Future potential evapotranspiration changes and contribution analysis in Zhejiang Province, East China

PublishedJournal ArticleThis is the final version of the article. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Potential evapotranspiration is an important component of hydrological modeling. In this study, the objective is to project potential evapotranspiration in the future period 2011-2040 and understand their changes in Zhejiang Province, East China. The sensitivity of potential evapotranspiration to five climatic variables (solar radiation, daily minimum and maximum air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed) is analyzed based on observation data from 1955-2008 using a global sensitivity analysis method, Sobol's method. The changes in potential evapotranspiration during the future period are generated using one regional climate model, Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies, with two global climate models, ECHAM5 and Hadley Centre Coupled Model version 3, and their causes are analyzed based on sensitivity analysis results. Global sensitivity analysis results reveal substantial spatial-temporal variations in the sensitivity of potential evapotranspiration to climatic variables and unignorable interactions among climatic variables. Rather similar spatial change patterns of annual mean potential evapotranspiration (PET) are generated for both general circulation models; however, seasonal or monthly changes are very different due to different spatial-temporal changes in climatic variables. Different contributory sources to potential evapotranspiration changes are identified at different months and stations; the PET changes in 2011-2040 are mainly due to three climatic variables including solar radiation, relative humidity, and daily minimum temperature. © 2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

Sub-10-nm Intracellular Bioelectronic Probes from Nanowire-Nanotube Heterostructures

The miniaturization of bioelectronic intracellular probes with a wide dynamic frequency range can open up opportunities to study biological structures inaccessible by existing methods in a minimally invasive manner. Here, we report the design, fabrication, and demonstration of intracellular bioelectronic devices with probe sizes less than 10 nm. The devices are based on a nanowire–nanotube heterostructure in which a nanowire field-effect transistor detector is synthetically integrated with a nanotube cellular probe. Sub-10-nm nanotube probes were realized by a two-step selective etching approach that reduces the diameter of the nanotube free-end while maintaining a larger diameter at the nanowire detector necessary for mechanical strength and electrical sensitivity. Quasi-static water-gate measurements demonstrated selective device response to solution inside the nanotube, and pulsed measurements together with numerical simulations confirmed the capability to record fast electrophysiological signals. Systematic studies of the probe bandwidth in different ionic concentration solutions revealed the underlying mechanism governing the time response. In addition, the bandwidth effect of phospholipid coatings, which are important for intracellular recording, was investigated and modeled. The robustness of these sub-10-nm bioelectronics probes for intracellular interrogation was verified by optical imaging and recording the transmembrane resting potential of HL-1 cells. These ultrasmall bioelectronic probes enable direct detection of cellular electrical activity with highest spatial resolution achieved to date, and with further integration into larger chip arrays could provide a unique platform for ultra-high-resolution mapping of activity in neural networks and other systems.Chemistry and Chemical BiologyEngineering and Applied Science

Recent (2018–2021) glaciological, hydrological and geomorphological landscape changes of Hailuogou Glacier tongue, southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau are melting at an unprecedented recently rate in the context of global warming. Time-sequenced landform mapping for the Hailuogou Glacier, a partly debris-covered glacier in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, shows the detailed evolution of glacier changes as the ice recedes. This study presents four maps of the Hailuogou Glacier tongue, a partly debris-covered glacier in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau, documenting the spatial evolution of glaciological, hydrological, and geomorphological features from 2018 to 2021. Structure from Motion with Multiview Stereo software was applied to images captured by from uncrewed aerial vehicles were used to produce digital surface models and orthophoto mosaics. These datasets were used, and then to identify and map the features based on pre-defined mapping criteria. From 2018 to 2021, the glacier underwent continuous recession, with the terminus retreating, intense crevassing in the lower part of the ablation zone, and continuous expansion of the terminal disintegration area. The recent evolution of the glacier implies that the gradual disintegration of the lower glacier tongue is likely to be exacerbated over the next decades by the continuous climate warming

Bayesian Updating of Embankment Settlement on Soft Soils with Finite Element Method

