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Partially stabilized Y2O3–ZrO2 (Y-PSZ) is often used as a material in the field of oxygen sensors and batteries. However, the presence of a tetragonal phase will seriously reduce the conductivity of Y-PSZ materials. As a sintering aid, Bi2O3 can be used to sinter materials with high oxygen ion conductivity at low temperatures. It is the first choice for the Y-PSZ doped system. A new microwave sintering technique prepared Bi2O3–Y-PSZ powders. The effects of doping amount of Bi2O3 on the microstructure, phase transition, and tetragonal phase content of Y-PSZ during sintering were researched. The results displayed that doping Bi2O3 improved the tetragonal phase content of the ZrO2. The tetragonal phase content of the samples increased from 59.72% to 94.69% after sintering at 750 °C for 1 h. After doping Bi2O3, the aggregation of the samples reduced gradually, and the particles dispersed evenly. The average particle sizes of raw material and samples doped with different amounts of Bi2O3 were 0.0794 μm, 0.0638 μm, 0.0629 μm, 0.0794 μm, 0.1116 μm, respectively. Therefore, in the doping amount (1 mol%-4 mol%), the Bi2O3 doped Y-PSZ system with 2 mol% has the highest tetragonal phase content, the best dispersion, the smallest average particle size, and the most uniform particle distribution.

In the field of early childhood education, research has increasingly paid attention to male kindergarten teachers as research subjects. The shortage of male professionals in this field, coupled with the persistent issue of high turnover rates, presents significant challenges to the preschool education sector. Elevating the retention rate of male kindergarten teachers stands as a vital concern, with occupational commitment emerging as a pivotal factor influencing retention. This study endeavors to construct a moderated mediation model to unveil the potential pathways through which perceived organizational support, occupational well-being, and person–job fit impact occupational commitment. This study administered a questionnaire that included person–job fit, perceived organizational support, occupational well-being, and occupational commitment scales. The study collected 402 valid responses from male kindergarten teachers. The findings reveal several key insights: perceived organizational support has a positive direct influence on occupational commitment; occupational well-being acts as a mediator in the relationship between perceived organizational support and occupational commitment; and person–job fit plays a moderating role, negatively impacting the predictive effect of occupational well-being on occupational commitment. Consequently, perceived organizational support can exert both a direct influence on occupational commitment and an indirect impact, mediated by occupational well-being, with person–job fit moderating the latter pathway. These results contribute to the quantitative literature surrounding male kindergarten teachers, offering valuable insights. Moreover, they furnish policymakers in preschool education and kindergarten management with effective strategies to bolster the occupational commitment of male kindergarten teachers, ultimately addressing the pressing issue of teacher turnover in this field.

The dried ammonium polyvanadate (APV) can be used to produce high-purity Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) by calcination. Therefore, drying is a necessary process. The advantages of microwave drying are uniform heating, selective heating, high heating efficiency and the operation process is clean and hygienic. This study uses a microwave to dry APV and discusses the effect of the initial mass, microwave power, initial moisture content on the drying efficiency of APV. The results display that the average drying rate is positively correlated with the microwave output power. When the initial mass is 35 g, the average rate is shown as 0.000263%/s. As the initial moisture content and power of APV increases to 25% and 560W, the average drying rate increases to 0.00036231%/s and 0.003125%/s, respectively. At the same time, through the analysis of APV drying kinetics and the fitting of experimental data, it is found that the APV microwave drying process can be precisely described by the Modified Page model. The microwave heating process saves energy and time, directly penetrates the product, and has certain advantages in green metallurgy.

Background/Objective: The effects of land-based high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on the cardiovascular system have already been demonstrated. However, the water environment is different from that on land. Therefore, we investigated the effects of 6-week aquatic HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on central hemodynamic parameters, endothelial function, and aerobic fitness in inactive adults. Methods: Thirty-one inactive adults were randomly assigned to HIIT or MICT group. HIIT group performed twelve 30-s swimming exercise bouts with the intensity of 95% HRmax and 15–18/20 RPE with a 60-s rest period between each bout. MICT group performed a 30-min uninterrupted swimming exercise with the intensity of 70%–75% HRmax and 12–14/20 RPE. Training frequency for both groups was three times a week. The pulse wave analysis and flow-mediated dilation (FMD) were measured by non-invasive equipments. Results: The aerobic fitness significantly increased after HIIT, but no change was seen after MICT. Augmentation pressure (AP) and augmentation index normalized at 75 bpm (AIx@HR75) significantly decreased after HIIT but not MICT, whereas MICT rather than HIIT improved subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR), central and peripheral blood pressure, and resting HR. Only HIIT significantly increased brachial endothelial function. Conclusion: A six-week aquatic HIIT and MICT had no differences in hemodynamic parameters, endothelial function, and aerobic fitness, however 6 weeks of aquatic HIIT reduced arterial stiffness, increased endothelial function and aerobic fitness, while 6 weeks of aquatic MICT reduced arterial blood pressure and resting HR and increased the coronary blood flow reserve.

