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.

Grounded in institutional theory, this study delves into the heterogeneous responses of politically connected top executives (PCTEs) to uniform institutional requirements for corporate environmental responsibility (CER). Specifically, we scrutinized the moderating role of organizational visibility in shaping the association between PCTEs and both environmentally responsible and irresponsible practices. Analyzing data from listed Chinese firms in heavily polluting industries spanning from 2010 to 2018, the findings indicate that PCTEs contribute to an increase in firms’ environmentally responsible activities and a decrease in their environmentally irresponsible activities. Notably, the impact on environmentally responsible activities is significant only for privately controlled PCTEs. Furthermore, the moderating influence of organizational visibility is validated. The implications of these findings for the broader research on political connections and CER are thoroughly discussed.

Visual word recognition is constrained by writing systems. The orthographic depth hypothesis (ODH) was proposed to account for phonological activation in various degrees depending on how transparent the grapheme–phoneme conversion rule is in a writing system. This current study extends the investigation of ODH in bilingualism to understand the cross-language cognitive processes in bi-script readers. In two cross-language masked priming experiments, we show asymmetrical cognate facilitation effects, which are typically reported as a result of shared phonology and/or orthography between languages, in addition to meaning equivalence. That is, with the same set of items, when the primes were Chinese and the targets English (Experiment 1), there was no cognate facilitation effect; however, when we switched the languages in prime–target pairs (Experiment 2), the cognate facilitation effects emerged. These results indicate that shared phonology across languages is not sufficient to induce cognate facilitation effects and that language-dependent processing mechanisms play a crucial role.

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.

Mamyshev oscillators (MOs) demonstrate extraordinarily superior performance compared with fiber laser counterparts. However, the realization of a fully fiberized, monolithic laser system without pulse degradation remains a key challenge. Here we present a high-energy MO using large mode area Yb-doped fiber and fiber-integrable interferometric super-Gaussian spectral filters that directly generates a nearly diffraction-limited beam with approximately 9.84 W average power and 533 nJ pulse energy. By implementing pre-chirp management with anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (AR-HCF), the adverse effects of super-Gaussian filtering on pulse quality are effectively mitigated, enabling pulse compression to 1.23 times the transform limit. Furthermore, AR-HCF is employed to provide negative dispersion to compensate for the positive chirp of output pulses, resulting in approximately 37 fs de-chirped pulses with approximately 10 MW peak power. This approach represents a significant step toward the development of monolithic fiber lasers capable of generating and flexible delivery of sub-50-fs pulses with tens of megawatts peak power.

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.

Machine learning (ML) models have been developed to identify randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to accelerate systematic reviews (SRs). However, their use has been limited due to concerns about their performance and practical benefits. We developed a high-recall ensemble learning model using Cochrane RCT data to enhance the identification of RCTs for rapid title and abstract screening in SRs and evaluated the model externally with our annotated RCT datasets. Additionally, we assessed the practical impact in terms of labour time savings and recall improvement under two scenarios: ML-assisted double screening (where ML and one reviewer screened all citations in parallel) and ML-assisted stepwise screening (where ML flagged all potential RCTs, and at least two reviewers subsequently filtered the flagged citations). Our model achieved twice the precision compared to the existing SVM model while maintaining a recall of 0.99 in both internal and external tests. In a practical evaluation with ML-assisted double screening, our model led to significant labour time savings (average 45.4%) and improved recall (average 0.998 compared to 0.919 for a single reviewer). In ML-assisted stepwise screening, the model performed similarly to standard manual screening but with average labour time savings of 74.4%. In conclusion, compared with existing methods, the proposed model can reduce workload while maintaining comparable recall when identifying RCTs during the title and abstract screening stages, thereby accelerating SRs. We propose practical recommendations to effectively apply ML-assisted manual screening when conducting SRs, depending on reviewer availability (ML-assisted double screening) or time constraints (ML-assisted stepwise screening).

Contrafreeloading (CFL) refers to animals’ tendency to prefer obtaining food through effort rather than accessing food that is freely available. Researchers have proposed various hypotheses to explain this intriguing phenomenon, but few studies have provided a comprehensive analysis of the factors influencing this behaviour. In this study, we observed the choice of alternative food containers in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) to investigate their CFL tendencies and the effects of pre-training, food deprivation, and effort required on the CFL tasks. The results showed that budgerigars did not exhibit significant difference in their first choices or the time interacting with less challenging versus more challenging food containers. Moreover, when evaluating each budgerigar’s CFL level, only half of them were identified as strong contrafreeloaders. Thus, we suggest that budgerigars exhibit an intermediate CFL level that lies somewhere between a strong tendency and the absence of such behaviour. Furthermore, we also found that food-deprived budgerigars tended to select less challenging food containers, and pre-trained budgerigars were more likely to choose highly challenging food containers than moderately challenging food containers, which means that the requirement of only a reasonable effort (access to food from moderately challenging food containers in this study) and the experience of pre-training act to enhance their CFL levels, whereas the requirement of greater effort and the experience of food deprivation act to decrease their CFL levels. Studying animal CFL can help understand why animals choose to expend effort to obtain food rather than accessing it for free, and it also has implications for setting feeding environments to enhance the animal welfare of captive and domesticated animals.

In this study we conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment with low-income Hispanics in three neighborhoods in a large city in the U.S. to investigate how identity and social exclusion influences individual contributions to fund local public goods. We find that while the strength of identity has a significant and positive impact on individual contributions to local public goods, the perception of social exclusion significantly decreases contributions. Our findings thus suggest factors that may impede full civic participation, and shed important light on potential policies to increase integration of immigrants and ethnic minorities into mainstream society.

Machine learning has already shown promising potential in tiled-aperture coherent beam combining (CBC) to achieve versatile advanced applications. By sampling the spatially separated laser array before the combiner and detuning the optical path delays, deep learning techniques are incorporated into filled-aperture CBC to achieve single-step phase control. The neural network is trained with far-field diffractive patterns at the defocus plane to establish one-to-one phase-intensity mapping, and the phase prediction accuracy is significantly enhanced thanks to the strategies of sin-cos loss function and two-layer output of the phase vector that are adopted to resolve the phase discontinuity issue. The results indicate that the trained network can predict phases with improved accuracy, and phase-locking of nine-channel filled-aperture CBC has been numerically demonstrated in a single step with a residual phase of λ/70. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that machine learning has been made feasible in filled-aperture CBC laser systems.

Dolichousnea longissima is famous as the world’s longest lichen, which typically reproduces asexually. Factors impacting its length and reproductive strategies are of theoretical interest and important for conservation. We discovered a Dolichousnea population with apotheciate thalli in Western China. Phylogenetic analyses using ITS sequence data confirmed specimens were D. longissima. Multiple phylogenetic branches included both apotheciate and non-apotheciate thalli, thus genetic differences within the ITS region were not related to apothecia production. There was no indication that apotheciate Dolichousnea specimens from this region belong to a separate, morphologically and genetically distinct population. In a field experiment, we transplanted non-apotheciate thallus strands of 10, 20, 40 or 80 cm length from higher to lower elevations: c. 4000 to 3400 m. Elevational gradients in temperature, relative humidity and vapour pressure deficit simulated future climatic change. We tested hypotheses regarding the impact of climatic stressors on D. longissima growth and reproduction. After three years of growth, thallus mortality was highest at the lowest sites. Of surviving thalli, 23% had fragmented, with fragmentation rates increasing with length. Other thalli thrived, reaching a maximum main stem length of 321 cm, with a maximum total length of 764 cm. Intact thalli showed negative length-dependent growth. Lower elevations were associated with initiation of sexual reproduction, reduced relative thallus length growth rates (RTLGR) and lower photobiont abundance, with apparent shifts of photobionts from the main stem to fibrils and reallocation of resources from length to central cord and fibril mass. Probability of switching to sexual reproduction increased with thallus length, but shorter thalli made greater relative investment in apothecia production. Detrimental impacts of climate change could reduce D. longissima range and biomass production, thereby also decreasing food availability for the endangered lichenivorous monkey, Rhinopithecus bieti. Conservation efforts should be prioritized at sites currently hosting abundant, fast-growing thalli, and high-elevation mature forests where D. longissima is most likely to persist under future climatic change. Apotheciate populations need protection because sexual reproduction theoretically generates genetic variability, increasing the likelihood of generating mycobiont genotypes adapted to altered climatic conditions.

This study investigates the stability and instability of the language control network in bilinguals using longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data. We compared the language control network of Chinese university students majoring in English with those not, using three other functional networks as controls. Results indicate that the English major group exhibits reduced stability and increased instability in the language control network compared with the non-English major group. This suggests that second language (L2) learning experience may induce adaptive neural changes. Moreover, the coexistence of stability and instability in the language control network appears less modular in the English major group, implying a more integrated response to language experience. Notably, these results were not observed in the control networks. Overall, these findings enhance the understanding of bilingual language control and the impact of L2 learning on neural plasticity.

