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Two-dimensional (2D) ferromagnets with out-of-plane (OOP) magnetic anisotropy are potential candidates for realizing the next-generation memory devices with ultra-low power consumption and high storage density. However, a scalable approach to synthesize 2D magnets with OOP anisotropy directly on the complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible substrates has not yet been mainly explored, which hinders the practical application of 2D magnets. This work demonstrates a cascaded space confined chemical vapor deposition (CS-CVD) technique to synthesize 2D FexGeTe2 ferromagnets. The weight fraction of iron (Fe) in the precursor controls the phase purity of the as-grown FexGeTe2. As a result, high-quality Fe3GeTe2 and Fe5GeTe2 flakes have been grown selectively using the CS-CVD technique. Curie temperature (TC) of the as-grown FexGeTe2 can be up to ∼ 280 K, nearly room temperature. The thickness and temperature-dependent magnetic studies on the Fe5GeTe2 reveal a 2D Ising to 3D XY behavior. Also, Terahertz spectroscopy experiments on Fe5GeTe2 display the highest conductivity among other FexGeTe2 2D magnets. The results of this work indicate a scalable pathway for the direct growth and integration of 2D ternary magnets on CMOS-based substrates to develop spintronic memory devices.

Summary The field of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) has experienced rapid development during the past few years, mainly driven by the design of efficient polymer acceptors (PAs). However, the polymer/polymer blend systems still lag far behind polymer/small molecule acceptor counterparts in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Here, we designed a near-infrared PA PY2F-T and paired it with polymer donor PM6 to fabricate all-PSCs with 15.0% PCE. Afterwards, PYT as the third component was introduced into the PM6:PY2F-T host system. Because of the complementary absorption bands and finely tuned microstructures of the ternary blend, the PCE is improved up to 17.2%, with the external quantum efficiency over 80% in visible and near-infrared spectral regions. Impressively, the ternary blend exhibited less energy loss, better light-soaking and photo-thermal stabilities than did the corresponding binary systems. This work promotes the development of high-performance ternary all-polymer systems and heralds a brighter future for accelerating the possible applications of all-PSCs.

Oil field A, situated in Bohai Bay, was discovered in 1999 and has been developed as one of the most productive oil assets in China. It continues to hold significant growth potential for the future. Though the field contains a large amount of resources remaining to be developed, seismic imaging has been challenging in area 5, resulting in structural uncertainty for reservoir interpretation and well planning. In the past three decades, several 2D and 3D seismic surveys have been acquired, processed, and reprocessed in this area. However, due to the existence of complicated gas clouds, which are shallow, multilayered, and extensive, obscured sub-gas-cloud images appear in all legacy seismic results, making fault interpretation under the gas clouds almost impossible. To improve the sub-gas-cloud image and overall structural interpretability, a narrow-azimuth full-field ocean-bottom cable (OBC) acquisition was conducted in field A during 2018 and 2019, and later, a compressive seismic imaging (CSI)-based full-azimuth and large-offset OBC infill survey was acquired in area 5, covering the widest gas cloud. Through high-fidelity signal processing, full-waveform inversion (FWI)-driven velocity model building, and imaging using both Kirchhoff migration and reverse time migration (RTM), the seismic image quality beneath complicated gas clouds is improved significantly. It is the first time that sub-gas-cloud faults and the Base of Guantao event have been imaged by seismic without significant dim zones. CSI acquisition, FWI, and RTM are the key elements to resolve gas-cloud-related challenges in area 5.

Summary In spite of the great success in device efficiency resulting from the excessive design of photovoltaic materials, the stability and cost issues concerning basic commercial requirements of organic solar cells (OSCs) remain unresolved or controversial, slowing down the introduction of market-ready applications. We proposed an exciting discovery that as the active layer thickness decreases, the thermal stability increases gradually, even exceeding 100% of the initial efficiency under 150°C thermal stress. This trend was further confirmed by investigating thermodynamics and kinetics of morphology evolution for PM6:Y6 as a reference example. Extended research found that there is a similar correlation between photo-thermal stability and blend thickness. Consequently, a new reliable industrial figure of merit (i-FOM2.0), including four main factors: efficiency, photo-thermal stability, synthesis complexity, and active layer thickness, is presented here. Our work provides a promising trade-off strategy for reducing efficiency-stability-cost gap and accelerates the commercialization of OSCs.

Little is known about the influence of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on the incidence of venous thromboembolism in areas with heavy air pollution. We examined seasonal associations between airborne concentrations of fine particulate matter and outpatient visits for venous thromboembolism in Beijing using a city-wide time-series design that covered a period of 30 months (January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2012). Generalized additive models were used to investigate the associations with adjustment of temperature for various time lags (lag 0 for the warm season and lag 0-10 for the cold season). Overall, 92,435 outpatient visits were recorded by the Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees database during the study period. We found a significant association between PM2.5 levels and outpatient visits for venous thromboembolism. A 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentrations on lag days 0-2 corresponded to a 0.64% (95% confidence interval: 0.55-0.73%; P < 0.001) increase in outpatient visits for venous thromboembolism during the cold season, and a 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentrations on lag days 0-3 corresponded to a 0.82% (95% confidence interval: 0.67-0.96%; P < 0.001) increase in outpatient visits for venous thromboembolism during the warm season. Our findings suggest that PM2.5 exposure is associated with outpatient visits for venous thromboembolism in Beijing, and a more pronounced association was observed during the warm season. We propose that various temperature-adjustment strategies should be used when investigating seasonal associations.

Fusion of petals to form a corolla tube is considered a key innovation contributing to the diversification of many flowering plant lineages. Corolla tube length often varies dramatically among species and is a major determinant of pollinator preference. However, our understanding of the developmental dynamics underlying corolla tube length variation is very limited. Here we examined corolla tube growth in the Mimulus lewisii species complex, an emerging model system for studying the developmental genetics and evo-devo of pollinator-associated floral traits. We compared developmental and cellular processes associated with corolla tube length variation among the bee-pollinated M. lewisii, the hummingbird-pollinated Mimulus verbenaceus, and the self-pollinated Mimulus parishii. We found that in all three species, cell size is non-uniformly distributed along the mature tube, with the longest cells just distal to the stamen insertion site. Differences in corolla tube length among the three species are not associated with processes of organogenesis or early development but are associated with variation in multiple processes occurring later in development, including the location and duration of cell division and cell elongation. The tube growth curves of the small-flowered M. parishii and large-flowered M. lewisii are essentially indistinguishable, except that M. parishii tubes stop growing earlier at a smaller size, suggesting a critical role of heterochrony in the shift from outcrossing to selfing. These results not only highlight the developmental process associated with corolla tube variation among species but also provide a baseline reference for future developmental genetic analyses of mutants or transgenic plants with altered corolla tube morphology in this emerging model system.

Protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) play important roles in the regulation of protein functions and cellular processes, which cannot be easily analyzed due to a large number of obstacles, such as the substoichiometric level of PTM proteins, the diversity and complexity of PTM proteins, and the high-intensity interference from ordinary proteins. Therefore, the selective and effective separation of trace amounts of PTM peptides from complex samples is the first crucial step for PTMs. In order to meet the aforesaid requirements, magnetic polymer nanomaterials have emerged as highly effective agents for sample pretreatment in PTM proteomics. In the present review, the recent design of magnetic polymer nanomaterials and their applications in two typical types of protein PTMs (glycosylation and phosphorylation) are summarized. In addition, the development trend of magnetic polymer nanomaterials in PTM proteomics is discussed.

Traditional orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) algorithms for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation suffer from poor angular resolution and noise suppression. In this paper, we analyze the reason why the OMP algorithm has difficulties in resolving closely separated DOAs and conclude that it lies in the rules of support detection. Moreover, we propose a solution to this problem via developing the connection between the sparse reconstruction class algorithm and the subspace algorithm from the structure of the redundant dictionary. Based on the framework of the matching pursuit (MP) algorithm, the effective information of the signal and noise subspaces is integrated, and a noise subspace reprojection orthogonal matching pursuit (NSRomp) algorithm for DOA estimation is proposed. By adopting signal subspaces to reconstruct the original signal, the proposed NSRomp can reduce both the influence of noise on the selection of the support set and the computing time. By implementing the minimum norm method to optimize the noise subspace into a vector, which corrects the selection rules of the support set during each iteration, the angular resolution of the proposed algorithm is improved. From the simulation results, when the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is lower than or near 0, the angular resolution can be improved by > 15° using OMP algorithms to by > 5° using the proposed NSRomp algorithm.

In vitro liquid biopsy based on exosomes offers promising opportunities for fast and reliable detection of lung cancers. In this work, we present a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) magnetic aptamer-sensor for magnetic enrichment of exosomes with aptamers and detection of cancerous-surface proteins based on a light-up FRET strategy. Fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) and aptamers were introduced onto magnetic nanoparticles and the fluorescence emission turned down when the aptamers were paired with their complementary DNA on the surface of Au nanoparticles. Later, competitive binding of exosomes with the aptamers expelled the Au nanoparticles resulting in an exosome concentration-dependent linear increase of QD fluorescence intensity in a broad exosome concentration range (5 × 102-5 × 109 particles per mL). As found in our work, this system behaved ultra-sensitively and the calculated detection limit of this FRET magnetic aptamer-sensor was as low as 13 particles per mL. Furthermore, taking epithelial cancer-specific antigen (epithelial cell adhesion molecule, EpCAM) screening as a typical example, our built FRET magnetic aptamer-sensor allowed a rapid and efficient distinction of all the epithelial cancer cases (7 lung cancers and 5 other cancers) from health volunteers with 100% accuracy.

Two-dimensional graphene-like hexagonal borophene sheets (HBSs) have a thermodynamically unsteady configuration since boron has one electron less than the carbon in graphene. To overcome this problem, we proposed a novel 2D graphene-like HBS oxide (h-B3O) in theory, which is designed by substituting partial boron atoms in a HBS with oxygen atoms. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that h-B3O has good thermal stability. Besides, we also explored the potential of h-B3O monolayers as anodes for Li-ion batteries (LIBs) and Na-ion batteries (NIBs) by using first-principles calculations. The results indicated that the h-B3O monolayer has high adsorption energies (-2.33/-1.70 eV for Li/Na), low diffusion barriers (0.67/0.42 eV for Li/Na) and suitable average open-circuit voltages (0.36/0.32 V for LIBs/NIBs). Particularly, h-B3O has a large theoretical specific capacity of 1161 mA h g-1 for LIBs. Thus, benefiting from these characteristics, the h-B3O monolayer is considered as a promising candidate for an anode material for LIBs/NIBs.

Considering the inherent properties of glycopeptides, such as glycan structure, size, and hydrophilicity, affinity materials possessing suitable functional molecule–glycan interactions, matched channels with size exclusion, and surfaces with hydrophilic interactions are preferred for glycopeptide separation in biological samples. Here, a novel boronic-acid-functionalized magnetic covalent organic framework was prepared through epitaxial growth and multi-ligand strategies. The multi-ligand strategy was firstly employed to prepare functionalized magnetic covalent organic framework without any post-functionalization protocol. Notably, the proposed strategy was found to be time saving, robust, and reproducible. The versatile magnetic covalent organic framework nanocomposite was endowed with phenylboronic acid functional molecules, strong hydrophilic features, mesoporous channels, fast magnetic responsiveness, and a large surface area. Benefitting from multiple affinity interactions, namely, synergistic reversible covalent interactions and hydrophilic affinity interactions, the nanocomposite presented extremely high performance in the recognition of intact N-glycopeptides. The inherent properties endowed the nanocomposite with excellent enrichment performance for N-glycopeptides: excellent selectivity (1 : 2000, IgG/BSA, m/m), an ultralow detection limit (0.05 fmol μL−1), and a good size-exclusion effect (1 : 500, IgG digests/BSA, m/m). More excitingly, a total of 1921 unique intact glycopeptides assigned to 1154 glycoproteins were identified from rat liver tissue; this performance is superior to that of commercial products. Additionally, the nanocomposite was successfully applied to enrich intact glycopeptides of exosomes extracted from healthy individuals and renal failure patients, providing a novel concept for the design of materials using a synergistic affinity strategy for sample preparation in glycoproteomics.

