Objective Access to improved sanitation is a fundamental human right and an important aspect of Public Health.However,an estimated thousands of people in Ghana especially,the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly(WMMA)stil...Objective Access to improved sanitation is a fundamental human right and an important aspect of Public Health.However,an estimated thousands of people in Ghana especially,the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly(WMMA)still have no access to adequate toilet facilities.This has brought untold health repercussions to the inhabitants,the community,and the environment at large.To address this menace,the community-led total sanitation(CLTS)was implemented.This study aimed to assess communities’perspectives on the implementation of CLTS and to understand the factors influencing its success and failures.Methods A mixed-method approach involving sequential qualitative and quantitative methods was employed in this study.Participants for the quantitative study were randomly selected and surveyed using questionnaires.The qualitative study employed focus group discussion involving purposively sampled participants including assembly members,opinion leaders,and assembly staff.Results The CLTS program in WMMA realized an apparent use of construction and proper use of household latrines leading to a reduction of open defecation free(ODF)and two communities achieving sanitized status in the history of the study area,enabling the training of latrine artisans and natural leaders to facilitate the CLTS expansion and sustainability,improved sanitation and hygiene,strengthened the enforcement of community rules and regulations and many others.Conclusion The CLTS program has received more widespread acceptance in the study area than the previous government policy of constructing public toilets,which was greeted with massive failures due to poor implementation.To ensure that gains achieved through CLTS implementation are sustained longer,it is recommended that chiefs and opinion leaders should be involved in the CLTS programs to ensure checks and enforcement.The entrenchment of bylaws and more education to address enduring myths and misconceptions will sustain the program.Subsidies in the form of sanitation loans for latrine construction materials by the government and supporting non-governmental organizations(NGOs)will be paramount in sustaining ODF.展开更多
In recent years,under the influence of multiple factors such as traditional ideas and living economic conditions,the aging population in China continues to increase.Most of the elderly are more inclined to aged at hom...In recent years,under the influence of multiple factors such as traditional ideas and living economic conditions,the aging population in China continues to increase.Most of the elderly are more inclined to aged at home,and the first places for elderly activities are communities and the surrounding environment,which greatly affects the convenience of life and happiness of the elderly.In this paper,Changxindian area in Fengtai District of Beijing was as the research object,and detailed calculation and analysis were carried out by using POI data and arcGIS software.The relative location of residential areas and surrounding public toilets was explored,and the best location of public toilets in the daily walking area under the model of community home-based care for the elderly was further studied.展开更多
The aerospace community widely uses difficult-to-cut materials,such as titanium alloys,high-temperature alloys,metal/ceramic/polymer matrix composites,hard and brittle materials,and geometrically complex components,su...The aerospace community widely uses difficult-to-cut materials,such as titanium alloys,high-temperature alloys,metal/ceramic/polymer matrix composites,hard and brittle materials,and geometrically complex components,such as thin-walled structures,microchannels,and complex surfaces.Mechanical machining is the main material removal process for the vast majority of aerospace components.However,many problems exist,including severe and rapid tool wear,low machining efficiency,and poor surface integrity.Nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining is a hybrid process that uses nontraditional energies(vibration,laser,electricity,etc)to improve the machinability of local materials and decrease the burden of mechanical machining.This provides a feasible and promising method to improve the material removal rate and surface quality,reduce process forces,and prolong tool life.However,systematic reviews of this technology are lacking with respect to the current research status and development direction.This paper reviews the recent progress in the nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining of difficult-to-cut materials and components in the aerospace community.In addition,this paper focuses on the processing principles,material responses under nontraditional energy,resultant forces and temperatures,material removal mechanisms,and applications of these processes,including vibration-,laser-,electric-,magnetic-,chemical-,advanced coolant-,and hybrid nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining.Finally,a comprehensive summary of the principles,advantages,and limitations of each hybrid process is provided,and future perspectives on forward design,device development,and sustainability of nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining processes are discussed.展开更多
Parameterization is a critical step in modelling ecosystem dynamics.However,assigning parameter values can be a technical challenge for structurally complex natural plant communities;uncertainties in model simulations...Parameterization is a critical step in modelling ecosystem dynamics.However,assigning parameter values can be a technical challenge for structurally complex natural plant communities;uncertainties in model simulations often arise from inappropriate model parameterization.Here we compared five methods for defining community-level specific leaf area(SLA)and leaf C:N across nine contrasting forest sites along the North-South Transect of Eastern China,including biomass-weighted average for the entire plant community(AP_BW)and four simplified selective sampling(biomass-weighted average over five dominant tree species[5DT_BW],basal area weighted average over five dominant tree species[5DT_AW],biomass-weighted average over all tree species[AT_BW]and basal area weighted average over all tree species[AT_AW]).We found that the default values for SLA and leaf C:N embedded in the Biome-BGC v4.2 were higher than the five computational methods produced across the nine sites,with deviations ranging from 28.0 to 73.3%.In addition,there were only slight deviations(<10%)between the whole plant community sampling(AP_BW)predicted NPP and the four simplified selective sampling methods,and no significant difference between the predictions of AT_BW and AP_BW except the Shennongjia site.The findings in this study highlights the critical importance of computational strategies for community-level parameterization in ecosystem process modelling,and will support the choice of parameterization methods.展开更多
Synthetic nitrogen(N)fertilizer has made a great contribution to the improvement of soil fertility and productivity,but excessive application of synthetic N fertilizer may cause agroecosystem risks,such as soil acidif...Synthetic nitrogen(N)fertilizer has made a great contribution to the improvement of soil fertility and productivity,but excessive application of synthetic N fertilizer may cause agroecosystem risks,such as soil acidification,groundwater contamination and biodiversity reduction.Meanwhile,organic substitution has received increasing attention for its ecologically and environmentally friendly and productivity benefits.However,the linkages between manure substitution,crop yield and the underlying microbial mechanisms remain uncertain.To bridge this gap,a three-year field experiment was conducted with five fertilization regimes:i)Control,non-fertilization;CF,conventional synthetic fertilizer application;CF_(1/2)M_(1/2),1/2 N input via synthetic fertilizer and 1/2 N input via manure;CF_(1/4)M_(3/4),1/4 N input synthetic fertilizer and 3/4 N input via manure;M,manure application.All fertilization treatments were designed to have equal N input.Our results showed that all manure substituted treatments achieved high soil fertility indexes(SFI)and productivities by increasing the soil organic carbon(SOC),total N(TN)and available phosphorus(AP)concentrations,and by altering the bacterial community diversity and composition compared with CF.SOC,AP,and the soil C:N ratio were mainly responsible for microbial community variations.The co-occurrence network revealed that SOC and AP had strong positive associations with Rhodospirillales and Burkholderiales,while TN and C:N ratio had positive and negative associations with Micromonosporaceae,respectively.These specific taxa are implicated in soil macroelement turnover.Random Forest analysis predicted that both biotic(bacterial composition and Micromonosporaceae)and abiotic(AP,SOC,SFI,and TN)factors had significant effects on crop yield.The present work strengthens our understanding of the effects of manure substitution on crop yield and provides theoretical support for optimizing fertilization strategies.展开更多
