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Study region: Hulun Lake Basin, Northern China Study focus: Understanding lacustrine groundwater discharge (LGD) is important for elucidating the hydrological cycle and sustainable use of water resources. Hulun Lake is the largest fresh water lake and has prominent ecological function in North China. However, the effect of groundwater discharge on the water balance and spatial distribution of LGD under different aquifers have not yet been evaluated in detail. Herein, radium (223Ra, 224Ra, and 228Ra) and stable isotopes (δD, δ18O) were used to identify the LGD locations and quantify the spatial LGD flux into the lake. New hydrological insights for the region: The Ra isotope activities in groundwater from the fissured bedrock in the western part of the Lake are depleted relative to those from the east, underlain by the Quaternary unconsolidated sediments aquifer overlying granitic rocks. The spatial distribution of LGD under heterogeneous aquifers was revealed and groundwater discharge from fractured bedrock aquifer is the predominant source of the lake. The LGD flux is estimated to range from (1.07 ± 1.36)× 107 to (6.54 ± 1.89)× 107 m3/d, which exceeds that in the Quaternary aquifer by one order of magnitude due to the high permeability enlarged via tectonic faults and fractures. These findings promote scientific understanding of water balance in Hulun Lake and are instructional for LGD studies of freshwater lakes with complex water systems in cold and arid regions.

Abstract The pollution problem caused by surplus livestock manure nutrient is becoming more and more serious; thus, analyzing characteristics of the temporal and spatial patterns of livestock manure nutrient and assessing the risks are extremely important. The pollution coefficient method was used to figure out the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) emissions of livestock manure nutrient in soil of the Yangtze River Delta from 1980 to 2018. High-risk areas for livestock manure pollution were determined by matching degree assessment between livestock manure nutrient supply and crop nutrient requirements. Clustering and principal component analysis were applied to select main control factors. The results found that the total discharge and manure N and P loads in animal manure nutrient showed an overall trend of increasing first and then decreasing in the Yangtze River Delta in the soil from 1980 to 2018. The center of manure N and P loads shifted from the central region to the northeastern and southwestern regions. There were four typical patterns for manure N emissions, the main control factors were meat production and primary industry. Meanwhile, the main control factors for the four typical patterns of manure P emissions were meat production and cultivated land area. This research provides a theoretical basis for the sustainable development of the livestock breeding industry and is of significance for promoting a balance between planting and breeding in the Yangtze River Delta.

Abstract Background This paper is to describe percutaneous endoscopy in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis secondary to ligamentum flavum hypertrophy targeted and to investigate the efficacy and safety of percutaneous endoscopy in the treatment of this kind of lumbar spinal stenosis in elderly patients. Method A retrospective analysis of 40 elderly patients with lumbar spinal stenosis secondary to ligamentum flavum hypertrophy admitted between January 2016 and January 2018 was performed. According to different surgical methods, they were divided into two groups: the control group and the endoscopy group (interlaminar approach), 20 people per group. There were 9 males and 11 females in the control group; the age of patients was 65.65 ± 4.44 years, and the average disease duration was 4.55 ± 1.85 years. Besides, there were 10 males and 10 females in the endoscopy group; the age of patients was 67.30 ± 4.23 years, and the average disease duration was 4.95 ± 2.04 years. Collect and count surgical-related indicators, preoperative and postoperative radiologic findings, incision visual analog scale (VAS), lumbar and leg pain VAS, lumbar Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA), and Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores of all patients. Result A series of surgical indicators (including the operation time, the quantity of bleeding, and postoperative hospital stay) in the endoscopy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (p < 0.05). The incision VAS score in the endoscopy group was also significantly lower than that in the control group at each time after surgery (p < 0.05). Besides, compared with the control group, in the endoscopy group, the leg pain VAS score and lumbar ODI score after surgery were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). Compared with the control group, in the endoscopy group, the lumbar JOA score was significantly higher (p < 0.05). Conclusion Percutaneous endoscopic technique is a small trauma, quick recovery, safe, and effective minimally invasive surgery for patients with lumbar spinal stenosis secondary to ligamentum flavum hypertrophy.

