Search

To ensure privacy and security of healthcare wireless medical sensor networks (HWMSNs), several concrete constructions of efficient certificateless aggregate signature (CLAS) scheme without bilinear pairing were proposed in the last few years. However, many previous constructions of CLAS scheme were found to be impractical, which either fail to meet the claimed security or contain design flaws. For example, in some of the previous proposals, any adversary can forge a valid signature on any new message. In this paper, we first demonstrate some security issues and design flaws in the previous proposals of CLAS scheme. As follows, to further address the above deficiencies, a new construction of CLAS scheme with improved security is presented, and the formal security proof is given using Forking Lemma in the random oracle model, assuming that the discrete logarithm problem is hard. Compared with the previous CLAS schemes, our construction has similar computational costs, and it provides better security guarantees. Therefore, compared with the existing solutions, our proposal with strong security and high computational efficiency is more suitable for use in HWMSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The acoustic diffusion equation model has been widely applied in various scenarios, but a larger prediction error exists when applied to underground spaces, showing a significantly lower characteristic of the sound pressure level in the later stage compared to field tests since underground spaces have a more closed acoustic environment. Therefore, we analyze the characteristics of underground spaces differentiating from aboveground spaces when applying the model and propose an improved model from the perspective of energy balance. The energy neglected in the calculation of the acoustic diffusion equation model is compensated in long channel underground spaces named "acoustic escape compensation". A simulation and two field experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed compensation strategy in long-channel underground spaces. The mean square error is used to evaluate the differences between the classical model and the improved model, which shows a numerical improvement of 1.3 in the underground field test. The results show that the improved model is more suitable for describing underground spaces. The proposed strategy provides an effective extension of the acoustic diffusion equation model to solve the problem of sound field prediction and management in underground spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Affected by global warming, the frequency of crop pests and diseases have increased, causing huge losses to agricultural production. To better grasp the development and trends of research on the effects of climate change on crop pests and diseases, the literature on the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases published from 1990 to 2021 in the Web of Science (WOS) core collection database was used. This study explores the literature characteristics and hotspot evolution through the bibliometric visualization analysis software COOC, VOSviewer, and CiteSpace, with a view to identifying the changing characteristics and trends of research changes in this field. The results showed that the number of literature on the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases increased rapidly. The main fields involved include environmental sciences, ecology, and agronomy. Papers in these fields mainly published in journals, such as PLos One, Forest Ecology and Management, and Frontiers in Plant Science. The country with the highest number of publications was the United States, followed by China and Australia. The most prolific authors in the top 20 are research scholars from China. The first author of the top 20 highly cited papers was from the United States. It was found that that current research on the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases mainly focuses on agricultural production and food safety. Modelling and crop growth has maintained steady development. At present, research in this field mainly focuses on pest management strategies under the impact of climate change, the response of single species, and the complex ecological mechanisms behind the response. This study provides unique insights into the research field of the impact of climate change on crop pests and diseases and provides a reference direction for future research development in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphiphilic aromatic poly (amino acids) polymers were designed as biodegradability demulsifiers with higher aromaticity, stronger polarity, and side chain-like combs. The effects of demulsifier dosage, structural characteristics and emulsion properties such as pH, salinity, and oil content on the demulsification efficiency were investigated. The results show that the poly (L-glutamic-benzyl ester)-block-poly (L-phenylalanine) (PBLG 15 - b -PPA 15) as the demulsifier can remove more than 99.97% of the oil in a 5.0 wt% oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion at room temperature within 2 min. The poly (L-tyrosine)-block-poly (L-phenylalanine) (PTyr 15 - b -PPA 15) with environmental durability demonstrates high effectiveness, universality, and demulsification speed. It achieves a remarkable demulsification efficiency of up to 99.99% for a 20.0 wt% O/W emulsion at room temperature. The demulsification mechanism indicates that demulsifiers have sufficient interfacial activity can quickly migrate to the oil-water interface after being added to the emulsions. Additionally, when demulsifiers are present in a continuous phase in the molecular form, their "teeth" side chains are beneficial for increasing coalescence and flocculation capacities. Furthermore, according to the Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, enhancing the intermolecular interactions between demulsifiers and the primary native surfactants that form an oil-water interfacial film is a more efficient approach to reducing demulsification temperature and improving demulsification efficiency and rate. [Display omitted] • Proposed a strategy for developing a low-temperature oil-in-water demulsifier. • Improving the polarity and aromaticity of demulsifiers enhances their performance. • Aromatic poly (amino acids) demulsifiers perform well at low temperatures. • The intermolecular interactions determine the deoiling temperature and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, building energy consumption accounts for a considerable proportion of the world's energy consumption, e.g., 35 % in China, which has become a key concern with its rising proportion. Accurate prediction of building hourly energy consumption is key to realizing green, low-carbon, and energy-saving modern buildings. However, most of the current prediction methods are only based on dynamic data from IoT (Internet of Things) systems that may contain a large number of outliers, resulting in lower accuracy and reliability. To solve this problem, with the help of rich data provided by BIM (Building Information Modelling), we propose an approach named dynamic and static hybrid data analysis (D&S-HDA) that can provide a solution with better prediction accuracy. Technically, the novelties of D&S-HDA are fourfold. Firstly, we establish the D&S-HDA framework to obtain more accurate prediction outcomes, where the electricity consumption prediction results based on dynamic data analysis are weighted with the estimation values based on static data analysis. Secondly, in the dimension of dynamic data analysis, we design an improved temporal convolutional networks (TCNs) for parallelly outputting dynamic data samples to make the prediction results more intuitive. Thirdly, in the dimension of static data analysis, a novel concept of building hourly power consumption coefficient(BHPCC) is proposed, and its calculation method using static data analysis is designed to estimate hourly electricity consumption. Finally, in order to validate the effectiveness of our D&S-HDA approach, we design multidimensional evaluation metrics and conduct multi-group comparative experiments under different conditions, including climate models, electricity usage behaviour and time scales. The experimental results reveal that the proposed D&S-HDA approach outperforms current mainstream works in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), with values of 1.5248, 1.0693 and 2.9505, respectively, which shows the efficiency and feasibility of the proposed D&S-HDA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panax notoginseng cultivation planting conditions are harsh and require high soil moisture and slope of cultivated land, plus it takes 3–7 years from planting to harvesting. At present, the continuous crop barrier of Panax notoginseng has not been solved, which makes the arable land suitable for planting significantly reduced. And yet, there is almost no report on the impact of coupling water and slope on the growth of Panax notoginseng. Therefore, this study aims to explore the effects of different irrigation levels and slopes on soil water content (SWC) in the root zone, soil nutrient content, root characteristics, yield, water use efficiency (WUE), partial fertilizer productivity (PFP) and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng. During 2018–2020, a field experiment was conducted in the Panax notoginseng growing seasons with three irrigation levels (I 1 : 70–75% θ FC , I 2 : 75–80% θ FC , I 3 : 80–85% θ FC) and three slopes (S 1 : 2.43°, S 2 : 6.38°, S 3 : 16.38°). The results evidenced that soil water and nutrient content increased with increasing irrigation and decreased with increasing slope. The yield of Panax notoginseng , root morphological characteristics, WUE, PFP, and economic benefits showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing with the increase of irrigation amount and slope, which increased with the increase of planting years. These parameters reached their maximum at the irrigation I 2 (75–80% θ FC) and slope S 2 (6.38°) treatments. Thus, based on the results of this study, medium irrigation I 2 (75–80% θ FC) and slope S 2 (6.38°) should be considered as the best slope and water management strategy to obtain both high Panax notoginseng yield and economic benefits. Through establishing a multi-objective optimization model with binary quadratic regression analysis. It was indicated that Panax notoginseng yield, WUE, PFP, and economic benefits simultaneously reached ≥ 98% of their maximum values when irrigation interval was 152–193 mm and slope interval was 5.4–9°. In summary, the results obtained in this study have important practical significance for the water management of Panax notoginseng cultivation in slope farmland in Yunnan Province, China. [Display omitted] • Water regulation technology for Panax notoginseng cultivation on sloping land was proposed. • Soil nutrient content and Soil water content gradually decreases with increasing slope. • I 2 S 2 treatment obtain maximum yield and economic efficiency. • Irrigation interval of 152-193 mm and slope interval of 5.4-9° determined to make yield, economic benefits, PFP and WUE reach ≥ 98% maximum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leakage of private information, such as the secret keys, has become a threat to the security of computing systems. It has become a common requirement that cryptographic schemes should withstand various leakage attacks, including the continuous leakage attacks. Although some research progresses have been made toward this area, there are still some unsolved issues. In the literature, the public-key encryption (PKE) constructions with (continuous) leakage resilience normally require the upper bound of leakage to be fixed. However, in many real-world applications, this requirement cannot provide sufficient protection against leakage attacks. In order to mitigate these problems, this paper demonstrates how to design a leakage amplified PKE scheme with continuous leakage resilience and chosen-plaintext attacks security. In our proposed PKE scheme, the leakage parameter can have an arbitrary length. Moreover, the length of permitted leakage in our scheme can be flexibly adjusted according to the leakage requirements of application environment. Its security is formally proved under the classic static assumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panax notoginseng is a highly regarded medicinal plant that has obstacles associated with continuous cropping. Understanding soil microorganisms is crucial, as they play a major role in this regard. However, soil microorganisms are affected by multiple factors; therefore, we need to conduct more in-depth research. This study investigated the combined effects of irrigation and microbial fertilizer treatments (J1F1, J1F2, J2F1, J2F2, J3F1, J3F2, and CK) on the diversity of bacterial and fungal microbial communities in the rhizosphere of Panax notoginseng. The bacterial 16S rRNA genes and fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were sequenced using Illumina HiSeq. The results showed that, without microbial fertilizer (CK), the microbial community abundance and diversity were significantly lower than in the other treatments; moreover, among the microbial fertilizer treatments, the microbial abundance in F1 was higher than that in F2. Under the same microbial fertilizer application, the incidence rate of Panax notoginseng root rot was J2 > J1 > J3, and the yield of Panax notoginseng was J3 > J2 > J1. Under the same irrigation conditions, the incidence rate of Panax notoginseng root rot was F1 > F2, and the yield of Panax notoginseng was F2 > F1. This study provides important guidance for Panax notoginseng plant microbiota and sustainable agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a challenge to improve Panax notoginseng production and soil environment in arid area of Southwest China. Therefore, the objective of this study was to propose a new and promising alternate micro-sprinkler irrigation (D 2) to cope with the challenge based on moderate deficit micro-sprinkler irrigation (D 1) and slight deficit micro-sprinkler irrigation (D 3). A two-year greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the root rot incidence of Panax notoginseng among of the D 1 , D 2 and D 3 treatments by analyzing the soil water content (SWC), soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), nitrogen (SMBN), total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK), soil available nutrients(AN, AP and AK), soil enzyme activity, soil microbial structure, plant growth parameters, plant dry matter, nutrients uptake (N, P and K), and root rot incidence. Experiment treatments consisted of three irrigation amounts (D 1 , D 2 and D 3) and four organic fertilizer levels [500 (F 1), 1000 (F 2), 1500 (F 3), and 2000 (F 4) kg hm−2] in 2017 and 2018, respectively. All treatments were designed using a randomized complete block with three replications. The results indicated that no significant differences in growth parameters [PH (plant height), SD (stem diameter), and LAI (leaf area index)] of Panax notoginseng were found among of the D 1 , D 2 and D 3 treatments in 2017 and 2018. Compared with the D 1 and D 3 , the D 2 treatment significantly increased shoot dry weight (SDW), root dry weight (RDW), total N, P, K uptake and decreased SMBC, SMBN, TP, TK, AN, AP, AK and root rot incidence in 2017 and 2018. The result suggested the D 2 treatment had greater production advantages than the D 1 and D 3 treatments. In addition, compared with the F 3 treatment, other F treatments (F 1 , F 2 , and F 4) in the D 2 treatment significantly enhance total plant dry matter, total N, P and K uptake. However, root rot incidence significantly increased with the increase of application F levels, and D 2 F 3 can significantly decrease fungi/bacteria and fungi/actinomycetes in rhizosphere soil of healthy Panax notoginseng in 2018. According to analyzing the root rot incidence of different application F treatments, we found that 1500 kg hm−2 in the alternate micro-sprinkler irrigation might be recommended as an appropriate application F level to decrease root rot incidence of Panax notoginseng in the semi-arid area of Southwest China. [Display omitted] • Alternate irrigation and organic fertilization improved soil environment. • Alternate irrigation and organic fertilization (F 3) decreased root rot of plant. • Alternate irrigation and organic fertilization (F 3) improved yield of plant. • Organic fertilization (F 3) should be recommended to promote production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, the secure protocol was proposed from the certificateless signature (CLS) scheme to provide the corresponding security for the actual application. However, for the previous application protocols, most of the underlying CLS schemes cannot have their claimed security, because some proposals cannot resist forgery attacks or the master secret key can be captured by the probabilistic polynomial time adversary. To further address the above problems, we take several previous CLS schemes as instances to make a detailed analysis of the causes of the above security flaws and point out that, in a secure CLS scheme, we should appropriately publish the public parameters. Based on the above analysis, we design an efficient and secure CLS scheme in this paper, and the unforgeability is proved based on the hardness of discrete logarithm complexity assumption through the Forking lemma. Compared with the existing constructions, our new proposal has advantages in communication and computation efficiency but also has higher security. Furthermore, a concrete construction of a certificateless aggregate signature (CLAS) scheme is designed with the above basic CLS scheme to realize efficient verification of multiple signatures. Finally, we further improve the key conditions that need to be paid attention to design a secure CLS scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emerging Insect Intelligent Building (I2B) platform is pioneering a new realm in intelligent buildings. I2B has a distributed and decentralized network structure with intelligent nodes, and the key enabler is an application (APP) that functions to process information from intelligent nodes and accomplish complex control tasks in a decentralized network. To develop APPs for I2B, a proper programming language is the foremost goal; however, existing programming languages cannot be applied directly due to I2B's unique structure and distinction of application domains. This paper aims to provide language support for a direct and friendly development of I2B APPs. We propose a graphical programming language that adapts to the operating characteristics of I2B and users' habits of buildings. Specifically, we first analyze the domain characteristics of the proposed language and present a general programming language model illustrated with a motivating example. Then, we investigate the detailed design, definition, and usage of graphic elements. Additionally, we implement a prototype support tool for the graphical programming language to develop I2B APPs. Moreover, we use the application example of a building's constant pressure control for evaluating the effectiveness of our work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect intelligent building (I2B) is a novel decentralized, flat-structured intelligent building platform with excellent flexibility and scalability. I2B allows users to develop applications that include control strategies for efficiently managing and controlling buildings. However, developing I2B APPs (applications) is considered a challenging and complex task due to the complex structural features and parallel computing models of the I2B platform. Existing studies have been shown to encounter difficulty in supporting a high degree of abstraction and in allowing users to define control scenarios in a concise and comprehensible way. This paper aims to facilitate the development of such applications and to reduce the programming difficulty. We propose Touch, a textual domain-specific language (DSL) that provides a high-level abstraction of I2B APPs. Specifically, we first establish the conceptual programming architecture of the I2B APP, making the application more intuitive by abstracting different levels of physical entities in I2B. Then, we present special language elements to effectively support the parallel computing model of the I2B platform and provide a formal definition of the concrete Touch syntax. We also implement supporting tools for Touch, including a development environment as well as target code generation. Finally, we present experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of Touch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insect Intelligent Building (I2B) is a novel platform of intelligent buildings. The outstanding feature of I2B is the decentralized network structure connected by smart nodes. I2B can employ APPs (applications) developed by various practitioners or programming fans to manage and control buildings. However, due to the unique parallel operation of I2B platform and the popularization of APP developers, there still exists no effective approach to supporting I2B APP development. To deal with the challenges and provide meaningful guidance for describing and developing I2B APP and motivating the prospective programming language design, we propose INR, a programming model for I2B APP development. Three submodels in INR, namely, Individual, Neighborhood, and Region, are defined and implemented, respectively, for describing different task requirements. Moreover, new mechanisms of Tag-based programming and Clustering operation are established to support the plug-and-play and parallel abilities of APPs in I2B. Finally, we apply the programming model into an application case to illustrate the developing pattern of the I2B APP and verify the effectiveness of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to global climate change, China has committed to peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, commonly known as the "30–60 Dual Carbon". Under the background of "30–60 Dual Carbon", this article takes the electric power industry, which is the main industry contributing to China's carbon emission, as the research object, explores the time and peak value of the carbon peak of the electric power industry, and analyzes whether carbon neutrality can be realized under the peak method, so as to get the carbon neutrality path of the electric power industry and serve as the theoretical basis for the formulation of relevant policies. The Environmental Kuznets Curve inspection and the relationship analysis are carried out, then the system dynamics model is constructed, the carbon emissions from 2020 to 2040 are simulated, and the peak time is predicted. Three different scenarios are set to explore the path of electricity carbon neutralization under the premise of a fixed peak. It is shown that Gross Domestic Product per capita index factors have the largest positive contribution, and thermal power share index factors have the largest negative contribution to electricity carbon emissions. Based on the current efforts of the new policy, carbon emissions can achieve the peak carbon emissions' target before 2030, and it is expected to peak in 2029, with a peak range of about 4.95 billion tons. After the power industry peaks in 2029, i.e., Scenario 3, from coal 44%, gas 9% (2029) to coal 15%, gas 7% (2060), where the CCUS technology is widely used, this scenario can achieve carbon neutrality in electricity by 2060. Adjusting the power supply structure, strictly controlling the proportion of thermal power, optimizing the industrial structure, and popularization