Strong evidence for latitudinal diversity gradient in mosses across the world

Species richness generally decreases with increasing latitude,a biodiversity gradient that has long been considered as one of the few laws in ecology.This latitudinal diversity gradient has been observed in many major groups of organisms.In plants,the latitudinal diversity gradient has been observed in vascular plants,angiosperms,ferns,and liverworts.However,a conspicuous latitudinal diversity gradient in mosses at a global or continental scale has not been observed until now.Here,we analyze a comprehensive data set including moss species in each band of 20° in latitude worldwide.Our results show that moss species richness decreases strongly with increasing latitude,regardless of whether the globe is considered as a whole or different longitudinal segments(e.g.,Old World versus New World) are considered separately.This result holds when variation in area size among latitudinal bands is taken into account.Pearson's correlation coefficient between latitude and species richness is-0.99 for both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.Because bryophytes are an extant lineage of early land plants and because mosses not only include most of extant species of bryophytes but also are important constituents of most terrestrial ecosystems,understanding geographic patterns of mosses is particularly important The finding of our study fills a critical knowledge gap.

Gradient coil design with enhanced shielding constraint for a cryogen-free superconducting MRI system

The relatively fragile low-temperature stability of cryogen-free superconducting magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)magnets requires the careful management of exogenous heat sources.A strongly shielded gradient magnetic field is important for the optimal operation of cryogen-free MRI systems.In this study,we present an enhanced shielding method incorporating a regionalized stray field constraining strategy.By optimizing the constraint parameters,we could develop engineering-feasible gradient coil schemes without increasing system complexity but with the stray field intensity reduced by half.In real measurement in an integrated MRI system,the developed gradient assembly demonstrated good performance and supported to output images of excellent quality.Our findings suggested that the proposed method could potentially form a useful design paradigm for cryogen-free MRI magnets.

Climate-growth relationships of Pinus tabuliformis along an altitudinal gradient on Baiyunshan Mountain,Central China

A set of standard chronologies for tree-ring width(TRW),earlywood width(EWW)and latewood width(LWW)in Pinus tabuliformis Carr.along an altitudi-nal gradient(1450,1400,and 1350 m a.s.l.)on Baiyunshan Mountain,Central China to analyze the effect of varying temperature and precipitation on growth along the gradi-ent.Correlation analyses showed that at all three altitudes and the TRW and EWW chronologies generally had signifi-cant negative correlations with mean and maximum tem-peratures in the current April and May and with minimum temperatures in the prior July and August,but significant positive correlations with precipitation in the current May.Correlations were generally significantly negative between LWW chronologies and all temperatures in the prior July and August,indicating that the prior summer temperature had a strong lag effect on the growth of P.tabuliformis that increased with altitude.The correlation with the standard-ized precipitation evapotranspiration index(SPEI)confirmed that wet conditions in the current May promoted growth of TR and EW at all altitudes.Significant altitudinal differences were also found;at 1400 m,there were significant positive correlations between EWW chronologies and SPEI in the current April and significant negative correlations between LWW chronologies and SPEI in the current September,but these correlations were not significant at 1450 m.At 1350 m,there were also significant negative correlations between the TRW and the EWW chronologies and SPEI in the prior October and the current July and between LWW chronology and SPEI in the current August,but these cor-relations were not significant at 1400 m.Moving correlation results showed a stable response of EWW in relation to the SPEI in the current May at all three altitudes and of LWW to maximum temperature in the prior July-August at 1400 m from 2002 to 2018.The EWW chronology at 1400 m and the LWW chronology at 1450 m were identified as more suitable for climate reconstruction.These results provide a strong scientific basis for forest management decisions and climate reconstructions in Central China.

Stress-assisted corrosion mechanism of 3Ni steel by using gradient boosting decision tree machining learning method

Traditional 3Ni weathering steel cannot completely meet the requirements for offshore engineering development,resulting in the design of novel 3Ni steel with the addition of microalloy elements such as Mn or Nb for strength enhancement becoming a trend.The stress-assisted corrosion behavior of a novel designed high-strength 3Ni steel was investigated in the current study using the corrosion big data method.The information on the corrosion process was recorded using the galvanic corrosion current monitoring method.The gradi-ent boosting decision tree(GBDT)machine learning method was used to mine the corrosion mechanism,and the importance of the struc-ture factor was investigated.Field exposure tests were conducted to verify the calculated results using the GBDT method.Results indic-ated that the GBDT method can be effectively used to study the influence of structural factors on the corrosion process of 3Ni steel.Dif-ferent mechanisms for the addition of Mn and Cu to the stress-assisted corrosion of 3Ni steel suggested that Mn and Cu have no obvious effect on the corrosion rate of non-stressed 3Ni steel during the early stage of corrosion.When the corrosion reached a stable state,the in-crease in Mn element content increased the corrosion rate of 3Ni steel,while Cu reduced this rate.In the presence of stress,the increase in Mn element content and Cu addition can inhibit the corrosion process.The corrosion law of outdoor-exposed 3Ni steel is consistent with the law based on corrosion big data technology,verifying the reliability of the big data evaluation method and data prediction model selection.

