bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biochar application ameliorated the nutrient content and fungal community structure in different yellow soil depths in the karst area of Southwest China
Authors: Zhang Meng , Liu Yanling , Wei Quanquan , Gu Xiaofeng , Liu Lingling , Gou Jiulan
Published: October 2022

The influence of biochar on the change of nutrient content and fungal community structure is still not clear, especially in different yellow soil depths in karst areas. A soil column leaching simulation experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of biochar on soil content, enzymatic activity, and fungal community diversity and structural composition. Three biochar amounts were studied, namely, 0%(NB, no biochar), 1.0%(LB, low-application-rate biochar), and 4.0% (HB, high-application-rate biochar). The results showed that biochar increased the pH value and the contents of soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) but reduced the microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN). Furthermore, this effect was enhanced with increasing biochar amount. Biochar was conducive to improving the nutrient availability in topsoil (0–20 cm), especially TN, AK, and MBN. Meanwhile, biochar affected the enzymatic activity, especially the sucrase activity. Biochar affected the diversity and structure of the fungal community, of which HB treatment had the most obvious effect. Among these treatments, Aspergillus, unclassified_Chaetomiaceae, Mortierella, Spizellomyces, Penicillium, Fusarium, and unclassified_Chromista fungal genera were the highest. Moreover, biochar inhibited the growth of harmful pathogens and increased the abundance of beneficial fungi in soil, and the effect was enhanced with increasing biochar amount and soil depth. Redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that AK was an important factor in yellow soil, although the main environmental factors affecting the fungal community structure were different in different soil depths. Overall, biochar had a positive effect on improving the land productivity and micro-ecological environment of yellow soil in the karst area.
Tissue-specific transcriptome responses to Fusarium head blight and Fusarium root rot
Authors: Haidoulis John Francis , Nicholson Paul
Published: October 2022

Fusarium head blight (FHB) and Fusarium root rot (FRR) are important diseases of small-grain cereals caused by Fusarium species. While host response to FHB has been subject to extensive study, very little is known about response to FRR and the transcriptome responses of FHB and FRR have not been thoroughly compared. Brachypodium distachyon (Bd) is an effective model for investigating host responses to both FHB and FRR. In this study the transcriptome response of Bd to F. graminearum (Fg) infection of heads and roots was investigated. An RNA-seq analysis was performed on both Bd FHB and FRR during the early infection. Additionally, an RNA-seq analysis was performed on in vitro samples of Fg for comparison with Fg gene expression in planta. Differential gene expression and gene-list enrichment analyses were used to compare FHB and FRR transcriptome responses in both Bd and Fg. Differential expression of selected genes was confirmed using RT-qPCR. Most genes associated with receptor signalling, cell-wall modification, oxidative stress metabolism, and cytokinin and auxin biosynthesis and signalling genes were generally upregulated in FHB or were downregulated in FRR. In contrast, Bd genes involved in jasmonic acid and ethylene biosynthesis and signalling, and antimicrobial production were similarly differentially expressed in both tissues in response to infection. A transcriptome analysis of predicted Fg effectors with the same infected material revealed elevated expression of core tissue-independent genes including cell-wall degradation enzymes and the gene cluster for DON production but also several tissue-dependent genes including those for aurofusarin production and cutin degradation. This evidence suggests that Fg modulates its transcriptome to different tissues of the same host.
Maize intercropping enriches plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and promotes both the growth and volatile oil concentration of Atractylodes lancea
Authors: Peng Zheng , Guo Xiuzhi , Xiang ZengXu , Liu Dahui , Yu Kun , Sun Kai , Yan Binbin , Wang Sheng , Kang Chuanzhi , Xu Yang , Wang Hongyang , Wang Tielin , Lyu Chaogeng , Xue Wenjun , Feng Li , Guo Lanping , Zhang Yan , Huang Luqi
Published: October 2022

In the Atractylodes lancea (A. lancea)-maize intercropping system, maize can promote the growth of A. lancea, but it is unclear whether this constitutes an aboveground or belowground process. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of the root system interaction between A. lancea and maize using three different barrier conditions: no barrier (AI), nylon barrier (AN), and plastic barrier (AP) systems. The biomass, volatile oil concentration, physicochemical properties of the soil, and rhizosphere microorganisms of the A. lancea plant were determined. The results showed that (1) the A. lancea - maize intercropping system could promote the growth of A. lancea and its accumulation of volatile oils; (2) a comparison of the CK, AI, and AP treatments revealed that it was the above-ground effect of maize specifically that promoted the accumulation of both atractylon and atractylodin within the volatile oils of A. lancea, but inhibited the accumulation of hinesol and β-eudesmol; (3) in comparing the soil physicochemical properties of each treatment group, intercropping maize acidified the root soil of A. lancea, changed its root soil physicochemical properties, and increased the abundance of the acidic rhizosphere microbes of A. lancea at the phylum level; (4) in an analysis of rhizosphere microbial communities of A. lancea under different barrier systems, intercropping was found to promote plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) enrichment, including Streptomyces, Bradyrhizobium, Candidatus Solibacter, Gemmatirosa, and Pseudolabrys, and the biomass of A. lancea was significantly influenced by PGPR. In summary, we found that the rhizosphere soil of A. lancea was acidified in intercropping with maize, causing the accumulation of PGPR, which was beneficial to the growth of A. lancea.
Construction of root tip density function and root water uptake characteristics in alpine meadows
Authors: Deng Bin , Weng Baisha , Yan Denghua , Xiao Shangbin , Fang Haotian , Li Meng , Wang Hao
Published: October 2022

