bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The mediating effect of perceiving close relatives as obese on obesity and weight control behavior score among adults: An exploratory cross-sectional study in Chongqing, China
Authors: Wu Tingting , Liu Weiwei , Chen Yifan , Guo Tian , Sun Rong
Published: November 2022

Obesity is one of the most glaringly obvious, yet most neglected, public health problems the world is facing today. Individuals' self-perception of being overweight is essential to engaging in weight control behavior. This is the first exploratory study in Chongqing to assess the mediating effect of perceived obesity in close relatives on obesity and weight control behavior among adults. A cross-sectional study, including 3,7492 participants, was conducted in a healthcare center in Chongqing, China. For Kruskal–Wallis test analyses, logistic regression and Sobel-Goodman mediation tests were employed. Only 1.76% of participants (660) were medically identified as obese, and only 2.13% of participants (798) thought their close relatives were obese. Nearly one-third of the participants consumed more than double the daily recommended amount of meat. More than 85% of participants were physically inactive. Obesity was positively associated with obesity perception in close relatives (OR = 19.556, P < 0.001). The association between the respondent's obesity status and weight control behavior scores changed statistically significantly (β = 0.594, P < 0.001). Individuals who perceived their close relatives as obese were more likely to engage in weight control behavior themselves (β = 0.678, P = 0.001). The obesity perception in close relatives partially mediated the association between obesity and weight control behavior (ab = 0.141, SE = 0.03, 95% CI = 0.086, 0.198). Obese people are more likely to engage in weight control behaviors. The effect of individuals' obesity status on weight control behavior scores is partially mediated by the obesity perception in close relatives among the participants. Findings suggest that personal obesity status perceptions of close relatives might provide new weight management ideas for healthcare centers.
Rate of change in longitudinal EMG indicates time course of an individual's neuromuscular adaptation in resistance-based muscle training
Authors: Stefanovic Filip , Ramanarayanan Shilpa , Karkera Nidhi U. , Mujumdar Radhika , Sivaswaamy Mohana Preethi , Hostler David
Published: November 2022

An individual's long-term neuromuscular adaptation can be measured through time-domain analyses of surface electromyograms (EMG) in regular resistance-based training. The perceived changes in recruitment, such as those measured during muscle fatigue, can subsequently prolong the recovery time in rehabilitation applications. Thus, by developing quantifiable methods for measuring neuromuscular adaptation, adjuvant treatments applied during neurorehabilitation can be improved to reduce recovery times and to increase patient quality of care. This study demonstrates a novel time-domain analysis of long-term changes in EMG captured neuromuscular activity that we aim to use to develop a quantified performance metric for muscle-based intervention training and optimization of an individual. We measure EMG of endurance and hypertrophy-based resistance exercises of healthy participants over 100 days to identify trends in long-term neuromuscular adaptation. Particularly, we show that the rate of EMG amplitude increase (motor recruitment) is dependent on the training modality of an individual. Particularly, EMG decreases over time with repetitive training – but the rate of decrease is different in hypertrophy, endurance, and control exercises. We found that the EMG peak contraction decreases across all subjects, on average, by 8.23 dB during hypertrophy exercise and 10.09 dB for endurance exercises over 100 days of training, while control participants showed negligible change. This represents approximately 2 dB difference EMG activity when comparing endurance and hypertrophy exercises, and >8 dB change when comparing to our control cases. As such, we show that the slope of the long-term EMG activity is related to the resistance-based exercise. We believe this can be used to identify person-specific performance metrics, and to create optimized interventions using a measured performance baseline of an individual.
Effects of a 6 week core strengthening training on measures of physical and athletic performance in adolescent male sub-elite handball players
Authors: Bauer Julian , Muehlbauer Thomas
Published: November 2022

The objective was to investigate the effects of a 6-week core strengthening training within the regular handball training sessions compared to regular handball training only. Male sub-elite handball players were randomly assigned to an intervention (INT: n = 13; age: 16.9 ± 0.6 years) or a control (CON: n = 13; age: 17.2 ± 0.8 years) group. The INT group performed the “big 3” core exercises cross curls-up, side bridge (both sides), and the quadrupedal stance (“birddog exercise”) triweekly for 20–30 min while the CON group conducted regular handball training only. Pre- and post-training assessments included measures of muscular endurance (Closed Kinetic Chain Upper Extremity Stability Test [CKCUEST] and the Bourban test), shoulder mobility/stability (Upper Quarter Y Balance [YBT-UQ] test), and throwing velocity. The ANCOVA revealed significant differences between means in favour of the INT group for the dorsal chain (p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.46) and the lateral chain (left side: p = 0.015, ηp2 = 0.22; right side: p = 0.039, ηp2 = 0.17) of the Bourban test, the composite score (p = 0.024, ηp2 = 0.20) of the throwing arm reach and the inferolateral reach direction (p = 0.038, ηp2 = 0.17), and the composite score (p = 0.027, ηp2 = 0.19) of the non-throwing arm reach of the YBT-UQ. However, performance in the CKCUEST and throwing velocity did not show any group-specific changes. Therefore, 6 weeks of core strengthening training were effective in improving some components of physical but no handball-specific athletic (i.e., throwing velocity) performance in adolescent male sub-elite handball players. Practitioners may still opt for this training regimen when stimulus variability is sought or when a low load/low movement approach (e.g., during rehabilitation) is favoured.
Effects of Asymmetric Vane Pitch on Reducing Low-Engine-Order Forced Response of a Turbine Stage
Authors: Zheng Yun , Jin Xiubo , Yang Hui
Published: November 2022

