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With the accelerating process of urbanization, energy consumption and emissions of the transport sector in China have increased rapidly. In this paper, we employed the LEAP (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning system) model to estimate the energy consumption, CO2 (carbon dioxide) and air pollutant emissions of the transport sector between 2010 and 2050 under four scenarios: Business as Usual (BAU), Energy Efficiency Improvement (EEI), Transport Mode Optimization (TMO), and Comprehensive Policy (CP). Furthermore, the intake fraction method was adopted to assess the health benefits of reducing pollutant emissions. The results showed that energy consumption will reach 509–1284 Mtce under the different scenarios by 2050. The emissions of CO2, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOX) and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) will be 2601, 173, 3.4, 24.0, 0.94 and 0.78 Mt, respectively, under the BAU scenario in 2050. Regarding health benefits, economic losses caused by mortality will be reduced by 47, 40 and 72 billion USD in 2050 under the EEI, TMO and CP scenarios, respectively, compared to those under the BAU scenario. Among the health outcomes associated with PM10, acute bronchitis exhibits the worst outcome. Considering health impacts, policy implications are suggested to reduce CO2 and pollutant emissions.

PM2.5 samples were collected in Zhengzhou during 3years of observation, and chemical characteristics and source contribution were analyzed. Approximately 96% of the daily PM2.5 concentrations and annual average values exceeded the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality Daily and Annual Standards, indicating serious PM2.5 pollution. The average concentration of water-soluble inorganic ions was 2.4 times higher in heavily polluted days (daily PM2.5 concentrations>250μg/m3 and visibility

High-temperature storage stressing (HTSS) experiments were carried out on high-voltage 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky (JBS) diodes. The effects of the high-temperature (up to 275 °C) storage under air environment on thermal stability of the 4H-SiC JBS are investigated. The electrical parameter shifts for tested diodes after the HTSS were investigated in detail, and related degradation mechanisms have been discussed. It is found that HTSS has no effect on the Schottky barrier height, the ideality factor ( n ), and specific on-resistance ( $R_{{\text{on-sp}}}$ ). However, it was interesting that the breakdown voltage ( $V_{{\text{BR}}}$ ) of the devices was decreased first and then increased as the storage time increased. With the analysis of the SiO2/4H-SiC interface characteristics using metal-oxide-semiconductor structure fabricated simultaneously with the investigated 4H-SiC JBS on the same wafer and technical computer-aided design (T-CAD) simulations, trapped-electrons and holes located at the interface of SiO2/4H-SiC on termination region are identified to be the basic reason causing the degradation of reverse characteristics in the devices.

We develop a biological particle counter based on laser-induced fluorescence for accurate measurement of biological particle concentrations in the air. Pure water, NaCl particles, polystyrene latex spheres, and standard fluorescent particles are used as media to evaluate the performance of the counter. Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are used as representative biological particles to evaluate the measurement accuracy of the counter. In experiments, the results measured by the counter are consistent with he results obtained with the culture method; For each bacterium, good linear agreement is observed between the two results, and the values of the coefficient R2 are all more than 0.97. Because of particle superposition errors, system error, etc., at low concentrations, the number measured by the counter divided by the number measured by the culture method, η = Ncounter/Nculture, is larger than that at high concentrations. For same type of test sample, although the distribution is different, the η values at same concentrations are similar. Finally, the repeatability of the two methods is tested. The results obtained using the counter are found to be more stable, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 8.14%; this is less than the RSD of 15% obtained using the culture method.

To assess the importance of variation among arugula (Eruca vesicaria subsp. sativa) cultivars in the ability to accumulate arsenic (As) in above-ground tissues, uptake of As by 16 cultivars was measured in the field and in hydroponic culture. In the field trial on soil contaminated by past pesticide use, As soil-plant uptake coefficients varied by a factor of 2.7 among different cultivars, approaching a value of one for the strongest accumulators. Compared to the field assay, hydroponically grown arugula accumulated much lower concentrations of As when nutrient solutions contained standard (high) concentrations of phosphate along with 1.0 mg L−1 As in the form of soluble arsenate. However, As accumulation was much greater in hydroponic culture using low-P nutrient solutions, an indication that phosphate strongly competed with arsenate for root uptake. Analysis of arugula roots after exposure to arsenate at 1.0 mg As L−1 and low phosphate revealed from 24 to 400 times greater As concentration in roots than tops, with S concentrations significantly greater in As-exposed than control roots. This indicated greater sulfate uptake by roots exposed to arsenate, and suggested that thiol-mediated As immobilization occurred in the roots which strongly restricted translocation to the tops.

