We numerically investigate both single and multiple droplet dissolution with droplets consisting of less dense liquid dissolving in a denser host liquid. In this situation, buoyancy can lead to convection and thus plays an important role in the dissolution process. The significance of buoyancy is quantified by the Rayleigh number $Ra$ , which is the buoyancy force over the viscous damping force. In this study, $Ra$ spans almost four decades from 0.1 to 400. We focus on how the mass flux, characterized by the Sherwood number $Sh$ , and the flow morphologies depend on  $Ra$ . For single droplet dissolution, we first show the transition of the $Sh(Ra)$ scaling from a constant value to $Sh\sim Ra^{1/4}$ , which confirms the experimental results by Dietrich et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 794, 2016, pp. 45–67). The two distinct regimes, namely the diffusively and the convectively dominated regimes, exhibit different flow morphologies: when $Ra\geqslant 10$ , a buoyant plume is clearly visible, which contrasts sharply with the pure diffusion case at low $Ra$ . For multiple droplet dissolution, the well-known shielding effect comes into play at low $Ra$ , so that the dissolution rate is slower as compared to the single droplet case. However, at high $Ra$ , convection becomes more and more dominant so that a collective plume enhances the mass flux, and remarkably the multiple droplets dissolve faster than a single droplet. This has also been found in the experiments by Laghezza et al. (Soft Matt., vol. 12 (26), 2016, pp. 5787–5796). We explain this enhancement by the formation of a single, larger plume rather than several individual plumes. Moreover, there is an optimal $Ra$ at which the enhancement is maximized, because the single plume is narrower at larger $Ra$ , which thus hinders the enhancement. Our findings demonstrate a new mechanism in collective droplet dissolution, which is the merging of the plumes, which leads to non-trivial phenomena, contrasting the shielding effect.

Avoidance of collisions at sea is crucial to navigational safety. In this paper, we use a distributed algorithm to communicate the entire collision avoidance trajectory information for each ship. In each communication, we suggest a new improvement function considering safety and efficiency to identify the avoidance ship in each cycle. Considering the nonlinear collision avoidance trajectory of ships, a new method for calculating the degree of danger using a velocity obstacle algorithm is proposed. Therefore, in each communication, each ship considers the avoidance behaviours of other ships in planning its avoidance trajectory. Additionally, we combine bi-criterion evolution (BCE) and the ant lion optimiser to plan the entire collision avoidance path. Three scenarios are designed to demonstrate the performance of this method. The results show that the proposed method can find a suitable collision-free solution for all ships.

Thermal perception is crucial for the fitness of marine invertebrates in intertidal and shallow waters. TRPA1 is a non-selective cation channel that belongs to the TRP family with pivotal roles in initiating signal transduction of thermal perception. We investigated expression patterns of SiTRPA1 in different tissues (tube feet, coelomocytes, gonads and gut) of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius. SiTRPA1 expression patterns under acute and long-term temperature stimuli were investigated in tube feet of sea urchins. In the present study, the highest expression of SiTRPA1 was detected in tube feet of S. intermedius. The SiTRPA1 expression level in tube feet were significantly 235.7-fold, 450.0-fold and 3299.7-fold higher than those in the coelomocytes, gonads and gut (df = 3, F = 47.382, P < 0.001). Expression levels of SiTRPA1 in the other tissues (coelomocytes, gonads and gut) were not significantly different (df = 3, F = 47.382, P = 0.972). There was no significant difference of SiTRPA1 expression among all groups in the acute temperature increase experiment (df = 4, F = 0.25, P = 0.902). In the acute temperature decrease experiment, the expression of SiTRPA1 showed no significant difference among all groups (df = 4, F = 1.802, P = 0.205). With long-term exposure (6 weeks) to different temperatures, SiTRPA1 expression in the low temperature group (10°C) was significantly higher than those in the high temperature (20°C) and the control groups (15°C) (df = 2, F = 9.57, P = 0.014). There was no significant difference of SiTRPA1 expression between the high temperature (20°C) and the control temperature (15°C) groups (df = 2, F = 9.57, P = 0.808). These results indicate that SiTRPA1 expression significantly responds to long-term low temperature but not to acute temperature decrease. The present study provides new insights on the distribution and temporal expression of TRPA1 in marine invertebrates after acute and long-term temperature stimuli.

