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Abstract This review aims at providing an extensive discussion of modern constraints relevant for dense and hot strongly interacting matter. It includes theoretical first-principle results from lattice and perturbative QCD, as well as chiral effective field theory results. From the experimental side, it includes heavy-ion collision and low-energy nuclear physics results, as well as observations from neutron stars and their mergers. The validity of different constraints, concerning specific conditions and ranges of applicability, is also provided.

Abstract Mitophagy is critical for mitochondrial quality control and function to clear damaged mitochondria. Here, we found that Burkholderia pseudomallei maneuvered host mitophagy for its intracellular survival through the type III secretion system needle tip protein BipD. We identified BipD, interacting with BTB-containing proteins KLHL9 and KLHL13 by binding to the Back and Kelch domains, recruited NEDD8 family RING E3 ligase CUL3 in response to B. pseudomallei infection. Although evidently not involved in regulation of infectious diseases, KLHL9/KLHL13/CUL3 E3 ligase complex was essential for BipD-dependent ubiquitination of mitochondria in mouse macrophages. Mechanistically, we discovered the inner mitochondrial membrane IMMT via host ubiquitome profiling as a substrate of KLHL9/KLHL13/CUL3 complex. Notably, K63-linked ubiquitination of IMMT K211 was required for initiating host mitophagy, thereby reducing mitochondrial ROS production. Here, we show a unique mechanism used by bacterial pathogens that hijacks host mitophagy for their survival.

Abstract Background The preservation of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the facilitation of axon regeneration are crucial considerations in the management of various vision-threatening disorders. Therefore, we investigate the efficacy of interleukin-4 (IL-4), a potential therapeutic agent, in promoting neuroprotection and axon regeneration of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) as identified through whole transcriptome sequencing in an in vitro axon growth model. Methods A low concentration of staurosporine (STS) was employed to induce in vitro axon growth. Whole transcriptome sequencing was utilized to identify key target factors involved in the molecular mechanism underlying axon growth. The efficacy of recombinant IL-4 protein on promoting RGC axon growth was validated through in vitro experiments. The protective effect of recombinant IL-4 protein on somas of RGCs was assessed using RBPMS-specific immunofluorescent staining in mouse models with optic nerve crush (ONC) and N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) injury. The protective effect on RGC axons was evaluated by anterograde labeling of cholera toxin subunit B (CTB), while the promotion of RGC axon regeneration was assessed through both anterograde labeling of CTB and immunofluorescent staining for growth associated protein-43 (GAP43). Results Whole-transcriptome sequencing of staurosporine-treated 661 W cells revealed a significant upregulation in intracellular IL-4 transcription levels during the process of axon regeneration. In vitro experiments demonstrated that recombinant IL-4 protein effectively stimulated axon outgrowth. Subsequent immunostaining with RBPMS revealed a significantly higher survival rate of RGCs in the rIL-4 group compared to the vehicle group in both NMDA and ONC injury models. Axonal tracing with CTB confirmed that recombinant IL-4 protein preserved long-distance projection of RGC axons, and there was a notably higher number of surviving axons in the rIL-4 group compared to the vehicle group following NMDA-induced injury. Moreover, intravitreal delivery of recombinant IL-4 protein substantially facilitated RGC axon regeneration after ONC injury. Conclusion The recombinant IL-4 protein exhibits the potential to enhance the survival rate of RGCs, protect RGC axons against NMDA-induced injury, and facilitate axon regeneration following ONC. This study provides an experimental foundation for further investigation and development of therapeutic agents aimed at protecting the optic nerve and promoting axon regeneration.

This study intends to investigate the influence of benzaldehyde and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) on the rheological properties and microstructure of direct coal liquefaction residue (DCLR) modified asphalt binder. The high and low temperature rheological properties and fatigue properties were obtained by dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) and bending beam rheometer (BBR) tests. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanism of property improvement in the DCLR modified asphalt binder. The results showed that the addition of DCLR increased the complex shear modulus G*, rutting factor G*/sin δ and fatigue life Nf of base asphalt binder, significantly improving the high temperature deformation resistance and fatigue resistance of base asphalt binder. This was attributed to the hardening effect resulting from the addition of DCLR, which enhanced the elastic properties, weakened the viscous properties and fluidity of asphalt binder. Additionally, the use of benzaldehyde and DOP reduced the creep stiffness S and lower continuous grading temperature Tc of DCLR modified asphalt binder, which compensated for the shortcomings of low temperature rheological properties of asphalt binder. The SEM images indicated that benzaldehyde and DOP significantly increased the compatibility of DCLR with the base asphalt binder. The FTIR tests showed that the addition of benzaldehyde and DOP introduced the aldehyde and ester groups, which were interacted with more polar functional groups in the asphalt to reduce the resistance to movement between the heavy components in the DCLR modified asphalt binder, which promoted the flow of asphalt and the dispersion of DCLR, and as a result, the benzaldehyde and DOP modified DCLR asphalt binder exhibited satisfied rheological properties.

