Risk assessment of karst water inrush in tunnel engineering based on improved game theory and uncertainty measure theory.

The sudden inrush of water poses a serious threat to the safety of workers during tunnel construction in the karst region of southwest China. To mitigate this risk, a model is proposed to assess the risk of water surge through a tunnel by combining improved game theory with uncertainty measure theory. Eight indicators of risk were extracted based on the solubility of rock, its geological structure, capacity for surface catchment, and hydrogeological factors, and were incorporated into the proposed model. The subjective weights of these indicators were obtained using the analytic hierarchy process, while their objective weights were calculated through the entropy weighting method and the criteria importance through intercriteria correlation method. An improved game theory-based method of combinatorial weighting was then used to construct the corresponding weight vectors. Single-indicator measurement functions and multi-indicator measurement matrices were utilized to classify and evaluate the indicators of the risk of a surge in water level based on a confidence criterion. The proposed method was applied to five typical karst sections of the Yanjin Tunnel of the Chongqing-Kunming High-speed Railway Project, and the method was validated by comparing the recorded and estimated inflow volume ranges during the project's construction, showing consistency with the actual evaluation results. This proposed model thus offers a practical tool for assessing the risk of water inrush in karst tunnels.

Covalent Bonding of MXene/COF Heterojunction for Ultralong Cycling Li-Ion Battery Electrodes.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as promising renewable electrode materials for LIBs and gained significant attention, but their capacity has been limited by the densely packed 2D layer structures, low active site availability, and poor electronic conductivity. Combining COFs with high-conductivity MXenes is an effective strategy to enhance their electrochemical performance. Nevertheless, simply gluing them without conformal growth and covalent linkage restricts the number of redox-active sites and the structural stability of the composite. Therefore, in this study, a covalently assembled 3D COF on Ti3C2 MXenes (Ti3C2@COF) is synthesized and serves as an ultralong cycling electrode material for LIBs. Due to the covalent bonding between the COF and Ti3C2, the Ti3C2@COF composite exhibits excellent stability, good conductivity, and a unique 3D cavity structure that enables stable Li+ storage and rapid ion transport. As a result, the Ti3C2-supported 3D COF nanosheets deliver a high specific capacity of 490 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1, along with an ultralong cyclability of 10,000 cycles at 1 A g-1. This work may inspire a wide range of 3D COF designs for high-performance electrode materials.

Comprehensive analysis of the Cullin family of genes reveals that CUL7 and CUL9 are the significant prognostic biomarkers in colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to decipher the role of Cullin family genes in colorectal cancer (CRC), drawing insights from comprehensive analyses encompassing multiple databases and experimental validations. METHODS: UALCAN, GEPIA2, Human Protein Atlas (HPA), KM plotter, cBioPortal, TISIDB, DAVID, colon cancer cell lines culturing, gene knockdown, CCK8 assay, colony formation, and Reverse Transcription Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) assays. RESULTS: Initial scrutiny of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) CRC datasets through the UALCAN and GEPIA databases unveiled significant alterations in Cullin family gene expressions. Elevations in CUL1, CUL2, CUL4A, CUL4B, CUL5, CUL7, and CUL9 were observed in CRC tissues compared to normal counterparts, while CUL3 demonstrated down-regulation consistently across datasets. Further exploration revealed notable correlations between Cullin gene expressions and various clinical parameters of CRC patients, substantiating the potential diagnostic and prognostic utility of these genes. Protein expression analyses conducted via the HPA corroborated the transcriptomic findings, indicating high levels of Cullin proteins in CRC tissues. Prognostic assessments identified CUL7 and CUL9 as significant predictors of poor survival outcomes in CRC patients, emphasizing their clinical relevance. Genetic alterations within the Cullin family genes were elucidated through the cBioPortal database, shedding light on the mutation landscape and prevalence of missense mutations in CRC. Immune subtype and tumor immune microenvironment analyses underscored the intricate interplay between Cullin family genes and immune processes in CRC. Experimental validation in CRC cell lines demonstrated the functional significance of CUL7 and CUL9 in promoting CRC growth, further solidifying their roles as potential therapeutic targets. CONCLUSION: Overall, these multifaceted analyses elucidated the intricate involvement of Cullin family genes in CRC pathogenesis and provided valuable insights for future diagnostic and therapeutic endeavors in CRC management.

High-Performance Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Anode Based on Metal-Organic Framework Glass.

