Search Results (12,444)

Vaccination remains the primary strategy for controlling infectious diseases in farm animals. However, current conventional vaccines demonstrate clinical limitations including suboptimal immunogenicity and frequent booster requirements, which compromise disease management efficacy. This study presents an innovative vaccine platform combining yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) with inactivated antigens as co-immunization components. We developed two formulations targeting economically significant pathogens: avian Fowl Adenovirus Serotype 4 (FAdV-4) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV). For FAdV-4 vaccine evaluation in specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens, the IgY-antigen complex demonstrated superior immunogenic properties compared to conventional inactivated vaccines. When administered as a single dose at 14 days of age, the experimental formulation elicited significantly stronger humoral responses as measured by both serum neutralization (SN₅₀) and ELISA. Notably, this vaccination strategy provided 100% protection against lethal FAdV-4 challenge from 0 h to 20 weeks post-vaccination, with complete absence of clinical disease manifestations. In PEDV assessment using mouse models, the IgY-antigen formulation induced significantly higher antibody titers than inactivated antigen alone at all post-immunization timepoints (p < 0.01). Comparative analysis revealed our dual-component platform enhanced both the intensity and rapidity of protective immune responses compared to traditional inactivated vaccines. These findings establish that the IgY-antigen co-immunization strategy represents a promising approach for developing new veterinary vaccines with improved protective efficacy. The platform’s ability to generate robust, rapid-onset immunity while maintaining single-dose effectiveness addresses critical limitations of current vaccine technologies. Full article

Intramuscular fat (IMF) is a crucial indicator of meat quality. Recent studies increasingly suggest that methionine (Met) plays a role in fat accumulation. However, the mechanism by which Met affects the proliferation and differentiation of intramuscular adipocytes remains unclear. In this study, goat intramuscular adipocytes were cultured in basal complete medium supplemented with Met at 0, 50, 100, 200, 400, and 800 μM. This study demonstrates a quadratic relationship between the level of Met supplementation and cellular proliferation and differentiation, with an optimal effect observed at 100 μM Met. The results of RNA-seq analysis demonstrated that supplementation with Met led to the downregulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism, including the genes PER2, PRKG1, and SLC5A5. Furthermore, we found that overexpression of SLC5A5 inhibits adipogenic differentiation in goat intramuscular adipocytes, while Met supplementation reversed this inhibitory effect. In addition, silencing SLC5A5 significantly promoted adipogenic differentiation, whilst Met supplementation further enhanced this promotion effect. In conclusion, this study indicates that Met supplementation of basal complete medium benefits adipogenic differentiation of goat intramuscular adipocytes, likely by inhibiting the expression of SLC5A5. This research provides a foundation for improving goat meat quality. Full article

Suaeda glauca is a typical halophyte distributed in coastal and inland zones of the Yellow River Delta. Its rhizosphere soil is a potential source for exploring various fungi and their metabolites. In this study, the rhizosphere fungal community of S. glauca was evaluated with high-throughput sequencing, suggesting that it was tightly associated with seasonal variation and soil physicochemical factors. The fungal diversity at the genus level when sampling in May was better than that in July and October. The physicochemical factors TK and TP exerted relatively positive effects on the fungal diversity, while SOM, pH and TDS exhibited negative ones. Using the dilution plating method, 55 cultivable fungal strains were further isolated from the rhizosphere soil of S. glauca, in which Aspergillus and Penicillium were the dominant ones. A total of 47 and 20 strains showed antifungal and herbicidal activity, respectively. Finally, bioassay-guided isolation from the representative strain A. tabacinus GD-25 obtained three polyketides (1–3) and one diphenyl ether (4). 1 (sydonic acid) and 4 (diorcinol) greatly inhibited mycelial vitality of Bortrytis cinerea, with IC₅₀ values of 75.4 and 67.4 mg/L, respectively. In addition, 50 μg/mL of 4 could almost inhibit seedling growth of Echinochloa crusgalli. Full article

