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Rapid scale-up and intensification of the livestock and poultry farming industry generates massive amount of wastewater that greatly contributes to the environmental pollution in the vicinity. The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an electrochemical technology that enables removal of organic pollutants in the wastewater and power generation concomitantly with the aid of microorganisms. This technology has a great potential in treating high-concentration wastewater released from the livestock and poultry farming. The present study described the categories of MFCs and current research status of its application in wastewater treatment from two aspects: 1) removal of organic pollutants (e.g., chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, total phosphorus, and antibiotics) and 2) electricity production performance. The potential of using multiple MFC technologies together in wastewater treatment was also elaborated. This study revealed the existing problems associated with current MFC technologies and provided directions for future research, including equipment scale-up, development of novel coupling MFC technologies, interpretation of interactions among controllable parameters, and in-depth exploitation of mechanisms underlying pollutant removal and electron transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectively evaluating the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on China ’s inbound tourism and systematically exploring its mechanisms are of guiding significance for promoting the development of China ’s inbound tourism. Using the panel data of 104 countries from 2010 to 2019, this study took the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative as a quasi-natural experiment to construct a difference-in-differences model. Combining perspectives of economic connections and cultural communication, this study also used the methods of mediating effect and text mining and analysis to testify the mechanisms and applied the moderating effect to explore the possible interactions within the mechanisms. The results showed that: ① The Belt and Road Initiative significantly increased the number of tourists to China from the countries along the Belt and Road by about 15.03% to 30.10% annually, thus promoting the development of China’s inbound tourism. ② International trade played a mediating role in this relationship. Compared with the import trade (39.17%), the export trade (47.05%) had a greater impact on this relationship. ③ Cultural identity played a mediating role in this relationship. The impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on cultural identity presented a mode of ‘three cores, six tones, and numerous elements,’ with the hot spots focusing on Chinese learning, education, art, traditional Chinese medicine, the motion picture industry, and the publishing industry. ④ The mechanisms of ‘traveling for business’ and ‘traveling for culture’ coexisted and interacted positively. Export trade had a greater impact on the interaction between the two than import trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To investigate the MRI feature of continuous enhancement from index lesion to nipple-areola complex (NAC) for preoperative prediction of occult NAC involvement in patients with breast cancer. Methods Between January 2017 and September 2018. 242 patients with breast cancer were enrolled in this prospective study. The patients underwent breast MRI before radical mastectomy. They were divided into a NAC-positive and NAC-negative groups based on the pathologic results regarding NAC involvement. Preoperative MRI features such as lesion type, location, tumor size, enhancement pattern, multicentricity, tumor—to—NAC continuous enhancement, tumor—to—NAC distance and nipple retraction were compared between the two groups using Pearson X2 test. The diagnostic performance of tumor-to-NAC continuous enhancement for occult NAC involvement was evaluated. Results Of the 242 breast cancer patients, 47 were NAC-positive and 195 were NAC-negative. The tumor-to-NAC continuous enhancement was significantly different between NAC-positive and NAC-negative groups (P<0.001). It was present in 34 (72.3%) NAC-positive patients and in 11 (5.6%) NAC-negative patients. The other 7 MRI features