Ecological degradation caused by coal mining is one of the most severe problems, especially in arid and semi-arid areas of northwestern China, where poor soil structure, low water content, and lack of nutrients obstruct vegetation restoration. Improving water and nutrient use efficiency is essential for successful revegetation in these environments, yet optimal regimes remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated the native shrub Caragana korshinskii as a candidate species for restoring coal mine-damaged areas by testing combinations of water (W), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) supply. Under low-water regimes, plants exhibited marked reductions in height, stem diameter, biomass, photosynthetic traits, and relative water content, while N-P fertilization offered little benefit. When sufficient water was available, the combined application of N and P significantly enhanced growth. Water and nutrient limitation upregulated antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and ascorbate peroxidase), leading to reduced oxidative damage. Our results indicate that supplying approximately 121 mm of water per year along with 54 kg ha−1 N and 55 kg ha−1 P optimizes the growth of C. korshinskii. These findings provide a practical and sustainable strategy for revegetation of coal-mine-degraded lands and contribute to broader ecological restoration efforts.

[Objective] To construct ecological benefit evaluation methods adapted to the characteristics of local plantation resources and ecological services, and clarify the impacts of different types of plantation construction on the ecological environment in the eastern, central and western parts of the region. It provides a theoretical basis for accurately quantifying and scientifically evaluating the ecological service function of the plantation in different regions, optimizing the stand structure of the plantation, formulating the ecological compensation intensity standard of the plantation, accurately measuring and evaluating the carbon sink of the plantation, and transforming the “green appearance level” into “ecological value”. [Methods] In the construction of the loess plateau ecological forest, ecological economic forest, economic forest of weihe effective area calculation model based on the investigation and determination of typical area and forest survey to collect data and measurement parameters, such as the method of combining calculation analysis of the different types, different regions of the eastern, central and western plantation water conservation, carbon sequestration release oxygen, conservation of soil and purify the atmosphere of ecological benefits. [Results] (1) The ecological benefits of different types of plantation in Weibei Loess Plateau were ecological forest > economic forest > ecological economic forest; The value of water conservation is the highest, the value of soil conservation and carbon fixation and oxygen release is the second, and the value of air purification is the lowest.(2) The ecological benefits per unit area of plantation were economic forest > ecological forest > ecological economic forest. (3) The ecological benefits of plantation were in the middle > East > west. [Conclusion] Ecological forest and economic forest play an important role in the ecological benefits, and increasing their proportion can significantly improve the ecological benefits of plantations. In order to improve the ecological benefits of plantations in Weibei-loess plateau, ecological forest should strengthen the transformation of sparse forest, the cultivation of virgin forest and the sealing of shrubland. At the same time, moderate development of economic forest can effectively improve the ecological benefits of artificial forest in the west and even the whole Weibei Loess Plateau.

The increased tameness to reduce avoidance of human in wild animals has been long proposed as the key step of animal domestication. The tameness is a complex behavior trait and largely determined by genetic factors. However, the underlying genetic mutations remain vague and how they influence the animal behaviors is yet to be explored. Behavior tests of a wild-domestic hybrid goat population indicate the locus under strongest artificial selection during domestication may exert a huge effect on the flight distance. Within this locus, only one missense mutation RRM1 I241V which was present in the early domestic goat ~6500 years ago. Genome editing of RRM1 I241V in mice showed increased tameness and sociability and reduced anxiety. These behavioral changes induced by RRM1 I241V were modulated by the alternation of activity of glutamatergic synapse and some other synapse-related pathways. This study established a link between RRM1 I241V and tameness, demonstrating that the complex behavioral change can be achieved by mutations under strong selection during animal domestication.

