Does digital inclusive finance affect the urban green economic efficiency? New evidence from the spatial econometric analysis of 284 cities in China.

Digital inclusive finance has an essential impact on improving the urban green economy efficiency by demonstrating environmental friendliness in agglomerating factors and promoting the flow of factors. Based on the panel data of 284 cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses the super-efficiency SBM model with undesirable outputs to measure the urban green economy efficiency. Then, the fixed effect model and spatial econometric model of panel data are used to empirically test the impact of digital inclusive finance on urban green economic efficiency and its spatial spillover effect, and the heterogeneity analysis is carried out. This paper draws the following conclusions. (1) The average value of urban green economic efficiency of 284 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2020 is 0.5916, showing a "high in the east and low in the west." In terms of time, it showed a rising trend year by year. (2) Digital financial inclusion and urban green economy efficiency have a high spatial correlation, both showing "high-high" and "low-low" agglomeration characteristics. (3) Digital inclusive finance significantly impacts urban green economic efficiency, especially in the eastern region. (4) The impact of digital inclusive finance on urban green economic efficiency has a spatial spillover effect. In the eastern and central regions, digital inclusive finance will inhibit the improvement of urban green economic efficiency in adjacent cities. In contrast, it will promote urban green economy efficiency in the western regions in adjacent cities. (5) The coverage and depth of digital inclusive finance significantly affect the urban green economy efficiency, while the level of digitization has yet to show a significant effect. This paper puts forward some suggestions and references for promoting the coordinated development of digital inclusive finance in various regions and improving urban green economic efficiency.

The microRNA miR-184 regulates the CYP303A1 transcript level to control molting of Locusta migratoria.

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYPs) play essential physiological functions in insects. CYP303A1 is highly conserved in insect species studied to date, and shows an indispensable role for adult eclosion in both Locusta migratoria and Drosophila melanogaster. However, how CYP303A1 is regulated to control insect developmental processes remains uninvestigated. In this study, we discovered functional binding sites for miR-184 in the coding sequence of LmCYP303A1. The luciferase reporter assay showed that miR-184 could target LmCYP303A1 and regulate its expression in vitro. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-184 through microinjection of agomir to locusts reduced the transcripts of LmCYP303A1 and led to abnormal molting, which is similar to the phenotype of silencing LmCYP303A1 by direct injection of dsLmCYP303A1 to locusts. Meanwhile, down-regulation of miR-184 by injection of antagomir increased the LmCYP303A1 transcript and caused molting defects. These findings suggested that miR-184 could target LmCYP303A1 to regulate the molting process in L. migratoria, which might be considered as a novel target for pest control.

Effect of RNAi-mediated silencing of two Knickkopf family genes (LmKnk2 and LmKnk3) on cuticle formation and insecticide susceptibility in Locusta migratoria.

BACKGROUND: Knickkopf (Knk) proteins play crucial roles in the formation of insect cuticle. Recent studies in the holometabolous insect red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) have shown that three Knk genes encoding TcKnk, TcKnk2 and TcKnk3 play different but essential roles at different developmental stages and in different tissues. However, the functions of Knk genes had not been fully explored in hemimetabolous insects such as the migratory locust Locusta migratoria. RESULTS: We identified three transcripts of LmKnk-like genes LmKnk2 and LmKnk3 with the full-length cDNA sequences, which were named as LmKnk2, LmKnk3-FL and LmKnk3-5'. These three transcripts were highly expressed before molting and mainly expressed in the integument. Among these genes, silencing only LmKnk3-5' by RNA interference (RNAi) caused molting defects and high mortality of the locusts. Injection of dsLmKnk3-5' dramatically decreased chitin content, but did not affect cuticle laminar ultra-structures in the integument. After the knockdown of LmKnk3-5' transcript, lipid deposition on the cuticle surface was impeded, and locusts exhibited increased susceptibility to each of four insecticides in three different classes. However, no visible phenotypic changes were observed after LmKnk2 or LmKnk3-FL was silenced by RNAi. CONCLUSION: We demonstrate that LmKnk3-5' is essential for cuticle formation in L. migratoria. This contrasts the findings that the cognate protein in T. castaneum TcKnk3-5' is dispensable for cuticle formation and survival. Hence, we provide some evidence that the function of Knk-type proteins may be species-specific. We therefore think that LmKnk3-5' may be a good target for the application of RNAi-based technologies for species-specific insect pest management. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

The wing-specific cuticular protein LmACP7 is essential for normal wing morphogenesis in the migratory locust.

