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There are three serious problems in the traditional agricultural supply chain structure in China, namely, the blockage of information channels and the poor transmission of information, the subordination of farmers and the low distribution of network profits, the unstable contract and the loose supply chain. Among them, the first problem is the core problem. This paper attempts to design an innovative ASC structure to solve these problems. Firstly, from the perspective of farmers, this paper analyzes the agricultural sustainable development of network embedding, and draws the following conclusions: with the increase and deepening of farmers’ network embedding relationship, farmers can obtain more effective information about the whole agricultural sustainable development, and finally improve their profit distribution ratio. But how to increase this network embedding relationship? To solve this problem, we introduce the platform theory and consider redesigning ASC by embedding the integrated management information platform (IMIP). Then, we made a mathematical analysis. Through the comparison of absolute value and relative value, we find that the innovative structure can not only increase the amount of effective information that farmers get from ASC, but also increase the total amount of information from all stakeholders and the proportion of farmers’ information in the total amount of ASC information. In view of this, we believe that the innovative structure of ASC can effectively solve the problems existing in the traditional ASC structure.

It is widely believed that biochar plays an essential role in sequestrating pollutants. The impacts of biochar on microbial growth, and consequently on the environmental fate of pollutants, however, remains poorly understood. In this study, wheat-straw-derived biochar was used to investigate how biochar amendment affected Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 growth and roxarsone transformation in water under anaerobic conditions. Three biochar with different physicochemical properties were used to mediate the roxarsone degradation. The results showed that the degradation rate of roxarsone could be accelerated by the increase of biochar pyrolysis temperature. From the characterization of biochar, the total specific surface area, micropore surface area and micropore volume of biochar increase, but the average pore diameter decreases as the pyrolysis temperature increases. Through infrared spectroscopy analysis, it was found that as the pyrolysis temperature increases, the degree of condensation of biochar increases, thereby increasing the pollutant removal rate. From the changes of the relative concentration of MR-1 and its secreted extracellular polymer content, the growth promotion ability of biochar also increases as the pyrolysis temperature increases. These results suggest that wheat-straw-derived biochar may be an important agent for activating microbial growth and can be used to accelerate the transformation of roxarsone, which could be a novel strategy for roxarsone remediation.

The controlled release of therapeutics has been one of the major challenges for scientists and engineers during the past three decades. Coupled with excellent biocompatibility profiles, various nanomaterials have showed great promise for biomedical applications. Stimuli-responsive nanomaterials guarantee the controlled release of cargo to a given location, at a specific time, and with an accurate amount. In this review, we have combined the major stimuli that are currently used to achieve the ultimate goal of controlled and targeted release by “smart” nanomaterials. The most heavily explored strategies include (1) pH, (2) enzymes, (3) redox, (4) magnetic, and (5) light-triggered release.

About one-third of the crude oil is trapped inside the pores of the carbonate and sandstone after the primary and secondary oil recovery, various methods have been used for the flooding of the trapped crude oil. Due to the opaque nature of the sandstone and shale, the visualization of the fluid flow inside the porous structure conventionally involved the use of very sophisticated equipment like X-ray computed microtomography. In this approach, a low-cost method for the mimic of porous structure for the enhanced oil recovery is proposed using the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-based microfluidic devices with the laser ablated microstructures, where the microstructure is the replica of a real rock fracture. Since the PMMA is optically clear in the visible range, the detailed fluid flow inside the porous structure could be obtained for a better understanding of the liquid front propagation and rheology in the pore-scale. The effect of water flooding is also tested with the proposed microfluidic devices under various flooding rates for the demonstration of oil recovery enhancement with the proposed technology.

The loss of contact inhibition is a key step during carcinogenesis. The Hippo-Yes-associated protein (Hippo/YAP) pathway is an important regulator of cell growth in a cell density-dependent manner. However, how Hippo signaling senses cell density in this context remains elusive. Here, we report that high cell density induced the phosphorylation of spectrin a chain, nonerythrocytic 1 (SPTAN1), a plasma membrane-stabilizing protein, to recruit NUMB endocytic adaptor protein isoforms 1 and 2 (NUMB1/2), which further sequestered microtubule affinity-regulating kinases (MARKs) in the plasma membrane and rendered them inaccessible for phosphorylation and inhibition of the Hippo kinases sterile 20-like kinases MST1 and MST2 (MST1/2). WW45 interaction with MST1/2 was thereby enhanced, resulting in the activation of Hippo signaling to block YAP activity for cell contact inhibition. Importantly, low cell density led to SPTAN1 dephosphorylation and NUMB cytoplasmic location, along with MST1/2 inhibition and, consequently, YAP activation. Moreover, double KO of NUMB and WW45 in the liver led to appreciable organ enlargement and rapid tumorigenesis. Interestingly, NUMB isoforms 3 and 4, which have a truncated phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domain and are thus unable to interact with phosphorylated SPTAN1 and activate MST1/2, were selectively upregulated in liver cancer, which correlated with YAP activation. We have thus revealed a SPTAN1/ NUMB1/2 axis that acts as a cell density sensor to restrain cell growth and oncogenesis by coupling external cell-cell contact signals to intracellular Hippo signaling., Introduction Cells within multicellular organisms are able to sense cell-cell contact and their density to control the proper tissue morphogenesis and organ size (1, 2). When cell density increases, contact [...]