Asymmetric vane pitch is a key technique to suppress the forced response of downstream rotor blades. To address the problem of low-engine-order (LEO) excitation with high amplitude under an asymmetric configuration (half-and-half layout) widely recognized in the previous literature, we first apply the in-house computational fluid dynamics code Hybrid Grid Aeroelasticity Environment to perform full-annulus unsteady aeroelasticity simulations of the turbine stage, comparing the resonance response of rotor blades on different asymmetric configurations and analyzing the flow field at the vane exit, as well as the excitation force, modal force, and maximum vibrational amplitude on the rotor blades. Second, we reveal that the potential field of the vane row is the main source of the LEO excitation caused by asymmetric configuration on rotor blades, the vane wake and potential field jointly determine the LEO excitation strength of rotor blades, and the vane pitch difference ΔS can be used to regulate the strength of the LEO excitation. Finally, based on an in-depth understanding of flow physics under an asymmetric configuration, a more preferable and effective asymmetric configuration (non-half two-segment layout) is proposed. Our findings demonstrate that, with the proposed asymmetric configuration, the amplitude of the vane passing frequency was reduced by 48.32% compared to the uniform configuration; furthermore, the maximum vibrational amplitude of the three-nodal-diameter response of the rotor blade at the three-engine-order crossing decreased by 45.49% compared to the half-and-half layout. The non-half two-segment layout also significantly improves upon the half-and-half layout in terms of aerodynamic performance. The results presented in this paper provide a good theoretical basis for reducing blade vibration by applying asymmetric vane pitch in engineering practice.
Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Heat Transfer Performance of Water Evaporators with Different Channels and Fin Structures in a Sub-Atmosphere Environment
Authors: Pang Liping , Ma Desheng , Zhang Yadan , Yang Xiaodong
Published: November 2022

A water evaporator is a phase change heat exchanger, as a heat sink, especially for high-speed flight vehicles. It is composed of internal channels for convective cooling and external fins for boiling. In this paper, six water evaporators, Hex0–Hex5, are designed with five different internal channels and two different external fins. The VOF simulation models are built to investigate their boiling heat transfer performances in a sub-atmospheric environment. Experimental studies were carried out to verify the accuracy of the numerical model of water evaporator. The simulation results show that the structures of the internal channel and external fin both have an impact on the heat transfer performance. For the internal channels, their height change has much more obvious effect than their structural continuity. For the external fins, the increase of the fin bulge structure helps to improve the heat transfer performance. For the aircraft, the optimal design structure of water evaporator is Hex4 and its heat transfer performance can be improved by 13.31% compared with Hex0.
Growth Performance, Carcass and Pork Quality Traits of Growing-Finishing Pigs with High and Low Breeding Values for Residual Feed Intake Fed Diets with Macauba (Acrocomia aculeata) Pulp as Alternative Raw Material
Authors: Moreira Vinicius E. , Veroneze Renata , Saraiva Alysson , Duarte Marcio de S. , Guimaraes Simone E. F. , Lopes Marcos S. , Bastiaansen John W. M. , Santos Gabryele A. , Campos Lorena D. , Campos Paulo H. R. F.
Published: November 2022

This study evaluated the effects of dietary macauba pulp on the growth performance, carcass, and pork traits of growing-finishing pigs; and whether differences in residual feed intake breeding values could influence the pigs’ growth responses to macauba pulp inclusion in the diet. A total of 282 (34.8 ± 4.40 kg) pigs (barrows and females), progeny of sires with high (HRFI) or low (LRFI) breeding value for residual feed intake, were pair-housed on the basis of sex, breeding value, and initial BW. Diets with (macauba) or without (control) of 50 g/kg of macauba pulp inclusion were randomly assigned to the experimental pens. There were eight treatment groups: HRFI barrows were fed the control diet; HRFI barrows were fed the macauba diet; LRFI barrows were fed the control diet; LRFI barrows were fed the macauba diet; HRFI female pigs were fed the control diet; HRFI female pigs were fed the macauba diet; LRFI female pigs were fed the control diet; and LRFI female pigs were fed the macauba diet. The trial lasted 90 days and was divided into four phases: growing phase 1 (G1) and 2 (G2); and finishing phases 1 (F1) and 2 (F2). There was no interaction between sex, breeding value, and diet for performance, carcass, and pork traits. Barrows had higher feed intake (ADFI), daily gain (ADG), feed conversion rate (FCR), and final body weight than female pigs. The breeding value had no effect on performance measurements. The inclusion of macauba pulp in the pigs’ diets did not affect any growth parameter during G1, G2 and F1 phases. However, reduced ADFI and improved FCR were observed in F2. Female pigs had lower backfat thickness (BF) and higher loin eye area (LEA) than barrows. HRFI pigs had higher hot carcass weight and LEA, and lower BF than LRFI pigs. There was no effect of macauba pulp inclusion on carcass traits. Pork from barrows presented lower Warner–Bratzler shear force and higher fat content than pork from the females. There was no effect of breeding value on pork traits. Pork from pigs fed the macauba diet showed lower moisture content and water-holding capacity. In conclusion, macauba pulp can partially replace corn without reducing the performance of pigs. Regardless of sex and breeding value for RFI, pigs responded similarly to macauba pulp inclusion in diets.
N Addition Mitigates Water Stress via Different Photosynthesis and Water Traits for Three Native Plant Species in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau
Authors: Zhao Ningning , Sun Xingrong , Hou Shuai , Chen Guohao , Zhang He , Han Yuxin , Zhou Jie , Wang Xiangtao , Zhang Zhixin
Published: November 2022

