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.

Characterised by the extensive use of obsidian, a blade-based tool inventory and microblade technology, the late Upper Palaeolithic lithic assemblages of the Changbaishan Mountains are associated with the increasingly cold climatic conditions of Marine Isotope Stage 2, yet most remain poorly dated. Here, the authors present new radiocarbon dates associated with evolving blade and microblade toolkits at Helong Dadong, north-east China. At 27 300–24 100 BP, the lower cultural layers contain some of the earliest microblade technology in north-east Asia and highlight the importance of the Changbaishan Mountains in understanding changing hunter-gatherer lifeways in this region during MIS 2.

In his 1984 AMS Memoir, Andrews introduced the family of functions $c\phi_k(n)$, the number of k-coloured generalized Frobenius partitions of n. In 2019, Chan, Wang and Yang systematically studied the arithmetic properties of $\textrm{C}\Phi_k(q)$ for $2\leq k\leq17$ by utilizing the theory of modular forms, where $\textrm{C}\Phi_k(q)$ denotes the generating function of $c\phi_k(n)$. In this paper, we first establish another expression of $\textrm{C}\Phi_{12}(q)$ with integer coefficients, then prove some congruences modulo small powers of 3 for $c\phi_{12}(n)$ by using some parameterized identities of theta functions due to A. Alaca, S. Alaca and Williams. Finally, we conjecture three families of congruences modulo powers of 3 satisfied by $c\phi_{12}(n)$.

Tumor theranostics (a portmanteau of therapeutics and diagnostics) is now achieved in various ways with complex nanoparticle systems. Layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles are effective at drug/gene delivery and as imaging agents in potential tumor theranostics. This mini-review paper summarizes recent progress in developing LDH nanoparticles as a pH-sensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent, as a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent, and as a co-delivery platform for two therapeutic agents for tumor diagnosis and therapy. These results have indicated clearly the potential application of LDH nanoparticles for simultaneous diagnosis and treatment of cancers.

The new mineral, gysinite-(La), with the ideal formula PbLa(CO3)2(OH)⋅H2O, has been discovered in lujavrite from the Saima alkaline complex, Liaoning Province, China. It commonly occurs as subhedral to anhedral, granular and platy crystals of 5 to 50 μm in size, in interstices or enclosed in microcline, aegirine and nepheline. Associated minerals include nepheline, aegirine, microcline, natrolite, eudialyte, lamprophyllite, bastnäsite-(Ce), parasite-(Ce), ancylite-(La), ancylite-(Ce), bobtraillite, britholite-(Ce), thorite, calcite and galena. The crystallisation of gysinite-(La) may be related to the post-magmatic carbonation event. Gysinite-(La) crystals are generally transparent, colourless, or pale yellow, with a vitreous lustre and white streak. It is brittle with an uneven fracture, and the estimated Mohs hardness is 3½ to 4. The calculated density is 5.007 g/cm3. Optically, gysinite-(La) is biaxial (–), α= 1.832(2), β= 1.849(4), γ = 1.862(5) in white light and 2Vmeas = 81.6°. The empirical formula of gysinite-(La) is (La0.93Pb0.61Nd0.23Pr0.14Sr0.04Gd0.02Sm0.01Eu0.01Ca0.01)Σ2(CO3)2(OH)1.34⋅0.66H2O, which is calculated on the basis of general formula (REExM2+2–x)(CO3)2(OH)x⋅(2–x)H2O. The strongest eight lines of its powder X-ray diffraction pattern [d, Å (I, %) (hkl)] are: 5.596 (21) (011), 4.349 (100) (110), 3.732 (68) (111), 2.984 (61) (121), 2.667 (21) (031), 2.363 (48) (131), 2.090 (29) (221) and 2.028 (21) (212). Gysinite-(La) is orthorhombic, in the space group Pmcn, and unit-cell parameters refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data are: a = 5.0655(2) Å, b = 8.5990(3) Å, c = 7.3901(4) Å, V = 321.90(2) Å3 and Z = 2. It is a new member of the ancylite group and isostructural with gysinite-(Nd), but with La and Pb dominant in the metal cation sites in the structure.

