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Climate warming and human disturbance are supposed to have significantly impacted the alpine grasslands. However, it is still unclear how human activity affects the community composition and niche characteristics in response to warming. We conducted a two-factorial experiment in an alpine meadow, and set up four treatments: warming, mowing, warming with mowing, and control. Based on the investigation of community composition and niche characteristics, we evaluated the impacts of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus on species niche overlap. The results showed that mowing significantly increased species richness of Grass, Sedge, Forbs and the importance value of Sedge compared to warming (P < 0.05). The niche breadth of species (>50 %) was reduced by warming, but increased under mowing. The niche overlap mainly occurred between Grass and Forbs in warming, while it was evenly distributed among species after mowing, which alleviated the negative effects of warming on interspecific competitiveness. Warming increased the number of species pairs with a niche overlap value >0.9 by 24.15 %, while warming with mowing decreased it by 2.7 %. The number of species pairs with niche overlap was significantly correlated with soil total nitrogen and soil available nitrogen (P < 0.05). In particular, the species pairs with highly competitive showed a greater dependency on soil nitrogen. Our work highlights that moderate utilization and soil nitrogen are two crucial factors influencing the response of community structure in alpine meadows to future climate change. The study provides an important reference for predicting and addressing the impact of global climate change on adaptive management and grassland protection.

Karst ecosystems, especially tropical karst forests, are crucial to the global carbon cycle. In mountainous and hilly areas, elevation-related changes in environment and vegetation often lead to shifts in the accumulation and decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the elevational patterns and influencing variables of SOC and its fractions in tropical karst forest ecosystems remain largely unexplored. Here, we analyzed the elevational patterns of SOC and its fractions in the topsoil and subsoil in the tropical seasonal rainforests within typical peak-cluster depression region of Southwest China. Our results indicated that the SOC content was highest at 400 m asl, which was significantly higher than that at 200 m asl (p < 0.05). Overall, SOC content demonstrated an increasing trend with rising elevation. Additionally, SOC content was significantly higher in the topsoil compared to the subsoil (p < 0.05). The majority of SOC fractions exhibited an increase with elevation but decrease with soil depth. Notably, only water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) displayed a decrease with elevation. Meanwhile, recalcitrant organic carbon (ROC, 54.27%), particulate organic carbon (POC, 30.19%), and easily oxidizable organic carbon (EOC, 16.95%) were the main SOC fractions. Labile organic carbon (LOC) in the karst forest soil was predominantly composed of EOC and POC. Correlation analysis unveiled significant positive correlations between SOC and certain fractions with elevation, soil total nitrogen, and exchangeable magnesium. Conversely, significant negative correlations were observed with soil bulk density (SBD), soil total phosphorus, and litter phosphorus (Litter P). Redundancy analysis indicated that elevation, SBD, and Litter P were the main environmental variables influencing shifts in SOC and its fractions. Structural equation models showed that SOC was primarily directly impacted by soil properties but indirectly impacted by elevation. ROC was mainly associated with the direct effects of soil properties and litterfall, although elevation exerted a substantial impact through indirect pathways. Moreover, LOC was predominantly influenced by the direct impact of soil properties. Therefore, this study demonstrates that SOC and its fractions are strongly influenced by elevation in karst peak-cluster depression regions and have important implications for forest management and sustainable ecosystem development in these regions.

An important goal in the opioid field is to discover effective analgesic drugs with minimal side effects. MCRT demonstrated potent antinociceptive effects with limited side effects, making it a promising candidate. However, its pharmacological properties and how it minimizes side effects remain unknown. Various mouse pain and opioid side effect models were used to evaluate the antinociceptive properties and safety at the spinal level. The targets of MCRT were identified through cAMP measurement, isolated tissue assays, and pharmacological experiments. Immunofluorescence was employed to visualize protein expression. MCRT displayed distinct antinociceptive effects between acute and chronic inflammatory pain models due to its multifunctional properties at the μ opioid receptor (MOR), µ-δ heterodimer (MDOR), and neuropeptide FF receptor 2 (NPFFR2). Activation of NPFFR2 reduced MOR-mediated antinociception, leading to bell-shaped response curves in acute pain models. However, activation of MDOR produced more effective antinociception in chronic inflammatory pain models. MCRT showed limited tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia in both acute and chronic pain models and did not develop cross-tolerance to morphine. Additionally, MCRT did not exhibit addictive properties, gastrointestinal inhibition, and effects on motor coordination. Mechanistically, peripheral chronic inflammation or repeated administration of morphine and MCRT induced an increase in MDOR in the spinal cord. Chronic administration of MCRT had no apparent effect on microglial activation in the spinal cord. These findings suggest that MCRT is a versatile compound that provides potent antinociception with minimal opioid-related side effects. MDOR could be a promising target for managing chronic inflammatory pain and addressing the opioid crisis.

China's rural e-commerce (EC) has grown significantly, recognized as a crucial tool for rural development. However, income effects of rural e-commerce vary among different groups of farmers due to their distinct roles and benefits, raising the possibility of a ''mean trap'' in previous studies whereby regional farmer income averages have been used to indicate rural e-commerce benefits. Using Meta-Regression Analysis (MRA), the study found that the income effect is more common in EC-active minority groups with higher access and participation levels. Enhanced incomes mainly occurred among marketing-oriented farmers, with limited impact at the village level and predominantly at the county level.

The Chishui River Basin, a vital waterway in Southwest China, has experienced rapid urbanization, leading to significant ecological and environmental changes, among which the urban heat island (UHI) effect is particularly pronounced. The UHI effect not only affects the quality of life for residents but also influences urban energy consumption and climate change, underscoring the need for in-depth study of its spatial distribution and contributing factors. The unique karst topography of the region further complicates UHI research, necessitating an investigation that can inform urban planning and sustainable development strategies. This study leveraged Landsat 8 TIRS satellite remote sensing imagery to examine the land surface temperature (LST) and UHI effect in the Chishui River Basin during the summers of 2016 and 2021. Employing the Mono-window Algorithm (MWA), the research quantitatively inverted the LST and analyzed its spatial distribution and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect. The findings indicated a notable increase in average summer temperatures between the 2 years, with a 1.67°C rise from 2016 to 2021. Despite this increase, there was an observed reduction in the extent of SUHI areas, suggesting potential mitigation efforts. Additionally, the study revealed that karst regions were more susceptible to forming “abnormal” heat islands due to their distinct geomorphological features. The implications of this research are critical for urban development planning and the pursuit of sustainable urbanization in the Chishui River Basin. By understanding the thermal dynamics and their relationship with urbanization and karst landscapes, policymakers and urban planners can devise strategies to minimize the adverse effects of SUHI while promoting ecological balance and environmental health. Future research should extend the temporal analysis, employ higher resolution data, compare findings with other regions, and provide a detailed examination of mitigation efforts to enhance the robustness and applicability of the conclusions, provide stronger scientific evidence for the ecological sustainability of the Chishui River Basin.