Accurate calculation of root water uptake (RWU) is the key to improving vegetation water use efficiency and identifying water cycle evolution patterns, and root tips play an important role in RWU. However, most of the current RWU models in the alpine meadow are calculated based on the root length density (RLD) function. In this study, a large number of roots, soil hydraulic conductivity, and physicochemical property indices were obtained by continuous field prototype observation experiments for up to 2 years. It was found that the RLD and root tip density (RTD) in alpine meadows decrease by 16.2% and 14.6%, respectively, in the wilting stage compared to the regreening stage. The RTD distribution function of the alpine meadow was constructed, and the RWU model was established accordingly. The results show that the RTD function is more accurate than the RLD function to reflect the RWU pattern. Compared with RLD, the simulated RWU model constructed by using RTD as the root index that can effectively absorb water increased by 24.64% on average, and the simulated values were more consistent with the actual situation. It can be seen that there is an underestimation of RWU calculated based on the RLD function, which leads to an underestimation of the effect of climate warming on evapotranspiration. The simulation results of the RWU model based on RTD showed that the RWU rate in the regreening stage increased by 30.24% on average compared with that in the wilting stage. Meanwhile, the top 67% of the rhizosphere was responsible for 86.76% of the total RWU on average. This study contributes to the understanding of the alpine meadow water cycle system and provides theoretical support for the implementation of alpine meadow vegetation protection and restoration projects.
Pervasive translation of small open reading frames in plant long non-coding RNAs
Authors: Sruthi K. Bharathan , Menon Athira , P Akash , Vasudevan Soniya Eppurath
Published: October 2022

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are primarily recognized as non-coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides with low coding potential and are present in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Recent findings reveal that lncRNAs can code for micropeptides in various species. Micropeptides are generated from small open reading frames (smORFs) and have been discovered frequently in short mRNAs and non-coding RNAs, such as lncRNAs, circular RNAs, and pri-miRNAs. The most accepted definition of a smORF is an ORF containing fewer than 100 codons, and ribosome profiling and mass spectrometry are the most prevalent experimental techniques used to identify them. Although the majority of micropeptides perform critical roles throughout plant developmental processes and stress conditions, only a handful of their functions have been verified to date. Even though more research is being directed toward identifying micropeptides, there is still a dearth of information regarding these peptides in plants. This review outlines the lncRNA-encoded peptides, the evolutionary roles of such peptides in plants, and the techniques used to identify them. It also describes the functions of the pri-miRNA and circRNA-encoded peptides that have been identified in plants.
Product quality, network effects, and efficiency of network markets
Authors: Zhao Dan , Song Yan
Published: October 2022

The objective of our study is to capture the roles of product quality and network effects in the success and efficiency of network markets under strategic settings that defined in terms of market share as a strategic factor and profit as a financial indicator. The research paper shows that the efficiency of network markets depends heavily on the phase adjustment of competition models and the balance of network effects and product quality among enterprises. the network market is always efficient in price competition, but not true in quantity competition when the network effect difference is sufficiently large or/and the quality difference is relatively small, then network effects may play a perverse role in market efficiency. The main findings reveal that network effects do not always enhance the role of quality in market efficiency and market growth. The research outcomes point to high quality enterprises’ attitude toward compatibility with enterprises with large network effects. This research paper also offers insights on government intervention to correct the distorted impacts of sufficiently large network effects on the efficiency of network markets.
Innovative work behavior in high-tech enterprises: Chain intermediary effect of psychological safety and knowledge sharing
Authors: Xu Ziqing , Suntrayuth Sid
Published: October 2022

This study aims to explore the relationship between organizational innovation climate (OIC) and innovative work behavior (IWB), using psychological safety (PS) and knowledge sharing (KS) as mediating variables. Based on the social cognitive theory (SCT), this study proposes a conceptual framework to explore innovative work behavior. The structural model of the extended SCT model was tested using sample data from 446 R&D staff of high-tech enterprises in China. SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0 were used to test the hypothetical model. The results indicated that organizational innovation climate was positively correlated with psychological safety and innovative work behavior. Psychological safety was positively correlated with innovative work behavior. Knowledge sharing was significantly and positively correlated with innovative work behavior. Moreover, Psychological safety and knowledge sharing play a significant mediating role in the relationship between organizational innovation climate and innovative work behavior, and psychological safety further improves individual innovative work behavior by influencing knowledge sharing among research team members. At the end of the study, this study thoroughly discussed the conclusions, practical implications, limitations, and future research directions of the study.
Emotion recognition and achievement prediction for foreign language learners under the background of network teaching
Authors: Ding Yi , Xing Wenying
Published: October 2022

At present, there are so many learners in online classroom that teachers cannot master the learning situation of each student comprehensively and in real time. Therefore, this paper first constructs a multimodal emotion recognition (ER) model based on CNN-BiGRU. Through the feature extraction of video and voice information, combined with temporal attention mechanism, the attention distribution of each modal information at different times is calculated in real time. In addition, based on the recognition of learners’ emotions, a prediction model of learners’ achievement based on emotional state assessment is proposed. C4.5 algorithm is used to predict students’ academic achievement in the multi-polarized emotional state, and the relationship between confusion and academic achievement is further explored. The experimental results show that the proposed multi-scale self-attention layer and multi-modal fusion layer can improve the achievement of ER task; moreover, there is a strong correlation between students’ confusion and foreign language achievement. Finally, the model can accurately and continuously observe students’ learning emotion and state, which provides a new idea for the reform of education modernization.
Healthcare decision-making capacity in old age: A qualitative study
Authors: Amaral Ana Saraiva , Simões Mário Rodrigues , Freitas Sandra , Vilar Manuela , Sousa Liliana Baptista , Afonso Rosa Marina
Published: October 2022

Objectives

Research about decision-making capacity has been growing in the last decades. That relates to more concerns regarding patients’ autonomy, and an increase in diseases that can negatively impact capacity. This research aims to: explore perceptions, legal aspects, and assessment procedures related to healthcare decision-making capacity in older adults with cognitive impairment; and study the first version of a new assessment instrument of this capacity.

Method

Nine focus groups were conducted, including healthcare, law and justice, nursing home professionals, institutionalized older adults, and dwelling older adults. Focus group discussions followed semi-structured interview scripts, specifically developed for each group. After group discussions, the assessment instrument was presented, and participants were asked to evaluate each item relevance and comprehensibility. Qualitative coding of the transcriptions was performed with resource to MAXQDA, using direct content analysis.

Results

Six primary themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: Decision-making capacity features; Abilities implied in decision-making; Factors influencing decision-making; Obstacles to decision-making; Legal aspects; and Assessment procedures.

Discussion

Results corroborate previous theoretical formulations of capacity. Generally, research results have implications for clinical and assessment practices, as well as preventive strategies that can improve older adult’s decision-making capacity. Assessment procedures of capacity should include a thorough protocol for the assessment of cognition, functionality, depressive symptoms, and decision-making abilities. In this respect, the need for an assessment tool that can provide valid information during evaluation processes is highlighted. Concerning the strategies to promote decision-making capacity, these rely on improving older adult’s health literacy and healthcare providers communication skills, as well as conduct actions to reduce stigma toward people with dementia.
Employees buying organic food intention: An extension of the theory of planned behavior
Authors: Jiang MengMeng , Wu Qiong
Published: October 2022

A gradual increase in population and urbanization has increased the demand for global resources, which ultimately burdens the depletion of resources and challenges environmental sustainability worldwide. In recent decades, nature sustainability has been the biggest challenge encountered by humankind. In addition, the changing lifestyle and consumption patterns have enormously played a key role. However, the consumption pattern from the employee’s perspective suffers from the lack of research. Therefore, grounded on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this research explores the antecedents and consequences of employees’ buying intentions in the world’s emerging market (China). Data were collected using a web-based link shared via WeChat and Q.Q.; resultants into 451 valid responses and partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS 4 have been administered for the analysis. Besides the insignificant effect of descriptive norms on buying intention and environmental concerns on purchasing behavior, other factors significantly impact purchase intention and actual buying behavior. This research witnesses a significant mediating role of buying intention. This research suggests that practitioners (i.e., marketers, government, policymakers, and environmental focus companies) develop strategies for public advertisement and launch a general message and campaigns both in urban and rural areas to prevent environmental sustainability and increases awareness related to organic consumption.
Musical expertise shapes visual-melodic memory integration
Authors: Hoffmann Martina , Schmidt Alexander , Ploner Christoph J.
Published: October 2022

Music can act as a mnemonic device that can elicit multiple memories. How musical and non-musical information integrate into complex cross-modal memory representations has however rarely been investigated. Here, we studied the ability of human subjects to associate visual objects with melodies. Musical laypersons and professional musicians performed an associative inference task that tested the ability to form and memorize paired associations between objects and melodies (“direct trials”) and to integrate these pairs into more complex representations where melodies are linked with two objects across trials (“indirect trials”). We further investigated whether and how musical expertise modulates these two processes. We analyzed accuracy and reaction times (RTs) of direct and indirect trials in both groups. We reasoned that the musical and cross-modal memory demands of musicianship might modulate performance in the task and might thus reveal mechanisms that underlie the association and integration of visual information with musical information. Although musicians showed a higher overall memory accuracy, non-musicians’ accuracy was well above chance level in both trial types, thus indicating a significant ability to associate and integrate musical with visual information even in musically untrained subjects. However, non-musicians showed shorter RTs in indirect compared to direct trials, whereas the reverse pattern was found in musicians. Moreover, accuracy of direct and indirect trials correlated significantly in musicians but not in non-musicians. Consistent with previous accounts of visual associative memory, we interpret these findings as suggestive of at least two complimentary mechanisms that contribute to visual-melodic memory integration. (I) A default mechanism that mainly operates at encoding of complex visual-melodic associations and that works with surprising efficacy even in musically untrained subjects. (II) A retrieval-based mechanism that critically depends on an expert ability to maintain and discriminate visual-melodic associations across extended memory delays. Future studies may investigate how these mechanisms contribute to the everyday experience of music-evoked memories.
Abnormal percent amplitude of fluctuation changes in patients with monocular blindness: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study
Authors: Hu Qiaohao , Chen Jun , Kang Min , Ying Ping , Liao Xulin , Zou Jie , Su Ting , Wang Yixin , Wei Hong , Shao Yi
Published: October 2022

Purpose

Previous studies on monocular blindness (MB) have mainly focused on concept and impact. The present study measured spontaneous brain activity in MB patients using the percentage of amplitude fluctuation (PerAF) method.

Methods

Twenty-nine patients with MB (21 male and 8 female) and 29 age-, gender-, and weight-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. All participants underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). The PerAF method was used to analyze the data and evaluate the spontaneous regional brain activity. The ability of PerAF values to distinguish patients with MB from HCs was analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between PerAF values of brain regions and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) scores.

Results

PerAF values in Occipital_Mid_L/Occipital_Mid_R/Cingulum_ Mid_L were significantly lower in patients with MB than in controls. Conversely, values in the Frontal_Sup_Orb_L/Frontal_Inf_Orb_L/Temporal _Inf_L/Frontal_Inf_Oper_L were significantly higher in MB patients than in HCs. And the AUC of ROC curves were follows: 0.904, (p < 0.0001; 95%CI: 0.830–0.978) for Frontal_Sup_Orb_L/Frontal_Inf_Orb_L; Temporal_Inf_L 0.883, (p < 0.0001; 95% CI: 0.794–0.972); Frontal_Inf_Oper_L 0.964, (p < 0.0001; 95% CI: 0.924–1.000), and 0.893 (p < 0.0001; 95% CI: 0.812–0.973) for Occipital_Mid_L; Occipital_Mid_R 0.887, (p < 0.0001; 95% CI: 0.802–0.971); Cingulum_Mid_L 0.855, (p < 0.0001; 95% CI: 0.750–0.960).

Conclusion

The results of our study show abnormal activity in some brain regions in patients with MB, indicating that these patients may be at risk of disorder related to these brain regions. These results may reflect the neuropathological mechanisms of MB and facilitate early MB diagnoses.
The epidemic of stroke mortality attributed to high body mass index in mainland China: Current trends and future prediction
Authors: Du Zhaoqing , Zhu Wenxuan , Zhao Yuqi , Liu Shenghang , Chu Hao , Sun Zhonghe , Chu Meng
Published: October 2022

Background

High body mass index (BMI) is an important risk factor for stroke. The aim of this study was to assess the long-term trend of high BMI-attributed stroke mortality and make projections through 2030.

Methods

Data were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 and World Population Prospects 2019. An age-period-cohort framework was used in the analysis.

Results

From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of high BMI-attributed stroke among females decreased by 15.2%, while among males, it increased by 31.1%. All of the age groups studied showed an increasing pattern over the last 30 years in males, and in female, the age groups encompassing participants who were 25–69 years old showed a decreasing pattern. In the same birth cohort, high BMI-attributable stroke mortality rates increased exponentially with age in both sexes. For females, the period rate ratios (RR) showed a downward trend after 2000–2004, and the cohort RR also showed a downward trend after the birth cohort 1930–1934. For males, the period RR showed an upward trend, but this increase was halted in the most recent period, and the cohort RRs showed a monotonic increasing pattern. It was projected that the ASMR of high BMI-attributed stroke would decrease among females and increase among males in the near future and that the proportion of elderly individuals with death due to high BMI-attributed stroke was projected to increase.