Offshore pipelines are commonly used for the transportation of oil and gas from offshore to near-shore facilities in the oil and gas industry. In ocean environments, the wave- and current- induced pore-water pressure within the seabed, and the associated seabed liquefaction and local scour around pipelines, are widely recognised as among the key factors in the design of offshore pipelines. In this paper, a series of wave flume experiments were carried out on the three-dimensional (3D) scouring around a pipeline. In the experiment, in addition to the measurement of hydrodynamic characteristics and local scour, the pore-water pressure within a sandy seabed was measured. Both waves and currents were considered with different incident angles to the pipeline. This study focuses on the relationship between the variation in pore-water pressure and the development of the scouring process around the pipeline, as well as the evolution of the 3D scouring morphology near the pipeline. The experimental results show that the pore-water pressure exhibits significant changes (up to 12.5% of $P_0$) in the beginning stage of the scouring process, especially in the area below the pipeline, where the influence of scouring on pore-water pressure is most obvious. Full article

Leakage current is a prevalent issue in non-isolated photovoltaic (PV) energy storage inverter systems, which not only induces additional power losses but also poses potential safety hazards and degrades system operational efficiency. To address this critical problem, this paper proposes an improved three-phase four-leg PV energy storage inverter topology integrated with independent split capacitors, based on the traditional three-level topology. First, an in-depth analysis of the leakage current generation mechanism is conducted, focusing on the impacts of common-mode voltage fluctuations and parasitic capacitance on leakage current paths. By establishing an equivalent mathematical model, a systematic comparative analysis is performed between the proposed topology and the traditional topology regarding key performance indicators, including leakage current suppression capability, DC-side neutral point potential stability, and power quality. Notably, the improved topology requires no additional control strategy design; under the same carrier modulation strategy and parameter configuration as the traditional topology, it can stably constrain the DC-side neutral point potential to fluctuate within an acceptable range. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed topology reduces the peak leakage current to within 200 mA while maintaining the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the load-side current at a low level. These performance metrics comply with the relevant national and industry power quality standards for PV grid-connected systems, endowing the topology with high engineering practical value. Full article

In recent years, the prevalence and variation of goose adenoviruses, especially Goose Adenovirus Type 4 (GoAdV-4), have threatened waterfowl farming, while their genetic evolution and pathogenic mechanisms remain unelucidated. In May 2024, a novel GoAdV-4 strain (JA2485) was isolated from diseased Sanhua geese in Jian City, Jiangxi Province, China. It propagated in 11–13-day-old goose embryos, with a 50% embryo infectious dose (EID₅₀) of 10^2.2/0.1 mL. Whole-genome sequencing (GenBank Accession No. PQ152938) showed its genome is 43,030 base pairs long, containing 33 protein-coding regions and 2 fiber genes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed JA2485 is closely related to the Hungarian P29 strain and Chinese CH-FJZZ-202201 strain (nucleotide similarity: 94–96.8%), but clusters in a different branch from other avian adenoviruses. In pathogenicity tests on 1-day-old Sanhua geese, both subcutaneous injection and oral inoculation groups had 50% mortality. Infected geese showed weight loss, depression, reduced appetite, increased recumbency, and even paralysis in severe cases. Post mortem examination revealed hepatic rounded margins, yellowing, focal hemorrhages, and renal hemorrhagic lesions. Notably, viral loads were highest in the liver, duodenum, and cloacal swabs, suggesting fecal transmission. This study provides a key basis for clarifying GoAdV-4’s evolutionary characteristics and pathogenic mechanisms, and formulating targeted prevention strategies. Full article

