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Abstract In order to study how to use pulmonary functional imaging obtained through 4D-CT fusion for radiotherapy planning, and transform traditional dose volume parameters into functional dose volume parameters, a functional dose volume parameter model that may reduce level 2 and above radiation pneumonia was obtained. 41 pulmonary tumor patients who underwent 4D-CT in our department from 2020 to 2023 were included. MIM Software (MIM 7.0.7; MIM Software Inc., Cleveland, OH, USA) was used to register adjacent phase CT images in the 4D-CT series. The three-dimensional displacement vector of CT pixels was obtained when changing from one respiratory state to another respiratory state, and this three-dimensional vector was quantitatively analyzed. Thus, a color schematic diagram reflecting the degree of changes in lung CT pixels during the breathing process, namely the distribution of ventilation function strength, is obtained. Finally, this diagram is fused with the localization CT image. Select areas with Jacobi > 1.2 as high lung function areas and outline them as fLung. Import the patient's DVH image again, fuse the lung ventilation image with the localization CT image, and obtain the volume of fLung different doses (V60, V55, V50, V45, V40, V35, V30, V25, V20, V15, V10, V5). Analyze the functional dose volume parameters related to the risk of level 2 and above radiation pneumonia using R language and create a predictive model. By using stepwise regression and optimal subset method to screen for independent variables V35, V30, V25, V20, V15, and V10, the prediction formula was obtained as follows: Risk = 0.23656–0.13784 * V35 + 0.37445 * V30-0.38317 * V25 + 0.21341 * V20-0.10209 * V15 + 0.03815 * V10. These six independent variables were analyzed using a column chart, and a calibration curve was drawn using the calibrate function. It was found that the Bias corrected line and the Apparent line were very close to the Ideal line, The consistency between the predicted value and the actual value is very good. By using the ROC function to plot the ROC curve and calculating the area under the curve: 0.8475, 95% CI 0.7237–0.9713, it can also be determined that the accuracy of the model is very high. In addition, we also used Lasso method and random forest method to filter out independent variables with different results, but the calibration curve drawn by the calibration function confirmed poor prediction performance. The function dose volume parameters V35, V30, V25, V20, V15, and V10 obtained through 4D-CT are key factors affecting radiation pneumonia. Establishing a predictive model can provide more accurate lung restriction basis for clinical radiotherapy planning.

In this study, the transcriptome profiles of tissue–cultured grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. × Vitis labrusca L.: Rose Honey) seedlings inoculated with fungal endophytes Epicoccum layuense R2-21 (Epi R2-21) and Alternaria alternata XHYN2 (Alt XHYN2), were analyzed at three different time points (6 h, 6 d, and 15 d). A total of 4783 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was found, of which 1853 (6 h), 3878 (6 d), and 4732 (15 d) were differentially expressed relative to those of the control in endophyte Epi R2-21 treatments, while a total of 5898 DEGs, of which 2726 (6 h), 4610 (6 d), and 3938 (15 d) were differentially expressed in endophyte Alt XHYN2 treatments. DEGs enriched in secondary metabolic pathways, plant–pathogen interaction, and hormone signalling were further analysed. The upregulated DEGs in the Epi R2-21 and Alt XHYN2 treatments, both enriched in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), were mainly involved in flavonoid biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, stilbenoid, diarylheptanoid and gingerol biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, and circadian rhythms–plant and plant–pathogen interactions, similar to the trend observed in our previous study conducted on the cultivar ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’ (Vitis vinifera L.). Taken together with the results obtained from the cultivar ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, it was found that tissue-cultured seedlings of the cultivar ‘Rose Honey’ induced a stronger defence response to fungal endophyte infection than that of the cultivar ‘Cabernet Sauvignon’, and inoculation with the endophyte Alt XHYN2 triggered a stronger response than inoculation with the endophyte Epi R2-21. In addition, the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network revealed that the genes VIT_16s0100g00910, encoding CHS, and VIT_11s0065g00350, encoding CYP73A, were involved in secondary metabolism and thus mediated in the resistance mechanism of grapevine on both the cultivars. The results showed that inoculation with the endophytes Epi R2-21 and Alt XHYN2 had a great ability to induce defence responses and reprogram the gene expression profiles in different grapevine cultivars, which deepens our knowledge of the interaction between fungal endophytes and grapevine and gives hints for grape quality management in viticulture using candidate fungal endophytes.