of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology will all contribute to the "dual carbon" target of the power sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The yield of Panax notoginseng (BurK.) F. H. Chen in Yunnan Province accounted for more than 90% of China's total yield, but extensive water and fertilizer management restricted improvement of yield, quality, and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng. Therefore, this study tried to propose an adaptive irrigation and fertilizer management strategy for Panax notoginseng production. A two-year (2017 and 2018) rain-shelter cultivation study in Yunnan Province of southwest China was conducted to analyze the influences of irrigation and organic fertilizer application on soil water distribution, root growth, water-fertilizer productivity, quality, and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng in four organic fertilizer application rates [500 (F 1), 1000 (F 2), 1500 (F 3), and 2000 (F 4) kg ha−1] combined with three micro-sprinkler irrigation schedules [I 1 : moderate deficit micro-sprinkler irrigation, (70–75%) θ FC ; I 2 : alternate micro-sprinkler irrigation, (70–75%) θ FC / (80–85%) θ FC ; I 3 : slight deficit micro-sprinkler irrigation, (80–85%) θ FC ]. The results indicated that the increasing micro-sprinkler irrigation levels enhanced soil water content in 0–40 cm soil layer, but resulted in a reduction irrigation water productivity (IWP). Moreover, the increasing organic fertilizer application significantly led to reduced partial fertilizer productivity (PFP). Under the interaction of micro-sprinkler irrigation schedules and organic fertilizer application in 2017 and 2018, the I 2 F 3 significantly obtained the highest soil water storage (SWS), root hydraulic conductivity, root morphological characteristics, root-shoot ratio, lowest root rot rate (4.68% in 2017 and 6.59% in 2018), largest yield (3614.5 kg ha−1 in 2017 and 3981.5 kg ha−1 in 2018), total saponin content (20.23% in 2017 and 23.28% in 2018), and economic benefits (25.28 × 104 $ ha−1 in 2017 and 32.6 × 104 $ ha−1 in 2018) of Panax notoginseng. Based on the above results, the comprehensive evaluation of five saponin contents and the comprehensive evaluation of the yield, IWP, PFP, economic benefits, and total saponin content of Panax notoginseng were analyzed by using a TOPSIS model in 2017 and 2018. We found that synergistic of alternate micro-sprinkler irrigation [I 2 , (70–75%) θ FC / (80–85%) θ FC ] and organic fertilizer application (F 3 , 1500 kg ha−1) could decrease root rot, improve root growth, water-fertilizer productivity, quality, and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng. [Display omitted] • Alternate irrigation synergized with organic fertilizer (AIOF) was a sustainable technology of Panax notoginseng production. • The AIOF promoted root growth and decreased root rot incidence of Panax notoginseng. • The AIOF improved water-fertilizer productivity, quality, and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jatropha curcas L. is a promising bioenergy source, and its seedling stage is sensitive to salinity. Nitrogen application presents an effective strategy for alleviating the adverse consequences of salinity stress. However, the responses of plant growth and physiology of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings to nitrogen application under salinity stress remain unclear. As a result, a one-year greenhouse plot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of nitrogen application on the plant growth, antioxidant enzyme activity, and photosynthesis of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings under saline conditions. Experiment treatments consisted of three salinity stresses (mild salinity stress, S1: 2 g/kg; moderate salinity stress, S2: 4 g/kg; and severe salinity stress, S3: 6 g/kg), four nitrogen application rates (N0: 0 gN/plant; N1: 20 gN/plant; N2: 60 gN/plant; and N3: 100 gN/plant), and a control treatment (CK) which was without salinity stress and nitrogen application. The results showed that salinity stress substantially reduced plant growth of Jatropha curcas L. seedlings. As the salinity stress increased, the reduction in plant growth also increased. The S3 treatment had the lowest leaf area, leaf biomass, and total biomass, which decreased by an average of 70.4%, 66.3%, and 69.9%, respectively, compared to CK. Nitrogen application could compensate for these impairments of plant growth from salinity stress by promoting antioxidant enzyme activity and photosynthesis. As for mild and moderate salinity stresses, the maximum plant growth was found in the N3 treatment, with the maximum antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic pigment, photosynthetic characteristic, and chlorophyll fluorescence. As for severe salinity stress, higher plant growth was found in N2 and N3 treatments, and there were no significant differences between N2 and N3 treatments. It also should be noted that the maximum photosynthetic characteristic and chlorophyll fluorescence were found in N2 treatment under severe salinity stress. In conclusion, nitrogen application could be an alternative strategy to improve the salinity tolerance of Jatropha curcas L. growth. The nitrogen application rate of 100 gN/plant could be recommended for low and moderate salinity stresses, while 60 gN/plant could be recommended for severe salinity stress. However, higher nitrogen application rate (>100 gN/plant) under mild and moderate salinity stress and the effects of reactive oxygen species under salinity stress should be further evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superelastic silk fibroin (SF)-based aerogels can be used as multifunctional substrates, exhibiting a promising prospect in air filtration, thermal insulation, and biomedical materials. However, fabrication of the superelastic pure SF aerogels without adding synthetic polymers remains challenging. Here, the SF micro-nano fibrils (SMNFs) that preserved mesostructures are extracted from SF fibers as building blocks of aerogels by a controllable deep eutectic solvent liquid exfoliation technique. SMNFs can assemble into multiscale fibril networks during the freeze-inducing process, resulting in all-natural SMNF aerogels (SMNFAs) with hierarchical cellular architectures after lyophilization. Benefiting from these structural features, the SMNFAs demonstrate desirable properties including ultra-low density (as low as 4.71 mg/cm3) and superelasticity (over 85 % stress retention after 100 compression cycles at 60 % strain). Furthermore, the potential applications of superelastic SMNFAs in air purification and thermal insulation are investigated to exhibit their functionality, mechanical elasticity, and structural stability. This work provides a reliable approach for the fabrication of highly elastic SF aerogels and endows application prospects in air purification and thermal insulation opportunities. [Display omitted] • Multiscale SMNFs are extract from SF fibers by DES liquid exfoliation strategy to construct superelastic aerogel. • The assembled SMNF aerogels demonstrate excellent superelastic performance. • The SMNF aerogel exhibit distinctive air filtration and thermal insulation properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the effect of nitrogen addition on growth and water use of pot-grown Jatropha curcas (J. curcas) under three irrigation frequencies, i.e. 4d (W1), 8d (W2) and 12d (W3). Results show that compared to W1, W3 significantly reduced net plant growth, leaf area, basal shoot xylem cross-section area, total dry mass and whole water storage capacity and total evapotranspiration under saving irrigation water of 21.0%, but increased irrigation water-use efficiency (WUEI) and crop water-use efficiency (WUEET) by 9.7 and 13.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, W3 had higher Huber value, which may improve transfer water efficiency from roots to shoots. Compared to no nitrogen treatment, nitrogen addition increased total dry mass, whole plant water storage capacity, total evapotranspiration, WUEI and WUEET by 13.4–38.1, 8.5–17.7, 14.9–17.5, 16.4–30.7 and 17.7–21.9%, respectively. Thus the optimal combination was the treatment with irrigation frequency of 12d and nitrogen supply, which can increase water-use efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Panax notoginseng (Burk) F. H. Chen, called Sanqi, is a valuable herbal plant and is widely used in Chinese medicine. However, the yield and saponin content cannot be guaranteed due to irrational irrigation and fertilizer management in low-latitude regions in southwestern China. To obtain suitable irrigation and organic fertilizer modes for improving the yield and saponin content of the plant, a shelter experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement of treatments with three replications. Three irrigation regimes, D L , D M and D S (irrigation upper/lower limit: 65–50% θ f , 50–35% θ f , and 35–20% θ f , respectively, where θ f is the field capacity), three organic fertilizer levels, F L , F M and F H (33, 48 and 63 t ha−1, respectively), and a control group, CK (65–50% θ f and 3 t ha−1), were applied in the two-year and eight-month growth cycles. With the paired comparison design, the results indicated that the flower dry yield, root dry yield and Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) were significantly affected by different water deficit irrigation and organic fertilizer treatments, and they first increased and then decreased with increased water deficit or organic fertilizer. Compared with D L F H , D M F M reduced water use by 42.39% and fertilizer use by 23.81%, and the flower dry yield, root dry yield, PNS , water use efficiency and partial factor productivity of fertilizer increased by 19.67%, 22.52%, 54.33%, 149.72% and 91.83%, respectively. Under the D M F M treatment, the dry root yield and saponin content for 3-year-old P. notoginseng were 3039.19 kg ha−1 and 10.85%, respectively, which were higher than those resulting from other treatments. Additionally, the PNS resulting from D M F M exhibited the highest comprehensive score and comprehensive index based on principal component analysis and the TOPSIS model. This combination could create a higher yield of flowers and roots, provide a scientific management for planting, and improve the economic benefits for planters and the local government. • Study highlights role of deficit irrigation and organic fertilizer on Panax notoginseng growth. • Fertigation with highest irrigation and fertilizer amount increase root disease incidence and decrease root dry yield. • Severe drought stress significantly increased the water use efficiency for P. notoginseng. • Organic fertilizer schedule with water irrigation amount of 50~35% θf is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To investigate the effect of alternate drip irrigation on hydraulic conductivity and water-use efficiency of young pear tree, a field experiment was conducted with three drip irrigation methods, i.e. alternate drip irrigation (ADI, both sides of the root-zone irrigated alternatively), fixed drip irrigation (FDI, only one side of the root-zone irrigated), conventional drip irrigation (CDI, watering near the base of tree), and three irrigation levels, i.e. irrigation quantity of 20 (W1), 30 (W2) and 40mm (W3), respectively. Results show that compared to CDI, ADI reduced total hydraulic conductivity (root to leaf), soil evaporation, evapotranspiration, leaf area and total dry mass of young pear tree, but increased water-use efficiency (WUE ET ) and irrigation water-use efficiency (WUE I ) when the watering was reduced by 50% at W1, and it reduced soil evaporation, evapotranspiration, leaf area and total dry mass, but increased total hydraulic conductivity (root to leaf), WUE ET and WUE I when the watering was reduced by 25–33% at W2 and W3. However, FDI