The impacts of infectious disease pandemic on China’s edible vegetable oil futures markets: A long-term perspective

For the extremely important role of China in global edible vegetable oil market and its decisive measures in the epidemic controlling and stable economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, the aim of this article is to inspect the quantitative impacts of infectious disease pandemic on the returns, volatilities and correlations of China’s edible vegetable oil futures markets by using a DCC-MVGARCH-X model incorporating Baidu searching index as the proxy of pandemic severity. Our empirical results show that infectious disease pandemic does have significantly positive impacts on the returns and volatilities of China’s soybean, canola and palm oil futures markets. Second, there are significant volatility spillover effects among the three vegetable oils, suggesting strong contagion effect from one oil market to the others. Third, soybean oil and palm oil show the largest correlation, while the dependence between canola oil and palm oil is the smallest one among the three pairwise correlations. Moreover, no matter to consider epidemic situation in China or in global environment, infectious disease pandemic has significant effects on these correlations

New Signaling Techniques for Energy and Information Deliveries

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.The 6th-generation networks aim to further increase the average data rate and the edge rate, decrease in energy consumption and cost, and be able to transfer the energy at the same time. Precoding technology is one of the core technologies to achieve above goals. This thesis conducts in-depth research on uplink and downlink synchronous transmission scenarios, spectrum efficiency in energy-harvesting (EH) communication scenarios and Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS)-aided communication scenarios under precoding optimization methods. Firstly, we propose a joint design of precoding matrix for base station and uplink users, and optimize the coefficient of time fraction in the same time. We also propose a joint design of precoding matrix for base station and uplink users, and optimize the allocation of downlink and uplink bandwidth in the same time. Secondly, this dissertation considers multi-cell and multi-user communication scenario with EH, combining the fractional time method and the improper Gaussian signaling (IGS) precoding, an iterative algorithm is designed to optimize the user’s max-min throughput in the optimization of spectrum efficiency. Furthermore, a simplified improper Gaussian signaling precoding optimization algorithm is proposed, the algorithm reduces the complexity of the algorithm under improper Gaussian signaling. Thirdly, in the RIS-aided communication scenario, this dissertation proposes a joint design of RIS and transmit beamforming under proper and improper Gaussian signaling, and introduces the unit-modulus constraints (UMC) of RIS reflection coefficients into the objective function which reduces the complexity of the algorithm. Fourthly, a joint design of linear transmit beamformers and the programmable reflecting coefficients of an RIS to maximize the geometric mean of the users’ rates is proposed. We also consider the joint design of widely linear transmit beamformers and the programmable reflecting coefficients to further improve the GM of the users’ rates. Finally, this dissertation considers RIS-aided wireless communication system with EH network where the RIS links the connection between the IUs and the BS as there is no direct path between the former and the latter. Joint optimization algorithms for information transfer beamforming, energy transfer beamforming and reflecting coefficients of the RIS based on transmit time-switching approach are developed. The superiority of the proposed algorithm is verified in the simulation section. In summary, the optimization of precoding for wireless communication systems is studied, and method proposed in this thesis has certain significance for the theoretical research and technical realization of wireless communication systems

Microplastics affect soybean rhizosphere microbial composition and function during vegetative and reproductive stages

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging contaminants in agricultural soil, whereas their effects on the rhizosphere microbial ecosystems and biogeochemical nitrogen cycles during plant growth remain unknown. Here, a 70-day greenhouse experiment was carried out with black and fluvo-aquic soil to evaluate the influence of polyamide (PA), polyethylene (PE), polyester (PES), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) MPs on the bacterial communities and functions in the soybean rhizosphere. The PA treatment consistently affected the rhizobacterial alpha diversity in the fluvo-aquic soil at soybean vegetative and reproductive growth stages, whereas the PE, PES, and PVC treatments had a short-term effect on the bacterial alpha diversity. At two growth stages, 6 and 23 biomarkers were consistently abundant in the PA treatment in the black soil and fluvo-aquic soil, respectively, and order Rhizobiales was found to be a biomarker for PA MPs contamination in both soils. Additionally, PA treatment decreased bacterial network complexity and tightness, whereas the effects of the PE, PES, and PVC on bacterial co-occurrence patterns varied depending on the soil types. Furthermore, PES and PVC treatments inhibited ammonification processes in the soybean rhizosphere, and PE could temporarily inhibit ammonia oxidation and denitrification processes according to the variations of N-cycling gene abundances. These effects on soil N-cycling also varied with soil types and soybean growth stages. This study provides profound information for understanding of MPs residues on the assembly of the soybean rhizosphere communities and function during plant development

Embedded distributed temperature sensing enabled multi-state joint observation of smart lithium-ion battery

