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Herein, poly(pentanediamine terephthalamide) (PA5T) homopolymer was synthesized via a salt-forming reaction+solid state polycondensation method using bio-based 1,5-pentanediamine and terephthalic acid as the primary raw materials. To address the issue of its narrower processing window, poly(hexamethylene terephthalamide)(PA6T), which also cannot be melt processed due to the processing window is negative, was introduced into its molecular chain to synthesize poly (pentanediamine/hexanediamine terephthaloyl) (PA5T-co-6T) copolymers. The structures were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance carbon spectroscopy (13C-NMR). Furthermore, the melting temperature, crystallization temperature, thermal stability, and crystal growth mode of the polymer were tested and analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD), respectively. The results demonstrate that the crystal growth mode gradually changes from three-dimensional spherical growth to two-dimensional disk-like or three-dimensional spherical growth with the increase of 6T chain segment content. Simultaneously, the crystallization temperature, melting temperature, and crystallization rate of the polymer all showed a trend of decreasing first and then increasing, which was due to the combined effects of the increase in the content of 6T chain segments on the molecular-chain structure and crystal structure of the polymer. Bio-based PA5T-co-6T has excellent heat resistance and a wider processing window than PA5T and PA6T, which possesses great application prospects in the fields of automotive, electronic appliances, and LED optics.

In this study, the mitochondrial genome of Cylicocyclus ultrajectinus (Ihle, 1920) was sequenced for the first time using next-generation sequencing technology, and its compositional characteristics, structure, and phylogenetic relationship with other strongylid nematodes were analyzed by biological software. The results showed that these sequences contained 12 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and 2 non-coding regions, all exhibiting a significant AT bias. Phylogenetic studies showed that C. ultrajectinus formed a distinct branch form other Cylicocyclus nematodes. This study contributes to the mitochondrial genome database of Strongylidae, laying a foundation for genetic variation, molecular classification, and evolutionary studies of strongylid nematodes.

In this study, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of the shield-faced leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros lylei Thomas, 1914) using the Illumina platform. The mitochondrial genome of H. lylei is 16,856 bp in length, encoding 37 genes, which include 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, two rRNA genes, one replication start, and one non-coding control region (D-loop) of 417 bp in length. It has a G + C content of 42.0%, lower than the A + T content, indicating an obvious AT base preference. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that H. lylei clusters with three species of the genus Hipposideros in one branch and is relatively closely related to H. armiger and H. larvatus.

IntroductionZhachong Shisanwei Pill (ZSP) is a classical Mongolian formula that combines 13 types of Chinese medicinal materials and has been used for treating ischemic stroke (IS) for centuries. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated. The aim of this study is to explore potential mechanism of ZSP on nerve cells in cerebral ischemic injury.MethodsTo simulate the pathological process of oxidative stress following IS, an injury model using PC12 cells was induced with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Afterward, PC12 cells were treated with ZSP medicated serum at low, medium, and high doses. Various assays were conducted to assess cell viability and oxidative stress indicators, including lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Cell apoptosis was evaluated through morphological assessment and flow cytometry. Additionally, the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, PARP) and signaling pathway proteins (JNK, phosphorylated JNK, ERK, phosphorylated ERK, p38, and phosphorylated p38) were measured using automated Western blotting.ResultsOur findings indicate that ZSP medicated serum preconditioning improves the condition of PC12 cells injured by H2O2. Specifically, it increased cell survival rates and reduced LDH release. Additionally, ZSP treatment decreased ROS levels and MDA content, while enhancing the activity of SOD and CAT in the injured PC12 cells. ZSP also reversed the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and protected cells from apoptosis by modulating the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, including Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, and PARP. Furthermore, the overactivation of the MAPK signaling pathway due to H2O2-induced injury was inhibited, as evidenced by the downregulation of phosphorylated JNK, ERK, and p38 levels.DiscussionMongolian medicine ZSP demonstrates protective effects against H2O2-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in PC12 cells. The underlying mechanism may involve the inhibition of the MAPK signaling pathway, enhancement of antioxidant enzyme activity, reduction of intracellular peroxidation levels, and suppression of intrinsic apoptosis pathways.

