Optimized border irrigation delays winter wheat flag leaf senescence and promotes grain filling.

Border irrigation is still the main irrigation method in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China (HPC), and the suitable irrigation border length for water saving and high yield under traditional irrigation is still unclear. Therefore, a 2-year traditional border irrigation experiment (2017-2019) was conducted on the HPC. Four border lengths were tested: 20 m (L20), 30 m (L30), 40 m (L40), and 50 m (L50). These treatments were given supplementary irrigation at jointing and anthesis. An exclusively rainfed condition formed the control treatment. Compared with other treatments, the activities of superoxide dismutase antioxidant and sucrose phosphate synthetase, and the contents of sucrose and soluble proteins after anthesis were higher in the L40 and L50 treatments, while the content of malondialdehyde content was lower. Therefore, the L40 treatment effectively delayed the decrease in the soil plant analysis development (SPAD) value and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics, promoted grain filling, and achieved the highest thousand-grain weight. Compared with the L40 treatment, the grain yields of the L20 and L30 treatment were significantly reduced, while the water productivity of the L50 treatment was significantly reduced. These findings suggest that 40 m was the optimal border length for both high yield and water saving in this experiment. This study provides a simple and low-cost water-saving irrigation method for winter wheat in the HPC under traditional irrigation, which can help alleviate the pressure of agricultural water use.

Optimized border irrigation improved soil water content, increased winter wheat grain yield and water productivity.

Border irrigation is still the main irrigation method in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China (HPC), we aimed to find a suitable border length to reduce the quantity of irrigation water through a traditional border irrigation system to alleviate groundwater depletion. A 2-year experiment (2017-2019) was conducted with four border lengths: 20 m (L20), 30 m (L30), 40 m (L40) and 50 m (L50); supplementary irrigation was implemented during jointing and anthesis. The results showed that compared with the L20 and L30 treatments, the L40 treatment did not significantly increase the total water consumption. Compared with the L50 treatment, the L40 treatment significantly reduced the water consumption of ineffective tillers from jointing to anthesis. There was no significant difference in flag leaf net photosynthetic rate (Pn) between L40 treatment and L50 treatment at 14-28 days after anthesis, which was 12.36% and 21.31% higher than L30 and L20 treatments respectively, and significantly increased dry matter accumulation after anthesis. Grain yield were the higher in the L40 and L50 treatments, while the water productivity (WP) was highest in the L40 treatment, which was 3.98%, 4.54% and 7.94% higher than L50, L30, and L20 treatments, respectively. Hence, the irrigation field treatments with a border length of 40 m were considered the most efficient, which provides a theoretical basis for optimizing the traditional irrigation border length in HPC.

Treatment of the actual landfill leachate in different constructed wetlands through intermittent and varied aeration mode.

This study focused on the removal of organic matter and nitrogen and explored the feasible operation strategies to achieve short-cut nitrification and denitrification in two constructed wetlands (CWs), which were designed to treat the actual landfill leachate from a small county in parallel. The two CWs were horizontal sub-surface flow constructed wetlands (HFCW) with partial-area aeration and vertical sub-surface flow constructed wetlands (VFCW) with full-area aeration. The experimental results showed that both CWs could achieve an excellent organic matter and nitrogen removal performance under the conditions of intermittent aeration with high frequency and medium intensity (2 h of aeration and 4 h of rest). The removal efficiencies of COD and total nitrogen by HFCW were 89.08% and 73.22%, and the corresponding values of VFCW were 84.51% and 71.44%, respectively. Meanwhile, the inhibition kinetics model indicated that HFCW with partial-area aeration could enhance the free ammonium (FA) tolerance of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and reduce the conversion percentage of ammonia nitrogen. In addition, the intermittent aeration mode with high frequency and medium intensity could keep the DO concentration below under 0.60 mg L-1 in HFCW, which helped to achieve stable short-cut nitrification and ensure the average nitrite accumulation rate (NAR) reach 50.96%. These results suggested that the intermittent aeration in partial-area could achieve successful short-cut nitrification in HFCW, thereby improving the removal efficiency of nitrogen in landfill leachate.

