Effects of distance from home to campus on undergraduate place attachment and university experience in China

First-year students in transition from hometown to campus are generally confronted by intellectual and social challenges as well as disruption and the formation of the place attachments associated with relocation. Understanding the variables affecting student place attachment helps address the widespread concern about student transition. Interactions between place attachment to hometown and campus, and the effects of endogenous and exogenous variables on place attachments, were analysed using covariance analysis, based on questionnaire data gathered at a Chinese university. Campus identity acts as a predictor for the other three dimensions of place attachment to hometown and campus: hometown identity, hometown dependence and campus dependence. Place attachment to campus exerts a direct effect on place attachment to hometown, while the latter indirectly impacts on the former through mediators including academic self-efficacy and peer relationships. Gender, household registration record and duration of dormitory stay were also identified as statistically significant predictors of student place attachment

Forming quasicrystals by monodisperse soft core particles.

In traditional approaches to form quasicrystals, multiple competing length scales involved in particle size, shape, or interaction potential are believed to be necessary. It is unexpected that quasicrystals can be formed by monodisperse, isotropic particles interacting via a simple potential that does not contain explicit multiple length scales to stabilize quasicrystals. Here, we report the surprising finding of the formation of such quasicrystals in high-density systems of soft-core particles. Although there are length scales naturally introduced in our model systems, they do not establish the quasicrystalline order. In two dimensions, we find not only dodecagonal but also octagonal quasicrystals, which have not been found yet in soft quasicrystals. In such unexpected quasicrystals, particles tend to form pentagons, which are essential elements to develop the quasicrystalline order. Our findings thus pave an unexpected and simple way to form quasicrystals and pose a challenge for theoretical understanding of quasicrystals

Role of Er doping on isoamyl alcohol sensing performance of LaFeO3 microspheres and its prospects in wheat mildew detection

peer reviewedIt is essential for food safety to recognize isoamyl alcohol, one of the biomarkers of wheat mildew. However, there has been limited research on isoamyl alcohol gas sensors with superior sensing performance. Herein, highly sensitive Er-doped LaFeO3-based sensors were fabricated using simple hydrothermal combined with dip-coating, and 5 at% Er@LaFeO3 exhibited extraordinary response (219.1 @ 25 ppm), outstanding selectivity, repeatability (435.7 ± 5.0 @ 50 ppm), and long-term stability (432.0 ± 8.2 @ 15 days). The superior isoamyl alcohol sensing performance could be ascribed to several factors, including the smaller particle size (3.02 μm), higher concentration of oxygen vacancies (21.3%) and chemisorbed oxygen (36.2%), larger specific surface area (54.102 m2 g−1), and narrower band gap (1.86 eV). DFT calculations elucidated the sensitization mechanism of Er doped LaFeO3: the reduction in adsorption energy and the enhancement of interaction forces between gas molecules and the sensing coating. Furthermore, the practical application of 5 at% Er@LaFeO3 to volatile gases generated from stored wheat confirmed the potential of fabricated Er-doped LaFeO3 microsphere-based sensors in the analysis of wheat mildew. This work may serve as a guide for the selection of sensing materials to detect biomarkers emitted throughout the wheat mildew process, which may contribute to developing non-destructive and rapid detection technology to minimize losses during wheat storage

Simultaneous Extraction and Identification of Phenolic Compounds in Anoectochilus roxburghii Using Microwave-Assisted Extraction Combined with UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS and Their Antioxidant Activities

This study used MAE and RSM to extract phenolic compounds from Anoectochilus roxburghii, and the optimum conditions defined by the model to give an optimum yield of 1.31%. The antioxidant activity in vitro showed when the concentration of phenolic compounds was reached 1 mg mL-1, the clearance rates were 82.58% for DPPH and 97.62% for ABTS+. In vivo antioxidant experiments used D-galactose to build oxidative damage in healthy Kunming mice. The result showed that the extractions of A. roxburghii can improve the antioxidant ability and the medium and low dose groups had better ability to scavenge free radicals. The UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS was developed to identify 21 kinds of phenolic compounds by molecular mass, ms/ms fragmentation, as well as retention time. The result showed that the phenolic compounds of A. roxburghii had significant potential as a natural antioxidant to promote health and to reduce the risk of disease

Sting Agonist-Loaded Mesoporous Manganese-Silica Nanoparticles for Vaccine Applications

Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs), as one type of Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) pathway agonist, have shown promising results for eliciting immune responses against cancer and viral infection. However, the suboptimal drug-like properties of conventional CDNs, including their short in vivo half-life and poor cellular permeability, compromise their therapeutic efficacy. In this study, we have developed a manganese-silica nanoplatform (MnOx@HMSN) that enhances the adjuvant effects of CDN by achieving synergy with Mn2+ for vaccination against cancer and SARS-CoV-2. MnOx@HMSN with large mesopores were efficiently co-loaded with CDN and peptide/protein antigens. MnOx@HMSN(CDA) amplified the activation of the STING pathway and enhanced the production of type-I interferons and other proinflammatory cytokines from dendritic cells. MnOx@HMSN(CDA) carrying cancer neoantigens elicited robust antitumor T-cell immunity with therapeutic efficacy in two different murine tumor models. Furthermore, MnOx@HMSN(CDA) loaded with SARS-CoV-2 antigen achieved strong and durable (up to one year) humoral immune responses with neutralizing capability. These results demonstrate that MnOx@HMSN(CDA) is a versatile nanoplatform for vaccine applications

SWI3 subunits of SWI/SNF complexes in Sweet Orange (Citrus sinensis): genome-wide identification and expression analysis of CsSWI3 family genes

SWI3 proteins as the core accessory subunits of SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes (CRCs) could jointly take part in the genome epigenetic regulation upon disrupting the interaction between DNA and histones, ulteriorly regulating the accessibility of DNA-binding proteins or TFs to DNA. Research on chromatin remodeling complexes in plants lags behind yeast and animals, however, the last decade has witnessed an intensive effort to enhance our understanding of identification, characterization and molecular mechanisms of CRCs in Arabidopsis which provided the information for further studies in other plant species. So far, genome-wide identification of SWI3 family in citrus has not been reported. Here, four CsSWI3 genes based on Citrus sinensis genome were identified and clustered into four subfamilies. According to conserved domains and motifs analysis, we found that each CsSWI3 protein contained three conserved domains and the members in the same subfamily showed strong similarity with those in Arabidopsis. All of the CsSWI3 members were localized in the cell nucleus, which was consistent with the role as the subunit of CRCs. Analysis of promoter cis-regulatory elements indicated that CsSWI3 genes may be involved in stress response, phytohormone response and growth and development of citrus. Meanwhile, they were expressed extensively in citrus tissues and disparate development stages in fruit. We found that the expression level of CsSWI3A, CsSWI3B and CsSWI3C are positively correlated with sugar content during fruit development, especially for CsSWI3B. This study provides comprehensive information for the CsSWI3 gene family and sets a basis for its function identification in citrus