The Study on Fractal Characteristics of Television Audience Ratings Based on R/S Analysis Method

According to the nonlinear distribution of Television Audience ratings data, a fractal dimension study on average daily television audience ratings of three TV stations based on R/S analysis method. Results show that the Hurst index of time series is significantly greater than 0.5 and there is a trend of long-term memory; All the time series is significantly different in the non-periodic cycles length and offer explanation from the perspective of three Television stations’ characteristics of development. This method can help television managers realize the viewing situation, master the change rule and help advertisers make a scientific decision

BETWEEN FOOD SECURITY AND PROFITABILITY: A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS OF THE AGRICULTURAL WATER CRISIS IN CHINA

Why has the agricultural water system in China been slipping towards a crisis, despite its economy growing leaps and bounds in the past four decades (1978-2016)? This dissertation investigates the institutions of agricultural water use and various actors involved in the water system at national, local and community levels. It situates the crisis in the context of the country’s neoliberal shift in the post-reform period and argues that the agricultural water system has caught between a structural dilemma between profitability and food security. Guided by the relational-comparative method and layered analysis, the author collected rich archival, statistical and ethnographic data and conducted two county case studies: one county is located in Hunan Province and the other in Inner Mongolia. After analyzing water policy, water problems, changing patterns of water use and grain production, and the incentives and actions of local officials, farmers and agribusiness companies, the dissertation reaches three conclusions: First, the agricultural water crisis in China has its roots in the capitalist logic of profit maximization. In the post-reform period, state and non-state actors tend to allocate human, material and financial resources to sectors and activities that would generate greater economic returns, while neglecting the long-term sustainability of the agricultural water system. Second, although the concern over food security increased government funding in agricultural water, it has also facilitated the geographical movement of grain production from South to North, which exacerbates the mismatch between water resources and grain production. Finally, capitalist transformation and social differentiation in the countryside have undermined the capability of rural communities to take collective actions to solve water problems. Although the newly emerged large farms are able to invest more resources in agricultural water, their behavior is also based on profitability rather than the health of the agricultural water system. Additionally, the differentiation of the rural society has made the distribution of water resources increasingly unequal, favoring agribusiness and large farms over farming households

Dynamics and Impacts of Human-Algorithm Consensus in Logistics Scheduling: Evidence from A Field Experiment

Algorithms are being implemented to aid human decision-making and most studies on human-algorithm interactions focus on how to improve human-algorithm cooperation. However, excessive reliance on algorithms in decision-making may hinder the complementary value of humans and algorithms. There is a lack of empirical evidence on the impacts of human-algorithm consensus in collaborative decision-making. To address this gap, this paper reports a large-scale field experiment conducted by one of China\u27s largest logistics firms in the context of route scheduling. The experiment involved assigning routes to either a treatment group, where algorithms and human operators collaborated in decision-making, or a control group, where human operators made decisions independently. We plan to collect data to evaluate the effects of algorithm implementation and to analyze the patterns and effects of human-algorithm consensus in a long-term cooperation. Our study aims to contribute to the literature on human-algorithm interactions in operational decisions

Nondestructive Evaluation of Inoculation Effects of AMF and <em>Bradyrhizobium japonicum</em> on Soybean under Drought Stress From Reflectance Spectroscopy

Precise estimation of leaf chlorophyll content (LCC) and leaf water content (LWC) of soybean, using remote sensing technology, provides a new avenue for the nondestructive evaluation of inoculation effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Bradyrhizobium japonicum (BJ) on soybean growth condition. In this study, a series of pot experiments were conducted in the greenhouse, soybean inoculated with Glomus intraradices (G.i, one of AMF species), G.i and BJ, and non-inoculation were planted under drought stress (DS) and normal irrigation (NI) conditions. Leaf spectra and LCC and LWC were measured on the 28th and 56th days after inoculation. Two new simple ratio (SR) indices, derived from the first derivative spectral reflectance at λ1 nm (Dλ1) and the raw spectral reflectance at λ2 nm (Rλ2), were developed to estimate LCC and LWC. The results indicate that under DS, plants inoculated with G.i had higher LCC and LWC than the non-inoculated plants, followed by the counterparts co-inoculated with G.i and BJ. Linear estimation models, established by the D650/Rred edge and D1680/R680, achieved great improved accuracy for quantifying LCC and LWC of soybean under inoculation and drought stress treatments, with determination of coefficient of 0.63 and 0.76, respectively

Exploring the curriculum development in content and language integrated learning: A systematic review

Content and language integrated learning (CLIL) is a booming innovation pervading many educational settings. The global spread of CLIL is being practiced in classrooms the world over. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of systematic curricula for CLIL, despite its widespread adoption. Furthermore, the majority of teachers are implementing CLIL without the support of suitable published materials or resource banks. To explore and explain the curriculum development in CLIL, 281 studies from 2009 to 2019 were reviewed systematically, focusing on peer-reviewed English-language journals. We identified studies through using 'Content and Language Integrated Learning' and CLIL as the search terms in the ProQuest Research Library and EBSCOhost databases. Selected articles were organized into five inquiry areas and analyzed thematically, inspired by the curriculum development model proposed by Pawlas and Oliva: 1) CLIL philosophy; 2) CLIL goals; 3) CLIL plan; 4) CLIL implementation; and 5) CLIL evaluation. Based on these themes, Boyer's scholarship of integration was introduced to propose a holistic model for CLIL curriculum development

Functional variant of the carboxypeptidase M (CPM) gene may affect silica-related pneumoconiosis susceptibility by its expression: a multistage case-control study.

