As numerous clinical isolates are resistant to most conventional antibiotics, infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria are associated with a higher death rate. Antimicrobial peptides show great potential as new antibiotics. However, a major obstacle to the development of these peptides as useful drugs is their low stability. To overcome the problem of the natural antimicrobial peptide CPF-C1, we designed and synthesized a series of analogs. Our results indicated that by introducing lysine, which could increase the number of positive charges, and by introducing tryptophan, which could increase the hydrophobicity, we could improve the antimicrobial activity of the peptides against multidrug-resistant strains. The introduction of d-amino acids significantly improved stability. Certain analogs demonstrated antibiofilm activities. In mechanistic studies, the analogs eradicated bacteria not just by interrupting the bacterial membranes, but also by linking to DNA, which was not impacted by known mechanisms of resistance. In a mouse model, certain analogs were able to significantly reduce the bacterial load. Among the analogs, CPF-9 was notable due to its greater antimicrobial potency in vitro and in vivo and its superior stability, lower hemolytic activity, and higher antibiofilm activity. This analog is a potential antibiotic candidate for treating infections induced by multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Estimating long-term average annual water balance at the catchment scale has been an important scientific problem in hydrology and a reliable method for long-term estimates of evapotranspiration (D. Wang, 2012). Water and vegetation in the catchments have reached equilibrium through long-term evolution, so that there is an inextricable relationship between water balance and vegetation change (Gerten et al., 2004). Changes in vegetation affect the elements of water balance, thus vegetation coverage plays an influential role in regulating regional water balance (Heimann & Reichstein, 2008; Seddon et al., 2016). Precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), streamflow (Q), and water storage changes (ΔS) are important components of water balance estimates. Previous studies (e.g., Shao et al., 2019) have demonstrated that vegetation restoration could lead to increases in regional ET over the Loess Plateau, thus changing the water availability. This could potentially exacerbate tensions between water supply and demand in water-stressed regions. Thus, it can be further hypothesized that the vegetation changes may influence the catchment-scale water balance. In addition, the relationship between ΔS and vegetation may be scale dependent and remains unclear, thus studying the time scale of ΔS in vegetation recovery areas is particularly important. The Loess Plateau, a typical arid and semi-arid region, accounts for 6.6% of China's total land area and supports 8.5% of the population (Fu et al., 2011). It is one of the most water scarce regions with the most fragile ecosystems in the world (Y. Wang et al., 2011; B. Zhang et al., 2016). In the past, the Loess Plateau, with its sparse vegetation coverage, frequent summer rains and intensive agricultural practices, suffered unprecedented water scarcity, soil erosion and fragile ecosystems (C. Wang et al., 2016; Z. Yang et al., 2016). These ecological and environmental problems significantly affect ecological environment and socioeconomic

Adverse geologies are often encountered during tunnel construction, which could seriously endanger the construction. To ensure the safety, it is essential to detect adverse geologies and their water‐bearing situation ahead the tunnel face. Ground‐penetrating radar is a suitable instrument, but the accurate interpretation of its detection results is difficult. In this paper, at first, an improved back projection imaging algorithm is proposed, which can make reflection waves closer to the real geological boundaries with few artificial clutters. And then, forward modelling of ground‐penetrating radar is carried out for typical adverse geologies, such as karst caves, faults, fractured rock masses, fracture network, and water‐bearing body. Their corresponding response features are obtained, accumulating experience for geological interpretation. The above two methods provide the basis for target identification and geological interpretation. In the last part, the application of the above two methods in several engineering cases are given, and their effectiveness is verified.

Using unsupervised classification, visual interpretation, slope mask with the aid of ArcGIS and ERDAS, we analyzed the peatland area change in the Zoige Basin, eastern Tibetan Plateau, during last two decades on the basis of 12 Landsat-TM images. The results showed that the peatland area decreased seriously from 4143.39 to 3407.29 km 2 between early 1990s and 2000 and increased slightly to 3588.71 km 2 in 2009. Though peatland area change is positively correlated with the climate trend, the correlation is not very significant. Instead, in considering the population increase, stock development and government policy, we suggest that human activity is likely the more important factor that caus the peatland area variations.

The aim of this study was to identify the subtype, characterize the antimicrobial resistance, determine the virulence gene distribution, and analyze the biofilm production of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from bovine mastitis milk samples in the Liaoning Province of China. Materials and Methods: In total, 56 Staph. aureus isolates were collected and identified in this study; the isolates were divided into different spa types based on the sequence of the polymorphic X region of the spa gene. Additionally, antimicrobial susceptibility was investigated using the broth microdilution method, and 18 virulence genes were detected using PCR. Biofilm formation was measured by spectrophotometry with crystal violet staining and observed using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Results: There were 12.12% (56/462) milk samples that were positive for Staph. aureus. These isolates were nonsusceptible to sulfamethoxazole (100%), penicillin (76.9%), daptomycin (76.79%), clindamycin (69.64%), and oxacillin (60.71%); however, the majority of the isolates (80.4%) were susceptible to amoxicillin/clavulanate. The predominant virulence genes encoded the cytotoxins, hla (94.64%) and hlb (89.29%), and the adhesion factors clfA (89.29%), clfB (89.29%), and fnbB (80.36%). Comparatively, virulence genes related to other adhesion factors such as cna (8.93%) and enterotoxins, such as seg (26.79%), sea (16.07%), seb (7.14%), and sec (7.14%) were detected at relatively lower rates. The following eight spa types were identified: t267 (35.84%), t730 (22.64%), t518 (15.09%), t1190 (11.32%), t1456 (9.43%), t224 (1.88%), t9129 (1.88%), and t177 (1.88%). The highest biofilm production was observed for t267. Staph. aureus exhibited various patterns of biofilm formation, with the biofilm often being associated with a tower-shaped structure or a thicker biofilm. Conclusion: Our results indicated that Staph. aureus isolates from dairy cows with mastitis in the Liaoning Province of China were non-susceptible to sulfamethoxazole, penicillin, daptomycin, oxacillin, and clindamycin. Additionally, the most prevalent subtype was t267, which displayed resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents and harbored several virulence genes, including clfA, clfB, fnbB, hla, and hlb.