178 research outputs found
History of exposure to herbivores increases the compensatory ability of an invasive plant
Abstract Release from natural enemies is frequently cited as an important factor contributing to plant invasions. But such effects are likely to be temporary-native herbivores can form new plant-herbivore associations and co-evolved insects might reach the new range. While the potential effects of the initial enemy release have been well studied, the consequences of any resumption of herbivory are poorly understood. Alternanthera philoxeroides is one of the most widespread invasive plants in China and is attacked both by a specialist herbivore introduced from the native range, Agasicles hygrophila, and a native beetle Cassida piperata Hope which has formed a new association. However, these insects are not found throughout the invaded range. To test the effect of the history of population exposure to herbivory on compensatory ability, plants were cultured from 14 populations around China that differed in whether A. hygrophila or C. piperata were present. Treatment plants were exposed to herbivory by A. hygrophila for a week until 50% of the leaf area was defoliated, then grown for 80 days. Plants from populations with prior exposure to herbivory (of any kind) accumulated more root mass than populations without prior exposure, indicating that prior exposure to insects can stimulate plant compensation to herbivory. We would recommend that potential changes in plant tolerance in response to prior exposure to herbivory are considered in invasive plant management plans that employ biocontrol agents
Differentiable Radio Frequency Ray Tracing for Millimeter-Wave Sensing
Millimeter wave (mmWave) sensing is an emerging technology with applications
in 3D object characterization and environment mapping. However, realizing
precise 3D reconstruction from sparse mmWave signals remains challenging.
Existing methods rely on data-driven learning, constrained by dataset
availability and difficulty in generalization. We propose DiffSBR, a
differentiable framework for mmWave-based 3D reconstruction. DiffSBR
incorporates a differentiable ray tracing engine to simulate radar point clouds
from virtual 3D models. A gradient-based optimizer refines the model parameters
to minimize the discrepancy between simulated and real point clouds.
Experiments using various radar hardware validate DiffSBR's capability for
fine-grained 3D reconstruction, even for novel objects unseen by the radar
previously. By integrating physics-based simulation with gradient optimization,
DiffSBR transcends the limitations of data-driven approaches and pioneers a new
paradigm for mmWave sensing
Effect of Asafoetida Extract on Growth and Quality of Pleurotus ferulic
Different concentrations of asafoetida extract were added to the medium of Pleurotus ferulic and the effects of the extract on growth of P. ferulic mycelium and fruiting bodies was observed. As the amount of asafoetida extract additive was increased, the growth of Pleurotus mycelium was faster, the time formation of buds was shorter and that yield of fruiting bodies was stimulated. However, overdosing of asafoetida extract hampered the growth of Pleurotus ferulic. The amino acid composition and volatile components in three kinds of pleurotus’ were contrasted, including wild pleurotus (WP), cultivated pleurotus with asafoetida extract (CPAE) and cultivated pleurotus without asafoetida extract (CP). CPAE with 2.3 g/100 g asafoetida extract addition had the highest content of total amino acids, as well as essential amino acids. WP had a higher content of total amino acids and essential amino acids than CP. In addition, CPAE with 2.3 g/100 g had the highest score of protein content of pleurotus fruiting bodies, while WP had a higher score than CP. In the score of essential amino acid components of pleurotus fruiting bodies, CP had the highest score, while CPAE was higher than WP. Asafoetida extract influenced the volatile components of Pleurotus ferulic greatly, making the volatile components of cultivated pleurotus more similar to those of wild pleurotus (WP)
Probing Primordial Gravitational Waves: Ali CMB Polarization Telescope
In this paper, we will give a general introduction to the project of Ali CMB
Polarization Telescope (AliCPT), which is a Sino-US joint project led by the
Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) and has involved many different
institutes in China. It is the first ground-based Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB) polarization experiment in China and an integral part of China's
Gravitational Waves Program. The main scientific goal of AliCPT project is to
probe the primordial gravitational waves (PGWs) originated from the very early
Universe.
