Enhanced Runoff Modeling by Incorporating Information from the GR4J Hydrological Model and Multiple Remotely Sensed Precipitation Datasets

Reliable runoff modeling is essential for water resource allocation and management. However, a key uncertainty source is that the true precipitation field is difficult to measure, making reliable runoff modeling still challenging. To account for this uncertainty, this study developed a two-step approach combining ensemble average and cumulative distribution correction (i.e., EC) to incorporate information from the GR4J (modèle du Génie Rural à 4 paramètres Journalier) hydrological model and multiple remotely sensed precipitation datasets. In the EC approach, firstly, the ensemble average is applied to construct transitional fluxes using the reproduced runoff information, which is yielded by applying various remotely sensed precipitation datasets to drive the GR4J model. Subsequently, the cumulative distribution correction is applied to enhance the transitional fluxes to model runoff. In our experiments, the effectiveness of the EC approach was investigated by runoff modeling to incorporate information from the GR4J model and six precipitation datasets in the Pingtang Watershed (PW; Southwest China), and the single precipitation dataset-based approaches and the ensemble average were used as benchmarks. The results show that the EC method performed better than the benchmarks and had a satisfactory performance with Nash–Sutcliffe values of 0.68 during calibration and validation. Meanwhile, the EC method exhibited a more stable performance than the ensemble averaging method under different incorporation scenarios. However, the single precipitation dataset-based approaches tended to underestimate runoff (regression coefficients < 1), and there were similar errors between the calibration and validation stages. To further illustrate the effectiveness of the EC model, five watersheds (including the PW) of different hydrometeorological features were used to test the EC model and its benchmarks. The results show that both the EC model and the ensemble averaging had good transferability, but the EC model had better performance across all the test watersheds. Conversely, the single precipitation dataset-based approaches exhibited significant regional variations and, therefore, had low transferability. The current study concludes that the EC approach can be a robust alternative to model runoff and highlights the value of the incorporation of multiple precipitation datasets in runoff modeling

Sinomenine Suppresses Development of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells via Inhibiting MARCH1 and AMPK/STAT3 Signaling Pathway

Promotion of apoptosis and suppression of proliferation in tumor cells are popular strategies for developing anticancer drugs. Sinomenine (SIN), a plant-derived alkaloid, displays antitumor activity. However, the mechanism of action of SIN against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. Herein, several molecular technologies, such as Western Blotting, qRT-PCR, flow cytometry, and gene knockdown were applied to explore the role and mechanism of action of SIN in the treatment of HCC. It was found that SIN arrests HCC cell cycle at G0/G1 phase, induces apoptosis, and suppresses proliferation of HCC cells via down-regulating the expression of membrane-associated RING-CH finger protein 1 (MARCH1). Moreover, SIN induces cell death and growth inhibition through AMPK/STAT3 signaling pathway. MARCH1 expression was silenced by siRNA to explore its involvement in the regulation of AMPK/STAT3 signaling pathway. Silencing MARCH1 caused down-regulation of phosphorylation of AMPK, STAT3 and decreased cell viability and function. Our results suggested that SIN inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of HCC cells by MARCH1-mediated AMPK/STAT3 signaling pathway. This study provides new support for SIN as a clinical anticancer drug and illustrates that targeting MARCH1 could be a novel treatment strategy in developing anticancer therapeutics

A multi-wavelength mid-IR laser based on BaGa4Se7 optical parametric oscillators

A multi-wavelength mid-IR laser consisting of 3.05 μm, 4.25 μm, and 5.47 μm BaGa4Se7(BGSe)optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) switched by DKDP electro-optic switches with one 10 Hz/7.6 ns pumping wave is demonstrated. Maximum energies at 3.05 μm, 4.25 μm, and 5.47 μm are 1.35 mJ, 1.03 mJ, and 0.56 mJ, respectively, corresponding to optical-to-optical conversion efficiencies of 9.4%, 7.6%, and 4.2%. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first of generation of three mid-IR wavelength lasers using electro-optic switches. Furthermore, this study provides a viable solution for a high-energy or high-power, compact, or even portable multi-wavelength mid-IR laser device that employs a single pumping wave

