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The notion of stability margin (SM) plays an important role in control engineering. For multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) systems, the classic SM is no longer applicable. The one‐loop‐at‐a‐time analysis method may lead to unreliable SMs. Although some robust SM analysis methods are popular in MIMO systems, they are model‐based or not easy‐to‐use in engineering sometimes. In this paper, ℒ2$$ {\mathcal{L}}_2 $$ gain margin and ℒ2$$ {\mathcal{L}}_2 $$ time‐delay margin are defined for linear MIMO systems, and a corresponding SM analysis method is proposed by utilizing a loop transformation and the small‐gain theorem. Most importantly, a data‐driven method for measuring the defined SMs is also presented. As a frequency‐domain method, this method can be used to experimentally obtain the SMs of MIMO systems on model‐free occasions. The proposed SM analysis method and measurement method are simple and practical. Two simulation studies and an experimental test are performed to illustrate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intersex is defined as sexually aberrant individuals composed of a single sexual genotype that simultaneously displays female and male characteristics. The occurrence of intersex individuals in egg parasitoids, Trichogramma spp., is often associated with the symbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia, which induce thelytokous parthenogenesis of Trichogramma. It is still unclear whether intersex was caused by the reduced Wolbachia titer, effects of abiotic factors, or interactions between abiotic factors and Wolbachia. To answer this question, the females of Wolbachia-infected (TDW) and uninfected (TD) Trichogramma dendrolimi were treated using different tetracycline or rifampicin concentrations. The results showed that the proportion of intersexes or males of TDW offspring significantly increased as the concentration of both antibiotics increased; however, they did not occur without antibiotics. Occurrence of intersex was not observed in TD offspring. Twelve types of intersex were found and categorized by masculinization levels. The masculinized level of offspring intersex increased with tetracycline but not with rifampicin. Wolbachia titers of maternal TDW females significantly decreased with higher antibiotics concentrations. Wolbachia titers of intersex offspring were higher than offspring males, lower than offspring females, and negatively correlated with masculinized level of offspring intersex. The results revealed that the frequency and masculinized level of offspring intersex is quantitatively dependent on Wolbachia titer. Our findings provide an insight into the interaction of Wolbachia titers on the sex determination of Trichogramma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synephrine hydrochloride, an alkaloid compound extracted from immature bitter orange, has many pharmacological effects such as anticancer effect, antioxidant effect and antidepression effect. In this paper, the pharmacological effects and mechanism of synephrine hydrochloride were reviewed in order to provide a theoretical basis for the development and application of synephrine hydrochloride. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional multicopter design method usually requires a long iterative process to find the optimal design based on given performance requirements. The method is uneconomical and inefficient. In this article, a practical method is proposed to automatically calculate the optimal multicopter design according to the given design requirements including flight time, altitude, payload capacity, and maneuverability. The proposed method contains two algorithms, including an off-line algorithm and an online algorithm. The off-line algorithm finds the optimal components (propeller and electronic speed controller) for each motor to establish its component combination, and subsequently, these component combinations and their key performance parameters are stored in a combination database. The online algorithm obtains the multicopter design results that satisfy the given requirements by searching through the component combinations in the database and calculating the optimal parameters for the battery and airframe. Subsequently, these requirement-satisfied multicopter design results are obtained and sorted according to an objective function that contains evaluation indexes, including size, weight, performance, and practicability. The proposed method has the advantages of high precision and quick calculating speed because parameter calibrations and time-consuming calculations are completed offline. Experiments are performed to validate the effectiveness and practicality of the proposed method. Comparisons with the brutal search method and other design methods demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. Note to Practitioners—The proposed method is fast and practical to obtain an optimal solution by only using a low-performance web server, and the algorithm has been published online at http://www.flyeval.com/recalc.html to provide an online optimization design service for users. To make it convenient to apply the proposed method to multicopter designs, the propulsion system combination database obtained by our off-line algorithm is released along with the article. This database includes more than 1500 experimentally calibrated propulsion combinations, which are adequate for readers to use the proposed optimization algorithms to design multicopters with weights (sizes) ranging from 0.2 to 50 kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daurisoline is an important bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid and manly exists in the rhizome of Menispermum dauricum DC., a plant of the family Menispermaceae. Due to its pharmacological effects such a anti-arrhythmia, anti-ischemia and anti-cancer, daurisoline has attracted wide attention of researchers. In this paper, the pharmacological effects and action mechanism of daurisoline were reviewed in combination with relevant research literature, to provide a theoretical basis for the development and clinical application of daurisoline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model for predicting the water temperature of the reservoir incorporating with solar radiation to analyze and evaluate the water temperature of large high-altitude reservoirs in western China. Through mutual information inspection, the model shows that the dependent variable has a good correlation with water temperature, and it is added to the sample feature training model. Then, the measured water temperature data in the reservoir for many years are used to establish the support vector regression (SVR) model, and genetic algorithm (GA) is introduced to optimize the parameters, so as to construct an improved support vector machine (M-GASVR). At the same time, root-mean-square error, mean absolute error, mean absolute percentage error, and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient are used as the criteria for evaluating the performance of SVR model, ANN model, GA-SVR model, and M-GASVR model. In addition, the M-GASVR model is used to simulate the water temperature of the reservoir under different working conditions. The results show that ANN model is the worst among the four models, while GA-SVR model is better than SVR model in terms of metric, and M-GASVR model is the best. For non-stationary sequences, the prediction model M-GASVR can well predict the vertical water temperature and water temperature structure in the reservoir area. This study provides useful insights into the prediction of vertical water temperature at different depths of reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sensitive and rapid detection of pathogenic bacteria plays an important role in avoiding food poisoning. However, the practical application value of conventional assays for detection of foodborne bacteria, are limited by major drawbacks; these include the laboriousness of pure culture preparation, complexity of DNA extraction for polymerase chain reaction, and low sensitivity of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Herein, we designed a non-complex strategy for the sensitive, quantitative, and rapid detection of Salmonella typhimurium with high specificity, using an anti-Salmonella typhimurium IgG-AuNC-based immunofluorescent-aggregation assay. Salmonella typhimurium was agglutinated with fluorescent anti-Salmonella typhimurium IgG-AuNC on a glass slide, and observed using a fluorescence microscope with photoexcitation and photoemission at 560 nm and 620 nm, respectively. Under optimized reaction conditions, the AuNC-based immunofluorescent-aggregation assay had a determination range between 7.0 × 103 and 3.0 × 108 CFU/mL, a limit of detection of 1.0 × 103 CFU/mL and an assay response time of 3 min. The technique delivered