Zinc improves the developmental ability of bovine in vitro fertilization embryos through its antioxidative action.

Zinc, an essential trace mineral, exerts a pivotal influence in various biological processes. Through zinc concentration analysis, we found that the zinc concentration in the bovine embryo in vitro culture (IVC) medium was significantly lower than that in bovine follicular fluid. Therefore, this study explored the impact of zinc sulfate on IVC bovine embryo development and investigated the underlying mechanism. The results revealed a significant decline in zygote cleavage and blastocyst development rates when zinc deficiency was induced using zinc chelator N, N, N', N'-Tetrakis (2-pyridylmethyl) ethylenediamine (TPEN) in culture medium during embryo in vitro culture. The influence of zinc-deficiency was time-dependent. Conversely, supplementing 0.8 µg/mL zinc sulfate to culture medium (CM) increased the cleavage and blastocyst formation rate significantly. Moreover, this supplementation reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, elevated the glutathione (GSH) levels in blastocysts, upregulated the mRNA expression of antioxidase-related genes, and activated the Nrf2-Keap1-ARE signaling pathways. Furthermore, 0.8 µg/mL zinc sulfate enhanced mitochondrial membrane potential, maintained DNA stability, and enhanced the quality of bovine (in vitro fertilization) IVF blastocysts. In conclusion, the addition of 0.8 µg/mL zinc sulfate to CM could enhance the antioxidant capacity, activates the Nrf2-Keap1-ARE signaling pathways, augment mitochondrial membrane potential, and stabilizes DNA, ultimately improving blastocyst quality and in vitro bovine embryo development.

New insights into the genetic loci related to egg weight and age at first egg traits in broiler breeder.

Egg weight (EW) and age at first egg (AFE) are economically important traits in breeder chicken production. The genetic basis of these traits, however, is far from understood, especially for broiler breeders. In this study, genetic parameter estimation, genome-wide association analysis, meta-analysis, and selective sweep analysis were carried out to identify genetic loci associated with EW and AFE in 6,842 broiler breeders. The study found that the heritability of EW ranged from 0.42 to 0.44, while the heritability of AFE was estimated at 0.33 in the maternal line. Meta-analysis and selective sweep analysis identified two colocalized regions on GGA4 that significantly influenced EW at 32 wk (EW32W) and at 43 wk (EW43W) with both paternal and maternal lines. The genes AR, YIPF6, and STARD8 were located within the significant region (GGA4: 366.86-575.50 kb), potentially affecting EW through the regulation of follicle development, cell proliferation, and lipid transfer etc. The promising genes LCORL and NCAPG were positioned within the significant region (GGA4:75.35-75.42 Mb), potentially influencing EW through pleiotropic effects on growth and development. Additionally, 3 significant regions were associated with AFE on chromosomes GGA7, GGA19, and GGA27. All of these factors affected the AFE by influencing ovarian development. In our study, the genomic information from both paternal and maternal lines was used to identify genetic regions associated with EW and AFE. Two genomic regions and eight genes were identified as the most likely candidates affecting EW and AFE. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the genetic basis of egg production traits in broiler breeders and provide new insights into future technology development.

An organism-wide atlas of hormonal signaling based on the mouse lemur single-cell transcriptome.

Hormones mediate long-range cell communication and play vital roles in physiology, metabolism, and health. Traditionally, endocrinologists have focused on one hormone or organ system at a time. Yet, hormone signaling by its very nature connects cells of different organs and involves crosstalk of different hormones. Here, we leverage the organism-wide single cell transcriptional atlas of a non-human primate, the mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus), to systematically map source and target cells for 84 classes of hormones. This work uncovers previously-uncharacterized sites of hormone regulation, and shows that the hormonal signaling network is densely connected, decentralized, and rich in feedback loops. Evolutionary comparisons of hormonal genes and their expression patterns show that mouse lemur better models human hormonal signaling than mouse, at both the genomic and transcriptomic levels, and reveal primate-specific rewiring of hormone-producing/target cells. This work complements the scale and resolution of classical endocrine studies and sheds light on primate hormone regulation.

Comprehensive Parameter Space Mapping of Cell Cycle Dynamics under Network Perturbations.

