Intensity Coefficient Research Articles

An Asymptotic-Preserving IMEX Method for Nonlinear Radiative Transfer Equation

We present an asymptotic preserving method for the radiative transfer equations in the framework of \(P_N\) method. An implicit and explicit numerical scheme is proposed to solve the \(P_N\) system based on the order analysis of the expansion coefficients of the specific intensity, where the order of each expansion coefficient is derived by the Chapman-Enskog method. The coefficients at higher-order are treated explicitly while those at lower-order are treated implicitly in each equation of the \(P_N\) system. Energy inequality is proved for this numerical scheme. Several numerical examples validate the efficiency of this scheme in both optically thick and thin regions.

Possible Directions for Migration Policy in Belarus

The article presents the main directions of the Concept of the state migration policy of the Republic of Belarus. The concept contains the following main directions: directions of influence on external migration, directions of influence on internal migration. To implement these areas, the author has developed programs: the program “Diaspora”, the program “Gathering the Nation”, the program “Ideological Association of Emigrants”, the program “Formation of a Favorable Image of Belarus”, the program “Science and Entrepreneurship”, the program “Entrepreneur in the village / district center”. For the argumentation and validity of the proposed proposals, the author carried out a comprehensive analysis. An overview of the migration situation in the country is made. The legal regulation of migration processes is analyzed. A review of the migration situation in the Republic of Belarus has been carried out over the past twenty years. The article provides general information about the change in the population of the country. The continuing situation of natural population loss is noted. External migration has been assessed. It was found that during the entire study period, a positive migration balance was maintained. The coefficient of intensity of international migration was calculated, its average value was 2.92 ppm. Analyzed external migration flows by directions. It was revealed that the main migration exchange in the Republic of Belarus took place with the CIS countries; significantly less intensive migration exchange with non-CIS countries. The intra-republican migration of the population is also investigated. It has been established that it occupies a dominant position in the migration processes of the country as a whole. The coefficient of intensity of intra-republican migration is calculated. The results of the calculation showed an increase in this indicator by 1.4 times in 2019 compared to 2000. Internal migration flows were analyzed by direction and between territorial units. It is concluded that intra-republican migration has a centripetal character. The legal regulation of migration processes in the Republic of Belarus has been studied.

Measures to Support the Population in the Republic of Uzbekistan during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The article presents the main directions of the Concept of the state migration policy of the Republic of Belarus. The concept contains the following main directions: directions of influence on external migration, directions of influence on internal migration. To implement these areas, the author has developed programs: the program “Diaspora”, the program “Gathering the Nation”, the program “Ideological Association of Emigrants”, the program “Formation of a Favorable Image of Belarus”, the program “Science and Entrepreneurship”, the program “Entrepreneur in the village / district center”. For the argumentation and validity of the proposed proposals, the author carried out a comprehensive analysis. An overview of the migration situation in the country is made. The legal regulation of migration processes is analyzed. A review of the migration situation in the Republic of Belarus has been carried out over the past twenty years. The article provides general information about the change in the population of the country. The continuing situation of natural population loss is noted. External migration has been assessed. It was found that during the entire study period, a positive migration balance was maintained. The coefficient of intensity of international migration was calculated, its average value was 2.92 ppm. Analyzed external migration flows by directions. It was revealed that the main migration exchange in the Republic of Belarus took place with the CIS countries; significantly less intensive migration exchange with non-CIS countries. The intra-republican migration of the population is also investigated. It has been established that it occupies a dominant position in the migration processes of the country as a whole. The coefficient of intensity of intra-republican migration is calculated. The results of the calculation showed an increase in this indicator by 1.4 times in 2019 compared to 2000. Internal migration flows were analyzed by direction and between territorial units. It is concluded that intra-republican migration has a centripetal character. The legal regulation of migration processes in the Republic of Belarus has been studied.

Cardiac microstructural alterations measured by echocardiography identify sex-specific risk for heart failure

ObjectiveEstablished preclinical imaging assessments of heart failure (HF) risk are based on macrostructural cardiac remodelling. Given that microstructural alterations may also influence HF risk, particularly in women, we examined associations...

DETERMINATION OF CRACK RESISTANCE OF CONCRETE ON THE BASIS OF DESTRUCTION MECHANICS

Purpose The objective of the paper is to study and generalize the characteristics of heavy concretes crack resistance based on real experimental research, – the coefficient of stress intensity Kсexp, the coefficient of energy characteristic of effective surface energy γexp, opening the banks at the top of the crack δсexp and establishing the dependence of acoustic emission AE-SEq with the specified parameters of concrete crack resistance and in accordance with current standards. Methodology. To achieve this goal, a review and synthesis of scientific and technical sources were made and comprehensive experimental and analytical studies were conducted Kсexp, γexp ,δсexp and the dependences of acoustic emission are established AE–SEq with the specified parameters of crack resistance of concrete and in accordance with current standards. A series of experiments was made to study the concrete crack resistance, in particular, to determine the stress intensity coefficient (SIC). In parallel, the relationship with the measurement parameters of AE acoustic emission in heavy concretes of five series of different composition and strength was studied. Longitudinal and transverse deformations were measured with indicators, which made it possible to determine the Poisson’s coefficient V. Under load, fracture diagrams were recorded on a two – coordinate recorder in the coordinates "Force P-opening of the crack v on the line of force action". Results. The analysis of scientific and technical sources of domestic and foreign materials for determining the heavy concretes crack resistance is carried out. The characteristics of crack resistance of concrete various compositions and strength, in particular the coefficient of stress intensity, are obtained Kсexp of the coefficient of energy characteristic of effective surface energy γexp, opening the banks at the top of the crack δсexp and the corresponding dependencies are installed AE–SEq with the specified parameters of concrete crack resistance. The stress intensity coefficient is determined with the parameters α0, β0 when loading with concentrated forces at certain points of applying the load. The influence function of geometric parameters of the sample is also determined f(α0, β0,ε), which was determined by calibration curves. A diagram of calculating the energy balance and a graph of load changes from the intensity AE are obtained. Based on the P-v diagrams, a formula is obtained for determining δсtheor at the top of the crack and graphical dependency δс from change fctk. The experimentally known ratio of fracture mechanics is tested δсσ0=2γ. Scientific novelty. This paper summarizes a number of experimental and theoretical researching the heavy concrete crack resistance features based on fracture mechanics. In particular, the following was specified and established: stress intensity factor Kсexp surface energy coefficient ; opening the banks at the crack tip ; the dependences between АЕ–SEq with the specified parameters of concrete crack resistance are established; the classical relation of fracture mechanics for concretes is confirmed. In addition, based on the fracture mechanics approaches for five series of concrete disk samples the force energy γ and deformation crack resistance features are determined by independent experimental methods. Practical significance. The comparison of the specified approaches of fracture mechanics is carried out and satisfactory convergence of the received results for heavy concretes is established.

Dynamic Characteristics and Effect on Thrust of Jet Tail Vortex Ring for Pump Jet Propulsion

When a pump is propelled by a propeller, the nozzle flooding of the jet wake area will produce a turbulent quasi-sequence structure and have a certain impact on the outflow field structure and thrust characteristics of the water jet propulsion pump. In this paper, a method that combined numerical simulation with vortex dynamics is adopted, which analyzes the dynamic characteristics and influence on the thrust characteristics of the water jet propulsion pump. A large eddy simulation turbulence model and a dimensionless water jet propulsion pump velocity coefficient were used to reveal flow structure and relation, with the pump operation parameters of the wake vortex ring. The thrust with a trailing vortex ring is 7.0% higher than that without a trailing vortex ring. Vortex dynamics and mathematical statistics are combined to quantitatively analyze the dynamic characteristics of the jet tail vortex ring. Finally, the formation time of the vortex ring is obtained in exponential relation with dimensionless transmission velocity and vorticity coefficient, which has nonlinear relation with vortex intensity coefficient and helicity coefficient. BP Neural Network combined with the LM algorithm is used to establish the mathematical relationship between the thrust and the physical characteristic parameters of the vortex ring.

Assessment of Annual Erosion and Sediment Yield Using Empirical Methods and Validating with Field Measurements—A Case Study

To implement soil conservation approaches, it is necessary to estimate the amount of annual sediment production from a watershed. The purpose of this study was to determine the erosion intensity and sedimentation rate from a watershed by employing empirical models, including the modified Pacific Southwest Inter-Agency Committee (MPSIAC), the erosion potential method (EPM), and Fournier. Moreover, the accuracy of these empirical models was studied based on field measurements. Field measurements were conducted along two reaches of Babolroud River. Total sediment transport, including suspended load and bed load, was predicted. Bed load transport rate was measured using a Helly–Smith sampler, and suspended load discharge was calculated by a sediment rating curve. The results of this study indicate that the erosion intensity coefficient (Z) of the Babolroud watershed is 0.54, with a deposition rate of 166.469 m3/(km2.year). Due to the existence of unusable crops, the highest amount of erosion appeared in the northern region of the watershed. The results using the EPM and MPSIAC models were compared with field measurements and indicated that both models provided good accuracy, with differences of 22.42% and 20.5% from the field results, respectively. Additionally, it could be concluded that the Fournier method is not an efficient method since it is unable to consider the erosion potential.

Research on Digital Information Privacy Behavior of Social Network Users Based on Evolutionary Game

This article takes social network services as the research object and mainly conducts two aspects of research: first, based on previous research, combining the behavior characteristics of users in the social network environment related to digital information privacy, the digital information privacy of users pays attention to the influential factors of users’ digital information privacy information disclosure behavior, summarize and refine them, establish theoretical research models, and then use structural equation modelling to empirically analyze the significance of each influence path; then, based on the first part of the empirical research, the evolutionary game theory was used to analyze the interests of digital information privacy between social network users and service providers. This paper also studies the evolution of the willingness of each parameter to provide digital information to users under variable expected return conditions and uses MATLAB to analyze its evolutionary trends. It is found that the regulatory intensity coefficient, information leakage loss, and information sensitivity are both for users and websites. It has an important impact, and the loss of information leakage and information sensitivity can affect the evolution direction of users’ willingness to provide digital information and change the speed of website evolution, and the regulatory intensity coefficient is the opposite.

High resolution optical investigation of laser intensity and solution temperature effects on thermocavitation

This paper studies cavitation induced by focusing a continuous wave laser in a highly absorbing aqueous copper nitrate solution. The Spatial Transmittance Modulation method was used to detect the cavitation bubbles and verified by high-speed shadowgraphy. The influence of intensity, solution temperature, and absorption coefficient on the cavitation dynamics was investigated by observing the bubble diameters, bubble lifetimes, cavitation times, and cavitation frequencies. The intensity was varied by changing the optical power between 1.2 W and 4.7 W and shifting the laser focal point from 4.5 mm outside to 3.5 mm inside of the cavitating solution by 1 mm increments. Additionally, six solution temperatures between 22 °C to 74 °C were tested, and three concentrations of copper nitrate (10.7, 6.35 and 3.49 g copper nitrate per 10 mL of water) were used to change the solution’s absorption coefficient. The results reveal that on average, larger intensities result in shorter cavitation times, higher frequencies, and higher percentages of small bubbles. Increasing the copper nitrate concentration has a similar effect on the cavitation events. With higher solution temperature, the time to initiate cavitation decreases, and higher percentage of larger bubbles appear due to a decrease of surface tension. However, the solution temperature does not change the cavitation randomness significantly. The findings of this investigation may allow for effective control of thermocavitation dynamics where current laser cavitation applications require managed outcomes.

Exploring the Allostatic Load of Pain, Interference, and the Buffering of Resilience

Chronic pain contributes to allostatic load (AL). Individuals with protective psychosocial and biobehavioral factors report lower levels of clinical pain. We have previously shown a relationship between a resilience index, telomere length, and brain structure. This study aims to assess the relationships between AL, a resilience index, and clinical pain/interference. In this study, 193 Non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White adults 45-85 years old, with/without knee pain participated. Data collected included sociodemographics, health history, Graded Chronic Pain Scale (GCPS), and blood samples. AL score was determined by a high risk value of 1 for each measure in the upper quartile for systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, waist-to-hip ratio, heart rate, fibrinogen, c-reactive protein, and cortisol, and the lower quartile for insulin-like growth factor-1, albumin, and dehydroepiandrosterone (0-10 score). The resilience index was comprised of tobacco use, waist-to-hip ratio, optimism, affect, active coping, perceived stress, and social support. Two-level scoring was used based on clinical norms or median split with higher scores indicating greater resilience (0-8 score). Spearman correlations and adjusted regression analyses were completed using SAS V 9.4. Resilience was inversely associated with GCPS Intensity (rs=-0.26, p=0.0004) and Interference (rs=-0.32, p<0.0001). GCPS Intensity (coefficient=0.16856, p=0.0198) and Interference (r=0.23978, p=0.0008) were positively associated with AL. The resilience index (t=-2.07, p=0.0395) was predictive of AL in an adjusted analysis including age, sex, and ethnicity/race but was not significant when including GCPS Intensity or interference. Resilience was associated with pain and AL, however a biological buffering effect for pain was not demonstrated. AL is a more dynamic measure than telomere length. Additionally, the current AL composite is relative to the sample, a clinically validated measure may be more informative. Further development and refinement of a biologically sensitive resilience index would have significant clinical utility. Grant support from National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging [R01AG054370; R37AG033906; T32AG049673; P30 AG059297-01]; the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute [UL1TR000064]; the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Clinical and Translational Science Institute [UL1TR000165] and the Inter-NIA Center Pilot Proposals on Life Course Perspectives on Aging and Resilience and Reserve in Aging.

Observational study on drag reduction of continental-shelf bottom boundary layer

Long-term and high-frequency observing of the oceanic bottom boundary layer was implemented using a seabed-mounted tripod equipped with multiple high-frequency instruments in a semidiurnal tide-dominated channel around the Zhoushan Islands, China. The estimated turbulent parameters, e.g., turbulent intensity, friction velocity, and bottom drag coefficient, varied with quarter-diurnal frequency. The amplitudes of turbulent intensity, bottom stress, and friction velocity were larger in spring tide than those in neap tide. As the Reynolds number increased from 103 to 105, the measured bottom drag coefficient initially increased, peaked at a Reynolds number of approximately 1.4 × 105, and then decreased. The observed drag reduction is similar to the variations of drag coefficient of cross-flow around a circular cylinder and the fluid friction of the pipe flow in the transitional state, which can provide a necessary and important proof for further theoretical and experimental investigations. Several plausible explanations are raised for this reduction: the stratification caused by the gradient of salinity or sediment suspension and the occurrence of recirculation vortices generated by seabed topography.

Influences of rock fragments on the hydraulics and erosion of concentrated runoff in steep spoil heaps on the Loess Plateau of China

The soil–rock mixed spoil heaps are prone to severe soil erosion during heavy rain, causing severe land degradation and ecological and environmental damage. Nevertheless, past research on the erosion on spoil heaps has focused on soil particles that were readily eroded and disregarded the rock fragments (RF) that were not readily eroded. To explore the effect of the RF embedded in spoil heaps on the hydraulics of and erosion caused by concentrated runoff, scour-erosion experiments were implemented on three types of spoil heaps: RF = 7%, RF = 45%, and RF = 69%. The RF clearly reduced runoff and erosion on steep spoil heaps. As the RF increased from 7% to 69%, the runoff intensity and runoff coefficient decreased by 72.9%–79.1% and 83.2%–84.1% respectively, and the sediment concentration, soil denudation rate, and total soil loss decreased by 36.0%–47.8%, 83.7%–87.1%, and 87.0%–92.3%, respectively. Narrow rills were generated during the experiments, and the RF distinctly influenced the rill characteristics. High contents of RF restrained rill retreating and undercutting, and promoted rill widening. With an increase in RF, the flow shear stress and stream power gradually decreased, and the Darcy–Weisbach roughness coefficient increased. These findings imply that the RF dissipated the flow energy and reduced soil detachment capacity and sediment transport capacity. Soil detachment is strongly related to the Darcy–Weisbach roughness coefficient, Reynolds number, and runoff intensity, which may be the preferred descriptors of soil detachment. The current findings indicate that embedded rock fragments could effectively reduce soil loss on steep spoil heaps.

Cardiac microstructural alterations in immune-inflammatory myocardial disease: a retrospective case-control study

BackgroundImmune-inflammatory myocardial disease contributes to multiple chronic cardiac processes, but access to non-invasive screening is limited. We have previously developed a method of echocardiographic texture analysis, called the high-spectrum signal intensity coefficient (HS-SIC) which assesses myocardial microstructure and previously associated with myocardial fibrosis. We aimed to determine whether this echocardiographic texture analysis of cardiac microstructure can identify inflammatory cardiac disease in the clinical setting.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective case-control study of 318 patients with distinct clinical myocardial pathologies and 20 healthy controls. Populations included myocarditis, atypical chest pain/palpitations, STEMI, severe aortic stenosis, acute COVID infection, amyloidosis, and cardiac transplantation with acute rejection, without current rejection but with prior rejection, and with no history of rejection. We assessed the HS-SIC’s ability to differentiate between a broader diversity of clinical groups and healthy controls. We used Kruskal-Wallis tests to compare HS-SIC values measured in each of the clinical populations with those in the healthy control group and compared HS-SIC values between the subgroups of cardiac transplantation rejection status.ResultsFor the total sample of N = 338, the mean age was 49.6 ± 20.9 years and 50% were women. The mean ± standard error of the mean of HS-SIC were: 0.668 ± 0.074 for controls, 0.552 ± 0.049 for atypical chest pain/palpitations, 0.425 ± 0.058 for myocarditis, 0.881 ± 0.129 for STEMI, 1.116 ± 0.196 for severe aortic stenosis, 0.904 ± 0.116 for acute COVID, and 0.698 ± 0.103 for amyloidosis. Among cardiac transplant recipients, HS-SIC values were 0.478 ± 0.999 for active rejection, 0.594 ± 0.091 for prior rejection, and 1.191 ± 0.442 for never rejection. We observed significant differences in HS-SIC between controls and myocarditis (P = 0.0014), active rejection (P = 0.0076), and atypical chest pain or palpitations (P = 0.0014); as well as between transplant patients with active rejection and those without current or prior rejection (P = 0.031).ConclusionsAn echocardiographic method can be used to characterize tissue signatures of microstructural changes across a spectrum of cardiac disease including immune-inflammatory conditions.

The Main Factors and Trends of Urbanization in Kazakhstan: Analysis and Recommendations

With the development of industry, the industrialization of agriculture, the strengthening of Industry 4.0 trends in all countries of the world, the trends of migration of rural residents to cities, and the pace of urbanization are increasing. The purpose of the article was to study the main factors determining the trends, intensity, and specificity of urbanization processes in Kazakhstan. The methods of retrospective analysis, analogies, logical analysis, generalizations, demographic and economic statistics, index, graphic, comparative analysis, absolute and relative indicators of demography and migration, methods of the theory of differentiated urbanization are used. Specific methods were applied to calculate the coefficients of urbanization intensity. To achieve the goal, a comparative analysis of theoretical views on trends and factors of urbanization was carried out. Based on statistical data, a comparative analysis of the birth rate, the level, and quality of life, the level of poverty in cities and villages of Kazakhstan was carried out. The dynamics, orientation, and territorial distribution of urbanization processes are revealed. To determine the hierarchies of cities depending on the population, Zipf curves were calculated, ranking of cities was carried out. It is concluded that the processes of urbanization in the country are uneven, as well as that the factors of urbanization are fully manifested in Kazakhstan’s conditions and determine its trends and intensity. Based on the identified trends and problems of urbanization, recommendations on the choice of the main directions and mechanisms for regulating the processes of urbanization in Kazakhstan are substantiated.

Manifold-enhanced CycleGAN for facial expression synthesis

ABSTRACT Facial expressions contain a great deal of information in inter-personal communication and social interaction and have a great impact on face recognition. This paper investigates expression synthesis methods based on deep learning and their performance in expression classification and face recognition. We propose a new synthesis method based on the active appearance model and CycleGAN. The eigendecomposition method is used to obtain the expression shape of a target subject through linear operations. An expression intensity coefficient is developed to control the dynamics of generated expressions. Subsequently, a generative model is introduced for the synthesis on textures. The identity loss is integrated into the traditional CycleGAN model, incorporated with the adversarial loss and the cycle consistency loss, to better preserve texture attributes and identity information of target subjects. Experiments and comparisons show that the proposed method offers marked improvements in verification of expressions and identities, as well as in generalization across databases.

Assessment of soil erosion using the GIS-based erosion potential method in the Kebir Rhumel Watershed, Northeast Algeria

Soil erosion is an important factor that should be considered when planning renewable natural resource projects, effects of which can be measured by modelling techniques. Therefore, disintegration models determine soil loss intensity and support soil conservation practices. This study estimates soil loss rates by water erosion using the Erosion Potential Method (EPM) in the Kebir Rhumel Watershed located in Northeast Algeria. The area is north to south sub-humid to semi-arid, receives irregular rainfall, and has steep slopes and low vegetation cover which makes it very vulnerable to erosion. The main factors in the EPM (soil erodibility, soil protection, slope, temperature, and rainfall) were evaluated using the Geographical Information System (GIS) and data provided by remote sensing technologies. The erosion intensity coefficient Z was 0.60, which indicates medium erosion intensity. While the results showed the average annual soil erosion of 17.92 Mg∙ha–1∙y–1, maximum and minimum losses are 190.50 Mg∙ha–1∙y–1 and 0.21 Mg∙ha–1∙y–1, respectively. The EPM model shows satisfactory results compared to some studies done in the basin, where the obtained results can be used for more appropriate management of land and water resources, sustainable planning, and environmental protection.

Assessing the explosion effect on rock mass pre-destruction

Introduction. Theoretical and empirical research into rock blasting proved that detonation wave propagation results in the development of destruction and pre-destruction zones around the explosive cavity. In the destruction zone, rock crushes. In the pre-destruction zone, stresses set up by the detonation wave are concentrated on rock mass structure defects, giving rise to new micro defects and the development of the existing ones. Rock fracturing and cavitation increase, lowering its strength properties; this is called rock pre-destruction. There are works devoted to the qualitative analysis of rock in the pre-destruction zone, but the problem requires elaboration to offer possibilities for practical application. Research aims to quantify rock mass pre-destruction to use the parameters of rock blasting by borehole charges under opencast mining in engineering calculations. Methods of research. To assess the degree of rock mass pre-destruction at a distance from the charge axis, a pre-destruction intensity coefficient is used. The destruction zone radius is determined by a well-known method. In the destruction zone, the value of the pre-destruction intensity coefficient is higher than one, i. e. there is discontinuity of the rock mass. Beyond the destruction zone, there is a pre-destruction zone where the value of the pre-destruction intensity coefficient is less than one. The pre-destruction zone boundary is at distances of the order of 200–250 charge radii. The pre-destruction intensity coefficient of a particular zone attained after all charges have been fired is determined by summing the pre-destruction intensity coefficient from every charge. According to the energy approach, rock strength can be assessed by the value of the specific drilling energy intensity. In order to determine the reduction value of the specific drilling energy intensity in a particular zone, it is essential to know the drilling specific energy capacity of this zone in the natural state, the pre-destruction intensity coefficient attained after a large-scale blast of borehole charges, and specific drilling energy intensity of completely disintegrated rock. The effect made by another borehole charge explosion on the rock mass is weaker due to its pre-destruction by previous blasts. So we propose the impact multiplicity coefficient that reflects the accumulation of pre-destruction in a particular zone under the sequence blasting of borehole charges. Results. The expected value of the specific drilling energy intensity has been calculated for the individual arbitrarily spaced wells within the pre-destruction zone of a particular rock mass zone. The calculation results were compared with the practical values measured during blasting preparation in the preset rock mass zone. Conclusions. The findings of this study have made it possible to quantify the impact of explosions on rock mass pre-destruction. The developed technique makes it possible to predict the value of drilling energy intensity in the pre-destruction zone and, as a result, establish the required specific energy intensity of detonation and hence the consumption of explosives. Thus, it becomes possible to reduce the consumption of explosives under the existing blasting scheme at the enterprise and model other charge initiation types to select the least expensive one.

Response of an Indicator Species, Dryopteris crassirhizoma, to Temporal and Spatial Variations in Sika Deer Density.

Simple SummaryDeer can affect forest ecosystems through foraging behavior. Using indicator species that are sensitive to temporal and spatial variations in deer density has the advantage of managing deer effectively and practically. We examined the response of Dryopteris crassirhizoma to the variations in sika deer density in Hokkaido, Japan. We showed that the grazing intensity of D. crassirhizoma was sensitive to short-term decreases in deer density and positively related to spatial variation in deer density within regions. Dryopteris crassirhizoma can be a useful indicator species and using grazing intensity could help managers rapidly determine their management direction and decide where to focus their efforts.Identifying appropriate indicator species for the impact of deer on forest vegetation is crucial for forest management in deer habitats and is required to be sensitive to temporal and spatial variations in deer density. Dryopteris crassirhizoma was selected as a new indicator to evaluate the response to these variations. We examined the population-level characteristics, morphological characteristics at the individual level, and grazing intensity of D. crassirhizoma at temporally different deer density sites in Hokkaido, Japan. The response of D. crassirhizoma to spatial variation in deer density was also examined within and between two regions in Hokkaido, Japan. Although the population-level characteristics and morphological characteristics did not significantly respond to short-term decreases in deer density, grazing intensity significantly decreased with decreasing deer density. The grazing intensity was also positively related to the spatial variation of deer density within both regions, but the estimated coefficient of the grazing intensity differed between regions. We concluded that D. crassirhizoma can be a useful indicator species of the impact of deer on forest vegetation. The grazing intensity of the indicator species was sensitive to temporal and spatial variations in deer density within the region.

A comparison of the aerodynamic characteristics of four kinds of land surface in wind erosion areas of northern China

Aerodynamic characteristics is a crucial factor influencing soil wind erosion, which is closely related to the properties of surface roughness elements. In the expansive arid and semi-arid northern China, grassland, farmland, mobile sandy land, and gobi are the main land surface types that suffer wind erosion to varying degrees. To investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of different surfaces, we used three-dimensional ultrasonic anemometers to observe the near-surface wind speed above grassland, farmland, mobile sand, and two types of gobi surfaces in areas of northern China (a total of five observation sites). We compared the aerodynamic characteristics of the five surfaces and their causes (i.e., the surface roughness length, wind speed pulsation, turbulence intensity, and drag coefficient), and analyzed how surface roughness elements weakened the airflow. The roughness length was greatest for grassland, followed by farmland, sand, fine gobi, and black gobi. The pulsation intensity of near-surface wind speed increased linearly with increasing wind speed at all sites. At a given wind speed, increasing roughness length increased the pulsation intensity of wind speed. The probability distributions for the drag coefficient and turbulence intensity of the five surfaces followed a positively skewed distribution. The drag coefficient and turbulence intensity were greatest for grassland, followed by farmland, sand, fine gobi, and black gobi surfaces. The drag force exerted on the roughness elements increased with increasing wind speed, but the ratio of drag force exerted on the roughness elements to the total drag force (τR/τ) for flexible roughness elements (i.e., plants) increased as the wind speed increased; for rigid roughness elements, τR/τ decreased with increasing wind speed. This confirms that the shelter capability of flexible roughness elements against soil wind erosion increases with the increase of wind speed, while that of rigid roughness elements is opposite.

Assessing the Costs of Home Palliative Care in Italy: Results for a Demetra Multicentre Study.

Background: The sustainability of palliative care services is nowadays crucial inasmuch as resources for palliative care are internationally scarce, the funding environment is competitive, and the potential population is growing. Methods: The DEMETRA study is a multicentre prospective observational study, describing the intensity of care and the related costs of palliative home care pathways. Results: 475 patients were enrolled as recipients of specialized palliative home care. The majority of recipients were cancer patients (89.4%). The mean duration of palliative care pathways was 46.6 days and mean home care intensity coefficient equal to 0.6. The average daily cost of the model with the reference variables is 96.26 euros. Factors statistically significantly associated with an increase in mean daily costs were greater dependence and extreme frailty (p < 0.05). Otherwise, a longer duration of treatment course was associated with a significant decrease in mean daily costs (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In terms of clinical and organizational management, considering the close association with the intensity and cost of the path, frailty should be systematically assessed by all facilities that potentially refer patients to home palliative care teams, and it should be carefully recorded in a standardized payment rate perspective.