Conclusions

Over the last three decades, the high BMI-attributed stroke mortality rate decreased among females and increased among males, and these trends are projected to continue in the future. In addition, the proportion of elderly individuals with high BMI-attributed stroke mortality was projected to increase gradually in both men and women. More health-promoting efforts are needed, especially for elderly individuals and males.
Role of caregivers on medication adherence management in polymedicated patients with Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia
Authors: Muñoz-Contreras María Cristina , Segarra Ignacio , López-Román Francisco Javier , Galera Raúl Nieto , Cerdá Begoña
Published: October 2022

Background

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementia patients may have severe difficulties to ensure medication adherence due to their generally advanced age, polymedicated and multi-pathological situations as well as certain degree of cognitive impairment. Thus, the role of patient caregivers becomes crucial to warrantee treatment compliance.

Purpose

To assess the factors associated to patients and caregivers on medication adherence of patients with AD and other types of dementia as well as the degree of caregiver satisfaction with respect to treatment.

Methods

An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study among the caregivers of 100 patients with AD and other types of dementia of the “Cartagena and Region Association of Relatives of Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and other Neurodegenerative Diseases” was conducted to assess patient and caregiver factors that influence medication adherence evaluated with the Morisky-Green-Levine test.

Results

Overall, adherence to treatment was 71%, with similar proportions between male and female patients. Greater adherence was found in married or widowed patients (49.3%), first degree (85.9%) or female (81.7%) caregivers but lower in AD patients (75.9%). Multivariate analysis showed a statistically significant positive association between non-adherence and male sex of the caregiver (OR 3.512 [95%IC 1.124–10.973]), dementia (OR 3.065 [95%IC 1.019–9.219]), type of caregiver (non-first-degree relative) (OR 0.325 [95%IC 0.054–0.672]) and civil status of the patient (OR 2.011 [95%IC 1.155–3.501]) favorable for married or widowed patients. No or week association was found with gender, age, education level, number of drugs used or polymedicated status of the patient. Caregivers considered the use (90%) and administration (91%) of the treatment easy or very easy and rarely interfered with their daily life, especially for female caregivers (p = 0.016). Finally, 71% indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the treatment received by the patient.

Conclusions

Caregivers influence therapeutic management with predictors for improved adherence including female gender and first-degree kinship, together with patient's marital status. Thus, training caregivers about the disease and the importance of medication adherence in AD patients may ensure optimal treatment.
The synergistic interaction of systemic inflammation, dysbiosis and antimicrobial resistance promotes growth restriction in children with acute severe malnutrition: An emphasis on Escherichia coli
Authors: Arredondo-Hernandez Rene , Siebe Christina , Castillo-Rojas Gonzalo , Ponce de León Samuel , López-Vidal Yolanda
Published: October 2022

A healthy development is denied to millions of children worldwide as harsh life conditions manifest themselves in an altered inflammation-prone microbiome crosstalk environment. Keynote of this tragedy is that insufficient nutritious amino acid blocks lipids-intake to sustain diverse microbiota, and promotes the generalist strategy followed by Escherichia coli -besides other proteobacteria- of shifting gut metabolism, subverting the site specificity of first immune reaction. Furthermore, it could be hypothesized that selective success lies in their ability to induce inflammation, since this phenomenon also fuels horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this review, we dilucidate how immune mechanisms of environmental enteric dysfunction affect overgrowth restriction, infectious morbidity rate, and acquired lifelong risks among severe acute malnourished children. Also, despite acknowledging complexities of antimicrobial resistant enrichment, we explore and speculate over the links between virulence regulation and HGT as an indissociable part in the quest for new inflammatory niches by open genome bacteria, particularly when both collide in the most vulnerable.
Computational Modeling of Lymph Filtration and Absorption in the Lymph Node by Boundary Integral Equations
Authors: Setukha Alexey , Tretiakova Rufina
Published: October 2022

We develop a numerical method for solving three-dimensional problems of fluid filtration and absorption in a piecewise homogeneous medium by means of boundary integral equations. This method is applied to a simulation of the lymph flow in a lymph node. The lymph node is considered as a piecewise homogeneous domain containing porous media. The lymph flow is described by Darcy’s law. Taking into account the lymph absorption, we propose an integral representation for the velocity and pressure fields, where the lymph absorption imitates the lymph outflow from a lymph node through a system of capillaries. The original problem is reduced to a system of boundary integral equations, and a numerical algorithm for solving this system is provided. We simulate the lymph velocity and pressure as well as the total lymph flux. The method is verified by comparison with experimental data.
A Fast Point Clouds Registration Algorithm Based on ISS-USC Feature for the 3D Laser Scanner
Authors: Wu Aihua , Ding Yinjia , Mao Jingfeng , Zhang Xudong
Published: October 2022