We designed and synthesized a series of fused-ring electron acceptors (FREAs) based on naphthalene-fused octacyclic cores end-capped by 3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-5,6-difluoro-1- indanone (NOICs) using a bottom-up approach. The NOIC series shares the same end groups and side chains, as well as similar fused-ring cores. The butterfly effects, arising from different methoxy positions in the starting materials, impact the design of the final FREAs, as well as their molecular packing, optical and electronic properties, charge transport, film morphology, and performance of organic solar cells. The binary-blend devices based on this NOIC series show power conversion efficiencies varying from 7.15% to 14.1%, due to the different intrinsic properties of the NOIC series, morphologies of blend films, and voltage losses of devices.

By using the coupling method and the localization technique, we establish non-uniform gradient estimates for Markov semigroups of diffusions or stochastic differential equations driven by pure jump Levy noises, where the coefficients only satisfy local monotonicity conditions.

Under the combined effects of climate change and human activities, hydrological changes of large freshwater lakes in complex river–lake systems have attracted worldwide attention, mainly because of the high value of lakes in socio-economic development and environmental conservation. Poyang Lake in the Yangtze River basin of China was used as a case study to investigate the hydrological characteristics and their associated driving forces of influencing lake water level variability. Observed and simulated data and the composite multi-scale sample entropy to measure water level and streamflow complexity were used. The back-propagation neural network, combined with scenario testing analysis, was applied to determine the impact of streamflow and topographic changes on lake water level variability. Study results indicated that the water level complexity of Poyang Lake was higher than the streamflow complexity of the tributaries in the Poyang Lake basin and the main stem of the Yangtze River and that the complexity of both water level and streamflow was enhanced as the time scale increased. Comparing the condition from 2004 to 2016 with that from 1990 to 2002, Poyang Lake experienced a remarkable recession and an enhancement of water level complexity, as a coupling result of the streamflow and topographic changes. Streamflow reductions resulted in a water level drop throughout most of the year, particularly during the flood period. The impact of the deepened bottom topography was marginal during the flood period, but it was significant during the dry period. The strengthened water level complexity could be partially attributed to the deepened bottom topography, which enhanced the disorderliness of drought occurrence, the degree of drought, and the uncertainty in the prediction of drought events. Results from this study shed light on the impact of topographic changes on lake water level complexity and enhanced understanding of the characteristics and mechanisms behind the hydrological changes of large freshwater lakes.

A new and improved method based on the number of iterations is proposed to reduce the dynamical degradation of the digital chaotic map in this study. We construct a control function by introducing iteration time instead of external systems, thereby replacing the control parameters in the original chaotic map. Experimental results show that the chaotic map based on the iteration-time combination method is more complicated and effective. The period is extended without completely destroying the phase space, which indicates that our method is effective and can compete with other proposed techniques. A type of pseudorandom bit generator based on the iteration-time combination method is proposed to demonstrate its simple application.

With about 153 species, the genus Androsace (Primulaceae) is known for its horticultural and economic importance. In this study, we report the complete chloroplast genome of Androsace erecta Maximowicz, a morphologically distinct species of Sect. Orthocaulon native to the Western China. The plastome of A. erecta is highly conserved in genome size, structure, and content when compared to all previously published plastomes of the genus. The phylogenomic analysis strongly supported A. erecta as sister to a clade comprising species of Sections Aizoideia and Chamaejasme. Lastly, we selected the four most variable regions across the Androsace species plastomes (trnKUUU-rps16, trnSGCU-trnGUCC , psbE-petL, and infA-rps8), which were considered to be suitable candidate DNA barcodes for Androsace.

More than 80,000 angiosperm species produce flowers with petals fused into a corolla tube. As an important element of the tremendous diversity of flower morphology, the corolla tube plays a critical role in many specialized interactions between plants and animal pollinators (e.g., beeflies, hawkmoths, hummingbirds, nectar bats), which in turn drives rapid plant speciation. Despite its clear significance in plant reproduction and evolution, the corolla tube remains one of the least understood plant structures from a developmental genetics perspective. Through mutant analyses and transgenic experiments, here we show that the tasiRNA-ARF pathway is required for corolla tube formation in the monkeyflower speciesMimulus lewisii. Loss-of-function mutations in theM. lewisiiorthologs ofARGONAUTE7andSUPPRESSOR OF GENE SILENCING 3cause a dramatic decrease in abundance ofTAS3-derived small RNAs and a moderate up-regulation ofAUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR 3(ARF3) andARF4, which lead to inhibition of lateral expansion of the bases of petal primordia and complete arrest of the upward growth of the inter-primordial regions, resulting in unfused corollas. By using an auxin reporter construct, we discovered that auxin distribution is continuous along the petal primordium base and the inter-primordial region during the critical stage of corolla tube formation in the wild-type, and that this auxin distribution is much weaker and more restricted in the mutant. Together, these results suggest a new conceptual model highlighting the central role of auxin directed synchronized growth of the petal primordium base and the inter-primordial region in corolla tube formation.

Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science together with current approaches in material synthesis and optimization will act as an effective approach for speeding up the discovery of high-performance photoactive materials in organic solar cells (OSCs). Yet, like model selection in statistics, the choice of appropriate machine learning (ML) algorithms plays a vital role in the process of new material discovery in databases. In this study, we constructed five common algorithms, and introduced 565 donor/acceptor (D/A) combinations as training data sets to evaluate the practicalities of these ML algorithms and their application potential when guiding material design and D/A pairs screening. Thus, the best predictive capabilities are provided by using the random forest (RF) and boosted regression trees (BRT) approaches beyond other ML algorithms in the data set. Furthermore, >32 million D/A pairs were screened and calculated by RF and BRT models, respectively. Among them, six photovoltaic D/A pairs are selected and synthesized to compare their predicted and experimental power conversion efficiencies. The outcome of ML and experiment verification demonstrates that the RF approach can be effectively applied to high-throughput virtual screening for opening new perspectives to design of materials and D/A pairs, thereby accelerating the development of OSCs.

