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The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is unique among monsoon systems that it features meridional evolution of the summer monsoon. In this study, we evaluate the performances of a Variable-Resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM) regionally refined over eastern China (14 km) in reproducing the seasonal evolution of EASM precipitation over China. Compared with reference datasets, VR-CESM shows better performance than the corresponding globally uniform coarse-resolution model CESM (quasi-uniform 1°), especially over western China where complex local topography exists. The northward monsoon migration is closely related to low-level southerly flows and vertical moisture advection, which are more reasonably simulated in VR-CESM. The four critical timings of the EASM (monsoon onset, withdrawal, peak, and duration) are also better captured in VR-CESM than in CESM. The corresponding spatial Pearson correlation coefficients of the four critical timings with respect to reference datasets are about 0.1 higher in VR-CESM than those in CESM. Both models are most accurate in simulating monsoon onset and least accurate at simulating the monsoon peak. The overestimated zonal thermal contrast in CESM is responsible for the earlier monsoon onset and excessive precipitation in September over the Yangtze River valley. Finer resolution in VR-CESM, especially over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), appears to be a main factor in simulating better zonal thermal contrast and seasonal evolution of the EASM.

This study explored the regulatory effect of temperature stress on fatty acid biosynthesis in the early stage of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) based on Δ6-fatty acids desaturase (Δ6FAD) and elongase-5 (ELOVL5) gene expression and fatty acid composition. One-day-old carp larvae were selected, and after seven days of acclimatisation at 25 °C, the larvae were subjected to temperature stress for 96 h in water at 32 °C or 10 °C. In the post-larval stage, 30-day-old carp juveniles were selected and, after seven days of acclimatisation at 25 °C, were subjected to temperature stress for seven days in water at 32 °C or 10 °C. The results showed that common carp larvae could rapidly and highly express Δ6FAD and ELOVL5 genes within 48 h at high temperature (32 °C) compared with the 0 h group (P < 0.05), while gene expression began to gradually increase after 48 h at low temperature (10 °C). There was a significant improvement in C22:6n-3 and C20:5n-3 after 96 h at low temperature compared with the 0 h group (P < 0.05). In common carp juveniles, the Δ6FAD gene in the intestine, brain and liver was sensitive to low temperature, but the ELOVL5 gene in the intestine, brain and liver of common carp was sensitive to high temperature. The low temperature increased the amount of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) in the common carp juveniles. The results indicated that temperature could regulate the expression of the Δ6FAD and ELOVL5 genes for HUFA production, as well as for participation in the biosynthesis of fatty acids in the body during the early development of common carp. The results of this study help clarify the regulatory effects of temperature on fatty acid biosynthesis during the early development of common carp.

Climate models have been used to study water resources and regional hydrologic responses to climate change, but climate model outputs must be downscaled to provide relevant regional data. However, the accuracy of this regional data is limited by uncertainties across and within downscaling methods, uncertainty across global outputs, and discontinuities at downscaled boundaries. A new alternative to traditional downscaling is a variable resolution model that incorporates fine-resolution regions directly into a coarse-resolution, global climate simulation in order to capture contiguous dynamics across resolution boundaries. In this study, we used the Variable-Resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM) to generate one-eighth degree (14 km) fine-resolution outputs for the western U.S. and eastern China from 1970-2006. We focus our evaluation on precipitaiton, temperature, snow pack, solar radiation, and wind. We compare the model outputs with remote-sensing-based precipitation data, and both reanalysis and gridded weather station data for precipitation and temperature. VR-CESM generally has a cold bias in winter and a warm bias in summer in the western U.S., which compensate each other to reduce the annual bias. In eastern China, however, the sign of temperature biases are more consistent throughout the year with cold biases in the higher mountains and warm biases throughout most of the rest of the region. Precipitation biases are dependent upon reference data, and show slight overestimation in high mountain regions in both the U.S. and China with respect to gridded weather station data. Simulated snow cover in the western U.S. is reasonable compared to remote sensing data, but snow cover and snow water equivalent have larger biases when compared to reanalysis data. In eastern China there are widespread snow cover biases compared to remote sensing data. VR-CESM underestimates downward shortwave radiation to a greater degree in summer than in winter, and underestimates surface layer windspeed over mountains to a greater degree than in other areas. Comparison between VR-CESM and a coarser simulation (1-degree Beijing Climate Center model) shows reduced precipitation biases in the mountainous regions with finer resolution, indicating the value of variable-resolution modeling for reigonal studies.

Climate models are critical tools to study earth system processes and are often further downscaled to provide refined-resolution data sets for regional water-energy impact analyses. In this study, the Variable-Resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM), a new dynamical downscaling method, is employed to generate 1/8° simulations for China and the western United States over 1970–2006. Precipitation, temperature, snowpack, radiation, and wind speed are compared with two 1° global climate models, regional climate model ensemble, and reference data sets to evaluate their fidelity. Simulated precipitation skill is dependent upon the reference data sets used, a slight (

In accordance with the developing economy and growing population, an increasing number of tall buildings have been constructed over the last 20 years. In 2017, there were 144 new buildings worldwide that were 200 m or greater in height; 50% of these buildings were in China. Due to the vertical gradient impact of meteorological parameters, the energy performance of tall buildings differs from that of general buildings. Few studies exist on vertical meteorological changes using measured data at different heights. Most studies on dynamic energy simulation simulate meteorological parameters using models. This study explores vertical meteorological patterns using hourly dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed data from 2007 to 2017 for a 325 m meteorological tower in Beijing. The temperature decreased significantly with increasing altitude (~0.9 °C per 100 m), while the daily temperature difference decreased with increasing altitude. The absolute humidity did not change significantly with height. The wind speed increased with altitude at approximately 2 m/s per 100 m. The building simulation showed that the annual heating load at a height of 320 m increased by 85% from that at 8 m; the annual cooling load decreased by 20%. Such significant differences in thermal loads for 300-m-tall buildings confirm the need to consider vertical meteorological differences in building performance simulations for tall buildings. A greater number of measurement points at different heights improve the simulation accuracy. Guidance on selecting the heights for vertical metrological measurements is provided based on the influences of building thermal loads.

Climate models have been used to study water resources and regional hydrologic responses to climate change, but climate model outputs must be downscaled to provide relevant regional data. However, the accuracy of this regional data is limited by uncertainties across and within downscaling methods, uncertainty across global outputs, and discontinuities at downscaled boundaries. A new alternative to traditional downscaling is a variable resolution model that incorporates fine-resolution regions directly into a coarse-resolution, global climate simulation in order to capture contiguous dynamics across resolution boundaries. In this study, we used the Variable-Resolution Community Earth System Model (VR-CESM) to generate one-eighth degree (14 km) fine-resolution outputs for the western U.S. and eastern China from 1970-2006. We focus our evaluation on precipitaiton, temperature, snow pack, solar radiation, and wind. We compare the model outputs with remote-sensing-based precipitation data, and both reanalysis and gridded weather station data for precipitation and temperature. VR-CESM generally has a cold bias in winter and a warm bias in summer in the western U.S., which compensate each other to reduce the annual bias. In eastern China, however, the sign of temperature biases are more consistent throughout the year with cold biases in the higher mountains and warm biases throughout most of the rest of the region. Precipitation biases are dependent upon reference data, and show slight overestimation in high mountain regions in both the U.S. and China with respect to gridded weather station data. Simulated snow cover in the western U.S. is reasonable compared to remote sensing data, but snow cover and snow water equivalent have larger biases when compared to reanalysis data. In eastern China there are widespread snow cover biases compared to remote sensing data. VR-CESM underestimates downward shortwave radiation to a greater degree in summer than in winter, and underestimates surface layer windspeed over mountains to a greater degree than in other areas. Comparison between VR-CESM and a coarser simulation (1-degree Beijing Climate Center model) shows reduced precipitation biases in the mountainous regions with finer resolution, indicating the value of variable-resolution modeling for reigonal studies.

