In the present study, we investigate the modulation effects of particles on compressible turbulent boundary layers at a Mach number of 6, employing high-fidelity direct numerical simulations based on the Eulerian–Lagrangian point-particle approach. Our findings reveal that the mean and fluctuating velocities in particle-laden flows exhibit similarities to incompressible flows under compressibility transformations and semi-local viscous scaling. With increasing particle mass loading, the reduction in Reynolds shear stress and the increase in particle feedback force constitute competing effects, leading to a non-monotonic variation in skin friction, particularly in turbulence over cold walls. Furthermore, dilatational motions near the wall, manifested as travelling-wave structures, persist under the influence of particles. However, these structures are significantly weakened due to the suppression of solenoidal bursting events and the negative work exerted by the particle feedback force. These findings align with the insight of Yu et al. (J. Fluid. Mech., vol. 984, 2024, A44), who demonstrated that dilatational motions are generated by the vortices associated with intense bursting events, rather than acting as evolving perturbations beneath velocity streaks. The attenuation of travelling-wave structures at higher particle mass loadings also contributes to the reduction in the intensities of wall shear stress and heat flux fluctuations, as well as the probability of extreme events. These results highlight the potential of particle-laden flows to mitigate aerodynamic forces and thermal loads in high-speed vehicles.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum folate levels and the risk of psoriasis by integrating observational study with Mendelian Randomisation (MR) analysis. We firstly conducted an observational study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Subsequently, genetic instruments were selected for two-sample MR analyses to investigate the causal relationship between serum folate levels and the risk of psoriasis. The observational study showed no significant association between serum folate levels and psoriasis. In the fully adjusted model, neither serum folate level as a continuous variable (OR = 0·99, 95 % CI: 0·98, 1·00, P = 0·071) nor serum folate quartiles Q4 compared to Q1 (OR = 0·83, 95 % CI: 0·58, 1·19, P = 0·309) showed statistical significance. The MR analysis revealed that higher genetically predicted serum folate levels from Icelandic and Danish populations were significantly associated with a reduced risk of psoriasis (OR = 0·63, 95 % CI: 0·45, 0·88, P = 0·005). Similarly, higher genetically predicted serum folate levels from South Asian populations were significantly associated with a lower risk of psoriasis (OR = 0·84, 95 % CI: 0·72, 0·98, P = 0·025). Integrating observational study with MR analysis suggests that serum folate levels are protective factors against psoriasis, indicating that higher serum folate levels may help prevent the onset of the disease.

This study examined the sour grapes/sweet lemons rationalization through 2 conditions: ‘attainable’ (sweet lemons) and ‘unattainable’ (sour grapes), reflecting China’s 2019-nCoV vaccination strategy. The aim was to find ways to change people’s beliefs and preferences regarding vaccines by easing their safety concerns and encouraging more willingness to get vaccinated. An online survey was conducted from January 22 to 27, 2021, with 3,123 residents across 30 provinces and municipalities in the Chinese mainland. The direction of belief and preference changed in line with the sour grapes/sweet lemons rationalization. Using hypothetical and real contrasts, we compared those for whom the vaccine was relatively unattainable (‘sour grapes’ condition) with those who could get the vaccine easily (‘sweet lemons’). Whether the vaccine was attainable was determined in the early stage of the vaccine roll-out by membership in a select group of workers that was supposed to be vaccinated to the greatest extent possible, or, by being in the second stage when the vaccine was available to all. The attainable conditions demonstrated higher evaluation in vaccine safety, higher willingness to be vaccinated, and lower willingness to wait and see. Hence, we propose that the manipulation of vaccine attainability, which formed the basis of the application of sour grapes/sweet lemons rationalization, can be utilized as a means to manipulate the choice architecture to nudge individuals to ease vaccine safety concerns, reducing wait-and-see tendencies, and enhancing vaccination willingness. This approach can expedite universal vaccination and its associated benefits in future scenarios resembling the 2019-nCoV vaccine rollout.

