The impact of the Internet on household consumption expenditure: an empirical study based on China Family Panel Studies data

This article empirically analyzes the impact of Internet usage on household consumption expenditure based on the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data for three periods 2014, 2016, and 2018. The results show that Internet use significantly increases household consumption. This boost persists after adding a series of control variables, accounting for differences in time and region, or changing the measurement of the main explanatory variables. After introducing instrumental variables to overcome potential endogeneity problems and further including the Internet use of the financial decision maker’s spouse for a series of robustness tests, the findings remain robust. The positive boost is even more significant. Finally, heterogeneity analysis is conducted for different consumption types, urban and rural areas, gender of financial decision-makers, and use of other Internet tools

Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Rice

Food security is a major global issue because of the growing population and decreasing land area. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple cereal crop in the world. Application of nitrogen (N) fertilizer has improved crop yield in the world during the past five decades but with considerable negative impacts on the environment. New solutions are therefore urgently needed to simultaneously increase yields while maintaining or preferably decreasing applied N to maximize the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crops. Plant NUE is inherently complex with each step (including N uptake, translocation, assimilation, and remobilization) governed by multiple interacting genetic and environmental factors. Based on the current knowledge, we propose some possible approaches enhancing NUE, by molecular manipulation selecting candidate genes and agricultural integrated management practices for NUE improvement. Developing an integrated research program combining approaches, mainly based on whole-plant physiology, quantitative genetics, forward and reverse genetics, and agronomy approaches to improve NUE, is a major objective in the future

Tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of metal-doped phenanthrene by codoping method

By first principles method, we have determined the geometric configuration of K/Ba-codoped phenanthrene based on the formation energy calculations, and systematically investigated its electronic and magnetic properties. There are two bands crossing Fermi energy which mainly result from the LUMO+1 orbitals of two phenanthrene molecules in a unit cell, and the cylinder-like Fermi surface along the ${\Gamma}$-Z direction reflects the two-dimension character of metallic conduction of K/Ba-codoped phenanthrene. Compared to K-doped phenanthrene, K/Ba-codoping can donate more electrons to molecule to modify the electronic structure, while the intercalation of dopants does not result in the large distortion of molecule. (KBa)$_1$phenanthrene is a magnetic metal with the spin moment of 0.32 ${\mu}_B$ per each molecule, and unexpectedly, the spins gather in one edge of molecule rather than a uniform distribution on the whole molecule. Our results demonstrate that codoping of monovalent and bivalent metals is an effective approach to modulate the electronic properties of metal-doped hydrocarbons.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

The PBDE-209 Exposure during Pregnancy and Lactation Impairs Immune Function in Rats

In the present study, we assessed the treatment effects of PBDE-209 administration on the immune function in rats during pregnancy and lactation. We harvested the blood and organs for flow cytometry, viability assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and histological evaluation. The results of this study were the PBDE-209 exposure during pregnancy and lactation impairs immune function in rats. The results may contribute to understanding the mechanism of PBDE-209 in immune function

Effects of 4A Zeolite Additions on the Structure and Performance of LDPE Blend Microfiltration Membrane through Thermally Induced Phase Separation Method

Microfiltration membranes, 4A zeolite/LDPE, were prepared by blending low density polyethylene (LDPE) and4A zeolite through thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) process with diphenyl ether (DPE) as diluent. The effects of 4A zeolite loading on the pore structure and water permeation performance of the 4A zeolite/LDPE blend membranes were investigated. The incorporation of 4A zeolite particles greatly enhanced the connectivity of membrane pores, the pore size, and thus the water flux of 4A zeolite/LDPE blend membranes due to the gradually stronger DPE-zeolite affinity with the increase of the 4A zeolite loading. The water flux increased from 0 of LDPE control membrane to 87 L/m2h of 4A zeolite/LDPE blend membrane with 4A zeolite loading of 10 wt%. In addition, increasing the DPE content and cooling bath temperature is in favor of the water flux of 4A zeolite/LDPE blend membranes