The field of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) has experienced rapid development during the past few years, mainly driven by the development of efficient polymer acceptors. However, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the all-PSCs are still limited by insufficient light absorption of the donor/acceptor blend and large energy loss in devices. We herein designed a polymer acceptor PYT1 constructed n-type molecular acceptor Y5-C20 as the key building block and blended it with a polymer donor PM6 to obtain an all-polymer photoactive layer. The optimized PM6:PYT1 all-PSCs achieved a record higher PCE of 13.43% with a very low energy loss of 0.47 eV and a photoresponse of up to 900 nm compared with the Y5-C20 based device with a best PCE of 9.42%. Furthermore, the PCEs of the PM6:PYT1 all-PSCs are relatively insensitive to the 1-chloronaphthalene (CN) additive contents and active layer thickness. Our results also highlight the effect of CN additive on PM6:PYT1 morphology, i.e. , charge generation, and transport find an optimized balance, and radiative and non-radiative loss is simultaneously reduced in the blend. This work promotes the development of high-performance polymer acceptors and heralds a brighter future of all-PSCs for commercial applications.

A new attapulgite/UiO-66-NH2 composites adsorbent was prepared via solvothermal method and utilized to remove the Cr(VI) in the aqueous solution. The attapulgite/UiO-66-NH2 composites were detected...

Although epitaxial growth is the fundamental method to realize lattice matched heterojunctions in electronics manufacturing, large-scale epitaxial single crystal layers based on solution-processing...

Summary Recent advances in the development of polymer acceptors and the investigation of molecular mass have boosted the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) to approximately 11%. Here, a fused-aromatic-ring-constructed polymer acceptor PYT (Poly[(2,2′-((2Z,2′Z)-((12,13-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-3,9-diundecyl-12,13-dihydro[1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4e]thieno[2″,3″:4′,5′]thieno[2′,3′:4,5]pyrrolo[3,2-g]thieno[2′,3′:4,5]thieno[3,2-b]-indole-2,10-diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2,1-diylidene)) dimalononitrile-alt-2,5-thiophene)]) is reported, while a series of PYT polymers with different molecular masses (designated as PYTL, PYTM, and PYTH) are prepared to fine-tune the molecular crystallinity and miscibility. Benefiting from the advantages of PYT series, which possess broad absorption with a narrow band of 1.40–1.44 eV and high absorption coefficients of over 1.00 × 105 cm−1, we investigated the blend miscibility and device performance of all-PSCs based on a wide-band-gap polymer donor, PM6. The PYTM-based all-PSCs exhibit an excellent PCE of 13.44%, outperforming those with PYTL (12.55%) and PYTH (8.61%). Our results provide insight into polymer acceptor backbone and molecular mass and suggest guidelines to rationally select polymers for all-PSCs.

Three fused-ring electron acceptors (FXIC-1, FXIC-2, and FXIC-3) were designed and synthesized. This FXIC series has similar electron-rich central units and the same electron-poor termini. Due to the different steric structures of fluorene, bifluorenylidene, and spirobifluorene, FXIC-1 is a one-dimensional (1D) crystal, while FXIC-2 and FXIC-3 are multidimensional (MD) amorphous materials. The conformations of the FXIC series have a slight impact on their absorption and energy levels. FXIC-1 has higher electron mobility than FXIC-2 and FXIC-3. When blending with different polymer donors (PTB7-Th, J71, and PM7), the FXIC-1-based organic solar cells have efficiencies higher than those of the FXIC-2/FXIC-3-based cells. Meanwhile, the ternary-blend cells based on PTB7-Th:F8IC with FXIC-1, FXIC-2, and FXIC-3 show similar efficiencies, which are all better than those of the binary-blend devices.

This paper proposes a direction of arrival estimation based on sparse signal reconstruction in the presence of alpha noise by the off-grid orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm. Assuming Gaussian distribution as the noise model, the previous sparse reconstruction enhances robustness by utilizing the least square criterion-based direction of arrival estimation algorithms. However, they severely degrade, even invalid, when there is thick trailing and large impulse in the noise molded by [Formula: see text] stable distribution. In addition, due to the discretization of the potential angle space, the accuracy of these methods will be reduced when the target is not completely on the divided mesh exactly. Increasing the grid density to improve estimation effect will increase the computation burden. The compressed sensing signal model is reconstructed by reshaping the fractional lower order covariance matrix of the sensor array received signal. Based on the reshaped signal model, the novel reshaped orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm and reshaped off-grid orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm are derived. Compared to the least square criterion method with Gaussian distribution assumption, the proposed algorithm obtains high-resolution direction of arrival estimation in [Formula: see text] noise. Moreover, the reshaped off-grid orthogonal matching pursuit algorithm improves the direction of arrival estimation accuracy with off-grid target. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method in direction of arrival estimation with off-grid targets in [Formula: see text] noise.

The crucial roles of the ionization state and counterion presence on the phase behavior of fatty acid in aqueous solutions are well-established. However, the effects of counterions on the adsorption and morphological state of fatty acid on nanoparticle surfaces are largely unknown. This knowledge gap exists due to the high complexity of the interactions between nanoparticles, counterions, and fatty acid molecules in aqueous solution. In this study, we use adsorption isotherms, small angle neutron scattering, and all-atom molecular dynamic simulations to investigate the effect of addition of ethanolamine as a counterion on the adsorption and self-assembly of decanoic acid onto aminopropyl-modified silica nanoparticles. We show that the morphology of the fatty acid assemblies on silica nanoparticles changes from discrete surface patches to a continuous bilayer by increasing concentration of the counterion. This morphological behavior of fatty acid on the oppositely charged nanoparticle surface alters the interfacial activity of the fatty acid–nanoparticle complex and thus governs the stability of the foam formed by the mixture. Our study provides new insights into the structure–property relationship of fatty acid–nanoparticle complexes and outlines a framework to program the stability of foams formed by mixtures of nanoparticles and amphiphiles.

