Interaural Level Difference-Dependent Gain Control and Synaptic Scaling Underlying Binaural Computation

SummaryBinaural integration in the central nucleus of inferior colliculus (ICC) plays a critical role in sound localization. However, its arithmetic nature and underlying synaptic mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we showed in mouse ICC neurons that the contralateral dominance is created by a “push-pull”-like mechanism, with contralaterally dominant excitation and more bilaterally balanced inhibition. Importantly, binaural spiking response is generated apparently from an ipsilaterally mediated scaling of contralateral response, leaving frequency tuning unchanged. This scaling effect is attributed to a divisive attenuation of contralaterally evoked synaptic excitation onto ICC neurons with their inhibition largely unaffected. Thus, a gain control mediates the linear transformation from monaural to binaural spike responses. The gain value is modulated by interaural level difference (ILD) primarily through scaling excitation to different levels. The ILD-dependent synaptic scaling and gain adjustment allow ICC neurons to dynamically encode interaural sound localization cues while maintaining an invariant representation of other independent sound attributes

The oyster genome reveals stress adaptation and complexity of shell formation

The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas belongs to one of the most species-rich but genomically poorly explored phyla, the Mollusca. Here we report the sequencing and assembly of the oyster genome using short reads and a fosmid-pooling strategy, along with transcriptomes of development and stress response and the proteome of the shell. The oyster genome is highly polymorphic and rich in repetitive sequences, with some transposable elements still actively shaping variation. Transcriptome studies reveal an extensive set of genes responding to environmental stress. The expansion of genes coding for heat shock protein 70 and inhibitors of apoptosis is probably central to the oyster's adaptation to sessile life in the highly stressful intertidal zone. Our analyses also show that shell formation in molluscs is more complex than currently understood and involves extensive participation of cells and their exosomes. The oyster genome sequence fills a void in our understanding of the Lophotrochozoa. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Echinatin attenuates acute lung injury and inflammatory responses via TAK1-MAPK/NF-κB and Keap1-Nrf2-HO-1 signaling pathways in macrophages.

Echinatin is an active ingredient in licorice, a traditional Chinese medicine used in the treatment of inflammatory disorders. However, the protective effect and underlying mechanism of echinatin against acute lung injury (ALI) is still unclear. Herein, we aimed to explore echinatin-mediated anti-inflammatory effects on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated ALI and its molecular mechanisms in macrophages. In vitro, echinatin markedly decreased the levels of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in LPS-stimulated murine MH-S alveolar macrophages and RAW264.7 macrophages by suppressing inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. Furthermore, echinatin reduced LPS-induced mRNA expression and release of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-6 in RAW264.7 cells. Western blotting and CETSA showed that echinatin repressed LPS-induced activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathways through targeting transforming growth factor-beta-activated kinase 1 (TAK1). Furthermore, echinatin directly interacted with Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) and activated the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway to enhance heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression. In vivo, echinatin ameliorated LPS-induced lung inflammatory injury, and reduced production of IL-1β and IL-6. These findings demonstrated that echinatin exerted anti-inflammatory effects in vitro and in vivo, via blocking the TAK1-MAPK/NF-κB pathway and activating the Keap1-Nrf2-HO-1 pathway

Analysis of the Thermally Induced Packaging Effects on the Frequency Drift of Micro-Electromechanical System Resonant Accelerometer

Due to the working principle of MEMS resonant accelerometers, their thermally induced frequency drift is an inevitable practical issue for their extensive application. This paper is focused on reducing the thermally induced packaging effects on the frequency drift. A leadless ceramic chip carrier package with a stress-buffering layer was proposed for a MEMS resonant accelerometer, and the influences of packaging structure parameters on the frequency drift were investigated through finite element simulations and verified experimentally. Because of the thermal mismatch between dissimilar materials, the thermo-mechanical stress within the resonant beam leads to a change in the effective stiffness and causes the frequency drift to decrease linearly with increasing temperature. Furthermore, our investigations reveal that increasing the stress-buffering layer thickness and reducing the solder layer thickness can significantly minimize the thermo-mechanical stress within the resonant beam. As the neutral plane approaches the horizontal symmetry plane of the resonant beam when optimizing the packaging structure, the effects of the compressive and tensile stresses on the effective stiffness of the resonant beam will cancel each other out, which can dramatically reduce the frequency drift. These findings provide guidelines for packaging design through which to improve the temperature stability of MEMS resonant accelerometers

Characterizing Fishing Behaviors and Intensity of Vessels Based on BeiDou VMS Data: A Case Study of TACs Project for Acetes chinensis in the Yellow Sea