Fluorsigaiite, ideally Ca2Sr3(PO4)3F, is a new Sr analogue of fluorphosphohedyphane and a new member of the apatite supergroup. It was discovered in lujavrite from the Saima alkaline complex, Liaoning Province, China. Fluorsigaiite commonly occurs as individual prismatic, columnar and platy crystals of 10 to 50 μm in size, associated with microcline, nepheline, aegirine, natrolite, eudialyte, fluorapatite, a fluorstrophite-like mineral, stronadelphite and calcite. Occasionally, crystals of fluorsigaiite form prismatic aggregates in the interstices of lujavrite. Fluorsigaiite is translucent to transparent, colourless to yellowish white with a vitreous lustre and without fluorescence. The estimated Mohs hardness is 5, and the tenacity is brittle with uneven fractures. The calculated density is 3.842 g/cm3. Optically, fluorsigaiite is uniaxial (–) with ω = 1.64(1) and ɛ = 1.63(1) in white light and without dispersion. The mean chemical composition (in wt.%) of fluorsigaiite is Na2O 0.75, CaO 15.17, SrO 44.44, La2O3 3.64, Ce2O3 2.22, Pr2O3 0.19, Nd2O3 0.13, Sm2O3 0.05, Gd2O3 0.23, P2O5 31.87, F 1.91, H2O 0.46, sum 100.26, giving the empirical formula (Sr2.82Ca1.79Na0.16La0.15Ce0.09Pr0.01Nd0.01Gd0.01)Σ5.04P2.97O12[F0.66(OH)0.34]Σ1, which is calculated on the basis of 13 total anions and F+(OH) = 1. The strongest eight lines of its powder X-ray diffraction pattern [d, Å (I, %) (hkl)] are: 3.563 (15) (002), 3.275 (15) (102), 3.144 (19) (120), 2.876 (100) (121), 2.861 (96) (112), 2.772 (27) (300), 1.991 (17) (222) and 1.895 (23) (213). Fluorsigaiite is hexagonal, in the space group P63/m and unit-cell parameters refined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data are: a = 9.6101(2) Å, c = 7.1311(1) Å, V = 570.35(3) Å3 and Z = 2. It is isostructural with hedyphane-group minerals, and contains different prevailing (species-defining) Ca and Sr cations at the Ca1 and Ca2 sites, respectively. Fluorsigaiite was probably formed from Sr-rich fluids at late-magmatic or hydrothermal stage of the Saima lujavrite.

For positive integers $n$ and $k$, let $r_{k}(n)$ denote the number of representations of $n$ as a sum of $k$ squares, where representations with different orders and different signs are counted as distinct. For a given positive integer $m$, by means of some properties of binomial coefficients, we derive some infinite families of congruences for $r_{k}(n)$ modulo $2^{m}$. Furthermore, in view of these arithmetic properties of $r_{k}(n)$, we establish many infinite families of congruences for the overpartition function and the overpartition pair function.

Homology surveillance of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is critical to monitor and prevent outbreaks of nosocomial infections. In the present study, a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation-time of flight (MALDI-TOF MS)-based method was evaluated as a rapid tool for typing CRKP in comparison with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multi locus sequence typing (MLST). Drug-resistant phenotypes and genotypes of 44 CRKP isolates were detected by microdilution broth method and polymerase chain reaction, and typed by PFGE, MLST and MALDI-TOF MS. Simpson's Index of Diversity was used to evaluate taxonomic diversity, Adjusted Rand Index (ARI) for congruence between the typing methods and Wallace coefficients (W) for the ability of either method to predict each other. Forty-four CRKP isolates of 15 sequence types (STs) produced either NDM-1 (n = 16), NDM-5 (n = 9) or KPC-2 (n = 19) carbapenemases. PFGE differentiated these isolates into 16 distinct types, and two deoxyribonucleic acid profiles were assigned to ST337 and ST11, respectively. MALDI-TOF MS failed to clearly delineate between clusters on dendrograms based on principal components analysis and main spectrum profile. The chosen parameters resulted in a maximum ARI of 0.310 (95% CI 0.088–0.531) between MALDI-TOF MS typing and the PFGE reference, indicating a low ability of the former to correctly identify related isolates. Likewise, the maximum W coefficient of 0.367 (95% CI 0.203–0.532) showed that MALDI-TOF MS had a lower predictive power than PFGE. We conclude that MALDI-TOF MS lacks the discriminatory power necessary for clone assignment of CRKP isolates and consequently cannot be considered as a rapid and creditable method for this purpose.

