Search Results (147)

The goal of this study was to build an understanding of the quality of Idesia polycarpa fruit Maxim from different ecotypes and to identify the best cultivars, with a view to providing a reference and theoretical basis for the selection and cultivation of I. polycarpa. In this study, we systematically evaluated the fruit quality characteristics of five seed sources, namely SH, SG1, GG, HX, and SG2, at four developmental stages, M1-M4, through a principal component analysis, a correlation analysis, and a significance test. Comparisons between the ecotype yielded that GG was significantly better than the other ecotype in oil content (28.7%) and fresh weight per cluster (155.56 g), while HX exhibited higher SOD content (278.18 U/g) and soluble protein content (27.50 mg·g⁻¹), suggesting a higher level of stress tolerance. The results of the correlation analysis showed that POD was significantly negatively correlated with oil content (r = −0.633) and SOD (r = −0.617) activities, indicating that the antioxidant enzyme system may affect oil accumulation. The results of the principal component analysis showed that the cumulative contribution of the first four principal components reached 89.72%, of which principal component 1 mainly reflected yield-related traits, and principal component 2 was significantly correlated with oil content and soluble protein. Through the evaluation and screening of the five ecotypes, we determined that GG can be utilized as a good single plant in the selection and improvement of new cultivars; our findings can provide theoretical support for the selection of good cultivars of I. polycarpa seed in the central region of Henan. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGS) are essential for residents’ well-being, environmental quality, and social cohesion. However, previous studies have typically employed undifferentiated analytical frameworks, overlooking UGS types and failing to adequately measure the structural disparities of different UGS types within residents’ walking distance. To address this, this study integrates Gaussian Two-Step Floating Catchment Area models, Simpson’s index, and the Gini coefficient to construct an accessibility–diversity–equality assessment framework for UGS. This study conducted an analysis of accessibility, diversity, and equity for various types of UGSs under pedestrian conditions, using the high-density city of Shenzhen, China as a case study. Results reveal high inequality in accessibility to most UGS types within 15 min to 30 min walking range, except residential green spaces, which show moderate-high inequality (Gini coefficient: 0.4–0.6). Encouragingly, UGS diversity performs well, with over 80% of residents able to access three or more UGS types within walking distance. These findings highlight the heterogeneous UGS supply and provide actionable insights for optimizing green space allocation to support healthy urban development. Full article

Due to rising temperatures, energy use, and thermal discomfort, urban heat islands (UHIs) pose a serious environmental threat to urban sustainability. This systematic review synthesizes peer-reviewed literature on various forms of green infrastructure and their mechanisms for mitigating UHI effects, and the function of urban green spaces (UGSs) in reducing the impact of UHI. In connection with urban parks, green roofs, street trees, vertical greenery systems, and community gardens, important mechanisms, including shade, evapotranspiration, albedo change, and ventilation, are investigated. This study emphasizes how well these strategies work to lower city temperatures, enhance air quality, and encourage thermal comfort. For instance, the findings show that green areas, including parks, green roofs, and street trees, can lower air and surface temperatures by as much as 5 °C. However, the efficiency of cooling varies depending on plant density and spatial distribution. While green roofs and vertical greenery systems offer localized cooling in high-density urban settings, urban forests and green corridors offer thermal benefits on a larger scale. To maximize their cooling capacity and improve urban resilience to climate change, the assessment emphasizes the necessity of integrating UGS solutions into urban planning. To improve the implementation and efficacy of green spaces, future research should concentrate on policy frameworks and cutting-edge technology such as remote sensing. Full article