significantly decreased total hydraulic conductivity and total dry mass when compared to CDI. Thus ADI significantly increased total hydraulic conductivity due to its more evenly watering to the whole root-zone, which led to the increase of water-use efficiency when the watering was reduced by 25–33%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of three drip irrigation methods (i.e. conventional drip irrigation (CDI), both sides of the root-zone irrigated with full watering, alternate drip irrigation (ADI), both sides of the root-zone irrigated alternatively with half of the full watering, and fixed drip irrigation (FDI), only one side of the root-zone irrigated with half of the full watering) on growth, physiology, root hydraulic conductance and water use of young apple tree under different nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) fertilization (i.e. CK (no fertilization), N1 (0.2gN/kg), N2 (0.4gN/kg), P1 (0.2gP2O5/kg) and P2 (0.4gP2O5/kg)). Results show that compared to CDI, ADI and FDI reduced mean root dry mass, daily transpiration, root hydraulic conductance (K r ), leaf photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance of young apple tree by 6.9 and 27.7, 29.3 and 45.0, 6.8 and 37.9, 2.5 and 4.8, 32.6 and 33.0, 22.1 and 22.3%, but increased leaf water use efficiency (WUE) by 31.3 and 29.8%, respectively when they saved irrigation water by 50%. Compared to the CK, N or P fertilization significantly increased K r , and K r was increased with the increased N or P fertilization level. There were parabolic correlations between K r and root dry mass, daily transpiration and stomatal conductance. Our results indicate that ADI reduced transpiration rate significantly, but it did not reduce photosynthesis rate and K r significantly, thus alternate drip irrigation improved WUE and the regulation ability of water balance in plants. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

At present, the state has introduced the policy of forest Chinese herbal medicine planting planning, strictly prohibiting the planting of Chinese herbal medicine in basic farmland, coupled with the fact that the continuous cropping obstacles of Panax notoginseng have not yet been solved, which makes the area of arable land suitable for planting become less and less. However, the effect of soil moisture regulation on the growth of Panax notoginseng cultivated on sloping arable land has not been reported. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impact of various irrigation levels and slopes on Panax notoginseng agronomic traits, physiological characteristics, disease attributes, biomass, and quality characteristics. During 2018–2020, a field experiment was conducted in the Panax notoginseng growing seasons with three irrigation levels (I1: 70–75% θ FC , I2: 75–80% θ FC , I3: 80–85% θ FC) and three slopes (S1: 2.43°, S2: 6.38°, S3: 16.38°). The results evidenced that the photosynthetic characteristics, root hydraulic conductivity characteristics, biomass and PNS of Panax notoginseng reached the maximum value in the I2S2 treatment, and at the same time, the incidence rate of Panax notoginseng root rot was the lowest. Therefore, based on the results of this study, irrigation volume I2S2 should be regarded as the optimal slope and irrigation management strategies for reducing Panax notoginseng diseases and realizing stable yield and quality improvement of Panax notoginseng. A multi-objective optimization model was established through binary quadratic regression analysis. The findings evidenced that when the irrigation interval was 187–203 mm and the slope interval was 5–10.7°, Panax notoginseng had the lowest incidengce rate, and the root biomass and saponin content reached > 95% of the maximum values at the same time. [Display omitted] • Moisture and slope coupling reduces root rot in Panax notoginseng • Panax notoginseng had the worst hydraulic conductivity under I1S3 treatment • The most suitable slope for planting Panax notoginseng is 5–10.7° • Irrigation 152–193 mm balanced the relationship between morbidity, yield, and PNS [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton is the most widely planted fiber crop in the world and plays an important role in the national economy. Climate change alters the environmental elements of crop growth such as sunlight, moisture, and soil through changes in temperature and precipitation, which in turn affects the phenology period, growth potential, and cropping system of cotton, and ultimately affects yields. Studying the feedback of cotton growth to climate change is of great practical significance for cotton planting planning and yield increase and stabilization. Crop growth is affected by both climate and management measures, but most studies often ignore the impact of management measures, resulting in the inability to accurately assess the impact of climate. And existing research is mostly based on single sites or some provinces, lacking regional research on the main cotton producing areas in China. This study calibrated the AquaCrop model using data from 40 sites from three major cotton growing regions in China collected over different time periods between 1978 and 2018 and simulated the climate change impact on cotton for the subsequent years. The model showed good applicability in simulating the growth process of cotton in the study areas. The above-ground biomass (Bio), potential yield (Py) and water use efficiency (WUE) of cotton under the influence of climate change showed an increasing trend of 98% (39/40), 98%, and 93% of the sites, while the actual evapotranspiration (ET a) mainly decreased. Elevated CO 2 concentration increased cotton yield. The main climatic variables affecting cotton growth were wind speed, solar radiation, sunshine hours, and minimum and maximum temperature. Climate variables explained the changes in ET a , Bio , Py , and WUE by 65.1–95.5%, 9.7–74.5%, 14.8–68.3%, and 15.2–90.4%, respectively. Overall, cotton growth showed close relation to changes in W s , R s , T min , and T max. The study quantitatively analyzed and identified the main climatic factors affecting cotton growth and found that climate change and elevated CO 2 concentrations have a positive impact on cotton production. The simulations conducted in this study using multi-site data provided reliable regional information that can help develop future management strategies to maintain current and meet future demand for cotton in China, and provide recommendations and guidance for environmental regulation and sustainable discovery of the cotton growing process. [Display omitted] • The applicability of the AquaCrop model in the three major cotton producing regions in China was evaluated. • The effects of climate change on cotton growth and yield in china were analyzed under with unchanged management measures. • Cotton growth and yield changes under constant and elevated CO 2 concentration scenarios were comparatively analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, corn straw (CS) based porous carbon was prepared by one-step phosphoric acid (H 3 PO 4) low temperature activation. The impregnation ratios (H 3 PO 4 /CS, g/g) played an important role in the pore development. ACS 300-1 engineered at 300 °C and the impregnation ratio of 1.0 showed the maximal specific surface area of 463.89 m2/g with total pore volume of 0.387 cm3/g, attaining a high tetracycline (TC) uptake of 227.3 mg/g. The adsorption of TC onto ACS 300-1 was found tolerant with wide pH (2.0–10.0) and high ionic strength (0 – 0.5 M). The adsorption data can be fitted well by the pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm model. The endothermic and spontaneous properties of the adsorption system was implied by Thermodynamic study. The findings of the current work conclude that one-step H 3 PO 4 activation is a green and promising method for corn straw based porous carbon that may be found with great potentials in antibiotic containing wastewater treatment. Image 1 • Corn straw based porous carbon (ACS 300-1) was facilely prepared by one-step phosphoric acid low temperature activation. • ACS 300-1 showed high microporosity and specific surface area with excellent TC uptake capacity of 227.3 mg/g. • ACS 300-1 was tolerant with wide pH (2.0–10.0) and high ionic strength (0–0.5 M). • The adsorption behavior of TC onto ACS 300-1 surface was both physisorption and chemisorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been developing rapidly and popularizing the world. Smart home is one of its important applications, the devices and household appliances are connected together through the network to provide intelligent services. However, malicious attacks often occur during the transmission of data information, resulting in data leakage or data changes. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the integrity and availability of data. Based on this, we propose a new pairing-free certificateless aggregate signature (CLAS) scheme, which achieves efficient authentication of multiple messages and improves the verification rate. In addition, we demonstrate its security based on the hardness of the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem in the random oracle model. Comparison with other CLAS schemes proves that our scheme has better security and higher efficiency through performance analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant-derived selenium is an important source of selenium (Se) for humans, which, however, has been restricted by a low content of Se in soil. Traditional Se fertilizers have tended to result in low selenium utilization. Thus, it was necessary to develop a new slow-release material to control Se fertilizer release. In this study, biochar pyrolyzed at 300 °C and 800 °C was cross-linked with polyethyleneimine (PEI) after being treated with HNO3 or NaOH (which were labeled Acid-W300, Acid-W800, Alkali-W300, and Alkali-W800). The results showed that the maximum adsorption capacities of Acid-W300, Alkali-W300, Acid-W800, and Alkali-W800 were 329.16 mg/g, 321.93 mg/g, 315.04 mg/g, and 344.33 mg/g, respectively. Among them, Acid-W800 and Alkali-W800 were mainly imine- and amide-bonded with SO32−, while Acid-W300 and Alkali-W300 were loaded with SO32− by forming the C–Se bonding as well as through imine- and amide-bonding. The release of four biochar-based selenium fertilizers in the red soil and brown soil extracts conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The release rate and release amount of four biochar-based selenium fertilizers in the red soil extract were higher than those in the brown soil extract. Alkali-W800-Se had a higher proportion of Se-exchangeable release, accounting for 87.5% of the total loaded selenium, while Acid-W300-Se had the lowest proportion at 62.2%. However, the Se releases of Alkali-W800-Se were more than 42.49% and 37.67% of the total Se-loading capacity during 5 days of continuous red soil extraction and brown soil extraction, respectively. Acid-W300-Se released less than 20% of the total Se-loading capacity. Thus, Acid-W300-Se was the recommended slow-release Se fertilizer in red soil and brown soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unconventional water resources (e.g., saline water, etc.) for irrigation as a promising supplementary water source can alleviate the freshwater shortage in the agriculture of red soil areas in Southern China. It should be noted that the presence of soluble salt in this water source may have detrimental influences on soil water infiltration and crop growth. Understanding the effect of unconventional water irrigation (UWI) on water infiltration in red soil is important. Previous studies have shown that the salinity of UWI can alter soil hydraulic properties to change soil water movement in saline soils. However, the underlying mechanism and factors of water infiltration in red soil under UWI with different