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【Objective】 Spring wheat is an important cereal crop in Northern Xinjiang, where limited precipitation during the growing season makes irrigation essential for its successful production. This paper investigates the effect of irrigation amount on its growth traits and final yield, in attempts to identify an optimal irrigation schedule for spring wheat in this region. 【Method】 The field plot experiments were conducted using the high-yielding varieties ‘Xinchun 37’ and ‘Xinchun 44’. Each variety was subjected to four irrigation treatments: 4 500 m3/hm2 (W1, resulting in severe drought), 5 250 m3/hm2 (W2, resulting in moderate drought), 6 000 m3/hm2 (W3, normal irrigation), and 6 750 m3/hm2(W4, excessive irrigation). For each irrigation treatment, we measured the growth traits, water use efficiency, and grain yield of the two crops. 【Result】 Soil water content in the 0-60 cm layer increased with the irrigation amount, with water in the 0-20 cm soil layer showing the most significant fluctuation. With the increase in irrigation amount, plant height and dry matter accumulation of both varieties increased initially, followed by a decline. It was also found that the grain-filling period of Xinchun 37 was longer than that of Xinchun 44. Compared to W4, W3 increased the water use efficiency of Xinchun 37 and Xinchun 44 by 30.00% and 15.45%, respectively, the irrigation water use efficiency by 33.91% and 19.85%, respectively. Compared to all other treatments, W3 increased the grain yield of Xinchun 37 by 14.45%-38.24%, while compared to W1 and W2, it increased the grain yield of Xinchun 44 by 25.76% and 14.45%, respectively. 【Conclusion】 Regression analysis shows that the optimal irrigation amount for Xinchun 37 and Xinchun 44 was 5 875.83 m3/hm2 and 5 967.67 m3/hm2, respectively, in the studied region.

"Objective To investigate the predictive value of hemoglobin glycation index (HGI) for endpoint events in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). Methods A total of 1 420 patients with ADHF who were admitted to the Department of Cardiology, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from September 1, 2010, to September 1, 2019, were included in this study, and the corresponding HGI values were calculated. The patients were divided into three groups based on the tertiles of HGI ［group T1（HGI≤0.499%， n=473），group T2（0.499%＜HGI≤1.108%， n=474），group T3（HGI＞1.108%， n=473）］. The endpoints included all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE). The occurrence rates of the endpoints in the three groups were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier curves, and the predictive value of HGI for the endpoints was assessed by the multivariable COX proportional hazards model. Results During a follow-up period of 60 months, all-cause mortality was 25.28%, cardiovascular mortality was 13.03%, and MACCE incidence rate was 58.59% in the study cohort. The adjusted Kaplan-Meier curves showed that all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality decreased with increasing HGI values (P＜0.05). There was no significant difference in incidence rate of MACCE among three groups (P>0.05). In the adjusted multivariate COX proportional hazaras model, the increase in HGI was significantly associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality (HR=0.501, 95%CI: 0.336-0.747, P=0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (HR=0.438, 95%CI: 0.255-0.754, P=0.003). Conclusion Increased HGI values are significantly associated with decreased all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality in patients with ADHF, but not with the occurrence of MACCE. "

Background Exploring the factors affecting health service utilization is of great significance for optimizing the allocation of health services. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) focuses on individuals' subjective self-assessment of their current health status, and may affect their health-seeking behaviors, but there are few studies on the impact of HRQoL on health service utilization of rural residents in China. Objective To explore the relationship between HRQoL and health service utilization of rural residents in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and to provide a reference for the development of relevant policies/plans, and for the optimization health services in rural areas. Methods Data were collected from the Health Survey of Rural Residents Families 2019 conducted in four sample counties of Ningxia (Haiyuan, Pengyang, Xiji, Yanchi) from July to August 2019, involving 9 310 cases (≥15 years) with complete key information (gender, age, HRQoL-related indicators, health service utilization indicators). Detailed data of the residents were extracted, including socio-economic and demographic characteristics, health services accessibility, prevalence of chronic diseases, HRQoL measured using European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions 3 Level Version (EQ-5D-3L) and utilization of health services. The effects of health state utility values and visual analog scale (VAS) score on outpatient and inpatient health service utilization were analyzed by binary Logistic regression. Results The utilization rates of outpatient and inpatient health services of rural residents in Ningxia were 10.85% (1 010/9 310) and 18.86% (1 756/9 310), respectively. The mean health state utility values and mean VAS score of them were (0.965±0.090) and (69.97±17.84), respectively. Difference testing showed that residents with impaired self-care (in the EQ-5D-3L descriptive system) had higher rates of using outpatient health services〔OR (95%CI) =3.197 (2.633, 3.883), P

Background Health service research has become an important research field in health industry of China recently. Existing studies mainly focus on the prevalence of perceived morbidity within two weeks and associated treatment-seeking behaviors as well as influencing factors in residents, but rarely involve in their non-treatment-seeking behaviors. Objective To understand the prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors in rural residents with perceived morbidity within two weeks, and to explore and analyze the influencing factors, so as to put forward targeted suggestions. Methods In December 2019, by use of a multistage stratified cluster random sampling approach, 27 196 residents from four rural counties of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region were selected to attend an interviewer-administered, face-to-face survey using a self-developed Two-week Morbidity Questionnaire for understanding their demographics, health characteristics, and the availability and accessibility of medical and health services. A structural equation model built based on the survey results was used to analyze and test the influencing factors of non-treatment-seeking behaviors for two-week morbidity. Results Of the residents, 21 451 (78.88%) who effectively responded to the survey were included for analysis. The two-week morbidity in the respondents was 14.97% (3 212/21 451), and the prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors was 69.46% (2 231/3 212). The prevalence of non-treatment-seeking behaviors for two-week morbidity varied by gender, age, education level, occupation, self-assessed health status, prevalence of chronic diseases, the number of days of bed rest for an illness, and the time to go to secondary or higher medical institutions (P

To solve the problem of high tobacco content and serious tobacco waste caused by poor equipment parameter settings in the tobacco stem shreds air separation process of the existing air separator of tobacco cutting workshop, this paper proposes a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation analysis strategy for the aerodynamic characteristics of particle suspension in the air separator of tobacco cutting workshop. Firstly, in response to the problem that CFD numerical simulation software can only be applied to spherical models and cannot directly simulate the process of tobacco stem shreds selection, the discrete element analysis strategy DEM is introduced for fusion improvement, achieving effective simulation analysis of tobacco stem shreds selection process. Secondly, in response to the existing literature not considering the movement of the cut stem particles in the air separator and neglecting the particle collision during the tobacco stem shreds separation process, which leads to a certain deviation in the analysis data, a collision simulation model considering the radial movement distance between the stem and the floating chamber wall of the air separation device is introduced, which is fed back into the DEM-CFD fusion numerical simulation process to deeply optimize the parameters and improve the recovery efficiency of tobacco consumption. Finally, a domestic cigarette factory brand tobacco stem shreds and sticks were used as the experimental object for simulation analysis, and the optimal separation negative pressure of the air separator of the tobacco cutting workshop was obtained, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed method.

To solve the problems of low model simulation accuracy and slow simulation algorithm running speed that is not suitable for actual production needs caused by neglecting particle motion collision in the existing air separator of tobacco cutting workshop during the tobacco stem shreds air separation process, this paper proposes an equipment optimization research strategy based on particle suspension characteristics for the Tobacco Stem Shreds Air separator. Firstly, using the principles of suspension separation and inertial separation, a two-stage separation device for tobacco stem shreds is designed, and a two-stage separation chamber model is established. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation is used to study the separation chamber of the tobacco stem shreds two-stage separation device. Secondly, the Discrete Element Simulation Platform is introduced to improve and enhance the CFD strategy, and it is used for simulation analysis of the Tobacco Stem Shreds Air separator process to solve the problem of ignoring collisions during particle motion solely using the CFD strategy. Finally, a parallel computing strategy is introduced to construct a parallel discrete unit individual (DUI) based CFD strategy (DUI-CFD), which solves the problem of low computational efficiency in single-threaded DUI-CFD coupling simulation technology. The proposed method has been shown to accurately simulate the separation process of tobacco stem shreds in an air separator and achieve higher simulation calculation speeds, as demonstrated by the experimental results.

Background With the severe situation of the increasingly population aging in China, the health problems of the middle-aged and older adults can not be ignored, attracting much attention on the health equity among the rural-dewlling middle-aged and older adults. The geographic remoteness of southern mountainous area in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region causes the health conditions of the middle-aged and older adults more unoptimistic. However, there are relatively few studies on the health equity among the middle-aged and older adults in this area. Objective To investigate the health equity of the middle-aged and older adults in the pilot counties of medical reform in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Haiyuan County and Yanchi County) and analyze the contribution degree of various influencing factors to health inequality, so as to provide a basis for improving the health of the middle-aged and older adults and relevant health policies. Methods From January to March in 2022, from the follow-up data of 2019 from the Family Health Inquiry Survey of Rural Residents, the middle-aged and older adults (age≥45 years old) from resident families (living in the corresponding counties for more than one year) were selected as subjects (n=5 908) . The analysis was conducted with the two-week prevalence rate, chronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate as dependent variables, with sex, age, marital status, level of education, occupation, type of drinking water and per capita family income as independent variables. The concentration index was used to analyze the health equity of the middle-aged and older adults, and the centralized index decomposition method was used to analyze the contribution of various influencing factors to health inequality. Results The concentration indexes of two-week prevalence rate, chronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate among the middle-aged and older adults in Haiyuan County were 0.030 0, 0.002 9, 0.011 4 and 0.032 7, respectively, while those of two-week prevalence rate, chronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate among the middle-aged and older adults in Yanchi County were 0.000 4, -0.000 1, 0.037 4 and 0.037 4, respectively. The concentration index decomposition analysis showed that gender, age, level of education, occupation, type of drinking water and per capita family income are the main causes for health inequality among the middle-aged and older adults, among which age and per capita family income contribute more to health inequality. The contribution ratio of age to the two-week prevalence rate, hronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate in Haiyuan County were -11.92%, -152.57%, -27.76% and 7.80%, respectively. The contribution ratio of age to the two-week prevalence rate, chronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate in Yanchi County were -334.79%, 1 117.94%, -45.45% and-25.44%, respectively. The contribution ratio of per capita family income to the two-week prevalence rate, chronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate among the middle-aged and older adults in Haiyuan County were 35.41%, -0.31%, 2.08% and 22.03%, respectively. The contribution ratio to the two-week prevalence rate, chronic disease prevalence rate, two-week bedridden rate and two-week leaving rate among the middle-aged and older adults in Yanchi County were 86.88%, -165.24%, 37.13% and 1.50%, respectively. Conclusion Overall, the health equity among the middle-aged and older adults in the pilot counties of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is better but tilted towards those with higher incomes. Age contributes the most to health inequity among the middle-aged and older adults. The society should give higher priority to the middle-aged and older adults; Local primary health care institutions can increase the health awareness of the middle-aged and older adults by providing free health check-ups regularly and promoting health literacy to them. The health administration should adjust relevant health policies to better meet the health needs of the middle-aged and older adults and ultimately achieve health equity.

Super‐hydrophobic surface has excellent waterproof, self‐cleaning and delayed icing properties, and is widely used in various fields, but its lack of durability restricts its large‐scale use. In this paper, carbon fiber composite material with excellent mechanical properties is selected as the substrate, PTFE nanoparticles with excellent hydrophobicity are used as the surface energy substance, and metal screen is selected as the template, combined with hot pressing molding process, a super‐hydrophobic surface with multi‐level micro‐nano structure is successfully constructed. The test shows that the water contact angle of the surface is 169°, and the rolling angle is about 2°. The contact angle of the surface is also over 150° for other liquids, and it bounces off the external water droplets for three times, so it can easily take away pollutants and keep the surface dry and clean under the action of water flow. In the same icing environment, compared with the original surface, it can prolong the freezing time of droplets by 5 times. After repeated rubbing, the surface still has superhydrophobic properties until the whole surface is completely destroyed. The preparation method used in this study is simple, and the prepared superhydrophobic surface has excellent performance, which is expected to promote the application of superhydrophobic surface in practical working conditions. Highlights: The preparation method is fast, efficient, low‐energy and environment‐friendly, and the used materials are simple and economical, and can be reused.The prepared surface has excellent hydrophobic performance for different media.The prepared superhydrophobic surface has low adhesion and droplet rebound performance.The prepared superhydrophobic surface has excellent delayed icing performance.The prepared superhydrophobic surface has excellent wear resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In recent years, the intersection of self‐efficacy and technological readiness has become increasingly relevant in educational research, particularly within specialised fields like music education. Understanding how these factors interplay can offer valuable insights into enhancing educational practices and fostering academic achievement among music students. This study investigates the relationship between music students' self‐efficacy, academic performance and artificial intelligence (AI) readiness within the context of Chinese Music education. Adopting a random sampling method, the researchers distributed questionnaires to 1082 Chinese music students to assess their self‐efficacy, academic performance and AI readiness. Utilising SPSS (version 27) and AMOS (version 24) for data analysis, the researchers explored the statistical relationships among these variables. The findings indicate that a significant 63% of variations in students' academic performance can be explained by the combined influence of self‐efficacy and AI readiness. This highlights a strong relationship between these factors and students' overall success in their professional pursuits. Specifically, students' self‐efficacy uniquely predicts 52% of changes in academic performance, emphasising the importance of self‐belief in academic achievement, whereas their AI readiness uniquely predicts 60% of changes in academic performance, showcasing the critical role of technological fluency in driving academic success. These results provide valuable insights into the interconnected dynamics of self‐efficacy, academic performance and AI readiness among Chinese music students. The study underscores the significance of confidence, technological proficiency and their impact on students' educational trajectories, offering implications for enhancing educational practices and fostering student success in the context of music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic film mulching is one of the key technologies for improving agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid regions. However, residual plastic film can severely disrupt the structure of the topsoil in farmland, leading to a decrease in crop yield. The Hexi Corridor, as the largest seed maize production base in the arid regions of Northwest China, is facing an increasingly prominent issue of residual plastic film recovery. This study designed experiments based on the typical maize planting model in the Hexi Corridor. A discrete element simulation model of the residual film–soil–root stubble complex was established using the Bonding-V2 model and API rapid filling technology. The reliability of the simulation model was verified through shear and puncture tests. The study revealed that the soil type in the Hexi Corridor is heavy sandy soil. The differences between the average maximum shear forces in the simulated and actual shear tests for root stubble–soil complexes at depths of 30 mm, 50 mm, and 100 mm were 4.8%, 6.4%, and 6.5%, respectively. Additionally, the differences in the average maximum vertical loading forces in the simulated and actual puncture tests for root stubble–soil complexes at depths of 50 mm and 100 mm were 6.4% and 12.37%, respectively. The small discrepancies between the simulated and actual values, along with the consistency of particle movement trends with real-world conditions, confirmed the reliability and accuracy of the simulation model. This indicates that the established discrete element flexible model can effectively represent actual field conditions, providing discrete element model parameters and theoretical support for optimizing the design of key components in China's mechanized root stubble handling and residual film recovery machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the yield-increasing mechanism of mechanized potato planting with corn straw mulching, a two-year (2021 and 2022) field experiment was conducted to study the effects of mechanized no-tillage with straw mulching on potato yield and water use efficiency. This experiment included mechanized no-tillage potato planting with corn straw mulch covering (JG), plastic film mulching (HM), and open flat planting (CK). The results showed that mechanical no-tillage with straw mulching significantly affected soil water content in the 0–100 cm soil layer, yield, and water use efficiency (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in yield between JG and HM, but it was significantly higher than that of CK. The yield of JG was 3.09~12.27% higher than that of CK. The yield increase was mainly achieved by increasing the potato weight per plant (0.697~0.862 **) and the average single potato weight (0.048~0.631). The tuber weight per plant was positively correlated with the plant height at the seedling stage (0.03~0.92 **) and positively correlated with the dry weight of stems and leaves at the tuber expansion stage and starch accumulation stage (0.74 **~0.95 **). It was negatively correlated with the number of branches at the tuber formation stage (−0.33~−0.88 **). Compared with CK, JG could significantly improve the water use efficiency of potatoes and reduce water consumption during the whole growth period of crops. In 2021, JG was 6.5% higher than CK, and HM was 6.88% lower than CK. In 2022, JG and HM increased water use efficiency by 26.17% and 14.50% compared with CK. When HM is applied in heavy soil areas, soil compaction can easily occur, which affects seedling emergence and reduces yield. At the same time, JG has strong adaptability to soil types and good yield stability. It can be seen that JG is a green and efficient mechanized potato cultivation technology suitable for dry farming areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a "planning and control" scheme for a compliant mechanism (CM) based on a pneumatic actuator (PAC) with hysteresis nonlinearity and full-state constraints. In the planning part, a novel direct inverse model is presented to compensate for hysteresis nonlinearity, enabling more accurate planning of the desired air pressure based on the desired contact force. In the control part, by fusing fuzzy logic systems (FLSs) and an extended state observer (ESO), a fuzzy ESO is developed to observe the external disturbance and the rate of change of the air pressure. Additionally, the challenges in the controller design caused by full-state constraints are overcome by constructing barrier Lyapunov functions (BLFs). It is proved that all signals of the closed-loop system are bounded, and the tracking error of the air pressure can converge to a small neighborhood of the origin. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method are verified by hardware experiments, which also show that the root mean square errors of force control accuracies are within 2N, achieving satisfactory force control effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]