Mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of soft rock with different water contents under dynamic disturbance

Uniaxial compression tests and cyclic loading acoustic emission tests were conducted on 20%,40%,60%,80%,dry and saturated muddy sandstone by using a creep impact loading system to investigate the mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of soft rocks with different water contents under dynamic disturbance.The mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of muddy sandstones at different water contents were analysed.Results of experimental studies show that water is a key factor in the mechanical properties of rocks,softening them,increasing their porosity,reducing their brittleness and increasing their plasticity.Under uniaxial compression,the macroscopic damage characteristics of the muddy sandstone change from mono-bevel shear damage and‘X’type conjugate bevel shear damage to a roadway bottom-drum type damage as the water content increases.Dynamic perturbation has a strengthening effect on the mechanical properties of samples with 60%and less water content,and a weakening effect on samples with 80%and more water content,but the weakening effect is not obvious.Macroscopic damage characteristics of dry samples remain unchanged,water samples from shear damage and tensile–shear composite damage gradually transformed into cleavage damage,until saturation transformation monoclinic shear damage.The evolution of acoustic emission energy and event number is mainly divided into four stages:loading stage(Ⅰ),dynamic loading stage(Ⅱ),yield failure stage(Ⅲ),and post-peak stage(Ⅳ),the acoustic emission characteristics of the stages were different for different water contents.The characteristic value of acoustic emission key point frequency gradually decreases,and the damage degree of the specimen increases,corresponding to low water content—high main frequency—low damage and high water content—low main frequency—high damage.

Optimization of Extraction Process for Total Flavonoids from Penthorum chinense Pursh and Comparison of Their Contents from Different Parts

[Objectives]This study was conducted to optimize the extraction process of total flavonoids from Penthorum chinense Pursh and compare their contents from different parts.[Methods]Single factor and orthogonal experiments were designed to optimize the extraction process of total flavonoids from P.chinense Pursh with the volume fraction of ethanol,the ratio of material to liquid,heating reflux extraction time and extraction times as factors,and the content of total flavonoids as the index.A verification test was carried out.The optimized extraction process was adopted to compare the contents of total flavonoids from different parts of P.chinense Pursh.[Results]The best extraction process was extracting the powder of P.chinense Pursh for 2.0 h with 20 times of 55%ethanol by reflux twice.Under this condition,the contents of total flavonoids were 3.63%,8.90%,11.28%,and 4.36%from stems,leaves,flowers and whole grass of P.chinense Pursh,respectively.[Conclusions]The process is reasonable,feasible and stable,and can effectively extract total flavonoids from P.chinense Pursh.The contents of total flavonoids from different parts of P.chinense Pursh were quite different,and the value was higher in the leaves and flowers,so the proportions of leaves and flowers should be paid attention to in the industrial processing of P.chinense Pursh.

Xue and Haoxue:Learning Contents and Learning Attitude in The Analects of Confucius

The Analects(Lunyu論語)is a fundamental text for understanding the teachings of Confucius and offers an extensive account of the importance and methodology of learning(xue學)in the quest to become a junzi(君子),or exemplary person.This paper explores the contents and attitudes of learning as presented in The Analects,focusing on how Confucius’disciples and subsequent generations compiled and understood his teachings.Confucius emphasized that the ultimate goal of learning is to become a junzi.The term junzi originally referred to nobles or aristocrats but was redefined by Confucius to describe anyone who cultivates themselves to achieve moral excellence and serve society effectively.In The Analects,the concept of junzi is constructed through various entries that illustrate what a junzi should and should not do,highlighting attributes such as being highly principled,disciplined,ethical,and capable.Confucius outlined specific content areas for learning that were essential for personal and social development.These included learning cultural knowledge(學文),the Book of Changes(學易),the Book of Odes(學詩),the Book of Propriety(學禮),and the Way(學道).He believed that proper behavior,such as filial piety,respect for elders,trustworthiness,and benevolence,was a prerequisite for effective learning.Through the study of these classical texts,learners could cultivate their emotions,improve their observational abilities,and enhance their social skills.In addition to content,Confucius stressed the importance of having the right attitude towards learning.He valued the enjoyment of learning(好學)and praised those who pursued knowledge with diligence and an open mind.This attitude was exemplified by his favorite disciple,Yan Hui,who was noted for his ability to learn without repeating mistakes or transferring anger to others.Confucius himself also modeled this attitude,demonstrating a lifelong commitment to learning and self-improvement.In conclusion,The Analects presents learning as a holistic process that encompasses not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the development of moral and social virtues.Confucius’teachings emphasize that through persistent and disciplined learning,individuals can achieve personal growth and contribute positively to society,embodying the qualities of a true junzi.