Abstract Phycobiliproteins (PBPs), one of the functional proteins from algae, are natural pigment–protein complex containing various amino acids and phycobilins. It has various activities, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. And are potential for applications in food, cosmetics, and biomedicine. Improving their metabolic yield is of great interest. Microalgaes are one of the important sources of PBPs, with high growth rate and have the potential for large-scale production. The key to large-scale PBPs production depends on accumulation and recovery of massive productive alga in the upstream stage and the efficiency of microalgae cells breakup and extract PBPs in the downstream stage. Therefore, we reviewed the status quo in the research and development of PBPs production, summarized the advances in each stage and the feasibility of scaled-up production, and demonstrated challenges and future directions in this field.

Platycladus orientalis and Amorpha fruticosa are important pioneer species in arid and semi-arid regions, playing a crucial role in ecological restoration in water-limited areas. The purpose of this research was to examine how different watering and rewatering schedules influence the antioxidant enzyme activities and biochemical responses of P. orientalis and A. fruticosa. Five different water regimes (100%, 88%, 70%, 52%, and 40% of soil relative water content) were applied to seedlings for 15, 30, 45, and 60 days, after which they were rewatered. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase), and osmotic solutes (soluble sugar and proline) were assessed in the leaves of P. orientalis and A. fruticosa. Measurements were taken at various growth stages, namely the initial, fast, and late stages, both during the drought period and after 2, 24, 48, and 72 h of rewatering. The results revealed that the malondialdehyde content in the leaves of P. orientalis and A. fruticosa increased with the level of stress. The activities of antioxidant enzymes and the levels of osmotic solutes in the leaves of P. orientalis and A. fruticosa exhibited varying enhancements as the water stress intensified. During the recovery phase, the antioxidant enzymes and soluble sugar content returned to the control level 72 h after rewatering at different growth stages. However, the proline content remained slightly elevated compared to the control plants. Overall, these findings suggest that the two plant species displayed minor differences in their responses to drought stress and rewatering in terms of antioxidant enzymes and other biochemical responses. This indicates their remarkable adaptability to severe drought conditions and their potential for rapid recovery after rewatering. These observations are highly significant for irrigation management strategies when establishing plantations in arid and semi-arid regions.

Surface mining is a critical anthropogenic activity that significantly alters the ecosystem, while the use of appropriate revegetation techniques can be considered an important and feasible strategy in the way to improve the ecosystem services of degraded land. In the present study, we carried out a pot experiment to investigate the effects of three different variables on morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters of Onobrychis viciifolia to assess the capability of this species to be used for restoration purposes. Specifically, the variables studied were: (a) water (W) regime, working at five values as regards field capacity (FC) (i.e., 80% FC = highest, 72% FC = high, 60% FC = moderate, 48% FC = low, and 40% FC = very-low dose); and (b) rates of cattle manure compost (CMC) and wood biochar (BC) (weight/weight ratio), working at five rates (i.e., 4.0% = highest, 3.2% = high, 2.0% = moderate, 0.8% = low, and 0% = either no-CMC or no-BC dose). In addition, soil physical-chemical properties and enzyme activities were also investigated at the end of the experimental period. It was found that morphological growth attributes such as plant height, maximum root length, and dry biomass significantly increased with W, CMC and BC applications. Compared to control, moderate-to-high W, CMC and BC doses (W80CMC2BC2) increased net photosynthesis rate (by 42%), stomatal conductance (by 50%), transpiration rate (by 29%), water use efficiency (by 10%), chlorophyll contents (by 73%), carotenoid content (by 81%), leaf relative water content (by 33%) and leaf membrane stability index (by 30%). Under low-W content, the application of CMC and BC enhanced osmotic adjustments by increasing the content of soluble sugar and the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase, decreasing the oxidative stress, as verified by low levels of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, malondialdehyde and proline contents in leaf tissues. Moreover, application of W, CMC and BC significantly improved soil water holding capacity, available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, urease and catalase activities, which facilitate plant growth. These results would aid in designing an appropriate strategy for achieving a successful revegetation of O. viciifolia, providing optimum doses of W (64% field capacity), CMC (2.4%) and BC (1.7%), with the final aim of reaching ecological restoration in arid degraded lands.

