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Bacteria induced wound infection has become fatal healthcare issues needed to be resolved urgently. It is of vital importance to develop multifunctional therapeutic platforms to fight against increased bacterial antibiotic resistance. Herein, a titanium carbide (MXene)/zeolite imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8)/polylactic acid (PLA) composite membrane (MZ-8/PLA) was fabricated through in-situ growth of ZIF-8 on MXene and the subsequent electrospinning process. It indicated MZ-8 can generate singlet oxygen and hyperthermia at photothermal (PTT) convention efficiency of 80.5% with bactericidal rate of more than 99.0%. In addition, MZ-8 showed remarkable antitumor efficiency in vitro and in vivo based on the combined photodynamic/photothermal therapy. Theoretical calculation illustrated MZ-8 could improve the laser activation process by acceleration of intermolecular charge transfer, reducing excitation energy, stabilizing excited states and increasing intersystem crossing rate. After incorporated into electrospun scaffolds, MZ-8/PLA exhibited potent PTT and photodynamic therapy (PDT) properties under 808 nm laser irradiation. The antibacterial rates of MZ-8/PLA were up to 99.9% and 99.8% against Escherichia coli and Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, respectively. In-vivo experimental results further confirmed that MZ-8/PLA can accelerate bacteria infected wound healing without observable resistance. This work opens a new avenue to design promising platforms for fighting against extremely drug resistant bacterial infection.

Background Infantile malignant osteopetrosis (IMO) is a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by a higher bone density in bone marrow caused by the dysfunction of bone resorption. Clinically, IMO can be diagnosed with medical examination, bone mineral density test and whole genome sequencing. Case presentation We present the case of a 4-month-old male infant with abnormal skull development, hypocalcemia and premature closure of the cranial sutures. Due to the hyper bone density showed by his radiographic examination, which are characteristic patterns of IMO, we speculated that he might be an IMO patient. In order to confirm this diagnosis, a high-precision whole exome sequencing of the infant and his parents was performed. The analysis of high-precision whole exome sequencing results lead to the identification of two novel heterozygous mutations c.504-1G > C (a splicing site mutation) and c.1371delC (p.G458Afs*70, a frameshift mutation) in gene TCIRG1 derived from his parents. Therefore, we propose that there is a close association between these two mutations and the onset of IMO. Conclusions To date, these two novel mutations in gene TCIRG1 have not been reported in the reference gene database of Chinese population. These variants have likewise not been reported outside of China in the Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD). Our case suggests that the use of whole exome sequencing to detect these two mutations will improve the identification and early diagnosis of IMO, and more specifically, the identification of homozygous individuals with TCIRG1 gene mutation. We propose that these mutations in gene TCIRG1 could be a novel therapeutic target for the IMO in the future.

Pursuant to the Paris Agreement, China committed itself to peak its carbon emissions by around 2030 and to increase the non-fossil share of primary energy to 20% at the same time. The government has supported the international agreement by setting and strengthening the domestic policy targets for an earlier peak and faster reduction, aiming to contain the average global temperature increase to well below 2 °C. We develop a Kaya Inequality method to assess the time of peak and pace of reduction of China's energy-related CO2 emissions based on the national energy policy targets for 2030. We find that, despite the minor fluctuations, the current plateau essentially represents the peak emissions and should enter a phase of steady decline by around 2025, given current trends in energy consumption and decarbonization. Such developments would be consistent with the strengthened national policy target to achieve 50% of renewable power generation by 2030. However, the basic policy targets – a 20% share of non-fossil energy and 6 Gtce in total energy consumption by 2030 – would be insufficient to peak carbon emissions by around 2030. The synergy and interplay between domestic policy target setting and international climate commitments shed light on the need to elevate national climate ambitions under the Paris Agreement and beyond.

China has seen a surge in wind power installation over the past decade, and is now the world leader in installed capacity. However, wind curtailment – i.e., when the power grid frequently interrupts the power connection of installed wind capacity – has become an increasingly serious problem. But despite wind curtailment significantly jeopardizing wind power developers’ profitability in China, companies have continued to invest. This study, based on extensive interviews with decision-makers in China's Central State-Owned Enterprises (CSOEs), attempts to explain this seeming paradox. Since the majority of wind power investment in China has been made by CSOEs, previous findings of SOE studies assume that this continued investment abjures “economic rationality” due to political/policy burdens. However, this study shows that this is not necessarily accurate. CSOEs’ investment behavior also accords with market logic, as they competed fiercely over wind power sites, increasing investment scale as a rational long-term strategy of profitability. We also find that the embrace of market logic by CSOEs has resulted from recent economic and power sector reforms. For a more efficient market, policy-makers must pay greater attention to the quality of competition among CSOEs. ispartof: Energy Policy vol:127 pages:200-212 status: published

Ceria (CeO2) micro/nanostructures with various sizes and shapes were successfully synthesized by doping with a series of transition metal ions without any surfactant or template. The crystal structure, morphology, and photocatalytic performance of CeO2 and Co-, Zr-, Cu-doped CeO2 were characterised. The lattice parameters, which indicate the crystal structure distortion and change of Ce4+, were changed by incorporating a transition metal into the CeO2. Doping with transition metal ion could broaden the absorption range from ultraviolet to visible region and enhance the concentration of oxygen vacancies, which exhibited a significantly lower optical band than pure CeO2. The photocatalytic studies revealed that CeO2 with a spate of oxygen vacancies displayed a higher photocatalytic activity than pure CeO2 in degrading the organic pollutant rhodamine B (RhB). Furthermore, the O2− and OH radicals formed during photocatalysis process were revealed by means of nitrotetrazolium blue chloride (NBT) reduction method and a terephthalic acid (TA) fluorescence probe method, respectively, which discovers that radicals were crucial for the degradation of RhB. The H2-TPR confirmed that a small amount of transition metal ions significantly affected the oxidation state of the surface cations and oxygen vacancies. This study clearly reveals the effects of different transition metal ion dopants on the morphologies and photocatalytic performance of transition metal ion-doped CeO2 micro/nanostructures.

