Agricultural investment project selection is a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem,as agricultural projects are easily influenced by various risk factors,and the evaluation information provided by decisionm...Agricultural investment project selection is a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem,as agricultural projects are easily influenced by various risk factors,and the evaluation information provided by decisionmakers usually involves uncertainty and inconsistency.Existing literature primarily employed direct preference elicitation methods to address such issues,necessitating a great cognitive effort on the part of decision-makers during evaluation,specifically,determining the weights of criteria.In this study,we propose an indirect preference elicitation method,known as a preference disaggregation method,to learn decision-maker preference models fromdecision examples.To enhance evaluation ease,decision-makers merely need to compare pairs of alternatives with which they are familiar,also known as reference alternatives.Probabilistic linguistic preference relations are employed to account for the presence of incomplete and uncertain information in such pairwise comparisons.To address the inconsistency among a group of decision-makers,we develop a pair of 0-1mixed integer programming models that consider both the semantics of linguistic terms and the belief degrees of decision-makers.Finally,we conduct a case study and comparative analysis.Results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed model in solving agricultural investment project selection problems with uncertain and inconsistent decision information.展开更多
Many different factors,such as species traits,socio-economic factors,geographical and environmental factors,can lead to specimen collection preference.This study aims to determine whether grassland specimen collection...Many different factors,such as species traits,socio-economic factors,geographical and environmental factors,can lead to specimen collection preference.This study aims to determine whether grassland specimen collection in China is preferred by species traits(i.e.,plant height,flowering and fruiting period),environmental range(i.e.,the temperature and precipitation range)and geographical range(i.e.,distribution range and altitudinal range).Ordinary least squares models and phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the relationships between specimen number and the explanatory variables.Random Forest models were then used to find the most parsimonious multivariate model.The results showed that interannual variation in specimen number between 1900 and 2020 was considerable.Specimen number of these species in southeast China was notably lower than that in northwest China.Environmental range and geographical range of species had significant positive correlations with specimen number.In addition,there were relatively weak but significant associations between specimen number and species trait(i.e.,plant height and flowering and fruiting period).Random Forest models indicated that distribution range was the most important variable,followed by flowering and fruiting period,and altitudinal range.These findings suggest that future floristic surveys should pay more attention to species with small geographical range,narrow environmental range,short plant height,and short flowering and fruiting period.The correction of specimen collection preference will also make the results of species distribution model,species evolution and other works based on specimen data more accurate.展开更多
The emergence of various new services has posed a huge challenge to the existing network architecture.To improve the network delay and backhaul pressure,caching popular contents at the edge of network has been conside...The emergence of various new services has posed a huge challenge to the existing network architecture.To improve the network delay and backhaul pressure,caching popular contents at the edge of network has been considered as a feasible scheme.However,how to efficiently utilize the limited caching resources to cache diverse contents has been confirmed as a tough problem in the past decade.In this paper,considering the time-varying user requests and the heterogeneous content sizes,a user preference aware hierarchical cooperative caching strategy in edge-user caching architecture is proposed.We divide the caching strategy into three phases,that is,the content placement,the content delivery and the content update.In the content placement phase,a cooperative content placement algorithm for local content popularity is designed to cache contents proactively.In the content delivery phase,a cooperative delivery algorithm is proposed to deliver the cached contents.In the content update phase,a content update algorithm is proposed according to the popularity of the contents.Finally,the proposed caching strategy is validated using the MovieLens dataset,and the results reveal that the proposed strategy improves the delay performance by at least 35.3%compared with the other three benchmark strategies.展开更多
Point-of-interest(POI)recommendations in location-based social networks(LBSNs)have developed rapidly by incorporating feature information and deep learning methods.However,most studies have failed to accurately reflec...Point-of-interest(POI)recommendations in location-based social networks(LBSNs)have developed rapidly by incorporating feature information and deep learning methods.However,most studies have failed to accurately reflect different users’preferences,in particular,the short-term preferences of inactive users.To better learn user preferences,in this study,we propose a long-short-term-preference-based adaptive successive POI recommendation(LSTP-ASR)method by combining trajectory sequence processing,long short-term preference learning,and spatiotemporal context.First,the check-in trajectory sequences are adaptively divided into recent and historical sequences according to a dynamic time window.Subsequently,an adaptive filling strategy is used to expand the recent check-in sequences of users with inactive check-in behavior using those of similar active users.We further propose an adaptive learning model to accurately extract long short-term preferences of users to establish an efficient successive POI recommendation system.A spatiotemporal-context-based recurrent neural network and temporal-context-based long short-term memory network are used to model the users’recent and historical checkin trajectory sequences,respectively.Extensive experiments on the Foursquare and Gowalla datasets reveal that the proposed method outperforms several other baseline methods in terms of three evaluation metrics.More specifically,LSTP-ASR outperforms the previously best baseline method(RTPM)with a 17.15%and 20.62%average improvement on the Foursquare and Gowalla datasets in terms of the Fβmetric,respectively.展开更多
The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline...The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline occurs.To fill this gap in our knowledge,we investigated how land cover composition affects the abundance of House Martins on the landscape scale by using nationwide citizen science data.Utilizing a generalised linear mixed-effect model(GLMM),we evaluated 12,094 records from the Czech Republic spanning 2009-2017.Our analysis underscores the significance of land cover type in shaping House Martin abundance.More specifically,our results indicate that within agricultural land covers“naturally managed arable lands”exhibited significant positive effect,while forests,orchards,and vineyards were deemed less favourable for House Martin populations.Within urban land covers,we found a clear distinction in the impact on House Martin populations,with a positive effect observed in urban infrastructure,development areas,and post-industrial sites(i.e.,UrbanAreas),while an indifferent impact was noted within urban green spaces and landscaped areas(i.e.,GreenUrban).Notably,our findings suggest that the simple spatial,age,and species structure typical of forests in Europe,and similarly,the uniform structure of parks and gardens,may be responsible for the decline in the abundance of the House Martin.We advocate for the preservation or enhancement of urban greenery,expansion of natural vegetation in rural areas and adoption of ecological management practices in orchards and vineyards to mitigate further declines in House Martin populations.展开更多
