Laser pulses of 200 ps with extremely high intensities and high energies are sufficient to satisfy the demand of shock ignition, which is an alternative path to ignition in inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This paper reports a type of Brillouin scheme to obtain high-intensity 200-ps laser pulses, where the pulse durations are a challenge for conventional pulsed laser amplification systems. In the amplification process, excited Brillouin acoustic waves fulfill the nonlinear optical effect through which the high energy of a long pump pulse is entirely transferred to a 200-ps laser pulse. This method was introduced and achieved within the SG-III prototype system in China. Compared favorably with the intensity of $2~\text{GW}/\text{cm}^{2}$ in existing ICF laser drivers, a 6.96- $\text{GW}/\text{cm}^{2}$ pulse with a width of 170 ps was obtained in our experiment. The practical scalability of the results to larger ICF laser drivers is discussed.

In this paper, a novel decoupling technique for closely spaced E-plane patch antennas using defect ground structure (DGS) is proposed. The electric field coupling between the antennas is suppressed by etching DGS which consists of a pair of rectangular slots and four stubs on the ground plane. Moreover, unlike the other methods, the DGS is not etched in the middle of the antennas but loaded along the outer edge of the radiated patch. Thus, through the adopted technology the distance between the antenna elements is reduced and the isolation is increased. To validate the improvements by adopting the proposed technology, the array with DGS loading has been fabricated and then measured. The measurement results show that designed antennas have 95 MHz 10-dB impedance bandwidth, which is 25 MHz higher than that of the antenna without DGS. More importantly, isolation improvements have been increased from 8.5 to 31.3 dB by using the decoupling technique when the antennas are placed with a 0.032 λ0 edge-to-edge distance, where λ0 is the free-space wavelength. Therefore, this technique can be widely applied to improve isolation in a compact and low profile antenna system.

For a given set $S\subset \mathbb{N}$ , $R_{S}(n)$ is the number of solutions of the equation $n=s+s^{\prime },s<s^{\prime },s,s^{\prime }\in S$ . Suppose that $m$ and $r$ are integers with $m>r\geq 0$ and that $A$ and $B$ are sets with $A\cup B=\mathbb{N}$ and $A\cap B=\{r+mk:k\in \mathbb{N}\}$ . We prove that if $R_{A}(n)=R_{B}(n)$ for all positive integers $n$ , then there exists an integer $l\geq 1$ such that $r=2^{2l}-1$ and $m=2^{2l+1}-1$ . This solves a problem of Chen and Lev [‘Integer sets with identical representation functions’, Integers16 (2016), A36] under the condition $m>r$ .

To improve detection performance of passive location system based on troposcatter, we propose a blind signal detection algorithm. According to our algorithm, complementary ensemble empirical mode decomposition decomposes the received signal into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). To reconstruct the signal and background noises, difference between the entropy of adjacent IMFs is utilized as a standard. Different IMFs are utilized to estimate threshold of energy detection algorithm and energy level of received signal. Simulation examples indicate that the proposed algorithm can blindly and effectively detect the signal.

To eliminate the toxic effect of chemotherapy drug of lobaplatin (LBP) on body tissue in liver cancer therapy, this work prepared a nanodrug carrier based on polyethylene glycol-modified carbon nanotubes (PEG–CNTs) and then constructed a targeted drug delivery system (LBP–PEG–CNTs) by loading LBP on PEG–CNTs. Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was used to label PEG–CNTs to observe the cellular uptake of PEG–CNTs. In addition, the inhibitions of LBP–PEG–CNTs on HepG2 cells were investigated. The results show that the FITC-labeled PEG–CNTs have good cell penetrability; meanwhile, LBP–PEG–CNTs have good stability, pH-controlled release property, and high inhibition rate on HepG2 cells. To be specific, 80% of LBP is released under physiological conditions of liver cancer cells at pH 5.0, and LBP–PEG–CNTs show a high inhibition rate of 77.86% on HepG2 cells, demonstrating that they have targeted, pH-controlled release and inhibition properties on HepG2 cells.

