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The over-exploitation of water resources causes water resource depletion, which threatens water security, human life, and social and economic development. Only by clarifying the spatial pattern, changing trends, and influencing factors of water storage can we promote the rational development of water resources and relieve the pressure on water resources. However, there is still a lack of research on these aspects. In this study, the water-scarce area in Shandong Province, China, was selected to quantify the spatial and temporal changes in the terrestrial water storage (TWS) and groundwater storage (GWS) over the past 30 years. Nighttime light data were used to characterize the urbanization level (UL) and explore the effects of human activities (i.e., UL) and climate change (temperature and precipitation) on the TWS and GWS. The results show that 1) from 1990 to 2018, the overall TWS exhibited a significant decreasing trend (- 0.084 cm yr

Identifying the state of an ecosystem and any changes in its state can help in detecting critical ecosystem transitions and formulating adaptive measures to reduce losses of ecosystem services. Such efforts are important for regional sustainability. In this study, we propose a new perspective by identifying grassland ecosystem states as patterns of ecosystem service bundles. The total annual provisioning of five key grassland ecosystem services in Xilin Gol, including net primary productivity, soil conservation, soil erosion by wind, water yield, and water retention, was estimated from 2001 to 2014. The ecosystem service bundle in each pixel was represented by the ecosystem services, which accounted for 75% of the total ecosystem services after the values of the five ecosystem services for that pixel were ranked in descending order. Then, we selected the four main ecosystem service bundles that covered 99% of the area of Xilin Gol and analyzed their patterns, characterized by landscape indices, from 2001 to 2014. Finally, the influences of precipitation, temperature, solar radiation, and vegetation coverage on the patterns of ecosystem service bundles were explored through stepwise regression. The results showed that vegetation coverage greatly affected the patterns of ecosystem service bundles and promoted the shape complexity and diversity of the bundle patches. The main factors affecting bundle diversity were precipitation in meadow steppes, vegetation coverage and temperature in typical steppes, and temperature in desert steppes. Moreover, the ranges of the landscape indices mean patch size and area-weighted mean fractal dimension fluctuated greatly in ecosystems with lower stability. The results of this study confirmed the hypothesis that patterns in ecosystem service bundles can reflect ecosystem states and indicated that changes in ecosystem service bundle patterns can be used as early warnings of critical transitions in ecosystems.

Evapotranspiration (ET), a key component of the hydrological cycle, affects the transport of water and energy in the soil–vegetation–atmosphere system. Thus, quantifying the driving forces of ET dynamics is important to ensure rational water resource utilization. Based on meteorological and satellite data, spatiotemporal dynamics of ET were detected using the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model, and effects of climate variability and landscape pattern change on ET dynamics in an arid to semiarid landscape mosaic during the growing season (April‐October) from 2001 to 2015 in Xilingol League, China were evaluated. The results indicated that (a) a significant increase (P < .05) in ET was found in the north‐eastern Xilingol League, and a significant decrease (P < .05) in ET was confined to the southwest and (b) climate variability had significant effects on ET dynamics. All climatic factors showed a positive correlation relationship with ET dynamics, and mean temperature (Ta) was the most influential climatic factor on ET dynamics followed by relative humidity (Rh), wind speed (Ws), and precipitation (Pr), respectively. The influence of landscape pattern change on ET dynamics was mainly reflected in the increase of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) promoting ET dynamics. Several other landscape pattern metrics also had important impacts on ET dynamics, which were mainly reflected in the positive effect of the aggregation index (AI) on ET dynamics and the negative effects of the largest patch index (LPI), edge density (ED), and percentage of landscape (PLAND) on ET dynamics. To promote effective water resource utilization, landscape managers should continue to moderately implement vegetation restoration projects such as the Grain for Green Project, orient with conversion of low‐quality cropland into grassland, and conserve large areas of grassland. Appropriate management measures for forests and cropland scattered in the landscape mosaic, based on local climate and soil properties, as well as socioeconomic goals, are also required.

Understanding the dynamic changes of relationships between ecosystem services (ESs) and their dominant factors can effectively adjust human activities to adapt proactively to global climate change. In this study, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain (HHHP) was selected to assess the dynamics of four key ESs (NPP, net primary productivity; WY, water yield; SC, soil conservation; FP, food production) from 2000 to 2020. The constraint lines of interactions among ESs were extracted based on a segmented quantile regression model. On this basis, the effects of both human activities and natural factors on the key features of the interactions between ESs were quantified with the help of automatic linear model. The results indicated that two types of constraint relationships, including exponential and humped-shaped, existed among the six pairs of ESs. In the past two decades, small changes in NPP thresholds would lead to large variations in other ESs thresholds. Precipitation and normalized difference vegetation index were the key factors to determine the constraint strength of ESs in the HHHP. The potential maximum value of WY in the HHHP could be increased by adjusting landscape shape to make it more complicated. This study helps to improve the potential of target ESs and provides a decision-making basis for promoting regional sustainable development.

Changes in land systems have been shown to affect regional climate, but minimal attention has been paid to landscape patterns as adaptation strategies to climate change. In this study, we introduce alternative futures analysis and coupled land-atmosphere modeling to investigate the effect of landscape patterns on moderating projected climate change in northern China. Three future landscape scenarios are developed, and their impacts on regional climate in the context of climate change are examined. A reference scenario, Business-as-Usual, follows recent landscape trajectory; the Conservation scenario puts greater emphasis on ecosystem protection and restoration to ultimately achieve sustained socioeconomic development; the Degradation scenario ignores current policy to allow broad cropland expansion. The landscape impacts on regional climate under two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) are substantial and dependent on background climate. The Conservation scenario shows considerable decreases in near-surface temperature and extensive increases in rainfall during summer as compared with Business-as-Usual under RCP8.5 (i.e., a high emissions scenario), thus representing a preferred landscape pattern for climate moderation. However, trade-offs between temperature reduction and rainfall enhancement exist under RCP4.5 (i.e., a low-to-moderate emissions scenario), which necessitates careful evaluation. Finally, the Degradation scenario leads to the highest temperature and lowest rainfall among the three alternative futures under both climate conditions. Our study underlines the importance of landscape design/planning as an effective way to moderate climate change, and provides useful scientific information for making land use policies.

Under the background of rapid population growth, achieving accurate assessments of crop yields is critical to national policy adjustment and food security. Among all the evaluation methods for crop yields, the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model is considered to be an effective tool. Since published, it has been widely applied on local, regional, and global scales. However, in its practical applications, the impact of scale variation on the simulation results has not received full consideration. The scale variation can introduce many uncertain effects in the simulation results. Furthermore, as a basis for parameter calibration, parameters sensitivity analyses were always been ignored at large scale studies. In this study, we used the GIS-based EPIC (GEPIC) model to assess the simulation accuracies at different scales and local sensitivity analysis was adopted to analyze the sensitivity of the crop parameters in each grid first time. The results showed that EPIC model has scale-dependence and the smaller the scale is, the more accurate the results are. The most sensitive parameter of maize and soybeans is the energy conversion to biomass factor (WA) in the agro-pastoral transitional zone of north China, whereas the harvest index (HI) is the most sensitive parameter for the three other crops of rice, spring wheat, and winter wheat. For the same crop, parameter sensitivity is heterogeneous in space due to varied input variables. In addition, we find that parameters sensitivities (Si) vary as the parameters and the variations in Si for the five parameters are different. Excluding the Si of HI for spring wheat which has the greatest change and the variation is nearly 0.5, the Si of other parameters change slightly. In the application of GEPIC model, we should consider the effects of scale variation on crop yields, particular for areas with high heterogeneity of cropland patches. In addition, this study provides a reference for setting the input parameters of the EPIC model.

During the past three decades, China’s agroecosystem has undergone dramatic alterations because of changes in climatic and management factors, which threatened agricultural sustainability. We investigated how climatic and management factors affected agricultural ecosystem services (AES). We adopted the GIS-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model to simulate the five critical AES: food production, soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrate leaching, water erosion, and wind erosion from 1980 to 2010 and used a partial least square regression model to quantify the contributions of the drivers of the variation in the AES on the main grain-producing area (MGPA), climatic zone, and national scales. On the MGPA scale, SOC exhibited no obvious change and food production increased, whereas the negative environmental effects largely increased. The MGPA is important to ensure the safety of China’s food supply. At the climatic zone scale, food production and SOC increased, water erosion in the tropical-subtropical monsoonal zone and water and wind erosion in the temperate monsoonal zone decreased, whereas N leaching, water erosion, and wind erosion increased in other climate zones. At the national scale, food production, SOC, N leaching, and wind erosion increased, whereas water erosion decreased. The crop cultivated area played a major role in the effect on food production and SOC. The dominant factors for N leaching, water erosion, and wind erosion varied with crop type and study scales. Adjustment of agricultural management measures is vital and possible to minimize the tradeoffs, increase the synergies among agro ecosystem services, and promote adaptation to the changing climate.

