Potential of Trap Crops for Integrated Management of the Tropical Armyworm, Spodoptera litura in Tobacco

The tropical armyworm, Spodoptera litura (F.) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is an important pest of tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), in South China that is becoming increasingly resistant to pesticides. Six potential trap crops were evaluated to control S. litura on tobacco. Castor bean, Ricinus communis L. (Malpighiales: Euphorbiaceae), and taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott (Alismatales: Araceae), hosted significantly more S. litura than peanut, Arachis hypogaea L. (Fabales: Fabaceae), sweet potato, Ipomoea batata Lam. (Solanales: Convolvulaceae) or tobacoo in a greenhouse trial, and tobacco field plots with taro rows hosted significantly fewer S. litura than those with rows of other trap crops or without trap crops, provided the taro was in a fast-growing stage. When these crops were grown along with eggplant, Solanum melongena L. (Solanales: Solanaceae), and soybean, Glycines max L. (Fabales: Fabaceae), in separate plots in a randomized matrix, tobacco plots hosted more S. litura than the other crop plots early in the season, but late in the season, taro plots hosted significantly more S. litura than tobacco, soybean, sweet potato, peanut or eggplant plots. In addition, higher rates of S. litura parasitism by Microplitis prodeniae Rao and Chandry (Hymenoptera: Bracondidae) and Campoletis chlorideae Uchida (Ichnumonidae) were observed in taro plots compared to other crop plots. Although taro was an effective trap crop for managing S. litura on tobacco, it did not attract S. litura in the seedling stage, indicating that taro should either be planted 20–30 days before tobacco, or alternative control methods should be employed during the seedling stage

How Message Frames Promote People’s Willingness to Get Vaccinated? The Mediation Role of Perceived Net Benefits

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the association among framed messages (egoism-, altruism-, and loss-framed information), perceived net benefits (PNB), and willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.Methods: A between-subject survey experiment was designed to assess the above association. A total of 1,316 individuals were included in this study. The participants were randomly assigned to one control group (receiving non-framed information) and three experimental groups (receiving egoism-, altruism-, and loss-framed information). The participants then reported their vaccination willingness and perceived effectiveness and side effects of vaccination. PNB was determined by subtracting the perceived side effects from perceived effectiveness.Results: Compared with the control group, participants in the experimental groups exhibited stronger vaccination willingness. Higher PNB levels were associated with enhanced vaccination willingness. However, only loss-framed messages indirectly affected vaccination willingness through PNB.Conclusion: PNB can mediate the impact of message framing on vaccination willingness. However, the mediation effect of PNB was only found in the relationship between loss-framed messages and vaccination willingness

Event-Triggered Multi-Lane Fusion Control for 2-D Vehicle Platoon Systems with Distance Constraints

This paper investigates the event-triggered fixedtime multi-lane fusion control for vehicle platoon systems with distance keeping constraints where the vehicles are spread in multiple lanes. To realize the fusion of vehicles in different lanes, the vehicle platoon systems are firstly constructed with respect to a two-dimensional (2-D) plane. In case of the collision and loss of effective communication, the distance constraints for each vehicle are guaranteed by a barrier function-based control strategy. In contrast to the existing results regarding the command filter techniques, the proposed distance keeping controller can constrain the distance tracking error directly and the error generated by the command filter is coped with by adaptive fuzzy control technique. Moreover, to offset the impacts of the unknown system dynamics and the external disturbances, an unknown input reconstruction method with asymptotic convergence is developed by utilizing the interval observer technique. Finally, two relative threshold triggering mechanisms are utilized in the proposed fixed-time multi-lane fusion controller design so as to reduce the communication burden. The corresponding simulation results also verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategy

Distributed fault detection and estimation in cyber-physical systems subject to actuator faults

The fault detection and estimation problems for the physical layer network in the cyber-physical systems with unknown external disturbances are investigated in this study. Both bias fault and loss of efficiency scenarios are considered for the actuators. Based on the adaptive threshold method and sliding mode observer approach, a distributed fault detection observer (DFDO) is constructed for each physical layer node to detect the occurrence of actuator faults. Then a relative global estimation error system is defined for the distributed fault estimation observer (DFEO). Compared with the existing results, the proposed DFEO can provide the estimation for not only the actuator bias faults but also the actuators’ efficiency factors under the impact of exogenous disturbance with two gain dynamic update processes. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the given DFDO and the DFEO are examined by Lyapunov stability method and the simulation results