Reseeding with native plants to rebuild alpine meadow has become a popular way of ecological restoration. However, the harsh environment poses a great challenge to the establishment of native plants due to poor management of water and nutrients. How water–fertilizer interaction influences dominant grass species is still unclear, and reasonable water and fertilizer conditions are still not determined. Our results showed that addition of nitrogen could mitigate the photosynthetic and water-use traits caused by water stress, i.e., a reduction in Pn and water use results from fewer and thinner leaves, weak stomatal traits, etc. Compared to the control, the peak Pn values of Poa crymophila, Festuca coelestis, and Stipa purpurea increased significantly (71.2%, 108.4%, and 25.4%, respectively). Under drought stress, Pn tended to decrease due to reduced stomatal conductance (Gs). However, appropriate fertilization buffered against Pn decreases by altering the stomatal size and regulating the Gs. Based on reduced water consumption, the water-use efficiency of P. crymophila and F. coelestis decreased whereas that of S. purpurea increased. WHFH for P. crymophila and F. coelestis and WHFL for S. purpurea growth were suitable for the alpine region. WHFH for P. crymophila and F. coelestis and WHFL for S. purpurea were suitable for their establishment in the alpine region. A reasonable water–fertilizer combination could effectively reduce the risk of establishment failure in ecological restoration.
Green Manure Return Strategies to Improve Soil Properties and Spring Maize Productivity under Nitrogen Reduction in the North China Plain
Authors: Su Gang , Zhao Rui , Wang Yizhen , Yang Yong’an , Wu Xidong , Wang Jinlong , Ge Junzhu
Published: November 2022

In order to study the effect of green manure return for stabilized spring maize (Zea mays L.) grain yield (GY) we reduced nitrogen fertilizer input by regulation and examined effects on soil nutrients, enzyme activity, and fungal communities. This two-year field experiment was conducted in the North China Plain. The field experiment was undertaken with a split-plot design; the primary plots were winter fallow (WF) and green manure (GM), and the split-plots were five N application rates of 0 (N0), 189 (N189), 216 (N216), 243 (N243), and 270 (N270) kg ha−1. The results showed that, spring maize GY under GM treatments (GYGM) were significantly increased by 5.38–11.68% more than WF treatment (GYWF), and GYWF and GYGM significantly increased by 35.9–91.5% and 80.1–135.5% across all N treatments. By linear-platform model analysis, spring maize under GM treatments obtained higher GY, reaching 1270.5–14,312.2 kg ha−1 with optimized N application rate at 238–265 kg ha−1, which resulted in a GY higher than WF (11,820.0 and 13,654.2 kg ha−1) and N reduced 11.2% (238 vs. 268 kg ha−1). GM treatment significantly increased soil organic carbon by 3.90–12.23% more than WF over all N application rates, and total nitrogen and available nitrogen were significantly increased by 3.79–15.76% and 4.87–17.29%, with total phosphorus and available phosphorus for GM higher than WF by 6.1–13.6% and 9.6–5.3%, respectively. However, there were lesser effects of GM on total potassium and available potassium. Compared to WF, soil catalase, sucrose, urease, and alkaline phosphatase activity were significantly increased by 6.2–16.4%, 5.8–48.1%, 3.3–21.5% and 11.5–82.3%, respectively, over all N application rates under GM over two years. GM increased Zygomycota and Basidiomycota relative abundances significantly, and reduced Thielavia, unclassified fungi, and Podospora relative abundances by 35.35%, 52.92% and 52.77% more than WF treatment, respectively. In summary, due to the GM return into fields, increased soil nutrients were available, which were positively affected by soil enzyme activity and fungal communities, and reduced nutrient requirements, and so the farmers could obtain a spring maize grain yield higher than 14,000 kg ha−1 with a reduced 11.2% N application rate from 268 kg ha−1 to 238 kg ha−1 by sowing winter green manure for a long time period in the North China Plain.
Effects of Different Soil Moisture-Holding Strategies on Growth Characteristics, Yield and Quality of Winter-Seeded Spring Wheat
Authors: Zhao Zhiwei , Li Mengyuan , Wu Qiang , Zhang Yongping
Published: November 2022

