The recently discovered social place cells and grid cells in hippocampal formation are believed to be the neural basis underlying relative navigation of conspecifics. In this paper, we propose a new brain-inspired relative navigation model in a large-scale 3D environment for collective UAVs that translates the neurodynamics of the social place cell–grid cell circuit to robotic relative navigation algorithm for the first time. Our approach comprises three key parts: (1) a 3D isotropic Gaussian function-based cube social place cell network (cube-SPCNet), (2) a 3D continuous attractor neural network-based cube grid cell network (cube-GCNet), and (3) a population vector-based neural decoding module. The resulting brain-inspired relative navigation model incorporates the good relative information abstraction capabilities of the cube-SPCNet with the powerful temporal filtering capabilities of the cube-GCNet, yielding robustness and accuracy performance improvement for relative navigation. Experimental results show the new method can provide more robust and precise relative navigation results than its conventional counterpart, displaying a possible brain-inspired solution for relative navigation enhancement for collective UAVs.

The relationship between magmatism and gold mineralization has been a topic of interest in understanding the formation of ore deposits. The Baizhangzi gold deposit, located in the northern margin of the North China Craton, is hosted by the Baizhangzi granite (BZG) and provides a case to evaluate the relation between granite and gold mineralization in Late Triassic. In this study, we present petrography, bulk geochemistry, zircon U-Pb isotope and trace elements data, as well as major elements of biotite and plagioclase for the BZG to evaluate the petrogenesis and link with gold mineralization. The BZG comprises biotite monzogranite, biotite-bearing monzogranite and monzogranite (BZGs). Zircon U-Pb geochronology shows that all the granitoids of BZGs were coeval with a formation age of 232 Ma. The granitoids, with high SiO2, Al2O3 and Sr, while low Y and Yb, show adakitic affinity. They are enriched in LILFs (e.g., Rb, Ba, Th, U and Sr) and LREEs, while depletion in HFSEs (e.g., Nb, Ta, P and Ti). The geochemical and mineral chemical data suggest that the granitoids have experienced the fractional crystallization of biotite + plagioclase + K- feldspar + apatite. Crystallization temperature is estimated as ca. 700°C, and pressure is between 0.71 kbar and 1.60 kbar. The monzogranite shows higher values of logfO2, △FMQ and △NNO than the biotite-bearing monzogranite, ranging from −19.76 to −11.71, −4.93 to +3.67 and −5.48 to +3.11, respectively. The fractional crystallization, together with high fO2, K-metasomatism and low evolution degree, provided favourable conditions for gold mineralization.

Homelands are an integral component of nationalism. This recognition notwithstanding, the lines nationalism draws on the globe have received much less systematic attention than the lines drawn between in-groups and out-groups. This article argues that homelands, precisely because they are so central to nationalism, should be more consistently integrated into scholarship on international conflict, among other outcomes. We begin by detailing what homelands are, why they matter, and some suggested mechanisms for how they impact outcomes of interest. The next section considers the choices scholars make about identifying homelands, including the particular measurement strategy and the level of analysis used. Here, we highlight recent advances that enable the measurement and analysis of homelands in ways consistent with both constructivist insights about the possibility of variation in the homeland’s extent (both over time and within populations) and with positivist analysis. We conclude by sketching out future directions for research on homelands and nationalism.

Wave radiation and diffraction problems of a body floating in an open water channel confined by two semi-infinite ice sheets are considered. The linearized velocity potential theory is used for fluid flow and a thin elastic plate model is adopted for the ice sheet. The Green function, which satisfies all the boundary conditions apart from that on the body surface, is first derived. This is obtained through applying Fourier transform in the longitudinal direction of the channel, and matched eigenfunction expansions in the transverse plane. With the help of the derived Green function, the boundary integral equation of the potential is derived and it is shown that the integrations over all other boundaries, including the bottom of the fluid, free surface, ice sheet, ice edge as well as far field will be zero, and only the body surface has to be retained. This allows the problem to be solved through discretization of the body surface only. Detailed results for hydrodynamic forces are provided, which are generally highly oscillatory owing to complex wave–body–channel interaction and body–body interaction. In depth investigations are made for the waves confined in a channel, which does not decay at infinity. Through this, a detailed analysis is presented on how the wave generated by a body will affect the other bodies even when they are far apart.

