Search Results (11)

In order to cope with the ecological pressure caused by the uncontrolled expansion of cultivated land in arid areas and ensure regional food security, the implementation of a cultivated land fallowing system has become an effective way to restore the ecology, alleviate the pressure on cultivated land, and increase productivity. In view of this, this paper takes the Tarim River Basin, located in the arid zone of China’s agricultural continent, as the research object. Using a land use transfer matrix and a gravity center migration model, the paper analyzes the spatiotemporal characteristics of cultivated land expansion in the Tarim River Basin from 2000 to 2020. Through remote sensing and the integration of multi-source data, the paper constructs an arable land fallow urgency index (SILF) from multiple dimensions such as human activity intensity, ecological vulnerability, output value, water resources status, and terrain conditions. The research results show that (1) cultivated land in the Tarim River Basin expanded by 15,665.133 km² in general, which is manifested by spreading around based on existing cultivated land, mainly from the conversion of grassland and unused land; the center of gravity of cultivated land moved 37.833 km to the northeast and 7.257 km to the southwest first. (2) The area of not urgently fallow (NUF) in the watershed showed an overall downward trend, decreasing by 10%, while the area of very urgently fallow (VUF) increased by 16%. VUF is mainly distributed in the marginal areas of cultivated land close to the desert and is gradually expanding into the interior of cultivated land. (3) The overall ecological environment of cultivated land in the watershed is showing a deteriorating trend, and the deterioration is gradually spreading from the edge of the cultivated land to the interior. (4) There are significant differences in the SILF values of different land use types after conversion to cultivated land. The urgency of fallowing cultivated land converted from unused land is the highest, followed by grassland, forest land, water bodies, and construction land. The expanded cultivated land has a higher SILF value than the original cultivated land. The research results can provide insights into regional land resource management, the formulation of cultivated land protection policies, and the ecological restoration of cultivated land. Full article

Identifying fruit maturity accurately and achieving damage-free harvesting are challenges in designing blueberry-picking robots. This paper presents an intelligent flexible picking system. First, we trained a deep learning-based YOLOv8n network to locate the position of the fruit and determine fruit ripeness. We used a neural network to establish the relationship between fruit hardness and shape parameters, achieving an adaptive gripping force for different fruits. To address the issue of dense clusters in some blueberry varieties, we designed a fruit separation subsystem using a combination of flow field analysis and pressure-sensitive experiments. The results show that the mean average precision can reach 84.62%, the precision is 94.49%, the recall is 83.85%, the F1 score is 88.85%, and the test time is 0.12 s, which can meet the requirements for blueberry fruit recognition accuracy and speed. The spacing between closely packed fruits can increase by 4 mm, and the damage-free picking rate exceeds 92%, achieving stable, damage-free harvesting. Full article

Post-mortem fetal extrusion, also known as “coffin birth”, refers to the phenomenon where a fetus is pushed out of a deceased female due to pressure from decomposing gas in the abdominal cavity. While post-mortem fetal extrusion has been documented in humans at several archaeological sites, there are few reports of it occurring in non-human animals. In this study, we present a case of post-mortem fetal extrusion in equids observed in a chariot-horse pit (CMK2) at the Western Zhou period site of Yaoheyuan in northwestern China, dating to the early first millennium BC. This specific pit, one of four excavated at the site, contained at least 29 horses and 3 wooden chariots. Most of these horses were young adults aged between 4 and 12 years. Out of the 22 horses with sex estimates, 21 were males. Among these individuals, one adult female horse (Horse 6) and one infantile horse (Horse 10) were of particular importance. Based on the age-at-death, sex, and head orientation of the two individuals, alongside their spatial relationships, it is highly likely that Horse 6 was the fetus of Horse 10 and was extruded in the pit. According to the parturition stage of Horse 10, Horse 6 was likely interred in CMK2 in late spring or early summer of the year, during which the relatively high temperature may have generated gas that led to the extrusion of the fetus. Although the specific reason for the inclusion of a pregnant mare in a chariot-horse pit at Yaoheyuan remains a topic for future research, this case marks the first report of post-mortem fetal extrusion in archaeological horses. The findings offer insights into the timing of horse interment as part of ritual practices among the settled elites during the Bronze Age in China and provide valuable reference data for contemporary equine veterinary science. Full article

