Ecological Protection Alone Is Not Enough to Conserve Ecosystem Carbon Storage: Evidence from Guangdong, China

The increase in atmospheric CO2 caused by land use and land cover change (LUCC) is one of the drivers of the global climate. As one of the most typical high-urbanization areas, the ecological conflicts occurring in Guangdong Province warrant urgent attention. A growing body of evidence suggests LUCC could guide the future ecosystem carbon storage, but most LUCC simulations are simply based on model results without full consistency with the actual situation. Fully combined with the territorial spatial planning project and based on the land use pattern in 2010 and 2020, we have used the Markov and Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model to simulate the future four land use scenarios: the Business as Usual (BU), Ecological Protection (EP), Farmland Protection (FP), and Economic Development (ED) scenario, and the ecosystem carbon storage was assessed by the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. The results show that the built-up area experience further expansion in all scenarios, the largest scale happened in ED and the smallest in FP. Besides, the forest area in the EP scenario is the largest, while the land use pattern developed based on the previous circumstances in the BU scenario. Furthermore, the carbon storage plunged from 1619.21 Tg C in 2010 to 1606.60 Tg C in 2020, with a total decrease of 12.61 Tg C. Urban expansion caused 79.83% of total carbon losses, of which 31.56% came from farmland. In 2030, the carbon storage dropped in all scenarios, and their storage amount has a relationship of FP \u3e BU \u3e EP \u3e ED. To better resolve the ecological problems and conserve ecosystem carbon storage, not only ecological protection but also the protection of the land near the city such as farmland protection strategies must be considered

Photo-Attachment of Biomolecules for Miniaturization on Wicking Si-Nanowire Platform

We demonstrated the surface functionalization of a highly three-dimensional, superhydrophilic wicking substrate using light to immobilize functional biomolecules for sensor or microarray applications. We showed here that the three-dimensional substrate was compatible with photo-attachment and the performance of functionalization was greatly improved due to both increased surface capacity and reduced substrate reflectivity. In addition, photo-attachment circumvents the problems induced by wicking effect that was typically encountered on superhydrophilic three-dimensional substrates, thus reducing the difficulty of producing miniaturized sites on such substrate. We have investigated various aspects of photo-attachment process on the nanowire substrate, including the role of different buffers, the effect of wavelength as well as how changing probe structure may affect the functionalization process. We demonstrated that substrate fabrication and functionalization can be achieved with processes compatible with microelectronics processes, hence reducing the cost of array fabrication. Such functionalization method coupled with the high capacity surface makes the substrate an ideal candidate for sensor or microarray for sensitive detection of target analytes.National University of Singapore (Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering scholarship)GLOBALFOUNDRIES Singapore Pte. Ltd.Singapore-MIT Allianc

Clinical Observation of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills Alone and Its Combination with Fugui Guanshitong Granules in the Treatment of Advanced Esophageal Cancer

