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Abstract As China is the largest emerging capital market, stock price crash risk (SPCR) due to corporate governance failures is a frequent phenomenon. The board of directors stands as the cornerstone of corporate governance, wielding a substantial influence on the SPCR. The influence of board diversity (BD) on SPCR remains a topic rife with unanswered questions. To fill this gap, we construct a multidimensional index system to capture BD and examine its impact on the SPCR based on companies listed on the Chinese A-share market from 2010 to 2020. Our findings show that BD mitigates SPCR rather than exacerbates it. The foundational findings remain intact even after addressing issues of endogeneity and executing thorough validity tests. We further identify four mechanisms to lower SPCR through influencing board monitoring, including reducing agency costs, alleviating inefficient investments, improving information disclosure, and appointing diverse executives. Overall, our research underscores the pivotal importance of BD within the capital market and provides new insights into the mitigation mechanisms of the SPCR.

Abstract. Sarcopenia is an age-related disease that mainly involves decreases in muscle mass, muscle strength and muscle function. At the same time, the body fat content increases with aging, especially the visceral fat content. Adipose tissue is an endocrine organ that secretes biologically active factors called adipokines, which act on local and distant tissues. Studies have revealed that some adipokines exert regulatory effects on muscle, such as higher serum leptin levels causing a decrease in muscle function and adiponectin inhibits the transcriptional activity of Forkhead box O3 (FoxO3) by activating peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor-γ coactivator -1α (PGC-1α) and sensitizing cells to insulin, thereby repressing atrophy-related genes (atrogin-1 and muscle RING finger 1 [MuRF1]) to prevent the loss of muscle mass. Here, we describe the effects on muscle of adipokines produced by adipose tissue, such as leptin, adiponectin, resistin, mucin and lipocalin-2, and discuss the importance of these adipokines for understanding the development of sarcopenia.

Objective This study was performed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of subcostal thoracoscopy and median sternotomy as surgical approaches for thymoma resection and lymph node dissection. The feasibility, safety, and clinical outcomes of subcostal thoracoscopy were compared with those of median sternotomy. Methods The clinical data of 335 patients with thymoma were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into the subcostal thoracoscopy group and the median sternotomy group. Propensity score matching was performed to obtain comparable subsets of 50 patients in each group. A comparative analysis was conducted on various parameters. Results All surgeries were successful, and no conversions to open thoracotomy were required in the subcostal thoracoscopy group. Significant differences in the operative time, intraoperative blood loss, chest tube drainage duration, postoperative hospital stay, patient satisfaction scores, pain assessment, and postoperative complications were observed between the two groups. However, there was no significant difference in the number of lymph nodes or lymph node stations dissected intraoperatively between the two groups. Conclusion Subcostal thoracoscopy is not inferior to median sternotomy as a surgical approach for thymoma resection and lymph node dissection. Our research provides important new comparative data on minimally invasive thymoma resection.

Abstract A significant portion (∼2.1 Sv, 1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1) of deep water penetrates into the Philippine Sea through the Yap‐Mariana Junction, the sole passage of the Philippine Sea below 4,000 m, and is then upwelled into shallower layers, closing regional overturning circulation. Yet, the structure and variability of this diapycnal upwelling remain poorly understood. Here, we report on a fine‐resolution hydrographic observation conducted at the most significant topographic feature in the Philippine Sea, the Kyushu‐Palau Ridge (KPR). Enhanced mixing up to O(10−2) m2 s−1 near the KPR is manifested, indicating the presence of substantial upwelling herein. Besides, the ridge‐related topography contributes more deep‐water mass transformation than abyssal basins in the Philippine Sea. This study highlights the significant role of rough bathymetry features in generating diapycnal upwelling in the North Pacific.

