An analysis of agarwood trade patterns,historical perspectives,and species identification challenges:repercussions for importing nations

Background:Agarwood,primarily derived from the Aquilaria and Gyrinops genera,holds significant economic importance.However,there is a lack of comprehensive investigations providing guidance to importing nations regarding cultivation quantities and expected yields of Agarwood from distinct species.This study aims to address this gap by exploring the historical context and trade evolution of Agarwood,highlighting its global importance,and the challenges associated with securing accurate species information.Method:On-site visits to Agarwood cultivation sites were conducted to gain a nuanced understanding of Aquilaria species and their cultivation requirements.Additionally,a thorough analysis of global export and import data for Agarwood products over the last decade was undertaken.Results:China Mainland emerged as the leading exporter of Agarwood,averaging an annual export value of USD 1 million.India’s substantial exports challenge the prevailing notion of limited Agarwood production within its borders.Hong Kong and Singapore are pivotal distribution hubs,while Hong Kong and Taipei feature prominently as import destinations.Our analysis uncovers anomalies in the representation of Agarwood producers from 2001 to 2008,suggesting potential misclassification of Aquilaria Agarwood as Gyrinops in global export information.These findings underscore the urgency of investigating classification and reporting practices in the Agarwood trade.Furthermore,A.filaria emerges as a notable source,while A.malaccensis is decline in prominence.Conclusion:This study provides crucial insights for policymakers,stakeholders,and industry players seeking to make informed decisions in the Agarwood trade landscape.The results highlight the need for accurate species identification,classification,and reporting practices to ensure sustainable cultivation and trade of Agarwood.

An Experimental Study on the Performance of Storage Pulverizing System after Renovation of Importing Hot Air

A thermal power plant of Sinopec has 9 boilers, which generally have problems of high exhaust gas temperature and high flying ash carbon content. In order to improve the adaptability of coals, the stability of coal powder ignition, the burn-off rate of pulverized coals and the boiler efficiency, a series of renovation projects about importing hot air into mill exhauster are proposed. For the sake of verifying the renovation effects, an efficiency performance test is conducted on the renovated #5 boiler. The test result shows that the boiler heat efficiency has improved by 0.4% and it operates more safely and reliably after the renovation. At last, this paper recommends an optimized operation mode.

Discussion on Question of Importing Large-scale Equipment from Other Countries by Installment

Successful cases have not been rare, that is to import funds accelerate hospital building by means of raising funds, borrowing, renting, jointing, and so on. The same characteristics is raising money at first and then working, and the investor will earn high proportional benefits. 'Importing funds' has solved some practical problems, but it also causes some negative effects, such as difficulty in management, being difficult to work, inequitable benefit allocation, little benefits earned by the hospital, a big venture, and so on.By means of installment, the hospital has imported much equipment, such as very expensive Magnetic Resonating Instrument (MRI), spiral CT, straight accelerator, ECT and so on. Connecting with practice, the authors has analyzed objectively the profits and the harm of importing equipment by installment. There are four reasons for applying installment: firstly, it solves the problem of shortage of funds of the hospital; secondly, it efficiently avoids the inconvenience resulted from the management by both jointing sides together; thirdly, it raises the investing earnings of the hospital; finally, it is advantages which are as follows. Importing large-scale foreign equipment from abroad by installment has not been popular in the native hospital, and there are not relatively regular and ripe rules to be followed. Moreover, because effective institution is required to act as an economic guarantor, an extra content of work will, be added to practice.The authors prefer that attentions should be paid to the five aspects in importing equipment by means of installment; selecting the suitable importing project, selecting a favorable cooperating partner and deciding suitable cooperating items; selecting an excellent company or institution to guarantee for the hospital, and grasping the practice of the contract.

Data-driven casting defect prediction model for sand casting based on random forest classification algorithm

The complex sand-casting process combined with the interactions between process parameters makes it difficult to control the casting quality,resulting in a high scrap rate.A strategy based on a data-driven model was proposed to reduce casting defects and improve production efficiency,which includes the random forest(RF)classification model,the feature importance analysis,and the process parameters optimization with Monte Carlo simulation.The collected data includes four types of defects and corresponding process parameters were used to construct the RF model.Classification results show a recall rate above 90% for all categories.The Gini Index was used to assess the importance of the process parameters in the formation of various defects in the RF model.Finally,the classification model was applied to different production conditions for quality prediction.In the case of process parameters optimization for gas porosity defects,this model serves as an experimental process in the Monte Carlo method to estimate a better temperature distribution.The prediction model,when applied to the factory,greatly improved the efficiency of defect detection.Results show that the scrap rate decreased from 10.16% to 6.68%.

