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Abstract Gustavus, a positive regulator in arthropod reproduction, features a conserved SPRY and a C-terminal SOCS box domain and belongs to the SPSB protein family. The SPSB family, encompassing SPSB1 to SPSB4, plays pivotal roles in higher animals, including immune response, apoptosis, growth, and stress responses. In Neocaridina denticulata sinensis, alternative splicing yielded two NdGustavus isoforms, NdGusX1 and NdGusX2, with distinct expression patterns—high in ovaries and muscles, respectively, and across all ovarian germ cells. These isoforms showed similar expression dynamics during embryogenesis and significant upregulation post-copper ion exposure (P

Abstract In order to strengthen the overall planning and coordination of urban construction and ecological space in Baishan City, we should formulate a scientific land type planning of Production-Living-Ecological Space (PLES). In this paper, land use dynamic attitude model, land use transfer matrix, land use function center of gravity transfer model, eco-environmental quality index(EEQI) and geographic detector model are used to discuss the spatio-temporal evolution of PLES in Baishan City from 2000 to 2020. Spatio-temporal evolution of EEQI and its influencing factors. The results show that: (1) During the study period, Baishan City showed the characteristics that the production space first increased and then decreased, the ecological space decreased, and the living space continued to increase. Among them, the ecological space is the dominant space of Baishan City, covering an area of more than 80%. From the perspective of the transformation of PLES, from 2000 to 2020, Baishan City is mainly characterized by the transformation of ecological space into production space and living space. In the second type of space, green ecological space, forestry ecological space and other ecological space have decreased, while other types of space have increased in varying degrees. (2) During the study period, the overall EEQI of Baishan City remained in good condition, and the ecological environment quality(EEQ) of the three periods were 0.6571, 0.6412 and 0.6562 respectively. The higher EEQI is distributed in Changbai County and Linjiang City, while the areas with lower EEQI are concentrated in the north-central part of Hunjiang City, the middle part of Jiangyuan District and the northwest of Fusong County. (3) According to the analysis of the influencing factors of EEQ, the influence of the factors of spatial differentiation of EEQI in Baishan City changed significantly from 2000 to 2020, and the average annual rainfall was the core factor affecting the spatial differentiation of EEQ in Baishan City, the second is the urbanization rate and the distance from the county government, and the interaction between the average annual rainfall and the distance from the county government has a strong influence on the spatial differentiation of EEQ in Baishan City. This study reveals the evolution of spatial types and EEQ of PLES in Baishan City, and provides a scientific reference for the effective management and utilization of land resources in Baishan City.

Abstract Throughout the history of coal mining in all countries of the world, large areas of goaf have been left behind, and sudden collapses and surface subsidence of large areas of goaf may occur, especially for mining areas with long mining cycles. The northern new district of the Liaoyuan mining area has been subjected to nearly half a century of mining activities, accompanied by a gradual accumulation of disasters, which have occurred frequently in recent years. In order to assess the stability of the goaf in the study area, this paper proposes a hybrid decision-making multi-factor integrated evaluation method. The distribution of underground goafs was determined using geophysical exploration techniques (seismic survey and transient electromagnetic method) and geological drilling exploration. First, an evaluation index system was established based on the specifications of the goaf, the ecological and geological environment, and the mining conditions; the system included 14 indicators. Two weight calculation methods, AHP-EWM, were employed to determine the comprehensive weight of each indicator by combining subjective and objective weights on the basis of improved game theory. Subsequently, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was utilised to complete the stability rating of each block in the study area, and MapGIS and ArcGIS were employed to complete the drawing of the stability zoning map of the northern new district goaf. The study area was divided into three zones of stability, basic stability and instability, according to the critical value. These zones accounted for 23.03%, 36.45% and 40.52% of the total area of the study area, respectively. The comprehensive on-site investigation revealed a decrease in the size and number of collapse pits and the rate of damage to the houses from the unstable zone to the stable zone. This indicates that the results of the division are consistent with the actual situation. The classification results are consistent with the actual ground disaster situation, thus verifying the rationality and validity of the evaluation method. The results indicate that the stability of the study area is generally at the lower middle level.

Abstract Compound eyes formation in decapod crustaceans occurs after the nauplius stage. However, the key genes and regulatory mechanisms of compound eye development during crustacean embryonic development have not yet been clarified. In this study, RNA-seq was used to investigate the gene expression profiles of Neocaridina denticulata sinensis from nauplius to zoea stage. Based on RNA-seq data analysis, the phototransduction and insect hormone biosynthesis pathways were enriched, and molting-related neuropeptides were highly expressed. There was strong cell proliferation in the embryo prior to compound eye development. The formation of the visual system and the hormonal regulation of hatching were the dominant biological events during compound eye development. The functional analysis of DEGs across all four developmental stages showed that cuticle formation, muscle growth and the establishment of immune system occurred from nauplius to zoea stage. Key genes related to eye development were discovered, including those involved in the determination and differentiation of the eye field, eye-color formation, and visual signal transduction. In conclusion, the results increase the understanding of the molecular mechanism of eye formation in crustacean embryonic stage.

BackgroundEndoscopy nurses in China face significant work–family conflicts, where the clash between high work demands and family responsibilities markedly increases the risk of occupational fatigue. This not only affects the nurses’ physical and mental health and overall well-being, but also poses a threat to the quality of care and patient safety. This study, grounded in the Conservation of Resources theory, constructs a moderated mediation model to examine the mediating role of positive coping style in the relationship between work–family conflict and occupational fatigue among endoscopy nurses in China, as well as the moderating effect of perceived social support.MethodsA convenience sampling method was employed to select 315 endoscopy nurses from 25 tertiary hospitals across 14 provinces in China. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the Fatigue Assessment Instrument, the Work–Family Conflict Scale, the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, and the Perceived Social Support Scale. The moderated mediation model was validated using Stata16.0.ResultsOur findings reveal that work–family conflict is a significant predictor of occupational fatigue, with a negative impact on positive coping style. Positive coping style, in turn, is negatively associated with occupational fatigue. Furthermore, positive coping style partially mediates the relationship between work–family conflict and occupational fatigue, accounting for 35.52% of the total effect. Additionally, perceived social support mitigates the negative effects of work–family conflict on positive coping style and occupational fatigue.ConclusionThere exists a moderated mediation effect between work–family conflict and occupational fatigue among endoscopy nurses in China, wherein positive coping style serve as a mediating variable. Perceived social support mitigates the negative impact of work–family conflict on positive coping style, while enhancing the alleviating effect of positive coping style on occupational fatigue. Therefore, improving endoscopy nurses’ levels of perceived social support and coping strategies may help to prevent and alleviate the occurrence of occupational fatigue.

Trehalase plays an important role in insect metabolism and development by hydrolyzing blood sugar trehalose, but it seems to perform primarily an immunomodulatory function in crustaceans whose blood sugar is glucose. Metal ions as pollutants seriously affecting crustacean health, but studies on trehalase in metal immunity are still limited. In this study, a soluble trehalase (NdTre1) that could bind to multiple metals was identified from Neocaridina denticulata sinensis for investigating metal resistance. Expression profiling revealed that NdTre1 was mainly expressed in the gill and was significantly decreased following stimulation with copper (Cu²⁺) and cadmium (Cd²⁺). Transcriptomic analysis of gills revealed an increase in ecdysone synthesis after interference with NdTre1. Increased ecdysone activated the endogenous mitochondrial pathway and the mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway to further induced apoptosis. In vitro, Escherichia coli overexpressing recombinant NdTre1 had higher survival and faster growth rates to better adapted the metal-containing medium. Overall, NdTre1 exercises an important immune function in shrimp resistance to metal stimulation by regulating apoptosis and molting. Further investigation can further explore specific response mechanisms of NdTre1 to multiple metals.