Drought during the overwintering period threatens the emergence rate and restricts the yield under the “winter-seeded spring wheat” cultivated model in the Hetao Plain Irrigation District in Inner Mongolia. To address this issue, from 2017 to 2019, six treatments were set up in the field to study the emergence rate, growth attributes, grain quality, yield and its percentage of winter-seeded spring wheat. These treatments were the (1) application of water-retaining agents under winter sowing (WRA), (2) soil amendments under winter sowing (SA) and wheat seed presoaking with amino acid water-soluble fertilizer under winter sowing (SP), (3) straw mulching under winter sowing (SM), (4) film-mulching hole sowing under winter sowing (FMHS), (5) blank control under winter sowing (CKW) and (6) conventional blank control under spring sowing (CKS). The results showed that the emergence rate of winter-seeded treatment was lower than CKS treatment, the emergence of WRA, SA, SM, and FMHS treatment increased by 5.4%, 2.3%, 6.5% and 10.8% compared with CKW treatment, respectively. The winter-seeded treatment is earlier than CKS treatment in the growth process, in which FMHS treatment is between 12 d and 16 d earlier in the emergence period, between 13 d and 15 d earlier in the maturation period, between 8 d and 12 d earlier than the CKW treatment in the emergence period, and between 8 d and 10 d earlier in the maturity period. Compared with CKW treatment, WRA, SA, SM, FMHS and CKS treatments increased yield by 13.49%, 11.42%, 14.75%, 21.61% and 28.15%, respectively. FMHS treatment significantly reduced the total water consumption and significantly improved water use efficiency. The protein content, wet gluten content, sedimentation value, dough ductility and maximum resistance in CKS treatment were significantly lower than other winter sowing treatments. The protein percentage and wet gluten percentage in FMHS treatment were the highest, and the difference with CKW treatment was significant. In summary, film-mulching hole sowing in winter improves soil water and the emergence rate, significantly accelerates the growth process of wheat, increases yield and promotes grain quality.
Impact of 2,4-D and Glyphosate on Soil Enzyme Activities in a Resistant Maize Cropping System
Authors: Tyler Heather L.
Published: November 2022

Crop varieties resistant to multiple herbicides have been developed to provide better control of weed populations in row-crop fields where glyphosate resistance has become common. These new varieties include lines of maize (Zea mays) resistant to both glyphosate and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). As these herbicides have the potential to impact microbial communities in soil, there is concern that their co-application may have a greater effect on activities linked to soil nutrient cycling than if they were applied individually. To investigate this possibility, a field study was conducted on 2,4-D+glyphosate-resistant maize to determine the impact of 2,4-D alone and 2,4-D+glyphosate on extracellular enzyme activity in both bulk and rhizosphere soil. Maize was treated at the V2 and V8 developmental stages. Changes in soil activities were small in magnitude and inconsistent between timepoints. 2,4-D+glyphosate-treated plots had higher beta-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, and phosphatase activities, but only after the V2 application in bulk soil in the first year of the study, while no significant effects were observed in the rhizosphere. Enzyme activities were more impacted by soil organic matter than herbicide treatments. These results suggest that, when applied at label rates, 2,4-D+glyphosate application will not adversely affect soil microbial enzyme activities.
The Ability of Nitrification Inhibitors to Decrease Denitrification Rates in an Arable Soil
Authors: Li Jie , Wang Wenyu , Wang Wei , Li Yaqun
Published: November 2022

A nitrification inhibitor is an effective tool that can be used to reduce the loss of nitrogen (N) and improve crop yields. Most studies have focused on the changes in the soil N mineralization process that may influence the dynamics of soil inorganic N and the soil N cycle. However, the effects of the inhibitors on denitrification rates remain largely unclarified. Therefore, in this study, we monitored the dynamics in annual denitrification rates affected by nitrification inhibitors from a maize field for the first time. Treatments included inorganic fertilizer (NPK), cattle manure, a combination of NPK and DMPP (3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate), and a combination of manure and DMPP, applied to brown soils in a no-tillage maize field. The findings demonstrated that the denitrification rate and denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) were highly variable and there were no significant decreases in all treatment groups after the addition of DMPP. Compared to the control soils, the ammonium (NH4+-N) concentration was significantly increased, while the nitrate (NO3−-N) level was significantly decreased in the DMPP-amended soils less than 30 days after treatment application, indicating that nitrification was partially inhibited. The formation of NO3−-N and the nitrification rates could be markedly reduced by DMPP, while NO3−-N availability did not affect the denitrification rates. Complete degradation of DMPP was observed in the soil on day 70 after DMPP addition, and its half-life was 10 days. Our study may ultimately help to clarify the characteristics of denitrification rates affected by nitrification inhibitors from different N fertilizer types applied to soils and explore the influencing factors of the dynamics in annual denitrification rates. However, more field studies evaluating the effectiveness of nitrification inhibitors in reducing denitrification under different sites and climate conditions, and the molecular mechanisms driving denitrification rate changes, need to be performed in the future.
Comprehensive Genomic Characterization of the NAC Transcription Factors and Their Response to Drought Stress in Dendrobium catenatum
Authors: Li Yuxin , Zhang Tingting , Xing Wenting , Wang Jian , Yu Wengang , Zhou Yang
Published: November 2022

