Over the past decades, the environmental impact of sheep farming has become a significant concern due to its high energy consumption and carbon emissions; thus, it is another sector that needs to pay attention in terms of energy use and ecological footprint. The study attempted to determine the most effective machine learning approach and factors affecting carbon emissions and energy consumption. Therefore, four machine learning algorithms are proposed to accurately predict and optimize energy efficiency while reducing carbon emissions: random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and artificial neural networks (ANN). Machine learning evaluation indicates that ANN excels in predicting carbon emissions, achieving the lowest error metrics (RMSE = 0.671, MSE = 0.45, MAE = 0.602, R2 = 0.995). On the other hand, the KNN algorithm outperforms others for energy efficiency predictions (RMSE = 0.001, MSE = 0.032, MAE = 0.022, R2 = 0.989), whereas SVM performed poorly. The results of this study can inform regional initiatives aimed at promoting the sustainability of sheep farming.

Salmonella typhimurium is a pathogen responsible for millions of cases of gastroenteritis in both humans and animals. This study aimed to evaluate the hypothesis that fisetin administration could mitigate colon damage and regulate the intestinal microbiota in mice treated with Salmonella typhimurium. Six-week-old male mice were orally administered with or without 100 mg/kg fisetin and infected with Salmonella typhimurium. Fisetin administration ameliorated Salmonella typhimurium-induced colitis as shown by the decreased body weight loss, lowered disease activity index score, reduced colon shortening, inflammatory infiltration, and apoptosis. Meanwhile, Salmonella typhimurium exposure upregulated colonic Tnf-α, Il-6, Il-1β, Ifn-β, Ccl2, Ccl8 relative expression and MDA and H2O2 concentrations, whereas lowered Il-10, Nrf2, Nqo1, Coq10b, and Gss abundance, all of which were ameliorated by fisetin treatment. Moreover, fisetin recovered the occludin, zonula occludens-1, and zonula occludens-2 protein abundance in response to Salmonella typhimurium administration. Further investigation demonstrated that the protective role of fisetin was related to the inactivation of the TLR2/TLR4-NF-κB pathway, upregulation of Lactobacillus, and reduction of Salmonella abundance. Additionally, fisetin could limit the intracellular Salmonella typhimurium proliferation, which was likely to be attributed to the inhibition of focal adhesion kinase. Together, our study elucidated the therapeutic potential of fisetin in ameliorating key aspects of colitis, including intestinal inflammation, oxidative stress, and barrier dysfunction, and these beneficial effects were mediated through the inactivation of the TLR2/TLR4-NF-κB pathway, the regulation of microbiota, and restricting the intracellular proliferation of Salmonella typhimurium by inhibiting focal adhesion kinase.

While China’s economy has experienced rapid growth in recent decades, there is still a large gap in the quality of employment between urban and rural areas. This paper investigates the impact of non-farm employment quality on the subjective well-being of rural residents in China. We use a multidimensional approach to construct the quality index of non-farm employment at the individual level, and then estimate the effect of non-farm employment quality on subjective well-being. The results show that high-quality employment for rural residents is significantly associated with higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction, and the results are robust to the test of omitted variable bias. Based on the mediation analysis, the positive relationship between the quality of non-farm employment and subjective well-being is mediated by income and health. Further evidence suggests that high-quality employment enhances subjective well-being primarily by providing better employment conditions for workers. Additionally, other aspects of employment quality (e.g., labor income, employment security, and employment skills) matter for improvement in well-being outcomes.

Mitigating climate change is an urgent global issue, and agricultural carbon emissions are an important component of global emissions. Hence, it is imperative to fully understand the current state of carbon emissions in agriculture and accurately evaluate emissions throughout various farming processes. This review aims to understand and evaluate these emissions, focusing on the agricultural sector. A systematic review of existing literature and data on agricultural carbon emissions was conducted, exploring the potential of innovative technology and approaches for mitigation. The effectiveness of energy-saving carbon emission reduction strategies and the role of technological innovation in achieving environmentally sustainable agriculture were assessed. The findings reveal that sustainable development goals have fostered a global strategy for achieving highly productive, efficient, and environmentally sustainable agriculture. In addition, potential transitions towards more sustainable agricultural practices, driven by technological innovation and effective carbon policies, were identified as significant means for mitigating carbon emissions. In this sense, there is an urgent need for a close global effort to implement carbon policies and technological innovation to mitigate the climate impacts of agriculture. Therefore, this research is a time-noting study to help international policymakers achieve environmental sustainability-oriented policies.

Gln, one of the most abundant amino acids (AA) in the body, performs a diverse range of fundamental physiological functions. However, information about the role of dietary Gln on AA levels, transporters, protein synthesis, and underlying mechanisms in vivo is scarce. The present study aimed to explore the effects of low-crude protein diet inclusion with differential doses of L-Gln on intestinal AA levels, transporters, protein synthesis, and potential mechanisms in weaned piglets. A total of 128 healthy weaned piglets (Landrace × Yorkshire) were randomly allocated into four treatments with four replicates. Pigs in the four groups were fed a low-crude protein diet containing 0%, 1%, 2%, or 3% L-Gln for 28 d. L-Gln administration markedly (linear, P < 0.05) increased Ala, Arg, Asn, Asp, Glu, Gln, His, Ile, Lys, Met, Orn, Phe, Ser, Thr, Tyr, and Val levels and promoted trypsin activity in the jejunal content of piglets. Moreover, L-Gln treatment significantly enhanced concentrations of colonic Gln and Trp, and serum Thr (linear, P < 0.01), and quadratically increased serum Lys and Phe levels (P < 0.05), and decreased plasma Glu, Ile, and Leu levels (linear, P < 0.05). Further investigation revealed that L-Gln administration significantly upregulated Atp1a1, Slc1a5, Slc3a2, Slc6a14, Slc7a5, Slc7a7, and Slc38a1 relative expressions in the jejunum (linear, P < 0.05). Additionally, dietary supplementation with L-Gln enhanced protein abundance of general control nonderepressible 2 (GCN2, P = 0.010), phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 2 subunit alpha (eIF2α, P < 0.001), and activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) in the jejunum of piglets (P = 0.008). These results demonstrated for the first time that a low crude protein diet with high-level L-Gln inclusion exhibited side effects on piglets. Specifically, 2% and 3% L-Gln administration exceeded the intestinal utilization capacity and compromised the jejunal AA utilization efficiency, which is independent of digestive enzyme activities. A high level of L-Gln supplementation would inhibit protein synthesis by GCN2/eIF2α/ATF4 signaling in piglets fed low-protein diets, which, in turn, upregulates certain AA transporters to maintain AA homeostasis.

This study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that dietary konjac glucomannan (KGM) could alleviate Salmonella typhimurium-induced colitis by modulating intestinal microbiota. Mice were fed an isocaloric and isofibrous diet supplemented with either 7% KGM or cellulose and were treated with 5 × 108 CFU of S. typhimurium. The results showed that KGM had an average molecular weight of 936 kDa and predominantly consisted of mannose and glucose at a molar ratio of 1:1.22. In vivo studies demonstrated that dietary KGM effectively mitigated colonic lesions, oxidative stress, disruption of tight junction protein 2 and occludin, and the inflammatory response induced by S. typhimurium. Moreover, KGM administration alleviated the dramatic upregulation of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and phosphonuclear factor κB (NF-κB) protein abundance, induced by Salmonella treatment. Notably, dietary KGM restored the reduced Muribaculaceae and Lactobacillus abundance and increased the abundance of Blautia and Salmonella in S. typhimurium-infected mice. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that the gut microbiota improved by KGM contribute to inhibit inflammation and oxidative stress. These results demonstrated the protective effects of dietary KGM against colitis by modulating the gut microbiota and the TLR2-NF-κB signaling pathway in response to Salmonella infection.

Over the past decades, the global population has significantly increased, resulting in high demand for food. China, the largest sheep-producing country, has experienced 20 rapid expansions in its sheep industry, which has caused environmental consequences. This study proposes an integrated approach that combines data envelopment analysis (DEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the ecological consequences of the sheep production system. Therefore, this work aims to evaluate the energy consumption of the existing production system and identify optimization opportunities to reduce its environmental impacts. Our results demonstrate that sheep production can decrease total energy consumption by 9.82% using optimization. Food production was reported as a critical factor in environmental impact, responsible for 69%. However, the optimized approach led to a decrease of 4,677.64 MJ in energy consumption in sheep production compared to the initial state. The findings of this study showcase the possibility of decreasing energy usage and lessening greenhouse gas (GHG) discharges in sheep farming by implementing optimization strategies.

