Agent-Based Modeling in Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS): Lessons from a Comparative Analysis

<div><p>Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) are characterized by many complex features, including feedback loops, nonlinearity and thresholds, surprises, legacy effects and time lags, and resilience. Agent-based models (ABMs) are powerful for handling such complexity in CHANS models, facilitating in-depth understanding of CHANS dynamics. ABMs have been employed mostly on a site-specific basis, however. Little of this work provides a common infrastructure with which CHANS researchers (especially nonmodeling experts) can comprehend, compare, and envision CHANS processes and dynamics. We advance the science of CHANS by developing a CHANS-oriented protocol based on the overview, design concepts, and details (ODD) framework to help CHANS modelers and other researchers build, document, and compare CHANS-oriented ABMs. Using this approach, we show how complex demographic decisions, environmental processes, and human–environment interaction in CHANS can be represented and simulated in a relatively straightforward, standard way with ABMs by focusing on a comparison of two world-renowned CHANS: the Wolong Nature Reserve in China and the Chitwan National Park in Nepal. The four key lessons we learn from this cross-site comparison in relation to CHANS models include how to represent agents and the landscape, the need for standardized modules for CHANS ABMs, the impacts of scheduling on model outcomes, and precautions in interpreting “surprises” in CHANS model outcomes. We conclude with a CHANS protocol in the hope of advancing the science of CHANS.</p></div

The Development and the Role of International Criminal Justice in Today's World

This thesis deals with international criminal justice, which began to influence international politics during the last twenty years. After the end of the Cold War, a lot of armed conflicts were breaking out. They were accompanied by unprecedented inhuman acts and atrocities. The international community had to find a solution for how to respond to such events. In 1993, the United Nations Security Council acted under Chapter VII of The Charter of the United Nations and decided unanimously upon the establishing of an ad hoc International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The Tribunal's role was to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during the Balkans conflict. A year later, in 1994, the Security Council decided to establish another ad hoc tribunal - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which served to punish the architects of Rwandan genocide. Both tribunals sped up negotiations and the decision to establish the permanent International Criminal Court, whose objective is to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The crime of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and in the future the crime of aggression. Firstly, this thesis analyses the ad..

Why Do Boron and Nitrogen Doped α- and γ‑Graphyne Exhibit Different Oxygen Reduction Mechanism? A First-Principles Study

The oxygen reduction reaction mechanisms catalyzed by B, N doped α- and γ-graphyne were investigated in detail by DFT methods, in which doped graphynes with different configurations could exhibit different oxygen reduction reaction activities. The B or N single-doped α-B₁G and α-N₂G and co-doped α-B₁N₂G and α-B₁N₃G show relatively low catalytic activities, owing to their unfavorable reversible potential in oxygen reduction steps, while the co-doped α-B₁N₄G with separated B, N and single-doped γ-NG show relatively high activities. With the further increasing of the N content, the onset potential is largely enhanced to 0.413 V for α-B₁(N₄)₃G. The origin of activity of α-B₁(N₄)₃G and γ-NG is attributed to the higher energy levels of the highest occupied molecular orbital and/or more positive charge (spin) density distributions

Fuel-Driven Dissipative Self-Assembly of a Supra-Amphiphile in Batch Reactor

Dissipative self-assembly is an intriguing but challenging research topic in chemistry, materials science, physics, and biology because most functional self-assembly in nature, such as the organization and operation of cells, is actually an out-of-equilibrium system driven by energy dissipation. In this article, we successfully fabricated an I₂-responsive supra-amphiphile by a PEGylated poly­(amino acid) and realize its dissipative self-assembly in batch reactor by coupling it with the redox reaction between NaIO₃ and thiourea, in which I₂ is an intermediate product. The formation and dissipative self-assembly of the supra-amphiphile can be repeatedly initiated by adding the mixture of NaIO₃ and thiourea, which herein acts as “chemical fuel”, while the lifetime of the transient nanostructures formed by the dissipative self-assembly is easily tuned by altering thiourea concentration in the “chemical fuel”. Furthermore, as an application demo, the dissipative self-assembly of the supra-amphiphile is examined to control dispersion of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in water, exhibiting a good performance of organic pollutant removal

Layered Transition Metal Oxynitride Co₃Mo₂O_<i>x</i>N_6–<i>x</i>/C Catalyst for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Transition metal oxynitrides have now garnered growing interest in our quest for highly efficient alternatives to Pt in direct methanol alkaline fuel cells. Herein, carbon supported Co₃Mo₂O_<i>x</i>N_6–<i>x</i> was synthesized via a simple two-step approach wherein the reactants undergo refluxing and heat treatment in NH₃. For the as-prepared Co₃Mo₂O_<i>x</i>N_6–<i>x</i> catalyst, uniformly dispersed on XC-72, with the particle size averaged at 5 nm, the catalytic activities toward oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media are related to the commercial Pt/C, such as the comparable onset potential (0.9 V vs RHE), half-wave potential (0.8 V vs RHE), and even higher specific activity (82.7 mA cm^–2 at 0.7 V). Significantly, the Co₃Mo₂O_<i>x</i>N_6–<i>x</i> catalyst was highly stable in terms of 95% current retention after 12 h chronoamperometry measurement, indicative of favorable prospect for the non-noble cathodic catalyst in alkaline fuel cell

Structural and Functional Modulation of Five 4‑Cyanopyridinium Iodoargentates Built Up from Cubane-like Ag₄I₄ Nodes