Soil metabolites are critical in regulating the dynamics of ecosystem structure and function, particularly in fragile karst ecosystems. Clarification of response of soil metabolism to vegetation succession in karst areas will contribute to the overall understanding and management of karst soils. Here, we investigated the metabolite characteristics of karst soils with different vegetation stages (grassland, brushwood, secondary forest and primary forest) based on untargeted metabolomics. We confirmed that the abundance and composition of soil metabolites altered with vegetation succession. Of the 403 metabolites we found, 157 had significantly varied expression levels across vegetation soils, including mainly lipids and lipid-like molecules, phenylpropanoids and polyketides, organic acids and derivatives. Certain soil metabolites, such as maltotetraose and bifurcose, were sensitive to vegetation succession, increasing significantly from grassland to brushwood and then decreasing dramatically in secondary and primary forests, making them possible indicators of karst vegetation succession. In addition, soil metabolic pathways, such as galactose metabolism and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, also changed with vegetation succession. This study characterized the soil metabolic profile in different vegetation stages during karst secondary succession, which would provide new insights for the management of karst soils.

Determining initial variables and key parameters, such as case fatality ratio (CFR), dynamic case fatality ratio (DCFR), reproduction number ( $R_{0}$ ), and so on, helps shed more light on the transmission and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Here, we established a SAIUHR model, which describes the dynamic changes of susceptible, asymptomatic infectious, under-reported symptomatic infectious, hospitalized and recovered individuals. And we proposed a novel approach based on our model to calculate the report rate, starting time, basic reproduction number, the initial conditions for the compartments, CFR and DCFR. Finally, we apply our method to epidemiological datasets from China, Italy, Germany, and France. The results show that the goodness of fit for the cumulative confirmed cases is greater than 97.45% in each of the countries, DCFR is more effective than CFR in predicting the future tend of infectious disease, and improving the report rate, raising the control strength and shortening the wait time are the effective strategies against infectious diseases. This study highlights the implications of taking proper restrictions and strong policies to deal with emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases from their spread in the early stage.

Energy harvesting using piezoelectric transduction offers a promising alternative to the conversion of kinetic energy like ambient vibration and rotational motion into useful electricity in self-powered electronic devices. To improve the reliability and effective bandwidth of rotational piezoelectric energy harvesters (RPEHs), a novel rotational energy harvester utilizing an asymmetrically deformed piezoelectric transducer excited by a magnetic attractive force is presented in this paper. Unlike the previous most RPEHs where piezoelectric elements experienced the symmetrical bidirectional strain, the presented piezoelectric transducer was only subjected to unidirectional compressive strain. It made the best use of the deformation characteristics of PZT vibrators where their allowable compressive stress was far greater than the allowable tensile stress, thus reducing the damage possibility of PZT vibrators under unexpected heavy loads. To prove the feasibility and explore the influence of the related structural parameters on the power generation performance, the theoretical analysis, simulation, fabrication and experiments were performed for the novel RPEH. The results showed that some parameters like the number ratio (α) and the rotary radius (R) of the exciting magnets brought a strong impact on the response characteristics of the presented RPEH. With the increasing rotary radius R, both the optimal rotating speed and effective bandwidth were decreased, whereas there were few studies on the effect of the rotary radius R of exiting force in previously reported RPEHs. In the case of rotary radius R = 60 mm, the maximum output voltage of 130 V with α = 0.5 was achieved. A maximum output power of 3.89 mW was obtained across 41 kΩ at the rotating speed of 856 r/min. It is expected this research can provide a beneficial reference for enhancing the reliability of existing RPEHs.

Abstract The rapid loss of global biodiversity can greatly affect the normal functioning of ecosystems. However, how biodiversity losses affect plant community structure and soil nutrients is unclear. We conducted a field experiment to examine the short‐ and long‐term effects of removing plant functional groups (Gramineae, Cyperaceae, legumes, and forbs) on the interrelationships among the species diversity, productivity, community structure, and soil nutrients in an alpine meadow ecosystem at Menyuan County, Qinghai Province. The variations in the species richness, above‐ and belowground biomass of the community gradually decreased over time. Species richness and productivity were positively correlated, and this correlation tended to be increasingly significant over time. Removal of the Cyperaceae, legumes, and other forbs resulted in fewer Gramineae species in the community. Soil total nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, and moisture contents increased significantly in the legume removal treatment. The removal of other forbs led to the lowest negative cohesion values, suggesting that this community may have difficulty recovering its previous equilibrium state within a short time. The effects of species removal on the ecosystem were likely influenced by the species structure and composition within the community. Changes in the number of Gramineae species indicated that they were more sensitive and less resistant to plant functional group removal. Legume removal may also indirectly cause distinct community responses through starvation and compensation effects. In summary, species loss at the community level led to extensive species niche shifts, which caused community resource redistribution and significant changes in community structure.

Understanding the land use pattern relationships regarding the composition, diversity, and abundance of soil microbial communities in a typical karst depression in southwestern China is crucial for assessing the stability of local karst ecosystems. However, these aspects in typical karst depressions within northern tropical karst seasonal rainforests in China remain limited. Therefore, we examined the differences in soil microorganism abundance, diversity, community composition, and co-occurrence networks under five land use types in a tropical karst region in southwestern China: sugarcane fields, orchards, grasslands, plantation forests, and secondary forests. The soil microbial communities of samples from these areas were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplification. The abundances of Acidobacteria and Ascomycota were lowest (20.66% and 66.55%, respectively) in secondary forests and highest (35.59% and 89.35%, respectively) in sugarcane fields. Differences in microbial abundance across land use types were related to soil pH and total phosphorus. PCoA and ANOSIM demonstrated significant differences in soil bacterial and fungal community structures among the five land use types. Bacterial alpha-diversity showed no significant variation among the different land uses, whereas fungal alpha-diversity exhibited significant differences. Observed Chao1, ACE, and Shannon indices indicated that secondary forests had the highest fungal alpha-diversity. Land use changes also influenced bacterial and fungal co-occurrence networks, with the networks in secondary forests, plantation forests, and orchards being more complex and stable than those in grasslands and sugarcane fields. Key taxa such as Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota were predominantly connected within the co-occurrence networks, highlighting their high functional potential. This study provides insights that can inform more effective land use planning and management strategies in karst depressions, thereby enhancing ecological sustainability and balance.

The impact of frequent water deficits on dominant tree species in boreal forests has received increased attention, particularly towards addressing the global climate change scenarios. However, the impacts of coupled light intensity and water deficit in the regeneration and growth of Larix gmelinii seedlings, a dominant species in China’s boreal forests, are still unclear. We conducted a dual-factor controlled experiment with four light intensities (natural sunlight, 50% shading, 75% shading, and 90% shading) and three soil water conditions (80%, 60%, and 40% soil saturated water content). The results showed that the coupling of light and water has a significant effect on the growth and development of Larix gmelinii seedlings. In 40% of the saturated soil moisture content, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, chlorophyll a, and total phenol—leaf were significantly lower than the same light conditions under 80% soil saturated water content. Under the coupling treatment of 60% soil saturated water content and 50% shading treatment, the plant height increment, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, chlorophyll a, and phenolic compound content were significantly higher than those of other coupling treatments; however, more than 75% shading inhibited photosynthetic parameters, chlorophyll a, total flavonoid—leaf, and total flavonoid—branch. Our results have important implications for forest management practices; they provide a scientific reference for the early growth of Larix gmelinii seedlings under the coupling of light and water and promote the survival and growth of seedlings.