In this study, 228 daily Particulate matter (PM) filters (57 Quartz and 57 Teflon samples for both PM2.5 and PM10, respectively) were collected from an urban site in Zhengzhou in typical months from 2014 autumn to 2015 summer representing the four seasons. PM concentrations, water-soluble inorganic ions, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and elements were determined, and positive matrix factorization was used for source apportionments. Health risks of toxic elements in PM2.5 and PM10 were also evaluated. The annual mean values of PM2.5 and PM10 were higher than the standards in China, and the highest seasonal concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were in winter. Secondary inorganic aerosols (SIAs) were the major component, with the ratio of SIAs/PM highest in summer. The seasonal concentrations of SO42− were high in winter and summer. Crustal elements mainly existed in PM2.5–10; however, elements from anthropogenic sources (i.e., Zn, Pb, Cu, As, Cd, and Mo) were more abundant in fine particles than in the coarse fraction. The main pollution sources were dust, SIAs, coal combustion, vehicle and road dust, and industry, accounting for 10%, 26%, 25%, 20% and 15% in PM2.5 and 32%, 14%, 24%, 18% and 8% in PM10, respectively. Dust source has the highest contribution in PM10; however, SIAs source has the highest content in fine particles. The carcinogenic risks of As to children through the daily intake pathway in PM2.5 and PM10 exceeded the acceptable level. Noncarcinogenic risks of As and Cd in PM2.5 and PM10 to children via the daily intake pathway were significant. Moreover, the sum of noncarcinogenic risks in PM10 via inhalation exposure for local residents and that via dermal absorption for children were significant. The details of the pollution characteristics and the results of source apportionments and health risks assessment of PM2.5 and PM10 in this study can play an important role for the government to formulate reasonable and effective policy to mitigate the atmospheric pollution of PM. To our knowledge, this systematic study is the first to investigate the chemical characterizations, source apportionments, and health effects of PM2.5 and PM10 in Zhengzhou.

The purpose of this study was to explore the long-term follow-up of treatment of congenital partial vaginal agenesis using the Wharton-Sheares-George technique. The technique was performed on 52 patients with congenital partial vaginal atresia from January 2009 to December 2017. As a result, the mean operating time of the Wharton-Sheares-George technique procedure was 25.6 ± 2.2 min. The mean estimated blood loss was 16.7 ± 4.7 mL. The average length of stay in hospital for the patients was 2.3 ± 0.2 days. There were no intraoperative and postoperative complications. The median duration of follow-up was 58 months. All of the patients experienced a resumption of menses. The mean vaginal length at 3 months was 7.3 ± 0.8 cm. Vaginal stenosis and adhesion did not occur in any cases during the follow-up. Twenty patients had sexual activities and the mean value of the FSFI questionnaire was 31.2 ± 4.0. Six cases became pregnant. There were four cases who each delivered one child and two cases who both delivered two children.IMPACT STATEMENT

In this paper, the surface morphologies of 4H-SiC epilayers with different growth rates were investigated by Candela CS920, atomic force microscope and optical microscope. The investigation of the surface morphologies of the samples showed that an evolution from micro-step to small-step and then back to macro-step occurred on the surface, with the surface roughness increased gradually during this evaluation. It was concluded that the higher growth rate the larger differences of step migration rate. In this case, the steps easily gather together forming greater steps. The gathering effect was enhanced with the increase of the growth rate.

Metal-based nanoparticles are limited in their applications due to their inherent loss. Here, we propose all dielectric nanoparticles to enhance forward scattering efficiency. Firstly, all dielectric nanoparticles composed of lossless nanodisks are created. By changing the geometric size of the nanoparticles, 2 π phase coverage can be achieved. We further coded these all-dielectric nanoparticles to construct nanoparticle coded metasurface. Then, we propose a superposition principle of super-grating coding sequence, which can control the scattering angle of coding metasurface. It is clear that theoretical results were compared with results of computer simulation. Due to the limitation of the generalized Snell’s law, the forward scattering angle of the encoded nanoparticle sequence is limited to several directions. In order to obtain the multi-angle forward scattering, we introduce the addition principle of coded nanoparticle sequences. By adding and subtracting two sequences of encoded nanoparticles, a new sequence of encoded nanoparticles was obtained. Furthermore, we introduce the complex phase encoding of the coded nanoparticles sequence to construct a new multi-functional and multi-angle coded nanoparticles sequence. Based on the principle of addition of complex phase-coded sequences of nanoparticles, the continuous angle scattering and superposition of scattering beams in any direction can be expected to be obtained.

Nitrogen management measures (NMMs) such as the application of urease inhibitors (UIs), synthetic nitrification inhibitors (SNIs), and biochar (BC) are commonly used in mitigating nitrogen (N) loss and increasing fertilizer recovery efficiency (FRE) in agriculture. Calcareous soil under rice cropping is characterized by high nitrification potential, N loss risk, and low FRE. Application of SNIs may stimulate NH3 volatilization in high pH soils and the effects of SNIs on FRE are not always positive. BNIs have many advantages over SNIs. Whether combined application of BNI, UI, and BC that can result in a synergistic effect of improving FRE and decreasing N loss in a calcareous soil under rice cropping worth investigating. In this study, we conducted pot experiments to investigate the effects of single and co-application of BNI (methyl 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl) propionate or MHPP, 500 mg kg−1 soil), UI (N-(n-butyl), thiophosphoric triamide or NBPT, 2% of urea-N), or BC (wheat straw, 0.5% (w/w)) with chemical fertilizer on NH3 volatilization, N2O emission, N leaching, crop N uptake, and FRE in a calcareous soil under rice cropping. Our results demonstrated that those NMMs could mitigate NH3 volatilization by 12.5%–26.5%, N2O emission by 62.7%–73.5%, and N leaching loss by 17.5%–49.0%. However, BNI might have a risk of increasing NH3 (5.98%) volatilization loss. Among those NMMs, double inhibitors (BNI plus UI) yielded a synergistic effect that could mitigate N loss to the maximum extent and effectively improve FRE by 25.4%. The mechanisms of the above effects could be partly ascribed to the niche differentiation between the abundance of AOA and AOB and the changed community structure of AOB, which could further influence nitrification and N fate. Our results demonstrated that co-application of BNI and UI with urea is an effective strategy in reducing N loss and improving FRE in a calcareous soil under rice cropping.

