Researchers applying evolutionary theory to political psychology discover that in democracies, most citizens struggle to select political leaders based on their ideologies. Rather, they tend to concentrate on procedural fairness during public decision-making when evaluating their leaders. We re-examine such evolutionary propositions in China using eight Wason selection experiments. In autocracies, where accountability systems are weak or absent, little is known about how citizens judge politicians’ ideologies and their cheating behaviors. Our findings show that Chinese citizens are incapable of identifying political leaders’ ideological orientations; instead, they rely on a cheater-detection mechanism, evaluating leaders based on their adherence to procedural fairness. These results contribute to our understanding of democratic competence and the cognitive mechanisms of political judgment in autocratic contexts.

Asian corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis Guenée (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is a major pest in corn production, and its management remains a significant challenge. Current control methods, which rely heavily on synthetic chemical pesticides, are environmentally detrimental and unsustainable, necessitating the development of eco-friendly alternatives. This study investigates the potential of the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae as a biological control agent for O. furnacalis pupae, focusing on its infection efficacy and the factors influencing its performance. We conducted a series of laboratory experiments to evaluate the effects of distance, pupal developmental stage, soil depth, and light conditions on nematode attraction, pupal mortality and sublethal impacts on pupal longevity and oviposition. Results demonstrated that S. carpocapsae exhibited the highest attraction to pupae at a 3 cm distance, with infection declining significantly at greater distances. Younger pupae (<12 h old), were more attractive to nematodes than older pupae, and female pupae were preferred over males. Nematode infection was highest on the head and thorax of pupae, with a significant reduction in infection observed after 24 h. Infection caused 100% mortality in pupae within 2 cm soil depth, though efficacy was reduced under light conditions. Sublethal effects included a significant reduction in the longevity of infected adults and a decrease in the number of eggs laid by infected females compared to controls. These findings underscore the potential of S. carpocapsae as an effective biocontrol agent for sustainable pest management in corn production, offering a viable alternative to chemical pesticides.

This study investigated the caregiving capacity of older Chinese carers and discussed whether the Chinese government needs to offer more support to them. In-depth interviews were conducted with forty older respondents aged sixty years or over caring for frail or sick family members. It was found that most respondents demonstrated firm traditional Chinese values by treating relatives bound by blood or marriage as family members and exhibiting a strong obligation towards them. However, the older carers bore a considerable burden and suffered from deteriorating physical and mental health. The Chinese government needs to introduce a nationwide policy for carers, defining its main support and providing clear guidelines for the local government to tackle the caregiving pressures of older carers. Moreover, the concept of ‘common prosperity’ can be adopted as an empowerment strategy by encouraging poor older carers to seek external support without feeling ashamed or dependent on others.

Very metal-poor (VMP, [Fe/H]<-2.0) stars serve as invaluable repositories of insights into the nature and evolution of the first-generation stars formed in the early galaxy. The upcoming China Space Station Telescope (CSST) will provide us with a large amount of spectral data that may contain plenty of VMP stars, and thus it is crucial to determine the stellar atmospheric parameters ($T_{\textrm{eff}}$, $\log$ g, and [Fe/H]) for low-resolution spectra similar to the CSST spectra ($R\sim 200$). This study introduces a novel two-dimensional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model, comprised of three convolutional layers and two fully connected layers. The model’s proficiency is assessed in estimating stellar parameters, particularly metallicity, from low-resolution spectra ($R \sim 200$), with a specific focus on enhancing the search for VMP stars within the CSST spectral data. We mainly use 10 008 spectra of VMP stars from LAMOST DR3, and 16 638 spectra of non-VMP stars ([Fe/H]>-2.0) from LAMOST DR8 for the experiments and apply random forest and support vector machine methods to make comparisons. The resolution of all spectra is reduced to $R\sim200$ to match the resolution of the CSST, followed by pre-processing and transformation into two-dimensional spectra for input into the CNN model. The validation and practicality of this model are also tested on the MARCS synthetic spectra. The results show that using the CNN model constructed in this paper, we obtain Mean Absolute Error (MAE) values of 99.40 K for $T_{\textrm{eff}}$, 0.22 dex for $\log$ g, 0.14 dex for [Fe/H], and 0.26 dex for [C/Fe] on the test set. Besides, the CNN model can efficiently identify VMP stars with a precision rate of 94.77%, a recall rate of 93.73%, and an accuracy of 95.70%. This paper powerfully demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed CNN model in estimating stellar parameters for low-resolution spectra ($R\sim200$) and recognizing VMP stars that are of interest for stellar population and galactic evolution work.

As the main global terrestrial ecosystem component, grasslands are extremely sensitive to global climate change. With increasing human activities over the last century, grassland ecosystems have been degraded to different degrees. However, the evolution of lake-grassland ecosystems in recent centuries remains unclear due to the dearth of high-resolution records. Here, we present high-resolution lacustrine sediment grain size, pollen (Artemisia, Myriophyllum), Pediastrum, and n-alkane records from Ganggeng Nur Lake to investigate vegetation, lake evolution, and human effects in semiarid northern China. Four stages were identified from the last ca. 150 years: (1) the natural evolution stage (AD 1870–1945), in which there was a wet climate around Ganggeng Nur and the lake level rose from increased runoff; (2) the human disturbance stage (AD 1945–1967), in which the regional climate got drier and human activities began having a detectable effect on the grassland ecosystem; (3) the human transformation stage (AD 1967–2005), in which a completely arid climate coupled with the implementation of a series of land reclamation policies resulted in a large reduction in grassland areas, extensive soil erosion, exacerbated climate change, and shrinking lake areas; and (4) the posttreatment stage (AD 2005–2018), in which soil erosion was alleviated by policy implementation and a favorable humid climate.

Exploring reliable hydrogenation catalysts to remove trace olefins in aromatic hydrocarbons through hydrogenation is an important topic. In this paper, a bimetallic Cu–Ru/montmorillonite (Cu–Ru/M) catalyst was prepared using a step-by-step impregnation method, and the effects of bimetallic catalysts on removing olefins were assessed. The catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and temperature-programmed reduction of H2. The results show that there is a strong interaction between Cu and Ru on the Cu–Ru/M catalyst, which improves the dispersion of the metals on the surface of the support M. The hydrogen spillover phenomenon of Cu–Ru/M enhances its activity and adsorption capacity for hydrogen species. The catalytic performance test confirmed that the bimetallic catalyst has significantly greater activity and stability. The optimal loadings are 5% copper and 1% ruthenium, and the performance of this catalyst is comparable to those of noble-metal Pt/M catalysts.

Accumulating evidence suggests that supplementation of n-3 PUFA was associated with reduction in risk of major cardiovascular events. This meta-analysis was to systematically evaluate whether daily supplementation and accumulated intake of n-3 PUFA are associated with improved left ventricular (LV) remodelling in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Articles were obtained from Pubmed, Clinical key and Web of Science from inception to January 1 in 2021, and a total of twelve trials involving 2162 participants were eligible for inclusion. The sources of study heterogeneity were explained by I2 statistic and subgroup analysis. Compared with placebo groups, n-3 PUFA supplementation improved LV ejection fraction (LVEF) (eleven trials, 2112 participants, weighted mean difference (WMD) = 2·52, 95 % CI 1·25, 3·80, I2 = 87·8 %) and decreased LV end systolic volume (five studies, 905 participants, WMD = –3·22, 95 % CI 3·67, −2·77, I2 = 0·0 %) using the continuous variables analysis. Notably, the high accumulated n-3 PUFA dosage groups (≥ 600 g) presented a prominent improvement in LVEF, while the low and middle accumulated dosage (≤ 300 and 300–600 g) showed no effects on LVEF. In addition, n-3 PUFA supplementation decreased the levels of pro-inflammatory mediators including TNF-α, IL-6 (IL-6) and hypersensitive c-reactive protein. Therefore, the present meta-analysis demonstrated that n-3 PUFA consumption was associated with a substantial improvement of LV function and remodelling in patients subjected to CHF. The accumulated dosage of n-3 PUFA intake is vital for its cardiac protective role.

Chronic inflammation exerts pleiotropic effects in the aetiology and progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Glucosamine is widely used in many countries and may have anti-inflammatory properties. We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD risk and explore whether such association could be modified by smoking in the UK Biobank cohort, which recruited more than half a million participants aged 40–69 years from across the UK between 2006 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards models with adjustment for potential confounding factors were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) as well as 95 % CI for the risk of incident COPD. During a median follow-up of 8·96 years (interquartile range 8·29–9·53 years), 9016 new-onset events of COPD were documented. We found that the regular use of glucosamine was associated with a significantly lower risk of incident COPD with multivariable adjusted HR of 0·80 (95 % CI, 0·75, 0·85; P < 0·001). When subgroup analyses were performed by smoking status, the adjusted HR for the association of regular glucosamine use with incident COPD were 0·84 (0·73, 0·96), 0·84 (0·77, 0·92) and 0·71 (0·62, 0·80) among never smokers, former smokers and current smokers, respectively. No significant interaction was observed between glucosamine use and smoking status (Pfor interaction = 0·078). Incident COPD could be reduced by 14 % to 84 % through a combination of regular glucosamine use and smoking cessation.