Evaluation of Total Polyphenol and Flavonoid Contents of Fresh and Dried Pepper (Piper nigrum) from the Ivory Coast

The growing interest in the potential biological activity of polyphenols and flavonoids has highlighted necessity to assess their content in fresh and dried pepper from Ivory Coast. The total polyphenol content was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu test and the total flavonoid content was also measured spectrophotometrically using the aluminum chloride colorimetric test. The results obtained indicate the total polyphenol levels of fresh and dried peppers are higher in the samples collected in Danane (0.8 ± 0.05 mg GAE/100g) and in Azaguie (0.4 ± 0.08 mg GAE/100g). The lowest concentrations were obtained with fresh and dried pepper samples collected in N’douci (0.22 ± 0.02 mg GAE/100g) and in PK 103 (0.22 ± 0.02 mg GAE/100g). The highest content of total flavonoids was revealed in the locality of PK 103 (1.85 ± 0.62 mg EC/100g) followed by the locality of Maféré (1.37 ± 0.25 mg EC/100g) respectively for black pepper and green pepper. Then, the lowest flavonoid contents were obtained in the dried pepper of Lopou (0.57 ± 0.03 mg EC/100g) and the fresh pepper of PK 103 (0.47 ± 0.03 mg EC/100g). The results obtained highlight the importance of these black spices as promising sources of phenolic compounds and could be used in pharmaceutical treatments and in food.

Experimental and numerical investigation on failure characteristics and mechanism of coal with different water contents

Water injection, as a widely used technique to prevent coal burst, can restrain the fractured coal seam and released the energy storage. In this study, laboratory tests were frstly carried out on standard coal specimens with fve diferent water contents (i.e., 0%, 0.6%, 1.08%, 1.5%, 2.0%, and 2.3%). The failure mode, fragment size, and energy distribution characteristics of coal specimens were investigated. Experimental results show that strength, elastic strain energy, dissipated energy, brittleness index, as well as impact energy index decrease with increasing water content. Besides, the failure mode transitions gradually from splitting ejection to tensile-shear mixed failure mode as water content increases, and average fragment size shows positively related to water content. Moreover, scanning electron microscope tests results indicate that water in coal sample mainly causes the mineral softening and defects increase. Furthermore, a numerical model containing roadway excavation was established considering the water on coal burst prevention. Modelling results revealed that water injection can reduce degree of coal burst and ejection velocity of coal blocks, while it will raise up the depth of crack zone and surface displacement of roadway. Combined with laboratory tests and numerical results, the micro mechanism, energy mechanism, and engineering signifcance of water injection on coal burst prevention were fnally analyzed.