In order to mitigate spring frost damage to wheat in the Huanghuaihai region, this paper developed a combined frost index (CFI) based on daily meteorological observations collected from 46 stations between 2000 and 2020, along with wheat yield data. Grounded in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum (SPAC) theory, which encompasses meteorological, soil, and crop factors, the study employed a combination assignment method based on ideal points to allocate indicators. Subsequently, this study delves into the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of frost events in the Huanghuaihai region and carefully assesses the risk of frost damage in the region. The findings indicate that: (1) CFI was a significant predictor of relative meteorological yield in wheat across various growth stages, with a highly significant negative correlation observed, thus verifying the index’s validity. (2) The results of our analysis indicated significant inter-annual variations in the wheat frost index (Tz), with particularly abrupt changes observed during the early and late spring frost events of 1997 and 2009. (3) The spatial distribution of wheat frost damage during the two growth stages exhibited distinct regional disparities, with a consistent northward increase in severity, predominantly concentrated in the northern part of the Huanghuaihai region.

Ovarian development is a complex process crucial for the successful reproduction of Exopalaemon carinicauda. As a commercially important aquaculture species in China, however, there is limited information of the mechanisms underlying ovarian development. Therefore, this study conducted transcriptomic and proteomic sequencing of the E. carinicauda ovaries in different stages (Ⅰ, Ⅱ, and Ⅴ), aiming to explore important regulators and pathways involved in ovarian development. A total of 712 DEGs and 474 DEPs were identified. Functional annotation revealed DEGs and DEPs were related to processes such as transport activities, DNA metabolism, nutrient metabolism, and cell junctions. There was continuously up-regulation of genes involved in ovarian development, such as fatty acyl-CoA reductase, long chain fatty acid-CoA ligase 4, MFS domain-containing protein 6, and estradiol 17β-dehydrogenase. Besides, there were 6 common DEPs among three comparison groups, including vitellogenin, α-L-fucosidase, thymosin-β, filamin-A, SLC18B1, and LYRM7. Integrated analysis showed that vitellogenin receptor, NPC intracellular cholesterol transporter 2, fatty acid synthase, and transglutaminase were significantly up-regulated in stage Ⅴ, suggesting these genes/proteins may play crucial roles in ovarian development. These research findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate crustacean ovarian development.

BackgroundMeaning in life is a crucial aspect of psychological well-being, often overlooked despite its clinical significance. This warrants further investigation, especially regarding its relationship with frailty and psychological resilience.ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the status and relevance of frailty, psychological resilience, and meaning in life among older adults in Chinese nursing homes. Additionally, it explores the mediating role of psychological resilience between frailty and meaning in life, providing insights to improve the meaning in life for older adults in nursing homes.MethodsBetween August 2022 and November 2022, 302 older adults in Chinese nursing homes were selected using convenience sampling. The study utilized the Socio-demographic Characteristics Questionnaire, Tilburg Frailty Indicator, Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and the Source of Meaning Scale for Older Adults. A face-to-face questionnaire survey was conducted, and SPSS 27.0 was employed for analyzing correlations between frailty, psychological resilience, and meaning in life. The mediating effect of psychological resilience was assessed using Model 4 in the Process plug-in.ResultsOlder adults in nursing homes exhibited a frailty total score of 4.00 (2.00, 5.00), with a prevalence of 28.5%. Psychological resilience scored 66.00 (51.75, 76.00), and meaning in life scored 149.00 (132.00, 158.25). Frailty showed a negative correlation with both meaning in life and psychological resilience, while meaning in life demonstrated a positive correlation with psychological resilience. Psychological resilience exhibited a partial mediating effect, accounting for 51.04% of the total effect between frailty and meaning in life.ConclusionFrailty incidence is high among older adults in nursing homes, with psychological resilience at a general level and meaning in life in the upper middle level. Psychological resilience plays a crucial role as a partial mediator between frailty and meaning in life. Timely assessment of frailty, targeted interventions, and improvements in psychological resilience are essential for enhancing the meaning in life and promoting successful aging.

High temperatures and droughts are two natural disasters that cause forest fires. During climate change, the frequent occurrence of high temperatures, droughts, and their coupled effects significantly increase the forest fire risk. To reveal the seasonal and spatial differences in the coupled effects of high temperatures and droughts on forest fires, this study used the Copula method and proposed the compound extremely high-temperature and drought event index (CTDI). The results indicated that the study area was subject to frequent forest fires in spring (71.56%), and the burned areas were mainly located in forests (40.83%) and the transition zone between farmland and forests (36.91%). The probability of forest fires in summer increased with high temperatures and drought intensity, with high temperatures playing a dominant role. The highest forest fire hazard occurred in summer (>0.98). The probability of a forest fire occurring under extreme meteorological conditions in summer and fall was more than twice as high as that in the same zone under non-extreme conditions. Droughts play a significant role in the occurrence and spread of forest fires during fall. These results can provide decision-making support for forest fire warnings and fire fighting in the Northeast China forest zone.

Wastewater treatment plants are of significant importance in facilitating China’s urbanization process. The fundamental purpose of wastewater treatment plants is to control water pollution and protect the environment. It is therefore essential that they are operated in a safe manner in order to achieve this goal. In order to guarantee a systematic and objective assessment of the operational safety risks inherent to wastewater treatment plants, the Wuli–Shili–Renli (WSR) theory has been introduced. Accordingly, a three-dimensional evaluation index system was developed for the assessment of these risks. A combination of subjective and objective methods utilizing game theory was employed to determine comprehensive risk factor weights. Subsequently, the material–element extension theory model was implemented in a wastewater treatment plant situated in the northern region of the Changchun Development Zone. The assessment classified the plant as Level 1 (safe), although it was determined that improvements in accident prevention are necessary. This study presents a robust framework for operational safety assessment that contributes to enhanced risk management and the long-term reliability of wastewater treatment operations. The results of the sensitivity analyses provide substantial evidence of the reliability and validity of the model.

Currently, hyperspectral remote sensing technology used for vegetation monitoring mainly uses empirical and semi-empirical statistical methods to calculate heavy metal content. Combining physical models and machine learning algorithms is an effective method for estimating biochemical vegetation parameters without much ground measurement data. However, a deep extreme learning machine (DELM) has a faster training speed and better generalization ability. By introducing the Aquila Optimizer (AO) algorithm, the training process of the DELM method can be accelerated. This study combined the PROSAIL model, chlorophyll concentration information, and vegetation SO2 purification ability, and comprehensively applied physical and empirical models to analyze the optical characteristics of the urban forest SO2 purification rate and other factors. A coupled model (PROSAIL + AO + DELM) was constructed to simulate urban forests canopy SO2 purification ability and was then applied to remote sensing inversion. These results indicated that the Syringa oblate Lindl. (S. oblate) and Ulmus pumila “Jinye” (U. pumila) had moderate SO2 purification capacities, whereas that of Prunus cerasifera var. atropurpurea Jack. (P. cerasifera) were low. The SO2 purification rate was highly sensitive in the green, red, and red-edge spectral ranges. In the SO2 purification rate estimation model constructed by the subset (Corresponding to Sentinel-2 band), NDI, DI, and RVI indices, the PROSAIL + AO + DELM model had the best performance, with R2, root mean square error (RMSE), and relative percent deviation (RPD) of 0.73, 0.056, 1.61, and 0.68, 0.096, and 1.06 for T2 (low concentration) and T3 (high concentration) treatments, respectively. The PROSAIL + AO + DELM model was extended to multispectral images (Sentinel-2), where the results of the NDI model inversion were the closest to those of field monitoring. These results indicate that the urban forest SO2 purification rate model constructed in this study has the potential to be applied on a large scale. This study addresses the research gap regarding rapid, non-destructive, and low-input evaluation of plant purification capacity and achieves the non-destructive detection of plant purification capacity from point to point and from static to dynamic. This enables efficient, non-destructive, and cost-effective evaluation of air purification levels, and provides a basis for predicting air purification in large regions in later stages.

Abstract Owing to the complexity and variability of global climate, the study of extreme events to ensure food security is particularly critical. The standardized precipitation requirement index (SPRI) and chilling injury index (ICi) were introduced using data from agrometeorological stations on the Songliao Plain between 1981 and 2020 to identify the spatial and temporal variability of drought, waterlogging, and low-temperature cold damage during various maize growth periods. Compound drought and low-temperature cold damage events (CDLEs) and compound waterlogging and low-temperature cold damage events (CWLEs) were then identified. To measure the intensity of compound events, the compound drought and low-temperature cold damage magnitude index (CDLMI), and compound waterlogging and low-temperature cold damage magnitude index (CWLMI) were constructed by fitting marginal distributions. Finally, the effects of extreme events of various intensities on maize output were examined. The findings demonstrate that: (1) There were significant differences in the temporal trends of the SPRI and ICi during different maize growth periods. Drought predominated in the middle growth period (MP), waterlogging predominated in the early growth period (EP) and late growth period (LP), and both drought and waterlogging tended to increase in intensity and frequency. The frequency of low-temperature cold damage showed a decreasing trend in all periods. (2) The CDLMI and CWLMI can effectively determine the intensity of CDLEs and CWLEs in the study area; these CDLEs and CWLEs had higher intensity and frequency in the late growth period. (3) Compared to single events, maize relative meteorological yield had a more significant negative correlation with the CDLMI and CWLMI.

In seasonally frozen soil areas, high-steep rocky slopes resulting from open-pit mining and slope cutting during road construction undergo slow natural restoration, making ecological restoration generally challenging. In order to improve the problems of external soil attachment and long-term vegetation growth in the ecological restoration of high-steep rocky slopes in seasonally frozen areas, this study conducted a series of experiments through the combined application of polyacrylamide (PAM) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) to assess the effects of soil amendments on soil shear strength, water stability, freeze–thaw resistance, erosion resistance, and vegetation growth. This study showed that the addition of PAM-CMC significantly increased the shear resistance and cohesion of the soil, as well as improving the water stability, freeze–thaw resistance, and erosion resistance, but the internal friction angle of the soil was not significantly increased after reaching a certain content. Moderate amounts of PAM-CMC can extend the survival of vegetation, but overuse may cause soil hardening and inhibit vegetation growth by limiting air permeability. It was observed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that the gel membrane formed by PAM-CMC helped to “bridge” and bind the soil particles. After discussion and analysis, the optimum application rate of PAM-CMC was 3%, which not only improved the soil structure but also ensured the growth of vegetation in the later stage under the optimum application rate. Field application studies have shown that 3% PAM-CMC-amended soil stably attaches to high-steep rocky slopes, with stable vegetation growth, and continues to grow after five months of freeze–thaw action, with no need for manual maintenance after one year.

Abstract Accumulating evidence indicates that patients treated with rosuvastatin have an increased risk of developing new‐onset diabetes. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we administered rosuvastatin (10 mg/kg body weight) to male C57BL/6J mice for 12 weeks and found that oral rosuvastatin dramatically reduced intraperitoneal glucose tolerance. Rosuvastatin‐treated mice showed considerably higher serum levels of branched‐chain amino acids (BCAAs) than control mice. They also showed dramatically altered expression of BCAA catabolism‐related enzymes in white adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, including downregulated mRNA expression of BCAT2 and protein phosphatase 2Cm (PP2Cm) and upregulated mRNA expression of branched‐chain ketoacid dehydrogenase kinase (BCKDK). The levels of BCKD in the skeletal muscle were reduced in rosuvastatin‐treated mice, which was associated with lower PP2Cm protein levels and increased BCKDK levels. We also investigated the effects of rosuvastatin and insulin administration on glucose metabolism and BCAA catabolism in C2C12 myoblasts. We observed that incubation with insulin enhanced glucose uptake and facilitated BCAA catabolism in C2C12 cells, which was accompanied by elevated Akt and glycogen synthase kinase 3 β (GSK3β) phosphorylation. These effects of insulin were prevented by co‐incubation of the cells with 25 μM rosuvastatin. Moreover, the effects of insulin and rosuvastatin administration on glucose uptake and Akt and GSK3β signaling in C2C12 cells were abolished when PP2Cm was knocked down. Although the relevance of these data, obtained with high doses of rosuvastatin in mice, to therapeutic doses in humans remains to be elucidated, this study highlights a potential mechanism for the diabetogenic effects of rosuvastatin, and suggests that BCAA catabolism could be a pharmacological target for preventing the adverse effects of rosuvastatin.

Abstract Nowadays, global public health crises are occurring more frequently, and accurate prediction of these diseases can reduce the burden on the healthcare system. Taking COVID-19 as an example, accurate prediction of infection can assist experts in effectively allocating medical resources and diagnosing diseases. Currently, scholars worldwide use single model approaches or epidemiology models more often to predict the outbreak trend of COVID-19, resulting in poor prediction accuracy. Although a few studies have employed ensemble models, there is still room for improvement in their performance. In addition, there are only a few models that use the laboratory results of patients to predict COVID-19 infection. To address these issues, research efforts should focus on improving disease prediction performance and expanding the use of medical disease prediction models. In this paper, we propose an innovative deep learning model Whale Optimization Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) called WOCLSA which incorporates three models ANN, CNN and LSTM. The WOCLSA model utilizes the Whale Optimization Algorithm to optimize the neuron number, dropout and batch size parameters in the integrated model of ANN, CNN and LSTM, thereby finding the global optimal solution parameters. WOCLSA employs 18 patient indicators as predictors, and compares its results with three other ensemble deep learning models. All models were validated with train-test split approaches. We evaluate and compare our proposed model and other models using accuracy, F1 score, recall, AUC and precision metrics. Through many studies and tests, our results show that our prediction models can identify patients with COVID-19 infection at the AUC of 91%, 91%, and 93% respectively. Other prediction results achieve a respectable accuracy of 92.82%, 92.79%, and 91.66% respectively, f1-score of 93.41%, 92.79%, and 92.33% respectively, precision of 93.41%, 92.79%, and 92.33% respectively, recall of 93.41%, 92.79%, and 92.33% respectively. All of these exceed 91%, surpassing those of comparable models. The execution time of WOCLSA is also an advantage. Therefore, the WOCLSA ensemble model can be used to assist in verifying laboratory research results and predict and to judge various diseases in public health events.

ObjectiveTo investigate the connection between social support (SS) and successful aging (SA) in older adults residing in nursing homes, examining the mediating role of meaning in life (MIL). Additionally, this study aims to assess whether frailty moderates the mediation model.MethodsA cross-sectional survey approach was employed to recruit older adults from six nursing homes in Sichuan Province between August 2022 and December 2022. Questionnaires, including the General Information Questionnaire, Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), and Successful Aging Inventory (SAI), were administered. Data obtained from the completed questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS and its macro program PROCESS.ResultsSS emerged as a noteworthy positive predictor of SA in older adults of nursing homes. MIL was identified as a partial mediator in the link between SS and SA. Furthermore, frailty attenuated the positive predictive impact of MIL on SA and moderated the latter part of the mediation model, wherein SS influences SA through MIL. The influence of MIL on SA was more pronounced in older adults with lower frailty levels in nursing homes, while it was diminished in those with higher levels of frailty.ConclusionApart from ensuring the availability of essential medical resources in long-term care for older adults, workers in nursing homes should also recognize the significance of “spiritual aging” to cultivate a sense of MIL among older adults. Simultaneously, attention must be directed toward screening for frailty indicators in older adults. Psychological care and physical exercise programs should be intensified for older adults with a high level of frailty, aiming to decelerate the progression of frailty in nursing home residents. This approach leverages the mediating role of MIL and the moderating influence of frailty, ultimately enhancing SA and promoting healthy aging in older adults within nursing home settings.

