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Exploring how functional traits vary and covary is important to understand plant responses to environmental change. However, we have limited understanding of the ways multiple functional traits vary and covary within invasive species.We measured 12 leaf traits of an invasive plant Chromolaena odorata, associated with plant or leaf economics, herbivore defense, and drought resistance on 10 introduced populations from Asia and 12 native populations from South and Central America, selected across a broad range of climatic conditions, and grown in a common garden.Species' range and climatic conditions influenced leaf traits, but trait variation across climate space differed between the introduced and native ranges. Traits that confer defense against herbivores and drought resistance were associated with economic strategy, but the patterns differed by range. Plants from introduced populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum (high photosynthetic capacity) had high physical defense traits (high trichome density), whereas plants from native populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum had high drought escape traits (early leaf senescence and high percentage of withered shoots).Our results indicate that invasive plants can rapidly adapt to novel environmental conditions. Chromolaena odorata showed multiple different functional trait covariation patterns and clines in the native and introduced ranges. Our results emphasize that interaction between multiple traits or functions should be considered when investigating the adaptive evolution of invasive plants.

Aims Plant-soil feedback (PSF), which may vary across space and time, is considered an important mechanism in biological invasion. However, it is still unclear how PSF change during biological invasion in heterogeneous environmental background.Methods Here, we measured the effects of soil microbial communities on the invasive species Ageratina adenophora and soil fungal communities at 24 sites with different invasion periods in two forest gaps with contrasting soil environmental backgrounds. The dominance of A. adenophora (cover and aboveground biomass) and diversity of native species at these sites were evaluated.Results In the lightly disturbed forest gaps, A. adenophora showed strong a positive response to their soil biota relative to sterilized soil (total PSFs), but a negative response to their own soil biota relative to other species’ soil biota (specific PSFs), which increased over their residence time. However, in the severely disturbed forest gaps, the invader had strong positive specific PSFs, which were maintained over a long invasion history. Higher resistance against soil pathogens may contribute to long-term maintenance of positive specific PSFs. Correspondingly, the diversity, richness of native species and dominance of A. adenophora did not significantly change during biological invasion in the lightly disturbed gap whereas in the severely disturbed gap, native species declined, and A. adenophora dominance increased after a long invasion.Conclusions These findings indicate that changes in PSFs may contribute to changes in the dominance and impact of invasive species in forest, and also highlight the need to consider the habitat context when studying PSFs.

Parent materials and the fertility levels of paddy soils are highly variable in subtropical China. Bacterial diversity and community composition play pivotal roles in soil ecosystem processes and functions. However, the effects of parent material and fertility on bacterial diversity and community composition in paddy soils are unclear. The key soil factors driving the changes in bacterial diversity, community composition, and the specific bacterial species in soils that are derived from different parent materials and have differing fertility levels are unknown. Soil samples were collected from paddy fields in two areas with different parent materials (quaternary red clay or tertiary sandstone) and two levels of fertility (high or low). The variations in bacterial diversity indices and communities were evaluated by 454 pyrosequencing which targeted the V4–V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene. The effects of parent material and fertility on bacterial diversity and community composition were clarified by a two-way ANOVA and a two-way PERMANOVA. A principal coordinate analysis (PCoA), a redundancy analysis (RDA), and multivariate regression trees (MRT) were used to assess changes in the studied variables and identify the factors affecting bacterial community composition. Co-occurrence network analysis was performed to find correlations between bacterial genera and specific soil properties, and a statistical analysis of metagenomic profiles (STAMP) was used to determine bacterial genus abundance differences between the soil samples. The contributions made by parent material and soil fertility to changes in the bacterial diversity indices were comparable, but soil fertility accounted for a larger part of the shift in bacterial community composition than the parent material. Soil properties, especially soil texture, were strongly associated with bacterial diversity. The RDA showed that soil organic carbon (SOC) was the primary factor influencing bacterial community composition. A key threshold for SOC (25.5 g kg–1) separated low fertility soils from high fertility soils. The network analysis implied that bacterial interactions tended towards cooperation and that copiotrophic bacteria became dominant when the soil environment improved. The STAMP revealed that copiotrophic bacteria, such as Massilia and Rhodanobacter, were more abundant in the high fertility soils, while oligotrophic bacteria, such as Anaerolinea, were dominant in low fertility soils. The results showed that soil texture played a role in bacterial diversity, but nutrients, especially SOC, shaped bacterial community composition in paddy soils with different parent materials and fertility levels.

The efficient recognition of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) with an aptamer probe confers numerous benefits; however, the stability and binding affinity of aptamers are significantly hampered in real biological sample matrices. Inspired by the efficient preying mechanism by multiplex tubing feet and endoskeletons of sea urchins, we engineered a superefficient biomimetic single-CTC recognition platform by conjugating dual-multivalent-aptamers (DMAs) Sgc8 and SYL3C onto AuNPs to form a sea urchin-like nanoprobe (sea urchin-DMA-AuNPs). Aptamers Sgc8 and SYL3C selectively bind with the biomarker proteins PTK7 and EpCAM expressed on the surface of CTCs. CTCs were captured with 100% efficiency, followed by sorting on a specially designed multifunctional microfluidic configuration, integrating a single-CTC separation unit and a hydrodynamic filtrating purification unit. After sorting, background-free analysis of biomarker proteins in single CTCs was undertaken with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry by measuring the amount of 197Au isotope in sea urchin-DMA-AuNPs. With respect to a single-aptamer nanoprobe/-interface, the dual-aptamer nanoprobe improves the binding efficiency by more than 200% (Kd < 0.35 nM). The microchip facilitates the recognition of single CTCs with a sorting separation rate of 93.6% at a flow rate of 60 μL min-1, and it exhibits 73.8 ± 5.0% measurement efficiency for single CTCs. The present strategy ensures the manipulation and detection of a single CTC in 100 μL of whole blood within 1 h.

A nanoscale MOF-199 was synthesized in a simple and fast way by mixing btc triethylammonium and copper nitrate solution at room temperature and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transm...

To explore the composition of the

As the main chemical constituents, iridoids are widely distributed within Gentiana, Gentianaceae, with promising bioactivities. Based on the previous work, the transcriptome of G. lhassica, an original plant of Tibetan herbquot;Jieji Nabaoquot;, was sequenced and analyzed in this study, and the transcriptome databases of roots, stems, leaves, and flowers were constructed so as to explore unigenes that may encode the key enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway of iridoids. Then, qRT-PCR was used to validate the relative expression levels of 11 genes named AACT, DXS, MCS, HDS, IDI, GPPS, GES, G10H, 7-DLNGT, 7-DLGT, and SLS in roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. Also, the total contents of gentiopicroside and loganic acid were determined by HPLC, respectively. The results are as follows:(1)a total of 76 486 unigenes with an average length of 852 bp were obtained;(2)335 unigenes were involved in 19 stan-dard secondary metabolism pathways in KEGG database, with phenylpropanoid biosynthesis having the maximum number(75 unigenes), and no isoflavone biosynthetic pathway was annotated;(3)171 unigenes participatedin 27 key enzymes encoding in the biosynthetic pathway of iridoids, and 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase(DXR) gene was highly expressed;(4)qRT-PCR results were approximately consistent with RNA-Seq data and the relative expression levels of the 11 genes were higher in the aboveground parts(stem, leaf, and flower) than in the underground part(root);(5)the total contents of gentiopicroside and loganic acid were higher in the aboveground parts(stem, leaf, and flower) than in the underground part(root), and the difference was significant. This study provides basic scientific data for accurate species identification, evaluation of germplasm resources, research on secondary pro-duct accumulation of medicinal plants within Gentianaceae, and protection of endangered alpine species.

It is the first time to investigate local distribution patterns of mercury (Hg) in mice organs after Hg and Se exposure with detection of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Two batch of adult mice were employed to be exposed to inorganic mercury (iHg) and methylmercury (MeHg) with or without Se at the dose of 55 μmol kg-1. Tissue sections of brain, kidney, liver, and spleen from one batch mice were prepared to get local imaging of Hg by LA-ICP-MS. Tissues from another batch mice were used to quantify Hg and Se in tissues with ICP-MS after acid digestion. The results indicated that, for mice exposed to iHg, Hg mainly distributed in kidney, a little in liver, and hardly in brain and spleen; for mice exposed to MeHg, lower amount of Hg was found in kidney, liver and spleen, and almost no Hg was found in brain. It was interesting that for Hg and Se co-administration groups, higher level of Hg was observed in kidney, liver, spleen and even in brain than single Hg administration groups. In addition, Se level in organ tissues increased obviously not only in Se exposure group but also in MeHg exposure group, while the phenomenon was not observed in iHg exposure group. HepG2 cells were employed to investigate Se and Hg interactions in single cell level, similar bioaccumulation behavior of Hg was found between cells and mice organs. Higher level of Hg was observed in cells cultured with Se and Hg medium than cells cultured with single Hg medium. The results are expected to provide new insight to investigate Hg and Se interactions in animal bodies and in-vitro cells.

Human intelligence plays a significant role in the operation of a multi-agent system. This study proposes a control framework that allows a human operator to collaboratively interact with a swarm robot to accomplish environmental exploration, detection, and coverage. A ri-limited Voronoi partition is proposed herein for improving the all-territory sensing range for coverage control. Subsequently, an interactive control framework and control algorithms are presented for an abstract task function that allows a human operator to control the movement of a swarm robot in a working environment. Environmental information is fed back to the master devices so that the human operator can realize the swarm robots coverage control situation. Stability and position tracking with static coverage control and input-to-state stability with dynamic coverage control of the human-swarm system are investigated. The efficiency and efficacy of the proposed system are validated via numerical examples and experiments.

In this study, a crystal porous organic framework (POF) belonging to ctn topology (POFct-1) is synthesized to selectively scavenge Hg(II) and Cu(II) ions. The maximum adsorption capacities of 167.1...

Invasive plants are often genetically different from their native conspecifics. In the introduced range, the evolution of functional traits or plasticity might occur as an adaptive response to novel environmental pressures. Chromolaena odorata originates from the Americas, but now is a noxiously invasive species in some other tropical and subtropical areas. In this study, plant growth, morphology, photosynthesis and plasticity were compared between C. odorata plants from five introduced and five native populations under three light intensities (low, medium and full light). Compared to native C. odorata, introduced conspecifics had higher height under medium and full light, but lower root to shoot biomass ratio across all light conditions, and lower leaf N under medium light. This indicates genetic differences between native and introduced C. odorata. Furthermore, plasticity was higher for introduced C. odorata plants than for native conspecifics under various light environments. Our results indicate that biomass reallocation (from belowground into aboveground) and stronger plasticity could contribute to successful invasion of introduced C. odorata in frequently disturbed environments.

Invasive plants usually occur in limited areas in their native range but may spread into diverse environments in non-native ranges. Therefore, besides increasing competitive ability, evolution may also increase the tolerance of invading plants to environmental stress. In our previous study, we found that evolution facilitates invasive Chromolaena odorata by increasing the allelopathic effect. In this study, we compared drought tolerance of C. odorata between six native and six non-native populations. The results indicated that invasive C. odorata displayed higher drought tolerance than native conspecifics. This study proved that invasive C. odorata had not only evolved increased competitive ability but also drought tolerance, which may have contributed to its wide distribution in non-native ranges.

To study the development of starch granules in polyploid wheats, we investigated the expression of starch synthetic genes between the synthetic hexaploid wheat SHW-L1, its parents T. turgidum AS2255 and diploid Ae. tauschii AS60. The synthetic hexaploid wheat SHW-L1 showed significantly higher starch content and grain weight than its parents. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that SHW-L1 rapidly developed starch granules than AS2255 and AS60. The amount of B-type granule in AS60 was less than that in SHW-L1 and AS2255. RT-qPCR result showed that the starch synthetic genes AGPLSU1, AGPLSU2, AGPSSU1, AGPSSU2, GBSSI, SSIII, PHO1 and PHO2 expressed at earlier stages with larger quantity in SHW-L1 than in its parents during wheat grain development. The expression of the above mentioned genes in AS60 was slower than in SHW-L1 and AS2255. The expression pattern of starch synthase genes was also associated with the grain weight and starch content in all three genotypes. The results suggested that the synthetic hexaploid wheat inherited the pattern of starch granule development and starch synthase gene expression from tetraploid parent. The results suggest that tetraploid wheat could plays more important role for starch quality improvement in hexaploid wheat.

