Search

The altered expression of microRNA (miRNA) has been implicated in glioma. Here, the current study aimed to clarify the oncogenic effects of miR-19b-3p on cellular processes of glioma and to elucidate the underlying mechanism associated with SOCS3 and the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Differentially expressed genes related to glioma were initially identified via microarray analysis. Twenty-five glioma patients were selected for clinical data collection, while additional 12 patients with traumatic brain injuries were selected as controls. Cell senescence was assessed by β-galactosidase staining, proliferation by MTT assay and apoptosis by flow cytometry following gain- and/or loss-of-function of miR-19b-3p or SOCS3. Glioma xenograft mouse model was developed through subcutaneous injection to nude mice to provide evidence in vivo. The glioma patients exhibited overexpressed miR-19b-3p and poorly-expressed SOCS3. SOCS3 was identified as a target gene of miR-19b-3p through dual-luciferase reporter gene assay. miR-19b-3p repressed SOCS3 expression and activated the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Furthermore, miR-19b-3p inhibition promoted apoptosis and senescence, and suppressed cell proliferation through inactivation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway and up-regulation of SOCS3. The reported regulatory axis was validated in nude mice as evidenced by suppressed tumor growth. Taken together, this study demonstrates that miR-19b-3p facilitates glioma progression via activation of the JAK-STAT signaling pathway by targeting SOCS3, highlighting a novel therapeutic target for glioma treatment.

Contamination of leafy vegetables grown in heavy metal(loid)-polluted mining areas pose serious health risks. This study aimed to explore the heavy metal(loid) contamination of leafy vegetables near two mining areas, by collecting samples from 14 different leafy vegetable species in Yunnan Province, China. The lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and copper (Cu) contents of the samples were determined, and risks to human health were calculated using the hazard quotient and hazard index (HI). Moreover, Malabar spinach was identified as a leafy vegetable that exhibits low accumulation of heavy metal(loid)s. The accumulation capacity of different Malabar spinach varieties was verified, and a Cd soil safety threshold was determined using a pot experiment. Overall, Pb and Cd were the main soil and vegetable contaminants found in both study sites. The HI values for all leafy vegetables, apart from Malabar spinach, were greater than 1, indicating the presence of risks to human health; moreover, the health risks were greater for children than adults. The Malabar spinach pot experiment results showed that only some Cd forms exceeded China's maximum permissible standards. Furthermore, Malabar spinach varieties A (instant Malabar spinach), C (extra-large leaf green vine Malabar spinach), and F (large leaf Malabar spinach) displayed the lowest Cd accumulation. We calculated Cd total and bioavailable soil safety thresholds of 4.75 and 0.77 mg kg

Bacteria play a vital role in ecological processes of soil contaminated by heavy metals. Here, soil sampling was carried out around a tailings pile contaminated to different degrees by cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and arsenic (As). The bacteria in the soil were cultured, separated and purified on Luria-Bertani medium, and the changes in bacterial communities in soils with different pollution levels were analysed with 16S rRNA sequencing. Bacillus pacificus strain MZ520364 was found to be highly tolerant to Cd, Pb and As, and single-metal and multimetal tolerance experiments were further conducted with this strain. The results obtained from alpha diversity and operational taxonomic unit (OTU) statistical analyses showed a significant difference in bacterial composition among soils with different metal pollution levels, and the highest bacterial diversity was found at the most severely polluted site. Evidence from variance partitioning analysis (VPA) and the Spearman correlation heatmap analysis showed that the leading factors affecting bacterial community composition were cation exchange content (CEC), pH, total Zn, total As, and available As concentrations in soil. Additionally, in the single-metal treatments, B. pacificus MZ520364 could tolerate 600 mg/L Cd

Stochastic resonance is a remarkable phenomenon that can enhance signal processing by the addition of random noise. However, the effect of magnetic fields on stochastic resonance under channel noises has been inadequately studied. In this paper, the stochastic resonance in Hodgkin-Huxley neuronal network under Gaussian channel noises and non-Gaussian channel noise were studied, and the effects of electromagnetic field stimulation on stochastic resonance were considered. The results indicate that stochastic resonance in neuronal networks can be induced by Gaussian channel noise and non-Gaussian Levy channel noise, and stochastic resonance may occur more easily under Levy channel noise. The resonance amplitude was significantly improved by selecting appropriate parameters of the magnetic field, while, a too strong magnetic field can be detrimental to the resonance amplitude. Magnetic fields may induce the enhancement of the resonance amplitude by increasing the firing frequency and spiking regularity.