As a result of rapid urbanization, the road lengths and built-up areas in Zhengzhou are steadily expanding along with increasing fugitive dust emissions. Identifying the physical and chemical characteristics and the chemical profiles of fugitive dust is important in achieving effective atmospheric pollution management. In this study, soil dust, road dust (RD), building demolition dust, and cement (CE) were chosen as the research objects. A total of 94 dust samples were collected from 20 sites. PM2.5 (particulate matter with diameter ≤ 2.5 µm) and PM10 (particulate matter with diameter ≤ 10 µm) samples were obtained by using a re-suspension device and their physical and chemical properties were analyzed. The scanning electron microscopy of four types of dust particles showed that most of the dust particles presented an irregular shape. In terms of particle size distribution, the mass concentration of PM2.5 accounted for less than 10% of the total PM10, whereas the number concentration of PM2.5 accounted for more than 96% of the total number. Chemical component analysis revealed that crustal elements such as Al, Mg, Fe, and K were abundant in all samples, and they were the most abundant species in PM2.5 and PM10 in the reconstruction results. The percentage of NO3– in the RD sample was higher than that in the other three fugitive dust samples because of the influence of vehicles. Furthermore, the CE sample had higher SO42– and Ca2+ percentages than the other three types of fugitive dust samples. Enrichment factor analysis showed that the significant enrichment of Cd and Ag was mainly caused by anthropogenic sources. The coefficients of divergence values between the profiles for different sites of dust ranged from 0.21 to 0.68, indicating the fugitive dust profiles from various sites mostly different. The chemical profiles of four dust sources obtained from this study is limited in Zhengzhou.

In this paper, Pt/TaSi2/Ni/Ti/Ni/SiC and Pt/Ti/SiC simultaneous ohmic contacts to n-type and p-type 4H-SiC are studied. The thermal stability and electrical characteristics of the ohmic contacts are investigated and compared after being aged at 500 °C for 300 h in air. The n- and p-type Pt/Ti/SiC ohmic contact failed after 100 h and after 200 h, respectively. While the Pt/TaSi2/Ni/Ti/Ni/SiC samples exhibits a good thermal stability and high temperature electrical characteristics, with a relatively small increase of the specific contact resistance (SCR) in the initial 50 h and then remains stable in the rest of the thermal aging duration. SEM analysis reveals that the surface morphologies of Pt/TaSi2/Ni/Ti/Ni/SiC samples keep smooth and stable during the aging process. According to AES analysis, the main reason of electrical characteristics degradation is the oxidation on the metal/4H-SiC interface during the aging process. Also, at the expense of the TaSi2 layer oxidization, the diffusion rate of oxygen atoms towards the SiC are slowed down, and therefore, the metal/4H-SiC interface quality was not affected by oxidation problems and extending the life of ohmic contact in air at 500 °C. Experimental results indicate that the Pt/TaSi2/Ni/Ti/Ni/SiC simultaneous ohmic contacts to both n- and p-type SiC are promising to be used for high temperature and harsh environment SiC-based devices.

The one-class support vector machine (OC-SVM) is a data-driven machine learning method that has been applied as a novel technique for brain activation detection. Several researchers have obtained positive preliminary results using OC-SVMs. Nevertheless, existing algorithms are either too complicated or oversimplified and their performance needs to be further improved. In this study, a modified neighborhood one-class support vector machine (MNOC-SVM) algorithm is proposed to detect brain functional activation on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. This method is based on two basic assumptions: (a) For task-related fMRI data, time series of only a few voxels are related to a particular functional activity or functional area, and these voxels should be identified as activated voxels, i.e., the outliers. In contrast, for resting-state fMRI data, only a small number of voxels are unrelated to any resting-state functional networks. These voxels should instead be taken as non-activated voxels, i.e., the outliers. (b) Close voxels have similarly activated or non-activated states. To improve detection accuracy, we apply the following features to each voxel: the RV coefficient between each voxel and its 26 neighborhood voxels (or fewer than 26 for voxels on the edge of the brain), a flag for isolated voxels and a flag for isolated areas. For both task-related and resting-state fMRI data, our MNOC-SVM method effectively detects activated functional areas in the whole brain.

Colloidal lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) from low temperature acid hydrotropic fractionation (AHF) of poplar wood and commercial alkali lignin using p-Toluenesulfonic acid (p-TsOH) were directly mixed with PVA to make PVA/AHF-LNP nanocomposite films. p-TsOH itself acted as a plasticizer for PVA; however the application of p-TsOH alone reduced PVA film tensile strength and therefore toughness. At proper loadings of LNPs and p-TsOH, both the failure strain and tensile strength of PVA/AHF-LNP composites were improved. The formation of hydrogen bonding between the p-TsOH/AHF-LNP aggregates with hydroxyl groups on PVA molecular chains, and the breakage and reforming of p-TsOH/AHF-LNP aggregates, along with the nanophase crazing due to the presence of p-TsOH/AHF-LNP aggregates were identified as the main mechanisms for improving the toughness of PVA/AHF-LNP nanocomposite. The composite also had improved UV shielding performance and biodegradability due to the presence of p-TsOH and LNPs compared with neat PVA. This nanocomposite film could be used as biodegradable anti-ultraviolet packing film.

