An Experimental Study on the Effects of Environmental Education in China

In recent years, collaborative governance has been used as an innovative approach by government, NGOs, and business for consensus building in the process of policy making and service delivery (Ansell and Gash, 2008, Brown et al., 2006). However, little has been written on the psychological aspects of collaborative governance. What are the antecedents of collaborative decisions? To what extent and in what ways can NGOs’ advocacy impact community residents’ opinions? For example, in the field of environmental protection, the conflict between environmental conservation and economic development has been a key issue, which presents a fundamental challenge to the formation of collaborative environmental governance. Environmental NGOs have used educational approaches to influence key stakeholders; but it remains an intriguing issue as in what ways and to what extent their educational efforts have impacted these stakeholders. To answer these questions, we explored the attitudinal antecedents of collaborative governance by conducting an experimental study on the effects of environmental education in rural China. Specifically, we focus on two types of environmental education programs: Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainability (ESD). While EE focuses on providing scientific education in raising environmental awareness, ESD incorporates economic, social, and environmental factors to bring about solutions to achieve sustainability. We found that ESD is more effective in stimulating attitudinal changes towards environmental conservation, and EE is more powerful in generating a hidden effect: the anti-development attitude, among participants in China. We also studied the moderating effects of economic pressure, place attachment, and we found that being poor and being nonlocal may strengthen a participant’s likelihood to develop attitudinal changes towards economic development. Overall, our research contributes to a better understanding of the psychological aspects of collaborative governance, and it calls a more balanced approach in environmental education

Effects of nitrogen addition and plant litter manipulation on soil fungal and bacterial communities in a semiarid sandy land

The plant and soil microbial communities are influenced by variability in environmental conditions (e.g., nitrogen addition); however, it is unclear how long-term nitrogen addition and litter manipulation affect soil microbial communities in a semiarid sandy grassland. Therefore, we simulated the impact of N addition and litter manipulation (litter removal, litter doubling) on plant and soil microbial communities in Horqin grassland, northern China through an experiment from 2014 to 2019. Our results revealed that in the case of non-nitrogen (N0), litter manipulation significantly reduced vegetation coverage (V) (p < 0.05); soil bacterial communities have higher alpha diversity than that of the fungi, and the beta diversity of soil fungi was higher than that of the bacteria; soil microbial alpha diversity was significantly decreased by nitrogen addition (N10) (p < 0.05); N addition and litter manipulation had significantly interactive influences on soil microbial beta diversity, and litter manipulation (C0 and C2) had significantly decreased soil microbial beta diversity (p < 0.05) in the case of nitrogen addition (N10) (p < 0.05). Moreover, bacteria were mostly dominated by the universal phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria, and fungi were only dominated by Ascomycota. Furthermore, the correlation analysis, redundancy analysis (RDA), and variation partitioning analysis indicated that the soil fungi community was more apt to be influenced by plant community diversity. Our results provide evidence that plant and soil microbial community respond differently to the treatments of the 6-year N addition and litter manipulation in a semiarid sandy land

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Environmental Education in China

In recent years, collaborative governance has been used as an innovative approach by government, NGOs, and business for consensus building in the process of policy making and service delivery (Ansell and Gash, 2008, Brown et al., 2006). However, little has been written on the psychological aspects of collaborative governance. What are the antecedents of collaborative decisions? To what extent and in what ways can NGOs’ advocacy impact community residents’ opinions? For example, in the field of environmental protection, the conflict between environmental conservation and economic development has been a key issue, which presents a fundamental challenge to the formation of collaborative environmental governance. Environmental NGOs have used educational approaches to influence key stakeholders; but it remains an intriguing issue as in what ways and to what extent their educational efforts have impacted these stakeholders. To answer these questions, we explored the attitudinal antecedents of collaborative governance by conducting an experimental study on the effects of environmental education in rural China. Specifically, we focus on two types of environmental education programs: Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainability (ESD). While EE focuses on providing scientific education in raising environmental awareness, ESD incorporates economic, social, and environmental factors to bring about solutions to achieve sustainability. We found that ESD is more effective in stimulating attitudinal changes towards environmental conservation, and EE is more powerful in generating a hidden effect: the anti-development attitude, among participants in China. We also studied the moderating effects of economic pressure, place attachment, and we found that being poor and being nonlocal may strengthen a participant’s likelihood to develop attitudinal changes towards economic development. Overall, our research contributes to a better understanding of the psychological aspects of collaborative governance, and it calls a more balanced approach in environmental education.</p

Advances in Research on the Regulatory Roles of lncRNAs in Osteoarthritic Cartilage