Urban forests have a definition that has developed over time. Initially defined as urban greenery or as a measure of human impacts from urbanisation on forest systems, urban forests have varying definitions and are more often referred to for urban greenery. This urban greenery and measures of outcomes in sustainability terms are in urban landscapes and surroundings. With more specific definitions according to forest system definitions the complexity, multiple functions and advanced outcomes and functions of urban forest systems compared to other urban green space (UGS) types is more clearly understood. This article, using a literature review, discusses the definition of urban forests influencing how their impacts are measured, expected, and optimised. With clarified definitions, urban forest quality is considered in the literature review by search terms and topics of selected articles. Examples of selected indicators of the quality of urban forests and then of software and metrics used to plan and design urban greenery are presented. Refined wilding as a concept for urban functional biodiversity is then compared and used as a conceptual frame to analyse findings and prove the relevance and contribution of knowledge of the concept itself. Indicators of measures are provided, and they lead to a suggestion for clearer defining of urban forests. The findings can influence planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of urban forests as a higher-quality UGS type with multiple functions. Urban forests require improved defining of the value, quality, and coverage of their UGS type to be optimised. Refined wilding can give conceptual guidance for understanding the multiple and advanced functions that urban forest biodiversity provides for urban landscapes and populations. Urban tree canopy and urban forest systems in an urban landscape, as compared to other UGSs that connect to forested areas, either urban or peri-urban, are important differentiating definitional factors. Different metrics encourage a measure of this difference. The human realities of an urban landscape and population will determine whether and how a forest system can exist in a suburban landscape and are influential as to whether an urban tree canopy compared to a multifunctional diverse stratified semi-natural system of wild native and non-native varieties is established and can be maintained. The importance of maintaining newly established and existing urban forests and trees is a significant factor. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGSs), including parks, forests, and community gardens, play a critical role in enhancing public health and well-being by providing essential ecosystem services such as improving air quality, reducing surface temperatures, and mitigating harmful substances. As urbanization accelerates, especially in rapidly growing cities like Jinan, China, the demand for UGSs is intensifying, necessitating careful urban planning to balance development and environmental protection. While previous studies have often focused on city-level green coverage, this study shifts the analytical focus from UGS as a whole to urban functional units (UFUs), allowing for a more detailed examination of how green space is distributed across different land use types. We investigate UGS changes in Jinan over the past two decades and assess the influence of socio-economic factors—such as housing prices, land use types, and building age—on UGS distribution within UFUs. Remote sensing technology was employed to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of UGS and its correlation with these variables. Our findings reveal a significant shift in UGS distribution, with parks and leisure areas becoming primary drivers of UGS expansion. This study also highlights the growing influence of economic factors, particularly housing prices, on UGS distribution in more affluent UFUs. Additionally, while UGS in Jinan has generally expanded, challenges remain in balancing green space with urban expansion, especially in commercial and residential UFUs. This paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of UGS distribution by integrating the UFU framework and identifying socio-economic drivers—including housing prices, construction age, and land use type—that shape green space patterns in Jinan. Our findings demonstrate that the spatial pattern of UGS in Jinan mirrors socio-economic and land use disparities observed in other global cities, highlighting both the universality of these patterns and the need for targeted planning in rapidly urbanizing contexts. Full article

Blind Interference Alignment (BIA) and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) offer the potential for massive connectivity but face limitations. Our recently proposed Sparsecode-and-BIA-based Multiple Access (SBMA) scheme synergizes their strengths, promising enhanced performance. SBMA leverages flexible user grouping (UG) strategies to effectively manage its unique combination of sparse code constraints and interference alignment requirements, thereby facilitating the fulfillment of diverse Quality of Service (QoS) demands. However, realizing SBMA’s full potential requires efficient joint resource allocation (RA), user scheduling (US), and user grouping (UG). The inherent coupling of these factors within the SBMA framework complicates this task significantly, rendering RA/US solutions designed purely for SCMA or BIA insufficient. This paper addresses this critical open issue. We first formulate the joint RA, US, and UG problems specifically for SBMA systems as an integer optimization task, aiming to maximize the number of users meeting QoS requirements. To tackle this NP-hard problem, we propose an effective algorithm based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), featuring a carefully designed update function tailored specifically for the joint US and UG decisions required in SBMA. Comprehensive simulations demonstrate show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms the random-based scheme. Under certain conditions, it serves approximately 280% more users who meet their QoS requirements in high-SNR scenarios. Full article

