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Fertilization affects water uptake by crops, the study of water transport and water use in maize after the application of organic fertilizer can provide a theoretical basis for sustainable grain production in this area. In this study, dual stable isotopes (δD and δ18O) were used to determine seasonal variation in water uptake patterns of summer maize under different fertilization treatments in Shijiazhuang, China, during 2017. The contributions of soil water at different depths to water uptake were quantified using the MixSIAR Bayesian mixing model. The average contribution of soil water from the 0–20, 20–40, 40–70, and 70–120 cm layers was 39.6%, 23.2%, 29.8%, and 7.4%, respectively, and most water was taken up from the upper soil layers (0–70 cm) during the drought season before sowing. Water uptake was mainly sourced from the 0–20 cm depth at the mid filling stage (81.2%), the 0–40 cm depth at the seedling stage (85.0%), and the 0–70 cm depth at the jointing stage (86.2%), 12-leaf stage (91.2%), heading stage (88.8%), tasseling stage (86.7%), early filling stage (95.0%), and mature stage (94.0%). Two fertilization applications led to clear differences in the proportional contribution of soil water from 0–20 cm (average 35.3% and 43.8% for chemical and organic fertilizer, respectively), 20–40 cm (25.4% and 20.9%), and 70–120 cm (9.7% and 5.2%). The contribution from the 0–20cm layer was higher after organic fertilizer treatment than after the use of chemical fertilizer. This was because the manure fertilizer changed the physical properties of the soil, improving water-holding capacity and reducing soil evaporation. Our results have scientific implications for fertilization and irrigation management.

Purpose The development of communication and artificial intelligence technologies has raised interest in connectivity and increased autonomy of automated earthmoving equipment for earthwork. These changes are motivating work to reduce uncertainties, in terms of improving equipment object detection capability and reducing strikes and accidents on site. The purpose of this study is to illustrate industrial drivers for automated earthwork systems; identify the specific capabilities which make the transformation happen; and finally determine use cases that create value for the system. These three objectives act as components of a technology roadmap for automated and connected earthwork and can guide development of new products and services. Design/methodology/approach This paper used a text mining approach in which the required data was captured through a structured literature review, and then expert knowledge was used for verification of the results. Findings Automated and connected earthwork can enhance construction site and its embraced infrastructure, resilience by avoiding human faults during operations. Automating the monitoring process can lead to reliable anticipation of problems and facilitate real-time responses to unexpected situation via connectedness capabilities. Research findings are presented in three sections: industrial perspectives, trends and drivers for automated and connected earthwork; capabilities which are met by technologies; and use cases to demonstrate different capabilities. Originality/value This study combines the results of disintegrated and fragmented research in the area of automated and connected earthwork and categorises them under new capability levels. The identified capabilities are classified in three main categories including reliable environmental perception, single equipment decision-making toward safe outcomes and fleet-level safety enhancement. Finally, four different levels of automation are proposed for earthwork technology roadmap.

The diffusion of stubborn oils and organic pigments has become a severe environmental pollution problem. Promisingly, the combination of superhydrophobicity and photocatalysis is expected to provide an efficient, economical and simple solution. In this paper, a kind of superhydrophobic and super-lipophilicity polyurethane (PU)-based sponge was reported by a strategy of undergoing ferric tetroxide loading (Fe3O4@PU), polydopamine fixation (PDA-Fe3O4@PU), octadecylamine grafting (ODA-Fe3O4@PU) and molybdenum disulfide loading (MoS2-ODA-Fe3O4@PU) successively. The results show that the MoS2-ODA-Fe3O4@PU sponge exhibits outstanding superhydrophobicity (with maximum water contact angle of 161.64°), excellent oil absorption capacity (60–109 wt/wt), robust stability in extreme environments and great oil/water separation ability. In addition, the MoS2-loaded sponge demonstrates desirable outcomes in decomposing methyl orange and methylene blue under light source, and a dual-functional purification system with a heterogeneous polyurethane-based sponge (the upper part is MoS2-ODA-Fe3O4@PU and the bottom part is MoS2@PU) endowed with superhydrophobicity and photocatalysis can purify water by separating oils and decomposing methylene blue simultaneously.

Patterns of plant trait variation across spatial scales are important for understanding ecosystem functioning and services. However, habitat-related drivers of these patterns are poorly understood. In a conceptual model, we ask whether and how the patterns of within- and among-site plant trait variation are driven by habitat type (terrestrial vs. wetland) across large climatic gradients. We tested these through spatial-hierarchical-sampling of leaves in herbaceous-dominated terrestrial and wetland communities within each of 26 sites across China. For all 13 plant traits, within-site variation was larger than among-site variation in both terrestrial and wetland habitats. Within-site variation was similar in most leaf traits related to carbon and nutrient economics but larger in specific leaf area and size-related traits (plant height, leaf area and thickness) in wetland compared to terrestrial habitats. Among-site variation was larger in terrestrial than wetland habitats for 10 leaf traits but smaller for plant height, leaf area and leaf nitrogen. Our results indicate the important role of local ecological processes in driving plant trait variation among coexisting species and the dependence of functional variation across habitats on traits considered. These findings will help to understand and predict the effects of climatic or land-use changes on ecosystem functioning and services.