Novel loci and pathways significantly associated with longevity

Only two genome-wide significant loci associated with longevity have been identified so far, probably because of insufficient sample sizes of centenarians, whose genomes may harbor genetic variants associated with health and longevity. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Han Chinese with a sample size 2.7 times the largest previously published GWAS on centenarians. We identified 11 independent loci associated with longevity replicated in Southern-Northern regions of China, including two novel loci (rs2069837-IL6; rs2440012-ANKRD20A9P) with genome-wide significance and the rest with suggestive significance (P < 3.65 × 10(−5)). Eight independent SNPs overlapped across Han Chinese, European and U.S. populations, and APOE and 5q33.3 were replicated as longevity loci. Integrated analysis indicates four pathways (starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism; immune response and inflammation; MAPK; calcium signaling) highly associated with longevity (P ≤ 0.006) in Han Chinese. The association with longevity of three of these four pathways (MAPK; immunity; calcium signaling) is supported by findings in other human cohorts. Our novel finding on the association of starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism pathway with longevity is consistent with the previous results from Drosophilia. This study suggests protective mechanisms including immunity and nutrient metabolism and their interactions with environmental stress play key roles in human longevity

An Overview of Recent Development in Composite Catalysts from Porous Materials for Various Reactions and Processes

Catalysts are important to the chemical industry and environmental remediation due to their effective conversion of one chemical into another. Among them, composite catalysts have attracted continuous attention during the past decades. Nowadays, composite catalysts are being used more and more to meet the practical catalytic performance requirements in the chemical industry of high activity, high selectivity and good stability. In this paper, we reviewed our recent work on development of composite catalysts, mainly focusing on the composite catalysts obtained from porous materials such as zeolites, mesoporous materials, carbon nanotubes (CNT), etc. Six types of porous composite catalysts are discussed, including amorphous oxide modified zeolite composite catalysts, zeolite composites prepared by co-crystallization or overgrowth, hierarchical porous catalysts, host-guest porous composites, inorganic and organic mesoporous composite catalysts, and polymer/CNT composite catalysts

Novel loci and pathways significantly associated with longevity

Only two genome-wide significant loci associated with longevity have been identified so far, probably because of insufficient sample sizes of centenarians, whose genomes may harbor genetic variants associated with health and longevity. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Han Chinese with a sample size 2.7 times the largest previously published GWAS on centenarians. We identified 11 independent loci associated with longevity replicated in Southern-Northern regions of China, including two novel loci (rs2069837-IL6; rs2440012-ANKRD20A9P) with genome-wide significance and the rest with suggestive significance (P < 3.65 × 10⁻⁵). Eight independent SNPs overlapped across Han Chinese, European and U.S. populations, and APOE and 5q33.3 were replicated as longevity loci. Integrated analysis indicates four pathways (starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism; immune response and inflammation; MAPK; calcium signaling) highly associated with longevity (P ≤ 0.006) in Han Chinese. The association with longevity of three of these four pathways (MAPK; immunity; calcium signaling) is supported by findings in other human cohorts. Our novel finding on the association of starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism pathway with longevity is consistent with the previous results from Drosophilia. This study suggests protective mechanisms including immunity and nutrient metabolism and their interactions with environmental stress play key roles in human longevity.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Nature Publishing Group. The published article can be found at: http://www.nature.com/articles/srep2124

Modelling Effects of Rainfall Patterns on Runoff Generation and Soil Erosion Processes on Slopes

Rainfall patterns and landform characteristics are controlling factors in runoff and soil erosion processes. At a hillslope scale, there is still a lack of understanding of how rainfall temporal patterns affect these processes, especially on slopes with a wide range of gradients and length scales. Using a physically-based distributed hydrological model (InHM), these processes under different rainfall temporal patterns were simulated to illustrate this issue. Five rainfall patterns (constant, increasing, decreasing, rising-falling and falling-rising) were applied to slopes, whose gradients range from 5&deg; to 40&deg; and projective slope lengths range from 25 m to 200 m. The rising-falling rainfall generally had the largest total runoff and soil erosion amount; while the constant rainfall had the lowest ones when the projective slope length was less than 100 m. The critical slope of total runoff was 15&deg;, which was independent of rainfall pattern and slope length. However, the critical slope of soil erosion amount decreased from 35&deg; to 25&deg; with increasing projective slope length. The increasing rainfall had the highest peak discharge and erosion rate just at the end of the peak rainfall intensity. The peak value discharges and erosion rates of decreasing and rising-falling rainfalls were several minutes later than the peak rainfall intensity