Soy isolate protein (SPI), as a high-quality plant protein source, is often processed into various soy products. In this study, the physicochemical properties of SPI treated with transglutaminase (TGase) were investigated in correlation with emulsification characteristics and rheological behavior. The polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS-PAGE) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and endogenous fluorescence spectrum analysis results showed that TGase was able to promote the covalent binding of lysine and glutamine residues in SPI. The moderate pre-crosslinking treatment of TGase (5–7.5 U/g TGase pre-crosslinked for 2 h or 5 U/g TGase pre-crosslinked for 2–3 h) improved the emulsification and gel properties to varying degrees: the nanoparticle and emulsification performance increased by 24.35% and the storage modulus of the gel increased by 288%. Furthermore, the surface charge of SPI increased due to the crosslinking impact of TGase, indicating a considerable rise in the surface electrostatic potential. Simultaneously, the protein surface exhibited a substantial increase in hydrophobicity, while the level of free sulfhydryl groups reduced. These changes indicate that TGase enzymatic crosslinking could significantly improve the structural stability of nanoparticles by enhancing the generation efficiency of covalent bonds between protein molecules. Full article

Urban landscapes are capable of responsive urban development that optimises the quality of Urban Green Space (UGS) for advanced function as a matter of efficient and convenient knowledge management. As a theory for positive outcomes for urban landscapes substantiated by refined wilding, functional urban biodiversity can optimise the use of cross-disciplinary knowledge sets, leading to more efficient design and policy for UGS that accommodates human health and the natural-environment in urban landscapes. This optimisation is complementary to the smart cities concept, offering convenience, efficiency, and quality of life, and can ensure that sustainable urban development advances with smart cities. The smart cities concept has, over the last decades, developed to integrate sustainability and UGS. This article suggests and finds that refined wilding could provide conceptual guidance for smart cities, as a concept, component model, and planning process, and for smart city devices and technologies, with functional biodiversity as an aim and positive outcome for different UGS types, including residential gardens, which are at an individual level of initiative, responsibility, and choice, and public UGSs which are more likely to be top–down-designed and -implemented. Using a literature review and conceptually framed analysis, functional biodiversity in UGS is found to positively contribute to the smart cities concept by encouraging the efficient use of advanced knowledge sets from various disciplines for the topic of UGS. This article finds that refined wilding supports and furthers ideas like the importance of the quality of UGS as compared to the quantity, the advantages of high-quality and advanced-function UGS as compared to the disadvantages of less functional UGS, and how wild-refined UGS furthers or complements and supports more advanced ideas for UGS. The recommendations for future directions give further examples of advances in refined wilding for sustainable smart cities. The focus on the quality of UGS and advanced function brings refined wilding for functional biodiversity to smart cities with efficiency and convenience in urban development and sustainability terms. Full article

A thorough understanding of the consequences of urbanization can be significantly advanced by examining urban environmental dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolutions. This study evaluates eco-environmental quality and investigates the underlying drivers of urban greening within the functional units of Haikou, a tropical coastal city located on Hainan Island, China, using advanced techniques from Landsat and Google Earth imagery. Ecological index and land use change analyses were conducted using Landsat 5 (TM) imagery for 2010 and Landsat 8 (OLI) imagery for 2020. In addition, Google Earth imagery was used to interpret the driving factors influencing urban functional units (UFUs) in 2010 and 2020. Spatial and temporal environmental changes were quantitatively assessed. Multi-spectral Landsat 8 data at a 30 m resolution were used to construct a remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) to assess Haikou’s ecological condition. Land use impacts on eco-environmental quality were evaluated through RSEI values from 2010 to 2020, showing that eco-environmental quality improved over time, revealing a gradual improvement over time. Land use across 190 UFUs from 2010 to 2020 was categorized into five types: trees and shrubs, herbs, built-up areas, sandy lands, and water bodies. The primary drivers of greening percentage in each UFU were identified as housing prices, maintenance duration, and construction age. The most significant changes in land cover type were observed in the herb areas. Similarly, maintenance duration emerged as the most influential factor driving changes in urban green space (UGS). In conclusion, this study offers valuable insights for future urban planning and improvements in eco-environmental quality in Haikou, Hainan Island, China. Full article

