Mechanisms underlying species richness patterns remain a central yet controversial issue in biology. Climate has been regarded as a major determinant of species richness. However, the relative influences of different evolutionary processes, (i.e. niche conservatism, diversification rate and time for speciation) on species richness–climate relationships remain to be tested. Here, using newly compiled distribution maps for 11 422 woody plant species in eastern Eurasia, we estimated species richness patterns for all species and for families with tropical and temperate affinities separately, and explored the phylogenetic signals in species richness patterns of different families and their relationships with contemporary climate and climate change since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We further compared the effects of niche conservatism (represented by contemporary-ancestral climatic niches differences), diversification rate and time for speciation (represented by family age) on variation in the slopes of species richness–climate relationships. We found that winter coldness was the best predictor for species richness patterns of most tropical families while Quaternary climate change was the best predictor for those of most temperate families. Species richness patterns of closely-related families were more similar than those of distantly-related families within eudicots, and significant phylogenetic signals characterized the slopes of species richness–climate relationships across all angiosperm families. Contemporary-ancestral climatic niche differences dominated variation in the relationships between family-level species richness and most climate variables. Our results indicate significant phylogenetic conservatism in family-level species richness patterns and their relationships with contemporary climate within eudicots. These findings shed light on the mechanisms underlying large-scale species richness patterns and suggest that ancestral climatic niche may influence the evolution of species richness–climate relationships in plants through niche conservatism.
Piezoelectricity, as a kind of physical phenomenon, is a coupling between a material’s mechanical and electrical behavior. Herein, the local accumulated charges on the surface of piezoelectric material were used to break OO bond of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to induce its activation for the benzothiazole (BTH) removal. Taking BaTiO3 as a model piezocatalyst, up to 97 % of BTH was degraded within 30 min in BaTiO3/PMS/force system, which was respective 40 %, 79 %, 83 % higher than that in BaTiO3/force piezocatalysis, force/PMS oxidation, and BaTiO3/PMS adsorption. A significant synergistic effect was observed since the reaction rate constant of BaTiO3/PMS/force was 3 times higher than the sum of those later three processes. The possible activated mechanism was proposed based on reactive species analysis, DFT calculation and LCMS determination. The stability of the piezocatalyst and the treatment performance for real wastewater were studied to investigate the potential in practical applicability. All the results demonstrated that the BaTiO3 piezoelectricity can efficiently activate PMS to enhance BTH removal, which is a promising strategy for PMS activation, as well as a valuable insight for the piezoelectrical application in wastewater remediation.
Neuronal responses to one-dimensional orientations are combined to represent two-dimensional composite patterns, which plays a key role in intermediate-level vision such as texture segmentation. However, where and how the visual cortex starts to represent composite patterns, such as a plaid consisting of two superimposing gratings of different orientations, remains neurophysiologically elusive. Psychophysical and modeling evidence has suggested the existence of early neural mechanisms specialized in plaid detection [1-6], but the responses of V1 neurons to an optimally orientated grating are actually suppressed by a superimposing grating of different orientation (i.e., cross-orientation inhibition) [7, 8]. Would some other V1 neurons be plaid detectors? Here we used two-photon calcium imaging [9] to compare the responses of V1 superficial-layer neurons to gratings and plaids in awake macaques. We found that many non-orientation-tuned neurons responded weakly to gratings, but strongly to plaids, often with plaid orientation selectivity and cross-angle selectivity. In comparison, most (~94%) orientation-tuned neurons showed more or less cross-orientation inhibition, regardless of the relative stimulus contrasts. Only a small portion (~8%) of them showed plaid facilitation at off-peak orientations. These results suggest separate subpopulations of plaid and grating responding neurons. Because most plaid neurons (~95%) were insensitive to motion direction, they were plaid pattern detectors, not plaid motion detectors.
Objective: The genetic variant rs2237895, located in the Potassium Voltage-Gated Channel Subfamily Q Member 1 (KCNQ1) gene, has been replicated to be associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) susceptibility, but the relationship with lipids is conflicting. Furthermore, the common genetic predisposition to T2DM and lipids was not fully detected. Methods: In total, 5839 individuals (2220 were T2DM patients) across 2885 families were included. The effect of rs2237895 on T2DM and lipids was estimated using linear regression and logistic regression models after adjustment for multiple covariates. Mediation analysis was then used to test whether KCNQ1 participated in T2DM pathogenesis via lipid-mediated pathways. Results: Per allele-C of rs2237895 was associated with 17% (11-23%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%, P < 0.001) increased T2DM risk. Moreover, it was correlated with 5% (1-9%. Conclusion: KCNQ1 had pleiotropic effects on lipids and T2DM, and the unexpected genetic effect on association of HDL-C with T2DM was observed, indicating the different pathways to lipids and T2DM. Further research studies are needed to verify potential biological mechanisms.
