With the widespread use of high-fat diets (HFDs) in aquaculture, the adverse effects of HFDs on farmed fish are becoming increasingly apparent. Creatine has shown potential as a green feed additive in farmed fish; however, the potential of dietary creatine to attenuate adverse effects caused by high fat diets remains poorly understood. To address such gaps, the present study was conducted to investigate the mitigating effect of dietary creatine on HFD-induced disturbance on growth performance, hepatic lipid metabolism, intestinal health, as well as muscle quality of juvenile largemouth bass. Three diets were formulated: a control diet (10.20% lipid), a high fat diet (HFD, 18.31% lipid), and HFD with 2% creatine (HFD + creatine). Juvenile largemouth bass (3.73±0.01g) were randomly assigned to three diets for 10 weeks. The key findings were: (1) The expression of muscle growth-related genes and proteins was stimulated by dietary creatine, which contribute to ameliorate the adverse effects of HFD on growth performance; (2) Dietary creatine alleviates HFD-induced adverse effects on intestinal health by improving intestinal health, which also enhances feed utilization efficiency; (3) Dietary creatine causes excessive lipid deposition, mainly via lipolysis and β-oxidation. Notably, the present study also reveal a previously undisclosed effect of creatine supplementation on improving muscle quality. Together, first time from a comprehensive multi-organ or tissue perspective, our study provides a feasible approach for developing appropriate nutritional strategies to alleviate the adverse effects of HFD on farmed fish, based on creatine supplementation.

We investigate the dynamics of close-contact melting (CCM) on ‘gas-trapped’ hydrophobic surfaces, with specific focus on the effects of geometrical confinement and the liquid–air meniscus below the liquid film. By employing dual-series and perturbation methods under the assumption of small meniscus deflections, we obtain numerical solutions for the effective slip lengths associated with velocity $\lambda$ and temperature $\lambda _t$ fields, across various values of aspect ratio $\Lambda$ (defined as the ratio of the film thickness $h$ to the structure’s periodic length $l$) and gas–liquid fraction $\phi$. Asymptotic solutions of $\lambda$ and $\lambda _t$ for $\Lambda \ll 1$ and $\Lambda \gg 1$ are derived and summarised for different surface structures, interface shapes and $\Lambda$, which reveal a different trend of $\lambda$ for $\Lambda \ll 1$ and depending on the presence of a meniscus. In the context of constant-pressure CCM, our results indicate that longitudinal grooves can enhance heat transfer under the effects of confinement and a meniscus when $\Lambda \lesssim 0.1$ and $\phi \lt 1 - 0.5^{2/3} \approx 0.37$. For gravity-driven CCM, the parameters of $l$ and $\phi$ determine whether the melting rate is enhanced, reduced or nearly unaffected. We construct a phase diagram based on the parameter matrix $(\log _{10} l, \phi )$ to delineate these three regimes. Lastly, we derive two asymptotic solutions for predicting the variation in time of the unmelted solid height.

Mapping reviews (MRs) are crucial for identifying research gaps and enhancing evidence utilization. Despite their increasing use in health and social sciences, inconsistencies persist in both their conceptualization and reporting. This study aims to clarify the conceptual framework and gather reporting items from existing guidance and methodological studies. A comprehensive search was conducted across nine databases and 11 institutional websites, including documents up to January 2024. A total of 68 documents were included, addressing 24 MR terms and 55 definitions, with 39 documents discussing distinctions and overlaps among these terms. From the documents included, 28 reporting items were identified, covering all the steps of the process. Seven documents mentioned reporting on the title, four on the abstract, and 14 on the background. Ten methods-related items appeared in 56 documents, with the median number of documents supporting each item being 34 (interquartile range [IQR]: 27, 39). Four results-related items were mentioned in 18 documents (median: 14.5, IQR: 11.5, 16), and four discussion-related items appeared in 25 documents (median: 5.5, IQR: 3, 13). There was very little guidance about reporting conclusions, acknowledgments, author contributions, declarations of interest, and funding sources. This study proposes a draft 28-item reporting checklist for MRs and has identified terminologies and concepts used to describe MRs. These findings will first be used to inform a Delphi consensus process to develop reporting guidelines for MRs. Additionally, the checklist and definitions could be used to guide researchers in reporting high-quality MRs.