Pectin-related genes play significant roles in pollen development and pollen tube growth, and their allelic variations are one of the major reasons for the abnormal development of male gametophyte. Currently, little is known about the role of the PMEI family in male sterility of plants. In this study, 97 putative PMEI genes were identified in Brassica rapa genome. By a phylogenetic analysis, the PMEI family was divided into 10 clades with highly conserved structural characteristics. The publically available RNA-seq data on different tissues of B. rapa accession Chiifu-401-42 revealed that 23 PMEI isoforms were flower-specific genes. We created a recessive genic male sterile mutant (ftms) in Chinese cabbage. This mutant was a doubled haploid line with stable inheritance, derived from Chinese cabbage 'FT' generated through a combination of radiation mutagenesis and isolated microspore culture. The transcriptome profiles of the floral buds of ftms and its wild-type line 'FT' were determined using RNA-seq. A total of 17 PMEI genes were found to be differentially expressed; all of them were down-regulated in ftms compared to their levels in 'FT'. Consistent with the transcriptome data, all these genes were observed to be highly expressed in the floral buds of 'FT' using qRT-PCR analysis. Of these, eight genes were specifically expressed in the floral buds of 'FT'; three of these (Bra019903, Bra014099, and Bra032239) were stamen-specific genes. The results contribute to further elucidation of the regulatory mechanisms underlying male sterility in Chinese cabbage.

Antimicrobial cationic polymers mainly contain two functional components: the cationic groups and the hydrophobic groups. The antimicrobial activity is influenced by the type, amount, location and distribution of these two components. This review summarizes the designs and syntheses of antimicrobial cationic polymers by controlling the above two factors. It involves the structural designs from primary to secondary structures, from covalent to noncovalent syntheses and from bulk to surface. Furthermore, it will discuss how to advance structural designs toward functional controls for optimizing the antimicrobial performances and biocompatibility of antimicrobial cationic polymers. It is anticipated that this review will provide some guidelines for developing molecular engineering of antimicrobial cationic polymers with tailor-made structures and functions. Antimicrobial cationic polymers mainly contain two functional components: the cationic groups and the hydrophobic groups. The antimicrobial activity is influenced by the type, amount, location and distribution of these two components. This review summarizes the structural designs of antimicrobial cationic polymers from primary to secondary structures, from covalent to noncovalent syntheses and from bulk to surface. It will provide some guidelines for developing molecular engineering of antimicrobial cationic polymers with tailor-made structures and functions.

Despite several anticipated advantages of the bioderived γ-butyrolactone (γ-BL) as an effective comonomer to modulate materials properties of its copolyesters, the currently unmet challenge hinders access to such copolyesters with high γ-BL incorporations due to unfavorable thermodynamics toward the ring-opening polymerization of the highly stable, typically referred to as “nonstrained”, γ-BL. Here we report the effective copolymerization of γ-BL with two common cyclic esters with very different monomer thermodynamic polymerizability, e-caprolactone (e-CL) and δ-valerolactone (δ-VL), leading to a series of relatively high molecular weight (Mn up to 135 kg/mol) random copolyesters with unprecedented levels of γ-BL incorporations (up to 84.0 mol %) and thus providing access to γ-BL-based copolyesters in the entire composition range needed for comprehensive investigations into the composition-dependent physical properties and degradation behavior of the resulting copolyesters. This copolymerization was enabl...

Fe-impregnated biochar was assessed as a method to remove the pesticide pollutant chlorpyrifos, utilizing biochar/FeOx composite synthesized via chemical coprecipitation of Fe3+/Fe2+ onto Cyperus alternifolius biochar. Fe-impregnated biochar exhibited a higher sorption capacity than pristine biochar, resulting in more efficient removal of chlorpyrifos from water. Soil was dosed with pristine or Fe-impregnated biochar at 0.1 or 1.0% w/w, to evaluate chlorpyrifos uptake in Allium fistulosum L. (Welsh onion). The results showed that the average concentration of chlorpyrifos and its degradation product, 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP), decreased in A. fistulosum L. with increased levels of pristine biochar and Fe-biochar. Fe-biochar was found to be more effective in reducing the uptake of chlorpyrifos by improving the sorption ability and increasing plant root iron plaque. Bioavailability of chlorpyrifos is reduced with both biochar and Fe-biochar soil dosing; however, the greatest persistence of chlorpyrif...