Wake transitions behind an isolated cube are investigated numerically over a range of Reynolds number (${{\textit {Re}}}$) 1–400. Four flow regimes, namely the orthogonal symmetry–steady ($1 \le {{\textit {Re}}} \le 205$), planar symmetry–steady (PSS, $210 \le {{\textit {Re}}} \le 250$), hairpin-vortex shedding (HS, $255 \le {{\textit {Re}}} \le 305$) and chaotic vortex shedding (${{\textit {Re}}} \ge 310$) regimes, are identified according to spatial symmetries and temporal development of the flow. A weakly nonlinear stability analysis, through a coupled pitchfork bifurcation model proposed in the present study, reveals that the bifurcation to the PSS regime is supercritical and the planar symmetry is retained in the PSS regime because stable points (four) exist only on the two symmetry planes perpendicular to the side faces of the cube. The supercritical Hopf bifurcation to the HS regime is induced by the excessive accumulation of circulation in the downstream tips of merged streamwise vortex tubes behind the cube that subsequently attract the vortex tubes of opposite signs to cut the tips off from them, leading to alternate shedding of streamwise vortex tubes. The planar symmetry observed in the PSS regime is preserved in the three vortex shedding states identified in the HS regime, i.e. single-frequency shedding ($255 \le {{\textit {Re}}} \le 280$), quasi-periodic shedding ($282 \le {{\textit {Re}}} \le 285$) and the high-order synchronised shedding (HS2, $289 \le {{\textit {Re}}} \le 305$). A cascade of period doubling and period halving is discovered in the HS2 state, prior to the flow bifurcation to the chaotic vortex shedding regime, where the planar symmetry is broken. The critical ${{\textit {Re}}}$ values for the bifurcations to PSS and HS regimes are estimated to be ${{\textit {Re}}} \approx 207.0$ and 252.0, respectively, through linear interpolation of the growth rate of flow instabilities.

We focus on the population dynamics driven by two classes of truncated $\alpha$-stable processes with Markovian switching. Almost necessary and sufficient conditions for the ergodicity of the proposed models are provided. Also, these results illustrate the impact on ergodicity and extinct conditions as the parameter $\alpha$ tends to 2.

The recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) may have acute psychological consequences, both in relation to the impact of the virus itself and the restrictions imposed to tackle its spread. We conducted an online survey of 403 residents in Guangzhou, China. We found the prevalence of anxiety (defined as Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 score ≥5) was 37.7%, and anxiety was significantly and moderately correlated with worry about COVID-19. Higher anxiety levels in community residents was associated with the presence of individuals with COVID-19 in the same building; a longer time spent each day gathering information about the virus; and choosing social media as their preferred source of information. Our findings provide an insight into the psychological support and guidance about information sources that are required in this type of public health emergency.

The aim of this study was to develop and externally validate a simple-to-use nomogram for predicting the survival of hospitalised human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients (hospitalised person living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs)). Hospitalised PLWHAs (n = 3724) between January 2012 and December 2014 were enrolled in the training cohort. HIV-infected inpatients (n = 1987) admitted in 2015 were included as the external-validation cohort. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method was used to perform data dimension reduction and select the optimal predictors. The nomogram incorporated 11 independent predictors, including occupation, antiretroviral therapy, pneumonia, tuberculosis, Talaromyces marneffei, hypertension, septicemia, anaemia, respiratory failure, hypoproteinemia and electrolyte disturbances. The Likelihood χ2 statistic of the model was 516.30 (P = 0.000). Integrated Brier Score was 0.076 and Brier scores of the nomogram at the 10-day and 20-day time points were 0.046 and 0.071, respectively. The area under the curves for receiver operating characteristic were 0.819 and 0.828, and precision-recall curves were 0.242 and 0.378 at two time points. Calibration plots and decision curve analysis in the two sets showed good performance and a high net benefit of nomogram. In conclusion, the nomogram developed in the current study has relatively high calibration and is clinically useful. It provides a convenient and useful tool for timely clinical decision-making and the risk management of hospitalised PLWHAs.

As China implements the voluntary vaccination programme of one-dose of varicella vaccine (VarV) for decades, robust estimates of the impact of voluntary vaccination era on epidemiology of varicella are needed. We estimated the vaccination coverage (VC) of VarV by using surveillance data on immunisation. The descriptive epidemiological method was used to describe the changing epidemiology of varicella from 2007 to 2018. The screening method was used to estimate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of VarV. The overall VC for VarV was 71.7%, ranged from 47.7% to 79.5% among 2008–2017 birth cohorts. In total, 16 660 varicella cases were reported during 2007–2018, the incidence increased from 10.0 cases per 100 000 population in 2007 to 65.2 cases per 100 000 population in 2018. A shift in age group of varicella was observed since 2012, with the age increased from 5–9 years to 10–14 years. The overall VE was 79.9%, and the VE increased from 60.1% in 2008 birth cohort to 96.2% in 2017 birth cohort. We found that the overall VE for VarV is moderate, but appears highly effective within 5 years after vaccination. In addition, a shift varicella infection to older ages has occurred at the long-term moderate level VC of one-dose VarV. Therefore, to contain the incidence of varicella and prevent any potential shift to older ages, the introduction of VarV into routine immunisation programme is likely needed in Lu'an.