Modular Timing Constraints for Delay-Insensitive Systems

This paper introduces ARCtimer, a framework for modeling, generating, verifying, and enforcing timing constraints for individual self-timed handshake components. The constraints guarantee that the component’s gate-level circuit implementation obeys the component’s handshake protocol specification. Because the handshake protocols are delayinsensitive, self-timed systems built using ARCtimer-verified components are also delay-insensitive. By carefully considering time locally, we can ignore time globally. ARCtimer comes early in the design process as part of building a library of verified components for later system use. The library also stores static timing analysis (STA) code to validate and enforce the component’s constraints in any self-timed system built using the library. The library descriptions of a handshake component’s circuit, protocol, timing constraints, and STA code are robust to circuit modifications applied later in the design process by technology mapping or layout tools. In addition to presenting new work and discussing related work, this paper identifies critical choices and explains what modular timing verification entails and how it works

Approximate Equivalence of the Hybrid Automata with Taylor Theory

Hybrid automaton is a formal model for precisely describing a hybrid system in which the computational processes interact with the physical ones. The reachability analysis of the polynomial hybrid automaton is decidable, which makes the Taylor approximation of a hybrid automaton applicable and valuable. In this paper, we studied the simulation relation among the hybrid automaton and its Taylor approximation, as well as the approximate equivalence relation. We also proved that the Taylor approximation simulates its original hybrid automaton, and similar hybrid automata could be compared quantitatively, for example, the approximate equivalence we proposed in the paper

Automata-Based Analysis of Stage Suspended Boom Systems

A stage suspended boom system is an automatic steeve system orchestrated by the PLC (programmable logic controller). Security and fault-recovering are two important properties. In this paper, we analyze and verify the boom system formally. We adopt the hybrid automaton to model the boom system. The forward reachability is used to verify the properties with the reachable states. We also present a case study to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed verification

Fatty Acid Accumulations and Transcriptome Analyses Under Different Treatments in a Model Microalga Euglena gracilis

With the continuous growth of the world’s population and the increasing development of industrialization, the demand for energy by human beings has been expanding, resulting in an increasingly severe energy crisis. Microalgae are considered the most potential alternatives to traditional fossil fuels due to their many advantages, like fast growth rate, strong carbon sequestration capacity, and low growth environment requirements. Euglena can use carbon sources such as glucose, ethanol, and others for heterotrophic growth. Moreover, Euglena is highly adaptable to the environment and has a high tolerance to various environmental stresses, such as salinity, heavy metals, antibiotics, etc. Different treatments of Euglena cells could affect their growth and the accumulation of bioactive substances, especially fatty acids. To expand the industrial application of Euglena as a potential biodiesel candidate, we determine the physiological responses of Euglena against environmental stresses (antibiotics, heavy metals, salinity) or carbon resources (glucose and ethanol), and evaluate the potential for higher quality and yield of fatty acid with a high growth rate. Adding glucose into the culture media increases cell biomass and fatty acid production with high-quality biodiesel characters. The transcriptome analysis helped explore the possible regulation and biosynthesis of fatty acids under different treatments and exploited in the improvement of biodiesel production. This study provides insights for further improvement and various culture treatments for Euglena-based biodiesel and jet fuels

Unraveling the Contribution of High Temperature Stage to Jiang-Flavor Daqu, a Liquor Starter for Production of Chinese Jiang-Flavor Baijiu, With Special Reference to Metatranscriptomics

Jiang-flavor (JF) daqu is a liquor starter used for production of JF baijiu, a well-known distilled liquor in China. Although a high temperature stage (70°C) is necessary for qualifying JF daqu, little is known regarding its active microbial community and functional enzymes, along with its role in generating flavor precursors for JF baijiu aroma. In this investigation, based on metatranscriptomics, fungi, such as Aspergillus and Penicillium, were identified as the most active microbial members and 230 carbohydrate-active enzymes were identified as potential saccharifying enzymes at 70°C of JF daqu. Notably, most of enzymes in identified carbohydrate and energy pathways showed lower expression levels at 70°C of JF daqu than those at the high temperature stage (62°C) of Nong-flavor (NF) daqu, indicating lowering capacities of saccharification and fermentation by high temperature stage. Moreover, many enzymes, especially those related to the degradation of aromatic compounds, were only detected with low expression levels at 70°C of JF daqu albeit not at 62°C of NF daqu, indicating enhancing capacities of generating special trace aroma compounds in JF daqu by high temperature stage. Additionally, most of enzymes related to those capacities were highly expressed at 70°C by fungal genus of Aspergillus, Coccidioides, Paracoccidioides, Penicillium, and Rasamsonia. Therefore, this study not only sheds light on the crucial functions of high temperature stage but also paves the way to improve the quality of JF baijiu and provide active community and functional enzymes for other fermentation industries

