Stratospheric PULSE–continental cold air outbreak coupling relationships: Interannual and interdecadal changes

Stratospheric processes and their role in weather and climate have attracted increasing interests. The correspondence between the occurrence of pulse-like, stronger stratospheric poleward warm airmass transport (PULSE) events and the continental-scale cold air outbreak (CAO) events in northern hemispheric winter is found to be unstable from year to year. This increases the difficulties in utilizing the more predictable stratospheric variability in the sub-seasonal forecasts of CAOs, which can cause cold hazards. Using the ERA5 reanalysis data covering 37 winters (November–March) in the period 1979–2015, this study categorizes the CAO events over mid-latitudes of Eurasia (CAO_EA) and those over North America (CAO_NA) into two groups: those coupled with and those decoupled with the PULSE events. The coupled CAOs are further categorized into events that are, respectively, lead-coupled and lag-coupled with PULSEs. The intensity and affected area of extremely cold temperatures tend to be larger during CAOs that are coupled with PULSEs, particularly during the CAO_NA events that are lag-coupled with PULSEs and the CAO_EA events that are lead-coupled with PULSEs. Remarkable interannual and interdecadal variations are observed in the percentage of CAOs that are coupled with PULSEs for each winter, which is an important reference for determining the window of opportunity for skillful sub-seasonal forecasts of CAO by using the stratospheric signals. At both interdecadal and interannual timescales, a warm phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in winter is favorable for the higher lag-coupling rate of CAO_NA and the lead-coupling rate of CAO_EA, and vice versa. The ENSO signals related to the interdecadal changes of the CAO coupling rate in winter can be traced back to the previous winter, while an ENSO phase transition from the previous winter to the current winter is closely related to the interannual changes of the CAO coupling rate

An anti-windup method based on the modified linear extended state observer for actuators in the miniaturized inertial stabilized platform

This paper presents an anti-windup linear active disturbance rejection controller (LADRC) for a miniaturized inertial stabilized platform (MISP). To address the actuator saturation in acceleration during extreme external disturbance in the MISP, a modified linear extended state observer (MLESO) is proposed with a transition state compensator. Moreover, the proposed method is simple to implement in engineering, and the detailed process has been discussed. Simulation experiments are designed to verify the feasibility of the approach. Compared with the typical LESO during saturation, it effectively reduces the impact of accelerated saturation, which leads to high-frequency oscillations in the control process, and improves the stability of the line of sight (LOS)

The impacts of temperature averages, variabilities and extremes on China’s winter wheat yield and its changing rate

China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of wheat. The impact of temperature averages, variabilities, and extremes on winter wheat yield changes is still not very clear. The annual production data for winter wheat in China’s provinces and municipalities and NCEP-NCAR Reanalysis-1 data were used from November to April in the period 1949–2018, to investigate the impact of temperature-related variables, such as the winter average temperature ( $\overline{{{\rm{T}}}_{2{\rm{m}}}}$ ), winter variance of temperature ( ${{\rm{T}}}_{2{\rm{m}}\_{\rm{var}}}$ ), extreme hot days (EHD), and extreme cold days (ECD), on China’s winter wheat yield. Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) analysis showed that winter wheat yield has an in-phase relationship with average temperature but an out-of-phase relationship with variance of temperature, extreme hot days, and extreme cold days on timescales greater than 20 years. The changing rates of winter wheat yield and temperature-related variables were well measured by their sliding trends. At the overwintering growth stage, the increasing rate of average temperature and extreme hot days (temperature variance and extreme cold days) exhibit negative (positive) correlations with the rate of winter wheat yield change, with the strongest correlation observed in southeast China. During the tillering growth stage, the changing rates of average temperature exhibited a positive correlation with the rate of winter wheat yield change, whereas negative associations were observed with temperature variance, extreme hot days, and extreme cold days. Among the regions, Central China showed the weakest correlations. At the reviving growth stage, however, the relationship of changing rates of temperature-related variables with that of winter wheat yield was much weaker. These observational results are important and can be used as a reference in climate models for improving the climatic impacts on the winter wheat yield

Exploiting Polyphenol-Mediated Redox Reorientation in Cancer Therapy

Polyphenol, one of the major components that exert the therapeutic effect of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), comprises several categories, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans and stilbenes, and has long been studied in oncology due to its significant efficacy against cancers in vitro and in vivo. Recent evidence has linked this antitumor activity to the role of polyphenols in the modulation of redox homeostasis (e.g., pro/antioxidative effect) in cancer cells. Dysregulation of redox homeostasis could lead to the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in oxidative stress, which is essential for many aspects of tumors, such as tumorigenesis, progression, and drug resistance. Thus, investigating the ROS-mediated anticancer properties of polyphenols is beneficial for the discovery and development of novel pharmacologic agents. In this review, we summarized these extensively studied polyphenols and discussed the regulatory mechanisms related to the modulation of redox homeostasis that are involved in their antitumor property. In addition, we discussed novel technologies and strategies that could promote the development of CHM-derived polyphenols to improve their versatile anticancer properties, including the development of novel delivery systems, chemical modification, and combination with other agents