The point clouds registration is a key step in data processing for the 3D laser scanner to obtain complete information of the object surface, and there are many algorithms. In order to overcome the disadvantages of slow calculation speed and low accuracy of existing point clouds registration algorithms, a fast point clouds registration algorithm based on the improved voxel filter and ISS-USC feature is proposed. Firstly, the improved voxel filter is used for down-sampling to reduce the size of the original point clouds data. Secondly, the intrinsic shape signature (ISS) feature point detection algorithm is used to extra feature points from the down-sampled point clouds data, and then the unique shape context (USC) descriptor is calculated to describe the extracted feature points. Next, the improved random sampling consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is used for coarse registration to obtain the initial position. Finally, the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm based on KD tree is used for fine registration, which realizes the transform from the point clouds scanned by the 3D laser scanner at different angles to the same coordinate system. Through comparing with other algorithms and the registration experiment of the VGA connector for monitor, the experimental results verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithm, and it has fastest registration speed while maintaining high registration accuracy.
A Two-Archive Many-Objective Optimization Algorithm Based on D-Domination and Decomposition
Authors: Ye Na , Dai Cai , Xue Xingsi
Published: October 2022

Decomposition-based evolutionary algorithms are popular with solving multi-objective optimization problems. It uses weight vectors and aggregate functions to keep the convergence and diversity. However, it is hard to balance diversity and convergence in high-dimensional objective space. In order to discriminate solutions and equilibrate the convergence and diversity in high-dimensional objective space, a two-archive many-objective optimization algorithm based on D-dominance and decomposition (Two Arch-D) is proposed. In Two Arch-D, the method of D-dominance and adaptive strategy adjusting parameter are used to apply selection pressure on the population to identify better solutions. Then, it uses the two archives’ strategy to equilibrate convergence and diversity, and after classifying solutions in convergence archive, the improved Tchebycheff function is used to evaluate the solution set and retain the better solutions. For the diversity archive, the diversity is maintained by making any two solutions as far apart and different as possible. Finally, the Two Arch-D is compared with other four multi-objective evolutionary algorithms on 45 many-objective test problems (including 5, 10 and 15 objectives). Good performance of the algorithm is verified by the description and analysis of the experimental results.
Resonant Metasurfaces with a Tangential Impedance
Authors: Kanev Nikolay
Published: October 2022

Metasurfaces formed by monopole and dipole resonators are studied theoretically. The monopole resonators are Helmholtz resonators or membranes vibrating on the first eigenfrequency; the dipole ones are spheres on springs or membranes vibrating on the second eigenfrequency. It is shown that acoustic properties of the metasurface formed by the built-in monopole resonators can be described by an equivalent impedance, which characterizes a normal forcing to the surface, whereas this impedance is not suitable for the metasurface formed by the dipole resonators, because motion of the metasurface is excited by a forcing tangential to the surface. For such boundaries, a new characteristic named “tangential impedance” is proposed. This is a ratio of the second derivative of the sound pressure along a coordinate tangential to the boundary to the normal velocity of the boundary. The dipole metasurface can be described by the equivalent tangential impedance. Reflection and absorption coefficients of the surface with the tangential impedance are found for a harmonic plane wave in dependance of an incidence angle. It is found that the angular dependences of the coefficients are very different for the monopole and dipole metasurfaces.
Numerical Study on Improved Geometry of Outlet Pressure Ripple in Parallel 2D Piston Pumps
Authors: Huang Yu , Lu Qianqian , Shao Wei , Liu Li , Ding Chuan , Ruan Jian
Published: October 2022

Because the axial piston pump is often used in the aerospace and aviation fields, it is necessary to pay attention to its outlet pressure and flow characteristics. The parallel 2D piston pump proposed, based on the axial piston pump, has no structural flow ripple because it has a rail with a uniform acceleration and deceleration. Now, the pump is used in the special working conditions of the aerospace field, and it is required to meet the rated flow of 50 L/min, the rated load of 8 MPa, and an extremely low-pressure ripple. Based on CFD technology, this paper studies the pump’s outlet flow and pressure ripples through numerical simulation. According to the causes of the outlet pressure ripple, an improved geometry is determined to further reduce the outlet pressure ripple. Using a high-frequency pressure sensor to measure the outlet pressure ripple of the optimized pump prototype, it was found that the outlet pressure ripple rate of the prototype was only 6%. The parallel 2D piston pump has been proved by the simulation and test that its outlet pressure ripple is extremely low. However, it is not effective to reduce the outlet flow ripple by increasing the pre-pressure and reducing the backflow. In parallel 2D piston pumps, it is still necessary to find a new method to further reduce outlet pressure and flow ripples.
Identification of Allelochemicals with Differential Modes of Phytotoxicity against Cuscuta campestris
Authors: Moreno-Robles Antonio , Cala Peralta Antonio , Soriano Gabriele , Zorrilla Jesús G. , Masi Marco , Vilariño-Rodríguez Susana , Cimmino Alessio , Fernández-Aparicio Mónica
Published: October 2022

