Growth in the complexity of advanced systems is mirrored by a growth in the number of engineering requirements and related upstream and downstream tasks. These requirements are typically expressed in natural language and require human expertise to manage. Natural language processing (NLP) technology has long been seen as promising to increase requirements engineering (RE) productivity but has yet to demonstrate substantive benefits. The recent addition of large language models (LLMs) to the NLP toolbox is now generating renewed enthusiasm in the hope that it will overcome past shortcomings. This article scrutinizes this claim by reviewing the application of LLMs for engineering requirements tasks. We survey the success of applying LLMs and the scale to which they have been used. We also identify groups of challenges shared across different engineering requirement tasks. These challenges show how this technology has been applied to RE tasks that need reassessment. We finalize by drawing a parallel to other engineering fields with similar challenges and how they have been overcome in the past – and suggest these as future directions to be investigated.

The target backsheath field acceleration mechanism is one of the main mechanisms of laser-driven proton acceleration (LDPA) and strongly depends on the comprehensive performance of the ultrashort ultra-intense lasers used as the driving sources. The successful use of the SG-II Peta-watt (SG-II PW) laser facility for LDPA and its applications in radiographic diagnoses have been manifested by the good performance of the SG-II PW facility. Recently, the SG-II PW laser facility has undergone extensive maintenance and a comprehensive technical upgrade in terms of the seed source, laser contrast and terminal focus. LDPA experiments were performed using the maintained SG-II PW laser beam, and the highest cutoff energy of the proton beam was obviously increased. Accordingly, a double-film target structure was used, and the maximum cutoff energy of the proton beam was up to 70 MeV. These results demonstrate that the comprehensive performance of the SG-II PW laser facility was improved significantly.

Frequent freezing injury greatly influences winter wheat production; thus, effective prevention and a command of agricultural production are vital. The freezing injury monitoring method integrated with ‘3S’ (geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS)) technology has an unparalleled advantage. Using HuanJing (HJ)-1A/1B satellite images of a winter wheat field in Shanxi Province, China plus a field survey, crop types and winter wheat planting area were identified through repeated visual interpretations of image information and spatial analyses conducted in GIS. Six vegetation indices were extracted from processed HJ-1A/1B satellite images to determine whether the winter wheat suffered from freezing injury and its degree of severity and recovery, using change vector analysis (CVA), the freeze injury representative vegetation index and the combination of the two methods, respectively. Accuracy of the freezing damage classification results was verified by determining the impact of freezing damage on yield and quantitative analysis. The CVA and the change of normalized difference vegetation index (ΔNDVI) monitoring results were different so a comprehensive analysis of the combination of CVA and ΔNDVI was performed. The area with serious freezing injury covered 0.9% of the total study area, followed by the area of no freezing injury (3.5%), moderate freezing injury (10.2%) and light freezing injury (85.4%). Of the moderate and serious freezing injury areas, 0.2% did not recover; 1.2% of the no freezing injury and light freezing injury areas showed optimal recovery, 15.6% of the light freezing injury and moderate freezing injury areas showed poor recovery, and the remaining areas exhibited general recovery.

We use the results of a supernova light-curve population synthesis to predict the range of possible supernova light curves arising from a population of single-star progenitors that lead to type IIP supernovae. We calculate multiple models varying the initial mass, explosion energy, nickel mass and nickel mixing and then compare these to type IIP supernovae with detailed light curve data and pre-explosion imaging progenitor constraints. Where a good fit is obtained to observations, we are able to achieve initial progenitor and nickel mass estimates from the supernova lightcurve that are comparable in precision to those obtained from progenitor imaging. For 2 of the 11 IIP supernovae considered our fits are poor, indicating that more progenitor models should be included in our synthesis or that our assumptions, regarding factors such as stellar mass loss rates or the rapid final stages of stellar evolution, may need to be revisited in certain cases. Using the results of our analysis we are able to show that most of the type IIP supernovae have an explosion energy of the order of log(Eexp/ergs) = 50.52 ± 0.10 and that both the amount of nickel in the supernovae and the amount of mixing may have a dependence on initial progenitor mass.

We present results of a supernova lightcurve population synthesis, predicting the range of possible supernova lightcurves arising from a population of progenitor stars that include interacting binary systems. We show that the known diversity of supernova lightcurves can be interpreted as arising from binary interactions. Given detailed models of the progenitor stars, we are able to the determine what parameters within these stars determine the shape of their supernova lightcurve. The primary factors are the mass of supernova ejecta and the mass of hydrogen in the final progenitor. We find that there is a continuum of lightcurve behaviour from type IIP, IIL, to IIb supernovae related to the range of hydrogen and ejecta masses. Most type IIb supernovae arise from a relatively narrow range of initial masses from 10 to 15 M⊙. We also find a few distinct lightcurves that are the result of stellar mergers.