To achieve carbon neutrality goals, offshore wind power combined with a hydrogen energy storage system (OWP-HESS) is critical for integrating intermittent renewables. This study applied a “cradle-to-grave” process-based life cycle assessment (PLCA) to evaluate a 77.4 MW offshore wind farm coupled with a 45.0 MW electrolysis cell system, covering manufacture, transportation, construction, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning phases. It focuses on two hydrogen production routes, alkaline electrolysis (AEL) and proton exchange membrane (PEM), and covers 12 environmental indicators. Moreover, considering optimal economic efficiency, to adapt to the characteristic of “electricity–hydrogen cogeneration”, as well as to facilitate reflecting the efficiency differences between the two electrolysis technologies, the functional unit is defined as “0.4 kWh green electricity + corresponding green hydrogen”. Results show that offshore wind’s environmental impacts mainly come from manufacture (79.00%, driven by concrete/steel), while hydrogen storage impacts focus on operation/maintenance (66.03% for AEL and 96.61% for PEM, driven by electricity). PEM’s green hydrogen global warming potential (GWP) (0.96 kg CO₂-eq_/kg) is much lower than AEL’s (1.81 kg CO₂-eq_/kg) and China’s fossil-based hydrogen (≈40 kg CO₂-eq_/kg). With an initial system lifespan of 25 years, a wind farm capacity factor of 41.30%, and a hydrogen production efficiency of 68.72% (AEL) and 69.89% (PEM), extending system lifespan by 5 years, raising wind farm capacity factor to 43%, and enhancing hydrogen production efficiency to 71% reduce emissions by 16.67%, 4.00%, and 2.16%, respectively. This study clarifies OWP-HESS’s environmental characteristics, confirms PEM’s low-carbon advantage, and provides support for its sustainable development. Full article

The rapid advancement of digital technologies is compelling the field of cultural heritage preservation to shift from static conservation toward dynamic transmission and innovative transformation. In response, this study proposes a Generative AI (GenAI) application approach based on a cultural cognitive model. First, a cognitive structure of cultural symbols is constructed based on symbolic interactionism, and grounded theory is applied to analyze how specific user groups interpret and internalize these symbols, thereby establishing a cultural cognition system. An enhanced Delphi method is then employed to synthesize expert judgments and develop a multi-level cultural-symbol dataset. The dataset is integrated into generated models through stable diffusion models and Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) to strengthen their capacity for recognizing and generating culturally significant features. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed model are evaluated through expert-based assessments. To further examine its generalizability, the study conducts a case application using Shanghai-style furniture design. The results demonstrate substantial improvements in output quality and alignment with design requirements. This research provides a reproducible methodology for the digital safeguarding and innovative development of cultural heritage, while expanding the application scenarios of AI technologies in the protection of intangible cultural heritage. Full article

Accurate trend prediction of valve internal leakage is crucial for the safe and economical operation of thermal power units. To address the issues of prediction lag and insufficient accuracy in existing methods when dealing with the dynamic changes in internal leakage, this paper proposed an Improved Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average–Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (IARIMA-GARCH) method that integrated Multi-Time-Scale Decomposition, an Improved ARIMA (IARIMA) model, and an Improved GARCH (IGARCH) model for accurate prediction of drain valve internal leakage. First, using a Multi-Time-Scale Decomposition method based on sampling at different time intervals, the original valve internal leakage time series were reconstructed into three characteristic subsequences—short-term, medium-term, and long-term—to capture the evolutionary features at various time scales. Then, an IARIMA model, employing the Huber loss function for robust parameter estimation, was constructed as the leakage prediction model to effectively suppress the interference of outliers. Simultaneously, an IGARCH model was built as the leakage volatility prediction model by introducing the previous moment’s volatility to correct the current residual, establishing a feedback mechanism between the mean and volatility equations, thereby enhancing the characterization of volatility clustering. Finally, using a weight coefficient dynamic calculation method based on RMSE, the Multi-Time-Scale prediction results of each subsequence were fused to obtain the final predicted valve internal leakage. Taking the main steam drain valve of a thermal power plant as the research object, and using Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), and symmetric Mean Absolute Percentage Error (sMAPE) as evaluation metrics, a case study on trend prediction of drain valve internal leakage was conducted, comparing the proposed method with ARIMA, Long Short-Term Memory networks (LSTM) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) methods. The results showed that compared to ARIMA, LSTM and XGBoost, the proposed IARIMA-GARCH method achieved the lowest values on error metrics such as Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), and symmetric Mean Absolute Percentage Error (sMAPE), and its Coefficient of Determination (R²) is closest to 1. The standardized residual sequence most closely resembled a white noise sequence with zero mean and unit variance, and its distribution was the closest to a normal distribution. This proved that the IARIMA-GARCH method possessed higher prediction accuracy, stronger dynamic adaptability, and superior statistical robustness, providing an effective solution for valve condition prediction and predictive maintenance. Full article

