Sustainable Cotton Production through Increased Competitiveness: Analysis of Comparative Advantage and Influencing Factors of Cotton Production in Xinjiang, China

Cotton production makes an important contribution to the income of rural residents and the economy in Xinjiang province, which leads other provinces in terms of planted area, total production, and average yield of cotton in China. This study analyzed the competitiveness of cotton production in the study area using the efficiency advantage index (EAI), scale advantage index (SAI), and aggregated advantage index (AAI). Moreover, the factors influencing the productivity of cotton have been investigated by the use of ridge regression and correlation matrix using a dataset for the period 2005 to 2018. The results showed that cotton production had a large comparative advantage in Xinjiang from 2005 to 2018. The average of efficiency advantage index (EAI), scale advantage index (SAI), and aggregated advantage index (AAI) are 1.50, 12.96, and 4.35, respectively. Overall, Xinjiang cotton production has a higher planting scale advantage and productivity. By using ridge regression to calculate the impact of cotton production on agricultural output value in Xinjiang, the results showed that total cotton production, fiscal expenditure on agricultural support, total agricultural machinery power, and fertilizer use had significant positive effects, whereas cotton sown area, average cotton yield, and the proportion of affected area by insects and diseases had negative impact agricultural output value. The study implies the need for a implementing a well-thought and empirically backed plan to support cotton production based on comparative advantage for a specific area, building a cotton production standard system, reducing the cost of cotton production, and building a cotton risk-protection system to protect the interests of cotton farmers and promote the sustainable development of the cotton industry

How to Quickly Cast off Poverty in Poverty-stricken Mountainous Areas Relying on the "Whole Village Advancement" Model?

We carry out a field survey on the implementation of the "Whole Village Advancement" poverty alleviation model in Lisizhuang Village, Shunping County, Hebei Province. Based on the "Whole Village Advancement" poverty alleviation model, we put forth the following recommendations: (i) Oriented by the market, fostering the function of "blood-refreshing"; (ii) Strengthening the new ideas of using projects to attract investment; (iii) Implementing the new strategy of "driven by the able person"; (iv) Improving the farmers' quality; (v) Adhering to the diversification of financing channels

Can Market-Oriented Reform of Agricultural Subsidies Promote the Growth of Agricultural Green Total Factor Productivity? Empirical Evidence from Maize in China

Green agriculture is the future of agricultural development. However, there has been little attention paid to the relationship between market-oriented reform of agricultural subsidies and green agricultural development. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of China’s maize purchasing and storage policy reform (MPSR), this paper studied the impact of agricultural subsidy market-oriented reform on agricultural green development from the perspective of green total factor productivity using the difference-in-difference model. The results showed that the green total factor productivity (MGTFP) of maize in China from 2010 to 2020 presented an upward trend with an average annual growth rate of 0.70%, which mainly depended on the contribution of green technical progress in maize. MPSR could promote the improvement of MGTFP, but the result had a hysteresis effect. In addition, MPSR had a significant promoting effect on green technical change but had no significant impact on green technical efficiency. The policy implication of this paper is that developing countries should actively promote the market-oriented reform of agricultural subsidies to promote green agricultural development

Identification markers of goat milk adulterated with bovine milk based on proteomics and metabolomics

This study investigated the differences in proteins and metabolites from goat and bovine milk, and their mixtures, using data-independent-acquisition-based proteomics and metabolomics methods. In the skim milk, relative abundances of secretoglobin family 1D member (SCGB1D), polymeric immunoglobulin receptor, and glycosylation-dependent cell adhesion molecule 1 were increased, with an increase in the amount of 1–100 % bovine milk and served as markers at the 1 % adulteration level. In whey samples, β-lactoglobulin and α-2-HS-glycoprotein could be used to detect adulteration at the 0.1 % adulteration level, and SCGB1D and zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein at the 1 % level. The metabolites of uric acid and N-formylkynurenine could be used to detect bovine milk at adulteration levels as low as 1 % based on variable importance at a projection value of > 1.0 and P-value of < 0.05. Our findings suggest novel markers of SCGB1D, uric acid, and N-formylkynurenine that can help to facilitate assessments of goat milk authenticity

Systematic review of the effects of iodised salt and iodine supplements on prenatal and postnatal growth : study protocol