Comprehending the impacts of land-use type on soil nutrition and stoichiometry in watersheds is crucial for effective regional ecosystem management. However, a deeper understanding of the influence of land-use type on soil stoichiometry in karst agricultural watersheds is still lacking. Here, we analyzed the contents, stoichiometries, and drivers of topsoil C, N, and P in a karst agricultural watershed in China, focusing on six land-use types: paddy fields, dry farmland, tussock land, shrubland, shrubby tussock land, and woodland. We found that woodland exhibited significantly higher soil organic carbon (SOC) content than other land-use types except shrubland. Moreover, woodland exhibited the highest total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) contents compared with other land-use types. C/N and N/P ratios did not vary significantly with land-use type, whereas dry farmland (18.68) showed a significantly lower C/P ratio than woodland (39), shrubland (39.92), and paddy fields (34.87). In addition, our results revealed that soil pH, catalase and invertase activity, and bacterial and actinomycetes abundance significantly influenced C, N, and P content and stoichiometry. These findings reveal that interactions between multiple biotic and abiotic factors drive variability in soil stoichiometry, offering valuable insight for land improvement and ecological management in karst agricultural watersheds.

With the global energy crisis and the decline of fossil fuel resources, biofuels are gaining attention as alternative energy sources. China, as a major developing country, has long depended on coal and is now looking to biofuels to diversify its energy structure and ensure sustainable development. However, due to its large population and limited arable land, it cannot widely use corn or sugarcane as raw materials for bioenergy. Instead, the Chinese government encourages the planting of non-food crops on marginal lands to safeguard food security and support the biofuel sector. The Southern China Karst Region, with its typical karst landscape and fragile ecological environment, offers a wealth of potential marginal land resources that are suitable for planting non-food energy crops. This area is also one of the most impoverished rural regions in China, confronting a variety of challenges, such as harsh natural conditions, scarcity of land, and ecological deterioration. Idesia polycarpa, as a fast-growing tree species that is drought-tolerant and can thrive in poor soil, is well adapted to the karst region and has important value for ecological restoration and biodiesel production. By integrating 19 bioclimatic variables and karst landform data, our analysis reveals that the Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model surpasses the Random Forest (RF) model in predictive accuracy for Idesia polycarpa’s distribution. The karst areas of Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, and Guizhou provinces are identified as highly suitable for the species, aligning with regions of ecological vulnerability and poverty. This research provides critical insights into the strategic cultivation of Idesia polycarpa, contributing to ecological restoration, local economic development, and the advancement of China’s biofuel industry.

Natural soil and vegetation recovery following human disturbance is the primary means of restoring degraded ecosystems globally. However, it remains unclear how vegetation recovery in the tropical karst areas of China affects the soil physicochemical properties. Here, we investigated the impacts of natural vegetation recovery on soil physicochemical properties at different soil depths in tropical karst areas in southwestern China, using a space–time substitution method. We found that with the natural vegetation recovery, soil bulk density (SBD) decreased. Soil pH initially decreased and then increased, reaching its lowest value during the shrubland stage. There was a significant increase in other soil physicochemical factors. In the soil profiles, SBD tended to increase with depth. The pH, total potassium (TK), total phosphorus (TP), and exchangeable calcium remained relatively stable across the different soil layers. TK, TP, available phosphorus, SBD, total nitrogen, pH, exchangeable magnesium, and available potassium significantly contributed to the soil physicochemical properties. Soil physicochemical properties were predominantly directly affected by litter and biological factors, albeit indirectly influenced by topographic factors. Our study provides crucial insights into karst soils and their relationship with vegetation recovery, which are pivotal for steering vegetation restoration and soil amelioration in karst areas.

Rechargeable potassium ion batteries have long been regarded as one alternative to conventional lithium ion batteries because of their resource sustainability and cost advantages. However, the compatibility between anodes and electrolytes remains to be resolved, impeding their commercial adoption. In this work, the K-ion storage properties of Bi nanoparticles encapsulated in N-doped carbon nanocomposites have been examined in two typical electrolyte solutions, which show a significant effect on potassium insertion/removal processes. In a KFSI-based electrolyte, the N-C@Bi nanocomposites exhibit a high specific capacity of 255.2 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, which remains at 245.6 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles, corresponding to a high capacity retention rate of 96.24%. In a KPF6-based electrolyte, the N-C@Bi nanocomposites show a specific capacity of 209.0 mAh g−1, which remains at 71.5 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles, corresponding to an inferior capacity retention rate of only 34.21%. Post-investigations reveal the formation of a KF interphase derived from salt decomposition and an intact rod-like morphology after cycling in K2 electrolytes, which are responsible for better K-ion storage properties.

Summary: Bradyrhizobium is a genus of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, with some species producing nodules in leguminous plants. Investigations into Bradyrhizobium have recently revealed its substantial genetic resources and agricultural benefits, but a comprehensive survey of its genetic diversity and functional properties is lacking. Using a panel of various strains (N = 278), this study performed a comparative genomics analysis to anticipate genes linked with symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Bradyrhizobium’s pan-genome consisted of 84,078 gene families, containing 824 core genes and 42,409 accessory genes. Core genes were mainly involved in crucial cell processes, while accessory genes served diverse functions, including nitrogen fixation and nodulation. Three distinct genetic profiles were identified based on the presence/absence of gene clusters related to nodulation, nitrogen fixation, and secretion systems. Most Bradyrhizobium strains from soil and non-leguminous plants lacked major nif/nod genes and were evolutionarily more closely related. These findings shed light on Bradyrhizobium’s genetic features for symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

Background: The relationship between leisure sedentary behavior (LSB) and periodontitis risk remains unclear in terms of causality and the potential mediating effects of intermediate factors. Materials and methods: Using the aggregate data of several large-scale genetic association studies from participants of European descent, we conducted a univariate, two-step, and multivariate Mendelian random (MR) analysis to infer the overall effect of LSB on periodontitis, and quantified the intermediary proportion of intermediary traits such as smoking. Results: Our findings indicated that per 1-SD increase (1.87 h) in leisure screen time (LST), there was a 23 % increase in the risk of periodontitis. [odds ratios (95 % CI) = 1.23 (1.04–1.44), p = 0.013]. Smoking was found to partially mediate the overall causal effect of LST on periodontitis, with a mediation rate of 20.7 % (95 % CI: 4.9%–35.5 %). Multivariate MR analysis demonstrated that the causal effect of LST on periodontitis was weakened when adjusting for smoking, resulting in an odds ratio of 1.19 (95 % CI: 1.01–1.39, p = 0.049) for each 1 standard deviation increase in exposure. Conclusion: The study provides evidence of a potential causal relationship between LSB characterized by LST and periodontitis, thereby further supporting the notion that reducing LSB is beneficial for health. Furthermore, it confirms the role of smoking as a mediator in this process, suggesting that inhibiting smoking behavior among individuals with long-term LSB may serve as a strategy to mitigate the risk of periodontitis.

