This study investigates the spatial distribution of inertial particles in turbulent Taylor–Couette flow. Direct numerical simulations are performed using a one-way coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, with a fixed inner-wall Reynolds number of 2500 for the carrier flow, while the particle Stokes number ($St$) varies from 0.034 to 1 for the dispersed phase. We first examine the issue of preferential concentration of particles near the outer-wall region. Employing two-dimensional Voronoï analysis, we observe a pronounced particle clustering with increasing $St$, particularly evident in regions of low fluid velocity. Additionally, we investigate the concentration balance equation, inspired by the work of Johnson et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 883, 2020, A27), to examine the particle radial distribution. We discern the predominant sources of influence, namely biased sampling, turbophoresis and centrifugal effects. Across all cases, centrifugal force emerges as the primary driver, causing particle migration toward the outer wall. Biased sampling predominantly affects smaller inertial particles, driving them toward the inner wall due to sampling within Taylor rolls with inward radial velocity. Conversely, turbophoresis primarily impacts larger inertial particles, inducing migration towards both walls where turbulent intensity is weaker compared with the bulk. With the revealed physics, our work provides a basis for predicting and controlling particle movement and distribution in industrial applications.

Asymptotic expansions of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and weighted likelihood estimator (WLE) of an examinee’s ability are derived while item parameter estimators are treated as covariates measured with error. The asymptotic formulae present the amount of bias of the ability estimators due to the uncertainty of item parameter estimators. A numerical example is presented to illustrate how to apply the formulae to evaluate the impact of uncertainty about item parameters on ability estimation and the appropriateness of estimating ability using the regular MLE or WLE method.

This study is dedicated to achieving efficient active noise control in a supersonic underexpanded planar jet, utilizing control parameters informed by resolvent analysis. The baseline supersonic underexpanded jet exhibits complex wave structures and substantial high-amplitude noise radiations. To perform the active control, unsteady blowing and suction are applied along the nozzle inner wall close to the exit. Employing both standard and acoustic resolvent analyses, a suitable frequency and spanwise wavenumber range for the blowing and suction is identified. Within this range, the control forcing can be significantly amplified in the near field, effectively altering the original sound-producing energetic structure while minimizing far-field amplification to prevent excessive noise. A series of large-eddy simulations are further conducted to validate the control efficiency, demonstrating an over 10 dB reduction in upstream-propagated screech noise. It is identified that the present unsteady control proves more effective than steady control at the same momentum coefficient. The controlled jet flow indicates that the shock structures become more stable, and the stronger the streamwise amplification of the forcing, the more likely it is to modify the mean flow characteristics, which is beneficial for reducing far-field noise radiation. Spectral proper orthogonal decomposition analysis of the controlled flow confirms that the control redistributes energy to higher forcing frequencies and suppresses large-scale antisymmetric and symmetric modes related to screech and its harmonics. The findings of this study highlight the potential of resolvent-guided control techniques in reducing noise in supersonic underexpanded jets and provide a detailed understanding of the inherent mechanisms for effective noise reduction through active control strategies.

The seminal Bolgiano–Obukhov (BO) theory established the fundamental framework for turbulent mixing and energy transfer in stably stratified fluids. However, the presence of BO scalings remains debatable despite their being observed in stably stratified atmospheric layers and convective turbulence. In this study, we performed precise temperature measurements with 51 high-resolution loggers above the seafloor for 46 h on the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea. The temperature observation exhibits three layers with increasing distance from the seafloor: the bottom mixed layer (BML), the mixing zone and the internal wave zone. A BO-like scaling $\alpha =-1.34\pm 0.10$ is observed in the temperature spectrum when the BML is in a weakly stable stratified ($N\sim 0.0018$ rad s$^{-1}$) and strongly sheared ($Ri\sim 0.0027$) condition, whereas in the unstably stratified convective turbulence of the BML, the scaling $\alpha =-1.76\pm 0.10$ clearly deviated from the BO theory but approached the classical $-$5/3 scaling in isotropic turbulence. This suggests that the convective turbulence is not the promise of BO scaling. In the mixing zone, where internal waves alternately interact with the BML, the scaling follows the Kolmogorov scaling. In the internal wave zone, the scaling $\alpha =-2.12 \pm 0.15$ is observed in the turbulence range and possible mechanisms are provided.

Developing a model to describe the shock-accelerated cylindrical fluid layer with arbitrary Atwood numbers is essential for uncovering the effect of Atwood numbers on the perturbation growth. The recent model (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 969, 2023, p. A6) reveals several contributions to the instability evolution of a shock-accelerated cylindrical fluid layer but its applicability is limited to cases with an absolute value of Atwood numbers close to $1$, due to the employment of the thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect of the fluid layer in vacuum. By employing the linear stability analysis on a cylindrical fluid layer in which two interfaces separate three arbitrary-density fluids, the present work generalizes the thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect, and thus, extends the recent model to cases with arbitrary Atwood numbers. The accuracy of this extended model in describing the instability evolution of the shock-accelerated fluid layer before reshock is confirmed via direct numerical simulations. In the verification simulations, three fluid-layer configurations are considered, where the outer and intermediate fluids remain fixed and the density of the inner fluid is reduced. Moreover, the mechanisms underlying the effect of the Atwood number at the inner interface on the perturbation growth are mainly elucidated by employing the model to analyse each contribution. As the Atwood number decreases, the dominant contribution of the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability is enhanced due to the stronger waves reverberated inside the layer, leading to weakened perturbation growth at initial in-phase interfaces and enhanced perturbation growth at initial anti-phase interfaces.