Effect of first-stage aeration on treatment of domestic sewage in different hybrid constructed wetlands.

Two sets of hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs) with the first-stage aeration were used to treat actual domestic sewage in this paper, where the effects of three important factors of aeration mode, hydraulic loading rates (HLR), and aeration volume on the removal of pollutants in both HCWs were studied in contrasts. In addition, the pollutant removal efficiency, the contribution of plants, and the characteristics of biofilm in both HCWs were explored. The results of 250-day experiment showed that the TN removal capacity of HCW combining vertical flow CW with horizontal flow CW (VF-HF) was better than HCW's converse combination (HF-VF) in treatingsewage, while the removal efficiency of COD and NH4+-N were similar, and the concentrations of TN and COD in the effluent of VF-HF could successfully meet the National discharge requirements. Compared with the continuous aeration, the intermittent aeration only had a little effect on the removal of COD and NH4+-N, but could improve TN removal performance in both HCWs. Meanwhile, increasing the aeration volume was beneficial to remove NH4+-N but not TN in HCWs. In addition, although the pollutant removal performances in both HCWs were impacted, the removal capacity of TN in VF-HF was only affected a little, when HLR was increased by 50%. The contribution of plants' uptake accounted for about 10% to nitrogen removal and 20% to phosphorus removal in both HCWs. The biomass at the filler surface near the plant rhizosphere was greater than that in the non-rhizosphere zones, and the impact of plant rhizosphere on the nitrification activity of biofilm was significantly greater than that on denitrification activity in both HCWs.

Dose effects of calcium peroxide on harmful gases emissions in the anoxic/anaerobic landscape water system.

Large-area hypoxia of urban landscape water often causes the emissions of harmful gases in summer, which not only reduces its sensory effects, but also brings a potential threat to aquatic ecosystem and human health. This study explored the dose effects of calcium peroxide (CaO2) on inhibiting harmful gases emissions and restoring the scenic effect (including visual sense and olfactory sense) of anoxic/anaerobic landscape water system. The results indicated that the emissions of H2S, CO2 and CH4 from the anoxic/anaerobic water system were obviously inhibited in the reactors with CaO2 additions and the effect was positively correlated with the CaO2 dose. Meanwhile, the concentrations of total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) and soluble sulfide (S2-), and turbidity in the overlying water (the water-layer above the sediment-water interface) were also decreased in the reactors dosed with CaO2. The reason was ascribed to the improvement of the anoxic/anaerobic condition in the water system and the increase of the species richness, bacteria count and aerobic microorganism abundance in sediment. Furthermore, 0.12 kg-CaO2 m-2-sediment was selected as the optimal dose, which was based on considering the inhibiting effect of the harmful gases emissions, comprehensive influence and costs. Compared with control check (CK, the reactor without adding CaO2), the optimal dose of CaO2 could reduce 75.10% CH4, 81.02% CO2 and 100% H2S in gases, and decrease 81.52% S2-, 42.85% TCOD and 84.01% turbidity in the overlying water. In conclusion, all the dosages of CaO2 could improve the anoxic condition of water system and 0.12 kg-CaO2 m-2-sediment was the optimal dose in inhibiting harmful gases emissions, which could keep an excellent water quality in this simulation experiment. Therefore, this study may provide a feasible method and the optimal dose for inhibiting the emissions of harmful gases and restoring the scenic effect in the similar anoxic/anaerobic landscape water.

Effects and mechanisms of calcium peroxide on purification of severely eutrophic water.

