Echinococcosis lacks sensitive serological diagnostic tools. The echinococcosis-specific antigens Eg95, AgB8/1 and the Em18 gene sequences were fused and expressed as the novel recombinant antigens rAgB8/1-Em18-Eg95 (T3) and rEm18-Eg95 (T2), used for the diagnosis of hydatid disease, prepared into an enzyme-linked immunosorbent reaction (ELISA) kit, and evaluated for their serological diagnostic value. The relative molecular weight of the T3 protein was 88.1 kDa, the purified concentration was 1.5 mg mL−1, and the purity was 80%. The relative molecular weight of T2 protein was 79.9 kDa, the total protein concentration was 0.5 mg mL−1, and the purity was less than 50%. The overall coincidence rate of T2 protein was low, and it was impossible to distinguish between negative and positive sera. The T3 antigen was coated at 1.0 μg mL−1, the cutoff value was 0.5271, and the serum dilution ratio was 1:400. A T3 ELISA kits (96 tests) was constructed to detect the serum of 272 clinically and pathologically confirmed cases. The sensitivity of T3 was 93.8%, and the specificity was 83.3%. The parasite cross-reaction was 30%. Satisfactorily, the Pearson correlation coefficient between the T3 OD value and lesion diameter was 0.707, showing a strong correlation. T3 exhibits better antigenicity than T2, and the prepared T3 ELISA diagnostic kits reached the laboratory diagnostic level of a commercial kits. T3 can distinguish human cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinococcosis (AE) more significantly and predict the diameter of lesions according to the OD value, which provides practical value for drug or surgical efficacy.

Vapour bubbles produced by long-pulsed laser often have complex non-spherical shapes that reflect some characteristics of the laser beam. The transition between two commonly observed shapes, namely, a rounded pear-like shape and an elongated conical shape, is studied using a new computational model that combines compressible multiphase fluid dynamics with laser radiation and phase transition. Two laboratory experiments are simulated, in which a holmium:YAG or thulium fibre laser is used to generate bubbles of different shapes. In both cases, the predicted bubble nucleation and morphology agree reasonably well with the experimental observation. The full-field results of laser irradiance, temperature, velocity and pressure are analysed to explain bubble dynamics and energy transmission. It is found that due to the lasting energy input, the vapour bubble's dynamics is driven not only by advection, but also by the continued vaporisation at its surface. Vaporisation lasts less than $1~{\rm \mu}$s in the case of the pear-shaped bubble, compared with over $50~{\rm \mu}$s for the elongated bubble. It is thus hypothesised that the bubble's morphology is determined by competition. When the speed of advection is higher than that of vaporisation, the bubble tends to grow spherically. Otherwise, it elongates along the laser beam direction. To test this hypothesis, the two speeds are defined analytically using a model problem, then estimated for the experiments using simulation results. The results support the hypothesis. They also suggest that when the laser's power is fixed, a higher laser absorption coefficient and a narrower beam facilitate bubble elongation.

The influence of free-stream conicity on the various aspects of the flow over a spherical test model is examined using both analytical and numerical methods. For the analytical method, a simple closed-form analytical model is assembled. Six different free-stream conditions with different Mach numbers, Reynolds numbers and thermochemistry are tested at four different degrees of conicity corresponding to those which can realistically be encountered in experiments. It is found that the results around the stagnation point are mostly insensitive to the flow condition and gas type, except for some mild non-equilibrium effects, and excellent agreement between the analytical and numerical results exists. The shock stand-off distance on the stagnation streamline is shown to decrease with increasing conicity. This decrease increases the tangential velocity gradient at the stagnation point, increasing the stagnation point heat flux and decreasing the stagnation point boundary layer thickness. The free-stream conicity is also found to alter the normalized distributions of the shock stand-off distance, heat flux, surface pressure and boundary layer thickness with the angle from the stagnation point. In general, increasing the conicity magnifies the slope of these distributions. Regarding the boundary layer transition, it is found that, if it occurs in a uniform free stream, it would also occur in a conical free stream, albeit with the transition point shifted upstream closer to the stagnation point due to the increase in the boundary layer edge tangential velocity. Overall, considering the relevant experimental uncertainties, corrections for free-stream conicity are generally recommended when larger test models are used.