Abstract Ruminant Genome Database (RGD; http://animal.nwsuaf.edu.cn/RGD) provides visualization and analysis tools for ruminant comparative genomics and functional annotations. As more high-quality ruminant genome assemblies have become available, we have redesigned the user interface, integrated and expanded multi-omics data, and developed novel features to improve the database. The new version, RGD v2.0, houses 78 ruminant genomes; 110-species synteny alignments for major livestock (including cattle, sheep, goat) and wild ungulates; 21 012 orthologous gene clusters with Gene Ontology and pathway annotation; ∼8 600 000 conserved elements; and ∼1 000 000 cis-regulatory elements by utilizing 1053 epigenomic data sets. The transcriptome data in RGD v2.0 has nearly doubled, currently with 1936 RNA-seq data sets, and 155 174 phenotypic data sets have been newly added. New and updated features include: (i) The UCSC Genome Browser, BLAT, BLAST and Table Browser tools were updated for six available ruminant livestock species. (ii) The LiftOver tool was newly introduced into our browser to allow coordinate conversion between different ruminant assemblies. And (iii) tissue specificity index, tau, was calculated to facilitate batch screening of specifically expressed genes. The enhanced genome annotations and improved functionality in RGD v2.0 will be useful for study of genome evolution, environmental adaption, livestock breeding and biomedicine.

Ecological restoration of coal mine degraded soils across arid and semi-arid environments worldwide remains particularly challenging. We used a combination of greenhouse and field experiments to assess the potential role of a woody species, Ulmus pumila, in the restoration of degraded soils associated with coal-mining activities in the northwest China. We investigated how various combinations of water-nitrogen-phosphorus (W-N-P) resources affect multiple growth parameters in U. pumila. We found that several plant growth traits significantly improved with W-N applications, regardless of P inputs. Moderate-to-highest W-N-P doses increased net photosynthesis and transpiration rates, water use efficiency, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents under greenhouse conditions. A combination of high W together with low N-P applications led to high relative water content and net photosynthetic rates under field conditions. Increasing of N-P doses under W-shortage condition, aided U. pumila to enhance osmotic adjustments by increasing contents of proline and soluble sugar and also boost the activity of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and catalase in leaf tissues to reduce accumulation of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde content in all conditions of greenhouse and field. Our study is the first to assess the optimum W-N-P resources in U. pumila and demonstrate that optimum growth performance could be obtained under W supplements corresponding to 90 mm year-1, N and P at 110 and 45 kg ha-1, respectively, under field condition. These findings can have far reaching implications for vegetation restoration of degraded areas associated with coal-mining activities across arid and semi-arid regions worldwide.

To improve our understanding of how coal mining areas can be re-vegetated and ecosystem function restored, we examined the potential effects of five water (W) regimes (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80% of field capacity), five nitrogen (N) (0, 24, 60, 96 and 120 mg kg‒1 soil) and five phosphorus (P) fertilizer doses (0, 36, 90, 144 and 180 mg kg‒1 soil), which control the growth and development of Elaeagnus angustifolia under adverse environmental conditions. To optimize the W-N-P application rate, three factors and five levels of central composite design along with an optimization technique named response surface methodology were utilized. Here we provide data on root-shoot biomass ratio, leaf dry matter content, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll (Chl) a, Chl b, membrane stability index and soluble protein content of E. angustifolia. The data described in this article are available in Mendeley Data, DOI: 10.17632/2vfbrdxyf2.2 [1]. These data could be used to evaluate the improvement in growth performance of E. angustifolia subjected to various regimes of W, N and P. This dataset showed that E. angustifolia grew optimally in coal-mine spoils when irrigated at 66% of field capacity and supplemented with 74.0 mg N and 36.0 mg P kg‒1 soil. This could considerably help the success of revegetation in coal-mined degraded arid areas where W is scarce. This article contains data complementary to the main research entitled "Fine-tuning of soil water and nutrient fertilizer levels for the ecological restoration of coal-mined spoils using Elaeagnus angustifolia" in the Journal of Environmental Management (Roy et al., 2020).

