The Difficulties in Raising Fertility Rates-The Deficiencies and Improvements of the Maternity Protection System for Women of Childbearing Age

Fertility policies consist of not only the legal definition of"procreation",but also the"maternity"protection system,the complete set of selfconsistent social relations and policy systems formed around"fertility".Gender,labor and intergenerational relations are the cornerstones of a fertility policy system.In this framework,we focus on women of childbearing age as the main actors of reproductive behaviors,to research how drastic social changes have altered women,the above-mentioned relations,and policy support and analyze the structural factors that restrict women’s reproductive intentions.The traditional male breadwinner model,which can no longer prevail and the relatively slow development of maternity protection policies and service systems leave women of childbearing age in a dilemma between working hours and birth timing.Therefore,maternity protection policies should focus on improved decommodification of maternity insurance and the construction of women and children’s social welfare systems including childcare social service systems.

Frequency of Monthly Ejaculation at Sexual Intercourse, DNA Fragmentation Index and Fertilization Rate among Sperm Donors and Fertility-Challenged Men in Sub-Saharan Africa: Paper 2

Introduction: Heterogenous sexual intercourse often produces a powerful orgasm that stimulates the pituitary function. Studies have suggested ejaculation frequency based on age. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect information from subjects. Semen samples were collected from sperm donors and sub-fertile men who presented for infertility challenges. Processing and analysis of semen samples were done according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Sperm deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) fragmentation was evaluated using the Halosperm kit. Results: Among sperm donors, those aged χ2 = 0.09, P-value = 0.81, OR = 3.2, 95% CI: 0.23, 45.19) while among sub-fertile men those aged ≥40 years were approximately 2.3 times more likely to have very low frequency of MESI compared to aged χ2 = 2.11, P-value = 0.51, OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 0.74, 9.92). The frequency of all categories of MESI was highest among sub-fertile men aged χ2 = 0.03, P-value = 0.57, OR = 2.42, 95% CI: 0.41, 14.46). Sub-fertile men aged ≥40 with diastolic hypertension (≥90 mmHg) were approximately 6 times more likely to have a low (6 - 10) frequency of MESI compared to those aged χ2 = 1.97, P-value = 0.16, OR = 6.22, 95% CI: 0.69, 55.77). Overall mean fertilization rate was significantly higher (t-test = 2.44, P-value = 0.01) among sub-fertile men aged Conclusion: Cigarette smoking, more than alcohol consumption, appears to be a major factor that significantly affects the frequency of MESI among sub-fertile men in all age groups. Frequency of MESI negatively but insignificantly correlated with systolic blood pressure.

Non-regular Employment of Women,Fertility Rate,and Economic Growth

This study analyzes the interaction between non-regular employment of women and economic growth patterns by an overlapping-generations model.Declining Birthrate White Paper-Cabinet Office(2013)shows the ideal number of children per household is 2.42 compared to the current number of 2.07,which is the lowest so far in Japan.The main reason households do not have the ideal number of children is“the costs burden of childcare and education”and the ratio amounts to 60.4%.In recent years in Japan,households in which both the husband and the wife work are increasing,whereas those in which only the husband works are decreasing.Additionally,although women have same educational background and abilities as men,most women become non-regular employees after marriage and childbirth,which reduces household income.In such a situation,raising the rate of pension insurance will be a big burden for the household and the declining birthrate may be caused by high levels of educational expenditure and pension insurance.The Japanese government has discussed raising the wages of non-regular employees.This paper finds that a rise in the wage rate of non-regular employment is needed under the public pension policy that raises the rate of pension insurance,and it must be at an adequate level.That is,there is a high risk that this policy will have a negative effect on Japan’s economic growth if an adequate level is not achieved.

