59 research outputs found

    Does the Chinese government engage in online public debates? A case study of political communications around the building of an oil refinery in Kunming, China

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    This article discusses how the Chinese government engages in online political debates and whether it adjusts its policies to respond to public concerns raised in such debates. This research explores government actions and discourses by using debates between Chinese net-users and the government around the building of an oil refinery in Kunming as a case study. It finds that the government used traditional party newspapers and social media as platforms to express its opinions and to interact with net-users regarding the oil refinery. The reports published in party media and government social media posts acknowledged the government’s awareness of the public’s concerns, demonstrated their reaction to the concerns and reinforced the government’s agenda. However, although the government engaged with the debate, it did not change its decisions about the oil refinery to respond to the public concerns raised online

    The Effect of Initial Creep Damage on Unloading Failure Properties of Sandstone from Macro-mesoscopic Perspective

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    The aim of this research was to show the effect of initial creep damage on unloading failure of rock from macro-mesoscopic perspective. A series of triaxial creep tests were carried out on sandstone to simulate initial creep damage and then unloading confining pressure tests were performed, respectively. A creep damage variable was proposed to analyze the degree of initial creep damage and the relationship of it with the macroscopic strength parameters was established. The results showed that the unloading amount of confining pressure and residual strength all tend to decrease when the degree of initial creep damage increases. The critical challenge was how to describe the effect of initial creep damage from mesoscopic perspective. This aim was achieved through two steps. In the first step, the mesoscopic properties were analyzed using experimentally obtained SEM images of the rock samples with different levels of initial creep damage. By comparative analysis of porosities in different magnifications, it can be concluded that porosity can’t reflect the effect of initial creep damage very well, thus, other pore parameters are further proposed. In the second step, three pore parameters were calculated by using the Matlab and IPP software, then, the average value of mean pore diameter is determined as the proper evaluation parameter and, finally, the agreement was verified between the mesoscopic pore parameter and creep damage variable

    The semi-structured online public sphere in China: institutional criteria and political functions

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    This research analyses online political communication in China by applying Habermas’ public sphere theory as a normative framework. The three institutional criteria (equality, problematization of unquestioned areas, and principally inclusive) and two political functions (expressional function and corresponding function) stemming from the public sphere theory act as analytic lenses to analyse the power relations, expressions, languages, and interactions in the communications. By using three events as case studies, this research applies a combination of content and discourse analysis to study them. It argues that there is a semi-structured public sphere in China, in the sense that it is a sphere that shows both promise and limitations in terms of facilitating equal, inclusive, liberal and critical political communications in China. It can act as a normative space for Chinese net-users to communicate about their concerns, but is not powerful enough to put real pressure on government to achieve sustained changes at policy level. Equal and inclusive debates are facilitated as net-users are given equal rights to express their opinions, and these opinions are inclusively available online; but they are also limited since pre-existing status has not been dis-regarded. Opinions generated by social and political elites and media organisations are constructed with pre-determined significance, and as a result, opinions are unequally accessed and valued. Through the online public sphere, Chinese net-users have debated different political issues. Through expressions and linguistic choices that are both critical and creative, they have challenged the government’s decisions and roles, and resisted censorship. The government still censors online debates, but has begun to recognise the significance of the online public sphere, and in a limited way, has engaged in communications with net-users, although they treat these communications as ways to promote and reinforce their interests, rather than truly seeking out opinions from the public

    Who are the preferential targets for intervention programs related to the female condom among sex workers in Southern China?

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    The authors used a cluster analysis approach to investigate which female sex workers (FSW) are preferential targets for female condom (FC) intervention programs in southern China. Cross-sectional 6-month (N = 316) and 12-month (N = 217) postintervention surveys of FSW were analyzed. Based on FC attitudes and beliefs, initially suggesting FC use to a partner, practicing insertion, total times ever used, and willingness to use in the future, cluster analysis apportioned women into two clusters, with 50.6% and 58.1% of participants in the likely future FC users group at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. Likely future FC users tended to be from boarding houses, older, currently or previously married, experienced with childbirth, with current multiple sex partners, longer history of sex work, and more unprotected sexual encounters. Focusing FC programs on sectors of the community with more FSW who are likely to use FC may be more costeffective for enhancing FC acceptability and usage. © 2013 The Guilford Press

