Greenhouse gases emissions and carbon budget estimation in horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands with different plant species.

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are pivotal for wastewater treatment due to their high efficiency and numerous advantages. The impact of plant species and diversity on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from CWs requires a more comprehensive evaluation. Moreover, controversial perspectives persist about whether CWs function as carbon sinks or sources. In this study, horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) CWs vegetated with Cyperus alternifolius, Typhae latifolia, Acorus calamus, and the mixture of these three species were constructed to evaluate pollutant removal efficiencies and GHG emissions, and estimate carbon budgets. Polyculture CWs can stably remove COD (86.79 %), NH4+-N (97.41 %), NO3--N (98.55 %), and TP (98.48 %). They also mitigated global warming potential (GWP) by suppressing N2O emissions compared with monoculture CWs. The highest abundance of the Pseudogulbenkiania genus, crucial for denitrification, was observed in polyculture CWs, indicating that denitrification dominated in nitrogen removal. While the highest nosZ copy numbers were observed in CWs vegetated with Cyperus alternifolius, suggesting its facilitation of denitrification-related microbes. Selecting Cyperus alternifolius to increase species diversity is proposed for simultaneously maintaining the water purification capacity and reducing GHG emissions. Carbon budget estimations revealed that all four types of HSSF CWs were carbon sinks after six months of operation, with carbon accumulation capacity of 4.90 ± 1.50 (Cyperus alternifolius), 3.31 ± 2.01 (Typhae latifola), 1.78 ± 1.30 (Acorus calamus), and 2.12 ± 0.88 (polyculture) kg C/m2/yr. This study implies that under these operation conditions, CWs function as carbon sinks rather than sources, aligning with carbon peak and neutrality objectives and presenting significant potential for carbon reduction efforts.

Spatiotemporal dual-periodic soliton pulsation in a multimode fiber laser.

Spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) fiber lasers have become a new platform for investigating nonlinear phenomena. In this work, spatiotemporal dual-periodic soliton pulsation (SDSP) is firstly observed in an STML fiber laser. It is found that in the SDSP, the long-period pulsations (LPPs) of different transverse modes are synchronous, while the short-period pulsations (SPPs) exhibit asynchronous modulations. The numerical simulation confirms the experimental results and further reveals that the proportion of transverse mode components can manipulate the periods of the LPP and SPP but does not affect the synchronous and asynchronous pulsations of different transverse modes. The obtained results bring the study of spatiotemporal dissipative soliton pulsation into the multi-period modulation stage, which helps to understand the complex spatiotemporal dynamics in STML fiber lasers and discover new dynamics in high-dimensional nonlinear systems.

Soil amendments reduce CH4 and CO2 but increase N2O and NH3 emissions in saline-alkali paddy fields.

Limited research has been conducted on ammonia (NH3) volatilization and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions in saline-alkali paddy fields, along with complex interaction involving various genes (16sRNA, amoA, narG, nirK, nosZ, and nifH). This study employed mesocosm-scale experiment to investigate NH3 volatilization and GHGs emissions, focusing on bacterial communities and genic abundance, in saline-alkali paddy fields with desulfurized gypsum (DG) and organic fertilizer (OF) amendments. Compared to the control (CK) treatment, DG and OF treatments reduced methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 78.05 % and 26.18 %, and 65.84 % and 11.62 %, respectively. However, these treatments increased NH3 volatilization by 26.26 % and 45.23 %, and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission by 41.00 % and 12.31 %. Notably, NH3 volatilization primarily stemmed from ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), rather than total nitrogen (TN) in soil and water. N2O was mainly produced from nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) in soil and water, as well as NH4+-N in water. The increase in NH3 volatilization and N2O emission in DG and OF treatments, was attributed to the reduced competition among bacterial communities, rather than the increased bacterial activity and genic copies. These findings offer valuable insights for managing nutrient loss and gaseous emissions in saline-alkali paddy fields.

Periodically tunable multimode soliton pulsation in a spatiotemporal mode-locked fiber laser.

Multimode fiber lasers have become a new platform for investigating nonlinear phenomena since the report on spatiotemporal mode-locking. In this work, the multimode soliton pulsation with a tunable period is achieved in a spatiotemporal mode-locked fiber laser. It demonstrates that the pulsation period drops while increasing the pump power. Moreover, it is found that different transverse modes have the same pulsation period, asynchronous pulsation evolution and different dynamical characteristics through the spatial sampling technique and the dispersive Fourier transform technique. To further verify the experimental results, we numerically investigate the influences of the gain and the loss on the pulsation properties. It is found that within a certain parameter range, the pulsation period drops and rises linearly with the increase of the gain and the loss, respectively. The obtained results contribute to understanding the formation and regulating of soliton pulsations in fiber lasers.

