A mobile transmission strategy, PMPatching (Proxy-based Mobile Patching) transmission strat-egy is proposed, it applies to the proxy-based mobile streaming media system in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA...A mobile transmission strategy, PMPatching (Proxy-based Mobile Patching) transmission strat-egy is proposed, it applies to the proxy-based mobile streaming media system in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network. Performance of the whole system can be improved by using patching stream to transmit anterior part of the suffix that had been played back, and by batching all the demands for the suffix arrived in prefix period and patching stream transmission threshold period. Experimental results show that this strategy can efficiently reduce average network transmission cost and number of channels consumed in central streaming media server.展开更多
AIM:To compare the efficacies of patching and penalization therapies for the treatment of amblyopia patients.METHODS:The records of 64 eyes of 50 patients 7 to16y of age who had presented to our clinics with a diagnos...AIM:To compare the efficacies of patching and penalization therapies for the treatment of amblyopia patients.METHODS:The records of 64 eyes of 50 patients 7 to16y of age who had presented to our clinics with a diagnosis of amblyopia,were evaluated retrospectively.Forty eyes of 26 patients who had received patching therapy and 24 eyes of 24 patients who had received penalization therapy included in this study.The latencies and amplitudes of visual evoked potential(VEP)records and best corrected visual acuities(BCVA)of these two groups were compared before and six months after the treatment.RESULTS:In both patching and the penalization groups,the visual acuities increased significantly following the treatments(P【0.05).The latency measurements of the P100 wave obtained at 1.0°,15 arc min.Patterns of both groups significantly decreased following the 6-months-treatment.However,the amplitude measurements increased(P【0.05).CONCLUSION:The patching and the penalization methods,which are the main methods used in the treatment of amblyopia,were also effective over the age of 7y,which has been accepted as the critical age for the treatment of amblyopia.展开更多
The physical properties and microstructure of SUF are investigated to develop a highly effective cement matrix crack-patching material for concrete cracks. The SEM and XRD determination of hardened SUF shows that the ...The physical properties and microstructure of SUF are investigated to develop a highly effective cement matrix crack-patching material for concrete cracks. The SEM and XRD determination of hardened SUF shows that the microstructure of SUF is dense and compact with a lot of C-S-H gels and ettringite. Also, the mechanism of shrinkage compensating is discussed.展开更多
New bugs and vulnerabilities are discovered and reported from time to time even after software products are released. One of the common ways to handle these bugs is to patch the software. In this paper, the authors pr...New bugs and vulnerabilities are discovered and reported from time to time even after software products are released. One of the common ways to handle these bugs is to patch the software. In this paper, the authors propose a stochastic model for optimizing the patching time for software bugs and vulnerabilities. The optimal patching time can be computed in the patching script development and operational costs in fix. The authors present two case studies using the Nimda worm vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services web server and the bug report of the Debian project. These studies indicate that the patch applications are later than their optimal fix time.展开更多
Background:Patching an eye for a period of 2 hours results in a period of plasticity where inter-ocular balance shifts in favor of the patched eye.Acetylcholine has been shown to improve visual function and augment ad...Background:Patching an eye for a period of 2 hours results in a period of plasticity where inter-ocular balance shifts in favor of the patched eye.Acetylcholine has been shown to improve visual function and augment adult neural plasticity.Here we evaluate whether administering the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil enhances the magnitude or duration of the patching induced shift in ocular balance.Methods:We used a double-blind drug treatment design to test the effect of donepezil and patching on the shift in ocular balance.We used a well-known binocular phase combination task to measure ocular balance before and after treatment.Results:Our results demonstrate that donepezil does not enhance,and may actually reduce the magnitude and duration of the patching-induced shift in ocular balance.Conclusions:Patching induced adult neural plasticity does not appear to be modulated by the cholinergic system,however,increased dose or longer drug administration periods may yield significant results.Future studies on binocular rivalry are in the pipeline.展开更多
Background: Acupoint herbal patching(AHP) alone or as an adjuvant therapy with conventional treatment(CT) has been widely used for prevention and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). However, curr...Background: Acupoint herbal patching(AHP) alone or as an adjuvant therapy with conventional treatment(CT) has been widely used for prevention and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). However, current clinical evidence from a systematic review of RCTs is lacking.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of AHP with or without CT for people with COPD at stable stage.Methods: We searched randomized controlled trials comparing AHP(with or without CT) with no intervention, placebo, or CT from six databases. Two authors selected studies, extracted data and evaluated risk of bias of included trials. Rev Man 5.2 software was used to analysis data.Results: Twenty one RCTs(2327 participants) were included. AHP of non sanfu applied on no fixed dates with CT significantly decreased the mean frequency of acute exacerbation of COPD(times per year)(MD:-1.24; 95% CI:-2.02 to-0.46; 2 trials), and improved lung function parameters and quality of life. The AHP with CT showed no better effect in 6-minute walking distance(6 MWD) that CT alone. AHP applied at sanfu(specific dates based on lunar calendar) with CT had significant effect for 6 MWD(MD: 11.20; 95% CI: 0.83 to 21.56; I^2= 0%;3 trials). One trial reported skin irritation from AHP. Another trial reported two patients had eye discomfort, which was inferred as the adverse effects of seretide.Conclusion: AHP used as an adjunct to CT, appears to be more effective than CT alone in patients with stable COPD. However, further large,rigorously designed trials are warranted to confirm these potential effects.展开更多
