The heating effect of electromagnetic waves in ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRFs) in magnetic confinement fusion device is different in different plasma conditions. In order to evaluate the ICRF heating effect in different plasma conditions, we conducted a series of experiments and corresponding TRANSP simulations on the EAST tokamak. Both simulation and experimental results show that the effect of ICRF heating is poor at low core electron density. The decrease in electron density changes the left-handed electric field near the resonant layer, resulting in a significant decrease in the power absorbed by the hydrogen fundamental resonance. However, quite a few experiments must be performed in plasma conditions with low electron density. It is necessary to study how to make ICRF heating best in low electron density plasma. Through a series of simulation scans of the parallel refractive index (n//) of the ICRF antenna, it is concluded that the change of the ICRF antenna n// will lead to the change of the left-handed electric field, which will change the fundamental absorption of ICRF power by the hydrogen minority ions. Fully considering the coupling of ion cyclotron wave at the tokamak boundary and the absorption in the plasma core, optimizing the ICRF antenna structure and selecting appropriate parameters such as parallel refractive index, minority ion concentration, resonance layer position, plasma current and core electron temperature can ensure better heating effect in the ICRF heating experiments in the future EAST upgrade. These results have important implications for the enhancement of the auxiliary heating effect of EAST and other tokamaks.

A species of acanthocephalan collected from the hindgut of Larimichthys crocea was identified as Longicollum pagrosomi Yamaguti, 1935 based on morphological characteristics. The complete mitochondrial genome of this parasite was sequenced. The mitogenome exhibited a circular structure with a total length of 14 632 bp, containing 12 protein coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and 2 major non-coding regions. The most frequently used start codon was GTG, and the most abundant amino acid was valine. The phylogenetic analyses of the mitogenome using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods showed that the genus Longicollum formed a sister clade to the genus Pomphorhynchus, supporting the monophyly of Pomphorhynchus. This study reported a new host for L. pagrosomi and revealed the first complete mitogenome sequence of the genus Longicollum.

Regenerative involution is crucial for renewing the mammary gland and maximizing milk production. However, the temporal profiles indicators of oxidative status during this phase are still unclear. In this study, Experiment 1 aimed to investigate the dynamic changes in indicators of oxidative status in plasma during regenerative involution. The dairy goats were dried off at 8 weeks (wk) before kidding (−8 wk, n = 14) or −12 wk (n = 6). The blood samples taken at −8, −7, −6, −5, −4, −3, −2, −1 wk, on the day for kidding (0 wk) and the first week after kidding (+1 wk, milk production 1.28 ± 0.31 kg per day). Experiment 2 aimed to investigate the dynamic changes in indicators of oxidative status in mammary cells. Seven selected goats were biopsied for tissue collection and cell isolation at −8, −4, −1, +1 wk (milk production 1.28 ± 0.31 kg per day), respectively. Plasma analysis in Experiment 1 showed an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, peaking at −4 wk (P < 0.01). No significant differences were observed between the dry-off treatments (P = 0.36). The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in plasma remained stable from −7 wk to the first week after kidding (+1 wk), while glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity peaked at −4 wk. An increased catalase activity was observed at +1 wk (P < 0.01), indicating its response to lactation. In Experiment 2, an increase in ROS levels in isolated mammary cells was observed at −4 wk, while SOD, GSH-Px, and malondialdehyde levels in tissue homogenates rose around kidding (P < 0.01). The dynamic change of the oxidative status suggests that targeted antioxidant strategies would be helpful for regenerative involution of mammary gland in ruminants.

This paper introduces a novel ray-tracing methodology for various gradient-index materials, particularly plasmas. The proposed approach utilizes adaptive-step Runge–Kutta integration to compute ray trajectories while incorporating an innovative rasterization step for ray energy deposition. By removing the requirement for rays to terminate at cell interfaces – a limitation inherent in earlier cell-confined approaches – the numerical formulation of ray motion becomes independent of specific domain geometries. This facilitates a unified and concise tracing method compatible with all commonly used curvilinear coordinate systems in laser–plasma simulations, which were previously unsupported or prohibitively complex under cell-confined frameworks. Numerical experiments demonstrate the algorithm’s stability and versatility in capturing diverse ray physics across reduced-dimensional planar, cylindrical and spherical coordinate systems. We anticipate that the rasterization-based approach will pave the way for the development of a generalized ray-tracing toolkit applicable to a broad range of fluid simulations and synthetic optical diagnostics.

Bronze mou vessels appear in Shu tombs in south-west China during the Eastern Zhou period (c. 771–256 BC). Examination of these vessels reveals major changes in the supply of metal and alloying technology in the Shu State, throwing new light on the social impact of the Qin conquest and later unification of China.