This paper introduces a qualitative analysis on the efficiency evaluation of the knowledge supply chain by combining the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with data envelopment analysis (DEA), drawing on existing literature to determine the index weight through the scoring of industry experts, and selecting appropriate input and output indicators to construct a knowledge supply chain efficiency evaluation system. The system was then applied to the supply chain of a number of high-tech enterprises. The results identified innovation efficiency differences of the knowledge supply chain in these enterprises, along with best practices and suggestions for the current knowledge supply chain efficiency.

Lakes in cold and arid regions are extremely vulnerable to global climate change, and the study of seasonal spatial and temporal fluctuations of lake-groundwater chemistry is of major significance for water resource management and environmental preservation. In this study, we combined hydrogeochemical, multivariate statistical, and spatial interpolation methods to assess spatial and temporal variations of lake and groundwater chemistry in Hulun Lake during the frozen and non-frozen periods. The results show that sodium (Na+) is the most abundant cation in the Hulun Lake area. Bicarbonate (HCO3−) and sulfate (SO42−) are the most predominant anions in the lake, river, and ground water during both seasons. The higher Na+ + K+ concentrations in the frozen season were related to longer circulation time and lower renewable rate. The water chemistry of the lake was of the HCO3-SO4-Cl-Na type and that of groundwater in the east and west regions was of the SO4-Cl-Na and HCO3-Na types, respectively. The chemical compositions of groundwater in the non-frozen season were mainly affected by evaporation and concentration, while rock weathering, evaporation, and human activities jointly controlled groundwater chemical component in the frozen period. Based on hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) methods, Ca2+, NO3−, and SO42− were identified as the main controlling indicators of the chemical characteristics of groundwater and lake water. The increase of Ca2+ concentration in the center of the lake was related to groundwater discharge along the marginal tectonic fracture zone along the lake shores, which was the potential groundwater discharge area. The unconsolidated aquifer provides recharge channels for groundwater on the eastern side, which has a certain influence on the increase of nutrient concentration (NO3−) in the lake on the eastern shore. This research adds to our rough understanding of the lake-groundwater interaction in Hulun Lake, and provides a scientific foundation for the sustainable use of water resources, as well as the eco-logical integrity preservation in cold and arid regions.

We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, have retracted the following article:Huawei Ni, Guoxiu Wang, Yu Xu, Xiaomin Gu, Chengzhang Sun & Haibo Li (2019) Lycium barbarum polysaccharide alleviates IL-1β-evoked chondrogenic ATDC5 cell inflammatory injury through mediation of microRNA-124. Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 47(1), 4046–4052, DOI:10.1080/21691401.2019.1673765Since publication, concerns have been raised about the integrity of the data in the article. When approached for an explanation, the authors checked their data and confirmed there are fundamental errors present. Therefore, they have agreed to the retraction of this article. The authors apologise for this oversight.We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions.The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

This study investigates the relationship between digital financial inclusion, external financing, and the innovation performance of high-tech enterprises in China. The choice of corporate financing methods is an important part of organizational behavioral psychology, and different financing models will have a certain effect on organizational performance, especially in the digital economy environment. Therefore, based on resource dependence theory and financing constraint theory, the present study utilizes the panel data collected from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research (CSMAR) database from 2011 to 2020 of 112 companies in the Yangtze River Delta region and the “The Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index of China (PKU-DFIIC)” released by the Peking University Digital Finance Research Center and Ant Financial Group. The results show that the Digital Financial Inclusion Index (DFIIC) has a significant positive correlation with the innovation performance of high-tech enterprises. The higher the level of debt financing, the stronger the role of digital financial inclusion in promoting innovation performance. Investigating the DFIIC in terms of coverage breadth and usage depth, we find that usage depth does not significantly encourage innovation performance. The effect of the interaction between coverage breadth and external financing is consistent with the results for the DFIIC. The study suggests that equity financing promotes the usage depth of the DFIIC in state-owned enterprises. In contrast, debt financing promotes the coverage breadth of non-state-owned enterprises. Finally, we propose relevant policy recommendations based on the research results. It includes in-depth popularization of inclusive finance in the daily operations of enterprises at the technical level, refinement of external financing policy incentives for enterprises based on the characteristics of ownership, and strengthening the research of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing. The paper presents a range of theoretical and practical implications for practitioners and academics relevant to high-tech enterprises.

