A disruption database characterizing the current quench of disruptions with ITER-like tungsten divertor has been developed on EAST. It provides a large number of plasma parameters describing the predisruptive plasma, current quench time, eddy current, and mitigation by massive impurity injection, which shows that the current quench time strongly depends on magnetic energy and post-disruption electron temperature. Further, the energy balance and magnetic energy dissipation during the current quench phase has been well analysed. Magnetic energy is also demonstrated to be dissipated mainly by ohmic reheating and inductive coupling, and both of the two channels have great effects on current quench time. Also, massive gas injection is an efficient method to speed up the current quench and increase the fraction of impurity radiation.

Rabies is one of the major public health problems in China, and the mortality rate of rabies remains the highest among all notifiable infectious diseases. A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) vaccination rate and risk factors for human rabies in mainland China. The PubMed, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Science and Technology Periodical and Wanfang databases were searched for articles on rabies vaccination status (published between 2007 and 2017). In total, 10 174 human rabies cases from 136 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Approximately 97.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 95.1–98.7%) of rabies cases occurred in rural areas and 72.6% (95% CI 70.0–75.1%) occurred in farmers. Overall, the vaccination rate in the reported human rabies cases was 15.4% (95% CI 13.7–17.4%). However, among vaccinated individuals, 85.5% (95% CI 79.8%–83.4%) did not complete the vaccination regimen. In a subgroup analysis, the PEP vaccination rate in the eastern region (18.8%, 95% CI 15.9–22.1%) was higher than that in the western region (13.3%, 95% CI 11.1–15.8%) and this rate decreased after 2007. Approximately 68.9% (95% CI 63.6–73.8%) of rabies cases experienced category-III exposures, but their PEP vaccination rate was 27.0% (95% CI 14.4–44.9%) and only 6.1% (95% CI 4.4–8.4%) received rabies immunoglobulin. Together, these results suggested that the PEP vaccination rate among human rabies cases was low in mainland China. Therefore, standardised treatment and vaccination programs of dog bites need to be further strengthened, particularly in rural areas.

Nitrogen (N) supply is essential for achieving high grain yield in maize production, but excessive N application can lead to lodging risks and potential yield loss. The main objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of ethephon application under different N fertilizer rates in reducing maize lodging. Field experiments were conducted to determine the interactive effects of ethephon (0 and 180 g/ha) and N rate (0, 75, 150 and 225 kg N/ha) on the morphological and chemical characteristics of basal internode and yield across two summer maize-growing seasons (2011/12) in Wuqiao of the North China Plain. Findings showed that ethephon significantly increased the maximum diameter of the 7th to 14th internodes, and decreased the internode lengths, which led to a decrease in plant and ear heights under different N rates. Significant ethephon × N interaction effects were observed on the diameter and length of internode, dry weight per unit internode length and breaking resistance. Ethephon significantly increased N, cellulose and hemicellulose contents of the basal internode, but cellulose and hemicellulose contents decreased as the rate of N application increased. Internode diameter, dry weight per unit internode length, and N content of the basal internode were significantly positively correlated with breaking resistance. Ethephon significantly increased grain yield and harvest index in 2011, but not in 2012. Grain yield and above-ground biomass were increased with increasing N application in both growing seasons, showing linear and quadratic responses. These results suggested that ethephon could increase stalk strength by improving the morphological and chemical characteristics of the basal internode, and maintain high yield and biomass under high N rates.

We determined the prevalence and seasonality of infections by Fasciola of goats and bovine species (cattle and water buffalo) in Hubei and Anhui provinces of China. Faecal samples were collected at 2- to 3-month intervals from 200 goats in Hubei province and from 152 bovine species in Anhui province. All faecal samples were examined for the presence of parasites. We determined the nucleotide sequences of the first and second internal transcribed spacers (ITS-1 and ITS-2) of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of 39 Fasciola worms from Anhui province. The prevalence of Fasciola infection in goats ranged between 3.5 and 37.0%, with mean eggs per gram (EPG) ranging between 29.0 and 166.0. Prevalence and EPG exhibited downward trends over time with significant differences. The prevalence of Fasciola infection in cattle ranged between 13.3 and 46.2% (mean EPG, 36.4–100.0), and that of water buffalo ranged between 10.3 and 35.4% (mean EPG, 25.0–89.6), with a higher prevalence of infection and EPG from June to October compared with December to March. Analysis of ITS-1 and ITS-2 sequences revealed that F. hepatica and F. gigantica were present in all bovine species of Anhui province and that F. gigantica mainly infected water buffalo. This is the first demonstration of Fasciola infection in Hubei province and detection of F. hepatica and F. gigantica in Anhui province. The present study of Hubei province shows that mass treatment of livestock with closantel sodium injections in April and August/September controlled Fasciola infection effectively.

