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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.
Rare earth elements (REEs) preserved in speleothems have garnered increasing attention as ideal proxies for the paleoenvironmental reconstruction. However, due to their typically low contents in stalagmites, the availability of stalagmite-based REE records remains limited. Here we present high-resolution REEs alongside oxygen isotope (δ18O) records in stalagmite SX15a from Sanxing Cave, southwestern China (110.1–103.3 ka). This study demonstrates that REE records could provide useful information for the provenance and formation process of the stalagmite, due to consistent distribution pattern across different periods indicating stable provenance. More interestingly, the total REE (ΣREE) record could serve as an effective indicator to reflect local hydrological processes associated with monsoonal precipitation. During Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5d, a relatively low ΣREE content is consistent with the positive SX15a δ18O and negative NGRIP δ18O, reflecting a dry-cold environment; while during MIS 5c, a generally high ΣREE content suggests a humid-warm circumstance. Furthermore, the ΣREE record captured four prominent sub-millennial fluctuations within the Greenland interstadial 24 event, implying a combined influence by the regional climate and local soil redox conditions. Our findings indicate that the stalagmite-based REE records would be a useful proxy for better understanding of past climate and environment changes.
We undertake a comprehensive investigation into the distribution of in situ stars within Milky Way-like galaxies, leveraging TNG50 simulations and comparing their predictions with data from the H3 survey. Our analysis reveals that 28% of galaxies demonstrate reasonable agreement with H3, while only 12% exhibit excellent alignment in their profiles, regardless of the specific spatial cut employed to define in situ stars. To uncover the underlying factors contributing to deviations between TNG50 and H3 distributions, we scrutinize correlation coefficients among internal drivers(e.g., virial radius, star formation rate [SFR]) and merger-related parameters (such as the effective mass-ratio, mean distance, average redshift, total number of mergers, average spin-ratio and maximum spin alignment between merging galaxies). Notably, we identify significant correlations between deviations from observational data and key parameters such as the median slope of virial radius, mean SFR values, and the rate of SFR change across different redshift scans. Furthermore, positive correlations emerge between deviations from observational data and parameters related to galaxy mergers. We validate these correlations using the Random Forest Regression method. Our findings underscore the invaluable insights provided by the H3 survey in unravelling the cosmic history of galaxies akin to the Milky Way, thereby advancing our understanding of galactic evolution and shedding light on the formation and evolution of Milky Way-like galaxies in cosmological simulations.
Although early health technology assessment (HTA) is increasingly being used to guide and inform decisions on product development, a consensus definition is currently lacking. A working group under the HTA International Society was established to develop a consensus-based definition of early HTA. The working group developed a definition using an iterative process that comprised five stages of work and included a two-round Delphi survey with 133 respondents in the first and 99 respondents in the second round of the survey, with various backgrounds and levels of expertise. Following this process, the working group reached the first consensus-based definition of early HTA, which is an HTA conducted to inform decisions about subsequent development, research, and/or investment by explicitly evaluating the potential value of a conceptual or actual health technology. In total, 86 (87 percent) of the 99 panelists who participated in the second round of the Delphi survey either strongly agreed or agreed with this definition. This consensus definition represents an important milestone in early HTA. It will enhance the uniformity of terminology, increasing the visibility of research and policy in this field. We also hope that it will act as a catalyst sparkling further research and developments in this discipline.
Focusing on the metropolitan cities of Seoul, Korea and London, England, this paper seeks to provide a better understanding of the role of cities and local social policy in addressing responses to and impacts of the pandemic, as well as in governing a place-based approach to pandemic recovery, human security, and inclusive and sustainable growth. It draws on a critical human security perspective and the application of a multi-scalar governance and territorial matrix for local social policy and social infrastructure to highlight the complex and multisectoral social and public policy challenges facing both Seoul and London in the aftermath of the pandemic as well as the overlapping, intersectional, and multi-layered insecurities, how they have evolved and strategies to address them. The study draws on secondary data sources, workshops, and qualitative interviews with key city stakeholders in both cities conducted between February 2022 and July 2023.
