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Climate change influences both ecosystems and ecosystem services. The impacts of climate change on ecosystems and ecosystem services have been separately documented. However, it is less well known how ecosystem changes driven by climate change will influence ecosystem services, especially in climate-sensitive regions. Here, we analyzed future climate trends between 2040 and 2100 under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, and SSP5-8.5) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6). We quantified their impacts on ecosystems patterns and on the ecosystem service of sandstorm prevention on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), one of the most climate-sensitive regions in the world, using Random Forest model (RF) and Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ). Strong warming (0.04°C/yr) and wetting (0.65 mm/yr) trends were projected from 2015 to 2100. Under these trends, there will be increased interspersion in the pattern of grassland and sparse vegetation with meadow and swamp vegetation, although their overall area will remain similar, while the areas of shrub and needle-leaved forest classes will increase and move toward higher altitudes. Driven by the changes in ecosystem patterns caused by climate change indirectly, grassland will play an irreplaceable role in providing sandstorm prevention services, and sandstorm prevention services will increase gradually from 2040 to 2100 (1.059–1.070 billion tons) on the QTP. However, some areas show a risk of deterioration in the future and these should be the focus of ecological rehabilitation. Our research helps to understand the cascading relationship among climate change, ecosystem patterns and ecosystem services, which provides important spatio-temporal information for future ecosystem service management.

According to the principle of being "derived from the logical structure of the knowledge system and promoted through the integration and application of knowledge", advancement in interdisciplinary research is one of the three core tasks of the deepening reform of the National Natural Science Fund in the new era This article takes an international vision by first investigating the disciplinary layout and application guide for the field of earth sciences offered by leading international science foundations and agencies including the National Science Foundation, United States (NSF);National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF);Japan Society for the Promotion of Science;Agence Nationale De Le Recherche;Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG);European Research Council;Australian Research Council;Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment;and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) These application guides include categories of guidelines, extensive application codes, and subdivided application codes Compared with the existing hierarchical structure for application codes in the field of earth sciences at NSFC, the feasibility and necessity of promoting the optimization of the disciplinary layout and reform of application codes are discussed Then, it is proposed that the disciplinary layout should be based on the current conditions as well as the future developmental needs of China and that the optimization of application codes should consider the needs of both application guidance rationality and management applicability Moreover, the setting of application codes should include self-consistent disciplines;exhibit stable inheritance;and support services, emerging intersections, and national needs To optimize the disciplinary layout, improve the basic research capabilities, and account for the scale of basic research teams and human management resources, the application codes need to be optimized on the basis of three key factors: Extensive application codes, subdivided application codes, and intelligent assistance Only in this way can the core mission of science foundation management reforms be fulfilled and the goal of building a science foundation management system with advanced concepts, standardized systems, fairness, and efficiency be achieved In the future, NSFC should focus on the differences between basic scientific research conducted by large and small countries, pay more attention to balanced development in the discipline layout, develop basic general research, and comprehensively promote the growth of the earth science fund During the past two years, under the guidance of clear, overall strategic planning and top-level design, NSFC's Department of Earth Sciences has deployed multiple major projects by guidelines, such as those for the major basic science projects of the Sichuan-Tibet railway and frontier projects of basic polar science as well as special projects related to 2019-nCoV research, ecological protection and sustainable development of the Yellow River Basin, and deep-time earth science knowledge graphing and knowledge evolution These established projects have played key roles in enabling NSFC to meet the major national needs and push forward international scientific frontiers In the future, NSFC should continue to pay significant attention to strategic research and the top-level design of funding deployment Moreover, the foundation should strengthen the overall consideration of the top-level strategic results of earth sciences and the layout of the science fund In practice, the focus should be on the promotion of basic scientific research rather than servicing the other needs of different disciplines By further improving the condensed mechanism and management methods of the major projects of earth sciences, the important role of guidelines in funding effectiveness will be strengthened This article can provide the necessary international vision and strategic support for the reform of the application codes of NSFC © 2021, Science Press All right reserved

IntroductionCognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT) is becoming the most commonly implemented and standard treatment for depression. Up to date, only a few numbers of studies have investigated the potential relationship between CBT and the change of inflammatory biomarkers in individuals of depression. And the results are inconsistent among studies. The current study aims to provide a comprehensive, systematic review of the association between CBT and changes of peripheral inflammation of individuals with depression, and clarify the alterations of inflammatory cytokines pre-CBT and post-CBT treatment by meta-analysis, anti-inflammatory.Methods and analysisThis study will be conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A systematic search of predetermined terms will be conducted with electronic databases of CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO from inception to July 2021. Database searches will be supplemented by expert contact, reference and citation checking, and grey literature. Primary outcomes of interest will be validated measures for levels of inflammatory cytokines pre-CBT and post- CBT treatment in individuals with depression. Hedges’ g will be used to represent the effect size.Systematic review registrationThe protocol of current meta-analysis has been registered at the Open Science Framework (https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/tr9yh).Ethics and disseminationFormal ethical approval is not required by the National Ethical Review Board in China as primary data will not be collected. The results alterations of peripheral inflammatory cytokines pre-CBT and post-CBT treatment in individuals with depression will be disseminated through a peer-reviewed publication and inform the most up-to-date evidence of the roles of CBT treatment for depression.

Iron-porphyrin is a very important substance in organisms, especially in animals. It is not only the source of iron in human body, but is also the catalytic center of many reactions. Previous studies suggested that adequate intake of iron was important for the health of human, especially for children and pregnant women. However, associated diseases caused by iron over-intake and excessive meat consumption suggested its potential harmfulness for human health. During meat processing, Iron-porphyrin will cause the oxidation of proteins and fatty acids. In the gastrointestinal tract, iron-porphyrin can induce the production of malondialdehyde, fats oxidation, and indirectly cause oxidation of amino acids and nitrates etc. Iron-porphyrin enters the intestinal tract and disturbs the balance of intestinal flora. Finally, some common measures for inhibiting its activity are introduced, including the use of chelating agent, antioxidants, competitive inhibitor, etc., as well as give the hypothesis that sodium chloride increases the catalytic activity of iron-porphyrin. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of current knowledge about the changes of iron-porphyrin in the whole technico- and gastrointesto- processing axis and to provide ideas for further research in meat nutrition.

