This paper provides an overview of the current status of ultrafast and ultra-intense lasers with peak powers exceeding 100 TW and examines the research activities in high-energy-density physics within China. Currently, 10 high-intensity lasers with powers over 100 TW are operational, and about 10 additional lasers are being constructed at various institutes and universities. These facilities operate either independently or are combined with one another, thereby offering substantial support for both Chinese and international research and development efforts in high-energy-density physics.

Loess, a geologic record of dust, is an optimal archive for exploring paleoclimate and the paleo-dust path from source to sink. The dust path for the Songnen Plain, NE China, during the last glacial period has not been established. To address this, 63 surface sediment samples from the Northeast China Sandy Lands, i.e., Onqin Daga Sandy Land (OD), Horqin Sandy Land (HQ), Hulun Buir Sandy Land (HL), and Songnen Sandy Land (SN), and six samples from the last glacial loess in the Harbin area were collected for elemental geochemical analysis of the <10 μm fraction to quantitatively reconstruct the dust pathway using a frequentist model. The results show that these sandy lands have a distinct geochemical composition due to a control from markedly different provenances. The quantitative results indicate that the dust contribution of the southwestern SN to the Harbin loess is as high as 50.4–77.2%, followed by the OD and HQ (3.3–34.8%), the northwestern SN (0–36.8%), and the HL (0–8%). Notably, the dust contribution to the Harbin loess began to change considerably after ~46–41 ka BP, with a significant increase from 1.1% to 41.2% from the northwestern direction. Some ecological safety strategies are proposed to address dust pollution in the Harbin area.

Modern fluvial sediments provide important information about source-to-sink process and regional tectono-magmatic events in the source area, but many factors, e.g., chemical weathering, sedimentary cycles and source-rock types, can interfere with the establishment of the source-sink system. The Lalin River (LR) and the Jilin Songhua River (JSR) are two important tributaries of the Songhua River in the Songnen Plain in NE China. They have similar flow direction, topography and identical climate backgrounds, but have notably different parent-rock types in the headwater, which provides an opportunity to explore the influencing factors of river sediment composition. To this end, the point bar sediments in the two rivers were sampled for an analysis of geochemistry (including element and Sr-Nd isotopic ratios), heavy mineral and detrital zircon U-Pb dating. The results are indicative of the fact that the two rivers have the similar geochemical composition (e.g., elements and Sr isotopes) as well as chemical weathering (CIA = 51.41–57.60, CIW = 59.68–66.11, PIA = 51.95–60.23, WIP = 56.00–65.47, Rb/Sr = 0.38–0.42) and recycling (SiO2/Al2O3 = 5.79 and 5.03, ICV = 1.0 and 1.2, CIA/WIP = 0.81–1.03) characteristics, showing a major control of climate on the low-level weathering and recycling of the river sediments. However, there are significant differences in the detrital zircon U-Pb age (a significant Mesozoic age peak for the LR but an additional Precambrian peak for the JSR), Nd isotope ratio (−6.2812–8.5830 and −8.1149–10.2411 for the LR and the JSR, respectively) and to a certain extent heavy mineral composition (e.g., for the < 63 μm fraction, a dominance of hornblende and magnetite in the LR, but haematite-limonite in the JSR) in the two river sediments, indicating that source rocks largely control the composition of the river sediments. Some of the major tectono-magmatic events (e.g., crustal growth and cratonisation of the North China Craton, closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean, subduction and rollback of the Paleo-Pacific plate) occurring in the eastern Songnen Plain are well documented in the JSR sediments but not in the LR, the difference of which is largely regulated by the source rocks in the source area.

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.

