Are older adults less generous? Age differences in emotion-related social decision making.

In social interaction, age-related differences in emotional processing may lead to varied social decision making between young and older adults. However, previous studies of social decision making have paid less attention to the interactants' emotions, leaving age differences and underlying neural mechanisms unexplored. To address this gap, the present study combined functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, employing a modified dictator game task with recipients displaying either neutral or sad facial expressions. Behavioral results indicated that although older adults' overall allocations did not differ significantly from those of young adults, older adults' allocations showing a decrease in emotion-related generosity compared to young adults. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that older adults showed reduced neural representations of recipients' emotions and gray matter volume in the right anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), right insula, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) compared to young adults. More importantly, mediation analyses indicated that age influenced allocations not only through serial mediation of neural representations of the right insula and left DMPFC, but also through serial mediation of the mean gray matter volume of the right ACC and left DMPFC. This study identifies the potential neural pathways through which age affects emotion-related social decision making, advancing our understanding of older adults' social interaction behavior that they may not be less generous unless confronted with individuals with specific emotions.

The complete chloroplast genome of Catalpa speciosa (Warder) Engelmann (Bignoniaceae).

Catalpa speciosa (Warder) Engelm. is a precious Catalpa tree widely used as a large ornamental shade tree. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome was assembled from Illumina sequencing data. The completed plastome was 158,239 bp in length, including a large single copy (LSC) region of 85,036 bp, a small single copy (SSC) region of 12,639 bp, and a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 30,282 bp. The overall GC content of the genome was 38.09%, and the corresponding values of the LSC, SSC and IR regions were 36.44%, 33.57%, and 41.35%, respectively. A total of 129 genes were annotated, including 83 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out based on complete plastome sequences of C. speciose and 11 other species from Bignoniaceae family. The newly characterized complete chloroplast genome will provide essential data for further studies of C. speciosa.

The complete chloroplast genome of paradox (Juglans major × J. regia), an interspecific hybrid in China.

Paradox is one of the most important rootstock resources in USA and China walnut industry. In this study, we characterized the complete chloroplast genome of Paradox (Juglans major × J. regia) based on next generation sequencing. The circular complete chloroplast genome was 160,324 bp in length, containing a large single-copy (LSC) region of 89,852 bp, and a small single-copy (SSC) region of 18,410 bp. These two regions were separated by a pair of inverted repeat regions (IRa and IRb) of 26,031 bp each. A total of 131 functional genes were encoded, consisted of 87 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The overall GC content of the chloroplast genome was 36.1% and the GC contents of the LSC, SSC, and IR regions were 33.7, 29.9, and 42.6%, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis by Neighbor-Joining showed that Paradox was relatively closely related to J. major compared to other species of Juglans genus. This complete chloroplast genome will provide valuable insight into evolution, molecular breeding, and phylogenetic analysis of Juglans species.

Highly double selective nitration of nitrostilbenes over zeolite.

A feasible zeolite-assisted ortho C-H nitration of nitrostilbenes has been developed for the first time, which can be used in situ. It uses acetyl nitrate as a mild, easily handled and commercially available nitrating reagent, leading to the synthesis of polynitrostilbenes with double selectivities and in good yields.

The effect of positive emotion and perceived risk on usage intention to online decision aids.

Although perceived risk has a negative effect on usage intention toward new information technology, both perceived risk and usage intention are the results of cognitive processes, so they are inevitably influenced by emotion. Based on positive mood theory and the appraisal-tendency framework (ATF), a laboratory experiment using online decision aids with 126 participants was conducted. The results indicate that positive emotion (happy emotion in the current study) can increase usage intention and decrease perceived risk, while perceived risk decreases usage intention. Further investigation finds that perceived risk is a mediator between emotion and usage intention.