Abiotic stresses have a detrimental impact on plant growth and productivity and are a major threat to sustainable crop production in rapidly changing environments. Proline, an important amino acid, ...plays an important role in maintaining the metabolism and growth of plants under abiotic stress conditions. Many insights indicate a positive relationship between proline accumulation and tolerance of plants to various abiotic stresses. Because of its metal chelator properties, it acts as a molecular chaperone, an antioxidative defence molecule that scavenges reactive oxygen species (ROS), as well as having signalling behaviour to activate specific gene functions that are crucial for plant recovery from stresses. It also acts as an osmoprotectant, a potential source to acquire nitrogen as well as carbon, and plays a significant role in the flowering and development of plants. Overproduction of proline in plant cells contributes to maintaining cellular homeostasis, water uptake, osmotic adjustment and redox balance to restore the cell structures and mitigate oxidative damage. Many reports reveal that transgenic plants, particularly those overexpressing genes tailored for proline accumulation, exhibit better adaptation to abiotic stresses. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive update on proline biosynthesis and accumulation in plants and its putative regulatory roles in mediating plant defence against abiotic stresses. Additionally, the current and future directions in research concerning manipulation of proline to induce gene functions that appear promising in genetics and genomics approaches to improve plant adaptive responses under changing climate conditions are also highlighted.
Proline has multifaceted functions to combat abiotic stress in plants.
Organ-on-A-chip (OoAC) devices are miniaturized, functional, in vitro constructs that aim to recapitulate the in vivo physiology of an organ using different cell types and extracellular matrix, while ...maintaining the chemical and mechanical properties of the surrounding microenvironments. From an end-point perspective, the success of a microfluidic OoAC relies mainly on the type of biomaterial and the fabrication strategy employed. Certain biomaterials, such as PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane), are preferred over others due to their ease of fabrication and proven success in modelling complex organ systems. However, the inherent nature of human microtissues to respond differently to surrounding stimulations has led to the combination of biomaterials ranging from simple PDMS chips to 3D-printed polymers coated with natural and synthetic materials, including hydrogels. In addition, recent advances in 3D printing and bioprinting techniques have led to the powerful combination of utilizing these materials to develop microfluidic OoAC devices. In this narrative review, we evaluate the different materials used to fabricate microfluidic OoAC devices while outlining their pros and cons in different organ systems. A note on combining the advances made in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques for the microfabrication of these complex systems is also discussed.
A long-standing enigma in plasma transport has been resolved by modeling of cold-pulse experiments conducted on the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. Controlled edge cooling of fusion plasmas triggers core ...electron heating on time scales faster than an energy confinement time, which has long been interpreted as strong evidence of nonlocal transport. This Letter shows that the steady-state profiles, the cold-pulse rise time, and disappearance at higher density as measured in these experiments are successfully captured by a recent local quasilinear turbulent transport model, demonstrating that the existence of nonlocal transport phenomena is not necessary for explaining the behavior and time scales of cold-pulse experiments in tokamak plasmas.
Laser-driven plasma accelerators provide tabletop sources of relativistic electron bunches and femtosecond x-ray pulses, but usually require petawatt-class solid-state-laser pulses of wavelength λ
~ ...1 μm. Longer-λ
lasers can potentially accelerate higher-quality bunches, since they require less power to drive larger wakes in less dense plasma. Here, we report on a self-injecting plasma accelerator driven by a long-wave-infrared laser: a chirped-pulse-amplified CO
laser (λ
≈ 10 μm). Through optical scattering experiments, we observed wakes that 4-ps CO
pulses with < 1/2 terawatt (TW) peak power drove in hydrogen plasma of electron density down to 4 × 10
cm
(1/100 atmospheric density) via a self-modulation (SM) instability. Shorter, more powerful CO
pulses drove wakes in plasma down to 3 × 10
cm
that captured and accelerated plasma electrons to relativistic energy. Collimated quasi-monoenergetic features in the electron output marked the onset of a transition from SM to bubble-regime acceleration, portending future higher-quality accelerators driven by yet shorter, more powerful pulses.
Although many high-entropy alloys (HEAs) possess excellent mechanical properties, they are not exempt from the common dilemma of strength–ductility trade-off in most cases, which limits their ...potential applications. Herein, rotationally accelerated shot peening was used to introduce different gradient hierarchical microstructures, including gradients in twin and dislocation densities, and hierarchical nanotwin, into a CoCrFeNiMn HEA by adjusting the processing parameters. The resulting gradient structures and their effect on hardening behaviour and mechanical properties were systematically explored. Quantitative analysis indicates that deformation twinning, including hierarchical nanotwinning could be more important than dislocation slip in terms of their contribution to hardness and strain hardening capability, depending on the gradient structure profile. It was found that simultaneous improvement of strength and ductility can be achieved in a gradient structure with a thin deformed layer and an undeformed core. Based on our experimental results, we propose that a gradient structure with a largest possible strength difference between the surface layer and the undeformed core would maximize the strength–ductility synergy.
