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Abstract The contradiction between the demand of urban economic development and ecological environmental protection is becoming more and more prominent, and the reasonable construction of ecological corridors is of great significance for the protection of urban ecosystems. Taking Changle District of Fuzhou coastal city as an example, this study proposes an ecological source identification method from the perspective of “structure-function” by combining Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) and Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) methods, and constructs and optimizes ecological corridors by means of the model of Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) and Circuit Theory. The results show that: (1) a total of 20 ecological sources were extracted based on MSPA-RSEI; (2) a total of 31 ecological corridors were extracted based on Linkage Mapper, including 8 Level 1 corridors, 13 Level 2 corridors, and 10 Level 3 corridors; (3) the Pinch Point and Barrier Mapper software was utilized to identify 6.01 km2 and 2.59 km2, respectively, as Level 1 “pinch points” and barrier points within the study area. The land use types of these areas were as follows: The majority of “pinch points” were forested (60.72%), while the majority of barrier points were composed of construction land (55.27%), bare land (17.27%), and cultivated land (13.90%). (4) the optimal width of the corridor was determined by using the buffer zone method and gradient analysis: 30 m for the Level 1 corridor, 60 m for the Level 2 and Level 3 corridors, and the average current density before and after the construction of the eco-corridor was increased from 0.1881 to 0.4992. The results of the study can provide a reference for the decision-making of the ecological construction of the Changle District and the coastal urban areas of eastern China.

Abstract Aqueous rechargeable batteries using abundant multi‐ion cations have received increasing attention in the energy storage field for their high safety and low cost. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) possess a two‐dimensional structure and exhibit great potential as cathodes for multi‐ion intercalation. However, the insufficient active sites of LDHs result in low capacities in the discharging process. Interestingly, the LDHs after the deprotonation process exhibit favorable electrochemical performance of multi‐cation intercalation. The deprotonation process of LDHs has been widely found in the oxygen evolution reaction and energy storage field, where LDHs lose H in laminates and converts to deprotonated γ‐phase MOOHs (MOOs). Herein, we take a comprehensive overview of the dynamics structure transformation of the deprotonation process of LDHs. Furthermore, the development of advanced aqueous battery cathode and metal battery anode based on deprotonated LDHs for energy storage is explored and summarized. Finally, the perspective of deprotonated LDHs in the energy storage field is discussed.

Abstract Selenium (Se), the world's oldest optoelectronic material, has been widely applied in various optoelectronic devices such as commercial X‐ray flat‐panel detectors and photovoltaics. However, despite the rare and widely‐dispersed nature of Se element, a sustainable recycling of Se and other valuable materials from spent Se‐based devices has not been developed so far. Here a sustainable strategy is reported that makes use of the significantly higher vapor pressure of volatile Se compared to other functional layers to recycle all of them from end‐of‐life Se‐based devices through a closed‐space evaporation process, utilizing Se photovoltaic devices as a case study. This strategy results in high recycling yields of ≈ 98% for Se and 100% for other functional materials including valuable gold electrodes and glass/FTO/TiO2 substrates. The refabricated photovoltaic devices based on these recycled materials achieve an efficiency of 12.33% under 1000‐lux indoor illumination, comparable to devices fabricated using commercially sourced materials and surpassing the current indoor photovoltaic industry standard of amorphous silicon cells.

