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Plastic greenhouses play an important role in vegetable cultivation in China. While evaluations have attributed perfluoroalkyl acid contamination in greenhouse vegetables primarily to irrigation water, the potential contribution from greenhouse plastic films has consistently been overlooked, despite PFAAs' long-standing use as anti-fogging agents. In this study, a comprehensive assessment of PFAA contamination was conducted in greenhouses at the Shouguang vegetable base in China, based on extensive environmental and crop sample collection, followed by analysis using LC-MS/MS. PFAAs are still used in greenhouse plastic film, and their migration to the surface water mist and the air inside the greenhouse was also observed. Elevated levels of PFAA pollution were found near the corner areas of greenhouses with longer service times, leading to further pollution of the soil and nearby vegetables. This is considered as the primary source which may have been caused by PFAAs migrating with condensation from the plastic film and accumulating for decades. However, polluted irrigation water still remains the dominate source of PFAAs in other areas inside the greenhouse. Based on our analysis, we conclude that PFAAs present in plastic films could be the primary contaminant source for vegetables in specific zones. This underscores the urgent need for heightened vigilance towards environmental pollution within agricultural facilities, which currently represent the most prevalent mode of intensive vegetable cultivation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wavefront encoding (WFC) is a depth-of-field (DOF) extension technology that combines optical encoding and digital decoding. The system extends DOF at the expense of intermediate image quality and then decodes it through an image restoration algorithm to obtain a clear image. Affected by point spread differences, traditional decoding methods are often accompanied by artifacts and noise amplification problems. In this paper, based on lens-combined modulated wavefront coding (LM-WFC), we simulate the imaging process under different object distances, generate a simulation data set of WFC, and train a multi-scale convolutional neural network. The simulation experiment proves that this method can effectively reduce artifacts and improve image clarity. In addition, we used the LM-WFC camera to obtain real scene images with different target distances for experiments. The decoding results showed that the network model can enhance the quality of image restoration and generate clear images that are more in line with human vision, which is conducive to the improvement and practical application of wavefront coding systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Molecules mediating long-distance inter-tissue communication from source to target tissues is essential to coordinate physiological functions and maintain health. A well-known example is insulin, which originates from the pancreas and targets multiple tissues, such as the liver and muscle, in order to control glucose metabolism and to keep the blood glucose level stable. However, knowledge about inter-tissue communication molecules is not always well-organized as in the cited insulin case, and there is currently no specialized database to extensively collect known inter-tissue communication molecules and their communication routes from source tissues to target tissues. In this paper, through a manual literature curation of nearly 190,000 publications, we established a database called IntiCom-DB, which contains 1408 inter-tissue communication relationships supported by experimental evidence. In IntiCom-DB, users can conveniently browse or search for inter-tissue communication molecules and their source tissues, target tissues, functions, and other related information. This database will enhance our understanding of human health and disease biology, and it will facilitate the development of treatments for complex diseases. Inter-tissue communication (ITC) is critical for maintaining the physiological functions of multiple tissues and is closely related to the onset and development of various complex diseases. Nevertheless, there is no well-organized data resource for known ITC molecules with explicit ITC routes from source tissues to target tissues. To address this issue, in this work, we manually reviewed nearly 190,000 publications and identified 1408 experimentally supported ITC entries in which the ITC molecules, their communication routes, and their functional annotations were included. To facilitate our work, these curated ITC entries were incorporated into a user-friendly database named IntiCom-DB. This database also enables visualization of the expression abundances of ITC proteins and their interaction partners. Finally, bioinformatics analyses on these data revealed common biological characteristics of the ITC molecules. For example, tissue specificity scores of ITC molecules at the protein level are often higher than those at the mRNA level in the target tissues. Moreover, the ITC molecules and their interaction partners are more abundant in both the source tissues and the target tissues. IntiCom-DB is freely available as an online database. As the first comprehensive database of ITC molecules with explicit ITC routes to the best of our knowledge, we hope that IntiCom-DB will benefit future ITC-related studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gold and Bi-bearing parageneses are pivotal to understanding gold