In this paper, the generation of relativistic electron mirrors (REM) and the reflection of an ultra-short laser off the mirrors are discussed, applying two-dimension particle-in-cell simulations. REMs with ultra-high acceleration and expanding velocity can be produced from a solid nanofoil illuminated normally by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse with a sharp rising edge. Chirped attosecond pulse can be produced through the reflection of a counter-propagating probe laser off the accelerating REM. In the electron moving frame, the plasma frequency of the REM keeps decreasing due to its rapid expansion. The laser frequency, on the contrary, keeps increasing due to the acceleration of REM and the relativistic Doppler shift from the lab frame to the electron moving frame. Within an ultra-short time interval, the two frequencies will be equal in the electron moving frame, which leads to the resonance between laser and REM. The reflected radiation near this interval and corresponding spectra will be amplified due to the resonance. Through adjusting the arriving time of the probe laser, a certain part of the reflected field could be selectively amplified or depressed, leading to the selective adjustment of the corresponding spectra.

Triploid and pentaploid breeding is of great importance in agricultural production, but it is not always easy to obtain double ploidy parents. However, in fishes, chromosome ploidy is diversiform, which may provide natural parental resources for triploid and pentaploid breeding. Both tetraploid and hexaploid exist in Schizothorax fishes, which were thought to belong to different subfamilies with tetraploid Percocypris fishes in morphology, but they are sister genera in molecule. Fortunately, the pentaploid hybrid fishes have been successfully obtained by hybridization of Schizothorax wangchiachii (♀, 2n = 6X = 148) × Percocypris pingi (♂, 2n = 4X = 98). To understand the genetic and morphological difference among the hybrid fishes and their parents, four methods were used in this study: morphology, karyotype, red blood cell (RBC) DNA content determination and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR). In morphology, the hybrid fishes were steady, and between their parents with no obvious preference. The chromosome numbers of P. pingi have been reported as 2n = 4X = 98. In this study, the karyotype of S. wangchiachii was 2n = 6X = 148 = 36m + 34sm + 12st + 66t, while that the hybrid fishes was 2n = 5X = 123 = 39m + 28sm + 5st + 51t. Similarly, the RBC DNA content of the hybrid fishes was intermediate among their parents. In ISSR, the within-group genetic diversity of hybrid fishes was higher than that of their parents. Moreover, the genetic distance of hybrid fishes between P. pingi and S.wangchiachii was closely related to that of their parental ploidy, suggesting that parental genetic material stably coexisted in the hybrid fishes. This is the first report to show a stable pentaploid F1 hybrids produced by hybridization of a hexaploid and a tetraploid in aquaculture.

Vessel flexure can be triggered naturally by surgical operation, heart pulsation and body movement. It may affect the mechanical behavior of the stent and the existence of a stent may in turn cause vessel injury. In the present study, the finite element method is employed to study the interaction between stent and vessel during vessel flexure. Two- and four-link stents made of stainless steel 316L and magnesium alloy WE43 are considered. Results indicate that longitudinal deformation of the stent can be caused by vessel flexure, and the higher levels of stress exist in the link struts. The existence of the stent could induce significant stress concentration and straightened deformation on vessel wall in the course of vessel flexure. Stents with more links or made of harder materials show greater anti-deformation capability, thus inducing a more severe stress concentration and straightened deformation on the vessel wall. The bending direction also affects the mechanical performance of the vessel-stent system. The results obtained could provide useful information for better stent designs and clinical decisions.