Prediction of responses (e.g., embankment settlement) of geotechnical structures on soft soils is a challenging task due to their complex mechanical behaviors. In face with such complexity, the finite element method (FEM) combined with advanced soil constitutive models (e.g., soft soil creep (SSC) model) is frequently used to predict the short-term and long-term responses of geotechnical structures on soft soils, which involves a number of model parameters. Determination of these model parameters depends on knowledge obtained from site investigation data and/or monitoring information. This paper develops a Bayesian sequential updating (BSU) framework that incorporates monitoring information obtained at different construction stages to update FEM model parameters and their corresponding stochastic responses. To address the computational issues in Bayesian analysis, No-UTurn Sampler (NUTS) Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm is introduced to populate posterior samples, and multiple Hermite response surfaces are constructed for different monitoring phases to reduce the computational efforts costed by evaluating the likelihood function. The proposed method is illustrated by a settlement prediction example of Ballina trial embankment, New South Wales, Australia. Effects of different likelihood functions (namely with and without model bias factor (MBF)) on Bayesian updating of settlement predictions are investigated. Results showed that the proposed BSU framework improves the prediction accuracy of soft soil settlement compared with prior predictions. NUTS is much more efficient in generating posterior samples compared with Metropolis-Hastings (MH) algorithm as the number of model parameters is relatively large. When considering short-term settlement behaviors of soft soils, the likelihood function without MBF is preferred because the adopted SSC can properly characterize short-term behaviors of soft soils. On the other hand, the likelihood function with MBF is recommended because SSC is hard to represent long-term behaviors of soft soils.This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Project No. 2016YFC0800200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos. 51679174, 51579190, 51528901), and Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (Project No. 2017QNRC001). The financial support is gratefully acknowledged

A novel FBN2 mutation in a Chinese family with congenital contractural arachnodactyly

AbstractCongenital contractural arachnodactyly (CCA, OMIM: 121050) is an autosomal dominant condition that shares skeletal features with Marfan syndrome (MFS, OMIM: 154700), including contractures, arachnodactyly, dolichostenomelia, scoliosis, crumpled ears and pectus deformities but excluding the ocular and cardiovascular complications that characterize MFS. These two similar syndromes result from mutations in two genes belonging to the fibrillin family, FBN1 and FBN2, respectively. We successfully identified a novel FBN2 mutation (C1406R) in a Chinese family with CCA for over five generations. This mutation was detected in the patients of this family but not in the seven unaffected family members or 100 normal individuals. SIFT and PolyPhen analyses suggested that the mutation was pathogenic. We identified a missense mutation in the calcium binding-epidermal growth factor (cbEGF)-like domain. Our study extends the mutation spectrum of CCA and confirms a relationship between mutations in the FBN2 gene and the clinical findings of CCA

Hypercapsule is the cornerstone of Klebsiella pneumoniae in inducing pyogenic liver abscess

PurposeTo investigate the mechanisms of Klebsiella pneumoniae-induced pyogenic liver abscess (PLA).MethodsForty-three K. pneumoniae strains from PLAs and 436 from non-PLAs were collected. Their differences were compared for virulence genes and factors, sequence types, and serotypes. Virulence genes wzi, wzy-K1, and wzi+wzy-K1 were deleted in K. pneumoniae NTUH-K2044. Various analyses, such as transmission electron microscopy, neutrophil killing tests, and mouse lethality tests, were used to confirm the consequent changes.ResultsDifferences were found between K. pneumoniae strains from PLA and non-PLA samples for virulence genes and factors, including metabolism genes (allS and peg-344), capsular polysaccharide (CPS)-synthesis channel gene (wzy-K1), CPS-regulating genes (p-rmpA, p-rmpA2, and c-rmpA), and siderophore genes (iucA and iroN). When wzy-K1 was positive, the difference between PLA and non-PLA samples was only observed with c-rmpA. Δwzi, Δwzy-K1, and ΔwziΔwzy-K1 strains reverted to hypovirulence. In the Kupffer cell stimulation assay, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-12, IL-10, and transforming growth factor-β secretions were found to be equivalent in NTUH-K2044, Δwzi, Δwzy-K1, and ΔwziΔwzy-K1 groups. Lower IL-1β and higher tumor necrosis factor-α secretions were observed for Δwzi, Δwzy-K1, and ΔwziΔwzy-K1.ConclusionsHypercapsule production is the cornerstone of hypervirulence, regardless of exopolysaccharides. K1 K. pneumoniae-induced PLA may decrease core inflammatory cytokines rather than increase anti-inflammatory cytokines. Exopolysaccharides could also attenuate the inflammatory response to aid in the immune escape of K. pneumoniae