Accurate monitoring of the internal statuses are highly valuable for the management of lithium-ion battery (LIB). This paper proposes a thermal model-based method for multi-state joint observation, enabled by a novel smart battery design with embedded and distributed temperature sensor. In particular, a novel smart battery is designed by implanting the distributed fiber optical sensor (DFOS) internally and externally. This promises a real-time distributed measurement of LIB internal and surface temperature with a high space resolution. Following this endeavor, a low-order joint observer is proposed to co-estimate the thermal parameters, heat generation rate, state of charge, and maximum capacity. Experimental results disclose that the smart battery has space-resolved self-monitoring capability with high reproducibility. With the new sensing data, the heat generation rate, state of charge, and maximum capacity of LIB can be observed precisely in real time. The proposed method validates to outperform the commonly-used electrical model-based method regarding the accuracy and the robustness to battery aging

Petroleum Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria for the Remediation of Oil Pollution Under Aerobic Conditions: A Perspective Analysis

With the sharp increase in population and modernization of society, environmental pollution resulting from petroleum hydrocarbons has increased, resulting in an urgent need for remediation. Petroleum hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria are ubiquitous in nature and can utilize these compounds as sources of carbon and energy. Bacteria displaying such capabilities are often exploited for the bioremediation of petroleum oil-contaminated environments. Recently, microbial remediation technology has developed rapidly and achieved major gains. However, this technology is not omnipotent. It is affected by many environmental factors that hinder its practical application, limiting the large-scale application of the technology. This paper provides an overview of the recent literature referring to the usage of bacteria as biodegraders, discusses barriers regarding the implementation of this microbial technology, and provides suggestions for further developments

Single-Cell Transcriptome Analyses Reveal Signals to Activate Dormant Neural Stem Cells

SummaryThe scarcity of tissue-specific stem cells and the complexity of their surrounding environment have made molecular characterization of these cells particularly challenging. Through single-cell transcriptome and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we uncovered molecular properties of CD133+/GFAP− ependymal (E) cells in the adult mouse forebrain neurogenic zone. Surprisingly, prominent hub genes of the gene network unique to ependymal CD133+/GFAP− quiescent cells were enriched for immune-responsive genes, as well as genes encoding receptors for angiogenic factors. Administration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) activated CD133+ ependymal neural stem cells (NSCs), lining not only the lateral but also the fourth ventricles and, together with basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), elicited subsequent neural lineage differentiation and migration. This study revealed the existence of dormant ependymal NSCs throughout the ventricular surface of the CNS, as well as signals abundant after injury for their activation

The safety and clinical outcomes of endovascular treatment versus microsurgical clipping of ruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysms: a 2-year follow-up, multicenter, observational study

Background and objectiveCurrent data on the optimal treatment modality for ruptured anterior communicating artery (AComA) aneurysms are limited. We conducted this multicenter retrospective study to evaluate the safety and clinical outcomes of endovascular treatment (EVT) and microsurgical clipping (MC) for the treatment of ruptured AComA patients.MethodsPatients with ruptured AComA aneurysms were screened from the Chinese Multicenter Cerebral Aneurysm Database. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to adjust for baseline characteristic imbalances between the EVT and MC groups. The safety outcomes included total procedural complications, procedure-related morbidity/death and remedial procedure for complication. The primary clinical outcome was 2-year functional independence measured by the modified Rankin scale (mRS) score.ResultsThe analysis included 893 patients with ruptured AComA aneurysms (EVT: 549; MC: 346). PSM yielded 275 pairs of patients in the EVT and MC cohorts for comparison. Decompressive craniectomy being more prevalent in the MC group (19.3% vs. 1.5%, p < 0.001). Safety data revealed a lower rate of total procedural complications (odds ratio [OR] = 0.62, 95% CI 0.39–0.99; p = 0.044) in the EVT group and similar rates of procedure-related morbidity/death (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.48–1.73; p = 0.880) and remedial procedure for complication (OR = 1.35, 95% CI 0.51–3.69, p = 0.657) between the groups. Compared with that of MC patients, EVT patients had a greater likelihood of functional independence (mRS score 0–2) at discharge (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.14–2.50; p = 0.008) and at 2 years (OR = 1.89, 95% CI 1.20–3.00; p = 0.005), a lower incidence of 2-year all-cause mortality (OR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.31–0.93; p = 0.023) and a similar rate of retreatment (OR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.23–4.40; p = 1.000).ConclusionClinical outcomes after treatment for ruptured AComA aneurysms appear to be superior to those after treatment with MC, with fewer overall procedure-related complications and no increase in the retreatment rate. Additional studies in other countries are needed to verify these findings