Smart prediction of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading

The prediction of liquefaction-induced lateral spreading/displacement(Dh)is a challenging task for civil/geotechnical engineers.In this study,a new approach is proposed to predict Dh using gene expression programming(GEP).Based on statistical reasoning,individual models were developed for two topographies:free-face and gently sloping ground.Along with a comparison with conventional approaches for predicting the Dh,four additional regression-based soft computing models,i.e.Gaussian process regression(GPR),relevance vector machine(RVM),sequential minimal optimization regression(SMOR),and M5-tree,were developed and compared with the GEP model.The results indicate that the GEP models predict Dh with less bias,as evidenced by the root mean square error(RMSE)and mean absolute error(MAE)for training(i.e.1.092 and 0.815;and 0.643 and 0.526)and for testing(i.e.0.89 and 0.705;and 0.773 and 0.573)in free-face and gently sloping ground topographies,respectively.The overall performance for the free-face topology was ranked as follows:GEP>RVM>M5-tree>GPR>SMOR,with a total score of 40,32,24,15,and 10,respectively.For the gently sloping condition,the performance was ranked as follows:GEP>RVM>GPR>M5-tree>SMOR with a total score of 40,32,21,19,and 8,respectively.Finally,the results of the sensitivity analysis showed that for both free-face and gently sloping ground,the liquefiable layer thickness(T_(15))was the major parameter with percentage deterioration(%D)value of 99.15 and 90.72,respectively.

Identification of Important FPGA Modules Based on Complex Network

The globalization of hardware designs and supply chains,as well as the integration of third-party intellectual property(IP)cores,has led to an increased focus from malicious attackers on computing hardware.However,existing defense or detection approaches often require additional circuitry to perform security verification,and are thus constrained by time and resource limitations.Considering the scale of actual engineering tasks and tight project schedules,it is usually difficult to implement designs for all modules in field programmable gate array(FPGA)circuits.Some studies have pointed out that the failure of key modules tends to cause greater damage to the network.Therefore,under limited conditions,priority protection designs need to be made on key modules to improve protection efficiency.We have conducted research on FPGA designs including single FPGA systems and multi-FPGA systems,to identify key modules in FPGA systems.For the single FPGA designs,considering the topological structure,network characteristics,and directionality of FPGA designs,we propose a node importance evaluationmethod based on the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution(TOPSIS)method.Then,for the multi-FPGA designs,considering the influence of nodes in intra-layer and inter-layers,they are constructed into the interdependent network,and we propose a method based on connection strength to identify the important modules.Finally,we conduct empirical research using actual FPGA designs as examples.The results indicate that compared to other traditional indexes,node importance indexes proposed for different designs can better characterize the importance of nodes.

Development of endemicity and conservation importance indices for tropical forests and the floral diversity assessment of Mt.Natoo in Benguet,Philippines

The scientific community faces the challenge of measuring progress toward biodiversity targets and indices have been traditionally used.However,recent inventories in secondary tropical mountain forests using traditional biodiversity indices have yielded results that are indistinct with primary ones.This shows the need to develop complementary indices that goes beyond species count but integrates the distribution and conservation status of the species.This study developed endemicity and conservation importance index for tropical forest that incorporated the distribution and conservation status of the species.These indices were applied to Mt.Natoo,a remnant primary mossy forest in Buguias,Benguet,Philippines,that resulted to endemicity index of 81.07 and conservation importance index of 42.90.Comparing these with secondary forest sites with comparable Shannon-Wiener,Simpson,Evenness and Margalef’s indices,our endemicity and conservation indices clearly differentiates primary forest(our study site)with higher values from secondary forests with much lower values.Thus,we are proposing these indices for a direct but scientifically-informed identification of specific sites for conservation and protection in tropical forests.Additionally,our study documented a total of 168 vascular plant species(79 endemic and 12 locally threatened species)in Mt.Nato-o.Majority are of tropical elements for both generic and species levels with some temperate elements that could be attributed to the site's high elevation and semi-temperate climate.These are important baseline information for conservation plans and monitoring of tropical mossy forests.