Thousand Island Lake (TIL) is a typical fragmented landscape and an ideal model to study ecological effects of fragmentation. Partial fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene of 23 island populations of Dendrolimus punctatus in TIL were sequenced, 141 haplotypes being identified. The number of haplotypes increased significantly with the increase in island area and shape index, whereas no significant correlation was detected between three island attributes (area, shape and isolation) and haplotype diversity. However, the correlation with number of haplotypes was no longer significant when the ‘outlier’ island JSD (the largest island) was not included. Additionally, we found no significant relationship between geographic distance and genetic distance. Geographic isolation did not obstruct the gene flow among D. punctatus populations, which might be because of the high dispersal capacity of this pine moth. Fragmentation resulted in the conversion of large and continuous habitats into isolated, small and insular patches, which was the primary effect on the genetic diversity of D. punctatus in TIL. The conclusion to emphasize from our research is that habitat fragmentation reduced the biological genetic diversity to some extent, further demonstrating the importance of habitat continuity in biodiversity protection.

The triplite LiFeSO4F displays both the highest potential ever reported for an Fe-based compound, as well as a comparable specific energy with that of popular LiFePO4. The synthesis is still a challenge because the present approaches are connected with long time, special equipments or organic reagents, etc. In this work, the triplite LiFeSO4F powder was synthesized through an ambient two-step solid-state route. The reaction process and phase purity were analyzed, coupled with structure refinement and electrochemical test.

Muons produced by the Bethe–Heitler process from laser wakefield accelerated electrons interacting with high $Z$ materials have velocities close to the laser wakefield. It is possible to accelerate those muons with laser wakefield directly. Therefore for the first time we propose an all-optical ‘Generator and Booster’ scheme to accelerate the produced muons by another laser wakefield to supply a prompt, compact, low cost and controllable muon source in laser laboratories. The trapping and acceleration of muons are analyzed by one-dimensional analytic model and verified by two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. It is shown that muons can be trapped in a broad energy range and accelerated to higher energy than that of electrons for longer dephasing length. We further extrapolate the dependence of the maximum acceleration energy of muons with the laser wakefield relativistic factor $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ and the relevant initial energy $E_{0}$ . It is shown that a maximum energy up to 15.2 GeV is promising with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}=46$ and $E_{0}=1.45~\text{GeV}$ on the existing short pulse laser facilities.

Resonant acceleration of electrons by a laser in the background of an extra longitudinal magnetic field is investigated analytically and numerically. The resonant condition is independent of laser intensity, and when satisfied, the energy gain is proportional to $a_0^2 $ and the square of phase difference. This process is mainly limited by the magnitude and spatial size of the extra magnetic field. Under the laboratory conditions, simulation results show that a monoenergetic and collimated electron bunch can still be obtained in ~ GV/cm scale, which sheds a light on the vacuum table-top laser-driven electron accelerators.

A scheme for the improvement of proton beam quality by the optimized dragging field from the interaction of ultraintense laser pulse with a complex double-layer target is proposed and demonstrated by one-dimensional particle-in-cell (Opic1D) simulations. The complex double-layer target consists of an overdense proton thin foil followed by a mixed hydrocarbon (CH) underdense plasma. Because of the existence of carbon ions, the dragging field in the mixed CH underdense plasma becomes stronger and flatter in the location of the proton beam than that in a pure hydrogen (H) underdense plasma. The optimized dragging field can keep trapping and accelerating protons in the mixed CH underdense target to high quality. Consequently, the energy spread of the proton beam in the mixed CH underdense plasma can be greatly reduced down to 2.6% and average energy of protons can reach to 9 GeV with circularly polarized lasers at intensities 2.74 × 1022 W/cm2.

Soluble starch synthase II (SSII) plays an important role in the biosynthesis of starch and in rice it consists of three isoforms encoded by SSII-1, SSII-2 and SSII-3. However, the genetic effects of various SSII alleles on grain quality have not been systematically characterized. In the present study, the japonica alleles on SSII-1, SSII-2 and SSII-3 (SSIIa) loci from a japonica cultivar, Suyunuo, were respectively introgressed by molecular marker-assisted selection into a typical indica cultivar, Guichao2, through successive backcrossing, generating three sets of near-isogenic lines (NILs). Grain quality and starch property analysis showed that NIL-SSII-3j exhibited significant decreases in the following parameters: amylose content, average granule size, and setback viscosity and consistency; but increases in peak viscosity, hot paste viscosity, gelatinization temperature and relative crystallinity. Moreover, the proportion of short amylopectin chains and branching degree also increased when compared with those of NIL-SSII-3i (Guochao2). Similar effects were observed in NIL-SSII-1j , and certain alterations in the fine structure of starch (granule size) were revealed. However, NIL-SSII-2j did not exert significant effect on grain quality and starch properties. In brief, among the SSII gene family, the functional diversity occurred on SSII-1 and SSII-3, and not on SSII-2. Therefore, it appears that more attention should be directed to SSII-1 and SSII-3 loci for improving the eating and cooking quality of rice.