The hypothesis that vitamin content of the diet during gestation alters macronutrient choice, food intake and the expression of serotonin receptors and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) in the hypothalamus of the offspring was investigated. Pregnant Wistar rats (n = 10/group) were fed the AIN-93G diet containing a multivitamin mix at the recommended (RV) content or10-fold higher (high vitamin, HV) content. Male offspring were weaned to a choice of 10% and 60% casein diets. Intake regulation by the serotonergic system was determined by measuring food choice daily for 7 weeks, and following tryptophan (TRP) or mCPP (a serotonin receptor agonist) injections at 4 and 6 weeks post-weaning. mRNA expressions of hypothalamic serotonin receptor and POMC were measured at birth, weaning and sacrifice (7 weeks post-weaning). No differences were found in body weight at birth or weaning. HV offspring had lower food intake for the duration of the study (P < 0.001), and 11% lower body weight (P < 0.05) and 23% lower fat pad mass (P < 0.05) at 7 weeks post-weaning. They selected less protein following 12 h of food deprivation (P < 0.05) and were less responsive to TRP (P = 0.05) and mCPP (P < 0.05) injections at 6 weeks post-weaning. Expressions of mRNA for serotonin receptors 5-HT1A/2A/2C at weaning (P < 0.01) and of POMC at weaning and 7 weeks post-weaning (P < 0.05) were lower. In conclusion, intake of multivitamins above the requirements during pregnancy affected macronutrient choice, food intake and the expression of serotonin receptors and POMC in the hypothalamus.

The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) has a major radius of R0 = 1.75 m and a midplane halfwidth of 0.5 m. It has been operated with a toroidal magnetic field B0 = 2 T and Ip ≤ 500 kA. The evolution of the plasma equilibrium is analysed between discharges by Equilibrium Fitting Code (EFIT). Limiter, single-null and double-null diverted configurations have been produced. A plasma elongation in the range 1.3 ≤ κ ≤ 1.9 and a triangularity in the range 0.1 ≤ δ ≤ 0.55 have been sustained. The operation space of elongated discharges is also presented based on the EAST database.

The introduction of organic substituents into sol-gel materials can often result in networks that collapse during drying to afford non-porous xerogels. This can prove useful if non-porous coatings or membranes are the ultimate objectives. Collapse of porosity is also manifested in bridged polysilsesquioxanes with flexible bridging groups. Alkylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes are hybrid xerogels whose organic bridging group is an integral constituent of the network polymer that can be systematically varied to probe the influence of its length on the xerogels' porosity and morphology. Our previous studies have shown that hexylene-bridged polysilsesquioxane xerogels prepared from 1, 6-bis(triethoxysilyl)hexane under acidic conditions are nonporous while the pentylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes prepared under the same conditions are porous. We also discovered that the more reactive 1, 6-bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane monomer could polymerize under acidic conditions to afford porous xerogels. Here, we have extended our study of bis(trimethoxysilyl)alkanes to include the heptylene (C7), octylene (C8), nonylene(C9) and decylene (C10) bridges so as to ascertain at what bridging group length the porosity collapses. The morphology of the resulting xerogels was characterized by nitrogen sorption porosimetry and electron microscopy. Solid state NMR was used to structurally characterize the materials.

Aging of silica gels before drying is known to result in significant changes in xerogel morphology, porosity and properties. In this study, the influence of aging gels on the porosity and morphology of alkylene-bridged polysilsesquioxane xerogels was examined. Gels of hexylene-, heptylene, octylene, nonylene, and decylene-bridged polysilsesquioxanes were prepared by the sol-gel polymerization of the respective bis(trimethoxysilyl)alkane monomers under acidic or basic conditions in methanol and in tetrahydrofuran. The gels were aged 3, 7, 14, 28, 35, 42, 49, and 56 days before drying to afford xerogels. The xerogels were characterized by nitrogen sorption porosimetry. Xerogels prepared in THF were non-porous. Those prepared and aged under basic conditions in methanol or tetrahydrofuran exhibited coarsening of porosity with aging time. With the exception of the hexylene-bridged gels, those prepared and aged in acidic methanol showed little change with aging. The surface area of the hexylene-bridged xerogels nearly tripled with aging times of up to several weeks, then decreased, for the gels aged for more than two weeks, to around 100 meters squared per gram.

Submicron thick Bi, Ga substituted dysprosium iron garnet films were laser deposited on Gd3Ga5O12(GGG) and ceramic glass substrates at room temperature and then post annealed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA). From Faraday rotation studies, the films deposited on glass substrates are found to exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, Faraday rotation of 0.88 deg / μm, and coercive field Hc of 0.88 kOe. On the other hand, films deposited on GGG substrates with the same processing parameters are found to exhibit perpendicular anisotropy, but with much smaller values for Faraday rotation(0.03 deg; μm) and coercive field Hc(0.018 kOe). The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with easy magnetization axis perpendicular to the film surface is caused by the stress induced on the polycrystalline film / substrate interface. The effect of changing the oxygen pressures, in the range of 20 to 100 mTorr during the deposition process, on the crystalline structure as well as coercive field and Faraday rotation angle are also presented.

A new way of preparing wafer sized SiGe and Ge quantum dots at extremely low cost is presented. The results show that two different controlled nanometer sizes of the quantum dots can be formed simultaneously into two layers on the same wafer with good dot size uniformity. Our initial experiments on SiGe and Ge system suggest that it is possible to squeeze the SiGe dots for much improved optical emission. The advantages of this dot preparation method are its fully compatibility with the Sitechnology, its simplicity in dot preparation and extremely low cost.