    Arabidopsis Ovate Family Proteins, a Novel Transcriptional Repressor Family, Control Multiple Aspects of Plant Growth and Development

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    , AtOFP4 has been shown to regulate secondary cell wall formation by interact with KNOTTED1-LIKE HOMEODOMAIN PROTEIN 7 (KNAT7), and AtOFP5 has been shown to regulate the activity of a BEL1-LIKEHOMEODOMAIN 1(BLH1)-KNAT3 complex during early embryo sac development, but little is known about the function of other AtOFPs. genes may also have diverse functions in regulating plant growth and development. Further analysis suggested that AtOFP1 regulates cotyledon development in a postembryonic manner, and global transcript profiling revealed that it suppress the expression of many other genes.Our results showed that AtOFPs function as transcriptional repressors and they regulate multiple aspects of plant growth and development. These results provided the first overview of a previously unknown transcriptional repressor family, and revealed their possible roles in plant growth and development

    Shorter leukocyte telomere length is associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes: A cohort study in UK Biobank.

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    Background Older age is the most powerful risk factor for adverse coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outcomes. It is uncertain whether leucocyte telomere length (LTL), previously proposed as a marker of biological age, is also associated with COVID-19 outcomes. Methods We associated LTL values obtained from participants recruited into UK Biobank (UKB) during 2006-2010 with adverse COVID-19 outcomes recorded by 30 November 2020, defined as a composite of any of the following: hospital admission, need for critical care, respiratory support, or mortality. Using information on 130 LTL-associated genetic variants, we conducted exploratory Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses in UKB to evaluate whether observational associations might reflect cause-and-effect relationships. Findings Of 6775 participants in UKB who tested positive for infection with SARS-CoV-2 in the community, there were 914 (13.5%) with adverse COVID-19 outcomes. The odds ratio (OR) for adverse COVID-19 outcomes was 1·17 (95% CI 1·05-1·30; P = 0·004) per 1-SD shorter usual LTL, after adjustment for age, sex and ethnicity. Similar ORs were observed in analyses that: adjusted for additional risk factors; disaggregated the composite outcome and reduced the scope for selection or collider bias. In MR analyses, the OR for adverse COVID-19 outcomes was directionally concordant but non-significant. Interpretation Shorter LTL is associated with higher risk of adverse COVID-19 outcomes, independent of several major risk factors for COVID-19 including age. Further data are needed to determine whether this association reflects causality. Funding UK Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and British Heart Foundation.UK Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and British Heart Foundation

    Polygenic basis and biomedical consequences of telomere length variation.

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    Funder: Health Data Research UK EU/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking BigData@Heart (11607).Funder: Health Data Research UKTelomeres, the end fragments of chromosomes, play key roles in cellular proliferation and senescence. Here we characterize the genetic architecture of naturally occurring variation in leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and identify causal links between LTL and biomedical phenotypes in 472,174 well-characterized UK Biobank participants. We identified 197 independent sentinel variants associated with LTL at 138 genomic loci (108 new). Genetically determined differences in LTL were associated with multiple biological traits, ranging from height to bone marrow function, as well as several diseases spanning neoplastic, vascular and inflammatory pathologies. Finally, we estimated that, at the age of 40 years, people with an LTL >1 s.d. shorter than the population mean had a 2.5-year-lower life expectancy compared with the group with ≥1 s.d. longer LDL. Overall, we furnish new insights into the genetic regulation of LTL, reveal wide-ranging influences of LTL on physiological traits, diseases and longevity, and provide a powerful resource available to the global research community

    Synergistic Effect of Functionalized Nickel Nanoparticles and Quercetin on Inhibition of the SMMC-7721 Cells Proliferation

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    The effect of functionalized nickel (Ni) nanoparticles capped with positively charged tetraheptylammonium on cellular uptake of drug quercetin into hepatocellular carcinoma cells (SMMC-7721) has been explored in this study via microscopy and electrochemical characterization as well as MTT assay. Meanwhile, the influence of Ni nanoparticles and/or quercetin on cell proliferation has been further evaluated by the real-time cell electronic sensing (RT-CES) study. Our observations indicate that Ni nanoparticles could efficiently improve the permeability of cancer cell membrane, and remarkably enhance the accumulation of quercetin in SMMC-7721 cells, suggesting that Ni nanoparticles and quercetin would facilitate the synergistic effect on inhibiting proliferation of cancer cells
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