Trichogramma chilonis Ishii (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) is an important natural enemy of many species of lepidopterous pests and a widely used biological control agent. Detailed knowledge about its mate choice and host discrimination behavior is lacking. In this study, we studied the mate choice and host discrimination behavior of T. chilonis in experimental arenas through video tracking. Males’ mate recognition capacity was realized by perceiving the sex pheromone of females. When offered two females of different species, male could distinguish the conspecific female from Trichogrammatoidea bactrae Nagaraja (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae), a species that has overlapping hosts with T. chilonis. When placed with two females of different mating status, male preferred mating with the virgin female to the mated female. T. chilonis females could distinguish unparasitized host eggs from parasitized ones (parasitized by conspecific females or heterospecific females). They preferred to stay on and lay eggs in unparasitized host eggs. When T. chilonis females were only provided with parasitized host eggs (parasitized by T. chilonis and T. bactrae females), conspecific superparasitism occurred more often than heterospecific superparasitism. Furthermore, the host egg discrimination ability of T. chilonis females was mainly achieved through antennal perception.

The phylogenetic and epidemiological relationships of 102 Burkholderia pseudomallei clinical isolates from different geographical and population sources in China were investigated by multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The MLST data were analysed using the e-BURST algorithm, and an unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic mean dendrogram was constructed based on the pair-wise differences in the allelic profiles of the strains. Forty-one sequence types (STs) were identified, of which eight were novel (ST1341, ST1345, ST1346, ST1347, ST1348, ST1349, ST1350, ST1351). No geographical-specific or host population-specific phylogenetic lineages were identified. ST46, ST50, ST55, ST58, ST70 and ST1095 predominated, but ~44% of isolates were assigned to 45 STs illustrating high genetic diversity in the strain collection. Additionally, the phylogenetic relationships of the dominant STs in China showed significant linkeage with B. pseudomallei isolates from Thailand. Analysis of the gmhD allele suggests high genetic variation in B. pseudomallei in China.

Fast magnetic field annihilation in a collisionless plasma is induced by using TEM(1,0) laser pulse. The magnetic quadrupole structure formation, expansion and annihilation stages are demonstrated with 2.5-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The magnetic field energy is converted to the electric field and accelerate the particles inside the annihilation plane. A bunch of high energy electrons moving backwards is detected in the current sheet. The strong displacement current is the dominant contribution which induces the longitudinal inductive electric field.

A fractional model generalized from the Zener model is proposed for the prediction of temperature-dependent free recovery behaviors of amorphous shape memory polymers (SMPs). This model differs from the Zener model in that it involves nonlinear differential equations of fractional, not integer, order. The theoretical solution based on this fractional model is utilized to simulate the isothermal and nonisothermal free recovery of an amorphous SMP compared with the one based on the Zener model. The results show a reasonable improvement in the prediction of the strain recovery response of SMP by the fractional calculus method.

Constitutive models based on fractional calculus are utilized to investigate the viscoelastic response of thermally activated shape memory polymers (SMPs). Fractional calculus-based viscoelastic equations are fitted to experimental data existing in literature compared with traditional viscoelastic models. In addition, a fractional rheology model is applied to simulate the isothermal recovery of an amorphous SMP. The fit results show a significant improvement in the description of the strain recovery response of SMP by the fractional calculus method.