Abstract Temperature-economic growth relationships are computed to quantify the impact of climate change on the economy. However, model performance and differences of predictions among research complicate the use of climate econometric estimation. Machine learning methods provide an alternative that might improve the predictive effects. However, time series and extrapolation issues constrain methods such as random forests. We apply a simple thought experiment with national marginal GDP growth by aggregating subnational climate impact to alleviate the shortcomings in random forests. This paper uses random forests, multivariate cubic regression, and linear spline regression to examine the direct impacts of temperature on economic development and conducts a performance comparison of the methods. The model results indicate an optimal temperature of 15°C, 15°C or 21°C for each model. Furthermore, a thought experiment indicates that the marginal predictions of national GDP changes by approximately 1%, −3%, or −6% for models with 1°C warming. The performance comparison suggests that random forests have stable model performance and better prediction performance in bootstrapping. However, the extrapolation problem in random forests causes underestimation of climate impact in 5% of cells under 6°C warming. Overall, our results suggest that temperature should be considered in economic projections under climate change scenarios. We also suggest the use of more machine learning methods in climate impact assessment.

Land degradation is a major impediment to achieving sustainable development. However, there is currently no harmonized global map of land degradation status and hotspots. This paper aims to obtain the status and hotspots map of global land degradation by multiple methods and indicators to give essential references for land degradation neutrality. The results show that there are significant differences in the distribution and degree of land degradation between the different methods and indicators. Validation through observation points reveals that most of the methods and indicators can reflect land degradation in arid and semi-arid areas, while there are suitable methods or indicators in tropical and high-latitude areas. The degree of degradation has a large difference after overlay analysis, which shows that there are shortcomings of different methods and indicators for monitoring the degree of land degradation. However, the overlay of land degradation extent displays a high consistency, reflecting the current state of global land degradation to a certain extent. These areas with high overlay value can be recognized as hotspots of land degradation. It is also found there are consistent water-energy change characteristics in the hotspot area, such as increased land surface temperature and air temperature and decreased soil moisture and precipitation. These results conclude that studies on the degree of land degradation need to be considered in an integrated manner about the regional background. The combination of multiple methods and indicators is recommended for land degradation extent studies in large areas. Comparison of different methods and indicators is important guidance for global land degradation research. Accelerating ecological monitoring and restoration of land degradation hotspots is the first step towards land degradation neutrality.

ObjectiveTo explore the molecular mechanism of Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) in alleviating renal fibrosis by inhibiting Urotensin II-induced pyroptosis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of renal tubular epithelial cells.MethodsForty SD rats were randomly divided into control group without operation: gavage with 5ml/kg/d water for injection and UUO model group: gavage with 5ml/kg/d water for injection; UUO+ AS-IV group (gavage with AS-IV 20mg/kg/d; and UUO+ losartan potassium group (gavage with losartan potassium 10.3mg/kg/d, with 10 rats in each group. After 2 weeks, Kidney pathology, serum Urotensin II, and cAMP concentration were detected, and the expressions of NLRP3, GSDMD-N, Caspase-1, and IL-1β were detected by immunohistochemistry. Rat renal tubular epithelial cells were cultured in vitro, and different concentrations of Urotensin II were used to intervene for 24h and 48h. Cell proliferation activity was detected using the CCK8 assay. Suitable concentrations of Urotensin II and intervention time were selected, and Urotensin II receptor antagonist (SB-611812), inhibitor of PKA(H-89), and AS-IV (15ug/ml) were simultaneously administered. After 24 hours, cells and cell supernatants from each group were collected. The cAMP concentration was detected using the ELISA kit, and the expression of PKA, α-SMA, FN, IL-1β, NLRP3, GSDMD-N, and Caspase-1 was detected using cell immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and RT-PCR.ResultsRenal tissue of UUO rats showed renal interstitial infiltration, tubule dilation and atrophy, renal interstitial collagen fiber hyperplasia, and serum Urotensin II and cAMP concentrations were significantly higher than those in the sham operation group (p ConclusionAS-IV can alleviate renal fibrosis by inhibiting Urotensin II-induced pyroptosis of renal tubular epithelial cells by regulating the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway.

In nuclear matter in isolated neutron stars, the flavor content (e.g., proton fraction) is subject to weak interactions, establishing flavor ( β -)equilibrium. However, there can be deviations from this equilibrium during the merger of two neutron stars. We study the resulting out-of-equilibrium dynamics during the collision by incorporating direct and modified Urca processes (in the neutrino-transparent regime) into general-relativistic hydrodynamics simulations with a simplified neutrino transport scheme. We demonstrate how weak-interaction-driven bulk viscosity in postmerger simulations can emerge and assess the bulk viscous dynamics of the resulting flow. We further place limits on the impact of the postmerger gravitational-wave strain. Our results show that weak-interaction-driven bulk viscosity can potentially lead to a phase shift of the postmerger gravitational-wave spectrum, although the effect is currently on the same level as the numerical errors of our simulation.