Both crop distribution and climate change are important drivers for crop production and can affect food security, which is an important requirement for sustainable development. However, their effects on crop production are confounded and warrant detailed investigation. As a key area for food production that is sensitive to climate change, the agro-pastoral transitional zone (APTZ) plays a significant role in regional food security. To investigate the respective effects of crop distribution and climate change on crop production, the well-established GIS-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model was adopted with different scenario designs in this study. From 1980 to 2010, the crop distribution for wheat, maize, and rice witnessed a dramatic change due to agricultural policy adjustments and ecological engineering-related construction in the APTZ. At the same time, notable climate change was observed. The simulation results indicated that the climate change had a positive impact on the crop production of wheat, maize, and rice, while the crop distribution change led to an increase in the production of maize and rice, but a decrease in the wheat production. Comparatively, crop distribution change had a larger impact on wheat (–1.71 × 106 t) and maize (8.53 × 106 t) production, whereas climate change exerted a greater effect on rice production (0.58 × 106 t), during the period from 1980 to 2010 in the APTZ. This study is helpful to understand the mechanism of the effects of crop distribution and climate change on crop production, and aid policy makers in reducing the threat of future food insecurity.

The restoration of degraded vegetation can effectively improve ecosystem services, increase human well-being, and promote regional sustainable development. Understanding the changing trends in ecosystem services and their drivers is an important step in informing decision makers for the development of reasonable landscape management measures. From 2001 to 2014, we analyzed the changing trends in five critical ecosystem services in the Xilingol Grassland, which is typical of grasslands in North China, including net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation (SC), soil loss due to wind (SL), water yield (WY) and water retention (WR). Additionally, we quantified how climatic factors and landscape patterns affect the five ecosystem services on both annual and seasonal time scales. Overall, the results indicated that vegetation restoration can effectively improve the five grassland ecosystem services, and precipitation (PPT) is the most critical climatic factor. The impact of changes in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was most readily detectable on the annual time scale, whereas the impact of changes in landscape pattern was most readily detectable on the seasonal time scale. A win-win situation in terms of grassland ecosystem services (e.g., vegetation productivity, SC, WR and reduced SL) can be achieved by increasing grassland aggregation, partitioning the largest grasslands, dividing larger areas of farmland into smaller patches, and increasing the area of appropriate forest stands. Our work may aid policymakers in developing regional landscape management schemes.

The allocation of water resources to meet both human wellbeing and environmental requirements is a critical challenge in a semi-arid landscape. Hydrological models are widely used to understand the influence mechanism of hydrological elements, which is helpful for optimizing water resources management. However, the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological dynamics has been largely omitted in prior studies, partly because it's difficult to correctly simulate the spatial distributions of hydrological elements due to roughly representing the surface biophysical parameters in the hydrological model. In this study, the Distributed Hydrological Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) was incorporated with the high-resolution remotely sensed leaf area index (LAI) data in a semiarid basin, located in the upstream of the Xar Moron River Basin, to explore the impacts of meteorological factors (i.e., air temperature, wind speed, relative humidity, shortwave radiation, and precipitation) and LAI on hydrological processes of forests, grasslands, and farmlands. Our results show that the spatial distribution of LAI slightly improves the accuracy of streamflow simulations and significantly promotes the model performance of spatial hydrological element simulations. For the area in study, precipitation, LAI, and relative humidity are the three major influential factors in the forest hydrological dynamics. The hydrological elements of grasslands and farmlands are mainly affected by shortwave radiation, relative humidity, air temperature, and LAI. Compared with grasslands and farmlands, LAI has greater negative influence on forest water availability. To mitigate the negative effects of drying and warming climate and promote ecosystems sustainability, the forest area should be converted into grassland while the native grassland should be maintained for soil water conservation.