In consideration of severe eutrophication of scenic water caused by pollutants released from sediments in summer, calcium peroxide (CaO2) was adopted as the slow release peroxide to improve the water quality in a field experiment of 600 m2. The effect of CaO2 on the overlying water, interstitial water, sediment, and sediment microorganisms of scenic water was studied. Results for two months indicated that the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration of the overlying water in the test zone was 3.78 times that in the control zone; the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) in the overlying water and sediment increased significantly (p = 0.002 and p = 0). Meanwhile, CaO2 could effectively inhibit the release of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from the sediment and could obviously reduce the concentrations of N and P in the overlying water by enhancing the microbiological action. Moreover, the average concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the overlying water of the test zone were 46.27% and 50.51% of those in control zone, respectively, and the concentrations of N and P in the interstitial water decreased during the entire experiment. In addition, CaO2 decreased the relative abundance of anaerobic bacteria in the sediment, whereas it increased that of aerobic bacteria and promoted the appearance of the functional bacteria, such as Nitrospirae and Thermodesulfoba. In conclusion, CaO2 can improve the DO and ORP in the eutrophic water effectively and change the microbial community in the sediment to a certain extent, thereby controlling the pollutants released from the sediment and reducing the N and P concentrations in the overlying water. Thus, CaO2 can effectively realize the purification and restoration of the severely eutrophic scenic water.

Preparation, characterization, and evaluation of 3,6-O-N-acetylethylenediamine modified chitosan as potential antimicrobial wound dressing material.

This work aims to prepare 3,6-O-N-acetylethylenediamine modified chitosan (AEDMCS) and evaluate its potential use as an antimicrobial wound dressing material. UV, FTIR, and 1H NMR results demonstrated N-acetylethylenediamine groups were successfully grafted to C3OH and C6OH on polysaccharide skeletons. TGA, XRD, and solubility tests indicated that as compared with chitosan, AEDMCS had diminished thermostability, decreased crystallinity, and greatly improved solubility. AEDMCS, with degrees of deacetylation and substitution being respectively 90.3% and 0.72, exhibited higher antibacterial activity than chitosan against six bacteria generally causing wound infections. Meanwhile, AEDMCS had permissible hemolysis and cytotoxicity and low BSA adsorption even at a AEDMCS concentration of 25mg/mL. Acute toxicity tests showed AEDMCS was nontoxic. Moreover, the wound healing property was preliminarily evaluated, illustrating that AEDMCS enhanced wound healing rates as expected and had no significant differences as compared with chitosan. These results suggested AEDMCS might be a potential material used as antibacterial wound dressings.

Pipe-Wire TiO2-Sn@Carbon Nanofibers Paper Anodes for Lithium and Sodium Ion Batteries.

Metallic tin has been considered as one of the most promising anode materials both for lithium (LIBs) and sodium ion battery (NIBs) because of a high theoretical capacity and an appropriate low discharge potential. However, Sn anodes suffer from a rapid capacity fading during cycling due to pulverization induced by severe volume changes. Here we innovatively synthesized pipe-wire TiO2-Sn@carbon nanofibers (TiO2-Sn@CNFs) via electrospinning and atomic layer deposition to suppress pulverization-induced capacity decay. In pipe-wire TiO2-Sn@CNFs paper, nano-Sn is uniformly dispersed in carbon nanofibers, which not only act as a buffer material to prevent pulverization, but also serve as a conductive matrix. In addition, TiO2 pipe as the protection shell outside of Sn@carbon nanofibers can restrain the volume variation to prevent Sn from aggregation and pulverization during cycling, thus increasing the Coulombic efficiency. The pipe-wire TiO2-Sn@CNFs show excellent electrochemical performance as anodes for both LIBs and NIBs. It exhibits a high and stable capacity of 643 mA h/g at 200 mA/g after 1100 cycles in LIBs and 413 mA h/g at 100 mA/g after 400 cycles in NIBs. These results would shed light on the practical application of Sn-based materials as a high capacity electrode with good cycling stability for next-generation LIBs and NIBs.

3,6-O-[N-(2-Aminoethyl)-acetamide-yl]-chitosan exerts antibacterial activity by a membrane damage mechanism.