ObjectiveRelative to explicit absenteeism, nurses' presenteeism has a more lasting impact and is more harmful and costly. This study aimed to explore the relationship between work-family conflict, perceived social support, and presenteeism and whether perceived social support mediates the relationship between work-family conflict and presenteeism among ICU nurses working on shifts in Chinese public hospitals.Materials and methodsA cross-sectional research design was conducted from January to April 2023 in Sichuan Province, China. A total of 609 valid questionnaires were collected. The questionnaires contained information on demographic characteristics, the Work-Family Conflict (WFC) scale, the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), and Stanford Presenteeism Scale-6 (SPS-6). Multiple stratified regression was used to explore the mediating role of perceived social support between work-family conflict and presenteeism. The mediating effect of perceived social support in work-family conflict and presenteeism was tested by Model 4 in the PROCESS 4.1 macro program in SPSS.ResultsA total of 609 nurses were included in this study, and the mean presenteeism score for ICU nurses working on shifts was 16.01 ± 4.293 (Mean ± SD), with high presenteeism accounting for 58.46%. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristic variables, work-family conflict was positively associated with presenteeism, explaining 7.7% of the variance. High perceived social support was related to low presenteeism, explaining 11.5% of the variance. Perceived social support mediated the association between work-family conflict and presenteeism among ICU nurses working on shifts.ConclusionsChinese shift-work ICU nurses' high presenteeism scores deserve managers' attention. Work-family conflict is a significant predictor of nurses' presenteeism. Perceived social support is essential in improving nurses' work-family conflict and mediates the relationship between work-family conflict and presenteeism. Improving social support can reduce the impact of work-family conflict on presenteeism among nurses working shifts.

BackgroundNurses are the largest occupational group in the health field, with inestimable value in realizing universal health coverage, and nurses’ physical and mental health has become an ordinary global reality. Compared with explicit absence, nurses’ presenteeism has a more lasting impact and significant harm and loss. It has become an essential factor affecting nurses’ physical and mental health, declining quality of healthcare services, and elevated healthcare-related risks. There is a lack of research exploring whether occupational coping self-efficacy influences nurses’ presenteeism behavior, especially in less-developed regions of China.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the current status of ICU nurses’ occupational coping self-efficacy and presenteeism in public hospitals in western China and to explore the impact of ICU nurses’ occupational coping self-efficacy on presenteeism.MethodsA cross-sectional research design selected 722 ICU nurses in western China from January to February 2023 as survey respondents. A general information questionnaire, Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (OCSE-N), and Stanford Presenteeism Scale (SPS-6) were used. SPSS 21.0 software was used for statistical analysis. Pearson correlation analysis and multivariate hierarchical regression were used to explore the influence of ICU nurses’ occupational coping self-efficacy on presenteeism.ResultsA total of 722 ICU nurses completed the questionnaire. The OCSE-N score of ICU nurses was (22.24 ± 6.15), and the SPS-6 score was (16.83 ± 4.24). The high presenteeism was 67.23%. Correlation analysis showed that in ICU nurses, OCSE-N total score was negatively correlated with SPS-6 total score (r = −0.421, p

With the global alterations in ecological conditions and population growth, the study of production-living-ecological space (PLES) offers a new perspective in balancing land resource utilization with the sustainable development of society, economy, and environment. China has incorporated the optimization of PLES into its sustainable development strategy. However, research concerning the PLES functions within wetland ecosystems remains notably sparse. Wetlands, distinguished by their unique ecosystem, command a special place in the realm of production, living and ecology research. Their importance is multifaceted, stemming from their roles in ecology, economy, and socio-cultural dimensions, and further accentuated by their distinct geographical, climatic, and biodiversity attributes. In light of this, the Xianghai Wetland Nature Reserve in Jilin, China, was chosen as the focal point of this study to probe into the coupling coordination degree of its PLES functions. The study commenced with a thorough analysis of the changes in land use types from 2000 to 2020 using a land use transition matrix model. Following this, a customized land use function assessment framework called LUF-PLE was formulated, offering a quantitative assessment of the Xianghai wetland’s production, living, and ecological space functions and shedding light on their spatiotemporal dynamics. Finally, a coupling coordination degree model (CCDM) was employed to elucidate the evolution of the PLES functions of Xianghai wetlands. Key findings revealed that: (1) the Xianghai wetland’s PLES coupling coordination degree exhibited a pattern of decline, stabilizing post-2010, with the most pronounced dip observed between 2000–2010; (2) the coordination between production and living functions was notably subdued, whereas the coordination between production and ecological functions saw the steepest decline. In the future, a sustainable wetland development strategy should be formulated and implemented based on the observed trends in coupling coordination and the spatiotemporal differentiation of production-liveling-ecological functions in the local context. This research furnishes scientific substantiation and serves as a reference for the sustainable stewardship and preservation of wetlands.

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs) widely exist in organisms and can prevent oxidative damage. Here, the characterization and biological function of NdPrx3 from Neocaridina denticulata sinensis were analyzed. The coding sequence of NdPrx3 consists of 684 bp open reading frame (ORF), encoding 227 amino acids with a predicted molecular weight of 24.7 kDa and theoretical pI 6.49. Multiple sequence alignments showed that the conserved domains of NdPrx3, including catalytic triad, dimer interface, decamer interface, peroxidatic, and resolving cysteines, were similar to those of other organisms. The phylogenetic relationship demonstrated that NdPrx3 clustered in the Prx3 class. The highest relative expression of NdPrx3 mRNA was confirmed in gill among the nine tissues from healthy shrimp. The transcript level of NdPrx3 was significantly upregulated from 0 h to 48 h and decreased in 72 h under copper challenge, indicating that NdPrx3 may play an important role in the copper challenge of N. denticulata sinensis. In addition, NdPrx3 was recombinantly expressed in E. coli and purified to one band on SDS-PAGE. The DNA protection of rNdPrx3 was verified. The enzymatic assay of the recombinant NdPrx3 indicated that it had the oxidoreductase function and was stable at a low temperature (10–30 °C).

Neocaridina denticulata sinensis has emerged as a promising model organism for basic studies in Decapod. However, the current transcriptome information on this species is based on next-generation sequencing technologies, which are limited by a short read length. Therefore, the present study aimed to generate a full-length transcriptome assembly of N. denticulata sinensis utilizing the PacBio Sequel Ⅱ platform. The resulting transcriptome assembly comprised 5831 transcripts with an N50 value of 3697 bp. Remarkably, 90.5% of these transcripts represented novel isoforms of known genes. The transcripts were further searched against the NR, SwissProt, KEGG, KOG, GO, NT, and Pfam databases. A total of 24.8% of the transcripts can be annotated across all seven databases. Additionally, 1236 alternative splicing events, 344 transcription factors, and 124 long non-coding RNAs (LncRNAs) were predicted. Based on the alternative splicing annotation results, a RING finger protein NHL-1 gene from N. denticulata sinensis (NdNHL-1) was identified. There are 15 transcripts in NdNHL-1. The longest transcript is 4995 bp in length and encodes a putative protein of 1665 amino acids. A phylogenetic analysis showed its close relationship with NHL-1 from other crustacean species. This report represents the full-length transcriptome of N. denticulata sinensis and will facilitate research on functional genomics and environmental adaptation in this species.

BackgroundPresenteeism is a significant global public health problem, and nurses are a high-prevalence group of presenteeism, affecting not only nurses’ physical and mental health, work efficiency, and quality of work but even poses a serious threat to patient safety.ObjectiveThe categorization of presenteeism among ICU nurses is unclear. Our research aims to explore the subtypes of presenteeism among ICU nurses based on latent profile analysis, analyze the influencing factors of different subtypes, and provide a reference basis for developing targeted interventions to reduce the presenteeism rate.MethodsFrom January to February 2023, 509 ICU nurses in Sichuan Province, China, were selected as respondents and surveyed using the general information questionnaire, the presenteeism scale, and the perceived social support scale. Potential categories of presenteeism among ICU nurses were explored using potential profile analysis, and factors influencing the potential types of presenteeism among ICU nurses were investigated using the chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe best model was suggested to consist of three profiles: low presenteeism-normal coping group (18.3%), moderate presenteeism group (47.9%), and high presenteeism-work limitation group (33.8%). Multiple logistic regression results showed that secondary hospitals (OR = 0.116, p = 0.015), good physical health (OR = 0.084, p = 0.023), general physical health (OR = 0.016, p = 0.037), ICU human resource allocation = 1:2.5 to 3 (OR = 0.315, p = 0.007), and higher social support scores (OR = 0.975, p = 0.047) were more likely to be grouped into low presenteeism-normal coping group; married with no children (OR = 24.554, p = 0.005) were more likely to be grouped into moderate presenteeism group; and having experienced workplace violence in the past year (OR = 1.182, p = 0.049) were more likely to be grouped into high presenteeism-work limitation group.ConclusionThere is group heterogeneity in the presenteeism of ICU nurses, and nursing managers should develop targeted interventions to reduce the presenteeism rate of ICU nurses according to the characteristics and influencing factors of each type of presenteeism of ICU nurses.