The performance of lithium metal batteries is severely hampered by uncontrollable dendrite growth and volume change within the anode. This work addresses these obstacles by introducing a novel strategy: applying an isotropic and internal grain-boundary-free layer, specifically, a metal-organic framework (MOF) glass layer with nano-porosity onto the electrochemically plated lithium metal anode. Both ab initio and classical molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the MOF glass layer makes the lithium transport smooth and uniform via its internal monolithic and interfacial advantages. This MOF glass layer with the fast and more uniform lithium diffusion in the monolithic interior and its interface enables dendrite-free lithium plating and stripping through surface confinement effect and interfacial effect. When employed in symmetric batteries, the achieved Li metal anode can operate over 300 h at 1 mA cm-2. The full batteries matched with LiFePO4 exhibit high capacity (148 mAh g-1), excellent rate performance (61 mAh g-1 at 5 C), and outstanding cycling stability (with capacity retention of ≈90% after 1000 cycles). The full batteries matched with high-voltage LiCoO2 also show superior performances. Therefore, the strategy of utilizing a MOF glass layer enables the development of high-performance lithium metal anodes.

Coordination of hydraulic and leaf-level gas exchange traits during water-deficit acclimation in apple rootstocks.

Water deficit episodes impact apple (Malus domestica) productivity through challenging the trees' water status, the influence of extreme high temperature climate has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Rootstocks can bestow specific properties on the fruit trees such as the resistance to drought stress. However, the related hydraulic mechanisms in response to water deficit have not been fully understood. Herein, five rootstocks (SH6, GM256, M9, M26, and MM106) were examined under water limitation. The hydraulic conductance of root (Kroot), shoots (Kshoot), and stems (Kstem-shoot) in the five rootstocks reduced slightly during drought stress. Whereas the leaf water potential and photosynthesis of five rootstocks decreased dramatically when they were exposed to drought stress. Additionally, the Kshoot and Kstem-shoot were strongly correlated with the total plant leaf area. Aquaporins (AQPs) involved in the symplastic water transport pathway, the PIP2:1, TIP1:1, and TIP2:2 mRNA levels of all genotypic rootstocks showed significant regulation under drought stress. We examined the relationships among photosynthesis, apoplastic, and symplastic water movement pathways to achieve a comprehensive understanding of rootstocks' hydraulic strategy for improving drought adaptation. The PIP2:1 and TIP2:1 in leaves were more sensitive to root hydraulic conductance in response to drought stress. Furthermore, the coordinated relationship existed in leaf-specific conductance of shoot (Kl -shoot) and transpiration rate (Tr) under drought stress in the rootstocks. Overall, the drought resistance in the five dwarfing rootstocks is associated with the rapid re-establishment of water-related traits, and the effect of the canopy on the drought resistance in apple rootstocks merits much more attention.

Improving food security and farmland carbon sequestration in China through enhanced rock weathering: Field evidence and potential assessment in different humid regions.

Enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in farmland is an emerging carbon dioxide removal technology with crushed silicate rocks for soil improvement. However, due to climatic variability and field data limitations, uncertainties remain regarding the influence of ERW on food security and soil carbon pools in temperate regions. This study focused to evaluate the crop productivity and carbon sequestration potential of farmland ERW in China by conducting field monitoring in different humid regions and ERW performance model. Additionally, the contribution of climate, soil, and management factors to ERW-mediated yield and carbon sequestration changes was explored using random forest and correlation networks. Field monitoring indicated that farmland ERW significantly improved crop yield in humid region (13.5 ± 5.2 %), along with notable improvements in soil pH and available nutrients. Precipitation (10.4-16.7 %) and soil pH (9.7-16.8 %) had the highest contribution on ERW mediated yield and carbon sequestration changes, but the contribution of management factors (24-26.2 %), especially N input (2.7-7.0 %), should not be disregarded. The model evaluation demonstrated that the carbon sequestration rate of farmland ERW in China can reach 0.28-0.40 Gt yr-1, thereby presenting an opportunity to expand and accelerate the nationally determined contributions of China. The mean sequestration cost of farmland ERW was 633 ± 161 CNY ¥ t-CO2-1, which was an attractive sequestration price considering the positive benefits of rock powder on soil pH and nutrients. Deploying ERW in acidified and mineral nutrient deficient regions was able to serve as an alternative to lime and part chemical fertilizers to improve yield and maximize agricultural sustainability and resource co-benefits. Farmland ERW also has the potential to resource silicate waste to assist traditional, difficult-to-decarbonize industries to reduce carbon emissions. As a result, a comprehensive assessment of existing artificial silicate waste materials could further expand the application of farmland ERW.