Research progress of Paris polyphylla in the treatment of digestive tract cancers.

Cancer has become one of the most important causes of human death. In particular, the 5 year survival rate of patients with digestive tract cancer is low. Although chemotherapy drugs have a certain efficacy, they are highly toxic and prone to chemotherapy resistance. With the advancement of antitumor research, many natural drugs have gradually entered basic clinical research. They have low toxicity, few adverse reactions, and play an important synergistic role in the combined targeted therapy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. A large number of studies have shown that the active components of Paris polyphylla (PPA), a common natural medicinal plant, can play an antitumor role in a variety of digestive tract cancers. In this paper, the main components of PPA such as polyphyllin, C21 steroids, sterols, and flavonoids, amongst others, are introduced, and the mechanisms of action and research progress of PPA and its active components in the treatment of various digestive tract cancers are reviewed and summarized. The main components of PPA have been thoroughly explored to provide more detailed references and innovative ideas for the further development and utilization of similar natural antitumor drugs.

Revealing the pulse dynamics in a Mamyshev oscillator: from seed signal to oscillator pulse.

The Mamyshev oscillator (MO) is a promising platform to generate high-peak-power pulse with environmentally stable operation. However, rare efforts have been dedicated to unveil the dynamics from seed signal to oscillator pulse, particularly for the multi-pulse operation. Herein, we investigate the buildup dynamics of the oscillator pulse from the seed signal in a fiber MO. It is revealed that the gain competition among the successively injected seed pulses leads to higher pump power that is required to ignite the MO, hence resulting in the higher optical gain that supports buildup of multiple oscillator pulses. The multiple oscillator pulses are identified to be evolved from the multiple seed pulses. Moreover, the dispersive Fourier transform (DFT) technique is used to reveals the real-time spectral dynamics during the starting process. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a highly intensity-modulated pulse bunch was employed as the seed signal to reduce the gain competition effect and avoid the multi-pulse starting operation. The experimental results are verified by numerical simulations. These findings would give new insights into the pulse dynamics in MO, which will be meaningful to the communities interested in ultrafast laser technologies and nonlinear optics.

Soil aggregate-driven changes in nutrient redistribution and microbial communities after 10-year organic fertilization.

Research studies on nutrient content and microbial communities after the application of organic manure have been reported, while available information about multi-interaction mechanisms of nutrient stoichiometry and microbial succession in soil aggregates remains limited. This work conducted a 10-year field experiment amended with cow manure (1.5 t/ha), during which the application of organic manure stimulated the fragmentation of soil macro-aggregates (>5 mm) and the agglomeration of soil micro-aggregates (<0.25 mm). Hence, the proportion of medium-size aggregates (0.25-5 mm) was increased in bulk soil, and there was an insignificant difference in the stability of soil aggregates. Meanwhile, the application of organic manure increased soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) in all soil aggregate fractions. SOC, TN and TP were higher in micro-aggregates (<0.25 mm) after the application of organic manure, thus the dominating phylum of bacteria and fungi was more abundance in micro-aggregates due to the increase in nutrient level. During the organic fertilization process, fungal communities significantly changed because the variation of carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N) in soil aggregates. Cultivated farmland in Northeast China showed a considerable capacity to sequestrate SOC during the organic fertilization process, but nitrogen may be a primary macro-element limiting soil productivity. Theoretically, organic manure amended with nitrogen fertilizer could be an effective measure to maintain microbial diversity and crop productivity in agro-ecosystems in Northeast China.

FeCa-based layered double hydroxide, a high-performance phosphorus adsorbent in constructed wetlands and ecological dams - A pilot scale study.

Research studies have modified traditional substances to seek fast-acting removal of phosphorus in constructed wetlands (CWs) and ecological dams, rather than develop a brand-new nano-adsorbent. This work synthesized FeCa-based layered double hydroxide (FeCa-LDH) with a chemical co-precipitation method, and the performance, mechanism and factors of phosphorus removal were investigated. FeCa-LDH showed a marked ability to adsorb phosphorus from waste water, with a removal efficiency of 94.4% and 98.2% in CWs and ecological dams, respectively. Both FTIR and XPS spectrum evidenced that FeCa-LDH removed phosphorus via electrostatic and hydrogen-bonding adsorption, as well as a coordination reaction and interlayer anion exchange. FeCa-LDH showed a higher capacity to remove phosphorus in alkaline and neutral waste water than in acid conditions. Co-occurrence anions, which influenced the efficiency of the phosphorus removal capacity are considered in the sequence below: CO32- ≈ HCO3- > SO42- > NO3-. Innovatively, FeCa-LDH was not affected by the low-temperature limitation for CWs, and phosphorus removal efficiency at 5 °C was almost equal to that at 25 °C. These results cast a new idea on the construction, application and phosphorus removal performance of CWs and ecological dams.