Urban shrinkage has become a global phenomenon. Although China is still experiencing rapid urbanization, population losses arise in an increasing number of cities. As a booming industry, tourism is expected as a mean to create jobs and curb population loss. Can tourism industry contribute to revive the shrinking cities? Based on panel data of 54 shrinking cities in China, this article explores effects of tourism development on shrinking cities. The results show that there is no evidence that tourism has a significant impact on the population of the shrinking cities. However, tourism shows positive effects on these cities in terms of many aspects, including urban economy, employment, investment, and consumption. This indicates that tourism can revive shrinking cities by economic boom, rather than population growth.

Over the past few decades, gold-based materials have drawn extensive attention due to their intriguing physical/chemical properties and excellent performance in a broad range of applications. In particular, the remarkable technical progress in synthesis and characterization is promoting the rapid development of gold-based nanoalloys, which are of great significance in catalysis. In this review, we provide a brief overview of the recently reported gold-based nanoalloys, focusing on their general synthetic methods and potential catalytic applications. In particular, the general relationships between material structures/compositions and catalytic performances are discussed in representative chemical reactions, such as the carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR), oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), small organic molecule oxidation reaction, carbon monoxide oxidation reaction, and typical heterogeneous catalytic reactions in chemical engineering. Furthermore, critical challenges and potential opportunities facing gold-based nanoalloys are proposed to provide possible inspiration for future material design towards high performance applications.

The fuel cell grid-tied power generation system usually includes a dc-dc converter and a dc-ac inverter. In a single-phase system, inherent low-order current pulsations are introduced into the system, which can have harmful effects on the fuel cell stack. For example, reducing the output voltage and output efficiency, a reduction in service life, and even accelerates the degradation rate of the membrane electrode of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In addition, dc/ac coupling power can cause distortion in the dc input current and ac grid current. To eliminate the input ripple and ensure high ac power quality on the grid side, this paper proposes a novel power decoupling control for single-phase grid-tied PEMFC systems, which uses an improved model predictive control (MPC) algorithm. With the help of the virtual vector methods, which are realized by a two-stage optimization method, excellent tracking effect and robustness can be ensured. Simulations and experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can not only completely eliminate the input current ripple and reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD) of ac current on the grid side, but also improve the transient performance of the system.

The need for a greener and more sustainable energy system evokes a need for more extensive energy system transition research. The penetration of distributed energy resources and Internet of Things technologies facilitate energy system transition towards the next generation of energy system concepts. The next generation of energy system concepts include “integrated energy system”, “multi-energy system”, or “smart energy system”. These concepts reveal that future energy systems can integrate multiple energy carriers with autonomous intelligent decision making. There are noticeable trends in using the agent-based method in research of energy systems, including multi-energy system transition simulation with agent-based modeling (ABM) and multi-energy system management with multi-agent system (MAS) modeling. The need for a comprehensive review of the applications of the agent-based method motivates this review article. Thus, this article aims to systematically review the ABM and MAS applications in multi-energy systems with publications from 2007 to the end of 2021. The articles were sorted into MAS and ABM applications based on the details of agent implementations. MAS application papers in building energy systems, district energy systems, and regional energy systems are reviewed with regard to energy carriers, agent control architecture, optimization algorithms, and agent development environments. ABM application papers in behavior simulation and policy-making are reviewed with regard to the agent decision-making details and model objectives. In addition, the potential future research directions in reinforcement learning implementation and agent control synchronization are highlighted. The review shows that the agent-based method has great potential to contribute to energy transition studies with its plug-and-play ability and distributed decision-making process.

The creative cultural product design, relating to both typical regional cultures and traditional cultural elements, is a hot issue in recent years. However, there is still a lack of systematic and efficient designing methods to guide designing practices. In order to fill this research gap, this paper proposes a new design method based on F-AHP (Fuzzy-Analytic Hierarchy Process) and entropy computation to extract traditional cultural shape design elements from a set of images of cultural relics. Firstly, we collect a set of culture object related to descriptive and adjective words that can express users’ emotional perception and narrow down them into a shortlist via a fitness evaluation process. Secondly, we analyze and extract common shape elements with image processing tools and user choices. Thirdly, we create a full mapping between the shortlisted culture descriptive words and the identified common shape elements and determine the weighting of each shape element against each evaluation indicator through F-AHP. Fourthly, we construct decision-making matrix and extract key shape elements with high information entropy. Finally, we start designing products with extracted cultural elements. A case study of Han Dynasty potter figurines was conducted to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Leaf nutrient resorption is a fundamental process, which prevails in nutrient-poor ecosystems. However, few studies have focused on this process in nutrient-rich ecosystems, especially in eutrophic constructed wetland (CWs). Thus, insight into the nutrient resorption processes of different species in CWs might have important implications for wetland restoration and water purification. Here, we assessed the leaf nitrogen and phosphorus resorption efficiencies and proficiencies of 11 plant species (4 floating and 7 emergent plants) from a CW, and related them to both plant functional traits and environmental variables to develop better predictive power of resorption processes across species. Our results showed that emergent and floating plants, respectively, resorbed 37.4% vs. 8.6% N and 50.1% vs. 23.3% P during nutrient resorption in such a nutrient-rich CW. Green leaf nutrient was the best predictor for the nutrient resorption efficiencies and proficiencies in this CW. Interspecific variation in nutrient resorption defines an important strategy for plant nutrient recycling in nutrient-rich wetland ecosystems, and provide a tool for optimizing the efficiency and timing of nutrient capture via foliage harvesting. This link between wetland plant functions and wetland ecosystem services will thus be beneficial for the nutrient management of CWs in future.

