Spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem services and their trade-offs and synergies against the background of the gully control and land consolidation project on the Loess Plateau,China

Studying the spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem services and their interrelationships on the Loess Plateau against the background of the gully control and land consolidation(GCLC)project has significant implications for ecological protection and quality development of the Yellow River Basin.Therefore,in this study,we took Yan'an City,Shaanxi Province of China,as the study area,selected four typical ecosystem services,including soil conservation service,water yield service,carbon storage service,and habitat quality service,and quantitatively evaluated the spatiotemporal variation characteristics and trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services from 2010 to 2018 using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs(InVEST)model.We also analysed the relationship between the GCLC project and regional ecosystem service changes in various regions(including 1 city,2 districts,and 10 counties)of Yan'an City and proposed a coordinated development strategy between the GCLC project and the ecological environment.The results showed that,from 2010 to 2018,soil conservation service decreased by 7.76%,while the other three ecosystem services changed relatively little,with water yield service increasing by 0.56% and carbon storage service and habitat quality service decreasing by 0.16% and 0.14%,respectively.The ecological environment of Yan'an City developed in a balanced way between 2010 and 2018,and the four ecosystem services showed synergistic relationships,among which the synergistic relationships between soil conservation service and water yield service and between carbon storage service and habitat quality service were significant.The GCLC project had a negative impact on the ecosystem services of Yan'an City,and the impact on carbon storage service was more significant.This study provides a theoretical basis for the scientific evaluation of the ecological benefits of the GCLC project and the realization of a win-win situation between food security and ecological security.

Effect of particle composition and consolidation degree on the wave-induced liquefaction of soil beds

The wave-induced liquefaction of seabed is responsible for causing damage to marine structures.Particle composition and consolidation degree are the key factors affecting the pore water pressure response and liquefaction behavior of the seabed under wave action.The present study conducted wave flume experiments on silt and silty fine sand beds with varying particle compositions.Furthermore,a comprehensive analysis of the differences and underlying reasons for liquefaction behavior in two different types of soil was conducted from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives.The experimental results indicate that the silt bed necessitates a lower wave load intensity to attain the liquefaction state in comparison to the silty fine sand bed.Additionally,the duration and development depth of liquefaction are greater in the silt bed.The dissimilarity in liquefaction behavior between the two types of soil can be attributed to the variation in their permeability and plastic deformation capacity.The permeability coefficient and compression modulus of silt are lower than those of silty fine sand.Consequently,silt is more prone to the accumulation of pore pressure and subsequent liquefaction under external loading.Prior research has demonstrated that silt beds with varying consolidation degrees exhibit distinct initial failure modes.Specifically,a dense bed undergoes shear failure,whereas a loose bed experiences initial liquefaction failure.This study utilized discrete element simulation to examine the microscopic mechanisms that underlie this phenomenon.

Shape Analysis of Agricultural Parcels for Land Consolidation Priorities in Tekirdag Province,Turkey

Shape irregularity,a sub-factor of parcel fragmentation is a problem that hinders sustainable agriculture and is solved using land consolidation projects.Determination of the parcel shape degree contributes significantly to spatial prioritization where there is also a high probability of achieving positive effects of consolidation projects.This study aims to determine the shape degree of the agricultural parcels both at singular and rural county scales in Tekirdag Province,Turkey in 2020 by combining the parcel shape index(PSI) with the minimum bounding geometry index(MBG) to improve parcel scores.Hot-spot zones of the highly irregular and near optimum parcels were also determined using Getis-Ord G_(i)^(*) statistic.The parcel degrees were classified into four categories,namely highly irregular,irregular,regular and near optimum.The obtained unweighted scores of the parameters exhibit deviations from the expected values.After weighting by pairwise comparison,the values approached ideal scores.Among 346 740 parcels,53% were highly irregular and irregular and 47% were regular and near optimum shapes after weighting whereas these were 70% and 30%,respectively before weighting.The average parcel degree of 63 rural counties was regular while the average parcel degree of the remaining 264 rural counties was irregular.The combined use of PSI and MBG index improved the correctness of the parcel shape score.It could be suggested to use as a tool in land consolidation prioritization.

A Prediction-Based Multi-Objective VM Consolidation Approach for Cloud Data Centers

Virtual machine(VM)consolidation aims to run VMs on the least number of physical machines(PMs).The optimal consolidation significantly reduces energy consumption(EC),quality of service(QoS)in applications,and resource utilization.This paper proposes a prediction-basedmulti-objective VMconsolidation approach to search for the best mapping between VMs and PMs with good timeliness and practical value.We use a hybrid model based on Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average(ARIMA)and Support Vector Regression(SVR)(HPAS)as a prediction model and consolidate VMs to PMs based on prediction results by HPAS,aiming at minimizing the total EC,performance degradation(PD),migration cost(MC)and resource wastage(RW)simultaneously.Experimental results usingMicrosoft Azure trace show the proposed approach has better prediction accuracy and overcomes the multi-objective consolidation approach without prediction(i.e.,Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm 2,Nsga2)and the renowned Overload Host Detection(OHD)approaches without prediction,such as Linear Regression(LR),Median Absolute Deviation(MAD)and Inter-Quartile Range(IQR).

Urban Freight Consolidation Model for Post-Hauler Planning

Freight transportation in urban areas has increased significantly in a shorter period due to the widespread use of e-commerce, fast delivery, and population growth. Recently, a noticeable government initiative aimed at creating an effective, acceptable, and sustainable city logistics policy. This paper examines freight consolidation as a transportation strategy for optimizing last-mile delivery costs. Freight consolidation involves combining smaller shipments from various origins into a single, larger shipment for more efficient transportation to a common destination. This approach is particularly beneficial for last-mile delivery, where frequent deliveries of smaller quantities are frequently visible. Finally, we provide an illustrative example targeting urban freight stakeholders for practicing possible consolidation methodology. The result in the illustrative example shows that freight with 3-day consolidation, despite the delay penalty, is cheaper than daily shipping, and both are cheaper than 2-day consolidated shipping. The study will benefit urban businesses and freight services.

A new method for solving Biot's consolidation of a finite soil layer in the cylindrical coordinate system

A new method is developed to solve Biot＇s consolidation of a finite soil layer in the cylindrical coordinate system. Based on the governing equations of Biot＇s consolidation and the technique of Laplace transform, Fourier expansions and Hankel transform with respect to time t, coordinate θ and coordinate r, respectively, a relationship of displacements, stresses, excess pore water pressure and flux is established between the ground surface （z = 0） and an arbitrary depth z in the Laplace and Hankel transform domain. By referring to proper boundary conditions of the finite soil layer, the solutions for displacements, stresses, excess pore water pressure and flux of any point in the transform domain can be obtained. The actual solutions in the physical domain can be acquired by inverting the Laplace and the Hankel transforms.

Change in Ecosystem Service Value Arising from Land Consolidation Planning in Anhui Province

The evaluation of change in ecosystem service value arising from land consolidation planning is an important aspect of environmental impact assessment of land consolidation. By estimating the change in ecosystem service value before and after the implementation of land consolidation planning, it is able to quantitatively describe the change in ecosystem service value arising from land consolidation planning, so as to provide a quantitative basis for the environmental impact assessment of land consolidation. Taking the case of Anhui Province, the authors developed the equivalency factor table of ecosystem service value, to determine the economic value of single equivalency factor of ecological service value in the study area, calculate per unit area of ecological service value of land ecosystem in the study area, and research the change in ecosystem service value before and after the implementation of land consolidation planning in Anhui Province. The results show that after the implementation of a new round of land consolidation planning in Anhui Province, the total ecosystem service value may decrease to some extent, the farmland ecosystem service value substantially increases, while water body ecosystem service value greatly decreases.