Background Multi-omics data can provide a stereoscopic view to explore potential causal variations and genes, as well as underlying genetic mechanisms of complex traits. However, for many non-mammalian species, including chickens, these resources are poorly integrated and reused, greatly limiting genetic research and breeding processes of the species. Results Here, we constructed Galbase, an easily accessible repository that integrates public chicken multi-omics data from 928 re-sequenced genomes, 429 transcriptomes, 379 epigenomes, 15,275 QTL entries, and 7,526 associations. A total of 21.67 million SNPs, 2.71 million InDels, and 488,583 cis-regulatory elements were included. Galbase allows users to retrieve genomic variations in geographical maps, gene expression profiling in heatmaps, and epigenomic signals in peak patterns. It also provides modules for batch annotation of genes, regions, and loci based on multi-layered omics data. Additionally, a series of convenient tools, including the UCSC Genome Browser, WashU Epigenome Browser, BLAT, BLAST, and LiftOver, were also integrated to facilitate search, visualization, and analysis of sequence features. Conclusion Galbase grants new opportunities to research communities to undertake in-depth functional genomic studies on chicken. All features of Galbase make it a useful resource to identify genetic variations responsible for chicken complex traits. Galbase is publicly available at http://animal.nwsuaf.edu.cn/ChickenVar .

为改善煤矸石山土壤水分和养分状况,提高景观生态型草本植物的水分利用效率,以蜀葵和沙打旺为试验材料,采用三因素五水平二次回归通用旋转组合设计,通过盆栽模拟试验研究了土壤相对含水量、施氮量、施磷量三者耦合对两种景观生态型草本植物叶片水分利用效率的影响,并通过模型寻优得出了最优水肥方案.研究表明:三因素对蜀葵叶片水分利用效率的影响顺序为土壤相对含水量>施氮量>施磷量,三因素对沙打旺叶片水分利用效率的影响顺序为土壤相对含水量>施磷量>施氮量;二因素耦合对蜀葵水分利用效率的影响不显著(P>0.05),但对沙打旺水分利用效率有显著影响(P<0.05),其顺序为水氮>水磷>氮磷;土壤水分条件是影响蜀葵和沙打旺叶片水分利用效率的首要因素,施氮对蜀葵更重要,施磷对沙打旺叶片水分利用效率的影响更大,蜀葵的水肥耦合优化方案为土壤相对含水量37.6％～40.9％,施氮量(纯N)153.1～178.5 kg?hm-2,施磷量(P2O5)89.4～120.4 kg?hm-2;沙打旺的水肥耦合优化方案为土壤相对含水量69.0％～70.6％,施氮量(纯N)61.8～94.6 kg?hm-2,施磷量(P2O5)109.9～170.1 kg?hm-2.

Cycloastragenol (CAG) is a sapogenin of Astragaloside IV (AG-IV), isolated from the dried roots of legumes Astragalus mongolica or Astragalus membranaceus. Cycloastragenol has a steroidal skeleton of tetracyclic triterpene and possess diverse pharmacological activities such as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrosis, pro-wound healing, liver protection and endothelial protection. In addition, cycloastragenol is the only telomerase activator reported in natural products, which is closely related to MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. This review provides a theoretical basis for the development of cycloastragenol into the candidate for the treatment of multi-factorial diseases in clinic, focusing on the extensively biological activities as well as the mechanism of action and structural modification and aiming to attract researchers to conduct in-depth studies on cycloastragenol. Meanwhile, the pharmacokinetics and toxicology studies of CAG are also described for further druggability exploration to provides valuable reference.