Many birds develop brood patches on their ventral apterium under hormonal regulation to effectively transmit body heat to eggs during incubation.The developed patch has several characteristics,including de-feathering,...Many birds develop brood patches on their ventral apterium under hormonal regulation to effectively transmit body heat to eggs during incubation.The developed patch has several characteristics,including de-feathering,vascularization,and edema.However,little is known about whether avian brood parasites that do not incubate their eggs exhibit brood patch development during the breeding season.In this study,we measured the size of the ventral apterium in 114 Common Cuckoos(Cuculus canorus)captured in the field throughout the breeding season and examined the appearance of the ventral apterium to confirm the development of brood patches.We also examined whether morphological traits and various factors correlated with the size of the ventral apterium(sternal apterium and abdominal apterium)and how it changed during the breeding season.We found no clear signs of brood patch development in Common Cuckoos captured throughout the breeding season,indicating that they likely did not develop brood patches on the ventral apterium during this period.We also found that ventral apterium size was positively correlated with wing length and body weight.In addition,Common Cuckoos with newly growing feathers on the boundary of the ventral apterium with pteryla were frequently observed as seasons progressed to the end.In conclusion,Common Cuckoos exhibit neither brood patch development nor the vestigial characteristics of ancestral brood patches,except for the growth of feathers on boundary the ventral apterium.Further studies examining brood patches across different groups of avian brood parasites are valuable for enhancing our understanding of the developmental and physiological adaptations of avian brood parasites.展开更多
The development of bare patches typically signifies a process of ecosystem degradation.Within the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway,the extensive emergence of bare sand patches poses ...The development of bare patches typically signifies a process of ecosystem degradation.Within the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway,the extensive emergence of bare sand patches poses a threat to both stability and sustainability.However,there is limited knowledge regarding the morphology,dynamic changes,and ecological responses associated with these sand patches.Therefore,we analyzed the formation and development process of sand patches within the protection system and its effects on herbaceous vegetation growth and soil nutrients through field observation,survey,and indoor analysis methods.The results showed that sand patch development can be divided into three stages,i.e.,formation,expansion,and stabilization,which correspond to the initial,actively developing,and semi-fixed sand patches,respectively.The average dimensions of all sand patch erosional areas were found to be 7.72 m in length,3.91 m in width,and 0.32 m in depth.The actively developing sand patches were the largest,and the initial sand patches were the smallest.Throughout the stage of formation and expansion,the herbaceous community composition changed,and the plant density decreased by more than 50.95%.Moreover,the coverage and height of herbaceous plants decreased in the erosional area and slightly increased in the depositional lobe;and the fine particles and nutrients of soils in the erosional area and depositional lobe showed a decreasing trend.In the stabilization phases of sand patches,the area from the inlet to the bottom of sand patches becomes initially covered with crusts.Vegetation and 0-2 cm surface soil condition improved in the erosional area,but this improvement was not yet evident in the depositional lobe.Factors such as disturbance,climate change,and surface resistance to erosion exert notable influences on the formation and dynamics of sand patches.The results can provide evidence for the future treatment of sand patches and the management of the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway.展开更多
Ruminants play a critical role in our food system by converting plant biomass that humans cannot or choose not to consume into edible high-quality food.However,ruminant excreta is a significant source of nitrous oxide...Ruminants play a critical role in our food system by converting plant biomass that humans cannot or choose not to consume into edible high-quality food.However,ruminant excreta is a significant source of nitrous oxide(N_(2)O),a potent greenhouse gas with a long-term global warming potential 298 times that of carbon dioxide.Natural phytochemicals or forages containing phytochemicals have shown the potential to improve the efficiency of nitrogen(N)utilization and decrease N_(2)O emissions from the excreta of ruminants.Dietary inclusion of tannins can shift more of the excreted N to the feces,alter the urinary N composition and consequently reduce N_(2)O emissions from excreta.Essential oils or saponins could inhibit rumen ammonia production and decrease urinary N excretion.In grazed pastures,large amounts of glucosinolates or aucubin can be introduced into pasture soils when animals consume plants rich in these compounds and then excrete them or their metabolites in the urine or feces.If inhibitory compounds are excreted in the urine,they would be directly applied to the urine patch to reduce nitrification and subsequent N_(2)O emissions.The phytochemicals’role in sustainable ruminant production is undeniable,but much uncertainty remains.Inconsistency,transient effects,and adverse effects limit the effectiveness of these phytochemicals for reducing N losses.In this review,we will identify some current phytochemicals found in feed that have the potential to manipulate ruminant N excretion or mitigate N_(2)O production and deliberate the challenges and opportunities associated with using phytochemicals or forages rich in phytochemicals as dietary strategies for reducing N excretion and excreta-derived N_(2)O emissions.展开更多
This study assessed the effect of patch scarification and mounding on the physical properties of the root layer and the success of tree planting in various types of forests.This study was conducted on 12 forest sites ...This study assessed the effect of patch scarification and mounding on the physical properties of the root layer and the success of tree planting in various types of forests.This study was conducted on 12 forest sites in taiga forests of the European part of Russia.A total of 54 plots were set up to assess seedling survival;root collar diameter,height,and heigh increment were measured for 240 seedlings to assess growth.In the rooting layer,240 soil samples were taken to determine physical properties.The study showed that soil treatment methods had no effect on bulk density and total porosity in Cladina sites.However,reduced soil moisture was noted,particularly in mounds,resulting in increased aeration.In Myrtillus sites,there were increased bulk density,reduced soil moisture,and total porosity in the mounds.Mounding treatment in Polytrichum sites resulted in reduced soil moisture and increased aeration porosity.In the Myrtillus and Polytrichum sites,patch scarification had no effects on physical properties.In Polytrichum sites,survival rates,heights,and heigh increments of bareroot Norway spruce seedlings in mounds were higher than in patches;however,the same did not apply to diameter.In Cladina and Myrtillus sites,there was no difference in growth for bareroot and containerised seedlings with different soil treatments.Growing conditions and soil types should be considered when applying different soil treatment methods to ensure high survival rates and successful seedling growth.展开更多
Habitat quality is an important indicator for evaluating the quality of ecosystem.The Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin plays an important role in the ecological protection of the upper reaches of the...Habitat quality is an important indicator for evaluating the quality of ecosystem.The Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin plays an important role in the ecological protection of the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin.To comprehensively analysis the alterations of habitat quality in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin,this study utilized the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs(InVEST)model to calculate the habitat quality index and analyze the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of habitat quality in the study area from 2000 to 2022,and calculated seven landscape pattern indices(number of patches,patch density,largest patch index(LPI),landscape shape index(LSI),contagion index(CONTAG),Shannon diversity index,and Shannon evenness index)to research the variation of landscape pattern in the study area.The results showed that the number of patches,patch density,LPI,LSI,Shannon diversity index,and Shannon evenness index increased from 2000 to 2022,while the CONTAG decreased,indicating that the landscape pattern in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin changed in the direction of distribution fragmentation,shape complexity,and heterogeneity.The average value of the habitat quality index in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2022 was 0.90.Based on the value of habitat quality index,we divided the level of habitat quality into five categories:lower(0.00-0.20),low(0.20-0.40),moderate(0.40-0.60),high(0.60-0.80),and higher(0.80-1.00).Most areas were at the higher habitat quality level.The lower habitat quality patches were mainly distributed in Longyang Gorge and Yellow River-Huangshui River Valley.From 2000 to 2022,the habitat quality in most areas was stable;the increase areas were mainly distributed in Guinan County,while the decrease areas were mainly distributed in Xining City,Maqen County,Xinghai County,Qumarleb County,and Darlag County.To show the extent of habitat quality variation,we calculated Sen index.The results showed that the higher habitat quality area had a decrease trending,while other categories had an increasing tendency,and the decreasing was faster than increasing.The research results provide scientific guidance for promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin.展开更多
Background:With the expansion of urban areas,the remnants of forested areas play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity in urban environments.This study aimed to explore the impact of spatiotemporal urban expansion...Background:With the expansion of urban areas,the remnants of forested areas play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity in urban environments.This study aimed to explore the impact of spatiotemporal urban expansion on the networks of leaf traits in woody plants within remnant forest patches,thereby enhancing our understanding of plant adaptive strategies and contributing to the conservation of urban biodiversity.Methods:Our study examined woody plants within 120 sample plots across 15 remnant forest patches in Guiyang,China.We constructed leaf trait networks (LTNs) based on 26 anatomical,structural,and compositional leaf traits and assessed the effects of the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban expansion on these LTNs.Results and conclusions:Our results indicate that shrubs within these patches have greater average path lengths and diameters than trees.With increasing urban expansion intensity,we observed a rise in the edge density of the LTN-shrubs.Additionally,modularity within the networks of shrubs decreased as road density and urban expansion intensity increased,and increases in the average path length and average clustering coefficient for shrubs were observed with a rise in the composite terrain complexity index.Notably,patches subjected to‘leapfrog’expansion exhibited greater average patch length and diameter than those experiencing edge growth.Stomatal traits were found to have high degree centrality within these networks,signifying their substantial contribution to multiple functions.In urban remnant forests,shrubs bolster their resilience to variable environmental pressures by augmenting the complexity of their leaf trait networks.展开更多