Popular fermented golden pomfret(Trachinotus ovatus)is prepared via spontaneous fermentation;however,the mechanisms underlying the regulation of its flavor development remain unclear.This study shows the roles of the ...Popular fermented golden pomfret(Trachinotus ovatus)is prepared via spontaneous fermentation;however,the mechanisms underlying the regulation of its flavor development remain unclear.This study shows the roles of the complex microbiota and the dynamic changes in microbial community and flavor compounds during fish fermentation.Single-molecule real-time sequencing and molecular networking analysis revealed the correlations among different microbial genera and the relationships between microbial taxa and volatile compounds.Mechanisms underlying flavor development were also elucidated via KEGG based functional annotations.Clostridium,Shewanella,and Staphylococcus were the dominant microbial genera.Forty-nine volatile compounds were detected in the fermented fish samples,with thirteen identified as characteristic volatile compounds(ROAV>1).Volatile profiles resulted from the interactions among the microorganisms and derived enzymes,with the main metabolic pathways being amino acid biosynthesis/metabolism,carbon metabolism,and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis.This study demonstrated the approaches for distinguishing key microbiota associated with volatile compounds and monitoring the industrial production of high-quality fermented fish products.展开更多
In recent times,technology has advanced significantly and is currently being integrated into educational environments to facilitate distance learning and interaction between learners.Integrating the Internet of Things...In recent times,technology has advanced significantly and is currently being integrated into educational environments to facilitate distance learning and interaction between learners.Integrating the Internet of Things(IoT)into education can facilitate the teaching and learning process and expand the context in which students learn.Nevertheless,learning data is very sensitive and must be protected when transmitted over the network or stored in data centers.Moreover,the identity and the authenticity of interacting students,instructors,and staff need to be verified to mitigate the impact of attacks.However,most of the current security and authentication schemes are centralized,relying on trusted third-party cloud servers,to facilitate continuous secure communication.In addition,most of these schemes are resourceintensive;thus,security and efficiency issues arise when heterogeneous and resource-limited IoT devices are being used.In this paper,we propose a blockchain-based architecture that accurately identifies and authenticates learners and their IoT devices in a decentralized manner and prevents the unauthorized modification of stored learning records in a distributed university network.It allows students and instructors to easily migrate to and join multiple universities within the network using their identity without the need for user re-authentication.The proposed architecture was tested using a simulation tool,and measured to evaluate its performance.The simulation results demonstrate the ability of the proposed architecture to significantly increase the throughput of learning transactions(40%),reduce the communication overhead and response time(26%),improve authentication efficiency(27%),and reduce the IoT power consumption(35%)compared to the centralized authentication mechanisms.In addition,the security analysis proves the effectiveness of the proposed architecture in resisting various attacks and ensuring the security requirements of learning data in the university network.展开更多
Here,we characterize the temporal and spatial dynamics of forest community structure and species diversity in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China.We found that community structure in this forest chang...Here,we characterize the temporal and spatial dynamics of forest community structure and species diversity in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China.We found that community structure in this forest changed over a 15-year period.Specifically,renewal and death of common species was large,with the renewal of individuals mainly concentrated within a few populations,especially those of Aidia canthioides and Cryptocarya concinna.The numbers of individual deaths for common species were concentrated in the small and mid-diameter level.The spatial distribution of community species diversity fluctuated in each monitoring period,showing a more dispersed diversity after the 15-year study period,and the coefficient of variation on quadrats increased.In 2010,the death and renewal of the community and the spatial variation of species diversity were different compared to other survey years.Extreme weather may have affected species regeneration and community stability in our subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forests.Our findings suggest that strengthening the monitoring and management of the forest community will help better understand the long-and short-term causes of dynamic fluctuations of community structure and species diversity,and reveal the factors that drive changes in community structure.展开更多
In the past two decades,there has been a lot of work on computer vision technology that incorporates many tasks which implement basic filtering to image classification.Themajor research areas of this field include obj...In the past two decades,there has been a lot of work on computer vision technology that incorporates many tasks which implement basic filtering to image classification.Themajor research areas of this field include object detection and object recognition.Moreover,wireless communication technologies are presently adopted and they have impacted the way of education that has been changed.There are different phases of changes in the traditional system.Perception of three-dimensional(3D)from two-dimensional(2D)image is one of the demanding tasks.Because human can easily perceive but making 3D using software will take time manually.Firstly,the blackboard has been replaced by projectors and other digital screens so such that people can understand the concept better through visualization.Secondly,the computer labs in schools are now more common than ever.Thirdly,online classes have become a reality.However,transferring to online education or e-learning is not without challenges.Therefore,we propose a method for improving the efficiency of e-learning.Our proposed system consists of twoand-a-half dimensional(2.5D)features extraction using machine learning and image processing.Then,these features are utilized to generate 3D mesh using ellipsoidal deformation method.After that,3D bounding box estimation is applied.Our results show that there is a need to move to 3D virtual reality(VR)with haptic sensors in the field of e-learning for a better understanding of real-world objects.Thus,people will have more information as compared to the traditional or simple online education tools.We compare our result with the ShapeNet dataset to check the accuracy of our proposed method.Our proposed system achieved an accuracy of 90.77%on plane class,85.72%on chair class,and car class have 72.14%.Mean accuracy of our method is 70.89%.展开更多
Due to the recently increased requirements of e-learning systems,multiple educational institutes such as kindergarten have transformed their learning towards virtual education.Automated student health exercise is a di...Due to the recently increased requirements of e-learning systems,multiple educational institutes such as kindergarten have transformed their learning towards virtual education.Automated student health exercise is a difficult task but an important one due to the physical education needs especially in young learners.The proposed system focuses on the necessary implementation of student health exercise recognition(SHER)using a modified Quaternion-basedfilter for inertial data refining and data fusion as the pre-processing steps.Further,cleansed data has been segmented using an overlapping windowing approach followed by patterns identification in the form of static and kinematic signal patterns.Furthermore,these patterns have been utilized to extract cues for both patterned signals,which are further optimized using Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis(FLDA)technique.Finally,the physical exercise activities have been categorized using extended Kalmanfilter(EKF)-based neural networks.This system can be implemented in multiple educational establishments including intelligent training systems,virtual mentors,smart simulations,and interactive learning management methods.展开更多