Exploring the environmental problems based on ecosystem disservices is critical to achieving spatially explicit reasonable management measures. In this study, we adopted the methods of ecosystem disservice bundles to realize the division of small watersheds, replacing the traditional criterion of river buffers and slope. Firstly, we analyzed the bundles of seven ecosystem disservices, including sediment export, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution export, surface runoff, quick flow, and risks of collapse and debris flow at six small watersheds in the northwest of Beijing, where the water environment requires urgent improvement. Each ecosystem disservice bundle represented a class of function zone division in space. Based on the relative size of ecosystem disservices in bundles, we identified the main environmental problems in each class of the function zones. Finally, the management spaces were allocated in the spatial dimension according to the environmental problems. The results showed that the surface runoff was the most common environmental problem in all function zones. Additionally, the main environmental problems of the ecological restoration zones were the natural disasters and the sediment export. The environmental problems of the ecological management zones varied among the seven categories of ecosystem disservice bundles and mainly included the sediment export, the nitrogen pollution export, the phosphorus pollution export, and the quick flow. There were seven classes of function zones belonging to the ecological protection zones, of which the environmental problems of water pollution and quick flow required the greatest focus. Overall, the three management measures consisted of enclosure protection, rain (sewage) collection, and runoff regulation could be adopted to solve the environmental problems in the study area. Adopting both of the theory and the method of ecosystem disservice bundles can promote the detection of environmental problems and the achievement of spatial layout of management measures as well as the improvement of multiple ecosystem services at a landscape.

Lactobacillus plantarum P-8 (Lp-8) is a novel probiotic bacterium showing beneficial effects in human. The current study is a follow-up work of a previous clinical trial, and it aimed at understanding the mechanism of the observed desirable effects by evaluating the change in faecal bacterial structure at phylogenetic level. The genomic DNAs used for 16S rRNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-pyrosequencing were obtained from the previous clinical trial. Briefly, 33 recruited subjects were given a single daily oral dose of Lp-8 (6×1010 cfu) for 4 weeks. Faecal genomic DNAs were extracted from samples collected before (day 0) and after (day 28) Lp-8 consumption from the subjects. Our results show that the consumption of Lp-8 did not result in major change in the faecal bacterial structure by principal coordinate analysis. However, multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of UniFrac metric distances at day 0 and day 28 revealed significant difference in the faecal bacterial structure upon Lp-8 treatment. Thus, the difference lied on the less abundant rather than the predominant lineages. At genus level, the relative abundance of 5 Firmicutes genera (Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, Sporacetigenium, Blautia and Staphylococcus) significantly increased after Lp-8 consumption, whereas 3 Proteobacteria genera (Shigella, Escherichia and Enterobacter) decreased (P

Climate change plays a critical role in crop yield variations, which has attracted a great deal of concern worldwide. However, the mechanisms of how climatic trend and fluctuations affect crop yields are not well understood and need to be further investigated. Thus, using the GIS-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model, we simulated the yields of major crops (i.e., wheat, maize, and rice) and evaluated the impacts of climatic factors on crop yields in the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone (APTZ) of northern China between 1980 and 2010. The partial least squares regression model was used to assess the contribution rates of climatic factors (i.e., precipitation, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), minimum temperature (T min), maximum temperature (T max)) to the variation of crop yields. The Breaks for Additive Season and Trend (BFAST) model was adopted to decompose the climate factors into trend and fluctuation components, and the relative contributions of climate trend and fluctuation were then evaluated. The results indicated that the contributions of climatic factors to yield variations of wheat, maize, and rice were 31.7, 37.7, and 23.1%, respectively. That is, climate change had larger impacts on maize than wheat and rice. More cultivated areas were significantly and positively correlated with precipitation than with other climatic factors due to the limited precipitation in the APTZ. Also, climatic trend component had positive impacts on crop yields in the whole region, whereas the climate fluctuation was associated mainly with the areas where the crop yields decreased. This study helps improve our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change impacts on crop yields, and provides useful scientific information for designing regional-scale strategies of adaptation to climate change.