Studies of quantitative systems and synthetic biology have extensively utilized models to interpret data, make predictions, and guide experimental designs. However, models often simplify complex biological systems and lack experimentally validated parameters, making their reliability in perturbed systems unclear. Here, we developed a droplet-based synthetic cell system to continuously tune parameters at the single-cell level in multiple dimensions with full dynamic ranges, providing an experimental framework for global parameter space scans. We systematically perturbed a cell-cycle oscillator centered on cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk1), enabling comprehensive mapping of period landscapes in response to network perturbations. The data allowed us to challenge existing models and refine a new model that matches the observed response. Our analysis demonstrated that Cdk1 positive feedback inhibition restricts the cell cycle frequency range, confirming model predictions; furthermore, it revealed new cellular responses to the inhibition of the Cdk1-counteracting phosphatase PP2A: monomodal or bimodal distributions across varying inhibition levels, underscoring the complex nature of cell cycle regulation that can be explained by our model. This comprehensive perturbation platform may be generalizable to exploring other complex dynamic systems.

Three-dimensional glass scaffolds improve the In Vitro maturation of porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes and subsequent embryonic development after parthenogenetic activation.

In vitro maturation (IVM) methods for porcine oocytes are still deficient in achieving full developmental capacity, as the currently available oocyte in vitro culture systems still have limitations. In vitro embryo production must also improve the porcine oocyte IVM system to acquire oocytes with good developmental potential. Herein, we tested a three-dimensional (3D) glass scaffold culture system for porcine oocyte maturation. After 42 h, we matured porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) on either two-dimensional glass dishes (2D-B), two-dimensional microdrops (2D-W), or 3D glass scaffolds. The 3D glass scaffolds were tested for porcine oocyte maturation and embryonic development. Among these culture methods, the extended morphology of the 3D group maintained a 3D structure better than the 2D-B and 2D-W groups, which had flat COCs that grew close to the bottom of the culture vessel. The COCs of the 3D group had a higher cumulus expansion index and higher first polar body extrusion rate, cleavage rate, and blastocyst rate of parthenogenetic embryos than the 2D-B group. In the 3D group, the cumulus-expansion-related gene HAS2 and anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2 were significantly upregulated (p < 0.05), while the pro-apoptotic gene Caspase3 was significantly downregulated (p < 0.05). The blastocysts of the 3D group had a higher relative expression of Bcl-2, Oct4, and Nanog than the other two groups (p < 0.05). The 3D group also had a more uniform distribution of mitochondrial membrane potential and mitochondria (p < 0.05), and its cytoplasmic active oxygen species content was much lower than that in the 2D-B group (p < 0.05). These results show that 3D glass scaffolds dramatically increased porcine oocyte maturation and embryonic development after parthenogenetic activation, providing a suitable culture model for porcine oocytes.

Testing Heisenberg-Type Measurement Uncertainty Relations of Three Observables.

Heisenberg-type measurement uncertainty relations (MURs) of two quantum observables are essential for contemporary research in quantum foundations and quantum information science. Going beyond, here we report the first experimental study of MUR of three quantum observables. We establish rigorously MURs for triplets of unbiased qubit observables as combined approximation errors lower bounded by an incompatibility measure, inspired by the proposal of Busch et al. [Phys. Rev. A 89, 012129 (2014)PLRAAN1050-294710.1103/PhysRevA.89.012129]. We develop a convex programming protocol to numerically find the exact value of the incompatibility measure and the optimal measurements. We propose a novel implementation of the optimal joint measurements and present several experimental demonstrations with a single-photon qubit. We stress that our method is universally applicable to the study of many qubit observables. Besides, we theoretically show that MURs for joint measurement can be attained by sequential measurements in two of our explored cases. We anticipate that this work may stimulate broad interests associated with Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in the case of multiple observables, enriching our understanding of quantum mechanics and inspiring innovative applications in quantum information science.

Design and preliminary evaluation of a multi-channel multi-energy point integrated Wolter microscope.

In inertial confinement fusion, high-precision x-ray imaging is crucial for understanding the states of matter under extreme conditions. To observe the target asymmetry during compression, multiple imaging spots with varying energy responses are necessary. However, integrating multiple imaging channels in a grazing incidence x-ray imaging scheme is challenging, and there is an urgent need for effective combination of multi-color and high-throughput diagnostics. This study presents a design method for a multi-channel integrated Wolter microscope with high spatial resolution, wide-band response, and high throughput. The basic optical configuration, adjustment method, and multi-channel integration scheme are discussed in detail. A 10 keV-class three-channel integrated Wolter microscope is proposed for verification, with an estimated spatial resolution better than 4.0 µm in a field of view of ±500µm. The peak response efficiencies for each imaging channel are calculated as 5.2×10-5 s r, 8.6×10-5 s r, and 2.2×10-4 s r, respectively.

