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This study presents a novel approach that integrates hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) technology with circular economy principles to optimize the management of nitrogen and phosphorus in agricultural wastewater. Given the increasing global resource scarcity and continuous ecological degradation, the valorization of biomass wastewater has become a critical pathway for the promotion of sustainable development. Biomass wastewater, which contains crop residues, forestry leftovers, and food processing byproducts, has long been regarded as useless waste. However, this wastewater contains abundant organic matter and possesses significant renewable energy potential. The valorization of biomass wastewater can significantly reduce environmental pollution. Through the optimization of the HTC process parameters, we achieved an improvement in the quality and yield of carbonized products, facilitating the efficient recycling and utilization of resources. This research demonstrates that HTC technology can transform agricultural wastewater into valuable biofertilizers, biomass energy, and organic feed, while simultaneously reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigating the environmental impact of agricultural activities. This paper provides a comprehensive exploration of the application of HTC technology in agricultural ecosystems, highlighting its beneficial role in nitrogen and phosphorus management, resource utilization efficiency, and environmental pollution reduction. The findings of this study suggest that HTC technology holds significant potential in optimizing agricultural wastewater treatment, promoting resource recycling, and advancing sustainable agricultural development. Furthermore, this research offers theoretical support and practical guidance for the implementation of HTC technology in agricultural ecosystems, which is of paramount importance in fostering circular economic development and achieving sustainable agriculture.

Explores climatic limits and estimates the potential geographic distribution, including New Zealand, of the stink bug to provide critical information for management strategies. Source: National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, licensed by the Department of Internal Affairs for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

In order to obtain the calibration law of rock macro and meso parameters under three-dimensional conditions, based on the parallel bond model, starting with the basic theory of PFC and the qualitative relationship between macro and meso parameters, an orthogonal experimental scheme is designed. An improved BP algorithm is proposed, which has a function with gradient factor, adaptive Nesterov momentum method, and adaptive learning rate for the lightweight analysis of meso parameters. The sensitivity between macro and meso parameters is quantified, and the key meso parameters are screened out. Based on the lightweight model, the correlation and influence mechanisms between macro and meso parameters are analyzed. It was found that the elastic modulus increases linearly with the increase in equivalent modulus. The parallel bond stiffness ratio can inhibit the growth of the elastic modulus, and the elastic modulus decreases greatly when the stiffness is relatively high. There is a linear relationship between Poisson’s ratio and stiffness ratio, and the increase in the friction coefficient will cause the nonlinear decrease in it. The strength parameters have an incentive effect on the peak strength. When the tensile and shear strengths of the parallel bond are at a high level, the combination has the most significant effect on the increase in the peak strength. The internal friction angle mainly has a certain influence on the postpeak strength of the rock, because it has a control effect on the particle sliding on both sides of the shear zone when the sample is loaded after the peak. Based on the central composite experimental design and response surface method, a nonlinear model of macro–meso parameters described by multiple subresponse surfaces is obtained. Finally, the mathematical model of parameter calibration is established, and the optimal solution of rock meso parameters is obtained by using optimization techniques. Through the example verification, it was found that the numerical experiment and laboratory test results are close in the stress characteristics, stress evolution, and failure mode of the sample, which proves the effectiveness and reliability of the calibration method. The research results have a certain reference value for PFC parameter calibration.

Soil acidification severely limits peanut productivity. Although lime and biochar can individually improve soil conditions, the effects are often short-lived. The combined effect of biochar and lime (BL) across multiple growing seasons remains unclear. This three-year field study investigated the synergy of biochar-lime co-application (BL) in remediating acidic soils and sustaining peanut yields under continuous cropping. BL was more effective than single amendments (BC/LM), operating through a dual mechanism: (1) Lime rapidly neutralized toxic aluminum (Ex-Al³⁺), while biochar helped retain Ca²⁺, prolonging the pH buffering effect and further reducing aluminum toxicity; (2) Biochar enriched soil microbial communities, which increased the activity of key enzymes involved in nutrient cycling (urease: +49.84%; phosphatase: +46.14%). This improved soil environment reduced oxidative stress in peanuts (MDA: −20.01%) and enhanced their antioxidant defense system (SOD: +27.46%; POD: +34.60%), leading to higher and more stable yields (+ 11.07–27.26% vs. CK) with less year-to-year variation (− 4.66% yield decline). Economically, the lasting effects of BL allowed for a 53% reduction in amendment inputs by the third year, resulting in a 22.91% higher net income than using lime alone. These results demonstrate that BL co-application is a promising strategy for managing acidic soils by simultaneously addressing chemical and biological constraints in continuous cropping systems.