DNA methylation plays a crucial role in suppressing mobilization of transposable elements and regulation of gene expression. A number of studies have indicated that DNA methylation pathways and patterns exhibit distinct properties in different species, including Arabidopsis, rice, and maize. Here, we characterized the function of DDM1 in regulating genome-wide DNA methylation in maize. Two homologs of ZmDDM1 are abundantly expressed in the embryo and their simultaneous disruption caused embryo lethality with abnormalities in cell proliferation from the early stage of kernel development. We establish that ZmDDM1 is critical for DNA methylation, at CHG sites, and to a lesser extent at CG sites, in heterochromatic regions, and unexpectedly, it is required for the formation of m CHH islands. In addition, ZmDDM1 is indispensable for the presence of 24-nt siRNA, suggesting its involvement in the RdDM pathway. Our results provide novel insight into the role of ZmDDM1 in regulating the formation of m CHH islands, via the RdDM pathway maize, suggesting that, in comparison to Arabidopsis, maize may have adopted distinct mechanisms for regulating m CHH.

Root hair, a special type of tubular-shaped cell, outgrows from the root epidermal cell and plays important roles in the acquisition of nutrients and water, as well as interactions with biotic and abiotic stresses. Studies in the model plant Arabidopsis have revealed that root-hair initiation and elongation are hierarchically regulated by a group of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors (TFs). However, knowledge regarding the regulatory pathways of these bHLH TFs in controlling root hair growth remains limited. In this study, RNA-seq analysis was conducted to profile the transcriptome in the elongating maize root hair and >1000 genes with preferential expression in root hair were identified. A consensus cis-element previously featured as the potential bHLH-TF binding sites was present in the regulatory regions for the majority of the root hair-preferentially expressed genes. In addition, an individual change in ZmLRL5, the highest-expressed bHLH-TF in maize root hair resulted in a dramatic reduction in the elongation of root hair, and rendered the growth of root hair hypersensitive to translational inhibition. Moreover, RNA-seq, yeast-one-hybrid and ribosome profile analysis suggested that ZmLRL5 may function as a key player in orchestrating the translational process by directly regulating the expression of translational processes/ribosomal genes during maize root hair growth.

Nanofibers of a copper(ii)-based coordination polymer [Cu(HBTC)(H2O)3] were synthesized via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal process, while macroparticles and bulk crystals were prepared via a hydrothermal method. X-ray analysis revealed that this compound possesses one-dimensional zig-zag chains, in which the coordination polyhedron of the copper(ii) center is a five-coordinate distorted square-pyramid. The width of the as-prepared nanofibers was about 150 nm, while the size of the macroparticles was about 200 μm. The antibacterial activities of the nanofibers and macroparticles against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) were evaluated by determining the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), the growth curve of the bacteria and the bacterial reduction assay. The nanofibers showed higher antibacterial performance as compared with macroparticles, commercial copper nanoparticles, and pure ligands alone. The bacteriostatic rates of nanofibers and macroparticles were up to 99.9% and 96.7% against E. coli, while 99.1% and 96.2% against S. aureus, respectively, when the concentration was 250 μg mL-1. The synergistic antibacterial mechanism was also proposed based on the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the release of Cu2+ ions.

We investigate the dynamics of non-classical correlations(entanglement and quantum discord) of the system consisting of two non-interacting superconducting qubits coupling with a common data bus, where the system is driven by the dynamical decoupling pulses. It is found that the non-classical correlations between two superconducting qubits can be increased by appling a train of dynamical decoupling pulses. Furthermore, we also explore the influence of the dynamical decoupling pulses on the information flowing between superconducting qubits and data bus by making use of the trace distance. It is shown that the dynamical decoupling pulses can protect quantum information of two superconducting qubits and force information to flow back to the superconducting qubits from the data bus.

A new conjugated ionic porous organic polymer (AN-POP), incorporated with anthracene-extended viologen, has been rationally designed and prepared to explore its dual functions in photocatalytic oxidation and bacterial killing. Compared with its anthracene-free counterpart (BD-POP), AN-POP showed a superior photocatalytic oxidation performance and antibacterial activity demonstrating the critical role of an anthracene-extended viologen structure.

We study the quantum steering and quantum coherence in the generalized XY model with Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction. We find that both the two measurements (steerable weight and robustness of coherence, which are applied to qualify quantum steering and quantum coherence, respectively) can be applied to describe the quantum phase transition in this model. As the strength of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction increases, the phase transition characterized from the derivative of robustness of coherence becomes less significant. This is dramatically different from steerable weight. As the strength of Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction increases, the identification of quantum phase transition from steerable weight becomes more accurate. In addition, numerical investigations show that a sufficiently large number of random measurements in each assemblage is important in the calculation of steerable weight and the identification of quantum phase transition.