Abstract. Background:. LY01005 (Goserelin acetate sustained-release microsphere injection) is a modified gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist injected monthly. This phase III trial study aimed to evaluated the efficacy and safety of LY01005 in Chinese patients with prostate cancer. Methods:. We conducted a randomized controlled, open-label, non-inferiority trial across 49 sites in China. This study included 290 patients with prostate cancer who received either LY01005 or goserelin implants every 28 days for three injections. The primary efficacy endpoints were the percentage of patients with testosterone suppression ≤50 ng/dL at day 29 and the cumulative probability of testosterone ≤50 ng/dL from day 29 to 85. Non-inferiority was prespecified at a margin of -10%. Secondary endpoints included significant castration (≤20 ng/dL), testosterone surge within 72 h following repeated dosing, and changes in luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and prostate specific antigen levels. Results:. On day 29, in the LY01005 and goserelin implant groups, testosterone concentrations fell below medical-castration levels in 99.3% (142/143) and 100% (140/140) of patients, respectively, with a difference of -0.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], -3.9% to 2.0%) between the two groups. The cumulative probabilities of maintaining castration from days 29 to 85 were 99.3% and 97.8%, respectively, with a between-group difference of 1.5% (95% CI, -1.3% to 4.4%). Both results met the criterion for non-inferiority. Secondary endpoints were similar between groups. Both treatments were well-tolerated. LY01005 was associated with fewer injection-site reactions than the goserelin implant (0% vs. 1.4% [2/145]). Conclusion:. LY01005 is as effective as goserelin implants in reducing testosterone to castration levels, with a similar safety profile. Trial registration:. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04563936.

Highlights Self-supporting Cu film with high porosity was obtained by dealloying of Al98Cu2. Nanoporous Cu (NP-Cu) film shows good hydrophilicity and strong broadband light absorption. NP-Cu film exhibits outstanding solar steam generation and desalination performance.

Carpel number (CN) is an important trait affecting the fruit size and shape of melon, which plays a crucial role in determining the overall appearance and market value. A unique non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in CmCLAVATA3 (CmCLV3) is responsible for the variation of CN in C. melo ssp. agrestis (hereafter agrestis), but it has been unclear in C. melo ssp. melo (hereafter melo). In this study, one major locus controlling the polymorphism of 5-CN (multi-CN) and 3-CN (normal-CN) in melo was identified using bulked segregant analysis (BSA-seq). This locus was then fine-mapped to an interval of 1.8 Mb on chromosome 12 using a segregating population containing 1451 progeny. CmCLV3 is still present in the candidate region. A new allele of CmCLV3, which contains five other nucleotide polymorphisms, including a non-synonymous SNP in coding sequence (CDS), except the SNP reported in agrestis, was identified in melo. A cis-trans test confirmed that the candidate gene, CmCLV3, contributes to the variation of CNs in melo. The qRT-PCR results indicate that there is no significant difference in the expression level of CmCLV3 in the apical stem between the multi-CN plants and the normal-CN plants. Overall, this study provides a genetic resource for melon fruit development research and molecular breeding. Additionally, it suggests that melo has undergone similar genetic selection but evolved into an independent allele.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into educational contexts may give rise to both positive and negative ramifications for teachers’ uses of formative assessment within their classrooms. Drawing on our diverse experiences as academics, researchers, psychometricians, teachers, and teacher educators specializing in formative assessment, we examine the pedagogical practices in which teachers provide feedback, facilitate peer- and self-assessments, and support students’ learning, and discuss how existing challenges to each of these may be affected by applications of AI. Firstly, we overview the challenges in the practice of formative assessment independently of the influence of AI. Moreover, based on the authors’ varied experience in formative assessment, we discuss the opportunities that AI brings to address the challenges in formative assessment as well as the new challenges introduced by the application of AI in formative assessment. Finally, we argue for the ongoing importance of self-regulated learning and a renewed emphasis on critical thinking for more effective implementation of formative assessment in this new AI-driven digital age.

The seasonal rainforests distributed across the tropical karst hills of south China are of high biodiversity conservation value and serve many important ecosystem functions. However, knowledge surrounding distribution patterns of woody plants in tropical karst hills remains limited. In this study, we surveyed the distribution of families, genera and species of woody flora at four slope positions (depression, lower slope, middle slope, and upper slope), and analyzed the influence of topographic and soil variables on the distribution of woody plants in the tropical karst hills of south China. Forty forest plots (each 20 m × 20 m) contained 306 species of woody plants with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥1 cm, representing 187 genera and 66 families. As slope increased, the number of families increased slowly, and the number of genera and species followed a concave-shaped trend, with the lowest number of genera and species in the lower slope position. Differences in species composition were significantly stronger between slope positions than within slope positions. The topographic and soil variables explained 22.4% and 19.6%, respectively, of the distribution of woody plants, with slope position, slope degree, soil potassium and soil water content as the most significant variables. The results of generalized linear mixed model analysis showed that total R2 of fixed effects on variation of woody species richness was 0.498, and rock outcrop rate and soil total phosphorus were the best fitting effects. Our results help to explain the community assembly mechanism and to inform management and protection strategies for species-rich seasonal rainforests in the karst area.

