Search Results (100)

Straw returning (ST) significantly improves soil quality and profoundly impacts soil microorganisms. However, the effects of different ST application amounts on the soil bacterial community remain unclear, and more studies on optimal ST application amounts are warranted. This study aimed to investigate the bacterial diversity and composition, as well as physicochemical properties, of soil in a corn field with 5-year ST amounts of 0, 3, 4.5, 5, and 6 t/hm², respectively. The results indicated that ST significantly reduced soil bulk density and increased soil pH and nutrients. Meanwhile, ST had a significant effect on the bacterial composition, and the bacterial diversity increased significantly after ST. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria increased dramatically, whereas that of Actinobacteria significantly decreased after ST. The amount of ST had threshold effects on soil physicochemical properties and the dominant bacterial phyla. Moreover, the co-occurrence networks indicated that bacterial stability first increased and then decreased with the increase in ST amounts. Soil organic carbon and total nitrogen concentrations were the main drivers of bacterial diversity, whereas soil pH and total nitrogen concentrations were the main drivers of bacterial composition. This study strengthens the fact that ST amounts have threshold effects on the soil physicochemical properties and soil microorganisms, and ST amounts of 3–5 t/hm² were appropriate. Full article

Hydrogen is widely recognized as a key enabler of the clean energy transition, but the lack of safe, efficient, and scalable storage technologies continues to hinder its broad deployment. Conventional hydrogen storage approaches, such as compressed hydrogen storage, cryo-compressed hydrogen storage, and liquid hydrogen storage, face limitations, including high energy consumption, elevated cost, weight, and safety concerns. In contrast, solid-state hydrogen storage using carbon-based adsorbents has gained growing attention due to their chemical tunability, low cost, and potential for modular integration into energy systems. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of hydrogen storage using carbon-based materials, covering fundamental adsorption mechanisms, classical materials, emerging architectures, and recent advances in computationally AI-guided material design. We first discuss the physicochemical principles driving hydrogen physisorption, chemisorption, Kubas interaction, and spillover effects on carbon surfaces. Classical adsorbents, such as activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene, carbon dots, and biochar, are evaluated in terms of pore structure, dopant effects, and uptake capacity. The review then highlights recent progress in advanced carbon architectures, such as MXenes, three-dimensional architectures, and 3D-printed carbon platforms, with emphasis on their gravimetric and volumetric performance under practical conditions. Importantly, this review introduces a forward-looking perspective on the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools for data-driven sorbent design. These methods enable high-throughput screening of materials, prediction of performance metrics, and identification of structure–property relationships. By combining experimental insights with computational advances, carbon-based hydrogen storage platforms are expected to play a pivotal role in the next generation of energy storage systems. The paper concludes with a discussion on remaining challenges, utilization scenarios, and the need for interdisciplinary efforts to realize practical applications. Full article

This study focuses on the data bottleneck issue in the training of deep learning models during the intelligent welding control process and proposes an improved model called LRGAN (loss reconstruction generative adversarial networks). First, a five-layer spectral normalization neural network was designed as the discriminator of the model. By incorporating the least squares loss function, the gradients of the model parameters were constrained within a reasonable range, which not only accelerated the convergence process but also effectively limited drastic changes in model parameters, alleviating the vanishing gradient problem. Next, a nine-layer residual structure was introduced in the generator to optimize the training of deep networks, preventing the mode collapse issue caused by the increase in the number of layers. The final experimental results show that the proposed LRGAN model outperforms other generative models in terms of evaluation metrics such as peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity index (SSIM), and Fréchet inception distance (FID). It provides an effective solution to the small sample problem in the intelligent welding control process. Full article