Rural tourism is a new driving force for achieving rural revitalization and development, promoting rural economic prosperity, and serving as a new industrial approach to achieving the transformation and upgrading of farmers’ livelihoods. This paper focuses on Manas County as the research subject and employs farmer questionnaire interviews and participatory rural appraisal methods to categorize villages into four types: “scenic area-dependent” villages, “industry-dependent” villages, “folklore-dependent” villages, and “suburban-dependent” villages. Based on the sustainable livelihood analysis framework proposed by the Department for International Development, we developed a sustainable livelihood framework for farm households in Manas County and analyzed the effects of rural tourism on farm households’ livelihood capital and livelihood strategies as the watershed of the rural tourism takes shape, taking livelihood capital and livelihood strategies as the entry point. The factors influencing the livelihood capital and livelihood options of farm households in the context of rural tourism are analyzed. The results show that: (1) The overall livelihood capital of farmers engaging in rural tourism is significantly greater than that of farmers not participating in rural tourism. Additionally, variations exist in the livelihood capital of different types of rural tourism within villages. (2) Participation in rural tourism significantly influences farmers’ choices of livelihood strategies. Compared with individuals who do not engage in rural tourism, those involved in rural tourism are more likely to opt for self-management livelihood strategies. The proportion of self-managed farmers in villages based around scenic areas is the highest. (3) The effect of rural tourism on farm households in Manas County is generally positive, and various types of villages yield different impact effects. (4) Participation in rural tourism significantly increases the possibility of farmers choosing self-management livelihood strategies, while it reduces the possibility of farmers choosing agriculture-oriented livelihood strategies. In all villages, except those dependent on industry, the decision to engage in rural tourism significantly impacts farmers’ selection of self-management livelihood strategies. Full article

The late second and first millennium BC witnessed extensive economic, cultural, and political exchanges between pastoralists and sedentary farming states in East Asia. Decades of archaeological fieldwork across northern China have revealed a large number of burial sites associated with pastoralists during the first millennium BC. These sites were characterized by the inhumation of specific animal parts in burials, predominantly the skulls and hooves of sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. However, the selection preference for these animals and how they were integrated into the mortuary contexts of these pastoral societies remain poorly investigated. Here, we report a preliminary analysis of caprine remains from 70 burials at the site of Dunping in the southern Gansu region of northwestern China, dated to approximately the seventh to fourth centuries BC. Based on an examination of species composition, post-depositional effects, traces of human alteration, skeletal element representation, and age at death, we discussed the selection, slaughtering, and inhumation of caprines concerning the mortuary practices at the site. Comparisons between Dunping and several other contemporaneous burial sites in neighboring regions, specifically in terms of the mortality profiles, further highlight distinct patterns in the selection of caprines for mortuary purposes among pastoral societies. These differences suggest varying degrees of emphasis placed on the economic and social significance attributed to caprines. Our findings provide new insights into the roles that caprines played in both ritual performances and subsistence practices among pastoralists in East Asia during the first millennium BC. Full article

The first millennium BC saw the expansion of the Western Zhou dynasty in its northwestern frontier, alongside the rise and development of the Qin State in the Longshan Mountain region of northern China. Exploring the subsistence practices of these communities is crucial to gaining a better understanding of the social, cultural, and political landscape in this region at the time. While much of the research to date has focused on the Qin people, the subsistence practices of the Zhou people remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed animal remains from Yucun, a large settlement site associated with the Zhou people, located to the east of the Longshan Mountain. These animal remains were recovered in the excavation seasons of 2018–2020. Our results show that pigs, dogs, cattle, caprines, and horses, which were the major domestic animals at Yucun, accounted for over 90.8% of the animal remains examined in terms of the number of identified specimens (NISP) and 72.8% in terms of the minimum number of individuals (MNI), with cattle and caprines playing dominant roles. In terms of the taxonomic composition and the mortality profiles of pigs, caprines, and cattle, Yucun shared similarities with Maojiaping and Xishan, two contemporaneous Qin cultural sites located to the west of the Longshan Mountain, and differ from other farming societies in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River valley. Considering the cultural attributes and topographic conditions of these various sites, these findings imply that environmental conditions may have played a more significant role than cultural factors in shaping the animal-related subsistence practices in northern China during the first millennium BC. Full article

Access Control Policies (ACPs) are essential for ensuring secure and authorized access to resources in IoT networks. Recognizing these policies involves identifying relevant statements within project documents expressed in natural language. While current research focuses on improving recognition accuracy through algorithm enhancements, the challenge of limited labeled data from individual clients is often overlooked, which impedes the training of highly accurate models. To address this issue and harness the potential of IoT networks, this paper presents FL-Bert-BiLSTM, a novel model that combines federated learning and pre-trained word embedding techniques for access control policy recognition. By leveraging the capabilities of IoT networks, the proposed model enables real-time and distributed training on IoT devices, effectively mitigating the scarcity of labeled data and enhancing accessibility for IoT applications. Additionally, the model incorporates pre-trained word embeddings to leverage the semantic information embedded in textual data, resulting in improved accuracy for access control policy recognition. Experimental results substantiate that the proposed model not only enhances accuracy and generalization capability but also preserves data privacy, making it well-suited for secure and efficient access control in IoT networks. Full article

