No abstract

"Huoshan shihu," derived from Dendrobium huoshanense, is a well-known, valuable, and rare Daodi herb. Because of its higher price and scarce resources, its related species D. officinale and D. moniliforme are usually presented as "Huoshan shihu" for sale. Fengdou, the processed form of D. huoshanense, its identification is particularly important. To effectively identify Fengdou of D. huoshanense and protect the Daodi herb, the morphological and microscopic characteristics of the stems of three Dendrobium species were examined. The results showed that macroscopic and microscopic features helpful for identification of the three species were the total lengths and internode numbers of stems, diameter and length of each internode, number of vascular bundles, and presence or absence of silica masses. The key features useful for distinguishing between D. huoshanense and its related species, and also between their Fengdou, were the stem lengths and the trends of change in diameter in different internodes. The results of the study indicated that a combination of macroscopic and microscopic identification techniques might conveniently and effectively be applied for identification of Dendrobium species. "Longtou Fengwei" is the main feature of the Daodi herb "Huoshan shihu," (D. huoshanense Fengdou) and reflects the wisdom behind the protection of Daodi herbs in ancient times.

No abstract

With the development of technologies related to unmanned vehicles, including unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned surface vehicle, unmanned vehicles play a pivotal role in maritime management and cruise activities. Meanwhile, lots of evidence shows that a single unmanned vehicle is not qualified for operation under complex environment, whereas the unmanned aerial vehicle-unmanned surface vehicle formation consists of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles, which can enhance the performance of the single unmanned vehicle significantly. However, the cooperative operation performance of the unmanned aerial vehicle-unmanned surface vehicle formation is constrained by its communication capacity. Consequently, a cooperative communication framework is designed for the unmanned aerial vehicle-unmanned surface vehicle formation. A distributed dynamic network topology is constructed for fulfilling effective communication for the unmanned aerial vehicle-unmanned surface vehicle formation based on ad hoc network. Experiments are carried out by employing the built unmanned aerial vehicle-unmanned surface vehicle formation platform. Results verify the superiority of the designed cooperative communication framework for the unmanned aerial vehicle-unmanned surface vehicle formation.

Background: Huangqi is a famous Chinese medicinal material whose Dao-di producing area is Hunyuan, Shanxi. Huangqi produced in Hunyuan, Shanxi, were divided into several different specifications and grades according to the diameters and different positions of root system. Objective: This article investigates the quantitative characteristics of chemical compositions in different specifications and grades of Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus roots, aiming to elucidate the correlation between specifications and/or grades and chemical compositions in Huangqi. Methods: Based on the field investigation, samples of Huangqi collected from Hunyuan, Shanxi, were divided into different specifications and grades. The content of seven flavonoids and five saponins in Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus roots of different specifications and grades were determined simultaneously by HPLC–diode–array detection–evaporative light-scattering detection (HPLC–DAD–ELSD). Results: Huangqi was processed by traditional methods, and its commercial specification was classified by different parts of the root system, such as ge-da-tou, hong-lan-qi, zheng-bai-qi, fu-bai-qi, mao-wei-zi, and qi-jian. The total content of seven flavonoids and five saponins in ge-da-tou, qi-jian were lower. The total content of seven flavonoids in hong-lan-qi was much higher, while that of five saponins was much lower. The total content of seven flavonoids in lateral roots or fibrous roots were higher, and that of five saponins was lower, such as zheng-bai-qi, fu-bai-qi, and mao-wei-zi. According to the root diameters, Huangqi was classified to special grade, grade I, grade II, grade III, grade IV, or grade V. Among six grades of Huangqi, the total content of seven flavonoids in grade III, grade IV, and grade V were lower, while the total content of five saponins in them were much higher. Conclusions: There is an obvious difference on the distribution pattern of contents of seven flavonoids and five saponins in Huangqi of different specifications and grades, which provide a certain scientific basis for the quality evaluation of Huangqi. Highlights: The content of seven flavonoids and five saponins in Huangqi were determined by HPLC-DAD-ELSD. The relationship between the commercial specification grades and chemical components of Dao-di herbs Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (Huangqi ) from Hunyuan, Shanxi were revealed, which provided a chemical basis for the classification of commercial specification grades of dao-herbs Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus (Huangqi ) from Hunyuan, Shanxi.