Mobile charging devices (MCDs) have been regarded as a promising way to solve the energy shortage of wireless sensor networks. Due to ignoring some important factors, such as redundant sensor nodes, there is still room to improve network lifetimes. We propose a charging strategy for wireless sensor networks with one energy-limited MCD. To give the best support for sensor nodes which need charging the most, an algorithm is proposed to find the minimum sensor nodes which keep the coverage and connectivity of the network and have the least energy requirements. Then, the goal of maximizing network lifetime is changed into how to utilize the limited energy of the MCD to guarantee the minimum sensor nodes work as long as possible. If the MCD has enough energy for all sensor nodes, the charging algorithm is designed to minimize the outage time of the network and maximize charging efficiency. Otherwise, if the energy capacity is larger than the least energy requirement, the charging target minimizes the outage time of the minimum sensor node; otherwise the charging problem becomes maximizing the lifetime of minimum sensor nodes, which has lower complexity. The results of simulation experiments confirm that our scheme prolongs network lifetime and improves charging efficiency.

Background Broomcorn millet is a drought-tolerant cereal that is widely cultivated in the semiarid regions of Asia, Europe, and other continents; however, the mechanisms underlying its drought-tolerance are poorly understood. The NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2 (NAC) transcription factors form a large plant-specific gene family that is involved in the regulation of tissue development and abiotic stress. To date, NAC transcription factors have not been systematically researched in broomcorn millet. Results In the present study, a total of 180 NAC ( PmNAC ) genes were identified from the broomcorn millet genome and named uniformly according to their chromosomal distribution. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the PmNACs clustered into 12 subgroups, including the broomcorn millet-specific subgroup Pm_NAC. Gene structure and protein motif analyses indicated that closely clustered PmNAC genes were relatively conserved within each subgroup, while genome mapping analysis revealed that the PmNAC genes were unevenly distributed on broomcorn millet chromosomes. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the PmNAC genes differed greatly in expression in various tissues and under different drought stress durations. The expression of 10 selected genes under drought stress was analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR. Conclusion In this study, 180 NAC genes were identified in broomcorn millet, and their phylogenetic relationships, gene structures, protein motifs, chromosomal distribution, duplication, expression patterns in different tissues, and responses to drought stress were studied. These results will be useful for the further study of the functional characteristics of PmNAC genes, particularly with regards to drought resistance.

The Insight -Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope ( Insight -HXMT) is a broadband X-ray and γ-ray (1-3000 keV) astronomy satellite. One of its three main telescopes is the High Energy X-ray telescope (HE). The main detector plane of HE comprises 18 NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) phoswich detectors, where NaI(Tl) is used as the primary detector to measure ~ 20–250 keV photons incident from the field of view (FOV) defined by collimators, and CsI(Na) is used as the active shielding detector to NaI(Tl) by pulse shape discrimination. Additionally, CsI(Na) is used as an omnidirectional γ-ray monitor. The HE collimators have a diverse FOV, i.e. 1.1°×5.7° (15 units), 5.7°×5.7° (2 units), and blocked (1 unit). Therefore, the combined FOV of HE is approximately 5.7°×5.7°. Each HE detector has a diameter of 190 mm resulting in a total geometrical area of approximately 5100 cm 2 , and the energy resolution is ~15% at 60 keV. For each recorded X-ray event by HE, the timing accuracy is less than 10 μs and the dead-time is less than 10 μs. HE is used for observing spectra and temporal variability of X-ray sources in the 20–250 keV band either by pointing observations for known sources or scanning observations to unveil new sources. Additionally, HE is used for monitoring the γ-ray burst in 0.2-3 MeV band. This paper not only presents the design and performance of HE instruments but also reports results of the on-ground calibration experiments.