Effects of long-term fertilization on soil gross N transformation rates and their implications

Application of fertilizer has been found to significantly affect soil N cycling. However, a comprehensive understanding of the effects of long-term fertilization on soil gross N transformation rates is still lacking. We compiled data of observations from 10 long-term fertilization experiments and conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of long-term fertilization on soil gross N transformation rates. The results showed that if chemical fertilizers of N, P and K were applied in balance, soil p H decreased very slightly. There was a significantly positive effect of long-term fertilization, either chemical or organic fertilizers or their combinations, on gross N mineralization rate compared to the control treatment（the mean effect size ranged from 1.21 to 1.25 at 95% confidence intervals（CI） with a mean of 1.23）, mainly due to the increasing soil total N content. The long-term application of organic fertilizer alone and combining organic and chemical fertilizer could increase the mineralization-immobilization turnover, thus enhance available N for plant while reduce N losses potential compared to the control treatment. However, long-term chemical fertilizer application did not significantly affect the gross NH4＋ immobilization rate, but accelerated gross nitrification rate（1.19; 95% CI： 1.08 to 1.31）. Thus, long-term chemical fertilizer alone would probably induce higher N losses potential through NO3– leaching and runoff than organic fertilizer application compared to the control treatment. Therefore, in the view of the effects of long-term fertilization on gross N transformation rates, it also supports that organic fertilizer alone or combination of organic and chemical fertilizer could not only improve crop yield, but also increase soil fertility and reduce the N losses potential.

Abundance and Community Composition of Ammonia-Oxidizers in Paddy Soil at Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Rates

Ammonia oxidation, the first and rate-limiting step of nitrification, is carried out by both ammonia-oxidizing bacteria （AOB） and ammonia-oxidizing archaea （AOA）. However, the relative importance of AOB and AOA to nitrification in terrestrial ecosystems is not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the nitrogen input amount on abundance and community composition of AOB and AOA in red paddy soil. Soil samples of 10-20 cm （root layer soil） and 0-5 cm （surface soil） depths were taken from a red paddy. Rice in the paddy was fertilized with different rates of N as urea of N1 （75 kg N ha＂ yr-1）, N2 （150 kg N ha~ yrl）, N3 （225 kg N ha1 yrl） and CK （without fertilizers） in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Abundance and community composition of ammonia oxidizers was analyzed by real-time PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） based on amoA （the unit A of ammonia monooxygenase） gene. Archaeal amoA copies in N3 and N2 were significantly （P〈0.05） higher than those in CK and N1 in root layer soil or in surface soil under tillering and heading stages of rice, while the enhancement in bacterial amoA gene copies with increasing of N fertilizer rates only took on in root layer soil. N availability and soil NO3--N content increased but soil NH4＋-N content didn＇t change with increasing of N fertilizer rates. Otherwise, the copy numbers of archaeal amoA gene were higher （P〈0.05） than those of bacterial amoA gene in root lary soil or in surface soil. Redundancy discriminate analysis based on DGGE bands showed that there were no obvious differs in composition of AOA or AOB communities in the field among different N fertilizer rates. Results of this study suggested that the abundance of ammonia-oxidizers had active response to N fertilizer rates and the response of AOA was more obvious than that of AOB. Similarity in the community composition of AOA or AOB among different N fertilizer rates indicate that the community composition of ammonia-oxidizers was relatively stable in the paddy soil at least in short term for three years.

Effects of Heat Stress at Vegetative and Reproductive Stages on Spikelet Fertility

Seed-setting rate, yield components and grain quality traits of 169 accessions from an exotic rice germplasm were tested under high temperatures from 40 oC to 45 oC for 6 h during the daytime at the vegetative and reproductive stages, respectively. The results showed that heat stress significantly decreased the seed-setting rate of all the accessions, but the heat stress effects varied among accessions. Based on the decreases in seed-setting rate at high temperatures, N22 was the most tolerant, followed by AUS17, M9962, SONALEE and AUS16. Moreover, the reductions in seed-setting rate and yield under heat stress were more serious at the vegetative stage （45 d before heading） than at the booting stage （15 d before heading）. In addition, heat stress also affected grain quality, especially by conferring chalkiness to most of the accessions, but SONALEE did not change much. The heat-tolerant accessions identified here and the phenotype protocols developed could be used in future genetic studies and breeding programmes focused on heat tolerance.

Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer Treatments on Caryopsis Filling and Respiratory Rate of Rice

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of nitrogen （N） rate and application time on grain filling and respiratory trait of caryopsis in two rice varieties, IR36 and Dali. The treatments were consisted of no N application topdressing at both tillering and booting stages （CK）, 6 g/pot of N topdressing at the tillering stage and 2 g/pot of N topdressing at the booting stage, 2 g/pot of N topdressing at the tillering stage and 6 g/pot of N topdressing at the booting stage. The results showed that the proper utilization of N fertilizer can be helpful to maintain the higher water content, higher respiratory rate and higher dehydrogenase activity of rice caryopsis in late filling phase, and prolong the course for filling and maintaining higher respiratory rate and dehydrogenase activity of rice caryopsis. More N application at booting was more effective compared to more N application at tillering.

Effects of mechanized deep placement of nitrogen fertilizer rate and type on rice yield and nitrogen use efficiency in Chuanxi Plain, China

This paper investigates the yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of machine-transplanted rice cultivated using mechanized deep placement of N fertilizer in the rice–wheat rotation region of Chuanxi Plain,China.It provides theoretical support for N-saving and improves quality and production efficiency of machine-transplanted rice.Using a single-factor complete randomized block design in field experiments in 2018 and 2019,seven N-fertilization treatments were applied,with the fertilizer being surface broadcast and/or mechanically placed beside the seedlings at (5.5±0.5) cm soil depth when transplanting.The treatments were:N0,no N fertilizer;U1,180 kg N ha^(–1) as urea,surface broadcast manually before transplanting;U2,108 kg N ha^(–1) as urea,surface broadcast manually before transplanting,and 72 kg N ha^(–1) as urea surface broadcast manually on the 10th d after transplanting,which is not only the local common fertilization method,but also the reference treatment;UD,180 kg N ha^(–1) as urea,mechanically deep-placed when transplanting;M1,81.6 kg N ha^(–1) as urea and 38.4 kg N ha^(–1) as controlled-release urea (CRU),mechanically deep-placed when transplanting;M2,102 kg N ha^(–1) as urea and48 kg N ha^(–1) as CRU,mechanically deep-placed when transplanting;M3,122.4 kg N ha^(–1) as urea and 57.6 kg N ha^(–1) as CRU,mechanically deep-placed when transplanting.The effects of the N fertilizer treatments on rice yield and NUE were consistent in the 2 yr.With a N application rate of 180 kg ha^(–1),compared with U2,the N recovery efficiency (NRE),N agronomic use efficiency (NAE) and yield under the UD treatment were 20.6,3.5 and 1.1% higher in 2018,and 4.6,1.7 and 1.2% higher in 2019,respectively.Compared with urea alone (U1,U2 or UD),the NRE,NAE and yield achieved by M3 (combined application of urea and controlled-release urea) were higher by 9.2–73.3%,18.6–61.5% and 6.5–16.5%(2018),and 22.2–65.2%,25.6–75.0% and 5.9–13.9%(2019),respectively.Compared with M3,the lower-N treatments M1 and M2 significantly increased NRE by 4.0–7.8% in 2018 and 3.1–4.3% in 2019,respectively.Compared with urea surface application (U1 or U2),the yield under the M2 treatment was higher by 4.3–12.9% in 2018 and 3.6–10.1% in 2019,respectively.Compared with U2,the NRE and NAE under the M2 treatment was higher by 36.9 and 36.3% in 2018,and 33.2 and 37.4% in 2019,mainly because of higher N uptake.There was no significant difference in the concentration of nitrate in the top 0–20 cm soil under U1,U2 and M2 treatments during the full heading and maturity stages.During the full heading stage,U2 produced the highest concentration of nitrite in 0–20 cm and 20–40 cm soil among the N fertilizer treatments.In conclusion,mechanized deep placement of mixed urea and controlled-release urea (M2) at transplanting is a highly-efficient cultivation technology that enables increased yield of machine-transplanted rice and improved NUE,while reducing the amount of N-fertilization applied.

