BACKGROUND MURCS association,an acronym for Müllerian duct aplasia/hypoplasia,congenital renal agenesis/ectopia,and cervical somite dysplasia,presents unique anaesthetic challenges,particularly for airway control...BACKGROUND MURCS association,an acronym for Müllerian duct aplasia/hypoplasia,congenital renal agenesis/ectopia,and cervical somite dysplasia,presents unique anaesthetic challenges,particularly for airway control due to cervical spine anomalies.This case report adds to the limited literature by detailing airway management strategies in a paediatric patient with MURCS,emphasising the need for thorough preoperative evaluation and curated planning.CASE SUMMARY This report describes the successful anaesthetic and airway management of a 6-year-old girl with MURCS undergoing dental extraction.To address the complexities of the patient’s condition,a multidisciplinary approach involving comprehensive preoperative assessment,meticulous planning,and advanced airway management techniques was adopted.CONCLUSION This report emphasizes individualized anesthetic strategies and interprofessional collaboration for managing rare congenital syndromes.展开更多
Background Cotton is a significant crop for fiber production;however,seed shape-related traits have been less investigated in comparison to fiber quality.Comprehending the genetic foundation of traits associated with ...Background Cotton is a significant crop for fiber production;however,seed shape-related traits have been less investigated in comparison to fiber quality.Comprehending the genetic foundation of traits associated with seed shape is crucial for improving the seed and fiber quality in cotton.Results A total of 238 cotton accessions were evaluated in four different environments over a period of two years.Traits including thousand grain weight(TGW),aspect ratio(AR),seed length,seed width,diameter,and roundness demonstrated high heritability and significant genetic variation,as indicated by phenotypic analysis.The association analysis involved 145 simple sequence repeats(SSR)markers and identified 50 loci significantly associated with six traits related to seed shape.The markers MON_DPL0504aa and BNL2535ba were identified as influencing multiple traits,including aspect ratio and thousand grain weight.Notably,markers such as HAU2588a and MUSS422aa had considerable influence on seed diameter and roundness.The identified markers represented an average phenotypic variance between 3.92%for seed length and 16.54%for TGW.Conclusions The research finds key loci for seed shape-related traits in cotton,providing significant potential for marker-assisted breeding.These findings establish a framework for breeding initiatives focused on enhancing seed quality,hence advancing the cotton production.展开更多
The Shaanxi Association Singapore,a community organization rooted in Singapore’s multicultural society,brings together Shaanxi professionals working in education,research,culture,and industry.What began as an informa...The Shaanxi Association Singapore,a community organization rooted in Singapore’s multicultural society,brings together Shaanxi professionals working in education,research,culture,and industry.What began as an informal support network based on shared heritage has gradually evolved into a multifaceted platform that promotes cultural preservation,professional collaboration,and civic engagement.Guided by its mission to connect through shared dialect,mutual memories,and lasting bonds,the association maintains strong emotional and cultural ties to Shaanxi while actively integrating into Singapore’s diverse society.According to President Wang Gang,the organization not only supports new arrivals in adapting to local life but also fosters a sense of belonging and civic responsibility through tangible,community-based initiatives.Over the past decade,the association has grown into a vibrant civic force,bridging individuals and communities and strengthening ties between Shaanxi and Singapore.展开更多
As the global exploration and development of oil and gas resources advances into deep formations,the harsh conditions of high temperature and high salinity present significant challenges for drilling fluids.In order t...As the global exploration and development of oil and gas resources advances into deep formations,the harsh conditions of high temperature and high salinity present significant challenges for drilling fluids.In order to address the technical difficulties associated with the failure of filtrate loss reducers under high-temperature and high-salinity conditions.In this study,a hydrophobic zwitterionic filtrate loss reducer(PDA)was synthesized based on N,N-dimethylacrylamide(DMAA),2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid(AMPS),diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride(DMDAAC),styrene(ST)and a specialty vinyl monomer(A1).When the concentration of PDA was 3%,the FLAPI of PDA-WBDF was 9.8 mL and the FLHTHP(180℃,3.5 MPa)was 37.8 mL after aging at 240℃for 16 h.In the saturated NaCl environment,the FLAPI of PDA-SWBDF was 4.0 mL and the FLHTHP(180℃,3.5 MPa)was 32.0 mL after aging at 220℃ for 16 h.Under high-temperature and high-salinity conditions,the combined effect of anti-polyelectrolyte and hydrophobic association allowed PDA to adsorb on the bentonite surface tightly.The sulfonic acid groups of PDA increased the negative electronegativity and the hydration film thickness on bentonite surface,which enhanced the colloidal stability,maintained the flattened lamellar structure of bentonite and formed an appropriate particle size distribution,resulting in the formation of dense mud cakes and reducing the filtration loss effectively.展开更多
Seedlessness has always been a valuable quality characteristic of edible grape varieties.Although the production of seedless grapes has been ongoing for decades,the genetic complexity of seedless grapes is not yet ful...Seedlessness has always been a valuable quality characteristic of edible grape varieties.Although the production of seedless grapes has been ongoing for decades,the genetic complexity of seedless grapes is not yet fully understood.Therefore,determining the genetic mechanisms and key regulatory genes of seedless grapes is of great significance for seedless grape breeding and meeting market demands.The emergence of high-throughput analysis software offers greater possibilities for mining genes related to plant organ development.Specifically,to mine a greater number of candidate genes related to grape seed traits,this study used the seed trait parameters analyzed by Tomato Analyzer as the target trait and then used a genome-wide association study(GWAS)to mine candidate genes.In the two-year analysis using principal component analysis(PCA),we extracted five principal components with a cumulative contribution rate of 96.586%.The cumulative contribution rate for component 1 reached 87.352%.Correlation analysis revealed correlation coefficients ranging from 0.54 to 0.98 among the seven basic traits.The GWAS results indicated that 370 SNP loci were significantly correlated with seed traits.These SNP loci were distributed on 18 chromosomes,except for chromosome 4,with most SNP loci distributed on chromosome 18.Based on the physical location of single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)markers significantly associated with seed-related traits in the grape reference genome,candidate genes are screened within the range of linkage disequilibrium(LD)attenuation distance,both upstream and downstream of the significant SNP loci.These candidate genes were mainly transcription factor-related genes(VvMADS4 and VvMADS5),ubiquitin ligase-related genes(E3 ubiquitin ligase BIG BROTHER),serine/threonine protein kinase-related genes,and carbohydrate metabolism-related genes(Sucrose Synthase 2)and simultaneously controlled multiple(at least two or more)seed traits.These results indicate that seed traits are jointly regulated by some genes involved in seed morphology regulation.In this work,we identified new gene loci related to grape seed traits.Identifying molecular markers closely related to these seed traits is of great significance for breeding seedless grape varieties.展开更多
