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The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the value of the combination of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) and blue dye (BD) for SLN detection in patients with clinically negative node breast cancer. Patients with clinically negative node breast cancer were randomized into two cohorts for SLN biopsy (SLNB): the combination method cohort using CEUS and BD together, and the single BD method cohort. Standard axillary lymph node dissection was performed if any of the SLNs confirmed positive by pathology. The identification rate, the number of SLNs removed and recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates were evaluated between two cohorts. In addition, we assessed the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, false-negative rate of CEUS for diagnosis of SLNs based on patterns of CEUS enhancement. 144 consecutive patients with clinically negative node breast cancer were randomized into two cohorts. Each cohort consisted of 72 cases. In the combination method cohort, contrast-enhanced lymphatic vessels were clearly visualized and SLNs were accurately localized in 72 cases. The identification rate and the mean number of SLNs detected by the combination method were 100% (72/72) and 3.26 (1–9), respectively. In contrast, in the single BD method cohort, SLNs in 69 cases were successfully identified. The identification rate and the mean number of SLNs using BD alone were 95.8% (69/72) and 2.21 (1–4), respectively. According to patterns of CEUS enhancement, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and the FNR of CEUS for SLN diagnosis were 69.2%, 96.6%, 91.7%, and 30.8%, respectively. After a median follow-up of 50 months for the combination method cohort and 51 months for the blue dye alone cohort, five patients in the combination method cohort and nine in the blue dye alone cohort had recurrence. RFS rates showed no significant difference (P = 0.26) between two cohorts. The combination of CEUS and BD is more effective than BD alone for SLNB in clinically negative node patients with an identification rate as high as 100%. Use of BD and CEUS in combination may provide the possibility of a non-radioactive alternative method for SLNB in centers without access to radioisotope.

The development of economic catalysts for aerobic oxidation procedure has attracted extensive attention. In this work, a novel Ni/Zn supported defective carbon with multi-functional catalytic sites was fabricated via a two-step pyrolysis-H2O2 treatment. The catalyst was applied to the Baeyer–Villiger (B–V) oxidation using ambient air as a green and safe oxidant. The catalyst with optimal Ni/Zn ratio of (2:1) delivers a high catalytic activity (> 92%) and perfect selectivity (> 99%) for the conversion of a wide range of substituted cyclic-ketones to the corresponding lactones. The characterization results have clarified that the H2O2 treatment leads to the formation of active N/O-group on the catalyst surface, which facilitates the adsorption of substrate/intermediate molecules and benefits the reaction. Moreover, the synergistic effect between multi-functional sites results in the buffering/stabilizing of free radicals, enhanced efficiency of oxygen insertion to form lactone. The design principle in this work is believed to shed light on the exploration of all-in-one solid catalyst for diverse oxidative reaction.

Titanium coating was deposited on the diamond surface by the vacuum micro-vapor deposition method to improve the wettability and enhance the interfacial bonding between diamond and copper. The Ti-coated diamonds were used as the reinforcement particles to fabricate Ti-coated diamond/copper composites by the spark plasma sintering, and the effects of process parameters on the microstructure and thermal conductivity of Ti-coated diamond/copper composites were systematically considered. SEM, EDS, and XRD methods were adopted to analyze the microstructure characteristics and interlayer of the composites. It was showed that TiC formed homogenously, continuous and compactly, aside from some tiny porous appearing on the diamond surface and the thickness of Ti coating was about 300 nm. The TiC interlayer strengthened the interfacial bonding, bridged the diamond particles with copper matrix perfectly, and the formation of compacted Ti-coated diamond/copper composites was verified by microscopic analysis. The relative density of Ti-coated diamond/copper composites was 98.72%, but the thermal conductivity of the composites was only 230.82 W/m*K at the optimal process parameters of 900 °C, 80 MPa, and 40 min, mainly due to some cavities existed at the Ti-coated diamond surface which caused phonons to scatter and decreased the TC of the composites.

