This article investigates the cultural politics of the Beijing subway. Drawing on diverse sources, we trace the evolution of the subway over the last half-century to reveal that it transcends its fluctuating, time-specific practicalities to serve as a potent conduit through which the Chinese state consistently shapes subjecthood. The article begins with the subway’s Cold War inception as a military enterprise, spotlighting its deliberate concealment to safeguard the echelons of power and obscure both international and domestic tensions. The second section delves into the subway’s rebirth in the wake of China’s opening-up reform and rapid economic rise, as it transforms into a mobile gallery of political aesthetics that extols China’s cultural heritage and triumphs, cultivating national pride under siege from unleashed market and social forces. The final section dissects the subway’s orchestration of undesirable passengers, sculpting a socioeconomic hierarchy in the city’s commuting system. As a multifaceted prism, the Beijing subway encapsulates a range of covert and overt, pragmatic and aesthetic, and inclusive and exclusive elements in the cultural politics of Chinese infrastructure at large; and it illustrates the sustained centrality of state power in shaping individual subjectivities and defining the cultural and representational significance of Chinese infrastructure, albeit amid growing contestation.

The omnipresence of change has been singled out as posing an important challenge to law, both in theory and in practice, throughout its history. Arguably, the most efficient method of adapting the law to constant changes is legal education. Recent changes in the global arena have added to the complexity of the expected role of future legal talents, requiring them to acquire not only a profound knowledge of local and global laws but also a variety of legal as well as non-legal skills. This article presents some of the principal challenges faced by law schools and legal education in the world of today. These challenges are then explored using the example of a new Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree programme in Chinese Law and Global Legal Studies in the English Language that will be offered by the Faculty of Law of the University of Macau in Macao, China.

We systematically study the dissipative anomaly in compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence using direct numerical simulations, and show that the total dissipation remains finite as viscosity diminishes. The dimensionless dissipation rate $\mathcal {C}_{\varepsilon }$ fits well with the model $\mathcal {C}_{\varepsilon } = \mathcal {C}_{\varepsilon,\infty } + \mathcal {D}/R_L^-$ for all levels of flow compressibility considered here, where $R_L^-$ is the generalized large-scale Reynolds number. The asymptotic value $\mathcal {C}_{\varepsilon,\infty }$ describes the total energy transfer flux, and decreases with increase of the flow compressibility, indicating non-universality of the dimensionless dissipation rate in compressible MHD turbulence. After introducing an empirically modified dissipation rate, the data from compressible cases collapse to a form similar to the incompressible MHD case depending only on the modified Reynolds number.

China is still among the 30 high-burden tuberculosis (TB) countries in the world. Few studies have described the spatial epidemiological characteristics of pulmonary TB (PTB) in Jiangsu Province. The registered incidence data of PTB patients in 95 counties of Jiangsu Province from 2011 to 2021 were collected from the Tuberculosis Management Information System. Three-dimensional spatial trends, spatial autocorrelation, and spatial–temporal scan analysis were conducted to explore the spatial clustering pattern of PTB. From 2011 to 2021, a total of 347,495 newly diagnosed PTB cases were registered. The registered incidence rate of PTB decreased from 49.78/100,000 in 2011 to 26.49/100,000 in 2021, exhibiting a steady downward trend (χ2 = 414.22, P < 0.001). The average annual registered incidence rate of PTB was higher in the central and northern regions. Moran’s I indices of the registered incidence of PTB were all >0 (P< 0.05) except in 2016, indicating a positive spatial correlation overall. Local autocorrelation analysis showed that ‘high–high’ clusters were mainly distributed in northern Jiangsu, and ‘low–low’ clusters were mainly concentrated in southern Jiangsu. The results of this study assist in identifying settings and locations of high TB risk and inform policy-making for PTB control and prevention.