good results in assessing real samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multiple-drought cascading framework based on causal inference was proposed. • Multiple-drought cascading risks were quantified by considering multiple time lags and complex factors. • The cascading risk of SD and GD peaks at a 3-7 month lag, during which time GD is most significantly influenced by vegetation. Comprehensively evaluating evolution of drought has an important guiding significance to drought early warning systems and disaster control. Drought is a major natural disaster. Although there are multiple methods including statistics to study drought propagation at present, the evolution of droughts is a complex phenomenon, existing physical and data-driven methods demonstrate unsatisfactory estimation performance. To address this issue, a new type of multiple-drought cascading framework was proposed. The peculiarity of this framework is that based on the principle of causal inference, a generalized linear regression model was established to quantify cascading effect of multiple droughts in disaster chain systems and explore influences of complicated factors outside the system on the cascading effect. The proposed framework was evaluated based on meteorological, soil and groundwater drought conditions of the Yanhe River basin, China. The results prove that study from the perspective of cascading disasters can intuitively characterize disasters of different types of drought signal propagation in the disaster chain system. The results also revealed a top-to-down drought long-chain cascading relationship in moisture transfer in the atmosphere, pedosphere, and lithosphere and discovered that climate change and vegetation restoration are the primary influencing factors of different links. In the framework, a novel model was constructed to quantify multiple-drought cascading effect considering influences of complex factors to facilitate the enhancement of policy planning and can help reduce negative influences of multiple cascading disasters. This framework is also expected to be applied in other areas to enrich the understanding of mechanisms underlying multiple-drought cascading disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no recognized serum biomarker to predict the recurrence of endometrial carcinoma (EC). We aimed to explore serum human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) and cancer antigen 125 (CA125) as the biomarkers to predict and monitor recurrence of type II EC. 191 patients diagnosed with type II EC were involved for this retrospective study. Comparing recurrent with non-recurrent patients, HE4 levels resulted a statistically significant difference at primary diagnosis and recurrence, respectively (P = 0.002 and P = < 0.001), while CA125 levels resulted statistically significant (P = < 0.001) at recurrence. According to receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the areas under the curve were significant for HE4 levels at primary diagnosis and recurrence predicting recurrence. Furthermore, CA125 levels at recurrence were significant. And the combination of both markers showed the higher sensitivity and specificity than single one. Patients with higher HE4 levels were associated with worse disease-free survival and overall survival, the opposite was true for patients with lower HE4 levels. The preoperative HE4 levels could be used to evaluate the risk factors of type II EC. Which suggested that HE4 levels might associated with the prognosis of type II EC. And combination of HE4 and CA125 could be applied to monitor recurrence during follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel method for efficiently solving a trajectory planning problem for swarm robotics in cluttered environments. Recent research has demonstrated high success rates in real-time local trajectory planning for swarm robotics in cluttered environments, but optimizing trajectories for each robot is still computationally expensive, with a computational complexity from O (k (n t , ε) n t 2) to O (k (n t , ε) n t 3) where n t is the number of parameters in the parameterized trajectory, ε is precision, and k (n t , ε) is the number of iterations with respect to n t and ε. Furthermore, the swarm is difficult to move as a group. To address this issue, we define and then construct the optimal virtual tube, which includes infinite optimal trajectories. Under certain conditions, any optimal trajectory in the optimal virtual tube can be expressed as a convex combination of a finite number of optimal trajectories, with a computational complexity of O (n t) . Afterward, a hierarchical approach including a planning method of the optimal virtual tube with minimizing energy and distributed model predictive control is proposed. In simulations and experiments, the proposed approach is validated and its effectiveness over other methods is demonstrated through comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of conventional antibiotic therapies is in question owing to the emergence of drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, novel, highly efficient antibacterial agents to effectively overcome resistant bacteria are urgently needed. Accordingly, in this work, we described a novel class luminogen of 6-Aza-2-thiothymine-decorated gold nanoclusters (ATT-AuNCs) with aggregation-induced emission property that possessed potent antimicrobial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Scanning electron microscopy was performed to investigate the interactions between ATT-AuNCs and MRSA. In addition, ATT-AuNCs exhibited excellent ROS generation efficiency and could effectively ablate MRSA via their internalization to the cells. Finally, tandem mass tag-labeling proteome analysis was carried out to investigate the differential expression proteins in MRSA strains. The results suggested that ATT-AuNCs killed MRSA cells through altering the expression of multiple target proteins involved in DNA replication, aminoacyl-tRNA synthesis, peptidoglycan and arginine biosynthesis metabolism. Parallel reaction monitoring technique was further used for the validation of these proteome results. ATT-AuNCs could also be served as a wound-healing agent and accelerate the healing process. Overall, we proposed ATT-AuNCs could serve as a robust antimicrobial aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen) that shows the ability to alter the activities of multiple targets for the elimination of drug-resistant bacteria. [Display omitted] • Provide a novel antimicrobial AIEgen of ATT-AuNCs for the treatment of MRSA. • Propose possible mechanism of ATT-AuNCs in killing MRSA. • Depth understanding the mode of action of ATT-AuNCs against MRSA at the proteome level. • Find 13 important differentially expressed proteins and their biological pathways. • Promote the healing of MRSA-infected wound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• CUE had different sensitivity to clipping and warming. • Clipping significantly increased CUE due to the stronger positive effects of clipping on GEP than on ER. • Warming had a minor effect on CUE attributed to the synchronized increase in GEP and ER. Ecosystem carbon use efficiency (CUE) is a critical variable in quantifying the efficiency and capacity of an ecosystem to sequestrate carbon (C) from the atmosphere. However, how CUE responds to land-use change and climate warming remains elusive and lacks empirical evidence. We implemented a field manipulative experiment to examine the effects of clipping and warming on CUE in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau over 7 years. The results showed that clipping significantly increased CUE by 7.1%, which was mainly attributed to the stronger positive effects of clipping on gross ecosystem productivity (GEP, 13.0%) than on ecosystem respiration (ER, 5.3%). In contrast, warming had a minor effect on CUE due to the synchronized increase in GEP (8.8%) and ER (7.3%). There was no significant interactive effect of clipping and warming on CUE. Moreover, the dominance of grasses played a pivotal role in controlling the responses of CUE to clipping and warming by increasing ecosystem C uptakes but decreasing microbial decomposition. Soil temperature and above-ground net primary productivity also contributed to the changes in CUE under clipping and warming. These results suggest that clipping once a year at the end of the growing season could increase the efficiency of this alpine meadow for C sequestration, while climate warming could not change ecosystem C use efficiency. We highlight that the dominance of grasses is an emerging property in determining CUE under land-use change and climate warming in grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To guide the movement of a robotic swarm in a corridor‐like environment, a curve virtual tube with no obstacle inside was designed in our previous work. This article generalizes the controller design to the condition that all robots have self‐localization drifts and precise relative navigation, where the flocking algorithm is introduced to reduce the negative impact of the self‐localization drift. Similar to the "many wrongs principle," it is shown that the cohesion behavior and the velocity alignment behavior are able to reduce the influence of the position measurement drift and the velocity measurement error, respectively. For convenience in practical use, a modified vector field controller with five control terms is put forward. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by numerical simulations and real experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formononetin is an isoflavone phytoestrogen mainly existing in leguminous plants such as Trifolium pretense, Spatholobus suberectus, etc. Studies have proved that formononetin has good anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antioxidant, antidepressant, anxiolytic and other pharmaco- logical effects. This paper summarizes the pharmacological action and molecular mechanism of formononetin, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the development and clinical application of formononetin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To guide a robotic swarm in a cluttered environment, a curve virtual tube is designed in this paper. There is no obstacle within the curve virtual tube, and the area inside can be seen as a safety zone. Then, a distributed swarm controller is proposed with three elaborate control terms. Formal analyses and proofs show that the curve virtual tube passing-through control problem can be solved in a finite time. For convenience in practical use, a modified controller with an approximate control performance is put forward. Some control laws for different types of robots to track their vector fields are also presented. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by numerical simulations and real experiments. To show the advantages of the proposed method, the comparisons between our method and other methods are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel social-ecological coupling model was established. • The degree of coordinated development of human-water relationship in the basin was quantified by the characteristic parameters in the Budyko framework. • The human-water relationship will reach moderate coordination development in the future is predicted. Correctly understanding the coordinated development between the social economy and the ecological environment is the key to achieving the sustainable development of river basins. Previous coupling coordination degree models are empirical ones and very complex, without physical parameters. Here, a novel social-ecological coupling model was established to meet the challenge. Within the Budyko framework, n D was adopted to characterize the social-ecological coupling coordination degree of the human-water relationship in basins. In addition, a social-ecological coupling coordination model with basins in northern Shaanxi Province, China as units. The multiple linear regression (MLR) model was used to quantitatively analyze the evolutional relationship between economic development and ecological environment. Research results show that R2 is larger than 0.6 in the comprehensive evaluation results of the novel model. This means that the model can well reflect changes in vegetation coverage and simplify expression of the coordinated development of social-ecological systems. The evaluation results of the human-water relationship in the basins are gradually improved year by year and the coordination state evolved constantly. The two systems have positive promotion effects on each other. The social-ecological coupling coordination degree (D) is spatially different, and various basins are listed in a descending order as the Yanhe, Wuding, and Kuye river basins according to D. D of the three basins all evolves from 0.2 (moderate incoordination) to 0.6 (mild coordination). Combined with analysis of ARIMA time series, it is anticipated that the human-water relationship will reach moderate coordination by 2030. Finally, without changing the premise of the social-ecological coupling model, limitations of the current model factors can be improved for future research to provide policy suggestions exploring ways to coordinate development of social-ecological systems in northern Shaanxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Machine learning techniques are applied to predict long-term prestress loss of prestressed reinforced concrete cylinder structures. • Explicit functions of concrete shrinkage and creep are proposed by using genetic programming (GP). • Finite element analysis model considers the long-term prestress loss under multi-factor coupling is established to expand the experimental database. • The prediction models of the long-term prestress loss based on GP, ANN and CNN are validated to be accurate and efficient by practical engineering. The long-term prestress loss caused by shrinkage and creep of concrete and stress relaxation of prestressed tendons has significant effects on the sealability and safety of prestressed concrete cylinder structures such as nuclear reactor containments and liquified natural gas (LNG) tanks. By utilizing machine learning (ML) techniques, this study aims to establish an intelligent approach for the long-term prestress loss prediction of concrete cylinder structures. Firstly, based on the Infrastructure Technology Institute of Northwestern University (NU-ITI) database of concrete shrinkage and creep performance, the explicit expressions are presented for concrete shrinkage and creep function using genetic programming (GP); Moreover, the concrete constitutive model is incorporated into a general finite-element software package based on the ABAQUS UMAT platform. Then finite element analysis (FEA) models are established and calibrated based on the existing long-term prestress loss tests of prestressed concrete beams. In addition to the experimental results in the literature, the numerical results of the FEA model are also used to form the database of the long-term prestress losses for concrete cylinder structures. Finally, three prediction models of long-term prestress loss are proposed by utilizing the artificial neural network (ANN), one-dimensional convolutional neural network (1D CNN) and genetic programming (GP). Compared with the measured results of nuclear containments in practical engineering, the ML based prediction models are demonstrated to be accurate and efficient in evaluating the long-term prestress loss for prestressed concrete cylinder structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Endometrial carcinoma is a common malignant tumor in female reproductive system. At present, there is no effective and economic prognostic index. This study aimed to investigate the effect of serum ferritin levels on the prognosis of endometrial carcinoma. Methods: Data of 367 patients who diagnosed with endometrial carcinoma at the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between January 2012 and August 2018 was retrospectively analyzed. The prediction accuracy was evaluated by receiver operating characteristics curves and Youden's J statistics. Hosmer–lemeshow test was used to confirm the goodness of fit of the model. The prognostic value of serum ferritin on disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) of endometrial carcinoma was evaluated by univariate log-rank tests and multivariate cox regression models. Results: Preoperative high serum ferritin was correlated with older age, high grade, specific histological subtypes and recurrence of endometrial carcinoma (P < 0.05). The DFS and OS of 198 patients with elevated serum ferritin levels were significantly lower than those with low serum ferritin levels (P = 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). In multivariate analysis, serum ferritin was an independent prognostic factor for DFS and OS in endometrial carcinoma (P = 0.012, P = 0.028). Conclusion: Through our research, we found that the high expression of serum ferritin level was not only related to low DFS and OS in patients with endometrial carcinoma, but also related to the high-risk factors of endometrial carcinoma recurrence. So serum ferritin levels may be used to predict the poor prognosis of patients with endometrial carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A promising bio-based and biodegradable polybutyrolactam (PBY) fiber with health care function was prepared for the first time by dry-jet-wet spinning. As-prepared PBY fibers possesses the degree of crystallization upto 45.61%, appreciable thermal stability, excellent strength upto 2.1 cN•dtex−1, as well as good resistance to alkalis based on the results of X-ray diffraction, thermal and physical properties. The bio-degradability of PBY fibers were evaluated by the degraded behavior in soil, UV aging irradiation and seawater, showing commendable bio-degradation within 100 days. The analysis of the degradation based on TGA demonstrates that the removal of oligomers preferentially occurs, and then PBY macromolecules are broken. More interestingly, pharmaceutical γ -aminobutyric acid (GABA) is released during the degradation process, and it is beneficial to health care. As a biomass-derived and bio-degradable fiber, the sustainable PBY fiber exhibits an impressively competitive tensile strength among the existing degradable man-made fibers, showing great potential in bio-based fiber materials and health care textiles. [Display omitted] • Polybutyrolactam fiber was prepared for the first time by dry-jet-wet spinning. • The tensile strength of fiber reaches to 2.1 cN.