Toxigenic Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) carriers represent an important source in the transmission of C. difficile infection (CDI) during hospitalisation, but its prevalence and mode in patients with hepatic cirrhosis are not well established. We investigated longitudinal changes in carriage rates and strain types of toxigenic C. difficile from admission to discharge among hepatic cirrhosis patients. Toxigenic C. difficile was detected in 104 (19.8%) of 526 hepatic cirrhosis patients on admission, and the carriage status changed in a portion of patients during hospitalisation. Approximately 56% (58/104) of patients lost the colonisation during their hospital stay. Among the remaining 48 patients who remained positive for toxigenic C. difficile, the numbers of patients who were positive at one, two, three and four isolations were 10 (55.6%), three (16.7%), two (11.1%) and three (16.7%), respectively. Twenty-eight patients retained a particular monophyletic strain at multiple isolations. The genotype most frequently identified was the same as that frequently identified in symptomatic CDI patients. A total of 25% (26/104) of patients were diagnosed with CDI during their hospital stay. Conclusions: Colonisation with toxigenic C. difficile strains occurs frequently in cirrhosis patients and is a risk factor for CDI.

The high-energy oscillating electric current pulse (ECP) technology was introduced to relieve the residual stresses in the small AISI 1045 steel specimens treated by the pulsed-laser surface irradiation. The high-energy oscillating ECP stress relief experiments were conducted to study the effectiveness of the high-energy oscillating ECP technology. In addition, the electroplasticity framework was developed based on the thermal activation theory to reveal the mechanism of the high-energy oscillating ECP stress relief. The results show that the high-energy oscillating ECP stress relief has good effects on eliminating the residual stress. Furthermore, the residual stress relieving mechanism of the high-energy oscillating ECP stress relief can be attributed to the electric softening effect and the dynamic stress effect. The findings confirm that the significant effects of high-energy oscillating ECP on metal plasticity and provide a basis to understand the underlying mechanism of the high-energy oscillating ECP stress relief.

The high-frequency vibration technology was introduced to relieve the quenched residual stress in the Cr12MoV steel based on the high-frequency vibration system that mainly consisted of an electromagnetic vibrator and an amplitude boost unit. The high-frequency vibratory stress relief (VSR) experiments were conducted to study the effectiveness of the high-frequency vibration technology. In addition, the high-frequency vibration plasticity model was developed based on the thermal activation theory to reveal the mechanism of the high-frequency VSR. The results show that the high-frequency VSR has good effects on eliminating residual stress, while the surface hardness for the Cr12MoV steel remains almost the same. Moreover, there are no changes in the grain size of the Cr12MoV steel during the high-frequency VSR, while the dislocation density for the Cr12MoV steel during the high-frequency VSR decreases by 27.21%. The decrease of dislocation density in the Cr12MoV steel is the essence of residual stress relaxation. The findings confirm the significant effects of high-frequency vibration on metal plasticity and provide a basis to understand the underlying mechanism of the high-frequency VSR.

Two transmission curved crystal spectrometers are designed to measure the hard x-ray emission in the laser fusion experiment of Compton radiography of implosion target on ShenGuang-III laser facility in China. Cylindrically curved ${\it\alpha}$-quartz (10–11) crystals with curvature radii of 150 and 300 mm are used to cover spectral ranges of 10–56 and 17–100 keV, respectively. The distance between the crystal and the x-ray source can be changed over a broad distance from 200 to 1500 mm. The optical design, including the integral reflectivity of the curved crystal, the sensitivity, and the spectral resolution of the spectrometers, is discussed. We also provide mechanic design details and experimental results using a Mo anode x-ray source. High-quality spectra were obtained. We confirmed that the spectral resolution can be improved by increasing the working distance, which is the distance between the recording medium and the Rowland circle.