MRG domain binding protein (MRGBP) has been proposed to participate in the development of multiple tumors. However, the role of MRGBP in colorectal cancer (CRC) still remains largely unknown. Here, we found that MRGBP expression is significantly elevated in CRC, and that higher MRGBP expression correlates with poorer survival in CRC patients. Experiments in vivo and in vitro indicated that MRGBP promotes CRC cells proliferation, migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and xenograft tumor growth. Mechanically, for one thing, we discovered that MRGBP suppresses DKK1 expression, thus further activating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in CRC cells. For another, MRGBP also enhances acetylation of NF-kB/p65 pathway. Treatment with Wnt/β-catenin and NF-kB pathways inhibitors further confirmed the mediation of these two pathways in MRGBP-promoted CRC cell processes. In conclusion, these findings together suggest that MRGBP promotes CRC progression via DKK1/Wnt/β-catenin and NF-kB/p65 pathways mediated EMT, identifying MRGBP as a promising prognostic and therapeutic target for CRC.

Objectives The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the seat cushion contour and the sitting posture on the seat pan interface pressure distribution and subjective comfort perception. Material and Methods Overall, 16 volunteers typed a text passage on a laptop while seated, by assuming 3 kinds of common sitting postures (forward, relaxed and upright) in 4 seat cushion configurations: chair only, and chair with 1 of 3 supplementary cushions. Pressure data and cushion comfort ratings were collected in the experiment. Results It was found that the sitting posture and the seat cushion contour had different impacts on surface pressure. The seat cushion contour had an impact on pressure parameters and pressure distribution on the seat pan, while the sitting posture affected the location of peak pressure on the seat pan. The correlation analysis revealed that the subjective comfort rating was significantly correlated with average pressure (AP) and mean peak pressure (MPP). Conclusions The conclusion was that the cushion contour had a greater effect on seat pan interface pressure parameters than the sitting posture. Notably, AP and MPP can be indicators for assessing seat cushion comfort in a short-term perspective. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2020;33(5):675–89

The operation of high-speed railway (HSR) always plays a key role in promoting tourism development of city by improving transportation accessibility and facilitating tourists’ travel. Based on the panel data of 50 major tourist cities in China from 2010 to 2017, this article uses a Tobit model to explore the impact of HSR service on hotel performance that is embodied in occupancy rate. The results show that with other factors unchanged, the cities with a high-frequency HSR service system or hub HSR station tend to have higher hotel occupancy rate. Moreover, the hotel occupancy rate of cities with a suburb HSR station is lower than that of other HSR-served cities. After classifying hotels into luxury and budget groups, this article finds that HSR train frequency and station grade still show positive effects on both luxury and budget hotels. However, in cities with suburb HSR stations, budget hotels tend to have lower occupancy rates, while occupancy rate for luxury hotels shows no significant difference.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a common type of malignant oral cancer that has a high recurrence rate. Voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.5 was reported to be highly up-regulated in various types of cancers. However, the regulatory mechanism of Nav1.5 in cancers including OSCC still remains elusive. In this study, Nav1.5 was found to be highly expressed in OSCC tissues and cells. Through the analysis of clinical characteristics of patients, we found that the expression level of Nav1.5 was closely related to neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, tumor-node-metastasis stage, and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, we found that Nav1.5 mainly located on the cell membrane as well as cytoplasm and knockdown of Nav1.5 promoted cell apoptosis and decreased proliferation in OSCC. Transwell assay results showed that knockdown of Nav1.5 effectively suppressed the migration and invasion in OSCC. In addition, knockdown of Nav1.5 was found to inhibit the protein and mRNA expression levels of β-catenin, cyclin D1, and c-Myc in the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In summary, these results indicated that Nav1.5 may be involved in the progression of OSCC through the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