The stars of the Milky Way carry the chemical history of our Galaxy in their atmospheres as they journey through its vast expanse. Like barcodes, we can extract the chemical fingerprints of stars from high-resolution spectroscopy. The fourth data release (DR4) of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) Survey, based on a decade of observations, provides the chemical abundances of up to 32 elements for 917 588 stars that also have exquisite astrometric data from the Gaia satellite. For the first time, these elements include life-essential nitrogen to complement carbon, and oxygen as well as more measurements of rare-earth elements critical to modern-life electronics, offering unparalleled insights into the chemical composition of the Milky Way. For this release, we use neural networks to simultaneously fit stellar parameters and abundances across the whole wavelength range, leveraging synthetic grids computed with Spectroscopy Made Easy. These grids account for atomic line formation in non-local thermodynamic equilibrium for 14 elements. In a two-iteration process, we first fit stellar labels to all 1 085 520 spectra, then co-add repeated observations and refine these labels using astrometric data from Gaia and 2MASS photometry, improving the accuracy and precision of stellar parameters and abundances. Our validation thoroughly assesses the reliability of spectroscopic measurements and highlights key caveats. GALAH DR4 represents yet another milestone in Galactic archaeology, combining detailed chemical compositions from multiple nucleosynthetic channels with kinematic information and age estimates. The resulting dataset, covering nearly a million stars, opens new avenues for understanding not only the chemical and dynamical history of the Milky Way but also the broader questions of the origin of elements and the evolution of planets, stars, and galaxies.
We present an experimental study on the effects of polymer additives on the turbulent/non-turbulent interface (TNTI) in a fully developed round water jet. The Reynolds number based on the jet diameter is fixed at $Re=7075$. The Weissenberg number $Wi$ ranges from 24 to 86. We employ time-resolved simultaneous particle image velocimetry and laser-induced fluorescence measurements to investigate the local entrainment and engulfment process along the TNTI in two regimes: entrainment transition and enhancement regimes. In polymer-laden jets, the TNTI fluctuates more intermittently in the radial direction and more ambient fluid can be engulfed into the turbulent region due to the augmented large scale motion. Though the contribution of engulfment to the total flux increases with $Wi$, engulfment is still not the major contribution to the entrainment in polymer-laden jets. We further show that the local entrainment velocity is increased in both regimes compared with the pure water jet, due to two contributions: polymer elastic stress and the more intermittent character of the TNTI. In the entrainment transition regime, we observe smaller fractal dimension and shorter length of TNTI compared with the Newtonian case, consistent with previous numerical simulations (Abreu et al. J. Fluid Mech. vol. 934, 2022, A36); whereas those in the enhancement regime remain largely unchanged. The difference between the two regimes results from the fact that the jet flow decays in the streamwise direction. In the entrainment transition regime, turbulence intensity is strong enough to significantly stretch the polymers, resulting in a smoother TNTI in the inertial range. However, in the entrainment enhancement regime, the polymer’s feedback is not strong enough to alter the fractal dimension due to the low elasticity. The above mentioned differences of entrainment velocity and TNTI in the entrainment reduction/transition and enhancement regimes also explain the reduced and enhanced spreading rate of the viscoelastic jet observed in previous numerical simulations and experiments (Guimarães et al. J. Fluid Mech. 2020,vol. 899, A11; Peng et al. Phys. Fluids, 2023, vol. 35, 045110).
Broad-spectrum antibiotic use in febrile neutropenia is often driven by concerns for severe and drug-resistant infections. In select patients who do not have an active infection and improve, their prolonged and unnecessary use contributes to antimicrobial resistance, drug toxicity, and increased healthcare costs. We describe the implementation of an antibiotic de-escalation protocol to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use in febrile neutropenia among hematology patients.
Methods:
We conducted baseline analysis (January–June 2024) of antibiotic use in febrile neutropenia cases admitted under hematology. Interventions included the (i) development of an antibiotic de-escalation protocol to guide clinical management, (ii) a roadshow to educate and improve uptake of this protocol, and (iii) regular feedback via “report cards” for hematology teams. The primary outcome was the proportion of febrile neutropenia cases with inappropriate antibiotic use, with secondary measures including adverse outcomes (in-hospital mortality, Clostridioides difficile infection, need for intensive care).