To explore the effect and its mechanism of alkali-assisted phosphorylation on the functional properties of Camellia Oleifera seeds cake glutelin (CSCG), CSCG was treated with different concentration of sodium trimetaphosphate (STMP, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, and 5%, w/v) in different pH environment (3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, and 11.0). The results showed that alkali assist improved the phosphorylation degree of CSCG, and the optimum pH value is 9.0. FT-IR and XPS confirmed the successful modification of phosphate groups on CSCG through covalent interaction. Alkali-assisted phosphorylation decreased the particle size and increased electronegativity of CSCG, as well as changed in its surface hydrophobicity, crystallinity, and intrinsic fluorescence. All these changes of protein structure triggered by alkali-assisted phosphorylation led to the improvement of water solubility, water/oil absorption capacity, emulsifying ability, foamability, and in vitro digestibility of CSCG. This work could provide a theoretical basis for industrial production of CSCG with excellent functional properties.

Summary: The inappropriate use of antibiotics is a severe public health problem worldwide, contributing to the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. To explore the possible impacts of the inappropriate use of antibiotics on the immune system, we use Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) infection as an example and show that imipenem increases the mortality of mice infected by MDR K. pneumoniae. Further studies demonstrate that imipenem enhances the secretion of outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) with significantly elevated presentation of GroEL, which promotes the phagocytosis of OMVs by macrophages that depends on the interaction between GroEL and its receptor, lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 (LOX-1). OMVs cause the pyroptosis of macrophages and the release of proinflammatory cytokines, which contribute to exacerbated inflammatory responses. We propose that the inappropriate use of antibiotics in the cases of infection by MDR bacteria such as K. pneumoniae might cause damaging inflammatory responses, which underlines the pernicious effects of inappropriate use of antibiotics.

Pleioblastus pygmaeus (Miq.) Nakai, as a dwarf bamboo, providing a high ornamental value in landscaping. Furthermore its well-developed and intricate root system lends its use for soil consolidation and slope protection. A pot experiment was performed to study the impact of different light intensity on the growth characteristics of P. pygmaeus seedlings. The light intensity was controlled by punching circular holes with different diameters in center of the plates cover the pots. The illuminance percentages of the pore diameter area to the inner diameter area of the pot in each treatment were 1.29% (A), 5.16% (B), 11.62% (C), 20.66% (D), 32.28% (E), and 100% (F). The average illumination intensity under treatment A, B, C, D and E is 3.87%, 11.25%, 20.25%, 38.76% and 60.70% of control F (100% of full sunlight), respectively. The results showed that the light intensity is a key factor influencing P. pygmaeus seedlings’ growth and mortality. Seedlings died when light is lower than 38.76%. As light intensity decreased, the mortality increased and the number of culms and total rhizomes, leaf-, aboveground- and underground-biomass significantly decreased, and the gap between the treatments and control significantly increased over the nine month growing period. The generalized additive model (GAM) explained the influence of illuminance and investigation time and indicated a lower determination coefficient on culm height, culm diameter, total rhizome length and total rhizome diameter compared with number of culms, number of total rhizomes and biomass. The diameter of culms showed a decreasing trend during the experiment while their lengths increased even under A treatment (3.87% of full sunlight), suggesting that nonstructural carbohydrates stored prior to the experiment was used for culm height growth under light/carbon limitation. In the case of the leaves, their growth was significantly inhibited under low light intensity (3.87–60.70% of full sunlight) as they are the primary component of the plant’s photosynthetic apparatus. As suppressed leaves could not independently provide enough carbon to the plant, P. pygmaeus seedlings adjust their plasticity to slow down rhizome growth, shoot emergence and biomass accumulation, eventually resulting in “Carbon starvation” and increased mortality. This study provides insights into how dwarf bamboos balance growth and survival under low light availability.

