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The salivary immunoglobulin E (IgE) level that usually acts as an indicator of human immunity could change significantly with the air temperature. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a commonly used technique to assess the thermal responses of the human body to the environment. However, the relations between them under step-change temperatures would still need more evidence. Experiments were conducted in this study to explore the EEG–IgE relation. Three step-changed temperature conditions in the controlled environment by a climate chamber were selected in this study, under which the air temperature was suddenly transitioned from a low temperature of 15°C to higher temperatures of 18°C, 24°C and 30°C, respectively, before returning to the initial low-temperature condition. The subjective questionnaires, the EEG signals and the salivary samples from 14 subjects in these three step-changed temperature conditions were collected. Results showed that the thermal comfort voting was significantly correlated with the EEG spectral power and the IgE concentration. In addition, a significant negative correlation between the frontal lobe spectral power and the salivary IgE changes was observed. The spectral power of the frontal lobe could be used as an objective indicator to evaluate the salivary IgE levels under step-change temperature environments. This study has provided some guidance for future studies of the human immunity responses to the indoor environment in different seasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to study the distributed control problems of heterogeneous signed networks whose communication topologies are undirected. A distributed control protocol is designed based on neighboring state information. With this protocol be employed, the convergence results of the heterogeneous signed network are provided. It is shown that the heterogeneous signed network can achieve the static bipartite consensus (respectively, state stability) if and only if the signed graph is structurally balanced (respectively, unbalanced). The associated convergence analyses can be developed by constructing a suitable Lyapunov function. In addition, two simulation examples are presented to validate the correctness of the obtained results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A stabilized zoom system with deformable mirrors (DMs) was designed for continuous optical zoom. In order to adjust the focal length and expand the field angle, the characteristic surface shapes of the DMs composed of the low‐order and high‐order Zernike polynomials were provided. The maximum peak‐to‐valley (PV) value at the center of the surface shape is 80 μm. This work presents a piezoelectrically‐actuated deformable mirror (PADM) with large displacement for a stabilized zoom system. The COMSOL simulation was conducted to obtain the desired design by matching and optimizing structural parameters. The maximum displacement of PADM was more than 80 μm. The fitting results by the steepest descent algorithm (SD) showed that the RMS values of the residual surface shapes were 1 of 7 to 1 of 4 of their PV values, and the PV values of the residual surface shapes were less than 1 of 10 of the PV values of the target surface shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global emphasis on achieving sustainable development goals necessitates the involvement of researchers and regulators worldwide. In light of this, recent research has examined the effect of human capital, renewable energy, population growth, economic growth, and environmental protection on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a developed economy like Pakistan, which is the most important country in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region. This study analyzed secondary data from 1990 to 2019, using the World Development Indicators as the secondary data source. Using the augmented Dickey-Fuller test to investigate stationarity and the autoregressive distributed lag model to evaluate the nexus between variables, the researchers analyzed the relationship between the variables. The findings indicate that all predictors, such as the human capital index (HCI), renewable energy consumption, and renewable energy, exhibit a negative correlation with carbon emissions and a positive correlation with the SDGs. In this study, sustainability and the HCI are positively correlated. Reducing carbon emissions requires competent and dependable employees. As Pakistan transitions to renewable energy and strives for 30% green electricity by 2030, the report highlights the ecological benefits of controlled population growth. According to the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), effective climate policies advance the environmental objectives of a nation. Economic and population growth have a positive correlation with carbon emissions as well. These results facilitate Pakistani policymakers' creation of effective SDG-related initiatives for sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jinan, China, is famous for its springs. However, societal and economic development over the past decades has detrimentally altered the natural water cycle in the spring area. Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is an effective measure to ensure the normal gushing of springs. Balancing water resource utilisation, ecological effects, and water quality risks is not always easy to implement. This study focused on the potential effects of MAR projects that divert water from multiple local surface water sites, e.g., the Yellow River and South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) Project. A numerical simulation model for the entire spring area was built using MODFLOW and MT3DMS. The SNWD Project diverts water with relatively high total dissolved solids (TDS) to the Yufu River, which consequently recharges groundwater and poses a potential risk to the downstream karst water in the Jinan Spring area. Different simulation scenarios were set, and the results showed that the 90% recovery ratio scheme yields the highest TDS reduction efficiency as well as the largest karst water extraction volume. In addition, the water table remains stable as a whole. The benefits of the designed scheme are multifold, including improving water quality up to Standard III groundwater quality and meeting the water needs of the economy. The study provides a novel method of addressing the groundwater quality risks posed by artificial recharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) is a crucial enzyme that causes carbapenem resistance in Enterobacterales, and infections by these "superbugs" are extremely challenging to treat. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a rapid and accurate KPC detection test to control the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CREs). In this study, we established a novel method for detection of blaKPC, the gene responsible for encoding KPC, based on a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and a CRISPR/Cas13a reaction coupled to fluorophore activation (termed RPA-Cas13a assay). We carefully selected a pair of optimal amplification primers for blaKPC and achieved a lower limit of detection of approximately 2.5 copies/μL by repeatedly amplifying a recombinant plasmid containing blaKPC. The RPA-Cas13a assay demonstrated a sensitivity of 96.5% and specificity of 100% when tested on 57 blaKPC-positive CRE strains, which were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Moreover, in 311 sputum samples, the theoretical antibiotic resistance characteristics of blaKPC-positive strains obtained by the RPA-Cas13a assay were highly consistent with the results of antibiotic susceptibility test (Kappa = 0.978 > 0.81, P < 0.01). In conclusion, the RPA-Cas13a system is a simple and one-hour efficient technology for the detection of a potentially fatal antibiotic resistance gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates an e-commerce supply chain comprising a supplier and an online retailer, wherein the supplier determines the quality improvement of products and the online retailer decides whether or not to acquire information on consumer preference. Consumer preference is ex-ante unknown to both the supplier and online retailer but can be resolved by the online retailer's information acquisition behavior. We consider two widely adopted information acquisition strategies, namely, the committed acquisition strategy and contingent acquisition strategy, which differ in whether the online retailer's information acquisition decision is made prior to or after the supplier's quality improvement decision. We find that, under either strategy, the online retailer acquires information only when the cost of information acquisition is relatively small. Moreover, compared with the contingent one, the committed acquisition scheme boosts the online retailer's motivation to gain information. Additionally, by comparing firms' equilibrium profits under these two acquisition strategies, we uncover that the supplier always prefers the committed acquisition scheme. However, the online retailer's preference toward these two information acquisition strategies is not unidirectional, that is, the online retailer prefers either the committed or the contingent strategy. Specifically, the online retailer is indifferent between these two acquisition strategies when the acquisition cost is either sufficiently low or high; otherwise, when the cost of information acquisition is moderate, the online retailer will shift her strategy from the contingent strategy to the committed strategy as the acquisition cost increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we proposed a chamber-based digital PCR (cdPCR) microfluidic device that is compatible with fluorescence imaging systems for milk adulteration detection. The device enables the digitalization of PCR reagents, which are loaded into microchambers, and subsequent thermocycling for DNA amplification. Then, fluorescence images of the microchambers are captured and analyzed to obtain the total number of positive chambers, which is used to calculate the copy numbers of the target DNA, enabling accurate quantitative detections to determine intentional milk adulteration from accidental contaminations. The validation of this device is performed by camel milk authentication. We performed 25,600-chamber virtual multiplexing cdPCR tests using 40 × 40 chamber devices for the detection of DNA templates extracted from pure or mixed milk with different dilutions. Then, the cdPCR chip was used to authenticate blind milk samples, demonstrating its efficacy in real biotechnical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) presents with an aggressive clinical presentation and high lethality rate. Early prediction of the severity of acute pancreatitis will help physicians to further precise treatment and improve intervention. This study aims to construct a composite model that can predict SAP using inflammatory markers. 212 patients with acute pancreatitis enrolled from January 2018 to June 2020 were included in this study, basic parameters at admission and 24 h after hospitalization, and laboratory results such as inflammatory markers were collected. Pearson's test was used to analyze the correlation between heparin-binding protein (HBP), procalcitonin (PCT), and C-reactive protein (CRP). Risk factors affecting SAP were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression, inflammatory marker models were constructed, and subject operating curves were used to verify the discrimination of individual as well as inflammatory marker models and to find the optimal cut-off value based on the maximum Youden index. In the SAP group, the plasma levels of HBP, CRP, and PCT were 139.1 ± 74.8 ng/mL, 190.7 ± 106.3 mg/L and 46.3 ± 22.3 ng/mL, and 25.3 ± 16.0 ng/mL, 145.4 ± 67.9 mg/L and 27.9 ± 22.4 ng/mL in non-SAP patients, with a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.001), The Pearson correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between the three values of HBP, CRP, and PCT. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that HBP (OR = 1.070 [1.044–1.098], P < 0.001), CRP (OR = 1.010 [1.004–1.016], P = 0.001), and PCT (OR = 1.030[1.007–1.053], P < 0.001) were risk factors for SAP, and the area under the curve of the HBP-CRP-PCT model was 0.963 (0.936–0.990). The HCP model, consisting of HBP, CRP, and PCT; is well differentiated and easy to use and can predict the risk of SAP in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve China's "double carbon" goal, it is necessary to make quantitative evaluation of the power grid enterprises' contribution to carbon emission reduction. This paper analyzes the contribution of power grid enterprises to carbon emission reduction from three points: power generation side, power grid side, and user side. Then, PLS-VIP method is used to screen the key influencing factors of carbon emission reduction contribution of power grid enterprises from three aspects: consumption of clean energy emission reduction, reduction of line loss emission reduction, and substitution of electric energy. Based on GA-ELM combined machine learning algorithm, we establish an intelligent evaluation model of power grid enterprises' carbon emission reduction contribution. Furthermore, according to the distribution law of key influencing factors, this paper uses Monte Carlo simulation method to calculate the contribution of power grid enterprises to carbon emission reduction by scenario, so as to evaluate the contribution of power grid enterprises to carbon emission reduction. Finally, combined with the relevant data of power grid enterprises from 2003 to 2019, this paper makes an empirical study on the completion of carbon emission reduction contribution and the promotion path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skin