Severe phase coarsening and separation in Sn–Bi alloys have brought increasing reliability concern in microelectronic packages. In this study, a phase field model is developed to simulate the microstructural evolution and evaluate the change in macroscopic physical properties of the flip chip Cu/Sn58Bi/Cu joint under the conditions of isothermal aging, as well as the coupled loads of elastic stress and electric current stressing. Results show that large-sized Bi-rich phase particles grow up at the expense of small-sized ones. Under the coupled loads, Bi atoms migrate along the electron flow direction, consequently Bi-rich phase segregates to form a Bi-rich phase layer at the anode. The current crowding ratio in the solder decreases rapidly first and then fluctuates slightly with time. Current density and von Mises stress exhibit inhomogeneous distribution, and both of them are higher in the Sn-rich phase than in the Bi-rich phase. Electric current transfers through the Sn-rich phase and detours the Bi-rich phase. As time proceeds, the resistance of the solder joint increases, and the average von Mises stress of the solder joint decreases. The Bi-rich phase coarsens much faster under the coupled loads than under the conditions of isothermal aging.

We assessed inheritance of resistance to sugarcane brown rust (Puccinia melanocephala) in selfing F1 populations of wild sugarcane germplasm Erianthus rockii ‘Yundian 95-19’ and E. rockii ‘Yundian 95-20’. We tested parent and selfing F1 individuals for the brown rust resistance gene, Bru1, that has been shown to confer resistance to brown rust in sugarcane. The Bru1 gene was not detected in E. rockii ‘Yundian 95-19’, E. rockii ‘Yundian 95-20’ or their selfing F1 individuals, and we found there was segregation of resistance in the two selfing F1 populations (segregation ratio: 3:1). The results confirmed resistance in E. rockii ‘Yundian 95-19’ and E. rockii ‘Yundian 95-20’ to sugarcane brown rust is controlled by a novel, single dominant gene.

We generalize work by Bourgain and Kontorovich [On the local-global conjecture for integral Apollonian gaskets, Invent. Math. 196 (2014), 589–650] and Zhang [On the local-global principle for integral Apollonian 3-circle packings, J. Reine Angew. Math. 737, (2018), 71–110], proving an almost local-to-global property for the curvatures of certain circle packings, to a large class of Kleinian groups. Specifically, we associate in a natural way an infinite family of integral packings of circles to any Kleinian group ${\mathcal{A}}\leqslant \text{PSL}_{2}(K)$ satisfying certain conditions, where $K$ is an imaginary quadratic field, and show that the curvatures of the circles in any such packing satisfy an almost local-to-global principle. A key ingredient in the proof is that ${\mathcal{A}}$ possesses a spectral gap property, which we prove for any infinite-covolume, geometrically finite, Zariski dense Kleinian group in $\operatorname{PSL}_{2}({\mathcal{O}}_{K})$ containing a Zariski dense subgroup of $\operatorname{PSL}_{2}(\mathbb{Z})$ .

In our previous study, we observed a lack of $\left\{ {10\bar{1}2} \right\}$ twinning in a deformed Mg–Y alloy, which contributed to the observed yield “symmetry.” However, the effects of texture and grain size on polycrystalline deformation made it difficult to fully understand why twinning was not active. Therefore, we report herein in-depth study by in situ transmission electron microscopy, i.e., in situ TEM. The in situ deformation of nano-sized Mg–Y pillars revealed that prismatic slip was favored over twinning, namely, the critical stress required to activate prismatic slip was lower than that for twinning. This finding diametrically differs from that reported in other nano/micro-pillar deformation studies, where twinning is always the dominant deformation mechanism. By measuring the critical stresses for basal, prismatic, and pyramidal slip systems, this in situ TEM study also sheds light on the effects of the alloying element Y on reducing the intrinsic plastic anisotropy in the Mg matrix.

Laser-induced acoustic desorption (LIAD) enables the desorption of nonvolatile and/or thermally labile neutral compounds, such as asphaltenes, saturated hydrocarbons in base-oil fractions and biomolecules, from a metal surface into a mass spectrometer. This is a “gentle” evaporation technique and causes minimal fragmentation to the desorbed neutral molecules, including oligonucleotides and polypeptides. LIAD can be coupled with a wide range of ionization methods to facilitate analysis of the desorbed analytes by using many different types of mass spectrometers, including Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance, linear quadrupole ion trap and quadrupole time-of-flight instruments. The development and improvement of LIAD remains an active research area with diverse goals such as better desorption efficiencies, minimized analyte fragmentation and greater versatility. This article details the theory, experimental methods, applications, and future directions of LIAD in combination with mass spectrometry.

