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This study investigates the process and its effect for a doctoral student's advanced academic literacy (AAL) development in the context of student-supervisor relationship (SSR). The data sources comprise an authentic three-year tutorial record and 68 reflective learning journals written by a successful Chinese doctoral student of linguistics. The case shows that the participant developed a cognitive, cooperative, dialogic and instructive student-supervisor relationship and her learning activities in doctoral education are rich and constructive. The participant built her expertise mainly through knowledge acquisition and by a significant amount of academic writing practice for publication. Aided by her supervisor, the participant successfully joined as a research member the given sociocultural community. This socialisation promotes her professional identity transformation. The findings also reveal some weaknesses in the participant's AAL development, such as a lack of solid theoretical knowledge base, meaningful peer interaction, and in-depth integration into the international academic community.

Flash drought is characterized by rapid onset and short-duration drought conditions caused by a combination of factors, including high evaporation, high temperature, and prolonged periods of little to no precipitation, leading to a sudden and severe decrease in soil moisture levels. In comparison to conventional drought, it is more susceptible to the effects of global warming and has the potential to become a common drought phenomenon in the coming years, necessitating further research. In this paper, we focused on flash drought events, specifically in forest parts of northeastern China that are included within the Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM), Lesser Khingan Mountains (LKM), and Changbai Mountains (CM), using daily soil moisture data as well as SPOT- VEGETATION NDVI satellite data from 2000 to 2020 and determined their impact on the forest NDVI. Our major findings are as follows. (1) The forest within GKM had the maximum area being affected by flash drought events. (2) The frequency ranged from 1 to 2 times, whereas the total duration varied between 20 and 55 days over the study area in a 21-year period. (3) Flash drought was most common in the plant-growing seasons. (4) The flash drought events had a negative influence on the forest NDVI. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the flash drought dynamics in forest areas of northeast China for flash drought monitoring, prediction, and management strategies in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although carbonatite-alkaline complexes are the primary source of the world's niobium (Nb) supply, the mineralization style is largely variable in these complexes and the processes behind their formation are still poorly understood. Exemplifying with our new observations on the ~430 Ma Miaoya and Shaxiongdong carbonatite-syenite complexes in the southern Qinling orogenic belt, central China, show that disseminated Nb mineralization in these two deposits is pervasive throughout the entire complexes in both syenite and carbonatite. Both magmatic and hydrothermal processes have contributed to Nb mineralization in both deposits, despite differences in the mineralization style. The Nb-bearing minerals in the mineralized Miaoya syenites include magmatic U-poor pyrochlore, rutile, and ilmenite with minor amounts of columbite, and hydrothermal columbite and rutile, whereas those in the mineralized carbonatites are mainly magmatic U-poor pyrochlore, uranpyrochlore, U-rich betafite, and rutile with minor amounts of columbite, and hydrothermal columbite and rutile. On the other hand, the Nb-bearing minerals in the mineralized Shaxiongdong syenites include magmatic U-poor pyrochlore, titanite, rutile, and ilmenite, and hydrothermal fersmite, rutile, and ilmenite, whereas those in the mineralized carbonatites are mainly magmatic U-poor pyrochlore without any hydrothermal Nb-bearing minerals. Field observations, whole-rock chemical and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions strongly constrained that assimilation of U-rich rocks (e.g., the hosting Yaolinghe and Meiziya Groups) and magma differentiation are responsible for diverse magmatic Nb mineralization in the two deposits. On the other hand, the diverse assemblages of hydrothermal Nb minerals in Miaoya and Shaxiongdong are mainly controlled by variations in the nature of the fluids, which is constrained to be genetically related to ~220 and ~420 Ma hydrothermal events, respectively. In summary, both magma evolution (e.g., differentiation, assimilation) and late hydrothermal overprinting are responsible for the diverse Nb mineralogy in carbonatite-alkaline complexes, a situation that is commonly observed worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic effect and safety of ultrasound‐guided thoracic paravertebral block (UG‐TPVB) in Chinese elderly patients undergoing video‐assisted thoracic lobectomy (VATL) and to study the influence of aging factors on these effects. Methods: This study was a single‐center, single‐blind, prospective, randomized, controlled trial. A total of 300 patients scheduled for VATL were recruited and randomly divided into the UG‐TPVB group (T group) and conventional anesthesia group (C group) according to the recruitment order, and subgroups were set up according to whether the age was ≥65 years old or not. The postoperative 12, 24, and 48 h static/dynamic visual analog scale (VAS) scores, intraoperative fentanyl consumption, postoperative extubation time, post‐anesthesia care unit (PACU) stay time, hospitalization days, postoperative complications, and other indicators were compared between the two groups. Results: The postoperative 12, 24, and 48 h static/dynamic VAS scores of the T group were significantly lower than those of the C group. The intraoperative fentanyl consumption, postoperative extubation time, PACU stay time, and postoperative hospitalization days were significantly lower than those of the C group. The incidence of postoperative 48 h urinary retention in the T group was significantly lower than that in the C group. These advantages showed no significant difference or slight difference between elderly patients and nonelderly patients, indicating that UG‐TPVB did not influence the analgesic effect and safety of VATL patients by age or age difference. Conclusion: UG‐TPVB is an effective and safe perioperative analgesia method for elderly VATL patients. Its application improves the quality of life and prognosis of elderly VATL patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic unit of rural revitalization is the village. Rural revitalization can be comprehensively promoted by using rural typology as an instrument for rural zoning planning, which is a significant factor. This study clarified the relationship between rural revitalization and basic public services, constructed evaluation index systems, and analyzed the symbiotic mode. The comprehensive development level and the symbiotic mode were incorporated to determine the type of village. The results showed the following: (1) The thriving industry and affluent life of Tangfang Town obviously contributed to its rural revitalization; the achievement of basic environmental improvement was eminent. (2) There are differences in the comprehensive development level of rural revitalization and basic public services among administrative villages, with an overall trend of "high in the north and low in the south", corresponding to the industrial layout of "north industry and south agriculture" in Tangfang Town. (3) The symbiosis coefficients of all the administrative villages in Tangfang Town were between 0 and 0.5, and there was a positive symmetric mutualism relationship overall, indicating that basic public services have a significant impact and can effectively promote the process of rural revitalization. (4) Villages in Tangfang Town are divided into five functional areas—the comprehensive coordination area, potential improvement area, restricted development area, unbalanced allocation area, and backward guarantee area—and various types of optimization development strategies are proposed. As one of the top 100 demonstration towns for rural revitalization in Shaanxi Province, Tangfang Town plays a leading and exemplary role. Within the context of rural revitalization strategies, solving the problem of how to realize differentiated development in the next five years has become urgent. This study aimed to effectively promote the process of rural revitalization, provide theoretical guidance for scientific development in Tangfang Town, and promote research ideas for other towns in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is an area of great importance for the ethnic minorities of northwestern China, and the development of local minority education has been a constant concern in both government and academic spheres. By means of analyzing government documents, statistical data and research literature, this article attempts to define the fundamental modes and development processes of minority education in Xinjiang. Furthermore, the article elaborates on discussion of the development and problems relevant to bilingual education in the concentrated Uyghur communities of southern Xinjiang based on the author's field research in the Kashgar Prefecture in 2007.

Withered branch disease is a major threat to the health of forest trees, resulting in the death of susceptible branches and even the whole plant. Botryosphaeriaceae members (e.g., Phaeobotryon spp.) are common pathogenic fungi that cause withered branches, canker and dieback disease symptoms in woody plants. This study aimed to identify the Phaeobotryon species inhabiting tree species with canker and dieback symptoms in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, based on both morphological and phylogenetic approaches. In the current study, branches and twigs showing typical symptoms of canker and dieback were collected from Elaeagnus angustifolia, Juglans regia, Malus pumila, Malus 'Royalty', Prunus armeniaca (wild apricot) and Rhus typhina growing on Tianshan Mountain in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Phaeobotryon species isolated from these samples were characterized based on methods of morphology and molecular phylogeny. As a result, two species were identified: P. rhoinum and a new species Phaeobotryon mali sp. nov. Here, we provide a description and illustrations of this new species for science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study integrates cultivation and intergroup threat theories to examine media cultivation effects during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that U.S. media have consistently portrayed China as a threat and target of blame. The cultivation of media has thus resulted in perceived threat of and blame on Chinese people for the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a cross-sectional survey in two samples (MTurk: N = 375; college: N = 566) showed that the amount of media consumption predicted stronger perceptions that Chinese people were a health threat, and also predicted blame on Chinese people for the COVID-19 outbreak. Threat perception and blame were further associated with support of media content that derogated China, stronger intentions to attack, and weaker intentions to help Chinese people. The findings have profound implications for intergroup threat and cultivation research, and practical importance for intergroup relations, especially when the global community finds itself in a public crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-examines the pollution haven hypothesis (PHH) by taking environmental regulation in ambient regions as a critical determinant concurrent with own regulation. Exploiting the Two Control Zones policy in China as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that both the curbing effect of the local environmental regulation and the spillover effect of ambient regions affect high-polluting foreign direct investment (FDI) location. Moreover, reallocated FDI results in redistributing instead of reducing pollutant emissions. Our evidence enriched by spatial spillover primarily supports the PHH in the context of China. It suggests a national-wide coordinated environmental policy with a unified goal performs better than separately implementing stringent regulations in highly polluted areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sanjiang Plain is the largest marsh distribution area of China, and marshes in this region significantly affect regional carbon cycle and biodiversity protection. The vegetation phenology of marsh significantly affects the energy exchange and carbon cycle in that region. Under the influence of global climatic change, identifying the changes in phenology and their responses to climatic variation in marshes of Sanjiang Plain is essential for predicting the carbon stocks of marsh ecosystem in that region. Using climate and NDVI data, this paper analyzed the spatiotemporal variations in the start (SOS), end (EOS), and length (LOS) of vegetation growing season and explored the impacts of climatic variation on vegetation phenology in marshes of Sanjiang Plain. Results showed that the SOS advanced by 0.30 days/a, and EOS delayed by 0.23 days/a, causing LOS to increase significantly (p <.05) by 0.53 days/a over marshes of Sanjiang Plain. Spatially, the large SOS advance and EOS delay resulted in an obvious increasing trend for LOS in northern Sanjiang Plain. The rise of spring and winter temperatures advanced the SOS and increased the LOS, and the rise in temperature in autumn delayed the EOS in marshes of Sanjiang Plain. Our findings highlight the necessity of considering seasonal climatic conditions in simulating marsh vegetation phenology and indicate that the different influences of climatic variation on marsh vegetation phenology in different regions should be fully considered to assess the marsh ecosystem response to climatic change in Sanjiang Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sanjiang Plain is the most extensive marsh distribution region in China. Marshes in this region can protect biodiversity, regulate climate, and provide habitats for wild animals and plants. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a crucial indicator of vegetation coverage, which may reflect ecosystem structure and functional features. Clarifying the spatiotemporal change of marsh coverage and its climatic drivers is vital for observing and predicting vegetation change in Sanjiang Plain. Using meteorological dataand MODIS NDVI data from 2000 to 2020, we analyzed the spatiotemporal variation in marsh vegetation coverage and climatic change effects in Sanjiang Plain. We found that the growing season vegetation NDVI of marsh increased significantly at a rate of 0.011/decade, indicating that the marsh vegetation growth has obviously improved during the past 21 years. Furthermore, we found that the increase of minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) temperature in July can significantly promote the marsh plant growth, and increasing nighttime Tmin has a stronger impact on promoting the growth than increasing daytime Tmax in this month. In addition, the increase of daytime Tmax in August can promote the marsh vegetation growth, whereas the increasing precipitation in August was unfavorable for the growth in Sanjiang Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Opium Wars, traditional notions of China as encompassing "all under heaven" (tianxia 天下) and the "Sino-barbarian dichotomy" (huayi 華夷) could no longer be sustained. Under the pressure and intimidation of the Great Powers' advanced warships and fire power, the Qing government signed the unequal treaties and China was forced to adopt Western conceptual reasoning, discursive language, and rules of conduct. Western knowledge and lexicon was successively translated into Chinese, affecting transformations in local discourse and society. As part of this process, Japanese texts, which contained a great volume of Chinese characters, became an important medium for the transmission of Western epistemology. During the first Opium War between China and England, the cultural and political hegemony of the Great Powers were demonstrated through debates over interpretations of the Chinese character yi 夷. During the Late Qing, Chinese intellectuals drew on their foundations in traditional Chinese lexicon to understand and adopt the foreign-derived words zhongzu 種族 (race) and minzu 民族 (nation). This process reflects both shifts in how Chinese people regarded collective identity and the various presumptions underlying state-building visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, like other disasters or crises, can immensely influence visitors' demand to visit affected destinations. The current study helps us better understand how this health crisis could affect the demand change from a micro-level perspective of small-scale tourist destinations. Based on the web search data from the Baidu Index, the present study adopts the Emeishan National Park in China as the study area and employs multiple methods to assess the spatial-temporal disparities in the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 on domestic tourism demand. The main findings reveal that the demand changes during the observation period resemble a U-shaped curve along with the outbreak, spread, and control of the crisis, and such impacts exhibit different characteristics in the pre-event, prodromal, emergency, intermediate, and long-term recovery stages. During and after the pandemic, the short-distance market is the most vulnerable, but it presents the strongest resilience, while the medium- and long-distance markets are relatively less affected. Significant stratified heterogeneity in the tourism demand of domestic source markets also emerges before and after the crisis. Finally, some implications of promoting domestic tourism recovery in the post-pandemic era are discussed, and recommendations are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sanjiang Plain has the greatest concentration of freshwater marshes in China. Marshes in this area play a key role in adjusting the regional carbon cycle. As an important quality parameter of marsh ecosystems, vegetation aboveground biomass (AGB) is an important index for evaluating carbon stocks and carbon sequestration function. Due to a lack of in situ and long-term AGB records, the temporal and spatial changes in AGB and their contributing factors in the marsh of Sanjiang Plain remain unclear. Based on the measured AGB, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and climate data, this study investigated the spatiotemporal changes in marsh AGB and the effects of climate variation on marsh AGB in the Sanjiang Plain from 2000 to 2020. Results showed that the marsh AGB density and annual maximum NDVI (NDVImax) had a strong correlation, and the AGB density could be accurately calculated from a power function equation between NDVImax and AGB density (AGB density = 643.57 × NDVI max 4. 2474 ). According to the function equation, we found that the AGB density significantly increased at a rate of 2.47 g·C/m2/a during 2000–2020 in marshes of Sanjiang Plain, with the long-term average AGB density of about 282.05 g·C/m2. Spatially, the largest increasing trends of AGB were located in the north of the Sanjiang Plain, and decreasing trends were mainly found in the southeast of the study area. Regarding climate impacts, the increase in precipitation in winter could decrease the marsh AGB, and increased temperatures in July contributed to the increase in the marsh AGB in the Sanjiang Plain. This study demonstrated an effective approach for accurately estimating the marsh AGB in the Sanjiang Plain using ground-measured AGB and NDVI data. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of including monthly climate properties in modeling AGB in the marshes of the Sanjiang Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Recurrent respiratory tract infection (RRTI) is common in children. Inappropriate RRTI treatment will lead to asthma and other diseases, thereby seriously affecting the growth and physical health of children. Immune function modulation can prevent and alleviate childhood RRTI. Yupingfeng (YPF), a patented traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has immunomodulatory effects and is widely used in China to treat children with RRTI. Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of YPF monotherapy in treating children with RRTI. Methods: This multicenter, randomized, double‐blind, double‐simulation, noninferiority clinical trial was conducted from January 2015 to August 2017, with an 8‐week treatment period and 52‐week follow‐up after the drug withdrawal. Children aged 2–6 years with RRTI meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in 13 hospitals in China and divided randomly into three groups (2:2:1 ratio) to receive YPF, pidotimod, or placebo. The primary outcome was the proportion of RRTI returning to normal standard level during the follow‐up. The secondary outcomes were reduction in the number of RRTI recurrences, effect on clinical symptoms (in accord with TCM practice), effect per symptom, and safety. The trial was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry (www.chictr.org.cn) under the unique identifier ChiCTR‐IPR‐15006847. Results: Three hundred and fifty‐one children were enrolled and randomly assigned to 3 groups; 124, 125, and 61 children in the YPF, pidotimod, and placebo groups, respectively, had completed the trial. During the follow‐up, the proportion of RRTI returning to normal standard level was 73.13%, 67.15%, and 38.81% with YPF, pidotimod, and placebo, respectively (P < 0.0001). The proportion of cases who returned to normal standard level in the YPF group was 34.32% higher than that in the placebo group. The safety profile did not significantly differ among the groups. Interpretation: YPF granules were noninferior to the active control drug pidotimod oral solution for the treatment of RRTI in children, and were superior to placebo, with a high safety profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a rapid-growing trend in studying China's environmental problems in the past decade. However, the existing environmental statistics data are far from meeting researchers' requirements. The biggest problem is that the official environmental statistics data are only provided at either regional level or sectoral level. Considering the huge heterogeneities in different regions and sectors, researchers are unable to conduct comprehensive policy evaluations. In this study, we constructed the time-series industrial environmental database for China (CIED) at both regional and sectoral level. The database includes totally 31 regions and four types of pollutants: chemical oxygen demand (COD), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), and nitrogen oxide (NOX). This study also clarifies several important concepts for researchers to better understand China's official environmental statistics data. Measurement(s) environmental pollution Technology Type(s) computational modeling technique Sample Characteristic - Location China [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the dual influences of global climate change and human activities, inland lakes in arid areas are shrinking and drying up, and a large area of bare lake bed has become the source of the release of chemical dust. The aim of this study is to study the control of groundwater on the distribution and development of natural vegetation and the effects of the groundwater conditions on soil salinization. In this study, a typical modern dry lake in northern China, Chahan Lake, was taken as the study area. Through field investigations, field sampling and analysis, and statistical analysis, the influence of groundwater on the ecosystem of this dry lake was studied. The results revealed that the vegetation communities in the lakeside zone were Kalidium foliatum, Nitraria tangutorum, Suaeda glauca, Leymus chinensis, Chloris virgata, and Carex duriuscula communities from the dry lake bed outwards. The groundwater table suitable for vegetation growth in Chahan Lake is 2.0–3.0 m deep. The groundwater table suitable for the growth of Kalidium foliatum vegetation is 1.5–2.5 m deep. The groundwater table suitable for the growth of Leymus chinensis vegetation is 3.0–4.0 m deep. In Chahan Lake, the critical groundwater depth and total dissolved solids (TDS) for moderate salinization, severe salinization, and saline soil occurrence are 4.0 m and 2.0 g/L, 3.0 m and 3.0 g/L, and 1.5 m and 4.0 g/L, respectively. Regarding the prevention and control of salt-dust storms, the ecological threshold of the groundwater, which can effectively increase the vegetation coverage and prevent soil salinization, is groundwater depths of 2.0–4.0 m and TDS values of <2 g/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperate grasslands in China play a vital part in regulating regional carbon cycle and climate change. Net primary productivity (NPP) is a crucial index that reflects ecological function of plants and the carbon sequestration capacity of grassland ecosystem. Climate change can affect NPP by changing vegetation growth, but the effects of climate change on the NPP of China's temperate grasslands remain unclear. Based on MODIS data and monthly climate data during 2000–2020, this study explored the spatiotemporal changes in grassland NPP and its response to climate change in temperate grasslands of China. We found that the annual NPP over the entire China's temperate grasslands increased significantly by 4.0 gC/m2/year from 2000 to 2020. The annual NPP showed increasing trends for all the different grassland vegetation types, with the smallest increase for temperate desert steppe (2.2 gC/m2/year) and the largest increase for temperate meadow (5.4 gC/m2/year). The correlation results showed that increased annual precipitation had a positive relationship with the NPP of temperate grasslands. Increased summer and autumn precipitation could increase grassland NPP, particularly for the temperate meadow. With regard to the effects of temperatures, increased temperature, particularly the summer maximum temperature, could decrease annual NPP. However, increased spring minimum temperature could increase the NPP of temperate desert steppe. In addition, this study found, for the first time, an asymmetric relationship between summer nighttime and daytime warming and the NPP of temperate meadow. Specifically, nighttime warming can increase NPP, while daytime warming can reduce NPP in temperate meadow. Our results highlight the importance of including seasonal climate conditions in assessing the vegetation productivity for different grassland types of temperate grasslands and predicting the influences of future climate change on temperate grassland ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Larimichthys crocea is the most important economic marine cultured fish in China. Kudoa parasites are critical pathogens that infect a wide range of marine and freshwater fish. Compared to the hundred marine Kudoa species recognized in wild and cultured fish worldwide, records of Kudoa are relatively few in China. In this report, large yellow croakers were found to be infected with Kudoa for the first time in China. Morphological observations and molecular techniques were combined for the final identification of Kudoa iwatai. Additionally, the morphological characterization and phylogenetic status of Kudoa iwatai have been described in detail. This study enriches knowledge about Kudoa iwatai and provides a direction for early disease prevention and monitoring of large yellow croakers. Kudoa (Myxosporea: Multivalvulida) parasites are critical pathogens in marine and freshwater fish associated with significant economic losses and reduced market prices caused by post-mortem myoliquefaction or numerous cysts on muscles. In the present study, large yellow croakers infected by Kudoa were found during fish disease surveillance in China in November 2020 and used for morphological observation and characterization using light DIC microscopy and electron microscopy. Numerous creamy-white oval plasmodia were observed in muscles and on the surface of brain cartilage, gill arches, and serosal surfaces. The spores were considerably longer and thicker than previously reported Kudoa, with protruding polar filaments (PFs) in the mature spores, fingertip-shaped apical projections (APs), and polar capsules. Phylogenetic analyses with SSU rDNA, LSU rDNA, and mitochondrial DNA showed that the Kudoa-infected sample (LcK-2020) had the highest similarity to Kudoa iwatai reported in Japan. Based on the morphological characterization and phylogenetic analysis, it could be concluded that the sample LcK-2020 was infected by Kudoa iwatai, which would be the first report of Kudoa iwatai infection in large yellow croaker in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of anthropogenic activities on the ecological systems in the Xiongan New Area (XNA), China. Artificial sweeteners (ASs) were used as anthropogenic tracers to investigate how anthropogenic activities affect water, soil, and plant layers. For this purpose, the concentrations of 4 typical ASs, acesulfame (ACE), sucralose (SUC), saccharin (SAC), and cyclamate (CYC) were measured in water, soil, and plant layers. Moreover, a tracer test was conducted in the critical zone observatory (CZO) in the southern part of the study area to investigate the migration path and time of anthropogenic activities on the ecological systems. Acesulfame, SUC, SAC, and CYC were widely detected in all of the sample types, and their average values were 0.22, 0.53, 0.06, and 0.08 µg/L in the water layer; 0.04, 0.18, 0.06, and 0.06 µg/kg in the soil layer; and 1.79, 0.11, 4.42, and 0.95 µg/kg in the plant layer, respectively. The tracer test showed that 1.1% to 1.8% of the impacts of the anthropogenic activities migrated from the surface to the shallow aquifer within 13 d, 6% to 19% migrated to the maize layer within 28 d, and 79% to 93% were adsorbed and biodegraded in the soil layer. Therefore, the scope and strength of the influence of the anthropogenic activities on the environmental media exhibit a decreasing sequence of maize > water > soil. This study not only quantitatively characterizes the impact of anthropogenic activities on the ecological environment but also presents the first comprehensive overview of the environmental fate of ASs in the critical zone of the XNA, China. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:866–876. © 2021 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the diversity of diatrypaceous fungi from six regions in China based on morpho-molecular analyses of combined ITS and tub2 gene regions. We accept 23 genera in Diatrypaceae with 18 genera involved in the phylogram, and the other five genera are lacking living materials with sequences data. Eleven species included in four genera (viz. Allocryptovalsa , Diatrype , Diatrypella , and Eutypella) have been isolated from seven host species, of which nine novel species (viz. Allocryptovalsa castaneae , A. castaneicola , Diatrype betulae , D. castaneicola , D. quercicola , Diatrypella betulae , Da. betulicola , Da. hubeiensis , and Da. shennongensis), a known species of Diatrypella favacea , and a new record of Eutypella citricola from the host genus Morus are included. Current results show the high diversity of Diatrypaceae which are wood-inhabiting fungi in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a high-risk etiological factor for cervical and ovarian carcinomas. p16 protein can be used as a surrogate biomarker for HPV infection in high-risk tumors. A strong correlation between HPV infection and programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein expression has consistently been reported. Objective: Given this background, this study investigates the prevalence, prognostic and clinicopathologic features of HPV-related epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) for the last 10 years in Northeast China to elucidate the involvement of p16 in the PD-L1 protein expression, tumorigenesis, and progression of EOC. Methods: Specimens from 310 patients diagnosed with EOC collected from 2006 to 2016 were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for HPV DNA, and overexpression of p16 by immunohistochemistry was also evaluated. Statistical analysis was performed to estimate the significant difference between HPV positive and negative patients, the correlation among HPV state, p16 and PD-L1 expression, and clinical presentation. Results: Overexpression of p16 protein and HPV DNA were present in 100 (32.3%) of the 310 cases, and correlated with high PD-L1 expression. There was a good concordance between HPV positivity, p16 protein overexpression and PD-L1 expression. The etiological fraction of HPV in EOC is substantially higher in Northeast China than other cohorts previously reported. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that HPV infection and p16 overexpression is significantly associated with PD-LI expression in EOC, through the cooperative roles of dendritic cells (DCs) and IFN-γ, which may represent a promising strategy for therapeutic intervention in EOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how knowledge acquisition of global sourcing suppliers in China influences their employees' entrepreneurial intention through opportunity identification. We analyzed survey data from 144 Chinese global sourcing supplier firms using structural equation modeling. The findings reveal that supplier employees were able to identify more opportunities with their employers' acquired knowledge and those identified opportunities increase employees' intention to start their own ventures. In addition to the challenge to incumbent supplier firms, our study also provides insight on potential remedies by showing that a strategic focus on the pursuit of opportunities weakens employee entrepreneurial intention. This study represents a first step toward integrating organizational and individual level variables to clarify the underlying mechanism through which firm knowledge leads to individual entrepreneurial intention. Cette étude examine comment l'acquisition des connaissances chez les fournisseurs à l'échelle mondiale de services d'externalisation basés en Chine influence les intentions entrepreneuriales des employés de ces fournisseurs, à travers l'identification d'opportunités. En utilisant la modélisation par équations structurelles, nous avons analysé les données d'une enquête conduite parmi 144 entreprises chinoises proposant des services d'externalisation à l'échelle mondiale. Les résultats révèlent que les employés de ces entreprises étaient capables, grâce aux connaissances acquises par leurs employeurs, d'identifier un nombre plus important d'opportunités; et que cette détermination des opportunités renforçait leur intention de démarrer leurs propres entreprises. Au-delà de ce défi pour les entreprises en place, notre étude révèle des solutions potentielles en montrant qu'une orientation stratégique pour la poursuite des opportunités affaiblit les intentions entrepreneuriales des employés. Cette étude représente une première étape vers l'intégration de variables organisationnelles et individuelles visant à clarifier le mécanisme sous-jacent à travers lequel les connaissances dans les entreprises conduisent à l'intention entrepreneuriale individuelle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytospora species are capable of causing destructive cankers of stems belonging to a wide range of woody plant species. In severe cases, cankers may lead to dieback of twigs and branches. Little is known about the Cytospora species causing canker disease of wild apple (Malus sieversii) trees in the Wild Fruit Forest Reserve in Tianshan Forest, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. In this study, six Cytospora isolates belonging to two species were isolated from cankerous lesions of wild apple twigs. Based on multi‐locus phylogenetic analysis using three DNA markers (ITS, tef1‐α and tub2) and morphological characterization, these isolates were identified as Cytospora mali and Cytospora parasitica. Temperature trials (15, 20, 25 and 30°C) showed that the optimal growth temperature for six isolates was 25°C. At a variety of temperatures, C. mali isolates tended to grow faster than isolates of C. parasitica, with the C. mali isolate, EGI1 performing better than others with regard to growth rate. Morphological observations showed that these species exhibited a single locule without conceptacles, and the conidia length was 3–5 μm. In vitro inoculation trials of twigs and leaves of M. sieversii seedlings revealed that the C. mali isolates were highly virulent phytopathogenic fungi, whereas the C. parasitica isolates were less virulent. The isolate EGI1 was the most virulent isolate among the six isolates. This paper presents the first report of pathogenic Cytospora spp. of the M. sieversii Tianshan Wild Fruit Forest Reserve of Yili, Xinjiang in China. It will aid in the understanding of how apple tree cankers are induced and provide disease management guidelines for M. sieversii forest conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Luan River catchment within the North China plain has been famous for the development of its iron mineral resources since the 1950s. At the same time, it is also the main grain-producing area, known as the granary of eastern Hebei Province. Groundwater plays an important role in this region, and thus, it is imperative for us to improve our understanding of the heavy metal groundwater contamination in this catchment. Therefore, a total of 144 groundwater samples were collected for chemical analysis from 16 operational private wells of local residents in the study area, over eight consecutive periods from December 2016 to May 2017. Each shallow groundwater sample was analyzed for 39 heavy metals including among others, As, B, Ba, Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn, Sr, V, and Zn. However, subsequent analyses only focused on three heavy metals (Cd, Cr, and Ni) that exceeded the Groundwater Quality Standard III. Spatial and temporal variations of Cd, Cr, and Ni in the shallow groundwater were analyzed. Cr was found to have the highest concentrations, followed by Ni and Cd. A human health risk assessment was conducted where carcinogenic risks and Hazard Quotients (HQs) were evaluated separately. The results indicate that both the carcinogenic risks and HQs of Ni and Cr are higher than the recommended standard value. Therefore, the prevention and control of heavy metal contamination in the Luan River catchment should focus on Ni and Cr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the concentration of heavy metal in maize were quantitatively characterized in this study to help us better understand the complex interactions among the groundwater, vadose, plant, and atmosphere layers in the critical zone. We hypothesized that climate change and groundwater resource exploitation firstly affected the shallow groundwater level, and then the groundwater table fluctuation (GTF) impacted the concentration of heavy metal in maize through the critical zone (CZ) structure and parameters. To test our hypothesis, we collected 960 soil and 288 maize samples from the Luan River catchment in the North China Plain. The Groundwater Modeling System software was used to describe the effects of precipitation and groundwater resource exploitation on the groundwater table, and then, the structural equation method was employed to characterize the quantitative effects of GTF, precipitation, and air temperature on the concentration of heavy metal in maize. The results indicate that the influence coefficients of the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on the concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cr As, Pb, and Sr were 0.1595, 0.088, 0.0042, − 0.0092, 0.2219, and 0.0493 in the north plain, respectively, and 0.0256, 0.0151, 0.0816, − 0.2264, 0.1125, and − 0.0106 in the south plain of the study region, respectively. Since the human health risks of metals were mainly attributed to Fe, Mn, and Cr in the Luan River catchment, increasing the groundwater resource exploitation volume is an effective way to decrease the Fe, Mn, and Cr contents in maize by decreasing the shallow groundwater table. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vegetation coverage of temperate grasslands in China has changed substantially due to climate change during the past decades, which significantly affects the function of grassland ecosystems. To appropriately carry out adaptive management and protect temperate grassland vegetation, it is important to understand the variations in fractional vegetation coverage (FVC) of China's temperate grasslands and how they are responding to climate change. Using the GIMMS NDVI and climatic datasets, this study explored the dynamics of FVC and their climatic drivers across the temperate grassland region of China during 1982∼2015. The results showed that the growing season mean FVC increased by 0.12% per year during 1982∼2015. The increases in precipitation and minimum temperature in the growing-season (especially in spring) could enhance the FVC of various vegetation types. In summer, the FVC of temperate steppe and desert steppe could drastically increase with increasing precipitation. In addition, this study found that the impacts of daytime and night-time warming on the FVC of temperate grasslands were asymmetric. Daytime warming can moderately increase FVC of temperate grasslands, while night-time warming could significantly increase it. Furthermore, the increase in summer daytime and night-time temperatures leads to a weak decrease and a moderate increase in FVC, respectively. This asymmetric effect was more evident for the temperate steppe and desert steppe in the central area. In autumn, the temperatures increase had significant positive impacts on the FVC of temperate meadows and steppes. This study highlights the differences in the impacts of climate change at different time scales on the FVC of grasslands with various vegetation types, and indicates that the asymmetric influences of daytime and night-time temperatures in different seasons on FVC must be included in calculating the vegetation coverage of China's temperate grasslands. The results could provide information for maintaining grassland ecosystem functions and managing environmental systems. • The FVC of temperate grasslands has increased by 0.12% per year from 1982 to 2015. • Increases in growing season precipitation and minimum temperature enhanced the FVC. • Nighttime and daytime temperatures have asymmetric effects on the FVC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using a single weight does not adequately assess watershed ecosystem health. • SOM captures data similarities while retaining objectivity. • The AHP-SOM-CGT model integrates the effects of subjective and objective factors. • Long-term time series of EHI can identify the controlling factors in different stage. The ecosystem health risk assessment of lake basins can provide a crucial foundation and support for the sustainable development of ecosystems in the arid regions of northern China. This study adopts the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework to select evaluation indicators, and utilizes a coupled model of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-Self-Organizing Mapping Neural Network Algorithm (SOM)-Combinatorial Game Theory Algorithm (CGT) to determine the weight values of each indicator, and ultimately calculate the Ecosystem Health Index (EHI) of a typical lake basin from 1990 to 2020. AHP and SOM are employed to determine the subjective and objective weights of the evaluation indicators, respectively. While, the CGT is used to establish a balance between these two weights. This ensures that the final weight values embody both the subjective preferences of the decision-makers and the objective characteristics inherent in the data. The calculations show that the EHI of the basin fluctuated from a healthy state (69.8) in 1990 to a sub-healthy state (47.0) in 2020, although the dominant factors influencing EHI varied across different stages, the decline in the Driver and Impact health indices emerged as the primary reason for the decrease in EHI. Before 2009, driven by socio-economic development, the area of irrigated land and water withdrawals in the basin increased significantly, which led to an increase in ecosystem pressures, resulting in a rapid decrease in EHI. After 2009, the increase in per capita water resources and water-saving irrigation facilities reduced the pressure on the ecological system. the increased ecological water use and afforestation area improved the ecosystem's status, leading to an increase in the vegetation cover within the basin and a gradual upward trend in EHI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The difficulty of the sulfur dioxide (SO 2) pollution control task has deepened step by step in recent years, while the marginal cost of environmental protection in China has also been higher. Therefore, it is necessary to study the main impact factors of China's industrial SO 2 pollution. Based on China's Industrial Environmental Statistics Database from 2004 to 2013, this paper extends the Index Decomposition Analysis (IDA) with firm entry and exit to conduct a micro-level decomposition study. The industrial SO 2 emission in China is decomposed into scale effect, composition effect, firm growth effect, and firm selection effect. Also, we use the Dagum Gini coefficient to analyze the spatial differences of firm growth effect and selection effect between the eastern, central, and western regions in China. This paper finds that the main contribution of industrial SO 2 emission control in China is the firm growth effect, which was −103% between 2004 and 2013. And the second largest contribution term is the firm selection effect, which is −18%, while the composition effect is −15%. In terms of temporal patterns, the size of the firm growth effect shrinks as time grows, and the composition effect changes from negative to positive after 2009. For spatial difference analysis, the Dagum Gini coefficient of technique effect and firm growth effect between different regions have become smaller and smaller over time, while the spatial differences of firm selection effect between regions remain unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of magnetic susceptibility (χ) as a means of assessing heavy metal pollution in soils has been explored by researchers, yielding varying results in terms of the correlations between χ with heavy metals. The efficacy of χ as an indicator of soil heavy metal pollution remains a topic of debate. This study aims to elucidate the inter-relationships between χ, iron oxides, and heavy metals in soil through the application of a modified 5-step sequential extraction procedure (SEP), and to identify an effective approach for assessing metal concentrations in soil using magnetic susceptibility measurements. The soil samples were collected from a typical alluvial island in the lower Yangtze River, China, and a total of 6 forms (exchangeable and acid soluble fraction, easily reducible fraction, oxidizable fraction, amorphous iron oxide, crystallized iron oxyhydroxides and residual fraction) were partitioned and their heavy metal concentrations and χ were analyzed. The results show that crystalline Fe oxyhydroxides and residual fractions are the two uppermost fractions of heavy metals. By combining the fractionation of elements with the variation of χ of the soil during the processing of SEP, it was inferred that the external input of Fe, Pb, Cr and Cd in the soil likely originated from the vicinal steel production. The correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between heavy metal concentrations and χ in the residual fraction, whereas no significant correlations were observed between the concentrations of heavy metals and χ in the bulk soil samples. It is recommended that the evaluation of heavy metal contamination in the soil neighboring industrial sites can be conducted via magnetic susceptibility measurements subsequent to the elimination of crystalline iron oxyhydroxides. [Display omitted] • Relation between χ and heavy metal in 6 forms of soil is revealed by a modified SEP. • Crystalline Fe oxide and aluminosilicate are the most important hosts to heavy metals. • High correlation was found between χ and metals after removing crystalline Fe oxide. • A new method to assess soil heavy metal pollution using χ was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on the informal credit channels of the transmission of monetary policy overlooks the distinction between price- and quantity-based policies. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating the asymmetric effects of the two types of policies on trade-credit substitution for bank credit using data from the largest emerging economy, China. China presents an ideal experimental context, as the country has implemented both types of monetary policies in the past decades. We find strong evidence that quantity-based monetary policy has stronger effects on credit substitution in China. This evidence is robust under both static and dynamic specifications, which remains intact after the disentanglement of the interdependency of the two types of policies. By subgrouping, we find that large and state-controlled firms play the central role in creating the substitution asymmetry. Furthermore, international evidence indicates that India also witnesses substitution asymmetry skewed to quantity-based policies. The findings suggest the need for further reform of China’s financial system toward a market-based system to enhance the effectiveness of the proposed monetary policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recent evidence, the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) in breast carcinogenesis is controversial. The correlations of HPV infection with the clinicopathological features of breast cancer and the expression of cell cycle/apoptosis-associated proteins have not been well elucidated. In this study, we sought to determine the prevalence of high-risk HPVs (HR-HPVs) infection and BCL2, p21, p53, Rb, and survivin expression in breast cancer patients and to investigate the relationship of HPV with these cancer-related proteins, in an attempt to clarify the potential mechanism of HPV in breast cancer pathogenesis. HPV presence in 81 fresh breast cancer tissues was determined by hybrid capture 2 (HC2) assay, and expression of BCL2, p21, p53, Rb, and survivin was detected by immunohistochemistry. Here we showed that fourteen (17.3%) patients were HR-HPV positive. HPV infection demonstrated no significant correlation with the clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer. HPV-positive tumors showed significantly higher BCL2 and lower p53 expression than HPV-negative tumors. Expression of p21, Rb, and survivin was not associated with HPV status. Our results suggest a possible role of HR-HPV in breast cancer carcinogenesis, in which BCL2 and p53 may be involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, many cities in China are in the high-speed development stage of outward rapid expansion and inward renewal. Because of the increasing land use scale, intensity and speed, the phenomenon of the more exploitation, the more congestion in big and medium-size cities had become increasingly serious. Much less attention is being paid to the compilation contents and standards of special plan on urban transport in control planning, to analysis of transport supply and demand balance and to transportation bearing capacity analysis in land use control indicators. The purpose of this study is to achieve the collaborative planning of land use and transportation in hierarchical control planning, and also aim to improve science property of land use indicators controlling. Using the bidirectional collaborative optimization method and applying to Baoji city control planning verified the feasibility with effectiveness of the integration and the collaborative optimization. The results show that there was a cooperation possibility between land use planning and transportation planning, and also ascertained the mechanism of collaborative planning compilation between them. The research also puts forward the contents and methods of collaborative planning compilation respectively. Results confirm that it can ensure the mutual coordination of urban transport and land use and improve transport facilities configuration, making a significant exploration for promoting non statutory transport planning into the statutory control planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the perspective of global sourcing suppliers in China, this paper investigates how the supplier firms acquire market and technical knowledge from the outsourcing partnerships differently based on their strategic orientations regarding the exploitation of opportunities versus resources. We find that suppliers whose strategy formulation is driven by the aggressive pursuit of valuable opportunities tend to be able to learn more from the outsourcing partners. Our results also show that market and technical knowledge acquisition of the supplier firms has a positive effect on employees' alertness to opportunities. In addition, organizational innovativeness plays an important role in determining how effectively knowledge can be utilized by employees to identify novel opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Minzu’ (nation or nationality) is a term that appeared in China after the Opium Wars. From 1949, the PRC established a two-level national structure with the term ‘minzu’: the Chinese nation (zhonghua minzu) at the top and 56 nationalities (minzu) at the bottom. The PRC also adopted the Soviet model in regard to administration of and policies toward the minority ‘minzu’. In recent years, amid increased tensions and conflicts among China’s ‘nationalities’ (minzu), an ongoing debate among Chinese scholars has been observed. This paper reviews this debate and clarifies some misunderstandings among different viewpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional non-point source (NPS) pollution models mainly focus on the flow path of NPS pollutants and attenuation during the flow. Extensive data set preparation and complex results analysis for these models are the most common problems encountered by the model user. In this study a new model, fuzzy-rough sets and fuzzy inference (FRFI), was introduced to evaluate groundwater NPS pollution. The proposed model involves two steps: the algorithm of fuzzy-rough sets attribute reduction (FRSAR) was applied to yield minimal decision rules from the fuzzy information system (FIS); the fuzzy inference technique was then used to forecast a groundwater synthesis pollution index based on the minimal decision rules. This model was applied in the Luoyang Basin, examining NPS pollution factors and hydrochemical variables data to validate the effectiveness of this model. The results indicate that it is only required to collect five NPS pollution factors or three hydrochemical variables; the groundwater synthesis pollution index can be predicted using the FRFI model. The prediction error is restricted to 2.9-6.1 % and 0.8-1.6 %, respectively. Therefore, the costs of computation and monitoring can be decreased, and the user is not required to prepare massive model parameters for the FRFI model. According to analyze the correlation between NPS pollution factors and hydrochemical variables, prevention measures are provided for treatment of the endemic disease and eutrophication. The FRFI model can be suitable for groundwater NPS pollution evaluation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The income gap in Chinese society has increased significantly in recent years. This disparity can be confirmed by the critical level of China's current Gini coefficient. In response, questions concerning social stratification and mobility in China, and how to improve China's income distribution have become key discussions among Chinese sociologists. The income gap, a result of economic development, can be examined via discussions of income disparity between different regions, occupational groups and ethnic groups. Previous analyses based on official government and academic statistical data have tended to focus primarily on regional and occupational differences in relation to income disparity. However, the income gap exhibited between different ethnic groups is in effect directly linked to inconsistencies in income acquisition and employment opportunities. Furthermore, this link is intimately related to China's national policies in ethnic affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the strategy of Chinese government to maintain and develop internal cohesion toward modernization to avoid mistakes in dealing with ethnic relations in China. It demonstrates the concept of ethnicity and the strategy of handling ethnic relations to keep the unity of ethnic groups for the success of the Chinese state. In this regard, it highlights the significance of politization within the state to keep the bond given the cultural traditions and history.

All multiracial and multi-ethnic nations are confronted with the important issue of how to handle ethnic relations and of the role that government should play in guiding the direction of such relations. In viewing ethnic minorities, 'culturalization' has a tradition of thousands of years in China. Until the late Qing dynasty, that tradition resulted in a united-pluralistic polity with a huge population by assimilation and prosperous economy. Under the new historical conditions of the twentieth century, however, China has adopted the policies of the former USSR since the 1950s and given ethnic minorities more political emphasis, what is called the 'politicization' of ethnic minorities. This paper proposes that, in the twenty-first century, China should learn from its own historical heritage and the lessons of the US, the former USSR and other nations, and redirect its policy from 'politicization' to 'culturalization' of ethnic issues so as to strengthen national identity among its ethnic minorities. This new perspective might also be insightful to other multiracial or multi-ethnic nations around the world in the new century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refers to research on multilingualism in China and suggests bilingual education for ethnic minorities. Although there are 55 ethnic minorities, the "lingua franca" is the Chinese of the Han-Chinese nationality or Mandarin. Two articles in the Chinese constitution and Article 6 of the Compulsory Education Law support a bilingual system of instruction in the local language environment that leads to interethnic use of the common language in the national language environment. Topics include the system of bilingual education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, which also has dialects and minority languages, and the potential loss of the Mongolian language.

