Search Results (8)

Ecological suitability evaluation is a critical component of regional sustainable development and construction, serving as a foundation for optimizing spatial patterns of regional growth. This is particularly pertinent in karst mountainous regions characterized by limited land resources and heightened ecosystem vulnerability, where a quantitative assessment of ecological suitability for land development is both crucial and urgent. Based on the fundamental principles of structural and functional dynamics in landscape ecology, this study focuses on Gui’an New Area, a designated urban development zone situated in the karst landscape of Guizhou Province. An index system was established encompassing three dimensions: ecological elements, ecological significance, and ecological resilience, utilizing the integrated ecological resistance (IER) model to evaluate the suitability of regional development and construction. The results reveal that the eastern region exhibits higher suitability compared to the central and western regions, with the northwest region demonstrating the lowest suitability overall. Relatively speaking, the evaluation of geological environment suitability and the comprehensive ecological constraints associated with development and construction indicates that the areas currently planned and ongoing reflect flat terrain and low ecological risk. Furthermore, within the scope of ecosystem dynamic adaptation, developmental activities in these regions exert minimal impact on the natural ecosystem, thereby demonstrating a high suitability for development and construction. In terms of future key development zones, areas with gentle slopes ranging from 8 to 15 degrees are recommended, aligning with the actual requirements for cultivated land protection. The total area designated as prohibited development zones constitutes the smallest proportion, representing only 9.45%, which is significantly lower than that of priority development zones (38.75%) and moderate development zones (22.45%). From the perspective of landscape ecology, this paper provides a comprehensive investigation into the ecological suitability evaluation system for development and construction in the karst regions of Southwest China, offering valuable insights for assessing ecological suitability in similar areas. Full article

Emission control regulations have been essential in reducing vehicular exhaust emissions. However, the contribution of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions to ambient particulate matter (PM) has not yet been accurately quantified due to the lack of standardized sampling and measurement methods to set regulations. The identified sources and the source profiles generated have not been comparable as none of the emission data collection techniques and the receptor models applied in the literature have produced a standard or reference method to simultaneously identify and quantify the non-exhaust emission sources. This study utilized and thoroughly characterized PM samples including 32 major and trace elements from a mixed fleet in a mountain highway tunnel atmosphere in Bolu, Türkiye. This work proposed a two-stage, simple, and robust method based on road dust enrichment factor (EF) and elemental carbon (EC) tracer methods (EFECT) for the identification and prediction of the exhaust (exh), and non-exhaust (n-exh) emissions in PM. The indicated method revealed that road dust resuspension emissions are the most significant contributor to the concentrations of crustal elements. This method was used successfully to determine the real-world elemental contributions of road dust resuspension (rdrs), emissions (em), exhaust (exh), and non-exhaust (n-exh) emission sources to the elemental concentrations in PM samples. This study provided significant insights into generating actual source profiles, source-specific emission factors, and the source apportionment results for vehicular emission sources worldwide. Considering this, PM data of any particle size fraction (PM₁₀, PM_10-2.5, and PM_2.5, for example) can be used as input for the EFECT, provided that the data include the analytical results of elemental carbon in both the atmospheric PM and road dust samples having similar PM sizes. Full article

Since a great number of infant cardiopulmonary arrests occur outside of the hospital, it is crucial to train laypersons in cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques, especially those professionals that will work with infants and children. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the efectiveness of ventilations performed by professional training students. The secondary objective was to analyze the preference between different ventilation and chest-compression methods. The sample consisted of 32 professional training students, 15 preschool students, and 17 physical education students. The activity was conducted separately for each group, and we provided a 10 min theoretical training about infant basic life support followed by a 45 min practical training using a Laerdal Little Anne QCPR CPR manikin. A practical test in pairs was organized to record the ventilation as performed by the participants, establishing the difference between the efficacious and the non-efficacious ones. Furthermore, we handed out a survey before and after training to evaluate their knowledge. More than 90% of the students completely agreed with the importance of learning cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques for their professional future. More than half of the sample considered that they perform the rescue breathings with the mouth-to-mouth method better. We observed that through mouth-to-mouth-nose ventilations, the number of effective ventilations was significantly higher than the effective ventilations provided by a self-inflating bag and mask (EffectiveMtoMN 6.42 ± 4.27 vs. EffectiveMask 4.75 ± 3.63 (p = 0.007)), which was the preferred method. In terms of the compression method, hands encircling the chest was preferred by more than 85% of students. Mouth-to-mouth nose ventilation is more efficient than bag-face-mask ventilation in CPR as performed by professional training and physical activity students. This fact must be considered to provide higher-quality training sessions to professional training students. Full article

