Thermoregulation has substantial implications for energy consumption and human comfort and health. However, cooling technology has remained largely unchanged for more than a century and still relies on cooling the entire space regardless of the number of occupants. Personalized thermoregulation by thermoelectric devices (TEDs) can markedly reduce the cooling volume and meet individual cooling needs but has yet to be realized because of the lack of flexible TEDs with sustainable high cooling performance. Here, we demonstrate a wearable TED that can deliver more than 10°C cooling effect with a high coefficient of performance (COP > 1.5). Our TED is the first to achieve long-term active cooling with high flexibility, due to a novel design of double elastomer layers and high-ZT rigid TE pillars. Thermoregulation based on these devices may enable a shift from centralized cooling toward personalized cooling with the benefits of substantially lower energy consumption and improved human comfort.

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Shrimp farming has been the fastest‐growing sector in seawater aquaculture and has contributed to improving the farmers income and the utilization efficiency of aquaculture resources in China. The shrimp industry has deployed ever‐improved and innovated methods, from extensive farming to semi‐intensive and intensive farming. Various high‐density intensive culture models, such as high‐land, greenhouse and indoor industrialized culture models, have been used for shrimp pond farming in the coastal area. However, efficiency, environmental and social considerations have led to an increasing adoption of the environmentally‐friendly culture model called integrated multi‐trophic aquaculture (IMTA). This has occurred most rapidly along the northern and central coasts of China. The deployed IMTA culture models reviewed here are shrimp + crab, shrimp + fish, shrimp + sea cucumber, shrimp + jellyfish + clam, shrimp + crab + clam, shrimp + crab + clam + fish and the ridgetail white shrimp polyculture in saline alkaline water, which have been tailored to local conditions and organisms' characteristics. Suitable organism varieties and the maintenance of suitable eco‐friendly water quality have been key to success. The eco‐friendly IMTA culture models described here fully exploit the pond culture resources, to increase production with minimal additional feed and labor inputs, while reducing effluent emissions and treatment cost. The performance of shrimp IMTA models is compared to shrimp monoculture models regarding the economics. An equally important outcome of this publication is making generally accessible the findings from a vast Chinese scientific literature on shrimp culture that has hitherto been unavailable in English.

Background: Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective health investments to prevent and control communicable diseases. Improving the vaccination rate of children is important for all nations, and for China in particular since the advent of the two-child policy. This study aims to elicit the stated preference of parents for vaccination following recent vaccine-related incidents in China. Potential preference heterogeneity was also explored among respondents. Methods: A discrete choice experiment was developed to elicit parental preferences regarding the key features of vaccines in 2019. The study recruited a national sample of parents from 10 provinces who had at least one child aged between 6 months and 5 years old. A conditional logit model and a mixed logit model were used to estimate parental preference. Results: A total of 598 parents completed the questionnaire; among them, 428 respondents who passed the rational tests were analyzed. All attributes except for the severity of diseases prevented by vaccines were statistically significant. The risk of severe side effects and protection rates were the two most important factors explaining parents’ decisions about vaccination. The results of the mixed logit model with interactions indicate that fathers or rural parents were more likely to vaccinate their children, and children whose health was not good were also more likely to be vaccinated. In addition, parents who were not more than 30 years old had a stronger preference for efficiency, and well-educated parents preferred imported vaccines with the lowest risk of severe side effects. Conclusion: When deciding about vaccinations for their children, parents in China are mostly driven by vaccination safety and vaccine effectiveness and were not affected by the severity of diseases. These findings will be useful for increasing the acceptability of vaccination in China.

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Carotenoids play vital roles in the colouration of plant tissues and organs, particularly fruits; however, the regulation of carotenoid metabolism in fruits during ripening is largely unknown. Here, we show that red light (RL) promotes fruit colouration by inducing accelerated degreening and carotenoid accumulation in kumquat fruits. Transcriptome profiling reveals that a NAC family transcription factor, FcrNAC22 is specifically induced in RL-irradiated fruits. FcrNAC22 localizes to the nucleus, and its gene expression is up-regulated as fruits change colour. Results from dual luciferase, yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) indicate that FcrNAC22 directly binds to and activates the promoters of three genes (i.e. FcrLCYB1, FcrBCH2 and FcrNCED5) encoding key enzymes in carotenoid metabolic pathway. Moreover, FcrNAC22 overexpression in citrus and tomato fruits as well as in citrus callus enhances expression of a dozen of carotenoid biosynthetic genes including the aforementioned three, accelerates plastid conversion into chromoplasts, and promotes colour change. Knock down of FcrNAC22 expression in transient transformed citrus fruits attenuates fruit colouration induced by red light. Taken together, our results demonstrate that FcrNAC22 is an important transcription factor that mediates RL-induced fruit colouration via upregulation of carotenoid metabolism in citrus and perhaps in other plants.

Mn‐rich minerals have been found by Mars rovers Curiosity and Opportunity in multiple sedimentary and basaltic outcrops at Gale and Endeavour craters, respectively, though the exact Mn‐bearing mineral species and the related geologic processes still need to be confirmed and elucidated. In the Kimberley region at Gale Crater, the Mn content of fracture‐filling materials that crosscut sandstone was evaluated to be higher than 25 wt%, indicating the existence of Mn oxides rather than evaporites or other salts. Furthermore, hydrated manganese oxides were also observed in Martian breccia meteorites Northwest Africa 7034 and 7533. However, due to the chemical complexities and often poor crystallinity of Mn‐oxide group, there are still difficulties for the quick and accurate phase identification by any single spectroscopic method. In this work, we focus on the systematic spectroscopic studies of seven pure Mn oxides (α‐MnO2, β‐MnO2, γ‐MnO2, δ‐MnO2, α‐Mn2O3, α‐Mn3O4, γ‐MnOOH) synthesized in laboratory, which were grown using a set of hydrothermal reaction and solid‐state calcination methods. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy‐dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and laser‐induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) were used to obtain the morphology and chemical compositions. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) was employed for the phase identification and structural characterization of Mn oxides. Various spectroscopic techniques such as Raman, mid‐infrared (MIR), and visible and near‐infrared (VNIR) were used to demonstrate their spectral characteristics. We thus established a diverse spectral library including Raman, MIR, VNIR, and LIBS datasets of Mn oxides, facilitating for the phase identifications of Mn‐bearing minerals for future applications in Mars explorations missions (e.g., Tianwen‐1 orbiter and Zhurong rover and Perseverance rover) as well as terrestrial and other planetary explorations.

Baicalin is a flavonoid compound purified from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis, which possesses multiple biological activities. Previous studies have shown that baicalin is protective in ischemic cerebral diseases. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of baicalin on brain injury in a rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and to explore the possible mechanisms. Intracerebral hemorrhage was induced in male Wistar rats by injection of 0.5 U collagenaseVII to the caudate nucleus. Sham operation rats were injected with equal volume of saline. After the induction of ICH, the rats were randomly divided into four groups and administered with different dose of baicalin (0, 25, 50, or 100 mg/kg in saline) through peritoneal injection. The brain tissues around the hemorrhage areas were collected on days 1, 3, and 5 after treatment. Brain edema was analyzed by desiccation method; the metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) protein and mRNA expression were determined by western blotting and real time RT-PCR, respectively. Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) protein expression was analyzed by western blotting. IL-1β and IL-6 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Blood–brain barrier permeability was determined by Evans blue leakage method. The results showed that baicalin reduced brain edema following ICH in a dose-dependent manner, with concomitant inhibition of NF-κB activation and suppression of MMP-9 expression. In addition, baicalin also reduced IL-1β and IL-6 production, as well as blood–brain barrier permeability. The above results indicated that baicalin prevents against perihematomal edema development after intracerebral hemorrhage possibly through an anti-inflammatory mechanism.