A Novel Spatial Position Prediction Navigation System Makes Surgery More Accurate.

During intravascular interventional surgery, the 3D surgical navigation system can provide doctors with 3D spatial information of the vascular lumen, reducing the impact of missing dimension caused by digital subtraction angiography (DSA) guidance and further improving the success rate of surgeries. Nevertheless, this task often comes with the challenge of complex registration problems due to vessel deformation caused by respiratory motion and high requirements for the surgical environment because of the dependence on external electromagnetic sensors. This article proposes a novel 3D spatial predictive positioning navigation (SPPN) technique to predict the real-time tip position of surgical instruments. In the first stage, we propose a trajectory prediction algorithm integrated with instrumental morphological constraints to generate the initial trajectory. Then, a novel hybrid physical model is designed to estimate the trajectory's energy and mechanics. In the second stage, a point cloud clustering algorithm applies multi-information fusion to generate the maximum probability endpoint cloud. Then, an energy-weighted probability density function is introduced using statistical analysis to achieve the prediction of the 3D spatial location of instrument endpoints. Extensive experiments are conducted on 3D-printed human artery and vein models based on a high-precision electromagnetic tracking system. Experimental results demonstrate the outstanding performance of our method, reaching 98.2% of the achievement ratio and less than 3 mm of the average positioning accuracy. This work is the first 3D surgical navigation algorithm that entirely relies on vascular interventional robot sensors, effectively improving the accuracy of interventional surgery and making it more accessible for primary surgeons.

Insight to bacteria community response of organic management in apple orchard-bagasse fertilizer combined with biochar.

Based on the sustainable development practice-zero growth in chemical fertilizer application, this article used bagasse organic fertilizer and rice husk derived biochar to investigate the response of soil bacterial community in apple orchard. Aimed at realize the soil quality improvement and biomass resource recovery to contribute agricultural and environmental sustainability. The co-trophic Proteobacteria was predominant in all the treatments (29-36 %) and enriched in non-nitrifying Alphaproteobacteria (9-11 %) and ammonia oxidant Betaproteobacteria (8-10 %), especially richest in bagasse fertilizer combine biochar treated soil. In addition, bacterial community variation was assessed by alpha and beta diversity, four treatments dispersed distribution and richer abundance observed in combined apply bagasse fertilizer and biochar treatment (3909.22 observed-species) than single application (3729.88 and 3646.58 observed-species). Biochar as microbial carrier combined organic fertilizer were established synergistic interaction and favorable to organic matter availability during sustainable agriculture. Finally, integrated biochar-bagasse fertilizer was richer than single organic or biochar fertilization in improving soil bacterial diversity, notably by promoting the metabolism of copiotrophic bacteria, nutrient cycling, plant growth and disease inhibit-related bacteria.

An Improved Networked Predictive Controller for Vascular Robot Using 5G Networks.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has gradually become the most common treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) in clinical practice due to its advantages of small trauma and quick recovery. However, the availability of hospitals with cardiac catheterization facilities and trained interventionalists is extremely limited in remote and underdeveloped areas. Remote vascular robotic system can assist interventionalists to complete operations precisely, and reduce occupational health hazards occurrence. In this paper, a bionic remote vascular robot is introduced in detail from three parts: mechanism, communication architecture, and controller model. Firstly, human finger-like mechanisms in vascular robot enable the interventionalists to advance, retract and rotate the guidewires or balloons. Secondly, a 5G-based communication system is built to satisfy the end-to-end requirements of strong data transmission and packet priority setting in remote robot control. Thirdly, a generalized predictive controller (GPC) is developed to suppress the effect of time-varying network delay and parameter identification error, while adding a designed polynomial compensation module to reduce tracking error and improve system responsiveness. Then, the simulation experiment verifies the system performance in comparison with different algorithms, network delay, and packet loss rate. Finally, the improved control system conducted PCI on an experimental pig, which reduced the delivery integral absolute error (IAE) by at least 20% compared with traditional methods.

Design and Performance Evaluation of a Novel Vascular Robotic System for Complex Percutaneous Coronary Interventions.