•dtex−1. • Showing a commend bio-degradation performance within 100 days. • Pharmaceutical GABA is released during the degradation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• FE model for PC slab subjected to hard missile impact is established and verified. • Prestress in concrete is the main reason for the ballistic resistance increase. • Contribution of prestressing bars to ballistic resistance increase is moderate. • Semi-empirical formula for crucial perforation velocity of PC slabs is proposed. Prestressed concrete (PC) structure has been extensively used in civil engineering like nuclear and protective structures. But systematic studies on its ballistic performance are still inadequate, hindering its ballistic design and applications. In this paper, the ballistic performance of PC slabs subjected to hard missile impact is numerically investigated through finite element (FE) modeling. The method to introduce prestressing force is specially investigated and the feasibility of the established models is verified against existing experimental results. The models are then employed to conduct a comparative study between PC and reinforced concrete (RC) slabs, in which the influences of the prestress and prestressing bars are decoupled. The variations of concrete tensile strain and energy dissipation capacities of PC slabs with different failure modes are analyzed to understand the mechanism of the ballistic resistance. It is revealed that the prestress is the main reason for the enhancement of ballistic resistance of PC slabs, while the increase of reinforcement ratio due to prestressing bars is the secondary reason. It is also proved that the confinement effect applied to the concrete is the major reason for the increase in ballistic resistance. Based on the mechanism, by using mechanical and regression analysis, a semi-empirical formula for the critical perforation velocity of the PC slabs is proposed, which gives better predictions compared to existing formulas. The proposed formula also allows a straightforward parametric study, the results of which could be used for simplified estimations in the ballistic design of PC slabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A total-sliding-mode-control (TSMC)-based distributed secondary control (TSMC-DSC) scheme is designed. • Using an adaptive fuzzy-neural-network (FNN) to mimic the TSMC-DSC law. • A model-free control structure with favorable convergence speed, no chattering phenomenon, and strong robustness. • Training AFNN-DSC parameters online adaptively. • The network convergence as well as the Lyapunov stability. In this study, an adaptive fuzzy-neural-network (FNN) control scheme is proposed for an islanded micro-grid (MG) as a distributed secondary controller (DSC) to achieve the aims of voltage and frequency restoration and the optimal power sharing. Firstly, the dynamic model of an islanded MG is built, which consists of an inverter-interfaced distributed generation (DG) model and a MG architecture model. The DG model can be represented by considering the dynamics of a primary controller with an optimal active power sharing scheme. The MG architecture model is composed of power flow dynamics and loads. Then, a consensus-algorithm-based error function is defined, and a model-dependent total sliding-mode control (TSMC) technique is presented for dealing with synchronization and tracking problems. Moreover, an adaptive FNN (AFNN) scheme is designed to mimic the TSMC law to inherit its fast dynamic response with robust properties. Meanwhile, the requirement of precise information of the MG dynamic model in the TSMC law can be relaxed by the AFNN scheme. Adaptive tuning algorithms for FNN network parameters of the AFNN-based DSC (AFNN-DSC) strategy are derived by using the projection algorithm and the Lyapunov stability theorem, which can guarantee the stability of the AFNN-DSC-controlled system. The effectiveness of the proposed control method is verified by numerical simulations for real scenarios. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abuse of antibiotics has triggered the rise of drug-resistance bacteria, which has seriously threatened public health globally. As a result, carrying out efficient and accurate antibiotic and bacteria identification are quite significant but challenge. Herein, an unprecedented Cd-MOF-based sensor, [CdL] n [ 1 , H 2 L = 4-(2-methyl-1H-benzo[ d ]imidazol-1-yl) isophthalic acid] with multiple fluorescence response behaviours towards antibiotics and bacteria was developed. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that 1 is a mesomeric 2D bilayer, which is comprised of two opposite chiral mono-layers, each assembled by left-handed or right-handed helixes. More interestingly, 1 represented multiplex detection capability towards antibiotics and bacteria through two detection behaviors: toward nitro-antibiotics and chlortetracycline (CTC) via fluorescent quenching, while toward Staphylococcus albus (S. albus) via fluorescent enhancement. Remarkably, 1 showed a low limit of detection (LOD, 47 CFU/mL) accompanied with specificity in the detection of S. albus compared to other bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus , Acinetobacter baumannii , Klebsiella pneumonia , Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. In addition, the LOD could reach to ppm level for nitro-antibiotics and CTC. Moreover, the practical application of 1 was further reinforced through the detection of nitro-antibiotics and CTC, as well as S. albus in fetal calf serum and river water. [Display omitted] • An unprecedented highly stable Cd-MOF multiple fluorescence sensor was reported. • This sensor can rapidly and efficiently identify antibiotics or bacteria. • It can be as "turn-off" sensor towards nitro antibiotics and chlortetracycline. • It can be as "emission enhancement" sensor towards Staphylococcus albus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicopters have been attracting increasing attention in recent years, while it is significant to consider the flight safety of multicopters in the presence of propulsor faults or failures. Therefore, this paper presents a methodology to analyze the controllable probability of a multicopter with arbitrary configurations based on controllability theory and an available control authority index. The methodology is then used to analyze the controllable probability of multicopters with different propulsor numbers and configurations to show its effectiveness. Based on the controllable probability results, an optimal configuration method is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of drug-resistant bacterial strains has challenged the use of traditional antibiotic therapies. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel antibacterial materials or methods to effectively eradicate bacteria. Herein, we demonstrated a novel antibacterial system consisting of cupric oxide nanoparticles combined with ascorbic acid (CuO NPs/AA), which could act as a potent nanoantibiotic targeting both Escherichia coli (gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive) in vivo and in vitro , without noticeable cytotoxicity to mammalian tissue. The CuO NP/AA antibacterial system killed these microbes through a combined mechanism involving biofilm inhibition, cell membrane destruction, DNA damage, and enzyme inactivation. The antibacterial properties of CuO NPs/AA were mainly attributed to the generation of reactive oxygen species (e.g., ·OH) produced through the intrinsic ascorbate oxidase- and peroxidase-like activities of CuO NPs, highlighting their use as antibacterial nanozymes to treat bacterial infections. • CuO NPs/AA was demonstrated as a novel antibacterial system. • CuO NPs/AA has potent nanoantibiotics targeting both E. coli and S. aureus in vivo and in vitro. • CuO NPs/AA killed microbes through a combined mechanism. • CuO NPs/AA generated ·OH through the CuO NPs' intrinsic ascorbate oxidase- and peroxidase-like activities. • The biological applications of bifunctional CuO NPs can be extended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Droughts