Accurately predicting traffic flow is paramount for the efficient operation of transportation systems. The key to enhancing prediction accuracy lies in effectively mining the intricate spatio-temporal correlations within traffic flow data. However, traditional traffic flow prediction methods that combine Graph Convolutional Network and Recurrent Neural Network have limitations in capturing comprehensive spatial correlation information and face challenges in modeling long-term temporal dependencies, consequently leading to suboptimal prediction performance. This study proposes a hybrid traffic flow prediction model based on fusion graph convolutional network and enhanced gate recurrent unit. Initially, a fusion graph structure is constructed based on adjacency graph and adaptive graph to better represent the correlations between nodes in the road network. Subsequently, the stacked fusion graph convolution module is utilized to capture multi-level spatial correlations and the enhanced gated recurrent unit is applied to extract multi-scale temporal correlations. In addition, the model integrates the extracted spatio-temporal features with the direct features through residual connection units, and utilizes the fused features for prediction, achieving superior predictive performance. The experimental results from four authentic datasets demonstrate that our proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art baseline models, showcasing an average enhancement of 3% in Mean Absolute Error(MAE), 3.3% in Root Mean Square Error(RMSE), and 2.7% in Mean Absolute Percentage Error(MAPE) across the four datasets.

Abstract The endangerment mechanisms of various species are a focus of studies on biodiversity and conservation biology. Hipposideros pomona is an endangered species, but the reasons behind its endangerment remain unclear. We investigated the endangerment mechanisms of H. pomona using mitochondrial DNA, nuclear DNA, and microsatellite loci markers. The results showed that the nucleotide diversity of mitochondria DNA and heterozygosity of microsatellite markers were high (π = 0.04615, HO = 0.7115), whereas the nucleotide diversity of the nuclear genes was low (THY: π = 0.00508, SORBS2: π = 0.00677, ACOX2: π = 0.00462, COPS7A: π = 0.00679). The phylogenetic tree and median‐joining network based on mitochondrial DNA sequences clustered the species into three clades, namely North Vietnam‐Fujian, Myanmar‐West Yunnan, and Laos‐Hainan clades. However, joint analysis of nuclear genes did not exhibit clustering. Analysis of molecular variance revealed a strong population genetic structure; IMa2 analysis did not reveal significant gene flow between all groups (p > .05), and isolation‐by‐distance analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between genetic and geographic distances (p

Formation control of a UAV swarm is challenging in outdoor GNSS-denied environments due to the difficulties in accomplishing relative positioning among the UAVs. This study proposes a vision-based formation control strategy that could be implemented in the absence of an external positioning system. The hierarchical architecture has been constructed for the UAV swarm using the modified leader-follower strategy. The leader UAV derives and broadcasts the locations of the follower UAVs, while the follower UAVs calculate their control inputs to achieve the desired swarm formation. The vision-based localization of the UAVs is accomplished using state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms like YOLOv7 and DeepSORT. The RflySim-based simulation has been conducted to verify the feasibility of the conceptualization, and the validation has been made with a real flight test using a swarm comprised of five quadrotors. Results show the robustness of the vision-based UAV positioning framework with a localization error within 0.3 m. Moreover, the formation control without the GNSS is achieved with a monocular camera and the entry-level AI platforms implemented onboard, which could be promoted to UAV swarm applications for broader scenarios.