The robotic-assisted percutaneous coronary intervention is an emerging technology with great potential to solve the shortcomings of existing treatments. However, the current robotic systems can not manipulate two guidewires or ballons/stents simultaneously for coronary bifurcation lesions. This paper presents VasCure, a novel bio-inspired vascular robotic system, to deliver two guidewires and stents into the main branch and side branch of bifurcation lesions in sequence. The system is designed in master-slave architecture to reduce occupational hazards of radiation exposure and orthopedic injury to interventional surgeons. The slave delivery device has one active roller and two passive rollers to manipulate two interventional devices. The performance of the VasCure was verified by in vitro and in vivo animal experiments. In vitro results showed the robotic system has good accuracy to deliver guidewires and the maximum error is 0.38mm. In an animal experiment, the interventional surgeon delivered two guidewires and balloons to the left circumflex branch and the left anterior descending branch of the pig, which confirmed the feasibility of the vascular robotic system.

Clean technology for biochar and organic waste recycling, and utilization in apple orchard.

Present study evaluated the utilization of clean technology for biochar combined with organic fertilizer in apple orchard aspect of soil organic carbon fractions and microbial community. Four treatments were performed with control (CK), rice husk biochar alone (B), bagasse fermented organic fertilizer alone (O) and biochar combined with organic fertilizer (BO). The results demonstrated that utilization of organic fertilizer integrated with biochar were obviously enhanced the total and active fractions organic carbon in the top-soil (0-20 cm), enriched the bacterial community diversity and the richest abundance presented in BO treatment with 4253 operational taxonomic unit. The visualization illustrated the superior bacterial community was affiliated with Proteobacteria (35.14%), Actinobacteria (21.34%), Acidobacteria (16.82%) and Firmicutes (14.70%). Additionally, redundancy analysis suggested the strong interaction between microorganisms and organic carbon fractions. Overall, the application of biochar combine with organic fertilizer was favorable approach in apple orchard management, attributed to the influence of essential factors by improve organic carbon and bacterial diversity especially conductive to the profitable strain proliferation.

Facile and Scalable Synthesis of 3D Structures of V10O24·12H2O Nanosheets Coated with Carbon toward Ultrafast and Ultrastable Zinc Storage.

Three-dimensional (3D) structures of V10O24·12H2O nanosheets coated with carbon (denoted as V10O24@C) are facially and cost-effectively fabricated by reducing the V2O5-based aqueous solution with ethanol under hydrothermal conditions. By using the 3D V10O24@C as the cathode of zinc-ion batteries, the as-obtained 3D V10O24@C sample delivers excellent charge-discharge cycling capability, superior rate performance, and reasonable specific capacity, and a specific capacity of ca. 133.3 mA h g-1 and a 94.1% capacity retention are achieved even after 10000 cycles at a high current density of 10 A g-1 (∼80 C). Furthermore, it provides a facile and scalable approach to synthesize the 3D structures of pure-phased vanadium oxide nanosheets or other nanoscale metal oxides coated with carbon.

A Dendrite-free Na-Na2S-Carbon Hybrid toward a Highly Stable and Superior Sodium Metal Anode.

An effective method to fabricate a dendrite-free Na-Na2S-carbon hybrid anode is developed by immersing sulfur-doped carbon paper into molten sodium with common tissue paper as the starting material. The as-obtained hybrid anode displays much decreased nucleation and mass-transfer-controlled overpotentials for sodium plating, and a low and stable voltage hysteresis of ∼150 mV is obtained under a current density of 4 mA cm-2. It provides a dendrite-free sodium-based anode with superior rate performance and long-term stability. Furthermore, it provides an effective avenue to alleviate the growth of dendrites and lower the overpotentials for other kinds of metal-based electrodes.

Seasonal variation of net ecosystem CO2 exchange and its influencing factors in an apple orchard in the Loess Plateau.