In this paper,we investigate a multi-UAV aided NOMA communication system,where multiple UAV-mounted aerial base stations are employed to serve ground users in the downlink NOMA communication,and each UAV serves its as...In this paper,we investigate a multi-UAV aided NOMA communication system,where multiple UAV-mounted aerial base stations are employed to serve ground users in the downlink NOMA communication,and each UAV serves its associated users on its own bandwidth.We aim at maximizing the overall common throughput in a finite time period.Such a problem is a typical mixed integer nonlinear problem,which involves both continuous-variable and combinatorial optimizations.To efficiently solve this problem,we propose a two-layer algorithm,which separately tackles continuous-variable and combinatorial optimization.Specifically,in the inner layer given one user association scheme,subproblems of bandwidth allocation,power allocation and trajectory design are solved based on alternating optimization.In the outer layer,a small number of candidate user association schemes are generated from an initial scheme and the best solution can be determined by comparing all the candidate schemes.In particular,a clustering algorithm based on K-means is applied to produce all candidate user association schemes,the successive convex optimization technique is adopted in the power allocation subproblem and a logistic function approximation approach is employed in the trajectory design subproblem.Simulation results show that the proposed NOMA scheme outperforms three baseline schemes in downlink common throughput,including one solution proposed in an existing literature.展开更多
Alkaline soil is characterized by high soluble salt content,elevated pH levels,and ionic imbalance,all of which collectively intensify the harmful effects of alkaline stress on plants.To gain molecular insights into a...Alkaline soil is characterized by high soluble salt content,elevated pH levels,and ionic imbalance,all of which collectively intensify the harmful effects of alkaline stress on plants.To gain molecular insights into alkaline tolerance(AT),we evaluated 13 AT-related traits in 508 diverse rice accessions from the 3K Rice Germplasm Project at the seedling stage.A total of 2929764,2059114,and 1365868 single nucleotide polymorphisms were used to identify alkaline-tolerance QTLs via genome-wide association studies(GWAS)in the entire population as well as in the xian and geng subpopulations,respectively.Candidate genes and their superior haplotypes were further identified through gene-based association,haplotype analysis,and gene function annotation.In total,99 QTLs were identified for AT by GWAS,and three genes(LOC_Os03g49050 for qSSD3.1,LOC_Os05g48760 for qSKC5,and LOC_Os12g01922 for qSNC12)were selected as the most promising candidate genes.Furthermore,we successfully mined superior alleles of key candidate genes from natural variants associated with AT-related traits.This study identified crucial candidate genes and their favorable alleles for AT traits,laying a foundation for further gene cloning and the development of AT rice varieties via marker-assisted selection.展开更多
Rice grain yield is primarily determined by three key agronomic traits:panicle number,grain number per panicle,and grain weight(GW).However,the inherent tradeoffs among these yield components remain a persistent chall...Rice grain yield is primarily determined by three key agronomic traits:panicle number,grain number per panicle,and grain weight(GW).However,the inherent tradeoffs among these yield components remain a persistent challenge in rice breeding programs.Notably,compared with GW,brown rice weight(BRW)provides a more direct metric associated with actual grain yield potential.In this study,we conducted a two-year replicated genome-wide association study to elucidate the genetic architecture of BRW and identify new loci regulating GW.Among seven consistently detected loci across experimental replicates,four were not co-localized with previously reported genes associated with BRW or GW traits.BRW1.1,one of the four newly identified loci,was found to encode a novel RNA-binding protein.Functional characterization revealed that BRW1.1 acts as a negative regulator of BRW,potentially through modulating mRNA translation processes.Intriguingly,through integrated analysis of mutant phenotypes and haplotype variations,we demonstrated that BRW1.1 mediates the physiological tradeoff between GW and panicle number.This study not only delineates the genetic determinants of BRW but also identifies BRW1.1 as a promising molecular target for breaking the yield component tradeoff in precision rice breeding.展开更多
BACKGROUND There is a lack of study on vitamin D and calcium levels in epileptic patients receiving therapy,despite the growing recognition of the importance of bone health in individuals with epilepsy.Associations on...BACKGROUND There is a lack of study on vitamin D and calcium levels in epileptic patients receiving therapy,despite the growing recognition of the importance of bone health in individuals with epilepsy.Associations one statistical method for finding correlations between variables in big datasets is called association rule mining(ARM).This technique finds patterns of common items or events in the data set,including associations.Through the analysis of patient data,including demographics,genetic information,and reactions with previous treatments,ARM can identify harmful drug reactions,possible novel combinations of medicines,and trends which connect particular individual features to treatment outcomes.AIM To investigate the evidence on the effects of anti-epileptic drugs(AEDs)on calcium metabolism and supplementing with vitamin D to help lower the likelihood of bone-related issues using ARM technique.METHODS ARM technique was used to analyze patients’behavior on calcium metabolism,vitamin D and anti-epileptic medicines.Epileptic sufferers of both sexes who attended neurological outpatient and in patient department clinics were recruited for the study.There were three patient groups:Group 1 received one AED,group 2 received two AEDs,and group 3 received more than two AEDs.The researchers analyzed the alkaline phosphatase,ionized calcium,total calcium,phosphorus,vitamin D levels,or parathyroid hormone values.RESULTS A total of 150 patients,aged 12 years to 60 years,were studied,with 50 in each group(1,2,and 3).60%were men,this gender imbalance may affect the study’s findings,as women have different bone metabolism dynamics influenced by hormonal variations,including menopause.The results may not fully capture the distinct effects of AEDs on female patients.A greater equal distribution of women should be the goal of future studies in order to offer a complete comprehension of the metabolic alterations brought on by AEDs.86 patients had generalized epilepsy,64 partial.42%of patients had AEDs for>5 years.Polytherapy reduced calcium and vitamin D levels compared to mono and dual therapy.Polytherapy elevated alkaline phosphatase and phosphorus levels.CONCLUSION ARM revealed the possible effects of variables like age,gender,and polytherapy on parathyroid hormone levels in individuals taking antiepileptic medication.展开更多