The purpose of this paper is to take a diachronic approach and survey the pre-Roman and Roman evidence of communal feasting in Macedonia, in order to understand how such form of social action changed after a well-established form executed by the Macedonian monarchy came under the challenges posed by the years of turmoil following Rome's conquest. The basic premise of this paper is that feasting is a politically-embedded form of social occasion and naturally subject to manipulation. In turn, the scale of communal feasting would reflect different strategies of the manipulating parties, and in particular one can distinguish from the strongly aspirational type of communal feasting aimed at creating national and even sovereign symbolisms from the transactional types of communal feasting in which the host and the participants partake in the small-group manuvers of more limited socio-political implications. Evidence highlighted in this paper include the well-known Hagios Athanasios symposium frieze, the honorific inscription for Apollonios son of Apollonios from Kalindoia (SEG 35.744), and a sample of Macedonian inscriptions concerning local cultic associations and the Macedonian koinon.
By integrating azulene with a quinoid moiety, a novel non-alternant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecule BCHF1 exhibiting manifold zwitterionic, quinoidal and diradical behaviors is designed and synthesized. Its zwitterionic feature is evidenced by the changes shown by the 1H-NMR and absorption spectra when the molecule undergoes reversible protonation and deprotonation reactions at varied pH. The diradical facet, manifesting a small singlet–triplet energy gap (ΔES–T), is characterized with a paramagnetic resonance signal detected by the EPR spectroscopy at room temperature. As the diradical properties are not observed in the protonated form, BCHF1+H+, a pH-controlled reversible magnetic switching behavior is illustrated by monitoring the on and off cycles of EPR signals upon successively adding bases and acids to a solution or exposing a thin film of BCHF1+H+ to base vapor followed by acid vapor.
A facile method was developed to fabricate porous tube-like ZnS by sulfurizing rod-like ZIF-L with thioacetamide (TAA) at different durations and the formation mechanism of the porous tube-like ZnS was discussed in detail. The series of sulfide products (ZS-X) were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (SSNMR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–visible diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS). The photocatalytic performances of ZS-X toward Cr(VI) reduction and organic pollutant degradation were explored. It was discovered that ZS-3 (porous tube-like ZnS) exhibited excellent activities under UV light and displayed good reusability and stability after several experimental cycles. In addition, Cr(VI) reduction and organic pollutant degradation were investigated under different pH values and existence of different foreign ions. The photocatalytic activities of ZS-3 were tested toward the matrix of Cr(VI) and reactive red X–3B. The mechanism was proposed and verified by both electrochemical analysis and electron spin resonance (ESR) measurement.
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have been widely detected in ecosystems. However, effective water purification technologies for PPCPs degradation are lacking. In this work, an active activated carbon fiber supported titanate nanotubes (TNTs@ACF) composite was synthesized via one-step hydrothermal process, which was applied for adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of PPCPs under simulated solar light. Characterizations indicated that the successful grafting of TNTs onto ACF was achieved and surface modification occurred. Diclofenac (DCF, a model PPCPs) was rapidly adsorbed onto TNTs@ACF, and subsequently photodegraded (98.8 %) under solar light within 2 h. TNTs@ACF also performed well over a wide range of pH, and was resistant to humic acid. The good adsorption and photocatalytic activity of TNTs@ACF was attributed to the well-defined hybrid structure, enabling corporative adsorption of DCF by TNTs and ACF, and extending the light absorbance to visible region. Furthermore, the description of degradation pathway and evaluation of ecotoxicity for DCF and its intermediates/byproduct were proposed based on experimental analysis, density functional theory (DFT) calculation and quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) analysis, respectively, indicating the photocatalytic degradation of DCF can offer the step-by-step de-toxicity. Our study is expected to offer new strategy as “pre-accumulation and in-situ destruction” for environmental application.
Scale formation is an important challenge in water and wastewater treatment systems. However, due to the complex nature of membrane surfaces, the effects of specific membrane surface characteristics on scale formation are poorly understood. In this study, the independent effect of surface hydrophobicity on gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) scale formation via surface-induced nucleation and bulk homogeneous nucleation was investigated using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) on self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) terminated with −OH, −CH3, and −CF3 functional groups. Results show that higher surface hydrophobicity enhances both surface-induced nucleation of gypsum and attachment of gypsum crystals formed from homogeneous nucleation in the bulk solution. The enhanced surface-induced nucleation is attributed to the lower nucleation energy barrier on a hydrophobic surface, while the increased gypsum crystal attachment results from the favorable hydrophobic interactions between gypsum and more hydrophobic surfaces. Contrary to previous findings, the role of Ca2+ adsorption in surface-induced nucleation was found to be relatively small and similar on the different SAMs. Therefore, increasing material hydrophilicity is a potential approach to reduce gypsum scaling.
Recent studies have suggested that the cognitive process of the human brain is realized as probabilistic inference and can be further modeled by probabilistic graphical models like Markov random fields. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how probabilistic inference can be implemented by a network of spiking neurons in the brain. Previous studies have tried to relate the inference equation of binary Markov random fields to the dynamic equation of spiking neural networks through belief propagation algorithm and reparameterization, but they are valid only for Markov random fields with limited network structure. In this paper, we propose a spiking neural network model that can implement inference of arbitrary binary Markov random fields. Specifically, we design a spiking recurrent neural network and prove that its neuronal dynamics are mathematically equivalent to the inference process of Markov random fields by adopting mean-field theory. Furthermore, our mean-field approach unifies previous works. Theoretical analysis and experimental results, together with the application to image denoising, demonstrate that our proposed spiking neural network can get comparable results to that of mean-field inference.