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative bone and joint disease that can lead to disability and severely affect the quality of life of patients. However, its etiology and pathogenesis remain unclear. It is currently believed that articular cartilage lesions are an important marker of the onset and development of osteoarthritis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of multifunctional regulatory RNAs that are involved in various physiological functions. There are many differentially expressed lncRNAs between osteoarthritic and normal cartilage tissues that play multiple roles in the pathogenesis of OA. Here, we reviewed lncRNAs that have been reported to play regulatory roles in the pathological changes associated with osteoarthritic cartilage and their potential as biomarkers and a therapeutic target in OA to further elucidate the pathogenesis of OA and provide insights for the diagnosis and treatment of OA.</jats:p

Identification and validation of immune-related genes in osteoarthritic synovial fibroblasts

Objective: OA was generally considered as a non-inflammatory disease dominated by articular cartilage degeneration. However, the role of synovitis in OA pathogenesis has received increasing attention. Recent studies support that OA patients have a pro-inflammatory/catabolic synovial environment similar to RA patients, promoting the occurrence and development of OA. Therefore, we investigated the co-immune-related genes and pathways of OA and RA to explore whether part of the pathogenesis of RA synovitis can be used to explain OA synovitis. Methods: Data of GSE29746 and GSE12021 were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Compared with control group, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of OA and RA groups were screened separately by R software, Venny website was used to screen co-DEGs. Metascape was used to screen the common enriched terms and pathways between OA and RA. STRING website and Cytoscape software were used to map protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks and screen co-hub genes. GSE29746 was selected as the test dataset, and GSE12021 as the validation dataset for validate the co-hub genes. The results were validated by western blotting (WB) and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) of clinical synovial samples. Results: We identified 573 OA-related DEGs, 148 RA-related DEGs, and 52 co-DEGs, revealing 14 common enriched terms, most of which were related to immune inflammation. IL7R was the only upregulated co-hub gene between OA and RA in the PPI network, consistent with the validation dataset. IL7R was highly expressed in clinical osteoarthritic synovial samples (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our findings suggested that IL7R is a critical co-DEG in OA and RA and confirmed the involvement of immune inflammation in disease pathogenesis. Furthermore, it confirms the role of IL7R in synovial inflammation in RA and OA synovitis and provides evidence for further investigation of OA immune inflammation

Advances in Research on the Regulatory Roles of lncRNAs in Osteoarthritic Cartilage

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative bone and joint disease that can lead to disability and severely affect the quality of life of patients. However, its etiology and pathogenesis remain unclear. It is currently believed that articular cartilage lesions are an important marker of the onset and development of osteoarthritis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of multifunctional regulatory RNAs that are involved in various physiological functions. There are many differentially expressed lncRNAs between osteoarthritic and normal cartilage tissues that play multiple roles in the pathogenesis of OA. Here, we reviewed lncRNAs that have been reported to play regulatory roles in the pathological changes associated with osteoarthritic cartilage and their potential as biomarkers and a therapeutic target in OA to further elucidate the pathogenesis of OA and provide insights for the diagnosis and treatment of OA

Slip-oscillate response in a synchronizing nonlinear micro-resonator

Abstract Synchronization in phase feedback micro/nano systems are widely delved for its rich dynamics and prospective applications. As a key factor that affects the sensory performance, the synchronization transient process deserves much focus while few investigations on it so far. Here, we report the observation of the slipping and oscillation behavior of the frequency and phase of a nonlinear micro-oscillator injected by a harmonic perturbation in the synchronization region. The observed frequency and phase of the oscillator not monotonically approaches the synchronized state, yet experience a period of frequency and phase fluctuations which can be divided into two stages. The first stage time is influenced by the frequency detuning between the perturbation force and the oscillator. The second stage time is determined by the configuration of the potential well which is influenced by the nonlinearity terms. We found that the dynamic behavior of the frequency and phase can be regulated by the energy potential well of the nonlinear feedback system. By reconfigure the potential well pattern, we achieve 5 times suppression of the synchronization process, which have promising beneficial effects for the aspects of sensor application. Similar phenomena can be found in human body dynamics, which means that the observed mechanism can give some suggestions to study life science.</jats:p

Effects of &beta;2 Integrins on Osteoclasts, Macrophages, Chondrocytes, and Synovial Fibroblasts in Osteoarthritis

&beta;2 integrins are transmembrane receptors that exist widely in human immune cells and participate in pathological processes such as chronic inflammation, thrombosis, and malignant tumor formation. They mainly mediate intercellular adhesion, coordinate the ingestion of extracellular matrix components, and regulate cytoskeleton formation, thereby regulating cell signaling. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic joint disease that causes joint pain and increases disease burden; it has a high prevalence among populations worldwide. Previous studies have reported that &beta;2 integrins are overexpressed in OA and may play an essential role in the occurrence of OA. The important roles of &beta;2 integrins in the maturation and differentiation of osteoclasts, the regulation of bone homeostasis, and the polarization and migration of macrophages have also been reported. The present review aims to highlight the role of &beta;2 integrins in OA pathogenesis and outline their potential for serving as therapeutic targets