The effects of fertilization on activity and composition of soil microbial community depend on nutrient and water availability; however, the combination of these factors on the response of microorganisms was seldom studied. This study investigated the responses of soil microbial community and enzyme activities to changes in moisture along a gradient of soil fertility formed within a long-term (24 years) field experiment. Soils (0–20 cm) were sampled from the plots under four fertilizer treatments: i) unfertilized control (CK), ii) organic manure (M), iii) nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers (NPK), and iv) NPK plus M (NPK + M). The soils were incubated at three moisture levels: constant submergence, five submerging-draining cycles (S-D cycles), and constant moisture content at 40% water-holding capacity (low moisture). Compared with CK, fertilization increased soil organic carbon (SOC) by 30.1%–36.3%, total N by 27.3%–38.4%, available N by 35.9%–56.4%, available P by 61.4%–440.9%, and total P by 28.6%–102.9%. Soil fertility buffered the negative effects of moisture on enzyme activities and microbial community composition. Enzyme activities decreased in response to submergence and S-D cycles versus low moisture. Compared with low moisture, S-D cycles increased total phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and actinomycete, fungal, and bacterial PLFAs. The increased level of PLFAs in the unfertilized soil after five S-D cycles was greater than that in the fertilized soil. Variations in soil microbial properties responding to moisture separated CK from the long-term fertilization treatments. The coefficients of variation of microbial properties were negatively correlated with SOC, total P, and available N. Soils with higher fertility maintained the original microbial properties more stable in response to changes in moisture compared to low-fertility soil.

Low-molecular-weight thiols play a central role in preventing oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species to maintain a reductive intracellular environment in bacteria. Therefore, targeting thiol-redox homeostasis is considered a promising antimicrobial strategy. Here, we synthesize histidine-stabilized gold nanoclusters (Au NCs), in which the histidine ligand has a weak affinity for gold, thus constructing an effective thiol scavenger by employing metal-thiol depletion chemicals. Au NCs exert excellent antimicrobial effects by consuming thiols and simultaneously causing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in bacteria, resulting in severe oxidative stress. In a mouse skin wound model infected with ampicillin-resistant Escherichia coli pHSP70-EGFP, a low dose of Au NCs exerts a strong therapeutic effect on bacterial clearance and wound healing, indicating the effectiveness of this antimicrobial strategy for clinical application.

A novel dual functional composite (MOFL-TpBD) was prepared through solvothermal methods, with excellent Pb2+ ions separation and stable 2,4,6-Trinitrophenol (TNP) fluorescence detection performance. MOFL-TpBD was characterized by FTIR, XRD, XPS, SEM and TGA et al. The prepared material was used to extract Pb2+ ions, with an adsorption capacity of 21.74 mg g−1 calculated by Langmuir isotherm model. The limit of detection was 0.32 μg L−1, along with a linear range from 0.7 to 12 μg L−1 and a precision of 5.4% (1 μg L−1, n = 9), respectively, where MOFL-TpBD was adopted as adsorbent for Pb2+ ions preconcentration. The practical samples and reference water sample were measured by the provided method, with the satisfactory recoveries (91–110%) and reliable analytical results. MOFL-TpBD was capable of fluorescent sensing of TNP, with a linear range from 0.01 to 1 mM and a limit of detection of 3.52 μM, respectively, and a precision of 3.29% was obtained (0.2 mM, n = 11). Meanwhile, the recoveries ranged from 91% to 108% in analysis of TNP for the practical samples. The designed material provided a potential candidate material for the detection of heavy metal ions and explosives in environmental water samples.

The optimized nitrogen fertilization location differs in different rice-growing regions. We optimized nitrogen deep-point application in root-growing zone (NARZ) for transplanted rice in subtropical China. Field plot experiments were conducted over two years (2014–2015) in a double-rice cropping system to evaluate the effects of nitrogen (N) fertilizer location on grain yield and N use efficiency (NUE). Four different nitrogen deep-point application methods (DN) were compared with traditional broadcast application (BN) using granular urea. The results showed that grain yield, recovery efficiency of N (RE N ), agronomic efficiency of N (AE N ), and partial factor productivity of N (PFP N ) significantly increased 10.3–63.4, 13.7–56.7, 24.7–201.9 and 10.2–63.4%, respectively, in DN treatment compared to BN, respectively. We also find that DN treatments increased grain yield as well as grain N content, and thus grain quality, in comparison with conventional BN treatment. Correlation analysis indicated that significant improvement in grain yield and NUE mainly resulted from increases in productive panicle number and grain N content. In our proposed NARZ method, granular urea should be placed 0 to 5 cm around the rice seeding at a 12-cm depth druing rice transplanting. In NARZ, balanced application of N, P and K further improved grain yield and NUE over treatments with a single N deep-point application. High N uptake by the rice plant did not cause significant soil fertility depletion, demonstrating that this method could guarantee sustainable rice production.