The global climate change has resulted in not only warmer climate conditions but also more frequent extreme weather events, such as heat waves. However, the impact of heat waves on the indoor environment has been investigated in a limited manner. In this research, the indoor thermal environment is analyzed using a building performance simulation tool for a typical residential building in multiple cities in China, over a time period of 60 years using actual measured weather data, in order to gain a better understanding of the effect of heat wave events. The simulation results were used to analyze the indoor environment during hot summers. A new kind of weather data referred to as the typical hot year was defined and selected based on the simulated indoor environment during heat waves. The typical hot-year weather data can be used to simulate the indoor environment during extreme heat events and for the evaluation of effective technologies and strategies to mitigate against the impact of heat waves on the energy demand of buildings and human health. The limitations of the current study and future work are also discussed.

Weather has significant impacts on the thermal environment and energy use in buildings. Thus, accurate weather data are crucial for building performance evaluations. Traditionally, typical year data inputs are used to represent long-term weather data. However, there is no guarantee that a single year represents the changing climate well. In this study, the long-term representation of a typical year was assessed by comparing it to a 55-year actual weather data set. To investigate the weather impact on building energy use, 559 simulation runs of a prototype office building were performed for 10 large cities covering all climate zones in China. The analysis results demonstrated that the weather data varied significantly from year to year. Hence, a typical year cannot reflect the variation range of weather fluctuations. Typical year simulations overestimated or underestimated the energy use and peak load in many cases. With the increase in computational power of personal computers, it is feasible and essential to adopt multiyear simulations for full assessments of long-term building performance, as this will improve decision-making by allowing for the full consideration of variations in building energy use.

AIM: To investigate the effects of different wavelength of blue light on human retinal pigment epithelial(RPE)cells. METHODS: ARPE-19 cells cultured in vitro were randomly divided into four groups, which were control group, 447nm blue light group, 456nm blue light group and 468nm blue light group. The cells in control group were cultured under normal conditions whereas the cells in blue light group were irradiated with different wavelengths of OLED blue light with the illumination intensity of 200Lux for 72h. Live/Dead staining assay, CCK-8 assay and real-time PCR were performed to compare the effects of different wavelengths of blue light on the morphology, cell viability, proliferation capacity, mRNA expression level of visual cycle biomarkers and inflammatory biomarkers of ARPE-19 cells, respectively.RESULTS: After blue light irradiation, the abnormal morphology and the decrease of cell confluence of ARPE-19 cells were observed. Furthermore, with the decrease in the wavelength of blue light, the inhibition effect of blue light on RPE proliferation was enhanced, and the mRNA expression of the proliferation marker Ki-67 and visual cycle biomarkers LRAT, CRALBP, RDH and IRBP decreased. In addition, the mRNA expression levels of inflammatory factors MCP-1 and IL-6 in RPE cells were up-regulated with the decrease in the wavelength of blue light.CONCLUSION: Our data demonstrated that blue light in different wavelengths exerted detrimental effects on RPE cells. The shorter the wavelength of blue light was, the more severe damage it caused on the RPE cells.

The effects of fatty acid composition in artificial feed on the change in the fatty acid composition of carp muscles and the relationship between Δ6-Fad and Elovl5 genes participating in the regulation of fatty acid synthesis were studied. Juveniles were fed three semi-purified diets (D1-D3) for 6 weeks with different lipid sources: D1, fish oil with high highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA); D2, corn oil with high linoleic acid (18:2n-6, LA), D3, linseed oil with high α-linolenic acid (18:3n-3, LNA); then, samples were taken to explore the molecular mechanism and the factors which affect the synthesis of carp HUFA. The content of LA and arachidonic acid (20:4n-6, AA) in common carp fed Diet 2 was higher than in carp receiving D3 (P < 0.05), but the contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3, EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA) were lower than in carp fed D1 and D2 (P < 0.05). The liver transcript abundance of Δ6-Fad and Elovl5 in fish fed D2 and D3 at the end of 6 weeks was generally higher than the abundance in the initial stage and in the fish fed D1 (P < 0.05). The results suggest that the common carp can biosynthesise HUFA, and the type and content of fatty acids in feed affected not only the composition and content of fatty acids in common carp muscles, but also the Δ6-Fad and Elovl5 gene expression involved in the biosynthesis of HUFA. Feeding high levels of n-3 HUFA diet can increase the body content of EPA and DHA in common carp. The results of this research may provide a theoretical basis for choosing an appropriate source of lipid for common carp feeds.

The Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) is an economically important animal on academic value. However, the genomic information of this species has been less studied. In our study, the transcripts of A. davidianus were obtained by RNA-seq to conduct a transcriptomic analysis. In total 132,912 unigenes were generated with an average length of 690 bp and N50 of 1263 bp by de novo assembly using Trinity software. Using a sequence similarity search against the nine public databases (CDD, KOG, NR, NT, PFAM, Swiss-prot, TrEMBL, GO and KEGG databases), a total of 24,049, 18,406, 36,711, 15,858, 20,500, 27,515, 36,705, 28,879 and 10,958 unigenes were annotated in databases, respectively. Of these, 6323 unigenes were annotated in all database and 39,672 unigenes were annotated in at least one database. Blasted with KEGG pathway, 10,958 unigenes were annotated, and it was divided into 343 categories according to different pathways. In addition, we also identified 29,790 SSRs. This study provided a valuable resource for understanding transcriptomic information of A. davidianus and laid a foundation for further research on functional gene cloning, genomics, genetic diversity analysis and molecular marker exploitation in A. davidianus.

Abstract Transgenic rice producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) could help protect the plants from damage by lepidopteran pests. However, one concern is the potential of Bt rice to harm non-target natural enemies, which play a vital role in pest control. In the present study, the potential effects of Cry1C rice and Cry2A rice on different life-table parameters and population dynamics of Pseudogonatopus flavifemur, a parasitoid of rice planthoppers, were evaluated under laboratory and field condition. The exposure of P. flavifemur to plant-produced Bt proteins was also analyzed. Results indicated that direct feeding on rice plants was the main exposure pathway of P. flavifemur to the Cry1C and Cry2A proteins. No significant difference on the development, survival, longevity, fecundity, and prey consumption of P. flavifemur was detected over two generations between the Bt and non-Bt rice treatments. Furthermore, the population dynamics of P. flavifemur were not affected by Cry1C rice and Cry2A rice. In conclusion, the tested Cry1C rice and Cry2A rice do not appear to harm the parasitoid P. flavifemur.

Abstract The susceptibility of rice lines, T1C-19, T2A-1, and MH63 to SRBSDV infection are similar and the contents of cry protein in T2A-1 and T1C-19 do not change significantly. The survival rates of BPH nymphs feeding on SRBSDV-infected T1C-19, Bt T2A-1, or MH63 rice plants were not significantly different. The developmental stages of female BPH fed on T1C-19 plants infected with SRBSDV were significantly shorter than those fed on uninfected rice, while the males showed no significant difference. The duration of BPH feeding on SRBSDV-infected T2A-1 and MH63 also showed no significant difference in comparison with the respective control groups. Longevities of BPH adults feeding on SRBSDV-infected T1C-19, T2A-1 or MH63 were also not significant. However, the longevity of male adult BPH feeding on un-infected MH63 was significantly reduced in comparison with that of adult males feeding on un-infected T1C-19 and T2A-1 rice. In addition, the different rice lines and the rice plants infected and uninfected with SRBSDV did not significantly affect the sex ratio, female body weight, longevity, fecundity, or egg hatchability of BPH. In general, transgenic Bt rice infected with SRBSDV had little effect on the ecological adaptability of BPH.