基于新型Contention网络的滚动轴承早期故障诊断方法研究

针对滚动轴承早期故障诊断问题,为了同时建模振动信号中的高频和低频特征,实现高精度诊断,提出了一种新的模型Contention。它以一种互补的方式集成了空洞卷积和自注意力机制的优点,具有同时捕捉高频和低频信息的能力。为了验证其诊断能力,首先,在完整信息原则下将振动信号连续构造成数据集;其次,搭建Contention网络并训练,其最终测试集准确度可达100%,t-SNE显示随网络层次的深入特征被明显聚类;最后,设置对照实验,将该模型与传统RNN、CNN、Transformer模型对比,证明该模型具备突出的诊断能力。

Carbon,Nitrogen,and Sulfur Contents in Marine Phytoplankton Cells and Biomass Conversion

In this study,we isolated and cultured phytoplankton along the coast of China and measured the cellular carbon,nitrogen,and sulfur contents under four temperatures.The results showed that the contents of the cellular elements varied widely among different phytoplankton.We found that temperature is one of the important factors affecting the carbon,nitrogen,and sulfur contents in phytoplankton cells;however,the degree of influence of temperature is different for different kinds of phytoplankton.By measuring the nitrogen content in cells,we found that the C:N ratio indirectly measured in the experiment fluctuated in the range of 3.50-8.97,and the average C:N ratio was 5.52.In this experiment,we accurately measured the cell elemental contents at different temperatures and transformed the cell count results into carbon,nitrogen,and sulfur contents to express the biomass.This method ensures that the contribution of species that are small in number but with a large cell volume in biomass is considered.Moreover,this method comprehensively considers the interspecific differences of species and the uneven distribution of elements in phytoplankton cells,which is of significance in the estimation of marine carbon and nitrogen budget.The distribution of nitrogen content in marine phytoplankton can well indicate the marine eutrophication caused by human activities.Climate change can affect the community structure and element composition of marine phytoplankton,meanwhile marine carbon and nitrogen element can regulate the climate to a certain extent.

The lateral pressure coefficient at rest of expansive soils in landfill at various vertical stresses and moisture contents

When expansive soils in the original location are artificially transferred to landfill in different seasons,and subject to engineering activities afterwards,the corresponding deformation and stability of retaining structures become unpredictable.This necessitates the determination of lateral pressure coefficient at rest(k_(0) value)for expansive soils in landfill.Considering compaction,excavation of expansive soils,as well as construction of landfill in different seasons,series of stepwise loading and unloading consolidation tests at various moisture contents were carried out in this work to explore the evolution characteristics of k_(0) value and assess the dependence of k_(0) value on vertical stress and moisture content.Besides,scanning electron microscope(SEM)was used to track the change in microstructural features with vertical stresses.The results indicated that the k_(0) value of expansive soil shows a pronounced nonlinearity and is inextricably linked with vertical stress and moisture content,based on which a prediction formula to estimate the variation in k_(0) value with vertical stress during loading stage was proposed;there is a significant exponential increase in k_(0) value with overconsolidation ratio(OCR)during unloading stage,and OCR dominates the release of horizontal stress of expansive soil;SEM results revealed that with an increase in vertical stress,the anisotropy of expansive soil microstructure increases dramatically,causing a significant directional readjustment,which is macroscopically manifested as an initially rapid increase in k_(0) value;but when vertical stress increases to a critical value,the anisotropy of microstructure increases marginally,indicating a stable orientation occurring in the soil microstructure,which causes the k_(0) value to maintain a relatively stable value.

Thermal expansion behavior of sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets with different Co contents and orientations

The thermal expansion behavior of sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets is a crucial parameter for production and application.However, this aspect has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, three different sintered Nd–Fe–B magnets with varying Co content(Co = 0, 6, 12 wt%) were prepared using the conventional powder metallurgy method, and four magnets oriented under different magnetic fields were prepared to compare. The thermal expansion behavior for the magnets was investigated using a linear thermal dilatometry in the temperature range of 20℃–500℃. It was found that, the coefficient of thermal expansion(CTE) increases with the increase of Co contents, while the anisotropy of thermal expansion decreases.The introduction of Co leads to continuous changes from negative to positive thermal expansion in the vertically oriented direction, which is important for the development of zero thermal expansion magnets. The thermal expansion of nonoriented magnets was found to be isotropic. Additionally, the anisotropy of thermal expansion increases with the increase of orientation degree. These results have important implications for the development of sintered Nd–Fe–B with controllable CTE.