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions is imperative to achieve sustainable meat production and supply. Few previous studies have assessed the carbon emissions of the whole meat supply chain from the sheep fattening stage to the meat distribution stage. Therefore, this study established a boundary model of the carbon emission system of the mutton supply chain and adopted the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to comprehensively analyze the carbon emissions during breeding, transportation, processing, and distribution, and then assessed the overall carbon emissions, and optimized the route planning of the supply chain subsystems using improved genetic algorithms (GA) in order to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. The results show (1) The fattening sheep process generates a relatively large share of carbon emissions, but the unit emissions are stable. The carbon emissions from the transportation and marketing phases are lower than those from the fattening phase, but their carbon emissions are uncertain, which is the focus of optimization. (2) By optimizing the routes of the subsystems in the life cycle analysis model, carbon emissions due to changes in route planning can be reduced by 24.19%. Therefore, life cycle analysis can comprehensively assess the carbon emissions and total carbon emissions of each link in the mutton supply chain, and the optimization strategy plays an important role in energy consumption and carbon emissions.

More efficient, sustainable, and precise agri-sensing technologies will be adopted in the future to promote precision livestock farming (PLF). Through a detailed survey of research related to sensing technology, we believe that non-contact sensing technology (infrared detection technology, Microwave radiometry technology, Image processing and machine vision, and acoustic detection technology) hold promise for application in intensive livestock production system. Animal welfare has always been a concern of the scientific community, as well as improving production efficiency has been the goal of the intensive livestock industry. With the help of the Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, etc., non-contact sensing technology can better play its role. In this paper, we analyzed the background and technical characteristics of non-contact sensing technology and proposed a new application for applying non-contact sensing technology to intensive livestock farming. These technologies are now gradually being applied and practiced in the livestock industry and will facilitate physiological detection in the intensive livestock industry, potentially protecting animal welfare. The precise adoption of management measures based on better knowledge of animal status can also improve production efficiency. In addition, this paper discusses the advantages, challenges, and prospects of non-contact sensing technology in livestock farming.

The soil engineering geological characteristics and hidden fault creep activity are the main geological factors affecting the stability of the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway foundation. In order to reveal the deep formation structure and physical and mechanical properties of the soil under the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway foundation and explore the influence of soil settlement under the static load and dynamic load of high-speed railways, according to the deep-hole engineering geological drilling and soil test, this paper reveals the soil structure and physical and mechanical properties within a 500 m buried depth of the Huailai section of the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway. Based on the drilling data, we constructed a 3D geological structure model across fault segments to study the influence mechanism of the dynamic load of trains on differential ground settlement. The results show that the basic physical and mechanical parameters of all kinds of soil have little change with the increase of buried depth, and the ratio of secondary consolidation index Cs to compression index Cc is 0.0036–0.0516. Under the dynamic load of a high-speed train, the vertical displacement of soil gradually decreases with the increase of depth, which mainly affects the soil within a 50 m depth. Within the influence range, the vertical displacement at a certain point is negatively correlated with the speed of a high-speed railway and the horizontal distance from the railway line and the fault. The research results are expected to provide scientific support for the safe operation of the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway.

This paper proposed a flexible sensing enabled packaging performance optimization system (FS-PPOS) to improve loss reduction control for different packaged lamb in e-commerce supply chain. Through Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), key decision-making factors (DMFs) on a farm-to-consumer e-commerce model for packaged lamb were evaluated. Simultaneously, the proposed FS-PPOS comprehensively considered the impact of quality, micro-environmental and economic factors on different packaged lamb by flexible sensing, data analysis, and investigation, etc. The evaluation results of different packaging types influenced by packaging effects at different temperatures were visually displayed by packaging performance grading. Verified by variable temperature experiments, it was concluded that vacuum packaging was more advantageous in medium and long-distance, which could achieve a maximum efficiency improvement of 28%. Modified atmosphere packaging was preferred in short and medium supply chain with a maximum efficiency improvement of 11.7%, while con-ventional packaging was only selected in short-distance. The FS-PPOS not only proposed optimal method for packaging lamb loss control, but could also be adopted by e-commerce management in other packaged meat supply chain, such as beef and chicken, etc.

Digitization and greening have become the characteristics of social and economic development. Digital technology, as a critical enabler of green supply chain management, has been widely considered and recognized by academia and business circles. With the advent of the Industry 4.0 era and the rapid development of digital technology, this emerging field of technology is constantly being updated, and so the academic research in this field is increasing but has yet to reach saturation. We systematically reviewed 144 relevant papers published in the last 14 years. We used qualitative analysis to classify, summarize and analyze the literature in two dimensions (i.e., digital technologies and green supply chain practices). Then, we continued the classification from each dimension. According to the basic characteristics, there are five digital technologies: the Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence. The green supply chain is divided into green procurement, green production, green consumption, and green logistics according to the essential practices of the supply chain. This study explores which digital technologies are needed in a green supply chain. The study also discusses how these technologies can reduce the input of resources and energy and the emission of pollutants, finally improving the operating efficiency of the green supply chain, and achieving economic, social, and environmental benefits.

Zearalenone (ZEA), a mycotoxin produced mainly by fungi belonging to Fusarium species in foods and feeds, causes a serious hazard to humans and animals. Numerous studies have revealed that ingesting ZEA can disrupt the reproductive function and impair the reproductive process in animals. This experiment was to investigate the toxicological effect and the mechanism of ZEA exposure on reproduction in pigs during early stages of pregnancy. In the present study, we treated with 0 to 80 μmol/L ZEA for 12 or 24 h in trophoblast ectoderm (pTr) cells. The results showed that ZEA had significantly decreased cell proliferation (P < 0.05), which was accompanied by DNA damage-related cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, activation of the apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, as well as impairment of barrier function (P < 0.05). Western blot analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that exposure to ZEA can activation of autophagy in pTr cells. Importantly, pretreatment with chloroquine (CQ) or 3-methyladenine (3-MA) led to increased apoptosis in pTr cells. Interestingly, pTr cells pretreated with 4-phenylbutyric acid (4-PBA), an inhibitor of ER stress, resulted in reduced cell death in pTr cells, indicating a critical role for ER stress in the activation of autophagy. In conclusion, these results reveal that ZEA-triggered ER stress is critical for the cell fate decision of pTr cells during early porcine embryonic development. Application of small molecules with ability of blocking ER stress might be therapeutic option to reduce the deleterious effect of ZEA in pregnant animals.

For the material supply chain network entities, the horizontal integration between the entities in the traditional supply chain information management mode will inevitably lead to closed information, low data transparency, and insufficient node control ability, which greatly inhibits the efficiency of the supply chain and is not conducive to collaboration. Therefore, combined with the characteristics of decentralization, openness and transparency of blockchain and smart contract rules, a green supply chain evaluation system is designed and implemented based on blockchain. The evaluation index management module is responsible for quantifying the weight matrix of the index system corresponding to the evaluation model. The distributed database module is responsible for the collection of basic historical data and model data maintenance. The smart contract module is responsible for automatically exporting the online contract to the record contract for chain tracking. Supplier performance analysis and integrity evaluation module rely on contract performance data to monitor and supervise the whole process of suppliers. Analysis results show that the system has the characteristics of non-tampering, decentralization, multi-agent transparent participation in the whole process evaluation, and effectively improves the efficiency and level of green supply chain management.

Email has become an important way for people to communicate with each other. Because of its high security and fast sending and receiving characteristics, it can establish a corporate brand image while being portable and managed. key tool. Therefore, many criminals take advantage of the feature of mailboxes to send false information through mailboxes. This kind of false information mostly appears in the form of cross-modality, which is very confusing and can easily cause extremely bad effects. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a multi-modal false information detection method using contrastive learning pre-training and attention mechanism, uses contrastive learning to align features between different modal data, and uses attention mechanism to achieve different modal features. The interaction between them, the model construction is completed through feature fusion, and finally the accurate detection of fake emails is realized, so as to facilitate the next step of traceability and countermeasures. Compared with the current mainstream methods, the model proposed in this paper has achieved better results in the detection of multi-modal false information, with an increase of more than 6% in accuracy and other aspects, and can achieve more accurate identification and detection of cross-modal false emails.

Ingestion of food contaminated with benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) poses health risks to animals and humans. However, the toxicity of B[a]P exposure on the intestinal barrier function and underlying mechanisms remain obscure. In the present study, intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC-1) were challenged with different doses of B[a]P and its deleterious effects were determined. We found that B[a]P exposure led to impaired intestinal tight junction function as evidenced by reduced transepithelial electric resistance, increased permeability, and downregulated intestinal tight junction protein levels. Further study demonstrated that B[a]P treatment induced cell cycle arrest, and resulted in oxidative damage-related apoptosis in IPEC-1 cells. Intriguingly, we observed an inhibition of autophagy and an activation of unfolded protein response (UPR) in B[a]P-challenged cells, when compared with controls. To investigate the role of autophagy on B[a]P-induced epithelial tight junction disruption and apoptosis, cells were cotreated with B[a]P and rapamycin, and rapamycin dramatically improved intestinal tight junction and reduced apoptosis, indicating a protective effect of autophagy for the cells in response to B[a]P treatment. We also explored the role of UPR in B[a]P-induced cellular damage by using 4-phenylbutyric acid, an antagonist of UPR. Interestingly, B[a]P-induced apoptosis and dysfunction of the intestinal tight junction were exacerbated by 4-phenylbutyric acid, and the 4-phenylbutyric acid didn't ameliorate the inhibitory effects of B[a]P on microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3-II) and lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2 (LAMP2) in IPEC-1 cells. These novel findings provided herein indicated that B[a]P induces intestinal epithelial tight junction disruption and apoptotic cell death via inhibiting autophagy in IPEC-1 cells.

Overgrazing has become one of the main factors affecting grassland degradation over the past two decades in China. To solve this problem, the government has implemented a grassland ecological compensation policy and grazing monitoring system that is highly dependent on rural cadres. However, few studies have analyzed the impact of political status (rural cadres' identity) on overgrazing. This study reveals the impact of political status on herders' overgrazing behavior. It evaluates the moderating effect of social capital on this impact using a linear regression model based on survey data from 640 herder households in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Qinghai, China. The results show that herders with political status are more likely to overgraze. The level of trust in rural cadres has a positive moderating effect on the influence of political status on herders' overgrazing. Small farms with political status are more likely to overgraze compared to large farms. Grazing monitoring by local government can reduce the overgrazing of herders with political status and weaken the positive effects of political status and the trust level in rural cadres regarding overgrazing. Therefore, local governments should monitor more strictly grazing activities for herders with political status, especially those with small grassland scales, and pay more attention to the role of herders' social capital in constructing a sustainable grassland governance mechanism.

The role of dietary pectin on microbial-induced colitis, oxidative status, barrier function, and microbial composition, as well as the underlying mechanisms, is scarce. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether dietary pectin alleviates Salmonella typhimurium-induced colitis in mice. Male C57BL/6J mice fed an isocaloric and isofibrous diet with 7% pectin or cellulose were administered sterile water or Salmonella typhimurium to induce colitis, which is equal to a human food dose of 0.57% (5.68 g/kg). Dietary pectin alleviated Salmonella typhimurium-induced colitis and oxidative stress as shown by the reduced disease activity index score, decreased colon shortening and histological damage score, colonic hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde concentrations, and relative mRNA expressions of coenzyme Q-binding protein COQ10 homologue B (Coq10b), Ccl-2, Ccl-3, Ccl8, Tnf-alpha, Il-1 beta, Ifn-gamma, Ifn-beta, and serum TNF-alpha protein level. Moreover, pectin administration ameliorated the downregulated colonic abundances of occludin, zonula occludens-1, zonula occludens-2, and the upregulated abundances of TLR2 and p-NF-kappa B in Salmonella-infected mice. Additionally, 16S rRNA analysis demonstrated that pectin altered the microbial beta-diversity and reduced Salmonella levels. Collectively, pectin ameliorated Salmonella typhimurium-induced colitis, oxidative stress, and tight junction, which may be related to the inactivation of TLR2-NF-kappa B signalling and reduced abundance of Salmonella.

强国必先强农,强农需重畜牧.畜牧业确保了国内食物供应稳定和安全,对增加农牧民收入、促进农牧区经济发展和共同富裕具有重要意义,是建设农业强国的重要一环. 畜牧业要做大更要做强 走中国特色的农业强国之路是应对我国由农业大国向农业强国转型困境的必然选择.