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•Gradient hierarchical microstructures to simultaneously enhance strength and ductility of CoCrFeNiMn high entropy alloy.•This structure include: thin gradient layer of deformation twins with undeformed core, and fully deformed gradient layer.•Larger strain gradient promotes accumulation of geometrically necessary dislocations to sustain strain hardening.•Two-order hierarchical nanotwin contributes to higher strain hardening due to twin-twin and dislocation-twin interactions.•Appropriate gradient thickness for the effectiveness of hierarchical nanotwin induced strength-ductility synergy.
The quantification of ammonia (NH3) emissions is essential to the more accurate quantification of atmospheric nitrogen deposition, improved air quality and the assessment of ammonia-related ...agricultural policy and climate mitigation strategies. The quantity, geographic distribution and historical trends of these emissions remain largely uncertain. In this paper, a new Chinese agricultural fertilizer NH3 (CAF_NH3) emissions inventory has been compiled that exhibits the following improvements: (1) a 1 × 1 km gridded map on the county level was developed for 2008; (2) a combined bottom-up and top-down method was used for the local correction of emission factors (EFs) and parameters; (3) the temporal patterns of historical time trends for 1978–2008 were estimated and the uncertainties were quantified for the inventories; and (4) a sensitivity test was performed in which a province-level disaggregated map was compared with CAF_NH3 emissions for 2008. The total CAF_NH3 emissions for 2008 were 8.4 TgNH3 yr−1 (a 6.6–9.8 Tg interquartile range). From 1978 to 2008, annual NH3 emissions fluctuated with three peaks (1987, 1996 and 2005), and total emissions increased from 3.2 to 8.4 Tg at an annual rate of 3.0 %. During the study period, the contribution of livestock manure spreading increased from 37.0 to 45.5 % because of changing fertilization practices and the rapid increase in egg, milk, and meat consumption. The average contribution of synthetic fertilizer, which has a positive effect on crop yields, was approximately 38.3 % (minimum: 33.4 %; maximum: 42.7 %). With rapid urbanization causing a decline in the rural population, the contribution of the rural excrement sector varied widely between 20.3 % and 8.5 %. The average contributions of cake fertilizer and straw returning were approximately 3.8 and 4.5 %, respectively, thus small and stable. Collectively, the CAF_NH3 emissions reflect the nation's agricultural policy to a certain extent. An effective approach to decreasing PM2.5 concentrations in China would be to simultaneously decrease NOx, SO2, and NH3 emissions.
Abstract
We report high-quality H
α
/CO imaging spectroscopy of nine massive (log median stellar mass = 10.65
M
⊙
) disk galaxies on the star-forming main sequence (henceforth SFGs), near the peak of ...cosmic galaxy evolution (
z
∼ 1.1–2.5), taken with the ESO Very Large Telescope, IRAM-NOEMA, and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. We fit the major axis position–velocity cuts with beam-convolved, forward models with a bulge, a turbulent rotating disk, and a dark matter (DM) halo. We include priors for stellar and molecular gas masses, optical light effective radii and inclinations, and DM masses from our previous rotation curve analysis of these galaxies. We then subtract the inferred 2D model-galaxy velocity and velocity dispersion maps from those of the observed galaxies. We investigate whether the residual velocity and velocity dispersion maps show indications for radial flows. We also carry out kinemetry, a model-independent tool for detecting radial flows. We find that all nine galaxies exhibit significant nontangential flows. In six SFGs, the inflow velocities (
v
r
∼ 30–90 km s
−1
, 10%–30% of the rotational component) are along the minor axis of these galaxies. In two cases the inflow appears to be off the minor axis. The magnitudes of the radial motions are in broad agreement with the expectations from analytic models of gravitationally unstable, gas-rich disks. Gravitational torques due to clump and bar formation, or spiral arms, drive gas rapidly inward and result in the formation of central disks and large bulges. If this interpretation is correct, our observations imply that gas is transported into the central regions on ∼10 dynamical timescales.
Despite the importance of immunological memory for protective immunity against viral infection, whether H7N9-specific antibodies and memory T-cell responses remain detectable years after the original ...infection is unknown.
A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the immune memory responses of H7N9 patients who contracted the disease and survived during the 2013–2016 epidemics in China. Sustainability of antibodies and T-cell memory to H7N9 virus were examined. Healthy individuals receiving routine medical examinations in a physical examination centre were recruited as control.