Inspired by work of Szymik and Wahl on the homology of Higman–Thompson groups, we establish a general connection between ample groupoids, topological full groups, algebraic K-theory spectra and infinite loop spaces, based on the construction of small permutative categories of compact open bisections. This allows us to analyse homological invariants of topological full groups in terms of homology for ample groupoids.

Applications include complete rational computations, general vanishing and acyclicity results for group homology of topological full groups as well as a proof of Matui’s AH-conjecture for all minimal, ample groupoids with comparison.

Although it is well established that gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with fetal overgrowth in singleton pregnancies, little is known about its role in twins. We aimed to explore the relationship between GDM and the longitudinal fetal growth in twin pregnancies. This was a retrospective matched cohort study of GDM and non-GDM twin pregnancies delivered ≥36 weeks without other complications. All the women performed ≥3 ultrasounds after 22 weeks. Linear mixed models (LMMs) were used to explore the relationships between longitudinal fetal growth trajectories and GDM. Group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) and generalized estimating equation (GEE) were applied to identify the latent growth patterns and investigate their relationships with GDM. In total, 215 GDM and 645 non-GDM twins were included, the majority of the patients did not require medication therapy (n = 202, GDMA1). LMM revealed that, compared with non-GDM, GDM was associated with an average increase in fetal weight of 4.36 g (95% CI [1.25, 7.48]) per week. GBTM and GEE further revealed that GDM increased the odds of fetal weight trajectory to nearly 40% of the total fetal weight trajectory, classified into the high-speed group (aOR = 1.39, 95% CI [1.03, 1.88]), associating with a 49.44 g (95% CI [11.41, 87.48]) increase in birth weight. Subgroup analysis revealed that all these differences were only significant among the GDMA1 pregnancies (p < .05). GDM (GDMA1) is significantly associated with an increase in fetal weight during gestation in twin pregnancies. However, this acceleration is mild, and its significance requires further exploration.

The interaction between planar incident shocks and cylindrical boundary layers is prevalent in missiles equipped with inverted inlets, which typically leads to substantial three-dimensional flow separation and the formation of vortical flow. This study utilizes wind-tunnel experiments and theoretical analysis to elucidate the shock structure, surface topology and pressure distributions induced by a planar shock with finite width impinging on a cylinder wall at Mach 2.0. In the central region, a refraction phenomenon occurs as the transmitted shock bends within the boundary layer, generating a series of compression waves that coalesce into a shock, forming a ‘shock triangle’ structure. As the incident shock propagates backward along both sides, it gradually evolves into a Mach stem, where the transmitted shock refracts the expansion wave. The incident shock interacts with the boundary layer, resulting in the formation of a highly swept separation region that yields a pair of counter-rotating horseshoe-like vortices above the separation lines. These vortices facilitate the accumulation of low-energy fluid on both sides. Although the interaction of the symmetry plane aligns with free-interaction-theory, the separation shock angle away from the centre significantly deviates from the predicted value owing to the accumulation of low-energy fluids. The primary separation line and pressure distribution jointly exhibit an elliptical similarity on the cylindrical surface. Furthermore, the potential unsteady behaviour is assessed, and the Strouhal number of the low-frequency oscillation is found to be 0.0094, which is insufficient to trigger significant alterations in the flow field structure.

Rhopalosiphum padi is an important grain pest, causing severe losses during crop production. As a systemic insecticide, flonicamid can control piercing-sucking pests efficiently. In our study, the lethal effects of flonicamid on the biological traits of R. padi were investigated via a life table approach. Flonicamid is highly efficiently toxic to R. padi, with an LC50 of 9.068 mg L−1. The adult longevity and fecundity of the R. padi F0 generation were markedly reduced under the LC25 and LC50 concentrations of flonicamid exposure. In addition, negative transgenerational effects on R. padi were observed under exposure to lethal concentrations of flonicamid, with noticeable decreases in the reproductive period, adult longevity, total longevity, and total fecundity of the F1 generation under the LC25 concentration of flonicamid. Furthermore, the third nymph stage (N3), preadult stage, duration of the adult pre-reproductive period, duration of the total pre-reproductive period, reproductive period, adult longevity, total longevity, and total fecundity of the F1 generation were significantly lower under treatment with the LC50 concentration of flonicamid. The life table parameters were subsequently analysed, revealing that the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) and the net reproductive rate (R0) were significantly lower but that the finite rate of increase (λ) and the mean generation time (T) were not significantly different under the LC25 and LC50 concentrations of flonicamid. These data are beneficial for grain aphid control and are critical for exploring the role of flonicamid in the integrated management of this key pest.