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Abstract Ocean anoxia is considered a key driver of the end‐Permian mass extinction (EPME). However, it is much debated whether there was an ocean reoxygenation phase during, and in the aftermath, of the EPME. Evidence for ocean reoxygenation is often inferred from the absence of framboidal pyrite in some boundary marine sediments (termed the “framboid gap”). To reconstruct ocean redox evolution across the EPME, we investigated the carbon isotopic, sedimentological, and redox records of the Ruichang and Ehtan sections in South China. These documents two negative δ13Ccarb excursions and the development of anoxia associated with deepening leading up to the Permian‐Triassic boundary. Above the level at which most siliceous organisms became extinct, pyrite framboid and iron proxies indicate that water column redox conditions were predominantly oxygenated but sporadically anoxic/ferruginous [non‐sulfidic, free Fe(II) in the water] at Ruichang, while ferruginous conditions were more widely developed at Ehtan. These contrasting redox states are characteristic of a dynamic ocean redox landscape in the extinction interval. The “framboid gap” is seen in strata deposited under both oxic and ferruginous conditions, suggesting that the availability of decomposable organic matter for sulfate reduction additionally controlled framboid genesis. Our data confirm that oxygenated conditions were developed in some deep water basins during the EPME.

The past decade has been a boom in lunar exploration. China, India, Japan and other countries have successfully landed landers or rovers on the lunar surface (Wu et al., 2014, 2018, 2020; Prasad et al., 2023). Future missions to explore the Moon are focusing on the lunar south pole (Peña-Asensio et al., 2024). The solar altitude angle at the lunar south pole is extremely low, resulting in low solar irradiance and large areas often in dim light or shadows. The permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar south pole are also likely containing substantial amounts of water ice (Li et al., 2018). Future lunar robots exploring the lunar south pole will need to operate in low light or shadowed regions, making camera sensors sensitive to the dim-light environments necessary for these robots. Common night vision sensors usually use near-infrared cameras. However, sensors based on passive infrared technology have image resolution limited by several factors, including the intensity of infrared radiation emitted by the object, the sensitivity of the camera, and the performance of the optical system. For instance, thermal imagers typically have a resolution of 388*284 pixels only. We have developed a dim-light adaptive camera (DimCam) that is ultra-sensitive to the varying illumination conditions driven by AI to achieve high-definition imaging of 1080P or above, for future lunar robots operating in shadows or dim-light regions. The DimCam integrates two starlight-level ultra-sensitive imaging sensors connected by a rigid base to provide stereo vision in low illumination environment. An AI edge computing unit is embedded inside the DimCam to adaptively denoise and enhance image quality. The AI module uses an end-to-end image denoising network to identify and remove noises in the images more accurately by utilizing depth information from the stereo sensors. Compared with traditional monocular denoising algorithms, the denoising network based on stereo vision can significantly improve denoising effects and efficiency by enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio of the data input in the front end. The superposition of overlapping scenes can be regarded as a delayed exposure. Concurrently, the residual analysis of the aligned images aids in noise identification. In addition, for pixels obscured by noise, more accurate pixel values can be restored through interpolation or replacement using depth information obtained from the stereo sensors. Subsequently, a pre-trained lightweight deep network modified from Zero-DCE (Guo et al., 2020) is used for image quality enhancement in terms of brightness and contrast, providing high-quality images even in low-light environments for subsequent applications, such as positioning and navigation of robots, 3D mapping of the surrounding environment, and autonomous driven. We have tested the DimCam in a simulated environment in the laboratory, and the results show that the DimCam has promising performances and great potential for various applications.

Abstract To study the effect of internal particle size on the microstructure properties and thermal decomposition characteristics of site mixed emulsion explosive at different altitudes. Site mixed emulsion explosive was prepared with different shear rate. The particle size, viscosity, sensitized bubbles, detonation velocity and peak pressure of the emulsion explosive were tested after stored at different simulated altitudes. The thermal decomposition characteristics of emulsion matrix prepared at three different rotational speeds were measured by thermogravimetric analyzer and kinetic analysis was performed by non-isothermal model Kissinger–Akah–Sunose (KAS) method. The results show that with the increase in altitude, the internal phase size showed a trend of first increasing and then decreasing, and the number of sensitized bubbles within the emulsion explosive decreases. At an altitude of 0 m, the detonation velocity and peak overpressure of the emulsion explosive prepared by 1600 r min−1 increased 4.78% and 29.09%, respectively compared with 1200 r min−1, and at an altitude of 4500 m, the detonation velocity increased 11.87%, the peak overpressure increased 43.98%. The thermal decomposition activation energy of the emulsion matrix at 1600 r min−1 increased 13.14% compared to 1200 r min−1. It shows that in the production of site mixed emulsion explosive at high altitude, reducing the particle size of the internal phase of emulsion explosives in a certain range can effectively improve the performance of emulsion explosives.

High-k turbulence (1 < kθρs < 5) spectrograms have been directly measured in density modulation experiments of the EAST tokamak using the collective Thomson scattering diagnostic system. Density-peaking modulation is achieved in Lower Hybrid Wave (LHW) modulation experiments, revealing that the broadband turbulence is sensitive to the power modulation of LHW and the concomitant variation of density-peaking. Additionally, the contributions of 2.45/4.6 GHz LHW to density peaking differ when Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) is on/off, displaying distinct responses of broadband turbulence in low/high frequency ranges. It is found by cross-coherence analysis that the phase angle is negative in cases without NBI, while in NBI cases it can be modulated from negative to positive, indicating a significant transition of radial turbulence propagation. These findings highlight the active control of density-peaking via auxiliary heating in tokamak plasmas and suggest the potential role of high-k turbulence in density-peaking modulation.

Purpose: To describe the presentation of lacrimal gland secretions mimicking a positive Seidel test following combined complex cataract surgery and endocyclophotocoagulation (ECP). Observation: The patient presented with a posterior subcapsular cataract (PSC) most likely secondary to chronic steroid use for a history of chemical burns from a firework injury in 2019. This injury resulted in symblepharon formation and limbal stem cell deficiency. He also developed glaucoma secondary to steroid response and angle structure damage. On postoperative day 1 (POD 1) after combined cataract surgery and ECP, the patient's paracentesis was Seidel positive and aqueous suppression was started. On postoperative week 1 (POW 1), the paracentesis was Seidel negative; however, it was noted at this visit that there were 3 pinpoint areas in the superotemporal conjunctiva that were Seidel positive. Digital pressure did not worsen the leak. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) was performed at POW 2.5 and showed lacrimal gland ducts in the superotemporal conjunctiva. Given this, it is likely that the “Seidel positive” finding was not due to aqueous humor leakage, but secretions from lacrimal gland tissue that may have been dragged more anteriorly due to conjunctiva scarring, thus producing a false positive Seidel sign. Conclusion & importance: This case highlights a false positive Seidel sign in the context of an eye with a complex ocular history and recent surgery. Clinicians should recognize that a false positive Seidel sign is possible if normal lacrimal gland anatomy has been disturbed.

