Substantial changes resulting from the interaction of environmental and dietary factors contribute to an increased risk of obesity, while their specific associations with obesity remain unclear. We identified inflammation-related dietary patterns (DP) and explored their associations with obesity among urbanised Tibetan adults under significant environmental and dietary changes. Totally, 1826 subjects from the suburbs of Golmud City were enrolled in an open cohort study, of which 514 were followed up. Height, weight and waist circumference were used to define overweight and obesity. DP were derived using reduced rank regression with forty-one food groups as predictors and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and prognostic nutritional index as inflammatory response variables. Altitude was classified as high or ultra-high. Two DP were extracted. DP-1 was characterised by having high consumptions of sugar-sweetened beverages, savoury snacks, and poultry and a low intake of tsamba. DP-2 had high intakes of poultry, pork, animal offal, and fruits and a low intake of butter tea. Participants in the highest tertiles (T3) of DP had increased risks of overweight and obesity (DP-1: OR = 1·37, 95 % CI 1·07, 1·77; DP-2: OR = 1·48, 95 % CI 1·18, 1·85) than those in the lowest tertiles (T1). Participants in T3 of DP-2 had an increased risk of central obesity (OR = 2·25, 95 % CI 1·49, 3·39) than those in T1. The positive association of DP-1 with overweight and obesity was only significant at high altitudes, while no similar effect was observed for DP-2. Inflammation-related DP were associated with increased risks of overweight and/or obesity.

This paper presents a numerical study on the flow around two tandem circular cylinders beneath a free surface at a Reynolds number of $180$. The free-surface effects on the wake dynamics and hydrodynamic forces are investigated through a parametric study, covering a parameter space of gap ratios from $0.20$ to $2.00$, spacing ratios from $1.50$ to $4.00$ and Froude numbers from $0.2$ to $0.8$. A jet-like flow accompanied by a shear layer of positive vorticity separating from the free surface is formed in the wake at small gap ratios, which significantly alters the wake pattern through its dynamic behaviours. At shallow submergence depths, the three-dimensional wake transitions from mode B to mode A as the distance between the cylinders increases. As submergence depth increases, the wavy deformation of the primary vortex cores disappears in the wake, and the flow transitions to a two-dimensional state. Higher Froude numbers can extend the effect of the free surface to deeper submergence depths. The critical spacing ratio tends to be larger at higher Froude numbers. Furthermore, the free-surface deformation is examined. The free-surface profile typically comprises a hydraulic jump immediately ahead of the upstream cylinder, trapped waves in the vicinity of the two tandem cylinders and well-defined travelling waves on the downstream side. The frequencies of the waves cluster around the vortex shedding frequency, indicating a close association between the generation of waves and the vortex shedding process.

The discovery that blazars dominate the extra-galactic $\gamma$-ray sky is a triumph in the Fermi era. However, the exact location of $\gamma$-ray emission region still remains in debate. Low-synchrotron-peaked blazars (LSPs) are estimated to produce high-energy radiation through the external Compton process, thus their emission regions are closely related to the external photon fields. We employed the seed factor approach proposed by Georganopoulos et al. It directly matches the observed seed factor of each LSP with the characteristic seed factors of external photon fields to locate the $\gamma$-ray emission region. A sample of 1 138 LSPs with peak frequencies and peak luminosities was adopted to plot a histogram distribution of observed seed factors. We also collected some spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of historical flare states to investigate the variation of $\gamma$-ray emission region. Those SEDs were fitted by both quadratic and cubic functions using the Markov-chain Monte Carlo method. Furthermore, we derived some physical parameters of blazars and compared them with the constraint of internal $\gamma\gamma$-absorption. We find that dusty torus dominates the soft photon fields of LSPs and most $\gamma$-ray emission regions of LSPs are located at 1–10 pc. The soft photon fields could also transition from dusty torus to broad line region and cosmic microwave background in different flare states. Our results suggest that the cubic function is better than the quadratic function to fit the SEDs.

Path planning for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is to assist in finding the proper path, serving as a critical role in the intelligence of a UAV. In this paper, a path planning for UAV in three-dimensional environment (3D) based on enhanced gravitational search algorithm (EGSA) is put forward, taking the path length, yaw angle, pitch angle, and flight altitude as considerations of the path. Considering EGSA is easy to fall into local optimum and convergence insufficiency, two factors that are the memory of current optimal and random disturbance with chaotic levy flight are adopted during the update of particle velocity, improving the balance between exploration and exploitation for EGSA through different time-varying characteristics. With the identical cost function, EGSA is compared with seven peer algorithms, such as moth flame optimization algorithm, gravitational search algorithm, and five variants of gravitational search algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that EGSA is superior to the seven comparison algorithms on CEC 2020 benchmark functions and the path planning method based on EGSA is more valuable than the other seven methods in diverse environments.

This study investigated the impact of regular consumption of fermented vegetables (FVs) on inflammation and the composition of the gut microbiota in adults at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Eighty-seven adults ages 35–64 were randomized into an FV group, who consumed 100 g FVs daily at least five times per week for eight weeks, or a usual diet (UD) group. Blood and stool samples were obtained before and after the intervention. Dependent samples t tests and adjusted linear models were used for within- and between-group comparisons. The mean age and body mass index of participants were 45 years and 30 kg/m2, and 80% were female. Bloating or gas was the most common side effect reported (19.3% FV group vs. 9.4% UD group). There were no changes in C-reactive protein, oxidized low-density lipoprotein-receptor 1, angiopoietin-like protein 4, trimethylamine oxide, and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein or bacterial alpha diversity between groups. Our findings indicate that consuming 100 g of FVs for at least five days per week for eight weeks does not change inflammatory biomarkers or microbial alpha diversity as measured by the Shannon index. It is possible that higher doses of FVs are necessary to elicit a significant response by gut bacteria.

The rise of sequencing technologies has greatly contributed to our knowledge of the microbiota and its role in animal health and production. However, many members of the microbiota have historically been considered “unculturable.” Culturomics can be utilized to bring these fastidious microbes into cultivation and can be used in conjunction with culture-independent methods to study the microbiota in a more comprehensive manner. This review paper details culturomics’ role in revolutionizing human, swine, and bovine microbiota research and how its use has greatly increased the bacterial repertoire. Additionally, it describes how culturomics can be applied to develop microbiota-derived therapeutics, such as next-generation probiotics, and to study the role of the microbiota. Finally, this review provides potential methods and considerations for designing future culturomics studies.

In order to establish a compact all-optical Thomson scattering source, experimental studies were conducted on the 45 TW Ti: sapphire laser facility. By including a steel wafer, mixed gas, and plasma mirror into a double-exit jet, several mechanisms, such as shock-assisted ionization injection, ionization injection, and driving laser reflection, were integrated into one source. So, the source of complexity was remarkably reduced. Electron bunches with central energy fluctuating from 90 to 160 MeV can be produced. Plasma mirrors were used to reflect the driving laser. The scattering of the reflected laser on the electron bunches led to the generation of X-ray photons. Through comparing the X-ray spots under different experimental conditions, it is confirmed that the X-ray photons are generated by Thomson scattering. For further application, the energy spectra and source size of the Thomson scattering source were measured. The unfolded spectrum contains a large amount of low-energy photons besides a peak near 67 keV. Through importing the electron energy spectrum into the Monte Carlo simulation code, the different contributions of the photons with small and large emitting angles can be used to explain the origin of the unfolded spectrum. The maximum photon energy extended to about 500 keV. The total photon production was 107/pulse. The FWHM source size was about 12 μm.

The global transition towards diets high in calories has contributed to 2.1 billion people becoming overweight, or obese, which damages male reproduction and harms offspring. Recently, more and more studies have shown that paternal exposure to stress closely affects the health of offspring in an intergenerational and transgenerational way. SET Domain Containing 2 (SETD2), a key epigenetic gene, is highly conserved among species, is a crucial methyltransferase for converting histone 3 lysine 36 dimethylation (H3K36me2) into histone 3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3), and plays an important regulator in the response to stress. In this study, we compared patterns of SETD2 expression and the H3K36me3 pattern in pre-implantation embryos derived from normal or obese mice induced by high diet. The results showed that SETD2 mRNA was significantly higher in the high-fat diet (HFD) group than the control diet (CD) group at the 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, and 16-cell stages, and at the morula and blastocyst stages. The relative levels of H3K36me3 in the HFD group at the 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, 16-cell, morula stage, and blastocyst stage were significantly higher than in the CD group. These results indicated that dietary changes in parental generation (F0) male mice fed a HFD were traceable in SETD2/H3K36me3 in embryos, and that a paternal high-fat diet brings about adverse effects for offspring that might be related to SETD2/H3K36me3, which throws new light on the effect of paternal obesity on offspring from an epigenetic perspective.

