Do Confucian values and working experience matter? The impact of provincial governors' characteristics on the management level of major road accidents in China.

Upper echelons theory (UET) proposes that organizational outcomes are directly affected by the experiences, personalities, and values of individuals who occupy critical managerial roles within an organization. Using the lens of UET, this study investigates how governors' characteristics affect the management level of major road accidents (MLMRA). The empirical work is based on fixed effects regression models that are applied to Chinese provincial panel data from 2008 to 2017. This study uncovers that the MLMRA is associated with governors' tenure, central background, and Confucian values. We further document that the effect of Confucianism on the MLMRA is stronger when traffic regulation pressure is high. This study has the potential to advance our understanding of the impact of leaders' characteristics on organizational outcomes in the public sector.

The Discrepant and Similar Responses of Genome-Wide Transcriptional Profiles between Drought and Cold Stresses in Cassava.

Background: Cassava, an important tropical crop, has remarkable drought tolerance, but is very sensitive to cold. The growth, development, and root productivity of cassava are all adversely affected under cold and drought. Methods: To profile the transcriptional response to cold and drought stresses, cassava seedlings were respectively subjected to 0, 6, 24, and 48 h of cold stress and 0, 4, 6, and 10 days of drought stress. Their folded leaves, fully extended leaves, and roots were respectively investigated using RNA-seq. Results: Many genes specifically and commonly responsive to cold and drought were revealed: genes related to basic cellular metabolism, tetrapyrrole synthesis, and brassinosteroid metabolism exclusively responded to cold; genes related to abiotic stress and ethylene metabolism exclusively responded to drought; and genes related to cell wall, photosynthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism, DNA synthesis/chromatic structure, abscisic acid and salicylic acid metabolism, and calcium signaling commonly responded to both cold and drought. Discussion: Combined with cold- and/or drought-responsive transcription factors, the regulatory networks responding to cold and drought in cassava were constructed. All these findings will improve our understanding of the specific and common responses to cold and drought in cassava, and shed light on genetic improvement of cold and drought tolerance in cassava.

Endogenous small-noncoding RNAs and their roles in chilling response and stress acclimation in Cassava.

BACKGROUND: Small noncoding RNA (sncRNA), including microRNAs (miRNAs) and endogenous small-interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) are key gene regulators in eukaryotes, playing critical roles in plant development and stress tolerance. Trans-acting siRNAs (ta-siRNAs), which are secondary siRNAs triggered by miRNAs, and siRNAs from natural antisense transcripts (nat-siRNAs) are two well-studied classes of endo-siRNAs. RESULTS: In order to understand sncRNAs' roles in plant chilling response and stress acclimation, we performed a comprehensive study of miRNAs and endo-siRNAs in Cassava (Manihot esculenta), a major source of food for the world populations in tropical regions. Combining Next-Generation sequencing and computational and experimental analyses, we profiled and characterized sncRNA species and mRNA genes from the plants that experienced severe and moderate chilling stresses, that underwent further severe chilling stress after chilling acclimation at moderate stress, and that grew under the normal condition. We also included castor bean (Ricinus communis) in our study to understand conservation of sncRNAs. In addition to known miRNAs, we identified 32 (22 and 10) novel miRNAs as well as 47 (26 and 21) putative secondary siRNA-yielding and 8 (7 and 1) nat-siRNA-yielding candidate loci in Cassava and castor bean, respectively. Among the expressed sncRNAs, 114 miRNAs, 12 ta-siRNAs and 2 nat-siRNAs showed significant expression changes under chilling stresses. CONCLUSION: Systematic and computational analysis of microRNAome and experimental validation collectively showed that miRNAs, ta-siRNAs, and possibly nat-siRNAs play important roles in chilling response and chilling acclimation in Cassava by regulating stress-related pathways, e.g. Auxin signal transduction. The conservation of these sncRNA might shed lights on the role of sncRNA-mediated pathways affected by chilling stress and stress acclimation in Euphorbiaceous plants.