As a major economic powerhouse in eastern China,Jiangsu Province has long been a pioneer in the country’s opening-up efforts.From the Suzhou Industrial Park to the Singapore Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island,Jiangsu has pla...As a major economic powerhouse in eastern China,Jiangsu Province has long been a pioneer in the country’s opening-up efforts.From the Suzhou Industrial Park to the Singapore Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island,Jiangsu has played a key role in China-Singapore cooperation.In Singapore,a dynamic and multicultural society,a group of Jiangsu expatriates have become active members of the local community.They are contributing to Singapore’s development while helping to strengthen people-to-people ties between the two countries.展开更多
This article examines an early 2nd century BC decree of an association worshipping Zeus Hyetios,“the provider of rain,”in the Koan deme of Antimacheia.Focusing on the prosopographical information of the five individ...This article examines an early 2nd century BC decree of an association worshipping Zeus Hyetios,“the provider of rain,”in the Koan deme of Antimacheia.Focusing on the prosopographical information of the five individuals mentioned in the decree,this article contextualizes the association’s activities within the broader framework of Hellenistic Kos,highlighting issues such as landownership,migration,and social structures,whilst exploring the association’s agricultural focus,its integration with local deme structures,and its strategies for managing the challenges of absentee landownership.This study also argues that the unusual name of the association reflects the frequent absence of its members from the central cult place,who therefore needed to travel a considerable distance in order to attend the cult’s rituals in Antimacheia.This case underscores the interplay between religious,social,and economic dynamics in rural communities.展开更多
Against the backdrop of the 35th anniversary of China-Singapore diplomatic relations,Tianfu Association(Singapore)has emerged as a key force fostering closer people-to-people and economic ties between the two countrie...Against the backdrop of the 35th anniversary of China-Singapore diplomatic relations,Tianfu Association(Singapore)has emerged as a key force fostering closer people-to-people and economic ties between the two countries.Founded in January 2000 by a group of new immigrants from China’s Sichuan Province,the association was the first Chinese immigrant organization established after diplomatic ties were formed between Singapore and China.Over the past two decades,it has actively engaged in local affairs and now serves as a council member of the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations.Today,it is widely recognized as one of the most vibrant and influential new immigrant groups promoting integration into Singaporean society.展开更多
Speech-face association aims to achieve identity matching between facial images and voice segments by aligning cross-modal features.Existing research primarily focuses on learning shared-space representations and comp...Speech-face association aims to achieve identity matching between facial images and voice segments by aligning cross-modal features.Existing research primarily focuses on learning shared-space representations and computing one-to-one similarities between cross-modal sample pairs to establish their correlation.However,these approaches do not fully account for intra-class variations between the modalities or the many-to-many relationships among cross-modal samples,which are crucial for robust association modeling.To address these challenges,we propose a novel framework that leverages global information to align voice and face embeddings while effectively correlating identity information embedded in both modalities.First,we jointly pre-train face recognition and speaker recognition networks to encode discriminative features from facial images and voice segments.This shared pre-training step ensures the extraction of complementary identity information across modalities.Subsequently,we introduce a cross-modal simplex center loss,which aligns samples with identity centers located at the vertices of a regular simplex inscribed on a hypersphere.This design enforces an equidistant and balanced distribution of identity embeddings,reducing intra-class variations.Furthermore,we employ an improved triplet center loss that emphasizes hard sample mining and optimizes inter-class separability,enhancing the model’s ability to generalize across challenging scenarios.Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our framework,demonstrating superior performance across various speech-face association tasks,including matching,verification,and retrieval.Notably,in the challenging gender-constrained matching task,our method achieves a remarkable accuracy of 79.22%,significantly outperforming existing approaches.These results highlight the potential of the proposed framework to advance the state of the art in cross-modal identity association.展开更多
Southern corn rust(SCR)is an airborne fungal disease caused by Puccinia polysora Underw.(P.polysora)that adversely impacts maize quality and yields worldwide.Screening for new elite SCR-resistant maize loci or genes h...Southern corn rust(SCR)is an airborne fungal disease caused by Puccinia polysora Underw.(P.polysora)that adversely impacts maize quality and yields worldwide.Screening for new elite SCR-resistant maize loci or genes has the potential to enhance overall resistance to this pathogen.Using phenotypic SCR resistance-related data collected over two years and three geographical environments,a genome-wide association study was carried out in this work,which eventually identified 91 loci that were substantially correlated with SCR susceptibility.These included 13 loci that were significant in at least three environments and overlapped with 74 candidate genes(B73_RefGen_v4).Comparative transcriptomic analyses were then performed to identify the genes related to SCR infection,with 2,586 and 797 differentially expressed genes(DEGs)ultimately being identified in the resistant Qi319and susceptible 8112 inbred lines following P.polysora infection,respectively,including 306 genes common to both lines.Subsequent integrative multi-omics investigations identified four potential candidate SCR response-related genes.One of these genes is ZmHCT9,which encodes the protein hydroxycinnamoyl transferase 9.This gene was up-regulated in susceptible inbred lines and linked to greater P.polysora resistance as confirmed through cucumber mosaic virus(CMV)-based virus induced-gene silencing(VIGS)system-mediated gene silencing.These data provide important insights into the genetic basis of the maize SCR response.They will be useful for for future research on potential genes related to SCR resistance in maize.展开更多