Early screening of diabetes retinopathy(DR)plays an important role in preventing irreversible blindness.Existing research has failed to fully explore effective DR lesion information in fundus maps.Besides,traditional ...Early screening of diabetes retinopathy(DR)plays an important role in preventing irreversible blindness.Existing research has failed to fully explore effective DR lesion information in fundus maps.Besides,traditional attention schemes have not considered the impact of lesion type differences on grading,resulting in unreasonable extraction of important lesion features.Therefore,this paper proposes a DR diagnosis scheme that integrates a multi-level patch attention generator(MPAG)and a lesion localization module(LLM).Firstly,MPAGis used to predict patches of different sizes and generate a weighted attention map based on the prediction score and the types of lesions contained in the patches,fully considering the impact of lesion type differences on grading,solving the problem that the attention maps of lesions cannot be further refined and then adapted to the final DR diagnosis task.Secondly,the LLM generates a global attention map based on localization.Finally,the weighted attention map and global attention map are weighted with the fundus map to fully explore effective DR lesion information and increase the attention of the classification network to lesion details.This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method through extensive experiments on the public DDR dataset,obtaining an accuracy of 0.8064.展开更多
Pose-invariant facial expression recognition(FER)is an active but challenging research topic in computer vision.Especially with the involvement of diverse observation angles,FER makes the training parameter models inc...Pose-invariant facial expression recognition(FER)is an active but challenging research topic in computer vision.Especially with the involvement of diverse observation angles,FER makes the training parameter models inconsistent from one view to another.This study develops a deep global multiple-scale and local patches attention(GMS-LPA)dual-branch network for pose-invariant FER to weaken the influence of pose variation and selfocclusion on recognition accuracy.In this research,the designed GMS-LPA network contains four main parts,i.e.,the feature extraction module,the global multiple-scale(GMS)module,the local patches attention(LPA)module,and the model-level fusion model.The feature extraction module is designed to extract and normalize texture information to the same size.The GMS model can extract deep global features with different receptive fields,releasing the sensitivity of deeper convolution layers to pose-variant and self-occlusion.The LPA module is built to force the network to focus on local salient features,which can lower the effect of pose variation and self-occlusion on recognition results.Subsequently,the extracted features are fused with a model-level strategy to improve recognition accuracy.Extensive experimentswere conducted on four public databases,and the recognition results demonstrated the feasibility and validity of the proposed methods.展开更多
The effects of surf zone eddy generated by alongshore currents on the deformation and transport of dye are still poorly understood,and related tracer release experiments are lacking.Therefore,a tracer release laborato...The effects of surf zone eddy generated by alongshore currents on the deformation and transport of dye are still poorly understood,and related tracer release experiments are lacking.Therefore,a tracer release laboratory experiment was conducted under monochromatic,unidirectional incident waves with a large incident angle(30°)on a plane beach with a 1:100 slope in a large wave basin.A charge-coupled device suspended above the basin recorded the dye patch image.The evolution of eddy dye patch was observed and the transport and diffusion were analyzed based on the collected images.Subsequently,a linear instability numerical model was adopted to calculate the perturbation velocity field at the initial stage.The observation and image processing results show that surf zone eddy patches occurred and were separated from the original dye patches.Our numerical analysis results demonstrate that the structure of the perturbation velocity field is consistent with the experimental observations,and that the ejection of eddy patches shoreward or offshore may be ascribed to the double vortex.展开更多
[Objectives]To observe the clinical efficacy of Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying Patch in treating thyroid nodule(TN).[Methods]Two groups were treated similarly,with 200 cases in the control group undergoing bas...[Objectives]To observe the clinical efficacy of Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying Patch in treating thyroid nodule(TN).[Methods]Two groups were treated similarly,with 200 cases in the control group undergoing basic treatment for 12 weeks and 198 cases in the observation group receiving Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying patches for the same duration.The clinical symptoms,number of nodules,diameter of the largest nodule,and maximum reduction of nodules were observed before and after treatment.A control analysis was performed,and the underlying mechanisms were explored.[Results]The primary symptoms of the observation group exhibited a more favorable improvement than those of the control group.Additionally,the number of nodules decreased,the diameter of the largest nodule decreased,and the maximum reduction of nodules decreased in both groups following treatment.However,the observation group demonstrated a more pronounced improvement than the control group(P<0.05).[Conclusions]The combination of Sanying capsule and Xiaoying patch has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for TN,with a high degree of reliability in terms of safety.展开更多
基金Supported by: (1) Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20030013006) (2) National Specialized R&D Project for the Product of Mobile Communications (Develop-ment and Application of Next Generation Mobile Intel-ligent Network)+3 种基金 (3) Development Fund Key Project for Electronic and Information Industry (Core Service Plat-form for Next Generation Network) (4) Development Fund Project for Electronic and Information Industry (Value-added Service Platform and Application System for Mobile Communications) (5) Development Fund Project for Electronic and Information Industry (Con-tent-based Integrated Charging Platform for Telecom-munication Networks) (6) National Specific Project for Hi-tech Industrialization and Information Equipments (Mobile Intelligent Network Supporting Value-added Data Services).