Absolute poverty has historically been solved in China, and the focus on poor areas has shifted to addressing relative poverty. To realize the organic combination of the rural revitalization strategy and relative poverty governance, multi-dimensional relative poverty identification and governance path research at the village scale in an alpine-gorge region is required. For this study, the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture’s research area in a typical alpine-gorge was chosen. This paper constructed an evaluation index system for the rural regional system based on location conditions, ecological environment, productive resources, economic base, and public service, based on the theory of multi-dimensional regional poverty and the human–land relationship. The level of poverty, types of poverty, and spatial distribution characteristics of 255 administrative villages were systematically analyzed, and poverty governance paths were proposed. The results show that: (1) There were 215 multi-dimensional relative poverty villages in Nujiang Prefecture, accounting for 84.31% of the total. The relatively poor villages with poverty grades I and II, which are classified as mild poverty, account for 77.21% of all poor villages; this demonstrated that the relatively poor villages in Nujiang Prefecture had a high potential for poverty alleviation. (2) There are 19 different types of constraints in poor villages. Grades III and IV poor villages were mostly found in high-altitude areas. The economic foundation was very weak, the infrastructure was imperfect, the land use type was relatively single, and traffic conditions were relatively backward. (3) The priority model accounted for 16.67% of relative poverty governance, the steady improvement accounted for 28.79%, and key support accounted for 54.54%. Relative poverty governance paths for various counties have been proposed, including rural revitalization priority demonstration, ecological environment governance, eco-tourism, modern agriculture + mountain agroforestry, and improved people’s livelihood and well-being. The findings provided scientific support and direction for future research on the mode and course of relative poverty governance in poor villages in the alpine-gorge area, as well as the rural revitalization strategy’s implementation. Full article

Deciphering the population structure of SARS-CoV-2 is critical to inform public health management and reduce the risk of future dissemination. With the continuous accruing of SARS-CoV-2 genomes worldwide, discovering an effective way to group these genomes is critical for organizing the landscape of the population structure of the virus. Taking advantage of recently published state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, we used an unsupervised deep learning clustering algorithm to group a total of 16,873 SARS-CoV-2 genomes. Using single nucleotide polymorphisms as input features, we identified six major subtypes of SARS-CoV-2. The proportions of the clusters across the continents revealed distinct geographical distributions. Comprehensive analysis indicated that both genetic factors and human migration factors shaped the specific geographical distribution of the population structure. This study provides a different approach using clustering methods to study the population structure of a never-seen-before and fast-growing species such as SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, clustering techniques can be used for further studies of local population structures of the proliferating virus. Full article

The insecticidal ingredient in a biogas solution being fully utilized by cation exchange resin to produce slow-release insecticide is of great social value. In this work, the feasibility of ammonia nitrogen in a biogas slurry loaded on resin as a slow-release insecticide was evaluated by studying the effect of adsorption and the slow release of ammonia nitrogen by resin. The effects of the ammonia nitrogen concentration, resin dosage, adsorption time and pH value on the ammonia nitrogen adsorption by the resin were studied. The results showed that the ion exchange resin had a good adsorption effect on the ammonia nitrogen. With the increase of the resin dosage, time and ammonia nitrogen concentration, the adsorption capacity increased at first and then stabilized. The ammonia nitrogen adsorption capacity reached its maximum value (1.13 mg) when the pH value was 7. The adsorption process can be fitted well by the Langmuir isothermal adsorption equation and quasi-second-order kinetic model. Additionally, the release rate of the ammonia nitrogen increased with the increasing sodium chloride concentration. The adsorption capacity of ammonia nitrogen by the D113 (resin type) resin decreased by 15.8% compared with the ammonium chloride solution. The report shows that the ion exchange resin has a good adsorption effect on ammonia nitrogen, which is of guiding significance for expanding the raw materials for slow-release insecticides, improving the utilization rate of biogas slurry and cleaner production of slow-release insecticides from biogas slurry. Additionally, all variables showed statistical differences (p < 0.05). Full article

Future 5G systems have set a goal to support mission-critical Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications and they contribute to an important step towards connected and automated driving. To achieve this goal, the communication technologies should be designed based on a solid understanding of the new V2X applications and the related requirements and challenges. In this regard, we provide a description of the main V2X application categories and their representative use cases selected based on an analysis of the future needs of cooperative and automated driving. We also present a methodology on how to derive the network related requirements from the automotive specific requirements. The methodology can be used to analyze the key requirements of both existing and future V2X use cases. Full article