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To increase the production of Grifola frondosa polysaccharides (GFPs), a hydrogen peroxide/ascorbic acid (H2O2/Vc)-assisted extraction method was established. The extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology. Purification of the crude GFP by DEAE-52 and Sephadex G100 column chromatography yielded three fractions, GFP0, GFP1, and GFP3. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed that these GFPs mainly consisted of mannose, glucose, galactose and l-fucose, together with a low proportion of xylose, glucuronic acid and ribose. Chemical antioxidant assays indicated that these GFPs possessed considerable reducing power and radical (DPPH·, HO· and ABTS·+) scavenging ability. They were also observed to availably protect RAW264.7 cells from H2O2-induced oxidative stress, reduce intracellular ROS and MDA levels, and increase intracellular SOD and CAT activities. These GFPs were able to up-regulate the mRNA expression of SOD1, CAT, HO-1 and Nrf2, indicating that regulation of antioxidant enzymes and Nrf2 signaling pathway could be their important antioxidant mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic facial expression recognition is important for human–computer interaction. Learning the temporal dynamic representation of facial expressions and exploring the complementary information between features of different views (e.g., anatomy-based views and neural network-based views) are two main challenges. In this paper, we first propose an adaptive graph attention (AGAT) network for temporal dynamic modeling. Specifically, a non-fully connected graph with a GLOBAL node is constructed to model local and global temporal dynamics simultaneously. The graph attention mechanism is adopted to learn an adaptive graph structure and dynamically attend to salient moments of facial expressions. For multi-view dynamic facial expression recognition, we propose a cross-view attention (CVA) module to mutually enhance the features of different views through channel attention at each moment. Based on the CVA module, we extend the AGAT network to a cross-view adaptive graph attention (CV-AGAT) network to simultaneously model the temporal dynamics of the mutually enhanced features for robust dynamic facial expression recognition. Extensive experiments on two dynamic facial expression recognition datasets demonstrate that the proposed AGAT and CV-AGAT networks achieve state-of-the-art results. The ablation study and visualization analysis further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glaucoma is a group of diseases characterized by the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and progressive, irreversible vision loss. High intraocular pressure (IOP) heightens the likelihood of glaucoma and correlates with RGC loss. While the current glaucoma therapy prioritizes lower the IOP; however, RGC, and visual loss may persist even when the IOP is well-controlled. As such, discovering and creating IOP-independent neuroprotective strategies for safeguard RGCs is crucial for glaucoma management. Investigating and clarifying the mechanism behind RGC death to counteract its effects is a promising direction for glaucoma control. Empirical studies of glaucoma reveal the role of multiple regulated cell death (RCD) pathways in RGC death. This review delineates the RCD of RGCs following IOP elevation and optic nerve damage and discusses the substantial benefits of mitigating RCD in RGCs in preserving visual function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the challenge of reproducing the continuous casting (CC) steel in the laboratory, we developed a novel physical simulator to simulate the solidification process of CC slab. One characteristic physical simulation (PS) sample was obtained from the physical simulator, whose cooling intensity was controlled by cooling water to simulate the heat transfer of the CC slab. The simulation accuracy and reliability were verified by comparing the similarities of surface heat flux and solidification structure between the PS sample and the CC slab. The results demonstrate that the PS sample could accurately reproduce the heat transfer and solidification process of the CC slab. In the mold cooling stage, a similar air gap rapidly formed on both the PS sample and CC slab surface, leading to a similarly sharp reduction in the heat flux. In the stage corresponding to secondary cooling zone, the heat transfer on the PS sample surface via a thickening air gap was also basically similar to that on the CC slab surface through a vapor film, resulting in a similarly slow decrease in the heat flux. Additionally, the PS sample has similar solidification structure characteristics with the CC slab due to heat transfer similarity. Particularly, the crystal zone proportion, columnar to equiaxed transition position, and variation trends of dendrite arm spacing and Mo segregation in both were almost identical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational overexposure to manganese (Mn) produces Parkinson's disease-like manganism. Acute Mn intoxication in rats causes dopaminergic neuron loss, impairment of motor activity and reduction of the expression of Park2/Parkin. The expression of Park2/Parkin is also reduced. Whether these changes are reversible after cessation of Mn exposure is unknown, and is the goal of this investigation. Adult male rats were injected with Mn2+ at doses 1 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg in the form of MnCl2·4H2O, every other day for one-month to produce acute Mn neurotoxicity. For a half of rats Mn exposure was suspended for recovery for up to 5 months. Mn neurotoxicity was evaluated by the accumulation of Mn in blood and brain, behavioral activities, dopaminergic neuron loss, and the expression of Park2/Parkin in the blood cells and brain. Dose-dependent Mn neurotoxicity in rats was evidenced by Mn accumulation, rotarod impairments, reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons in the substantia nigra, decreased level of Park2 mRNA in the blood and brain, and decreased Parkin protein in the brain. After cessation of Mn exposure, the amount of Park2 mRNA in the blood started to increase one month after the recovery. After 5-month of recovery, blood and brain Mn returned to normal, rotarod activity