Extant studies on cross-border venture capital (VC) investment predominantly focus on how country-level formal institutions impact the flow of VCs across borders, but the potential role of country-level sentiments in this process has received less attention. Drawing upon the trust literature, we explore how home country political sentiment affects cross-border VC investment. Using data on Chinese VCs’ cross-border investments from 2000 to 2021, we find that home country political sentiment positively affects the amount of cross-border VC investment. Government VC (GVC) and connected VC (through sentiment transmission) positively, while investor managerial team education and investor host country experience (through sentiment suppression) negatively, moderate the influence of home country political sentiment.

This study explores whether DNA methylation (DNAm) mediates the association between lean body mass (LBM) and cognition, as well as whether LBM mediates the association between DNAm and cognition. Based on the data of 59 monozygotic twin pairs, mediation analyses were performed using causal inference test method and mediation analyses. Average causal mediation effect (ACME), average direct effect (ADE), and total effect (TE) were calculated. Among the CpGs associated with LBM, five located within PDGFRB and RP11 genes (ACME: −0.0972−0.0463, |ACME/ADE|: 10.44%−18.30%) negatively mediated the association between LBM and cognition, while one in the PAX2 gene (ACME: 0.3510, |ACME/TE|: 11.84%) positively mediated the association. Besides, the methylation risk score (MRS) of RP11 gene (ACME: −0.0517, |ACME/ADE|: 10.64%) and MRS of all CpGs (ACME: −0.0511, |ACME/ADE|: 10.53%) negatively mediated the association of LBM with cognition. For another, LBM negatively mediated the association between the DNAm level of one CpG within UBXN6 and cognition (ACME: −0.0732, |ACME/TE|: 20.78%), while positively mediated the association between the DNAm level of four CpGs within FOXI2 and cognition (ACME: 0.2812−0.4496, |ACME/TE|: 18.15%−27.29%). It was found the DNAm in PDGFRB, RP11 and PAX2 partially mediates the association between LBM and cognition, and the association between DNAm in UBXN6 and FOXI2 with cognition is also partially mediated by LBM.

Persistent malnutrition is associated with poor clinical outcomes in cancer. However, assessing its reversibility can be challenging. The present study aimed to utilise machine learning (ML) to predict reversible malnutrition (RM) in patients with cancer. A multicentre cohort study including hospitalised oncology patients. Malnutrition was diagnosed using an international consensus. RM was defined as a positive diagnosis of malnutrition upon patient admission which turned negative one month later. Time-series data on body weight and skeletal muscle were modelled using a long short-term memory architecture to predict RM. The model was named as WAL-net, and its performance, explainability, clinical relevance and generalisability were evaluated. We investigated 4254 patients with cancer-associated malnutrition (discovery set = 2977, test set = 1277). There were 2783 men and 1471 women (median age = 61 years). RM was identified in 754 (17·7 %) patients. RM/non-RM groups showed distinct patterns of weight and muscle dynamics, and RM was negatively correlated to the progressive stages of cancer cachexia (r = –0·340, P < 0·001). WAL-net was the state-of-the-art model among all ML algorithms evaluated, demonstrating favourable performance to predict RM in the test set (AUC = 0·924, 95 % CI = 0·904, 0·944) and an external validation set (n 798, AUC = 0·909, 95 % CI = 0·876, 0·943). Model-predicted RM using baseline information was associated with lower future risks of underweight, sarcopenia, performance status decline and progression of malnutrition (all P < 0·05). This study presents an explainable deep learning model, the WAL-net, for early identification of RM in patients with cancer. These findings might help the management of cancer-associated malnutrition to optimise patient outcomes in multidisciplinary cancer care.