The green development level reflected in the green finance index and the evaluation of the degree of green development in smart cities have important practical effects on economic transformation. For promoting the transformation and upgrading of finance, we select 2013–2019 data and construct a distributed lag model to analyse the important role played by green finance and financial technology in the construction of smart cities. In the paper, we find green finance promotes the construction of smart cities, and only it will not appear until nine months late. Financial technology has an opposite impact on the construction of smart cities, this is mainly because the research and marketization of financial technology are higher, and the cost is also higher. This influence will appear in the next 14 months.

A complete understanding of groundwater circulation as well as the transport and distribution of solutes in arid-semiarid basin regions is a prerequisite for the safe use of groundwater resources. The distributions of the groundwater flow systema and solutes are affected by the basin morphology, lithology, and climate variations; therefore, they can change over geologic time. In this study, we performed a case study of the Qaidam Basin in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, in which we utilized reactive solute transport simulations to build a numerical model in TOUGHREACT for a typical section of the eastern Qaidam Basin since the last glacial period. The results show that the groundwater in the eastern Qaidam Basin developed into a three-level groundwater flow system and that the seepage velocity of the local water flow system is significantly higher than that of the intermediate and regional water flow systems. Although groundwater in the discharge region has been continuously concentrated and enriched since the last glacial period, the distributions of the groundwater flow system and solutes have been greatly affected by climate variations. During warm periods, the centres of groundwater discharge and solute concentration shifted to areas with more groundwater recharge; in contrast, both centres shifted to the central basin during drought periods. The groundwater in the basin mainly contains Na+ and Cl− ions, which vary significantly from the recharge region to the discharge region. Evaporation of groundwater results in increases in the concentrations of most of the components except HCO3−. The groundwater in the discharge region is currently in the stage of carbonate precipitation and is far from gypsum and halite precipitation.

An immediate quenching using liquid N2 is applied for synthesizing the 5d transition-metal oxides (Sr1-xCax)2IrO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.15) single phase. X-ray diffraction together with Rietveld refinement shows that the lattice parameters along a and c directions and the bond angle of Ir-O2-Ir decrease with the increase of Ca content. X-ray Absorption Fine Spectroscopy measurements prove that the valence of Ir and the average Ir-O bond-length substantially remain unchanged with Ca content increasing in the phase. The effective magnetic moment μeff and Néel temperature TN decrease simultaneously with increased Ca content. Electrical resistivity shows complex temperature dependence behavior, which follows the three-dimensional variable range hopping behavior at low temperature, Arrhenius-type behavior at middle-temperature, and a weak electronic localization in quasi-two-dimensional at high temperature.

The main goal of this article is to study the diffusion mechanism of aqueous solutions and the swelling of cellulosic fibers in the silicone non-aqueous dyeing system via fluorescent labeling. Due to non-polar media only adsorbing on the surface of fiber, cellulosic fiber could not swell as a result of the non-polar media. However, because water molecules can diffuse into the non-crystalline region of the fiber, cellulosic fiber could swell by water which was dispersed or emulsified in a non-aqueous dyeing system. To study the diffusion mechanism of an aqueous solution in the siloxane non-aqueous dyeing system, siloxane non-aqueous media was first diffused to the cellulosic fiber because of its lower surface tension. The resulting aqueous solution took more time to diffuse the surface of the cellulosic fiber, because water molecules must penetrate the siloxane non-aqueous media film. Compared with the fluorescent intensity of the fiber surface, the siloxane film could be re-transferred to the dye bath under the emulsification of the surfactant and the mechanical force. Therefore, a longer diffusion time of the aqueous solution ensured the dyeing feasibility for cellulosic fiber in the non-aqueous dyeing system.