Absolute visual localization is of significant importance for unmanned aerial vehicles when the satellite-based localization system is not available. With the rapid evolution in the field of deep learning, the real-time visual detection and tracking of landmarks by an unmanned aerial vehicle could be implemented onboard. This study demonstrates a landmark-based visual localization framework for unmanned aerial vehicles flying at low altitudes. YOLOv5 and DeepSORT are used for multi-object detection and tracking, respectively. The unmanned aerial vehicle localization is achieved according to the geometric similarity between the geotagged transmission towers and the annotated images captured by a monocular camera. The validation is accomplished both in the Rflysim-based simulation and the quadrotor-based real flight. The localization precision is about 10 m, and the location update frequency reaches 5 Hz with a commercially available entry-level edge artificial intelligence platform. The proposed visual localization strategy needs no satellite image as a reference map, which saves a significant amount of the GPU memory and makes possible the end-to-end implementation on small unmanned aerial vehicles.

Glycine-rich RNA binding proteins (GR-RBPs), a branch of RNA binding proteins (RBPs), play integral roles in regulating various aspects of RNA metabolism regulation, such as RNA processing, transport, localization, translation, and stability, and ultimately regulate gene expression and cell fate. However, our current understanding of GR-RBPs has predominantly been centered on Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant for investigating plant growth and development. Nonetheless, an increasing body of literature has emerged in recent years, shedding light on the presence and functions of GRPs in diverse crop species. In this review, we not only delineate the distinctive structural domains of plant GR-RBPs but also elucidate several contemporary mechanisms of GR-RBPs in the post-transcriptional regulation of RNA. These mechanisms encompass intricate processes, including RNA alternative splicing, polyadenylation, miRNA biogenesis, phase separation, and RNA translation. Furthermore, we offer an exhaustive synthesis of the diverse roles that GR-RBPs fulfill within crop plants. Our overarching objective is to provide researchers and practitioners in the field of agricultural genetics with valuable insights that may inform and guide the application of plant genetic engineering for enhanced crop development and sustainable agriculture.

Typhoons are destructive weather events. News media reports contain large amounts of typhoon information. Transforming this information into useful knowledge to provide a basis for mining typhoon knowledge and supporting disaster prevention and relief is urgently required to solve this problem. Knowledge representation can be used to address this problem, although it presents several challenges. These challenges lie in expressing the static and dynamic characteristics of typhoons and formalizing the knowledge representation method and making it suitable for machine processing. Moreover, the general Chinese time and space representation method is overly cumbersome for use in ontologies. The present study proposes an ontology-based typhoon event representation method that solves the representation problems of the typhoon static concept and dynamic features. Furthermore, it summarizes the fixed patterns of time and space in Chinese news and designs a time and space model suitable for typhoon event ontologies. From the ontology population, typhoon event ontology instances are created, and the typhoon event ontology model is applied to the analysis of typhoon processes, verifying the effectiveness of the typhoon event ontology model.

The quadrotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belongs to an open-loop unstable nonlinear system, which also has the characteristics of underdrive, strong coupling and external disturbance. In the height control of quadrotor UAVs, the traditional sliding mode control (SMC) and PID methods cannot quickly and effectively eliminate disturbance effects caused by gust, aerodynamic drag and other factors, which indicates that the quadrotor UAV cannot return to its predetermined trajectory. To this end, this paper proposes a dual closed-loop finite-time height control method for the quadrotor UAV. The proposed method is able to estimate and compensate for the disturbance in the height control and make up for the lack of anti-disturbance ability in the control process. More specifically, a finite-time Extended State Observer (ESO) and a finite-time super-twisting controller are designed for the velocity control system to compensate for the total disturbance and track the rapidly changing expected signal. An integral sliding mode controller is designed for the height control system. Simulation results show that the proposed method can reduce the chattering phenomenon of traditional SMC and improve both control accuracy and convergence speed.