The long short-term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network algorithm in deep learning has demonstrated significant superiority in predicting the realized volatility (RV) of crude oil prices. However, there is no robust and consistent conclusion regarding the handling of microstructural noise from high-frequency data during the prediction process. Therefore, this study utilizes six commonly used data decomposition methods, as documented in the literature, to address the issue of noise handling and decompose the RV series of Chinese crude oil futures. Subsequently, LSTM is integrated with the decomposed data to model and forecast RV. The empirical findings provide compelling evidence that the LSTM model based on neural networks outperforms traditional econometric models in out-of-sample forecasting. Furthermore, the LSTM model with data noise decomposition consistently exhibits superior out-of-sample prediction performance compared to the model without noise decomposition. Among the various data noise decomposition models examined, this study highlights the significant out-of-sample predictive power of variational mode decomposition (VMD), a nonrecursive signal decomposition method, that outperforms other methods. In the scenario of predicting one step ahead, the VMD-LSTM model demonstrates MAE, MSE, and HMAE values of 7.5×10−2, 1.10×10−4, and 0.423, respectively.

Abstract The attack price of higher order side channel attacks (HOSCA) grows exponentially with the mask order. When the mask order is larger than 3, HOSCA can be inapplicable. In light of this, the distance similarity measure based profiling attack (DSMPA) is proposed. In DSMPA, the leakage property of masks can be characterised in a profiling scenario and the so called templates can be obtained. Then, DSM can be used to recover mask values with templates. With mask values recovered, the effect of masking disappears and one can use first‐order side‐channel attacks to recover the secret key used by a masked chip. The key‐recovery efficiency of DSMPA is evaluated in real scenarios, and the advantage of DSMPA over HOSCA in terms of the key‐recovery efficiency can be obvious under the success rate metric. Overall, the contribution of this work may provide evaluators a powerful tool to evaluate the security of masked chips.

The stratification of the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) plays an important role in regulating the water vapor and heat exchange across the lake–air interface. Based on one year of data measured by the eddy covariance technique over Erhai Lake in 2015, the ASL stability ($${\rm{\zeta }}$$) was divided into six ranges, including unstable ($$ - 1 \le {\rm{\zeta }} \lt - 0.1$$), weakly unstable ($$ - 0.1 \le {\rm{\zeta }} \lt - 0.01$$), near-neutral1 ($$ - 0.01 \le {\rm{\zeta }} \lt 0$$), near-neutral2 ($$0 \le {\rm{\zeta }} \lt 0.01$$), weakly stable ($$0.01 \le {\rm{\zeta }} \lt 0.1$$), and stable ($$0.1 \le {\rm{\zeta }} \lt 1$$). The characteristics of ASL stability conditions and factors controlling the latent ($$\rm LE$$) and sensible heat ($$H$$) fluxes under different stability conditions were analyzed in this study. The stability conditions of Erhai Lake have noticeably seasonal and diurnal variation, with the near-neutral and (weakly) stable stratification usually occurring before July, with frequencies of 51.7% and 23.3%, respectively, but most of the (weakly) unstable stratification was observed after July, with a frequency of 59.8%. Large evaporation occurred even in stable atmospheric conditions, due to the coupled effects of the relatively larger lake–air vapor pressure difference and wind speed. The relative controls of $$\rm LE$$ and $$H$$ by different atmospheric variables are largely dependent on the stability conditions. In stable and unstable ranges, $$\rm LE$$ is closely correlated with the vapor pressure difference, whereas in weakly unstable to weakly stable ranges, it is primarily controlled by wind speed. $$H$$ is related to wind speed and the lake–air temperature difference under stable conditions, but shows no obvious relationship under unstable conditions.

Water and carbon exchanges between grassland and the atmosphere are important processes for water balance and carbon balance. Based on eddy covariance observations over a semiarid alpine steppe ecosystem in Bange on the Tibetan Plateau during the growing season from 2014 to 2017, the variations in evapotranspiration (ET), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), and their components and the associated driving factors were analyzed. Linear and nonlinear models were applied to investigate the relationships between fluxes and their controlling factors over different timescales. The results show that the average ET for the growing season ranged from 1.1 to 2.4 mm/d with an average of 2.0 mm/d for the four consecutive years. Drought conditions reduced the surface conductance and hence the Priestley–Taylor coefficient. Mean T/ET was low (0.34) due to low vegetation cover. Plant growth increased the T/ET ratio during the growing season, whereas soil water content (SWC) explained most of the variation of ET and E on daily and monthly scales. The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) was the most important controlling factor for temperature. Transpiration increased with SWC in dry conditions. For the growing season in 2014, 2016, and 2017, Bange was a carbon sink, while it was a carbon source in 2015. The largest CO2 flux was higher and the temperature sensitivity coefficient (Q10) was lower for 2015 than for the other three years. SWC affected these photosynthesis and respiration parameters. The ratio of respiration (Re) to gross primary production (GPP) was the highest during the 2015 growing season. Both on daily and monthly scales, Re was positively and linearly correlated with GPP. The most important controlling factor for the CO2 flux was EVI on daily and monthly scales.