The lunar south pole, particularly its permanently shadowed regions (PSRs), has been the focus of future lunar exploration. The solar altitude angle at the lunar south pole is less than ∼ 2°, resulting in the PSRs not being directly illuminated and the possible existence of water ice in the PSRs due to the low temperatures. High-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) in PSRs are crucial for future exploration missions and scientific research. However, existing image datasets (e.g., LROC NAC images) cannot penetrate the PSRs. Laser altimetry (e.g., LOLA) can measure the PSRs, but the DEMs derived from LOLA suffer from noises and interpolation defects. ShadowCam is a newly deployed camera onboard the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, with a high imaging sensitivity. ShadowCam can capture the faint secondary illumination within PSRs, revealing previously indistinguishable topographic features in persistent darkness. Based on our existing Shape-from-Shading (SfS) pipeline for generating high-resolution DEMs from monocular images, we introduce a novel SfS approach that utilizes secondary illumination and reflectance to reconstruct pixel-wise high-resolution DEMs from ShadowCam images in PSRs. The approach consists of three steps: (1) modeling the secondary illumination on the target surfaces in PSRs based on the view factor; (2) optimizing a low-resolution LOLA DEM using the secondary illumination model; (3) refining the DEM to pixel-wise resolution based on SfS using the ShadowCam images. A test area (approximately 1 km × 1 km) within the PSR in the Shackleton crater near the lunar south pole is used for experimental evaluation. The results show that the DEM generated by the proposed approach is highly consistent with the direct LOLA measurements, particularly in small-scale topographic features such as crater floors and rims that are absent from the LOLA DEM. A first look at the results indicates that the proposed approach has great potential for generating high-resolution DEMs from ShadowCam images in PSRs, which can aid future exploration missions targeting the PSRs at the lunar south pole and support related scientific research on the water ice in the PSRs.

This paper proposes a fixed-time fuzzy adaptive output feedback control scheme for the robotic arm model (RAM) of steel structures. Firstly, the process of transforming RAM into a nonlinear system is elaborated. Secondly, a fuzzy observer is designed to approximate the nonlinear function and estimate the observed state of the system. Subsequently, a fixed-time adaptive controller is constructed, ensuring the system’s stability within a fixed time, with the convergence time unaffected by the initial state. Finally, the effectiveness of the strategy is verified through simulation examples.

The last decade has witnessed a great advance in deep space exploration, such as the rover missions to Mars. Semantic information on the Martian surface is garnering more attention, for its ability to distinguish the surface landforms for rover traverse planning and facilitating 3D reconstruction. The state-of-the-art studies on semantic segmentation exclusively leveraged transformer-based methods, and the results have been verified to outperform the traditional convolutional neural networks. However, few datasets concerning the Martian surface have been generated, and the publicly available network models were all trained on the common Earth dataset. Constructing a pixel-wise semantic segmentation dataset requires lots of human labor, especially for training a large transformer network. Furthermore, the results of semantic segmentation were typically used for intuitive visualization but seldom exploited in the 3D reconstruction pipeline. To address these problems, this paper presents the following three contributions: (1) introducing an approach to generate a large dataset for Mars in a semi-automatic way; (2) development of a novel variant of transformer designed for multi-view semantic segmentation to improve the accuracy; (3) development of a semantic-aware dense image matching method for improved matching performances assisted with the semantic information. Experimental results using the dataset collected at the Zhurong landing site on Mars have shown superior performances of the proposed methods as compared with traditional methods.

ABSTRACT The study aimed to investigate the effect of methionine deficiency on conventional nutrient composition, NO and NOS activity in the liver and kidney, and expression of genes related to the NF-κB signal pathway. One hundred 1-day-old broilers were divided into control and methionine deficiency group, and provided with a standard diet. The methionine-deficient group was fed with a methionine-deficient diet for 42 days. Moisture content, protein content, and crude lipid content were determined by freeze drying, the Kjeldahl method, and the ether extraction method. The concentration of NO was measured using the nitrate reductase method, and the activity of NOS was measured using colorimetry. mRNA expression of related genes in the NF-κB signal pathway was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results showed the contents of crude protein and crude lipid in the liver and kidney of the methionine-deficient group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p0.05). Methionine deficiency resulted in significantly increased NO concentration and total nitric oxide synthase (TNOS) activities in the liver and kidney (p

The essay studies the adaptive neural network fault tolerant control problem based on command filtering, which is aimed at twin-roll inclined casting system (TRICS). A command filter adaptive neural fault-tolerant control scheme for compensating actuator faults is come forward, and meanwhile, the compensating signal is designed to the error of the compensation filter due to the effect of virtual control. Furthermore,the application of Lyapunov stability theory have proved that all the signals in the closed loop system possessed the property of being bounded and stable. Finally, the effectiveness of the control scheme can be verified by means of simulation example.

Q235 steel components have poor corrosion resistance and are susceptible to erosion by corrosive media, so they are generally passivated before being put into service. This paper investigates the corrosion behaviour and corrosion mechanism of passivated Q235 steel in atmospheric environments through macro and micro morphological characterisation and electrochemical simulation analysis.

In this paper, the problem of adaptive fault estimation and fault-tolerant control is studied for molten steel level for twin roll strip casting systems with the inclined angle and actuator fault. Firstly, an intermediate estimator and an adaptive state observer are designed to estimate actuator fault and unknown states respectively. Then, based on back-stepping method, a neural fault-tolerant controller and adaptive laws are constructed, which can ensure that the output signal of the systems can track the reference signal under inclined angle and actuator fault. Finally, the effectiveness of the studied control strategy is verified by semi-experimental systems dynamic model.

This study proposes a new intermediate warehouse to prevent the problem that the ore in the vertical pipeline hydraulic lifting system blocks the nozzle during the process of being sucked into the lifting hard tube. A mathematical model and a finite element model of ore transport are established. Numerical simulation and experimental research are performed on the process of ore injection into the intermediate warehouse. Results show that the proposed intermediate warehouse has higher ore transmission efficiency, smaller pressure pulsation, and more stable transmission process compared with the traditional structure scheme. The larger the slurry conveying flow, the shorter the time required to convey the ore. In the process of slurry injection, the closer to the inlet, the more uneven the velocity distribution on the Z section, and the more concentrated the dynamic pressure. The closer to the lower end of the intermediate warehouse, the more dispersed the dynamic pressure, and the fluctuation of dynamic pressure in the intermediate warehouse is the main cause of unstable flow. The feed flow has a great influence on the stress state of the intermediate warehouse structure, the ore transfer time, and the stress decay period. The feed flow rate should be reasonably selected to meet the working requirements.

