Afforestation and Reforestation: Drivers, Dynamics, and Impacts

Afforestation/reforestation (or forestation) has been implemented worldwide as an effective measure towards sustainable ecosystem services and addresses global environmental problems such as climate change. The conversion of grasslands, croplands, shrublands, or bare lands to forests can dramatically alter forest water, energy, and carbon cycles and, thus, ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration, soil erosion control, and water quality improvement). Large-scale afforestation/reforestation is typically driven by policies and, in turn, can also have substantial socioeconomic impacts. To enable success, forestation endeavors require novel approaches that involve a series of complex processes and interdisciplinary sciences. For example, exotic or fast-growing tree species are often used to improve soil conditions of degraded lands or maximize productivity, and it often takes a long time to understand and quantify the consequences of such practices at watershed or regional scales. Maintaining the sustainability of man-made forests is becoming increasingly challenging under a changing environment and disturbance regime changes such as wildland fires, urbanization, drought, air pollution, climate change, and socioeconomic change. Therefore, this Special Issue focuses on case studies of the drivers, dynamics, and impacts of afforestation/reforestation at regional, national, or global scales. These new studies provide an update on the scientific advances related to forestation. This information is urgently needed by land managers and policy makers to better manage forest resources in today’s rapidly changing environments

Efectos del cobre disuelto sobre la supervivencia, estado antioxidante, expresión de la metalotionina-I mRNA y la respuesta fisiológica de las larvas del cangrejo de Shangai, Eriocheir sinensis (Decapoda: Brachyura)

The lethal concentration of water-borne copper in Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis larvae was tested by exposing the animals to 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.8 mg Cu L-1 at 20°C for 96 h. The 96-h median lethal concentration (LC50) and its corresponding 95% confident interval was estimated on zoea 1 larvae and megalopa larvae, respectively. Acute dissolved copper toxicity was higher for zoea 1 larvae (0.16 mg L-1) than for megalopa larvae (0.21 mg L-1). The antioxidant status, metallothionein-I mRNA expression and physiological response of the crab to copper toxicity was further investigated by exposing the megalopa larvae to 0, 0.08 and 0.16 mg Cu L-1 for 96 h. The superoxide dismutase activity, catalase activity, glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity and lipid peroxidation content of megalopa larvae increased concomitantly with the exposure time and copper concentration. MT-I mRNA expression levels were positively correlated with both the concentration and duration of copper exposure. The oxygen consumption and respiratory quotient of megalopa larvae in response to 0.16 mg L-1 copper were significantly higher than those in the control group after 96 h of exposure (P < 0.05). The results of this study highlight the potential effects of copper as a common stressor in E. sinensis larvae. MT-I and GST appear to be suitable biomarkers of environmental copper exposure stress in E. sinensis larvaeLa concentración letal de cobre disuelto se determina mediante la exposición de larvas del cangrejo de Shangai (Eriocheir sinensis) a dosis de 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5 y 0.8 mg Cu L–1, a 20°C durante 96 h. La concentración letal media (LC50) y su correspondiente intervalo de confianza del 95% fueron estimados en los estadios larvales zoea I y megalopa. La toxicidad aguda del cobre disuelto fue mayor sobre larvas de zoea I (0.16 mg L–1) que sobre las de megalopa (0.21 mg L–1). El estado antioxidante, la expresión del mRNA de la metalotionina–I y la respuesta fisiológica del cangrejo a la toxicidad del cobre fueron posteriormente investigados exponiendo las larvas de megalopa a dosis de 0, 0.08 y 0.16 mg Cu L–1 durante 96 h. La actividad de la superóxido dismutasa (SOD), de la catalasa (CAT), de la glutatión-S-transferasa (GST) y la peroxidación lipídica de las larvas de megalopa se incrementó en relación con el tiempo de exposición y la concentración de cobre. Los niveles de expresión de MT-1 mRNA se correlacionaron positivamente con la concentración de cobre y el tiempo de exposición. El consumo de oxígeno y la tasa respiratoria de las larvas de megalopa fueron significativamente más elevadas que las del grupo control (P < 0.05) en respuesta a dosis de 0.16 mg Cu L–1, durante 96 h de exposición. Los resultados presentados en este estudio ponen de manifiesto los efectos potenciales del cobre como factor de estrés sobre las larvas de E. sinensis. MT-I y GST parecen ser adecuados biomarcadores de estrés a la exposición de Cu ambiental en larvas de E. sinensis

