Search

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of melatonin (100 μM) treatment on fruit quality and softening of Ziziphus jujuba at (0 ± 0.5) °C and relative humidity of (90 ± 5) %. The results showed that compared with the control, Melatonin (MT) treatment maintained a low level of weight loss rate and a high level of titratable acid and ascorbic acid. MT treatment also delayed the decrease in fruit firmness, protopectin, cellulose, and hemicellulose content and the increase in water‐soluble pectin content. In addition, MT treatment also inhibited the activities and gene expression of polygalacturonase, cellulase, β‐glucosidase, β‐galactosidase, and lipoxygenase. These results showed that MT treatment can not only maintain the quality of jujube fruit by delaying the degradation of nutrients in jujube fruit, but also delay the degradation of cell wall by inhibiting the activity and gene expression of cell wall degrading enzymes, which may be the mechanism of MT treatment inhibiting jujube fruit softening. Novelty impact statement: Melatonin was a reliable treatment for maintaining quality and delaying softening of the fruit.Melatonin treatment can maintain the quality of jujube fruit by delaying the degradation of nutrients in jujube fruit.Melatonin treatment can delay the degradation of cell wall by inhibiting the activity and gene expression of cell wall degrading enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of the large-scale operation of electric buses corresponds to efficient charging service guarantees. Recent research on charging stations mainly aims to obtain the construction location and construction sequence through optimization methods or decision-making methods. This research has considered the aspects of geography, charging efficiency, economic efficiency, and emergency response capacity. The increase of charging stations will lead to competition among charging stations, unbalanced use of charging facilities, and unnecessary loss of electricity to the power grid. In fact, few studies pay attention to the actual operation of existing charging stations. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a scientific, comprehensive, and efficient charging services evaluation framework to support the actual operation of charging stations. Based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), this paper designs a multi-level indicator evaluation framework, which includes 6 first-level indicators and 20 s-level indicators. The first-level indicators are cutting peak and filling valley (A1), location and scale (A2), intelligent technology (A3), equipment efficiency (A4), operating income (A5), and reliability (A6). Through the questionnaire survey of ten experts in related fields, we understood the importance and attention of these indicators. The results show that the weights of indicators of location and scale index (A2) and reliability (A6) are high, which are 0.2875 and 0.2957, respectively. The least concerned indicator is equipment utilization efficiency (A4), at a weight of 0.0531. According to the actual data of charging stations in Zhengzhou, China, the comprehensive competitiveness of several charging stations is evaluated by the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The result shows that station 1 has the highest comprehensive competitiveness, followed by station 2 and station 7. The evaluation framework proposed in this paper comprehensively considers a variety of factors. The combination of AHP and TOPSIS can reduce the uncertainty in experts' evaluation of the service of the charging station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]