Social life and political trust in China: Searching for machers and schmoozers

Previous literature has provided little evidence regarding the ways in which China’s burgeoning social life and rapid urbanization shape Chinese people’s level of trust in their government leaders. This article builds on Robert Putnam’s conceptualization of maching and schmoozing as formal and informal forms of social involvement, respectively. Using the 2012 Chinese General Social Survey, we identify four types of participants in social involvement, namely the inactives, machers, schmoozers and all-rounders, to untangle various aspects of social life in China. Our empirical analysis shows that the sociodemographic positions of the four types of social involvement are largely distinct. Our findings also contribute to the study of political trust by offering insight into the complicated associations between social involvement, hukou status and political trust in contemporary Chinese society

Genomic DNA Extraction from in vivo Sampled Tissue of Pacific Oyster, Crassostrea gigas

Abstract As opposed to other animals, live bivalve shellfish cannot be sampled because of the high mortality associated with opening closed shells. In this paper, we present a new anesthesia method using an MgSO 4 seawater solution for sampling live bivalve shellfish. In our experiment, genomic DNA was successfully extracted from mantle tissues of sampled Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and the DNA was used as a template for polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which indicated that 3 mm 3 of mantle tissue was enough for DNA extraction and subsequent molecular biology testing. The survival rate after the in vivo sampling was high (83.3%), indicating that the sampling method caused only slight harm to the oysters. Thus, MgSO 4 anesthesia is a practical method for in vivo sampling of oysters and probably could be applied to other bivalve shellfish species as well, significantly promoting the application of molecular marker-assisted selection in bivalve shellfish breeding and the study of tissue injury and repair mechanisms in bivalve shellfish

Three‐stage electric vehicle scheduling considering stakeholders economic inconsistency and battery degradation

This study proposes an electric vehicle (EV) aggregator operation mechanism in a residential community. The EV charging and discharging operation behaviours are scheduled to maximise the EV aggregator revenue, while EV aggregator provides reserve service for the grid. This study not only considers the energy and information interactions between three stakeholders: EV aggregator, EV owners, and power grids, but also the economic interests of aggregator and owners are considered. The aggregator-owner economic inconsistency issue (EV owners get higher charging cost in aggregator scheduling than self-scheduling) is presented. In order to mediate this issue, a rebate factor is proposed. In the first stage, the objective is to minimise the day-ahead (DA) charging cost of EV owners. Then the second stage is to maximise DA aggregator revenue with different rebate values. Finally, in the third stage, a real-time scheduling strategy is proposed to maximise aggregator revenue using the optimal rebate value. In addition, the battery degradation in influencing scheduling is formulated. Scheduling results show the effectiveness of the proposed strategy, e.g. economic inconsistency of different parties can be mediated. Significant reduction of EV owners’ cost from self-scheduling can be achieved while the revenue of EV aggregator is maximised under the proposed strategy

Evaluation of Buses in Power Grids by Extended Entropic Degree

Bruce Holsinger, The Premodern Condition: Medievalism and the Making of Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005. xi + 276 pp. ISBN 0226349748

Genome-wide and single-base resolution DNA methylomes of the Pacific oyster <i>Crassostrea gigas</i> provide insight into the evolution of invertebrate CpG methylation

BACKGROUND: Studies of DNA methylomes in a wide range of eukaryotes have revealed both conserved and divergent characteristics of DNA methylation among phylogenetic groups. However, data on invertebrates particularly molluscs are limited, which hinders our understanding of the evolution of DNA methylation in metazoa. The sequencing of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas genome provides an opportunity for genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation in this model mollusc. RESULTS: Homologous searches against the C. gigas genome identified functional orthologs for key genes involved in DNA methylation: DNMT1, DNMT2, DNMT3, MBD2/3 and UHRF1. Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq) of the oyster’s mantle tissues revealed that more than 99% methylation modification was restricted to cytosines in CpG context and methylated CpGs accumulated in the bodies of genes that were moderately expressed. Young repeat elements were another major targets of CpG methylation in oysters. Comparison with other invertebrate methylomes suggested that the 5’-end bias of gene body methylation and the negative correlation between gene body methylation and gene length were the derived features probably limited to the insect lineage. Interestingly, phylostratigraphic analysis showed that CpG methylation preferentially targeted genes originating in the common ancestor of eukaryotes rather than the oldest genes originating in the common ancestor of cellular organisms. CONCLUSIONS: Comparative analysis of the oyster DNA methylomes and that of other animal species revealed that the characteristics of DNA methylation were generally conserved during invertebrate evolution, while some unique features were derived in the insect lineage. The preference of methylation modification on genes originating in the eukaryotic ancestor rather than the oldest genes is unexpected, probably implying that the emergence of methylation regulation in these 'relatively young’ genes was critical for the origin and radiation of eukaryotes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-1119) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Air-sea interactive forcing on phytoplankton productivity and community structure changes in the East China Sea during the Holocene