Background Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has become an important option for patients with advanced esophageal cancer (EC) who are not able to undergo surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or with disease progression after chemotherapy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the application effects of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills alone and its combination with Fugui Guanshitong Granules, in order to improve the quality of life of patients with advanced EC, and provide an effective TCM treatment schemes for EC. Objective To evaluate the effects of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills alone and its combination with Fugui Guanshitong Granules on survival rate and quality of life of patients with EC after 6 weeks of treatment. Methods A total of 109 patients with advanced EC admitted to nine centers such as the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of CM, Linzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Jia County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2020 to April 2021 were selected as the research objects and divided into the control group, experimental group 1 and experimental group 2 by block randomization method. The control group received Danggui Buxue Decoction and Guizhi Renshen Decoction Granules, the experimental group 1 received Fugui Guanshitong Granules and Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills, the experimental group 2 received Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills, with the course of 6 weeks in the above three groups. The survival rate after 6 weeks of treatment, Quality of Life (QOL) score, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, TCM syndrome score (dysphagia, poststernal chest pain, mucus vomiting, loss of appetite, fatigue) before and after treatment of the three groups were compared, and safety evaluation was conducted. Results After 6 weeks of treatment, the survival rate was 72.7% in the control group, 88.6% in the experimental group 1, and 86.8% in the experimental group 2, and there was no statistically significant difference in the survival rates among the three groups after 6 weeks of treatment (χ2=4.036, P=0.133). There was no interaction effect of group and time on QOL score, KPS score, and TCM syndrome score (Pinteraction>0.05). The main effect of group was not significant on QOL score, KPS score and TCM syndrome score (Pinterclass>0.05). The main effect of time was significant on QOL score, KPS score and TCM syndrome score (Ptime<0.05). There was an interaction effect of group and time on mucus vomiting score (Pinteraction<0.05), the scores of loss of appetite and mucus vomiting in the experimental group 2 were significantly lower than the experimental group 1 (P<0.05). Adverse events in the three groups included diarrhea, fever, dry mouth, sore throat, inability to eat, lung infection, without serious complications. There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events among the three groups (χ2=0.063, P=0.969) . Conclusion All three treatment schemes can relieve the clinical symptoms and improve the quality of life of the patients with advanced EC. Moreover, the efficacy of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills alone on appetite loss and mucus vomiting was better than that of Danggui Buxue Decoction and Guizhi Renshen Decoction Granules and the combination of Dingxiang Guanshitong Hanhua Pills and Fugui Guanshitong Granules

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Multi-Scenario Simulation of Land Use Carbon Emissions from Energy Consumption in Shenzhen, China

Investigating the future land use patterns and carbon emissions are of great significance for carbon reduction. This study established the relationship between land use types and carbon emissions from energy consumption and adopted three future scenarios that combine shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) and representative concentration pathways (RCPs), the system dynamics (SD) model, and the patch-generating land use simulation (PLUS) model to simulate land use patterns in 2030 and 2035. Then the spatial distribution of future carbon density and its change in Shenzhen were obtained. Under scenario SSP245, a large amount of industrial and mining land is converted into living land from 2020 to 2035, and new living land is mainly located in Bao’an District and Guangming District. Under scenario SSP370, a large amount of living land replaces other land due to a plentiful population from 2020 to 2035, which is rare under other scenarios. The expansions of areas with high carbon density during 2020–2030 are mainly distributed in Nanshan District and Longhua District under all three scenarios. During 2030–2035, carbon emissions will decrease under scenarios SSP126 and SSP245. The results confirmed various trends in carbon emissions under different scenarios and emphasized the association between land use types and carbon emissions

Ecological Protection Alone Is Not Enough to Conserve Ecosystem Carbon Storage: Evidence from Guangdong, China

The increase in atmospheric CO2 caused by land use and land cover change (LUCC) is one of the drivers of the global climate. As one of the most typical high-urbanization areas, the ecological conflicts occurring in Guangdong Province warrant urgent attention. A growing body of evidence suggests LUCC could guide the future ecosystem carbon storage, but most LUCC simulations are simply based on model results without full consistency with the actual situation. Fully combined with the territorial spatial planning project and based on the land use pattern in 2010 and 2020, we have used the Markov and Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model to simulate the future four land use scenarios: the Business as Usual (BU), Ecological Protection (EP), Farmland Protection (FP), and Economic Development (ED) scenario, and the ecosystem carbon storage was assessed by the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model. The results show that the built-up area experience further expansion in all scenarios, the largest scale happened in ED and the smallest in FP. Besides, the forest area in the EP scenario is the largest, while the land use pattern developed based on the previous circumstances in the BU scenario. Furthermore, the carbon storage plunged from 1619.21 Tg C in 2010 to 1606.60 Tg C in 2020, with a total decrease of 12.61 Tg C. Urban expansion caused 79.83% of total carbon losses, of which 31.56% came from farmland. In 2030, the carbon storage dropped in all scenarios, and their storage amount has a relationship of FP > BU > EP > ED. To better resolve the ecological problems and conserve ecosystem carbon storage, not only ecological protection but also the protection of the land near the city such as farmland protection strategies must be considered

Rhizopus microsporus and Mucor racemosus coinfection following COVID-19 detected by metagenomics next-generation sequencing: A case of disseminated mucormycosis

