Evaluation of Traffic Operations and Safety of Reserved-Lanes

This study investigates the safety and operations of reserved lane facilities, with multiple interactions between vehicles. Currently, there are a limited number of studies that investigated the effects of various geometric designs impact on traffic operations along reserved-lanes, especially the specific factors that control for frequent opportunities of merging/diverging and crossing maneuvers. In this study, a VISSIM simulation model has been developed to model vehicular interactions of reserved-lanes facilities, along an arterial with interrupted traffic setup and along an uninterrupted highway segment, both located in the Montreal metro area. The model was used to evaluate the safety and traffic operations along the selected corridors by comparing the status quo with some proposed alternative design and assuming the prevailing traffic conditions. The simulation model was calibrated with real-world vehicle headways and the generated vehicle trajectories were used in a Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM). An improvement of the SSAM model was achieved via a binary matrix calibration methodology, in order to identify the vehicle conflicts more accurately. This improvement helps traffic analysts to identify the potential traffic operations measures that could contribute to a reduction of vehicular conflicts. The results show that traffic operations along the corridor can be significantly improved if a different geometric alignment is used, one that would reduce the number of interaction opportunities. For example, it is shown that a 30-meter weaving section along the analysed arterial and a 50-meter merging section at the end of the highway bus-on-shoulder segment leads to improvements vehicles’ travel time as well as improvements in traffic safety

Effect of Mytilus coruscus selective filtration on phytoplankton assemblages

The feeding selectivity of bivalves can play an important role in shaping the structure of phytoplankton communities of natural waters. This could be particularly true in waters with intensive bivalves farming, like Sungo Bay, Northern China. Understanding the role of bivalve feeding behavior is important for assessing how the dense cultivation of bivalves may affect phytoplankton community composition and food web structure in farm areas. In this study, we investigated the feeding selectivity of blue mussel Mytilus coruscus on natural phytoplankton assemblages in Sungo Bay using both optical microscopy and HPLC-pigment analysis. Results showed that cryptophytes dominated the phytoplankton community and made up 66.1% of the total phytoplankton abundance. A comparison of phytoplankton composition between natural and filtered seawater showed that M. coruscus preferred cryptophytes and dinoflagellates than Chaetoceros spp. and Skeletonema spp. Cryptophytes were not detected in gut contents by microscopic observation, while their marker pigment alloxanthin was present, suggesting they were also consumed by M. coruscus and can be readily digested. This highlights the shortcomings of microscopic methods and the significance of HPLC-pigment analysis in obtaining a comprehensive understanding of feeding selectivity of bivalves. The proportions of Chaetoceros spp. and Skeletonema spp. in gut contents were significantly lower than their proportions in the seawater, and contrastingly, the proportions of Cocconeis spp. and Pinnularia spp. showed opposite patterns. The marker pigments prasinoxanthin and zeaxanthin were detected in the gut of M. coruscus indicating that picophytoplankton (e.g., prasinophytes and Synechococcus) are also food sources for this bivalve. This information furthers our understanding of bivalve aquaculture and environment interactions.publishedVersio

Interaction between the flagellum of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and the vitellogenin-like protein of Diaphorina citri significantly influences CLas titer

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a global devastating citrus disease that is mainly caused by “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” (CLas). It is mostly transmitted by the insect Asian citrus psyllid (ACP, Diaphorina citri) in a persistent and proliferative manner. CLas traverses multiple barriers to complete an infection cycle and is likely involved in multiple interactions with D. citri. However, the protein–protein interactions between CLas and D. citri are largely unknown. Here, we report on a vitellogenin-like protein (Vg_VWD) in D. citri that interacts with a CLas flagellum (flaA) protein. We found that Vg_VWD was upregulated in CLas-infected D. citri. Silencing of Vg_VWD in D. citri via RNAi silencing significantly increased the CLas titer, suggesting that Vg_VWD plays an important role in the CLas–D. citri interaction. Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression assays indicated that Vg_VWD inhibits BAX- and INF1-triggered necrosis and suppresses the callose deposition induced by flaA in Nicotiana benthamiana. These findings provide new insights into the molecular interaction between CLas and D. citri

Optimization of Effective Throughput in NOMA-Based Cognitive UAV Short-Packet Communication

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered an important component of 6G wireless technology. However, there are many challenges to the employment of UAVs, one of which is spectrum scarcity. To address this challenge, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and cognitive radio (CR) techniques are employed in UAV short-packet communication systems. In this paper, we consider a NOMA-based cognitive UAV short-packet communication system. Firstly, a mathematical expression for the effective throughput of the secondary users is derived. Then, we aim to maximize the effective throughput of the far secondary user by optimizing the sensing time, power allocation, and information bits under the constraints of the transmission power and effective decoding error probability. A joint optimization algorithm is used to solve this problem, where the bisection method and the one-dimensional linear search algorithm are used to solve the subproblem. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has low complexity and similar performance compared to the exhaustive method. In addition, the necessity of joint optimization is shown in the simulation results

Screening a Phage Display Library for Two Novel OmpU-Binding Peptides with Adhesion Antagonistic Activity against Vibrio mimicus.

