Analysis of surface moisture variations within large field sites

A statistical analysis was made on ground soils to define the general relationship and ranges of values of the field moisture relative to both the variance and coefficient of variation for a given test site and depth increment. The results of the variability study show that: (1) moisture variations within any given large field area are inherent and can either be controlled nor reduced; (2) neither a single value of the standard deviation nor coefficient of variation uniquely define the variability over the complete range of mean field moisture contents examined; and (3) using an upper bound standard deviation parameter clearly defines the maximum range of anticipated moisture variability. 87 percent of all large field moisture content standard deviations were less than 3 percent while about 96 percent of all the computed values had an upper bound of sigma=4 percent for these intensively sampled fields. The limit of accuracy curves of mean soil moisture measurements for large field sites relative to the required number of samples were determined

Evidence for 3d bosonization from monopole operators

We give evidence for 3d bosonization in Conformal Field Theories (CFTs) by computing monopole operator scaling dimensions in 2+1 dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED3) with Chern-Simons level $k$ and $N$ complex bosons in a large $N,k$ expansion. We first consider the $k=0$ case, where we show that scaling dimensions previously computed to subleading order in $1/N$ can be extrapolated to $N=1$ and matched to $O(2)$ Wilson-Fisher CFT scaling dimensions with around 5\% error, which is evidence for particle-vortex duality. We then generalize the subleading calculation to large $N,k$ and fixed $k/N$, extrapolate to $N=k=1$, and consider monopole operators that are conjectured to be dual to non-degenerate scalar operators in a theory of a single Dirac fermion. We find matches typically with 1\% error or less, which is strong evidence of this so-called `seed' duality that implies a web of 3d bosonization dualities among CFTs.Comment: 4 pages plus appendices, no figures. v2 minor typos corrected, submitted for publicatio

Radiation-induced charge trapping in bipolar base oxides

Capacitance-voltage and thermally stimulated current methods are used to investigate radiation induced charge trapping in bipolar base oxides. Results are compared with models of oxide and interface trap charge buildup at low electric fields

VISEM-Tracking, a human spermatozoa tracking dataset

A manual assessment of sperm motility requires microscopy observation, which is challenging due to the fast-moving spermatozoa in the field of view. To obtain correct results, manual evaluation requires extensive training. Therefore, computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) has become increasingly used in clinics. Despite this, more data is needed to train supervised machine learning approaches in order to improve accuracy and reliability in the assessment of sperm motility and kinematics. In this regard, we provide a dataset called VISEM-Tracking with 20 video recordings of 30 seconds (comprising 29,196 frames) of wet sperm preparations with manually annotated bounding-box coordinates and a set of sperm characteristics analyzed by experts in the domain. In addition to the annotated data, we provide unlabeled video clips for easy-to-use access and analysis of the data via methods such as self- or unsupervised learning. As part of this paper, we present baseline sperm detection performances using the YOLOv5 deep learning (DL) model trained on the VISEM-Tracking dataset. As a result, we show that the dataset can be used to train complex DL models to analyze spermatozoa

Short-term, high-fat diet accelerates disuse atrophy and protein degradation in a muscle-specific manner in mice

Background: A short-term high-fat diet impairs mitochondrial function and the ability of skeletal muscle to respond to growth stimuli, but it is unknown whether such a diet alters the ability to respond to atrophy signals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether rapid weigh gain induced by a high-fat (HF) diet accelerates denervation-induced muscle atrophy. Methods: Adult, male mice (C57BL/6) were fed a control or HF (60 % calories as fat) diet for 3 weeks (3wHF). Sciatic nerve was sectioned unilaterally for the final 5 or 14 days of the diet. Soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were removed and incubated in vitro to determine rates of protein degradation and subsequently homogenized for determination of protein levels of LC3, ubiquitination, myosin heavy chain (MHC) distribution, and mitochondrial subunits. Results: When mice were fed the 3wHF diet, whole-body fat mass more than doubled, but basal (innervated) muscle weights, rates of protein degradation, LC3 content, mitochondrial protein content, and myosin isoform distribution were not significantly different than with the control diet in either soleus or EDL. However in the 14 day denervated soleus, the 3wHF diet significantly augmented loss of mass, proteolysis rate, amount of the autophagosome marker LC3 II, and the amount of overall ubiquitination as compared to the control fed mice. On the contrary, the 3wHF diet had no significant effect in the EDL on amount of mass loss, proteolysis rate, LC3 levels, or ubiquitination. Fourteen days denervation also induced a loss of mitochondrial proteins in the soleus but not the EDL, regardless of the diet. Conclusions: Taken together, a short-term, high-fat diet augments denervation muscle atrophy by induction of protein degradation in the mitochondria-rich soleus but not in the glycolytic EDL. These findings suggest that the denervation-induced loss of mitochondria and HF diet-induced impairment of mitochondrial function may combine to promote skeletal muscle atrophy

Measurements, Models, Systems and Design

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Constitutively Active CaMKKα Stimulates Skeletal Muscle Glucose Uptake in Insulin-Resistant Mice In Vivo

In insulin-sensitive skeletal muscle, the expression of constitutively active Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase kinase α (caCaMKKα) stimulates glucose uptake independent of insulin signaling (i.e., Akt and Akt-dependent TBC1D1/TBC1D4 phosphorylation). Our objectives were to determine whether caCaMKKα could stimulate glucose uptake additively with insulin in insulin-sensitive muscle, in the basal state in insulin-resistant muscle, and if so, to determine whether the effects were associated with altered TBC1D1/TBC1D4 phosphorylation. Mice were fed a control or high-fat diet (60% kcal) for 12 weeks to induce insulin resistance. Muscles were transfected with empty vector or caCaMKKα plasmids using in vivo electroporation. After 2 weeks, caCaMKKα protein was robustly expressed. In insulin-sensitive muscle, caCaMKKα increased basal in vivo [(3)H]-2-deoxyglucose uptake approximately twofold, insulin increased glucose uptake approximately twofold, and caCaMKKα plus insulin increased glucose uptake approximately fourfold. caCaMKKα did not increase basal TBC1D1 (Ser(237), Thr(590), Ser(660), pan-Thr/Ser) or TBC1D4 (Ser(588), Thr(642), pan-Thr/Ser) phosphorylation. In insulin-resistant muscle, caCaMKKα increased basal glucose uptake approximately twofold, and attenuated high-fat diet–induced basal TBC1D1 (Thr(590), pan-Thr/Ser) and TBC1D4 (Ser(588), Thr(642), pan-Thr/Ser) phosphorylation. In cell-free assays, CaMKKα increased TBC1D1 (Thr(590), pan-Thr/Ser) and TBC1D4 (Ser(588), pan-Thr/Ser) phosphorylation. Collectively, these results demonstrate that caCaMKKα stimulates glucose uptake additively with insulin, and in insulin-resistant muscle, and alters the phosphorylation of TBC1D1/TBC1D4