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 Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) have played a significant role in the growth and advancement of the Chinese agriculture sector. However, these enterprises often face challenges in navigating local distribution networks, complying with regulations, and procuring local consumer products, which can hinder the marketing environment and impede economic growth. To address these issues and promote continuous business development, Chinese agriculture enterprises require effective modeling techniques that facilitate transformation to meet evolving requirements. This study proposes a game-theoretic approach, specifically the Mixed Strategy Game-Theoretic Approach (MSGTA), as a decision-making tool for enterprises facing pre-emptive changes. By analyzing oligopoly firm behavior, the MSGTA approach identifies enterprise outcomes, cooperation patterns, and price-fixing strategies, providing decision-making options and incentives within the enterprise structure. The MSGTA approach assists SMEs in the Chinese agriculture market by systematically analyzing product development stages and ensuring the effective adoption of pre-emptive changes. The efficiency of SMEs implementing the MSGTA approach is evaluated by examining statistical relationships between enterprise growth and requirements. By integrating effective modeling techniques, Chinese agriculture SMEs can adapt to changes proactively, enhance their ability to navigate local distribution networks, comply with regulations, and procure local consumer products more effectively, thereby improving the marketing environment and fostering economic growth.
 

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  This study shows the integration of e-commerce and advanced algorithm-based learning to establish a sustainable economic system and foster cultural education. The research also investigates the impact of rural aging on the utilization of several different land types, including arable land, forest land, and transportation land. The incorporation of e-commerce platforms offers advantages such as resource consumption reduction and efficient supply chain management, enabling broader market access and sustainable production and consumption. However, challenges related to data privacy, algorithm bias, and the digital divide need to be addressed for inclusive access. An artificial neural network (ANN) was constructed to analyze the impact of resource consumption and cultural exploration on market access, ethical practices, and data privacy. The ANN predictions showed that cultural exploration is most prominent with restricted market access, while data privacy is inversely related to ethical practices and market access. Regardless of consumption levels, resource consumption leads to increased data privacy. The study also found that rural aging has a significant negative impact on urban, industrial, and transportation land, but no significant impact on arable, forest, and garden land. The impact varies between towns and townships, with rural aging reducing urban and industrial land in towns but promoting the expansion of forest and grassland in townships. The results show the promising avenues for sustainable economic development and cultural education through the integration of e-commerce and advanced algorithm-based learning, while emphasizing the need to address key challenges and the implications of rural aging on land use for sustainable development.

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A numerical model for two-phase debris flows is developed in this paper, on the basis of understanding of the physical characteristics of debris flows from field investigations and experiments. Employing a moving coordinate, the kinetic energy equation of gravel particles in unit volume in debris flow is developed by considering the potential energy of the particles, energy from the liquid phase, energy consumption due to inner friction-collision between the particles, energy dispersion through collisions between particles, energy for inertia force, energy consumption due to the friction with the rough bed and energy consumption at the debris front. The model is compared with measured results of two-phase debris flow experiments and the calculated velocity profiles agree well with the measured profiles. The gravel’s velocity at the debris flow head is much smaller than that of particles in the following part and the velocity profile at the front of the debris flow wave is almost linear, but the profile in the main flow shows an inverse ‘s’ shape. This is because the gravel particles in the main flow accelerate as they receive energy from the gravitational energy and flowing liquid and decelerate as they transmit the energy to the debris flow head and consume energy due to collision with the channel bed.

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A new species of cicada, Platylomia jini Wang sp. nov. (Hemiptera, Cicadidae, Cicadinae) is described from Yunnan, China. Illustrations of the habitus and diagnostic characters of the new species are presented. It most resembles P. shaanxiensis Wang & Wei, 2014 from Shaanxi, China. Diagnostic characters of the two species are compared in detail. Platylomia insignis Distant, 1912 and P. operculata Distant, 1913 are commented on their distributions in China, and P. strongata Lei, 1997 is proposed as an unavailable name and a nomen nudum. In addition, an updated list of all 23 known species of the genus Platylomia are presented.

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A close look at the education system reveals that too much attention is attached to text while visuals, such as pictures and cartoons, are often deemed as “decoration”, or are not incorporated in the textbooks at all. Visual texts constitute a part of daily communication, which can potentially bear many layers of meaning. Such a complexity involved in visuals turns them into an ideal resource for not only L2 learning but also the improvement of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), along with cultural awareness. The status of cultural elements and representation of culture in English instruction has proved to be a tricky issue. This is mainly because of the diverse range of contexts where English is used on an international scale globally. Given the integral relationship between language and culture, it is essential to teach cultural elements in L2 classes, in particular, the representation of cultural values and elements as an integral part of the L2 curriculum of English language teaching (ELT). Furthermore, from a critical linguistics viewpoint, language textbooks should be viewed as social and cultural vehicles. Therefore, the incorporation of cultural symbols and raising cultural awareness are considered essential issues in ELT textbooks, particularly in the context of English as a foreign language (EFL). Furthermore, multiple approaches to the analysis of textbooks and cultural contents have been adopted by different researchers. Here, the present study is based on the core principles of semiotic analysis which implies that texts, pictures, and other modes of communication can be used as potential semiotic resources. This review study can yield important theoretical and pedagogical implications for researchers, L2 instructors, and the developers of ELT textbooks to take the images into account to represent culture in the textbook.


 

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To investigate the effects of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) on the growth, yield and quality of ‘Yali’ pears, field experiments for C (fully watered control), EW [early withholding of irrigation, water stress from pullulation to 25 days after flower bloom (DAFB)], MW (mid-growth withholding of irrigation, water stress from 25 DAFB to 80 DAFB), and LW (late withholding of irrigation, water stress from 120 DAFB to 150 DAFB) were conducted in Handan county, North China, during the 2007 and 2008 seasons. The results showed that leaf relative water content (LRWC) was dramatically reduced during water stress. Water stress reduced shoot growth by 9.6%-18.8%, and the need for summer pruning was marginally decreased. No significant difference was seen in mean fresh fruit weight or yield at harvest for the EW, LW and C treatments. Water consumption during RDI was significantly less than the C treatment. Withholding of irrigation at LW not only led to increases in fruit TSS (total soluble solids), soluble sugars and dry matter content but also resulted in an increase in water use efficiency (WUE). Withholding of irrigation at LW and EW can be used in pear production to save irrigation water without adverse effects on the quality of fruits. RDI is a beneficial agricultural practice for the production of pear fruits if it is adopted one month before harvest, and from pullulation to 25 DAFB.

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Nowadays, the Flipped Classroom (FC) as a new model has become a trend in education especially due to the popularity of online education. Besides, today, social networking has found its way into education so that teachers and learners can use social media as a platform to streamline the educational process. Indeed, social networking has also become a well-known way of teaching that is shifting education while teachers and students work together in class. Furthermore, learners are often provided with new opportunities through social network platforms, and access to new models of communication to interact. Building on self-determination theories, the literature review considers the teachers’ motivation as one of the pivotal concerns about FC and it also puts more emphasis on the role of teachers’ engagement in higher education. Consequently, this review makes an effort to consider both issues, namely teachers’ motivation, and engagement within the process of FC through social networking. Overall, some implications are suggested for language stakeholders in an educational environment to consider the important issues in the process of implementing FC such as various kinds of educational platforms to increase their motivation and engagement.
 

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The Hargreaves-Samani (HS) equation, which estimates reference evapotranspiration (ET0) using only temperature as input, should be most suitable for ET0 prediction based on weather forecasting data. In the current study, the HS equation is calibrated with daily ET0 by the Penman-Monteith equation, and is evaluated to check the possibility of predicting daily ET0 based on weather forecast data. The HS equation is likely to overestimate daily ET0 in the humid regions of China. Coefficients a and c are calculated as 0.00138 and 0.5736 according to local calibration. The calibrated HS equation performs considerably better than the original one. The proposed equation could be an alternative and effective solution for predicting daily ET0 using public weather forecast data as inputs. The error of daily ET0 prediction increases with the increase in the error of daily temperature range (TR) or daily mean temperature (Tmean). This error is likely to be more sensitive to the error in TR than in the Tmean. Ensuring that TR errors are less than 2°C is necessary for perfect estimations of ET0 based on public weather forecast data using the calibrated HS equation.

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The purpose of this paper is a qualitative evaluation of the mechanical properties of titanium aluminum nitride (TiAlN) hard nanostructured coatings applied on cutting tools using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Deposition of TiAlN and TiN nanostructured coatings were carried out by a pulse DC plasma-assisted vapor deposition (DC-PACVD) and a high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HIPIMS) machines. At first, for enhancement the adhesion of TiAlN nanostructured coating on the steel substrate, TiN inter-layer was deposited for the all samples. Nano-indentation, micro-hardness tester, and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) were used in order to measured and compare the qualitative results with the real and experimental values. The results indicate that XRD pattern and their analysis can be a suitable qualitative method to evaluate the mechanical properties of the coatings. The lattice parameter, micro-strain, residual stress, texture coefficient, the crystal grain size and density of dislocation are used to demonstrate the relationship between the mechanical properties of the coatings and the XRD patterns. As a result, this method can be used as non-destructive and inexpensive method for quantitative comparison and evaluation of mechanical properties of thin film materials.

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Trichosanthes kirilowii, an important economic plant in China, is sensitive to chilling. To investigate the effect of abscisic acid (ABA) treatment on the chilling tolerance of Trichosanthes kirilowii Maxim, different concentrations of ABA were sprayed on Trichosanthes kirilowii leaves and the resulting catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the leaves were determined. The results indicated that at 4 ºC, the CAT and SOD activities increased at first and then decreased with increasing ABA concentration. By contrast, the MDA content decreased at first and then increased. They both had an extreme value when sprayed with 5.0 or 7.5 mg L^-1 ABA. A real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to investigate the influence of exogenous ABA on the CAT gene expression of Trichosanthes kirilowii leaves. The results indicated that at 4 ºC, the CAT relative gene expression showed a high degree of positive correlation with the enzyme activities of CAT and SOD, and a negative correlation with MDA content. These results led to three conclusions. First, exogenous ABA exhibits significant effect on the chilling tolerance of Trichosanthes kirilowii. Second, exogenous ABA significantly increases the enzyme activities of CAT and SOD under cold environments. Finally, under cold environments and the effect of ABA, the relative gene expression of catalase 2 (CAT2) gene was found to play an important role in the enhancement of the chilling tolerance of Trichosanthes kirilowii leaves.

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Individual grain weight of wheat kernels differs with their positions on a spike. Cultivation practices (such as fertilizer nitrogen and plant growth regulators application) can be used to improve weight of basal and distal kernels. For this purpose, two experiments based on randomized complete block design were carried out with three replications. The aim of this research was to study the mechanisms related to sink strength as well as the regulatory factors affecting sink activity. One cultivar of a facultative wheat, cv Yangmai15, was used. Treatments of the experiments included application of nitrogen (two levels) and plant growth regulators [abscisic acid (ABA) and Fluridone (inhibitor ofABA synthesis)] in basal and distal kernels, respectively. Results showed that nitrogen application increased grain yield and its components. Grain filling in basal kernels started earlier and its rate was higher than that of the distal kernels. Nitrogen fertilizer increased the individual kernel weight both in basal and distal kernels, and the rate of increment was higher than the control, even in distal kernels. The application ofABA resulted in increase in grain weight, whereas a considerable decrease in grain weight was observed in response to Fluridone compared to the control. Nitrogen application together withABA application enhanced the activity of SuSase, AGPase, SSS, and SBE in basal and distal kernels and the increment in the activity was higher in distal kernels. It is concluded that simultaneous application of nitrogen andABA enhanced grain weight by regulating the activity of key enzymes involved in starch synthesis. 

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The nitrogen (N) nutrition, crop yield, and responses of wheat to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were tested in an experimental field under free-air ozone concentration [O₃] enrichment (FACE) conditions. The experiment included three treatments: ambient [O₃] (Ambient), elevated [O₃] (FACE, targeted at ambient [O₃]×1.5), and elevated [O₃] inoculated with an AMF consortium consisting of several Glomus species (FACE+AMF). AMF inoculation responsiveness of wheat was estimated by comparing plants grown in unsterilized soil inoculated with the exogenous AMF and in untreated soil containing indigenous AMF. Compared with the Ambient, relatively higher N contents but lower shoot biomasses of wheat plants were observed in the FACE treatment without AMF inoculation from the tillering stage in February and heading stage in April, respectively, which significantly (P< 0.05) decreased grain yield by 28% at harvest in June. Under the FACE condition, compared with the non-inoculated treatment, AMF inoculation significantly (P< 0.05) increased root colonization rates both at the tillering stage and heading stage, and also significantly (P< 0.05) increased shoot biomass at the heading stage and, hence, significantly (P< 0.05) increased grain yield by 40% at harvest. However, AMF inoculation significantly (P< 0.05) decreased total N content in wheat shoots at the tillering stage, suggesting that AMF consortia may enhance plant tolerance to elevated [O₃] by elevating root colonization rate rather than plant total N content at early growing stages.

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Degraded soils in Northwest China are mostly nonproductive due to imbalanced nutrient and inadequate water supply. The effects of manure application at three different rates (7.5, 15.0, and 22.5 t ha^–1) combined with chemical fertilizers on soil water and Water-Use Efficiency in maize [compared with chemical fertilizers (control)], under semi-arid conditions in dark Loessial soil and over a period of four years were studied to provide scientific support for water management. High manure application significantly reduced soil water evaporation throughout the fallow period as compared with control. It significantly increased soil water storage capacity at the big trumpet growth stage of the crop, and with the fertilization application years continued (P< 0.05). Manure application improved soil water holding capacity at the tasseling and grain filling stages. It decreased evapotranspiration at the jointing–big trumpet and tasseling–grain filling stages. It as well improved Water-Use Efficiency by 16.67 to 295.42% at the jointing–big trumpet stage vs. 9.38-68.96% at the tasseling-grain filling stage and 8.51 to 36.58% for the whole growth period of the crop maize. With a continuation of the fertilizer application years, water-use efficiency at the tasseling-grain filling stage was significantly improved with increasing manure application rates (P< 0.05). Medium and High Manure application rates significantly increased water-use efficiency at the big trumpet–tasseling and grain filling-maturity stages as compared with control (P< 0.05). With manure application years continued, soil nutrient was no longer the major factor limiting the crop’s water-use efficiency. The most promising manure application rate adopted to improve water-use efficiency was recorded as 15.0 t ha^–1.

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Distribution and mobility of nine mineral elements (K, Ca, Na, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, Se, and Cr) in cultured Gentiana rigescens and its root zone soil were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. G. rigescens materials were planted under tea and white papaya trees in Yun County and Yongde of Lincang area in Yunnan Province of China. The results showed that G. rigescens and its soil were high in K, Ca, Fe, and Mg. The concentrations of Na and Mg in the soil were significantly lower than that in the plants. However, the concentrations of Fe, Cu, Se, and Cr were significantly higher in soils than that in the plant parts. G. rigescens roots showed high accumulation ratios for Na, Mg, and K, but low accumulation ratios for Fe, Cu, Se, especially for Cr. Transfer coefficients indicated G. rigescens might be a good accumulator for Ca.

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The aim of this paper was to assess the effect of catechol (CH), as a peroxidase inhibitor, and 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate (HQC), as a bacterial inhibitor, on keeping the quality of Gerbera Jamesonii cv. Hongyan cut flowers, known to be limited by vascular occlusion. Blockage in the stem xylem vessels of cut gerbera was studied using light and scanning electron microscope. The results showed that some stem xylem vessels of the cut flowers were blocked during the vase period, and the blockage consisted of some amorphous or physiological deposition and rod-shaped bacteria located within the 5cm stem end of the cut flower. In addition, CH (1.0mM) or 8-HQC (0.45mM) decreased the blockage of stems and reduced the bacterial growth in the vase solution, but extended the vase life without statistical significance. The combination of CH (0.5 or 1.0 mM) and 8-HQC (0.45mM) decreased the blockage and inhibited the bacteria more than CH or 8-HQC alone, and extended the vase life significantly (P≤ 0.05).

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Parkia biglobosa starch was subjected to different heat-moisture treatment (HMT) at different moisture contents (15, 20, 25, and 30%) at 110^oC for 16 hours. The content of resistant starch (RS) was the lowest (33.38%) in the untreated native Parkia and increased in the samples with HMT-15 (37.79%), HMT-30 (39.64%), HMT-25 (46.63%), and HMT-20 (50.14%), showing significant increase (P < 0.05) in RS following the HMT. There was a reduction in the swelling power and pasting properties of HMT starches, but the solubility of the HMT starches was higher than that of untreated native starch. Differential scanning calorimetry and the changes in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the effect of HMT on Parkia starch. Therefore, replacing native Parkia with heat-moisture treated Parkia starch leads to the development of new products from RS-rich powder with high RS levels and functional properties.

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It is extremely challenging to measure first-order rate coefficients for soil nitrate transformation processes directly, either in the laboratory or in the field. In this study, an improved inverse method was proposed to optimize the first-order rate coefficients by considering the intermediate changing processes of the integrated functions. A numerical experiment was designed to test the accuracy of the method in optimizing the coefficients. Comparisons between the optimized and theoretical results indicated that all the relative errors were within 10%. Data collected from a field experiment were used to validate the optimization procedure and to demonstrate its applications in practice. Using the established model and the estimated values by the inverse method, the simulated source-sink term (SST) distributions of September 2-12, 2007, were in good agreement, with the root mean squared error (RMSE) between them being as low as 0.00021 mg cm^-3 d^-1. Based on the established nitrate transformation model, the distributions of soil water content and nitrate concentration during September 2-12, 2007, were simulated, and compared well with the measured profiles, with the RMSE of 0.023 cm³ cm^-3 and 0.017 mg cm^-3, respectively. The improved inverse method should be useful for optimizing the first-order rate coefficients for nitrate transformation, establishing the nitrate transformation model, and simulating the nitrate transport in the soil-plant system.

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Exploitation of the full potential of any hybrid requires the possessing of genetically high-purity seeds. Commercial soybean hybrids have been developed using a cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system. In order to avoid reduction in yield caused by using low-purity seeds, development of a simple, rapid, and accurate method for hybrid purity assessment is of great essence and significance. Therefore, the parental lines of HybSoy 1 to 5 were screened using 160 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) makers, of which 8 markers exhibited polymorphism. A PCR-based assay with these markers detected both alleles of the parental lines in pure hybrids, proving their heterozygosity, whereas impurities were identified by the presence of only one parental allele. The confirmation of hybrid purity indicated that a single polymorphic marker was sufficient for detection of contaminations of these hybrids from their parents. It was also found that if a hybrid seed lot was contaminated by another hybrid or its parental lines, two or more appropriate markers could be used to easily detect such contamination. This method could accurately and effectively identify the hybrid purity in a predetermined sample of soybean hybrids constituted by deliberately mixing seeds of parental lines. This is the first report that demonstrates the utility of SSR markers for assessment of genetic purity of soybean hybrids.

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Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum L.) is one of the important vegetable crops in China. However, the seeds of this crop are short-lived and their vitality tends to be easily lost in the course of storage. The present study was conducted to elucidate the effects of welsh onion seed priming with potassium nitrate (KNO₃) on seed vigor and on other such related mechanisms during twelve months of storage. The priming treatment improved the germination rate and vigor index of welsh onion. Membrane deterioration of welsh onion seeds was significantly alleviated by the priming treatments, as assayed by using soluble sugar content and electrical conductivity of the seed leachates. The accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in primed seeds was reduced compared with non-primed seeds. The increased activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) in primed seeds correlated with seed vigor and lipid peroxidation. This study provided the theoretical basis for improving the initial quality of welsh onion seeds using KNO₃ priming.