Metformin is the first-line therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D) through mechanism of reduction in hepatic glucose production and fasting plasma glucose. Dorzagliatin is a novel glucokinase activator (GKA) that improves glucose and insulin sensitivity which significantly reduces post meal plasma glucose. Combination of dorzagliatin with metformin would offer benefits through the synergy of two mechanisms. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial (NCT03141073), the efficacy and safety of dorzagliatin add-on to metformin in T2D patients were assessed. Eligible T2D patients (n=767) were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to dorzagliatin group or placebo group add-on to metformin (1500 mg/day) for a 24-week double-blind treatment, then followed by a 28-week open-label treatment with dorzagliatin in all patients. The primary efficacy endpoint was the change from baseline in the glycated hemoglobin(HbA1c) level at week 24 and the safety was assessed throughout the trial. At week 24, the HbA1c was reduced from baseline in dorzagliatin group, superior to placebo (-1.02% vs. -0.36%; ETD, -0.66%; 95% CI, -0.79 to -0.53; P

An accurate forest type map is important for the forestry resources monitor and management. Forest type mapping over a large and complicated mountain area is full of challenge due to complex forest type compositions, similar spectral characteristics between various forest types, lack of high quality images caused by clouds or cloud shadows, and the difficulties in managing and processing large amount data. This study aims to explore forest-type mapping methods over a mountain region with strong geographic and climate heterogeneity characteristic landscape (Yunnan Province, China). Based on Landsat OLI dense time series data, four median seasonal composites consist of 7 spectral bands and 5 vegetation indexes were derived on Google Earth Engine cloud platform. The Random Forest classifier was used in two-level classification, which includes the classification of forest/non-forest and the classification of forest-type. In two-level classification, three types of feature combination, single-seasonal composite in four seasons, multi-seasonal composite and the combination of multi-seasonal composite and three environmental factors, were set, respectively. We also compared our method with two commonly used methods. The resultant forest map was evaluated by using overall accuracy and Kappa and compared to the ground survey data and four public forest products. The results show that multi-seasonal multispectral variables and the combination with environment factors improved accuracy of forest type classification. Our result is also superior to stat-of-the-art result, FCS2020, in the research area.

Trivalent praseodymium (Pr3+) is the most established rare-earth ion for the direct generation of visible light. In our work, based on Pr-doped Lu3Al5O12 (LuAG) single crystal, cladding waveguides are fabricated by applying femtosecond laser inscription with different parameters. The main characteristics of the waveguides such as mode distributions, propagation losses are investigated. The investigations on confocal micro-photoluminescence enable us to illustrate femtosecond laser induced modifications in Pr:LuAG matrix. The waveguides are further pumped at a wavelength of 450 nm with an InGaN laser diode. Guided fluorescence emissions in visible range covering green, yellow-green, orange and red are obtained with a maximum slope efficiency of 4 × 10−4.

Background Vaginal dysbiosis characterized by depleted lactobacilli is usually correlated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical carcinogenesis, but the effect of the Lactobacillus genus and represented species on this process remains unclear. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, and CENTRAL databases were searched up to February 15, 2019. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a fixed-effect model and Review Manager (version 5.3) for Mac. Results Eleven studies comprising 1230 cases were included. Lactobacillus spp. was associated with the decreased detection of high-risk subtype (hr)HPV infection (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.48–0.87, I2 = 6%), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) (OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.34–0.83, I2 = 0%), and cervical cancer (CC) (OR = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.04–0.36, I2 = 0%). At the level of Lactobacillus species, Lactobacillus crispatus, but not Lactobacillus iners, was correlated with the decreased detection of hrHPV infection (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.31–0.79, I2 = 10%) and CIN (OR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.29–0.88, I2 = 0%). Conclusions Cervicovaginal Lactobacillus spp. is associated with the decreased detection of hrHPV infection, CIN, and CC; L. crispatus may be the critical protective factor.

Background Surgery is the gold standard treatment for local advanced disease, while definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (DCRT) is recommended for those who are medically unable to tolerate major surgery or medically fit patients who decline surgery. The primary aim of this trial is to compare the outcomes in Chinese patients with oesophageal squamous cell cancer with locally advanced resectable disease who have received either surgery or DCRT. Methods/design One hundred ninety-six patients with T1bN + M0 or T2-4aN0-2 M0 oesophageal squamous cell cancer will be randomised to the DCRT group or the surgery group. In the DCRT group, patients will be given intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) with 50 Gy/25 fractions and basic chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil regimens. In the surgery group, patients will receive neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) and standard oesophagectomy. Five years of follow-up will be scheduled for patients. The primary endpoints are 2-year/5-year overall survival; the secondary endpoints are 2-year/5-year progression-free survival, treatment-related adverse events and the patients’ quality of life. The main evaluation methods include oesophagoscopy, endoscopic ultrasonography and biopsy, oesophageal barium meal, computed tomography, positron emission tomography-computed tomography, blood tests and questionnaires. Discussion The preponderant oesophageal cancer pathology type is dramatically different in western Caucasian and Asian oesophageal cancer patients: Caucasian patients present with 80% adenocarcinomas, and Asians patients present with 95% squamous cell carcinomas. This phenomenon needs more in-depth studies to elucidate the differences in these populations. Based on the results of this study, we will show whether DCRT will benefit patients more than oesophagectomy. This study will contribute more evidence to the management of oesophageal squamous cell cancer. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02972372. Registered on 26 November 2016. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13063-019-3316-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Dynamic monitoring of forest ecosystem quality is necessary for restoration program evaluation but remains challenging for very large-scale programs. Current evaluation methods employ regional forest quality indicators that compare the quality status of targeted forests with benchmarks from remnant old-growth forest communities, however data availability usually limits the application of available methods to small scales. We constructed an improved framework, integrating forest site classification selection and local remnant old-growth forest community delimitation, to quantify and map forest quality using environmental data and remote sensing (RS) based approaches. A classification strength model was introduced to improve the accuracy of forest site classification. The remote-sensing-based method integrates species composition and forest biological productivity characteristics recognition to develop a practical tool for large-scale remnant old-growth forest community delimitation. The new assessment framework was tested across the entire spatially heterogeneous Yangtze River Basin, the largest watershed in China and showed high accuracy in forest quality assessment based on observed field data validation. The forest site classification was selected by considering spatial heterogeneities in climate, topography and soil type, with 37 forest sites classified. The native forest community groups with less human disturbance in each forest site used for forest quality baseline estimation were also selected as forests with top 10% of biomass in protected areas. The case study demonstrated that forest areas of low and poor quality accounted for 34.46% of the total forest area in 2015. Between 2000 and 2015, 55.72% of forest areas experienced increases in quality level, and 7.07% experienced decreases. The improved forest quality assessment framework enhances the scope and accuracy of forest restoration information and can be applied as an evaluation tool for forest restoration management.

Ambitious investments in expanding forest cover globally need more careful analysis to avoid severe unintended consequences., In response to extreme societal consequences of ecosystem degradation and climate change, attention to ecological restoration is increasing globally. In China, investments in restoration exceeded USD 378.5 billion over the past decade. However, restoration programs are experiments that can cause marked unintended consequences, with trade-offs across space and time that have undergone little empirical examination. We quantified the long-term effects of large-scale afforestation for soil erosion and sandstorm prevention in semiarid China. We found that soil erosion was notably reduced by afforestation but surface runoff declined significantly, after a time lag of 18 years, limiting overall benefit. While forest area also increased, forest quality declined, interacting with reduced surface water runoff. Crucially, increased forest water consumption accelerated downstream groundwater depletion, thus intensifying conflicts over water use. The time lags and spatial trade-offs revealed by this case study provide critical lessons for large-scale restoration programs globally.

