Pouch-type actuators have recently garnered significant interest and are increasingly utilized in diverse fields, including soft wearable robotics and prosthetics. This is largely due to their lightweight, high output force, and low cost. However, the inherent hysteresis behavior markedly affects the stability and force control of pouch-type driven systems. This study proposes a modified generalized Prandtl–Ishlinskii (MGPI) model, which includes generalized play operators, the tangent envelope function, and one-sided dead-zone operators, to describe the asymmetric and non-convex hysteresis characteristics of pouch-type actuators. Compared to a classical Prandtl–Ishlinskii (PI) model incorporating one-sided dead-zone functions, the MGPI model exhibits smaller relative errors at six different air pressures, demonstrating its capability to accurately describe asymmetric and non-convex hysteresis curves. Subsequently, the MGPI hysteresis model is integrated with displacement sensing technology to establish a load compensation control system for maintaining human posture. Four healthy subjects are recruited to conduct a 1 kg load compensation test, achieving efficiencies of 85.84%, 84.92%, 83.63%, and 68.86%, respectively.

The inverse dynamics model of an industrial robot can predict and control the robot’s motion and torque output, improving its motion accuracy, efficiency, and adaptability. However, the existing inverse rigid body dynamics models still have some unmodelled residuals, and their calculation results differ significantly from the actual industrial robot conditions. The bootstrap aggregating (bagging) algorithm is combined with a long short-term memory network, the linear layer is introduced as the network optimization layer, and a compensation method of hybrid inverse dynamics model for robots based on the BLL residual prediction algorithm is proposed to meet the above needs. The BLL residual prediction algorithm framework is presented. Based on the rigid body inverse dynamics of the Newton–Euler method, the BLL residual prediction network is used to perform error compensation on the inverse dynamics model of the Franka robot. The experimental results show that the hybrid inverse dynamics model based on the BLL residual prediction algorithm can reduce the average residuals of the robot joint torque from 0.5651 N·m to 0.1096 N·m, which improves the accuracy of the inverse dynamics model compared with those of the rigid body inverse dynamics model. This study lays the foundation for performing more accurate operation tasks using industrial robots.

Isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a worry for many farmers in chemical control of weeds in wheat fields, especially in subzero weather conditions. Iron chlorin e6 (ICe6), a new plant growth regulator, has been reported to enhance crop stress resistance to alleviate damage caused by stress; however, it is not clear whether ICe6 has an alleviative effect on isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat. We determined the alleviative effect of ICe6 on isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat, and 0.018 g ai ha−1 was the optimal dose. Meanwhile, we also studied the photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic parameters, oxidative stress indicators, and antioxidant enzyme activity of wheat treated with the three different treatments. We found that the photosynthetic pigment content, antioxidant enzyme activity, and photosynthesis of wheat damaged by isoproturon were significantly lower than those of the control, and the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content increased. These results indicate that isoproturon stress significantly weakened the photosynthetic and antioxidant capacity of wheat. The photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic parameters (excluding intercellular CO2 concentration), and antioxidant enzyme activity of isoproturon+ICe6– treated wheat were significantly higher than those of isoproturon-treated wheat. The H2O2 and MDA content was significantly lower than that of isoproturon-treated wheat. These results indicate that ICe6 treatment maintained the photosynthetic pigment content of wheat and relatively improved photosynthetic capacity, allowing photosynthesis to proceed normally. ICe6 treatment also limits the decrease in antioxidant enzyme activity, effectively clearing excess reactive oxygen species and ultimately alleviating membrane lipid peroxidation damage. In summary, ICe6 not only enhances stress resistance and increases yield in crops such as soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] and canola (Brassica napus L.), but also has an alleviating effect on the isoproturon phytotoxicity to wheat, which is manifested by the improvement of photosynthetic and antioxidant abilities, ultimately leading to an increase in wheat shoot height and shoot fresh weight.

