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Abstract This paper proposes an improved two‐degree‐of‐freedom active disturbance rejection controller for the coupling problem of asynchronous motor vector system. To simplify the analysis process and accommodate observers of different types, a unified expression based on different controllers for the system output is developed. The closed‐loop transfer function generated by the reference input and load disturbance is given. For the coupling problem of motor output speed and immunity, the structure of a higher‐order extended state observer is reconstructed. The extended state observer estimates both the output speed and the total system disturbance, which serve as feedback and feed‐forward compensation quantities. Compared to the PI controller and traditional active disturbance rejection controller, the proposed controller achieves decoupling of output response speed and immunity, simplifies the process of parameter tuning. Finally, simulation and experiment results verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the algorithm in this paper.

The escalating global demand for protein and the imperative to meet sustainable development goals have driven the emergence of biotransformation platforms, with methanotrophs showing significant potential in this field. In this paper, the metabolism, nutritional requirements, cultivation strategies, and bioreactors of methanotrophs are reviewed. Integrating upstream and downstream technologies is also advocated to advance the development of methanotroph biotransformation platforms toward a circular economy model. The advancements in utilizing biogas as a viable carbon source and wastewater as a nitrogen source are discussed, emphasizing the need for detailed quality control and safety assessments to ensure the suitability of single-cell protein as animal feed. In general, by integrating advanced nutrient recovery technologies to define new process routes, methanotroph biotransformation platforms can bring better environmental benefits by reducing carbon emissions and saving resources. Shifting to renewable energy is crucial for achieving environmental sustainability. By using renewable energy to power microbial fermentation, biomass dehydration, and waste recycling, the platform can offset high energy consumption and attain significant market competitiveness with traditional protein sources.

The data input process for most chest pain centers is not intelligent, requiring a lot of staff to manually input patient information. This leads to problems such as long processing times, high potential for errors, an inability to access patient data in a timely manner and an increasing workload. To address the challenge, an Internet of Things (IoT)-driven chest pain center is designed, which crosses the sensing layer, network layer and application layer. The system enables the construction of intelligent chest pain management through a pre-hospital app, Ultra-Wideband (UWB) positioning, and in-hospital treatment. The pre-hospital app is provided to emergency medical services (EMS) centers, which allows them to record patient information in advance and keep it synchronized with the hospital's database, reducing the time needed for treatment. UWB positioning obtains the patient's hospital information through the zero-dimensional base station and the corresponding calculation engine, and in-hospital treatment involves automatic acquisition of patient information through web and mobile applications. The system also introduces the Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM)-Conditional Random Field (CRF)-based algorithm to train electronic medical record information for chest pain patients, extracting the patient's chest pain clinical symptoms. The resulting data are saved in the chest pain patient database and uploaded to the national chest pain center. The system has been used in Liaoning Provincial People's Hospital, and its subsequent assistance to doctors and nurses in collaborative treatment, data feedback and analysis is of great significance.

1.2 Previous studies have confirmed that air and light pollution can cause damage to a number of systems throughout the body, including the ocular surface and retina. However, the exact effect of air pollution and light pollution on tear film function is not clear. This study explored the different operation room environmental exposures on tear film function before and after operation. Sixty medical staff in the operating room were selected and divided into 4 groups according to different surgical methods to evaluate the tear film function before and after operation: Da Vinci surgery group (DVSS), Laparoscopic surgery group (LS), Traditional surgery group (TS), and Ophthalmic microsurgery group (OM). The results showed that the levels of light and air pollution were elevated in operating rooms during the operation and the changes of tear film function in the other three groups were statistically significant except for DVSS group. In TS group, particulate matter (pm) 1 (R = 0.61, p

