Search

Pavement roughness serves as a crucial indicator for evaluating road performance. However, traditional measurement methods, such as laser detection vehicles, are limited to providing roughness values for a single profile, failing to capture the overall pavement condition comprehensively. To address this limitation, this study utilized high-precision light detection and ranging technology (LiDAR) to acquire three-dimensional point cloud data for a 25 km road section in Shanghai. Road elevations were extracted from different lateral survey lines. Subsequently, variance analysis and the Kruskal–Wallis non-parametric test were conducted to evaluate the differences in the lateral distribution and longitudinal variability of the pavement roughness. The findings revealed significant differences in the international roughness index (IRI) among the survey lines within the road section. Moreover, the observed variations in the lateral distribution of pavement roughness were influenced by the characteristics of the road section itself. Roads exhibiting discrete roughness patterns displayed a higher likelihood of significant detection disparities. Additionally, it was discovered that the discrepancy between the detection length and the actual road length introduced volatility in repeated detection results, necessitating a limitation of this discrepancy to 30 m. Consequently, it has been recommended to consider the lateral distribution of pavement roughness and to regulate the detection length in road performance evaluations to enhance reliability and facilitate more accurate maintenance decision making. The study highlights the importance of incorporating comprehensive assessment approaches for pavement roughness in road management practices.

Avian infectious bronchitis is a serious and highly contagious disease that is caused by the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). From January 2021 to June 2022, 1008 chicken tissue samples were collected from various regions of southern China, and 15 strains of the IBV were isolated. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the strains mainly comprised the QX type, belonging to the same genotype as the currently prevalent LX4 type, and identified four recombination events in the S1 gene, among which lineages GI-13 and GI-19 were most frequently involved in recombination. Further study of seven selected isolates revealed that they caused respiratory symptoms, including coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, and tracheal sounds, accompanied by depression. Inoculation of chicken embryos with the seven isolates resulted in symptoms such as curling, weakness, and bleeding. Immunization of specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens with inactivated isolates produced high antibody levels that neutralized the corresponding strains; however, antibodies produced by vaccine strains were not effective in neutralizing the isolates. No unambiguous association was found between IBV genotypes and serotypes. In summary, a new trend in IBV prevalence has emerged in southern China, and currently available vaccines do not provide protection against the prevalent IBV strains in this region, facilitating the continued spread of IBV.

Electrochemical CO 2 reduction provides a potential means for synthesizing value-added chemicals over the near equilibrium potential regime, i.e., formate production on Pd-based catalysts. However, the activity of Pd catalysts has been largely plagued by the potential-depended deactivation pathways (e.g., α -PdH to β -PdH phase transition, CO poisoning), limiting the formate production to a narrow potential window of 0 V to −0.25 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). Herein, we discovered that the Pd surface capped with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) ligand exhibits effective resistance to the potential-depended deactivations and can catalyze formate production at a much extended potential window (beyond –0.7 V vs. RHE) with significantly improved activity (~14-times enhancement at −0.4 V vs. RHE) compared to that of the pristine Pd surface. Combined results from physical and electrochemical characterizations, kinetic analysis, and first-principle simulations suggest that the PVP capping ligand can effectively stabilize the high-valence-state Pd species (Pd δ+ ) resulted from the catalyst synthesis and pretreatments, and these Pd δ+ species are responsible for the inhibited phase transition from α -PdH to β -PdH, and the suppression of CO and H 2 formation. The present study confers a desired catalyst design principle, introducing positive charges into Pd-based electrocatalyst to enable efficient and stable CO 2 to formate conversion.

Tropical ecosystems play an important role in regulating the global carbon balance. Existing studies have extensively analyzed the carbon dynamics of tropical forests, the largest terrestrial component of the global carbon budget, showing a likely neutral contribution of tropical forests to the global carbon cycle. However, high-resolution dynamics of aboveground carbon (AGC) change of the whole tropical terrestrial ecosystem and its processes remain rarely investigated. In this study, we first used low-frequency L-band passive microwave observations to derive wall-to-wall maps of annual AGC stocks over the tropics at 25-km spatial resolution. Using high-resolution satellite observations of land-cover change and biomass maps and random forest models, we separated the AGC stock into various ecosystems, including forest, shrub, and short-vegetation (grass and crop), and attributed the change to different degradation processes such as fires and deforestation at 100-m resolution. Our preliminary results show that total AGC stocks in tropical ecosystems increased by +2.25 [+1.19,+3.29] PgC (the range represents the minimum and maximums of the multiple estimates) from 2010 to 2020. The coast of Brazilian Mata Atlantica, Central African Republic, and east Tanzania are the hotspots of net increase, while the Arc of Deforestation in the Amazon basin and the Congo Basin show substantial net losses. Gross losses from non-fire deforestation and fire totaled -1.62 [-1.38,-1.86] PgC yr-1. We also observed strong recovery in African burned regions, possibly due to post-fire regrowth and additional recovery resulting from declining fires in the region. Our results highlight the importance of explicit temporal and spatial mapping of tropical carbon dynamics at high resolution, which can help us better understand the role of tropical terrestrial ecosystems in the global carbon cycle.

