This study presents observations of coherent modes (CMs) in a spherical tokamak using a microwave interferometer near the midplane. The CMs within the 30–60 kHz frequency range were observed during electron cyclotron resonance heating only, and the frequency of the CMs increased proportionally with the square root of the electron temperature near $R = 0.7m$. Generally, these modes displayed bursting and chirping signatures with strong density rise and fall. Their appearance indicated an increase in the intensity of hard x rays, suggesting a deterioration in energetic electron confinement. Furthermore, the effect of CMs on the intensity of energetic electron-driven whistler waves was observed. They decreased when CMs were present and gradually increased with the decrease in CM intensity. The CMs may influence the intensity of whistler waves by affecting the energetic electron confinement.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently been widely applied in a comprehensive realm. By enhancing computer photography and artificial intelligence, UAVs can automatically discriminate against environmental objectives and detect events that occur in the real scene. The application of collaborative UAVs will offer diverse interpretations which support a multiperspective view of the scene. Due to the diverse interpretations of UAVs usually deviating, UAVs require a consensus interpretation for the scenario. This study presents an original consensus-based method to pilot multi-UAV systems for achieving consensus on their observation as well as constructing a group situation-based depiction of the scenario. Taylor series are used to describe the fuzzy nonlinear plant and derive the stability analysis using polynomial functions, which have the representations $V(x )={m_{\textrm{1} \le l \le N}}({{V_\textrm{l}}(x )} )$ and ${V_l}(x )={x^T}{P_l}(x )x$. Due to the fact that the ${\dot{P}_l}(x )$ in ${\dot{V}_l}(x )={\dot{x}^T}{P_l}(x )x + {x^T}{\dot{P}_l}(x )x + {x^T}{P_l}(x )\dot{x}$ will yield intricate terms to ensure a stability criterion, we aim to avoid these kinds of issues by proposing a polynomial homogeneous framework and using Euler's functions for homogeneous systems. First, this method permits each UAV to establish high-level conditions from the probed events via a fuzzy-based aggregation event. The evaluated consensus indicates how suitable is the scenario collective interpretation for every UAV perspective.

Transient numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the influence of large amplitude and fast impact backpressure on a shock train. The fundamental problem consists of a shock train within a constant-area channel with a Ma=1.61 inflow and a pulse backpressure applied to the outlet. The pressure disturbance in the isolator has an intense forcing-response lag. From the moment of the backpressure peak appearance, it takes 36 times the backpressure duration for the pressure disturbance to reach the upstream end. It moves upstream with time in the form of a normal shock wave. As time progresses, the normal shock degenerates into a $\lambda $ shock and a compression wave behind due to the action of viscous dissipation in the boundary layer. Eventually, a multi-stage shock train is formed. The maximum backpropagation distance is a quadratic function of both the pulse backpressure peak and duration, and the relationship between these variables was determined by fitting. When the integral value of backpressure to time is fixed, reducing the backpressure peak while increasing the duration will reduce the backpressure pulsation at the isolator outlet, which will be more conducive to shortening the maximum backpropagation distance than reducing the duration and increasing the backpressure peak. The values of backpressure peak and duration are obtained from the detonation combustion case, which ensures the authenticity of backpressure characteristics. The relevant research conclusions can provide a reference for the design of the isolator of pulse detonation ramjet.

Risk of bias assessment is a critical step of any meta-analysis or systematic review. Given the low sample count of many microbiome studies, especially observational or cohort studies involving human subjects, many microbiome studies have low power. This increases the importance of performing meta-analysis and systematic review for microbiome research in order to enhance the relevance and applicability of microbiome results. This work proposes a method based on the ROBINS-I tool to systematically consider sources of bias in microbiome research seeking to perform meta-analysis or systematic review for microbiome studies.