Abstract Background Primary intraosseous cavernous hemangiomas (PICHs) of the skull are extremely rare. To date, diffuse cranial hemangioma of skull has not been reported. In cancer patients, it is often misdiagnosed as metastasis. Case presentation Here, we presented a case of a 50-year-old female patient suffering from slightly headache who received breast cancer modified radical mastectomy in 2004, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings revealed abnormal lesions of diffuse skull which were misdiagnosed as skull metastasis, and the relevant literatures were also reviewed. Conclusions Diffuse cavernous hemangioma of the skull is exceedingly rare, and imaging data are not typical. The condition is often misdiagnosed, and pathological evaluation is necessary and important. In cases where the mass cannot be completely removed by surgery, radiotherapy could be beneficial.

Leptosphaeria maculans causes blackleg disease in Brassica napus. The blackleg disease is mainly controlled by resistance genes in B. napus. Previous studies have shown that the blackleg resistant BLMR2 locus that conferred horizontal resistance under field conditions, is located on chromosome A10 of B. napus. The purpose of this study is to fine map this locus and hence identify a candidate gene underlying horizontal resistance. The spectrum of resistance to L. maculans isolates of the resistance locus BLMR2 was analyzed using near isogenic lines, resistant, and susceptible cultivars. The results showed that this locus was horizontally resistant to all isolates tested. Sequence characterized amplified regions (SCAR), simple sequence repeats (SSR), and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were developed in the chromosome region of BLMR2 and a fine genetic map was constructed. Two molecular markers narrowed BLMR2 in a 53.37 kb region where six genes were annotated. Among the six annotated genes, BnaA10g11280D/BnaA10g11290D encoding a cytochrome P450 protein were predicted as the candidate of BLMR2. Based on the profiling of pathogen induced transcriptome, three expressed genes in the six annotated genes were identified while only cytochrome P450 showed upregulation. The candidate corresponds to the gene involved in the indole glucosinolate biosynthesis pathway and plant basal defense in Arabidopsis thaliana. The molecular markers identified in this study will allow the quick incorporation of the BLMR2 allele in rapeseed cultivars to enhance blackleg resistance.

Development of high-performance graphene-based microwave absorbing materials with low density and strong absorption is of great significance to solve the growing electromagnetic pollution. Herein, a controllable open-cell structure is introduced into graphene aerogels by the graphene oxide (GO) Pickering emulsion. The open-cell graphene aerogel (OCGA) with multiple microstructures shows a significantly enhanced microwave absorption ability without any additions. A high microwave absorption performance with the minimum value of reflection loss (RLmin) of −51.22 dB was achieved, while the material density was only 4.81 mg/cm3. Moreover, by means of centrifugation, the graphene cells were arranged by their diameter, and a gradient, open-cell graphene structure was first fabricated. Based on this unique structure, an amazing microwave absorption value of −62.58 dB was reached on a condition of ultra-low graphene content of 0.53 wt%. In our opinion, such excellent microwave absorption performance results from multiple reflection and well-matched impedance brought by the open-cell and gradient structure, respectively. In addition, the structural strength of the OCGA is greatly improved with a maximum increase of 167% due to the introduction of cell structure. Therefore, the OCGAs with the gradient structure can be an excellent candidate for lightweight, efficient microwave absorption materials.

AimTo confirm the effects of Debaryomyces hansenii on intestinal microecology in mice with antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD).MethodsThis study took the mucosal microecology as the entry point and an antibiotic mixture was used to induce diarrhea in mice. D. hansenii suspension was used to treat the mice and the bacterial communities of mucosa was analyzed using high-throughput sequencing.ResultsThe Shannon-Wiener index indicated that the sequencing depth is reasonable and reflected the majority of microbial information. The principal coordinate analysis results showed that mice in the treatment group and the normal group had a similar microbial community structure, while differences in microbial community structure were observed between the model group and the treatment group. The inter-group bacterial structures were analyzed at the phylum level and genus level. The results revealed that antibiotic treatment increased the proportion of Proteobacteria and decreased the proportion of Bacteroides, while D. hansenii treatment inhibited the increase in Proteobacteria. Linear discriminant analysis coupled with effect size measurements (LEfSe) suggested d that the beneficial bacteria Candidatus Arthromitus were the only common bacteria in the normal group (PConclusionThe treatment with D.hansenii could contribute to the maintenance of the structure of the mucosal microbiota in comparison with the normal group and inhibit the proliferation of opportunistic bacteria. However, high-dose antibiotic treatment causes mucosal dysbiosis and the proliferation of opportunistic bacteria during the self-recovery period, such as Pseudoalteromonas, Alteromonas, Vibrio.