This paper is concerned with the study on an open problem of classifying conformally flat minimal Legendrian submanifolds in the $(2n+1)$-dimensional unit sphere $\mathbb {S}^{2n+1}$ admitting a Sasakian structure $(\varphi,\,\xi,\,\eta,\,g)$ for $n\ge 3$, motivated by the classification of minimal Legendrian submanifolds with constant sectional curvature. First of all, we completely classify such Legendrian submanifolds by assuming that the tensor $K:=-\varphi h$ is semi-parallel, which is introduced as a natural extension of $C$-parallel second fundamental form $h$. Secondly, such submanifolds have also been determined under the condition that the Ricci tensor is semi-parallel, generalizing the Einstein condition. Finally, as direct consequences, new characterizations of the Calabi torus are presented.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is a large group of mycobacteria other than the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and Mycobacterium leprae. Epidemiological investigations have found that the incidence of NTM infections is increasing in China, and it is naturally resistant to many antibiotics. Therefore, studies of NTM species in clinical isolates are useful for understanding the epidemiology of NTM infections. The present study aimed to investigate the incidence of NTM infections and types of NTM species. Of the 420 samples collected, 285 were positive for M. tuberculosis, 62 samples were negative, and the remaining 73 samples contained NTM, including 35 (8.3%) only NTM and 38 (9%) mixed (M. tuberculosis and NTM). The most prevalent NTM species were Mycobacterium intracellulare (30.1%), followed by Mycobacterium abscessus (15%) and M. triviale (12%). M. gordonae infection was detected in 9.5% of total NTM-positive cases. Moreover, this study reports the presence of Mycobacterium nonchromogenicum infection and a high prevalence of M. triviale for the first time in Henan. M. intracellulare is the most prevalent, accompanied by some emerging NTM species, including M. nonchromogenicum and a high prevalence of M. triviale in Henan Province. Monitoring NTM transmission and epidemiology could enhance mycobacteriosis management in future.

Flexible electronics researchers have been conducting studies to explore the response of flexible stretchable electrodes to strain. The regulation of strain response in current flexible stretchable electrodes relies primarily on altering the material system, interfacial adhesion, or electrode structure. However, modifying the material system or interfacial adhesion can negatively disrupt the stretchable electrode preparation process, making commercialization a significant challenge. Additionally, the material system may be inadequate in extreme environments such as high temperatures. Hence a systematic structural design approach is crucial for effective response modulation of stretchable electrodes. One potential solution is the design of fibre structures from the micro to macro scale. This article focuses on discussing how the response of stretchable electrodes can be modulated by fibres in different states. The discussion includes fibres on elastic films, fibres directly constituting fibrous membranes at the microscopic level, and fibres constituting metamaterials at the fine level. The modulation can be achieved by altering the orientation of the fibres, the geometrical structure of the fibres themselves, and the geometrical structure formed between the fibres. Additionally, the article analyses the current situation of stretchable electrodes in extreme environments such as high temperatures. It also reviews the development of ceramic fibre membranes that can be stretched in high-temperature environments. The authors further discuss how the stretchability of ceramic fibre membranes can be improved through the structuring of ceramic fibre membranes with metamaterials. Ultimately, the goal is to realize stretchable electrodes that can be used in extreme environments such as high temperatures.

A modulational instability of nonlinearly interacting electron whistlers and magnetosonic perturbations is studied in the present paper. For typical parameters, there is no modulational instability. However, modulational instability appears in special cases. For example, when the whistler wavenumber is small enough, there is modulational instability. Its growth rate decreases as the angle between the external magnetic field and the perturbed wave's direction increases, while it increases as the whistler wavenumber increases. It is also found that there is no modulational instability when the whistler wavenumber is larger than a critical value ($k_0 > 0.05$), in which the perturbed wave frequency increases as the angle between the external magnetic field and the perturbed wave's direction increases when the angle between the external magnetic field and the perturbed wave's direction is large enough. Whereas, the perturbed wave frequency first increases as the whistler wavenumber increases, reaches a peak value and then decreases as whistler wavenumber increases.

The gene encoding juvenile hormone response (Krüppel homolog1, Kr-hl) in Coccinella septempunctata was investigated by cloning and analysing expression profiles in different developmental stages and tissues by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). C. septempunctata Kr-hl (CsKr-hl) encoded a 1338 bp open reading frame (ORF) with a predicted protein product of 445 amino acids; the latter showed high similarity to orthologs in other species and contained eight highly-conserved Zn-finger motifs for DNA-binding. CsKr-hl was expressed in different developmental stages of C. septempunctata. The expression levels of CsKr-hl in eggs, 2nd, 3rd, 4th instar larvae, and pupa were 3.31, 2.30, 7.09, 0.58, and 7.48 times the number of 1st instar larvae, respectively. CsKr-hl expression levels in female adults gradually increased at 25–30 days and were significantly higher than expression at 1–20 days. CsKr-hl expression in 20–30 days-old male adults was significantly higher than males aged 1–15 days. CsKr-hl expression levels in heads of male and female adults were significantly higher than expression levels in the thorax, adipose, and reproductive system. Interestingly, CsKr-hl expression levels in the adipose and reproductive system of female adults were significantly higher than in adult male corresponding organs, which suggest that CsKr-hl plays an important role in regulating reproductive development in C. septempunctata.

The laboratory generation and diagnosis of uniform near-critical-density (NCD) plasmas play critical roles in various studies and applications, such as fusion science, high energy density physics, astrophysics as well as relativistic electron beam generation. Here we successfully generated the quasistatic NCD plasma sample by heating a low-density tri-cellulose acetate (TCA) foam with the high-power-laser-driven hohlraum radiation. The temperature of the hohlraum is determined to be 20 eV by analyzing the spectra obtained with the transmission grating spectrometer. The single-order diffraction grating was employed to eliminate the high-order disturbance. The temperature of the heated foam is determined to be T = 16.8 ± 1.1 eV by analyzing the high-resolution spectra obtained with a flat-field grating spectrometer. The electron density of the heated foam is about $N_e=4.0\pm 0.3\times {10}^{20}{\text{cm}}^{-3}$ under the reasonable assumption of constant mass density.

In preparation for an experiment with a laser-generated intense proton beam at the Laser Fusion Research Center at Mianyang to investigate the 11B(p,α)2α reaction, we performed a measurement at very low proton energy between 140 keV and 172 keV using the high-voltage platform at the Institute of Modern Physics, Lanzhou. The aim of the experiment was to test the ability to use CR-39 track detectors for cross-section measurements and to remeasure the cross-section of this reaction close to the first resonance using the thick target approach. We obtained the cross-section σ = 45.6 ± 12.5 mb near 156 keV. Our result confirms the feasibility of CR-39 type track detector for nuclear reaction measurement also in low-energy regions.

Labs as guide dogs or sniffer dogs in usage have been introduced into China for more than 20 years. These two types of working dogs own blunt or acute olfactory senses, which have been obtained by artificial selection in relatively closed populations. In order to attain stable olfactory attributes and meet use-oriented demands, Chinese breeders keep doing the same artificial selection. Though olfactory behavior is canine genetic behavior, genotypes of OR genes formed by breeding schemes are largely unknown. Here, we characterized 26 SNPs, 2 deletions, and 2 insertions of 7 OR genes between sniffer dogs and guide dogs in order to find out the candidate alleles associated with working specific traits. The results showed that there were candidate functional SNP alleles in one locus that had statistically severely significant differences between the two subpopulations. Furthermore, the levels of polymorphism were not high in all loci and linkage disequilibrium only happened within one OR gene. Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) tests showed that there was a higher ratio not in HWE and lower FST within the two working dog populations. We conclude that artificial selection in working capacities has acted on SNP alleles of OR genes in a dog breed and driven the evolution in compliance with people’s intentions though the changes are limited in decades of strategic breeding.