Isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a worry for many farmers in chemical control of weeds in wheat fields, especially in subzero weather conditions. Iron chlorin e6 (ICe6), a new plant growth regulator, has been reported to enhance crop stress resistance to alleviate damage caused by stress; however, it is not clear whether ICe6 has an alleviative effect on isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat. We determined the alleviative effect of ICe6 on isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat, and 0.018 g ai ha−1 was the optimal dose. Meanwhile, we also studied the photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic parameters, oxidative stress indicators, and antioxidant enzyme activity of wheat treated with the three different treatments. We found that the photosynthetic pigment content, antioxidant enzyme activity, and photosynthesis of wheat damaged by isoproturon were significantly lower than those of the control, and the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased. These results indicate that isoproturon stress significantly weakened the photosynthetic and antioxidant capacity of wheat. The photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic parameters (excluding intercellular CO2 concentration), and antioxidant enzyme activity of isoproturon+ICe6– treated wheat were significantly higher than those of isoproturon-treated wheat. The H2O2 and MDA content was significantly lower than that of isoproturon-treated wheat. These results indicate that ICe6 treatment maintained the photosynthetic pigment content of wheat and relatively improved photosynthetic capacity, allowing photosynthesis to proceed normally. ICe6 treatment also limits the decrease in antioxidant enzyme activity, effectively clearing excess reactive oxygen species and ultimately alleviating membrane lipid peroxidation damage. In summary, ICe6 not only enhances stress resistance and increases yield in crops such as soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and canola (Brassica napus L.), but also has an alleviating effect on the isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat, which is manifested by the improvement of photosynthetic and antioxidant abilities, ultimately leading to an increase in wheat shoot height and shoot fresh weight.

By integrating the theory of purposeful work behavior with the person-environment (P-E) fit literature, we employ a bilateral approach to examine how employee-supervisor congruence in purposeful work striving (i.e., achievement striving) influences employee voice behavior via an internal motivation mechanism (i.e., organizational identification). Using polynomial regressions with response surface modeling, we analyze data from 827 employees and their 197 supervisors in two studies. The results show that achievement-driven employees are more likely to speak up when employee-supervisor achievement striving is congruent, regardless of whether it is high or low. Furthermore, employee-supervisor congruence in achievement striving enhances employees’ felt oneness with the organization and organizational identification, which in turn fuels their voice behavior. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.

Moral emotions such as shame, guilt and pride are crucial to young children’s social-emotional development. Due to the restrictions caused by hearing loss in accessing the social world, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children may encounter extra difficulties in their development of moral emotions. However, little research so far has investigated the development trajectory of moral emotions during preschool years in DHH children. The present study used a longitudinal design to explore the development trajectories of shame, guilt, and pride, in a sample of 259 Chinese DHH and typically hearing (TH) preschoolers aged 2 to 6 years old. The results indicated that according to parent reports, DHH children manifested lower levels of guilt and pride compared to their TH peers, yet the manifested levels of shame, guilt, and pride increased throughout the preschool time at a similar pace in all children. Moreover, whilst guilt and pride contributed to increasing levels of psychosocial functioning over the preschool years, shame contributed to lower social competence and more externalizing behaviors in DHH and TH preschoolers. The outcomes imply that early interventions and adjustment to hearing loss could be useful to safeguard the social development of children with severe hearing loss, and cultural variances shall be taken into consideration when studying moral emotions in a Chinese cultural background.

Parallel manipulators with flexible morphing platform (FMP) provide potential solution in various application fields, such as shape-morphing underwater robot, deformable wings, and human–machine interfaces. However, there is still lack of effective approach for the design and analysis of such novel type of parallel manipulator. In this article, a 9-UPS redundant actuation parallel manipulator with flexible morphing moving platform is designed as a representative of this kind of manipulator. Correspondingly, a deformation estimation and shape control approach for the FMP is presented. The proposed deformation estimation approach is designed based on the bending energy, which can achieve high calculation efficiency and avoid complex mechanical definition and calculation. And the proposed shape control approach is realized by utilizing a nonrigid ICP match algorithm, which can continuously deform the morphing platform to an arbitrary target surface. A prototype of the 9-UPS parallel manipulator is fabricated and analyzed as verification. The experiment results show that the proposed approach offers a promising avenue for the deformation estimation and shape control of the morphing platform.

