Generalized transceiver beamforming for DFRC with MIMO radar and MU-MIMO communication

Spatial beamforming is an efficient way to realize dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC). In this paper, we study the DFRC design for a general scenario, where the dual-functional base station (BS) simultaneously detects the target as a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar while communicating with multiple multi-antenna communication users (CUs). This necessitates a joint transceiver beamforming design for both MIMO radar and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) communication. In order to characterize the performance tradeoff between MIMO radar and MU-MIMO communication, we first define the achievable performance region of the DFRC system. Then, both radar-centric and communication-centric optimizations are formulated to achieve the boundary of the performance region. For the radar-centric optimization, successive convex approximation (SCA) method is adopted to solve the non-convex constraint. For the communication-centric optimization, a solution based on weighted mean square error (MSE) criterion is obtained to solve the non-convex objective function. Furthermore, two low-complexity beamforming designs based on CU-selection and zero-forcing are proposed to avoid iteration, and the closed-form expressions of the low-complexity beamforming designs are derived. Simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of all proposed designs

Application of CRISPR-Cas system in the diagnosis and therapy of ESKAPE infections

Antimicrobial-resistant ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) pathogens represent a global threat to human health. ESKAPE pathogens are the most common opportunistic pathogens in nosocomial infections, and a considerable number of their clinical isolates are not susceptible to conventional antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, innovative therapeutic strategies that can effectively deal with ESKAPE pathogens will bring huge social and economic benefits and ease the suffering of tens of thousands of patients. Among these strategies, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) system has received extra attention due to its high specificity. Regrettably, there is currently no direct CRISPR-system-based anti-infective treatment. This paper reviews the applications of CRISPR-Cas system in the study of ESKAPE pathogens, aiming to provide directions for the research of ideal new drugs and provide a reference for solving a series of problems caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDR) in the post-antibiotic era. However, most research is still far from clinical application

ADAR2-dependent RNA editing of GluR2 is involved in thiamine deficiency-induced alteration of calcium dynamics

BACKGROUND: Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency (TD) causes mild impairment of oxidative metabolism and region-selective neuronal loss in the central nervous system (CNS). TD in animals has been used to model aging-associated neurodegeneration in the brain. The mechanisms of TD-induced neuron death are complex, and it is likely multiple mechanisms interplay and contribute to the action of TD. In this study, we demonstrated that TD significantly increased intracellular calcium concentrations [Ca2+]i in cultured cortical neurons. RESULTS: TD drastically potentiated AMPA-triggered calcium influx and inhibited pre-mRNA editing of GluR2, a Ca2+-permeable subtype of AMPA receptors. The Ca2+ permeability of GluR2 is regulated by RNA editing at the Q/R site. Edited GluR2 (R) subunits form Ca2+-impermeable channels, whereas unedited GluR2 (Q) channels are permeable to Ca2+ flow. TD inhibited Q/R editing of GluR2 and increased the ratio of unedited GluR2. The Q/R editing of GluR2 is mediated by adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 2 (ADAR2). TD selectively decreased ADAR2 expression and its self-editing ability without affecting ADAR1 in cultured neurons and in the brain tissue. Over-expression of ADAR2 reduced AMPA-mediated rise of [Ca2+]i and protected cortical neurons against TD-induced cytotoxicity, whereas down-regulation of ADAR2 increased AMPA-elicited Ca2+ influx and exacerbated TD-induced death of cortical neurons. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that TD-induced neuronal damage may be mediated by the modulation of ADAR2-dependent RNA Editing of GluR2

Translocase of the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane 40 Is Required for Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Embryo Development in Arabidopsis

In eukaryotes, mitochondrion is an essential organelle which is surrounded by a double membrane system, including the outer membrane, intermembrane space and the inner membrane. The translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM) complex has attracted enormous interest for its role in importing the preprotein from the cytoplasm into the mitochondrion. However, little is understood about the potential biological function of the TOM complex in Arabidopsis. The aim of the present study was to investigate how AtTOM40, a gene encoding the core subunit of the TOM complex, works in Arabidopsis. As a result, we found that lack of AtTOM40 disturbed embryo development and its pattern formation after the globular embryo stage, and finally caused albino ovules and seed abortion at the ratio of a quarter in the homozygous tom40 plants. Further investigation demonstrated that AtTOM40 is wildly expressed in different tissues, especially in cotyledons primordium during Arabidopsis embryogenesis. Moreover, we confirmed that the encoded protein AtTOM40 is localized in mitochondrion, and the observation of the ultrastructure revealed that mitochondrion biogenesis was impaired in tom40-1 embryo cells. Quantitative real-time PCR was utilized to determine the expression of genes encoding outer mitochondrial membrane proteins in the homozygous tom40-1 mutant embryos, including the genes known to be involved in import, assembly and transport of mitochondrial proteins, and the results demonstrated that most of the gene expressions were abnormal. Similarly, the expression of genes relevant to embryo development and pattern formation, such as SAM (shoot apical meristem), cotyledon, vascular primordium and hypophysis, was also affected in homozygous tom40-1 mutant embryos. Taken together, we draw the conclusion that the AtTOM40 gene is essential for the normal structure of the mitochondrion, and participates in early embryo development and pattern formation through maintaining the biogenesis of mitochondria. The findings of this study may provide new insight into the biological function of the TOM40 subunit in higher plants