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Runoff Losses from Orchard Soils in South China as Affected by Fertilization Depths and Rates

Fertilizers are heavily applied in orchards of the hilly and mountainous topography of South China and may increase nutrient loadings to receiving waters.A simple runoff collecting system was used to measure the effects of different fertilization treatments on total N and P concentrations of surface runoff in a Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) orchard in Dongyuan County,Guangdong Province,China.In such orchards,fertilizer was typically applied in two short furrows or pits on either side of each tree.Treatments included three application depths (surface,10cm and 20 cm),and three application rates (low,median and high).Results showed that 90.5% of the runoff water samples had a total N concentration higher than 0.35 mgL^(-1) and 54.2% had a total P concentration higher than 0.1 mgL^(-1).Fertilizer application at all depths and at all but the lowest rate significantly increased total N and P concentrations in runoff water.Fertilization with chemical compound fertilizer at a soil depth of 20cm produced significantly lower (P<0.05) total N concentration in runoff than both surface and 10-cm depth fertilization,and significantly lower (P<0.05) total P concentration in runoff than surface fertilization.Total N and P concentrations in runoff significantly increased with the application rate of organic fertilizers.With the exception of total P concentrations,which were not significantly different between the control and fertilization at a rate of 119 kg P ha-1 in organic form,all the other fertilization treatments produced significantly higher total N and total P concentrations in runoff than the control.A fertilization depth≥20cm and an application rate≤72 kg N ha^(-1) or 119 kg P ha^(-1) for compound organic fertilizer was suggested to substantially reduce N and P runoff losses from hillslope orchards and to protect receiving waters in South China.

Influence of Acupuncture on Idiopathic Male Infertility in Assisted Reproductive Technology

The clinical effects of acupuncture on idio pathic male infertility in sperm parameter and on therapeutic results in assiste d reproductive technology were investigated. 22 patients failed in intracytoplas mic sperm injection (ICSI) with idiopathic male infertility were treated with ac upuncture twice weekly for 8 weeks, followed by ICSI treatment again. The sperm concentration, motility, morphology, fertilization rates and embryo quality were observed. Quick sperm motility after acupuncture(18.3 %±9.6 %) was significa ntly improved as compared with that before treatment (11.0 %±7.5 %, P <0.01) . The normal sperm ratio was increased after acupuncture (21.1 %±10.4 % vs 16.2 %± 8.2 %, P <0.05). The fertilization rates after acupuncture (66.2 %) were obviously higher than that before treatment (40.2 %, P <0.01). There was no significant difference in sperm concentration and general sperm motility between before and after acupuncture. The embryo quality after acupuncture was improved , but the difference between them was not significant ( P >0.05). Acupuncture can improve sperm quality and fertilization rates in assisted reproductive techn ology.

Net energy yield and carbon footprint of summer corn under different N fertilizer rates in the North China Plain

Excessive use of N fertilizer in intensive agriculture can increase crop yield and at the same time cause high carbon（C） emissions.This study was conducted to determine optimized N fertilizer application for high grain yield and lower C emissions in summer corn（Zea mays L.）.A field experiment, including 0（N0）, 75（N75）, 150（N150）, 225（N225）, and 300（N300） kg N ha–1 treatments, was carried out during 2010–2012 in the North China Plain（NCP）.The results showed that grain yield, input energy, greenhouse gas（GHG） emissions, and carbon footprint（CF） were all increased with the increase of N rate, except net energy yield（NEY）.The treatment of N225 had the highest grain yield（10 364.7 kg ha–1） and NEY（6.8%）, but the CF（0.25） was lower than that of N300, which indicates that a rate of 225 kg N ha–1 can be optimal for summer corn in NCP.Comparing GHG emision compontents, N fertilizer（0–51.1%） was the highest and followed by electricity for irrigation（19.73–49.35%）.We conclude that optimazing N fertilizer application rate and reducing electricity for irrigation are the two key measures to increase crop yield, improve energy efficiency and decrease GHG emissions in corn production.