Deposit morphologies and sedimentary characteristics are methods for investigating rock avalanches. The characteristics of structural geology of source volume, namely the in-place rock mass structure, will influence these two deposit characteristics and rock avalanche mobility. In this study, a series of experiments were conducted by setting different initial configurations of blocks to simulate different characteristics of structural geology of source volume, specifically including the long axis of the blocks perpendicular to the strike of the inclined plate (EP), parallel to the strike of the inclined plate (LV), perpendicular to the inclined plate (LP), randomly (R) and without the blocks (NB) as a control experiment. The experimental materials comprised both cuboid blocks and granular materials to simulate large blocks and matrixes, respectively, in natural rock avalanches. The results revealed that the mobility of the mass flows was enhanced in LV, LP and R configurations, whereas it was restricted in the EP configuration. The mobility decreased with the increase in slope angles at LV configurations. Strand protrusion of the blocks made the elevation of the deposits at LV configuration larger than that at EP, LP and R configurations. A zigzag structure is created in the blocks resulting from the lateral spreading of the deposits causing the blocks to rotate. Varying degrees of deflection of the blocks demonstrated different levels of collision and friction in the interior of the mass flows; the most intensive collision was observed at EP. In the mass deposits, the blocks' orientation was affected by their initial configurations and the motion process of the mass flows. This research would support studies relating characteristics of structural geology of source volume to landslide mobility and deposit morphology.

ABSTRACT: A 1932 editorial in Poultry Science stated that sampling theory, or experimental power, could be useful for “the investigator to know how many … birds to put into each experimental pen.” Nevertheless, in the past 90 yr, appropriate experimental power estimates have rarely been applied to research with poultry. To estimate the overall variation and appropriate use of resources with animals in pens, a nested analysis should be conducted. Bird-to-bird and separate pen-to-pen variances were separated for 2 datasets, one from Australia and one from North America. The implications of using variances for birds per pen and pens per treatments are detailed. With 5 pens per treatment, increasing birds per pen from 2 to 4 decreased the SD from 183 to 154, but increasing birds/pen from 100 to 200 only decreased the SD from 70 to 60. With 15 birds per treatment, increasing pens/treatment from 2 to 3 decreased SD from 140 to 126, but increasing pens/treatment from 11 to 12 only decreased the SD from 91 to 89. Choosing the number of birds to include in any study should be based on expectations from historical data and the amount of risk investigators are prepared to accept. Too little replication will not allow relatively small differences to be detected. On the other hand, too much replication is wasteful in terms of birds and resources, and violates the fundamental principles of the ethical use of animals in research. Two general conclusions can be made from this analysis. First, it is very difficult to detect 1% to 3% differences in broiler chicken body weight with only one experiment consistently because of inherent genetic variability. Second, increasing either birds per pen or pens per treatment decreased the SD in a diminishing returns fashion. The example presented here is body weight, of primary importance to production agriculture, but it is applicable whenever a nested design is used (multiple samples from the same bird or tissue, etc.).

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the performance of three anti-S and one anti-N assays that were available to the project in detecting antibody levels after three commonly used SARS-CoV-2 vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson). It also aimed to assess the association of age, sex, race, ethnicity, vaccine timing, and vaccine side effects on antibody levels in a cohort of 827 individuals. In September 2021, 698 vaccinated individuals donated blood samples as part of the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM) COVID-19 Immunity Study. These individuals also participated in a comprehensive survey covering demographic information, vaccination status, and associated side effects. Additionally, 305 age- and gender-matched samples were obtained from the ADLM 2015 sample bank as pre-COVID-19-negative samples. All these samples underwent antibody level analysis using three anti-S assays, namely Beckman Access SARS-CoV-2 IgG (Beckman assay), Ortho Clinical Diagnostics VITROS Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG (Ortho assay), Siemens ADVIA Centaur SARS-CoV-2 IgG (Siemens assay), and one anti-N antibody assay: Bio-Rad Platelia SARS-CoV-2 Total Ab assay (BioRad assay). A total of 827 samples (580 COVID-19 samples and 247 pre-COVID-19 samples) received results for all four assays and underwent further analysis. Beckman, Ortho, and Siemens anti-S assays showed an overall sensitivity of 99.5%, 97.6%, and 96.9%, and specificity of 90%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively. All three assays indicated 100% sensitivity for individuals who received the Moderna vaccine and boosters, and over 99% sensitivity for the Pfizer vaccine. Sensitivities varied from 70.4% (Siemens), 81.5% (Ortho), and 96.3% (Beckman) for individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. BioRad anti-N assays demonstrated 46.2% sensitivity and 99.25% specificity based on results from individuals with self-reported infection. The highest median anti-S antibody levels were measured in individuals who received the Moderna vaccine, followed by Pfizer and then Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Higher anti-S antibody levels were significantly associated with younger age and closer proximity to the last vaccine dose but were not associated with gender, race, or ethnicity. Participants with higher anti-S levels experienced significantly more side effects as well as more severe side effects (e.g., muscle pain, chills, fever, and moderate limitations) (p < 0.05). Anti-N antibody levels only indicated a significant correlation with headache. This study indicated performance variations among different anti-S assays, both among themselves and when analyzing individuals with different SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Caution should be exercised when conducting large-scale studies to ensure that the same platform and/or assays are used for the most effective interpretation of the data.

With the rapid development of aviation industry, the study of novel titanium (Ti) alloy with superior mechanical properties is of great significance. In this paper, a newly developed Ti-6Al-2Mo-2Sn-2Zr-2Cr-2V alloy was fabricated by laser directed energy deposition (L-DED), which exhibits coarse β columnar grains containing the basket-weave structure knitted with α phases and β phases. After solution and aging heat-treatment, the fine secondary α phase precipitates, which leads to the increase in microhardness. The as-deposited sample exhibits the tensile strength of 1025 MPa and the elongation of 6.0%. With solution temperature increasing, the strength increases but the plasticity first increases and then decreases. The fracture mechanism shows a mixed of ductile and brittle fracture. The average impact toughness of as-deposited sample in building direction is 40.9 J cm ^−2 higher than that (23.4 J cm ^−2 ) in direction perpendicular to building direction. After solution and aging heat-treatment, the impact toughness improves significantly.