The liver of fish is an essential metabolic organ that also serves an immune regulatory role. In this study, we constructed a model of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) infected with Nocardia seriolae by injection to explore the immune and antioxidant functions of the liver. The results showed that N. seriolae infection caused severe pathological changes in the liver, including cell necrosis, granuloma formation, and leukocyte infiltration. The level of mRNA expression of immune-related genes in the liver was significantly increased 2 days post-infection. Moreover, the combined analysis of transcriptome and metabolome showed that N. seriolae infection markedly affected liver metabolism, including glutathione metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, as well as starch and sucrose metabolism. Additionally, multiple key biomarkers were identified as involved in regulating responses to N. seriolae infection, including arginine, glutathione, gpx, GST, PLA2G, GAA, and PYG. To further elucidate the regulatory effects of arginine on the immune and antioxidant processes in the liver, primary hepatocytes were isolated and cultured. The results demonstrated that arginine supplementation significantly reduced the expression of LPS-induced apoptosis-related genes (bax, cas3, cas8, and cas9) by up to 50% while increasing the expression of antioxidant genes (gpx, GST) by up to 700% at 24 h. Through the analysis of metabolic changes and immune responses in the liver following N. seriolae infection, combined with in-vitro experiments, this study elucidated the anti-apoptotic and antioxidant effects of arginine, revealing the immune response mechanisms in fish liver and laying the groundwork for using nutritional strategies to improve fish health. Full article

The harmonic content of transformers used in the field of new energy is significantly higher than that of conventional transformers, leading to an abnormal increase in transformer loss during operation. Therefore, the loss characteristics of amorphous alloy transformers are investigated in this paper. First, a measurement platform for the magnetic property of transformer cores under sinusoidal excitation is developed. The magnetization characteristics, loss characteristics and loss composition of the amorphous alloy core under sinusoidal excitation are measured and analyzed. On this basis, the traditional Steinmetz loss calculation formula is modified, and the loss calculation formula is further refined by improving its coefficients to accommodate various frequencies. Secondly, using a field-circuit coupling method, a 3D model of the transformer core is established by finite element simulation. The magnetic flux distribution and core losses are computed under both sinusoidal excitation and non-sinusoidal excitation. Finally, the impact of core rotation magnetization on the magnetic flux density is considered, and experimental errors are minimized by applying an empirical formula. The numerical model validity and accuracy are verified by comparing the simulation results with experimental data. Full article

As an evolutionarily conserved and ubiquitous mechanism of host defense, non-immune cells in vertebrates possess the intrinsic ability to autonomously detect and combat intracellular pathogens. This process, termed cell-autonomous immunity, is distinct from classical innate immunity. In this review, we comprehensively examine the defense mechanisms employed by non-immune cells in response to intracellular pathogen invasion. We provide a detailed analysis of the cytosolic sensors that recognize aberrant nucleic acids, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and other pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Specifically, we elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying key signaling pathways, including the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway, the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs)-mitochondrial antiviral signaling (MAVS) axis, and the guanylate-binding proteins (GBPs)-mediated pathway. Furthermore, we critically evaluate the involvement of these pathways in the pathogenesis of various diseases, including autoimmune disorders, inflammatory conditions, and malignancies, while highlighting their potential as therapeutic targets. Full article

Autonomous navigation in indoor environments demands reliable perception and control strategies for nonholonomic mobile robots operating under geometric constraints. While visual servoing offers a promising framework for such tasks, conventional approaches often rely on explicit 3D feature estimation or predefined reference trajectories, limiting their adaptability in dynamic scenarios. In this paper, we propose a novel nonholonomic mobile robot corridor-following and doorway-passing method based on image-based visual servoing (IBVS) by using a single dioptric camera. Based on the unifying central spherical projection model, we present the projection mechanism of 3D lines and properties of line images for two 3D parallel lines under different robot poses. In the normalized image plane, we define a triangle enclosed by two polar lines in relation to line image conic features, and adopt a polar representation for visual features, which will naturally become zero when the robot follows the corridor middle line. The IBVS control law for the corridor-following task does not need to pre-calculate expected visual features or estimate the 3D information of image features, and is extended to doorway-passing by simply introducing an upper door frame to modify visual features for the control law. Simulations including straight corridor-following, anti-noise performance, convergence of the control law, doorway-passing, and loop-closed corridor-following are conducted. We develop a ROS-based IBVS system on our real robot platform; the experimental results validate that the proposed method is suitable for the autonomous indoor visual navigation control task for a nonholonomic mobile robot equipped with a single dioptric camera. Full article