Previously, the novel oestrogen (E2)-upregulated lncRNA TC0101441, was identified by us, via microarray analysis. However, the detailed mechanism by which E2 upregulates TC0101441 and the role of TC0101441 in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) progression have not been elucidated. In the present study, we further analysed TC0101441, which we designated oestrogen-induced long non-coding RNA-1 (ElncRNA1). We showed that E2 transcriptionally upregulates ElncRNA1 through the oestrogen receptor α (ERα)-oestrogen response element (ERE) pathway using RNA stability assays, bioinformatics-based searches for ERE binding sites, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays and dual luciferase reporter assays. Clinically, ElncRNA1 levels are significantly higher in EOC tissues than in normal ovarian surface epithelium. In vitro and in vivo loss-of-function assays revealed that ElncRNA1 promotes EOC cell proliferation. This pro-proliferation effect of ElncRNA1 was partially mediated by the regulation of CDK4, CDK6 and cyclin D1. These findings provide the first evidence that E2 upregulates ElncRNA1 at the transcriptional level through the ERα-ERE pathway and that this novel E2-upregulated lncRNA has an oncogenic role in EOC growth. The placement of ElncRNA1 in the E2-ERα-ERE signalling pathway may provide greater insight into the effects of oestrogen on EOC progression from the perspective of lncRNA.

Carbon isotope analysis and 454 pyrosequencing methods were used to investigate in situ biodegradation of chlorpyrifos during its transport through three model integrated recirculating constructed wetlands (IRCWs). Results show that plant and Fe-impregnated biochar promoted degradation of chlorpyrifos and its metabolite 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP). Carbon isotope ratios in the IRCWs shifted to -31.24±0.58‰ (IRCW1, plant free), -26.82±0.60‰ (IRCW2, with plant) and -24.76±0.94‰ (IRCW3, with plant and Fe-biochar). The enrichment factors (Ɛbulk,c) were determined as -0.69±0.06‰ (IRCW1), -0.91±0.07‰ (IRCW2) and -1.03±0.09‰ (IRCW3). Microbial community analysis showed that IRCW3 was dominated by members of Bacillus, which can utilize and degrade chlorpyrifos. These results reveal that plant and Fe-biochar can induce carbon isotope fractionation and have a positive impact on the chlorpyrifos degradation efficiency by influencing the development of beneficial microbial communities.

In this paper, a novel 4H-SiC trench JBS (TkJBS) with high-k semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon (SIPOS) is proposed. By adopting a new high-k dielectrics-trench structure, the peak electric field at the corner of P+ region (COP) in Silicon Carbide (SiC) can be weakened significantly, and the device breakdown voltage can be enhanced significantly. SiC TkJBS has a 60.7% higher breakdown voltage (BV) and a 110.6% higher Baliga’s figure of merit (BFOM) than the conventional SiC JBSs, and the surface electric field (Esf) of the SiC TkJBS is 0.73 MV/cm lower than it at breakdown voltages, resulting in a much lower tunneling current (Ir). The reverse recovery characteristics of SiC TkJBS are also slightly better than those of the SiC JBS. It is indicated that SiC TkJBS is a promising candidate for next-generation high power diodes.

The n th finite transformations of the fifth-order KdV equation are obtained from the Lie point symmetry approach via localisation of nonlocal symmetries to local ones of the enlarged system. Through the obtained transformations, some periodic and soliton solutions are derived.

Original fMRI data often contains a variety of noise caused by the operator, the equipment, the environment, etc. To suppress the noise, many processing methods based on smoothing have been proposed to analyze the fMRI data. In this study, a layered data reduction mechanism is presented to alleviate the influence of noise while retaining the spatial construction of the fMRI data. The layered data reduction method consists of two layers criteria to reduce the noise voxels: (a) the isolated voxel; (b) the isolated generated cube. The 1-layer data reduction procedure aims to remove all those isolated voxels whose corresponding generated cube only contains one single voxel under a preset threshold ξ . The 2-layer data reduction procedure is aimed at removing those isolated generated cubes whose corresponding final cube only contains one single generated cube. A simplified genetic algorithm (SGA) is proposed to determine the optimum threshold ξ adaptively. Meanwhile, to avoid that some useful information would be lost on account of all the isolated voxels and isolated generated cubes being reduced directly, a compensation mechanism taking advantage of multivariate RV measure is used to decrease the probability of incorrect data reduction. The classical FCM (Fuzzy c-means) method is adopted to cluster the data having been implemented by the layered data reduction method. Extensively experimental results show that the proposed layered data reduction method is effective and can efficiently improve the clustering accuracy on the hybrid data and the real fMRI data.

A lightly doped P-well field-limiting rings (FLRs) termination on 4H-SiC vertical double-implanted metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (VDMOSFETs) has been investigated. Based on the simulation, the proposed termination applied to 4H-SiC VDMOSFET could achieve an almost same breakdown voltage (BV) and have the advantage of lower ion-implantation damage comparing with P + FLRs termination. Meanwhile, this kind of termination also reduces the difficulty and consumption of fabrication process. 4H-SiC VDMOSFETs with lightly doped P-well (FLRs) termination have been fabricated on 10 μm thick epi-layer with nitrogen doping concentration of 6.2 × 10 15 cm −3 . The maximum breakdown voltage of the 4H-SiC VDMOSFETs has achieved as high as 1610 V at a current of 15 μA, which is very close to the simulated result of 1643 V and about 90% of the plane parallel breakdown voltage of 1780 V. It is considered that P-well FLRs termination is an effective, robust and process-tolerant termination structure suitable for 4H-SiC VDMOSFET.