of the 'Dangshansuli' pear is yellow–green, while that of the 'Dangshansuli' mutant (called 'Dangshanjinsu') is russet. Studies have shown that the formation of russet fruit exocarp is caused by the accumulation of suberin, an opaque layer composed of aliphatic polyester of modified fatty acids. In this study, pebulate, cerulenin, and vitamin K3, which are inhibitors of fatty acid synthesis (FAS), were used to assess their effect on russet skin formation in 'Dangshanjinsu' pear. The chromatism and structure of pear exocarp were observed, hardness and suberin monomer content were measured, the expression profile of FAS-related genes was monitored, and RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) was conducted to determine the molecular regulatory mechanisms of pebulate treatment on russet pear skin formation. The results showed that the skin chromatism between 'Dangshansuli' and 'Dangshanjinsu' reflects the accumulation of suberin as the accumulation of suberization cells in the exocarps of the pear fruits was visible in safranin O-Fast green staining. The application of FAS inhibitors reduced the accumulation of the suberin layer in the exocarp of 'Dangshanjinsu'. Among them, pebulate and cerulenin had the greatest effect on inhibiting the formation of suberin layer in 'Dangshanjinsu' by reducing the biosynthesis of fatty acids, especially long-chain fatty acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cell viability is an essential physiological status for drug screening. While cell staining is a conventional cell viability analysis method, dye staining is usually cytotoxic. Alternatively, impedance cytometry provides a straightforward and label-free sensing approach for the assessment of cell viability. A key element of impedance cytometry is its sensing electrodes. Most state-of-the-art electrodes are made of expensive metals, microfabricated by lithography, with a typical size of ten microns. In this work, we proposed a low-cost microfluidic impedance cytometry device with 100-micron wide indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes to achieve a comparable performance to the 10-micron wide Au electrodes. The effectiveness was experimentally verified as 7 μm beads can be distinguished from 10 μm beads. To the best of our knowledge, this is the lowest geometry ratio of the target to the sensing unit in the impedance cytometry technology. Furthermore, a cell viability test was performed on MCF-7 cells. The proposed double differential impedance cytometry device has successfully differentiated the living and dead MCF-7 cells with a throughput of ~1000 cells/s. The label-free and low-cost, high-throughput impedance cytometry could benefit drug screening, fundamental biological research and other biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Kunlun Orogenic Belt is considered as one of the important gold mineralization regions in the Tethys tectonic domain. These orogenic gold deposits are related to intermediate-acid intrusions formed at the end of Paleo-Tethys evolution, but the petrogenesis is controversial. This paper presents a new study on the geochemistry of zircon U-Pb, O, S, and Pb isotopic compositions of Asiha quartz diorite, granite porphyry, and sulfides. The geochemical features of quartz diorite and granite porphyry are consistent with the modern adakite, with high content of Sr but low content of Y, Yb, and MgO. Magmatic zircons from these two types of intrusion yielded U-Pb ages of 238.4 ± 1.4 Ma and 240 ± 1.7 Ma, respectively. The high O isotopic composition of Asiha complex may reflect that crust or crustal derivates were incorporated into the magmatic melt, and the Pb isotope characteristics indicates a lower crust origin. The δ34S values of pyrites range from 4.9‰ to 11.6‰. This study infers that the Asiha complex perhaps formed by partial melting of the Paleo-Tethys subducted oceanic crust with seafloor sediments and is markedly different from the traditional adakite. Asiha deposit is an orogenic gold deposit related to adakite-like rocks, which formed in Triassic in the East Kunlun Orogenic Belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Assessing the impact of human capital, renewable energy, population growth, economic growth, and climate change policies on achieving the sustainable development goals" has been retracted by the publisher due to concerns about the integrity of the peer review process, inappropriate references and citations, and other issues. The publisher, in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, no longer has confidence in the results and conclusions of the article. The authors of the article have not responded to correspondence regarding this retraction. Springer Nature, the publisher, remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. [Extracted from the article]

DNA damage, which may arise from cellular activities or be induced by genotoxic stresses, can cause genome instability and significantly affect plant growth and productivity. In response to genotoxic stresses, plants activate the cellular DNA damage response (DDR) to sense the stresses and activate downstream processes. The transcription factor SUPPRESSOR OF GAMMA RESPONSE 1 (SOG1), a functional counterpart of mammalian p53, is a master regulator of the DDR in plants. It is activated by various types of DNA lesions and can activate the transcription of hundreds of genes to trigger downstream processes, including cell cycle arrest, DNA repair, endoreplication, and apoptosis. Since SOG1 plays a crucial role in DDR, the activity of SOG1 must be tightly regulated. A recent study published in Plant Cell (Chen et al., Plant Cell koad126, 2023) reports a novel mechanism by which the ATR-WEE1 kinase module promotes SOG1 translation to fine-tune replication stress response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fluorine-containing branched sulfonated polyimide (FbSPI) membrane is promising for use as a separator of vanadium flow battery (VFB) owing to the excellent vanadium ion blocking and proton selectivity together with reasonable cost. However, the durability of FbSPI membrane is still inferior to that of commercial Nafion membrane. To get the information of the evolution behaviors of FbSPI membrane in VFB environment, the degradation mechanism of FbSPI membrane is systemically investigated by ex situ experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The micro-/macro-morphological results show that the destruction degree of FbSPI membrane increases and the mechanical properties of FbSPI membrane also gradually decrease with the increase of ex situ degradation time. Moreover, the chemical structure of FbSPI membrane changes after degradation. Meanwhile, the DFT is used to investigate the bond breaking process of imide rings of FbSPI membrane. According to the ex situ experimental and DFT calculated results, the degradation mechanism of FbSPI membrane is reasonably revealed. This work