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The aim of the present study was to investigate the transcriptomic differences between Panax ginseng [Renshen (RS)] plants bitten by pests (n=3, test group; samples defined as RS11-13) or not (n=3, control group; samples defined as RS1-3) using de novo RNA sequencing on an Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 platform. A total of 51,097,386 (99.6%), 49,310,564 (99.5%), 59,192,372 (99.6%), 60,338,540 (99.5%), 56,976,410 (99.6%) and 54,226,588 (99.6%) clean reads were obtained for RS11, RS12, RS13, RS1, RS2 and RS3, respectively. De novo assembly generated 370,267 unigenes, 927 of which were differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 782 significantly upregulated and 145 significantly downregulated genes. Function enrichment analysis revealed that these DEGs were located in 28 significantly enriched Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways, including phenylpropanoid biosynthesis (for example, TRINITY_DN30766_c0_g2_i1, encoding peroxidase 20) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling (TRINITY_DN85589_c0_g1_i1, encoding WRKY transcription factor 75). Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified modules including TRINITY_DN85589_c0_g1_i1, TRINITY_DN58279_c0_g1_i1 [encoding aspartyl protease (AP)] and TRINITY_DN74866_c0_g2_i1 [encoding 12-oxophytodienoate reductase (OPR)] that may be the most significantly associated with pest responses. In this module, TRINITY_DN85589_c0_g1_i1 may co-express with TRINITY_DN58279_c0_g1_i1 or TRINITY_DN74866_c0_g2_i1. WRYK and AP have been suggested to promote the activity of antioxidant peroxidase. Collectively, the findings from the present study suggested that a MAPK-WRKY-OPR/AP-peroxidase signaling pathway may be a potentially important mechanism underlying defense responses against pests in ginseng plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By collecting 39 scenes of descending images and 26 scenes of ascending images of Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR), we monitored the ground subsidence situation of Cangzhou in China during the period from March 2015 to February 2017 with the advanced synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) time-series technique and obtained the time-series subsidence rates of Cangzhou. We then selected the two sets of results of the monitoring obtained during the same period (from July 2015 to December 2016) to verify the results' accuracy, considering three overlapping areas (Xinhua District, Botou County, and Dongguang County). This analysis clearly indicated that both types of results have good consistency, and the maximum subsidence occurred in Dongguang County. By further study of the central area of Dongguang and the related urban development, we found that the subsidence reached about 80.0 mm over the study period and there was a close relationship between the subsidence trend and the main direction of the city development. Moreover, by combining the two sets of results, we confirmed that there has been subsidence of the high-speed railway line in the whole of the Cangzhou area, among which the most obvious subsidence has occurred in Dongguang and Qing Counties. Finally, it was proved that the Sentinel-1 data can be used to monitor ground surface subsidence, and the data are especially effective in identifying persistent scatterer points along a linear feature. Therefore, this article could provide reliable data to assist with important decisions about urban development projects in the Cangzhou area in the next few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To analyze the changes in microscopic morphology of the pressboard under surface partial discharge conditions, some methods such as enhancement, denoising, segmentation, optimization, edge detection, expansion, and corrosion were used to process scanning electron microscope images of the pressboard, so as to extract the fiber width, hole size, and surface roughness. Experiments show that after different thermal aging times, the trends to change in the microscopic morphology of insulation pressboard under partial discharge are different; the microscopic morphology of the pressboard is changed by the breaking of the chemical bonds in the internal structure of the fiber. At a degree of polymerization of 500, the insulation life is only about half of its original value: at this time, the corresponding fiber width is 91.1% of the unaged pressboard fiber width, and the corresponding roughness is 0.162. At a degree of polymerization of 250, the insulation pressboard is nearing the end of its life: at this time, the corresponding fiber width is 79.2% of that of the unaged pressboard, and the corresponding roughness is 0.225.Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North Peixian mining area of China has rich coal resources, with total proven reserves of 2.37 billion tons. However, the underground coal mining activities have resulted in ground collapse, which has caused serious harm to the environment and threatened the lives and properties of local residents. In this study, 12 Sentinel-1A terrain observation by progressive scans (TOPS) mode acquisitions between 30 July 2015 and 13 May 2016 over the abandoned mining area in North Peixian were analyzed using the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series method to detect the ground subsidence, with the maximum ground subsidence reaching 83 mm/a and an average value of about 12.7 mm/a. The subsidence results derived from the Sentinel-1A TOPS mode dataset were proven to be effective in investigating and monitoring the ground subsidence in the North Peixian mining area. Compared to the rapid deformation during the ongoing period of mining excavation, the ground subsides slowly in abandoned mining areas and shows a linear relationship with time over a relatively long period of time. Spatial correlation between the subsidence distribution and land cover was found, in that the magnitude of the subsidence in urban areas was smaller than that in rural areas, which is associated with the controlled coal mining activities under buildings, railways, and water bodies. The results demonstrate that Sentinel-1A TOPS SAR images can be used to effectively and accurately detect and monitor ground subsidence in a mining area, which is critically important when investigating land subsidence in a large-scale mining area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ordered Ag nanowires(AgNW)@Au nanoparticles(AuNP) hybrid nanowires were synthesized on bare Si substrate using AgNW-water solution and HAuCl4-ethanol solution by three-phase-interface method and galvanic displacement reaction. Field emission SEM (FESEM) and high resolution TEM (HRTEM) were employed to analyze the influence of HAuCl4-ethanol concentration and reaction time of galvanic displacement reaction on the morphology of the hybrid nanowires. Fluorescence spectra and laser-Raman spectra were carried out to analyze the influence of various ordered AgNW@AuNP hybrid nanowires on the fluorescence properties of conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). The results show that the AuNP particle sizes of ordered AgNW@AuNP hybrid nanowires increase when the reaction time or the concentration of HAuCl4-ethanol solution increases. The fluorescence properties of P3HT films are improved on various ordered AgNW@AuNP hybrid nanowires compared with those on bare silicon substrate, but the fluorescence intensity of P3HT films on the ordered hybrid nanowires decreases as the galvanic displacement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a kind of CMPs membrane named C-CMPs-M−1 that was synthesized by the Sonogashira-Hagihara cross-coupling reaction. The C-CMPs-M−1 has a special "Hamburger" structure composed of ultra-high crosslinked nanotubes and lamellar structures which allows it to be used as a filter for applications in automobile exhaust purification. The superhydrophobicity of C-CMPs-M−1 allow the CMPs-based filter to maintain high efficiency (PM 2.5 and PM 10 ≥99%, and PM 0.3 ˃90%) in harsh conditions such as high humidity (RH: 90% ± 3%). In addition, the superlipophilicity of the membrane endows it excellent oil absorption performance, e.g., high absorption of 907.61 % of its own weight for engine oil was detected and consequently good oil retention performance. [Display omitted] • Using a simple method to prepare a membrane with a special "Hamburger" structure. • The membrane exhibits high filtration efficiency in high humidity environments. • The membrane shows good oil absorption and oil retention properties. • The membrane has a good oil–water separation ability. The purification treatment of automobile exhaust has attracted great attention because of the severe harm of automobile exhaust to the global environment and human health. Herein, inspired by capillarity, we adopted a very simple face-to-face constrained growth method to prepare a conjugated microporous polymers membrane (C-CMPs-M) with a "Hamburger" structure through Sonogashira-Hagihara (S-H) coupling reaction for purification and filtration of gaseous, solid and liquid pollutants in automobile exhaust. Thanks to such a special structure, the C-CMPs-M−1 membrane shows an extremely high efficiency of capture and interception of PM 2.5 and PM 10 (greater than99.5 %) and PM 0.3 (greater than95%) in the exhaust gas obtained at different engine speeds. Unlike those hydrophilic filtration materials which suffer the drawback of less tolerance in high humidity conditions, the unique superhydrophobic chemistry of the CMPs membrane makes it possible to efficiently intercept PM under high humidity conditions, and the filtration efficiency basically remains unchanged within 10 h. More interestingly, the super lipophilicity of the membrane endows it excellent oil absorption performance, e.g., high absorption of 907.61 % of its own weight for engine oil was detected and consequently good oil retention performance was also obtained. It also has a strong absorption performance for the unburned oil mist ejected from the exhaust. Based on its ideal porous structure, high interception efficiency, and good physicochemical stability at high humidity and high temperatures conditions, therefore, our C-CMPs-M−1 shows great potential in