Abstract Earth fissures are potential hazards that often cause severe damage and affect infrastructure, the environment, and socio-economic development. Owing to the complexity of the causes of earth fissures, the prediction of earth fissures remains a challenging task. In this study, we assess earth fissure hazard susceptibility mapping through four advanced machine learning algorithms, namely random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), Naïve Bayes (NB), and K-nearest neighbor (KNN). Using Qa’ Jahran Basin in Yemen as a case study area, 152 fissure locations were recorded via a field survey for the creation of an earth fissure inventory and 11 earth fissure conditioning factors, comprising of topographical, hydrological, geological, and environmental factors, were obtained from various data sources. The outputs of the models were compared and analyzed using statistical indices such as the confusion matrix, overall accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve. The obtained results revealed that the RF algorithm, with an overall accuracy of 95.65% and AUROC, 0.99 showed excellent performance for generating hazard maps, followed by XGBoost, with an overall accuracy of 92.39% and AUROC of 0.98, the NB model, with overall accuracy, 88.43% and AUROC, 0.96, and KNN model with general accuracy, 80.43% and AUROC, 0.88), respectively. Such findings can assist land management planners, local authorities, and decision-makers in managing the present and future earth fissures to protect society and the ecosystem and implement suitable protection measures.

With global climate change, most parts of the world face more than one natural disaster. Field crops must cope with a combination of two or more stresses. System vulnerability has changed, and quantitative vulnerability analysis is imminent and challenging. Based on the crop water surplus deficit index (CWSDI) and low-temperature index (LTC), this study used the copula method to establish a dynamic assessment model of maize vulnerability under different low temperature and drought concurrent stress intensities, finally showed it in two forms of three-dimensional surface and spatial distribution, which was more vivid and comprehensive. The main conclusions are as follows: the peak number of individual events and concurrent events of low temperature and drought is significantly different, the time trend of the number of concurrent events in each growth period is not the same, and the interannual difference is significant; low-temperature severity and maize yield loss rate, low-temperature severity, and drought severity had significant correlation. Based on this, a 3 C-vine-copula model was established and passed the test. The interaction between the joint probability of concurrent event intensity and the loss rate leads to complex changes in vulnerability. When low temperature and drought are concurrent, the vulnerability analysis cannot be simply superimposed by low temperature and drought intensity. The vulnerability distribution of maize at different growth stages in Songliao Plain shows noticeable regional differences. The central and southern parts of the study area are the most vulnerable areas under low-temperature and drought stress. This study’s results can help managers adjust agricultural resources and adopt more effective irrigation policies under combined stress conditions.

Hazard assessment is the basic work in the field of disaster risk. For the agricultural field which is seriously affected by extreme events, it is necessary to carry out hazard assessment of compound extreme events (CEEs) to increase the accuracy of risk assessment. First, in this study, the SMDI and TCI were used to characterize the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of agricultural drought and heat, respectively, and the drought and heat compound extreme events (DHCEEs) were identified by characterizing the drought and heat events based on runs theory. Then, the compound event magnitude index (CEMI) was constructed by fitting the non-transcendent probabilities. next, the optimal copula function of severity and duration of DHCEEs was screened, and the fitted probabilities were used in the hazard assessment. The hazard assessment model of DHCEEs is constructed by considering the occurrence probability, severity, and duration. We evaluated the hazard of all DHCEEs identified in the Songliao Plain from 1990 to 2020. The results show that the whole study area is affected by agricultural drought, and heat mainly affects the western region. CEMI can effectively determine the severity of DHCEEs. In the study area, 46.51% of the DHCEEs have a hazard less than 0.1, and 2.71% have a hazard greater than 0.5. The event that had the biggest hazard occurred in 2001, and the proportion of high hazard compound events gradually increased after 2000. Similar compound extreme events are gaining attention in important food-producing regions around the world, and the hazard assessment model constructed in this study can be used to assess crop damage from compound extreme events in real-time, increasing the relevance and accuracy of risk assessment.

Based on the data from two field surveys in 2015 and 2022, this paper calculates the weight of values using the entropy weight method and the variation coefficient method, and evaluates risk using the information quantity method. The information quantities of four levels of criteria (hazards, exposure, vulnerability, emergency responses, and capability of recovery) were extracted and inputted into a random forest model. After optimizing the hyperparameters of the random forest using GridSearchCV, the risk assessment was performed again. Finally, the accuracy of the two evaluation results was verified using an ROC curve, and the model with the higher AUC value was selected to create a risk map. Compared with previous studies, this paper considers the factors of emergency responses and recovery capability, which makes the risk assessment more comprehensive. Our findings show that the evaluation results based on the coupling model are more accurate than the evaluation results of the information method, as the coupling model had an AUC value of 0.9329. After considering the indices of emergency responses and capability of recovery, the risk level of the highest-risk area in the study area decreased.

Abstract The climate changes influence the growing suitability of peanut, an important oil crop. Climatic suitability evaluation in the Huang-Huai-Hai region, the main peanut producing region of China, which can optimize peanut planting structure and provide basis for increasing output. In this study, the temperature, precipitation, sunshine and comprehensive suitability models were established by using the climatic suitability function in different growth periods of peanut. In this study, the climate suitability function of peanut in different growth periods was used to establish the temperature, precipitation, sunshine and comprehensive suitability model. Combined with the meteorological data after Anusplin interpolation, the spatial distribution and chronological change of peanut climate suitability were analyzed. The results show that with climate change, the overall climate becomes warmer and drier and the temperature and precipitation suitability increase, but the sunshine suitability decreases. Based on the comprehensive suitability model, the suitability evaluation results are divided into four levels: the most suitable, suitable, sub-suitable and unsuitable. Among them, the most suitable peanut planting areas in the Huang-Huai-Hai region are concentrated in the west of the Haihe River Basin and the Huaihe River Basin. The data from the next 30 years show that both the most suitable and suitable areas have been expanded. Through the verification of yield correlation analysis and spatial distribution of disaster frequency, it can be seen that the evaluation results have high accuracy, which can be used to guide and optimize peanut production practices.

The incidence of hyperuricemia and gout has been increasing year by year, and it is showing a younger trend. However, the first-line drugs currently used for hyperuricemia and gouty arthritis have serious side effects that limit their clinical application. Amomum villosum Lour. has been widely used in China for thousands of years as a traditional medical and edible plant, and previous screening showed that the ethanol extract of Amomum villosum Lour. could effectively inhibit the activity of xanthine oxidase. Based on this discovery, this paper had achieved in-depth mechanism research. The results showed that the ethanol extract of Amomum villosum Lour. could treat hyperuricemia by reducing the production of uric acid via inhibition of xanthine oxidase and increasing the excretion of uric acid via regulation of urate transporters. Meanwhile, the extract also showed a certain protective effect on hepatic and renal damage caused by hyperuricemia. With the formation of extensive uric acid, gouty arthritis will be induced by the deposition of monosodium urate in the joint. The extract could also relieve the inflammation by reducing the expression of inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, the extract deserves focused research and development as a potential medicine, health care product or supplemented food for the prevention and treatment of hyperuricemia and gouty arthritis.

