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The Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program tasked a research team with the “Investigation of the water vapor channel of the Yarlung Zsangbo Grand Canyon (INVC)” in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP). This paper summarizes the scientific achievements obtained from the data collected by the INVC observation network and highlights the progress in investigating the development of heavy rainfall events associated with water vapor changes. The rain gauge network of the INVC can represent the impacts of the Yarlung Zsangbo Grand Canyon (YGC) topography on precipitation at the hourly scale. The microphysical characteristics of the precipitation in the YGC are different than those in the lowland area. The GPM-IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement) satellite precipitation data for the YGC region should be calibrated before they are used. The meridional water vapor flux through the YGC is more important than the zonal flux for the precipitation over the southeastern TP. The decreased precipitation around the YGC region is partly due to the decreased meridional water vapor flux passing through the YGC. High-resolution numerical models can benefit precipitation forecasting in this region by using a combination of specific schemes that capture the valley wind and water vapor flux along the valley floor.

Mêdog and Nagqu are two typical regions of the Tibetan Plateau with different geographical locations and climate regimes. These differences may lead to discrepancies in the raindrop size distributions (DSDs) and precipitation microphysical processes between the two regions. This paper investigates discrepancies in the DSDs using disdrometer data obtained during the rainy season in Mêdog and Nagqu. The DSD characteristics are studied under five different rainfall rate categories and two precipitation types (stratiform and convective). For the total datasets, the number concentrations of drops with diameters D> 0.6 (D< 0.6) mm are higher (lower) in Nagqu than in Mêdog. The fitted normalized gamma distributions of the averaged DSDs for the five rainfall rate categories show that Nagqu has a larger (lower) mass-weighted mean diameter Dm(normalized intercept parameter, lgNw) than does Mêdog. The difference in Dmbetween Nagqu and Mêdog increases with the rainfall rate. Convective clusters in Nagqu could be identified as continental-like, while convective precipitation in Mêdog could be classified as maritime-like. The relationships between the shape factor μand slope parameter Λof the gamma distribution model, the radar reflectivity Z, and the rainfall rate Rare also derived. Furthermore, the possible causative mechanism for the notable DSD variation between the two regions during the rainy season is illustrated using reanalysis data and automated weather station observations. Cold rain processes are mainly responsible for the lower concentrations of larger drops observed in Nagqu, whereas warm rain prevails in Mêdog, producing abundant small drops.

This study aimed to explore the reporting of workplace violence against nurses and the reasons why they did not reported.

The objective of present study was to investigate the effects of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) dietary supplementation on the behavior, physiological and oxidant stress indicators, and bone quality in broilers under high stocking density (HSD) stress. A total of one thousand eight hundred 22-day-old Arbor Acresmale broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 18 pens (2.97 × 2.03 m) in 3 groups: 14 birds/m2(NSD, normal stocking density) or 18 birds/m2(HSD) or 18 birds/m2plus 300 mg/kg ALA dietary supplement (HSD + ALA, high stocking density + alpha-lipoic acid). Each treatment had 6 replicates, and the experiment lasted 3 wk. The HSD group was significantly lower than the NSD group (P < 0.05) in the frequency of eating, walking, and preening behavior. The alkaline phosphatase activity and serum calcium content were significantly higher, and the parathyroid hormone (PTH) level was significantly lower in the HSD group than in the NSD group (P < 0.05). When compared with the NSD group, the HSD group showed an increase (P < 0.05) in serum heterophil/lymphocyte ratio (H/Lratio), corticosterone (CORT), malondialdehyde (MDA) content, and catalase (CAT) activity, whereas a decrease (P < 0.05) in total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) concentrations. The HSD group was also significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the NSD group in the tibia and femur breaking strength, bone mineral density, and BMC. Importantly, the addition of ALA into the diets of the HSD group enabled the HSD + ALA group to recover to the levels of NSD group (P > 0.05) in the standing and preening behavior, alkaline phosphatase activity, PTH concentration, H/L ratio, CAT, T-AOC, MDA, SOD, and GSH-Px. These results indicate that the increase of stocking density lowered the bone quality, increased the physiological and oxidative stress indicators, and modified the behavior of broilers, whereas ALA dietary supplementation could counteract the reduction in the performance and physiological responses of broilers under high-density environmental stress.

Current-induced magnetization switching was investigated in Au/Fe4N bilayer films grown by a plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) system. Depending on lattice distortion and interfacial coupling induced by substrates, the Fe4N layer could be divided into two sublayers having different magnetic anisotropies. The bottom sublayer shows perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), while the top one has in-plane magnetic anisotropy (IMA). Coupling between the two sublayers provides an extra in-plane effective field and enables a field-free magnetization switching in the bilayer films. By summarizing a series of Hall measurements, a switching phase diagram was obtained. Temperature-dependent switching behaviors demonstrate that the threshold current density for the field-free magnetization switching, which is much smaller than that of pervious reports, increases with decreasing temperature and shows similar temperature dependences to those of coercivity.

Charge density wave (CDW) as a novel effect in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has obtained a rapid rise of interest for its physical nature and potential applications in oscillators and memory devices. Here, we report var der Waals epitaxial growth of centimeter-scale 1T-VTe2thin films on mica by molecular beam epitaxy. The VTe2thin films showed sudden resistance change at temperatures of 240 and 135 K, corresponding to two CDW phase transitions driven by temperature. Moreover, the phase transitions can be driven by an electric field due to local Joule heating, and the corresponding resistance states are nonvolatile and controllable, which could be applied to the memory device where the logic states can be switched by an electric field. The multistage CDW phase transitions in the VTe2thin films could be contributed to electron–phonon coupling in the two-dimensional VTe2, which is supported by twice pronounced Raman blue shifts of the vibration modes associated with in-plane phonons at CDW phase transition temperature. The results open up a new platform for understanding the microscopic physical essence and electrical control of CDW phases of TMDs, expanding the functionalities of these materials for memory applications.

A new radar echo tracking algorithm known as multi-scale tracking radar echoes by cross-correlation (MTREC) was developed in this study to analyze movements of radar echoes at different spatial scales. Movement of radar echoes, particularly associated with convective storms, exhibits different characteristics at various spatial scales as a result of complex interactions among meteorological systems leading to the formation of convective storms. For the null echo region, the usual correlation technique produces zero or a very small magnitude of motion vectors. To mitigate these constraints, MTREC uses the tracking radar echoes by correlation (TREC) technique with a large “box” to determine the systematic movement driven by steering wind, and MTREC applies the TREC technique with a small “box” to estimate small-scale internal motion vectors. Eventually, the MTREC vectors are obtained by synthesizing the systematic motion and the small-scale internal motion. Performance of the MTREC technique was compared with TREC technique using case studies: the Khanun typhoon on 11 September 2005 observed by Wenzhou radar and a squall-line system on 23 June 2011 detected by Beijing radar. The results demonstrate that more spatially smoothed and continuous vector fields can be generated by the MTREC technique, which leads to improvements in tracking the entire radar reflectivity pattern. The new multi-scale tracking scheme was applied to study its impact on the performance of quantitative precipitation nowcasting. The location and intensity of heavy precipitation at a 1-h lead time was more consistent with quantitative precipitation estimates using radar and rain gauges.