Background/Objectives: Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (PCV2) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae are primary pathogens causing respiratory disease in pigs. Recently, a Ready-to-Use bivalent PCV2 and M. hyopneumoniae vaccine has been registered in China. The aim of this randomized, side-by-side trial was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this vaccine under field conditions in a Chinese commercial pig farm. Methods: In total, 938 piglets were allocated to three groups—A (tested vaccine), B, C—and vaccinated according to different schemes. Efficacy was assessed by Average Daily Gain (ADG), pneumonia lesions at slaughter and PCV2 viremia. Systemic reactions were recorded after vaccination to evaluate safety. Results: ADG was higher in group A compared with other vaccination schemes. The prevalence of pneumonia lesions was significantly lower in group A. PCV2 viremia was overall low in all groups, with no reported differences. No severe or moderate systemic reactions were observed after vaccination. Only four pigs showed mild reactions (A: 2/320, B: 2/309; C: 0/309). Conclusions: Under these conditions, the tested vaccine was proved to be efficacious in increasing ADG and reducing pneumonia at slaughter by protecting against both PCV2 and M. hyopneumoniae field infections. It can also be concluded that the Ready-To-Use bivalent vaccine was safe. Full article

Wind erosion is one of the most severe environmental problems in arid and semi-arid regions, posing a serious threat to ecological security and human settlements. Afforestation is widely acknowledged as a practical strategy for mitigating wind erosion. However, quantitative assessments of the relationship between forest restoration and wind erosion control remain limited, particularly over long temporal scales and at fine spatial resolutions. This study takes Duolun County, Inner Mongolia, as a representative case to examine the role of large-scale forest restoration in controlling wind erosion. Specifically, land use dynamics from 1985 to 2024 were mapped using a time series of Landsat imagery to identify forest expansion. Then, the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ) was applied to simulate the spatiotemporal variations in wind erosion and sand fixation. Finally, a scenario-based framework contrasting forested and non-forested conditions was used to isolate and quantify the contribution of forest restoration to wind erosion control. Results showed that forest cover increased significantly from 3.95% to 36.19% over the past 40 years, with expansion primarily concentrated in the central desertified regions and the northern hilly areas. Sand fixation increased from $8.70\times {10}^5$ t to $8.20\times {10}^6$ t, with an average annual growth of $9.06\times {10}^4$ t/year. Spatially, growth rates were more pronounced in the central and northern regions than in the south. Ecological restoration programs contributed substantially to wind erosion control, with their attributable sand fixation increasing from near zero to $6.61\times {10}^5$ t, with an average annual rate of $8.21\times {10}^3$ t/year. These findings provide new insights into the role of large-scale forest restoration in enhancing sand fixation and mitigating wind erosion. Full article