The study employed the PML (Penman–Monteith–Leuning) model to simulate the evolution law of long-sequence evapotranspiration in the mountainous region of the Luan River basin. Additionally, this study conducted a quantitative analysis to determine the effect of restoration on evapotranspiration water consumption. From 1981 to 2020, the results indicated that there were significantly less fluctuations in precipitation in the mountainous region of the Luan River basin than there were fluctuations in discharge. The restoration of vegetation in the mountainous region of the Luan River basin caused a mean annual growth rate of 3.47 mm in evapotranspiration. A linear positive correlation was observed between the evapotranspiration and vegetation NDVIs (normalized difference vegetation indexes) in mountainous regions. Specifically, for each 0.01 increase in the NDVI, there was an approximate 8.3 mm increase in evapotranspiration. When comparing the time periods of 1995–2001 and 2002–2020, it was observed that evapotranspiration increased by 70 mm. Furthermore, the evapotranspiration rate in the southeastern region exhibits significant variation, peaking at over 50 mm per year. In contrast, the northwest experiences variations of less than 10 mm per year. A quantitative analysis of the relationship between the evolution of mountain evapotranspiration and the response law of vegetation restoration is presented in this study; this information can be used as a guide when developing practical vegetation restoration strategies.

BackgroundChild sexual abuse is a major public health problem with adverse consequences for victims’ physical, mental, and reproductive health. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of child sexual abuse and its associated factors among 15- to 17-year-old adolescents in mainland China.MethodsFrom September 8, 2019 to January 17, 2020, a total of 48,660 participants were recruited by 58 colleges and universities across the whole country to complete the self-administered, structured, online questionnaire. This analysis was restricted to 3,215 adolescents aged between 15 and 17 years in mainland China. Chi-square tests and multivariate Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify individual, relationship, and community factors associated with child sexual abuse.ResultsThe overall prevalence of child sexual abuse was 12.0%. More specifically, 13.0% of girls and 10.6% of boys reported that they were sexually abused prior to 18 years of age. At the individual level, being female, sexual minority identity, younger age, and higher levels of knowledge, skills and self-efficacy regarding condom use were significantly related to increased odds of reporting sexual abuse. At the relationship and community level, adolescents from disrupted families and those entering into a marriage, having casual sexual partners, and having first intercourse at a younger age were more likely to report sexual abuse. On the contrary, those who had never discussed sex-related topics with their family members at home and were offered school-based sexuality education later (vs. earlier) were less likely to report sexual abuse.ConclusionMultilevel prevention programs and strategies, including targeting adolescents with high-risk characteristics, educating young children and their parents about child sexual abuse prevention and optimizing the involvement of parents, school, community, society and government in comprehensive sexuality education, should be taken to reduce child sexual abuse among 15- to 17-year-old adolescents.

Abstract Primary lymphoma of the bone (PLB) is a rare form of extranodal lymphoma. The clinical features and imaging findings of PLB are not specific. Histological examination and immunophenotyping is the gold standard for diagnosis. We reported three cases, all diagnosed with B‐cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. The first patient is a 4‐year‐old boy with 6 months history of PLB. Lytic permeative areas with soft‐tissue masses showed on imaging. A mutation of the FANCA gene of this patient was detected through whole exome sequencing (WES). The second patient is a 17‐year‐old boy with multiple areas of pain over 2 months. Flurodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography showed that the density of multiple bones was slightly increased. WES revealed a heterozygous splice site variation in the SBDS gene. The third patient is a 3‐year‐old boy with swelling and pain of the left knee joint and fever for 43 days. An oval like lesion area appeared on imaging. The display of case details helps to diagnose and understand PLB. The correlation between the occurrence and progression of the disease and FANCA gene and SBDS gene mutations remains to be studied.

Summary: Soil moisture (SM) and atmospheric humidity (AH) are crucial climatic variables that significantly affect the climate system. However, the combined influencing mechanisms of SM and AH on the land surface temperature (LST) under global warming are still unclear. Here, we systematically analyzed the interrelationships among annual mean values of SM, AH, and LST using ERA5-Land reanalysis data and revealed the role of SM and AH on the spatiotemporal variations of LST through mechanism analysis and regression methods. The results showed that net radiation, SM, and AH could well model the long-term variability of LST well and explain 92% of the variability. Moreover, SM played an essential and different role under the different LST backgrounds. The AH always displayed a greenhouse effect on the LST. This study provides essential insights into the global climate change mechanism from the surface hydrothermal processes perspective.

Melioidosis, a severe tropical illness caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, poses significant treatment challenges due to limited therapeutic options and the absence of effective vaccines. The pathogen’s intrinsic resistance to numerous antibiotics and propensity to induce sepsis during acute infections further complicate management strategies. Thus, exploring alternative methods for prevention and treatment is crucial. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have emerged as a promising strategy for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. This study focused on generating three mAbs (13F1, 14G11, and 15D9) targeting hemolysin-coregulated protein 1 (Hcp1), a protein involved in the type VI secretion system cluster 1 (T6SS1) of B. pseudomallei. Notably, pretreatment with 13F1 mAb significantly reduced the intracellular survival of B. pseudomallei and inhibited the formation of macrophage-derived multinucleated giant cells (MNGCs). This protective effect was also observed in vivo. We identified a sequence of amino acids (Asp95-Leu114) within Hcp1 as the likely binding site for 13F1 mAb. In summary, our findings reveal that 13F1 mAb counteracts infection by targeting Hcp1, offering potential new targets and insights for melioidosis prevention.