recovered, the reduction of TH-positive dopaminergic neurons ameliorated, and the level of Park2 mRNA in the blood and Park2/Parkin in the midbrain and striatum were returned to the normal. Mn neurotoxicity in rats is reversible after cessation of Mn exposure. The level of Park2 mRNA in the blood could be used as a novel biomarker for Mn exposure and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper sulfide (CuxS) as a plasmonic solar photothermal semiconductor material that expands the light collection range by altering localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) to the near- to mid- infrared (IR) spectral region. The versatile synthesis strategies of CuxS nanostructure offer its variability of morphology and provide additional freedom in tuning the optical property. Particularly, nanocage (or nanoshell) has hybridized plasmon resonances as a result of super-positioned nanosphere and nanocavity, which extends its receiving range of solar spectrum and increases light-to-heat conversion rate. Here, we offer novel "nanoink" and "nanofilm" developed from colloidal Cu27S24 nanocages with excellent solar photothermal response. Via combining experimental measurement and theoretical calculation, we estimated the optical properties of covellite Cu27S24. And based on obtained dielectric functions, we then calculated its solar photothermal performance, which was further validated by our experimental measurement. The simulation results showed that hollow Cu27S24 nanocages have excellent solar photothermal performance, and exhibit much higher solar photothermal conversion efficiency than solid Cu27S24 nanospheres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guidelines suggest using a regurgitant fraction of 50% and regurgitant volume of 60 ml for determination of severe mitral insufficiency. Recent MRI data has suggested that a regurgitant fraction of 40% defines severe primary mitral insufficiency. We sought to determine whether there were gender differences in primary mitral regurgitant volumes for regurgitant fractions of 40% and 50%. A database search identified 394 patients that had MRI with a mitral regurgitant volume ≥ 10 ml or a study indication of mitral insufficiency. Chart review identified 97 patients with primary mitral insufficiency. Of these patients, 53 (54%) were women. Men had significantly larger left ventricular volumes, myocardial mass, stroke volumes and mitral regurgitant volumes (37 ± 25 ml vs. 24 ± 12 ml). The difference in regurgitant fraction between genders was not significant (27 ± 14% vs. 24 ± 11%; p-value = 0.24). Regurgitant fraction and regurgitant volume had a strong linear correlation in both men (r =.95) and women (r =.92). Despite similar linear correlations, the slope-intercept equations differed significantly between men and women (p <.001). A regurgitant fraction of 40% correlated with a regurgitant volume of 59 ml in men and 39.5 ml in women, while a regurgitant fraction of 50% correlated with a regurgitant volume of 76.2 ml in men and 49.6 ml in women. Regurgitant fraction, determined by cardiac MRI, provides a gender independent assessment of primary mitral insufficiency, and suggests that regurgitant volume thresholds for severe primary mitral insufficiency may be lower in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometriosis is a common gynecological disease associated with infertility, and it represents an economic burden worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying endometriosis development have not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we aimed to identify reliable key genes and the related regulatory network that may be involved in endometriosis. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified through integrated analysis of four expression datasets of endometriosis from Gene Expression Omnibus. Gene functional analysis and protein–protein interaction network construction were performed to reveal the potential function of DEGs. Subsequently, candidate hub genes were defined and validated in GSE105764 dataset, and the associated regulatory networks were constructed. Additionally, GSE120103 dataset was applied to identify the differential expression between the infertile and fertile groups of patients with stage IV endometriosis. Finally, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis was performed to identify the differential expression of hub genes in the collected clinical specimens. Robust rank aggregation integrated analysis determined 158 DEGs. Epithelial cell differentiation was the most significantly enriched biological process, and leukocyte transendothelial migration was the most significantly enriched pathway. Eight hub genes including CLDN3, CLDN5, CLDN7, CLDN11, HOXC8, HOXC6, HOXB6, and HOXB7 were identified, and most of these were validated as abnormally expressed genes in both the infertile group and patients with endometriosis. Transcriptional factors and microRNAs related to these genes were identified. Altogether, our integrated analysis identified critical gene signatures, involved pathways, and regulatory networks, which could provide clinically significant insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying endometriosis and its related infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The para-Blaschke tensor are extended in this paper from hypersurfaces to general higher codimensional submanifolds in the unit sphere S n , which is invariant under the Möbius transformations on S n . Then some typical new examples of umbilic-free submanifolds in S n with vanishing Möbius form and a parallel para-Blaschke tensor of two distinct eigenvalues, D1 and D2, are constructed. The main theorem of this paper is a simple characterization of these newly found examples in terms of the eigenvalues D1 and D2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total content of Al and Ti in advanced Ni-based wrought superalloys is up to 7.5wt.%, which makes it easier to form harmful nonequilibrium eutectic (γ+γ′) and η phase. It has been reported that the addition of certain amount of Zr can modify precipitation of the nonequilibrium phases obviously, but the mechanism is still controversial. The effect of Zr ranging from <0.0006wt.% to 0.150wt.