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• Cellular abscisic acid (ABA) concentration is determined by both de novo biosynthesis and recycling via β-glucosidase(s). However, which rice β-glucosidase(s) are involved in this process remains unknown. Here, we report on a chloroplastic β-glucosidase isoenzyme, Os3BGlu6, that functions in ABA recycling in rice. • Disruption of Os3BGlu6 in rice resulted in dwarfism, lower ABA content in leaves, drought-sensitivity, lower photosynthesis rate and higher intercellular CO₂ concentration. Os3BGlu6 could hydrolyze ABA-GE to ABA in vitro. The reversion and overexpression rice lines restored or increased the drought tolerance as shown by the higher β-glucosidase activity, ABA concentrations and expressions of ABA- and drought-responsive genes. Drought induced Os3BGlu6 to form dimers, and the degree of polymerization correlated well with the increase in cellular ABA concentrations and drought tolerance in rice. • Os3BGlu6 was responsive to drought and ABA treatments, and the protein was localized to the chloroplast. Disruption of Os3BGlu6 resulted in the increased stomatal density and impaired stomatal movement. Transcriptomics revealed that disruption of Os3BGlu6 resulted in chloroplastic oxidative stress and lowered Rubisco activity even under normal conditions. • Taken together, these results suggest that chloroplastically localized Os3BGlu6 significantly affects cellular ABA pools, thereby affecting drought tolerance and photosynthesis in rice.

Interpreting can be seen as a form of language production, where interpreters extract conceptual information from the source language and express it in the target language. Hence, like language production, interpreting contains speech errors at various (e.g., conceptual, syntactic, lexical and phonological) levels. The current study delved into the impact of language proficiency, working memory, and anxiety on the occurrence of speech errors across these linguistic strata during consecutive interpreting from English (a second language) into Chinese (a first language) by student interpreters. We showed that speech errors in general decreased as a function of the interpreter’s proficiency in the source (second) language and increased as a function of the interpreter’s anxiety. Conceptual errors, which result from mistaken comprehension of the source language, decreased as a function of language proficiency and working memory. Lexical errors increased as a function of the interpreter’s tendency of anxiety. Syntactic errors also decreased as a function of language proficiency and increased as a function of anxiety. Phonological errors were not sensitive to any of the three cognitive traits. We discussed implications for the cognitive processes underlying interpreting and for interpreting training.

Lexical retrieval difficulty is a common daily complaint among older adults. Recent evidence suggests that older adults name motor-related nouns (e.g., knife) more accurately than non-motor nouns (e.g., steak). However, it remains unclear whether this motor-relatedness effect can reduce older adults’ object naming latency (a potentially more sensitive measure of word retrieval than accuracy) and how it may be modulated by individual differences (e.g., age and global cognition). Therefore, we recruited a large number of older adults to complete a Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and a timed picture-naming task, and we explored the two remaining issues with data from 76 community-dwelling older adults (65–81 years old), excluding participants with possible AD. Linear mixed-effects analysis revealed a main effect of motor-relatedness on naming latency in older adults and a significant interaction with the MoCA score after controlling for a number of stimulus-related factors (i.e., age of acquisition, familiarity, name agreement, and visual complexity) and participant-related factors (i.e., gender and education) as covariates, but age showed neither a main effect nor a significant interaction with motor-relatedness. Further simple slope analysis showed that older adults were faster at naming objects with high motor-relatedness and that older adults with low MoCA scores benefited more from the motor-relatedness effect. These findings suggest that motor-relatedness may compensate for the normal course of cognitive ageing in older adults. Implications for the motor-relatedness effect were discussed.

This study investigates drought resistance-growth trade-offs in dominant tree species across elevationally stratified habitats (depression, middle slope, hilltop) of Nonggang karst seasonal rainforest in southwestern China. Analysis of 38 species along a 190-meter aridity gradient reveals drought resistance enhancement through foliar modifications: 56.79% increase in cuticle thickness, 56.42% denser palisade mesophyll thickness, and 36.48% expansion in spongy mesophyll thickness, accompanied by 45.67% growth reduction. Structural equation modeling confirms a significant drought resistance-growth trade-off (β = − 0.504), indicating carbon allocation constraints. Hilltop species employ an anisohydric strategy combining stomatal optimization (4.45% shorter length, 27.17% wider apertures achieving 33.10% increased opening) with 15.52% reduced upper epidermis cell width and cuticle thickening, enhancing hydraulic efficiency despite 111.63% elevated dark respiration rates. This high-resistance/low-growth strategy contrasts with depression-adapted species showing superior low-light performance: 30.35% higher quantum yield and 63.44% lower light compensation points compared to hilltop counterparts. Environmental driver analysis identifies soil moisture (β = − 0.706) and bedrock exposure (β = − 0.594) as key factors shaping trait divergence. Drought suppresses growth through dual pathways: direct resource limitation (β = − 0.667) and indirect metabolic costs of resistance traits (β = − 0.469). Coordinated leaf trait evolution reduces niche overlap via drought-growth trade-offs, establishing habitat filtration-mediated biodiversity maintenance in karst ecosystems. These results provide a multidimensional framework for balancing stress resistance and productivity in tropical karst vegetation restoration.