provides valuable guidance for proposing the scientific strategies to improve the stability of FbSPI membrane for VFB application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the Li-rich manganese layered oxide Li1.2Mn0.54Ni0.13Co0.13O2 (LMNC in short) is coated with a novel Al2O3–ZrO2 layer for lithium-ion battery application. Three modified LMNC materials including AZ1, AZ2 and AZ3 with different mass ratios between Al2O3–ZrO2 coating and LMNC are successfully prepared. Al2O3–ZrO2 coating layer inhibits the side reactions, restricts the transformation of layered structure and enhances the stability of LMNC. The coated LMNC shows the most excellent electrochemical performance for application in lithium-ion battery, when the mass ratio between Al2O3–ZrO2 coating layer and LMNC is 2 wt% (AZ2). The specific discharge capacity of AZ2 (111.0 mAh g−1) is significantly higher than that of pristine LMNC (i.e., AZ0) (85.6 mAh g−1) at the 10 C rate. Moreover, the AZ2 shows outstanding durability during the 200 times cycling charge and discharge tests at 1 C, whose capacity retention rate and voltage decay are 81.6% and 370.1 mV after 200 cycles, respectively. Specifically, the voltage decay rate of AZ2 is much lower than those of most reported Li-rich manganese layered oxides. Therefore, the as-prepared AZ2 cathode material with excellent electrochemical performance has a bright future for lithium-ion battery application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When being used as anodes for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs), environmental friendly and easily available biomass‐derived carbon materials often suffer from complex preparation conditions, underdeveloped pore structures and relatively low circulation capacities. In this context, three novel biomass‐derived porous carbon materials including LRK‐6, LRK‐7 and LRK‐8 sourced from lotus roots are activated and carbonized by a simple method. The prepared material has a three‐dimensional honeycomb structure. The effects of carbonization temperature on the structure, morphology and electrochemical properties of the material are investigated in detail. Owing to its high specific surface area (831.017 m2 g−1), appropriate microporous content (0.217 cm3 g−1) and the highest mesopore capacity (0.325 cm3 g−1) together with suitable doping of N and O atoms, the as‐optimized LRK‐7 material shows a reversible specific capacity of 725.25 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g−1 and 614.60 mAh g−1 after 223 cycles at 0.3 A g−1. Besides, LRK‐7 material also exhibits high rate performance, achieving a capacity of 153.5 mAh g−1 at 9.0 A g−1. The results verify that the application of LRK‐7 as a potential anode material in the LIB will embrace a bright future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the deepening of digital transformation and upgrading of power grid enterprises, the digital system evaluation method of power grid enterprises based on experts' subjective experience has been unable to meet the management needs of modern enterprises. In this paper, a method based on fuzzy information axiom for dynamic design quality evaluation of digital system in electric power enterprises is proposed. Firstly, the electric power enterprise digital system dynamic design quality comprehensive evaluation index system is set up from three aspects, which are achievement degree of target business function, logical relation rationality, and technical economy of physical model. Secondly, the quantitative and qualitative index values are processed by using the information calculation formula of minimum information axiom and fuzzy membership function. And then best-worst method and antientropy weight method are used to form the comprehensive evaluation model. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the design scheme are verified by an example of dynamic design of digital system in power enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitization is a driving force for social development and corporate innovation. Digital projects have become an indispensable part of the sustainable development of enterprises. However, due to the imperfect decision-making system of digital projects and the lack of experience of traditional enterprises' digital projects, the decision-making of digital projects is an unavoidable challenge in the digital transformation of enterprises. For the digital project decision of the STATE GRID Corporation of China, this paper conducts a sensitivity analysis of digital project evaluation index weights based on cloud model theory, on top of historical successful project experience to support digital project decision-making. Firstly, this paper establishes a comprehensive evaluation index system for digitalization projects from five aspects: economic efficiency, interconnection, intelligent management, value release, and development innovation. The coefficient of variation method is used for index screening, and the weight intervals are formed by four subjective and objective assignment methods. Then, the LSOM model is established to generate the weight values in the interval, and, finally, the sensitivity of digital project comprehensive evaluation indexes is analyzed based on the cloud model to select the most robust index weights for project evaluation and choose the optimal project. The feasibility of the proposed method is verified by arithmetic examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russeting, a disorder of pear fruit skin, is mainly caused by suberin accumulation on the inner part of the outer epidermal cell layers. ABA was identified as a crucial phytohormone in suberification. Here, we demonstrated that the ABA content in russet pear skin was higher than in green skin. Then, ABA was applied to explore the changes in phenotype and suberin composition coupled with RNA-Seq and metabolomics to investigate the probably regulatory pathway of ABA-mediated suberification. The results showed that ABA treatment increased the expression of ω-3 fatty acid desaturase (FAD) and the content of α-linolenic acid. We identified 17 PbFADs in white pear, and the expression of PbFAD3a was induced by ABA. In addition, the role of PbFAD3a in promoting suberification has been demonstrated by overexpression in Arabidopsis and VIGS assays in the fruitlets. GUS staining indicated that the promoter of PbFAD3a was activated by ABA. Furthermore, MYC2 and MYB1R1 have been shown to bind to the PbFAD3a promoter directly and this was induced by ABA via yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) screening and qRT–PCR. In summary, our study found that ABA induces the expression of MYC2 and MYB1R1 and activates the PbFAD3a promoter, contributing to the formation of russet pear skin. Functional identification of key transcription factors will be the goal of future research. These findings reveal the molecular mechanism of ABA-mediated suberization in the russet skin and