Foilless diode are widely used in high-power microwave devices, but the traditional foilless diodes have large volume, heavy weight, and high power consumption, which are not conducive to the application of high-power microwave system on mobile platform. In order to reduce the size of the foilless diode, improve the transmission efficiency of electron beams, and reduce the weight and power consumption of the guiding magnetic field system, an axial foilless diode with a composite guiding magnetic field system is developed in this paper. By adjusting the structure size and magnetic field parameters of solenoid coil, permanent magnet, and soft magnet, the configuration of the composite magnetic field is optimized. The diameter of the anode tube is about 40% smaller than that of the original structure, and the weight and power consumption of the guiding magnetic system are about 40% lower than that of the original system when the same axial magnetic field intensity in the uniform region is generated. When the magnetic field strength of the permanent magnet is set as 1.4 T and that of the solenoid coil is in the range of 0.5 T∼1 T, the electron beam transmission efficiency is 100%, and the diode impedance is adjustable in the range of 100 Ω∼240 Ω. The experimental results verify the correctness of the simulation analysis. The experimental results show that when the magnetic field strength of the solenoid coil is 0.98 T (0.5 T) and that of the permanent magnet is 1.4 T, the transmission efficiency of the high-current annular electron beam with a peak voltage of 636 kV (590 kV) and a peak current of 3.3 kA (2.6 kA) is 100%, and the diode impedance is about 194 Ω (220 Ω).

In detonation engines and accidental explosions, a detonation may propagate in an inhomogeneous mixture with non-uniform reactant concentration. In this study, one- and two-dimensional simulations are conducted for detonation propagation in hydrogen/oxygen/nitrogen mixtures with periodic sinusoidal or square wave distribution of the reactant concentration. The objective is to assess the properties of detonation propagation in such inhomogeneous mixtures. Specifically, detonation quenching and reinitiation, cellular structure, cell size and detonation speed deficit are investigated. It is found that there exists a critical amplitude of the periodic mixture composition distribution, above which the detonation quenches. When the amplitude is below the critical value, detonation quenching and reinitiation occur alternately. A double cellular structure consisting of substructures and a large-scale structure is found for a two-dimensional detonation propagating in inhomogeneous mixtures with a periodic reactant concentration gradient. The detonation reinitiation process and the formation of the double cellular structure are interpreted. To quantify the properties of detonation propagation in different inhomogeneous mixtures, the large cell size, critical amplitude, transition distance and detonation speed deficit are compared for hydrogen/air without and with nitrogen dilution and for periodic sine wave and square wave distributions of the reactant concentration. The large-scale cell size is found to be linearly proportional to the wavelength, and both the critical amplitude and the transition distance decrease with the wavelength. The small detonation speed deficit is shown to be due to the incomplete combustion of the reactant. This work provides helpful understanding of the features of detonation propagation in inhomogeneous mixtures.

The identification of herbicide tolerance is essential for effective chemical weed control. According to whole-plant dose–response assays, none of 29 pond lovegrass [Eragrostis japonica (Thunb.) Trin.] populations were sensitive to penoxsulam. The effective dose values of penoxsulam causing 50% inhibition of fresh weight (GR50: 105.14 to 148.78 g ai ha−1) in E. japonica populations were much higher than the label rate of penoxsulam (15 to 30 g ai ha−1) in the field. This confirmed that E. japonica was tolerant to penoxsulam. Eragrostis japonica populations showed 52.83- to 74.76-fold higher tolerance to penoxsulam than susceptible barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.]. The mechanisms of tolerance to penoxsulam in E. japonica were also identified. In vitro activity assays revealed that the penoxsulam concentration required to inhibit 50% of the acetolactate synthase (ALS) activity (IC50) was 12.27-fold higher in E. japonica than in E. crus-galli. However, differences in the ALS gene, previously found to endow target-site resistance in weeds, were not detected in the sequences obtained. Additionally, the expression level of genes encoding ALS in E. japonica was approximately 2-fold higher than in E. crus-galli after penoxsulam treatment. Furthermore, penoxsulam tolerance can be significantly reversed by three cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (CytP450) inhibitors (1-aminobenzotriazole, piperonyl butoxide, and malathion), and the activity of NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 reductase toward penoxsulam in E. japonica increased significantly (approximately 7-fold higher) compared with that of treated E. crus-galli. Taken together, these results indicate that lower ALS sensitivity, relatively higher ALS expression levels, and stronger metabolism of CytP450s combined to bring about penoxsulam tolerance in E. japonica.

