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Sugar beet is a characteristic cash crop in Inner Mongolia, and water and fertilizer is an important management measure in sugar beet planting. The interaction between water and nitrogen is of practical significance in regulating the growth of sugar beet. The coordinated relationship between water and fertilizer can achieve the purpose of water saving, fertilizer saving, cost saving and efficiency increasing. The cultivation method of drip irrigation under plastic mulch was adopted in this study. The effects of water nitrogen supply on water metabolism and photosynthetic performance of sugar beet were studied through two years of field experiments in order to provide theoretical basis for improving the utilization efficiency of water and fertilizer and rational fertilization and irrigation. The results showed that the water nitrogen supply level and its proportion had influence with the water potential, Transpiration rate (Tr), Photosynthetic rate (Pn) and stomatal Conductance (Cond) of sugar beet leaves. And they were significantly positively correlated with the yield of sugar beet. When the water potential of sugar beet leaves was −0.38 ∼ −0.23 MPa in the period of leaf fast growth, root and sugar growth, and −0.45 ∼ −0.38 MPa in the period of sugar accumulation, the yield and sugar content were the highest. Under the coupling condition of water and nitrogen, the irrigation amount of sugar beet was 1350 ∼ 1427 m3·ha−1, and the nitrogen application amount was 150 ∼ 179.22 kg·ha−1. Sugar beet has the highest utilization rate of light energy and yield and sugar content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thrombocytopenia is a common hematological abnormality in patients with cirrhotic hypersplenism. Splenectomy with paraesophagogastric devascularization (SPD) is a conventional surgical therapy which can reverse pancytopenia in these patients. Platelets are traditionally recognized for their central role in hemostasis. However, the status of platelet aggregation in chronic hepatitis B patients with cirrhotic hypersplenism before and after SPD has not been reported yet. A total of 41 cirrhotic patients and 31 healthy controls were included in this study. Platelet aggregation was detected by AggRAM® Advanced Modular System (Helena Laboratories, USA). ELISA was used to detect the cytokines closely related to platelet aggregation. Expressions of platelet membrane glycoproteins (GPs) were evaluated by flow cytometric analysis. Platelet aggregation was found to be decreased distinctly in the cirrhotic patients, and to be restored to normal level after SPD. The cirrhotic patients showed higher plasma levels of the cytokines HMGB1, PEDF, vWF, cAMP and cGMP, which also improved partially after SPD. Moreover, the cirrhotic patients had much lower expression of GPIIb/IIIa, GPIbα and P-selectin than either the healthy controls or SPD patients at basal or activated level. Generally, SPD benefits cirrhotic patients with bleeding tendencies by improving platelet counts and aggregation. GPIIb/IIIa may be the key membrane protein responsible for the change in platelet aggregation before and after SPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of its anti-corruption campaigns in China, the Communist Party of China (CCP) provides officials opportunities to redeem themselves and renew their vows of loyalty to the Party and the people they serve. Officials must regain honour through a process of self-confrontation and self-renunciation in compulsory meetings in which they are encouraged to transform their immoral thoughts and behaviours through confessional criticism and self-criticism practices. These meetings facilitate officials’ redemption through a divinized, ritualistic and theatrical process. In the process of confession and penance, officials must expose themselves to a type of ritual martyrdom, which combines elements of shame, a commitment to absolute obedience and exposure to risk. This paper is based on original fieldwork comprising 50 interviews with high-, mid- and low-level officials across China during 2014 and 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversial duty to promote British values in Schools and Further Education Colleges in England, Scotland and Wales was introduced in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. This duty is described by some as the introduction of securitising mechanism into British Schools, for others it is a symptom of the UK Government’s further retreat from Multiculturalism. In this article, we present the duty as the most recent reconstructive intervention designed to remedy alleged failings in the education system to produce liberal British citizens and to counter the growth of extremism. In the article, we will explore how local institutions such as schools and colleges have implemented the duty in a way that defuses some of the securitising aspects of the Statutory Duty through celebrating the UK as a multi-racial, multi-faith and multi-cultural society and through ensuring that their promotion of British values is consistent with their existing value system and ethos which includes the promotion of pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]