salinity levels remain limited. Therefore, a laboratory experiment (one-dimensional vertical infiltration experiment and centrifuge method) was conducted to evaluate the effect of UWI with different salinity levels [0 (the distilled water, CK), 1 (S1), 2 (S2), 3 (S3), 5 (S5), and 10 (S10) g L−1] on the soil water infiltration process, soil water characteristic curve (SWCC), soil water constants estimated using the SWCC, saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (KS and K) as well as the soil chemistry of soil profile [pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and Na+ and Cl− contents]. The primary factors of soil water infiltration were identified using stepwise regression and path analysis methods. The results showed that UWI salinity decreased water infiltration by 1.53–7.99% at the end of infiltration in red soil, following the order of CK > S1 > S5 > S2 > S3 > S10. Moreover, UWI could enhance soil water availability with an increase of 8.55–12.68% in available water capacity. In contrast, lower KS and K were observed in S1–S10, and there was a negative linear relationship between irrigation salinity and KS. UWI also produced the EC, Na+, and Cl− accumulations in the soil profile. As the salinity level of UWI increased, the accumulations aggravated. Soil acidification was found in S1–S5, while soil alkalization was observed in S10. Additionally, α, PWP, and KS were the primary factors influencing the water infiltration of red soil. This study can help optimize the soil infiltration model under UWI and establish a foundation for unconventional water management in the red soil regions of Southern China and other similar regions. In addition, the undisturbed red soil under agricultural unconventional water irrigation and the long-term effect of unconventional water application should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water scarcity poses a formidable challenge to agricultural productivity in arid regions, and water retention agents offer promising potential in this regard. Therefore, this study proposes developing and preparing polymers with water retention properties using waste green algae as raw material to explore the effectiveness of enhanced water infiltration and reduce evaporation at different use levels (0%, 0.15%, 0.30%, 0.45% and 0.60%) and maximum mixing depths (10 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm and 50 cm) and determine the optimum management. The results demonstrate that the synthesized polymers exhibited a remarkable swelling rate of 143.6 g/g, along with reusability and excellent temperature stability. The polymer application rate was positively correlated with infiltration duration, with an increase from 161 min to 750 min as the application rate rose from 0% to 0.60%. Concurrently, cumulative infiltration increased from 22.6 cm to 31.1 cm, showcasing the benefits of the polymer in enhancing water retention. Intriguingly, cumulative evapotranspiration initially decreased and then increased with increasing polymer application rates. Moreover, increasing the maximum mixing depth from 10 to 50 cm while maintaining the 0.3% application rate increased the cumulative infiltration (from 22.6 cm to 31.1 cm) and infiltration rate (from 0.03 cm/min to 0.08 cm/min) while decreasing the cumulative evaporation (from 44.4 mm to 31.7 mm). Considering the cumulative infiltration, infiltration rate and evapotranspiration characteristics, an optimized polymer application rate of 0.27% at a mixing depth of 0–50 cm was recommended for efficient soil moisture management. This study highlights the potential of green algae-derived biodegradable polymers as a win–win strategy for achieving waste alleviation of water scarcity in drylands, particularly for maize and wheat cultivation in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fungal community structure and soil fertility in rhizosphere soil have an important effect on the health of Panax notoginseng (P. notoginseng). The attack of pathogenic fungi and the imbalance of soil fertility can easily lead to diseases. The effect of Bacillus subtilis on improving the community structure of soil fungi has been confirmed, and the corresponding biological agent products have been commercialized. A pot experiment carried out in a greenhouse explored the effect of a biological agent and fertilizer on the fungal community in the rhizosphere of P. notoginseng. In the experiment, fertilization and the addition of biological agents were set up with three gradients, respectively, and the full coupling experiment was adopted, and the blank control group (CK) was set up at the same time. Therefore, there were thirteen treatments in the experiment. NH4 decreased between 36.42% and 11.56%, AP increased between 6.03% and 92.46%, AK increased between 2.99% and 25.40%, TN increased between 0.10% and 9.41%, and TP increased by 18.25% to 47.73% The addition of Bacillus subtilis biological agent decreased the Chao1, Shannon, Simpson, and ACE index of fungi in the rhizosphere soil of P. notoginseng. The Chao1 index decreased between 0.39% and 78.22%; the ACE index decreased between 0.43% and 78.24%. The main pathogenic fungi Cylindrocarpon and Fusarium of P. notoginseng were different in the experimental results. Cylindrocarpon decreased under F1C1, F2C1, and F3C2 treatments, while Fusarium increased under F1C1, F2C2, F3C1, and F3C3 treatments and decreased Fusarium content in rhizosphere soil of P. notoginseng in other treatments. RDA analysis (Redundancy analysis) showed that NH4-N was negatively correlated with the main pathogen Cylindrocarpon, Fusarium, and Ilyonectria, while AP and AK were positively correlated with Cylindrocarpon, Fusarium, and Ilyonectria. The results of the GRA-TOPSIS analysis showed that the score of F3C2 was the highest, while F2C3 and F2C1 ranked second and third, respectively. The calculation results of the theoretical model based on GRA-TOPSIS analysis showed that the GRA-TOPSIS score was highest when the theoretical optimal fertilizer application rate and bacteria application rate were 116.31 kg hm−2 and 15.83 kg hm−2, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertical agriculture has developed rapidly in recent years, pushing artificial light planting to new heights. Under indoor artificial light, the light supply mode has practical significance in studying the impact of lighting conditions on plants. This experiment involved five intermittent light supply modes (with a light period of 16 h and a dark period of 8 h (16/8) as the control group, with a light period of 8 h and a dark period of 4 h repeated twice a day (8/4), a light period of 4 h and a dark period of 2 h repeated four times a day (4/2), a light period of 2 h and a dark period of 1 h repeated eight times a day (2/1), and a light period of 1 h and a dark period of 0.5 h repeated 16 times a day (1/0.5) (as the experimental groups). A total of ten treatments were combined before the continuous light supply mode (B) and after the continuous light supply mode (A). Through experimental settings, we explored the response mechanisms to intermittent and continuous light supply modes as they pertain to lettuce growth, nutrient content, photosynthetic parameters, and light stress. Through research, it was found that continuous light supply significantly increased plant height, root length, aboveground dry and fresh weight, and the underground dry and fresh weight of lettuce. The treatments with a light period 4 h/dark period 2 h (4/2) and a light period 8 h/dark period 4 h (8/4) significantly increased the N, P, K, and Cu contents. Additionally, continuous light supply helped stabilize the Mg, Ca, and Mn contents across all treatment groups. Stomatal closure has been found to cause a decrease in the rate of net photosynthesis, transpiration, and intercellular CO2 concentration. The energy absorbed by antenna pigments is significantly increased when participating in photochemical reactions; however, continuous light supply has been observed to reduce the absorption flux per reaction center (ABS/RC), trapped energy flux per reaction center (TR0/RC), electron transport flux per reaction center (ET0/RC), and the probability that a trapped exciton moves an electron into the electron transport chain beyond QA− (at t = 0) (ET0/TR0). Conversely, the electron transport flux per cross section (ET0/CS) has been found to increase significantly. In summary, among the intermittent light supply treatment groups, the 2/1 treatment group showed the best response to growth indicators, nutrient absorption, and photosynthesis, and could improve the quality of lettuce without adding additional light energy. Continuous light supply in the short term can improve the growth and nutrient absorption of lettuce; both of the two light supply modes produced light stress on lettuce, and this light stress caused by non-circadian rhythm forced the lettuce to increase its photochemical quenching (qI) and electro transport flux crossover (ET0/CS). This paper may provide a theoretical reference for the use of light supply modes in plant factories to improve vegetable yield, and for the study of the response mechanism of light stress under non-circadian rhythm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapeseed is one of China's major oil crops, and accurate yield forecasting is crucial to the growth of the rapeseed industry and the country's food security. In this study, the data on natural and socio-economic factors from 2001 to 2020 and the yield of rapeseed in China were used as the data basis. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between the influencing factors and the yield of rapeseed, and the prediction effect of four machine learning models (linear regression (LR), decision tree (DTR), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM)) on the yield of rapeseed was compared in China's main rapeseed-producing area. The results demonstrate that the yield of rapeseed in China showed an increasing trend, but fluctuated greatly. Rural electricity consumption, gross agricultural production, the net amount of agricultural fertilizer application, effective irrigation area, total power of agricultural machinery, and consumption of agricultural plastic film had a positive effect on the increase in rapeseed yield. However, due to the impact of climate change and disasters, the yield of rapeseed has had significant fluctuations. A Pearson correlation analysis showed that socio-economic factors (rural electricity consumption, gross agricultural production, effective irrigation area, total power of agricultural machinery, consumption of agricultural plastic film, etc.) played a dominant role in rapeseed yield changes. The RF model had a good prediction effect on rapeseed yield, and natural factors and socio-economic factors had different effects on spring rapeseed and winter rapeseed. Winter rapeseed yield was mainly affected by socio-economic factors, accounting for as high as 89% of the importance. Among them, the sown area of rapeseed and the effective irrigation area had the greatest impact. The effects of natural factors and socio-economic factors on spring rapeseed yield were similar, accounting for 47% and 53%, respectively, and the mean annual precipitation, sunshine duration, and sown area of rapeseed were the most influential variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultivation of Panax notoginseng has been plagued by a multitude of challenges, including recurrent diseases, suboptimal value, inadequate quality, and environmental degradation resulting from improper water and fertilizer management. To address these issues and improve the yield of P. notoginseng and its saponin content, this study endeavors to identify the optimal irrigation and fertilization levels in shaded environments in Yunnan Province in Southwest China. In this field experiment, three-year-old plants were tested