Analysis of piezoelectric semiconductor fibers under gradient temperature changes

Piezoelectric semiconductors(PSs)possess both semiconducting properties and piezoelectric coupling effects,making them optimal building blocks for semiconductor devices.PS fiber-like structures have wide applications in multi-functional semiconductor devices.In this paper,a one-dimensional(1D)theoretical model is established to describe the piezotronic responses of a PS fiber under gradient temperature changes.The theoretical model aims to explain the mechanism behind the resistance change caused by such gradient temperature changes.Numerical results demonstrate that a gradient temperature change significantly affects the physical fields within the PS fiber,and can induce changes in its surface resistance.It provides important theoretical guidance on the development of piezotronic devices that are sensitive to temperature effects.

Distribution law and susceptibility of geohazards across a gradient belt of the Western Sichuan Plateau

Across a gradient belt of the Western Sichuan Plateau,geohazards have seriously limited economic and social development.According to incomplete statistics,15,673 geohazards have been recorded in the study area.In order to mitigate the threat of geohazards to human engineering activities in the region,an overall understanding of the distribution pattern of geohazards and susceptibility assessment are necessary.In this paper,a gradient belt of the Western Sichuan Plateau and its zoning criteria were defined.Subsequently,on the basis of relief amplitude,distance to faults,rainfall,and human activities,three indicators of endogenic process were introduced:Bouguer gravity anomaly gradient,vertical deformation gradient,and horizontal deformation gradient.Thereafter,the distribution patterns of geohazards were investigated through mathematical statistics and ArcGIS software.By randomly selecting 10,449 hazards,a geohazard susceptibility map was generated using the Information Value(IV)model.Finally,the IV model was validated against 5224 hazards using the Area Under Curve(AUC)method.The results show that 47.6%of the geohazards were distributed in the zone of steep slope.Geohazards showed strong responses to distance to faults,human activities,and annual rainfall.The distribution of geohazards in the gradient belt of the Western Sichuan Plateau is more sensitive to vertical internal dynamics factors(such as vertical deformation gradient and Bouguer gravity anomaly gradient)without any apparent sensitivity to horizontal internal dynamics factors.The areas of high and very-high risk account for up to 32.22%,mainly distributed in the Longmenshan and Anning River faults.According to the AUC plot,the success rate of the IV model for generating the susceptibility map is 76%.This susceptibility map and geohazard distribution pattern can provide a reference for geological disaster monitoring,preparation of post-disaster emergency measures,and town planning.

The unimodal latitudinal pattern of K,Ca and Mg concentration and its potential drivers in forest foliage in eastern China

Potassium(K),calcium(Ca),and magnesium(Mg)are essential elements with important physiological functions in plants.Previous studies showed that leaf K,Ca,and Mg concentrations generally increase with increasing latitudes.However,recent meta-analyses suggested the possibility of a unimodal pattern in the concentrations of these elements along latitudinal gradients.The authenticity of this unimodal latitudinal pattern,however,requires validation through large-scale field experimental data,and exploration of the underlying mechanisms if the pattern is confirmed.Here,we collected leaves of common species of woody plants from 19 montane forests in the north-south transect of eastern China,including 322 species from 160 genera,67 families;and then determined leaf K,Ca,and Mg concentrations to explore their latitudinal patterns and driving mechanisms.Our results support unimodal latitudinal patterns for all three elements in woody plants across eastern China,with peak values at latitude 36.5±1.0°N.The shift of plant-functional-type compositions from evergreen broadleaves to deciduous broadleaves and to conifers along this latitudinal span was the key factor contributing to these patterns.Climatic factors,mainly temperature,and to a lesser extent solar radiation and precipitation,were the main environmental drivers.These factors,by altering the composition of plant communities and regulating plant physiological activities,influence the latitudinal patterns of plant nutrient concentrations.Our findings also suggest that high leaf K,Ca,and Mg concentrations may represent an adaptive strategy for plants to withstand water stress,which might be used to predict plant nutrient responses to climate changes at large scales,and broaden the understanding of biogeochemical cycling of K,Ca,and Mg.