文摘A mobile transmission strategy, PMPatching (Proxy-based Mobile Patching) transmission strat-egy is proposed, it applies to the proxy-based mobile streaming media system in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network. Performance of the whole system can be improved by using patching stream to transmit anterior part of the suffix that had been played back, and by batching all the demands for the suffix arrived in prefix period and patching stream transmission threshold period. Experimental results show that this strategy can efficiently reduce average network transmission cost and number of channels consumed in central streaming media server.
文摘AIM:To compare the efficacies of patching and penalization therapies for the treatment of amblyopia patients.METHODS:The records of 64 eyes of 50 patients 7 to16y of age who had presented to our clinics with a diagnosis of amblyopia,were evaluated retrospectively.Forty eyes of 26 patients who had received patching therapy and 24 eyes of 24 patients who had received penalization therapy included in this study.The latencies and amplitudes of visual evoked potential(VEP)records and best corrected visual acuities(BCVA)of these two groups were compared before and six months after the treatment.RESULTS:In both patching and the penalization groups,the visual acuities increased significantly following the treatments(P【0.05).The latency measurements of the P100 wave obtained at 1.0°,15 arc min.Patterns of both groups significantly decreased following the 6-months-treatment.However,the amplitude measurements increased(P【0.05).CONCLUSION:The patching and the penalization methods,which are the main methods used in the treatment of amblyopia,were also effective over the age of 7y,which has been accepted as the critical age for the treatment of amblyopia.
基金Funded by Railway Ministry Scientific Research Item
文摘The physical properties and microstructure of SUF are investigated to develop a highly effective cement matrix crack-patching material for concrete cracks. The SEM and XRD determination of hardened SUF shows that the microstructure of SUF is dense and compact with a lot of C-S-H gels and ettringite. Also, the mechanism of shrinkage compensating is discussed.
文摘New bugs and vulnerabilities are discovered and reported from time to time even after software products are released. One of the common ways to handle these bugs is to patch the software. In this paper, the authors propose a stochastic model for optimizing the patching time for software bugs and vulnerabilities. The optimal patching time can be computed in the patching script development and operational costs in fix. The authors present two case studies using the Nimda worm vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Information Services web server and the bug report of the Debian project. These studies indicate that the patch applications are later than their optimal fix time.
文摘Background:Patching an eye for a period of 2 hours results in a period of plasticity where inter-ocular balance shifts in favor of the patched eye.Acetylcholine has been shown to improve visual function and augment adult neural plasticity.Here we evaluate whether administering the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil enhances the magnitude or duration of the patching induced shift in ocular balance.Methods:We used a double-blind drug treatment design to test the effect of donepezil and patching on the shift in ocular balance.We used a well-known binocular phase combination task to measure ocular balance before and after treatment.Results:Our results demonstrate that donepezil does not enhance,and may actually reduce the magnitude and duration of the patching-induced shift in ocular balance.Conclusions:Patching induced adult neural plasticity does not appear to be modulated by the cholinergic system,however,increased dose or longer drug administration periods may yield significant results.Future studies on binocular rivalry are in the pipeline.
基金supported by the Program for Innovative Research Team(2011-CXTD-09)of Beijing University of Chinese Medicinepartially supported by the Program for the Model of Building Clinical Research Capacity for Chinese Medicine(grant number201207007)from the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China+2 种基金the program for Young Faculty Fellow Plan of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine(2012-QNJSZX012)young elite talent plan of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education(YETP0796)supported by Ba Gui Scholarship from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
文摘Background: Acupoint herbal patching(AHP) alone or as an adjuvant therapy with conventional treatment(CT) has been widely used for prevention and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). However, current clinical evidence from a systematic review of RCTs is lacking.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of AHP with or without CT for people with COPD at stable stage.Methods: We searched randomized controlled trials comparing AHP(with or without CT) with no intervention, placebo, or CT from six databases. Two authors selected studies, extracted data and evaluated risk of bias of included trials. Rev Man 5.2 software was used to analysis data.Results: Twenty one RCTs(2327 participants) were included. AHP of non sanfu applied on no fixed dates with CT significantly decreased the mean frequency of acute exacerbation of COPD(times per year)(MD:-1.24; 95% CI:-2.02 to-0.46; 2 trials), and improved lung function parameters and quality of life. The AHP with CT showed no better effect in 6-minute walking distance(6 MWD) that CT alone. AHP applied at sanfu(specific dates based on lunar calendar) with CT had significant effect for 6 MWD(MD: 11.20; 95% CI: 0.83 to 21.56; I^2= 0%;3 trials). One trial reported skin irritation from AHP. Another trial reported two patients had eye discomfort, which was inferred as the adverse effects of seretide.Conclusion: AHP used as an adjunct to CT, appears to be more effective than CT alone in patients with stable COPD. However, further large,rigorously designed trials are warranted to confirm these potential effects.
