Association of fruit, pericarp, and epidermis traits with surface autofluorescence in green peppers

We investigated the association of blue fluorescence (excitation at 365 nm) with the traits of the fruit, pericarp, and epidermis in green peppers. The fruits were manually classified into two groups based on fluorescence brightness. The dark fluorescence group showed the accumulation of blue-absorbing pigments and a thicker cuticular structure, suggesting epidermal development

Self-Turn-on-Free 5V Gate Driving for 1200V Scaled IGBT

Negative biasing of the gate voltage in a scaled insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) during the off-state was modeled and found to be effective against self-turn-on failures. The required self-turn-on-free criteria were verified experimentally.31st IEEE International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs (ISPSD 2019), 19-23 May 2019, Shanghai, Chin

Serum IgG4 as a biomarker reflecting pathophysiology and post-operative recurrence in chronic rhinosinusitis

Background: Type 2 chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), especially eosinophilic CRS (ECRS), is an intractable upper airway inflammatory disease. Establishment of serum biomarkers reflecting the pathophysiology of CRS is desirable in a clinical setting. As IgG4 production is regulated by type 2 cytokines, we sought to determine whether serum IgG4 levels can be used as a biomarker for CRS. Methods: Association between the serum IgG4 levels and clinicopathological factors was analyzed in 336 CRS patients. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the cut-off value of serum IgG4 levels that can be used to predict the post-operative recurrence. Results: Serum IgG4 levels were significantly higher in patients with moderate to severe ECRS versus those with non to mild ECRS. The levels were also significantly higher in asthmatic patients and patients exhibiting recurrence after surgery compared to controls. ROC analysis determined that the best cut-off value for the serum IgG4 level to predict the post-operative recurrence was 95 mg/dL. The corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 39.7% and 80.5%, respectively. When we combined the two cut-off values for the serum IgG4 and periostin, patients with high serum levels of either IgG4 or periostin exhibited a high post-operative recurrence (OR: 3.95) as compared to patients having low serum levels of both IgG4 and periostin. Conclusions: The present results demonstrate that the serum IgG4 level is associated with disease severity and post-operative course in CRS. In particular, the combination of serum IgG4 and periostin could be a novel biomarker that predicts post-operative recurrence

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements