Background Sex hormones play important roles in the estrus return of post-weaning sows.Previous studies have demonstrated a complex and bi-directional regulation between sex hormones and gut microbiota.However,the ext...Background Sex hormones play important roles in the estrus return of post-weaning sows.Previous studies have demonstrated a complex and bi-directional regulation between sex hormones and gut microbiota.However,the extent to which the gut microbiota affects estrus return of post-weaning sows is largely unknown.Results In this study,we first screened 207 fecal samples from well-phenotyped sows by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and identified significant associations between microbes and estrus return of post-weaning sows.Using metagenomic sequencing data from 85 fecal samples,we identified 37 bacterial species that were significantly associated with estrus return.Normally returning sows were characterized by increased abundances of L.reuteri and P.copri and decreased abundances of B.fragilis,S.suis,and B.pseudolongum.The changes in gut microbial composition significantly altered the functional capacity of steroid hormone biosynthesis in the gut microbiome.The results were confirmed in a validation cohort.Significant changes in sex steroid hormones and related compounds were found between normal and non-return sows via metabolome analysis.An integrated analysis of differential bacterial species,metagenome,and fecal metabolome provided evidence that normal return-associated bacterial species L.reuteri and Prevotella spp.participated in the degradation of pregnenolone,progesterone,and testosterone,thereby promoting estrogen biosynthesis.Furthermore,the microbial metabolites related to sow energy and nutrient supply or metabolic disorders also showed relationships with sow estrus return.Conclusions An integrated analysis of differentially abundant bacterial species,metagenome,and fecal metabolome revealed the involvement of L.reuteri and Prevotella spp.in sow estrus return.These findings provide deep insight into the role of gut microbiota in the estrus return of post-weaning sows and the complex cross-talk between gut microbiota and sex hormones,suggesting that the manipulation of the gut microbiota could be an effective strategy to improve sow estrus return after weaning.展开更多
BACKGROUND:Unsustained return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC)is a critical barrier to survival in cardiac arrest patients.This study examined whether end-tidal carbon dioxide(ETCO_(2))and pulse oximetry photoplethysm...BACKGROUND:Unsustained return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC)is a critical barrier to survival in cardiac arrest patients.This study examined whether end-tidal carbon dioxide(ETCO_(2))and pulse oximetry photoplethysmogram(POP)parameters can be used to identify unsustained ROSC.METHODS:We conducted a multicenter observational prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with cardiac arrest from 2013 to 2014.Patients’general information,ETCO_(2),and POP parameters were collected and statistically analyzed.RESULTS:The included 105 ROSC episodes(from 80 cardiac arrest patients)comprised 51 sustained ROSC episodes and 54 unsustained ROSC episodes.The 24-hour survival rate was significantly higher in the sustained ROSC group than in the unsustained ROSC group(29.2%vs.9.4%,P<0.05).The logistic regression analysis showed that the difference between after and before ROSC in ETCO_(2)(ΔETCO_(2))and the difference between after and before ROCS in area under the curve of POP(ΔAUCp)were independently associated with sustained ROSC(odds ratio[OR]=0.931,95%confi dence interval[95%CI]0.881-0.984,P=0.011 and OR=0.998,95%CI 0.997-0.999,P<0.001).The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve ofΔETCO_(2),ΔAUCp,and the combination of both to predict unsustained ROSC were 0.752(95%CI 0.660-0.844),0.883(95%CI 0.818-0.948),and 0.902(95%CI 0.842-0.962),respectively.CONCLUSION:Patients with unsustained ROSC have a poor prognosis.The combination ofΔETCO_(2) andΔAUCp showed signifi cant predictive value for unsustained ROSC.展开更多
BACKGROUND Lateral ankle sprains are the most common traumatic musculoskeletal injuries of the lower extremity,with an incidence rate of 15%-20%.The high incidence and prevalence highlights the economic impact of this...BACKGROUND Lateral ankle sprains are the most common traumatic musculoskeletal injuries of the lower extremity,with an incidence rate of 15%-20%.The high incidence and prevalence highlights the economic impact of this injury.Ankle sprains lead to a high socioeconomic burden due to the combination of the high injury incidence and high medical expenses.Up to 40%of patients who suffer from an ankle sprain develop chronic ankle instability.Chronic instability can lead to prolonged periods of pain,immobility and injury recurrence.Identification of factors that influence return to work(RTW)and return to sports(RTS)after a lateral ankle sprain(LAS)may help seriously reduce healthcare costs.AIM To explore which factors may potentially affect RTW and RTS after sustaining an LAS.METHODS EMBASE and PubMed were systematically searched for relevant studies published until June 2023.Inclusion criteria were as follows:(1)Injury including LAS or chronic ankle instability;(2)Described any form of treatment;(3)Assessment of RTW or RTS;(4)Studies published in English;and(5)Study designs including randomized controlled clinical trials,clinical trials or cohort studies.Exclusion criteria were:(1)Studies involving children(age<16 year);or(2)Patients with concomitant ankle injury besides lateral ankle ligament damage.A quality assessment was performed for each of the included studies using established risk of bias tools.Additionally quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADEpro tool in cases where outcomes were included in the quantitative analysis.A best evidence synthesis was performed in cases of qualitative outcome analysis.For all studied outcomes suitable for quantitative analysis a forest plot was created to calculate the effect on RTW and RTS.RESULTS A total of 8904 patients were included in 21 studies,10 randomized controlled trials,7 retrospective cohort studies and 4 prospective cohort studies.Fifteen studies were eligible for meta-analysis.The overall RTS rate ranged were 80%and 83%in the all treatments pool and surgical treatments pool,respectively.The pooled mean days to RTS ranged from 23-93 d.The overall RTW rate was 89%.The pooled mean time to RTW ranged from 5.8-8.1 d.For patients with chronic ankle instability,higher preoperative motivation was the sole factor significantly and independently(P=0.001)associated with the rate of and time to RTS following ligament repair or reconstruction.Higher body mass index was identified as a significant factor(P=0.04)linked to not resuming sports or returning at a lower level(median 24,range 20-37),compared to those who resumed at the same or higher level(median 23,range 17-38).Patients with a history of psychological illness or brain injury,experienced a delay in their rehabilitation process for sprains with fractures and unspecified sprains.The extent of the delayed rehabilitation was directly proportional to the increased likelihood of experiencing a recurrence of the ankle sprain and the number of ankle-related medical visits.We also observed that 10%of athletes who did return to sport after lateral ankle sprain without fractures described non-ankle-related reasons for not returning.CONCLUSION All treatments yielded comparable results,with each treatment potentially offering unique advantages or benefits.Preoperative motivation may influence rehabilitation after LAS.Grading which factor had a greater impact was not possible due to the lack of comparability among the included patients.展开更多
It is important to calculate the reachable domain(RD)of the manned lunar mission to evaluate whether a lunar landing site could be reached by the spacecraft. In this paper, the RD of free return orbits is quickly eval...It is important to calculate the reachable domain(RD)of the manned lunar mission to evaluate whether a lunar landing site could be reached by the spacecraft. In this paper, the RD of free return orbits is quickly evaluated and calculated via the classification and regression neural networks. An efficient databasegeneration method is developed for obtaining eight types of free return orbits and then the RD is defined by the orbit’s inclination and right ascension of ascending node(RAAN) at the perilune. A classify neural network and a regression network are trained respectively. The former is built for classifying the type of the RD, and the latter is built for calculating the inclination and RAAN of the RD. The simulation results show that two neural networks are well trained. The classification model has an accuracy of more than 99% and the mean square error of the regression model is less than 0.01°on the test set. Moreover, a serial strategy is proposed to combine the two surrogate models and a recognition tool is built to evaluate whether a lunar site could be reached. The proposed deep learning method shows the superiority in computation efficiency compared with the traditional double two-body model.展开更多
