American silk moth, Antheraea polyphemus Cramer 1775 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), native to North America, has potential significance in sericulture for food consumption and silk production. To date, the phylogenetic relationship and divergence time of A. polyphemus with its Asian relatives remain unknown. To end these issues, two mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of A. polyphemus from the USA and Canada respectively were determined. The mitogenomes of A. polyphemus from the USA and Canada were 15,346 and 15,345 bp in size, respectively, with only two transitions and five indels. The two mitogenomes both encoded typical mitochondrial 37 genes. No tandem repeat elements were identified in the A+T-rich region of A. polyphemus. The mitogenome-based phylogenetic analyses supported the placement of A. polyphemus within the genus Antheraea, and revealed the presence of two clades for eight Antheraea species used: one included A. polyphemus, A. assamensis Helfer, A. formosana Sonan and the other contained A. mylitta Drury, A. frithi Bouvier, A. yamamai Guérin-Méneville, A. proylei Jolly, and A. pernyi Guérin-Méneville. Mitogenome-based divergence time estimation further suggested that the dispersal of A. polyphemus from Asia into North America might have occurred during the Miocene Epoch (18.18 million years ago) across the Berling land bridge. This study reports the mitogenome of A. polyphemus that provides new insights into the phylogenetic relationship among Antheraea species and the origin of A. polyphemus.

Microorganisms symbiotic with insects, whether permanently or temporarily, play a crucial role in the nutrition, development, reproduction, defence, and metamorphosis regulation. In some Lepidoptera, oviposition-deterrent pheromones (ODPs) on egg surface were used by pregnant females to modify the behaviour of conspecifics to avoid excessive competition for limited resources. In this study, we constructed four different Spodoptera litura groups, including, OH, OA, SH, and OA, which either feed on different hosts or grow in different environments. The 16S rDNA libraries of microbes from the egg surface of the four groups were constructed and sequenced. According to alpha and beta diversity indices, the microbes in environments and diets considerably influenced the richness, diversity, and community compositions of the microbiota on egg surfaces. The quantity of the main ODP components and the corresponding oviposition-deterrent activity among four groups were significantly differed among the four groups. The result of this study revealed that altering of microbes in environments or diets considerably changed the contents of ODP and oviposition-deterrent activity. As ODPs impart oviposition-deterrent activity towards closely related species, the findings of this study suggest that we should pay more attention to the role of symbiotic microorganisms in changing the ability of insects, especially sympatric species, to occupy the optimal niche when developing novel pest-control strategies.

This paper explores active wake-flow control on a notchback Ahmed body using genetically inspired optimization. Hotwire and particle image velocimetry measurements record velocity data and flow structures in the wake. Pulsed jets at four actuation slots (two at the roof trailing edge, two at the side trailing edges) dynamically control the wake to minimize aerodynamic drag. The study achieves up to 9.2 % (without consideration of energy consumption) drag reduction, primarily by manipulating vortices from the roof rear end. The paper elucidates the underlying flow mechanism and evaluates various actuation strategies, highlighting how optimal control leads to reattachment of wake separation at the rear slant, diminishing the slant bubble and promoting downstream reattachment for enhanced drag reduction.

Revealing the impact of forest succession processes on changes in plant diversity is crucial for understanding the mechanisms that maintain plant diversity across various succession stages. While previous research has predominantly focused on the influence of environmental factors or management strategies on plant diversity within rubber plantation understories, there is a scarcity of studies examining the effects of forest succession processes on plant diversity. This study focuses on the plant diversity of the understory herbaceous layer within the rubber forest of the Yinggeling area, located in National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest. It employs a spatial analysis approach, rather than a temporal one, to examine the characteristics of the understory herbaceous community. The findings revealed that (1) The understory of Yinggeling rubber plantations harbors 175 plant species from 149 genera and 75 families, with Gramineae and Rubiaceae representing 46.45% of total species. And the dominant families are Rubiaceae, Gramineae, and Moraceae, with Ficus and Pteris being the dominant genera. (2) The dominant species vary with succession duration, with Tetrastigma pachyphyllum dominating in 0-year succession, Paspalum conjugatum in 3-year succession, and Microstegium fasciculatum in 7-year succession. (3) Diversity indices such as the Shannon–Wiener index, Simpson index, and Pielou index peak at 7 years of natural succession, while the species richness is highest at 3 years. (4) The similarity coefficient between understory herbaceous plant communities in rubber plantations undergoing 0 and 3 years of natural succession is highest 0.56, indicating a significant similarity, while similarity is lowest between 0 and 7 years of succession. This research shows that natural restoration helps increase species diversity in the understory herb layer of rubber forests. Succession leads to changes in the dominant families, genera, and species of the herbaceous layer. This change can be attributed to the intraspecific competition and ecological competition that occur during the succession process, leading to changes in biological and resource allocation.