Systematic exploration of the applicability of the idiomatic vapor balance rule to distillation column consolidation

For N-component distillation(N≥3),consolidation between different column sections is an inevitable manipulation when synthesizing complex distillation configurations.In the consolidation,the idiomatic vapor balance(IVB)rule,in which the larger vapor flowrate in the two columns before consolidation will be chosen as the balanced vapor flowrate at the consolidation point,has been widely used.However,the applicability of the IVB rule has not been verified,which is of essential importance to the accuracy of the distillation configuration synthesis.In the present study,the applicability of the IVB rule to distillation column consolidation was systematically explored by rigorous method for the first time.First,the separation of ideal and non-ideal three-component mixtures with variable compositions was studied,and the optimized configurations before and after consolidation were determined by a rigorous method.The results indicated that for the separation of an ideal mixture,the IVB rule was applicable for the whole composition range,while for the separation of a non-ideal mixture,the IVB rule was only applicable for very limited composition range.Finally,two cases of synthesizing distillation configurations for the separation of non-ideal mixtures were studied to verify the remarkable deviations the IVB rule may cause.The results indicated that the applicability of the shortcut method using the IVB rule to the distillation configuration synthesis depended on the composition of the non-ideal mixture,and a remarkable error might result and the truly optimal configuration might be missed if the IVB rule is applied to a non-ideal mixture.

Physical model investigation on effects of drainage condition and cement addition on consolidation behavior of tailings slurry within backfilled stopes

Estimation of stressses within the tailings slurry during self-weight consolidation is a critical issue for cost-effective barricade design and efficient backfill planning in underground mine stopes.This process requires a good understanding of self-weight consolidation behaviors of the tailings slurry within practical stopes,where many factors can have significant effects on the consolidation,including drainage condition and cement addition.In this paper,the prepared tailings slurry with different cement contents(0,4.76wt%,and 6.25wt%)was poured into1.2 m-high columns,which allowed three drainage scenarios(undrained,partial lateral drainage near the bottom part,and full lateral drainage boundaries)to investigate the effects of drainage condition and cement addition on the consolidation behavior of the tailings slurry.The consolidation behavior was analyzed in terms of pore water pressure(PWP),settlement,volume of drainage water,and residual water content.The results indicate that increasing the length of the drainage boundary or cement content aids in PWP dissipation.In addition,constructing an efficient drainage boundary was more favorable to PWP dissipation than increasing cement addition.The final stable PWP on the column floor was not sensitive to cement addition.The final settlement of uncemented tailings slurry was independent of drainage conditions,and that of cemented tailings slurry decreased with the increase in cement addition.Notably,more pore water can drain out from the cemented tailings slurry than the uncemented tailings slurry during consolidation.

Strength Model of Soda Residue Soil Considering Consolidation Stress and Structural Influence

Soda residue(SR)is a type of industrial waste produced in the soda process with the ammonia-soda method.Applying SR to backfilling solves the land occupation and environmental pollution problems in coastal areas and saves material costs for foundation engineering.The strength characteristics of soda residue soil(SRS)under different consolidation conditions are the key points to be solved in the engineering application of SRS.Triaxial compression tests were performed on the undisturbed SRS of Tianjin Port.The shear properties of SRS under different consolidation conditions were then discussed.Meanwhile,a structural strength model(SSM)based on Mohr-Coulomb theory was proposed.SSM reflects the influence of soil structure on undrained strength(Cu)and divides the Cu into the following two parts:friction strength(C_(uf))and original structural strength(C_(u0)).C_(uf)characterizes the magnitude of friction between soil particles,which is related to the consolidation stress.Meanwhile,C_(u0)represents the structural effect on soil strength,which is related to the soil deposition and consolidation processes.SSM was validated by the test data of undisturbed soils.Results reveal that the undisturbed soil generally had a certain C_(u0).Therefore,the SRS strength model was established by combining the experimental law of SRS with SSM.Error analysis shows that the SRS strength model can effectively predict the Cu of undisturbed SRS in Tianjin Port under different consolidation conditions.

