In this review, we introduce our recent applications of deep learning to solar and space weather data. We have successfully applied novel deep learning methods to the following applications: (1) generation of solar farside/backside magnetograms and global field extrapolation based on them, (2) generation of solar UV/EUV images from other UV/EUV images and magnetograms, (3) denoising solar magnetograms using supervised learning, (4) generation of UV/EUV images and magnetograms from Galileo sunspot drawings, (5) improvement of global IRI TEC maps using IGS TEC ones, (6) one-day forecasting of global TEC maps through image translation, (7) generation of high-resolution magnetograms from Ca II K images, (8) super-resolution of solar magnetograms, (9) flare classification by CNN and visual explanation by attribution methods, and (10) forecasting GOES solar X-ray profiles. We present major results and discuss them. We also present future plans for integrated space weather models based on deep learning.

The experiments reported in this research paper aimed to determine the effect of supplementing different forms of L-methionine (L-Met) and acetate on protein synthesis in immortalized bovine mammary epithelial cell line (MAC-T cells). Treatments were Control, L-Met, conjugated L-Met and acetate (CMA), and non-conjugated L-Met and Acetate (NMA). Protein synthesis mechanism was determined by omics method. NMA group had the highest protein content in the media and CSN2 mRNA expression levels (P < 0.05). The number of upregulated and downregulated proteins observed were 39 and 77 in L-Met group, 62 and 80 in CMA group and 50 and 81 in NMA group from 448 proteins, respectively (P < 0.05). L-Met, NMA and CMA treatments stimulated pathways related to protein and energy metabolism (P < 0.05). Metabolomic analysis also revealed that L-Met, CMA and NMA treatments resulted in increases of several metabolites (P < 0.05). In conclusion, NMA treatment increased protein concentration and expression level of CSN2 mRNA in MAC-T cells compared to control as well as L-Met and CMA treatments through increased expression of milk protein synthesis-related genes and production of the proteins and metabolites involved in energy and protein synthesis pathways.

Nanocrystalline (NC) and ultrafine-grained (UFG) CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) with grain size ranging between 59 and 386 nm was produced via powder metallurgy and heat treatment. The as-sintered HEA exhibited two face-centered cubic (FCC) phases (CoCrFeNi-rich and Cu-rich phases) and a small grain size (59 nm), whereas the alloy after heat treatment at 1000 °C exhibited a CoCuFeNi-rich phase with FCC structure and relatively larger grain size (386 nm). Moreover, the yield strength decreased from 1930 to 883 MPa, and plastic strain to failure increased by 8–32%. In terms of microstructural evolution, grain boundary strengthening coupled with lattice distortion was the dominant strengthening mechanism for NC HEAs. Furthermore, the coefficient for boundary strengthening was higher in the HEAs than in the corresponding pure elemental metals with FCC structure, possibly because of significant lattice distortion. The UFG HEAs exhibited high strength and good ductility because of the activation of dislocation.

Jatropha curcas L. is a potential bioenergy crop but has a lack of improved cultivars with high yields and oil content. Therefore, increasing our understanding of J. curcas germplasm is important for designing breeding strategies. This study was performed to investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of Indonesian J. curcas populations from six different islands. To construct a reference, we de novo assembled the scaffolds (N50 = 355.5 kb) using 182 Gb Illumina HiSeq sequencing data from Thai J. curcas variety Chai Nat. Genetic diversity analysis among 52 Indonesian J. curcas accessions was conducted based on yield traits and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers detected by mapping genotyping-by-sequencing reads from Indonesian population to Chai Nat scaffolds. Strong variation in yield traits was detected among accessions. Using J. integerrima as an outgroup, 13,916 SNPs were detected. Among J. curcas accessions, including accessions from other countries (Thailand, the Philippines and China), 856 SNPs were detected, but only 297 SNPs were detected among Indonesian J. curcas populations, representing low genetic diversity. Through phylogenetic and structural analysis, the populations were clustered into two major groups. Group one consists of populations from Bangka and Sulawesi in the northern part of Indonesia, which are located at a distance of 1572.59 km. Group two contains populations from islands in the southern part: Java, Lombok-Sumbawa, Flores and Timor. These results indicate that introduction of diverse J. curcas germplasms is necessary for the improvement of the genetic variation in the Indonesian collections.

Octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) is a critical molecule for the self-renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Recent reports have shown that Oct4 also controls cell-cycle progression and enhances the proliferation of various types of cells. As the high proliferation of donor fibroblasts is critical to the production of transgenic pigs, using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique, we analysed the effect of Oct4 overexpression on the proliferation of porcine fibroblasts and embryos. Porcine endogenous Oct4 cDNA was cloned, sequenced and inserted into an expression vector. The vector was transfected into porcine fibroblasts, and a stable Oct4-overexpressed cell line was established by antibiotic selection. Oct4 expression was validated by the immunostaining of Oct4. Cell morphology was changed to sharp, and both proliferation and migration abilities were enhanced in Oct4-overexpressed cells. Real-time RT-PCR results showed that p16, Bcl2 and Myc were upregulated in Oct4-overexpressed cells. Somatic cell nuclear transfer was performed using Oct4-overexpressed cells, and the development of Oct4 embryos was compared with that of wild-type cloned embryos. The cleavage and blastocyst formation rates were improved in the Oct4 embryos. Interestingly, blastocyst formation of the Oct4 embryos was observed as early as day 5 in culture, while blastocysts were observed from day 6 in wild-type cloned embryos. In conclusion, the overexpression of Oct4 enhanced the proliferation of both porcine fibroblasts and embryos.

Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis [Willd.] Ohwi & H. Ohashi) is one of the most important legume crops cultivated in East Asia and northern South Asia. Despite its agronomic importance, the lack of available sequence information has made it difficult to improve important agronomic traits. In the present study, we performed de novo assembly of transcript sequences produced by short-read sequencing to construct 59,860 full-length protein-coding sequences in adzuki bean. These genes were subjected to a BLASTP search to identify putative homologues of the 84 Arabidopsis genes involved in the circadian clock and photoperiodic flowering pathway. A large proportion of these Arabidopsis genes were found to be conserved in adzuki bean. However, there were no homologues of six genes including FLOWER LOCUS D (FD) and LEAFY (LFY). Furthermore, the phylogenetic relationships of 25 highly homologous matches to CONSTANS (CO) or CONSTANS-LIKE (COL) of Arabidopsis indicated the lack of a CO orthologue in adzuki bean. FLOWER LOCUS T (FT) and its homologues were found to have two homologous counterparts in adzuki bean. This study provides primary genetic resources that may be useful for producing adzuki bean with improved flowering and fruiting performance in response to environmental changes.

Background: Highly educated participants with normal cognition show lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) than poorly educated participants, whereas longitudinal studies involving AD have reported that higher education is associated with more rapid cognitive decline. We aimed to evaluate whether highly educated amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) participants show more rapid cognitive decline than those with lower levels of education.

Methods: A total of 249 aMCI patients enrolled from 31 memory clinics using the standard assessment and diagnostic processes were followed with neuropsychological evaluation (duration 17.2 ± 8.8 months). According to baseline performances on memory tests, participants were divided into early-stage aMCI (−1.5 to −1.0 standard deviation (SD)) and late-stage aMCI (below −1.5 SD) groups. Risk of AD conversion and changes in neuropsychological performances according to the level of education were evaluated.

Results: Sixty-two patients converted to AD over a mean follow-up of 1.43 years. The risk of AD conversion was higher in late-stage aMCI than early-stage aMCI. Cox proportional hazard models showed that aMCI participants, and late-stage aMCI participants in particular, with higher levels of education had a higher risk of AD conversion than those with lower levels of education. Late-stage aMCI participants with higher education showed faster cognitive decline in language, memory, and Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB) scores. On the contrary, early-stage aMCI participants with higher education showed slower cognitive decline in MMSE and CDR-SOB scores.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the protective effects of education against cognitive decline remain in early-stage aMCI and disappear in late-stage aMCI.