Vibrio mimicus is a pathogen that causes ascites disease in fish. We have previously demonstrated that the outer membrane protein U (OmpU) is an important adhesin in V. mimicus. Here eight specific OmpU-binding phage clones, which presented three different OmpU-binding peptides (designated P1, P2, P3), were screened from a commercially available phage displayed 12-mer peptide library using rOmpU protein as target. Then, synthetic OmpU-binding peptides were measured for their adhesion antagonistic activity and binding affinity via adhesion inhibition test and non-competitive ELISA, respectively. The results showed that after co-incubated with the mixture of rOmpU and P3, visible green fluorescence could be observed on the epithelioma papulosum cyprinidi (EPC) cells surface; while the EPC cells co-incubated with the mixture of rOmpU and P1/P2 exhibited little green fluorescence. The average adhesion number of V. mimicus 04-14 isolate before and after treatment with peptide was 21.4 ± 1.5, 20.8 ± 0.8 (irrelevant peptide), 20.2 ± 0.5 (P3), 5.1 ± 0.7 (P1) and 3.4 ± 0.8 (P2), respectively. There was a significant decrease in the adhesive level of 04-14 isolate treated with P1/ P2 compared to the untreated isolate (p<0.01). The affinity constants of P1 and P2 were (6.17 ± 0.19) × 108 L/mol and (1.24 ± 0.56) × 109 L/mol, respectively. Furthermore, protective effects of P1 and P2 on grass carps challenged with V. mimicus were preliminary detected. It was found there was delayed death of fish in the groups treated with P1/P2, and the survival rate of challenged fish improved with the increase of the dose of adhesion antagonistic peptide. Taken together, two novel OmpU-binding peptides, which possessed adhesion antagonistic activity, high affinity and a certain degree of antibacterial activity against V. mimicus, were screened and identified

Optimization of Effective Throughput in NOMA-Based Cognitive UAV Short-Packet Communication

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered an important component of 6G wireless technology. However, there are many challenges to the employment of UAVs, one of which is spectrum scarcity. To address this challenge, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and cognitive radio (CR) techniques are employed in UAV short-packet communication systems. In this paper, we consider a NOMA-based cognitive UAV short-packet communication system. Firstly, a mathematical expression for the effective throughput of the secondary users is derived. Then, we aim to maximize the effective throughput of the far secondary user by optimizing the sensing time, power allocation, and information bits under the constraints of the transmission power and effective decoding error probability. A joint optimization algorithm is used to solve this problem, where the bisection method and the one-dimensional linear search algorithm are used to solve the subproblem. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has low complexity and similar performance compared to the exhaustive method. In addition, the necessity of joint optimization is shown in the simulation results

Construction of Nc1-TgROP18.

<p>(A) Plasmid map of transfer vectors pDMG and pDMG-TgROP18, respectively. DHFR, dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase; MCS, multiple cloning site; GFP, green fluorescent protein. (B) The recombinant <i>N. caninum</i> stably expressing TgROP18 was isolated by flow cytometry. (C) IFA Localization of TgROP18 in Nc1-TgROP18. The recombinant <i>N. caninum</i> stably expressing TgROP18 was confirmed by IFA using mouse anti-rTgROP18 serum as the primary antibody. Scale bar, 5 µm.</p

Virulence assay in mice.

<p>Mice (n = 5) were injected with 10, 10³ or 10⁶ tachyzoites and were monitored for 30 days. All mice injected with the Nc1-TgROP18 strain and <i>T. gondii</i> RH strain died within 16 days post infection, compared with no death of mice infected with Nc1 wide-type or Nc1-GFP tachyzoites. Three independent experiments were performed and one representative is shown here.</p

Plaque assay.

<p>The indicated strains grew on HFF cells for 7 days before fixation and staining with Crystal violet. The Nc1 strain incubated for 30°C was used as the negative control. Three independent experiments were performed and results of one representative experiment are shown here. Scale bar, 200 µm.</p

Phenotype assays of Nc1-TgROP18.

<p>(A) Transmigration assay in the Transwell system. Data are represented as mean ± SD (error bars) of three independent experiments. (B) Gliding motility assay. The trails were stained with the anti-TgSAG1 antibody (RH strain) or anti-NcSRS2 antibody (Nc1, Nc1-GFP and Nc1-TgROP18 strains). The arrow indicates a trail. Scale bar, 5 µm. (C) Cell invasion assay showed no difference in cell invasion between the transgenic Nc1-TgROP18 strain and the untransfected Nc1 or <i>T. gondii</i> RH strain. Data are mean ± SD (error bars) of three independent experiments. (D) Intracellular replication assay of the transgenic Nc1-TgROP18 compared to the Nc1 strain, Nc1-GFP strain and the RH strain. Asterisks indicate statistically significant results (*P≤0.005; **P≤0.001), as determined with the Student's t test. Data are mean ± SD (error bars) of three independent experiments.</p