Wetlands are major microplastic sinks with a large atmospheric input. However, many details of such deposited atmospheric microplastics entering into wetlands remain unclear, including temporal patterns of input and ecological effects. We monitored the aerial microplastics during four seasons in eleven economically developed cities along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, China. The average microplastic deposition rate was 512.31 items m−2 d−1, equivalent to an annual contribution of 17.46 metric tons of plastic to the surveyed wetlands with a total area of 1652 km2. These microplastics were predominantly composed of polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate with 61.85 ± 92.29 µm sized pellets, and we obtained similar results for microplastics intercepted on moss in wetlands. Microplastic input varied between wet and dry periods, primarily influenced by wind, rainfall and ozone concentration. Civilian vehicle density and textile industry were the primary socioeconomic factors driving microplastic deposition. Further indoor microcosm experiments revealed that moss phyllosphere bacterial community structure and function were influenced by microplastic abundance and size, exemplifying the unique ecological risks of aerially deposited microplastics to wetlands. These results indicate that mosses and their phyllosphere microbiota could serve as bio-indicators of aerial microplastic characteristics and impacts.
Salt crystallization within micro-fractures poses a significant challenge in shale gas production by impeding gas diffusion. This study investigates the real-time behavior of gas flow-induced salt crystallization within a visualized micro-fracture network. Observations reveal that salt crystals initially propagate along the fracture surface before exhibiting perpendicular growth. Crystal nucleation during the saturation stage occurs within a few seconds, while subsequent growth in the supersaturated stage takes approximately 15–20 s. Gas flow drives the evaporation of immobile water, leading to salt precipitation. Furthermore, increasing gas flow rate and decreasing solution salinity are found to accelerate crystal growth. To mitigate plugging damage caused by salt crystallization, controlling pressure differences and solution salinity is crucial.
The reform and opening-up of China have greatly improved the scale and quality of doctoral education for women. However, female doctors still face the “leaky pipeline” and the “unbreakable glass ceiling” in their development of academic careers. In this study, gender differences are investigated in doctoral graduates’ career choices, the level of educational institutions they attend, and their scientific research productivity after joining the institution. We analyzed the administrative data and scientific research publication information from ten years of doctoral graduates at a top research university in China. Results suggest that compared to their male counterparts, female doctors are more likely to pursue an academic career upon graduation, but they are also more likely to be employed in lower-level institutions as well as to publish Chinese scientific studies with lower influence and poorer quality. Moreover, gender differences in academic disciplines are heterogeneous. While academic career development for doctors in natural sciences is not gender-biased, female doctors in social sciences face the most significant challenges, and these results persist even after controlling for their scientific publications during graduate school. In other words, gender differences in academic career development are likely to result from gender symbols rather than differences in academic ability.
A fundamental difference between “core-fed” and “clump-fed” star-formation theories lies in the existence or absence of high-mass cores at the prestellar stage. However, only a handful of such cores have been observed. Here, different than previous search in distributed star-formation regions in the Galactic plane, we search for high-mass prestellar cores in the Orion GMC, by observing the seven most massive starless cores selected from previous deep continuum surveys. We present ALMA Atacama Compact Array Band 6 and Band 7 continuum and line observations toward the seven cores, in which we identify nine dense cores at both bands. The derived maximum core mass is less than 11 M ⊙, based on different dust temperatures. We find no high-mass prestellar cores in this sample, aligning with the results of previous surveys, thereby challenging the existence of such cores in Orion. Outside Orion, further detailed studies are needed for remaining high-mass prestellar core candidates to confirm their status as massive, starless cores.