% on solidification behavior, segregation and microstructure of a Ni-based superalloy with high Al and Ti contents was investigated, eliminating the interferences of C and B. Results show that increase in Zr content significantly promotes the formation of eutectic (γ+γ′), η and Zr-rich phase in the interdendritic region. Besides the Zr-rich phase, Zr dissolves slightly in the eutectic γ′ and obviously in the η phase. An interesting phenomenon is discovered that the Zr addition significantly increases the area fraction of liquid pools and enlarges the forming range of γ dendrites, which suggests that Zr markedly retards the solidification. Zr affects the eutectic (γ+γ′) and η formation mainly due to the retard of solidification and dissolution of Zr in them. The retard of solidification obviously increases the residual liquid fraction and undercooling. Zr can serve as a forming element for the eutectic (γ+γ′) and η phase, and the obvious dissolution of Zr in η phase significantly decreases the critical concentration of Ti for its precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-alloyed superalloy U720Li is difficult to be processed through the conventional cast and wrought route. Boron is an important strengthening element for superalloys, but the role of boron in the hot ductility of U720Li alloy is not clear. This study is focused on the effect of boron addition, in the range of < 0.0005 wt%–0.0240 wt%, on the microstructure and hot ductility behavior of superalloy U720Li. It is found that boron addition significantly increases the content of eutectic (γ + γ′) and greatly affects the degree of continuity of the grain boundary eutectic (γ + γ′) precipitation. Boron addition dramatically worsens the 1100 °C tensile ductility of conventional cast U720Li alloy and causes a change in tensile fracture mode from transgranular to intergranular. The eutectic (γ + γ′) represents the most effective site for crack initiation. Boron deteriorates the hot ductility mainly by promoting the continuous precipitation of eutectic (γ + γ′) along the grain boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) controls the fate of a variety of nutrients and trace metals in river estuary systems. The aim of our study is to explore the sources, structure characteristics of sediment DOM, and potential ecological release risk (heavy metal, N and P) under the environmental conditions of Dagu River estuary. The relative contribution of DOM source was calculated by carbon stable isotope (combining δ13CDOM and C/N ratios). The structural characteristics of sediment DOM in Dagu River estuary were determined by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy. The potential ecological risks of heavy metals and N and P release were also assessed. Results show that the relative contributions of rural area and aquaculture are high in Dagu River estuary. The humification degree of DOM in downstream river is higher than that in the estuary, and the sediment DOM in Dagu River estuary is influenced by both terrestrial input and biological metabolism. The potential risk of eutrophication in the estuary is high. Moreover, under the effect of aquaculture and rural area, there is higher potential ecological release risk of heavy metal in the estuary. And samples in the middle transect have the highest potential ecological risks of heavy metal. Therefore, a framework has been proposed to predict the ecological status of the estuary by analyzing the sources, content, and structural characteristics of sediment DOM. These results provide a new insight on ecological indication of DOM in Dagu River estuary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subacute exposure to manganese (Mn) produced Parkinson's disease-like syndrome called Manganism. Chronic onset and progression are characteristics of Manganism, therefore, this study aimed to examine Mn toxicity following chronic exposures. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected Mn2+ 1 and 5 mg/kg, every 10 days for 150 days (15 injections). Animal body weight and behavioral activities were recorded. At the end of experiments, the brain and liver were collected for morphological and molecular analysis. Chronic Mn exposure did not affect animal body weight gain, but the high dose of Mn treatment caused 20% mortality after 140 days of administration. Motor activity deficits were observed in a dose-dependent manner at 148 days of Mn administration. Immunofluorescence double staining of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) revealed the activation of microglia and loss of dopaminergic neurons. The chronic neuroinflammation mediators TNFα, inflammasome Nlrp3, Fc fragment of IgG receptor IIb, and formyl peptide receptor-1 were increased, implicating chronic Mn-induced neuroinflammation. Chronic Mn exposure also produced liver injury, as evidenced by hepatocyte degeneration with pink, condensed nuclei, indicative of apoptotic lesions. The inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL-1β, and IL-6 were increased, alone with stress-related genes heme oxygenase-1, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase-1 and metallothionein. Hepatic transporters, such as multidrug resistant proteins (Abcc1, Abcc2, and Abcc3) and solute carrier family proteins (Slc30a1, Slc39a8 and Slc39a14) were increased in attempt to eliminate Mn from the liver. In summary, chronic Mn exposure produced neuroinflammation and dopaminergic neuron loss in the brain, but also produced inflammation to the liver, with upregulation of hepatic transporters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the primary carbides precipitation in H13 steel solidified at relatively high cooling rates, ranging from 300 to 6,000 °C·min-1, based on in situ observations with a high temperature confocal laser scanning microscope. In the cooling rate range investigated, the solidification microstructure becomes more refined as cooling rate increases and the relationship between the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS), X2, and cooling rate. T, can be expressed as X2=128.45. T -0.124. Regardless of cooling rates, two kinds of primary carbides, i.e., the Mo-Cr-rich and V-rich carbides, are precipitated along the interdendritic region and most of them are the Mo-Cr-rich carbides. The morphology of Mo-Cr-rich carbide is not obviously influenced by the cooling rate, but that of V-rich carbide is obviously affected. The increasing