Effects of NSC in different organs and at different growth stages on the yield of oil peony Fengdan with different ages.

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) as resource reserves of plants play important roles in energy supply for normal growth and reproduction under environmental stress. The yield of perennial crops is mainly determined by the carbohydrate production and allocation in the current growth season, as well as the re-allocation of NSC reserves. However, the contribution of NSC to crop yield has not been fully determined. Fengdan (Paeonia ostii) is a variety of oil Peony that is newly developed in China. The effects of tree age and NSC on yield were examined by investigated the variations of biomass, soluble sugars, starch, and NSC in the organ and whole tree levels in the dormant and ripening stages of Fengdan populations with 4-, 6-, and 8-year-old in 2020 and 5-, 7-, and 9- year old in 2021. Results showed that the biomass, yield (seed biomass), soluble sugars, starch, and NSC reserve of Fengdan at the whole tree level increased with the increase in age. Although consistent correlations were observed between soluble sugars, starch and NSC storage, and yield among the plants with different ages, Fengdan showed allometric growth relationships between the accumulation of soluble sugars, starch, and NSC and yield and biomass (standardized major axis analyses slope b ≠ 1). Tree age significantly affected biomass and its allocation and NSC levels, especially the yield of Fengdan plants. The results of the investigation of the variations in the relationships between the yield and seasonal fluctuations of NSC and biomass indicate that roots is the key storage structure, whereas stems both serve as sink and/or source functions for the adult (7-9a) plants. NSC level, particularly the concentration of soluble sugars, in stems mainly influences Fengdan yield. These findings together provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the yield formation of Fengdan and have implications for manipulating sink-source relationship to achieve high yield.

Production Change Optimization Model of Nonlinear Supply Chain System under Emergencies.

Aiming at the problem that the upstream manufacturer cannot accurately formulate the production plan after the link of the nonlinear supply chain system changes under emergencies, an optimization model of production change in a nonlinear supply chain system under emergencies is designed. Firstly, based on the structural characteristics of the supply chain system and the logical relationship between production, sales, and storage parameters, a three-level single-chain nonlinear supply chain dynamic system model containing producers, sellers, and retailers was established based on the introduction of nonlinear parameters. Secondly, the radial basis function (RBF) neural network and improved fast variable power convergence law were introduced to improve the traditional sliding mode control, and the improved adaptive sliding mode control is proposed so that it can have a good control effect on the unknown nonlinear supply chain system. Finally, based on the numerical assumptions, the constructed optimization model was parameterized and simulated for comparison experiments. The simulation results show that the optimized model can reduce the adjustment time by 37.50% and inventory fluctuation by 42.97%, respectively, compared with the traditional sliding mode control, while helping the supply chain system to return the smooth operation after the change within 5 days.

Thermal Stability, Optical and Electrical Properties of Substoichiometric Molybdenum Oxide.

Substoichiometric molybdenum oxide ceramics have aroused widespread interest owing to their promising optical and electrical performance. In this work, the thermal stability and decomposition mechanism of Mo9O26 and Mo4O11 at 700-1000 °C and 700-1100 °C were investigated, respectively. Based on this information, MoOx (2 < x < 3) bulk ceramics were prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The results show that Mo9O26 is stable up to 790 °C in an argon atmosphere. As the temperature rises, it decomposes into Mo4O11. Mo4O11 can exist stably at 830 °C, beyond which it will convert to MoO2. The MoOx ceramic bulks with four different components (MoO2.9, MoO2.8, MoO2.7 and MoO2.6) were successfully sintered by SPS, and their relative density was greater than 96.4% as measured by the Archimedes principle. The reflectivity of MoOx ceramic bulk is low and only 6.3% when the composition is MoO2.8. The resistivity increases from 10-3 to 10-1 Ωcm with the increase in the O/Mo atomic ratio x. In general, the thermal stability information provides a theoretical basis for the processing of MoOx materials, such as the sintering of the MoOx target. The optical and electrical properties show that MoOx is a low-reflective conductive oxide material with great photoelectric application value.