have significantly damaged the environment of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. In this study, the region was divided into two subregions. Soil moisture was used as the basic parameter to analyze the characteristics of agricultural droughts. Based on a geographical detector, the spatial stratified heterogeneity in different seasons was discussed. Moreover, the copula joint functions of characteristics and dominant factors of agricultural droughts were constructed. Based on the Soil Moisture Anomaly Percentage Index (SMAPI), the results demonstrate that the climate tendency rate of droughts in the summer and in spring in Subregion I shows an increasing trend, while it decreases in the autumn and winter. In Subregion II, the climate tendency rate of droughts in different seasons has no significant change. Through geographical detection, the single factor detection illustrates that temperature and Precipitation Conversion Efficiency (PCE) show the highest explanatory power in different subregions. The interactive detection also demonstrates the explanatory powers of the combination of the PCE and temperature, respectively. The t-copula function describes the correlation coefficients of the SMAPI with the PCE and temperature, with the optimal tail dependence. In short, agricultural droughts are most significantly affected by temperature and the PCE, and their balance has a significant impact on agricultural droughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Weihe River Basin (WRB) in a monsoon transition zone of East Asia interacts with multiple weather systems and is susceptible to floods and droughts. We developed a framework based on the Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis, Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise analysis, and moving-average based Spearman rank correlation to identify the spatial patterns of the dry/wet conditions from 1470 to 2016, decompose the dry/wet index into the leading components with a period between 2 and 3 years and 100+ years, and discover their driving forces on multiple time scales. Results show that WRB can be divided into four distinguishable hydroclimatic subregions located in the southeast, west, central, and north. The East Asian summer monsoon and South Asian summer monsoon impact this region mainly on the inter-annual and inter-decadal scales, while the impacts of ENSO, PDO, AO, and NAO are dominant on the multi-decadal and centennial scales. [Display omitted] • Developed a new framework to attribute dry/wet spatiotemporal variability on multiple time scales. • Revealed four unique hydroclimatic subregions for the Weihe River Basin. • Identified the effects of monsoons, plateau circulation, westerly, and solar activities on Weihe. • Dry/wet conditions of the subregions show opposite responses to solar activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate precipitation prediction is of great significance for regional flood control and disaster mitigation. This study introduced a prediction model based on the least square support vector machine (LSSVM) optimized by the genetic algorithm (GA). The model was used to estimate the precipitation of each meteorological station over the source region of the Yellow River (SRYE) in China for 12 months. The Ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method was used to select meteorological factors and realize precipitation prediction, without dependence on historical data as a training set. The prediction results were compared with each other, according to the determination coefficient (R2), mean absolute errors (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE). The results show that sea surface temperature (SST) in the Niño 1 + 2 region exerts the largest influence on accuracy of the prediction model for precipitation in the SRYE ( R SST 2 = 0.856, RMSE SST = 19.648, MAE SST = 14.363). It is followed by the potential energy of gravity waves (Ep) and temperature (T) that have similar effects on precipitation prediction. The prediction accuracy is sensitive to altitude influences and accurate prediction results are easily obtained at high altitudes. This model provides a new and reliable research method for precipitation prediction in regions without historical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• R h and R a are highly sensitive to warming and clipping. • Increased allocation of C toward below-ground cause the increasing in R a and R s. • Due to the changes in ANPP/BNPP and ST, warming effect vary largely with years. • Plant C allocation is an emerging property in determining R s under warming. Global warming and land-use change have profound impacts on soil respiration (R s), with consequent changes in carbon exchange between terrestrial ecosystem and atmosphere and its feedback to climate change. However, it is not clear how soil respiration and its components (heterotrophic respiration, R h ; and autotrophic respiration, R a) respond to long-term warming and clipping in alpine meadow, and what are the controlling factors for the responses of soil respiration. To answer these questions, we conducted a field experiment of warming and clipping in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from 2014 to 2019. Infrared heaters were used to simulate climate warming and plots were clipped once a year to mimic hay or biofuel harvest. The results showed that warming decreased R h by 5.06% but stimulated R a by 10.08% across years, while clipping enhanced R s , R h and R a by 12.31%, 18.65% and 1.29%, respectively, and marginally interacted with warming in impacting R a across the years. Furthermore, the warming effect on soil respiration and its components varied largely over years, which was mostly attributable to the changes in the ratio of above-ground to below-ground net primary productivity (ANPP/BNPP, A/B) and soil temperature. Increased allocation of photosynthate toward below-ground caused the gradual increase in R a and R s under long-term warming. While soil temperature changes explained the variation of warming effects on R h across years. The results demonstrated that soil respiration and its components in the alpine meadow are highly sensitive to climate warming and hay harvest but with large interannual variations in their responses. We highlight that plant carbon allocation is an emerging property in determining soil respiration under climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design of efficient and robust electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under all pH conditions has attracted significant attention. In particular, it is still a considerable challenge since the HER kinetics of Pt in alkaline solutions is about two to three orders of magnitude lower than that in acidic conditions. Herein, a heterogeneous yolk–shell nanostructure with Rh nanoparticles embedded in S, N co‐doped carbon nanospheres prepared by a facile self‐template method is reported. The optimized electrocatalyst can achieve an extremely small overpotential of 13.5 mV at 10 mA cm‐2, low Tafel slope of 25.5 mV dec‐1, high turnover frequency of 0.143 s‐1 (at −75 mV vs. reversible hydrogen electrode), and long‐term durability for 10 h, which is the record‐high alkaline HER activity among the ever‐reported noble metal based catalysts. These striking performances are ascribed to the optimized electronic structure and unique heterogeneous yolk–shell nanostructure. More importantly, it is also demonstrated that the obtained electrocatalyst exhibits superior activities in all pH range, which is better than commercial Pt/C and Rh/C catalysts. This work proves that Rh‐based nanomaterials are promising superior electrocatalysts in a wide pH range and nanostructure design is a powerful tool to increase the mass/electron transfer during reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid urbanization and frequent occurrence of extreme weather have made flooding more frequent; tide-sensitive areas are more prone to flooding due to tide level. However, the extent of their respective impacts on flood variability in the context of the combined effects remains to be explored. Therefore, analysis of the driveability of the water level is important for regional flood control. Land use data from 1985 to 2015 was used in this study to analyze the characteristics of the changes. General trends, abrupt variability, and persistence of rainfall, tide, and water level data from 1957 to 2018 were analyzed. The influence of rainfall, tide level factors and underlying surface on water level variation was analyzed qualitatively and the contribution of the three factors to water level variation was quantified. The results indicate that the most important directions of land-type transformation were the construction land and arable land. Within the rainfall sequence, only the 3d rainfall sequence exhibited a significant increasing trend, while both tide level and