The incredible diversity of floral color and pattern in nature is largely determined by the transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin and carotenoid biosynthetic genes. While the transcriptional control of anthocyanin biosynthesis is well understood, little is known about the factors regulating the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in flowers. Here, we characterize the Reduced Carotenoid Pigmentation 2 (RCP2) locus from two monkeyflower (Mimulus) species, the bumblebee-pollinated M. lewisii and hummingbird-pollinated M. verbenaceus. We show that loss-of-function mutations of RCP2 cause drastic down-regulation of the entire carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in these species. Through bulk segregant analysis and transgenic experiments, we have identified the causal gene underlying RCP2, encoding a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) protein that is closely related to the Arabidopsis Reduced Chloroplast Coverage (REC) proteins. RCP2 appears to regulate carotenoid biosynthesis independently of RCP1, a previously identified R2R3-MYB master regulator of carotenoid biosynthesis. We show that RCP2 is required for chromoplast development and suggest that it most likely regulates the expression of carotenoid biosynthetic genes through chromoplast-to-nucleus retrograde signaling. Furthermore, we demonstrate that M. verbenaceus is just as amenable to chemical mutagenesis and in planta transformation as the more extensively studied M. lewisii, making these two species an excellent platform for comparative developmental genetics studies of two closely related species with dramatic phenotypic divergence.

In the present study, the microstructure, fracture toughness, and fracture behavior of Inconel 617B narrow gap tungsten inert gas (NG-TIG) welded joint were investigated systematically at the designed service temperature of 700 °C. Fracture toughness (J0.2) of base metal (BM) and heat affected zone (HAZ) was higher than that of weld metal (WM). In HAZ and BM, strain mainly localised at grain boundaries with large misorientation and there were lots of coincidence site lattice (CSL) ∑3 boundaries related to twins inside grains, which led to the much higher fracture toughness of BM and HAZ than WM. The high numbers of twins as well as the less serious strain localization at grain boundaries resulted in the most outstanding fracture toughness of BM.

Summary To date, organic solar cells (OSCs) with the development of photovoltaic materials have realized high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) through the solution processing strategy with bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structure, but the BHJ morphology is difficult to control in large-scale fabrication of OSCs. Herein, we report an alternative film-forming technology known as layer-by-layer (LbL). As compared to its BHJ counterpart, LbL presents many unique advantages including controllable “p-i-n” morphology, good charge transport and extraction properties, and great universality. By using the LbL-bladed coating strategy, a high PCE of 16.35% was achieved in the PM6:Y6 OSCs. Notably, a large-area solar module of 11.52 cm2 with a geometrical fill factor of over 90% exhibited an outstanding PCE of 11.86%, which represents the highest efficiency of large-area solar modules. The results may pave the way for the fabrication of the photoactive layer in the future industrial production of OSCs.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) stress resistance and fruit total soluble solid (TSS) content have changed dramatically during selective breeding, and transcriptome variation has played a critical role in this rewiring. However, the single tomato reference genome impedes characterization of whole-transcriptome variation during domestication and breeding at the population level. Here, we constructed a pan-transcriptome of orange-stage tomato fruit, and investigated global expression presence/absence variation (ePAV) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) based on RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data from 399 tomato accessions. A total of 7 181 genes absent from the reference genome were identified, 6 122 of which were ePAV genes during tomato domestication and breeding including resistance genes such as late blight resistance gene PIM_DN29746_c0_g3_i1 and peroxidase P7-like gene PIM_DN30274_c0_g2_i1. In addition, 3 629 genes were significantly differentially expressed during tomato selection, among which 19 genes were associated with the reduced fruit TSS content of modern tomato cultivars, including LIN5, TIV1, and seven novel sugar transporter genes. Our results indicate that natural and artificial selection greatly shaped the tomato transcriptome, thereby altering the fruit TSS content and resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses.

In this paper, an observer-based adaptive backstepping attitude maneuver controller (briefly, OBABC) for flexible spacecraft is presented. First, an observer is constructed to estimate the flexible modal variables. Based on the proposed observer, a backstepping control law is presented for the case where the inertia matrix is known. Further, an adaptive law is developed to estimate the unknown parameters of the inertia matrix of the flexible spacecraft. By utilizing Lyapunov theory, the proposed OBABC law can guarantee the asymptotical convergence of the closed-loop system in the presence of the external disturbance, incorporating with the L2-gain performance criterion constraint. Simulation results show that the attitude maneuver can be achieved by the proposed observer-based adaptive backstepping attitude control law.

Limited evidence was seen as the association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and physician visits for allergic rhinitis (AR), especially in countries with extreme air pollution exposure. This paper addressed the issues about the association between PM2.5 and daily outpatient visits for AR among individuals residing in Beijing, China. Data on daily outpatient visits for AR obtained from Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees and daily PM2.5 concentrations available from US embassy reports were linked by date from January 1, 2010, to June 30, 2012. A time-series analysis was conducted with a generalized additive Poisson model to assess the association between PM2.5 and AR, adjusting for daily average temperature, relative humidity, day of the week, calendar time, and public holiday. Totally, 229,685 outpatient visits for AR were included in the analysis. The daily mean (SD) concentration of PM2.5 was 99.5 (75.3) μg/m3 during the study period. We found that a 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 content was associated with a 0.47% (95% CI: 0.39% to 0.55%) increase in the number of outpatient visits on the same day. Furthermore, results from subgroup analyses suggested that the association was consistently significant among the groups of different ages (

The extinct genus Limnobiophyllum (Araceae) has been considered a tentative link between the Aroideae and Lemnoideae subfamilies of Araceae. General understanding of morphological character evoluti...

Anthocyanins play a variety of adaptive roles in both vegetative tissues and reproductive organs of plants. The broad functionality of these compounds requires sophisticated regulation of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway to allow proper localization, timing, and optimal intensity of pigment deposition. While it is well-established that the committed steps of anthocyanin biosynthesis are activated by a highly conserved MYB-bHLH-WDR (MBW) protein complex in virtually all flowering plants, anthocyanin repression seems to be achieved by a wide variety of protein and small RNA families that function in different tissue types and in response to different developmental, environmental, and hormonal cues. In this review, we survey recent progress in the identification of anthocyanin repressors and the characterization of their molecular mechanisms. We find that these seemingly very different repression modules act through a remarkably similar logic, the so-called 'double-negative logic'. Much of the double-negative regulation of anthocyanin production involves signal-induced degradation or sequestration of the repressors from the MBW protein complex. We discuss the functional and evolutionary advantages of this logic design compared with simple or sequential positive regulation. These advantages provide a plausible explanation as to why plants have evolved so many anthocyanin repressors.