The AliCPT project includes two stages. The first stage referred to as
AliCPT-1, is to build a telescope in the Ali region of Tibet with an altitude
of 5,250 meters. Once completed, it will be the worldwide highest ground-based
CMB observatory and open a new window for probing PGWs in northern hemisphere.
AliCPT-1 telescope is designed to have about 7,000 TES detectors at 90GHz and
150GHz. The second stage is to have a more sensitive telescope (AliCPT-2) with
the number of detectors more than 20,000.
Our simulations show that AliCPT will improve the current constraint on the
tensor-to-scalar ratio by one order of magnitude with 3 years' observation.
Besides the PGWs, the AliCPT will also enable a precise measurement on the CMB
rotation angle and provide a precise test on the CPT symmetry. We show 3 years'
observation will improve the current limit by two order of magnitude.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 2 table
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Three-dimensional network of filamentary currents and super-thermal electrons during magnetotail magnetic reconnection
Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental plasma process by which magnetic field lines on two sides of the current sheet flow inward to yield an X-line topology. It is responsible for producing energetic electrons in explosive phenomena in space, astrophysical, and laboratorial plasmas. The X-line region is supposed to be the important place for generating energetic electrons. However, how these energetic electrons are generated in such a limited region is still poorly understood. Here, using Magnetospheric multiscale mission data acquired in Earth’s magnetotail, we present direct evidence of super-thermal electrons up to 300 keV inside an X-line region, and the electrons display a power-law spectrum with an index of about 8.0. Concurrently, three-dimensional network of dynamic filamentary currents in electron scale is observed and leads to electromagnetic turbulence therein. The observations indicate that the electrons are effectively accelerated while the X-line region evolves into turbulence with a complex filamentary current network.
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A String-Inspired Quintom Model Of Dark Energy
We propose in this paper a quintom model of dark energy with a single scalar
field given by the lagrangian . In the limit of 0 our model reduces to the
effective low energy lagrangian of tachyon considered in the literature. We
study the cosmological evolution of this model, and show explicitly the
behaviors of the equation of state crossing the cosmological constant boundary.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PL
Genistein Ameliorates Scopolamine-Induced Amnesia in Mice Through the Regulation of the Cholinergic Neurotransmission, Antioxidant System and the ERK/CREB/BDNF Signaling
Genistein (GE) was reported to exert a wide spectrum of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, anticancer, and cardio-protective effects. In addition, both clinical and preclinical studies have recently suggested GE a potential neuroprotective and memory-enhancing drug against neurodegenerative diseases. The animal model of scopolamine (Scop)-induced amnesia is widely used to study underlying mechanisms and treatment of cognitive impairment in neurodegenerative diseases. However, there is no report about the effects of GE on Scop-induced amnesia in mice. Therefore, the present study was carried out to investigate the beneficial effects and potential mechanism of GE against Scop-induced deficits in mice. The mice were orally pretreated with either GE (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg) or donepezil (1.60 mg/kg) for 14 days. After the pretreatment, the open field test was conducted to assess the effect of GE on the locomotor activity of mice. Thereafter, mice were daily injected with Scop (0.75 mg/kg) intraperitoneally to induce memory deficits and subjected to the cognitive behavioral tests including the Object Location Recognition (OLR) experiment and Morris Water Maze (MWM) task. After the behavioral tests, biochemical parameter assay and western blot analysis were used to examine the underlying mechanisms of its action. The results showed that GE administration significantly improved the cognitive performance of Scop-treated mice in OLR and Morris water maze tests, exerting the memory-enhancing effects. Additionally, GE remarkably promoted the cholinergic neurotransmission and protected against the oxidative stress damage in the hippocampus of Scop-treated mice, as indicated by decreasing AChE activity, elevating ChAT activity and Ach level, increasing SOD activity, lowering the level of MDA and increasing GSH content. Furthermore, GE was found to significantly upregulate the expression levels of p-ERK, p-CREB and BDNF proteins in the hippocampus of Scop-treated mice. Taken together, these results for the first time found that GE exerts cognitive-improving effects in Scop-induced amnesia and suggested it may be a potential candidate compound for the treatment of some neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
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