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ABSTRACTFollicle development is a vital factor which determines the reproductive performance of poultry. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to maintain animal reproductive function and play key roles in ovarian development and hormone secretion. But the regulatory mechanism of lncRNAs in duck follicle development has seldom been reported. In this study, to better explore the molecular mechanism of follicle development in ducks, the follicular lncRNA was sequenced and analyzed. A total of 9,551 lncRNAs were predicted in the duck follicles. Four hundred and forty-five lncRNAs were differentially expressed between the white follicles and yellow follicles. The results of our studies showed that lnc_13814 promoted cell apoptosis in duck GCs. Furthermore, the bioinformatics analysis results demonstrated that lnc_13814 was involved in a lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA coexpression network and it was observed to sponge two follicle-related miRNAs by a luciferase activity assay. Moreover, we found that overexpression of lnc_13814 significantly increased DNA damage inducible transcript 3 (DDIT3) expression and downregulated GCs apoptosis. Finally, we found that lnc_13814 directly binds to and inhibits apla-mir-145-4; then, lnc_13814 increases the expression of DDIT3 and up-regulates GCs apoptosis. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that lncRNAs have potential effects on duck ovarian follicles and lncRNAs may represent a new approach to understand follicular development.

ABSTRACTFollicles develop into preovulatory follicles during folliculogenesis and the majority of small yellow follicles become atretic and gets reabsorbed. In this study, based the RNA-seq results of duck ovary, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) was selected as a candidate gene in follicular development and the role was explored. The results demonstrated that EGFR-P8 was the quail EGFR core promoter. It had an E2F4 binding site within EGFR core promoter. E2F4 overexpression significantly increased EGFR expression in quail granulosa cells (GCs). However, the effect was abolished when the GCs were treated with corynoxeine, an inhibitor of the mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular regulated protein kinase (MAPK/ERK) signaling pathway. Moreover, luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments showed that E2F4 upregulated the expression of EGFR expression, which increased E2 and P4 production. In addition, EGFR regulated GCs proliferation and affected follicular development. Taken together, our findings suggested that EGFR, which was regulated by E2F4, enhanced the expression of MAPK/ERK pathway components and follicular development. These results provided an important basis for an improved understanding of the MAPK/ERK pathway and new insight into the development of quail follicles.

Perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) with different sizes, which are close to the exciton radius, exhibit a weak quantum confinement effect (QCE) and have a huge potential in the optoelectronic fields. Herein, CsPbBr3NCs with radius of 7.2, 9.1, and 10.7 nm have been synthesized, and their photo-physical properties have been investigated in detail. The carrier decay behavior, involving the monomolecular exciton recombination and biexciton Auger recombination process, is observed in the CsPbBr3NCs, and they are affected by the energy dissipation process related to phonon energy in perovskite NCs, in which the contribution of weak QCE has been analyzed. The spectral characteristics affected by pressure show that the phase transition from cubic phase to orthogonal phase may happen in the CsPbBr3NCs and the corresponding knee point gradually enhances with the weakening of QCE. Moreover, the step effect of photoluminescence (PL) induced by pressure gradually broadens at the knee point as the QCE weakens. In addition, the light wave guiding effect of these CsPbBr3NCs has been analyzed, exhibiting that self-absorption effect and the conventional light-wave-guiding effect can be responsible for the decay of PL at different excitation positions. Our results analyze the carrier decay, energy evolution, and light-wave-guiding properties of CsPbBr3NCs with weak QCE, which broaden the understanding of CsPbBr3NCs and enrich their application in the field of photo-communication.

Experimental evidence shows that temperature‐humidity (θ−q) similarity in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) is reduced as Bowen ratio (β) increases over land. However, underlying physical mechanisms remain not well understood. With large‐eddy simulations, θ−qdissimilarity is investigated in the steady‐state, convective boundary layer (CBL) over homogeneous landscape with varying β. As βincreases from 0.4 to 2.0, the entrainment ratio for θslightly decreases but that for qlargely increases. As a result, local production of humidity variance is substantially enhanced in the upper CBL and transported to the lower CBL by vigorous large eddies, contributing significantly to nonlocal fraction. However, the increased temperature variance in the ASL associated with strong heat flux is larger than that transported from the upper CBL. Such asymmetry in vertical diffusion induced by varying partitioning of surface fluxes strongly regulates θ−qdissimilarity even under perfect conditions valid for Monin‐Obukhov similarity theory. The behavior of potential temperature (θ) and specific humidity (q) in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) is assumed to be similar over homogeneous landscape. However, abundant experimental evidence shows that such assumption of θ−qsimilarity is not satisfied as evaporation decreases (i.e., increased Bowen ratio, β). In order to understand the intrinsic physical mechanism, we investigate θ−qsimilarity in the steady‐state convective boundary layer (CBL) using the high‐resolution model and analyze the results in various βcases. We confirm that θ−qsimilarity is reduced across the CBL with increasing or decreasing βfrom 0.4, with the lowest similarity appearing in the middle or upper CBL. The disproportional variations of σθ2and σq2associated with asymmetric contributions by top‐down and bottom‐up transport of θand qunder varying βconditions explain the θ−qdissimilarity in the CBL. The results suggest that varying degrees of validity of similarity assumption with changes in βshould be noted in applying Monin‐Obukhov similarity theory and interpreting eddy covariance data even over homogenous landscapes and highlight the influence of the CBL processes on the ASL turbulence structures. Temperature‐humidity (θ−q) similarity varies with Bowen ratio (β) in the convective boundary layer (CBL) over homogeneous surfaceθ−qdissimilarity with varying βis mostly linked to the large‐scale eddiesDisproportional variations of σθ2and σq2by asymmetric top‐down and bottom‐up transport of θand qexplain the dissimilarity with varying β Temperature‐humidity (θ−q) similarity varies with Bowen ratio (β) in the convective boundary layer (CBL) over homogeneous surface θ−qdissimilarity with varying βis mostly linked to the large‐scale eddies Disproportional variations of σθ2and σq2by asymmetric top‐down and bottom‐up transport of θand qexplain the dissimilarity with varying β

