Combined Transcriptomic and Proteomic Profiling of E. coli under Microaerobic versus Aerobic Conditions: The Multifaceted Roles of Noncoding Small RNAs and Oxygen-Dependent Sensing in Global Gene Expression Control

Adaptive mechanisms that facilitate intestinal colonization by the human microbiota, including Escherichia coli, may be better understood by analyzing the physiology and gene expression of bacteria in low-oxygen environments. We used high-throughput transcriptomics and proteomics to compare the expression profiles of E. coli grown under aerobic versus microaerobic conditions. Clustering of high-abundance transcripts under microaerobiosis highlighted genes controlling acid-stress adaptation (gadAXW, gadAB, hdeAB-yhiD and hdeD operons), cell adhesion/biofilm formation (pgaABCD and csgDEFG operons), electron transport (cydAB), oligopeptide transport (oppABCDF), and anaerobic respiration/fermentation (hyaABCDEF and hycABCDEFGHI operons). In contrast, downregulated genes were involved in iron transport (fhuABCD, feoABC and fepA-entD operons), iron-sulfur cluster assembly (iscRSUA and sufABCDSE operons), aerobic respiration (sdhDAB and sucABCDSE operons), and de novo nucleotide synthesis (nrdHIEF). Additionally, quantitative proteomics showed that the products (proteins) of these high- or low-abundance transcripts were expressed consistently. Our findings highlight interrelationships among energy production, carbon metabolism, and iron homeostasis. Moreover, we have identified and validated a subset of differentially expressed noncoding small RNAs (i.e., CsrC, RyhB, RprA and GcvB), and we discuss their regulatory functions during microaerobic growth. Collectively, we reveal key changes in gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels that sustain E. coli growth when oxygen levels are low.Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan: 104-2311-B-001-011-MY3, and 107-2311-B-001-029-MY3; Academia Sinica: AS 2323, and AS-IA-110-L0

Tailoring excitonic states of van der Waals bilayers through stacking configuration, band alignment and valley-spin

Excitons in monolayer semiconductors have large optical transition dipole for strong coupling with light field. Interlayer excitons in heterobilayers, with layer separation of electron and hole components, feature large electric dipole that enables strong coupling with electric field and exciton-exciton interaction, at the cost that the optical dipole is substantially quenched (by several orders of magnitude). In this letter, we demonstrate the ability to create a new class of excitons in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) hetero- and homo-bilayers that combines the advantages of monolayer- and interlayer-excitons, i.e. featuring both large optical dipole and large electric dipole. These excitons consist of an electron that is well confined in an individual layer, and a hole that is well extended in both layers, realized here through the carrier-species specific layer-hybridization controlled through the interplay of rotational, translational, band offset, and valley-spin degrees of freedom. We observe different species of such layer-hybridized valley excitons in different heterobilayer and homobilayer systems, which can be utilized for realizing strongly interacting excitonic/polaritonic gases, as well as optical quantum coherent controls of bidirectional interlayer carrier transfer either with upper conversion or down conversion in energy

Polarized epithelium-sperm co-culture system reveals stimulatory factors for the secretion of mouse epididymal quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1

Spermatozoa acquire fertilization ability through post-translational modifications. These membrane surface alterations occur in various segments of the epididymis. Quiescin sulfhydryl oxidases, which catalyze thioloxidation reactions, are involved in disulfide bond formation, which is essential for sperm maturation, upon transition and migration in the epididymis. Using castration and azoospermia transgenic mouse models, in the present study, we showed that quiescin sulfhydryl oxidase 1 (QSOX1) protein expression and secretion are positively correlated with the presence of testosterone and sperm cells. A two-dimensional in vitro epithelium-sperm co-culture system provided further evidence in support of the notion that both testosterone and its dominant metabolite, 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone, promote epididymal QSOX1 secretion. We also demonstrated that immature caput spermatozoa, but not mature cauda sperm cells, exhibited great potential to stimulate QSOX1 secretion in vitro, suggesting that sperm maturation is a key regulatory factor for mouse epididymal QSOX1 secretion. Proteomic analysis identified 582 secretory proteins from the co-culture supernatant, of which 258 were sperm-specific and 154 were of epididymal epitheliumorigin. Gene Ontology analysis indicated that these secreted proteins exhibit functions known to facilitate sperm membrane organization, cellular activity, and sperm-egg recognition. Taken together, our data demonstrated that testosterone and sperm maturation status are key regulators of mouse epididymal QSOX1 protein expression and secretion.</p

Deploying Image Deblurring across Mobile Devices: A Perspective of Quality and Latency