Policy Gradient Adaptive Dynamic Programming for Model-Free Multi-Objective Optimal Control

Dear Editor,In this letter,the multi-objective optimal control problem of nonlinear discrete-time systems is investigated.A data-driven policy gradient algorithm is proposed in which the action-state value function is used to evaluate the policy.In the policy improvement process,the policy gradient based method is employed.

Stochastic Gradient Compression for Federated Learning over Wireless Network

As a mature distributed machine learning paradigm,federated learning enables wireless edge devices to collaboratively train a shared AI-model by stochastic gradient descent(SGD).However,devices need to upload high-dimensional stochastic gradients to edge server in training,which cause severe communication bottleneck.To address this problem,we compress the communication by sparsifying and quantizing the stochastic gradients of edge devices.We first derive a closed form of the communication compression in terms of sparsification and quantization factors.Then,the convergence rate of this communicationcompressed system is analyzed and several insights are obtained.Finally,we formulate and deal with the quantization resource allocation problem for the goal of minimizing the convergence upper bound,under the constraint of multiple-access channel capacity.Simulations show that the proposed scheme outperforms the benchmarks.

Wettability Gradient-Induced Diode:MXene-Engineered Membrane for Passive-Evaporative Cooling

Thermoregulatory textiles,leveraging high-emissivity structural materials,have arisen as a promising candidate for personal cooling management;however,their advancement has been hindered by the underperformed water moisture transportation capacity,which impacts on their thermophysiological comfort.Herein,we designed a wettability-gradient-induced-diode(WGID)membrane achieving by MXene-engineered electrospun technology,which could facilitate heat dissipation and moisture-wicking transportation.As a result,the obtained WGID membrane could obtain a cooling temperature of 1.5℃ in the“dry”state,and 7.1℃ in the“wet”state,which was ascribed to its high emissivity of 96.40%in the MIR range,superior thermal conductivity of 0.3349 W m^(-1) K^(-1)(based on radiation-and conduction-controlled mechanisms),and unidirectional moisture transportation property.The proposed design offers an approach for meticulously engineering electrospun membranes with enhanced heat dissipation and moisture transportation,thereby paving the way for developing more efficient and comfortable thermoregulatory textiles in a high-humidity microenvironment.

Bioinspired Multifunctional Self-Sensing Actuated Gradient Hydrogel for Soft-Hard Robot Remote Interaction

The development of bioinspired gradient hydrogels with self-sensing actuated capabilities for remote interaction with soft-hard robots remains a challenging endeavor. Here, we propose a novel multifunctional self-sensing actuated gradient hydrogel that combines ultrafast actuation and high sensitivity for remote interaction with robotic hand. The gradient network structure, achieved through a wettability difference method involving the rapid precipitation of MoO_(2) nanosheets, introduces hydrophilic disparities between two sides within hydrogel. This distinctive approach bestows the hydrogel with ultrafast thermo-responsive actuation(21° s^(-1)) and enhanced photothermal efficiency(increase by 3.7 ℃ s^(-1) under 808 nm near-infrared). Moreover, the local cross-linking of sodium alginate with Ca^(2+) endows the hydrogel with programmable deformability and information display capabilities. Additionally, the hydrogel exhibits high sensitivity(gauge factor 3.94 within a wide strain range of 600%), fast response times(140 ms) and good cycling stability. Leveraging these exceptional properties, we incorporate the hydrogel into various soft actuators, including soft gripper, artificial iris, and bioinspired jellyfish, as well as wearable electronics capable of precise human motion and physiological signal detection. Furthermore, through the synergistic combination of remarkable actuation and sensitivity, we realize a self-sensing touch bioinspired tongue. Notably, by employing quantitative analysis of actuation-sensing, we realize remote interaction between soft-hard robot via the Internet of Things. The multifunctional self-sensing actuated gradient hydrogel presented in this study provides a new insight for advanced somatosensory materials, self-feedback intelligent soft robots and human–machine interactions.