At present, Stroke is still one of the leading causes of population death worldwide and leads to disability. Traditional Chinese medicine plays an important role in the prevention or treatment of stroke. l -borneol, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been used in China to treat stroke for thousands of years. However, its mechanism of action is unclear. After cerebral ischemia, promoting angiogenesis after cerebral ischemia and providing nutrition for the infarct area is an important strategy to improve the damage in the ischemic area, but it is also essential to promote neurogenesis and replenish new neurons. Here, our research shows that l -borneol can significantly improve the neurological deficits of pMCAO model rats, reduce cerebral infarction, and improve the pathological damage of cerebral ischemia. and significantly increase serum level of Ang-1 and VEGF, and significantly decrease level of ACE and Tie2 to promote angiogenesis. PCR and WB showed the same results. Immunohistochemistry also showed that l- borneol can increase the number of CD34 positive cells, further verifying that l- borneol can play a neuroprotective effect by promoting angiogenesis after cerebral ischemia injury. In addition, l- borneol can significantly promote the expression level of VEGF, BDNF and inhibit the expression levels of TGF-β1 and MMP9 to promote neurogenesis. The above suggests that l- borneol can promote angiogenesis coupled neurogenesis by regulating Ang1-VEGF-BDNF to play a neuroprotective effect. Molecular docking also shows that l- borneol has a very high binding rate with the above target, which further confirmed the target of l- borneol to improve cerebral ischemic injury. These results provide strong evidence for the treatment of cerebral ischemia with l- borneol and provide reference for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prunus divaricata and Prunus armeniaca are important wild fruit trees that grow in part of the Western Tianshan Mountains in Central Asia, and they have been listed as endangered species in China. Shot-hole disease of stone fruits has become a major threat in the wild-fruit forest of the Western Tianshan Mountains. Twenty-five isolates were selected from diseased P. divaricata and P. armeniaca. According to the morphological characteristics of the culture, the 25 isolates were divided into eight morphological groups. Conidia were spindle-shaped, with ovate apical cells and truncated basal cells, with the majority of conidia comprising 3–4 septa, and the conidia had the same shape and color in morphological groups. Based on morphological and cultural characteristics and multilocus analysis using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, partial large subunit (LSU) nuclear ribosomal RNA (nrRNA) gene, and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha (tef1) gene, the fungus was identified as Wilsonomyces carpophilus. The 25 W. carpophilus isolates had high genetic diversity in phylogenetic analysis, and the morphological groups did not correspond to phylogenetic groups. The pathogenicity of all W. carpophilus isolates was confirmed by inoculating healthy P. divaricata and P. armeniaca leaves and fruits. The pathogen was re-isolated from all inoculated tissues, thereby fulfilling Koch's postulates. There were no significant differences in the pathogenicity of different isolates inoculated on P. armeniaca and P. divaricata leaves (p > 0.05). On fruit, G053 7m3 and G052 5m2 showed significant differences in inoculation on P. armeniaca, and G010 5m2 showed extremely significant differences with G004 7m2 and G004 5m2 on P. divaricata (p < 0.05). This is the first report on shot-hole disease of P. armeniaca (wild apricot) leaves and P. divaricata induced by W. carpophilus in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid online trading expansion and the bloom of internet technologies has raised the importance of effective product video presentations for online retailers. This article developed a model for the impacts of video presentations on purchase intention for digital and home appliance products. Four group experiments were designed, and empirical tests were performed. This research found that presenting videos on how to use digital and home appliance products increased purchase intention by raising the information gained by customers. Meanwhile, video tutorial information had insignificant effects related to the knowledge and experience of customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juglans regia L. is an important and scarce natural resource that grows in the part of the western Tianshan Mountains and the Pamir Alai Mountains in Central Asia. They only distribute in Gongliu County, Yili, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China. However, the healthy growth of J. regia was seriously affected by a fungal disease affecting leaves, branches and fruit in 2016. Sixty isolates were obtained from diseased branches, leaves and fruit collected. The pathogenicity of the isolates was confirmed by inoculating shoots and fruit collected from healthy J. regia in Gongliu County and by inoculating the leaves of J. regia seedlings. The pathogen was re‐isolated from all inoculated shoots, leaves and fruits, thereby fulfilling Koch's postulates. Furthermore, isolates from leaves were able to infect fruit and shoots and vice versa. The isolate 1429‐1 was more pathogenic to the branches than HG and HY, no significant difference between the other isolates from leaves and fruits. Based on morphological, cultural characteristics and multilocus analyses using the internal transcribed spacer region, the RNA polymerase II subunit 2 gene, the calmodulin gene, the guanine nucleotide‐binding protein subunit beta gene, the translation elongation factor 1‐alpha gene and the β‐tubulin gene sequences, the fungus was identified as Juglanconis juglandina. Although J. juglandina has been reported previously as the causal agent of stem disease, this is the first description of J. juglandina as the causal agent of a leaf and fruit disease of J. regia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North Tianshan orogen consists of a series of thrust faults and is the most seismic region in China. In this paper, the characteristics of hot springs in the North Tianshan orogen are analyzed. Hydrochemical analysis of 13 hot springs and four mud volcanoes reveals that the cations of most hot springs are mainly Na+, while the anions are mainly Cl−.Atmospheric precipitation is the main recharge source for the hot springs in the study area, with recharge heights ranging from −9 to 2344 m. Heat storage analysis and trace element results showed deep fluid characteristics, which is consistent with deep circulation processes and regional extrusion pressure background. In addition, continuous measurements of six hot springs were conducted once every three days. The results showed that Cl− and SO 4 2− concentration anomalies occurred before several earthquakes of M L 4.0 in the North Tianshan orogen. The hot springs SWQ, HTB, and WS, which have deeper circulation depths, show better responsiveness than X10, which has a shallow circulation depth. The deep circulation of hot springs increases fault sliding friction, which contributes to energy accumulation and strong seismogenesis, and participates in the seismogenesis process. Therefore, continuous monitoring of ion concentrations of deep-circulation hot springs can help identify effective precursor anomalies in the North Tianshan orogen. • A conceptual model of cycling processes of the hot springs in the North Tianshan orogen was developed. • The depth of circulation is one of the factors affecting the seismic anomaly sensitivity. • The concentration changes of Na+, Cl−, and SO 4 2− are easier to capture Co-Seismic Anomalies. • Hot springs create both the conditions for and are participants in the occurrence of earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Less is known about controls of sedimentary structures in groundwater As distributions in sedimentary aquifers, and quantitative description of relationship between sedimentary environment and high As groundwater (according to WHO, As > 10 μg/L) is a challenging issue. Three hundred and eighty-two hydrogeological borehole loggings (well depths of 50–300 m) were collected and four hundred and ninety nine groundwater samples were taken to investigate controls of paleochannels on groundwater arsenic distribution in shallow aquifers of alluvial plain in the Hetao Basin. Results showed that the swing zone, formed by bursting, diversion and swing of ancient Yellow River course since the Late Pleistocene, has an obviously corresponding relationship with spatial variability of groundwater As in the Hetao Basin. “Swing Intensity Index” ( S ), which is firstly defined as the sum of clay-sand ratio ( R ) and the number of clay layers ( N ), can be used as the sedimentary facies symbol to establish the new recognition method for hosting high As groundwater. There is a positive correlation between the swing intensity index ( S ) of paleochannels and groundwater As concentrations. The swing zones of paleochannels