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Abstract The Manchar Lake wetland complex, Pakistan’s largest freshwater-lake, faces unprecedented ecological challenges amidst climate change and human pressures, necessitating urgent, data-driven conservation strategies. This study employs cutting-edge multi-sensor remote sensing techniques to quantify and analyze the dynamic changes in this critical ecosystem from 2015 to 2023, aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of wetland dynamics for informed management decisions. Integrating Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery, we assessed changes in wetland extent, vegetation health, and land-use patterns using spectral indices and topographic data. Our methodology achieved classification accuracies exceeding 92% across all study years, revealing significant ecosystem fluctuations. Water body extent exhibited a non-linear trend, expanding from 318.5 km² (5%) in 2015 to 397.0 km² (7%) in 2019, before contracting to 369.9 km² (6%) in 2023. This pattern was corroborated by MNDWI values. Concurrently, vegetation covers dramatically increased from 405.5 km² (7%) in 2019 to 1081.6 km² (18%) in 2023. The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) reflected this trend, decreasing from 0.61 in 2015 to 0.41 in 2019, before recovering to 0.53 in 2023. Land use changes were substantial, with agricultural areas increasing from 118.4 km² (2%) in 2015 to 498.0 km² (8%) in 2023. SAR data consistently supported these observations. Topographic analysis, including the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), provided crucial insights into wetland distribution and resilience. This comprehensive analysis highlights the complex interplay between natural processes and human influences shaping the Manchar-Lake ecosystem, underscoring the urgent need for adaptive management strategies in the face of rapid environmental change.

Simple Summary: This study indicates that volcanic activity has a long-term impact on biological growth. The synthesis of chlorophyll a by Anabaena pseudoichthyoides was most efficient in the presence of increasing concentrations of volcanic ash leachate. Analysis of the major and trace elements in the solution before and after cultivation shows that the volcanic ash soaking solution has a higher nutrient content compared to granite. This increased nutrient content is a key factor promoting microbial growth. The findings suggest that volcanic ash significantly influences microorganisms, with lasting effects that can persist for tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. The impact of volcanic activity on microorganisms has always been a hot topic of discussion during geological history. Further studies are needed on the effects of volcanic activity on microbial growth in shale and the differences in nutrients provided by volcanic ash and other weathered rocks. This study's results indicated that TOC contents at the bottom of the shale layer are 1.93–4.44% and 3.0% on average. The TOC contents at the top of the layer are 3.38–5.13% and 4.0% on average. It indicated that TOC contents at the bottom of the shale layer are smaller than the TOC contents at the top of the layer, suggesting that volcanic activity posed a long-term effect on biological growth. Seven different leachate concentrations were set in this experiment as follows: 1/10, 1/100, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/1500, 1/2000, and 1/2500. The results showed that the growth status of Pseudourostyla crassipes was affected by the addition of leachates with different concentrations compared to the control group. Additionally, the synthesis of chlorophyll a by Anabaena pseudoichthyoides was the most efficient with the 1/10 volcanic ash leachate. Through the analysis of major and trace elements in the solution before labeland after cultivation, the main elemental content of Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+ decreased by 3.8~87.24%, 75.96~92.70%, 86.56~95.67%, and 5.42~20.52% in the solution after microbial growth respectively. The trace elements B, Ba, Zn, and Fe decreased by 27.54~94.39%, 20~82.03%, 70.45~98.29%, and 99%. It was found that the B, Ba, Fe, and Zn elements decreased significantly. The nutrients from volcanic ash are the main factor promoting microbial growth. It can be indicated that the volcanic ash soaking solution has a higher content of nutrients when compared to the solubility of nutrients in volcanic ash compared to that of granite. A higher content of nutrients promotes microbial growth. The calculation results indicate that a volcanic eruption with a quantity of several 1010 m3 has a significant impact on microorganisms, lasting from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the potential applications in next‐generation micro/nano electronic devices and functional materials, magnetic germanium (Ge)‐based clusters are receiving increasing attention. In this work, we reported the structures, electronic and magnetic properties of CrMnGen with