Chronic and dysregulated cytokine signaling plays an important role in the pathogenic development of many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Despite intrinsic challenges in the disruption of interactions between cytokines and cytokine receptors, many first-in-class small-molecule inhibitors have been discovered over the past few years. The third part of the digest series presents recent progress in identifying such inhibitors and highlights the application of novel research tools in the fields of structural biology, computational analysis, screening methods, biophysical/biochemical assays and medicinal chemistry strategy.

Eukaryotic cells contain numerous membraneless organelles that are made from liquid droplets of proteins and nucleic acids and that provide spatiotemporal control of various cellular processes. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and rapid stress-induced alterations of these organelles are relatively uncharacterized. Here, we investigated the roles of DEAD-box helicases in the formation and alteration of membraneless nuclear dicing bodies (D-bodies) in Arabidopsis thaliana. We uncovered that RNA helicase 6 (RH6), RH8, and RH12 are previously unidentified D-body components. These helicases interact with and promote the phase separation of SERRATE, a key component of D-bodies, and drive the formation of D-bodies through liquid-liquid phase separations (LLPSs). The accumulation of these helicases in the nuclei decreases upon Turnip mosaic virus infections, which couples with the decrease of D-bodies. Our results thus reveal the key roles of RH6, RH8, and RH12 in modulating D-body formation via LLPSs.

Despite the role of polyploidy in multiple evolutionary processes, its impact on plant diversification remains controversial. An increased polyploid frequency may facilitate speciation through shifts in ecology, morphology or both. Here we used Allium to evaluate: (1) the relationship between intraspecific polyploid frequency and species diversification rate; and (2) whether this process is associated with habitat and/or trait shifts. Using eight plastid and nuclear ribosomal markers, we built a phylogeny of 448 Allium species, representing 46% of the total. We quantified intraspecific ploidy diversity, heterogeneity in diversification rates and their relationship along the phylogeny using trait-dependent diversification models. Finally, we evaluated the association between polyploidisation and habitat or trait shifts. We detected high ploidy diversity in Allium and a polyploidy-related diversification rate shift with a probability of 95% in East Asia. Allium lineages with high polyploid frequencies had higher species diversification rates than those of diploids or lineages with lower polyploid frequencies. Shifts in speciation rates were strongly correlated with habitat shifts linked to particular soil conditions; 81.7% of edaphic variation could be explained by polyploidisation. Our study emphasises the role of intraspecific polyploid frequency combined with ecological drivers on Allium diversification, which may explain plant radiations more generally.

In this paper, we adapt the electrochemical, aptamer-based (E-AB) sensor platform to develop colorimetric aptamer-based sensors using a closed-bipolar electrode (C-BPE) system. The C-BPE E-AB sensors provide quantitative detection of target molecules based on the rate of color change of an electrochromic Prussian blue (PB) thin-film indicator electrode. The C-BPE cathode, or sensing electrode, is modified with a redox-labeled aptamer that binds to a specific target. More specifically, we employed sequences specific for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and tobramycin as test-bed targets because these sequences are well vetted. The C-BPE anode, or indicator electrode, was coated with an electrochromic thin film comprising Prussian white (PW) that, when reduced to PB, is accompanied by a corresponding color change used for analytical detection. The rate of color change from PW to PB is facilitated by a potassium ferricyanide-catalyzed oxidation of leucomethylene blue (LB) to methylene blue (MB), the redox label conjugated to the aptamer on the sensing electrode. We demonstrate that the rate of color change is quantitatively related to the concentration of target analyte, which provides a means for naked eye determination. When combined with smartphone-based colorimetric detection, these C-BPE E-AB sensors present a user-friendly alternative to traditional E-AB sensors that rely on voltammetric analysis and a potentiostat, opening up the possibility of point-of-use applications.

In this study, the performance of the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) Climate System Model version 1.1 (BCC-CSM1.1) (280-km resolution) and the BCC-CSM1.1m (110-km resolution) in simulating extreme climate events over China in the last 40 years is compared. Both models capture the main spatial distribution features of heavy precipitation (R95T), the number of consecutive wet days (CWD), the annual count of days with precipitation mm (R1), the maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation (Rx5), and the numbers of frost days (FD) and summer days (SU). The BCC-CSM1.1m has a better ability to simulate the detailed distribution of extreme climate events than the BCC-CSM1.1, including R95T, CWD, R1, and the simple precipitation intensity index (SDII). However, the BCC-CSM1.1m does not show an improvement in simulating the number of days with extreme precipitation (R90N), the number of consecutive dry days (CDD), the heat wave duration index (HWDI), the warm day frequency (TX90P), and cold night frequency (TN10P). This indicates that the simulation of the R95T, CWD, R1, and SDII climate events is more sensitive to the resolution of the model. The improved BCC-CSM1.1m is used to explore the projection of extreme climate change in China during the 21st century under the RCP4.5 (Representative Concentration Pathways) and RCP8.5 scenarios. The results show that extreme precipitation will increase dramatically over North and Southwest China in the late 21st century. The CWD index will decrease on the Tibetan Plateau and in northeastern and central China and will increase in other parts of China; R1 will increase in northern China and decrease in southern China; Rx5 will increase dramatically in southern China; FD will decrease and SU will increase over China in the late 21st century under both emission scenarios, with larger amplitudes in RCP8.5.

Searching for low-cost widely applicable electrocatalysts for hydrogen production is very important. Here, 3D self-supported NiS 2 /MoS 2 heterostructures were synthesized via a one-step millisecond-laser-direct-writing method; these structures exhibited excellent hydrogen evolution reaction activities over a wide pH range. The current density of 10 mA cm −2 could be reached at low overpotentials of 98 and 159 mV in alkaline and neutral electrolytes, respectively. Such an outstanding electrocatalytic performance should be attributed to the integration of the 3D self-supported nanostructures, the high conductivity of the framework, and particularly, the incalculable heterointerfaces formed between NiS 2 and MoS 2 . This work provides a new strategy to study interfacial engineering and the mechanism of interface enhancement.