Background Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are an emerging prophylaxis option for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in haplo-identical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT) recipients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA), but studies have reported inconsistent results. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the efficacy of MSCs as prophylaxis for GVHD in SAA patients with haplo-HSCT. Methods Studies were retrieved from PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, Web of Science, and http://clinicaltrials.gov from establishment to February 2020. Twenty-nine single-arm studies (n = 1456) were included, in which eight (n = 241) studies combined with MSCs and eleven (n = 1215) reports without MSCs in haplo-HSCT for SAA patients. The primary outcomes were the incidences of GVHD. Other outcomes included 2-year overall survival (OS) and the incidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to compare the results pooled through random or fixed effects models. Results Between MSCs and no MSCs groups, no significant differences were found in the pooled incidences of acute GVHD (56.0%, 95% CI 48.6–63.5% vs. 47.2%, 95% CI 29.0–65.4%; OR 1.43, 95% CI 0.91–2.25; p = 0.123), grade II–IV acute GVHD (29.8%, 95% CI 24.1–35.5% vs. 30.6%, 95% CI 26.6–34.6%; OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.70–1.32; p = 0.889), and chronic GVHD (25.4%, 95% CI 19.8–31.0% vs. 30.0%, 95% CI 23.3–36.6%; OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.56–1.11; p = 0.187). Furtherly, there was no obvious difference in 2-year OS (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.60–1.61; p = 1.000) and incidence of CMV infection (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.40–1.92; p = 0.018). Conclusions Our meta-analysis indicates that the prophylactic use of MSC co-transplantation is not an effective option for SAA patients undergoing haplo-HSCT. Hence, the general co-transplantation of MSCs for SAA haplo-HSCT recipients may lack evidence-based practice.

Ecological benefits provided by ecosystem assets play an important role in improving human wellbeing. However, there are few feasible methods to combine data on the quantity and quality of ecosystem assets to describe their state and trend. Here, we developed a new remote-sensing-based indicator by synthesizing ecosystem asset quantity and quality data for effective assessment at a regional or national scale. The new indicator includes a typological ecosystem asset index (TEAI) (e.g., forest ecosystem asset index) and an integrated ecosystem asset index (IEAI). The TEAI and IEAI can be used to assess the state and trend of a specific ecosystem or set of regional ecosystems, respectively. We applied the new indicator in the context of ecological protection policy in the Three-Rivers Source Region (TRSR), a region known as the ‘Chinese water tower’. From 2000 to 2015, the IEAI increased by 4.02% due to an increase in the ecosystem asset area (0.2%) and the ecosystem asset quality (0.66% and 0.02% increases in excellent and good level ecosystem assets, respectively). The implementation of ecological protection and ecological restoration programs was the main direct driver of regional ecological asset improvement. Our results suggest the new indicator is feasible for quickly and accurately evaluating the state and trend of ecosystem assets and can be used to guide ecosystem management at a large regional scale.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) is a standard care for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), but the efficacy is unsatisfactory. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play key roles in chemotherapy resistance. Gene amplified in squamous cell carcinoma 1 (GASC1) is a neoteric gene in stemness maintaining of ESCC. We aimed to reveal whether GASC1 could be a predictive biomarker for NCT in ESCC. ESCC patients (T2-4N0-2M0) were evaluated for GASC1 expression using immunohistochemical staining and classified as GASC1-low group (GLG) and GASC1-high group (GHG). NCT was delivered in two cycles and then the surgery was completed. Primary endpoints were tumor regression grade (TRG) and objective response rate (ORR); secondary endpoints were radical surgical resection (R0) rate and three-year overall survival (OS). 60 patients were eligible with evaluable outcomes: 24 in GHG and 36 in GLG. Between GHG and GLG, TRG1, TRG2, TRG3, and TRG4 were 0 : 16.7%, 20.8% : 41.7%, 58.3% : 36.1%, and 20.8% : 5.6%, respectively (P=0.006); ORR and R0 rate were 33.3% : 69.4% (P=0.006) and 75% : 94.4% (P=0.046), respectively; the median OS was 20 : 32 (months) (P=0.0356). No significant difference in the three-year OS was observed between GHG and GLG: 29.2% : 41.7% (P=0.24). Furthermore, the GASC1 expression level was associated with poor OS independent of other factors by univariate and multivariate analyses. Therefore, GASC1 might be a potential biomarker to predict NCT efficacy for ESCC.

This work introduces an optimization approach for the design and operation of integrated energy systems of residential structures and light industrial plants to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions going beyond the best possible results from standalone systems. Unlike previous studies, in this work, heat transfer considers temperatures of heat sources and receptors; production rates of plants are optimized to maximize GHG emissions reduction of the integrated operation. Results from case studies indicate if temperature levels are not considered, more than 33% of deemed heat transfer is infeasible. Operating the integrated plants at a steady daily production rate brings a significant reduction in GHG emissions for systems accessing the northeast U.S. grid. Further reduction of GHG emissions is accomplished by scheduling the production rate. Schedules with at most one daily production rate change have only 0.4% higher GHG emissions than the optimum, which has frequent production rate changes. When the standalone system and integrated system have the same annual total cost, the integrated system reduces GHG emissions by at least 18.8% and reduces electricity purchases by 66%. Therefore, the integrated operation can reduce GHG emissions of the system, where the maximum reduction is achieved by optimizing the design and operation of energy system equipment, considering the temperature of heating demands, and optimizing production rates of plants with constraints applied to changes of the rates.

We conducted a numerical analysis on high-K dielectric passivated AlGaN/GaN Schottky barrier diodes (HPG-SBDs) with a gated edge termination (GET). The reverse blocking characteristics were significantly enhanced without the stimulation of any parasitic effect by varying the dielectric thickness dge under the GET, thickness TP, and dielectric constant er of the high-K passivation layer. The leakage current was reduced by increasing er and decreasing dge. The breakdown voltage of the device was enhanced by increasing er and TP. The highest breakdown voltage of 970 V and the lowest leakage current of 0.5 nA/mm were achieved under the conditions of er = 80, TP = 800 nm, and dge = 10 nm. C-V simulation revealed that the HPG-SBDs induced no parasitic capacitance by comparing the integrated charges of the devices with different high-K dielectrics and different dge.