provide a good foundation for future studies on the formation of russet skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calc‐alkaline granitoid intrusions with abundant mafic microgranular enclaves (MMEs) are widespread in the East Kunlun orogenic belt (EKOB). Here, we present petrological observations, zircon U–Pb ages, whole‐rock geochemical, and Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic data for quartz diorites and the MMEs in the Asiha gold ore deposit in the EKOB, to constrain their petrogenesis and tectonic setting. The laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer 206Pb–238U ages of zircons indicate that the host quartz diorites and their MMEs from the Asiha gold deposit crystallized at 228.4 ± 1.7 Ma and 229.0 ± 1.7 Ma, respectively, which is similar to the gold mineralization age. Whole‐rock geochemical data indicate that the quartz diorites are I‐type granites. The MMEs have εHf(t) values of −7.6 to −0.2, −2.1 on average, whereas those of the quartz diorites range from −3.2 to −0.8, with a mean value of −2.1, which is identical within analytical uncertainty. Moreover, the host quartz diorites and their MMEs have relatively homogeneous Sr–Nd isotopic compositions, with high initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and low εNd(t) values ranging from 0.70914 to 0.70963 and from −5.9 to −5.5, respectively. In summary, the MMEs and host quartz diorites have similar geochemical characteristics, indistinguishable Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic composition, and almost simultaneous crystallization age. Geochemical evidence shows that they formed due to the mixing of crust‐ and mantle‐derived magmas. Combined with our new results and published geological, geochronological, and geochemical data, this paper proposes that the EKOB had evolved into a post‐collisional environment at about 230–228 Ma, and the host quartz diorites and their MMEs from the Asiha complex formed in the transitional stage from the syn‐collisional to the post‐collisional setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: DNA methylation plays key roles in transposable element (TE) silencing and gene expression regulation. DNA methylation occurs at CG, CHG and CHH sequence contexts in plants. However, the synergistic and redundant roles of CG and non‐CG methylation are poorly understood.By introducing CRISPR/Cas9‐induced met1 mutation into the ddcc (drm1 drm2 cmt2 cmt3) mutant, we attempted to knock out all five DNA methyltransferases in Arabidopsis and then investigate the synergistic and redundant roles of CG and non‐CG DNA methylation.We found that the homozygous ddcc met1 quintuple mutants are embryonically lethal, although met1 and ddcc mutants only display some developmental abnormalities. Unexpectedly, the ddcc met1 quintuple mutations only reduce transmission through the male gametophytes. The ddcc met1+/− mutants show apparent size divergence, which is not associated with difference in DNA methylation patterns, but associated with the difference in the levels of DNA damage. Finally, we show that a group of TEs are specifically activated in the ddcc met1+/− mutants.This work reveals that CG and non‐CG DNA methylation synergistically and redundantly regulate plant reproductive development, vegetative development and TE silencing in Arabidopsis. Our findings provide insights into the roles of DNA methylation in plant development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Kunlun orogenic belt (EKOB) is located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Voluminous Silurian-Devonian granitoids were formed during the Proto-Tethys Ocean subduction and collision process. In this study, zircon U-Pb age dating, in-situ Hf isotope analyses, and whole rock major and trace element analyses have been carried out on granitoids from the central to eastern EKOB. The formation ages of granodiorite in the Bairiqili area, the granodiorite in the Wulonggou area are 410 ± 2 Ma and 396 ± 1 Ma, respectively, and the granodiorites show I-type features. The Wulonggou syenogranite with a formation age of 398 ± 2 Ma has a high differentiation index (D.I. = 89.59–92.43), and may belong to the high fractionated I-type granite. The Lalangmai tonalite with a formation age of 423 ± 2 Ma has high Sr (339–590 µg/g), εHf(t) (1.5–7.3), and low Y (3.45–6.33 µg/g), which are similar to modern adakites. The Lalangmai tonalite is the latest adakite record during the Proto-Tethys evolution in EKOB. Combined with previous studies, it is concluded that the granitoids from Cambrian to Devonian divided into four episodes. The first episode (515–436 Ma) mainly consists of I-type island arc granites and adakite, which are formed in a subduction environment. The second episode (436–427 Ma) is characterized by the S-type granites related to the collision. The third episode (427–420 Ma) is the transition period between the collision and the post-collision environment. In the fourth episodes (420–385 Ma), granitoids were formed in post-collision extensional environment, which is characterized by I-type and A-type granites. The upwelling of asthenosphere material is likely caused by the collapse of the orogenic belt. After 420 Ma, I-type and A-type granites formed at different depths but in the same environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) is largely determined by the membrane as a separator. To address the trade-off issue between the proton conductance and vanadium resistance of sulfonated polyimide (SPI) membranes, novel covalent cross-linked polyfluoro sulfonated polyimide (PFSPI-PAA-X) membranes are developed by designing and synthesizing polyfluoro non-sulfonated diamine and adopting hydrophilic polyacrylic acid (PAA) as the cross-linking agent. The structures, morphology and physico-chemical properties of PFSPI-PAA-X membranes are systematically investigated. PFSPI-PAA-X membranes possess improved chemical stabilities in contrast to the pure PFSPI membrane. Among all PFSPI-PAA-X membranes, the PFSPI-PAA-25 membrane (0.15 Ω cm2) shows the lowest area resistance, which is even a little lower than that of the Nafion 212 membrane (0.16 Ω cm2). And, the PFSPI-PAA-25 membrane also has an extremely low vanadium permeability of 5.90 × 10−9 cm2 min−1, which is two orders of magnitude lower than that of the Nafion 212 membrane (7.53 × 10−7 cm2 min−1). The VRFB performances including the self-discharge time (PFSPI-PAA-25: 52.3 h, Nafion 212: 17.6 h), efficiencies at 60–300 mA cm−2 (PFSPI-PAA-25: CE = 97.3–99.9% and EE = 90.7–73.6%, Nafion 212: CE = 90.9–96.5% and EE = 84.7–72.0%) and peak power density (PFSPI-PAA-25: 451.4 mW cm−2, Nafion 212: 427.9 mW cm−2) of the PFSPI-PAA-25 membrane are all superior to those of the Nafion 212 membrane. Meanwhile, the PFSPI-PAA-25 membrane shows outstanding durability during the 500 times charge–discharge cycle test. Therefore, the as-prepared PFSPI-PAA-25 membrane with excellent cost-performance ratio has a bright