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An ethnicity-based reference range for normal renal size is fundamental for ultrasonographic assessment. Herein, we aimed to establish a Chinese renal reference by a large sample size, as well as to elucidate the relationship of renal dimension to age and body indices, with the aid of a comprehensive literature review. Records of 3707 healthy cases were obtained from health evaluation centers of Kaohsiung and Linkuo Chang Gung Memorial Hospitals. As a result, the mean right renal length was 10.62±0.69 cm, left renal length 10.76±0.70 cm, right renal width 4.78±0.75 cm, and left renal width 5.10±0.64 cm. Renal size was well-correlated curvilinearly to age, while linearly to body height, body weight, and body mass index. Renal size increases and then decreases with aging, and significant variations of renal size exist among different ethnicities. Our work provides a reliable reference range for renal size in the Chinese population, and valid relationships between renal dimensions and other parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of differential chemical weathering intensity on the contents and spatial distribution of highly reactive iron (Fe HR) in the marginal sea sediments is not well documented. Here, we used sequential extractions to quantify various Fe pools in offshore surface sediments of the northern South China Sea (nSCS), which receives multiple fluvial sediments with distinct chemical weathering intensity, and then to unravel whether and if so, to what extent, the contents and spatial distributions of Fe HR are linked to chemical index of alternation (CIA) of the sediments. Our results show that, despite the inputs of Fe HR -rich, highly chemically weathered fluvial sediments, Fe HR contents in offshore sediments of the nSCS are almost independent of the CIA values, and Fe HR was not enriched relative to the global average of Fe HR in oxic sediments, probably due to effective trapping of Fe HR in the estuary and dilution by moderately chemically weathered Taiwan-sourced sediments. Our results indicate that the signature of Fe HR enrichment previously observed in the offshore sediments, which are discharged from a highly chemically weathered mountainous island (Hainan Island) of the nSCS, becomes lost beyond the local zone around the island. Relative to the marginal sediments of the nSCS (water depth <1000 m), the higher Fe HR contents in the deep-water sediments (water depth larger than 1000 m) can be attributed to higher smectite contents, lower inorganic carbon contents, and low dilution by Taiwan-sourced fluvial material in the deep-water area. A comparison of the subtropical nSCS and the temperate East China Sea indicates that chemical weathering intensity is not the overarching factor governing Fe HR /Fe T ratios in the two climatically different regions, though chemical weathering intensity along with depositional/diagenetic regimes is an important factor controlling the sizes and transformation of some specific Fe HR pools. • Reactive Fe (Fe HR) enriched by chemical weathering is restricted to local zone. • Chemical weathering intensity has minor effect on Fe HR content in offshore sediment. • Sediment sources, sorting, and depositional/diagenetic regimes impact Fe HR and CIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study documented the reproductive performance of 210 adult female Formosan sambar deer (FSD, Cervus unicolor swinhoei) from four semi-domesticated deer herds in Taiwan. An extensive analysis of 525 reproductive records from 2000 to 2008, including the conditions of estrus, gestation, and parturition was conducted. The mean±S.E.M. lengths of the estrous cycle, gestation, and fawning interval were 18.2±0.5d (n =56), 258.6±0.3d (n =160), and 369.9±2.3d (n =122), respectively. Hand breeding was performed between June and December (n =494), with the majority (93.1%) occurring between July and October (P <0.05). Fawning occurred from February to September (n =318), and most frequently (83.0%) between April and June (P <0.05). Pregnancy rate per mating in FSD hinds was 64.4%. There was a 1.3:1 male-to-female ratio at birth (P <0.05) among 320 fawns, and only two cases of twinning (0.63%). The postnatal mortality rate was 6.6% (21/320), and the mortality rate in fawns before weaning did not exceed 8% on any farm. Fecundity was enhanced by high pregnancy rates and high offspring survival rates. This study provides baseline information on reproductive performance of FSD, which should be valuable to veterinarians and deer industry personnel for management of FSD on farms in subtropical countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In order to explore the correlation between earthquakes and ionospheric very low-frequency (VLF) electric field disturbances, this article uses VLF data observed by the China Earthquake Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) to analyze very low-frequency signals before and after earthquakes from January 2019 to March 2023 in terms of the amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio of electric field power spectrum disturbances. Taking 73 earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 or higher occurring in the Circum-Pacific seismic belt as an example, comprehensive research on the VLF electric field disturbance phenomenon caused by strong earthquakes is conducted, considering both the earthquake location and source mechanism. The research results indicate the following: (1) there is a strong correlation between earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.0 or above and abnormal disturbances in the VLF electric field, which often occur within 20 days before the earthquake and within 800 km from the epicenter. (2) From the perspective of earthquake-prone areas, the VLF electric field anomalies observed before earthquakes in the Ryukyu Islands of the Taiwan region exhibit small and concentrated field fluctuations, while the Taiwan Philippines region exhibits larger field fluctuations and more dispersed fluctuations. The discovery of this correlation between seismic ionospheric phenomena and seismic activity provides a new and effective approach to earthquake monitoring, which can be used for earthquake prediction, early warning, and disaster prevention and reduction work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to develop the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with biogeography-based optimization (BBO) (ANFIS-BBO) for a case study of the actual number of COVID-19 vaccinations in a medical center, considering the variables of the date and time of vaccination, the brand of vaccine, and the number of open appointments on the government network platform in Taiwan. The COVID-19 has brought about a great burden on the health and economy of the world since the end of 2019. Many scholars have proposed a prediction model for the number of confirmed cases and deaths. However, there is still a lack of research in the prediction model for mass vaccination. In this study, ANFIS-BBO is developed to predict the number of COVID-19 vaccination, and three other forecasting models, support vector machines (SVM), least-square support vector machines (LSSVM) and general regression neural network (GRNN) are employed for forecasting the same data sets. Empirical results show that the ANFIS-BBO with trapezoidal membership function model can achieve better performance than other methods and provide robust predictions for the actual number of COVID-19 mass vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An AI model was applied in the spatiotemporal wave forecast with only wind inputs. • The proposed model has an efficient structure, outperforming popular ConvLSTM model. • The AI model achieve high accuracy against buoy data, even compared with ERA5. The forecast of ocean waves relies mostly on complex dynamic-based models, which are expensive in computation and demanding in professional skills to run. Diverse deep learning methods have been proposed to tackle this problem, yet the architecture of Transformer (i.e., the self-attention) was seldom tested for such a learning problem. To bridge this gap, we apply a state-of-the-art spatiotemporal attention network, the EarthFormer, and apply it for wave forecasting in the northwestern Pacific. To train and validate the EarthFormer, the fifth-generation atmospheric reanalysis dataset (ERA5) from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast product with hourly resolution was adopted, with the sequence of wind as the input and the three key variables (i.e., significance wave height, mean wave period, and mean wave direction) of ocean waves as the output. The prediction can generate accurate wave forecasts up to 12 h ahead, with considerably low root-mean-squared error (RMSE). Overall, the predicted waves resulted in RMSE for the significance wave height of 0.22 m, for the mean wave period of 0.68 s, and for the mean wave direction of 0.28 rad. These wave height and wave period values are ∼13 % and ∼10 % of corresponding spatiotemporal mean values. The EarthFormer outperformed a popular spatiotemporal forecast network, the ConvLSTM, in our problem. For site-wise forecasts against buoy observations near Taiwan, the EarthFormer forecast also presents considerably high accuracy comparable to the ERA5 forecasts. This method can therefore provide an accurate and prompt way to forecast the large-scale distribution of waves to better model the marine dynamic and its climate effects, which could have a high potential for disaster prevention and climate modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]