Effects of Seeding Rate, Water and Fertilizer Coupling on Grass Yield of Forage Millet ( Setaria itlica) in Hebei

The paper was to study the effects of seeding rate, water and fertilizer （ N, P, K） coupling on grass yield of forage millet Jigu No. 18 （Setaria itlica）. A quadratic regression otthogonal rotation combination with five factors was designed in pot experiment. The mathematical model between hay yield of forage millet （Y） and soil moisture content （ x1 ）, N fertilizer （x2 ）, P fertilizer （x3 ）, K fertilizer （x4） and seeding rate （x5 ） was established to simulate optimization. The results showed that moisture content, seeding rate, P fertilizer and K fertilizer had important effects on hay yield. Soil moisture content had the biggest impact on yield, followed by seeding rate, P and K fertilizer. The coupling effects of various factors successively were moisture content / seeding rate 〉 K fertil- izer/seeding rate 〉 N / P fertilizer 〉 soil moisture/N fertilizer 〉 soil moisture/ P fertilizer. Moreover, the mathematical model, Y = 20 543. 756 - 565. 570xI -39. 942x2 -23. 102x3 -38. 470x4 - 151. 877x5 ＋ 1. 052x^x2 ＋ 1. 604xIx3 ＋ 12. 953xt x5 - 0. 173x2x3 ＋ 0. 737x4x5 - 2. 292x5^2, was established. The optimum soil moisture and seeding rate were determined as 10% andl5 kg/hm2, respectively. In this scheme, the hay yield was 14 037. 151 0 kg/hm^2 and the economic benefit was 13 887.15 yuan/hm^2 ; the income was increased by 23.68% （ 3 288.98 yuan/hm^2 ） compared to the optimal combination in the test. The results provided a theoretical basis and technical support for forage millet production in Hebei Province.

Effects of Addition of Lactobacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium Inoculants to High-Nitrogen Fertilized Timothy (Phleum pratense L.) on Fermentation, Nutritive Value, and Feed Intake of Silage

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of addition of inoculant to high-nitrogen (N) fertilized timothy on fermentation, nutritive value, and feed intake of silage. The silage of timothy cultivated with a N fertilizer rate at two levels (high level (H), standard level (S)) was prepared with (SI, HI) or without (SC, HC) an inoculants. The CP content of H increased by 38 g&middotkg-1 DM compared with that of S, and the WSC and ADF contents decreased compared with those of S. Regarding the fermentation of silage, the pH and NH3-N ratio was significantly lower in the silage with inoculant (SI and HI), showing improvement of the fermentation compared with those of the silage without the addition (SC and HC). The CP content was significantly higher in HC and HI than in SC and SI, and the NDF content was the lowest in HI among the four treatments. The CP digestibility of HC and HI was significantly higher than those of SC and SI. The EE digestibility of SI was significantly higher than that of SC, and that of HI was significantly higher than that of HC. The DCP contents were significantly higher in HC and HI than in SC and SI. The TDN content was the lowest in SC and highest in HI. The DCP intakes of HC and HI were significantly higher than those of SC and SI. When the N fertilizer rate was increased, the DCP content and DCP intake of the silage increased, and the addition of inoculant improved the fermentation and increased the TDN content.

Symbol Synchronization of Single-Carrier Signal with Ultra-Low Oversampling Rate Based on Polyphase Filter

An efficient single-carrier symbol synchronization method is proposed in this paper,which can work under a very low oversampling rate.This method is based on the frequency aliasing squared timing recovery assisted by pilot symbols and time domain filter.With frequency aliasing squared timing recovery with pilots,it is accessible to estimate timing error under oversampling rate less than 2.The time domain filter simultaneously performs matched-filtering and arbitrary interpolation.Because of pilot assisting,timing error estimation can be free from alias and self noise,so our method has good performance.Compared with traditional time-domain methods requiring oversampling rate above 2,this method can be adapted to any rational oversampling rate including less than 2.Moreover,compared with symbol synchronization in frequency domain which can operate under low oversampling rate,our method saves the complicated operation of conversion between time domain and frequency domain.By low oversampling rate and resource saving filter,this method is suitable for ultra-high-speed communication systems under resource-restricted hardware.The paper carries on the simulation and realization under 64QAM system.The simulation result shows that the loss is very low(less than 0.5 dB),and the real-time implementation on field programmable gate array(FPGA)also works fine.