Until now the research has mainly examined visible abusive supervision, like aggression and violence, but it’s unclear how subtle forms, such as gaslighting, impact victims. Gaslighting, an emotionally and psychologically manipulative form of abuse, is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in contemporary times. Based on the conservation of resources theory, we examined how supervisory gaslighting affects job embeddedness directly and indirectly through work motivation. We also explored how coworker support moderates the gaslighting-work motivation link. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the two-wave time-lagged data from 337 Chinese hotel employees. The results show the negative direct and indirect effects of gaslighting, and coworker support moderates the negative link between gaslighting and work motivation. Hotel organizations should exercise caution when hiring supervisors to prevent gaslighting, which can undermine employee motivation and job embeddedness. This study also recommends raising awareness among employees to speak out against supervisors’ gaslighting behavior.

The tension distribution problem of cable-driven parallel robots is inevitable in real-time control. Currently, iterative algorithms or geometric algorithms are commonly used to solve this problem. Iterative algorithms are difficult to improve in real-time performance, and the tension obtained by geometric algorithms may not be continuous. In this paper, a novel tension distribution method for four-cable, 3-DOF cable-driven parallel robots is proposed based on the wave equation. The tension calculated by this method is continuous and differentiable, without the need for iterative computation or geometric centroid calculations, thus exhibiting good real-time performance. Furthermore, the feasibility and rationality of this algorithm are theoretically proven. Finally, the real-time performance and continuity of cable tension are analyzed through a specific numerical example.

A partition calculation method (PCM) for calculating the diffraction efficiency of multilayer Fresnel zone plate with high aspect ratio is proposed. In contrast to the traditional theory, PCM designs and evaluates Fresnel zone plate (FZP) considering material pairs, all zone widths, thicknesses and X-ray energy more completely. The results obtained through PCM are validated by comparing them with the complex amplitude superposition theory and coupled wave theory numerical results. The PCM satisfies the requirements of the theoretical investigation of FZP with small outermost zone width (drN) and large thickness (t). Combining proper numerical analysis with the experimental conditions will present a great potential to break through the imaging performance of X-ray microscopy.

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.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) possess fast-moving abilities and have been used in various tasks in the past decades. However, their performances are still restricted by insufficient endurance and confined environments. Intuitively, combining other locomotion modes with UAVs, such as diving and driving, would be an appropriate idea to improve the robot’s adaptability and solve the endurance problem. Recently, the terrestrial/aerial hybrid robots have drawn the researchers’ eyes for their outstanding performances, which can deploy flight mode to traverse insurmountable terrains and ground mode to increase endurance and realize detailed searches. Therefore, this paper developed the autonomous quadrotor tilting hybrid robot (AQT-HR) to achieve terrestrial/aerial dual-modal mobility and verified that the robot delivers high energy efficiency. The AQT-HR can achieve flying and driving through a quadrotor tilting mechanism, which can alter one single driving force into different directions. Furthermore, the dynamic models of the hybrid robot’s aerial and ground locomotion are derived and introduced into the model-feedforward PID control algorithm for improving the robot’s flying stability. Finally, we conducted some mobility tests and experiments about traversing obstacles to demonstrate that the proposed hybrid robot can realize autonomous mode switching and perform a low energy consumption in ground movement mode.

An online pattern recognition method of lower limb movements is proposed based on the personalized surface electromyography (sEMG) signals, and the corresponding experimental researches are performed in the rehabilitation training. Further, a wireless wearable acquisition instrument is used. Based on this instrument, a host computer for the personal online recognition and real-time control of rehabilitation training is developed. Three time-domain features and two features in the nonlinear dynamics are selected as the joint set of the characteristic values for the sEMG signals. Then a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to optimize the feature channels, and a k-nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm and the extreme learning machine (ELM) algorithm are combined to classify and recognize individual sample data. Based on the multi-pose lower limb rehabilitation robot, the real-time motion recognition and the corresponding rehabilitation training are carried out by using the online personalized classifier. The experimental results of eight subjects indicate that it takes only 6 min to build an online personalized classifier for the four types of the lower limb movements. The recognition between switches of different rehabilitation training movements is timely and accurate, with an average recognition accuracy of more than 95%. These results demonstrate that this system has a strong practicability.

