Research on Carbon Emission Management of Electric Power Enterprises Based on Blockchain Technology

As a high energy-consuming industry, it is especially important for electric power companies to manage carbon emissions well. This study analyzes the main problems of electric power companies in carbon asset management, and investigates the methods of intelligent, digital and transparent management of carbon emission situation using intelligent Internet of Things and blockchain technology. Carbon emission management based on blockchain technology can improve the accuracy and openness of carbon asset data and promote electric power companies to move forward to the low-carbon ecological era

Research on Carbon Emission Management of Electric Power Enterprises Based on Blockchain Technology

As a high energy-consuming industry, it is especially important for electric power companies to manage carbon emissions well. This study analyzes the main problems of electric power companies in carbon asset management, and investigates the methods of intelligent, digital and transparent management of carbon emission situation using intelligent Internet of Things and blockchain technology. Carbon emission management based on blockchain technology can improve the accuracy and openness of carbon asset data and promote electric power companies to move forward to the low-carbon ecological era

Eco-chemical mechanisms govern phytoplankton emissions of dimethylsulfide in global surface waters

The anti-greenhouse gas dimethylsulfide (DMS) is mainly emitted by algae and accounts for more than half of the total natural flux of gaseous sulfur to the atmosphere, strongly reducing the solar radiation and thereby the temperature on Earth. However, the relationship between phytoplankton biomass and DMS emissions is debated and inconclusive. Our study presents field observations from 100 freshwater lakes, in concert with data of global ocean DMS emissions, showing that DMS and algal biomass show a hump-shaped relationship, i.e. DMS emissions to the atmosphere increase up to a pH of about 8.1 but, at higher pH, DMS concentrations decline, likely mainly due to decomposition. Our findings from lake and ocean ecosystems worldwide were corroborated in experimental studies. This novel finding allows assessments of more accurate global patterns of DMS emissions and advances our knowledge on the negative feedback regulation of phytoplankton-driven DMS emissions on climate

Effects of high ammonium enrichment in water column on the clonal growth of submerged macrophyte Vallisneria natans

As we know, the survival of young ramets and stolons is essential for the clonal growth of many aquatic plants. However, few NH4+ enrichment experiments on clonal growth of submerged macrophytes have been conducted to provide possible evidences for their declines in eutrophic lakes. Here, the growth and physiological responses of V. natans to the enrichment of NH4+-N were examined under six inorganic nitrogen (IN, i.e., the sum of nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) and ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N)) concentrations (control, 2.5, 4.5, 6.5, 8.5, and 10.5mgL(-1)). When NH4+-N concentration increased over 0.5mgL(-1), free amino acid (FAA) contents in leaves and stolons increased while soluble carbohydrate (SC) and starch contents decreased, and major growth indices (total biomass of plants, number of ramets, and stolon dry weight (DW)) also showed a degressive tendency. Remarkably, the stolon DW significantly declined with increasing FAA, but significantly positively related to SC and starch. These results indicated that clonal growth of V. natans was inhibited by high NH4+-N concentration, and imbalance of C-N metabolism of stolons partly explained the decline of submerged clonal macrophytes. In this study, the leaves of new and small (NS) ramets contained significantly more FAA and less SC than that of mature and mother (MM) plants, indicating that the C-N metabolism of young ramets was easier to be disrupted, consequently inhibiting the clonal growth of aquatic plants. Furthermore, under the condition of high NH4+-N concentration, FAA may be a useful indicator of both macrophyte growth and physiological stress of plants

Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Allocation Strategy Among Organs in Submerged Macrophytes Is Altered by Eutrophication

The allocation of limiting elements among plant organs is an important aspect of the adaptation of plants to their ambient environment. Although eutrophication can extremely alter light and nutrient availability, little is known about nutrient partitioning among organs of submerged macrophytes in response to eutrophication. Here, we analyzed the stoichiometric scaling of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) concentrations among organs (leaf, stem, and root) of 327 individuals of seven common submerged macrophytes (three growth forms), sampled from 26 Yangtze plain lakes whose nutrient levels differed. Scaling exponents of stem nutrients to leaf (or root) nutrients varied among the growth forms. With increasing water total N (WTN) concentration, the scaling exponents of stem C to leaf (or root) C increased from 1, however, those of stem P to root P showed the opposite trend. These results indicated that, as plant nutrient content increased, plants growing in low WTN concentration accumulated leaf C (or stem P) at a faster rate, whereas those in high WTN concentration showed a faster increase in their stem C (or root P). Additionally, the scaling exponents of stem N to leaf (or root) N and stem P to leaf P were consistently large than 1, but decreased with a greater WTN concentration. This suggested that plants invested more N and P into stem than leaf tissues, with a higher investment of N in stem than root tissues, but eutrophication would decrease the allocation of N and P to stem. Such shifts in plant nutrient allocation strategies from low to high WTN concentration may be attributed to changed light and nutrient availability. In summary, eutrophication would alter nutrient allocation strategies of submerged macrophytes, which may influence their community structures by enhancing the competitive ability of some species in the process of eutrophication

Audio-Driven Talking Face Video Generation with Dynamic Convolution Kernels

In this paper, we present a dynamic convolution kernel (DCK) strategy for convolutional neural networks. Using a fully convolutional network with the proposed DCKs, high-quality talking-face video can be generated from multi-modal sources (i.e., unmatched audio and video) in real time, and our trained model is robust to different identities, head postures, and input audios. Our proposed DCKs are specially designed for audio-driven talking face video generation, leading to a simple yet effective end-to-end system. We also provide a theoretical analysis to interpret why DCKs work. Experimental results show that our method can generate high-quality talking-face video with background at 60 fps. Comparison and evaluation between our method and the state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the superiority of our method.Comment: in IEEE Transactions on Multimedi

Spatial and interspecies differences in concentrations of eight trace elements in wild freshwater fishes at different trophic levels from middle and eastern China

There have been numerous studies on concentrations of trace elements in aquatic ecosystems, but few have been conducted at a large spatial scale. This study collected 410 samples of five wild freshwater fishes at different trophic levels from middle and eastern China. Concentrations of eight trace elements, chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) and stable isotope ratios (delta C-13 and delta N-15) were determined in dorsal muscle of fishes. Spatially, concentrations of trace elements were least in fishes from the Hai River Basin, while those in fishes from the Taihu Lake Basin were greatest The carnivorous topmouth culter and omnivorous common carp and crucian carp accumulated greater amounts of trace elements than did the planktivorous silver carp and bighead carp. Trophic biomagnification was for Cu, Fe and Zn, but not for Cr, Ni, As, Pb and Cd. Concentrations of As in 15 muscle samples (3.7%) from Taihu Lake Basin exceeded the guidelines (1.0 mg/kg, wet mass) provided by FAO/WHO (2014), while the total target hazard quotient (TTHQ) values were &lt;1.0, indicating no obvious non-carcinogenic risks to humans that consume those fishes. However, people who consume larger amounts of fish products, or people who are vulnerable, such as pregnant women, children and people with poor health, might be at greater risk. Also, exposure to trace metals through other routes cannot be ignored. Accumulations of trace elements in Chinese freshwater fishes were affected by both geographical conditions and human activities. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V.</p

AKT-induced lncRNA VAL promotes EMT-independent metastasis through diminishing Trim16-dependent Vimentin degradation

The role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in AKT-driven tumor development is unclear. Here, the authors identify VAL (Vimentin associated lncRNA) to be directly induced by AKT/STAT3 signaling and report a lncRNA-mediated mechanism for active AKT-driven EMT-independent lung adenocarcinoma metastasis