future in replacing the Nafion 212 membrane for application in VRFBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparison and validation of canopy reflectance (CR) models are two important steps to ensure their reliability. Pure forest plantations are an ideal type of forest for validating CR models because of their simple background and the low variance in the crown structures which are usually assumed to be identical in most CR models. A Geometric Optical Model for Forest Plantations (GOFP) was compared using dataset in two radiation transfer model intercomparison exercise (RAMI) stands and validated using in situ dataset of detailed optical and structural data of two forest plantations in the Saihanba Forestry Center, China. The results show that (1) the tree distributions in stands described by the hypergeometric model in GOFP show good consistencies with the dataset in the two RAMI stands and measurements from the two Saihanba forest stands; and (2) the CRs simulated with GOFP are also compared well in the two RAMI stands and validated with measurements collected with unmanned aerial vehicles in the two Saihanba stands. GOFP shows a better consistency with the CR measurements than those from CR models for natual forestsbecause the tree distribution in forest plantations is described more reasonably in GOFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the commercial nuclear technology rising in society nowadays, it is of paramount importance to remove uranium (VI) in radioactive wastewater through a cost-effective and efficient way. Due to simple operation, low cost and abundant adsorbents, the adsorption method has been widely used to treat the radioactive wastewater. However, unsatisfactory selectivity and potential secondary pollution of most adsorbents hamper their practical large-scale application. To overcome these limitations, an effective and green absorbent is developed by functionalizing the waste eggshell membrane (ESM) with carboxyl-rich agents. This design concept transfers waste ESM (or "trash") into a unique "treasure" absorbent for directly handling radioactive wastewater. The resultant ESM-COOH shows excellent adsorption selectivity toward uranium (VI) with the selectivity coefficient of 75%, exceeding a majority of reported adsorbents. Moreover, its adsorption capacity still maintains 84% of the initial value after six cycles, suggesting good reusability. These excellent features enable the ESM-COOH to adsorb uranium (VI) highly selectively and efficiently. This work offers a concept to transfer biological wastes into treasure for the mass remediation of water body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Browning spot (BS) disorders seriously affect the appearance quality of 'Huangguan' pear and cause economic losses. Many studies on BS have mainly focused on physiological and biochemical aspects, and the molecular mechanism remains unclear. Results: In the present study, the structural characteristics of 'Huangguan' pear with BS were observed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the water loss and brown spots were evaluated, and transcriptomic and metabolomics analyses were conducted to reveal the molecular mechanism underlying 'Huangguan' pear skin browning disorder. The results showed that the occurrence of BS was accompanied by a decrease in the wax layer and an increase in lignified cells. Genes related to wax biosynthesis were downregulated in BS, resulting in a decrease in the wax layer in BS. Genes related to lignin were upregulated at the transcriptional level, resulting in upregulation of metabolites related to phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Expression of calcium-related genes were upregulated in BS. Cold-induced genes may represent the key genes that induce the formation of BS. In addition, the results demonstrated that exogenous NaH2PO4·2H2O and ABA treatment could inhibit the incidence of BS during harvest and storage time by increasing wax-related genes and calcium-related genes expression and increasing plant resistance, whereas the transcriptomics results indicated that GA3 may accelerate the incidence and index of BS. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate a molecular mechanism that could explain BS formation and elucidate the effects of different treatments on the incidence and molecular regulation of BS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of highly efficient adsorbent presents an enticing prospect for U(VI)-containing radioactive wastewater treatment. In this work, a novel porous cCS/PVA/UiO-66-NH2 membrane absorbent comprising of crosslinked chitosan (cCS), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and UiO-66-NH2 is designed and prepared. The adsorption capacity of porous cCS/PVA/UiO-66-NH2 membrane achieves 316.50 mg g−1 under an optimal condition. Furthermore, the porous cCS/PVA/UiO-66-NH2 membrane exhibits a high selectivity for U(VI) adsorption in simulated radioactive wastewater treatment. The possible mechanism of U(VI) adsorption onto porous cCS/PVA/UiO-66-NH2 membrane mainly includes surface complexation and cation exchange processes. In addition, the porous cCS/PVA/UiO-66-NH2 membrane also exhibits excellent cycling adsorption-‍desorption performance. All these results demonstrate that the porous cCS/PVA/UiO-‍66-NH2 membrane is a promising candidate for application in U(VI) removal from radioactive wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple method to prepare pH responsive Poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) composite membrane was provided by blending with Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hydrolysed. To introduce reactive groups for weak polyelectrolye, PVC/PAN/SiO2 composite hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) was prepared by a hydrolysis of polyacrylonitrile in different concentration alkaline solution. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron micrograph (SEM) were used to characterize the chemical and morphological changes of the composite membranes. The pH responsive of the obtained composite membrane performance was discussed by the water flux, reversible permeability experiments and diffusional permeability experiments. The results revealed that the obtained membranes with hydrolysis reaction showed evident pH sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baotu spring, known widely as the most famous spring in China, has experienced continuous water level drops, especially during the dry season. Artificial recharge (AR) to groundwater via the Yufu river has been conducted to maintain the required water level to keep regional springs flowing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of recharge on groundwater. A three-dimensional numerical model was built to simulate groundwater level changes after recharge was applied to the Yufu river. The model was calibrated using hydraulic heads measured at multiple monitoring wells. The