Mobility dilemmas: Conflict analysis of road constructions in a Tibetan tourism community in China

Road construction offers a unique lens through which to investigate tourism mobility. To date, research has focused on the socio-cultural effects of road construction, such as its influence on tourists’ movements and its hindrance to tourism development, with less use of systematic methods to analyze road construction-related conflicts. Accordingly, this study comprised a systematic analysis of road construction-related conflicts in Yubeng, China, and potential strategies to solve the underlying mobility dilemmas. A geo-historical trajectory of conflicts was examined, and road construction conflicts were categorized as involving resource competition, tourism dilemma, modern anxiety, or protection paradox. Then, formal conflict analysis and an evolutionary game model were used to analyze these different conflict categories and develop a general pattern of strategies by which the dilemmas might be resolved. The theoretical implications and practical insights of the findings for tourism development, as well as other social conflict contexts, were also investigated

Focusing MSs for High-Gain Antenna Applications

Recently, metasurfaces (MSs) have continuously drawn significant attentions in the area of enhancing the performances of the conventional antennas. Thereinto, focusing MSs with hyperbolic phase distributions can be used for designing high-gain antennas. In this chapter, we first design a new reflected MS and use a spiral antenna as the feeding source to achieve a wideband high-gain antenna. On this basis, we propose a bi-layer reflected MS to simultaneously enhance the gain and transform the linear polarization to circular polarization of the Vivaldi antenna. Then, we proposed a multilayer transmitted MS and use it to enhance the gain of a patch antenna. This kind of high-gain antenna eliminates the feed-block effect of the reflected ones but suffer from multilayer fabrication. To conquer this problem, we finally propose a single-layer transmitted focusing MS by grouping two different kinds of elements and use it to successfully design a low-profile high-gain antenna

The Changing Patterns in Grasslands and Soil Fertility along the Eastern Eurasian Steppe Transect across China–Mongolia–Russia

This paper analyses the adaptation and change in species along the north-south Eastern Eurasian Steppe Transect across China – Mongolia – Russia and considers the implications for climate change and management. The plant community diversity, above-ground biomass, N:P ratios of community and of dominant species, soil N (nitrogen), soil P (phosphorus) and AP (available phosphorus) contents were studied along a 1400 km north-south transect. The main findings were: (1) the community diversity and productivity decreased with the increase in latitude and a significant negative correlation was found between the many plant characteristics and latitude (P \u3c 0.05) – decreasing diversity, biomass and N:P ratios; (2) soil AP content was lowest in Inner Mongolia, whereas no significant change in soil total P with latitude was found in China-Mongolia-Russia transect, a significant positive correlation was detected between the soil nutrient (N and AP) and latitude (P \u3c 0.05); (3) a significant positive correlation was evident between plant community P content and soil AP content (P \u3c 0.01), but a negative correlation was found between community N:P ratio and soil AP content (P \u3c 0.05). The soil AP content can be used as a soil properties indicator to reflect the plant communities P content and N: P ratio. It is suggested that greater human activities in Inner Mongolia may be an important factor affecting soil AP content, community N:P and plant growth

Correlation between intercalated magnetic layers and superconductivity in pressurized EuFe2(As0.81P0.19)2

We report comprehensive high pressure studies on correlation between intercalated magnetic layers and superconductivity in EuFe2(As0.81P0.19)2 single crystal through in-situ high pressure resistance, specific heat, X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption measurements. We find that an unconfirmed magnetic order of the intercalated layers coexists with superconductivity in a narrow pressure range 0-0.5GPa, and then it converts to a ferromagnetic (FM) order at pressure above 0.5 GPa, where its superconductivity is absent. The obtained temperature-pressure phase diagram clearly demonstrates that the unconfirmed magnetic order can emerge from the superconducting state. In stark contrast, the superconductivity cannot develop from the FM state that is evolved from the unconfirmed magnetic state. High pressure X-ray absorption (XAS) measurements reveal that the pressure-induced enhancement of Eu's mean valence plays an important role in suppressing the superconductivity and tuning the transition from the unconfirmed magnetic state to a FM state. The unusual interplay among valence state of Eu ions, magnetism and superconductivity under pressure may shed new light on understanding the role of the intercalated magnetic layers in Fe-based superconductors

Probiotic Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 Changes Foxp3 Deficiency-Induced Dyslipidemia and Chronic Hepatitis in Mice