Background: Difficulty in achieving complete resection leads to a poor prognosis for retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma, hence emphasizing the significance of adjuvant treatment. The benefit of preoperative radiotherapy for retroperitoneal liposarcoma was initially demonstrated by the STRASS trial. However, the impact of intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) on retroperitoneal liposarcoma remains unexplored. Method: Patients with retroperitoneal liposarcoma were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, treated between 2000 and 2019. Subsequently, a 1:1 propensity score-matched (PSM) analysis was conducted based on variables identified from a multivariate analysis. T-tests were used to assess differences in normally distributed continuous variables, while the rank-sum test was applied to variables that did not follow a normal distribution. The chi-squared test was utilized to evaluate differences in categorical variables. Ultimately, survival analysis was performed using SPSS to evaluate patient prognosis. Result: A total of 2129 patients with retroperitoneal liposarcoma were included in our study. Age, sex, histology, grading, chemotherapy, and tumor size as independent prognostic risk factors for these patients through multivariate Cox regression analysis. Subsequently, 66 patients were included in the survival analysis through PSM, with 33 patients receiving IORT. Finally, the survival analysis revealed that there was no difference in overall survival among patients with retroperitoneal liposarcoma, regardless of whether they received IORT or not (p= 0.711). Conclusion: As an exploratory study, our findings suggest that patients may not derive benefit from intraoperative radiotherapy. These observations are intended to lay the groundwork for future prospective clinical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change is expected to have a profound effect on species distribution. Due to the temperature constraints, some narrow niche species could shift their narrow range to higher altitudes or latitudes. In this study, we explored the correlation between species traits, genetic structure, and geographical range size. More specifically, we analyzed how these variables are affected by differences in fundamental niche breadth or dispersal ability in the members of two sympatrically distributed stream‐dwelling amphibian species (frog, Quasipaa yei; salamander, Pachyhynobius shangchengensis), in Dabie Mountains, East China. Both species showed relatively high genetic diversity in most geographical populations and similar genetic diversity patterns (JTX, low; BYM, high) correlation with habitat changes and population demography. Multiple clustering analyses were used to disclose differentiation among the geographical populations of these two amphibian species. Q. yei disclosed the relatively shallow genetic differentiation, while P. shangchengensis showed an opposite pattern. Under different historical climatic conditions, all ecological niche modeling disclosed a larger suitable habitat area for Q. yei than for P. shangchengensis; these results indicated a wider environment tolerance or wider niche width of Q. yei than P. shangchengensis. Our findings suggest that the synergistic effects of environmental niche variation and dispersal ability may help shape genetic structure across geographical topology, particularly for species with extremely narrow distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A digital twin is a new trend in the development of the current smart water conservancy industry. The main research content of intelligent water conservancy is clarified. This paper first summarizes and combs the relevant system architecture of smart water conservancy, and puts forward a smart water conservancy framework based on digital twins, highlighting the characteristics of virtual and real interaction, and symbiosis of the water conservancy twin platform. Secondly, the status quo of intelligent water conservancy "sky, air, ground and water" integrated monitoring technology, big data and artificial intelligence, model platform technology, knowledge graph and security technology is analyzed. From the perspective of application, the research progress of each technology in water security, water resources and hydraulic engineering is reviewed. Although the construction of smart water conservancy has made remarkable progress, it still faces many challenges such as data governance, technology integration and innovation, and standardization. In view of these challenges, this paper puts forward a series of countermeasures, and looks forward to the future development direction of intelligent water conservancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital twin technology, a new type of digital technology emerging in recent years, realizes real-time simulation, prediction and optimization by digitally modeling the physical world, providing a new idea and method for the design, operation and management of water conservancy projects, which is of great significance for the realization of the transformation of water conservancy informatization to intelligent water conservancy. In view of this, this paper systematically discusses the concept and development history of digital twin smart water conservancy, compares its differences with traditional water conservancy models, and further proposes the digital twin smart water conservancy five-dimensional model. Based on the five-dimensional model of digital twin water conservancy, the research progress of digital twin smart water conservancy is summarized by focusing on six aspects, namely digital twin water conservancy data perception, data transmission, data analysis and processing, digital twin water conservancy model construction, digital twin water conservancy interaction and collaboration and digital twin water conservancy service application, and the challenges and problems of digital twin technology in the application of smart water conservancy. Finally, the development trend of digital twin technology and the direction of technological breakthroughs are envisioned, aiming to provide reference and guidance for the research on digital twin technology in the field of smart water conservancy and to promote the further development of the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]