Local Adaptive Gradient Variance Attack for Deep Fake Fingerprint Detection

In recent years,deep learning has been the mainstream technology for fingerprint liveness detection(FLD)tasks because of its remarkable performance.However,recent studies have shown that these deep fake fingerprint detection(DFFD)models are not resistant to attacks by adversarial examples,which are generated by the introduction of subtle perturbations in the fingerprint image,allowing the model to make fake judgments.Most of the existing adversarial example generation methods are based on gradient optimization,which is easy to fall into local optimal,resulting in poor transferability of adversarial attacks.In addition,the perturbation added to the blank area of the fingerprint image is easily perceived by the human eye,leading to poor visual quality.In response to the above challenges,this paper proposes a novel adversarial attack method based on local adaptive gradient variance for DFFD.The ridge texture area within the fingerprint image has been identified and designated as the region for perturbation generation.Subsequently,the images are fed into the targeted white-box model,and the gradient direction is optimized to compute gradient variance.Additionally,an adaptive parameter search method is proposed using stochastic gradient ascent to explore the parameter values during adversarial example generation,aiming to maximize adversarial attack performance.Experimental results on two publicly available fingerprint datasets show that ourmethod achieves higher attack transferability and robustness than existing methods,and the perturbation is harder to perceive.

Changes of growth-climate relationships of Smith fir forests along an altitudinal gradient

Temporal changes in the relationship between tree growth and climate have been observed in numerous forests across the world.The patterns and the possible regu-lators(e.g.,forest community structure)of such changes are,however,not well understood.A vegetation survey and analyses of growth-climate relationships for Abies georgei var.Smithii(Smith fir)forests were carried along an altitudi-nal gradient from 3600 to 4200 m on Meili Snow Mountain,southeastern Tibetan Plateau.The results showed that the associations between growth and temperature have declined since the 1970s over the whole transect,while response to standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration indices(SPEI)strengthened in the mid-and lower-transect.Comparison between growth and vegetation data showed that tree growth was more sensitive to drought in stands with higher species richness and greater shrub cover.Drought stress on growth may be increased by heavy competition from shrub and herb layers.These results show the non-stationary nature of tree growth-climate associations and the linkage to for-est community structures.Vegetation components should be considered in future modeling and forecasting of forest dynamics in relation to climate changes.

Simultaneous purification of minor components in natural products using twin-column recycling chromatography with a step solvent gradient

The isolation of minor components from complex natural product matrices presents a significant challenge in the field of purification science due to their low concentrations and the presence of structurally similar compounds.This study introduces an optimized twin-column recycling chromatography method for the efficient and simultaneous purification of these elusive constituents.By introducing water at a small flowing rate between the twin columns,a step solvent gradient is created,by which the leading edge of concentration band would migrate at a slower rate than the trailing edge as it flowing from the upstream to downstream column.Hence,the band broadening is counterbalanced,resulting in an enrichment effect for those minor components in separation process.Herein,two target substances,which showed similar peak position in high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)and did not exceed 1.8%in crude paclitaxel were selected as target compounds for separation.By using the twin-column recycling chromatography with a step solvent gradient,a successful purification was achieved in getting the two with the purity almost 100%.We suggest this method is suitable for the separation of most components in natural produces,which shows higher precision and recovery rate compared with the common lab-operated separation ways for natural products(thin-layer chromatography and prep-HPLC).

Full waveform inversion based on hybrid gradient

The low-wavenumber components in the gradient of full waveform inversion(FWI)play a vital role in the stability of the inversion.However,when FWI is implemented in some high frequencies and current models are not far away from the real velocity model,an excessive number of low-wavenumber components in the gradient will also reduce the convergence rate and inversion accuracy.To solve this problem,this paper firstly derives a formula of scattering angle weighted gradient in FWI,then proposes a hybrid gradient.The hybrid gradient combines the conventional gradient of FWI with the scattering angle weighted gradient in each inversion frequency band based on an empirical formula derived herein.Using weighted hybrid mode,we can retain some low-wavenumber components in the initial lowfrequency inversion to ensure the stability of the inversion,and use more high-wavenumber components in the high-frequency inversion to improve the convergence rate.The results of synthetic data experiment demonstrate that compared to the conventional FWI,the FWI based on the proposed hybrid gradient can effectively reduce the low-wavenumber components in the gradient under the premise of ensuring inversion stability.It also greatly enhances the convergence rate and inversion accuracy,especially in the deep part of the model.And the field marine seismic data experiment also illustrates that the FWI based on hybrid gradient(HGFWI)has good stability and adaptability.

Fast compressed sensing spectral measurement with adaptive gradient multiscale resolution

We propose a fast,adaptive multiscale resolution spectral measurement method based on compressed sensing.The method can apply variable measurement resolution over the entire spectral range to reduce the measurement time by over 75%compared to a global high-resolution measurement.Mimicking the characteristics of the human retina system,the resolution distribution follows the principle of gradually decreasing.The system allows the spectral peaks of interest to be captured dynamically or to be specified a priori by a user.The system was tested by measuring single and dual spectral peaks,and the results of spectral peaks are consistent with those of global high-resolution measurements.