Kongish Daily, a Facebook page promoting Kongish – a creative, critical, and colloquial form of Hong Kong English with Cantonese inflections – has attracted a following in social media over the past decade. It has also sparked interest among sociolinguists interested in (post-)multilingual developments in East Asia. This study is built on Hansen Edwards’s (2016) premise that Hong Kong English would gain wider acceptance in Hong Kong as the cultural identity of local language users shifted amidst sociocultural transformations. We first provide an overview of the Kongish phenomenon, followed by a qualitative study involving 30 active Kongish users from diverse age groups, genders and occupations. Through semi-structured interviews, we explore users’ perceptions of language and identity. Our findings support Hansen Edwards’s prediction regarding the strengthening of Hong Kongers’ cultural identification, while revealing an evolving, counter-stereotypical Hong Kong culture as well as an opinion divide on the future trajectory of Kongish.

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is economically one of the most threatening pests in tomato cultivation, which not only causes direct damage but also transmits many viruses. Breeding whitefly-resistant tomato varieties is a promising and environmentally friendly method to control whitefly populations in the field. Accumulating evidence from tomato and other model systems demonstrates that flavonoids contribute to plant resistance to herbivorous insects. Previously, we found that high flavonoid-producing tomato line deterred whitefly oviposition and settling behaviours, and was more resistant to whiteflies compared to the near-isogenic low flavonoid-producing tomato line. The objective of the current work is to describe in detail different aspects of the interaction between the whitefly and two tomato lines, including biochemical processes involved. Electrical penetration graph recordings showed that high flavonoid-producing tomato reduced whitefly probing and phloem-feeding efficiency. We also studied constitutive and induced plant defence responses and found that whitefly induced stronger reactive oxygen species accumulation through NADPH oxidase in high flavonoid-producing tomato than in low flavonoid-producing tomato. Moreover, whitefly feeding induced the expression of callose synthase genes and resulted in callose deposition in the sieve elements in high flavonoid-producing tomato but not in low flavonoid-producing tomato. As a consequence, whitefly feeding on high flavonoid-producing tomato significantly decreased uptake of phloem and reduced its performance when compared to low flavonoid-producing tomato. These results indicate that high flavonoid-producing tomato provides phloem-based resistance against whitefly infestation and that the breeding of such resistance in new varieties could enhance whitefly management.

We presented an attosecond-precision timing detector based on linear optics. The minimum measurement floor is 1×10–10 fs2/Hz with only 1 mW input optical power. With this novel technique, the residual dispersion of a 5.2 km fiber link is characterized and precisely compensated. Finally, a comprehensive feedback model has been developed to analyze the noise coupling in a long-distance link stabilization system. The simulation results demonstrate an out-of-loop jitter of merely 359 as, integrated at [1 Hz, 1 MHz], at 1 mW input power per photodetector of our timing detector. Remarkably, the system is capable of maintaining sub-femtosecond precision even at optical power levels as low as 240 nW (for a 5.2 km link length), or link lengths as long as 20 km (with 1 μW optical power), respectively.

This article is concerned with the spreading speed and traveling waves of a lattice prey–predator system with non-local diffusion in a periodic habitat. With the help of an associated scalar lattice equation, we derive the invasion speed for the predator. More specifically, when the dispersal kernel of the predator is exponentially bounded, the invasion speed is finite and can be characterized in terms of principal eigenvalues; while the dispersal kernel is algebraically decaying, the invasion speed is infinite and the accelerated spreading rate is obtained. Furthermore, the existence and non-existence of traveling waves connecting the semi-equilibrium point to a uniformly persistent state are established.

Conditional risk measures and their associated risk contribution measures are commonly employed in finance and actuarial science for evaluating systemic risk and quantifying the effects of risk interactions. This paper introduces various types of contribution ratio measures based on the multivariate conditional value-at-risk (MCoVaR), multivariate conditional expected shortfall (MCoES), and multivariate marginal mean excess (MMME) studied in [34] (Ortega-Jiménez, P., Sordo, M., & Suárez-Llorens, A. (2021). Stochastic orders and multivariate measures of risk contagion. Insurance: Mathematics and Economics, vol. 96, 199–207) and [11] (Das, B., & Fasen-Hartmann, V. (2018). Risk contagion under regular variation and asymptotic tail independence. Journal of Multivariate Analysis 165(1), 194–215) to assess the relative effects of a single risk when other risks in a group are in distress. The properties of these contribution risk measures are examined, and sufficient conditions for comparing these measures between two sets of random vectors are established using univariate and multivariate stochastic orders and statistically dependent notions. Numerical examples are presented to validate these conditions. Finally, a real dataset from the cryptocurrency market is used to analyze the spillover effects through our proposed contribution measures.

The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci is a cryptic species complex in which one member, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) has invaded globally. After invading large countries like Australia, China, and the USA, MEAM1 spread rapidly across each country. In contrast, our analysis of MEAM1 in India showed a very different pattern. Despite the detection of MEAM1 being contemporaneous with invasions in Australia, the USA, and China, MEAM1 has not spread widely and instead remains restricted to the southern regions. An assessment of Indian MEAM1 genetic diversity showed a level of diversity equivalent to that found in its presumed home range and significantly higher than that expected across the invaded range. The high level of diversity and restricted distribution raises the prospect that its home range extends into India. Similarly, while the levels of diversity in Australia and the USA conformed to that expected for the invaded range, China did not. It suggests that China may also be part of its home range. We also observed that diversity across the invaded range was primarily accounted for by a single haplotype, Hap1, which accounted for 79.8% of all records. It was only the invasion of Hap1 that enabled outbreaks to occur and MEAM1’s discovery.

We have developed an interactive system comprising a soft wearable robot hand and a wireless task board, facilitating the interaction between the hand and regular daily objects for task-oriented training in stroke rehabilitation. A ring-reinforced soft actuator (RSA) to accommodate different hand sizes and enable flexion and extension movements was introduced in this paper. Individually controlled finger actuators assist stroke patients during various grasping tasks. A wireless task board was developed to support the training, allowing for the placement of training objects and seamless interaction with the soft robotic hand. Evaluation with seven stroke subjects shows significant improvements in upper limb functions (FMA), hand-motor abilities (ARAT, BBT), and maximum grip strengths after 20 sessions of this task-oriented training. These improvements were observed to persist for at least 3 months post-training. The results demonstrate its potential to enhance stroke rehabilitation and promote hand-motor recovery. This lightweight, user-friendly interactive system facilitates frequent hand practice and easily integrates into regular rehabilitation therapy routines.

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant effect of alpha-lipoic acid (α-LA) in dairy cows and its metabolic mechanism. Thirty Holstein cows weighing 550 ± 25 kg, 200 ± 15 days of lactation and calving 2–3 times were randomly divided into three groups, ten cows in each group. Different doses of α-LA were added based on body weight: 0 (CTL), 30 (LA-L) and 60 (LA-H) mg/kg per head per day; 7 days adaptation period, 30 days formal period. Milk production was recorded daily during the test period. Milk and blood samples were collected on the last day. ELISA kits and automatic biochemical analyser were used to detect the indicators in blood; serum metabolites were detected and analysed by non-target metabolomics. The results of the study showed that the addition of α-LA significantly increased milk yield; blood concentrations for HDL, triglyceride, cortisol and triiodothyronine were significantly elevated; and levels of glutathione reductase and nitric oxide synthase were significantly reduced in LA-L group as compared to CTL group. The concentrations of IL-1β, IL-2, TNF-α, IgG and IgA were significantly higher after supplementation with α-LA. Metabolomics analysis revealed 13 and 15 differential metabolites each in positive or negative modes. Methylmalonic acid levels were significantly higher following α-LA supplementation compared to CTL group, as were D-lactose, D-maltose and oleanolic acid levels in LA-L group. In summary, α-LA can enhance milk production, improve antioxidant capacity and immunity, and is more beneficial for animal production and economic benefits at 30 mg/kg.

