An axenic strain reveals the responses of Phaeodactylum tricornutum to external organic carbon

The model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is considered a promising source of various high value bioproducts,and developing cultivation processes is crucial for its commercialization.Although mixotrophy and heterotrophy have been recommended as effective strategies for microalgal cultivation,previous studies on P.tricornutum have yielded conflicting results in terms of cultivating this microalga.To verify the capacity of this microalga utilizing external organic carbon,both heterotrophic and mixotrophic cultivation with varied carbon sources were performed using an axenic strain.The results demonstrate that glycerol was the only organic carbon that substantially stimulated the growth of P.tricornutum in the presence of light.Sodium acetate(NaAc)at low concentrations could also promote growth,while at high concentrations led to severe inhibition under mixotrophic conditions.The addition of glucose imposed no appreciable impact on either cell density or biomass concentration,confirming that P.tricornutum cannot metabolize external glucose.Subsequently,a comparative analysis between mixotrophy and autotrophy was performed to reveal the influences of glycerol on the cellular metabolism based on growth performances,biochemical compositions,and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters.Results also indicate that the addition of glycerol did not have detrimental effects on the capacity of either pigments biosynthesis or photosynthesis,but enhanced the saturated fatty acids and reduced the unsaturated fatty acids.

Diatoms as indicators of environmental change in coastal areas:a case study in Lianjiang coast of East China Sea

Owing to the significant differences in environmental characteristics and explanatory factors among estuarine and coastal regions,research on diatom transfer functions and database establishment remains incomplete.This study analysed diatoms in surface sediment samples and a sediment core from the Lianjiang coast of the East China Sea,together with environmental variables.Principal component analysis of the environmental variables showed that sea surface salinity(SSS)and sea surface temperature were the most important factors controlling hydrological conditions in the Lianjiang coastal area,whereas canonical correspondence analysis indicated that SSS and pH were the main environmental factors affecting diatom distribution.Based on the modern diatom species–environmental variable database,we developed a diatom-based SSS transfer function to quantitatively reconstruct the variability in SSS between 1984 and 2021 for sediment core HK3 from the Lianjiang coastal area.The agreement between the reconstructed SSS and instrument SSS data from 1984 to 2021 suggests that diatombased SSS reconstruction is reliable for studying past SSS variability in the Lianjiang coastal area.Three low SSS events in AD 2019,2013,and 1999,together with an increased relative concentration of freshwater diatom species and coarser sediment grain sizes,corresponded to two super-typhoon events and a catastrophic flooding event in Lianjiang County.Thus,a diatom-based SSS transfer function for reconstructing past SSS variability in the estuarine and coastal areas of the East China Sea can be further used to reflect the paleoenvironmental events in this region.

Zooplankton community size-structure change and mesh size selection under the thermal stress caused by a power plant in a semi-enclosed bay

Zooplankton samples were collected using 505, 160 and 77 μm mesh nets around a power plant during four seasons in 2011. We measured total length of zooplankton and divided zooplankton into seven size classes in order to explore how zooplankton community size-structure might be altered by thermal discharge from power plant. The total length of zooplankton varied from 93.7 to 40 074.7 μm. The spatial distribution of mesozooplankton(200-2 000 μm) populations were rarely affected by thermal discharge, while macro-(2 000-10 000 μm)and megalo-zooplankton(>10 000 μm) had an obvious tendency to migrate away from the outfall of power plant.Thus, zooplankton community tended to become smaller and biodiversity reduced close to power plant.Moreover, we compared the zooplankton communities in three different mesh size nets. Species richness,abundance, evenness index and Shannon-Wiener diversity index of the 505 μm mesh size were significantly lower than those recorded from the 160 and 77 μm mesh size. Average zooplankton abundance was highest in the 77 μm mesh net((27 690.0±1 633.7) ind./m^3), followed by 160 μm mesh net((9 531.1±1 079.5) ind./m^3), and lowest in 505 μm mesh net((494.4±104.7) ind./m^3). The ANOSIM and SIMPER tests confirmed that these differences were mainly due to small zooplankton and early developmental stages of zooplankton. It is the first time to use the 77 μm mesh net to sample zooplankton in such an environment. The 77 μm mesh net had the overwhelming abundance of the copepod genus Oithona, as an order of magnitude greater than recorded for 160 μm mesh net and 100% loss through the 505 μm mesh net. These results indicate that the use of a small or even multiple sampling net is necessary to accurately quantify entire zooplankton community around coastal power plant.

Overview of Gait Synthesis for the Humanoid COMAN

This paper focuses on the developments of a generic gait synthesis for the humanoid robot COMAN. Relying on the essential Gait Pattern Generator （GPG）, the proposed synthesis offers enhanced versatilities for the locomotion under different purposes, and also provides the data storage and communication mechanisms among different modules. As an outcome, we are able to augment new abilities for COMAN by integrating new control modules and software tools at a cost of very few modifications. Moreover, foot placement optimization is introduced to the GPG to optimize the gait parameter references in order to meet the robot＇s natural dynamics and kinematics, which enhances the synthesis＇s robustness while it＇s being implemented on real robots. We have also presented a practical approach to generate pelvis motion from CoM references using a simplified three-point-mass model, as well as a straightforward but effective idea for the state estimation using the sensory feedback. Three physical experiments were studied in an increasing complexity to demonstrate the effectiveness and successful implementation of the proposed gait synthesis on a real humanoid system.

A Real-Time Planning and Control Framework for Robust and Dynamic Quadrupedal Locomotion

Legged locomotion poses significant challenges due to its nonlinear,underactuated and hybrid dynamic properties.These challenges are exacerbated by the high-speed motion and presence of aerial phases in dynamic legged locomotion,which highlights the requirement for online planning based on current states to cope with uncertainty and disturbances.This article proposes a real-time planning and control framework integrating motion planning and whole-body control.In the framework,the designed motion planner allows a wider body rotation range and fast reactive behaviors based on the 3-D single rigid body model.In addition,the combination of a Bézier curve based trajectory interpolator and a heuristic-based foothold planner helps generate continuous and smooth foot trajectories.The developed whole-body controller uses hierarchical quadratic optimization coupled with the full system dynamics,which ensures tasks are prioritized based on importance and joint commands are physically feasible.The performance of the framework is successfully validated in experiments with a torque-controlled quadrupedal robot for generating dynamic motions.