Passiflora incarnata is ornamental and medicinal plant that contains a valuable active chemical derivatives of apigenin and luteolin. Conventional cultivation of this plant in Poland is a very problematic, caused by the low percentage of seed germination, viability of seedlings, and plant diseases which can seriously reduce the productivity of P. incarnata. An alternative and promising way to solve these problems may be used the technique of micropropagation, which may have applied for the plant multiplication under controlled conditions and have offered the production of healthy, pathogen-free and true-to-type plants. The aim of this study was to detrmine (1) the influence of IAA (0.1–1.0 mg L⁻¹), and IBA (0.1–1.0 mg L⁻¹) on Brasilian seed germination, and (2) the influence of various concetrations of mineral salts in Murashige and Shoog (MS), Gamborg (B-5), Shenk-Hildebrandt (SH) and Phytamax media on growth, development and condition of plant in vitro, (3) induction of adventitious shoots using nodal fragments under influence of BAP (0.1–1.0 mg L⁻¹), TDZ (0.1–1.0 mg L⁻¹), KIN (0.1–1.0 mg L⁻¹) with IAA (0.1 mg L⁻¹). Results showed that (1) MS medium with IAA (1.0 mg L⁻¹) has been most efective in induction of seed germination (60%); (2) Gamborg (B-5) medium has been more favorable for plant growth and development, and (3) SH with BAP (1.0 mg L⁻¹) and TDZ (0.1 L⁻¹) with IAA induced more adventitious buds and new regenerated plantlets. After rooting, 100% obtrained plants have been actimatizared to ex vitro conditions and have been observed in greenhaouse. Full article

Mangrove forests are ecologically and economically valuable resources composed of trees morphologically and physiologically adapted to thrive across a range of habitats. Although, mangrove trees have high dispersion capacity, complexity of hydrological systems may lead to a fine-scale genetic structure (FSGS). The Transverse Coastal Corridor (TCC) is an interesting case of hydrological systems from fresh to marine waters where mangrove forests dominate. We evaluated genetic diversity and structure of Rhizophora mangle across a range of hydrological conditions within the TCC using inter-simple sequence repeat molecular markers. Sampling included four hydrological systems, two localities inside each system, and fringe and dwarf trees. Genetic differentiation was evaluated at local (<100 km) and fine (<10 km) scales through a set of analyses, and genetic diversity was evaluated at all scale levels and between fringe and dwarf physiognomic types. Rhizophora mangle exhibited a high genetic structure at both scales with high genetic diversity. The genetic structure observed among hydrological systems likely reflects the historical dispersion of mangroves, whereas the FSGS reflect contemporary processes such as seed dispersal restriction, habitat fragmentation, and local water flow regimes. A higher genetic diversity for dwarf than for fringe trees and differentiation between both physiognomic types at a fine-scale were observed and discussed. Full article

This is the first attempt at characterizing reading difculty in Hindi using naturall occurring sentences. We created the Potsdam-Allahabad Hindi Eyetracking Corpus by recording eye-movement data from 30 participants at the University of Allahabad. India. The target stimuli were 153 sentences selected from the beta version of the Hindi-Urdu treebank, We find that word- or low-level predictors (syllable length unigram and bigram frequency) affect first-pass reading times, regression path dura. tion, total reading time, and outgoing saccade length. An increase in syllable length results in longer fixations, and an increase in word unigram and bigram frequency leads to shorter fixations. Longer syllable length and higher frequency lead to longei outgoing saccades, We also find that two predictors of sentence comprehension difi culty, integration and storage cost, have an effect on reading dificulty. Integration cost (Gibson, 2000) was approximated by calculating the distance (in words) between a dependent and head; and storage cost (Gibson, 2000), which measures dificulty of maintaining predictions, was estimated by counting the number of predicted heads at each point in the sentence. We find that integration cost mainly affects outgoing saccade length, and storage cost aflects total reading times and outgoing saccade length, Thus, word-level predictors have an efect in both early and late measures of reading time, while predictors of sentence comprehension dificulty tend to affect later measures. This is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration using eye-tracking that both integration and storage cost infuence reading dificulty. Full article

Approximately 22,700 Canadian women were expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012. Despite improvements in screening and adjuvant treatment options, a substantial number of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor positive (hr+) breast cancer will continue to develop metastatic disease during or after adjuvant endocrine therapy. Guidance on the selection of endocrine therapy for patients with hr+ disease that is negative for the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (her2–) and that has relapsed or progressed on earlier nonsteroidal aromatase inhibitor (nsai) therapy is of increasing clinical importance. Exemestane, fulvestrant, and tamoxifen are approved therapeutic options in this context. Four phase iii trials involving 2876 patients—efect, sofea, confirm, and bolero-2—have assessed the efficacy of various treatment options in this clinical setting. Data from those trials suggest that standard-dose fulvestrant (250 mg monthly) and exemestane are of comparable efficacy, that doubling the dose of fulvestrant from 250 mg to 500 mg monthly results in a 15% reduction in the risk of progression, and that adding everolimus to exemestane (compared with exemestane alone) results in a 57% reduction in the risk of progression, albeit with increased toxicity. Multiple treatment options are now available to women with hr+ her2– advanced breast cancer recurring or progressing on earlier nsai therapy, although current clinical trial data suggest more robust clinical efficacy with everolimus plus exemestane. Consideration should be given to the patient’s age, functional status, and comorbidities during selection of an endocrine therapy, and use of a proactive everolimus safety management strategy is encouraged. Full article