Current marine mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) products predominantly involve low-value-added processing, while high-value-added products like fish floss remain underdeveloped. This study utilized mackerel dorsal muscle treated with flavor protease (FP), papain (PP), and neutral protease (NP) (10 U/g, 30 min), followed by steaming and stir-frying. Combined with sensory evaluation, HS-GC-IMS, and automatic amino acid analysis, the characteristic flavor was evaluated by multi-omics. The results showed that FP and NP significantly enhanced odor by reducing fishy compounds (e.g., hexanal) and increasing pyrazines/furans. PP enhanced taste by elevating umami and sweet amino acids (26.68% and 25.98%, respectively). Correlation analysis revealed the following potential pathways: Val and Leu served as precursors for furan, suppressing 2-methyl-3-(methylthio)furan formation, while Asp, Tyr, Phe, Gly, Cys, and Ile promoted 2,5-dimethylpyrazine and 2-methyl-3-(methylthio)furan generation while inhibiting furan. This study demonstrates that minimal protease addition effectively optimizes dried mackerel floss flavor, providing a novel approach for high-quality marine product development. Full article

In rapidly urbanizing areas, there is a notable aggregation of vitality in high-density urban environments, accompanied by an increasing discrepancy between the supply and demand of urban green space (UGS). This study presented an integrated framework comprising a model for UGS supply-demand coupling coordination and a measure of urban vitality. Using downtown Beijing as a case study, the Gini coefficient assessed UGS supply-demand disparities across different vitality types. The study examined how UGS supply and demand factors interact with urban vitality, revealing the impact of UGS supply-demand imbalances on various dimensions of vitality and the UGS mismatches experienced by different vitality groups. The study showed that: (1) 63.29% of central Beijing’s areas had low UGS supply-demand coordination, with 39.23% experiencing UGS mismatches; (2) UGS supply and demand were significantly correlated with urban vitality spatial distribution; (3) these factors significantly impacted urban comprehensive vitality; (4) and there were notable UGS distribution disparities among vitality groups, with economic vitality group perceiving the greatest inequity (Gini = 0.311), followed by social vitality (Gini = 0.289) and cultural vitality group (Gini = 0.247). These findings offer valuable insights for a more refined assessment and enhancement of UGS, aiming to achieve balanced, high-quality, and sustainable urban development. Full article

The metabolic activity of fermentative microorganisms plays a critical role in determining the flavor profile of fermented meat products. Modulating carbon and nitrogen sources represents a promising strategy for enhancing product quality. In this study, Debaryomyces hansenii strains isolated from dry-cured ham were assessed in a sterile sausage model to evaluate the effects of different carbon sources (sucrose, corn starch) and nitrogen sources (leucine, soy protein isolate) on colony growth, enzyme activity, and physicochemical properties. These nutritional factors significantly affected the fermentation performance of D. hansenii. Corn starch and soy protein isolate increased colony count by 14.94% and 90%, respectively, and enhanced protease activity by 2-fold and 4.5-fold. Both treatments maintained high lipase activity (>50 U/g). Both supplements improved the water-holding capacity and decreased the water activity. Carbon sources reduced the medium pH, whereas nitrogen sources contributed to the maintenance of pH stability. A further analysis indicated that corn starch promoted the accumulation of aldehydes and ketones, which intensified the sourness and suppressed the saltiness. In contrast, soy protein isolate increased the abundance of free amino acids associated with umami and sweetness, and stimulated the formation of esters, ketones, and pyrazines, thereby enhancing flavor richness and umami intensity. Both ingredients also reduced saturated fatty acid levels and increased the unsaturated to saturated fatty acid ratio. Soy protein isolate exhibited a more pronounced effect on D. hansenii fermentation. This study provides a technical reference for enhancing the flavor characteristics of fermented meat products via the adjustment of carbon and nitrogen sources to regulate D. hansenii fermentation. Full article

