Search

Copyright of Acta Geoscientica Sinica is the property of Acta Geoscientica Sinica Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Erdkunde is the property of Universitaet Bonn, Geographisches Institut and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This 1-year longitudinal study examined the bidirectional mediating role of loneliness in the association between shyness and generalized pathological Internet use (GPIU) in a sample of 291 Chinese university students (143 men, mean age = 19.07 years). A fully cross-lagged panel design was used in which shyness, loneliness, and GPIU were assessed at 3 time points separated by 6-month intervals (named T1, T2, and T3). The results indicated that relationships among shyness, loneliness, and GPIU were dynamic and bidirectional. Specifically, T1 shyness positively predicted increased T2 loneliness, T2 shyness positively predicted increased T3 loneliness, and T2 loneliness positively predicted increased T3 shyness. Additionally, T1 GPIU positively predicted increased T2 loneliness, T2 GPIU positively predicted increased T3 loneliness, and T2 loneliness positively predicted increased T3 GPIU. Loneliness was found to play a bidirectional mediating role in the association between shyness and GPIU. Specifically, T1 shyness and T3 GPIU were mediated through increased loneliness at T2, and T1 GPIU and T3 shyness were mediated through increased loneliness at T2. Furthermore, relationships among shyness, loneliness, and GPIU were the same across the 2 groups, with the strength of relationships being stronger for men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Geoscientica Sinica is the property of Acta Geoscientica Sinica Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Fractional quantum mechanics in the non-relativistic case is described by the space-fractional Schrödinger equation containing the fractional Riesz operator, which is a non-local operator. The non-locality makes it difficult to solve the fractional Schrödinger equation in the local potentials. In this paper, we study the solution of the fractional Schrödinger equation of a free particle moving on a circle by use of the Lévy path integrals approach. We present the Lévy path integrals propagator of a particle on circle and then use it to get the wave functions and energy eigenvalues of the free particle case. In addition, the Laplace transform, energy-time transform, and momentum representation of the free particle kernel are also obtained. The results of this paper contain the ones in standard quantum mechanics as special cases. The problem of a particle on circle is a fundamental problem of path integrals with topological constraints in quantum systems, and the method of Lévy path integrals can be generalized to study more complex local potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Research investigating the various mental, physical, and social effects of smartphone use has proliferated in the previous decade. Two variables of interest in this literature are the levels of anxiety and stress associated with smartphone use. The current meta‐analysis aimed to provide the first quantitative review of this literature, as well as determine potential moderators that might influence this relationship. A total of 39 independent samples (N = 21, 736) were used to compute a summary effect size of r = .22, p < .001, CI [.17–.28] indicating a small‐to‐medium association between smartphone use and stress and anxiety. Significant moderators included the year in which the article was published, as well as whether problematic or nonproblematic phone use was assessed. In addition, studies using validated measures of smartphone use indicated a (nonsignificantly) larger association than studies using nonvalidated measures. Strengths and limitations of the meta‐analysis, as well as future directions of research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Unified models of sentiment and topic have been widely employed in unsupervised sentiment analysis, where each word in text carries both sentiment and topic information. In fact, however, some words tend to express objective things while others prefer to express subjective sentiments. Based on this observation, the concept of word bias is put forward firstly, including objective bias and subjective bias. Considering the relations of bias, sentiment, and topic, a unified framework named Bias‐Sentiment‐Topic (BST) model is then presented to jointly model them for microblog sentiment analysis. After that, an improved Gibbs sampler is proposed for the inference of BST by introducing the general Pólya urn model, which incorporates word embedding as the general knowledge. Finally, experiments on standard test datasets illustrate major improvements of BST in sentiment classification and its effectiveness in separation of words with different biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Agro-Environment Science is the property of Journal of Agro-Environment Science Editorial Board and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

r-spondin1 ( rspo1) encodes a secreted protein that is involved in the determination and differentiation of the mammalian ovary. However, little information is yet available for teleosts. Here, we identified a homologue of rspo1 in Cynoglossus semilaevis. The full-length cDNA of rspo1 had a length of 2,703 bp with an open reading frame of 834 bp, encoding a protein with a length of 277 amino-acids. rspo1 expression was detected via qRT-PCR in various tissues, and significant sexually dimorphic expression was observed in the gonads. Furthermore, ISH located rspo1 in germ cells such as spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids, spermatozoa, and oocytes, as well as in somatic cells of the gonads. Following knockdown of rspo1 in an ovarian cell line, the expressions of wnt4a, β-catenin, foxl2, and StAR were highly affected; wnt4a and β-catenin were significantly downregulated, whereas foxl2 and StAR were significantly upregulated. In summary, these data suggest that rspo1 may be involved in the regulation of ovarian development and differentiation through a conserved pathway, while the function of the gene in the testis remains elusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kink band is a typical phenomenon for composites under longitudinal compression. In this paper, theoretical analysis and finite element simulation were conducted to analyze kink angle as well as compressive strength of composites. Kink angle was considered to be an important character throughout longitudinal compression process. Three factors including plastic matrix, initial fiber misalignment and rotation due to loading were considered for theoretical analysis. Besides, the relationship between kink angle and fiber volume fraction was improved and optimized by theoretical derivation. In addition, finite element models considering fiber stochastic strength and Drucker-Prager constitutive model for matrix were conducted in ABAQUS to analyze kink band formation process, which corresponded with the experimental results. Through simulation, the loading and failure procedure can be evidently divided into three stages: elastic stage, softening stage, and fiber break stage. It also shows that kink band is a result of fiber misalignment and plastic matrix. Different values of initial fiber misalignment angle, wavelength and fiber volume fraction were considered to explore the effects on compressive strength and kink angle. Results show that compressive strength increases with the decreasing of initial fiber misalignment angle, the decreasing of initial fiber misalignment wavelength and the increasing of fiber volume fraction, while kink angle decreases in these situations. Orthogonal array in statistics was also built to distinguish the effect degree of these factors. It indicates that initial fiber misalignment angle has the largest impact on compressive strength and kink angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the 2014 film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" directed by Michael Bay and the collaboration between the film studio Paramount Pictures Corp. and the Chinese motion picture industry to produce it. The author describes the Chinese box office revenues of previous "Transformers" films as a reason for the collaboration, and the various strategies used by the Chinese to incorporate characters, settings, and product placement.

In order to establish a simplified viscosity evaluating method of high viscosity asphalt binders (HVABs), shear rate sweep test in the shear rate range of 1.25 × 10-1,250 s was performed. Results showed that HVABs exhibited yield pseudo-plastic fluid behavior at 60 °C and the overlapped range of the first Newtonian region was 8 × 10-2 × 10 s. Based on the results, the simplified shear rate sweep test in the shear rate range of 0.001-0.1 s was proposed and low shear viscosity at 0.01 s (LSV) was suggested as the viscosity evaluating indicator of HVABs, which exhibited both close values to zero shear viscosity and significant correlation with rutting resistance of porous asphalt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To say that we are losing ourselves in the homogenizing mass which is consuming the same products sold around the globe would be a simplification. In the example of K-pop, I am trying to delineate the ways in which creative consumption makes corporations comply with the local traditions and the tastes of individual consumers in developing effective marketing strategies. Indeed, the power of cultural diversity does not consist in being isolated from pop culture, but it results from the nature of consumption practices, because it does matter to people what things they creatively consume and how they do this. This work is an important part of the process of identity formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) is a large angiosperm family that includes many medicinally important species. The ability to identify these species and their adulterants is important, yet difficult to do so because of their subtle fruit morphological differences and often lack of diagnostic features in preserved specimens. Moreover, dried roots are often the official medical organs, making visual identification to species almost impossible. DNA barcoding has been proposed as a powerful taxonomic tool for species identification. The Consortium for the Barcode of Life ( CBOL) Plant Working Group has recommended the combination of rbcL+ matK as the core plant barcode. Recently, the China Plant BOL Group proposed that the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer ( ITS), as well as a subset of this marker ( ITS2), be incorporated alongside rbcL+matK into the core barcode for seed plants, particularly angiosperms. In this study, we assess the effectiveness of these four markers plus psbA-trnH as Apiaceae barcodes. A total of 6032 sequences representing 1957 species in 385 diverse genera were sampled, of which 211 sequences from 50 individuals (representing seven species) were newly obtained. Of these five markers, ITS and ITS2 showed superior results in intra- and interspecific divergence and DNA barcoding gap assessments. For the matched data set (173 samples representing 45 species in five genera), the ITS locus had the highest identification efficiency (73.3%), yet ITS2 also performed relatively well with 66.7% identification efficiency. The identification efficiency increased to 82.2% when using an ITS+ psbA-trnH marker combination ( ITS2+ psbA-trnH was 80%), which was significantly higher than that of rbcL+matK (40%). For the full sample data set (3052 ITS sequences, 3732 ITS2 sequences, 1011 psbA-trnH sequences, 567 matK sequences and 566 rbcL sequences), ITS, ITS2, psbA-trnH, matK and rbcL had 70.0%, 64.3%, 49.5%, 38.6% and 32.1% discrimination abilities, respectively. These results confirm that ITS or its subset ITS2 be incorporated into the core barcode for Apiaceae and that the combination of ITS/ ITS2+ psbA-trnH has much potential value as a powerful, standard DNA barcode for Apiaceae identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the connection between the emergence and market making activities of the large Korean entertainment houses and the global level success of 'K-pop,' an increasingly popular type of Korean popular music. We review a set of conventional explanations, respectively pointing to cultural factors, government support, and technological development as core factors that led to the global success of K-pop. We find all three explanations unsatisfactory and, alternatively, building on studies of market intermediaries, argue that the roles of three large entertainment houses-SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment-have been the most crucial in the development and success of K-pop. Through combining data from Korean music charts, newspaper articles, and revenue data, we trace the increasingly systematic musical production strategies of the entertainment houses and the macro-consequences of their organizational activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify the 100 top-cited articles published in orthodontics journals and to analyze their characteristics to investigate the achievement and development of orthodontics research in past decades. Methods and Materials: The Institute for Scientific Information Web of Knowledge Database and the 2011 Journal Citation Report Science Editions were used to retrieve the 100 top-cited articles published in orthodontics journals since 1975. Some basic information was collected by the Analyze Tool on the Web of Science, including citation time, publication title, journal name, publication year, and country and institution of origin. A further study was then performed to determine authorship, article type, field of study, study design, and level of evidence. Results: The 100 target articles were retrieved from three journals: American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics (n = 74), The Angle Orthodontist (n=15), and European Journal of Orthodontics (n = 11). Since 1975, the articles cited 89 to 545 times mainly originated from the United States, and the overwhelming majority of articles were clinical. The most common study design was case series; 40 articles were classified as level IV and 12 as level V evidence. Conclusions: The 100 top-cited articles in orthodontics are generally old articles, rarely possessing high-level evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the new forms of communication have had a major impact on gender and sexual ideologies and practices across East Asia. In particular, it focuses on the impact that the new media had on Chinese masculinities in the post-Mao years, a period that coincided with the “Asian economic miracle” and the rise of China. This was also the time when women's studies became well established in the West and men's studies was becoming increasingly prominent in the academic arena. But throughout this time, research into Asian men has been very limited, although Asian women have been voluminously described, analyzed, and publicized. Men's studies scholars such as R. W. Connell were well aware that a large proportion of the world's men did not receive any attention in gender studies and that this neglect was a serious problem in the field. In the first article in the inaugural issue of Men and Masculinities, he called for a more global understanding of the world gender order (Connell 1998). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The deterioration of Sino-South Korean relations following the attacks on the Cheonan and on Yonpyong Island in 2010 has again raised the question of Chinese intentions in the Korean peninsula. In this article, I explore Chinese netizen views of the two Koreas. Qualitative and quantitative evidence (in the form of a large-scale national Internet survey) provide convergent evidence that while Chinese netizens feel coolly toward both Koreas, they think and feel about them in very different ways. Chinese netizens appear to be profoundly disillusioned with a North Korea that refuses to adopt Chinese-style "reform and opening," which only reminds them of their poor and authoritarian past. However, recent high-profile historical and cultural disputes appear to have led to widespread Chinese dismay and even anger toward South Korea as well, which is perceived to be poaching on China's proud cultural heritage. These attitudes toward Korea are reflective of evolving Chinese understandings of what it means to be Chinese in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large body of literature has examined factors leading to filing for personal bankruptcy, but little is known about household borrowing after bankruptcy. This paper augments the existing literature with a comprehensive analysis of postbankruptcy borrowing using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances. We find that filers generally have more limited access to unsecured credit, but borrow more secured debt after bankruptcy, than comparable households that have never filed for bankruptcy. Filers also pay higher interest rates on all types of debt. In addition, as more time passes after filing, credit access and borrowing costs improve. However, filers remain more prone than comparable nonfilers to experience financial distress, accumulate less wealth, and use expensive credit sources like payday loans, even more than 10 years after filing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the influence of polymer-modification on the induction heating capability of asphalt mastic in a microwave field, and investigates how effectively this approach can be utilized for ice melting and self-healing purposes. To this end, different asphalt mastic mixtures with different polymer-modification and mixing procedures were tested under microwave field exposure for induction heating capability, ice-melting ability, and self-healing capacity. The mixtures were made through warm-mix and hot-mix procedures with four bituminous binders, including virgin (unmodified) asphalt and the same binder modified with three types of polymers. The results showed the effectiveness of microwave induction heating of asphalt mastic for both crack-healing and