Purpose – The ecological environment of the Loess Plateau, China, is extremely fragile under the context of global warming. Over the past two decades, the vegetation of the Loess Plateau has undergone great changes. This paper aims to clarify the response mechanisms of vegetation to climate change, to provide support for the restoration and environmental treatment of vegetation on the Loess Plateau. Design/methodology/approach – The Savitsky–Golay (S-G) filtering algorithm was used to reconstruct time series of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) 13A2 data. Combined with trend analysis and partial correlation analysis, the influence of climate change on the phenology and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) during the growing season was described. Findings – The S-G filtering algorithm is suitable for EVI reconstruction of the Loess Plateau. The date of start of growing season was found to gradually later along the Southeast–Northwest direction, whereas the date of the end of the growing season showed the opposite pattern and the length of the growing season gradually shortened. Vegetation EVI values decreased gradually from Southeast to Northwest. Vegetation changed significantly and showed clear differentiation according to different topographic factors. Vegetation correlated positively with precipitation from April to July and with temperature from August to November. Originality/value – This study provides technical support for ecological environmental assessment, restoration of regional vegetation coverage and environmental governance of the Loess Plateau over the past two decades. It also provides theoretical support for the prediction model of vegetation phenology changes based on remote sensing data.

The radical reactions dominate the thermochemical conversion reaction network of organics. Bio-oil, as the liquid organic fuel, has many potential applications via thermochemical conversion, while the coke formation is a particularly serious problem in these processes. To clarify the effects of radical reactions on the coke formation during the pyrolysis of bio-oil at 200–500 °C, the stable radicals in the pyrolytic products were measured by the Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectrometry, and the active radicals during pyrolysis were quantified by amounts of hydrogen donated by 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene (DHP). The results indicated that the amount of stable radicals generated after bio-oil pyrolysis was proportional to temperature, and these stable radicals were trapped in solid coke due to the steric hindrance effect of coke structure. The content of oxygen-containing radicals and heteroatoms decreased with the increase of temperature. However, the increase of temperature and the extension of reaction time were more favorable to the formation of the σ and π type oxygen-containing radicals and aromatic radicals. The amount of stable radicals was about 0.25–1.5% of the amount of active radicals during bio-oil pyrolysis. When DHP effectively blocked the reaction of the active radical, the polycondensation reaction of bio-oil was inhibited, and the content of coke precursor was significantly reduced, thus inhibiting the formation of coke during the bio-oil pyrolysis.

More than two million people live on the floodplains along the middle and lower streams of the Yellow River. The rapid development of industry and agriculture on both sides of the Yellow River has caused serious pollution of the floodplain soil. Erosion by water has led to the destruction of the floodplain which has not only compressed people’s living space but also resulted in a large amount of sediment containing heavy metals entering the river, aggravating water pollution. To further study the law governing the release of pollutants in soil, this work, based on field surveys of the Yellow River floodplain slopes from Wantan town to Liuyuankou, was focused on determining the failure mechanism and laws for the floodplain slope through the combination of a flume experiment and numerical calculations. The results showed that the floodplain slopes, composed of clay and silty sand, presented an interactive structure. Under the action of water erosion, the slope was first scoured to form a curved, suspended layer structure, and then the upper suspended layer toppled. The bank stability coefficient decreased by about 65% when the scour width increased from 0.07 m to 0.42 m, and the water content increased from 20% to 40%. For the failure characteristics, the angle of the failure surface was negatively correlated with the scour width, and the distance from the top failure surface to the bank edge was about 2.5 times that of the scour width.

Viruses cause severe crop losses. Studying the interaction between viruses and plants is very important for development of control measures. Northern blot is a well-accepted but very challenging technique to monitor the infection of viruses. Here, we modified the high-molecular-weight (hmw)RNA Northern blot experiment process, utilizing vertical electrophoresis to separate the RNA with denatured agarose gel. This protocol is compatible with regular equipment for Western blots and small RNA Northern blots and requires less input of total RNA. A new method to label the probe with biotin was also developed, which requires commonly used T4 DNA polymerase and detects viral RNA with high sensitivity. These new protocols made hmwRNA Northern blot cost-effective and easy-to-operate, very suitable for studying virus–host interactions.