Cuscuta campestris is a parasitic weed species with noxious effects in broadleaf crops worldwide. The control of Cuscuta in the majority of crops affected is limited or non-existing. We tested, for the first time, the effect of eighteen metabolites in in vitro-grown Cuscuta seedlings. We found that 2-benzoxazolinone, hydrocinnamic acid and pisatin caused the strongest inhibition of seedling growth. In addition to seedling growth, pisatin caused necrosis of the Cuscuta seedling, occurring mostly at the seedling shoot. Scopoletin and sesamol treatments caused toxicity, observed as a black staining, only at the Cuscuta root apices, while caffeic acid, ferulic acid and vanillic acid caused toxicity, observed as brown staining, in the root apices. The structure–activity relationships in four structural derivatives of 2-benzoxazolinone, and five structural derivatives of hydrocinnamic acid, were also studied. The identification of new herbicidal modes of action against Cuscuta is the first step in creating new alternatives to sustainable chemical control of parasitic weeds.
Estimation of Nitrogen Content in Winter Wheat Based on Multi-Source Data Fusion and Machine Learning
Authors: Ding Fan , Li Changchun , Zhai Weiguang , Fei Shuaipeng , Cheng Qian , Chen Zhen
Published: October 2022

Nitrogen (N) is an important factor limiting crop productivity, and accurate estimation of the N content in winter wheat can effectively monitor the crop growth status. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform with multiple sensors to estimate the N content of winter wheat using machine learning algorithms; to collect multispectral (MS), red-green-blue (RGB), and thermal infrared (TIR) images to construct a multi-source data fusion dataset; to predict the N content in winter wheat using random forest regression (RFR), support vector machine regression (SVR), and partial least squares regression (PLSR). The results showed that the mean absolute error (MAE) and relative root-mean-square error (rRMSE) of all models showed an overall decreasing trend with an increasing number of input features from different data sources. The accuracy varied among the three algorithms used, with RFR achieving the highest prediction accuracy with an MAE of 1.616 mg/g and rRMSE of 12.333%. For models built with single sensor data, MS images achieved a higher accuracy than RGB and TIR images. This study showed that the multi-source data fusion technique can enhance the prediction of N content in winter wheat and provide assistance for decision-making in practical production.
Comparison Study on Wild and Cultivated Opuntia sp.: Chemical, Taxonomic, and Antioxidant Evaluations
Authors: Boudjouan Fares , Zeghbib Walid , Carneiro João , Silva Raquel , Morais João , Vasconcelos Vitor , Lopes Graciliana
Published: October 2022

Opuntia species are well-known for their use in folk medicine and richness in many bioactive compounds. This study aims to realize a taxonomic study and to evaluate the polyphenols content and antioxidant potential of edible parts of cultivated and wild Opuntia sp. fruits, using different in-vitro bioassays. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed the assignment of the samples to Opuntia genera. The Opuntia fruit fractions (seeds, pulp, and entire fruit) exhibited different amounts of polyphenols, with the highest values recorded for the wild species, and particularly their pulp (1140.86 mg GAE/100 g DM, and 155.62 QE/100 g DM for total phenolic and flavonoid compounds, respectively). Among the antioxidant activities, wild pulp exhibited the greatest antioxidant potential with a high radical scavenging activity (72.34% and 92.12% for hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals, respectively). The best nitric oxide scavenging activity was found for cultivated fruit fraction, with 55.22%. The statistical analysis also confirmed a significant correlation between the antioxidant activities and the phenolic compounds and flavonoids (>0.90, p ≤ 0.001) in all Opuntia extracts. Finally, both Opuntia fruits demonstrated a good antioxidant potential, enhancing the interest of this species as a non-pharmacological approach in a wide variety of disorders and diseases associated with oxidative stress, and paving the way to Opuntia sp. economic valorization.
Field Evolution of Insecticide Resistance against Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) in Central China, 2011–2021
Authors: Huang Rong , Meng Haoran , Wan Hu , Li Junkai , Zhang Xiaolei
Published: October 2022

The white-backed planthopper Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) is an important pest on rice plants throughout Asia. The application of chemical insecticides is still the main approach to suppressing the field population of S. furcifera. However, misuse of chemical insecticides has promoted the development of insecticide resistance in this insect pest. Thus, in the present study, dose responses of 58 field populations of S. furcifera to 7 insecticides were analyzed by rice-stem dipping from 2011 to 2021 in Central China. The results indicated that field populations of S. furcifera showed moderate levels of resistance to nitenpyram (RR = 1.7–17.8-fold), thiamethoxam (RR = 1.4–25.8-fold), dinotefuran (RR = 1.5–25.3-fold), clothianidin (RR = 2.1–12.5-fold), chlorpyrifos (RR = 1.1–56.6-fold), etofenprox (RR = 1.1–14.8-fold) and isoprocarb (RR = 1.4–11.5-fold). The results presented here will be beneficial to improve our ability to identify and predict insecticide resistance, make better control recommendations and prevent further insecticide resistance development.
The Effect of Phosphogypsum and Turkey Litter Application on the Properties of Eroded Agrochernozem in the South Ural Region (Russia)
Authors: Komissarov Mikhail , Gabbasova Ilyusya , Garipov Timur , Suleymanov Ruslan , Sidorova Ludmila
Published: October 2022