The probiotic Limosilactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 produces anti-inflammatory effects in scurfy (SF) mice, a model characterized by immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, and X-linked inheritance (called IPEX syndrome in humans), caused by regulatory T cell (Treg) deficiency and is due to a Foxp3 gene mutation. Considering the pivotal role of lipids in autoimmune inflammatory processes, we investigated alterations in the relative abundance of lipid profiles in SF mice (± treatment with DSM 17938) compared to normal WT mice. We also examined the correlation between plasma lipids and gut microbiota and circulating inflammatory markers. We noted a significant upregulation of plasma lipids associated with autoimmune disease in SF mice, many of which were downregulated by DSM 17938. The upregulated lipids in SF mice demonstrated a significant correlation with gut bacteria known to be implicated in the pathogenesis of various autoimmune diseases. Chronic hepatitis in SF livers responded to DSM 17938 treatment with a reduction in hepatic inflammation. Altered gene expression associated with lipid metabolism and the positive correlation between lipids and inflammatory cytokines together suggest that autoimmunity leads to dyslipidemia with impaired fatty acid oxidation in SF mice. Probiotics are presumed to contribute to the reduction of lipids by reducing inflammatory pathways

The R Protein of SARS-CoV: Analyses of Structure and Function Based on Four Complete Genome Sequences of Isolates BJ01-BJ04

The R (replicase) protein is the uniquely defined non-structural protein (NSP) responsible for RNA replication, mutation rate or fidelity, regulation of transcription in coronaviruses and many other ssRNA viruses. Based on our complete genome sequences of four isolates (BJ01-BJ04) of SARS-CoV from Beijing, China, we analyzed the structure and predicted functions of the R protein in comparison with 13 other isolates of SARS-CoV and 6 other coronaviruses. The entire ORF (open-reading frame) encodes for two major enzyme activities, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and proteinase activities. The R polyprotein undergoes a complex proteolytic process to produce 15 function-related peptides. A hydrophobic domain (HOD) and a hydrophilic domain (HID) are newly identified within NSP1. The substitution rate of the R protein is close to the average of the SARS-CoV genome. The functional domains in all NSPs of the R protein give different phylogenetic results that suggest their different mutation rate under selective pressure. Eleven highly conserved regions in RdRp and twelve cleavage sites by 3CLP (chymotrypsin-like protein) have been identified as potential drug targets. Findings suggest that it is possible to obtain information about the phylogeny of SARS-CoV, as well as potential tools for drug design, genotyping and diagnostics of SARS

Identification of Susceptibility Pathways for the Role of Chromosome 15q25.1 in Modifying Lung Cancer Risk

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified the chromosome 15q25.1 locus as a leading susceptibility region for lung cancer. However, the pathogenic pathways, through which susceptibility SNPs within chromosome 15q25.1 affects lung cancer risk, have not been explored. We analyzed three cohorts with GWAS data consisting 42,901 individuals and lung expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data on 409 individuals to identify and validate the underlying pathways and to investigate the combined effect of genes from the identified susceptibility pathways. The KEGG neuroactive ligand receptor interaction pathway, two Reactome pathways, and 22 Gene Ontology terms were identified and replicated to be significantly associated with lung cancer risk, with P values less than 0.05 and FDR less than 0.1. Functional annotation of eQTL analysis results showed that the neuroactive ligand receptor interaction pathway and gated channel activity were involved in lung cancer risk. These pathways provide important insights for the etiology of lung cancer

GWAS Identifies Novel Susceptibility Loci on 6p21.32 and 21q21.3 for Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Carriers

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have recently identified KIF1B as susceptibility locus for hepatitis B virus (HBV)–related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To further identify novel susceptibility loci associated with HBV–related HCC and replicate the previously reported association, we performed a large three-stage GWAS in the Han Chinese population. 523,663 autosomal SNPs in 1,538 HBV–positive HCC patients and 1,465 chronic HBV carriers were genotyped for the discovery stage. Top candidate SNPs were genotyped in the initial validation samples of 2,112 HBV–positive HCC cases and 2,208 HBV carriers and then in the second validation samples of 1,021 cases and 1,491 HBV carriers. We discovered two novel associations at rs9272105 (HLA-DQA1/DRB1) on 6p21.32 (OR = 1.30, P = 1.13×$10^{−19}$) and rs455804 (GRIK1) on 21q21.3 (OR = 0.84, P = 1.86×$10^{−8}$), which were further replicated in the fourth independent sample of 1,298 cases and 1,026 controls (rs9272105: OR = 1.25, P = 1.71×$10^{−4}$; rs455804: OR = 0.84, P = 6.92×$10^{−3}$). We also revealed the associations of HLA-DRB1*0405 and 0901*0602, which could partially account for the association at rs9272105. The association at rs455804 implicates GRIK1 as a novel susceptibility gene for HBV–related HCC, suggesting the involvement of glutamate signaling in the development of HBV–related HCC