Results:
Baseline data indicated inappropriate antibiotic use rates of 45.5–66.7% per month from January to June 2024, with 13–28 days of inappropriate therapy. The protocol was developed in July 2024, with a subsequent roadshow to promote its uptake. Regular feedback was provided in the form of “report cards” every 2-monthly thereafter. Post-intervention, inappropriate antibiotic use decreased to a median of 23.35% from July to December 2024, with no observed increase in adverse outcomes.
Conclusions:
The implementation of a structured de-escalation protocol, combined with frequent education and feedback, effectively reduced inappropriate antibiotic use in febrile neutropenia without compromising patient safety.
We perform a comprehensive linear non-modal stability analysis of the Rayleigh–Bénard convection with and without a Poiseuille/Couette flow in Oldroyd-B fluids. In the absence of shear flow, unlike the Newtonian case in which the perturbation energy decays monotonically with time, the interaction between temperature gradient and polymeric stresses can surprisingly cause a transient growth up to 104. This transient growth is maximized at the Hopf bifurcation when the stationary instability dominant in the weakly elastic regime transitions to the oscillatory instability dominant in the strongly elastic regime. In the presence of a Poiseuille/Couette flow, the streamwise-uniform disturbances may achieve the greatest energy amplification, and similar to the pure bounded shear flows, Gmax ∝ Re2 and tmax ∝ Re, where Gmax is the maximum energy growth, tmax the time to attain Gmax, Re the Reynolds number. It is noteworthy that there exist two peaks during the transient energy growth at high-Re cases. Different from the first one which is less affected by the temperature gradient and elasticity, the second peak, at which the disturbance energy is the largest, is simultaneously determined by the temperature gradient, elasticity and shear intensity. Specifically, the polymeric stresses field absorbs energy from the temperature field and base flow, which is partially transferred into the perturbed hydrodynamic field eventually, driving the transient amplification of the perturbed wall-normal vorticity.
Interrupted aortic arch is an uncommon cardiac anomaly characterised by a lack of continuity between the ascending and descending aorta. The presence of interrupted aortic arch in adults is extremely rare, and there is limited documentation of such cases in the literature. In this article, we present a unique case of interrupted aortic arch in an adult diagnosed through angiography. This case falls under the anatomical classification of type B interruption, although the blood supply to the left subclavian artery originates from the ascending aorta. Its haemodynamic characteristics are completely different from those of the classical type B interruption.
This study employs volume-of-fluid-based computational fluid dynamics modelling to investigate the coupled effects of surface wettability and inflow vapour velocity on R134a ($p/p_{cri}=0.25$) condensation heat transfer in horizontal tubes. The results demonstrate that both the condensation heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and Nusselt number consistently increase with rising vapour velocity, indicating enhanced convective heat transfer at higher flow rates. Within this overall trend, the influence of surface wettability varies significantly across different velocity regimes. At moderate inlet velocities (10 m s−1), surface wettability demonstrates maximum impact, with the HTC enhancement exceeding 19.1% between peak and minimum values, optimising at contact angles of 120$^\circ$–140$^\circ$. As velocity increases to 20 m s−1, while surface wettability effects persist with $\gt$11.7 % enhancement, convective heat transfer becomes increasingly dominant, showing $\gt$38.8 % improvement in the maximum HTC compared with the 10 m s−1 case. At higher velocities (40 m s−1), the influence of surface wettability diminishes substantially, with the HTC variation reducing to $\gt$1.04 %. At extreme velocities (80 m s−1), surface tension effects become negligible compared with vapour shear forces, resulting in minimal (0.53 %) variation across different contact angles. The equivalent Reynolds number peaks at 20 m s−1, indicating optimal conditions for condensate formation and flow characteristics. These findings provide crucial insights for condensation system design, suggesting that while increasing velocity generally enhances heat transfer performance, surface wettability modifications are most effective at moderate velocities, while high-velocity applications should prioritise flow dynamics and system geometry optimisation.
Turbulent emulsions are ubiquitous in chemical engineering, food processing, pharmaceuticals and other fields. However, our experimental understanding of this area remains limited due to the multiscale nature of turbulent flow and the presence of extensive interfaces, which pose significant challenges to optical measurements. In this study, we address these challenges by precisely matching the refractive indices of the continuous and dispersed phases, enabling us to measure local velocity information at high volume fractions. The emulsion is generated in a turbulent Taylor–Couette flow, with velocity measured at two radial locations: near the inner cylinder (boundary layer) and in the middle gap (bulk region). Near the inner cylinder, the presence of droplets suppresses the emission of angular velocity plumes, which reduces the mean azimuthal velocity and its root mean squared fluctuation. The former effect leads to a higher angular velocity gradient in the boundary layer, resulting in greater global drag on the system. In the bulk region, although droplets suppress turbulence fluctuations, they enhance the cross-correlation between azimuthal and radial velocities, leaving the angular velocity flux contributed by the turbulent flow nearly unchanged. In both locations, droplets suppress turbulence at scales larger than the average droplet diameter and increase the intermittency of velocity increments. However, the effects of the droplets are more pronounced near the inner cylinder than in the bulk, likely because droplets fragment in the boundary layer but are less prone to break up in the bulk. Our study provides experimental insights into how dispersed droplets modulate global drag, coherent structures and the multiscale characteristics of turbulent flow.
Kawasaki disease is a leading cause of acquired heart disease in children in the developed world, characterised by acute systemic vasculitis, with a complex aetiology that remains poorly understood. Recent studies have highlighted the potential anti-inflammatory effects of Interleukin-35 in various proinflammatory and cardiovascular conditions. However, the relationship between Interleukin-35 gene polymorphisms and Kawasaki disease susceptibility, particularly in Chinese children, has not been well-explored.
In this study, we investigated the association between five Interleukin-35 single-nucleotide polymorphisms—rs2243115, rs2243123, rs583911, rs353698, and rs2302164—and Kawasaki disease in a cohort of Chinese children. A total of ninety-four Kawasaki disease patients and one hundred healthy controls were enrolled, with the Kawasaki disease patients further divided into subgroups based on the presence or absence of coronary artery lesions and incomplete or complete Kawasaki disease. Genotyping of Interleukin-35 polymorphisms was performed using the MassARRAY system.
The results showed the GT + GG genotypes and G allele of rs2243115 (T > G) were significantly more prevalent in Kawasaki disease patients with coronary artery lesions than in those without coronary artery lesions, suggesting a possible association with the development of coronary artery lesions. Additionally, the G allele of rs353698 (A > G) was more frequently observed in the incomplete Kawasaki disease group compared to the complete Kawasaki disease group, suggesting a possible association with the risk of incomplete Kawasaki disease.
This paper presents a millimeter-wave end-fire dual-polarized (DP) array antenna with symmetrical radiation patterns and high isolation. The DP radiation element is formed by integrating a quasi-Yagi antenna (providing horizontal polarization) into a pyramidal horn antenna (providing vertical polarization), resulting in a DP radiation element with a symmetrical radiation aperture. To efficiently feed the DP element while maintaining high isolation, a mode-composite full-corporate-feed network is employed, comprising substrate-integrated waveguide supporting the TE10 mode and substrate-integrated coaxial line supporting the TEM mode. This design eliminates the need for additional transition structures, achieving excellent mode isolation and a reduced substrate layer number. A 1 × 4-element DP array prototype operating at 26.5–29.5 GHz using low temperature co-fired ceramic technology was designed, fabricated, and measured. The test results indicate that the prototype achieves an average gain exceeding 10 dBi for both polarizations within the operating band. Thanks to the symmetrical DP radiation element and mode-composite full-corporate-feed network, symmetrical radiation patterns for both polarizations are observed in both the horizontal and vertical planes, along with a high cross-polarization discrimination of 22 dB and polarization port isolation of 35 dB.
