Comparative Analysis of Rural Consumption Expenditure in China

The disparity of consumption expenditure among rural areas in China was studied. Then income and living expenditure of rural residents were divided into 5 grades. Principle and method of Cluster Analysis were introduced. Next, Cluster Analysis was adopted to research the disparity of rural consumption expenditure among various areas. Results showed that income and consumption expenditure of 31 districts, cities and provinces could be divided into 5 classes. Shanghai City was the only city rated as the first-class areas with highest income and consumption. 7 cities and provinces were rated as the top three classes of areas. Taking Hebei and Jilin Province as the representatives, most parts of the fourth-class areas were located in northeast part of China with poor cultivated land, which will lead to slow development of rural economy. The fifth-class areas represented by Chongqing City and Sichuan Province were constrained by natural factors with frequent disasters as well as underdevelopment of industry and agriculture, which could not play an improving role in rural development. On this basis, relevant policy countermeasures were put forward

Comparative Analysis of Rural Consumption Expenditure in China

The disparity of consumption expenditure among rural areas in China was studied. Then income and living expenditure of rural residents were divided into 5 grades. Principle and method of Cluster Analysis were introduced. Next, Cluster Analysis was adopted to research the disparity of rural consumption expenditure among various areas. Results showed that income and consumption expenditure of 31 districts, cities and provinces could be divided into 5 classes. Shanghai City was the only city rated as the first-class areas with highest income and consumption. 7 cities and provinces were rated as the top three classes of areas. Taking Hebei and Jilin Province as the representatives, most parts of the fourth-class areas were located in northeast part of China with poor cultivated land, which will lead to slow development of rural economy. The fifth-class areas represented by Chongqing City and Sichuan Province were constrained by natural factors with frequent disasters as well as underdevelopment of industry and agriculture, which could not play an improving role in rural development. On this basis, relevant policy countermeasures were put forward.Consumption expenditure, Engel coefficient, Cluster Analysis, China, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Financial Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Effects of Leaf Size and Defensive Traits on the Contribution of Soil Fauna to Litter Decomposition

International audienceLeaf litter quality has been acknowledged as a crucial determinant affecting litter decomposition on broad spatial scales. However, the extent of the contribution of soil fauna to litter decomposability remains largely uncertain. Nor are the effects of leaf size and defensive traits on soil fauna regulating litter decomposability clear when compared to economics traits. Here, we performed a meta-analysis of 81 published articles on litterbag experiments to quantitatively evaluate the response ratio of soil fauna to litter decomposition at the global level. Our results revealed that soil fauna significantly affected litter mass loss across diverse climates, ecosystems, soil types, litter species, and decomposition stages. We observed significantly positive correlations between the response ratio of soil fauna and leaf length, width, and area, whereas the concentrations of cellulose, hemicellulose, total phenols, and condensed tannins were negatively correlated. Regarding economic traits, the response ratio of soil fauna showed no relationship with carbon and nitrogen concentrations but exhibited positive associations with phosphorus concentration and specific leaf area. The mean annual temperature and precipitation, and their interactions were identified as significant moderators of the effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition. We evidenced that the contribution of soil fauna to litter decomposability is expected to be crucial under climate change, and that trait trade-off strategies should be considered in modulating litter decomposition by soil fauna

Climate and litter traits affect the response of litter decomposition to soil fauna

International audienceObjectives Soil fauna plays a crucial role in contributing to litter breakdown, accelerating the decomposition rate and enhancing the biogeochemical cycle in terrestrial ecosystems. Comprehending the specific fauna role of functional species in litter decomposition is challenging due to their vast numbers and diversity. Climate and litter quality are widely acknowledged as dominant drives of litter decomposition across large spatial scales. However, the pattern of climate and litter quality modulates the effect of soil fauna on litter decomposition remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, we conducted an extensive analysis using data from 81 studies to investigate how climate and litter traits affects soil fauna in the decomposition. Data description The paper describes fauna body size, climate zones (tropical, subtropical and temperate), ecosystem types (forest, grassland, wetland and farmland), soil types (sand, loam and clay), decomposed duration ( 360 days), litter initial traits, average annual temperature and precipitation. The litter traits encompass various parameters such as concentrations of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, lignin, cellulose, total phenol, condensed tannin, hydrolysable tannin and other nutrient traits. These comprehensive datasets provide valuable insights into the role of soil fauna on the decomposition at global scale. Furthermore, the data will give researchers keys to assess how climate, litter quality and soil fauna interact to determine decomposition rates

Experimental Investigation on the Detection of Multiple Surface Cracks Using Vibrothermography with a Low-Power Piezoceramic Actuator

Vibrothermography often employs a high-power actuator to generate heat on a specimen to reveal damage, however, the high-power actuator brings inconvenience to the application and possibly introduces additional damage to the inspected objects. This study uses a low-power piezoceramic transducer as the actuator of vibrothermography and explores its ability to detect multiple surface cracks in a metal part. Experiments were conducted on a thin aluminum beam with three cracks in different orientations. Detailed analyses of both thermograms and temperature data are presented to validate the proposed vibrothermography method. To further investigate the performance of the proposed vibrothermography method, we experimentally studied the effects of several critical factors, including the amplitude of excitation signal, specimen constraints, relative position between the transducer and cracks (the transducer is mounted on the same or the opposite side with the cracks). The results demonstrate that all cracks can be detected conveniently and simultaneously by using the proposed low-power vibrothermography. We also found that the magnitude of excitation signal and the specimen constraints have a great influence on detection results. Combined with effective data processing methods, such as Fourier transformation employed in this study, the proposed method provides a promising potential to detect multiple cracks on a metal surface in a safe and effective manner

Protective Role of Antioxidant Huskless Barley Extracts on TNF-α-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction in Human Vascular Endothelial Cells

Oxidative stress and inflammation are considered as two key factors that contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. This study was to investigate the antioxidant capacity of huskless barley and to explore its protective functions through the regulation of the antioxidant defense and inflammatory response in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) scavenging capacity of water and alkali extracts of the polysaccharides from nine huskless barley varieties were investigated in vitro. The antioxidant properties of the alkaline extracts were more pronounced than those of the water extracts. The results from the cell model showed that pretreatment of HUVEC with the water or alkaline extracts of the polysaccharides from the huskless barley cultivars QHH and NLGL decreased the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) but increased the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and maintained cell viability. Huskless barley polysaccharide extracts exhibited the vasodilatory effect of inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) production. These discoveries revealed the potent protective functions of barley in oxidative damage and a potential role for barley in preventing chronic inflammation in cardiovascular diseases

Effects of Ticagrelor versus Clopidogrel in Patients with Coronary Bifurcation Lesions Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background. Percutaneous treatment of coronary bifurcation lesions can potentially lead to higher risk of ischemic events than the nonbifurcation ones, thus calling for further optimization of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT). This study aimed to compare the clinical outcomes from ticagrelor and clopidogrel in bifurcation lesions patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods. We performed a retrospective cohort study in patients with coronary bifurcation lesions. A total of 553 patients discharged on ticagrelor or clopidogrel combined with aspirin were recruited for 1-year follow-up. The incidences of primary endpoint (major adverse cardiovascular event [MACE]: a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction [MI] or stroke), secondary endpoints (the individual component of the primary endpoint or definite/probable stent thrombosis), and major bleeding (Bleeding Academic Research Consortium [BARC]≥3 bleeding events) were evaluated. To minimize the selection bias, a propensity score-matched population analysis was also conducted. Results. The risks of both primary endpoint (8.15% and 12.01% for the ticagrelor and clopidogrel groups, respectively; adjusted hazards ratio [HR]: 0.488, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.277-0.861, P=0.013) and MI (4.44% and 8.48% for the ticagrelor and clopidogrel groups, respectively; adjusted HR: 0.341, 95% CI: 0.162-0.719, P=0.005) were significantly reduced in the ticagrelor group as compared with those of the clopidogrel counterpart, whereas the risk of major bleeding was comparable (2.96% and 2.47% for the ticagrelor and clopidogrel groups, respectively; adjusted HR: 0.972, 95% CI: 0.321-2.941, P=0.960). Propensity score-matched analysis confirmed such findings. Conclusions. For patients with bifurcation lesions after PCI, ticagrelor treatment shows lower MACE and MI rates than the clopidogrel one, along with comparable major bleeding

Multifaceted leaf litter traits shape soil fauna communities: Evidence from subtropical monocultural plantations

International audienceThe important role of litter traits in shaping soil fauna communities has been increasingly acknowledged. It remains uncertain how fauna community features are associated with multiple litter traits, especially over the long term. With equal-aged monocultural plantations of 20 species in a subtropical climate in Hunan, China, we tested whether fauna communities were different after 40 years due to the landuse and choice of tree species, and the extent to which such disparity can be explained by litter traits. For each plantation plus a natural forest plot, we inventoried fauna in three layers (fresh litter, fragmentation and humus), measured fresh litter traits (leaf economics, size and shape and defenses), litter quantity and soil characteristics (soil properties, root and microbial biomass). Compared with natural forests, most plantations had similar fauna diversity indexes, but markedly lower density (-53.84%). Both density and diversity indexes generally increased from litter layers to humus: 0.89–1.71 for density, 32.45–38.03 for richness, 2.46–3.01 for Shannon-Wiener index, 0.82–0.92 for Gini-Simpson index and 0.74–0.84 for Pielou's evenness, respectively. Significant correlations between soil fauna indicators and litter traits were almost absent for litter layers, but were frequently observed in the humus layer. In the humus layer, soil fauna density was associated with traits related to economics (e.g., specific leaf area and dry matter content), defenses (e.g., phenol concentration) and metal element concentrations, but not with any size and shape traits, whereas soil fauna diversity could be associated with all the above trait categories. Both the leaf economics spectrum and size and shape spectrum could be significantly associated with the fauna indicators of the humus layer. Soil fauna indicators were more closely associated with litter traits than litter quantity and soil characteristics. This study reveals a link between soil fauna communities and litter traits at both individual traits and overall spectrum levels. The results emphasize the significance of segregating litter and soil layers in soil fauna studies, and the essential role of natural forests in preserving soil biodiversity