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In response to global climate change, the Chinese Government has taken numerous measures to promote low-carbon management practices, but the overall adoption rate has been lower than expected. Empirical studies on the path dependence of farming experience, that is, long-standing planting concepts that will hinder farmers from adopting new technologies, have not been reported. Hence, to fill the research gaps, this paper uses survey data from 805 rice farmers in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces, China, to examine the impact of farming experience on the adoption of soil testing and fertilizer recommendations. The results show that farming experience significantly negatively affects the adoption of low-carbon practices, especially among farmers with low resource endowment. However, farmers, who make decisions based jointly on farming experience and social networks, are more likely to adopt low-carbon practices. This means that as long as farming experience is used reasonably, for example, by broadening the social network of farmers and urging them to form a decision-making method that comprehensively utilizes farming experience and social networks, it can also demonstrate value. Our findings contribute meaningfully to the development of efforts to promote the adoption of low-carbon management practices in China.

Phytohormones regulate numerous important biological processes in plant development and biotic/abiotic stress response cascades. More than 50 and 100 years have passed since the initial discoveries of the phytohormones abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellins (GA), respectively. Over the past several decades, numerous elegant studies have demonstrated that ABA and GA antagonistically regulate many plant developmental processes, including seed maturation, seed dormancy and germination, root initiation, hypocotyl and stem elongation, and floral transition. Furthermore, as a well-established stress hormone, ABA plays a key role in plant responses to abiotic stresses, such as drought, flooding, salinity and low temperature. Interestingly, recent evidence revealed that GA are also involved in plant response to adverse environmental conditions. Consequently, the complex crosstalk networks between ABA and GA, mediated by diverse key regulators, have been extensively investigated and documented. In this updated mini-review, we summarize the most recent advances in our understanding of the antagonistically regulatory roles of ABA and GA in different stages of plant development and in various plant-environment interactions, focusing on the crosstalk between ABA and GA at the levels of phytohormone metabolism and signal transduction.

The influence of farmers’ production experience on pesticide overuse is empirically analyzed by an endogenous switching probit model of pesticide use time, type, and dosage, based on survey data of 836 rice farmers in the Yangtze River Basin of China. We find that farmers’ production experience is an important cause of pesticide overuse, especially for small-scale farmers. Older, self-sufficient, small-scale, non-cooperative members and rice farmers with distant market towns are more likely to use pesticides based on their personal experience. In terms of pesticide use time, type, and dosage, 35.26%, 30.10%, and 28.52% of the samples, respectively, relied on a decision based on “experience.” Among them, farmers’ decision-making based on production experience for pesticide type and dosage are the key causes of pesticide overuse. These results will be helpful for reducing pesticides and correcting farmers’ “bad habits” within agricultural ecosystems.

Matter described by quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions, may undergo phase transitions when its temperature and the chemical potentials are varied. QCD at finite temperature is studied in the laboratory by colliding heavy ions at varying beam energies. We present a test of QCD in the nonperturbative domain through a comparison of thermodynamic fluctuations predicted in lattice computations with the experimental data of baryon number distributions in high-energy heavy ion collisions. This study provides evidence for thermalization in these collisions and allows us to find the crossover temperature between normal nuclear matter and a deconfined phase called the quark gluon plasma. This value allows us to set a scale for the phase diagram of QCD.

In high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions, it is difficult to measure the contributions of resonance strong decay and weak decay to the final measured hadrons as well as the corresponding effects on some physical observables. To provide a reference from statistical thermal model, we performed a systematic analysis for the energy dependence of particle yield and yield ratios in Au + Au collisions. We found that the primary fraction of final hadrons decreases with increasing collision energy and somehow saturates around s NN =10 GeV, indicating a limiting temperature in hadronic interactions. The fraction of strong or weak decay for final hadrons shows a different energy dependence behavior comparing to the primarily produced hadrons. These energy dependences of various particle yield and yield ratios from strong or weak decay can provide us with baselines for many hadronic observables in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions.