A well-known person fit statistic in the item response theory (IRT) literature is the $l_z$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}$$\end{document} statistic (Drasgow et al. in Br J Math Stat Psychol 38(1):67-86, 1985). Snijders (Psychometrika 66(3):331-342, 2001) derived $l_z^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}^{*}$$\end{document}, which is the asymptotically correct version of $l_z$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}$$\end{document} when the ability parameter is estimated. However, both statistics and other extensions later developed concern either only the unidimensional IRT models or multidimensional models that require a joint estimate of latent traits across all the dimensions. Considering a marginalized maximum likelihood ability estimator, this paper proposes $l_{\mathit{zt}}$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{zt}$$\end{document} and $l_{\mathit{zt}}^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{zt}^{*}$$\end{document}, which are extensions of $l_z$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}$$\end{document} and $l_z^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}^{*}$$\end{document}, respectively, for the Rasch testlet model. The computation of $l_{\mathit{zt}}^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{zt}^{*}$$\end{document} relies on several extensions of the Lord-Wingersky algorithm (1984) that are additional contributions of this paper. Simulation results show that $l_{\mathit{zt}}^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{zt}^{*}$$\end{document} has close-to-nominal Type I error rates and satisfactory power for detecting aberrant responses. For unidimensional models, $l_{\mathit{zt}}$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{zt}$$\end{document} and $l_{\mathit{zt}}^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{zt}^{*}$$\end{document} reduce to $l_z$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}$$\end{document} and $l_z^{\ast }$\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$l_{z}^{*}$$\end{document}, respectively, and therefore allows for the evaluation of person fit with a wider range of IRT models. A real data application is presented to show the utility of the proposed statistics for a test with an underlying structure that consists of both the traditional unidimensional component and the Rasch testlet component.

Our study aimed to develop and validate a nomogram to assess talaromycosis risk in hospitalized HIV-positive patients. Prediction models were built using data from a multicentre retrospective cohort study in China. On the basis of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, we collected data from 1564 hospitalized HIV-positive patients in four hospitals from 2010 to 2019. Inpatients were randomly assigned to the training or validation group at a 7:3 ratio. To identify the potential risk factors for talaromycosis in HIV-infected patients, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. Through multivariate logistic regression, we determined ten variables that were independent risk factors for talaromycosis in HIV-infected individuals. A nomogram was developed following the findings of the multivariate logistic regression analysis. For user convenience, a web-based nomogram calculator was also created. The nomogram demonstrated excellent discrimination in both the training and validation groups [area under the ROC curve (AUC) = 0.883 vs. 0.889] and good calibration. The results of the clinical impact curve (CIC) analysis and decision curve analysis (DCA) confirmed the clinical utility of the model. Clinicians will benefit from this simple, practical, and quantitative strategy to predict talaromycosis risk in HIV-infected patients and can implement appropriate interventions accordingly.

The self-generated magnetic field in three-dimensional (3-D) single-mode ablative Rayleigh–Taylor instability (ARTI) relevant to the acceleration phase of a direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosion is investigated. It is found that stronger magnetic fields up to a few thousand teslas can be generated by 3-D ARTI rather than by its two-dimensional (2-D) counterpart. The Nernst effects significantly alter the magnetic field convection and amplify the magnetic fields. The magnetic field of thousands of teslas yields the Hall parameter of the order of unity, leading to profound magnetized heat flux modification. While the magnetic field significantly accelerates the bubble growth in the short-wavelength 2-D modes through modifying the heat fluxes, the magnetic field mostly accelerates the spike growth but has little influence on the bubble growth in 3-D ARTI. The accelerated growth of spikes in 3-D ARTI is expected to enhance material mixing and degrade ICF implosion performance. This work is focused on a regime relevant to direct-drive ICF parameters at the National Ignition Facility, and it also covers a range of key parameters that are relevant to other ICF designs and hydrodynamic/astrophysical scenarios.

Shear-induced migration of elongated micro-swimmers exhibiting anisotropic Brownian diffusion at a population scale is investigated analytically in this work. We analyse the steady motion of confined ellipsoidal micro-swimmers subject to coupled diffusion in a general setting within a continuum homogenisation framework, as an extension of existing studies on macro-transport processes, by allowing for the direct coupling of convection and diffusion in local and global spaces. The analytical solutions are validated successfully by comparison with numerical results from Monte Carlo simulations. Subsequently, we demonstrate from the probability perspective that symmetric actuation does not yield net vertical polarisation in a horizontal flow, unless non-spherical shapes, external fields or direct coupling effects are harnessed to generate steady locomotion. Coupled diffusivities modify remarkably the drift velocity and vertical migration of motile micro-swimmers exposed to fluid shear. The interplay between stochastic swimming and preferential alignment could explain the diverse concentration and orientation distributions, including rheological formations of depletion layers, centreline focusing and surface accumulation. Results of the analytical study shed light on unravelling peculiar self-propulsion strategies and dispersion dynamics in active-matter systems, with implications for various transport problems arising from the fluctuating shape, size and other external or inter-particle interactions of swimmers in confined environments.

