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Asymmetrical heptamethine cyanine with near-infrared (NIR) absorption has been used for photothermal therapy (PTT) of cancer. Aiming to overcome the drawbacks caused by the high temperature of PTT, the development of asymmetrical heptamethine cyanine with photothermal and photodynamic properties is still an attractive strategy. Different from the traditional method of the heavy atom effect, in this work, the carboxyl or sulfonic groups were introduced into the indole ring or branch chain of asymmetrical heptamethine cyanine to afford a series of new phototherapy agents. Compared with the sulfonic group (BHS-Et, SY-SO

Cysteine is an essential amino acid for humans and can be generated from the conversion of methionine or the interconversions with cystine. The detection of cysteine in the living system is of great importance for the diagnosis of related diseases. Based on the classical cysteine response mechanism, the sulfhydryl group of cysteine undergoes Michael addition with the acrylate to rapidly respond to form a seven-membered ring that specifically recognizes cysteine. In the present work, we designed a novel ratiometric fluorescent probe N-1, which contained the benzo[cd]indol fluorophore and the response group acrylate. As the concentration of cysteine increased, the fluorescence of I

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is an important vegetable crop that is popular with many people. Peel gloss is a highly valued external quality trait that affects the market value of cucumbers, and it directly influences the purchasing psychology of consumers. Nonetheless, the candidate genes and underlying genetic mechanism for this important cucumber trait are not well understood. In this study, we successfully mapped a fruit skin gloss QTL interval to chromosome 3 (26.04–26.14 Mb) using BSA and GWAS methods. Among the eleven candidate genes in the interval, the cytochrome P450 family gene CsCYP86B1 was identified as the candidate for control of fruit skin gloss in cucumber. The expression of CsCYP86B1 in 0-day fruit skin was significantly lower in the low-gloss isogenic line NIL-1334 than in the high-gloss isogenic line NIL-1325. Our findings provide new insights for improving fruit skin gloss in cucumber breeding. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-022-01291-y.

Background: Cucumber is an important melon crop in the world, with different skin colors. However, the candidate genes and the underlying genetic mechanism for such an important trait in cucumber are unknown. In this study, a locus controlling fruit skin color was found on chromosome 3 of cucumber genome.Results: In this study, the light green inbred line G35 and the dark green inbred line Q51 were used as parents to construct an F2 population. On chromosome 3, we identified a major QTL CsFS1 (Fruit skin 1). We further narrowed down the CsFS1 locus to a 94-kb interval containing 15 candidate genes. Among these genes, Csa3G912920, which encodes a GATA transcription factor, was expressed at a higher level in the pericarp of the NIL-1334 line (with light-green fruit skin) than in that of the NIL-1325 line (with dark-green fruit skin). This study provides a new allele for the improvement of cucumber fruit skin color.Conclusion: A major QTL that controls fruit skin color in cucumber, CsFS1, was identified in a 94-kb region that harbors the strong candidate gene CsGATA1.

Background Cucumber is an important melon crop in the world, with different pericarp colors. However, the candidate genes and the underlying genetic mechanism for such an important trait in cucumber are unknown. In this study, a locus controlling pericarp color was found on chromosome 3 of cucumber genome. Results In this study, the light green inbred line G35 and the dark green inbred line Q51 were crossed to produce one F2 population. Consequently, we identified a major locus CsPC1 (Pericarp color 1). Next, we mapped the CsPC1 locus to a 94-kb region chromosome 3 which contains 15 genes. Among these genes, Csa3G912920, which encodes a GATA transcription factor, was expressed at a higher level in the pericarp of the NIL-1334 line (with light-green pericarp) than in that of the NIL-1325 line (with dark-green pericarp). This study provides a new allele for the improvement of cucumber pericarp color. Conclusion A major QTL that controls pericarp color in cucumber, CsPC1, was identified in a 94-kb region that harbors the strong candidate gene CsGATA1.