Accurate extraction of weak fault information from non-stationary vibration signals collected by vibration sensors is challenging due to severe noise and interference. While variational mode decomposition (VMD) has been effective in fault diagnosis, its reliance on predefined parameters, such as center frequencies and mode number, limits its adaptability and performance across different signal characteristics. To address these limitations, this paper proposes an improved variational mode decomposition (IVMD) method that enhances diagnostic performance by adaptively determining key parameters based on scale space representation. In concrete, the approach constructs a scale space by computing the inner product between the signal’s Fourier spectrum and a Gaussian function, and then identifies both the mode number and initial center frequencies through peak detection, ensuring more accurate and stable decomposition. Moreover, a multipoint kurtosis (MKurt) criterion is further employed to identify fault-relevant components, which are then merged to suppress redundancy and enhance diagnostic clarity. Experimental validation on locomotive bearings with inner race faults and compound faults demonstrates that IVMD outperforms conventional VMD by effectively extracting fault features obscured by noise. The results confirm the robustness and adaptability of IVMD, making it a promising tool for fault diagnosis in complex industrial environments.

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancers, but pan-cancer level roles of lipid metabolism in cancer development are remains poorly understood. We investigated the possible roles of lipid metabolic genes (LMGs) in 14 cancer types. The results indicate that: (1) there is strong evidence for increased lipid metabolism in THCA and KICH. (2) Although the overall levels of lipid metabolic processes are down-regulated in some cancer types, fatty acid synthase activity and fatty acid elongation are moderately up-regulated in more than half of the cancer types. Cholesterol synthesis is up-regulated in five cancers including KICH, BLCA, COAD, BRCA, UCEC, and THCA. (3) The catabolism of cholesterols, triglycerides and fatty acids is repressed in most cancers, but a specific form of lipid degradation, lipophagy, is activated in THCA and KICH. (4) Lipid storage is enhanced in in kidney cancers and thyroid cancer. (5) Similarly to primary tumors, metastatic tumors tend to up-regulate biosynthetic processes of diverse lipids, but down-regulate lipid catabolic processes, except lipophagy. (6) The frequently mutated lipid metabolic genes are not key LMGs. (7) We established a LMG-based model for predicting cancer prognosis. Our results are helpful in expanding our understanding of the role of lipid metabolism in cancer.

Background and objective When performing retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS), compared with conventional ureteral access sheaths (UAS), flexible and navigable suction ureteral access sheaths (FANs) can reduce the number of lithotripsy sessions and increase the stone-free rate (SFR). They have been widely applied in flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy (FURL). Currently, ureteroscopic flexible ureteroscopes equipped with FANs are also showing remarkable outcomes in the treatment of large kidney stones. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore the efficacy of single-use flexible ureteroscopes (su-fURS) combined with FANs in the treatment of kidney stones larger than 2.5 cm and to compare it with percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL). Methods Data of patients who underwent treatment of 2.5–3.8 cm kidney stones in the First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Second Medical University from January 2024 to December 2024 were included in the study. According to the different surgical methods, they were divided into PCNL group and FANs group. The general data, intraoperative and postoperative related data of the patients in the two groups were collected and compared, where P  < 0.05 represents statistical significance. Results A total of 76 patients (41 PCNL, 35 FANs) were included in this study, and both groups achieved a very favorable SFR (85%, 93% vs. 80%, 91% P  = 0.536, 0.840), and the difference was not statistically significant. The PCNL group had a shorter mean operative time (99.39 vs. 135.49 min P  < 0.001) and a lower mean hospitalization cost (22, 865.60 vs. 26,031.91 ¥ P  < 0.001). The FANs had a lower level of postoperative hemoglobin (Hb) drop (6.31 vs. 11.05 g/L P  = 0.010) and a less severe level of postoperative pain (1.97 vs. 3.41 points P  < 0.001), faster postoperative recovery (3.29 vs. 6.54d P  < 0.001). Conclusions FANs combined with su-FURS for the treatment of kidney stones larger than 2.5 cm have a high SFR, with less pain and quicker recovery for patients, making it a method worth promoting and applying in the clinic.