The possibility of using industrial and poultry wastes as an ameliorant/fertilizer for erosion-prone soils was investigated. We studied the impact of phosphogypsum (PG) and turkey litter (TL) application on the physicochemical properties of weakly eroded agrochernozem in conditions of a 5-year field experiment in the South Ural region, Russia. In particular, we examined the effect of treatments on the soil moisture reserves, soil structure, microaggregate composition and particle size distribution, aggregate stability (water resistance), organic carbon content (Corg), ammonium, nitrate and alkaline hydrolysable nitrogen, available phosphorus (Pav), exchange potassium (Kex), and potato productivity/ecological quality. Treatments included the application of the PG at 5, 10, and 20 t ha–1, the TL at 40 and 60 t ha–1; and in mixes of PG and TL at ratios of 1:10, 1:5, and 1:2. The obtained results indicated that the introduction of PG and TL increased (compared to control) the moisture reserves (by 10–17%), resistance of soil aggregates to water (8–15%), the content of Corg (6–10%), available nitrogen (two orders of magnitude), Pav (3–6 times) and Kex (2–3 times), and improved, as well, soil structure. In general, years factor had a significant effect on soil water-physical properties; its influence was 44–67%, while the effect of treatments was 21–30%. The agrochemical properties (Corg and Pav) were dependent on treatments factor (77 and 95%, respectively), while the content of all forms of nitrogen depended on the year factor (34–57%). The obtained results suggest the application of PG and TL to improve agrochernozem fertility status and minimize its erodibility without soil and plant contamination.
The Influence of Variety and Climatic Year on the Phenology of Blueberry Grown in the Banat Area, Romania
Authors: Cosmulescu Sina , Laies Maria Marina Merca , Sărățeanu Veronica
Published: October 2022

This paper’s aim was to investigate the influence of variety and the climatic year on vegetation phenophases in blueberries grown in southwest Romania, the Banat region. This study was carried out during the growing season of 2020–2022 in a blueberry plantation, for ‘Duke’, ‘Hannah’s Choice’ and ‘Elliott’ varieties. In the study, phenological traits were recorded using the BBCH phenological scale and the observation of phenotypic data was recorded as in Julian days. Thus, it is found that the duration of each phenophase characterized each variety. The calendar periods for the onset of vegetation and the duration of spring phenological development stages in varieties have differed from year to year and depended on weather conditions. In the case of the phenological stage, depending on variety, the maximum amplitude was recorded for BBCH 87 stage (75% blue fruits) of 51 days, and the minimum amplitude, of 25 days, for BBCH 51 stage (bud swell) and BBCH 59 (late pink bud). The coefficient of variation, depending on climatic year, for generative phenophases, had values between 6.5% (BBCH 67-petal fall) and 21.1% (BBCH 51-bud swell). It was found that the variety and the climatic year influence the development of vegetation phenophases. The results indicate that blueberry cultivars have demonstrated a high degree of phenotypic plasticity to respond to gradual changes in environmental conditions and are important for the evaluation of cultivar cultivation prospects in the studied area.
Effects of Planting Density, Levels, and Forms of Nitrogen Application on the Yield and Nitrogen Utilization of Wheat following Rice in East China
Authors: Xiao Zhilin , Gu Hanzhu , Wu Hao , Jing Wenjiang , Zhu Kuanyu , Zhang Weiyang , Gu Junfei , Liu Lijun , Qian Xiaoqing , Wang Zhiqin , Yang Jianchang , Zhang Hao
Published: October 2022

A major challenge is to achieve the goal of synergistically increasing grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat production. Many studies have focused on one aspect of cultivation such as fertilizer management, suitable planting density, and straw returning. However, there are few studies on the effect of integrated cultivation practices on yield and nitrogen absorption and utilization of wheat. A field experiment to investigate the characteristics was conducted across two years using Yangmai 16 and Yangmai 20 with five cultivation practices including nitrogen blank area (NB), local practices (LP), nitrogen reduction (NR), planting density reduction and nitrogen reduction (DN), and organic fertilizer (OF). As compared with LP, the DN treatment improved the yield (+4.54%), recovery efficiency of N fertilizer (+5.59%), N partial factor productivity (+15.28%), agronomic N use efficiency (+21.43%), physiological N use efficiency (+14.90%), and nitrogen harvest index (+6.45%). All previous indices were increased by 16.84%, 28.18%, 19.59%, 45.81%, 13.96%, and 3.37% under the OF treatment, as compared with LP. The DN and OF significantly improved nitrogen use efficiency, photosynthetic characteristics, dry matter accumulation, root total and active absorbing surface area, root oxidation activity, nitrogen accumulation, nitrogen harvest index, and nitrogen transportation in various organs. The results suggest that integrated cultivation practices are beneficial to achieve high yield and high nitrogen use efficiency through improving the agronomic performance and root physiological characteristics.