DesignGPT: Multi-Agent Collaboration in Design

Generative AI faces many challenges when entering the product design workflow, such as interface usability and interaction patterns. Therefore, based on design thinking and design process, we developed the DesignGPT multi-agent collaboration framework, which uses artificial intelligence agents to simulate the roles of different positions in the design company and allows human designers to collaborate with them in natural language. Experimental results show that compared with separate AI tools, DesignGPT improves the performance of designers, highlighting the potential of applying multi-agent systems that integrate design domain knowledge to product scheme design

Resonant Photonic Biosensors with Polarization-Based Multiparametric Discrimination in Each Channel

In this paper, we describe guided-mode resonance biochemical sensor technology. We briefly discuss sensor fabrication and show measured binding dynamics for example biomaterials in use in our laboratories. We then turn our attention to a particularly powerful attribute of this technology not possessed by competing methods. This attribute is the facile generation of multiple resonance peaks at an identical physical location on the sensor surface. These peaks respond uniquely to the biomolecular event, thereby enriching the data set available for event quantification. The peaks result from individual, polarization-dependent resonant leaky modes that are the foundation of this technology. Thus, by modeling the binding event and fitting to a rigorous electromagnetic formalism, we can determine individual attributes of the biolayer and its surroundings and avoid a separate reference site for background monitoring. Examples provide dual-polarization quantification of biotin binding to a silane-coated sensor as well as binding of the cancer biomarker protein calreticulin to its monoclonal IgG capture antibody. Finally, we present dual-polarization resonance response for poly (allylamine hydrochloride) binding to the sensor with corresponding results of backfitting to a simple model; this differentiates the contributions from biolayer adhesion and background changes

Description of Pseudaphelenchus zhoushanensis n. sp. (Tylenchina: Aphelenchoididae) found in the wood of Pinus thunbergii at Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang Province, China

Pseudaphelenchus zhoushanensis n. sp. was isolated from a dead Pinus thunbergii at Changgang Mountain, Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang Province, China. It is characterised by the small to medium length body, cuticle slightly annulated, presence of three lateral lines, stylet 9.0-10.7 mu m with small but conspicuous basal knobs, excretory pore located from same level as the metacorpus to slightly anterior to metacorpus, true bursa surrounding entire tail but inconspicuous, male tail conical with a single mucron, spicule with distinct condylus and rostrum strongly arcuate to a pointed end, female tail conical with annulation, strongly ventrally bent in distal part of tail, with terminus bluntly pointed or finely mucronate. Phylogenetic analyses using sequences of the 18S and 28S D2-D3 regions of rDNA confirmed the status of P. zhoushanensis n. sp. as a new species. Combining the molecular phylogenetic analyses, morphology and biology of P. zhoushanensis n. sp. and Tylaphelenchus jiaae indicates that T. jiaae is a member of Pseudaphelenchus to which it is herein transferred as P. jiaae n. comb. (= T. jiaae)

Meloidogyne paramali n. sp. (Nematoda: Meloidogyninae) and First Report of M. marylandi in maple and yacca tree from Japan

Meloidogyne paramali n. sp. was detected from Japanese maple trees (Acer palmatum) from Chiba, Japan during quarantine inspections in China. This species is characterized by second-stage juveniles (J2) with short tail length 32.2 (24–36.8) μm, finely rounded to broadly pointed tail terminus with extremely short hyaline tail terminus 4.3 (3.0–4.9) μm; perineal patterns of females characterized by an oval or irregular appearance, with round and low dorsal arch, and fine and smooth striae. M. paramali n. sp. is very similar to M. mali in that the perineal pattern has fine, smooth striae and both J2 have a short tail, but it can be distinguished from the latter by perineal pattern of the female (lateral field distinct vs. indistinct), shorter J2 hyaline tail terminus (4.3 [3.0–4.9] μm vs. 8.2 [4.8–12.7] μm, and by J2 tail with finely rounded to broadly pointed tail terminus, never sharply pointed vs. finely rounded and almost pointed. The polytomous key codes of the new species are as follows: Female: A21, B2, C32, D4; Male: A21, B3, C2, D1, E2, F2; J2: A2, B23, C43, D34, E12, F34. Detailed phylogenetic analysis based on partial 18S, ITS, D2-D3 28S, and partial mtCOI sequences also confirmed it as a new species, which is very close to M. mali and M. vitis and forms molecular group VIII. M. marylandi and other Meloidogyne species detected from plants from Japan in China are also discussed

Cryptaphelenchus iranicus Esmaeili, Heydari, Taheri, Fang & Li, 2016, n. sp.