ABSTRACT Antibiotic resistance is increasingly becoming a challenge to public health. The regulation of bacterial metabolism by post-translational modifications (PTMs) has been widely studied. However, the mechanism underlying the regulation of acetylation in bacterial resistance to antibiotics is still unknown. Here, we performed a quantitative analysis of the acetylated proteome of a wild-type (WT) Escherichia coli (E. coli) sensitive strain and ampicillin- (Re-Amp), kanamycin- (Re-Kan), and polymyxin B-resistant (Re-Pol) strains. Based on bioinformatics analysis combined with biochemical validations, we found a common regulatory mechanism between the different resistant strains. Our results showed that protein acetylation negatively regulates bacterial metabolism to regulate antibiotic resistance and positively regulates bacterial motility. Further analyses revealed that key enzymes in various metabolic pathways were differentially acetylated. In particular, pyruvate kinase (PykF), a glycolytic enzyme that regulates bacterial metabolism, and its acetylated form were highly expressed in the three resistant strains and were identified as reversibly acetylated by the deacetylase CobB and the acetyl-transferase PatZ (peptidyl-lysine N-acetyltransferase). Results showed that PykF also could be acetylated by nonenzymatic acetyl phosphatase (AcP) in vitro. Furthermore, the deacetylation of Lys413 in PykF increased PykF enzymatic activity by changing the conformation of its ATP binding site, resulting in an increase in energy production which, in turn, increased the sensitivity of drug-resistant strains to antibiotics. This study provides novel insights for understanding bacterial resistance and lays the foundation for future research on the regulation of acetylation in antibiotic-resistant strains. IMPORTANCE The misuse of antibiotics has resulted in the emergence of many antibiotic-resistant strains which seriously threaten human health. Protein post-translational modifications, especially acetylation, tightly control bacterial metabolism. However, the comprehensive mechanism underlying the regulation of acetylation in bacterial resistance remains unexplored. Here, acetylation was found to positively regulate bacterial motility and negatively regulate energy metabolism, which was common in all antibiotic-resistant strains. Moreover, the acetylation and deacetylation process of PykF was uncovered, and deacetylation of the Lys 413 in PykF was found to contribute to bacterial sensitivity to antibiotics. This study provides a new direction for research on the development of bacterial resistance through post-translational modifications and a theoretical basis for developing antibacterial drugs.

Global climate change has adversely affected agricultural production. Identifying the climatic threshold is critical to judge the impact and risk of climate change and proactively adapt agriculture. However, the climatic threshold of agriculture, especially crop production, remains unclear. To bridge this gap, taking winter wheat production from 1978 to 2017 in China as an example, this study clarified the definition of the climatic threshold of crop production and calculated it based on a mechanism model considering multiple factors and their synergies. The results showed that (1) the climate presented a warmer and wetter trend from 1978 to 2017, especially after 1996. (2) Water, fertilizer, and winter wheat yields increased significantly (22.4 mm/decade, 96.4 kg/ha·decade, and 674.2 kg/ha·decade, respectively, p

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common complication of diabetes. Yishen capsule, composed of Chinese herbs, improves the clinical outcome in DN patients. However, its therapeutic potential and underlying mechanisms require further elucidation. Hence, our study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms and therapeutic potential of Yishen capsule in DN. Streptozotocin-induced DN rats were treated with Yishen capsules (1.25 g/kg/day) for 8 weeks. Then, blood glucose and urine protein levels were measured. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and western blot assays were used to examine the histologic changes and gene expression, respectively, in kidney samples. Mouse podocytes were treated with rat serum containing Yishen capsule and transmission electron microscopy was used to examine autophagosome formation. Cell counting kit-8 assay was performed to examine cell proliferation. Western blot and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analyses were conducted to detect changes in gene expression. The localization of SIRT1 was examined in the podocytes using immunocytofluorescence assay. We found that Yishen capsule relieved pathological changes, decreased urine protein, increased SIRT1, LC3-II, and Beclin-1 expression, and reduced acetylated NF-κB p65 expression in vivo. In addition, rat serum containing Yishen capsule showed improved podocyte proliferation, promoted the mRNA and protein levels of LC3-II and Beclin-1, and induced nuclear translocation of SIRT1. Furthermore, it increased SIRT1 expression and decreased mRNA level of NF-κB in the serum. SIRT1 inhibitor increased the mRNA level of NF-κB. Our data suggests that Yishen capsule improves DN by promoting podocyte autophagy via the SIRT1/NF-κB pathway.