As a large transcription factor family, NAC family proteins (NAM, ATAF1,2, and CUC2) play critical roles in plant growth, development, and response to stresses. Herein, the NAC gene family of Dendrobium catenatum was identified and analyzed by bioinformatics methods. Their expression patterns in different tissues and under drought stress were analyzed using RNA-seq data and the quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) method. A total of 90 NAC genes were identified, encoding amino acids with numbers ranging from 88 to 1065, with protein molecular weight ranging from 10.34 to 119.24 kD, and isoelectric point ranging from 4.5 to 9.99. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the DcNAC proteins could be divided into 17 subgroups, and each subgroup had conserved motif composition and gene structure. Twenty types of cis-elements were identified in the DcNAC promoters. RNA-seq analysis showed that the expression of DcNAC genes had tissue specificity and displayed different expression patterns under drought stress. Co-expression network analysis of the DcNAC genes revealed nine hub genes, and their expression levels were then validated by RT-qPCR. The results showed that DcNAC6, DcNAC18, DcNAC29, DcNAC44, and DcNAC51 (mainly in roots) as well as DcNAC16 and DcNAC64 (mainly in leaves) were considered as the candidate genes for drought tolerance in D. catenatum. Taken together, this study identified candidate NAC genes with potential functions in response to drought stress, which is valuable for development of drought resistance in D. catenatum.
Diurnal Variation in Transport and Use of Intracellular Leaf Water and Related Photosynthesis in Three Karst Plants
Authors: Qin Xiaojie , Xing Deke , Wu Yanyou , Wang Weixu , Li Meiqing , Solangi Kashif
Published: November 2022

Except for transpired water, the intracellular water stored in leaves accounts for only 1–3% of the water absorbed by roots. Understanding water transport and use, as well as the related photosynthetic response, helps with determining plant water status and improving the revegetation efficiency in fragile karst habitats. In this study, we conducted experiments on 8 year old naturally growing plants of Coriaria nepalensis Wall., Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) Vent., and Elaeocarpus decipiens Hemsl. in karst areas. We determined the diurnal variations in leaf electrophysiology, water potential, gas exchange, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. The results indicated that C. nepalensis plants maintained a high photosynthetic rate, with a high root water uptake ability and leaf intracellular water-holding capacity (LIWHC). The stomata quickly closed to conserve water within cells and protect the photosynthetic structure. B. papyrifera maintained stable intracellular water transport rate (LIWTR), and the photosynthetic efficiency was increased with increasing intracellular water-use efficiency (LIWUE). B. papyrifera also maintained its photosynthesis by efficiently using the transpired water when the LIWHC was increased. The inter- and intracellular water in the leaves of E. decipiens remained stable, which could be attributed to the leathery leaves and its high water-holding capacity. The photosynthesis of E. decipiens was low and stable. Compared with the high photosynthesis, high transpiration, and low instantaneous water-use efficiency (WUEi) pattern in C. nepalensis plants, E. decipiens plants exhibited low photosynthesis, low transpiration, and low WUEi, whereas B. papyrifera plants presented high photosynthesis, low transpiration, and high WUEi. Plants in karst regions change their transport and use of intracellular leaf water to regulate the photosynthetic performance, which differs among different plant species.
Biogeosystem Technique (BGT*) Methodology Will Provide Semiarid Landscape Sustainability (A Case of the South Russia Volgograd Region Soil Resources)
Authors: Okolelova Alla A. , Glinushkin Alexey P. , Sviridova Larisa L. , Podkovyrov Igor Y. , Nefedieva Elena E. , Egorova Galina S. , Kalinitchenko Valery P. , Minkina Tatiana M. , Sushkova Svetlana N. , Mandzhieva Saglara S. , Rajput Vishnu D.
Published: November 2022

The science and political initiatives focus is not only concerning agricultural intensification for food security and human development. The prevention of land degradation and loss is important, and a new land-use technological platform is needed for human well-being and the ecosystem service coupling. An adverse change in the soil quality of the steppe terrain under the standard agriculture is revealed, and the dynamics of the ecosystem service is assessed. The results indicated that the standard land-use practice deteriorates stability of the soil cover, failing to ensure the soil productivity and the ecosystem services in a dry terrain. For land degradation prevention and soil-environmental services refinement, a new transcendental Biogeosystem Technique (BGT*) technological platform was developed. The BGT* is capable of providing long-term, sustainable land-use management. The BGT* methodology includes intra-soil milling, intra-soil pulse continually discrete watering, and intra-soil waste recycling. The BGT* is a basis for future political initiatives in land-use management to prevent land degradation and loss, to increase soil productivity, and to provide soil-environmental services.
Complete Mitochondrial Genome, Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Analysis of Pingpu Yellow Chicken (Gallus gallus)
Authors: Jin Sihua , Xia Jingjing , Jia Fumin , Jiang Lijun , Wang Xin , Liu Xuling , Liu Xing , Geng Zhaoyu
Published: November 2022

In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of one female Pingpu Yellow chicken (PYC) and the D-loop sequences obtained from 60 chickens were analyzed to investigate their genetic diversity and phylogeny. The total length of the PYC mitogenome is 16,785 bp and that of the complete D-loop is 1231 to 1232 bp. The mitogenome comprises 22 transfer ribonucleic acids (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal ribonucleic acids (rRNAs), 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), and 1 non-coding control region (D-loop). Additionally, the total length of the 13 PCGs is 11,394 bp, accounting for 67.88% of the complete mitogenome sequence, and the PCGs region has 3798 codons. A majority of the PCGs have ATG as the start codon. The haplotype and nucleotide diversity of PYC were 1.00000 ± 0.00029 and 0.32678 ± 0.29756, respectively. In the D-Loop data set, we found 25 polymorphic sites, which determined 18 haplotypes and 3 major haplogroups (A–C). Therefore, PYC has a classical vertebrate mitogenome, with comparatively high nucleotide diversity and potentially three maternal lineages. The neighbor-joining (NJ) tree analysis results showed PYC grouped with the Luhua (MT555049.1) and Nandan chickens (KP269069.1), which indicates that PYC is closely related to these two breeds.
Diagnostic and Treatment of Spinal Fracture and Luxation in Italian Wolves (Canis lupus italicus)
Authors: Fugazzotto Domenico , Costa Devoti Chiara , Dumas Maria Pia , Teani Chiara , Berti Elisa , Zeira Offer
Published: November 2022