Phylogenomics has shown great potential in resolving evolutionary relationships at different taxonomical levels. However, it remains controversial whether all orthologous genes under different selective pressures can be concatenated for phylogenomic reconstruction. Here we used sect. Cyathophora of Pedicularis, one of the most species-rich genera of angiosperms in the alpine and arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, as a model to investigate the efficiency of RNA-seq in resolving relationships of closely related congeneric species. Flower transcriptomes were sequenced for all species of sect. Cyathophora and two outgroup species. Forty-one highly conserved single-/low-copy nuclear genes and 1553 orthologous groups (OGs) were identified and concatenated into five datasets based on gene copy numbers and Ka/Ks values to reconstruct the phylogeny of section Cyathophora. We also tested how many genes minimally can resolve the interspecific relationships, and reconstructed the evolutionary history of some floral characters in sect. Cyathophora. The results showed that the five different datasets consistently resolved the interspecific relationships of sect. Cyathophora, and the interspecific relationships can be robustly reconstructed with maximal support when ⩾20 single-/low-copy nuclear genes or 25 OGs are used. Our study suggests that all OGs under different selective pressures can be concatenated for phylogenomic reconstruction, and provides a successful and efficient use of RNA-seq in reconstructing interspecific relationships of a non-model plant group with recent radiations.

A magnetic functionalized bio-sorbent based on aptamer was designed for the selective separation of ultra-trace Pb2+, shortly termed as Fe3O4@Au@DNA. Pb(II) specific aptamer attached to the magnetic solid substrate served as affinity probe to capture and separate trace lead. Oligonucleotides with a polyA block were employed for the immobilization on the surface of AuNPs, with adenine sequences (polyA) as the part of effective anchoring block. The prepared Fe3O4@Au@DNA composites were characterized by FT-IR, SEM and XPS. The binding of lead on Fe3O4@Au@DNA composites surface was pH-dependent, the adsorption follows Langmuir model, and the adsorption dynamic fits the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Procedure for lead separation and preconcentration was explored and combined with detection of graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). Under the optimum condition, an enrichment factor of 17.73 was obtained with a sample volume of 1.0 mL. The limit of detection (LOD) was 57 ng L−1 along with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.06 (n = 9). The procedure was further validated by a certified reference material GBW08608 and several environmental and blood samples.

Selective adsorption via the size matching effect is one of the most effective strategies for separating and analyzing low levels of organic molecules. Herein, multicomponent covalent organic frameworks (MC-COFs) with tunable pore sizes are constructed by using one knot (1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol, Tp) and two organic linkers (p-phenylenediamine, Pa; benzidine, BD). The pore sizes of the MC-COFs composed of TpPaBDX (X = [BD]/([Pa] + [BD]) × 100 = 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100) range from 0.5–1.5 to 0.5–2.2 nm due to variations in the initial organic linker ratios. When coupling TpPaBDX-based solid-phase microextraction (SPME) with constant flow desorption ionization mass spectrometry (CFDI-MS), these MC-COFs feature better selective adsorption performance for tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) derivatives than TpPa with a smaller pore size, TpBD with a larger pore size and even some commercial fibers (e.g., polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB)-, polyacrylate (PA)- and PDMS-coated fibers). The improved method involving MC-COF TpPaBD50 also presents favorable stability with relative standard deviations (RSD, 1 μg L−1) for single fibers of 5.5–7.9% (n = 7) and fiber-to-fiber of 6.6–7.8% (n = 7). Due to the decreased limits of detection and quantification (0.5–12 and 1.6–40 ng L−1), and reduced separation and detection time (7 min), ultratrace levels of TBBPA derivatives in real water samples are successfully detected. The proposed method shows great potential for the rapid tracing of the distribution, transportation and transformation of TBBPA derivatives to better understand their ecotoxicological effects in environmental media.

A novel magnetic composite, Fe3O4@metal organic framework@covalent organic framework (Fe3O4@MOF@COF), was first time prepared by solvothermal methods for selectively separation and preconcentration of Cu2+. The prepared Fe3O4@MOF@COF composite was thoroughly characterized with XPS, TEM, XRD and FT-IR et al. With a high density of nitrogen- and oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface, the Fe3O4@MOF@COF composite could efficiently extract and preconcentrate of Cu2+ ions in aqueous solutions, with a maximum Cu2+ adsorption capacity of 37.29 mg g−1 determined by fitting the adsorption curve to the Langmuir isotherm equation. The magnetic composite after adsorption of Cu2+ was readily separated with an external magnet, and the retained copper could be stripped by acetic acid, which can effectively catalyze the oxidation of 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by H2O2 with the detection of UV–vis spectrophotometry. The detection limit of this platform for Cu2+ is 37.6 nM (n = 11), along with a RSD of 4.14% (0.2 μM, n = 13). It was validated by measurement of water samples and the comparison to graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) was accomplished.