Visual experience modulates the intensity of evoked brain activity in response to training-related stimuli. Spontaneous fluctuations in the restful brain actively encode previous learning experience. However, few studies have considered how real-world visual experience alters the level of baseline brain activity in the resting state. This study aimed to investigate how short-term real-world visual experience modulates baseline neuronal activity in the resting state using the amplitude of low-frequency (

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists modified with albumin ligands which can specificity bind to the human serum albumin (HSA) was an efficient strategy to prolong the half-time of GLP-1. Herein, we investigated the effect of small-molecule albumin ligand modification on the hypoglycemic activities of GLP-1 derivatives. Two GLP-1 derivatives MPA-C12-GLP-1 and Rhein-C12-GLP-1 were achieved by modification of the side chain amino of lysine in position 26 of the Arg34-GLP-1(7−37)-OH with Rhein and 3-Maleimidopropionic acid respectively using 12-aminolauric acid as a linker, and its specific albumin-conjugating characteristics, pharmaceutical characterization, and the antidiabetic effects were investigated. In vitro level, two GLP-1 derivatives demonstrated a higher binding capacity to GLP-1 receptor than that of Arg34-GLP-1(7−37)-OH. Interestingly, although the binding ability of MPA-C12-GLP-1 was equal to liraglutide, the binding ability of Rhein-C12-GLP-1 was 10-fold higher than liraglutide. In vivo level, the two GLP-1 derivatives can significantly increase their glucose tolerance and prolong their half-life in ICR mice, and they were also superior to GLP-1 in controlling glucose homeostasis and suppression of food intake and water consumption in db/db mice. Importantly, the two GLP-1 derivatives showed comparable efficacy to liraglutide for the therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus. The in vitro INS-1 cells toxicity and the in vivo hepatotoxicity indicated that the Rhein-C12-GLP-1 was a safe candidate for the therapy of type 2 diabetes, and the serum biomarkers determination results showed that the Rhein-modified GLP-1 could significantly improve the HbA1c and blood lipids, and the H&E stain exhibited that the Rhein-C12-GLP-1 can effectively promote β-cell proliferation and differentiation. In conclusion, the 3-Maleimidopropionic acid or Rhein-modified GLP-1derivatives have great potential for development as a Type 2 diabetes mellitus therapeutic drug.

Rail corrugation in heavy-haul railway increases the contact forces between the wheel and the rail and deteriorates the rail condition. Severe corrugation affects railway operational safety. Fast diagnosis techniques allow technical personnel to perform timely maintenance and repair, preventing the quick deterioration of rail corrugation. This paper presents a heavy-haul railway corrugation diagnosis method incorporating the time-frequency analysis with machine learning methods. First, the signal is decomposed into several subsignals by wavelet packet decomposition (WPD). The paper proposes an adaptive short-time Fourier transform (ASTFT) and performs the ASTFT on the subsignals to obtain the optimal resolution time-frequency distribution and compute the corresponding entropy. The dimensionality reduction based on mean entropy is then performed for the high-dimensional data. The training and testing samples are classified using Support Vector Machine (SVM). The adaptive short-time Fourier transform (ASTFT) is incorporated with the Renyi entropy and the particle swarm optimization algorithm, which achieves a better aggregation of the time-frequency distribution and reduces the computation cost. Finally, to assist the repair work and estimate the severity of the corrugation section, the corrugation index is proposed. The corrugation indices for the determined corrugation sections are calculated to measure the severity of the corrugation. Experimental studies performed on the axle-box vertical acceleration data collected from the heavy-haul comprehensive inspection train show that the method presented by this paper achieves higher accuracy when compared with conventional feature classification methods for time-frequency analysis. The accuracy of corrugation recognition for the presented method is 93%.

Soil moisture is not only an essential component of the water cycle in terrestrial ecosystems but also a major influencing factor of regional climate. In the soil hydrothermal process, soil moisture has a significant regulating effect on surface temperature; it can drive surface temperature change by influencing the soil’s physical properties and the partitioning of the available surface energy. However, limited soil temperature and moisture observations restrict the previous studies of soil hydrothermal processes, and few models focus on estimating the impact of soil moisture on soil temperature. Therefore, based on the experiments conducted in Wuchuan County in 2020, this study proposes a soil water and heat coupling model that includes radiation, evaporation, soil water transport, soil heat conduction and ground temperature coupling modules to simulate the soil temperature and moisture and subsequently estimate the effects of soil moisture. The results show that the model performs well. The Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient (NSE) and the concordance index (C) of the simulated and measured values under each treatment are higher than 0.26 and 0.7, respectively. The RMSE of the simulation results is between 0.0067–0.017 kg kg−1 (soil moisture) and 0.43–1.06 °C (soil temperature), respectively. The simulated values matched well with the actual values. The soil moisture had a noticeable regulatory effect on the soil temperature change, the soil surface temperature would increase by 0.08–0.43 °C for every 1% decrease in soil moisture, and with the increase in soil moisture, the variation of the soil temperature decreased. Due to the changes in the solar radiation, the sensitivity of the soil temperature to the decline in soil moisture was the greatest during June–July and the least in September. Moreover, the contributions of soil moisture changes to temperature increase under various initial conditions are inconsistent, the increase in sunshine hours, initial daily average temperature and decrease in leaf area index (LAI), soil density and soil heat capacity can increase the soil surface temperature. The results are expected to provide insights for exploring the impact mechanism of regional climate change and optimizing the structure of agricultural production.

Language-sensitive recruitment is a language management tool frequently used by corporate organizations. However, its relationship with corporate policy is lacking; hence, this study aims to consider language-sensitive job advertisements from a computational text analysis perspective and explore the match (or mismatch) between language-sensitive recruitment (English, Japanese, or bilingual) and corporate language policy. This study uses corpus methods combined with topic modeling and text analysis to investigate the influence of corporate language policy on the textual practice of language-sensitive recruitment in a Japanese multinational corporation (MNC). This study finds a considerable discrepancy between recruitment needs and corporate language policy. It also finds that bilinguals still play a key role in crossing language boundaries 10 years post-mandate of the English language policy in this Japanese MNC. The study contributes to business language by exploring an additional scenario for linking language competency with actual recruitment needs. Thus, this study sheds light on the implementation of language-sensitive recruitment in a multilingual corporate context, affecting the communication patterns and recruitment tactics.

The time of acquiring remote sensing data was halved after the joint operation of Gao Fen-6 (GF-6) and Gao Fen-1 (GF-1) satellites. Meanwhile, GF-6 added four bands, including the “red-edge” band that can effectively reflect the unique spectral characteristics of crops. However, GF-1 data do not contain these bands, which greatly limits their application to crop-related joint monitoring. In this paper, we propose a spectral reconstruction network (SRT) based on Transformer and ResNet to reconstruct the missing bands of GF-1. SRT is composed of three modules: (1) The transformer feature extraction module (TFEM) fully extracts the correlation features between spectra. (2) The residual dense module (RDM) reconstructs local features and avoids the vanishing gradient problem. (3) The residual global construction module (RGM) reconstructs global features and preserves texture details. Compared with competing methods, such as AWAN, HRNet, HSCNN-D, and M2HNet, the proposed method proved to have higher accuracy by a margin of the mean relative absolute error (MRAE) and root mean squared error (RMSE) of 0.022 and 0.009, respectively. It also achieved the best accuracy in supervised classification based on support vector machine (SVM) and spectral angle mapper (SAM).

Understanding the processing of sexual stimuli has become a significant part of research on human sexuality. In addition to individual characteristics (gender and sexual orientation), empirical studies have shown that cultural factors play an important role in sexual stimuli processing. The attitudes toward sex have been reported to be more conservative in East Asian societies as compared to western countries, and significantly more sexual difficulties are observed among East Asian people. However, stimulus materials, which potentially facilitate human sexuality research on native East Asian people, are relatively not satisfactory. Erotic stimuli depicting East Asian figures are limited in the existing picture datasets. To address this issue, we present a collection of 237 erotic and 108 control pictures, accompanied by self-reported ratings of sexual arousal, pleasantness, and sexual attractiveness for opposite-sex erotic stimuli by heterosexual males and females (n = 40, divided into two equal-sized subsamples). This collection is divided into six categories, depending on their contents: dressed males (44), semi-nude males (65), nude males (64), dressed females (64), semi-nude females (52), and nude females (56). We showed gender differences in sexual arousal, pleasantness, and sexual attractiveness ratings in response to opposite-sex erotic pictures. Males reported the highest levels of sexual arousal, pleasantness, and sexual attractiveness for nude female pictures, whereas females reported the highest levels of sexual arousal, pleasantness, and sexual attractiveness for semi-nude male pictures. The erotic picture dataset may provide a useful resource of erotic stimuli that can be used as stimulus materials in experimental research on sexual function in East Asians.

Diabetic nephropathy is one of the common microvascular complications of diabetes. Iron death is a recently reported way of cell death. To explore the effects of iron death on diabetic nephropathy, iron death score of diabetic nephropathy was analyzed based on the network and pathway levels. Furthermore, markers related to iron death were screened. Using RNA-seq data of diabetic nephropathy, samples were clustered uniformly and the disease was classified. Differentially expressed gene analysis was conducted on the typed disease samples, and the WGCNA algorithm was used to obtain key modules. String database was used to perform protein interaction analysis on key module genes for the selection of Hub genes. Moreover, principal component analysis method was applied to get transcription factors and non-coding genes, which interact with the Hub gene. All samples can be divided into two categories and principal component analysis shows that the two categories are significantly different. Hub genes (FPR3, C3AR1, CD14, ITGB2, RAC2 and ITGAM) related to iron death in diabetic nephropathy were obtained through gene expression differential analysis between different subtypes. Non-coding genes that interact with Hub genes, including hsa-miR-572, hsa-miR-29a-3p, hsa-miR-29b-3p, hsa-miR-208a-3p, hsa-miR-153-3p and hsa-miR-29c-3p, may be related to diabetic nephropathy. Transcription factors HIF1α, KLF4, KLF5, RUNX1, SP1, VDR and WT1 may be related to diabetic nephropathy. The above factors and Hub genes are collectively involved in the occurrence and development of diabetic nephropathy, which can be further studied in the future. Moreover, these factors and genes may be potential target for therapeutic drugs.