Purpose Emerging evidence shows that immune checkpoint inhibitors lead to durable responses in a variety of cancers, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), however, combination approaches (i.e., stereotactic body radiation therapy, SBRT) are required to extend this benefit beyond a subset of patients. This study retrospectively evaluated eight recurrent/metastatic NPC patients, to investigate how radiation could potentiate PD-1 checkpoint inhibition therapy. Methods Between September 2016 and July 2017, eight consecutive cases with histologically confirmed PDL1-positive status, for which prior standard therapy had been ineffective (five patients), were treated at our institution and Macao Clinics and two patients had disease progression within 6 months of completion of definitive chemoradiation, or one patient refused to receive chemoradiotherapy. All received PD-1 inhibitors first, seven of them accepted SBRT with an unmodified PD-1 inhibitors regimen after first evaluation as they were unresponsive to PD-1 inhibitors alone. Treatment was discontinued as long as patients were experiencing a clinical benefit in the opinion of the physicians and at least five cycles were given before stoppage. Results Median follow-up time was 56.7 months. The confirmed objective response rate based on RECIST-v1.1 at first evaluation was 12.5% (1/8). For the seven cases who received SBRT, six of them experience an objective response (6/7, 85.7%) after SBRT. Only one patient showed rapid progress and die within 95 days after the initiation of SBRT intervention. Three patients who did not have all lesions exposed to irradiation were available to evaluate the incidence of an abscopal effect, however, it did not occur as expected. Median PFS and OS for the seven patients were 8.0 and 30.8 months after SBRT intervention, respectively. Two-year OS as indicated was 71.0%. Conclusions PD-1 inhibitors combined with SBRT demonstrated promising antitumor activity in patients with PD-L1 positive RM-NPC. Patients may benefit from continue immunotherapy beyond disease progression when SBRT was introduced.

Recent studies show that contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) using SonoVue has the potential to improve the performance of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in patients with early breast cancer. However, the evidence of SLNB using CEUS in patients converting from cN1 to cN0 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is lacking. The aim of this prospective study is to evaluate the feasibility of CEUS using SonoVue for the identification of sentinel lymph node (SLN) and the value of the combination of CEUS and blue dye (BD) for SLNB in patients converting from cN1 to cN0 following NAC. Patients with cytology-proven node positive breast cancer at the initial diagnosis (stage T1-T3N1M0) from January 2018 to January 2019, underwent NAC. Patients converting from cN1 to cN0 following NAC were enrolled and randomized into two groups for SLNB: the combination method group using CEUS and BD together, and the single BD method group. Then all patients underwent complete axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and primary breast surgery. Compared with the final pathological results, the identification rate, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, false negative rate, negative predictive value, positive predictive value were recorded and compared between two methods. A total of 400 patients with stage T1-T3N1M0 disease underwent NAC between January 2018 to January 2019, among which 134 (33.5%) patients had clinically negative node confirmed by imaging after NAC and randomized into two groups. Each group included 67 cases. In the combination method group, contrast-enhanced lymphatic vessels in 66 cases of 67 were clearly visualized by US soon after the periareolar injection of SonoVue and the SLNs were accurately localized. The identification rate of the combination method was 98.5%%, which was significantly higher than 83.6% (56/67) using the single BD method. The mean numbers of SLNs identified by the combination method was higher than that by the single BD method. Compared with pathological diagnosis, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, the positive predictive value, the negative predictive value, and the FNR of the combingation method were 84.4%, 100%, 89.4%, 100%, 75%, and 15.6%, respectively. In contrast, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, the positive predictive value, the negative predictive value, and the FNR using single blue dye were 73.9%, 100%, 89.3%, 100%, 84.6%, and 26.1%, respectively. The FNR using the combination method was significantly lower than that using single BD. Identification of SLNs in patients converting from cN1 to cN0 following NAC by CEUS is a technically feasible. The combination of CEUS and BD is more effective than BD alone for SLNB in patients converting from cN1 to cN0 following NAC.