results showed that AR is an effective way to maintain the groundwater level in a region where groundwater was excessively exploited for irrigation and industry use. In the studied region, the response of groundwater level to AR near the Yufu river was faster in the west than that in the east as a result of different hydrogeologic conditions. Furthermore, different springs responded differently to AR. For example, the water level increases at the Baotu and Heihu springs were 0.06 m and 0.04 m, respectively, whereas other springs experienced decreases. This implies that a more detailed hydrogeologic characterization is necessary to determine the preferential flow paths and low permeability layers in order to maximize the effect of AR for sustainable groundwater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baotu spring, known widely as the most famous spring in China, has experienced continuous water level drops, especially during the dry season. Artificial recharge (AR) to groundwater via the Yufu river has been conducted to maintain the required water level to keep regional springs flowing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of recharge on groundwater. A three-dimensional numerical model was built to simulate groundwater level changes after recharge was applied to the Yufu river. The model was calibrated using hydraulic heads measured at multiple monitoring wells. The results showed that AR is an effective way to maintain the groundwater level in a region where groundwater was excessively exploited for irrigation and industry use. In the studied region, the response of groundwater level to AR near the Yufu river was faster in the west than that in the east as a result of different hydrogeologic conditions. Furthermore, different springs responded differently to AR. For example, the water level increases at the Baotu and Heihu springs were 0.06 m and 0.04 m, respectively, whereas other springs experienced decreases. This implies that a more detailed hydrogeologic characterization is necessary to determine the preferential flow paths and low permeability layers in order to maximize the effect of AR for sustainable groundwater management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Architectures (CGRA) is a promising solution for accelerating computation intensive tasks due to its good trade-off in energy efficiency and flexibility. One of the challenging research topic is how to effectively deploy loops onto CGRAs within acceptable compilation time. Modulo scheduling (MS) has shown to be efficient on deploying loops onto CGRAs. Existing CGRA MS algorithms still suffer from the challenge of mapping loop with higher performance under acceptable compilation time, especially mapping large and irregular loops onto CGRAs with limited computational and routing resources. This is mainly due to the under utilization of the available buffer resources on CGRA, unawareness of critical mapping constraints and time consuming method of solving temporal and spatial mapping. This article focus on improving the performance and compilation robustness of the modulo scheduling mapping algorithm for CGRAs. We decomposes the CGRA MS problem into the temporal and spatial mapping problem and reorganize the processes inside these two problems. For the temporal mapping problem, we provide a comprehensive and systematic mapping flow that includes a powerful buffer allocation algorithm, and efficient interconnection & computational constraints solving algorithms. For the spatial mapping problem, we develop a fast and stable spatial mapping algorithm with backtracking and reordering mechanism. Our MS mapping algorithm is able to map loops onto CGRA with higher performance and faster compilation time. Experiment results show that given the same compilation time budget, our mapping algorithm generates higher compilation success rate. Among the successfully compiled loops, our approach can improve 5.4 to 14.2 percent performance and takes x24 to x1099 less compilation time in average comparing with state-of-the-art CGRA mapping algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of branched sulfonated polyimide (bSPI)/sulfonated methylcellulose (s‐MC) composite membranes composed of a designed and synthesized bSPI polymer and functionalized s‐MC are prepared by using a facile solution casting method for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Among all bSPI/s‐MC composite membranes, the optimized bSPI/s‐MC‐20 % composite membrane has the best proton selectivity of 2.45×105 S min cm−3, which is 14.4 times as high as the Nafion 115 membrane. The bSPI/s‐MC‐20 % composite membrane possesses superior proton conductivity compared to most reported SPI‐based composite membranes for VRFBs. The VRFB with a bSPI/s‐MC‐20 % composite membrane shows excellent battery efficiencies (CE=99.2–98.0 %, EE=66.3–77.6 %) and capacity retention (73.3–47.2 %). Moreover, the cost of the bSPI/s‐MC‐20 % composite membrane is only a quarter of that of a commercial Nafion 115 membrane. This work develops a new strategy to fabricate cheap bSPI‐based composite membranes by introducing a suitable functionalized biomass material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inherent disadvantages of untreated carbon felt (pristine-CF) still restrict the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) from further improving in electrochemical performances. To solve this problem, the carbon felt (CF) decorated with bismuth hydrogen edetate (Bi(HEDTA)) complex was synthesized and studied as anode for VRFB. The cyclic voltammetry curve reflects the great improvement in electrochemical reversibility by reducing the peak potential difference from 0.73 to 0.50 V. Electrochemical impedance spectrum shows the better charge transfer process by reducing the charge transfer resistance from 7.14 to 1.13 Ω. The VRFB assembled by the CF modified with Bi(HEDTA) exhibits an energy efficiency of 66.25% at a current density of 160 mA cm−2, which is 11.76% higher than that of the pristine system. Moreover, the mechanism of Bi(HEDTA) involved in the anodic half-reaction of VRFB has been put forward. The results demonstrate that not only the metal but also the ligand of the complex are significant for improving the electrochemical activity of the reaction towards V3+/V2+ redox couple. In more detail, the oxygen-containing functional groups in the ligand could increase the wettability of the CF as well as act as the active sites, and the metal could decrease the evolution of hydrogen at the same time. Therefore, the effective combination of the respective functions of ligand and metal, makes Bi(HEDTA) a feasible ornament of the CF for VRFB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underground coal mining activities are likely to cause changes in surface structure, resulting in damage to buildings, which seriously threaten the safety of life and property of the residents within the mining area. In this paper, the