cooling rate markedly refines the primary carbides and reduces their volume fractions, but their precipitations cannot be inhibited even when the cooling rate is increased to 6,000 °C·min-1. Besides, the segregation ratios (SRs) of the carbides forming elements are not obviously affected by the cooling rate. However, compared with the conventionally cast ingot, the SDAS and primary carbides in the steel solidified at the investigated cooling rates are much finer, morphologies of the carbides have changed significantly, and SRs of the carbides forming elements are markedly greater. The variation of primary carbide characteristics with cooling rate is mainly due to the change in SDAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Avicennia marina is a pioneer mangrove species widely distributed along the southeast coast of China. It suffers, especially in the seedling stage, from the tidal flooding and anaerobic surroundings as it closes to the seaward side. The aim of this study is to assess the ability of A. marina seedlings to withstand different tidal inundations by physiological and proteomic approaches. Methods: To accomplish this, the artificial tidal inundations were mimicked as 0, 4, and 8 h per tidal cycle about 1 week. The physiological approaches and two-dimensional electrophoresis coupled with MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS technology were used to reveal the adaptive alterations of A. marina seedlings to tidal inundation. Results: There were profound changes in photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics of A. marina seedling leaves under inundation treatment. Particularly, photosynthetic rate increased at 4 h inundation, while decreasing at 8 h inundation treatment compared with control (0 h). The results highlighted that A. marina seedlings could greatly upregulate the abundances of photosynthesis-related proteins, activate antioxidant and defense systems to efficiently suppress the reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst and cell damages, mobilize carbohydrate metabolism associated proteins, and then maintain cellular homeostasis, resulting in well adaptation to short-term tidal inundation. Conclusion: Overall, our results demonstrated that short-term inundation is beneficial, while long-term inundation is detrimental to A. marina. The results allow us to recognize the roles of specific proteins in molecular tolerance to tidal inundation in mangrove plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spherically constrained optimization, which minimizes an objective function on a unit sphere, has wide applications in numerical multilinear algebra, signal processing, solid mechanics, etc. In this paper, we consider a certain case that the derivatives of the objective function are unavailable. This case arises frequently in computational science, chemistry, physics, and other enormous areas. To explore the spherical structure of the above problem, we apply the Cayley transform to preserve iterates on the sphere and propose a derivative-free algorithm, which employs a simple model-based trust-region framework. Under mild conditions, global convergence of the proposed algorithm is established. Preliminary numerical experiments illustrate the promising performances of our algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Calcium oxalate (CaOx) is a common biomineral found in the plant kingdom. Crystals of CaOx occur in different plant tissues, such as leaves and stems. However, little is known about the biosynthesis of CaOx in oxalate-accumulating plants. Moreover, the literature on genes related to CaOx formation under high-calcium environment is scarce. In the present study, the physiological parameters and the transcript profiles of Medicago lupulina leaves treated with 0.1 and 25 mM Ca2+ were analyzed to study the genes involved in the biosynthesis of CaOx. Results: We demonstrated that exposure to high external calcium concentration induced H2O2 production, ascorbic acid degradation, and CaOx accumulation in M. lupulina leaves. Moreover, we identified 1715 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (1322 up-regulated and 393 down-regulated genes) in leaves treated with 25 mM Ca2+ compared with the leaves treated with 0.1 mM Ca2+. We further demonstrated the involvement of DEGs in oxalic acid production, calcium transport, and calcium buffering. These results revealed that a high calcium promoted oxalic acid biosynthesis by inducing the expression of NADPH oxidase and ascorbate oxidase genes. In addition, several genes encoding cyclic nucleotide-gated channel, Ca2+-ATPase, H+/Ca2+ exchangers, and calcium-binding proteins were found to be differentially expressed and involved in calcium transport and calcium buffering. Conclusion: Our transcriptome analyses provide a comprehensive insight into the biosynthesis of CaOx in oxalate-accumulating plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this study is to identify calcium dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) superfamily genes (including calcium dependent protein kinase (CDPK) genes, CDPK-related kinase (CRK) genes, and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase kinase-related kinase (PEPRK) genes) and to analyze their expression in response to high calcium, bicarbonate, and water deficit in Medicago lupulina. Methods: Transcriptome sequencing databases and bioinformatics were used to identify CDPK superfamily genes. qRT-PCR analyses were used to study the expression of CDPK superfamily genes in response to high calcium, bicarbonate, water deficit, and their combined treatments. Results: Ten MlCDPKs, four MlCRKs, and two MlPEPRKs genes were identified from transcriptome sequencing databases. The identified MlCDPK superfamily genes could be divided into six subgroups including CDPK I, CDPK II, CDPK III, CDPK IV, CRK, and PEPRK according to evolutionary relationships. Analysis of protein structure indicated that MlCDPK proteins contained a protein kinase domain and EF-hand domain. However, PEPRKs contained only a protein kinase domain while CRKs contained also degenerative EF-hands. Most of the MlCDPK superfamily genes were differentially expressed in different organs. According to their expression levels, MlCDPK superfamily genes such as MlCDPK1, MlCDPK9, and MlCDPK10 were more sensitive in response