The effect of ageing on the structure and mechanical properties of continuously cast and rolled sheet from aluminum alloy 6061 is studied. Atreatment regime involving 2-h water quenching from 550°C and six hours artificial ageing at 200°C is shown to provide the values of σr, δ, and HV equal to 318 MPa, 14%, and 127 HV0.1 respectively. The alloy fractures by a ductile mechanism after quenching and by a mixed mechanism after ageing. The average grain size after ageing is 0.09 nm, and over grain boundaries there is a large amount of Mg2Si nanosize inclusions and heat-resistant α-Fe phase that increase sheet mechanical properties.

To overcome nonlinear, underactuated and external wind disturbances problems for the 6-DOF (degrees of freedom) quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, a backstepping sliding mode control algorithm based on high-order extended state observer (ESO) is proposed. Based on the hierarchical control principle, the quadrotor UAV dynamic system is decomposed into position subsystem and attitude subsystem to facilitate the backstepping control design. Moreover, the EXO is used to estimate the remaining unmeasurable states and the external wind disturbances online. The advantages of the controllers are that they can not only ensure good tracking performance, but also deal with uncertain external disturbances. To imitate the real situation as much as possible, the external wind disturbances are composed of four basic wind models in this paper. The tracking error and estimate error of the design methods are shown to arbitrarily small by using Lyapunov theory. Finally, the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control algorithm are proved by the simulation.

AA7020 twin-roll cast sheets were warm rolled with different processing parameters to investigate the evolution of cracks, microstructure and properties by a single variable method. The as-cast rolled and as-warm rolled sheets were examined by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), a Vickers hardness tester and an electronic universal testing machine. As the reduction ratio increased, the grains became finer, the mechanical properties improved, and the cracks gradually healed. The grain size, mechanical properties, and cracks first increased and then decreased with increasing warm rolling temperature. The cracks healed by occlusion between grains. When the warm rolling temperature was too high, the grains grew upward, the mechanical properties decreased, and the healed cracks left scars. The optimum process parameters were a warm rolling temperature of 350 °C and a reduction ratio of 80%.

A continuous fixed-bed column study has been used to evaluate phosphate adsorption performance of U-D-Na which was functionalized by the cheap NaCl reagent after simple ultrasonic purification of diatomite. Experimentally, various effect factors, the flow rate, the initial phosphate concentration, and the bed height on breakthrough time of fixed column were studied. Experimental results showed that the breakthrough time declined with the increase of inlet phosphorous concentration and feed rate, whereas the increase of bed height turned out to significantly prolong the breakthrough time. The dynamic adsorption data could better be fitted by the Thomas model, with the correlation coefficients obtained, R2 > 0.9000 at the majority of operating conditions (5/7). At least thrice loop of adsorption and desorption was achieved with 0.1 M hydrochloric acid eluent and deionized water. The results proved that U-D-Na could be used as a better alternative phosphate adsorbent from wastewater in a continuous column process.

This paper proposes a new multi-objective command filtered adaptive control strategy for the active suspension systems with nonlinear hydraulic actuators. Firstly, command filters are designed to avoid the influences of the explosion of complexity on hydraulic suspension systems. The output of the command filters replaces the derivatives of virtual control signals to remove the online computational burdens caused by the explosion of complexity in the backstepping technique, which is appropriate for the practical hydraulic suspension systems that the differential coefficients of high-order are difficult to gain. Furthermore, the error compensation signals are designed to eliminate the filtering errors and proved to be bounded. Therefore, the large peaks of the output control forces caused by online computational burdens are eliminated, which means that small control forces can achieve good control results. Then, the ride comfort is improved. The dynamic load ratios and suspension working spaces are proved in small regions, which can guarantee the multi-objective control in nonlinear hydraulic active suspension systems. Finally, the simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy.