The genetic mechanism determining amylose content(AC)and its impact on eating and cooking quality(ECQ)of rice is highly complex.To elucidate the genetic basis of AC in rice,the Ting’s core collection was used to iden...The genetic mechanism determining amylose content(AC)and its impact on eating and cooking quality(ECQ)of rice is highly complex.To elucidate the genetic basis of AC in rice,the Ting’s core collection was used to identify novel AC genes/loci through genome-wide association analysis(GWAS)using more than 5.0 million single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs).In this study,12 genes related to AC,including the major gene Wx and 11 minor genes,were detected using the EMMAX method.A novel gene,LR,encoding a nucleotide-binding leucine-rich-repeat(LRR)receptor(NLR)family protein,was selected for functional study.When LR was knocked out using CRISPR/Cas9,the AC decreased significantly.Furthermore,the AC in varieties was significantly higher with Haplotype A compared to Haplotypes B and C of LR.Notably,two natural variations,SNP-385(Thr-Hap.A vs Ala-Haps.B and C)and SNP-758(Ser-Hap.A vs Asn-Haps.B and C),in the coding region of LR might play critical roles in regulating AC and serve as potential targets for cultivating rice with diverse amylose contents.展开更多
“Baijiu is not merely a drink,but also a cultural symbol of 5,000 years of Chinese history and a common source of pride for overseas Chinese communities,”said Yun Weilong,president of the Singapore Chinese Baijiu As...“Baijiu is not merely a drink,but also a cultural symbol of 5,000 years of Chinese history and a common source of pride for overseas Chinese communities,”said Yun Weilong,president of the Singapore Chinese Baijiu Association.Over 20 years ago,imported Western liquors were popular in Singapore,leaving little market space for baijiu,a traditional Chinese spirit distilled from sorghum or maize,even in Chinese restaurants.Public awareness of baijiu remained low.In 2004,Yun Weilong first introduced Moutai,a famous brand of baijiu,to Singapore.Since then,he has been promoting baijiu culture in the country.展开更多
Hu Junhui,president of Tianfu Association(Singapore)and recipient of the Public Service Medal(PBM),has been leading community efforts to help new Chinese immigrants integrate into Singaporean society.Originally from H...Hu Junhui,president of Tianfu Association(Singapore)and recipient of the Public Service Medal(PBM),has been leading community efforts to help new Chinese immigrants integrate into Singaporean society.Originally from Hebei Province in China,Hu arrived in Singapore in 1994 as one of the first technical professionals dispatched by China.Since then,he has built a life and career firmly rooted in Singapore.Over more than four years at China Construction(South Pacific)Development Co Pte Ltd,he rose through the ranks from project engineer to site manager and eventually project director.In 1999,he left the company to start his own business,setting up a construction firm with several partners.His focus shifted to real estate in 2007,when he co-founded JVA Venture Pte Ltd.展开更多
Background:Rice grain morphology—including traits such as awn length,hull color,size,and shape—is of central importance to yield,quality,and domestication,yet comprehensive quantification at scale has remained chall...Background:Rice grain morphology—including traits such as awn length,hull color,size,and shape—is of central importance to yield,quality,and domestication,yet comprehensive quantification at scale has remained challenging.Apromising solution has been provided by the integration of high-throughput imaging with genomic analysis.Methods:A standardized 2D image-processing pipeline was established to extract four categories of traits—awn length,hull color,projected grain area,and shape descriptors via PCA of normalized contours—from high-resolution photographs of 229 Oryza sativa japonica landraces.Genome-wide association analyses were then performed using a mixed linearmodel to control for population structure and kinship.Results:Broad phenotypic diversity was evident in awn length,hull coloration,grain dimensions,and morphological shape,with the first principal component explaining the dominant axis of shape variation.Known awn regulators GAD1/OsRAE2(chr 8;P=4.75×10^(-17))and An-1(chr 4;P=1.91×10^(-6))were identified.The hull color gene Rd(chr 1;P=3.13×10^(-6))was detected.A novel locus on chr 12 at 8.75 Mb with Os12g0257600(P=1.41×10^(-8)),and the known grain size gene FLO2(chr 4;P=8.28×10^(-6))were associated with projected area.Shape PC1 was mapped to GLW7/OsSPL13(chr 7;P=3.86×10^(-10)),NAL2/OsWOX3A(chr 11;P=1.41×10^(-11)),and OsGIF1(chr 11;P=1.27×10^(-8)).Conclusions:This study demonstrates that image-based phenotyping combined with genome-wide association studies(GWAS)can efficiently reveal both established and novel genetic determinants of rice grain morphology.These findings provide actionable targets for marker-assisted selection and genome editing to tailor grain traits in rice breeding programs.展开更多
In offshore maritime communication sys-tems,base stations(BSs)are employed along the coastline to provide high-speed data service for ves-sels in coastal sea areas.To ensure the line-of-sight propagation of BS-vessel ...In offshore maritime communication sys-tems,base stations(BSs)are employed along the coastline to provide high-speed data service for ves-sels in coastal sea areas.To ensure the line-of-sight propagation of BS-vessel links,high transceiver an-tenna height is required,which limits the number of geographically available sites for BS deployment,and imposes a high cost for realizing effective wide-area coverage.In this paper,the joint user association and power allocation(JUAPA)problem is investigated to enhance the coverage of offshore maritime systems.By exploiting the characteristics of network topology as well as vessels’motion in offshore communica-tions,a multi-period JUAPA problem is formulated to maximize the number of ships that can be simultane-ously served by the network.This JUAPA problem is intrinsically non-convex and subject to mixed-integer constraints,which is difficult to solve either analyt-ically or numerically.Hence,we propose an iterative augmentation based framework to efficiently select the active vessels,where the JUAPA scheme is iteratively optimized by the network for increasing the number of the selected vessels.More specifically,in each itera-tion,the user association variables and power alloca-tion variables are determined by solving two separate subproblems,so that the JUAPA strategy can be up-dated in a low-complexity manner.The performance of the proposed JUAPA method is evaluated by exten-sive simulation,and numerical results indicate that it can effectively increase the number of vessels served by the network,and thus enhances the coverage of off-shore systems.展开更多
基金Supported by Far-Eastern Memorial Hospital,No.FEMH-2025-C-016.
