Description Method of Outdoor Climate Characteristics Considering the Comprehensive Effect on Indoor Climate

What human and buildings perceived the environmental information is comprehensive information. However, existing indoor environment design methods are often simplified to single parameters for indoor and outdoor environmental prediction and indoor environment design. In order to describe the indoor climate characteristics of the comprehensive impact of outdoor climate, this study uses the ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) method to establish a multi-parameter integrated outdoor comprehensive environmental information description method based on the information-response theory. The outdoor climate feature description method is applied to the analysis of the amplitude and frequency characteristics of outdoor comprehensive information, which provides a research basis for further exploring the indoor and outdoor environmental response under the multi-parameters interaction

Rethinking Image Editing Detection in the Era of Generative AI Revolution

The accelerated advancement of generative AI significantly enhance the viability and effectiveness of generative regional editing methods. This evolution render the image manipulation more accessible, thereby intensifying the risk of altering the conveyed information within original images and even propagating misinformation. Consequently, there exists a critical demand for robust capable of detecting the edited images. However, the lack of comprehensive dataset containing images edited with abundant and advanced generative regional editing methods poses a substantial obstacle to the advancement of corresponding detection methods. We endeavor to fill the vacancy by constructing the GRE dataset, a large-scale generative regional editing dataset with the following advantages: 1) Collection of real-world original images, focusing on two frequently edited scenarios. 2) Integration of a logical and simulated editing pipeline, leveraging multiple large models in various modalities. 3) Inclusion of various editing approaches with distinct architectures. 4) Provision of comprehensive analysis tasks. We perform comprehensive experiments with proposed three tasks: edited image classification, edited method attribution and edited region localization, providing analysis of distinct editing methods and evaluation of detection methods in related fields. We expect that the GRE dataset can promote further research and exploration in the field of generative region editing detection

Estimation of Ammonia Emission from Manure Belt Poultry Layer Houses Using an Alternative Mass Balance Method

Ammonia (NH3) emissions from poultry animal feeding operations (AFOs) have caused health and environmental concerns. Current NH3 emission measurement methods are accurate and reliable but also time-consuming, expensive, and impractical for most animal facilities. In this study, an alternative mass balance method was developed to effectively predict NH3 emissions from manure belt (MB) poultry layer facilities. This method can eliminate the need for tracking manure flow rates in traditional mass balance analyses for estimation of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) emissions. It was applied to three MB layer poultry houses in Ohio, with approximately 160,000 hens in each house, and validated using continuous NH3 emission measurement data. Feed, manure, and egg samples were collected from the three houses in different months over a year to evaluate possible seasonal variation in NH3 emissions from the poultry houses. The estimated NH3-N emissions from houses 1, 2, and 3 were 0.394 ±0.143, 0.293 ±0.1, and 0.284 ±0.129 g NH3-N hen-1 d-1, respectively, and the measured NH3-N emission rates were 0.200 ±0.067, 0.220 ±0.036, and 0.237 ±0.211 g NH3-N hen-1 d-1, respectively. These results are comparable with NH3-N emission rates published in the literature (0.024 to 0.592 g NH3-N hen-1 d-1). A statistical comparison of the measured and estimated NH3-N emissions showed that the root mean square error (RMSE), normalized mean square error (NMSE), and fractional bias (FB) were 0.179 g NH3-N hen-1 d-1, 0.426, and 0.457, respectively. These statistical parameters indicated that the estimations were acceptable according to the criteria of NMSE \u3c 0.5 and FB \u3c 0.5. The results showed that this alternative mass balance method could be used to estimate NH3-N emissions from MB poultry layer houses. However, the method estimates total nitrogen gas emissions, which is an upper limit of NH3-N emissions. A minimum of 22 sampling and modeling events is suggested for reliable estimation of NH3-N emission factors for MB poultry layer houses using the alternative mass balance method with a 90% confidence level (α = 0.1) and a maximum error of 15%

Screening SIRT1 Activators from Medicinal Plants as Bioactive Compounds against Oxidative Damage in Mitochondrial Function

Sirtuin type 1 (SIRT1) belongs to the family of NAD+ dependent histone deacetylases and plays a critical role in cellular metabolism and response to oxidative stress. Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), as an important part of natural products, have been reported to exert protective effect against oxidative stress in mitochondria. In this study, we screened SIRT1 activators from TCMs and investigated their activities against mitochondrial damage. 19 activators were found in total by in vitro SIRT1 activity assay. Among those active compounds, four compounds, ginsenoside Rb2, ginsenoside F1, ginsenoside Rc, and schisandrin A, were further studied to validate the SIRT1-activation effects by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and confirm their activities against oxidative damage in H9c2 cardiomyocytes exposed to tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP). The results showed that those compounds enhanced the deacetylated activity of SIRT1, increased ATP content, and inhibited intracellular ROS formation as well as regulating the activity of Mn-SOD. These SIRT1 activators also showed moderate protective effects on mitochondrial function in t-BHP cells by recovering oxygen consumption and increasing mitochondrial DNA content. Our results suggested that those compounds from TCMs attenuated oxidative stress-induced mitochondrial damage in cardiomyocytes through activation of SIRT1

Land use regulations, transit investment, and commuting preferences

In the U.S., various anti-sprawl land use regulations have been implemented for over two decades. Previous studies primarily investigate the impacts of local land use regulations or neighborhood-level built environment attributes on travel behaviors within a narrow time frame. Through a different lens, this paper examines how various local land use regulations and transit investment, both measured at the aggregated metropolitan level, have affected people’s long-term travel behaviors over a 15-year period, and how these impacts differ between younger and older age groups. This study combines a set of land use regulation indices measured at the metropolitan level in 2003 with 15 years of travel data (2005–2019) from a pooled representative sample of over 8 million workers in the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Results show several local anti-sprawl land use regulations (e.g., growth containment, adequate public facilities, and moratoria), when combined at the metropolitan level, effectively reduced driving notwithstanding their marginal effects. Government investment in public transit also significantly increased commuters’ likelihood of using public transit and, carpooling, as well as increased carpool group size. Moreover, the commuting mode choices of younger workers are more responsive to transit improvements and land use regulations. Urban planners should commit to regional cooperative planning to promote effective land use regulations at the metropolitan level. Regional collaborative entities, such as metropolitan planning organizations should play a larger role in coordinating local land use planning and regulations. To reduce automobile dependency, planners should commit to improving public transit through enhanced financial assistance, harnessing land use regulations in a more targeted way, and accommodating the needs of different age cohorts