Meningeal T-cells in the cross-talk between memory consolidation and sleep

Some years ago,the infiltration of T-cells into the central nervous system(CNS) was considered a pathological condition exclusively.However,during the last two decades,a growing body of studies has shown that T-cells are essential players regulating several physiological processes exerted by the CNS,including stress resilience,social behavior.

Two-dimensional plane strain consolidation of unsaturated soils considering the depth-dependent stress

In practical engineering,the total vertical stress in the soil layer is not constant due to stress diffusion,and varies with time and depth.Therefore,the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of stress diffusion on the two-dimensional(2D)plane strain consolidation properties of unsaturated soils when the stress varies with time and depth.A series of semi-analytical solutions in terms of excess pore air and water pressures and settlement for 2D plane strain consolidation of unsaturated soils can be derived with the joint use of Laplace transform and Fourier sine series expansion.Then,the inverse Laplace transform of the semi-analytical solution is given in the time domain using a self-programmed code based on Crump’s method.The reliability of the obtained solutions is proved by the degeneration.Finally,the 2D plots of excess pore pressures and the curves of settlement varying with time,considering different physical parameters of unsaturated soil stratum and depth-dependent stress,are depicted and analyzed to study the 2D plane strain consolidation properties of unsaturated soils subjected to the depthdependent stress.

Virtual Machine Consolidation with Multi-Step Prediction and Affinity-Aware Technique for Energy-Efficient Cloud Data Centers

Virtual machine(VM)consolidation is an effective way to improve resource utilization and reduce energy consumption in cloud data centers.Most existing studies have considered VM consolidation as a bin-packing problem,but the current schemes commonly ignore the long-term relationship between VMs and hosts.In addition,there is a lack of long-term consideration for resource optimization in the VM consolidation,which results in unnecessary VM migration and increased energy consumption.To address these limitations,a VM consolidation method based on multi-step prediction and affinity-aware technique for energy-efficient cloud data centers(MPaAF-VMC)is proposed.The proposed method uses an improved linear regression prediction algorithm to predict the next-moment resource utilization of hosts and VMs,and obtains the stage demand of resources in the future period through multi-step prediction,which is realized by iterative prediction.Then,based on the multi-step prediction,an affinity model between the VM and host is designed using the first-order correlation coefficient and Euclidean distance.During the VM consolidation,the affinity value is used to select the migration VM and placement host.The proposed method is compared with the existing consolidation algorithms on the PlanetLab and Google cluster real workload data using the CloudSim simulation platform.Experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve significant improvement in reducing energy consumption,VM migration costs,and service level agreement(SLA)violations.

Exploration on the Path of Whole-region Comprehensive Land Consolidation under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Based on the specific concept of whole-region comprehensive land consolidation and the development history of land consolidation in China,the internal relationship between rural revitalization strategy and whole-region comprehensive land consolidation is clarified from the perspective of historical development,and the problems faced by whole-region comprehensive land consolidation,such as rural"hollowing out",weak linkage between execution departments and neglect of ecological restoration,are deeply analyzed.Furthermore,some new paths for whole-region land consolidation are put forward,such as strengthening the top-level system design,handling the relationship between stock and increment,evaluating the potential of rural land consolidation,coordinating the win-win cooperation between middle-level executive departments,encouraging the innovation at the bottom and enhancing the comprehensive management of ecological environment.

Pulmonary reversed halo cycles and consolidations after immunotherapy:A case report