High mercury (Hg) affects biochemical-physiological characteristics of plant leaves such as leaf chlorophyll, causing refractive discontinuity and modifications in leaf spectra. Furthermore, the hyperspectroscopy provides a potential tool for fast non-destructive estimation of leaf Hg. However, there are few studies that have investigated Hg for wetland plants via hyperspectral inversion. In this study, reeds (Phragmites australis) leaf Hg concentration and hyperspectra were measured under different soil Hg treatment. Hg-sensitive parameters were identified by basic spectral transformations and continuous wavelet transformation (CWT). Inversion models were developed using stepwise multiple linear regressions (SMLR), partial least square regression (PLSR), and random forest (RF) to estimate leaf Hg. The results indicated that CWT improved the correlation of hyperspectra and leaf Hg by 0.020–0.227, and R2 of the CWT-related model increased by 0.0557–0.2441. In addition, Hg-sensitive bands were predominant at 600–750 (visible region) and 1500–2300 nm (mid-infrared), and Hg might modify leaves spectra primarily by affecting chlorophyll and water contents. Of the studied models, SMLR using normalized transformation (NR) and CWT (NR-CWT-SMLR) model (R2 = 0.8594, RMSE = 0.0961) and RF using NR and CWT (NR-CWT-RF) model (R2 = 0.8560, RMSE = 0.1062) suited for leaf Hg inversion. For Hg content

Aim: High foliar silicon (henceforth Si) concentration protects plant tissues against herbivory, but protection against several abiotic stressors has also been proposed, although the adaptive significance of these functions is still being debated. We aimed to explore the potential relationships between foliar Si content and chronic wind exposure across a large scale and multiple species and to analyse an overlooked alternative or complementary function of silicon in leaves: mechanical protection against wind. Location: Mainland China. Time period: From July to September during 2012–2014. Major taxa studied: Two hundred and eighty-two vascular plant species in predominantly herbaceous communities. Methods: We compiled a dataset for leaf silicon concentration ([Si]) across 27 sites and 153 herbaceous plots within the major climate zones of China. We hypothesized that evolutionary lineages that generally have high [Si] should show positive relationships between leaf [Si] and mean annual wind speed. Results: Within major families with generally high [Si] (especially grasses, sedges and composites), leaf [Si] exhibits a consistently positive correlation with mean wind speed among species across China. For the seven widespread monocot species with high leaf [Si], including the globally distributed common reed (Phragmites australis), intraspecific variation in leaf [Si] exhibits the same consistent positive correlation with mean wind speed. Main conclusions: Our findings suggest that high leaf [Si] is likely to have widespread adaptive value for wind exposure of leaves, at least in several very widespread families and species of herbaceous plants. Damage from wind is a danger for plants in many ecosystems, hence these findings are of global significance and indicate that further research into large-scale variation of leaf Si and mechanical traits in relationship to wind exposure is likely to be illuminating.

It is important to understand how climate change and increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition over the past decades have affected the productivity of different grassland types. High-elevation grasslands are sensitive to human activities and climate change, however little is reported about the effect of temperature, precipitation, and N deposition on productivity. For monitoring long-term changes in productivity, four ungrazed sites were established in 1984 in a high-elevation grassland of the Tianshan mountains in central Asia and grassland productivity was measured over ≈2−3 decades. In addition, a site with four N addition treatments was established in 2009. We conducted an 8-yr experiment in which nitrogen was added in the high-elevation grassland. These results show an aboveground net primary production (ANPP) increase in both spring and the peak growing season at ungrazed sites with increasing temperature and precipitation in the past 30 yr. ANPP of grasses and total grasses and forbs were strengthened by increased N deposition, especially when heavy snowfall was accompanied by higher spring and growing season temperatures. ANPP of total grasses and forbs was significantly correlated with snowfall. High-elevation grasslands are clearly susceptible to climate change and N deposition.

Climate warming has and will continue to exert a significantly impact on crop phenology in the past and coming decades. Combining observed data of phenology and a crop growth model provides a good approach for quantitating the effects of climate warming and crop management on crop phenology. The purpose of this study is to determine the impacts of temperature change, sowing date (SD) adjustment and cultivar shift on maize phenology in northern China during 1981–2010. Results indicated that climate warming caused anthesis date (AD) and maturity date (MD) of maize to advance by 0.2–5.5 and 0.6–11.1 d/10a, respectively. Due to climate-driven changes in maize phenology, three growth periods of maize, i.e., vegetative growth period (VGP; from sowing to anthesis), reproductive growth period (RGP; from anthesis to maturity) and whole growth period (WGP; from sowing to maturity) shortened by 0.2–5.5, 0.4–5.6 and 0.6–11.1 d/10a, respectively. With SD adjustment (i.e., SD advancement), AD and MD occurred early by 0.5–2.6 and 0.1–3.4 d/10a, respectively. SD adjustment caused duration of VGP of maize to prolong. However, duration of RGP slightly shortened by 0.1–1.3 d/10a. Furthermore, due to cultivar shift, MD of maize significantly delayed by 4.9–12.2 d/10a. Durations of VGP, RGP and WGP of maize prolonged by 0.2–4.1, 1.6–8.4 and 4.3–11.8 d/10a, respectively. In conclusion, our results indicated that cultivar shift, to some extent, could mitigate the negative impact of climate warming on maize phenology.