sizes n = 3–20. Transition metals (TMs) of Cr and Mn tend to stay together and be surrounded by Ge atoms. Small sized clusters with n ≤ 8 prefer to adopt bipyramid‐based structures as the motifs with the excess Ge atoms absorbed on the surface. Starting from n = 9, the structure with one TM atom interior appears and persists until n = 16, and for larger sizes n = 17–20, the two TM atoms are full‐encapsulated by Ge atoms to form endohedral structures. The Hirshfeld population analyses show that Cr atom always acts as the electron donor, while Mn atom is always the acceptor except for sizes 3 and 6. The average binding energies of these clusters increase with cluster size n, sharing a very similar trend as that of CrMnSin (n = 4–20) clusters, which indicates that it is favorable to form large‐sized clusters. CrMnGen (n = 6, 13, 16, 19, and 20) clusters prefer to exhibit ferromagnetic Cr–Mn coupling, while the remaining clusters are ferrimagnetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of aluminum alloys can be affected by the element of magnesium. Therefore, it is necessary to realize fast and accurate quantitative analysis of magnesium in aluminum alloys. Herein, high repetition rate spark discharge assisted laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy based on microchip lasers (HRR SD-LIBS) was applied to quantitatively analyze magnesium elements in aluminum alloys. Baseline correction was performed using the moving median method to obtain the net spectral data. Multivariate calibration models such as back-propagation neural network (BP), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF) were established, respectively. Compared with the conventional univariate calibration model, the correlation coefficients (RP²) of BP,SVM and RF models increased from 0. 810 to 0.985, 0.997 and 0.994, while the root mean square error (RMSEP) decreased from 0.283 to 0.059 8, 0.041 0 and 0.054 2, the average relative error decreased from 26.62% to 3.13%, 2.82%, and 3.61%. It indicated that machine earning combined microchip laser-based HRR SD-LIBS significantly improved the quantitative analysis ability of LIBS. In conclusion, it is promising to achieve portable, fast, and accurate quantitative elemental analysis of alloy sample and other materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been widely applied in various edge computing devices based on intelligent sensors. However, due to the high computational demands of CNN tasks, the limited computing resources of edge intelligent terminal devices, and significant architectural differences among these devices, it is challenging for edge devices to independently execute inference tasks locally. Collaborative inference among edge terminal devices can effectively utilize idle computing and storage resources and optimize latency characteristics, thus significantly addressing the challenges posed by the computational intensity of CNNs. This paper targets efficient collaborative execution of CNN inference tasks among heterogeneous and resource-constrained edge terminal devices. We propose a pre-partitioning deployment method for CNNs based on critical operator layers, and optimize the system bottleneck latency during pipeline parallelism using data compression, queuing, and "micro-shifting" techniques. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves significant acceleration in CNN inference within heterogeneous environments, improving performance by 71.6% compared to existing popular frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the structural evolution, electronic and magnetic properties of CrSin−/0 for n = 19–25 have been investigated at density functional theory (DFT) level. The global minimum structures of these clusters have been fully searched through a self-developed genetic algorithm code combined with DFT calculations. Both of anionic and neutral CrSin for n = 19–25 share the same configurations. All these clusters prefer to adopt endohedral structures (Cr@Si14 for sizes n = 19–21, and Cr@Si13 for larger ones) as the structural motif with the remaining Si atoms attached on the surface. Among all these clusters, CrSi22 and CrSi23 are the most prominent through the analysis of HOMO − LUMO gaps, average binding energies, and the second order of energy differences. All of these medium-sized cluster anions possess the same total magnetic moment of 1 μB, but with very different contributions from that of small sizes (n ≤ 18), except for size 22. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an active constituent of tea, is recognized for its anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the specific mechanism by which EGCG protects osteoblasts from cadmium-induced damage remains incompletely understood. Here, the action of EGCG was investigated by exposing MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts to EGCG and CdCl2 and examining their growth, apoptosis, and differentiation. It was found that EGCG promoted the viability of cadmium-exposed MC3T3-E1 cells, mitigated apoptosis, and promoted both maturation and mineralization. Additionally, CdCl2 has been reported to inhibit both the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/AKT/mTOR) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2/heme oxygenase-1(Nrf2/HO-1) signaling pathways. EGCG treatment attenuated cadmium-induced apoptosis in osteoblasts and restored their function by upregulating both signaling pathways. The findings provide compelling evidence for EGCG's role in attenuating cadmium-induced osteoblast apoptosis and dysfunction through activating the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and Nrf2/HO-1 pathways. This suggests the potential of using EGCG for treating cadmium-induced osteoblast dysfunction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the structural evolution, electronic and magnetic properties of silicon clusters with two different dopants, CrMnSin (n = 4–20) clusters were investigated at density functional theory (DFT) level. Small‐sized CrMnSin (n = 4–9) clusters tend to adopt bipyramid‐based geometries, while clusters with sizes n = 10 and 11 prefer to opening cage‐like structures. For sizes n = 12 to 14, the half‐encapsulated structures gradually transform into closed‐cage Cr@Sin structures, with the Mn atom exposed outside. Starting from size 15, both the Cr and Mn atoms are completely encapsulated by silicon atoms. Meanwhile, the Cr and Mn atoms in smaller‐sized CrMnSin (n = 4–7) clusters tend to be separated, while they prefer to stay together for larger sizes. Cr atom always acts as electron donor, but not for Mn atom. From the average binding energies, one can conclude that it is easier to form larger size clusters. Smaller and larger sized CrMnSin (n = 4–9 and 19–20) clusters prefer to exhibit ferromagnetic Cr–Mn coupling, while sizes n = 10–18 always exhibit ferrimagnetic state. To our knowledge, the CrMnSin clusters is the first kind of neutral transition‐metal doped semiconductor clusters that show ferrimagnetic state within a wide size range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, we explored the structures and electronic properties of transition metal (TM)-doped tin clusters TMSn15–17− (TM = Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf) at density functional theory (DFT) level. Global search was performed for the global minimum isomers of these clusters by using the genetic algorithm coupled with the DFT calculations. The simulated photoelectron spectra for the lowest energy isomers are in good agreement with the experimental results, indicating the identification of the right structures. All TMSn15− (TM = Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf) clusters adopt the same endohedral TM@Sn15 structure, while all TMSn16− clusters are the Frank–Kasper (FK) polyhedron. Additionally, all these TMSn17− clusters are based on the FK polyhedron with an extra Sn atom absorbed on the surface. From the average binding energies and embedding energies, it has been observed that the larger the atomic number of dopant atom, the worse the structural stability for TMSnn− (TM = Ti, Zr, Hf) clusters. The anionic TMSn16− (TM = Sc, Y) and neutral TMSn16 (TM = Ti, Zr, Hf) are identified as superatoms with the same closed electronic shell configuration of (1S)2(1P)6(1D)10(1F)14(2S)2(1G)18(2P)6(2D)10. In this work, the structural evolution and electronic properties of transition metal (TM)-doped tin clusters TMSn15− (TM= Sc, Y, Ti, Zr, Hf) were investigated by using a self-developed genetic algorithm code coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biological reduction of Fe (III) is common in underground environments. This process not only affects the biogeochemical cycle of iron but also influences the migration and transformation of pollutants. Humic substances are considered effective strategies for improving the migration and transformation of toxic substances and enhancing the bioavailability of Fe (III). In this study, the electron shuttle anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQS) significantly promoted the bio-reduction of Fe (III). On this basis, different concentrations of aniline were added. The research results indicate that at an aniline concentration of 3 μM, the production of Fe (II) in the reaction system was 2.51 times higher compared to the microbial reaction group alone. Furthermore, the degradation of aniline was most effective in this group. The increased consumption of sodium lactate suggests that aniline, under the mediation of AQS, promoted the metabolism of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 cells and facilitated the involvement of more electrons in the reduction process. After the reaction, the solid mineral Fe (II)-O content increased to 41.32%. This study provides insights into the reduction mechanism of Fe (III) in the complex environment of microorganisms, iron minerals, electron shuttles, and pollutants. It aims to offer a theoretical basis for the biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbon pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]