Research on Real-Time Robust Optimization of Perishable Supply-Chain Systems Based on Digital Twins.

Aiming at the real-time robust optimization problem of perishable supply-chain systems in complex environments, a real-time robust optimization scheme based on supply-chain digital twins is proposed. Firstly, based on the quantitative logical relationship between production and sales of single-chain series supply-chain system products, the state space equation of the supply-chain system with logical characteristics, structural characteristics, and quantitative characteristics was constructed, and twin data were introduced to construct the digital twins of supply chains based on the state-space equation. Secondly, the perishable supply-chain system in complex environments was regarded as an uncertain closed-loop system from the perspective of the state space equation, and then a robust H∞ controller design strategy was proposed, and the supply-chain digital twins was used to update and correct the relevant parameters of the supply-chain system in real-time, to implement the real-time robust optimization based on the supply-chain digital twins. Finally, the simulation experiment was carried out with a cake supply-chain production as an example. The experimental results show that the real-time updating of relevant parameters through the digital twins can help enterprise managers to formulate reasonable management plans, effectively avoid the shortage problem of enterprises in the cake supply-chain system, and reduce the maximum inventory movement standard deviation of each link by 12.65%, 6.50%, and 14.87%, and the maximum production movement standard deviation by 70.21%, 56.84%, and 45.19%.

Association of Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone With All-Cause Mortality: A 2-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.

CONTEXT: Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), as the most sensitive and specific marker of thyroid status, is associated with multiple health outcomes, including mortality. However, whether TSH levels are causally associated with the risk of mortality remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the causal association between TSH levels and all-cause mortality using Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses. METHODS: MR analyses using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with TSH levels (P < 5 × 10-8) as instruments. Mortality data were obtained from the UK Biobank, including 384 344 participants who were recruited from 22 assessment centers across the UK taken between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the association of the TSH genetic risk score (GRS) with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. RESULTS: 15 557 individuals died during a median of 9.00 years of follow-up in the UK Biobank. A total of 70 SNPs were included in the MR analysis. The main MR analyses showed that 1 SD increase in TSH was associated with a decreased risk of all-cause mortality (OR 0.972, 95% CI 0.948-0.996), which may be largely attributed to respiratory disease mortality (OR 0.881, 95% CI 0.805-0.963). The multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) (95% CI) of all-cause mortality across 3 TSH GRS categories were 1.00 (reference), 0.976 (0.940-1.014), and 0.947 (0.911-0.985), respectively (P for trend < .01). Moreover, except digestive diseases mortality, genetically predicted TSH levels were negatively associated with mortality from CVD, cancer, noncancer diseases causes, and dementia, although not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Higher TSH levels were causally associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality, which may be largely attributed to respiratory disease mortality.

Effect of magnesium reduction on the oxygen content of pickling niobium powder.

Considering the problem of high oxygen content in industrial niobium powder, the oxygen reduction of high oxygen niobium powder with the addition of magnesium is studied. Based on the thermodynamic analysis of magnesium thermal reduction of niobium powder, the effects of reduction temperature, magnesium addition, reduction time, and reduction atmosphere on the oxygen content of pickling niobium powder are studied. The results show that with an increase in the magnesium addition, the oxygen content of pickling niobium powder gradually decreases to a certain value, and then remains unchanged. In a certain temperature range (953-1203 K), with an increase in the reduction temperature, the oxygen content of pickling niobium powder first decreases, and then increases; the best oxygen content is 356 ppm at 1133 K. With the extension in reduction time (2-6 h), the oxygen content of pickling niobium powder first decreases, and then remains unchanged. Finally, the oxygen content of pickled niobium powder is reduced to approximately 356 ppm at 400% magnesium addition at 1133 K for 4 h.