We have developed an interactive system comprising a soft wearable robot hand and a wireless task board, facilitating the interaction between the hand and regular daily objects for task-oriented training in stroke rehabilitation. A ring-reinforced soft actuator (RSA) to accommodate different hand sizes and enable flexion and extension movements was introduced in this paper. Individually controlled finger actuators assist stroke patients during various grasping tasks. A wireless task board was developed to support the training, allowing for the placement of training objects and seamless interaction with the soft robotic hand. Evaluation with seven stroke subjects shows significant improvements in upper limb functions (FMA), hand-motor abilities (ARAT, BBT), and maximum grip strengths after 20 sessions of this task-oriented training. These improvements were observed to persist for at least 3 months post-training. The results demonstrate its potential to enhance stroke rehabilitation and promote hand-motor recovery. This lightweight, user-friendly interactive system facilitates frequent hand practice and easily integrates into regular rehabilitation therapy routines.

The growing concern over cyber risk has become a pivotal issue in the business world. Firms can mitigate this risk through two primary strategies: investing in cybersecurity practices and purchasing cyber insurance. Cybersecurity investments reduce the compromise probability, while cyber insurance transfers potential losses to insurers. This study employs a network model for the spread of infection among interconnected firms and investigates how each firm’s decisions impact each other. We analyze a non-cooperative game in which each firm aims to optimize its objective function through choices of cybersecurity level and insurance coverage ratio. We find that each firm’s cybersecurity investment and insurance purchase are strategic complements. Within this game, we derive sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of Nash equilibrium and demonstrate its inefficiency. These theoretical results form the foundation for our numerical studies, allowing us compute firms’ equilibrium decisions on cybersecurity investments and insurance purchases across various network structures. The numerical results shed light on the impact of network structure on equilibrium decisions and explore how varying insurance premiums influence firms’ cybersecurity investments.

This study aimed to demonstrate the utilization value of 1PN embryos. The 1PN zygotes collected from December 2021 to September 2022 were included in this study. The embryo development, the pronuclear characteristics, and the genetic constitutions were investigated. The overall blastocyst formation and good-quality blastocyst rates in 1PN zygotes were 22.94 and 16.24%, significantly lower than those of 2PN zygotes (63.25 and 50.23%, respectively, P = 0.000). The pronuclear characteristics were found to be correlated with the developmental potential. When comparing 1PN zygotes that developed into blastocysts to those that arrested, the former exhibited a significantly larger area (749.49 ± 142.77 vs. 634.00 ± 119.05, P = 0.000), a longer diameter of pronuclear (29.81 ± 3.08 vs. 27.30 ± 3.00, P = 0.000), and a greater number of nucleolar precursor body (NPB) (11.56 ± 3.84 vs. 7.19 ± 2.73, P = 0.000). Among the tested embryos, the diploidy euploidy rate was significantly higher in blastocysts in comparison with the arrested embryos (66.67 vs. 11.76%, P = 0.000), which was also significantly higher in IVF-1PN blastocysts than in ICSI-1PN blastocysts (75.44 vs. 25.00%, P = 0.001). However, the pronuclear characteristics were not found to be linked to the chromosomal ploidy once they formed blastocysts.

In summary, while the developmental potential of 1PN zygotes is reduced, our study shows that, in addition to the reported pronuclear area and diameter, the number of NPB is also associated with their developmental potential. The 1PN blastocysts exhibit a high diploidy euploidy rate, are recommend to be clinically used post genetic testing, especially for patients who do not have other 2PN embryos available.

Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) is one of the world’s resilient upland weeds, primarily spreading through its tubers. Its emergence in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields has been increasing, likely due to changing paddy-farming practices. This study aimed to investigate how C. rotundus, an upland weed, can withstand soil flooding and become a problematic weed in rice fields. The first comparative analysis focused on the survival and recovery characteristics of growing and mature tubers of C. rotundus exposed to soil-flooding conditions. Notably, mature tubers exhibited significant survival and recovery abilities in these environments. Based on this observation, further investigation was carried out to explore the morphological structure, nonstructural carbohydrates, and respiratory mechanisms of mature tubers in response to prolonged soil flooding. Over time, the mature tubers did not form aerenchyma but instead gradually accumulated lignified sclerenchymal fibers, with lignin content also increasing. After 90 d, the lignified sclerenchymal fibers and lignin contents were 4.0 and 1.1 times higher than those in the no soil-flooding treatment. Concurrently, soluble sugar content decreased while starch content increased, providing energy storage, and alcohol dehydrogenase activity rose to support anaerobic respiration via alcohol fermentation. These results indicated that mature tubers survived in soil-flooding conditions by adopting a low-oxygen quiescence strategy, which involves morphological adaptations through the development of lignified sclerenchymal fibers, increased starch reserves for energy storage, and enhanced anaerobic respiration. This mechanism likely underpins the flooding tolerance of mature C. rotundus tubers, allowing them to endure unfavorable conditions and subsequently germinate and grow once flooding subsides. This study provides a preliminary explanation of the mechanism by which mature tubers of C. rotundus from the upland areas confer flooding tolerance, shedding light on the reasons behind this weed’s increasing presence in rice fields.

Infection mechanism plays a significant role in epidemic models. To investigate the influence of saturation effect, a nonlocal (convolution) dispersal susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model with saturated incidence is considered. We first study the impact of dispersal rates and total population size on the basic reproduction number. Yang, Li and Ruan (J. Differ. Equ. 267 (2019) 2011–2051) obtained the limit of basic reproduction number as the dispersal rate tends to zero or infinity under the condition that a corresponding weighted eigenvalue problem has a unique positive principal eigenvalue. We remove this additional condition by a different method, which enables us to reduce the problem on the limiting profile of the basic reproduction number into that of the spectral bound of the corresponding operator. Then we establish the existence and uniqueness of endemic steady states by a equivalent equation and finally investigate the asymptotic profiles of the endemic steady states for small and large diffusion rates to provide reference for disease prevention and control, in which the lack of regularity of the endemic steady state and Harnack inequality makes the limit function of the sequence of the endemic steady state hard to get. Finally, we find whether lowing the movements of susceptible individuals can eradicate the disease or not depends on not only the sign of the difference between the transmission rate and the recovery rate but also the total population size, which is different from that of the model with standard or bilinear incidence.

The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is the key vector insect transmitting the Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) bacterium that causes the devastating citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing, HLB) worldwide. The D. citri salivary glands (SG) exhibit an important barrier against the transmission of HLB pathogen. However, knowledge on the molecular mechanism of SG defence against CLas infection is still limited. In the present study, we compared the SG transcriptomic response of CLas-free and CLas-infected D. citri using an illumine paired-end RNA sequencing. In total of 861 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the SG upon CLas infection, including 202 upregulated DEGs and 659 downregulated DEGs were identified. Functional annotation analysis showed that most of the DEGs were associated with cellular processes, metabolic processes, and the immune response. Gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analyses revealed that these DEGs were enriched in pathways involving carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, the immune system, the digestive system, the lysosome, and endocytosis. A total of 16 DEGs were randomly selected to further validate the accuracy of RNA-Seq dataset by reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. This study provides substantial transcriptomic information regarding the SG of D. citri in response to CLas infection, which may shed light on the molecular interaction between D. citri and CLas, and provides new ideas for the prevention and control of citrus psyllid.

Modified kaolinites possess excellent adsorption properties and, therefore, are regarded widely as potential catalytic components. The use of modified kaolinites as a catalytic component for Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) has remained unexplored, however. In the current study, delaminated and pit-rich nano-kaolinite was prepared via acid treatment of N-methylformamide (NMF)-intercalated kaolinite (intercalation-etching strategy), and was used as a support to prepare a cobalt-based FTS catalyst (denoted as 15%-Co-HNKln). Compared with other FTS catalysts, the supports for which were raw kaolinite or directly acid-treated kaolinite, the 15%-Co-HNKln showed several advantages such as large specific surface area, dispersed Co particles with small particle size, more new active sites, and significant surface acidity. Given the aforementioned advantages, the 15%-Co-HNKln catalyst demonstrated very good FTS performance. Compared with that of the raw kaolinite-supported FTS catalyst, the CO conversion rate and C5–C12 hydrocarbon selectivity of 15%-Co-HNKln increased by 20% and 15%, respectively.