Coilia nasus is a precious migratory fish typical to the Yangtze River Basin of China. It is locally referred to as the "Three delicious fish of the Yangtze River, " with its fresh meat being particularly delicious and popular. In recent years, wild C. nasus numbers in the Yangtze River Basin have been decreasing due to environmental changes and illegal overfishing, among other reasons. To attenuate the availability of C. nasus, the Shanghai Fisheries Research Institute has successfully established an indoor artificial breeding and pond culture program in 2011. The research and development of C. nasus artificial breeding technologies have steadily progressed, though the artificial breeding yield of C. nasus remains relatively low. In addition, related research on the artificial cultivation of C. nasus is still in its infancy. Research on C. nasus in China and abroad mainly focuses on gonad development, breeding technology, muscle nutrient composition, and growth performance. No reports exist on the effects of brackish water culture conditions on the physiology of C. nasus. Given its economic importance, it would be of great value to evaluate the changes in the digestive, antioxidant, nonspecific immune capacity, and metabolic rates of C. nasus from brackish water (natural seawater in Hangzhou Bay, salinity 8.7~12.5) to freshwater aquaculture, to determine the breeding conditions of C. nasus, and to improve the artificial breeding yield and related technology. To investigate the differences in digestive capacity, antioxidant capacity, nonspecific immune capacity, and metabolic rates of C. nasus in brackish water and freshwater aquaculture conditions, the experiment adopted the pond interbreeding method. Two groups were established: A brackish aquaculture group and a freshwater aquaculture group (control group). Each group was housed in a single aquaculture pond with an area of 0.17 hm2. 500 C. nasus were stocked in each pond and moved to a Takifugu obscurus pond for a seven-month aquaculture experiment. At the end of the experiment, 12 C. nasus were randomly selected from each group and randomly divided into three replicates. Four C. nasus samples were selected from each replicate. The liver, intestine, stomach, and cecum of C. nasus were dissected on an ice plate and carefully removed to prepare a 10% homogenate. The activities of digestive enzymes, antioxidant enzymes, nonspecific immune enzymes, and metabolic enzymes and the total protein content were measured using a kit produced by the Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute. The activities of digestive enzymes, antioxidant enzymes, nonspecific immunity enzymes, and metabolic enzymes in brackish water and freshwater aquaculture environments were compared and analyzed in a seven-month aquaculture experiment using the same batch of artificially bred C. nasus. The growth and survival rates of C. nasus cultured in brackish water (hereafter referred to as brackish water C. nasus) were significantly higher than that in the freshwater (hereafter referred to as freshwater C. nasus) (P < 0.05). The digestive ability of protein and starch in brackish water C. nasus was higher than that of freshwater C. nasus, while the digestive ability was weakened. Among them, the activity of amylase (AMS) in the four organs of brackish water C. nasus was higher than those in freshwater, but not significantly so (P > 0.05). The activities of protease in the liver and stomach were significantly higher than those in freshwater C. nasus (P < 0.05), and the activities of lipase (LPS) in the liver and cecum were significantly lower than those in freshwater C. nasus (P < 0.05). The order of AMS and protease activity of brackish water C. nasus was: cecum > intestine > stomach > liver, while the order of LPS activity was intestine > cecum > stomach > liver. The order of AMS, protease, and LPS activity of freshwater C. nasus was: cecum > intestine > stomach > liver. Brackish water had significant effects on antioxidant, nonspecific immunity, and metabolic abilities, and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the liver of C. nasus were significantly increased, while the activity of catalase (CAT) was significantly decreased (P < 0.05). The activities of alkaline phosphatase (AKP) and acid phosphatase (ACP) in the liver of C. nasus in brackish water were significantly lower than those in freshwater (P < 0.05). Brackish water had no significant effect on the activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), but it significantly reduced the activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT). In summary, brackish water aquaculture conditions promoted the growth of C. nasus; increased the survival rate; improved the ability of C. nasus to digest protein and starch; improved the immunity of fish; and reduced the influence of external stresses by decreasing the activities of AKP, ACP, and ALT enzymes and increasing the activities of SOD and GSH-PX enzymes. This study also found that C. nasus living in brackish water, as a result of maintaining the internal osmotic balance, significantly reduced ALT enzyme activity and reduced urea production and emission, thereby reducing the pollution of the direct environment. Therefore, brackish water is more suitable for the aquaculture of C. nasus, and it is recommended that brackish water (salinity of 8.7~12.5) be used for aquaculture of 1+ age C. nasus individuals in the future. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for the improvement of artificial breeding technology, improving the yield of C. nasus, and the development of special compound feed for C. nasus.

Vibration energy harvesting using the piezoelectric effect has recently attracted significant attention from scholars. The main concern in the research of piezoelectric vibration energy harvesters is to improve the operating bandwidth and output power in low-frequency vibration environments with random and time-varying nature. A novel piezoelectric vibration energy harvester (PVEH) with three parallel cantilevers and repulsive magnet pair structures is proposed in this work to achieve the above goal. The proposed PVEH has the potential to take full advantage of the synergistic effect of the multi-frequency and magnetic nonlinear performance enhancement techniques. The characteristics of the harvester are systematically studied by theoretical modeling, simulation, and experiments. The influence of the critical parameters (i.e. the tip mass of the inner beam, the tip mass of the outer beam, and the magnet spacing) on the output performance of the PVEH is discussed and optimized in detail, and then the internal mechanism of the proposed energy harvesting method based on multi-frequency and magnetic cooperation is revealed. The results show that the improvement rate of the output power of the fabricated prototype under the condition of first-order and second-order operating frequency reaches 23.35% and 38.10%, respectively, compared with the non-magnetic structure. Finally, the optimal configuration of the harvester ( $M_{\mathrm {i}}$ = 6.70 g, $M_{\mathrm {o}}$ = 5.00 g, $s=22$ mm) obtains a maximum half-power bandwidth of 1.052 Hz and a maximum output power of 2.80 mW under 0.2g with 0.155 $\text{M}\Omega $ load resistance. The proposed energy harvesting system is expected to be a promising alternative to efficient vibration energy harvesters.

Introduction This study explored the application of bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs)-on-Beads (BoBs) technique, especially its ability to detect microdeletion/microduplication regions with a single probe. Material and methods Both chromosome karyotyping and BoBs technique were applied on a total of 2218 pregnant women. Chromosome microarray analysis (CMA) was performed on patients whose cells were reported as being abnormal by BoBs technique with a single probe. Results Twenty-two cases were detected as microdeletion/microduplication with a single probe, which was consistent with the CMA results. Conclusions We believe that the microdeletion/microduplication results detected by BoBs technique with a single probe provide comprehensive guidance for prenatal diagnosis.

Fruit object detection is crucial for automatic harvesting systems, serving applications such as orchard yield measurement and fruit harvesting. In order to achieve fast recognition and localization of green apples and meet the real-time working requirements of the vision system of harvesting robots, a fast optimized Foveabox detection model (Fast-FDM) is proposed. Fast-FDM uses an optimized form of anchor-free Foveabox to accurately and efficiently detect green apples in harvesting environments. Specifically, the EfficientNetV2-S with fast training and small size is used as the backbone network, a weighted bi-directional feature pyramid network (BiFPN) is employed as the feature extraction network to fuse multi-scale features easily and fast, and then the fused features are fed to the fovea head prediction network for the classification and bounding box prediction. Furthermore, an adaptive training sample selection (ATSS) method is adopted to directly select positive and negative samples, allowing green fruits of different scales to obtain higher recall and achieve more accurate green apple detection. Experimental results show that the proposed Fast-FDM realizes a mean average precision (mAP) of 62.3% for green apple detection using fewer parameters and floating point of operations (FLOPs), achieving better trade-offs between accuracy and detection efficiency.

Karst peak-cluster depressions in tropical China are characterized by high habitat heterogeneity, supporting complex seasonal rainforest communities, and harboring a rich abundance of endemic and endangered plants. However, for these rainforests, species and phylogenetic beta diversity and their limiting factors are poorly understood. In this study, the relationships between the beta diversity of three vertical layers (herb, shrub, and tree), environmental factors, and physical distance in China’s tropical karst seasonal rainforest were studied. The results showed that each layer exhibited high species and beta diversity, with species turnover being the dominant contributing factor. Environmental filtering and dispersal limitations were significant drivers of community assembly. Environmental filtering exerted a strong influence, with slope position, soil availability of phosphorus and potassium, pH, and organic matter being the key factors. These findings elucidate seasonal rainforest species and beta diversity spatial patterns within karst peak-cluster depressions, providing a foundation for developing karst ecosystem forest management and vegetation restoration measures.

The rupture of a micro/nano container can trigger the release of repair agents and provides the coating with a self-healing and anti-corrosion effect. However, the defect and inhomogeneity of the coating, produced by the rupture of the micro/nano container, may weaken its anti-corrosion performance. This study reports a rare protection mechanism, which optimizes the space occupying of zirconium phosphate, and the de-doping peculiarity of polyaniline without the rupture of the micro/nano container. Polyaniline/α-zirconium phosphate composites were constructed through in situ oxidation polymerization. Repair agents were added in the form of doped acids. According to the different repair agents in polyaniline/α-zirconium phosphate composites (citric ion, tartaric ion and phytic ion), the performance and protection mechanism of the composites were researched. Polyaniline/α-zirconium phosphate coating (with phytic ion) shows an excellent self-healing anti-corrosive effect, due to the large spatial structure and abundant chelating groups of the precipitation inhibitor. Considering the anti-corrosive application, the developed polyaniline/α-zirconium phosphate composite has a far-reaching influence on marine development.