A deep learning access controlmodel based on user preferences is proposed to address the issue of personal privacy leakage in social networks.Firstly,socialusers andsocialdata entities are extractedfromthe social netw...A deep learning access controlmodel based on user preferences is proposed to address the issue of personal privacy leakage in social networks.Firstly,socialusers andsocialdata entities are extractedfromthe social networkandused to construct homogeneous and heterogeneous graphs.Secondly,a graph neural networkmodel is designed based on user daily social behavior and daily social data to simulate the dissemination and changes of user social preferences and user personal preferences in the social network.Then,high-order neighbor nodes,hidden neighbor nodes,displayed neighbor nodes,and social data nodes are used to update user nodes to expand the depth and breadth of user preferences.Finally,a multi-layer attention network is used to classify user nodes in the homogeneous graph into two classes:allow access and deny access.The fine-grained access control problem in social networks is transformed into a node classification problem in a graph neural network.The model is validated using a dataset and compared with other methods without losing generality.The model improved accuracy by 2.18%compared to the baseline method GraphSAGE,and improved F1 score by 1.45%compared to the baseline method,verifying the effectiveness of the model.展开更多
BACKGROUND Primary thumb carpometacarpal(CMC)osteoarthritis is one of the most common conditions encountered by hand surgeons.Of the vast number of operations that have been proposed,none have demonstrated results sig...BACKGROUND Primary thumb carpometacarpal(CMC)osteoarthritis is one of the most common conditions encountered by hand surgeons.Of the vast number of operations that have been proposed,none have demonstrated results significantly superior to trapeziectomy alone.AIM The purpose of our study was to determine why surgeons opt for their technique in treating CMC arthritis.METHODS A cross-sectional survey of active members of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand was conducted to evaluate the reasons behind their preferred technique in the treatment of isolated thumb CMC arthritis.Surgeons were contacted by email once and provided with a link to a de-identified survey consisting of 5 treatment questions and 5 demographic questions.RESULTS Of 950 responses were received.40.5%of surgeons preferred trapeziectomy+ligament reconstruction tendon interposition(LRTI),followed by trapeziectomy+suspensionplasty(28.2%),suture button suspension(5.9%),trapeziectomy alone(4.6%),prosthetic arthroplasty(3.2%),arthrodesis(1.1%),and other(6.6%).Proponents of trapeziectomy+LRTI cited familiarity(73.2%),exposure during fellowship(48.8%)and less proximal migration(60%)to be the main reasons affecting their decision.Surgeons who preferred trapeziectomy+suspensionplasty most reported simplicity(74.9%),fewer complications(45.3%),less proximal migration(43.8%),and avoidance of autogenous tissue harvest(42.7%).Advocates of suture button suspension cited avoidance of autogenous tissue harvest(80.4%),shorter immobilization(76.8%),and quicker recovery(73.2%)with their technique.Advocates of trapeziectomy alone cited simplicity(97.7%),fewer complications(86.4%),and avoidance of autogenous tissue harvest(59.1%).In their comments,45%of surgeons choosing trapeziectomy alone cited evidence as an additional rationale.Advocates of prosthetic arthroplasty cited improved pinch strength(83.3%)and improved range of motion(63.3%),while those preferring arthrodesis cited better pinch strength(90%)and frequently in their comments,durability.Of the surgeons who preferred a technique other than LRTI,41.8%reported they had tried LRTI in the past,citing complexity of the procedure,flexor carpi radialis harvest,and longer operative time as reasons for moving on.CONCLUSION Our study provides an update on current treatment trends and offers new insight into the reasons behind surgeons'decision making in the management of thumb carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.Despite strong Level 1 evidence supporting the use of trapeziectomy alone,our findings demonstrate that most surgeons continue to supplement trapeziectomy with other techniques such as LRTI or suspensionplasty.Several factors including familiarity,personal experience(Level 4 evidence),and comfort may be more influential than Level 1 evidence in determining the techniques in a surgeon's armamentarium.Further prospective studies are needed to determine the optimal technique for surgical management of Eaton stages II-IV CMC arthritis and how these studies will affect surgeons’choice.展开更多
Introduction: Females with sickle cell disease (SCD), despite having a delayed pubertal development, are subject to many worries relating to their abilities to conceive, their capacity to maintain a maternofetal-risk-...Introduction: Females with sickle cell disease (SCD), despite having a delayed pubertal development, are subject to many worries relating to their abilities to conceive, their capacity to maintain a maternofetal-risk-free pregnancy till term and give birth to healthy children without sickle cell disease. Knowing that unplanned pregnancies are more likely to increase maternofetal morbidity and mortality, we sought out to explore the pregnancy preferences in female patients with sickle cell disease to promote healthy conception and childbirth in this vulnerable population. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving female patients of child-bearing age with sickle cell disease followed at Laquintinie Hospital Douala or who were members of a local sickle cell association. Pregnancy preferences were determined using the Desire to Avoid Pregnancy (DAP) scale. Factors associated with pregnancy preferences were determined using multivariable linear regression model. Threshold for significance was set at p Results: Seventy-seven patients were included with a mean age of 24.71 ± 5.53 years. Forty patients (51.95%) had one sexual partner and thirteen women (32.5%) used contraceptive methods. Most patients (46.0%) responded “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” to the statement “it would be a good thing for me if I became pregnant in the next 3 months”. The mean DAP score was 1.63 ± 0.91 [1.28 ± 0.82 in those who had a sexual partner and 1.99 ± 0.86 in those who had no sexual partner]. Factors that were positively associated with DAP score were students (b = 0.32, 95% CI [0.21, 0.95], p = 0.003), monthly income ≥ 100,000 FCFA (b = 0.24, 95% CI [0.07, 0.81], p = 0.022), and not having a sexual partner (b = 0.26, 95% CI [0.11, 0.85], p = 0.012). Conclusion: Most female patients with SCD have a low desire to avoid pregnancy. This is especially true for patients who are not students, have a partner and have a low monthly income.展开更多
Female grasshoppers can affect the fitness of their offspring through their selection of oviposition site. Knowledge of soil type on oviposition, and its effects on subsequent development can provide guidelines for ha...Female grasshoppers can affect the fitness of their offspring through their selection of oviposition site. Knowledge of soil type on oviposition, and its effects on subsequent development can provide guidelines for habitat manipulations that reduce the harmful effects of these pests on farmers fields. The influence of soil types on the oviposition site preference of variegated grasshopper (Zonocerus variegatus L.) reared some cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) varieties, was investigated in a cage trial carried out at the Bio factory laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Njala University, Sierra Leone during 2022/2023. The treatments comprised three soil types (Sandy, Loamy and Clay), each with three replications laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in wooden cages. Data were collected on the following development parameters including, Net reproductive growth ratio (R0), Generation time (Tc), Intrinsic rate of increase (rm), Finite rate of increase (), Doubling time (Dt), and overall survivorship. Findings revealed that, Z. variegatus L. preferred sandy soil in which, on average, most eggs were deposited (338, 6.62 4.40), followed by loamy soil, 286 (5.53 3.96), and then, clayey soil, 200 (3.91 3.85);though, the differences were not significant. This study established that Z. variegatus deposited more eggs in sandy soil > loamy soil > clayey soil, respectively;and subsequent survivorship of the immature unto mature adult insect, revealed a similar order. This indicates that the sandy soil is the most preferred substrate for oviposition and subsequent development into adult insects.展开更多
In a coupled laser system, the dynamics of the receiving laser is investigated when two separate transmitting lasers are injected into the receiving laser with different coupling strengths. It is shown that the phenom...In a coupled laser system, the dynamics of the receiving laser is investigated when two separate transmitting lasers are injected into the receiving laser with different coupling strengths. It is shown that the phenomenon of preference of chaotic synchronization appears under appropriate coupling conditions. The receiving laser will entrain the pulses of either one or both transmitting lasers when the coupling is strong while it keeps its own dynamics when the coupling is weak.展开更多
