Search Results (33)

Traditional maritime target element resolution, relying on manual experience and uniform sampling, lacks accuracy and efficiency in non-uniform sampling, missing data, and noisy scenarios. While large language models (LLMs) offer a solution, their general knowledge gaps with maritime needs limit direct application. This paper proposes a fine-tuned LLM-based adaptive optimization method for non-uniform sampling maritime target element resolution, with three key novelties: first, selecting Doubao-Seed-1.6 as the base model and conducting targeted preprocessing on maritime multi-source data to address domain adaptation gaps; second, innovating a “Prefix tuning + LoRA” hybrid strategy (encoding maritime rules via Prefix tuning, freezing 95% of base parameters via LoRA to reduce trainable parameters to <0.5%) to balance cost and performance; third, building a non-uniform sampling-model collaboration mechanism, where the fine-tuned model dynamically adjusts the sampling density via semantic understanding to solve random sampling’s “structural information imbalance”. Experiments in close, away, and avoid scenarios (vs. five control models including original LLMs, rule-only/models, and ChatGPT-4.0) show that the proposed method achieves a comprehensive final score of 0.8133—37.1% higher than the sub-optimal data-only model (0.5933) and 87.7% higher than the original general model (0.4333). In high-risk avoid scenarios, its Top-1 Accuracy (0.7333) is 46.7% higher than the sub-optimal control, and Scene-Sensitive Recall (0.7333) is 2.2 times the original model; in close and away scenarios, its Top-1 Accuracy reaches 0.8667 and 0.9000, respectively. This method enhances resolution accuracy and adaptability, promoting LLM applications in navigation. Full article

A single crystal of YAl₃(BO₃)₄ was grown using the top-seeded solution growth method. The vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excitation spectrum, monitored at the emission wavelength of 312 and 372 nm, showed a narrow excitation band at around 162 nm, which is located near the absorption edge of the YAl₃(BO₃)₄ host. Upon VUV excitation at 162 nm, the characteristic self-trapped exciton (STE) emission bands were observed at 312 and 372 nm. The X-ray excited scintillation spectrum shows a broad emission band peaking at 310 nm with a weak shoulder band at around 375 nm, which is consistent with photoluminescence, and can thus be assigned to the STE emission. The scintillation light yield under irradiation at a ²⁵²Cf-thermal neutron reached 2700 photons/thermal neutron. Full article

Chile, one of the top global wine producers, produces a significant quantity of grape pomace waste, composed primarily of peels and seeds, of which their management includes many environmental challenges. Composting offers a sustainable waste management solution, converting organic waste into a rich nutrient and beneficial microorganisms for soil amendment. This study compared traditional turning and static forced aeration composting systems using a mix of grape pomace (70 m³), wheat straw (15 m³), and manure (15 m³). The results show no significant differences in the final compost chemical quality between the two systems. Nevertheless, forced aeration (T1) influenced the bacterial community, particularly during the thermophilic stage, leading to a major differentiation compared to traditional composting (T0). Similar Shannon index values for bacterial diversity across stages suggest that both composting methods support comparable levels of bacterial diversity. However, the fungal communities exhibited more variability, likely due to the differences in temperature and aeration conditions between the windrows, which are known to affect fungal growth and activity. While both composting methods met the Chilean regulatory standards and achieved high-quality compost, the forced aeration system demonstrated advantages in temperature control, microbial diversity, and pathogen suppression, suggesting its potential for more efficient composting in similar agricultural contexts. Full article

(1) Background: Since the death of George Floyd, the social movement Black Lives Matter continues to dominate the American political psyche, not only advancing a public dialogue but also escalating the polarization of supported solutions for policing and systemic discrimination. (2) Methods: Using a qualitative context analysis approach, we assessed over 350 sources related to social justice literature and policy-relevant documents to identify key policy solutions supported by the American Black Lives Matter movement compared to the Blue Lives Matter movement. We applied Fearon’s bargaining range of war model to analyze the extent to which the policy recommendations of these two opposing movements may overlap. The purpose was to identify and categorize agreement alternatives across various sectors. This research presents top policy solutions, assessing their bargaining ranges. (3) Results: 32 of the 36 top policy reform alternatives at the national level have sufficient bargaining ranges. This analysis indicates the importance of supporting various sectors like mental health/psychosocial policies and programs, which can (1) serve as a focal point of agreement between contending movements, and (2) decrease racial injustice through strategic bargaining. (4) Conclusions: In a divisively political landscape, it is crucial to identify starting points for negotiation among contending actors. Identifying bargaining opportunities can help seed a dialogue that may benefit all parties involved. Full article