Short-interval second ejaculation improves sperm quality, blastocyst formation in oligoasthenozoospermic males in ICSI cycles: a time-lapse sibling oocytes study.

Background: Does short-interval second ejaculation improve sperm quality, embryo development and clinical outcomes for oligoasthenozoospermia males received intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment? Methods: All enrolled male patients underwent short-interval secondary ejaculation on the day of oocyte retrieval, and 786 sibling MII oocytes from 67 cycles were equally divided into two groups based on whether the injected spermatozoons originated from the first or second ejaculation. Semen parameters, embryo development efficiency, morphokinetic parameters and clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups to assess the efficiency and clinical value of short-interval second ejaculation in ICSI cycles. Results: Short-interval second ejaculation significantly improved sperm motility, normal morphological rate, and sperm DNA integrity both before and after sperm swim-up. The high-quality blastocyst rate (24.79% versus 14.67%), available blastocyst rate (57.56% versus 48.44%), and oocyte utilization rate (52.93% versus 45.29%) were significantly higher in the second ejaculation group (P<0.05). The clinical pregnancy rate (59.09% versus 47.37%), implantation rate (42.11% versus 32.35%) and live birth rate (40.91% versus 31.58%) were higher in the second ejaculation group, but the differences were not significant (P>0.05). Time-lapse analysis showed that morphokinetic time points after the 7-cell stage were earlier in the second ejaculation group but without a significant difference (P>0.05), and abnormal embryo cleavage patterns between the two groups were not significantly different (P>0.05). Conclusions: Short-interval second ejaculation significantly improves sperm quality in oligoasthenozoospermic males, and is beneficial for blastocyst formation efficiency in ICSI cycles. This study suggested a non-invasive and simple but effective strategy for improving ICSI treatment outcomes.

CBX4 deletion promotes tumorigenesis under KrasG12D background by inducing genomic instability.

Chromobox protein homolog 4 (CBX4) is a component of the Polycomb group (PcG) multiprotein Polycomb repressive complexes 1 (PRC1), which is participated in several processes including growth, senescence, immunity, and tissue repair. CBX4 has been shown to have diverse, even opposite functions in different types of tissue and malignancy in previous studies. In this study, we found that CBX4 deletion promoted lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) proliferation and progression in KrasG12D mutated background. In vitro, over 50% Cbx4L/L, KrasG12D mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) underwent apoptosis in the initial period after Adeno-Cre virus treatment, while a small portion of survival cells got increased proliferation and transformation abilities, which we called selected Cbx4-/-, KrasG12D cells. Karyotype analysis and RNA-seq data revealed chromosome instability and genome changes in selected Cbx4-/-, KrasG12D cells compared with KrasG12D cells. Further study showed that P15, P16 and other apoptosis-related genes were upregulated in the primary Cbx4-/-, KrasG12D cells due to chromosome instability, which led to the large population of cell apoptosis. In addition, multiple pathways including Hippo pathway and basal cell cancer-related signatures were altered in selected Cbx4-/-, KrasG12D cells, ultimately leading to cancer. We also found that low expression of CBX4 in LUAD was associated with poorer prognosis under Kras mutation background from the human clinical data. To sum up, CBX4 deletion causes genomic instability to induce tumorigenesis under KrasG12D background. Our study demonstrates that CBX4 plays an emerging role in tumorigenesis, which is of great importance in guiding the clinical treatment of lung adenocarcinoma.

Several models combined with ultrasound techniques to predict breast muscle weight in broilers.

