Changes in the soil organic carbon balance on China’s cropland during the last two decades of the 20th century

Agro-ecosystems play an important role in regulating global changes caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Restoration of soil organic carbon (SOC) in agricultural soils can not only improve soil quality but also influence climate change and agronomic productivity. With about half of its land area under agricultural use, China exhibits vast potential for carbon (C) sequestration that needs to be researched. Chinese cropland has experienced SOC change over the past century. The study of SOC dynamics under different bioclimatic conditions and cropping systems can help us to better understand this historical change, current status, the impacts of bioclimatic conditions on SOC and future trends. We used a simulation based on historical statistical data to analyze the C balance of Chinese croplands during the 1980s and 1990s, taking into account soil, climate and agricultural management. Nationwide, 77.6% of the national arable land is considered to be in good condition. Appropriate farm management practices should be adopted to improve the poor C balance of the remaining 22.4% of cropland to promote C sequestration

The analysis and fabrication of a novel tin-nickel mixed salt electrolytic coloured processing and the performance of coloured films for Al-12.7Si-0.7Mg alloy in acidic and alkali corrosive environments.

We present for the first time the analysis and fabrication of a novel Tin-Nickel mixed salt electrolytic coloured processing and the performance of coloured films for Al-12.7Si-0.7Mg alloy. This alloy is a novel alloy containing high silicon aluminum alloy extrusion profile which presents excellent mechanical properties as well as broad market prospects. Nevertheless, this kind of material is urgent in need of surface treatment technology. The orthogonal design and single factor tests were applied to optimize for electrolytic coloured technological conditions. By controlling operation conditions, the uniform electrolytic coloured films with different color were obtained. Analysis of microstructure showed that tin particles had been deposited in the coloured film. The coloured films, about 10 mu m thick, were uniform, dense and firmly attached to the substrate. After the coloured samples were maintained at 400AC for 1 h, or quenched from 300AC to room temperature, the coloured films did not change, demonstrating excellent thermostability and thermal shock resistance. Acid and alkali corrosion tests and potentiodynamic polarization showed that corrosion resistance of coloured sample was much better than those of untreated samples. After 240 h neutral salt spray test, protection ratings and appearance ratings of coloured films were Grade 9

Wireless battery charger for ev with circular or planar coils: comparison

This paper presents the experimental results obtained in the wireless energy transfer system prototype based on circular or planar coils. With these experimental results we can choose the tuning settings to improve the power transmission efficiency in wireless energy transfer systems. In wireless energy transfer for electric vehicle batteries charging, the coil shape and the range between the coils are the most important issues of those systems

Search for a massive invisible particle X0X^0 in B+→e+X0B^{+}\to e^{+}X^{0} and B+→μ+X0B^{+}\to \mu^{+}X^{0} decays

We present a search for a non-Standard-Model invisible particle $X^0$ in the mass range $0.1\textrm{-}1.8 \,{\rm GeV}/{c^2}$ in $B^{+}\to e^{+} X^{0}$ and $B^{+}\to \mu^{+} X^{0}$ decays. The results are obtained from a $711~{\rm fb}^{-1}$ data sample that corresponds to $772 \times 10^{6} B\bar{B}$ pairs, collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^+ e^-$ collider. One $B$ meson is fully reconstructed in a hadronic mode to determine the momentum of the lepton of the signal decay in the rest frame of the recoiling partner $B$ meson. We find no evidence of a signal and set upper limits on the order of $10^{-6}$.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Projecting ocean acidification impacts for the Gulf of Maine to 2050: new tools and expectations