Background The therapeutic effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ADSCs) may be mainly mediated by their paracrine effects. The ADSC-secretome can ameliorate hepatic ischemia–reperfusion injury (IRI). We explored the therapeutic effect of the ADSC-secretome from the perspective of excessive hepatocyte autophagy induced by hepatic IRI. Methods We established a miniature pig model of hepatic ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) and hepatectomy using a laparoscopic technique and transplanted ADSCs and the ADSC-secretome into the liver parenchyma immediately after surgery. Liver injury and hepatocyte autophagy were evaluated by histopathological examination and assessment of relevant cytokines and other factors. Results The results showed that the ADSC-secretome alleviated the pathological changes of liver tissue and the microstructural damage of hepatocytes after IRI. Moreover, the expression levels of autophagy-related markers including Beclin-1, ATG5, ATG12, and LC3II/LC3I decreased, whereas those of p62 increased during phagophore expansion. Furthermore, the expression levels of markers related to the autophagy inhibition pathway phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR), including PI3K, Akt, and mTOR, increased. Conclusion The ADSC-secretome attenuates hepatic I/R and hepatectomy-induced liver damage by inhibiting autophagy, which is possibly mediated by activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. In addition, there was no significant difference between ADSCs and the ADSC-secretome in the regulation of hepatocyte autophagy. Therefore, ADSCs may improve the excessive autophagy-induced injury of hepatocytes in hepatic I/R and hepatectomy through paracrine effect. Our findings provide new insight into the therapeutic potential of cell-free products, which could replace cell therapy in liver diseases.

A low-cost functionalization method was used to treat diatomite, and an efficient adsorbent for ammonia nitrogen was prepared by optimizing the functionalization conditions. The functionalized diatomite (DTCA-Na) was characterized by SEM, EDS, BET, XRD, FT-IR and TG. The results demonstrate that DTCA-Na has excellent adsorption performance after being modified with H2SO4 (60.00 wt.%), NaCl (5.00 wt.%) and calcination at 400 °C for 2 h. While studying the effect of adsorption factors on the removal of ammonia nitrogen, the kinetic and thermodynamic behaviors in the adsorption process were discussed. The removal efficiency of the simulated wastewater with the initial ammonia nitrogen concentration of 10.00 mg/L by the DTCA-Na was more than 80% when the contact time was 60 min, pH was 6-10, the dosage of adsorbent was 1.00 g, the temperature was 25 °C. The adsorption process of ammonia nitrogen was conformed to the pseudo-first-order and Langmuir isothermal model. The removal efficiency of ammonia nitrogen was still above 80% after 5 times adsorption-desorption experiments. The DTCA-Na has a brighter prospect of application in the field of ammonia nitrogen wastewater treatment due to its excellent adsorption performance and low-cost advantage.

Few studies have evaluated the value of endoscopic resection (ER) for the treatment of gastric gastrointestinal (GI) stromal tumors (GISTs) originating from the muscularis propria (MP) in a large population, and no studies have evaluated risk factors for piecemeal resection. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ER for gastric GISTs in a real-world setting and to explore factors associated with piecemeal resection. From January 2013 to December 2019, 185 patients with gastric GISTs originating from the MP were assessed. Clinicopathological and endoscopic data were collected and analyzed. Baseline characteristics of the en bloc resection and piecemeal resection groups were compared to evaluate predictive factors for piecemeal resection. There were 71 males and 114 females with a mean age of 57.0 ± 9.7 years. The mean size of GISTs was 15 mm (range 4–65 mm). A total of 123 were very low risk, 52 were low risk, and ten were moderate risk. In this study, 103 GISTs were treated with endoscopic submucosal excavation (ESE), 68 GISTs were treated with endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFR), and 14 GISTs were treated with submucosal tunneling ER (STER). Either en bloc resection or complete resection was achieved in 160 (86.5%) patients. No recurrence was noted during follow-up. Only five patients experienced minor complications, with a complication rate of 2.7%. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that size (odds ratio [OR] 1.060, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.004–1.118; P = 0.035) and shape (OR 5.434, 95% CI 1.638–18.027; P = 0.006) were independent predictors of piecemeal resection. ER was effective and safe for the treatment of gastric GISTs originating from the MP. Piecemeal resection did not seem to affect the efficacy of ER, and no recurrence was noted during follow-up. Large size and irregular shape are risk factors related to piecemeal resection of ER.