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.Rest of authors: Decky Junaedi, Robert R. Junker, Eric Justes, Richard Kabzems, Jeffrey Kane, Zdenek Kaplan, Teja Kattenborn, Lyudmila Kavelenova, Elizabeth Kearsley, Anne Kempel, Tanaka Kenzo, Andrew Kerkhoff, Mohammed I. Khalil, Nicole L. Kinlock, Wilm Daniel Kissling, Kaoru Kitajima, Thomas Kitzberger, Rasmus Kjøller, Tamir Klein, Michael Kleyer, Jitka Klimešová, Joice Klipel, Brian Kloeppel, Stefan Klotz, Johannes M. H. Knops, Takashi Kohyama, Fumito Koike, Johannes Kollmann, Benjamin Komac, Kimberly Komatsu, Christian König, Nathan J. B. Kraft, Koen Kramer, Holger Kreft, Ingolf Kühn, Dushan Kumarathunge, Jonas Kuppler, Hiroko Kurokawa, Yoko Kurosawa, Shem Kuyah, Jean-Paul Laclau, Benoit Lafleur, Erik Lallai, Eric Lamb, Andrea Lamprecht, Daniel J. Larkin, Daniel Laughlin, Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Guerric le Maire, Peter C. le Roux, Elizabeth le Roux, Tali Lee, Frederic Lens, Simon L. Lewis, Barbara Lhotsky, Yuanzhi Li, Xine Li, Jeremy W. Lichstein, Mario Liebergesell, Jun Ying Lim, Yan-Shih Lin, Juan Carlos Linares, Chunjiang Liu, Daijun Liu, Udayangani Liu, Stuart Livingstone, Joan Llusià, Madelon Lohbeck, Álvaro López-García, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez, Zdeňka Lososová, Frédérique Louault, Balázs A. Lukács, Petr Lukeš, Yunjian Luo, Michele Lussu, Siyan Ma, Camilla Maciel Rabelo Pereira, Michelle Mack, Vincent Maire, Annikki Mäkelä, Harri Mäkinen, Ana Claudia Mendes Malhado, Azim Mallik, Peter Manning, Stefano Manzoni, Zuleica Marchetti, Luca Marchino, Vinicius Marcilio-Silva, Eric Marcon, Michela Marignani, Lars Markesteijn, Adam Martin, Cristina Martínez-Garza, Jordi Martínez-Vilalta, Tereza Mašková, Kelly Mason, Norman Mason, Tara Joy Massad, Jacynthe Masse, Itay Mayrose, James McCarthy, M. Luke McCormack, Katherine McCulloh, Ian R. McFadden, Brian J. McGill, Mara Y. McPartland, Juliana S. Medeiros, Belinda Medlyn, Pierre Meerts, Zia Mehrabi, Patrick Meir, Felipe P. L. Melo, Maurizio Mencuccini, Céline Meredieu, Julie Messier, Ilona Mészáros, Juha Metsaranta, Sean T. Michaletz, Chrysanthi Michelaki, Svetlana Migalina, Ruben Milla, Jesse E. D. Miller, Vanessa Minden, Ray Ming, Karel Mokany, Angela T. Moles, Attila Molnár V, Jane Molofsky, Martin Molz, Rebecca A. Montgomery, Arnaud Monty, Lenka Moravcová, Alvaro Moreno-Martínez, Marco Moretti, Akira S. Mori, Shigeta Mori, Dave Morris, Jane Morrison, Ladislav Mucina, Sandra Mueller, Christopher D. Muir, Sandra Cristina Müller, François Munoz, Isla H. Myers-Smith, Randall W. Myster, Masahiro Nagano, Shawna Naidu, Ayyappan Narayanan, Balachandran Natesan, Luka Negoita, Andrew S. Nelson, Eike Lena Neuschulz, Jian Ni, Georg Niedrist, Jhon Nieto, Ülo Niinemets, Rachael Nolan, Henning Nottebrock, Yann Nouvellon, Alexander Novakovskiy, The Nutrient Network, Kristin Odden Nystuen, Anthony O'Grady, Kevin O'Hara, Andrew O'Reilly-Nugent, Simon Oakley, Walter Oberhuber, Toshiyuki Ohtsuka, Ricardo Oliveira, Kinga Öllerer, Mark E. Olson, Vladimir Onipchenko, Yusuke Onoda, Renske E. Onstein, Jenny C. Ordonez, Noriyuki Osada, Ivika Ostonen, Gianluigi Ottaviani, Sarah Otto, Gerhard E. Overbeck, Wim A. Ozinga, Anna T. Pahl, C. E. Timothy Paine, Robin J. Pakeman, Aristotelis C. Papageorgiou, Evgeniya Parfionova, Meelis Pärtel, Marco Patacca, Susana Paula, Juraj Paule, Harald Pauli, Juli G. Pausas, Begoña Peco, Josep Penuelas, Antonio Perea, Pablo Luis Peri, Ana Carolina Petisco-Souza, Alessandro Petraglia, Any Mary Petritan, Oliver L. Phillips, Simon Pierce, Valério D. Pillar, Jan Pisek, Alexandr Pomogaybin, Hendrik Poorter, Angelika Portsmuth, Peter Poschlod, Catherine Potvin, Devon Pounds, A. Shafer Powell, Sally A. Power, Andreas Prinzing, Giacomo Puglielli, Petr Pyšek, Valerie Raevel, Anja Rammig, Johannes Ransijn, Courtenay A. Ray, Peter B. Reich, Markus Reichstein, Douglas E. B. Reid, Maxime Réjou-Méchain, Victor Resco de