Biochar was prepared using a low temperature pyrolysis method from nine plant materials including non-leguminous straw from canola, wheat, corn, rice and rice hull and leguminous straw from soybean, ...peanut, faba bean and mung bean. Soil pH increased during incubation of the soil with all nine biochar samples added at 10 g/kg. The biochar from legume materials resulted in greater increases in soil pH than from non-legume materials. The addition of biochar also increased exchangeable base cations, effective cation exchange capacity, and base saturation, whereas soil exchangeable Al and exchangeable acidity decreased as expected. The liming effects of the biochar samples on soil acidity correlated with alkalinity with a close linear correlation between soil pH and biochar alkalinity (R² = 0.95). Therefore, biochar alkalinity is a key factor in controlling the liming effect on acid soils. The incorporation of biochar from crop residues, especially from leguminous plants, can both correct soil acidity and improve soil fertility.
The self-assembly of α-synuclein (αS) into intraneuronal inclusion bodies is a key characteristic of Parkinson's disease. To define the nature of the species giving rise to neuronal damage, we have ...investigated the mechanism of action of the main αS populations that have been observed to form progressively during fibril growth. The αS fibrils release soluble prefibrillar oligomeric species with cross-β structure and solvent-exposed hydrophobic clusters. αS prefibrillar oligomers are efficient in crossing and permeabilize neuronal membranes, causing cellular insults. Short fibrils are more neurotoxic than long fibrils due to the higher proportion of fibrillar ends, resulting in a rapid release of oligomers. The kinetics of released αS oligomers match the observed kinetics of toxicity in cellular systems. In addition to previous evidence that αS fibrils can spread in different brain areas, our in vitro results reveal that αS fibrils can also release oligomeric species responsible for an immediate dysfunction of the neurons in the vicinity of these species.
Advanced persistent threat (APT) is a serious threat to the Internet. With the aid of APT malware, attackers can remotely control infected machines and steal sensitive information. DNS is popular for ...malware to locate command and control (C&C) servers. In this paper, we propose a novel system placed at the network egress point that aims to efficiently and effectively detect APT malware infections based on malicious DNS and traffic analysis. The system uses malicious DNS analysis techniques to detect suspicious APT malware C&C domains, and then analyzes the traffic of the corresponding suspicious IP using the signature-based and anomaly based detection technology. We extracted 14 features based on big data to characterize different properties of malware-related DNS and the ways that they are queried, and we also defined network traffic features that can identify the traffic of compromised clients that have remotely been controlled. We built a reputation engine to compute a reputation score for an IP address using these features vector together. Our experiment was performed at a large local institute network for two months, and all the features were studied with big data, which includes ~400 million DNS queries. Our security approach cannot only substantially reduce the volume of network traffic that needs to be recorded and analyzed but also improve the sustainability of the system.
The increasing impact of both climatic change and human activities on global river systems necessitates an increasing need to identify and quantify the various drivers and their impacts on fluvial ...water and sediment discharge. Here we show that mean Yangtze River water discharge of the first decade after the closing of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) (2003-2012) was 67 km(3)/yr (7%) lower than that of the previous 50 years (1950-2002), and 126 km(3)/yr less compared to the relatively wet period of pre-TGD decade (1993-2002). Most (60-70%) of the decline can be attributed to decreased precipitation, the remainder resulting from construction of reservoirs, improved water-soil conservation and increased water consumption. Mean sediment flux decreased by 71% between 1950-1968 and the post-TGD decade, about half of which occurred prior to the pre-TGD decade. Approximately 30% of the total decline and 65% of the decline since 2003 can be attributed to the TGD, 5% and 14% of these declines to precipitation change, and the remaining to other dams and soil conservation within the drainage basin. These findings highlight the degree to which changes in riverine water and sediment discharge can be related with multiple environmental and anthropogenic factors.