In recent years, new concepts in textile dyeing technology have been investigated which aim to decrease the use of chemicals and the emission of water. In this work, dyeing of cotton textiles with reactive dyes has been investigated in a silicone non-aqueous dyeing system. Compared with conventional aqueous dyeing, almost 100% of reactive dyes can be adsorbed on cotton textiles without using any salts in non-aqueous dyeing systems, and the fixation of dye is also higher (80%~90% for non-aqueous dyeing vs. 40%~50% for traditional dyeing). The pseudo-second-order kinetic model can best describe the adsorption and equilibrium of reactive dyes in the non-aqueous dyeing systems as well as in the traditional water dyeing system. In the non-aqueous dyeing systems, the adsorption equilibrium of reactive dyes can be reached quickly. Particularly in the siloxane non-aqueous dyeing system, the adsorption equilibrium time of reactive dye is only 5–10 min at 25 °C, whereas more time is needed at 60 °C in the water dyeing system. The surface tension of non-aqueous media influences the adsorption rate of dye. The lower the surface tension, the faster the adsorption rate of reactive dye, and the higher the final uptake of dye. As a result, non-aqueous dyeing technology provides an innovative approach to increase dye uptake under a low dyeing temperature, in addition to making large water savings.

Water scarcity has led to wide use of reclaimed water for irrigation worldwide, which may threaten groundwater quality. To understand the status of groundwater in the reclaimed water irrigation area in Beijing, 87 samples from both shallow and deep aquifers were collected to determine the factors affecting groundwater chemistry and to assess groundwater quality for drinking and irrigation purposes. The results show that groundwater in both shallow and deep aquifers in the study area is weakly alkaline freshwater with hydrogeochemical faces dominated by HCO3-Na·Mg·Ca, HCO3-Mg·Ca·Na, HCO3-Ca·Na, and HCO3-Na. The chemical composition of groundwater in both shallow and deep aquifers is dominantly controlled by the dissolution of halite, gypsum, anhydrite, and silicates weathering, as well as ion exchange. Geogenic processes (rock weathering and ion exchange) are the only mechanisms controlling groundwater chemistry in deep aquifers. Besides geogenic processes, evaporation and anthropogenic activities also affect the chemistry of shallow groundwater. Quality assessment reveals that both shallow and deep groundwater are generally suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. The quality of deep groundwater is more excellent for drinking than shallow groundwater. However, long-term use of deep groundwater for irrigation exhibits higher potential risks to deteriorate soil property due to the relative higher permeability indexes (PI). Therefore, it is recommended that deep groundwater is preferentially used for drinking and domestic purpose, and shallow groundwater for agricultural irrigation.

The usage of reclaimed water can efficiently mitigate water crises, but it may cause groundwater pollution. To clearly understand the potential influences of long-term reclaimed water usage, a total of 91 samples of shallow and deep groundwater were collected from a typical reclaimed water use area during the dry and rainy seasons. The results suggest both shallow and deep groundwater are mainly naturally alkaline freshwater, which are composed mainly of Ca-HCO3, followed by mixed types such as Ca-Na-HCO3 and Ca-Mg-HCO3. A seasonal desalination trend was observed in both shallow and deep aquifers due to dilution effects in the rainy season. Groundwater chemical compositions in both shallow and deep aquifers are still dominantly controlled by natural processes such as silicate weathering, minerals dissolution and cation exchange. Human activities are also the factors influencing groundwater chemistry. Urbanization has been found responsible for the deterioration of groundwater quality, especially in shallow aquifers, because of the relative thin aquitard. Reclaimed water usage for agricultural irrigation and landscape purposes has nearly no influences on groundwater quality in rural areas due to thick aquitards. Therefore, reclaimed water usage should be encouraged in arid and semiarid areas with proper hydrogeological condition.