Dysmenorrhea is associated with epilepsy. Existing evidence is mostly limited to observational studies, which are liable to confounding and bias. This study investigated the causal relevance of dysmenorrhea on epilepsy using Mendelian randomization (MR). We extracted instrumental variants for dysmenorrhea and epilepsy from published genomewide association study data, focusing on individuals of East Asian descent. A comprehensive suite of MR estimations and sensitivity analyses was performed to ensure the robustness of the findings. Each outcome database was analyzed separately in both directions. For dysmenorrhea and epilepsy, 7 and 3 genetic variants respectively were selectively extracted as instrumental variants. The results suggest that dysmenorrhea is causally associated with an elevated risk of epilepsy (inverse variance weighted [IVW]: OR = 1.26; 95% CI [1.07, 1.47]; p = 4.42 × 10−3); conversely, no strong evidence was found to corroborate that epilepsy exerts a causal effect on the incidence of dysmenorrhea (IVW: OR = 1.04; 95% CI [0.82, 1.33]; p = .72). These findings provide novel insights into the causal relationship between dysmenorrhea and epilepsy, which may have implications for clinical decision-making in patients with epilepsy and dysmenorrhea.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to an initial increase in the incidence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) from clinical cultures in South-East Asia hospitals, which was unsustained as the pandemic progressed. Conversely, there was a decrease in CRE incidence from surveillance cultures and overall combined incidence. Further studies are needed for future pandemic preparedness.

A growing appreciation of the potential benefits of experimentation to tame the complexities of urban transformation has led to an increase in related research activity. Building on a “practice-to-policy” experimentation-based framework, this paper investigates the adaptive policymaking process for urban regeneration in Shenzhen since the 2000s. It finds that “explorative experimentation” is used to identify a general direction in the absence of a clear route for the policy process, while “generative experimentation” is sequentially dedicated to specific issues for the improvement of the entire policy package within a particular reform. We argue that understanding the successive roles or hybrid functions of these two types of experiment adds new insights to the development rationales for Shenzhen's urban regeneration and provides inspiration for an experimental model of urban governance. Governments and policymakers can benefit from the experimentation-based approach, as presented in the Shenzhen case, to pursue policy innovation embedded in local contexts.

Despite observed ethnic differences in eating patterns and obesity, evidence in China is limited. This study examined ethnic differences in eating patterns and their associations with weight outcomes among multi-ethnic adults in West China. A cross-sectional survey collected self-reported data on demographics, eating behaviours, weight and height in 2021. Principal component analysis and multivariate regression were conducted to identify eating patterns and examine their associations with weight outcomes. In total, 4407 subjects aged ≥ 18 years were recruited across seven provinces in West China. Four eating patterns were identified: ‘meat-lover’ – characterised by frequent consumption of meat and dairy products, ‘indulgent’ – by frequent intakes of added salt, sugar, alcohol and pickled food, ‘diversified-eating’ – by frequently consuming food with diversified cooking methods and eating out and ‘nutri-health-concerned’ – by good food hygiene behaviours and reading food labels. Ethnic differences in eating patterns were observed. Compared with Han, Hui were less likely to exhibit meat-lover or diversified-eating patterns; Tibetans were less likely to have meat-lover or nutri-health-concerned patterns; Mongolians were more likely to have indulgent pattern. BMI was positively associated with meat-lover pattern in both genders (exp(β): 1·029; 95 % CI: 1·001, 1·058 for men; 1·018; 1·000, 1·036 for women) and negatively associated with nutri-health-concerned pattern in women (0·983; 0·966, 1·000). Mongolians were two times more likely to be overweight/obese than Han (OR: 3·126; 1·688, 5·790). Considerable ethnic differences existed in eating patterns in West China. Mongolians were more likely to be overweight/obese, which was associated with their indulgent eating patterns. Ethnic-specific healthy eating intervention programs are needed.