synthetic aperture radar time-series analysis method is combined with the building damage level empirical model to conduct a health assessment of the residential buildings in the Panji mining area of Huainan. Through the processing of 50 Sentinel-1A satellite radar images from April 2015 to May 2018, it is indicated that the residential areas in Huainan Panji Mining Area continued to be affected by underground coal mining during this period, and severe settlement occurred. Large areas of buildings in residential areas were damaged. Until May 2018, 202,000 m2 of buildings in the residential area of Panji mining have reached the Class II damage and 41,575 m2 have reached the Class III damage. After field investigation, the actual damage situation of the building is in good agreement with the results of this paper. Therefore, synthetic aperture radar time-series analysis combined with building damage level empirical model can be used as an effective tool for rapid and efficient deformation monitoring and health assessment of buildings. It is of great significance for the identification, early warning and disaster prevention decision making of such disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly(p-phenylene terephthalamide) (PPTA), as the raw polymer material of Aramid fiber-1414, has high modulus and high strength which is commonly used in the reinforced composites. However, the general blending often accompany the microphase incompatibility in polymer matrix. In this study, PPTA molecules were incorporated into poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane matrix through in situ polycondensation of p-phenylene diamine (PPD) and terephthaloyl chloride (TPC) in PVDF solution and PPTA/PVDF molecular composite membranes were prepared via the subsequent nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. The anti-compaction properties of resulted PPTA/PVDF molecular composite membranes were systematically investigated including the variations of bursting pressure and membrane thickness, porosity, pure water flux under different pressures. The results suggested that membrane comprehensive anticompaction properties were improved with the increasing of PPTA content in PVDF membrane matrix. Combining the variation trends of membrane anti-compaction properties with morphologies, the compaction-deformation evolution processes of two membrane pore types (sponge-like and finger-like pores) were proposed at the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three identical three-winding main step down transformers rated at 300/250/150 MVA are installed in ITER Pulsed Power Electrical Network (PPEN) to distribute power to three independent 66 kV and 22 kV busbars for feeding Coil Power Supply System (CPSS). The On-load Tap Changer (OLTC) is installed in primary side of PPEN main step down transformer to limit the voltage in required range under the control of Reactive Power Compensation and Harmonic Filter (RPC&HF) system. A comprehensive OLTC tap changer strategy has been proposed to maintain the 66 kV busbar voltage with consideration of hysteresis band to avoid strategy instability. The circuit models of OLTC tap changer transient processes have been built to analyze the terminal voltage transients quantitatively in both amplitude and phase. And the dynamic performance during OLTC tap transition has been verified to be in accordance with the analysis by simulation. And during future campaign, the most critical situation for CPSS is that the plasma operation system would give step voltage reference from minimum to maximum or vice versa to CPSS according to the operation scenarios. Hence, the converter system operation robustness has been verified by simulation on MATLAB/SIMULINK during PPEN OLTC tap changer transition in the case of this most critical situation during plasma operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) is investigated as the electrolyte additive to improve the electrochemical performance of high voltage LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 cathode material. Compared to LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2/Li cells in blank electrolyte, the capacity retention of the cells with 5 wt% FEC in electrolytes after 80 times charge-discharge cycle between 3.0 and 4.5 V significantly improve from 82.0 to 89.7%. Besides, the capacity of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2/Li only obtains 12.6 mAh g−1 at 5 C in base electrolyte, while the 5 wt% FEC in electrolyte can reach a high capacity of 71.3 mAh g−1 at the same rate. The oxidative stability of the electrolyte with 5 wt% FEC is evaluated by linear sweep voltammetry and potentiostatic data. The LSV results show that the oxidation potential of the electrolytes with FEC is higher than 4.5 V vs. Li/Li+, while the oxidation peaks begin to appear near 4.3 V in the electrolyte without FEC. In addition, the effect of FEC on surface of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 is elucidated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The analysis result indicates that FEC facilitates the formation of a more stable surface film on the LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 cathode. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) result evidences that the stable surface film could improve cathode electrolyte interfacial resistance. These results demonstrate that the FEC can apply as an additive for 4.5 V high voltage electrolyte system in LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2/Li cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power grid as an important infrastructure which ensures the healthy development of economy and society and accurate and reasonable prediction of the power grid investment demand has always been the focus problem of the power planning department and the power grid enterprises. In view of the complex nonlinear and nonstationary characteristics of the power grid investment demand sequence, a novel hybrid EMD-GASVM-RBFNN forecasting model based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method, support vector machines optimized by genetic algorithm (GA-SVM) model, and radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) model is proposed. Firstly, the EMD method is used to decompose the original power grid investment data sequence into a series of IMF components and a residual component which have stronger regularity compared with the original data. Then, according to the different characteristics of each subsequence, the GA-SVM and RBFNN model will be used to forecast different subsequences, respectively. Next, the prediction results of different subsequences are aggregated to obtain the final prediction results of the power grid investment. Finally, this paper dynamically simulates China’s power grid investment from 2018 to 2020 based on the EMD-GASVM-RBFNN hybrid forecasting model and Monte Carlo method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]