Government attention selectively distributed to various issues in policy-making processes is usually reflected in language, such as metaphors in political discourse. In addition, metaphor change may reveal how conceptualizations of major topics such as economy and ecology evolve over time. After self-building a corpus of China’s 45-year Government Work Reports, this study explores whether there is a difference in attention to topics of economy and ecology over time and investigates the diachronic change of metaphor use on them based on a modified framework for diachronic metaphor change analysis. Results show that attention to economy has been steadily decreasing while attention to ecology has been growing, and that there is an increasing tendency of using more economy and ecology metaphors. Metaphor change on the use of source domains is arranged on a continuum, ranging from constant use (war for economy and ecology, and journey and object for economy), incremental change (living organism and building for economy and ecology, and object for ecology) to fundamental change (building and living organism for ecology). This study may enrich the understanding of diachronic metaphor change by providing a Chinese perspective on the metaphor use in government discourse over time.

The question of whether narcissists are more creative than peers has attracted much scholarly attention in both psychology and organizational management sciences. Drawing from social cognitive theory, we theorized that the relationship between narcissism and creativity could be explained by individual creative self-efficacy, which depends on one's direct and vicarious experiences of creativity. Drawing from trait activation theory, we further proposed organizational valuing of creativity as a key contextual moderator that determines whether narcissism facilitates or inhibits creative self-efficacy and, in turn, creativity. We suggest that high organizational valuing of creativity will energize narcissists to put their attention and effort into both direct and vicarious experiences of creativity, enhancing their creative self-efficacy and creativity. We tested our conceptual model through a field study with data collected from 269 full-time employees working in 86 work teams. The empirical results provided support for the social cognitive explanation for the positive relationship between narcissism and creativity in the context of high organizational valuing of creativity. Our study not only resolved prior debates on the relationship between narcissism and creativity but also provided direct empirical support for social cognitive theory and the person-in-context interactionist perspective of creativity research.

Dietary l-carnitine (LC) is a nutritional factor that reduces liver lipid content. However, whether dietary LC can improve lipid metabolism via simultaneous activation of mitochondrial fatty acid (FA) β-oxidation and suppression of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is still unknown. Large yellow croaker were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) supplemented with dietary LC at 0, 1·2 or 2·4 ‰ for 10 weeks. The results indicated that a HFD supplemented with LC reduced the liver total lipid and TAG content and improved serum lipid profiles. LC supplementation administered to this fish increased the liver antioxidant capacity by decreasing serum and liver malondialdehyde levels and enhancing the liver antioxidant capacity, which then relieved the liver damage. Dietary LC increased the ATP dynamic process and mitochondrial number, decreased mitochondrial DNA damage and enhanced the protein expression of mitochondrial β-oxidation, biogenesis and mitophagy. Furthermore, dietary LC supplementation increased the expression of genes and proteins related to peroxisomal β-oxidation and biogenesis. Interestingly, feeding fish with LC-enriched diets decreased the protein levels indicative of ER stress, such as glucose-regulated protein 78, p-eukaryotic translational initiation factor 2a and activating transcription factor 6. Dietary LC supplementation downregulated mRNA expression relative to FA synthesis, reduced liver lipid and relieved liver damage through regulating β-oxidation and biogenesis of mitochondria and peroxisomes, as well as the ER stress pathway in fish fed with HFD. The present study provides the first evidence that dietary LC can improve lipid metabolism via simultaneously promoting FA β-oxidation capability and suppressing the ER stress pathway in fish.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of dietary starch structure on muscle protein synthesis and gastrointestinal amino acid (AA) transport and metabolism of goats. Twenty-seven Xiangdong black female goats (average body weight = 9·00 ± 1·12 kg) were randomly assigned to three treatments, i.e., fed a T1 (normal maize 100 %, high amylose maize 0 %), T2 (normal maize 50 %, high amylose maize 50 %) and T3 (normal maize 0 %, high amylose maize 100 %) diet for 35 d. All AA in the ileal mucosa were decreased linearly as amylose:amylopectin increased in diets (P < 0·05). The plasma valine (linear, P = 0·03), leucine (linear, P = 0·04) and total AA content (linear, P = 0·03) increased linearly with the increase in the ratio of amylose in the diet. The relative mRNA levels of solute carrier family 38 member 1 (linear, P = 0·01), solute carrier family 3 member 2 (linear, P = 0·02) and solute carrier family 38 member 9 (linear, P = 0·02) in the ileum increased linearly with the increase in the ratio of amylose in the diet. With the increase in the ratio of amylose:amylopectin in the diet, the mRNA levels of acetyl-CoA dehydrogenase B (linear, P = 0·04), branched-chain amino acid transferase 1 (linear, P = 0·02) and branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase complex B (linear, P = 0·01) in the ileum decreased linearly. Our results revealed that the protein abundances of phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR) (P < 0·001), phosphorylated 4E-binding protein 1 (P < 0·001) and phosphorylated ribosomal protein S6 kinases 1 (P < 0·001) of T2 and T3 were significantly higher than that of T1. In general, a diet with a high amylose ratio could reduce the consumption of AA in the intestine, allowing more AA to enter the blood to maintain higher muscle protein synthesis through the mTOR pathway.