The preference analysis is a class of important issues in multi-criteria ordinal decision making.The rough set is an effective approach to handle preference analysis.In order to solve the multi-criteria preference ana...The preference analysis is a class of important issues in multi-criteria ordinal decision making.The rough set is an effective approach to handle preference analysis.In order to solve the multi-criteria preference analysis problems,this paper improves the preference relation rough set model and expands it to multi-granulation cases.Cost is also an important issue in the field of decision analysis.Taking the cost into consideration,we also expand the model to the cost sensitive multi-granulation preference relation rough set.Some theorems are represented,and the granule structure selection based on approximation quality is investigated.The experimental results show that the multi-granulation preference rough set approach with the consideration of cost has a better performance in granule structure selection than that without cost consideration.展开更多
Understanding the spatial distribution and habitat preference for rare and endangered species are essential for effective conservation practice.We examined the spatial distribution and habitat preference of four Diplo...Understanding the spatial distribution and habitat preference for rare and endangered species are essential for effective conservation practice.We examined the spatial distribution and habitat preference of four Diploderma species(Diploderma drukdaypo,D.laeviventre,D.batangense,and D.vela),which are endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and are currently under state protection.We used the ensembles of small models(ESM)approach and predicted potential distribution ranges of the species in current and two future climate scenarios(SSP126 and SSP585).The degree of overlap between the predicted distribution ranges and existing natural reserves was further analyzed.Habitat preference was examined using a paired quadrat method.Our results predicted that D.drukdaypo has a current distribution range of 600 km^(2),which would decrease to 50 km^(2)and 55 km^(2)under the SSP126 and SSP585 respectively.For D.laeviventre,the current distribution range is 817 km^(2),with minimum changes in the two future climate scenarios(774 km^(2)and 902 km^(2)).For D.batangense,the current distribution range is 875 km^(2),which would expand to 1522 km^(2)and 3340 km^(2)in the two future climate scenarios.Similarly for D.vela,the current distribution range is 1369 km^(2),which would change to 1825 km^(2)and 2043 km^(2)respectively under the two future climate scenarios.The effect of protection of current nature reserves are likely low for those species;we found no overlap(D.drukdaypo,D.laeviventre)or little overlap(D.batangense 2.04%–3.56%,D.vela 15.52%–16.87%)between the currently designated protection area and distribution range under current and future climate scenarios.For habitat preference,stones appear to be the critical habitat element for those species although different species had different stone requirements.Taken together,we provided critical information on potential distribution ranges and habitat preference for four endangered Diploderma species,and confirmed the inadequacy of current nature reserves.The establishment of new or expansion of existing nature reserves is urgent for the conservation of those species.展开更多
This paper examined consumers’experiences in and preferences for plant-based meat(PBM)food and their respective correlates,based on data from an online survey of 579 consumers in four major cities in China in early 2...This paper examined consumers’experiences in and preferences for plant-based meat(PBM)food and their respective correlates,based on data from an online survey of 579 consumers in four major cities in China in early 2021.We first described consumers’experiences in consuming and purchasing PBM food and their correlates,and then analyzed consumer preferences using hypothetical choice experiment.The experiment offered consumers various options to purchase burgers made from PBM or animal-based meat(ABM),combined with different countries of origin(COO),taste labels,and prices.Our data showed that respondents hold overall positive attitudes toward PBM food;85 and 82%of respondents reported experience in eating and purchasing PBM food,respectively.More than half of them ate PBM food because they wanted to try new food(58%),or were interested in healthy food(56%).Income,religion,and dietary restrictions were significantly correlated with consumers’experiences in PBM food consumption.Results from the Random Parameter Logit Model based on the hypothetical choice experiment data showed that 79%of respondents chose PBM burgers and were willing to pay an average of 88 CNY for a PBM burger.We also found that 99.8 and 83%of respondents are willing to buy burgers made in China and those with a taste label,with a willingness to pay(WTP)of 208 and 120 CNY,respectively.The heterogeneity test revealed that females and those with at least a bachelor’s degree,higher income,religious beliefs,and dietary restrictions are more likely to buy PBM burgers than their counterparts.展开更多
Farmers’contract breach behavior is cited as one of the major stumbling blocks in the sustainable expansion of contract farming in many developing countries.This paper examines farmers’contract breach decisions from...Farmers’contract breach behavior is cited as one of the major stumbling blocks in the sustainable expansion of contract farming in many developing countries.This paper examines farmers’contract breach decisions from the perspective of time preferences.The empirical analysis is based on a household survey and economic field experiments of poultry households participating in contract farming conducted in Jiangsu Province,China.A discounted utility model and a maximum likelihood technique are applied to estimate farmers’time preferences and the effect of time preferences on contract breach in the production and sales phases are explored with a bivariate probit model.The results show that,on average,the poultry farmers in the sample are generally present biased and impatient regarding future utility.The regression results show that farmers with a higher preference for the present and a higher discount rate are more likely to breach contracts,and time preferences play a greater role in the production phase than in the sales phase.When considering heterogeneity,specific investments and transaction costs promote contract stability only for farmers with a low degree of impatience.Moreover,compared with large-scale farmers,small-scale farmers’contract breach decisions are more significantly affected by their time preferences.These results have implications for contract stability policies and other issues that are impacted by the linking of behavioral preferences to agricultural decisions.展开更多
Climate change which is mainly caused by carbon emissions is a global problem affecting the economic development and well-being of human society.Low-carbon agriculture is of particular significance in slowing down glo...Climate change which is mainly caused by carbon emissions is a global problem affecting the economic development and well-being of human society.Low-carbon agriculture is of particular significance in slowing down global warming and reaching the goal of“carbon peak and carbon neutrality”.Therefore,taking straw incorporation as an example,this paper aims to investigate the impact of risk preferences on farmers’low-carbon agricultural technology(LCAT)adoption.Based on a two-phase micro-survey data of 1038 rice farmers in Jiangsu,Jiangxi,and Hunan provinces,this paper uses experimental economics methods to measure farmers’risk aversion and loss aversion to obtain the real risk preferences information of the farmers.We also explore the data to examine the actual LCAT adoption behavior of farmers.The results revealed that both risk aversion and loss aversion significantly inhibit farmers’LCAT adoption:more risk-averse or more loss-averse farmers are less likely to adopt LCAT.It is further found that crop insurance,farm scale and governmental regulations can alleviate the negative impact of risk aversion and loss aversion on farmers’LCAT adoption.Therefore,we propose that local governments need to promote low-carbon agricultural development by propagating the benefits of LCAT,extending crop insurance,promoting appropriate scale operations,and strengthening governmental regulations to promote farmers’LCAT adoption.展开更多