Somatosensory comfort is mainly determined by the Temperature and Humidity Index (THI) with Wind Efficiency Index (WEI), but this conventional usage of these indicators does not capture the age-related differentials. Here we resolved this gap with a modification of the climatic comfort definition and method in a national standard, denoted as the Relative Climate Sensitive Index (RCSI), which incorporated the age-related vulnerability scores determined through online questionnaires with a scoring method, for each of the age-related and adaptive climatic comfort responses to changes in residence with Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region as an example. First, the result showed that the human comfort of living environment decreased with age in the BTH region, implicating age obviously impacted comfort, and weak adaptability made the elderly the relatively most high-risk group – their suitable region was less than a quarter of the whole study region. Second the adverse effects of persistent hot weather on comfort, indicating global warming as the leading driver of dwindling comfort over recent years. As the warming was more significant in the southeastern part, all these forces combined had there a hotspot, appealing for extra attention. Last this improved evaluation accorded with actual situation to captured high-risk groups with their distributions.

The DD407 single crystal Ni-based superalloy with a face-centered cubic structure exhibits strong anisotropic characteristics. In order to reveal the material chip formation mechanism and the impact effect of crystal orientations on the materials’ milling machinability, a combination of experimental observations and theoretical analysis were applied in this study. Considering the resolved shear stress and slip system theories, a fundamental theoretical explanation of the milling force and surface quality along different crystal directions on the (001) crystal plane of the DD407 single crystal Ni-based superalloy was proposed based on a previously constructed anisotropic milling model. Our work in this research verifies that [110] crystal direction on the (001) crystal plane of the DD407 single crystal Ni-based superalloy is the most optimal feeding direction during milling, taking into account surface roughness and morphology, slot bottom plastic deformation, work hardening, and chip edge burr feature.

We calculate the nonzero-temperature correction to the beta equilibrium condition in nuclear matter under neutron star merger conditions, in the temperature range 1mEv < T ≲ 5 mEv. We improve on previous work using a consistent description of nuclear matter based on the IUF and SFHo relativistic mean field models. This includes using relativistic dispersion relations for the nucleons, which we show is essential in these models. We find that the nonzero-temperature correction can be of order 10 to 20 MeV, and plays an important role in the correct calculation of Urca rates, which can be wrong by factors of 10 or more if it is neglected.

Aiming at the problem that the number and decimal point of digital instruments in substations are prone to misdetection and missed detection, a method of digital meter readings in a substation based on connected domain analysis algorithm is proposed. This method uses Faster R-CNN (Faster Region Convolutional Neural Network) as a positioning network to localize the dial area, and after acquiring the partial image, it enhances the useful information of the digital area. YOLOv4 (You Only Look Once) convolutional neural network is used as the detector to detect the digital area. The purpose is to distinguish the numbers and obtain the digital area that may contain a decimal point or no decimal point at the tail. Combined with the connected domain analysis algorithm, the difference between the number of connected domain categories and the area ratio of the digital area is analyzed, and the judgment of the decimal point is realized. The method reduces the problem of mutual interference among categories when detecting YOLOv4. The experimental results show that the method improves the detection accuracy of the algorithm.

In order to explore the impact of a manufacturer’s or retailer’s undertaking corporate social responsibility (CSR) and different power structures on their joint green marketing decisions and profits in the green supply chain, this paper establishes green supply chain optimization models under six different decision-making scenarios according to two different CSR bearers and three different power structures. Based on the main assumptions of a linear product demand function and CSR measured by consumer surplus, this paper solves the equilibrium solutions of the manufacturer and the retailer through game theory. The results show that: First, the difference in the degree of CSR undertaken by manufacturers and retailers leads to a difference in the ranking of optimal strategies of both parties under the three power structures. Second, under the same power structure, compared with undertaking CSR by oneself, when the other party undertakes CSR, the level of the product’s green degree, the level of green promotion, the party’s own profit, and the profit of the other party are all higher. Third, regardless of the power structure, manufacturers and retailers undertaking CSR is conducive to improving the level of product greenness, increasing green promotion, lowering the retail price, increasing consumers’ willingness to buy green products, and ultimately helping to increase the profits of manufacturers and retailers.

