Effects Of Restoration Research Articles

Exploring the impact of green wall and its size on restoration effect and stress recovery using immersive virtual environments

The study investigated the influence of a green wall and its size on stress and restoration within the biophilic design integrating natural objects into environments. Despite its benefits in enhancing access to nature and stress reduction, visual stimuli properties may affect design outcomes. This research employed Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) combined with a climate chamber for thermally controlled conditions, where sixty participants experienced different virtual settings with and without green walls after performing a stressor task. The evaluation of stress involved recording physiological responses, including heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and electrodermal activity (EDA) along with eye movements. Participants also completed a restoration state survey. Comparing physiological responses found no significant stress recovery in settings with green walls compared to baseline. Stress recovery was similar regardless of green wall size, indicating size may not affect stress. Restoration votes did not vary significantly across settings. These results were discussed focusing on the perceived lack of “naturalness” and “engagement” in virtual environments, as fixation time analysis indicated limited engagement: participants spent 18.63 % and 19.65 % of their time fixated on the green wall in small and large settings, respectively. The authors suggest design solutions to enhance the realism and engagement of virtual natural objects. Although this study did not find the impact of size, the minimum size of natural objects required for restoration is still unknown, suggesting a need for future research on different natural coverages to develop design guidelines for the successful integration of biophilic design into the built environments.

Mimicking functional elements of the natural flow regime promotes native fish recovery in a regulated river.

Streamflow regimes that maintain vital functions and processes of aquatic ecosystems are critical to sustaining ecosystem health. In rivers with altered flow regimes, restoring components of the natural flow regime is predicted to conserve freshwater biodiversity by supporting ecological functions and geomorphological processes to which native communities are adapted. However, the effectiveness of environmental flow restoration is poorly understood because of inadequate monitoring and uncertainty in ecological responses to managed changes in specific, quantifiable aspects of the annual streamflow regime. Here, we used time series models to analyze 25 years of fish assemblage data collected before and after environmental flow implementation in a dammed river in California, USA. We examined the response of the fish community to changes in individual components of the flow regime known to support ecosystem functions. We found that as functional flow components shifted toward their predicted natural range, the quasi-extinction risk (likelihood of population declines of >80%) decreased for the native fish assemblage. Following environmental flow implementation, observed changes toward natural ranges of dry season duration, fall pulse flow magnitude, and wet season timing each reduced quasi-extinction risk by at least 40% for the native assemblage. However, functional flow components that shifted away from their predicted natural range, including lower spring recession flows and higher dry season baseflow, resulted in greater quasi-extinction risk for native species. In contrast, non-native species decreased in abundance when flow components shifted toward predicted natural ranges and increased when components shifted away from their natural range. Although most functional flow components remained outside of their natural range following environmental flow implementation, our results indicate that even moderate shifts toward a natural flow regime can benefit native and suppress non-native fish species. Overall, this study provides the most compelling evidence to date of the effectiveness of functional environmental flows in supporting native fish recovery in a highly regulated river.

Effect of orthodontics combined with fibre-reinforced composite resin-bonded fixed partial denture on anterior dentition defects with minimal vertical intermaxillary space.

Prosthodontics are often performed to treat patients with malocclusion and dentition defects. However, single prosthodontics cannot properly correct the disharmony of teeth, dental arch and other parts affected by malocclusion, and some patients may have difficulty in recovering the occlusal function due to poor prosthodontics. This study aims to investigate the effect of orthodontics combined with fibre-reinforced composite resin-bonded fixed partial denture (FRC-RBFPD) on anterior dentition defects with minimal vertical intermaxillary space. Sixty-two patients with anterior dentition defects with minimal vertical mandibular space admitted to our hospital between March 2021 and May 2023 were enrolled in this study. The participants were divided into the observation group (31 cases) and the control group (31 cases), according to the treatment plan. The control group was treated with traditional therapy, and the observation group was treated with orthodontic combined FRC-RBFPD therapy. Periodontal conditions (periodontal pocket depth [PD], the plaque index [PLI], the sulcus bleeding index [SBI]), levels of inflammatory factors in gingival crevicular fluid (high mobility group box 1 [HMGB1]), myeloid cell triggering receptor-1 (TREM-1), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), pain (visual analogue scale [VAS]), the clinical response rate and the incidence of adverse reactions were collected and compared. After 1, 3, 5 and 9 months following treatment, the scores of the PD, PLI, SBI, HMGB1, VAS, TREM-1 and MCP-1 in the observation group were found to be lower than those in the control group (FPD treatment= 352.532, FPLI score treatment= 112.341, FSBI score treatment= 79.479, FVAS score treatment= 96.132, FHMGB1 treatment= 52.532, FTREM-1 score treatment= 64.593, FMCP-1 score treatment= 53.582, and they were all statistically significant P< 0.05). There was a statistically significant difference in the response rate between the two groups (97.77% vs. 80.65%, χ2= 4.026, P= 0.045). No statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (6.45% vs. 16.13%, χ2= 1.449, P= 0.229). Orthodontics combined with FRC-RBFPD shows an ideal restorative effect on patients with anterior dentition defects and minimal vertical intermaxillary space.

Integrating Future Multi-Scenarios to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Ecological Restoration: A Case Study of the Yellow River Basin

Ecological restoration is an important strategy for mitigating environmental degradation, and the effectiveness evaluation of ecological restoration is of profound significance for the scientific implementation of restoration projects. This study improved the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model. It was used to simulate the land use patterns under multi-scenarios such as natural development (ND), economic priority (EP), and ecological restoration (ER) in 2030. An evaluation framework covering ecological “Restoration–Monitoring–Effectiveness” (RME) was proposed. Based on 30 m high-resolution remote-sensing data from 2000 to 2020, the land use distribution, landscape pattern changes, and ecosystem services under different scenarios were evaluated and predicted in the Yellow River Basin of Sichuan to verify the effectiveness of the evaluation framework. The results showed the following: (1) Under the ER scenario, the transfer of land use types in 2020–2030 was mainly characterized by an increase in the area of wetlands and a decrease in the area of built-up land. (2) There were obvious differences in land use and landscape patterns under different scenarios. Compared with the ND and EP scenarios, the growth of the construction rate was suppressed in the ER scenario, and the coverage of grassland and wetlands increased significantly. (3) The mean values of ecosystem services in the ER scenario were higher than those in the ND and EP scenarios. These findings clearly indicate that the RME evaluation system can accurately evaluate the ecological restoration effects under multi-scenarios in the future, providing a new perspective for ecological restoration evaluation in other regions.

Electroacupuncture remodels gut microbiota and metabolites in mice with perioperative neurocognitive impairment

Gut microbiota and metabolites are considered key factors in the pathogenesis of perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND), and the brain-gut axis may be a promising target for PND treatment. Electroacupuncture has been shown to improve a wide range of neurological disorders and to restore function to the gastrointestinal tract. Thus, we hypothesized whether electroacupuncture could remodel gut microbiota and neuroinflammation induced by anesthesia/surgery. First, we observed electroacupuncture at acupoints GV20, LI4 and PC6 significantly improved memory in behavioral tests. Next, we found electroacupuncture decreased the levels of inflammatory factors (NSE, S-100β, IL-6, etc.) in the hippocampus, indicating that nerve inflammation was blocked by electroacupuncture. Furthermore, via 16S rRNA sequence analysis and LC-MS analysis, the gut microbiota and its metabolites were appropriately restored after electroacupuncture treatment. Additionally, we further confirmed the restorative effect of electroacupuncture on PND by fecal transplantation. In conclusion, the role of electroacupuncture in improving cognitive function and protecting neurons may be related to the modulation of gut microbiota and their metabolite dysregulation, thereby inhibiting neuroinflammation in PND mice.

Ecological restoration enhanced the stability of epiphytic microbial food webs of submerged macrophytes: Insights from predation characteristics of epiphytic predators

The application of various submerged macrophytes for ecological restoration has gained increasing attention in urban lake ecosystems. The multitrophic microbial communities that colonized in various submerged macrophytes constitute microbial food webs through trophic cascade effects, which affect the biogeochemical cycles of the lake ecosystem and directly determine the effects of ecological restoration. Therefore, it is essential to reveal the diversity, composition, assembly processes, and stability of the microbial communities within epiphytic food webs of diverse submerged macrophytes under eutrophication and ecological restoration scenarios. In this study, we explored the epiphytic microbial food webs of Vallisneria natans and Hydrilla verticillata in both eutrophic and ecological restoration regions. The obtained results indicated that the two regions with different nutrient levels remarkably affected the diversity and composition of epiphytic multitrophic microbial communities of submerged macrophytes, among them, the community composition of epiphytic predators were more prone to change. Secondly, environmental filtering effects played a more important role in driving the community assembly of epiphytic predators than that of prey. Furthermore, the generality and intraguild predation of epiphytic predators were significantly improved within ecological restoration regions, which increased the stability of epiphytic microbial food webs. Additionally, compared with Hydrilla verticillata, the epiphytic microbial food webs of Vallisneria natans exhibited higher multitrophic diversity and higher network stability regardless of regions. Overall, this study focused on the role of the epiphytic microbial food webs of submerged macrophytes in ecological restoration and uncovered the potential of epiphytic predators to enhance the stability of microbial food webs, which may provide new insights into the development of ecological restoration strategies.

PUBLIC SECTORS IN PARTNERSHIPS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE RENEWAL: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The author researched and analyzed the problems and possibilities of interaction between the state and public sectors in infrastructure restoration partnerships. Bureaucracy, financial constraints, insufficient interaction with the community and risks are identified as pressing issues that inhibit the effectiveness of infrastructure restoration. At the same time, consideration of the opportunities for interaction points to the significant benefits of innovative technologies, public- private partnerships, sustainability and social responsibility. The need for a comprehensive approach to overcoming problems and maximizing opportunities in the field of infrastructure restoration for the sustainable development of cities and regions is substantiated. Cooperation between the public and public sectors turns out to be an important factor for the successful development of infrastructure to solve the classic problems of bureaucracy and financial constraints. It is emphasized that the results of the study indicate that public involvement, effective risk management and the use of the latest technologies become the basis for creating a sustainable and efficient infrastructure that meets the modern requirements of society. This article serves as a practical overview and a challenge to develop strategies aimed at improving the interaction between sectors to achieve the common goals of sustainable development.

The added value of the long-term ecological research network to upscale restoration in Europe

Achieving global restoration targets poses challenges including the need for long-term research and effective monitoring of success, fostering collaborations across diverse fields and actors, ensuring the availability of suitable reference ecosystems, and securing sustained funding. Yet, these conditions are often lacking, limiting the effectiveness of restoration. We provide an overview of ecological restoration practices in the pan-European region of the Long-term Ecological Research Network (eLTER) and demonstrate the importance of eLTER and its potential contributions to support the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Law. We developed an online questionnaire to collect information on eLTER restoration experts and restoration projects details including the use of eLTER contributions (e.g. infrastructure, data and knowledge), between November 2021 and March 2022. We identified 62 restoration experts and 42 restoration projects from 18 countries. Our results show that eLTER restoration expertise covers most of the European habitats, diverse degradation states and restoration techniques. Most restoration projects (78%) involved long-term monitoring exceeding the average project lifespan, which has proven necessary to achieve restoration success. No common protocol was used for monitoring and evaluation or cost-benefit estimates, but respondents reported effective projects, mostly financed from national funds, and benefits in five ecosystem services on average covered per project. Key eLTER contributions included providing reference ecosystems, biotic and abiotic background data, and interdisciplinary discussion or stakeholder management. Ecological restoration is time intensive and requires long-term research and monitoring standardization to fully understand the restoration process and to ensure comparability across ecosystems. The eLTER network can help address these challenges providing added-value contributions through its infrastructure, long-term datasets, diversity of expertise and strategies that can help identify best restoration practices and support the EU Nature Restoration Law. Finally, additional and long-term funding from the EU and the private sector is needed to achieve global larger-scale restoration targets.

Reseeding inhibits grassland vegetation degradation – Global evidence

Global grassland faces different degradation degrees, and reseeding is commonly used to restore degraded grasslands. However, the factors affecting the results of reseeding restorations worldwide remain unclear. Here, we screened 141 independently published articles and performed a meta-analysis of the extracted 1386 data pairs. We selected five quantitative indices and four α diversity indices to analyze the effects of reseeding on the degraded grassland. Our results showed that reseeding significantly increased the quantitative indices and diversity index of degraded grasslands worldwide. Mixed reseeding has the best effect on improving the diversity of degraded grassland. A high mixed reseeding number was more conducive to restoring degraded grassland diversity. The more severe the grassland degradation, the better the restoration effect of reseeding. Short- and medium-term restorations significantly increased the diversity of degraded grassland. However, the restoration time increased the response proportion of aboveground biomass and cover. After reseeding, the proportion of aboveground biomass (AGB) response in humid areas was greater than in arid regions. This study explored the overall effect of reseeding restoration and the factors affecting reseeding restoration, providing a basis for the global restoration of degraded grassland and promoting the healthy development and sustainable use of grassland.

How Do Urban Nature Parks Contribute to Psychological Restoration? The Perspective of Embodied Experience

Urban nature parks, as public green spaces in cities, hold great significance in helping individuals rejuvenate their physical and mental well-being in response to the demands of daily life and work. While researchers have widely recognized the psychologically restorative effects of urban nature parks, the role of embodied experiences in the restoration process has not received adequate attention. Drawing upon the embodied theory, this study explores how embodied nature experiences contribute to and support psychological restoration, as well as the underlying psychological mechanisms. The findings indicate that embodied nature experiences in urban nature parks directly and indirectly facilitate psychological restoration by enhancing nature connectedness and social connectedness. Furthermore, nature connectedness and social connectedness serve as serial mediators between embodied nature experiences and psychological restoration. These conclusions provide empirical evidence for the future development of urban nature parks.

Registration of jaw centric relation with different deprogramming devices

BACKGROUND: There are several methods to register jaw centric relation for diagnosis and therapy of dysfunctional disorders of the temporomandibular joint. However, there is insufficient information in the literature regarding the choice of the optimal way to determine this indicator. AIM: To compare different methods for recording jaw centric relation according to the data of the computed tomography of temporomandibular joint. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study includes participants with increased abrasion of hard tooth tissues and symptoms of musculoskeletal dysfunction of the temporomandibular joint. The main group (80 people) has been recorded jaw centric relation using deprogramming devices (Lucia jig — 1stsubgroup, Kois deprogrammer — 2ndsubgroup, sheet calibrator — 3rd subgroup, deprogrammer in combination with M. Rocаbado kinesiotherapy elements — 4th subgroup). The control group included 20 participants, who had not had deprogramming before registration of jaw centric relation. The results were monitored using computed tomography of temporomandibular joint and subsequent assessment of the sizes of the TMG articular gap in the coronary and sagittal sections at 3 stages of the study: diagnostic, after registration of jaws central relation and prosthetic treatment and 6 months after prosthetic rehabilitation. Since there were no more than 50 observations in each group, the Shapiro–Wilk W-test was used to verify compliance with the norm. RESULTS: According to the data obtained, the parameters of the temporomandibular joint gap have changed in the main group of the 1th subgroup, where indicators are approaching the physiological norm (98% of cases). In the 2ndsubgroup, 90% of the participants show a tendency to conform to the physiological norm. The exception is 10% of the participants with no tendency of improvement. The smaller part (75%) of the participants of the 3rd subgroup observed compliance of the parameters of the articular gap with the criteria of the norm. The dimensions of the anterior part of the articular gap of the temporomandibular joint exceed the dimensions of the distal part, which indicates the anterior position of the temporomandibular joint. Some patients in this group (25%) showed no positive results of computed tomography measurements after jaws centric relation registration. In the 4th subgroup, the patients returned to normal values (100% of the cases). The positive effect of prosthetic treatment and restoration of the position of the articular heads of the temporomandibular joint were obtained in 45 % of the participants in the control group. However, in 55% of the participants the location of the articular gap of the temporomandibular joint did not improve. CONCLUSIONS: Lucia jig in combination with the M. Rokabado’s complex of cranial-postural kinesiotherapy is the most effective method to register jaw centric relation within this study. The remaining methods are also applied among prosthetic dentists and gnathologists. However, in each clinical situation, it is necessary to consider temporomandibular joint pathology indications, type and degree of severity as well as the technical and financial capacity of both doctor and patient.

Research on ecological restoration and green reclamation technology of goaf in phosphorus mines

The subsidiary of Yunnan Phosphate Group Co., Ltd., Kunyang Phosphate Mine’s mining area is the subject of study. The mining of open-pit phosphate mines has caused significant damage to the ecological environment. Therefore, carrying out ecological restoration and green reclamation of the ecosystem in the mining area has become the top priority for current development. This article establishes an evaluation system for ecological restoration indicators, selecting four indicators including vegetation coverage, soil and water conservation, restoration of native plants, and Plant Species Diversity Index to assess the effects of ecological restoration and green reclamation of phosphate mines. The techniques of reconstructing soil ecological structure using phosphate tailings substrate and improving acidic soil with soil conditioner and calcium-magnesium phosphate compound fertilizer were applied. A series of other measures were taken, including: drafting scientific ecological restoration plans; employing physical, chemical, and biological methods for ecological restoration and green reclamation; selecting suitable plant species for planting; enhancing planting techniques; and strengthening post-restoration ecological monitoring and regulation. After ecological restoration and green reclamation, the Ecological Remediation Effect Index (EREI) for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 were 48.40, 87.38, and 93.23 respectively, indicating significant improvement in the ecological environment. Furthermore, the difficulties encountered during the ecological system restoration process of the mine and the future development directions were summarized, providing practical and guiding significance for ecological restoration and green reclamation of abandoned mining areas both domestically and internationally.

Interpreting the role of antioxidants invivo: A cautionary tale.

Bacteria have a remarkable ability to sense environmental stresses and to respond to these stressors by adapting their metabolism and physiology. In recent publications, investigators have suggested that multiple stresses that cause cell death share the mechanistic feature of stimulating the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). A central piece of evidence cited in these claims is the ability of exogenous antioxidant compounds to mitigate stress-related cell death. The validity of attributing a positive effect of exogenous antioxidants to ROS-mediated stress is challenged by an important study by Korshunov and Imlay in this issue of Molecular Microbiology. This study reports biochemical data that convincingly show that some commonly used antioxidants quench oxidants orders of magnitude too slowly to have a significant effect on the concentration of ROS in the cell. Under conditions where antioxidants minimize cell death, they also slow growth. Significantly, slowing cell growth by other means has the same restorative effect as adding an antioxidant. Based on the solid biochemical and genetic data, Korshunov and Imlay make the case for discarding the use of antioxidants to diagnose conditions that generate increased internal ROS production.

Effects of mangrove wetland restoration on macrobenthos communities in the Pearl River Estuary Delta, China

Effects of mangrove wetland restoration on macrobenthos communities in the Pearl River Estuary Delta, China

Macroinvertebrate community dynamics following wetland restoration: Insights from taxonomic structure and functional feeding groups in response to water quality

Continuous wetland restoration initiatives in China are increasing, due to the global degradation of wetland ecosystems. However, monitoring of the restoration situation remains incomplete. In this study, we investigated the effects of wetland restoration on the macroinvertebrate taxonomic structure and feeding functional groups (FFGs) in the Naolihe National Nature Reserve (NNNR). Macroinvertebrate taxonomic diversity can be used to monitor wetlands, and we hypothesized that FFGs serve the same function. We calculated the diversity index, performed a non-metric multidimensional analysis based on macroinvertebrate taxonomics and FFGs, and subsequently, performed a t-test on the results. The results showed that macroinvertebrate diversity and FFGs analyses were in general agreement with taxonomic diversity, indicating that the macroinvertebrate community in the wetland with five years of fallow land was resembled that of the natural wetland. In contrast, the macroinvertebrate community in the wetland with two years of fallow differed significantly from that in the natural wetland. Additionally, the results of the ecosystem attributes based on biomass and FFGs showed that restored wetlands exhibited lower habitat stability than natural wetlands. Nutrients (NH4+-N, NO3−-N, and total phosphorus) explained the changes in macroinvertebrate FFGs in the restored wetlands to a greater extent than in the natural wetlands. The results of this study highlight the importance of macroinvertebrate FFGs in wetland monitoring, which supports the use of macroinvertebrate FFGs in the NNNR to monitor wetland restoration.

Chichimene field T2 sand: a successful application of cycles in a water injection project on heavy crude oil, enabled by a novel smart selective completion system adapted for water injection

This paper presents the application of injection in cycles, assisted by the first smart selective completion system with remote valve operation. The completion system was installed in the Chichimene Field unit T2 (Fm. San Fernando). The results were compared with conventional water injection, technology that utilizes a simple selective completion system, in the aspects of recovery factor, water consumption, operation style, and others. The target unit has been subjected to selective water injection since 2016, this process consisted of injection of a controlled amount of water within 3-4 zones in equilibrium with the extractive system on producers wells to find a better crude oil movement and a commercial recovery factor. Despite this, the surveillance evidence suggests that some zones consume too much water due its high permeability (heterogeneity) and this impacts on high water cut on producers due to the (adverse mobility ratio), but also suggested that there is a better way to improve even more the recovery factor. This enhancement was enabled with a smart selective completion system by promoting a scheduled temporal closure of zones while production continues, achieving pressure-production restoration effects on the closed zones, allowing an efficiency increase of the vertical and areal sweep. To determine if this could work, a smart completion system was installed in one well in August 2019. During more than one year, the operation and interpretation of the DAS measuring tool (Continuous sound recording) was understood, from which injected water per zone is daily known, with this, the optimization of the injection rate per zone allowed enhancement of the production pattern behaviour. In February 2021, the injection cycles started on the well by zone, and to the current date, more than 25 monthly cycles have been done, increasing the recovery factor, with a considerable reduction in water and energy consumption, maintaining a continuous measurement of zone injection, this level of information has never been reached in the industry. The case study establishes a new frontier in the field of selective injection and in cycles as well, allowing an evolution step in water injection technology. This pilot combined in one design: selective injection, intelligent remote operate completions, continuous layer injection measuring by DAS, extra heavy oil WF, management of high permeability variations and it is aligned with the latest regulations in decarbonization (water and energy saving). From a reservoir point of view, it has never been there, a surveillance in injectors with this level of quality to enhance performance, and on the surface, this technology has allowed an important reduction in the use of wirelines for well operations and improve some well cleaning interventions with coiled tubing.

Evaluation of the Restoration Effects of Rooftop Greening Areas Created by Applying an Ecological Restoration Method

Green roofs provide various ecosystem services, including habitats for diverse organisms in urban areas where natural space is very scarce. This study aims to evaluate the restoration effects of green roofs created by applying an ecological restoration method to reinforce habitat function. The reference ecosystem selected for the ecological restoration of a roof was a Korean red pine stand established on Mt. Bulam, considering the soil depth, light, moisture conditions, etc., compared with the roof’s environmental conditions. Ecological restoration was carried out by planting two-year-old pine seedlings and scattering surface soil collected from the pine stands. The pine trees showed geometrical growth in height and diameter and a high water-use efficiency. The ecological restoration of the green roofs demonstrated an ecological function for improving the urban climate through the mitigation of the urban heat island effect and high productivity, showing different functions depending on the greening method. The composition and diversity of vegetation and insects at the ecological restoration site were similar to those at the reference site, whereas the landscape architecture sites, which were created using the landscape architecture method, were different from the reference site. These results confirm that applying the ecological restoration method for rooftop greening resulted in better biological habitat function than applying existing landscape architecture methods.

Incomplete handwritten Dongba character image recognition by multiscale feature restoration

Incomplete handwritten Dongba character often appears in heritage documents and its recognition is significant for heritage and philology. However, all previous methods always suppose that a complete Dongba character is used as input, and thus fail to achieve satisfactory performance when applied to incomplete Dongba character recognition. In this paper, an end-to-end network (DB2RNet) is proposed for incomplete handwritten Dongba character image recognition by multiscale feature restoration. Specifically, we first develop datasets that contain different levels of incomplete Dongba characters. A restoration module is proposed to restore the input incomplete Dongba character, and then a recognition module is employed to recognize Dongba character. By introducing an inter-module residual connection between the restoration module and recognition module, the DB2RNet can strengthen feature information transmission and boost the recognition performance. In addition, novel multiscale feature blocks are introduced, which can provide more effective texture and contextual information transmission for Dongba character image restoration, and thus yielding better restoration effects and better recognition results. Extensive experiments are conducted on Dongba character, Chinese character and Oracle character datasets and validate the effectiveness, superiority and robustness of our methods. Experiments results demonstrate that our proposed DB2RNet achieves competitive Dongba character restoration and recognition performance and outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods.

Modeling soil erosion dynamic processes along hillslopes with vegetation impact across different land uses on the Loess Plateau of China

Developing a process-based soil erosion model that comprehensively considers the effects of vegetation is complex but crucial for evaluating sediment reduction during vegetation restoration. Current understanding of the effect of vegetation on sediment reduction along hillslopes across different land uses is limited. In this paper, we developed a dynamic model of hillslope erosion that integrates the effects of vegetation on soil detachability and hydrodynamics (VED) based on the feedback mechanism between soil detachment and sediment transport. The VED was calibrated and validated with runoff plot data for woodland, grassland, and farmland in the Wuding, Yan, Jing and Wei Rivers of the Loess Plateau in China. Unified baseline parameters and decay coefficients of vegetation were obtained. The model validation results indicated that the coefficient of determination, Nash–Sutcliffe simulation efficiency and relative error ranged from 0.59 to 0.99, 0.56 to 0.90, and −45.99 % to 46.36 %, respectively. The decay coefficients for soil detachment capacity (Φ), sediment transport capacity (Tc), and the sediment reduction effect of vegetation exhibited the following order: woodland > grassland > farmland. Compared with VED, existing process-based soil erosion models failed to effectively characterize the influence of vegetation on Φ and Tc on the Loess Plateau, with differences of several orders of magnitude. The individual contributions of runoff, soil detachability, and hydrodynamics with vegetation impact on sediment yield were quantified by VED. The contribution rates of vegetation to sediment reduction decreased gradually with increasing slope length because the soil detachment capacity of bare slopes exceeded that of vegetated slopes, resulting in a faster increase in sediment yield. The contribution rates of vegetation to sediment reduction for woodland, grassland, and farmland with 20 %–60 % vegetation covers were 66.75 %–99.95 %, 57.43 %–99.63 %, and 27.91 %–88.63 % in the boundary conditions of this study, respectively. The results reveal the potential for integrating VED into other distributed watershed hydrological and sediment models to assess the effects of vegetation restoration on sediment reduction at a watershed scale.

A review of research advances and perspectives on the habitat ecology of Sichuan and golden takins: 2001 to 2022.

The Sichuan takin (Budorcas tibetanus) and the golden takin (Budorcas bedfordi) are endemic to China. Studies of their habitat ecology have attracted attention, but dedicated reviews of the topic have not been published. To fill this gap, research advances on the habitat ecology of these takin species were reviewed based on published journal papers from 2001-2022, covering habitat selection and use, as well as habitat assessment and protection. Habitat selection and use by the takins received the most frequent reports in a few protected areas, such as the Tangjiahe Nature Reserve in Sichuan and the Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi. Higher herb cover characterized some of the Sichuan takin habitats, while some of the golden takin population exhibited seasonal altitude migration. The focus on habitat assessment and protection differed between the two species. Studying the habitat of the Sichuan takin involves the relationship between its habitat and the protected areas and habitat status in various ranges while studying the habitat of the golden takin involves habitat distribution and change, protection effects, and corridor planning. Some issues worthy of consideration in future research are proposed, including basic habitat information, impacts of human disturbances, habitat restoration, and theoretical, independent, and comprehensive studies on both takins. Habitat conservation frameworks should be formulated for both takins to improve protection and restoration effects. This review provides convenient information to help understand the habitat characteristics of the two takins and is a reference for future research.