In several lately published studies, the association between single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs12252) of IFITM3 and the risk of influenza is inconsistent. To further understand the association between the SNP of IFITM3 and the risk of influenza, we searched related studies in five databases including PubMed published earlier than 9 November 2017. Ten sets of data from nine studies were included and data were analysed by Revman 5.0 and Stata 12.0 in our updated meta-analysis, which represented 1365 patients and 5425 no-influenza controls from four different ethnicities. Here strong association between rs12252 and influenza was found in all four genetic models. The significant differences in the allelic model (C vs. T: odds ratio (OR) = 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.03–1.79), P = 0.03) and homozygote model (CC vs. TT: OR = 10.63, 95% CI (3.39–33.33), P < 0.00001) in the Caucasian subgroup were discovered, which is very novel and striking. Also novel discoveries were found in the allelic model (C vs. T: OR = 1.37, 95% CI (1.08–1.73), P = 0.009), dominant model (CC + CT vs. TT: OR = 1.48, 95% CI (1.08–2.02), P = 0.01) and homozygote model (CC vs. TT: OR = 2.84, 95% CI (1.36–5.92), P = 0.005) when we compared patients with mild influenza with healthy individuals. Our meta-analysis suggests that single-nucleotide T to C polymorphism of IFITM3 associated with increasingly risk of severe and mild influenza in both Asian and Caucasian populations.

Considering as many as 70% of massive stars interact with a binary companion (Sana et al.2012, 2014), we created a new model of the optical nebular emission of HII regions by combining the results of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS, Eldridge, Stanway et al.2017) code with the photoionization code (CLOUDY). This is discussed more in detail in Xiao et al.2018a. Then we use this model to explore a variety of emission-line diagnostics of CCSN host HII regions from the PMAS/PPAK Integral-field Supernova hosts COmpilation (PISCO, Galbany et al.2018). We determine the age, metallicity and gas parameters for H II regions associated with CCSNe, contrasting the above variables to distribution type II and type Ibc SNe. We find their nebular emission and CCSN progenitor types are largely determined by past and ongoing binary interactions, for example mass loss, mass gain and stellar mergers. However we note these two types SNe have little preference in their host environment metallicity measured by oxygen abundance or in progenitor initial mass, except that at lower metallicities supernovae are more likely to be of type II. The BPASS and nebular emission models are available from bpass.auckland.ac.nz and warwick.ac.uk/bpass.

Plant height and lodging resistance can affect rice yield significantly, but these traits have always conflicted in crop cultivation and breeding. The current study aimed to establish a rapid and accurate plant type evaluation mechanism to provide a basis for breeding tall but lodging-resistant super rice varieties. A comprehensive approach integrating plant anatomy and histochemistry was used to investigate variations in flexural strength (a material property, defined as the stress in a material just before it yields in a flexure test) of the rice stem and the lodging index of 15 rice accessions at different growth stages to understand trends in these parameters and the potential factors influencing them. Rice stem anatomical structure was observed and the lignin content the cell wall was determined at different developmental stages. Three rice lodging evaluation models were established using correlation analysis, multivariate regression and artificial radial basis function (RBF) neural network analysis, and the results were compared to identify the most suitable model for predicting optimal rice plant types. Among the three evaluation methods, the mean residual and relative prediction errors were lowest using the RBF network, indicating that it was highly accurate and robust and could be used to establish a mathematical model of the morphological characteristics and lodging resistance of rice to identify optimal varieties.

Two new species of egg parasitoids, Oobius saimaensis Yao and Mottern new species and Oobius fleischeri Yao and Duan new species (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae), are described from eggs of Agrilus fleischeri Obenberger, 1925 (Coleoptera: Buprestidae). Agrilus fleischeri is a phloem-feeding woodborer of poplar (Populus Linnaeus; Salicaceae) in northeastern China. These two species can be distinguished morphologically as O. fleischeri has five tarsomeres and O. saimaensis has four tarsomeres. Although O. saimaensis is morphologically similar to its sympatric congener O. agrili Zhang and Hang, 2005, an important natural enemy of the invasive emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888, molecular phylogenetics and morphological data indicate that they are distinct species. Phylogenetic relationships among the new species and other closely related species are also inferred by using DNA sequence data from several ribosomal and mitochondrial genes. In addition, we expand the known distribution of Oobius primorskyensis Yao and Duan, 2016 to include South Korea.

The Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis suite of binary stellar evolution models and synthetic stellar populations provides a framework for the physically motivated analysis of both the integrated light from distant stellar populations and the detailed properties of those nearby. We present a new version 2.1 data release of these models, detailing the methodology by which Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis incorporates binary mass transfer and its effect on stellar evolution pathways, as well as the construction of simple stellar populations. We demonstrate key tests of the latest Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis model suite demonstrating its ability to reproduce the colours and derived properties of resolved stellar populations, including well-constrained eclipsing binaries. We consider observational constraints on the ratio of massive star types and the distribution of stellar remnant masses. We describe the identification of supernova progenitors in our models, and demonstrate a good agreement to the properties of observed progenitors. We also test our models against photometric and spectroscopic observations of unresolved stellar populations, both in the local and distant Universe, finding that binary models provide a self-consistent explanation for observed galaxy properties across a broad redshift range. Finally, we carefully describe the limitations of our models, and areas where we expect to see significant improvement in future versions.