In our previous studies on the liver proteome of Holstein cows, the acyl-CoA oxidase 2 (ACOX2) gene was identified as a promising candidate for milk traits, being involved in the processes of fatty acid metabolism and bile acid formation. Herein, we evaluated its genetic effects on milk production traits in 922 Chinese Holstein cows. By sequencing the entire coding region and 2000 bp of the 5′ and 3′ flanking sequences of the ACOX2 gene, we identified a total of five SNPs, including one SNP in the 5′ UTR, one in intron 5, and three in the 3′ flanking region. Using an animal model, we found that the SNPs rs109066086, rs109665171, and rs454339362 were significantly associated with at least one of the milk production traits, including 305-day milk yield, milk fat yield, milk protein yield, milk fat percentage, and milk protein percentage in the first lactation (p ≤ 4.03 × 10⁻²). And in the second lactation, all five SNPs were significantly associated with at least three of the milk production traits (p ≤ 1.17 × 10⁻²). We also found that in the second lactation, the SNP rs209677248 had a high phenotypic variance rate for milk protein percentage, with a value of 4.90%. With Haploview 4.2, it was observed that the four SNPs formed two haplotype blocks, which were significantly associated with the 305-day milk, fat, and protein yields (p ≤ 1.03 × 10⁻²; p ≤ 8.60 × 10⁻³; p ≤ 3.20 × 10⁻³). In addition, it was predicted that the T allele in the SNP rs109066086 created TFBSs for transcription factors NC2R2 and TFAP4, thereby potentially affecting ACOX2 expression. Overall, our results provide the first confirmation of the genetic effects of the ACOX2 gene on milk yield and composition traits in dairy cattle and revealed the referable molecular markers for genomic selection. Full article

Photodegradation of antibiotics based on photocatalytic semiconductors is a promising option to alleviate water pollution. Despite its limitations, TiO₂-based photocatalysts are still the most widely studied materials for pollutant degradation. In this work, a pomegranate-like g-C₃N₄/C/TiO₂ nano-heterojunction was constructed using the hydrothermal–calcination method, consisting of interconnected small crystals with a dense structure and closely contacted interface. Low-crystallized carbon filled the gap between TiO₂ and g-C₃N₄, forming a large interface. The local in-plane heterostructures generated by C/g-C₃N₄ are further improved for carrier transport. As expected, the optimal sample calcined at 300 °C (GTC-300) efficiently eliminated tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl, 20 mg L⁻¹), achieving a removal rate of up to 92.9% within 40 min under full-spectrum irradiation and 87.8% within 60 min under the visible spectrum (λ > 400 nm). The electron mediator, low-crystallized carbon, successfully promoted the formation of new internal electric fields via the widespread heterojunction interface, which accelerated the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers between g-C₃N₄ and TiO₂. These results confirm that the g-C₃N₄/C/TiO₂ nano-heterojunction exhibited outstanding photodegradation performance of TC-HCl. The electron mediator shows great potential in promoting carrier transfer and enhancing photocatalytic performance of heterogeneous photocatalysts in water treatment. Full article