The discharged capillary plasma channel has been extensively studied as a high-gradient particle acceleration and transmission medium. A novel measurement method of plasma channel density profiles has been employed, where the role of plasma channels guiding the advantages of lasers has shown strong appeal. Here, we have studied the high-order transverse plasma density profile distribution using a channel-guided laser, and made detailed measurements of its evolution under various parameters. The paraxial wave equation in a plasma channel with high-order density profile components is analyzed, and the approximate propagation process based on the Gaussian profile laser is obtained on this basis, which agrees well with the simulation under phase conditions. In the experiments, by measuring the integrated transverse laser intensities at the outlet of the channels, the radial quartic density profiles of the plasma channels have been obtained. By precisely synchronizing the detection laser pulses and the plasma channels at various moments, the reconstructed density profile shows an evolution from the radial quartic profile to the quasi-parabolic profile, and the high-order component is indicated as an exponential decline tendency over time. Factors affecting the evolution rate were investigated by varying the incentive source and capillary parameters. It can be found that the discharge voltages and currents are positive factors quickening the evolution, while the electron-ion heating, capillary radii and pressures are negative ones. One plausible explanation is that quartic profile contributions may be linked to plasma heating. This work helps one to understand the mechanisms of the formation, the evolutions of the guiding channel electron-density profiles and their dependences on the external controllable parameters. It provides support and reflection for physical research on discharged capillary plasma and optimizing plasma channels in various applications.

In this study, a toroidal quartz ( $20\overline{2}3$ ) crystal is designed for monochromatic X-ray imaging at 72.3°. The designed crystal produces excellent images of a laser-produced plasma emitting He-like Ti X-rays at 4.75 keV. Based on the simulations, the imaging resolutions of the spherical and toroidal crystals in the sagittal direction are found to be 15 and 5 μm, respectively. Moreover, the simulation results show that a higher resolution image of the source can be obtained by using a toroidal crystal. An X-ray backlight imaging experiment is conducted using 4.75 keV He-like Ti X-rays, a 3 × 3 metal grid, an imaging plate and a toroidal quartz crystal with a lattice constant of 2d = 0.2749 nm. The meridional and sagittal radii of the toroidal α-quartz crystal are 295.6 and 268.5 mm, respectively. A highly resolved image of the microgrid, with a spatial resolution of 10 μm, is obtained in the experiment. By using similar toroidal crystal designs, the application of a spatially resolved spectrometer with high-resolution X-ray imaging ability is capable of providing imaging data with the same magnification ratio in the sagittal and meridional planes.

The fish-eye star sensor with a field of view (FOV) of 180° is an important piece of equipment for attitude determination, which improves the visibility of stars significantly. However, it also brings the star identification (star-ID) difficulties because of imprecise calibrations. Thus, a fish-eye star-ID algorithm supported by the integration of the precise point positioning/inertial navigation system (PPP/INS) is proposed. At first, a reference star map is generated in combination with the distortion model of the fish-eye camera based on the position and attitude information from the PPP/INS. Then the star points are extracted in a specific neighbourhood of the reference star points. Subsequently, the extracted star points are individually tested and identified according to angular distance error. Finally, the real-time precise attitude is determined based on the star-ID results. Experimental results show that, 270–310 stars can be identified in a fish-eye star map with an average time of 0.03 s if the initial attitude error is smaller than 1.5° and an attitude determination accuracy better than 10″ can be achieved by support from PPP/INS.

The subduction model of the Neo-Tethys during the Early Cretaceous has always been a controversial topic, and the scarcity of Early Cretaceous magmatic rocks in the southern part of the Gangdese batholith is the main cause of this debate. To address this issue, this article presents new zircon U–Pb chronology, zircon Hf isotope, whole-rock geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotope data for the Early Cretaceous quartz diorite dykes with adakite affinity in Liuqiong, Gongga. Zircon U–Pb dating of three samples yielded ages of c. 141–137 Ma, indicating that the Liuqiong quartz diorite was emplaced in the Early Cretaceous. The whole-rock geochemical analysis shows that the Liuqiong quartz diorite is enriched in large-ion lithophile elements (LILEs) and light rare-earth elements (LREEs) and is depleted in high-field-strength elements (HFSEs), which are related to slab subduction. Additionally, the Liuqiong quartz diorite has high SiO2, Al2O3 and Sr contents, high Sr/Y ratios and low heavy rare-earth element (HREE) and Y contents, which are compatible with typical adakite signatures. The initial 87Sr/86Sr values of the Liuqiong adakite range from 0.705617 to 0.705853, and the whole-rock ϵNd(t) values vary between +5.78 and +6.24. The zircon ϵHf(t) values vary from +11.5 to +16.4. Our results show that the Liuqiong adakite magma was derived from partial melting of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic plate (mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) + sediment + fluid), with some degree of subsequent peridotite interaction within the overlying mantle wedge. Combining regional data, we favour the interpretation that the Neo-Tethyan oceanic crust was subducted at a low angle beneath the Gangdese during the Early Cretaceous.