Although a coaxial compound helicopter can takeoff without propeller in the normal condition, the distance should be as short as possible for obstacle avoidance when the vehicle operates in a confined area with heavy loads. Therefore, a suitable propeller control is required to improve the takeoff performance while the total power consumption is no more than the available power. The path is predicted by applying trajectory optimisation. Several varying takeoff parameters, including attitude, liftoff speed and obstacle height, are considered for optimum global performance. Three path indicators are proposed. Apart from typical distance and pilot workload, path sensitivity is quantified based on deviation from takeoff parameter variation. Results indicated that low propeller thrust at hover and moderate allocation on the propeller through flight is recommended. The aircraft achieves significantly improved takeoff performance compared to flight with pure rotors while maintaining the maximum takeoff weight. The distance is shortened by 12.6%, and the longitudinal pilot workload is alleviated by 9.8% and 7.3% from mean and maximum power frequency aspects. Besides, the path is less sensitive to takeoff parameter variations, such as speed, altitude and height.

Ice breaking has become one of the main problems faced by ships and other equipment operating in an ice-covered water region. New methods are always being pursued and studied to improve ice-breaking capabilities and efficiencies. Based on the strong damage capability, a high-speed water jet impact is proposed to be used to break an ice plate in contact with water. A series of experiments of water jet impacting ice were performed in a transparent water tank, where the water jets at tens of metres per second were generated by a home-made device and circular ice plates of various thicknesses and scales were produced in a cold room. The entire evolution of the water jet and ice was recorded by two high-speed cameras from the top and front views simultaneously. The focus was the responses of the ice plate, such as crack development and breakup, under the high-speed water jet loads, which involved compressible pressure ${P_1}$ and incompressible pressure ${P_2}$. According to the main cause and crack development sequence, it was found that the damage of the ice could be roughly divided into five patterns. On this basis, the effects of water jet strength, ice thickness, ice plate size and boundary conditions were also investigated. Experiments validated the ice-breaking capability of the high-speed water jet, which could be a new auxiliary ice-breaking method in the future.

Alfvén wave collisions are the primary building blocks of the non-relativistic turbulence that permeates the heliosphere and low- to moderate-energy astrophysical systems. However, many astrophysical systems such as gamma-ray bursts, pulsar and magnetar magnetospheres and active galactic nuclei have relativistic flows or energy densities. To better understand these high-energy systems, we derive reduced relativistic magnetohydrodynamics equations and employ them to examine weak Alfvénic turbulence, dominated by three-wave interactions, in reduced relativistic magnetohydrodynamics, including the force-free, infinitely magnetized limit. We compare both numerical and analytical solutions to demonstrate that many of the findings from non-relativistic weak turbulence are retained in relativistic systems. But, an important distinction in the relativistic limit is the inapplicability of a formally incompressible limit, i.e. there exists finite coupling to the compressible fast mode regardless of the strength of the magnetic field. Since fast modes can propagate across field lines, this mechanism provides a route for energy to escape strongly magnetized systems, e.g. magnetar magnetospheres. However, we find that the fast-Alfvén coupling is diminished in the limit of oblique propagation.

Alfvén waves as excited in black hole accretion disks and neutron star magnetospheres are the building blocks of turbulence in relativistic, magnetized plasmas. A large reservoir of magnetic energy is available in these systems, such that the plasma can be heated significantly even in the weak turbulence regime. We perform high-resolution three-dimensional simulations of counter-propagating Alfvén waves, showing that an $E_{B_{\perp }}(k_{\perp }) \propto k_{\perp }^{-2}$ energy spectrum develops as a result of the weak turbulence cascade in relativistic magnetohydrodynamics and its infinitely magnetized (force-free) limit. The plasma turbulence ubiquitously generates current sheets, which act as locations where magnetic energy dissipates. We show that current sheets form as a natural result of nonlinear interactions between counter-propagating Alfvén waves. These current sheets form owing to the compression of elongated eddies, driven by the shear induced by growing higher-order modes, and undergo a thinning process until they break-up into small-scale turbulent structures. We explore the formation of current sheets both in overlapping waves and in localized wave packet collisions. The relativistic interaction of localized Alfvén waves induces both Alfvén waves and fast waves, and efficiently mediates the conversion and dissipation of electromagnetic energy in astrophysical systems. Plasma energization through reconnection in current sheets emerging during the interaction of Alfvén waves can potentially explain X-ray emission in black hole accretion coronae and neutron star magnetospheres.