We present a numerical study of quasistatic magnetoconvection in a cubic Rayleigh–Bénard (RB) convection cell subjected to a vertical external magnetic field. For moderate values of the Hartmann number $Ha$ (characterising the strength of the stabilising Lorentz force), we find an enhancement of heat transport (as characterised by the Nusselt number $Nu$ ). Furthermore, a maximum heat transport enhancement is observed at certain optimal $Ha_{opt}$ . The enhanced heat transport may be understood as a result of the increased coherence of the thermal plumes, which are elementary heat carriers of the system. To our knowledge this is the first time that a heat transfer enhancement by the stabilising Lorentz force in quasistatic magnetoconvection has been observed. We further found that the optimal enhancement may be understood in terms of the crossing of the thermal and the momentum boundary layers (BL) and the fact that temperature fluctuations are maximum near the position where the BLs cross. These findings demonstrate that the heat transport enhancement phenomenon in the quasistatic magnetoconvection system belongs to the same universality class of stabilising–destabilising (S–D) turbulent flows as the systems of confined Rayleigh–Bénard (CRB), rotating Rayleigh–Bénard (RRB) and double-diffusive convection (DDC). This is further supported by the findings that the heat transport, boundary layer ratio and temperature fluctuations in magnetoconvection at the boundary layer crossing point are similar to the other three cases. A second type of boundary layer crossing is also observed in this work. In the limit of $Re\gg Ha$ , the (traditionally defined) viscous boundary $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{v}$ is found to follow a Prandtl–Blasius-type scaling with the Reynolds number $Re$ and is independent of $Ha$ . In the other limit of $Re\ll Ha$ , $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{v}$ exhibits an approximate ${\sim}Ha^{-1}$ dependence, which has been predicted for a Hartmann boundary layer. Assuming the inertial term in the momentum equation is balanced by both the viscous and Lorentz terms, we derived an expression $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}_{v}=H/\sqrt{c_{1}Re^{0.72}+c_{2}Ha^{2}}$ (where $H$ is the height of the cell) for all values of $Re$ and $Ha$ , which fits the obtained viscous boundary layer well.

The main aim of this study was to explore the mediating role of learning engagement on the relationship between social networking site (SNS) addiction and academic achievement among 406 university students. The Social Networking Site Addiction Scale, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students, and Chinese Students Academic Achievement Scale were used to evaluate students’ SNS addiction, learning engagement, and academic achievement. Correlation analysis indicated that SNS addiction, learning engagement, and academic achievement were significantly correlated with each other. The causal steps regression and bootstrap analysis show that learning engagement mediated the relationship between SNS addiction and academic achievement. Implications for research and instructions for how to improve university students’ academic achievement are discussed.

In this paper, we carry out an investigation on modelling basis risk and measuring risk reduction in a longevity hedge constructed by index-based longevity swaps. We derive the fitting procedures of the M7-M5 and common age effect+Cohorts models and define the level of longevity risk reduction. Based on a wide range of hedging scenarios of pension plans, we find that the risk reduction levels are often around 50%–80% for a large plan, while the risk reduction estimates are usually smaller than 50% for a small plan. Moreover, index-based hedging looks more effective under a more precise hedging scheme. We also perform a detailed sensitivity analysis on the hedging results. The most important modelling features are the behaviour of simulated future variability, portfolio size, speed of reaching coherence, data size and characteristics, simulation method, and mortality structural changes.

Heading angle is a vital parameter in maintaining a vessel's track along a planned course and should be guaranteed in a stable and reliable way. An innovative method of heading determination based on a fisheye camera, which is almost totally unaffected by electromagnetism and geomagnetism, is proposed in this paper. In addition, unlike traditional astronomical methods, it also has a certain degree of adaptability to cloudy weather. Utilising the super wide Field Of View (FOV) of the camera, it is able to simultaneously image the Moon and the horizon. The Moon is treated as the observed celestial body and the horizon works as the horizontal datum. Two experiments were conducted at sea, successfully proving the feasibility of this method. The proposed heading determination system has the merits of automation, resistance to interference and could be miniaturised, making application viable.

