The selection of random sampling points is crucial for the path quality generated by probabilistic roadmap (PRM) algorithm. Increasing the number of sampling points can enhance path quality. However, it may also lead to extended convergence time and reduced computational efficiency. Therefore, an improved probabilistic roadmap algorithm (TL-PRM) is proposed based on topological discrimination and lazy collision. TL-PRM algorithm first generates a circular grid area among start and goal points. Then, it constructs topological nodes. Subsequently, elliptical sampling areas are created between each pair of adjacent topological nodes. Random sampling points are generated within these areas. These sampling points are interconnected using a layer connection strategy. An initial path is generated using a delayed collision strategy. The path is then adjusted by modifying the nodes on the convex outer edges to avoid obstacles. Finally, a reconnection strategy is employed to optimize the path. This reduces the number of path waypoints. In dynamic environments, TL-PRM algorithm employs pose adjustment strategies for semi-static and dynamic obstacles. It can use either the same or opposite pose adjustments to avoid dynamic obstacles. Experimental results indicate that TL-PRM algorithm reduces the average number of generated sampling points by 70.9% and average computation time by 62.1% compared with PRM* and PRM-Astar algorithms. In winding and narrow passage maps, TL-PRM algorithm significantly decreases the number of sampling points and shortens convergence time. In dynamic environments, the algorithm can adjust its pose orientation in real time. This allows it to safely reach the goal point. TL-PRM algorithm provides an effective solution for reducing the generation of sampling points in PRM algorithm.

The proposed Thermal Sidewall Ice Corer (TSIC) is designed to accurately sample horizontal ice layers of scientific interest, such as tephra layers, basal ice and shear zones, and retrieve ice cores back to the surface. The system features a bending core barrel with a thermal coring head, which bends as it extends from the drill body, enabling it to penetrate horizontal interlayers while maintaining a horizontal position until the ice core is extracted. The bending core barrel is driven by screw pairs, powered by a motor, to apply drilling load and pulling force. As the barrel bends, the ice cores are broken inside and transported to the surface along with the drill via a winch. A camera system has been incorporated into the TSIC to precisely locate the target layer. The corer is suitable for ice boreholes with diameters ranging from 135 to 170 mm, capable of retrieving ice cores with a diameter of 20–30 mm, and achieving a maximum penetration rate of 2 m h−1. The maximum length of ice samples that can be retrieved in a single drilling run is 500 mm. The coring performance for horizontal sampling has been validated through the development and testing of a prototype in the laboratory.

A clear definition of society helps prevent conceptual misunderstanding. When making practical measurement of societies, it is worth noting that social complexity is actually a jagged concept that encompasses multiple weakly correlated dimensions. Understanding such jaggedness assists interpretation of the divergence between anonymous societies and the social brain hypothesis.

This study evaluated the effects of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), a farnesoid X receptor (FXR) potential activator, on growth performance, antioxidant capacity, glucose metabolism and inflammation in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) (initial body weight: 5·45 ± 0·02 g) fed a high-carbohydrate diet. Experimental diets included a positive control (5 % α-starch), a negative control (10 % α-starch) and two diets containing 10 % α-starch supplemented with either 0·05 % or 0·10 % CDCA. After 8 weeks, the high-carbohydrate diet reduced growth performance and increased hepatosomatic and viscerosomatic indexes, which were mitigated by 0·10 % CDCA supplementation. The high-carbohydrate diet also increased hepatic glycogen and crude lipid content, both of which were reduced by 0·10 % CDCA. Furthermore, the high-carbohydrate diet-induced oxidative stress, histopathological changes and reduced liver lysozyme activity, which were ameliorated by CDCA supplementation. Molecular analysis showed that the high-carbohydrate diet suppressed FXR and phosphorylated AKT1 (p-AKT1) protein expression in the liver, downregulated insulin signalling (ira, irs, pi3kr1 and akt1), gluconeogenesis (pepck and g6pc) and glycolysis genes (gk, pk and pfkl). CDCA supplementation upregulated fxr expression, activated shp, enhanced the expression of insulin signalling and glycolytic genes (gk, pk and pfkl) and inhibited gluconeogenesis. Additionally, CDCA reduced inflammatory markers (nf-κb and il-1β) and restored anti-inflammatory mediators (il-10, iκb and tgf-β). In conclusion, 0·10 % CDCA improved carbohydrate metabolism and alleviated liver inflammation in largemouth bass fed a high dietary carbohydrate, partially through FXR activation.