A highly active catalyst of cerium–tungsten–titanium mixed oxide was synthesized by introducing Ce4+ and H2O2 in the base sample of Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+. As a consequence, the NH3-SCR activity of Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+ is significantly improved as the additives of Ce4+ and H2O2 enlarge the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area by refining its pore size. Meanwhile, the introduction of Ce4+ increases the Lewis acid sites of Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+ and decreases its low-temperature Brønsted acid sites. The further addition of H2O2 improves the Brønsted acid sites and dispersion of cerium/tungsten species, and thereby enhances the concentrations of the adsorbed oxygen (Oα) and the adsorbed oxygen $\lpar {\rm {O}^{\prime}}_{\rm \alpha} \rpar$ due to the activation of chemisorbed water on the surface of the catalyst. The addition of Ce4+ and H2O2 shows a synergistic promotional effect, which is due to the largest BET surface area and the highest concentrations of Oα or/and ${\rm {O}^{\prime}}_{\rm \alpha}$. Ce20W10Ti100Oz–Ce3+:Ce4+ = 17.5:2.5 + H2O2 exhibits the highest catalytic activity compared with the conventional ones (Fig. 5).

Flexural-gravity wave interactions with multiple cracks in an ice sheet of infinite extent are considered, based on the linearized velocity potential theory for fluid flow and thin elastic plate model for an ice sheet. Both the shape and location of the cracks can be arbitrary, while an individual crack can be either open or closed. Free edge conditions are imposed at the crack. For open cracks, zero corner force conditions are further applied at the crack tips. The solution procedure starts from series expansion in the vertical direction based on separation of variables, which decomposes the three-dimensional problem into an infinite number of coupled two-dimensional problems in the horizontal plane. For each two-dimensional problem, an integral equation is derived along the cracks, with the jumps of displacement and slope of the ice sheet as unknowns in the integrand. By extending the crack in the vertical direction into the fluid domain, an artificial vertical surface is formed, on which an orthogonal inner product is adopted for the vertical modes. Through this, the edge conditions at the cracks are satisfied, together with continuous conditions of pressure and velocity on the vertical surface. The integral differential equations are solved numerically through the boundary element method together with the finite difference scheme for the derivatives along the crack. Extensive results are provided and analysed for cracks with various shapes and locations, including the jumps of displacement and slope, diffraction wave coefficient, and the scattered cross-section.

In the energy stability theory, the critical Reynolds number is usually defined as the minimum of the first positive eigenvalue $R_{1}$ of an eigenvalue equation for all wavenumber pairs $(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ are the streamwise and spanwise wavenumbers of the normal mode. We prove that $(\cos \unicode[STIX]{x1D703}\pm 1)R_{1}$ are decreasing functions of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}=\arctan (\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})$ for the parallel flows between no-slip or slip parallel plates with or without variations in temperature. Numerical results inspire us to conjecture that $R_{1}$ is also a decreasing function of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D703}$ for the parallel shear flows under the no-slip boundary condition and without variations in temperature. If the conjecture is correct, the least stable normal modes for the energy stability will be streamwise vortices for these base flows.

Image stitching is important for the perception and manipulation of undersea robots. In spite of a well-developed technique, it is still challenging for undersea images because of their inevitable appearance ambiguity caused by the limited light in the undersea environment, and local disturbance caused by moving objects, ocean current, etc. To get a clean and stable background panorama in the undersea environment, this paper proposes an undersea image-stitching method by introducing graph-based registration and blending procedures. Specifically, in the registration procedure, matching the features in each undersea image pair is formulated and solved by graph matching, to incorporate the structural information between features. In the blending procedure, an energy function on the indirect graph Markov random field is proposed, which takes both image consistency and neighboring consistency into consideration. Coincidentally, both graph matching and energy minimization can be mathematically formulated by integer quadratic programming problems with different constraints; the recently proposed graduated nonconvexity and concavity procedure is used to optimize both problems. Experiments on both synthetic images and real-world undersea images witness the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The accuracy and fault tolerance of filters are directly affected by the filter architecture and algorithm, thus influencing navigation performance. The chi square detection used in the conventional reset federated filter is not sensitive to soft faults, and it is easy to cause the health subsystem to be polluted through information sharing. It is a challenge to design an adaptive reset federated filter to improve the performance of the navigation system. Therefore, taking the Strapdown Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System/Celestial Navigation System/Synthetic Aperture Radar (SINS/GPS/CNS/SAR) integrated navigation system as an example, an adaptive federated filter architecture for vector-formed information sharing without a fault isolation module is designed in this paper. The proposed method uses the two-state chi square detection algorithm to calculate the parameters corresponding to each state, making the state with higher accuracy obtain a greater information distribution coefficient. In addition, according to the value of vector-formed information sharing, an adaptive coefficient of measurement noise is designed. This improves the adaptability of the navigation system to soft faults. Simulation results show that the accuracy of the proposed algorithm has the same performance compared with the conventional method under normal circumstances. When the sensor has a soft fault, the adaptive federated filter algorithm proposed in this paper can adaptively adjust the distribution coefficients, eliminate the influence of the fault information and improve the precision of the navigation system. The approach described in this paper can be used in multi-sensor integrated navigation. It will have better performance in engineering applications.

