Parents are under pressure to perform well in both professional and family life while simultaneously remaining involved in their children’s development. This pressure is reflected by the prevalence ...of parental burnout, which is of concern in numerous societies. Drawing upon the demands-resources framework, we investigated parental burnout, parental involvement, and their antecedents (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status, single parenthood, the number of schoolchildren, in-group collectivism, self-esteem, and parent–teacher collaboration) in a cross-cultural setting. Analyses were based on 856 Chinese and 421 German parents’ self-reports. The results of latent mean comparisons showed that Chinese parents reported more parental burnout symptoms, less parental involvement, lower global self-esteem, and higher quality of parent–teacher collaboration in comparison with German parents. Multigroup structural equation models revealed that the relationships between parental burnout, parental involvement, and presumed factors of influence were comparable between the two cultural groups. Furthermore, self-esteem and parent–teacher collaboration can be seen as factors that protect against parental burnout and should encourage parents to get involved in their children’s education. This study provides evidence of the cross-cultural validity of the demands-resources framework and novel insights into the roles of resilience and engagement as a protective function of parenting resources.
Formation of dendritic interfacial electrodes (DIEs) between metal/polymer interfaces has high demands in a variety of areas. By combining impregnation electroplating (IEP) step with ...impregnation–reduction (IR) step under straightforward conditions, we report a novel method of preparation of dendritic interfacial metal electrodes of palladium, platinum, silver and copper inside an ionomer for ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMC) application. The depth of palladium DIEs can be controlled by adjusting the reaction time, and the maximum depth can almost reach up to contact from the both sides of ionomer with a total thickness of 200 μm. The capacitance and actuation performance of IPMC was dramatically enhanced because of the presence of DIEs.
As the importance of the gastrointestinal microbiome in human health and disease has been revealed via association studies, genetic manipulation tools for gut bacteria are much needed to define ...mechanisms and show causality.Exogenous DNA delivery and DNA manipulation using traditional strategies and novel clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas-based approaches have shown tractability in both model bacteria and non-model (‘wild’) bacteria.The development of genetic manipulation tools in gut bacteria is crucial to overcome barriers to ‘taming’ the microbiome, which allows us not only to understand host–microbiome interactions but also to accelerate microbiome engineering for novel therapeutics.
Studies of the gut microbiota have revealed associations between specific bacterial species or community compositions with health and disease, yet the causal mechanisms underlying microbiota gene–host interactions remain poorly understood. This is partly due to limited genetic manipulation (GM) tools for gut bacteria. Here, we review current advances and challenges in the development of GM approaches, including clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas and transposase-based systems in either model or non-model gut bacteria. By overcoming barriers to ‘taming’ the gut microbiome, GM tools allow molecular understanding of host–microbiome associations and accelerate microbiome engineering for clinical treatment of cancer and metabolic disorders. Finally, we provide perspectives on the future development of GM for gut microbiome species, where more effort should be placed on assembling a generalized GM pipeline to accelerate the application of groundbreaking GM tools in non-model gut bacteria towards both basic understanding and clinical translation.
In 2021, China announced the elimination of extreme poverty nationally. One region of extreme poverty in China was the Tibetan Plateau, which provides crucial ecosystem services. It is important that ...measures intended to eradicate poverty on the Tibetan Plateau do not sacrifice ecological resource security and cause ecosystem degradation. In this study, the variations of the relationships between poverty eradication and ecological resource security were analyzed by defining the relationships into four patterns of poverty traps, economic development with ecological resource deficit, poverty with reserve ecological resources, and sustainable development. The variations of the four patterns during the previous three decades were analyzed and future variations were estimated under different scenarios of ecological resource consumption. Results showed that consumption of the ecological resources of the Tibetan Plateau increased during the previous three decades, with the average value changing from 119.0 to 180.8 g C m−2 a−1. Most counties in poverty with reserve ecological resources have become counties with sustainable development, and ecological restoration has benefitted ecological security substantially. However, it has been difficult for counties in poverty traps and with ecological deficit to become counties with sustainable development because the ecological deficit could not be reversed owing to the ever-increasing consumption of ecological resources associated with improved living standards. Scenario simulations revealed that many counties currently exhibiting sustainable development would slip back into ecological deficit in coming decades if consumption of ecological resources associated with production and personal living standards continued increasing, or even remained constant at the average level of the previous decade. Therefore, to support long-lasting sustainable development of the Tibetan Plateau, policies should be proposed that simultaneously enhance ecological restoration and break the link between ecological resource use and economic development.
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The well-dispersed HEA nanocrystals on N-rich graphene with abundant M–pyridinic N–C bonds have been designed for catalyzing alkaline water electrolysis. The electronic rearrangement optimizes the ...coupling effects of the five elements, endowing the electrocatalysts with the fast H2O dissociation kinetics and the favorable H* adsorption behavior, greatly enhancing hydrogen generation in alkaline electrolyte.
