Description: Annual production of crop residues has reached nearly four billion metric tons globally. Retention of this large amount of residues on agricultural land can be beneficial to soil C sequestration. Such potential impacts, however, may be offset if residue retention substantially increases soil emissions of N 2 O, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone depletion substance. Residue effects on soil N 2 O emissions have gained considerable attention since early 1990s; yet, it is still a great challenge to predict the magnitude and direction of soil N 2 O emissions following residue amendment. Here, we used a meta-analysis to assess residue impacts on soil N 2 O emissions in relation to soil and residue attributes, i.e., soil pH, soil texture, soil water content, residue C and N input, and residue C:N ratio. Residue effects were negatively associated with C:N ratios, but generally residue amendment could not reduce soil N 2 O emissions, even for C:N ratios well above ~30, the threshold for net N immobilization. Residue effects were also comparable to, if not greater than, those of synthetic N fertilizers. In addition, residue effects on soil N 2 O emissions were positively related to the amounts of residue C input as well as residue effects on soil CO 2 respiration. Furthermore, most significant and stimulatory effects occurred at 60-90% soil water-filled pore space and soil pH 7.1-7.8. Stimulatory effects were also present for all soil textures except sand or clay content ≤ 10%. However, inhibitory effects were found for soils with 〉 90% water-filled pore space. Altogether, our meta-analysis suggests that crop residues played roles beyond N supply for N 2 O production. Perhaps, by stimulating microbial respiration crop residues enhanced oxygen depletion and therefore promoted anaerobic conditions for denitrification and N 2 O production. Our meta-analysis highlights the necessity to connect the quantity and quality of crop residues with soil properties for predicting soil N 2 O emissions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: Analytical Chemistry DOI: 10.1021/ac502333a

Description: Author(s): Wen-Jun Hu, Wei Zhu, Yi Zhang, Shoushu Gong, Federico Becca, and D. N. Sheng We investigate the extended Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice by using Gutzwiller projected fermionic states and the variational Monte Carlo technique. In particular, when both second- and third-neighbor superexchanges are considered, we find that a gapped spin liquid described by nontrivial ma... [Phys. Rev. B 91, 041124] Published Fri Jan 30, 2015

Description: Blastocyst injection and morula aggregation are commonly used to evaluate stem cell pluripotency based on chimeric contribution of the stem cells. To assess the protocols for generating chimeras from stem cells, 8-cell mouse embryos were either injected or cocultured with mouse embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, respectively. Although a significantly higher chimera rate resulted from blastocyst injection, the highest germline contribution resulted from injection of 8-cell embryos with embryonic stem cells. The fully agouti colored chimeras were generated from both injection and coculture of 8-cell embryos with embryonic stem cells. Additionally, microsatellite DNA screening showed that the fully agouti colored chimeras were fully embryonic stem cell derived mice. Unlike embryonic stem cells, the mouse chimeras were only generated from injection of 8-cell embryos with induced pluripotent stem cells and none of these showed germline transmission. The results indicated that injection of 8-cell embryos is the most efficient method for assessing stem cell pluripotency and generating induced pluripotent stem cell chimeras, embryonic stem cell chimeras with germline transmission, and fully mouse embryonic stem cell derived mice.

Description: We isolated the complete Foxl2 (Foxl2a) cDNA from the Monopterus albus ovary. An alignment of known Foxl2 amino-acid sequences confirmed the conservation of the Foxl2 open reading frame, especially the forkhead domain and C-terminal region. The expression of Foxl2 was detected in the brain, eyes, and gonads. A high level of Foxl2 expression in the ovary before sex reversal, but its transcripts decreased sharply when the gonad developed into the ovotestis and testis. The correlation between the Foxl2 expression and the process of sex development revealed the important function of Foxl2 during the sex reversal of M. albus. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that Foxl2 was expressed abundantly in granulosa cells and in the interstitial cells of the ovotestis and testis. These results suggest that Foxl2 plays a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of ovarian function. Foxl2 may be also involved in the early development of testis and the development of ocular structures of M. albus. Scientific Reports 4 doi: 10.1038/srep06884