Tropical cyclones and meiyu-baiu fronts, as the two main synoptic systems over East Asia, bring heavy rain during summers, but their long-term and vertical raindrop size distribution (RSD) features over the midlatitude Japan Islands are limited. Radar-based quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) techniques require RSD observations. In this study, five-year observations from Tokyo with a ground-based impact Joss-Waldvogel disdrometer (JWD) and a vertically pointing micro rain radar (MRR) with a vertical range of 0.2−6.0 km were used to study the vertical structures of RSD and QPE parameters. The results showed that the convective rain associated with tropical cyclones had a maritime nature, while the rain associated with the meiyu-baiu front had a continental nature. The rain associated with tropical cyclones had a relatively higher concentration of raindrops and a larger average raindrop diameter than the rain associated with the meiyu-baiu front. The Z−R (radar reflectivity-rain rate) relationships (Z = ARb) based on the JWD data for tropical cyclones, the meiyu-baiu front and total summer rainfall in Tokyo were Z = 189 R1.38, Z = 214 R1.35 and Z = 212 R1.33, respectively. When the Z−R relationships obtained in this study were used to replace the operational relationship of Z = 300 R1.4, the standard deviation of the rain rate was reduced from 5.50 mm/h (2.34 mm/h) to 2.34 mm/h (1.32 mm/h) for typhoon (meiyu-baiu front) rainfall, although the change for total summer rainfall was small. In addition, with increasing height below 4 km, the value of A and b decreased.

The Surface Urban Energy and Water Balance Scheme (SUEWS) has recently been introduced to include a bottomup approach to modelling carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and sink in urban areas. In this study, SUEWS is evaluated against radiation flux observations and eddy covariance (EC) measured turbulent fluxes of sensible heat (QH), latent heat (QE), and CO2 (FC) at a densely built neighborhood in Beijing. The model sensitivity to maximum conductance (gmax) and leaf area index (LAI) is examined. Site-specific gmax is obtained from observations over local vegetation species, and LAI parameters by optimization with remotely sensed LAI obtained from a MODIS/Terra data product. For simulation of anthropogenic CO2 components, local traffic and population data are collected. In model evaluation, the mismatch between the measurement source area and simulation domain is also considered. Using the optimized gmax and LAI, the modelling of heat fluxes is noticeably improved, showing higher correlation with observations, lower bias, and more realistic seasonal dynamics of QE and QH. In comparison to heat fluxes, the FC module shows lower sensitivity to the choice of gmax and LAI. This can be explained by the low relative contribution of vegetation to net FC in the modelled area. SUEWS successfully reproduces the average diurnal cycle of FC and annual cumulative sums. Depending on the size of the simulation domain, the modelled annual accumulated FC ranges from 7.2 to 8.5 kg C m-2 yr-1, when compared to 7.5 kg C m-2 yr-1 observed by EC. Traffic is the dominant CO2 source, contributing 63-73% to the annual total CO2 emissions, followed by human metabolism (14-18%), respiration released by vegetation and soil (6-11%) and building heating (6-9%). Vegetation photosynthesis offsets only 4-8% of the total CO2 emissions. We highlight the importance of choosing optimal LAI parameters and gmax when SUEWS is used to model surface fluxes. The FC module of SUEWS is a promising tool in quantifying urban CO2 emissions at the local scale, and therefore assisting to mitigate urban CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to present a clear and realistic display effect of community ecological environment, an interactive method of community ecological environment adaptation based on virtual reality technology is designed. Through 3DMAX software, a three-dimensional community ecological environment model based on virtual reality technology is designed and the single modeling and scene merging of ecological environment landscapes such as community buildings and vegetation are realized. Texture processing is used to enhance the authenticity of the model, multi-dimensional spatial texture rendering technology is combined with scene database import, multi-dimensional spatial visual data is input to the 3D model of the community ecological environment and the dynamic feature quantity of the multi-vision 3D image of the model is obtained. Combined with the joint sparse feature recognition technology, the Construct multi-vision 3D images, complete model scene rendering and improve realistic effects; the user realizes virtual scene roaming by inputting and modifying the interactive address, direction and angle of view and based on the physical, sensory cognitive and functional affordances, an aging-friendly interactive interface is designed to improve the user's aging-friendly interactive experience. The experimental results show that the three-dimensional community ecological environment display effect of this method is clearer and more realistic. The overall community ecological environment has better lighting and layout and the modeling time is only 5s, the overall error is less than 3%, the fluctuation of the error curve is