Under the new demand model of Agriculture 4.0, automated spraying is a very complex task in precision agriculture, which needs to be combined with a computerized vision perception system to distinguish the plant leaf density and execute the spraying operation in real-time accordingly. Aiming at the accurate determination of grape leaf density, an image leaf density determination method based on the lightweight Vision Transformer (ViT) architecture is proposed, which designs a fusion data augmentation method containing a dual augmentation spatial extension and weather data augmentation method, where the former adopts the pixel augmentation and spatial augmentation for the original image processing, and the latter realizes the data augmentation from the empirical point of view adapted to the agricultural operation environment, and fuses the two in order to expand the sample capacity of the grape leaf density image, which then enhances the model's generalization ability and robustness. The lightweight ViT model has self-attention that can automatically and efficiently extract high-frequency local feature representations and use the two-branch structure to mix high-frequency and low-frequency information to form grapevine-leaf density features in the region of interest. The semantic analysis of the feature extraction layer is parsed using t-SNE and histogram methods, which improves the transparency of the model from the multidimensional with frequency domain distribution space. The experimental results show that the fusion data augmentation method can effectively improve the model recognition accuracy, and the accuracy of comparing the included data augmentation methods is improved by 0.55 % and 3.46 %, respectively. The accuracy of recognizing all four types of grape leaf densities exceeded 94 %, and the MCC reached 90.39 %. In addition, the proposed lightweight ViT improves the accuracy by at least 0.34 % with FLOPs of only 0.6 G compared to the popular MobileViT. The proposed method of this work has high recognition speed and accuracy, which can provide practical technical support for plant protection spraying robots and improve the profitability of growers based on the reduction of pesticide residues.

Abstract Urban street greening is an important part of urban green infrastructure, and Green View Index (GVI) is widely used to assess urban street quality and ecosystem service value as an important indicator to quantify the perception of green street landscape from a pedestrian perspective. However, the distribution of street greenery is imbalanced. Therefore, to explore the differences in street greening levels within urban cities, we crawled streetscape data using the Internet to assess the spatial distribution patterns of urban street GVI using deep learning and spatial autocorrelation, and combined 11 surrounding environmental features with multi-source geographic data to further analyze the key factors influencing the spatial variation of block GVI using ordinary least squares, geographically weighted regression (GWR) models, and multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) models. The results show that the mean value of GVI in Fuzhou city is low (23.08%), with large differences among neighborhoods and a significant spatial autocorrelation. Among the regression models, MGWR has the best fit with an R2 of 0.702, where the variables of NDVI, house price, accessibility of water bodies and parks, and the proportion of built-up land have a greater impact on GVI, and the factors do not have the same spatial effect size. The results can provide a scientific basis for promoting green visual equity in different blocks.

ABSTRACTWomen’s health encompasses life-course healthcare, and mounting evidence emphasizes the pivotal contribution of gut microbiota. Therefore, understanding the temporal dynamics of gut microbiota and how age influences disease-gut microbiota associations is essential for improving women’s health. By analyzing metagenomic data from 3625 healthy women, we revealed significant effects of age on gut microbiota and age-dependent patterns in microbial features, such as relative abundance, Shannon index, and microbial network properties. Additionally, declining trends in the predictive accuracy of gut microbiota for age groups were shown using iterative sub-sampling based random forest (ISSRF) model. Age-specific species markers were also identified, many of which were shared across age groups. To investigate the influence of age on disease-gut microbiota associations, metagenomic data from 681 women with various disease conditions and 491 matched healthy controls were collected. A substantial proportion of species markers for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), type 2 diabetes (T2D), atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD), and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) differed in relative abundance across age groups, and were also age-specific species markers. Besides, the microbiota-based probabilities of IBD and ACVD were positively correlated with age. Furthermore, the age specificity of disease-gut microbiota associations was explored using the ISSRF model. Associations between IBD and gut microbiota were age-specific, with reduced stability of disease species markers in childhood and adolescence, possibly due to decrease in the effect size between patients and controls. Our findings provided valuable insights into promoting healthy aging and developing personalized healthcare strategies for women.