Abstract Background Heteroplexis Chang is an endangered genus endemic to China with important ecological and medicinal value. However, due to the lack of genetic data, our conservation strategies have repeatedly been delayed by controversial phylogenetic (molecular) relationships within the genera. In this study, we reported three new Heteroplexis chloroplast (cp.) genomes (H. vernonioides, H. impressinervia and H. microcephala) to clarify phylogenetic relationships between species allocated in this genus and other related Compositae. Results All three new cp. genomes were highly conserved, showing the classic four regions. Size ranged from 152,984 − 153,221 bp and contained 130 genes (85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA, eight rRNA) and two pseudogenes. By comparative genomic and phylogenetic analyses, we found a large-scale inversion of the entire large single-copy (LSC) region in H. vernonioides, H. impressinervia and H. microcephala, being experimentally verified by PCR. The inverted repeat (IR) regions showed high similarity within the five Heteroplexis plastomes, showing small-size contractions. Phylogenetic analyses did not support the monophyly of Heteroplexis genus, whereas clustered the five species within two differentiated clades within Aster genus. These phylogenetic analyses suggested that the five Heteroplexis species might be subsumed into the Aster genus. Conclusion Our results enrich the data on the cp. genomes of the genus Heteroplexis, providing valuable genetic resources for future studies on the taxonomy, phylogeny, and evolution of Aster genus.

Affected by the pressure and constraints of available resources, plant growth and development, as well as plant life history strategies, usually vary with environmental conditions. Plant buds play a crucial role in the life history of woody plants. Nitraria tangutorum is a common dominant woody species in desertified areas of northern China and its growth is critical to the desert ecosystem. Revealing the allometry of N. tangutorum aboveground bud fates and the linkage between bud traits and plant nutrient contents and stoichiometric ratios can be useful in understanding plant adaptation strategy. We applied seven nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer addition treatments to natural N. tangutorum ramets in Ulan Buh Desert in three consecutive years. We surveyed three types of aboveground buds (dormant buds, vegetative buds, and reproductive buds) in each N. tangutorum ramet, then measured the plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents and ratios during three consecutive years. We specified that reserve growth potential (RGP), vegetative growth intensity (VGI) and sexual reproduction effort (SRE) are the three indices of bud dynamic pattern. The results showed that the bud dynamic pattern of N. tangutorum ramets differed significantly among different fertilizer addition treatments and sampling years. The allometry of RGP, VGI, and SRE was obvious, showing size dependence. The allometric growth relationship fluctuated among the sampling years. The linkage between bud traits and plant stoichiometric characteristics of N. tangutorum ramets showed close correlation with plant P content, C:P and N:P ratios, no significant correlation with plant C content, N content and C:N ratio. These results contribute to an improved understanding of the adaptive strategies of woody plants growing in desert ecosystems and provide insights for adoption of effective measures to restore and conserve plant communities in arid and semi-arid regions.

Stress is well known to contribute to the development of both neurological and psychiatric diseases. In the central nervous system, a role for STING (stimulator of interferon genes) in modulating immunological responses has been widely suggested, and this protein possesses both neurotoxic and neuroprotective properties. However, the potential role of the STING signalling pathway and the underlying regulatory mechanism in chronic stress have not been well established. In this study, C57BL/6 mice were subjected to intermittent restraint stress for 14 days (6 h/day), and sucrose preference, elevated plus maze, and tail suspension tests were performed by mice subjected to chronic restraint stress (RST). Here, we showed that RST mice displayed depression-like behaviours, accompanied by increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the brain. We also observed remarkably decreased levels of the pathway components STING, p-TBK1 (phospho-TANK-binding kinase-1), and p-IRF3 (phospho-interferon regulatory factor-3) in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex of RST mice. Significant reductions in STING fluorescence intensity were also observed in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex of RST mice. Next, fluorescently labelled latex beads, flow cytometry, and CD68-positive cell counts were utilized to evaluate the phagocytic abilities of microglia in vivo and in vitro. Importantly, our results first indicated that activation of the STING pathway by administration of the STING agonist 2′3-cGAMP enhanced microglial phagocytosis and suppressed the release of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β in the brains of RST mice, which further led to antidepressant effects. Based on the results of our study, the amelioration of stress-driven depression-like behaviours by activation of the STING pathway is associated with the suppression of neuroinflammation and enhanced phagocytosis.