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Siedlecki, S. A., Salisbury, J., Gledhill, D. K., Bastidas, C., Meseck, S., McGarry, K., Hunt, C. W., Alexander, M., Lavoie, D., Wang, Z. A., Scott, J., Brady, D. C., Mlsna, I., Azetsu-Scott, K., Liberti, C. M., Melrose, D. C., White, M. M., Pershing, A., Vandemark, D., Townsend, D. W., Chen, C,. Mook, W., Morrison, R. Projecting ocean acidification impacts for the Gulf of Maine to 2050: new tools and expectations. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9(1), (2021): 00062, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00062.Ocean acidification (OA) is increasing predictably in the global ocean as rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to higher oceanic concentrations of inorganic carbon. The Gulf of Maine (GOM) is a seasonally varying region of confluence for many processes that further affect the carbonate system including freshwater influences and high productivity, particularly near the coast where local processes impart a strong influence. Two main regions within the GOM currently experience carbonate conditions that are suboptimal for many organisms—the nearshore and subsurface deep shelf. OA trends over the past 15 years have been masked in the GOM by recent warming and changes to the regional circulation that locally supply more Gulf Stream waters. The region is home to many commercially important shellfish that are vulnerable to OA conditions, as well as to the human populations whose dependence on shellfish species in the fishery has continued to increase over the past decade. Through a review of the sensitivity of the regional marine ecosystem inhabitants, we identified a critical threshold of 1.5 for the aragonite saturation state (Ωa). A combination of regional high-resolution simulations that include coastal processes were used to project OA conditions for the GOM into 2050. By 2050, the Ωa declines everywhere in the GOM with most pronounced impacts near the coast, in subsurface waters, and associated with freshening. Under the RCP 8.5 projected climate scenario, the entire GOM will experience conditions below the critical Ωa threshold of 1.5 for most of the year by 2050. Despite these declines, the projected warming in the GOM imparts a partial compensatory effect to Ωa by elevating saturation states considerably above what would result from acidification alone and preserving some important fisheries locations, including much of Georges Bank, above the critical threshold.This research was financially supported by the Major Special Projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2016YFC020600), the Young Scholars Science Foundation of Lanzhou Jiaotong University (2018033), and the Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Projects of Lanzhou (2018-RC-84)

Expression of CIAPIN1 in human colorectal cancer and its correlation with prognosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cytokine-induced anti-apoptotic molecule (CIAPIN1) had been found to be a differentially-expressed gene involved in a variety of cancers, and it was also considered as a candidate tumour suppressor gene in gastric cancer, renal cancer and liver cancer. However, studies on the role of CIAPIN1 in colorectal cancer were still unavailable. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic impact of CIAPIN1 in 273 colorectal cancer (CRC) samples and to investigate the CIAPIN1 expression in CRC cell lines after inducing differentiation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Immunohistochemical analysis was performed to detect the expression of CIAPIN1 in CRC samples from 273 patients. The relationship between CIAPIN1 expression and patients' characteristics (gender, age, location of cancer, UICC stage, local recurrence and tumour grade factors) was evaluated. In addition, these patients were followed up for five consecutive years to investigate the relationship between CIAPIN1 expression and the prognosis of CRC. We induced the differentiation of the CRC cell lines HT29 and SW480, in order to detect the expression of CIAPIN1 in the process of CRC cells differentiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results indicated that CIAPIN1 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm and nucleus, and that its expression level in cancer samples was significantly lower than in normal tissues. The Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test showed a significant difference in the differential expression of CIAPIN1 in patients with different T and UICC stages, and tumour grade (<it>P </it>= 0.0393, 0.0297 and 0.0397, respectively). The Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that the survival time of CRC patients with high expression of CIAPIN1 was longer than those with low expression during the 5-year follow up period (<it>P </it>= 0.0002). COX regression analysis indicated that low expression of CIAPIN1, cancer stage of > pT1, distant organ metastasis (pM₁), regional lymph node metastasis (> pN₁) and local recurrence (yes) were independent, poor prognostic factors of CRC (<it>P </it>= 0.012, <it>P </it>= 0.032, <it>P <</it>0.001, <it>P <</it>0.001, <it>P <</it>0.001 respectively). Both Western blotting and RT-PCR showed that CIAPIN1 expression was increased with the degree of differentiation of HT29 and SW480 cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CIAPIN1 played an important role in the differentiation of CRC cells, and the differential expression of CIAPIN1 in CRC was closely related to prognosis.</p

Promoting Effect of Layered Titanium Phosphate on the Electrochemical and Photovoltaic Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

We reported a composite electrolyte prepared by incorporating layered α-titanium phosphate (α-TiP) into an iodide-based electrolyte using 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate(EmimBF4) ionic liquid as solvent. The obtained composite electrolyte exhibited excellent electrochemical and photovoltaic properties compared to pure ionic liquid electrolyte. Both the diffusion coefficient of triiodide (I3−) in the electrolyte and the charge-transfer reaction at the electrode/electrolyte interface were improved markedly. The mechanism for the enhanced electrochemical properties of the composite electrolyte was discussed. The highest conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was obtained for the composite electrolyte containing 1wt% α-TiP, with an improvement of 58% in the conversion efficiency than the blank one, which offered a broad prospect for the fabrication of stable DSSCs with a high conversion efficiency