Summary: The efficient functioning and stability of a perovskite photoactive layer are paramount to the performance of solar cell devices. Here, we present a protocol for the synthesis of a high-performance exemplified methylammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3PbI3 or MAPbI3) perovskite photoactive layer. We describe steps for preparing the requisite ratios of the precursor powders, synthesizing MAPbI3 single crystals, and selecting a suitable preparation technique. We then detail a flexible doping strategy for the perovskite photoactive layer.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wang and Wu (2020, 2022, 2023).1,2,3 : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

The goal of the research was to find alternative protein sources for animal farming that are efficient and cost-effective. The researchers focused on distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), a co-product of bioethanol production that is rich in protein but limited in its use as a feed ingredient due to its high non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) content, particularly for monogastric animals. The analysis of the Paenibacillus pabuli E1 genome revealed the presence of 372 genes related to Carbohydrate-Active enzymes (CAZymes), with 98 of them associated with NSPs degrading enzymes that target cellulose, hemicellulose, and pectin. Additionally, although lignin is not an NSP, two lignin-degrading enzymes were also examined because the presence of lignin alongside NSPs can hinder the catalytic effect of enzymes on NSPs. To confirm the catalytic ability of the degrading enzymes, an in vitro enzyme activity assay was conducted. The results demonstrated that the endoglucanase activity reached 5.37 U/mL, while beta-glucosidase activity was 4.60 U/mL. The filter paper experiments did not detect any reducing sugars. The xylanase and beta-xylosidase activities were measured at 11.05 and 4.16 U/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the pectate lyase and pectin lyase activities were found to be 8.19 and 2.43 U/mL, respectively. The activities of laccase and MnP were determined as 1.87 and 4.30 U/mL, respectively. The researchers also investigated the effect of P. pabuli E1 on the degradation of NSPs through the solid-state fermentation of DDGS. After 240 h of fermentation, the results showed degradation rates of 11.86% for hemicellulose, 11.53% for cellulose, and 8.78% for lignin. Moreover, the crude protein (CP) content of DDGS increased from 26.59% to 30.59%. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that P. pabuli E1 possesses various potential NSPs degrading enzymes that can effectively eliminate NSPs in feed. This process improves the quality and availability of the feed, which is important for animal farming as it seeks alternative protein sources to replace traditional nutrients.

Groundwater is of important ecological value. The changes in groundwater level, water quality, water content and salt content in the unsaturated zone in groundwater ecosystems drive the evolution of supergene ecological pattern. So far, the research on the ecological threshold of each variable is still at the starting stage, and the theoretical and methodological system is not perfect. In this study the Baoding Plain is taken as an example, and the driving force and ecological effect of groundwater level changes are analyzed from the perspective of time and space by using the historical regression method, GIS method and difference grid calculation method of groundwater levels and groundwater ecological environments. On this basis, the ecological water level thresholds of different hydrogeological units are determined. The results show that: (1) In the 1950s-60s, the ecological pattern of the study area depending on groundwater basically maintained a natural state; from 1959 to 2000, the groundwater levels continued to decline, and the groundwater depression cones appeared in some areas. From 2000 to 2008, the groundwater levels dropped sharply, the groundwater depression cones expanded rapidly, and the recharge and discharge relationship between groundwater and surface water changed. Since 2008, groundwater levels have gradually increased in some regions. (2) The depth of groundwater ecological water level in the piedmont zone of the study area is 10–15 m deep, the Juma River alluvial fan group and Cao River-Pu River alluvial fan group are 5–10 m, the Tang-Dasha River alluvial fan group is 3–5 m, the Dingzhou-Wangdu area in the alluvial plain is 3–5 m, the city of Baoding is about 10–15 m, and the rest are 5–10 m. The area around the alluvial lacustrine plain is less than 3 m. (3) Taking the determined ecological groundwater level as the standard, it is preliminarily estimated that the water demand for restoring the current groundwater level to the ecological water level in the study area is 57.14×108 m3. The research results are of important significance for restoring the local groundwater ecological environment pattern and for determining the ecological groundwater level in the North China Plain.