We apply the artificial neural network to quantify two-qubit steerability based on the steerable weight, which can be computed through semidefinite programming. Due to the fact that the optimal measurement strategy is unknown, it is still very difficult and time-consuming to efficiently obtain the steerability for an arbitrary quantum state. In this work, we show the method via machine learning technique which provides an effective way to quantify steerability. Furthermore, the generalization ability of the trained model is also demonstrated by applying to the Werner state and that in dephasing noise channel. Our findings provide an new way to obtain steerability efficiently and accurately, revealing effective application of the machine learning method on exploring quantum steering.

In this study, by inoculating nitritation suspended sludge, simultaneous nitritation, anammox and denitrification (SNAD) was established quickly in an integrated fixed-biofilm activated sludge (IFAS) reactor to treat high-ammonia municipal wastewater. Results showed that, deep-level total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies (92.8% and 78.8%, respectively) were achieved, and their effluent concentrations were 13.2 and 39.3 mg/L, respectively. Excess generation of nitrate was once occurred under continuous aerobic condition, but it could be solved by suppressing nitrite oxidizing bacteria activity stably via switching to intermittent aeration mode (alternate 7 min of aerobic and 21 min of anoxic) and rising influent ammonium concentration temporarily (lasted 31 days). High-throughput sequencing analysis revealed that, Candidatus_Brocadia, as dominant anammox bacteria, was self-generated in flocs (2.93%) but mainly biofilm (7.67%), whereas uncultured_f_Nitrosomonadaceae as ammonia oxidizing bacteria was mainly found in flocs (2.4%). This work not only demonstrated that anammox bacteria could be self-generated and retained in the SNAD-IFAS system, but also suggested a promising application of the SNAD-IFAS in wastewater treatment plants.

The effects of inorganic salts on partial denitrification (PD) was investigated in a sequencing batch reactor for simultaneously treating saline nitrate sewage and municipal wastewater. After 230-day operation, a high nitrate-to-nitrite transformation ratio (NTR) of ~ 80% was achieved with the salinity of 1.25 wt% and the initial chemical oxygen demand to nitrate ratio of 3.7. Microbial community analysis revealed that, Thauera was remained predominant in PD system but with a relative abundance decreasing from 53.02% (0.0 wt%) to 42.36% (1.25 wt%). Moreover, as a suitable ratio of nitrite to ammonia (~1.6) in effluent was obtained, it would be a promising method to treat saline nitrate sewage by combing PD with anammox.

Due to its dry climate, growing population, and overexploited groundwater, China’s capital is plagued by water scarcity. Since the late 1980s, Beijing has adopted water reuse solutions to bring rel...

Based on data from 30 provinces in China, this paper builds a coordination degree model and a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) for a carbon emission-urbanization system (CUS) that explores how to achieve low-carbon development during a rapid urbanization phase. Scenario analyses and case study were applied to illustrate the results, which show five basic conclusions. 1) Low-carbon development doesn’t require eliminating energy consumption completely during urbanization 2) The average level of urbanization is relatively low owing to the large disparities among provinces and the provinces’ economic development. Though the development of low-carbon in the 30 provinces is generally rapid, the gap between the highest provinces and the lowest provinces is relatively large because of their different socio-economic features. 3) Much more attention should be paid to CO2 emissions per capita. The quality of public social service,the basic and medical insurance coverage for the elderly, the community service coverage in infrastructure and the green design during urban construction should be improved. 4) The coordination of CUS is closely related to the different development stages and geographic locations of each province. 5) For different types of provinces with different degrees of coupling coordination,there is a need to explore different development directions.

Reliable energy statistics serve as the foundation and starting point for understanding the climate policies of any country. As the most comprehensive sources of energy data for China, China Energy Statistics Yearbooks (ESY), published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), underwent three major revisions since 2005. This paper analyzes how these three major revisions correspond to data on China's energy use from 1996 to 2012, and theirs impacts on CO2 emissions, emission intensity and the share of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption, which are key indicators of China's climate policies. Some notable changes include CO2 emissions for 2012, which increased by 594 Million tons – a figure equivalent to South Korea's annual emissions, which implies that China's emissions at peak level will be higher than previous estimation. Meanwhile, revised emission intensity data show a higher amount and lower decreasing rate, which means that China's achievements in decreasing emission intensity during 2005–2012 have been overestimated, while future difficulties for achieving the goal of 40–45% reduction will be greater. On the share of non-fossil fuel energy in China's total energy mix, the adjustments increased the indicator by 1.26%, reflecting the fact that China's effort in developing non-fossil energy had been underestimated. Discrepancies in reported scattered coal in different statistics versions are the main contributors to these changes. To further enhance the reliability of its energy statistics, and thereby its climate policies, China should remove incentives for misreporting through legal means, and make the technical system for data collection more comprehensive and accurate, with particular emphasis on scattered coal.

We study the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering and quantum phase transitions of the transverse Ising and antiferromagnetic XXZ spin-1/2 chains. By making use of steerable weight, we calculate the steerability for the bipartite subsystems of the models. It is shown that steerability vanishes abruptly and its value maintains zero in a region close to the critical point for the Ising chain. This result is quite different from the information provided by entanglement and quantum discord. While for the XXZ chain, steerability increases and reaches maximal at the critical point, indicating the occurrence of quantum phase transition.

