Greater Shift Research Articles

Japan’s New Regional Reality: Geoeconomic Strategy in the Asia-Pacific

The intensification of the US-China great power competition in the Indo-Pacific region is now drawing significant attention from the international community. This is understandably so as its strategic implications are tremendous. The great power rivalry shapes the global and regional balance of power both militarily and economically. The characteristics of international rules and norms are largely shaped by their political commitment to those regulations. Strategic alignments are also constructed by the will of those great powers. As a result, we tend to conclude that in the era of great power rivalry and power shift, the protagonists are essentially those global superpowers, and small and middle powers cannot help but being more ‘reactive’ to the changes created by the superpowers—shifting their strategies for survival. Saori Katada’s book, Japan’s New Regional Reality, defies this realist-oriented conventional wisdom, providing a more nuanced understanding of the formulation and reformulation of the geoeconomic strategy of a non-superpower, Japan. The book’s argument is clear and concise. Defining geoeconomics as ‘the use of economic instruments by governments in pursuit of national goals as they cultivate economic and political advantages in economic growth, competitiveness, and sustainability’ (2), Katada argues that Japan has spontaneously shifted its geoeconomic strategy from neomercantilism to a more liberal approach, the ‘state-led liberal strategy’, in the post-Cold War era. This state-led liberal strategy is different from a conventional liberal strategy, by which the West generally embraces the free market with less government intervention. Rather, the government attempts to set the formal, high-level economic rules and establish regional institutions through government initiatives.

Levels of orientation bias differ across digital content categories: Implications for visual perception.

With the continued growth of digital device use, a greater portion of the visual world experienced daily by many people has shifted towards digital environments. The "oblique effect" denotes a bias for horizontal and vertical (canonical) contours over oblique contours, which is derived from a disproportionate exposure to canonical content. Carpentered environments have been shown to possess proportionally more canonical than oblique contours, leading to perceptual bias in those who live in "built" environments. Likewise, there is potential for orientation sensitivity to be shaped by frequent exposure to digital content. The potential influence of digital content on the oblique effect was investigated by measuring the degree of orientation anisotropy from a range of digital scenes using Fourier analysis. Content from popular cartoons, video games, and social communication websites was compared to real-life nature, suburban, and urban scenes. Findings suggest that digital content varies widely in orientation anisotropy, but pixelated video games and social communication websites were found to exhibit a degree of orientation anisotropy substantially exceeding that observed in all measured categories of real-world environments. Therefore, the potential may exist for digital content to induce an even greater shift in orientation bias than has been observed in previous research. This potential, and implications of such a shift, is discussed.

Non-reciprocal spatial and quasi-reciprocal angular Goos-Hänchen shifts around double CPA-LPs in PT-symmetric Thue-Morse photonic crystals.

We theoretically investigate the Goos-Hänchen (GH) shifts of reflected light beams in Thue-Morse photonic crystals. The systems are constituted by two Thue-Morse dielectrics multilayers and satisfy parity-time (PT) symmetry. Double coherent perfect absorption laser points (CPA-LPs) are achieved in the parameter space composed of the incident angle and the gain-loss factor. Dramatic changes in the phase of reflection coefficient induce giant positive and negative spatial GH shifts at the CPA-LPs, while great angular GH shifts exist around the exceptional points (EPs). The spatial GH shifts present non-reciprocity for the forward and backward incident light waves near the double CPA-LPs, while the angular GH shifts are quasi-reciprocal. Increasing the Thue-Morse sequence number, these characteristics are approved around multiple CPA-LPs as well. Our work could pave the way to explore high-accuracy optical sensors.

Demography and space-use of Eastern Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) between mature and successional forests.

Space-use and demographic processes are critical to the persistence of populations across space and time. Despite their importance, estimates of these processes are often derived from a limited number of populations spanning broad habitat or environmental gradients. With increasing appreciation of the role fine-scale environmental variation in microgeographic adaptation, there is a need and value to assessing within-site variation in space-use and demographic patterns. In this study, we analyze 3 years of spatial capture-recapture data on the Eastern Red-backed Salamander collected from a mixed-use deciduous forest site in central Ohio, USA. Study plots were situated in both a mature forest stand and successional forest stand separated by <100-m distance. Our results showed that salamander density was reduced on successional plots, which corresponded with greater distance between nearest neighbors, less overlap in core use areas, greater space-use, and greater shifts in activity centers when compared to salamanders occupying the mature habitat. By contrast, individual growth rates of salamanders occupying the successional forest were significantly greater than salamanders in the mature forest. These estimates result in successional plot salamanders reaching maturity more than 1 year earlier than salamanders on the mature forest plots and increasing their estimated lifetime fecundity by as much as 43%. The patterns we observed in space-use and individual growth are likely the result of density-dependent processes, potentially reflecting differences in resource availability or quality. Our study highlights how fine-scale, within-site variation can shape population demographics. As research into the demographic and population consequences of climate change and habitat loss and alteration continue, future research should take care to acknowledge the role that fine-scale variation may play, especially for abiotically sensitive organisms with limited vagility.

Exploring the practical integration of 4IR technologies in industrial design education in South Africa

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is changing the world around us, altering the way we live, work, and engage with one another. Driven by the Internet of Things (IoT), the 4IR and its associated technologies are driving great shifts in manufacturing and production and as such, within the Industrial Design (ID) discipline itself, not only in the products we design but more notably, in the tools and processes we use to do so. The unprecedented speed at which these innovative technologies are progressing and reshaping the industry calls for the urgent restructuring of higher education curricula. To prepare students for the rapidly changing industry, ID programmes must develop appropriate content and integrate these technologies into their teaching and learning to deliver the skills and knowledge needed in this new era. This paper reports on the first cycle of an Action Research study in which ID lecturers and 1st-year students explored the utilization of 4IR technologies in undergraduate teaching. This project aimed to identify the opportunities and challenges of such technologies to determine the most effective and appropriate way to incorporate new technologies into the curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the implementation of these technologies through the assessment of the efficacy of the project outcomes through examples provide, and the students’ individual experiences and reflections, and finally, to present key findings and recommendations for further study.

SCHOOL THEATER AS A FORM OF EXTRACURRICULAR EDUCATION (on the example of educational institutions of Yadrin in the second half of the XIX – early XX century)

Extracurricular education began to develop actively in the second half of the XIX century, when the Russian Empire was experiencing great shifts in all spheres of life. The changes caused an increase in the cultural needs in all segments of the society. One of extracurricular education forms was the school theater. The interaction between school and theater, as one of the types of arts, is historically conditioned. At the initial stage of its existence, since the time of Ancient Greece, theatrical art was one of the methods of cognition. The school theater performed several functions: didactic, educational and educational ones. In educational institutions, all performances were staged mainly basing on works of the Russian classical literature. In addition, many publications appeared in in printed press of the second half of the XIX – early XX century in which the teaching intelligentsia and professional actors gave recommendations for staging school and home performances.&#x0D; &#x0D; The aim of the work was to study student theater and concert activities at a non-classical secondary schools, a women’s gymnasium and a city school of Yadrin in the second half of the XIX – early XX century. The article analyzes the repertoire and the nature of the presentations. Separately, the work mentions people on whose initiative the theatrical art flourished in the educational institutions of Yadrin. The authors note students’ charitable activity, namely giving performances and literary and musical evenings that were very profitable. The research is based on archival materials, literature and memories. The methodological basis of the study was a set of scientific techniques and principles used in the study of socio-economic and socio-cultural life – objectivity, scientificity, complexity and comprehensiveness. The fundamental method in the work was the principle of historicism. The practical significance of the study lies in disclosure of “blindspots” on this problematics.

The “First Great Purge” of American Television Programming: Understanding How and Why Popular Television Changed So Dramatically from the 1950s to the 1960s

Though “purge” may seem a rather dramatic choice of terms to refer to a drastic shift in the overall nature of network television programming in the United States, it has long been used by media scholars, notably in reference to “The Great Rural Purge of 1971”, when CBS suddenly decided to cancel all of its most popular, rural-based sitcoms and variety shows in exchange for a new lineup of hard-hitting, urban-based sitcoms that leaned left and dealt unapologetically with the most burning social issues of the day. This study, however, hopes to show that this shift was in fact not the first big “purge” but the second, the first having occurred circa 1957 and having moved in the exact opposite direction. One of the great misconceptions about network television is indeed that it was very conservative at its onset and grew steadily more progressive and inclusive over the decades, for pre-1957 network television and especially its comedy programs – those of the first era of the Golden Age of Television, as it were – were remarkably avant-garde and politically incorrect for their time. Anti-establishment humor, budding feminist themes (with independent women both on screen and in the writing room), racial and ethnic diversity, in-your-face insolence and transgressional humor – all of these progressive topics were showcased in very urban settings before that first “purge” erased those gains and reset the U.S. TV landscape as white, patriarchal, rural, conservative and harmlessly escapist. This study will not only discuss those breakthrough sitcoms of the early 1950s themselves, but, just as importantly, it will trace the many factors that led to that first great shift – a vast confluence of decisions and incidents that would lead to what could be dubbed “The Great Urban Purge of 1957”.

Amino-Acid-Conjugated Natural Compounds: Aims, Designs and Results.

Protein is one of the essential macronutrients required by all living things. The breakdown of protein produces monomers known as amino acids. The concept of conjugating natural compounds with amino acids for therapeutic applications emerged from the fact that amino acids are important building blocks of life and are abundantly available; thus, a greater shift can result in structural modification, since amino acids contain a variety of sidechains. This review discusses the data available on amino acid-natural compound conjugates that were reported with respect to their backgrounds, the synthetic approach and their bioactivity. Several amino acid-natural compound conjugates have shown enhanced pharmacokinetic characteristics, including absorption and distribution properties, reduced toxicity and increased physiological effects. This approach could offer a potentially effective system of drug discovery that can enable the development of pharmacologically active and pharmacokinetically acceptable molecules.

Cytokine profile in patients with atrophic gastritis in comorbidity with thyroid gland pathology

Background. Optimization of the management of patients with precancerous conditions of the stomach in comorbid pathology is an urgent task of gastroenterology. The purpose of the study: to evaluate the content of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, as well as the level of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at different degrees of vascularization of the thyroid gland in patients with atrophic gastritis. Materials and methods. A study was conducted in 120 patients with atrophic gastritis and thyroid pathology. All of them underwent a sonological examination of the thyroid gland using an ultrasound scanner Toshiba Xario (Japan), which revealed poor vascularization of the parenchyma in 82 (68.3%) cases, moderate vascularization was diagnosed in 20 (16.7%) patients and marked— in 18 (15.0%). Quantitative content of cytokines (interleukins (IL) 8, 10, 18, tumor necrosis factorα), vascular endothelial growth factor in the blood serum was determined by immunoenzymatic assay using Vector-Best reagents. Results. Among patients with poor vascularization, only atrophic changes of the gastric mucosa were diagnosed in almost half— 39 (47.6%) people, while dysplastic changes of the gastric mucosa were found in a third of patients with marked vascularization. Intestinal metaplasia was detected in half of cases, regardless of the degree of vascularization of the thyroid parenchyma. Cytokine imbalance was found in patients with atrophic gastritis, with the greatest shift in case of marked vascularization of the thyroid parenchyma due to a 4-fold increase in the level of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-8 (р&lt;0.05) and by 1.7 times of IL-18 (p&lt;0.05), with a simultaneous decrease in the content of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 by 3.2 times (p&lt;0.05) compared to control indicators. The level of VEGF in the blood serum of patients with atrophic gastritis with moderate and marked vascularization of the thyroid parenchyma was significantly increased by 1.5 (p&lt;0.05) and 1.7 times (p&lt;0.05), respectively, compared to that of people with poor vascularization. Correlations were revealed between the degree of vascularization of the thyroid parenchyma and the level of IL-8 (r=0.491; p=0.031) and VEGF (r=0.444; p=0.019) in patients with atrophic gastritis. Conclusions. Patients with atrophic gastritis had a cytokine imbalance, which deepens as the vascularization of the thyroid gland increases that is possibly related to common pathogenetic mechanisms of the development of comorbid pathology.

The Use of Data Science in a National Statistical Office

Objective statistical information is vital to an open and democratic society. It provides a solid foundation so that informed decisions can be made by our elected representatives, businesses, unions, and non-profit organizations, as well as individual citizens. There is a great shift towards a more virtual and digital economy and society. The traditional official statistical systems are centered on surveys, and must be adapted to this new digital reality. National statistical offices have been increasingly embracing non-survey data sources along with data science methods to better serve society.This paper provides a blueprint for the application of data science in a government organization. It describes how data science enables innovation and the delivery of new high-value, high-quality, relevant, and trusted products that reflect the ever-evolving needs of our society and economy. We discuss practical operational considerations and impactful data science applications that supported the work of Statistics Canada’s analysts and front-line health agencies during the pandemic. We also discuss the innovative use of scanner data in lieu of survey data for large business respondents in the retail industry. We will describe computer vision methodologies, including machine learning models used to detect the start of buildings construction from satellite imagery, greenhouse area and greenhouse production, as well as crop types detection. Data science and machine learning methods have tremendous potential, and their ethical use is of primary importance. We conclude the paper with a forward-facing view of responsible data science use in statistical production.

Autonomous ships, port operations, and the challenges of African ports

The introduction of autonomous shipping (AS) into the maritime industry is bringing with it a great shift from conventional shipping to a digitalization mode. Expected benefits, which form the bases for conceiving and developing this innovation, include safety, security, and environmental protection. This innovation is not without some risks, such as non-navigation, cyber-piracy, and other issues which are always associated with new technology. This paper presents recent trends in shipping operations from the 18th century onwards, trends in autonomous system services, and the benefits and challenges of autonomous ships. The paper also navigates three (3) key potential challenges to Africa’s adoption of autonomous shipping in the event of its adoption for commercial shipping. These challenges are Africa’s trade level and trade facilitation, the state of infrastructural development, and piracy and maritime cyber-crimes in Africa. It is suggested that stakeholders in Africa’s maritime industry and government should fashion holistic strategies for trade facilitation, rapid development of key trade infrastructures through investment, and intergovernmental capacities towards curbing piracy activities in the region’s maritime routes. Highlights The study explores the trend of technological innovation in the maritime and shipping industry Benefits and challenges of Autonomous shipping as the current innovation are explored Challenges of adopting this innovation by the African countries and ports are carefully explained Suggestions are made on what to be done by Africa to move in the direction of the world especially with port development and international trade participation

Single-screen Bark Particle Separation Can be Used to Engineer Stratified Substrate Systems

Substrate stratification is an emerging substrate management strategy involving layering multiple substrate materials within a single container to modify physiochemical characteristics of the substrate system. Specifically, stratifying allows growers and researchers to rearrange the air–water balance within a container to modify hydraulic characteristics. Moreover, fertilizer can be incorporated into just the upper strata to reduce leaching. Research to date has shown benefits associated with resource efficiency, production timing, and weed control. With the associated benefits for substrate stratification, interested growers will need pragmatic solutions for onsite trials. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify a cost-effective solution for growers interested in exploring stratification options. As such, this research was designed to identify a single-screen bark separation to generate fine and coarse bark textures suitable for use as the top and bottom substrate strata. Loblolly pine bark (Pinus taeda) was screened with either a 4.0-mm, 1/4-inch, or 3/8-inch screen, with the particles passing through the screen (unders) separated from retained particles (overs). Stratified substrate systems were engineered with an individual screen wherein the fines were layered atop the coarse particles from the same screen. ‘Natchez’ crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) liners were planted in either of the three stratified substrate treatments or a nonstratified control. Substrate physical characteristics were assessed for each strata by pre- and postproduction properties to identify changes of substrate. The final growth index of the crop was unaffected by the substrate treatment (P = 0.90); however, stratified substrates did increase dry root weight (P = 0.02), with the smallest screen (4.0 mm) resulting in the greatest root weight. Separation of roots between the two strata indicated the presence of more roots in the upper strata in all substrates. However, the stratified substrates resulted in a greater shift in root location, encouraging increased rooting in the upper strata with fine particles, with the largest screen (3/8 inch) resulting in the greatest differentiation between upper and lower rooting. Each stratified treatment had increase in water-holding capacity in the lower (coarser) strata without changes in the upper strata. Thus, we conclude that single screens can be used to build stratified substrate systems. Moreover, screen aperture size may be used to achieve different outcomes with regard to root growth and development as well as water–air balance. Further research may indicate that screen selection may be used to target specific crop needs.

122 Human-Grade dog Diets Dramatically Shift the Fecal Microbiome of Healthy Adult Dogs

Abstract Human-grade pet foods have been shown to be highly palatable and digestible, resulting in reduced stool volume, but their impact on the gut microbiome has not been well studied. Therefore, our objective was to compare the fecal characteristics and microbiome of dogs consuming a human-grade or extruded kibble diet. Female beagles (n = 20; BW = 10.25±0.82 kg; age = 3.85±1.84 yr) were used in a completely randomized design. The diets tested were: 1) Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe [extruded; Blue Buffalo (BB)] and 2) Chicken and White Rice [human-grade; Just Food for Dogs (JFFD)]. The study consisted of a 4-week baseline when all dogs were fed BB, and a 12-week treatment phase when dogs were randomized to eat each diet (n=10/group). After the baseline and treatment phases, fresh fecal samples were collected for fecal pH, dry matter (DM), score, and microbiota analysis. Fecal bacterial DNA was extracted and shotgun sequencing was conducted using an Illumina NovaSeq, generating over 1.8 billion reads. Taxonomic and pathway abundances were calculated using MetaPhlan and HUMAnN, respectively. Fecal pH and DM were less (p&amp;lt; 0.05) in dogs fed JFFD than those fed BB, but fecal scores were not affected by diet. PCoA plots based on Bray-Curtis distances of bacterial genera and species showed some shifts over time in dogs fed BB, but much greater shifts in those fed JFFD. JFFD increased (adj p&amp;lt; 0.05) the relative abundances of 4 bacterial genera, 11 bacterial species, 129 KEGG pathways, and 167 Maaslin pathways and decreased (adj p&amp;lt; 0.05) the relative abundances of 16 bacterial genera, 25 bacterial species, 37 KEGG pathways, and 87 Maaslin pathways. In conclusion, the human-grade food tested vastly shifted the fecal microbiome. More research is needed to link taxonomic and gene content shifts to ingredient inclusion, nutrient concentrations, and health outcomes.

Consumer acceptance of autonomous delivery robots for last-mile delivery: Technological and health perspectives.

The unprecedented outbreak of the novel coronavirus has led to a great shift toward online retailing and accelerated the need for contactless delivery. This study investigates how technological and health belief factors influence consumer acceptance of autonomous delivery robots (ADRs). Anchored in four behavioral theories [i.e., technology acceptance model, health belief model, perceived value (VAL) theory and trust theory], a synthesized model is developed. A total of 500 valid responses were collected through an online questionnaire in Singapore, and structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the responses. The results revealed that perceived ease of use (EOU), perceived usefulness (UFN), perceived susceptibility (SUS), perceived severity (SEV), self-efficacy (SEL) and cues to action (CUE) have a positive and significant influence on consumers’ perceptions of the value of ADRs. The total effect analysis also showed that perceived VAL strongly affects consumer acceptance of ADRs. Academically, this study introduces both technological and health belief factors to explain consumer acceptance of ADRs. It also provides recommendations for policymakers and autonomous delivery robot developers on policy formulation, public communication, product design and infrastructure development.

Boosting single-cell gene regulatory network reconstruction via bulk-cell transcriptomic data.

Computational recovery of gene regulatory network (GRN) has recently undergone a great shift from bulk-cell towards designing algorithms targeting single-cell data. In this work, we investigate whether the widely available bulk-cell data could be leveraged to assist the GRN predictions for single cells. We infer cell-type-specific GRNs from both the single-cell RNA sequencing data and the generic GRN derived from the bulk cells by constructing a weakly supervised learning framework based on the axial transformer. We verify our assumption that the bulk-cell transcriptomic data are a valuable resource, which could improve the prediction of single-cell GRN by conducting extensive experiments. Our GRN-transformer achieves the state-of-the-art prediction accuracy in comparison to existing supervised and unsupervised approaches. In addition, we show that our method can identify important transcription factors and potential regulations for Alzheimer's disease risk genes by using the predicted GRN. Availability: The implementation of GRN-transformer is available at https://github.com/HantaoShu/GRN-Transformer.

The ulama of Palembang Sammaniyah order: Survival in the middle of the regime of power in the 20th century

During the Palembang Sultanate, the Sammaniyah order was the official religion of the Palembang palace. Sammaniyah tariqa scholars were also made officials and advisers to the sultan. This article aims to discuss the power relations of the Palembang Sammaniyah ulama in terms of continuity and change in the regime of power. From the 19th to the 20th centuries, the Sammaniyah tariqa lived and developed under five regimes of power, namely the Sultanate of Palembang Darussalam, the Dutch colonists, the Japanese invaders, the Old Order and New Order. Palembang Sammaniyah tarekat scholars who are considered conservative (kaum tuo) have to deal with modern scholars (kaum mudo) because of the khilafiyah problem. As a result, there was a great shift by the Sammaniyah ulama in maintaining and developing the Sammaniyah order in Palembang. Firstly, the shift occurred in the role and function of the ulama of the tarekat, changing from religious leaders who teach Islamic religious knowledge to multifunctional scholars in dealing with modernism by utilising public space. Secondly, the charismatic nature of the Sammaniyah tarekat ulama formed the authority of the ulama so that the ulama could play a role in sociopolitical affairs in each power regime. Thirdly, contemporary tarekat scholars and Sammaniyah tarekat scholars who are considered conservative scholars could compete with mudo people who were considered religious reformers. Besides, the ongoing Islamisation challenged the Sammaniyah tariqa scholars in maintaining and developing the Sammaniyah tariqa.Contribution: This research will contribute to determining the relationship between power and the existence of scholars. The question that the article tries to explore is how the identity and existence of the ulama could survive every change of power in Palembang. This article will discuss the changes in power that have occurred in each period that caused a change in mindset and a shift in the identity of the ulama. This study discusses the power relations of the Palembang Sammaniyah ulama in changing regimes of power and finds the fact that power can affect the order.

Recurring wildfires provoke type conversion in dry western forests

AbstractRecent wildfires across western North America have burned with uncharacteristically high severity, representing a substantial departure from natural fire regimes. In mixed‐conifer and pine–oak ecosystems of the southern Cascade Range, widespread shifts in stand structure and composition have led to a diversity of post‐wildfire vegetation responses. When recent wildfire “footprints” reburn in subsequent fires, their recovery pathways are complex. In order to understand the effects of overlapping mixed‐severity fires, we quantified changes in overstory and midstory structure and species composition for time periods prior to and following two large overlapping wildfires in the southern Cascades: the 2000 Storrie and 2012 Chips Fires. Plots were stratified into 16 severity combinations (unburned, low, moderate, and high in the Storrie Fire combined with the same four categories in the Chips Fire: e.g., moderate Storrie/high Chips) across the 9000‐ha overlapping burned area. Following the two fires, tree quadratic mean diameter and stand density declined for most species, but changes were species‐specific. Compared with preburn values, importance values for fire‐sensitive white fir (Abies concolor) were reduced by 66%, while resprouting fire‐resilient California black oak (Quercus kelloggii) importance values increased by 37% in severity combinations that included at least one high‐severity fire. Greatest shifts were documented in sites that burned twice at high severity, where resulting vegetation was dominated by oak sprout clumps and resprouting and fire‐stimulated montane chaparral species, while unburned and low‐severity strata retained a substantial component of Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and white fir. Results suggest that repeated moderate‐ and high‐severity fires can result in ecosystem state shifting toward fire‐resilient oak‐shrub communities in this fire‐prone landscape. Managers seeking greater landscape resilience can implement treatments such as thinning and prescribed burning, while taking advantage of fire‐created patches such as these in areas where the likelihood of a hotter and drier future makes the reestablishment of continuous forest cover unrealistic.

Eliciting national and subnational sets of disability weights in mainland China: Findings from the Chinese disability weight measurement study

SummaryBackgroundThe disability weight (DW) quantifies the severity of health states from disease sequela and is a pivotal parameter for disease burden calculation. We conducted a national and subnational DW measurement in China.MethodsIn 2020–2021, we conducted a web-based survey to assess DWs for 206 health states in 31 Chinese provinces targeting health workers via professional networks. We fielded questions of paired comparison (PC) and population health equivalence (PHE). The PC data were analysed by probit regression analysis, and the regression results were anchored by results from the PHE responses on the DW scale between 0 (no loss of health) and 1 (health loss equivalent to death).FindingsWe used PC responses from 468,541 respondents to estimate DWs of health states. Eight of 11 domains of health had significantly negative coefficients in the regression of the difference between Chinese and Global Burden of Disease (GBD) DWs, suggesting lower DW values for health states with mention of these domains in their lay description. We noted considerable heterogeneity within domains, however. After applying these Chinese DWs to the 2019 GBD estimates for China, total years lived with disability (YLDs) increased by 14·9% to 177 million despite lower estimates for musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, diabetes and chronic kidney disease. The lower estimates of YLDs for these conditions were more than offset by higher estimates of common, low-severity conditions.InterpretationThe differences between the GBD and Chinese DWs suggest that there might be some contextual factors influencing the valuation of health states. While the reduced estimates for mental disorders, alcohol use disorder, and dementia could hint at a culturally different valuation of these conditions in China, the much greater shifts in YLDs from low-severity conditions more likely reflects methodological difficulty to distinguish between health states that vary a little in absolute DW value but a lot in relative terms.FundingThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 82173626], the National Key Research and Development Program of China [grant numbers 2018YFC1315302], Wuhan Medical Research Program of Joint Fund of Hubei Health Committee [grant number WJ2019H304], and Ningxia Natural Science Foundation Project [grant number 2020AAC03436].

Carbon isotope fractionation and its tracer significance to carbon source during precipitation of calcium carbonate in the presence of Bacillus cereus LV-1

Microbial-induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) has the potential to immobilize carbon durably. The carbon source of carbonate minerals is the crucial issue for understanding the fixation mechanism of CO2 by MICP. However, the carbon source and its temporal changes in microbial-induced carbonate minerals remain little explored. In this study, calcium carbonate (CaCO3) biomineralization experiments have been carried out using Bacillus cereus in the medium without additional dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). X-ray diffraction (XRD), attenuated total reflection-infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the precipitate produced mainly consisted of rhombohedral and irregular calcite. The δ13C values of DIC, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and calcite were the main parameters studied. Carbon isotope fractionation was characterized by carbon isotope offset (Δ13Ccalcite-DIC or Δ13Ccalcite-fluid). The Δ13Ccalcite-DIC values ranged from +8.2‰ to +21.5‰, indicating that strain LV-1 induced the accumulation of 13C in calcite. The Δ13Ccalcite-fluid values indicated that the calcite was up to +15.0‰ (on average) 13C-enriched relative to the fluid. Calculated chemical mass balance data showed that the proportion of CO2(g) derived from DOC on days 16 and 20 was negative, but it became positive after day 20. Meanwhile, the δ13CCO2(g) value calculated by isotope mass balance was −8.5‰, near to δ13C for air (−8.0‰) on day 16, and then shifted to −16.4‰, similar to δ13C for tryptone (−17.2‰) after day 20. These results suggested that the amount of CO2 arising from organic matter through bacterial respiration and the action of enzymes might determine whether the carbon in calcite was derived from organic carbon or atmospheric CO2. Our findings corroborate the potential utility of MICP for immobilization of CO2 to reduce net soil CO2 emissions and to mitigate the greenhouse effect. Microbial-driven carbon isotope fractionation can also cause great carbon isotope shifts in calcite. Thus, carbon isotope value might be used as a marker to identify whether carbonate minerals/rocks are of microbial origin.

Energy recovery from high ash-containing sewage sludge: Focusing on performance evaluation of bio-fuel production

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) has shown great potential to convert sewage sludge (SS) with high moisture into bio-crude. However, the disposal and reutilization of hydrothermal liquefaction wastewater (HTLWW) is a critical issue. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is proven to be an alternative to treat organic wastewater. Therefore, energy recovery from high ash-containing SS was studied by integrating AD with HTL. The effect of temperature on HTL efficiency was investigated and then methane production from HTLWW was conducted by AD with organic loading increasing from 2 g COD/L to 6 g COD/L. Results showed that the maximum bio-crude yield of 23.5 % was obtained at 350 °C. Methane yield of 309.4 mL CH4/g CODremoved was achieved at 2 g COD/L with COD removal rate of 72.5 %. Meanwhile, the microbial structure and abundance showed great shifts resulting from the adaptation to complex compounds. JGI-000079-D21, Aminicenantales, and Bacteroidetes_ vadinHA17 predominated in the bacterial community. Due to the presence of the toxic substances in HTLWW, such as phenolic and nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds, there was a decrease in methane yield when the organic loading was higher than 4 g COD/L. The organic matters in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were rich in fulvic acid-like and humic acid-like substances due to the attack and stimulation of toxicants. Under the condition of unstable fermentation, Advenella and Bacillus first appeared as phenol and pyridine degrading bacteria, respectively. The microbial diversity declined sharply to demonstrate the toxic effect of the refractory organics existing at high organic loading. The enrichment of Methanosaeta in methanogens meant that acetotrophic metabolism is the dominant pathway in methanogenesis. In this study, the profile of bio-fuel production from high ash-containing SS would provide an integrated reference to treat wet biomass and recover energy simultaneously.