Resistance to radiotherapy remains a severe obstacle in the treatment of high-risk colorectal cancer patients. Recent studies have indicated that proteasome activator complex subunit 3 (PSME3) participates in the development and progression of various human malignancies and is proposed to play a role in tumor radioresistance. However, the impact of PSME3 on radioresistance of colorectal cancer has been largely unknown. In the present study, the enhanced expression of PSME3 was observed in colorectal cancer cells and tissue. Upregulation of PSME3 was significantly implicated in lymph node state, lymphovascular invasion, and Dukes' stage. Furthermore, high PSME3 expression was closely linked to poorer overall and progression-free survival in patients with colorectal cancer. The study further demonstrated that the proliferative, invasive and migratory potential of colorectal cancer cells was effectively inhibited in vitro after silencing PSME3. Our results verified that knockdown of PSME3 probably triggered cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase by downregulation of cyclinB1 and CDK1, thereby enhancing the radiosensitivity of colorectal cancer cells. These data illustrated that PSME3 is a promising biomarker predictive of colorectal cancer prognosis and silencing of PSME3 may provide with a new approach for sensitizing the radiotherapy in colorectal cancer. Impact statement It is reported that colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer worldwide and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death. At present, the main treatment method of colorectal cancer is surgery, supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Among them, radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of locally advanced colorectal cancer, surgery, and chemotherapy. Our study found that down-regulation of PSME3 may enhance the radiosensitivity of CRC cells by triggering cell cycle arrest, which suggests that silence PSME3 may provide a new method for improving the radiosensitivity of CRC. What’more, our research also demonstrated that PSME3 may promote proliferation, invasive and migratory potential of CRC cells, which implies that PSME3 might be a biomarker of CRC for early diagnosis and treatment.

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth and development. Rapid and nondestructive monitoring of nitrogen nutrition in plants using hyperspectral remote sensing is important for accurate ...

This paper investigates the impact of flameless oxy-fuel combustion on the thermal performance of a pilot-scale steel reheating furnace. A comprehensive mathematical model, based on the zone method of radiation analysis, was developed, which takes into account the non-grey behaviour of the furnace atmosphere under oxy-fuel combustion conditions. The model was subsequently used to simulate the temperature profile of an instrumented slab used in the experiment. The results showed that the predicted slab temperature profile along the furnace is in good agreement with measurement. However the model over predicted the absolute slab temperatures due to the influence of formation of oxide scales on the slab surface, which was not taken into account in the current model. When compared to air-fuel combustion simulation, the results of oxy-fuel combustion also indicated a marked improvement in the furnace specific fuel consumption (approximately 16%). This was mainly due to the enhanced radiative properties of the furnace atmosphere and reduced exhaust energy losses as the result of less dilution effect from nitrogen. This resulted in reduction in the overall heating time by approximately 14 min. Furthermore, if the economics of carbon capture is taken into consideration, theoretically, the energy consumption per kilogram of CO2 captured can be reduced from 3.5 to 4.2 MJ kg−1 to 0.96 MJ kg−1. In conclusion, the current studies support the view that oxy-fuel combustion retrofitting to reheating furnaces is a promising option, both from a technical and from an environmental point of view.

The North China Plain (NCP) is a major food producing region in China. Overexploitation of groundwater for irrigation and overapplication of nitrogen (N) fertilizer have contributed to increased food production but have also resulted in water shortages and groundwater contamination. This paper reviews potential conflicts between strategies that ensure water security, food security, and water pollution reduction in the NCP. It outlines some agriculture-related strategies for resolving water shortages. Besides water saving and N saving technologies, policies such as fallow tillage, a water transfer project accounting for the recovery of groundwater level, and N management limiting N input in farmland are discussed. In particular, there are conflicts between the strategies for recovering shallow groundwater and releasing N from the unsaturated zone to the aquifer in the piedmont plain because a large amount of N is stored in the thick unsaturated zone. A transition from food-oriented strategies to sustainable development management of resources and the environment is necessary. To benefit from synergies and avoid tradeoffs between water security, food security, and clean water in the NCP, we must combine water and N management, groundwater level and water quantity control, socioeconomic issues, and climate change.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between seat armrest height and human neck comfort when using a smartphone while sitting on a passenger seat during the flight. MATERIAL AND METHODS The authors used a wireless angle-measuring instrument and subjective comfort scale to evaluate the changes of head flexion angle and neck comfort level of 24 young smartphone users in an aircraft simulated cabin. RESULTS The study results indicated that using a smartphone while sitting on a passenger seat during the flight would pose a larger discomfort to the neck, and the discomfort would be higher for gaming than reading tasks. Seat armrest height is related to the comfort level of the neck when using a smartphone, increasing the height of the armrest can effectively alleviate discomfort in this state. CONCLUSIONS Considering the prevalence of passengers using smartphones in aircraft, a seat armrest that can be properly adjusted in height, which can effectively reduce the risk of passenger head flexion angle and neck discomfort.