We study the dynamics of quantum steerability between two non-interacting atoms, each of which is trapped inside one of two coupled cavities. Compared with entanglement, quantum steerability manife...

China is under the pressure of international climate change negotiation, domestic energy security and haze reduction. Replying to these pressures positively, China announced to reduce 40%–45% CO2 per unit Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2020, 60%–65% CO2 per unit GDP in 2030 based on 2005 level, and to carry out ambitious reduction measures. To achieve this target, low-carbon governance is necessary. The central government expects to build low-carbon society and develop low-carbon economy through pilots. This paper analyzes the framework of low-carbon governance in China. The government plays a guidance role in the governance process which involves enterprises, NGOs and citizens. Different types of measures, policy tools and actions have been implemented as response to the pressure. The governance can be achieved through the integration of technical, spatial and social pathways. The paper analyzes the framework by using Suzhou Industry Park (SIP) as case study which is a very important part of low carbon management of cities. Although the total CO2 amount in the Park has increased, its CO2 intensity per unit GDP has been reduced in recent years after the efforts made by its Park Council and enterprisers. The policy implementation indicates that the guidance role of local governments and the process are still based on a top-down management at park level, although the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) hopes to carry out pilot program and summarize experiences from a bottom-up mechanism. Target Responsibility System (TRS) is still the key working mechanism and makes contribution to the reduction of CO2 per unit GDP. The low-carbon governance experiences of SIP can be learned by other cities, while local government displays positive attitudes towards low-carbon practices.

An anionic layered coordination polymer [Eu(BTEC)0.5(HCOO)(H2O)2] (1) has been successfully synthesized via a solvothermal method (H4BTEC = 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid, HCOOH = formic acid). Compound 1 possesses two-dimensional layers, which further generate a three-dimensional supramolecular network by hydrogen bonds existing between carboxylic oxygen, formate anion and H2O molecules of two adjacent layers. Interestingly, 1 shows high luminescence quenching efficiency upon addition of Fe3+ ions when it was dispersed in water even in the presence of interfering ions such as Na+, Ag+, Ca2+, Cd2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Al3+. When dispersed in DMSO solution, 1 displays excellent sensitivity and selectivity towards both Cu2+ and Fe3+ ions. Possible quenching mechanisms for detection of Fe3+ and Cu2+ ions were carefully investigated and proposed based on a dynamic quenching process, static quenching process and fluorescence inner filter effect. Moreover, the as-prepared particles can be used for visualizing latent fingerprints on various substrates. These results indicate that a Eu(iii)-based coordination polymer has great potential in detection and security application.

The development of tendon-biomimetic nanofibrous scaffolds with mesenchymal stem cells may represent a promising strategy to improve the unsatisfactory outcomes of traditional treatments in tendon repair. In the present study, the nanofibrous scaffolds comprised of poly(p-dioxanone) (PPDO) and silk fibroin (SF) composites were fabricated by using electrospinning technique and subsequent thermal ethanol treatment. The PPDO/SF composite scaffolds presented parallel fiber arrangement with crimped features and nonlinear mechanical properties, which mimic the structure-function relationship of native tendon tissue mechanics. We demonstrated that the fiber crimp degree and mechanical properties of as-prepared PPDO/SF wavy nanofibrous scaffolds (WNSs) could be tunable by adjusting the mass ratio of PPDO/SF. The biological tests revealed that the addition of SF obviously promoted the cell adhesion, proliferation, and phenotypic maintenance of human tenocytes on the WNSs. A preliminary study on the subcutaneous implantation showed that the PPDO/SF WNSs notably decreased the inflammatory response compared with pure PPDO WNSs. More importantly, a combination of growth factor induction and mechanical stimulation was found to notably enhance the tenogenic differentiation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells on the PPDO/SF WNSs by upregulating the expressions of tendon-associated protein and gene markers. Overall, this study demonstrated that our PPDO/SF WNSs could provide a beneficial microenvironment for various cell activities, making them an attractive candidate for tendon tissue engineering research.

Lu2O3 nanospheres with various concentrations of Eu3+ are synthesized via urea homogeneous precipitation method. The influence of the Eu3+ doping concentration on the structural, optical properties was systemically studied. The emission spectra of Lu2O3: Eu3+ nanospheres consist of a group of sharp lines from blue to red light originating from 5D1, 0→7FJ transitions of Eu3+. The photoluminescence intensities and decay times varies with the increasing Eu3+ concentrations, which are attributed to the energy transfer among the Eu3+ ions. The fluorescent quenching is mainly due to the D–D interaction by using the Van Uitert’s model and Dexter’s model. The Lu2O3: Eu3+ phosphor exhibits good thermal characteristics. The emission intensity of Lu2O3: Eu3+ phosphor only decreases 8% with the increasing of temperature from 303 to 403 K. The temperature quenching behavior of Lu2O3: Eu3+ is attributed to the crossover process via the charge transfer band with high activation energy of 0.264 eV. Moreover, the Judd–Ofelt parameters $$\Omega_{\lambda}$$ (λ = 2, 4, 6) of Eu3+ in Lu2O3 phosphor were also calculated.