Mating preferences are common in natural populations of animals.Numerous studies have shown that male mate choice can occur in a wide range of taxa.However,male mating preferences are still poorly understood in anuran...Mating preferences are common in natural populations of animals.Numerous studies have shown that male mate choice can occur in a wide range of taxa.However,male mating preferences are still poorly understood in anurans.Sexual selection theory predicts that male mate choice is not expected to arise if 1) adult population exhibited a highly male-biased sex ratio which will diminish male mating success;2) males provide less parental care;3) mating success of males is associated with chorus tenure in which males would maximize their fitness by mating with multiple mates.We tested these predictions in the Asian common toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus from southeastern Tibet,China.Our field experimental results indicated that,the breeding population exhibited a highly male-biased sex ratio,called males did not defend sites which contain significant resources required by females and offspring,both sexes provided no parental care after egg-laying,and the toad species was characterized with prolonged breeding season chorus attendance.In male mate choice experiment,males did not show preferences for a larger gravid female over a smaller gravid female.We suggest that male mating success in the Asian common toad is likely determined by the number but not the quality of mates.Future research should focus on how sexual selection on male acoustic signaling and how female preference exert different types of selection pressure on male call traits in this Tibet toad.展开更多
This study considers a delayed biological system of predator-prey interactions where the predator has stage-structured preference. It is assumed that the prey population has two stages: immature and mature. The predat...This study considers a delayed biological system of predator-prey interactions where the predator has stage-structured preference. It is assumed that the prey population has two stages: immature and mature. The predator population has different preference for the stage-structured prey. This type of behavior has been reported in Asecodes hispinarum and Microplitis mediator. By some lemmas and methods of delay differential equation, the conditions for the permanence, existence of positive periodic solution and extinction of the system are obtained. Numerical simulations are presented that illustrate the analytical results as well as demonstrate certain biological phenomena. In particular, overcrowding of the predator does not affect the persistence of the system, but our numerical simulations suggest that overcrowding reduces the density of the predator. Under the assumption that immature prey is easier to capture, our simulations suggest that the predator’s preference for immature prey increases the predator density.展开更多
The trend toward designing an intelligent distribution system based on students’individual differences and individual needs has taken precedence in view of the traditional dormitory distribution system,which neglects...The trend toward designing an intelligent distribution system based on students’individual differences and individual needs has taken precedence in view of the traditional dormitory distribution system,which neglects the students’personality traits,causes dormitory disputes,and affects the students’quality of life and academic quality.This paper collects freshmen's data according to college students’personal preferences,conducts a classification comparison,uses the decision tree classification algorithm based on the information gain principle as the core algorithm of dormitory allocation,determines the description rules of students’personal preferences and decision tree classification preferences,completes the conceptual design of the database of entity relations and data dictionaries,meets students’personality classification requirements for the dormitory,and lays the foundation for the intelligent dormitory allocation system.展开更多
Hypoxia is a common environmental stress factor in aquatic organisms,which varies among fish species.However,the mechanisms underlying the ability of fish species to tolerate hypoxia are not well known.Here,we showed ...Hypoxia is a common environmental stress factor in aquatic organisms,which varies among fish species.However,the mechanisms underlying the ability of fish species to tolerate hypoxia are not well known.Here,we showed that hypoxia response in different fish species was affected by lipid catabolism and preference for lipid or carbohydrate energy sources.Activation of biochemical lipid catabolism through peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha(Pparα)or increasing mitochondrial fat oxidation in tilapia decreased tolerance to acute hypoxia by increasing oxygen consumption and oxidative damage and reducing carbohydrate catabolism as an energy source.Conversely,lipid catabolism inhibition by suppressing entry of lipids into mitochondria in tilapia or individually knocking out three key genes of lipid catabolism in zebrafish increased tolerance to acute hypoxia by decreasing oxygen consumption and oxidative damage and promoting carbohydrate catabolism.However,anaerobic glycolysis suppression eliminated lipid catabolism inhibition-promoted hypoxia tolerance in adipose triglyceride lipase(atgl)mutant zebrafish.Using 14 fish species with different trophic levels and taxonomic status,the fish preferentially using lipids for energy were more intolerant to acute hypoxia than those preferentially using carbohydrates.Our study shows that hypoxia tolerance in fish depends on catabolic preference for lipids or carbohydrates,which can be modified by regulating lipid catabolism.展开更多
Background:Understanding values and preferences in the context of personal,physical,emotional,relational,and social factors is important in optimizing cancer patient counselling,facilitating treatment decision-making,...Background:Understanding values and preferences in the context of personal,physical,emotional,relational,and social factors is important in optimizing cancer patient counselling,facilitating treatment decision-making,and improving guideline recommendations in treating cancer pain patients.Objective:To systematically review the available evidence regarding the values,preferences,and expectations of acupuncture for patients with cancer pain.Methods:A systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA)statement was conducted.Eight databases were searched without time limits for eligible studies up to April 26,2021.Reference lists of included articles were also searched manually and authors were contacted to inquire about other relevant papers.The quality of the studies was appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skill Program Qualitative Appraisal Checklist(CASP)for studies.This research was registered on PROSPERO with number CRD42020213396.Results:A total of eight studies published in period from 2002 to 2020 were identified from 8 studies involving 2,835 patients.The number of participants in each study ranged from 76 to 706.The quality of the eight included studies was considered high as judged by the CASP tool.Safety is the main factor influencing patients'willingness and preference to accept acupuncture treatment.Human race,education,gender,and knowledge of acupuncture were potentially correlated with patients'preferences.Patients with moderate to severe pain were more likely to use acupuncture than those with mild pain.Conclusion:The preferences and values of patients with cancer pain to receive acupuncture treatment are mainly related to the safety of acupuncture,the degree of cancer pain and demographic characteristics.It is hoped that future high-quality studies could further confirm our conclusions.展开更多
文摘Agricultural investment project selection is a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem,as agricultural projects are easily influenced by various risk factors,and the evaluation information provided by decisionmakers usually involves uncertainty and inconsistency.Existing literature primarily employed direct preference elicitation methods to address such issues,necessitating a great cognitive effort on the part of decision-makers during evaluation,specifically,determining the weights of criteria.In this study,we propose an indirect preference elicitation method,known as a preference disaggregation method,to learn decision-maker preference models fromdecision examples.To enhance evaluation ease,decision-makers merely need to compare pairs of alternatives with which they are familiar,also known as reference alternatives.Probabilistic linguistic preference relations are employed to account for the presence of incomplete and uncertain information in such pairwise comparisons.To address the inconsistency among a group of decision-makers,we develop a pair of 0-1mixed integer programming models that consider both the semantics of linguistic terms and the belief degrees of decision-makers.Finally,we conduct a case study and comparative analysis.Results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed model in solving agricultural investment project selection problems with uncertain and inconsistent decision information.
