This paper presents a design methodology for a broadband high-efficiency power amplifier (PA). The large available impedance space of the extended continuous Class-GF mode is employed. A novel output matching network of the PA consisting of a rectangular double transmission line structure is proposed to meet impedance requirements. To validate the effectiveness of this structure, a high-efficiency PA operating in 0.8–3.0 GHz is designed using a CGH40010F GaN transistor. The measured results demonstrate that the drain efficiency falls within the range of 63.2%–71.9%, the output power varies from 40.2 to 42.2 dBm, and the gain ranges from 9.4 to 11.3 dB within the frequency band of 0.8–3 GHz. The realized PA exhibits an extremely competitive relative bandwidth of 115.8%.

A decoupling method is proposed for the elastic stiffness modeling of hybrid robots based on the rigidity principle, screw theory, strain energy, and Castigliano’s second theorem. It enables the decoupling of parallel and serial modules, as well as the individual contributions of each elastic component to the mechanism’s stiffness performance. The method is implemented as follows: (1) formulate limb constraint wrenches and corresponding limb stiffness matrix based on the screw theory and strain energy, (2) formulate the overall stiffness matrix of parallel and serial modules corresponding to end of the hybrid robots based on the rigidity principle, principle of virtual work, the wrench transfer formula, and strain energy methods, and (3) obtain and decouple the overall stiffness matrix and deflection of the robot based on the Castigliano’s second theorem. Finally, A planar hybrid structure and the 4SRRR + 6R hybrid robot are used as illustrative examples to implement the proposed method. The results indicate that selectively enhancing the stiffness performance of the mechanism is the most effective approach.

We report the unified constitutive law of vibroconvective turbulence in microgravity, i.e. $Nu \sim a^{-1} Re_{os}^\beta$ where the Nusselt number $Nu$ measures the global heat transport, $a$ is the dimensionless vibration amplitude, $Re_{os}$ is the oscillational Reynolds number and $\beta$ is the universal exponent. We find that the dynamics of boundary layers plays an essential role in vibroconvective heat transport and the $Nu$-scaling exponent $\beta$ is determined by the competition between the thermal boundary layer (TBL) and vibration-induced oscillating boundary layer (OBL). Then a physical model is proposed to explain the change of scaling exponent from $\beta =2$ in the TBL-dominant regime to $\beta = 4/3$ in the OBL-dominant regime. Our finding elucidates the emergence of universal constitutive laws in vibroconvective turbulence, and opens up a new avenue for generating a controllable effective heat transport under microgravity or even microfluidic environment in which the gravity effect is nearly absent.

Environmental exposures are known to be associated with pathogen transmission and immune impairment, but the association of exposures with aetiology and severity of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) are unclear. A retrospective observational study was conducted at nine hospitals in eight provinces in China from 2014 to 2019. CAP patients were recruited according to inclusion criteria, and respiratory samples were screened for 33 respiratory pathogens using molecular test methods. Sociodemographic, environmental and clinical factors were used to analyze the association with pathogen detection and disease severity by logistic regression models combined with distributed lag nonlinear models. A total of 3323 CAP patients were included, with 709 (21.3%) having severe illness. 2064 (62.1%) patients were positive for at least one pathogen. More severe patients were found in positive group. After adjusting for confounders, particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and 8-h ozone (O3-8h) were significant association at specific lag periods with detection of influenza viruses and Klebsiella pneumoniae respectively. PM10 and carbon monoxide (CO) showed cumulative effect with severe CAP. Pollutants exposures, especially PM, O3-8h, and CO should be considered in pathogen detection and severity of CAP to improve the clinical aetiological and disease severity diagnosis.

Snails and freshwater fish were examined from four ponds in the Meinung township in which Clonorchis sinensis was known to be endemic 18 years ago. No metacercariae were found in 478 Tilapia nilotica, whereas of 451 Ctenopharyngodon idellus examined, 16.2%, 3.3% and 0.9% were found to be infected with Haplorchis pumilio, H. taichui and Clonorchis sinensis, respectively. In addition, there were some unidentified metacercariae in 12.0% of Ctenopharyngodon idellus examined. Overall, no positive correlation between infection rates and sizes of infected fish was shown. Six species of snails were collected in this survey and two frequently-occurring snails, Melanoides tuberculata and Thiara granifera were commonly infected with H. pumilio. Reasons for the prevalence of Haplorchis species and the absence of Clonorchis sinensis in fish and snail hosts in a previously reported endemic area for human clonorchiasis are discussed.