Wings are an indispensable structure in many insects for their foraging, courtship, escape from predators, and migration. Cuticular proteins are major components of the insect cuticle and wings, but there is limited information on how cuticular proteins may play an essential role in wing morphogenesis. We identified a wing-specific cuticular protein, LmACP7, which belongs to the RR-2 subfamily of CPR chitin-binding proteins in the migratory locust. LmACP7 was initially produced in epidermal cells and subsequently migrated to the exocuticle at the pre-ecdysial stage in adult wings. Depletion of LmACP7 transcripts by RNA interference markedly reduced its protein amounts, which consequently led to abnormal wing morphogenesis. The deformed wings were curved, wrinkled, and failed to fully expand. We further demonstrated that the deformation was caused by both severe damage of the endocuticle and death of the epidermal cells in the wings. Based on these data, we propose that LmACP7 not only serves as an essential structural protein in the wing but is also required for the integrity of wing epithelial cells. LmACP7 contributes to production of the wing endocuticle and to the morphogenesis of functional wings in the migratory locust.

Helicoidal Organization of Chitin in the Cuticle of the Migratory Locust Requires the Function of the Chitin Deacetylase2 Enzyme (LmCDA2).

In the three-dimensional extracellular matrix of the insect cuticle, horizontally aligned microfibrils composed of the polysaccharide chitin and associated proteins are stacked either parallel to each other or helicoidally. The underlying molecular mechanisms that implement differential chitin organization are largely unknown. To learn more about cuticle organization, we sought to study the role of chitin deacetylases (CDA) in this process. In the body cuticle of nymphs of the migratory locust Locusta migratoria, helicoidal chitin organization is changed to an organization with unidirectional microfibril orientation when LmCDA2 expression is knocked down by RNA interference. In addition, the LmCDA2-deficient cuticle is less compact suggesting that LmCDA2 is needed for chitin packaging. Animals with reduced LmCDA2 activity die at molting, underlining that correct chitin organization is essential for survival. Interestingly, we find that LmCDA2 localizes only to the initially produced chitin microfibrils that constitute the apical site of the chitin stack. Based on our data, we hypothesize that LmCDA2-mediated chitin deacetylation at the beginning of chitin production is a decisive reaction that triggers helicoidal arrangement of subsequently assembled chitin-protein microfibrils.

Absolute polarization measurement using a vector light shift.

We have measured the vector light shift due to a cavity built-up optical lattice by using a variation of the Hanle effect with trapped Cs atoms, where the time-evolving population of all magnetic sublevels is measured in situ. The measurement is linearly sensitive to the electric field of the nonlinearly polarized light, which allows unprecedented sensitivity to absolute linear polarization quality, to the level of 10(-10) in fractional intensity. Our approach to measuring and improving linear polarization can be applied to electron electric dipole moment searches, optical lattice clocks, magnetometery, and quantum computing.

A low noise, nonmagnetic fluorescence detector for precision measurements.

We have built a fluorescence imaging system with a nonmagnetic front end photodiode array (PDA) located inside a magnetically shielded science region. The PDA is connected by a bundle of 2 m long mini-coaxial cables to a set of external bootstrapped amplifiers with 10(7) Ω trans-impedance and a peak light-equivalent spectral noise density of 2.0 pW∕√Hz in a 150 kHz bandwidth. The detector is being used for a cold atom electron electric dipole moment search experiment.

Note: mounting ultra-high vacuum windows with low stress-induced birefringence.

We have developed a way to mount ultra-high vacuum windows onto standard ConFlat(®) vacuum systems with very low stress-induced birefringence. Each window is sealed to a stainless steel flange with a compressed indium wire, and that flange is connected to a vacuum chamber with another indium seal. We find that deformation of a standard ConFlat flange during indium sealing dominates the stress on the window, so an extra-rigid flange is needed for minimal birefringence. With this mounting scheme, the typical residual birefringence is Δn = 2.3 × 10(-7) and is unchanged by a 120 °C bake.