The Loess Plateau is the largest apple cultivation region in the world. However, the role of rain-fed apple orchards as carbon sinks or sources, including the dynamic variation and influencing factors, are still unclear. In this study, the net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) was monitored by an eddy covariance (EC) system in Loess Plateau apple orchards during 2016-2017. The results demonstrated that the annual NEE was higher in 2016 (- 698.0 g C m-2 year-1) than in 2017 (- 554.0 g C m-2 year-1). Particularly, the amount of orchard CO2 uptake was significantly greater in 2016 (- 772.0 g C m-2) than in 2017 (- 642.1 g C m-2) during the carbon sink period. This difference may be attributed to the higher NEE in 2016 compared to 2017 during the fast and slow growth periods. In addition, a higher daily NEE occurred to the higher air temperature (Ta), which promoted early sprouting in 2016 (- 3.91 g C m-2 day-1) compared to 2017 (- 2.86 g C m-2 day-1) during the fast growth period. The daily NEE in 2016 (- 2.59 g C m-2 day-1) was remarkably higher than that in 2017 (- 1.41 g C m-2 day-1) during the slow growth period, owing to the greater number of cloudy and rainy days and lower temperatures in 2017. Overall, the present study demonstrated the key role played by the amount of precipitation and temperature in regulating the NEE during the growth season and provided accurate quantitative information on the carbon budget in apple orchards. Graphical abstract.

Modeling CO2 exchange and meteorological factors of an apple orchard using partial least square regression.

The eddy covariance (EC) technique was used to measure variations of orchard-atmosphere CO2 exchange, as a function of meteorological variables in an apple orchard in 2016-2017. The annual average CO2 exchange rate was 2.295 kg m-2. Excavations and biomass assessments demonstrated that the orchard stored close to 20.6 tC ha-1 as plant C over a 15-year period. Seasonally, high rates of CO2 uptake and low CO2 emissions occurred between May and August and December and March, respectively. The maximum rates of monthly CO2 exchange were 144.44 and 153.61 gC m-2 month-1 in August 2016 and June 2017, respectively. Partial least squares (PLS) regressions were used to analyze the influence of meteorological factors to on CO2 exchange rates. Temperature and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) were observed to exert the largest influence on driving variation in CO2 exchange. The main meteorological factors affecting CO2 exchange on daily and monthly time scales were soil temperature (Tsoil), air temperature (Ta), PAR, below canopy CO2 concentration (BCC), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), and soil water content at 50 cm (SWC50cm). The regression model equation describing CO2 exchange included Ta, VPD, precipitation (PPT), and sunshine duration (SD), as significant variables. This model curve fitting explains over 80% of the variation in CO2 exchange. This study provides CO2 exchange characteristics and a model equation capable of predicting CO2 exchange of an apple orchard. Graphical Abstract.

High throughput synthesis of defect-rich MoS2 nanosheets via facile electrochemical exfoliation for fast high-performance lithium storage.

A facile and cost-effective method to prepare defect-rich MoS2 nanosheets is developed via an electrochemical exfoliation process. By using bucket-like metallic titanium mesh both as inert anode and container for MoS2 powders, defect-rich thin MoS2 nanosheets can be fast exfoliated from the bulk powders in aqueous sodium sulfate electrolyte under positive potentials. The as-obtained MoS2 nanosheets exhibit excellent cycling capability, high specific capacity, and superior rate performance for lithium storage. Furthermore, it provides a novel and effective method to exfoliate insulative or semiconductive layer-structured bulk powders into defect-rich 2D nanosheets.

Fe3O4 hard templating to assemble highly wrinkled graphene sheets into hierarchical porous film for compact capacitive energy storage.

Highly wrinkled graphene film (HWGF) with high packing density was synthesized by combining an electrostatically self-assembling process, a vacuum filtration-induced film assembling process and capillary compression. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were used as a low-cost and environment-friendly hard template. Hierarchical porosity and high packing density were achieved with the aid of capillary compression in the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. This strategy enables integration of highly wrinkled graphene sheets to form highly compact carbon electrodes with a continuous ion transport network. The generated HWGF exhibited a high packing density of 1.53 g cm-3, a high specific surface area of 383 m2 g-1 and a hierarchically porous structure. The HWGF delivered a high capacitance of 242 F g-1 and 370 F cm-3 at 0.2 A g-1 in 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte system with excellent rate capability (202 F g-1 and 309 F cm-3 retained at 20 A g-1). The capacity retention rate reached 97% after 10 000 cycles at 1 A g-1. The HWGF-based supercapacitor exhibited a high energy density of 17 W h kg-1 at the power density of 49 W kg-1. Such high capacitive performances could be attributed to the highly dense but porous graphene assemblies composed of highly wrinkled graphene sheets.

Evaluating the impact of bamboo biochar on the fungal community succession during chicken manure composting.