Xiaoxiang chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is one of the native breeds in the Southeastern of Guizhou province, China. The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Xiaoxiang chicken (small-sized breed chicken) was obtained for the first time. The mitogenome is 16,784 bp in length, and it contained a D-loop region, two rRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, and 22 tRNA genes. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree was structured based on the D-loop, which indicated that the Red junglefowl was the direct ancestor of Xiaoxiang chicken, and both were closed to the Silky chicken and Dongan black chicken.

M-NP@Zn-BIF (M-NP = Ag or Cu nanoparticle; Zn-BIF is a zinc-based boron imidazolate framework, Zn2(BH(2-mim)3)2(obb); 2-mim = 2-methylimidazole; obb = 4,4′-oxybis(benzoate)) composites were successfully in-situ synthesized by utilizing the reducing ability of the B H bond contained in the Zn-BIF at room temperature without any additional chemical reduction reagents. These composites (225 μg/mL) exhibited excellent catalytic activity to convert 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in 2.5 min and 6 min with a conversion rate of 99.9 %, respectively. In addition, Ag@Zn-BIF (50 μg/mL) showed highly synergistic antibacterial activity against both Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) with a bactericidal rate of approximately 99.9 %. An antibacterial mechanism was proposed for the generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. Superoxide radicals (O2–) and hydroxyl radicals ( OH) formed during the antibacterial process were shown to accelerate the death of bacteria. They also exhibited highly photocatalytic activity for Rhodamine B (RhB). When the concentration of the composites is 1000 μg/mL, the photocatalytic efficiency of Ag@Zn-BIF and Cu@Zn-BIF increased by 31.62 and 18.13 times compared with Zn-BIF, respectively. All in all, this study developed a simple and versatile integrated platform for the removal of nitrophenols, organic dyes, and the effective inactivation of bacteria in water.

We study quantum steerability on one-dimensional cavity array systems with open boundary conditions, where each cavity is doped with a two-level atom and coupled with its neighbor nodes by optical fibers. In the far off-resonant condition, we obtain explicit expressions for the dynamical evolution of the array system with arbitrary number of nodes. By investigating the steerable weight for two-node subsystems, we show that remote quantum steerability can be established through both single-array and double independent arrays. Moreover, comparisons between quantum steerability and quantum entanglement in this model are also examined.

Post-endogenous denitrification (PED) process, utilizing internal rather than external carbons, has been proposed for nitrogen removal from wastewaters. However, its potential nitrogen removal capacity has not been approached, especially when facing simultaneous phosphorus removal. Here, the nitrogen removal ability of PED was further investigated by treating municipal and high-nitrate wastewaters in a novel process combined with synchronous nitritation, denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNiDPR). After optimization, the anoxic specific nitrite (and nitrate) reduction rate was increased from 0.41 to 1.13 mgN gVSS-1 h-1, accompanied with PED efficiency raising from 16.8% to 80.9%. It ensured that, by utilizing the limited organic carbons in municipal wastewater, deep-level nutrient removal could still be achieved (total nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies were 93.1% and 99.9%, respectively). Nitrospira (0.1-0.4%) was outcompeted by Nitrosomonas (4.7-3.3%), which contributed to accumulation of nitrite in aerobic stage (99.6%) and dramatically reduced the carbons demand of following PED. Enriched Dechloromonas (8.5-5.6%) and Candidatus_Competibacter (9.1-11.3%) might play key roles in sufficient utilization of organic carbons in municipal wastewater anaerobically, and respectively facilitate aerobic phosphorus removal (100%) and anoxic PED (60.7% of overall nitrogen removal).

CpERF9 controls papaya fruit ripening through transcriptional repression of cell-wall-modifying genes CpPME1/2 and CpPG5 by directly binding to their promoters. Papaya fruit ripening is an intricate and highly coordinated developmental process which is controlled by the action of ethylene and expression of numerous ethylene-responsive genes. Ethylene response factors (ERFs) representing the last regulators of ethylene-signaling pathway determine the specificities of ethylene response. However, knowledge concerning the transcriptional controlling mechanism of ERF-mediated papaya fruit ripening is limited. In the present work, a gene-encoding AP2/ERF protein with two ERF-associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motifs, named CpERF9, was characterized from papaya fruit. CpERF9 was found to localize in nucleus, and possess transcriptional repression ability. CpERF9 expression steadily decreased during papaya fruit ripening, while several genes encoding pectin methylesterases (PMEs) and polygalacturonases (PGs), such as CpPME1/2 and CpPG5, were gradually increased, paralleling the decline of fruit firmness. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) demonstrated a specific binding of CpERF9 to promoters of CpPME1/2 and CpPG5, via the GCC-box motif. Transient expression of CpERF9 in tobacco repressed CpPME1/2 and CpPG5 promoter activities, which was depended on two EAR motifs of CpERF9 protein. Taken together, these findings suggest that papaya CpERF9 may act as a transcriptional repressor of several cell-wall modifying genes, such as CpPME1/2 and CpPG5, via directly binding to their promoters.