Collapses are one of the most common geological disasters in mountainous areas, which easily damage buildings and infrastructures and bring huge property losses to people’s production and life. This paper uses Huinan County as the study area, and with the help of a geographic information system (GIS) based on the formation principle of natural disaster risk, the information content method (ICM), the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and the analytical hierarchy process–information content method (AHP-ICM) model are applied to hazard mapping, and the analytical hierarchy process-entropy weight method (AHP-EWM) model is applied to exposure, vulnerability and emergency responses, and recovery capability mapping. A risk mapping model for collapse disasters was also constructed using these four elements. Firstly, an inventory map of 52 landslides was compiled using remote sensing interpretation, field verification, and comprehensive previous survey data. Then, the study area mapping units were delineated using the curvature watershed method in the slope unit, and 21 indicators were used to draw the collapse disaster risk zoning map by considering the four elements of geological disaster risk. The prediction accuracy of the three hazard mapping models was verified using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under the curve (AUC) results of the AHP, ICM, and AHP-ICM models were 80%, 85.7%, and 87.4%, respectively. After a comprehensive comparison, the AHP-ICM model is the best of the three models in terms of collapse hazard mapping, and it was applied to collapse risk mapping with the AHP-EWM model to produce a reasonable and reliable collapse risk zoning map, which provides a basis for collapse management and decision making.

This letter reports the fabrication of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) within in-house fabricated fluoroaluminate (AlF3) glass fibers using femtosecond (fs) laser inscription at 800 nm. The grating strength of the FBGs was investigated for different pulse energies and different orders, and a 3rd-order FBG with Bragg wavelength at 1557 nm was found to have the highest reflectivity of 99.5%. In addition, the reflectivity of the mid-IR grating peaks for different orders was also studied, and a 2nd-order FBG with a reflectivity of 98.8% was obtained at 2864 nm. Finally, the temperature characteristics of a mid-IR FBG were studied between 30 °C and 150 °C, showing a linear wavelength dependence and an excellent stability for the refractive index modulation. Such highly reflectivity FBGs in AlF3 fiber have significant potential for applications in the development of compact all-fiber mid-IR fiber lasers.

Economic crustaceans play important roles in aquaculture and create great benefits for the world agricultural economy. Studies have found that there are many single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in the crustacean genomes, which closely related to a variety of life activities like growth, development, reproduction, and so on. However, the in vivo functional study of SNPs still lacks appropriate technique in crustaceans. The cytosine base editor (CBE) based on cytidine deaminase (CDA) can convert the C•G base pair to T•A base pair, which provides a new idea for the study of function of crustacean SNPs. In this study, the CDA gene from Exopalaemon carinicauda (EcCDA) was cloned and fused to the N-terminus of Cas9 nickase (nCas9(D10A)) skeleton to construct a cytidine base editor (pEcCDA-nCas9(D10A)) suitable for crustacean point editing. Neocaridina denticulata sinensis MIH (NdMIH) gene was selected as the target gene. The in vitro transcribed EcCDA-nCas9(D10A) mRNA and NdMIH-gRNA were co-injected into the 1-cell stage embryos of N. denticulata sinensis for gene editing. Detection results showed that the constructed pEcCDA-nCas9(D10A) successfully realized the conversion of C•G to T•A in NdMIH with the editing efficiency of approximately 11.21%. Our works construct a well-established crustacean base editing platform.

PARP (poly ADP-ribose polymerase) family is a crucial DNA repair enzyme that responds to DNA damage, regulates apoptosis, and maintains genome stability; therefore, PARP inhibitors represent a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of various human diseases including COVID-19. In this study, a multi-task FP-GNN (Fingerprint and Graph Neural Networks) deep learning framework was proposed to predict the inhibitory activity of molecules against four PARP isoforms (PARP-1, PARP-2, PARP-5A, and PARP-5B). Compared with baseline predictive models based on four conventional machine learning methods such as RF, SVM, XGBoost, and LR as well as six deep learning algorithms such as DNN, Attentive FP, MPNN, GAT, GCN, and D-MPNN, the evaluation results indicate that the multi-task FP-GNN method achieves the best performance with the highest average BA, F1, and AUC values of 0.753 ± 0.033, 0.910 ± 0.045, and 0.888 ± 0.016 for the test set. In addition, Y-scrambling testing successfully verified that the model was not results of chance correlation. More importantly, the interpretability of the multi-task FP-GNN model enabled the identification of key structural fragments associated with the inhibition of each PARP isoform. To facilitate the use of the multi-task FP-GNN model in the field, an online webserver called PARPi-Predict and its local version software were created to predict whether compounds bear potential inhibitory activity against PARPs, thereby contributing to design and discover better selective PARP inhibitors.

The quantitative evaluation of the ecological security can reflect the changes in the quality of ecological environment and provide a scientific basis for the formulation of land-use policy and for the construction of the ecological environment. In this study, we selected Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia, China, as the research area, and established the driving force-pressure-state-impact-response-management (DPSIRM) model to evaluate grassland ecological security. The results were as follows: (1) During 2005–2015, the overall trend of ecological security level in the study area increased, with the western region being relatively ecologically insecure and the eastern region being more secure. (2) The spatial distribution trend of ecological security level from west to east was “ very serious alerts ” → “ serious alerts ” → “ moderate alerts ” → “ light alerts ”→ “ no alert ”. (3) The “ very serious alerts ” and “ serious alerts ” are mainly concentrated in Sonid Left Banner and Sonid Right Banner, but from the perspective of spatial migration of ecological security, unsafe and less safe tend to shift to the northeast. This study provides a new idea for grassland ecological security evaluation research, has important practical significance for understanding the ecological security level of Xilingol grassland area, and will guide the reasonable development and utilization of Xilingol grassland.

Due to the improvement of living standards and the adjustment of dietary structure, the cereal industry shows excellent growth prospects. Clarifying millet drought risk distribution and determining its dynamic evolution characteristics are therefore of great importance for guiding millet production, preventing drought risks, and ensuring food security. In this study, SPRI was used to identify millet drought, and drought intensity-yield loss rate curves were constructed to characterize millet drought sensitivity. The potential exposure of millet was explored by considering millet climatic suitability and farmland proportion. In light of this, a comprehensive assessment of millet drought risk in different growth periods was made using natural disaster risk theory. The results showed that: (1) The sensitivity model for each growth period had passed the F-test of α = 0.05 (R2 were 0.544, 0.408 and 0.347 respectively), reaching a significant level, which proved that the model can be used to assess millet drought sensitivity. (2) More than 70 % of Liaoning Province had a suitable climatic environment for millet production. Combined with the farmland proportion, the area with high potential exposure was distributed in the central region of Liaoning. (3) The millet drought risk in different growth periods showed a characteristic distribution of high in the northwest and low in the southeast. Among them, Chaoyang had the largest high and extremely high drought risk area in the three growth periods, accounting for 92.11 %, 99.34 % and 98.86 % respectively. At the same time, the center-of-gravity model shows that the barycenter of millet drought risk has a trend of spreading from the west of Liaoning to the northeast and southwest. To sum up, the millet drought risk area in Liaoning may increase in the future, measures should be taken to prevent and mitigate millet drought from three aspects: before, during and after the disaster.

The Climate Hazard Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) dataset was examined for its variability and performance in explaining precipitation variations, forecasting, and drought monitoring in Southeast Asia (SEA) for the period of 1981–2020. By using time-series analysis, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), and the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model this study established a data-driven approach for estimating the future trends of precipitation. The ARIMA model is based on the Box Jenkins approach, which removes seasonality and keeps the data stationary while forecasting future patterns. Depending on the series, ARIMA model annual estimates can be read as a blend of recent observations and long-term historical trend. Methods for determining 95 percent confidence intervals for several SEA countries and simulating future annual and seasonal precipitation were developed. The results illustrates that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were chosen as the countries with the greatest inaccuracies. On an annual basis, Afghanistan has the lowest Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values at 33.285 mm, while Pakistan has the highest at 35.149 mm. It was predicted that these two countries would receive more precipitation in the future as compared to previous years.