small and uniform, the stability is good, the scene roaming process is relatively smooth and no stuck pause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on eddy covariance (EC) measurements from 2016 to 2020, the impact of sky conditions on net ecosystem productivity (NEP) over Beihai wetland was examined. Sky conditions were classified into sunny, cloudy and overcast skies. On half-hourly timescale, the daytime NEP responds to the changing total photosynthetically active radiation (PARt) more efficiently under cloudy and overcast conditions than sunny conditions across seasons. Compared with sunny conditions, the apparent quantum yield (a) under overcast (cloudy) conditions increased 342.9% (271.4%) in spring, 17.6% (20.6%) in summer, 280.0% (230.0%) in autumn and 125.0% (25.0%) in winter, respectively. Unlike the patterns of half-hourly NEP, the daily NEP was significantly lower under overcast conditions than that under cloudy and sunny conditions. And the daily NEP peaked under cloudy skies when the clearness index (CI) fluctuated around 0.3-0.6. Additionally, the ecosystem light use efficiency (LUE) and water use efficiency (WUE) also changed with the variations in sky conditions. The daily LUE and WUE reached their maximum values under overcast (CI: 0-0.2) and cloudy conditions (CI: 0.2-0.4), respectively. NEP was mainly controlled by the diffuse photosynthetically active radiation (PARd) and air temperature (Ta), and the direct photosynthetically active radiation (PARb) had a secondary effect on NEP from half-hourly to monthly timescales. Path analysis revealed that PARb and Ta were the main controls affecting NEP under sunny conditions. While under cloudy and overcast conditions, PARd was the most responsible for the variations of NEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hotspot is to evaluate and improve alkali-saline grassland base on soil microbial community. In order to reveal the influence of alkali-saline on soil bacterial community in Songnen grassland, the composition and diversity of soil bacterial in different degrees of alkali-saline grassland were determined and analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that Soil bacterial community composition in Songnen grassland changed minuscule. Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Saccharibacteria were significantly correlated with pH value, which could be used as sensitive indicators of soil salinization in Songnen grassland. The increase of pH value had a significant induction effect on the alpha diversity of bacterial community (sobs, Shannon index, simpson index, ace index, chao index) (P < 0.05), and the alpha diversity were decrease with the increase of pH value. PERMANOVA analysis showed that bacterial communities of different pH soil type were highly significant different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although, air pollution modifies local air temperatures and boundary layer structure in urban areas, little is known about its effects on the urban hydrological cycle. To explore this, changes in the urban surface water balance during different haze levels are modelled in Beijing using the Surface Urban Energy and Water Balance Scheme (SUEWS), forced by reanalysis data. The pollution levels are classified using aerosol optical depth observations. We show how the reanalysis radiation data do not include the attenuating effect of haze and develop a haze correction for the incoming solar radiation. With this haze correction the SUEWS model simulates the eddy covariance measured latent heat flux well. Both surface runoff and drainage increase with severe haze levels particularly with low precipitation rates: runoff from 0.06 to 0.18mmday-1 and drainage from 0.43 to 0.62mmday-1 during fairly clean and extremely polluted conditions, respectively. When all precipitation events are taken into account, runoff is higher during the extremely polluted conditions than with cleaner conditions except during the cleanest conditions when the high precipitation rates induces largest runoff. Thus, haze is not likely impacting on the likelihood of flash floods. However, the low runoff rates commonly transport pollutants to soil and water and therefore their changes are important to understanding detailed deterioration of urban soil and aquatic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lake Erhai is a subtropical highland shallow lake on southeast margin of Tibetan Plateau, which is influenced by both South Asian and East Asian summer monsoon. Based on four years continuous eddy covariance (EC) data over Lake Erhai, the monsoon effect on water–atmosphere exchange process is investigated by comparing the energy and CO2 fluxes patterns and their main drivers during pre-monsoon (March–April), monsoon (May–October) and post-monsoon (November–December) periods. The results show the atmospheric properties display a large difference for during three different periods. There is a negative difference between water surface and air temperature (ΔT) during pre-monsoon period, while a positive ΔT during post-monsoon period. The diurnal sensible heat flux (Hs) is larger during post-monsoon period, while the latent heat flux (LE) is larger during monsoon period. The monthly average Hs and heat storage (ΔQ) in the lake remain negative during pre-monsoon period and the early monsoon period, and