Isolated multi-MeV $\gamma$-rays with attosecond duration, high collimation and beam angular momentum (BAM) may find many interesting applications in nuclear physics, astrophysics, etc. Here, we propose a scheme to generate such $\gamma$-rays via nonlinear Thomson scattering of a rotating relativistic electron sheet driven by a few-cycle twisted laser pulse interacting with a micro-droplet target. Our model clarifies the laser intensity threshold and carrier-envelope phase effect on the generation of the isolated electron sheet. Three-dimensional numerical simulations demonstrate the $\gamma$-ray emission with 320 attoseconds duration and peak brilliance of $9.3\times 10^{24}$ photons s${}^{-1}$ mrad${}^{-2}$ mm${}^{-2}$ per 0.1$\%$ bandwidth at 4.3 MeV. The $\gamma$-ray beam carries a large BAM of $2.8 \times 10^{16}\mathrm{\hslash}$, which arises from the efficient BAM transfer from the rotating electron sheet, subsequently leading to a unique angular distribution. This work should promote the experimental investigation of nonlinear Thomson scattering of rotating electron sheets in large laser facilities.

Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) is one of the world’s resilient upland weeds, primarily spreading through its tubers. Its emergence in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields has been increasing, likely due to changing paddy-farming practices. This study aimed to investigate how C. rotundus, an upland weed, can withstand soil flooding and become a problematic weed in rice fields. The first comparative analysis focused on the survival and recovery characteristics of growing and mature tubers of C. rotundus exposed to soil-flooding conditions. Notably, mature tubers exhibited significant survival and recovery abilities in these environments. Based on this observation, further investigation was carried out to explore the morphological structure, nonstructural carbohydrates, and respiratory mechanisms of mature tubers in response to prolonged soil flooding. Over time, the mature tubers did not form aerenchyma but instead gradually accumulated lignified sclerenchymal fibers, with lignin content also increasing. After 90 d, the lignified sclerenchymal fibers and lignin contents were 4.0 and 1.1 times higher than those in the no soil-flooding treatment. Concurrently, soluble sugar content decreased while starch content increased, providing energy storage, and alcohol dehydrogenase activity rose to support anaerobic respiration via alcohol fermentation. These results indicated that mature tubers survived in soil-flooding conditions by adopting a low-oxygen quiescence strategy, which involves morphological adaptations through the development of lignified sclerenchymal fibers, increased starch reserves for energy storage, and enhanced anaerobic respiration. This mechanism likely underpins the flooding tolerance of mature C. rotundus tubers, allowing them to endure unfavorable conditions and subsequently germinate and grow once flooding subsides. This study provides a preliminary explanation of the mechanism by which mature tubers of C. rotundus from the upland areas confer flooding tolerance, shedding light on the reasons behind this weed’s increasing presence in rice fields.

The omnipresence of change has been singled out as posing an important challenge to law, both in theory and in practice, throughout its history. Arguably, the most efficient method of adapting the law to constant changes is legal education. Recent changes in the global arena have added to the complexity of the expected role of future legal talents, requiring them to acquire not only a profound knowledge of local and global laws but also a variety of legal as well as non-legal skills. This article presents some of the principal challenges faced by law schools and legal education in the world of today. These challenges are then explored using the example of a new Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree programme in Chinese Law and Global Legal Studies in the English Language that will be offered by the Faculty of Law of the University of Macau in Macao, China.