Aiming at alleviating the adverse influence of coupling unmodeled dynamics, actuator faults and external disturbances in the attitude tracking control system of tilt tri-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs), a neural network (NN)-based robust adaptive super-twisting sliding mode fault-tolerant control scheme is designed in this paper. Firstly, in order to suppress the unmodeled dynamics coupled with the system states, a dynamic auxiliary signal, exponentially input-to-state practically stability and some special mathematical tools are used. Secondly, benefiting from adaptive control and super-twisting sliding mode control (STSMC), the influence of the unexpected chattering phenomenon of sliding mode control (SMC) and the unknown system parameters can be handled well. Moreover, NNs are employed to estimate and compensate some unknown nonlinear terms decomposed from the system model. Based on a decomposed quadratic Lyapunov function, both the bounded convergence of all signals of the closed-loop system and the stability of the system are proved. Numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method for the tilt tri-rotor UAVs.

The fall armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) is a highly damaging invasive omnivorous pest that has developed varying degrees of resistance to commonly used insecticides. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of tolerance to tetraniliprole, spinetoram, and emamectin benzoate, the enzyme activity, synergistic effect, and RNA interference were implemented in S. frugiperda. The functions of cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) in the tolerance to tetraniliprole, spinetoram, and emamectin benzoate in S. frugiperda was determined by analysing changes in detoxification metabolic enzyme activity and the effects of enzyme inhibitors on susceptibility to the three insecticides. 102 P450 genes were screened via transcriptome and genome, of which 67 P450 genes were differentially expressed in response to tetraniliprole, spinetoram, and emamectin benzoate and validated by quantitative real-time PCR. The expression patterns of CYP9A75, CYP340AA4, CYP340AX8v2, CYP340L16, CYP341B15v2, and CYP341B17v2 were analysed in different tissues and at different developmental stages in S. frugiperda. Silencing CYP340L16 significantly increased the susceptibility of S. frugiperda to tetraniliprole, spinetoram, and emamectin benzoate. Furthermore, knockdown of CYP340AX8v2, CYP9A75, and CYP341B17v2 significantly increased the sensitivity of S. frugiperda to tetraniliprole. Knockdown of CYP340AX8v2 and CYP340AA4 significantly increased mortality of S. frugiperda to spinetoram. Knockdown of CYP9A75 and CYP341B15v2 significantly increased the susceptibility of S. frugiperda to emamectin benzoate. These results may help to elucidate the mechanisms of tolerance to tetraniliprole, spinetoram and emamectin benzoate in S. frugiperda.

The presence of a dispersed phase can significantly modulate the drag in turbulent systems. We derived a conserved quantity that characterizes the radial transport of azimuthal momentum in the fluid–fluid two-phase Taylor–Couette turbulence. This quantity consists of contributions from advection, diffusion and two-phase interface, which are closely related to density, viscosity and interfacial tension, respectively. We found from interface-resolved direct numerical simulations that the presence of the two-phase interface consistently produces a positive contribution to the momentum transport and leads to drag enhancement, while decreasing the density and viscosity ratios of the dispersed phase to the continuous phase reduces the contribution of local advection and diffusion terms to the momentum transport, respectively, resulting in drag reduction. Therefore, we concluded that the decreased density ratio and the decreased viscosity ratio work together to compete with the presence of a two-phase interface for achieving drag modulation in fluid–fluid two-phase turbulence.