基金financially supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF)funded by The Ministry of Education(NRF-2020R1I1A2063567)。
文摘Many birds develop brood patches on their ventral apterium under hormonal regulation to effectively transmit body heat to eggs during incubation.The developed patch has several characteristics,including de-feathering,vascularization,and edema.However,little is known about whether avian brood parasites that do not incubate their eggs exhibit brood patch development during the breeding season.In this study,we measured the size of the ventral apterium in 114 Common Cuckoos(Cuculus canorus)captured in the field throughout the breeding season and examined the appearance of the ventral apterium to confirm the development of brood patches.We also examined whether morphological traits and various factors correlated with the size of the ventral apterium(sternal apterium and abdominal apterium)and how it changed during the breeding season.We found no clear signs of brood patch development in Common Cuckoos captured throughout the breeding season,indicating that they likely did not develop brood patches on the ventral apterium during this period.We also found that ventral apterium size was positively correlated with wing length and body weight.In addition,Common Cuckoos with newly growing feathers on the boundary of the ventral apterium with pteryla were frequently observed as seasons progressed to the end.In conclusion,Common Cuckoos exhibit neither brood patch development nor the vestigial characteristics of ancestral brood patches,except for the growth of feathers on boundary the ventral apterium.Further studies examining brood patches across different groups of avian brood parasites are valuable for enhancing our understanding of the developmental and physiological adaptations of avian brood parasites.
基金supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,China(2022BEG02003)the Excellent Member of Youth Innovation Promotion Association,Chinese Academy of Sciences(Y202085)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association,Chinese Academy of Sciences(2023448).
文摘The development of bare patches typically signifies a process of ecosystem degradation.Within the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway,the extensive emergence of bare sand patches poses a threat to both stability and sustainability.However,there is limited knowledge regarding the morphology,dynamic changes,and ecological responses associated with these sand patches.Therefore,we analyzed the formation and development process of sand patches within the protection system and its effects on herbaceous vegetation growth and soil nutrients through field observation,survey,and indoor analysis methods.The results showed that sand patch development can be divided into three stages,i.e.,formation,expansion,and stabilization,which correspond to the initial,actively developing,and semi-fixed sand patches,respectively.The average dimensions of all sand patch erosional areas were found to be 7.72 m in length,3.91 m in width,and 0.32 m in depth.The actively developing sand patches were the largest,and the initial sand patches were the smallest.Throughout the stage of formation and expansion,the herbaceous community composition changed,and the plant density decreased by more than 50.95%.Moreover,the coverage and height of herbaceous plants decreased in the erosional area and slightly increased in the depositional lobe;and the fine particles and nutrients of soils in the erosional area and depositional lobe showed a decreasing trend.In the stabilization phases of sand patches,the area from the inlet to the bottom of sand patches becomes initially covered with crusts.Vegetation and 0-2 cm surface soil condition improved in the erosional area,but this improvement was not yet evident in the depositional lobe.Factors such as disturbance,climate change,and surface resistance to erosion exert notable influences on the formation and dynamics of sand patches.The results can provide evidence for the future treatment of sand patches and the management of the protection system of Shapotou section of the Baotou-Lanzhou railway.
基金supported by Beijing Captial Agribusiness&Food Group Co.,Ltd.‘Integrated Innovation and Industrial Application of"Green Digital Intelligence"Technology in the Whole Dairy Industry Chain’(SNSPKJ2022)National Natural Science Foundation of China(32302767).
文摘Ruminants play a critical role in our food system by converting plant biomass that humans cannot or choose not to consume into edible high-quality food.However,ruminant excreta is a significant source of nitrous oxide(N_(2)O),a potent greenhouse gas with a long-term global warming potential 298 times that of carbon dioxide.Natural phytochemicals or forages containing phytochemicals have shown the potential to improve the efficiency of nitrogen(N)utilization and decrease N_(2)O emissions from the excreta of ruminants.Dietary inclusion of tannins can shift more of the excreted N to the feces,alter the urinary N composition and consequently reduce N_(2)O emissions from excreta.Essential oils or saponins could inhibit rumen ammonia production and decrease urinary N excretion.In grazed pastures,large amounts of glucosinolates or aucubin can be introduced into pasture soils when animals consume plants rich in these compounds and then excrete them or their metabolites in the urine or feces.If inhibitory compounds are excreted in the urine,they would be directly applied to the urine patch to reduce nitrification and subsequent N_(2)O emissions.The phytochemicals’role in sustainable ruminant production is undeniable,but much uncertainty remains.Inconsistency,transient effects,and adverse effects limit the effectiveness of these phytochemicals for reducing N losses.In this review,we will identify some current phytochemicals found in feed that have the potential to manipulate ruminant N excretion or mitigate N_(2)O production and deliberate the challenges and opportunities associated with using phytochemicals or forages rich in phytochemicals as dietary strategies for reducing N excretion and excreta-derived N_(2)O emissions.
