Comparative analysis of the WRKY gene family between Chimonanthus praecox and C. salicifolius.

Gene duplications provide evolutionary potentials for generating novel functions. Chimonanthus praecox and C. salicifolius are closely related species from Calycantaceae, Magnoliids.

Limits on scalar-induced gravitational waves from the stochastic background by pulsar timing array observations.

Recently, the NANOGrav, PPTA, EPTA, and CPTA Collaborations independently reported their evidence of the Stochastic Gravitational Waves Background (SGWB). While the inferred gravitational-wave background amplitude and spectrum are consistent with astrophysical expectations for a signal from the population of supermassive black-hole binaries (SMBHBs), the search for new physics remains plausible in this observational window. In this work, we explore the possibility of explaining such a signal by the scalar-induced gravitational waves (IGWs) in the very early universe.

Developing a stochastic hydrological model for informing lake water level drawdown management.

Winter drawdown (WD) is a common lake management tool for multiple purposes such as flood control, aquatic vegetation reduction, and lake infrastructure maintenance. To minimize adverse impacts to a lake's ecosystem, regulatory agencies may provide managers with general guidelines for drawdown and refill timing, drawdown magnitude, and outflow limitations. However, there is significant uncertainty associated with the potential to meet management targets due to variability in lake characteristics and hydrometeorology of each lake's basin, making the use of modeling tools a necessity.

Typhoon triggers estuarine heavy metal risk by regulating the multifractal grainsize of resuspended sediment.

The turbulent boundary layer generated by wind in the estuarine surface water serves as a main factor affecting the distribution of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and suspended sediment concentration (SSC). In this study, representative typhoon-induced variation of surface fine SPM (<63 μm) was simulated in the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE) under two time scenarios. Each scenario contained four grainsize SPM fractions named Fraction 1 (<8 μm), Fraction 2 (8-16 μm), Fraction 3 (16-32 μm), Fraction 4 (32-63 μm).

Multitasking device with switchable and tailored functions of ultra-broadband absorption and polarization conversion.

We present a multitasking tailored device (MTD) based on phase change material vanadium dioxide (VO) and photoconductive semiconductor (PS) in the terahertz (THz) regime, thereby manipulating the interaction between electromagnetic waves and matter. By altering the control multitasking device, its room temperature, or pump illumination, we switch the function of absorption or polarization conversion (PC) on and off, and realize the tuning of absorptivity and polarization conversion rate (PCR). Meanwhile, the construction of cylindrical air columns (CACs) in the dielectric provides an effective channel to broaden the absorption bandwidth.

Risk prediction of microcystins based on water quality surrogates: A case study in a eutrophicated urban river network.

Microcystins (MCs), the toxic by-products from harmful algal bloom (HAB), have caused world-wide concern due to their acute toxicity in freshwater ecosystems. Most studies on HAB have been conducted for shallow freshwater lakes, such as Taihu Lake in China. However, algal blooms in urban rivers located downstream of eutrophicated lakes are also a serious problem for local administrators.

Numerical simulation of microcystin distribution in Liangxi River, downstream of Taihu Lake.

Microcystins (MCs), the algal toxins produced by cyanobacteria, raised a worldwide concern in recent decades. Limited monitoring stations for MCs make it hard to map the MC spatial distribution in certain areas. To tackle such problems, we selected Liangxi River as our research area and developed an integrated model to get spatial continuous MC data without too many sampling sites, which integrates a hydro-environment model and an artificial neural network algorithm (ANN).