The Scaly-sided Merganser Mergus squamatus is a globally ‘Endangered’ species breeding in north-east Asia. Limited by information on the geographic distribution of suitable habitat, the conservation management programme has not been comprehensive or spatially explicit for the breeding population. This study combines potentially important environmental variables with extensive data on species occurrence to create the first species distribution model for the breeding Scaly-sided Merganser, followed by a GAP analysis to highlight the unprotected areas containing suitable habitat. The predictive map showing the most suitable breeding habitat for the Scaly-sided Merganser covered broad-leaved deciduous forest distributed in six provincial regions in south-east Russia, north-east China, and North Korea. The conservation GAP, i.e. 90% (38,813 km2) of highly suitable habitat, is mainly concentrated in the Sikhote-Alin and Changbai mountain ranges. This study suggests that prioritizing conservation of unprotected broad-leaved deciduous riverine forests within the above two mountainous regions should be included in international conservation planning, and the remaining suitable patches need to be preserved to allow range expansion in future. This predictive map improves the expert global assessment of breeding Scaly-sided Merganser distribution and provides a basic reference for establishing conservation areas or implementing conservation actions for the breeding Scaly-sided Merganser in north-east Asia.

In the present study, we analysed the effects of SNP rs174547 (T/C) in the fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1) gene on long-chain PUFA levels. Four databases were searched to retrieve related literature with keywords such as fatty acid (FA), SNP, FADS1 and rs174547. A meta-analysis of the data was performed using Stata12.0 software, including summary statistics, test for heterogeneity, evaluation of publication bias, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis. The associations between rs174547 in FADS1 and seven types of FA, and Δ-5 (D5D) and Δ-6 fatty acid desaturase (D6D) activity were assessed based on the pooled results from eleven papers. A total of 3713 individuals (1529 TT and 2184 TC + CC) were included. The results demonstrated that minor C allele carriers of rs174547 had higher linoleic acid (LA; P < 0·001) and α-linolenic acid (P = 0·020) levels, lower γ-linolenic acid (GLA; P = 0·001) and arachidonic acid (P = 0·024) levels, and lower D5D (P = 0·005) and D6D (P = 0·004) activities than the TT genotype group. Stratification analysis showed that minor C allele carriers of rs174547 had higher LA and lower GLA levels and lower D6D activities in plasma (LA, P < 0·001; GLA, P < 0·001; D6D activity, P < 0·001) samples and in Asian populations (LA, P < 0·001; GLA, P = 0·001; D6D activity, P = 0·001) than the TT genotype group. In conclusion, minor C allele carriers of the SNP rs174547 were associated with decreased activity of D5D and D6D.

In the present work, the ankle rehabilitation robot (ARR) dynamic model that implements a new series of connection control strategies is introduced. The dynamic models are presented in this regard. This model analyzes the robot LuGre friction model and the nonlinear disturbance model. To improve the ARR system’s rapidity and robustness, a composite 2-degree of freedom (2-DOF) internal model control (IMC) controller is presented. The control performance of the compound 2-DOF IMC controller is simulated and analyzed in the present work. The simulation shows that the composite 2-DOF IMC controller has high following performance. For practical testing purposes, 1-DOF passive training and predetermined trajectory following have been completed for different swing amplitudes and frequencies. Moreover, the thrust and tension torque of the robotic dynamic and static loading characteristics are studied in active control mode. The experimental results show the effectiveness of passive training of the given trajectory and impedance training active control strategy. This paper gives the specific functions of ARR.

Trichosporon is a yeast-like basidiomycete, a conditional pathogenic fungus that is rare in the clinic but often causes fatal infections in immunocompromised individuals. Trichosporon asahii is the most common pathogenic fungus in this genus and the occurrence of infections has dramatically increased in recent years. Here, we report a systematic literature review detailing 140 cases of T. asahii infection reported during the past 23 years. Statistical analysis shows that T. asahii infections were most frequently reported within immunodeficient or immunocompromised patients commonly with blood diseases. Antibiotic use, invasive medical equipment and chemotherapy were the leading risk factors for acquiring infection. In vitro susceptibility, clinical information and prognosis analysis showed that voriconazole is the primary drug of choice in the treatment of T. asahii infection. Combination treatment with voriconazole and amphotericin B did not show superiority over either drug alone. Finally, we found that the types of infections prevalent in China are significantly different from those in other countries. These results provide detailed information and relevant clinical treatment strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of T. asahii infection.