Chytridiomycosis, a leading cause for the global decline in the number of amphibians, is caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. In this study, global distribution data of B. dendrobatidis were collected from January 2009 to May 2019. Space-time scan statistics and the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model were used to analyze the epidemic trends and aggregation of the pathogen, and predict B. dendrobatidis distribution through its relationships with climate factors, wind speed, and solar radiation. The results of space-time scan statistics show seven clusters of data for the distribution of B. dendrobatidis. The time was mainly concentrated in 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2016, and the regions were primarily concentrated in southeastern Canada, southwestern France, Nigeria, Cameroon, eastern Brazil, southeastern Brazil, central Madagascar, and central and eastern Australia. MaxEnt showed that annual precipitation had the largest contribution percentage in the model, and annual mean temperature highly influenced the distribution of B. dendrobatidis. The global high-risk areas of B. dendrobatidis distribution were mainly observed in western Canada, southern Brazil, Chile, the United Kingdom, Japan, the Republic of Korea, eastern South Africa, eastern Madagascar, southeastern Australia, and southern China.

To find maize varieties with both safe production and soil remediation, 11 maize varieties were planted in field soil which was combinedly polluted by cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and lead (Pb). The plant growth, accumulation, phytochemical forms, and translocation of Cd, As, and Pb in different tissues were examined. Furthermore, maize varieties with low metal accumulation in their edible parts but high accumulation in other parts were selected as remediation candidates and pollution-safe varieties. The results showed that the growth of varieties Yayu69, Longhuang2502, and Shennongyu10 were the least affected by heavy metals. The concentrations of Cd, As, and Pb in all of the tested maize grains met the national feed hygiene standards, and the grain concentrations of the three metals in Yayu69, Shengnongyu10, and Yunrui62 all met the national food safety standards. According to the extraction efficiency of Cd, As, and Pb and heavy metal concentrations in grains, four types of maize were classified as follows: (1) the first category was suitable for both soil remediation and safe production, including the varieties Yayu69 (Cd, Pb), Jinyi418 (As, Cd), and Shengnongyu10 (Pb); (2) the second category had a high concentration of metals in edible part but did not exceed the limiting value in national feed hygiene standards, and the metal extraction efficiency was also high, including Beiyu1521 (Cd) and Longhuang2502 (Cd, As, Pb); (3) the third category included heavy metal exclusion varieties with low metals accumulation, such as Yayu749 (Cd), Yunrui62 (As, Pb), and Yunrui8 (As); and (4) the fourth type covered risk maize varieties with food safety risks and unsuitable cultivation at sites polluted with toxic metals, including Chuangui1586 (Pb) and Enyu69 (As). The variety Yayu69 (a Cd/Pb low accumulator in grain) contained a low percentage of inorganic (FE) and water-soluble (FW) Cd (4%) and Pb (6%) in roots, respectively, but the percentage of FE and FW Cd and Pb in the variety Beiyu1521 (a Cd/Pb high accumulator in grain) was up to 29% and 13%. Our results provided a new perspective in applying maize varieties with different metal-accumulating ability in their different parts to achieve the remediation of metal-polluted soil and the sustainable development of agricultural production.

This work focuses on the fixed-time event-triggered formation control problem for multi-AUV systems with external uncertainties, which can significantly reduce energy consumption and the frequency of the controller updates. At the same time, the convergence speed of the system is improved. To tackle with the problem of explosion of differentiation terms in backstepping method, a command filter is introduced to represent the derivative of virtual variables. Moreover, the distributed control strategy is considered and the lumped uncertainties are tackled with the super-twisting sliding mode method. It is proved that under the proposed event-triggered control strategies the Zeno behavior is avoided. Further, fixed-time formation control method can be finished within a fixed settling time with arbitrary initial states of the multi-AUV. Finally, simulation is presented to show the effectiveness and validity of the fixed-time event-triggered formation protocols for the multi-AUV systems.

