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Simple Summary: The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a flagship species for biodiversity conservation. Due to population size and sample collection limitations, very limited information is available on the routine blood and blood biochemistry of giant pandas. Rarely is the influence of seasons on the physiology and health of giant pandas studied. Understanding the impact of meteorological factors on giant pandas is necessary for the future. In this study, we obtained data on the changes in hematological parameters of giant pandas in different seasons and ages. We found differences in overall metabolic processes among giant pandas of different age groups. At the same time, seasonal changes have a regulating effect on hemorheological parameters and may have a negative impact on blood viscosity. Whether seasonal and climatic factors cause environmental stress in captive giant pandas remains to be further studied. The results of this study may help to protect the stability of the giant panda population better and provide a reference for the appropriate feeding and medical care of captive giant pandas. The giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, serves as a flagship species for biodiversity conservation, embodying the intersection of ecological, evolutionary, and anthropogenic forces shaping the natural world. Hematological parameters serve as crucial indicators for assessing the physiological status of animals. However, our understanding of blood parameters and hemorheology in captive giant pandas under non-anesthetic conditions is limited. In this study, from September 2018 to August 2020, we collected blood samples from captive giant pandas under non-anesthetic conditions. Twelve captive giant pandas, ranging in age from 2 to 28 years, were divided into three groups based on their age, and the variations in basic blood parameters and hemorheological parameters across four seasons were analyzed. This provided baseline data for future blood sample comparisons in non-anesthetized captive giant pandas. Additionally, we observed seasonal changes in hematological morphology, hemorheology, and serum enzymes. Moreover, seasonality had a regulatory effect on hemorheological parameters and negatively impacted blood viscosity. Age influenced changes in serum enzymes, serum protein content, and serum metabolites, indicating differences in overall metabolic processes among giant pandas of different age groups. Whether factors such as season and climate contribute to environmental stress in captive giant pandas requires further investigation. The findings of this study may help to protect the stability of the giant panda population better and provide a reference for the medical care of captive giant pandas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crowding, a fundamental limit in object recognition, is believed to result from excessive integration of nearby items in peripheral vision. To understand its pooling mechanisms, we measured subjects’ internal response distributions in an orientation crowding task. Contrary to the prediction of an averaging model, we observed a pattern suggesting that the perceptual judgement is made based on choosing the largest response across the noise-perturbed items. A model featuring first-stage averaging and second-stage signed-max operation predicts the diverse errors made by human observers under various signal strength levels. These findings suggest that different rules operate to resolve the bottleneck at early and high-level stages of visual processing, implementing a combination of linear and nonlinear pooling strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the pervasiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada, research examining IPV in the context of Asian Canadians is scarce. Our study examined whether and how Canadian judges consider culture when determining a sentence in IPV cases involving an Asian offender and/or an Asian victim. We systematically searched for publicly published cases through CanLII. A total of 50 cases met the inclusion criteria. Cultural themes were identified using a direct content analysis approach to capture a priori themes in the literature, as well as identify any other factors considered. Our findings indicated culture was most often considered in only a superficial way (n = 31, 62.0%), where judges only made statements that simply identified the ethnicity of the offender and not how culture may have impacted the case. When examining cases where culture was meaningfully considered there were no prominent culture themes identified (all themes present in <14% of cases). We suggest this may not only reflect the heterogeneity of Asian Canadians, but could also reflect the lack of cultural consideration by the judges. Cultural factors were also rarely considered explicitly as an aggravating or mitigating factor in a case (n = 2; 4.0% and n = 7; 14.0% of the total sample, respectively). The findings reveal the current lack of meaningful consideration of culture in IPV legal cases involving Asian Canadians. We outline how this contrasts the increased attention to the meaningful consideration of culture in the Canadian legal arena and prompt all professionals involved in assessing and managing IPV risk to consider racial, ethnic, and cultural factors in these cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) proposes new shared pathways (SSPs) that incorporate socioeconomic development with more comprehensive and scientific experimental designs; however, few studies have been performed on the projection of future multibasin hydrological changes in China based on CMIP6 models. In this paper, we use the Equidistant Cumulative Distribution Function method (EDCDFm) to perform downscaling and bias correction in daily precipitation, daily maximum temperature, and daily minimum temperature for six CMIP6 models based on the historical gridded data from the high-resolution China Meteorological Forcing Dataset (CMFD). We use the bias-corrected precipitation, temperature, and daily mean wind speed to drive the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) hydrological model, and study the changes in multiyear average annual precipitation, annual evapotranspiration and total annual runoff depth relative to the historical baseline period (1985–2014) for the Chinese mainland, basins and grid scales in the 21st century future under the SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. The study shows that the VIC model accurately simulates runoff in major Chinese basins; the model data accuracy improves substantially after downscaling bias correction; and the future multimodel-mean multiyear average annual precipitation, annual evapotranspiration, and total annual runoff depth for the Chinese mainland and each basin increase relative to the historical period in near future (2020–2049) and far future (2070–2099) under the SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios. The new CMIP6-based results of this paper can provide a strong reference for extreme event prevention, water resource utilization and management in China in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]