This paper investigates how to better track and deliver dependency in dependency-based cores to exploit instruction-level parallelism (ILP) as much as possible. To this end, we first propose an analytical performance model for the state-of-art dependency-based core, Forwardflow, and figure out two vital factors affecting its upper bound of performance. Then we propose Omegaflow,a dependency-based architecture adopting three new techniques, which respond to the discovered factors. Experimental results show that Omegaflow improves IPC by 24.6% compared to the state-of-the-art design, approaching the performance of the OoO architecture with an ideal scheduler (94.4%) without increasing the clock cycle and consumes only 8.82% more energy than Forwardflow.

Additional file 4: Table S4. Detailed multiplex PCR Primers of the Markers.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a seamless autonomous navigation method based on the motion constraint of the mobile robot, which is able to meet the practical need of maintaining the navigation accuracy during global positioning system (GPS) outages. Design/methodology/approach The seamless method uses the motion constraint of the mobile robot to establish the filter model of the system, in which the virtual observation about the speed is used to overcome the shortage of the navigation accuracy during GPS outages. The corresponding motion constraint model of the mobile robot is established. The proposed seamless navigation scheme includes two parts: the micro inertial navigation system (MINS)/GPS-integrated filter model and the motion constraint filter model. When the satellite signals are good, the system works on the MINS/GPS-integrated mode. If some obstacles block the GPS signals, the motion constraint measurement equation will be effective so as to improve the navigation accuracy of the mobile robot. Findings Three different vehicle tests of the mobile robot show that the seamless navigation method can overcome the shortage of the navigation accuracy during GPS outages, so as to improve the navigation performance in practical applications. Originality/value A seamless navigation system based on the motion constraint of the mobile robot is proposed to overcome the shortage of the navigation accuracy during GPS outages, thus improving the adaptability of the robot navigation.

The process of the transfer alignment for the shipborne inertial navigation system is greatly affected by its external environment. Under the entire influence of its external environment, the structure of the ship will be deformated. First of all, the flexural deformation is analyzed in the environment of the engine vibration and the impact of waves, taking the lever arm effect into consideration. Secondly, the specific force integration matching scheme which is suitable to the moving of carriers in the environment of the low speed is adopted in order to accomplish transfer alignment between master and slave inertial navigation system. Thirdly, a method has been well designed to improve the Kalman filter techniques based on the extended state observer. The usage of the method makes it possible to estimate the disturbance of the uncertain model and realizes dynamic feedback linearization in the inertial navigation system for ship during the process of transfer alignment. Finally, the above theoretical analyses are verified through simulation.

Background Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F.H. Chen is a traditional medicinal plant widely used to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. Ginsenoside Rd (GRd) is a major bioactive component of P. notoginseng, but specific effects on cardiovascular disease-related pathogenic processes are rarely studied, especially vascular endothelial injury. Purpose This study investigated the potential protective efficacy of GRd against nicotine-induced vascular endothelial cell injury, disruption of vascular nitric oxide (NO) signaling, aberrant endothelium–monocyte adhesion, platelet aggregation, and vasoconstriction. Study design/Methods Vascular endothelial injury and functional disruption were investigated in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) by biochemical assays for nitric oxide (NO) and angiotensin II (Ang II), immunofluorescence (IF) and western blotting for expression analyses of apoptosis- related proteins, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), Ang II type receptor 1 (AGTR1), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB). In addition, vascular protection by GRd was examined in nicotine-administered Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by serum NO and Ang II assays, and by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and immunostaining of aorta. We also examined effects of GRd on monocyte (THP-1 cells) adhesion assays, adenosine diphosphate (ADP)-induced platelet aggregation, and phenylephrine (PE)-induced vasoconstriction of isolated rat aortic rings. Results In HUVECs, nicotine significantly suppressed NO production, enhanced Ang II production, downregulated eNOS expression, and upregulated expression levels of AGTR1, TLR4, MyD88, NF-κB, iNOS, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, cleaved caspase-3, and cytochrome c (cyt c). All of these changes were significantly reversed by GRd. In rats, oral GRd reversed the reduction NO and enhanced Ang II production in serum induced by nicotine administration, and HE staining revealed protection of aortic endothelial cells. In addition, GRd reversed nicotine-mediated enhancement of HUVECs-monocyte adhesion, inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation and PE-induced vasoconstriction. Conclusion GRd may prevent nicotine-induced cardiovascular diseases by preserving normal vascular endothelial NO signaling, suppressing platelet aggregation and vasoconstriction, and by preventing endothelial cell–monocyte adhesion.