The reverse atom transfer radical polymerization (RATRP) of acrylonitrile (AN) was carried out in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) with AIBN as initiator, FeCl3•6H2O/triphenylphosphine (PPh3) and FeCl3•6H2O/pentamethyldle-thylenetrlamlne (PMDETA) as catalytic systems, respectively. Effect of reaction time and initiator concentration on polymerization rate, molecular weight and molecular weight distribution were investigated in detail. The Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HNMR) were employed to analyze the chain end of the PAN. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) was applied to measure the molecular weight and polydispersity index (PDI) of PAN. The polymerization demonstrated a typical pseudo first-order kinetics characteristics as evidenced by the number-average molecular weights (Mn) increasing linearly with monomer conversion; the Mn decreasing with the increasing of the initiator concentration. Meanwhile, the low PDI value (

This study provides a theoretical basis for reinforcement of the soil around multi-wing piles. Limit analysis was used to determine the ultimate lateral capacity (ULC) of three- and four-wing piles in Dapeng Bay silty clay. The effects of the pile–soil interaction coefficient α, wing width Bw, and lateral-load direction β on the ULC of the pile and the shear plastic zone range of the surrounding soil were analyzed. The normalized ULC of the three-wing pile decreased when the wing–diameter ratio increased. When Bw was 0.15 m and α was 0.4, the ULC of the four-wing pile was 19% higher than that of the three-wing pile. As β increased, the normalized ULC of the four-wing pile decreased, whereas that of the three-wing pile went through a minimum at 30°. The size of the soil shear plastic ring did not depend on α for either pile type; it increased around the three-wing (but not the four-wing) pile with changes in β. However, there was also a double plastic ring of broken soil around the four-wing pile. The four-wing pile had a more symmetrical influence on the soil around the pile than the three-wing pile.

Objective To evaluate the effects of home-based exercise and physical activity on cardiac functional performance in patients after acute myocardial infarction (MI) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods This retrospective study enrolled patients that received treatment of acute ST-segment elevation MI between and were followed-up 6 months later. The patients were divided into physically active and inactive groups based on their levels of home exercise after hospital discharge. Results A total of 78 patients were enrolled in the study: 32 were physically active and 46 were physically inactive. The baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. At the 6-month visit, left ventricular ejection fraction and six-minute walking test (6MWT) were significantly improved while the proportion of patients with a New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional III classification was decreased in the active patients, whereas these parameters were not significantly changed in the inactive patients. In addition, the 6MWT was greater while the proportion of patients with an NYHA III classification was lower in the active group than the inactive group at the 6-month visit. Conclusion Maintaining physical activity at home was associated with improved cardiac functional performance in patients after acute MI during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Corn stalk was used as the initial material to prepare a corn stalk matrix-g-polyacrylonitrile-based adsorbent. At first, the corn stalk was treated with potassium hydroxide and nitric acid to obtain the corn stalk-based cellulose (CS), and then the CS was modified by 2-bromoisobutyrylbromide (2-BiBBr) to prepare a macroinitiator. After that, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was grafted onto the macroinitiator by single-electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP). A novel adsorbent AO CS-g-PAN was, therefore, obtained by introducing amidoxime groups onto the CS-g-PAN with hydroxylamine hydrochloride (NH2OH · HCl). FTIR, SEM and XPS were applied to characterize the structure of AO CS-g-PAN. The adsorbent was then employed to remove Pb(II) and Cu(II), and it exhibited a predominant adsorption performance on Pb(II) and Cu(II). The effect of parameters, such as temperature, adsorption time, pH and the initial concentration of metal ions on adsorption capacity, were examined in detail during its application. Results suggest that the maximum adsorption capacity of Pb(II) and Cu(II) was 231.84 mg g–1 and 94.72 mg g−1, and the corresponding removal efficiency was 72.03% and 63%, respectively. The pseudo-second order model was more suitable to depict the adsorption process. And the adsorption isotherm of Cu(II) accorded with the Langmuir model, while the Pb(II) conformed better to the Freundlich isotherm model.