Accurate dynamic model is essential for the model-based control of robotic systems. However, on the one hand, the nonlinearity of the friction is seldom treated in robot dynamics. On the other hand, few of the previous studies reasonably balance the calculation time-consuming and the quality for the excitation trajectory optimization. To address these challenges, this article gives a Lie-theory-based dynamic modeling scheme of multi-degree-of-freedom (DoF) serial robots involving nonlinear friction and excitation trajectory optimization. First, we introduce two coefficients to describe the Stribeck characteristics of Coulomb and static friction and consider the dependency of friction on load torque, so as to propose an improved Stribeck friction model. Whereafter, the improved friction model is simplified in a no-load scenario, a novel nonlinear dynamic model is linearized to capture the features of viscous friction across the entire velocity range. Additionally, a new optimization algorithm of excitation trajectories is presented considering the benefits of three different optimization criteria to design the optimal excitation trajectory. On the basis of the above, we retrieve a feasible dynamic parameter set of serial robots through the hybrid least square algorithm. Finally, our research is supported by simulation and experimental analyses of different combinations on the seven-DoF Franka Emika robot. The results show that the proposed friction has better accuracy performance, and the modified optimization algorithm can reduce the overall time required for the optimization process while maintaining the quality of the identification results.

Sedimentary and diagenetic processes control the distribution of clay minerals in sedimentary basins, although these processes have seldom been studied continuously in continental sedimentary basins. The Songliao Basin, northeast China, is a large continental, petroleum-bearing basin, and provides a unique study site to understand the sedimentary and diagenetic processes that influence clay assemblages. In this paper, the clay mineralogy of a 2500 m-thick Late Cretaceous (late Turonian to Maastrichtian) terrestrial sedimentary succession (SK-1s and SK-1n cores), retrieved by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program in the Songliao Basin, was examined. The objective was to determine the diagenetic and paleoenvironmental variations that controlled the formation of clay mineral assemblages, and to determine the thermal and paleoenvironmental evolution of the basin. The results from both cores show that illite is ubiquitous through the succession, smectite is frequently encountered in the upper strata, and ordered mixed-layer illite-smectite (I-S), chlorite, and kaolinite are abundant in the lower strata. Burial diagenesis is the primary control on the observed decrease of smectite and increasing illite, I-S, and chlorite with depth. Observations of clay-mineral diagenesis are used to reconstruct the paleotemperatures and maximum burial depths to which the sediments were subjected. The lowermost sediments could have reached a maximum burial of ~1000 m deeper than today and temperatures ~50°C higher than today in the latest Cretaceous. The transition of smectite to I-S in the SK-1 cores and the inferred paleotemperatures provide new constraints for basin modeling of oil maturation at elevated temperatures in the Songliao Basin. Authigenic kaolinite and smectite are enriched in sandstones with respect to the coeval mudstones from the SK-1n core, as a result of early diagenesis with the participation of primary aluminosilicates and pore fluids. In the upper part of both SK-1 cores, variations in smectite and illite were controlled primarily by paleoenvironmental changes. Increases in smectite and decreases in illite from the late Campanian to Maastrichtian are interpreted as resulting from increasing humidity, a conclusion consistent with previous paleoenvironmental interpretations.

Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) is one of the rate-determining enzymes in the hydrolysis of TAG, playing a crucial role in lipid metabolism. However, the role of HSL-mediated lipolysis in systemic nutrient homoeostasis has not been intensively understood. Therefore, we used CRISPR/Cas9 technique and Hsl inhibitor (HSL-IN-1) to establish hsla-deficient (hsla-/-) and Hsl-inhibited zebrafish models, respectively. As a result, the hsla-/- zebrafish showed retarded growth and reduced oxygen consumption rate, accompanied with higher mRNA expression of the genes related to inflammation and apoptosis in liver and muscle. Furthermore, hsla-/- and HSL-IN-1-treated zebrafish both exhibited severe fat deposition, whereas their expressions of the genes related to lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation were markedly reduced. The TLC results also showed that the dysfunction of Hsl changed the whole-body lipid profile, including increasing the content of TG and decreasing the proportion of phospholipids. In addition, the systemic metabolic pattern was remodelled in hsla-/- and HSL-IN-1-treated zebrafish. The dysfunction of Hsl lowered the glycogen content in liver and muscle and enhanced the utilisation of glucose plus the expressions of glucose transporter and glycolysis genes. Besides, the whole-body protein content had significantly decreased in the hsla-/- and HSL-IN-1-treated zebrafish, accompanied with the lower activation of the mTOR pathway and enhanced protein and amino acid catabolism. Taken together, Hsl plays an essential role in energy homoeostasis, and its dysfunction would cause the disturbance of lipid catabolism but enhanced breakdown of glycogen and protein for energy compensation.