The new technique of filming in autumn and planting directly through the plastic film in spring is an effective method for water-saving and drought-resistant commercial potato production. However, there are currently no supporting film-drilling seeders available. To address this, a new potato seeder machine has been specifically designed for planting potatoes in the dryland, hilly, and mountainous areas of northwest China. This machine can perform top mulching and hole planting in both the autumn and spring seasons. This innovative potato seeder accomplishes several tasks simultaneously: seeding, inoculation (if desired), hole punching through the mulch film, seed placement, and soil covering. The machine features an optimized spoon-chain seeder with an eccentric coupling mechanism that ensures the hole-punching device stays perpendicular to the ground throughout planting, minimizing damage to the mulch film. Additionally, a dedicated seeding valve opening and closing mechanism was designed to extend the opening time of the hole-forming device’s movable mouth beyond the potato’s falling time, guaranteeing successful seed placement. Furthermore, a soil-covering device specifically designed for use with mulch film ensures proper soil retention after seeding. Through computer-aided design (RecurDyn V9R5 software) analysis, the hole-punching device’s penetrating angle was optimized to minimize the tearing of the mulch film during entry into and exit from the soil. Rigorous field testing demonstrated the machine’s effectiveness. The seeder achieved a 92% success rate for proper planting depth, an 88% success rate for accurate seed potato spacing, a 98% success rate for avoiding overplanting, and a 99% success rate for eliminating missed planting spots. These field test results meet or exceed national and industry standards, validating the machine’s design goals. In essence, this innovative potato seeder, with its eccentric coupling mechanism, offers a one-pass solution for potato seeding, inoculation (optional), planting, and soil covering, significantly improving efficiency. Full article

The forest environment is exposed to a number of harmful factors that significantly reduce the resistance of forest stands, often leading to their extinction. In addition to abiotic and anthropogenic factors, biotic factors pose a significant threat to forests, among which insect pests are at the top of the list. Until now, the use of chemical insecticides has been considered the most effective method of pest control, resulting in pesticide residue in the environment. In an effort to minimize the harmful effects of insecticides, the European Union (EU), through EU Commission Implementing Regulations 2022/94, 2021/2081, 2021/795, and 2020/1643, has decided to withdraw from use a number of preparations containing compounds such as phosmet, indoxacarb, alpha-cypermethrin, and imidacloprid, among others. Botanical insecticides appear to be a promising alternative. Among them, plant oils and essential oils have become an innovative solution for controlling pests not only of forests but also of agricultural crops. The purpose of this literature review was to select oilseed plants with great biological potential. The rich chemical compositions of the seeds of Brassica carinata (A.) Braun and Camelina sativa (L.) Cranz predispose them to use as raw materials for the production of biopesticides with broad mechanisms of action. On the one hand, the oil will provide a physical action of covering pests feeding on a plant with a thin film, which will consequently lead to a reduction in gas exchange processes. On the other hand, the bioactive compounds in it or extracts of fat-insoluble compounds suspended in it and derived from the pomace fraction may have deterrent or lethal effects. This paper presents evidence of the potential action of these raw materials. Preparations based on these oils will not pose a threat to living beings and will not negatively affect the environment, thus allowing them to gain social acceptance. Full article

Two series of LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals have been grown and studied. Two doping methods—have been used. The crystals—have been co-doped with Mg and a non-metallic dopant, B. The physicochemical features of the growth—have been considered for LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals obtained from a boron-doped melt. The charge—has been prepared using different technologies: homogeneous (HG) and solid-phase (SP) doping. The same two methods have been used to grow single-doped LiNbO₃:Mg crystals. A control near-stoichiometric (NSLN) crystal—has been grown via the HTTSSG (high-temperature top-seeded solution growth) method from a congruent melt (Li/Nb ≈ 0.946) with 5.5 wt% K₂O. The characteristics of the LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals—have been compared with those of the LiNbO₃:Mg and NSLN crystals. Physicochemical and structural reasons have been established for the differences in the distribution coefficients of magnesium (K_D) during the growth of the HG- and SP-doped LiNbO₃:B:Mg and LiNbO₃:Mg crystals. The optical characteristics of the LiNbO₃:B:Mg crystals—have been studied via optical spectroscopy, laser conoscopy and photoinduced light scattering (PILS). The influence of boron on the microstructure, compositional and optical uniformities and optical damage resistance of the LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals—has been estimated. Optimal technological approaches to growing optically uniform LiNbO₃:B:Mg crystals have been determined. LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals have been shown to have a significant advantage over the commercially used LiNbO₃:Mg crystals since large LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals can be grown without stripes. Such stripes usually appear perpendicular to the growth axis. In addition, the photorefractive effect is suppressed in LiNbO₃:Mg:B crystals at lower magnesium concentrations ([Mg] ≈ 2.5 mol%) than in LiNbO₃:Mg ([Mg] ≈ 5.5 mol%). Full article

