Spatiotemporal Variation and Future Predictions of Soil Salinization in the Werigan–Kuqa River Delta Oasis of China

Soil salinization is a serious global issue; by 2050, without intervention, 50% of the cultivated land area will be affected by salinization. Therefore, estimating and predicting future soil salinity is crucial for preventing soil salinization and investigating potential arable land resources. In this study, several machine learning methods (random forest (RF), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM), Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT), and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost)) were used to estimate the soil salinity in the Werigan–Kuqa River Delta Oasis region of China from 2001 to 2021. The cellular automata (CA)–Markov model was used to predict soil salinity types from 2020 to 2050. The LightGBM method exhibited the highest accuracy, and the overall prediction accuracy of the methods had the following order: LightGBM > RF > GBRT > XGBoost. Moderately saline, severely saline, and saline soils were dominant in the east and south of the research area, while non-saline and mildly saline soils were widely distributed in the inner oasis area. A marked decreasing trend in the soil salt content was observed from 2001 to 2021, with a decreasing rate of 4.28 g/kg·10 a−1. The primary change included the conversion of mildly and severely saline soil types to non-saline soil. The generalized difference vegetation index (51%), Bio (30%), and temperature vegetation drought index (27%) had the greatest influence, followed by variables associated with soil attributes (soil organic carbon and soil organic carbon stock) and terrain (topographic wetness index, slope, aspect, curvature, and topographic relief index). Overall, the CA–Markov simulation resulted exhibited suitable accuracy (kappa = 0.6736). Furthermore, areas with non-saline and mildly saline soils will increase while areas with other salinity levels will continue to decrease from 2020 to 2050. From 2046 to 2050, numerous areas with saline soil will be converted to non-saline soil. These results can provide support for salinization control, agricultural production, and soil investigations in the future. The gradual decline in soil salinization in the research area in the past 20 years may have resulted from large-scale land reclamation, which has turned saline alkali land into arable land and is also related to effective measures taken by the local government to control salinization

Estimating Fractional Vegetation Cover of Row Crops from High Spatial Resolution Image

With high spatial resolution remote sensing images being increasingly used in precision agriculture, more details of the row structure of row crops are captured in the corresponding images. This phenomenon is a challenge for the estimation of the fractional vegetation cover (FVC) of row crops. Previous studies have found that there is an overestimation of FVC for the early growth stage of vegetation in the current algorithms. When the row crops are a form in the early stage of vegetation, their FVC may also have overestimation. Therefore, developing an algorithm to address this problem is necessary. This study used World-View 3 images as data sources and attempted to use the canopy reflectance model of row crops, coupling backward propagation neural networks (BPNNs) to estimate the FVC of row crops. Compared to the prevailing algorithms, i.e., empirical method, spectral mixture analysis, and continuous crop model coupling BPNNs, the results showed that the calculated accuracy of the canopy reflectance model of row crops coupling with BPNNs is the highest performing (RMSE = 0.0305). Moreover, when the structure is obvious, we found that the FVC of row crops was about 0.5–0.6, and the relationship between estimated FVC of row crops and NDVI presented a strong exponential relationship. The results reinforced the conclusion that the canopy reflectance model of row crops coupled with BPNNs is more suitable for estimating the FVC of row crops in high-resolution images

Experimental Study of Phlebitis Ointment Administration in Acute Superficial Thrombophlebitis

Acute superficial thrombophlebitis is a venous system disease. Animal models with mannitol induced phlebitis were treated with an orally administered “phlebitis ointment.” 24 rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups. The therapy group was treated with “phlebitis ointment” and a control group received “Mai Luo Shu Tong granules.” Levels of blood TNF-α, IL-6, CRP, and IL-1β were measured. The tissue expression levels of NF-КBp65 and PKC genes were evaluated. The therapy group showed a better improvement of the clinical status and similar vascular morphology than the control group. A blank group showed no vascular changes through pathological investigation. In contrast, significant vascular changes were seen in the model group. The control group showed slight vascular modifications. Small thrombi could be found in the lumen despite the intact tunica intima. Both control and therapy group showed less inflammatory cells infiltration than the model group and upregulation of NF-КBp65 and PKC genes. The phlebitis ointment reduced the levels of necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and interleukin-1ß. The expressions of NF-КBp65 and PKC genes, which are the primary mechanisms underlying the development of thrombophlebitis, were improved significantly in tissues of both therapy group and control group