Abstract Background Chloroquine, a bitter tastant, inhibits Ca2+ signaling, resulting in suppression of B cell activation; however, the inhibitory mechanism remains unclear. Results In this study, thapsigargin (TG), but not caffeine, induced sustained intracellular Ca2+ increases in mouse splenic primary B lymphocytes, which were markedly inhibited by chloroquine. Under Ca2+-free conditions, TG elicited transient Ca2+ increases, which additionally elevated upon the restoration of 2 mM Ca2+. The former were from release of intracellular Ca2+ store and the latter from Ca2+ influx. TG-induced release was inhibited by 2-APB (an inhibitor of inositol-3-phosphate receptors, IP3Rs) and chloroquine, and TG-caused influx was inhibited by pyrazole (Pyr3, an inhibitor of transient receptor potential C3 (TRPC3) and stromal interaction molecule (STIM)/Orai channels) and chloroquine. Moreover, chloroquine also blocked Ca2+ increases induced by the engagement of B cell receptor (BCR) with anti-IgM. Conclusions These results indicate that chloroquine inhibits Ca2+ elevations in splenic B cells through inhibiting Ca2+ permeable IP3R and TRPC3 and/or STIM/Orai channels. These findings suggest that chloroquine would be a potent immunosuppressant.

Over the period 1982-2015, temperatures have exhibited an asymmetric warming pattern diurnally, as well as seasonally across the Loess Plateau. However, very limited research has studied the implications and effects of such seasonally heterogeneous warming across the Loess Plateau. In this study, we also analyzed the time series trends and seasonal spatial patterns of the maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperatures and evaluated how different vegetation responded to daytime and nighttime warming in the Loess Plateau from 1982 to 2015 based on the NDVI and meteorological parameters (precipitation or temperature). We found that Tmax and Tmin significantly increased throughout the years except for Tmax in autumn, and the diurnal asymmetric warming showed some striking seasonal differences. For example, the increasing rates of Tmin in spring, summer, autumn, and winter were 0.75, 1.20, 1.88, and 1.10 times larger than that of Tmax, respectively. NDVI showed significantly positive correlation with Tmax and Tmin in spring and winter, while NDVI presented significantly positive correlation with Tmin in summer and Tmax in autumn across entire Loess Plateau. Furthermore, we also discovered diverse seasonal responses in terms of vegetation types to daytime and nighttime warming. For instance, Spring NDVI showed significantly positive partial correlations with Tmax and Tmin. In summer, grasslands and wetlands merely displayed significantly positive partial correlations with Tmin. Cultivated land presented significantly positive partial correlation between the NDVI and Tmax (Tmin) in autumn. In winter, cultivated land, forest, and grassland exhibited significantly positive partial correlation with Tmax and Tmin, while only wetland showed a significantly positive partial correlation with Tmax. Our results demonstrated responses of vegetation to climate extremes and enhance a better understanding of the seasonally different responses of vegetation under global climate change at different scale.

A pectin/chitosan matrix-loaded curcumin film (PCCF) with a deep eutectic solvent (DES) as the solvent and plasticizer was prepared in this study. Different quantities of curcumin (identified as PCCF-0, PCCF-1, PCCF-2. PCCF-3) were loaded on the pectin/chitosan film in order to evaluate their effects on the film properties. Results showed that curcumin could interact with the pectin/chitosan matrix and form a complex three-dimensional network structure. PCCF could promote the thickness, tensile strength, thermal properties, antioxidant and antiseptic capacities, but deteriorate the light transmission and elongation at the same time. The addition of curcumin would change the color of the film, without significantly affecting the moisture content. The tensile strength of PCCF-3 reached the maximum value of 3.75 MPa, while the elongation decreased to 10%. Meanwhile, the water-resistance properties of PCCF-3 were significantly promoted by 8.6% compared with that of PCCF-0. Furthermore, PCCF showed remarkable sustained antioxidant activities in a dose-dependent manner. PCCF-3 could inhibit DPPH and ABTS free radicals by 58.66% and 29.07%, respectively. It also showed antiseptic capacity on fresh pork during storage. Therefore, curcumin addition could improve the barrier, mechanical, antioxidant and antiseptic properties of the polysaccharide-based film and PCCF has the potential to be used as a new kind of food packaging material in the food industry.