This trial was conducted to study the effects of dietary rapeseed cake (RSC) containing high glucosinolates (GLS) on rumen fermentation, nutrient digestion and the rumen microbial community in steers. Eight growing steers and four rations containing RSC (GLS 226·1 μmol/g DM) at 0·00, 2·65, 5·35 and 8·00 % DM were assigned in a replicate 4 × 4 Latin square design. The results indicated that increasing RSC levels increased the ruminal concentration of thiocyanate (SCN) (P < 0·01), decreased the ruminal concentration of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and the molar proportion of isovalerate (P < 0·05), did not affect the ruminal concentration of total volatile fatty acids (P > 0·05), decreased the crude protein (CP) digestibility (P < 0·05) and increased the ether extract (EE) digestibility (P < 0·01). Increasing RSC levels tended to decrease the abundances of ruminal Ruminobacter amylophilus (P = 0·055) and Ruminococcus albus (P = 0·086) but did not affect methanogens, protozoa, fungi and other bacteria (P > 0·05). Increasing RSC levels in the ration did not affect the ruminal bacterial diversity (P > 0·05), but it increased the operational taxonomic units and the bacterial richness (P < 0·05) and affected the relative abundances of some bacteria at the phylum level and genus level (P < 0·05). In conclusion, RSC decreased the ruminal concentration of NH3-N and the CP digestibility, increased the EE digestibility and partly affected the ruminal bacterial community. SCN, as the metabolite of GLS, could be a major factor affecting these indices.

Double-layer absorbers have recently been extensively studied because single-layer absorbers can hardly meet the requirements of advanced absorbing materials. However, determining how to couple the matching and absorption layers remains a challenge. In the present work, we applied the hydrothermal method to prepare an ultrasmall Fe3O4 nanoparticle and a hierarchical MXene/Fe3O4 composite and then studied the microwave attenuation capabilities of single- and double-layer absorbers containing these two materials with different thicknesses. Absorbers with well-coupled layers showed improved absorption performance on account of the excellent impedance matching behavior of the Fe3O4 layer and the high microwave attenuation capability of the MXene/Fe3O4 layer. When the thickness of the matching layer filled with Fe3O4 was 0.1 mm and that of the absorption layer filled with MXene/Fe3O4 was 1.9 mm, a maximum reflection loss of −48.7 dB was achieved at 9.9 GHz. More importantly, when the thicknesses of the matching and absorption layers were 0.9 and 1.1 mm, respectively, the effective bandwidth was nearly 3.9 GHz. The double-layer absorbers with enhanced absorption properties may be regarded as a new generation of materials for electromagnetic wave absorption.

ZL104 alloy foam and ZL104 alloy/aluminum fiber composite foams with a porosity of 71–90% were prepared by an infiltration casting method. The pore structure and the sound absorption properties of these two kinds of foams were studied. The results show that fibers partially embedded in the porous pore walls and partially extending out of the pore in the composite foams. The sound absorption coefficient of the foams has a sound absorption peak and a sound absorption trough with increasing frequency. The fiber composite foam possesses better sound absorption properties compared with the alloy foam. As porosity, fiber diameter, and fiber content increases, the average sound absorption coefficient of the composite foam first increases and then decreases. The average sound absorption coefficient (0.88) of the composite foam with a fiber content of 5 vol%, a fiber diameter of 0.1 mm, and a porosity of 82% increased 10% compared with that of the alloy foam. The surface roughness and specific surface area of the foam increase after fiber compounding, and the sound wave drives the fibers to vibrate to enlarge the consumption of sound energy.