Integration of distributed energy systems in residential buildings, commercial buildings, and light industries can decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions further than the lowest emissions achieved by the most efficient standalone system. Until now, an unexplored topic is the optimal relative sizes of the entities in the integrated system. This work introduces a novel optimization model which determines optimal sizes of the entities (buildings and plant capacities) in the integrated system, optimal sizes of the equipment comprising the energy systems, and optimal production schedules. Temperature levels of the heating demands are included in the model to ensure that the heat transfers are feasible. A case study that includes a residential building, a supermarket, a confectionery plant, a bakery plant, a brewery, and electric vehicles is presented. It is shown that the maximum achievable GHG reduction is relatively constant as the sizes of the residential buildings increase, but it requires significant changes in the type and relative sizes of the industrial plants.

A high breakdown voltage GaN-on-Insulator based heterojunction field effect transistor with a partial back barrier (PB-GOI HFET) is proposed in this paper. The partial back barrier (PB) formed by AlGaN is located in the GaN channel layer, which can make the breakdown voltage improved significantly by modulating the distribution of electric field along the channel. PB-GOI HFET can not only maintain the original advantages of GOI structure, but also improve the breakdown voltage without degradation of frequency performance. Compared with a conventional GOI HFET, the proposed PB-GOI HFET with gate–drain distance of 5 μm possesses the breakdown voltage of 1200 V and the FOM of 3.12 GW/cm 2 , which increased by more than 353% and 976%. The novel PB-GOI HFET shows great prospects in power electronics applications.

In this paper, a novel high-K/low-K compound passivation AlGaN/GaN Schottky Barrier Diode (CPG-SBD) is proposed to improve the off-state characteristics of AlGaN/GaN schottky barrier diode with gated edge termination (GET-SBD) by adding low-K blocks in to the high-K passivation layer. The reverse leakage current of CPG-SBD can be reduced to 1.6 nA/mm by reducing the thickness of high-K dielectric under GET region to 5 nm, while the forward voltage and on-state resistance keep 1 V and 3.8 Ω mm, respectively. Breakdown voltage of CPG-SBDs can be improved by inducing discontinuity of the electric field at the high-K/low-K interface. The breakdown voltage of the optimized CPG-SBD with 4 blocks of low-K can reach 1084 V with anode to cathode distance of 5 μm yielding a high FOM of 5.9 GW/cm 2 . From the C-V simulation results, CPG-SBDs induce no parasitic capacitance by comparison of the GET-SBDs.

This paper optimizes the design and operation of integrated distributed energy systems of large buildings and light industrial plants. The integration reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the annual total cost (ATC) beyond the best possible from individual energy systems and there is a sharp optimum with respect to the size of the confectionary plant, which maximizes the reduction of GHG emissions and minimizes ATC. In contrast to previous studies, the design accounts for plant heating demands at different temperature levels and sets plant production volumes as decision variables. Optimal design, operation, and production schedule have been determined via a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model. Integrated energy systems of two entities (confectionary plant and residential building) have been compared to the non-integrated entities equipped with combined cooling, heating, and power systems. The lowest ATC (−8%) of the integrated system and the maximum GHG reductions (−8.3%) occur at slightly different sizes of the plant. Such reductions require simultaneous optimization of integrated design and operation of energy systems and relative sizes of the confectionary plant and the residential building.

Objectives: PNH clones, also aptly called “escape clones,” are evidence of acquired immune-mediated bone marrow failure and have a high prevalence in patients with aplastic anemia (AA). Several studies have reported contradictory results regarding the impact of PNH clones on AA patients with immunosuppression treatment, and PNH clones have not been confirmed as positive predictors of response in the AA guidelines of the British Society for Standards in Haematology. Methods: We performed a meta-analysis to address this issue by searching for articles in PubMed, EMBASE, The Coch­rane Library, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov, and for abstracts from the annual meetings of the American Society of Hematology and the European Hematology Association. We included 1,236 participants from 11 cohort-controlled studies. Our primary outcome was the 6-month hematologic response with a secondary outcome of the mortality rate within 3 months. Results: A better response rate was observed in the PNH+ group than in the PNH– group (odds ratio [OR] 2.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.17–3.75; p < 0.00001), and further subgroup analysis strengthened the outcome, with minor heterogeneity in non-Asian countries. In contrast, the early mortality was not significantly different between the PNH+ and PNH– groups (OR 0.54; 95% CI 0.26–1.10; p = 0.09). Conclusions: The meta-analysis suggested an evidence-based role for PNH clones in predicting a better response in AA patients with immunosuppression.

To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of hypothermic perfusion in the phacoemulsification of hard nuclear cataract.Tertiary opthalmology center, China.Laboratory study and prospective randomized clinical trial.Rabbits and patients with hard nuclear cataract underwent phacoemulsification with perfusion temperatures at 4°C or 24°C. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT), corneal endothelial cell count (ECC), and cornea sections were observed before the rabbits' operation and 1 day and 7 days postoperatively. AS-OCT, corneal ECC, and anterior chamber (AC) inflammation were observed before the patients' operation and 1 day, 7 days, and 30 days postoperatively.The study comprised 40 rabbits and 80 patients. In the animal models, the mean central corneal thickness (CCT) in the 4°C group (370.4 μm ± 45.5 [SD]) was thinner than in the 24°C group (496.7 ± 121.5 μm) 1 day postoperatively (P .001). The mean AC inflammation reaction grade in the 4°C group (1.1 ± 0.9) was lower than in the 24°C group (2.2 ± 0.8) (P = .0333). In clinical trials, the mean CCT and incisional corneal thicknesses in the 4°C group (600.7 ± 51.8 μm and 859.2 ± 177.8 μm, respectively) were thinner than in the 24°C group (655.3 ± 85.0 μm and 955.9 ± 196.7 μm, respectively) (P .001). The endothelial cell density (P = .036) and hexagonality (P = .001) were higher in the 4°C group. The mean AC inflammation reaction grade in the 4°C group (0.6 ± 0.6) was lower than in the 24°C group (1.3 ± 1.0) 1 day postoperatively (P = .004).Hypothermic perfusion in phacoemulsification of hard nuclear cataract is safe and it can effectively protect corneal endothelium, decrease corneal edema, and reduce AC inflammation in the early postoperative stage.