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The activation of multisite high-entropy alloy (HEA) electrocatalysts is helpful for improving the atomic utilization of each metal in water electrolysis catalysis. Herein, well-dispersed HEA nanocrystals on N-rich graphene with abundant M–pyridinic N–C bonds were synthesized through an ultrasonic-assisted confinement synthesis method. Operando Raman analysis and density functional theory calculations revealed that the electrocatalysts presented the optimal electronic rearrangement with fast rate-determined H2O dissociation kinetics and favorable H* adsorption behavior that greatly enhanced hydrogen generation in alkaline electrolyte. A small overpotential of only 138.6 mV was required to obtain the current density of 100 mA cm−2 and the Tafel slope of as low as 33.0 mV dec−1, which was considerably smaller than the overpotentials of the counterpart with poor M–pyridinic N–C bonds (290.4 mV) and commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts (168.6 mV). The atomic structure, coordination environment, and electronic structure were clarified. This work provides a new avenue toward activating HEA as advanced electrocatalysts and promotes the research on HEA for energy-related electrolysis.
Broadband photodetection (PD) covering the deep ultraviolet to near-infrared (200-1000 nm) range is significant and desirable for various optoelectronic designs. Herein, we employ ultraviolet (UV) ...luminescent concentrators (LC), iodine-based perovskite quantum dots (PQDs), and organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) as the UV, visible, and near-infrared (NIR) photosensitive layers, respectively, to construct a broadband heterojunction PD. Firstly, experimental and theoretical results reveal that optoelectronic properties and stability of CsPbI
PQDs are significantly improved through Er
doping, owing to the reduced defect density, improved charge mobility, increased formation energy, tolerance factor, etc. The narrow bandgap of CsPbI
:Er
PQDs serves as a visible photosensitive layer of PD. Secondly, considering the matchable energy bandgap, the BHJ (BTP-4Cl: PBDB-TF) is selected as to NIR absorption layer to fabricate the hybrid structure with CsPbI
:Er
PQDs. Thirdly, UV LC converts the UV light (200-400 nm) to visible light (400-700 nm), which is further absorbed by CsPbI
:Er
PQDs. In contrast with other perovskites PDs and commercial Si PDs, our PD presents a relatively wide response range and high detectivity especially in UV and NIR regions (two orders of magnitude increase that of commercial Si PDs). Furthermore, the PD also demonstrates significantly enhanced air- and UV- stability, and the photocurrent of the device maintains 81.5% of the original one after 5000 cycles. This work highlights a new attempt for designing broadband PDs, which has application potential in optoelectronic devices.
Acellular epicardial patches that treat myocardial infarction by increasing the mechanical integrity of damaged left ventricular tissues exhibit widely scattered therapeutic efficacy. Here, we ...introduce a viscoelastic adhesive patch, made of an ionically crosslinked transparent hydrogel, that accommodates the cyclic deformation of the myocardium and outperforms most existing acellular epicardial patches in reversing left ventricular remodelling and restoring heart function after both acute and subacute myocardial infarction in rats. The superior performance of the patch results from its relatively low dynamic modulus, designed at the so-called 'gel point' via finite-element simulations of left ventricular remodelling so as to balance the fluid and solid properties of the material.
The recent development of shared-bike systems in China has brought convenience for users, as well as great pressure on bicycle parking management. There is limited empirical evidence regarding the ...effectiveness of incentive measures from the perspective of guiding people to park their shared bikes regularly. By defining a mixed logit model based on the theory of planned behaviour, this study focuses on exploring the conformity effects of policy compliance among dockless shared-bike users in the behavioural decisions of bicycle parking. A total of 453 respondents who had just finished parking a shared bike were invited to provide intentional information by participating in a stated preference survey. The empirical results indicated that, as a positive and negative incentive measure, both monetary rewards and financial penalties can motivate people to park the shared bikes in an unsaturated place near their destinations. However, the significant difference is that, with increasing incentive intensity, a monetary reward can motivate shared-bike users to shift the bicycles away more effectively than a financial penalty, especially when the shifting distance requires more than 10 min of walking. In addition, some factors used to characterize the individual heterogeneity, such as gender, education and searching time for dockless shared bikes, also have obvious impacts on policy compliance regarding bicycle parking guidance. These findings can help policy makers to create appropriate measures in the form of incentives to reduce illegal parking by shared-bike users.
In the present study, biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles was carried out using Rosa chinensis flower extract as reducing agent. The characterization of silver nanoparticles was done by UV-VIS ...spectrum. The morphology and size of silver nanoparticles were determined by transmission electron microscope (TEM) image. The crystallization of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis was used to confirm the possible involvement in the formation and stabilization of synthesized silver nanoparticles by the extract of Rosa chinensis flower. Antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles was studied against Gram positive Staphycoccus aureus and Gram negative Escherichia coil.
A Portland cement clinker containing high content of ferrite phase (>18%) is synthesized with high fractions (60 mass%) of solid wastes, including steel slag, copper tailing, coal gangue and ...phosphate tailing. Controlling the soundness of clinker caused by the MgO (about 9% in mass) is the key challenge. Adding NiO into the raw meal of clinker controls its soundness via the formation of MgNiO2 with free MgO, showing little effect on the hydration and strength development of cement synthesized with solid wastes. The cement satisfy the 42.5 grade according to the Chinese standard GB 175–2007.