Moso bamboo is widespread in natural forests and is cultivated over large areas in China. This study investigated how climate controls its distribution, about which little is known. We collected moso bamboo presence-absence data from 674 sites with long-term climate data in Mainland China. Generalized additive models that included location and climate variables were used to test the effects of these predictors on the species’ occurrence. We identified the best model as the one with the lowest Akaike’s Information Criterion value that contained only statistically significant predictors. We found precipitation, especially the mean (APRE) and interannual standard deviation (SDPRE) of the annual precipitation at each site, rather than temperature, to be the main factors determining the distribution of moso bamboo in Mainland China. In addition, we found that there was a significant power law relationship between the mean and interannual variance of precipitation, which made it possible to make long-term predictions. The SDPRE in climate scenarios of changes in the APRE could then be calculated using the fitted power law relationship. We simulated six climate scenarios, in which the APRE increased/decreased by 25, 50, and 75%. We used the 0.5 and 0.9 probability contour lines of model predictions to represent the suitable and core distributions, respectively, of moso bamboo under each scenario. The current core distribution of moso bamboo in Mainland China predicted by our model agreed with actual observations. Our model suggested that the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River Plain in eastern China should be climatically suitable for the growth of moso bamboo; it seems likely that its current absence there has resulted from intensive land use. Our model predicted that changes in APRE can strongly alter the distribution of moso bamboo. Increased APRE would expand the core distribution of moso bamboo into southern Shandong Province and over all of Chongqing and most of Guizhou Provinces, which are areas not currently in the species’ core distribution. Conversely, decreased APRE would shrink the core distribution of moso bamboo to the junction of Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang Provinces. We showed that the current distribution of moso bamboo is mainly determined by annual precipitation rather than temperature. The deviations between the moso distributions predicted by the climate model and the current distribution in some plain areas might have resulted from human activities. Future changes in annual precipitation will probably change the distribution of moso bamboo considerably.

Allelopathy plays an important role in plant-plant interactions, particularly through compounds released from litter exudates and decomposition. We conducted a greenhouse experiment to examine how additions of Cinnamomum septentrionale Hand. Mazz leaf litter (A) versus leaf litter aqueous extracts (B) can impact Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maid saplings, focusing on growth, physiology and photosynthesis. We show that both A and B significantly inhibited the growth and photosynthesis of E. grandis saplings, and this inhibition strengthened with increasing soil A content (range from 0 to 120 g pot−1) and concentrations of B (range from 0 to 80 g L−1). Additions of leaf litter or its aqueous extracts decreased chlorophyll content and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) while stomatal conductance (Gs) increased, reflecting that non-stomatal limitation might be the reason for the reduction of the photosynthetic rate. After treatment with A, the peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were reduced, while there was a reduction in POD and non-changed SOD activity after treatment with B. Furthermore, sugar and proline levels declined under both A and B treatments. This study demonstrates that both A and B of C. septentrionale influenced the growth, chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthesis of E. grandis saplings, and caused oxidative damage in E. grandis. The Synthesis Effect (SE) indicates that B has stronger allelopathic effect than A under the same treatment. This stronger allelopathic effect of C. septentrionale leaf litter aqueous extracts than its decomposing leaf litter can be reflected by greater damage to membrane systems, and greater reductions of both chlorophyll content and photosynthesis on treated plants. Keywords: Cinnamomum septentrionale, Eucalyptus grandis, Photosynthesis, Growth, Non-enzymatic antioxidants, Enzymatic antioxidants

C-phycocyanin (C-PC), a type of functional food colourant, plays a significant role in regulating inflammatory responses. However, its underlying anti-inflammatory mechanism remains unknown. Previously, we have established a 35S in vivo/vitro labelling analysis for dynamic proteomic (SiLAD) technology. Unlike traditional proteomic methods, SiLAD exclusively detects synthesis rates instead of accumulated amounts through 35S pulse labelling of newly synthesized proteins, providing a high sensitive way for analysing protein alterations. In this work, we applied SiLAD to explore the anti-inflammatory mechanism of C-PC. We found that the protein synthesis rates were specifically detected and visualised. Strikingly, network analysis suggested programmed cell death 5 protein (PDCD5) was involved in C-PC mediated anti-inflammatory process. Phenotyping experiments demonstrated that C-PC could reduce inflammation through down-regulating PDCD5-NF-κB signaling. These results provided important information for the regulation of C-PC, and offered a novel perspective for regulatory mechanism of functional food.

