Investigating the Effects of Social Trust and Perceived Organizational Support on Irrigation Management Performance in Rural China

Understanding the factors affecting irrigation management performance is crucial for sustainable resource use, especially with the decentralized management mode of irrigation systems being implemented in rural China. This paper contributes to the research field by incorporating different categories of social trust and perceived organization support (POS) into the analysis of irrigation management performance, by linking multiple elements that are based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. We employed principal component analysis (PCA) and ordered probit regression to analyze a database covering 785 households in the upstream of the Yellow River basin. The results suggested that social trust and POS positively affected the irrigation management performance, and social trust strengthened the positive effect of POS on the performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that personal trust and institutional trust, as well as perceived emotional support and physical support, positively affected the performance. In addition, we also found that household characteristics, household cognition, group characteristics, physical conditions, and rules-in-use also had significant impact on the performance. This paper can be used to inform the government that social trust and POS need to be considered in the common-pool resources (CPRs) management.Understanding the factors affecting irrigation management performance is crucial for sustainable resource use, especially with the decentralized management mode of irrigation systems being implemented in rural China. This paper contributes to the research field by incorporating different categories of social trust and perceived organization support (POS) into the analysis of irrigation management performance, by linking multiple elements that are based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. We employed principal component analysis (PCA) and ordered probit regression to analyze a database covering 785 households in the upstream of the Yellow River basin. The results suggested that social trust and POS positively affected the irrigation management performance, and social trust strengthened the positive effect of POS on the performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that personal trust and institutional trust, as well as perceived emotional support and physical support, positively affected the performance. In addition, we also found that household characteristics, household cognition, group characteristics, physical conditions, and rules-in-use also had significant impact on the performance. This paper can be used to inform the government that social trust and POS need to be considered in the common-pool resources (CPRs) management.Peer reviewe

Does China’s stock market react to COVID-19 differently at industry level? Evidence from China

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, global economic growth has been negatively affected. The reaction of financial markets was particularly dramatic, especially in countries severely affected by the outbreak. Based on Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) data from August 13, 2019 to December 31, 2020, this study investigates the short-term and the long-term market reactions of industry indices. The event study method and the Fama-French five-factor model are used to analyse the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings reveal that cumulative abnormal returns (CARs) in most industries followed a similar short-term trajectory. However, the excess returns of the SSE Information Technology, SSE Telecommunication Services and SSE Materials show different performance in the long term. This study facilitates the analysis of the impact of large public emergencies, such as global pandemics, on investors’ expectations and decision-making. It also helps investors to make rational decisions and the government to formulate targeted policies

Creation of NV centers in diamond under 155 MeV electron irradiation

Single-crystal diamond substrates presenting a high concentration of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers (NV-) are on high demand for the development of optically pumped solid-state sensors such as magnetometers, thermometers or electrometers. While nitrogen impurities can be easily incorporated during crystal growth, the creation of vacancies requires further treatment. Electron irradiation and annealing is often chosen in this context, offering advantages with respect to irradiation by heavier particles that negatively affect the crystal lattice structure and consequently the NV- optical and spin properties. A thorough investigation of electron irradiation possibilities is needed to optimize the process and improve the sensitivity of NV-based sensors. In this work we examine the effect of electron irradiation in a previously unexplored regime: extremely high energy electrons, at 155 MeV. We develop a simulation model to estimate the concentration of created vacancies and experimentally demonstrate an increase of NV- concentration by more than 3 orders of magnitude following irradiation of a nitrogen-rich HPHT diamond over a very large sample volume, which translates into an important gain in sensitivity. Moreover, we discuss the impact of electron irradiation in this peculiar regime on other figures of merits relevant for NV sensing, i.e. charge state conversion efficiency and spin relaxation time. Finally, the effect of extremely high energy irradiation is compared with the more conventional low energy irradiation process, employing 200 keV electrons from a transmission electron microscope, for different substrates and irradiation fluences, evidencing sixty-fold higher yield of vacancy creation per electron at 155 MeV

Is Generalized Maternal Optimism or Pessimism During Pregnancy Associated with Unplanned Cesarean Section Deliveries in China?

