The proton–boron ${}^{11}{\text{B}}\left( {p,\alpha } \right)2\alpha $ reaction (p-11B) is an interesting alternative to the D-T reaction ${\text{D}}\left( {{\text{T}},{\text{n}}} \right)\alpha $ for fusion energy, since the primary reaction channel is aneutronic and all reaction partners are stable isotopes. We measured the α production yield using protons in the 120–260 keV energy range impinging onto a hydrogen–boron-mixed target, and for the first time present experimental evidence of an increase of α-particle yield relative to a pure boron target. The measured enhancement factor is approximately 30%. The experiment results indicate a higher reactivity, and that may lower the condition for p-11B fusion ignition.

NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) is crucial for the detoxification process catalysed by cytochrome P450, which targets various exogenous xenobiotics, as well as pesticides. In our research, we successfully obtained the complete cDNA sequence of Apolygus lucorum's CPR (AlCPR) using reverse transcription PCR along with rapid amplification of cDNA ends technology. Bioinformatics analysis exhibited that the inferred amino acid sequence of AlCPR is characteristic of standard CPRs, featuring an N-terminal membrane anchor and three conserved FMN, FAD and NADP binding sites. Phylogenetic result revealed that AlCPR was positioned within the Hemiptera cluster, showing a close evolutionary relationship with the CPR of Cimex lectularius. The real-time quantitative PCR results demonstrated widespread expression of AlCPR across various life stages and tissues of A. lucorum, with the most prominent expression in adults and the abdominal region. Injecting double-stranded RNA of AlCPR only significantly increased the lambda-cyhalothrin susceptibility in lambda-cyhalothrin-resistant strain rather than the susceptible strain. These findings suggest a potential link between AlCPR and the P450-dependent defence mechanism against lambda-cyhalothrin in A. lucorum.

Osteoarthritis (OA) commonly affects the knee and hip joints and accounts for 19.3% of disability-adjusted life years and years lived with disability worldwide (Refs 1, 2). Early management is important in order to avoid disability uphold quality of life (Ref. 3). However, a lack of awareness of subclinical and early symptomatic stages of OA often hampers early management (Ref. 4). Moreover, late diagnosis of OA among those with severe disease, at a stage when OA management becomes more complicated is common (Refs 5, 6, 7, 8). Established risk factors for the development and progression of OA include increasing age, female, history of trauma and obesity (Ref. 9). Recent studies have also drawn a link between OA and metabolic syndrome, which is characterized by insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and hypertension (Refs 10, 11).

The familiar process of bubbles generated via breaking waves in the ocean is foundational to many natural and industrial applications. In this process, large pockets of entrained gas are successively fragmented by the ambient turbulence into smaller and smaller bubbles. The key question is how long it takes for the bubbles to reach terminal sizes for a given system. Despite decades of effort, the reported breakup time from multiple experiments differs significantly. Here, to reconcile those results, rather than focusing on one scale, we measure multiple time scales associated with the process through a unique experiment that resolves bubbles’ local deformation and curvature. The results emphasize that the scale separation among various time scales is controlled by the Weber number, similar to how the Reynolds number determines the scale separation in single-phase turbulence, but shows a distinct transition at a critical Weber number.

We experimentally, numerically and theoretically investigate the nonlinear interaction between a cavitation bubble and the interface of two immiscible fluids (oil and water) on multiple time scales. The underwater electric discharge method is utilized to generate a cavitation bubble near or at the interface. Both the bubble dynamics on a short time scale and the interface evolution on a much longer time scale are recorded via high-speed photography. Two mechanisms are found to contribute to the fluid mixing in our system. First, when a bubble is initiated in the oil phase or at the interface, an inertia-dominated high-speed liquid jet generated from the collapsing bubble penetrates the water–oil interface, and consequently transports fine oil droplets into the water. The critical standoff parameter for jet penetration is found to be highly dependent on the density ratio of the two fluids. Furthermore, the pinch-off of an interface jet produced long after the bubble dynamics stage is reckoned as the second mechanism, carrying water droplets into the oil bulk. The dependence of the bubble jetting behaviours and interface jet dynamics on the governing parameters is systematically studied via experiments and boundary integral simulations. Particularly, we quantitatively demonstrate the respective roles of surface tension and viscosity in interface jet dynamics. As for a bubble initiated at the interface, an extended Rayleigh–Plesset model is proposed that well predicts the asymmetric dynamics of the bubble, which accounts for a faster contraction of the bubble top and a downward liquid jet.

Geopolymers can be transformed into zeolites under certain synthesis conditions. However, zeolite formation is not frequently reported in KOH-activated geopolymers. This study attempted to explore zeolite synthesis through geopolymerization for a curing time of 24 h using mixed NaOH/KOH alkaline solution as an activator, and then applying the geopolymer-supported zeolites to immobilize Cd(II) in paddy soil. The K2O/M2O–H2O/SiO2 and K2O/M2O–OH–/SiO2 binary zeolite crystallization phase diagrams were obtained. Zeolite A, faujasite and sodalite formed at lower K2O/M2O molar ratios (0–0.2), ferrierite formation was favoured at a K2O/M2O molar ratio of 0.2–0.4 and zeolite K-I and zeolite F-K (both K-zeolites) were observed at a K2O/M2O molar ratio of 0.6. The geopolymer-supported zeolites had micropores and mesopores and specific surface area values of 44.2–74.8 m2 g–1. The material displayed a considerable Cd(II) immobilization efficiency (55.6–58.7% at 4–6 wt.% addition of zeolite).

We experimentally investigate the rise velocity of finite-sized bubbles in turbulence with a high energy dissipation rate of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D716}\gtrsim 0.5~\text{m}^{2}~\text{s}^{-3}$. In contrast to a 30–40 % reduction in rise velocity previously reported in weak turbulence (the Weber number ($We$) is much smaller than the Eötvös number ($Eo$); $We\ll 1<Eo$), the bubble rise velocity in intense turbulence shows a surprising new behaviour: an abrupt transition from an order of magnitude slower to a factor of two faster than rising in an otherwise quiescent medium. This transition occurs when $We$ increases from below one to above one, underscoring the key role played by the turbulence-induced deformation. We also formulate a model based on bubble–eddy coupling, and the results show an excellent agreement with not only our data in intense turbulence but also other works on weak turbulence. The model also helps us to extract the lift and drag coefficients of bubbles in intense turbulence for a wide range of $We$ and Reynolds numbers in situ.

By using high purity aluminum powders and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as raw materials, MWCNTs/Al composites were fabricated with ball milling, followed by cold pressing, vacuum sintering, and hot extrusion. It was found that when the sintering temperature was 863 K, MWCNTs/Al composite sintered for 4 h showed good comprehensive properties, and its tensile strength and elongation reached to 156 MPa and 21%, respectively. The comprehensive mechanical properties of the composites became better with raising sintering temperature when the sintering time was 4 h. When the sintering temperature raised to 923 K, the tensile strength of the composite reached to 167 MPa which is three times more than that of annealed high purity aluminum, mainly due to the higher density and better interface bonding resulted from higher sintering temperature. CNTs' pulling out were observed obviously in the fractured surfaces, and load transfer may be the main strengthening mechanism.