Changes in Stable Fraction of Soil Organic Carbon and Microbial Structure in Response of Grazing Intensity

Carbon sequestration is one of the most important ecological function of the grassland. Soils contain more carbon than in vegetation in the form of soil organic matter (SOM). But grassland soils are vulnerable to disturbances caused by human activities. Grazing may result in various disturbances to both soil and vegetation under different grazing intensities (Bai et al., 2012). Grazing led to the shifts in amount and composition of soil organic matter. In previous studies, the chemical methods were used to separate soil into the different pools according to the stability of SOM (Carvalho Leite et al., 2004), but they cannot be convictive for their chemical destruction upon the SOM structure. In this study, we use more credible fractionating method to separate stable part of the SOM based on the dry sieving and winnowing (Kirkby et al., 2011). Stable carbon fraction has two origins: microbial debris and recalcitrant plant materials (Lehmann et al., 2007). Evidences have showed that soil microbial community alters metabolic rates by changing its composition adjust to stoichiometry of substrates. We hypothesize that carbon content stable fraction SOM in the surface soils would decline as the intensity increasing, but the stoichiometry of carbon and nutrients (N and P) would remain constant. We also predict that the relative importance in carbon sequestration of microbial groups would change due to the soil environmental alteration. The objectives of the study is to evaluate the effects of grazing intensity (GI) on carbon in more stabilized SOM and on soil microbial community structure in steppe

Mechanism of online emotional support accompany group for stress: The role of social support

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of social support on stress, and to clarify the effect and mechanism of Online Emotional Support Accompany Group (OESAG).MethodsThe group members who signed up for the public welfare project “Psychological Rehabilitation Group Psychological Service under the COVID-19 Pandemic” were divided into the treatment group, the control group, and the blank group with 37 members each. The treatment group received OESAG intervention, the control group received online time management group intervention, and the blank group was the waiting group. The three groups of subjects were synchronously tested before and after the intervention group.ResultsAfter the OESAG intervention, compared with the control group and the blank group, the treatment group showed that perceived social support was improved, and loneliness and stress were decreased.ConclusionImproving social support can effectively reduce stress. OESAG can effectively improve social support and so too decrease stress. This study could help in designing effective psychological intervention measures to reduce the degree of stress symptoms and enhance both personal and social levels of coping with stressful events

Clinical Manifestations Associated with Neurocysticercosis: A Systematic Review

Neurocysticercosis is an infection of the brain with the flatworm Taenia solium which is normally transmitted between humans and pigs. Sometimes, humans can infect other humans and the larva of the parasite can go the brain, causing the disease neurocysticercosis. There has never been a systematic review of what clinical signs are found among people with neurocysticercosis. We conducted a thorough review of the literature to answer this question. We reviewed 1569 and 21 were of a sufficient quality to be included in the final analysis. Among neurocysticercosis patients who are seeking care in neurology clinics, about 79% have seizures/epilepsy, 38% severe headaches, 16% focal deficits and 12% signs of increased intracranial pressure. Several other symptoms were also reported in less than 10% of patients. People with neurocysticercosis who seek care in neurology clinics show a whole range of manifestations. Clinicians should be encouraged to consider neurocysticercosis in their differential diagnosis when a patient presented with one of the symptoms described in this review. This would ultimately improve the estimates of the frequency of symptoms associated with neurocysticercosis

Corporate social and environmental disclosure practices: evidence from China

Given the increased social and environmental problems in China, this thesis is to undertake a study of social and environmental disclosure practices of socially responsible Chinese listed firms. Conducted in three parts, this thesis first explores the current status of social and environment disclosure practices of the firms studied that sets the background to the other two core research questions. Secondly, this thesis empirically examines the relationship between corporate social and environmental disclosure and various influencing factors (i.e. stakeholders power and corporate characteristics). Thirdly, this thesis empirically examines the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting (i.e. publishing a CSR report and the quality of the CSR report) and socially responsible reputation of the firms studied. The sample of firms chosen for this study is drawn from a social responsibility ranking list of Chinese listed firms. A social and environmental disclosure index (SEDI) based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Guidelines (G3 version) is constructed to assess firms’ social and environmental disclosure in their annual reports and CSR reports. This index comprises three dimensions: the quantity measure, the quality measure relating to disclosure types, and the quality measure relating to GRI disclosure items. The quantity dimension of the index is approached by using content analysis to collect the data about the frequency of 121 GRI disclosure items from firms’ annual reports and CSR reports. The quality dimension relating to disclosure types is approached by conducting a questionnaire survey to collect the data about stakeholders’ perceptions on the preference of different disclosure types identified from the literature. The quality dimension relating to disclosure items is approached by conducting a stakeholder panel consultation to ascertain stakeholders’ perceptions on the relative importance of 121 GRI disclosure items. The model-testing method is then used with relevant statistical techniques to examine the relationship between stakeholder-relevant social and environmental disclosure (SEDI) and various influencing factors identified in this study. Similarly, an empirical model is also designed to examine the link between CSR reporting (publishing a CSR report and the quality of the CSR report) and firms’ socially responsible reputation

Stakeholders\u27 power, corporate characteristics, and social and environmental disclosure: evidence from China

This paper investigates the influences of stakeholders\u27 power and corporate characteristics on social and environmental disclosure practices of socially responsible Chinese listed firms identified by a social responsibility ranking list. A stakeholder-driven, three-dimensional social and environmental disclosure index including disclosure quantity, disclosure type quality and disclosure item quality, is constructed to assess sample firms\u27 social and environmental disclosures in their two public reports: annual reports and corporate social responsibility reports. Findings indicate that corporate social and environmental disclosures have significant and positive associations with firm size, profitability, and industry classification. The roles of various powerful stakeholders in influencing corporate social and environmental disclosures are found to be generally weak in China, except that shareholders have influenced corporate social and environmental disclosures and creditors have influenced corporate disclosures related to firms\u27 environmental performance

Social and environmental disclosure by Chinese firms

Given the increased social and environmental problems in China, this book looks into the social and environmental (environmental) disclosure practices of socially responsible Chinese listed firms by constructing a stakeholder-driven, three-dimensional, disclosure index. The book contains a three-part study: the first part explores the current status of social and environment disclosure practices. The second part empirically examines the relationship between corporate social and environmental disclosure and various influencing factors (i.e. stakeholders\u27 power and corporate characteristics). The third part empirically examines the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting (i.e. publishing a CSR report and the quality of the CSR report) and socially responsible reputation. The book finds that the CSR report provided more stakeholder-relevant social and environmental disclosure than the annual report. It also finds that corporate characteristics such as firm size, profitability and industry classification are all statistically significant factors influencing social and environmental disclosure of the Chinese firms studied. Shareholders significantly influenced firms\u27 social and environmental disclosure, and creditors significantly influenced firms\u27 disclosure related to their environmental performance. The final part of the study reports that publishing a CSR report and CSR reporting quality had a positive influence on firms\u27 socially responsible reputation and that the CEO/chairman duality negatively influenced firms\u27 socially responsible reputation. The book also highlights that financial performance and firm size were the two corporate characteristics that had a positive influence on corporate socially responsible reputation. This book will be of interest to those who are keen to learn more about corporate social responsibilities in the context of Chinese firms

Time Delay Optimization of Compressing Shipborne Vision Sensor Video Based on Deep Learning

As the technology for offshore wireless transmission and collaborative innovation in unmanned ships continues to mature, research has been gradually carried out in various countries on methods of compressing and transmitting perceptual video while driving ships remotely. High Efficiency Video Coding (H.265/HEVC) has played an extremely important role in the field of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and autopilot, and as one of the most advanced coding schemes, its performance in compressing visual sensor video is excellent. According to the characteristics of shipborne vision sensor video (SVSV), optimizing the coding aspects with high computational complexity is one of the important methods to improve the video compression performance. Therefore, an efficient video coding technique is proposed to improve the efficiency of SVSV compression. In order to optimize the compression performance of SVSV, an intra-frame coding delay optimization algorithm that works in the intra-frame predictive coding (PC) session by predicting the Coding Unit (CU) division structure in advance is proposed in combination with deep learning methods. The experimental results show that the total compression time of the algorithm is reduced by about 45.49% on average compared with the official testbed HM16.17 for efficient video coding, while the Bjøntegaard Delta Bit Rate (BD-BR) increased by an average of 1.92%, and the Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (BD-PSNR) decreased by an average of 0.14 dB