The medical records of 14 Italian wolves (Canis lupus italicus) with a vertebral fracture or luxation (SFL) between C1 and L7 treated at Ospedale Veterinario San Michele from 2017 and 2022 were reviewed. The most common cause of SFL was “road traffic accident”. Neurological signs were graded from 0 to 6 using a modified Frankel scale. Spinal fractures occurred in C1–C5 in 1 case, in T3–L3 in 11 cases and in L4–L7 in 2 cases. Six wolves were euthanized without treatment because they presented paraplegia without deep pain perception (DPP). Two animals with motor function were treated conservatively, and later on one of them was euthanized because of neurological impairment. Six wolves were surgically treated. Seven wolves had good neurological recovery, and six of them were released into the wild. Our results suggest that wolves with DPP before surgery may have a good functional recovery.
Consumer Preferences for Animal Welfare in China: Optimization of Pork Production-Marketing Chains
Authors: Liang Yaoming , Cheng Yu , Xu Yanjie , Hua Gengrong , Zheng Zijian , Li Hui , Han Li
Published: November 2022

Consumption demands for pork produced by farms that employ strategies to improve animal welfare (“animal welfare pork”) will be an important indicator for predicting domestic pig feeding standards and pork industry development. This paper analyzes consumer preferences for animal welfare pork based on the choice experiment data of 1274 pork consumers in Guangdong province, China. The results show that consumers had a significant preference for animal welfare pork and that they were willing to pay a premium of 2.359–10.477 CNY/500 g (5.27–23.39%) on average. There is heterogeneity in consumer preferences regarding age, education level, and income. Producers of animal-derived products can not only adjust the mix of production conditions to improve pig welfare and innovate contractual arrangements for industry chain stakeholder groups, but they can also develop differentiated marketing strategies for animal welfare products to meet consumer demands for animal welfare.
Effects of Loading Stress and Velocity on Compression and Particle Breakage Behaviour of Waste Rocks in Backfill Coal Mining
Authors: Guo Yuming , Zhang Jixiong , Li Meng , Timms Wendy , Shen Lingling , Li Pengjie
Published: November 2022

Coal mine waste rocks, mainly broken gangue, can be used as filling materials to backfill into goafs. Under the overburden load, the backfill body is vulnerable to compressive deformation and particle breakage. With the increase in mining depth, the overlying strata will impose different loads on waste rock filling materials at different loading velocities, which further affect the material compressive deformation and particle breakage. In this paper, an experimental scheme and a loading device are designed to study the influence of loading stress and velocity on the compressive deformation and particle size distributions of the backfill materials before and after compression. The results show that the axial strain of the gangue filling materials increases rapidly with the axial stress and then gradually stabilizes, showing a logarithmic functional relationship. Increasing the loading velocity will destroy the contact structures among the gangue particles and cause a larger deformation to the filling materials. When the loading stress is relatively low (5 MPa), the gangue particles with a size larger than 20 mm have a stronger bearing capacity compared with particles of 16–20 mm, which are the first particles to be crushed under these conditions. Further increasing the loading velocity will increase the breakage degree of the filling materials. The breakage ratio (BM) has a logarithmic functional relationship with the loading stress and the loading velocity. When the ground stress is lower than 5 MPa, the content of coarse particles should be increased to enhance the bearing capacity of the gangue materials; when the ground stress is higher than 10 MPa, the content of fine particles should be increased to reduce the porosity ratio and the particle breakage ratio.
Compression of Deep Convolutional Neural Network Using Additional Importance-Weight-Based Filter Pruning Approach
Authors: Sawant Shrutika S. , Wiedmann Marco , Göb Stephan , Holzer Nina , Lang Elmar W. , Götz Theresa
Published: November 2022