Cultivated land protection is an important way to mitigate land pollution and realize the sustainable development of agriculture. To reveal the key factors influencing farmers’ behavior of adopting cultivated land protection techniques (FBACT) from the perspective of land fragmentation and farmland transfer and to analyze the differences, a multivariate probit model is adopted to quantitatively analyze the impacts on FBACT based on field research and questionnaire surveys conducted in Jiangsu Province, China. The results show that farmland transfer promotes FBACT and that large areas of transfer-in land encourage it. Transfer-in land from outside villages reduces FBACT. The willingness of farmers to adopt protection techniques is affected by their age, their education level, family labor and the agricultural labor price, and it is hindered by land fragmentation. Encouraging farmers to transfer-in land from local villages and increasing their expectations of benefits from cultivated land protection will inspire them to adopt protection techniques. To increase the farmland transfer rate and to alleviate land fragmentation, the government should enhance the management of farmland transfer contracts and strengthen the stability of farmland use rights in farmland transfer. Promoting the transfer and integration of adjacent plots and appropriately expanding plot size will help improve FBACT.

To identify genes that respond to increased nitrogen and assess the involvement of the chlorophyll metabolic pathway and associated regulatory mechanisms in these responses, Nitraria tangutorum seedlings were subjected to four nitrogen concentrations (N0, N6, N36, and N60: 0, 6, 36, and 60 mmol·L−1 nitrogen, respectively). The N. tangutorum seedling leaf transcriptome was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing (Illumina HiSeq 4000), and 332,420 transcripts and 276,423 unigenes were identified. The numbers of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were 4052 in N0 vs. N6, 6181 in N0 vs. N36, and 3937 in N0 vs. N60. Comparing N0 and N6, N0 and N36, and N0 and N60, we found 1101, 2222, and 1234 annotated DEGs in 113, 121, and 114 metabolic pathways, respectively, classified in the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes database. Metabolic pathways with considerable accumulation were involved mainly in anthocyanin biosynthesis, carotenoid biosynthesis, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, and amino acid metabolism. N36 increased δ-amino levulinic acid synthesis and upregulated expression of the magnesium chelatase H subunit, which promoted chlorophyll a synthesis. Hence, N36 stimulated chlorophyll synthesis rather than heme synthesis. These findings enrich our understanding of the N. tangutorum transcriptome and help us to research desert xerophytes’ responses to increased nitrogen in the future.

As the largest processing sector of primary energy, the transformation and upgrading of the power sector is undoubtedly an effective way to alleviate the situation of energy and environment. This article studies the gradual goals of the transformation and upgrading of China’s power industry, where the conditions of technical judgment, specific profile, and moderate agenda are incorporated. The empirical analysis of China’s provincial power sectors based on the constructed models came to the following results. First, it is of great importance to consider the profile of each region’s power sector in setting energy-saving and emission reduction targets. The analysis of variance demonstrates significant differences in the reference points of inputs and outputs under the 1% confidence level. Second, regardless of the specific quantity, the strongly consistent trends of the short- and long-term targets demonstrated the feasibility and effectiveness of the gradual goals. Finally, realizing the potential of energy-saving and emission reduction needs a gradual pathway instead of accomplishing in one stroke. The targets of this study, which are attainable for the power sector and still represent a best practice, could serve as transitional benchmarks in power supply and emission reduction. To further achieve carbon neutrality, the management strategy to coordinate power supply and renewable energy accommodation needs to be transformed.

Abstract Background Monitoring and providing early warning are essential operations in the anaerobic digestion (AD) process. However, there are still several challenges for identifying the early warning indicators and their thresholds. One particular challenge is that proposed strategies are only valid under certain conditions. Another is the feasibility and universality of the detailed threshold values obtained from different AD systems. In this article, we report a novel strategy for identifying early warning indicators and defining threshold values via a combined experimental and simulation approach. Results The AD of corn stalk (CS) was conducted using mesophilic, completely stirred anaerobic reactors. Two overload modes (organic and hydraulic) and overload types (sudden and gradual) were applied in order to identify early warning indicators of the process and determine their threshold values. To verify the selection of experimental indicators, a combined experimental and simulation approach was adopted, using a modified anaerobic bioconversion mathematical model (BioModel). Results revealed that the model simulations agreed well with the experimental data. Furthermore, the ratio of intermediate alkalinity to bicarbonate alkalinity (IA/BA) and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were selected as the most potent early warning indicators, with warning times of 7 days and 5–8 days, respectively. In addition, IA, BA, and VFA/BA were identified as potential auxiliary indicators for diagnosing imbalances in the AD system. The relative variations for indicators based on that of steady state were observed instead of the absolute threshold values, which make the early warning more feasible and universal. Conclusion The strategy of a combined approach presented that the model is promising tool for selecting and monitoring early warning indicators in various corn stalk AD scenarios. This study may offer insight into industrial application of early warning in AD system with mathematical model.