Choline and betaine are important in the body, from cell membrane components to methyl donors. We aimed to investigate trends in dietary intake and food sources of total choline, individual choline forms and betaine in Chinese adults using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 1991–2011, a prospective cohort with a multistage, random cluster design. Dietary intake was estimated using three consecutive 24-h dietary recalls in combination with a household food inventory. Linear mixed-effect models were constructed using R software. A total of 11 188 men and 12 279 women aged 18 years or older were included. Between 1991 and 2011, total choline intake increased from 219·3 (95 % CI 215·1, 223·4) mg/d to 269·0 (95 % CI 265·6, 272·5) mg/d in men and from 195·6 (95 % CI 191·8, 199·4) mg/d to 240·4 (95 % CI 237·4, 243·5) mg/d in women (both P-trends < 0·001). Phosphatidylcholine was the major form of dietary choline, and its contribution to total choline increased from 46·9 % in 1991 to 58·8 % in 2011. Cereals were the primary food source of total choline before 2000, while eggs had ranked at the top since 2004. Dietary betaine intake was relatively steady over time with a range of 134·0–151·5 mg/d in men (P-trend < 0·001) and 111·7–125·3 mg/d in women (P-trend > 0·05). Chinese adults experienced a significant increase in dietary intake of choline, particularly phosphatidylcholine during 1991–2011 and animal-derived foods have replaced plant-based foods as the main food sources of choline. Betaine intake remained relatively stable over time. Future efforts should address the health effects of these changes.

Dietary restriction-influenced biological performance is found in many animal species. Pardosa pseudoannulata is a dominant spider species in agricultural fields and is important for controlling pests. In this study, three groups – a control group (CK group), a re-feeding group (RF group), and a dietary restriction group (RT group) – were used to explore development, mating, reproduction, and the expression levels of Vg (vitellogenin) and VgR (vitellogenin receptor) genes in the spider. The findings indicated that when subjected to dietary restriction, the carapace size, weight of the spiderlings, and weight of the adults exhibited a decrease. Furthermore, the preoviposition period and egg stage were observed to be prolonged, while the number of spiderlings decreased. It was also observed that re-feeding reduced cannibalism rates and extended the preoviposition period. Dietary restriction also affected the expression of the Vg-3 gene in the spider. These results will contribute to the understanding of the impact of dietary restriction in predators of pest control, as well as provide a theoretical foundation for the artificial rearing and utilisation of the dominant spider in the field.

Trauma is a significant health issue that not only leads to immediate death in many cases but also causes severe complications, such as sepsis, thrombosis, haemorrhage, acute respiratory distress syndrome and traumatic brain injury, among trauma patients. Target protein identification technology is a vital technique in the field of biomedical research, enabling the study of biomolecular interactions, drug discovery and disease treatment. It plays a crucial role in identifying key protein targets associated with specific diseases or biological processes, facilitating further research, drug design and the development of treatment strategies. The application of target protein technology in biomarker detection enables the timely identification of newly emerging infections and complications in trauma patients, facilitating expeditious medical interventions and leading to reduced post-trauma mortality rates and improved patient prognoses. This review provides an overview of the current applications of target protein identification technology in trauma-related complications and provides a brief overview of the current target protein identification technology, with the aim of reducing post-trauma mortality, improving diagnostic efficiency and prognostic outcomes for patients.

The laser-driven flyer plate is an important loading technology in high energy physics, shock wave physics, and explosive initiation application. How to generate a high-velocity and intact flyer plate by using the laser is a matter of concern for laser driving. In this study, the multilayer flyer plates (MFPs) of Al/Al2O3/Al and TiO2/Al/Al2O3/Al with adjustable performance were designed and fabricated by magnetron sputtering and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser reflectance spectrometer, and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The effects of the structure and material on the output performance of MFPs were analyzed by photon Doppler velocimetry (PDV) and ultrahigh-speed video. The morphology results showed that the structure of MFPs had uniform and clear boundaries between side-by-side layers. The MFP velocity was controlled in the range of 4.0–6.0 km/s by adjusting the film thickness, structure, and thermite material with 43.1 J/cm2 laser ablation. Among them, the energetic flyers with the thermite ablation layer had the highest final velocity of 5.38 km/s due to the prestored energy of TiO2/Al. By appropriately increasing the thickness of Al2O3 from 0.4 μm to 0.8 μm, the complete flight of the flyer plate to 3.72 mm can be realized. In addition, TiO2/Al thermite film had characteristics of reaction heat release and lower laser reflectivity (72.13%) than the Al layer (80.55%), which explained the velocity enhancement effect of energetic flyer plates. This work provides facile strategy to enhance the output performance of MFPs, which may facilitate the practical applications of laser driving technology.