The total allowable catch system (TACs) is a basic, widely used system for maintaining marine fishery resources. The vessel monitoring system (VMS) provides a superior method to monitor fishing activities that serve TACs project management. However, few studies have been conducted on this topic. Here, an artificial neural network was used to identify vessel position states based on BeiDou VMS data and fishing logs of vessels under the TACs project for Acetes chinensis in the Yellow Sea in 2021. Furthermore, fishing behaviors and intensity were explored. The results showed significant differences in the speed of vessels in different states (p < 0.01). Casting occurred during the day, and the azimuth of fishing nets for shrimp ranged from 60 to 90° or 240 to 270°. The length of the fishing nets of each vessel was mostly between 3500 and 4500 m. In addition, the fishing efforts of the vessels showed an obvious aggregated distribution. The main area was at 120°04′–120°16′ E, 34°42′–34°46′ N, whereas fishing intensity ranged from 120,000 to 280,000 m2·h/km2. Finally, this study provides a scientific basis for TACs project management and a VMS data mining and application expansion standard

Temperature, pressure, and humidity SAW sensor based on coplanar integrated LGS

Abstract This paper presents a surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor based on coplanar integrated Langasite (LGS) that is fabricated using wet etching, high-temperature bonding, and ion beam etching (IBE) processes. The miniaturized multiparameter temperature‒pressure-humidity (TPH) sensor used the MXene@MoS2@Go (MMG) composite to widen the humidity detection range and improve the humidity sensitivity, including a fast response time (3.18 s) and recovery time (0.94 s). The TPH sensor was shown to operate steadily between 25–700 °C, 0–700 kPa, and 10–98% RH. Coupling issues among multiple parameters in complex environments were addressed by decoupling the Δf-temperature coupling factor to improve the accuracy. Therefore, this work can be applied to simultaneous measurements of several environmental parameters in challenging conditions

Characterizing Fishing Behaviors and Intensity of Vessels Based on BeiDou VMS Data: A Case Study of TACs Project for <i>Acetes chinensis</i> in the Yellow Sea

The total allowable catch system (TACs) is a basic, widely used system for maintaining marine fishery resources. The vessel monitoring system (VMS) provides a superior method to monitor fishing activities that serve TACs project management. However, few studies have been conducted on this topic. Here, an artificial neural network was used to identify vessel position states based on BeiDou VMS data and fishing logs of vessels under the TACs project for Acetes chinensis in the Yellow Sea in 2021. Furthermore, fishing behaviors and intensity were explored. The results showed significant differences in the speed of vessels in different states (p 2·h/km2. Finally, this study provides a scientific basis for TACs project management and a VMS data mining and application expansion standard

A decouple-decomposition noise analysis model for closed-loop mode-localized tilt sensors

Abstract The development of mode-localized sensors based on amplitude output metrics has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to the potential of such sensors for high sensitivity and resolution. Mode-localization phenomena leverage the interaction between multiple coupled resonant modes to achieve enhanced performance, providing a promising solution to overcome the limitations of traditional sensing technologies. Amplitude noise plays a key role in determining the resolution of mode-localized sensors, as the output metric is derived from the measured AR (amplitude ratio) within the weakly coupled resonator system. However, the amplitude noise originating from the weakly coupled resonator’s closed-loop circuit has not yet been fully investigated. This paper presents a decouple-decomposition (DD) noise analysis model, which is applied to achieve high resolution in a mode-localized tilt sensor based on a weakly coupled resonator closed-loop circuit. The DD noise model separates the weakly coupled resonators using the decoupling method considering the nonlinearity of the resonators. By integrating the decoupled weakly coupled resonators, the model decomposes the weakly coupled resonator’s closed-loop circuit into distinct paths for amplitude and phase noise analyses. The DD noise model reveals noise effects at various circuit nodes and models the system noise in the closed-loop circuit of the weakly coupled resonators. MATLAB/Simulink simulations verify the model’s accuracy when compared to theoretical analysis. At the optimal operating point, the mode-localized tilt sensor achieves an input-referred instability of 3.91 × 10-4° and an input-referred AR of PSD of 2.01 × 10-4°⁄√Hz using the closed-loop noise model. This model is also applicable to other varieties of mode-localized sensors

Molten-salt-mediated synthesis of Na+ doped Bi4TaO8Cl nanosheets with exposed {001} facets for enhanced photocatalytic degradation

Regulating the exposed surfaces of semiconductors is believed to be a versatile strategy to boost their photoactivity. Herein, the Na+ doped Bi4TaO8Cl (BTOC) nanosheets with the exposed {001} active faces were synthesized via a facile molten salt method. The size of BTOC nanosheets could be readily tuned by con-trolling the feeding content of the molten salts (NaCl and KCl). Benefited from the cooperative effect of the Na+ doping and the exposed active {001} facets, the optimal BTOC-24 nanosheets exhibited high photo activity. Under 5 W white LED light irradiation, the degradation rates of BTOC-24 nanosheets for ofloxacin (OFL) and Rhodamine B (RhB) were 84.1% and 97.3%, which were drastically enhanced by 2 and 6-folds than that of bulk BTOC, respectively. The mechanism for the improved photoactivity was also investigated. This work demonstrates the synergetic effect of engineering the thickness and exposed crystal face towards the enhanced photoactivity of 2D BTOC, which also shows significant implications for designing other 2D semiconductor nanosheet with efficient environmental remediation performance. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved