Farmland holdings, crop planting structure and input usage

This study, based on the data of China's agricultural census of 1997, focuses on the land distribution among rural households and its effects on crop production structure and employment of labor and capital. The Census data show that the size of holdings surprisingly differs among households, and land rental activities has started to play an important role in land allocation. Grain production accounts for 80% of total sown area for each household group, indicating that self-sufficiency in grains production is still an important factor to farmers. Family members are a dominant source for China's agricultural labor force, regardless of the size of land held in each household. Machinery use in crop production is still not popular, while the scale of land held by households has an impact on the use of machinery in crop production. Moreover, the small land holdings of agriculture may lower labor productivity, even though there are more non-agricultural employment activities among these small scale households.Agriculture China Statistics. ,Crops and soil Management. ,Land tenure. ,Rural population. ,China ,TMD ,

Multi-fidelity Emulator for Cosmological Large Scale 21 cm Lightcone Images: a Few-shot Transfer Learning Approach with GAN

Large-scale numerical simulations ($\gtrsim 500\rm{Mpc}$) of cosmic reionization are required to match the large survey volume of the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA). We present a multi-fidelity emulation technique for generating large-scale lightcone images of cosmic reionization. We first train generative adversarial networks (GAN) on small-scale simulations and transfer that knowledge to large-scale simulations with hundreds of training images. Our method achieves high accuracy in generating lightcone images, as measured by various statistics with mostly percentage errors. This approach saves computational resources by 90% compared to conventional training methods. Our technique enables efficient and accurate emulation of large-scale images of the Universe.Comment: Accepted at the ICML 2023 Workshop on Machine Learning for Astrophysic

Can Diffusion Model Conditionally Generate Astrophysical Images?

Generative adversarial networks (GANs) are frequently utilized in astronomy to construct an emulator of numerical simulations. Nevertheless, training GANs can prove to be a precarious task, as they are prone to instability and often lead to mode collapse problems. Conversely, the diffusion model also has the ability to generate high-quality data without adversarial training. It has shown superiority over GANs with regard to several natural image datasets. In this study, we undertake a quantitative comparison between the denoising diffusion probabilistic model (DDPM) and StyleGAN2 (one of the most robust types of GANs) via a set of robust summary statistics from scattering transform. In particular, we utilize both models to generate the images of 21 cm brightness temperature mapping, as a case study, conditionally based on astrophysical parameters that govern the process of cosmic reionization. Using our new Fr\'echet Scattering Distance (FSD) as the evaluation metric to quantitatively compare the sample distribution between generative models and simulations, we demonstrate that DDPM outperforms StyleGAN2 on varied sizes of training sets. Through Fisher forecasts, we demonstrate that on our datasets, StyleGAN2 exhibits mode collapses in varied ways, while DDPM yields a more robust generation. We also explore the role of classifier-free guidance in DDPM and show the preference for a non-zero guidance scale only when the training data is limited. Our findings indicate that the diffusion model presents a promising alternative to GANs in the generation of accurate images. These images can subsequently provide reliable parameter constraints, particularly in the realm of astrophysics.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Comments welcom

N′-(2-Bromo-5-hy­droxy-4-meth­oxy­benzyl­idene)-3,5-dihy­droxy­benzo­hydrazide methanol monosolvate

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C15H13BrN2O5·CH3OH, the methanol solvent mol­ecule links symmetry-related mol­ecules through O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. Further inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link symmetry-related mol­ecules, leading to the formation of a three-dimensional network. Two of the H atoms involved in hydrogen bonding are disordered. The dihedral angle between the rings is 5.64 (14)°

In vitro micro-propagation of Longiflorum-Asiatic (LA) hybrids lily (Lilium) cultivar ‘eyeliner’

Bulblets propagation by tissue culture was one of the key techniques in the production of lily (Lilium) bulbs. Therefore, in vitro micro propagation of lily bulblets was studied in detail in this paper. L A hybrids lily cultivar ‘eyeliner’ was selected as the materials. By using the method of orthogonal design, the following were concluded from the research: the optimum treatment and disinfection methods of ‘eyeliner’ bulb scales was soaking in 1:500 carbendazim solution for 30 min, disinfection in 75% alcohol for 10 to 60 s, disinfection in 2% NaClO solution for 15 min; the optimum medium for bud induction of ‘eyeliner’ was MS + 0.5 mg·L-1 6-benzyl aminopurine (6-BA) + 0.1 mg·L-1 naphlene acetic acid (NAA) + 90 g·L-1 sucrose, and 25°C and in darkness; the optimum medium for bulblets induction of ‘eyeliner’ was 2MS + 1.0 mg·L-1 6-BA + 0.5 mg·L-1 NAA + sucrose 90 g·L-1 + Paclobutrazol (PP333) 2 mg·L-1; the optimum culture condition for bulblets induction of ‘eyeliner’ was 20°C, 14 h·day-1 lightness + 10 h·day-1 darkness. The optimum medium for rooting culture of ‘eyeliner’ was ½ MS + 0.8 mg·L-1 NAA + 3 g·L-1 activated charcoal, 20°C, 14 h·day-1 lightness + 10 h·day-1 darkness.Keywords: Lily bulb, orthogonal experiment, in vitro micro propagatio

Shape invariance approach to exact solutions of the Klein-Gordon equation

Using the shape invariance property we obtain exact solutions of the (1+1)dimensional Klein-Gordon equation for certain types of scalar and vector potentials. We also discuss the possibility of obtaining real energy spectrum with non-Hermitian interaction within this framework

(E)-N′-(2-Chloro­benzyl­idene)-3,5-di­hydroxy­benzohydrazide dihydrate

In the Schiff base mol­ecule of the title compound, C14H11ClN2O3·2H2O, the benzene rings form a dihedral angle of 20.6 (1)°. The water molecules of crystallization are involved in the formation of a three-dimensional hydrogen-bonding network via O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Knockdown of Notch1 inhibits nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell growth and metastasis via downregulation of CCL2, CXCL16, and uPA

Notch pathway is a highly conserved cell signaling system that plays very important roles in controlling multiple cell differentiation processes during embryonic and adult life. Multiple lines of evidence support the oncogenic role of Notch signaling in several human solid cancers; however, the pleiotropic effects and molecular mechanisms of Notch signaling inhibition on nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated Notch1 expression in NPC cell lines (CNE1, CNE2, SUNE1, HONE1, and HK1) by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis, and we found that CNE1 and CNE2 cells expressed a higher level of Notch1 compared with HONE1, SUNE1, and HK1 cells. Then Notch1 expression was specifically knocked down in CNE1 and CNE2 cells by Notch1 short hairpin RNA (shRNA). In Notch1 knockdown cells, cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were significantly inhibited. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition of tumor cells was reversed in Notch1-shRNA-transfected cells, accompanied by epithelioid-like morphology changes, increased protein levels of E-cadherin, and decreased expression of vimentin. In addition, knockdown of Notch1 markedly inhibited the expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor uPAR, and chemokines C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 16, indicating that these factors are downstream targets of Notch1. Furthermore, deleting uPA expression had similar effects as Notch1. Finally, knockdown of Notch1 significantly diminished CNE1 cell growth in a murine model concomitant with inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis. These results suggest that Notch1 may become a novel therapeutic target for the clinical treatment of NPC.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151248/1/mc23082_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151248/2/mc23082.pd