This paper provides an overview of the current status of ultrafast and ultra-intense lasers with peak powers exceeding 100 TW and examines the research activities in high-energy-density physics within China. Currently, 10 high-intensity lasers with powers over 100 TW are operational, and about 10 additional lasers are being constructed at various institutes and universities. These facilities operate either independently or are combined with one another, thereby offering substantial support for both Chinese and international research and development efforts in high-energy-density physics.

In recent years, the rapid convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and low-altitude flight technology has driven significant transformations across various industries. These advancements have showcased immense potential in areas such as logistics distribution, urban air mobility (UAM) and national defense. By adopting the AI technology, low-altitude flight technology can achieve high levels of automation and operate in coordinated swarms, thereby enhancing efficiency and precision. However, as these technologies become more pervasive, they also raise pressing ethical or moral concerns, particularly regarding privacy, public safety, as well as the risks of militarisation and weaponisation. These issues have sparked extensive debates. In summary, while the integration of AI and low-altitude flight presents revolutionary opportunities, it also introduces complex ethical challenges. This article will explore these opportunities and challenges in depth, focusing on areas such as privacy protection, public safety, military applications and legal regulation, and will propose strategies to ensure that technological advancements remain aligned with ethical or moral principles.

Using the syntactic priming paradigm, this study investigated abstract syntactic knowledge of Chinese transitive structures (i.e., subject-verb-object [SVO], BA, and BEI) in deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs). Specifically, we focused on the differences in the development of various syntactic structures (within CI children and compared with their typically hearing children) and the possible individual differences during this process. Results showed that both CI and hearing children exhibited structural priming for all syntactic structures (i.e., SVO, SbaOV structure [agent-patient ordering], and ObeiSV structure [patient-agent ordering]) after comprehending and repeating the prime sentence regardless of verb repetition. However, verb repetition induced an intense abstract priming effect in CI children but not hearing children, with the lexical boost effect more significant for SVO and BA structures. In addition, CI children’s working memory capability modulated the production of the BA structure but not SVO and BEI structures.

The emerging era of big data in radio astronomy demands more efficient and higher-quality processing of observational data. While deep learning methods have been applied to tasks such as automatic radio frequency interference (RFI) detection, these methods often face limitations, including dependence on training data and poor generalisation, which are also common issues in other deep learning applications within astronomy. In this study, we investigate the use of the open-source image recognition and segmentation model, Segment Anything Model (SAM), and its optimised version, HQ-SAM, due to their impressive generalisation capabilities. We evaluate these models across various tasks, including RFI detection and solar radio burst (SRB) identification. For RFI detection, HQ-SAM (SAM) shows performance that is comparable to or even superior to the SumThreshold method, especially with large-area broadband RFI data. In the search for SRBs, HQ-SAM demonstrates strong recognition abilities for Type II and Type III bursts. Overall, with its impressive generalisation capability, SAM (HQ-SAM) can be a promising candidate for further optimisation and application in RFI and event detection tasks in radio astronomy.

Background: Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) in older people refers to a group of syndromes that are characterized primarily by clusters of neuropsychiatric symptoms without severe cognitive impairment, which is a high-risk population for dementia. Patients often experience a variety of symptoms and exhibit high heterogeneity in symptomatology across different individuals. Classifying the psychotic symptom characteristics of MBI patients aids in the implementation of precise interventions for the next steps.

Objectives: To explore the symptom characteristics of older people with MBI and to classify them based on their symptoms.

Methods: Using a multi-stage sampling Methods, the MBI-Checklist was employed to investigate symptom characteristics in 255 older people with MBI from 32 nursing homes in Fujian Province. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was then employed to categorize these individuals based on their symptom profiles.

Results: The neuropsychiatric symptoms clusters in older people with MBI often present as a combination of lack of motivation and emotional dysregulation, lack of motivation and impulse control disorders, or emotional dysregulation and impulse control disorders; presentation of a single symptom cluster is relatively less common, accounting for 45.49%. Older people with MBI can be divided into 2 latent classes (P < 0.05) based on symptom characteristics. According to the conditional probability of each class, they were named the “high- level group’’ [211 (82.69%)] and the “low-level group’’[44 (17.31%)].

Discussion: As individuals with MBI are at high risk for developing dementia, early intervention can effectively delay or reduce the occurrence of dementia. Future interventions should be personalized based on the specific symptom characteristics of this population.