Exercise Exertion Levels Prediction Based on Real-Time Wearable Physiological Signal Monitoring.

The real-time revolutions per minute (RPM) data, ECG signal, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation levels were collected during 16-minute cycling exercises. In parallel, ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were collected each minute from the study participants. A 2-minute moving window, with one minute shift, was applied to each 16-minute exercise session to divide it into a total of fifteen 2-minute windows. Based on the self-reported RPE, each exercise window was labeled as "high exertion" or "low exertion" classes. The heart rate variability (HRV) characteristics in time and frequency domains were extracted from the collected ECG signals for each window. In addition, collected oxygen saturation levels, pulse rate, and RPMs were averaged for each window. The best predictive features were then selected using the minimum redundancy maximum relevance (mRMR) algorithm. Top selected features were then used to assess the accuracy of five ML classifiers to predict the level of exertion. The Naïve Bayes model demonstrated the best performance with an accuracy of 80% and an F1 score of 79%.

Dissipative soliton resonance in a figure-eight multimode fiber laser.

We report, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, a spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) multimode fiber laser based on nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM), generating dissipative soliton resonance (DSR) pulses. Due to the complex filtering characteristics caused by the inherent multimode interference filtering structure and NALM in the cavity, the STML DSR pulse has wavelength tunable function. What's more, kinds of DSR pulses are also achieved, including multiple DSR pulses, and the period doubling bifurcations of single DSR pulse and multiple DSR pulses. These results contribute to further understand the nonlinear properties of STML lasers and may shed some light on improving the performance of the multimode fiber lasers.

Automated Classification of Exercise Exertion Levels Based on Real-Time Wearable Physiological Signal Monitoring.

This study aimed to build machine learning (ML) algorithms for the automated classification of cycling exercise exertion levels using data from wearable devices. The best predictive features were selected using the minimum redundancy maximum relevance algorithm (mRMR). Top selected features were then used to build and assess the accuracy of five ML classifiers to predict the level of exertion. The Naïve Bayes showed the best F1 score of 79%. The proposed approach may be used for real-time monitoring of exercise exertion.

Layered double hydroxides, an effective nanomaterial to remove phosphorus from wastewater: Performance, mechanism, factors and reusability.

Systematic understanding of phosphorus adsorption performance, mechanism, factors and reusability of layered double hydroxides (LDH) remains limited. Thus, iron (Fe), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)-based LDH (FeCa-LDH and FeMg-LDH), were synthesized with a co-precipitation method to improve phosphorus removal efficiency during the wastewater treatment process. Both FeCa-LDH and FeMg-LDH showed a considerable ability to remove phosphorus in wastewater. When the phosphorus concentration was 10 mg/L, the removal efficiency reached 99 % (FeCa-LDH: 1 min) and 82 % (FeMg-LDH: 10 min), respectively. The phosphorus removal mechanism was observed to be electrostatic adsorption, coordination reaction and anionic exchange, which was more evident at pH = 10 for FeCa-LDH. Co-occurrence anions that affected phosphorus removal efficiency, were observed in the following order: HCO3- > CO32- ≈ NO3- > SO42-. After five adsorption-desorption cycles, phosphorus removal efficiency was still up to 85 % (FeCa-LDH) and 42 % (FeMg-LDH), respectively. Together, the present findings suggest that LDHs were high-performance, strongly-stable and reusable phosphorus adsorbents.

Greenhouse gas emission during swine manure aerobic composting: Insight from the dissolved organic matter associated microbial community succession.

Greenhouse gas emissions during aerobic composting is unavoidable, but good practices can minimize emission. Therefore, to explore the key factors influencing the release of greenhouse gas emissions during composting, the inaction of organic matter conversion, greenhouse gas emissions and bacterial community structure during co-composting with different ratio (pig manure and corn straw) over a 6-week period was studied. The excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy with the parallel factor was used to identify that dissolved organic matter associated microbial community succession mainly influenced greenhouse gas emissions. Protein-like fractions of dissolved organic matter were more likely to decompose and promote CH4 and CO2 emissions, while the humic-like fractions of dissolved organic matter positively affected N2O emissions. The largest of greenhouse gas emissions was appeared in MR2 with 12.7 kg CO2-eq, and the MR3 and MR4 reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 26.8 % and 11.4 %, respectively.