Delineating life circles is an essential prerequisite for urban community life circle planning. Recent studies combined the environmental contexts with residents’ global positioning system(GPS) data to delineate the ...Delineating life circles is an essential prerequisite for urban community life circle planning. Recent studies combined the environmental contexts with residents’ global positioning system(GPS) data to delineate the life circles. This method, however, is constrained by GPS data, and it can only be applied in the GPS surveyed communities. To address this limitation, this study developed a generalizable delineation method without the constraint of behavioral data. According to previous research, the community life circle consists of the walking-accessible range and internal structure. The core task to develop the generalizable method was to estimate the spatiotemporal behavioral demand for each plot of land to acquire the internal structure of the life circle, as the range can be delineated primarily based on environmental data. Therefore, behavioral demand estimation models were established through logistic regression and machine learning techniques, including decision trees and ensemble learning. The model with the lowest error rate was chosen as the final estimation model for each type of land. Finally, we used a community without GPS data as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the estimation models and delineation method. This article extends the existing literature by introducing spatiotemporal behavioral demand estimation models, which learn the relationships between environmental contexts, population composition and the existing delineated results based on GPS data to delineate the internal structure of the community life circle without employing behavioral data. Furthermore, the proposed method and delineation results also contributes to facilities adjustments and location selections in life circle planning, people-oriented transformation in urban planning, and activity space estimation of the population in evaluating and improving the urban policies.展开更多
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between sport and community by examining the role played by sports participation in community engagement and community capacity building in disadvantaged urba...The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between sport and community by examining the role played by sports participation in community engagement and community capacity building in disadvantaged urban communities.From a conceptual standpoint,the study is based on the sociological theory of the community and Community Capacity Building(CCB)theory,which provide overviews of the concept of community and community capacity and its characteristics.Four disadvantaged urban communities were investigated.Two of these communities had sports programs,while the other two did not.The online questionnaire methodology was adopted to assess the socio-demographic characteristics and community engagement of the participants(knowledge of programs and participation in community activities),and subsequently,an analysis of the online social media narratives of the community members themselves was developed to measure the characteristics of their community capacity building.We found that community engagement and community capacity values were higher in the communities with sports programs.These findings are promising and suggest that approaches based on sports participation development could be fruitful,particularly in disadvantaged communities.展开更多
Globally,various types of pollution affect coastal waters as a result of human activities.Bioaugmentation and biostimulation are effective methods for treating water pollution.However,few studies have explored the res...Globally,various types of pollution affect coastal waters as a result of human activities.Bioaugmentation and biostimulation are effective methods for treating water pollution.However,few studies have explored the response of coastal prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities to bioaugmentation and biostimulation.Here,a 28-day outdoor mesocosm experiment with two treatments(bioaugmentation-A and combined treatment of bioaugmentation and biostimulation-AS)and a control(untreated-C)were carried out.The experiment was conducted in Meishan Bay to explore the composition,dynamics,and co-occurrence patterns of prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities in response to the A and AS using 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.After treatment,Gammaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria were significantly increased in group AS compared to group C,while Flavobacteriia and Saprospirae were significantly reduced.Dinoflagellata was significantly reduced in AS compared to C,while Chrysophyta was significantly reduced in both AS and A.Compared to C,the principal response curve analyses of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities both showed an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend for AS.Furthermore,the trends of prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities in group A were similar to those in group AS compared with group C,but AS changed them more than A did.According to the species weight table on principal response curves,a significant increase was observed in beneficial bacteria in prokaryotic communities,such as Rhodobacterales and Oceanospirillales,along with a decrease in autotrophs in eukaryotic communities,such as Chrysophyta and Diatom.Topological properties of network analysis reveal that A and AS complicate the interactions between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities.Overall,these findings expand our understanding of the response pattern of the bioaugmentation and biostimulation on coastal prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities.展开更多
Mountains exhibit a high degree of endemism and diversity,however,quantifying their biodiversity can be challenging.Similar to islands,species isolation in mountainous regions results in comparable patterns of evoluti...Mountains exhibit a high degree of endemism and diversity,however,quantifying their biodiversity can be challenging.Similar to islands,species isolation in mountainous regions results in comparable patterns of evolution and extinction,rendering their biodiversity unique and highly susceptible to anthropogenic threats.The topographic relief in mountains plays a crucial role in creating habitat complexity,which in turn contribute to high plant diversity.Here,we investigated plant diversity in the volcano mountaintop vegetation on the Poços de Caldas Plateau,a region situated in the ecotone between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado,characterized by natural radiation and significant anthropogenic intervention.We employed an automated approach through the filtering of georeferenced and non-georeferenced data to obtain a list of plant species in the region.Additionally,we statistically investigated the similarity among different high-altitude vegetations belonging to the campos de altitude from the Atlantic Forest and campos rupestres from the Cerrado.The plateau exhibits high plant diversity,including 1,659 specific and infraspecific taxa,especially belonging to Asteraceae and Poaceae.Our analyses suggest that geographical distance is a strong predictor of dissimilarity and that the Poços de Caldas Plateau is more floristically related to the campos rupestres,despite being associated with campos de altitude.The region possesses a unique set of biodiversity,indicating that it may be a distinct formation.Additionally,we hypothesize that Pleistocene events likely influenced the conformation of the current floristic composition in the region through species interchange between the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest.Our study also highlights the few taxa assessed for conservation status and anthropogenic threats that this habitat is facing.展开更多