文摘BACKGROUND MURCS association,an acronym for Müllerian duct aplasia/hypoplasia,congenital renal agenesis/ectopia,and cervical somite dysplasia,presents unique anaesthetic challenges,particularly for airway control due to cervical spine anomalies.This case report adds to the limited literature by detailing airway management strategies in a paediatric patient with MURCS,emphasising the need for thorough preoperative evaluation and curated planning.CASE SUMMARY This report describes the successful anaesthetic and airway management of a 6-year-old girl with MURCS undergoing dental extraction.To address the complexities of the patient’s condition,a multidisciplinary approach involving comprehensive preoperative assessment,meticulous planning,and advanced airway management techniques was adopted.CONCLUSION This report emphasizes individualized anesthetic strategies and interprofessional collaboration for managing rare congenital syndromes.
基金supported by the Fund for BTNYGG(NYHXGG,2023AA102)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32260510)+3 种基金the Key Project for Science,Technology Development of Shihezi city,Xinjiang Production and Construction Crops(2022NY01)Shihezi University high-level talent research project(RCZK202337)Science and Technology Major Project of the Department of Science and Technology of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region(2022A03004-1)the Key Programs for Science and Technology Development in Agricultural Field of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps。
文摘Background Cotton is a significant crop for fiber production;however,seed shape-related traits have been less investigated in comparison to fiber quality.Comprehending the genetic foundation of traits associated with seed shape is crucial for improving the seed and fiber quality in cotton.Results A total of 238 cotton accessions were evaluated in four different environments over a period of two years.Traits including thousand grain weight(TGW),aspect ratio(AR),seed length,seed width,diameter,and roundness demonstrated high heritability and significant genetic variation,as indicated by phenotypic analysis.The association analysis involved 145 simple sequence repeats(SSR)markers and identified 50 loci significantly associated with six traits related to seed shape.The markers MON_DPL0504aa and BNL2535ba were identified as influencing multiple traits,including aspect ratio and thousand grain weight.Notably,markers such as HAU2588a and MUSS422aa had considerable influence on seed diameter and roundness.The identified markers represented an average phenotypic variance between 3.92%for seed length and 16.54%for TGW.Conclusions The research finds key loci for seed shape-related traits in cotton,providing significant potential for marker-assisted breeding.These findings establish a framework for breeding initiatives focused on enhancing seed quality,hence advancing the cotton production.
文摘The Shaanxi Association Singapore,a community organization rooted in Singapore’s multicultural society,brings together Shaanxi professionals working in education,research,culture,and industry.What began as an informal support network based on shared heritage has gradually evolved into a multifaceted platform that promotes cultural preservation,professional collaboration,and civic engagement.Guided by its mission to connect through shared dialect,mutual memories,and lasting bonds,the association maintains strong emotional and cultural ties to Shaanxi while actively integrating into Singapore’s diverse society.According to President Wang Gang,the organization not only supports new arrivals in adapting to local life but also fosters a sense of belonging and civic responsibility through tangible,community-based initiatives.Over the past decade,the association has grown into a vibrant civic force,bridging individuals and communities and strengthening ties between Shaanxi and Singapore.
基金supported by State Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas(No.SKLDOG2024-ZYRC-03)supported by the Excellent Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52322401)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(52288101).
文摘As the global exploration and development of oil and gas resources advances into deep formations,the harsh conditions of high temperature and high salinity present significant challenges for drilling fluids.In order to address the technical difficulties associated with the failure of filtrate loss reducers under high-temperature and high-salinity conditions.In this study,a hydrophobic zwitterionic filtrate loss reducer(PDA)was synthesized based on N,N-dimethylacrylamide(DMAA),2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid(AMPS),diallyl dimethyl ammonium chloride(DMDAAC),styrene(ST)and a specialty vinyl monomer(A1).When the concentration of PDA was 3%,the FLAPI of PDA-WBDF was 9.8 mL and the FLHTHP(180℃,3.5 MPa)was 37.8 mL after aging at 240℃for 16 h.In the saturated NaCl environment,the FLAPI of PDA-SWBDF was 4.0 mL and the FLHTHP(180℃,3.5 MPa)was 32.0 mL after aging at 220℃ for 16 h.Under high-temperature and high-salinity conditions,the combined effect of anti-polyelectrolyte and hydrophobic association allowed PDA to adsorb on the bentonite surface tightly.The sulfonic acid groups of PDA increased the negative electronegativity and the hydration film thickness on bentonite surface,which enhanced the colloidal stability,maintained the flattened lamellar structure of bentonite and formed an appropriate particle size distribution,resulting in the formation of dense mud cakes and reducing the filtration loss effectively.
基金supported by grants from the Basic Research Business Fees for Public Welfare in Xinjiang Autonomous Region(Mining candidate genes related to grape seed traits based on GWAS,KY2023028)the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Tianchi Talent-Young Doctor for Chuan Zhang(Revealing the domestication history of Xinjiang native grape varieties and genetic analysis of important agronomic traits)the Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences Youth Science and Technology Backbone Innovation Ability Training Project(xjnkq-2023006).