Efficient Optimal Selection for Composited Advertising Creatives with Tree Structure

Ad creatives are one of the prominent mediums for online e-commerce advertisements. Ad creatives with enjoyable visual appearance may increase the click-through rate (CTR) of products. Ad creatives are typically handcrafted by advertisers and then delivered to the advertising platforms for advertisement. In recent years, advertising platforms are capable of instantly compositing ad creatives with arbitrarily designated elements of each ingredient, so advertisers are only required to provide basic materials. While facilitating the advertisers, a great number of potential ad creatives can be composited, making it difficult to accurately estimate CTR for them given limited real-time feedback. To this end, we propose an Adaptive and Efficient ad creative Selection (AES) framework based on a tree structure. The tree structure on compositing ingredients enables dynamic programming for efficient ad creative selection on the basis of CTR. Due to limited feedback, the CTR estimator is usually of high variance. Exploration techniques based on Thompson sampling are widely used for reducing variances of the CTR estimator, alleviating feedback sparsity. Based on the tree structure, Thompson sampling is adapted with dynamic programming, leading to efficient exploration for potential ad creatives with the largest CTR. We finally evaluate the proposed algorithm on the synthetic dataset and the real-world dataset. The results show that our approach can outperform competing baselines in terms of convergence rate and overall CTR

A Brief Talk of the Disinfection Process for Reclaimed Water

In recent years, with the reclaimed water being more and more widely used, people begin to pay more and more attention to the security of it. Because the reclaimed water comes from the sewage, which has been deeply treated, its quality is quite complex and it may contain many bacteria, viruses and poisonous that are harm to people. When it’s reused, it is inevitable that the reclaimed water may come into contact with people’s body, which has exposure risk. In order to reduce the risk of exposure, ensure the security of the quality of the reclaimed water, the disinfection becomes the most critical factors in dealing with the reclaimed water in the process. In the paper, the current disinfection techniques were discussed and compared in the aspects of technical features, the effects of disinfection and economy. And a brief summary of the new disinfection technology that was widely studied was made

Primary localized histoplasmosis with lesions restricted to the mouth in a Chinese HIV-negative patient

SummaryHistoplasmosis is a deep mycosis caused by Histoplasma capsulatum, which is endemic in many areas of the world but is relatively rare in China. Although the majority of cases present as a mild to moderate flu-like disease requiring only supportive therapy, approximately 1% of patients experience more serious pulmonary and extrapulmonary disease, which can be life-threatening if diagnosis is delayed or the treatment is not initiated rapidly. Definitive diagnosis is usually made by a combination of culture, detection of the organism in tissues, measurement of antibodies, and detection of antigen. We present the case of a 51-year-old patient who presented with histoplasmosis only, with several ulcerated lesions in the oral cavity and without HIV infection, who did not show any detectable signs and symptoms of systemic disease or extra-oral manifestations. Histopathological analysis indicated a chronic inflammatory process with granulomas with yeast-like organisms. Isolation of H. capsulatum and molecular identification provided the definitive diagnosis. Treatment with oral itraconazole led to remission of the oral lesions. This is the first Chinese case report of localized histoplasmosis with lesions restricted to the mouth in an HIV-negative patient

The effect of inhibiting glycinamide ribonucleotide formyl transferase on the development of neural tube in mice

mRNA gel picture. (TIF 878 kb