Background The associations between short-term exposure to air pollution and severe mental disorders (SMDs) remain poorly understood, particularly in China and among potentially vulnerable subpopulations. Methods We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study of 49,707 individuals diagnosed with SMDs in Gansu Province, China, from 2013 to 2020. Individual-level exposures to particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM 2.5 ), particulate matter ≤ 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM 10 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O 3 ) were estimated using high-resolution spatiotemporal data from the China High Air Pollutants dataset. We employed conditional logistic regression models to estimate associations between pollutant exposures and SMDs onset, controlling for temperature and humidity. Stratified analyses were performed to identify potentially vulnerable subpopulations. Results Each interquartile range increase in exposure to PM 2.5 (23.1 μg/m 3 ), CO (0.51 mg/m 3 ), NO 2 (11.9 μg/m 3 ), PM 10 (57.5 μg/m 3 ), and SO 2 (19.1 μg/m 3 ) was associated with increased odds of SMDs onset: 3.61% (95% CI: 1.53%-5.74%), 16.54% (95% CI: 12.26%-20.99%), 9.61% (95% CI: 6.34%-13.00%), 2.15% (95% CI: 0.90%-3.40%), and 28.04% (95% CI: 22.16%-34.20%), respectively. Exposure–response relationships displayed positive trends for all significant pollutants. Effect estimates were generally stronger among females, elderly individuals (≥ 65 years), those with higher socioeconomic status, and during warm seasons (May–October). Associations remained robust in two-pollutant models and various sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Short-term exposure to multiple air pollutants is positively associated with SMDs onset, with differential vulnerability across population subgroups. These results suggest that air pollution may represent an important modifiable environmental risk factor for SMDs, particularly in regions with elevated pollution levels.

Background The existing body of research exploring minority stressors and their impact on the mental health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) students in China remains limited in scope and often restricted to specific geographic regions.. Methods A combination of snowball and targeted sampling strategies was used to recruit lesbian, gay and bisexual students ( N  = 1,393) for a cross-sectional, online survey in China. Participants (Mage = 20.00 years; 60.23% assigned male at birth) were tasked with completing a comprehensive questionnaire designed to capture various dimensions, including gender expression, minority stressors (e.g., school bullying, internalized homophobia), social psychological resources (e.g., perceived social support), and mental health-related outcomes (e.g., depression, anxious and stress). Our analytical approach involved hierarchical multiple regression analyses, mediation and moderated mediation modeling to elucidate the intricate interplay among these factors. Results Our findings shed light on the pronounced mental health disparities afflicting LGB college students in China, with notable prevalence rates of depression (48.1%), anxiety (57.1%), and stress (37.5%). A significant positive correlation was observed between experiences of school-based victimization and internalized homophobia, which, in turn, exhibited a direct association with affective symptoms.School bullying was positive with internalized homophobia, which was positively associated with affective symptoms.In addition to unveiling the indirect effects of school bullying on affective symptoms, our study identified direct links in this complex relationship. Notably, the availability of social support emerged as a pivotal factor, serving as a moderator within the mediation model by mitigating the path from school-based victimization bullying to internalized homophobia (β = -0.077, P  = 0.040). Conclusions This study underscores the pervasive and concerning mental health disparities experienced by LGB college students in China. In response, institutions of higher learning should intensify anti-bullying initiatives tailored to LGB students and implement comprehensive gender education programs. Moreover, concerted efforts should be directed at enhancing the accessibility of social support resources for LGB college students, with the aim of cultivating and sustaining favorable psychological well-being.

Complex dynamical behaviors, such as bistable and periodic phenomena, have been shown to emerge due to group interactions in higher-order networks. Traditionally, the transitions between these behaviors are primarily driven by changing model parameters that represent the transmission characteristics of a single infectious disease, while maintaining a fixed network structure. However, for newly emerging infectious diseases, modifying network structures is crucial as transmission characteristics are generally fixed. This study investigates transitions between these dynamical behaviors by altering the network structure, specifically facet degree heterogeneity in the simplicial complex, under same model parameters. We develop a dynamical model incorporating facet degree distributions and derive the corresponding outbreak thresholds. Firstly, we validated the rationality of the model using Monte Carlo simulation. Subsequently, by comparing the general model and the base model under the same and different network structures, we demonstrate the advantage of the general model in capturing dynamical behavior. Furthermore, it was discovered that variations in the facet degree heterogeneity lead to phase transitions of the stability region of equilibrium. We finally provide the distribution of the stable equilibrium regions with varying facet degree heterogeneity. These findings offer valuable insights for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Fluctuations of conserved quantities are predicted to be sensitive observables to probe the QCD phase transition and critical point in heavy-ion collisions. Experimentally, various cumulants (up to fourth order) of net-proton (proxy for net-baryon (B)), net-kaon (proxy for net-strangeness (S)), and net-charge (Q) multiplicity distributions of Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 7.7 ~ 200 GeV has been measured by the STAR and PHENIX experiments from the first phase of beam energy scan program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. In this paper, i will discuss those experimental results and the corresponding physics implications.