to individual treatments of high calcium, carbonate or PEG rather than their combination of treatments. The results indicated that MlCDPK superfamily genes may play an important role in response to those stresses. Conclusions: These results provide important insight into the role of CDPKs in M. lupulina, especially in the tolerance to Karst habitats, where high calcium and carbonate and drought conditions are the dominant ecological limiting factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to explore the effects of Spartina alterniflora invasion on the contents and structure of soil dissolved organic matter (DOM, including dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP), and dissolved organic sulphur (DOS)) in the Yanghe estuary, by the aid of ultraviolet-visible spectrum, three-dimensional fluorescence spectrum, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Soil samples were collected at 0–60 cm depths in different invasion years (0, 1, 5, and 8). The results showed that the DOC increased gradually with the increase of invasion time of S.alterniflora; whereas the contents of DON and DOP decreased. In the vertical section, all the DOM showed a decreasing trend with the increase of the soil profile except the DOC content in SAF-5 and SAF-8 plots (The SAF-5 and SAF-8 represent for the invasion time of 5 years and 8 years). The spectral analysis showed that the macromolecules of DOM increased after the invasion. The molecular weight and number of molecules of DOM changed after invasion. The changes were mainly concentrated in refractory macromolecules. S.alterniflora had a significant effect on the number of structural units and functional groups of soil DOM. The intensity of functional group peaks became stronger, and aromatic, aliphatic, and carbohydrate substances increased. In addition, the quantity and quality of soil DOM input by S.alternifolia strongly affect the complexity of DOM chemical structure. With the increase of invasion time, the degree of humification increases and the structure of DOM tends to be more complex. The findings of this study indicate that the invasion of S.alternifolia would enhance DOM owing to greater amount of biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecological vulnerability analysis (EVA) is vital for ecological protection, restoration, and management of wetland-type national parks. In this study, we assessed the ecological vulnerability of Beidagang National Park based upon remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies. To quantify the ecological vulnerability, 10 indices were collected by the 'exposure-sensitivity-adaptive capacity' model and spatial principal component analysis (SPCA) was then applied to calculate the ecological vulnerability degree (EVD). Based on the numerical values, EVD of the study area was classified into five levels: moderate, light, medium, strong, and extreme. Results showed that the average EVD value was approximately 0.39, indicating overall good ecological vulnerability in Beidagang National Park. To be specific, 80.42% of the whole area was assigned to a moderate level of EVD with the highest being the tourism developed areas and the lowest being the reservoirs and offshore areas. Ecological vulnerability of the region was determined to be affected by the natural environment and anthropogenic disturbance jointly. The primary factors included tourism disturbance, traffic interference, exotic species invasion, land use/land cover, and soil salinization. We expected to provide some insights of the sustainable development of Beidagang National Park and would like to extend the results to other wetland-type national parks in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Faced with the increasing threat from seawater intrusion, it is of great importance to explore the effect of the increase of water and salt on the coastal wetland soil quality. A simulation experiment was designed in this study to identify the impact of water and salt on soil quality in the coastal wetland of Jiaozhou Bay, China. Materials and methods: Three soil quality indices were applied to investigate the influence of different water and salt conditions on soil quality. Every index was computed by applying the total data set (TDS) and minimum data set (MDS) methods. The TDS included nine soil quality properties determined in 96 samples including pH, bulk density (BD), total organic matter (TOM), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N), available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), sucrase activity (SA), urease activity (UA), and alkaline phosphatase activity (APA). Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to selected indicators for MDS. Results and discussion: Soil quality decreased with the increase of salt content, and it increased first and then decreased with the increased water content. The soil samples with 60% water content had the lowest quality. Meanwhile, the nutrient indicators and enzyme activity in these soil samples were also lower than those in the other water gradients. The results of soil quality classification showed that the soil quality was mostly reckoned as moderate quality (grade III) and below and only a fraction of these samples was grade I based on all indices. Conclusions: The results showed that too much water and salt in soil can decrease soil quality, and the effect of water was more obvious than salt. The results of match and kappa statistical analyses indicated that soil quality estimated by the weighted additive soil quality index was more accurate than those estimated by the additive soil quality index and Nemoro soil quality index. Besides, the agreement values of TDS were higher than those of MDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is an important component for both carbon cycle and energy balance. The concentration, UV absorbance, and export flux of DOC in the natural environment dominate many important transport processes. To better understand the temporal and spatial variation of DOC, 7 sites along the Lower Dagu River were chosen to conduct a comprehensive measurement from March 2013 to February 2014. Specifically, water samples were collected from the Lower Dagu River between the 26th and 29th of every month during the experimental period. The DOC concentration (C) and UV absorbance