Optical fibers offer convenient access to a variety of nonlinear phenomena. However, due to their inversion symmetry, second-order nonlinear effects, such as second-harmonic generation (SHG), are challenging to achieve. Here, all-fiber in-core SHG with high beam quality is achieved in a random fiber laser (RFL). The fundamental wave (FW) is generated in the same RFL. The phase-matching condition is mainly achieved through an induced periodic electric field and the gain is enhanced through the passive spatiotemporal gain modulation and the extended fiber. The conversion needs no pretreatment and the average second-harmonic (SH) power reaches up to 10.06 mW, with a corresponding conversion efficiency greater than 0.04%. Moreover, a theoretical model is constructed to explain the mechanism and simulate the evolution of the SH and FW. Our work offers a simple method to generate higher brightness for in-fiber SHs, and may further provide new directions for research on all-fiber χ(2)-based nonlinear fiber optics and RFLs.

Immunological castration can be an alternative to traditional surgical castration. The active immunization against GnRH or kisspeptin has a castrating effect. To date, the fusion protein vaccine of combination with GnRH and kisspeptin have not been studied. Thus, the present study will develop a GnRH6-kisspeptin vaccine by genetic engineering method and investigate its immunocastration effect in male rats. Twenty 20-day-old male rats were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (n=10) and the immunization group (n=10). The initial immunization took place at week 0 followed by three booster doses administered intervals. The control group received an equivalent dose of white oil adjuvant. Orbital blood samples were collected at various time points following the initial immunization, at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 weeks, respectively. The entire left testis was weighed and its volume measured at week 12. Samples from the right testis were obtained for histological analysis. Serum levels of GnRH and kisspeptin antibodies, as well as testosterone levels were determined using ELISA. The results showed that the serum levels of GnRH and kisspeptin antibody titres of the immunized rats were significantly higher compared to the control group (P<0.05). Additionally, the testosterone concentration was effectively reduced following the intensified immunization. The testes of the immunized group exhibited a reduction in size and a significant decrease in the number of spermatogonia in the testicular tissue compared to the control group (P<0.05). These data indicate that the recombinant GnRH6-kisspeptin protein effectively induced immunological castration in rats.

High-quality intergenerational relationships positively influence cognitive functioning in older parents. However, there is insufficient information on how they shape the trajectories of mothers’ and fathers’ cognitive functioning decline in multi-child families, owing to the complexity of intergenerational relationships, such as multi-dimensional and ambivalent natures and differences varying across children. Drawing on three waves of data (2014, 2016 and 2018) from a nationally representative survey – the China Longitudinal Ageing Social Survey (N = 9,404) – we used the k-means clustering method to discern patterns of intergenerational relationships in multi-child Chinese families, as well as the growth curve models, to examine the associations between parent–child relationship types and the trajectories of older parents’ cognitive functioning. Five types of intergenerational relationship were identified: alienated, stressfully interacting, independent, beneficially interacting and tight-knit. We then investigated the associations between trajectories of cognitive functioning and the most distant type, the closest type, and the heterogeneity of parent–child relationships across multiple children. The most distant parent–child relationship was significantly related to cognitive functioning trajectories with the alienated (tight-knit) type associated with the lowest (highest) levels of cognitive functioning and the fastest (slowest) cognitive decline. However, the closest parent–child relationship was not significantly related to cognitive functioning trajectories. Moreover, greater variation in relationships with multiple children was correlated with lower levels of cognitive functioning and faster cognitive functioning decline. These associations were stronger among mothers than fathers. This study provides new insights into the potentially protective role of intergenerational relationships in older parents’ cognitive functioning and their gendered differences.