A compact four-element ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) antenna with dual polarization and dual-notched capabilities was developed and fabricated. The MIMO antenna is composed of four orthogonally placed half-cutting UWB antenna elements. This orthogonal placement improves the isolation. Furthermore, an L-shaped slot and a continuous bending slot are etched to realize the band-rejection function in the WiMAX and WLAN bands. The result shows that the antenna achieved operating bands of 2.9–16.5 GHz (140.2%, S11 < −10 dB), fully covering the UWB (3.1–10.6 GHz). The port isolation is greater than 23 dB in the frequency band of interest, excluding two rejected bands. Moreover, the MIMO antenna has excellent diversity performance, such as a low envelope correlation coefficient (<0.004), high diversity gain (approximately 10 dB), and good omnidirectional radiation characteristics.

Varicella is an acute respiratory infectious diseases, with high transmissibility and quick dissemination. In this study, an SEIR (susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered) dynamic model was established to explore the optimal prevention and control measures according to the epidemiological characteristics about varicella outbreak in a school in a central city of China. Berkeley Madonna 8.3.18 and Microsoft Office Excel 2010 software were employed for the model simulation and data management, respectively. The result showed that the simulated result of SEIR model agreed well with the reported data when β (infected rate) equal to 0.067. Models showed that the cumulative number of cases was only 13 when isolation adopted when the infected individuals were identified (assuming isolation rate was up to 100%); the cumulative number of cases was only two and the TAR (total attack rate) was 0.56% when the vaccination coefficient reached 50%. The cumulative number of cases did not change significantly with the change of efficiency of ventilation and disinfection, but the peak time was delayed; when δ (vaccination coefficient) = 0.1, m (ventilation efficiency) = 0.7 or δ = 0.2, m = 0.5 or δ = 0.3, m = 0.1 or δ = 0.4 and above, the cumulative number of cases would reduce to one case and TAR would reduce to 0.28% with combined interventions. Varicella outbreak in school could be controlled through strict isolation or vaccination singly; combined interventions have been adopted when the vaccination coefficient was low.

Dietary indices are widely used in diet quality measurement, and the index-based dietary patterns are related to gastric cancer risk. To evaluate the relationship between different kinds of index-based dietary patterns and gastric cancer risk, we systematically searched four English-language databases and four Chinese-language databases. The quality of studies was assessed by the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Meta-analyses were performed to estimate the association between gastric cancer incidence and different types of index-based dietary patterns. The OR and hazard ratios (HR) of gastric cancer incidence were calculated by regression models in case–control studies and prospective cohort studies, respectively. The studies were pooled in the random effects model to calculate the summarised risk estimate of the highest quantile interval of dietary indices, taking the lowest as the referent. The dietary indices included different versions of Mediterranean diet score (MDS) and dietary inflammatory index (DII), healthy eating index, Chinese Food Pagoda score and food index score. The meta-analysis was carried out for studies on MDS and DII. The combined OR of gastric cancer for the highest MDS v. the referent was 0·42 (95 % CI 0·2, 0·86), and the combined HR was 0·89 (95 % CI 0·68, 1·17). The combined OR for DII was 2·11 (95 % CI 1·41, 3·15). Higher Mediterranean dietary pattern consumption might reduce gastric cancer risk, while higher inflammatory diet pattern consumption might increase gastric cancer risk.

Maternal one-carbon metabolism during pregnancy is crucial for fetal development and programming by DNA methylation. However, evidence on one-carbon biomarkers other than folate is lacking. We, therefore, investigated whether maternal plasma methyl donors, that is, choline, betaine and methionine, are associated with birth outcomes. Blood samples were obtained from 115 women during gestation (median 26·3 weeks, 90 % range 22·7–33·0 weeks). Plasma choline, betaine, methionine and dimethylglycine were measured using HPLC-tandem MS. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between plasma biomarkers and birth weight, birth length, the risk of small-for-gestational-age and large-for-gestational-age (LGA). Higher level of maternal betaine was associated with lower birth weight (–130·3 (95 % CI –244·8, –15·9) per 1 sd increment for log-transformed betaine). Higher maternal methionine was associated with lower risk of LGA, and adjusted OR, with 95 % CI for 1 sd increase in methionine concentration was 0·44 (95 % CI 0·21, 0·89). Stratified analyses according to infant sex or maternal plasma homocysteine status showed that reduction in birth weight in relation to maternal betaine was only limited to male infants or to who had higher maternal homocysteine status (≥5·1 µmol/l). Higher maternal betaine status was associated with reduced birth weight. Maternal methionine was inversely associated with LGA risk. These findings are needed to be replicated in future larger studies.

