Factors Affecting the Development of Land Rental Markets in China A Case Study for Puding County, Guizhou Province

The development of land rental markets can enhance agricultural productivity and equity by facilitating transfers of land to more productive farmers and facilitating the participation in the non-farm economy of less productive farmers. In recent years there has been a rapid increase in the incidence of land rental activities in China. Large differences exist, however, both between regions and within regions in the share of households participating in land renting activities. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the development of land rental markets in one of the poorest regions within China, namely Puding County in Guizhou Province. Data from 792 households in three villages are used to analyze the participation in land rental markets. For renting out of land, a binary probit model is used that corrects for missing observation caused by migrated households. We find that the land rental market is mainly driven by off-farm employment; land-labor ratios do not play a significant role in land renting out. Other important findings are that households belonging to minority groups are significantly more inactive in the land rental market, and that the age of the household head shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with land renting in. Participation in off-farm employment is relatively low in the research area. With further increases in off-farm work, the land rental market is expected to develop further. Households belonging to minority groups, however, are unlikely to participate much. Appropriate measures taken by local governments to stimulate land rental participation by minority groups can be an important way to stimulate agricultural productivity and total household incomes of such minority groups.land rental markets, off-farm, China, binary probit, data correction, Land Economics/Use,

Associations between Aquaglyceroporin Gene Polymorphisms and Risk of Stroke among Patients with Hypertension

Background: Dysregulations ofAQP7andAQP9were found to be related to lipid metabolism abnormality, which had been provento be one of the mechanisms of stroke. However, limited epidemiological studies explore the associations betweenAQP7andAQP9and the risk of stroke among patients with hypertension in China. Aims: We aimed to investigate the associations between genetic variants in AQP7andAQP9and the risk of stroke among patients with hypertension, as well as to explore gene-gene andgene-environment interactions. Methods: Baseline blood samples were drawn from 211 cases with stroke and 633 matched controls. Genomic DNA was extracted by a commercially available kit. Genotyping of 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in AQP7 (rs2989924, rs3758269, and rs2542743) and AQP9 (rs57139208, rs16939881) was performed by the polymerase chain reaction assay with TaqMan probes. Results: Participants with the rs2989924 GG genotype were found to be with a 1.74-fold increased risk of stroke compared to those with the AA+AG genotype, and this association remained significant after adjustment for potential confounders (odds ratio (OR): 1.74, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23-2.46). The SNP rs3758269 CC+TT genotype was found to be with a 33% decreased risk of stroke after multivariate adjustment (OR: 0.67, 95% CI: 0.45-0.99) compared to the rs3758269 CC genotype. The significantly increased risk of stroke was prominent among males, patients aged 60 or above, and participants who were overweight and with a harbored genetic variant in SNP rs2989924. After adjusting potential confounders, the SNP rs3758269 CT+TT genotype was found to be significantly associated with a decreased risk of stroke compared to the CC genotype among participants younger than 60 years old or overweight. No statistically significant associations were observed between genotypes of rs2542743, rs57139208, or rs16939881 with the risk of stroke. Neither interactions nor linkage disequilibrium had been observed in this study. Conclusions: This study suggests that SNPs rs2989924 and rs3758269 are associated with the risk of stroke among patients with hypertension, while there were no statistically significant associations between rs2542743, rs57139208, and rs16939881 and the risk of stroke being observed

Topological term in the non-linear σ\sigma model of the SO(5) spin chains

We show that there is a topological (Berry phase) term in the non-linear $\sigma$ model description of the SO(5) spin chain. It distinguishes the linear and projective representations of the SO(5) symmetry group, in exact analogy to the well-known $\theta$-term of the SO(3) spin chain. The presence of the topological term is due to the fact that $\pi_2(\frac{SO(5)}{SO(3)\times SO(2)})= \mathbb{Z}$. We discuss the implication of our results on the spectra of the SO(5) spin chain, and connect it with a recent solvable SO(5) spin model which exhibits valence bond solid ground state and edge degeneracy.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure; the publication versio

SDIF-DA: A Shallow-to-Deep Interaction Framework with Data Augmentation for Multi-modal Intent Detection