Wireless sensors are vital for real-time condition monitoring of rotating machinery. Traditionally, these sensors depend on batteries, a solution that is neither eco-friendly nor cost-effective due to high maintenance. Vibration energy harvesting has emerged as a promising alternative for powering these sensors. Nevertheless, current energy harvesters commonly disregard high-frequency energy, which is weak but contains abundant condition-monitoring information. Moreover, the destructive interference between multiple vibration sources further attenuates the high-frequency energy. To address these limitations, this paper proposed a novel energy harvesting method based on a symmetrical gradient metamaterial beam (SGMB). The SGMB structure is designed to have multiple bands to enhance the high-frequency energy and diminish the destructive interference of flexural waves from two vibration sources. Multiple piezoelectric patches are integrated into SGMB to convert the dynamic stress into harvestable electrical power, enabling multi-band dual-source energy harvesting. Based on the rainbow trapping mechanism, the SGMB was first designed and optimized for desired frequency bands. Subsequently, the band characteristics and piezoelectric output performance were adjusted and validated through finite element simulation. Finally, experimental evaluations were conducted to validate the performance of the designed metamaterial. The results demonstrate that the SGMB provides multiple enhanced bands within the range from 1000 Hz to 3500 Hz and improves the energy harvesting efficiency by a factor over 100, which represents a breakthrough in developing self-powered and self-sensing wireless sensors. Full article

It is necessary to find novel therapeutic strategies for obesity-related diabetic nephropathy (DN) that target both metabolic dysfunction and renal inflammation. ST32da derived from Salvia miltiorrhiza (a well-recognized Traditional Chinese Medicine) induces activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), a negative regulator of inflammation and metabolic stress. However, the effects of ST32da on obesity-related DN remain underexplored. We investigated the therapeutic potential of ST32da, a synthetic ATF3 inducer derived from Salvia miltiorrhiza, in mitigating obesity-related DN in both in vivo and in vitro models. The Nephroseq database analysis was performed to explore the relationship between Atf3 expression and DN progression. ST32da was administered to db/db knockout and DBA mice to establish obesity-related DN models, and a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced mouse model of obesity-related DN was used to investigate the effects of Atf3 knockout. Molecular and biochemical analyses were conducted in cultured mesangial cells to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. ATF3 deficiency worsened obesity-related DN, increasing glomerular fibrosis, mortality, and inflammation. ST32da restored ATF3 levels and reduced renal injury, glomerular expansion, and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression (e.g., IL-6, TGFβ, TNFα). ST32da-treated mice exhibited reduced hepatic lipid accumulation and improved serum lipid profiles. In mesangial cells, ST32da localized to the cytoplasm and increased ATF3 activity, which suppressed RARRES1 expression and cytokine signaling. Mechanistically, ATF3 interacted with HDAC2 to repress NF-κB—dependent inflammatory gene expression. The findings suggest ST32da is a promising therapeutic candidate for obesity-related DN and associated metabolic disturbances, acting through ATF3 induction to suppress renal inflammation, lipotoxicity, and fibrosis. Full article

Deep learning-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR) methods exhibit a tendency to overfit specific operating conditions—such as radar parameters and background clutter—which frequently leads to high sensitivity against variations in these conditions. A novel electromagnetic reconstruction feature alignment (ERFA) method is proposed in this paper, which integrates electromagnetic reconstruction with feature alignment into a fully convolutional network, forming the ERFA-FVGGNet. The ERFA-FVGGNet comprises three modules: electromagnetic reconstruction using our proposed orthogonal matching pursuit with image-domain cropping-optimization (OMP-IC) algorithm for efficient, high-precision attributed scattering center (ASC) reconstruction and extraction; the designed FVGGNet combining transfer learning with a lightweight fully convolutional network to enhance feature extraction and generalization; and feature alignment employing a dual-loss to suppress background clutter while improving robustness and interpretability. Experimental results demonstrate that ERFA-FVGGNet boosts trustworthiness by enhancing robustness, generalization and interpretability. Full article

Trajectory data from GPS and sensors are increasingly available, necessitating effective preprocessing techniques for data mining. To systematically review the methods and models for trajectory data preprocessing, we conducted a systematic literature search in IEEE Xplore, Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library (ACM DL), Scopus, Web of Science, and Transport Research International Documentation published over the past several decades, using keywords related to trajectory data preprocessing. The studies were screened and selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. We included 138 studies, summarizing techniques in data cleaning, compression, segmentation, and map matching. Key algorithms and their performance are compared. This review synthesizes current preprocessing methods and identifies future research directions, including real-time processing, semantic labeling, and privacy protection. Full article