil NO3−N, with the Aspergillus genus also showing a significant correlation with soil SOC. The frequency and quality of stover mulching had a significant effect on root and rhizospheric microbial communities, with the lowest relative abundance of bacterial plant pathogens and highest relative abundance of nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Rhizobiales and Hypocreales observed under F1/3 and F2/3 conditions. The most complex structures in endosphere and rhizospheric microbial communities were found under Q33 and Q67 conditions, respectively. This research indicates that from a soil health perspective, low-frequency high-coverage stover mulching is beneficial for the composition of endosphere and rhizosphere microbial communities, while moderate coverage levels are conducive to more complex structures within these communities. This study holds significant ecological implications for agricultural production and crop protection

A New Organic-Inorganic Compound Fertilizer for Improving Growth, Yield, and 2-Acetyl-1-Pyrroline Biosynthesis of Fragrant Rice

Fragrant rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a high-valued rice type and possesses a unique aroma with 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2-AP) as the critical component. However, the cultivation measures in fragrant rice production are far from perfect. In this study, a new organic-inorganic compound fertilizer was made with organic matter, urea, superphosphate, potassium chloride, zinc sulfate, and lanthanum chloride. A four-year field experiment was conducted to investigate its effects on fragrant rice growth, yield formation, and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline biosynthesis. Three treatments, i.e., (CK) no fertilizer was applied, (IF) the urea, superphosphate, and potassium chloride were applied at 234 kg ha−1, 450 kg ha−1 and 108 kg ha−1, and (OICF) this new fertilizer composed of 10% organic matter, 26% urea, 50% superphosphate, 12% potassium chloride, 1.9% zinc sulfate, and 0.1% lanthanum chloride, was applied at 900 kg ha−1, were adopted in the present study. Across four experimental years, the results showed that the grain yield in OICF treatment ranged between 5.86–8.29 t ha−1, and was significantly (p < 0.05) higher than that in IF treatment and CK. The improvement in grain yield due to OICF treatment was explained by increased effective panicle number per m2 and seed-setting rate. The highest or equally highest chlorophyll content and the net photosynthetic rate at 20, 40, 60, and 80 days after transplanting were recorded in OICF treatment among three treatments. OICF treatment also increased the aboveground biomass of fragrant rice compared with IF treatment and CK. Moreover, compared with CK and IF treatment, OICF treatment significantly (p < 0.05) increased grain 2-AP content by 30–38% and 10–21%, respectively. The contents of 2-AP related precursors, including proline and 1-pyrroline, also increased due to OICF treatment. This study provided a new organic-inorganic compound fertilizer and suggested that it could be used to achieve the goals of high yield and high grain 2-AP content in fragrant rice production

Dynamic Characteristics of GaN MISHEMT With 5-nm <italic>In-Situ</italic> SiN_x Dielectric Layer

A comprehensive study on dynamic characteristics of GaN MISHEMT with a 5nm-thick in-situ SiNx dielectric is presented. Effects of both negative and positive gate bias on threshold voltage instability were investigated and miniature threshold voltage shift was acquired. The slight shift was considered to be associated with the traps at the insulator/AlGaN interface and in the dielectric layer itself. Pulsed I-V measurements with various gate quiescent biases presented small current collapse (11&#x0025;) and low enhancement of dynamic Ron for zero quiescent drain bias. When drain quiescent bias was strengthened to 20V, an increased dynamic Ron/static Ron ratio was identified but still limited to a low value of 1.24. The conduction reduction was in a good agreement with measurement results from drain current transient spectroscopy and possibly originates from trap states existed in the access region. Additional current collapse was observed in hard switching-on operation, resulted from energetic hot electrons accelerated by drain-source electrical field during the off-to-on step. The measurement results showed stabilized threshold voltage, a low dynamic Ron/static Ron ratio, and suppressed current collapse via employing a 5-nm thin in-situ SiNx layer in GaN MISHEMT, enabling it a promising solution for high-efficiency power switching applications

Power Compression and Phase Analysis of GaN HEMT for Microwave Receiver Protection

This paper reports a high-performance microwave receiver protector (RP) based on a single gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) at an operation frequency of 30 to 3000 MHz. The HEMT-based RP exhibits multi features: high power compression, constant output power, tunable threshold power level, and insensitivity to frequency variation. With a low drain voltage (Vds) of 3 V, constant output power of 9.9 dBm was acquired for input power over its threshold power of 3.2 dBm. Power compression of 13.3 dB was achieved at the input power of Pin = 20 dBm. In addition, adjustable threshold power level Pth could be obtained by merely tuning drain voltage. Transducer gain measurement results were employed to explain the occurrence of output power saturation. Relatively higher Pth was linked to wider gate voltage swing which extended the linear region of the Pout-Pin characteristic. In addition, the GaN HEMT’s power compression capability shows great immunity to frequency variation, which is promising for protecting sensitive receiver components at both low and high frequencies. Finally, the phase shift of the GaN HEMT RP at high input power was measured and analyzed by the nonlinear behaviors of input capacitance Cgs

Ureteral reconstruction using a tapered non-vascularized bladder graft: an experimental study in a canine animal model

Abstract Background Reconstruction of ureteral defects and strictures remains problematic for urologists. We aimed to investigate the possibility of a tapered non-vascularized bladder graft as a novel substitute for ureteral reconstruction. Methods This experimental study was conducted on nine beagles. Under general anesthesia, a full-thickness graft with 5–6 cm in length was disassociated from the anterior upper wall of the bladder, and tapered into 1/3 to 1/2 thickness, remaining the urothelial surface. After removal of 5 cm of right-sided mid-ureter, the tapered bladder graft was tubularized along the long axis and then respectively anastomosed to the upper and lower stumps of the ureter. A retrograde urography through a cystostomy was performed 8 weeks after the ureteral reconstruction. The animals were euthanized, and histopathologic examinations of the neoureters were performed. Results There were no severe complications during postoperative follow-up. The urography indicated patent urine excretion and no fistula or stenosis. Histopathologic examinations of the neoureters showed open lumen with urothelial lining. Nutrient vessels were observed in healthy submucosa, lamina muscularis and peripheral connective tissue. Conclusions Our study implied that ureteral reconstruction by a tapered non-vascularized bladder graft was anatomically possible in our animal model. Further studies are expected to confirm long-term and functional outcomes