The turbidity current (TC), a ubiquitous fluid–particle coupled phenomenon in the natural environment and engineering, can transport over long distances on an inclined terrain due to the suspension mechanism. A large-eddy simulation and discrete element method coupled model is employed to simulate the particle-laden gravity currents over the inclined slope in order to investigate the auto-suspension mechanism from a Lagrangian perspective. The particle Reynolds number in our TC simulation is $0.01\sim 0.1$ and the slope angle is $1/20 \sim 1/5$. The influences of initial particle concentration and terrain slope on the particle flow regimes, particle movement patterns, fluid–particle interactions, energy budget and auto-suspension index are explored. The results indicate that the auto-suspension particles predominantly appear near the current head and their number increases and then decreases during the current evolution, which is positively correlated with the coherent structures around the head. When the turbidity current propagates downstream, the average particle Reynolds number of the auto-suspension particles remains basically unchanged, and is higher than that of other transported particles. The average particle Reynolds number of the transported particles exhibits a negative correlation with the Reynolds number of the current. Furthermore, the increase in particle concentration will enhance the particle velocity, which allows the turbidity current to advance faster and improves the perpendicular support, thereby increasing the turbidity current auto-suspension capacity. Increasing slope angle will result in a slightly larger front velocity, while the effect of that on the total force is insignificant.

The current studies investigated how a manipulation in joint outcome influenced individuals’ responses to pro-equality/individualistic decision makers. In Study 1 (N = 175), we examined the impact of whether equal distribution led to maximum joint outcome or not on individuals’ evaluations of, and reactions to, partners choosing either equal or individualistic distributions. In Study 2 (N = 164), we further examined the moderating roles of individual differences in general social value orientation (SVO) and preferences for joint outcome (vs. equality). Important findings include: a) individuals evaluated a pro-equality partner as less warm when equal distribution did not afford maximum joint outcome than when it did; b) individuals, especially those who scored high on preferences for joint outcome (relative to equality), were less likely to chose equal distribution when equality did not maximize joint outcome than when it did; and c) individuals who preferred joint outcome to equality evaluated individualistic partners as warmer when equal distribution did not yield maximum joint outcome than when it did. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

People tend to prefer smaller and sooner (SS) rewards over larger and later (LL) ones even when the latter are much larger. Previous research have identified several ways to enhance people’s patience. Adding to this literature, the current paper demonstrates that introduction of upfront losses as well as gains to both SS and LL rewards can decrease people’s impatience. This effect is incompatible with both the normative exponential and descriptive hyperbolic discounting models, which agree on the additive assumption and the independence assumption. We also exculde the integration explanation which assumes subjects integrate upfront money with final rewards and make a decision with bottom line at the end. We consider several possible explanations, including the salience hypothesis, which states that introducing upfront money makes the money dimension more salient than not and thus increases the attractiveness of LL options.

This study sought to investigate Chinese farmers’ attitude towards animal welfare by using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). According to the TPB, an individual's intention to behave in a certain way is determined by his/her attitude towards the behaviour (specific attitude — importance — and general attitudes), the perceived behavioural control (easiness), and the supposed opinion of the people who are important to him/her (subjective norms). A total of 253 questionnaires were used, which included the three main animal productions in China (swine, poultry and cattle). Chinese farmers have perceived the improvement of animal welfare as two abstracts: general attitudes (reward-seeking, and empathic farmer); and four specific categories of actions (favourable environment, animal health, humane treatment of animals and farmers’ well-being). Our analysis revealed that general and specific attitudes were the strongest predictors of farmers’ intentions to improve animal welfare in the questionnaire study. In fact, Chinese farmers considered it fairly important to improve the animal welfare measures considered in the survey. In contrast, the same animal welfare measures were considered difficult to improve by the farmers as indicated by the lack of association between the easiness of improving animal welfare and the intentions. In addition, veterinarians, agricultural advisers, and scientific experts were considered to be relatively influential subjective norms as regards the activities of the farmers. This is the first study to provide an insight into the underlying meanings and values of Chinese farmers’ views on improvements to animal welfare.

China plays a critical role in global biodiversity conservation, as both a biodiversity hotspot and for its role in international and domestic animal trade. Efforts to promote wildlife conservation have sparked interest in the attitudes held by Chinese citizens towards animals. Using a questionnaire, we sought to investigate the attitudes of 317 Chinese nationals across 22 provincial-level administrative units regarding their uses of animals, their perceived emotional capacities and views on exotic pets. We reduced the variables related to perceived uses of animals via Principal Component Analysis and ran Generalised Linear Models and Structural Equation Modelling to test relationships between questionnaire-derived variables. Perceptions of animals were divided into two Kellert categories — Utilitarian and Humanistic uses — and 97% of participants believed in animals’ capacities to have and express emotions. We found few interactions, with exotic pets, ie playing with or taking photographs, but the acceptability of owning an exotic pet influenced the likelihood of purchasing one. A belief that animals express emotions encouraged people to look for them as pets but thinking that pets make people happy made exotic pet ownership less acceptable. The shift in attitudes to include humanistic perceptions of animals, a belief in animals as emotive beings and understanding of terminology changed from the previous utilitarian views of pre-reform China, suggesting a readiness to embrace further conservation efforts in China. This deeper understanding of Chinese attitudes toward animals and drivers of the exotic pet trade within China may enable conservation efforts to better target future campaigns.

Decision makers weight small probabilities differently when sampling them and when seeing them stated. We disentangle to what extent the gap is due to how decision makers receive information (through description or experience), the literature’s prevailing focus, and what information they receive (population probabilities or sample frequencies), our novel explanation. The latter determines statistical confidence, the extent to which one can know that a choice is superior in expectation. Two lab studies, as well as a review of prior work, reveal sample decisions to respond to statistical confidence. More strongly, in fact, than decisions based on population probabilities, leading to higher payoffs in expectation. Our research thus not only offers a more robust method for identifying description-experience gaps. It also reveals how probability weighting in decisions based on samples — the typical format of real-world decisions — may actually come closer to an unbiased ideal than decisions based on fully specified probabilities — the format frequently used in decision science.

The maximizing decision-making style describes the style of one who pursues maximum utility in decision-making, in contrast to the satisficing style, which describes the style of one who is satisfied with good enough options. The current research concentrates on the within-person variation in the maximizing decision-making style and provides an explanation through three studies. Study 1 (N = 530) developed a domain-specific maximizing scale and found that individuals had different maximizing tendencies across different domains. Studies 2 (N = 162) and 3 (N = 106) further explored this mechanism from the perspective of subjective task value through questionnaires and experiments. It was found that the within-person variation of maximization in different domains is driven by the difference in the individuals’ subjective task value in the corresponding domains. People tend to maximize more in the domains they value more. Our research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of maximization and provides a new perspective for the study of the maximizing decision-making style.

Recently, Scholten and Read (2014) found new violations of dominance in intertemporal choice. Although adding a small receipt before a delayed payment or adding a small delayed receipt after an immediate receipt makes the prospect objectively better, it decreases the preference for that prospect (better is worse). Conversely, although adding a small payment before a delayed receipt or adding a small delayed payment after an immediate payment makes the prospect objectively worse, it increases the preference for that prospect (worse is better). Scholten and Read explained these violations in terms of a preference for improvement. However, to produce violations such as these, we find that the temporal sequences need not be constructed as Scholten and Read suggested. In this study, adding a small receipt before a dated receipt (thus constructed as improving) or adding a receipt after a dated payment (thus constructed as improving) decreases preferences for those prospects. Conversely, adding a small payment after a dated receipt (thus constructed as deteriorating) or adding a small payment before a delayed payment (thus constructed as deteriorating) increases preferences for those prospects.

The Trichoderma polysporum HZ-31 fermentation broth was separated and purified by extraction, column chromatography and high-phase liquid chromatography. Four monomer compounds with strong herbicidal activity were obtained: p-hydroxyphenyl-2,3-dihydroxypropyl ether, o-hydroxy-3-carbonyl-1-phenylpropanol, 1,8-propanediol o-xylene and 2-3-dihydroxypropyl propionate. The biological activity verification test indicated that the four monomer compounds could inhibit the germination of wild oat (Avena fatua L.) and canola (Brassica napus L.) seeds. Of the four, compound 3 (1,8-propanediol o-xylene) had obvious inhibitory effects on the germination of A. fatua and B. napus seeds, with inhibition rates of 83.33% and 86.67%, respectively. Therefore, the identification of this monomer compound lays a foundation for the further development of a novel microbial herbicide by directly utilizing it and developing new derivatives with herbicidal functions as lead compounds.

For a graph G and a family of graphs $\mathcal {F}$ , the Turán number ${\mathrm {ex}}(G,\mathcal {F})$ is the maximum number of edges an $\mathcal {F}$ -free subgraph of G can have. We prove that ${\mathrm {ex}}(G,\mathcal {F})\ge {\mathrm {ex}}(K_r, \mathcal {F})$ if the chromatic number of G is r and $\mathcal {F}$ is a family of connected graphs. This result answers a question raised by Briggs and Cox [‘Inverting the Turán problem’, Discrete Math. 342(7) (2019), 1865–1884] about the inverse Turán number for all connected graphs.