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Quantitative classification and ordination are instrumental in improving our understanding of plant community patterns and facilitating effective conservation efforts in national mountain ecosystems worldwide. However, there has been a lack of relevant research focused on arid and semi-arid mountain ecosystems. This study aims to address this gap by investigating the Ningxia Helan Mountain National Nature Reserve (located in Northwest China). We conducted a comprehensive study on the patterns of plant communities and their association with environmental factors across a broad elevation range from 1200 m a.s.l. to 2600 m a.s.l. Our findings revealed the presence of 121 angiosperm species across 41 families, with vegetation classified into six distinct groups through two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) along the elevational gradient. Notably, the communities of Ulmus, Prunus, and Stipa in the middle elevation range exhibited the highest Shannon–Wiener (SW) and Simpson (SN) diversity indices, and these indices followed a single-peak pattern with increasing elevation. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) further revealed six distinct yet interrelated plant communities, revealing elevation (ELE) and the biological aridity index (BK) as the most influential environmental factors influencing plant communities' distribution. This understanding is critically important for biodiversity conservation and the management of ecosystems in arid and semi-arid mountain ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endophytic fungi can be used as a source of herbal antioxidants to overcome the limitations of low yield and lengthy growth cycles associated with using plants as raw materials for antioxidant production. Papaya fruit is often susceptible to infection by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides after harvest, leading to postharvest rot. Endophytic fungi were extracted with ethyl acetate, and the initial screening concentration was 100 mg/L. Seven strains were identified, with scavenging rates exceeding 50% and strong antioxidant activity. The IC50 values in DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging assays ranged from 19.72 to 84.06 mg/L and from 14.34 to 64.63 mg/L, respectively. Strain Y17 exhibited robust antioxidant activity (IC50 < 20 mg/L) and was identified as Penicillium rolfsii (MT729953) through ITS sequencing. Treatment of papaya fruit wounds with a fermentation broth of strain Y17 significantly inhibited the infection and colonization of anthracnose pathogens, resulting in a slowed disease incidence rate. This promoted the activity of protective enzymes, such as CAT, POD, and SOD, in the papaya fruit and slowed down the rate of MDA accumulation. This strain, which was found to have antioxidant activity in this study, has the potential to control anthracnose in papaya and has value in terms of further development and utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid the escalating global demand for raw materials, the gradual exhaustion of terrestrial mineral resources, and the rise in extraction costs and energy consumption, the development of deep-sea mineral resources has become a focal point of international interest. The pipeline lifting mining system, distinguished by its superior mining efficiency and minimized environmental impact, now accounts for over 50% of the total energy consumption in mining operations. Serving as the "heart" of this system, the deep-sea lifting pump's comprehensive performance (high pressure tolerance, non-clogging features, elevated lift capacity, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and high reliability, etc.), is critical to transport efficiency, operational stability, and lifespan of the mining system. As a mixed transport pump for solid and liquid media under extreme conditions, its internal flow structure is exceedingly complex, incorporating gas–liquid–solid multiphase flow. A precise understanding of its internal flow mechanisms is essential for breaking through the design limitations of deep-sea lifting pumps and enhancing their operational stability and reliability under various working conditions and multiphase media, thereby providing technical support for advancing global marine resource development and offshore equipment upgrades. This paper comprehensively reviews the design theory, optimization methods, numerical simulations, and experimental studies of deep-sea lifting pumps. It discusses the application of various design optimization techniques in hydraulic lifting pumps, details the multiphase flow numerical algorithms commonly used in deep-sea lifting pumps along with their modified models, and summarizes some experimental methodologies in this field. Lastly, it outlines the forthcoming challenges in deep-sea lifting pump research and proposes potential directions to promote the commercial development of deep-sea mining, thereby offering theoretical and engineering support for the development of deep-sea mining slurry pumps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates covert communication in multi-sensor systems employing Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs). Different from previous works, we focus on optimizing transmission amplitudes and phase angles for a 2-BPSK codebook in the presence of asymmetric noise over complex Gaussian channels. We adopt KL divergence as a covertness constraint and mutual information as a metric for transmission rate. We employ Taylor series expansion to approximate KL divergence and mutual information. Leveraging these approximations, we derive optimal phase angles through a proposed gradient descent algorithm. The numerical simulations validate the effectiveness and precision of our Taylor approximation method. Through validation in different scenarios, our algorithm demonstrates robust convergence, deriving all optimal phase angles. Comparing initial phase angles from prior works to those obtained via our algorithm, we observe a higher covert transmission rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an energy harvesting device, the newly emerged thermocell has attracted great interest. However, it requires an additional energy storage device to complete a functional recycling system. As the core part of energy harvesting and storage devices, the design of electrodes with both high thermoelectric and electrochemical conversion efficiencies is particularly important. Herein, a high‐performance thermocell and supercapacitor device are constructed by employing the same mix‐phase MoSe2‐NiSe/NF electrode for both energy harvesting and storage. The thermocell exhibits an enhanced Seebeck coefficient of −1.69 mV K−1 and a superior output of 0.58 mW m−2 K−2 for low‐grade heat harvesting. Meanwhile, the supercapacitor device shows a great energy density of 54 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 806 W kg−1 and excellent cycling stability with a 92.8% retention rate after 50 000 cycles. This work offers a universal approach for the rational design of synergistic electrode materials to simultaneously achieve high‐energy harvesting and storage devices and lays a foundation for the recycling system of thermoelectric harvesting, conversion, and storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]