The chemical and mineralogical compositions, the pore-diameter distribution, and the X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy of kaolin from Suzhou, China, and the physicochemical and catalytic properties of a catalyst prepared from that kaolin, are presented in this paper. Crystallized microspheres (CMR) containing ~30% NaY zeolite can be prepared from the Suzhou kaolin. The catalyst produced performs better than a standard commercial catalyst in terms of activity, attrition resistance, resistance to passivation by Ni and V and better gasoline and coke selectivity.

Wave radiation and diffraction by a circular cylinder submerged below an ice sheet with a crack are considered based on the linearized velocity potential theory together with multipole expansion. The solution starts from the potential due to a single source, or the Green function satisfying both the ice sheet condition and the crack condition, as well as all other conditions apart from that on the body surface. This is obtained in an integral form through Fourier transform, in contrast to what has been obtained previously in which the Green function is in the series form based on the method of matched eigenfunction expansion in each domain on both sides of the crack. The multipole expansion is then constructed through direct differentiation of the Green function with respect to the source position, rather than treating each multipole as a separate problem. The use of the Green function enables the problem of wave diffraction by the crack in the absence of the body to be solved directly. For the circular cylinder, wave radiation and diffraction problems are solved by applying the body surface boundary condition to the multipole expansion, through which the unknown coefficients are obtained. Extensive results are provided for the added mass and damping coefficient as well as the exciting force. When the cylinder is away from the crack, a wide spacing approximation method is used, which is found to provide accurate results apart from when the cylinder is quite close to the crack.

With the improvement of the bias instability of Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) gyroscopes, the g-sensitivity error is gradually becoming one of the more important factors that affects the dynamic accuracy of a MEMS gyroscope. Hence there is a need for correcting the g-sensitivity error. However, the traditional calibration of g-sensitivity error uses a centrifuge. The calibration conditions are harsh, the process is complex and the cost is relatively high. In this paper, a fast and simple method of g-sensitivity error calibration for MEMS gyroscopes is proposed. With respect to the bias and random noise of a MEMS gyroscope, the g-sensitivity error magnitude is relatively small and it is simultaneously coupled with the Earth's rotation rate. Therefore, in order to correct the g-sensitivity error, this work models the calibration for g-sensitivity error coefficients, designs an (8+N)-position calibration scheme, and then proposes a fitting method for g-sensitivity error coefficients based on the Newton iteration and least squares methods. Multi-group calibration experiments designed on a MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit (MEMS IMU) product demonstrate that the proposed method can calibrate g-sensitivity error coefficients and correct the g-sensitivity error effectively and simply.

Business leaders constitute a powerful driving force for the miraculous growth of the Chinese economy in the past few decades. However, scholars have not developed theories accounting for the unique leadership phenomenon in the Chinese context, characterized by high uncertainty, intense market competition, and constant changes in government regulations and policies. This special issue aims at offering insights regarding business leadership in China. In this paper, we first introduce the three streams of Chinese leadership research, varying in the degree of Chinese context being considered in theory development. We then discuss how Chinese leadership has co-evolved with the transformation of firms and the institutional environment in China. The new values of young employees, born after 1980, are driving the need for leaders to adjust their leadership practices once again. After that, we present a summary of the four papers in this special issue, and the insights they provide to our understanding of leadership and its effectiveness in the Chinese context. Finally, we suggest future research directions for Chinese leadership research.

Carnitine has been reported to improve growth performance and reduce body lipid content in fish. Thus, we hypothesised that carnitine supplementation can improve growth performance and reduce lipid content in the liver and muscle of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco), a commonly cultured freshwater fish in inland China, and tested this hypothesis in the present study. Diets containing l-carnitine at three different concentrations of 47 mg/kg (control, without extra carnitine addition), 331 mg/kg (low carnitine) and 3495 mg/kg (high carnitine) diet were fed to yellow catfish for 8 weeks. The low-carnitine diet significantly improved weight gain (WG) and reduced the feed conversion ratio (FCR). In contrast, the high-carnitine diet did not affect WG and FCR. Compared with the control diet, the low-carnitine and high-carnitine diets increased lipid and carnitine contents in the liver and muscle. The increased lipid content in the liver could be attributed to the up-regulation of the mRNA levels of SREBP, PPARγ, fatty acid synthase (FAS) and ACCa and the increased activities of lipogenic enzymes (such as FAS, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme) and to the down-regulation of the mRNA levels of the lipolytic gene CPT1A. The increased lipid content in muscle could be attributed to the down-regulation of the mRNA levels of the lipolytic genes CPT1A and ATGL and the increased activity of lipoprotein lipase. In conclusion, in contrast to our hypothesis, dietary carnitine supplementation increased body lipid content in yellow catfish.

An open-loop system of a multidimensional wave equationwith variable coefficients, partial boundary Dirichlet control andcollocated observation is considered. It is shown that the system iswell-posed in the sense of D. Salamon and regular in the sense of G.Weiss. The Riemannian geometry method is used in the proof ofregularity and the feedthrough operator is explicitly computed.