文摘Seedlessness has always been a valuable quality characteristic of edible grape varieties.Although the production of seedless grapes has been ongoing for decades,the genetic complexity of seedless grapes is not yet fully understood.Therefore,determining the genetic mechanisms and key regulatory genes of seedless grapes is of great significance for seedless grape breeding and meeting market demands.The emergence of high-throughput analysis software offers greater possibilities for mining genes related to plant organ development.Specifically,to mine a greater number of candidate genes related to grape seed traits,this study used the seed trait parameters analyzed by Tomato Analyzer as the target trait and then used a genome-wide association study(GWAS)to mine candidate genes.In the two-year analysis using principal component analysis(PCA),we extracted five principal components with a cumulative contribution rate of 96.586%.The cumulative contribution rate for component 1 reached 87.352%.Correlation analysis revealed correlation coefficients ranging from 0.54 to 0.98 among the seven basic traits.The GWAS results indicated that 370 SNP loci were significantly correlated with seed traits.These SNP loci were distributed on 18 chromosomes,except for chromosome 4,with most SNP loci distributed on chromosome 18.Based on the physical location of single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)markers significantly associated with seed-related traits in the grape reference genome,candidate genes are screened within the range of linkage disequilibrium(LD)attenuation distance,both upstream and downstream of the significant SNP loci.These candidate genes were mainly transcription factor-related genes(VvMADS4 and VvMADS5),ubiquitin ligase-related genes(E3 ubiquitin ligase BIG BROTHER),serine/threonine protein kinase-related genes,and carbohydrate metabolism-related genes(Sucrose Synthase 2)and simultaneously controlled multiple(at least two or more)seed traits.These results indicate that seed traits are jointly regulated by some genes involved in seed morphology regulation.In this work,we identified new gene loci related to grape seed traits.Identifying molecular markers closely related to these seed traits is of great significance for breeding seedless grape varieties.
基金supported by Beijing Natural Science Fund–Haidian Original Innovation Joint Fund(L232040 and L232045).
文摘In this paper,we investigate a multi-UAV aided NOMA communication system,where multiple UAV-mounted aerial base stations are employed to serve ground users in the downlink NOMA communication,and each UAV serves its associated users on its own bandwidth.We aim at maximizing the overall common throughput in a finite time period.Such a problem is a typical mixed integer nonlinear problem,which involves both continuous-variable and combinatorial optimizations.To efficiently solve this problem,we propose a two-layer algorithm,which separately tackles continuous-variable and combinatorial optimization.Specifically,in the inner layer given one user association scheme,subproblems of bandwidth allocation,power allocation and trajectory design are solved based on alternating optimization.In the outer layer,a small number of candidate user association schemes are generated from an initial scheme and the best solution can be determined by comparing all the candidate schemes.In particular,a clustering algorithm based on K-means is applied to produce all candidate user association schemes,the successive convex optimization technique is adopted in the power allocation subproblem and a logistic function approximation approach is employed in the trajectory design subproblem.Simulation results show that the proposed NOMA scheme outperforms three baseline schemes in downlink common throughput,including one solution proposed in an existing literature.
基金supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program,China(Grant No.KCXFZ20211020163808012)the Nanfan Special Project,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,China(Grant No.YBXM2426).
文摘Alkaline soil is characterized by high soluble salt content,elevated pH levels,and ionic imbalance,all of which collectively intensify the harmful effects of alkaline stress on plants.To gain molecular insights into alkaline tolerance(AT),we evaluated 13 AT-related traits in 508 diverse rice accessions from the 3K Rice Germplasm Project at the seedling stage.A total of 2929764,2059114,and 1365868 single nucleotide polymorphisms were used to identify alkaline-tolerance QTLs via genome-wide association studies(GWAS)in the entire population as well as in the xian and geng subpopulations,respectively.Candidate genes and their superior haplotypes were further identified through gene-based association,haplotype analysis,and gene function annotation.In total,99 QTLs were identified for AT by GWAS,and three genes(LOC_Os03g49050 for qSSD3.1,LOC_Os05g48760 for qSKC5,and LOC_Os12g01922 for qSNC12)were selected as the most promising candidate genes.Furthermore,we successfully mined superior alleles of key candidate genes from natural variants associated with AT-related traits.This study identified crucial candidate genes and their favorable alleles for AT traits,laying a foundation for further gene cloning and the development of AT rice varieties via marker-assisted selection.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.32000377,32172037,and 32472211)the Biological Breeding-National Science and Technology Major Project,China(Grant No.2023ZD04068)+2 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China(Grant No.KJQN202103)the open funds of the State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics&Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization,China(Grant No.ZW202401)the Cyrus Tang Innovation Center for Crop Seed Industry,China.
文摘Rice grain yield is primarily determined by three key agronomic traits:panicle number,grain number per panicle,and grain weight(GW).However,the inherent tradeoffs among these yield components remain a persistent challenge in rice breeding programs.Notably,compared with GW,brown rice weight(BRW)provides a more direct metric associated with actual grain yield potential.In this study,we conducted a two-year replicated genome-wide association study to elucidate the genetic architecture of BRW and identify new loci regulating GW.Among seven consistently detected loci across experimental replicates,four were not co-localized with previously reported genes associated with BRW or GW traits.BRW1.1,one of the four newly identified loci,was found to encode a novel RNA-binding protein.Functional characterization revealed that BRW1.1 acts as a negative regulator of BRW,potentially through modulating mRNA translation processes.Intriguingly,through integrated analysis of mutant phenotypes and haplotype variations,we demonstrated that BRW1.1 mediates the physiological tradeoff between GW and panicle number.This study not only delineates the genetic determinants of BRW but also identifies BRW1.1 as a promising molecular target for breaking the yield component tradeoff in precision rice breeding.