基金the Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia,China(2023JQ01)the National Key R&D Program of China(2019YFA0607103)+2 种基金the Central Government Guides Local Science and Technology Development Fund Projects(2022ZY0224)the Open Project Program of Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Ecology and Resources Use of the Mongolian Plateau,Hohhot,Inner Mongolia,China(KF2023003)Major Science and Technology Project of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region:Monitoring,Assessment and Early Warning Technology Research of Biodiversity in Inner Mongolia(2021ZD0011)for financial support.
文摘Many different factors,such as species traits,socio-economic factors,geographical and environmental factors,can lead to specimen collection preference.This study aims to determine whether grassland specimen collection in China is preferred by species traits(i.e.,plant height,flowering and fruiting period),environmental range(i.e.,the temperature and precipitation range)and geographical range(i.e.,distribution range and altitudinal range).Ordinary least squares models and phylogenetic generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the relationships between specimen number and the explanatory variables.Random Forest models were then used to find the most parsimonious multivariate model.The results showed that interannual variation in specimen number between 1900 and 2020 was considerable.Specimen number of these species in southeast China was notably lower than that in northwest China.Environmental range and geographical range of species had significant positive correlations with specimen number.In addition,there were relatively weak but significant associations between specimen number and species trait(i.e.,plant height and flowering and fruiting period).Random Forest models indicated that distribution range was the most important variable,followed by flowering and fruiting period,and altitudinal range.These findings suggest that future floristic surveys should pay more attention to species with small geographical range,narrow environmental range,short plant height,and short flowering and fruiting period.The correction of specimen collection preference will also make the results of species distribution model,species evolution and other works based on specimen data more accurate.
基金supported by Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant 61901070,61801065,62271096,61871062,U20A20157 and 62061007)in part by the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission(Grant KJQN202000603 and KJQN201900611)+3 种基金in part by the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing(Grant CSTB2022NSCQMSX0468,cstc2020jcyjzdxmX0024 and cstc2021jcyjmsxmX0892)in part by University Innovation Research Group of Chongqing(Grant CxQT20017)in part by Youth Innovation Group Support Program of ICE Discipline of CQUPT(SCIE-QN-2022-04)in part by the Chongqing Graduate Student Scientific Research Innovation Project(CYB22246)。
文摘The emergence of various new services has posed a huge challenge to the existing network architecture.To improve the network delay and backhaul pressure,caching popular contents at the edge of network has been considered as a feasible scheme.However,how to efficiently utilize the limited caching resources to cache diverse contents has been confirmed as a tough problem in the past decade.In this paper,considering the time-varying user requests and the heterogeneous content sizes,a user preference aware hierarchical cooperative caching strategy in edge-user caching architecture is proposed.We divide the caching strategy into three phases,that is,the content placement,the content delivery and the content update.In the content placement phase,a cooperative content placement algorithm for local content popularity is designed to cache contents proactively.In the content delivery phase,a cooperative delivery algorithm is proposed to deliver the cached contents.In the content update phase,a content update algorithm is proposed according to the popularity of the contents.Finally,the proposed caching strategy is validated using the MovieLens dataset,and the results reveal that the proposed strategy improves the delay performance by at least 35.3%compared with the other three benchmark strategies.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.62102347,62376041,62172352)Guangdong Ocean University Research Fund Project(Grant No.060302102304).
文摘Point-of-interest(POI)recommendations in location-based social networks(LBSNs)have developed rapidly by incorporating feature information and deep learning methods.However,most studies have failed to accurately reflect different users’preferences,in particular,the short-term preferences of inactive users.To better learn user preferences,in this study,we propose a long-short-term-preference-based adaptive successive POI recommendation(LSTP-ASR)method by combining trajectory sequence processing,long short-term preference learning,and spatiotemporal context.First,the check-in trajectory sequences are adaptively divided into recent and historical sequences according to a dynamic time window.Subsequently,an adaptive filling strategy is used to expand the recent check-in sequences of users with inactive check-in behavior using those of similar active users.We further propose an adaptive learning model to accurately extract long short-term preferences of users to establish an efficient successive POI recommendation system.A spatiotemporal-context-based recurrent neural network and temporal-context-based long short-term memory network are used to model the users’recent and historical checkin trajectory sequences,respectively.Extensive experiments on the Foursquare and Gowalla datasets reveal that the proposed method outperforms several other baseline methods in terms of three evaluation metrics.More specifically,LSTP-ASR outperforms the previously best baseline method(RTPM)with a 17.15%and 20.62%average improvement on the Foursquare and Gowalla datasets in terms of the Fβmetric,respectively.
基金supported by an internal grant agency from the Faculty of AgriSciences of Mendel University in Brno(AF-IGA2022-IP-034).
文摘The House Martin(Delichon urbicum)is a common farmland bird species in the European landscape,yet its population numbers are currently in decline.However,it is not yet sufficiently explained why this long-term decline occurs.To fill this gap in our knowledge,we investigated how land cover composition affects the abundance of House Martins on the landscape scale by using nationwide citizen science data.Utilizing a generalised linear mixed-effect model(GLMM),we evaluated 12,094 records from the Czech Republic spanning 2009-2017.Our analysis underscores the significance of land cover type in shaping House Martin abundance.More specifically,our results indicate that within agricultural land covers“naturally managed arable lands”exhibited significant positive effect,while forests,orchards,and vineyards were deemed less favourable for House Martin populations.Within urban land covers,we found a clear distinction in the impact on House Martin populations,with a positive effect observed in urban infrastructure,development areas,and post-industrial sites(i.e.,UrbanAreas),while an indifferent impact was noted within urban green spaces and landscaped areas(i.e.,GreenUrban).Notably,our findings suggest that the simple spatial,age,and species structure typical of forests in Europe,and similarly,the uniform structure of parks and gardens,may be responsible for the decline in the abundance of the House Martin.We advocate for the preservation or enhancement of urban greenery,expansion of natural vegetation in rural areas and adoption of ecological management practices in orchards and vineyards to mitigate further declines in House Martin populations.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project(No.62302540)The Open Foundation of Henan Key Laboratory of Cyberspace Situation Awareness(No.HNTS2022020)+2 种基金Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province Project(No.232300420422)The Natural Science Foundation of Zhongyuan University of Technology(No.K2023QN018)Key Research and Promotion Project of Henan Province in 2021(No.212102310480).