In view of the fact that the current research on active and passive rehabilitation training of lower limbs is mainly based on the analysis of exoskeleton prototype and the lack of analysis of the actual movement law of limbs, the human-machine coupling dynamic characteristics for active rehabilitation training of lower limbs are studied. In this paper, the forward and inverse kinematics are solved on the basis of innovatively integrating the lower limb and rehabilitation prototype into a human-machine integration system and equivalent to a five-bar mechanism. According to the constraint relationship of hip joint, knee joint and ankle joint, the Lagrange dynamic equation and simulation model of five-bar mechanism under the constraint of human physiological joint motion are constructed, and the simulation problem of closed-loop five-bar mechanism is solved. The joint angle experimental system was built to carry out rehabilitation training experiments to analyze the relationship between lower limb error and height, weight and BMI, and then, a personalized training planning method suitable for people with different lower limb sizes was proposed. The reliability of the method is proved by experiments. Therefore, we can obtain the law of limb movement on the basis of traditional rehabilitation training, appropriately reduce the training speed or reduce the man-machine position distance and reduce the training speed or increase the man-machine distance to reduce the error to obtain the range of motion angle closer to the theory of hip joint and knee joint respectively, so as to achieve better rehabilitation.

Clay minerals are effective adsorbents for the remediation of pesticides in wastewater due to their large superficial areas and excellent cation-exchange capabilities. However, this adsorption effect can be reduced by the accumulation of adsorbents on clay minerals, amongst other problems. Therefore, in this study, montmorillonite (Mnt) modified by layered double hydroxide (LDH) with different loading amounts was successfully prepared using an in situ method. The results from X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) and scanning electron microscopy analyses revealed that LDH structures were successfully combined with the Mnt layer and formed a porous structure. However, excess LDH still caused the aggregation and accumulation of layers. The adsorption performance of LDH@Mnt for atrazine (ATZ) and paraquat (PQ) was investigated, and the removal efficiency of the LDH@Mnt composite was higher than those of Mnt and LDH alone. The kinetic study revealed that the adsorption process fitted the pseudo-second-order model and internal diffusion model, and 3-LDH@Mnt had the greatest absorbability efficiency for both ATZ and PQ, indicating the adsorption process was controlled by the number of active sites of the adsorbent. The generalized Langmuir model accurately characterized the adsorption process of ATZ and PQ elimination in the adsorption isotherm investigation, indicating that the adsorption energies of the active sites on the adsorbents were different. 3-LDH@Mnt had better absorbability performance for ATZ/PQ, and the sorption capacities were 7.03 and 91.9 mg g–1, respectively. According to site energy distribution theory, the amount of sorption sites of the composite adsorbent was large and the average adsorption energy was high, both of which being beneficial for the adsorption of ATZ and PQ. The effects of pH, coexisting anions and reuse experiments were also tested, indicating that the LDH@Mnt composite possessed high adsorption stability. This excellent removal performance represents a promising strategy for the remediation and elimination of pesticide contaminations from the environment.

The single ionization and dissociation of ethanol molecules induced by low-energy electrons (E0 = 90 eV) are investigated using multiparticle coincident momentum spectroscopy. By detecting two outgoing electrons (e1 and e2) and one fragment ion in coincidence, we obtain the energy deposition (E0 − E1 − E2) during electron ionization of the molecule, i.e., the binding energy spectra, for production of the different ionic fragments C2H5OH+, C2H4OH+, COH+, and H3O+. These data allow us to study the ionization channels for different ionic products. In particular, we focus on H3O+ as a product of double hydrogen migration. It is found that this channel mainly originates from the ionization of outer-valance orbitals (3a″,10a′, 2a″, 9a′, 8a′, 1a″, and 7a′). Additionally, there are minor contributions from the inner-valence orbitals such as 6a′, 5a′, and 4a′. Quantum chemistry calculations show two fragmentation pathways: concerted and sequential processes for formation of H3O+.

Antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) have been regarded as emerging contaminants that threaten public health worldwide. Poultry excreta, often used as a fertilizer in agriculture, are a major route for the proliferation and dissemination of ARGs in the environment. The aim of the present study was to assess the potential of dietary palygorskite (Plg) supplementation as nutritional manipulation for the modulation of microbial community structure and the attenuation of ARGs in the cecal contents of broilers fed with chlortetracycline (CTC). In total, 256 one-day-old, mixed-sex, broiler chicks were allocated randomly into a 2 × 2 factorial design of four treatments, which consisted of two levels of CTC (0 or 50 mg/kg) and Plg (0 or 10 g/kg). By employing in vivo feeding and slaughter experiments, after collecting the cecal contents and extracting the total genomic DNA, 16S rRNA V3-V4 hypervariable amplicon pyrosequencing and quantitative PCR-based approaches were used to address the impact of Plg on microbiota and the abundance of ARGs in broilers. The results showed that broilers given a diet supplemented with Plg had greater α-diversity indices including Chao1, phylogenetic diversity tree, and observed-species index calculations, when compared with those without Plg supplementation. Birds given a diet supplemented with Plg had fewer Firmicutes at the phylum level, but a greater abundance of Alistipes at the bacterial genus level. Dietary Plg counteracted the CTC-induced increased abundance of ARGs, among which tet(K) had a pronounced decrease, along with a similar decreased tendency for other measured ARGs and intI1. Overall, the results indicated that Plg supplementation caused pronounced changes in cecal microbial diversity and microbiota community composition of broilers, and effectively reduced ARGs, indicating that Plg supplementation is a potential alternative measure for the attenuation of ARGs in the cecal contents of broilers.

With the advantages of short duration and extreme brightness, laser proton accelerators (LPAs) show great potential in many fields for industrial, medical, and research applications. However, the quality of current laser-driven proton beams, such as the broad energy spread and large divergence angle, is still a challenge. We use numerical simulations to study the propagation of such proton bunches in the plasma. Results show the bunch will excite the wakefield and modulate itself. Although a small number of particles at the head of the bunch cannot be manipulated by the wakefield, the total energy spread is reduced. Moreover, while reducing the longitudinal energy spread, the wakefield will also pinch the beam in the transverse direction. The space charge effect of the bunch is completely offset by the wakefield, and the transverse momentum of the bunch decreases as the bunch transports in the plasma. For laser-driven ion beams, our study provides a novel idea about the optimization of these beams.

Zearalenone (ZEA), a common contaminant in food and feedstuffs, threatens human and animal health. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of modified palygorskite (MPal), a ZEA-targeted adsorbent, on broilers (young chickens) fed a ZEA-contaminated diet. Broilers were subjected to one of three treatments for a period of 42 days: a basal diet (control group), a ZEA- contaminated diet, and a ZEA-contaminated diet supplemented with 1 g/kg of MPal. Blood was collected for serum metabolite assay, and liver and kidney were sampled to determine ZEA residue and antioxidant-related parameters, using commercial spectrophotometric kits. Compared with the basal diet, the ZEA- contaminated diet resulted in compromised growth performance (reduced daily gain and feed intake during finisher period), disordered relative liver weight (decreased at 21 days but increased at 42 days), increased ZEA residue in liver and kidney, abnormal serum metabolites (decreased total protein content but increased alanine aminotransferase activity at 21 and 42 days, reduced albumin content at 21 days, and elevated aspartate aminotransferase activity at 42 days), and disrupted antioxidant capacities of broilers (increased total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity in liver at 21 and 42 days, decreased T-SOD activity in kidney at 21 and 42 days, and in serum at 42 days, greater malondialdehyde accumulation in liver and kidney at 42 days, and lower glutathione content in kidney at 21 days). The adverse consequences resulting from the ZEA-contaminated diet were relieved by the supplementation of MPal (except albumin concentration in serum and T-SOD activity in liver at 21 days), with the values of growth-performance parameters, liver weight, renal ZEA accumulation, total protein content, transaminase activity at 42 days, and antioxidant indexes being similar to those in the control group. These results suggested that MPal supplementation could promote growth performance, attenuate liver damage, and improve the antioxidant abilities of broilers fed ZEA-contaminated diet by reducing ZEA accumulation.

Fast neutron absorption spectroscopy is widely used in the study of nuclear structure and element analysis. However, due to the traditional neutron source pulse duration being of the order of nanoseconds, it is difficult to obtain a high-resolution absorption spectrum. Thus, we present a method of ultrahigh energy-resolution absorption spectroscopy via a high repetition rate, picosecond duration pulsed neutron source driven by a terawatt laser. The technology of single neutron count is used, which results in easily distinguishing the width of approximately 20 keV at 2 MeV and an asymmetric shape of the neutron absorption peak. The absorption spectroscopy based on a laser neutron source has one order of magnitude higher energy-resolution power than the state-of-the-art traditional neutron sources, which could be of benefit for precisely measuring nuclear structure data.

Direct numerical simulations are performed to explore the effects of the rotating direction of the vertically asymmetric rough wall on the transport properties of Taylor–Couette (TC) flow, up to a Taylor number of ${Ta} = 2.39\times 10^{7}$. It is shown that, compared with the smooth wall, the rough wall with vertical asymmetric strips can enhance the dimensionless torque ${Nu}_{\omega }$. More importantly, at high Ta, clockwise rotation of the inner rough wall (where the fluid is sheared by the steeper slope side of the strips) results in a significantly greater torque enhancement compared to counter-clockwise rotation (where the fluid is sheared by the smaller slope side of the strips), due to the larger convective contribution to the angular velocity flux. However, the rotating direction has a negligible effect on the torque at low Ta. The larger torque enhancement caused by the clockwise rotation of the vertically asymmetric rough wall at high Ta is then explained by the stronger coupling between the rough wall and the bulk, attributed to the larger biased azimuthal velocity towards the rough wall at the mid-gap of the TC system, the increased turbulence intensity manifested by larger Reynolds stress and a thinner boundary layer, and the more significant contribution of the pressure force on the surface of the rough wall to the torque.

We investigate the coupling effect of buoyancy and shear based on an annular centrifugal Rayleigh–Bénard convection (ACRBC) system in which two cylinders rotate with an angular velocity difference. Direct numerical simulations are performed in a Rayleigh number range $10^6\leq Ra\leq 10^8$, at fixed Prandtl number $Pr=4.3$, inverse Rossby number $Ro^{-1}=20$, and radius ratio $\eta =0.5$. The shear, represented by the non-dimensional rotational speed difference $\varOmega$, varies from $0$ to $10$, corresponding to an ACRBC without shear and a radially heated Taylor–Couette flow with only the inner cylinder rotating, respectively. A stable regime is found in the middle part of the interval for $\varOmega$, and divides the whole parameter space into three regimes: buoyancy-dominated, stable and shear-dominated. Clear boundaries between the regimes are given by linear stability analysis, meaning the marginal state of the flow. In the buoyancy-dominated regime, the flow is a quasi-two-dimensional flow on the $r\varphi$ plane; as shear increases, both the growth rate of instability and the heat transfer are depressed. In the shear-dominated regime, the flow is mainly on the $rz$ plane. The shear is so strong that the temperature acts as a passive scalar, and the heat transfer is greatly enhanced. The study shows that shear can stabilize buoyancy-driven convection, makes a detailed analysis of the flow characteristics in different regimes, and reveals the complex coupling mechanism of shear and buoyancy, which may have implications for fundamental studies and industrial designs.

Longitudinal studies on the variations of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of K. pneumoniae across two decades are rare. We aimed to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence factors for K. pneumoniae isolated from patients with bacteraemia or urinary tract infection (UTI) from 1999 to 2022. A total of 699 and 1,267 K. pneumoniae isolates were isolated from bacteraemia and UTI patients, respectively, and their susceptibility to twenty antibiotics was determined; PCR was used to identify capsular serotypes and virulence-associated genes. K64 and K1 serotypes were most frequently observed in UTI and bacteraemia, respectively, with an increasing frequency of K20, K47, and K64 observed in recent years. entB and wabG predominated across all isolates and serotypes; the least frequent virulence gene was htrA. Most isolates were susceptible to carbapenems, amikacin, tigecycline, and colistin, with the exception of K20, K47, and K64 where resistance was widespread. The highest average number of virulence genes was observed in K1, followed by K2, K20, and K5 isolates, which suggest their contribution to the high virulence of K1. In conclusion, we found that the distribution of antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence gene profiles, and capsular types of K. pneumoniae over two decades were associated with their clinical source.