Biodiversity declines have motivated many studies on the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning.In this study,we described the spatial-temporal characteristics of demersal fish communities al...Biodiversity declines have motivated many studies on the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning.In this study,we described the spatial-temporal characteristics of demersal fish communities along a coastal habitat in Rongcheng Bay,Shandong Peninsula,China with both species-based and biological trait-based approaches.The field survey was carried out monthly using traps from April to October of 2018,and divided into three seasons(spring:April and May;summer:June,July and August;autumn:September,October and November).The study area included five distinct habitats:seagrass bed,natural rocky reef,bare sand,artificial reef together with natural rocky reef,and artificial reef together with bare sand.We analyzed the fish communities with three taxonomic diversity indices,including Shannon-Wiener,Simpson,and Pielou Evenness,as well as four functional diversity indices,including FRic,FEve,FDiv,and FDis,based on 7 functional groups which are categorized into 27 traits.The results showed that there were no significant differences in taxonomic diversity indices among different habitats in the three seasons.However,significant differences were found in the functional richness of fish communities among different habitats in three seasons.Seagrass bed represented the highest functional richness in spring and autumn.This study demonstrates that seagrass bed is very important in enhancing the functional diversity of fish communities in a complex habitat.The study also indicates that the combination of taxonomic diversity and functional diversity will provide a more detailed description of the characteristics of fish communities.展开更多
Eddies are major elements of ocean dynamics that affect ocean production.Understanding their effects on plankton distribution may help understand the dynamics of harmful phytoplankton blooms.Previous studies on the ef...Eddies are major elements of ocean dynamics that affect ocean production.Understanding their effects on plankton distribution may help understand the dynamics of harmful phytoplankton blooms.Previous studies on the effects of eddies in the northern Arabian Sea have primarily focused on the zooplankton community,and few have observed zooplankton dynamics during winter blooms of Noctiluca scintillans.We investigated zooplankton community structure and the related environmental variability during a N.scintillans bloom that was affected by an eddy in February 2018.The sampling stations were deployed at eddy core and eddy edge distinguished in salinity,temperature,and velocity.Results show that N.scintillans bloomed at the eddy core with high-velocity currents induced by warm eddies that moved from eddy core to eddy edge.As a result,blooms significantly changed the zooplankton community structure.Non-bloom stations had higher zooplankton diversity than bloom stations.Zooplankton at non-bloom stations were dominated by either tunicates or copepods,such as Thalia democratica and Pleuromamma gracilis.In addition to the influence of N.scintillans blooms,the velocity of eddy currents was a crucial factor on the similarities in the zooplankton community composition between eddy edge and eddy core.Moreover,the lower abiotic factors in bloom area contribute to the structuring of the zooplankton community during N.scintillans blooms.展开更多
Exposure to plants has been reported to promote health and reduce stress,and plant color has direct impacts on physical and mental health.We used images of common types of tended plant communities in Shenyang,China,wi...Exposure to plants has been reported to promote health and reduce stress,and plant color has direct impacts on physical and mental health.We used images of common types of tended plant communities in Shenyang,China,with combinations of yellow,green,and red foliage,as experimental stimuli.A total of 27 images were used as visual stimuli.We used electroencephalography to measureαwave activity(8-13 Hz)in 40 subjects while they viewed visual stimuli.These data were combined with subjective questionnaire data to analyze the relaxing effect of images of tended plant communities with different color types and proportions on people.The results revealed that,although there were slight differences between the electroencephalography and psychological findings,women were significantly more relaxed than men after viewing the images.Physiological and psychological responses varied with the types and proportions of colors in the tended plant communities:those of foliage with combinations of two or three colors induced stronger responses than images with a single color.Specifically,(1)for one-color plant communities,green or yellow plant communities induced a stronger relaxation effect than red plant communities;(2)for two-color plant communities,the optimal color proportion was 55%+45%,and the green+yellow and green+red color combinations induced a stronger relaxation effect;(3)for three-color plant communities,the relaxation effect was strongest when the color proportion was 55%green+25%yellow+20%red.These data would provide a plant color matching in future plant landscape design,which may be helpful for creating healthy and relaxing environments.展开更多
Polyamide/polyethylene(PA/PE)microplastics were injected into soil containing sulfamethoxazole(SMX)to investigate their combined effects on SMX removal,soil enzyme activity,and microbial communities.The results show t...Polyamide/polyethylene(PA/PE)microplastics were injected into soil containing sulfamethoxazole(SMX)to investigate their combined effects on SMX removal,soil enzyme activity,and microbial communities.The results show that both PA and PE transiently increase SMX removal and inhibite the stimulation of microbial species diversity by SMX.The effect of PE is more significant.Meanwhile,PE combined with SMX increases the relative abundances of Actinobacteria and Pseudomonas,while PA combined with SMX decreases the relative abundances of Nocardioides and Streptomyces.In addition,PA/PE combined with SMX can increase dehydrogenase,urease,ammonia monooxygenase,and nitrate reductase activities in the soil while inhibiting the activity of laccase.Compared with PA combined with SMX,the activities of dehydrogenase,urease,ammonia monooxygenase,and laccase of PE combined with SMX increase by 9.82%,10.41%,8.07%,and 5.47%,while the activities of nitrate reductase and neutral phosphatase decrease by 1.47%and 6.78%.展开更多
文摘Objective Access to improved sanitation is a fundamental human right and an important aspect of Public Health.However,an estimated thousands of people in Ghana especially,the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly(WMMA)still have no access to adequate toilet facilities.This has brought untold health repercussions to the inhabitants,the community,and the environment at large.To address this menace,the community-led total sanitation(CLTS)was implemented.This study aimed to assess communities’perspectives on the implementation of CLTS and to understand the factors influencing its success and failures.Methods A mixed-method approach involving sequential qualitative and quantitative methods was employed in this study.Participants for the quantitative study were randomly selected and surveyed using questionnaires.The qualitative study employed focus group discussion involving purposively sampled participants including assembly members,opinion leaders,and assembly staff.Results The CLTS program in WMMA realized an apparent use of construction and proper use of household latrines leading to a reduction of open defecation free(ODF)and two communities achieving sanitized status in the history of the study area,enabling the training of latrine artisans and natural leaders to facilitate the CLTS expansion and sustainability,improved sanitation and hygiene,strengthened the enforcement of community rules and regulations and many others.Conclusion The CLTS program has received more widespread acceptance in the study area than the previous government policy of constructing public toilets,which was greeted with massive failures due to poor implementation.To ensure that gains achieved through CLTS implementation are sustained longer,it is recommended that chiefs and opinion leaders should be involved in the CLTS programs to ensure checks and enforcement.The entrenchment of bylaws and more education to address enduring myths and misconceptions will sustain the program.Subsidies in the form of sanitation loans for latrine construction materials by the government and supporting non-governmental organizations(NGOs)will be paramount in sustaining ODF.