they become positive in the middle monsoon period, which indicates that the lake absorbs heat at first and releases it subsequently. LE plays a dominating role in the energy partitioning of the lake. The Bowen ratio is higher during post-monsoon period. An uptake of CO2 flux is observed in middle of a day during monsoon and post-monsoon period. The ΔT is the main drivers for Hs and the effect of ΔT is increased as time scales are extended from half-hourly to monthly. The wind speed has a weak effect on Hs but a strong effect on LE and CO2 fluxes. Similar main drivers for Hs are found during pre-monsoon period and post-monsoon period, which is also found for CO2 flux, indicating a large impact of monsoon on the heat and carbon exchange process over Lake Erhai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eddy covariance measurements from 2012 to 2015 were used to investigate the interannual variation in carbon dioxide exchange and its control over an alpine meadow on the south-east margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in the 4 years from 2012 to 2015 was -114.2, -158.5, -159.9 and -212.6 gCm-2yr-1, and generally decreased with the mean annual air temperature (MAT). An exception occurred in 2014, which had the highest MAT. This was attributed to higher ecosystem respiration (RE) and similar gross primary production (GPP) in 2014 because the GPP increased with the MAT, but became saturated due to the limit in photosynthetic capacity. In the spring (March to May) of 2012, low air temperature (Ta) and drought events delayed grass germination and reduced GPP. In the late wet season (September to October) of 2012 and 2013, the low Ta in September and its negative effects on vegetation growth caused earlier grass senescence and significantly lower GPP. This indicates that the seasonal pattern of Ta has a substantial effect on the annual total GPP, which is consistent with results obtained using the homogeneity-of-slopes (HOS) model. The model results showed that the climatic seasonal variation explained 48.6% of the GPP variability, while the percentages explained by climatic interannual variation and the ecosystem functional change were 9.7 and 10.6 %, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eddy covariance measurements from 2012 to 2015 were used to investigate the interannual variation in carbon dioxide exchange and its control over an alpine meadow on the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) from 2012 to 2015 was -114.2, -158.5, -159.9 and -212.6 g C m-2 yr-1 and generally decreased with the mean annual air temperature (MAT). An exception occurred in 2014, which had the highest MAT. This was attributed to higher ecosystem respiration (RE) and similar gross primary production (GPP) in 2014 because the GPP increased with MAT but became saturated due to the photosynthesis capacity limit. In the spring (March to May) of 2012, lower air temperature (Ta) and drought events delayed grass germination and reduced GPP. In the late wet season (September to October) of 2012 and 2013, the lower Ta in September and its negative effects on vegetation growth caused earlier grass senescence and significantly lower GPP. This indicates that the seasonal pattern of Ta greatly affected the annual total GPP, which is consistent with the result of the homogeneity-of-slopes model. The model shows that the climatic seasonal variation explained 48.6% of the GPP variability, and the percentage of climatic interannual variation and the ecosystem functional change were 9.7% and 10.6%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Comparison of carbon exchange process and carbon budget between two semiarid ecosystems. [•] PPFD was the major driver for diurnal variation of NEE while NDVI was mainly responsible for seasonal variation of NEE. [•] Number of precipitation event was correlated well with annual carbon uptake. [•] Drought in most active growth period was more crucial for carbon exchange. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

P-Arylation in water has been developed via cross-coupling of aryl halides with diphenylphosphine oxide (Ph2P(O)H) and (RP)-(−)-menthyl benzylphosphinate catalyzed by NiCl2·6H2O/Zn under relatively mild conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting the influences of land management on seasonal dynamics and interannual variabilities of grassland surface reflectance is of scientific and practical importance as it can help to monitor grazing effects on the grassland ecosystem. We conducted spectral reflectance measurements at five differently grazed sites in Inner Mongolia, China, during the growing seasons of 2005 and 2006 using a portable, highly resolving spectrometer. Through analyses of the measured surface reflectance spectra and the derived visible albedo and NDVI, we found that grazing influences the reflectance spectrum shape and affects the visible albedo and NDVI seasonal pattern; visible albedo and NDVI of grazed sites are more sensitive to precipitation than that of ungrazed sites. In addition, we observed a well-defined linear relationship between total shortwave and visible (PAR) albedo, with R = 0.83 and R = 0.94 for 2005 and 2006, respectively, and between NDVI and total shortwave albedo with R = −0.92. Thus, NDVI spectrometer measurements and total shortwave albedo pyranometer measurements are