deicing purposes. The binder type was found to influence the ice melting and crack healing rates, such that using a warm-mix asphalt binder resulted in a more efficient heat generation and conduction than using a virgin asphalt binder. While polymer-modification undermined induction-heating, ice-melting, and self-healing performances, SBS-modified asphalt binders exhibited better performance than the other polymer-modified binders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ganghuo Kanggan decoction (GHKGD) is a clinical experience prescription used for the treatment of viral pneumonia in the Lingnan area of China, and its clinical effect is remarkable. However, the mechanism of GHKGD in influenza is still unclear. Objective: To predict the active components and signaling pathway of GHKGD and to explore its therapeutic mechanism in influenza and to verified it in vivo using network pharmacology. Methods: The potential active components and therapeutic targets of GHKGD in the treatment of influenza were hypothesized through a series of network pharmacological strategies, including compound screening, target prediction and pathway enrichment analysis. Based on the target network and enrichment results, a mouse model of influenza A virus (IAV) infection was established to evaluate the therapeutic effect of GHKGD on influenza and to verify the possible molecular mechanism predicted by network pharmacology. Results: A total of 116 candidate active compounds and 17 potential targets were identified. The results of the potential target enrichment analysis suggested GHKGD may involve the RLR signaling pathway to reduce inflammation in the lungs. In vivo experiments showed that GHKGD had a protective effect on pneumonia caused by IAV-infected mice. Compared with the untreated group, the weight loss in the GHKGD group in the BALB/c mice decreased, and the inflammatory pathological changes in lung tissue were reduced (p < 0.05). The expression of NP protein and the virus titers in lung were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). The protein expression of RIG-I, NF-kB, and STAT1 and the level of MAVS and IRF3/7 mRNA were remarkably inhibited in GHKGD group (p < 0.05). After the treatment with GHKGD, the level of Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-2) was increased, while the expression of Th2 (IL-5, IL4) cytokines was reduced (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Through a network pharmacology strategy and in vivo experiments, the multi-target and multi-component pharmacological characteristics of GHKGD in the treatment of influenza were revealed, and regulation of the RLR signaling pathway during the anti-influenza process was confirmed. This study provides a theoretical basis for the research and development of new drugs from GHKGD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to a statement made in the BP Energy Outlook report in 2017, most of the world's liquid fuel (petroleum) is being consumed by the transportation industry. The mechanisms used to stimulate changes in the energy markets are affected by government policies that act in more ambitious ways than purely market-driven forces; different governments have promoted incentives involving electric mobility, especially in urban areas. The substitution for crude oil by renewable energy inputs in the transport sector is a major concern for oil producers. Among the different types of clean energies, lithium (Li) is currently assuming an increasingly strategic role. The goals of this paper are two-fold: First, we study the dynamics of the lithium industry and then the beta risk behavior of the 10 largest oil companies in the world for the time period between 11 February 2008 and 10 January 2019. We use an approach based on the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) method. The results indicate that there is a period of dependence between late 2013 and 2016 that occurs in the long-run frequencies of between 32 and 198 days for all cases, except for in the case of PetroChina, thereby demonstrating that the beta term is time-varying. We also find evidence that the beta term reflects and advances oil companies' responsiveness to movements in the lithium market. In the second part of the paper, we study the dynamics of the beta series by using long-run dependence approaches. The results indicate that the betas are highly persistent, with the order of integration found to be significantly above 1 in all cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The beer quality can be modulated from changes in their ingredient proportions, as well as in operating parameters. The crossed experimental designs and the multiple optimizations based on desirability functions have demonstrated to be effective methodologies in the unit operation polynomial modeling and optimization of bioprocess, respectively. However, artificial intelligence techniques have been used as an alternative to this modeling in bioprocess. Therefore, this study aimed to implement a software combining artificial neural network (ANN) and differential evolution to optimize the topology of an ANN to model the Ale beer production and to use the optimized ANN in ingredients and operation parameters choice that ensure a beer with high acceptance rate, by the genetic algorithm technique for multiple‐objective function. This approach allowed to find ANN models which fitted the process with correlation coefficients higher than 0.85 and high satisfaction level of beer desirable quality attributes (global desirability value = 0.78). Practical Applications: This manuscript could be useful for bioprocess professionals involved in the development of the brewing process and artificial intelligence applications. The approach applied in this work allows for modeling and optimization of brewing process using a combination of crossed experimental design, artificial neural networks, and evolutionary algorithms with relatively low experimental efforts. At the same time, the quality attributes of the beer are better controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]