Based on a contingent valuation method survey on air quality improvement in northern China, we construct several subjective perception determinants of respondents' valuation uncertainty from both the demand and perceived supply sides. Using the individual-level uncertainty measurements initially proposed by Wang and He (2011) and their alternative transformations, we analyze how these factors of demand and perceived supply sides affect people's valuation uncertainty. Our results demonstrate the significant contribution of these determinants in explaining respondents' uncertainty. On the demand side, people who ‘don't know much’ about benefits-related factors have the highest level of uncertainty, and those claiming to ‘know nothing’ most often report the lowest level of uncertainty. On the supply side, people who either do not trust or are not satisfied with the control policies tend to be more certain of their valuation. The subsequent analyses also suggest that these results be interpreted as negative certainty, which is attributed to a lack of interest.

Direct numerical simulations are performed to explore the effects of the rotating direction of the vertically asymmetric rough wall on the transport properties of Taylor–Couette (TC) flow, up to a Taylor number of ${Ta} = 2.39\times 10^{7}$. It is shown that, compared with the smooth wall, the rough wall with vertical asymmetric strips can enhance the dimensionless torque ${Nu}_{\omega }$. More importantly, at high Ta, clockwise rotation of the inner rough wall (where the fluid is sheared by the steeper slope side of the strips) results in a significantly greater torque enhancement compared to counter-clockwise rotation (where the fluid is sheared by the smaller slope side of the strips), due to the larger convective contribution to the angular velocity flux. However, the rotating direction has a negligible effect on the torque at low Ta. The larger torque enhancement caused by the clockwise rotation of the vertically asymmetric rough wall at high Ta is then explained by the stronger coupling between the rough wall and the bulk, attributed to the larger biased azimuthal velocity towards the rough wall at the mid-gap of the TC system, the increased turbulence intensity manifested by larger Reynolds stress and a thinner boundary layer, and the more significant contribution of the pressure force on the surface of the rough wall to the torque.

Many studies have investigated the positivity rate of hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) after hepatitis B vaccine (HepB) immunization. However, the antibody level, assessed monthly or at more frequent intervals after each of the three doses, particularly within the first year after birth, has not been previously reported. To elucidate the level of antibody formation at various times after vaccination, the current study used the available detection data of HBsAb in hospitalized children to analyze the HBsAb level after immunization combined with their vaccination history. Both the positivity rate and geometric mean concentration (GMC) increased sequentially with immunization doses, reaching their peaks earlier after the third dose than after the first two doses, and the rate of HBsAb positivity was able to reach 100% between 11 and 90 days after completing the three doses of HepB. Within one year after receiving the three doses, the antibody positivity rate and GMC were maintained above 90% and 100 mIU/mL, respectively, and subsequently steadily declined, reaching the lowest value in the 9th and 10th years. The current findings reveal, in more detail, the level of antibody formation at different times following each dose of HepB in hospitalized children, particularly in the age group up to one year after vaccination. For the subjects of this study, we prefer to believe that the proportion of HBsAb non-response should be less than 5% after full immunization with HepB, provided that the appropriate time for blood collection is chosen.

The wake of a notchback Ahmed body presenting a bi-stable nature is investigated by performing wind tunnel experiments and large-eddy simulations. Attention is confined to the Reynolds number ($Re$) influence on the wake state instability within $5\times 10^{4}\leq Re \leq 25\times 10^{4}$. Experimental observations suggest a wake bi-stability with low-frequency switches under low $Re$. The wake becomes ‘tri-stable’ with the increase of $Re$ with the introduction of a new symmetric state. The higher presence of the symmetric state can be considered as a symmetrization of the wake bi-stability with an increasing $Re$. The wake symmetry under high $Re$ attributed to the highly frequent switches of the wake is extremely sensitive to small yaw angles, showing the feature of bi-stable flows. The wake asymmetry is confirmed in numerical simulations with both low and high $Re$. The wake asymmetries are indicated by the wake separation, the reattachment and the wake dynamics identified by the proper orthogonal decomposition. However, the turbulence level is found to be significantly higher with a higher $Re$. This leads to a higher possibility to break the asymmetric state, resulting in highly frequent switches showing symmetry.

Pursuing ambidextrous foreign direct investment (FDI) has been suggested as a desirable strategic choice of emerging economy (EE) firms in their internationalization. Yet, reconciling explorative and exploitative activities overseas is complicated due to their conflicting and tensional nature. This study explores why some EE firms can achieve high levels of ambidextrous FDI while others cannot. Drawing on upper echelons theory, we propose a micro-foundation perspective of ambidextrous FDI by studying top management teams’ (TMTs) attributes. Applying a configurational approach to a sample of 294 EE firms’ FDI observations (of which 43 are ambidextrous FDI in nature) from 2011 to 2015, we not only confirm the equal importance of both TMT incentive and cognitive factors as causal conditions to achieve a high degree of ambidextrous FDI, but also provide original evidence on the interactive configurations of those factors that lead to ambidextrous FDI.