This paper proposes a set of novel indices for evaluating the kinematic performance of a 3-RRS (R and S denote revolute and spherical joint respectively, R denotes active joint.), parallel mechanism whose translational and rotational movements are strongly coupled. First, the indices are formulated using the decoupled overall Jacobian matrix, which is developed using coordinate transformation. Then, the influences of the homogeneous dimensionless parameters on these indices are investigated. In addition, the dimension synthesis of the 3-RRS parallel mechanism is carried out by minimizing the mean value of the kinematic performance indices and their standard deviation. The results demonstrate that the established approach facilitates good global kinematic performance of the parallel mechanism.

The synergetic effects of surface smoothing exhibited during the inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) of free-standing polycrystalline diamonds (PCDs) were investigated. Changing the assistive gas types generated variable surface oxidation states and chemical environments that resulted in different etching rates and surface morphologies. The main reaction bond mechanism (C–O) during ICP-RIE and the ratio of C–O–C/O–C=O associated with the existence of a uniform smooth surface with root mean square (RMS) roughness of 2.36 nm were observed. An optimal process for PCD smoothing at high etching rate (4.6 μm/min) was achieved as follows: 10% gas additions of CHF3 in O2 plasma at radio frequency power of 400 W. The further etched ultra-smooth surface with RMS roughness <0.5 nm at etching rate of 0.23 μm/min that being produced by transferring this optimum recipe on single crystal diamonds with surface patterns confirmed the effectiveness of the fast smoothing approach and its feasibility for diamond surface patterning.

The effects of straw alone or combined with industrial and agricultural wastes as fertilizers on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are still poorly known in cropland areas. Here, we studied the effects of 3.5 Mg ha−1 straw and 3.5 Mg ha−1 straw combined with 8 Mg ha−1 of diverse wastes on GHG emission in a subtropical Jasminum sambac plantation in southeastern China. There were five treatments in a completely randomized block design: control, straw only, straw + biochar, straw + steel slag, and straw + gypsum slag. Emissions of carbon dioxide were generally higher in the treatments with waste than in the control or straw-only treatments, whereas the contrary pattern was observed in CH4 and N2O emission rates. Moreover, the total global warming potentials (GWPs) were no significantly higher in most of the amended treatments as compared to the control and straw-only treatments. In relation to the treatment with only straw, GWPs were 9.4% lower when steel slag was used. This finding could be a consequence of Fe amount added by steel slag, which would limit and inhibit the emissions of GHGs and their transport from soil to atmosphere. Our results showed that the application of slags did not increase the emission of GHGs and that the combination of straw with steel slag or biochar could be more effective than straw alone for controlling GHGs emission and improve soil C and nutrient provision.

A three-section pulse forming network (PFN) based on Guillemin type-C circuit was developed to meet the challenge of a compact design, high withstand voltage, and high-quality output waveform with fast rise time, flat-top duration, and 100-ns pulse width. A simplified pulse forming circuit was proposed and studied that includes only three LC-sections connected in parallel, with each section containing an inductor and a capacitor connected in series. The effect of the capacitance deviation on the output waveform was investigated. The simulation results show that when the capacitance deviation exceeds +3%, both the flat top and fall time of the output waveform of single PFN module deteriorate greatly. Fortunately, in a multi-stage PFN-Marx circuit, even if the capacitance deviation exceeds +10%, when the average capacitance of the same LC sections is close to the theoretical value, the output waveform maintains a good quality and is in good agreement with the theoretical prediction. The compact three-section PFN developed during this project has a size of only 360 mm × 342 mm × 65 mm, and a maximum withstand voltage of 120 kV. Sixteen PFN stages were assembled to form a Marx generator with design parameters to provide of an output peak power of 12 GW and a maximum peak current of 15 kA. The tested output waveform agrees well with the theoretical results, having a rise time of 31 ns, a flat-top of 104 ns, and a pulse with of 164 ns.