Vegetation reconstruction is an urgent problem in fragile environment like coal mine subsidence areas. Amygdalus pedunculata is an important eco-economic shrub species that promotes wind prevention, sand fixation as well as soil and water conservation. The natural regeneration of pure Amygdalus pedunculata forests is difficult to achieve because of its low seed germination rate and weak seedling growth. A stereo-complex ecosystem could potentially promote the germination and seedling growth of A. pedunculata and establish a steady mixed plantation consisting of trees and shrubs. Here, laboratory and pot experiments were conducted to assess the effect of four tree species on morphological and physiological indexes of A. pedunculata. The laboratory experiment showed that A. pedunculata seed germination and seedling growth from Yuyang County (YC-1) and Shenmu County (SC-6) were higher when plants were treated with the aqueous leaf extracts of Pinus sylvestris, Broussonetia papyrifera, and Pinus tabulaeformis compared with Populus simonii at concentrations of 2.5% (E2.5) and 5% (E5). Furthermore, the donor leaf extract was more sensitive to YC-1 than to SC-6. The pot experiment showed that the E2.5 and E5 treatments with the aqueous leaf extracts on the three tree species had strong promoting effects of seedling length, root length, seedling fresh weight, root fresh weight, and ground diameter for YC-1. The activity of catalase of A. pedunculata seedlings first increased and then decreased, while the activity of peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, roots, and the contents of soluble protein and chlorophyll decreased; the opposite patterns were observed for malondialdehyde, soluble sugar, cell membrane permeability, and proline were the opposite. Synthetical allelopathic effect index values of the leaf extracts of the three species on YC-1 were as follows: P. sylvestris > B. papyrifera > P. tabulaeformis (E2.5 to E20). Therefore, P. sylvestris and B. papyrifera could be used to promote the growth of A. pedunculata seedlings as well as for the construction of mixed plantations in coal mine degradation areas. Generally, this study provides new insight into the creation of stereo-complex ecosystems (P. sylvestris + A. pedunculata and B. papyrifera + A. pedunculata) in arid fragile environment.

Coal-mine spoils are typically drought-prone and deficient in essential nutrients thus creating conditions, which significantly limit plant growth and development. Here, we searched for suitable combinations of key resources [water (W) and fertilizers (nitrogen, N and phosphorus, P)] to improve physiological and biochemical adaptations of Caragana korshinskii to coal-mined spoils. We observed that under low W and N-P resource availability, C. korshinskii displayed poor growth performance in coal-degraded spoils. Negative growth of C. korshinskii was associated with reduced photosynthetic rate, decreased water status and increased contents of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde. Low resource availability to C. korshinskii resulted in enhanced levels of compatible solutes, including proline and soluble sugars that contributed to osmotic adjustment, and also increased activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase, which ultimately conferred enhanced oxidative stress protection. Moderate-to-high W and N-P doses greatly enhanced C. korshinskii performance in coal-spoils by improving photosynthesis traits, water status and growth-related attributes. Increasing supply of W and N-P also helped C. korshinskii to reduce oxidative stress, as evidenced by low accumulation of ROS and malondialdehyde, and lower induction of antioxidant enzyme activities. The addition of N and P also improved drought resistance of C. korshinskii. Overall, we found that optimum growth of C. korshinskii in coal-mined spoils was achieved under W additions corresponding to 68% of field capacity (1.85 mm d1), N and P at 52.0 and 37.0 mg kg1 soil, respectively. These findings suggest that under appropriate W, N and P doses, C. korshinskii has greater potential to grow and persist in coal-mined spoils and could thus be used for revegetation interventions in drought-prone areas in north-western China, and perhaps across other coal-degraded areas worldwide.