interchangeable when addressing different grazing intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analytical solutions of convective waves in the convective boundary layer (CBL) were obtained with two-layer linearized atmospheric equations including Rayleigh friction, which represents the turbulent viscosity in the lower CBL. The analytical model shows that the interaction between the convection in the lower layer and gravity waves in the upper layer is one of the causes for the formation of convective bands. The flow and temperature fields obtained by the analytical model present the main characteristics of convective bands found in field observations. We have also investigated the influences of atmospheric conditions on the characteristics of the bands. Results accord with previous knowledge about these phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The promoter of Brassica campestris Male Fertile 5 (BcMF5), a pollen coat protein member, class A (PCP-A) gene family, was isolated from Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis Makino (Chinese cabbage-pak-choi) by Thermal Asymmetric Interlaced Polymerase Chain Reaction (TAIL-PCR). Sequence analysis suggested that the 605-bp promoter of BcMF5 appears to be a pollen promoter. In an attempt to confirm the promoter activity of BcMF5 promoter, −609 to +3 bp and −377 to +3 bp fragments of the upstream sequence of BcMF5 were inserted at the site upstream of the coding region of the uidA gene in the sense orientation to construct two deletion expression vectors. Transient expression analysis in onion epidermal cells by particle bombardment showed that both −609 to +3 bp and −377 to +3 bp fragments of BcMF5 promoter were capable of driving β-glucuronidase gene expression. Furthermore, by Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation method, Arabidopsis transgenic KanR plants were obtained. GUS assay analysis revealed that the promoter of BcMF5 induced gene expression at the early stage of anther development and drove high levels of GUS expression in anther walls, upper regions of petals, pollen, and pollen tubes in the middle and late stage of anther development, but did not drive any expression in sepals and pistils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  A roving tower concept was used to compare a semi-arid grassland site in Inner Mongolia (China), which was fenced in 1979 and ungrazed thereafter (UG79) with differently grazed semi-arid steppe ecosystems. The study was conducted during three consecutive years characterised by contrasting precipitation. The different grazing intensities included continuously and moderately grazed (CG), winter grazed (WG), and heavily grazed (HG). Here, we compare the energy fluxes and surface parameters that characterise the differently managed plots. The main focus is on sensible heat flux (H), available energy (AE), surface temperature (T s ), and surface albedo (α). Systematic errors were excluded by a side-to-side intercomparison of the instruments, and systematic climatic differences were minimised by the close distance between the fixed and the roving eddy covariance tower. Statistically, AE and T s were always significantly different between two simultaneously measured grazing intensities. Whereas AE was higher at UG79 in all years (mean difference of about 19Wm−2), T s was typically lower at UG79 (mean differences of 0.4°C to about 2°C). The exception was the end of the vegetation period in 2004 when T s was 0.6°C higher at UG79 compared to CG. At UG79 α was typically significantly lower, and H was typically significantly higher. Consequently, latent heat fluxes (both as energy balance residual and directly measured) do not differ much between the different grazing intensities. It is concluded, that (1) the roving tower concept is able to detect differences due to grazing, (2) differences between the sites can be attributed to real surface differences, and (3) differences due to grazing intensities are small compared to interannual differences in surface fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  RING finger proteins comprise a large family and play key roles in regulating growth/developmental processes, hormone signaling and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses in plants. A rice gene, OsBIRF1, encoding a putative RING-H2 finger protein, was cloned and identified. OsBIRF1 encodes a 396 amino acid protein belonging to the ATL family characterized by a conserved RING-H2 finger domain (C-X2-C-X15-C-X1-H-X2-H-X2-C-X10-C-X2-C), a transmembrane domain at the N-terminal, a basic amino acid rich region and a characteristic GLD region. Expression of OsBIRF1 was up-regulated in rice seedlings after treatment with benzothaidiazole, salicylic acid, l-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and jasmonic acid, and was induced differentially in incompatible but not compatible interactions between rice and Magnaporthe grisea, the causal agent of blast disease. Transgenic tobacco plants that constitutively express OsBIRF1 exhibit enhanced disease resistance against tobacco mosaic virus and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci and elevated expression levels of defense-related genes, e.g. PR-1, PR-2, PR-3 and PR-5. The OsBIRF1-overexpressing transgenic tobacco plants show increased oxidative stress tolerance to exogenous treatment