In recent years, the volcanic activity of Changbai Mountain has been accompanied by several earthquakes, and the frequent human engineering activities have led to a gradual increase in the number of collapses in the region, which severely impacts residents’ lives and property safety. In northeastern China, the Changbai Mountain area in the southeastern Jilin Province is a typical mountain environment. This paper selects 12 evaluation indicators to build a hazard assessment system, including slope, aspect, elevation, curvature, lithology, NDVI, land use type, distance from the fault, the river from the road, volcanic earthquake, and annual average precipitation. Using emotional weight (G1 method) and objective weight (WOE-CV method), the hazard due to collapses in the study area is evaluated too. Among them, the transcendence probability of volcanic earthquakes greater than VI degree represents the relationship between Changbai Mountain volcanic earthquakes and the assessment of geological collapse hazard. The results show that high- and very high-hazard areas are mainly distributed in densely populated areas and national and provincial trunk lines, with apparent spatial agglomeration characteristics. The low-hazard area, medium-hazard area, high-hazard area and very high-hazard area accounted for 19.33%, 44.19%, 33.85% and 2.63% of the total area of the study area, respectively. By comparing the previous geological hazard survey reports in the area with the collapse hazard zoning map in this paper, 87.72% of the known collapse hazard areas are distributed within high and very high hazard zones, indicating that the conclusions of the article are more accurate and in line with the actual situation. Results from collapse-related hazards can provide relevant guidance for preventing and controlling geological risks posed by volcanic earthquakes affecting Changbai Mountain.

Based on the precipitation and potential evapotranspiration at 23 stations in the Jilin Province, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was calculated. Based on run theory and combined with previous research in Jilin Province, we redefine the drought threshold, with three characteristics, that is, drought duration, intensity, and severity, were identified and extracted. Two- and three-dimensional copula functions were selected to fit and combine drought variables to calculate the joint recurrence period. In order to make the alternative copula model more complete, 25 representative copula functions are selected for the first time to construct the Joint probability distribution function. The Mann–Kendall test was used to examine abrupt changes in Meihekou County. SPEI trends and the joint cumulative probability of drought variables in the Changbai area were analyzed. The results show that: (1) the SPEI in the Meihekou area was unstable around 2000 and 2010, with abrupt change points; (2) the trend of the SPEI in the Changbai Mountains area indicates that the drought occurrence is similar at various timescales; the drought range and duration increase with increasing timescale; and (3) the correlation between the three drought variables is strong and the fit is good. The results of two- and three-dimensional joint recurrence period calculations are similar, with a high probability of recurrence within three years.

The frequent occurrence of urban flooding in recent years has resulted in significant damage to ground-level infrastructure and poses a substantial threat to the metro system. As the central city’s core transportation network for public transit, this threat can have unpredictable consequences on travel convenience and public safety. Therefore, assessing the risk of urban flooding in the metro system is of utmost importance. This study is the first of its kind to employ comprehensive natural disaster risk assessment theory, establishing an assessment database with 22 indicators. We propose a GIS-based method combined with the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and an improved entropy weight method to comprehensively evaluate the urban flood risk in Changchun City’s metro systems in China. This study includes a total of nine metro lines, including those that are currently operational as well as those that are in the planning and construction phases, situated in six urban areas of Changchun City. In this study, we utilize the regional risk level within the 500 m buffer zone of the metro lines to represent the flood risk of the metro system. The proposed method assesses the flood risk of Changchun’s rail transit system. The results reveal that over 30% of Changchun’s metro lines are located in high-risk flood areas, mainly concentrated in the densely populated and economically prosperous western part of the central city. To validate the risk assessment, we vectorized the inundation points and overlaid them with the regional flood risk assessment results, achieving a model accuracy of over 90%. As no large-scale flood events have occurred in the Changchun rail transit system, we employed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to verify the accuracy of the flood risk assessment model, resulting in an accuracy rate of 91%. These findings indicate that the present study is highly reliable and can provide decision makers with a scientific basis for mitigating future flood disasters.

The northern scenic area of Changbai Mountain is a high-incidence area of debris flow disasters, which seriously threaten the safety of tourist’s lives and property. Monitoring debris flow and providing early warning is critical for timely avoidance. Monitoring the change of debris flow source is an effective way to predict debris flow, and the change of source can be reflected in the settlement deformation of the study area. The offset tracking technique (OT) is insensitive to the coherence of SAR images and can resist the decoherence of D-InSAR and SBSA-InSAR to a certain extent. It is a technical means for monitoring large gradient deformation. It has been widely used in the field of seismic activity, glaciers and landslides in recent years, but few scholars have applied this technique in the field of debris flow. In this paper, we use OT techniques in combination with field surveys, Google imagery and Sentinel-1 data to monitor surface deformation in the northern scenic area of Changbai Mountain in 2017 and use D-InSAR techniques to compare and complement the OT monitoring results. The results of this study show that for monitoring surface deformation in the study area after a mudslide, it is better to use both methods to determine the surface deformation in the study area rather than one, and that both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages and yet can complement each other. Finally, we have predicted the development trend of mudflows in the study area by combining the calculated single mudflow solids washout, which will help to improve the long-term monitoring and warning capability of mudflows in the study area. The study also enriches the application of offset-tracking technology and D-InSAR in the field of geohazard monitoring and provides new ideas and methods for the study of mudflow material source changes.

The frequency and intensity of fires are increasing because of warmer temperatures and increased droughts, as well as climate-change induced fuel distribution changes. Vegetation in environments, such as those in the mid-to-high latitudes and high elevations, moves to higher latitudes or elevations in response to global warming. Over the past 40 years, the Mongolian Plateau has been arid and semi-arid, with a decrease in growing season vegetation in the southwest and an increase in growing season vegetation in the northeast. The northward movement of vegetation has brought fires, especially in the Dornod, Sukhbaatar, and Kent provinces near the Kent Mountains, and has become more obvious in the past 20 years. The occurrence of a dead fuel index (DFI) with high probability is distributed in northern Mongolia, the border area between China and Mongolia, and the forest-side meadow-steppe region of the Greater Khingan Mountains. These findings suggest that vegetation is moving northward because of climate change and this presents a challenge of future warming spreading fire northward, adding material to the study of the relationship between the northward movement of global vegetation and fires.

With extreme rainfall events and rapid urbanization, urban flood disaster events are increasing dramatically. As a key flood control city in China, Changchun City suffers casualties and economic losses every year due to floods. The improvement of flood resilience has become an important means for cities to resist flood risks. Therefore, this paper constructs an assessment model of urban flood resilience from four aspects: infrastructure, environment, society and economy. Then, it quantifies infrastructure and environmental vulnerability based on GIS, and uses TOPSIS to quantify social and economic recoverability. Finally, based on k-means clustering of infrastructure and environmental vulnerability and social and economic recoverability, the flood resilience of Changchun City was evaluated. The results show that different factors have different effects on flood resilience, and cities with low infrastructure and environmental vulnerability and high socioeconomic recoverability are more resilient in the face of floods. In addition, cities in the same cluster have the same flood resilience characteristics. The proposed framework can be extended to other regions of China or different countries by simply modifying the indicator system according to different regions, providing experience for regional flood mitigation and improving flood resilience.

Changbai Mountain is an important part of the development and opening pilot area of Changjitu. It is the birthplace of Songhua River, Yalu River, and Tumen River, and is known as the source of the three rivers. Millions of people live in the basin. A volcanic eruption accompanied by earthquakes would lead to a large number of landslides, debris flows, and show a chain effect, the formation of a secondary geological disaster chain, which is a serious threat to people’s lives and property safety. This paper selected indexes from three aspects: the hazard of earthquake-induced geological disaster chain, the exposure and vulnerability of disaster-bearing bodies, and the risk assessment of earthquake-induced geological disaster chain. The sensitivity values of each influence factor were calculated by the certainty factor (CF) using the support vector machine, and then, the susceptibility assessment was obtained. The cumulative displacement calculated by the Newmark model represented the potential risk intensity. We considered the Changbai Mountain volcanic earthquake–landslide disaster chain as an example. The results of risk assessment showed that the extremely high and high risk areas were mainly located within the 12 km radius of Tianchi Lake, and the other areas in the study area were mainly associated with very low to low risk values. The verification results showed that the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve area was 0.8373, indicating that the method was very effective in the identification and assessment of seismic hazard chain risk. In these high-risk areas, relevant countermeasures should be formulated to prevent the risk of geological disasters, strengthen the implementation of regional disaster prevention and reduction work, and ensure the safety of residents’ lives and property.