The success of the convolutional neural network (CNN) comes with a tremendous growth of diverse CNN structures, making it hard to deploy on limited-resource platforms. These over-sized models contain a large amount of filters in the convolutional layers, which are responsible for almost 99% of the computation. The key question here arises: Do we really need all those filters? By removing entire filters, the computational cost can be significantly reduced. Hence, in this article, a filter pruning method, a process of discarding a subset of unimportant or weak filters from the original CNN model, is proposed, which alleviates the shortcomings of over-sized CNN architectures at the cost of storage space and time. The proposed filter pruning strategy is adopted to compress the model by assigning additional importance weights to convolutional filters. These additional importance weights help each filter learn its responsibility and contribute more efficiently. We adopted different initialization strategies to learn more about filters from different aspects and prune accordingly. Furthermore, unlike existing pruning approaches, the proposed method uses a predefined error tolerance level instead of the pruning rate. Extensive experiments on two widely used image segmentation datasets: Inria and AIRS, and two widely known CNN models for segmentation: TernausNet and standard U-Net, verify that our pruning approach can efficiently compress CNN models with almost negligible or no loss of accuracy. For instance, our approach could significantly reduce 85% of all floating point operations (FLOPs) from TernausNet on Inria with a negligible drop of 0.32% in validation accuracy. This compressed network is six-times smaller and almost seven-times faster (on a cluster of GPUs) than that of the original TernausNet, while the drop in the accuracy is less than 1%. Moreover, we reduced the FLOPs by 84.34% without significantly deteriorating the output performance on the AIRS dataset for TernausNet. The proposed pruning method effectively reduced the number of FLOPs and parameters of the CNN model, while almost retaining the original accuracy. The compact model can be deployed on any embedded device without any specialized hardware. We show that the performance of the pruned CNN model is very similar to that of the original unpruned CNN model. We also report numerous ablation studies to validate our approach.
The Shrink–Swell Process of the Granite Residual Soil with Different Weathering Degree in a Gully System in Southern China
Authors: Liu Honghu , Liu Jing , Zhang Xianwei , Liu Xinyu
Published: November 2022

The soil shrink–swell phenomenon produces crack networks and slope instability. However, few studies have involved the continuous shrink–swell process of granite residual soils. The objective of the study is to explore the shrink–swell process of weathered granite soils and its effects on gully development in southern China. The bulk density, soil water content (SWC), shrink–swell ratio (SSR), clay mineral content, and mechanical composition, etc., of soil samples from five soil layers (at depths of 0.3 m, 3.0 m, 7.0 m, 12.0 m, and 16.0 m) along a profile in Yudu County was analyzed. After quantifying the soil properties at different soil depths, we analyzed these data statistically in an effort to identify strong parametric relationships. The results indicated that some properties such as bulk density and shear stress increased with soil depth, while other soil properties, such as plasticity index and liquid limit, were inversely related to depth. Soil cohesion, the angle of internal friction, and shear stress were closely related to the SWC. Every 1% decrease in the SWC resulted in a shear stress reduction of 6.62 kPa. The SSR values exhibited significant variation between the three dry–wet cycles and were closely related to the bulk density values of our kaolin and montmorillonite samples. As an environmental factor, the SWC can trigger changes in internal soil properties such as shear stress and the SSR. Using these data and observations made during our field survey, it can be proposed that continuous shrink–swell variation in deep granite-weathering crust can result in crack formation and gully erosion. It can be inferred that crack development velocity and gully retreat rate may be affected by the soil’s shrink–swell process. Consequently, this information provides insight to understanding the mechanism of gully development in southern China.
Could Acidified Environments Intensify Illicit Drug Effects on the Reproduction of Marine Mussels?
Authors: da Silva Souza Lorena , Bonnail Estefanía , Luzzi Julia Alves , Cesar Augusto , DelValls Tomás A. , Pereira Camilo Dias Seabra
Published: November 2022

The increasing oceanic uptake is a direct response to the increasing atmospheric burden of CO2. Oceans are experiencing both physical and biogeochemical changes. This increase in CO2 hosts in oceans promotes changes in pH and seawater chemistry that can modify the speciation of compounds, largely due to dependent element speciation on physicochemical parameters (salinity, pH, and redox potential). So, ocean acidification can trigger enhanced toxicity of illicit drugs to non-target marine organisms due to the combined effects of crack cocaine and low pH (from 8.3 to 7.0 pH values) on the reproduction of the marine mussel Perna perna. Fertilization rate and embryo–larval development were used as endpoints to assess the effects of crack-cocaine concentrations (6.25, 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mg L−1) and its association with pH values variation (8.3, 8.0, 7.5, and 7.0). The IC50 was calculated from the results of an embryo–larval assay in different methods of acidification (CO2 and HCl), which evidenced that HCl treatment was more toxic than CO2 treatment for the same drug concentrations. Results showed that the gametes of P. perna react to acidification when exposed to crack-cocaine concentration and pH reductions.
Experimental Study on Axial Compressive Load-Bearing Performance of RC Short Columns Strengthened by All-Light Ceramsite Concrete
Authors: Zhu Hongbing , Chen Haizhou , Fu Zhenghao , Guo Zhengfa , Liu Peng , Chen Ying
Published: November 2022

Previously conducted studies have established that all-light ceramsite concrete has the characteristics of light weight and high strength. It is a good material for strengthening and has a good application prospect when strengthening existing RC columns by the enlarged cross-section method. Additionally, a good combination of new-to-old concrete is crucial to the best performance of RC columns strengthened by the enlarged section method. Therefore, to investigate more comprehensively the axial compression reinforcement effect of RC short columns strengthened with all-light ceramsite concrete, one unreinforced short column, one RC short column strengthened by ordinary concrete, and four RC short columns strengthened by all-light ceramsite concrete with different interface treatments were produced. Moreover, axial pressure tests were conducted on them. The findings showed the following: (i) Short-column specimens strengthened by all-light ceramsite concrete had obvious ductile damage characteristics. (ii) The type of bonding surface greatly affected the strengthening effect. The order of ultimate load-bearing capacity improvement was post-installed rebar + epoxy resin interface agent, epoxy resin interface agent, post-installed rebar, and chiseling. (iii) When post-installed rebar + interface agent was used, the epoxy resin interface agent played the primary role during the pre- and mid-loading period. The post-installed rebar started to function only in the mid- and late-loading period. (iv) Strain growth of the existing longitudinal bar and strengthening longitudinal bar was not synchronized in the late-loading period. The strain in the existing longitudinal bar grew rapidly and nonlinearly, while the strengthening longitudinal bar still grew linearly. (v) The calculation formula in specification GB50367-2013 is also applicable to ceramsite concrete, and the correction factor can still be 0.8. When the interface treatment method is post-installed rebar + epoxy resin interface agent, the correction factor can be 0.9.
EFAFN: An Efficient Feature Adaptive Fusion Network with Facial Feature for Multimodal Sarcasm Detection
Authors: Sun Yukuan , Zhang Hangming , Yang Shengjiao , Wang Jianming
Published: November 2022

