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This paper conducted a three-point loading experiment and analytical investigations on the shear performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with anchor defect at the lower end of stirrups. In the experiment, artificial methods were used to simulate the anchor degradation of the lower end of the stirrup caused by the alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR). The results show that, compared with the sound beams, the anchorage degradation of stirrups reduces the shear capacity of RC beams, and the degree of reduction becomes more pronounced with the increase of the local bond degradation area. The decrease in shear capacity is thought to be attributed to the reduction of the shear contribution by the stirrups and the reduction of the shear resistance by interlock action of coarse aggregate between diagonal cracks. The quantitative evaluation of shear contribution based on the computed stirrup strains confirms that the anchorage defect at the lower end of the stirrup reduces both the shear contribution Vc by concrete and Vs by stirrups, and the reduction of Vs is more significant than Vc.

Four new species of Venturia Schrottky, 1902 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Campopleginae) from Oriental China and Nepal are described (V. contiguus sp. nov. and V. yunnanensis sp. nov. from China; V. liuae sp. nov. and V. levocarinata sp. nov. from Nepal). In addition, two species are reported from China (V. serpentina Maheshwary, 1977 and V. inclyta (Morley, 1923)) for the first time and all listed species are illustrated. A key to all species from China and Nepal is provided.

This paper aims to solve the contradiction between the pursuit of economic interests and the protection of historical culture in the renewal of traditional Chinese commercial streets, thus coordinating the interests of the participating subjects. We construct an evolutionary game model of local government, developers, and street owners and explicitly describe the three parties' strategic choices and dynamic processes of evolution. The evolutionarily stable strategy results show that the evolutionary process by which the three parties reach a unique stable strategy set (1,1,1) is “government→developers→owners.” We use system dynamics to simulate the influence of model parameters on the dynamic evolutionary process. The specific results show that the social benefits of local government, the economic benefits of developers, and the supervision costs of street owners are the most sensitive to their respective strategic choices. The incentives and compensation measures formulated by the government can promote the active participation of the government and developers. In addition, the large fines charged by the government can also restrain the bad behavior of developers and achieve a win–win situation for the three parties.

BackgroundNeoadjuvant intraperitoneal and systemic chemotherapy (NIPS) has shown promising results in gastric cancer (GC) with peritoneal metastasis. However, clinical practice experience of NIPS is still lacking in China. In this study, we investigate the efficacy and safety of NIPS in Chinese patients.MethodsEligible patients received NIPS every 3 weeks. Gastrectomy was performed for patients who met the criteria of conversion surgery. The primary end point was 1-year overall survival (OS) rate. Secondary end points were the response rate, toxic effects, conversion surgery outcomes and median survival time (MST).ResultsSixty-seven patients were enrolled. The primary endpoint was achieved with 1-year OS rate reached 67.2% (95% CI, 56.8%-79.4%). Conversion surgery was performed in 42 patients (62.9%), and R0 resection was achieved in 23 patients (54.8%) with the MST of 31.3 months (95% CI, 24.3-38.3). And the MST was 19.3 months (95% CI, 16.4-22.2) for all patients. Toxicity and surgical complications were well-tolerated. Moreover, sex, R0 resection, pathological nodal stage and tumor regression grade (TRG) were independent prognostic factors for patients who underwent conversion surgery.ConclusionThe NIPS is effective and safe in treating GC patients with peritoneal metastasis. Male patients, patients who underwent R0 resection, patients with ypN0-1 or TRG 1 after conversion surgery are more likely to benefit from the NIPS.Clinical Trial Registrationhttp://www.chictr.org.cn/, identifier https://clinicaltrials.gov/ ().

For a long history, herbal medicines have made significant contributions to human health all around the world. However, the exploration of an effective approach to illustrate their inner quality remains a challenge. So, it is imperative to develop new methods and technologies to characterize and identify quality markers of herbal medicines. Taking Isatidis Radix, the dried root of Isatis indigotica as an example, desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), in combination with quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF/MS), was applied in this work for the first time to reveal the comprehensive spatial distribution of metabolites and, further, to illustrate quality characters of this herbal medicine. After simple pretreatment, 102 metabolites including alkaloids, sulfur-containing compounds, phenylpropanoids, nucleosides, amino acids, organic acids, flavonoids, phenols, terpenes, saccharides, peptides, and sphingolipids were characterized, some of which were successfully localized and visualized in the transverse section of the root. Based on the ion images, samples with different quality characters were distinguished unambiguously by the pattern recognition method of orthogonal partial least squares discrimination analysis (OPLS-DA). Simultaneously, 11 major influencing components exerting higher ion intensities in superior samples were identified as the potential quality markers of Isatidis Radix. Desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), together with chemometric analysis could not only improve the understanding of the plant biology of herbal medicines but also be beneficial in the identification of quality markers, so as to carry out better quality control of herbal medicines.