The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), one of the earliest remote sensing analytical products used to simplify the complexities of multi-spectral imagery, is now the most popular index used for vegetation assessment. This popularity and widespread use relate to how an NDVI can be calculated with any multispectral sensor with a visible and a near-IR band. Increasingly low costs and weights of multispectral sensors mean they can be mounted on satellite, aerial, and increasingly—Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). While studies have found that the NDVI is effective for expressing vegetation status and quantified vegetation attributes, its widespread use and popularity, especially in UAS applications, carry inherent risks of misuse with end users who received little to no remote sensing education. This article summarizes the progress of NDVI acquisition, highlights the areas of NDVI application, and addresses the critical problems and considerations in using NDVI. Detailed discussion mainly covers three aspects: atmospheric effect, saturation phenomenon, and sensor factors. The use of NDVI can be highly effective as long as its limitations and capabilities are understood. This consideration is particularly important to the UAS user community.

Supply chain system experiences variance amplification in order replenishment and inventory level, leading to severe inefficiencies of the system. Information distortion is universally known as a fundamental reason for the variance amplification phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of demand information sharing in reducing bullwhip effect and improving the robustness of supply chain systems. The “automatic pipeline inventory and order-based production control system, APIOBPCS” is adopted to model supply chains with different information-sharing strategies. The stochastic factors in the supply chain system lead to poor performance in system robustness. Taguchi design is adopted to find out the optimal setting of ordering parameters in the APIOBPCS model for a robust supply chain. An extension of Taguchi design is adopted to solve the multi-response problems. The weighted signal-to-noise ratio is used as the performance index of the overall performance of the supply chain, including inventory cost, customer service level, and inventory variance amplification. The results show that full demand information transparency helps to improve the overall performance of supply chain. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of stochastic lead times verifies the results. This research gives some insights to improve the overall performance of supply chain via information sharing.

In situ ceramic phase reinforced Ti-based composite coatings were successfully fabricated on Ti-6Al-4V alloys by laser cladding using Ti + Al + Si mixed powders with different NbC contents (0, 5, 10, 15 wt.%). The effects of different NbC content on the microstructural evolution, hardness, and wear behaviors of the Ti-based composite coatings were studied. The results showed that the phase in the cladding layer was mainly consisted of Ti3Al, TiAl, and Ti5Si3 before NbC was added. After NbC was added, the TiC and Ti3AlC2 ceramic reinforcement phase was in suit synthesized. In addition, (Ti, Nb)C were also found. The in situ formed phases were proved beneficial to the improvement of the coating property. With the addition of NbC, the hardness of the coating is apparently increased. When the content of NbC is 15%, the maximum hardness of the coating is 1024 HV0.2, which is almost three times that of the substrate. The coefficient of friction of the coating without NbC was 0.591. With the addition of NbC, the coefficient of friction of S2, S3, and S4 was significantly decreased to 0.450, 0.388, and 0.375, respectively. Furthermore, the addition of NbC improves the worn surface of the coatings.

Context Image classification is routine in a variety of disciplines, and analysts rely on accuracy metrics to evaluate the resulting maps. The most frequently used accuracy metric in Earth resource remote sensing is overall accuracy. However, the inherent properties of this accuracy metric make it inappropriate as the single metric for map assessment, particularly when a map contains imbalanced categories. Objectives We discuss four noteworthy problems with overall accuracy. Under circumstances frequently encountered, overall accuracy is misleading or misinterpreted. Methods Literature review, hypothetical examples, and mathematic equations are used to prove overall accuracy is a poor general indicator of map quality. Conclusions Any research that involves classification techniques or a map product that is evaluated only with overall accuracy may be unreliable. It is necessary for map providers to publish the error matrix and its development procedure so that map users can computer whatever metrics as they wish.

The quenched M50NiL steel was plasma nitrided at 560 °C with and without rare earth (RE) addition. The effect of pure RE lanthanum (La) on the surface properties of plasma nitrided M50NiL steel was investigated using pin-on-disk tribometer. The treated surfaces were characterized using SEM equipped with EDS, XRD and microhardness tester. The results show that the presence of La obviously changes the surface morphologies and phase structures of the nitrided layers. The Fe4N phase appeared on the plasma nitrided surface is replaced by the LaFeO3 phase after introducing La into nitriding atmosphere. A suitable amount of La addition could accelerate the nitriding process by regulating the nitrogen concentration on the nitrided surface. The wear rates of plasma nitrided specimens are apparently lower than that of untreated one. The involvement of La could further reduce the wear rates of plasma nitrided specimens. The specimen plasma nitrided with La addition of 2.5 g demonstrates the best wear resistance with the wear rate of 3.01 ± 0.4 × 10−5 mm3/Nm. The transition of wear mode between adhesion and abrasion is mainly due to the differences in the phase structures and their proportion in the nitrided layers.