With the continuous improvement of technology in the molecular field, more and more evidence indicated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are widely expressed in a broad spectrum of human tumors, playing an important role in the development and progression of tumors. Most studies reported that lncRNAs might serve as reliable biomarkers and effective clinical therapeutic target. Leucine-rich repeat containing 75 A-antisense RNA1 (LRRC75A-AS1) was reported to be relevant to many types of cancers and indicated to do influence on colorectal carcinoma (CRC). This research firstly examined the role of LRRC75A-AS1 in CRC and analyzed its association with the biological behaviors of CRC cells. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) brought to light that LRRC75A-AS1 was remarkably expressed at low levels in CRC tissues. We also found that LRRC75A-AS1 was localized in the cytoplasm. In addition, LRRC75A-AS1 knockdown also notably promoted CRC cell proliferation, metastasis, invasion, and colony formation. To summarize, these experimental results showed that LRRC75A-AS1 might serve as an anti-oncogene for CRC tumorigenesis and advancement, and it may become a novel molecular marker for clinical diagnosis. Impact statement It is reported that colorectal cancer has seriously threatened human health. The incidence of colorectal cancer in China is increasing year by year. At present, the treatment of cancer is gradually developing towards individualized treatment whose core is targeted therapy, and molecular pathology is the basis of targeted therapy. Previous studies have shown that in addition to protein-coding genes that regulate tumor invasion and metastasis, there are also some non-coding genes involved in tumor encroachment and spread. Our study found that long noncoding RNA LRRC75A-AS1 is closely related to CRC and is related to its proliferation and migration. And it may become a novel molecular marker for clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Three kinds of SiCp/Al-Si-Mg composites, containing 20%, 40% and 60% volume fraction of silicon carbide particles (SiCp) were respectively sintered at high cubic anvil pressure, using SiC p...

Of all economic activities in the North China Plain, agriculture accounts for the highest consumption of water resources. As water saving by using technologies to alleviate groundwater depletion has its limitations, adjusting the cultivation patterns of water-intensive crops becomes an unavoidable measure to ensure water sustainability. Different cropping patterns (including fallowing) and water supply scenarios were set up, using the DSSAT crop model and a regression model, in order to predict the effects of cropping adjustments on groundwater sustainability and food production in the piedmont region of the plain. The results indicate that: (1) irrigation water requirement needs to be limited to a maximum level of 187 mm/a to sustain groundwater at the present level. Above this level, every 100 mm of irrigation pumping leads to a decline of 0.49 m in the groundwater level; (2) under the current water supply conditions, and taking groundwater sustainability, food supply, water use efficiency and soil fertility recovery into consideration, leaving 34% of the cropland fallow or leaving it fallow every 3 years seems to be the best option; (3) If an extra amount of water of 0.2 or 0.5 billion m3 is supplied as a result of the SNWT Project, the percentage of cropland which should be left fallow can decrease to 25% or 11% respectively. The comprehensive information on the water and food nexus derived from this study can provide a reference framework for policies concerning sustainable water use and food security in the region.

Allochthonous (e.g., riparian) plant litter is among the organic matter resources that are important for wetland ecosystems. A compact canopy of free‐floating vegetation on the water surface may allow for riparian litter to remain on it for a period of time before sinking to the bottom. Thus, we hypothesized that canopy of free‐floating vegetation may slow decomposition processes in wetlands. To test the hypothesis that the retention of riparian leaf litter on the free‐floating vegetation in wetlands affects their subsequent decomposition on the bottom of wetlands, a 50‐day in situ decomposition experiment was performed in a wetland pond in subtropical China, in which litter bags of single species with fine (0.5 mm) or coarse (2.0 mm) mesh sizes were placed on free‐floating vegetation (dominated by Eichhornia crassipes, Lemna minor, and Salvinia molesta) for 25 days and then moved to the pond bottom for another 25 days or remained on the pond bottom for 50 days. The leaf litter was collected from three riparian species, that is, Cinnamomum camphora, Diospyros kaki, and Phyllostachys propinqua. The retention of riparian leaf litter on free‐floating vegetation had significant negative effect on the carbon loss, marginal negative effects on the mass loss, and no effect on the nitrogen loss from leaf litter, partially supporting the hypothesis. Similarly, the mass and carbon losses from leaf litter decomposing on the pond bottom for the first 25 days of the experiment were greater than those from the litter decomposing on free‐floating vegetation. Our results highlight that in wetlands, free‐floating vegetation could play a vital role in litter decomposition, which is linked to the regulation of nutrient cycling in ecosystems.