We conduct direct numerical simulations to investigate the synchronisation of Kolmogorov flows in a periodic box, with a focus on the mechanisms underlying the asymptotic evolution of infinitesimal velocity perturbations, also known as conditional leading Lyapunov vectors. This study advances previous work with a spectral analysis of the perturbation, which clarifies the behaviours of the production and dissipation spectra at different coupling wavenumbers. We show that, in simulations with moderate Reynolds numbers, the conditional leading Lyapunov exponent can be smaller than a lower bound proposed previously based on a viscous estimate. A quantitative analysis of the self-similar evolution of the perturbation energy spectrum is presented, extending the existing qualitative discussion. The prerequisites for obtaining self-similar solutions are established, which include an interesting relationship between the integral length scale of the perturbation velocity and the local Lyapunov exponent. By examining the governing equation for the dissipation rate of the velocity perturbation, we reveal the previously neglected roles of the strain rate and vorticity perturbations, and uncover their unique geometrical characteristics.
The English spoken in China is categorised within the Expanding Circle in the World Englishes paradigm. Of late, the diversity of Chinese dialects has drawn scholarly attention to China English accents. This study contributes to the existing literature on China English by focusing on the Sichuan province in southwestern China. It involves participants from the largest Han ethnic group and the Yi minority. English monophthongs produced by 40 Sichuan Han and Yi speakers were elicited, and their distribution and contrasts were examined and compared to provide insights into the production of their English vowels. Findings from the instrumental analysis indicate a lack of vowel-quality contrasts in specific vowel pairs produced by both Han and Yi speakers, resulting in a simplified vowel system. There are notable differences between Han and Yi speakers in the production of English vowels, possibly influenced by their different first languages. In addition, specific gender-based inconsistencies were also found, suggesting gender as an influencing factor in the production of English monophthong vowels. Overall, this study identifies Sichuan English as an emerging sub-variety of China English and supports the perspective that China English is an evolving and distinct variety rather than an interlanguage.
Farming has modified the natural dynamic of soil erosion/redistribution in significant parts of landscapes, triggering high rates of soil loss and accelerating sediment connectivity. This chapter provides a review of sediment connectivity in grassland, herbaceous and woody crops from knowledge to management. The first section explores the extension of farmland at a global scale and the process of agricultural land expansion. Regarding herbaceous crops, the second section highlights the importance of cropping intensity (one or two crops per year), water supply (rainfed or irrigated), and crop rotation on the sediment-connectivity magnitude. In the section of woody crops, studies done in vineyards, olive groves and citrus orchards describe the processes of sediment connectivity with and without soil conservation practices (e.g., cover crops). The section of sediment connectivity in grasslands includes examples in alpine hillsides, valley bottom and lakes, emphasizing their role as sediment-trapping features. The last section deals with sediment dis-connectivity in farmland due to soil erosion control practices and governmental programs, with examples from Europe and China.
Compulsive cleaning is a characteristic symptom of a particular subtype of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and is often accompanied by intense disgust. While overgeneralization of threat is a key factor in the development of obsessive–compulsive symptoms, previous studies have primarily focused on fear generalization and have rarely examined disgust generalization. A systematic determination of the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying disgust generalization in individuals with contamination concern is crucial for enhancing our understanding of OCD.
Method
In this study, we recruited 27 individuals with high contamination concerns and 30 individuals with low contamination concerns. Both groups performed a disgust generalization task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Results
The results revealed that individuals with high contamination concern had higher disgust expectancy scores for the generalization stimulus GS4 (the stimulus most similar to CS+) and exhibited higher levels of activation in the left insula and left putamen. Moreover, the activation of the left insula and putamen were positively correlated with a questionnaire core of the ratings of disgust and also positively correlated with the expectancy rating of CS+ during the generalization stage.
Conclusion
Hyperactivation of the insula and putamen during disgust generalization neutrally mediates the higher degree of disgust generalization in subclinical OCD individuals. This study indicates that altered disgust generalization plays an important role in individuals with high contamination concerns and provides evidence of the neural mechanisms involved. These insights may serve as a basis for further exploration of the pathogenesis of OCD in the future.