38 research outputs found
Rural Access Index: A global study
The Rural Access Index (RAI), one of the UN Sustainable Development Goal
indicators (SDG 9.1.1), represents the proportion of the rural population
residing within 2 km of all-season roads. It reflects the accessibility of
rural residents to transportation services and could provide guidance for the
improvement of road infrastructure. The primary deficiencies in assessing the
RAI include the limited studying area, its incomplete meaning and the absence
of correlation analysis with other influencing factors. To address these
issues, this study proposes the "Not-served Rural Population (NSRP)" as a
complementary indicator to RAI. Utilizing multi-source open data, we analysed
the spatial patterns of RAI and NSRP indicators for 203 countries and then
explored the correlation between these 2 indicators and other 10 relevant
factors. The main findings are as follows: 1) North America, Europe, and
Oceania exhibit relatively high RAI values (>80%) and low NSRP values (<1
million). In contrast, African regions have relatively low RAI values (<40%)
and high NSRP values (>5 million). There is a negative correlation between RAI
and NSRP. 2) There is spatial autocorrelation and significant imbalances in the
distribution of these two indicators. 3) The RAI exhibit a positive correlation
with the factors showing levels of the development of countries such as GDP,
education, indicating that improving the road infrastructure could reduce the
poverty rates and enhance access to education. And in contrast with RAI, NSRP
exhibit the completely negative correlations with these factors
The impact of mineral compositions on hydrate morphology evolution and phase transition hysteresis in natural clayey silts
The authors are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China, China [51991365]; China Geological Survey Project, China [DD20211350]; Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research, China [2020B0301030003]; Key Program of Marine Economy Development (Six Marine Industries) of Special Foundation of Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province, China [2021]56.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Rhododendron fortunei: structural comparative and phylogenetic analysis in the Ericaceae family
Rhododendron fortunei (Ericaceae) possesses valuable horticultural and medicinal values. However, the genomic information on R. fortunei is very limited. In
this study, the complete chloroplast genome (cp) of R. fortunei was assembled
and annotated, SSR loci were characterised, comparative genomic analysis was
carried out, and phylogenetic research was also performed. The results showed
that the R. fortunei cp genome was of a typical quadripartite structure (200,997
bp). The lengths of the large single copy region (LSC), the inverted repeat regions (IR), and the small single copy region (SSC) were 109,151 bp, 2,604 bp, and
44,619 bp, respectively. A total of 147 unique genes were identified, including 99
protein-coding genes, 42 tRNA genes, and 6 rRNA genes, respectively. Leucine
(11.51%) and cysteine (1.15%) were the highest and lowest representative amino
acids, respectively. The total of 30 codons with obvious codon usage bias were
all A/U-ending codons. Among the 77 simple sequence repeats, the majority
were mononucleotide A/T repeats located in the intergenic spacer region. Five
gene regions showed high levels of nucleotide diversity (Pi > 0.03). The comparative genome analysis revealed 7 hotspot intergenic regions (trnI-rpoB, trnTrpl16, rpoA-psbJ, rps7-rrn16, ndhI-rps16, rps16-rps19, and rrn16-trnI), showing great potential as molecular makers for species authentication. Expansion and contraction were detected in the IR region of the R. fortunei cp genome. In the phylogenetic tree, R. fortunei was closely related to R. platypodum. This research will be beneficial for evolutionary and genetic diversity studies of R. fortunei and related species among the Ericaceae family
Optimization of Clostridium tyrobutyricum encapsulation by extrusion method and characterization of the formulation
Purpose: To optimize the process parameters for the encapsulation of Clostridium tyrobutyricum (Ct) and to determine its in vitro characteristics.Methods: The process parameters, including the concentration of the wall and hardening material, Ct to gelatin ratio and hardening time, were studied by single factor analysis, while optimization was performed by orthogonal experimental design for the encapsulation rate of Ct.Results: Optimal conditions exhibited by orthogonal experimental design at a 92.17 % encapsulation rate with a viable count of 9.61 ± 0.06 lgCFU/g were: 6 % modified starch, 3 % sodium alginate, and 2 % CaCl2 at a Ct to gelatin ratio of 1:1 with a hardening time of 30 min. The survival rates of encapsulated Ct were higher than free Ct in simulated gastric (6.22 %) and intestinal juices (15.55 %). Reduction in viable counts of Ct at 90 °C were higher for free cells (44.76 %) than encapsulated cells (28.09 %) after 30 min of heat treatment. Correspondingly, encapsulation boosted the capacity of Ct to withstand the strong acidic conditions of the stomach and improved the storage properties of Ct.Conclusion: The results suggested that extrusion is a good technique for the encapsulation of Ct, as it enhances the viability of Ct during their transit through the gastrointestinal tract. Furthermore, encapsulation is favorable for Ct if planned for use in formulations where high temperature treatment is required
Advance on the Application of Magnetic Field-assisted Freezing Technology in Food
Freezing is one of the most common and effective method of preserving food. However, the formation of large ice crystals during traditional freezing process will destroy food tissues and lead to quality deterioration. Therefore, how to improve the quality of frozen food by new freezing technology has become a research hotspot. Magnetic field-assisted freezing is a novel method for controlling ice crystal nucleation. The mechanism of magnetic field-regulated ice crystal nucleation and its applications in the fields of fruits and vegetables, livestock and poultry meat, cereals and other food products are reviewed in the present paper. According to the review results, although magnetic field freezing technology has been applied in many food fields, the current research mainly focuses on the effect of magnetic field on frozen food quality and freezing parameters, while there are few consensus on the mechanism of magnetic field-assisted freezing to regulate ice crystal nucleation. Therefore, more systematic research is required to reveal the mechanism of magnetic field-assisted freezing and promote the application of magnetic field-assisted freezing technology in the food field, to promote the quality of frozen food
Enhancing Robustness of Surface Electromyography Pattern Recognition at Different Arm Positions for Transhumeral Amputees Using Deep Adversarial Inception Domain Adaptation
Pattern recognition in myoelectric control that relies on the myoelectric activity associated with arm motions is an effective control method applied to myoelectric prostheses. Individuals with transhumeral amputation face significant challenges in effectively controlling their prosthetics, as muscle activation varies with changes in arm positions, leading to a notable decrease in the accuracy of motion pattern recognition and consequently resulting in a high rejection rate of prosthetic devices. Therefore, to achieve high accuracy and arm position stability in upper-arm motion recognition, we propose a Deep Adversarial Inception Domain Adaptation (DAIDA) based on the Inception feature module to enhance the generalization ability of the model. Surface electromyography (sEMG) signals were collected from 10 healthy subjects and two transhumeral amputees while performing hand, wrist, and elbow motions at three arm positions. The recognition performance of different feature modules was compared, and ultimately, accurate recognition of upper-arm motions was achieved using the Inception C module with a recognition accuracy of 90.70% ± 9.27%. Subsequently, validation was performed using data from different arm positions as source and target domains, and the results showed that compared to the direct use of a convolutional neural network (CNN), the recognition accuracy on untrained arm positions increased by 75.71% (p < 0.05), with a recognition accuracy of 91.25% ± 6.59%. Similarly, in testing scenarios involving multiple arm positions, there was a significant improvement in recognition accuracy, with recognition accuracy exceeding 90% for both healthy subjects and transhumeral amputees
Chitosan Oligosaccharide Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Intestinal Barrier Dysfunction through Suppressing the Inflammatory Response and Oxidative Stress in Mice
This study was conducted to investigate the protective effect of chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced intestinal injury. The results demonstrated that COS improved the mucosal morphology of the jejunum and colon in LPS-challenged mice. COS alleviated the LPS-induced down-regulation of tight junction protein expressions and reduction of goblet cells number and mucin expression. The mRNA expressions of anti-microbial peptides secreted by the intestinal cells were also up-regulated by COS. Additionally, COS decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine production and neutrophil recruitment in the jejunum and colon of LPS-treated mice. COS ameliorated intestinal oxidative stress through up-regulating the mRNA expressions of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 and downstream antioxidant enzymes genes. Correlation analysis indicated that the beneficial effects of COS on intestinal barrier function were associated with its anti-inflammatory activities and antioxidant capacity. Our study provides evidence for the application of COS to the prevention of intestinal barrier dysfunction caused by the stress of a LPS challenge