•A new model based on LSTM is developed for predicting water table depth.•Only a very simple data pre-processing method is required in our proposed model.•The dropout strategy is adopted to prevent ...over-fitting significantly.•Our model shows superiority over the classic FFNN and the Double-LSTM models.
Predicting water table depth over the long-term in agricultural areas presents great challenges because these areas have complex and heterogeneous hydrogeological characteristics, boundary conditions, and human activities; also, nonlinear interactions occur among these factors. Therefore, a new time series model based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), was developed in this study as an alternative to computationally expensive physical models. The proposed model is composed of an LSTM layer with another fully connected layer on top of it, with a dropout method applied in the first LSTM layer. In this study, the proposed model was applied and evaluated in five sub-areas of Hetao Irrigation District in arid northwestern China using data of 14 years (2000–2013). The proposed model uses monthly water diversion, evaporation, precipitation, temperature, and time as input data to predict water table depth. A simple but effective standardization method was employed to pre-process data to ensure data on the same scale. 14 years of data are separated into two sets: training set (2000–2011) and validation set (2012–2013) in the experiment. As expected, the proposed model achieves higher R2 scores (0.789–0.952) in water table depth prediction, when compared with the results of traditional feed-forward neural network (FFNN), which only reaches relatively low R2 scores (0.004–0.495), proving that the proposed model can preserve and learn previous information well. Furthermore, the validity of the dropout method and the proposed model’s architecture are discussed. Through experimentation, the results show that the dropout method can prevent overfitting significantly. In addition, comparisons between the R2 scores of the proposed model and Double-LSTM model (R2 scores range from 0.170 to 0.864), further prove that the proposed model’s architecture is reasonable and can contribute to a strong learning ability on time series data. Thus, one can conclude that the proposed model can serve as an alternative approach predicting water table depth, especially in areas where hydrogeological data are difficult to obtain.
In this paper, the enhanced adsorption of methylene blue (MB) dye ion on the activated carbon (AC) modified by three surfactants in aqueous solution was researched. Anionic surfactants—sodium lauryl ...sulfate (SLS) and sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS)—and cationic surfactant—hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)—were used for the modification of AC. This work showed that the adsorption performance of cationic dye by activated carbon modified by anionic surfactants (SLS) was significantly improved, whereas the adsorption performance of cationic dye by activated carbon modified by cationic surfactant (CTAB) was reduced. In addition, the effects of initial MB concentration, AC dosage, pH, reaction time, temperature, real water samples, and additive salts on the adsorption were studied. When Na+, K+, Ca2+, NH4+, and Mg2+ were present in the MB dye solution, the effect of these cations was negligible on the adsorption (<5%). The presence of NO2- improved the adsorption performance significantly, whereas the removal rate of MB was reduced in the presence of competitive cation (Fe2+). It was found that the isotherm data had a good correlation with the Langmuir isotherm through analyzing the experimental data by various models. The dynamics of adsorption were better described by the pseudo-second-order model and the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous. The results showed that AC modified by anionic surfactant was effective for the adsorption of MB dye in both modeling water and real water.
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening disorder with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Reactive oxygen species and epithelial apoptosis are involved in the pathogenesis of acute lung ...injury. Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent non-apoptotic form of cell death, mediates its effects in part by promoting the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. The inhibition of ferroptosis decreases clinical symptoms in experimental models of ischemia/reperfusion-induced renal failure and heart injury. This study investigated the roles of inhibitor of apoptosis-stimulating protein of p53 (iASPP) and Nrf2 in ferroptosis and their potential therapeutic effects in intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced acute lung injury. Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced ALI was induced in wild-type and Nrf2
mice. The mice were treated with erastin followed by liproxstatin-1. Ferroptosis-related factors in mice with ischemia/reperfusion-induced acute lung injury or in mouse lung epithelial-2 cells with hypoxia/regeneration (HR)-induced ALI were measured by western blotting, real-time PCR, and immunofluorescence. Ferroptosis contributed to intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced ALI in vivo. iASPP inhibited ferroptosis and alleviated intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced acute lung injury, and iASPP-mediated protection against ischemia/reperfusion-induced ALI was dependent on Nrf2 signaling. HR-induced acute lung injury enhanced ferroptosis in vitro in mouse lung epithelial-2 cells, and ferroptosis was modulated after the enhancement of intestinal ischemia/reperfusion in Nrf2
mice. iASPP mediated its protective effects against acute lung injury through the Nrf2/HIF-1/TF signaling pathway. Ferroptosis contributes to intestinal ischemia/reperfusion-induced ALI, and iASPP treatment inhibits ferroptosis in part via Nrf2. These findings indicate the therapeutic potential of iASPP for treating ischemia/reperfusion-induced ALI.