文摘In recent years,under the influence of multiple factors such as traditional ideas and living economic conditions,the aging population in China continues to increase.Most of the elderly are more inclined to aged at home,and the first places for elderly activities are communities and the surrounding environment,which greatly affects the convenience of life and happiness of the elderly.In this paper,Changxindian area in Fengtai District of Beijing was as the research object,and detailed calculation and analysis were carried out by using POI data and arcGIS software.The relative location of residential areas and surrounding public toilets was explored,and the best location of public toilets in the daily walking area under the model of community home-based care for the elderly was further studied.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52075255,92160301,52175415,52205475,and 92060203)。
文摘The aerospace community widely uses difficult-to-cut materials,such as titanium alloys,high-temperature alloys,metal/ceramic/polymer matrix composites,hard and brittle materials,and geometrically complex components,such as thin-walled structures,microchannels,and complex surfaces.Mechanical machining is the main material removal process for the vast majority of aerospace components.However,many problems exist,including severe and rapid tool wear,low machining efficiency,and poor surface integrity.Nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining is a hybrid process that uses nontraditional energies(vibration,laser,electricity,etc)to improve the machinability of local materials and decrease the burden of mechanical machining.This provides a feasible and promising method to improve the material removal rate and surface quality,reduce process forces,and prolong tool life.However,systematic reviews of this technology are lacking with respect to the current research status and development direction.This paper reviews the recent progress in the nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining of difficult-to-cut materials and components in the aerospace community.In addition,this paper focuses on the processing principles,material responses under nontraditional energy,resultant forces and temperatures,material removal mechanisms,and applications of these processes,including vibration-,laser-,electric-,magnetic-,chemical-,advanced coolant-,and hybrid nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining.Finally,a comprehensive summary of the principles,advantages,and limitations of each hybrid process is provided,and future perspectives on forward design,device development,and sustainability of nontraditional energy-assisted mechanical machining processes are discussed.
基金This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.31870426).
文摘Parameterization is a critical step in modelling ecosystem dynamics.However,assigning parameter values can be a technical challenge for structurally complex natural plant communities;uncertainties in model simulations often arise from inappropriate model parameterization.Here we compared five methods for defining community-level specific leaf area(SLA)and leaf C:N across nine contrasting forest sites along the North-South Transect of Eastern China,including biomass-weighted average for the entire plant community(AP_BW)and four simplified selective sampling(biomass-weighted average over five dominant tree species[5DT_BW],basal area weighted average over five dominant tree species[5DT_AW],biomass-weighted average over all tree species[AT_BW]and basal area weighted average over all tree species[AT_AW]).We found that the default values for SLA and leaf C:N embedded in the Biome-BGC v4.2 were higher than the five computational methods produced across the nine sites,with deviations ranging from 28.0 to 73.3%.In addition,there were only slight deviations(<10%)between the whole plant community sampling(AP_BW)predicted NPP and the four simplified selective sampling methods,and no significant difference between the predictions of AT_BW and AP_BW except the Shennongjia site.The findings in this study highlights the critical importance of computational strategies for community-level parameterization in ecosystem process modelling,and will support the choice of parameterization methods.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFD2301403-2)the Major Special Project of Anhui Province,China(2021d06050003)+2 种基金the Postdoctoral Foundation of Anhui Province,China(2022B638)the Special Project of Zhongke Bengbu Technology Transfer Center,China(ZKBB202103)the Grant of the President Foundation of Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of Chinese Academy of Sciences(YZJJ2023QN37)。
文摘Synthetic nitrogen(N)fertilizer has made a great contribution to the improvement of soil fertility and productivity,but excessive application of synthetic N fertilizer may cause agroecosystem risks,such as soil acidification,groundwater contamination and biodiversity reduction.Meanwhile,organic substitution has received increasing attention for its ecologically and environmentally friendly and productivity benefits.However,the linkages between manure substitution,crop yield and the underlying microbial mechanisms remain uncertain.To bridge this gap,a three-year field experiment was conducted with five fertilization regimes:i)Control,non-fertilization;CF,conventional synthetic fertilizer application;CF_(1/2)M_(1/2),1/2 N input via synthetic fertilizer and 1/2 N input via manure;CF_(1/4)M_(3/4),1/4 N input synthetic fertilizer and 3/4 N input via manure;M,manure application.All fertilization treatments were designed to have equal N input.Our results showed that all manure substituted treatments achieved high soil fertility indexes(SFI)and productivities by increasing the soil organic carbon(SOC),total N(TN)and available phosphorus(AP)concentrations,and by altering the bacterial community diversity and composition compared with CF.SOC,AP,and the soil C:N ratio were mainly responsible for microbial community variations.The co-occurrence network revealed that SOC and AP had strong positive associations with Rhodospirillales and Burkholderiales,while TN and C:N ratio had positive and negative associations with Micromonosporaceae,respectively.These specific taxa are implicated in soil macroelement turnover.Random Forest analysis predicted that both biotic(bacterial composition and Micromonosporaceae)and abiotic(AP,SOC,SFI,and TN)factors had significant effects on crop yield.The present work strengthens our understanding of the effects of manure substitution on crop yield and provides theoretical support for optimizing fertilization strategies.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32001733)the Earmarked fund for CARS(CARS-47)+3 种基金Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Program(2021GXNSFAA196023)Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2021A1515010833)Young Talent Support Project of Guangzhou Association for Science and Technology(QT20220101142)the Special Scientific Research Funds for Central Non-profit Institutes,Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences(2020TD69)。