基金based on studies conducted under a governmental request to“Northern Research Institute of Forestry”for performance of applied research within the remit of the Federal Forestry Agency.Project registration No.122020100319-9。
文摘This study assessed the effect of patch scarification and mounding on the physical properties of the root layer and the success of tree planting in various types of forests.This study was conducted on 12 forest sites in taiga forests of the European part of Russia.A total of 54 plots were set up to assess seedling survival;root collar diameter,height,and heigh increment were measured for 240 seedlings to assess growth.In the rooting layer,240 soil samples were taken to determine physical properties.The study showed that soil treatment methods had no effect on bulk density and total porosity in Cladina sites.However,reduced soil moisture was noted,particularly in mounds,resulting in increased aeration.In Myrtillus sites,there were increased bulk density,reduced soil moisture,and total porosity in the mounds.Mounding treatment in Polytrichum sites resulted in reduced soil moisture and increased aeration porosity.In the Myrtillus and Polytrichum sites,patch scarification had no effects on physical properties.In Polytrichum sites,survival rates,heights,and heigh increments of bareroot Norway spruce seedlings in mounds were higher than in patches;however,the same did not apply to diameter.In Cladina and Myrtillus sites,there was no difference in growth for bareroot and containerised seedlings with different soil treatments.Growing conditions and soil types should be considered when applying different soil treatment methods to ensure high survival rates and successful seedling growth.
基金supported by the Demonstration Project of Integrated Ecological Rehabilitation Technology for Key Soil and Water Erosion Areas in the Yellow River Valley(2021-SF-134).
文摘Habitat quality is an important indicator for evaluating the quality of ecosystem.The Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin plays an important role in the ecological protection of the upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin.To comprehensively analysis the alterations of habitat quality in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin,this study utilized the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs(InVEST)model to calculate the habitat quality index and analyze the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of habitat quality in the study area from 2000 to 2022,and calculated seven landscape pattern indices(number of patches,patch density,largest patch index(LPI),landscape shape index(LSI),contagion index(CONTAG),Shannon diversity index,and Shannon evenness index)to research the variation of landscape pattern in the study area.The results showed that the number of patches,patch density,LPI,LSI,Shannon diversity index,and Shannon evenness index increased from 2000 to 2022,while the CONTAG decreased,indicating that the landscape pattern in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin changed in the direction of distribution fragmentation,shape complexity,and heterogeneity.The average value of the habitat quality index in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin from 2000 to 2022 was 0.90.Based on the value of habitat quality index,we divided the level of habitat quality into five categories:lower(0.00-0.20),low(0.20-0.40),moderate(0.40-0.60),high(0.60-0.80),and higher(0.80-1.00).Most areas were at the higher habitat quality level.The lower habitat quality patches were mainly distributed in Longyang Gorge and Yellow River-Huangshui River Valley.From 2000 to 2022,the habitat quality in most areas was stable;the increase areas were mainly distributed in Guinan County,while the decrease areas were mainly distributed in Xining City,Maqen County,Xinghai County,Qumarleb County,and Darlag County.To show the extent of habitat quality variation,we calculated Sen index.The results showed that the higher habitat quality area had a decrease trending,while other categories had an increasing tendency,and the decreasing was faster than increasing.The research results provide scientific guidance for promoting ecological protection and high-quality development in the Qinghai Province section of the Yellow River Basin.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.32360418)the Guizhou Provincial Basic Research Program (Natural Science)(No.QianKeHeJiChu-ZK[2024]YiBan022)。
文摘Background:With the expansion of urban areas,the remnants of forested areas play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity in urban environments.This study aimed to explore the impact of spatiotemporal urban expansion on the networks of leaf traits in woody plants within remnant forest patches,thereby enhancing our understanding of plant adaptive strategies and contributing to the conservation of urban biodiversity.Methods:Our study examined woody plants within 120 sample plots across 15 remnant forest patches in Guiyang,China.We constructed leaf trait networks (LTNs) based on 26 anatomical,structural,and compositional leaf traits and assessed the effects of the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban expansion on these LTNs.Results and conclusions:Our results indicate that shrubs within these patches have greater average path lengths and diameters than trees.With increasing urban expansion intensity,we observed a rise in the edge density of the LTN-shrubs.Additionally,modularity within the networks of shrubs decreased as road density and urban expansion intensity increased,and increases in the average path length and average clustering coefficient for shrubs were observed with a rise in the composite terrain complexity index.Notably,patches subjected to‘leapfrog’expansion exhibited greater average patch length and diameter than those experiencing edge growth.Stomatal traits were found to have high degree centrality within these networks,signifying their substantial contribution to multiple functions.In urban remnant forests,shrubs bolster their resilience to variable environmental pressures by augmenting the complexity of their leaf trait networks.