This study investigates the flow structures and combustion regimes in an axisymmetric cavity-based scramjet combustor with a total temperature of 1800 K and a high Reynolds number of approximately 1 × 107. The hydroxyl planar laser-induced fluorescence technique, along with the broadband flame emission and CH* chemiluminescence, is employed to visualize the instantaneous flame structure in the optically accessible cavity. The jet-wake flame stabilization mode is observed, with intense heat release occurring in the jet wake upstream of the cavity. A hybrid Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes/large-eddy simulation approach is performed for the 0.18-equivalent-ratio case with a pressure-corrected flamelet/progress variable model. The combustion regime is identified mainly in the corrugated or wrinkled flamelet regime (approximately 102 < Da < 104, 103 < Ret < 105 where $Da$ is the Damköhler number and $Re_t$ is the turbulent Reynolds number). The combustion process is jointly dominated by supersonic combustion (which accounts for approximately 58 %) and subsonic combustion, although subsonic combustion has a higher heat release rate (peak value exceeding 1 × 109 J (m3s)−1). A partially premixed flame is observed, where the diffusion flame packages a considerable quantity of twisted premixed flame. The shockwave plays a critical role in generating vorticity by strengthening the volumetric expansion and baroclinic torque term, and it can facilitate the chemical reaction rates through the pressure and temperature surges, thereby enhancing the combustion. Combustion also shows a remarkable effect on the overall flow structures, and it drives alterations in the vorticity of the flow field. In turn, the turbulent flow facilitates the combustion and improves the flame stabilization by enhancing the reactant mixing and increasing the flame surface area.

Timing of food intake is an emerging aspect of nutrition; however, there is a lack of research accurately assessing food timing in the context of the circadian system. The study aimed to investigate the relation between food timing relative to clock time and endogenous circadian timing with adiposity and further explore sex differences in these associations among 151 young adults aged 18–25 years. Participants wore wrist actigraphy and documented sleep and food schedules in real time for 7 consecutive days. Circadian timing was determined by dim-light melatonin onset (DLMO). The duration between last eating occasion and DLMO (last EO-DLMO) was used to calculate the circadian timing of food intake. Adiposity was assessed using bioelectrical impedance analysis. Of the 151 participants, 133 were included in the statistical analysis finally. The results demonstrated that associations of adiposity with food timing relative to circadian timing rather than clock time among young adults living in real-world settings. Sex-stratified analyses revealed that associations between last EO-DLMO and adiposity were significant in females but not males. For females, each hour increase in last EO-DLMO was associated with higher BMI by 0·51 kg/m2 (P = 0·01), higher percent body fat by 1·05 % (P = 0·007), higher fat mass by 0·99 kg (P = 0·01) and higher visceral fat area by 4·75 cm2 (P = 0·02), whereas non-significant associations were present among males. The findings highlight the importance of considering the timing of food intake relative to endogenous circadian timing instead of only as clock time.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been shown to play a significant role in oxidative stress across various tissues and cells; however, its role in sperm function remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of GYY4137, a slow-releasing H2S compound, on sperm damage induced by H2O2. We assessed the effects of GYY4137 on motility, viability, lipid peroxidation and caspase-3 activity in human spermatozoa in vitro following oxidative damage mediated by H2O2. Spermatozoa from 25 healthy men were selected using a density gradient centrifugation method and cultured in the presence or absence of 10 μM H2O2, followed by incubation with varying concentrations of GYY4137 (0.625–2.5 μM). After 24 h of incubation, sperm motility, viability, lipid peroxidation, and caspase-3 activity were evaluated. The results indicated that H2O2 adversely affected sperm parameters, reducing motility and viability, while increasing oxidative stress, as evidenced by elevated lipid peroxidation and caspase-3 activity. GYY4137 provided dose-dependent protection against H2O2-induced oxidative stress (OS). We concluded that supplementation with GYY4137 may offer antioxidant protection during in vitro sperm preparation for assisted reproductive technology.

Suppressing mode degradation is the key issue for high-power laser delivery; however, diagnosing mode degradation in its entirety, ranging from the contents and origins to locations, has always been a major obstacle. Here, a versatile approach for tracing the origins of mode coupling is demonstrated through addressing the differential intermodal dispersions of fiber modes. Full recognition for modal contents and the origins of mode degradation are experimentally completed in a two-mode fiber laser delivery system, which assists a significant improvement of beam quality M2 from 1.35 to 1.15 at the highest power of over 300 W. This method yields a quantitative characterization for manipulating the individual mode of dual-mode coupling origins or their combinations. This work points toward a promising strategy for the online tracing of mode coupling in cascade fiber links, thus enabling further pursuit of seeking extreme beam quality in high-power fiber laser systems.

Liquid crystal microwave phased arrays (LC-MPAs) are regarded as an ideal approach to realize compact antennas owing to their advantages in cost, size, weight, and power consumption. However, the shortcoming in low radiation deflection efficiency has been one of LC-MPAs’ main application limitations. To optimize the steering performance of LC-MPAs, it is essential to model the channel imperfections and compensate for the phase errors. In this paper, a phase error estimation model is built by training a neural network to establish a nonlinear relationship between the near-field phase error and the far-field pattern, hence realizing fast calibration for LC-MPAs within several measured patterns. Simulations and experiments on a 64-channel, two-dimensional planar antenna were conducted to validate this method. The results show that this method offers precise phase error estimations of 3.58° on average, realizes a fast calibration process with several field-measured radiation patterns, and improves the performances of the LC-MPA by approximately 4%–10% in deflection efficiency at different steering angles.

Bilinguals may choose to speak a language either at their own will or in response to an external demand, but the underlying neural mechanisms in the two contexts is poorly understood. In the present study, Chinese–English bilinguals named pairs of pictures in three conditions: during forced-switch, the naming language altered between pictures 1 and 2. During non-switch, the naming language used was the same. During free-naming, either the same or different languages were used at participants' own will. While behavioural switching costs were observed during free-naming and forced-switching, neuroimaging results showed that forced language selection (i.e., forced-switch and non-switch) is associated with left-lateralized frontal activations, which have been implicated in inhibitory control. Free language selection (i.e., free-naming), however, was associated with fronto-parietal activations, which have been implicated in self-initiated behaviours. These findings offer new insights into the neural differentiation of language control in forced and free language selection contexts.

The production and industrial use of asbestos cement and other asbestos-containing materials have been restricted in most countries because of the potential detrimental effects on human health and the environment. Chrysotile is the most common form of asbestos and investigations into how to recycle this serpentine phyllosilicate mineral have attracted extensive attention. Chrysotile asbestos tailings can be transformed thermally, at high temperature, by in situ carbothermal reduction (CR). The CR method aims to maximize use of the chrysotile available and uses high temperatures and carbon to change the mineral form and structure of the chrysotile asbestos tailings. When chrysotile asbestos is employed as the raw material and coke (carbon) powder is used as the reducing agent for CR transformation, stable, high-temperature composites consisting of forsterite, stishovite, and silicon carbide are formed. Forsterite (Mg2SiO4) was the most abundant crystalline phase formed in samples heat treated below 1500ºC. At 1600ºC, forsterite was exhausted through decomposition and β-SiC formed by reduction of stishovite. A larger proportion of β-SiC was generated as the carbon content was increased. This research revealed that both temperature and carbon addition play key roles in the transformation of chrysotile asbestos tailings.

The strong coupling interactions of non-equilibrium flow, microscopic particle collisions and radiative transitions within the shock layer of hypersonic atmospheric re-entry vehicles makes accurate prediction of the aerothermodynamics challenging. Therefore, in this study a self-consistent non-equilibrium flow, collisional–radiative reactions and radiative transfer fully coupled model are established to study the non-equilibrium characteristics of the flow field and radiation of vehicle atmospheric re-entry. The comparison of the present calculation results with flight data of FIRE II and previous results in the literature shows a reasonable agreement. The thermal, chemical and excited energy level non-equilibrium phenomena are obtained and analysed for the different FIRE II trajectory points, which form the critical basis for studying the heat transfer and radiation. The non-equilibrium distribution of excited energy levels significantly exists in the post-shock and near-wall regions due to the rapid vibrational dissociation and electronic under-excitation, as well as the wall catalytic reactions. The analysis of stagnation-point heating of FIRE II illustrates that the translational–rotational convection and the dissociation component diffusion play key roles in the aerodynamic heating of the wall region. The spectrally resolved radiative intensity in the entire flow field indicates that the vacuum ultraviolet radiation caused by the high-energy nitrogen atomic spectral lines makes the main contribution to the radiative transfer. Finally, it is found that the non-equilibrium flow–radiation coupling effect can exacerbate the excited energy level non-equilibrium, and further affect the gas radiative properties and radiative transfer. This fully coupled study provides an effective method for reasonable prediction of atmospheric re-entry flow and radiation fields.

All-fiber coherent beam combiners based on the self-imaging effect can achieve a near-perfect single laser beam, which can provide a promising way to overcome the power limitation of a single-fiber laser. One of the key points is combining efficiency, which is determined by various mismatches during fabrication. A theoretical model has been built, and the mismatch error is analyzed numerically for the first time. The mismatch errors have been numerically studied with the beam quality and combining efficiency being chosen as the evaluation criteria. The tolerance of each mismatch error for causing 1% loss is calculated to guide the design of the beam combiners. The simulation results are consistent with the experimental results, which show that the mismatch error of the square-core fiber is the main cause of the efficiency loss. The results can provide useful guidance for the fabrication of all-fiber coherent beam combiners.