The weight of breast muscle (WBM) is a highly monitored indicator in broiler breeding that can be obtained after slaughtering. Currently, due to the lack of accurate in vivo phenotypes for both genomic and phenotypic selection, genetic gains in WBM fall short of initial expectations. In this study, 1,006 market-age (42 d) broilers from 3 generations over 2 yr were randomly selected, and the breast width (BW), fossil bone length (FBL), breast muscle thickness (BMT), and live weight (LW) were measured exactly in vivo. Eight models, including multiple linear regression (MLR), ridge regression (RR), least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and elastic net (EN), were fitted to explore the best regression relationships between breast muscle weight and these indicators. Support vector machine (SVM) methods with both linear kernels and radial kernels were used to fit the models, while 2 decision tree-based machine learning algorithms, random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), were used to establish the prediction model. The predictive effects of different combinations of independent variables were compared, leading to the conclusion that the EN model achieves the best predictive power when all 4 live features are used as inputs and is slightly better than the other models (R2 = 0.7696). This method could be applied in practical production and breeding work, leading to substantial cost savings and enhancements in the breeding process.

METTL3-mediated m6A methylation regulates granulosa cells autophagy during follicular atresia in pig ovaries.

Follicular atresia is a normal physiological event in mammals, yet its mechanism remains to be studied. Granulosa cell (GC) autophagy is closely associated with follicular atresia. The N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is the most common post-transcriptional modification in eukaryotes, but its role in follicular atresia is still unknown. In this study, the possible relationship amongst follicular atresia, GC autophagy and m6A modification was studied. Our results showed that the level of autophagy in GCs increased with the degree of follicle atresia, whereas the overall m6A level decreased. Rapamycin treatment induced atresia in vitro cultured follicles, whereas 3-Methyladenine inhibited follicular atresia. Progressed atretic follicle (PAF) GCs had significantly lower METTL3 levels and significantly higher FTO levels than healthy follicle (HF) GCs. Differential gene expression analysis of GCs in PAF and HF by RNA sequencing was showed that the autophagy-related genes ULK1, ULK2, ATG2A, and ATG2B were significantly elevated in the PAF. In cultured GCs, overexpression of METTL3 significantly decreased the mRNA level of ULK1, as well as the autophagy level, whereas knockdown of METTL3 by RNAi significantly increased the mRNA level of ULK1, as well as the autophagy level. Our results indicate that m6A modification can regulate autophagy in GCs and play a role in the process of porcine follicular atresia.

Dynamic detection of three-dimensional crop phenotypes based on a consumer-grade RGB-D camera.

Introduction: Nondestructive detection of crop phenotypic traits in the field is very important for crop breeding. Ground-based mobile platforms equipped with sensors can efficiently and accurately obtain crop phenotypic traits. In this study, we propose a dynamic 3D data acquisition method in the field suitable for various crops by using a consumer-grade RGB-D camera installed on a ground-based movable platform, which can collect RGB images as well as depth images of crop canopy sequences dynamically. Methods: A scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) operator was used to detect adjacent date frames acquired by the RGB-D camera to calculate the point cloud alignment coarse matching matrix and the displacement distance of adjacent images. The data frames used for point cloud matching were selected according to the calculated displacement distance. Then, the colored ICP (iterative closest point) algorithm was used to determine the fine matching matrix and generate point clouds of the crop row. The clustering method was applied to segment the point cloud of each plant from the crop row point cloud, and 3D phenotypic traits, including plant height, leaf area and projected area of individual plants, were measured. Results and Discussion: We compared the effects of LIDAR and image-based 3D reconstruction methods, and experiments were carried out on corn, tobacco, cottons and Bletilla striata in the seedling stage. The results show that the measurements of the plant height (R²= 0.9~0.96, RSME = 0.015~0.023 m), leaf area (R²= 0.8~0.86, RSME = 0.0011~0.0041 m 2 ) and projected area (R² = 0.96~0.99) have strong correlations with the manual measurement results. Additionally, 3D reconstruction results with different moving speeds and times throughout the day and in different scenes were also verified. The results show that the method can be applied to dynamic detection with a moving speed up to 0.6 m/s and can achieve acceptable detection results in the daytime, as well as at night. Thus, the proposed method can improve the efficiency of individual crop 3D point cloud data extraction with acceptable accuracy, which is a feasible solution for crop seedling 3D phenotyping outdoors.

ESMOLOL PROTECTS AGAINST LPS-INDUCED CARDIAC INJURY VIA THE AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 PATHWAY IN RAT.