A band-stop angular filter (BSF) based on hump volume Bragg gratings (HVBGs) is proposed. Band-stop filtering in a two-stage amplifier laser system is discussed and simulated. Simulation results show that small-scale self-focusing effects in the laser system can be effectively suppressed with the BSF due to the control of fast nonlinear growth in a specific range of spatial frequencies in the laser beam. Near-field modulation of the output beam from the laser system was decreased from 2.69 to 1.37 by controlling the fast nonlinear growth of spatial frequencies ranging from $0.6~\text{mm}^{-1}$ to $1.2~\text{mm}^{-1}$ with the BSF. In addition, the BSF can be used in a plug-and-play scheme and has potential applications in high-power laser systems.

The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of scutellaria baicalensis extract (SBE) on intestinal health in terms of morphology, barrier integrity and immune responses in weaned piglets challenged with E. coli K88. A total of 72 weaned piglets were assigned into two groups to receive a basal diet without including antibiotic additives or the basal diet supplemented 1000 mg SBE /kg diet for 14d. On d 15, 12 healthy piglets from each group were selected to expose to oral administration of either 10 ml 1×109 CFU of E. coli K88 or the vehicle control. After 48 hours of E.coli K88 challenge, blood was sampled, and then all piglets were sacrificed humanly for harvesting jejunal and ileal samples. Dietary supplementation of SBE significantly decreased diarrhea frequency and improved FCR (P < 0.05). SBE supplementation to E.coli K88-challenged piglets improved villous height and VCR (P < 0.05), recovered the protein expression of occludin and ZO-2 in both of the jejunum and ileum (P < 0.05), and mitigated the increases in plasma IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, IgA and IgG (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, dietary SBE effectively inhibited the stimulation of NF-κB, P38, and TNF-α as well as IL-1β in the small intestine of piglets challenged by E. coli K88, and prevented the activation of NF-κB/P38 signaling pathways (P < 0.05). Collectively, SBE supplementation can potently attenuate diarrhea in weaning piglets, and decrease inflammatory cytokine expressions may through inhibiting the NF-κB and P38 signaling pathways.

A field study to optimize the nitrogen (N) top-dressing mode of panicle fertilization and improve rice yields was conducted in mid-eastern China. Japonica cultivar Yunongjing-6 was grown and panicle N fertilizer was applied at the beginning of the inverted fourth leaf stage using three different modes: manual broadcast application (BA) on the soil surface as a control treatment, deep application during ditching at a depth of 15 cm (DD) and manual BA on the soil surface during deep ditching (BAD). The activity of soil enzymes, including invertase, urease, phosphatase and catalase, was increased significantly at the jointing, booting and grain-filling stages with the DD and BAD treatments compared with the traditional BA mode. The DD and BAD treatments also increased basal internode and neck-panicle internode bleeding intensity. The DD treatment gave the highest crop yield, increasing the yield by 0.63 and 0.31 t/hm2 in 2011 and 2012, respectively, compared with BA. The results suggest that ditching during panicle N fertilizer application after sun-drying of the fields increases rice yields, most likely by improving the activity of soil enzymes and enhancing the physiological activity of roots and grain weight.

The timing of the Holocene summer monsoon maximum (HSMM) in northeastern China has been much debated and more quantitative precipitation records are needed to resolve the issue. In the present study, Holocene precipitation and temperature changes were quantitatively reconstructed from a pollen record from the sediments of Tianchi Crater Lake in northeastern China using a plant functional type-modern analogue technique (PFT-MAT). The reconstructed precipitation record indicates a gradual increase during the early to mid-Holocene and a HSMM at ~5500–3100 cal yr BP, while the temperature record exhibits a divergent pattern with a marked rise in the early Holocene and a decline thereafter. The trend of reconstructed precipitation is consistent with that from other pollen records in northeastern China, confirming the relatively late occurrence of the HSMM in the region. However, differences in the onset of the HSMM within northeastern China are also evident. No single factor appears to be responsible for the late occurrence of the HSMM in northeastern China, pointing to a potentially complex forcing mechanism of regional rainfall in the East Asian monsoon region. We suggest that further studies are needed to understand the spatiotemporal pattern of the HSMM in the region.

Recent molecular dynamics simulations revealed that 〈c + a〉 dislocations in Mg were prone to dissociation on the basal plane, thus becoming sessile. Basal dissociation of 〈c + a〉 dislocations is significant because it is a major factor in the limited ductility and high work-hardening in Mg. We report an in situ transmission electron microscopy study of the deformation process using an H-bar-shaped thin foil of Mg single crystal designed to facilitate 〈c + a〉 slip, observe 〈c + a〉 dislocation activity, and establish the validity of the largely immobile 〈c + a〉 dislocations caused by the predicted basal dissociation. In addition, through detailed observations on the fine movement of some 〈c + a〉 dislocations, it was revealed that limited bowing out movement for some non-basal portions of 〈c + a〉 dislocations was possible; under certain circumstances, i.e., through attraction and reaction between two 〈c + a〉 dislocations on the same pyramidal plane, at least portions of the sessile configuration were observed to be reversed into a glissile one.

Few studies have examined the association of various types of Fe with colorectal cancer risk. The aim of this study was to investigate different forms and sources of Fe in relation to colorectal cancer risk in a Chinese population. A total of 2138 patients with colorectal cancer and 2144 sex- and age-matched (5-year interval) controls were recruited from July 2010 to November 2017. Dietary information was assessed by face-to-face interviews using a validated FFQ. Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the OR and 95 % CI on models. Intake of Fe from plants and Fe from white meat were inversely associated with the risk of colorectal cancer, while haem Fe and Fe from red meat were positively associated with colorectal cancer risk. The multivariable OR for the highest quartile v. the lowest quartile were 0·72 (95 % CI 0·59, 0·87, Ptrend<0·001) for Fe from plants, 0·54 (95 % CI 0·45, 0·66, Ptrend<0·001) for Fe from white meat, 1·26 (95 % CI 1·04, 1·53, Ptrend=0·005) for haem Fe and 1·83 (95 % CI 1·49, 2·24, Ptrend<0·001) for Fe from red meat intake, respectively. However, no significant association was found between the consumption of total dietary Fe, non-haem Fe, Fe from meat and colorectal cancer risk. This study showed that lower intake of Fe from plants and white meat, as well as higher intake of haem Fe and Fe from red meat, were associated with colorectal cancer risk in a Chinese population.

TRIM28/KAP1/TIF1β was identified as a universal transcriptional co-repressor and is critical for regulating post-fertilization methylation reprogramming in preimplantation embryos. In this study, three siRNAs (si647, si742, and si1153) were designed to target the TRIM28 mRNA sequence. After transfection of the mixture of the three siRNA (siMix) into bovine fibroblast cells, the most effective one for TRIM28 knockdown was selected. By injecting RNAi directed against TRIM28 mRNA, we found that TRIM28 knockdown in oocytes had the most effect on the H19 gene, in which differentially methylated region (DMR) methylation was almost completely absent at the 2-cell stage (1.4%), while control embryos showed 74% methylation. In addition, global H3K9me3 levels at the 2-cell stage were significantly higher in the in vitro fertilization (IVF) group than in the TRIM28 knockdown group (P<0.05). We further show that TRIM28 is highly expressed during oocyte maturation and reaches peak levels at the 2-cell stage. In contrast, at this stage, TRIM28 expression in somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos decreased significantly (P<0.05), suggesting that Trim28 transcripts are lost during SCNT. TRIM28 is required for the maintenance of methylation imprints in bovine preimplantation embryos, and the loss of TRIM28 during SCNT may contribute to the unfaithful maintenance of imprints in cloned embryos.

Heavy metal contamination in the paddy soils of China is a serious concern because of its health risk through transfer in food chains. A field experiment was conducted in 2014–2015 to investigate the long-term effects of different biochar amendments on cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) immobilisation in a contaminated paddy field in southern China. Two types of biochar, a rice-straw-derived biochar (RB) and a coconut-by-product-derived biochar (CB), were amended separately to determine their impacts on rice yield and their efficacy in reducing Cd and As in rice. The two-year field experiment showed that biochar amendments significantly improved the rice yields and that CB is superior to RB, especially in the first growth season. Using a large amount of biochar amendment (22.5tha–1) significantly increased soil pH and total organic carbon, and concomitantly decreased the Cd content in rice grains over the four growth seasons, regardless of biochar type and application rate. Arsenic levels in rice were similar to the control, and results from this study suggest that there was a sustainable effect of biochar on Cd sequestration in soil and reduction of Cd accumulation in rice for at least two years. Biochar amendment in soil could be considered as a sustainable, reliable and cost-effective option to remediate heavy metal contamination in paddy fields for long periods.

The composites were synthesized by the reaction of Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, KI, and MoS2 and were prepared with different molar ratios of Bi/Mo (1:5, 1:2, 1:1, and 4:1) by altering the amount of bismuth nitrate pentahydrate. The phase composition and chemical bonds of the composites were characterized via X-ray diffraction and FT-IR, and the morphologies of the samples were characterized via scanning electron microscopy. With the increase of lanthanum source, the lamellar structure of the sample surface became more and more obvious. The results showed that the phase composition of the composites with different ratios of Bi/Mo was different. When the Bi/Mo reached 4:1, the composite material was Bi2MoO6/BiOI. The heterojunction structure formed between Bi2MoO6 and BiOI effectively promotes the separation of photogenerated electrons and holes and improved the photocatalytic activity. Therefore, the effect of the composites on the degradation of RhB was better than pure BiOI under the irradiation of a 350-W xenon lamp.

The prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and diabetes mellitus (DM) has reportedly increased significantly among Chinese children and adolescents. We aimed to examine the prevalence of IFG and DM, the disparities in sex and region and related risk factors among Chinese children and adolescents. A total of 16 434 Chinese children aged 6–17 years were selected from a national cross-sectional survey, and fasting glucose was measured for all participants. Overall, mean fasting plasma glucose (FPG) concentration was (4·64 (sd 0·51)) mmol/l, and the prevalence of DM and IFG was 0·10 and 1·89 %, respectively. Compared with girls, boys had higher FPG concentration (4·69 v. 4·58 mmol/l, r 0·107, P<0·001) and IFG prevalence (2·67 v. 1·07 %, rφ 0·059, P<0·001). Compared with rural children and adolescents, urban children and adolescent had higher FPG concentration (4·65 v. 4·62 mmol/l, r 0·029, P<0·001) and DM prevalence (0·15 v. 0·05 %, rφ 0·016, P<0·01). In addition, self-reported fried foods intake and overweight/obesity were positively associated with IFG, and the proportion of consuming fried foods more than or equal to once per week and overweight/obesity prevalence in boys and urban children and adolescents were significantly higher than girls and rural children and adolescents, respectively (P<0·05). Although the prevalence of IFG and DM was relatively low in Chinese children and adolescents, sex and region disparities were observed, which may be associated with differences in overweight/obesity prevalence and dietary factors.

Although many studies have focused on how trustees’ particular or single social identity affects their trustworthiness, only one study has revealed that trustees with multiple social identities are judged as more trustworthy than those with a single identity. However, the study could not show how trustworthiness systematically changes with an increasing number of social identities. The present study addressed this issue and further explored in two experiments whether the growth trend of trustworthiness was particular to social identities. Experiment 1 showed that when the number of trustees’ social identities increased, they were judged as more trustworthy. Experiment 2 found that trustees with more social identities were judged as more trustworthy, whereas the amount of trustees’ personal physical information did not have that large effect in facilitating trustworthiness. These results demonstrate the special influence of social identity information on trust or trustworthiness.

Two phases of diabase-sill-forming magmatism are recorded within the Badu anticline where magmas were emplaced into upper Palaeozoic carbonates and clastic rocks of the Youjiang fold-and-thrust belt in the SW South China Block, China. Zircons from these diabase units yield weighted mean U–Pb ages of 249.2±2.0 Ma and 187.1±3.3 Ma, and magmatic oxygen fugacity values from ‒20 to ‒6 (average of ‒12, equating to FMQ +5) and ‒20 to ‒10 (average of ‒15, equating to FMQ +2), respectively. These data indicate that the sills were emplaced during Early Triassic and Early Jurassic times. The discovery of c. 250 Ma mafic magmatism in this area was probably related to post-flood-basalt extension associated with the Emeishan mantle plume or rollback of the subducting Palaeo-Tethys slab. The c. 190 Ma diabase sills indicate that the southwestern South China Block records Early Jurassic mafic magmatism and lithospheric extension that was likely associated with a transition from post-collisional to within-plate tectonic regimes. The emplacement of diabase intrusions at depth may have driven hydrothermal systems, enabling the mobilization of elements from sedimentary rocks and causing the formation of a giant epigenetic metallogenic domain. The results indicate that high-oxygen-fugacity materials within basement rocks caused crustal contamination of the magmas, contributing to the wide range of oxygen fugacity conditions recorded by the Au-bearing Badu diabase. In addition, data from inherited xenocrystic zircons within the Badu diabase and detrital zircons from basement rocks suggest that the Neoproterozoic Jiangshao suture extends to the south of the Badu anticline.

A linear stability analysis is conducted for the onset of natural convection driven by a concentration gradient in a horizontal layer of a near-critical binary fluid mixture. The problem is regarded as a limiting case of double-diffusive convection. The governing equations for small perturbations after normal-mode expansion are solved numerically with finite difference discretization to obtain the critical concentration Rayleigh number. It is found that, when the height of the fluid layer is small, the initial density stratification is negligible and the theoretical criterion developed under Boussinesq approximation with the modified Rayleigh number is accurate even extremely close to the critical point. However, for a large height, the initial density stratification makes the fluid layer become more unstable, and deviations from theoretical predictions are observed. We further propose a method to estimate these deviations, which can be used to check the applicability of the theoretical criterion. As the second part of the study, we apply the criterion to interpret the onset of convection for a transient problem: a near-critical binary fluid mixture confined in a two-dimensional cavity submitted to concentration increases at the bottom wall. The numerical results demonstrate four typical behaviours of the concentration boundary layer: onset of convection, collapse of the concentration boundary layer, return to stability, and remaining stable. Comparisons between numerical results and the stability criterion are made, where consistencies are found except for the behaviour of return to stability. We attribute the inconsistency to the existence of lateral walls, whose stabilizing effect is strong when the return to stability happens.