In-situ gas contents of a multi-section coal seam in Sydney basin for coal and gas outburst management

The gas content is crucial for evaluating coal and gas outburst potential in underground coal mining. This study focuses on investigating the in-situ coal seam gas content and gas sorption capacity in a representative coal seam with multiple sections (A1, A2, and A3) in the Sydney basin, where the CO_(2) composition exceeds 90%. The fast direct desorption method and associated devices were described in detail and employed to measure the in-situ gas components (Q_(1), Q_(2), and Q_(3)) of the coal seam. The results show that in-situ total gas content (Q_(T)) ranges from 9.48 m^(3)/t for the A2 section to 14.80 m^(3)/t for the A3 section, surpassing the Level 2 outburst threshold limit value, thereby necessitating gas drainage measures. Among the gas components, Q_(2) demonstrates the highest contribution to Q_(T), ranging between 55% and 70%. Furthermore, high-pressure isothermal gas sorption experiments were conducted on coal samples from each seam section to explore their gas sorption capacity. The Langmuir model accurately characterizes CO_(2) sorption behavior, with ft coefcients (R^(2)) greater than 0.99. Strong positive correlations are observed between in-situ gas content and Langmuir volume, as well as between residual gas content (Q_(3)) and sorption hysteresis. Notably, the A3 seam section is proved to have a higher outburst propensity due to its higher Q_(1) and Q_(2) gas contents, lower sorption hysteresis, and reduced coal toughness f value. The insights derived from the study can contribute to the development of efective gas management strategies and enhance the safety and efciency of coal mining operations.

Changes in Soil Organic Matter,Nitrogen and Phosphorus Contents during Decomposition of Pear Branches

[Objectives]To investigate the changes in soil organic matter,nitrogen and phosphorus content in the decomposition process of Korla fragrant pear branches by indoor mixed culture.[Methods]The branches of Korla fragrant pear in the orchard were collected and returned to the field for a period of 150 d for indoor mixed culture.[Results]Different ages of Korla fragrant pear branches have different effects on soil nutrient content during the simulated return to field decomposition process.Compared with the control in the same period,the treatment of returning to field reached a significant level(P<0.05).Compared with the control,the average values of organic matter,total nitrogen and available phosphorus content in treatment 1 and treatment 2 increased by 2.16 times and 1.93 times,61%and 59%,5.88 times and 6.88 times,respectively;compared with the control,the average increase performance of the alkaline hydrolysis nitrogen content of the two treatments was basically the same,and the treatment 2 was the best;compared with the control,the average total phosphorus content of treatment 1 and treatment 2 increased but not significantly.[Conclusions]The contents of soil organic matter,nitrogen and phosphorus were all increased during the decomposition of pear branches,and the overall improvement effect of 10-year-old trees was better than that of 5-year-old trees.Returning the pruned branches to the field can provide a reliable theoretical basis for solving the problem of organic fertilizer shortage in orchards,and also can ensure technical support for improving soil fertility and improving the rhizosphere micro-environment of pear trees.

Digital twin driven and intelligence enabled content delivery in end-edge-cloud collaborative 5G networks

The rapid development of 5G/6G and AI enables an environment of Internet of Everything(IoE)which can support millions of connected mobile devices and applications to operate smoothly at high speed and low delay.However,these massive devices will lead to explosive traffic growth,which in turn cause great burden for the data transmission and content delivery.This challenge can be eased by sinking some critical content from cloud to edge.In this case,how to determine the critical content,where to sink and how to access the content correctly and efficiently become new challenges.This work focuses on establishing a highly efficient content delivery framework in the IoE environment.In particular,the IoE environment is re-constructed as an end-edge-cloud collaborative system,in which the concept of digital twin is applied to promote the collaboration.Based on the digital asset obtained by digital twin from end users,a content popularity prediction scheme is firstly proposed to decide the critical content by using the Temporal Pattern Attention(TPA)enabled Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM)model.Then,the prediction results are input for the proposed caching scheme to decide where to sink the critical content by using the Reinforce Learning(RL)technology.Finally,a collaborative routing scheme is proposed to determine the way to access the content with the objective of minimizing overhead.The experimental results indicate that the proposed schemes outperform the state-of-the-art benchmarks in terms of the caching hit rate,the average throughput,the successful content delivery rate and the average routing overhead.