In our study, we collected 146 surface soil samples in Xiamen City and measured the concentrations of five heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn) and one metalloid (As). Multivariate statistics, geostatistics and Random Forest methods were applied to identify the potential sources and spatial variation of the six elements. The results revealed that As, Cr, and Ni originated mainly from industrial activities, and higher concentrations were found in developed areas. The amounts of Cu, Pb, and Zn in soils were mainly predetermined by soil parent material and agricultural activities. Besides, the atmospheric deposition rather than industrial activities substantially influenced the accumulation of Pb in the soils near the boundary between Tong'an and Quanzhou City, because there were few industries but many forests in this area. Because of the connections of the six elements with factor values of factor analysis, appropriate and accessible covariates could be used in co-kriging to increase the accuracies of interpolation of heavy metal and metalloid concentrations relative to that in ordinary kriging.

Background Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a main pathological type of non-small cell lung cancer. It is common among elderly patients with poor prognosis. We aimed to establish an accurate nomogram to predict survival for elderly patients (≥ 60 years old) with SCC based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Methods The gerontal patients diagnosed with SCC from 2010 to 2015 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. The independent prognostic factors were identified using multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, which were utilized to conduct a nomogram for predicting survival. The novel nomogram was evaluated by Concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, net reclassification improvement (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results 32,474 elderly SCC patients were included in the analysis, who were randomly assigned to training cohort (n = 22,732) and validation cohort (n = 9742). The following factors were contained in the final prognostic model: age, sex, race, marital status, tumor site, AJCC stage, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Compared to AJCC stage, the novel nomogram exhibited better performance: C-index (training group: 0.789 vs. 0.730, validation group: 0.791 vs. 0.733), the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the training set (1-year AUC: 0.846 vs. 0.791, 3-year AUC: 0.860 vs. 0.801, 5-year AUC: 0.859 vs. 0.794) and the validation set (1-year AUC: 0.846 vs. 0.793, 3-year AUC: 0.863 vs. 0.806, 5-year AUC: 0.866 vs. 0.801), and the 1-, 3- and 5-year calibration plots. Additionally, the NRI and IDI and 1-, 3- and 5-year DCA curves all confirmed that the nomogram was a great prognosis tool. Conclusions We constructed a novel nomogram that could be practical and helpful for precise evaluation of elderly SCC patient prognosis, thus helping clinicians in determining the appropriate therapy strategies for individual SCC patients.

The mechanism of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-positive breast cancer-associated bone metastasis is poorly understood. In this article, we report that nuclear p21-activated kinase 4 (nPAK4) is a novel repressor of ERα-mediated transactivation in a 17β-estradiol (E2)-dependent manner and promotes PAK4–ERα axis-mediated bone metastasis by targeting leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) in ERα-positive breast cancer. An evaluation of clinical breast cancer samples revealed that nPAK4 is linked to ERα expression and appears to be associated with a poor prognosis in bone metastatic breast cancer. PAK4 bound and co-translocated with ERα from the cytoplasm to the nucleus upon stimulation with E2. nPAK4 enhanced the invasive potential of ERα-positive breast cancer cells in vitro and promoted breast cancer metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, nPAK4 promoted the metastasis of ERα-positive breast cancer cells by targeting LIFR, a bone metastasis suppressor. Strikingly, the nuclear accumulation of PAK4 might promote aggressive phenotypes, highlighting nPAK4 as a novel predictive biomarker for ERα-positive breast cancer bone metastasis.