以盆栽1年生侧柏幼苗为试验材料,采用盆栽称重控水法在苗期进行干旱及复水处理,分析不同历时和不同程度土壤干旱及二者同时胁迫后复水对侧柏幼苗叶绿素含量的影响,探讨侧柏幼苗叶绿素含量对干旱胁迫做出的抗旱性响应和旱后复水的恢复情况及补偿效应.结果表明:随着干旱胁迫时间的延长,侧柏幼苗叶绿素含量缓慢下降;随着土壤水分胁迫程度的加剧,呈现先降低再上升的趋势.其中干旱胁迫60 d后,土壤相对含水量为40％的侧柏幼苗的叶绿素a、叶绿素b、叶绿素总量及叶绿素a/b分别比CK降低15.4％、14.0％、15.1％和1.6％.复水后,侧柏幼苗叶绿素含量得到了恢复,在复水第3天基本恢复至CK,之后出现补偿效应.土壤相对含水量为70％的侧柏幼苗叶绿素a、叶绿素b以及叶绿素总量在复水第9天比对照分别增加了24.8％、30.1％和25.8％,叶绿素a/b比CK低4.0％.因此,不同历时、不同程度土壤干旱胁迫及二者同时胁迫虽然对侧柏幼苗叶绿素含量有影响,但侧柏幼苗通过调节自身的生理响应机制逐渐适应这种干旱环境,并在复水后及时恢复,出现补偿效应.

以盆栽1年生侧柏幼苗为试验材料,采用盆栽称质量法,通过人工控制干旱胁迫时间和土壤水分研究不同干旱胁迫历时及旱后复水对侧柏幼苗叶绿素荧光参数的影响,探讨侧柏幼苗对不同历时干旱胁迫作出的抗旱性响应及旱后复水的恢复情况.试验设置4个胁迫持续时间(60、45、30、15 d)和4个土壤水分梯度(87.84％、70.00％、52.16％、40.00％),以充分供水(土壤水分梯度100％)为对照,经过不同历时的干旱胁迫后复水,测定复水前及复水后1、3、5、7、9 d的叶绿素荧光参数.结果显示,不同历时干旱胁迫下,侧柏PSⅡ的潜在光化学效率(Fv/Fo)、最大光化学量子产量(Fv/Fm)和相对光合电子传递速率(ETR)都低于对照,其中干旱胁迫60 d的侧柏幼苗Fv/Fo、Fv/Fm和ETR分别比对照下降3.7％、0.9％和26.5％,而非光化学淬灭系数(NPQ)则高于对照,胁迫历时60 d的处理比对照高24.8％.复水后,侧柏幼苗叶绿素荧光参数得到了恢复,在复水3 d时Fv/Fo、ETR、NPQ基本恢复至对照水平,Fv/Fm在复水7 d时基本恢复至对照水平之后出现补偿效应.由此可知,不同历时的干旱胁迫虽然对侧柏幼苗PSⅡ有一定的破坏,对光合作用有一定程度的影响,但侧柏幼苗通过调节自身的光保护和光适应机制可逐渐适应这种干旱环境,并且在复水后各指标都得到了相应的恢复.

分析干旱和复水环境中植物水势特征,对探讨植物水分状况对土壤水分环境的响应机制具有重要意义.为探索侧柏水势对干旱与复水环境的响应特征,通过温室盆栽试验,研究干旱胁迫与复水环境对侧柏苗木不同生长阶段水势的影响.结果表明,土壤含水量、干旱持续时间、苗木生长时期以及各因素之间的相互作用对侧柏苗木水势均产生了极显著的影响(P<0.01).随着干旱程度加剧,侧柏苗木水势呈下降趋势,水分胁迫指数呈上升趋势.40.00％SWC处理的苗木水势下降幅度达到最大,其中干旱15 d的生长初期、生长中期和生长后期的苗木水势分别比对照下降了1.46、1.10、1.84 MPa.复水后,侧柏苗木3个生长时期水势逐渐恢复,恢复速率与干旱程度、干旱持续时间和生长时期相关.随着供水时间的延长,复水激发了侧柏苗木水势的补偿作用,苗木生长中期阶段水势恢复快于生长初期和生长后期阶段,在复水72 h后逐渐接近对照水平.