Mucormycosis is an invasive opportunistic fungal infection, which may be lethal and mostly affects patients with immunodeficiency or diabetes mellitus. Among Mucorales fungi, Rhizopus spp. is the most common cause of mucormycosis, followed by genera such as Mucor and Lichtheimia. Here we report a patient with severe COVID-19 infection who developed nasal pain, facial swelling, prominent black eschar on the nasal root. CT scan revealed pansinusitis along the maxillary, ethmoidal, and sphenoid sinuses. Mixed mold infection with Rhizopus microsporus and Mucor racemosus was detected by blood metagenomics next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and later nasal mucosa histological investigation confirmed mucormycosis. Severe COVID-19 infection led to the patient's thrombocytopenia and leukopenia. Later disseminated mucormycosis aggravated the infection and sepsis eventually resulted in death.It is the first case report of mucormycosis in which R. microsporus and M. racemosus as the etiologic agents were found simultaneously in one patient. COVID-19 infection combined with disseminated mucormycosisis can be fatal and mNGS is a fast, sensitive and accurate diagnostic method for fungi detection

Light-induced degradation in p-type gallium co-doped solar grade multicrystalline silicon wafers and solar cells

National Natural Science Foundation of China [61076056]This letter focuses on the evolution under illumination of the minority carrier lifetime and conversion efficiency of p-type gallium (Ga) co-doped solar grade multicrystalline silicon wafers and solar cells. We present experimental data regarding the concentration of boron-oxygen (B-O) defects in this silicon when subjected to illumination, and the concentration was found to depend on [B]-[P] rather than [B] or the net doping p(0)([B] + [Ga] - [P]). This result implies that the compensated B is unable to form the B-O defect. Minority carrier lifetime and EQE measurements at different degradation states indicate that the B-O defect and Fe-acceptor pairs are the two key centers contributed to LID in this material

Luminescent properties of Sr2B2O5: Tm 3+, Na+ blue phosphor

A novel blue phosphor, Sr2B2O5: Tm 3+, Na+ for white light-emitting diodes (W-LEDs) was prepared by solid-state synthesis and its structure and luminescence properties were investigated. This phosphor can be effectively excited within the broad near ultraviolet (NUV) wavelength region, from 340 nm to 370 nm, and exhibits a satisfactory blue performance. The emission peaks are observed at 457 nm (blue) and 475 nm (blue), due to the respective transitions of 1D 2→3F4 and 1G 4→H6. Seven mole percent of doping concentration of Tm3+ was shown to be optimal. Concentration quenching occurs when Tm3+ concentration is beyond 7 mol%, its mechanism being explained by dipole-dipole interaction of Tm3+ and being confirmed by decay property measurements. We have made a deep analysis on the effect of charge compensation reagent on luminescence intensity. Good blue emissions with the CIE chromaticity coordinates (0.173, 0.165) could be achieved. Our results suggest that the Sr2B2O5: Tm3+, Na + phosphor is a potential blue-emitting material. ? 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.All rights reserved

Effect of temperature on crystalline silicon solar cells processed from chemical and metallurgical route

Effect of temperature on monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon solar cells processed from chemical (EG-Si) and metallurgical (SoGM-Si) routes was investigated in the range of 280-350 K. The temperature coefficients of important parameters related with the cell property were discussed. Experimental results indicate that the T-coefficient of conversion efficiency (η) of multicrystalline EG-Si cell processed from chemical is only 68% that of the monocrystalline EG-Si cell. Furthermore, the η of both types of SoGM-Si cells decrease much less than that of the EG-Si cells with the increase in temperature. Additionally, the recombination fraction, the minority carrier lifetime, the carrier mobility decrease and the band-gap shrinkage were also investigated to reveal the intrinsic temperature dependence mechanism. In order to confirm the results, we used numerical simulation software AMPS-1D (analysis of microelectronic and photonic structure in one dimension program) to simulate the temperature dependence of solar cell performances. The results of numerical simulation were basically consistent with the experimental results. ? 2014 Elsevier GmbH