Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a significant pest of Capsicum annuum (Solanales: Solanaceae) and exhibits intraspecific differentiation within populations. To investigate the adaptability of Hap3 and Hap17 A. gossypii to various C. annuum varieties, including ‘Lvzhou101’ (LZ), ‘Lashen’ (LA), ‘Saierweilvtianjiao’ (SE), ‘Haimaihongri’ (HM), ‘Chaotianjiao’ (CT), and ‘Luosijiangjun’ (LS), we employed life tables to analyse growth and population parameters post-feeding and conducted petri dish host choice experiments to assess the host plant preference of A. gossypii. Survival rates of A. gossypii varied significantly across C. annuum varieties. Notably, Hap3 and Hap17 thrived on ‘LZ’ but failed to establish populations on ‘LA’. The net reproductive rate (R0), average generation time (T), and intrinsic rate of increase (rm) differed markedly between Hap3 and Hap17 across C. annuum varieties. Feeding on ‘LZ’ resulted in a significantly higher R0 value (26.49) for Hap3 relative to other varieties. The T (7.60 days) and rm (0.27) values for Hap3 on ‘SE’ were superior to those observed on other C. annuum varieties. These findings indicate that ‘SE’ is the optimal host for Hap3 growth, while ‘LZ’ best supports Hap17. Both haplotypes exhibited the lowest adaptability to ‘LA’. Therefore, the utilisation capacity of A. gossypii populations on C. annuum demonstrates differentiation, and the resistance levels among C. annuum varieties to A. gossypii vary. This differentiation can inform targeted management strategies for aphid infestations on pepper crops.

Fe2+-catalyzed transformation of poorly crystalline ferrihydrite into highly crystalline forms is critical in the biogeochemical cycles of Fe, nutrients, and trace elements. The co-existence of ferrihydrite and kaolinite is widespread in soils of tropical and subtropical regions. In this investigation, three associations of ferrihydrite–kaolinite with ratios of 10, 30, and 50% (10% Fhy–Kln, 30% Fhy–Kln, and 50% Fhy–Kln) were examined to study the impact of the initial Fe2+ concentration and pH on Fe2+-catalyzed transformation under anoxic conditions. The findings reveal that the ferrihydrite in the 10% Fhy–Kln associations has the smallest particle size and the largest number of surface hydroxyl groups. At 0.5 mM Fe2+ and pH 7.5, ferrihydrite underwent transformation into lepidocrocite, with the presence of kaolinite promoting the formation of goethite. Moreover, the presence of kaolinite influenced the morphology of the resulting transformation products. A decrease in pH hindered the transformation of ferrihydrite, while an increase in Fe2+ concentration resulted in the formation of magnetite. The impact of kaolinite in the association system on the transformations of ferrihydrite occurs primarily through alteration of the properties of ferrihydrite during its formation process.

The laboratory generation and diagnosis of uniform near-critical-density (NCD) plasmas play critical roles in various studies and applications, such as fusion science, high energy density physics, astrophysics as well as relativistic electron beam generation. Here we successfully generated the quasistatic NCD plasma sample by heating a low-density tri-cellulose acetate (TCA) foam with the high-power-laser-driven hohlraum radiation. The temperature of the hohlraum is determined to be 20 eV by analyzing the spectra obtained with the transmission grating spectrometer. The single-order diffraction grating was employed to eliminate the high-order disturbance. The temperature of the heated foam is determined to be T = 16.8 ± 1.1 eV by analyzing the high-resolution spectra obtained with a flat-field grating spectrometer. The electron density of the heated foam is about $N_e=4.0\pm 0.3\times {10}^{20}{\text{cm}}^{-3}$ under the reasonable assumption of constant mass density.

Gray-black kaolinitic claystones of industrial value are abundant in Upper Carboniferous–Lower Permian coal-bearing strata of the Datong Coalfield of northern China. The main types are tonsteins and cryptocrystalline kaolinitic claystones, distinguished by the thinness and greater crystallinity of kaolinite in the former and by the presence of detrital illite and authigenic pyrite in the latter. In order to determine the formation history of these two types of kaolinitic claystone, the petrological, mineralogical, and geochemical characteristics of borehole samples from the Upper Carboniferous Taiyuan Formation which comprises siliciclastics and coal seams deposited in a coastal environment, were analyzed. In addition to kaolinite, the claystones contain subordinate illite, quartz, pyrite, anatase, feldspar, siderite, and calcite. The tonsteins and cryptocrystalline kaolinitic claystones have different sources, as shown by petrographic data, elemental ratios, and chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns. The volcanic origin of the tonsteins is revealed by an abundance of volcanic quartz and vitric fragments as well as Al2O3/TiO2, Zr/Hf, and Nb/Ta ratios consistent with a felsic igneous source. Their REE fraction was derived from feldspars or micas of the parent rocks, and the fraction decreased with alteration of these minerals to kaolinite. The sedimentary origin of the cryptocrystalline kaolinitic claystones is revealed by an abundance of detrital quartz and illite grains derived from either granite or sedimentary upper crust, and by the total REE contents (ΣREE) and (La/Yb)N values which are consistent with granitic material. Their depositional environment was in a transitional (coastal) setting (as shown by intermediate Sr/Ba ratios) hosting an open acidic hydrologic system (as shown by high chemical index of alteration (CIA) values indicative of intensive chemical weathering) that was suboxic to anoxic (as shown by high U/Th ratios and trace-metal enrichment factors). The present chemistry of these claystones was thus controlled by a combination of parent rock type and diagenetic alteration.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the clinical characteristics of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) PCR re-positivity after recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients (n = 1391) from Guangzhou, China, who had recovered from COVID-19 were recruited between 7 September 2021 and 11 March 2022. Data on epidemiology, symptoms, laboratory test results and treatment were analysed. In this study, 42.7% of recovered patients had re-positive result. Most re-positive patients were asymptomatic, did not have severe comorbidities, and were not contagious. The re-positivity rate was 39%, 46%, 11% and 25% in patients who had received inactivated, mRNA, adenovirus vector and recombinant subunit vaccines, respectively. Seven independent risk factors for testing re-positive were identified, and a predictive model was constructed using these variables. The predictors of re-positivity were COVID-19 vaccination status, previous SARs-CoV-12 infection prior to the most recent episode, renal function, SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM antibody levels and white blood cell count. The predictive model could benefit the control of the spread of COVID-19.

A method is presented for configuration selection to obtain the best tip-over stability of a modular reconfigurable mobile manipulator (MRMM) under various application situations. The said MRMM consists of a modular reconfigurable robot (MRR) mounted on a mobile platform. The MRR in different configurations creates different wrenches onto the mobile platform, leading to different tip-over moments of the MRMM, even though the joint speeds or tip speeds remain the same. The underlying problem pertains to selecting one configuration of MRR for reconfiguration that would obtain the best tip-over stability under a given application. First, all the permissible configurations are identified through an enumeration method. Then, the feasible configurations are determined based on application-oriented workspace classifications. At last, two workspace indices, vertical reach and horizontal reach, are used to select an optimal configuration. The tip-over stability analysis and evaluation of MRMM are carried out for verification for three cases including vertical, horizontal, and general 3D space applications. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

To study the role of H i content in galaxy interactions, we select galaxy pairs and control galaxies from the SDSS-IV MaNGA IFU survey, adopting kinematic asymmetry as a new effective indicator to describe the merger stage. With archival data from the HI-MaNGA survey and new observations from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), we investigate the differences in H i gas fraction (fH i), star formation rate (SFR), and H i star formation efficiency (SFEH i) between pairs and controls. Our results suggest that on average the H i gas fraction of major-merger pairs is marginally decreased by ∼ 15% relative to isolated galaxies, and paired galaxies during pericentric passage show weakly decreased fH i (−0.10 ± 0.05 dex), significantly enhanced SFR (0.42 ± 0.11 dex), and SFEH i (0.48 ± 0.12 dex). We propose the marginally detected H i depletion may originate from the gas consumption in fueling the enhanced H2 reservoir of galaxy pairs.

Steam jet milling was applied for the first time to ultra-fine grind the filter cake (moisture content 23.80%) produced by a kaolin concentrator. The material was dehydrated and dried simultaneously during grinding, and the final ground sample met the moisture content requirement for powder products of <2%. The particle size of the ground kaolin samples decreased and the particle-size distribution was more concentrated, indicating that the steam jet milling was more effective for kaolin processing than the conventional dry grinding process. In addition, steam jet milling can improve the whiteness and decrease the crystal order of the samples, thus improving the kaolin properties in follow-up applications.

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) could induce milk fat depression via regulating the body and blood fat metabolism. However, it is not completely clear how LPS might regulate triglyceride synthesis in dairy cow mammary epithelial cells (DCMECs). DCMECs were isolated and purified from dairy cow mammary tissue and treated with LPS. The level of triglyceride synthesis, the expression and activity of the liver X receptor α (LXRα), enzymes related to de novo fatty acid synthesis, and the expression of the fatty acid transporters were investigated. We found that LPS decreased the level of triglyceride synthesis via a down-regulation of the transcription, translation, and nuclear translocation level of the LXRα. The results also indicated that the transcription level of the LXRα target genes, sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1), fatty acid synthetase (FAS), acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1 (ACC1), were significantly down-regulated in DCMECs after LPS treatment. Our data may provide new insight into the mechanisms of milk fat depression caused by LPS.

Blue compact dwarf galaxies(BCDs) are galaxies undergoing violent burst of star formation in compact regions. They are often thought of being an evolutionary stage of dwarf galaxies and thus can provide a unique window to study the formation and evolution of dwarf galaxies. We selected a sample of 48 BCDs from the SDSS-IV MaNGA survey (MPL-7) and separated the starburst(SB) components from their underlying hosts with a new algorithm. Combining the structural properties of the BCDs, we further explore the physical connections between the SB components and theirs hosts.

The solid-state phase equilibria of the copper (Cu)–dysprosium (Dy)–titanium (Ti) ternary system at 973 K has been experimentally investigated. The existence of nine binary compounds, Cu4Ti, Cu3Ti2, Cu4Ti3, CuTi, CuTi2, CuTi3, CuDy, Cu2Dy, and Cu5Dy was confirmed. The controversial phase of CuTi3 was found in this work. The temperature range of Cu7Dy was determined to be from 1112 to 1183 K. The phase relations at 973 K are governed by ten ternary phase regions, 21 binary phase regions, and 12 single-phase regions. The solid solubility of Cu in Dy is undetectable. None of the other phase in this system reveals a remarkable homogeneity range at 973 K.