Identifying the absence of situation awareness (SA) in air traffic controllers is critical since it directly affects their hazard perception. This study aims to introduce and validate a multimodal methodology employing electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye-tracking to investigate SA variation within specific air traffic control contexts. Data from 28 participants executing the experiment involving three different SA-probe tests illustrated the conceptual relationship between EEG and eye-tracking indicators and SA variations, using behavioural data as a proxy. The results indicated that both EEG and eye-tracking metrics correlated positively with the SA levels required, that is, the frequency spectrum in the β (13–30 Hz) and γ (30–50 Hz) bands, alongside the fixation/saccade-based indicators and pupil dilation increased in response to higher SA levels. This research has substantial implications for investigating SA using a human-centric approach via psychophysiological indicators, revealing the intrinsic interactions between the human capability envelope and SA, contributing to the development of a real-time monitoring system of SA variations for air transportation safety research.

Rhopalosiphum padi is an important grain pest, causing severe losses during crop production. As a systemic insecticide, flonicamid can control piercing-sucking pests efficiently. In our study, the lethal effects of flonicamid on the biological traits of R. padi were investigated via a life table approach. Flonicamid is highly efficiently toxic to R. padi, with an LC50 of 9.068 mg L−1. The adult longevity and fecundity of the R. padi F0 generation were markedly reduced under the LC25 and LC50 concentrations of flonicamid exposure. In addition, negative transgenerational effects on R. padi were observed under exposure to lethal concentrations of flonicamid, with noticeable decreases in the reproductive period, adult longevity, total longevity, and total fecundity of the F1 generation under the LC25 concentration of flonicamid. Furthermore, the third nymph stage (N3), preadult stage, duration of the adult pre-reproductive period, duration of the total pre-reproductive period, reproductive period, adult longevity, total longevity, and total fecundity of the F1 generation were significantly lower under treatment with the LC50 concentration of flonicamid. The life table parameters were subsequently analysed, revealing that the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) and the net reproductive rate (R0) were significantly lower but that the finite rate of increase (λ) and the mean generation time (T) were not significantly different under the LC25 and LC50 concentrations of flonicamid. These data are beneficial for grain aphid control and are critical for exploring the role of flonicamid in the integrated management of this key pest.

In this paper, we study the rapid transition in Richtmyer–Meshkov instability (RMI) with reshock through three-dimensional double-layer swirling vortex rings. The rapid transition in RMI with reshock has an essential influence on the evolution of supernovas and the ignition of inertial confinement fusion, which has been confirmed in numerical simulations and experiments in shock-tube and high-energy-density facilities over the past few years. Vortex evolution has been confirmed to dominate the late-time nonlinear development of the perturbed interface. However, few studies have investigated the three-dimensional characteristics and nonlinear interactions among vortex structures during the transition to turbulent flows. The coexistence of co-rotating and counter-rotating vortices is hypothesized to induce successive large-scale strain fields, which are the main driving sources for rapid development. The three-dimensional effect is reflected in the presence of local swirling motion in the azimuthal direction, and it decreases the translation velocity of a vortex ring. Large-, middle- and small-scale strain fields are employed to describe the development process of RMI with reshock, e.g. vorticity deposited by the reshock, formation of the coexistence of the co-rotating and counter-rotating vortices, iterative cascade under the amplification of the strain fields and viscous dissipation to internal energy. This provides theoretical suggestions for designing practical applications, such as the estimation of the hydrodynamic instability and mixing during the late-time acceleration phase of the inertial confinement fusion.

Recently, there has been a surge in interest in exploring how common macroeconomic factors impact different economic results. We propose a semiparametric dynamic panel model to analyze the impact of common regressors on the conditional distribution of the dependent variable (global output growth distribution in our case). Our model allows conditional mean, variance, and skewness to be influenced by common regressors, whose effects can be nonlinear and time-varying driven by contextual variables. By incorporating dynamic structures and individual unobserved heterogeneity, we propose a consistent two-step estimator and showcase its attractive theoretical and numerical properties. We apply our model to investigate the impact of US financial uncertainty on the global output growth distribution. We find that an increase in US financial uncertainty significantly shifts the output growth distribution leftward during periods of market pessimism. In contrast, during periods of market optimism, the increased uncertainty in the US financial markets expands the spread of the output growth distribution without a significant location change, indicating increased future uncertainty.