文摘BACKGROUND There is a lack of study on vitamin D and calcium levels in epileptic patients receiving therapy,despite the growing recognition of the importance of bone health in individuals with epilepsy.Associations one statistical method for finding correlations between variables in big datasets is called association rule mining(ARM).This technique finds patterns of common items or events in the data set,including associations.Through the analysis of patient data,including demographics,genetic information,and reactions with previous treatments,ARM can identify harmful drug reactions,possible novel combinations of medicines,and trends which connect particular individual features to treatment outcomes.AIM To investigate the evidence on the effects of anti-epileptic drugs(AEDs)on calcium metabolism and supplementing with vitamin D to help lower the likelihood of bone-related issues using ARM technique.METHODS ARM technique was used to analyze patients’behavior on calcium metabolism,vitamin D and anti-epileptic medicines.Epileptic sufferers of both sexes who attended neurological outpatient and in patient department clinics were recruited for the study.There were three patient groups:Group 1 received one AED,group 2 received two AEDs,and group 3 received more than two AEDs.The researchers analyzed the alkaline phosphatase,ionized calcium,total calcium,phosphorus,vitamin D levels,or parathyroid hormone values.RESULTS A total of 150 patients,aged 12 years to 60 years,were studied,with 50 in each group(1,2,and 3).60%were men,this gender imbalance may affect the study’s findings,as women have different bone metabolism dynamics influenced by hormonal variations,including menopause.The results may not fully capture the distinct effects of AEDs on female patients.A greater equal distribution of women should be the goal of future studies in order to offer a complete comprehension of the metabolic alterations brought on by AEDs.86 patients had generalized epilepsy,64 partial.42%of patients had AEDs for>5 years.Polytherapy reduced calcium and vitamin D levels compared to mono and dual therapy.Polytherapy elevated alkaline phosphatase and phosphorus levels.CONCLUSION ARM revealed the possible effects of variables like age,gender,and polytherapy on parathyroid hormone levels in individuals taking antiepileptic medication.
文摘As a major economic powerhouse in eastern China,Jiangsu Province has long been a pioneer in the country’s opening-up efforts.From the Suzhou Industrial Park to the Singapore Nanjing Eco Hi-tech Island,Jiangsu has played a key role in China-Singapore cooperation.In Singapore,a dynamic and multicultural society,a group of Jiangsu expatriates have become active members of the local community.They are contributing to Singapore’s development while helping to strengthen people-to-people ties between the two countries.
文摘This article examines an early 2nd century BC decree of an association worshipping Zeus Hyetios,“the provider of rain,”in the Koan deme of Antimacheia.Focusing on the prosopographical information of the five individuals mentioned in the decree,this article contextualizes the association’s activities within the broader framework of Hellenistic Kos,highlighting issues such as landownership,migration,and social structures,whilst exploring the association’s agricultural focus,its integration with local deme structures,and its strategies for managing the challenges of absentee landownership.This study also argues that the unusual name of the association reflects the frequent absence of its members from the central cult place,who therefore needed to travel a considerable distance in order to attend the cult’s rituals in Antimacheia.This case underscores the interplay between religious,social,and economic dynamics in rural communities.
文摘Against the backdrop of the 35th anniversary of China-Singapore diplomatic relations,Tianfu Association(Singapore)has emerged as a key force fostering closer people-to-people and economic ties between the two countries.Founded in January 2000 by a group of new immigrants from China’s Sichuan Province,the association was the first Chinese immigrant organization established after diplomatic ties were formed between Singapore and China.Over the past two decades,it has actively engaged in local affairs and now serves as a council member of the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations.Today,it is widely recognized as one of the most vibrant and influential new immigrant groups promoting integration into Singaporean society.
基金funded by the Scientific Funding for China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited,China(No.2023YJ125).
文摘Speech-face association aims to achieve identity matching between facial images and voice segments by aligning cross-modal features.Existing research primarily focuses on learning shared-space representations and computing one-to-one similarities between cross-modal sample pairs to establish their correlation.However,these approaches do not fully account for intra-class variations between the modalities or the many-to-many relationships among cross-modal samples,which are crucial for robust association modeling.To address these challenges,we propose a novel framework that leverages global information to align voice and face embeddings while effectively correlating identity information embedded in both modalities.First,we jointly pre-train face recognition and speaker recognition networks to encode discriminative features from facial images and voice segments.This shared pre-training step ensures the extraction of complementary identity information across modalities.Subsequently,we introduce a cross-modal simplex center loss,which aligns samples with identity centers located at the vertices of a regular simplex inscribed on a hypersphere.This design enforces an equidistant and balanced distribution of identity embeddings,reducing intra-class variations.Furthermore,we employ an improved triplet center loss that emphasizes hard sample mining and optimizes inter-class separability,enhancing the model’s ability to generalize across challenging scenarios.Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our framework,demonstrating superior performance across various speech-face association tasks,including matching,verification,and retrieval.Notably,in the challenging gender-constrained matching task,our method achieves a remarkable accuracy of 79.22%,significantly outperforming existing approaches.These results highlight the potential of the proposed framework to advance the state of the art in cross-modal identity association.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFD1201802)the Shandong Key R&D Program,China(2022CXGC010607)+2 种基金the Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS-ZDRW202109)the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS-ASTIP2017-ICS)the Subproject of the Major Project of Science and Technology in Shanxi Province,China(202201140601025-1-02)。
文摘Southern corn rust(SCR)is an airborne fungal disease caused by Puccinia polysora Underw.(P.polysora)that adversely impacts maize quality and yields worldwide.Screening for new elite SCR-resistant maize loci or genes has the potential to enhance overall resistance to this pathogen.Using phenotypic SCR resistance-related data collected over two years and three geographical environments,a genome-wide association study was carried out in this work,which eventually identified 91 loci that were substantially correlated with SCR susceptibility.These included 13 loci that were significant in at least three environments and overlapped with 74 candidate genes(B73_RefGen_v4).Comparative transcriptomic analyses were then performed to identify the genes related to SCR infection,with 2,586 and 797 differentially expressed genes(DEGs)ultimately being identified in the resistant Qi319and susceptible 8112 inbred lines following P.polysora infection,respectively,including 306 genes common to both lines.Subsequent integrative multi-omics investigations identified four potential candidate SCR response-related genes.One of these genes is ZmHCT9,which encodes the protein hydroxycinnamoyl transferase 9.This gene was up-regulated in susceptible inbred lines and linked to greater P.polysora resistance as confirmed through cucumber mosaic virus(CMV)-based virus induced-gene silencing(VIGS)system-mediated gene silencing.These data provide important insights into the genetic basis of the maize SCR response.They will be useful for for future research on potential genes related to SCR resistance in maize.