Astrophysical collisionless shocks are amazing phenomena in space and astrophysical plasmas, where supersonic flows generate electromagnetic fields through instabilities and particles can be accelerated to high energy cosmic rays. Until now, understanding these micro-processes is still a challenge despite rich astrophysical observation data have been obtained. Laboratory astrophysics, a new route to study the astrophysics, allows us to investigate them at similar extreme physical conditions in laboratory. Here we will review the recent progress of the collisionless shock experiments performed at SG-II laser facility in China. The evolution of the electrostatic shocks and Weibel-type/filamentation instabilities are observed. Inspired by the configurations of the counter-streaming plasma flows, we also carry out a novel plasma collider to generate energetic neutrons relevant to the astrophysical nuclear reactions.

Shortawn foxtail is a competitive annual grass weed widely spread in east, south-central, and southwest China and parts of the Yellow River basin. One shortawn foxtail population (JSQT-1) resistant to fenoxaprop was identified in Jiangyan, Jiangsu province. Whole-plant experiments determined that the resistant population conferred high-level resistance to fenoxaprop (93-fold), clodinafop (21-fold), sethoxydim (107-fold), mesosulfuron (41-fold), and pyroxsulam (12-fold); moderate-level resistance to haloxyfop (8-fold), clethodim (9-fold), and pinoxaden (8-fold), and no resistance to isoproturon. Molecular analyses confirmed that the Ile-1781-Leu mutation was present in the resistant population. A dCAPS marker was used to detect the Ile-1781-Leu mutation. All 97 plants of the resistant population analyzed were homozygous mutants at the 1781 position. Our study established the first case of fenoxaprop resistance in shortawn foxtail, determined cross resistance to other herbicides, and elucidated that the molecular basis of resistance resulted from, at least partly, an Ile to Leu mutation at amino acid position 1781 in the plastid ACCase.

Overreliance on tribenuron has resulted in resistance evolution in water starwort. This study investigates the resistance mechanisms to tribenuron in water starwort populations from China. The cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) inhibitor malathion increased tribenuron sensitivity in all populations. The decrease in the amount of herbicide dose that causes 50% growth reduction (GR50) for the sensitive (S) population JS24 and the resistant (R) populations JS16 and JS17 were 2.3-, 2.5-, and 4.1-fold, respectively. However, the GR50 values for the R populations were still much higher than those of the S population. This observation indicates that P450-mediated enhanced metabolism is one mechanism for resistance in water starwort. The glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity could be induced by tribenuron for all tested populations. In particular, the GST activity of JS16 is inherently greater and is more rapidly induced than that of JS17 or JS24. Resistance attributed to mutant acetolactate synthase (ALS) alleles was identified by sequence analysis for each population. Pro197Ser substitution was detected in JS16 and JS17. Molecular markers were also developed to rapidly identify resistance as well as individuals carrying the specific Pro197Ser mutation in water starwort populations. The resistance patterns experiment revealed that the R populations exhibited different levels of resistance to pyrithiobac sodium salt, florasulam, pyroxsulam, and flucarbazone-Na; however, R populations were sensitive to imazethapyr, fluroxypyr-meptyl, 2,4-D butylate, isoproturon, and diflufenican. This study establishes that either one or at least two resistance mechanisms are involved in herbicide resistance in water starwort. Moreover, these mechanisms might contribute to the different levels of resistance to tribenuron among water starwort populations.

Japanese brome is a winter annual weed commonly found in wheat fields in China. Laboratory and greenhouse experiments were carried out to determine the effect of temperature, light, pH, osmotic stress, salt stress, and burial depth on the germination and emergence of Japanese brome. Germination was greater than 98% under a wide temperature range of 5 to 30 C and onset of germination was shortened as temperature increased. Light was not required for germination to occur and pH values from 5 to 10 had insignificant effect on germination. Germination was reduced by osmotic stress or salt stress and no germination occurred at −1.3 MPa or 360 mM, suggesting that Japanese brome seed was quite tolerant to osmotic potential and salinity. Seedling emergence was greatest (98%) when seeds were placed on the soil surface but decreased with increasing of burial depth. Only 7% of seedlings emerged at a depth of 5 cm. The results of this study have contributed to our understanding of the germination and emergence of Japanese brome and should enhance our ability to develop better control strategies in wheat farming systems of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China.