Robot pick-and-place for unknown objects is still a very challenging research topic. This paper proposes a multi-modal learning method for robot one-shot imitation of pick-and-place tasks. This method aims to enhance the generality of industrial robots while reducing the amount of data and training costs the one-shot imitation method relies on. The method first categorizes human demonstration videos into different tasks, and these tasks are classified into six types to symbolize as many types of pick-and-place tasks as possible. Second, the method generates multi-modal prompts and finally predicts the action of the robot and completes the symbolic pick-and-place task in industrial production. A carefully curated dataset is created to complement the method. The dataset consists of human demonstration videos and instance images focused on real-world scenes and industrial tasks, which fosters adaptable and efficient learning. Experimental results demonstrate favorable success rates and loss results both in simulation environments and real-world experiments, confirming its effectiveness and practicality.

We aimed to evaluate the association of coffee consumption with different additives, including milk and/or sweetener (sugar and/or artificial sweetener), and different coffee types, with new-onset acute kidney injury (AKI), and examine the modifying effects of genetic variation in caffeine metabolism. 194 324 participants without AKI at baseline in the UK Biobank were included. The study outcome was new-onset AKI. During a median follow-up of 11·6 years, 5864 participants developed new-onset AKI. Compared with coffee non-consumers, a significantly lower risk of new-onset AKI was found in coffee consumers adding neither milk nor sugar to coffee (hazard ratio (HR), 0·86; 95 % CI, 0·78, 0·94) and adding only milk to coffee (HR,0·83; 95 % CI, 0·78, 0·89), but not in coffee consumers adding only sweetener (HR,1·14; 95 % CI, 0·99, 1·31) and both milk and sweetener to coffee (HR,0·96; 95 % CI, 0·89, 1·03). Moreover, there was a U-shaped association of coffee consumption with new-onset AKI, with the lowest risk at 2–3 drinks/d, in unsweetened coffee (no additives or milk only to coffee), but no association was found in sweetened coffee (sweetener only or both milk and sweetener to coffee). Genetic variation in caffeine metabolism did not significantly modify the association. A similar U-shaped association was found for instant, ground and decaffeinated coffee consumption in unsweetened coffee consumers, but not in sweetened coffee consumers. In conclusion, moderate consumption (2–3 drinks/d) of unsweetened coffee with or without milk was associated with a lower risk of new-onset AKI, irrespective of coffee type and genetic variation in caffeine metabolism.

The associations between obesity and liver diseases are complex and diverse. To explore the causal relationships between obesity and liver diseases, we applied two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) and multivariable MR analysis. The data of exposures (BMI and WHRadjBMI) and outcomes (liver diseases and liver function biomarker) were obtained from the open genome-wide association study database. A two-sample MR study revealed that the genetically predicted BMI and WHRadjBMI were associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis and autoimmune hepatitis. Obesity was not associated with primary biliary cholangitis, liver failure, liver cell carcinoma, viral hepatitis and secondary malignant neoplasm of liver. A higher WHRadjBMI was associated with higher levels of biomarkers of lipid accumulation and metabolic disorders. These findings indicated independent causal roles of obesity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis and impaired liver metabolic function rather than in viral or autoimmune liver disease.

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.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, non-coding RNAs, which are functional in a variety of biological processes through post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. However, the role of miRNAs in the interaction between Bacillus thuringiensis and insects remains unclear. In this study, small RNA libraries were constructed for B. thuringiensis-infected (Bt) and uninfected (CK) Spodoptera exigua larvae (treated with double-distilled water) using Illumina sequencing. Utilising the miRDeep2 and Randfold, a total of 233 known and 726 novel miRNAs were identified, among which 16 up-regulated and 34 down-regulated differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs were identified compared to the CK. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed that potential target genes of DE miRNAs were associated with ABC transporters, fatty acid metabolism and MAPK signalling pathway which are related to the development, reproduction and immunity. Moreover, two miRNA core genes, SeDicer1 and SeAgo1 were identified. The phylogenetic tree showed that lepidopteran Dicer1 clustered into one branch, with SeDicer1 in the position closest to Spodoptera litura Dicer1. A similar phylogenetic relationship was observed in the Ago1 protein. Expression of SeDicer1 increased at 72 h post infection (hpi) with B. thuringiensis; however, expression of SeDicer1 and SeAgo1 decreased at 96 hpi. The RNAi results showed that the knockdown of SeDicer1 directly caused the down-regulation of miRNAs and promoted the mortality of S. exigua infected by B. thuringiensis GS57. In conclusion, our study is crucial to understand the relationship between miRNAs and various biological processes caused by B. thuringiensis infection, and develop an integrated pest management strategy for S. exigua via miRNAs.

In the application of rotorcraft atmospheric environment detection, to reflect the distribution of atmospheric pollutants more realistically and completely, the sampling points must be spread throughout the entire three-dimensional space, and the cooperation of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (multi-UAVs) can ensure real-time performance and increase operational efficiency. In view of the problem of coordinated detection by multi-UAVs, the region division and global coverage path planning of the stereo space to be detected are studied. A whale optimization algorithm based on the simulated annealing-whale optimization algorithm (SA-WOA) is proposed, which introduces adaptive weights with the Levy flight mechanism, improves the metropolis criterion, and introduces an adaptive tempering mechanism in the SA stage. Path smoothing is subsequently performed with the help of nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) curves. The comparison of algorithms using the eil76 dataset shows that the path length planned by the SA-WOA algorithm in this paper is 10.15% shorter than that of the WOA algorithm, 13.25% shorter than the SA planning result, and only 0.95% difference from the optimal path length in the dataset. From the perspective of planning time, its speed is similar to WOA, with a relative speed increase of 27.15% compared to SA, proving that the algorithm proposed in this paper has good planning performance. A hardware system platform is designed and built, and environmental gas measurement experiments were conducted. The experimental results indicate that the multi-UAV collaborative environment detection task planning method proposed in this paper has certain practical value in the field of atmospheric environment detection.

Obesity is an important characteristic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (MetS), and body roundness index (BRI) is one of the anthropometric indicators associated with obesity. However, studies on the relationship between BRI and MetS risk are limited. We aimed to explore the relationship between baseline BRI and MetS in the USA population. Our study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2018, ultimately enrolling and analysing 47 303 participants. Data-driven tertiles were used to categorise BRI levels, and multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the association of BRI with MetS in adults. In addition, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess the ability of BRI to predict MetS. The distribution of BRI was different across ethnic groups with a gradual decrease in the proportion of non-Hispanic Whites and other races. In addition, BRI was significantly associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Univariate regression analysis indicated BRI to be a moderate risk factor for MetS, and multivariate logistic regression analysis found that BRI remained an independent risk factor for MetS. After adjusting for confounding variables, a non-linear relationship was found between BRI levels and the prevalence of MetS. More importantly, BRI predicted MetS with the largest AUC among anthropometric measures. In summary, elevated baseline BRI levels are independently associated with the development of MetS, and baseline BRI may assist in identifying patients at risk for MetS, leading to early and optimal treatment to improve their outcomes.

Childhood maltreatment is an established risk factor for psychopathology. However, it remains unclear how childhood traumatic events relate to mental health problems and how the brain is involved. This study examined the serial mediation effect of brain morphological alterations and emotion-/reward-related functions on linking the relationship from maltreatment to depression. We recruited 156 healthy adolescents and young adults and an additional sample of 31 adolescents with major depressive disorder for assessment of childhood maltreatment, depressive symptoms, cognitive reappraisal and anticipatory/consummatory pleasure. Structural MRI data were acquired to identify maltreatment-related cortical and subcortical morphological differences. The mediation models suggested that emotional maltreatment of abuse and neglect, was respectively associated with increased gray matter volume in the ventral striatum and greater thickness in the middle cingulate cortex. These structural alterations were further related to reduced anticipatory pleasure and disrupted cognitive reappraisal, which contributed to more severe depressive symptoms among healthy individuals. The above mediating effects were not replicated in our clinical group partly due to the small sample size. Preventative interventions can target emotional and reward systems to foster resilience and reduce the likelihood of future psychiatric disorders among individuals with a history of maltreatment.