文摘A deep learning access controlmodel based on user preferences is proposed to address the issue of personal privacy leakage in social networks.Firstly,socialusers andsocialdata entities are extractedfromthe social networkandused to construct homogeneous and heterogeneous graphs.Secondly,a graph neural networkmodel is designed based on user daily social behavior and daily social data to simulate the dissemination and changes of user social preferences and user personal preferences in the social network.Then,high-order neighbor nodes,hidden neighbor nodes,displayed neighbor nodes,and social data nodes are used to update user nodes to expand the depth and breadth of user preferences.Finally,a multi-layer attention network is used to classify user nodes in the homogeneous graph into two classes:allow access and deny access.The fine-grained access control problem in social networks is transformed into a node classification problem in a graph neural network.The model is validated using a dataset and compared with other methods without losing generality.The model improved accuracy by 2.18%compared to the baseline method GraphSAGE,and improved F1 score by 1.45%compared to the baseline method,verifying the effectiveness of the model.
文摘BACKGROUND Primary thumb carpometacarpal(CMC)osteoarthritis is one of the most common conditions encountered by hand surgeons.Of the vast number of operations that have been proposed,none have demonstrated results significantly superior to trapeziectomy alone.AIM The purpose of our study was to determine why surgeons opt for their technique in treating CMC arthritis.METHODS A cross-sectional survey of active members of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand was conducted to evaluate the reasons behind their preferred technique in the treatment of isolated thumb CMC arthritis.Surgeons were contacted by email once and provided with a link to a de-identified survey consisting of 5 treatment questions and 5 demographic questions.RESULTS Of 950 responses were received.40.5%of surgeons preferred trapeziectomy+ligament reconstruction tendon interposition(LRTI),followed by trapeziectomy+suspensionplasty(28.2%),suture button suspension(5.9%),trapeziectomy alone(4.6%),prosthetic arthroplasty(3.2%),arthrodesis(1.1%),and other(6.6%).Proponents of trapeziectomy+LRTI cited familiarity(73.2%),exposure during fellowship(48.8%)and less proximal migration(60%)to be the main reasons affecting their decision.Surgeons who preferred trapeziectomy+suspensionplasty most reported simplicity(74.9%),fewer complications(45.3%),less proximal migration(43.8%),and avoidance of autogenous tissue harvest(42.7%).Advocates of suture button suspension cited avoidance of autogenous tissue harvest(80.4%),shorter immobilization(76.8%),and quicker recovery(73.2%)with their technique.Advocates of trapeziectomy alone cited simplicity(97.7%),fewer complications(86.4%),and avoidance of autogenous tissue harvest(59.1%).In their comments,45%of surgeons choosing trapeziectomy alone cited evidence as an additional rationale.Advocates of prosthetic arthroplasty cited improved pinch strength(83.3%)and improved range of motion(63.3%),while those preferring arthrodesis cited better pinch strength(90%)and frequently in their comments,durability.Of the surgeons who preferred a technique other than LRTI,41.8%reported they had tried LRTI in the past,citing complexity of the procedure,flexor carpi radialis harvest,and longer operative time as reasons for moving on.CONCLUSION Our study provides an update on current treatment trends and offers new insight into the reasons behind surgeons'decision making in the management of thumb carpometacarpal osteoarthritis.Despite strong Level 1 evidence supporting the use of trapeziectomy alone,our findings demonstrate that most surgeons continue to supplement trapeziectomy with other techniques such as LRTI or suspensionplasty.Several factors including familiarity,personal experience(Level 4 evidence),and comfort may be more influential than Level 1 evidence in determining the techniques in a surgeon's armamentarium.Further prospective studies are needed to determine the optimal technique for surgical management of Eaton stages II-IV CMC arthritis and how these studies will affect surgeons’choice.
文摘Introduction: Females with sickle cell disease (SCD), despite having a delayed pubertal development, are subject to many worries relating to their abilities to conceive, their capacity to maintain a maternofetal-risk-free pregnancy till term and give birth to healthy children without sickle cell disease. Knowing that unplanned pregnancies are more likely to increase maternofetal morbidity and mortality, we sought out to explore the pregnancy preferences in female patients with sickle cell disease to promote healthy conception and childbirth in this vulnerable population. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving female patients of child-bearing age with sickle cell disease followed at Laquintinie Hospital Douala or who were members of a local sickle cell association. Pregnancy preferences were determined using the Desire to Avoid Pregnancy (DAP) scale. Factors associated with pregnancy preferences were determined using multivariable linear regression model. Threshold for significance was set at p Results: Seventy-seven patients were included with a mean age of 24.71 ± 5.53 years. Forty patients (51.95%) had one sexual partner and thirteen women (32.5%) used contraceptive methods. Most patients (46.0%) responded “Strongly Agree” or “Agree” to the statement “it would be a good thing for me if I became pregnant in the next 3 months”. The mean DAP score was 1.63 ± 0.91 [1.28 ± 0.82 in those who had a sexual partner and 1.99 ± 0.86 in those who had no sexual partner]. Factors that were positively associated with DAP score were students (b = 0.32, 95% CI [0.21, 0.95], p = 0.003), monthly income ≥ 100,000 FCFA (b = 0.24, 95% CI [0.07, 0.81], p = 0.022), and not having a sexual partner (b = 0.26, 95% CI [0.11, 0.85], p = 0.012). Conclusion: Most female patients with SCD have a low desire to avoid pregnancy. This is especially true for patients who are not students, have a partner and have a low monthly income.
文摘Female grasshoppers can affect the fitness of their offspring through their selection of oviposition site. Knowledge of soil type on oviposition, and its effects on subsequent development can provide guidelines for habitat manipulations that reduce the harmful effects of these pests on farmers fields. The influence of soil types on the oviposition site preference of variegated grasshopper (Zonocerus variegatus L.) reared some cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) varieties, was investigated in a cage trial carried out at the Bio factory laboratory, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Njala University, Sierra Leone during 2022/2023. The treatments comprised three soil types (Sandy, Loamy and Clay), each with three replications laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in wooden cages. Data were collected on the following development parameters including, Net reproductive growth ratio (R0), Generation time (Tc), Intrinsic rate of increase (rm), Finite rate of increase (), Doubling time (Dt), and overall survivorship. Findings revealed that, Z. variegatus L. preferred sandy soil in which, on average, most eggs were deposited (338, 6.62 4.40), followed by loamy soil, 286 (5.53 3.96), and then, clayey soil, 200 (3.91 3.85);though, the differences were not significant. This study established that Z. variegatus deposited more eggs in sandy soil > loamy soil > clayey soil, respectively;and subsequent survivorship of the immature unto mature adult insect, revealed a similar order. This indicates that the sandy soil is the most preferred substrate for oviposition and subsequent development into adult insects.