Five iodoargentate hybrids, {[MC]­[Ag₂I₃]}_<i>n</i> (<b>1</b>), {[EC]­[Ag₂I₃]}_<i>n</i> (<b>2</b>), {[PC]₂[Ag₄I₆]}_<i>n</i> (<b>3</b>), {[BC]₂[Ag₄I₆]}_<i>n</i> (<b>4</b>), and {[IPC]₂[Ag₄I₆]}_<i>n</i> (<b>5</b>) (MC⁺ = <i>N</i>-methyl-4-cyanopyridinium, EC⁺ = <i>N</i>-ethyl-4-cyanopyridinium, PC⁺ = <i>N</i>-propyl-4-cyanopyridinium, BC⁺ = <i>N</i>-butyl-4-cyanopyridinium, and IPC⁺ = <i>N</i>-isopentyl-4-cyanopyridinium), have been solvothermally synthesized. Built up from μ-I bridging cubane-like Ag₄I₄ nodes, <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> present similar two-dimensional grid-like layers with the MC⁺ and EC⁺ cations located at the apertures of inorganic layers and interlayer space, while <b>3</b>,<b> 4</b>, and <b>5</b> possess three-dimensional open frameworks with the PC⁺, BC⁺, and IPC⁺ cations intercalated in the channels. <b>1</b>–<b>5</b> exhibit reducing band gaps with respect to the bulk β-AgI and interesting low temperature reversible thermochromism, which can be ascribed to the temperature effects directly on the population of intermolecular charge transfer. Variations in structure and property reveal delicate modulating effect of <i>N</i>-alkyl-4-cyanopyridinium cations and flexibility of iodoargentate frameworks

Two Thermochromic Layered Iodoargentate Hybrids Directed by 4- and 3‑Cyanopyridinium Cations

Two layered iodoargentates, [HCP]­[Ag₂I₃] (HCP⁺ = NH-4-cyanopyridinium) (<b>1</b>) and [MCP]­[Ag₄I₅] (MCP⁺ = <i>N</i>-methyl-3-cyanopyridinium) (<b>2</b>) have been solvothermally synthesized. For <b>1</b>, the inorganic layer is built up by 4-connected Ag₄I₈ unit with cubane-type Ag₄I₄ core via sharing peripheral μ₂-I in <i>ab</i> plane, while the HCP⁺ cations are located at the apertures and interlayer space. For <b>2</b>, the inorganic layer is constructed from [Ag₆I₆]_<i>n</i> and [AgI₃]_<i>n</i>^2<i>n</i>– chains via alternative corner- and edge-sharing modes along the <i>b</i>-axis, while the MCP⁺ cations lie between neighboring layers. Compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> exhibit reducing band gaps relative to the bulk β-AgI and remarkable thermochromism, which are ascribed to the intermolecular charge transfer (CT) and affected by electron affinity of pyridinium cations

Non-alkaloids extract from <i>Stemona sessilifolia</i> enhances the activity of chemotherapeutic agents through P-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug-resistant cancer cells

<p>One of the major impediments to the successful treatment of cancer is the development of resistant cancer cells, which could cause multidrug resistance (MDR), and overexpression of ABCB1/P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is one of the most common causes of MDR in cancer cells. Recently, natural products or plant-derived chemicals have been investigated more and more widely as potential multidrug-resistant (MDR) reversing agents. The current study demonstrated for the first time that non-alkaloids extract from <i>Stemona sessilifolia</i> significantly reversed the resistance of chemotherapeutic agents, adriamycin, paclitaxel and vincristine to MCF-7/ADR cells compared with MCF-7/S cells in a dose-dependent manner. The results obtained from these studies indicated that the non-alkaloids extract from <i>S. sessilifolia</i> plays an important role in reversing MDR of cancer as a P-gp modulator <i>in vitro</i> and may be effective in the treatment of multidrug-resistant cancers.</p

Appendix A. A diagram of the HOBLIM model with tables describing the HALIM submodels and a table showing the proposed probabilities of bamboo die-off and regeneration in relation to biotic and abiotic factors.

A diagram of the HOBLIM model with tables describing the HALIM submodels and a table showing the proposed probabilities of bamboo die-off and regeneration in relation to biotic and abiotic factors

Transcriptome analysis reveals molecular regulation mechanism of Tibet sheep tolerance to high altitude oxygen environment

As one of the most important livestock breeds on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Tibetan sheep are of great importance to the local economy, agriculture and culture. Its adaptive mechanism in low temperature and low oxygen at highland altitudes has not been reported. In this study, transcriptome sequencing was used to analyze the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and muscle tissue of sheep at low and highland altitudes. LOC101112291, SELENOW, COL3A1, GPX1, TMSB4X and HSF4 were selected as candidate genes for adapting to plateau characteristics in Tibet Sheep. Besides, glutathione metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, nucleotide excision repair, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, protein digestion and absorption, thyroid hormone synthesis, relaxation signaling pathways may play important roles in the adaptation to plateau hypoxia, and cold tolerance. Structural analysis also showed that sequencing genes related to the adaptation mechanism of Tibet sheep to highland altitude. This study will lay a certain foundation for Tibet sheep research. Tibet sheep are an ancient species in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. After a long period of domestication. Tibet sheep adapt to the hypoxic environment of the plateau in terms of physiology and morphology. At the same time, Tibet sheep is also one of the major sources of material for herdsmen in tibetan. In this study, six different tissue samples (heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and muscle) of Tibet sheep were analyzed to reveal the underlying mechanisms of different tissues respond to hypothermia condition. The results showed that six key genes and eight important signaling pathways involved in regulating the adaptation of Tibet sheep to the plateau. In addition, there were more alternative splicing (AS) events and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in highland altitude Tibet sheep than in lowland altitude sheep, which was also a concern in the highland altitude adaptability of Tibet sheep.</p