Multi-modal intent detection aims to utilize various modalities to understand the user's intentions, which is essential for the deployment of dialogue systems in real-world scenarios. The two core challenges for multi-modal intent detection are (1) how to effectively align and fuse different features of modalities and (2) the limited labeled multi-modal intent training data. In this work, we introduce a shallow-to-deep interaction framework with data augmentation (SDIF-DA) to address the above challenges. Firstly, SDIF-DA leverages a shallow-to-deep interaction module to progressively and effectively align and fuse features across text, video, and audio modalities. Secondly, we propose a ChatGPT-based data augmentation approach to automatically augment sufficient training data. Experimental results demonstrate that SDIF-DA can effectively align and fuse multi-modal features by achieving state-of-the-art performance. In addition, extensive analyses show that the introduced data augmentation approach can successfully distill knowledge from the large language model.Comment: Accepted by ICASSP 202

Solar energetic particle access to distant longitudes through turbulent field-line meandering

Context. Current solar energetic particle (SEP) propagation models describe the effects of interplanetary plasma turbulence on SEPs as diffusion, using a Fokker-Planck (FP) equation. However, FP models cannot explain the observed fast access of SEPs across the average magnetic field to regions that are widely separated in longitude within the heliosphere without using unrealistically strong cross-field diffusion. Aims. We study whether the recently suggested early non-diffusive phase of SEP propagation can explain the wide SEP events with realistic particle transport parameters. Methods. We used a novel model that accounts for the SEP propagation along field lines that meander as a result of plasma turbulence. Such a non-diffusive propagation mode has been shown to dominate the SEP cross-field propagation early in the SEP event history. We compare the new model to the traditional approach, and to SEP observations. Results. Using the new model, we reproduce the observed longitudinal extent of SEP peak fluxes that are characterised by a Gaussian profile with σ = 30 − 50◦ , while current diffusion theory can only explain extents of 11◦ with realistic diffusion coefficients. Our model also reproduces the timing of SEP arrival at distant longitudes, which cannot be explained using the diffusion model. Conclusions. The early onset of SEPs over a wide range of longitudes can be understood as a result of the effects of magnetic fieldline random walk in the interplanetary medium and requires an SEP transport model that properly describes the non-diffusive early phase of SEP cross-field propagation

Dural arteriovenous fistula and sinus thrombosis presenting as parkinsonism and dementia: a case report with literature review

IntroductionDural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) is an uncommon malformation involving an abnormal connection between dural arteries, or the pachymeningeal branches of cerebral arteries, and dural veins. Its exact pathogenesis remains elusive. Known potential triggers for DAVF include cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), trauma, ear infections, and cranial surgeries. Due to its rarity and diverse clinical presentations, diagnosing DAVF can be a challenge.Case descriptionWe present a case of DAVF associated with CVST, manifesting as rapidly advancing parkinsonism accompanied by dementia over a month. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed bilateral symmetric T2 hyperintensities in the basal ganglia and brain stem. Cerebral angiography further confirmed a fistula between the torcular herophili and the transverse-sigmoid sinuses. Despite strong recommendations for transvenous embolization of the fistula, the patient declined the procedure. The anticoagulant therapy and symptomatic treatments administered did not yield any improvement in the patient’s condition. Additionally, we reviewed 27 DAVF-derived parkinsonism and dementia cases.ConclusionDAVF must be considered in the differential diagnosis of cases of rapidly progressive parkinsonism with concurrent dementia. Given its potential for treatment and reversibility, timely diagnosis and intervention for DAVF are paramount

ENERGETIC PARTICLE DIFFUSION IN CRITICALLY BALANCED TURBULENCE

Observations and modeling suggest that the fluctuations in magnetized plasmas exhibit scale-dependent anisotropy, with more energy in the fluctuations perpendicular to the mean magnetic field than in the parallel fluctuations and the anisotropy increasing at smaller scales. The scale dependence of the anisotropy has not been studied in full-orbit simulations of particle transport in turbulent plasmas so far. In this paper, we construct a model of critically balanced turbulence, as suggested by Goldreich & Sridhar, and calculate energetic particle spatial diffusion coefficients using full-orbit simulations. The model uses an enveloped turbulence approach, where each two-dimensional wave mode with wavenumber k ⊥ is packed into envelopes of length L following the critical balance condition, Lk –2/3 ⊥, with the wave mode parameters changing between envelopes. Using full-orbit particle simulations, we find that both the parallel and perpendicular diffusion coefficients increase by a factor of two, compared to previous models with scale-independent anisotropy