In 2018, an Ionplus 200 kV MIni-CArbon DAting System (MICADAS) accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) was installed at the Laboratory of AMS Dating and the Environment, Nanjing University (NJU-AMS Laboratory), China. The NJU-AMS Laboratory is largely devoted to research on radiocarbon dating and 14C analysis in fields of earth, environmental and archaeological sciences. The laboratory has successfully employed various pretreatment methods, including routine pretreatment of tree rings, buried wood and subfossil wood, seeds, charcoal, pollen concentrates, organic matter, and shells. In this study, operational status of the NJU-AMS is presented, and results of radiocarbon measurements made on different sample types are reported. Measurements on international standards, references of known age, and blank samples demonstrate that the NJU-AMS runs stably and has good reproducibility on measurement of single samples. The facility is capable of measuring 14C in samples with the precision and accuracy that meet the requirements for investigating annual 14C changes, history-prehistory age dating, and Late Quaternary stratigraphic chronology research.

Salvia miltiorrhiza is an outcrossing and perennial herb native to China. Although well-known for its medicinal value, there is a lack of knowledge regarding its natural population genetics. Here, we used 12 microsatellite markers to investigated population genetic diversity and structure of 215 samples from populations naturally distributed in central eastern China. A moderate level of genetic diversity was detected probably due to the over-mining of its roots. The allelic richness (AR) ranged from 3.034 to 4.889 with an average of 3.891. Moreover, pairwise estimates of FST among the populations of S. miltiorrhiza varied from 0.036 to 0.312 and two clusters were obtained by STRUCTURE and discriminant analysis of principal components. It is likely that the genetic differentiation of these two clusters was formed during glacial periods. Our result provides insights into the conservation of this valuable medicinal plant.

Liquid crystal microwave phased arrays (LC-MPAs) are regarded as an ideal approach to realize compact antennas owing to their advantages in cost, size, weight, and power consumption. However, the shortcoming in low radiation deflection efficiency has been one of LC-MPAs’ main application limitations. To optimize the steering performance of LC-MPAs, it is essential to model the channel imperfections and compensate for the phase errors. In this paper, a phase error estimation model is built by training a neural network to establish a nonlinear relationship between the near-field phase error and the far-field pattern, hence realizing fast calibration for LC-MPAs within several measured patterns. Simulations and experiments on a 64-channel, two-dimensional planar antenna were conducted to validate this method. The results show that this method offers precise phase error estimations of 3.58° on average, realizes a fast calibration process with several field-measured radiation patterns, and improves the performances of the LC-MPA by approximately 4%–10% in deflection efficiency at different steering angles.

China is still among the 30 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries in the world. Few studies have described the spatial epidemiological characteristics of pulmonary TB (PTB) in Jiangsu Province. The registered incidence data of PTB patients in 95 counties of Jiangsu Province from 2011 to 2021 were collected from the Tuberculosis Management Information System. Three-dimensional spatial trends, spatial autocorrelation, and spatial–temporal scan analysis were conducted to explore the spatial clustering pattern of PTB. From 2011 to 2021, a total of 347,495 newly diagnosed PTB cases were registered. The registered incidence rate of PTB decreased from 49.78/100,000 in 2011 to 26.49/100,000 in 2021, exhibiting a steady downward trend (χ2 = 414.22, P < 0.001). The average annual registered incidence rate of PTB was higher in the central and northern regions. Moran’s I indices of the registered incidence of PTB were all >0 (P< 0.05) except in 2016, indicating a positive spatial correlation overall. Local autocorrelation analysis showed that ‘high–high’ clusters were mainly distributed in northern Jiangsu, and ‘low–low’ clusters were mainly concentrated in southern Jiangsu. The results of this study assist in identifying settings and locations of high TB risk and inform policy-making for PTB control and prevention.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is a large group of mycobacteria other than the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium leprae. Epidemiological investigations have found that the incidence of NTM infections is increasing in China, and it is naturally resistant to many antibiotics. Therefore, studies of NTM species in clinical isolates are useful for understanding the epidemiology of NTM infections. The present study aimed to investigate the incidence of NTM infections and types of NTM species. Of the 420 samples collected, 285 were positive for M. tuberculosis, 62 samples were negative, and the remaining 73 samples contained NTM, including 35 (8.3%) only NTM and 38 (9%) mixed (M. tuberculosis and NTM). The most prevalent NTM species were Mycobacterium intracellulare (30.1%), followed by Mycobacterium abscessus (15%) and M. triviale (12%). M. gordonae infection was detected in 9.5% of total NTM-positive cases. Moreover, this study reports the presence of Mycobacterium nonchromogenicum infection and a high prevalence of M. triviale for the first time in Henan. M. intracellulare is the most prevalent, accompanied by some emerging NTM species, including M. nonchromogenicum and a high prevalence of M. triviale in Henan Province. Monitoring NTM transmission and epidemiology could enhance mycobacteriosis management in future.