Surface and Content Validity of the Mentoring Function Scale for Novice Nurses

This study aimed to examine the surface and content validity of the Mentoring Function Scale for Novice Nurses, used to assess the mentoring of entry-level nurses, and to refine the scale items. In Study 1, six nurse education researchers, selected using convenience sampling, with five or more years of nursing experience and experience teaching novice nurses, were invited to an expert meeting in July 2015. A group interview was conducted that lasted approximately 120 minutes. Study 2 examined the content validity index. Between September and November 2015, we distributed a self-administered questionnaire survey to 11 participants selected by convenience sampling. The participants included five nurse education researchers with a minimum of five years of nursing experience and experience teaching novice nurses, as well as six clinical nurses with a master’s degree or higher. Finally, 81 questionnaire items were retained from the initial 125 items. The 81-item Mentoring Function Scale for Novice Nurses had higher content validity than the original scale. To further increase the scale’s applicability, future studies should assess its reliability, construct validity, and criterion-related validity.

A Survey of Digital Content Required for STD Prevention Education Taught by School Nurses

Purpose: In recent years, there has been concern in Japan about the increase in STDs among adolescents aged 15 - 19. In order to prevent STDs and guide adolescents toward desirable sexual behavior, this study’s goal was to examine the actual state of STD prevention education taught by school nurses as part of the school curriculum, as well as the kinds of digital content they wish to have for teaching on the subject. Method: An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire was distributed by email and leaflet. Targeting the 100 valid responses received from the surveyed school nurses, descriptive statistics were made for each survey item and comparisons were made between the early- and mid-career groups based on years of experience. Results: 70.0% of respondents reported teaching about STDs in Health & Physical Education classes. School nurses in the early-career group used ready-made materials, while the mid-career group used both ready-made and self-made materials. 95% of respondents reported that they had little or no knowledge of STDs, while 84% reported that they were “good” or “fairly good” at teaching classes on sexuality. Both groups reported difficulty with the topics of “phimosis” and “nocturnal emissions” in the physiological category, “sexual behavior” in the “sex-adjacent” category, and “sexual and reproductive issues” in the psychosocial category. Respondents expressed a need for digital content covering the topics of “sexual violence”, “sexual abuse”, “sexually transmitted diseases”, and “how to turn down sex”. The mid-career group desired digital content for more items than the early-career group, with significant differences in the pathogens involved in sexually transmitted diseases and sex-adjacent items. 32.0% of respondents answered that they had done self-study for sex education classes in the past three years, and both groups desired self-study on “sexually transmitted diseases”, with the mid-career group significantly higher than the early-career group on “cervical cancer & HPV”, “emergency contraceptives”, and “media literacy”. Conclusion: Health & Physical Education is the main subject that covers STDs, and pre-existing materials are commonly used. It is expected that this is due to nurses’ busy schedules and the fact that only one school nurse is assigned to each school. The data collected suggested that nurse teachers want categorized digital content that can be used in the classes they are responsible for, rather than educational content on topics they are not comfortable with. In addition, given the changing environment surrounding sex, it was clear that they wish to understand the realities and needs of the high school students they teach, and desire self-study opportunities to improve their teaching methods.