While environmental concerns are increasingly driving firms’ strategic decisions, insights into why firms make heterogeneous environmental investments are limited. Taking an institutional view, we explore the effect of institutional complexity resulting from multiple but incongruent institutional logics within an organization on firms’ environmental investments. Using China's mixed-ownership reform as a research context, we identify a unique condition in which institutional complexity arises as the privatization process results in two coexisting but incongruent institutional logics – namely, state and financial logic. We further propose that privatization plays both enabling and constraining roles in state-owned enterprises’ (SOEs’) strategic decisions about environmental investments, depending on the relative dominance of each institutional logic, resulting in an inverted U-shaped relationship between privatization and environmental investments. Moreover, we examine the moderating effects of CEO background characteristics and firms’ external environmental context to uncover how these factors influence the relative dominance of state or financial logic in privatized SOEs, thereby reshaping SOEs’ environmental investments. Analyses of multisource panel data from Chinese listed SOEs from 2013 to 2020 support our theoretical propositions. The findings contribute to the literature on how institutional factors affect firm environmental practices and provide new insights to better understand the influence of institutional complexity on firm strategic actions.

A high-energy pulsed vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) solid-state laser at 177 nm with high peak power by the sixth harmonic of a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) amplifier in a KBe2BO3F2 prism-coupled device was demonstrated. The ultraviolet (UV) pump laser is a 352 ps pulsed, spatial top-hat super-Gaussian beam at 355 nm. A high energy of a 7.12 mJ VUV laser at 177 nm is obtained with a pulse width of 255 ps, indicating a peak power of 28 MW, and the conversion efficiency is 9.42% from 355 to 177 nm. The measured results fitted well with the theoretical prediction. It is the highest pulse energy and highest peak power ever reported in the VUV range for any solid-state lasers. The high-energy, high-peak-power, and high-spatial-uniformity VUV laser is of great interest for ultra-fine machining and particle-size measurements using UV in-line Fraunhofer holography diagnostics.

Supersonic internal flows often exhibit multiple reflected shocks within a limited distance. These shocks can interact with each other in a complex manner due to the characteristics of the shock wave–turbulent boundary layer interaction (STBLI), including flow distortion and the relaxing boundary layer. This study aims to characterise this type of interaction and to clarify its fluid physics. A separated STBLI zone was established either upstream or downstream, and another weaker STBLI was established in the opposing position to serve as a perturbation. Time-resolved measurements were employed to characterise the mean separation and unsteadiness as the two regions approached each other, as well as their relationship. The experimental results indicated that the STBLI could affect the separation and reattachment of the other STBLI through either the decelerated or relaxing boundary layer. Despite a small deflection angle, the incident shock can amplify the low-frequency oscillations in the downstream STBLI region. Additionally, the interaction in the downstream region can be influenced by both low- and high-frequency oscillations associated with the upstream STBLI through a relaxing boundary layer. Despite the limited correlation observed between the low-frequency fluctuations in the downstream region and the boundary layer flow not far upstream, there still exists some degree of correlation between the low-frequency shock motions even when they are widely separated. Both the ‘upstream mechanism’ and ‘downstream mechanism’ have been observed, and the significance of low-frequency dynamics in the separated flow, relative to that of the upstream flow, is closely associated with interaction intensity.

The femtosecond laser filament-induced air laser plays a significant role for the remote sensing of air pollutants. The spatial distributions of air laser intensity were investigated experimentally in previous studies. However, the mechanism of the air laser propagation properties inside the filament plasma has not been quite clear yet. Moreover, few studies have been dedicated to the reproduction of the air laser profile from nitrogen molecules propagating in the filament plasma based on the numerical simulation method. In this study, the lasing action of the air laser from the transition of the first negative (0,0) band of nitrogen ions at 391 nm was simulated during the femtosecond laser filamentation. The beam profile of the air laser changes from a Gaussian or super-Gaussian shape to an outer ring structure by increasing the filament length or nitrogen ion density, which is in accord with the previous experimental result. A multiple-diffraction effect has been proposed to clarify the mechanism of the outer rings beam pattern formation, which is induced by the dynamical interaction between the lasing effect and diffraction effect of the air laser propagating inside the filament plasma. In addition, the amplified air laser power as a function of both the filament length and nitrogen ion density was investigated. Our study would pave the way to improve the energy conversion efficiency and directivity of remote air lasers, which would be significant for remote sensing applications.

This study compared survival outcomes between intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving enteral nutrition (EN) and parenteral nutrition (PN) with vasopressor support, explored risk factors affecting clinical outcomes and established an evaluation model. Data from 1046 ICU patients receiving vasopressor therapy within 24 h from 2008 to 2019 were collected. Patients receiving nutritional therapy within 3 d of ICU admission were divided into EN or PN (including PN+EN) groups. Cox analysis and regression were used to determine relevant factors and establish a nomogram for predicting survival. The 28-d survival rate was significantly better in the EN group compared with the PN/PN+EN group. Risk factors included age, peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, red cell distribution width, international normalised ratio, potassium level, mean corpuscular Hg, myocardial infarction, liver disease, cancer status and nutritional status. The nomogram showed good predictive performance. In ICU patients receiving vasopressor drugs, patients receiving EN had a better survival rate than PN. Our nomogram had favourable predictive value for 28-d survival in patients. However, it needs further validation in prospective trials.