water levels showed significant increasing trends. The 3d rainfall sequence and tide level sequence are significantly positively correlated with water level sequences, whereas among the underlying surface factors, only construction land and unused land are significantly positively correlated with water levels. Furthermore, the contribution rates of driving factors vary across different regions. In the Changzhou region, the underlying surface factors dominated with a relative influence of 62%., whereas for other regions, the combined relative influences of rainfall and tide level are 57.2%, 52.8%, 60.4%, and 66.9%, The methods and results of this study contribute to regional flood regulation. • The main directions of conversion of land type are construction land and arable land. • Rainfall and tide level are positively correlated with water level in an upward trend. • The rainfall and tide level factors are the dominant factors influencing the rise in water level. • The net effect of human activities on changes in water level is actually not very strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has mainly focused on plant communities, with comparably little known about soil microbial‐driven ecosystem functions. Climate change severely threatens soil microbial roles, but how soil microbial communities determine soil multifunctionality under climate change is poorly understood.Here, we evaluated the effects of diverse bacterial and fungal properties, including microbial gene abundance, diversity and network complexity, on soil multifunctionality (nine soil functions) across a 3000 km transect along a natural precipitation gradient in Tibetan alpine grasslands. Variation partitioning analyses were performed to disentangle the relative importance of bacterial and fungal properties to the variation of soil multifunctionality. Moreover, structural equation modelling was adopted to explore the influencing pathways of precipitation‐induced changes in plant and edaphic factors to soil microbial properties and, consequently, soil multifunctionality.Soil multifunctionality was positively associated with bacterial and fungal gene abundance, diversity and network complexity. Microbial gene abundance was the more important driver influencing soil multifunctionality than microbial diversity and network complexity. In addition, microbial gene abundance was mainly determined by precipitation‐induced changes in soil pH. Meanwhile, the effects of bacterial properties on soil multifunctionality were much larger than those of fungi. Soil multifunctionality was closely associated with different bacterial (cellulolysis, ligninolysis, nitrogen reduction, denitrification and nitrate fixation etc.) and fungal (soil saprotrophs, arbuscular mycorrhizal and plant pathogens etc.) functional guilds, which exert vital regulations on an array of soil biogeochemical cycling processes.Our results provide the large‐scale evidence of the relative contribution of soil microbial gene abundance, diversity and network complexity to the variation of soil multifunctionality in alpine grasslands with changing precipitation, which is pivotal for understanding microbial roles in modulating and predicting soil multifunctionality under future precipitation changes. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deoxypodophyllotoxin not only has pharmacological effects such as anti-allergy, anti-angiogenesis and liver protection, but also has good anti-tumor activity. It can play an anti-tumor role by inhibiting cell viability, inducing apoptosis, blocking cell cycle and inhibiting cell migration. In this paper, the related research on pharmacological effect and mechanism of deoxypodophyllotoxin is reviewed, to lay a foundation for the follow-up study of deoxypodophyllotoxin and drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glaucocalyxin B (GLB) not only has many pharmacological actions such as anti-Parkinson's disease, preventing neuron injury, anti-neuritis and anti-rheumatoid arthritis, but also has good anti-tumor activity, especially with obvious therapeutic effect on cervical cancer, gastric cancer and breast cancer. In this paper, the pharmacological action and molecular mechanism of GLB are reviewed, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the development and clinical application of GLB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Globally, obesity is a significant public problem, especially when aging. Sesamol, a phenolic lignan present in sesame seeds, might have a positive effect on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity associated with aging. Objective: The purpose of current research study was to explore salutary effects and mechanisms of sesamol in treating alimentary obesity and associated metabolic syndrome in middle-aged mice. Methods: C57BL/6J mice aged 4-6 weeks and 6-8 months were assigned to the young normal diet group, middle- aged normal diet group, middle-aged HFD group, and middle-aged HFD + sesamol group. At the end of experiment, glucose tolerance test and insulin tolerance test were performed; the levels of lipids and oxidative stress-related factors in the serum and skeletal muscle were detected using chemistry reagent kits; lipid accumulation in skeletal muscle was observed by oil red O staining; the expressions of muscular glucose and lipid metabolism associated proteins were measured by Western blotting. Results: Sesamol decreased the body weight and alleviated obesity-associated metabolism syndrome in middle- aged mice, such as glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and oxidative stress. Moreover, muscular metabolic disorders were attenuated after treatment with sesamol. It increased the expression of glucose transporter type-4 and down-regulated the protein levels of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isozyme 4, implying the increase of glucose uptake and oxidation. Meanwhile, sesamol decreased the expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c and up-regulated the phosphorylation of hormone-sensitive lipase and the level of carnitine palmityl transferase 1α, which led to the declined lipogenesis and the increased lipolysis and lipid oxidation. In addition, the SIRT1/AMPK signaling pathway was triggered by sesamol, from which it is understood how sesamol enhances glucose and lipid metabolism. Conclusions: Sesamol counteracts on metabolic disorders of middle-aged alimentary obese mice through regulating skeletal muscle glucose and lipid metabolism, which might be associated with the stimulation of the SIRT1/AMPK pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ecosystem service supply is related to regional natural conditions. • Ecosystem service demand is related to regional socio-economic development. • Land-use change was intense and urban expansion was noticeable from 2000 to 2020. • Ecosystem service supply and demand show significant spatial correlation. • Study scale has impacts on coupled matching of ecosystem service supply and demand. Ecosystem services are the environmental basis of human living and sustainable development, and the coupled matching of ecosystem service supply and demand (ESSD) plays an important role in socioeconomic and eco-environmental development. As one of the major regions supplying ecological products in China, the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration (SPUA) has unique geographical advantages and a strategic position. Based on high-resolution land-use and regional socioeconomic development data in SPUA, this study used value quantity assessment and an ecosystem service demand model to quantify ecosystem service supply (ESS) and ecosystem service demand (ESD) at both the city and county scale in 2000, 2010 and 2020. Meanwhile, the CA-Markov model was used to predict the potential land-use, the Moran index and Getis-Ord Gi* index were used to analyze spatial clusters of ESS and ESD, and a coupling coordination degree model and matching index were used to analyze the relationship between ESS and ESD. The results show that: (1) The most prominent land-use change in SPUA from 2000 to 2020 was the conversion of cropland to other land-use types; the process of land-use change was more intense from 2010 to 2020 than from 2000 to 2010; and the center of city activities might expand by 2030, which is related to the regional development plan. (2) The ESS was related to the regional natural conditions. Coastal regions or regions with abundant natural resources in SPUA had higher ESS, and the southwest region had lower ESS in SPUA. The ESS presented high–high clusters, low–low clusters and hot spots, and the cluster phenomena gradually diminished from 2000 to 2020. (3) The ESD was related to the regional location and economic development, with the southwest region of SPUA having a higher ESD than the northeast. The ESD presented low–low clusters, and Jinan and Qingdao had hot spots, which are the