Globally, drought is an increasing threat to agricultural ecosystems, resulting in impaired crop yields, high food prices, and low incomes for farmers. Fluctuations in crop production and prices can exert a negative transboundary effect on food exporting and importing countries across the world through international trade. Therefore, it is important to regionally assess agricultural drought risk to reduce crop yield reduction by adapting existing systems. In this study, from the perspective of Chinese sugar security, a comprehensive assessment index of drought risk of sugarcane was constructed by considering the atmosphere–soil–crop continuum. Based on disaster-causing factors (hazards) and exposure, vulnerability, and mitigation capabilities of disaster subjects (disaster bearers), a risk assessment model of drought disaster of sugarcane in the growing season was established. Results of this study were three-fold. First, the maximum entropy model accurately reflected the reliability and relative importance of the disaster-causing factors of vegetation condition index (VCI), soil moisture condition index (SMCI), and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), with the area under the curve value of the comprehensive drought risk of sugarcane being greater than 0.75. Second, the drought frequency and impact range in four growth stages of sugarcane significantly declined with the increasing drought severity. Light drought was prevalent in each growth stage, and the occurrence frequency of severe drought was relatively low. The drought frequency was significantly higher in the seedling and maturity stages than in the tillering and stem elongation stages, and the drought distribution was mainly concentrated in the southwest and central regions. Finally, the spatial distribution characteristics of drought risk significantly differed among the four growth stages of sugarcane. The risk level in the seedling stage declined from the southwest to the northeast. The high risk in the tillering stage was mainly concentrated in the southwest and northeast of the study region. In the stem elongation stage, the southwest became a low- risk area. In the maturity stage, the risk level was higher in the southeast than in the other areas. As sugarcane is majorly planted on dry slopes with uneven rainfall, a lack of good infrastructure, and the further intensification of global warming, sugarcane areas that were highly exposed to drought stress were highly vulnerable to drought risk, which in turn weakens farmers’ willingness to plant, thus threatening the security of sugar and biofuel production.

Chain disasters often cause greater casualties and economic losses than single disasters. It plays an important role in the prevention and control to draw the susceptibility map and hazard map of geological hazards. To the best of our knowledge, the existing models are not suitable for the study of earthquake–geological disaster chains. Therefore, this study aims to establish a DNN model suitable for the study of earthquake–geological disaster chains. Firstly, nine key factors affecting geological disasters were selected and multi-source data sets were established based on geological disaster points in the study area. Secondly, the DNN model is trained to calculate the susceptibility of landslides and is discussed with the Support Vector Machine (SVM) model, Logistic Regression (LR) model, and Random Forest (RF) model. Finally, verify with the ROC curve. The verification results show that the DNN model has the highest accuracy among the proposed models. It is suitable for drawing geological hazard susceptibility maps and hazard maps. Therefore, it is proved that the model can be applied for the prediction of chain disasters and is a promising tool for geological hazard assessment.

Abstract Diacid metabolite as the stable form of norcantharidin (DM-NCTD) derived from Chinese blister beetle (Mylabris spp.). The previous studies reported that DM-NCTD could enhance ABT-737-triggered cell viability inhibition and apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. To translate this synergistic therapy into in vivo anticancer treatment, a folate receptor-targeted lipid bilayer-supported chlorodimethyloctadecylsilane-modified mesoporous silica nanoparticle (FA-LB-CHMSN) with DM-NCTD loaded in CHMSN and ABT-737 in lipid bilayer was prepared, which could promote the cancer cell uptake of the drugs through folate receptor-mediated endocytosis. The structure and the properties of the nanoparticle were evaluated. FA-LB-CHMSN with DM-NCTD/ABT-737 loaded induced apparent tumor cell apoptosis and showed remarkably tumor inhibition in H22 tumor-bearing mice model, with significant cellular apoptosis in the tumor and no obvious toxicity to the tissues. We expect that this nanoparticle could be of interest in both biomaterial investigations for HCC treatment and the combination of chemotherapeutic drugs for synergistic therapies.

Ecological carrying capacity (ECC) is a key indicator for assessing the sustainable development capacity of a region. A comprehensive assessment of regional ECC and the influencing factors has scientific and practical significance for promoting functional and sustainable regional development. The Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response-Management (DPSIRM) framwork and subjective-objective combination method were used to develop a framework to establish an ECC evaluation index system. In this study, six internal and six external factors from the perspectives of nature, topography, society, and landscape patterns were selected from the Dongliao River Basin (DRB) in the Jilin province, China. Geographically weighted regression, redundancy analysis, and multiple linear regression models were used to reveal the coupling relationships among the internal and external factors. The results showed that the ECC in the study area was spatially heterogeneous with higher ECC in the southeast and northwest areas of the DRB and lower ECC in the central of DRB had a low carrying capacity. ECC showed a gradual upward trend from 2005 to 2018, which was attributed to the implementation of the ecological environment protection policy in DRB. Primary internal factors that influenced the ECC were precipitation, temperature, altitude, and slope. Precipitation had a positive effect on ECC by influencing Shannon’s diversity and landscape shape, while temperature, altitude, and slope had a negative effect on ECC by affecting aggregation and patch density. The methods used herein and the presented results are instructive to sustainable development and ecological restoration in the DRB and other similar areas.

The Songliao Plain is the largest maize (Zea mays L.) cropland area in China and, thus, is most influenced by water stress. To mitigate the adverse impact of water stress on maize yield and quality, various agricultural irrigation strategies have been implemented. Based on land surface temperature and an enhanced vegetation index, this study constructed the temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) and combined the Hurst index and Sen trend to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of drought and waterlogging. From the correlation between TVDI and gross primary productivity, the weight coefficients of different growth cycles of maize were derived to determine the drought and waterlogging stresses on maize in Songliao Plain for 2000–2020. The drought hazard on the western side of Songliao Plain was high in the west and low in the east, whereas the waterlogging hazard was high in the east. Waterlogging likely persisted according to the spatiotemporal trends and patterns of drought and waterlogging. During the second growth cycle, maize was most severely affected by water stress. There was a spatial heterogeneity in the severity of the hazards and the stress degree of maize. For the reason that precipitation in the study area was concentrated between mid-late July and early August, maize was susceptible to drought stress during the first two growth stages. Irrigation concentrated in the early and middle stages of maize growth and development in the western part of the Songliao Plain reduced the drought stress-induced damage. Spatiotemporally-detected drought and waterlogging couplings and hazards for maize in the Songliao Plain for 2000–2020 provide actionable insights into the prevention and mitigation of such disasters and the implementation of water-saving irrigation practices at the regional scale.

Watershed ecological security provides the basic guarantee of regional sustainable development; thus, reliable watershed ecological security evaluation is of great significance in revealing the watershed ecological security status and promoting the healthy development of the watershed society and ecological environment. To construct the ecological function area, this study used the East-Liao River basin as the analysis object and discussed the delimitation method of ecological security evaluation, which provided the reference and basis for studying and exploring the optimal ecological regulation method of the basin. The following results were obtained: from 2000 to 2020, the regions with lower ecological security index changed from northwest to southeast of the watershed, and presented the spatial distribution of “unsafe” → “generally safe” → “relatively safe” → “safe”, with the center of gravity concentrated in the middle of the watershed; the spatial differences of ecological security became significant with the addition of ecological function zones, and they show a certain spatial aggregation trend; from 2000 to 2020, the ecological security level was predominantly safer, and the distribution of gravity center showed a circular state; the ecological security level of the watershed can be improved by adjusting the proportion of regional land use types. According to the results, countermeasures and approaches of watershed ecological security regulation were suggested, and four subareas were established: forbidden development zones, traditional utilization zones, ecologically sensitive/fragile zones, and key ecological function zones; this would provide a basis for further analysis of environmental governance in the East-Liao River basin of Jilin Province. Nevertheless, the countermeasures and approaches of ecological security regulation proposed in this study will also be useful for land use planning and runoff management in other watersheds around the world.