The storage root of alligatorweed [Alternanthera philoxeroides (Mart.) Griseb.] growing in terrestrial habitats is an important metamorphic organ for its propagation, overwintering, and spread. However, the regulatory mechanism adventitious root expansion to form storage roots is still unclear. To reveal the changes accompanying the root-swelling process, we quantified sugar, soluble protein, and phytohormone content in adventitious and storage roots. Results demonstrated that sucrose, fructose, and soluble protein increased in storage roots, whereas abscisic acid (ABA), indoleacetic acid (IAA), brassinosteroid (BR), gibberellin, jasmonic acid, and cytokinin (trans-zeatin [tZ] and isopentenyladenine [iP] and the corresponding ribosides tZR and iPR). tZ-type (tZR and tZ) content decreased, suggesting the involvement of sugars and hormones in the formation of storage roots. To further reveal the molecular basis of A. philoxeroides’s ability to form storage roots and provide candidate genes for molecular function analyses, we assembled a de novo transcriptome of A. philoxeroides based on four sets of RNA-sequencing data. According to functional annotation and expression profiling, 42 unigenes involved in sucrose synthesis and hydrolysis were identified, in addition to 70, 58, and 78 unigenes in ABA, BR, and IAA signal transduction, respectively. The quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed 21 unigenes involved in sugar metabolism and hormone signal transduction were differentially expressed during the formation of storage roots. These results revealed metabolic changes during the formation of storage roots and provide candidate genes involved in sugar and phytohormone metabolism in A. philoxeroides.

Existing literature regards flexibility and authority as key characteristics of informal justice. We further contend that the combination of the two is crucial for informal justice to be effective. We investigate the process of dispute resolution by a Chinese labor agency. Following the life cycles of a sample of 810 labor disputes, we find that this informal justice forum was efficient and effective, made possible by the combination of flexibility and authority. Flexibility means that the agency attracts certain types of cases that are usually screened out of the formal legal system and that agency officials use “informal,” hence flexible, techniques. Authority means that the administrative agency possesses additional powers over the disputants; hence, the disputants are under pressure to follow its suggestions and decisions. A comparative analysis of various cases of informal justice reinforces the importance of combining flexibility and authority. We further demonstrate that flexibility without authority is insufficient and that some informal justice forums are effective because they enjoy both.

Maternal supraphysiological estradiol (E2) environment during pregnancy leads to adverse perinatal outcomes. However, the influence of oocyte exposure to high E2 levels on perinatal outcomes remains unknown. Thus, a retrospective cohort study was conducted to explore the effect of high E2 level induced by controlled ovarian stimulation (COH) on further outcomes after frozen embryo transfer (FET). The study included all FET cycles (n = 10,581) between 2014 and 2017. All cycles were categorized into three groups according to the E2 level on the day of the human Chorionic Gonadotropin trigger. Odds ratios (ORs) and their confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to evaluate the association between E2 level during COH and pregnancy outcomes and subsequent neonatal outcomes. From our findings, higher E2 level was associated with lower percentage of chemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, and live birth as well as increased frequency of early miscarriage. Preterm births were more common among singletons in women with higher E2 level during COH (aOR1 = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.22–3.06; aOR2 = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.33–3.06). Incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) was more common in both singletons (aOR1 = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.30–3.11; aOR2 = 2.51, 95% CI: 1.69–3.74) and multiples (aOR1 = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.03–2.45; aOR2 = 1.99, 95% CI: 1.05–3.84) among women with relatively higher E2 level. No association was found between high E2 level during COH and the percentage of macrosomia or large for gestational age. In summary, oocyte exposure to high E2 level during COH should be brought to our attention, since the pregnancy rate decreasing and the risk of preterm birth and SGA increasing following FET.

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has spread widely and leads to high disease burden in many countries. However, relative transmissibility from male to female individuals remains unclear. HFMD surveillance database was built in Shenzhen City from 2013 to 2017. An intersex transmission susceptible–infectious–recovered model was developed to calculate the transmission relative rate among male individuals, among female individuals, from male to female and from female to male. Two indicators, ratio of transmission relative rate (Rβ) and relative transmissibility index (RTI), were developed to assess the relative transmissibility of male vs. female. During the study period, 270 347 HFMD cases were reported in the city, among which 16 were death cases with a fatality of 0.0059%. Reported incidence of total cases, male cases and female cases was 0.0057 (range: 0.0036–0.0058), 0.0052 (range: 0.0032–0.0053) and 0.0044 (range: 0.0026–0.0047), respectively. The difference was statistically significant between male and female (t = 3.046, P = 0.002). Rβ of male vs. female, female vs. female, from female to male vs. female and from male to female vs. female was 7.69, 1.00, 1.74 and 7.13, respectively. RTI of male vs. female, female vs. female, from female to male vs. female and from male to female vs. female was 3.08, 1.00, 1.88 and 1.43, respectively. Transmissibility of HFMD is different between male and female individuals. Male cases seem to be more transmissible than female.