Examining the coordination of leaf and fine root traits not only aids a better understanding of plant ecological strategies from a whole‐plant perspective, but also helps improve the prediction of belowground properties from aboveground traits. The relationships between leaf and fine root traits have been extensively explored at global and regional scales, but remain unclear at local scales. Here, we measured six pairs of analogous leaf and fine root traits related to resource economy and organ size for coexisting dominant and subordinate vascular plants at three successional stages of temperate forest swamps in Lingfeng National Nature Reserve in the Greater Hinggan Mountains, NE China. Leaf and fine root traits related to resource acquisition (e.g., specific leaf area [SLA], leaf N, leaf P, root water content, and root P) decreased with succession. Overall, we found strong linear relationships between leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and root water content, and between leaf and root C, N, and P concentrations, but only weak correlations were observed between leaf area and root diameter, and between SLA and specific root length (SRL). The strong relationships between LDMC and root water content and between leaf and root C, N, and P held at the early and late stages, but disappeared at the middle stage. Besides, C and P of leaves were significantly correlated with those of roots for woody plants, while strong linkages existed between LDMC and root water content and between leaf N and root N for herbaceous species. These results provided evidence for the existence of strong coordination between leaf and root traits at the local scale. Meanwhile, the leaf–root trait relationships could be modulated by successional stage and growth form, indicating the complexity of coordination of aboveground and belowground traits at the local scale.

This paper examines how bilateral distances shape Chinese enterprises' outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in tourism in Belt and Road (B&R) countries. The results indicate that while geograph...

With the large-scale use of intermittent renewable energy worldwide, such as wind energy and solar energy, energy storage systems are urgently needed and have been rapidly developed. Technologies o ...

In a wind-diesel isolated microgrid, the fluctuating output power of wind turbine generator (WTG) and the perturbation of the load demand will lead to power imbalance and frequency deviation in the system. Appropriate frequency control schemes are indispensable to guarantee power quality through maintaining the power balance. In view of the outstanding performance of Equivalent-Input-Disturbance (EID) method, it is taken to the task of load frequency control (LFC) problem of this microgrid. In this paper, novel double EID controllers are proposed for the frequency control of a wind-diesel isolated microgrid. In this integrated control design, one single EID controller is applied to the pitch angle control system to smooth output power of WTG by controlling the pitch angle. At the diesel generator side, another single EID controller is applied to adjust the output power of the diesel generator to maintain the power balance of the system and finally preserve frequency in the normal range. Battery energy storage system is connected as auxiliary regulation. The simulation studies show superior flexibility and control performance of the proposed strategy compared to the conventional PI method in a wind-diesel isolated microgrid in MATLAB.

China’s Western Development Strategy (WDS) has generated stark differences in policy environments for tourism development. Considering the WDS as a quasi-natural experiment, the paper applied an increasingly important regression discontinuity design method to tourism studies and explored the causal effect of the WDS on tourism by comparing treated and untreated cities proximal to the geographic boundary of the WDS. We prove that the WDS has caused a significantly positive effect on tourism development and is estimated to be up to 6% and vary from 5.9% to 6.7%. The mechanism analysis indicates that the WDS can affect tourism development through infrastructure construction and tax incentives.

With the ancient Silk Road as the historical background, the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative aims to foster common development of regional economies. Regional tourism development is an essential part of the initiative. Taking 55 countries participating in the initiative as a research sample, the article investigates the determinants and spillover effect of Chinese outbound tourist flows by spatial panel models. Furthermore, we identify different spillover paths from the perspectives of geographic and cultural proximities. The results confirm that there exist significant positive spillover effects in tourist flows among countries with geographic proximity. Meanwhile, there exist significant positive spillover effects in tourist flows among countries with cultural proximity. In addition, geographic and cultural distances between China and tourist destinations have negative impacts on Chinese outbound tourist flow.

To improve the heat and mass transfer performances of falling films and develop a new type of falling film evaporator, the heat and mass transfer characteristics of falling film evaporation and sensible heating in four different sizes of converging–diverging (CD) tubes were experimentally explored in this study. By analyzing the relationship between the heat transfer coefficient and the falling film flow rate, it was found that the CD tube is suitable for falling film evaporation and sensible heating with a large Reynolds number. For different sizes of tubes, the key factor affecting the heat transfer performance in falling film evaporation and sensible heating is the rib height. At the same rib height and rib pitch, the longer the converging segment of the CD tube, the better the heat transfer performance. According to the comparative analysis on heat and mass transfer performances of falling film evaporation and sensible heating inside the four CD tubes, the CD tube 3# is the best. The evaporation heat transfer coefficient (when the Reynolds number of the liquid films is 2356), evaporation mass transfer rate (when the perimeter flow rate of the liquid films is 0.173 kg/(m·s)), and sensible heating heat transfer coefficient (when the Reynolds number of the liquid films is 1635) of CD tube 3# are 62%, 38% and 63% higher than that of the smooth tube, respectively. For the same CD tube, the evaporation heat transfer coefficient is greater than the sensible heating heat transfer coefficient, but both increases as the flow rate increases. The heat transfer correlations of falling film evaporation and sensible heating in the experimental range were obtained. It will provide a useful reference for future engineering design and industrial applications.