The multilayer Si-DLC films have been deposited on AA6061 aluminum alloy using a mesh hollow cathode plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition technique from acetylene and silane precursor gas at temperature 373 K. Low magnification electron microscopes, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were employed for characterizing the coating film structure. The MFT-4000 scratch tester, G200 nano-indentation tester, and MS-T3001 tribology tester were utilized to evaluate the adhesion strength, mechanical properties, and friction coefficient. Potentiodynamic polarization and potentiostatic techniques were used to study the multilayer Si-DLC films electrochemical behavior in harsh solution 3.5 wt.% NaCl. The findings revealed that the increase in bias voltage to − 300 V led to the adhesion strength, hardness, elastic modulus, and friction coefficient around 18N, 9.89 GPa, 85.57 GPa, and 0.17, respectively. The polarization results showed a decrease in corrosion current density, increased polarization resistance, and decreased passive current almost 1.28×10−10 A/cm−2, 5.26×109 Ω cm2, and 24.3 nA cm−2, respectively. The findings are ascribed to reduce the internal stress and increase the overall content of sp3 bonds in the film. Moreover, the Si-doped DLC film forms a passive layer from SiOx at the film/solution interface to impede the charge transfer.

We prove the boundedness for a class of multi-sublinear singular integral operators on the product of central Morrey spaces with variable exponents. Based on this result, we obtain the boundedness for the multilinear singular integral operators and two kinds of multilinear singular integral commutators on the above spaces.

The Mg0.2Zn0.8O thin films were prepared on quartz substrate by laser sintering method. The effects of laser power density and irradiation time on the film structure and photoelectric properties were studied. Through XRD, SEM, and absorption spectrum test analysis, the optimal sintering technology parameters were determined. The laser power density and the laser irradiation time were determined as 53 W cm−2 and 30 s. The optimal thin film was used to prepare the MSM structure UV detector. Current–Voltage (I–V) curves were obtained under dark and ultraviolet illumination conditions, and the curves show obvious Schottky contact behavior. Ideality factor, barrier height, and saturation current density were calculated as 1.38, 0.44 eV, and 1.21*10–4 A cm−2. The detector exhibits the low dark current (4 nA at 20 V), high photocurrent-to-dark current ratio of 104. Correspondingly, the detectivity (D*) of 4.42 × 1012 cm Hz1/2 W−1 (Jones) and linear dynamic range of ~ 64 dB are also achieved. Above results show that the device has a larger photocurrent-to-dark current ratio and a strong ability for characterizing the signal-to-noise ratio, which makes it has the detection capacity even in weak UV environments.

Knowledge base completion has been an active research topic for knowledge graph. However, existing methods are of low learning and generalization abilities, and neglect the rich internal logic between entities and relationships. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes the modeling of complex internal logic for knowledge base completion. This method first integrates the semantic information into the knowledge representation model and strengthens the credibility scores of the positive and negative triples with the semantic gap, which not only makes the model converge faster, but also can obtain the knowledge representation of the fusion semantic information; and then we put forward the concept of knowledge subgraph, through the memory network and multi-hop attention mechanism, the knowledge information in the knowledge subgraph and the to-be-complemented triple are merged. In the process of model training, we have different training methods from the classical memory network, and added reinforcement learning. The reciprocal of the correct reasoning knowledge information in the model output is used as the reward value, and the final training model complements the triple information. The high computing capability of knowledge representation, the high learning and generalization abilities of the memory network and the multi-hop attention mechanism are also utilized in the method. The experimental results on data sets FB15k and WN18 show that the present method performs well in knowledge base completion and can effectively improve Hits@10 and MRR values. We also verified the practicability of the proposed method in the recommendation system and question answering system base on knowledge base, and have achieved good results.