CITATION: Farebrother, J., et al. 2015. Systematic review of the effects of iodised salt and iodine supplements on prenatal and postnatal growth : study protocol. BMJ Open, 5:e007238, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007238.The original publication is available at http://bmjopen.bmj.comIntroduction: Iodine is an essential micronutrient and component of the thyroid hormones. Sufficient ingestion of iodine is necessary for normal growth and development. If iodine requirements are not met, growth can be impaired. Salt iodisation and supplementation with iodine can prevent iodine deficiency disorders and stunted growth. No systematic review has yet collated the evidence linking iodine to growth. With an increased emphasis on stunting within the WHO Global Nutrition Targets for 2025, we propose a systematic review to address this question. Methods and analysis: We will undertake a systematic review, and if appropriate, meta-analyses, evaluating the effects of iodised salt or iodine supplements on prenatal and postnatal somatic growth, until age 18. We will search a number of databases, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsychINFO, the Cochrane Library, including the CENTRAL register of Controlled Trials and also the WHO library and ICTRP (International Clinical Trials Registry Platform), which includes the Clinicaltrials.gov repository. We will also search Wanfang Data and the China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database. Included studies must have compared exposure to iodised salt, iodine supplements or iodised oil, to placebo, non-iodised salt or no intervention. Primary outcomes will be continuous and categorical markers of prenatal and postnatal somatic growth. Secondary outcomes will cover further measures of growth, including growth rates and indirect markers of growth such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Ethics and dissemination: The systematic review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal, and will be sent directly to the WHO, United Nations Children's Fund, International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders and other stakeholders. The results generated from this systematic review will provide evidence to support future programme recommendations regarding iodine fortification or supplementation and child growth.http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e007238Publisher's versio

Effects of Iodized Salt and Iodine Supplements on Prenatal and Postnatal Growth: A Systematic Review

Hypothyroidism due to iodine deficiency can impair physical development, most visibly in the marked stunting of myxedematous cretinism caused by severe in utero iodine deficiency. Whether iodine repletion improves growth in noncretinous children is uncertain. Therefore, the aim of our systematic review was to assess the effects of iodine fortification or supplementation on prenatal and postnatal growth outcomes in noncretinous children. Following Cochrane methods and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) reporting guidelines, we searched 10 databases including 2 Chinese databases (latest search February 2017). We included randomized and nonrandomized controlled trials (RCTs; non-RCTs), controlled before-after (CBA) studies, and interrupted time-series studies in pregnant women and children (≤18 y), which compared the effects of iodine (any form, dose, regimen) to placebo, noniodized salt, or no intervention on prenatal and postnatal growth outcomes. We calculated mean differences with 95% CIs, performed random-effects meta-analyses, and assessed the quality of evidence with the use of GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation). We included 18 studies (13 RCTs, 4 non-RCTs, 1 CBA) (n=5729). Iodine supplementation of severely iodine-deficient pregnant women increased mean birthweight [mean difference (MD): 200 g; 95% CI: 183, 217 g; n=635; 2 non-RCTs] compared to controls, but the quality of this evidence was assessed as very low. Iodine repletion across the other groups showed no effects on primary growth outcomes (quality of evidence mostly low and very low). Meta-analyses showed a positive effect in moderate-to-mildly iodine-deficient schoolchildren on insulin-like growth factor-1 (MD: 38.48 ng/mL; 95% CI: 6.19, 70.76 ng/mL; n=498; 2 RCTs, low-quality evidence) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (MD: 0.46 μg/mL; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.66 μg/mL; n=498; 2 RCTs, low-quality evidence). In conclusion, we identified few well-designed trials examining the effects of iodine repletion on growth. We are uncertain whether prenatal iodine repletion increases infant growth. Postnatal iodine repletion may improve growth factors but has no clear effects on somatic growth. Our systematic review was registered with PROSPERO as CRD42014012940

Terahertz reading of ferroelectric domain wall dielectric switching

“This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in [ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces], copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsami.1c00523Ferroelectric domain walls (DWs) are important nano scale interfaces between two domains. It is widely accepted that ferroelectric domain walls work idly at terahertz (THz) frequencies, consequently discouraging efforts to engineer the domain walls to create new applications that utilise THz radiation. However, the present work clearly demonstrates the activity of domain walls at THz frequencies in a lead free Aurivillius phase ferroelectric ceramic, Ca0.99Rb0.005Ce0.005Bi2Nb2O9, examined using THz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). The dynamics of domain walls are different at kHz and THz frequencies. At low frequencies, domain walls work as a group to increase dielectric permittivity. At THz frequencies, the defective nature of domain walls serves to lower the overall dielectric permittivity. This is evidenced by higher dielectric permittivity in the THz band after poling, reflecting decreased domain wall density. An elastic vibrational model has also been used to verify that a single frustrated dipole in a domain wall represents a weaker contribution to the permittivity than its counterpart within a domain. The work represents a fundamental breakthrough in understanding dielectric contributions of domain walls at THz frequencies. It also demonstrates that THz probing can be used to read domain wall dielectric switching