This study aimed to determine whether increased carotenoids intake was associated with reduced risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort study. The dietary carotenoids intake of 1978 pregnant women was assessed using a researcher-administered FFQ before undertaking an oral glucose tolerance test at 24–28 weeks. Multivariate logistic and linear regression analyses were used to obtain the effect estimates. Participants in the highest quartile of lycopene intake showed a lower risk of GDM (OR 0·50; 95 % CI 0·29, 0·86; Pfor trend = 0·007) compared with those in the lowest quartile; each 1 mg increase in lycopene consumption was associated with a 5 % (95 % CI 0·91, 0·99; Pfor trend = 0·020) decrease in GDM risk. No significant association was found between α-carotene, β-carotene, β-cryptoxanthin, lutein/zeaxanthin intake and GDM risk. Multiple linear regression analysis suggested an inverse association between lycopene intake and fasting blood glucose (FBG) (Pfor trend < 0·001); each 1 mg increase in lycopene intake was associated with 0·005 (95 % CI 0·002, 0·007; Pfor trend < 0·001) mmol/l decrease in FBG. Interaction analysis indicated consistent effect on each age or pre-BMI subgroup; however, a stronger protective effect of lycopene intake against GDM was observed among primigravid women (OR 0·20; 95 % CI 0·07, 0·55 in the highest v. the lowest quartile of intake; Pfor interaction = 0·036). In conclusion, dietary lycopene intake was mainly assumed via reducing FBG to decrease GDM risk, and the protection was relatively increased among primigravid women.

A bimetallic metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)-templated strategy was developed to fabricate mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons with improved photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity, and the formation mechanism of these mesoporous polyhedrons was discussed in detail. Incorporating Cd atoms, the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface areas of mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons were significantly increased (271 m2/g), providing more exposed active sites compared with ZnS. In addition, suitable conduction band potential (< −0.55 eV) of the mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons was also beneficial for the photocatalysis. Impressively, by the co-effects of mesoporous structure and modified conduction band, the mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons exhibited better photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution than most reported photocatalysts without noble metals. The maximum hydrogen evolution rate of the CSZ3 reached 4.10 mmol/(h g) under visible-light irradiation and without any cocatalyst condition. This facile strategy for the construction of mesoporous CdxZn1−xS polyhedrons provided a deep insight to fabricate other metal sulfides for a variety of photochemical applications.

We propose a novel model to explain the physical process of the thermally induced core laser leakage (TICLL) effect in a high power co-pumped ytterbium doped fiber (YDF) amplifier. This model considers the thermally induced mode bending loss decrease and the thermally induced mode instability (TMI) in the coiled YDF, and is further used to reproduce the TICLL effect in the high power co-pumped step-index $20/400$ fiber amplifier. Besides, the TICLL effect in the co-pumping scheme and counter-pumping scheme is compared. The result proves that the TICLL effect is caused by the combined effect of the thermally induced mode bending loss decrease and the TMI, and could be mitigated by adopting the counter-pumping scheme. To our best knowledge, this is the first theoretical explanation of the TICLL effect in high power fiber amplifier.

Leaders’ implicit followership theory describes leaders’ personal assumptions about the traits and behaviors that characterize followers. Unlike traditional organizational behavior research, studies on leaders’ implicit followership theory can deepen our understandings of ‘how leaders and followers perceive, decide and take action’ from follower-centric perspective. Adopting 267 follower–leader dyads from 16 Chinese enterprises as our final sample, we found that: (1) positive leaders’ implicit followership theory had significant positive effect on followers’ creativity; (2) followers’ leader–member exchange with leader, intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship between positive leaders’ implicit followership theory and followers’ creativity; (3) no significance difference was found between the mediating effects of leader–member exchange, intrinsic motivation and creative self-efficacy. The current study not only extended the application of social cognitive theory in leadership research, but also made contributions to the enrichment of social exchange theory and componential theory of creativity.

This is one of our series papers on multistep schemes for solving forward backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs) and related problems. Here we extend (with non-trivial updates) our multistep schemes in [W. Zhao, Y. Fu and T. Zhou, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 36 (2014), pp. A1731-A1751] to solve the second-order FBSDEs (2FBSDEs). The key feature of the multistep schemes is that the Euler method is used to discretize the forward SDE, which dramatically reduces the entire computational complexity. Moreover, it is shown that the usual quantities of interest (e.g., the solution tuple (Yt ,Zt ,At ,Γt ) of the 2FBSDEs) are still of high order accuracy. Several numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed numerical schemes. Applications of our numerical schemes to stochastic optimal control problems are also presented.