Pain relief is a major concern for patients who have undergone surgery, and it is an eternal pursuit for anesthesiologists. However, postoperative pain management is far from satisfactory, though the past decades have witnessed great progress in the development of novel analgesics and analgesic techniques. A Cochrane systematic review showed that patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) achieved better pain relief and greater patient satisfaction than traditional “on-demand” parenteral analgesia, suggesting that it might be the manner of analgesia implementation that matters for effective postoperative pain management. A wireless intelligent PCA (Wi-PCA) system that incorporated remote monitoring, an intelligent alarm, intelligent analysis and assessment of the PCA equipment, as well as automatically recording and reserving key information functions under a wireless environment was introduced in our department in 2018. The practice showed that the Wi-PCA system significantly reduced the incidence of moderate to severe postoperative pain and relevant adverse effects, shortened hospital stays, and improved patient satisfaction with postoperative pain relief. Nevertheless, for both traditional and Wi-PCA, analgesics are only administered when pain occurs, leaving behind a realm of possibilities for better postoperative pain management. With the rapid development of machinery and deep learning algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the mode of clinical decision making. Integrating the big data collected by state-of-the-art monitoring sensors, the Internet of Things and AI algorithms, an AI-assisted PCA (Ai-PCA) may be a promising future direction for postoperative pain management.

The direct use of digestate on farmlands as soil amendment is becoming an uneconomic option for farmers. Moreover, there are serious environmental concerns about its oversupply in regions with intensive biogas plants. Downstream technologies, offering innovative upcycling methods to handle huge amounts of digestate, have absorbed great interest in this context. In this study, three digestate treatment technologies were compared from a life cycle assessment perspective to combine the environmental impacts from pig manure transportation to biogas plants, biogas production, different digestate treatment technologies, and the use of final products. The results showed that scenario including digestate fractionation into solid and liquid, and their use for compost production and microalgae cultivation, respectively, would be a suitable downstream strategy with lower impacts on human health, ecosystem quality, and climate change damage categories, however future improvements still required. The results showed that sealed storage system or fast-continuous downstream processes as well as shorter distances between biogas plants and farms can significantly enhance the environmental performance of coupled anaerobic digestion and microalgae production. The high energy payback also signified that co-digestion of pig manure and microalgae would be energetically favorable in this context. However, having compared the results with a baseline scenario demonstrated that the direct use of digestate on farmlands, under controlled conditions to avoid its over application, is still the most environmentally favorable option, despite being a costly option for farmers. The results achieved in the present study suffered some uncertainties because technologies under consideration are at their infancy stage, thus further research still is required to find the most sustainable solutions. Keywords: Anaerobic digestion, Digestate treatment, Flocculation-biological contact oxidation, Microalgae

Abstract Background Small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (SK channels) play a critical role in action potential repolarization in cardiomyocytes. Recently, the potential anti-arrhythmic effect of metformin in diabetic patients has been recognized, yet the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Methods Diabetic Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rats were untreated or treated with metformin (300 mg/kg/day) for 12 weeks, and age-matched Wistar rats were used as control (n = 6 per group). Electrocardiography, Hematoxylin-eosin staining and Masson’s trichome staining were performed to assess cardiac function, histology and fibrosis. The expression levels of the SK channels in the myocardium were determined by real-time PCR and Western blotting. The electrophysiology of the SK channels in the cardiomyocytes isolated from the three groups of rats was examined by patch clamp assay, with specific blockade of the SK channels with apamin. Results Metformin treatment significantly reduced cardiac fibrosis and alleviated arrhythmia in the diabetic rats. In the atrial myocytes from control, GK and metformin-treated GK rats, the expression of KCa2.2 (SK2 channel) was down-regulated and the expression of KCa2.3 (SK3 channel) was up-regulated in the atrium of GK rats as compared with that of control rats, and metformin reversed diabetes-induced alterations in atrial SK channel expression. Moreover, patch clamp assay revealed that the SK current was markedly reduced and the action potential duration was prolonged in GK atrial myocytes, and the SK channel function was partially restored in the atrial myocytes from metformin-treated GK rats. Conclusions Our data suggests an involvement of the SK channels in the development of arrhythmia under diabetic conditions, and supports a potential beneficial effect of metformin on atrial electrophysiology.