In large-scale galaxy surveys, particularly deep ground-based photometric studies, galaxy blending was inevitable. Such blending posed a potential primary systematic uncertainty for upcoming surveys. Current deblenders predominantly depended on analytical modelling of galaxy profiles, facing limitations due to inflexible and imprecise models. We presented a novel approach, using a U-net structured transformer-based network for deblending astronomical images, which we term the CAT-deblender. It was trained using both RGB and the grz-band images, spanning two distinct data formats present in the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) database, including galaxies with diverse morphologies in the training dataset. Our method necessitated only the approximate central coordinates of each target galaxy, sourced from galaxy detection, bypassing assumptions on neighbouring source counts. Post-deblending, our RGB images retained a high signal-to-noise peak, consistently showing superior structural similarity against ground truth. For multi-band images, the ellipticity of central galaxies and median reconstruction error for r-band consistently lie within $\pm$0.025 to $\pm$0.25, revealing minimal pixel residuals. In our comparison of deblending capabilities focused on flux recovery, our model showed a mere 1% error in magnitude recovery for quadruply blended galaxies, significantly outperforming SExtractor’s higher error rate of 4.8%. Furthermore, by cross-matching with the publicly accessible overlapping galaxy catalogs from the DECaLS database, we successfully deblended 433 overlapping galaxies. Moreover, we have demonstrated effective deblending of 63 733 blended galaxy images, randomly chosen from the DECaLS database.

A 198.8 m deep borehole was drilled through ice to subglacial bedrock in the northwestern marginal part of Princess Elizabeth Land, ~12 km south of Zhongshan Station, in January–February 2019. Three years later, in February 2022, the borehole temperature profile was measured, and the geothermal heat flow (GHF) was estimated using a 1-D time-dependent energy-balance equation. For a depth corresponding to the base of the ice sheet, the GHF was calculated as 72.6 ± 2.3 mW m−2 and temperature −4.53 ± 0.27°C. The regional averages estimated for this area based, generally, on tectonic setting vary from 55 to 66 mW m−2. A higher GHF is interpreted to originate mostly from the occurrence of metamorphic complexes intruded by heat-producing elements in the subglacial bedrock below the drill site.

This study aims at establishing a model for close-contact melting (CCM) of shear-thinning fluids. We presented a theoretical framework for predicting the variation of liquid melt film thickness and motion of unmelted solid for both Carreau and power-law fluids. We identified the appropriate energy equation considering the convective effect and derived an analytical temperature profile across the liquid film. Using the lubrication approximation, force equilibrium relationships and the corresponding numerical approaches were built. By using laser interferometry and photographic recording methods, we found excellent agreement between numerical solutions and experimental results for Carreau liquids, revealing that the convective effect weakens heat transfer and melting rate. We identified the critical liquid film thickness that determines three situations of CCM in the theoretical model for Carreau fluids. Numerical prediction demonstrated that the CCM of Carreau fluids can be almost equivalent to that of power-law fluids if the initial film thickness is greater than the critical value. Finally, approximate analytical models were developed for both Carreau and power-law models. For the applicability of the approximate analytical solutions, we derived two- and three-dimensional dimensionless phase diagrams of validity range and identified a key dimensionless group $(\varLambda Re)^{4/3}{Re}\left [3\ln (Ste+1)\right ]^{1/3}{Pe}^{-1/3}$, where $\varLambda$ is dimensionless characteristic time, Re is Reynolds number, Ste is Stefan number and Pe is Peclect number. The reliability of the approximate solutions was verified by comparing with the numerical results. These approximate solutions enable convenient and low-cost computational prediction of the dynamic CCM process of shear-thinning fluids.

Mammalian oocytes not fertilized immediately after ovulation can undergo ageing and a rapid decline in quality. The addition of antioxidants can be an efficient approach to delaying the oocyte ageing process. Onion peel extract (OPE) contains quercetin and other flavonoids with natural antioxidant activities. In this study, we investigated the effect of OPE on mouse oocyte ageing and its mechanism of action. The oocytes were aged in vitro in M16 medium for 16 h after adding OPE at different concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, and 500 μg/ml). The addition of 100 μg/ml OPE reduced the oocyte fragmentation rate, decreased the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, increased the glutathione (GSH) level, and improved the mitochondrial membrane potential compared with the control group. The addition of OPE also increased the expression of SOD1, CAT, and GPX3 genes, and the caspase-3 activity in OPE-treated aged oocytes was significantly lower than that in untreated aged oocytes and similar to that in fresh oocytes. These results indicated that OPE delayed mouse oocyte ageing by reducing oxidative stress and apoptosis and enhancing mitochondrial function.