To meet the demands of laser-ion acceleration at a high repetition rate, we have developed a comprehensive diagnostic system for real-time and in situ monitoring of liquid sheet targets (LSTs). The spatially resolved rapid characterizations of an LST’s thickness, flatness, tilt angle and position are fulfilled by different subsystems with high accuracy. With the help of the diagnostic system, we reveal the dependence of thickness distribution on collision parameters and report the 238-nm liquid sheet generated by the collision of two liquid jets. Control methods for the flatness and tilt angle of LSTs have also been provided, which are essential for applications of laser-driven ion acceleration and others.

The Holocene is a critical period for understanding the East Asian monsoon system (EAM) over long timescales, but high-precision dating and high-resolution records from the Holocene epoch at monsoonal margins of East Asia are lacking. Here, on the basis of closely spaced radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating results obtained from a typical loess–paleosol sequence on the northern Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), we provide an independent age-based, high-resolution depositional record of East Asian summer (EASM) and winter monsoons (EAWM) variations over the past ~14 ka. We find that both the EASM and EAWM simultaneously strengthened sometime during the Holocene optimum (~7–5 ka BP), with greater seasonality, and weakened during the Late Holocene. These findings are counterintuitive to our understanding of the EAM variations based on loess records at suborbital scales during interglacial periods, providing an alternative scenario of the monsoon system evolution. We postulate that high-latitude forcing and surface feedbacks, such as vegetation change, have modulated the EAM variations during the Holocene warmth.

Few studies have evaluated the joint effect of trace elements on spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB). This study aimed to examine the relationships between the individual or mixed maternal serum concentrations of Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Sr and Mo during pregnancy, and risk of SPTB. Inductively coupled plasma MS was employed to determine maternal serum concentrations of the six trace elements in 192 cases with SPTB and 282 controls with full-term delivery. Multivariate logistic regression, weighted quantile sum regression (WQSR) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to evaluate the individual and joint effects of trace elements on SPTB. The median concentrations of Sr and Mo were significantly higher in controls than in SPTB group (P < 0·05). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, compared with the lowest quartile levels of individual trace elements, the third- and fourth-quartile Sr or Mo concentrations were significantly associated with reduced risk of SPTB with adjusted OR (aOR) of 0·432 (95 CI < 0·05). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, compared with the lowest quartile levels of individual trace elements, the third- and fourth-quartile Sr or Mo concentrations were significantly associated with reduced risk of SPTB with adjusted aOR of 0·432 (95 % CI 0·247, 0·756), 0·386 (95 % CI 0·213, 0·701), 0·512 (95 % CI 0·297, 0·883) and 0·559 (95 % CI 0·321, 0·972), respectively. WQSR revealed the inverse combined effect of the trace elements mixture on SPTB (aOR = 0·368, 95 % CI 0·228, 0·593). BKMR analysis confirmed the overall mixture of the trace elements was inversely associated with the risk of SPTB, and the independent effect of Sr and Mo was significant. Our findings suggest that the risk of SPTB decreased with concentrations of the six trace elements, with Sr and Mo being the major contributors.

Here, we report the generation of MeV alpha-particles from H-11B fusion initiated by laser-accelerated boron ions. Boron ions with maximum energy of 6 MeV and fluence of 109/MeV/sr@5 MeV were generated from 60 nm-thick self-supporting boron nanofoils irradiated by 1 J femtosecond pulses at an intensity of 1019 W/cm2. By bombarding secondary hydrogenous targets with the boron ions, 3 × 105/sr alpha-particles from H-11B fusion were registered, which is consistent with the theoretical yield calculated from the measured boron energy spectra. Our results demonstrated an alternative way toward ultrashort MeV alpha-particle sources employing compact femtosecond lasers. The ion acceleration and product measurement scheme are referential for the studies on the ion stopping power and cross section of the H-11B reaction in solid or plasma.