‘Beta’ (Vitisriparia × V. labrusca) is a vine fruit tree of the genus Vitis which is a cross between American and riparian grapes. In the current situation of grape production in northern regions, cold, drought, and salinity are important bottlenecks restricting its development, while some grape rootstocks with excellent traits show the disadvantage of poor resilience. ‘Beta’ (Vitis riparia × V. labrusca), one of the most extensively utilized rootstocks in viticulture, has demonstrated remarkable resilience to adverse conditions. However, the mechanisms by which ‘Beta’ rootstocks resist abiotic stresses are unknown and need to be further investigated. In this study, we successfully isolated and cloned a novel MYB transcription factor, VhMYB60, from the ‘Beta’ grapevine. This factor spans 972 base pairs and encodes a protein comprising 323 amino acids. Subcellular localization studies revealed that VhMYB60 is predominantly expressed within the nucleus. Furthermore, tissue-specific expression analysis demonstrated that VhMYB60 is more abundantly expressed in the mature leaves and roots of the grape plant. Further studies showed that salt and cold stress notably increased VhMYB60 gene expression in both mature leaves and grape roots. Compared with the control, Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) plants molecularly modified to overexpress VhMYB60 exhibited enhanced salt and cold resistance and improved survival rates. Moreover, notable changes were detected in chlorophyll, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline, peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels. Concurrently, the expression levels of structural genes that are positively correlated with resistance to adversity stress were markedly elevated in Arabidopsis plants that overexpress VhMYB60. Consequently, VhMYB60 may serve as a pivotal transcription factor in the regulation of ‘Beta’ resistance. Full article

Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F. H. Chen, as a traditional Chinese medicinal herb with significant therapeutic effects, is highly sensitive to environmental factors during its growth process, particularly light and water conditions. Under traditional field conditions, natural limitations make it difficult to achieve optimal yield and quality. This study aimed in the past to determine the optimal light–water interaction model for the year-round cultivation of P. notoginseng in a controlled plant factory environment. The experiment used one-year-old, uniformly grown P. notoginsen seedlings. At the beginning of the experiment, the light source, without any shading treatment, provided a photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) intensity of 200 μmol·m⁻²·s⁻¹, measured at a distance of 30 cm from the plant canopy. A total of 18 treatment combinations were established, specifically two different light quality treatments (A Treatment with a red-to-blue light ratio of 4:1 and B Treatment with a red-to-blue light ratio of 5:1) were each combined with three irrigation levels (field water capacities of 40%, 50%, and 60%) and three shading levels (one layer of 60% shading net, two layers of 60% shading net, and three layers of 60% shading net). Each light quality treatment was combined with all three irrigation levels and all three shading levels, resulting in 18 distinct treatment combinations. The effects of different light–water interactions on P. notoginseng growth were evaluated by measuring key agronomic traits, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, and ginsenoside content. The results indicate that light–water interactions significantly affect the agronomic traits, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, and ginsenoside content of P. notoginseng (light treatment had a more significant impact on the growth of P. notoginsen than water treatment). The best performance in terms of plant height (15.3 cm), stem diameter (3.45 mm), leaf length (8.6 cm), fresh weight (3.382 g), and total ginsenoside content (3.8%) was observed when the red-to-blue light ratio was 4:1 (A Treatment), the field water capacity was 50%, and the shading level was three layers. Based on this, the Pearson correlation analysis was used to identify eight highly correlated indicators, and the entropy-weighted TOPSIS model was applied to comprehensively evaluate the cultivation schemes. The evaluation results show that the optimal cultivation scheme for P. notoginseng is under the conditions of a red-to-blue light ratio of 4:1 (A Treatment), field water capacity of 50%, and three-layer shading. Full article

The effects of three types of feed, purchased from online stores and having similar prices, on the growth performance and culture environment of crucian carp (Carassius auratus) were studied in this experiment, which aimed to provide a reference for the evaluation and selection of fish feed. The results showed that feeding different feeds had a significant effect on crucian carp, and that the growth-promoting effect of HD feed (feed produced by Haida Company Limited) was significantly better than that of the other two feeds. For example, the weight gain rate (WGR) of fish in the HD group was 47.1% higher than that in the LD group (p < 0.05), and the WGR of fish in the LD (feed produced by Lianda Company Limited) group was 81.4% higher than that in the TW (feed produced by Tongwei Company Limited) group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase in fish in the HD group was significantly higher than that in the LD and TW groups. Furthermore, we found significant differences in the environmental effects of feeding different feeds. Compared to the LD and HD groups, the environmental impacts for the TW group were more pronounced. The body weight of crucian carp first increased and then stabilized with increasing total dissolved solids (TDS) values. Their quantitative relationship was established based on the von Bertalanffy and Logistic equations (R² = 0.942–0.995). The results above indicate that, due to differences in feed formulation and the quality of feed raw materials, different feeds have a significant impact on the growth performance and antioxidant indices of fish, as well as on the water environment. Therefore, selecting the appropriate feed is crucial for promoting high-quality development in the aquaculture industry. Full article