The stoichiometry of key elements such as C, N, and P is an important indicator of ecosystem nutrient status and biogeochemical cycling. Nevertheless, the responses of soil and plant C:N:P stoichiometric characteristics to natural vegetation restoration remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated C, N, and P contents and stoichiometry in soil and fine roots along vegetation restoration stages (grassland, shrubland, secondary forest, and primary forest) in a tropical mountainous area in southern China. We found that soil organic carbon, total N, C:P ratio, and N:P ratio significantly increased with vegetation restoration and significantly decreased with increasing soil depth, whereas there was no significant effect on soil total P and C:N ratio. Furthermore, vegetation restoration significantly increased the fine root N and P content and N:P ratio, whereas soil depth significantly decreased the fine root N content and increased the C:N ratio. The increasing average N:P ratio in fine roots from 17.59 to 21.45 suggested that P limitation increased with vegetation restoration. There were many significant correlations between C, N, and P contents and their ratios in soil and fine roots, indicating a reciprocal control of nutrient stoichiometric characteristics between them. These results contribute to our understanding of changes in soil and plant nutrient status and biogeochemical cycling during vegetation restoration and provide valuable information for restoration and management of tropical ecosystems.

The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) and its fractions are important for evaluating the vegetation restoration effect and carbon cycle of the ecosystem. Here, SOC fractions, including light fraction organic carbon (LFOC), heavy fraction organic carbon (HFOC), and labile organic carbon (LOC) fractions (including water-soluble organic carbon, WSOC, readily oxidizable organic carbon, ROC, particulate organic carbon, POC, and microbial biomass carbon, MBC), were investigated at four soil depths under five restoration stages in a tropical karst area in southwest China. This study showed that the content of SOC and its fractions significantly increased with vegetation restoration and decreased with increasing soil depth at each restoration stage (p < 0.05). Additionally, LFOC was more sensitive to vegetation restoration, whereas HFOC was the main storage form of SOC. The LOC fractions in the surface soil layer were significantly higher than those in the lower, and the percentages of some LOC fractions (POC/SOC and MBC/SOC) significantly decreased with increasing soil depth, indicating that SOC was more stable in the lower layer than in the surface layer. Correlation analysis showed that SOC was significantly and positively correlated with its fractions. Moreover, SOC and its fraction were positively correlated with soil chemical factors (TN, TP, AP, AK, ECa, EMg, NH4+-N, and NO3–-N) and negatively correlated with bulk density (BD) at a significant level (p < 0.05). Moreover, redundancy analysis showed that the 12 soil physicochemical factors explained 70.99% of the variation in SOC and its fractions, with AK, NH4+-N, and BD being the main factors, explaining 19.38, 17.24, and 10.52% of the variation, respectively. The structural equation mode analysis showed that soil properties, above-ground biomass, and litterfall explained most of the variation in SOC (59%), LFOC (79%), HFOC (81%), and LOC (61%). Soil properties and above-ground biomass significantly affected SOC, LFOC, and HFOC content mainly through indirect effects, while the total phosphorus content of the litterfall could directly and significantly affect SOC, LFOC, and HFOC content. NH4+-N and AK of soil factors had direct effects on LFOC and LOC accumulation, respectively. This study provides a valuable perspective for estimating carbon sink potential and constructing carbon sink models in karst areas.

Engineering of carbon/metal nanocomposites with small metal particles is promising for the development of alloy-type anodes. Herein, an Sb@C composite was developed from a commercial potassium antimony tartrate precursor using a scalable pyrolysis method. Ultrafine Sb nanoparticles are confined within a porous carbon framework, which substantially facilitates the diffusion of Na-ion/electrons and effectively alleviates the charging/discharging induced volume change. The obtained Sb@C material displays excellent electrochemical performance for Na+ storage. The Na+ diffusion behavior of Sb@C was comprehensively investigated using various methods, and its gas evolution during the discharge/charge was monitored via online mass spectrometry. Then, Sb@C was assembled into full cells. During discharge/charge processes, the Na3V2(PO4)2F3/Sb@C full cells delivered a competitive working voltage of 2.95 V and a capacity retention of 93.4% (50 cycles @ 0.2 A g−1). Considering its facile preparation method from a commercial precursor, the Sb@C composite can potentially realize a large-scale application of sodium-ion batteries.

The effects of sandy water on the W-shaped labyrinth channel of micro-sprinkler irrigation systems with large flowrate were investigated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Using ANSYS FLUENT software and different inflow conditions (e.g., pressure, velocity, sediment concentration, and sand particle diameter), internal turbulent multiphase flow and sand deposition were simulated by the Eulerian multiphase flow model. Particle erosion in the labyrinth channel was calculated by the Discrete Phase Model (DPM). The results show that vortex movements and shear actions at the boundary layer cause self-flushing in the channel. The location of sand particle deposits and the turbulent dissipation rate are related to the operating pressure, which is optimal at 300 kPa. The erosion rate of the channel wall is proportional to the inflow sediment concentration but has no obvious relationship with inflow velocity. Based on the movement regulation of sand particles in the labyrinth channel, recommendations on filtration requirements and operating pressure of irrigation systems are proposed. HIGHLIGHTS Sand deposition in the W-shaped labyrinth channel is simulated with the Eulerian model.; There exists an optimal pressure to control the sands deposit location.; Particle erosion in the channel is simulated with Discrete Phase Model.; Erosion rate of sand particles is proportional to the sediment concentration.;

Aims: Microbial residue deposition is considered an important part of soil carbon sequestration. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the link between tree species composition and diversity and microbial carbon deposition, which hampers the rational selection and allocation of tree species for artificial carbon sequestration afforestation in northern China. Methods: In this study, plots from temperate planting forests (>60 years) were examined for the importance values of tree species, mycorrhizal types, tree diversity, and soil properties. Soil amino sugar was used as the biomarker to indicate the accumulation of fungi- and bacteria-derived carbon. Results: We found that tree species diversity and the importance values of tree species and mycorrhizal types were significantly positively correlated with soil microbial residual carbon. Hierarchical partitioning modeling showed that three groups of variables significantly affected soil microbial residual carbon, accounting for a total of 26.75% of the variation. Among them, tree species diversity accounted for the largest proportion (11.5%), and tree species diversity and importance values had a high joint impact (9.74%). The importance values of all AM-associated species constituted one of the most significant individual factors and could independently account for 10.9% of the variation in microbial residues. The findings of piecewise structural equation modeling showed that the importance of tree species had a large direct impact on GluN, GalN, and the GluN/MurN ratio. By influencing soil properties, the importance values of tree species also had indirect effects on soil microbial residual carbon. Conclusions: We suggest that an increase in the importance values of AM-associated tree species, such as Acer negundo L., will be accompanied by an increase in the total importance value of AM-associated tree species, which can significantly increase soil microbial residual carbon.