Description: Nonlinearity of the liquid scintillator energy response is a key to measuring the neutrino energy spectrum in reactor neutrino experiments such as Daya Bay and JUNO. We measured the nonlinearity of the linear alkyl benzene based liquid scintillator in the laboratory, which is used in Daya Bay and will be used in JUNO, via the Compton scattering process. By tagging the scattered gamma from the liquid scintillator sample simultaneously at seven angles, the instability of the system was largely cancelled. The accurately measured nonlinearity will improve the precision of the θ 13 , Δ m 2 , and reactor neutrino spectrum measurements at Daya Bay.

Description: This paper develops an optimization model for the diffusion effects of free samples under dynamic changes in potential market based on the characteristics of independent product and presents a two-stage method to figure out the sampling level. The impact analysis of the key factors on the sampling level shows that the increase of the external coefficient or internal coefficient has a negative influence on the sampling level. And the changing rate of the potential market has no significant influence on the sampling level whereas the repeat purchase has a positive one. Using logistic analysis and regression analysis, the global sensitivity analysis gives a whole analysis of the interaction of all parameters, which provides a two-stage method to estimate the impact of the relevant parameters in the case of inaccuracy of the parameters and to be able to construct a 95% confidence interval for the predicted sampling level. Finally, the paper provides the operational steps to improve the accuracy of the parameter estimation and an innovational way to estimate the sampling level.

Description: Author(s): Yinglei Wang, Tao Hu, Wei Xie, Liaoxin Sun, Long Zhang, Jian Wang, Jie Gu, Lin Wu, Jun Wang, Xuechu Shen, and Zhanghai Chen We demonstrate a clear anticrossing between two polarization-orthogonal exciton-polariton modes in ZnO microwires. The strong coupling between exciton polaritons with orthogonal polarization is evidenced by using angle-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. The evolution of the coupling strength w... [Phys. Rev. B 91, 121301] Published Mon Mar 30, 2015

Description: Author(s): Lun-Hui Hu, Wei-Qiang Chen, and Fu-Chun Zhang Conventional Cooper pairing arises from attractive interaction of electrons in the metallic bands. A recent experiment on Co-doped LiFeAs shows superconductivity in the insulating valence band, which is evolved from a metallic hole band upon doping. Here we examine this phenomenon by studying superc... [Phys. Rev. B 91, 161108] Published Thu Apr 23, 2015

Description: Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4-α (HNF4α), a nuclear receptor, is expressed at lower levels in colon carcinoma tissues than in adjacent normal tissues. However, the relation between HNF4α and colon cancer progression and the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated the role of HNF4α in the progression of colon carcinoma. We showed that HNF4α mRNA and protein were downregulated in colon carcinoma specimens. HNF4α expression was related to pT classification ( P  〈 0.001), lymph node metastasis ( P  = 0.002), distant metastasis ( P  〈 0.001) and clinical stage ( P  〈 0.001) in colon carcinoma patients. Patients with low or negative HNF4α expression had worse 3-year progression-free survival (PFS, P  = 0.006) and overall survival (OS, P  = 0.005) than patients with high HNF4α expression. Low HNF4α expression was an independent prognostic factor for 3-year PFS (hazard ratio 2.94; 95% confidence interval 1.047–8.250; P  = 0.041). Ectopic expression of HNF4α inhibited colon carcinoma cell (HT29, LoVo, and SW480) proliferation, migration, and invasion, induced G2/M phase arrest and promoted apoptosis. Ectopic expression of HNF4α upregulated E-cadherin and downregulated vimentin in vitro, and suppressed SW480 xenograft tumor growth and liver metastasis in vivo. Furthermore, HNF4α overexpression downregulated the expression of snail, slug and twist. HNF4α inhibited EMT through its effect on the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, and HNF4α downregulation may be mediated by promoter methylation in cancer tissues. Our results suggest that downregulation of HNF4α plays a critical role in the aggravation of colon carcinoma possibly by promoting EMT via the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and by affecting apoptosis and cell cycle progression. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.