Sarcasm often manifests itself in some implicit language and exaggerated expressions. For instance, an elongated word, a sarcastic phrase, or a change of tone. Most research on sarcasm detection has recently been based on text and image information. In this paper, we argue that most image data input to the sarcasm detection model is redundant, for example, complex background information and foreground information irrelevant to sarcasm detection. Since facial details contain emotional changes and social characteristics, we should pay more attention to the image data of the face area. We, therefore, treat text, audio, and face images as three modalities and propose a multimodal deep-learning model to tackle this problem. Our model extracts the text, audio, and image features of face regions and then uses our proposed feature fusion strategy to fuse these three modal features into one feature vector for classification. To enhance the model’s generalization ability, we use the IMGAUG image enhancement tool to augment the public sarcasm detection dataset MUStARD. Experiments show that although using a simple supervised method is effective, using a feature fusion strategy and image features from face regions can further improve the F1 score from 72.5% to 79.0%.
Fluid-Solid Coupling Effect on Numerical Simulation of Deep Foundation Pit Deformation in Soft Soil Area
Authors: Zhang Yu , Jin Zuodong , Hou Yunlong , Han Bingbing , Ntakiyimana Charles
Published: November 2022

Groundwater is abundant in soft soil areas, which has a significant impact on the excavation deformation of foundation pits. In this paper, based on the monitoring of deep foundation pits with waterproof curtains in Shanghai deep foundation pits, COMSOL Multiphysics is used to model the layers of the foundation pits and establish a two-dimensional seepage-consolidation coupled model for hierarchical dewatering excavation. The feasibility of numerical simulation of regional foundation pits, the modeling method of the foundation pit seepage model is explored, and the presence or absence of waterproof curtains, and the influence of aquitards on the horizontal displacement of foundation pits and surface settlement outside the pits is analyzed. The research shows that the simulated foundation pit deformation values are in good agreement with the actual monitoring values and that the effect of dewatering and seepage has a great influence on the foundation pit deformation. The waterproof curtain has a significant effect on reducing the drop in the water level outside the pit and controlling the surface settlement. After installing a waterproof curtain, the amount of ground settlement is reduced, but the disadvantage is that the deformation of the enclosure structure increases. Finally, the influence of aquitard on the deformation of foundation pit excavation is simulated, and the distribution characteristics of the flow network diagram under different permeability coefficients are analyzed. According to the analysis of the foundation pit deformation law and flow network diagram, it is considered that the waterproof curtain can effectively reduce the influence of aquitard on foundation pit deformation.
A Numerical Procedure to Design a UWB Aperture-Coupled Microstrip Antenna Suitable for Space Applications
Authors: DiCarlofelice Alessandro , DiGiampaolo Emidio , Tognolatti Piero
Published: November 2022

In this paper, we show a dual-polarized ultra-wideband aperture-coupled microstrip antennae (ACMA) to be used in space missions such as CubeSat Ka-band applications. We also report the specific developed design procedure, which is distinguished from other design procedures by minimizing the complexity of construction, since it utilizes a simple multilayer structure without interlayer interconnections or inclusions. This design procedure develops an architecture for ACMA with the main objective of minimizing costs in large-scale production. The design starts from assigned specifications in terms of fractional bandwidth constrained to be larger than 40%, return loss better than 10 dB, and polarization purity and polarization isolation better than 25 dB, using materials with adequate ohmic and dielectric losses. A frequency-scaled prototype has been also designed, realized, and measured. Good agreement between the simulation and measurement results has been obtained.
The ‘Guided Tissue Regeneration (GTR) Effect’ of Guided Bone Regeneration (GBR) with the Use of Bone Lamina: A Report of Three Cases with More than 36 Months of Follow-Up
Authors: Rossi Roberto , Modoni Michele , Monterubbianesi Riccardo , Dallari Giacomo , Memè Lucia
Published: November 2022

The world of dentistry knows the benefits and results of guided bone regeneration. One of the most successful techniques introduced a decade ago utilizes, as a barrier membrane, a sheet made of collagenated xenograft called bone lamina. Indications and applications with different surgical techniques have been well described by several authors. This technique not only presents a very low degree of complications, but also has some added benefits that this article will highlight. The so called ‘GTR effect’ means that the GBR not only reproduces the required bone volume for placing implants, but also improves attachment levels on the teeth adjacent to the augmented area. Bone lamina produces both GBR and GTR effects.