Co3O4 nanorods were prepared by a facile hydrothermal method. Eco-friendly deionized water rather than organic solvent was used as the hydrothermal media. The as-prepared Co3O4 nanorods are composed of many nanoparticles of 30–50 nm in diameter, forming a finger-like morphology. The Co3O4 electrode shows a specific capacitance of 265 F g−1 at 2 mV s−1 in a supercapacitor and delivers an initial specific discharge capacity as high as 1171 mAh g−1 at a current density of 50 mA g−1 in a lithium ion battery. Excellent cycling stability and electrochemical reversibility of the Co3O4 electrode were also obtained.

The dynamics of surface water play a crucial role in the hydrological cycle and are sensitive to climate change and anthropogenic activities, especially for the agricultural zone. As one of the most populous areas in China’s river basins, the surface water in the Huai River Basin has significant impacts on agricultural plants, ecological balance, and socioeconomic development. However, it is unclear how water areas responded to climate change and anthropogenic water exploitation in the past decades. To understand the changes in water surface areas in the Huai River Basin, this study used the available 16,760 scenes Landsat TM, ETM+, and OLI images in this region from 1989 to 2017 and processed the data on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The vegetation index and water index were used to quantify the spatiotemporal variability of the surface water area changes over the years. The major results include: (1) The maximum area, the average area, and the seasonal variation of surface water in the Huai River Basin showed a downward trend in the past 29 years, and the year-long surface water areas showed a slight upward trend; (2) the surface water area was positively correlated with precipitation (p < 0.05), but was negatively correlated with the temperature and evapotranspiration; (3) the changes of the total area of water bodies were mainly determined by the 216 larger water bodies (>10 km2). Understanding the variations in water body areas and the controlling factors could support the designation and implementation of sustainable water management practices in agricultural, industrial, and domestic usages.

Two kinds of novel nanoporous polycondensates (sc(Rf)) have been synthesized by two new preparation methods consisting of polycondensation and highly selective photocyclicaromataization of 1/3 helical cis-cis polyphenylacetylenes with polymerizable groups. By the original methods, new well-defined sheet polymers having nanopores or nanospaces have been synthesized for the first time. Their composite membranes, containing small amounts (1.0 wt%) of sc(Rf), had ultrahigh oxygen permeability (Po2 > 1000 barrer), and their plots were beyond the Robeson’s upper bound line in the graph of oxygen permselectivity (α = Po2/PN2) versus Po2. Both α and Po2 values were enhanced by adding only small amounts (1.0 wt%) of sc(Rf). One of the sc(Rf)s synthesized on the base membrane surface showed the best performance, i.e., Po2 = 5300 barrer and α = 2.5. The membrane surface was effectively covered by sc(Rf), judging from the contact angle values. It is thought that nanopores and nanospaces created in and between sc(Rf) molecules played an important role for the enhancement of both α and Po2/PN2.