The integration of camera and LiDAR technologies has the potential to significantly enhance construction robots’ perception capabilities by providing complementary construction information. Structured light cameras (SLCs) are a desirable alternative as they provide comprehensive information on construction defects. However, fusing these two types of information depends largely on the sensors’ relative positions, which can only be established through extrinsic calibration. This paper introduces a novel calibration algorithm considering a customized board for SLCs and repetitive LiDARs, which are designed to facilitate the automation of construction robots. The calibration board is equipped with four symmetrically distributed hemispheres, whose centers are obtained by fitting the spheres and adoption with the geometric constraints. Subsequently, the spherical centers serve as reference features to estimate the relationship between the sensors. These distinctive features enable our proposed method to only require one calibration board pose and minimize human intervention. We conducted both simulation and real-world experiments to assess the performance of our algorithm. And the results demonstrate that our method exhibits enhanced accuracy and robustness.

A single-shot measurement of electron emittance was experimentally accomplished using a focused transfer line with a dipole. The betatron phase of electrons based on laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) is energy dependent owing to the coupling of the longitudinal acceleration field and the transverse focusing (defocusing) field in the bubble. The phase space presents slice information after phase compensation relative to the center energy. Fitting the transverse size of the electron beam at different energy slices in the energy spectrum measured 0.27 mm mrad in the experiment. The diagnosis of slice emittance facilitates local electron quality manipulation, which is important for the development of LWFA-based free electron lasers. The quasi-3D particle-in-cell simulations matched the experimental results and analysis well.

Hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (HAE) is a potentially fatal disease caused by the larval growth of Echinococcus multilocularis. We analysed the clinical data of 178 consecutive HAE patients treated with definitive radical surgery at our institution. According to the surgical approach: group A patients underwent direct radical hepatic resection; group B patients first underwent percutaneous puncture external drainage, followed by radical hepatic resection 2 months later; group C patients underwent a two-step hepatic resection; and group D patients underwent liver transplantation. The baseline characteristics, mortality, postoperative complications and recurrence rates were evaluated. Symptoms were present in 79.8% (142/178) patients. Bi-lobar lesion was found in 34 (19.1%, 34/178) patients, 47.2% (84/178) of whom had ⩾2 lesions each. There were no intraoperative deaths. The postoperative mortality was 2.29% in group A, 8.62% in group D and 0% in groups B and C. The main cause of death was a serious postoperative complication (Clavien–Dindo grades III–V). Patients were followed-up systematically for a median of 35.8 months (8–72) without recurrence. Active HAE should be treated by radical liver resection, and the complicated alveolar echinococcosis of the liver has been managed whenever possible using principles of radical liver resection by experienced hepatic surgeons.

Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (s.s.), Echinococcus multilocularis and Echinococcus canadensis are the common causes of human echinococcosis in China. An accurate species identification tool for human echinococcosis is needed as the treatments and prognosis are different among species. The present work demonstrates a method for the simultaneous detection of these three Echinococcus species based on multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR). Specific primers of this mPCR were designed based on the mitochondrial genes and determined by extensive tests. The method can successfully detect either separated or mixed target species, and generate expected amplicons of distinct size for each species. Sensitivity of the method was tested by serially diluted DNA, showing a detection threshold as less as 0.32 pg for both E. granulosus s.s. and E. canadensis, and 1.6 pg for E. multilocularis. Specificity assessed against 18 other parasites was found to be 100% except weakly cross-react with E. shiquicus. The assay was additionally applied to 69 echinococcosis patients and 38 healthy persons, confirming the high reliability of the method. Thus, the mPCR described here has high application potential for clinical identification purposes, and can further provide a useful tool for evaluation of serology and imaging method.

Energy chirp compensation of the electron bunch (e-bunch) in a laser wakefield accelerator, which is caused by the phase space rotation in the gradient wakefield, has been applied in many schemes for low energy spread e-bunch generation. We report the experimental observation of energy chirp compensation of the e-bunch in a nonlinear laser wakefield accelerator with a negligible beam loading effect. By adjusting the acceleration length using a wedge-roof block, the chirp compensation of the accelerated e-bunch was observed via an electron spectrometer. Apart from this, some significant parameters for the compensation process, such as the longitudinal dispersion and wakefield slope at the bunch position, were also estimated. A detailed comparison between experiment and simulation shows good agreement of the wakefield and bunch parameters. These results give a clear demonstration of the longitudinal characteristics of the wakefield in a plasma and the bunch dynamics, which are important for better control of a compact laser wakefield accelerator.