In this paper, we are concerned with probabilistic high order numerical schemesfor Cauchy problems of fully nonlinear parabolic PDEs. For such parabolic PDEs,it is shown by Cheridito, Soner, Touzi and Victoir [4] that the associated exactsolutions admit probabilistic interpretations, i.e., the solution of a fullynonlinear parabolic PDE solves a corresponding second order forward backwardstochastic differential equation (2FBSDEs). Our numerical schemes rely onsolving those 2FBSDEs, by extending our previous results [W. Zhao, Y. Fu and T.Zhou, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 36 (2014), pp. A1731-A1751.]. Moreover, in ournumerical schemes, one has the flexibility to choose the associated forward SDE,and a suitable choice can significantly reduce the computational complexity.Various numerical examples including the HJB equations are presented to show theeffectiveness and accuracy of the proposed numerical schemes.

We derive z phot for sources in the entire (~0.4 deg2) H-HDF-N field with the EAzY code, based on PSF-matched broad-band (U band to IRAC 4.5 μm) photometry. Our catalog consists of a total of 131,678 sources. We find σNMAD = 0.029 for non-X-ray sources. We also classify each object as a star or galaxy through SED fitting. Furthermore, we match our catalog with the 2 Ms CDF-N main X-ray catalog. For the 462 matched non-stellar X-ray sources, we improve their z phot quality (σNMAD = 0.035) by adding three additional AGN templates. We make our photometry and z phot catalog publicly available.

Isothermal annealing in the temperature range of 300–600 °C, microstructural characterization, and analysis of the grain growth kinetics during annealing were carried out for Cu–5 vol% Al2O3 nanocomposite powder particles produced by high energy mechanical milling. When the annealing temperature was 400 °C or lower, only reduction in dislocation density occurred during annealing. When the annealing temperature was 500 °C or higher, reduction in dislocation density, abnormal grain growth of the nanocrystalline Cu matrix, and coarsening of the Al2O3 nanoparticles occurred. It has been found that the microstructure of the nanocrystalline Cu matrix of the nanocomposite exhibits a far higher thermal stability than that of monolithic nanocrystalline Cu, even though the apparent activation energy of the grain growth of the former is similar to that of the latter over the temperature range of 400–600 °C, showing the dramatic drag effects of finely distributed Al2O3 nanoparticles and Al3+/O2− clusters on the grain boundary motion.

Round spermatid injection (ROSI) into mammalian oocytes can result in the development of viable embryos and offspring. One current limitation to this technique is the identification of suitable round spermatids. In the current paper, round spermatids were selected from testicular cells with phase contrast microscopy (PCM) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and ROSI was performed in two strains of mice. The rates of fertilization, embryonic development and offspring achieved were the same in all strains. Significantly, round spermatids selected by PCM and FACS were effectively used to rescue the infertile Pten-null mouse. The current results indicate that FACS selection of round spermatids can not only provide high-purity and viable round spermatids for use in ROSI, but also has no harmful effects on the developmental capacity of subsequently fertilized embryos. It was concluded that round spermatids selected by FACS are useful for mouse strain rederivation and rescue of infertile males; ROSI should be considered as a powerful addition to the armamentarium of assisted reproduction techniques applicable in the mouse.

We investigated the seasonality of tuberculosis (TB) in Wuhan, China, to evaluate the increased risk of disease transmission during each season and to develop an effective TB control strategy. We applied spectral analysis to the weekly prevalence data of sputum smear positive (SSP) and sputum smear negative (SSN) pulmonary TB reported from 2006 to 2010. Cases of both SSP and SSN feature 1·0- and 0·5-year periodic modes. The least squares method was used to fit curves to the two periodic modes for SSP and SSN data. The curves demonstrated dominant peaks in spring similar to cases reported previously for other locations. Notably for SSP, dominant peaks were also observed in summer. The spring peaks of SSP and SSN were explained in terms of poorly ventilated and humid rooms and vitamin D deficiency. For the summer peaks of SSP, summer influenza epidemics in Wuhan may contribute to the increase in TB prevalence.