Deactivation of zeolite catalysts due to coke deposition is a pronounced challenge in the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of bio-oil. This paper reports on the mechanism of coke formation and catalyst regeneration for two catalysts (Ni/HZSM-5, Ni-Cu/HZSM-5). FT-IR, XPS and Raman spectroscopy characterizations indicate that catalyst deactivation can be divided into three main stages: (1) Lewis acid sites in HZSM-5 support are rapidly covered by oxygenated hydrocarbons. The Bronsted acid sites of HZSM-5 donate protons to oxygenates, leading to the formation of carbocations - precursors of soluble coke on the catalyst surfaces. (2) Soluble coke is then stacked to form disordered filament-like carbon strands that are similar to carbon nanotubes or graphite-like structures. (3) Filament-like carbon evolves into graphite carbon. At the same HDO temperature, more graphite particles are found on the Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst than on the Ni-Cu/HZSM-5 catalyst, indicating higher resistance for the coke formation for Ni-Cu/HZSM-5 catalyst.

Background: Agricultural intensification induces prolonged impacts on soil acidification (SA), whereas linking the mechanisms therein to structural and functional evolution of soil microbiota remain unclear, especially over longer time scales. Methods: To investigate the short- and long-term effects of agricultural intensification on soil microbiome and its association with SA severity, we performed metagenomic sequencing of soil samples from typical rice-vegetable rotations for 0 (control, V0), 10 (V10), 20 (V20) years. The objectives were to clarify biomarkers that indicative of SA and its putative functions of acid production. Results: Rice-vegetable rotations for 0, 10, 20 years yielded three well-defined soil clusters with differential acid saturation (V0: 4.5%; V10: 11.8%; V20: 40.7%). Soil pH declined significantly (p < 0.05) from the 6.38 (V0) to 4.82 (V20). Acid cations (H + , Al 3+ ) dominating V20’s exchangeable cation pool, suggesting that soils in V20 were highly acidic and acid-sensitive, which recruited distinct microbiomes. The increased acid cations and NO 3 - -N concentrations are driving forces that lead to a higher abundance of Rhodanobacter , Gemmatirosa , Sphingomonas and Streptomyces in V20 samples, which acting as aciduric biomarkers that significantly and positively correlated with soil acidity. Furthermore, functional modules of microbial genes revealed V20 samples contained more genes associated with“oxidative phosphorylation” and “two-component system”, particularly enriched multiple pathways of cytoplasmic pH homeostasis. More specifically, we found increased genetic abundances of active efflux of protons and cytoplasmic proton consumption in V20 samples over than in V0, which are both involved in the microbial dehydrogenation and acid production, and favoured the growth of Rhodanbacter , Gemmatirosa , Sphingomonas , Streptomyces . Conclusions: Collectively, the identified aciduric biomarkers was closely associated with SA severity in intensive agroecosystems. An overall increase with the ongoing of intensive cropping history in the abundance of indicative genes associated with dehydrogenation and acid production pathways. The differential community compositions provide new clues to elucidate the interaction between the soil microbiome and SA severity, and varying dehydrogenation and acid production pathways provide novel insights into the exacerbation of SA. Keywords: Agricultural intensification, Soil acidification, Metagenomics, Soil microbiome, pH homeostasis

Additional file 15: Figure S8. qRT-PCR analysis of three BrPERK genes in the five periods of anther development.

Soil aggregate stability and soil organic carbon (SOC) physical sequestration is essential to regulation of anthropogenic climate change. However, relative knowledge remains elusive. The total SOC stock, aggregate stability, capacity of physically protected C, structure of macroaggregates and Al/Fe oxides under rice-wheat rotation (RW), rice-vegetable rotation (RV) and afforested land (AL) were analysed. We chose 1-2 mm macroaggregates for low-temperature ashing (LTA) treatment to mimic natural oxidation to assess the capacity of physically protected C. Using scanning electron microscopy, the N adsorption method, and energy dispersive spectroscopy, we explored the internal structure of macroaggregates under different land use types. All land use types could physically protect over 50% of SOC. AL showed the strongest capacity of C sequestration, followed by RW, which preserved 67.1% and 59.6% of SOC, respectively. After 5 h of LTA treatment, the amount of SOC removed from the macropores in cropland (RW and RV) was higher than that in AL. In micropores with further oxidation, AL and RW both lost only 5% of SOC. Fe oxides were more correlated with C dynamics than Al oxides. Free Fe oxides were associated with the easily oxidised organic matter. Soil aggregate stability significantly correlated with Al/Fe oxides (p < 0.05). The RW and AL had a greater soil aggregate stability than the RV owing to the relatively higher content of Al/Fe oxides. In conclusion, the conversion of RW to RV reduced the mechanical stability of soil aggregates and the capacity of C physical sequestration, while the conversion of RW to AL increased these two properties. Land use change affected C physical sequestration mainly via changes in surface area, pore development and the content of Fe oxides in macroaggregates. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Additional file 8: Figure S1. Number and percentage of PERK proteins across the 16 Brassicaceae species.

Aiming at the characteristics of color prediction and color matching in color appearance model, a vision local adaptation mechanism based on Sigmoid function of artificial neural network is introduced on the basis of iCAM color appearance model, and a real image reproduction algorithm based on Sigmoid-iCAM color appearance model is proposed. Compared with the real image reproduction algorithm based on CIECAM02 and iCAM color model, this algorithm can effectively improve the image contrast and local details while restoring the color of tone-distorted image.