Quantitative characterizations of anisotropic dynamic properties in organic-rich shale with different kerogen content

Understanding the quantitative responses of anisotropic dynamic properties in organic-rich shale with different kerogen content(KC)is of great significance in hydrocarbon exploration and development.Conducting controlled experiments with a single variable is challenging for natural shales due to their high variations in components,diagenesis conditions,or pore fluid.We employed the hot-pressing technique to construct 11 well-controlled artificial shale with varying KC.These artificial shale samples were successive machined into prismatic shape for ultrasonic measurements along different directions.Observations revealed bedding perpendicular P-wave velocities are more sensitive to the increasing KC than bedding paralleling velocities due to the preferential alignments of kerogen.All elastic stiffnesses except C_(13)are generally decreasing with the increasing KC,the variation of C_(1) and C_(33)on kerogen content are more sensitive than those of C_(44)and C_(66).Apparent dynamic mechanical parameters(v and E)were found to have linear correlation with the true ones from complete anisotropic equations independent of KC,which hold value towards the interpretation of well logs consistently across formations,Anisotropic mechanical parameters(ΔE and brittlenessΔB)tend to decrease with the reducing KC,withΔB showing great sensitivity to KC variations.In the range of low KC(<10%),the V_(P)/V_(S) ratio demonstrated a linearly negative correlation with KC,and the V_(P)/V_(S) ratio magnitude of less than 1.75may serve as a significant characterization for highly organic-rich(>10%)shale,compilation of data from natural organic rich-shales globally verified the similar systematic relationships that can be empirically used to predict the fraction of KC in shales.

Longitudinal dependence of the forecast accuracy of the ionospheric total electron content in the equatorial zone

The longitudinal dependence of the behavior of ionospheric parameters has been the subject of a number of works where significant variations are discovered.This also applies to the prediction of the ionospheric total electron content(TEC),which neural network methods have recently been widely used.However,the results are mainly presented for a limited set of meridians.This paper examines the longitudinal dependence of the TEC forecast accuracy in the equatorial zone.In this case,the methods are used that provided the best accuracy on three meridians:European(30°E),Southeastern(110°E)and American(75°W).Results for the stations considered are analyzed as a function of longitude using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Global Ionosphere Map(JPL GIM)for 2015.These results are for 2 h ahead and 24 h ahead forecast.It was found that in this case,based on the metric values,three groups of architectures can be distinguished.The first group included long short-term memory(LSTM),gated recurrent unit(GRU),and temporal convolutional networks(TCN)models as a part of unidirectional deep learning models;the second group is based on the recurrent models from the first group,which were supplemented with a bidirectional algorithm,increasing the TEC forecasting accuracy by 2-3 times.The third group,which includes the bidirectional TCN architecture(BiTCN),provided the highest accuracy.For this architecture,according to data obtained for 9 equatorial stations,practical independence of the TEC prediction accuracy from longitude was observed under the following metrics(Mean Absolute Error MAE,Root Mean Square Error RMSE,Mean Absolute Percentage Error MAPE):MAE(2 h)is 0.2 TECU approximately;MAE(24 h)is 0.4 TECU approximately;RMSE(2 h)is less than 0.5 TECU except Niue station(RMSE(2 h)is 1 TECU approximately);RMSE(24 h)is in the range of 1.0-1.7 TECU;MAPE(2 h)<1%except Darwin station,MAPE(24 h)<2%.This result was confirmed by data from additional 5 stations that formed latitudinal chains in the equatorial part of the three meridians.The complete correspondence of the observational and predicted TEC values is illustrated using several stations for disturbed conditions on December 19-22,2015,which included the strongest magnetic storm in the second half of the year(min Dst=-155 nT).

Selection and application of four QTLs for grain protein content in modern wheat cultivars

The grain protein content(GPC)is the key parameter for wheat grain nutritional quality.This study conducted a resampling GWAS analysis using 406 wheat accessions across eight environments,and identified four previously reported GPC QTLs.An analysis of 87 landraces and 259 modern cultivars revealed the loss of superior GPC haplotypes,especially in Chinese cultivars.These haplotypes were preferentially adopted in different agroecological zones and had broad effects on wheat yield and agronomic traits.Most GPC QTLs did not significantly reduce yield,suggesting that high GPC can be achieved without a yield penalty.The results of this study provide a reference for future GPC breeding in wheat using the four identified QTLs.