Fengyun-3F (FY-3F) satellite was launched in 2023 with a MicroWave Temperature Sounder (MWTS) and a MicroWave Humidity Sounder (MWHS) onboard. This study evaluates the in-orbit performances of these two instruments and compares them with similar instruments onboard FY-3E and NOAA-20 satellites. It is found that the polarization of FY-3F MWHS at channel 1 is different from FY-3E from the quasi-horizontal to quasi-vertical, whereas the rest of the channels are revised to quasi-horizontal polarization. FY-3F MWTS performance at the upper air channels is, in general, better than FY-3E MWTS, with 0.3 K smaller in biases (O-B) and 0.13 K lower in standard deviation. The striping noise between FY-3E and 3F MWHS is similar in magnitude for most of the channels. The FY-3F can form a satellite constellation with the FY-3E and NOAA-20, enabling better monitoring of many weather events, such as typhoons and hurricanes, through the use of all three satellites. Using the Global-Scene Dependent Atmospheric Retrieval Testbed (GSDART), Typhoon Yagi warm cores are retrieved from both MWTS/MWHS and ATMS. It is shown the warm core structures of Typhoon Yagi are consistent with the three satellites in terms of their magnitudes and locations. Full article

In response to the dual carbon targets, it is necessary not only to reduce carbon emissions but also to increase the proportion of renewable energy generation capacity, thereby exacerbating the scarcity of flexible resources in the power system. Addressing these challenges, this study proposes an operational optimization framework for an integrated energy system. This system encompasses wind/solar power plants, coal-fired power plants, carbon capture power plants, gas turbines, energy storage systems, and controllable loads, including reducible power loads, transferable power loads, electrolytic aluminum loads, transferable heat loads, and reducible loads. This study employs a system combining carbon capture plants with thermal power stations to supply flexible resources to the integrated energy system while reducing carbon emissions during the generation process of the thermal power units. A multi-timescale optimization scheduling approach is adopted to manage the uncertainties in wind, photovoltaic, and electric/thermal loads within the integrated energy system. The operational costs of the integrated energy system consider the capacity degradation costs of energy storage systems, the solvent degradation costs of carbon capture, and carbon costs. Finally, the cplex solver was used to solve the above model. The simulation results show that the consideration of five controllable loads leads to an increase of 7.22% in the interactive benefits with the power grid; the difference between the complete cost model and the incomplete overall benefits is 94.35%. It can be seen that the dispatching method proposed in this study can take advantage of the dispatching advantages of source-load adjustable resources and achieve the goal of low-carbon economic dispatching of the power system. Full article

NiFe (oxy)hydroxide has been widely used as a benchmark anodic catalyst for oxygen evolution reactions (OERs) in alkaline water electrolysis devices; however, the energy saving actually takes contributions from both the anodic OER and cathodic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this work, we observe the catalytic promotion upon the in situ-derived NiFe (oxy)hydroxide from the NiFe alloy monolithic electrode and also point out that the coupled nickel cathode is contaminated, leading to the loss of HER activity and a reduction in overall efficiency. It is found that Ni²⁺ and Fe³⁺ cations are inevitably detached from the anode into the electrolyte and electrodeposited on the nickel cathode after the three-month industrial simulation. This research presents the significant enhancement of the oxygen evolution catalysis using an in situ aging process and emphasizes that the catalytic application should not only be isolated on the half reaction, but a reasonable coupled electrode match to get rid of the contamination from the electrolyte is also of great significance to sufficiently present the intrinsic catalytic yielding for the real application. Full article