A Portrait of Emotion: Empowering Self-Expression through AI-Generated Art

We investigated the potential and limitations of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in reflecting the authors' cognitive processes through creative expression. The focus is on the AI-generated artwork's ability to understand human intent (alignment) and visually represent emotions based on criteria such as creativity, aesthetic, novelty, amusement, and depth. Results show a preference for images based on the descriptions of the authors' emotions over the main events. We also found that images that overrepresent specific elements or stereotypes negatively impact AI alignment. Our findings suggest that AI could facilitate creativity and the self-expression of emotions. Our research framework with generative AIs can help design AI-based interventions in related fields (e.g., mental health education, therapy, and counseling).Comment: Accepted CogSci 202

Selenoprotein W promotes cell cycle recovery from G2 arrest through the activation of CDC25B

AbstractSelenoprotein W (SelW) contains a highly reactive selenocysteine (Sec; U) in the CXXU motif corresponding to the CXXC motif in thioredoxin (Trx) and thus it appears to be involved in regulating the cellular redox state. Recent reports on the interaction between SelW and 14-3-3 suggest that SelW may be redox dependently involved in the cell cycle. However, the precise function of SelW has not yet been elucidated. Here, we show that SelW is involved in the G2–M transition, especially in the recovery from G2 arrest after deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage. Knockdown of SelW significantly accumulated phosphorylated cyclin‐dependent kinase (Cdk1), which eventually led to a delay in recovery from G2 arrest. We also found that inactive Cdk1 is caused by the sustained inactivation of CDC25B, which removes the inhibitory phosphate from Cdk1. Our observation from this study reveals that SelW activated CDC25B by promoting the dissociation of 14-3-3 from CDC25B through the reduction of the intramolecular disulfide bond during recovery. We suggest that SelW plays an important role in the recovery from G2 arrest by determining the dissociation of 14-3-3 from CDC25B in a redox-dependent manner

Plant Location Selection for Food Production by Considering the Regional and Seasonal Supply Vulnerability of Raw Materials

A production capacity analysis considering market demand and raw materials is very important to design a new plant. However, in the food processing industry, the supply uncertainty of raw materials is very high, depending on the production site and the harvest season, and further, it is not straightforward to analyze too complex food production systems by using an analytical optimization model. For these reasons, this study presents a simulation-based decision support model to select the right location for a new food processing plant. We first define three supply vulnerability factors from the standpoint of regional as well as seasonal instability and present an assessment method for supply vulnerability based on fuzzy quantification. The evaluated vulnerability scores are then converted into raw material supply variations for food production simulation to predict the quarterly production volume of a new food processing plant. The proposed selection procedure is illustrated using a case study of semiprocessed kimchi production. The best plant location is proposed where we can reduce and mitigate risks when supplying raw material, thereby producing a target production volume steadily

Generation of subspecies level-specific microbial diagnostic microarrays using genes amplified from subtractive suppression hybridization as microarray probes

The generation of microarray probes with specificity below the species level is an ongoing challenge, not least because the high-throughput detection of microorganisms would be an efficient means of identifying environmentally relevant microbes. Here, we describe how suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) can be applied to the production of microarray probes that are useful for microbial differentiation at the subspecies level. SSH was used to initially isolate unique genomic sequences of nine Salmonella strains, and these were validated in quadruplicate by microarray analysis. The results obtained indicate that a large group of genes subtracted by SSH could serve together, as one probe, for detecting a microbial subspecies. Similarly, the whole microbial genome (not subjected to SSH) can be used as a species-specific probe. The detailed methods described herein could be used and adapted for the estimation of any cultivable bacteria from different environments

Numerical simulation on the two-phase flow pattern in the loop heat pipe with r-134a

This paper discusses the two-phase flow pattern in the loop heat pipe with R-134a. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study was carried out using ANSYS FLUENT. VOF model was used to simulate interface between vapor and liquid phase of R- 134a. A UDF was used to model evaporation and condensation mass transfer between two phases. For the simulation of increase of pressure in the loop heat pipe, the ideal gas law was considered when modelling the density of vapor. The numerically calculated temperatures in this paper and Fadhl’s calculated temperatures and experimentally measured temperatures matched very well [2]. The maximum difference between the calculated and Fadhl’s temperature data is 2.4 %. The bubble figure in the loop heat was observed with time passed in this paper.Papers presented at the 13th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Portoroz, Slovenia on 17-19 July 2017 .International centre for heat and mass transfer.American society of thermal and fluids engineers

COMBUSTION CHARACTERISTICS AND EMISSION OF HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS IN COMMERCIAL FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTORS FOR SEWAGE SLUDGE

Since the disposal of sewage sludge in ocean has been prohibited recently according to London Dumping Convention, technological need for treating sewage sludge safely and efficiently are getting increased in Korea. FBC (Fluidized Bed Combustor) technology has been selected and utilized as one of the alternatives because of combustible content in sludge, on-going process development to maintain the best combustion efficiency, and good heat recovery for energy utilization. In this paper, the process and combustion characteristics of commercially operating FBC incineration plants with the capacity ranging from 50 – 150 tons of sludge per day were investigated by comparing emission data from 4 different plants. Concentrations of hazardous gaseous pollutants (HAPs) such as fine particulate matter, heavy metals, and dioxin from sludge combustion before and after air pollution control devices were measured and analyzed at commercial operating conditions of one typical incinerator. Most of emission data at stack showed under the environmental regulatory limits. Mercury and some heavy metals emission have been reduced significantly as co-beneficial effect since the air pollution control configuration was well arranged and installed to control the regulatory gases such as NOx, SO2, particulates, and dioxin. Sludge, especially generated from industrial plants, contained measurable amounts of acidic materials and heavy metals including Hg. Therefore, such metal emission should receive an attention by monitoring them and further mass balance study for better understanding their fates in the process must proceed in future