文摘Popular fermented golden pomfret(Trachinotus ovatus)is prepared via spontaneous fermentation;however,the mechanisms underlying the regulation of its flavor development remain unclear.This study shows the roles of the complex microbiota and the dynamic changes in microbial community and flavor compounds during fish fermentation.Single-molecule real-time sequencing and molecular networking analysis revealed the correlations among different microbial genera and the relationships between microbial taxa and volatile compounds.Mechanisms underlying flavor development were also elucidated via KEGG based functional annotations.Clostridium,Shewanella,and Staphylococcus were the dominant microbial genera.Forty-nine volatile compounds were detected in the fermented fish samples,with thirteen identified as characteristic volatile compounds(ROAV>1).Volatile profiles resulted from the interactions among the microorganisms and derived enzymes,with the main metabolic pathways being amino acid biosynthesis/metabolism,carbon metabolism,and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis.This study demonstrated the approaches for distinguishing key microbiota associated with volatile compounds and monitoring the industrial production of high-quality fermented fish products.
文摘In recent times,technology has advanced significantly and is currently being integrated into educational environments to facilitate distance learning and interaction between learners.Integrating the Internet of Things(IoT)into education can facilitate the teaching and learning process and expand the context in which students learn.Nevertheless,learning data is very sensitive and must be protected when transmitted over the network or stored in data centers.Moreover,the identity and the authenticity of interacting students,instructors,and staff need to be verified to mitigate the impact of attacks.However,most of the current security and authentication schemes are centralized,relying on trusted third-party cloud servers,to facilitate continuous secure communication.In addition,most of these schemes are resourceintensive;thus,security and efficiency issues arise when heterogeneous and resource-limited IoT devices are being used.In this paper,we propose a blockchain-based architecture that accurately identifies and authenticates learners and their IoT devices in a decentralized manner and prevents the unauthorized modification of stored learning records in a distributed university network.It allows students and instructors to easily migrate to and join multiple universities within the network using their identity without the need for user re-authentication.The proposed architecture was tested using a simulation tool,and measured to evaluate its performance.The simulation results demonstrate the ability of the proposed architecture to significantly increase the throughput of learning transactions(40%),reduce the communication overhead and response time(26%),improve authentication efficiency(27%),and reduce the IoT power consumption(35%)compared to the centralized authentication mechanisms.In addition,the security analysis proves the effectiveness of the proposed architecture in resisting various attacks and ensuring the security requirements of learning data in the university network.
基金funded by the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation Program (2022GXNSFAA035583 and 2020GXNSFAA159108)National Natural Science Foundation of China (32060305)+2 种基金Foundation of Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University)Ministry of Education, China (ERESEP 2021Z06)Chinese Forest Biodiversity Monitoring Network
文摘Here,we characterize the temporal and spatial dynamics of forest community structure and species diversity in a subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest in China.We found that community structure in this forest changed over a 15-year period.Specifically,renewal and death of common species was large,with the renewal of individuals mainly concentrated within a few populations,especially those of Aidia canthioides and Cryptocarya concinna.The numbers of individual deaths for common species were concentrated in the small and mid-diameter level.The spatial distribution of community species diversity fluctuated in each monitoring period,showing a more dispersed diversity after the 15-year study period,and the coefficient of variation on quadrats increased.In 2010,the death and renewal of the community and the spatial variation of species diversity were different compared to other survey years.Extreme weather may have affected species regeneration and community stability in our subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forests.Our findings suggest that strengthening the monitoring and management of the forest community will help better understand the long-and short-term causes of dynamic fluctuations of community structure and species diversity,and reveal the factors that drive changes in community structure.
基金supported by the MSIT(Ministry of Science and ICT),Korea,under the ITRC(Information Technology Research Center)support program(IITP-2023-2018-0-01426)supervised by the IITP(Institute for Information&Communications Technology Planning&Evaluation).In additionsupport of the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University,This work has also been supported by Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project Number(PNURSP2022R239),Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University,Riyadh,Saudi Arabia.Alsosupported by the Taif University Researchers Supporting Project Number(TURSP-2020/115),Taif University,Taif,Saudi Arabia.
文摘In the past two decades,there has been a lot of work on computer vision technology that incorporates many tasks which implement basic filtering to image classification.Themajor research areas of this field include object detection and object recognition.Moreover,wireless communication technologies are presently adopted and they have impacted the way of education that has been changed.There are different phases of changes in the traditional system.Perception of three-dimensional(3D)from two-dimensional(2D)image is one of the demanding tasks.Because human can easily perceive but making 3D using software will take time manually.Firstly,the blackboard has been replaced by projectors and other digital screens so such that people can understand the concept better through visualization.Secondly,the computer labs in schools are now more common than ever.Thirdly,online classes have become a reality.However,transferring to online education or e-learning is not without challenges.Therefore,we propose a method for improving the efficiency of e-learning.Our proposed system consists of twoand-a-half dimensional(2.5D)features extraction using machine learning and image processing.Then,these features are utilized to generate 3D mesh using ellipsoidal deformation method.After that,3D bounding box estimation is applied.Our results show that there is a need to move to 3D virtual reality(VR)with haptic sensors in the field of e-learning for a better understanding of real-world objects.Thus,people will have more information as compared to the traditional or simple online education tools.We compare our result with the ShapeNet dataset to check the accuracy of our proposed method.Our proposed system achieved an accuracy of 90.77%on plane class,85.72%on chair class,and car class have 72.14%.Mean accuracy of our method is 70.89%.
