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Abstract The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal carries unique social and cultural significance as a world cultural heritage, but with the acceleration of global urbanization, it has potentially severe environmental risks under continuous anthropogenic disturbances. Therefore, to protect the ecological and cultural values of the Grand Canal, it is necessary to assess the corresponding relationship of water quality to land use and the perception of ecosystem services that focus on cultural ecosystem services (CES). This study aims to analyze the water quality response to land use in the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, describe the land use types closely related to water quality, and propose corresponding management strategies for enhancing CES. This study investigated the impacts of land use structure and landscape pattern on water quality by calculating the correlation between land use structure and landscape pattern indices and water quality in buffer zones of different distances on both sides of the canal. The results show that green land dominates the land use structure and can effectively reduce water pollution in the canal. On the other hand, urban impervious surfaces showed a significant positive correlation with pollution contributing to low water quality. We accessed the impact of water quality on the perception of CES in the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and proposed optimization strategies for promoting CES. Both content analysis and thematic analysis were applied to analyze the impact of the water environment quality of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal on the perception of CES. We found that the perceptions of CES along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal are associated with the public’s opinions on its cultural heritage services and artistic inspiration services. The perceptions of CES are closely related to the quality of the water environment and riparian greenness, which affect the values of cultural heritage and conservation of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Real-time automatic detection of microcracks in eggs is crucial for ensuring egg quality and safety, yet rapid detection of micron-scale cracks remains challenging. This study introduces a real-time ConvNext-Based U-Net model with Feature Infusion (CBU-FI Net) for egg microcrack detection. Leveraging edge features and spatial continuity of cracks, we incorporate an edge feature infusion module in the encoder and design a multi-scale feature aggregation strategy in the decoder to enhance the extraction of both local details and global semantic information. By introducing large convolution kernels and depth-wise separable convolution from ConvNext, the model significantly reduces network parameters compared to the original U-Net. Additionally, a composite loss function is devised to address class imbalance issues. Experimental results on a dataset comprising over 3400 graded egg microcrack image patches demonstrate that CBU-FI Net achieves a reduction in parameters to one-third the amount in the original U-Net, with an inference speed of 21 ms per image (1 million pixels). The model achieves a Crack-IoU of 65.51% for microcracks smaller than 20 μm and a Crack-IoU and MIoU of 60.76% and 80.22%, respectively, for even smaller cracks (less than 5 μm), achieving high-precision, real-time detection of egg microcracks. Furthermore, on the publicly benchmarked CrackSeg9k dataset, CBU-FI Net achieves an inference speed of 4 ms for 400 × 400 resolution images, with an MIoU of 81.38%, proving the proposed method’s robustness and generalization capability across various cracks and complex backgrounds.

Observational studies revealed changes in Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation during the aging process. However, it lacks causal insights and remains unclear in which direction causal relationships exist. The two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) design was adopted to explore causal associations between IgG N-glycans and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Inverse variance weighted (IVW) and Wald ratio methods were used as the main analyses, supplemented by sensitivity analyses. Forward MR analyses revealed causal associations between the glycan peak (GP) and SASP, including GP6 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.428, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.189–0.969) and GP17 (OR = 0.709, 95%CI = 0.504–0.995) with growth/differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), GP19 with an advanced glycosylation end-product-specific receptor (RAGE) (OR = 2.142, 95% CI = 1.384–3.316), and GP15 with matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) (OR = 1.136, 95% CI =1.008–1.282). The reverse MR indicated that genetic liability to RAGE was associated with increased levels of GP17 (OR = 1.125, 95% CI = 1.003–1.261) and GP24 (OR = 1.222, 95% CI = 1.046–1.428), while pulmonary and activation-regulated chemokines (PARC) exhibited causal associations with GP10 (OR = 1.269, 95% CI = 1.048–1.537) and GP15 (OR = 1.297, 95% CI = 1.072–1.570). The findings provided suggested evidence on the bidirectional causality between IgG N-glycans and SASP, which might reveal potential regulatory mechanisms.

Background: Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation is considered a potential biomarker for aging and various pathological conditions. However, whether these changes in IgG N-glycosylation are a consequence or a contributor to the aging process remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the causality between IgG N-glycosylation and aging using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. Methods: We utilized genetic variants associated with IgG N-glycosylation traits, the frailty index (FI), and leukocyte telomere length (LTL) from a previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) on individuals of European ancestry. Two-sample and multivariable MR analyses were conducted, employing the inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess potential confounding factors. Results: Using the IVW method, we found suggestive evidence of a causal association between GP14 and FI (β 0.026, 95% CI 0.003 to 0.050, p = 0.027) and LTL (β −0.020, 95% CI −0.037 to −0.002, p = 0.029) in the two-sample MR analysis. In the multivariable MR analysis, suggestive evidence was found for GP23 and FI (β −0.119, 95% CI −0.219 to −0.019, p = 0.019) and GP2 and LTL (β 0.140, 95% CI 0.020 to 0.260, p = 0.023). Conclusions: In conclusion, our results supported a potentially causal effect of lower GP23 levels on an advanced aging state. Additional verification is required to further substantiate the causal relationship between glycosylation and aging.

Children’s respiratory health is vulnerable to air pollution. Based on data collected from June 2019 to June 2022 at a children’s hospital in Zhengzhou, China, this study utilized Spearman correlation analysis and a generalized additive model (GAM) to examine the relationship between daily visits for common respiratory issues in children and air pollutant concentrations. Results show that the number of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), pneumonia (PNMN), bronchitis (BCT), and bronchiolitis (BCLT) visits in children showed a positive correlation with PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, and CO while exhibiting a negative correlation with temperature and relative humidity. The highest increases in PNMN visits in children were observed at lag 07 for NO2, SO2, and CO. A rise of 10 μg/m3 in NO2, 1 μg/m3 in SO2, and 0.1 mg/m3 in CO corresponded to an increase of 9.7%, 2.91%, and 5.16% in PNMN visits, respectively. The effects of air pollutants on the number of BCT and BCLT visits were more pronounced in boys compared to girls, whereas no significant differences were observed in the number of URTI and PNMN visits based on sex. Overall, air pollutants significantly affect the prevalence of respiratory diseases in children, and it is crucial to improve air quality to protect the children’s respiratory health.

(1) Background: Traditional dressings can only superficially cover the wound, they have widespread issues with inadequate bacterial isolation and liquid absorption, and it is simple to inflict secondary wound injury when changing dressings. Therefore, it is crucial for wound healing to develop a new kind of antimicrobial colloidal dressing with good antibacterial, hygroscopic, and biocompatible qualities. (2) Methods: Ag-montmorillonite/chitosan (Ag-MMT/CS) colloid, a new type of antibacterial material, was prepared from two eco-friendly materials—namely, montmorillonite and chitosan—as auxiliary materials, wherein these materials were mixed with the natural metal Ag, which is an antibacterial agent. The optimum preparation technology was explored, and Ag-MMT/CS was characterized. Next, Staphylococcus aureus, which is a common skin infection bacterium, was considered as the experimental strain, and the in vitro antibacterial activity and cytocompatibility of the Ag-MMT/CS colloid were investigated through various experiments. Subsequently, a rat skin infection model was established to explore the in vivo antibacterial effect. (3) Results: In vitro studies revealed that the Ag-MMT/CS colloid had a good antibacterial effect on S. aureus, with an inhibition zone diameter of 18 mm and an antibacterial rate of 99.18%. After co-culture with cells for 24 h and 72 h, the cell survival rates were 88% and 94%, respectively. The cells showed normal growth and proliferation, and no evident dead cells were observed under the laser confocal microscope. After applying the colloid to the rat skin infection model, the Ag-MMT/CS treatment group exhibited faster wound healing and better local exudation and absorption in the wound than the control group, suggesting that the Ag-MMT/CS colloid exhibited a better antibacterial effect on the S. aureus. (4) Conclusions: Ag+, chitosan, and MMT present in the Ag-MMT/CS colloid dressing exert synergistic effects, and it has good antibacterial effects, cytocompatibility, and hygroscopicity, indicating that this colloid has the potential to become a next-generation clinical antibacterial dressing.

The space charge accumulation is an important factor to design the oil-pressboard composite insulation of convertor transformer, which is greatly affected by the temperature. In this paper, the space charge accumulation and attenuation in the two layers and single layer under DC voltage were studied by the Pulsed Electro-Acoustic Method from 20°C to 60°C, and the electric field distribution was calculated by the space charge distribution. The studied results have indicated that the distributions of space charge and electric field in the test results do not follow the Maxwell-Wagner polarization. The space charge distribution is affected by the surface trap, bulk trap, charge migration and electric field. The temperature affected the polarity and amount of the charge at oil-pressboard interface. The space charge accumulation of the two layers is more complex than that of the single layer, and the space charge accumulation and attenuation of two layers need longer time to reach the stable stage. The space charge accumulation in the single layer is largest at 40°C, whereas the space charge accumulation in the two layers is largest at 20°C. Moreover, the increase in the temperature increases the attenuation amplitude and speed of space charge.

With the fast pace of global urbanization, anthropogenic disturbances not only lead to frequent disasters, but also cause direct and indirect ecological and economic losses. To reduce the adverse effects of anthropogenic disturbances as part of sustainable ecosystem management, assessments of habitat quality and ecological risk are necessary. The objectives of this study are to analyze environmental conditions of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal (Suzhou section) for evaluating habitat quality and habitat degradation, and to conduct ecological-risk early warning assessment in this section. The Grand Canal is the longest and first canal in the world to be artificially excavated from natural rivers and lakes. By evaluating habitat quality using the InVEST suite of open-source software models for mapping and valuing the ecosystem, it was found that the natural lands with high habitat quality such as wetlands, forests and lakes along the Suzhou section of the Grand Canal have gradually decreased, while construction lands such as roads and buildings have gradually increased; there is a clear trend of decreasing areas with high habitat quality and increasing areas with low habitat quality, which is likely the result of urbanization. It was also found that the region has a high habitat degradation index, meaning that areas located at the junction of different land types are vulnerable to the surrounding environment due to narrow buffer zones that allow areas with high habitat quality to be easily affected by areas with low habitat quality. In terms of ecological risks, it was found that the natural land area with high habitat quality in the downstream locations was declining, thereby increasing the risks of pollution and flooding events while reducing the ecosystem’s resilience. The valuation model used in this study can be used as an effective decision-support tool to prioritize important ecological areas for conservation in the Grand Canal, and can also be adapted for use in the ecosystem management of other regions.

With the development of chemical industry and the continuous improvement of infrastructure, logistics is becoming more and more important in the national economy. The problem of vehicle routing has been widely used in transportation, logistics, vehicles scheduling and industrial production. A reasonable distribution route can improve the efficiency of logistics distribution and reduce the cost. Because of its particularity, the chemical products have higher requirements for the vehicle flow, road condition and total mileage of the delivery route. In this paper, a dynamic particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed by introducing the dynamic inertia weight coefficient, which balances the global search ability and the local search ability. Firstly, the theory of traditional particle swarm optimization (PSO) is introduced. Secondly, by optimizing the traditional weighting coefficients, we propose a dynamic particle swarm optimization algorithm, which improves the convergence speed effectively. Thirdly, based on the spatial geographic information technology (GIS), the distribution management information platform of chemical products is designed in detail. Finally, the path optimization algorithm proposed in this paper is simulated and verified. The results show that the improved algorithm can quickly and effectively determine the delivery route, which has great application value.

The electric field distortion caused by space charge is an important factor affecting the operation reliability of oil–paper insulation in a converter transformer. To study the accumulation and decay characteristics of the space charge within oil-impregnated pressboard under DC and polarity reversal voltage, and consider the possible operating conditions of the converter transformer, the space charge behavior of oil-impregnated pressboard was measured by the pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) method in the temperature range from −20 °C to 60 °C. The effect of temperature on the accumulation and decay characteristics of space charge is also analyzed. The space charge accumulated within the pressboard at low temperature is mainly homocharge injected by the electrode, while heterocharge formed by ion dissociation counteracts some of the homocharge at high temperature. Thus, the space charge of pressboard first increases, then decreases, with an increase in temperature. However, slow decay of the space charge causes severe distortion of the electric field distribution in the pressboard during voltage polarity reversal.

The optimistic multigranulation T-fuzzy rough set model was established based on multiple granulations under T-fuzzy approximation space by Xu et al., 2012. From the reference, a natural idea is to consider pessimistic multigranulation model in T-fuzzy approximation space. So, in this paper, the main objective is to make further studies according to Xu et al., 2012. The optimistic multigranulation T-fuzzy rough set model is improved deeply by investigating some further properties. And a complete multigranulation T-fuzzy rough set model is constituted by addressing the pessimistic multigranulation T-fuzzy rough set. The full important properties of multigranulation T-fuzzy lower and upper approximation operators are also presented. Moreover, relationships between multigranulation and classical T-fuzzy rough sets have been studied carefully. From the relationships, we can find that the T-fuzzy rough set model is a special instance of the two new types of models. In order to interpret and illustrate optimistic and pessimistic multigranulation T-fuzzy rough set models, a case is considered, which is helpful for applying these theories to practical issues.