Glottocodes: Identifiers linking families, languages and dialects to comprehensive reference information

Glottocodes constitute the backbone identification system for the language, dialect and family inventory Glottolog (https://glottolog.org). In this paper, we summarize the motivation and history behind the system of glottocodes and describe the principles and practices of data curation, technical infrastructure and update/version-tracking systematics. Since our understanding of the target domain – the dialects, languages and language families of the entire world – is continually evolving, changes and updates are relatively common. The resulting data is assessed in terms of the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. As such the glottocode-system responds to an important challenge in the realm of Linguistic Linked Data with numerous NLP applications.

Relationship between Precipitation Characteristics at Different Scales and Drought/Flood during the Past 40 Years in Longchuan River, Southwestern China

In this study, the temporal and spatial patterns of rainfall in the Longchuan River basin from 1977 to 2017 were analyzed, to assess the feature of precipitation. Based on the daily precipitation time series, the Lorenz curve, precipitation concentration index (PCI), precipitation concentration degree (PCD), and the precipitation concentration period (PCP) were used to evaluate the precipitation distribution characteristics. The PCI, PCD and PCP in five categories, defined by the fixed thresholds, were proposed to investigate the concentrations, and the average values indicated the higher concentrations in the higher intensities. The indices showed strong irregularity of daily and monthly precipitation distributions in this basin. The decrease in the PCD revealed an increase in the proportion of precipitation in the dry season. The rainy days of slight precipitation in the upper and lower basins with significant downward trends (−13.13 d/10 a, −7.78 d/10 a) led to longer dry spells and an increase in the risk of drought, even severe in the lower area. In the upper basin, the increase in rainfall erosivity was supported by the upward trend in the PCIw of heavy precipitation and the simple daily intensity index (SDII) of extreme precipitation. Moreover, the PCP of light precipitation, moderate precipitation, and heavy precipitation concentrated earlier at the end of July. The results of this study can provide beneficial reference information to water resource planning, reservoir operation, and agricultural production in the basin.

Quinolizidine-Based Variations and Antifungal Activity of Eight Lupinus Species Grown under Greenhouse Conditions

Fusarium oxysporum is an aggressive phytopathogen that affects various plant species, resulting in extensive local and global economic losses. Therefore, the search for competent alternatives is a constant pursuit. Quinolizidine alkaloids (QA) are naturally occurring compounds with diverse biological activities. The structural diversity of quinolizidines is mainly contributed by species of the family Fabaceae, particularly the genus Lupinus. This quinolizidine-based chemo diversity can be explored to find antifungals and even mixtures to address concomitant effects on F. oxysporum. Thus, the antifungal activity of quinolizidine-rich extracts (QREs) from the leaves of eight greenhouse-propagated Lupinus species was evaluated to outline promising QA mixtures against F. oxysporum. Thirteen main compounds were identified and quantified using an external standard. Quantitative analysis revealed different contents per quinolizidine depending on the Lupinus plant, ranging from 0.003 to 32.8 mg/g fresh leaves. Bioautography showed that all extracts were active at the maximum concentration (5 µg/µL). They also exhibited >50% mycelium growth inhibition. All QREs were fungistatic except for the fungicidal QRE of L. polyphyllus Lindl. Angustifoline, matrine, 13α-hydroxylupanine, and 17-oxolupanine were ranked to act jointly against the phytopathogen. Our findings constitute reference information to better understand the antifungal activity of naturally afforded QA mixtures from these globally important plants.

Weight-to-weight conversion factors for benthic macrofauna: recent measurements from the Baltic and the North seas

The availability of standardised biomass data is essential for studying population dynamics, energy flows, fisheries and food web interactions. To make the estimates of biomass consistent, weight-to-weight conversion factors are often used, for example to translate more widely available measurements of wet weights into required dry weights and ash-free dry weight metrics. However, for many species and groups the widely applicable freely available conversion factors have until now remained very rough approximations with high degree of taxonomic generalisation. To close up this gap, here for the first time we publish the most detailed and statically robust list of ratios of wet weight (WW), dry weight (DW) and ash-free dry weight (AFDW). The dataset includes over 17 000 records of single measurements for 497 taxa. Along with aggregated calculations, enclosed reference information with sampling dates and geographical coordinates the dataset provides a broad opportunity for reuse and repurposing. It empowers the future user to do targeted sub-selections of data to best combine them with their own local data, instead of only having a single value of conversion factor per region. The dataset can thereby be used to quantify natural variability and uncertainty. The dataset is available via an unrestricted repository from https://doi.org/10.12754/data-2021-0002-01 (Gogina et al., 2021).

Deep Learning-Based Economic Forecasting for the New Energy Vehicle Industry

Recently the issues of insufficient energy and serious air pollution around the world have been rising. Henceforth, there is a need to carry out a research of new energy. Soon, new energy vehicles will be the mainstream trend, which can not only reduce the burden of consumers due to rising fuel prices but also solve the air pollution problem caused by the exhaust emissions of fuel vehicles. With the rapid development of science and technology, deep learning continues to make breakthroughs, and, in the field of economy with huge information data, we have more powerful weapons available to predict and research important economic data with infinite value, which can not only provide reference information to policy makers but also help enterprises and even economic markets to develop more healthily and sustainably. Therefore, this article uses deep learning algorithms to forecast and analyze the new energy industry, starting from the financial information released by new energy vehicle companies in their annual reports, in order to make basic judgments and help policy makers and enterprises in the new energy vehicle industry.

Leukocyte profile variation in Dupont’s Lark (Chersophilus duponti) in Spain and Morocco

Stress in birds has been widely studied through the measurement of heterophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (H/L ratio). In this study we aimed to assess for the first time the potential variation of stress, measured as H/L ratio, associated to geography (between-country variation) and seasonality (between seasons and within the breeding season), as well as the leukocyte profiles, in the threatened Dupont’s Lark (Chersophilus duponti), using samples from Spain and Morocco. Furthermore, we tested whether variation in H/L ratio was associated with variables such as population density, presence of blood parasites and individual body condition. We found that H/L ratio did not vary between countries, but individuals captured during the breeding season showed higher values of H/L compared to non-breeding ones. Neither male density, nor date within the breeding season had an effect on the H/L ratio. In Spain, individuals with higher body condition showed lower H/L ratio regardless of whether they were malaria-infected. In Morocco, malaria-infected individuals showed higher values of H/L ratio than the non-infected birds. Moreover, we found that our average values of H/L ratio in Morocco were within the ranges of other passerines, but not in Spain. Individuals with higher H/L ratios may be more stressed or present higher capability to face stressful situations. Although H/L ratio is a useful and relatively easy way to obtain measure of stress, the impact that the environment might have on stress and the way it is explained by H/L ratio must be addressed carefully. This study provides new insight for this species’ biology and provides useful reference information to test the status and survival of other populations.

dbGSRV: a manually curated database of genetic susceptibility to respiratory virus

Human genetics has been proposed to play an essential role in inter-individual differences in respiratory virus infection occurrence and outcomes. To systematically understand human genetic contributions to respiratory virus infection, we developed the database dbGSRV, a manually curated database that integrated the host genetic susceptibility and severity studies of respiratory viruses scattered over literatures in PubMed. At present, dbGSRV contains 1932 records of genetic association studies relating 1010 unique variants and seven respiratory viruses, manually curated from 168 published articles. Users can access the records by quick searching, batch searching, advanced searching and browsing. Reference information, infection status, population information, mutation information and disease relationship are provided for each record, as well as hyper links to public databases in convenient of users accessing more information. In addition, a visual overview of the topological network relationship between respiratory viruses and associated genes is provided. Therefore, dbGSRV offers a promising avenue to facilitate researchers to dissect human factors in respiratory virus infection, define novel drug targets, conduct risk stratification of population and develop personalized medicine approaches. Database URL: http://www.ehbio.com/dbGSRV/front/

Effects of muscle shortening on single-fiber, motor unit, and compound muscle action potentials

Even under isometric conditions, muscle contractions are associated with some degree of fiber shortening. The effects of muscle shortening on extracellular electromyographic potentials have not been characterized in detail. Moreover, the anatomical, biophysical, and detection factors influencing the muscle-shortening effects have been neither identified nor understood completely. Herein, we investigated the effects of muscle shortening on the amplitude and duration characteristics of single-fiber, motor unit, and compound muscle action potentials. We found that, at the single-fiber level, two main factors influenced the muscle-shortening effects: (1) the electrode position and distance relative to the myotendinous zone and (2) the electrode distance to the maxima of the dipole field arising from the stationary dipole created at the fiber-tendon junction. Besides, at the motor unit and muscle level, two additional factors were involved: (3) the overlapping between the propagating component of some fibers with the non-propagating component of other fibers and (4) the spatial spreading of the fiber-tendon junctions. The muscle-shortening effects depend critically on the electrode longitudinal distance to the myotendinous zone. When the electrode was placed far from the myotendinous zone, muscle shortening resulted in an enlargement and narrowing of the final (negative) phase of the potential, and this enlargement became less pronounced as the electrode approached the fiber endings. For electrode locations close to the myotendinous zone, muscle shortening caused a depression of both the main (positive) and final (negative) phases of the potential. Beyond the myotendinous zone, muscle shortening led to a decrease of the final (positive) phase. The present results provide reference information that will help to identify changes in MUPs and M waves due to muscle shortening, and thus to differentiate these changes from those caused by muscle fatigue. Graphical abstract

Evaluation of passenger service within the area of Beijing west railway station

Purpose This study aims to analyze passenger service quality in Beijing West Railway Station from the perspective of passengers, to better understand the current service quality and obtain the areas of weakness for improvement. Design/methodology/approach The research investigates the passenger experience of service in Beijing West Railway Station by using a questionnaire survey. The service quality (SERVQUAL) evaluation method is used to analyze the survey data, and it divides the passenger service into 5 attributes with 20 indicators. This research uses the Likert five-level scale method to process data and calculates the SERVQUAL value and weight difference of each attribute to evaluate the passenger service. Therefore, the deficiencies have been pointed out, so the station manager can improve the passenger service accordingly. Findings It is indicated that among the five studied attributes, Beijing West Railway Station has the smallest service quality value in terms of timeliness, which means this part needs the largest improvement. To the five attributes, each lacks in station security check, ticketing efficiency, station identification accuracy, emergency processing of train delays and the restroom environment, respectively. Originality/value The research can provide specific suggestions for the optimization of the passenger service of Beijing West Railway Station, and provide reference information for the formulation of policies.