Phosphorus functional microorganisms and genes: A novel perspective to ascertain phosphorus redistribution and bioavailability during copper and tetracycline-stressed composting.

There is limited information on the phosphorus availability under copper and tetracycline-amended composting: Insights into microbial communities and genes. Thus, this work investigated the phosphorus redistribution and transformation, illustrated the variation in microbial communities and genes, and ascertained the multiple action-patterns among which within copper and tetracycline-amended composting. Phosphorus bioavailability reduced by 8.96 % âˆ¼ 13.10 % due to the conservation of Ex-P to Ca-P. Copper and tetracycline showed a significant effect on fungal succession, but not to bacteria, as well as inhibited the phosphorus functional genes in fungal communities, while accelerated it in bacterial communities. Under the copper/tetracycline-stressed conditions, bacterial Firmicutes could promote the mineralization of organic phosphorus, and bacterial Proteobacteria might facilitate the dissolution of inorganic phosphorus. These findings could provide theoretical guidance for the further research on phosphorus bioavailability ascribed to microbial communities and genes.

Development and Evaluation of Wireless Interfaces to Monitor and Control Cycling Exercise During Home Telerehabilitation.

Purpose: This paper focuses on developing and testing three versions of interactive bike (iBikE) interfaces for remote monitoring and control of cycling exercise sessions to promote upper and lower limb rehabilitation. Methods: Two versions of the system, which consisted of a portable bike and a tablet PC, were designed to communicate through either Bluetooth low energy (BLE) or Wi-Fi interfaces for real-time monitoring of exercise progress by both the users and their clinical team. The third version of the iBikE system consisted of a motorized bike and a tablet PC. It utilized conventional Bluetooth to implement remote control of the motorized bike's speed during an exercise session as well as to provide real-time visualization of the exercise progress. We developed three customized tablet PC apps with similar user interfaces but different communication protocols for all the platforms to provide a graphical representation of exercise progress. The same microcontroller unit (MCU), ESP-32, was used in all the systems. Results: Each system was tested in 1-minute exercise sessions at various speeds. To evaluate the accuracy of the measured data, in addition to reading speed values from the iBikE app, the cycling speed of the bikes was measured continuously using a tachometer. The mean differences of averaged RPMs for both data sets were calculated. The calculated values were 0.38 ± 0.03, 0.25 ± 0.27, and 6.7 ± 3.3 for the BLE system, the Wi-Fi system, and the conventional Bluetooth system, respectively. Conclusion: All interfaces provided sufficient accuracy for use in telerehabilitation.

Narrow bandwidth spatiotemporal mode-locked Yb-doped fiber laser.

We report a narrow bandwidth spatiotemporal mode-locked (STML) ytterbium-doped fiber laser, based on a homemade carbon nanotube/polyvinyl alcohol composite film and the multimode interference filtering effect. The wavelength-tunable narrow bandwidth STML operations combined with different pulse states are achieved, including single pulse, multiple pulses, and harmonics. The 3-dB bandwidth at the single-pulse state is 103 pm, while at the harmonic state, it is as narrow as 26 pm. To give an insight into the generation of the narrow bandwidth STML pulses, numerical simulations are performed. Such a laser has a wide range of potential applications in fields of optical communication and optical measurement, as well as provides a favorable platform for studying the evolution dynamics of multimode solitons.

Tetracycline hydrochloride-stressed succession in microbial communities during aerobic composting: Insights into bacterial and fungal structures.

Available information that whether antibiotics affect the succession in microbial communities during aerobic composting remains limited. Thus, this work investigated the dynamic changes in bacterial and fungal structures during aerobic composting amended with tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH: 0, 50, 150 and 300 mg kg-1). Composting phases significantly affected bacterial and fungal communities, but only fungi strongly responded to antibiotics, while bacteria did not. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota and Actinobacteriota were primary bacterial phylum. Neocallimastigomycota was dominant fungal phylum at temperature-heating phase, then Basidiomycota and Ascomycota became main fungal phylum at thermophilic and temperature-colling phases. Low TCH concentration promoted Chytridiomycota growth, while high TCH concentration inhibited mostly fungal activity in TCH-amended composting. Nitrogen species were critical factors controlling the succession in bacterial and fungal communities during composting process. These results cast a new light on understanding about microbial function during aerobic composting.

Dissolved organic carbon, a critical factor to increase the bioavailability of phosphorus during biochar-amended aerobic composting.