Significance Achieving inclusive, green development is crucial to China and the world. Over the past century, great increases in agricultural production have been achieved at the expense of other ecosystem benefits, such as flood control, water purification, climate stabilization, and biodiversity conservation. We report on an application of China’s new “Ecological Development Strategy,” which aims to break these trade-offs and be scaled nationwide. Focusing on Hainan Island, where rubber production has driven loss of natural forest, we identified a two-pronged strategy that would eliminate these trade-offs, simultaneously diversifying and enhancing product provision, rural incomes, and many other ecosystem benefits. This win−win approach has broad applicability in the plantation regions in China, across South and Southeast Asia, and beyond., A major challenge in transforming development to inclusive, sustainable pathways is the pervasive and persistent trade-off between provisioning services (e.g., agricultural production) on the one hand and regulating services (e.g., water purification, flood control) and biodiversity conservation on the other. We report on an application of China’s new Ecological Development Strategy, now being formally tested and refined for subsequent scaling nationwide, which aims to mitigate and even eliminate these trade-offs. Our focus is the Ecosystem Function Conservation Area of Hainan Island, a rural, tropical region where expansion of rubber plantations has driven extensive loss of natural forest and its vital benefits to people. We explored both the biophysical and the socioeconomic options for achieving simultaneous improvements in product provision, regulating services, biodiversity, and livelihoods. We quantified historic trade-offs between rubber production and vital regulating services, finding that, over the past 20 y (1998–2017), there was a 72.2% increase in rubber plantation area, leading to decreases in soil retention (17.8%), water purification [reduced retention of nitrogen (56.3%) and phosphorus (27.4%)], flood mitigation (21.9%), carbon sequestration (1.7%), and habitat for biodiversity (6.9%). Using scenario analyses, we identified a two-pronged strategy that would significantly reduce these trade-offs, enhancing regulating services and biodiversity, while simultaneously diversifying and increasing product provision and improving livelihoods. This general approach to analyzing product provision, regulating services, biodiversity, and livelihoods has applicability in rural landscapes across China, South and Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Stent thrombosis remains an infrequent but significant complication following percutaneous coronary intervention. Preclinical models to rapidly screen and validate therapeutic compounds for efficacy are lacking. Herein, we describe a reproducible, high throughput and cost-effective method to evaluate candidate therapeutics and devices for either treatment or propensity to develop stent thrombosis in an in vitro bench-top model. Increasing degree of stent malapposition (0.00 mm, 0.10 mm, 0.25 mm and 0.50 mm) was associated with increasing thrombosis and luminal area occlusion (4.1 ± 0.5%, 6.3 ± 0.5%, 19.7 ± 4.5%, and 92.6 ± 7.4%, p < 0.0001, respectively). Differences in stent design in the form of bare-metal, drug-eluting, and bioresorbable vascular scaffolds demonstrated differences in stent thrombus burden (14.7 ± 3.8% vs. 20.5 ± 3.1% vs. 86.8 ± 5.3%, p < 0.01, respectively). Finally, thrombus burden was significantly reduced when healthy blood samples were incubated with Heparin, ASA/Ticagrelor (DAPT), and Heparin+DAPT compared to control (DMSO) at 4.1 ± 0.6%, 6.9 ± 1.7%, 4.5 ± 1.2%, and 12.1 ± 1.8%, respectively (p < 0.01). The reported model produces high throughput reproducible thrombosis results across a spectrum of antithrombotic agents, stent design, and degrees of apposition. Importantly, performance recapitulates clinical observations of antiplatelet/antithrombotic regimens as well as device and deployment characteristics. Accordingly, this model may serve as a screening tool for candidate therapies in preclinical evaluation.

Accurate monitoring of motion and sleep states is critical for human health assessment, especially for a healthy life, early diagnosis of diseases, and medical care. In this work, a smart wearable sensor (SWS) based on a dual-channel triboelectric nanogenerator was presented for a real-time health monitoring system. The SWS can be worn on wrists, ankles, shoes, or other parts of the body and cloth, converting mechanical triggers into electrical output. By analyzing these signals, the SWS can precisely and constantly monitor and distinguish various motion states, including stepping, walking, running, and jumping. Based on the SWS, a fall-down alarm system and a sleep quality assessment system were constructed to provide personal healthcare monitoring and alert family members or doctors via communication devices. It is important for the healthy growth of the young and special patient groups, as well as for the health monitoring and medical care of the elderly and recovered patients. This work aimed to broaden the paths for remote biological movement status analysis and provide diversified perspectives for true-time and long-term health monitoring, simultaneously.

Optical channel waveguides with depressed cladding configurations have been produced in Nd,Gd:CaF2 laser crystals by using ultrafast laser inscription. Waveguide properties are investigated in terms of guiding behaviors and localized laser-induced lattice damages. Under an optical pump of 808 nm light, continuous-wave waveguide lasing at 1.06 µm is achieved, with a single-mode operation and a minimum lasing threshold of 98.8 mW. Furthermore, the visible emissions of Nd3+ with short wavelengths ranging from 415 nm to 550 nm and long wavelengths from 550 nm to 625 nm are observed upon 808 nm laser excitation via the up-converted process. The intensity ratios of two wavelength ranges are proved to be tunable through changing the pumping polarizations.

Early warning systems are widely used to safeguard water security, but their effectiveness has raised many questions. To understand why conventional detection methods fail to identify contamination events, this study evaluates the performance of three contamination detection methods using data from a real contamination accident and two artificial datasets constructed using a widely applied contamination data construction approach. Results show that the Pearson correlation Euclidean distance (PE) based detection method performs better for real contamination incidents, while the Euclidean distance method (MED) and linear prediction filter (LPF) method are more suitable for detecting sudden spike-like variation. This analysis revealed why the conventional MED and LPF methods failed to identify existence of contamination events. The analysis also revealed that the widely used contamination data construction approach is misleading.

In this study, a general framework integrating a data-driven estimation model is employed for contamination event detection in water sources. Sequential canonical correlation coefficients are updated in the model using multivariate water quality time series. The proposed method utilizes canonical correlation analysis for studying the interplay between two sets of water quality parameters. The model is assessed by precision, recall and F-measure. The proposed method is tested using data from a laboratory contaminant injection experiment. The proposed method could detect a contamination event 1 minute after the introduction of 1.600 mg l(-1) acrylamide solution. With optimized parameter values, the proposed method can correctly detect 97.50% of all contamination events with no false alarms. The robustness of the proposed method can be explained using the Bauer-Fike theorem.

Li, R. and Zhang, C., 2020. Selection and application of garden plants in the construction of sponge city in Northwest China. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 1139–1143. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Since the development of sponge city construction in my country, most of the research on sponge city construction has focused on the engineering level. The research on the selection and application of plants is relatively lagging, making it impossible to reasonably choose plants during the construction of sponge cities. The lack of “localization” of the design and the lack of systematic and targeted consideration and design of the plant landscape configuration have restricted the construction and development of the sponge city to some extent. The purpose of this article is to solve the problem of the selection and application of garden plants in the construction of sponge cities in the northwestern region. Through the literature review method, field survey method, and case comparison analysis method, the roof garden, residential area green space, road green space, and landscape in the sponge city in northwestern China Selection and arrangement of plants in green space and park green space. Finally, combined with the problem analysis, the principles of sponge city plant selection and allocation were put forward. At the same time, the sponge city plants that can be applied to the northwestern region were summarized based on the survey results and related literature reading. The research results show that the satisfaction of the open layout is 81.38%, and the satisfaction of the enclosed layout is 79.30%. The open layout is more popular in use. The selection and application of garden plants in Northwest China based on the construction function of sponge cities proposed in this paper has positive significance for sustainable urban development.