Towards a methodical framework for comprehensively assessing forest multifunctionality

Funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Grant Number: DFG FOR 891/1-3 National Natural Science Foundation of China. Grant Numbers: 30710103907, 30930005, 31170457, 31210103910 Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion in Beijing. Grant Number: GZ 986Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Toward a methodical framework for comprehensively assessing forest multifunctionality

Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research has extended its scope from communities that are short-lived or reshape their structure annually to structurally complex forest ecosystems. The establishment of tree diversity experiments poses specific methodological challenges for assessing the multiple functions provided by forest ecosystems. In particular, methodological inconsistencies and nonstandardized protocols impede the analysis of multifunctionality within, and comparability across the increasing number of tree diversity experiments. By providing an overview on key methods currently applied in one of the largest forest biodiversity experiments, we show how methods differing in scale and simplicity can be combined to retrieve consistent data allowing novel insights into forest ecosystem functioning. Furthermore, we discuss and develop recommendations for the integration and transferability of diverse methodical approaches to present and future forest biodiversity experiments. We identified four principles that should guide basic decisions concerning method selection for tree diversity experiments and forest BEF research: (1) method selection should be directed toward maximizing data density to increase the number of measured variables in each plot. (2) Methods should cover all relevant scales of the experiment to consider scale dependencies of biodiversity effects. (3) The same variable should be evaluated with the same method across space and time for adequate larger-scale and longer-time data analysis and to reduce errors due to changing measurement protocols. (4) Standardized, practical and rapid methods for assessing biodiversity and ecosystem functions should be promoted to increase comparability among forest BEF experiments. We demonstrate that currently available methods provide us with a sophisticated toolbox to improve a synergistic understanding of forest multifunctionality. However, these methods require further adjustment to the specific requirements of structurally complex and long-lived forest ecosystems. By applying methods connecting relevant scales, trophic levels, and above? and belowground ecosystem compartments, knowledge gain from large tree diversity experiments can be optimized

How Digital Content Marketing of E-commerce Retailers Influence Their Sales Performance? An Empirical Study from the Integrated Marketing Perspective

As an emerging marketing tool of e-commerce platforms, digital content marketing (DCM) has been favored by many retailers. It is unclear how e-retailers combine DCM with traditional marketing tools (e.g., price promotion and display advertising) to improve their sales performance. This paper builds a research model from the integrated marketing perspective to explore this question. With a panel dataset of 36 women\u27s clothing stores on Taobao platform, this study combined machine learning with economic model to test the research model. The empirical results show that the information richness of e-retailers’ DCM positively influence their sales performance. More interesting, the interaction between DCM information richness and price promotion negatively impacts the sales performance of high-reputation e-retailers, while the interaction between DCM information richness and display advertising positively impacts the sales performance of high-reputation e-retailers. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Genome-wide analysis of SRSF10-regulated alternative splicing by deep sequencing of chicken transcriptome

Splicing factor SRSF10 is known to function as a sequence-specific splicing activator that is capable of regulating alternative splicing both in vitro and in vivo. We recently used an RNA-seq approach coupled with bioinformatics analysis to identify the extensive splicing network regulated by SRSF10 in chicken cells. We found that SRSF10 promoted both exon inclusion and exclusion. Functionally, many of the SRSF10-verified alternative exons are linked to pathways of response to external stimulus. Here we describe in detail the experimental design, bioinformatics analysis and GO/pathway enrichment analysis of SRSF10-regulated genes to correspond with our data in the Gene Expression Omnibus with accession number GSE53354. Our data thus provide a resource for studying regulation of alternative splicing in vivo that underlines biological functions of splicing regulatory proteins in cells

High performance organic/20 mu m crystalline-silicon heterojunction solar cells

Si/organic hybrid solar cells have attracted considerable attention as a promise long-range photovoltaic technique with low process cost and high power conversion efficiency. However, the consumption of a whole bulk silicon wafer in this kind of cells is obviously not cost-effective. Here, we report a flexible poly (3, 4-ethylene-dioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate/crystalline silicon (c-Si) heterojunction solar cell with substrate thickness of sub-20 mu m. The c-Si substrate has a nanopore surface texturing fabricated by a sample metal-assisted chemical etching process. In comparison to the non-textured thin c-Si cell, the nanopore-textured cell shows a 19.5% increase in J(SC) and a 40.2% increase in the efficiency. The inherent advantages of absorption improvement, p-n junction area increase, and carrier collection capability enhancement endow this nanopore-textured thin c-Si hybrid solar cell to approach an efficiency of 8.7%, as high as its bulk counterpart