Recently, image enhancement and restoration have become important applications on mobile devices, such as super-resolution and image deblurring. However, most state-of-the-art networks present extremely high computational complexity. This makes them difficult to be deployed on mobile devices with acceptable latency. Moreover, when deploying to different mobile devices, there is a large latency variation due to the difference and limitation of deep learning accelerators on mobile devices. In this paper, we conduct a search of portable network architectures for better quality-latency trade-off across mobile devices. We further present the effectiveness of widely used network optimizations for image deblurring task. This paper provides comprehensive experiments and comparisons to uncover the in-depth analysis for both latency and image quality. Through all the above works, we demonstrate the successful deployment of image deblurring application on mobile devices with the acceleration of deep learning accelerators. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that addresses all the deployment issues of image deblurring task across mobile devices. This paper provides practical deployment-guidelines, and is adopted by the championship-winning team in NTIRE 2020 Image Deblurring Challenge on Smartphone Track.Comment: CVPR 2020 Workshop on New Trends in Image Restoration and Enhancement (NTIRE

Image Object Replacement Algorithm Applied to Mobile Devices

[[abstract]]智慧型手機與平板裝置在最近迅速發展，許多手持裝置的應用軟體也大量出現。表示行動運算以融入日常生活中。大部分智慧型手機都有相機的功能，使得手持裝置上的影像處理相關應用逐漸受到重視，包括影像編輯、影像修補，影像特效等。發展手持裝置上的影像處理演算法的困難之處在於要考慮手持裝置上有限的資源與處理器速度。 本論文提出建構於行動裝置上的影像物件置換演算法與創新應用。以人物為置換目標，可以達到趣味角色扮演的功能，也可以針對任何物件來進行置換。透過行動裝置上的照相機與觸控螢幕，系統提供使用者第一次拍照並圈選欲置換的物件區域，接著將欲置換的區域挖空並顯示在螢幕上，讓使用者可以對準要換入的目標物件並二次拍照，應用程式會將目標物件與第一張影像的背景合成，可提供使用者互動式的趣味影像編修應用。此演算法使用輪廓提取技術，將使用者圈選的輪廓自動校正，符合真正物件的輪廓；利用影像修補，自動修補目標物件與背景之間的空隙；利用顏色轉換，讓目標物件的影像色調更相近於欲置換的物件。 本論文的實驗分別為輪廓提取、影像修補與顏色轉換。我們使用大量的範例來驗證提出的影像物件置換演算法的效果。另外，影像修補是實作在手持裝置上，所以在實驗方面有針對大範圍與小範圍的修補區域，實際在手持裝置上測試影像修補的執行時間。[[abstract]]The applications of mobile devices have been rapidly developed on smart phones and tablets in recent years. Along with the rapid growth of the Internet community over the past decade, Mobile Computing has become a part of our everyday lives. Most mobile devices have built-in cameras. Therefore, the image processing applications on mobile devices are receiving more attentions, such as photo editing, image inpainting, and special effects on images. The difficulties of developing image processing algorithms on mobile devices are due to the limited resources and processing speed on these embedded systems. In this thesis, we propose an image object replacement algorithm on mobile devices. First, the user can take a photograph. On the touch screen, he/she can draw the contour around the object for replacement. The system will display the photograph on the camera view, where the region inside the contour will be transparent. Secondly, the user can take a photograph again by aligning the transparent region with the target object in the real world. After taking the second image, he/she can draw the contour around the target object. The application will replace the target object of the second image on the background of the first image to compose a synthesized image. The digital image processing technologies applied include contour extraction, image inpainting, and color transfer. Contour extraction is used to modify the drawn object contour by the user. Image inpainting is used to fix the gaps between the target object and the background. We use color transfer to transfer the color tone of the target object from the replacement object. The experimental results on the contour extraction, image inpainting, and color transfer are presented. Enormous examples are examined to show the effects of the proposed image object replacement algorithm. Our image inpainting algorithm is implemented on mobile devices, and the execute time on the mobile devices is studied.[[note]]碩

Green Care Achievement Based on Aquaponics Combined with Human–Computer Interaction

According to the “World Population Prospects 2022” released by the United Nations in August 2022, the world will officially enter an “aging society”. In order to provide the elderly with an improved quality of daily life, “health promotion” and “prevention of disease” will be important. With respect to care of the elderly, the concepts of “therapeutic environment” and “green care” have been explored and developed. Therefore, in this study, we combine the currently popular Internet of Things (IoT) into an aquaponics system and proposes a smart green care system (SGCS). The proposed system uses face recognition technology to record the labor and rehabilitation history of the elderly, in combination with environmental data analysis, to enable automatic control decisions for equipment in conjunction with a voice control system to reduce the obstacles faced by the elderly in operating the information system. It also uses image recognition technology to monitor and notify about plant diseases and insect pests to achieve automatic management and enhance the interaction between the elderly and the SGCS through human–computer interaction. The SGCS allows the elderly to guide it to participate in appropriate activities through direct contact with the natural environment, thereby enhancing the quality of green healing life. In this study, taking long-term care institutions as an example, we verified proof of concept (PoC), proof of service (PoS), and proof of business (PoB), confirming the feasibility of the SGCS. The SGCS proposed in this study can be successfully used in long-term care institutions and various other environments, such as medical units and home care contexts. It can take full advantage of the functions associated with the concept of “healing environment” and “green care” widely recognized by users. Therefore, it can be widely used in the field of long-term care in the future

