To investigate the effect of nitrogen (N) application on carbon metabolism and yield of flag leaves and grains of spring wheat under drip irrigation in Xinjiang, a split - plot design was adopted from 2020 to 2021, with strong gluten wheat Xinchun 37 (XC37) and medium gluten wheat Xinchun 6 (XC 6) as the main plot factor and different nitrogen application rates as subplot factor. Four nitrogen application rates of 0, 210, 255 and 300 kg·hm-2 (CK2, B1, A1 and CK1, respectively) were set to analyze and compare the nitrogen response of key enzyme activity, soluble sugar, sucrose and starch content in flag leaves and grains to control yield formation. The results showed that with the increase of nitrogen application, Sucrose phosphate synthetase (SPS) and sucrose synthetase (SS) in flag leaves, SS in seeds, activities of adenosine diphosphate pyrophosphorylase (ADPG - PPase), soluble starch synthase (SSS), bound starch synthase (GBSS) and starch branching enzyme (SBE) in seeds, contents of soluble sugar and sucrose and yield in flag leaves increased first increasing and then decreasing. The A1 treatment (255 kg·hm-2) showed significant differences compared to other treatments, with increases of 7.95–158.33%, 8.69–155.12%, 7.65–53.25%, 5.41–62.83%, 2.85–85.52%, 3.08–57.30%, 8.87–79.16%, 9.33–196.55%, 9.43–112.78%, and higher levels of amylose, amylopectin, and total starch content than other treatments by 1.86–30.38%, 10.58–83.69%, and 7.96–63.09%, respectively. Correlation and stepwise regression analysis indicate highly significant positive correlation between yield and solube sugar and sucrose of flag leaves and grains, as well as their key emzymes and starch. Among them, soluble sugar in grains, amylopectin, and sucrose in grains have the greatest impact on the yield of XC37, determining 84.5% of its yield. SSS, soluble sugars in grains, amylopectin, and SBE have the greatest impact on the yield of XC 6, determining 80.4% of its yield. The starch shows a highly significant positive correlation with ADPG - PPase, SSS, GBSS, and SBE. There is a significant interaction effect between nitrogen application rate and variety, with better performance observed in Xinchun 37 compared to Xinchun 6. Under drip irrigation conditions in arid areas, nitrogen application of 255 kg·hm-2 can effectively regulate the metabolism of sucrose to starch in flag leaves and grains of spring wheat, which is conducive to the accumulation of starch in grains and the formation of yield.

A significant number and range of challenges besetting sustainability can be traced to the actions and interactions of multiple autonomous agents (people mostly) and the entities they create (e.g., institutions, policies, social network) in the corresponding social-environmental systems (SES). To address these challenges, we need to understand decisions made and actions taken by agents, the outcomes of their actions, including the feedbacks on the corresponding agents and environment. The science of Agent-based Complex Systems—ACS science—has a significant potential to handle such challenges. The advantages of ACS science for sustainability are addressed by way of identifying the key elements and challenges in sustainability science, the generic features of ACS, and the key advances and challenges in modeling ACS. Artificial intelligence and data science promise to improve understanding of agents’ behaviors, detect SES structures, and formulate SES mechanisms.

In this paper, four lithological parameters, i.e. thermal conductivity, particle size, porosity and saturation, are investigated by combining experimental observations with numerical simulations to study the influence laws and mechanisms of action on the combustion process of methane hydrate sediments. The variation of combustion characteristics parameters such as flame height, effective combustion ratio and dimensionless discharge water mass with the lithological parameters are studied. In addition, the combustion mechanism of lithologic parameters on methane hydrate deposits is revealed. Combining the experimental results and simulation calculations, to optimize the combustion of methane hydrate sediments, it is recommended to use methane hydrate sediment samples with high saturation and low thermal conductivity, while the oxidant concentration and porosity of methane hydrate sediment samples should be increased.