Predicting bathymetry based on vertical gravity gradient anomaly and analyses for various influential factors

The prediction of bathymetry has advanced significantly with the development of satellite altimetry.However,the majority of its data originate from marine gravity anomaly.In this study,based on the expression of vertical gravity gradient(VGG)of a rectangular prism,the governing equations for determining sea depths to invert bathymetry.The governing equation is solved by linearization through an iterative process,and numerical simulations verify its algorithm and its stability.We also study the processing methods of different interference errors.The regularization method improves the stability of the inversion process for errors.A piecewise bilinear interpolation function roughly replaces the low-frequency error,and numerical simulations show that the accuracy can be improved by 41.2%after this treatment.For variable ocean crust density,simulation simulations verify that the root-mean-square(RMS)error of prediction is approximately 5 m for the sea depth of 6 km if density is chosen as the average one.Finally,two test regions in the South China Sea are predicted and compared with ship soundings data,RMS errors of predictions are 71.1 m and 91.4 m,respectively.

Microstructure and ablation behavior of Zr-based ultra-high-temperature gradient composites

To obtain high-performance Zr-based ultra-high-temperature composites,Zr-based ultra-high-temperature gradient composites were prepared by changing the laying method of the infiltrant via reactive melt infiltration.The effects of different infiltrant laying methods on the microstructure and ablative properties of Zr-based ultrahigh-temperature gradient composites were investigated.The results showed that the gradient structure of the Zr-based ultrahigh-temperature gradient composites differed when the composition ratio of the infiltrant was changed.When the thicknesses of the Zr/Mo/Si layers were 6/4/12 mm and 8/2/12 mm,the SiMoZrC solid solution content in the samples increased and decreased along the infiltration direction,respectively.The gradient samples were ablated in an oxyacetylene flame at 3000°C for 40 s.The ablation resistance of the sample was the highest when the infiltrant was a powder and the thickness of the Zr/Mo/Si layer was 6/4/12 mm.

Slip distribution inversion of seismic sub-fault dip iteration using gradient based optimizer algorithm

This paper considers setting different dips for different sub-faults to fit the actual rupture situation based on the fault rupture of the 2013 Lushan M_(S)7.0 earthquake.Meanwhile,combined with the coseismic GNSS data of the Lushan earthquake,the source parameters and sliding distribution of the Lushan earthquake fault are inversed.Firstly,we use the gradient based optimizer(GBO)in nonlinear inversion to obtain the source parameters of this seismic fault.The inversion results indicate that the strike of the fault is 206.52°,the dip is 44.10°,the length is 21.92 km,and the depth is 12.79 km.To refine the sliding distribution of the seismic fault,the seismic fault is divided into 3×3 sub-faults.Then,we fix the central sub-fault dip of 44.10°;the dip of other sub-faults is obtained by iteration.After that,the model is further divided into a fault layer model composed of 23×19 sub fault slices,and using the Matlab fitting function is used to fit the dip of the 23×19 sub faults.Finally,the Lushan seismic fault plane is established as a shovel structure with steep upper and gentle lower,steep south and gentle north.The slip distribution inversion results indicate that the depth of the slip peak is 13 km,the corresponding maximum slip momentum is 0.67 m,the seismic moment is 1.10×10^(19)N·m and the corresponding moment magnitude is MW6.66.The results above are consistent with the research results of seismology.

Self-propelled Leidenfrost droplets on femtosecond-laser-induced surface with periodic hydrophobicity gradient

The controllable transfer of droplets on the surface of objects has a wide application prospect in the fields of microfluidic devices,fog collection and so on.The Leidenfrost effect can be utilized to significantly reduce motion resistance.However,the use of 3D structures limits the widespread application of self-propulsion based on Leidenfrost droplets in microelectromechanical system.To manipulate Leidenfrost droplets,it is necessary to create 2D or quasi-2D geometries.In this study,femtosecond laser is applied to fabricate a surface with periodic hydrophobicity gradient(SPHG),enabling directional self-propulsion of Leidenfrost droplets.Flow field analysis within the Leidenfrost droplets reveals that the vapor layer between the droplets and the hot surface can be modulated by the SPHG,resulting in directional propulsion of the inner gas.The viscous force between the gas and liquid then drives the droplet to move.