In this work, we propose a flexible ferroelectric tunnel junction (FTJ) with a nanometer-thick single-crystalline BaTiO3 barrier prepared by exfoliating and transferring epitaxial BaTiO3 thin films onto flexible poly(styrenesulfonate)-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT:PSS) conductive electrodes using a water-soluble Sr3Al2O6 sacrificial layer. The transferred freestanding BaTiO3 films remain single crystalline and exhibit clear ferroelectric hysteresis, no matter being flat or bent. A combined piezoelectric force microscopy and conductive atomic force microscopy measurement reveals that the Pt/BaTiO3/PEDOT:PSS FTJ shows a clear polarization direction modulated tunneling resistance. By using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the polarization direction-dependent electrostatic potential profile of this flexible FTJ has been reconstructed, consistent with the observed resistance modulation.

4531 Background: PF (5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin) is the standard regimen for local advanced ESCC with DCRT. CRTCOESC aims to evaluate the effect and safety of X (capecitabine) regimen versus XELOX (capecitabine plus oxaliplatin) and PF in Chinese local advanced ESCC with DCRT by randomized, open-label, multicenter designed. Methods: Patients with ESCC (T2-4N0-2M0) were randomized to 3 groups as X (capecitabine 625mg/m2, bid d1-5, 6 weeks), XELOX (oxaliplatin: 65mg/m2, d1, 8, 22, 29; capecitabine: 625mg/m2, bid d1-5; 6 weeks), or PF (cisplatin: 75mg/m2 d1, 29, 5-Fu: 750mg/m2 CIV24h d1-4, d29-32), Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) was delivered by 50Gy/2Gy currently. In addition, quadratic randomize were done within all groups to decide whether 2 cycles chemotherapy adding or not after DCRT. 2-year OS and Grade 3-5 AEs were the primary endpoints, 2-year PFS and short-term efficacy (STE) as rates of CR and ORR (CR+PR+SD) (confirmed by gastroscopy biopsy at 16 weeks) were the secondary endpoints. Results: 244 pts successfully were accrued from 13 centers during 2014.10-2020.1. 209 pts were finished DCRT and 193 were evaluated STE at 16 weeks. 192 and 147 pts were followed up for 1- and 2- years respectively. There were no differences between 3 groups on patients’ baseline characters including age, gender, ECGO score, clinical stage, pathology grade and smoking. In X, XELOX and PF groups, the 2-year OS were 63.8% (30/46), 61.5% (32/52) and 62.5% (30/49) ( P = 0.973), the median OS were 39.7 (6.567), 40 (5.195) and 34 (5.736) (months, P = 0.703); the incidences of AEs (grade 3-5) were 26.5% (18/68), 33.8% (25/74) and 49.3% (33/67) ( P = 0.0193); the 2-year PFS were 54.3% (25/46), 53.8% (28/52) and 51% (25/49) ( P = 0.939), the median PFS were 29.06 (6.124), 17.4 (8.745) and 24.833 (6.777) (months, P = 0.811); the CR rate were 43.8% (28/64), 41.4% (29/70), and 42.4% (25/59) ( P = 0.964), and the ORR were 85.6%, 88.6%, and 96.6% ( P = 0.119), respectively. There were no differences on OS, PFS and rates of CR and ORR between 3 groups but the incidence of AEs in X group was the lowest significantly. Subgroup analysis results shown adding 2 cycles chemotherapy after CRT had both OS and PFS advantages but lacked statistically significance. Conclusions: Compared with PF, DCRT with X or XELOX shown lower incidence of AEs and similar OS, PFS and STE. X regimen carried out the lowest AEs incidence. Adding 2 cycles chemotherapy after DCRT seemly had advantages on OS and PFS. Clinical trial information: NCT02025036 .

Specific forest restoration aims to maximum ecosystem services (ESs), however, the complex trade-offs among ecosystem services pose considerable challenges for fulfilling such goals. Based on forest restoration on Hainan Island, China, we integrated spatially explicit models of ecosystem services and spatial prioritization techniques based on the efficiency frontier between habitat quality and plantation revenue to analyze the impacts of decision-makers&rsquo, preferences on optimal configurations of forest restoration. We then investigated the effects of different optimal restoration schemes on water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation. Based on our results, plantation revenue and habitat quality exhibited an obvious trade-off during the process of restoration. Forest restoration patterns also varied with the degree of preference for plantation yield or habitat quality, indicating that understanding ecosystem service tradeoffs can support the optimal selection of forest restoration schemes under different preferences. However, when the values of multiple ecosystem services associated with forest restoration were considered (e.g., water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation), the optimal solution choice varied. Our results suggest the application of the efficiency frontier can deepen quantitative understanding of ecosystem service trade-offs, and the addition of multi-benefit evaluation based on optimal solutions can provide a more detailed and broader picture of forest restoration plans. Integrated efficiency frontier assessment with the valuation of ecosystem services associated with forest restoration provides a quantitative approach for optimal forest restoration, which can be applied in broad forest restoration programs.

We report on the fabrication of dual-line waveguides with low propagation losses and single-mode guidance in Pr:CaF2 crystals by applying femtosecond laser inscription. In contrast to the typical highly elliptic modes previously reported in dual-line waveguides, the guiding mode obtained in our work is highly-localized with a near-circular profile at wavelength of 633 nm. The investigations on confocal micro-photoluminescence and micro-Raman imaging enable us to illustrate the effect of different femtosecond laser filamentations on the localized refractive index change in Pr:CaF2 crystals. In company with the mode simulation by finite element method, we further reconstruct the refractive index distribution of the fabricated waveguides. Our results indicate that highly-localized refractive-index increment caused by compressive stress between the lower parts of the filaments is the main mechanism for waveguiding, whereas the damage-induced refractive-index reductions at filaments and in the region between the upper parts of the filaments are responsible for the strong light confinement in both horizontal and vertical directions.

Soybean oil with fried repeatedly at high temperature produces harmfully substances to threaten human health. In this paper, Adaboost-SVM (RBF) classification model combined with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was proposed to detect frying times of soybean oil based on the optimal selection of crucial parameters and the combination of Adaboost, support vector machine (SVM) of radial basis function (RBF) as the kernel function. Herein, four modes were designed to divide 15 fryings into primary and secondary stages, then the created classification models were compared. Specially, after classifying as I, II, III class by mode 3, the accuracy of primary model established by Adaboost reached 98 %. Afterwards, spectra with pre-processed by various methods were analyzed. As expected that the performance of secondary models were significantly reinforced, especially the accuracy of SVM (RBF) model increased from 76 % to 88.89 %. Additionally, successive projections algorithm (SPA) was applied to obtain relevant wavelengths. When the dimensions of I, II, III class were severally reduced to 14, 6, 8, the accuracy of SVM (RBF) model was the best average value of 93.33 %. Finally, the results of external validation indicated that the accuracy of primary and secondary models reached 95.55 %, 91.11 %, respectively.