Linking PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR to Histone Modification in Plant Shade Avoidance

Shade avoidance syndrome (SAS) allows a plant grown in a densely populated environment to maximize opportunities to access to sunlight. Although it is well established that SAS is accompanied by gene expression changes, the underlying molecular mechanism needs to be elucidated. Here, we identify the H3K4me3/H3K36me3-binding proteins, Morf Related Gene (MRG) group proteins MRG1 and MRG2, as positive regulators of shade-induced hypocotyl elongation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). MRG2 binds PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR7 (PIF7) and regulates the expression of several common downstream target genes, including YUCCA8 and IAA19 involved in the auxin biosynthesis or response pathway and PRE1 involved in brassinosteroid regulation of cell elongation. In response to shade, PIF7 and MRG2 are enriched at the promoter and gene-body regions and are necessary for increase of histone H4 and H3 acetylation to promote target gene expression. Our study uncovers a mechanism in which the shade-responsive factor PIF7 recruits MRG1/MRG2 that binds H3K4me3/H3K36me3 and brings histone-acetylases to induce histone acetylations to promote expression of shade responsive genes, providing thus a molecular mechanistic link coupling the environmental light to epigenetic modification in regulation of hypocotyl elongation in plant SAS

Establishing thresholds of handgrip strength based on mortality using machine learning in a prospective cohort of Chinese population

BackgroundThe relative prognostic importance of handgrip strength (HGS) in comparison with other risk factors for mortality remains to be further clarified, and thresholds used for best identify high-risk individuals in health screening are not yet established. Using machine learning and nationally representative data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), the study aimed to investigate the prognostic importance of HGS and establish sex-specific thresholds for health screening.MethodsA total of 6,762 participants from CHARLS were enrolled. A random forest model was built using 30 variables with all-cause mortality as outcome. SHapley Additive exPlanation values were applied to explain the model. Cox proportional hazard models and Harrell’s C index change were used to validate the clinical importance of the thresholds.ResultsAmong the participants, 3,102 (45.9%) were men, and 622 (9.1%) case of death were documented follow-up period of 6.78 years. The random forest model identified HGS as the fifth important prognostic variable, with thresholds for identifying high-risk individuals were < 32 kg in men and < 19 kg in women. Low HGS were associated with all-cause mortality [HR (95% CI): 1.77 (1.49–2.11), p < 0.001]. The addition of HGS thresholds improved the predictive ability of an established office-based risk score (C-index change: 0.022, p < 0.001).ConclusionOn the basis of our thresholds, low HGS predicted all-cause mortality better than other risk factors and improved prediction of a traditional office-based risk score. These results reinforced the clinical utility of measurement of HGS in health screening

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Flexible Liquid Crystal Polymer Technologies from Microwave to Terahertz Frequencies

With the emergence of fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks, millimeter-wave (mmW) and terahertz (THz) frequencies have attracted ever-growing interest for advanced wireless applications. The traditional printed circuit board materials have become uncompetitive at such high frequencies due to their high dielectric loss and large water absorption rates. As a promising high-frequency alternative, liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have been widely investigated for use in circuit devices, chip integration, and module packaging over the last decade due to their low loss tangent up to 1.8 THz and good hermeticity. The previous review articles have summarized the chemical properties of LCP films, flexible LCP antennas, and LCP-based antenna-in-package and system-in-package technologies for 5G applications, although these articles did not discuss synthetic LCP technologies. In addition to wireless applications, the attractive mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties of LCP films enable interesting applications in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), biomedical electronics, and microfluidics, which have not been summarized to date. Here, a comprehensive review of flexible LCP technologies covering electric circuits, antennas, integration and packaging technologies, front-end modules, MEMS, biomedical devices, and microfluidics from microwave to THz frequencies is presented for the first time, which gives a broad introduction for those outside or just entering the field and provides perspective and breadth for those who are well established in the field