High rate of clinically relevant improvement following anatomical total shoulder arthroplasty for glenohumeral osteoarthritis

BACKGROUND The minimal clinically important difference(MCID)is defined as the smallest meaningful change in a health domain that a patient would identify as important.Thus,an improvement that exceeds the MCID can be used to define a successful treatment for the individual patient.AIM To quantify the rate of clinical improvement following anatomical total shoulder arthroplasty for glenohumeral osteoarthritis.METHODS Patients were treated with the Global Unite total shoulder platform arthroplasty between March 2017 and February 2019 at Herlev and Gentofte Hospital,Denmark.The patients were evaluated preoperatively and 3 months,6 months,12 months,and 24 months postoperatively using the Western Ontario Osteoarthritis of the Shoulder index(WOOS),Oxford Shoulder Score(OSS)and Constant-Murley Score(CMS).The rate of clinically relevant improvement was defined as the proportion of patients who had an improvement 24 months postoperatively that exceeded the MCID.Based on previous literature,MCID for WOOS,OSS,and CMS were defined as 12.3,4.3,and 12.8 respectively.RESULTS Forty-nine patients with a Global Unite total shoulder platform arthroplasty were included for the final analysis.Mean age at the time of surgery was 66 years(range 49.0-79.0,SD:8.3)and 65%were women.One patient was revised within the two years follow-up.The mean improvement from the preoperative assessment to the two-year follow-up was 46.1 points[95%confidence interval(95%CI):39.7-53.3,P<0.005]for WOOS,18.2 points(95%CI:15.5-21.0,P<0.005)for OSS and 37.8 points(95%CI:31.5-44.0,P<0.005)for CMS.Two years postoperatively,41 patients(87%)had an improvement in WOOS that exceeded the MCID,45 patients(94%)had an improvement in OSS that exceeded the MCID,and 42 patients(88%)had an improvement in CMS that exceeded the MCID.CONCLUSION Based on three shoulder-specific outcome measures we find that approximately 90%of patients has a clinically relevant improvement.This is a clear message when informing patients about their prognosis.

Australian Wine is Coming Back to the Chinese Table

China's Ministry of Commerce announced the termination of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports of wine originating in Australia from March 29.This means that Australian wine is finally returning to the Chinese market after three years of dormancy.In the past three years,the market has changed rapidly and China's local wine sector has also grown.What changes can we expect the return of Australian wine to bring to the market?

Overview of the Development of the Soybean Industry in the United States,Brazil and Argentina and Its Lessons for the Development of the Soybean Industry in China

Since the 1950s,China has gradually moved away from complete self-sufficiency in terms of soybeans to a high dependence on imports,and its annual import of soybeans accounts for about 60%of the global soybean trade.Brazil,the United States and Argentina have seen rapid growth in the soybean industry in just a few decades,and now account for about 80%of the world’s annual production.On the whole,in addition to the unique resource endowment and the continuous expansion of international market demand,the strong support of the U.S.government.

Cross-border E-commerce Accelerates Diversely Abroad

“Strength”and“vitality”are the comments that people in the industry have used to describe China’s cross-border e-commerce in 2023,which has been proven by the latest statistics.According to the General Administration of Customs,in 2023,the total volume of imports and exports was RMB 2.38 trillion,up by 15.6%.The volume of exports was RMB 1.83 billion,up by 19.6%,and the volume of imports was RMB 548.3 billion,up by 3.9%.

Community Perception of Riparian Corridors Ecosystem Services and Implications for Environmental Education in Upper Oueme Catchment in Benin, West Africa

The assessment of the local community perception of the value of riparian corridors is relevant to understand their attitude towards the conservation of such ecosystem. We conducted a semi-structured survey on the perception and importance attributed to the ecosystem services (ESs) provided by riparian corridors in 368 households across 70 villages located in a buffer zone of 5 km of servitude around the permanent rivers of the Upper Oueme watershed in Benin. We found that local communities easily reported provisioning and cultural ESs than regulating and supporting ones, indicating their misunderstanding of the main role of riparian corridor. Moreover, the supply of cropping areas was perceived as the most important ES. Educated respondents and high-income households had more knowledge of regulating ESs and supporting ESs, respectively. Overall, the highly perceived importance of the provision of cropping areas indicates a potential risk of agricultural encroachment of riparian corridors. We suggest the consideration of the current local perception of riparian corridor’s role in designing a sound environmental education aiming at the change of local population’s perception. This perception shift will promote a sustainable management of the riparian corridors.