For a real quadratic field , let tk be the exact power of 2 dividing the class number hk of k and ηk the fundamental unit of k. The aim of this paper is to study tk and the value of Nk/ℚ(ηk). Various methods have been successfully applied to obtain results related to this topic. The idea of our work is to select a special circular unit ℰk of k and investigate C(k)=〈±ℰk 〉. We examine the indices [E(k):C(k)] and [C(k):CS (k)] , where E(k) is the group of units of k, and CS (k) is that of circular units of k defined by Sinnott. Then by using the Sinnott’s index formula [E(k):CS (k)]=hk, we obtain as much information about tk and Nk/ℚ (ηk) as possible.

Background: The influences of demographics, culture, language, and environmental changes on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores are considerable.

Methods: Using a sample of 7452 healthy, community-dwelling elderly Koreans, aged 55 to 94 years, who participated in the four ongoing geriatric cohorts in Korea, we investigated demographic influences on MMSE scores and derived normative data for this population. Geropsychiatrists strictly excluded subjects with cognitive disorders according to the protocol of the Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Packet (CERAD-K) Clinical Assessment Battery (CERAD-K-C).

Results: Education (standardized β = 0.463), age (standardized β = −0.303), and gender (standardized β = −0.057) had significant effects on MMSE scores (p < 0.001). The score of MMSE increase 0.379 point per 1-year education, decrease 0.188 per 1-year older, and decrease 0.491 in women compared to men. Education explained 30.4% of the scores’ total variance, which was much larger than the variances explained by age (8.4%) or gender (0.3%). Accordingly, we present normative data for the MMSE stratified by education (0, 1–3, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12, and ≥ 13 years), age (60–69, 70–79, and 80–89 years), and gender.

Conclusions: We provide contemporary education-, age-, and gender-stratified norms for the MMSE, derived from a large, community-dwelling elderly Korean population sample, which could be useful in evaluating individual MMSE scores.

In this study, we investigated the effect of two oxygen concentrations (5 and 20%) during in vitro maturation (IVM) and during in vitro culture (IVC) on porcine embryo development and analysed differences in gene expression between cumulus–oocyte complexes matured under 5 or 20% oxygen and the resulting blastocysts cultured under 5% or 20% oxygen following parthenogenetic activation. There was no significant difference in oocyte maturation rate. However, the numbers of resulting blastocysts were significantly increased in the 5% IVC group compared with the 20% IVC group. Moreover, the M20C5 treatment group (23.01%) supported greater blastocyst development compared with the M5C5 (14.32%), M5C20 (10.30%), and M20C20 (17.88%) groups. However, total cell numbers were not significantly different among groups. According to mRNA abundance data of multiple genes, each treatment altered the expression of genes in different patterns. GLUT1, G6PD and LDHA were up-regulated in cumulus cells that had been matured in low oxygen, suggesting a higher glucose uptake and an increase in anaerobic glycolysis, whereas cyclin B1 (CCNB) and MnSOD (Mn-superoxide dismutase) were upregulated in cumulus cells that had been matured in high oxygen, which suggests a higher activity of mitosis-promoting factor and antioxidant response. In spite of these differential effects on cumulus cells, oocytes could mature normally regardless of different oxygen concentrations. Therefore, it can be concluded that high oxygen concentration during in vitro maturation and low oxygen during in vitro culture may alter the expression of multiple genes related to oocyte competence and significantly improves embryo development (p < 0.05) but not blastocyst quality.