Increasing studies have suggested that single reference genome is insufficient to capture all variations in the genome. Here, the authors report a graph-based cucumber pan-genome by analyzing 12 chromosome-scale assemblies and reveal variations associated with agronomic traits and domestication.

Magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs) are promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries due to their safety and high theoretical specific capacity, and the abundance of magnesium reserves. However, their anodes and electrolytes severely restrict the development of MIBs, so alloy-type anodes provide an effective strategy to circumvent the surface passivation issue encountered with Mg metal in conventional electrolytes. Theoretically, a germanium anode can deliver a high specific capacity of 1476 mAh g−1, but hitherto, no experimental reports have described Ge in MIBs. Herein, we experimentally verified that Ge could reversibly react with Mg2+ ions through the design of dual-phase Ge–Bi film electrodes fabricated by magnetron co-sputtering. Notably, a Ge57Bi43 electrode delivered a high specific capacity of 847.5 mAh g−1, owing to the joint alloying reactions of Ge and Bi with Mg, which was much higher than the specific capacity of Bi (around 385 mAh g−1). Moreover, the Ge–Bi anode showed excellent rate performance, good cycling stability, and superior compatibility with conventional electrolytes such as Mg(TFSI)2. More importantly, the Mg storage mechanism of the Ge–Bi anode was unveiled by operando X-ray diffraction, and density functional theory calculations rationalized that the introduction of Bi to form Ge–Bi evidently decreased the defect formation energy and effectively boosted the electrochemical reactivity of Ge with Mg.

IntroductionUnderstanding the sources and the effects of collective teacher efficacy has been one of the central interests to many educational researchers and practitioners, because it is critical to understand how teachers can shape, and are shaped by, the educational processes in schools. Following the social cognitive perspective on the sources and consequences of efficacy beliefs, this study examined how school support influences collective teacher efficacy which in turn affects teachers’ organizational commitment.MethodThe participants included 969 teachers sampled from 28 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. To appropriately address the nature of collective teacher efficacy and school support as school-level variables, the doubly latent multilevel structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the data.ResultsThe results revealed the mediation mechanism played by collective teacher efficacy in explaining the effect of school support on teachers’ organizational commitment.DiscussionSchools are suggested to consider fostering a supportive school environment as a strategy to improve teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs if it is wished to enhance teachers’ commitment to schools.

Spinach is a nutritious leafy vegetable growing worldwide. Here, the authors report a high-quality chromosome-scale reference genome assembly of spinach and genome resequencing of 305 accessions, and provide insights into spinach domestication and the genetic basis of agronomic traits.

Climate warming are supposed to have irreversible effects on the biodiversity and ecosystem functions of grassland. Alpine meadow is the predominant ecosystem in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has attracted much attention because of its sensitivity to global changes. However, there is still no unified understanding of the impact of warming on the relationship between diversity and productivity of alpine meadows. In this study, we conducted multi-gradient warming, used fiberglass open-top chambers (OTCs) to raise the temperature, based on the investigation of community structure and productivity, we evaluated the effect of field simulated warming on the relationship of species diversity-primary productivity. Our result showed that gradient warming reduced species richness, diversity and dominance, inhibited the accumulation of above-ground biomass (AGB) and below-ground biomass (BGB), which was more significant under higher warming (P

Rechargeable Mg ion batteries (MIBs) have aroused great interests, and using alloy-type anodes and conventional electrolytes offers an effective way to develop high energy density Mg battery systems. However, the dealloying-induced nanoporosity evolution of alloy-type anodes during the charging process has received less attention. Herein, using a magnetron-sputtered Mg3Bi2 film as an example, we investigate its electrochemical dealloying and associated structural evolution in an all-phenyl-complex electrolyte by in-situ and ex-situ characterizations. The microstructures and length scales of nanoporous Bi can be facilely regulated by changing electrochemical parameters, and there exists a good linear correlation between the surface diffusivity of Bi and the applied current density/potential scan rate on a logarithm scale. More importantly, the self-supporting nanoporous Bi electrodes deliver satisfactory Mg storage performance and alloy-type anodes show good compatibility with conventional electrolytes. Furthermore, the charging-induced dealloying in MIBs is a general strategy to fabricate nanoporous less noble metals like Sn, Pb, In, Cu, Zn and Al, which shows advantages over chemical dealloying in aqueous solutions. Our findings highlight the significance of nanoporosity evolution of alloy-type anodes during dealloying, and open opportunities for the fabrication of nanoporous reactive metals.

After anthocyanin synthesis, a variety of anthocyanin compounds are produced through further methylation, glycosylation, and acylation. However, the effect of the potato methylase gene on anthocyanin biosynthesis has not been reported. Red and purple mutation types appear in tubers of the potato cultivar ‘Purple Viking’ with chimeric skin phenotypes. In this study, transcriptome and anthocyanin metabolome analyses were performed on skin of Purple Viking tubers and associated mutants. According to the metabolome analysis, the transformation of delphinidin into malvidin-3-O-glucoside and petunidin 3-O-glucoside and that of cyanidin into rosinidin O-hexoside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside were hindered in red tubers. Expression of methyltransferase gene OMT30376 was significantly lower in red tubers than in purple ones, whereas the methylation level of OMT30376 was significantly higher in red tubers. In addition, red skin appeared in tubers from purple tuber plants treated with S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), indicating the difference between purple and red was caused by the methylation degree of the gene OMT30376. Thus, the results of the study suggest that the OMT30376 gene is involved in the transformation of anthocyanins in potato tubers. The results also provide an important reference to reveal the regulatory mechanisms of anthocyanin biosynthesis and transformation.

Summary: Facilitating the mass transfer and enlarging the active surface area are two mutually exclusive demands in porous materials, while structural hierarchy could settle this issue by constructing continuous channels with different length scales. However, it is a great challenge to fabricate porous metallic materials with three or more geometrically similar hierarchy levels. Herein, a novel strategy combining vapor phase dealloying with electrochemical dealloying is proposed to achieve nanoporous gold (NPG) with three-level nested hierarchy (N3PG), in which the length scale covers micron (5866.8 ± 1445.5 nm), submicron (509.9 ± 106.0 nm), and nanometer (20.1 ± 3.0 nm) for each level. Notably, the structural superiority of such material is manifested by its faster charge transfer behaviors, as benchmarked with unimodal and bimodal NPG (N1PG and N2PG). The present strategy is of great potential to fabricate other hierarchically porous metals with enhanced functional and structural properties.

Most research about compartmental models of infection disease often consider the transmission rate as a constant, which is not ideal for the dynamic surveillance of infectious diseases. This study fully utilized continuously updated real-time epidemiological data and proposed a SEAIUHR model incorporating asymptomatic and symptomatic infectiousness, reported and unreported cases, inpatient and non-inpatient cases, and vaccine inoculation. This study proposed a novel approach based on our model to calculate the time-varying transmission rate with an under-report rate, vaccination efficiency, and relaxation of social distancing behavior. The proposed method was evaluated based on epidemiological data from the United States. The results suggest that using this approach to combine epidemiological data can provide a clearer understanding of the spread rule of epidemic, offering data support for subsequent related research.