Leaf electrolyte leakage is an important index of the plant cell permeability which plays an important role in the study of turfgrass salt stress. Traditional methods of measuring leaf electrolyte leakage have many disadvantages such as time-consuming, destroying the plants and being unable to monitor salt stress in large area. The aim of this study is to build a hyperspectral inversion model for leaf electrolyte leakage of creeping bentgrass under different salt concentration stresses thus to promote the application of the hyperspectral techniques in turfgrass salt stress monitoring. Creeping bentgrass was used in this study, and it was grown in water for two weeks before salt treatments. Leaves were collected at 7, 14 and 21 d under 0(CK), 100 and 200 mmol·L-1 NaCl respectively. The spectral values were gathered using Unispec-SC Spectral Analysis System (PP SYSTEMS，USA)before collecting grass leaves. Leaf electrolyte leakage was measured with electrical conductivity method. The relation and differences between salt treatments and spectral reflectance values were analyzed with EXCEL. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and difference vegetation index (DVI) were calculated using the spectral reflectance values. The first-order differential was calculated with difference method. The trilateral parameters of the blue, green and red rays were calculated at the meantime. The correlation analysis of the Leaf electrolyte leakage, spectral reflectance value, DVI and trilateral parameters was achieved by using EXCEL and Matlab software. Electrolyte leakage inversion model of the calibration set consisted of 48 high correlational samples, was built using unary linear regression, multivariate linear regression and partial least-squares regression methods. The prediction set inspection inversion model was established using the other 24 samples. The results showed that there is a positive correlation between salt stresses and 450～700 nm wave band. The leaf electrolyte leakage was positively associated with 450～732 nm band region at 0.01. The green edge amplitude and area of green edge were correlated with the foliar electrolyte leakage positively. Models based on partial least squares regression could inversion the foliar electrolyte leakage optimally. The calibration R2 reached to 0.681, and the validation R2 reached to 0.758. The calibration RMSE was 7.124, and the validation RMSE reached to 7.079. The inversion model made it possible to detect creeping bentgrass leaf electrolyte leakage under salt stress rapidly. This study also provided theoretical reference for monitoring the damage of other creeping bentgrass related plant species resulted by salt stress.

Spine is one of the most important organs in the human body. One of the most commonly used method for the treatment of spinal diseases is the internal fixation and accurate placement of pedicle screw, which is a key factor of spinal surgery. However, due to the large differences as to the appearance of pedicles, it is hard to place the pedicle screw precisely, which will cause complication. Therefore, to find a new real-time intra-operative monitoring method with navigation is the direction of clinical application research. In this paper, a new method was firstly proposed. This method combined computer tomography (CT) values and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRs) measurement data to guide the PS placement, and the relationship between NIRs parameters and CT values along the PS trajectory in vertebrae was investigated. First, we took pig vertebrae as samples and different puncture paths were planned. Second, a near-infrared monitoring device was utilized in experiments of fresh pig vertebrae to acquire the best NIRs monitoring pattern factors. Finally, the correlation function between NIRs data and CT values pattern factors was obtained. The results showed that CT values have a linear relationship with NIRs monitoring pattern factors, which provide references for real-time monitoring method in pedicle screw fixation surgery. This model can be applied in monitoring the pedicle screw implantation and alarming. The proposed method will be potential in improving the accuracy of PS placement and reduce the risk caused by the misplacement of pedicle screw.

The coverage control problem for multiple mobile robot system with limited and dissimilar sensing abilities is addressed in this article. There exist missing areas while taking the previously developed r-limited Voronoi partitions due to distinct sensing ranges. Thus, a modified partitioning approach is proposed to enhance coverage performance. Furthermore, the dynamic coverage controllers are developed with time-varying density function so that the system is more applicable to various tasks such as target tracking or information decays. In addition to theoretical analysis, numerical examples and experiments with four mobile robots are conducted to verify stability and coverage performance of mobile robot network utilizing the proposed coverage partition algorithm.