Wildfires are an integral part of boreal forest dynamics. Understanding the carbon loss/recovery associated with fires is crucial to assess the stability of these slow-growing forests. Yet, the carbon balance from fires and post-fire forest recovery remain uncertain at the biome scale due to the lack of spatial details about rates of forest regrowth. Here, we quantify carbon losses from fire emissions and gains from post-fire regrowth using high spatial-resolution satellite data and a bookkeeping model. We combined a 35-year long record of burned area from the Landsat satellites since 1985 with local biomass-age regrowth curves derived from high-resolution satellite-based above ground biomass (AGB) datasets. We found that forests in Eurasia tend to recover faster and reach higher biomass levels than those in North America. Young forests recovering from post-1985 wildfires produced a carbon sink of 652±200 TgC during the period 1985 to 2020. The additional recovery of older secondary forests that burned before 1985 further adds a cumulative sink of 1659±346 TgC. Comparatively, old-growth forests that did not burn accumulated 930±233 TgC during the period 1985-2020. This result shows 71% of the contemporary carbon sink in AGB is contributed by recovery from fires. After accounting for fire emissions each year and for the slow decay of coarse woody debris after burning, the net AGB carbon sink in boreal forests is 2108±234 TgC during 1985-2020. This study provides the first spatially explicit aboveground observation-based carbon budget of boreal forests and provides insights on the key factors that will control its future evolution.

Background Numerous studies have investigated anatomic factors for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, such as posterior tibial slope (PTS) and notch width index (NWI). However, anterior tibial spine fracture (ATSF) as a specific pattern of ACL injury, a bony avulsion of the ACL from its insertion on the intercondylar spine of the tibia, has rarely been explored for its anatomical risk factors. Identifying anatomic parameters of the knee associated with ATSF is important for understanding injury mechanisms and prevention. Methods Patients who underwent surgery for ATSF between January 2010 and December 2021 were retrospectively reviewed, and 38 patients were included in the study group. Thirty-eight patients who suffered from isolated meniscal tear without other pathologic findings were matched in a 1:1 fashion by age, sex and BMI to the study group. The lateral posterior tibial slope (LPTS), medial posterior tibial slope (MPTS), medial tibial depth, lateral tibial height, lateral femoral condyle ratio (LFCR) and NWI were measured and compared between the ATSF and control groups. Binary logistic regressions identified independent predictors of ATSF. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves were performed to compare the diagnostic performance and determine the cutoff values of associated parameters. Results The LPTS, LFCR and MPTS were significantly larger in the knees in the ATSF group than in the control group (P = 0.001, P = 0.012 and P = 0.005, respectively). The NWI was significantly smaller in the knees in the ATSF group than in the control group (P = 0.005). According to the results of logistic regression analysis, the LPTS, LFCR and NWI were independently associated with ATSF. The LPTS was the strongest predictor variable, and the ROC analysis revealed 63.2% sensitivity and 76.3% specificity (area under the curve, 0.731; 95% CI 0.619–0.844) for values above 6.9. Conclusion The LPTS, LFCR and NWI were found to be associated with the ATSF; in particular, LPTS could provide the most accurate predictive performance. The findings of this study may aid clinicians in identifying people at risk for ATSF and taking individualized preventive measures. However, further investigation regarding the pattern and biomechanical mechanisms of this injury is required.

Time-limited treatment strategies in first line treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic leukemia (CLL/SLL) were comprehensively explored. Thirty-four previously untreated, young fit CLL/SLL patients who initiated iFCR regimen between January 2019 and Match 2021 were included in our cohort. iFCR were administered every 28-day cycle, with a maximum of six cycles. Patients who achieved complete remission or complete remission with incomplete recovery (CR/CRi) and bone marrow (BM) undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) 2 years after iFCR initiation were feasible to discontinue ibrutinib maintenance. 61.8% (21/34) patients had IGHV unmutated status and 17.6% (6/34) patients had TP53 mutation and/or del(17p). CR/CRi rate was 35.3% (12/34) and BM uMRD rate was 41.2% (14/34) after three cycles of iFCR, and increased to 55.9% (19/34) after eight cycles. The best response of CR/CRi rate and BM uMRD rate were both 73.5% (25/34). With the median follow-up of 33 months, the 3-year PFS and OS rate was 80.0% and 95.5%, respectively. CR/CRi rate and BM uMRD rate was comparable between patients with IGHV mutated and unmutated status without TP53 aberrations, while all patients with TP53 aberrations failed to achieve sustainable CR/CRi or BM uMRD. The most common hematological adverse events were neutropenia (25/34, 73.5%) and thrombocytopenia (24/34, 70.6%) and the most common non-hematological adverse events were nausea (21/34, 61.8%), fatigue (16/34, 47.1%) and vomiting (15/34, 44.1%). The iFCR regimen could achieve high response rate and proportion of uMRD as initial treatment for young fit CLL/SLL patient absence of TP53 aberration with acceptable overall tolerability.

Various research suggests that xenophobia increases when infectious disease threats are salient. Here a longitudinal study tested this hypothesis by examining whether anti-immigrant sentiments varied across four time points during the COVID-19 pandemic (May 2020, February 2021, October 2021, and June 2022; N’s = 998, 711, 549, 537) and as a function of individual-level explicit disease concerns and disgust sensitivity. Results revealed that (1) anti-immigrant sentiments were no higher in early assessments, when COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths were high, than later assessments, when COVID-19 hospitalizations were low, and (2) within-person changes in explicit disease concerns and disgust sensitivity, did not relate to anti-immigrant sentiments, though stable individual differences in disgust sensitivity did. These findings suggest that anecdotal accounts of increased xenophobia during the pandemic do not generalize to the population sampled from here. They also suggest that not all increases in ecological pathogen threats and disease salience increase xenophobia.

Fast and accurate frequency estimation is significant for instrumentation and measurement. A sinusoid frequency estimator using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is presented. DFT is implemented on the sinusoid and the maximum DFT bin is sought out to obtain the coarse estimate. Different from all the existing methods, two asymmetric discrete-time Fourier transform (DTFT) samples situated at arbitrary positions on the same side of the maximum DFT bin are employed to get the fine estimate. The theoretical mean square error is analyzed. To evaluate the estimation performance, the presented estimator is compared with the Cramer–Rao lower bound (CRLB) and state-of-art estimators through computer simulations. Simulation results demonstrate that the presented algorithm is closer to the CRLB compared with the competing methods when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) varies in a large range and is unbiased at high SNR.

PurposeDrawing on transaction cost economics (TCE) theory and organizational information processing theory (OIPT), this study investigates how the alignments between the characteristics of service (i.e. task complexity and measurement ambiguity) and governance mechanisms (i.e. contract specificity and monitoring) can affect service performance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a rigorously designed survey to collect data from professionals who manage service outsourcing contracts in various industries. The respondent pool consists of randomly selected members of the Institute of Supply Management (ISM). The authors’ research question is analyzed using 261 completed and useable responses. Structural equation modeling is adopted to examine the data and test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe authors find that both contract specificity and monitoring have a positive impact on supplier performance. Further, for high task complexity services, contract specificity is more effective than monitoring, and for high measurement ambiguity services, the opposite is true. Moreover, the effect of contract specificity is mediated by monitoring.Practical implicationsService outsourcers should use both contract specificity and monitoring in governing outsourced services and know that the former depends on the latter during execution. Facing resource constraints, they can prioritize crafting detailed contract provisions over implementing monitoring for highly complex services but consider monitoring as the primary governance tool in services whose outcomes are difficult to measure.Originality/valueThis study is the first to couple TCE with OPIT and consider the nature of outsourced services in the choice of governance mechanisms and empirically test the simultaneous effects of contract specificity and monitoring in the context of service outsourcing.

The impact of the enhancing Pacific-North American teleconnection (PNA) on the intensity of the first mode of SST anomalies (SSTa) in wintertime North Pacific [known as the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO)-like SST pattern] under global warming is studied using reanalysis datasets and 12 selected CMIP5 models. The robust observational result of the PNA one month ahead of the PDO shows that the PNA has a great effect on the PDO-like SSTa. The intensities of PNA and PDO are defined with elimination of ENSO effect to evaluate the direct impact of PNA on the PDO in North Pacific under global warming. By comparing RCP8.5 and historical scenario of selected multi-models (PNA enhanced models), future projection illustrates that the PDO intensity will intensify 2.2 times its internal variability. Approximately 67% of the increase in PDO variations is contributed by the PNA-induced SSTa in the future warming scenario of multi-models ensemble mean. Models with stronger intensification of PNA variability tends to have larger magnitude of SSTa response in the North Pacific, which has more contributions to the enhancement of PDO intensity change in a warmer climate. This may shed some light on the projection of PDO variability and the relative role of PNA forcing under the global warming.

Seed size is one of the most important agronomic traits determining the yield of crops. Cloning the key genes controlling seed size and pyramiding their elite alleles will facilitate yield improvement. To date, few genes controlling seed size have been identified in soybean, a major crop that provides half of the plant oil and one quarter of the plant protein globally. Here, through a genome-wide association study of over 1800 soybean accessions, we determined that natural allelic variation at GmST05 (Seed Thickness 05) predominantly controlled seed thickness and size in soybean germplasm. Further analyses suggested that the two major haplotypes of GmST05 differed significantly at the transcriptional level. Transgenic experiments demonstrated that GmST05 positively regulated seed size and influenced oil and protein contents, possibly by regulating the transcription of GmSWEET10a. Population genetic diversity analysis suggested that allelic variations of GmST05 were selected during geographical differentiation but have not been fixed. In summary, natural variation in GmST05 determines transcription levels and influences seed size and quality in soybean, making it an important gene resource for soybean molecular breeding.

Deforestation can impact precipitation through biophysical processes and such effects are commonly examined by models. However, previous studies mostly conduct deforestation experiments with a single model and the simulated precipitation responses to deforestation diverge across studies. In this study, 11 Earth system models are used to robustly examine the biophysical impacts of deforestation on precipitation, precipitation extremes, and the seasonal pattern of the rainy season through a comparison of a control simulation and an idealized global deforestation simulation with clearings of 20 million km2 of forests. The multimodel mean suggests decreased precipitation, reduced frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation, and shortened duration of rainy seasons over deforested areas. The deforestation effects can even propagate to some regions that are remote from deforested areas (e.g., the tropical and subtropical oceans and the Arctic Ocean). Nevertheless, the 11 models do not fully agree on the precipitation changes almost everywhere. In general, the models exhibit higher consistency over the deforested areas and a few regions outside the deforested areas (e.g., the subtropical oceans) but lower consistency over other regions. Such intermodel spread mostly results from divergent responses of evapotranspiration and atmospheric moisture convergence to deforestation across the models. One of the models that has multiple simulation members also reveals considerable spread of the precipitation responses to deforestation across the members due to internal model variability. This study highlights the necessity of robustly examining precipitation responses to deforestation based on multiple models and each model with multiple simulation members.

Over the past decade, a small literature has tested how trait-level pathogen-avoidance motives (e.g., disgust sensitivity) and exposure to pathogen cues relate to preferences for facial symmetry and sexual dimorphism. Results have largely been interpreted as suggesting that the behavioral immune system influences preferences for these features in potential mates. However, findings are limited by small sample sizes among studies reporting supportive evidence, the use of small stimulus sets to assess preferences for symmetry and dimorphism, and design features that render implications for theory ambiguous (namely, largely only investigating women's preferences for male faces). Using a sample of 954 White young adult UK participants and a pool of 100 White young adult stimuli, the current registered report applied a standard two-alternative forced-choice approach to evaluate both men's and women's preferences for both facial symmetry and dimorphism in both same- and opposite-sex targets. Participants were randomly assigned to either a pathogen prime or a control prime, and they completed instruments assessing individual differences in pathogen avoidance (disgust sensitivity and contamination sensitivity). Results revealed overall preferences for both facial symmetry and dimorphism. However, they did not reveal a relation between these preferences and disgust sensitivity or contamination sensitivity, nor did they reveal differences in these preferences across control and pathogen prime conditions. Null results of pathogen-avoidance variables were consistent across participant sex, target sex, and interactions between participant sex and target sex. Overall, findings cast doubt on the hypothesis that pathogen-avoidance motives influence preferences for facial symmetry or dimorphism.