We present an overview of the Middle Ages Galaxy Properties with Integral Field Spectroscopy (MAGPI) survey, a Large Program on the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope. MAGPI is designed to study the physical drivers of galaxy transformation at a lookback time of 3–4 Gyr, during which the dynamical, morphological, and chemical properties of galaxies are predicted to evolve significantly. The survey uses new medium-deep adaptive optics aided Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) observations of fields selected from the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, providing a wealth of publicly available ancillary multi-wavelength data. With these data, MAGPI will map the kinematic and chemical properties of stars and ionised gas for a sample of 60 massive ( ${>}7 \times 10^{10} {\mathrm{M}}_\odot$ ) central galaxies at $0.25 < z <0.35$ in a representative range of environments (isolated, groups and clusters). The spatial resolution delivered by MUSE with Ground Layer Adaptive Optics ( $0.6-0.8$ arcsec FWHM) will facilitate a direct comparison with Integral Field Spectroscopy surveys of the nearby Universe, such as SAMI and MaNGA, and at higher redshifts using adaptive optics, for example, SINS. In addition to the primary (central) galaxy sample, MAGPI will deliver resolved and unresolved spectra for as many as 150 satellite galaxies at $0.25 < z <0.35$ , as well as hundreds of emission-line sources at $z < 6$ . This paper outlines the science goals, survey design, and observing strategy of MAGPI. We also present a first look at the MAGPI data, and the theoretical framework to which MAGPI data will be compared using the current generation of cosmological hydrodynamical simulations including EAGLE, Magneticum, HORIZON-AGN, and Illustris-TNG. Our results show that cosmological hydrodynamical simulations make discrepant predictions in the spatially resolved properties of galaxies at $z\approx 0.3$ . MAGPI observations will place new constraints and allow for tangible improvements in galaxy formation theory.

Previous studies have revealed associations of meteorological factors with tuberculosis (TB) cases. However, few studies have examined their lag effects on TB cases. This study was aimed to analyse nonlinear lag effects of meteorological factors on the number of TB notifications in Hong Kong. Using a 22-year consecutive surveillance data in Hong Kong, we examined the association of monthly average temperature and relative humidity with temporal dynamics of the monthly number of TB notifications using a distributed lag nonlinear models combined with a Poisson regression. The relative risks (RRs) of TB notifications were >1.15 as monthly average temperatures were between 16.3 and 17.3 °C at lagged 13–15 months, reaching the peak risk of 1.18 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.35) when it was 16.8 °C at lagged 14 months. The RRs of TB notifications were >1.05 as relative humidities of 60.0–63.6% at lagged 9–11 months expanded to 68.0–71.0% at lagged 12–17 months, reaching the highest risk of 1.06 (95% CI 1.01–1.11) when it was 69.0% at lagged 13 months. The nonlinear and delayed effects of average temperature and relative humidity on TB epidemic were identified, which may provide a practical reference for improving the TB warning system.

Porphyromonas gingivalis has been linked to the development and progression of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and is considered to be a high-risk factor for ESCC. Currently, the commonly used methods for P. gingivalis detection are culture or DNA extraction-based, which are either time and labour intensive especially for high-throughput applications. We aimed to establish and evaluate a rapid and sensitive direct quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) protocol for the detection of P. gingivalis without DNA extraction which is suitable for large-scale epidemiological studies. Paired gingival swab samples from 192 subjects undergoing general medical examinations were analysed using two direct and one extraction-based qPCR assays for P. gingivalis. Tris-EDTA buffer-based direct qPCR (TE-direct qPCR), lysis-based direct qPCR (lysis-direct qPCR) and DNA extraction-based qPCR (kit-qPCR) were used, respectively, in 192, 132 and 60 of these samples for quantification of P. gingivalis. The sensitivity and specificity of TE-direct qPCR was 95.24% and 100% compared with lysis-direct qPCR, which was 100% and 97.30% when compared with kit-qPCR; TE-direct qPCR had an almost perfect agreement with lysis-direct qPCR (κ = 0.954) and kit-qPCR (κ = 0.965). Moreover, the assay time used for TE-direct qPCR was 1.5 h. In conclusion, the TE-direct qPCR assay is a simple and efficient method for the quantification of oral P. gingivalis and showed high sensitivity and specificity compared with routine qPCR.