Background: Although growth hormone (GH) has essential roles in the growth of animals, it has no growth-promoting effect during infancy period. The molecular mechanism underlying lack of growth-promoting effect of GH during infancy period remains unclear. Important signaling pathways are mediated by GH, including Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), signal transducers, and activators of transcription 5, 3, and 1 (STATs 5, 3 and 1). Objectives: This study explored the underlying molecular mechanisms driving to the lack of growth-promoting effect of GH in the early stage of life by in vivo assessment of intracellular signal response (STAT5/ 3/ 1, JAK2 and ERK1/ 2) to GH at different physiological stages. Methods: In this study, five age groups of rats (1-, 4-day-old, and 1-, 2-, 3-week-old) were selected. The rats were anesthetized using pentobarbital (100 mg/kg) and then received the rat GH (2mg/kg) via inferior vena cava injection. The control rats were injected with normal saline during the same period. The intracellular signal response to GH was assessed by Western blot analysis. Results: JAK2 and STAT5 were expressed in 1-day and 4-day-old newborn rats and their expression levels were comparable with the levels of the 1-, 2-, and 3-week-old rats; however, JAK2/STAT5 phosphorylation was not observed in 1-day-old and 4-day-old newborn rats after stimulation with GH in the liver. Similar to JAK2 and STAT5, we did not detect STAT3/1 activation during infancy stages although basic STAT3 and STAT1 were also expressed in hepatocytes from newborn rats. In addition we detected ERK1/2 activation in 4-day-old, 1-, 2-, and 3-week-old rats but not in 1-day-old rats. Conclusions: JAK2, STAT5, STAT3, STAT1, and ERK1/2 were not simultaneously activated by GH in newborn rats; this finding may be one of the underlying mechanism of GH insensitivity in newborn rats.

Satellite networks support a wide range of service and provide global coverage. Moreover, LEO satellites, which have global coverage potential, have caused great attention in the field of satellite communication. Due to satellites’ mobility, an efficient and stable routing algorithm is necessary for transmission in satellite networks. In this paper, a Distributed Multi-Path Routing algorithm (DMPR) using Earth-fixed satellite systems is proposed. DMPR adopts the Polar orbit constellation in which each satellite has four ISLs (inter satellite link) with the neighbor satellites. A traffic-light is set for every ISL to judge the blocking while avoiding some busy path and reducing the delay.

Early warning systems have been widely deployed to safeguard water security. Many contamination detection methods have been developed and evaluated in the past decades. Although encouraging detection performance has been obtained and reported, these evaluations mainly used artificial or laboratory data. The evaluation of detection performance with data from real contamination accidents has rarely been conducted. Implementation of contamination event methods without full assessment using field data might lead to failure of an early warning system. In this paper, the detection performance of three contamination detection methods, a Pearson correlation Euclidean distance (PE) based detection method, a multivariate Euclidean distance (MED) method and a linear prediction filter (LPF) method, was evaluated using data from a real contamination accident. Results improve understanding of the implementation of detection methods to field situations and show that all methods are prone to yielding worse detection performance when applied to data from a real contamination accident. They also revealed that the Pearson correlation Euclidean distance based method is more capable of differentiating between equipment noise and presence of contamination and has greater potential to be used in real field situations than the MED and LPF methods.

In pattern recognition and computer vision, one is often faced with scenarios where the training data used to learn a model have different distribution from the data on which the model is applied. Regardless of the cause, any distributional change that occurs after learning a classifier can degrade its performance at test time. Domain adaptation tries to mitigate this degradation. In this article, we provide a survey of domain adaptation methods for visual recognition. We discuss the merits and drawbacks of existing domain adaptation approaches and identify promising avenues for research in this rapidly evolving field.

Scene geometry, imaging laws, as well as computational mechanisms generate mathematical constraints on both raw data and computed features. In many cases, these constraints place the patterns on geometrically well-defined spaces, described as manifolds. In such cases, we argue that exploiting the geometry of these manifolds is important to our understanding of the objects and semantics in the imagery. Statistics and algorithms accounting for manifolds also yield improved performance in many vision applications. We justify these arguments by presenting our recent research efforts based on manifold theory for addressing a variety of pattern recognition and computer vision problems, including hashing on manifolds for efficient search, statistical modeling on Grassmann/Stiefel manifolds for activity recognition, discriminative learning for group motion recognition, stochastic optimization for spatio-temporal alignment, and shape matching. We also discuss the manifolds of re-parameterizations and elastic shapes, as well as applications of manifolds to face recognition and unsupervised adaptation of classification model from one domain to another.

Ecosystem services (ES) underpin human well-being, but their complex synergies or trade-offs are a challenge for matching ES supply and demand. This study presents a framework for integrating ES synergies/trade-offs and approaches (“win-win”, “small loss-big gain” and “ES replacement”) to improve the match between ES supply and demand. We applied the framework in a watershed on China’s Hainan Island, where local ES supply and demand are severely out of balance. Based on the analyses of ES synergies/trade-offs and their drivers, selecting the “win-win” approach (planting rubber with intercropped medicinal plants) and “ES replacement” approach (transitioning some secondary forest into rubber intercropped with medicinal plants) together could effectively improve the match between the supply and demand of agricultural product provision (its supply-demand ratio increased from 0.65 to 1.3) without disrupting the established supply-demand matches of water resource provision, soil retention, flood mitigation and water purification services. Our framework contributes to a new perspective for improving the match between ES supply and demand.

Recently, increasingly sophisticated studies have investigated the relationship between agrarian livelihoods and the environment, as well as rural–urban interactions in developing countries. The policies developed to respond to these dynamics can constrain livelihood options or provide additional opportunities. In the present study, using a modified version of the telecoupled sustainable livelihood framework to generalize dynamic livelihood strategies in the context of rural–urban transformation and by focusing on recent research in China, we review important factors that shape rural livelihood strategies as well as the types of strategies that typically intersect with livelihood and environmental dynamics. We then examine telecoupled rural–urban linkages given that the dynamics of the livelihood strategies of farmers can cause flows of labor, capital, ecosystem services, and other processes between rural and urban areas, thereby placing livelihood strategies in a dynamic context, which has not been considered widely in previous research. We show that most previous studies focused on the reduction of environmental impacts via livelihood diversification and rural–urban migration. We propose several areas for future policy development and research.