Most climate forecast agencies failed to make successful predictions of the strong 2020/2021 La Niña event before May 2020. The western equatorial Pacific warm water volume (WWV) before the 2020 spring failed to predict this La Niña event because of the near neutral state of the equatorial Pacific Ocean in the year before. A strong Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) event took place in the fall of 2019, which is used as a precursor for the La Niña prediction in this study. We used observational data to construct the precursory relationship between negative sea level anomalies (SLA) in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (SETIO) in boreal fall and negative Niño 3.4 sea surface temperature anomalies index one year later. The application of the above relation to the prediction of the 2020/2021 La Niña was a great success. The dynamics behind are the Indo-Pacific “oceanic channel” connection via the Indian Ocean Kelvin wave propagation through the Indonesian seas, with the atmospheric bridge playing a secondary role. The high predictability of La Niña across the spring barrier if a positive IOD should occur in the previous year suggests that the negative SETIO SLA in fall is a much better and longer predictor for this type of La Niña prediction than the WWV. In comparison, positive SETIO SLA lead either El Niño or La Niña by one year, suggesting uncertainty of El Niño predictions.

Cross-equatorial pathways of heat and salt in the Eastern Indian Ocean are analyzed using Lagrangian trajectories based on the ECCO2 model simulation and drifter-derived currents combined with Argo data. The results show that most of the particles released in the Bay of Bengal move across the equator near the eastern boundary of the upper Indian Ocean (< 50m) during the southwest monsoon season and join the South Equatorial Current of the wind-driven circulation. Meridional salt and heat transports associated with the cross-equatorial currents feature significant seasonal variations, with stronger southward transports during the southwest monsoon than northward transports during the northeast monsoon, which are correlated significantly with the surface Ekman transports. The estimated annual mean salt and heat transports, based on the model (observational) data, are -0.06×109 (-0.11×109) kg·s-1 and -0.20 (-0.38) PW (1PW = 1015 W), respectively, southward across the equator.

Here the authors use in situ mooring data in the Maluku Channel and the Lifamatola Passage of the Indonesian seas to show that a western boundary current transports Antarctic water from the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean.

The lag correlations between the observed sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean in fall and those in the Pacific cold tongue at the one-year time lag are calculated in running windows of 7–11 years and are shown to have decadal variability. Similar decadal variability has also been identified in the historical simulations of the Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) that participates in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase-5 (CMIP5). During the positive phases of the decadal variability, the significant lag correlations are diagnosed to be dominated by the oceanic channel dynamics, i.e., upwelling Kelvin waves associated with the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) force enhanced Indonesian Throughflow transport anomalies and western Pacific thermocline anomalies to propagate eastward, resulting in SSTA in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. During the negative phases of the decadal variability, the subsurface lag correlations suggest that the western Pacific Ocean are still dominated by the oceanic channel dynamics, but do not correlate well with the SSTA in the cold tongue due to a deeper thermocline in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The IOD-ENSO teleconnection is not affected significantly by the anthropogenic forcing during either the positive or the negative decadal phases. The CCSM4 model is found to underestimate Indonesian Throughflow transport variability but overestimate the westerly wind anomalies in the western-central equatorial Pacific, which forces unrealistic anomalies in the equatorial Pacific Ocean associated with the IOD.

Existed studies have suggested a precursory relation between Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño and the Southern Oscillations (ENSO) with 1-year time lag. The underlying mechanisms were attributed to atmospheric bridge and/or oceanic channel processes. In this study, the oceanic channel dynamics in 23 climate models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) are assessed by correlation analyses in comparison with observations. The results show that the lag correlations between the IOD and ENSO anomalies associated with oceanic channel are significant, suggesting important role of oceanic channel dynamics in the cross-basin teleconnection in the analyzed CMIP5 models, consistent with observational analyses. In comparison, the correlations associated with atmospheric bridge are highly dispersive among the models and generally inconsistent with the observational analyses, suggesting model deficiencies. In a single climate model, the lag correlations associated with oceanic channel dynamics are consistent among different ensemble experiments, whereas those associated with atmospheric bridge processes are dispersive.