A novel 1D alternating copper(II) chain complex of the composition {[Cu3(dmg)2(Hdmg)2(4,4′-bpy)]n⋅n[Cu(Hdmg)2(4,4′-bpy)]⋅0.5nH2dmg⋅5nH2O} (H2dmg = dimethylglyoxime, 4,4′-dpy = 4,4′-dipyridine) (1) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure of 1 consists of neutral 1D alternating copper(II) chains [Cu3(dmg)2(Hdmg)2(4,4′-bpy)]n, [Cu(Hdmg)2(4,4′-bpy)] mononuclear units, noncoordinated H2dmg and lattice water molecules. 1D alternating copper(II) chains is built up of trinuclear unit, in which copper ions are linked by three kinds of bridging ligands: dmg, Hdmg and 4,4′-bpy. The authors also studied the electronic structure and orbital energies of 1 by DFT methods, and the results are consistent with UV-vis spectrum.

By making use of the trace distance as a measure we investigate the influence of classical driving fields on a open quantum system when the system and its environment are initially in a correlated state. It is shown that the amount of trace distance is sensitive to the classical driving fields which implies that the information flowing between open system and its environment can be controlled by the classical driving fields. Furthermore, we also explore the dependence of the trace distance on the initial parameters when the total system is considered in the thermal equilibrium state. We find that the trace distance on the coupling strength can be used to demonstrate the level crossing of the ground state of the system. In particular, the classical driving fields have significant effect on the level crossing of the ground state.

A series of Sr 2 Al 2 SiO 7 phosphors with fixed Eu 2+ concentration and various Tm 3+ concentrations were synthesized via a high temperature solid state reaction. The structure and luminescence properties of the samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, decay curves, thermoluminescence (TL) glow curves as well as the photostimulated luminescence (PSL) spectra. Sr 2 Al 2 SiO 7 :Eu 2+ , Tm 3+ phosphors exhibited strong green phosphorescence and photostimulated luminescence originating from 4f 6 5d 1 –4f 7 transition of Eu 2+ after ultraviolet light stimulation. Deep traps were found by analyses on the phosphorescence decays and thermoluminescence spectra. It was also found that with increasing the time interval between UV excitation turn-off and stimulation turn-on, the photostimulated luminescence became stronger. This phenomenon resulted from the fact that the captured electron was retrapped by the deep traps. Compared with the Tm 3+ -free sample, it was found that the PSL intensity was strongly enhanced in Tm 3+ codoping samples.

The intelligent design of multifunctional nanoplatforms is critical for cancer therapy. Herein, NaGdF4 :Er,Yb@NaGdF4 :Nd@Cu(II) boron-imidazolate frameworks (denoted as CSNPs@Cu-BIF) nanoassemblies are designed and fabricated. Upon a single 808 nm laser irradiation, the nanoassemblies not only show the outstanding photothermal conversion capacity (η = 41.7%) but also generate cytotoxic reactive oxygen species through an in situ Fenton-like reaction and fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Importantly, the nanoassemblies simultaneously introduce remarkable antitumor efficacy via photothermal/photodynamic/chemodynamic combination therapy both in vitro and in vivo. To improve the therapeutic effect of solid tumor ablation, it is highly desirable to monitor the treatment process in real-time. Multiclinical imaging modalities of ultrasonography are employed to systematically investigate the ablation mechanism of solid tumors in vivo. Furthermore, the significant difference between the eigen temperature of CSNPs@Cu-BIF nanoassemblies obtained by the temperature-sensitive emission bands signal changes and the apparent temperature recorded by the thermal imaging camera is 14.55 K at equilibrium. This current work therefore supplies an alternative strategy in temperature feedback-controlled accurate cancer therapy.

The pilot project of low-carbon cities is an important effort to align China's national goals for climate change governance with local governments' low-carbon behavior. The purpose of such pilot project is to promote low-carbon development and encourage policy innovation, but the role of nested structure has not been fully appreciated. Based on the survey data of low-carbon pilot cities, this paper finds that nested structure has a positive impact on policy innovation and discusses the impact on policy innovation from three dimensions: the nested pilot, the nested policy and the nested department. Heckman selection Model and Possion Model are used to make an empirical analysis of the factors influencing policy innovation and used a case study to explore the mechanism. The results show that the nested structure has a positive effect on policy innovation in pilot projects of low-carbon cities with weak incentives and weak constraints. Specifically, the participation of local governments in low-carbon related pilot projects, the number of low-carbon policies introduced by local governments, and the participation of local government departments in the process of low-carbon governance have a positive impact on policy innovation. Nested structure promotes policy innovation mainly through coordination mechanism and funding mechanism.

Many developing countries rely on hydropower to improve energy access and to meet their growing demands for energy. However, the social justice concerns accompanying hydropower development are in danger of being overlooked. This study focuses on arguably the most pressing social problem associated with hydropower development, namely, the displacement and resettlement of communities. Employing a case study based approach, this study investigates the extent to which hydropower development-induced resettlement process and its impacts on the resettled households respond to three different tenets of energy justice, i.e., distributional, recognition, and procedural justice. Based on fieldwork conducted at the Hongjiang and Wanmipo Hydropower Stations in Hunan Province, China for two months in 2008, this paper demonstrates that although hydropower development generated significant economic and developmental benefits by alleviating power shortages, improving grid stability, and increasing local tax revenues, these benefits came at the cost of the social exclusion of more than 20,000 resettlers. Specifically, the resettled communities experienced 1) distributional injustice from hydropower due to the low affordability of electricity and water, reduced access to land and food, and an unbalanced distribution of costs and benefits from hydropower development; 2) recognition injustice due to the lack of fairness, transparency, and accountability on the part of the hydropower developer and at all levels of government in energy decision-making; and 3) procedural injustice due to the very limited participatory rights in the decision-making process before, during, and after resettlement and the lack of viable channels through which to seek redress and remedies.