with high S values represent hydrogeochemical characteristics of the strong reducing environment, serious evaporation, strong cation exchange, and the low infiltration recharge of surface water, which lead to enrichment of groundwater As in the shallow aquifers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Psammosilene tunicoides W. C. Wu et C.Y. Wu (Caryophyllaceae) is a rare plant endemic to China. We used the direct amplification of length polymorphism (DALP) method to analyse the genetic diversity of 17 natural populations of this species from Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. The percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) was 99.1% at the species level and 19.9% at the population level. The total genetic diversity (Ht) was 0.2827; the genetic diversity within populations (Hs ) was 0.0594 and the coefficient of gene differentiation (Gst ) was 0.7899. The results indicated low levels of genetic diversity within populations and extremely high genetic differentiation among populations. This pattern might be caused by genetic drift resulting from intensive harvesting and habitat fragmentation. It might also be a result of local adaptation. We further performed experiments on its breeding system and found a high rate of selfing in P. tunicoides, which may be partially responsible for its population structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Presenting a chain mediation model to investigate whether mobile phone dependence results in a reduction in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among Chinese college students, through the mediating effect of chronotype and sleep quality., Design and Setting: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on students from a Chinese university using a validated structured questionnaire., Sample: 2014 freshmen., Measures: The study measured the students' level of mobile phone dependence using the Self-rating Questionnaire for Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use. Chronotype and sleep quality were measured by the Chinese version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively. HRQoL was evaluated using the five-level EuroQol five-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L), including a descriptive system and a visual analog scale (VAS)., Analysis: Descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and mediation analysis., Results: Mobile phone dependence had a significant negative effect on HRQoL as indicated by both the EQ-5D-5L index score and EQ-VAS score ( P < .001 for both). Additionally, it was found to significantly predict chronotype (MEQ score) ( β = -.546, P < .001) and sleep quality (PSQI score) ( β = .163, P < .001). Chronotype negatively predict sleep quality ( β = -.058, P < .001), and sleep quality was a significant negative predictor of HRQoL (EQ-5D-5L index score, β = -.008, P < .001; EQ-VAS score, β = -1.576, P < .001)., Conclusion: Mobile phone dependence negatively impacts students' HRQoL through chronotype and sleep quality, and there is a chain mediating effect. Students should consider making lifestyle changes to improve their HRQoL and promote health., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Aim: From the perspective of doctor-patient communication, this research used multiple methods combined natural language processing (NLP), a cross-sectional survey and an online experiment to investigated how risk perception influenced people's vaccination intention., Methods: In Study 1, we used Python to crawl 335,045 comments about COVID-19 vaccine published in a social media platform Sina Weibo (equivalent of Twitter in China) from 31 December 2020 to 31 December 2021. Text analysis and sentiment analysis was used to examine how vaccination intention, as measured by linguistic features from the LIWC dictionary, changed with individuals' perceptions of pandemic risk. In Study 2, we adopted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey to further test the relation of risk perception, vaccination intention, trust in physicians, and perceived medical recommendations in a Chinese sample (n = 386). In Study 3, we conducted an online experiment where we recruited 127 participants with high trust in physicians and 127 participants with low trust, and subsequently randomly allocated them into one of three conditions: control, rational recommendation, or perceptual recommendation., Results: Text and sentiment analysis revealed that the use of negative words towards COVID-19 vaccine had a significant decrease at high (vs. low) risk perception level time (Study 1). Trust in physicians mediated the effect of risk perception on vaccination intention and this effect was reinforced for participants with low (vs. high) level of perceived medical recommendation (Study 2), especially for the rational (vs. perceptual) recommendation condition (Study 3)., Conclusion: Risk perception increased vaccination intention through the mediating effect of trust in physicians and the moderating effect of perceived medical recommendations. Rational (vs. perceptual) recommendation is more effective in increasing intention to get vaccinated in people with low trust in physicians., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: The cashmere goat industry is one of the main pillars of animal husbandry in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and plays an irreplaceable role in local economic development. With the change in feeding methods and environment, the cashmere produced by Inner Mongolia cashmere goats shows a tendency of coarser, and the cashmere yield can not meet the consumption demand of people. However, the genetic basis behind these changes is not fully understood. We measured cashmere traits, including cashmere yield (CY), cashmere diameter (CD), cashmere thickness (CT), and fleece length (FL) traits for four consecutive years, and utilized Genome-wide association study of four cashmere traits in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats was carried out using new genomics tools to infer genomic regions and functional loci associated with cashmere traits and to construct haplotypes that significantly affect cashmere traits., Results: We estimated the genetic parameters of cashmere traits in Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. The heritability of cashmere yield, cashmere diameter, and fleece length traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats were 0.229, 0.359, and 0.250, which belonged to the medium heritability traits (0.2 ~ 0.4). The cashmere thickness trait has a low heritability of 0.053. We detected 151 genome-wide significantly associated SNPs with four cashmere traits on different chromosomes, which were very close to the chromosomes of 392 genes (located within the gene or within ± 500 kb). Notch3, BMPR1B, and CCNA2 have direct functional associations with fibroblasts and follicle stem cells, which play important roles in hair follicle growth and development. Based on GO functional annotation and KEGG enrichment analysis, potential candidate genes were associated with pathways of hair follicle genesis and development (Notch, P13K-Akt, TGF-beta, Cell cycle, Wnt, MAPK). We calculated the effective allele number of the Inner Mongolia cashmere goat population to be 1.109-1.998, the dominant genotypes of most SNPs were wild-type, the polymorphic information content of 57 SNPs were low polymorphism (0 < PIC < 0.25), and the polymorphic information content of 79 SNPs were moderate polymorphism (0.25 < PIC < 0.50). We analyzed the association of SNPs with phenotypes and found that the homozygous mutant type of SNP1 and SNP3 was associated with the highest cashmere yield, the heterozygous mutant type of SNP30 was associated with the lowest cashmere thickness, the wild type of SNP76, SNP77, SNP78, SNP80, and SNP81 was associated with the highest cashmere thickness, and the wild type type of SNP137 was associated with the highest fleece length. 21 haplotype blocks and 68 haplotype combinations were constructed. Haplotypes A2A2, B2B2, C2C2, and D4D4 were associated with increased cashmere yield, haplotypes E2E2, F1F1, G5G5, and G1G5 were associated with decreased cashmere fineness, haplotypes H2H2 was associated with increased cashmere thickness, haplotypes I1I1, I1I2, J1J4, L5L3, N3N2, N3N3, O2O1, P2P2, and Q3Q3 were associated with increased cashmere length. We verified the polymorphism of 8 SNPs by KASP, and found that chr7&#95;g.102631194A > G, chr10&#95;g.82715068 T > C, chr1&#95;g.124483769C > T, chr24&#95;g.12811352C > T, chr6&#95;g.114111249A > G, and chr6&#95;g.115606026 T > C were significantly genotyped in verified populations (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: In conclusion, the genetic effect of single SNP on phenotypes is small, and SNPs are more inclined to be inherited as a whole. By constructing haplotypes from SNPs that are significantly associated with cashmere traits, it will help to reveal the complex and potential causal variations in cashmere traits of Inner Mongolia cashmere goats. This will be a valuable resource for genomics and breeding of the cashmere goat., (© 2024. The Author(s).)