Simultaneous multithreading (SMT) technology improves CPU throughput, but also causes unpredictable performance fluctuations for co-located workloads. Although recent major SMT processors have adopted some techniques to promote hardware support for quality-of-service (QoS), achieving both precise performance control and high throughput on SMT architectures is still a challenging open problem. In this paper, we perform some comprehensive experiments on real SMT systems and cycle-accurate simulators. From these experiments, we observe that almost all in-core resources may suffer from severe contention as workloads vary. We consider this observation as the fundamental reason leading to the challenging problem above. Thus, we introduce QoSMT, a novel hardware scheme that leverages a closed-loop controlling mechanism to enforce precise performance control for specific targets, e.g. achieving 85%, 90% or 95% of the performance of a workload running alone respectively. We implement a prototype on GEM5 simulator. Experimental results show that the control error is only 1.4%, 0.5% and 3.6%.

Soil and atmospheric water deficits have significant influences on CO2 and energy exchanges between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems. Model parameterization significantly affects the ability of a model to simulate carbon, water, and energy fluxes. In this study, an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) and observations of gross primary productivity (GPP) and latent heat (LE) fluxes were used to optimize model parameters significantly affecting the calculation of these fluxes for a subtropical coniferous plantation in southeastern China. The optimized parameters include the maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax), the slope in the modified Ball-Berry model (M) and the coefficient determining the sensitivity of stomatal conductance to atmospheric water vapor deficit (D0). Optimized Vcmax and M showed larger variations than D0. Seasonal variations of Vcmax and M were more pronounced than the variations between the two years. Vcmax and M were associated with soil water content (SWC). During dry periods, SWC at the 20 cm depth explained 61% and 64% of variations of Vcmax and M, respectively. EnKF parameter optimization improved the simulations of GPP, LE and SH, mainly during dry periods. After parameter optimization using EnKF, the variations of GPP, LE and SH explained by the model increased by 1% to 4% at half-hourly steps and by 3% to 5% at daily time steps. Further efforts are needed to differentiate the real causes of parameter variations and improve the ability of models to describe the change of stomatal conductance with net photosynthesis rate and the sensitivity of photosynthesis capacity to soil water stress under different environmental conditions.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) additions to forest ecosystems are known to influence various above-ground properties, such as plant productivity and composition, and below-ground properties, such as soil nutrient cycling. However, our understanding of how soil microbial communities and their functions respond to nutrient additions in subtropical plantations is still not complete. In this study, we added N and P to Chinese fir plantations in subtropical China to examine how nutrient additions influenced soil microbial community composition and enzyme activities. The results showed that most soil microbial properties were responsive to N and/or P additions, but responses often varied depending on the nutrient added and the quantity added. For instance, there were more than 30 % greater increases in the activities of β-Glucosidase (βG) and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) in the treatments that received nutrient additions compared to the control plot, whereas acid phosphatase (aP) activity was always higher (57 and 71 %, respectively) in the P treatment. N and P additions greatly enhanced the PLFA abundanceespecially in the N2P treatment, the bacterial PLFAs (bacPLFAs), fungal PLFAs (funPLFAs) and actinomycic PLFAs (actPLFAs) were about 2.5, 3 and 4 times higher, respectively, than in the CK. Soil enzyme activities were noticeably higher in November than in July, mainly due to seasonal differences in soil moisture content (SMC). βG or NAG activities were significantly and positively correlated with microbial PLFAs. There were also significant relationships between gram-positive (G+) bacteria and all three soil enzymes. These findings indicate that G+ bacteria is the most important microbial community in C, N, and P transformations in Chinese fir plantations, and that βG and NAG would be useful tools for assessing the biogeochemical transformation and metabolic activity of soil microbes. We recommend combined additions of N and P fertilizer to promote soil fertility and microbial activity in this kind of plantation.