It is widely recognized that vegetation restoration plays a key role in controlling soil erosion in China's Loess Plateau. However, the effects of vegetation types on soil erosion on steep slopes of ...the Loess Plateau are not yet fully understood. In this study, we carried out our experiments on surface runoff and soil loss monitoring at nine runoff plots with different vegetation types over a nine-year period from 2008 to 2016 to evaluate the effects of vegetation and rainfall on soil erosion. We classified forty-three rainfall events into three rainfall types based on a rainfall concentration index and further analyzed the sensitivities of the runoff and soil loss to these rainfall types. The results indicated that the grassland (Bothriochloa ischaemum L.) and shrubland (Sea-buckthorn) with high ground cover had a lower runoff depth and soil loss compared to the forestlands with poor ground cover with an average reduction of 50% in annual runoff depth and 92% in annual soil loss. Comparison of the mean runoff coefficient and soil loss in the three rainfall types demonstrated that rainfall events with high intensity and short duration caused more surface runoff and soil loss under all vegetation types. A power function fitted well in the runoff-soil loss relationship and the result showed that the grassland and shrubland had a smaller magnitude term which reflects less soil susceptibility to erosion. The research implies that the ground cover is an important factor in controlling soil and water loss and vegetation measures with high ground cover should be strongly recommended for soil erosion control on the Loess Plateau. It is helpful for vegetation restoration strategy and conserving soil and water on steep slopes of this area.
•We evaluated the effects of vegetation and rainfall on soil erosion.•We used 9-year observations from 9 runoff plots and 43 rainfall events.•Ground cover played an important role in controlling soil erosion.•High intensity and short duration rainfall events caused major runoff and soil loss.
•Co-MOF nanoarray was hydrothermally developed on nickel foam.•Co-MOF/NF exhibits high electrocatalytic activity for glucose electro-oxidation.•Co-MOF/NF acts as a superior sensor for non-enzymatic ...glucose detection.
It is important to construct and develop non-noble-metal nanoarray architecture for sensitive and selective detection of glucose. In this paper, we testify the hydrothermal synthesis of Co-MOF nanosheet array on nickel foam from aqueous Co2+ and terephthalic acid. The resulting Co-MOF array on Ni foam (Co-MOF/NF) exhibits strong activity for glucose oxidation electrocatalysis in alkaline media. As a promising enzymatic-free sensing, the speedy amperometric response of < 5 s, high sensitivity of 10,886 μA mM−1 cm-2 and low detection limit of 1.3 nM (signal/noise = 3) are obtained in the Co-MOF/NF. Our study shows that the material possesses long-time stability and great reproducibility and may be used for the glucose detection in human blood serum and fruit juice.
The Loess Plateau of China has been experiencing great land use and land cover changes under the “Grain for Green” program to control severe soil loss from human activities. Over the past 30 years, ...annual streamflow and sediment delivery have also reduced in most areas of Loess Plateau. In consequence, a physically based model of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been employed to simulate the responses of surface hydrology to human activities in a typical catchment in the upper reaches of the Beiluo River on China’s Loess Plateau.
As a result of using various sources of information, including remote sensing, it has been shown that farmland in the catchment decreased by 22.8% in 2000 and 35.0% in 2010 compared to the area in 1990. Meanwhile, forestland increased by 22.6% in 2000 and 119.8% in 2010. The area of shrubland increased by a factor of 3.3 in 2000 and 5.5 in 2010. The vegetation coverage greatly increased in the catchment during this period. Using the SWAT model, it was found that the average ET at the sub-basin scale increased by 7.4mm in 2000 and 44.0mm in 2010 as the vegetation coverage improved compared to that in 1990. Meanwhile, the soil water content decreased by 8.1mm and 14.9mm and the surface runoff decreased by 6.1mm and 16.2mm by these two years. The trends in the evapotranspiration, surface runoff and soil water content were closely associated with alterations in the land use and cover categories at the sub-basin scale. Generally, the higher the increasing rate of forest and grassland, the more that evapotranspiration transferred and the less surface runoff and soil water content that was generated. Spatially, the ET, surface runoff and soil water content showed the same changing gradient with land use and cover from the northern and northwestern to the southern and southeastern areas of the catchment during these periods. The scenarios simulation showed that the streamflow were more sensitive to variability in the precipitation than temperature.
These results are expected to be helpful to the sustainable watershed management and provide useful information regarding land use planning and ecosystem construction strategies in the future on the Loess Plateau.