This paper investigates a wideband and low axial ratio circularly polarized (CP) antenna, which is composed of a monopole on a novel polarization rotating reflective surface (PRRS) based on a corner-truncated artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure. By adjusting the dimensions of truncated corner properly, the PRRS has two polarization rotation (PR) frequency points. Then, a large PR band of 18% (5.55–6.65 GHz) can be achieved with two adjacent PR frequency points coming together. The profile of the newly PRRS is only0.04λ0. With corner-truncated AMC-based PRRS loading, a measured impedance bandwidth of 1.8 GHz (5.4–7.2 GHz) and the 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 1 GHz (5.55–6.65 GHz) could be obtained by the monopole antenna and validated by measurements. The values of AR were well below 1 dB at most of the CP region, which show a perfect CP performance. Moreover, the proposed antenna has exhibited a large axial ratio beamwidth in both the xoz- and yoz-planes and a peak gain of 6.1 dBic within the operational bandwidth.

We report a new pulsed chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) process to deposit nickel (Ni) and nickel carbide (Ni3C x ) thin films, using bis(1,4-di-tert-butyl-1,3-diazabutadienyl)nickel(II) precursor and either H2 gas or H2 plasma as the coreactant, at a temperature from 140 to 250 °C. All the PCVD films are fairly pure with low levels of N and O impurities. The films deposited with H2 gas at ≤200 °C are faced centered cubic-phase Ni metal films with low C content; but at ≥220 °C, another phase of rhombohedral Ni3C is formed and the C content increases. However, when H2 plasma is used, the films are always in rhombohedral Ni3C phase for the entire temperature range.

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.

This study examined the mediating effects of future social expectations and interpersonal distrust on the relationship between individual relative deprivation and intention to rebel. Data were gathered from 807 people from multiple occupational backgrounds in a municipality in southwest China. Structural equation modelling showed that individual relative deprivation predicted intention to rebel directly and also that it predicted intention to rebel indirectly via negative future social expectations, interpersonal distrust, and a chain mediating effect of negative future social expectations and interpersonal distrust. These results highlight the importance of the associations between future social expectations and interpersonal distrust with intention to rebel in people who report relative deprivation. The findings also indicate that prevention and intervention programs related to relative deprivation and intention to rebel in China are worthy of further research.

Impedance matching is very important to improve transmission efficiency not only for wireless communication but also for wireless power transfer. Lumped reactive elements are usually used in the impedance matching circuit. These reactive components such as inductors and capacitors have ohmic loss. An exact approach to design the lumped matching circuit at the presence of the ohmic loss is derived in this paper. Moreover, the condition for selection of impedance matching topology is deduced not only for lossless case but also for lossy case. Finally, the effect of the ohmic loss in the impedance matching circuit on the transmission efficiency is demonstrated quantitatively.

Activated carbon (AC) has been widely used as catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in air-cathode microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Here we demonstrate a new method to improve the AC air-cathode by blending it with reduced graphene oxide (rGO). rGO sheets are first deposited on Ni foam and AC is then brushed onto it with controlled mass loading. rGO sheets not only improve the electrical conductivity of AC, but also provide a large number of ORR areas. Rotating ring disk electrode measurements reveal that the number of transferred electrons at rGO-AC cathode is 3.5, indicating the four-electron pathway is the dominant process. Significantly, the MFC with rGO-AC cathode delivers a maximum power density of 2.25 ± 0.05 W/m2, which is substantially higher than that of plain AC cathode (1.35 ± 0.07 W/m2) and those for other air-cathode MFCs using AC as ORR catalyst under the same mass loading.

China's trade with Taiwan has a political motive: winning the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people. The effectiveness of China's economic statecraft can be examined in the Syuejia (Xuejia) case, where Taiwan put up strong resistance to the generous benefits offered by China. This article investigates the political implications of the Chinese-designed contract farming programme in Syuejia and argues that if economic favours are delivered, and positive impressions also created, political attitudes can be revised. Without these two prerequisites, however, replicating the Syuejia results elsewhere and thus disturbing the cross-Strait status quo will be difficult. When put in a theoretical context, the changes in the political landscape of Syuejia illustrate the interplay of economic interests and political identity.

A method is proposed for improving the accuracy and self-consistency of bathymetric maps built using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to create precise prior maps for Terrain-Aided Navigation (TAN), when the Global Positioning System (GPS) or another precise location method is unavailable. This method consists of front-end and back-end. For the front-end, the AUV predicts the measurement of the bathymetry system through Terrain Elevation Measurement Extrapolation Estimation (TEMEE) and calculates the likelihood function using real measurements. After the final Inertial Navigation System (INS) error is obtained by communicating with sensor nodes, the process enters the back-end. A Terrain Correlation Correction Method (TCCM) and an Improved Terrain Correlation Correction Method (ITCCM) are proposed to solve the gradual distribution of the final INS error to each point on a path, and the accuracy of ITCCM was confirmed experimentally. Finally, a TAN simulation experiment was conducted to prove the importance and necessity of map correction using ITCCM. ITCCM was proven to be an effective and important method for correcting maps built using an AUV.