In order to use the global available eddy-covariance (EC) flux dataset and remote-sensing measurements to provide estimates of gross primary productivity (GPP) at landscape (101–102 km2), regional (103–106 km2) and global land surface scales, we developed a satellite-based GPP algorithm using LANDSAT data and an upscaling framework. The satellite-based GPP algorithm uses two improved vegetation indices (Enhanced Vegetation Index – EVI, Land Surface Water Index – LSWI). The upscalling framework involves flux footprint climatology modelling and data-model fusion. This approach was first applied to an evergreen coniferous stand in the subtropical monsoon climatic zone of south China. The EC measurements at Qian Yan Zhou tower site (26°44´48" N, 115°04´13" E), which belongs to the China flux network and the LANDSAT and MODIS imagery data for this region in 2004 were used in this study. A consecutive series of LANDSAT-like images of the surface reflectance at an 8-day interval were predicted by blending the LANDSAT and MODIS images using an existing algorithm (ESTARFM: Enhanced Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model). The seasonal dynamics of GPP were then predicted by the satellite-based algorithm. MODIS products explained 60% of observed variations of GPP and underestimated the measured annual GPP (= 1879 g C m−2) by 25–30%; while the satellite-based algorithm with default static parameters explained 88% of observed variations of GPP but overestimated GPP during the growing seasonal by about 20–25%. The optimization of the satellite-based algorithm using a data-model fusion technique with the assistance of EC flux tower footprint modelling reduced the biases in daily GPP estimations from about 2.24 g C m−2 day−1 (non-optimized, ~43.5% of mean measured daily value) to 1.18 g C m−2 day−1 (optimized, ~22.9% of mean measured daily value). The remotely sensed GPP using the optimized algorithm can explain 92% of the seasonal variations of EC observed GPP. These results demonstrated the potential combination of the satellite-based algorithm, flux footprint modelling and data-model fusion for improving the accuracy of landscape/regional GPP estimation, a key component for the study of the carbon cycle.

An integrated navigation system coupled with additional sensors can be used in the Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MUAV) applications because the multi-sensor information is redundant and complementary, which can markedly improve the system accuracy. How to deal with the information gathered from different sensors efficiently is an important problem. The fact that different sensors provide measurements asynchronously may complicate the processing of these measurements. In addition, the output signals of some sensors appear to have a non-linear character. In order to incorporate these measurements and calculate a navigation solution in real time, the multi-sensor fusion algorithm based on factor graph is proposed. The global optimum solution is factorized according to the chain structure of the factor graph, which allows for a more general form of the conditional probability density. It can convert the fusion matter into connecting factors defined by these measurements to the graph without considering the relationship between the sensor update frequency and the fusion period. An experimental MUAV system has been built and some experiments have been performed to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A simple, nondestructive method for the estimation of canopy CO 2 uptake is important for understanding the CO 2 exchange between forest and atmosphere. Canopy CO 2 uptake ( F CO 2 ) of a subtropical mature \textit{A. mangium} plantation was estimated by combining sap flow measurements and stable carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) in Southern China from 2004 to 2007. The mechanistic relationship linking F CO 2 , Δ in leaf sap, and sap flow-based canopy stomatal conductance ( G s ) was applied in our study. No significant seasonal variations were observed in Δ or in the ratio of the intercellular and ambient CO 2 concentrations ( C i / C a ), although diurnal C i / C a varied between sunlit and shaded leaves. A sensitivity analysis showed that estimates of F CO 2 were more sensitive to dynamics in G s than in C a and Δ. By using seasonally and canopy averaged C i / C a values, we obtained an acceptable estimate of F CO 2 compared to other estimates. F CO 2 exhibited similar diurnal variation to that of G s . Large seasonal variation in F CO 2 was attributed to the responsiveness of G s to vapor pressure deficit, photosynthetically active radiation, and soil moisture deficit. Our estimate of F CO 2 for a mature A. mangium plantation (2.13 ± 0.40 gC m −2 d −1 ) approached the lower range of values for subtropical mixed forests, probably due to lower mean canopy stomatal conductance, higher C i / C a , and greater tree height than other measured forests. Our estimate was also lower than values determined by satellite-based modeling or carbon allocation studies, suggesting the necessity of stand level flux data for verification. Qualitatively, the sap flux/stable isotope results compared well with gas exchange results. Differences in results between the two approaches likely reflected variability due to leaf position and age, which should be reduced for the combined sap flux and isotope technique, as it uses canopy average values of G s and C i / C a .