Agricultural ecosystem management needs to ensure food production and minimize soil erosion and nitrogen (N) leaching under climate change and increasingly intensive human activity. Thus, the mechanisms through which climatic and management factors affect crop production, soil erosion, and N leaching must be understood in order to ensure food security and sustainable agricultural development. In this study, we adopted the GIS-based Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model to simulate crop production, soil erosion, and N leaching, and used a partial least squares regression model to evaluate the contributions of climate variables (solar radiation, precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, and maximum and minimum temperature) and management factors (irrigation, fertilization, and crop cultivation area) on agricultural ecosystem services (AES) in the agro-pastoral transitional zone (APTZ) of northern China. The results indicated that crop production and N leaching markedly increased, whereas soil erosion declined from 1980 to 2010 in the APTZ. Management factors had larger effects on the AES than climate change. Among the climatic variables, daily minimum temperature was the most important contributor to the variations in ecosystem services of wheat, maize, and rice. Spatial changes in the cultivated area most affected crop production, soil erosion, and N leaching for majority of the cultivated areas of the three crops, except for the wheat-cultivated area, where the dominant factor for N leaching was fertilization. Although a tradeoff existed between crop production and negative environmental effects, compromises were possible. These findings provide new insights into the effects of climatic and management factors on AES, and have practical implications for improving crop production while minimizing negative environmental impacts.

Understanding the relationships and drivers of agro-ecosystem services (AES) can promote the management of sustainable agricultural ecosystems. In contrast to previous studies that analyzed the trade-off or synergistic relationships between ecosystem services, the constraint effects and the thresholds between ecosystem services were quantified using a constraint line method in this study. The constraint effects of climatic (maximum temperature (Tmax) and minimum temperature (Tmin), relative humidity, solar radiation, precipitation, wind speed), management (fertilization and irrigation), soil texture (sand, silt, and clay content), and terrain (elevation and slope) factors on AES were evaluated. The results indicated that two types of constraint relationships (hump-shaped and logarithmic) between ecosystem services of maize yield, soil organic carbon (SOC), nitrate (N) leaching, water and wind erosion were identified in the agro-pastoral transitional zone of China. The maize yield had hump-shaped constraint effects on SOC, N leaching, and water erosion, while other paired AES were mutually exclusive with logarithmic constraint curves. By contrast, seven types of constraint effects of drivers on AES, including positive linear, hump-shaped, negative and positive convex, logarithmic, exponential and S-shaped curves, were identified. Among all the drivers, except for precipitation and solar radiation which had constraint effects on the lower boundary of maize yield, others had constraint effects on the upper boundary of AES. The drivers that played major roles in determining the yield, SOC, water erosion, wind erosion, and N leaching were Tmin, water availability and slope. The constraint line method could deepen our comprehension of relationship between ecosystem services and is particularly helpful in identifying the constraint drivers on AES from the perspective of optimizing the agricultural ecosystem.

Various traditional fermented yak milk and raw milk foods could be considered as an abundant resource for obtaining novel lactic acid bacteria (LAB) with unique properties. Eighty-eight samples of yak milk products were collected from Gansu Province in China. Three hundred and nineteen strains of LAB isolated from these samples were identified by phenotypic methods, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and PCR-Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) technology. Among the isolates, one hundred and sixty-four isolates (51.41% of the total) were classified under Lactobacilli, and one hundred and fifty-five (48.59%) belonged to cocci. All the isolates were classified to six genera (Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Leuconostoc, Streptococcus, Enterococcus and Weissella) and twenty-one species. Lactobacillus helveticus (87 strains), Leuconostoc mesenteroides subsp. mesenteroides (49 strains), Streptococcus thermophilus (39 strains), Lactobacillus casei (31 strains) and Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis (19 strains) were considered as the predominant populations in the yak milk products. The results showed that there were abundant genus and species LAB existing in yak milk products in Gansu Province in China. The obtained LAB pure cultures may be a valuable source for further starter selection.

Heavy-metal pollution of crops seriously affects food safety and human health in China. The purpose of this study is to estimate the concentrations of heavy metals economically and accurately using spectroscopy. The spectral data of winter wheat canopy at 61 sampling points were collected in Longkou City, and the concentration of Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Hg was measured. Eight estimation models were established based on the back-propagation neural network (BPNN), the partial least squares regression, and the stepwise multiple linear regression methods combined with reflectance spectra, first-order derivative of spectral reflectance (FDR), second-order derivative of spectral reflectance, and spectral parameters (SPs). Spatial interpolation was used to map the heavy-metal concentration. The results showed that the best model for Pb, Zn, and Cd was the BPNN model with SPs, for Cr, Ni, and Hg was the BPNN model with FDR. The concentration of Hg was lower in the northwest, Pb and Zn were higher in the middle and south, Cd was lower in the middle and west, and Cr and Ni were higher in the southeast. This study will provide effective technical support for the economical and accurate monitoring of heavy metals.