Phytoplankton productivity and community structure in the East China Sea (ECS) play an important role in marine ecology and carbon cycle, but both have been changing rapidly in response to recent oceanic and atmospheric circulation changes. However, the lack of long-term records of phytoplankton productivity and community structure variability in the region hinders our understanding of natural forcing mechanisms. Here, we use the phytoplankton biomarker (brassicasterol, dinosterol and alkenones) contents as well as the ratios between these biomarkers in three sediment cores from the ECS shelf to reconstruct the spatiotemporal variations of productivity and community of diatoms, dinoflagellates and coccolithophores during the Holocene, respectively. During 9–7 ka, the ECS shelf was characterized by low phytoplankton productivity with low coccolithophore contribution, caused by the oligotrophic condition mainly owing to the restricted Kuroshio Current (KC) intrusion under low sea-level conditions, thus the lack of nutrient input. Phytoplankton productivity generally increased during 7–4.6 ka, in response to the initial intrusion of the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC, a branch of the KC), bringing nutrient from the subsurface KC to the upper layer of the ECS for phytoplankton growth. Phytoplankton productivity continuously increased during 4.6–1 ka, due to an enhanced circulation system (YSWC and Yellow Sea Coastal Current (YSCC)) driven by strong East Asia Winter Monsoon (EAWM). Significantly, high alkenone contents and coccolithophore contribution in the eastern core F11A was associated with its location closer to the warm and saline YSWC, which was suitable for coccolithophore growth. Beyond diagenetic processes which could partly account for higher biomarker contents near core tops, elevated phytoplankton productivity during the last 1 ka might be induced by more nutrient supply from the intensified circulation system driven by enhanced KC and anthropogenic activities. The latter also resulted in high dinoflagellate proportions in all three cores. These temporal and spatial changes of phytoplankton productivity and community structure in the ECS during the Holocene corresponded to different mechanisms by the air-sea interaction, providing insights into distinguishing natural forcing and anthropogenic influences on marine ecology

Bayesian multimodel estimation of global terrestrial latent heat flux from eddy covariance, meteorological, and satellite observations

Accurate estimation of the satellite-based global terrestrial latent heat flux (LE) at high spatial and temporal scales remains a major challenge. In this study, we introduce a Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method to improve satellite-based global terrestrial LE estimation by merging five process-based algorithms. These are the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LE product algorithm, the revised remote-sensing-based Penman-Monteith LE algorithm, the Priestley-Taylor-based LE algorithm, the modified satellite-based Priestley-Taylor LE algorithm, and the semi-empirical Penman LE algorithm. We validated the BMA method using data for 2000–2009 and by comparison with a simple model averaging (SA) method and five process-based algorithms. Validation data were collected for 240 globally distributed eddy covariance tower sites provided by FLUXNET projects. The validation results demonstrate that the five process-based algorithms used have variable uncertainty and the BMA method enhances the daily LE estimates, with smaller root mean square errors (RMSEs) than the SA method and the individual algorithms driven by tower-specific meteorology and Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) meteorological data provided by the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), respectively. The average RMSE for the BMA method driven by daily tower-specific meteorology decreased by more than 5 W/m2 for crop and grass sites, and by more than 6 W/m2 for forest, shrub, and savanna sites. The average coefficients of determination (R2) increased by approximately 0.05 for most sites. To test the BMA method for regional mapping, we applied it for MODIS data and GMAO-MERRA meteorology to map annual global terrestrial LE averaged over 2001–2004 for spatial resolution of 0.05°. The BMA method provides a basis for generating a long-term global terrestrial LE product for characterizing global energy, hydrological, and carbon cycles