ABSTRACT: Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of esmolol (ES) on LPS-induced cardiac injury and the possible mechanism. Methods: Sepsis was induced by i.p. injection of LPS (10 mg/kg) in male Sprague-Dawley rats pretreated with ES, 3-methyladenine or rapamycin. The severity of myocardial damage was analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin staining, and myocardial damage scores were calculated. The concentration of cardiac troponin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of autophagy-related proteins (beclin-1, LC3-II, p-AMPK, p-ULK1, p-mTOR) in myocardial tissue was detected by Western blotting. Autophagosome formation and the ultrastructural damage of mitochondria were assessed using transmission electron microscopy. Results: LPS induced an increase in myocardial damage score in a time-dependent manner, accompanied with an increase in autophagy at 3 h and decrease in autophagy at 6, 12, and 24 h. Pretreatment of LPS-treated rats with ES or rapamycin reduced myocardial injury (release of cardiac troponin, myocardial damage score) and increased autophagy (LC3-II, beclin-1, p-AMPK, and p-ULK1 levels and autophagosome numbers) at 12 and 24 h. In contrast, 3-methyladenine showed no effect. Conclusion: Esmolol alleviates LPS-induced myocardial damage through activating the AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 signal pathway-regulated autophagy.

Early rescue oocyte activation at 5 h post-ICSI is a useful strategy for avoiding unexpected fertilization failure and low fertilization in ICSI cycles.

Introduction: Attempts to artificially activate unfertilized oocytes at 24 h post intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) have generally resulted in poor outcomes. This study aims to explore a new strategy for early judgement and rescue activation of unfertilized oocytes at 5 h post ICSI to avoid unexpected fertilization failure (UFF) or unexpected low fertilization (ULF) in ICSI cycles. Methods: Firstly, time-lapse data from 278 ICSI cycles were retrospectively analyzed to establish an indicator for fertilization failure prediction. Secondly, 14 UFF and 20 ULF cycles were enrolled for an observational study, early rescue oocyte activation (EROA) was performed on oocytes without post-ICSI Pb2 extrusion to investigate fertilization efficiency, embryo development and clinical outcomes. Results: The average time to Pb2 extrusion post-ICSI was 3.03±1.21 h, 95.54% of oocytes had extruded Pb2 before 5 h, and the sensitivity and specificity for monitoring Pb2 extrusion at 5 h by time-lapse imaging to predict fertilization were 99.59% and 99.78%, respectively. Early rescue activation of oocytes with no Pb2 extrusion resulted in acceptable fertilization and embryo developmental outcomes, in terms of the fertilization rate (75.00, 72.99%), 2PN fertilization rate (61.36, 56.93%), good-quality embryo rate (42.59, 50.00%), blastocyst formation rate (48.28, 46.03%), good-quality blastocyst rate (34.48, 33.33%), and oocyte utilization rate (36.36, 27.74%), for both UFF and ULF cycles. The clinical pregnancy, embryo implantation, and early miscarriage rates in the rescue oocyte activation group did not significantly differ from those in the Pb2 extrusion group. Fourteen unexpected fertilization failures and 20 low fertilization ICSI cycles were rescued and resulted in clinical pregnancy rates of 40.00% (4/10) and 57.14% (8/14), respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that monitoring Pb2 extrusion by time-lapse imaging can accurately predict fertilization outcomes, suggesting that early rescue oocyte activation at 5 h post ICSI is an effective strategy for avoiding unexpected fertilization failure and low fertilization in ICSI cycles.

Fabrication of Ga2O3 Schottky Barrier Diode and Heterojunction Diode by MOCVD.

In this article, we reported on a Ga2O3-based Schottky barrier diode and heterojunction diode from MOCVD. The Si-doped n-type Ga2O3 drift layer, grown by MOCVD, exhibited high crystal quality, flat surfaces, and uniform doping. The distribution of unintentional impurities in the films was studied. Then nickel Schottky barrier diode and p-NiO/n-Ga2O3 heterojunction diode were fabricated and measured. Without any electric field management structure, the Schottky barrier diode and heterojunction diode have specific resistances of 3.0 mΩ·cm2 and 6.2 mΩ·cm2, breakdown voltages of 380 V and 740 V, thus yielding power figures of merit of 48 MW·cm-2 and 88 MW·cm-2, respectively. Besides, both devices exhibit a current on/off ratio of more than 1010. This shows the prospect of MOCVD in power device manufacture.

Test of Genuine Multipartite Nonlocality.