to evaluate the effects of water, soluble organic fertilizers, and their combinations on plant growth, physiological parameters, yield, and saponin content. The experiment included 12 treatments with three types of irrigation (10 (W1), 15 (W2), and 20 (W3) mm), totaling 440, 660, and 880 mm, and four levels of the total amount of fertilization (F1 (60, total N 12.6, total P 5.5, and total K 10.5 kg ha−1), F2 (90, total N 18.9, total P 8.3, and total K 15.7 kg ha−1), F3 (120, total N 25.2, total P 11.0, and total K 20.9 kg ha−1), F4 (150, total N 31.5, total P 13.8, and total K 26.1 kg ha−1)). The randomized complete block design was used, with 36 plots in total and 3 replications. The study utilized the TOPSIS method to determine the most effective water and fertilizer management strategy for the growth and production of P. notoginseng. The assessment of yield, water and fertilizer productivity, and saponin content across all treatments revealed that the W3F3 treatment resulted in significant increases in the plant's height, stem diameter, and net photosynthetic rate. Meanwhile, the W2F3 treatment exhibited the best root morphological traits. The W3F4 treatment effectively increased dry matter and transpiration. The combination of water and fertilization had a coupling effect that not only increased yield to 1400 kg ha−1 but also improved water–fertilizer productivity. The application of the W2F3 treatment resulted in a significant increase in the accumulation of active components, leading to a total P. notoginseng saponin (PNS) content of 24.94%. Moreover, the comprehensive index obtained through the TOPSIS model indicated that the W2F3 treatment outperformed other treatments. Therefore, this treatment can be considered a promising water and fertilizer model for P. notoginseng cultivation, which can enhance its yield, quality, and productivity while promoting sustainable green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The oxidative stability of MXene nanosheets is enhanced by co-assembling with natural sericin. • A silk fabric with superior thermal management performance was fabricated via sericin-MXene coating. • The interfacial binding between silk fiber and sericin-MXene is improved by deep eutectic solvent micro-etching pretreatment. • The resulting silk fabric exhibits excellent electrical heating and low mid-IR emissivity. • The obtained silk fabric shows breathability, flame retardancy and washing durability. Integration of natural textiles (e.g. silk) and two-dimensional transition metal carbide/nitride (MXene) is promising for the development of wearable thermal management materials. However, fabricating MXene-decorated textiles with durable and stable thermal management performance remains a challenge due to the susceptible oxidation of MXene and the weak interaction between MXene and fibers. Here, we propose a novel surface modification strategy for MXene nanosheets (SSMXene) by co-assembling with natural sericin to protect against water and oxygen, enrich surface chemistry, and significantly enhance oxidative stability. Subsequently, SSMXene-coated silk fabrics (M-silk) were developed via choline chloride/oxalic acid deep eutectic solvent (DES) micro-etching pretreatment and then decorating SSMXene through a scalable solution dip-coating technique. Notably, DES micro-etching pretreatment enabled strong interfacial bonding between SSMXene and fibers through the synergistic effect of hydrogen bonding and mechanical locking. The fabricated M-silk not only demonstrated desirable thermal management performance, including active electrical heating (the maximum temperature rise = 55.6 °C) and passive radiative heating (the mid-infrared emissivity as low as 0.24 at 7–14 μm), but also possessed superior breathability, laundry durability, and flame retardancy. Therefore, the smart, comfortable, durable, and multifunctional M-silk displays great potential for achieving effective personal thermal management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Panax notoginseng is an important medicinal crop in China. The high incidence of root rot in P. notoginseng during the rainy season has restricted the development of the industry. It is believed that frequent rainfall and a warm soil environment are important factors that promote root rot incidence. However, there is still a significant knowledge gap in the relationship between rainfall and root rot incidence. To understand the effects of rainfall and fertilizer on root exudates, the soil bacterial structure, and root rot in P. notoginseng, four treatments were chosen for both field and pot experiments. These treatments included DW (rain shelter and no fertilizer), RW (no rain shelter and no fertilizer), DWF (rain shelter and fertilizer), and RWF (no rain shelter and fertilizer). The results showed that both factors (rain shelter and fertilizer) significantly affected root rot incidence and several other parameters. Among them, the effect of a rain shelter is more significant than that of fertilizer, and the combination of the two further improves the effect. DW and DWF treatments significantly reduced the soil moisture, phenolic acid, and root rot incidence, while significantly increasing the soil temperature and enzyme activities compared to RW or RWF. Seven phenolic acids secreted by P. notoginseng roots were all positively correlated with root rot incidence. Root rot was also positively correlated with Planctomycetota, Acidobacteriota, and Gemmatimonadota and negatively correlated with Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Patescibacteria, and Nitrospirota. DWF treatment decreased the soil moisture and the concentration of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, syringic acid, phthalic acid, and vanillic acid and promoted the growth of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, leading to the lowest incidence of root rot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive use of chemical fertilizers deteriorates the soil environment and limits the normal growth of Arabica coffee trees. In order to identify the optimal coupling mode of chemical fertilizer application and biomass return that enhances the soil ecological environment and promotes the photosynthetic efficiency of Arabica coffee, this study investigated the impacts of three levels of inorganic fertilizers (FL: 360 kg·ha−1, FM: 720 kg·ha−1, and FH: 1080 kg·ha−1) and three types of coffee husk returning methods (CB: coffee husk biochar, CC: coffee husk compost, CA: coffee husk ash) on the soil fertility, microbial amount, enzyme activity, and photosynthetic characteristics of the Arabica coffee root zone. The entropy weight-TOPSIS method was employed to evaluate the comprehensive benefits. The results showed that FM had the biggest effect on improving soil fertility, microorganisms, and enzyme activities compared with FL and FH. Moreover, compared to CA, CC significantly increased soil organic carbon, organic matter, and total nitrogen content. CC significantly enhanced the activities of soil phosphatase and urease, respectively, by 29.84% and 96.00%, and significantly increased the amount of bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes by 62.15%, 68.42%, and 46.21%, respectively. The net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration rate (Tr), and stomatal conductance (Gs) of FMCC were significantly higher than those of other treatments. The comprehensive benefit evaluation of the soil environment and photosynthetic characteristics by the entropy weight-TOPSIS method ranked FMCC first. Therefore, FMCC was the optimal coupling mode for fertilizer application and the coffee husk returning method. The findings of this study not only provide scientific guidance for fertilizing Arabica coffee but also clarify the proper approach to returning coffee husk to the field, thereby improving soil ecology and promoting green and efficient production of specialty crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnAlTi layered double oxide (ZnAlTi-LDO) supported C 60 @AgCl nanoparticles were synthesized by the coprecipitation-light-induced method and their photocatalytic activity for photo-degradation of Bisphenol A (BPA) was analyzed quantitatively by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The morphology, structure and composition of the nanocomposites were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, Fourier Transform Infrared spectra and Specific Surface Area. According to the analysis, ZnAlTi-LDO supported C 60 @AgCl nanoparticles (C 60 @AgCl-LDO) was characteristic of mesoporous materials. Pore size distribution plots of all the catalysts were well-distributed, ranging between 10 and 20 nm. Because the heterostructure of Ag@AgCl enhanced near-field for light scattering, reflection and absorption. The Ag@AgCl-LDO nanoparticles and C 60 @AgCl-LDO nanoparticles showed a very intense absorption band in the near-UV region. The C 60 was used as support materials to enhance the stability of Ag-based photocatalysts. The C 60 @AgCl can reduce the recombination of photo-induced electron–hole pairs and therefore increase the efficiency of the photocatalysis. The photo-degradation experiment was conducted by using a series of the nanoparticles to degrade BPA under simulated visible light irradiation. Test results show that, photogenerated holes, superoxide radical species, OH bulk and singlet oxygen are responsible for the photo-degradation, among which the superoxide radical species plays an indispensable role in the photocatalytic reaction system. The degradation rate of the C 60 @AgCl-LDO in photocatalytic degradation of BPA under simulated visible light irradiation is for 90%. The C 60 @AgCl-LDO nanoparticles with remarkable photocatalytic activity can be used for large-scale environmental remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equine hepacivirus (EqHV), equine pegivirus (EPgV) and Theiler’s disease-associated virus (TDAV) are three novel equine viruses in the family Flaviviridae. EqHV and EPgV have been identified to circulate in the equine population worldwide, whereas TDAV has not been detected in equines since the first reported case. To date, no studies have focused on investigating EqHV, EPgV and TDAV in commercial equine sera or equine blood products in China. Considering the potential threat of EqHV, EPgV and TDAV to biosecurity and considering their possible influences on research results, equine sera for cell culture propagation and pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) were purchased from different companies in China and investigated for EqHV, EPgV and TDAV in this study. By performing nested PCR or two rounds of PCR targeting the viral NS3 gene, four serum samples were confirmed to be EqHV-, EPgV-, or TDAV-RNA positive; all of the PMSG samples were negative for these three viruses. Subsequent sequencing results indicated that the serum samples contained multiple viral variants of EqHV, EPgV or TDAV, and a genetic analysis based on the partial NS3 gene of the three equine viruses was performed. Our study is the first to confirm the presence of EqHV, EPgV and TDAV in equine sera for cell culture propagation that is commercially available in China and provides the first demonstration of the presence of TDAV in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel structural damping approach to reduce the sound pressure at a target point inside an enclosed cavity. In this approach, particle dampers filled with either metal or nonmetal particles are used. The dissipation mechanisms of such dampers are primarily related to the friction and collision of particle-wall and particle-particle contacts. In this research, each panel contribution was first analyzed to identify the panel that contributes the most to the target point. The proposed particle dampers were then attached to this panel for sound reduction. In the numerical process, a