New insight into smart ocean: how is it different from digital ocean?

Oceans occupy approximately seventy-one percent of the earth’s surface, and vast regions of oceans are virtually unexplored, especially the deep parts where humans have never been. Therefore, it is urgent to understand our oceans from a number of perspectives. In this paper, the concept of Smart Ocean (SO) is constructed from the perspectives of environmental protection, sustainable development of the blue economy and marine disaster prevention and mitigation. First, a double-funnel structure concept model of SO, including ocean observation infrastructure, data, information, application, knowledge and decision support layers, is put forward. Second, the differences between SO and Digital Ocean (DO) are analyzed. Third, taking the Decision Support System for Emergency at Taiwan Strait as an example, a case study, which has assisted in saving more than 200 people, is introduced. Finally, future research agenda is summarized into seven aspects, including new instrumentation and sensor technologies, ocean big data mining and knowledge discovering, prediction, forecast and uncertainty analysis, ocean environment protection technologies and policy, sustainable use of ocean energy and resource, the influence and response to global changes in the ocean, and interdisciplinary collaboration and public service

High-space-coverage lake level change data sets on the Tibetan Plateau from 2002 to 2021 using multiple altimeter data

The Qinghai Tibet region, known as the Roof of the World and the Water Tower of Asia, has the largest number of lakes in the world, and because of its high altitude and the near absence of disturbance by human activity, the Tibetan plateau has long been a significant place to study global climate change. Hydrological stations cannot be easily set up in this area, and the in-situ gauge data are not always publicly accessible. Satellite radar altimetry has become a very important alternative to in-situ observations as a data source. Estimation of lake water levels with a given radar altimeter is often limited by temporal and spatial coverage, and therefore multi-altimeter data are used to monitor lake levels. Restricted by the accuracy of waveform processing and the intervals period between different altimetry missions, the accuracy and the sampling frequency of the water level series are low. By processing and merging 8 different altimetry missions, the developed data set gives the water level changes for 364 lakes (larger than 10 km2) in Tibetan Plateau from 2002 to 2021. The period of lake level change series with high accuracy can be much longer in many lakes. This data set and associated approaches are valuable for calculating the lake storage changes, trend analyses of lake level, short-term monitoring of lake overflow, flooding disasters on the Tibetan Plateau, and the relationships between the lake ecosystem change and water resources change

Insights into Chain Elongation Mechanisms of Weak Electric-Field-Stimulated Continuous Caproate Biosynthesis:Key Enzymes, Specific Species Functions, and Microbial Collaboration

Chain elongation (CE) technology can recover high-value biochemicals such as caproate, contributing to the realization of carbon neutrality. Electro-assisted fermentation shows extraordinary potential to enhance microbial activity in anaerobic fermentation systems. However, little is known of the effects of key functional genes of enzymes, specific species functions, and microbial collaboration on caproate biosynthesis in the continuously fed expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor with mixed culture under a weak electric field. In this study, caproate production was enhanced by 21% with 0.05 V electric field introduction in the CE bioreactor continuously operated for 150 days. Mechanism investigation revealed the abundance of functional genes involved in converting substrates to key intermediates (acetyl CoA and malonyl CoA) and in the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway (FAB), and the activities of transmembrane transport and energy metabolism were upregulated. Ruminococcaceae_bacterium played the most significant role in enhancing caproate biosynthesis with electric field introduction. Some essential functional genes were undetected within Ruminococcaceae_bacterium, which implied that harmonious microbial collaboration existed to supplement the lacking functional genes to complete CE processes. Firmicutes_bacterium, Pseudomonas_aeruginosa, Caproiciproducens_sp._NJN-50 and Candidatus_Neoanaerotignum_tabaqchaliae played complementary and collaborative roles in constructing the  microbial collaboration mechanisms in the CE process with the electric field. This study offered a deep understanding of the CE mechanisms in the mixed-culture continuously fed reactor and unveiled the respective roles of different species and the microbial interaction and collaboration mechanisms with weak electric field stimulation and provided a promising strategy for enhancing caproate biosynthesis

Outcomes of Discectomy by Using Full-Endoscopic Visualization Technique via the Transcorporeal and Transdiscal Approaches in the Treatment of Cervical Intervertebral Disc Herniation: A Comparative Study

Objective. To compare the difference in clinical and radiographic outcomes between anterior transcorporeal and transdiscal percutaneous endoscopic cervical discectomy (ATc-PECD/ATd-PECD) approaches for treating patients with cervical intervertebral disc herniation (CIVDH). Method. We selected 77 patients with single-segment CIVDH and received ATc-PECD or ATd-PECD in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between March 1, 2010, and July 1, 2015. 35 patients suffered from ATc-PECD, and there were 42 patients in the ATd-PECD group. Obtaining the data of 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively, the VAS for neck and arm pain and the modified MacNab criteria were used to evaluate the clinical outcomes, comparing radiographic outcomes and complications of these two groups. Results. We found that the mean operative time was significantly longer in the ATc-PECD group (P0.05). Conclusion. In the 2-year follow-up, there is no significant difference in the clinical outcomes between the 2 approaches. While the longer time was consumed in the ATc-PECD group, the lower rate of disc collapse and recurrence is notable. Additionally, when the center diameter of tunnel was limited to 6 mm, the bony defect can be healed without the occurrence of the collapse of the superior endplate, and ATc-PECD may be preferable in the endoscopic treatment of CIVDH