most developed cities in SPUA. (4) The study scale had impacts on coupled matching of ESSD. Coupled matching of ESSD was found to be unbalanced at the county scale from 2000 to 2020, but tended to be balanced at the city scale, which was related to resource management at different spatial scales. This study reveals the evolution and coupled matching of ESSD at different scales, which has important implications for the sustainable development of regional urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photocatalysis for environment purification and clean energy production has attracted widespread attention, however, traditional powder-form photocatalysts cannot meet the practical application due to their poor recyclability, especially in slurry system. Here, polypyrrole/cadmium sulfide/nickel (PPy/CdS/Ni) multi-layer hollow fibrous photocatalyst with favorable photocatalytic activity for pollutants removal and hydrogen (H 2) evolution was successfully fabricated, which possesses a narrow band gap of ∼1.87 eV and enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity. The removal efficiency of methylene blue (MB) and tetracycline can reach up to ∼94.76% and ∼76.1%, respectively. Simultaneously, the TOC removal efficiency with regard to MB can reach up to 78.1% and Cd2+ leakage is extremely low (<3 mg⋅L−1). More interestingly, H 2 evolution rate of PPy/CdS/Ni hollow fiber is up to as high as 665.7 μmol⋅g−1⋅h−1, which is about 1.43 and 1.86 folds higher than the PPy/CdS/Ni/PET fiber (466.3 μmol⋅g−1⋅h−1) and CdS/Ni/PET fiber (357.1 μmol⋅g−1⋅h−1), respectively. As a fiber-form intrinsic photocatalyst, our catalytic fiber shows great promise for pollutants removal and hydrogen energy production due to its easy-handling and recyclement. [Display omitted] • A novel PPy/CdS/Ni hollow fiber with photocatalytic activity was synthesized. • Pollutant removal efficiency and H 2 evolution rate are appreciable. • Possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. • PPy/CdS/Ni hollow fiber shows good photocatalytic stability and recyclability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anus preservation has been a challenge in the treatment of patients with low rectal adenocarcinoma (within 5 cm from the anal verge) because it is difficult to spare the anus with its functioning sphincter complex under the safe margin of tumour resection. Patients with dMMR/MSI-H can achieve a favourable complete response (CR) rate by using a single immune checkpoint inhibitor. For patients with pMMR/MSS/MSI-L, intensified neoadjuvant three-drug chemotherapy may be the preferred option for anal preservation. In addition, the watch and wait (W&W) strategy has been proven safe and feasible for patients with rectal cancer who achieve a clinical complete response (cCR). Therefore, we initiated this clinical trial to explore the optimal neoadjuvant treatment pattern for patients with low locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) with different MMR/MSI statuses, aiming to achieve a higher cCR rate with the W&W strategy and ultimately provide more patients with a chance of anus preservation. Methods: This is a randomised, controlled, open-label, multicentre phase III trial. Patients with clinical stage T2-4 and/or N + tumours located within 5 cm from the anal verge are considered eligible. Based on the results of pathological biopsy, the patients are divided into two groups: dMMR/MSI-H and pMMR/MSS. Patients in the dMMR/MSI-H group will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to either arm A (monoimmunotherapy) or arm B (short-course radiotherapy followed by monoimmunotherapy). Patients in the pMMR/MSS group will be initially treated with long-term pelvic radiation with concurrent capecitabine combined with irinotecan. Two weeks after the completion of chemoradiotherapy (CRT), the patients will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio to arm C (XELIRI six cycle regime) or arm D (FOLFIRINOX nine cycle regime). The irinotecan dose will be adjusted according to the UGT1A1-genotype. After treatment, a comprehensive assessment will be performed to determine whether a cCR has been achieved. If achieved, the W&W strategy will be adopted; otherwise, total mesorectal excision (TME) will be performed. The primary endpoint is cCR with the maintenance of 12 months at least, determined using digital rectal examination, endoscopy, and rectal MRI or PET/CT as a supplementary method. Discussion: APRAM will explore the best anus preservation model for low LARC, combining the strategies of consolidation chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and short-course radiotherapy, and aims to preserve the anus of more patients using W&W. Our study provides an accurate individual treatment mode based on the MMR/MSI status for patients with low LARC, and more patients will receive the opportunity for anus preservation under our therapeutic strategy, which would transform into long-term benefits. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov NCT05669092 (Registered 28th Nov 2022). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate warming, often accompanied by extreme drought events, could have profound effects on both plant community structure and ecosystem functioning. However, how warming interacts with extreme drought to affect community‐ and ecosystem‐level stability remains a largely open question. Using data from a manipulative experiment with three warming treatments in an alpine meadow that experienced one extreme drought event, we investigated how warming modulates resistance and recovery of community structural and ecosystem functional stability in facing with extreme drought. We found warming decreased resistance and recovery of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and structural resistance but increased resistance and recovery of belowground net primary productivity (BNPP), overall net primary productivity (NPP), and structural recovery. The findings highlight the importance of jointly considering above‐ and belowground processes when evaluating ecosystem stability under global warming and extreme climate events. The stability of dominant species, rather than species richness and species asynchrony, was identified as a key predictor of ecosystem functional resistance and recovery, except for BNPP recovery. In addition, structural resistance of common species contributed strongly to the resistance changes in BNPP and NPP. Importantly, community structural resistance and recovery dominated the resistance and recovery of BNPP and NPP, but not for ANPP, suggesting the different mechanisms underlie the maintenance of stability of above‐ versus belowground productivity. This study is among the first to explain that warming modulates ecosystem stability in the face of extreme drought and lay stress on the need to investigate ecological stability at the community level for a more mechanistic understanding of ecosystem stability in response to climate extremes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemically converting waste nitrate (NO3−) into ammonia (NH3) is a green route for both wastewater treatment and high‐value‐added ammonia generation. However, the NO3−‐to‐NH3 reaction involves multistep electron transfer and complex intermediates, making it a grand challenge to drive efficient NO3− electroreduction with high NH3 selectivity. Herein, an in‐operando electrochemically synthesized Cu2O/NiO heterostructure electrocatalyst is proven for efficient NH3 electrosynthesis. In situ Raman spectroscopy reveals that the obtained Cu2O/NiO, induced by the electrochemistry‐driven phase conversion, is the real active phase. This electronically coupled phase can modulate the interfacial charge distribution, dramatically lower the overpotential in the rate‐determining step and thus requiring lower energy input to proceed with the NH3 electrosynthesis. The orbital hybridization calculations further identify that Cu2O is beneficial for NO3− adsorption, and NiO could promote the desorption of NH3, forming an excellent tandem electrocatalyst. Such a tandem system leads to NH3 Faradaic efficiency of 95.6%, a super‐high NH3 selectivity of 88.5% at −0.2 V versus RHE, surpassing most of the NH3 electrosynthesis catalysts at an ultralow reaction voltage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wedelolide is a coumarin-like active substance extracted from Ecliptae Herba. It not only has pharmacological effects of anti-pulmo- nary fihosis, anti-arthritis, blood vessel protection and liver protection, but also effectively inhibits the poliferation of cancer cells and induces apoptosis of cancer cells, thereby delaying the further development of malignant tumors. In this paper, the pharmacological effects and mecha- nisms of wedelactone were reviewed to lay a foundation for further study and clinical application of wedelactone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Both