Background: Biomarker-targeted molecular imaging holds promise for early detection of pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a plectin-1 targeted multi-functional nanoparticle probe for pancreatic cancer imaging. Methods: 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-amino(polyethylene glycol) (DSPE-PEG-NH2)-modified superparamagnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (SPION) were conjugated with plectin-1 antibody and/or Cy7 to create the multi-functional targeted nanoparticle targeted probe (Plectin-SPION-Cy7) or non-targeted probe (SPION-Cy7). Pancreatic carcinoma cell lines expressing plectin-1 were cultured with the targeted or control probes and then were imaged using confocal laser scanning microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Accumulations of the nanoparticles in pancreatic tumor xenografted mice were determined by MRI and fluorescence imaging. Results: In vitro optical imaging and MRI showed that the targeted nanoparticles were highly accumulated in MIAPaCa2 and XPA-1 carcinoma cells but not in non-carcinoma MIN6 cells, which was further confirmed by Prussian blue staining. In vivo MRI showed a significant T2 signal reduction. Prussian blue staining further confirmed that the plectin-1 targeted nanoparticles were highly accumulated in the tumor mass but not in normal pancreatic tissues, or in the liver and kidney, and few nanoparticles were observed in the tumors of mice injected with SPION-Cy7. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate that plectin-1 targeted fluorescence and MR dual-functional nanoparticle can visualize pancreatic cancer, and it has great potential to be used with various imaging devices for pancreatic cancer detection. Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, Plectin-1, Magnetic resonance imaging, Optical imaging, Nanoparticle

This paper is concerned with the output synchronization problems for a class of delayed complex dynamical networks. Based on the invariant principle of functional differential equations and Lyapunov stability theory, the feedback controller and parameter update laws are constructed for a large-scale network with uncertainties. The general complex delayed network can achieve synchronization by adaptively adjusting their feedback gains. Numerical examples are presented to further verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Semiliquidambar cathayensis (Hamamelidaceae) is a rare and endangered species endemic to China. Here, we first report and characterize the complete chloroplast genome sequence of S. cathayensis based on Illumina paired-end sequencing data. The complete plastid genome was 160,406 bp in length, which contained two inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,282 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 88,920 bp and 18,922 bp, respectively. The cpDNA contains 132 genes, comprising 86 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes and one processed pseudogene. The overall GC content of the plastome is 37.9%. The phylogenetic analysis of 20 selected chloroplast genomes demonstrated that S. cathayensis was close to the species Liquidambar formosana.

Annamocarya sinensis (Juglandaceae) is a tertiary relict tree restricted to southeastern China and northern Vietnam. Here, we first report and characterize its complete chloroplast genome based on Illumina paired-end sequencing data. The complete plastid genome was 160,065 bp, which contained inverted repeats (IR) of 25,786 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 89,759 bp and 18,734 bp, respectively. The cpDNA contains 130 genes, comprising 85 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, 8 rRNA genes, and one processed pseudogene. The overall GC content of the plastome is 36.3%. The phylogenetic analysis of 18 selected chloroplast genomes demonstrated that A. sinensis was close to the species Carya kweichowensis.

Hopea chinensis (Dipterocarpaceae) is a rare and critically endangered species. Here, we first report and characterize its complete chloroplast genome sequence based on Illumina paired-end sequencing data. The complete plastid genome was 152,054 bp, which contained inverted repeats (IR) of 21,702 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) and a small single-copy (SSC) of 20,462 bp and 88,188 bp, respectively. The cpDNA contains 129 genes, comprising 83 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The overall GC content of the plastome is 37.4%. The phylogenetic analysis of 18 selected chloroplast genomes demonstrated that H. chinensis was close to the species Parashorea macrophylla.

Sophora alopecuroides L. (Fabaceae) is an important medicinal and forage herb species with good economic value. Using an Illumina platform, we sequenced its complete chloroplast genome. Our study reveals that S. alopecuroides have a typical chloroplast genome of 154,108 bp in length, comprised of a large single-copy region (LSC) of 84,221 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 18,139 bp, and inverted repeat regions (IRs) of 258,74 bp. A total of 129 genes, 81 of which are protein coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, eight rRNA genes, and two pseudogenes were identified. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that S. alopecuroides is closely related to the species of Ammopiptanthus mongolicus.