In this study, nine isonitrogenous experimental diets containing graded levels of carbohydrates (40 g/kg, 80 g/kg and 120 g/kg) and crude lipids (80 g/kg, 120 g/kg and 160 g/kg) were formulated in a two-factor (3 × 3) orthogonal design. A total of 945 mandarin fish with similar body weights were randomly assigned to twenty-seven tanks, and the experiment diets were fed to triplicate tanks twice daily for 10 weeks. Results showed that different dietary treatments did not significantly affect the survival rate and growth performance of mandarin fish. However, high dietary lipid and carbohydrate levels significantly decreased the protein content of the whole body and muscle of cultured fish. The lipid content of the whole body, liver and muscle all significantly increased with increasing levels of dietary lipid, while only liver lipid level was significantly affected by dietary carbohydrate level. Hepatic glycogen content increased significantly with increasing dietary carbohydrate levels. As to liver antioxidant capacity, malondialdehyde content increased significantly with increasing dietary lipid or carbohydrate content, and catalase activity showed an opposite trend. Superoxide dismutase activity increased significantly with increasing levels of dietary lipid but decreased first and then increased with increasing dietary carbohydrate levels. Additionally, the increase in both dietary lipid and carbohydrate levels resulted in a significant reduction in muscle hardness. Muscle chewiness, gumminess and shear force were only affected by dietary lipid levels and decreased significantly with increasing dietary lipid levels. In conclusion, considering all the results, the appropriate dietary lipids and carbohydrate levels for mandarin fish were 120 g/kg and 80 g/kg, respectively.

This paper proposes a novel method of applying an iterative generation differential equation method to the multi-component nonlinear signal analysis of a diesel engine. The characteristics of a dynamic model of the single cylinder are analysed and discussed. The iterative generation differential decomposition method decomposes the multi-component signal and extracts multiple single-component signals. The sensitive single-component analysis technology of the complex vibration signal of a diesel engine is formed. The relationship between characteristic parameters of engine vibration dynamics and operation law is derived. A priori information about the unmeasured vibration signals of the roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) passenger ships is not required. The experimental data is validly processed based on this developed method. Results show that this method is practical and feasible in analysing diesel engine vibration signals, especially under different load operating conditions.

Maternal intermittent fasting (MIF) can have significant effects on several tissue and organ systems of the body, but there is a lack of research on the effects on the reproductive system. So, the aim of our study was to analyze the effects of MIF on fertility. B6C3F1Crl (C57BL/6N × C3H/HeN) male and female mice were selected for the first part of the experiments and were analyzed for body weight and fat weight after administration of the MIF intervention, followed by analysis of sperm counts and activation and embryo numbers. Subsequently, two strains of mice, C57BL/6NCrl and BALB/cJRj, were selected and administered MIF to observe the presence or absence of vaginal plugs for the purposes of mating success, sperm and oocyte quality, pregnancy outcome, fertility status and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Our results showed a significant reduction in body weight and fat content in mice receiving MIF intervention in B6C3F1Crl mice. Comparing the reproduction of the two strains of mice. However, the number of litters was increased in all MIF interventions in C57BL/6NCrl, but not statistically significant. In BALB/cJRj, there was a significant increase in the number of pregnant females as well as litter size in the MIF treatment group, as well as vaginal plugs, and IVF. There was also an increase in sperm activation and embryo number and the MIF intervention significantly increased sperm count and activation. Our results suggest that MIF interventions may be beneficial for reproduction in mice.

To overcome Yb lasing, a kilowatt-level 1535 nm fiber laser is utilized to in-band pump an Er:Yb co-doped fiber (EYDF) amplifier. The output power of a 301 W narrow-linewidth EYDF amplifier operating at 1585 nm, with 3 dB bandwidth of 150 pm and ${M}^2$< 1.4, is experimentally demonstrated. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest output power achieved in L-band narrow-linewidth fiber amplifiers with good beam quality. Theoretically, a new ion transition behavior among energy levels for in-band pumping EYDF is uncovered, and a spatial-mode-resolved nonlinearity-assisted theoretical model is developed to understand its internal dynamics. Numerical simulations reveal that the reduction in slope efficiency is significantly related to excited-state absorption (ESA). ESA has a nonlinear hindering effect on power scaling. It can drastically lower the pump absorption and slope efficiency with increasing pump power for in-band pumped EYDF amplifiers. Meanwhile, optimized approaches are proposed to improve its power to the kilowatt level via in-band pumping.