Atmospheric inversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements to better understand carbon sources and sinks has made great progress over the last 2 decades. However, most of the studies, including a four-dimensional variational ensemble Kalman filter and Bayesian synthesis approaches, directly obtain only fluxes, while CO2 concentration is derived with the forward model as part of a post-analysis. Kang et al. (2012) used the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF), which updates the CO2, surface carbon flux (SCF), and meteorology fields simultaneously. Following this track, a system with a short assimilation window and a long observation window was developed (Liu et al., 2019). However, this data assimilation system faces the challenge of maintaining carbon mass conservation. To overcome this shortcoming, here we apply a constrained ensemble Kalman filter (CEnKF) approach to ensure the conservation of global CO2 mass. After a standard LETKF procedure, an additional assimilation is used to adjust CO2 at each model grid point and to ensure the consistency between the analysis and the first guess of the global CO2 mass. Compared to an observing system simulation experiment without mass conservation, the CEnKF significantly reduces the annual global SCF bias from ∼ 0.2 to less than 0.06 Gt and slightly improves the seasonal and annual performance over tropical and southern extratropical regions. We show that this system can accurately track the spatial distribution of annual mean SCF. And the system reduces the seasonal flux root mean square error from a priori to analysis by 48 %–90 %, depending on the continental region. Moreover, the 2015–2016 El Niño impact is well captured with anomalies mainly in the tropics.

Pregnant individuals are at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2-related morbidity and mortality, yet more studies are needed to evaluate safety and efficacy of vaccination during pregnancy, and also the level of protection provided to the newborn. Here, the authors evaluate transplacental transfer of mRNA vaccine products and functional SARS-CoV-2 antibodies during pregnancy and early infancy.

A new in-vessel water-cooled coil has been placed below the lower tungsten-covered divertor in EAST, aiming at moving the strike points in the divertor and spreading the heat flow on the targets. To achieve controlled movement of the strike points by the plasma control system (PCS) when applying the in-vessel coil, the plasma equilibrium configurations are predicted by the tokamak equilibrium (TEQ) code. The divertor coil current is involved in these calculations. The shape control parameters in the PCS are adjusted according to the predesigned equilibria from the TEQ code. The strike point movement over a wide range has been achieved in the experiment while keeping the main plasma stable. Thus, this method for divertor strike point movement with the assistance of the divertor coil is feasible.

ABSTRACT: Re-emergence of enteric diseases in the postantibiotic era has imposed severe loss to the poultry industry leading to the urgent need for appropriate additives to maintain gut health. Recently, more attention has been paid to animal plasma due to its high concentrations of active components such as albumins and globulins. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of spray-dried porcine plasma (SDP) supplementation during the starter phase (d 0–10) on growth performance, intestine health, and immune response of broilers under necrotic enteritis (NE) challenge. A total of 720 day-old male broiler parental line chicks (Ross 308) were randomly assigned to a 2 (NE challenge: no, yes) × 2 (SDP: 0, 2%) factorial arrangement with 12 replications of 15 chicks each. To induce NE, birds were inoculated with live Eimeria vaccine on d 9 and Clostridium perfringens on d 14. The body weight of birds and feed consumption were measured per pen on d 8, 10, 24, and 29 to calculate performance parameters. On d 16, three birds per pen were sampled to analyse the intestinal lesion score, gut permeability, villi morphology, relative weight of organs, and immune response. Results showed that SDP improved (P < 0.001) FCR in the pre-challenge phase (d 0–8). The results indicated that supplementing SDP lowered (P < 0.01) FCR at the end of the experiment (d 29). Dietary SDP decreased (P < 0.05) the concentration of FITC-d in serum samples of challenged broilers, although it did not affect the intestinal morphology and lesion score. Birds fed with SDP had a higher (P < 0.05) relative weight of bursa (g/kg live body weight) compared to non-supplemented birds. Supplementing SDP reduced the concentration of interleukin-6 (P < 0.05) and α-1 acid glycoprotein (P = 0.051) in serum samples of broilers. In conclusion, supplementation of SDP in the starter phase enhanced feed efficiency and gut integrity in NE challenged broilers, possibly through manipulating the immune response, while further studies targeting intestinal microflora and key genes are required to explore the mode of action.

The development of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology makes the traditional method of danger tree monitoring more digital and convenient. In order to explore the accuracy of tree height measurement by general consumer UAV, this paper takes a campus of University as the research area. The high-resolution images acquired by UAV were processed and compared the accuracy of extracting tree height based on the digital canopy height model (CHM) and point cloud information, respectively. The experimental results show that the mean absolute error of tree height based on point cloud extraction is 10.28cm, which is better than that based on CHM. The tree height extracted from CHM will be less than the measured height. In addition, the accuracy of extracting the height of round crown is better than that of cone crown. The correlation between the measured and true values of the two methods was 0.987 and 0.994, respectively, which indicates that the method of danger tree monitoring by UAV is feasible.

Soil pollution with cadmium (Cd) has been threatening the human health. In this study, we investigated the possibility of applying biochar and oyster shell to reduce Cd uptake by crops and modify soil quality. A field study based on the rice–oilseed rape rotation was done, and the treatments were comprised without amendments (PA0) and with 15 000 kg ha−1 biochar (PA1), 15 000 kg ha−1 oyster shell (PA2), and 7500 kg ha−1 biochar and 7500 kg ha−1 oyster shell (PA3). Results revealed that both oyster shell and biochar reduced the HOAc-extractable Cd in soil. Compared to PA0, the HOAc-extractable Cd in the PA1, PA2, and PA3 treatments was reduced by 4.76 %–20.79 %, 17.86 %–38.61 %, and 5.95 %–10.89 %, respectively. The cooperative application of biochar and oyster shell reduced the Cd accumulation in brown rice and oilseed by 29.67 % and 19.74 %, respectively, compared to control and thus decreased the hazard quotient (HQ) from the consumption of brown rice and oilseed. The addition of biochar slightly increased soil organic matter. In addition, the available P in the PA2 and PA3 treatments was significantly (p<0.05) increased by 200.96 %–295.92 % and 187.46 %–280.04 % compared to the control. Moreover, the cooperative application of biochar and oyster shell enhanced the activities of urease, catalase, and β-galactosidase by 139.44 %–147.56 %, 10.71 %–34.31 %, and 82.08 %–244.38 %, respectively. These results demonstrated that the utilization of biochar and oyster shell might be an effective pathway to reducing Cd uptake by crops and improving soil fertility and enzyme activities.