The multiseeding technique is a method to grow large-sized REBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (REBCO, where RE is a rare earth element) high temperature superconducting bulks. However, due to the existence of grain boundaries between seed crystals, the superconducting properties of bulks are not always better than those of single grain bulks. In order to improve the superconducting properties caused by grain boundaries, we introduced buffer layers with a diameter of 6 mm in the growth of GdBCO bulks. Using the modified top-seeded melt texture growth method (TSMG), that is, YBa₂Cu₃O_7−δ (Y123) as the liquid phase source, two GdBCO superconducting bulks with buffer layers with a diameter of 25 mm and a thickness of 12 mm were successfully prepared. The seed crystal arrangement of two GdBCO bulks with a distance of 12 mm were (100/100) and (110/110), respectively. The trapped field of the GdBCO superconductor bulks exhibited two peaks. The maximum peaks of superconductor bulk S_A (100/100) were 0.30 T and 0.23 T, and the maximum peaks of superconductor bulk S_B (110/110) were 0.35 T and 0.29 T. The critical transition temperature remained between 94 K and 96 K, with superior superconducting properties. The maximum J_{C, self-field} of S_A appeared in specimen b5, which was 4.5 × 10⁴ A/cm². Compared with S_A, the J_C value of S_B had obvious advantages in a low magnetic field, medium magnetic field and high magnetic field. The maximum J_{C, self-field} value appeared in specimen b2, which was 4.65 × 10⁴ A/cm². At the same time, it showed an obvious second peak effect, which was attributed to Gd/Ba substitution. Liquid phase source Y123 increased the concentration of the Gd solute dissolved from Gd211 particles, reduced the size of Gd211 particles and optimized J_C. For S_A and S_B under the joint action of the buffer and the Y123 liquid source, except for the contribution of Gd211 particles to be the magnetic flux pinning center with the improvement of J_C, the pores also played a positive role in improving the local J_C. More residual melts and impurity phases were observed in S_A than in S_B, which had a negative impact on the superconducting properties. Thus, S_B exhibited a better trapped field and J_C. Full article

A main barrier for autonomous and general learning systems is their inability to understand and adapt to new environments—that is, to apply previously learned abstract solutions to new problems. Supervised learning system functions such as classification require data labeling from an external source and do not have the ability to learn feature representation autonomously. This research details an unsupervised learning method for multi-modal feature detection and evaluation to be used for preprocessing in general learning systems. The learning method details a clustering algorithm that can be applied to any generic IoT sensor data, and a seeded stimulus labeling algorithm impacted and evolved by cross-modal input. The method is implemented and tested in two agents consuming audio and image data, each with varying innate stimulus criteria. Their run-time stimulus changes over time depending on their experiences, while newly experienced features become meaningful without preprogrammed labeling of distinct attributes. The architecture provides interfaces for higher-order cognitive processes to be built on top of the unsupervised preprocessor. This method is unsupervised and modular, in contrast to the highly constrained and pretrained learning systems that exist, making it extendable and well-disposed for use in artificial general intelligence. Full article

This study provides alternative approaches toward ex situ conservation by means of in vitro seed germination and the multiplication of Penthorum chinense Pursh using nodal explants. An overlay of a liquid medium on top of a gelled medium significantly increased the growth of shoots and roots, while the presence of activated charcoal or growth regulators (benzyl adenine and α-naphthaleneacetic acid) decreased the growth. Shoot tips of in vitro plantlets were cryopreserved using a droplet-vitrification method. The standard procedure included preculture with 10% sucrose for 31 h and with 17.5% sucrose for 17 h, osmoprotection with loading solution C4-35% (17.5% glycerol + 17.5% sucrose, w/v) for 20 min, cryoprotection with alternative plant vitrification solution (PVS) A3-70% (29.2% glycerol + 11.7% DMSO + 11.7% EG + 17.4% sucrose, w/v) at 0 °C for 30 min, cooling the samples in liquid nitrogen using aluminum foil strips and rewarming by plunging into pre-heated (40 °C) unloading solution (35% sucrose) for 40 min. A three-step regrowth procedure starting with ammonium-free medium followed by ammonium-containing medium with and without growth regulators was essential for the regeneration of cryopreserved shoot tips. The species was found to be very sensitive to the chemical cytotoxicity of permeating cryoprotectants during cryoprotection and to ammonium-induced oxidant stress during initial regrowth steps. Improvement of donor plant vigor by using apical sections and liquid overlay on top of the solid medium for propagation, improved shoot tip tolerance to osmotic stress and increased post-cryopreservation regeneration up to 64% were observed following PVS B5-85% (42.5% glycerol + 42.5% sucrose) treatment for 60 min. The systematic approach used in this study enables fast optimization of the in vitro growth and cryopreservation procedure for a new stress-sensitive wild plant species. Full article