With the progression of global urbanization, UGS greenery plays an increasingly important role in encouraging engagement in various health-related activities among sedentary residents, and its quality improvement is widely recognized as a promising strategy for achieving public health benefits. However, existing studies have not reached an agreement on the associations between UGS greenery and engagement in health-related activities, largely due to limited dimensions of greenery measurement and insufficient evidence on health-related activities. To address these gaps, this study proposes a holistic analytical framework that integrates multi-dimensional greenery measurements (measured by the NDVI, GVI, and LVV metrics) with systematic observations of engagement in physical activity and social interaction across the general population, children, and seniors, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of their varied associations. Conducting empirical research in the Xuanwu Lake Scenic Area, the results showed that (1) UGS greenery had stronger explanatory power for activity participant numbers than activity intensity across age groups; (2) top–down greenery (NDVI) was positively associated with engagement in health-related activities (although not statistically significant), while excessive eye-level (GVI) and spatial greenery (LVV) demonstrated negative effects; (3) UGS greenery alone did not sufficiently predict children’s engagement in health-related activities; and (4) greenery conditions in adjacent UGS samples also significantly impacted local health-related activities. These findings suggest that UGS greenery measured from a single dimension may not reliably predict engagement in health-related activities across age groups, thereby calling for balanced and context-sensitive greenery design in future UGS planning to support inclusive public health. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGS) play a crucial role in enhancing the quality of life in urban environments by offering a wide range of ecological, psychological, socio–cultural, and economic benefits. This research addresses the multidimensional impact of functional characteristics of UGS on user satisfaction in Novi Sad, focusing on the various ways in which these spaces contribute to well-being. By integrating multiple perspectives, including ecological benefits like stress reduction, social and cultural aspects such as fostering community connections, and economic factors like enhancing property values, this study presents a holistic analysis of UGS. Through a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys and regression analysis, the research explores how different UGS functions interact to shape users’ perceptions. The findings highlight the importance of socio–cultural and ecological functions in improving the urban experience, providing key insights for urban planning that aims to create sustainable, inclusive, and resilient green spaces. This study emphasises the significance of considering these diverse dimensions in the development and management of urban green spaces for long-term sustainability and user satisfaction. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGSs) are critical for landscape, ecological, and climate studies. However, the generation of long-term annual UGSs maps is often constrained by the lack of sufficient, high-quality training samples for training classifiers. In this study, we introduce an automatic training sample migration method based on visually interpreted reference data and long-term Landsat imagery, implemented on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, to produce annual UGSs maps for Tianjin from 1984 to 2022. Migrating training samples to each year significantly improved classification performance, especially for UGSs and water bodies. UGSs coverage in sample areas increased from 5% to 38%, resulting in more reliable trend detection. Our spatiotemporal analysis revealed that green coverage in the study area reached up to 40%, dominated by tree cover that is significantly underestimated in existing global and regional land cover products. Distinct temporal patterns emerged between the old built-up area (OBUA) and new built-up area (NBUA). Early UGS decline was largely driven by NBUAs, while post-2007 greening involved both OBUAs and NBUAs, as captured by classification maps and vegetation indices. Our study proposes a scalable and practical framework for long-term land cover mapping in rapidly urbanizing regions, with enhanced potential as higher-resolution data becomes increasingly accessible. Full article