Through its low-carbon city pilot program, China aims to combine national targets with local initiatives to advance low-carbon transformation and encourage policy innovations. Based on survey data collected from the low-carbon pilot cities, this paper aims to explore the impacts of the behavior of local government leadership on policy innovations from the three dimensions of leadership position, leadership participation, and leadership attention as well as the heterogeneous impacts of leaders’ behavior on policy innovations at different levels of carbon emissions intensity. This paper used the Heckman selection model to empirically analyze the factors influencing policy innovations. The results show that under circumstances with weak incentives and weak constraints, the behaviors of local leaders in low-carbon pilot cities had a positive impact on policy innovations. Specifically, the local leader at the very top of the hierarchy responsible for the pilot leadership group had a significant impact on policy innovations. Departmental-level cadres who participated exchange seminars, which refer to conducting low-carbon tests, had positive impacts on policy innovations. Nevertheless, if the local government implemented a low-carbon related strategic plan, this also had a positive effect. With the increase in carbon emissions intensity, local leaders faced pressures to reduce carbon emissions, so that the effect of the leaders’ behaviors in promoting policy innovation was greater as well.

Karplus et al. (1) raise the concern of potential data manipulation by coal-fired power plants in China by comparing Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) data with NASA satellite data. Since the two sources of data are not directly comparable, the comparison in the paper is empowered by a policy shock assumed to occur on July 1, 2014, when a new emission standard (GB13223-2011) was set to reduce SO2 emissions from coal power plants. Ideally, this shock isolates the changes in SO2 emissions as a result of the new emission standard in both the CEMS and NASA data, creating a correspondence between the two. However, Karplus … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: changgui.dong{at}ruc.edu.cn. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Pathogen recognition by nucleotide-binding (NB), leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptors (NLRs) plays roles in plant immunity. The Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris effector AvrAC uridylylates the Arabidopsis PBL2 kinase, and the latter (PBL2UMP) acts as a ligand to activate the NLR ZAR1 precomplexed with the RKS1 pseudokinase. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy structures of ZAR1-RKS1 and ZAR1-RKS1-PBL2UMP in an inactive and intermediate state, respectively. The ZAR1LRR domain, compared with animal NLRLRR domains, is differently positioned to sequester ZAR1 in an inactive state. Recognition of PBL2UMP is exclusively through RKS1, which interacts with ZAR1LRR PBL2UMP binding stabilizes the RKS1 activation segment, which sterically blocks ZAR1 adenosine diphosphate (ADP) binding. This engenders a more flexible NB domain without conformational changes in the other ZAR1 domains. Our study provides a structural template for understanding plant NLRs.

The performance of Neural Machine Translation (NMT) systems often suffers in low-resource scenarios where sufficiently large-scale parallel corpora cannot be obtained. Pre-trained word embeddings have proven to be invaluable for improving performance in natural language analysis tasks, which often suffer from paucity of data. However, their utility for NMT has not been extensively explored. In this work, we perform five sets of experiments that analyze when we can expect pre-trained word embeddings to help in NMT tasks. We show that such embeddings can be surprisingly effective in some cases -- providing gains of up to 20 BLEU points in the most favorable setting., Comment: NAACL 2018

A silver(I) supramolecular network Ag(BIm)2(HTDC) (1) was assembled from thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (H2TDC) and benzimidazole (BIm) ligands and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, FT-IR, and thermal gravimetric analysis. Complex 1 possesses a two-dimensional structure with a hydrogen-bonded grid network, in which the adjacent [Ag(BIm)2]+ cations and (HTDC)– are bridged via N–H···O hydrogen bonds forming undulating ribbons. The antibacterial properties of 1 were investigated by determining the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), the growth curve of bacteria and zone inhibition value assays against Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, and Gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus. The MIC of 1 against E. coli and S. aureus are 15-20 ppm and 20-30 ppm which showed that 1 has higher antibacterial activity than commercial silver nanoparticles. The mechanism of antibacterial activity of 1 was also discussed.

Food chain systems (FCSs), which begin in agricultural production and end in consumption and waste disposal, play a significant role in China's rising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This article uses scenario analysis to show China's potential trajectories to a low-carbon FCS. Between 1996 and 2010, the GHG footprint of China's FCSs increased from 1,308 to 1,618 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2-eq), although the emissions intensity of all food categories, except for aquatic food, recorded steep declines. We project three scenarios to 2050 based on historical trends and plausible shifts in policies and environmental conditions: reference scenario; technology improvement scenario; and low GHG emissions scenario. The reference scenario is based on existing trends and exhibits a large growth in GHG emissions, increasing from 1,585 Mt CO2-eq in 2010 to 2,505 Mt CO2-eq in 2050. In the technology improvement scenario, emissions growth is driven by rising food demand, but that growth will be counterbalanced by gains in agricultural technology, causing GHG emissions to fall to 1,413 Mt CO2-eq by 2050. Combining technology improvement with the shift to healthier dietary patterns, GHG emissions in the low GHG emissions scenario will decline to 946 Mt CO2-eq in 2050, a drop of 41.5% compared with the level in 2010. We argue that these are realistic projections and are indeed indicative of China's overall strategy for low-carbon development. Improving agricultural technology and shifting to a more balanced diet could significantly reduce the GHG footprint of China's FCSs. Furthermore, the transition to a low-carbon FCS has potential cobenefits for land sustainability and public health.