Several previous prospective studies suggest that consumption of green leafy and cruciferous vegetables may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We investigated the association between consumption of different types of vegetables in relation to T2D risk in an Asian Population. We included 45 411 participants (age range: 45–74 years) of the Singapore Chinese Health Study (SCHS) free of diabetes, cancer or CVD at baseline (1993–1998). Dietary information was collected using a validated FFQ. Physician-diagnosed incident diabetes was reported at follow-up I (1999–2004) and II (2006–2010) interviews. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratio (HR) and 95 % CI of T2D risk. An updated meta-analysis was also conducted to summarise results for green leafy and cruciferous vegetables. During 494 741 person-years of follow-up, 5207 incident T2D occurred. After adjustment for potential confounders, neither total vegetables (top v. bottom quintile HR=1·08; 95 % CI 0·98, 1·18, P trend=0·66) nor specific vegetables including dark green leafy vegetables (HR=1·05; 95 % CI 0·96, 1·15, P trend=0·21) and cruciferous vegetables (HR=0·97; 95 % CI 0·88, 1·06, P trend=0·29) were substantially associated with risk of T2D. A meta-analysis (eleven studies with 754 729 participants and 58 297 cases) including the SCHS and all previous prospective studies suggested borderline significant inverse associations between green leafy (summary relative risk (RR)=0·91; 95 % CI 0·84, 1·00) and cruciferous vegetable consumption (RR=0·87; 95 % CI 0·76, 1·00) and T2D risk, with moderate-to-high heterogeneity. In conclusion, green leafy or cruciferous vegetable consumption was not substantially associated with risk of T2D in an Asian population. Meta-analysis of available cohort data indicated that evidence for a beneficial effect of green leafy or cruciferous vegetable consumption on T2D risk is not convincing.

In this paper, we review the status of the multifunctional experimental platform at the National Laboratory of High Power Laser and Physics (NLHPLP). The platform, including the SG-II laser facility, SG-II 9th beam, SG-II upgrade (SG-II UP) facility, and SG-II 5 PW facility, is operational and available for interested scientists studying inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and a broad range of high-energy-density physics. These facilities can provide important experimental capabilities by combining different pulse widths of nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond scales. In addition, the SG-II UP facility, consisting of a single petawatt system and an eight-beam nanosecond system, is introduced including several laser technologies that have been developed to ensure the performance of the facility. Recent developments of the SG-II 5 PW facility are also presented.

The hot deformation behavior of Nb–V–Ti microalloyed ultra-high strength steel was investigated by isothermal compression at 900–1200 °C with strain rates from 0.01 to 10 s−1. The microstructure evolution and precipitation behavior were studied using an optical microscope and a transmission electron microscope Results indicate that the peak stress of experimental steel increases with increasing the strain rate and decreasing the deformation temperature. The constitutive equation of hot deformation was developed with the activation energy Q being about 407.29 kJ/mol. The processing maps were also obtained to identify the instable regions of the flow behavior and to evaluate the efficiency of hot deformation. The size of dynamically recrystallized grains increases gradually with a decrease in the strain rate. Three types of carbides were identified, namely M3C, rich-Ti MC, and rich-Nb MC. With the increase of the deformation rate, the amounts of carbides increase, and the average sizes of the carbides decrease gradually.