Titus et al. develop a technological platform for the non-invasive transdermal measurement of cardiac troponin-I, a marker of myocardial injury. Preliminary testing of their device, which works via infrared spectroscopy, indicates that troponin can be detected with reasonable performance, in the absence of a blood draw.

A high-fat diet (HFD) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Many pure compounds have been demonstrated to be effective in treating cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we investigated the alleviating effects of oral ovatodiolide and antcin K (OAK) supplements on HFD-induced cardiovascular dysfunction in apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-knockout mice. Cardiovascular dysfunction was induced in ApoE-knockout mice by feeding them an HFD for 12 weeks. The degree of cardiovascular dysfunction was assessed through echocardiography, hematological and biochemical analyses, and immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical staining. The HFD-fed mice exhibited cardiovascular dysfunction—abnormal blood biochemical index. The arterial wall tissue exhibited the marked deposition of lipids, upregulated expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and CD36 receptors, and downregulated expression of the ABCA1 receptor. Macrophages isolated from the peritoneal cavity of the mice exhibited increased levels of lipid accumulation, reactive oxygen species, and CD11b expression but reduced mitochondrial membrane potential. The expression of superoxide dismutase 2 was downregulated and that of tumor necrosis factor-α was upregulated in the myocardial tissue. Oral OAK supplements twice a day for 12 weeks significantly mitigated HFD-induced cardiovascular dysfunction in the experimental mice. Oral OAK supplements appear to be a promising strategy for treating HFD-induced cardiovascular dysfunction. The underlying mechanisms may involve the reduction of lipid accumulation in the artery and oxidative stress and inflammation in the cardiovascular tissue.

Passive films on metal surfaces provide better corrosion resistance, but they can degrade in long-term service. Here the authors demonstrate a strategy to engineer crystallographic configuration at the metal/film interface to further improve corrosion resistance.

The effects of different temperatures （80 ℃ and 130 ℃） and different vulcanization temperatures （130 ℃， 140 ℃， and 150 ℃） on volatile organic compounds （VOCs） of two natural rubbers （SVR 3 L and SPR 10#） were investigated by static headspace coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that VOCs in the two natural rubbers could be volatilized and detected at 130 ℃， and the VOCs in SVR 3 L were mainly ethanol and acetic acid， while the VOCs in SPR 10# were mainly aldehydes except for ethanol and acetic acid. Different vulcanization temperatures had little effect on total volatile organic compounds in the two natural rubbers， indicating that the high temperature and high pressure conditions in the vulcanization process could cause the volatilization or reaction of VOCs， and the VOCs of vulcanization rubber mainly came from the thermal decomposition products of vulcanization accelerators.

The global distribution of cropping intensity (CI) is essential to our understanding of agricultural land use management on Earth. Optical remote sensing has revolutionized our ability to map CI over large areas in a repeated and cost-efficient manner. Previous studies have mainly focused on investigating the spatiotemporal patterns of CI ranging from regions to the entire globe with the use of coarse-resolution data, which are inadequate for characterizing farming practices within heterogeneous landscapes. To fill this knowledge gap, in this study, we utilized multiple satellite data to develop a global, spatially continuous CI map dataset at 30 m resolution (GCI30). Accuracy assessments indicated that GCI30 exhibited high agreement with visually interpreted validation samples and in situ observations from the PhenoCam network. We carried out both statistical and spatial comparisons of GCI30 with six existing global CI estimates. Based on GCI30, we estimated that the global average annual CI during 2016–2018 was 1.05, which is close to the mean (1.09) and median (1.07) CI values of the existing six global CI estimates, although the spatial resolution and temporal coverage vary significantly among products. A spatial comparison with two satellite-based land surface phenology products further suggested that GCI30 was not only capable of capturing the overall pattern of global CI but also provided many spatial details. GCI30 indicated that single cropping was the primary agricultural system on Earth, accounting for 81.57 % (12.28×106 km2) of the world's cropland extent. Multiple-cropping systems, on the other hand, were commonly observed in South America and Asia. We found large variations across countries and agroecological zones, reflecting the joint control of natural and anthropogenic drivers on regulating cropping practices. As the first global-coverage, fine-resolution CI product, GCI30 is expected to fill the data gap for promoting sustainable agriculture by depicting worldwide diversity of agricultural land use intensity. The GCI30 dataset is available on Harvard Dataverse: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/86M4PO (Zhang et al., 2020).

ImportanceMost healthcare institutions require employees to be vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 and many also require at least one booster.ObjectiveWe determine the impact of vaccine type, demographics, and health conditions on COVID-19 vaccine side effects in healthcare professionals.DesignA COVID-19 immunity study was performed at the 2021 American Association for Clinical Chemistry Annual Scientific meeting. As part of this study, a REDCap survey with cascading questions was administered from September 9, 2021 to October 20, 2021. General questions included participant demographics, past and present health conditions, smoking, exercise, and medications. COVID-19 specific questions asked about SARS-CoV-2 vaccine status and type, vaccine-associated side effects after each dose including any boosters, previous infection with COVID-19, diagnostic testing performed, and type and severity symptoms of COVID-19.ResultsThere were 975 participants (47.1% male, median age of 50 years) who completed the survey. Pfizer was the most commonly administered vaccine (56.4%) followed by Moderna (32.0%) and Johnson & Johnson (7.1%). There were no significant differences in vaccine type received by age, health conditions, smoking, exercise, or type or number of prescription medications. Side effects were reported more frequently after second dose (e.g., Moderna or Pfizer) (54.1%) or single/only dose of Johnson & Johnson (47.8%). Males were significantly more likely to report no side effects (p < 0.001), while females were significantly more likely to report injection site reactions (p < 0.001), fatigue (p < 0.001), headache (p < 0.001), muscle pain (p < 0.001), chills (p = 0.001), fever (p = 0.007), and nausea (p < 0.001). There was a significant upward trend in participants reporting no side effects with increasing age (p < 0.001). There were no significant trends in side effects among different races, ethnicities, health conditions, medications, smoking status or exercise. In multivariate logistic regressions analyses, the second dose of Moderna was associated with a significantly higher risk of side effects than both the second dose of Pfizer and the single dose of Johnson & Johnson.Conclusions and relevanceYounger people, females, and those receiving the second dose of Moderna had more COVID-19 vaccine side effects that per self-report led to moderate to severe limitations. As reported in other studies, the increase in side effects from Moderna may be explained by higher viral mRNA concentrations but be associated with additional protective immunity.