This research examines whether maternal optimism/pessimism is associated with unplanned Cesarean section deliveries in China. If so, does the association remain after controlling for clinical factors associated with C-sections? A sample of 227 mostly primiparous women in the third trimester of pregnancy was surveyed in a large tertiary care hospital in Beijing, China. Post-delivery data were collected from medical records. In bivariate analysis, both optimism and pessimism were related to unplanned c-section. However, when optimism and pessimism were entered into a regression model together, optimism was no longer statistically significant. Pessimism remained significant, even when adjusting for clinical factors such as previous abortion, previous miscarriage, pregnancy complications, infant gestational age, infant birthweight, labor duration, birth complications, and self-rated difficulty of the pregnancy. This research suggests that maternal mindset during pregnancy has a role in mode of delivery. However, more research is needed to elucidate potential causal pathways and test potential interventions

Augmenting Large Language Model Translators via Translation Memories

Using translation memories (TMs) as prompts is a promising approach to in-context learning of machine translation models. In this work, we take a step towards prompting large language models (LLMs) with TMs and making them better translators. We find that the ability of LLMs to ``understand'' prompts is indeed helpful for making better use of TMs. Experiments show that the results of a pre-trained LLM translator can be greatly improved by using high-quality TM-based prompts. These results are even comparable to those of the state-of-the-art NMT systems which have access to large-scale in-domain bilingual data and are well tuned on the downstream tasks.Comment: Accepted to Findings of ACL 202

X-ray fluorescence induced by standing waves in the grazing-incidence and grazing-exit modes: study of the Mg--Co--Zr system

We present the characterization of Mg-Co-Zr tri-layer stacks by using x-ray fluorescence induced by x-ray standing waves, both in the grazing incidence (GI) and grazing exit (GE) modes. The introduction of a slit in the direction of the detector improves the angular resolution by a factor 2 and significantly the sensitivity of the technique for the chemical characterization of the buried interfaces. By observing the intensity variations of the Mg Kalpha and Co Lalpha characteristic emissions as a function of the incident (GI mode) or detection (GE mode) angle, we show that the interfaces of the Si/[Mg/Co/Zr] x30 multilayer are abrupt, whereas in the Si/[Mg/Zr/Co] x30 multilayer a strong intermixing occurs at the Co-on-Zr interfaces. The explanation of this opposite behaviour of the Co-on-Zr and Zr-on-Co interfacesis given by the calculation of the mixing enthalpies of the Co-Mg, Co-Zr and Mg-Zr systems, which shows that the Co-Zr system presents anegative value and the two others positive values. Together with the difference of the surface free energies of Zr and Co, this leads us to consider the Mg/Zr/Co system as aMg/Co x Zr y bi-layer stack, with x/y estimated around 3.5.Comment: Published in Journal of Synchrotron Radiation 22, 1419 (2015)http://scripts.iucr.org/cgi-bin/paper?S160057751501623

The investigation of environmental sustainability within product design:a critical review

Sustainability encompasses social, economic and environmental issues with the primary aim to fulfil the needs of the present society without compromising the potential needs of future generations. Product design has been identified to greatly influence the sustainability of New Product Development. This study aims to identify and review the fundamental factors in which product design has the ability to influence and improve the overall environmental sustainability of a product. A comprehensive literature review has been performed to establish trends over the past four decades. The factors that have significant potential, such as the 6Rs, waste and energy, which aid designers in the implementation of environmental sustainability during the product design process have been identified and discussed. Through this analysis, a new conceptual framework has been conceived, facilitating designers in implementing environmental sustainability during product development. In addition, future research opportunities have been identified

Cuscutae semen alleviates CUS-induced depression-like behaviors in mice via the gut microbiota-neuroinflammation axis

Introduction: Major depressive disorder is a mental disease with complex pathogenesis and treatment mechanisms involving changes in both the gut microbiota and neuroinflammation. Cuscutae Semen (CS), also known as Chinese Dodder seed, is a medicinal herb that exerts several pharmacological effects. These include neuroprotection, anti-neuroinflammation, the repair of synaptic damage, and the alleviation of oxidative stress. However, whether CuscutaeSemen exerts an antidepressant effect remains unknown.Methods: In this study, we evaluated the effect of CS on chronic unpredictable stress (CUS)-induced depression-like behaviors in mice by observing changes in several inflammatory markers, including proinflammatory cytokines, inflammatory proteins, and gliocyte activation. Meanwhile, changes in the gut microbiota were analyzed based on 16 S rRNA sequencing results. Moreover, the effect of CS on the synaptic ultrastructure was detected by transmission electron microscopy.Results: We found that the CS extract was rich in chlorogenic acid and hypericin. And CS relieved depression-like behaviors in mice exposed to CUS. Increased levels of cytokines (IL-1β and TNF-α) and inflammatory proteins (NLRP3, NF-κB, and COX-2) induced by CUS were reversed after CS administration. The number of astrocytes and microglia increased after CUS exposure, whereas they decreased after CS treatment. Meanwhile, CS could change the structure of the gut microbiota and increase the relative abundance of Lactobacillus. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between several Lactobacilli and indicators of depression-like behaviors and inflammation. There was a decrease in postsynaptic density after exposure to CUS, and this change was alleviated after CS treatme.Conclusion: This study found that CS treatment ameliorated CUS-induced depression-like behaviors and synaptic structural defects in mice via the gut microbiota-neuroinflammation axis. And chlorogenic acid and hypericin may be the main active substances for CS to exert antidepressant effects