The dynamics of vortical structures in flow over a circular cylinder in the vicinity of a flat plate is investigated using particle image velocimetry (PIV). The cylinder is placed above the flat plate with its axis parallel to the wall and normal to the flow direction. The Reynolds number $Re_{D}$ based on the cylinder diameter  $D$ is 1072 and the gap  $G$ between the cylinder and the flat plate is varied from gap-to-diameter ratio $G/D=0$ to $G/D=3.0$ . The flow statistics and vortex dynamics are strongly dependent on the gap ratio $G/D$ . Statistics show that as the cylinder comes close to the wall ( $G/D\leqslant 2.0$ ), the cylinder wake becomes more and more asymmetric and a boundary layer separation is induced on the flat plate downstream of the cylinder. The wake vortex shedding frequency increases with decreasing $G/D$ until a critical gap ratio (about $G/D=0.25$ ) below which the vortex shedding is irregular. The deflection of the gap flow away from the wall and its following interaction with the upper shear layer may be the cause of the higher shedding frequency. The vortex dynamics is investigated based on the phase-averaged flow field and virtual dye visualization in the instantaneous PIV velocity field. It is revealed that when the cylinder is close to the wall ( $G/D=2.0$ ), the cylinder wake vortices can periodically induce secondary spanwise vortices near the wall. As the cylinder approaches the wall ( $G/D=1.0$ ) the secondary vortex can directly interact with the lower wake vortex, and a further approaching of the cylinder ( $G/D=0.5$ ) can result in more complex interactions among the secondary vortex, the lower wake vortex and the upper wake vortex. The breakdown of vortices into filamentary debris during vortex interactions is clearly revealed by the coloured virtual dye visualizations. For $G/D<0.25$ , the lower shear layer is strongly inhibited and only the upper shear layer can shed vortices. Investigation of the vortex formation, evolution and interaction in the flow promotes the understanding of the flow physics for different gap ratios.

The instability and fracture process during uniaxial tension was observed from load-stop tensile tests and finite element simulation. The results indicate that at the end of instability, the direction of the maximum principle stress near the necking groove turns to being perpendicular to the groove. This tensile stress is critical to the growth of fracture. The fracture initiates from the internal of the sheet at the center of volume where the two local necking grooves intersect. Material here is under triaxial tensile stress state and the principle stresses in all three directions are the largest. Once the initial crack occurs, it propagates along the zero-strain-rate necking groove. Moreover, the final fracture angle between the fracture plane and the tensile axis is always larger than theoretical value. An important reason is the ignorance of the triaxial stress state evolution during instability in theoretical calculation.

We study the convergence of an Ulm-like Cayley transform method for solving inverse eigenvalue problems which avoids solving approximate Jacobian equations. Under the nonsingularity assumption of the relative generalized Jacobian matrices at the solution, a convergence analysis covering both the distinct and multiple eigenvalues cases is provided and the quadratical convergence is proved. Moreover, numerical experiments are given in the last section to illustrate our results.

In the paper, we focus on atom diffusion behavior in Ni-based superalloys, which have important applications in the aero-industry. Specifically, the expressions of the key physical parameter – transition rate (jump rate) in the diffusion can be given from the diffusion theory in solids and the kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) method, respectively. The transition rate controls the diffusion process and is directly related to the energy of vacancy formation and the energy of migration of atom from density functional theory (DFT). Moreover, from the KMC calculations, the diffusion coefficients for Ni and Al atoms in the γ phase (Ni matrix) and the γʹ phase (intermetallic compound Ni3Al) of the superalloy have been obtained. We propose a strategy of time stepping to deal with the multi-time scale issues. In addition, the influence of temperature and Al concentration on diffusion in dilute alloys is also reported.

Findings from observational studies have suggested a possible relation between Ca and breast cancer risk. However, the results of these studies are inconclusive, and the dose–response relationship between Ca intake and risk of breast cancer remains to be determined. A meta-analysis of prospective studies was conducted to address these issues. PubMed and Embase databases were searched for relevant studies concerning the association between Ca intake and breast cancer up to March 2016. The summary relative risks (RR) with 95 % CI were calculated with a random-effects model. The final analysis included eleven prospective cohort studies involving 26 606 cases and 872 895 participants. The overall RR of breast cancer for high v. low intake of Ca was 0·92 (95 % CI 0·85, 0·99), with moderate heterogeneity (P=0·026, I 2=44·2 %). In the subgroup analysis, the inverse association appeared stronger for premenopausal breast cancer (RR 0·75; 95 % CI 0·59, 0·96) than for postmenopausal breast cancer (RR 0·94; 95 % CI 0·87, 1·01). Dose–response analysis revealed that each 300 mg/d increase in Ca intake was associated with 2 % (RR 0·98; 95 % CI 0·96, 0·99), 8 % (RR 0·92; 95 % CI 0·87, 0·98) and 2 % (RR 0·98; 95 % CI 0·97, 0·99) reduction in the risk of total, premenopausal and postmenopausal breast cancer, respectively. Our findings suggest an inverse dose–response association between Ca intake and risk of breast cancer.