A total of 75 survivors were enrolled and classified into four groups based on the time elapsed from illness onset to specimen collection: 3 months (n = 14), 14 months (n = 14), 26 months (n = 28) and 36 months (n = 19). Approximately 36 months after infection, the geometric mean titres of virus-specific antibodies were significantly lower than titres in patients 3 months after infection, but 16 of 19 (84.2%) survivors in the 36-month interval had microneutralization (MN) titres ≥40. Despite the overall declining trend, the percentages of virus-specific cytokine-secreting memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells remained higher in survivors at nearly all time-points in comparison with control individuals. Linear regression analysis showed that severe disease (mean titre ratio 2.77, 95% CI 1.17–6.49) was associated with higher haemagglutination inhibition (HI) titre and female sex for both HI (1.92, 1.02–3.57) and MN (3.33, 1.26–9.09) antibody, whereas female sex (mean percentage ratio 1.69, 95% CI 1.08–2.63), underlying medical conditions (1.94, 95% CI 1.09–3.46) and lack of antiviral therapy (2.08, 95% CI 1.04–4.17) were predictors for higher T-cell responses.
Survivors of H7N9 virus infection produced long-term antibodies and memory T-cell responses. Our findings warrant further serological investigation in general and high-risk populations and have important implications for vaccine design and development.
Effective separation and remediation of environmentally hazardous pollutants are burning areas of research because of a constant increase in environmental pollution problems. An extensive number of ...emerging contaminants in the environmental matrices result in serious health consequences in animals, humans, and plants, even at trace levels. Therefore, it is of paramount significance to quantify these undesirable pollutants, even at a very low concentration, from the natural environment. Magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) has recently achieved huge attention because of its strong magnetic domain and easy separation through an external magnetic field compared with simple solid-phase extraction. Therefore, MSPE appeared the most promising technique for removing and pre-concentration of emerging pollutants at trace level. Compared to the normal solid-phase extraction, MSPE as magnetic hybrid adsorbents offers the unique advantages of distinct nanomaterials and magnetic hybrid materials. It can exhibit efficient dispersion and rapid recycling when applying to a very complex matrix. This review highlights the possible environmental applications of magnetic hybrid nanoscale materials as effective MSPE sorbents to remediate a diverse range of environmentally toxic pollutants. We believe this study tends to evoke a variety of research thrust that may lead to novel remediation approaches in the forthcoming years.
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•The persistence of environmentally related pollutants causes threats to the living ecosystems.•Magnetic hybrid nanoscale materials as effective magnetic solid-phase extraction sorbents are discussed.•An array of nano-adsorbents is given to remediate a diverse range of environmentally toxic pollutants.
•The ARC conceptual design study has been extended to include a divertor.•Long legged X-point target divertors are implemented with no impact on core plasma.•All superconducting coils are shielded ...and the tritium breeding ratio is ≈1.08.•An ITER-like tungsten swirl-tube cooling channel with molten FLiBe coolant is used.•The ARC reactor divertor design simplifies detachment control and diagnostics.
The ARC pilot plant conceptual design study has been extended beyond its initial scope B. N. Sorbom et al., FED 100 (2015) 378 to explore options for managing ∼525 MW of fusion power generated in a compact, high field (B0 = 9.2 T) tokamak that is approximately the size of JET (R0 = 3.3 m). Taking advantage of ARC’s novel design – demountable high temperature superconductor toroidal field (TF) magnets, poloidal magnetic field coils located inside the TF, and vacuum vessel (VV) immersed in molten salt FLiBe blanket – this follow-on study has identified innovative and potentially robust power exhaust management solutions. The superconducting poloidal field coil set has been reconfigured to produce double-null plasma equilibria with a long-leg X-point target divertor geometry. This design choice is motivated by recent modeling which indicates that such configurations enhance power handling and may attain a passively-stable detachment front that stays in the divertor leg over a wide power exhaust window. A modified VV accommodates the divertor legs while retaining the original core plasma volume and TF magnet size. The molten salt FLiBe blanket adequately shields all superconductors, functions as an efficient tritium breeder, and, with augmented forced flow loops, serves as an effective single-phase, low-pressure coolant for the divertor, VV, and breeding blanket. Advanced neutron transport calculations (MCNP) indicate a tritium breeding ratio of ∼1.08. The neutron damage rate (DPA/year) of the remote divertor targets is ∼3–30 times lower than that of the first wall. The entire VV (including divertor and first wall) can tolerate high damage rates since the demountable TF magnets allow the VV to be replaced every 1–2 years as a single unit, employing a vertical maintenance scheme. A tungsten swirl tube FLiBe coolant channel design, similar in geometry to that used by ITER, is considered for the divertor heat removal and shown capable of exhausting divertor heat flux levels of up to 12 MW/m2. Several novel, neutron tolerant diagnostics are explored for sensing power exhaust and for providing feedback control of divertor conditions over long time scales. These include measurement of Cherenkov radiation emitted in FLiBe to infer DT fusion reaction rate, measurement of divertor detachment front locations in the divertor legs with microwave interferometry, and monitoring “hotspots” on the divertor chamber walls via IR imaging through the FLiBe blanket.
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