Abstract Background To assess the interaction of sleep duration and depression on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods A total of 13,488 eligible participants were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study eventually. Baseline characteristics were extracted from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) database, including age, sex, diabetes, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), blood glucose (GLU), glycosylated hemoglobin (GHB) etc. Univariate and multivariate negative binomial regression models were carried out to assess the statistical correlation of sleep duration and depression on CVD separately. Additionally, multivariate negative binomial regression model was used to estimate the interaction of sleep duration and depression on CVD risk. Results After adjusting for age, sex, educational background, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, the use of hypnotics, disability, nap, drinking, deposit, sleep disturbance, HDL, triglyceride, total cholesterol, GLU and GHB, the risk of CVD in participants with the short sleep duration was increased in comparison with the normal sleep duration [relative risk (RR)=1.02, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.01-1.03]; compared to the participants with non-depression, participants suffered from depression had an increased risk of CVD (RR=1.05, 95%CI:1.04-1.06). Additionally, the result also suggested that the interaction between short sleep duration and depression on the risk of CVD was statistically significant in these patients with diabetes and was a multiplicative interaction. Conclusion An interaction between short sleep duration and depression in relation to an increased risk of CVD among Chinese middle-aged and elderly individuals was noticed, which may provide a reference that people with diabetes should focus on their sleep duration and the occurrence of depression, and coexisting short sleep duration and depression may expose them to a higher risk of CVD.

The perovskite lattice strain correlating to its physical chemistry not only impacts the optoelectronic properties but also the long‐term stability. The relaxation of perovskite lattice strain has been recognized as an important pathway to improve photovoltaic performance and broaden the application scope. With the growth of research interest and the thriving of synthetical approaches in strain engineering, it is particularly necessary to summarize the current strategies to give an in‐depth understanding of the relaxation of lattice strain. Herein, the milestones in strain relaxation studies are summarized and the theoretical simulation and methodological approach to correlate the crystal structure and physical properties at an atomic level is outlined. This perspective provides fundamentals to theoretically predict and experimentally measure the strain relaxation effect and suggests design principles and synthetical strategies for tackling the lattice strain issue for perovskites.

Abstract Room temperature liquid NaK alloy is a promising candidate for high performance metal batteries, due to its dendrite‐free property and high energy density. However, its practical application is hindered by the high surface tension of liquid NaK, which causes difficulties in maintaining a stable contact with a current collector. Here, the authors demonstrate the extraordinary stable confinement of NaK alloy at room temperature by constructing a super‐wetting substrate, which is based on highly dispersed cobalt‐single‐atom carbon nanoarrays. The developed liquid anode electrode prevented successfully the leakage of NaK alloy even in harsh stress (>5 MPa) or sharp shock conditions. The symmetric cells achieved ultra‐long reversible plating/stripping cycling life in both Na‐ion (>1010 hrs) and K‐ion electrolytes (>4000 hrs) at 10 mA cm−2/10 mAh cm−2. Upon fitting with Na3V2(PO4)3, the NaK assembled full battery provided high energy density (332.6 kWh kg−1) and power density (11.05 kW kg−1) with excellent stability after >21600 cycles, which is the best value reported so far. The prepared pouch cell was able to drive a four‐axis aircraft, demonstrating a great prospect in practical application. This work offers a new approach in the preparation of advanced dendrite‐free liquid metal anodes with promising applications in electrochemical energy storage.

2D materials (TDMs) have demonstrated their great potential as functional materials in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) to boost conversion efficiency. As a versatile TDM, g‐C3N4 has far less applications in PSCs than in medical science, energy storage, supercapacitors, and catalysis. Is 2D g‐C3N4 naturally incompatible with perovskites limiting their cooperation? Herein, the capacity of two kinds of triazine‐based g‐C3N4 as interfacial modifiers for CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) perovskite based on density functional theory is discussed. Due to the existence of two feasible atomically exposed surfaces in MAPbI3 perovskite, denoted as PbI and MAI interfaces, four heterojunction structures are constructed. The interfacial carrier transport kinetics and charge recombination region distribution of the heterojunctions are systematically investigated. The results show that the NPCN/MAI heterojunction facilitates the separation and transport of charges due to its type‐II energy band alignment and smaller charge recombination region. Herein, a promising interface‐modified 2D material for perovskite photoactive layer is introduced and an avenue to reduce the charge recombination loss in PSCs is provided.