The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) and the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) are among the top 100 invasive alien species globally, causing significant ecological and economic harm. Therefore, it is crucial to study their potential geographic distribution worldwide. This study aimed to predict their global distribution under current and future climate conditions. We used distribution data from various sources, including CABI, GBIF, and PIAKey, and key climate variables selected from 19 environmental factors to model their potential geographic distribution using MaxEnt. The AUC values were 0.925 and 0.937 for L. humile and W. auropunctata, respectively, indicating good predictive performance. Suitable areas for L. humile were mainly in southern North America, northern South America, Europe, central Asia, southern Oceania, and parts of Africa, while W. auropunctata suitable areas were mostly in southern North America, most of South America, a small part of Europe, southern Asia, central Africa, and some parts of Oceania. Under climate change scenario, suitable areas for L. humile increased, while highly suitable areas for W. auropunctata decreased. The top four countries with the largest areas of overlapping suitable habitat under current climate were Brazil, China, Australia, and Argentina, while under future SSP585 climate scenario, the top four countries were Brazil, China, Indonesia, and Argentina. Some countries, such as Estonia and Finland, will see an overlapping adaptation area under climate change. In conclusion, this study provides insight into controlling the spread and harm of L. humile and W. auropunctata.

Infection mechanism plays a significant role in epidemic models. To investigate the influence of saturation effect, a nonlocal (convolution) dispersal susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model with saturated incidence is considered. We first study the impact of dispersal rates and total population size on the basic reproduction number. Yang, Li and Ruan (J. Differ. Equ. 267 (2019) 2011–2051) obtained the limit of basic reproduction number as the dispersal rate tends to zero or infinity under the condition that a corresponding weighted eigenvalue problem has a unique positive principal eigenvalue. We remove this additional condition by a different method, which enables us to reduce the problem on the limiting profile of the basic reproduction number into that of the spectral bound of the corresponding operator. Then we establish the existence and uniqueness of endemic steady states by a equivalent equation and finally investigate the asymptotic profiles of the endemic steady states for small and large diffusion rates to provide reference for disease prevention and control, in which the lack of regularity of the endemic steady state and Harnack inequality makes the limit function of the sequence of the endemic steady state hard to get. Finally, we find whether lowing the movements of susceptible individuals can eradicate the disease or not depends on not only the sign of the difference between the transmission rate and the recovery rate but also the total population size, which is different from that of the model with standard or bilinear incidence.

This study extends the extant literature on executive pay dispersion by exploring the cultural-cognitive social determinants. We investigate how religious institutional environments, including Buddhism- and Confucianism-based institutions, shape vertical executive pay dispersion. We theorize that a Buddhism-based institutional environment is negatively related to vertical executive pay dispersion. In contrast, we propose competing hypotheses regarding how a Confucianism-based institutional environment affects vertical executive pay dispersion. With a sample of Chinese public firms, we find that both Buddhism- and Confucianism-based institutional environments are negatively associated with a firm's vertical executive pay dispersion. Supplementary analyses show that the aforementioned main effects are attenuated when a firm is embedded by a communist party branch and has a younger CEO.

Seed germination is a pivotal period of plant growth and development. This process can be divided into four major stages, swelling absorption, seed coat dehiscence, radicle emergence and radicle elongation. Cupressus gigantea, a tree native to Tibet, China, is characterized by its resistance to stresses such as cold, and drought, and has a high economic and ecological value. Nevertheless, given its unique geographic location, its seeds are difficult to germinate. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the mechanisms involved in seed germination in this species to improve the germination efficiency of its seeds, thereby protecting this high-quality resource. Here, our findings indicate that seed germination was enhanced when exposed to a 6-h/8-h light/dark photoperiod, coupled with a temperature of 20°C. Furthermore, the application of exogenous GA3 (1 mg/ml, about 2.9 mM) stimulated the germination of C. gigantea seeds. Subsequently, proteomics was used to detect changes in protein expression during the four stages of seed germination. We identified 34 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), including 13 at the radicle pre-emergence stage, and 17 at the radicle elongation stage. These DEPs were classified into eight functional groups, cytoskeletal proteins, energy metabolism, membrane transport, stress response, molecular chaperones, amino acid metabolism, antioxidant system and ABA signalling pathway. Most of them were found to be closely associated with amino acid metabolism. Combined, these findings indicate that, along with temperature and light, exogenous GA3 can increase the germination efficiency of C. gigantea seeds. Our study also offers insights into the changes in protein expression patterns in C. gigantea seeds during germination.