In this study, we investigate a new simple scheme using a planar undulator (PU) together with a properly dispersed electron beam ($e$ beam) with a large energy spread (${\sim}1\%$) to enhance the free-electron laser (FEL) gain. For a dispersed $e$ beam in a PU, the resonant condition is satisfied for the center electrons, while the frequency detuning increases for the off-center electrons, inhibiting the growth of the radiation. The PU can act as a filter for selecting the electrons near the beam center to achieve the radiation. Although only the center electrons contribute, the radiation can be enhanced significantly owing to the high-peak current of the beam. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that this method can be used for the improvement of the radiation performance, which has great significance for short-wavelength FEL applications.

We investigate the changes at nine glaciers in the Ningchan and Shuiguan river source, eastern Qilian Mountains, between 1972 and 2010. According to analysis of topographic maps and multispectral satellite data, all nine glaciers in the study area have retreated, by a maximum of 250 ± 57.4 m and a minimum of 91 ± 57.4 m. The total glacier area decreased by 1.20 km2, corresponding to 9.9% of the glacierized area in 1972. Comparing the two DEMs generated from the topographic maps and Real-Time Kinematic GPS data, the mean glacier thinning rate was 0.64 m yr− 1 between 1972 and 2010. The most significant thinning generally occurred on the termini. The ice-volume loss was about 106.8 ± 46.7 × 10− 3 km3 (equal to 90.8 ± 39.7 × 10− 3 km3 w.e.), which suggested a mean water discharge of 0.1 ± 0.05 m3/s during 1972–2010. Based on analysis of meteorological data, the summer temperature (June–August) tends to increase over a similar time period. The consistency of temperature increase and glacier shrinkage allows us to suggest that air temperature plays an important role in glacier changes in this region.

We introduce a new set of multifunctional metal-coordinating polymers as ligands for the surface functionalization of three different inorganic nanocrystals: luminescent quantum dots (QDs), magnetic iron oxide nanocrystals and metal gold nanoparticles. The ligand design relies on the introduction of a large but controllable number of anchoring groups, hydrophilic moieties and reactive functionalities all in the same polymer chain, via a one-step nucleophilic addition reaction. Nanocrystals capped with these polymer ligands exhibit long-term stability over a broad range of biological conditions. Furthermore, when zwitterion groups are introduced as hydrophilic blocks, this yields a compact ligand coating that allows conjugation of biomolecules to the nanocrystals via metal-histidine self-assembly. The resulting hydrophilic nanocrystals have been used to develop a few specific sensing platforms targeting soluble iron ions and cysteine.

We report here investigations on the superstructure modulation induced by the ordering of carbon vacancies in the nonstoichiometric zirconium carbide of ZrC0.61, which was prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) of the mechanochemically synthesized ZrCx nanopowders. The sintered ZrC0.61 is found to exhibit an interesting microstructure of interlaced laminated sheets. In contrast to the previous long duration post annealing for realization of the ordered carbon vacancies in the rocksalt-structured transition metal carbide, the ordered carbon vacancies are directly obtained during the SPS process, and no post-annealing period is necessary. With the help of transmission electron microscopy, the superstructural nanodomains with the average size of ∼30 nm are identified.

In this paper, series crystals Nd:Gd0.8La0.2VO4, Nd:Gd0.6La0.4VO4, and Nd:Gd0.45La0.55VO4 were grown by the Czochralski method. The structure and lattice constants of the series crystals were measured. The morphology of Nd:Gd0.8La0.2VO4 is discussed, and it is composed of {100} and {101} simple forms. The thermal expansion and specific heat of the Nd:Gd0.8La0.2VO4 crystal were also measured. The absorption and emission spectra of the Nd:Gd0.8La0.2VO4 and Nd:Gd0.6La0.4VO4 crystals were measured at room temperature. The laser outputs at 1.06 and 1.34 μm were determined when a crystal sample of Nd:Gd0.8La0.2VO4 was pumped by a laser diode at 808 nm, and the visible green and red laser outputs of the intracavity frequency double at 0.53 and 0.67 μm were determined when nonlinear KTiOPO4 and LiB3O5 crystals were used.

The SiGe:C hetero-structure bipolar transistor (HBT) has turned into a key technology for wireless communication. This paper describes the metrology tools for SiGe epitaxy process control. Two types of analysis are critical, (1) routine control of SiGe base and Si cap thicknesses, location and thickness of the doping layer, doping dose, Ge composition profile, and their uniformity across the wafer; and (2) root-cause analysis on non-routine problems. This is achieved by developing a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique allowing a thickness measurement with a reproducibility better than 3 Å. Charge-compensated low-energy secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) using an optical conductivity enhancement (OCE) allows a Ge composition measurement to a required precision of 0.5 at. %.