The Tianjin coastal region in Bohai Bay, Northern China, is increasingly affected by storm-surge flooding which is exacerbated by anthropogenic land subsidence and global sea-level rise (SLR). We use a combination of synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR), continuous GPS (CGPS), and tide-gauge observations to evaluate the spatial variability of relative SLR (RSLR) along the coastline of Tianjin. Land motion obtained by integration of 2 tracks of Sentinel-1 SAR images and 19 CGPS stations shows that the recent land subsidence in Tianjin downtown is less than 8 mm/yr, which has significantly decreased with respect to the last 50 years (up to 110 mm/yr in the 1980s). This might benefit from the South-to-North Water Transfer Project which has provided more than 1.8 billion cubic meters of water for Tianjin city since 2014 and reduced groundwater consumption. However, subsidence centers have shifted to suburbs, especially along the coastline dominated by reclaimed harbors and aquaculture industry, with localized subsidence up to 170 mm/yr. Combining InSAR observations with sea level records from tide-gauge stations reveals spatial variability of RSLR along the coastline. We find that, in the aquaculture zones along the coastline, the rates of land subsidence are as high as 82 mm/yr due to groundwater extraction for fisheries, which subsequently cause local sea levels to rise nearly 30 times faster than the global average. New insights into land subsidence and local SLR could help the country's regulators to make decisions on ensuring the sustainable development of the coastal aquaculture industry.

Abstract Background Pediatric patients with genetic disorders have a higher incidence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) regardless of their heart defects. Filamin A (FLNA) mutation is recently recognized to be associated with pediatric pulmonary disorders, however, the clinical courses of PAH related to the mutation were reported in limited cases. Here, we presented a case and pooled data for better understanding of the correlation between FLNA mutation and pediatric PAH. Case presentation The patient was a 8-month-old female with repeated episodes of pneumonia. Physical examination revealed cleft lip, cleft palate and developmental retardation. Imaging examination showed a small atrial septal defect (ASD), central pulmonary artery enlargement, left upper lobe of lung atelectasis, and pulmonary infiltration. Genetic test showed she carried a de novo pathogenic variant of FLNA gene (c.5417-1G > A, p.-). Oral medications didn’t slow the progression of PAH in the patient, and she died two years later. Conclusions FLNA mutation causes rare but progressive PAH in addition to a wide spectrum of congenital heart disease and other comorbidities in pediatric patients. We highly recommend genetic testing for pediatric patients when suspected with PAH. Given the high mortality in this group, lung transplantation may offer a better outcome.

Abstract Germline disease-causing variants are generally more spatially clustered in protein 3-dimensional structures than benign variants. Motivated by this tendency, we develop a fast and powerful protein-structure-based scan (PSCAN) approach for evaluating gene-level associations with complex disease and detecting signal variants. We validate PSCAN’s performance on synthetic data and two real data sets for lipid traits and Alzheimer’s disease. Our results demonstrate that PSCAN performs competitively with existing gene-level tests while increasing power and identifying more specific signal variant sets. Furthermore, PSCAN enables generation of hypotheses about the molecular basis for the associations in the context of protein structures and functional domains.

The fast start of fish is a rapid event that involves fast actuation in musculature and highly unsteady hydrodynamics. Fast-start capability is of great significance for fish to either hunt prey or escape from predators. In this study, we used a three-dimensional CFD model to study the hydrodynamics of a crucian carp during a C-type fast start. This study confirms the previous observations from both experiments and simulations that the jets are induced by the fast start for force generation, and the vortex rings generated in both the preparation and propulsion stages connect to each other. In addition, an obvious vortex ring generated by the head during the propulsion stage was observed, which potentially benefits the rotational motion during the fast start. According to the hydrodynamic information from CFD modeling, we established a model to analyze the internal torque, which represents the muscular actuation. The backward traveling speed of internal torque is 1.56 times the curvature speed, which confirms the existence of neuromechanical phase lag during the fast start of fish. This study potentially benefits the design of robot fish in terms of kinematics and driving mode.