Particle Dampers Cyclic Iterative Method (PDCIM) was proposed for extracting the damping loss factor of the particle dampers to compute the sound pressure of a target point in the cavity with the particle dampers. For further comparative studies, simulation experiments are conducted for three cases: a case with the particle dampers, a case with the empty particle containers and a case with the equivalent mass. The numerical study found that the case with the particle dampers had the best sound reduction effect. Later, model tests were carried out to validate the numerical results. Experimental test results revealed that the particle dampers are remarkably effective for reducing the sound inside the enclosed cavity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is still a long-term challenge to decrease root rot and improve saponin content of Panax notoginseng , thus economic benefits in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, China. The objective of this study was therefore to propose a promising abiotic stresses strategy: deficit irrigation combined with sodium chloride (DISC) to cope with the challenge. A two-year field experiment was conducted to explore the effects of deficit irrigation combined with sodium chloride on physiological traits, yield, quality attributes, water use efficiency, and economic benefit of Panax notoginseng in 2018 and 2019. Experiment treatments consisted of two deficit irrigation levels [ D L , light deficit level: irrigation upper∼lower limit (80–65 %) θ FC ; D M , moderate deficit level: irrigation upper∼lower limit: (70–55 %) θ FC , where θ FC represents field capacity] and five NaCl application rates [0 (C 0), 15 (C 1), 30 (C 2), 45 (C 3), and 60 (C 4) mmol L−1], respectively. All treatments were designed using a randomized complete block with three replications. The results indicated that DISC could significantly promote the physiology and growth of Panax notoginseng and improve yield, quality and economic benefits under micro-sprinkler irrigation and shaded conditions in 2018 and 2019. Compared with the D M C 0 and D L C 0 treatments, D L C 1 treatment significantly improved net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), root (k r), shoot (k sh), and canopy (k c) hydraulic conductance of Panax notoginseng. The D L C 1 treatment significantly increased root length, surface area, average diameter, and volume of root of Panax notoginseng compared with the D M C 0 and D L C 0 treatments. The D L C 1 treatment significantly improved rood dry matter, yield, saponin content of Panax notoginseng , water use efficiency, and economic benefits by decreasing the incidence of root rot, but reverse results were observed in the D L C 2 , D L C 3 , and D L C 4 treatments. Therefore, this study suggested that deficit irrigation amount [ D L , (80–65 %) θ FC ] combined with NaCl concentration (C 1 , 15 mmol L−1) should be recommended as an appropriate agronomic management strategy to alleviate root rot and improve water use efficiency, saponin content, economic benefits of Panax notoginseng in the seasonally arid region of Southwest China. [Display omitted] • Deficit irrigation combined with sodium chloride (DISC): a strategy to improve Panax notoginseng production. • The DISC decreased root rot and improved physiological features of plant. • The DISC improved yield, quality, and economic benefits of Panax notoginseng. • The DISC [ D L , (80–65 %) θ FC and C 1 , (15 mmol L−1)] should be recommended to promote production of Panax notoginseng. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This study aimed to develop a novel pH‐sensitive intelligent film for monitoring minced beef freshness based on chitosan/sodium alginate (CS–SA) and coffee peel anthocyanin (CPA). The different CPA content effects on the internal structure, physical properties and pH sensitivity of the CS–SA films were investigated. The results showed low contents of CPA (≤2%) could be evenly distributed within the CS–SA matrix with good compatibility. The addition of CPA significantly improved the physical properties and pH sensitivity of the CS–SA films. The CS–SA film containing 2% CPA (CS–SA–CPA2) showed the best tensile strength, water vapour barrier performance and most noticeable colour change. Moreover, this film exhibited good colour stability after 120 days. The CS–SA–CPA2 film changed colour from light yellow to brown to dark brown during minced beef storage, successfully indicating freshness. Therefore, the CS–SA–CPA2 film has the potential to be a pH‐sensitive material for monitoring minced beef freshness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The feedback mechanism of cotton yield to climate change is important knowledge for cotton planting planning and stable production. However, the impact of sowing date on cotton yield in China's main cotton producing areas under future climate change is still unclear. To deal with it, this study first evaluated the applicability of the AquaCrop model using actual observed cotton growth and yield data. Then, based on the 27 Global Climate Models (GCMs) multi-model ensemble data in the Sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), the future climate changes in China 's main cotton producing areas from 2021 and 2060 (2040 s) and 2061–2100 (2080 s) under two typical Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) 2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 were predicted. Finally, the effects of different sowing dates on cotton yield under SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios were simulated. The results showed that: (1) AquaCrop model had good applicability and it could accurately simulate cotton growth and yield. (2) The temperature under the SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios increased significantly compared with the baseline period (1985–2020). Precipitation during the cotton growth period mainly showed an increasing trend, but the spatial and temporal variability was large. The reference crop evapotranspiration (ET o) during the cotton growth period mainly showed a decreasing trend under the SSP2–4.5 (2040 s) scenario, while it mainly showed an increasing trend in other future periods. (3) The cotton yield under the SSP2–4.5 and SSP5–8.5 scenarios increased by an average of 10.51% and 13.67%, 14.76% and 28.04% in 2040 s and 2080 s compared to the baseline period (1981–2015), respectively. (4) Early sowing was beneficial to increase cotton yield, cotton yield sown on March 31 increased by an average of 5.32% compared to May 10. In conclusion, future climate change will have positive impacts on cotton production in China, and early sowing is an effective adaptation measure to cope with climate change. • AquaCrop model has good applicability in the main cotton producing areas in China. • The simulation of future yield of cotton is based on the latest CMIP6 data. • Future climate change have positive impacts on cotton production in China. • Early sowing is an effective adaptation measure to cope with climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of keratin from discarded feathers for the preparation of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) ionic conductive hydrogels with enhanced mechanical properties shows promise for applications in green flexible electronics. Here, we first extracted feather keratin (FK) from duck feather fibers using the lactic acid/ l -cysteine deep eutectic solvents. Subsequently, the composite ionic conductive hydrogel composed of FK, PVA, and CaCl 2 was constructed by a one-pot freeze-thawing strategy. The introduction of FK resulted in a denser structure of the fabricated hydrogel, which significantly enhanced its mechanical properties, including high elongation at break of 639.3%, high breaking strength of 270 kPa, and durable fatigue resistance. Impressively, the hydrogel-based wearable strain sensor demonstrated high strain sensing sensitivity (GF = 1.26), wide strain detection range (5%–200%), fast response, and stable reliability, enabling it to accurately monitor and distinguish the difference in electrical signals generated by large and tiny human motions. This work provides a reliable method for the green extraction of FK and the design of high-performance PVA hydrogel-based flexible electrical devices. [Display omitted] • FK was extracted from feathers using a novel deep eutectic solvent. • PVA based ionic conductive hydrogels were constructed by a one-pot freeze-thawing strategy. • FK enhanced mechanical properties and ionic conductivity of hydrogels. • The hydrogel demonstrated superior strain sensing performance. • The hydrogel sensors are suitable for human motion monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, there is a lack of understanding of the dynamic characteristics of the carbon, nitrogen, and enzyme activities of the soil microbial biomass of Panax pseudoginseng under irrigation and fertilization. We set up a field experiment with 3 irrigation and 4 fertilization levels for a total of 12 treatments plus a control in the micro-sprinkler Panax pseudoginseng farmland in Luxi County, Yunnan Province, from 2018 to 2020. The results showed that the soil microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, and enzyme activities increased from the rooting period to the flowering period, and then decreased in the fruiting period. The soil microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, and enzyme activities of Panax pseudoginseng reached the maximum values in the flowering period, while the minimum values were reached in the rooting period. There were significant positive correlations between the soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen and enzyme activities during different growth periods under different water and fertilizer optimization management. This study revealed the tendency of the carbon, nitrogen, and enzyme activities of the soil microbial biomass of Panax pseudoginseng with the growth periods. It also analyzed the optimal management of different water and fertilizer regimes and the Ci values of soil microbial biomass carbon, nitrogen, and enzyme activities in different growth periods to determine the best water and fertilizer treatment methods in each growth period through the entropy value method combined with the TOPSIS method. The study found that the C i values in the rooting, seedling period, and fruiting periods increased with the increase in the fertilization level under the same irrigation level, and the Ci value in the seedling period and fruiting period increased with the increase of irrigation amount under the same fertilization level. The best water and fertilizer management regime at seedling, flowering, and fruiting periods was W3F4, and the rooting stage was W2F4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • An attentional deep learning model, named DeepFocus, is proposed to allow selective retrieval of informative signal variations and crucial feature regions. • An innovative temporal attention module based on the structural similarity values of WiFi snippets is designed. • A channel-spatial attention module is presented to strengthen the useful signal features along both the channel and spatial axes. • Extensive experiments are carried out on various real activity datasets. In this work, we have proposed the first WiFi-based attention model for intrinsic human activity information measuring. First, both convolutional layers and time-recurrent layers are integrated in a one-off manner for joint feature learning. Based on this, a temporal attention module is introduced to capture activity moments and reduce lengthy data collections. In addition, a channel-spatial attention module is further designed to retrieve the activity feature of interest, without requiring any additional supervision. Extensive experiments were conducted for performance comparison under diverse environmental