Amorpha fruticosa and Amygdalus pedunculata are common plant species used for greening construction in arid and semi-arid region of Northwest China. In order to explore the feasibility of greening construction and ecological restoration by A. fruticose with A. pedunculata, we exami-ned the allelopathic effects of five concentrations of aqueous leaf extracts of A. fruticosa (0.025, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 g·mL-1) on eight A. pedunculata varieties (YY1, YY3, YY4, YY5, YY6, SM6, SM7 and SM8), using the methods of paper-petri dish and soilless culture. The results showed that when the concentration of A. fruticosa leaf extracts were 0.025 and 0.05 g·mL-1, the seed germination and seedling growth of YY1 and SM6 were significantly better than other varieties. With increasing concentration of A. fruticosa leaf extracts, the catalase activity of A. pedunculata seedlings first increased and then decreased. The activities of peroxidase and superoxide dismutase, and the contents of soluble protein and chlorophyll showed a downward trend, while the contents of malondialdehyde and soluble sugar and the permeability of cell membrane gradually increased. Results of the principal component and cluster analysis showed that the growth potential of A. pedunculata decreased with the order of YY1, SM6, SM8, SM7, YY6, YY3, YY5 and YY4 under the allelopathic effect of A. fruticose. In conclusion, the artificial collocation and mixed planting of low-density of A. fruticosa with YY1 and SM6 were beneficial to seed germination and seedling growth of A. pedunculata.

Frozen soil thermal conductivity (FSTC, lambda(eff)) is a critical thermophysical property that is required for a variety of science and engineering applications. Measurements of lambda(eff) in frozen soils are prone to errors because the currently available thermal methods result in phase change (i.e., thawing and refreezing of ice) that affects the estimated lambda(eff), especially near the freezing point of soil water (e.g., 4 to 0 degrees C) where rapid phase change occurs. In addition, measured lambda(eff) data are few compared to other physical properties. Therefore, many FSTC algorithms have been developed and a few of them have been incorporated in numerical simulation programs for calculating lambda(eff). However, large discrepancies between simulated and observed soil thermal regimes have been reported. Previous studies either evaluated the performance of a few FSTC algorithms with limited.eff or simply compared the performance of the algorithms in numerical simulation programs. No study has been performed to systematically assess the performance of the FSTC algorithms included in numerical simulation programs with both observations and model simulations. In this study, 14 FSTC algorithms incorporated in various numerical simulation programs were evaluated with a compiled dataset consisting of 331.eff measurements on 27 soils from seven studies made at temperatures on or below -4 degrees C. The Becker 1992 algorithm provided the best estimates of the lambda(eff) measurements, but the accuracy of the estimates was not good (i.e., RMSE = 0.46 W m(-1)degrees C-1, Bias = -0.04 W m(-1)degrees C-1 and NSE = 0.51). These FSTC algorithms were also incorporated in the Simultaneous Heat and Water (SHAW) model to compare their effects on the simulating soil temperature and water content at two field sites with contrasting soil textures in USA. The simulation results showed that the average bias of simulated and observed soil temperature for all depths ranged from -2.2 to 2.8 degrees C and the average differences of liquid water content ranged from -0.08 to 0.1 cm(3) cm(-3). Generally no FSTC algorithm combined with the SHAW model satisfactorily estimated the dynamic soil thermal regime. Perspectives on future studies are discussed.

Nanoporous carbons (NPCs) are widely used in gas adsorption, catalysis and electrochemistry because of their high specific surface area, good thermal and chemical stability, etc. Although a lot of work has been done, there are still great challenges in the fabrication of NPCs. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) with tailorable structures have the advantages of a regular and adjustable pore size, high porosity and high specific surface area, and have proved to be ideal precursors for the preparation of NPCs. To better grasp the state of the art in the preparation of NPCs, we review recent research progress on the fabrication of NPCs by the carbonization of MOFs, with a focus on the carbonization of different combinations of MOFs and guest precursors, both to tune the resulting pore sizes/textures and surface chemical structures/species and to improve the electrical conductivity and structural stability of the product in different applications.