基金supported by the Hainan Provincial Joint Project of Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City,China(Grant No.2021JJLH0041)the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation,China(Grant No.LY23C130006)+3 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.32472207)Nanfan Special Project,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(Grant Nos.YBXM2436 and YBXM2326)the Hainan Province Science and Technology Special Fund,China(Grant No.ZDYF2022XDNY256)the Innovational Fund for Scientific and Technological Personnel of Hainan Province,China(Grant No.KJRC2023B24).
文摘The genetic mechanism determining amylose content(AC)and its impact on eating and cooking quality(ECQ)of rice is highly complex.To elucidate the genetic basis of AC in rice,the Ting’s core collection was used to identify novel AC genes/loci through genome-wide association analysis(GWAS)using more than 5.0 million single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs).In this study,12 genes related to AC,including the major gene Wx and 11 minor genes,were detected using the EMMAX method.A novel gene,LR,encoding a nucleotide-binding leucine-rich-repeat(LRR)receptor(NLR)family protein,was selected for functional study.When LR was knocked out using CRISPR/Cas9,the AC decreased significantly.Furthermore,the AC in varieties was significantly higher with Haplotype A compared to Haplotypes B and C of LR.Notably,two natural variations,SNP-385(Thr-Hap.A vs Ala-Haps.B and C)and SNP-758(Ser-Hap.A vs Asn-Haps.B and C),in the coding region of LR might play critical roles in regulating AC and serve as potential targets for cultivating rice with diverse amylose contents.
文摘“Baijiu is not merely a drink,but also a cultural symbol of 5,000 years of Chinese history and a common source of pride for overseas Chinese communities,”said Yun Weilong,president of the Singapore Chinese Baijiu Association.Over 20 years ago,imported Western liquors were popular in Singapore,leaving little market space for baijiu,a traditional Chinese spirit distilled from sorghum or maize,even in Chinese restaurants.Public awareness of baijiu remained low.In 2004,Yun Weilong first introduced Moutai,a famous brand of baijiu,to Singapore.Since then,he has been promoting baijiu culture in the country.
文摘Hu Junhui,president of Tianfu Association(Singapore)and recipient of the Public Service Medal(PBM),has been leading community efforts to help new Chinese immigrants integrate into Singaporean society.Originally from Hebei Province in China,Hu arrived in Singapore in 1994 as one of the first technical professionals dispatched by China.Since then,he has built a life and career firmly rooted in Singapore.Over more than four years at China Construction(South Pacific)Development Co Pte Ltd,he rose through the ranks from project engineer to site manager and eventually project director.In 1999,he left the company to start his own business,setting up a construction firm with several partners.His focus shifted to real estate in 2007,when he co-founded JVA Venture Pte Ltd.
文摘Background:Rice grain morphology—including traits such as awn length,hull color,size,and shape—is of central importance to yield,quality,and domestication,yet comprehensive quantification at scale has remained challenging.Apromising solution has been provided by the integration of high-throughput imaging with genomic analysis.Methods:A standardized 2D image-processing pipeline was established to extract four categories of traits—awn length,hull color,projected grain area,and shape descriptors via PCA of normalized contours—from high-resolution photographs of 229 Oryza sativa japonica landraces.Genome-wide association analyses were then performed using a mixed linearmodel to control for population structure and kinship.Results:Broad phenotypic diversity was evident in awn length,hull coloration,grain dimensions,and morphological shape,with the first principal component explaining the dominant axis of shape variation.Known awn regulators GAD1/OsRAE2(chr 8;P=4.75×10^(-17))and An-1(chr 4;P=1.91×10^(-6))were identified.The hull color gene Rd(chr 1;P=3.13×10^(-6))was detected.A novel locus on chr 12 at 8.75 Mb with Os12g0257600(P=1.41×10^(-8)),and the known grain size gene FLO2(chr 4;P=8.28×10^(-6))were associated with projected area.Shape PC1 was mapped to GLW7/OsSPL13(chr 7;P=3.86×10^(-10)),NAL2/OsWOX3A(chr 11;P=1.41×10^(-11)),and OsGIF1(chr 11;P=1.27×10^(-8)).Conclusions:This study demonstrates that image-based phenotyping combined with genome-wide association studies(GWAS)can efficiently reveal both established and novel genetic determinants of rice grain morphology.These findings provide actionable targets for marker-assisted selection and genome editing to tailor grain traits in rice breeding programs.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China under Grant 2018YFA0701601by the Program of Jiangsu Province under Grant NTACT-2024-Z-001.
文摘In offshore maritime communication sys-tems,base stations(BSs)are employed along the coastline to provide high-speed data service for ves-sels in coastal sea areas.To ensure the line-of-sight propagation of BS-vessel links,high transceiver an-tenna height is required,which limits the number of geographically available sites for BS deployment,and imposes a high cost for realizing effective wide-area coverage.In this paper,the joint user association and power allocation(JUAPA)problem is investigated to enhance the coverage of offshore maritime systems.By exploiting the characteristics of network topology as well as vessels’motion in offshore communica-tions,a multi-period JUAPA problem is formulated to maximize the number of ships that can be simultane-ously served by the network.This JUAPA problem is intrinsically non-convex and subject to mixed-integer constraints,which is difficult to solve either analyt-ically or numerically.Hence,we propose an iterative augmentation based framework to efficiently select the active vessels,where the JUAPA scheme is iteratively optimized by the network for increasing the number of the selected vessels.More specifically,in each itera-tion,the user association variables and power alloca-tion variables are determined by solving two separate subproblems,so that the JUAPA strategy can be up-dated in a low-complexity manner.The performance of the proposed JUAPA method is evaluated by exten-sive simulation,and numerical results indicate that it can effectively increase the number of vessels served by the network,and thus enhances the coverage of off-shore systems.