Population-based surveys are the gold standard for estimating seroprevalence but are expensive and often only capture a small geographic area or window of time. This study describes a new platform, SCALE-IT, for serosurveillance based on algorithmic sampling of electronic health records, and uses it to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in San Francisco.

Shale pore throat is one of the key factors affecting shale oil and gas exploitation. In order to study the effect of saline on shale pore throat in the continental lacustrine basin, the paleo-salinity of the lacustrine basin was analyzed using the Couth and Sr/Ba methods, and the pore throat characteristics of shale were observed by thin section and scanning electron microscope. The saline stage is divided into five stages: freshwater (0.5‰–1‰), brackish water (1‰–5‰), brackish water (5‰–15‰), brackish water (15‰–30‰), and high saltwater (>30‰). Shale is mainly reserved in micropores (organic, intercrystalline, and intergranular pores) and microcracks (along-layer, high pressure, structural, and mineral shrinkage cracks). Paleosalinity affects the pore throat characteristics of shale by controlling the mineral composition, rock combination type, and texture. Carbonate minerals tend to dissolve and form dissolution pores, resulting in pore throat enlargement and better physical properties. When salinity is low, the content of carbonate minerals increases with the increase in salinity. However, in the case of high salinity, the content of carbonate minerals gradually decreases, but that of sulfate and gypsum increases with the increase in salinity. The texture is conducive to the development of microcracks. With the increase in salinity, the number of textures first increases and then decreases. When the content is 15 ‰–30‰, there are most abundant textures, making it most likely to form microcracks. The results of this study play an important role in promoting the study of shale in the continental lacustrine basin.

Recent progress has revealed that quantum systems with multiple position-dependent couplings, e.g., giant atoms, can exhibit some unconventional phenomena, such as non-exponential decay. However, their potential applications are still open questions. In this paper, we propose a giant-cavity-based quantum sensor for the first time, whose performance can be greatly enhanced compared to traditional cavity-based sensors. In our proposal, two cavities are coupled to a dissipative reservoir at multiple points while they couple to a gain reservoir in a single-point way. To detect an unknown parameter entering the sensor, a waveguide is coupled to one of the cavities where detecting fields can pass through for homodyne detection. We find that multiple position-dependent couplings can induce an inherent non-reciprocal coupling between the cavities, which can enhance the performance of sensors. Compared to the results in the work of Lau and Clerk, (Nat Commun, 2018, 9: 4,320), our output noise can remain at the shot noise level, which is about one order of magnitude lower. In addition, the signal-to-noise ratio per photon is also enhanced by about one order of magnitude. These results showed that the multiple-point coupling structure is beneficial to existing quantum devices.

The objective of this study was to explore the toxic effects of different heavy metals in combination with their deposition and ion homeostasis in the reproductive organs and eggs of laying hens, as well as the alleviating action of selenized yeast. A total of 160 Lohmann pink-shell laying hens (63-week-old) were randomly allocated into four treatments with 10 replicates of four hens each. The four dietary treatments were the corn-soybean meal basal dietary (control; CON); the CON dietary supplemented with 0.4 mg/kg selenium from selenized yeast (Se); the CON dietary supplemented with 5 mg/kg Cd + 50 mg/kg Pb +3 mg/kg Hg + 5 mg/kg Cr (HEM), and the HEM dietary supplemented with 0.4 mg/kg selenium from selenized yeast (HEM+Se). The dietary HEM significantly increased Cd, Pb, and Hg deposition in the egg yolk and ovary, and Cd and Hg deposition in the oviduct and in the follicular wall (p < 0.05). The HEM elevated Fe concentration in the egg yolk, ovary, and oviduct (p < 0.05). The HEM decreased Mn concentration in the egg yolk, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations in the egg white, Cu concentration in the ovary, Mg concentration in the oviduct, as well as Ca, Cu, Zn, and Mg concentrations in the follicular walls (p < 0.05). Dietary Se addition elevated Se concentration in the egg yolk, oviduct, and follicular walls and Mg concentration (p < 0.05) in the oviduct, whereas it reduced Fe concentration in the oviduct compared with the HEM-treated hens. Some positive or negative correlations among these elements were observed. Canonical Correlation Analysis showed that the concentrations of Pb and Hg in the egg yolk were positively correlated with those in the ovary. The concentration of Cd in the egg white was positively correlated with that in the oviduct. In summary, dietary Cd, Pb, Hg, and Cr in combination caused ion loss and deposition of HEM in reproductive organs of laying hens. Dietary Se addition at 0.4 mg/kg from selenized yeast alleviated the negative effects of HEM on Fe and Mg ion disorder in the oviduct and follicle wall of hens.

Here we present an update to the FaIR model for use in probabilistic future climate and scenario exploration, integrated assessment, policy analysis, and education. In this update we have focussed on identifying a minimum level of structural complexity in the model. The result is a set of six equations, five of which correspond to the standard impulse response model used for greenhouse gas (GHG) metric calculations in the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report, plus one additional physically motivated equation to represent state-dependent feedbacks on the response timescales of each greenhouse gas cycle. This additional equation is necessary to reproduce non-linearities in the carbon cycle apparent in both Earth system models and observations. These six equations are transparent and sufficiently simple that the model is able to be ported into standard tabular data analysis packages, such as Excel, increasing the potential user base considerably. However, we demonstrate that the equations are flexible enough to be tuned to emulate the behaviour of several key processes within more complex models from CMIP6. The model is exceptionally quick to run, making it ideal for integrating large probabilistic ensembles. We apply a constraint based on the current estimates of the global warming trend to a million-member ensemble, using the constrained ensemble to make scenario-dependent projections and infer ranges for properties of the climate system. Through these analyses, we reaffirm that simple climate models (unlike more complex models) are not themselves intrinsically biased “hot” or “cold”: it is the choice of parameters and how those are selected that determines the model response, something that appears to have been misunderstood in the past. This updated FaIR model is able to reproduce the global climate system response to GHG and aerosol emissions with sufficient accuracy to be useful in a wide range of applications and therefore could be used as a lowest-common-denominator model to provide consistency in different contexts. The fact that FaIR can be written down in just six equations greatly aids transparency in such contexts.