ObjectivesIn a genome-wide association study, we discovered chromosome 12q15 (defined as rs73329476) as a silica-related pneumoconiosis susceptibility region. However, the causal variants in this region have not yet been reported.MethodsWe systematically screened eight potentially functional single-neucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in the genes near rs73329476 (carboxypeptidase M (CPM) and cleavage and polyadenylation specific factor 6 (CPSF6)) in a case-control study including 177 cases with silicosis and 204 healthy controls, matched to cases with years of silica dust exposure. We evaluated the associations between these eight SNPs and the development of silicosis. Luciferase reporter gene assays were performed to test the effects of selected SNP on the activity of CPM in the promoter. In addition, a two-stage case-control study was performed to investigate the expression differences of the two genes in peripheral blood leucocytes from a total of 64 cases with silicosis and 64 healthy controls with similar years of silica dust exposure as the cases.ResultsWe found a strong association between the mutant rs12812500 G allele and the susceptibility of silicosis (OR=1.45, 95% CI 1.03 to 2.04, p=0.034), while luciferase reporter gene assays indicated that the mutant G allele of rs12812500 is strongly associated with increased luciferase levels compared with the wild-type C allele (p&lt;0.01). Moreover, the mRNA (peripheral blood leucocytes) expression of the CPM gene was significantly higher in subjects with silicosis compared with healthy controls.ConclusionsThe rs12812500 variant of the CPM gene may increase silicosis susceptibility by affecting the expression of CPM, which may contribute to silicosis susceptibility with biological plausibility

Feeding response of the tropical copepod Acartia erythraea to short-term thermal stress: more animal-derived food was consumed

The objective of this study was to explore the feeding response of tropical copepods to short-term thermal shock and provide insight into the potential impact of coastal power plants on the trophic dynamics of tropical coastal ecosystems. Feeding experiments were conducted at three different temperatures (29 °C, 33 °C, and 35 °C) using the copepod Acartia erythraea, collected from Sanya Bay, China. The grazing rate of A. erythraea decreased dramatically in the high temperature treatment. Analysis of 18S rDNA clone libraries revealed that the diet of copepods from different treatments was mainly comprised of diatoms, metazoans, and protozoans; A. erythraea exhibited an obvious feeding preference shift with temperature, with a change from a diatom-dominated diet at 29 °C to a metazoan-dominated diet at 35 °C, and the omnivory index shifted from 0.1 to 2.84 correspondingly. Furthermore, A. erythraea showed a positive feeding response to plant food (i.e., phytoplankton and land plants) in the control treatment (29 °C), but a positive response to animal prey (i.e., metazoans and protozoans) at temperatures exceeding 33 °C, as evaluated by the Ivlev’s selectivity index. Our results suggest that copepods could regulate their food intake by considering their energy demands when exposed to short-term thermal stress, which might influence the pathway of materials moving up the trophic system. However, further studies are required to elucidate the effects of elevated temperature on feeding of different organisms in order to predict the influence of thermal pollution on the food web of tropical coastal ecosystems

Genome-Wide Analysis of mRNAs and lncRNAs of Intramuscular Fat Related to Lipid Metabolism in Two Pig Breeds

Background/Aims: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can regulate adipogenesis and lipid accumulation. Intramuscular fat deposition appears to vary in different pig breeds, and the regulation mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated at molecular level. Moreover, little is known about the function and profile of lncRNAs in intramuscular fat deposition and metabolism in pig. The aim of this study was thus to explore the regulatory functions of lncRNAs in intramuscular fat deposition. Methods: In this study, Laiwu (LW) pig and Large White (LY) pig with significant difference in fat deposition were selected for use. RNA-seq technology and bioinformatics methods were used to comparatively analyze the gene expression profiles of intramuscular fat between LW and LY pigs to identify key mRNAs and lncRNAs associated with lipid metabolism and adipogenesis. Real-time fluorescence-based quantitative PCR was applied to verify the expression level of the differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs. Results: A total of 513 mRNAs and 55 lncRNAs were differentially expressed between two pig breeds. By co-expression network construction as well as cis- and trans-regulated target gene analysis, 31 key lncRNAs were identified. Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway analyses revealed that differentially expressed genes and lncRNAs were mainly involved in the biological processes and pathways related to adipogenesis and lipid metabolism. Conclusion: XLOC_046142, XLOC_004398 and XLOC_015408 may target MAPKAPK2, NR1D2 and AKR1C4, respectively, and play critical regulatory roles in intramuscular adipogenesis and lipid accumulation in pig. XLOC_064871 and XLOC_011001 may play a role in lipid metabolism-related disease via regulating TRIB3 and BRCA1. This study provides a valuable resource for lncRNA study and improves our understanding of the biological roles of lipid metabolism- related genes and molecular mechanism of intramuscular fat metabolism and deposition