concentration and deposition processes. The large-scale Laozuoshan gold deposit is located in the Jiamusi Block, northeastern China, and has experienced complex mineralization processes with abundant gold and Bi-bearing minerals. However, the relationship between Bi-minerals and gold is unclear, preventing our understanding of the gold enrichment and precipitation mechanism in the Laozuoshan gold deposit. Optical microscope and SEM results show three stages of gold mineralization: pyrrhotite (Po-1) + arsenopyrite (Apy-1) + Bi-bearing minerals (Bis-1) + Au-1; arsenopyrite (Apy-2) + chlorite + Bi-bearing minerals (Bis-2) + Au-2; and arsenopyrite (Apy-3) + graphite + Bi-bearing minerals (Bis-3) + Au-3. The abundant amount of gold (Au-1~Au-3) is associated with Bi-bearing minerals (Bis-1~Bis-3), which coexist as inclusions and fill in fractures in these minerals. The mineral assemblages of arsenopyrite, Bi-minerals, and gold exhibit a clear As-Bi-Au mineralogy in the ores, and the ternary diagram of the chemical compositions of the Bi-minerals shows that Bi-minerals all fall in reducing regions, indicating that Bi-minerals are precipitated under reducing conditions. The gold compositions demonstrate a positive correlation (R2 = 0.58) between Au and Bi. Consequently, we propose that the gold experienced the ore-forming fluids concentration and further Bi-melts scavenging for the Laozuoshan gold deposit mineralization. The Bi collector model is essential in interpreting the high-grade gold in the Laozuoshan gold deposit, indicating that the geochemical anomalies observed with bismuth may be a critical potential exploration target for the high-grade gold deposits in the Jiamusi Block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mg-containing high-silicon aluminum alloy is a heat-treatable aluminum alloy that is now widely used in the aerospace and automotive industries because of its high specific strength, high wear resistance and corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion coefficient, and low cost. More attention has been paid to optimizing the microstructure to increase the performance of this type of aluminum alloy. In the present work, the solidification processes of Mg-free and Mg-containing (0.33–1.32%) Al-8Si alloys were analyzed by the experimental results combined with the thermodynamic calculation. The results showed that α-Al, Si, and Al5FeSi were in the Mg-free Al-8Si alloy ingots, while the Al5FeSi phases in alloys with Mg additions were transformed into π phases (Al8Mg3FeSi6) by the reaction L+Al5FeSi→α-Al+Si+Al8Mg3FeSi6. There was a binary eutectic reaction of L→α-Al+Al5FeSi when the Mg content exceeded 0.51% and the Fe content was higher than 0.17%. With the increase of Mg content, the volume of Mg2Si was gradually increased while the divorced eutectic phenomenon of the quaternary eutectic structure (α-Al+Si+Mg2Si+Al8Mg3FeSi6) was weakened and the eutectic structure was significantly refined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mg-containing high-Si aluminum alloys are heat-treatable alloys that are widely used in industry. Substantial attention has been paid to increasing the performance of such alloys by adding a small amount of Mn, which is an effective and common alloying element in aluminum alloys. In the present work, the solidification process of Mn-free Al-5Si-0.8Mg alloy and Al-5Si-0.8Mg-(0.45–1.97)Mn alloys are analyzed by the experimental results combined with thermodynamic calculation. The results showed that α-Al, Si, Mg2Si and π (Al8Mg3FeSi6) are predominant phases in the Mn-free Al-5Si-0.8Mg alloy while the π (Al8Mg3FeSi6) phase are transformed to α-Al(FeMn)Si phase with the addition of 0.45% Mn. With increasing Mn addition to 0.72%, the L→α-Al was replaced by L→α-Al(FeMn)Si and a primary α-Al(FeMn)Si phase appeared. Further increasing the Mn to 1.97%, the solidification reactions remained unchanged. However, the size and number of the primary α-Al(FeMn)Si phase gradually increased, while the divorced eutectic phenomenon of quaternary eutectic structure gradually weakened. Meanwhile, the Mg2Si phase in the quaternary eutectic structure gradually transformed from blocky to fine eutectic lamellar, and the quaternary eutectic structure was significantly refined. Primary blocky α-Al(FeMn)Si began to form when the Mn content was higher than 0.75%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, the role of Mg atoms in the form of either Mg clusters or β phase on the moving dislocations in 5083 aluminum alloy sheet were investigated by comparing the plastic flow behavior and Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) character in annealed and quenched conditions. It is found that the tensile strength of quenched sheets at different strain rates is slightly higher than those under annealed condition while the yield strength at both conditions is similar. In annealed sheets, the yield plateau was clearly observed at all tested strain rates with a strain less than 0.012, and its width increased with the increasing strain rate. However, no yield plateau was observed in quenched sheets. On the other hand, the characters of PLC are greatly varied with applied conditions and strain rate. Generally, annealed sheets have a higher waiting time, but lower critical strain/stress at lower strain rate (~1 × 10−4 s−1), but they are similar at a higher strain rate (1 × 10−2 s−1). However, the falling time at both annealed and quenched conditions are almost the same at tested strain rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]