Development of DNDC-BC model to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddy fields under combination of biochar and controlled irrigation management.

Acknowledgments This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China 608 (51879076), SuperG (Nr: 774124; funded under EU Horizon 2020 programme), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (B220203009), the Postgraduate Research & Practice Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX22_0669), the Water Conservancy Science and Technology Project of Jiangxi Province 12 (202124ZDKT09). Thanks to the late Professor Changsheng Li who provided the source code of DNDC and corresponding support. We thank the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for providing a scholarship to Zewei Jiang.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Highly sensitive and ultrastable skin sensors for biopressure and bioforce measurements based on hierarchical microstructures

Piezoresistive microsensors are considered to be essential components of the future wearable electronic devices. However, the expensive cost, complex fabrication technology, poor stability, and low yield have limited their developments for practical applications. Here, we present a cost-effective, relatively simple, and high-yield fabrication approach to construct highly sensitive and ultrastable piezoresistive sensors using a bioinspired hierarchically structured graphite/polydimethylsiloxane composite as the active layer. In this fabrication, a commercially available sandpaper is employed as the mold to develop the hierarchical structure. Our devices exhibit fascinating performance including an ultrahigh sensitivity (64.3 kPa^–1), fast response time (<8 ms), low limit of detection of 0.9 Pa, long-term durability (>100 000 cycles), and high ambient stability (>1 year). The applications of these devices in sensing radial artery pulses, acoustic vibrations, and human body motion are demonstrated, exhibiting their enormous potential use in real-time healthcare monitoring and robotic tactile sensing

Impact of Biochar Application on Ammonia Volatilization from Paddy Fields under Controlled Irrigation

Ammonia volatilization is an important nitrogen loss pathway in the paddy field ecosystem which leads to low nitrogen-utilization efficiency and severe atmospheric pollution. To reveal the influence and the mechanism of biochar application on ammonia volatilization from paddy fields under controlled irrigation, field experiments were conducted in the Taihu Lake Basin in China. The experiment consisted of three levels of biochar application (0, 20, and 40 t·ha−1) and two types of irrigation management (controlled irrigation and flood irrigation). Increasing ammonia volatilization occurred after fertilization. Biochar application reduced the cumulative ammonia volatilization from controlled-irrigation paddy fields, compared with non-biochar treatment. The cumulative ammonia volatilization in controlled-irrigation paddy fields with 40 t·ha−1 biochar application was reduced by 12.27%. The decrease in ammonia volatilization was related to the change in soil physical and soil physical–chemical properties and soil microbial activities. The high biochar application (40 t·ha−1) increased the NH4+-N content in soil (p p p −1) increased soil urease activity by 33.70%. Ammonia volatilization from paddy fields was significantly correlated with the nitrogen concentration (p p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the abundance of ammonia monooxygenase subunit A (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) with biochar application under controlled irrigation showed an increasing trend with rice growth. The long-term application of biochar may have a relatively strong potential to inhibit ammonia volatilization. In general, the combined application of controlled irrigation and biochar provides an eco-friendly strategy for reducing farmland N loss and improving paddy field productivity

Low-voltage Extended Gate Organic Thin Film Transistors for Ion Sensing Based on Semi-conducting Polymer Electrodes

We report a low-voltage organic field-effect transistor consisting of an extended gate sensory area to detect various ions in a solution. The device distinguishes various ions by the shift in threshold voltage and is sensitive to multiple ions with various concentrations. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and the resistance changes at the sensor area prove that the ions are doped into the sensitive film at the sensor area. Because of the effect of doping, the conductivity of the semiconductor polymer film changes thus causing a threshold voltage shift