BACKGROUND Immune checkpoint inhibitor-associated interstitial lung disease(ICI-ILD)and opportunistic pneumonias are the main pulmonary complications during immunotherapy for malignancies.The organizing pneumonia(OP)pattern is one of the common radiological manifestations of ICI-ILD,and OP is the most common cause of reversed halo cycles and consolidations.However,opportunistic pneumonias should be excluded.CASE SUMMARY In this report,we described a case of a 44-year-old man with esophageal cancer who showed multiple reversed-halo cycles and consolidations on chest computed tomography(CT)after he had a cold during immunotherapy.He was diagnosed with esophageal squamous-cell cancer(T2NIM0)after surgery.Then,he was successfully treated with 6 cycles of chemotherapy plus tislelizumab,one cycle of radiotherapy and 9 cycles of tislelizumab.Two months later,he complained of low-grade fever and cough with nonpurulent sputum after he had a cold.Community-acquired pneumonia was considered,but moxifloxacin was ineffective.Chest CT showed multiple reversed-halo cycles and consolidations.Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified with next-generation sequence analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF).Two months later,he improved with standard anti-tuberculosis medications.Both the cycles and consolidations disappeared in the repeat CT after 6 mo of medications.CONCLUSION When chest CT shows reversed-halo cycles and consolidations in patients during anticancer immunotherapy,both ICI-ILD and infectious pneumonia should be considered.BALF microbiological analysis was helpful to differentiate them.

Modelling smear effect of vertical drains using a diameter reduction method

Vertical drains are used to accelerate consolidation of clays in ground improvement projects.Smear zones exist around these drains,where permeability is reduced due to soil disturbance caused by the installation process.Hansbo solution is widely used in practice to consider the effects of drain discharge capacity and smear on the consolidation process.In this study,a computationally efficient diameter reduction method(DRM)obtained from the Hansbo solution is proposed to consider the smear effect without the need to model the smear zone physically.Validated by analytical and numerical results,a diameter reduction factor is analytically derived to reduce the diameter of the drain,while achieving similar solutions of pore pressure dissipation profile as the classical full model of the smear zone and drain.With the DRM,the excess pore pressure u obtained from the reduced drain in the original un-disturbed soil zone is accurate enough for practical applications in numerical models.Such performance of DRM is independent of soil material property.Results also show equally accurate performance of DRM under conditions of multi-layered soils and coupled radial-vertical groundwater flow.

Aerosol deposition technology and its applications in batteries

Aerosol deposition(AD)method is a kind of additive manufacturing technology for fabricating dense films such as metals and ceramics at room temperature.It resolves the challenge of integrating ceramic films onto temperaturesensitive substrates,including metals,glasses,and polymers.It should be emphasized that the AD is a spray coating technology that uses powder without thermal assistance to generate films with high density.Compared to the traditional sputter-based approach,the AD shows several advantages in efficiency,convenience,better interfacial bonding and so on.Therefore,it opens some possibilities to the field of batteries,especially all-solidstate batteries(ASSBs)and draws much attention not only for research but also for large scale applications.The purpose of this work is to provide a critical review on the science and technology of AD as well as its applications in the field of batteries.The process,mechanism and effective parameters of AD,and recent developments in AD applications in the field of batteries will be systematically reviewed so that a trend for AD will be finally provided.

Effect of NaCl Concentration on the Cumulative Strain and Pore Distribution of Clay under Cyclic Loading

Clay,as the most common soil used for foundationfill,is widely used in various infrastructure projects.The phy-sical and mechanical properties of clay are influenced by the pore solution environment.This study uses a GDS static/dynamic triaxial apparatus and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments to investigate the effects of cyclic loading on clay foundations.Moreover,the development of cumulative strain in clay is analyzed,and afitting model for cumulative plastic strain is introduced by considering factors such as NaCl solution concentration,con-solidation stress ratio,and cycle number.In particular,the effects of the NaCl solution concentration and con-solidation stress ratio on the pore distribution of the test samples before and after cyclic loading are examined,and the relationship between microscopic pore size and macroscopic cumulative strain is obtained accordingly.Our results show that as the consolidation stress ratio grows,an increasing number of large pores in the soil samples are transformed into small pores.As the NaCl solution concentration becomes higher,the number of small pores gradually decreases,while the number of large pores remains unchanged.Cyclic loading causes the disappearance of the large pores in the samples,and the average pore size before cyclic loading is posi-tively correlated with the axial cumulative strain after cyclic loading.The cumulative strain produced by the soil under cyclic loading is inversely proportional to the NaCl solution concentration and consolidation stress ratio.