A Study on the Correlation between Salivary Cortisol Content and Anxiety and Depression in Pregnant and Postpartum Women

Objective: To analyze the correlation between salivary cortisol content and anxiety and depression in pregnant and postpartum women. Method: 300 pregnant and postpartum women who were admitted from January 2021 to December 2021 were selected as the research subjects. They were all tested with the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). 40 pregnant women with anxiety and depression were selected as the observation group, and 50 normal pregnant women were selected as the control group, adopting logistic regression analysis to investigate the correlation between salivary cortisol and postpartum anxiety and depression during pregnancy. Result: The salivary cortisol levels in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group before bedtime, after waking up the next day, 15 minutes after waking up, 30 minutes after waking up, 60 minutes after waking up, and 1 hour before lunch (p < 0.05). Maternal depression and anxiety were not related to age, weight, gestational age, negative events, or history of adverse pregnancy and childbirth (p > 0.05). Maternal depression and anxiety are closely related to salivary cortisol levels and educational background (p Conclusion: There is a close correlation between anxiety and depression and an increase in cortisol levels, suggesting that the salivary cortisol awakening response during pregnancy has a predictive effect on the occurrence of postpartum depression.

Multi-omics analysis reveals the pivotal role of phytohormone homeostasis in regulating maize grain water content

Grain water content(GWC)is a key determinant for mechanical harvesting of maize(Zea mays).In our previous research,we identified a quantitative trait locus,qGWC1,associated with GWC in maize.Here,we examined near-isogenic lines(NILs)NILL and NILH that differed at the qGWC1 locus.Lower GWC in NILL was primarily attributed to reduced grain water weight(GWW)and smaller fresh grain size,rather than the accumulation of dry matter.The difference in GWC between the NILs became more pronounced approximately 35 d after pollination(DAP),arising from a faster dehydration rate in NILL.Through an integrated analysis of the transcriptome,proteome,and metabolome,coupled with an examination of hormones and their derivatives,we detected a marked decrease in JA,along with an increase in cytokinin,storage forms of IAA(IAA-Glu,IAA-ASP),and IAA precursor IPA in immature NILL kernels.During kernel development,genes associated with sucrose synthases,starch biosynthesis,and zein production in NILL,exhibited an initial up-regulation followed by a gradual down-regulation,compared to those in NILH.This discovery highlights the crucial role of phytohormone homeostasis and genes related to kernel development in balancing GWC and dry matter accumulation in maize kernels.

Predictability of the upper ocean heat content in a Community Earth System Model ensemble prediction system

Upper ocean heat content(OHC)has been widely recognized as a crucial precursor to high-impact climate variability,especially for that being indispensable to the long-term memory of the ocean.Assessing the predictability of OHC using state-of-the-art climate models is invaluable for improving and advancing climate forecasts.Recently developed retrospective forecast experiments,based on a Community Earth System Model ensemble prediction system,offer a great opportunity to comprehensively explore OHC predictability.Our results indicate that the skill of actual OHC predictions varies across different oceans and diminishes as the lead time of prediction extends.The spatial distribution of the actual prediction skill closely resembles the corresponding persistence skill,indicating that the persistence of OHC serves as the primary predictive signal for its predictability.The decline in actual prediction skill is more pronounced in the Indian and Atlantic oceans than in the Pacific Ocean,particularly within tropical regions.Additionally,notable seasonal variations in the actual prediction skills across different oceans align well with the phase-locking features of OHC variability.The potential predictability of OHC generally surpasses the actual prediction skill at all lead times,highlighting significant room for improvement in current OHC predictions,especially for the North Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.Achieving such improvements necessitates a collaborative effort to enhance the quality of ocean observations,develop effective data assimilation methods,and reduce model bias.