Study on the Influence of Sowing Rate,Water and Fertilizer Coupling on Water Use Efficiency of Fodder Millet

To study the influence of sowing rate,water and fertilizer( N,P and K) coupling on water use efficiency of fodder millet grown in autumn fallow field,taking " Jigu 18" as the tested material,a orthogonal rotation combination with five factors was designed in pot experiment. Results showed that both water and phosphate fertilizer had important impacts on water use efficiency,in which water had the maximum impact,followed by phosphate fertilizer,and nitrogen fertilizer,potassium fertilizer and sowing rate all had no obvious impact. Significant item of sowing rate,water and fertilizer coupling had the below sequence: potassium fertilizer + sowing rate > nitrogen fertilizer + phosphate fertilizer > water + phosphate fertilizer > water + sowing rate > water + potassium fertilizer,and other items had no obvious impact. Mathematical model was established: y = 44. 26- 1. 311x1- 2. 298x2- 3. 682x3- 6. 401x4- 34. 540x5+ 0. 273x1x3+ 0. 118x1x4+ 0. 843x1x5- 1. 948x2x3+ 6. 631x4x5. The optimal scheme taking economic benefit as the examining index was cleared,that is,soil water content maintained 10%,and sowing rate of fodder millet was 15 kg / hm2. By the scheme,water use efficiency was 26. 24 g / kg,and hay yield was13980. 90 kg / hm2,with economic benefit of 13830. 90 yuan/hm2,which was 3063. 73 yuan/hm2 more than the optimized combination with the highest hay yield,with increase magnitude of 22. 15%,and was 6215. 15 yuan / hm2 more than the optimized combination with the highest water use efficiency,with increase magnitude of 44. 94%. The research could provide theoretic basis and technical support for production practice of fodder millet grown in autumn fallow field.

Cumulative live birth rates of in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection after multiple complete cycles in China

There were few studies of cumulative live birth rates(CLBRs) based on multicenter reproductive clinical data from the general Chinese population.Here we report a retrospective cohort study,including 14 311 women with17 315 cycles,in three reproductive centers to evaluate two estimated parameters of CLBRs with multiple transfer cycles of in vitro fertilization(IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) in a Chinese population.We found that CLBRs were related to female age and endometrial thickness.By the fourth transfer cycle,the conservative and optimal estimates of CLBRs were 52.95% and 77.30% in women under 30 years of age,and 18.17% and26.51% in those 37 years of age or older,respectively.The two estimates were 44.70% and 63.15% in women with endometrial thickness more than 7 mm,and 32.05% and 46.18% in those with less than 7 mm,respectively.In addition,body mass index(BMI),duration of infertility,and infertility diagnoses may also be related to CLBRs on certain conditions.The findings from this study on CLBRs after multiple transfer cycles of IVF/ICSI treatment on different conditions in the Chinese population should be beneficial to both infertile couples and clinicians.

Study of word length selection for DDCs used in ultra-low symbol rate receivers

The relationship between the hardware requirement of digital down converters（DDCs）in ultra-low symbol rate receivers and the word length is studied.Through analyzing the impact of word length selection to the system performance,a modified scheme is presented to decline the resource consumption without too much degradation on the signal to noise ratio（SNR）.Theoretical analysis and numerical results demonstrate that compared to the traditional design,the proposed scheme could save dozens of memory resources.The scheme also includes some selectable parameters to achieve desired performance in various circumstances.Different from previous work in DDCs that concentrates mostly on the structure design,this paper considers special applications such as ultra-low symbol rate receivers.

Design and Experiment of Slave Computer Control System for Applying Variable-rate Liquid Fertilizer

In order to increase the applying rate of liquid fertilizer and reduce environmental pollution, a slave computer control system for applying variable-rate liquid fertilizer was designed. The system used SMC as core processor and electrically controlled pressure regulator as execution component. The characteristic equation of the system was obtained by using classical control theory. Results indicated that the characteristic equation met the requirements of routh-criterion, which indicated the working process of the system was stable. Performance of the slave computer was verified via bench tests. Results demonstrated that there was no significant influence on the response from interclass error. The fertilization error was less than 0.9, and the fertilization accuracy was larger than 97%. The liquid fertilizer emitted by the fertilizing devices had no significant difference in uniformity, which met the demands of the slave computer control system for applying variable-rate liquid fertilizer.