The objective of this study was to investigate the fungal community succession and variations in chicken manure (CM) compost with different concentration of bamboo biochar (BB) as additive via the using of metagenomics method. The consequent obviously revealed that Chytridiomycota, Mucoromycota, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the dominant phylum, while Batrachochytrium, Funneliformis, Mucor, Phizophagus and Pyronema were the pre-dominant genera in each treatment. Redundancy analyses indicated that higher dosage of biochar applied treatments has significant correlation between fungal communities and environmental factors. The diversity of fungal community was analogous but the relative abundance (RA) was inconsistent among the all treatments. In addition, the principal component analysis was also confirmed that T5 and T6 treatments have considerably correlation than other treatments. However, the mean value of RA remained maximum in higher dosage of biochar blended treatments. Ultimately, the RA of different fungal genus and species were influenced in CM compost by the BB amendment.

[Characteristics of CO2 Flux in a Mature Apple (Malus demestica) Orchard Ecosystem on the Loess Plateau].

Apples (Malus demestica) in the Loess Plateau region are grown in the largest apple orchards in the world and China, playing an important role in the improvement of the ecological environment. However, there is little research on the scale of the ecological system of the apple orchard in the Loess Plateau region. In this study, the CO2 flux of a mature apple orchard in the Loess Plateau region was observed using an eddy covariance technique in the Shannxi Province. Based on the observation data sets observed from January 2016 to December 2016, a quantitative analysis of the apple orchard net ecosystem exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (Reco), total ecosystem primary productivity (GPP) changes at different time scales, changes in main meteorological factors, the effects of soil temperature (Ts) and air temperature (Ta) at different levels, and PAR on NEE were discussed. The results showed that during the study period, the apple orchard ecosystem NEE monthly totals were positive (as a carbon source) in the non-growing season in December, January, February and March, were negative (a carbon sink) in the growing season from April to November, and functioned as a strong carbon sink year round. The maximum peak NEE (absolute value) monthly average daily change appeared in August[-17.08 µmol ·(m2 ·s)-1], and the smallest peak appeared in November[-4.47 µmol ·(m2 ·s)-1] during the growing season. The NEE monthly average daily change value during the non-growing season is very weak, though the change is not obvious. GPP, Reco, and NEE maximum daily total values were 11.12, 5.04, and -7.34 g ·(m2 ·d)-1, respectively. GPP, Reco, and NEE maximum monthly total values were 238.97, 105.38, and -144.44 g ·(m2 ·month)-1, respectively, as GPP and NEE maintained high cumulative values that were relatively stable from May through August. The annual GPP, Reco, and NEE were 1223.2, 525.2, and -698.0 g ·(m2 ·a)-1. The observations show that the mature apple orchard ecosystem in the Chinese Loess Plateau has a relatively high carbon sequestration capacity. Nighttime ecosystem respiration Reco.n was positively correlated with the soil temperature and air temperature at different levels, and the correlation coefficients were Ts-5 cm > Ts-10 cm > Ta-4 m > Ta-8 m, The photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) can explain more than 80% of the daytime NEE changes.

Characterizing the transcriptome and microsatellite markers for almond (Amygdalus communis L.) using the Illumina sequencing platform.

BACKGROUND: The almond tree (Prunus amygdalus Batsch) is an important nut tree grown in subtropical regions that produces nutrient-rich nuts. However, a paucity of genomic information and DNA markers has restricted the development of modern breeding technologies for almond trees. RESULTS: In this study, almonds were sequenced with Illumina paired-end sequencing technology to obtain transcriptome data and develop simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers. We generated approximately 64 million clean reads from the various tissues of mixed almonds, and a total of 42,135 unigenes with an average length of 988 bp were obtained in the present study. A total of 27,586 unigenes (57.7% of all unigenes generated) were annotated using several databases. A total of 112,812 unigenes were annotated with the Gene Ontology (GO) database and assigned to 82 functional sub-groups, and 29,075 unigenes were assigned to the KOG database and classified into 25 function classifications. There were 9470 unigenes assigned to 129 Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways from five categories in the KEGG pathway database. We further identified 8641 SSR markers from 48,012 unigenes. A total of 100 SSR markers were randomly selected to validate quality, and 82 markers could amplify the specific products of A. communis L., whereas 70 markers were successfully transferable to five species (A. ledebouriana, A. mongolica, A. pedunculata, A. tangutica, and A. triloba). CONCLUSIONS: Our study was the first to produce public transcriptome data from almonds. The development of SSR markers will promote genetics research and breeding programmes for almonds.