Green Care Achievement Based on Aquaponics Combined with Human&ndash;Computer Interaction

According to the &ldquo;World Population Prospects 2022&rdquo; released by the United Nations in August 2022, the world will officially enter an &ldquo;aging society&rdquo;. In order to provide the elderly with an improved quality of daily life, &ldquo;health promotion&rdquo; and &ldquo;prevention of disease&rdquo; will be important. With respect to care of the elderly, the concepts of &ldquo;therapeutic environment&rdquo; and &ldquo;green care&rdquo; have been explored and developed. Therefore, in this study, we combine the currently popular Internet of Things (IoT) into an aquaponics system and proposes a smart green care system (SGCS). The proposed system uses face recognition technology to record the labor and rehabilitation history of the elderly, in combination with environmental data analysis, to enable automatic control decisions for equipment in conjunction with a voice control system to reduce the obstacles faced by the elderly in operating the information system. It also uses image recognition technology to monitor and notify about plant diseases and insect pests to achieve automatic management and enhance the interaction between the elderly and the SGCS through human&ndash;computer interaction. The SGCS allows the elderly to guide it to participate in appropriate activities through direct contact with the natural environment, thereby enhancing the quality of green healing life. In this study, taking long-term care institutions as an example, we verified proof of concept (PoC), proof of service (PoS), and proof of business (PoB), confirming the feasibility of the SGCS. The SGCS proposed in this study can be successfully used in long-term care institutions and various other environments, such as medical units and home care contexts. It can take full advantage of the functions associated with the concept of &ldquo;healing environment&rdquo; and &ldquo;green care&rdquo; widely recognized by users. Therefore, it can be widely used in the field of long-term care in the future

Deep Ultraviolet AlGaN-Based Light-Emitting Diodes with p-AlGaN/AlGaN Superlattice Hole Injection Structures

The p-AlGaN/AlGaN superlattice (SL) hole injection structure was introduced into deep ultraviolet (DUV) light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to enhance their performances. The period thicknesses of the p-Al0.8Ga0.2N/Al0.48Ga0.52N SLs affected the performances of the DUV LEDs. The appropriate period thickness of the p-Al0.8Ga0.2N/Al0.48Ga0.52N SL may enhance the hole injection of DUV LEDs. Therefore, compared with the reference LEDs, the DUV LEDs with the 10-pair Al0.8Ga0.2N (1 nm)/Al0.48Ga0.52N (1 nm) SL presented forward voltage reduction of 0.23 V and light output power improvement of 15% at a current of 350 mA. Furthermore, the 10-pair Al0.8Ga0.2N (1 nm)/Al0.48Ga0.52N (1 nm) SL could slightly suppress the Auger recombination and current overflow of the DUV LEDs in a high-current operation region. In addition to improved carrier injection, the DUV LEDs with the p-Al0.8Ga0.2N/Al0.48Ga0.52N SL hole injection structure showed reduced light absorption at their emission wavelength compared with the reference LEDs. Therefore, the DUV LEDs with p-Al0.8Ga0.2N/Al0.48Ga0.52N SL may exhibit better light extraction efficiency than the reference LEDs. The enhancement of p-Al0.8Ga0.2N (1 nm)/Al0.48Ga0.52N (1 nm) SL may contribute to improvements in light extraction and hole injection

Evaluation of the pain intensity differences among hospitalized cancer patients based on a nursing information system.

Evaluating the absolute difference in pain intensity and the percentage difference in pain intensity could facilitate an understanding of pain reduction among cancer patients during repeated hospitalizations. Examinations of the absolute differences in pain intensity and the percentage differences in pain intensity according to the worst pain intensity and last evaluated pain intensity before discharge are lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate the absolute and percentage difference in pain intensities among cancer patients with moderate or severe pain from their 1st to 18th hospitalizations from 2011-2013. A population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted. Pain intensity was assessed using scales and was recorded in a nursing information system. The absolute and percentage difference in pain intensities were examined via the one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, and group differences in moderate or severe pain were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U test. For moderate pain patients, the mean absolute difference in pain intensity was 1.52, and the percentage difference in pain intensity was 29.0%; both these values were significant. More significant changes in the absolute and percentage difference in pain intensities were associated with severe pain patients. Both the average absolute difference in pain intensity (3.09) and the percentage difference in pain intensity (38.5%) in patients with severe pain were significantly higher than the average absolute difference in pain intensity (1.52) and the percentage difference in pain intensity (29.0%) in patients with moderate pain. Cancer patients with moderate and severe pain experienced pain reductions of approximately 30% and 40%, respectively. Early pain management intervention in patients with severe pain is necessary to achieve an obvious analgesic effect, and the formula of the percentage difference in pain intensity should be incorporated into the nursing information system to alert clinicians for early detection of the effectiveness of cancer pain management