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) has been prevalent for some time in China and it was first identified in 2010. However, the seroprevalence of SFTSV in the general population in southeastern China and risk factors associated with the infection are currently unclear. Blood samples were collected from seven counties across Zhejiang province and tested for the presence of SFTSV-specific IgG antibodies by ELISA. A total of 1380 blood samples were collected of which 5·51% were seropositive for SFTSV with seroprevalence varying significantly between sites. Seroprevalence of SFTSV in people who were family members of the patient, lived in the same village as the patient, or lived in a different village than the patient varied significantly. There was significant difference in seroprevalence between participants who bred domestic animals and participants who did not. Domestic animals are probably potential reservoir hosts and contact with domestic animals may be a transmission route of SFTSV.

Genetic association studies of the cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) and sepsis have provided inconsistent results. This work attempts to further quantitatively assess the association of three widely evaluated polymorphisms of IL-10 (−592C/A, −819C/T, −1082A/G) with sepsis susceptibility through a meta-analysis. A search of Pubmed, Web of Science and EMBASE databases was performed. Overall, the three polymorphisms have no strong association with sepsis risk. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed there was association between sepsis susceptibility with −592C/A in Caucasians (A vs. C: OR 0·78, 95% CI 0·62–1·00, P = 0·05; AA + CA vs. CC: OR 0·75, 95% CI 0·56–1·00, P = 0·05), and with −1082A/G in Asians (G vs. A: OR 1·41, 95% CI 1·04–1·91, P = 0·03; GG + AG vs. AA: OR 2·11, 95% CI 1·07–4·16, P = 0·03). This meta-analysis suggests that −592C/A and −1082A/G polymorphisms are associated with sepsis susceptibility in Caucasian, and Asian populations, respectively.

Several studies have evaluated the association between mannose-binding lectin (MBL) polymorphisms and sepsis. However, the results are inconclusive and conflicting. To better understand the roles of MBL polymorphisms in sepsis, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis. All relevant studies were searched from PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Knowledge databases, with the last report up to 7 May 2013. Twenty-nine studies addressing four MBL polymorphisms (–550G/C, –221G/C, structure variant A/O, Gly54Asp) were analysed for susceptibility to sepsis and one study for sepsis-related mortality. Overall, significant associations between structure variant A/O and susceptibility to sepsis were observed for AO + OO vs. AA [odds ratio (OR) 1·27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·05–1·52, P = 0·01] and O vs. A (OR 1·19, 95% CI 1·02–1·40, P = 0·03). In subgroup analysis based on age group, increased risk was found in the paediatric group in the dominant model (OR 1·72, 95% CI 1·16–2·56, P = 0·007). Moreover, there was a slight association between the +54A/B polymorphism and susceptibility to sepsis in Caucasians (recessive model: OR 10·64, 95% CI 1·24–91·65, P = 0·03). However, no association was observed for –550G/C and –221G/C polymorphisms both overall and in subgroup analysis. For sepsis-related mortality, only one study suggested AO/OO was associated with in-hospital mortality in pneumococcal sepsis patients after controlling for confounding variables. Our meta-analysis indicated that MBL structure variants might be associated with susceptibility to sepsis but further studies with a large sample size should be conducted to confirm these findings.

Gases in microfluidic structures or devices are often in a non-equilibrium state. The conventional thermodynamic models for fluids and heat transfer break down and the Navier-Stokes-Fourier equations are no longer accurate or valid. In this paper, the extended thermodynamic approach is employed to study the rarefied gas flow in microstructures, including the heat transfer between a parallel channel andpressure-driven Poiseuille flows through a parallel microchannel andcircular microtube. The gas flow characteristics are studied and it is shown that the heat transfer in the non-equilibrium state no longer obeys the Fourier gradient transport law. In addition, the bimodal distribution of streamwise and spanwise velocity and temperature through a long circular microtube is captured for the first time.