Euphorbia hainanensis is a rare cliff top boskage, which has an important ecological and economic value. In this study, we sequenced its complete chloroplast (cp) genome using Illumina sequencing platform. The cp genome of E. hainanensis is a typical quadripartite structure with a length of 163,977 bp, which contained inverted repeats (IR) of 26,717 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 92,771 bp and 17,772 bp, respectively. A total of 131 genes, 82 of which are protein coding genes, 39 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes were identified. The overall GC content of the plastome is 35.4% while the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions are 32.4%, 30.0%, and 42.4%, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis suggested that E. hainanensis was closely related to the species of E. esula.

Euphorbia tirucalli is a highly drought-tolerant shrub with a potential as biofuel source, which has an important ecological and economic value. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of E. tirucalli was carried out using Illumina sequencing platform. The complete chloroplast genome of E. tirucalli was 163,091 bp in total sequence length, which contained inverted repeats (IR) of 26,832 bp separated by a large single-copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 91,259 bp and 18,168 bp, respectively. The genome annotation displayed a total of 130 genes, comprising 83 protein-coding genes, 39 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The overall GC content of the plastome is 35.6%. Phylogenetic analysis with 15 species revealed that E. tirucalli was close to E. esula.

Endemic to the southeast boundary of Tibet plateau, the medicinal alpine shrub Caragana kozlowii is a threatened species. The genetic and molecular data about it is insufficient. In this paper, the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of C. kozlowii was sequenced by the Illumina sequencing platform. The result suggests that C. kozlowii cp genome is relatively short because it lacks an Inverted Repeat (IR) region. It was 131,274 bp in length, containing one large and one small single copy region (SSC and LSC) of 85,281 and 18,919 bp separated by an inverted repeat region (IR) of 27,074 bp, respectively. It contains unique 110 genes, including 76 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNAs, and 4 rRNAs. Similar to the other Inverted Repeat-Lacking Clade (IRLC) plastomes, rpl22 and rps16 are absent. The cp genome has 34.5% GC content. Phylogenetic analysis based on ten chloroplast genomes indicates that C. kozlowii is closely related to C. rosea.

This paper addresses the problem of adaptive output-feedback control for more general class of stochastic time-varying delay nonlinear systems with unknown control coefficients and perturbations. By using Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, backstepping and tuning function technique, a novel adaptive neural network (NN) output-feedback controller is constructed with fewer learning parameters. The designed controller guarantees that all the signals in the closed-loop system are 4-moment (or mean square) semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded (SGUUB). Finally, a simulation example is shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.

Dilution is considered to be a fast and easily applicable pretreatment for anaerobic digestion (AD) of chicken manure (CM), however, dilution with fresh water is uneconomical because of the water consumption. The present investigation was targeted at evaluating the feasibility and process performance of AD of CM diluted with algal digestate water (AW) for methane production to replace tap water (TW). Moreover, the kinetics parameters and mass flow of the AD process were also comparatively analyzed. The highest methane production of diluted CM (104.39 mL/g volatile solid (VS)) was achieved with AW under a substrate concentration of 8% total solid (TS). The result was markedly higher in comparison with the group with TW (79.54–93.82 mL/gVS). Apart from the methane production, considering its energy and resource saving, nearly 20% of TW replaced by AW, it was promising substitution to use AW for TW to dilute CM. However, the process was susceptible to substrate concentration, inoculum, as well as total ammonia and free ammonia concentration.

With the development of economy and society and the increase of population, water shortage and a series of water-related problems became universal problems. The north China plain has become a global focal point due to the poor water resource background and the impact of climate change and high-intensity human activity. Water circulation, as the carrier of water resource evolution, was affected by climate change through evapotranspiration and also reacts on the climate through energy change. The humid index, as an index of regional water and heat budget, can reflect the circulation characteristics of water supply and consumption. And it can also connect the water cycle and energy cycle organically. The comprehensive index which can comprehensively reflect the degree of surface moisture -- the surface humid index was adopted to reveal the relationship between water budget and climate change in north China plain. Based on the daily meteorological data of 82 meteorological stations in north China plain from 1960 to 2017, the evolution of wetting degree in the whole region was analyzed and the main influencing factors of the change were analyzed in combination with the main meteorological elements. The relevant research is of certain reference value for sustainable development of north China plain and coping with future climate change.