Bacillus subtilis B579, which was isolated from rhizosphere of cucumber, exhibited an excellent biocontrol activity on soil-born pathogens under greenhouse conditions. It could colonize in rhizosphere of cucumber with large number of populations after inoculated in plant growth season. To reveal the effect of high level colonization of B. subtilis B579 on rhizobacteria community structure, cultivation-based analysis coupled with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis were used to profile the changes of rhizobacteria community structure sampling at 1 week interval. Cultivation-based and DGGE fingerprinting analysis showed significant plant-dependent and seasonal shifts in rhizobacteria populations. Only minimal and transient effects were observed at 4-9 weeks after sowing in samples of B579 treatment, without the pathogen inoculation and showed the best plant growth potential. Sequencing of dominant bands excised from the gel revealed that Streptomyces sp. was the dominate species in soils before and after sowing. Burkholderia sp. was the dominate species in bulk soil, while Bacillus sp. was dominated in rhizosphere within the growth season. Arthrobacter ramosus and Nocardioides sp. were identified as the specific species in samples treated by B579 at the maturity and flowering stages of cucumber.

Aimed at the problem of the time synchronization and the change of different sensors' usability, a multi-sensor information fusion method based on factor graph topology has been proposed combined with the principle of the probability graph model. Different factor nodes represent the state and measurement update process of the system. The topology model of the factor graph has been established according to the real-time measurement information. The recursion and update of the state has been realized by means of choosing the appropriate cost function, which can effectively improve the fusion effect of the multi-sensor information and increase the estimation precision. The simulation results show that the method proposed by the paper has a higher filtering accuracy compared with the traditional method under the condition of the different environment. The performance can satisfy various changing mission and environmental requirements of the vehicle.

Cucumber target leaf spot (Corynespora cassiicola (Berk. & Curt.) Wei.), a world wide fungicidal disease of cucumber, was first reported in Europe in 1906. It becomes a serious problem in cucumber protected cultivation in northern part of China recent years. A 241 F 2 population derived from F 1 of Q5 (resistant female) and P57-1 (susceptible male) was used as materials, their resistances to Corynespora cassiicola of cucumber were identified through seedling inoculation. The results indicated that the resistance to Corynespora cassiicola was controlled by a pair of recessive gene, and the susceptible was in the mode of incomplete dominant inheritance. The polymorphism between resistant and susceptible bulk of cucumber target leaf spot were studied using BSA method and SSR, EST-SSR, ISSR techniques. One hundred twelve SSR, 29 EST-SSR and 100 ISSR markers were screened, and a co-dominant EST-SSR marker was obtained. The resistant and susceptible F 2 plants possessed the 203 bp and the 207 bp fragments, respectively, and the mid-plants possessed both two fragments. The EST-SSR marker was closely linked to the cucumber target leaf spot resistance-related gene, and the genetic distance between the marker and the gene was 2.9 cM. The difference of the two fragments lied in the insert or deletion of 4 bases. Resistance of 47 inbred lines through seedling inoculation were compared with their results of marker detection, the coincidence rate was 91.5%.