In this paper, we have studied band gap structure, light field distribution, and the propagating direction in the two-dimensional function photonic crystal waveguide. For the two-dimensional function photonic crystal waveguide, the dielectric constant of dielectric column is the space coordinate function, which can be realized by the electro-optic effect and the Kerr effect. The dielectric constant function form of the dielectric column is ɛr = kr + b, the parameters k and b can be adjusted by changing the applied electric field. By changing the dielectric constant parameters k or b, we found the two-dimensional function photonic crystal waveguide transmission characteristics have the adjustability, i.e., band gap and position, defects mode number and position, the propagating direction, and light field distribution can be changed by adjusting the dielectric constant parameters k or b. It can be used to conveniently design the band gap structure, light field distribution, and the propagating direction that we need. It provides a new designed methods for optical device, such as dynamic optical device, optical switch and so on.

The Acoustic Black Hole (ABH) effect is the phenomenon in which the wave velocity gradually decreases to zero when the bending wave propagates in wedge-like structures, such that no reflection occurs. This means that in the ideal scenario, flexural wave not reflects and the energy is totally captured at the tip of the wedge structure. ABH structures have great potential in the fields of vibration control and energy harvesting due to this phenomenon. In this paper, the semi-analytical method is adopted to establish the dynamical model of the one-dimensional cylindrical beam with ABH feature and arbitrary boundary condition. In order to investigate the effect of energy aggregating, the proportion of the kinetic or stain energy trapped in the arbitrary vicinity of the edge, as compared to that of the whole beam is defined and analyzed in detail. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the different energy concentration effect between the tapered cylindrical beam and the wedge-like rectangular beam and hence to provide guidance for their applications in vibration control and energy harvesting. Numerical results show that considerable kinetic and strain energy are collected either in the tapered cylindrical beam or in the wedge-like rectangular beam. However, the energy density at the tip of the tapered cylindrical beam is obviously larger than that at the edge of the wedge-like rectangular beam. This means that vibration attenuation is increased when the same amount of viscoelastic material is adhered to the tip of the tapered cylindrical beams compared to the case of the wedge-like rectangular beams. Moreover, changing the excitation location on the tapered beam can also enhance energy concentration for different frequency bands. The theoretical model developed and new findings in this paper give rise to innovative applications of ABH beam structures in engineering and open new horizons to explore in the future.

There have been numerous studies on concentrations of trace elements in aquatic ecosystems, but few have been conducted at a large spatial scale. This study collected 410 samples of five wild freshwater fishes at different trophic levels from middle and eastern China. Concentrations of eight trace elements, chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) were determined in dorsal muscle of fishes. Spatially, concentrations of trace elements were least in fishes from the Hai River Basin, while those in fishes from the Taihu Lake Basin were greatest. The carnivorous topmouth culter and omnivorous common carp and crucian carp accumulated greater amounts of trace elements than did the planktivorous silver carp and bighead carp. Trophic biomagnification was for Cu, Fe and Zn, but not for Cr, Ni, As, Pb and Cd. Concentrations of As in 15 muscle samples (3.7%) from Taihu Lake Basin exceeded the guidelines (1.0 mg/kg, wet mass) provided by FAO/WHO (2014), while the total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) values were

High separation performance and superior mechanical properties of the membranes are both of critical importance for membrane modules to achieve high efficiency and long-term stability. Herein, a series of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) with brick-and-mortar architecture are prepared by incorporating two-dimensional zeolitic imidazolate framework-L (ZIF-L) nanosheets into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrix for separating alcohols (ethanol, n-propanol or n-butanol) from aqueous solution. The unique leaf-like morphology, flexible pore structure, and high hydrophobicity of ZIF-L nanosheets allow the straight and preferential permeation for alcohols; while the brick-and-mortar architecture renders the tortuous and intricate pathways for water, thus improving the membrane selectivity. Incorporating ZIF-L nanosheets endows the membranes with outstanding pervaporation performance, together with unusual and favorable increase in mechanical properties. More interestingly, the subtle interconnection of ZIF-L nanosheets creates the relatively continuous pathways for penetrants. Consequently, the resultant membrane displays a high separation factor (57.6) and a comparable permeation flux (402 g m−2 h−1) in separating 1.0 wt% n-butanol aqueous solution at 40 °C. Furthermore, the presence of ZIF-L nanosheets donates good thermal properties and promising long-term stability to the membranes. The findings of engineering brick-and-mortar architecture through two-dimensional porous fillers may provide new insights into designing high-performance MOF-based membranes for various applications.

Based on the characteristics of hydrodynamics and sediment transport in the bar area in the Modaomen Estuary, a flume experiment was performed to study the evolution of the longitudinal profile of the mouth bar. The mouth bar evolution was investigated under the impacts of floods with different return periods as well as flood-wave interaction. The results showed that floods with different return periods had significant influences on the evolution of the river mouth bar. Particularly on the inner slope of the mouth bar, the sediment was substantially active and moveable. The inner slope and the bar crest tended to be remarkably scoured. The erosion was intensified with the increase of the magnitude of floods. Moreover, the bar crest moved seawards, while the elevation of the bar crest barely changed. Under the flood-wave interaction, a remarkable amount of erosion on the inner and outer slopes of the mouth bar was also found. The seaward displacement of the bar crest under the interaction of floods and waves was less than it was under only the impact of floods, while more deposition was found on the crest of the mouth bar in this case. Keywords: Modaomen, Mouth bar, Wave, Flood, Flume experiment, Sediment transport

Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu et W.C.Cheng (Cupressaceae) is a relic plant with a narrow natural distribution in central China. Historically, the genus Metasequoia Hu et W.C.Cheng has rich fossil records from the Cretaceous to the Pleistocene in the Northern Hemisphere, but fossil records of Metasequoia in China are still rare, which limits our knowledge of its biogeographic history under paleoenvironmental changes. Here, we describe leaves including cuticles and ovuliferous cones from the middle Miocene of Zhenyuan, Yunnan, Southwest China, comprising the southernmost fossil record of the genus worldwide. Judging by the great morphological similarity between these fossils and extant M. glyptostroboides, we identify them as Metasequoia sp. (cf. Metasequoia glyptostroboides). The material documents obviously a long lasting morphological stasis within the genus. Metasequoia sp. (cf. M. glyptostroboides) considerably expands the spatial distribution range of Metasequoia in the geological past. Furthermore, possible reasons for its disappearance in Southwest China are discussed. Together with other evidence, it is concluded that the disappearance of Metasequoia from Southwest China might be related to the evolutionary stasis of Metasequoia, most likely preventing necessary adaptations of the plants to increasing winter and spring aridity induced by the intensification of the Asian monsoon in this region during the Neogene.

