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The applications of pressure work, pressure-dilatation, and dilatation-dissipation (Sarkar, Zeman, and Wilcox) models to hypersonic boundary flows are investigated. The flat plate boundary layer flows of Mach number 5–11 and shock wave/boundary layer interactions of compression corners are simulated numerically. For the flat plate boundary layer flows, original turbulence models overestimate the heat flux with Mach number high up to 10, and compressibility corrections applied to turbulence models lead to a decrease in friction coefficients and heating rates. The pressure work and pressure-dilatation models yield the better results. Among the three dilatation-dissipation models, Sarkar and Wilcox corrections present larger deviations from the experiment measurement, while Zeman correction can achieve acceptable results. For hypersonic compression corner flows, due to the evident increase of turbulence Mach number in separation zone, compressibility corrections make the separation areas larger, thus cannot improve the accuracy of calculated results. It is unreasonable that compressibility corrections take effect in separation zone. Density-corrected model by Catris and Aupoix is suitable for shock wave/boundary layer interaction flows which can improve the simulation accuracy of the peak heating and have a little influence on separation zone.

Variation in leaf traits is critical for carbon gains and losses during leaf life and drives litter carbon and nutrient losses via decomposition. Accurately quantifying litter decomposition parameters is essential for assessing ecosystem carbon and nutrient dynamics. Leaf litterbags have commonly been employed to measure effects of environmental drivers, decomposers, and plant traits on decomposition rates. There has been much debate regarding the suitability of substituting senesced dead leaves with fresh (green) leaves in litterbags, which has been common practice for mimicking green leaf fall or for practical reasons. Therefore, we tested the null hypothesis that replacement of dead leaves with fresh leaves in litterbag experiments is justified, based on similarities in structural and chemical traits between fresh and dead leaves across plant species and growth forms.We conducted a paired litterbag decomposition experiment with both fresh and dead leaves of 26 common species in subtropical China, in each of five contrasting ecosystems.While fresh leaves generally decomposed faster than dead leaves, this deviation varied among species and growth forms, based on their traits. Overall, there was significant but rather weak correlation between dead leaf decomposition rate k and fresh leaf k, across species and ecosystem types; the deviation between fresh and dead leaf k was larger for fast‐decomposing, mostly herbaceous species. The different decomposition patterns for fresh versus dead leaves were underpinned by key underlying traits integrated in leaf resource economics spectra (LES) for fresh and dead leaves. The dead leaf LES exhibited a greater predictive capability for dead leaf k while the fresh leaf LES had higher explanatory value for the fresh leaf k values.Our findings partly reject the null hypothesis and ask for caution in inferring leaf litter decomposition rates based on green leaf litterbags or traits data. We suggest follow‐up research on substituting senesced roots and stems with fresh ones in decomposition experiments.Synthesis. Human activities and extreme weather events are leading to increasing pulse inputs of fresh plant parts and our study contributes to knowledge on how they contribute to overall decomposition rates besides senesced litter inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is characterized by a gradual loss of kidney function and affects ~13.4% of the global population. Progressive tubulointerstitial fibrosis, driven in part by proximal tubule (PT) damage, is a hallmark of late stages of CKD and contributes to the development of kidney failure, for which there are limited treatment options. Normal kidney development requires signaling by vitamin A (retinol), which is metabolized to retinoic acid (RA), an endogenous agonist for the RA receptors (RARα, β, γ). RARα levels are decreased in a mouse model of diabetic nephropathy and restored with RA administration; additionally, RA treatment reduced fibrosis. We developed a mouse model in which a spatiotemporal (tamoxifen-inducible) deletion of RARα in kidney PT cells of adult mice causes mitochondrial dysfunction, massive PT injury, and apoptosis without the use of additional nephrotoxic substances. Long-term effects (3 to 4.5 mo) of RARα deletion include increased PT secretion of transforming growth factor β1, inflammation, interstitial fibrosis, and decreased kidney function, all of which are major features of human CKD. Therefore, RARα's actions in PTs are crucial for PT homeostasis, and loss of RARα causes injury and a key CKD phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]