Far-infrared images and photometry are presented for 201 Luminous and Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies LIRGs: log (L sub(IR)/L sub(middot in circle)) = 11.00-11.99, ULIRGs: log (L sub(IR)/L sub(middot ...in circle)) = 12.00-12.99, in the Great Observatories All-Sky LIRG Survey (GOALS), based on observations with the Herschel Space Observatory Photodetector Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS) and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) instruments. The image atlas displays each GOALS target in the three PACS bands (70, 100, and 160 mu m) and the three SPIRE bands (250, 350, and 500 mu m), optimized to reveal structures at both high and low surface brightness levels, with images scaled to simplify comparison of structures in the same physical areas of ~100 x 100 kpc super(2). Flux densities of companion galaxies in merging systems are provided where possible, depending on their angular separation and the spatial resolution in each passband, along with integrated system fluxes (sum of components). This data set constitutes the imaging and photometric component of the GOALS Herschel OT1 observing program, and is complementary to atlases presented for the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and Chandra X-ray Observatory. Collectively, these data will enable a wide range of detailed studies of active galactic nucleus and starburst activity within the most luminous infrared galaxies in the local universe.
Anyons are exotic quasiparticles obeying fractional statistics, whose behavior can be emulated in artificially designed spin systems. Here we present an experimental emulation of creating anyonic ...excitations in a superconducting circuit that consists of four qubits, achieved by dynamically generating the ground and excited states of the toric code model, i.e., four-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states. The anyonic braiding is implemented via single-qubit rotations: a phase shift of π related to braiding, the hallmark of Abelian 1/2 anyons, has been observed through a Ramsey-type interference measurement.
Coastal cities are particularly vulnerable to flood under multivariable conditions, such as heavy precipitation, high sea levels, and storms. The combined effect of multiple sources and the joint ...probability of extremes should be considered to assess and manage flood risk better. This paper aims to study the combined effect of rainfall and the tidal level of the receiving water body on flood probability and severity in Fuzhou City, which has a complex river network. Flood severity under a range of precipitation intensities, with return periods (RPs) of 5 yr to 100 yr, and tidal levels was assessed through a hydrodynamic model verified by data observed during Typhoon Longwang in 2005. According to the percentages of the river network where flooding occurred, the threshold conditions for flood severity were estimated in two scenarios: with and without working pumps. In Fuzhou City, working pumps efficiently reduce flood risk from precipitation within a 20-yr RP. However, the pumps may not work efficiently when rainfall exceeds a 100-yr RP because of the limited conveyance capacity of the river network. Joint risk probability was estimated through the optimal copula. The joint probability of rainfall and tidal level both exceeding their threshold values is very low, and the greatest threat in Fuzhou comes from heavy rainfall. However, the tidal level poses an extra risk of flood. Given that this extra risk is ignored in the design of flood defense in Fuzhou, flood frequency and severity may be higher than understood during design.
Osteosarcoma is characterized by high malignancy and high metastasis rate, resulting in high mortality and disability. MiR-663a has been reported in a variety of tumors to promote tumorigenesis. ...However, miR-663a has not been reported in the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma. Bioinformatics analysis and experiments including real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), luciferase reporter, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, Western blot, RNA immunoprecipitation, and flow cytometry assay were applied to explore the function and mechanism of miR-663a in MG63, U2OS, Saos-2, SF-86, and hFOB1.19 cells. In this study, we found that miR-663a is highly expressed in osteosarcoma. At the same time, we discovered that miR-663a facilitates cell proliferation and migration, whereas suppresses cell apoptosis in osteosarcoma. Through a series of biological experiments, it was found that miR-663a regulates the cellular process in osteosarcoma by modulating the expression of MYL9. In addition, we also found that long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) GAS5 serves as a molecular sponge for miR-663a and regulates the progression of osteosarcoma via the ceRNA mechanism. We uncover that miR-663a promotes osteosarcoma development through targeting MYL9, which was regulated by lncRNA GAS5.
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