[Effects of different amounts of organic acid soil conditioners on soil nutrients and crop growth]. / ä¸åŒç”¨é‡æœ‰æœºé ¸åœŸå£¤è°ƒç†å‰‚å¯¹åœŸå£¤å »åˆ†å’Œä½œç‰©ç”Ÿé•¿çš„å½±å“.

Northwest China is burdened by declining soil fertility and poor capacity of water and nutrient retention. A pot experiment was conducted to examine the effects of organic acid conditio-ners (OASC) with four application rates (0, 20, 40, and 60 g·kg-1) on soil nutrients and crop growth. Maize and common vetch were the focus crops and loessial soil and irrigated desert soil were the soil types. The results showed that OASC application reduced water evaporation loss and significantly improved soil available nutrient content, with the most obvious effects on soil phosphorus. Available phosphorus content and proportion were increased by 256.5% and 227.4%, respectively, compared with no OASC treatment. The shoot dry weights of maize and common vetch on loessial soil were initially increased with the increasing OASC application rate and were highest at the application rate of 20 g·kg-1. The values progressively decreased with increasing OASC addition rates. Total salt content was significantly increased and the rate of emergence of common vetch decreased at OASC rate exceeding 20 g·kg-1. For irrigated desert soil, the OASC application rate did not affect total salt content when maize was planted. There was significant increase in soil total salt contents when common vetch was planted and at the OASC rate of 60 g·kg-1. The shoot dry weight of common vetch and maize was highest with the OASC application rates at 40 g·kg-1 and 60 g·kg-1, respectively. The optimal OASC rate for planting common vetch and maize on loess soil was 20 g·kg-1. The application rates of 40 g·kg-1 and 60 g·kg-1 were optimal for planting common vetch and maize on irrigated desert, respectively.

[Effects of no-tillage sowing with crop stubbles on seeding emergence and yield of spring wheat in Hexi Oasis Irrigated Area, Northwest China]. / ç•™èŒ¬å è€•æ’­ç§å¯¹æ²³è¥¿ç»¿æ´²çŒåŒºæ˜¥å°éº¦å‡ºè‹—å’Œäº§é‡çš„å½±å“.

We examined the effects of long-term no-tillage sowing with crop stubbles on seedling emergence quality and yield of spring wheat under the three typical spring wheat planting modes of single wheat, wheat-corn intercropping and wheat-soybean intercropping in a long-term field experiment in Hexi oasis irrigated area, aiming to provide theoretical support for the efficient and sustai-nable production of spring wheat. The results showed that, compared with traditional tillage, no-tillage sowing with crop stubbles significantly decreased seedling emergence rate and emergence evenness of spring wheat in wheat-corn intercropping and wheat-soybean intercropping by 3.3%-8.6%, 9.6%-20.5%, 2.9%-8.8%, and 10.7%-61.7%, respectively. Emergence evenness was significantly increased by 14.9% in 2019, while seedling emergence rate was significantly decreased by 4.2% in 2020 under the mode of single wheat compared with traditional tillage. Seedling uniformity of spring wheat seedling stage were reduced under the three typical planting modes, including single wheat, wheat-corn intercropping and wheat-soybean intercropping. Spike number of spring wheat were equal to that of traditional tillage at harvest under the three planting modes of no-tillage sowing with crop stubbles, and the differences were not significant. Effects of seedling emergence rate of spring wheat on yield was weakened by increasing grain number per spike and 1000-grain weight of spring wheat under the three planting modes. Grain yield was significantly increased by 10.3%-12.9% (single wheat), 10.5%-11.9% (wheat-corn intercropping), and 10.3%-22.5% (wheat-soybean intercropping) at harvest, respectively. Our results indicated that no-tillage sowing with crop stubbles was the feasible tillage mode in the production process of spring wheat in Hexi oasis irrigation area with extremely serious farmland wind erosion degradation.