An effective oxygen excess ratio control strategy for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) can avoid oxygen starvation and optimize system performance. In this paper, a fuzzy PID control strategy based on granular function (GFPID) was proposed. Meanwhile, a proton exchange membrane fuel cell dynamic model was established on the MATLAB/Simulink platform, including the stack model system and the auxiliary system. In order to avoid oxygen starvation due to the transient variation of load current and optimize the parasitic power of the auxiliary system and the stack voltage, the purpose of optimizing the overall operating condition of the system was finally achieved. Adaptive fuzzy PID (AFPID) control has the technical bottleneck limitation of fuzzy rules explosion. GFPID eliminates fuzzification and defuzzification to solve this phenomenon. The number of fuzzy rules does not affect the precision of GFPID control, which is only related to the fuzzy granular points in the fitted granular response function. The granular function replaces the conventional fuzzy controller to realize the online adjustment of PID parameters. Compared with the conventional PID and AFPID control, the feasibility and superiority of the algorithm based on particle function are verified.

Since buildings account for more than one-third of final energy use, it is important to integrate renewable energy sources for new housing developments to reduce demand for grid energy and carbon emissions. This research investigates the potential of solar PV, energy storage, and electric vehicles in new housing developments and their associated grid impacts by taking the UK’s Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Oxford arc as a case study. Using published data on electrical loads for different types of dwellings, energy demands for new housing developments with and without renewable and low carbon technologies are analysed using techno-economic modelling frameworks. Technical analysis includes sizing and optimisation of PV and storage while economic analysis covers cost-benefit analyses, by considering a range of existing and future tariffs and subsidy schemes including Standard, Economy 7 (cheaper electricity for 7 h at night), Feed-in tariff, and the Smart Export Guarantee. Results show that installing PV panels and storage systems not only reduces the dwellings’ grid energy demand by 31% in January but also helps the dwellings to become net exporters of green electricity to the grid in July and hence saves a substantial amount of money by taking advantage of Feed-in and Economy 7 tariffs.

Introduction : High mercury (Hg) concentrations affect the chlorophyll in leaves, thereby modifying leaf spectra. Hyperspectra is a promising technique for the rapid, nondestructive evaluation of leaf Hg content. In this study, we investigated Hg contents and reflective hyperspectra of reed leaves ( Phragmites communis ) in a gold mining (Jilin province, China). Spectral parameters sensitive to Hg content were identified through basic spectral transformations, continuous wavelet transformation (CWT), and spectral indices techniques. Leaf Hg inversion models were developed using stepwise multiple linear regression, partial least squares regression, and random forest algorithms. Outcomes : The results indicated that: 1) leaf Hg content decreased with increasing distance from the mine: Jiapigou (JPG) > Erdaocha (EDC) > Laojingchang (LJC) > Erdaogou (EDG) > Lingqian (LQ) > Weishahe (WSH). 2) Hg–sensitive wavelengths were primarily in the visible region; CWT increased the correlation between hyperspectral data and leaf Hg content, and improved the regression and accuracy of inversion; 3) the continuum removal–CWT–stepwise multiple linear regression was better for estimating low leaf Hg content; while the differential spectral index–partial least squares regression was better for estimating high leaf Hg content. Conclusion : These hyperspectral inversion methods could be used for rapid, nondestructive monitoring of wetland plants.

We present EasySketchDesign, a sketch interface that integrates the sketch retrieval technique to search pictures related to current design form the image library quickly and exactly. The sketch drawn by the designer and the referential product data set are first transformed into a clear outline by means of edge detection, image dilation, etc. Then, the improved Recursive Cortical Network (RCN) is used to select the existing products similar to the sketch. Through such a design mode, the designer can be inspired by other people’s work. Besides, they can know whether their work has the risk of being the same as the existing product to guarantee innovation. The evaluation study shows this system is easy to use and effective in transcending the creative potential of traditional sketching in Product conceptual design.

With more and more renewable energy sources (RES) going into power grids, the balancing of supply and demand during peak times will be a growing challenge due to the inherent intermittency and unpredictable nature of RES. Grid level batteries can store energy when there is excess generation from wind and solar and discharge it to meet variable peak demand that is traditionally supplied by combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants. This paper assesses the potential of battery storage to replace CCGT in responding to variable peak demand for current and future energy scenarios (FES) in the UK from technical and environmental perspectives. Results from technical analysis show that batteries, assuming size is optimised for different supply and demand scenarios proposed by the National Grid, are able to supply 6.04%, 13.5% and 29.1% of the total variable peak demand in 2016, 2020 and 2035, respectively while CCGT plants supply the rest of the demand. Particularly, to phase out CCGT variable generation from the UK grid in 2035, electricity supply from wind and solar needs to increase by 1.33 times their predicted supply in National Grid's FES. The environmental implications of replacing CCGT by batteries are studied and compared through a simplified life cycle assessment (LCA). Results from LCA studies show that if batteries are used in place of CCGT, it can reduce up to 87% of greenhouse gas emissions and that is an estimated 1.98 MtCO2 eq. for an optimal supply, 29.1%, of variable peak demand in 2035.