Considering customer value and value-added services provided by the online retail platform, this paper studies the differential pricing of a dual-channel supply chain consisting of one manufacturer and one online retail platform. Taking customer value into account in the dual-channel supply chain, this paper constructs separate and unified pricing of the direct sales channel and online retail platform’s distribution channel, and discusses each pricing model under a decentralized decision scenario and centralized decision scenario respectively. The results show that the total profit of a supply chain under the centralized decision scenario is better than the decentralized decision scenario in different ways, and the customer value of the two channels is also higher. Compared with the unified pricing of the two channels, the profit of the manufacturer is larger while the profit of the online retail platform is smaller under the separate pricing of the two channels. Moreover, the benefit of value-added services remains important to maximize the profit of the online retail platform and the customer value at the same time. Whether it is under separate pricing or unified pricing of the two channels, the antinomies effect always exists between the customer value and the profit per unit product. In order to further improve each party’s profit in the dual-channel supply chain under the decentralized decision scenario, it is necessary to improve the customer perception of profit as much as possible, and reduce the customer perception of loss as much as possible.

Globalisation poses a challenge for businesses with linguistically diverse staff, prompting the choice of English as the default corporate language. Although many studies extensively explored the role of corporate language policy in large corporations, employees' perceptions of such policy has not been explored adequately. Fewer studies investigate the trends in such perceptions in social media texts. This study fills this gap; it examines the barriers in multinational companies that have adopted a foreign language and analyses employees' attitudes. The study uses computer-assisted text analysis to investigate changes in employees' perceptions of an English-only policy in Rakuten, a Japanese company. It analyses a corpus of 704 social media posts on OpenWork from 2010 to 2018. The study finds some trends in employees' attitudes such as the inconsistency between expectation and reality in terms of 'Englishnization' and the popularity of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). The findings suggest that Rakuten is not global in the true sense; the value of the TOEIC score is overestimated and the neoliberal employment system affects employees in complex ways. This study contributes to international business language with a bottom-up, employee-centred, and diachronic perspective on language management.

Soil moisture is closely related to the hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere, which makes it one of the most significant climate variables. Using data from the National Environmental Forecasting Center (NCEP), this paper analyzes the temporal and spatial characteristics of soil moisture at a depth of 0–10 cm in China for the period of 1948 to 2014. In addition, the soil moisture’s possible interaction with air temperature is explored. Mainly using statistical analysis, the results showed that annual soil moisture decreased significantly (p < 0.01) in most areas. The tendency of decreasing soil moisture was relatively higher in spring and autumn than that in summer and winter. As to the national annual average soil moisture, there was a sudden change in the 1970s. The soil moisture had a relatively high value with a larger deviation before the abrupt change, but after that, the soil moisture was at a relatively low level with a smaller deviation. It was also found that the soil moisture at 0–10 cm showed a negative correlation with the 2-m air temperature above ground in the northern part of China, where the speed of the temperature rise was higher. The results are expected to help improve the understanding of the link between regional soil moisture variation and climate change.

Soil moisture and temperature are both significant factors for crop growth and development. They are also the main influencing factors of regional climate change. In the context of climate change, the relationship between soil moisture and soil temperature is not only important for explaining the mechanism of moisture and temperature interaction, but also provides scientific suggestions for agricultural production. Since the accurate measurement of soil moisture and temperature is difficult, their relationship remains poorly understood. Here, based on real-time field observation in a potato field in Wuchuan County, Inner Mongolia, China, the change characteristics of soil moisture and temperature under different water level treatments were analyzed, and their relationships were disclosed. The results show that there was an inverse proportional relationship between soil moisture and temperature. With an increase of soil moisture, soil temperature decreased. The basic relation between soil moisture and temperature took the form of reciprocal functions (Q = 4.2 × 103 V × (0.2 + W) × ΔT). The decline of soil moisture in the farmland will increase the soil temperature and has a negative impact on land–atmosphere interactions. The results can provide important insight into regional climate change mechanisms.

Previous studies have demonstrated the key role of emotion in moral judgment, and explored the relationship between emotion regulation and moral judgment. The present study investigated the influence of individual differences in emotion regulation difficulties on moral judgment. Study 1 examined whether individuals with high emotion regulation difficulties made a more deontological judgment. Study 2 explored the underlying mechanism using a process-dissociation approach, examining whether deontological inclinations and utilitarian inclinations separately or jointly accounted for the association. The results indicated that individuals with high emotion regulation difficulties rated the utilitarian actions less morally appropriate, and one’s deontological inclinations mediated the association between emotion regulation difficulties and moral judgment.

Emotion plays an important role in moral judgment, and people always use emotion regulation strategies to modulate emotion, consciously or unconsciously. Previous studies had investigated only the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and moral judgment in the Harm domain, and revealed divergent results. Based on Moral Foundations Theory, the present study extended the investigation into moral judgment in all five moral domains and used a set of standardized moral vignettes. Two hundred and six college students filled in the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and completed emotional ratings and moral judgment on moral vignettes from Moral Foundations Vignettes. Correlation analysis indicated that habitual cognitive reappraisal was negatively related to immorality rating in Harm, Fairness, and Loyalty domains. Regression analysis revealed that after controlling the effect of other variables, cognitive reappraisal negatively predicted immorality ratings in the Harm and Fairness domains. Further mediation analysis showed that emotional valence only partially explained the association between cognitive reappraisal and moral judgment in Harm area. Some other factors beyond emotional valence were suggested for future studies.