Returning corn straw to soil improves soil carbon sequestration in the Phaeozem regions of Northeast China. This research was to investigate the changes in soil carbon fractions of Phaeozem derived from loess and laterite PM with corn straw incorporation and quantify the influence of the key factors on soil carbon accumulation in order to improve the soil carbon stabilization efficiency. A simulative laboratory incubation experiment was conducted over 12 months using Phaeozem derived from loess and laterite PM and eight corn straw doses. Results showed that the clay mineral of Phaeozem was dominated by a mixed-mineral illite-smectite layer, illite, vermiculite, kaolinite, and smaller amounts of montmorillonite. Clay mineral species of topsoil were identical with its PM. The LOC and HOC of six soils increase with increase in straw incorporation level. The promoting effectiveness of straw incorporation on C accumulation declined when the C inputs reached a certain level. At 15% straw incorporation levels, the LOC and HOC of six soil increased by 1.86–3.01 g kg−1 and 1.33–2.22 g kg−1 than CK, respectively. The increment of LOC and HOC of six soils followed the trend of LHAp > LLAp > RHAp > RLAp > LC > RC. At 15% straw incorporation levels, the RLOC of RC (419%) and LC (296%) was greater than topsoil (103–254%) and the RHOC of RC (90%) and LC (61%) was much greater than topsoil (9–26%). Further analysis suggested that C input, TSOC, and clay content were the most influential variables on carbon sequestration efficiency. They accounted for about 73% of the variations of RLOC and RHOC. The relative contributions of 2:1 clay to RLOC and RHOC were about 10% and 15%, respectively and that of 1:1 clay were about 4.4% and 3.5%, respectively. In conclusion, both the topsoil and PM of Phaeozem have considerable C-stabilizing capacity and the C sequestration efficiency of topsoil and PM derived from loess was greater than those for topsoil and PM derived from laterite.

Let Ω ∈ Ls(Sn−1) (s > 1) be a homogeneous function of degree zero and b be a BMO function or Lipschitz function. In this paper, the authors obtain some boundedness of the Calderon-Zygmund singular integral operator TΩ and its commutator [b, TΩ] on Herz-Morrey spaces with variable exponent.

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetector was fabricated on Mg0.2Zn0.8O nano-rod film synthesized by laser sintering method. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows that Mg0.2Zn0.8O film grows along c-axis orientation with a wurtzite structure. Absorption edge locates at 351 nm and the band gap is determined to − 3.53 eV. The UV photodetector has a response peak at − 328 nm corresponding to a saturation responsivity of 0.196 A·W−1 at 20 V bias. The UV/visible rejection ratio of the photodetector is close to 2 orders of magnitude. The super perfect photo-electronic performance of the detector illustrates that laser sintering method has a vital advantage to synthesized Mg0.2Zn0.8O nano-film for UV photodetector.

In this work, we used TiO2 nanobelts and P25 particles as titanium sources to combine with β-Bi2O3 to form β-Bi2O3/TiO2 and β-Bi2O3/P25 composites. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-vis absorbance spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. The structure and performance of two composites were comparatively investigated, and the β-Bi2O3 molar ratios in them were optimized and their roles in them were studied. The results showed that the TiO2 nanobelts and commercial TiO2 (P25) particles combined with β-Bi2O3 nanosheets. The optimal molar ratios of Bi to Ti element in two kinds of composites are 1:1. The β-Bi2O3 in P25/β-Bi2O3 makes more contribution to the improvement of photocatalytic activity of them than that in β-Bi2O3/TiO2 because P25 particles are distributed on β-Bi2O3 nanosheet more uniformly. The photocatalytic activities of β-Bi2O3/TiO2 (0.02275 min−1) and β-Bi2O3/P25 (0.02382 min−1) are 3.72 times and 3.90 times than that of pure β-Bi2O3 (0.0061 min−1) for EE2 removal. The enhanced photocatalytic activities of two kinds of composites are ascribed to photo-induced interfacial charge transfer on the heterojunction between β-Bi2O3 and TiO2 or P25. From the economic view, β-Bi2O3/P25 composites are better than β-Bi2O3/TiO2 because TiO2 nanobelts in the β-Bi2O3/TiO2 composite are obtained from P25 via extra hydrothermal treatment in strong alkaline environment. The free radical capture experiment indicated that the dominant reactive species are h+ and •O−2 for EE2 removal by TiO2/β-Bi2O3 and P25/β-Bi2O3 composites.