文摘In a coupled laser system, the dynamics of the receiving laser is investigated when two separate transmitting lasers are injected into the receiving laser with different coupling strengths. It is shown that the phenomenon of preference of chaotic synchronization appears under appropriate coupling conditions. The receiving laser will entrain the pulses of either one or both transmitting lasers when the coupling is strong while it keeps its own dynamics when the coupling is weak.
基金supported in part by Natural Science Foundation of Education Department of Sichuan Province under Grant No.12ZA178Key Technology Support Program of Sichuan Province under Grant No.2015GZ0102+1 种基金Science and Technology Project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission under Grant No.KJ1400407Chongqing Science and Technology Commission Project under Grant No.cstc2014jcyj A10051
文摘The preference analysis is a class of important issues in multi-criteria ordinal decision making.The rough set is an effective approach to handle preference analysis.In order to solve the multi-criteria preference analysis problems,this paper improves the preference relation rough set model and expands it to multi-granulation cases.Cost is also an important issue in the field of decision analysis.Taking the cost into consideration,we also expand the model to the cost sensitive multi-granulation preference relation rough set.Some theorems are represented,and the granule structure selection based on approximation quality is investigated.The experimental results show that the multi-granulation preference rough set approach with the consideration of cost has a better performance in granule structure selection than that without cost consideration.
基金This work was supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(STEP)(Grant No.2019QZKK0402)Science and Technology Plan Project of Tibet Autonomous Region to Yin QI(Grant No.XZ202201ZY0030G)China Biodiversity Observation Networks(Sino BON-Amphibian and Reptile)。
文摘Understanding the spatial distribution and habitat preference for rare and endangered species are essential for effective conservation practice.We examined the spatial distribution and habitat preference of four Diploderma species(Diploderma drukdaypo,D.laeviventre,D.batangense,and D.vela),which are endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and are currently under state protection.We used the ensembles of small models(ESM)approach and predicted potential distribution ranges of the species in current and two future climate scenarios(SSP126 and SSP585).The degree of overlap between the predicted distribution ranges and existing natural reserves was further analyzed.Habitat preference was examined using a paired quadrat method.Our results predicted that D.drukdaypo has a current distribution range of 600 km^(2),which would decrease to 50 km^(2)and 55 km^(2)under the SSP126 and SSP585 respectively.For D.laeviventre,the current distribution range is 817 km^(2),with minimum changes in the two future climate scenarios(774 km^(2)and 902 km^(2)).For D.batangense,the current distribution range is 875 km^(2),which would expand to 1522 km^(2)and 3340 km^(2)in the two future climate scenarios.Similarly for D.vela,the current distribution range is 1369 km^(2),which would change to 1825 km^(2)and 2043 km^(2)respectively under the two future climate scenarios.The effect of protection of current nature reserves are likely low for those species;we found no overlap(D.drukdaypo,D.laeviventre)or little overlap(D.batangense 2.04%–3.56%,D.vela 15.52%–16.87%)between the currently designated protection area and distribution range under current and future climate scenarios.For habitat preference,stones appear to be the critical habitat element for those species although different species had different stone requirements.Taken together,we provided critical information on potential distribution ranges and habitat preference for four endangered Diploderma species,and confirmed the inadequacy of current nature reserves.The establishment of new or expansion of existing nature reserves is urgent for the conservation of those species.
基金support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(71861147003,71925009,72141014).
文摘This paper examined consumers’experiences in and preferences for plant-based meat(PBM)food and their respective correlates,based on data from an online survey of 579 consumers in four major cities in China in early 2021.We first described consumers’experiences in consuming and purchasing PBM food and their correlates,and then analyzed consumer preferences using hypothetical choice experiment.The experiment offered consumers various options to purchase burgers made from PBM or animal-based meat(ABM),combined with different countries of origin(COO),taste labels,and prices.Our data showed that respondents hold overall positive attitudes toward PBM food;85 and 82%of respondents reported experience in eating and purchasing PBM food,respectively.More than half of them ate PBM food because they wanted to try new food(58%),or were interested in healthy food(56%).Income,religion,and dietary restrictions were significantly correlated with consumers’experiences in PBM food consumption.Results from the Random Parameter Logit Model based on the hypothetical choice experiment data showed that 79%of respondents chose PBM burgers and were willing to pay an average of 88 CNY for a PBM burger.We also found that 99.8 and 83%of respondents are willing to buy burgers made in China and those with a taste label,with a willingness to pay(WTP)of 208 and 120 CNY,respectively.The heterogeneity test revealed that females and those with at least a bachelor’s degree,higher income,religious beliefs,and dietary restrictions are more likely to buy PBM burgers than their counterparts.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(72003082 and 71573130)the Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities in Jiangsu Province of China(2020SJA1015)+1 种基金the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions,China(PAPD)the China Center for Food Security Studies,Nanjing Agricultural University,China。
文摘Farmers’contract breach behavior is cited as one of the major stumbling blocks in the sustainable expansion of contract farming in many developing countries.This paper examines farmers’contract breach decisions from the perspective of time preferences.The empirical analysis is based on a household survey and economic field experiments of poultry households participating in contract farming conducted in Jiangsu Province,China.A discounted utility model and a maximum likelihood technique are applied to estimate farmers’time preferences and the effect of time preferences on contract breach in the production and sales phases are explored with a bivariate probit model.The results show that,on average,the poultry farmers in the sample are generally present biased and impatient regarding future utility.The regression results show that farmers with a higher preference for the present and a higher discount rate are more likely to breach contracts,and time preferences play a greater role in the production phase than in the sales phase.When considering heterogeneity,specific investments and transaction costs promote contract stability only for farmers with a low degree of impatience.Moreover,compared with large-scale farmers,small-scale farmers’contract breach decisions are more significantly affected by their time preferences.These results have implications for contract stability policies and other issues that are impacted by the linking of behavioral preferences to agricultural decisions.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(72103115)the Humanities and Social Science Research General Project of the Ministry of Education of China(21XJC790008)+1 种基金the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2020T130393)the Social Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province,China(2021D028)。
文摘Climate change which is mainly caused by carbon emissions is a global problem affecting the economic development and well-being of human society.Low-carbon agriculture is of particular significance in slowing down global warming and reaching the goal of“carbon peak and carbon neutrality”.Therefore,taking straw incorporation as an example,this paper aims to investigate the impact of risk preferences on farmers’low-carbon agricultural technology(LCAT)adoption.Based on a two-phase micro-survey data of 1038 rice farmers in Jiangsu,Jiangxi,and Hunan provinces,this paper uses experimental economics methods to measure farmers’risk aversion and loss aversion to obtain the real risk preferences information of the farmers.We also explore the data to examine the actual LCAT adoption behavior of farmers.The results revealed that both risk aversion and loss aversion significantly inhibit farmers’LCAT adoption:more risk-averse or more loss-averse farmers are less likely to adopt LCAT.It is further found that crop insurance,farm scale and governmental regulations can alleviate the negative impact of risk aversion and loss aversion on farmers’LCAT adoption.Therefore,we propose that local governments need to promote low-carbon agricultural development by propagating the benefits of LCAT,extending crop insurance,promoting appropriate scale operations,and strengthening governmental regulations to promote farmers’LCAT adoption.