基金supported in part by the Research on the Application of Multimodal Artificial Intelligence in Diagnosis and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes under Grant No.2020SK50910in part by the Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 2023JJ60020.
文摘Early screening of diabetes retinopathy(DR)plays an important role in preventing irreversible blindness.Existing research has failed to fully explore effective DR lesion information in fundus maps.Besides,traditional attention schemes have not considered the impact of lesion type differences on grading,resulting in unreasonable extraction of important lesion features.Therefore,this paper proposes a DR diagnosis scheme that integrates a multi-level patch attention generator(MPAG)and a lesion localization module(LLM).Firstly,MPAGis used to predict patches of different sizes and generate a weighted attention map based on the prediction score and the types of lesions contained in the patches,fully considering the impact of lesion type differences on grading,solving the problem that the attention maps of lesions cannot be further refined and then adapted to the final DR diagnosis task.Secondly,the LLM generates a global attention map based on localization.Finally,the weighted attention map and global attention map are weighted with the fundus map to fully explore effective DR lesion information and increase the attention of the classification network to lesion details.This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method through extensive experiments on the public DDR dataset,obtaining an accuracy of 0.8064.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.31872399)Advantage Discipline Construction Project (PAPD,No.6-2018)of Jiangsu University。
文摘Pose-invariant facial expression recognition(FER)is an active but challenging research topic in computer vision.Especially with the involvement of diverse observation angles,FER makes the training parameter models inconsistent from one view to another.This study develops a deep global multiple-scale and local patches attention(GMS-LPA)dual-branch network for pose-invariant FER to weaken the influence of pose variation and selfocclusion on recognition accuracy.In this research,the designed GMS-LPA network contains four main parts,i.e.,the feature extraction module,the global multiple-scale(GMS)module,the local patches attention(LPA)module,and the model-level fusion model.The feature extraction module is designed to extract and normalize texture information to the same size.The GMS model can extract deep global features with different receptive fields,releasing the sensitivity of deeper convolution layers to pose-variant and self-occlusion.The LPA module is built to force the network to focus on local salient features,which can lower the effect of pose variation and self-occlusion on recognition results.Subsequently,the extracted features are fused with a model-level strategy to improve recognition accuracy.Extensive experimentswere conducted on four public databases,and the recognition results demonstrated the feasibility and validity of the proposed methods.
基金The open foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety under contract No.HESS-2006the Shanxi Province Science Foundation under contract No.202103021224116the research project supported by Shanxi Scholarship Council of China under contract No.2023-067.
文摘The effects of surf zone eddy generated by alongshore currents on the deformation and transport of dye are still poorly understood,and related tracer release experiments are lacking.Therefore,a tracer release laboratory experiment was conducted under monochromatic,unidirectional incident waves with a large incident angle(30°)on a plane beach with a 1:100 slope in a large wave basin.A charge-coupled device suspended above the basin recorded the dye patch image.The evolution of eddy dye patch was observed and the transport and diffusion were analyzed based on the collected images.Subsequently,a linear instability numerical model was adopted to calculate the perturbation velocity field at the initial stage.The observation and image processing results show that surf zone eddy patches occurred and were separated from the original dye patches.Our numerical analysis results demonstrate that the structure of the perturbation velocity field is consistent with the experimental observations,and that the ejection of eddy patches shoreward or offshore may be ascribed to the double vortex.
基金Supported by"Shaanxi Hu Xiaojuan Famous Chinese Medicine Workshop"Construction Project of Shaanxi Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine"Thyroid Specialized Clinic"Construction Project of Shaanxi Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
文摘[Objectives]To observe the clinical efficacy of Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying Patch in treating thyroid nodule(TN).[Methods]Two groups were treated similarly,with 200 cases in the control group undergoing basic treatment for 12 weeks and 198 cases in the observation group receiving Sanying capsule combined with Xiaoying patches for the same duration.The clinical symptoms,number of nodules,diameter of the largest nodule,and maximum reduction of nodules were observed before and after treatment.A control analysis was performed,and the underlying mechanisms were explored.[Results]The primary symptoms of the observation group exhibited a more favorable improvement than those of the control group.Additionally,the number of nodules decreased,the diameter of the largest nodule decreased,and the maximum reduction of nodules decreased in both groups following treatment.However,the observation group demonstrated a more pronounced improvement than the control group(P<0.05).[Conclusions]The combination of Sanying capsule and Xiaoying patch has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for TN,with a high degree of reliability in terms of safety.