基金supported by a Grant(2021R1F1A1063634)of the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation(NRF)funded by the Ministry of Education,Republic of Korea.
文摘Due to the recently increased requirements of e-learning systems,multiple educational institutes such as kindergarten have transformed their learning towards virtual education.Automated student health exercise is a difficult task but an important one due to the physical education needs especially in young learners.The proposed system focuses on the necessary implementation of student health exercise recognition(SHER)using a modified Quaternion-basedfilter for inertial data refining and data fusion as the pre-processing steps.Further,cleansed data has been segmented using an overlapping windowing approach followed by patterns identification in the form of static and kinematic signal patterns.Furthermore,these patterns have been utilized to extract cues for both patterned signals,which are further optimized using Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis(FLDA)technique.Finally,the physical exercise activities have been categorized using extended Kalmanfilter(EKF)-based neural networks.This system can be implemented in multiple educational establishments including intelligent training systems,virtual mentors,smart simulations,and interactive learning management methods.
基金Under the auspices of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.41571144)。
文摘Delineating life circles is an essential prerequisite for urban community life circle planning. Recent studies combined the environmental contexts with residents’ global positioning system(GPS) data to delineate the life circles. This method, however, is constrained by GPS data, and it can only be applied in the GPS surveyed communities. To address this limitation, this study developed a generalizable delineation method without the constraint of behavioral data. According to previous research, the community life circle consists of the walking-accessible range and internal structure. The core task to develop the generalizable method was to estimate the spatiotemporal behavioral demand for each plot of land to acquire the internal structure of the life circle, as the range can be delineated primarily based on environmental data. Therefore, behavioral demand estimation models were established through logistic regression and machine learning techniques, including decision trees and ensemble learning. The model with the lowest error rate was chosen as the final estimation model for each type of land. Finally, we used a community without GPS data as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of the estimation models and delineation method. This article extends the existing literature by introducing spatiotemporal behavioral demand estimation models, which learn the relationships between environmental contexts, population composition and the existing delineated results based on GPS data to delineate the internal structure of the community life circle without employing behavioral data. Furthermore, the proposed method and delineation results also contributes to facilities adjustments and location selections in life circle planning, people-oriented transformation in urban planning, and activity space estimation of the population in evaluating and improving the urban policies.
文摘The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between sport and community by examining the role played by sports participation in community engagement and community capacity building in disadvantaged urban communities.From a conceptual standpoint,the study is based on the sociological theory of the community and Community Capacity Building(CCB)theory,which provide overviews of the concept of community and community capacity and its characteristics.Four disadvantaged urban communities were investigated.Two of these communities had sports programs,while the other two did not.The online questionnaire methodology was adopted to assess the socio-demographic characteristics and community engagement of the participants(knowledge of programs and participation in community activities),and subsequently,an analysis of the online social media narratives of the community members themselves was developed to measure the characteristics of their community capacity building.We found that community engagement and community capacity values were higher in the communities with sports programs.These findings are promising and suggest that approaches based on sports participation development could be fruitful,particularly in disadvantaged communities.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.42077219)the Ningbo Municipal Natural Science Foundation(No.2019A610443)+1 种基金the Hangzhou Municipal Agriculture and Social Development Project(No.2020ZDSJ0697)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Provincial Universities of Zhejiang(No.SJLY2020011)
文摘Globally,various types of pollution affect coastal waters as a result of human activities.Bioaugmentation and biostimulation are effective methods for treating water pollution.However,few studies have explored the response of coastal prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities to bioaugmentation and biostimulation.Here,a 28-day outdoor mesocosm experiment with two treatments(bioaugmentation-A and combined treatment of bioaugmentation and biostimulation-AS)and a control(untreated-C)were carried out.The experiment was conducted in Meishan Bay to explore the composition,dynamics,and co-occurrence patterns of prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities in response to the A and AS using 16S rRNA and 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.After treatment,Gammaproteobacteria and Epsilonproteobacteria were significantly increased in group AS compared to group C,while Flavobacteriia and Saprospirae were significantly reduced.Dinoflagellata was significantly reduced in AS compared to C,while Chrysophyta was significantly reduced in both AS and A.Compared to C,the principal response curve analyses of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities both showed an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend for AS.Furthermore,the trends of prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities in group A were similar to those in group AS compared with group C,but AS changed them more than A did.According to the species weight table on principal response curves,a significant increase was observed in beneficial bacteria in prokaryotic communities,such as Rhodobacterales and Oceanospirillales,along with a decrease in autotrophs in eukaryotic communities,such as Chrysophyta and Diatom.Topological properties of network analysis reveal that A and AS complicate the interactions between the prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities.Overall,these findings expand our understanding of the response pattern of the bioaugmentation and biostimulation on coastal prokaryotic and eukaryotic communities.
基金IFSULDEMINAS-Campus Poços de Caldas for supporting the research.