•We evaluated sediment yield and SSC trends in a reach of the middle Yellow River.•Developed a method to attribute sediment load change to streamflow and SSC changes.•Ecological restoration changed ...rainfall-runoff and rainfall-sediment load dynamics.•Identified different phases of sediment load change due to ecological strategies.•Both streamflow and SSC decreases induced sediment load reduction.
The continuous ecological restoration of the Loess Plateau, which aims to reduce the sediment entering into the Yellow River, is known throughout the world for two strategies: the integrated soil conservation project that began in the 1970s, and the “Grain for Green” project that began in the 1990s. However, the topic of whether the muddy water in the middle Yellow River run clearer remains debatable, and, in fact, response to the topic is reasonably well documented in regard to hydrological changes in the sediment source area. Six sub-catchments nested in the Beiluo River basin – one of the major sediment sources for the Yellow River – were selected, with data series ranging from 1957 to 2009. The Mann-Kendall and Pettitt tests were used for trend detection. A simple method was developed based on the distribution of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) versus water discharge. Using this method, we evaluated the quantities of sediment yield reduction attributed to streamflow and SSC changes due to the two strategies.
The results showed that annual sediment yield in 5 out of 6 stations significantly decreased, with rates varying from −4 to −217t·km−2·yr−1. Significant decreases in daily and event streamflow and suspended sediment concentration were identified, especially at a high SSC (top 1–5%). During the integrated soil conservation period, the sediment yield was reduced mainly by decreases in high flow and high SSC conditions. In contrast, during the “Grain for Green” period, sediment yield was reduced due to decreases in streamflow and SSC at all magnitudes. It was concluded that rainfall-sediment load dynamics have changed in the context of ecological restoration. Changes in both streamflow and the SSC–water discharge relationship induced the sediment yield reduction over time; in other words, the streamflow in the middle reaches of Yellow River became clearer during periods of ecological restoration. Moreover, the increased annual sediment yield at the Zhangcunyi station exposed a risk of increased erosion in areas where forests had been well preserved.
Crop residue return is imperative to maintain soil health and productivity but some farmers resist adopting conservation tillage systems with residue return fearing reduced soil temperature following ...planting and crop yield. Soil temperatures were measured at 10 cm depth for one month following planting from 2004 to 2007 in a field experiment in Northeast China. Tillage treatments included mouldboard plough (MP), no till (NT), and ridge till (RT) with maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max Merr.) crops. Tillage had significant effects on soil temperature in 10 of 15 weekly periods. Weekly average NT soil temperature was 0-1.5 °C lower than MP, but the difference was significant (P < 0.05) only in 2007 when residue was not returned in MP the previous autumn. RT showed no clear advantage over NT in increasing soil temperature. Higher residue coverage caused lower soil temperature; the effect was greater for maize than soybean residue. Residue type had significant effect on soil temperature in 9 of 15 weekly periods with 0-1.9 °C lower soil temperature under maize than soybean residue. Both tillage and residue had small but inconsistent effect on soil temperature following planting in Northeast China representative of a cool to temperate zone.
The intermolecular H‐bonding density heavily influences the gelation and rheological behavior of hydrogen‐bonded supramolecular polymer hydrogels, thus offering a delicate pathway to tailor their ...physicochemical properties for meeting a specific biomedical application. Herein, one methylene spacer between two amides in the side chain of N‐acryloyl glycinamide (NAGA) is introduced to generate a variant monomer, N‐acryloyl alaninamide (NAAA). Polymerization of NAAA in aqueous solution affords an unprecedented ultrasoft and highly swollen supramolecular polymer hydrogel due to weakened H‐bonds caused by an extra methylene spacer, which is verified by variable‐temperature Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and simulation calculation. Intriguingly, poly(N‐acryloyl alaninamide) (PNAAA) hydrogel can be tuned to form a transient network with a self‐fused and excellent antifouling capability that results from the weakened dual amide H‐bonding interactions and enhanced water‐amide H‐bonding interactions. This self‐fused PNAAA hydrogel can completely inhibit postoperative abdominal adhesion and recurrent adhesion after adhesiolysis in vivo. This transient hydrogel network allows for its disintegration and excretion from the body. The molecular mechanism studies reveal the signal pathway of PNAAA hydrogel in inhibiting inflammatory response and regulating fibrinolytic system balance. This self‐fused, antifouling ultrasoft supramolecular hydrogel is promising as a barrier biomaterial for completely preventing postoperative tissue adhesion.
One more methylene makes a difference: introducing one extra methylene between two amides in the side chain of poly(N‐acryloyl alaninamide) weakens the H‐bonding interaction, resulting in an ultrasoft and highly swollen supramolecular polymer hydrogel that can be tuned to form a transient network with a self‐fused and antifouling ability, which is harnessed to completely prevent postoperative tissue adhesion.
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