Ion adsorption-type rare earth deposits (IADs) are developed via prolonged weathering of REE-rich volcanic and metamorphic rocks. Intense magmatic activity which occurred during the Yanshanian (199.6–65.5 Ma) and Caledonian periods (542–359.2 Ma) provided an abundant material basis for the formation of IADs in South China. High concentrations of REE and the high proportion of ion-exchangeable REE were found in the Maofeng Mountain regolith, Guangzhou city. However, the geochemical patterns and mechanisms of REE enrichment in the regolith were still poorly understood. The present study investigated the regolith profile (0–8 m) developed in Maofeng Mountain based on metallogenic and geochemical characteristics, sequential extraction, and physical and chemical parameters of the regolith profile. The bedrock contained abundant REE resources (245–287 mg kg–1) and the chondrite-normalized REE patterns showed the enrichment of light REE (LREE) and negative cerium (Ce) and europium (Eu) anomalies. The distribution patterns of REE in the bedrock were inherited by the regolith. REE enrichment of the regolith occurred mainly in the completely weathered layer (B1, B2, and B3 horizons), particularly in the depth range 2.5–4.5 m (849–2391 mg kg–1). The position of REE enrichment was controlled by the soil pH (5.52–6.02), by the amount of kaolinite and halloysite, and by the permeability of the metamorphic rock. In the REE-enriched horizon (2–8 m), the REE were hosted mainly in ion-exchangeable fractions (75–2158 mg kg–1), representing 79% of the total REE. Given the pH of 4.73–6.02, REE fractionation driven by the adsorption of kaolinite was limited. Fe–Mn (oxyhydr)oxides played an important role in REE enrichment and the reducible fraction holds up to 21% (139 mg kg–1) of the total REE. The enrichment of LREE was observed in the reducible fraction potentially because of the preferential release of LREE from the LREE-bearing minerals (monazite) and then scavenged by Fe–Mn (oxyhydr)oxides. Positive Ce anomalies (Ce/Ce*: 10) were found in the reducible fraction because trivalent Ce was oxidized by Fe–Mn (oxyhydr)oxides to cerianite (CeO2). The present study helps to understand the enrichment and fractionation of REE in the IADs of South China.

Multi-GeV proton radiography is an important tool for diagnosing density distribution of thick objects. The magnetic lens system called Zumbro lens is widely employed because it compensates for the image distortion induced by small angle multiple Coulomb scattering (MCS) that occurs when the charged protons passing through the object. However, radiography is still suffering from chromatic aberration induced blurring, if the momentum of transmitted proton is different from the reference value of Zumbro lens. In this paper, two methods are employed to reduce chromatic aberration. The first is based on magnetic lens optimization. In addition, a new lens system is first proposed locating the downstream of Zumbro. It is named “auxiliary” lens, which can correct the chromatic aberration for certain protons with momentum far away from the reference of Zumbro lens. Monte Carlo simulation shows that this proposed lens can decrease chromatic aberration and improve the radiography image evidently.

Much attention has been paid to the adsorption of Fe(II) onto mineral surfaces as it is a crucial step in enhancing the reductive activity of Fe(II) species. The present study elucidates the role of Fe(II) adsorbed on Fe (oxyhydr)oxides (γ-FeOOH, α-FeOOH, and α-Fe2O3) for the reductive transformation of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Studies of Fe(II) adsorption and 2-NP reduction kinetics showed that an increase in pH gave rise to an elevated density of adsorbed Fe(II) on mineral surfaces, which further resulted in an enhanced reaction rate of 2-NP reduction. In addition, CV tests showed that the enhanced activity of Fe(II) species is attributed to the negative shift of peak oxidation potential (EP) of the Fe(III)/Fe(II) couple. The dependence of adsorbed Fe(II) reactivity on pH values was proven by the three linear correlations obtained (ln k vs. pH, EPvs. pH, and ln k vs. EP). The present study demonstrated that the reductive activity of adsorbed Fe(II) species can be indicated by the EP value of active Fe(II) species. Moreover, the electrochemical approach can be used as an effective tool to study the reductive activity of adsorbed Fe(II) species in subsurface environments.