文摘Mountains exhibit a high degree of endemism and diversity,however,quantifying their biodiversity can be challenging.Similar to islands,species isolation in mountainous regions results in comparable patterns of evolution and extinction,rendering their biodiversity unique and highly susceptible to anthropogenic threats.The topographic relief in mountains plays a crucial role in creating habitat complexity,which in turn contribute to high plant diversity.Here,we investigated plant diversity in the volcano mountaintop vegetation on the Poços de Caldas Plateau,a region situated in the ecotone between the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado,characterized by natural radiation and significant anthropogenic intervention.We employed an automated approach through the filtering of georeferenced and non-georeferenced data to obtain a list of plant species in the region.Additionally,we statistically investigated the similarity among different high-altitude vegetations belonging to the campos de altitude from the Atlantic Forest and campos rupestres from the Cerrado.The plateau exhibits high plant diversity,including 1,659 specific and infraspecific taxa,especially belonging to Asteraceae and Poaceae.Our analyses suggest that geographical distance is a strong predictor of dissimilarity and that the Poços de Caldas Plateau is more floristically related to the campos rupestres,despite being associated with campos de altitude.The region possesses a unique set of biodiversity,indicating that it may be a distinct formation.Additionally,we hypothesize that Pleistocene events likely influenced the conformation of the current floristic composition in the region through species interchange between the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest.Our study also highlights the few taxa assessed for conservation status and anthropogenic threats that this habitat is facing.
基金supported by funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.42076100)the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.U2006214).
文摘Biodiversity declines have motivated many studies on the relationship between species diversity and ecosystem functioning.In this study,we described the spatial-temporal characteristics of demersal fish communities along a coastal habitat in Rongcheng Bay,Shandong Peninsula,China with both species-based and biological trait-based approaches.The field survey was carried out monthly using traps from April to October of 2018,and divided into three seasons(spring:April and May;summer:June,July and August;autumn:September,October and November).The study area included five distinct habitats:seagrass bed,natural rocky reef,bare sand,artificial reef together with natural rocky reef,and artificial reef together with bare sand.We analyzed the fish communities with three taxonomic diversity indices,including Shannon-Wiener,Simpson,and Pielou Evenness,as well as four functional diversity indices,including FRic,FEve,FDiv,and FDis,based on 7 functional groups which are categorized into 27 traits.The results showed that there were no significant differences in taxonomic diversity indices among different habitats in the three seasons.However,significant differences were found in the functional richness of fish communities among different habitats in three seasons.Seagrass bed represented the highest functional richness in spring and autumn.This study demonstrates that seagrass bed is very important in enhancing the functional diversity of fish communities in a complex habitat.The study also indicates that the combination of taxonomic diversity and functional diversity will provide a more detailed description of the characteristics of fish communities.
基金Supported by the World Academy of Sciences(TWAS)the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)+4 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31971432,41506161)the Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory(Guangzhou)(No.GML 2019 ZD 0405)the Guangdong Marine Economy Promotion Projects Fund(No.GDOE[2019]A 32)the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province,China(No.2017 B 0303014052)the Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering,Chinese Academy of Sciences(No.ISEE 2018 PY 01)。
文摘Eddies are major elements of ocean dynamics that affect ocean production.Understanding their effects on plankton distribution may help understand the dynamics of harmful phytoplankton blooms.Previous studies on the effects of eddies in the northern Arabian Sea have primarily focused on the zooplankton community,and few have observed zooplankton dynamics during winter blooms of Noctiluca scintillans.We investigated zooplankton community structure and the related environmental variability during a N.scintillans bloom that was affected by an eddy in February 2018.The sampling stations were deployed at eddy core and eddy edge distinguished in salinity,temperature,and velocity.Results show that N.scintillans bloomed at the eddy core with high-velocity currents induced by warm eddies that moved from eddy core to eddy edge.As a result,blooms significantly changed the zooplankton community structure.Non-bloom stations had higher zooplankton diversity than bloom stations.Zooplankton at non-bloom stations were dominated by either tunicates or copepods,such as Thalia democratica and Pleuromamma gracilis.In addition to the influence of N.scintillans blooms,the velocity of eddy currents was a crucial factor on the similarities in the zooplankton community composition between eddy edge and eddy core.Moreover,the lower abiotic factors in bloom area contribute to the structuring of the zooplankton community during N.scintillans blooms.
基金This work was supported by Postgraduate Education Reform Project of Liaoning Province(LNYJG2022253)National Natural Science Foundation of China(31470031).
文摘Exposure to plants has been reported to promote health and reduce stress,and plant color has direct impacts on physical and mental health.We used images of common types of tended plant communities in Shenyang,China,with combinations of yellow,green,and red foliage,as experimental stimuli.A total of 27 images were used as visual stimuli.We used electroencephalography to measureαwave activity(8-13 Hz)in 40 subjects while they viewed visual stimuli.These data were combined with subjective questionnaire data to analyze the relaxing effect of images of tended plant communities with different color types and proportions on people.The results revealed that,although there were slight differences between the electroencephalography and psychological findings,women were significantly more relaxed than men after viewing the images.Physiological and psychological responses varied with the types and proportions of colors in the tended plant communities:those of foliage with combinations of two or three colors induced stronger responses than images with a single color.Specifically,(1)for one-color plant communities,green or yellow plant communities induced a stronger relaxation effect than red plant communities;(2)for two-color plant communities,the optimal color proportion was 55%+45%,and the green+yellow and green+red color combinations induced a stronger relaxation effect;(3)for three-color plant communities,the relaxation effect was strongest when the color proportion was 55%green+25%yellow+20%red.These data would provide a plant color matching in future plant landscape design,which may be helpful for creating healthy and relaxing environments.
基金Jiangsu Provincial Key Research and Development Program(No.BE2022831).
文摘Polyamide/polyethylene(PA/PE)microplastics were injected into soil containing sulfamethoxazole(SMX)to investigate their combined effects on SMX removal,soil enzyme activity,and microbial communities.The results show that both PA and PE transiently increase SMX removal and inhibite the stimulation of microbial species diversity by SMX.The effect of PE is more significant.Meanwhile,PE combined with SMX increases the relative abundances of Actinobacteria and Pseudomonas,while PA combined with SMX decreases the relative abundances of Nocardioides and Streptomyces.In addition,PA/PE combined with SMX can increase dehydrogenase,urease,ammonia monooxygenase,and nitrate reductase activities in the soil while inhibiting the activity of laccase.Compared with PA combined with SMX,the activities of dehydrogenase,urease,ammonia monooxygenase,and laccase of PE combined with SMX increase by 9.82%,10.41%,8.07%,and 5.47%,while the activities of nitrate reductase and neutral phosphatase decrease by 1.47%and 6.78%.