were analyzed using a total organic carbon analyzer and the ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrum, and the DOC export flux was estimated with a simple empirical model. The results showed that the C of the Lower Dagu River varied from 1.32 to 12.56 mg/L, consistent with global rivers. The C and UV absorbance showed significant spatial variation in the Dagu River during the experiential period because of the upstream natural processes and human activities in the watershed. The spatial variation is mainly due to dam or reservoir constructions, riverside ecological environment changes, and non-point source or wastewater discharge. The seasonal variation of C was mainly related to the source of water DOC, river runoff, and temperature, and the UV absorbance and humification degree of DOC had no obvious differences among months ( P<0.05). UV absorbance was applied to test the C in Lower Dagu River using wave lengths of 254 and 280 nm. The results revealed that the annual DOC export flux varied from 1.6 to 3.76 × 10 g C/km/yr in a complete hydrological year, significantly lower than the global average. It is worth mentioning that the DOC export flux was mainly concentrated in summer (∼90% of all-year flux in July and August), since the runoff in the Dagu River took place frequently in summer. These observations implied environment change could bring the temporal-spatial variation of DOC and the exports, which would further affect the land-ocean interactions in the Lower Dagu River and the global carbon cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estuarial saline wetlands have been recognized as a vital role in CO cycling. However, insufficient attention has been paid to estimating CO fluxes from estuarial saline wetlands. In this study, the static chamber-gas chromatography (GC) method was used to quantify CO budget of an estuarial saline reed ( Phragmites australis) wetland in Jiaozhou Bay in Qingdao City of Shandong Province, China during the reed growing season (May to October) in 2014. The CO budget study involved net ecosystem CO exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (R) and gross primary production (GPP). Temporal variation in CO budget and the impact of air/soil temperature, illumination intensity and aboveground biomass exerted on CO budget were analyzed. Results indicated that the wetland was acting as a net sink of 1129.16 g/mduring the entire growing season. Moreover, the values of R and GPP were 1744.89 g/m and 2874.05 g/m, respectively; the ratio of R and GPP was 0.61. Diurnal and monthly patterns of CO budget varied significantly during the study period. R showed exponential relationships with air temperature and soil temperature at 5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm depths, and soil temperature at 5 cm depth was the most crucial influence factor among them. Meanwhile, temperature sensitivity (Q) of R was negatively correlated with soil temperature. Light and temperature exerted strong controls over NEE and GPP. Aboveground biomass over the whole growing season showed non-linear relationships with CO budget, while those during the early and peak growing season showed significant linear relationships with CO budget. This research provides valuable reference for CO exchange in estuarial saline wetland ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediments were collected to a depth of 20 cm from urban, rural, and reclamation-affected rivers in the Pearl River Delta of China. In total, 16 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were analyzed in all sediment samples, and the occurrence, possible sources, toxicity, and health risks of OCPs were evaluated to compare the contamination characteristics of OCPs in sediments among the three types of rivers. The results showed that concentrations of Σ16OCPs in sediments from the three rivers followed the order urban river > reclamation-affected river > rural river, with a mean value of 247.21, 232.91, and 114.92 μg/kg, respectively, and the predominant OCPs were hexachlorobenzene (HCB), dieldrin, aldrin, endrin, and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs). Source diagnostics illustrated that there might be recent input of HCHs, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs), and endosulfan in some sampling sites. Based on the soil quality thresholds of China, both HCHs and DDTs fell within the range of class II criteria except for some sediment samples in urban rivers with lower levels (below class I criteria). According to sediment quality guidelines, 92.86 % of samples were predicted to be toxic. The health risk assessment showed that OCPs would not pose a threat to people via dermal contact, ingestion, and inhalation, and the followed order of incremental lifetime cancer risks for OCPs in sediment samples was reclamation-affected river > urban river > rural river. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanosheet-assembled hierarchical flower-like titanium phosphate (TiP) is synthesized via hydrothermal treatment of H-titanate nanotubes (Ti-NT) at the optimized conditions of 0.1 M of HPO and hydrothermal temperature of 130 °C. A possible formation mechanism for the TiP flowers, involving the disintegration of Ti-NT and the growth and assembling of TiP nanosheets, is proposed. The main compositions of the uncalcined TiP flowers are titanium hydrogen phosphate hydrates (Ti(HPO)· xHO), which can be transformed to titanium phosphate (TiPO) after high temperature calcination. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared TiP flowers is increased with the increased calcination temperature, which may be attributed to the better photocatalytic activity of TiPO than Ti(HPO)· xHO and the increased crystallization of TiPO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial variation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in soils of riparian wetlands and responses to hydro-geomorphologic changes in the Sanjiang Plain were analyzed through in situ collecting soil samples in the Naoli River and the Bielahong River. The results showed that the average contents of DOC for soil layer of 0-100 cm were 730.6 mg/kg, 250.9 mg/kg, 423.0 mg/kg and 333.1 mg/kg respectively from riverbed to river terrace along the transverse directions of the Naoli watershed. The content of the soil DOC was the highest in the riverbed, lower in the high floodplain and much lower in the river terrace, and it was the lowest in the low floodplain. The difference in the content and vertical distribution of DOC between the riverbed and the three riparian wetlands was significant, while it was not significant among the low floodplain, the high floodplain and the river terrace. The variability of soil DOC was related to the hydrological connectivity between different landscape position of the riparian wetlands and the adjacent stream. Extremely significant correlations were observed between DOC and total organic carbon (TOC), total iron (TFe), ferrous iron (Fe(II)) whose correlation coefficients were 0.819, −0.544 and −0.709 in riparian wetlands of the Naoli River. With the increase of wetland destruction, soil pH increased and soil DOC content changed. The correlation coefficients between soil DOC and TOC, TFe, Fe(II) also changed into 0.759, −0.686 and −0.575 respectively in the Bielahong River. Under the impact of drainage ditches, the correlations between soil DOC and TFe, Fe(II) were not obvious, while the soil pH was weakly alkaline and was negatively correlated with soil DOC in the previous high floodplain. It indicates that riparian hydro-geomorphology is the main factor that could well explain this spatial variability of soil DOC, and the agricultural environmental hydraulic works like ditching also must be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The powder of henna is extensively used as decorative skin paint for nail coloring and as a popular hair dye in Asian countries. Its human health risk is extensive, and it is frequently released as waste into the aquatic environment raising the concerns. Zebrafish ( Danio rerio) embryos were employed to study the developmental effects of henna. Normal fertilized zebrafish embryos under standard water were selected for the control and test chambers. Three predetermined sublethal concentrations (100, 200, and 275 μM) of henna in 24-well cell culture plates were tested on 1-h postfertilized embryo (pfe) for 96 h. Observation for rates of survival and mortality was recorded; digital camera was used to image morphological anomalies of embryos with a stereomicroscope; and functional abnormalities at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h were performed. The hatching rates of embryos were reduced significantly when treated with 200 and 275 μM or higher concentrations of henna. Slow blood circulation in the whole body was observed with a median effect on hatching exposed to 200 and 275 μM of henna at 48-h pfe. At 72- and 96-h pfe, blood circulation was ceased in the whole body but still had a heartbeat. At 96-h pfe, pericardial sac edema, yolk sac edema, head deformation, spine crooked malformation, and tail malformation (bent tails or hook-like tails) were observed in the surviving larvae at 100 μM. In summary, exposure to henna at 100, 200, and 275 μM causes some altered morphological and physiological abnormalities including increased mortality, hatching delay, slow blood circulation, pericardial sac edema, yolk sac edema, abnormal body axes, twisted notochord, tail deformation, weak heartbeat, and growth retardation and was also detected in some treated embryos and groups having adverse effects on embryonic development of zebrafish provoking potential human developmental risk studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A surgical technique of lateral crus strut graft to correct the deformity of nostril contour and improve asymmetric nostril shape by autologous rib cartilage was reported. Thirty-five patients (20 males and 15 females), with a mean age of 19 years (range of 16-26 years) were included in this study. All of the patients suffered moderate to severe unilateral cleft lip nostril deformity and underwent surgical technique of lateral crus strut graft by autologous rib cartilage to correct the asymmetric nostril contour from 2010 to 2012. The views of the nostril contour on both sides were reviewed and some parameters were measured at different time points (preoperatively, and 3 months and one year postoperatively) including the long axis and short axis of the nostrils. The differences in nostrils including long axis, short axis, elliptical area and eccentricity on the both sides were compared at different time points. The differences in the long axis and eccentricity of the nostrils on the two sides were decreased significantly between the preoperative view and postoperative view ( P<0.05). The surgical technique of lateral crus graft with autologous rib cartilage is effective to correct the abnormal nostril contour and improve the asymmetry for unilateral cleft clip patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the two-flume method was used to study the change laws of the thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient of diamond/Cu composite materials with 100, 300, and 500 cycle numbers, under the action of thermal shock load between −196 and 85 °C; the X-ray diffraction method (XRD) was used to study the change of the residual stress in the thermal shock process of the diamond/Cu composite materials; and the evolution of the fracture microstructure with different thermal shock cycle numbers was observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of the study show that the increase of the binder residue at the interface reduces the thermal shock stability of the diamond/Cu composite materials. In addition, under the thermal shock load between −196 and 85 °C, the residual stress of the diamond/Cu composite materials increases continuously with the increase of the cycle numbers, the increase of residual stress leads to a small amount of interface debonding, an increase of the interfacial thermal resistances, and a decrease of the constraints of low-expansion component on material deformation, thus the thermal conductivity decreases slightly and the thermal expansion coefficient increases slightly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, diamond/CuCr and diamond/CuB composites were prepared using the pressure infiltration method. The physical property measurement system (PPMS) was adopted to evaluate the thermal conductivity of diamond/Cu and MoCu composites within the range of 100-350 K, and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was utilized to