The nighttime light (NTL) satellite data have been widely used to investigate the urbanization process. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) stable nighttime light data and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) nighttime light data are two widely used NTL datasets. However, the difference in their spatial resolutions and sensor design requires a cross-sensor calibration of these two datasets for analyzing a long-term urbanization process. Different from the traditional cross-sensor calibration of NTL data by converting NPP-VIIRS to DMSP-OLS-like NTL data, this study built an extended time series (2000–2018) of NPP-VIIRS-like NTL data through a new cross-sensor calibration from DMSP-OLS NTL data (2000–2012) and a composition of monthly NPP-VIIRS NTL data (2013–2018). The proposed cross-sensor calibration is unique due to the image enhancement by using a vegetation index and an auto-encoder model. Compared with the annual composited NPP-VIIRS NTL data in 2012, our product of extended NPP-VIIRS-like NTL data shows a good consistency at the pixel and city levels with R2 of 0.87 and 0.95, respectively. We also found that our product has great accuracy by comparing it with DMSP-OLS radiance-calibrated NTL (RNTL) data in 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2010. Generally, our extended NPP-VIIRS-like NTL data (2000–2018) have an excellent spatial pattern and temporal consistency which are similar to the composited NPP-VIIRS NTL data. In addition, the resulting product could be easily updated and provide a useful proxy to monitor the dynamics of demographic and socioeconomic activities for a longer time period compared to existing products. The extended time series (2000–2018) of nighttime light data is freely accessible at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YGIVCD (Chen et al., 2020).

Objectives: The objective of this prospective study was to investigate the role of adaptive immunity in response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Design and Methods: A cohort of 677 vaccinated individuals participated in a comprehensive survey of their vaccination status and associated side effects, and donated blood to evaluate their adaptive immune responses by neutralizing antibody (NAb) and T cell responses. The cohort then completed a follow-up survey to investigate the occurrence of breakthrough infections. Results: NAb levels were the highest in participants vaccinated with Moderna, followed by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. NAb levels decreased with time after vaccination with Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. T cell responses showed no significant difference among the different vaccines and remained stable up to 10 months after the study period for all vaccine types. In multivariate analyses, NAb responses (

As a linkage among water, energy, and carbon cycles, global actual evapotranspiration (ET) plays an essential role in agriculture, water resource management, and climate change. Although it is difficult to estimate ET over a large scale and for a long time, there are several global ET datasets available with uncertainty associated with various assumptions regarding their algorithms, parameters, and inputs. In this study, we propose a long-term synthesized ET product at a kilometer spatial resolution and monthly temporal resolution from 1982 to 2019. Through a site-pixel evaluation of 12 global ET products over different time periods, land surface types, and conditions, the high-performing products were selected for the synthesis of the new dataset using a high-quality flux eddy covariance (EC) covering the entire globe. According to the study results, Penman–Monteith–Leuning (PML), the operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS, MOD16A2105), and the Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) ET products were chosen to create the synthesized ET set. The proposed product agreed well with flux EC ET over most of the all comparison levels, with a maximum relative mean error (RME) of 13.94 mm (17.13 %) and a maximum relative root mean square error (RRMSE) of 38.61 mm (47.45 %). Furthermore, the product performed better than local ET products over China, the United States, and the African continent and presented an ET estimation across all land cover classes. While no product can perform best in all cases, the proposed ET can be used without looking at other datasets and performing further assessments. Data are available on the Harvard Dataverse public repository through the following Digital Object Identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZGOUED (Elnashar et al., 2020), as well as on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) application through this link: https://elnashar.users.earthengine.app/view/synthesizedet (last access: 21 January 2021).

This paper considers an adaptive neural event-triggered control problem of the molten steel level for twin roll strip casting systems with the inclined angle. Firstly, the model is improved and simplified into an affine nonlinear system by exploiting input compensation technique. Then, an adaptive observer is established based on radial basis function neural network (RBFNN). Furthermore, an adaptive event-triggered control scheme and corresponding adaptive updated laws are designed. It is proved that the proposed control method can guarantee the system output can follow reference signal and all closed-loop signals are bounded. Finally, the validity of the control scheme is verified through semi-experimental system dynamic model.

Appropriate choice of reference genes for data normalization is of critical importance for accurate real time reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis of gene expression. Oat is an agriculturally important crop cultivated widely around the world for grain or forage, and appropriate reference genes for reliable gene expression analysis remain to be identified. In this study, we selected nine candidate reference genes based on available oat RNA-seq data. We then conducted a systematic evaluation of the relative expression stability of these genes in different tissues and under salt stress using statistical algorithms, geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper. Our findings reveal that the highest-ranked reference genes for accurate data normalization should be selected according to specific sample subsets. For different tissues, the combination of two reference genes [elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1α) and serine/threonine protein phosphatase 2] was sufficient for accurate normalization. For salt stress treatment, the combination of two reference genes (EF1α and TATA-binding protein) was sufficient for accurate normalization. Moreover, the commonly used reference genes, actin and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, were least suitable for data normalization of oat samples. Expression of a salt stress-inducible transcription factor Avena sativa WRKY2 was investigated to validate the reference genes identified in this study. This is the first systematic study of reference gene selection in cultivated oat and provides guidelines to obtain more accurate RT-qPCR results in this species.

Abstract Background Heterogeneity of prostate cancer (PCa) contributes to inaccurate cancer screening and diagnosis, unnecessary biopsies, and overtreatment. We intended to develop non-invasive urine tests for accurate PCa diagnosis to avoid unnecessary biopsies. Methods Using a machine learning program, we identified a 25-Gene Panel classifier for distinguishing PCa and benign prostate. A non-invasive test using pre-biopsy urine samples collected without digital rectal examination (DRE) was used to measure gene expression of the panel using cDNA preamplification followed by real-time qRT-PCR. The 25-Gene Panel urine test was validated in independent multi-center retrospective and prospective studies. The diagnostic performance of the test was assessed against the pathological diagnosis from biopsy by discriminant analysis. Uni- and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess its diagnostic improvement over PSA and risk factors. In addition, the 25-Gene Panel urine test was used to identify clinically significant PCa. Furthermore, the 25-Gene Panel urine test was assessed in a subset of patients to examine if cancer was detected after prostatectomy. Results The 25-Gene Panel urine test accurately detected cancer and benign prostate with AUC of 0.946 (95% CI 0.963–0.929) in the retrospective cohort (n = 614), AUC of 0.901 (0.929–0.873) in the prospective cohort (n = 396), and AUC of 0.936 (0.956–0.916) in the large combination cohort (n = 1010). It greatly improved diagnostic accuracy over PSA and risk factors (p

The paper presents our efforts on CNN-based 3D reconstruction of the Martian surface using monocular images. The Viking colorized global mosaic and Mar Express HRSC blended DEM are used as training data. An encoder-decoder network system is employed in the framework. The encoder section extracts features from the images, which includes convolution layers and reduction layers. The decoder section consists of deconvolution layers and is to integrate features and convert the images to desired DEMs. In addition, skip connection between encoder and decoder section is applied, which offers more low-level features for the decoder section to improve its performance. Monocular Context Camera (CTX) images are used to test and verify the performance of the proposed CNN-based approach. Experimental results show promising performances of the proposed approach. Features in images are well utilized, and topographical details in images are successfully recovered in the DEMs. In most cases, the geometric accuracies of the generated DEMs are comparable to those generated by the traditional technology of photogrammetry using stereo images. The preliminary results show that the proposed CNN-based approach has great potential for 3D reconstruction of the Martian surface.