The authors describe the construction of a renewable electrochemical method for determination of honokiol in complex traditional Chinese herbs. A nanocomposite consisting of reduced graphene oxide and titanium dioxide was prepared and deposited on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). This composite endows the GCE with self-cleaning capability via ultraviolet illumination. Under optimized conditions and at a typical working voltage of 0.54 V (vs. Ag/AgCl), the sensor has a linear response in the 0.025 to 10 μmol·L−1 honokinol concentration range, and the detection limit is 20 nmol·L−1 (at an S/N ratio of 3). The method was successfully applied to the determination of honokiol in cortex herbs and its galenicals.

The risk factors of high trait anger of juvenile offenders were explored through questionnaire study in a youth correctional facility of Hubei province, China. A total of 1090 juvenile offenders in Hubei province were investigated by self-compiled social-demographic questionnaire, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-II (STAXI-II). The risk factors were analyzed by chi-square tests, correlation analysis, and binary logistic regression analysis with SPSS 19.0. A total of 1082 copies of valid questionnaires were collected. High trait anger group (n=316) was defined as those who scored in the upper 27th percentile of STAXI-II trait anger scale (TAS), and the rest were defined as low trait anger group (n=766). The risk factors associated with high level of trait anger included: childhood emotional abuse, childhood sexual abuse, step family, frequent drug abuse, and frequent internet using (P0.05 or P0.01). Birth sequence, number of sibling, ranking in the family, identity of the main care-taker, the education level of care-taker, educational style of care-taker, family income, relationship between parents, social atmosphere of local area, frequent drinking, and frequent smoking did not predict to high level of trait anger (P0.05). It was suggested that traumatic experience in childhood and unhealthy life style may significantly increase the level of trait anger in adulthood. The risk factors of high trait anger and their effects should be taken into consideration seriously.

The space manipulator which has advantages of high dexterity and universality, is used to the space capturing usually. According to the different types of mechanical interfaces of targets, the on orbit capturing operation includes capturing of cooperative target and capturing of uncooperative target. The performances of the famous large space manipulators named space shuttle remote manipulator system (SRMS), the space station remote manipulator system (SSRMS) and the Europe robotic arm (ERA) are reviewed and studied respectively. Moreover, the space manipulators being developed by China for space station is also surveyed. Based on the performance analysis of the large space manipulators and end-effectors, which are adapted to the construction and daily maintenance for the large space structure such as the space station, the basic requirements of large misalignment tolerance capability, soft capturing capability and hard docking capability for the end-effector of large space manipulator are proposed in this paper. According to these requirements, the capture mechanism and methods that can enable the end-effector to have the capability of misalignment tolerance and soft capturing are presented. The development trend and key technologies of the large space manipulators and the end-effectors are also reviewed.

The article reports an aptamer based assay for cocaine by employing graphene oxide and exonuclease III-assisted signal amplification. It is based on the following scheme and experimental steps: (1) Exo III can digest dsDNA with blunt or recessed 3-terminus, but it has limited activity to ssDNA or dsDNA with protruding 3-terminus; (2) GO can absorb the FAM-labeled ssDNA probe and quench the fluorescence of probe, while the affinity between FAM-labeled mononucleotide and GO is negligible; (3) Cocaine aptamer can be split into two flexible ssDNA pieces (Probe 1 and Probe 2) without significant perturbation of cocaine-binding abilities; (4) The triple complex consisting of Probe 1, Probe 2 and cocaine can be digested by Exo III with the similar efficiency as normal dsDNA. Cocaine aptamer is split into two flexible ssDNA pieces (Probe 2 and 3′-FAM-labeled Probe 1). Cocaine can mediate the cocaine aptamer fragments forming a triplex. The triple complex has unique characteristic with 3′-FAM-labeled blunt end at the Probe 1 and 3′-overhang end at Probe 2. If exonuclease III is added, it will catalyze the stepwise removal of fluorescein (FAM) labeled mononucleotides from the 3-hydroxy termini of the special triplex complex, resulting in liberation of cocaine. The cocaine released in this step can produce a new cleavage cycle, thereby leading to target recycling. Through such a cyclic bound-hydrolysis process, small amounts of cocaine can induce the cleavage of a large number of FAM-labeled probe 1. The cleaved FAM-labeled mononucleotides are not adsorbed on the surface of graphene oxide (GO), so a strong fluorescence signal enhancement is observed as the cocaine triggers enzymatic digestion. Under optimized conditions, the assay allows cocaine to be detected in the 1 to 500 nM concentration range with a detection limit of 0.1 nM. The method was applied to the determination of cocaine in spiked human plasma, with recoveries ranging from 92.0 to 111.8 % and RSD of