Interactions between proteinaceous matter and atmospheric oxidants can affect amino acids (AAs) bioavailability, the climate, and human health. However, atmospheric reactions of proteinaceous matter remain poorly understood. PM2.5 samples were collected during spring (2019) and winter (2020) sampling campaigns conducted in Nanchang, China. Concentrations of combined and free AAs, and the δ15N values of combined and free glycine (C‐Gly and F‐Gly) in PM2.5 samples were analyzed. Concentrations of TFAA under different O3and NO2levels, and correlations of specific FAA species with ambient O3and NO2concentrations suggest that the ability of O3to release TFAA from proteinaceous matter is greater than that of NO2. Furthermore, O3may trend to release neutral and hydrophilic FAA species, whereas NO2tends to generate hydrophobic FAA species. With aerosol aging, the slope of the fitted line between [TFAA] and [TSAA] [O3+ NO2] increased, indicating that FAAs yield from protein degradation in PM2.5 was affected greatly by aerosol aging. The TCAAs concentration observed in spring was substantially higher than that in winter. Moreover, the δ15NF‐Glyand δ15NC‐Glyvalues in PM2.5 exhibited negative correlations with atmospheric O3concentration. These results suggest that increased levels of proteinaceous matter in spring were derived from natural sources related to biological activities rather than biomass burning sources. Our study confirms that the reaction of degradation of proteinaceous matter to FAAs could be influenced by aerosol aging, which is a finding that enhances current understanding regarding atmospheric processes of aerosol proteinaceous matter under different ambient O3and NO2levels. Ability of O3to release TFAA from proteinaceous matter is greater than that of NO2O3might trend to release neutral and hydrophilic free amino acids (FAA) species, whereas NO2tends to generate hydrophobic FAA speciesYield of FAAs from the degradation of protein in PM2.5 samples was affected greatly by the degree of aerosol aging Ability of O3to release TFAA from proteinaceous matter is greater than that of NO2 O3might trend to release neutral and hydrophilic free amino acids (FAA) species, whereas NO2tends to generate hydrophobic FAA species Yield of FAAs from the degradation of protein in PM2.5 samples was affected greatly by the degree of aerosol aging

The distribution of aerosols and their impacts on chlorophyll‐a(Chl‐a) distribution were studied in the South China Sea (SCS). Seventeen years of aerosol optical depth (AOD) data, Chl‐aconcentration data, wind speed (WS), and sea surface temperature (SST) from satellite observations were employed along with 2 years of in situ aerosol total suspended particulates (TSP), total nitrogen, NO3−, and NH4+data in this study. The results showed that under the influence of the Asian monsoon, the AOD values were higher during the winter (>0.12) and lower during the summer (<0.09). Higher aerosol levels were strongly associated with stronger wind conditions (r= 0.70 [AOD vs. WS]; r= 0.67 [TSP vs. WS]). This study also revealed that Chl‐aconcentrations were strongly modulated by aerosol deposition in SCS. Multiple correlation analyses between monthly Chl‐aand environmental conditions (i.e., AOD, SST, and WS) in the SCS showed that the Chl‐awere highly correlated with AOD (r= 0.31) and WS (r= 0.47). The higher partial correlation coefficients of Chl‐awith AOD and WS suggested that WS played the most important role, followed by AOD. Aerosol deposition was therefore a main factor besides wind that determined the availability of nutrients at the surface ocean in the SCS, modulating the distribution of Chl‐a. The contribution of nutrients (i.e., NO3−and NH4+) from aerosol dry and wet deposition to new production in the SCS accounted for approximately 10.32% to 28.87%. Satellite‐derived aerosol and chlorophyll‐apresent strong seasonal variations in the South China SeaIn situ aerosol deposition matched well with the satellite aerosol optical depthChlorophyll‐aconcentration was strongly modulated by the aerosol deposition in the South China Sea

In the development of autonomous driving, decision-making has become one of the technical difficulties. Traditional rule-based decision-making methods lack adaptive capacity when dealing with unfamiliar and complex traffic conditions. However, reinforcement learning shows the potential to solve sequential decision problems. In this article, an independent decision-making method based on reinforcement Q-learning is proposed. First, a Markov decision process model is established by analysis of car-following. Then, the state set and action set are designed by the synthesized consideration of driving simulator experimental results and driving risk principles. Furthermore, the reinforcement Q-learning algorithm is developed mainly based on the reward function and update function. Finally, the feasibility is verified through random simulation tests, and the improvement is made by comparative analysis with a traditional method.