Slowing GDP growth, a structural shift away from heavy industry, and more proactive policies on air pollution and clean energy have caused China's coal use to peak. It seems that economic growth has decoupled from growth in coal consumption.

In order to solve the rotational torque curve fitting problem of three-phase asynchronous motor, an on-line fitting algorithm based on particle swarm optimization is designed. Firstly, the rotational torque model of three-phase asynchronous motor is established by using the Taylor-polynomial model. Secondly, through the particle swarm optimization algorithm and the polynomial evaluation function, the order of optimal fitting is solved and the online fitting is realized. Finally, the algorithm is applied actually in motor industry through Visual Studio platform, and shows that it is effective.

Y2O3:Tb3+ nanoballs were synthesized via the urea homogeneous precipitation method (UPM). The resulting Y2O3:Tb3+ phosphors were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectra, and general photoluminescence spectra. The particle sizes estimated using X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microcopy were about 50–200 nm. The emission intensity of the Y2O3:Tb3+ was low when the doping concentrations of Tb3+ were higher. The optimum concentration of Tb3+ for synthesis of Y2O3:Tb3+ nanocrystals is 1%.

The sensitivity of the D0-0 mixing parameters x and y is estimated in the wrong-sign decay D0 → K+π−π0 by time-dependent amplitude analysis. The resolution of the D0 lifetime is essential in time-dependent Dalitz analyses. The Belle II detector, which aims to collect a total integrated luminosity of 50 ab−1 of data, has σ = 140 fs in Monte Carlo studies, a factor of two improvement over that of Belle and BaBar, so the produced Dalitz signal Monte Carlo samples are smeared with this resolution. Then a time-dependent Dalitz plot fitting is performed on these smeared samples, and the sensitivity of D0-0 mixing parameters are σx = 0.057% and σy = 0.049%. These are about an order of magnitude improvement on current experimental results, without considering background effects.

International audience; [1] Field-chamber measurements of soil respiration from 17 different forest and shrubland sites in Europe and North America were summarized and analyzed with the goal to develop a model describing seasonal, interannual and spatial variability of soil respiration as affected by water availability, temperature, and site properties. The analysis was performed at a daily and at a monthly time step. With the daily time step, the relative soil water content in the upper soil layer expressed as a fraction of field capacity was a good predictor of soil respiration at all sites. Among the site variables tested, those related to site productivity (e. g., leaf area index) correlated significantly with soil respiration, while carbon pool variables like standing biomass or the litter and soil carbon stocks did not show a clear relationship with soil respiration. Furthermore, it was evidenced that the effect of precipitation on soil respiration stretched beyond its direct effect via soil moisture. A general statistical nonlinear regression model was developed to describe soil respiration as dependent on soil temperature, soil water content, and site-specific maximum leaf area index. The model explained nearly two thirds of the temporal and intersite variability of soil respiration with a mean absolute error of 0.82 mumol m(-2) s(-1). The parameterized model exhibits the following principal properties: (1) At a relative amount of upper-layer soil water of 16% of field capacity, half-maximal soil respiration rates are reached. (2) The apparent temperature sensitivity of soil respiration measured as Q(10) varies between 1 and 5 depending on soil temperature and water content. (3) Soil respiration under reference moisture and temperature conditions is linearly related to maximum site leaf area index. At a monthly timescale, we employed the approach by Raich et al. [2002] that used monthly precipitation and air temperature to globally predict soil respiration (T&P model). While this model was able to explain some of the month-to-month variability of soil respiration, it failed to capture the intersite variability, regardless of whether the original or a new optimized model parameterization was used. In both cases, the residuals were strongly related to maximum site leaf areaindex. Thus, for a monthly timescale, we developed a simple T&P&LAI model that includes leaf area index as an additional predictor of soil respiration. This extended but still simple model performed nearly as well as the more detailed time step model and explained 50% of the overall and 65% of the site-to-site variability. Consequently, better estimates of globally distributed soil respiration should be obtained with the new model driven by satellite estimates of leaf area index. Before application at the continental or global scale, this approach should be further tested in boreal, cold-temperate, and tropical biomes as well as for non-woody vegetation.

Since 2008, a regional medical health platform has been built for managing electronic health records of top public hospitals in Shanghai. However, public hospitals often use different names to present a same laboratory examination item (or lab indicator) in this regional platform, which seriously hinders the interconnection and sharing of medical information among hospitals. In this paper, we propose an effective method to standardize the lab indicators using n-gram features and Stacking mechanism. Our proposed method sequentially combines a clustering model and a binary classification model. More specifically, we first cluster the lab indicators based on character uni-gram similarity distances to reduce the alignment scale, and then leverage a binary classification algorithm through Stacking mechanism based on character n-gram similarity features to generate candidate-standard indicator pairs iteratively. Experimental studies on the clinical data collected from eight top public hospitals in Shanghai show that our proposed method achieves a good performance 88.43% in terms of F 1 -score in the final binary classification, which is highly competitive performance compared to baseline methods.