A novel chitosan derivative, 3,6-O-[N-(2-aminoethyl)-acetamide-yl]-chitosan (AACS), was successfully prepared to improve water solubility and antibacterial activity of chitosan. AACS had good antibacterial activity, with minimum inhibitory concentrations of 0.25mg/mL, against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Cell membrane integrity, electric conductivity and NPN uptake tests showed that AACS caused quickly increasing the release of intracellular nucleic acids, the uptake of NPN, and the electric conductivity by damaging membrane integrity. On the other hand, hydrophobicity, cell viability and SDS-PAGE experiments indicated that AACS was able to reduce the surface hydrophobicity, the cell viability and the intracellular proteins through increasing membrane permeability. SEM observation further confirmed that AACS could kill bacteria via disrupting their membranes. All results above verified that AACS mainly exerted antibacterial activity by a membrane damage mechanism, and it was expected to be a new food preservative.

Tree Modeling with Real Tree-Parts Examples.

We introduce a 3D tree modeling technique that utilizes examples of real trees to enhance tree creation with realistic structures and fine-level details. In contrast to previous works that use smooth generalized cylinders to represent tree branches, our method generates realistic looking tree models with complex branching geometry by employing an exemplar database consisting of real-life trees reconstructed from scanned data. These trees are sliced into representative parts (denoted as tree-cuts), representing trunk logs and branching structures. In the modeling process, tree-cuts are positioned in space in an intuitive manner, serving as efficient proxies that guide the creation of the complete tree. Allometry rules are taken into account to ensure reasonable relations between adjacent branches. Realism is further enhanced by automatically transferring geometric textures from our database onto tree branches as well as by guided growing of foliage. Our results demonstrate the complexity and variety of trees that can be generated with our method within few minutes. We carry a user study to test the effectiveness of our modeling technique.

Encapsulating Sn(x)Sb Nanoparticles in Multichannel Graphene-Carbon Fibers As Flexible Anodes to Store Lithium Ions with High Capacities.

SnxSb intermetallic composites as high theoretical capacities anodes for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) suffer from the quick capacity fading owing to their huge volume change. In this study, flexible mats made up of SnxSb-graphene-carbon porous multichannel nanofibers are fabricated by an electrospinning method and succedent annealing treatment at 700 °C. The flexible mats as binder-free anodes show a specific capacity of 729 mA h/g in the 500th cycle at a current density of 0.1 A/g, which is much higher than those of graphene-carbon nanofibers, pure carbon nanofibers, and SnxSb-graphene-carbon nanofibers at the same cycle. The flexible mats could provide a reversible capacity of 381 mA h/g at 2 A/g, also higher than those of nanofibers, graphene-carbon nanofibers, and SnxSb-carbon nanofibers. It is found that the suitable nanochannels could accommodate the volume expansion to achieve a high specific capacity. Besides, the graphene serves as both conductive and mechanical-property additives to enhance the rate capacity and flexibility of the mats. The electrospinning technique combined with graphene modification may be an effective method to produce flexible electrodes for fuel cells, lithium ion batteries, and super capacitors.

Solvent-Controlled Synthesis of NiO-CoO/Carbon Fiber Nanobrushes with Different Densities and Their Excellent Properties for Lithium Ion Storage.

NiO-CoO nanoneedles are grown on carbon fibers by a solvothermal strategy to form nanobrushes. The density of nanobrushes can be easily controlled by altering the solvents. The synthesis mechanism of NiO-CoO/carbon fiber nanobrushes is investigated by the time-dependent experiments in detail. As anodes for lithium ion batteries, the NiO-CoO/carbon fiber nanobrushes synthesized in ethanol show excellent properties with a discharge capacity of 801 mA h g(-1) after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g(-1). The improvement can be ascribed to the carbon fibers as the highway for electrons and the interspace between NiO-CoO nanoneedles to accommodate the volume change and maintain the structural stability.

High-performance and ultra-stable lithium-ion batteries based on MOF-derived ZnO@ZnO quantum dots/C core-shell nanorod arrays on a carbon cloth anode.

MOF-derived ZnO@ZnO Quantum Dots/C core-shell nanorod arrays grown on flexible carbon cloth are successfully fabricated as a binder-free anode for Li-ion storage. In combination with the advantages from the ZnO/C core-shell architecture and the 3D nanorod arrays, this material satisfies both efficient ion and fast electron transport, and thus shows superior rate capability and excellent cycling stability.