settings. The results showed that our model can achieve the best overall accuracy of 94.62%, 94.36% and 91.04% in three datasets with minimal manual efforts involved, and consistently outperforms other baselines under diverse parameter settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the realization of real-time detection of nitrogen concentration in the process of automatic mixed liquid fertilizer, a detection device was designed, which was mainly composed of a nitrate ion selective electrode, an electrode signal conditioning circuit, a temperature sensor, and a data acquisition and display circuit. There was a one-to-one correspondence between the response potential of a nitrate ion selective electrode and nitrate ion concentration. For this reason, the detection device could obtain the level of nitrate ion concentration by detecting the electrode's response potential, and then the nitrogen concentration of liquid fertilizer had been acquired indirectly. Measuring accuracy for the electrode's potential was a key influence factor of the device's performance. A 1 mV error of the electrode's potential led to a 4% concentration measuring error of monovalent ions. To evaluate the device's measuring accuracy for an electrode's potential, the electrode had been placed in a series of prepared potassium nitrate solutions whose NO3- concentration were 10-6, 5×10-6, 10-5, 5×10-5, 10-4, 5×10-4, 10-3, 5×10-3,10-2, 5×10-2, and 10-1 mol/L respectively, and the response potential of the electrode was measured by the device and a standard millivoltmeter PHS-3CT which was used as the comparative reference respectively, and it was known from the test results that the device's measuring result for the electrode's potential in each NO3- concentration was closed to that of PHS-3CT, and its maximum and minimum relative error were 5.2% and 1.2% respectively. Meanwhile, the response potential of the electrode would produce a temperature drift when the temperature varied, which would result in a measuring error of ion concentration. For reducing the influence of temperature variation, the electrode's temperature variability had been analyzed with 25°C as a reference, by measuring its response potential in a series of prepared solutions with different NO3- concentrations in the range of 10-5-10-1 mol/L and different temperatures within the scope of 5-45°C. The results showed that the response potential of the electrode had a linear change with the temperature difference of the solution to be examined and the maximum variability rate of the potential was 8.8%. Based on the response potential of the electrode measured in a series of prepared solutions with different NO3- concentrations and different temperatures, a temperature parameter model had been established by using the method of the least squares fitting step by step. Verification experiments of the temperature parameter model had been carried out, by using three kinds of prepared potassium nitrate solutions whose NONO3- concentration were 4×10-1, 4×10-2 and 4×10-3 mol·L-1 severally, and it turned out that the average relative measurement error and the maximum relative measurement error of the temperature parameter model were 4.49% and 9.2% separately. Furthermore, there may be some interfering ions (such as Cl-, SO4 2-, H2PO4 - and HPO4 2-) in a mixed liquid fertilizer in addition to NO3-, and the nitrate ion selective electrode had cross sensitivity. It would allow the electrode's response for interfering ions to come into being, which could bring about some impact on the device's measuring results. In order to determine the degree of influence of the interfering ions for the device's measuring results, the fixed interference method had been used to measure the electrode's selectivity coefficient for Cl-, SO4 2-, H2PO4-, and HPO4 2- respectively. The results indicated that the selectivity coefficient for 4 interfering ions were 5.1×10-2, 1.0×10-4, 2.0×10-4, and 5.0×10-5 singly, and that the bigger the selectivity coefficient was, the greater the impact of interfering ions on the electrode; moreover, it was found from experiments that the effects of interfering ions on the electrode weakened gradually with the decrease of the interfering ions concentration, and the measuring error of the device caused by Cl- was 4% when Cl-: NO3- = 1:100, that was to say, a small amount of interfering ions in a liquid fertilizer could not constitute a significant effect for the measured results. From the above, the device developed could meet the application requirements of a nitrogen concentration test in the process of automatically mixed fertilizer in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupant activity (OA) is a crucial prerequisite for providing energy-efficient and occupant-centric services in intelligent buildings. To understand OAs well, conventional technologies require either wearable equipment of smart devices or the deployment of specialized cameras, raising relevant issues of body and privacy-intrusion. Recent WiFi-based methods circumvent the above issues and characterize the OA patterns in a non-intrusive manner. However, they demand the cooperation of occupants for a sufficient amount of collected samples, otherwise, the performance might degrade significantly. In this paper, we propose a non-intrusive approach that models distinct OA patterns for comprehensive understanding. Based on the idea of generative adversarial network (GAN), our technical novelties are three-fold. First, we modify the working principle of vanilla GAN with external constraints to avoid brute-force generation. Second, we integrate a self-attention mechanism to establish contextual relations from both local and global perspectives. Third, to recover the informative details, we construct a powerful generator with deep residual convolutional operations. We conduct extensive experiments on a real dataset and visualize the generation results for intuitive evaluation. Numerical results compared with several state-of-the-art baselines further illustrate the superior performance of our proposed GAN approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excessive rainfall and irrigation amount in the facility herbal medicine production system (FHmPS) in China leading to a severe root rot disease of Panax notoginseng , which endangers root yield and quality, compromise economic profit and waste resources. Therefore, the objective of our research was to seek optimal irrigation and cultivation management strategy for FHmPS to improve Panax notoginseng production and economic benefit. A three-year (2019, 2020 and 2021) field experiment was conducted on Panax notoginseng under two shelter-cultivation [rain-shelter cultivation (Sr) and unrain-shelter cultivation (NSr)] at three deficit irrigation levels [ I 1= 65%W, I 2= 75%W, I 3= 85% W, where W was the irrigation quota when the upper and lower limits of irrigation are (100% ∼ 40%) θ FC under shelter-cultivation] to explore the combined practices effects on yield, quality, economic benefit, water productivity (WP) and nutrients uptake of Panax notoginseng , and to obtain the optimal irrigation and cultivation supply practice by the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). The results showed that SrI 2 obtained relatively high plant nutrient uptake, net profit, WP, and quality. SrI 2 significantly decreased the root rot incidence by 6–17.5% in comparison to other treatments. However, compared with rain-shelter cultivation, unrain-shelter cultivation weaken these effects in Panax notoginseng. Deficit irrigation promoted Sr to obtain higher WP than NSr. According to the result of TOPSIS, the comprehensive ranking of SrI 2 and SrI 3 were first and second among the practices, regardless of growing seasons and planting years. The SrI 2 significantly decreased the yield of Panax notoginseng by 5.4%− 20.8% in comparison to other treatments. SrI 2 and SrI 3 were highly recommended for facility herbal medicine production system (FHmPS) in the semi-arid area of Southwest China. [Display omitted] • The study proposed rain-shelter (Sr) based on traditional cultivation (NSr). • Deficit irrigation (I 2) and Sr decreased root rot rate of P. notoginseng. • The SrI 2 improved nutrient uptake and yield of P. notoginseng. • The SrI 2 improved PNS, economic benefit and WP of P. notoginseng [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Water, N and year significantly affect dry matter accumulation, fruit yield, quality, water and N productivity. • The Entropy Weight-TOPSIS method was adopted to achieve the multi-objective optimization of water and N fertilizer. • I80N360 (80% ET 0 - 360 kg N ha−1) is the ideal water and N management strategy for greenhouse cherry tomato. In the context of climate-change and shortage of fresh water resources, improving agricultural productivity has become a major challenge globally, especially in China with large population. In this study, the purpose was to achieve the optimal combination of water and nitrogen (N) rates for greenhouse cherry tomato based on fruit yield, quality, net income and water-N productivity. Herein, during 2019–2021, three irrigation levels (I100: 100% ET 0 ; I80: 80% ET 0 ; I60: 60% ET 0 , where ET 0 was the reference evapotranspiration) and five N rates (450, 360, 270, 180 and 0 kg N ha−1, defined by N450, N360, N270, N180 and N0, respectively) with 15 treatments were set up. The 3-year ANOVA analysis indicated that irrigation, N fertilizer and year had significant effects on dry matter accumulation, fruit yield, quality, water and N productivity of greenhouse cherry tomato. Both the highest fruit yield (56.72 t ha−1, average of 3-year) and net income (60.8 × 104 CNY ha−1) were occurred under I80N360 treatment, though peak N partial factor productivity (PFPN, 294.88 kg−1) was observed under I80N180 treatment. The combined application of water and N fertilizer increased water productivity (WP) by 15.64% (average of 3-year) compared to I60N0 treatment, with I80N360 and I60N270 treatments having the highest WP. N fertilizer addition significantly increased fruit yield and WP irrespective of irrigation level, but the differences between N360 and N450 treatments were not significant in 80% ET 0 and 100% ET 0 irrigation level treatments, and between N270, N360 and N450 treatments in 60% ET 0 irrigation level treatments. Nevertheless, PFPN decreased significantly as the N rate increased. In addition, fruit quality could be improved at some extent under deficit irrigation relative to full irrigation regardless of N rate. More specifically, compared with the full irrigation treatment (I100), the I80 treatment increased the content of total soluble solid (TSS) by an average of 6.68%, soluble sugar (SS) by 11.96%, organic acid (OA) by 4.91%, sugar acid ratio (SAR) by 11.28%, vitamin C (VC) by 14.55%, lycopene by 30.06% and firmness by 7.60%; meanwhile, the I60 treatment increased TSS by an average of 11.17%, SS by 18.60%, OA by 12.04%, SAR by 10.02%, VC by 27.55%, lycopene by -7.93% and firmness by 13.14%, respectively. The increase of N rate largely increased TSS, SS, SAR, VC and lycopene, while these indicators decreased when N rate exceeded a threshold. Nevertheless, OA and firmness increased with increasing N rate, while firmness showed a slight decrease when N rate increased from N360 to N450 treatment. Generally, in a greenhouse cherry tomato production agroecosystem, the optimal amount of N fertilizer applied for each indicator varies with the availability of irrigation water. Furthermore, the Entropy-Weight TOPSIS method was adopted and the results indicated that the optimization of irrigation and N fertilizer supply schedule (I80N360 treatment: 80% ET 0 –360 kg N ha−1) was conducive to increase fruit yield, net income and water-N productivity whilst maintaining fruit quality in greenhouse cherry tomato cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]