Current blood-based approach for gout diagnosis can be of low sensitivity and hysteretic. Here via a 68-member cohort of 33 healthy and 35 diseased individuals, we reported that the intestinal microbiota of gout patients are highly distinct from healthy individuals in both organismal and functional structures. In gout, Bacteroides caccae and Bacteroides xylanisolvens are enriched yet Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum depleted. The established reference microbial gene catalogue for gout revealed disorder in purine degradation and butyric acid biosynthesis in gout patients. In an additional 15-member validation-group, a diagnosis model via 17 gout-associated bacteria reached 88.9% accuracy, higher than the blood-uric-acid based approach. Intestinal microbiota of gout are more similar to those of type-2 diabetes than to liver cirrhosis, whereas depletion of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and reduced butyrate biosynthesis are shared in each of the metabolic syndromes. Thus the Microbial Index of Gout was proposed as a novel, sensitive and non-invasive strategy for diagnosing gout via fecal microbiota.

Clinical and subclinical bovine mastitis are the most frequent diseases encountered on dairy farms worldwide, which cause significant economic loss and veterinary cost. The mastitic disease status is associated with increases in both milk bacterial pathogens and somatic cell count (SCC). Although it is well established that the mastitic pathogens generally correlate with the milk SCC, to our knowledge, the correlation between the probiotic genus, Lactobacillus, and the mastitic causative bacteria and SCC have not been determined previously. Thus, in this study, milk samples from 12 mild and 28 severe subclinical mastitic dairy cows were collected from the same farm. The overall milk bacterial load was quantified with the total plate count method. The Lactobacillus genus and 4 common clinical and subclinical mastitic pathogens (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Trueperella pyogenes) in the sampled milk were enumerated by quantitative PCR. Mild and severe subclinical mastitic samples were distinctly separated on the principal component analysis score plot generated based on the quantities of these 5 target bacteria, suggesting that clear differences existed in the microbiological composition between the two sample groups. Based on comparison with the pairwise Mann-Whitney test, the mild subclinical mastitic dairy cows had a significantly higher amounts of lactobacilli (P=0.0175), but lower E. coli (P=0.0002), S. aureus (P

Historically, the Mongol Empire ranks among the world's largest contiguous empires, and the Mongolians developed their unique lifestyle and diet over thousands of years. In this study, the intestinal microbiota of Mongolians residing in Ulan Bator, TUW province and the Khentii pasturing area were studied using 454 pyrosequencing and q-PCR technology. We explored the impacts of lifestyle and seasonal dietary changes on the Mongolians' gut microbes. At the phylum level, the Mongolians's gut populations were marked by a dominance of Bacteroidetes (55.56%) and a low Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes ratio (0.71). Analysis based on the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) level revealed that the Mongolian core intestinal microbiota comprised the genera Prevotella, Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcus, Subdoligranulum and Coprococcus. Urbanisation and life-style may have modified the compositions of the gut microbiota of Mongolians from Ulan Bator, TUW and Khentii. Based on a food frequency questionnaire, we found that the dietary structure was diverse and stable throughout the year in Ulan Bator and TUW, but was simple and varied during the year in Khentii. Accordingly, seasonal effects on intestinal microbiota were more distinct in Khentii residents than in TUW or Ulan Bator residents.

The Mongolian nationality has developed their unique lifestyle and dietary habit for thousands of years. However, by now, little research has been focused on Mongolian gut microbiota and how it is related to different dietary habits. In this study, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods were applied to reveal the diversity of predominant gut bacteria of 48 healthy Mongolians recruited from Hohhot city and the Xilin Gol pasturing area in Inner Mongolia. Compared to similar studies of other nationalities, results from the present study have confirmed that the composition of Mongolian gut microbiota is highly similar at the phylum level (Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria) but variable at the genus level. Especially, the numbers of Phascolarctobacterium, Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium are rather high. DGGE profiles of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium revealed that Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium longum and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis were predominant in the gut of the Mongolian subjects studied. On the contrary, Lactobacillus helveticus was detected in every pasturing area Mongolian, but not in any of the Hohhot city Mongolians. qPCR results revealed that the numbers of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium of Xilin Gol Mongolians were significantly higher (P

A bias-temperature cycling technique is developed in the electrical characterization of YBa2Cu307−δ/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)/Si capacitors. This technique can be used to determine the electrical properties of the material components and their interfaces in the capacitor. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements under no or weak illumination at temperatures ranging from 295 to 80K reveal that hysteresis due to mobile ions decreases with cooling and become vanishingly small at about 220K. Upon further cooling, a different mechanism due to traps in the YSZ/Si interface dominates the low-temperature hysteresis and stretchout of the C-V curves, which is evidenced by measurements for the illuminated device at 80K.