In this work, the hydrogeochemistry and environmental isotopic compositions of thermal and mineral springs in Arxan, northeastern China, were used to assess the genesis of the thermal system hosted by deep-seated faults. The reservoir temperature was calculated using the mineral saturation index and geothermometers. According to isotopic analysis, the spring water was of meteoric origin. Sixteen springs in the Arxan geothermal system with outlet temperatures ranging from 10.9 to 41.0 °C were investigated. The water samples can be classified into four groups by using a Piper diagram. The aquifer in which the Group I and Group III samples were obtained was a shallow cold aquifer of the Jurassic system, which is related to the local groundwater system and contains HCO3–Ca·Na groundwater. The Group II and Group IV samples were recharged by deeply circulating meteoric water with HCO3–Na and HCO3·SO4–Na·Ca groundwater, respectively. The springs rise from the deep basement faults. The estimated thermal reservoir temperature is 50.9–68.8 °C, and the proportion of shallow cold water ranges from 54% to 87%. A conceptual flow model based on hydrogeochemical results and hydrogeological features is given to describe the geothermal system of the Arxan springs.

We define an extreme loss event as a daily return at the left tail of negative two standard deviations of all daily returns for a specific stock. Prior studies focus on the relationship between extreme losses and specific anticipated announcements. Our study identifies the extreme loss events after they are randomly realized, and examines the return patterns of the equities in question on stochastic event setups. We investigate the daily returns of 2,651 stocks traded in the U.S. equity markets and identified 217,990 extreme loss events from the 1950s to early 2019. Our findings show that after an extreme loss, an asset realizes, on average, a daily return of 0.8459% on the first day, and 1.8099% cumulatively in the following 5-day window. We attribute the fast recovery to the investors’ overreaction. This suggests an extreme loss reversal trading strategy. Our confirmation suggests that behavioral bias may not be corrected or eliminated through arbitrage.

Avian colibacillosis (AC), caused by infection with Escherichia coli (E. coli), is a major threat to poultry health, food safety and public health, and results in high mortality and significant economic losses. Currently, new drugs are urgently needed to replace antibiotics due to the continuous emergence and increasing resistance of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of E. coli caused by the irrational use of antibiotics in agriculture and animal husbandry. In recent years, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which uniquely evolved to protect the host, have emerged as a leading alternative to antibiotics in clinical settings. CATH-2, a member of the antimicrobial cathelicidin peptide family, has been reported to have antibacterial activity. To enhance the antimicrobial potency and reduce the adverse effects on animals, we designed five novel AMPs, named C2-1, C2-2, C2-3, C2-4 and C2-5, based on chicken CATH-2, the secondary structures of these AMPs were consistently α-helical and had an altered net charge and hydrophobicity compared to those of the CATH-2 (1-15) sequences. Subsequently, the antimicrobial activities of CATH-2 (1-15) and five designed peptides against MDR E. coli were evaluated in vitro. Specifically, C2-2 showed excellent antimicrobial activity against either the ATCC standard strain or veterinary clinical isolates of MDR E. coli, with concentrations ranging from 2-8 μg/mL. Furthermore, C2-2 maintained its strong antibacterial efficacy under high temperature and saline conditions, demonstrating significant stability. Similarly, C2-2 retained a high level of safety with no significant hemolytic activity on chicken mature red blood cells or cytotoxicity on chicken kidney cells over the concentration range of 0-64 μg/mL. Moreover, the administration of C2-2 improved the survival rate and reduced the bacterial load in the heart, liver and spleen during MDR E. coli infection in chickens. Additionally, pathological damage to the heart, liver and intestine was prevented when MDR E. coli infected chickens were treated with C2-2. Together, our study showed that C2-2 may be a promising novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of MDR E. coli infections and AC.