The ability of a porous material to uptake and release molecules is determined by the thermodynamic state of preadsorbed surfactants in pore space. However, the effect of spatial confinement on the thermodynamic state of the surfactants is poorly understood. In this study, we use a combination of small-angle neutron scattering experiments and all-atom molecular dynamics simulations to develop a better understanding of the effect of confinement on self-assembly and temperature-induced liquid–liquid phase separation of surfactant solutions. Here, we study the demixing of a model nonionic surfactant triethyleneglycol monohexyl ether (C6E3) in tubular nanopores of the SBA-15 silica material (pore diameter of 8.6 nm). We find that the nonionic surfactants show an enhanced in situ aggregation behavior in silica pores upon increasing the temperature above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST). The surfactant molecules directly bound to the pore walls act as anchor sites for subsequent adsorption, result...

We demonstrate qubit state measurement for ~160 Cesium atoms in a 3D optical lattice based on coherent spatial splitting of the atoms' wavefunctions. The measurement fidelity is 0.9994, essentially independent of the number of qubits measured. The detection scheme is reminiscent of the Stern-Gerlach experiment, but carried out in light traps. The measurement causes no loss, which allows us to demonstrate re-initialization of the 3D qubit array after state measurement, including the replacement of an atom lost to a background gas collision., 25 pages, 4 figures, Methods section, 3 supplementary figures

Background and AimsThe inverse correlation between atmospheric CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) and stomatal frequency in many plants has been widely used to estimate palaeo-CO2 levels. However, apparent discrepancies exist among the obtained estimates. This study attempts to find a potential proxy for palaeo-CO2 concentrations by analysing the stomatal frequency of Quercus glauca (section Cyclobalanopsis, Fagaceae), a dominant species in East Asian sub-tropical forests with abundant fossil relatives.MethodsStomatal frequencies of Q. glauca from three material sources were analysed: seedlings grown in four climatic chambers with elevated CO2 ranging from 400 to 1300 ppm; extant samples collected from 14 field sites at altitudes ranging from 142 to 1555 m; and 18 herbarium specimens collected between 1930 and 2011. Stomatal frequency–pCO2 correlations were determined using samples from these three sources.Key ResultsAn inverse correlation between stomatal frequency and pCO2 was found for Q. glauca through cross-validation of the three material sources. The combined calibration curves integrating data of extant altitudinal samples and historical herbarium specimens improved the reliability and accuracy of the curves. However, materials in the climatic chambers exhibited a weak response and relatively high stomatal frequency possibly due to insufficient treatment time.ConclusionsA new inverse stomatal frequency–pCO2 correlation for Q. glauca was determined using samples from three sources. These three material types show the same response, indicating that Q. glauca is sensitive to atmospheric pCO2 and is an ideal proxy for palaeo-CO2 levels. Quercus glauca is a nearest living relative (NLR) of section Cyclobalanopsis fossils, which are widely distributed in the strata of East Asia ranging from the Eocene to Pliocene, thereby providing excellent materials to reconstruct the atmospheric CO2 concentration history of the Cenozoic. Quercus glauca will add to the variety of proxies that can be widely used in addition to Ginkgo and Metasequoia.

The effects of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on the incidence of myocardial infarction have been reported, but little is known about this association in China. We conducted a time-series study of ambient PM2.5 concentrations and inpatient visits for myocardial infarction in Beijing. A generalized additive model with a Poisson link was applied to estimate the percentage change in inpatient visits for myocardial infarction following a 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentrations. A total of 15,432 inpatient visits for myocardial infarction were identified between January 1, 2010, and June 30, 2012. A 10-μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentrations was associated with a 0.46% (P ≤ 0.001) increase in daily inpatient visits for myocardial infarction. Males were more sensitive to the adverse effects, and the association was more significant during the warm season (May through October). Short-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with increased risk of inpatient visits for myocardial infarction in Beijing. The findings may be useful in developing more accurate targeted interventions.

Mouth bars are important morphological units in deltaic and estuarine systems, which have encountered with significant topography variations driven by anthropogenic interferences and natural forcings. On the basis of seven selected maritime charts covering from 1960s to 2016, we focus on the morphological evolution of mouth bar with bifurcating channels in the Modaomen Estuary, the main fluvially-dominated estuary of the Pearl River Delta. The bar area is relatively in equilibrium with barely aggregation and degradation before 1990 while overall erosion was found thereafter. Sediment volume of the mouth bar between the −2 m and −7 m isobaths drastically decreased after 1990s. Correspondingly, the area of −4 m isobaths of the bar stepwise decreased from about 18 × 106 m2 to 2 × 106 m2, indicating the body of mouth bar above −4 m almost disappeared. The two side channels also suffered significantly morphological evolution. The West Channel (WC) was subjected to uninterrupted erosion. Especially during 2000–2005, the WC below the −2 m isobath experienced remarkable erosion with the increment of water volume reaching 6.7 × 106 m3. The East Channel (EC) had the potential to expand seaward between 2000 and 2011 yet encountered with accumulation after 2011. Meanwhile, the thalweg of the EC seemed hard to distinguish and the WC displayed more meandering thalweg. Furthermore, Empirical Orthogonal Function was applied to quantify the bathymetric changes with independent modes. The temporal variations of fluvial sediment input displayed significant decreasing trend at MK from 1960 to 2014, which presented a statistically significant relationship with the third mode. However, it only accounts for 13.4% of the overall evolution patterns. Although the remarkable reduction of sediment input generally associates with the degradation in bar area, the sediment load is probably not the primary mechanisms driving morphological changes in the Modaomen Estuary. Anthropogenic interferences including large-scale reclamation and intensive sand excavation should be responsible for the morphological changes.