In order to establish a compact all-optical Thomson scattering source, experimental studies were conducted on the 45 TW Ti: sapphire laser facility. By including a steel wafer, mixed gas, and plasma mirror into a double-exit jet, several mechanisms, such as shock-assisted ionization injection, ionization injection, and driving laser reflection, were integrated into one source. So, the source of complexity was remarkably reduced. Electron bunches with central energy fluctuating from 90 to 160 MeV can be produced. Plasma mirrors were used to reflect the driving laser. The scattering of the reflected laser on the electron bunches led to the generation of X-ray photons. Through comparing the X-ray spots under different experimental conditions, it is confirmed that the X-ray photons are generated by Thomson scattering. For further application, the energy spectra and source size of the Thomson scattering source were measured. The unfolded spectrum contains a large amount of low-energy photons besides a peak near 67 keV. Through importing the electron energy spectrum into the Monte Carlo simulation code, the different contributions of the photons with small and large emitting angles can be used to explain the origin of the unfolded spectrum. The maximum photon energy extended to about 500 keV. The total photon production was 107/pulse. The FWHM source size was about 12 μm.

Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) is a globally distributed noxious weed that poses a significant challenge for control due to its fast and efficient propagation through the tuber, which is the primary reproductive organ. Gibberellic acid (GA3) has proven to be crucial for tuberization in tuberous plants. Therefore, understanding the relationship between GA3 and tuber development and propagation of C. rotundus will provide valuable information for controlling this weed. This study shows that the GA3 content decreases with tuber development, which corresponds to lower expression of bioactive GA3 synthesis genes (CrGA20ox, two CrGA3ox genes) and two upregulated GA3 catabolism genes (CrGA2ox genes), indicating that GA3 is involved in tuber development. Simultaneously, the expression of two CrDELLA genes and CrGID1 declines with tuber growth and decreased GA3, and yeast two-hybrid assays confirm that the GA3 signaling is DELLA-dependent. Furthermore, exogenous application of GA3 markedly reduces the number and the width of tubers and represses the growth of the tuber chain, further confirming the negative impact that GA3 has on tuber development and propagation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that GA3 is involved in tuber development and regulated by the DELLA-dependent pathway in C. rotundus and plays a negative role in tuber development and propagation.

Ankle rehabilitation robots are widely used due to nerve injuries and sports injuries leading to decreased mobility of the ankle joint. However, the motion of most ankle rehabilitation robots has distinctions with human ankle physiological structure. In order to achieve more accurate rehabilitation training of the ankle joint, this paper proposes a novel 3-UPU parallel rehabilitation mechanism. In a certain range, the mechanism can perform rotation around any axis within the midplane, which means that the mechanism can achieve non-fixed-point rotation around the instantaneous axis of the ankle joint. The mechanism has three degrees of freedom and can perform ankle pronation/supination and inversion/eversion movements. Taking into account the structural differences of different human bodies, the rotating axis of the mechanism can be adjusted in both height and angle. Then, the workspace of the mechanism was solved, and the size parameters of the mechanism are analyzed based on the characteristics of the size parameters of the mechanism and the motion range of the ankle. A genetic algorithm was employed to optimize the mechanism’s parameters. Next, the motion trajectory of the mechanism was planned, and the length change of the mechanism driving pair during the motion planning of the angle was obtained through kinematics simulation. Finally, experimental verification of the above rehabilitation training methods indicates that the mechanism meets the requirements of ankle rehabilitation.

Menaquinone-7 (MK-7), a multipotent vitamin K2, possesses a wide range of biological activities, a precise curative effect and excellent safety. A simple and rapid LC-APCI-MS/MS method for the determination of MK-7 in human plasma with single liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) extraction and 4·5-min analysis time has been developed and validated. Four per cent bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as surrogate matrix for standard curves and endogenous baseline subtraction. This method was reproducible and reliable and was used to analyse of MK-7 in human plasma. The endogenous circadian rhythm and bioavailability of MK-7 were investigated in two randomised single-dose, open, one-way clinical trials (Study I and Study II). A total of five healthy male subjects were enrolled in Study I and 12 healthy male subjects in Study II. Single-dose (1 mg) of MK-7 was given to each subject under fasting condition, and all eligible subjects were given a restricting VK2 diet for 4 d prior to drug administration and during the trial. The experiment results of Study I demonstrated that endogenous MK-7 has no circadian rhythm in individuals. Both studies showed MK-7 are absorbed with peak plasma concentrations at about 6 h after intake and has a very long half-life time.