In order to reduce the viscosity of crude oil for transport, we often use the way of heating delivery for high pour point, high wax, and high viscosity oil. Crude oil at high temperature, through long-distance transmission, the temperature and pressure changes on the piping stress greater impact. In this paper, in order to explore the main factor of hot oil pipeline stress and the location of key points, we build the XX hot oil pipeline stress analysis model used CAESAR II software, analysis of the impact of changes in temperature and pressure on piping stress when hot oil pipeline running, draw hot oil pipeline stress distribution, clearly identifies the location of key points of stress concentration, and we have come to that temperature is a major factor in generating pipe stress.

Fenton reactions have been increasingly applied to emergent pollutants degradation. Although homogeneous reaction by classical Fenton enables organic wastewater degradation, long treatment time and high iron catalyst concentrations are needed, raising environmental concerns. This paper proposed an innovative and cheap solution to degrade Rhodamine B (RmB) by combining magnetic nanomaterials of Fe3O4as the catalyst with microwave-enhanced fenton-like system. The main operational parameters were optimized systematically (hydrogen peroxide concentration; Fe3O4dosage; catalyst cycles; reaction time and reaction temperature). The degradation rate of Rhodamine B was increased and accelerated due to the assistance of microwave irradiation, with value of 99% after heated for only 5 min, even higher than that of treated by traditional Fenton process for 20 min. Moreover, six cyclic tests for Rhodamine B degradation showed that the magnetic catalyst was very stable, recoverable, highly active, and easy to separate using an external magnet. Hence, microwave-enhanced Fenton-like system with magnetic nanomaterials of Fe3O4as the catalyst has potential use in organic pollutant removal.

Taking working well of tunnel crossing river for example, aimed at construction problem, the software of PLAXIS3D is used to simulate excavation, strut dismantling and water injecting. Several kinds of soil-reinforcing forms are also simulated to analyses the relation between soil-reinforcing form and retaining wall deformation.

Compared with abroad, the energy demand of civil building in china is much higher than that in abroad. In order to solve this problem, some energy-saving technologies on envelope parts of building were brought in this paper, and one application example with this technology was introduced. It verified that the energy saving technology on envelope parts of building had some extent results.

From the perspective of the Central Plains Agglomeration for a representation, comprehensive evaluation on urbanization level of all cities in Central Plain Agglomeration was carried out by using gray relation analysis, receive the ranking about urbanization level of all cities in Central Plains Agglomeration, find out the weakness and take measures for them.

A meta-analysis of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with tolerance to abiotic stresses in barley was carried out using results from 35 different experiments. “MetaQTL” software was used to project QTL positions on a reference map. Three hundred and thirty-seven QTL for traits associated with tolerance to abiotic stresses were included in this analysis which identified 79 metaQTL (MQTL) including 26 for drought, 11 for low temperature, 22 for salinity, 17 for water-logging, and 3 for mineral toxicity and deficiency. The distribution of MQTL was similar to that of the initial QTL. Many of these MQTL were located on chromosomes 2H (mainly for water-logging and drought) and 5H (mainly for salinity and low temperature). It inferred that chromosomes 2H and 5H were important for researches on barley abiotic tolerance, and the genes associated with abiotic stresses were concentrated relatively. As expected from trait correlations, 22.8 % of these MQTL displayed overlapping CIs. These overlapping regions were mainly on chromosomes 1H, 2H and 4H. The results indicated that the tolerance to diverse abiotic stresses were associated with each other in barley. Additionally, 67 candidate genes responsive to abiotic stresses were co-located with the abiotic-stress MQTL. Of them, a total of 55 had different conserved motifs. It inferred that the tolerance to abiotic stresses was contributed by multi-genes with diverse functions, though there might be some important genes associated with the tolerance to abiotic stresses in barley. Additionally, of these candidate genes, scsnp02622, scsnp01644 and scsnp19641 could be better for further studies of abiotic stresses tolerance.

In this article, morphology, IR and single fiber strength of cooling-mica fiber, and single yarn strength, yarn hairiness, twist, yarn evenness, resisting acid and alkali have been studied and tested.

This article introduces the application of crosshole sonic logging in foundation pile integrity detection and the basic theory and application of crosshole sonic logging, and narrates the detection technology and way to judge detection results by engineering projects.