Temperatures from 1982 to 2015 have exhibited an asymmetric warming pattern between day and night throughout the Yellow River Basin. The response to this asymmetric warming can be linked to vegetation growth as quantified by the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index). In this study, the time series trends of the maximum temperature (Tmax) and the minimum temperature (Tmin) and their spatial patterns in the growing season (April–October) of the Yellow River Basin from 1982 to 2015 were analyzed. We evaluated how vegetation NDVI had responded to daytime and night-time warming, based on NDVI and meteorological parameters (precipitation and temperature) over the period 1982–2015. We found: (1) a persistent increase in the growing season Tmax and Tmin in 1982–2015 as confirmed by using the Mann–Kendall (M–K) non-parametric test method (p < 0.01), where the rate of increase of Tmin was 1.25 times that of Tmax, and thus the diurnal warming was asymmetric during 1982–2015; (2) the partial correlation between Tmax and NDVI was significantly positive only for cultivated plants, shrubs, and desert, which means daytime warming may increase arid and semi-arid vegetation’s growth and coverage, and cultivated plants’ growth and yield. The partial correlation between Tmin and NDVI of all vegetation types except broadleaf forest is very significant (p < 0.01) and, therefore, it has more impacts vegetation across the whole basin. This study demonstrates a methodogy for studying regional responses of vegetation to climate extremes under global climate change.

The Yellow River Basin has been affected by global climate change. Studying the spatial⁻temporal variability of the hydrothermal climate conditions in the Yellow River Basin is of vital importance for the development of technologies and policies related to ecological, environmental, and agricultural adaptation in this region. This study selected temperature and precipitation data observed from 118 meteorological stations distributed in the Yellow River Basin over the period of 1957⁻2015, and used the Mann⁻Kendall, Pettitt, and Hurst indices to investigate the spatial⁻temporal variability of the hydrothermal climate conditions in this area. The results indicated: (1) the annual maximum, minimum, and average temperatures have increased. The seasonal maximum, minimum, and average temperatures for the spring, summer, autumn, and winter have also increased, and this trend is statistically significant (p < 0.01) between 1957⁻2015. The rate of increase in the minimum temperature exceeded that of the maximum temperature, and diurnal warming was asymmetric. Annual precipitation and the total spring, summer, and autumn precipitations declined, while the total winter precipitation increased, although the trend was non-significant (p > 0.05). (2) Based on the very restrictive assumption that future changes will be similar to past changes, according to the Hurst index experiment, the future trends of temperature and precipitation in the Yellow River Basin are expected to stay the same as in the past. There will be a long-term correlation between the two trends: the temperature will continue to rise, while the precipitation will continue to decline (except in the winter). However, over the late stage of the study period, the trends slowed down to some extent.

Introduction: Zhachong Shisanwei Pill (ZSP) is a classical Mongolian formula that combines 13 types of Chinese medicinal materials and has been used for treating ischemic stroke (IS) for centuries. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms have yet to be fully elucidated. The aim of this study is to explore potential mechanism of ZSP on nerve cells in cerebral ischemic injury. Methods: To simulate the pathological process of oxidative stress following IS, an injury model using PC12 cells was induced with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Afterward, PC12 cells were treated with ZSP medicated serum at low, medium, and high doses. Various assays were conducted to assess cell viability and oxidative stress indicators, including lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Cell apoptosis was evaluated through morphological assessment and flow cytometry. Additionally, the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, PARP) and signaling pathway proteins (JNK, phosphorylated JNK, ERK, phosphorylated ERK, p38, and phosphorylated p38) were measured using automated Western blotting. Results: Our findings indicate that ZSP medicated serum preconditioning improves the condition of PC12 cells injured by H2O2. Specifically, it increased cell survival rates and reduced LDH release. Additionally, ZSP treatment decreased ROS levels and MDA content, while enhancing the activity of SOD and CAT in the injured PC12 cells. ZSP also reversed the depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and protected cells from apoptosis by modulating the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, including Bcl-2, Bax, Caspase-9, Caspase-3, and PARP. Furthermore, the overactivation of the MAPK signaling pathway due to H2O2-induced injury was inhibited, as evidenced by the downregulation of phosphorylated JNK, ERK, and p38 levels. Discussion: Mongolian medicine ZSP demonstrates protective effects against H2O2-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in PC12 cells. The underlying mechanism may involve the inhibition of the MAPK signaling pathway, enhancement of antioxidant enzyme activity, reduction of intracellular peroxidation levels, and suppression of intrinsic apoptosis pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]