<i>Cryptaphelenchus iranicus</i> n. sp. <p>Figs 1–3</p> <p> <b>Measurements</b>. See Table 1.</p> <p> <b>Description.</b> <i>Male</i>. Body slender, arcuate to J-shaped after heat relaxation, posterior end more ventrally curved. Anterior region similar to that of female. Testis single, expanded anteriorly, not reflexed. <i>Vas deferens</i> composed of small rounded cells, not clearly differentiated from other parts of gonad. Spicules arcuate, separate, 11–13 µm long along the arc line, <i>ca.</i> 2.2 times capitulum width, lamina/calamus smoothly and symmetrically curved, rostrum short, moderately developed with pointed tip. Condylus distinct with round tip. Cucullus, gubernaculum and bursa absent. The posterior body end (tail) conical, bearing a short sharp mucro <i>ca.</i> 3.0–3.5 µm long. Seven (a single ventral and three subventral pairs) genital papillae present: single midventral precloacal papilla (P1), located <i>ca.</i> 1.3 times cloacal body diameters anterior to cloacal aperture or opposite to level of condylus; first paired papillae (P2) subventral located at level of or just posterior to cloacal aperture; second postcloacal paired papillae (P3) subventral located at <i>ca.</i> 65–67% of tail length posterior to cloacal aperture; and third paired small papillae (P4) subventral located at <i>ca.</i> 85% of tail length posterior to cloacal aperture.</p> <p> <i>Female.</i> Body cylindrical, slightly ventrally curved when heat-killed. Cuticle less than 1 <i>µ</i> m thick, finely annulated. Lateral fields with three incisures. Head distinctly offset from body and separated by a clear constriction <i>ca</i> 2–3 µm high and 4–5 µm broad, separated in six equal-sized lips or having small lateral sectors (<i>en face</i> view). Stylet 7–8 µm long, with distinct basal swellings, conus delicate and occupying <i>ca.</i> two-fifths of the total stylet length. Procorpus tubular, ending in an oval median bulb (metacorpus) with central valve plates. Dorsal pharyngeal gland orifice opening into lumen of metacorpus midway between anterior end of metacorpal valve and anterior end of metacorpus. Pharyngo-intestinal junction immediately posterior to metacorpus. Nerve ring situated just posterior to metacorpus. Dorsal pharyngeal glands well-developed, overlapping intestine dorsally, 2.5–4.0 times as long as body diameter at level of median bulb and the third dorsal pharyngeal gland nuclei was observed. Excretory pore located <i>ca.</i> 1.5–2.0 body diameters posterior to median bulb or about two median bulb diameters posterior to nerve ring. Hemizonid <i>ca.</i> two body annuli long, situated just posterior to excretory pore. Reproductive tract located on ventral side of body, including an ovary, oviduct, spermatheca, crustaformeria, uterus, vagina + vulva, and postvulval uterine sac. Ovary single, anteriorly outstretched, located on the dorsal side of intestine. Developing oocytes mostly in two rows. Oviduct small, tube-like, horizontal wrinkle-like pattern sometimes appearing on its surface, constructed of oval-shaped cells, connecting ovary. Spermatheca oval to irregular, filled with rounded sperm. Crustaformeria obscure. Uterus thick-walled, vagina slightly sclerotized, straight. Vulva located posteriorly at <i>ca.</i> 74% of the body length. Vulval lips distinct, vulval flaps absent. Post-vulval uterine sac short, <i>ca.</i> 0.6–1.0 body diameters at vulva region in length. Intestine apparently ending in a blind sac <i>ca.</i> one third to one half of the distance from vulva to posterior end, rectum or functional anus absent. Posterior body end (tail) conical, ending in a pointed tip.</p> <p> <b>Type locality and habitat.</b> Isolated directly from bark and wood samples of a weakened tree of <i>Pinus nigra</i> in the locality Cheshmeh-e-Nezamei of Gilan-e-Gharb city in Kermanshah Province, western Iran (GPS coordinates: N 33˚59', E 46˚12', 1248 meters above sea level).</p> <p> <b>Type material.</b> Holotype male (Slide ACI001), four paratype females and two paratype males (Slides ACI001 and ACI002) deposited in nematode collection of the Department of Plant Protection, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Iran. Three paratype females and two paratype males deposited at the nematode collection of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels. Two paratype females and two paratype males deposited at the WANECO collection, Wageningen. Two paratype females and one paratype male deposited at the National Nematode Collection of the Department of Nematology, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran.</p> <p> <b>Remarks.</b> PCR on the ITS1/2 and 18S of rDNA sequences was not successful despite many attempts. <i>Cryptaphelenchus iranicus</i> <b>n. sp.</b> was successfully cultured on <i>Botryotinia fuckeliana</i> growing on Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA).</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis and relationships.</b> <i>Cryptaphelenchus iranicus</i> <b>n. sp.</b> is characterized by body lengths of 250–330 µm (females) and 230–275 µm (males). The cuticle is weakly annulated, stylet 7–8 µm long with distinct basal knobs, lateral fields with three incisures. The excretory pore is located <i>ca.</i> 1.5–2.0 body diameters posterior to metacorpus. Post-vulval uterine sac short with 7–10 µm long. Intestine apparently ending in a blind sac at <i>ca.</i> one third to one half of distance from vulva to posterior body end, female rectum or functional anus absent. Posterior body conical, ending to a pointed tip. The male spicules are 11–13 <i>Μ</i> m long in arc line, with sharply pointed rostrum and rounded condylus. The male tail is conical with a sharply pointed terminus. The male genital papillae comprise a single precloacal papilla and an adcloacal and two post-cloacal pairs.</p> <p> Based on morphological and morphometrics characters, <i>C. iranicus</i> <b>n. sp.</b> is differentiated from all other species in genus of <i>Cryptaphelenchus</i> by the cephalic region (offset <i>vs.</i> non-offset), shape of median bulb (oval <i>vs</i> spherical) and post-vulval uterine sac (presence <i>vs.</i> absence) (Kurashvili <i>et al</i>., 1980; Korentchenko 1987). Furthermore, the new species differs from <i>C. cirrus</i> Massey, 1974 by the stylet basal swelling (present <i>vs.</i> absent); it differs from <i>C. latus</i> Massey, 1974 by the presence of the subventral pair of postcloacal papillae (P4) <i>vs.</i> absence; and it differs from C. <i>leptocaudus</i> Rühm, 1956 by the body length (250–330 <i>vs</i> 325–382 µm), the position of P1 (opposite rostrum <i>vs.</i> condylus) and the presence of P4 <i>vs.</i> absence.</p> <p>1Length of conus as percentage of total stylet length.</p> <p>2Distance between anterior end of body and centre of metacorpus as percentage of pharyngeal length. 3Distance from pharyngo-intestinal junction to posterior end of dorsal gland.</p> <p> <b>Molecular characterisation and phylogeny.</b> The sequence of the partial 28S D2-D3 region of <i>Cryptaphelenchus iranicus</i> <b>n. sp.</b> was deposited in GenBank with accession number KT895255 (691 bp, isolate KER). A total of 70 aphelenchid taxa were selected to construct the phylogenetic tree using <i>Aphelenchus avenae</i> Bastian, 1865 (AB368536) as outgroup. The dataset was composed of 905 total characters after aligning and manually editing. Phylogenetic relationships among the isolates for the dataset were determined using Bayesian inference (BI) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods (Fig. 4). The trees produced using each method show <i>Cryptaphelenchus iranicus</i> <b>n. sp.</b> clustered with two unnamed <i>Cryptaphelenchus</i> species in an independent clade among other Ektaphelenchinae species. This clade occupies a basal position with a posterior probability (PP) support of 91% with a clade of some members of other genera of the subfamily Ektaphelenchinae such as <i>Devibursaphelenchus</i>, <i>Ektaphelenchus</i>, <i>Ektaphelenchoides</i> and a member of subfamily Acugutturinae, <i>Noctuidonema</i> Remillet & Silvain, 1988. The new species shares a sequence similarity with <i>Cryptaphelenchus</i> sp. (AB597985) of 77.1% and with <i>Cryptaphelenchus</i> sp. (EU287596) of 79.2%. However, the new species is separate from other species in the phylogenetic trees and when compared against other sequences deposited in GenBank.</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The new species epithet refers to the country where the species was found.</p>Published as part of <i>Esmaeili, Mehrab, Heydari, Ramin, Taheri, Zahra Majd, Fang, Yiwu & Li, Hongmei, 2016, Description of Cryptaphelenchus iranicus n. sp. (Nematoda: Ektaphelenchinae) recovered from bark samples of Pinus nigra from Iran, pp. 117-127 in Zootaxa 4139 (1)</i> on pages 118-124, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4139.1.7, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/266654">http://zenodo.org/record/266654</a&gt