were not significantly different between the two groups (P=0.110-0.696). Tumor-to-NAC continuous enhancement was 72.3% sensitive, 94.4% specific, 90.1% accurate with 75.6% positive predictive value and 93.4% negative predictive value for the diagnosis of occult NAC involvement. Conclusion Tumor-to-NAC continuous enhancement is an effective MRI feature for the preoperative prediction of occult NAC involvement in breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock and poultry manure is often used as organic fertilizer in the farmland surrounding large-scale farms, which is an effective method for recycling manure in agricultural settings. However, the salt content of livestock and poultry manure has not received sufficient attention in terms of the risk of salinization of agricultural land. Before applying livestock and poultry manure to fields, it is crucial to determine its total salt content or water-soluble salt content for salt analysis and management of saline-alkaline land. Unfortunately, there is a lack of standards and methods for determining the total salt content of livestock manure both domestically and internationally. Given the absence of standardized detection methods, the non-uniformity of determination methods, and the loss of potential salt residue, we conducted experimental research by gravimetric method. This study aimed to determine the total salt content in livestock and poultry manure and validate the feasibility, with the goal of providing a more accurate and reliable means of assessing the quality of livestock and poultry manure for agricultural production. Firstly, we conducted a completely randomized trial to optimize the sample-to-water ratio, oscillation parameters, leaching method, and leachate uptake. Subsequently, an orthogonal experimental design was used to evaluate three key parameters, including oscillation frequency, centrifugation time, and leachate uptake. Nine treatment combinations were formed to optimize the conditions for manure leachate extraction. Finally, a spiked recovery test was performed to assess the precision and accuracy of the method. The results indicated that the optimal conditions for determining the total salt or water-soluble salt content in livestock manure, with solid manure as the primary source, were as follows: a ratio of 1:5 for sample-to-water, oscillation at 150 r/min for 3 minutes, centrifugation at 4 000 r/min for 8 minutes, and leachate uptake of 20-50 mL. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that centrifugation can effectively replace the existing air suction filtration method for obtaining leachate. There was a significant correlation observed between the turbidity of the leachate from livestock and poultry manure and the centrifugation parameters, as well as the results of total salt determination. Leachate uptake volume had the greatest influence on the total salt content in the leachate from livestock and poultry manure, oscillation frequency took the second place, and centrifugation time had the weakest effect. According to the gravimetric method, we determined the total salt content of six different livestock manure samples under these optimized parameter conditions. The measured results exhibited relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 3.7% to 13.8% and recovery rates ranging from 89.0% to 106.1%, meeting the requirements of analytical quality control in the laboratory. The established gravimetric method for determining the total salt content in livestock manure offers advantages such as low reagent usage, cost savings, high accuracy and precision, and practicality. It can be applied on a large scale to test the total salt content in livestock manure, thereby improving efficiency. This study provides a scientific foundation for the research and development a technology of salt reduction, and contributes to the sustainable development of integrated crop-livestock agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Vision is the primary sensory system to maintain balance. Approximately 50% of visually impaired youth have an increased risk of falling. Chinese reports focus more on the epidemiological survey of the number of people with visual impairment, but ignore balance performance and control strategies in such people, especially the study of influencing factors. OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of visual factors (degree of visual impairment: blind, partially sighted and normal vision group; vision condition: eyes open and eyes closed conditions) on balance function of young adults. METHODS: Forty-three young adults were recruited and divided into three groups: blind (n=12), partially sighted (n=9) and normal vision group (n=22), and then underwent the following tests: one-leg stance test (eyes open and eyes closed conditions) and functional reach test (normal vision group: eyes open and closed conditions; partially sighted or blind groups: daily state). Measurement parameters between groups were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. Paired sample t-tests were used to compare differences between different vision conditions within groups. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In the one-leg stance test, the center of pressure trajectory length in the normal vision group with eyes open was significantly shorter than that in the blind and partially sighted groups (P < 0.05), and there was no significant difference between the groups when the eyes were closed (P > 0.05). Degree of injury and visual status had no significant effect on the static balance of visually impaired youth (P > 0.05). In the functional reach test, the reaching distance with eyes open was significantly greater than that with eyes closed in the normal vision group (P < 0.05) and the distance with eyes closed was significantly less than that of the blind group (P < 0.05). To conclude, visual impairment dramatically reduces the static balance of young adults, and vision conditions remarkably affect postural stability of the sighted youth, while the degree of visual impairment has no significant effect on static and dynamic balance of visually impaired youth. The lack of visual feedback can be compensated by non-visual factors in visually impaired youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermal barrier coating (TBC) technology has the advantage of extending hot end component life, increasing power and reducing fuel consumption in aerospace engines. However, before performing electro-discharge machining (EDM) on the thermal barrier coated metal member, it is necessary to remove the thermal barrier coating on the surface of the metal substrate. Abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) are performed on the thermal barrier coating prepared by APS. Blind hole processing test of APS coating is carried out at room temperature using a low pressure abrasive water jet having a diameter of 300 μm. The results show that the erosion pore size and pore depth increase with the increase of abrasive concentration, jet pressure, punching time and target distance, and the coating removal rate increases with the increase of abrasive grain hardness and particle size. The roundness of the erosion hole type has yet to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ｔｏ ｐｒｅｄｉｃｔ ｐｒｅｏｐｅｒａｔｉｖｅ ｌｙｍｐｈｏｖａｓｃｕｌａｒ ｉｎｖａｓｉｏｎ(ＬＶＩ)ｓｔａｔｕｓ ｏｆ ｂｒｅａｓｔ ｃａｎｃｅｒ ｐａｔｉｅｎｔｓꎬ ａ ｃｏｍｐｕｔｅｒ￣ａｉｄｅｄ ａｎａｌｙｓｉｓ ｍｅｔｈｏｄ ｗｈｉｃｈ ｃｏｍｂｉｎｅｓ ａｎ ａｃｔｉｖｅ ｃｏｎｔｏｕｒ ｍｏｄｅｌ ａｎｄ ｒａｄｉｏｍｉｃｓ ｉｓ ｐｒｏｐｏｓｅｄ. Ｆｉｒｓｔꎬ ｔｈｅ ｉｍａｇｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｄｙｎａｍｉｃ ｃｏｎｔｒａｓｔ ｅｎｈａｎｃｅｄ ｍａｇｎｅｔｉｃ ｒｅｓｏｎａｎｃｅ ｉｍａｇｉｎｇ(ＤＣＥ￣ ＭＲＩ)ｏｆ ｂｒｅａｓｔ ｃａｎｃｅｒ ｉｓ ｓｅｇｍｅｎｔｅｄ ｂｙ ａｎ ａｃｔｉｖｅ ｃｏｎｔｏｕｒ ｍｏｄｅｌ(ＡＣＭ)ｂａｓｅｄ ｏｎ ｐｏｓｔ ｐｒｏｂａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ａｎｄ ｆｕｚｚｙ ｖｅｌｏｃｉｔｙ ｆｕｎｃｔｉｏｎ. Ｂｙ ｃｏｎｓｔｒｕｃｔｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｒｅｇｉｏｎ ｔｅｒｍ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ａｃｔｉｖｅ ｃｏｎｔｏｕｒ ｍｏｄｅｌ ｂａｓｅｄ ｏｎ ｐｏｓｔ ｐｒｏｂａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ ｗａｖｅｌｅｔ ｄｏｍａｉｎ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｅｄｇｅ ｓｔｏｐ ｔｅｒｍ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ａｃｔｉｖｅ ｃｏｎｔｏｕｒ ｍｏｄｅｌ ｂｙ ｕｓｉｎｇ ｔｈｅ ｆｕｚｚｙ ｖｅｌｏｃｉｔｙ ｆｕｎｃｔｉｏｎꎬ ｔｈｅ ａｃｃｕｒａｃｙ ｏｆ ｂｒｅａｓｔ ｃａｎｃｅｒ ｌｅｓｉｏｎ ｓｅｇｍｅｎｔａｔｉｏｎ ｃａｎ ｂｅ ｉｍｐｒｏｖｅｄ. Ｓｅｃｏｎｄꎬ ｔｈｅ ｉｍａｇｅ ｆｅａｔｕｒｅｓ ｓｕｃｈ ａｓ ｍｏｒｐｈｏｌｏｇｙꎬ ｇｒａｙｓｃａｌｅ ａｎｄ ｔｅｘｔｕｒｅ ａｒｅ ｅｘｔｒａｃｔｅｄ. Ｆｉｎａｌｌｙꎬ ａ ｍｏｄｅｌ ｆｏｒ ｐｒｅｄｉｃｔｉｎｇ ＬＶＩ ｓｔａｔｕｓ ｉｓ ｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｅｄ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｒａｎｄｏｍ ｆｏｒｅｓｔ ｃｌａｓｓｉｆｉｅｒ ａｎｄ ｉｔｓ ｐｒｅｄｉｃｔｉｖｅ ａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ｉｓ ｖｅｒｉｆｉｅｄ ｂｙ ｅｘｐｅｒｉｍｅｎｔａｌ ｒｅｓｕｌｔｓ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]