Hyperspectral image classification is nowadays an essential method for remote sensing data analysis and information extraction. In order to improve the classification accuracy of hyperspectral image, this paper introduces a novel method which is based on multi-classifier combination of C5.0 decision tree. This method selects the three methods of minimum distance, maximum likelihood, spectral angle mapping (SAM) and support vector machine (SVM) for classifying images, which have better classification results. The C5.0 decision tree is used to complete the classification. The experimental results show that the classification accuracy of the combined classifier is significantly higher than that of the single sub-classifier, which is an effective method to improve the classification accuracy of remote sensing images.

Because of multiple reflection and scattering, the mixed pixels in hyperspectral images are actually nonlinear spectral mixing. Traditional endmember extraction algorithm is based on linear spectral mixing model, so the extraction accuracy is not high. Aiming at the nonlinear structure of hyperspectral images, a novel endmember extraction method for hyperspectral images based on Euclidean distance and nonlinear dimensionality reduction is proposed. This method introduces Euclidean distance of image into the nonlinear dimensionality reduction algorithm of local tangent space permutation to remove redundant spatial information and spectral dimensional information in hyperspectral data and then extracts the endmembers from the reduced data by searching for the maximum volume of the simplex. Experiments on real hyperspectral data show that the proposed method has a good effect on hyperspectral image endmember extraction, and its performance is better than that of linear dimensionality reduction PCA and original LTSA algorithm.

Purpose Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are novel type of noncoding RNAs that play important roles and serve as noninvasive biomarkers in various cancers. In the present study, we focused on circFoxO3a and aimed to investigate its prognostic value as a novel serum biomarker for squamous cervical cancer (SCC). Patients and Methods Our study included 103 SCC patients from Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University. Expression levels of circFoxO3a in the serum of patients with SCC were examined by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR (RT‑qPCR). The correlation between serum circFoxO3a expression and clinicopathologic factors was analyzed. The Kaplan–Meier method and multivariate Cox regression analysis were applied to evaluate the independent prognostic factors for SCC. A prognostic predictive nomogram was constructed using R software. Results Levels of serum circFoxO3a were decreased in SCC patients compared with controls. Low expression of circFoxO3a was correlated with deeper stromal invasion and positive lymph node metastasis. Moreover, SCC patients with lower expression of serum circFoxO3a showed poorer prognosis, including both overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS). Multivariate Cox analysis indicated low serum circFoxO3a levels to be an unfavorable prognostic factor for both OS and RFS, independent of positive lymph node metastasis. Notably, the predictive nomogram we established further confirmed that serum circFoxO3a is a useful tool for predicting survival in SCC. Conclusion Altogether, our findings demonstrated that serum circFoxO3a could serve as a potential novel noninvasive predictive prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for SCC.

The regeneration of the muscles of the rotator cuff represents a grand challenge in musculoskeletal regenerative engineering. Several types of matrices have been proposed for skeletal muscle regeneration. However, biomimetic matrices to promote muscle regeneration and mimic native muscle tissue have not been successfully engineered. Besides topographical cues, an electrical stimulus may serve as a critical cue to improve interactions between materials and cells in scenarios fostering muscle regeneration. In this in vitro study, we engineered a novel stimulus-responsive conductive nanocomposite matrix and studied its ability to regulate muscle cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. Electroconductive nanocomposite matrices demonstrated tunable conductivity and biocompatibility. Under the optimum concentration of conductive material, the matrices facilitated muscle cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation. Importantly, aligned conductive fibrous matrices were effective in promoting myoblast differentiation by upregulation of myogenic markers. The results demonstrated a promising potential of aligned conductive fibrous matrices for skeletal muscle regenerative engineering. Around 40% of the human body mass consists of skeletal muscle. Musculoskeletal disorders such as muscle atrophy and fatty infiltration after rotator cuff injury lead to disability and pain and increase the rate of retear after rotator cuff surgery. The study showed the potential of novel engineered matrix to regenerate skeletal muscle by utilizing conductive material and nanofiber-based matrices. The incorporation of conductive material and aligned nanofibers as electrical and topographical cues significantly impacted cell viability and differentiation to support muscle regeneration. The study demonstrated that electroconductive nanocomposite matrix can favorably modulate myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Future study will investigate the in vivo efficacy of the engineered matrix using a rat rotator cuff tear model to understand the ability of the engineered matrix in reducing the fatty infiltration.

Background: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an inherited auto-inflammatory disorder and is extremely rare in Chinese. This study aimed to investigate the demographic, clinical, and genetic features of FMF in a series of Chinese pediatric patients. Methods: This was a retrospective case series of children with recurrent febrile or inflammatory episodes and referred to the Peking Union Medical College Hospital between 06/2013 and 06/2018. All suspected patients were genetically diagnosed and met the Tel-Hashomer criteria for FMF. Demographic, clinical, genetic, and treatment characteristics were collected. Descriptive statistics were used. Results: Eleven patients were included (seven boys and four girls). The median age at the time of disease onset was 7.1 (range, 3–12) years, while the median age at diagnosis was 10.9 (range, 6–15) years. The median delay in diagnosis was 2.1 years (range, 6 months to 6.7 years). Fever (100%, 11/11) was the most common symptom, followed by joint pain (63.6%, 7/11), rash (54.5%, 6/11), abdominal pain (36.4%, 4/11), and oral ulcers (18.2%, 2/11), without evidence of amyloidosis. C-reactive protein (81.8%, 9/11) and erythrocyte sedimentation (90.9%, 10/11) were increased during attacks. All patients harbored one to five different MEFV mutations, with E148Q and L110P being the most frequent. A novel non-synonymous mutation F636Y in exon 10 was discovered. Favorable responses to colchicine was observed in all six treated patients. Conclusion: The most common variants in our study were E148Q and L110P. F636Y may found for the first time. Colchicine led to favorable responses in all treated patients.