Shareholder internationality and importing activities of emerging market firms

In light of the increasing efforts made by emerging market firms to engage in international business through importing activities,identifying the characteristics that motivate importing busi ness and con tribute to its success is practically and theoretically meaningful.Drawing upon a knowledge-based view(KBV),we examine how the shareholder internationality affects a firm's importing activities.We hypothesize that the shareholder internationality can facilitate a firm's import initiati on and con tribute to the diversity of importing countries of origin.Moreover,the divergence of shareholders'nationality backgrounds may hinder import initiation,but motivate importing from dispersed countries of origin during the import development process.A longitudinal analysis of Colombian firms supports our hypotheses.

The Importance of Breathing Training in Folk Dance Teaching

The importance of breathing training in dance teaching is reflected in the two aspects of enhancing the quality of dance movements and sublimating the connotation of dance movements.For example,high-quality breathing can help performers complete the dance movements and improve the coordination of the movements;at the same time,the unique body rhythm formed by breathing can strengthen the visual effect of the performance and convey its spirit and soul to the audience.This requires folk dance teachers to carry out relevant training and teaching activities based on the categories and skills of dance breathing,such as changing students’ideological cognition,developing periodic breathing training courses,providing personalized guidance to students,and allowing students to adjust their learning and practice methods in the evaluation.

The Customer Requirements Analysis Method of Engineering Products Based on Multiple Preference Information

To effectively evaluate the fuzziness of the market environment in product planning,a customer requirements analysis method based on multiple preference information is proposed.Firstly,decision-makers use a preferred information form to evaluate the importance of each customer requirement.Secondly,a transfer function is employed to unify various forms of preference information into a fuzzy complementary judgment matrix.The ranking vector is then calculated using row and normalization methods,and the initial importance of customer requirements is obtained by aggregating the weights of decision members.Finally,the correction coefficients of initial importance and each demand are synthesized,and the importance of customer requirements is determined through normalization.The development example of the PE jaw crusher demonstrates the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.

Exploration of Human Resource Management in Enterprise Business Management

Human resource management is an integral part of enterprise operation and management,contributing to the avoidance of financial risks,alleviation of performance problems,promotion of organizational development,enhancement of operational efficiency,and fostering sustainable enterprise development.Enterprise management should prioritize attention to human resource management by establishing an independent human resource management department and strategically planning human resource management tasks.This involves building an information management platform,developing a professional human resource management model to mitigate market risks,actively recruiting human resource management talents to form a competent team,and enhancing the human resource management and supervision system.These measures are essential for comprehensively improving the level of enterprise operation and management.

Heterogeneous Firms in Importing： Theory and Evidence from China

In this study, I explore the effects of the financial status of firms on its decisions to import. The import decision is reflected in various aspects, such as whether to import or buy from home market; what types of goods to import, etc. A novelty of this analysis is that I distinguish between ordinary trade and processing trade, which involves importing inputs to be assembled and re-exported. Several novel patterns emerge. Firstly, a firm＇s financial status, especially its liquidity, significantly influences its decisions to import. Secondly, regional financial development also has a significantly affect importing decisions. However, a firm＇s creditworthiness and regional factors work independently （i.e., regional financial development does not alleviate a firm＇s credit constraints）. The findings yield implications for developing economies which demand technological spillovers from advanced markets and those which maintain large trade surpluses with the developed economies.

Importing cars is becoming a higher-risk business

Following China’s WTO entry, most importers and consumers were optimistic about the imported car market at the beginning of this year. As of July, the market indicated, however, despite the import tariffs having been reduced in accordance with the WTO commitment, the prices of imported cars rebounded rapidly after a short period

基于博弈论组合赋权和云模型的高校科技成果转化绩效评价研究

高校科技成果转化是我国高质量发展的重要新引擎,对其进行绩效评价的重要性日益凸显。面对评价过程中出现的不确定信息,引入云模型,提出了一种基于博弈论组合赋权和云模型的高校科技成果转化绩效评价模型,并采用IKLCM(improved Kullback-Leibler divergence based on cloud model)法计算云相似度距离,得出评价结果。通过对西南地区5个省份的高校进行实证分析,结果表明,该模型综合考虑主客观因素,组合权重科学合理,绩效云模型评价能得到准确可靠的评价结果。