Characterization of a Si1−xGex layer formed by high-dose germanium implantation and subsequent solid phase epitaxy is reported. Properties of this layer are obtained from electrical measurements on diodes and transistors fabricated in this layer. Results are compared with those of the silicon control devices. It was observed that the germanium implantation created considerable defects that are difficult to eliminate with annealing. These defects result in boron deactivation in the p-type regions of the devices, giving rise to larger resistance. Optimization of the device structure and fabrication process is discussed.

YBa2Cu3O7−δ/yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ)/silicon superconductor‐insulator‐semiconductor capacitors are characterized with current‐voltage and capacitance‐voltage (C‐V) measurements at different temperatures between 223 and 80 K. As a result of ‘‘freezing’’ of mobile ions in YSZ, effects of trapped charge at the YSZ/Si interface dominate the device electrical properties at superconducting temperatures. Density of interface states and its temperature dependence are determined using a modified high frequency C‐V method, in which the temperature dependences of band gap, Fermi level, and active dopant and intrinsic carrier concentrations are considered. At superconducting temperatures, e.g., 80 K, the interface state density within the band gap is reduced to lower than 1×1011 cm−2 eV at midgap. The low interface state density at the YSZ/Si interface is important for acceptable performance and reliability devices made up of such capacitors.

The human gut microbiota consists of complex microbial communities, which possibly play crucial roles in physiological functioning and health maintenance. China has evolved into a multicultural society consisting of the major ethnic group, Han, and 55 official ethnic minority groups. Nowadays, these minority groups inhabit in different Chinese provinces and some of them still keep their unique culture and lifestyle. Currently, only limited data are available on the gut microbiota of these Chinese ethnic groups. In this study, 10 major fecal bacterial groups of 314 healthy individuals from 7 Chinese ethnic origins were enumerated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Our data confirmed that the selected bacterial groups were common to all 7 surveyed ethnicities, but the amount of the individual bacterial groups varied to different degree. By principal component and canonical variate analyses of the 314 individuals or the 91 Han subjects, no distinct group clustering pattern was observed. Nevertheless, weak differences were noted between the Han and Zhuang from other ethnic minority groups, and between the Heilongjiang Hans from those of the other provinces. Thus, our results suggest that the ethnic origin may contribute to shaping the human gut microbiota.

YBa2Cu3O7−δ /yttria‐stabilized zirconia (YSZ)/silicon superconductor–insulator–semiconductor capacitors are characterized with capacitance‐voltage (C‐V) measurements at different gate‐voltage sweep rates and under bias‐temperature cycling. It is shown that ionic conduction in YSZ causes both hysteresis and stretch‐out in room‐temperature C‐V curves. A thermally activated process with an activation energy of about 39 meV in YSZ and/or at YSZ/Si interface is attributed to trapping/detrapping mechanisms in the SiOx interfacial layer between YSZ and Si. The negative mobile ions in YSZ can be moved by an applied electric field at room temperature and then ‘‘frozen’’ with decreasing temperature, giving rise to adjustable threshold voltages at low temperatures.

The Y2O3-La2O3 additive-coated Si3N4 powders of about 1.5 μm in size were prepared by the sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, electron microscopies, and particle size analysis were used to study the coating on the Si3N4 particles. The results show that properties of the bulk Si3N4 powder are not affected by using the sol-gel coating and the powders are homogeneously coated by a thin layer of the Y2O3-La2O3 additives. The structure of the Y2O3-La2O3 coating layer is amorphous or microcrystalline with a submicron thickness. The coated powders are then more sinterable, and the mechanical properties of the ceramics prepared from such powders are improved.

Nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) films with an average grain size ranging between 2 and 10 nm are prepared in a modified plasma chemical vapor deposition system. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron diffraction, and high resolution electron microscope are used to elucidate the structural nature in the deposited nc-Si:H films. The lattice network of the deposited silicon films changes from disordered structure to ordered structure with the increasing of plasma energy. The results also show that the crystal lattice of the nc-Si:H film is distorted from those of microcrystalline silicon and crystalline silicon. In the observed x-ray diffraction, there are two anomalous peaks at 2θ = 29.5°and 32.5°of Si besides the normal peaks at 2θ = 28.5°of Si(111) and 2θ = 47.3°of Si(220). By the high resolution electron microscopy study, a new crystallography structure with distorted Si(111) crystallites in nc- Si:H films is found. Based on our results, a structure model of nc-Si:H films is proposed.