Dios, Sabina Ribeiro, Sarah Richardson, Kersti Riibak, Matthias C. Rillig, Fiamma Riviera, Elisabeth M. R. Robert, Scott Roberts, Bjorn Robroek, Adam Roddy, Arthur Vinicius Rodrigues, Alistair Rogers, Emily Rollinson, Victor Rolo, Christine Römermann, Dina Ronzhina, Christiane Roscher, Julieta A. Rosell, Milena Fermina Rosenfield, Christian Rossi, David B. Roy, Samuel Royer-Tardif, Nadja Rüger, Ricardo Ruiz-Peinado, Sabine B. Rumpf, Graciela M. Rusch, Masahiro Ryo, Lawren Sack, Angela Saldaña, Beatriz Salgado-Negret, Roberto Salguero-Gomez, Ignacio Santa-Regina, Ana Carolina Santacruz-García, Joaquim Santos, Jordi Sardans, Brandon Schamp, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Matthias Schleuning, Bernhard Schmid, Marco Schmidt, Sylvain Schmitt, Julio V. Schneider, Simon D. Schowanek, Julian Schrader, Franziska Schrodt, Bernhard Schuldt, Frank Schurr, Galia Selaya Garvizu, Marina Semchenko, Colleen Seymour, Julia C. Sfair, Joanne M. Sharpe, Christine S. Sheppard, Serge Sheremetiev, Satomi Shiodera, Bill Shipley, Tanvir Ahmed Shovon, Alrun Siebenkäs, Carlos Sierra, Vasco Silva, Mateus Silva, Tommaso Sitzia, Henrik Sjöman, Martijn Slot, Nicholas G. Smith, Darwin Sodhi, Pamela Soltis, Douglas Soltis, Ben Somers, Grégory Sonnier, Mia Vedel Sørensen, Enio Egon Sosinski Jr, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Alexandre F. Souza, Marko Spasojevic, Marta Gaia Sperandii, Amanda B. Stan, James Stegen, Klaus Steinbauer, Jörg G. Stephan, Frank Sterck, Dejan B. Stojanovic, Tanya Strydom, Maria Laura Suarez, Jens-Christian Svenning, Ivana Svitková, Marek Svitok, Miroslav Svoboda, Emily Swaine, Nathan Swenson, Marcelo Tabarelli, Kentaro Takagi, Ulrike Tappeiner, Rubén Tarifa, Simon Tauugourdeau, Cagatay Tavsanoglu, Mariska te Beest, Leho Tedersoo, Nelson Thiffault, Dominik Thom, Evert Thomas, Ken Thompson, Peter E. Thornton, Wilfried Thuiller, Lubomír Tichý, David Tissue, Mark G. Tjoelker, David Yue Phin Tng, Joseph Tobias, Péter Török, Tonantzin Tarin, José M. Torres-Ruiz, Béla Tóthmérész, Martina Treurnicht, Valeria Trivellone, Franck Trolliet, Volodymyr Trotsiuk, James L. Tsakalos, Ioannis Tsiripidis, Niklas Tysklind, Toru Umehara, Vladimir Usoltsev, Matthew Vadeboncoeur, Jamil Vaezi, Fernando Valladares, Jana Vamosi, Peter M. van Bodegom, Michiel van Breugel, Elisa Van Cleemput, Martine van de Weg, Stephni van der Merwe, Fons van der Plas, Masha T. van der Sande, Mark van Kleunen, Koenraad Van Meerbeek, Mark Vanderwel, Kim André Vanselow, Angelica Vårhammar, Laura Varone, Maribel Yesenia Vasquez Valderrama, Kiril Vassilev, Mark Vellend, Erik J. Veneklaas, Hans Verbeeck, Kris Verheyen, Alexander Vibrans, Ima Vieira, Jaime Villacís, Cyrille Violle, Pandi Vivek, Katrin Wagner, Matthew Waldram, Anthony Waldron, Anthony P. Walker, Martyn Waller, Gabriel Walther, Han Wang, Feng Wang, Weiqi Wang, Harry Watkins, James Watkins, Ulrich Weber, James T. Weedon, Liping Wei, Patrick Weigelt, Evan Weiher, Aidan W. Wells, Camilla Wellstein, Elizabeth Wenk, Mark Westoby, Alana Westwood, Philip John White, Mark Whitten, Mathew Williams, Daniel E. Winkler, Klaus Winter, Chevonne Womack, Ian J. Wright, S. Joseph Wright, Justin Wright, Bruno X. Pinho, Fabiano Ximenes, Toshihiro Yamada, Keiko Yamaji, Ruth Yanai, Nikolay Yankov, Benjamin Yguel, Kátia Janaina Zanini, Amy E. Zanne, David Zelený, Yun-Peng Zhao, Jingming Zheng, Ji Zheng, Kasia Ziemińska, Chad R. Zirbel, Georg Zizka, Irié Casimir Zo-Bi, Gerhard Zotz, Christian Wirth.Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry; Max Planck Society; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig; International Programme of Biodiversity Science (DIVERSITAS); International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP); Future Earth; French Foundation for Biodiversity Research (FRB); GIS ‘Climat, Environnement et Société'.http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/gcbhj2021Plant Production and Soil Scienc