The Cucurbitaceae family comprises economically valuable vegetables such as cucumber, melon, and pumpkin. GRAS proteins, which are crucial transcription factors, play diverse roles in plant growth and development. However, comparative investigations of GRAS proteins across Cucurbitaceae species are limited. Here, we identified 241 GRAS family genes in six cucurbit crops. The number of GRAS genes in cucumber, melon, wax gourd, watermelon, and bottle gourd ranged from 36 to 37, while the pumpkin genome contained 57 GRAS genes, possibly due to a recent whole-genome duplication. We classified cucurbit GRAS genes into 16 subfamilies and identified species-specific motifs and specific-expression patterns in the SCLB and RAD1 subfamilies. Notably, we identified 38 tissue-specific expressed genes, particularly fruit-specific genes potentially involved in fruit development. Additionally, we predicted the role of GRAS genes in regulating hypocotyl elongation under weak or dark light conditions in cucurbit plants. These findings enhance our understanding of the characteristics, evolution, and potential functions of GRAS genes in six cucurbit crops, providing valuable resources for genetic research in the Cucurbitaceae family as well as important agronomic traits.

Bi-Sb alloys are appealing anode materials for potassium ion batteries (PIBs) but challenged by their enormous volumetric variation during operation. Herein, a facile one-step dealloying protocol was devised and utilized to prepare the Bi-Sb alloys that manifest an exotic bicontinuous hierarchical nanoporous (np) microstructure ideal for volume-change mitigation and K+ transport percolation. The growth mechanism fostering the peculiar morphology of the np-(Bi,Sb) alloys was investigated and clarified via operando X-ray (XRD) and ex-situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In particular, the np-Bi6Sb2 electrode, optimized for comprehensive electrochemical performance, achieves decent reversible capacities and a superior lifespan, as benchmarked with the monometallic references and other Bi-Sb alloy electrodes. The (de)potassiation mechanism of the np-(Bi,Sb) alloys was studied by operando XRD and further rationalized by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, whereby a homogeneous (segregation-free) and robust two-step electrochemically-driven phase transformations’ catenation of (Bi,Sb) ↔ K(Bi,Sb)2 ↔ K3(Bi,Sb) was reliably established to substantiate the outstanding reversibility of the np-(Bi,Sb) anodes in PIBs.

The subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is an important cause of death and long-term disability worldwide. As a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent deacetylase, silent information regulator 1 (Sirt1) is a multipotent molecule involved in many pathophysiological processes. A growing number of studies have demonstrated that Sirt1 activation may exert positive effects on SAHs by regulating inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy, and ferroptosis. Thus, Sirt1 agonists may serve as potential therapeutic drugs for SAHs. In this review, we summarized the current state of our knowledge on the relationship between Sirt1 and SAHs and provided an updated overview of the downstream molecules of Sirt1 in SAHs.

Grassland resources occupy an important place in the national economy. However, grasslands in alpine regions of China are severely degraded, and the effects of land-use types on species composition, soil nutrients, and ecosystem multifunctionality of degraded alpine grasslands are less certain. To ascertain the effects of main land-use types (no-tillage reseeding and fertilization) on species diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine grasslands, we investigated the changes in these factors by subjecting specified areas. Using a standardized field survey, we measured the cover, richness, and evenness of plants. At each site, we measured microbial diversity and twelve soil variables critical for maintaining ecosystem multifunctionality in alpine grasslands. The results showed that: (1) the Margalef, Shannon–Wiener, and Simpson indices of plant community, and fungal diversity indices increased significantly in no-tillage reseeding and fertilization; (2) at the phyla level, the relative abundances of Basidiomycota, Olpidiomycota, and Proteobacteria increased significantly in no-tillage reseeding and fertilization, as well as, at the genus level, those of Coniochaeta, Solirubrobacter, Pseudonocardia, and Microvirga; (3) the soil physicochemical properties (except the C:N of soil) increased significantly in no-tillage reseeding and fertilization; (4) correlation analysis showed that species diversity was mainly correlated with soil nutrients in control check, while it was mainly correlated with soil physical properties in no-tillage reseeding and fertilization; (5) linear regression analysis showed significant positive relationships between Margalef, Shannon–Wiener, and Simpson indices of plant community and ecosystem multifunctionality. In addition, ecosystem multifunctionality was positively related to Pielou, Shannon–Wiener, and Simpson indices of the fungal community and it was positively related to Pielou and Shannon–Wiener indices of bacterial community. These observations indicated that no-tillage reseeding and fertilization of degraded alpine grasslands had the potential to improve ecosystem functions in many ways.

Alloy-type anodes are the most promising candidates for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to their impressive Na storage capacity and suitable voltage platform. However, the implementation of alloy-type anodes is significantly hindered by their huge volume expansion during the alloying/dealloying processes, which leads to their pulverization and detachment from current collectors for active materials and the unsatisfactory cycling performance. In this work, bimetallic Bi−Sb solid solutions in a porous carbon matrix are synthesized by a pyrolysis method as anode material for SIBs. Adjustable alloy composition, the introduction of porous carbon matrix, and nanosized bimetallic particles effectively suppress the volume change during cycling and accelerate the electrons/ions transport kinetics. The optimized Bi1Sb1@C electrode exhibits an excellent electrochemical performance with an ultralong cycle life (167.2 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 over 8000 cycles). In situ X-ray diffraction investigation is conducted to reveal the reversible and synchronous sodium storage pathway of the Bi1Sb1@C electrode: (Bi,Sb) Na(Bi,Sb) Na3(Bi,Sb). Furthermore, online electrochemical mass spectrometry unveils the evolution of gas products of the Bi1Sb1@C electrode during the cell operation.

In this paper, a modified COMSOL Multiphysics model with artificial stability is adopted, and the boundary condition developed in the previous paper are applied to the calculation of the photoionization rate. The main processes involved in air discharge were simulated by 39 plasma chemical reactions composed of 12 kinds of particles. The characteristics of low-temperature sub-atmospheric pressure air discharge under unipolar square wave pulse voltage with 13kV applied amplitude, 25 kHz-50 kHz frequency and a duty cycle of 50%-75% are discussed. The results show that: When the duty cycle increases, the average density of electron, N2+, N4+, O2+, O4+, and N2O2+ show an increasing trend, and the average electron temperature changes little; When the frequency increases, the average electron density, the average density of N4+ and O4+ show a downward trend, the average density of N2+, O2+, N2O2+ change little; The average electron temperature shows an increasing trend, but the duration of high electron temperature becomes shorter. When discussing a single period, it is found that the potential difference between the electrode and the plasma determines the direction of the electric field in the space. For the photoionization reaction, even if its influence on the negative streamer is not important, it still needs to be considered in the simulation. The effect of temperature on discharge is also taken as the research emphasis, it includes the following aspects: Firstly, at low temperature, the collision reaction and attachment reaction rates are increased, while the recombination reaction rate is almost unaffected; Secondly, low temperature results in the decrease of secondary electron emission coefficient, which indirectly increases the electric field gradient and the peak value of electric field; Finally, at low temperature, the mobility of carriers, including electrons, positive and negative ions, is increased, but the streamer velocity is decreased.