Nanosecond pulse discharges can provide high reduced electric field for exciting high-energy electrons, and the ultrafast rising time of the applied pulse can effectively suppress the generation of spark streamer and produce homogeneous discharges preionized by runaway electrons in atmospheric-pressure air. In this paper, the electrostatic field in a tube-plate electrodes gap is calculated using a calculation software. Furthermore, a simple physical model of nanosecond pulse discharges is established to investigate the behavior of the runaway electrons during the nanosecond pulse discharges with a rise time of 1.6 ns and a full-width at half-maximum of 3–5 ns in air. The physical model is coded by a numerical software, and then the runaway electrons and electron avalanche are investigated under different conditions. The simulated results show that the applied voltage, voltage polarity, and gas pressure can significantly affect the formation of the avalanche and the behavior of the runaway electrons. The inception time of runaway breakdown decreases when the applied voltage increases. In addition, the threshold voltage of runaway breakdown has a minimum value (10 kPa) with the variation of gas pressure.

PACS: 52.80.-s

An ion beam has the unique feature of being able to deposit its main energy inside a human body to kill cancer cells or inside material. However, conventional ion accelerators tend to be huge in size and cost. In this paper, a future intense-laser ion accelerator is discussed to make the laser-based ion accelerator compact and controllable. The issues in the laser ion accelerator include the energy efficiency from the laser to the ions, the ion beam collimation, the ion energy spectrum control, the ion beam bunching, and the ion particle energy control. In the study, each component is designed to control the ion beam quality by particle simulations. The energy efficiency from the laser to ions is improved by using a solid target with a fine sub-wavelength structure or a near-critical-density gas plasma. The ion beam collimation is performed by holes behind the solid target or a multi-layered solid target. The control of the ion energy spectrum and the ion particle energy, and the ion beam bunching are successfully realized by a multi-stage laser–target interaction.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of osteopontin neutralization treatment on schistosome-induced liver injury in BALB/C mice. We randomly divided 100 BALB/C mice into groups A, B, C, D and group E. Mice in all groups except group A were abdominally infected with schistosomal cercariae to induce a schistosomal hepatopathological model. Mice in group C, D and group E were respectively administered with praziquantel, praziquantel plus colchicine and praziquantel plus neutralizing osteopontin antibody. We extracted mouse liver tissues at 3 and 9 weeks after the ‘stool-eggs-positive’ day, observed liver histopathological changes by haematoxylin-eosin and Masson trichrome staining and detected the expression of osteopontin, alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β1) by immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR and Western blot. We found that praziquantel plus neutralizing osteopontin antibody treatment significantly decreased the granuloma dimension, the percentage of collagen and the expression of osteopontin, α-SMA and TGF-β1 compared to praziquantel plus colchicine treatment in both the acute and chronic stage of schistosomal liver damage (P<0·05). So we believe that the combined regimen of osteopontin immunoneutralization and anti-helminthic treatment can reduce the granulomatous response and liver fibrosis during the schistosomal hepatopathologic course.

We carried out laser ablation of three organic molecules, rubrene (Rb), Oralith Brilliant Pink R (BP) and quinacridonequinone (QQ) in a poor solvent, water. As a result, nanoparticles of BP and QQ were formed, but those of Rb were not formed because of photodissociation. For a rigid molecule, QQ, optical properties of colloidal solutions were investigated in relation to the size of the included nanoparticles. A linear correlation between the blue shift of the absorption peak energy and the decrease in the diameter of the nanoparticles was found, indicating that the nanoparticle diameter can be easily estimated from the absorption spectrum of a colloidal solution. From the solution, a nanoparticle film was fabricated on an electrode by the electrophoretic deposition method.

In this paper, the ion jet generation from the interaction of an ultraintense laser pulse and a rear-side concave target is investigated analytically using a simple fluid model. We find that the ion expanding surface at the rear-side is distorted due to a strong charge-separation field, and that this distortion becomes dramatic with a singular cusp shown on the central axis at a critical time. The variation of the transverse ion velocity and the relative ion density diverge on the cusp, signaling the emergence of an on-axis ion jet. We have obtained analytical expressions for the critical time and the maximum velocity of the ion jet, and suggested an optimum shape for generating a collimated energetic ion jet. The above theoretical analysis has been verified by particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical simulations.