This paper introduces recent activities on Marx-based compact repetitive pulsed power generators at the Institute of Applied Electronics (IAE), China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), over the period 2010–2018. A characteristic feature of the generators described is the use of a simplified bipolar charged Marx circuit, in which the normal isolation resistors or inductors to ground are removed to make the circuit simpler. Several pulse-forming modules developed to generate a 100 ns square wave output are introduced, including thin-film dielectric lines of different structures, a pulse-forming line based on a Printed Circuit Board, and non-uniform pulse-forming networks. A compact repetitive three-electrode spark gap switch with low-jitter, high-voltage, and high-current was developed and is used in the generators. A positive and negative series resonant constant current power supply with high precision and high power is introduced. As an important part of the repetitive pulse power generator, a lower jitter pulse trigger source is introduced. Several typical high-power repetitive pulsed power generators developed at IAE are introduced including a 30 GW low-impedance Marx generator, a compact square-wave pulse generator based on Kapton-film dielectric Blumlein line, a 20 GW high pulse-energy repetitive PFN-Marx generator, and a coaxial Marx generator based on ceramic capacitors. The research of key technologies and their development status are discussed, which can provide a reference for the future development and application of miniaturization of compact and repetitive Marx generators.

Conotruncal heart defects are considered to be one of the most common types of birth defect worldwide. Genetic disturbances in folate metabolism such as Thymidylate synthase may increase risk for conotruncal heart defects. We evaluated two common Thymidylate synthase polymorphisms, including the 28 bp tandem repeat in the promoter enhancer region of the 5′-untranslated region and the 6 bp deletion in the 3′-untranslated region, as risk factors of conotruncal heart defects including various subtypes of malformations, in a total of 193 mothers with conotruncal heart defect in offspring and 234 healthy controls in the Chinese population. Logistic regression analyses revealed that mothers who were homozygotes with deletion (−/−) had a 1.8-fold (odds ratio: 1.8; 95% confidence interval: 1.0–3.0, p = 0.040) increased risk for conotruncal heart defect in offspring, respectively, when compared with mothers carrying the wild type (+/+) genotype. Consistently, individuals carrying the genotype −/− of the Thymidylate synthase 6 bp deletion also had higher plasma homocysteine levels compared to the mothers carrying the genotype +/+ in the control and conotruncal heart defect groups (p = 0.006 and p = 0.004, respectively). However, our results showed that Thymidylate synthase 28 bp tandem repeat polymorphism was not associated with risk for conotruncal heart defect and plasma homocysteine level. In conclusion, our data suggest that the maternal Thymidylate synthase 6 bp deletion polymorphism might be associated with plasma homocysteine level and risk for conotruncal heart defect in offspring.

This paper introduces a novel 2R1T parallel manipulator redundantly actuated by pneumatic muscles for lower-limb rehabilitation. First, the conceptual design of the proposed 3-DOF parallel mechanism is presented. Then, the inverse kinematics and the generalized Jacobian analysis are carried out. Based on the generalized Jacobian and the constraint characteristics of the mechanism, the force/motion transmissibility of the redundantly actuated parallel mechanism is investigated via four individual cases without actuation redundancy, leading to a suitable local transmission index for the evaluation of kinematic performance of the proposed mechanism. Finally, the design variables are optimized by maximizing the mean value of the local transmission index with the aid of genetic algorithm. The numerical result shows that the proposed parallel mechanism can achieve a good kinematic performance in its task workspace.

With the development of remote sensing and geostatistical technology, complex environmental variables are increasingly easily quantified and applied in modelling soil organic carbon (SOC). However, this emphasizes data redundancy and multicollinearity problems adding to the difficulty in selecting dominant influential auxiliary variables and uncertainty in estimating SOC stocks. The current paper considers the spatial characteristics of SOC density (SOCD) to construct prediction models of SOCD on the basis of reducing the data dimensionality and complexity using the principal component analysis (PCA) method. A total of 260 topsoil samples were collected from Chahe town, China. Eight environmental variables (elevation, aspect, slope, normalized difference vegetation index, normalized difference moisture index, nearest distance to construction area and road, and land use degree comprehensive index) were pre-analysed by PCA and then extracted as the main principal component variables to construct prediction models. Two geostatistical approaches (ordinary kriging and ordinary co-kriging) and two regression approaches (ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression (GWR)) were used to estimate SOCD. Results showed that PCA played an important role in reducing the redundancy and multicollinearity of the auxiliary variables and GWR achieved the highest prediction accuracy in these four models. GWR considered not only the spatial characteristics of SOCD but also the related valuable information of the auxiliary attributes. In summary, PCA-GWR is a promising spatial method used here to predict SOC stocks.