The carbon emission of fuel vehicles is a major consideration that affects the dual carbon goal in urban traffic. The problem of “difficult parking and disorderly parking” in static traffic can easily lead to traffic congestion, an increase in vehicle exhaust emissions, and air pollution. In particulate, when vehicles make an invalid detour and wait for parking with long hours, it often causes extra energy consumption and carbon emission. In this paper, adding a weather influence feature, a short-term parking occupancy rate prediction algorithm based on the long short-term model (LSTM) is proposed. The data used in this model is from Melbourne public data sets, and parking occupancy rates are predicted through historical parking data, weather information, and location information. At the same time, three commonly prediction models, i.e., simple LSTM model, multiple linear regression model (MLR), and support vector regression (SVR), are also used as comparison models. Taking MAE and RMSE as evaluation indexes, the parking occupancy rate during 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min are predicted. The experimental results show that the improved LSTM method achieves better accuracy and stability in the prediction of parking lots. The average MAE and RMSE of the proposed LSTM prediction during intervals of 10 min, 20 min, and 30 min with the weather influence feature algorithm is lower than that of simple LSTM, MLR and that of SVR.

Pulmonary hypertension is a chronic disease developing progressively with high mortality. Pulmonary hypertension patients need persistent medical care; however, limited reports focused on them when there was an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. This national survey was aimed to evaluate the overall condition of pulmonary hypertension patients during this period. A questionnaire regarding the living condition of pulmonary hypertension patients during coronavirus disease 2019 was designed by pulmonary hypertension diagnostic experts in Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital. Pulmonary hypertension patients and their family members were invited to participate in this survey online. One-hundred twenty pulmonary hypertension patients and 23 family members participated in the survey; 64.8% ( n = 87) participants came from Hubei, and others were from 15 other provinces; 98.6% ( n = 141) participants were in home quarantine; 65.8% ( n = 79) were pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease; and 76.7% ( n = 92) patients proclaimed their heart function was well maintained at class I or II. One (0.8%) patient was confirmed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Two (1.7%) patients were hospitalized due to heart function worsening. Nearly 70% ( n = 100) participants implied shortage in medications during coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak. A total of 24.2% ( n = 29) patients indicated that medications were discontinued due to the insufficient supply. Most of the participants stayed optimistic on either coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak or their pulmonary hypertension disease, and 61.7% ( n = 74) patients would go to the hospital for follow-up immediately after outbreak. These preliminary data show pulmonary hypertension patients are able to avoid severe disease when they are in home quarantine. Medication supplement is important for pulmonary hypertension patients when their heart function is well maintained. In addition, there might be increasing requirements of medical care for pulmonary hypertension patients after the outbreak.

How muscles are used is a key to understanding the internal driving of fish swimming. However, the underlying mechanisms of some features of the muscle activation patterns and their differential appearance in different species are still obscure. In this study, we explain the muscle activation patterns by using 3D computational fluid dynamics models coupled to the motion of fish with prescribed deformation and examining the torque and power required along the fish body with two primary swimming modes. We find that the torque required by the hydrodynamic forces and body inertia exhibits a wave pattern that travels faster than the curvature wave in both anguilliform and carangiform swimmers, which can explain the traveling wave speeds of the muscle activations. Notably, intermittent negative power (i.e., power delivered by the fluid to the body) on the posterior part, along with a timely transfer of torque and energy by tendons, explains the decrease in the duration of muscle activation towards the tail. The torque contribution from the body elasticity further clarifies the wave speed increase or the reverse of the wave direction of the muscle activation on the posterior part of a carangiform swimmer. For anguilliform swimmers, the absence of the aforementioned changes in the muscle activation on the posterior part is consistent with our torque prediction and the absence of long tendons from experimental observations. These results provide novel insights into the functions of muscles and tendons as an integral part of the internal driving system, especially from an energy perspective, and they highlight the differences in the internal driving systems between the two primary swimming modes.