The physiological mechanism and ecological structure of forest trees can change with the changes of years. In a certain extent, the changes were expressed through the canopy spectral features. The mastery of changing rules about spectral characteristics of trees over the years is benefit to remote sensing interpretation and provide scientific basis for the classification of different trees. The study adopted high-resolution spectrometer to measure the canopy spectral characteristics for seven major deciduous trees and seven evergreen trees to gain the spectrum curve of four different ages and calculate the first derivative curve. The analysis of changing rules about spectral characteristics of different deciduous trees and evergreen trees and the comparison of changes about spectrum of various trees in the visible and infrared band could find the best year and best band for identification of trees. The results showed that the canopy spectral reflectance of deciduous and evergreen trees increases with the increase of age. And the spectral changes of two species were most obvious in the near infrared band.

The Hina gene is one of the two known Hin genes for hardness, and its RNA expression is correlated with grain hardness and dry matter digestibility variation. In this study, only one clone of Hina gene was obtained from one barley accession. A total of 121 Hina gene sequences were isolated from 121 wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) accessions in Israel, Iran, and Turkey, and then their molecular characteristics were compared with 97 Hina gene sequences from 74 cultivated barley (H. vulgare) lines in Europe and 23 landrace (H. vulgare) with global distribution and other 26 Hina gene sequences from cultivated barleys (H. vulgare) with unknown global distribution. Cis-acting regulatory element (CARE) searching revealed that there were different types of regulatory element for the Hina gene in wild and landrace/cultivated barleys. There were six consistent cis-acting binding sites in wild and landrace/cultivated barleys, whereas 8 to 16 inconsistent TATA-boxes were observed. In addition, three special elements (E2Fb, Sp1, and boxS) were only observed in wild barley, while one (AT1-motif) was only found in landrace/cultivated barley. Forty-four deduced amino acid sequences of HINA from wild and landrace/cultivated barleys were obtained by deleting repetitive amino acid sequences, and they were clustered into two groups on the basis of Neighbor-Joining analysis. However, there was no obvious difference in the amino acid sequences of HINA between wild and landrace/cultivated barleys. Comparing to protein secondary structure of wheat PINA, it was indicated that HINA also existed a signal peptide. In addition, HINA was a hydrophilic protein on the basis of the protein properties and composition.

According to the effective of the displacement of crane boom to rated capacity, establishing a mechanical model with a prototype. After calculation and analysis, take drastic measures to ensure the rated lifting capacity. And the measures are worth popularizing.

The universal stress proteins (USPs) play an important role in enhancing survival rate during prolonged exposure to heat shock, nutrient starvation, or stressors from agents that arrest cell growth or damage DNA structures. Searching the HarvEST database of barley resulted in 25 putative USP cDNA sequences. Of these, 16 could translate into intact proteins (putative USPs). The alignments of multiple amino acid sequences between the putative barley USPs with those of Arabidopsis and Methanococcus jannaschii resulted in a set of common residues involved in ATP-binding. The 16 putative USPs in barley and the 21 in Arabidopsis were clustered into seven groups, which were distinct from those of E. coli. The genes in these different groups have different intron/exon structures. Nine putative USP genes of barley were cloned successfully based on their sequence characteristics, and they contain two or three introns each. Two of these introns were present in all the genes, one located between beta2 and alpha2, and the other between beta 4 and alpha 4. Five sets of primers were successfully developed for these putative USP genes. Two of them were mapped on chromosome 1H and the other three were located on three different chromosomes, 2H, 3H and 6H, respectively. Expression analyses were carried out for nine of these putative USP genes. The expression for two of them was undetectable within 27 h following exposure to salt stress. Six of the other seven were expressed in both root and leaf, and the remaining one was expressed in root only. The majority of these genes was expressed more in the salt-sensitive variety, Morex, than in the more tolerant variety, Steptoe.

Grain texture in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important quality character. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Hordoindoline a (hina) gene and its relationship with hardness index among North American barley cultivars were investigated. The hina genes in 36 cultivars were sequenced for the SNP analyses, and 17 sets of SNP primers were designed to detect the SNP variations of hina locus in 92 North American barley cultivars. SNP detection indicated that there were four haplotypes in the hina genes of 92 barley cultivars, and haplotype 01 and 02 were shared by 68 and 14 cultivars, respectively, suggesting that there was a very limited diversity in hina genes among North American barley cultivars. Despite the wide range in hardness exists in 92 barley cultivars, however, unlike wheat, where a clear relationship has been demonstrated between a number of SNPs in the wheat hardness genes and quality (soft or hard wheat), there was no such relationship for barley. The genotypes used in this study demonstrated that there was a low level of polymorphism in hina gene in North American barley cultivars and these polymorphisms had no impact on grain hardness.