Bragg coherent X-ray diffraction imaging has been used to determine the structure of the initial clusters of α-Fe nano crystals which form upon annealing of an iron-based amorphous alloy or metallic glass. The method is able to identify the shapes and strain of these crystallites without any need for cutting the sample, so can visualize them in three dimensions in their intact state. In this way, the delicate dendritic structures on the exterior of the crystallites can be seen and its density versus radius relationship identifies a fractal dimension of the porous region that is consistent with diffusion-limited aggregation models. The crystal sizes were found to be around 60 nm after annealing at 700 °C growing to about 330 nm after annealing at 750 °C. This article introduces the BCDI method and describes its application to characterize previously recrystallized samples of iron-based amorphous alloys. It paves the way for a possible future in situ nucleation/growth investigation of the relationship between kinetics and nanostructure of metallic glass.

An effective multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the simultaneous detection of three major pathogens, Nosema bombycis Nägeli (Microsporidia: Nosematidae), Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (Baculoviridae: genus Alphabaculovirus) (NPV), and Bombyx mori densovirus (Parvoviridae: genus Iteravirus) (DNV), in silkworms (Bombyx mori (Linnaeus); Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) was developed in this study. Polymerase chain reaction and real-time PCR tests and basic local alignment search tool searches revealed that the primers and probes used in this study had high specificities for their target species. The ability of each primer/probe set to detect pure pathogen DNA was determined using a plasmid dilution panel, in which under optimal conditions the multiplex real-time PCR assay showed high efficiency in the detection of three mixed target plasmids with a detection limit of 8.5×103 copies for N. bombycis and Bombyx mori NPV (BmNPV) and 8.5×104 copies for Bombyx mori DNV (BmDNV). When the ability to detect these three pathogens was examined in artificially inoculated silkworms, our method presented a number of advantages over traditional microscopy, including specificity, sensitivity, and high-throughput capabilities. Under the optimal volume ratio for the three primer/probe sets (3:2:2=N. bombycis:BmNPV:BmDNV), the multiplex real-time PCR assay showed early detection of BmNPV and BmDNV by day 1 post inoculation using DNA templates of the three pathogens in various combinations from individually infected silkworms; the early detection of N. bombycis was possible by day 3 post inoculation using the DNA isolated from the midgut of N. bombycis-infected silkworms.

Many lacustrine chronology records suffer from radiocarbon reservoir effects. A continuous, accurate varve chronology, in conjunction with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating, was used to determine the age of lacustrine sediment and to quantify the past 14C reservoir effect in Sugan Lake (China). Reservoir age varied from 4340 to 2590 yr due to 14C-depleted water in the late Holocene. However, during the Little Ice Age (LIA), 14C reservoir age was relatively stable. According to this study, 14C reservoir age in the late Holocene may be driven by hydrological and climatic changes of this period. Therefore, special caution should be paid to the correction of the 14C reservoir effect by a unique 14C reservoir age in paleoclimatic and paleolimnological study of northwest China.

The Xi-Sha Islands comprise 35 coral reefs, cays, and islets lying to the northwest of the South China Sea. Since Miocene time, > 1200m of bioherms developed on slowly subsiding granite-gneiss bed rock. These sediments provide evidence for sea-level changes and crustal movements in the South China Sea.

Multi-wavelength flares have routinely been observed from the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A⋆ (Sgr A⋆), at our Galactic center. The nature of these flares remains largely unclear, despite many theoretical models. We study the statistical properties of the Sgr A⋆ X-ray flares and find that they are consistent with the theoretical prediction of the self-organized criticality system with the spatial dimension S = 3. We suggest that the X-ray flares represent plasmoid ejections driven by magnetic reconnection (similar to solar flares) in the accretion flow onto the black hole. Motivated by the statistical results, we further develop a time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model for the multi-band flares from Sgr A⋆ by analogy with models of solar flares/coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We calculate the X-ray, infrared flare light curves, and the spectra, and find that our model can explain the main features of the flares.

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.