The origins and phylogeny of different sheep breeds has been widely studied using polymorphisms within the mitochondrial hypervariable region. However, little is known about the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and phylogeny based on mtDNA protein-coding genes. In this study, we assessed the phylogeny and copy number of the mtDNA in eight indigenous (population size, n=184) and three introduced (n=66) sheep breeds in China based on five mitochondrial coding genes (COX1, COX2, ATP8, ATP6 and COX3). The mean haplotype and nucleotide diversities were 0.944 and 0.00322, respectively. We identified a correlation between the lineages distribution and the genetic distance, whereby Valley-type Tibetan sheep had a closer genetic relationship with introduced breeds (Dorper, Poll Dorset and Suffolk) than with other indigenous breeds. Similarly, the Median-joining profile of haplotypes revealed the distribution of clusters according to genetic differences. Moreover, copy number analysis based on the five mitochondrial coding genes was affected by the genetic distance combining with genetic phylogeny; we also identified obvious non-synonymous mutations in ATP6 between the different levels of copy number expressions. These results imply that differences in mitogenomic compositions resulting from geographical separation lead to differences in mitochondrial function.

An updated compilation of published and new data of major-ion (Ca, Cl, K, Mg, Na, NO3, SO4) and methylsulfonate (MS) concentrations in snow from 520 Antarctic sites is provided by the national ITASE (International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition) programmes of Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the national Antarctic programme of Finland. The comparison shows that snow chemistry concentrations vary by up to four orders of magnitude across Antarctica and exhibit distinct geographical patterns. The Antarctic-wide comparison of glaciochemical records provides a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of the fundamental factors that ultimately control the chemistry of snow or ice samples. This paper aims to initiate data compilation and administration in order to provide a framework for facilitation of Antarctic-wide snow chemistry discussions across all ITASE nations and other contributing groups. The data are made available through the ITASE web page (http://www2.umaine.edu/itase/content/syngroups/snowchem.html) and will be updated with new data as they are provided. In addition, recommendations for future research efforts are summarized.

By introducing the concept of forming springback anti-coupled systems and considering the influence of the self damping effect, meanwhile establishing higher-order geometrical nonlinear equation of a high strength and low alloy (HSLA) steel plate, then a set of nonlinear dynamic springback governing equations of the plate are obtained. The finite difference method, Newmark method and iterative method are applied to solve the whole problem. Numerical results denote that the boundary conditions, thickness-length ratio of the plate and initial impact velocity of the impactor have great influence on the springback amount of the rectangular HSLA steel plate, besides the natural frequency is affected a lot by the boundary conditions and thickness-length ratio. The effect of higher-order geometrical nonlinearity on the springback amount of the plate can be ignored, considering the first-order geometrical nonlinearity is enough accurate for such similar nonlinear dynamic problems.

We present a new model of the optical nebular emission from HII regions by combining the results of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (bpass) code with the photoionization code cloudy (Ferland et al. 1998). We explore a variety of emission-line diagnostics of these star-forming HII regions and examine the effects of metallicity and interacting binary evolution on the nebula emission-line production. We compare the line emission properties of HII regions with model stellar populations, and provide new constraints on their stellar populations and supernova progenitors. We find that models including massive binary stars can successfully match all the observational constraints and provide reasonable age and mass estimation of the HII regions and supernova progenitors.

We have recently released version 2.0 of the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) population synthesis code. This is designed to construct the spectra and related properties of stellar populations built from ~200,000 detailed, individual stellar models of known age and metallicity. The output products enable a broad range of theoretical predictions for individual stars, binaries, resolved and unresolved stellar populations, supernovae and their progenitors, and compact remnant mergers. Here we summarise key applications that demonstrate that binary populations typically reproduce observations better than single star models.

Studies of schizophrenia at drug-naive state and on antipsychotic medication have reported a number of regions of gray-matter (GM) abnormalities but the reports have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to conduct multimodal meta-analysis to compare the cross-sectional voxel-based morphometry studies of brain GM in antipsychotic-naive first-episode schizophrenia (AN-FES) and those with antipsychotic treatment within 1 year (AT-FES) to determine the similarities and differences in these groups. We conducted two separate meta-analyses containing 24 studies with a sample size of 801 patients and 957 healthy controls. A multimodal meta-analysis method was used to compare the findings between AN-FES and AT-FES. Meta-regression analyses were done to determine the influence of different variables including age, duration of illness, and positive and negative symptom scores. Finally, jack-knife analyses were done to test the robustness of the results. AN-FES and AT-FES showed common patterns of GM abnormalities in frontal (gyrus rectus), superior temporal, left hippocampal and insular cortex. GM in the left supramarginal gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus were found to be increased in AN-FES but decreased in AT-FES, whereas left median cingulate/paracingulate gyri and right hippocampus GM was decreased in AN-FES but increased in AT-FES. Findings suggest that both AN-FES and AT-FES share frontal, temporal and insular regions as common anatomical regions to be affected indicating these to be the primary regions of GM abnormalities in both groups.