This study examined the fermentation dynamics, bacterial community composition and bacterial β-carotene synthesis in alfalfa that was ensiled for 3, 15, 45 and 90 days without additives (CON), or with a chemical agent (propionic acid, PA); or a combination of PA and squalene, SQPA). The results showed that silage treated with PA had a lower (P < 0.01) pH value than the CON silage in the early ensiling phase (3–15 days). Meanwhile, silage treated with PA had the highest contents of lactic acid, acetic acid and PA after 90 days of ensiling (P < 0.01). The β-carotene in alfalfa was lost seriously in the initial ensiling phase (3 days) and epiphytic Pantoea agglomerans with the ability to produce β-carotene became extinct. With the extension of ensiling time, the loss of β-carotene was alleviated in all silages. PA and SQPA not only lowered bacterial diversity and simplified bacterial networks but also facilitated the emergence of new β-carotene-producing bacteria. The metabolic function prediction indicated that β-carotene synthesis tended to decrease initially and subsequently increase during ensiling. Furthermore, the variance of enzymes involved in the bacterial synthesis of β-carotene in silages was influenced by PA, SQPA and ensiling time. In summary, the impact of solely adding PA demonstrated superior effects on the fermentation quality of alfalfa silage compared to the effects observed with SQPA. Throughout the ensiling of alfalfa, the succession of different β-carotene-producing bacteria resulted in fluctuations in the levels of β-carotene.

Trauma is a significant health issue that not only leads to immediate death in many cases but also causes severe complications, such as sepsis, thrombosis, haemorrhage, acute respiratory distress syndrome and traumatic brain injury, among trauma patients. Target protein identification technology is a vital technique in the field of biomedical research, enabling the study of biomolecular interactions, drug discovery and disease treatment. It plays a crucial role in identifying key protein targets associated with specific diseases or biological processes, facilitating further research, drug design and the development of treatment strategies. The application of target protein technology in biomarker detection enables the timely identification of newly emerging infections and complications in trauma patients, facilitating expeditious medical interventions and leading to reduced post-trauma mortality rates and improved patient prognoses. This review provides an overview of the current applications of target protein identification technology in trauma-related complications and provides a brief overview of the current target protein identification technology, with the aim of reducing post-trauma mortality, improving diagnostic efficiency and prognostic outcomes for patients.

Resilience research has long sought to understand how factors at the child, family, school, community, and societal levels shape adaptation in the face of adversities such as poverty and war. In this article we reflect on three themes that may prove to be useful for future resilience research. First is the idea that mental and physical health can sometimes diverge, even in response to the same social process. A better understanding of explanations for this divergence will have both theoretical and public health implications when it comes to efforts to promote resilience. Second is that more recent models of stress suggest that stress can accelerate aging. Thus, we suggest that research on resilience may need to also consider how resilience strategies may need to be developed in an accelerated fashion to be effective. Third, we suggest that if psychological resilience interventions can be conducted in conjunction with efforts to enact system-level changes targeted at adversities, this may synergize the impact that any single intervention can have, creating a more coordinated and effective set of approaches for promoting resilience in young people who confront adversity in life.

Environment-induced epigenetics are involved in diapause regulation, but the molecular mechanism that epigenetically couples nutrient metabolism to diapause regulation remains unclear. In this study, we paid special attention to the significant differences in the level of N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) of dihydroxyacetone phosphate acyltransferase (DHAPAT) and phosphatidate phosphatase (PAP) genes in the lipid metabolism pathway of the bivoltine silkworm (Bombyx mori) strain Qiufeng developed from eggs incubated at a normal temperature (QFHT, diapause egg producer) compared to those from eggs incubated at a low temperature (QFLT, non-diapause egg producer). We knocked down DHAPAT in the pupal stage of the QFLT group, resulting in the non-diapause destined eggs becoming diapausing eggs. In the PAP knockdown group, the colour of the non-diapause destined eggs changed from light yellow to pink 3 days after oviposition, but they hatched as normal. Moreover, we validated that YTHDF3 binds to m6A-modified DHAPAT and PAP mRNAs to promote their stability and translation. These results suggest that RNA m6A methylation participates in the diapause regulation of silkworm by changing the expression levels of DHAPAT and PAP and reveal that m6A epigenetic modification can be combined with a lipid metabolism signal pathway to participate in the regulation of insect diapause traits, which provides a clearer image for exploring the physiological basis of insect diapause.

This study investigated, and discusses the integration of, the shift-and-persist (SAP) and skin-deep resilience (SDR) theories. The SAP theory states that the combination of shifting (adjusting oneself to stressful situations through strategies like emotion regulation) and persisting (enduring adversity with strength by finding meaning and maintaining optimism) will be beneficial to physical health in children experiencing adversity. The SDR theory states that high striving/self-control will be beneficial to mental health but detrimental to physical health among those confronting adversity. This study investigated 308 children ages 8–17 experiencing the adversity of a chronic illness (asthma). SAP and SDR (striving/self-control) were assessed via questionnaires, and physical health (asthma symptoms, inflammatory profiles), mental health (anxiety/depression, emotional functioning), and behavioral (medication adherence, activity limitations, collaborative relationships with providers) outcomes were measured cross-sectionally. SAP was associated with better physical health, whereas SDR was associated with worse physical health. Both were associated with better mental health. Only SDR was associated with better behavioral outcomes. Implications of findings and discussion of how to integrate these theories are provided. We suggest that future interventions might seek to cultivate both SAP and SDR to promote overall better health and well-being across multiple domains in children experiencing adversity.