The Impacts and Causes of Land Fragmentation on Farm Productivity: Case Review of East African Countries

This report provides an overall assessment of land fragmentation problems in East Africa. Many parts of East Africa have become highly fragmented, putting development systems and activities in these areas at risk of complete collapse. Land fragmentation occurs when land gets converted for agriculture, industrialization, or urbanization, invaded by non-local plants, or enclosed for individual use and by subdividing farmlands into subsequent smaller units called parcels with varying average farm sizes. Fragmentation results from inappropriate agricultural development processes and ineffective land use planning that fails to recognize how farmland is used, and the importance of its interconnected areas. Insecurity of tenure and resource rights are key factors in making this possible. Land fragmentation is one of the key reasons why the ability of most resources in East Africa becomes scarcer, and those remaining become “privatized” by more powerful community members—keen to maintain their access to them. Such individualistic attitudes are new and disadvantage the poorest even further by affecting the traditional customary safety nets and agricultural outputs. Neither the government nor customary governance systems effectively protect resource access for the poorest. This review summary report identifies the key causes, measures, and implications, government interventions, and the common remedies to land fragmentation problems in the East African Countries of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania including neighboring Ethiopia, and the Sudan. The findings indicated from 2005 to 2015, the population kept increasing for all the named countries in East Africa with Rwanda and Uganda having a substantial increase in population density. The study review further explores the trend in the performance of agriculture by average farm sizes within the intervals of five years by highlighting their strong linkages and found that the average farm size has declined drastically, especially for Kenya. This can only mean that small farms kept becoming smaller and smaller and that there were more small-scale farmers. The results further depicted that the major and commonly cultivated food crops among the East African countries include maize, sorghum, rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, Irish potatoes, beans, peas, etc., with maize yields (Mt/ha) in 2003 for Uganda being the highest (1.79 Mt/ha) and the lowest in Rwanda (0.77 Mt/ha) respectively. Therefore, from the review results, recommendations are being made as to how the negative impacts of land fragmentation on agricultural productivity can be reduced or mitigated. One way is by community sensitization and awareness about the importance of land consolidation and its proposition on farm productivity.

Comparison of efficacy of lung ultrasound and chest X-ray in diagnosing pulmonary edema and pleural effusion in ICU patients: A single centre, prospective, observational study

Background and Aims While chest X-ray (CXR) has been a conventional tool in intensive care units (ICUs) to identify lung pathologies, computed tomography (CT) scan remains the gold standard. Use of lung ultrasound (LUS) in resource-rich ICUs is still under investigation. The present study compares the utility of LUS to that of CXR in identifying pulmonary edema and pleural effusion in ICU patients. In addition, consolidation and pneumothorax were analyzed as secondary outcome measures. Material and Methods This is a prospective, single centric, observational study. Patients admitted in ICU were examined for lung pathologies, using LUS by a trained intensivist;and CXR done within 4 hours of each other. The final diagnosis was ascertained by an independent senior radiologist, based on the complete medical chart including clinical findings and the results of thoracic CT, if available. The results were compared and analyzed. Results Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of LUS was 95%, 94.4%, 94.67% for pleural effusion;and 98.33%, 97.78%, 98.00% for pulmonary edema respectively. Corresponding values with CXR were 48.33%, 76.67%, 65.33% for pleural effusion;and 36.67%, 82.22% and 64.00% for pulmonary edema respectively. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of LUS was 91.30%, 96.85%, 96.00% for consolidation;and 100.00%, 79.02%, 80.00% for pneumothorax respectively. Corresponding values with CXR were 60.87%, 81.10%, 78.00% for consolidation;and 71.3%, 97.20%, 96.00% for pneumothorax respectively. Conclusion LUS has better diagnostic accuracy in diagnosis of pleural effusion and pulmonary edema when compared with CXR and is thus recommended as an effective alternative for diagnosis of these conditions in acute care settings. Our study recommends that a thoracic CT scan can be avoided in most of such cases.