Optimization of Spring Wheat Irrigation Schedule in Shallow Groundwater Area of Jiefangzha Region in Hetao Irrigation District

Due to the large spatial variation of groundwater depth, it is very difficult to determine suitable irrigation schedules for crops in shallow groundwater area. A zoning optimization method of irrigation schedule is proposed here, which can solve the problem of the connection between suitable irrigation schedules and different groundwater depths in shallow groundwater areas. The main results include: (1) Taking the annual mean groundwater depth 2.5 m as the dividing line, the shallow groundwater areas were categorized into two irrigation schedule zones. (2) On the principle of maximizing the yield, the optimized irrigation schedule for spring wheat in each zone was obtained. When the groundwater depth was greater than 2.5 m, two rounds of irrigation were chosen at the tillering–shooting stage and the shooting–heading stage with the irrigation quota at 300 mm. When the groundwater depth was less than 2.5 m, two rounds of irrigation were chosen at the tillering–shooting stage, and one round at the shooting–heading stage, with the irrigation quota at 240 mm. The main water-saving effect of the optimized irrigation schedule is that the yield, the soil water use rate, and the water use productivity increased, while the irrigation amount and the ineffective seepage decreased

Surgical Management of Haemophilic Pseudotumors: Experience in a Developing Country

Aim: Hemophilic pseudotumors result from repeated episodes of bleeding into bone, subperiosteum, and soft tissue. Since clotting factors became available, uncontrolled perioperative bleeding is a less significant problem for surgeons in developed countries. However, they are more difficult to come by in China. Additionally, patients often have to undergo surgery for giant masses and suffer complications. We wanted to present our experience in the surgical management of hemophilic pseudotumors over a 40-year period. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 429 hemorrhagic coagulopathy patients between 1983 and 2015. Diagnosis of hemophilic pseudotumor was confirmed following clinical, radiological, and pathological criteria. The data were recorded and analyzed: type and severity of hemophilia, presence of inhibitor, etiological antecedent, localization of pseudotumors, clinical signs, surgical management and outcomes. Results: Eighteen pseudotumor patients underwent surgical treatment. All of them were male, with mean age of 34.3 years. Fifteen patients had hemophilia A and three patients had hemophilia B. There were twelve proximal and two distal pseudotumor patients. The mean follow-up was 51.9 months. For pseudotumors in the extremities, complete surgical resection was achieved. For four patients with pelvic or abdominal pseudotumors, complete surgical resection was only achieved in two patients because of preventing potential vital organs injuries. Delayed healing of the incision, allergic reactions, and ureteral injury were the major complications. Conclusion: Surgery is an alternative method with safety and efficacy. Careful and individual treatment is required by the hematologist, orthopedic surgeon and other members of the team who collaborate and participate in hemophilic surgery

Improved Surface Soil Moisture Estimation Model in Semi-Arid Regions Using the Vegetation Red-Edge Band Sensitive to Plant Growth

Accurate description of surface soil moisture (SSM) in vegetation-covered areas is of great significance to water resource management and drought monitoring. To remove the effect of vegetation on SSM estimation, the vegetation index obtained from Sentinel-2 (S2) was applied for vegetation water content (VWC) estimation. The VWC model was substituted into the water cloud model (WCM), and thus, the SSM estimation model was developed based on the WCM. The methodology was tested at Daxing, Beijing, and Gu’an, Hebei, in which training and validation data of SSM were acquired by in situ measurements. The results can be described as follows: (1) For the vegetation-covered areas, the Modified Chlorophyll Absorption Ratio Index (MCARI) obtained from the B3, B4, and B5 bands of S2 was the most suitable for removing the influence of vegetation on SSM estimation; (2) Compared to Sentinel-1 (S1) vertical–horizontal (VH) polarization, vertical–vertical (VV) polarization was more suitable for SSM estimation and achieved higher accuracy; (3) The developed model could be used to estimate SSM under crop cover with high accuracy, which indicated the correlation coefficients (R2) between in situ measured and estimated SSM were 0.867, the root mean square error (RMSE) was 0.028 cm3/cm3, and the MAE was 0.023 cm3/cm3. Thus, this methodology has the potential for SSM estimation in vegetated areas