Growth defects in CsB₃O₅ (CBO) crystals grown using the seed-submerged growth technique (SSGT), which includes parallel grouping, growth step, and inclusion, were observed and analyzed. Dislocation was investigated using the chemical etching method for the first time. Relationships between defects and growth conditions are discussed, and ways to overcome growth defects are suggested. Using the cool-end compensation of thermocouples, a CBO crystal measuring 63 × 40 × 30 mm³ (weighing 190 g) was successfully grown using the SSGT. Adopting the top seeded solution growth (TSSG) method, a scattering centers-free CBO crystal measuring 75 × 52 × 46 mm³ (weighing 480 g) was obtained from the improved Cs₂O–B₂O₃–MoO₃ system with a molar ratio of (1–3):(1.5–3.5):(1–4), which is the largest CBO single crystal to date. Full article

A Cr⁴⁺-doped TiTe₃O₈ crystal with dimensions up to 21 mm × 21 mm × 11 mm was grown successfully by the top-seeded solution growth method. A high-resolution X-ray diffraction experiment showed that the full width at half-maximum of the rocking curve was 41.90″. Energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) proved that Cr⁴⁺ ions have been doped into the TiTe₃O₈ crystal with molar percentage of 4.9%. The Cr:TiTe₃O₈ crystal exhibited an absorption range from 995 to 1565 nm, which is suitable for passive Q switch at 1064 nm. Then, a passive Q-switching solid-state laser operating at 1064 nm was realized using a Cr:TiTe₃O₈ crystal as the saturable absorber. The maximum laser pulse energy is calculated to be 0.7 μJ, and the maximum peak power reaches 0.7 W. Full article

The gate insulator is one of the most crucial factors determining the performance of a graphene field effect transistor (GFET). Good electrostatic control of the conduction channel by gate voltage requires thin gate oxides. Due to the lack of the dangling bond, a seed layer is usually needed for the gate dielectric film grown by the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The seed layer leads to the high-quality deposition of dielectric films, but it may lead to a great increase in the thickness of the final dielectric film. To address this problem, this paper proposes an improved process, where the self-oxidized Al₂O₃ seed layer was removed by etching solutions before atomic layer deposition, and the Al₂O₃ residue would provide nucleation sites on the graphene surface. Benefiting from the decreased thickness of the dielectric film, the transconductance of the GFET using this method as a top-gate dielectric film deposition process shows an average 44.7% increase compared with the GFETs using the standard Al evaporation seed layer methods. Full article

Extending the shortest second harmonic generation output wavelength of nonlinear optical crystals into the deep ultraviolet (UV) range is important for their application as frequency conversion devices for an advanced laser. The doping of ions with a large atomic number is believed to be an effective way to realize a shorter SHG output wavelength. In this work, large-sized Sr²⁺-doped La₂CaB₁₀O₁₉ (Sr:LCB) crystals with nominal ratios of 10%, 15% and 30% were grown by the top-seeded solution growth method. The measured lattice parameters of the grown Sr:LCB are nearly the same as that of the LCB crystal, and the rocking curves reveal that the grown Sr:LCB crystals are of high quality. Sr: LCB crystals have a UV cut-off edge of 168 nm. The refractive index of the Sr:LCB crystals was measured, based on which the Sellmeier equations of the Sr:LCB crystals were fitted. The calculated shortest SHG output wavelength for Type I phase matching is 270.5 nm, which is 17.5 nm shorter than that of LCB crystals (288 nm). The characterization results demonstrate that Sr:LCB is a potential nonlinear optical crystal for the deep UV range. Full article

A UV Nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal is one of the key devices in all-solid-state laser technology, and borate halides show outstanding potential due to their abundant structural diversity and short UV cut-off edges. In this article, the sizable UV NLO crystal of K₃B₆O₁₀Br (KBOB) has been grown with lead-containing and lead-free fluxes systems using the high-temperature top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and transmittance spectra illustrate the influence of Pb²⁺ ions on the transmittance properties and laser-induced damage threshold (LDT). The thermal property, namely, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity curves, were characterized. Moreover, a small variation of thermal refractive indexes was analyzed to illustrate the advantage of KBOB in the application for temperature-fluctuated specific regions. Full article