Climatic Control on Plant and Soil d13C along an Altitudinal Transect of Lushan Mountain in Subtropical China: Characteristics and Interpretation of Soil Carbon Dynamics

<div><p>Decreasing temperature and increasing precipitation along altitude gradients are typical mountain climate in subtropical China. In such a climate regime, identifying the patterns of the C stable isotope composition (δ¹³C) in plants and soils and their relations to the context of climate change is essential. In this study, the patterns of δ¹³C variation were investigated for tree leaves, litters, and soils in the natural secondary forests at four altitudes (219, 405, 780, and 1268 m a.s.l.) in Lushan Mountain, central subtropical China. For the dominant trees, both leaf and leaf-litter δ¹³C decreased as altitude increased from low to high altitude, whereas surface soil δ¹³C increased. The lower leaf δ¹³C at high altitudes was associated with the high moisture-related discrimination, while the high soil δ¹³C is attributed to the low temperature-induced decay. At each altitude, soil δ¹³C became enriched with soil depth. Soil δ¹³C increased with soil C concentrations and altitude, but decreased with soil depth. A negative relationship was also found between O-alkyl C and δ¹³C in litter and soil, whereas a positive relationship was observed between aromatic C and δ¹³C. Lower temperature and higher moisture at high altitudes are the predominant control factors of δ¹³C variation in plants and soils. These results help understand C dynamics in the context of global warming.</p></div

SurrealDriver: Designing Generative Driver Agent Simulation Framework in Urban Contexts based on Large Language Model

Simulation plays a critical role in the research and development of autonomous driving and intelligent transportation systems. However, the current simulation platforms exhibit limitations in the realism and diversity of agent behaviors, which impede the transfer of simulation outcomes to the real world. In this paper, we propose a generative driver agent simulation framework based on large language models (LLMs), capable of perceiving complex traffic scenarios and providing realistic driving maneuvers. Notably, we conducted interviews with 24 drivers and used their detailed descriptions of driving behavior as chain-of-thought prompts to develop a `coach agent' module, which can evaluate and assist driver agents in accumulating driving experience and developing human-like driving styles. Through practical simulation experiments and user experiments, we validate the feasibility of this framework in generating reliable driver agents and analyze the roles of each module. The results show that the framework with full architect decreased the collision rate by 81.04% and increased the human-likeness by 50%. Our research proposes the first urban context driver agent simulation framework based on LLMs and provides valuable insights into the future of agent simulation for complex tasks.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Contamination levels and dietary exposure risk assessment of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls in pork in some regions of China

ObjectiveTo investigate the contamination levels of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls （PCBs） in pork in China and the dietary exposure and risks of Chinese residents.MethodsThe concentration of seven indicator PCBs （PCB 28， PCB 52， PCB 101， PCB 118， PCB 138， PCB 153， and PCB 180） in 203 pork samples from 13 provinces （autonomous regions， centrally administered municipality） in China in 2020 as monitoring sites were analyzed by combined isotope dilution-gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. The health risk of the population exposure of indicator PCBs through pork was assessed in conjunction with date on pork consumption in each province.ResultsThe mean concentrations of the seven indicator PCBs （∑7PCBs） in pork ranged from 0.053 （Guangxi） to 0.826 ng/g fat （Zhejiang）， and P95 concentrations ranged from 0.091 （Guangxi） to 2.702 ng/g fat （Zhejiang）. PCB 28 and PCB 52 were the main fingerprint features. The mean and P95 levels of ∑7PCBs ingested daily by Chinese residents through pork consumption were 0.062±0.076 （ng/kg·BW） and 0.158±0.207 （ng/kg·BW）， respectively， and the exposure risk index （ERI） was less than 1.ConclusionThe contamination level of ∑7PCBs in pork in China， as well as the health risk of residents exposed to indicator PCBs through a pork diet was low

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on emergency department visits in a tertiary hospital

Purpose: This study aimed to highlight the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on emergency department (ED) visits of non-COVID-19 patients in a tertiary hospital and evaluate protocol development during this period. Patients and Methods: Clinical data of patients who visited the ED of Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine during the first-level response in Foshan, Guangdong province in 2020 (from January 23 to February 24) and the same period in 2019 and 2021 were collected. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was performed to understand the characteristics of critically ill patients and compare the proportion of hospitalizations, deaths, and emergency ambulance calls (EACs). Results: The number of patients presenting to the ED was significantly decreased, with a 37.75% reduction in 2020 (6196) compared to the same period in 2019 (9954). A rise in patient ED presentations was observed in the same period in 2021 (10,503). This decline was mostly in the 15– 45 age group. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, critically ill patients treated by the ED totaled 568 (5.706%), 339 (5.495%), and 590 (5.617%), respectively. Compared to the same period in 2019 and 2021, the proportion of critically ill patients with respiratory system involvement, severe trauma, and poisoning decreased most significantly in 2020 (P< 0.05). In contrast, the rates of EACs, hospitalizations, and deaths increased significantly (P< 0.05). Conclusion: The number of ED visits to hospitals was decreased during the 2020 lockdown, while the rates of EACs, hospitalizations, and deaths increased significantly though there were no documented COVID-19 cases. Optimizing emergency medical resources and ensuring the safety of healthcare providers and patients were essential to provide efficient emergency diagnosis and treatment during the lockdown

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Integral BVPs for a Class of First-Order Impulsive Functional Differential Equations

The methods of lower and upper solutions and monotone iterative technique are employed to the study of integral boundary value problems for a class of first-order impulsive functional differential equations. Sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of extreme solutions

Sustainable Renewal Methods of Urban Public Parking Spaces under the Scenario of Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAV): A Review and a Proposal

Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) will be an important force to in reshaping urban morphology. The high operation rate and sharing degree of SAV are considered to result in a great reduction in parking area in future cities. Parking space is now a huge and widely distributed urban stock space type, which is bound to become a major challenge and opportunity for sustainable urban renewal in the digital era. Based on the SAV scenario, this paper reviews the current research on the sustainable renewal of urban public parking spaces, and proposes the four key issues involved: how much to renew (i.e., demand forecast analysis), when to renew (i.e., update time series evaluation), what to renew (i.e., function replacement decision) and how to update (i.e., design empirical research). Furthermore, it puts forward a preliminary idea on, and constructs a research framework for, the sustainable renewal methods of parking space under the SAV scenario. Finally, the theoretical, practical and policy implications of the research on sustainable renewal methods of urban public parking space are discussed. It will have great reference value for the redevelopment and reuse of the urban space types including fragmented, widely distributed and large-scale