Pollen exine contains complex biopolymers of aliphatic lipids and phenolics. Abnormal development of pollen exine often leads to plant sterility. Molecular mechanisms regulating exine formation have been studied extensively but remain ambiguous. Here we report the analyses of three GDSL esterase/lipase protein genes, OsGELP34, OsGELP110, and OsGELP115, for rice exine formation. OsGELP34 was identified by cloning of a male sterile mutant gene. OsGELP34 encodes an endoplasmic reticulum protein and was mainly expressed in anthers during pollen exine formation. osgelp34 mutant displayed abnormal exine and altered expression of a number of key genes required for pollen development. OsGELP110 was previously identified as a gene differentially expressed in meiotic anthers. OsGELP110 was most homologous to OsGELP115, and the two genes showed similar gene expression patterns. Both OsGELP110 and OsGELP115 proteins were localized in peroxisomes. Individual knockout of OsGELP110 and OsGELP115 did not affect the plant fertility, but double knockout of both genes altered the exine structure and rendered the plant male sterile. OsGELP34 is distant from OsGELP110 and OsGELP115 in sequence, and osgelp34 and osgelp110/osgelp115 mutants were different in anther morphology despite both were male sterile. These results suggested that OsGELP34 and OsGELP110/OsGELP115 catalyze different compounds for pollen exine development.

Pollen grains are covered by exine that protects the pollen from stress and facilitates pollination. Here we isolated a male sterile mutant s13283 in rice exhibiting aborted pollen with abnormal exine and defective aperture. The mutant gene encodes a novel plasma membrane-localized legume-lectin receptor kinase that we named OsLecRK-S.7. OsLecRK-S.7 was expressed at different levels in all tested tissues and throughout anther development. In vitro kinase assay showed OsLecRK-S.7 capable of autophosporylation. Mutation in s13283 (E560K) and mutation of the conserved ATP binding site (K418E) both knocked out the kinase activity. Mass spectrometry showed Thr376 , Ser378 , Thr386 , Thr403 , and Thr657 to be the autophosphorylation sites. Mutation of individual autophosphorylation site affected the in vitro kinase activity to different degrees, but did not abolish the gene function in fertility complementation. oslecrk-s.7 mutant plant overexpressing OsLecRK-S.7 recovered male fertility but showed severe growth retardation with reduced number of tillers, and these phenotypes were abolished by E560K or K418E mutation. The results indicated that OsLecRK-S.7 was a key regulator of pollen development.

Large-scale production of male sterile seeds can be achieved by introducing a fertility-restoration gene linked with a pollen-killer gene into a recessive male sterile mutant. We attempted to construct this system in rice by using a late-stage pollen-specific (LSP) promoter driving the expression of maize α-amylase gene ZM-AA1. To obtain such promoters in rice, we conducted comparative RNA-seq analysis of mature pollen with meiosis anther, and compared this with the transcriptomic data of various tissues in the Rice Expression Database, resulting in 269 candidate LSP genes. Initial test of nine LSP genes showed that only the most active OsLSP3 promoter could drive ZM-AA1 to disrupt pollen. We then analyzed an additional 22 LSP genes and found 12 genes stronger than OsLSP3 in late-stage anthers. The promoters of OsLSP5 and OsLSP6 showing higher expression than OsLSP3 at stages 11 and 12 could drive ZM-AA1 to inactivate pollen, while the promoter of OsLSP4 showing higher expression at stage 12 only could not drive ZM-AA1 to disrupt pollen, suggesting that strong promoter activity at stage 11 was critical for pollen inactivation. The strong pollen-specific promoters identified in this study provided valuable tools for genetic engineering of rice male sterile system for hybrid rice production.

Light is one of the most important abiotic factors for most plants, which affects almost all growth and development stages. In this study, physiological indicators suggest that the application of exogenous Ca2+ improves photosynthesis and changes phytohormone levels. Under weak light, photosynthetic parameters of the net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (Gs), and transpiration rate (Tr) decreased; the antioxidation systems peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) reduced; the degrees of malondialdehyde (MDA), H2O2, and superoxide anion (O2−) free radical damage increased; while exogenous Ca2+ treatment was significantly improved. RNA-seq analysis indicated that a total of 13,640 differently expressed genes (DEGs) were identified and 97 key DEGs related to hormone, photosynthesis, and calcium regulation were differently transcribed. Gene ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses, plant hormone signal transduction, photosynthesis, carbon metabolism, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis were significantly enriched. Additionally, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis confirmed some of the key gene functions in response to Ca2+. Overall, these results provide novel insights into the complexity of Ca2+ to relieve injuries under weak light, and they are helpful for potato cultivation under weak light stress.