While Bell nonlocality of a bipartite system is counterintuitive, multipartite nonlocality in our many-body world turns out to be even more so. Recent theoretical study reveals in a theory-agnostic manner that genuine multipartite nonlocal correlations cannot be explained by any causal theory involving fewer-partite nonclassical resources and global shared randomness. Here, we provide a Bell-type inequality as a test for genuine multipartite nonlocality in network by exploiting a matrix representation of the causal structure of a multipartite system. We further present experimental demonstrations that both four-photon GHZ state and generalized four-photon GHZ state significantly violate the inequality, i.e., the observed four-partite correlations resist explanations involving three-way nonlocal resources subject to local operations and common shared randomness, hence confirming that nature is boundless multipartite nonlocal.

Detection system of the lobster eye telescope with large field of view.

The lobster eye telescope is promising for large-field x ray imaging in astronomy. The special structure of the lobster eye system makes the focal plane a sphere, resulting in detector defocus when the field is large. In this study, we established a model based on the principle of lobster eye imaging and simulated the imaging at different image distances. The results reveal the relationship between the defocus and position accuracy and angular resolution. To ensure the optical performance of the large field lobster eye telescope, we propose a detection system design method using multiple detectors stitched together to form a spherical-like surface and apply it to the development of the Einstein Probe/wide-field x ray telescope (EP/WXT) submodule. About 70% of the detection area is out of focus within 0.5 mm. The scanning image of the integrated WXT submodule shows good uniformity of the point spread function (PSF) for various incident angles, and the effect of defocus on imaging is acceptable.

RNAi-mediated knockdown of Xist improves development of the female buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) nuclear transfer embryos.

Xist plays a critical role in the X-chromosome inactivation (XCI), an important epigenetic reprogramming of somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos. Modulation of Xist expression enhanced the developmental ability of mouse cloned embryos. However, the roles of Xist in buffalo SCNT embryos remain unknown. In this study, we investigated the methylation and expression status of Xist in different genders of buffalo donor cells and various stages (two-cell, eight-cell, morula and blastocyst) of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and SCNT embryos. The methylation of Xist in SCNT-♀ and SCNT-♂ embryos was aberrant hypomethylation compared with the buffalo foetal fibroblast (♀-BFF and ♂-BFF), IVF-♀ and IVF-♂ embryos. At the eight-cell stage, Xist expression was significantly higher in SCNT-♀ embryos compared with those in SCNT-♂, IVF-♀ and IVF-♂ embryos (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, no significant difference was found between IVF-♀ and IVF-♂ embryos (P > 0.05). Accordingly, we suppressed Xist expression by RNAi-Xist in SCNT-♀ embryos. Results showed that injection of Xist-shRNA significantly improved the morula and blastocyst rates (P < 0.05). These results indicated that correcting the abnormal expression of the Xist gene contributed to the development of SCNT-♀ embryos.

Testing Real Quantum Theory in an Optical Quantum Network.

Quantum theory is commonly formulated in complex Hilbert spaces. However, the question of whether complex numbers need to be given a fundamental role in the theory has been debated since its pioneering days. Recently it has been shown that tests in the spirit of a Bell inequality can reveal quantum predictions in entanglement swapping scenarios that cannot be modeled by the natural real-number analog of standard quantum theory. Here, we tailor such tests for implementation in state-of-the-art photonic systems. We experimentally demonstrate quantum correlations in a network of three parties and two independent EPR sources that violate the constraints of real quantum theory by over 4.5 standard deviations, hence disproving real quantum theory as a universal physical theory.

What drives green development in China: public pressure or the willingness of local government?

With China already committing to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060, green development is urgent. It is necessary to clarify the driving mechanism of green development to design the path of green development scientifically. From the internal perspective of the green development system, this paper divides the green development power into external power and internal power. The external power is the political pressure formed by the public's green demands. The internal power is the endogenous power of green development transformed by the political promotion willingness of local government leaders. The research shows that (1) the green demands from the public and the accompanying political pressure can form the driving force of green development. (2) The political promotion intention has not been transformed into the endogenous driving force to promote green development in the research period. (3) The external driving force of public appeal is closely related to economic development, income and consumption levels, and education. This paper enriches the research literatures on the driving mechanism of green development and provides theoretical and practical exploration for the driving path of green development.