基金supported by the Joint Funds for Fostering Talents of NSFC and the People's Government of Henan Province(No.U1304309)National Sciences Foundation of China(No.31501870, No.31670392 and No.31872216)+2 种基金Natural Sciences Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholar of Sichuan (No.2016JQ0038)Key Foundation of Sichuan Provincial Department of Education (No.18ZA0255)Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Chinese Scholar (No.HGQD02)。
文摘Mating preferences are common in natural populations of animals.Numerous studies have shown that male mate choice can occur in a wide range of taxa.However,male mating preferences are still poorly understood in anurans.Sexual selection theory predicts that male mate choice is not expected to arise if 1) adult population exhibited a highly male-biased sex ratio which will diminish male mating success;2) males provide less parental care;3) mating success of males is associated with chorus tenure in which males would maximize their fitness by mating with multiple mates.We tested these predictions in the Asian common toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus from southeastern Tibet,China.Our field experimental results indicated that,the breeding population exhibited a highly male-biased sex ratio,called males did not defend sites which contain significant resources required by females and offspring,both sexes provided no parental care after egg-laying,and the toad species was characterized with prolonged breeding season chorus attendance.In male mate choice experiment,males did not show preferences for a larger gravid female over a smaller gravid female.We suggest that male mating success in the Asian common toad is likely determined by the number but not the quality of mates.Future research should focus on how sexual selection on male acoustic signaling and how female preference exert different types of selection pressure on male call traits in this Tibet toad.
文摘This study considers a delayed biological system of predator-prey interactions where the predator has stage-structured preference. It is assumed that the prey population has two stages: immature and mature. The predator population has different preference for the stage-structured prey. This type of behavior has been reported in Asecodes hispinarum and Microplitis mediator. By some lemmas and methods of delay differential equation, the conditions for the permanence, existence of positive periodic solution and extinction of the system are obtained. Numerical simulations are presented that illustrate the analytical results as well as demonstrate certain biological phenomena. In particular, overcrowding of the predator does not affect the persistence of the system, but our numerical simulations suggest that overcrowding reduces the density of the predator. Under the assumption that immature prey is easier to capture, our simulations suggest that the predator’s preference for immature prey increases the predator density.
文摘The trend toward designing an intelligent distribution system based on students’individual differences and individual needs has taken precedence in view of the traditional dormitory distribution system,which neglects the students’personality traits,causes dormitory disputes,and affects the students’quality of life and academic quality.This paper collects freshmen's data according to college students’personal preferences,conducts a classification comparison,uses the decision tree classification algorithm based on the information gain principle as the core algorithm of dormitory allocation,determines the description rules of students’personal preferences and decision tree classification preferences,completes the conceptual design of the database of entity relations and data dictionaries,meets students’personality classification requirements for the dormitory,and lays the foundation for the intelligent dormitory allocation system.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31830102,32202950)。
文摘Hypoxia is a common environmental stress factor in aquatic organisms,which varies among fish species.However,the mechanisms underlying the ability of fish species to tolerate hypoxia are not well known.Here,we showed that hypoxia response in different fish species was affected by lipid catabolism and preference for lipid or carbohydrate energy sources.Activation of biochemical lipid catabolism through peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha(Pparα)or increasing mitochondrial fat oxidation in tilapia decreased tolerance to acute hypoxia by increasing oxygen consumption and oxidative damage and reducing carbohydrate catabolism as an energy source.Conversely,lipid catabolism inhibition by suppressing entry of lipids into mitochondria in tilapia or individually knocking out three key genes of lipid catabolism in zebrafish increased tolerance to acute hypoxia by decreasing oxygen consumption and oxidative damage and promoting carbohydrate catabolism.However,anaerobic glycolysis suppression eliminated lipid catabolism inhibition-promoted hypoxia tolerance in adipose triglyceride lipase(atgl)mutant zebrafish.Using 14 fish species with different trophic levels and taxonomic status,the fish preferentially using lipids for energy were more intolerant to acute hypoxia than those preferentially using carbohydrates.Our study shows that hypoxia tolerance in fish depends on catabolic preference for lipids or carbohydrates,which can be modified by regulating lipid catabolism.
文摘Background:Understanding values and preferences in the context of personal,physical,emotional,relational,and social factors is important in optimizing cancer patient counselling,facilitating treatment decision-making,and improving guideline recommendations in treating cancer pain patients.Objective:To systematically review the available evidence regarding the values,preferences,and expectations of acupuncture for patients with cancer pain.Methods:A systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses(PRISMA)statement was conducted.Eight databases were searched without time limits for eligible studies up to April 26,2021.Reference lists of included articles were also searched manually and authors were contacted to inquire about other relevant papers.The quality of the studies was appraised using the Critical Appraisal Skill Program Qualitative Appraisal Checklist(CASP)for studies.This research was registered on PROSPERO with number CRD42020213396.Results:A total of eight studies published in period from 2002 to 2020 were identified from 8 studies involving 2,835 patients.The number of participants in each study ranged from 76 to 706.The quality of the eight included studies was considered high as judged by the CASP tool.Safety is the main factor influencing patients'willingness and preference to accept acupuncture treatment.Human race,education,gender,and knowledge of acupuncture were potentially correlated with patients'preferences.Patients with moderate to severe pain were more likely to use acupuncture than those with mild pain.Conclusion:The preferences and values of patients with cancer pain to receive acupuncture treatment are mainly related to the safety of acupuncture,the degree of cancer pain and demographic characteristics.It is hoped that future high-quality studies could further confirm our conclusions.