automobile exhaust purification applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel gap-plasmon of FeO@Ag core-shell nanoparticles for surface enhanced fluorescence detection of Rhodamine B (RB) was developed. FeO@Ag core-shell nanostructures with Ag shell and FeO core were synthetized by self-assembled method with the assistance of 3-mercaptopropyl trimethoxy silane (MPTS). To study the RB fluorescence enhanced by gap-plasmon, the fluorescence properties of RB on the substrates with different nanogap densities were systematically investigated, and the results showed that the fluorescence intensity of RB on FeO@Ag core-shell NPs substrate was much stronger than that on bare glass substrate, and the fluorescence intensity was further improved by using multilayer FeO@Ag core-shell NPs substrate which had higher nanogap density. Different from the mechanism that is based on the maximum overlap of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band and emission band, the mechanism of the fluorescence enhancement in our work is based on the localized surface plasmon (LSP) and the gap plasmon near-field coupling with the FeO@Ag core-shell NPs. Besides, the detection limit obtained was as low as 1×10 mol/L, and the FeO@Ag core-shell NPs substrate had high selectivity for RB fluorophores. It was demonstrated that the FeO@Ag core-shell NPs substrate had activity, good stability, and selectivity for fluorescence detection of RB. And the detection of RB by the surface plasmon enhanced fluorescence was more convenient and rapid than the traditional detection methods in previous works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude and severity of ground deformation over time were investigated in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, China. A total of 17 descending orbit C-band Envisat and 22 ascending orbit L-band Advanced Land Observing Satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images covering the study area between the beginning of 2007 and the end of 2010 were integrated using an enhanced small baseline subset algorithm. The annual rates of ground deformation were retrieved from combined ASAR and PALSAR interferograms in our study area where the average subsidence reached 19 mm/a and subsidence rates up to 51 mm/a were observed. Subsidence in Cangzhou is mainly caused by the excessive abstraction of groundwater from a confined aquifer and consequently the ground subsides evenly over time. A multi-sensor SAR imaging technique was used to survey the extent and severity of ground deformation associated with the exploitation of deep groundwater in Cangzhou City. With abundant observations from different wavebands, the highly accurate ground subsidence result is not only sensitive to minor ground displacement but maintains fine coherence. Additionally, the temporal resolution is improved, and the sampling period is decreased to 5 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust Kalman filter based on Chi square test with sequential measurement update is proposed. This approach can not only handle outliers in part or even individual measurement channel, but can also further improve the accuracy especially when a novel ordering strategy in processing the measurement elements is adopted. The accuracy improvement can be attributed to the higher statistical efficiency, i.e., an increased probability of correctly resisting the outlying measurement elements and retaining the good ones. The accuracy improvement of the proposed method is illustrated by a simulating example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differences in near-surface CO2 concentration variations over five urban land uses within Suzhou City are investigated from January to December 2014. The selected monitoring sites include a traffic road, a residential district with ~20-story apartments, an institutional office site, an amusement park, and a cultural site at the Yuanquan Temple. The diurnal variations of CO2 show considerable fluctuation and different variable patterns at the monitoring sites controlled by the CO2 emissions and weather condition variability. On rainy days, the variation of diurnal CO2 is clearly smaller than that on sunny and cloudy days, with a reduction from 75 % at the amusement site to 41 % at the office-building site. Monthly variations indicate that the traffic and cultural sites experience the highest level of CO2 in warm months, but the other sites are exactly opposite. In each month, the mean level of CO2 at the cultural site is the lowest, but the traffic and amusement sites have the highest levels in warm months and cold months, respectively. Seasonal variations reveal that the traffic, residential, and office-building sites experience a smaller seasonal mean CO2 fluctuation, and in the spring, autumn, and winter, the amusement site has the highest mean levels compared to the other sites. The urban CO2 concentration is related to land use, local CO2 emissions, temperature, and wind; therefore, it is necessary to establish as many monitoring stations as possible to reveal the urban features of CO2 concentration variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]