with methyl viologen and H2O2, and up-regulate expression of oxidative stress-related genes. Reduced ABA sensitivity in root elongation and increased drought tolerance in seed germination were also observed in OsBIRF1 transgenic tobacco plants. Furthermore, the transgenic tobacco plants show longer roots and higher plant heights as compared with the wild-type plants, suggesting that overexpression of OsBIRF1 promote plant growth. These results demonstrate that OsBIRF1 has pleiotropic effects on growth and defense response against multiple abiotic and biotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DEAD-box proteins comprise a large protein family with members from all kingdoms and play important roles in all types of processes in RNA metabolism. In this study, a rice gene OsBIRH1, which encodes a DEAD-box RNA helicase protein, was cloned and characterized. The predicted OsBIRH1 protein contains a DEAD domain and all conserved motifs that are common characteristics of DEAD-box RNA helicases. Recombinant OsBIRH1 protein purified from Escherichia coli was shown to have both RNA-dependent ATPase and ATP-dependent RNA helicase activities in vitro. Expression of OsBIRH1 was activated in rice seedling leaves after treatment with defence-related signal chemicals, for example benzothiadiazole, salicylic acid, l-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, and jasmonic acid, and was also up-regulated in an incompatible interaction between a resistant rice genotype and the blast fungus, Magnaporthe grisea. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants that overexpress the OsBIRH1 gene were generated. Disease resistance phenotype assays revealed that the OsBIRH1-overexpressing transgenic plants showed an enhanced disease resistance against Alternaria brassicicola and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Meanwhile, defence-related genes, for example PR-1, PR-2, PR-5, and PDF1.2, showed an up-regulated expression in the transgenic plants. Moreover, the OsBIRH1 transgenic Arabidopsis plants also showed increased tolerance to oxidative stress and elevated expression levels of oxidative defence genes, AtApx1, AtApx2, and AtFSD1. The results suggest that OsBIRH1 encodes a functional DEAD-box RNA helicase and plays important roles in defence responses against biotic and abiotic stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parameterization of turbulent flux from bare-soil and undercanopy surfaces is imperative for modeling land–atmosphere interactions in arid and semiarid regions, where flux from the ground is dominant or comparable to canopy-sourced flux. This paper presents the major characteristics of turbulent flux transfers over seven bare-soil surfaces. These sites are located in arid, semiarid, and semihumid regions in Asia and represent a variety of conditions for aerodynamic roughness length (z0m; from <1 to 10 mm) and sensible heat flux (from -50 to 400 W m-2). For each site, parameter kB-1 [=ln(z0m/z0h), where z0h is the thermal roughness length] exhibits clear diurnal variations with higher values during the day and lower values at night. Mean values of z0h for the individual sites do not change significantly with z0m, resulting in kB-1 increasing with z0m, and thus the momentum transfer coefficient increases faster than the heat transfer coefficient with z0m. The term kB-1 often becomes negative at night for relatively smooth surfaces (z0m ∼ 1 mm), indicating that the widely accepted excess resistance for heat transfer can be negative, which cannot be explained by current theories for aerodynamically rough surfaces. Last, several kB-1 schemes are evaluated using the same datasets. The results indicate that a scheme that can reproduce the diurnal variation of kB-1 generally performs better than schemes that cannot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three velocity components and temperature were measured using three-dimensional sonic anemometers/thermometers at two levels, above and within a forest canopy, in the Changbai Mountains of northeast China. Turbulence spectral structure, local isotropy and dissipation rates above and within the forest canopy were calculated using the eddy correlation method. Results show that the normalized turbulent spectral curves have 2/3 slopes in the inertial subrange. While the shapes of the spectra are in good agreement with the Kansas flat terrain results, the atmospheric turbulence is anisotropic above the forest canopy. Due to breaking down of large eddies by the foliage, branches and trunks, the spectral peak frequencies for velocity and temperature are higher within than above the forest canopy. Compared with measurements from previous studies over flat terrain, the velocity and temperature spectra above and inside the forest canopy appear to shift toward higher frequencies. The turbulence is approximately isotropic in the inertial subrange within the forest canopy, and is anisotropic above the forest canopy. The turbulent kinetic energy and heat energy dissipation rates above and inside the forest canopy are much larger than those obtained by Kaimal and Hogstrom over grassland and grazing land. The distinct features in the results of the present experiment may be attributed to the dynamic forcing caused by the rough surface of the forest canopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]