A new genus, Parallobracon gen. nov., of the subfamily Braconinae (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) is described to include Parallobracon prolatus sp. nov. Eight genera Chaoilta Cameron, Cyanopterus Haliday, Gammabracon Quicke, Ischnobracon Baltazar, Monilobracon Quicke, Pseudospinaria Enderlein, Vipiomorpha Tobias, and Zaglyptogastra Ashmead (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) are newly recorded from China, their 21 species are revised, and 13 new species (Chaoilta breviceps sp. nov., Cyanopterus (Ipobracon) lucidus sp. nov., Cyanopterus (Ipobracon) transversus sp. nov., Gammabracon uniformis sp. nov., Gammabracon wangi sp. nov., Ischnobracon guttatus sp. nov., Monilobracon longitudinalis sp. nov., Monilobracon marginatus sp. nov., Parallobracon prolatus sp. nov., Vipiomorpha sulcata sp. nov., Vipiomorpha yunnanensis sp. nov., Zaglyptogastra exilis sp. nov., and Zaglyptogastra tricolor sp. nov.) are described and illustrated. Bracomorpha Papp, 1971, is included as subgenus in Cyanopterus Haliday, 1835 (syn. nov.) and Cyanopterus ninghais Wang, Chen, Wu et He, 2009, is a new combination. Keys to the Chinese species of the genera Chaoilta, Cyanopterus, Gammabracon, Ischnobracon, Monilobracon, Vipiomorpha, and Zaglyptogastra are provided.

The Scoliidae occur predominantly in tropical and subtropical regions and are ectoparasitoids of Scarabaeoidea larvae (especially of Melolonthinae) which are immobilised, parasitised by the female wasp in their terrestrial larval gallery and buried deeper in a special cell by the female wasp. Herein, we provided, for the first time, illustrated keys to 11 genera and 52 species of Scoliidae from China, based on specimens in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (RMNH, Leiden) and additional specimens from the Chinese Academy of Insect Science (Beijing), Zhejiang University (ZJUH, Hangzhou) and Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU, Guangzhou) and it is a first attempt to make keys available for all the Scoliidae species in China.

CLE proteins are a class of signalling factors involved in plant growth and abiotic stress response. They play crucial roles in processes such as cell differentiation, chlorophyll synthesis and abscisic acid (ABA) signal transduction. However, the function of the CLE genes in Sorghum bicolor remains unclear. In this study, 42 sorghum CLE genes were identified, and their evolutionary relationship, gene structure, amino acid sequence and homologous genes were analysed. We also examined the expression levels of CLE genes under various treatment conditions. Transcriptome data showed that there were significant differences in the expression patterns of 42 CLE genes in different tissues and organs. It is worth noting that SbCLE39 is mainly highly expressed in sorghum roots. At the same time, the expression of SbCLE39 decreased significantly under salt and ABA treatment. Compared with wild‐type yeast cells (EV), yeast cells with high expression of SbCLE39 had lower tolerance to salt stress. In addition, the excessive accumulation of ABA caused by external application of SbCLE39p reduced the salt tolerance of sorghum. These findings suggest that SbCLE39 negatively regulates the salt tolerance of sorghum. These results lay a foundation for revealing the mechanism of CLE genes regulating the salt tolerance of sorghum and are of great significance for the cultivation of salt‐tolerant crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A direct diastereoselective aldol reaction of cyclic or acyclic α‐azido ketones with α‐trifluoromethyl (CF3) pyruvate catalysed by DABCO is developed, which allowed the facile access of CF3‐containing multifunctional organoazides with vicinal tetrasubstituted carbons in good to high yields and diastereoselectivities. Moreover, phenylethynyl trifluoro‐ and difluoromethyl ketones are also viable substrates. Up to 50 % enantioselectivity could be obtained in the initial exploration of the catalytic asymmetric variant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]