Enzyme activities and glyphosate biodegradation in a riparian soil affected by simulated saltwater incursion

Soil salinization due to saltwater incursion, is a major threat to biochemical activities and thus strongly alters biogeochemical processes in a freshwater riparian of coastal estuary region. A pot incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of simulated saltwater incursion on some key enzymatic activities and biodegradation dynamics of herbicide glyphosate in a riparian soil in Chongming Island located in the Yangtze River estuary, China. The results showed that saltwater addition with 10% artificial seawater significantly increased the biodegradation efficiency of glyphosate with the lowest residual concentration among all the treatments. However, glyphosate degradation was markedly decreased in the riparian soil with high levels of saltwater treatment. As compared with no saltwater treatment, the half-lives for 20% and 50% seawater treatments were prolonged by 4.9% and 21.1%, respectively. Throughout the incubation period, saltwater addition with 10% seawater stimulated the enzymatic activities in the glyphosate-spiked riparian soil, as compared to the treatment with 0% seawater. Flourescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis rate, dehydrogenase activity (DHA), catalase activity, and alkaline phosphatase activity in the glyphosate-spiked riparian soil treated with 10% seawater were 68.5%, 49.2%, 38.7%, and 28.6% higher than those for no saltwater treatment, respectively. The effect of 20% seawater treatment on the glyphosate-spiked riparian soil enzymatic activities fluctuated between promotion and inhibition depending on the type of enzymes. Soil enzymatic activities were severely depressed by increasing salinity level with 50% seawater treatment significantly inhibited, relative to no saltwater treatment. Especially, FDA hydrolysis rate and DHA were decreased by 73.8% and 64.8%, respectively, as compared to no saltwater treatment. Glyphosate degradation percentages were strongly positively correlated to the FDA hydrolysis rate and DHA, indicating that as compared to the other enzymes, the two enzymes contributed more to the herbicide biodegradation in the salt-affected riparian soil

Large Margin Object Tracking with Circulant Feature Maps

Structured output support vector machine (SVM) based tracking algorithms have shown favorable performance recently. Nonetheless, the time-consuming candidate sampling and complex optimization limit their real-time applications. In this paper, we propose a novel large margin object tracking method which absorbs the strong discriminative ability from structured output SVM and speeds up by the correlation filter algorithm significantly. Secondly, a multimodal target detection technique is proposed to improve the target localization precision and prevent model drift introduced by similar objects or background noise. Thirdly, we exploit the feedback from high-confidence tracking results to avoid the model corruption problem. We implement two versions of the proposed tracker with the representations from both conventional hand-crafted and deep convolution neural networks (CNNs) based features to validate the strong compatibility of the algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed tracker performs superiorly against several state-of-the-art algorithms on the challenging benchmark sequences while runs at speed in excess of 80 frames per second. The source code and experimental results will be made publicly available

Enlazando evaluación y aprendizaje: análisis diagnóstico cognitivo de una prueba de español a gran escala

There is still relatively little research on cognitive diagnostic analysis of large-scale, high-stakes language tests to assess the individualized strengths and weaknesses of every learner, and even less on the accuracy and applicability of the feedback information in post-hoc learning. Using both cognitive diagnostic results of 1.933 test takers of a national Spanish test and qualitative data from their bachelor thesis drafts, the precision of the diagnostic feedbacks was examined to verify its usefulness for better literature review and discussion. The results showed that this method has an appropriate model fit with the test performance, and is able to determine specific skill profile of each test taker, which is not always consistent with the scores provided by classical test analysis. By triangulating the diagnostic reports and the literature review and discussion of the learners’ thesis drafts, it is clear that the cognitive diagnostic approach in a large-scale test can assess the reading skills more accurately and the feedbacks are valuable for remedying the future academic reading and thesis revision.En el contexto de las pruebas a gran escala, previos estudios han destacado la importancia de la Evaluación Diagnóstica Cognitiva con el propósito de proveer las fortalezas y debilidades de cada alumno. Sin embargo, son escasos los estudios cuyo objetivo es verificar la precisión de los resultados y la viabilidad de enlazarlos con el futuro aprendizaje y enseñanza. Se ha empleado diagnosis cognitiva con el Modelo Generalizado de Entrada Determinista, Ruido y Puerta para analizar el puntaje de 1933 participantes en una prueba nacional de español (EEE). Se han analizado los datos cualitativos de la revisión de literatura en sus borradores de trabajo de grado para corroborar la exactitud de los resultados diagnósticos y su uso para mejorar la lectura académica. Los resultados indican que el modelo se ajusta a la prueba y permite determinar el perfil cognitivo de cada participante, lo que no siempre es viable en los análisis tradicionales de la prueba.

Bridging assessment and learning: a cognitive diagnostic analysis of a large-scale Spanish proficiency test

The literature has highlighted the importance of Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment (CDA) of large-scale, high-stakes language tests to assess the individualized strengths and weaknesses of every learner. However, there are relatively few studies on the accuracy and applicability of feedback information in follow-up teaching and learning practices. Using both the diagnostic results of 1933 test takers derived from the Generalized Deterministic Inputs, Noisy and Gate (G-DINA) model of a national Spanish test (EEE) and qualitative data from the test takers’ literature reviews in their bachelor thesis drafts, the precision of the diagnostic feedback was examined to verify its usefulness for the improvement of academic reading. The results showed that the G-DINA model had an appropriate model fit to the test performance data, and that the CDA is able to identify the specific skill profiles of each test taker, which were not always consistent with the scores provided by classical test analysis. The triangulation of the diagnostic reports and the literature reviews from the learners’ thesis drafts, clearly showed that CDA used for a large-scale test can assess reading skills accurately and the feedback is valuable for improving the future academic reading and thesis revisionEn el contexto de las pruebas a gran escala, previos estudios han destacado la importancia de la Evaluación Diagnóstica Cognitiva con el propósito de proveer las fortalezas y debilidades de cada alumno. Sin embargo, son escasos los estudios cuyo objetivo es verificar la precisión de los resultados y la viabilidad de enlazarlos con el futuro aprendizaje y enseñanza. Se ha empleado diagnosis cognitiva con el Modelo Generalizado de Entrada Determinista, Ruido y Puerta para analizar el puntaje de 1933 participantes en una prueba nacional de español (EEE). Se han analizado los datos cualitativos de la revisión de literatura en sus borradores de trabajo de grado para corroborar la exactitud de los resultados diagnósticos y su uso para mejorar la lectura académica. Los resultados indican que el modelo se ajusta a la prueba y permite determinar el perfil cognitivo de cada participante, lo que no siempre es viable en los análisis tradicionales de la prueba. La triangulación y análisis de los informes diagnósticos y las revisiones de literatura en los trabajos del grado, ha puesto de manifiesto que la diagnosis cognitiva permite una evaluación más precisa de las habilidades de lectura de los estudiantes y que la información obtenida puede ser de gran utilidad para futuras lecturas académicas y revisión de tesis

Airworthiness Management of Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) In the Situation of Opening Low-Altitude Airspace

AbstractGeneral aviation industry plays a decisive role in the national economy, “Gradually open up the low-altitude airspace” policy has in fact started providing space for the growth of general aviation, especially for the need of Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). This paper Summary LSA management experience of the United States, through the analysis of management situation of China, gave the LSA operation airworthiness management proposals in the situation of opening low-altitude airspace