In an attempt to substantiate our previous findings of boron deactivation and/or donor complex formation due to high-dose Ge and C implantation, SiGe and SiGeC layers were fabricated and characterized. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy indicated that the SiGe layer with peak Ge concentration of 5 at% was strained; whereas, for higher concentrations, stacking faults were observed from the surface to the projected range of Ge as a result of strain relaxation. Results of spreading resistance profiling were found to be consistent with the model of dopant deactivation due to Ge implantation and subsequent solid phase epitaxial growth of the amorphous layer. Furthermore, for unstrained SiGe layers (Ge peak concentration ≥7 at%), formation of donor complexes is indicated. Preliminary photoluminescence results correlate with the spreading resistance profiling results and indicate shallow donor complex formation.

The a-Si:H thin film is used for a photosensor in liquid crystal light valve(LCLV). A lumped element model for the layered a-Si:H LCLV is developed. It has been shown that the dark and photo-resistances of the a-Si:H photosensor should be adjusted respectively to within the region between one order of magnitude higher and one order of magnitude lower than that of the liquid crystal(LC) layer to ensure a linear variation of the voltage across the LC with the intensity of the incident write-light beam. For obtaining an optimal operation condition of the LCLV, we can determine the concrete values of the dark resistance of the photosensor from the threshold voltage of the LCLV for the linear change of the LCLVs grey level and the applied voltage of the LCLV, and the photoresistance of the photosensor from the saturation voltage of the LC. As a result, the application of an a-Si:H film by optimization of the deposition condition indicates that the contrast of LCLV can be improved distinctively.

Metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors are fabricated from a YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCOVYttria-Stabilized Zirconia(YSZ)/Si structure. Current-voltage(I-V) measurements reveal that thicker YBCO films(≤150Å) tend to result in more stable capacitors. Results of capacitance-voltage(C-V) measurements during bias-temperature cycling suggest the presence of a thermally activated process in the YSZ and/or YSZ/Si interface. This process is probably related to trapping/detrapping mechanisms in the SiOx, layer formed between YSZ and Si. It is shown that the distribution of mobile ions in YSZ can be “set” with biases at room temperature and then “frozen” by lowering the temperature, giving rise to adjustable threshold voltages at 80K.

Liquid crystal light valve(LCLV) using an a-Si:H/μc-Si:H heterostructure as the photosensor and the nematic liquid crystal as the modulator has been firstly presented for large screen projection display. The a-Si:H photoconductor and μc-Si:H light blocking layer were prepared by a modified glow discharge CVD method. The optoelectric and structure properties of the μc-Si:H films deposited at different deposition conditions have been studied. The a-Si:H film and the continuously deposited pc-Si:H film possibly form an a-Si:H/μc-Si:H heterojunction. The electrical and optoelectric properties of the heterojunction has been studied.LCLV using a-Si:H/μc-Si:H heterostructure has shown that the most aspects of the device performance can be improved.

We have presented ESR and PAS measurements for a series of a-SiS:H and a-Si: H films deposited by glow discharge at different parameters. The spin density in a-SiS:H alloys measured by ESR is essentially independent of the sulphur content, while the density of defects measured by PAS increases significantly with the increasing of sulphur content. The ESR signals in a-SiS:H alloys strongly depend on both annealing and illumination. The spin density increases up to 540°C and then decreases with raising annealing temperature for a-SiS:H and a-Si:H alloys. The results suggest that some new defects such as molecular hydrogen and microvoids are appeared when addition of sulphur to a-Si:H films.

A-Si : H and a-Si : H/a-SiGe : H heterojunctions have been prepared as the photoconductors in the liquid crystal light valves. The impedance matching conditions of the a-Si : H and the heterojunction in the valves have been carefully analysed, which has shown that the adjustment for the capacitance of the photoconductor is the key procedure for the matching, but the low photocapacitance effect in the a-Si : H limits the further improvements on the matching. The formation of the a-Si : H/a-SiGe : H diode promotes the photocapacitance effect in the photoconductor, and the matching behavior in the valve is greatly improved.