Fast neutron absorption spectroscopy is widely used in the study of nuclear structure and element analysis. However, due to the traditional neutron source pulse duration being of the order of nanoseconds, it is difficult to obtain a high-resolution absorption spectrum. Thus, we present a method of ultrahigh energy-resolution absorption spectroscopy via a high repetition rate, picosecond duration pulsed neutron source driven by a terawatt laser. The technology of single neutron count is used, which results in easily distinguishing the width of approximately 20 keV at 2 MeV and an asymmetric shape of the neutron absorption peak. The absorption spectroscopy based on a laser neutron source has one order of magnitude higher energy-resolution power than the state-of-the-art traditional neutron sources, which could be of benefit for precisely measuring nuclear structure data.

Objectives: Rapid and accurate screening for carbapenemase-producing organism (CPOs) in hospitalized patients is critical for infection control and prevention. The Xpert Carba-R assay is designed for rapid detection of CPOs, but 1 assay is usually conducted for only 1 sample. We evaluated a pooling strategy for CPO screening using the Xpert Carba-R assay. Methods: Swab sets containing 2 swabs were collected from 415 unique patients at Peking University People’s Hospital. One swab was used for the pooling test, in which 5 swabs from different patients were mixed in 1 sample treatment solution. The prevalence of CPOs in the hospital (5.3%) predicted that 5:1 pooling was most economical. As the reference method, the other swab was tested by culture using sequencing. Results: Of 415 samples, 383 were CPO negative using the pooling test strategy and 31 were positive. All samples that were negative by pooling were negative by culture and sequencing. Among the 31 positive samples identified by the pooling strategy, 26 were positive by culture and sequencing (including 24 samples with 1 targeted gene and 2 samples with double targeted genes, 1 NDM+/IMP+ and 1 VIM+/IMP+), and 5 were negative. Overall, 198 tests were conducted in the study, and 217 were saved compared with testing individually. The efficiency of the pooling strategy was 215%. The overall sensitivity was 1 (95% CI, 0.840–1), the specificity was 0.987 (95% CI, 0.968–0.995), the accuracy was 0.987 (95% CI, 0.970–0.996), positive predictive value was 0.838 (95% CI, 0.655–0.939), and the negative predictive value was 1 (95% CI, 0.988–1). Conclusions: The pooling strategy using the Xpert Carba-R assay showed good potential in screening CPO with good sensitivity and a significantly lower cost.

We present a high-energy, hundred-picosecond (ps) pulsed mid-ultraviolet solid-state laser at 266 nm by a direct second harmonic generation (SHG) in a barium borate (BaB2O4, BBO) nonlinear crystal. The green pump source is a 710 mJ, 330 ps pulsed laser at a wavelength of 532 nm with a repetition rate of 1 Hz. Under a green pump energy of 710 mJ, a maximum output energy of 253.3 mJ at 266 nm is achieved with 250 ps pulse duration resulting in a peak power of more than 1 GW, corresponding to an SHG conversion efficiency of 35.7% from 532 to 266 nm. The experimental data were well consistent with the theoretical prediction. To the best of our knowledge, this laser exhibits both the highest output energy and highest peak power ever achieved in a hundred-ps/ps regime at 266 nm for BBO-SHG.

Layer reinsurance treaty is a common form obtained in the problem of optimal reinsurance design. In this paper, we study allocations of policy limits in layer reinsurance treaties with dependent risks. We investigate the effects of orderings and heterogeneity among policy limits on the expected utility functions of the terminal wealth from the viewpoint of risk-averse insurers faced with right tail weakly stochastic arrangement increasing losses. Orderings on optimal allocations are presented for normal layer reinsurance contracts under certain conditions. Parallel studies are also conducted for randomized layer reinsurance contracts. As a special case, the worst allocations of policy limits are also identified when the exact dependence structure among the losses is unknown. Numerical examples are presented to shed light on the theoretical findings.