Drones of various shapes, sizes, and functionalities have emerged over the past few decades, and their civilian applications are becoming increasingly appealing. Flexible, low-cost, and high-resolution remote sensing systems that use drones as platforms are important for filling data gaps and supplementing the capabilities of crewed/manned aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems. Here, we refer to this growing remote sensing initiative as drone remote sensing and explain its unique advantages in forestry research and practices. Furthermore, we summarize the various approaches of drone remote sensing to surveying forests, mapping canopy gaps, measuring forest canopy height, tracking forest wildfires, and supporting intensive forest management. The benefits of drone remote sensing include low material and operational costs, flexible control of spatial and temporal resolution, high-intensity data collection, and the absence of risk to crews. The current forestry applications of drone remote sensing are still at an experimental stage, but they are expected to expand rapidly. To better guide the development of drone remote sensing for sustainable forestry, it is important to systematically and continuously conduct comparative studies to determine the appropriate drone remote sensing technologies for various forest conditions and/or forestry applications.

Many ecosystems extend across national or political boundaries. The consistent and effective protection of these ecosystems in transboundary areas (ETAs) is an important global research focus. Previous research on the protection of such areas can be categorized into seven themes: 1) ecological conservation of a single ETA; 2) investigation of the effects of a single conservation measure on a specific ETA; 3) determination of species-level effects due to ETA conservation; 4) comparison of the same protection measures between different ETAs; 5) introduction of a single conservation measure to a specific ETA; 6) understanding the relationship between conservation and sustainable development; and 7) generalization across multiple ETA conservation cases. The protection of ETAs involves various considerations, including funding support, demand and will for collaboration, community and public participation, historical and cultural factors, political backgrounds, uniqueness of biological resources, formulation of laws and regulations, founding of specialized administrative departments, non-governmental organizations, and fairness. Here, we briefly explain the research themes and considerations related to ETA conservation. The most important finding is that most major research themes do not focus on the challenges of ETA conservation. We use two nature reserves located between China and North Korea as examples to identify specific ways to improve ETA conservation on Changbai Mountains. The efficiency of ETA administration still remains low. The study of ETA conservation should focus on concrete regional information and aim to improve existing measures through the accumulation of experience.

The article describes a fluorometric and sensitive assay for mercury(II) ions (Hg2+). It is based on the following scheme and experimental steps: (1) Hg2+ triggers the self-hybridization of thymine-rich ss-DNA labeled with a fluorescence tag to form a ds-DNA; (2) in the absence of Hg2+, labeled ss-DNA will be adsorbed on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) and its fluorescence is quenched; (3) the ds-DNA formed in the presence of Hg2+ is cleaved by the catalytic action of exonuclease III; (4) the cleaved labeled DNA fragments do not adsorb on the surface of GO, this resulting in an increase in fluorescence intensity. The induction of the process by Hg2+ leads to a strong amplification of fluorescence, while the fluorescence of uncleaved labeled ss-DNA is quenched because it is adsorbed on the surface of GO in the absence of Hg2+. This assay displays a detection limit of 0.1 nM (which is below the 10 nM upper limit in drinking water according to the US EPA and can be performed with 8 min.

As the world’s largest importer of timber, China’s challenge in forestry is to find a way to increase forest productivity and carbon sequestration. We argue that China’s state-owned forestry sector has low land productivities mainly because there are hidden barriers in the governmentally controlled forestry system. We suggest that a market-oriented forestry system should be applied to China’s commercial forests, and timber harvesting from commercial forests should not be restricted by a maximum allowable harvest quota or minimum rotation lengths imposed by the national government. The market-oriented forestry system will help increase forestland productivity and revert forest carbon sources into sinks for many degraded forest areas in China.