Objective: The paper aims to analyze the dynamic characteristics of litter production and nutrient return of the forest ecosystems in subtropical areas, and provide a theoretical basis for the nutrient cycling study i...Objective: The paper aims to analyze the dynamic characteristics of litter production and nutrient return of the forest ecosystems in subtropical areas, and provide a theoretical basis for the nutrient cycling study in southwest Hubei Province and carbon sink function of the whole forest ecosystem. Methods: Three typical forest stands (Chinese fir plantation, Cryptomeria fortunei plantation and evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest) in Golden Mountain Forest Farm in southwest Hubei Province were investigated and monitored continuously for the litter types and productivity and nutrient return. Results: The annual litter productivity of the three forest stands ranged from 161.77 to 396.26 kg·hm<sup>-2</sup>;Litters of branches, leaves and reproductive organs accounted for 14.14% - 20.85%, 33.26% - 78.33%, 7.52% - 42.18% of the total, respectively;The litter productivity and total litter productivity of each composition in the three forest stands show unimodal or bimodal changes over months, and the total litter productivity reached the highest value in January, April and October respectively. For different nutrient contents of the three forest stands, the common feature is C > N. The order of nutrient return amount from greatest to least is evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest, Cryptomeria fortunei plantation and Chinese fir plantation. For different nutrient return amounts, the common feature is C > N, and the nutrient return amounts are 76.51-180.69 kg·hm<sup>-2</sup> and 2.3 - 5.71 kg·hm<sup>-2</sup> respectively. Conclusion: The annual litter productivity and nutrient return amount of the evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest are the highest among the three forest stands. Therefore, protecting the evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest and studying the litter changes of Chinese fir plantation and Cryptomeria fortunei plantation are of far-reaching significance for the development of sustainable forest management in this region and the further improvement of the carbon sequestration function of the whole forest ecosystem.展开更多
Inland fishing predominates in the Kedougou region, which has no coastline. This type of fishing does not yet meet the local population’s demand for fish products. In response to this concern, a Community Agricultura...Inland fishing predominates in the Kedougou region, which has no coastline. This type of fishing does not yet meet the local population’s demand for fish products. In response to this concern, a Community Agricultural Estate housing an integrated fish farm was set up in the commune of Bandafassi, in the village of Itato. Since its creation, this production unit has been faced with the problem of sourcing high-quality, low-cost, monosex male Oreochromis niloticus fry. In order to overcome this constraint, the present research focuses on the contribution of Garcinia kola to the productivity and economic profitability of the Itato farm. The aim of the research is to assess fish production in the experimental set-up and the production costs of tilapia in a controlled environment. The comparative study of the various production factors shows disparities only in the input factor, where scenarios 2 and 3 use additional products. These are 17-α-methytestosterone for scenario 2 and Garcinia kola for scenario 3. These products significantly interfere with fish production, with a fairly high mortality rate for scenario 2 (25% for two production cycles/ cohort2 (B5, B6, B7 and B8) treated with 17-α-methytestosterone). As for scenarios 1 and 3, mortalities are 5% with or without recourse to additional products (G. kola). In addition, average fish production for the three (03) scenarios is estimated at 28687.5 kg/2 cycles. It varies from one scenario to another, i.e. 30937.5 kg/2 cycles for scenarios 1 and 3 and 24187.5 kg/2 cycles for scenario 2. It is therefore higher in scenarios 1 and 3 than in scenario 2. This difference is due to the fairly large losses of individuals in scenario 2. Furthermore, the analysis of the profit and loss accounts for tilapia production varies from one scenario to another depending on the type of farm: 476 Franc CFA for scenario 1, 610 Franc CFA for scenario 2 and 472 Franc CFA for scenario 3 (F CFA = franc of the French Colonies of Africa). The Average operating income for all the fish farming units is 34,726,142 Franc CFA. The highest (41,638,075 Franc CFA) and lowest (29,281,075 Franc CFA) ERs were observed in scenarios 3 and 2 respectively. It was 33,259,275 Franc CFA for scenario 1. The difference between the NERs of the three scenarios is more or less significant in terms of results. The operating result (OR) is positive in all 3 scenarios in our study. However, the scenario 3 system generates a higher rate of return (the ratio between an income and the capital employed to obtain that income) (74%) than that generated by the scenario 1 system (69%). As for the scenario 2 system, it generates a lower financial return than the two previous systems (67%). Above all, this work made it possible to construct an approach that would make it possible to answer such a question by relying successively on various methods: a typology, according to the production factors involved in the operation of the Community Agricultural Estate fish farm.展开更多
Objective To study the profit model of Chinese pharmaceutical O2O enterprises.Methods A case study of three typical pharmaceutical O2O enterprises was conducted,and their profit models were compared.Results and Conclu...Objective To study the profit model of Chinese pharmaceutical O2O enterprises.Methods A case study of three typical pharmaceutical O2O enterprises was conducted,and their profit models were compared.Results and Conclusion The pharmaceutical O2O enterprises in China are divided into three categories according to the profit models.It is found that the current pharmaceutical O2O enterprises have problems such as simple profit model and low corporate profits.Based on these problems,it is recommended that relevant enterprises develop various business models to increase profit channels.Besides,they should establish and improve internal cost control systems.展开更多
The latest regulatory framework,which has been introduced globally in the form of Basel III,and its implementation in the legislation of the member states of the Euro-pean Union has generated much interest in the impa...The latest regulatory framework,which has been introduced globally in the form of Basel III,and its implementation in the legislation of the member states of the Euro-pean Union has generated much interest in the impact of regulation on the efficiency and profitability of banks.This study aims to examine the impact of the introduction of two major regulatory changes(Basel II and Basel III)on bank performance,in terms of bank size and bank-specific and macroeconomic variables.A two-stage empirical anal-ysis was conducted on a sample of 433 European commercial banks over the 2006–2015 period.In the first stage,relative efficiency was calculated using non-parametric data envelopment analysis.In the second stage,the generalized method of moments was used to examine the impact of bank-specific and macroeconomic variables as well as regulation on bank performance,that is,profitability and efficiency.Consider-ing bank size,the results show a diverse impact of regulation on bank performance.Regarding large-and medium-sized banks,regulation positively affects both efficiency and profitability,whereas,for small banks,it negatively affects performance.The results suggest that larger banks have skillfully adapted to the new regulatory environment.In contrast,small banks have problems with profitability and efficiency because the new regulatory framework has imposed additional administrative and regulatory burdens.This could result in future failure or mergers with larger banks,resulting in a higher concentration in the banking sector and increased systemic risk.Our results strongly suggest that regulation should not be implemented equally for all banks;that is,on a one size fits all terms.A distinction between small and large banks when introducing new regulatory frameworks should be made if a reasonable level of competition is to be preserved.展开更多
In recent times,financial globalization has drastically increased in different ways to improve the quality of services with advanced resources.The successful applications of bitcoin Blockchain(BC)techniques enable the...In recent times,financial globalization has drastically increased in different ways to improve the quality of services with advanced resources.The successful applications of bitcoin Blockchain(BC)techniques enable the stockholders to worry about the return and risk of financial products.The stockholders focused on the prediction of return rate and risk rate of financial products.Therefore,an automatic return rate bitcoin prediction model becomes essential for BC financial products.The newly designed machine learning(ML)and deep learning(DL)approaches pave the way for return rate predictive method.This study introduces a novel Jellyfish search optimization based extreme learning machine with autoencoder(JSO-ELMAE)for return rate prediction of BC financial products.The presented JSO-ELMAE model designs a new ELMAE model for predicting the return rate of financial products.Besides,the JSO algorithm is exploited to tune the parameters related to the ELMAE model which in turn boosts the classification results.The application of JSO technique assists in optimal parameter adjustment of the ELMAE model to predict the bitcoin return rates.The experimental validation of the JSO-ELMAE model was executed and the outcomes are inspected in many aspects.The experimental values demonstrated the enhanced performance of the JSO-ELMAE model over recent state of art approaches with minimal RMSE of 0.1562.展开更多
The out-of-sample R^(2) is designed to measure forecasting performance without look-ahead bias.However,researchers can hack this performance metric even without multiple tests by constructing a prediction model using ...The out-of-sample R^(2) is designed to measure forecasting performance without look-ahead bias.However,researchers can hack this performance metric even without multiple tests by constructing a prediction model using the intuition derived from empirical properties that appear only in the test sample.Using ensemble machine learning techniques,we create a virtual environment that prevents researchers from peeking into the intuition in advance when performing out-of-sample prediction simulations.We apply this approach to robust monitoring,exploiting a dynamic shrink-age effect by switching between a proposed forecast and a benchmark.Considering stock return forecasting as an example,we show that the resulting robust monitoring forecast improves the average performance of the proposed forecast by 15%(in terms of mean-squared-error)and reduces the variance of its relative performance by 46%while avoiding the out-of-sample R^(2)-hacking problem.Our approach,as a final touch,can further enhance the performance and stability of forecasts from any models and methods.展开更多
High-frequency(HF)and ultrahigh-frequency(UHF)dual-band radio frequency identification(RFID)tags with both near-field and farfield communication can meet different application scenarios.However,it is time-consuming to...High-frequency(HF)and ultrahigh-frequency(UHF)dual-band radio frequency identification(RFID)tags with both near-field and farfield communication can meet different application scenarios.However,it is time-consuming to calculate the return loss of a UHF antenna in a dualband tag antenna using electromagnetic(EM)simulators.To overcome this,the present work proposes a model of a multi-scale convolutional neural network stacked with long and short-term memory(MSCNN-LSTM)for predicting the return loss of UHF antennas instead of EM simulators.In the proposed MSCNN-LSTM,the MSCNN has three branches,which include three convolution layers with different kernel sizes and numbers.Therefore,MSCNN can extract fine-grain localized information of the antenna and overall features.The LSTM can effectively learn the EM characteristics of different structures of the antenna to improve the prediction accuracy of the model.Experimental results show that the mean absolute error(0.0073),mean square error(0.00032),and root mean square error(0.01814)of theMSCNNLSTM are better than those of other prediction methods.In predicting the return loss of 100UHFantennas,compared with the simulation time of 4800 s for High Frequency Structure Simulator(HFSS),MSCNN-LSTM takes only 0.927519 s under the premise of ensuring prediction accuracy,significantly reducing the calculation time,which provides a basis for the rapid design of HF-UHF RFID tag antenna.ThenMSCNN-LSTM is used to determine the dimensions of the UHF antenna quickly.The return loss of the designed dualband RFID tag antenna is−58.76 and−22.63 dB at 13.56 and 915 MHz,respectively,achieving the desired goal.展开更多
Capital structure is regarded as the combination of debt and equity firms used to finance operations and investments.The choice of capital structure significantly impacts a company’s cost of capital,profitability,and...Capital structure is regarded as the combination of debt and equity firms used to finance operations and investments.The choice of capital structure significantly impacts a company’s cost of capital,profitability,and risk profile.Among a series of factors that affect capital structure,this paper focuses on stock returns and market timing.In this review,an array of papers is analyzed to summarize what current research claims regarding the influence of stock returns and market timing on capital structure.This paper centers on the stock return and market timing theories and also discusses other theories like the trade-off theory,the pecking order theory,and the signaling theory.展开更多
Introduction: Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) aims at preventing malaria in children during the high transmission season. It has been recommended by the WHO since 2013 for children from the age of 3-59 months. ...Introduction: Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) aims at preventing malaria in children during the high transmission season. It has been recommended by the WHO since 2013 for children from the age of 3-59 months. However, despite the impact of this intervention, a peak in the prevalence and incidence of malaria is observed in children from the age of 5-9 years. The aim of this study is to determine from the current literature the feasibility, impact and cost-effectiveness of extending SMC to five cycles and to older children. Methods: A litterature search of PubMed/Medline, NCBI and Google scholar identified 1333 articles. After reading the titles and abstracts by two authors, 24 articles were selected and submitted for full reading. Random control studies on the extension of SMC, malaria, feasibility of SMC, impact of SMC and cost-effectiveness of SMC were selected. A total of 16 articles were included for the qualitative synthesis after excluding 8 studies. Results: Following the summary of the evidence, we conclude that the extension is feasible but will be confronted with the unavailability of older children. The intervention period coincides with field work. SMC is effective in reducing the prevalence and incidence of malaria and the parasite density in children. The financial cost of administering SMC is lower than that of treating a child suffering from malaria. Conclusion: After analysing the information, it was found that the majority of the African population supports the extension of the SMC to the number of cycles and the age group in order to alleviate the high mortality and morbidity rates among children due to malaria.展开更多
Intercropping involves the cultivation of more than one crop on a plot of land at a particular time.Tea intercropping with other crops can increase the profitability of farmers and the development of tea plants.The st...Intercropping involves the cultivation of more than one crop on a plot of land at a particular time.Tea intercropping with other crops can increase the profitability of farmers and the development of tea plants.The study estimated the profitability level of intercropped tea farms and determined the factors affecting the profitability of tea intercropping systems in the study area.Information was obtained from two hundred and four tea farmers using a well-structured questionnaire.The analytical techniques used in the study were descriptive analysis and linear regression.The results revealed that the majority(95.6%)of the farmers are from Kakara and Nyiwa towns.There are few(2.9%)women involved in tea farming in Taraba State.29%of the tea farmers are young less than 30 years and old above 60 years.Fifteen percent of the farmers are single,83.8%are married and 1.5%are divorced.About 40%of the tea farmers had no formal education,21%have between 1-6 years of education,19%had 7-12 years of education and 21%had greater than 12 years of education.The gross margin is N289,900,581.9 and the gross margin per farmer is N1,421,081.28.The net income is N2,879,055,533.3 and the net income per farmer is N1,411,301.63.The amount of profit tea farmers make in Taraba State is N1,425,001 and the profit per farmer is N6,985.30.Labour costs(weeding,pruning,application of insecticide,watering)and cost of materials(cutlass,file,chemical,bag and others)are significant determinants of the profit level of the tea intercropping system in Taraba State.Tea intercropping farming is profitable in Taraba State Nigeria.展开更多
International guidelines for post-cardiac arrest care recommend using multi-modal strategies to avoid the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy(WLST)in patients with the potential for neurological recovery.[1]However,...International guidelines for post-cardiac arrest care recommend using multi-modal strategies to avoid the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy(WLST)in patients with the potential for neurological recovery.[1]However,a clear methodology for multi-modal approaches has yet to be developed.Neuron-specific enolase(NSE)is currently the only recommended biomarker,and the European Resuscitation Council(ERC)and the European SocietyofIntensiveCareMedicine(ESICM)have proposed a cutoff value of 60μg/L at 48 and/or 72 h after the return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC)as a multimodal prognostic tool for predicting poor neurological outcomes.展开更多
Straw return is a promising strategy for managing soil organic carbon(SOC)and improving yield stability.However,the optimal straw return strategy for sustainable crop production in the wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)-cott...Straw return is a promising strategy for managing soil organic carbon(SOC)and improving yield stability.However,the optimal straw return strategy for sustainable crop production in the wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)-cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.)cropping system remains uncertain.The objective of this study was to quantify the long-term(10 years)impact of carbon(C)input on SOC sequestration,soil aggregation and crop yields in a wheat-cotton cropping system in the Yangtze River Valley,China.Five treatments were arranged with a single-factor randomized design as follows:no straw return(Control),return of wheat straw only(Wt),return of cotton straw only(Ct),return of 50%wheat and 50%cotton straw(Wh-Ch)and return of 100%wheat and 100%cotton straw(Wt-Ct).In comparison to the Control,the SOC content increased by 8.4 to 20.2%under straw return.A significant linear positive correlation between SOC sequestration and C input(1.42-7.19 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(−1))(P<0.05)was detected.The percentages of aggregates of sizes>2 and 1-2 mm at the 0-20 cm soil depth were also significantly elevated under straw return,with the greatest increase of the aggregate stability in the Wt-Ct treatment(28.1%).The average wheat yields increased by 12.4-36.0%and cotton yields increased by 29.4-73.7%,and significantly linear positive correlations were also detected between C input and the yields of wheat and cotton.The average sustainable yield index(SYI)reached a maximum value of 0.69 when the C input was 7.08 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(−1),which was close to the maximum value(SYI of 0.69,C input of 7.19 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(-1))in the Wt-Ct treatment.Overall,the return of both wheat and cotton straw was the best strategy for improving SOC sequestration,soil aggregation,yields and their sustainability in the wheat-cotton rotation system.展开更多
Introduction: Motorcyclists bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from road accidents. In addition, the consequences of these accidents affect the ability of victims to return to work. This study a...Introduction: Motorcyclists bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from road accidents. In addition, the consequences of these accidents affect the ability of victims to return to work. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with non-return to work among surviving motorcyclists involved in road accidents 12 months after the event. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted using data from a cohort of motorcyclists involved in accidents and recruited in five hospitals in Benin from July 2019 to January 2020. The dependent variable was non-return to work 12 months after the accident (yes vs no). The independent variables were categorized into two groups: baseline and 12-month follow-up variables. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with non-return to work at 12 months among the participants. Results: Among the 362 participants, 55 (15.19%, 95% CI = 11.84 - 19.29) had not returned to work 12 months after the accident. Risk factors for non-return to work identified were: smoking (aOR = 4.41, 95% CI = 1.44 - 13.56, p = 0.010), hospitalization (aOR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.14 - 7.24, p Conclusion: The prevalence of non-return to work at 12 months was high among surviving motorcyclists involved in road accidents in Benin. Integrated support for patients based on identified risk factors should effectively improve their return to work.展开更多
With the accelerated evolution of the global transformation unseen in a century,the year of 2023 came to an end amid turmoil and uncertainty in the world.The crisis in Ukraine was not resolved,the Palestinian-Israeli ...With the accelerated evolution of the global transformation unseen in a century,the year of 2023 came to an end amid turmoil and uncertainty in the world.The crisis in Ukraine was not resolved,the Palestinian-Israeli conflict resumed,the world economy was in a downturn,and the restructuring of global industrial and supply chains was accelerating.Under the“scar eff ect”of the COVID-19 pandemic,the world entered a new normal of political turmoil and economic mediocrity.The change of the times and the transformation of the international system and order are the root causes of turbulence in the contemporary world.People in the world do not want to go to a“new Cold War”,but it is diffi cult to return to the“old-day cooperation”.With the call for“cool war”and“cold peace”rising,the international order has entered an“era of uncertainty”.展开更多
Modern financial theory, commonly known as portfolio theory, provides an analytical framework for the investment decision to be made under uncertainty. It is a well-established proposition in portfolio theory that whe...Modern financial theory, commonly known as portfolio theory, provides an analytical framework for the investment decision to be made under uncertainty. It is a well-established proposition in portfolio theory that whenever there is an imperfect correlation between returns risk is reduced by maintaining only a portion of wealth in any asset, or by selecting a portfolio according to expected returns and correlations between returns. The major improvement of the portfolio approaches over prior received theory is the incorporation of 1) the riskiness of an asset and 2) the addition from investing in any asset. The theme of this paper is to discuss how to propose a new mathematical model like that provided by Markowitz, which helps in choosing a nearly perfect portfolio and an efficient input/output. Besides applying this model to reality, the researcher uses game theory, stochastic and linear programming to provide the model proposed and then uses this model to select a perfect portfolio in the Cairo Stock Exchange. The results are fruitful and the researcher considers this model a new contribution to previous models.展开更多
The study examined profitability of tomato production in Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State.A three-stage sampling technique was used to select 96 tomato producers.Data were collected using a stru...The study examined profitability of tomato production in Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State.A three-stage sampling technique was used to select 96 tomato producers.Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and were analysed using descriptive statistics,farm budget model,and t-test analysis.The results revealed that,the mean age of tomato producers was 38.94 years,92.48%were males,71.56%were married with the majority(95.44%)had family size ranging from 1-6 persons,and had 6.55 mean years of farming experience,having an average of 0.6 ha farm size holding.Furthermore,the result revealed that only 8.74%that have attained tertiary education.The results also revealed average variable costs constituted 88.98%and 88.84%of the average total costs of production in the dry and rainy seasons respectively.The per hectare average net income realised were found to be₦154,444.20($398.05)and₦39,725.14($102.38)in the dry and rainy seasons respectively.Hence,the returns per naira invested was₦0.67($0.00173)in dry season and₦0.18($0.00046)in rainy season(P<0.05).Moreover,the results revealed positive and desirable gross and operating ratios of<1;implying the tomato farms in the study area maintained profitability levels both in the short and long run.However,inadequate capital was critical;which was attributed to lack of affordable sources of credits.Lack of storage and processing facilities were among the impediments to large scale tomato production in the study area.However,improvement in the existing patterns and as well as the provision of adequate essential factors of production will help expand the present scale of operations.Therefore,governments and other financial institutions should do more to provide soft loans to the farmers to improve efficiency.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFA1304204)National Natural Science Foundation of China(31772579).
文摘Background Sex hormones play important roles in the estrus return of post-weaning sows.Previous studies have demonstrated a complex and bi-directional regulation between sex hormones and gut microbiota.However,the extent to which the gut microbiota affects estrus return of post-weaning sows is largely unknown.Results In this study,we first screened 207 fecal samples from well-phenotyped sows by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and identified significant associations between microbes and estrus return of post-weaning sows.Using metagenomic sequencing data from 85 fecal samples,we identified 37 bacterial species that were significantly associated with estrus return.Normally returning sows were characterized by increased abundances of L.reuteri and P.copri and decreased abundances of B.fragilis,S.suis,and B.pseudolongum.The changes in gut microbial composition significantly altered the functional capacity of steroid hormone biosynthesis in the gut microbiome.The results were confirmed in a validation cohort.Significant changes in sex steroid hormones and related compounds were found between normal and non-return sows via metabolome analysis.An integrated analysis of differential bacterial species,metagenome,and fecal metabolome provided evidence that normal return-associated bacterial species L.reuteri and Prevotella spp.participated in the degradation of pregnenolone,progesterone,and testosterone,thereby promoting estrogen biosynthesis.Furthermore,the microbial metabolites related to sow energy and nutrient supply or metabolic disorders also showed relationships with sow estrus return.Conclusions An integrated analysis of differentially abundant bacterial species,metagenome,and fecal metabolome revealed the involvement of L.reuteri and Prevotella spp.in sow estrus return.These findings provide deep insight into the role of gut microbiota in the estrus return of post-weaning sows and the complex cross-talk between gut microbiota and sex hormones,suggesting that the manipulation of the gut microbiota could be an effective strategy to improve sow estrus return after weaning.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program (82172179)Mathematics Tianyuan Fund (12126604)Central High-level Hospital Clinical Research Project (2022-PUMCH-B-110)
文摘BACKGROUND:Unsustained return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC)is a critical barrier to survival in cardiac arrest patients.This study examined whether end-tidal carbon dioxide(ETCO_(2))and pulse oximetry photoplethysmogram(POP)parameters can be used to identify unsustained ROSC.METHODS:We conducted a multicenter observational prospective cohort study of consecutive patients with cardiac arrest from 2013 to 2014.Patients’general information,ETCO_(2),and POP parameters were collected and statistically analyzed.RESULTS:The included 105 ROSC episodes(from 80 cardiac arrest patients)comprised 51 sustained ROSC episodes and 54 unsustained ROSC episodes.The 24-hour survival rate was significantly higher in the sustained ROSC group than in the unsustained ROSC group(29.2%vs.9.4%,P<0.05).The logistic regression analysis showed that the difference between after and before ROSC in ETCO_(2)(ΔETCO_(2))and the difference between after and before ROCS in area under the curve of POP(ΔAUCp)were independently associated with sustained ROSC(odds ratio[OR]=0.931,95%confi dence interval[95%CI]0.881-0.984,P=0.011 and OR=0.998,95%CI 0.997-0.999,P<0.001).The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve ofΔETCO_(2),ΔAUCp,and the combination of both to predict unsustained ROSC were 0.752(95%CI 0.660-0.844),0.883(95%CI 0.818-0.948),and 0.902(95%CI 0.842-0.962),respectively.CONCLUSION:Patients with unsustained ROSC have a poor prognosis.The combination ofΔETCO_(2) andΔAUCp showed signifi cant predictive value for unsustained ROSC.
文摘BACKGROUND Lateral ankle sprains are the most common traumatic musculoskeletal injuries of the lower extremity,with an incidence rate of 15%-20%.The high incidence and prevalence highlights the economic impact of this injury.Ankle sprains lead to a high socioeconomic burden due to the combination of the high injury incidence and high medical expenses.Up to 40%of patients who suffer from an ankle sprain develop chronic ankle instability.Chronic instability can lead to prolonged periods of pain,immobility and injury recurrence.Identification of factors that influence return to work(RTW)and return to sports(RTS)after a lateral ankle sprain(LAS)may help seriously reduce healthcare costs.AIM To explore which factors may potentially affect RTW and RTS after sustaining an LAS.METHODS EMBASE and PubMed were systematically searched for relevant studies published until June 2023.Inclusion criteria were as follows:(1)Injury including LAS or chronic ankle instability;(2)Described any form of treatment;(3)Assessment of RTW or RTS;(4)Studies published in English;and(5)Study designs including randomized controlled clinical trials,clinical trials or cohort studies.Exclusion criteria were:(1)Studies involving children(age<16 year);or(2)Patients with concomitant ankle injury besides lateral ankle ligament damage.A quality assessment was performed for each of the included studies using established risk of bias tools.Additionally quality of evidence was assessed using the GRADEpro tool in cases where outcomes were included in the quantitative analysis.A best evidence synthesis was performed in cases of qualitative outcome analysis.For all studied outcomes suitable for quantitative analysis a forest plot was created to calculate the effect on RTW and RTS.RESULTS A total of 8904 patients were included in 21 studies,10 randomized controlled trials,7 retrospective cohort studies and 4 prospective cohort studies.Fifteen studies were eligible for meta-analysis.The overall RTS rate ranged were 80%and 83%in the all treatments pool and surgical treatments pool,respectively.The pooled mean days to RTS ranged from 23-93 d.The overall RTW rate was 89%.The pooled mean time to RTW ranged from 5.8-8.1 d.For patients with chronic ankle instability,higher preoperative motivation was the sole factor significantly and independently(P=0.001)associated with the rate of and time to RTS following ligament repair or reconstruction.Higher body mass index was identified as a significant factor(P=0.04)linked to not resuming sports or returning at a lower level(median 24,range 20-37),compared to those who resumed at the same or higher level(median 23,range 17-38).Patients with a history of psychological illness or brain injury,experienced a delay in their rehabilitation process for sprains with fractures and unspecified sprains.The extent of the delayed rehabilitation was directly proportional to the increased likelihood of experiencing a recurrence of the ankle sprain and the number of ankle-related medical visits.We also observed that 10%of athletes who did return to sport after lateral ankle sprain without fractures described non-ankle-related reasons for not returning.CONCLUSION All treatments yielded comparable results,with each treatment potentially offering unique advantages or benefits.Preoperative motivation may influence rehabilitation after LAS.Grading which factor had a greater impact was not possible due to the lack of comparability among the included patients.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12072365)the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province of China (2020JJ4657)。
文摘It is important to calculate the reachable domain(RD)of the manned lunar mission to evaluate whether a lunar landing site could be reached by the spacecraft. In this paper, the RD of free return orbits is quickly evaluated and calculated via the classification and regression neural networks. An efficient databasegeneration method is developed for obtaining eight types of free return orbits and then the RD is defined by the orbit’s inclination and right ascension of ascending node(RAAN) at the perilune. A classify neural network and a regression network are trained respectively. The former is built for classifying the type of the RD, and the latter is built for calculating the inclination and RAAN of the RD. The simulation results show that two neural networks are well trained. The classification model has an accuracy of more than 99% and the mean square error of the regression model is less than 0.01°on the test set. Moreover, a serial strategy is proposed to combine the two surrogate models and a recognition tool is built to evaluate whether a lunar site could be reached. The proposed deep learning method shows the superiority in computation efficiency compared with the traditional double two-body model.
文摘Objective: The paper aims to analyze the dynamic characteristics of litter production and nutrient return of the forest ecosystems in subtropical areas, and provide a theoretical basis for the nutrient cycling study in southwest Hubei Province and carbon sink function of the whole forest ecosystem. Methods: Three typical forest stands (Chinese fir plantation, Cryptomeria fortunei plantation and evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest) in Golden Mountain Forest Farm in southwest Hubei Province were investigated and monitored continuously for the litter types and productivity and nutrient return. Results: The annual litter productivity of the three forest stands ranged from 161.77 to 396.26 kg·hm<sup>-2</sup>;Litters of branches, leaves and reproductive organs accounted for 14.14% - 20.85%, 33.26% - 78.33%, 7.52% - 42.18% of the total, respectively;The litter productivity and total litter productivity of each composition in the three forest stands show unimodal or bimodal changes over months, and the total litter productivity reached the highest value in January, April and October respectively. For different nutrient contents of the three forest stands, the common feature is C > N. The order of nutrient return amount from greatest to least is evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest, Cryptomeria fortunei plantation and Chinese fir plantation. For different nutrient return amounts, the common feature is C > N, and the nutrient return amounts are 76.51-180.69 kg·hm<sup>-2</sup> and 2.3 - 5.71 kg·hm<sup>-2</sup> respectively. Conclusion: The annual litter productivity and nutrient return amount of the evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest are the highest among the three forest stands. Therefore, protecting the evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest and studying the litter changes of Chinese fir plantation and Cryptomeria fortunei plantation are of far-reaching significance for the development of sustainable forest management in this region and the further improvement of the carbon sequestration function of the whole forest ecosystem.
文摘Inland fishing predominates in the Kedougou region, which has no coastline. This type of fishing does not yet meet the local population’s demand for fish products. In response to this concern, a Community Agricultural Estate housing an integrated fish farm was set up in the commune of Bandafassi, in the village of Itato. Since its creation, this production unit has been faced with the problem of sourcing high-quality, low-cost, monosex male Oreochromis niloticus fry. In order to overcome this constraint, the present research focuses on the contribution of Garcinia kola to the productivity and economic profitability of the Itato farm. The aim of the research is to assess fish production in the experimental set-up and the production costs of tilapia in a controlled environment. The comparative study of the various production factors shows disparities only in the input factor, where scenarios 2 and 3 use additional products. These are 17-α-methytestosterone for scenario 2 and Garcinia kola for scenario 3. These products significantly interfere with fish production, with a fairly high mortality rate for scenario 2 (25% for two production cycles/ cohort2 (B5, B6, B7 and B8) treated with 17-α-methytestosterone). As for scenarios 1 and 3, mortalities are 5% with or without recourse to additional products (G. kola). In addition, average fish production for the three (03) scenarios is estimated at 28687.5 kg/2 cycles. It varies from one scenario to another, i.e. 30937.5 kg/2 cycles for scenarios 1 and 3 and 24187.5 kg/2 cycles for scenario 2. It is therefore higher in scenarios 1 and 3 than in scenario 2. This difference is due to the fairly large losses of individuals in scenario 2. Furthermore, the analysis of the profit and loss accounts for tilapia production varies from one scenario to another depending on the type of farm: 476 Franc CFA for scenario 1, 610 Franc CFA for scenario 2 and 472 Franc CFA for scenario 3 (F CFA = franc of the French Colonies of Africa). The Average operating income for all the fish farming units is 34,726,142 Franc CFA. The highest (41,638,075 Franc CFA) and lowest (29,281,075 Franc CFA) ERs were observed in scenarios 3 and 2 respectively. It was 33,259,275 Franc CFA for scenario 1. The difference between the NERs of the three scenarios is more or less significant in terms of results. The operating result (OR) is positive in all 3 scenarios in our study. However, the scenario 3 system generates a higher rate of return (the ratio between an income and the capital employed to obtain that income) (74%) than that generated by the scenario 1 system (69%). As for the scenario 2 system, it generates a lower financial return than the two previous systems (67%). Above all, this work made it possible to construct an approach that would make it possible to answer such a question by relying successively on various methods: a typology, according to the production factors involved in the operation of the Community Agricultural Estate fish farm.
基金2021 General Scientific Research Project of Liaoning Provincial Department of Education(No.LJKR0298)Liaoning Provincial Social Science Planning Fund Office(2019)(No.L19BGL034).
文摘Objective To study the profit model of Chinese pharmaceutical O2O enterprises.Methods A case study of three typical pharmaceutical O2O enterprises was conducted,and their profit models were compared.Results and Conclusion The pharmaceutical O2O enterprises in China are divided into three categories according to the profit models.It is found that the current pharmaceutical O2O enterprises have problems such as simple profit model and low corporate profits.Based on these problems,it is recommended that relevant enterprises develop various business models to increase profit channels.Besides,they should establish and improve internal cost control systems.
基金supported by the University of Rijeka projects uniri-mladi-drustv-20-5.and uniri-drustv-18-228.
文摘The latest regulatory framework,which has been introduced globally in the form of Basel III,and its implementation in the legislation of the member states of the Euro-pean Union has generated much interest in the impact of regulation on the efficiency and profitability of banks.This study aims to examine the impact of the introduction of two major regulatory changes(Basel II and Basel III)on bank performance,in terms of bank size and bank-specific and macroeconomic variables.A two-stage empirical anal-ysis was conducted on a sample of 433 European commercial banks over the 2006–2015 period.In the first stage,relative efficiency was calculated using non-parametric data envelopment analysis.In the second stage,the generalized method of moments was used to examine the impact of bank-specific and macroeconomic variables as well as regulation on bank performance,that is,profitability and efficiency.Consider-ing bank size,the results show a diverse impact of regulation on bank performance.Regarding large-and medium-sized banks,regulation positively affects both efficiency and profitability,whereas,for small banks,it negatively affects performance.The results suggest that larger banks have skillfully adapted to the new regulatory environment.In contrast,small banks have problems with profitability and efficiency because the new regulatory framework has imposed additional administrative and regulatory burdens.This could result in future failure or mergers with larger banks,resulting in a higher concentration in the banking sector and increased systemic risk.Our results strongly suggest that regulation should not be implemented equally for all banks;that is,on a one size fits all terms.A distinction between small and large banks when introducing new regulatory frameworks should be made if a reasonable level of competition is to be preserved.
基金supported in part by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF)funded by the Ministry of Education(NRF-2021R1A6A1A03039493)by the NRF grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT)(NRF-2022R1A2C1004401).
文摘In recent times,financial globalization has drastically increased in different ways to improve the quality of services with advanced resources.The successful applications of bitcoin Blockchain(BC)techniques enable the stockholders to worry about the return and risk of financial products.The stockholders focused on the prediction of return rate and risk rate of financial products.Therefore,an automatic return rate bitcoin prediction model becomes essential for BC financial products.The newly designed machine learning(ML)and deep learning(DL)approaches pave the way for return rate predictive method.This study introduces a novel Jellyfish search optimization based extreme learning machine with autoencoder(JSO-ELMAE)for return rate prediction of BC financial products.The presented JSO-ELMAE model designs a new ELMAE model for predicting the return rate of financial products.Besides,the JSO algorithm is exploited to tune the parameters related to the ELMAE model which in turn boosts the classification results.The application of JSO technique assists in optimal parameter adjustment of the ELMAE model to predict the bitcoin return rates.The experimental validation of the JSO-ELMAE model was executed and the outcomes are inspected in many aspects.The experimental values demonstrated the enhanced performance of the JSO-ELMAE model over recent state of art approaches with minimal RMSE of 0.1562.
文摘The out-of-sample R^(2) is designed to measure forecasting performance without look-ahead bias.However,researchers can hack this performance metric even without multiple tests by constructing a prediction model using the intuition derived from empirical properties that appear only in the test sample.Using ensemble machine learning techniques,we create a virtual environment that prevents researchers from peeking into the intuition in advance when performing out-of-sample prediction simulations.We apply this approach to robust monitoring,exploiting a dynamic shrink-age effect by switching between a proposed forecast and a benchmark.Considering stock return forecasting as an example,we show that the resulting robust monitoring forecast improves the average performance of the proposed forecast by 15%(in terms of mean-squared-error)and reduces the variance of its relative performance by 46%while avoiding the out-of-sample R^(2)-hacking problem.Our approach,as a final touch,can further enhance the performance and stability of forecasts from any models and methods.
基金The research work is carried out under the Beijing Natural Science Foundation-Beijing Education Commission Joint Project(KZ202210015020)Discipline Construction and Postgraduate Education Project of BIGC(No.21090122005)BIGC Project(Ee202204).
文摘High-frequency(HF)and ultrahigh-frequency(UHF)dual-band radio frequency identification(RFID)tags with both near-field and farfield communication can meet different application scenarios.However,it is time-consuming to calculate the return loss of a UHF antenna in a dualband tag antenna using electromagnetic(EM)simulators.To overcome this,the present work proposes a model of a multi-scale convolutional neural network stacked with long and short-term memory(MSCNN-LSTM)for predicting the return loss of UHF antennas instead of EM simulators.In the proposed MSCNN-LSTM,the MSCNN has three branches,which include three convolution layers with different kernel sizes and numbers.Therefore,MSCNN can extract fine-grain localized information of the antenna and overall features.The LSTM can effectively learn the EM characteristics of different structures of the antenna to improve the prediction accuracy of the model.Experimental results show that the mean absolute error(0.0073),mean square error(0.00032),and root mean square error(0.01814)of theMSCNNLSTM are better than those of other prediction methods.In predicting the return loss of 100UHFantennas,compared with the simulation time of 4800 s for High Frequency Structure Simulator(HFSS),MSCNN-LSTM takes only 0.927519 s under the premise of ensuring prediction accuracy,significantly reducing the calculation time,which provides a basis for the rapid design of HF-UHF RFID tag antenna.ThenMSCNN-LSTM is used to determine the dimensions of the UHF antenna quickly.The return loss of the designed dualband RFID tag antenna is−58.76 and−22.63 dB at 13.56 and 915 MHz,respectively,achieving the desired goal.
文摘Capital structure is regarded as the combination of debt and equity firms used to finance operations and investments.The choice of capital structure significantly impacts a company’s cost of capital,profitability,and risk profile.Among a series of factors that affect capital structure,this paper focuses on stock returns and market timing.In this review,an array of papers is analyzed to summarize what current research claims regarding the influence of stock returns and market timing on capital structure.This paper centers on the stock return and market timing theories and also discusses other theories like the trade-off theory,the pecking order theory,and the signaling theory.
文摘Introduction: Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) aims at preventing malaria in children during the high transmission season. It has been recommended by the WHO since 2013 for children from the age of 3-59 months. However, despite the impact of this intervention, a peak in the prevalence and incidence of malaria is observed in children from the age of 5-9 years. The aim of this study is to determine from the current literature the feasibility, impact and cost-effectiveness of extending SMC to five cycles and to older children. Methods: A litterature search of PubMed/Medline, NCBI and Google scholar identified 1333 articles. After reading the titles and abstracts by two authors, 24 articles were selected and submitted for full reading. Random control studies on the extension of SMC, malaria, feasibility of SMC, impact of SMC and cost-effectiveness of SMC were selected. A total of 16 articles were included for the qualitative synthesis after excluding 8 studies. Results: Following the summary of the evidence, we conclude that the extension is feasible but will be confronted with the unavailability of older children. The intervention period coincides with field work. SMC is effective in reducing the prevalence and incidence of malaria and the parasite density in children. The financial cost of administering SMC is lower than that of treating a child suffering from malaria. Conclusion: After analysing the information, it was found that the majority of the African population supports the extension of the SMC to the number of cycles and the age group in order to alleviate the high mortality and morbidity rates among children due to malaria.
文摘Intercropping involves the cultivation of more than one crop on a plot of land at a particular time.Tea intercropping with other crops can increase the profitability of farmers and the development of tea plants.The study estimated the profitability level of intercropped tea farms and determined the factors affecting the profitability of tea intercropping systems in the study area.Information was obtained from two hundred and four tea farmers using a well-structured questionnaire.The analytical techniques used in the study were descriptive analysis and linear regression.The results revealed that the majority(95.6%)of the farmers are from Kakara and Nyiwa towns.There are few(2.9%)women involved in tea farming in Taraba State.29%of the tea farmers are young less than 30 years and old above 60 years.Fifteen percent of the farmers are single,83.8%are married and 1.5%are divorced.About 40%of the tea farmers had no formal education,21%have between 1-6 years of education,19%had 7-12 years of education and 21%had greater than 12 years of education.The gross margin is N289,900,581.9 and the gross margin per farmer is N1,421,081.28.The net income is N2,879,055,533.3 and the net income per farmer is N1,411,301.63.The amount of profit tea farmers make in Taraba State is N1,425,001 and the profit per farmer is N6,985.30.Labour costs(weeding,pruning,application of insecticide,watering)and cost of materials(cutlass,file,chemical,bag and others)are significant determinants of the profit level of the tea intercropping system in Taraba State.Tea intercropping farming is profitable in Taraba State Nigeria.
基金supported by the research fund of Chungnam National University in 2022。
文摘International guidelines for post-cardiac arrest care recommend using multi-modal strategies to avoid the withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy(WLST)in patients with the potential for neurological recovery.[1]However,a clear methodology for multi-modal approaches has yet to be developed.Neuron-specific enolase(NSE)is currently the only recommended biomarker,and the European Resuscitation Council(ERC)and the European SocietyofIntensiveCareMedicine(ESICM)have proposed a cutoff value of 60μg/L at 48 and/or 72 h after the return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC)as a multimodal prognostic tool for predicting poor neurological outcomes.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32071968)the Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund,China(CX(22)2015))the Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Modern Crop Production,China。
文摘Straw return is a promising strategy for managing soil organic carbon(SOC)and improving yield stability.However,the optimal straw return strategy for sustainable crop production in the wheat(Triticum aestivum L.)-cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.)cropping system remains uncertain.The objective of this study was to quantify the long-term(10 years)impact of carbon(C)input on SOC sequestration,soil aggregation and crop yields in a wheat-cotton cropping system in the Yangtze River Valley,China.Five treatments were arranged with a single-factor randomized design as follows:no straw return(Control),return of wheat straw only(Wt),return of cotton straw only(Ct),return of 50%wheat and 50%cotton straw(Wh-Ch)and return of 100%wheat and 100%cotton straw(Wt-Ct).In comparison to the Control,the SOC content increased by 8.4 to 20.2%under straw return.A significant linear positive correlation between SOC sequestration and C input(1.42-7.19 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(−1))(P<0.05)was detected.The percentages of aggregates of sizes>2 and 1-2 mm at the 0-20 cm soil depth were also significantly elevated under straw return,with the greatest increase of the aggregate stability in the Wt-Ct treatment(28.1%).The average wheat yields increased by 12.4-36.0%and cotton yields increased by 29.4-73.7%,and significantly linear positive correlations were also detected between C input and the yields of wheat and cotton.The average sustainable yield index(SYI)reached a maximum value of 0.69 when the C input was 7.08 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(−1),which was close to the maximum value(SYI of 0.69,C input of 7.19 Mg ha^(−1)yr^(-1))in the Wt-Ct treatment.Overall,the return of both wheat and cotton straw was the best strategy for improving SOC sequestration,soil aggregation,yields and their sustainability in the wheat-cotton rotation system.
文摘Introduction: Motorcyclists bear a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from road accidents. In addition, the consequences of these accidents affect the ability of victims to return to work. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with non-return to work among surviving motorcyclists involved in road accidents 12 months after the event. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted using data from a cohort of motorcyclists involved in accidents and recruited in five hospitals in Benin from July 2019 to January 2020. The dependent variable was non-return to work 12 months after the accident (yes vs no). The independent variables were categorized into two groups: baseline and 12-month follow-up variables. Logistic regression was used to determine the factors associated with non-return to work at 12 months among the participants. Results: Among the 362 participants, 55 (15.19%, 95% CI = 11.84 - 19.29) had not returned to work 12 months after the accident. Risk factors for non-return to work identified were: smoking (aOR = 4.41, 95% CI = 1.44 - 13.56, p = 0.010), hospitalization (aOR = 2.87, 95% CI = 1.14 - 7.24, p Conclusion: The prevalence of non-return to work at 12 months was high among surviving motorcyclists involved in road accidents in Benin. Integrated support for patients based on identified risk factors should effectively improve their return to work.
文摘With the accelerated evolution of the global transformation unseen in a century,the year of 2023 came to an end amid turmoil and uncertainty in the world.The crisis in Ukraine was not resolved,the Palestinian-Israeli conflict resumed,the world economy was in a downturn,and the restructuring of global industrial and supply chains was accelerating.Under the“scar eff ect”of the COVID-19 pandemic,the world entered a new normal of political turmoil and economic mediocrity.The change of the times and the transformation of the international system and order are the root causes of turbulence in the contemporary world.People in the world do not want to go to a“new Cold War”,but it is diffi cult to return to the“old-day cooperation”.With the call for“cool war”and“cold peace”rising,the international order has entered an“era of uncertainty”.
文摘Modern financial theory, commonly known as portfolio theory, provides an analytical framework for the investment decision to be made under uncertainty. It is a well-established proposition in portfolio theory that whenever there is an imperfect correlation between returns risk is reduced by maintaining only a portion of wealth in any asset, or by selecting a portfolio according to expected returns and correlations between returns. The major improvement of the portfolio approaches over prior received theory is the incorporation of 1) the riskiness of an asset and 2) the addition from investing in any asset. The theme of this paper is to discuss how to propose a new mathematical model like that provided by Markowitz, which helps in choosing a nearly perfect portfolio and an efficient input/output. Besides applying this model to reality, the researcher uses game theory, stochastic and linear programming to provide the model proposed and then uses this model to select a perfect portfolio in the Cairo Stock Exchange. The results are fruitful and the researcher considers this model a new contribution to previous models.
文摘The study examined profitability of tomato production in Yamaltu-Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State.A three-stage sampling technique was used to select 96 tomato producers.Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and were analysed using descriptive statistics,farm budget model,and t-test analysis.The results revealed that,the mean age of tomato producers was 38.94 years,92.48%were males,71.56%were married with the majority(95.44%)had family size ranging from 1-6 persons,and had 6.55 mean years of farming experience,having an average of 0.6 ha farm size holding.Furthermore,the result revealed that only 8.74%that have attained tertiary education.The results also revealed average variable costs constituted 88.98%and 88.84%of the average total costs of production in the dry and rainy seasons respectively.The per hectare average net income realised were found to be₦154,444.20($398.05)and₦39,725.14($102.38)in the dry and rainy seasons respectively.Hence,the returns per naira invested was₦0.67($0.00173)in dry season and₦0.18($0.00046)in rainy season(P<0.05).Moreover,the results revealed positive and desirable gross and operating ratios of<1;implying the tomato farms in the study area maintained profitability levels both in the short and long run.However,inadequate capital was critical;which was attributed to lack of affordable sources of credits.Lack of storage and processing facilities were among the impediments to large scale tomato production in the study area.However,improvement in the existing patterns and as well as the provision of adequate essential factors of production will help expand the present scale of operations.Therefore,governments and other financial institutions should do more to provide soft loans to the farmers to improve efficiency.