Direct numerical simulations are performed to explore the effects of the rotating direction of the vertically asymmetric rough wall on the transport properties of Taylor–Couette (TC) flow, up to a Taylor number of ${Ta} = 2.39\times 10^{7}$. It is shown that, compared with the smooth wall, the rough wall with vertical asymmetric strips can enhance the dimensionless torque ${Nu}_{\omega }$. More importantly, at high Ta, clockwise rotation of the inner rough wall (where the fluid is sheared by the steeper slope side of the strips) results in a significantly greater torque enhancement compared to counter-clockwise rotation (where the fluid is sheared by the smaller slope side of the strips), due to the larger convective contribution to the angular velocity flux. However, the rotating direction has a negligible effect on the torque at low Ta. The larger torque enhancement caused by the clockwise rotation of the vertically asymmetric rough wall at high Ta is then explained by the stronger coupling between the rough wall and the bulk, attributed to the larger biased azimuthal velocity towards the rough wall at the mid-gap of the TC system, the increased turbulence intensity manifested by larger Reynolds stress and a thinner boundary layer, and the more significant contribution of the pressure force on the surface of the rough wall to the torque.

We study the stability and collapse of holes at the wall in liquid layers on circular bounded containers with various wettabilities. Three distinct wetting modes of the hole are observed, which are related to the wettability of the container: when the substrate and the inner wall of the container are superhydrophobic, a stable hole remains as the liquid volume is continuously increased until the liquid layer covers the entire substrate; when the substrate and the inner wall are hydrophobic, an eye-shaped hole remains stable as the projected area of the hole exceeds a critical value $A_c$, however, the hole collapses if the liquid volume is further increased; when the substrate is superhydrophobic but the wall is hydrophilic, on increasing the liquid volume, the hole suddenly transfers into a circular hole and is pushed against the wall, leaving the hole dwelling around the centre of the container. Theoretical analyses and numerical simulations are conducted to establish the phase diagram for different wetting modes. It is found that, in the second mode, $A_c$ increases with the size of the container but decreases with the contact angle of the substrate and the wall. Furthermore, we experimentally investigate the dynamics of the hole. The time evolution of the area of the hole obeys a scaling relationship $A \sim (t_0 - t)^{1.1}$ after the hole collapses at time $t_0$.

Achieving the high-precision control of cable-driven parallel robots (CDPRs) is complex because of their structural properties. In this paper, a quintessential redundant CDPR is designed as the research subject, and a continuous switching sliding mode controller based on workspace vision is implemented to enhance the accuracy and stability of trajectory tracking. In addition, a virtual prototype of the CDPR with uncertainties is created in the simulation analysis software ADAMS, and co-simulation is performed with the control system designed in Simulink to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Furthermore, a CDPR platform is established for trajectory tracking experiments using the visual-based position feedback method. The trajectory tracking performance with the three control schemes is then evaluated. The experimental results show that the continuous switching sliding mode control algorithm can significantly decrease trajectory tracking errors and exhibit superior trajectory tracking performance compared to the other control strategies.