analyze the microstructure and fracture appearance of the materials. The research indicates that the thermal conductivity of diamond/Cu composite within the range of 100-350 K is 2.5-3.0 times that of the existing MoCu material, and the low-temperature thermal conductivity of diamond/Cu composite presents an exponential relationship with the temperature. If B element was added to a Cu matrix and a low-temperature binder was used for prefabricated elements, favorable interfacial adhesion, relatively high interfacial thermal conductivity, and favorable low-temperature heat conduction characteristics would be apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper integrates the maximum information principle with the Cell Transmission Model (CTM) to formulate the velocity distribution evolution of vehicle traffic flow. The proposed discrete traffic kinetic model uses the cell transmission model to calculate the macroscopic variables of the vehicle transmission, and the maximum information principle to examine the velocity distribution in each cell. The velocity distribution based on maximum information principle is solved by the Lagrange multiplier method. The advantage of the proposed model is that it can simultaneously calculate the hydrodynamic variables and velocity distribution at the cell level. An example shows how the proposed model works. The proposed model is a hybrid traffic simulation model, which can be used to understand the self-organization phenomena in traffic flows and predict the traffic evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the optimal investment strategy of defined-contribution pension with the stochastic salary. The investor is allowed to invest in a risk-free asset and a risky asset whose price process follows a constant elasticity of variance model. The stochastic salary follows a stochastic differential equation, whose instantaneous volatility changes with the risky asset price all the time. The HJB equation associated with the optimal investment problem is established, and the explicit solution of the corresponding optimization problem for the CARA utility function is obtained by applying power transform and variable change technique. Finally, we present a numerical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mathematical model was developed to describe the interaction of multiple physical fields in a slag bath during electroslag remelting (ESR) process with a current-conductive mould. The distributions of current density, magnetic induction intensity, electromagnetic force, Joule heating, fluid flow and temperature were simulated. The model was verified by temperature measurements during remelting 12CrMoVG steel with a slag of 50wt%-70wt% CaF, 20wt%-30wt% CaO, 10wt%-20wt% AlO, and ≤10wt% SiO in a 600 mm diameter current-conductive mould. There is a good agreement between the calculated temperature results and the measured data in the slag bath. The calculated results show that the maximum values of current density, electromagnetic force and Joule heating are in the region between the corner electrodes and the conductivity element. The characteristics of current density distribution, magnetic induction intensity, electromagnetic force, Joule heating, velocity patterns and temperature profiles in the slag bath during ESR process with current-conductive mould were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient and accurate clock synchronization is a challenge for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Unlike previous works on clock synchronization in WSNs that consider communication delay as the main cause of clock inaccuracy, we propose a new adaptive synchronization scheme, AdaSynch, which considers the principium of the clock. We aim to overcome the challenges posed by WSNs' resource constraints such as limited energy and bandwidth, low precision oscillators and random factors. By implementing some experiments on TelosB platform, we find that the clock system switches between multiple clock models. Motivated by experiment results, we establish a general clock model which describes the clock offset in terms of the oscillators. We then design two kinds of basic Kalman filter models to achieve clock synchronization. In order to execute Kalman filtering, we propose a recursion method based on the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to access the parameters of the Kalman filter model adaptively. To describe alternation in the clock model, we propose a Multimodel Kalman filter, and put forward an adaptive method based on hypothesis testing to describe these complexities in the clock model. We demonstrate the performance gains of our scheme through experiments using different Kalman filter models based on experiment data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel copolymers, poly[1-(4-(benzothiazole-2-thio-alkyloxy)-biphenyl-4′-oxy)2.3-epoxypropane]s, were synthesized by the reaction of polyepichlorohydrin with obtained monomers, 4-(benzothiazole-2-thio-alkyloxy)biphenyl-4′-ols, in which the number of methylene unit in substitution group of biphenyl group was 2, 4, 6, respectively. The structures of obtained compounds were confirmed by elemental analysis and 1H NMR. The decomposition temperatures of copolymers were near 340 °C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurement and polarized optical microscopy (POM) observation showed the resulting copolymers did not exhibit thermotropic liquid crystalline mesomophism and belonged to semi-crystalline substance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ship berthing is a specific maneuver operation. The flow around a berthing ship and the forces acting on the hull are quite different from those for a ship in normal navigation. By solving the unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, the transient flow field around a ship undergoing unsteady lateral motion is simulated and the varying lateral hydrodynamic force acting on the hull is evaluated in this article. The numerical results obtained with different turbulence models are analyzed and compared with experimental results and other numerical results published in literature, and a turbulence model more suitable for simulation of the viscous flow around a ship undergoing unsteady berthing is determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]