A Corpus-Based Analysis of Simultaneous Speech in English Conversation

This is a study of the distribution of 2011 instances of simultaneous speech in a 91,802-word subcorpus from the London-Lund corpus of Spoken English. Five categories of simultaneous speech (successful and unsuccessful turn-bidding, successful and unsuccessful turn-competing, and backchannelling) were analysed in terms of: (a) characteristics of the prosodic, lexical and grammatical context in which simultaneous speech occurs; (b) linguistic devices and strategies in aspects of prosody, discourse and pragmatics which are frequently used to introduce simultaneous speech; (c) variables such as speech domain, degree of familiarity between interlocutors, speakers' status and gender which may influence the frequency of simultaneous speech and affect the occurrence of the linguistic features and devices associated with simultaneous speech. In a complementary case study, 288 instances of simultaneous speech in Chinese (Cantonese) were also analysed in a 10385-word sample of Chinese conversation, and compared with simultaneous speech in English. The findings of the study show: (a) Simultaneous speech is rule-governed and context-constrained. It is most likely to occur at a unit boundary which is prosodically, lexically and syntactically marked. It is often introduced and carried out by a number of prosodic devices, discourse items and repetition strategies. This is particularly the case in turn-bidding and turn-competition. (b) Frequency of simultaneous speech seems to be strongly associated with degree of formality of speech domain and degree of familiarity between interlocutors, but loosely related to speakers' status and gender. However, particular linguistic devices and strategies seem more preferred by interlocutors in a specific speech domain, or with a specific degree of familiarity, or having specific status or gender. (c) Chinese and English simultaneous speech share many similarities in terms of pragmatic functions, and linguistic devices and strategies employed, though equivalents between the two languages are not always found. However social constraints on turn-bidding seem different in the two languages especially in terms of age, status and gender. The descriptive findings of the study help explain why Chinese learners of English find it difficult to take a turn in English conversation, and especially to bid for a turn. Thus the study enhances our awareness of the linguistic features of English conversation and the factors which can affect Chinese students' pragmatic and discourse competence. Moreover, the computer corpus approach adopted in the research provides a way of obtaining rich input for teaching English discourse devices in terms of prosody, lexicon and syntax and suggests further applications of corpus-based research in the study of language teaching and learning