There is convincing evidence for a scaling relationship between leaf dry weight (DW) and leaf surface area (A) for broad-leaved plants, and most estimates of the scaling exponent of DW vs. A are greater than unity. However, the scaling relationship of leaf fresh weight (FW) vs. A has been largely neglected. In the present study, we examined whether there is a statistically strong scaling relationship between FW and A and compared the goodness of fit to that of DW vs. A. Between 250 and 520 leaves from each of 12 bamboo species within 2 genera (Phyllostachys and Pleioblastus) were investigated. The reduced major axis regression protocols were used to determine scaling relationships. The fit for the linearized scaling relationship of FW vs. A was compared with that of DW vs. A using the coefficient of determination (i.e., r2). A stronger scaling relationship between FW and A than that between DW and A was observed for each of the 12 bamboo species investigated. Among the 12 species examined, five had significantly smaller scaling exponents of FW vs. A compared to those of DW vs. A; only one species had a scaling exponent of FW vs. A greater than that of DW vs. A. No significant difference between the two scaling exponents was observed for the remaining 6 species. Researchers conducting future studies might be well advised to consider the influence of leaf fresh weight when exploring the scaling relationships of foliar biomass allocation patterns. Keywords: Allometry, dry weight, Foliar water content, Fresh weight, Power law, Reduced major axis

The simplified Gielis equation (SGE) can approximately describe the leaf shapes of many different broad-leaved plant species by replacing two parameters of the SGE with leaf width and leaf length with a floating ratio (c–value) to adjust for leaf length. In this study, we tested the validity of the SGE in predicting leaf area using 20 bamboo species, 12 species of Rosaceae, 5 species of Lauraceae, and 5 species of Oleaceae. We find that c–values in leaf length for 20 bamboo species are all smaller than zero, whereas, for most tree species, c–values are larger than zero. Using c–values, there was a strong correlation (>0.99 for most of the species investigated) between actual and predicted leaf area. Also, using the SGE to fit the leaf profile data, the predicted leaf width approaches its actual value, whereas the predicted length is larger than or smaller than its actual value (for bamboo species and most tree species, respectively). Although c–values ranged from −15% to zero for bamboo species and from zero to 17% for tree species, the mean percent error in leaf area for most species did not exceed 5%. These findings indicate that leaves exhibit more variation in length than in width, i.e., leaf area is fairly conservative despite considerable variation in leaf shape. Given that the SGE adequately describes the areas of leaves with complex forms (e.g., several species of Rosaceae), our data indicate that the SGE is a useful tool for describing leaf morphometrics and may open a door for the study of leaf shape evolution. Keywords: Gielis equation, Floating ratio, Lamina area, Lamina length, Lamina width, Percent error

The mean and variance of ecological measures usually follow a power-law relationship, referred to as Taylor's power law (TPL). Leaves are important organs for photosynthesis, and leaf size is closely related to photosynthetic potential. Leaf size has different physical measures, such as leaf length, area, and fresh or dry weight. However, it has not been reported whether these leaf size measures follow TPL and whether the estimates of the TPL exponent reflect basic topological constraints. Considering that the variation of leaf size can affect the photosynthetic capacity of leaves and plant competitive abilities in communities, we examined the effects of different physical dimensions of leaf size (including leaf length, area, and fresh and dry weight) on the estimate of the scaling exponent and the goodness of fit of TPL for 101 bamboo species, varieties, forms, and cultivars, using 90–100 leaves for each type of plant. All leaf size measures follow TPL. However, the goodness of fit increases with the physical dimension of the leaf size measure (e.g., from 1D leaf length to 3D leaf weight). Interestingly, no significant differences in the estimates of the TPL exponent were detected among any of the physical dimensions (1D to 3D) because the 95% confidence intervals of the differences between any two groups of bootstrap replicates of the exponents of TPL obtained from different leaf size measures did not include 0. In other words, the TPL exponents of leaf size measures from the different physical dimensions could be deemed identical. We found that leaf dry weight provides the best fit of TPL and the most reliable estimate of the exponent among the four leaf size measures used in this study, perhaps because it is the best representative of the energy allocated to individual leaves. Keywords: Bamboo, Goodness of fit, Exponent of Taylor's power law, Log-transformation, Mean-variance relationship