MgO thin films are widely used in plasma display panels (PDPs) to protect the dielectric layer, which is composed of PbO2, B2O3, and SiO2 compound, against ion bombardment during discharge. To improve the electrical properties of the MgO thin films, (Ba,Sr,Ca)CO3 or LaB6, which has a lower work function than that of MgO, added to the MgO films. The effects of (Ba,Sr,Ca)CO3 or LaB6 addition on the electrical properties, microstructure, and electronic band structure were investigated. In the case where (Ba,Sr,Ca)CO3 was added, the firing voltage, which is the voltage when the panel is ignited the first time during increasing input voltage, was about 18.4 V lower than that of the conventional MgO films. In the case where LaB6 was added, the firing voltage was also reduced by about 24 V. The luminance and luminous efficiency were also increased. Of particular interest was the valence band spectra changed after adding (Ba,Sr,Ca)CO3 or LaB6. The valence band edge, which is the top of the valence band, was shifted to lower binding states and the width of the valence band was increased. Moreover, the band gap was slightly reduced. Considering the emission mechanism of MgO films in plasma display panels, these results mean that the secondary electrons can be ejected more easily and the ejected electrons have more energy. Therefore, the addition of (Ba,Sr,Ca)CO3 or LaB6 might improve the electrical properties.

The importance of the secondary electron emission of the protective layer in the alternating current plasma display panels is widely known. However, the difficulty in measuring the secondary electron emission coefficients (γ) of insulating materials has hampered efforts to obtain accurate estimates of their values. To overcome the difficulty of direct measurement, we devised a calculating γ using the spectra of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and a well-defined theory. The XPS spectra of the valence and core bands of MgO, Al2O3, and Y2O3 films, which were deposited by e-beam evaporation, were measured. Calculations of the γ values were conducted for the case when gas ions such as He, Ne, Ar, and Xe slowly approach the solid surface.

Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) are considered indispensable in applications requiring flexibility, large area, low processing temperature, and low cost. Key challenges to be addressed include developing solution-processable gate dielectric materials that form uniform films over large areas and exhibit excellent insulating properties, reducing contact resistance at interfaces between organic semiconductors and electrodes, and optimizing the patterning of organic semiconductors. High-performance pentacene-based OTFTs have been reported with polymeric gate dielectrics and indium tin oxide source/drain electrodes. Using such OTFT backplates, a 15-in. 1024 X 768 pixel full-color active-matrix liquid-crystal display (AMLCD) and a 4.5-in. 192 X64 pixel active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) have been fabricated.

(001) oriented (Ba, Sr)TiO3 (BST) thin films were deposited on MgO (001) single crystal substrates by the pulsed laser deposition method. Structural properties of BST films were investigated using X-ray diffractometer. Coplanar waveguide (CPW) device based on BST/MgO layer structure was fabricated by dc sputtering deposition, photolithography and etching process. To study the geometrical factor dependent microwave performance of the CPW phase shifter based on (001) oriented BST film, the CPW devices having various gap and width were fabricated. The microwave dielectric properties of BST CPW phase shifter devices were examined by calculating the scattering parameter obtained using a HP 8510C vector network analyzer with the frequency range 0.5 ∼ 20 GHz at room temperature under the dc bias field of 0 ∼ 40V. The measured return loss and insertion loss at 10 GHz with no dc bias were about -12 ∼ -4 dB and -14 ∼ -3 dB, respectively, which mainly depended on the impedances of the CPW transmission lines. The measured differential phase shift values were about 20 ° ∼ 140 ° at 10 GHz with 40 V dc bias variations, which depended on the gap size.

We fabricated quantum dot arrays using anodic alumina mask. We grew an alumina template on Si wafers by two-step anodization. The porous alumina template thus grown is used as a mask for metal deposition. After thermal evaporation and removal of the mask, we fabricated the quantum dot arrarys on a Si substrate. Using this template-assisted method we obtained a high density array of quantum dots in a large scale. These quantum dots have a narrow size distribution which can be easily controlled by a pore widening of templates from 20 to 60 nm.