BackgroundSarcopenia, an age-related degenerative disease, seriously affects the health and quality of life of the elder. The research of sarcopenia has changed dramatically around the world. This article aims to analyze global trends in this field over the past 20 years.Methods“Sarcopenia” was used as the search term to retrieve relevant publications from the WOS and PubMed databases. Co-occurrence, literature coupling, co-citation, and co-author analysis were performed by using the software VOS viewer. We analyzed the trends of sarcopenia research over the last 20 years from different aspects, such as the number of papers, total citations, average citations per item, h-index, research area, article types, institutions, country, journals, and funding.ResultsWe retrieved 13,421 research articles published on sarcopenia between 2001 and 2020. The results showed that the USA made the highest contributions to this field. Geriatrics gerontology is the most study classification of sarcopenia. Basic research on sarcopenia in geriatric gerontology accounts for approximately 16.496% of global publications. The Osteoporosis International published the largest number of sarcopenia-related studies. The United States Department of Health Human Services was the leading funding organization, which sponsored 1,604 articles.ConclusionGlobal sarcopenia research increased rapidly from 2001 to 2020, especially recently. The research leader of sarcopenia is the USA. In the future, the study of sarcopenia will continue to focus on aging, nutrition, and exercise and will delve deeper into molecular mechanisms. On the other hand, revealing the link between sarcopenia and other diseases will be the next research hotspot.

Abstract The North Equatorial Subsurface Current (NESC) has recently been found to flow westward below the North Equatorial Countercurrent in the subsurface layer across the Pacific Ocean. The structure, water mass properties, and the dynamics of the NESC are studied using Argo profiles and geostrophic currents, combined with moored current meter observations. The mean westward geostrophic currents of the NESC has been validated with moored current meter measurements at 4.7° N, 142° E in the far western tropical Pacific Ocean. Sizable seasonal-to-interannual variability of the NESC is indicated by the observations, with strong transports in boreal summer and during La Niña events, whereas weak transports in boreal winter and during El Niño events. The water masses of the NESC appear to be the mixture of the North and South Pacific intermediate waters, with the waters immediately below the thermocline closer to the North than to the South Pacific waters. A simulation using a linear continuously stratified model of ocean circulation suggests that the mean NESC is forced by wind curl through low baroclinic mode responses of the ocean.

RWP-RK proteins are important factors involved in nitrate response and gametophyte development in plants, and the functions of RWP-RK proteins have been analyzed in many species. However, the characterization of peanut RWP-RK proteins is limited. In this study, we identified 16, 19, and 32 RWP-RK members from Arachis duranensis, Arachis ipaensis, and Arachis hypogaea, respectively, and investigated their evolution relationships. The RWP-RK proteins were classified into two groups, RWP-RK domain proteins and NODULE-INCEPTION-like proteins. Chromosomal distributions, gene structures, and conserved motifs of RWP-RK genes were compared among wild and cultivated peanuts. In addition, we identified 12 orthologous gene pairs from the two wild peanut species, 13 from A. duranensis and A. hypogaea, and 13 from A. ipaensis and A. hypogaea. One, one, and seventeen duplicated gene pairs were identified within the A. duranensis, A. ipaensis, and A. hypogaea genomes, respectively. Moreover, different numbers of cis-acting elements in the RWP-RK promoters were found in wild and cultivated species (87 in A. duranensis, 89 in A. ipaensis, and 92 in A. hypogaea), and as a result, many RWP-RK genes showed distinct expression patterns in different tissues. Our study will provide useful information for further functional and evolutionary analysis of the RWP-RK genes.

As a classic framework for visual object tracking, the Siamese convolutional neural network has received widespread attention from the research community. This method uses a convolutional neural network to obtain the object features and to match them with the search area features to achieve object tracking. In this work, we observe that the contribution of each convolution kernel in the convolutional neural network for object tracking tasks is different. We propose an object-aware convolution kernel attention mechanism. Based on the characteristics of each object, the convolution kernel features are dynamically weighted to improve the expression ability of object features. The experiments performed using OTB and VOT benchmark datasets show that the performance of the tracking method fused with the convolution kernel attention mechanism is significantly better compared with the original method. Moreover, the attention mechanism can also be integrated with other tracking frameworks as an independent module to improve the performance.

Subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) forecasts have the potential to provide advance information about weather and climate events. The high heat capacity of water means that the subsurface ocean stores and re-releases heat (and other properties) and is an important source of information for S2S forecasts. However, the subsurface ocean is challenging to observe, because it cannot be measured by satellite. Subsurface ocean observing systems relevant for understanding, modeling, and forecasting on S2S timescales will continue to evolve with the improvement in technological capabilities. The community must focus on designing and implementing low-cost, high-value surface and subsurface ocean observations, and developing forecasting system capable of extracting their observation potential in forecast applications. S2S forecasts will benefit significantly from higher spatio-temporal resolution data in regions that are sources of predictability on these timescales (coastal, tropical, and polar regions). While ENSO has been a driving force for the design of the current observing system, the subseasonal time scales present new observational requirements. Advanced observation technologies such as autonomous surface and subsurface profiling devices as well as satellites that observe the ocean-atmosphere interface simultaneously can lead to breakthroughs in coupled data assimilation (CDA) and coupled initialization for S2S forecasts. These observational platforms should also be tested and evaluated in ocean observation sensitivity experiments with current and future generation CDA and S2S prediction systems. Investments in the new ocean observations as well as model and DA system developments can lead to substantial returns on cost savings from disaster mitigation as well as socio–economic decisions that use S2S forecast information.

The Indonesian seas play a fundamental role in the coupled ocean and climate system with the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) providing the only tropical pathway connecting the global oceans. Pacific warm pool waters passing through the Indonesian seas are cooled and freshened by strong air-sea fluxes and mixing from internal tides to form a unique water mass that can be tracked across the Indian Ocean basin and beyond. The Indonesian seas lie at the climatological center of the atmospheric deep convection associated with the ascending branch of the Walker Circulation. Regional SST variations cause changes in the surface winds that can shift the center of atmospheric deep convection, subsequently altering the precipitation and ocean circulation patterns within the entire Indo-Pacific region. Recent multi-decadal changes in the wind and buoyancy forcing over the tropical Indo-Pacific have directly affected the vertical profile, strength, and the heat and freshwater transports of the ITF. These changes influence the large-scale sea level, SST, precipitation and wind patterns. Observing long-term changes in mass, heat and freshwater within the Indonesian seas is central to understanding the variability and predictability of the global coupled climate system. Although substantial progress has been made over the past decade in measuring and modeling the physical and biogeochemical variability within the Indonesian seas, large uncertainties remain. A comprehensive strategy is needed for measuring the temporal and spatial scales of variability that govern the various water mass transport streams of the ITF, its connection with the circulation and heat and freshwater inventories and associated air-sea fluxes of the regional and global oceans. This white paper puts forward the design of an observational array using multi-platforms combined with high-resolution models aimed at increasing our quantitative understanding of water mass transformation rates and advection within the Indonesian seas and their impacts on the air-sea climate system.

Full-depth ocean zonal currents in the tropical and extratropical northwestern Pacific (TNWP) are studied using current measurements from 17 deep-ocean moorings deployed along the 143°E meridian from the equator to 22°N during January 2016-February 2017. Mean transports of the North Equatorial Current and North Equatorial Countercurrent are estimated to be 42.7 ± 7.1 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m³ s-1) and 10.5 ± 5.3 Sv, respectively, both of which exhibit prominent annual cycles with opposite phases in this year. The observations suggest much larger vertical extents of several of the major subsurface currents than previously reported, including the Lower Equatorial Intermediate Current, Northern Intermediate Countercurrent, North Equatorial Subsurface Current, and North Equatorial Undercurrent (NEUC) from south to north. The Northern Subsurface Countercurrent and NEUC are found to be less steady than the other currents. Seasonal variations of these currents are also revealed in the study. In the deep ocean, the currents below 2000 m are reported for the first time. The observations confirm the striation patterns of meridionally alternating zonal currents in the intermediate and deep layers. Further analyses suggest a superposition of at least the first four and two baroclinic modes to represent the mean equatorial and off-equatorial currents, respectively. Meanwhile, seasonal variations of the currents are generally dominated by the first baroclinic mode associated with the low-mode Rossby waves. Overall, the above observational results not only enhance the knowledge of full-depth current system in the TNWP but also provide a basis for future model validation and skill improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]