Ammonium assimilation is catalyzed by two enzymatic pathways, i.e., glutamine synthetase/glutamate synthase (GS/GOGAT) and alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH) in Amycolatopsis mediterranei U32. Under nitrogen-rich conditions, the AlaDH pathway is the major route for ammonium assimilation, while the GS/GOGAT pathway takes over when the extracellular nitrogen supply is limited. The global nitrogen regulator GlnR was previously characterized to activate the transcription of the GS encoding gene glnA in response to nitrogen limitation and is demonstrated in this study as a repressor for the transcription of the AlaDH encoding gene ald, whose regulation is consistent with the switch of the ammonium assimilation pathways from AlaDH to GS/GOGAT responding to nitrogen limitation. Three transcription initiation sites (TISs) of ald were determined with primer extension assay, among which transcription from aldP2 contributed the major transcripts under nitrogen-rich conditions but was repressed to an undetectable level in response to nitrogen limitation. Through DNase I footprinting assay, two separate regions were found to be protected by GlnR within ald promoter, within which three GlnR binding sites (a1, b1 sites in region I and a2 site in region II) were defined. Interestingly, the major TIS aldP2 is located in the middle of a2 site within region II. Therefore, one may easily conclude that GlnR represses the transcription of ald via specific binding to the GlnR binding sites, which obviously blocks the transcription initiation from aldP2 and therefore reduces ald transcripts.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects of isoflurane and propofol on mean arterial pressure (MAP), cochlear blood flow (CoBF), distortion-product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE), and the ultrastructure of outer hair cells (OHCs) in guinea pig cochleae. METHODS: Forty-eight male guinea pigs were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups. Groups 1 to 3 were infused (i.v.) with a loading dose of propofol (5 mg/kg) for 5 min and three maintenance doses (10, 20, or 40 mg kg-1·h-1, respectively) for 115 min. Groups 4 to 6 were inhaled with isoflurane at concentrations of 1.15 vol%, 2.30 vol% or 3.45 vol% respectively for 120 min. CoBF and MAP were recorded prior to and at 5 min intervals during drug administration. DPOAE was measured before, immediately after, and 1 h after administration. Following the final DPOAE test, cochleae were examined using scanning electron microscopy. RESULTS: Propofol treatment reduced MAP in a dose-dependent manner. CoBF and DPOAE showed increases at propofol maintenance doses of 10 and 20 mg kg-1·h-1. Inhalation of isoflurane at concentrations of 2.30 vol% and 3.45 vol% reduced MAP and CoBF. DPOAE amplitude increased following inhalation of 1.15 vol% isoflurane, but decreased following inhalations of 2.30 vol% and 3.45 vol%. Cochlear structure was changed following inhalation of either 2.30 vol% or 3.45 vol% isoflurane. CONCLUSIONS: Propofol could decrease MAP and increase both CoBF and DPOAE without affecting OHC structure. Inhalation of isoflurane at concentrations >2.30 vol% decreased CoBF and DPOAE, and produced injury to OHCs.

Environmental pollution and energy crisis restrict the development of China, and the utilization of renewable technology is an effective strategy to alleviate the damage. Biogas engineering has rapidly developed attributes to solve environmental problems and create a renewable energy product biogas. In this paper, two different biogas plants’ materials were analyzed by emergy method. One of them is a biogas project whose degraded material is feces (BPF system), and the other is the one whose degraded material is corn straw (BPC system). As a result, the ecological-economic values of BPF and BPC are $28,300/yr and $8,100/yr, respectively. Considering currency, environment, and human inputs, both of the biogas projects have the ability of disposing waste and potential for development. The proportion of biogas output is much more than fertilizer output; so, fertilizer utilization should be emphasized in the future. In comparison, BPF is better than BPC in the aspects of ecological-economic benefits, environmental benefits, and sustainability. The reason is the difficulty of corn straw seasonal collection and degradation. Thus it is proposed that BPC should be combined with the other raw materials.