multiple quadcopters grouped to different blocks and one block are considered. • Spraying time is reduced by 10.8% and 13.2% in simulation and actual flight tests. • The optimization complexity of one quadcopter's path planning is significantly reduced. • A simulation prototype by MATLAB GUIs and Stateflow is built for mission planner. As the approaching of Agriculture 4.0 era and advancements of new technologies of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and particularly quadcopter UAVs, plant protection quadcopters are becoming increasingly popular and practical in pesticide spraying, fertilization, pollination, seeding, and other agricultural activities. One of the main problems for plant protection quadcopters is completing planning tasks efficiently and quickly. Therefore, this paper proposes an autonomous task assignment and decision-making method for coverage path planning by multiple cooperative quadcopters. The Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) method is adopted to acquire the optimal solution for the proposed problem. Then, a simulation platform by MATLAB Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) is established using the Stateflow technique, and multiple ZY-UAV-680 quadrotor UAVs are employed to carry out the actual flight tests. Finally, simulations and actual flight tests are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the autonomous optimal task assignment and decision-making method. The final results show that: the proposed method can divide multiple UAVs reasonably to several blocks; the time differences between the simulation test and real flight test are only 39.8 sec and 20.6 sec, and accounts for 6.6% and 3.9% of the spraying time spent on real flight test by three cooperative quadrotors, respectively; the optimal scheme can save 60.8 sec and 80.0 sec in the simulation tests and the real flight tests, which accounts for 10.8% and 13.2% of the time spent on average scheme, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that the simulation results can match the real flight test results quite well regardless of average scheme or optimal scheme, and the optimal scheme is more efficient and timesaving than the average scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-altitude aircraft is being developed as a new mode of urban transport; consequently, the penetration of low-altitude aircraft into the urban airspace is inevitable in the near future. This will give rise to new urban air transport systems, called low-altitude air city transport (LAAT) systems. Such systems will include aircraft operated with or without pilots, transferring passengers and goods in urban areas using low-altitude levels of urban airspace. This paper investigates the collective and aggregate aircraft traffic flow diagrams, i.e. Macroscopic Fundamental Diagrams (MFDs), for LAAT systems. A LAAT plant model that captures the microscopic and macroscopic levels is established to construct the MFD curve, which links flow, density, and speed. The MFD allows us to identify the airspace traffic conditions, and to detect congested regimes. Different case study examples were simulated to analyze the full shape of MFD curves for LAAT systems, considering different algorithms (waypoints and destination plane), aircraft, and airspace settings. In this paper, a unique modeling framework for LAAT operation and a real-time synchronized implementation of large-scale LAAT simulation were developed. The findings of the current paper, the development of LAAT simulation environment, and the identification of airspace traffic conditions, can lead to the development of aggregate models and new control strategies to minimize congestion in futuristic urban airspace. • Investigating the collective and aggregate aircraft traffic flow diagrams. • Developing a LAAT plant model that captures the microscopic and macroscopic levels. • Developing a real-time synchronized implementation of large-scale LAAT simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sesamol (SEM), a lignan from sesame oil, exhibited potential benefits on obesity treatment by promoting browning of adipocytes, and the current study is aimed to explore the molecular mechanisms of SEM from the aspect of systemic liver-adipose crosstalk that mediated by hepatic fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Our in vivo data showed that SEM induced energy expenditure and white adipose tissue (WAT) browning by increasing the expression level of uncoupling protein-1 in high fat diet induced obese C57BL/6J mice. Elevated levels of circulating FGF21 associated with the increased expression of hepatic FGF21 were observed after SEM intervention. Simultaneously, the increased adipose fibroblast growth factor tyrosine kinase receptor 1/beta-klotho indicated that FGF21 sensitivity was enhanced by SEM in WAT. Furthermore, our in vitro results from HepG2 and 3T3-L1 cell lines confirmed the effects and revealed the mechanism of SEM on the white adipocytes browning. We found that with the specific inhibitors of PPARα, the SEM-mediated hepatic FGF21 expression was decreased, and with the specific inhibitors of PPARγ, the browning effect of adipocytes by SEM combining with FGF21 was significantly suppressed. Taken together, the mechanism of SEM for inducing the WAT browning might be the modulation of SEM on liver-adipose crosstalk mediated by FGF21, and the PPARs family might be the targets of SEM. The novel findings from the present study provided evidence that SEM could be a potent obesity-treating compound. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the antipigmentation and antioxidant activity of Sanchi flower extract (SFE). The study explores the potential of SFE as a cosmetic ingredient to inhibit melanin production both in B16-F0 cells and in a three-dimensional skin model. It observed intracellular tyrosinae activity and cellular glutathione peroxidase activity after treatment with SFE, as well as total antioxidant capacity in HaCaT cells irradiated with ultraviolet B radiation.

Plant functional traits play important roles in determining plant responses to environmental change and further shaping community composition, but the role of plant stoichiometry remains poorly understood in regulating community responses to continually increased nitrogen (N) deposition.In this paper, we used a 5‐year manipulative experiment with six N addition rates (Nrate) to explore how the N response of different plant functional groups including forbs, grasses, sedges and legumes links to above‐ground plant carbon‐to‐N ratio (C:N, related to N use strategies) in an alpine meadow.We found that plant C:N explained 45.8% and 42.6% of N response variation among functional groups in plant above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP) and abundance. Over increasing Nrate, functional groups with higher C:N (grasses and sedges) tended to grow better and have greater abundance, yet those with lower C:N (forbs and legumes) were at risk of loss, subsequently mitigating the N‐caused decline in community‐level plant C:N. This was mainly due to that functional groups with higher C:N not only possessed higher N use efficiency but also had greater competitiveness for above‐ground light due to higher plant height. In addition, we also found that plant C:N differences among functional groups remained relatively constant over Nrate, suggesting that the ability of this trait to indicate functional group‐specific N responses was stable.Synthesis. Our results show that the N responses of different herbaceous plants can be well explained by plant C:N. Thus, we suggest the prediction of plant community composition changes under N deposition would be greatly improved by considering this easily measured stoichiometric trait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia (eNO3RR) is a green and appealing method for ammonia synthesis, but is hindered by the multistep chemical reaction and competitive hydrogen generation. Herein, the synthesis of 2D SnS nanosheets with tailored interlayer spacing is reported, including both expansion and compression, through the active diatomic Pt‐Ce pairs. Taking together the experimental results, in situ Raman spectra, and DFT calculations, it is found that the compressed interlayer spacing can tune the electron density of localized p‐orbital in Sn into its delocalized states, thus enhancing the chemical affinity towards NO3− and NO2− but inhibiting hydrogen generation simultaneously. This phenomenon significantly facilitates the rate‐determining step (*NO3→*NO2) in eNO3RR, and realizes an excellent Faradaic efficiency (94.12%) and yield rate (0.3056 mmol cm−2 h−1) for NH3 at −0.5 V versus RHE. This work provides a powerful strategy for tailoring flexible interlayer spacing of 2D materials and opens a new avenue for constructing high‐performance catalysts for ammonia synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]