We report a Yb-doped all-fiber laser system generating burst-mode pulses with high energy and high peak power at a GHz intra-burst repetition rate. To acquire the uniform burst envelope, a double-pre-compensation structure with an arbitrary waveform laser diode driver and an acoustic optical modulator is utilized for the first time. The synchronous pumping is utilized for the system to reduce the burst repetition rate to 100 Hz and suppress the amplified spontaneous emission effect. By adjusting the gain of every stage, uniform envelopes with different output energies can be easily obtained. The intra-burst repetition rate can be tuned from 0.5 to 10 GHz actively modulated by an electro-optic modulator. Optimized by timing control of eight channels of analog signal and amplified by seven stages of Yb-doped fiber amplifier, the pulse energy achieves 13.3 mJ at 0.5 ns intra-burst pulse duration, and the maximum peak power reaches approximately 3.6 MW at 48 ps intra-burst pulse duration. To the best of our knowledge, for reported burst-mode all-fiber lasers, this is a record for output energy and peak power with nanosecond-level burst duration, and the widest tuning range of the intra-burst repetition rate. In particular, this flexibly tunable burst-mode laser system can be directly applied to generate high-power frequency-tunable microwaves.

Depending on whether we are somewhat tolerant of nearby error-possibilities or not, the safety condition on knowledge is open to a strong reading and a weak reading. In this paper, it is argued that induction and conjunction introduction constitute two horns of a dilemma for the safety account of knowledge. If we opt for the strong reading, then the safety account fails to account for inductive knowledge. In contrast, if we opt for the weak reading, then the safety account fails to accommodate knowledge obtained via the method of conjunction introduction.

The relationship between magmatism and gold mineralization has been a topic of interest in understanding the formation of ore deposits. The Baizhangzi gold deposit, located in the northern margin of the North China Craton, is hosted by the Baizhangzi granite (BZG) and provides a case to evaluate the relation between granite and gold mineralization in Late Triassic. In this study, we present petrography, bulk geochemistry, zircon U-Pb isotope and trace elements data, as well as major elements of biotite and plagioclase for the BZG to evaluate the petrogenesis and link with gold mineralization. The BZG comprises biotite monzogranite, biotite-bearing monzogranite and monzogranite (BZGs). Zircon U-Pb geochronology shows that all the granitoids of BZGs were coeval with a formation age of 232 Ma. The granitoids, with high SiO2, Al2O3 and Sr, while low Y and Yb, show adakitic affinity. They are enriched in LILFs (e.g., Rb, Ba, Th, U and Sr) and LREEs, while depletion in HFSEs (e.g., Nb, Ta, P and Ti). The geochemical and mineral chemical data suggest that the granitoids have experienced the fractional crystallization of biotite + plagioclase + K- feldspar + apatite. Crystallization temperature is estimated as ca. 700°C, and pressure is between 0.71 kbar and 1.60 kbar. The monzogranite shows higher values of logfO2, △FMQ and △NNO than the biotite-bearing monzogranite, ranging from −19.76 to −11.71, −4.93 to +3.67 and −5.48 to +3.11, respectively. The fractional crystallization, together with high fO2, K-metasomatism and low evolution degree, provided favourable conditions for gold mineralization.

In this paper, we study quasi-metric spaces using domain theory. Given a quasi-metric space (X,d), we use $({\bf B}(X,d),\leq^{d^{+}}\!)$ to denote the poset of formal balls of the associated quasi-metric space (X,d). We introduce the notion of local Yoneda-complete quasi-metric spaces in terms of domain-theoretic properties of $({\bf B}(X,d),\leq^{d^{+}}\!)$ . The manner in which this definition is obtained is inspired by Romaguera–Valero theorem and Kostanek–Waszkiewicz theorem. Furthermore, we obtain characterizations of local Yoneda-complete quasi-metric spaces via local nets in quasi-metric spaces. More precisely, we prove that a quasi-metric space is local Yoneda-complete if and only if every local net has a d-limit. Finally, we prove that every quasi-metric space has a local Yoneda completion.

We report a compact, tunable, self-starting, all-fiber laser-based asynchronous optical sampling (ASOPS) system. Two Er-doped fiber oscillators were used as the pulsed-laser source, whose repetition rate could be set at 100 MHz with a tuning range of 1.25 MHz through a fiber delay line. By employing phase-locked and temperature control loops, the repetition rate offset of the two lasers was stabilized with 7.13 × 10−11 fractional instability at an average time of 1 s. Its capabilities in the terahertz regime were demonstrated by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, achieving a spectral bandwidth of 3 THz with a dynamic range of 30 dB. The large range of repetition rate adjustment in our ASOPS system has the potential to be a powerful tool in the terahertz regime.