Photorealistic three-dimensional (3D) models play an indispensable role in the spatial data infrastructure (SDI) of a smart city. Recent developments in aerial oblique photogrammetry, and the popularity of terrestrial mobile mapping systems (MMSs) offer possibilities for deriving 3D models with centimeter-level accuracy in urban areas. Additionally, advances in image matching and bundle adjustment have allowed 3D models derived from the integration of aerial and ground imagery to overcome typical problems related to 3D mapping in urban areas (e.g., geometric defects, blurred textures on building façades). Nevertheless, this approach may not be suitable for all scenarios owing to innate differences between each platform. Besides, MMS images may not cover regions that cannot be reached by mobile vehicles in urban areas (e.g., narrow alleys, areas far from roads). Meanwhile, backpack systems have garnered attention from the photogrammetry community in recent years due to their flexibility, and regions neglected in previous works can be adequately reconstructed from images collected by backpack systems. This paper presents an approach for effectively integrating multi-source images collected by aerial, MMS, and backpack platforms for seamless 3D mapping in urban areas. The approach includes three main steps: (1) data pre-processing, (2) combined structure-from-motion, and (3) optimal generation of a textured 3D mesh model. The experimental results using aerial, MMS, and backpack datasets collected in a typical urban area in Hong Kong demonstrate the promising performance of the proposed approach. The described work is significant for boosting various types of imagery for integrated 3D mapping in both city scale and street level to facilitate various applications.

The apparent metabolizable energy (AME), AME corrected to zero-nitrogen retention (AMEn), and net energy (NE) values of 2 corn samples both stored for 3 yr were determined in laying hens with reference diet substitution method. Reference diet was formulated according to standard layer requirement, and test diets contained 50% of corn samples and 50% of the reference diet. Fifty-four Hy-Line Brown hens at the age of 36 wk were used. The heat production and energy metabolism of birds were measured in open-circuit respiratory chambers with 6 replicates (3 birds per replicate) per diet in a randomized design. Birds were fed experimental diets for 7 D in the chamber as adaptation. During the following 3 D, feed intake, metabolizable energy value, nitrogen balance, energy balance, egg production, O2 consumption, CO2 production, and energy efficiency were determined. The AME values of corn 1 and corn 2 were 3,485 and 3,675 kcal/kg DM, respectively. The corresponding AMEn values were 3,452 and 3,596 kcal/kg DM, and the NE values were 2,575 and 2,693 kcal/kg DM, respectively. The NE:AME ratios of corn 1 and corn 2 were 74.4 and 73.3%, respectively. The NE:AMEn ratios of corn 1 and corn 2 were 75.0 and 74.9%, respectively. The AME, AMEn, and NE values of the 2 corn samples both stored for 3 yr were lower than the literature values for fresh corn.

This paper presents a review of lunar topographic mapping in the two decades of the 21st century, including descriptions of lunar exploration missions, relevant payloads and data, mapping techniques, as well as global and regional mapping products. Various lunar photogrammetric mapping techniques such as construction of geometric models of lunar orbital images, block adjustments, shape from shading, co-registration of lunar orbital image and elevation data have been developed to process lunar orbital images and generate mapping products. Global topographic products at hectometer and decameter scales have been produced from orbital images and/or laser altimeter data. Regional topographic maps of the landing sites and other sites of interest have been generated at meter-scale using the sub-meter to meter resolution orbital images. Detailed local topographic products at centimeter to millimeter scales of the landing sites and rover traverse areas have been produced using descent images acquired by the landers and stereo images acquired by the rovers. These multiple-scale topographic mapping products have been extensively used to support various science applications, as well as engineering applications such as surface operations of the rovers.

Impact craters are the predominant geomorphological features on the lunar surface. They can be studied to infer the ages of the lunar surfaces, the generation processes of the geological units, and the sequences of its geological events. Lunar crater-related research is dependent on crater records, which are usually stored in the form of crater catalogues. In the past, various efforts have been dedicated to generating global lunar crater catalogues. All published global catalogues, however, either contain only relatively large craters or lack 3D morphological information. This paper first presents approaches for automatic crater detection and the extraction of crater morphological information. The approaches have been performed on the lunar global datasets, e.g., digital elevation models (DEMs) and images, resulting in a global catalogue of lunar craters. To guarantee the reliability of the crater detection results, intensive manual-checking processes have been performed to improve the correctness and completeness of the catalogue. The generated global catalogue contains entries on 1.31 million lunar craters. It extends the existing global catalogues to craters with diameters &geq;1 km and enriched with 3D morphological information of craters. Global analyses of craters were conducted based on the newly generated catalogue, including the analysis of crater density and depth-to-diameter ratio. We re-examined the previously observed distributions and patterns to show its fidelity and further explored other global relationships, which have not been discovered in previous research. The results updated the clues on impact cratering process and terrain differences. The developed global catalogue of lunar craters can be utilised for different applications by the research community, and the relevant research will help to enrich the literature and facilitate the advancement of crater-related planetary science.

Automatic 3D building reconstruction from laser scanning or photogrammetric point clouds has gained increasing attention in the past two decades. Although many efforts have been made, the complexity of buildings and incompletion of point clouds, i.e., data missing, still make it a challenging task for automatic 3D reconstruction of buildings in large-scale urban scenes with various architectural styles. This paper presents an innovative approach for automatic generation of 3D models of complex buildings from even incomplete point clouds. The approach first decomposes the 3D space into multiple space units, including 3D polyhedral cells, facets and edges, where the facets and edges are also encoded with topological-relation constraints. Then, the units and constraints are used together to approximate the buildings. On one hand, by extracting facets from 3D cells and further extracting edges from facets, this approach simplifies complicated topological computations. On the other hand, because this approach models buildings on the basis of polyhedral cells, it can guarantee that the models are manifold and watertight and avoid correcting topological errors. A challenging dataset containing 105 buildings acquired in Central, Hong Kong, was used to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The results were compared with two previous methods and the comparisons suggested that the proposed approach outperforms other methods in terms of robustness, regularity, and accuracy of the models, with an average root-mean-square error of less than 0.9 m. The proposed approach is of significance for automatic 3D modelling of buildings for urban applications.