Interpreting is a complex bilingual task, placing high demands on both language control (i.e., source language not interfering in target language production) and processing control (i.e., multi-tasking carried out in concert under time pressure). On the basis of empirical evidence in the literature, we propose an attentional control model to account for both language control and processing control. Specifically, language control in interpreting is achieved by a structural framework of language-modality connections (established in interpreting training and stored as task schema), and by focused attention that helps build, strengthen and adapt the framework through monitoring, target enhancement, task disengagement, shifting, and working memory. In contrast, processing control in interpreting is achieved by divided attention via coordination and working memory, and by language processing efficiency that includes mastery of both languages and the appropriate use of interpreting strategies. Implications of this model for general bilingual language control are discussed.

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the parallel processing of the target language (TL) during source language (SL) comprehension in interpreting may be influenced by two factors: (i) link strength from SL to TL, and (ii) the interpreter's cognitive resources supplement to TL processing during SL comprehension. The influence of the first factor was supported by the contrasting performance on bidirectional SL and TL interpreting tasks by unbalanced bilingual student interpreters, and the second factor was supported by the contrasting performance between participants’ two developmental stages in interpreting. Implications are discussed.

The task of interpreting requires managing multiple tasks simultaneously, but how this practice of multitasking may contribute to the nonverbal domain of executive functioning has been explored in only a few studies, and little is known about the Event-related Potentials (ERP) neural correlates of this potential advantage. To fill this gap, we conducted an ERP study asking consecutive interpreting students and bilingual controls to perform a psychological refractory period (PRP) dual-task, comprising an auditory (Task 1) and a visual (Task 2) discrimination task. They were performed separately or together, the performance differences between which, i.e., dual-task costs, served as indices of coordination. Smaller costs for interpreting students in either or both tasks are considered an interpreter advantage in coordination, and those confined to Task 2 further indicate an advantage in bottleneck switching. The latter was exactly observed in stimulus-locked lateralized readiness potential (LRP) onset latency, suggesting such an advantage was probably due to efficient switching from the response selection of one task to that of the other at the bottleneck stage of dual-task processing. Smaller dual-task costs of stimulus-locked LRP onset latency thus constitute the neural correlates of the interpreter advantage in coordination.

Industrial chemical plants of soda ash mainly adopted the ammonia-soda production process and the combined process (Hou's process for soda manufacture), during which the mother liquor was recycled and the exhaust gas purified and recovered, realizing continuous manufacturing. However, in practical operation, there was still a small amount of fugitive ammonia emitted during storage and transport of materials. To improve the environment, an idea of using ammonia-containing exhaust gas for process improvement was introduced: collecting the ammonia-containing exhaust gas, extract some of the thin liquid from the circulating mother liquor for preparation of pure water, from which the concentrate return to the mother liquor circulation system and the pure water for absorption of the ammonia-containing gas; dilute ammonia water that took in the ammonia-containing gas and the feedstock ammonia were again used for preparation of ammonia water for industrial use, which, at the service of the boiler desulfurizing installations of the enterprise, helped achieve internal energy saving and emission reduction.

Research on the development of interpreting competence could be a window to the issue of how L2 learners develop complex language skills. The present study conducted a longitudinal experiment with beginning interpreting students, exploring the change of relationship between consecutive interpreting (CI) competence and two related capacities (i.e., language competence and memory capacity). Two major results were revealed. First, in general, more language skills and working memory (WM) spans got correlated with CI performance at the later stage of CI training. Second, a fit structural equation model of CI competence could only be reported in the post-test. We may therefore conclude that the development of interpreting competence is at least partly a result of the self-organization of the interpreting competence system, in which relevant components get mobilized, and a better coordinated structure emerges. Implications for the development of complex language skills and for the concept of self-organization are discussed.

Despite extensive discussions on interpreter advantages in nonverbal abilities/skills, the advantage in coordination remains underexplored, with little evidence from interpreting students across different training stages. To fill the gap, the present study conducted two experiments with the Psychological Refractory Period dual-task consisting of two discrimination tasks presented either alone or together. Smaller dual-task costs in Task 1 and/or Task 2 are considered indices for better coordination (with smaller costs restricted to Task 2 further suggesting better bottleneck coordination). Experiment 1, focusing on the intermediate training stage, revealed a bottleneck coordination advantage for interpreting students over controls, which differs from the task instantiation and/or bottleneck access advantage found for professional interpreters in Strobach et al. (2015). Experiment 2, focusing on the beginning stage, revealed no group differences between controls and interpreting students with less/more training (Experiment 2a/2b respectively), suggesting no evidence for an interpreter advantage in coordination. Developmental changes are discussed.