A novel core–shell particle that consists of epoxide-terminated hyperbranched polymer (HBP) and silica nanoparticles was incorporated into an epoxy/hydroxyl-terminated HBP blend to fabricate a high-performance epoxy thermoset. The effect of the core–shell particle content on the mechanical properties of the epoxy thermosets was investigated in detail. Results from tensile, flexural, and impact tests are provided. The impact fracture surface was studied by field emission-scanning electron microscopy. The incorporation of 2 wt% core–shell particles improved the tensile strength, percent elongation at break, flexural strength, and impact resistance of epoxy/hydroxyl-terminated HBP thermosets. Field emission-scanning electron micrographs showed that core–shell particle addition resulted in large-scale shear deformation and debonding from the epoxy matrix, and improved the epoxy resin toughness.

Evolution of Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) in a flat plate boundary layer transition induced by the wake of a circular cylinder is investigated. Both hydrogen bubble visualization and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques are used. It is found that downstream of the cylinder, the disturbance in the boundary layer experiences a fast growth followed by a slow decay in the transition. Lagrangian coherent structures are revealed by qualitative hydrogen bubble visualizations and quantitative finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE) fields derived from the PIV data. The evolution of the LCS is considered from the very beginning of the transition up to when the boundary layer becomes fully developed turbulent flow. The mean convection velocity and average inclination angle of the LCS are first extracted from the FTLE fields. The streamwise length of the low-speed streaks seems to increase, while their spanwise distance decreases in the boundary layer transition. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) of the PIV data shows that low-speed streaks associated with the hairpin vortices and hairpin packets are the dominant coherent structures close to the wall in the transitional and turbulent boundary layer. The POD modes also reveal a variety of scales in the turbulent boundary layer. Moreover, it is found that large-scale coherent structures can modulate the amplitude of the small-scale ones.

To investigate the effects of cold rolling on the microstructure, the precipitation behavior and the morphology of δ-phase, Inconel 718 alloy samples with different cold rolling reductions were aged for different periods at temperatures range from 850 °C to 1000 °C. Detailed microstructural observations and quantitative measurements were conducted to characterize the evolution of the δ-phase during aging. The results show that the microstructure consists of large deformed grains as a result of a slow static recovery at the low aging temperatures (850 and 900 °C); whereas the austenite matrix is fully recrystallized at the high aging temperatures (950 and 1000 °C). It is also found that the amount of δ-phase and the number density of spherical δ-phase particles increase with the increase in the degree of cold rolling both at low and high aging temperatures. With respect to different microstructural changes for the cold-rolled samples at the low or the high aging temperatures, two distinct mechanisms have been, respectively, introduced to interpret the changes in the precipitation behavior and the appearance of δ-phase.

The microstructural evolution of type 347H heat-resistant austenitic steel during long-term aging at 700–900 °C was investigated by using a transmission microscope, a scanning electron microscope, and electron energy spectrum technology. The microstructural examination showed the typical micrographs of MX carbonitrides and M23C6 carbides after aging. The existence of the Z phase (NbCrN) at the grain boundaries during aging was identified. Meanwhile, the possible precipitation sequence of these particles was also confirmed. In the beginning of aging, fine Nb(C,N) precipitates first, then, M23C6 carbides precipitate along the grain boundaries. Finally, the Z phase is also observed at the grain boundaries. Moreover, the influence of isothermal holding temperature on the precipitation of MX carbonitrides and M23C6 carbides was discussed. The various microstructural characterizations showed that the M23C6 carbides and MX carbonitrides precipitate more easily with the increase of aging temperature. Furthermore, the number and the size of MX particles and M23C6 carbides increase when the isothermal holding time is prolonged.