A crop growth model,integrating genotype,environment,and management factor,was developed to serve as an analytical tool to study the influence of these factors on crop growth,production,and agricultural planning.A major challenge of model application is the optimization and calibration of a considerable number of parameters.Sensitivity analysis(SA) has become an effective method to identify the importance of various parameters.In this study,the extended Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test(EFAST) approach was used to evaluate the sensitivity of the DSSAT-CERES model output responses of interest to 39 crop genotype parameters and six soil parameters.The outputs for the SA included grain yield and quality(take grain protein content(GPC) as an indicator) at maturity stage,as well as leaf area index,aboveground biomass,and aboveground nitrogen accumulation at the critical process variables.The key results showed that:(1) the influence of parameter bounds on the sensitivity results was slight and less than the impacts from the significance of the parameters themselves;(2) the sensitivity parameters of grain yield and GPC were different,and the sensitivity of the interactions between parameters to GPC was greater than those between the parameters to grain yield;and(3) the sensitivity analyses of some process variables,including leaf area index,aboveground biomass,and aboveground nitrogen accumulation,should be performed differently.Finally,some parameters,which improve the model’s structure and the accuracy of the process simulation,should not be ignored when maturity output as an objective variable is studied.
LI Zhen-haiJIN Xiu-liangLIU Hai-longXU Xin-gangWANG Ji-hua
Phylogenetic diversity of Form I and Form II ribulose1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) largesubunit (rbcL) genes in the inshore and offshore areas of the East China Sea were investigated. Two new primer setswere designed for amplifying partial sequences of rbcL genes from Proteobacteria. Four rbcL gene clone libraries wereconstructed by amplification and cloning of approximately 640~800 bp sequences of bacterioplankton populations.The method of screening library by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was introduced. The resultsshow that the diversity of Form I is higher in offshore waters with higher salinity and lower productivity, while thatof Form II is higher at the inshore station where salinity is lower and productivity is higher. Several clusters ofsequences obtained are deeply rooted and show low similarity (60%~78%) to the known rbcL in existing databases.The degree of diversity of rbcL genes is directly related to environmental variables, including temperature, salinity,pH, dissolved oxygen, etc. These results indicate that rbcL gene can be used as an effective indicator for geneticdiversity and population variability of bacterioplankton with the ability of carbon dioxide fixation in the sea.
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease resulting from dysregulated lipid metabolism is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.Apolipoprotein E(ApoE)plays a critical role in cholesterol metabolism.Knockouts in lipid-metabolizing proteins including ApoE in multiple model organisms such as mice and rats exhibiting elevated levels of cholesterol have been widely used for dissecting the pathology of atherosclerosis,but few of these animal models exhibit advanced atherosclerotic plaques leading to ischemia-induced clinical symptoms,limiting their use for translational studies.Here we report hypercholesterolemia and severe atherosclerosis characterized by stenosis and occlusion of arteries,together with clinical manifestations of stroke and gangrene,in ApoE knockout dogs generated by CRISPR/Cas9 and cloned by somatic cell nuclear transfer technologies.Importantly,the hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerotic complications in F0 mutants are recapitulated in their offspring.As the ApoE-associated atherosclerosis and clinical manifestations in mutant dogs are more similar to that in human patients compared with those in other animal models,these mutant dogs will be invaluable in developing and evaluating new therapies,including endovascular procedures,against atherosclerosis and related disorders.
Ionic transport in organometal halide perovskites is of vital importance because it dominates anomalous phenomena in perovskite solar cells,from hysteresis to switchable photovoltaic effects.However,excited state ionic transport under illumination has remained elusive,although it is essential for understanding the unusual light-induced effects(light-induced self-poling,photo-induced halide segregation and slow photoconductivity response)in organometal halide perovskites for optoelectronic applications.Here,we quantitatively demonstrate light-enhanced ionic transport in CH3NH3PbI3 over a wide temperature range of 17–295 K,which reveals a reduction in ionic transport activation energy by approximately a factor of five(from 0.82 to 0.15 eV)under illumination.The pure ionic conductance is obtained by separating it from the electronic contribution in cryogenic galvanostatic and voltage-current measurements.On the basis of these findings,we design a novel light-assisted method of catalyzing ionic interdiffusion between CH3NH3I and PbI2 stacking layers in sequential deposition perovskite synthesis.X-ray diffraction patterns indicate a significant reduction of PbI2 residue in the optimized CH3NH3PbI3 thin film produced via lightassisted sequential deposition,and the resulting solar cell efficiency is increased by over 100%(7.5%–15.7%)with little PbI2 residue.This new method enables fine control of the reaction depth in perovskite synthesis and,in turn,supports light-enhanced ionic transport.
Scaling theory of charged cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes is developed. The dependence of brush thickness on the grafting density, charge fraction, and chain length is analyzed. A full phase diagram is established. Characteristics and boundaries between different regimes of cylindrical polyelectrolyte brushes are summarized. Special attentions are paid to electrostatic interaction induced stiffening and counterion condensation effects. If the Bjerrum length of the solution is larger than the Kuhn length of the polyelectrolyte chains, counterion condensation occurs in the strongly charged polyeleetrolyte brushes. On the contrary, the electrostatic interaction stretches the strongly charged grafted polyelectrolyte chains to their contour length.
With the rapid technological advancements in recent decades,virtual reality(VR)and augmented reality(AR)technologies have been increasingly adopted to address various challenges in emergency management in the built environments.This paper presents a review of state-of-the-art applications in this rapidly evolving area.A total of 84 relevant articles are identified based on searching in the Web of Science Core Collection and snowballing.These papers are then organized based on a taxonomy developed in this study.Next,a range of VR/AR appli-cations presented in these papers that are aimed to enhance various processes associated with pre-emergency preparedness,responses during emergency and post-emergency recovery are reviewed in detail.The existing VR/AR applications are also described from a human-computer interaction perspective.Finally,current research trends,knowledge gaps and directions for future research are discussed.The findings presented in this paper are expected to provide a synthetic and critical review of state-of-the-art VR/AR applications for emergency management in the built environment and facilitate further advancements in both research and practice in this area.
Yb^3＋ singly doped and Yb^3＋/Al^3＋co-doped high silica glass samples are prepared, and their luminescent properties are investigated. Al^3＋ is considered as a beneficial activator for Yb^3＋-doped glass. However, the experimental result shows that the addition of Al^3＋ results in the transformation from Yb^3＋ to Yb^2＋ and the improvement in the photon luminescence of Yb^2＋. These characteristics indicate the role of Al^3＋ in Yb^3＋-dooed glass.
Dear Editor,The hallmarks of cancer comprise several distinct biological characteristics acquired during the multistep development of human tumors with the unique feature of genomic instability(Shen,2011).These cancer characteristics include sustaining proliferative signaling,evading growth suppressors,resisting cell death,enabling replicative immortality,inducing angiogenesis,and activating invasion and metastasis(Chen et al.,2011;Song et al.,2018).Triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC),an aggressive disease with increased risks for visceral metastases,has a poor prognosis due to unavailable and viable therapeutic targets(Bianchini et al.,2016).A TNBC diagnosis indicates that cancer cells test negative for three key receptors:estrogen receptor,progesterone receptor,and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(Bianchini et al.,2016).The absence of these three receptors renders existing hormone and targeted therapies ineffective.