Drought is an important environmental factor that can severely affect plant growth and reproduction. Although many genes related to drought tolerance have been studied in economically important crops, very few genes have been functionally identified in Malus sieversii. In this study, we isolated a new gene based on throughput RNA sequencing analysis and constructed genetic expression vectors and transformed in Arabidopsis thaliana for functional verification. The results showed that MsUspA ectopic expression driven by constitutive (CaMV 35S) promoter gave rise to substantial improvements in ability of transgenic A. thaliana plants to survive under extreme drought conditions. Improved drought resistance mainly depends on more compact cellular structure, longer roots, strong resilience and low-level ROS. Molecular expression analysis showed that MsUspA may be involved in hormone and secondary metabolite synthesis regulation to improve drought resistance.

The different techniques like spectroscopy and fluorescence quenching were used to study the interactive effect of carbendazim (CARB) and catalase (CAT) at the molecular level. The results showed that conditions were beneficial to the quenching mechanism at 25.0 °C, pH 7.0, while the binding constant k was 1.92 × 105 L mol-1 and the number of binding site was 1.0385. The thermodynamic parameters indicated that CARB could interact spontaneously with CAT to form a complex mainly by van der Waals' interactions and hydrogen bonds. The interaction mechanism between CARB and CAT was that the effects of CARB on CAT in soil were activated and then restore stability. However, the effects of CARB on simple CAT were activated and then inhibited.

This paper addresses the stability analysis and dynamic output feedback control for a class of T–S fuzzy networked control systems with mixed time-varying delays and interval distributed time-varying delays. Firstly, the T–S fuzzy model is employed to approximate the networked control system based on the system model. Secondly, the dynamic output feedback controller with hybrid intermittent feedback control law is designed for the T–S fuzzy networked control system. Thirdly, the delay-dependent stability conditions are derived by introducing the Lyapunov functional with Leibniz–Newton formula. Compared with previous works, both the mixed time-varying delays and interval distributed time-varying delays are considered in the T–S fuzzy networked control system. The control design conditions are relaxed because of the proposed controller. By introducing the Lyapunov functional with Leibniz–Newton formula, the linear matrix inequalities are solved effectively by the standard convex optimization algorithm. Finally, the simulation examples and some computing results are given to show the effectiveness and advantage of the proposed method, respectively.

This paper addresses the trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance control problems for a class of mobile robot systems. Two classes of controllers are designed for the mobile robot system in the free motion, respectively. A new hybrid position virtual-force controller is designed to adjust the distance between the mobile robot and the obstacles. Since the uncertainties between the mobile robot dynamics model and obstacles degrade the performance of the obstacle avoidance system, a multi-layer feed-forward neural networks (NNs) deep learning method with hybrid position and virtual-force is proposed, such that the distance between the mobile robot and the obstacles converges to an adjustable bounded region. It is shown that the proposed controller in this paper is smooth, effective, and only uses the system output. The control design conditions are relaxed because of the developed multi-layer feed-forward NNs deep learning compensator. The simulation results and obstacle avoidance cases are performed to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Let [b, T] be the commutator generated by b and T, where $$b\in \mathrm {BMO}({\mathbb {R}}^{n})$$ and T is a Calderon–Zygmund singular integral operator. In this paper, the authors establish some strong type and weak type boundedness estimates including the $$L\log L$$ type inequality for [b, T] on the Herz-type spaces with variable exponent. Meanwhile, the similar results for the commutators $$[b,I_l]$$ of fractional integral operator are also obtained. As applications, we consider the regularity in the Herz-type spaces with variable exponent of strong solutions to nondivergence elliptic equations with $$\mathrm {VMO}$$ coefficients.