The north-central region of Indiana in the Midwestern United States was covered by deciduous forest, but was largely cleared for agriculture during the 1800s. The landscape has experienced tremendous change due to forest restoration, urban expansion, and reservoir construction since the early 1900s. At the same time, ecological health and environmental quality have been dramatically degraded in the region. We used simple landscape indices, such as land proportion, TE, and Shared Edge Length (SEL) between any two classes, to examine changes in the spatial patterning of six land cover types, including agriculture, grassland, closed-canopy forest, open-canopy forest, urban, and water, using aerial photographs dating from 1940 to 1998. The landscape’s domination by agriculture did not change (65% in 1940 and 57% in 1998), but there were net gains in area for closed-canopy forest (79%), urban (256%), and water (125%). Several landscape indices did not change much but SEL between closed-canopy forest and urban increased over seven fold, and SEL between water and urban increased over eight fold from 1940 to 1998. More forestlands and water bodies were exposed to human activities. The clumped pattern of forest, water, and urban in a landscape can be ecologically detrimental and should be considered in future land-use decisions.

We report a unique nanosensing platform by combining modern nanotechnology with traditional acupuncture needle to prepare graphene-modified acupuncture needle (G-AN) and using it for sensitive detection of neurotransmitters via electrochemistry. An electrochemical deposition method was employed to deposit Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the tip surface of the traditional acupuncture needle, while the other part of the needle was coated with insulation paste. Subsequently, the G-AN was obtained by cyclic voltammetry reduction of a graphene oxide solution on the surface of the AuNPs. To investigate the sensing property of the G-AN, pH dependence was measured by recording the open circuit potential in the various pH buffer solutions ranging from 2.0 to 10.0. What’s more, the G-AN was further used for detection of dopamine (DA) with a limit of detection of 0.24 μM. This novel G-AN exhibited a good sensitivity and selectivity and could realize direct detection of DA in human serum.

Management-level forest resource data in China were obtained with a combination of two forest inventories. However, inconsistencies in the spatial attributes of forest data vary between the two inventory types and between two inventories of the same type. The inconsistencies make it inconvenient for long-term forest management planning with digital technologies. Ecological Land Types (ELTs) and Ecological Land Type Phases (ELTPs) have been mapped in selected forestry regions in northeast China, where important forest industries are located. The boundaries of ELTs are determined by geomorphic conditions, which are quantified by Digital Elevation Models (DEM); ELTPs are classified by overlaying ELTs with forest vegetation data layers that are obtained with both remotely sensed and ground data. The ELTPs represent the divisions of land in terms of both natural and human-induced forest conditions, and therefore they are reliable units for forest inventories and management. This paper introduces a case study for digitally determining forest inventory units in Benxi City, Liaoning Province, northeast China. The general objective of the study was to explain how a compatible forest inventory system should be designed and why the compatible forest inventory system was significant to digital forestry in China.

Quantitatively estimating soil erosion with an integration of geographic information system (GIS) and the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) under four different exposed soil proportion scenarios caused by forest management practices was studied at Jianchang Forest Farm. The GIS provided means of input data generation required by RUSLE model and allowed a spatial assessment of the erosion hazard over the study area. Four exposed soil proportion scenarios of 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% were tested with the GIS-based RUSLE model to evaluate soil erosion hazard. The predicted soil erosion potentials were classified into five categories in order to provide valuable aids for management planning.

Digital Forestry as a concept was developed after the Digital Earth program. The Chinese scientists were not only among the pioneers who first proposed the concept of Digital Forestry, but also contributed a lot to the development of Digital Forestry. Digital Forestry is a digital framework to maintain forest planting, management, using, and protect. The synergetic use of computationally-intensive quantitative methods together with information technologies is the most important foundation for the development of Digital Forestry. Under this situation, the experience of Digital Forestry development in China is relatively rich. A number of academicians, scholars, and professional administrators were involved in discussing the Digital Forestry Construction Scheme. The Project of Digital Forestry Practicability approved by the State Forestry Administration is a major instance in developing Digital Forestry standard and key techniques. By introducing a case study of Digital Forestry, this paper reviews the concept of Digital Forestry, the way turning traditional forestry into Digital Forestry, and the future development of Digital Forestry.