Considerable research efforts have been devoted to increase phosphorus (P) availability during aerobic composting. However, there is little discussion weather the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) controls the transformation among P-fractions. Thus, we investigated the changes in DOC compositions and P-fractions during biochar-amended composting (wet weight basis, 5% and 10%). TP content continuously increased since the 'concentration effect' during aerobic composting. NaHCO3-Pi, NaOH-Pi and HCl-Pi were main P-fractions, and biochar can improve P-bioavailability by transforming NaOH-Pi and HCl-Pi into NaHCO3-Pi. Structure equation models (SEMs) indicated that biochar enhanced the P-bioavailability through regulating the decomposition of DOC. Our results at least hint that the activation mechanism on P under the influence of DOC during biochar-amended composting.

Changes and formation mechanism of plasma endothelial microparticles in patients with acute pancreatitis / 临床肝胆病杂志

Objective To investigate the changes and formation mechanism of plasma endothelial microparticles (EMPs) in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods Blood samples were collected from 60 patients with AP who were treated in The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from August 2020 to June 2021, and these patients were divided into mild acute pancreatitis (MAP) group with 23 patients, moderate-severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP) group with 23 patients, and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) group with 14 patients; 20 individuals who underwent physical examination were enrolled as control group.Differential centrifugation was used to obtain platelet-poor plasma, flow cytometry was used to measure the level of CD31 + CD41 - EMPs, and ELISA was used to measure the levels of endothelin-1(ET-1), von Willebrand factor (vWF), nitric oxide (NO), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1(VCAM-1).HUVECs were stimulated by the plasma of AP patients, and then flow cytometry and qRT-PCR were used to measure the changes in EMPs, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential and the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), intercellular adhesion molecule-1(ICAM-1), VCAM-1, NADPH oxidase, and P-selectin.A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of normally distributed continuous data between multiple groups, and the least significant difference t -test was used for further comparison between two groups.The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used for comparison of non-normally distributed continuous data between groups and within each group.The chi-square test was used for comparison of categorical data between groups, and the Pearson correlation test was used for correlation analysis. Results Compared with the control group, the MAP, MSAP, and SAP groups had a significant increase in the level of EMPs (all P < 0.05).Compared with the MAP and MSAP groups, the SAP group had a significant increase in the level of EMPs (both P < 0.05).In the patients with AP, the level of EMPs was negatively correlated with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation Ⅱ score, Bedside Index for Severity in Acute Pancreatitis, Ranson score, CT score, and C-reactive protein ( r =0.686 2, 0.777 3, 0.713 8, 0.771 8, and 0.473 9, all P < 0.01).Compared with the control group, the MAP, MSAP, and SAP groups had significant increases in the levels of ET-1, vWF, and VCAM-1 and a significant reduction in the level of NO (all P < 0.05).Compared with the control group, the MSAP and SAP groups had the plasma that promoted the release of a large amount of EMPs (both P < 0.05).Compared with the control group, all the other groups, except the MAP group in terms of VCAM-1 and eNOS, had significant increases in the mRNA expression levels of eNOS, iNOS, ICAM-1, P-selectin, VCAM-1, and NADPH oxidase (all P < 0.05).Compared with the HC group, the MAP, MSAP, and SAP groups and the LPS group had a significant increase in the level of ROS and a significant reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential in HUVECs (all P < 0.05). Conclusion There is a significant increase in the plasma level of EMPs in AP patients, which is correlated with the severity of pancreatitis.Meanwhile, the plasma of AP patients can promote the formation of EMPs in HUVECs in vitro, which may be associated with cell oxidative injury.

Mutually induced soliton polarization instability in a bidirectional ultrafast fiber laser.

The bidirectional ultrafast fiber laser is a promising light source for dual-comb applications. The counter-propagating geometry could lead to soliton interaction through gain sharing, as well as the possible outcome of polarization instability. However, the polarization dynamics hidden behind the soliton interaction process in bidirectional fiber lasers were rarely investigated. Herein, we report on the polarization instability induced by the mutual soliton interactions through fiber gain in a bidirectional mode-locked fiber laser. Depending on the adjustment of the intracavity birefringence, the polarization states of two counter-propagating solitons can exhibit similar periodical polarization switching behaviors with a polarization-rotating transition state. The successive interactions of the bidirectional solitons mediated by the polarization cross-saturation effect of gain fiber could be responsible for the soliton polarization instability. These findings, in addition to the fundamental interest of the soliton nonlinear dynamics in dissipative optical systems, also open up new possibilities for creating dynamical control of the soliton polarization state and performance improvement in bidirectional ultrafast fiber lasers.