Sporadic clusters of healthcare-associated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) occurred despite intense rostered routine surveillance and a highly vaccinated healthcare worker (HCW) population, during a community surge of the severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B.1.617.2 δ (delta) variant. Genomic analysis facilitated timely cluster detection and uncovered additional linkages via HCWs moving between clinical areas and among HCWs sharing a common lunch area, enabling early intervention.

Listeriosis is a rare but serious foodborne disease caused by Listeria monocytogenes. This matched case–control study (1:1 ratio) aimed to identify the risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits for the occurrence of sporadic listeriosis in Beijing, China. Cases were defined as patients from whom Listeria was isolated, in addition to the presence of symptoms, including fever, bacteraemia, sepsis and other clinical manifestations corresponding to listeriosis, which were reported via the Beijing Foodborne Disease Surveillance System. Basic patient information and possible risk factors associated with food consumption and food-handling habits were collected through face-to-face interviews. One hundred and six cases were enrolled from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020, including 52 perinatal cases and 54 non-perinatal cases. In the non-perinatal group, the consumption of Chinese cold dishes increased the risk of infection by 3.43-fold (95% confidence interval 1.27–9.25, χ2 = 5.92, P = 0.02). In the perinatal group, the risk of infection reduced by 95.2% when raw and cooked foods were well-separated (χ2 = 5.11, P = 0.02). These findings provide important scientific evidence for preventing infection by L. monocytogenes and improving the dissemination of advice regarding food safety for vulnerable populations.

We elucidate the vortex dynamics of flows past a flapping plate using the vortex-surface field (VSF) and develop models for estimating thrust from shedding vortex surfaces in wakes. The VSF evolution is calculated from numerical simulation using the immersed boundary method. The VSF visualization reveals that a spoon-like vortex surface dominated by tip vortex lines is formed and periodically shed into the wake owing to the alternating upstroke and downstroke of the flapping plate. We simplify the finite-domain impulse theory based on a particular vortex surface. The simplified theory demonstrates that the force on the plate is only dependent on the vortical impulse and Lamb-vector integral of the vortex surface enclosing the plate. Then, we propose a time-averaged thrust model from near-wake discrete vortex surfaces, where the incorporation of the Lamb-vector integral significantly improves the model estimation from the impulse model. Furthermore, we estimate the mean thrust based on two arbitrary vortex surfaces in the far wake from the linear impulse decay of periodically shedding vortex surfaces, which provides a possible approach to infer the state of the moving body in experimental investigation and practical applications.

Fullerene dimers have attracted extensive attention due to their unique structures and fascinating properties. Here, fullerene dimer derivatives with four to six carbon atoms in the esters are designed and synthesized. The property differences that caused by the carbon number in the esters of the fullerene dimers are investigated by performing their electrochemical, optical, and photoelectric measurements. As the carbon atom numbers in the esters increase from four to five and six, the absorption intensities increase to 1.6- and 4.4-folds. The intensities of the fluorescence spectra increase to 1.8- and 5.2-folds. Their photocurrent increases to 2- and 7-folds under the irradiation of a 405-nm laser. The LUMO energy levels move downward slightly from −3.89 to −3.90 and −3.92 eV, respectively. Our results indicate that as the carbon number increases, the carbon chain lengths in the ester structures increase, very slight effects produced on the energy levels of the fullerene dimers, but strongly contribute to their chemical activities and thus the photoelectronic efficiencies.