Agricultural tillage practices play an important role in the production and consumption of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute substantially to the global warming. To explore GHG diffusion characteristic and seek for environment-friendly tillage methods, four tillage systems consisting of continuous rotary tillage (CR), continuous no tillage (CN), ploughing-rotary tillage (PR), and ploughing-no tillage (PN) were designed, and vertical variations of GHG concentrations under different tillage systems were investigated. Mean CO2 concentration in the soil profile was increased significantly with the increase of soil depth. Higher soil moisture promoted CO2 production. However, the influence of soil temperature on the content of CO2 was not obvious. The concentrations of CH4 in soil at 0–20-cm depth were greater than that of 20–40 cm, which was mainly affected by fertilization. The trend of N2O concentration variation in soil was consistent with that of CO2. The diffusion flux of CO2 in soil was all positive, and it changes greatly in the whole growth cycle of maize, which had obvious correlation with precipitation. The CH4 diffusion flux decreased with the increase of soil depth, and the change trend of 0–20-cm soil layer diffusion flux was consistent with the gas concentration. The 20–40-cm soil layer fluctuated greatly, which was mainly affected by water content, and the whole value was negative after jointing. The trend of N2O diffusion flux was similar to that of CH4. In the whole maize growth period, except for CH4 in 20–40-cm soil layer, the cumulative diffusion fluxes of greenhouse gases in each treatment were all positive, indicating that the whole farmland soil was the emission source of greenhouse gases. The effect of three greenhouse gases on greenhouse effect was CO2 > N2O > CH4, and the comprehensive warming potential of different tillage methods was CN > CR > PR> PN. So PN is the best tillage mode to reduce GHG emissions in soil profile under the test conditions.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Context Cuscuta reflexa (C. reflexa) Roxb. (Convolvulaceae) has medicinal properties for the effective management of several aliments including diabetes mellitus, inflammation, and gastric ulcer. Objective The present investigation focuses on the antidiabetic potential of C. reflexa leaves methanol extract in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Materials and methods The antidiabetic activity of C. reflexa leaves methanol extract (CRME) was evaluated using alloxan-induced diabetes in Wistar albino rats. The duration of the study was 45 days. Diabetic model was developed by i.p. administration of alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg). Ingestion of CRME (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/day) and standard (gliclazide, 10 mg/kg/day) was done via oral route from the day of diabetes induction and continued up to 45 days. The effect of CRME was investigated by evaluating the blood glucose concentrations, HbA1C, insulin, lipid profile and liver function test. Further, the protective potentials of CRME were studied by histopathology of the pancreas, liver, and kidney tissues from experimental rats. Results CRME showed significant (p < 0.01 at all doses) reduction of blood glucose level (137.1 ± 5.8, 125.9 ± 6.5, and 109.5 ± 5.4 mg/dL at the doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, respectively) as compared to the diabetic control (249.7 ± 7.3 mg/dL). Moreover, CRME at the highest dose decreased HbA1C and improved insulin levels (3.96% and 11 ng/ml, respectively) when compared with diabetic control group (7.55% and 6.5 ng/ml, respectively). CRME also revealed pronounced improvement in liver function test and lipid profile test when compared to the diabetic control. Furthermore, CRME notably reversed the histopathological changes that observed in alloxan-induced diabetes. Conclusion Our research exertion clearly demonstrates that CRME can be explored as a substantial antidiabetic and organ protective agent in the management of diabetes.

An appropriate tillage method must be implemented by maize growers to improve phosphorus dynamics in the soil in order to increase phosphorus uptake by plant. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of tillage systems on phosphorus and its fractions in rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soils under maize. An experimental field was established, with phosphate fertilizers applied to four treatment plots: continuous rotary tillage (CR), continuous no-tillage (CN), plowing-rotary tillage (PR), and plowing-no tillage (PN). Under the different tillage methods, the available P was increased in the non-rhizosphere region. However, the concentration of available P was reduced in the rhizosphere soil region. The soil available P decreased with the age of the crop until the maize reached physiological maturity. The non-rhizosphere region had 132.9%, 82.5%, 259.8%, and 148.4% more available P than the rhizosphere region under the CR, PR, CN, and PN treatments, respectively. The continuous no-tillage method (CN) improved the uptake of soil phosphate by maize. The concentrations of Ca2-P, Ca8-P, Fe-P, Al-P and O-P at the maturity stage were significantly lower than other seedling stages. However, there was no significant relationship between total P and the P fractions. Therefore, a continuous no-tillage method (CN) can be used by farmers to improve phosphorus availability for spring maize. Soil management practices minimizing soil disturbance can be used to impove phosphorus availability for maize roots, increase alkaline phosphatase activity in the rhizosphere soil and increase the abundance of different phosphorus fractions.