Nitrogen (N) budgets have been computed in many countries at various scales to improve understanding of N-balance characteristics and to assess the environmental pollution risks of applying chemical fertilizer N. However, dynamic characteristics, driving forces, and potential soil fertility consequences related to cropland N balance have seldom been discussed, especially in regions with highly fertile soils and low N-use intensities. This study investigated the temporal and spatial characteristics of N balance, and the impact of agricultural development on the agro-ecosystems of the Sanjiang Plain, one of the largest producers of commodity food grains in China. County-level agricultural statistics at five-year intervals were used to calculate agricultural N balances, N surplus intensity, and N-use efficiency between 2005 and 2015. Agricultural development has brought about continual increases in cultivated land area, consumption of chemical fertilizers, and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). Nitrogen surplus intensity decreased from 65.0 kg/ha in 2005 to 43.5 kg/ha in 2010, and to 22.2 kg/ha in 2015. However, NUE was &gt, 90% in 13 counties in 2015, and in 11 counties in 2010. In contrast, only 5 counties had NUE above 90% in 2005, which indicates that N from the soil was used by crops and soil fertility was gradually decreasing. The percentage change of crop area, namely, the increase in maize area percentage, contributed significantly to the increases in NUE. A judicious management of fertilizers that meets the nutrient needs of the crops and ensures agricultural sustainability on the Sanjiang Plain is therefore essential. The findings of this study emphasize the importance of assessing the impact of crop structure adjustment on soil fertility and nitrogen balance during agricultural development.

Alteration of hydrological regime due to reservoir operation has significant impacts on the river ecosystem, in particular for diversion-type hydropower stations that make part of the natural river channel considerably de-watered. Maintaining ecological flow is considered an effective way to remediate the damages. However, it may jeopardize the socio-economic benefit of reservoirs, for example reduction of power production. The conflicting objectives bring a dilemma to water managers in defining the reservoir operation policy. This study considers two cascaded reservoirs in the Yalong River, and develops an optimization model to explore trade-offs between hydropower generation and ecological flow requirement. The objective function of the model is the total power production. In addition to conventional constraints on the water level and discharge, the model takes into account downstream ecological flow requirement, defined as a hydrograph representing the daily flow requirement to conserve the habitats of the indigenous fish Schizothorax chongi (S. chongi). The optimization model allows establishing a relation between the target of fish habitat conservation and the corresponding loss of hydropower production, so as to propose compromise solutions. Although the model has only been applied in the paper to one case study, its generic formulation allows applying it to a broad range of cascaded reservoir configurations. Moreover, extensions towards cases with ecological flow requirements for more than one species are straightforward.

Opportunistic Network as a novel networking, taking advantage of meeting opportunities of mobile nodes, completes the message transmission from the source node to the destination node through the way of each hop. Mobility model decides how the nodes move and is used to analyze network performance with various protocols, such as routing protocols, data dissemination protocols, etc. Currently many mobility models are proposed by researchers. To evaluate these mobility models, an analysis method is proposed. So we propose a method by analyzing mobile distance to assess node mobility models. This paper firstly introduced the commonly used mobility models based on ONE simulation platform, and then a calculation method of node mobile distance is put forward. Next, it was simulated and discussed that we have considered the nodes mobility features by mobile distance. Finally, we use the node contact duration and node inter-contact time as a validation, to make an evaluation for node mobility model.

Hydropower development changes the river hydrological regime, thereby altering river ecosystem significantly. One important measure for reducing degradation of ecosystem is to determine ecological flow and implement it by reservoir operation. This paper described a method to calculate river ecological flow based on fish habitat conservation and applied it to Jinping River Bend of Yalong River. Schizothorax chongi was selected as target species, and the fish habitat model coupling with water environmental model was developed according to the relationship between fish and water environment factors. Moreover, improved hydraulic habitat suitability index (IHHS) and habitat fragment index (HFI) varying with discharge were discussed in this paper. Habitat area representing average annual flow was taken as a reference, and then ecological hydrographs under different habitat conservation levels were calculated considering season variation and life stages of fish. Compared to the natural condition, the model results indicated that the reservoir operation clearly influenced the habitat of the target fish. It was proposed to ensure flow releases to maintain 70%–90% habitat in section after joint while about 60% before joint.

With unconstrained data acquisition scenarios widely prevalent, the ability to handle changes in data distribution across training and testing data sets becomes important. One way to approach this problem is through domain adaptation, and in this paper we primarily focus on the unsupervised scenario where the labeled source domain training data is accompanied by unlabeled target domain test data. We present a two-stage data-driven approach by generating intermediate data representations that could provide relevant information on the domain shift. Starting with a linear representation of domains in the form of generative subspaces of same dimensions for the source and target domains, we first utilize the underlying geometry of the space of these subspaces, the Grassmann manifold, to obtain a `shortest' geodesic path between the two domains. We then sample points along the geodesic to obtain intermediate cross-domain data representations, using which a discriminative classifier is learnt to estimate the labels of the target data. We subsequently incorporate non-linear representation of domains by considering a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space representation, and a low-dimensional manifold representation using Laplacian Eigenmaps, and also examine other domain adaptation settings such as (i) semi-supervised adaptation where the target domain is partially labeled, and (ii) multi-domain adaptation where there could be more than one domain in source and/or target data sets. Finally, we supplement our adaptation technique with (i) fine-grained reference domains that are created by blending samples from source and target data sets to provide some evidence on the actual domain shift, and (ii) a multi-class boosting analysis to obtain robustness to the choice of algorithm parameters. We evaluate our approach for object recognition problems and report competitive results on two widely used Office and Bing adaptation data sets.

We propose a retailer's inventory replenishment policy to cooperate with suppliers in a periodic review. The retailer shares an advanced replenishment plan based on demand forecast with the supplier and commits cumulative periodic order quantity of the same planning horizon with advanced replenishment plan within range of a lower and upper percentage of the planned quantity. Using a year sales data of products with different delivery-lead-times and ordering cycles from a leisure food retail chain store in China, We contrast this policy through simulation with the store's previous policy in terms of inventory turnover performance and the error between stock level and actual demand. The result shows that the new policy can effectively improve the performance measures.

Water supply is the primary element of an urban system. Due to rapid urbanization and water scarcity, maintaining a stable and safe water supply has become a challenge to many cities, whereas a large amount of water is lost from the pipes of distribution systems. Water leakage is not only a waste of water resources, but also incurs great socio-economic costs. This article presents a comprehensive review on the potential water leakage control approaches and specifically discusses the benefits of each to environmental conservation. It is concluded that water leakage could be further reduced by improving leakage detection capability through a combination of predictive modeling and monitoring instruments, optimizing pipe maintenance strategy, and developing an instant pressure regulation system. The environment could benefit from these actions because of water savings and the reduction of energy consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions.