This review article provides a comprehensive analysis of nesting optimization algorithms in the shipbuilding industry,emphasizing their role in improving material utilization,minimizing waste,and enhancing production ...This review article provides a comprehensive analysis of nesting optimization algorithms in the shipbuilding industry,emphasizing their role in improving material utilization,minimizing waste,and enhancing production efficiency.The shipbuilding process involves the complex cutting and arrangement of steel plates,making the optimization of these operations vital for cost-effectiveness and sustainability.Nesting algorithms are broadly classified into four categories:exact,heuristic,metaheuristic,and hybrid.Exact algorithms ensure optimal solutions but are computationally demanding.In contrast,heuristic algorithms deliver quicker results using practical rules,although they may not consistently achieve optimal outcomes.Metaheuristic algorithms combine multiple heuristics to effectively explore solution spaces,striking a balance between solution quality and computational efficiency.Hybrid algorithms integrate the strengths of different approaches to further enhance performance.This review systematically assesses these algorithms using criteria such as material dimensions,part geometry,component layout,and computational efficiency.The findings highlight the significant potential of advanced nesting techniques to improve material utilization,reduce production costs,and promote sustainable practices in shipbuilding.By adopting suitable nesting solutions,shipbuilders can achieve greater efficiency,optimized resource management,and superior overall performance.Future research directions should focus on integrating machine learning and real-time adaptability to further enhance nesting algorithms,paving the way for smarter,more sustainable manufacturing practices in the shipbuilding industry.展开更多
According to the cutting stock problem of 2-dimensional shapes, a nesting system (NS) based on hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is established. The system optimizes the sequence and angles of polygons with hybrid Ge...According to the cutting stock problem of 2-dimensional shapes, a nesting system (NS) based on hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is established. The system optimizes the sequence and angles of polygons with hybrid Genetic Algorithm to accomplish the superior solution. It nests the irregular shape directly without covering irregular shapes with a rectangle. It also improves the decoding strategy of 2-dimensional shapes nesting based on the classical bottom-left strategy, makes the new strategy be universal to convex polygons, concave polygons and line-circular composted polygons.展开更多
China's population age structure(PAS)has already entered a modern phase,with the effects of aging and declining birth rates becoming increasingly severe.These trends pose significant challenges to demographic and ...China's population age structure(PAS)has already entered a modern phase,with the effects of aging and declining birth rates becoming increasingly severe.These trends pose significant challenges to demographic and socioeconomic stability.In this study,the scale nesting theory was used to analyze the population census data for 2000-2020 from prefecture-level cities.Using a multiscale geographically weighted regression model,this study explores the spatial characteristics of China's age structure and quantitatively examines the driving factors within this nested framework.The evolution of PAS in the prefecture-level cities in China exhibited distinct stages,while depicting a rapid transition toward an aging model.In the nested space,single-scale nesting was primarily synchronous,while double-scale nesting was characterized by simultaneous synchronization.The Northeast region exhibited the highest degree of synchronous development in the PAS within the nested space.The regression coefficients indicated that the population system and per capita gross domestic product(GDP)were the primary and secondary factors,respectively.Topographical variation exerted an influence on only the synchronous-advance type,while PM2.5exhibited a significant association with the advance-lag type.This study provides scientific support for high-quality development across regions in the context of heterogeneous population age structures.展开更多
Rapid urbanization has resulted in a substantial decrease in natural habitats,posing considerable challenges to bird survival.Bird nests,which are temporary structures used for breeding,reflect adaptation strategies b...Rapid urbanization has resulted in a substantial decrease in natural habitats,posing considerable challenges to bird survival.Bird nests,which are temporary structures used for breeding,reflect adaptation strategies based on their material composition.However,how urban expansion influences the selection of nest materials—particularly the incorporation of anthropogenic nesting materials—remains poorly understood,limiting our understanding of species'adaptive strategies in human-dominated landscapes.To address this knowledge gap,this study examined the nest material characteristics of 432 Azure-winged Magpie(Cyanopica cyanus)nests in Wuhan,Hubei Province,China,to assess the influence of urbanization on nest material selection.Azure-winged Magpies utilized diverse nest materials,mainly branches,moss,soil,polyester fibers,and plastics.Furthermore,nest weight markedly varied among the urban centers,outskirts,and rural areas,with nests in urban centers and outskirts being substantially lighter than those in rural areas.Particularly,the weight of natural nest materials(NNMs)in urban centers and outskirts was considerably lower than that in rural areas,whereas the weight of anthropogenic nesting materials(ANMs)in urban centers did not markedly differ from that in rural areas but was notably higher than that in the outskirts.Across all the three areas,the NNM proportion was substantially higher than that of ANMs.Among ANMs,polyester fibers and plastics constituted relatively high proportions.Furthermore,the weight of ANMs reduced as the distance between the nests and buildings increased.Thus,urbanization may affect the nest material selection of Azure-winged Magpies,showing their behavioral adjustments to urbanization pressures and ecological strategies for using local resources.This study provides a scientific basis for urban biodiversity conservation.展开更多
Abiotic factors play an important role in species localisation,but biotic and anthropogenic predictors must also be considered in distribution modelling for models to be biologically meaningful.In this study,we formal...Abiotic factors play an important role in species localisation,but biotic and anthropogenic predictors must also be considered in distribution modelling for models to be biologically meaningful.In this study,we formalised the biotic predictors of nesting sites for four threatened Caucasian vultures by including species distribution models(wild ungulates,nesting tree species)as biotic layers in the vulture Maxent models.Maxent was applied in the R dismo package and the best set of the model parameters were defined in the R ENMeval package.Performance metrics were continuous Boyce index,Akaike's information criterion,the area under receiver operating curve and true skill statistics.We also calculated and evaluated the null models.Kernel density estimation method was applied to assess the overlap of vulture ecological niches in the environmental space.The accessibility of anthropogenic food resources was estimated using the Path Distance measure that considers elevation gradient.The availability of pine forests(Scots Pine)and wild ungulates(Alpine Chamois and Caucasian Goat)contributed the most(29.6%and 34.3%)to Cinereous Vulture(Aegypius monachus)nesting site model.Wild ungulate distribution also contributed significantly(about 46%)to the Bearded Vulture(Gypaetus barbatus)model.This scavenger nests in the highlands of the Caucasus at a minimum distance of 5–10 km from anthropogenic facilities.In contrast,livestock as a food source was most important in colony distribution of Griffon Vulture(Gyps fulvus).The contribution of distances to settlements and agricultural facilities to the model was 45%.The optimal distance from Egyptian Vulture(Neophron percnopterus)nesting sites to settlements was only 3–10 km,to livestock facilities no more than 15 km with the factor contribution of about 57%.Excluding the wild ungulate availability,the ecological niches of studied vultures overlapped significantly.Despite similar foraging and nesting requirements,Caucasian vultures are not pronounced nesting and trophic competitors due to the abundance of nesting sites,anthropogenic food sources and successful niche sharing.展开更多
The high-pressure phase diagram of the Nb-Ti binary system at 0 K is explored by systematic crystal structure prediction.The results highlight a novel niobium-rich bcc phase,Nb7Ti,which is the only dynamically stab...The high-pressure phase diagram of the Nb-Ti binary system at 0 K is explored by systematic crystal structure prediction.The results highlight a novel niobium-rich bcc phase,Nb7Ti,which is the only dynamically stable ordered Nb-Ti compound under ambient pressure.Extensive first-principles calculations have provided insights into the electronic structure,bonding and superconducting properties of Nb7Ti.The superconducting transition temperature(Tc)for Nb7Ti at ambient pressure is estimated within the framework of BCS theory to be about 17.5 K,which is significantly higher—nearly double—that of the widely utilized NbTi alloy.Furthermore,the results unveil that the high Tc is mainly attributed to the unique ordered lattice along with the strong electron-phonon coupling driven by interatomic interactions at mid-frequency and phonon softening induced by low-frequency Fermi surface nesting.Valuable insights are provided for the subsequent synthesis of application-oriented superconductors at low pressure.展开更多
Nesting is a common problem in industries such as shipbuilding, auto-maker, clothing, shoe-making, and furniture, in which various parts are cut off from a stock or stocks while minimizing the wastes or maximizing the...Nesting is a common problem in industries such as shipbuilding, auto-maker, clothing, shoe-making, and furniture, in which various parts are cut off from a stock or stocks while minimizing the wastes or maximizing the utilization of the stock. Berth allocation at seaside is also considered one form of two dimensional nesting problems, in which a ship is assigned a location for service during a certain time slot. This paper presents an expert system using a heuristic search method for nesting problems. The parts and stocks are represented by pixels with which utility function is used to evaluate current state in search tree. The system is developed in CLIPS, an expert system shell and applied to various example problems with different constraints and to a berth allocation example to illustrate its applicability under different conditions.展开更多
The evolution of parasitic strategies through tracking host life-history patterns represents a key adaptive trait in avian brood parasites.However,when hosts successfully exploit human-modiffiified environments—such ...The evolution of parasitic strategies through tracking host life-history patterns represents a key adaptive trait in avian brood parasites.However,when hosts successfully exploit human-modiffiified environments—such as diverse and concealed nesting sites—the mechanisms enabling cuckoos(Cuculus spp.)to accurately locate and parasitize such nests remains unclear.The Daurian Redstart(Phoenicurus auroreus),a human-commensal secondary cavitynester,often breeds in diverse artiffiificial structures—leading to variable and concealed nest locations—making it an ideal system to study this question.Using long-term ffiifield monitoring and a nestbox attraction experiment,we investigated how Common Cuckoos(Cuculus canorus)locate and parasitize such concealed nests.Our results show no signiffiificant variation in Common Cuckoo parasitism rates across different natural nesting sites.However,nestboxes that were more exposed experienced higher parasitism rates than natural nests.Furthermore,cuckoos targeted exclusively those boxes with active host attendance,rather than boxes occupied by other species.This study provides the ffiifirst evidence of cuckoo parasitism on a human-associated host nesting indoors,underscoring the key role of host activity cues and suggesting that cuckoos,like their hosts,are also adapting to anthropogenic refuges.展开更多
CO₂ hydrogenation coupled with toluene alky‑lation is a promising route for application in greenhouse gas utilization and para‑xylene(PX)production;however,the strong Brønsted acid sites of the conventional ZSM‑5...CO₂ hydrogenation coupled with toluene alky‑lation is a promising route for application in greenhouse gas utilization and para‑xylene(PX)production;however,the strong Brønsted acid sites of the conventional ZSM‑5 catalyst lead to uncontrollable(de)alkylation and xylene isomerization.In this study,a silanol nest‑enriched silica‑lite‑1 zeolite(AS‑1)with a moderate acidity was employed as an alkylation catalyst to suppress side reactions.Dealkylation and xylene isomerization were significantly suppressed compared to those observed using ZSM‑5,which reduced the benzene selectivity from 6.04%to 0.5%and increased the PX selectivity from 23.6%to 33%.An epitaxial silicalite‑1 shell was introduced to passivate the external sites to enhance the shape‑selective effect of AS‑1,thus improving the PX selectivity from 36.2%to 44.4%.The intimate contact established by optimizing the spatial distribution facilitated the conversion of the methanol intermediates,increasing the toluene conversion to 16.3%.A deposition‑precipitation strategy was adopted to load ZnZrOₓ particles onto silicalite‑1 zeolite‑coated AS‑1,which increased the ZnZrOₓ dispersion and minimized the transfer distance for the methanol intermediates.Consequently,considerable levels of toluene conversion and a high PX selectivity of 15%and 42.7%,respectively,were maintained,while the CO₂ conversion significantly increased from 5.9%to 9.5%.Additionally,ammonium hexafluorosilicate treatment generated small mesopores within the AS‑1 zeolite,which enhanced diffusion and further increased the toluene conversion to 20.9%.This study provides novel insights into the design of bifunctional catalysts comprising silanol nest‑enriched silicalite‑1 and ZnZrOₓ for use in CO₂ hydrogenation coupled with toluene alkylation.展开更多
Landscape fragmentation,habitat loss,and blocked ecological corridors threaten regional ecological security and sus-tainable development.Ecological networks(ENs)are vital for addressing these challenges,but most studi...Landscape fragmentation,habitat loss,and blocked ecological corridors threaten regional ecological security and sus-tainable development.Ecological networks(ENs)are vital for addressing these challenges,but most studies focus on single administrative regions,overlooking landscape continuity and cross-domain synergies.This study takes Wuhan as an example,contrasting watershed buffers and distance buffers to construct multi-magnitude ecological net-works,analyzing their nesting and coordination characteristics with the city's ecological network,and exploring opti-mization paths for cross-district ecological networks.The research uses habitat quality evaluation,the least cumulative resistance model,and circuit theory to extract ecological elements,and assesses coordination and mismatch through the Spatial Mismatch Index(SMI)and Network Nested Index(NNI).Results show that the NNI stabilizes when the wa-tershed buffer reaches the fourth tier or the distance buffer extends to 75 km,identifying these as optimal thresholds.The watershed area of 4.17418×102km2overlaps with Wuhan's ecological sources,forming a key protection zone,with six optimization corridors and 19 nodes critical for cross-domain connectivity.Watershed units emphasize natu-ral integrity and cross-boundary connections,while administrative units ensure adaptability and operational feasibil-ity.Combining both approaches enhances cross-boundary coordination.This study proposes an"Overlay retention-key infil-global integration"framework for multi-scale ecological network optimization.This framework provides a methodological reference for balancing ecological security and urban development in water-rich cities,offering action-able insights for similar regions.展开更多
Nest predation is a critical driver of avian reproductive success,yet its response to urbanization remains controversial.Using infrared camera traps to monitor 133 artificial nests and 32 natural nests of the Spotted ...Nest predation is a critical driver of avian reproductive success,yet its response to urbanization remains controversial.Using infrared camera traps to monitor 133 artificial nests and 32 natural nests of the Spotted Dove(Spilopelia chinensis) along an urbanization gradient in Nanchang and Shangrao,China,from 2021 to 2023,we examined spatiotemporal variation in predation pressure.We deconstructed predation pressure into risk(nest fate and survival time) and pattern(predation frequency,predator size,and predator-nest interaction duration).We found that higher urbanization and better nest concealment significantly reduced predation risk.The composition of the predator community did not change along the urbanization gradient,suggesting that the reduced nest predation risk in cities is likely driven by behavioral factors,such as the availability of alternative food or human shield effect,rather than by the filtering of predator species.In contrast,predation patterns were primarily moderated by season.The off-peak breeding season was char acterized by more frequent but less severe predation events involving smaller predators and had shorter predator-nest interaction durations compared to the peak season.This seasonal shift opens a breeding window during the off-peak season,when lethal nest predation risk is reduced.The Spotted Dove's unique life-history traits enable it to capitalize on this opportunity by balancing environmental costs,enhancing its reproductive success and facilitating its colonization of urban environments.展开更多
Visual speech recognition(VSR)aims to infer spoken content from visual observations of articulatory movements.Despite significant progress,it remains a challenging task in computer vision and speech processing.Its dif...Visual speech recognition(VSR)aims to infer spoken content from visual observations of articulatory movements.Despite significant progress,it remains a challenging task in computer vision and speech processing.Its difficulty arises from pronounced speaker-to-speaker variability,the presence of homophenes(phonemes that are visually indistinguishable),changes in illumination,and the intrinsically high-dimensional nature of spatiotemporal lip dynamics.In this work,we propose NestLipGNN,a graph-based framework that integrates Graph Neural Networks(GNNs)with a nested multi-granularity learning strategy for visual speech recognition.We construct dynamic lip graphs from facial landmarks to model both spatial relationships between lip regions and their temporal motion during speech articulation.The proposed nested learning architecture supports hierarchical feature extraction across several levels of linguistic abstraction,spanning phoneme-level articulatory units,viseme-level visual speech categories,and word-level semantic representations.We further introduce a Temporal Graph Attention mechanism(T-GAT)that adaptively reweights the importance of distinct lip regions over time.We also introduce a graph-based contrastive learning objective to improve the discrimination of visually similar speech patterns,directly confronting the challenge of homophene resolution.Experiments on the LRW,LRS2,LRS3,and GRID datasets show that NestLipGNN improves recognition accuracy compared with existing methods,obtaining 92.3%word-level accuracy on LRW and delivering a 2.1%absolute performance gain over prior methods.Comprehensive ablation analyses confirm the contribution of each architectural component.展开更多
Nest survival is a vital component of breeding success,and affects population dynamics,as the loss of nests is the main cause of reproductive failure in birds.To identify key factors for the conservation of Chinese gr...Nest survival is a vital component of breeding success,and affects population dynamics,as the loss of nests is the main cause of reproductive failure in birds.To identify key factors for the conservation of Chinese grouse Tetrastes sewerzowi,we tested the effects of nest concealment,nest age,nesting season,and habitat edge on nest daily survival rate(DSR)of Chinese grouse using 54 nests found at Lianhuashan Nature Reserve,Gansu,China,2009-2012.Moreover,we controlled for the effect of research activity by testing the effect of nest checks on DSR.Overall,mammal predation caused 93%of nest failures.DSR was 0.986±0.0038 in the constant model and the probability of a nest with a full clutch of 6 eggs surviving the entire 40-day nesting period was 0.526±0.090.DSR decreased with nest age and nesting season(from 19 May to 3 July).Mammals instead of avian predators being responsible for most nest failures suggest that nest sites might be selected to avoid visual avian predators,but not olfactory mammalian predators,and the decreasing trend of DSR with nest age and nesting season could attribute to an additive exposure effect.Moreover,nest checks conducted by investigators significantly lowered nest DSR,especially during the late period of nesting season and for older nests.Mammalian predators might locate the nest site by following the investigator's odor.Based on our results,we suggest that the late incubation stage is a particularly vulnerable period for nest survival of Chinese grouse and those researchers should adjust their activities around nests to balance the need of acquiring accurate data and decreasing nest predation risk.展开更多
Urbanization induced by human activities presents both challenges and adaptive opportunities for wildlife.One notable impact of urban sprawl is the vast amount of waste it produces,which has discernible effects on wil...Urbanization induced by human activities presents both challenges and adaptive opportunities for wildlife.One notable impact of urban sprawl is the vast amount of waste it produces,which has discernible effects on wildlife.Interestingly,an emerging trend has been observed that birds are incorporating anthropogenic materials into their nests.However,the relationship between anthropogenic nesting materials(ANMs)and the reproductive performance of urban birds is unclear.In this study,we investigated the relationship between the incorporation of ANMs into nests and the reproductive performance of Chinese Bulbuls(Pycnonotus sinensis)by monitoring and collecting data on 136 breeding nests in Hangzhou,China.We gathered data on seven reproductive traits of Chinese Bulbuls,including laying date,incubation period,nestling period,clutch size,egg volume,hatching success rate,and fledging success rate.We then calculated the urbanization synthetic index as a measure of the level of urbanization and examined its relationship with the proportion and weight of ANMs.Through examination of nest components,we observed significant increase in the proportion and weight of ANMs with the urbanization synthetic index.Notably,we found a higher hatching success rate of Chinese Bulbuls with an increasing proportion of ANMs.However,the inclusion of ANMs in nests was not correlated with other reproductive traits of Chinese Bulbuls.Overall,the use of ANMs by Chinese Bulbuls is consistent with the adaptive hypothesis and the availability hypothesis.Further studies should use controlled experiments to investigate the impact of ANMs on avian reproductive success.展开更多
The core components of an aircraft and the source of its lift are its wings,but lift generation is disrupted by the high temperature and pressure generated on the wing surface when an aircraft gun is fired.Here,to inv...The core components of an aircraft and the source of its lift are its wings,but lift generation is disrupted by the high temperature and pressure generated on the wing surface when an aircraft gun is fired.Here,to investigate how this process influences the aerodynamic parameters of aircraft wings,the k-ωshearstress-transport turbulence model and the nested dynamic grid technique are used to analyze numerically the transient process of the muzzle jet of a 30-mm small-caliber aircraft gun in highaltitude(10 km)flight with an incoming Mach number of Ma=0.8.For comparison,two other models are established,one with no projectile and the other with no wing.The results indicate that when the aircraft gun is fired,the muzzle jet acts on the wing,creating a pressure field thereon.The uneven distribution of high pressure greatly reduces the lift of the aircraft,causing oscillations in its drag and disrupting its dynamic balance,thereby affecting its flight speed and attitude.Meanwhile,the muzzle jet is obstructed by the wing,and its flow field is distorted and deformed,developing upward toward the wing.Because of the influence of the incoming flow,the shockwave front of the projectile changes from a smooth spherical shape to an irregular one,and the motion parameters of the projectile are also greatly affected by oscillations.The present results provide an important theoretical basis for how the guns of fighter aircraft influence the aerodynamic performance of the wings.展开更多
The common blackbird Turdus merula is one of the most highly urbanized bird species. However, to date, the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in the common blackbird is rarely documented, and the factors...The common blackbird Turdus merula is one of the most highly urbanized bird species. However, to date, the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in the common blackbird is rarely documented, and the factors influencing its use of the anthropogenic structures as nesting sites remain unclear. In this study, we systematically quantified and determined the factors in- fluencing the use of anthropogenie structures as nesting sites in common blackbirds in a highly urbanized city of Hangzhou, Chi- na. We searched for nests of common blackbirds during four breeding seasons from 2010 to 2013. Among the 60 nests found, 34 nests were in anthropogenic structures such as wall ledges, air condition mounts, window canopies, cable poles, guardrails, eaves, balcony frames, flowerpots and flower shelves on balconies. We found that the available anthropogenic nest sites and the availa- ble nesting trees were main factors determining the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in common blackbirds. In ur- ban environments, the amount of available anthropogenic nesting sites increased significantly, whereas the number of natural nesting sites reduced greatly. Our results suggest that common blackbirds can adjust their nest sites in response to urbanization and such nesting behavior shifts may aid them to colonize urban environments. From a management viewpoint, our results indi- cate that behavioral flexibility should be taken into account for effective urban wildlife management and conservation展开更多
Background: Nest sanitation behavior is one of the most important means to ensure high reproductive efficiency. In avian brood parasitism, nest sanitation behavior may be a pre-adaptation of host birds that allows the...Background: Nest sanitation behavior is one of the most important means to ensure high reproductive efficiency. In avian brood parasitism, nest sanitation behavior may be a pre-adaptation of host birds that allows them to identify the parasitic eggs, so that egg discrimination behavior may have evolved from nest sanitation behavior. However, whether nest sanitation behavior could improve egg rejection in cuckoo hosts was inconclusive.Methods: In this study, we investigated the relationship between nest sanitation and egg discrimination behavior in a potential cuckoo host, the Brown-breasted Bulbul(Pycnonotus xanthorrhous) with two experimental groups. In the first group, we added a blue, non-mimetic egg to the nest of the host, while in the second group we added a blue, non-mimetic egg and a peanut half-shell.Results: The results showed that in the first group, the probability of rejecting the non-mimetic eggs was 53.8%(n = 26 nests). In comparison, all of the Brown-breasted Bulbuls in the second group were able to rapidly remove the peanut shells from the nest, but only 52.6%(n = 19 nests) rejected the non-mimetic eggs. The rejection rates of the non-mimetic eggs in both experimental groups were not significantly different.Conclusions: Our study indicated that nest sanitation behavior of Brown-breasted Bulbuls did not influence their egg recognition and that egg discrimination ability of Brown-breasted Bulbuls was not directly related to nest sanitation behavior.展开更多
摘要This review article provides a comprehensive analysis of nesting optimization algorithms in the shipbuilding industry,emphasizing their role in improving material utilization,minimizing waste,and enhancing production efficiency.The shipbuilding process involves the complex cutting and arrangement of steel plates,making the optimization of these operations vital for cost-effectiveness and sustainability.Nesting algorithms are broadly classified into four categories:exact,heuristic,metaheuristic,and hybrid.Exact algorithms ensure optimal solutions but are computationally demanding.In contrast,heuristic algorithms deliver quicker results using practical rules,although they may not consistently achieve optimal outcomes.Metaheuristic algorithms combine multiple heuristics to effectively explore solution spaces,striking a balance between solution quality and computational efficiency.Hybrid algorithms integrate the strengths of different approaches to further enhance performance.This review systematically assesses these algorithms using criteria such as material dimensions,part geometry,component layout,and computational efficiency.The findings highlight the significant potential of advanced nesting techniques to improve material utilization,reduce production costs,and promote sustainable practices in shipbuilding.By adopting suitable nesting solutions,shipbuilders can achieve greater efficiency,optimized resource management,and superior overall performance.Future research directions should focus on integrating machine learning and real-time adaptability to further enhance nesting algorithms,paving the way for smarter,more sustainable manufacturing practices in the shipbuilding industry.
基金Supported by the National Key Technology and Equipment Project of the 10th Five-Year Plan (ZZ02-03-03-01)
摘要According to the cutting stock problem of 2-dimensional shapes, a nesting system (NS) based on hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) is established. The system optimizes the sequence and angles of polygons with hybrid Genetic Algorithm to accomplish the superior solution. It nests the irregular shape directly without covering irregular shapes with a rectangle. It also improves the decoding strategy of 2-dimensional shapes nesting based on the classical bottom-left strategy, makes the new strategy be universal to convex polygons, concave polygons and line-circular composted polygons.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.42371261The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,No.YBNLTS2024-036。
摘要China's population age structure(PAS)has already entered a modern phase,with the effects of aging and declining birth rates becoming increasingly severe.These trends pose significant challenges to demographic and socioeconomic stability.In this study,the scale nesting theory was used to analyze the population census data for 2000-2020 from prefecture-level cities.Using a multiscale geographically weighted regression model,this study explores the spatial characteristics of China's age structure and quantitatively examines the driving factors within this nested framework.The evolution of PAS in the prefecture-level cities in China exhibited distinct stages,while depicting a rapid transition toward an aging model.In the nested space,single-scale nesting was primarily synchronous,while double-scale nesting was characterized by simultaneous synchronization.The Northeast region exhibited the highest degree of synchronous development in the PAS within the nested space.The regression coefficients indicated that the population system and per capita gross domestic product(GDP)were the primary and secondary factors,respectively.Topographical variation exerted an influence on only the synchronous-advance type,while PM2.5exhibited a significant association with the advance-lag type.This study provides scientific support for high-quality development across regions in the context of heterogeneous population age structures.
基金supported the Ningxia Natural Science Foundation(2025AAC030051)Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities,North Minzu University(2021KYQD05)+2 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.32160242)Ningxia Saker Falcon Special Survey Project(NXGCZB-ZC-2025004)the 2023 Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Youth Science and Technology Support Talent Training Project。
摘要Rapid urbanization has resulted in a substantial decrease in natural habitats,posing considerable challenges to bird survival.Bird nests,which are temporary structures used for breeding,reflect adaptation strategies based on their material composition.However,how urban expansion influences the selection of nest materials—particularly the incorporation of anthropogenic nesting materials—remains poorly understood,limiting our understanding of species'adaptive strategies in human-dominated landscapes.To address this knowledge gap,this study examined the nest material characteristics of 432 Azure-winged Magpie(Cyanopica cyanus)nests in Wuhan,Hubei Province,China,to assess the influence of urbanization on nest material selection.Azure-winged Magpies utilized diverse nest materials,mainly branches,moss,soil,polyester fibers,and plastics.Furthermore,nest weight markedly varied among the urban centers,outskirts,and rural areas,with nests in urban centers and outskirts being substantially lighter than those in rural areas.Particularly,the weight of natural nest materials(NNMs)in urban centers and outskirts was considerably lower than that in rural areas,whereas the weight of anthropogenic nesting materials(ANMs)in urban centers did not markedly differ from that in rural areas but was notably higher than that in the outskirts.Across all the three areas,the NNM proportion was substantially higher than that of ANMs.Among ANMs,polyester fibers and plastics constituted relatively high proportions.Furthermore,the weight of ANMs reduced as the distance between the nests and buildings increased.Thus,urbanization may affect the nest material selection of Azure-winged Magpies,showing their behavioral adjustments to urbanization pressures and ecological strategies for using local resources.This study provides a scientific basis for urban biodiversity conservation.
基金the State Assignment,project 075-00347-19-00(Patterns of the spatiotemporal dynamics of meadow and forest ecosystems in mountainous areas(Russian Western and Central Caucasus)WWF's‘Save the Forest-Home of Raptors’project(2020-2022).
摘要Abiotic factors play an important role in species localisation,but biotic and anthropogenic predictors must also be considered in distribution modelling for models to be biologically meaningful.In this study,we formalised the biotic predictors of nesting sites for four threatened Caucasian vultures by including species distribution models(wild ungulates,nesting tree species)as biotic layers in the vulture Maxent models.Maxent was applied in the R dismo package and the best set of the model parameters were defined in the R ENMeval package.Performance metrics were continuous Boyce index,Akaike's information criterion,the area under receiver operating curve and true skill statistics.We also calculated and evaluated the null models.Kernel density estimation method was applied to assess the overlap of vulture ecological niches in the environmental space.The accessibility of anthropogenic food resources was estimated using the Path Distance measure that considers elevation gradient.The availability of pine forests(Scots Pine)and wild ungulates(Alpine Chamois and Caucasian Goat)contributed the most(29.6%and 34.3%)to Cinereous Vulture(Aegypius monachus)nesting site model.Wild ungulate distribution also contributed significantly(about 46%)to the Bearded Vulture(Gypaetus barbatus)model.This scavenger nests in the highlands of the Caucasus at a minimum distance of 5–10 km from anthropogenic facilities.In contrast,livestock as a food source was most important in colony distribution of Griffon Vulture(Gyps fulvus).The contribution of distances to settlements and agricultural facilities to the model was 45%.The optimal distance from Egyptian Vulture(Neophron percnopterus)nesting sites to settlements was only 3–10 km,to livestock facilities no more than 15 km with the factor contribution of about 57%.Excluding the wild ungulate availability,the ecological niches of studied vultures overlapped significantly.Despite similar foraging and nesting requirements,Caucasian vultures are not pronounced nesting and trophic competitors due to the abundance of nesting sites,anthropogenic food sources and successful niche sharing.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.12122405,12274169,and 11574109)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities。
摘要The high-pressure phase diagram of the Nb-Ti binary system at 0 K is explored by systematic crystal structure prediction.The results highlight a novel niobium-rich bcc phase,Nb7Ti,which is the only dynamically stable ordered Nb-Ti compound under ambient pressure.Extensive first-principles calculations have provided insights into the electronic structure,bonding and superconducting properties of Nb7Ti.The superconducting transition temperature(Tc)for Nb7Ti at ambient pressure is estimated within the framework of BCS theory to be about 17.5 K,which is significantly higher—nearly double—that of the widely utilized NbTi alloy.Furthermore,the results unveil that the high Tc is mainly attributed to the unique ordered lattice along with the strong electron-phonon coupling driven by interatomic interactions at mid-frequency and phonon softening induced by low-frequency Fermi surface nesting.Valuable insights are provided for the subsequent synthesis of application-oriented superconductors at low pressure.
摘要Nesting is a common problem in industries such as shipbuilding, auto-maker, clothing, shoe-making, and furniture, in which various parts are cut off from a stock or stocks while minimizing the wastes or maximizing the utilization of the stock. Berth allocation at seaside is also considered one form of two dimensional nesting problems, in which a ship is assigned a location for service during a certain time slot. This paper presents an expert system using a heuristic search method for nesting problems. The parts and stocks are represented by pixels with which utility function is used to evaluate current state in search tree. The system is developed in CLIPS, an expert system shell and applied to various example problems with different constraints and to a berth allocation example to illustrate its applicability under different conditions.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.32260253 and 32570559 to L.W.,32470513 and 32270526 to W.L.)the Talent Research Startup Foundation of Hainan Normal University(HSZK-KYQD-202606 to L.W.)。
摘要The evolution of parasitic strategies through tracking host life-history patterns represents a key adaptive trait in avian brood parasites.However,when hosts successfully exploit human-modiffiified environments—such as diverse and concealed nesting sites—the mechanisms enabling cuckoos(Cuculus spp.)to accurately locate and parasitize such nests remains unclear.The Daurian Redstart(Phoenicurus auroreus),a human-commensal secondary cavitynester,often breeds in diverse artiffiificial structures—leading to variable and concealed nest locations—making it an ideal system to study this question.Using long-term ffiifield monitoring and a nestbox attraction experiment,we investigated how Common Cuckoos(Cuculus canorus)locate and parasitize such concealed nests.Our results show no signiffiificant variation in Common Cuckoo parasitism rates across different natural nesting sites.However,nestboxes that were more exposed experienced higher parasitism rates than natural nests.Furthermore,cuckoos targeted exclusively those boxes with active host attendance,rather than boxes occupied by other species.This study provides the ffiifirst evidence of cuckoo parasitism on a human-associated host nesting indoors,underscoring the key role of host activity cues and suggesting that cuckoos,like their hosts,are also adapting to anthropogenic refuges.
基金support provided by the State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Molecular&Process Engineering(RIPP,SINOPEC)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.22278292)the Research Project Supported by Shanxi Scholarship Council of China(Grant No.2025‑009).
摘要CO₂ hydrogenation coupled with toluene alky‑lation is a promising route for application in greenhouse gas utilization and para‑xylene(PX)production;however,the strong Brønsted acid sites of the conventional ZSM‑5 catalyst lead to uncontrollable(de)alkylation and xylene isomerization.In this study,a silanol nest‑enriched silica‑lite‑1 zeolite(AS‑1)with a moderate acidity was employed as an alkylation catalyst to suppress side reactions.Dealkylation and xylene isomerization were significantly suppressed compared to those observed using ZSM‑5,which reduced the benzene selectivity from 6.04%to 0.5%and increased the PX selectivity from 23.6%to 33%.An epitaxial silicalite‑1 shell was introduced to passivate the external sites to enhance the shape‑selective effect of AS‑1,thus improving the PX selectivity from 36.2%to 44.4%.The intimate contact established by optimizing the spatial distribution facilitated the conversion of the methanol intermediates,increasing the toluene conversion to 16.3%.A deposition‑precipitation strategy was adopted to load ZnZrOₓ particles onto silicalite‑1 zeolite‑coated AS‑1,which increased the ZnZrOₓ dispersion and minimized the transfer distance for the methanol intermediates.Consequently,considerable levels of toluene conversion and a high PX selectivity of 15%and 42.7%,respectively,were maintained,while the CO₂ conversion significantly increased from 5.9%to 9.5%.Additionally,ammonium hexafluorosilicate treatment generated small mesopores within the AS‑1 zeolite,which enhanced diffusion and further increased the toluene conversion to 20.9%.This study provides novel insights into the design of bifunctional catalysts comprising silanol nest‑enriched silicalite‑1 and ZnZrOₓ for use in CO₂ hydrogenation coupled with toluene alkylation.
摘要Landscape fragmentation,habitat loss,and blocked ecological corridors threaten regional ecological security and sus-tainable development.Ecological networks(ENs)are vital for addressing these challenges,but most studies focus on single administrative regions,overlooking landscape continuity and cross-domain synergies.This study takes Wuhan as an example,contrasting watershed buffers and distance buffers to construct multi-magnitude ecological net-works,analyzing their nesting and coordination characteristics with the city's ecological network,and exploring opti-mization paths for cross-district ecological networks.The research uses habitat quality evaluation,the least cumulative resistance model,and circuit theory to extract ecological elements,and assesses coordination and mismatch through the Spatial Mismatch Index(SMI)and Network Nested Index(NNI).Results show that the NNI stabilizes when the wa-tershed buffer reaches the fourth tier or the distance buffer extends to 75 km,identifying these as optimal thresholds.The watershed area of 4.17418×102km2overlaps with Wuhan's ecological sources,forming a key protection zone,with six optimization corridors and 19 nodes critical for cross-domain connectivity.Watershed units emphasize natu-ral integrity and cross-boundary connections,while administrative units ensure adaptability and operational feasibil-ity.Combining both approaches enhances cross-boundary coordination.This study proposes an"Overlay retention-key infil-global integration"framework for multi-scale ecological network optimization.This framework provides a methodological reference for balancing ecological security and urban development in water-rich cities,offering action-able insights for similar regions.
基金financially supported by the Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation,China (No. 20224ACB205006)。
摘要Nest predation is a critical driver of avian reproductive success,yet its response to urbanization remains controversial.Using infrared camera traps to monitor 133 artificial nests and 32 natural nests of the Spotted Dove(Spilopelia chinensis) along an urbanization gradient in Nanchang and Shangrao,China,from 2021 to 2023,we examined spatiotemporal variation in predation pressure.We deconstructed predation pressure into risk(nest fate and survival time) and pattern(predation frequency,predator size,and predator-nest interaction duration).We found that higher urbanization and better nest concealment significantly reduced predation risk.The composition of the predator community did not change along the urbanization gradient,suggesting that the reduced nest predation risk in cities is likely driven by behavioral factors,such as the availability of alternative food or human shield effect,rather than by the filtering of predator species.In contrast,predation patterns were primarily moderated by season.The off-peak breeding season was char acterized by more frequent but less severe predation events involving smaller predators and had shorter predator-nest interaction durations compared to the peak season.This seasonal shift opens a breeding window during the off-peak season,when lethal nest predation risk is reduced.The Spotted Dove's unique life-history traits enable it to capitalize on this opportunity by balancing environmental costs,enhancing its reproductive success and facilitating its colonization of urban environments.
基金funded by Ho Chi Minh City Open University(HCMCOU)the Ministry of Education and Training(Vietnam)under grant number B2025-MBS-01.
摘要Visual speech recognition(VSR)aims to infer spoken content from visual observations of articulatory movements.Despite significant progress,it remains a challenging task in computer vision and speech processing.Its difficulty arises from pronounced speaker-to-speaker variability,the presence of homophenes(phonemes that are visually indistinguishable),changes in illumination,and the intrinsically high-dimensional nature of spatiotemporal lip dynamics.In this work,we propose NestLipGNN,a graph-based framework that integrates Graph Neural Networks(GNNs)with a nested multi-granularity learning strategy for visual speech recognition.We construct dynamic lip graphs from facial landmarks to model both spatial relationships between lip regions and their temporal motion during speech articulation.The proposed nested learning architecture supports hierarchical feature extraction across several levels of linguistic abstraction,spanning phoneme-level articulatory units,viseme-level visual speech categories,and word-level semantic representations.We further introduce a Temporal Graph Attention mechanism(T-GAT)that adaptively reweights the importance of distinct lip regions over time.We also introduce a graph-based contrastive learning objective to improve the discrimination of visually similar speech patterns,directly confronting the challenge of homophene resolution.Experiments on the LRW,LRS2,LRS3,and GRID datasets show that NestLipGNN improves recognition accuracy compared with existing methods,obtaining 92.3%word-level accuracy on LRW and delivering a 2.1%absolute performance gain over prior methods.Comprehensive ablation analyses confirm the contribution of each architectural component.
基金This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Project 31520103903,31172099).
摘要Nest survival is a vital component of breeding success,and affects population dynamics,as the loss of nests is the main cause of reproductive failure in birds.To identify key factors for the conservation of Chinese grouse Tetrastes sewerzowi,we tested the effects of nest concealment,nest age,nesting season,and habitat edge on nest daily survival rate(DSR)of Chinese grouse using 54 nests found at Lianhuashan Nature Reserve,Gansu,China,2009-2012.Moreover,we controlled for the effect of research activity by testing the effect of nest checks on DSR.Overall,mammal predation caused 93%of nest failures.DSR was 0.986±0.0038 in the constant model and the probability of a nest with a full clutch of 6 eggs surviving the entire 40-day nesting period was 0.526±0.090.DSR decreased with nest age and nesting season(from 19 May to 3 July).Mammals instead of avian predators being responsible for most nest failures suggest that nest sites might be selected to avoid visual avian predators,but not olfactory mammalian predators,and the decreasing trend of DSR with nest age and nesting season could attribute to an additive exposure effect.Moreover,nest checks conducted by investigators significantly lowered nest DSR,especially during the late period of nesting season and for older nests.Mammalian predators might locate the nest site by following the investigator's odor.Based on our results,we suggest that the late incubation stage is a particularly vulnerable period for nest survival of Chinese grouse and those researchers should adjust their activities around nests to balance the need of acquiring accurate data and decreasing nest predation risk.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32271743,31071908).
摘要Urbanization induced by human activities presents both challenges and adaptive opportunities for wildlife.One notable impact of urban sprawl is the vast amount of waste it produces,which has discernible effects on wildlife.Interestingly,an emerging trend has been observed that birds are incorporating anthropogenic materials into their nests.However,the relationship between anthropogenic nesting materials(ANMs)and the reproductive performance of urban birds is unclear.In this study,we investigated the relationship between the incorporation of ANMs into nests and the reproductive performance of Chinese Bulbuls(Pycnonotus sinensis)by monitoring and collecting data on 136 breeding nests in Hangzhou,China.We gathered data on seven reproductive traits of Chinese Bulbuls,including laying date,incubation period,nestling period,clutch size,egg volume,hatching success rate,and fledging success rate.We then calculated the urbanization synthetic index as a measure of the level of urbanization and examined its relationship with the proportion and weight of ANMs.Through examination of nest components,we observed significant increase in the proportion and weight of ANMs with the urbanization synthetic index.Notably,we found a higher hatching success rate of Chinese Bulbuls with an increasing proportion of ANMs.However,the inclusion of ANMs in nests was not correlated with other reproductive traits of Chinese Bulbuls.Overall,the use of ANMs by Chinese Bulbuls is consistent with the adaptive hypothesis and the availability hypothesis.Further studies should use controlled experiments to investigate the impact of ANMs on avian reproductive success.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12402268)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.30925010410)。
摘要The core components of an aircraft and the source of its lift are its wings,but lift generation is disrupted by the high temperature and pressure generated on the wing surface when an aircraft gun is fired.Here,to investigate how this process influences the aerodynamic parameters of aircraft wings,the k-ωshearstress-transport turbulence model and the nested dynamic grid technique are used to analyze numerically the transient process of the muzzle jet of a 30-mm small-caliber aircraft gun in highaltitude(10 km)flight with an incoming Mach number of Ma=0.8.For comparison,two other models are established,one with no projectile and the other with no wing.The results indicate that when the aircraft gun is fired,the muzzle jet acts on the wing,creating a pressure field thereon.The uneven distribution of high pressure greatly reduces the lift of the aircraft,causing oscillations in its drag and disrupting its dynamic balance,thereby affecting its flight speed and attitude.Meanwhile,the muzzle jet is obstructed by the wing,and its flow field is distorted and deformed,developing upward toward the wing.Because of the influence of the incoming flow,the shockwave front of the projectile changes from a smooth spherical shape to an irregular one,and the motion parameters of the projectile are also greatly affected by oscillations.The present results provide an important theoretical basis for how the guns of fighter aircraft influence the aerodynamic performance of the wings.
基金Acknowledgements We thank Dr. Jukka Jokimaki, Karl Evans and three anonymous referees for helpful comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to many people for kindly reporting the anthropogenic nests of blackbirds and providing help during the study. This study was supported by the Na- tional Natural Science Foundation of China (31071908, 31100394) and the Project-sponsored by SRF for ROCS, SEM (J20130585).
摘要The common blackbird Turdus merula is one of the most highly urbanized bird species. However, to date, the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in the common blackbird is rarely documented, and the factors influencing its use of the anthropogenic structures as nesting sites remain unclear. In this study, we systematically quantified and determined the factors in- fluencing the use of anthropogenie structures as nesting sites in common blackbirds in a highly urbanized city of Hangzhou, Chi- na. We searched for nests of common blackbirds during four breeding seasons from 2010 to 2013. Among the 60 nests found, 34 nests were in anthropogenic structures such as wall ledges, air condition mounts, window canopies, cable poles, guardrails, eaves, balcony frames, flowerpots and flower shelves on balconies. We found that the available anthropogenic nest sites and the availa- ble nesting trees were main factors determining the use of anthropogenic structures as nesting sites in common blackbirds. In ur- ban environments, the amount of available anthropogenic nesting sites increased significantly, whereas the number of natural nesting sites reduced greatly. Our results suggest that common blackbirds can adjust their nest sites in response to urbanization and such nesting behavior shifts may aid them to colonize urban environments. From a management viewpoint, our results indi- cate that behavioral flexibility should be taken into account for effective urban wildlife management and conservation
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31672303 to CY,31472013 and 31772453 to WL)
摘要Background: Nest sanitation behavior is one of the most important means to ensure high reproductive efficiency. In avian brood parasitism, nest sanitation behavior may be a pre-adaptation of host birds that allows them to identify the parasitic eggs, so that egg discrimination behavior may have evolved from nest sanitation behavior. However, whether nest sanitation behavior could improve egg rejection in cuckoo hosts was inconclusive.Methods: In this study, we investigated the relationship between nest sanitation and egg discrimination behavior in a potential cuckoo host, the Brown-breasted Bulbul(Pycnonotus xanthorrhous) with two experimental groups. In the first group, we added a blue, non-mimetic egg to the nest of the host, while in the second group we added a blue, non-mimetic egg and a peanut half-shell.Results: The results showed that in the first group, the probability of rejecting the non-mimetic eggs was 53.8%(n = 26 nests). In comparison, all of the Brown-breasted Bulbuls in the second group were able to rapidly remove the peanut shells from the nest, but only 52.6%(n = 19 nests) rejected the non-mimetic eggs. The rejection rates of the non-mimetic eggs in both experimental groups were not significantly different.Conclusions: Our study indicated that nest sanitation behavior of Brown-breasted Bulbuls did not influence their egg recognition and that egg discrimination ability of Brown-breasted Bulbuls was not directly related to nest sanitation behavior.