Although studies pay increasing attention to how organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) affects work–family conflict, most research ignores the boundary conditions and underlying mechanisms of this relationship. Drawing on goal interdependence theory and conservation of resources theory, this research sees two types of goal interdependence as important boundary conditions of how helping behavior affects work–family conflict. We use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to test our theoretical model. Specifically, using two-wave survey data collected from 386 employees and 90 supervisors in a manufacturing company, our quantitative study shows that the interaction of helping behavior with cooperative goal interdependence is positively associated with work–goal progress, whereas its interaction with competitive goal interdependence is negatively associated with work–goal progress. In turn, work–goal progress is negatively associated with work–family conflict. The results further reveal that the indirect effect of helping behavior on work–family conflict via work–goal progress is positive and significant only when the level of competitive (cooperative) goal interdependence is high (low). We use 196 employees from the same organization to conduct our qualitative study, the results of which further substantiate and extend the findings from our quantitative study. Finally, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Instability evolutions of shock-accelerated thin cylindrical SF$_6$ layers surrounded by air with initial perturbations imposed only at the outer interface (i.e. the ‘Outer’ case) or at the inner interface (i.e. the ‘Inner’ case) are numerically and theoretically investigated. It is found that the instability evolution of a thin cylindrical heavy fluid layer not only involves the effects of Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, Rayleigh–Taylor stability/instability and compressibility coupled with the Bell–Plesset effect, which determine the instability evolution of the single cylindrical interface, but also strongly depends on the waves reverberated inside the layer, thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect. Specifically, the rarefaction wave inside the thin fluid layer accelerates the outer interface inward and induces the decompression effect for both the Outer and Inner cases, and the compression wave inside the fluid layer accelerates the inner interface inward and causes the decompression effect for the Outer case and compression effect for the Inner case. It is noted that the compressible Bell model excluding the compression/decompression effect of waves, thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect deviates significantly from the perturbation growth. To this end, an improved compressible Bell model is proposed, including three new terms to quantify the compression/decompression effect of waves, thin-shell correction and interface coupling effect, respectively. This improved model is verified by numerical results and successfully characterizes various effects that contribute to the perturbation growth of a shock-accelerated thin heavy fluid layer.

In this paper, flexible substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) resonators have been designed and fabricated on polyimide substrates for humidity sensing applications. The proposed SIW resonant cavity allows the resonator to obtain the maximum humidity sensitivity and meet the demand for flexible microwave sensing detection. Meanwhile, the humidity response performance can be further significantly enhanced by introducing nanodiamond (ND) sensing material. Three prototypes of ND-coated SIW sensors with different bending radii are measured to analyze their humidity sensing performance. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed ND-coated SIW sensor with the minimum bending radius can achieve a maximum humidity sensitivity of 1.09 MHz/% relative humidity (RH) in the high RH region (>75.3% RH) and a low humidity hysteresis of 1.8% in the range of 11.3–97.3% RH. This study provides a promising candidate to realize flexible microwave sensors with excellent sensing performance.

The resurgence and outbreaks of mumps occur frequently in many countries worldwide in recent years, even in countries with high vaccination coverage. In this study, a descriptive and spatiotemporal clustering analysis at the township level was conducted to explore the dynamic spatiotemporal aggregation and epidemiological characteristics of mumps in Wuhan. During 2005 and 2019, there were 40 685 cases reported in Wuhan, with an average annual morbidity of 28.11 per 100 000 populations. The morbidity showed a fluctuating tendency, and peaked in 2010 and 2018. Bimodal seasonality was found, with a large peak between May and July, and a mild peak from November to January in the following year. Male students aged 5–9-year-old were the main risk group of mumps infection. Significant global spatial auto-correlation was detected except in 2007, 2009 and 2015. The spatial and temporal scan statistics indicated that the hot-spots mainly located at the western and southern areas of Wuhan with variations almost every year. Our findings could assist the public health authorities to develop and improve targeted health strategies, and allocate health resources rationally.

We present an experimental study of Rayleigh–Bénard convection using liquid metal alloy gallium-indium-tin as the working fluid with a Prandtl number of $Pr=0.029$. The flow state and the heat transport were measured in a Rayleigh number range of $1.2\times 10^{4} \le Ra \le 1.3\times 10^{7}$. The temperature fluctuation at the cell centre is used as a proxy for the flow state. It is found that, as $Ra$ increases from the lower end of the parameter range, the flow evolves from a convection state to an oscillation state, a chaotic state and finally a turbulent state for $Ra>10^5$. The study suggests that the large-scale circulation in the turbulent state is a residual of the cell structure near the onset of convection, which is in contrast with the case of $Pr\sim 1$, where the cell structure is transiently replaced by high order flow modes before the emergence of the large-scale circulation in the turbulent state. The evolution of the flow state is also reflected by the heat transport characterised by the Nusselt number $Nu$ and the probability density function (p.d.f.) of the temperature fluctuation at the cell centre. It is found that the effective local heat transport scaling exponent $\gamma$, i.e. $Nu\sim Ra^{\gamma }$, changes continuously from $\gamma =0.49$ at $Ra\sim 10^4$ to $\gamma =0.25$ for $Ra>10^6$. Meanwhile, the p.d.f. at the cell centre gradually evolves from a Gaussian-like shape before the transition to turbulence to an exponential-like shape in the turbulent state. For $Ra>10^6$, the flow shows self-similar behaviour, which is revealed by the universal shape of the p.d.f. of the temperature fluctuation at the cell centre and a $Nu=0.19Ra^{0.25}$ scaling for the heat transport.