The penultimate deglaciation was characterized by a sub-millennial-scale warm event in the Heinrich Stadial 11(HS11), termed the 134-ka event. However, its precise timing and structure remain poorly constrained due to the lack of high-resolution and precisely dated records. We present an oxygen isotope record of a speleothem with well-developed annual lamina from Zhangjia Cave, located on the north margin of the Sichuan Basin, characterizing Asian summer monsoon (ASM) changes in the 134-ka event, which included an increase excursion of ca. 149 years and decrease excursion of ca. 200 years, inferred from 3.3‰ δ18O variations. This event also divided the weak ASM interval-II (WMI-II), corresponding to HS11, into two stages, the WMI-IIa 132.8–134.1 ka and WMI-IIb 134.4–136.4 ka. With a comparable climatic pattern globally, the 134-ka event is essentially similar to the millennial-scale events in last glacial–deglacial period. Particularly, the observed weak-strong-weak ASM sequence (138.8–132.8 ka) is largely controlled by changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) forced by the meltwater of northern high-latitude ice sheets. Moreover, our results underpin that AMOC, rather than the global ice volume, is more critical to ASM variations during the last two deglaciations.

Large-scale Ulva prolifera green tides have successively occurred for 16 years (2007–2022) in the Yellow Sea (YS), and the different life stages of U. prolifera play critical roles in regulating the occurrence and development of green tides. U. prolifera and microalgae have a similar niche in seawater, but their potential interactions are not yet clearly understood. In this study, we investigated the competition relationship between two microalgae and U. prolifera at five different development stages in controlled laboratory experiments. The results showed that one microalgae Alexandrium tamarense, can only inhibit U. prolifera gametes at the first settlement stage. Inversely, the germinated U. prolifera begin to show negative effects on microalgae in multiple ways at the subsequent four stages, and the growth inhibition rates among these stages ranged from 19 to 100%. The complex interactions may influence the formation of green tides. Meanwhile, the potential ecological consequences on phytoplankton, even the decreased occurrence of microalgal blooms in the YS need to be further evaluated.

Folate status for women during early pregnancy has been investigated, but data for women during mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy or lactation are sparse or lacking. Between May and July 2014, we conducted a cross-sectional study in 1211 pregnant and lactating women from three representative regions in China. Approximately 135 women were enrolled in each stratum by physiological periods (mid-pregnancy, late pregnancy or lactation) and regions (south, central or north). Plasma folate concentrations were measured by microbiological assay. The adjusted medians of folate concentration decreased from 28·8 (interquartile range (IQR) 19·9, 38·2) nmol/l in mid-pregnancy to 18·6 (IQR 13·2, 26·4) nmol/l in late pregnancy, and to 17·0 (IQR 12·3, 22·5) nmol/l in lactation (Pfor trend < 0·001). Overall, lower folate concentrations were more likely to be observed in women residing in the northern region, with younger age, higher pre-pregnancy BMI, lower education or multiparity, and in lactating women who had undergone a Caesarean delivery or who were breastfeeding exclusively. In total, 380 (31·4 %) women had a suboptimal folate status (folate concentration <13·5 nmol/l). Women in late pregnancy and lactating, residing in the northern region, having multiparity and low education level had a higher risk of suboptimal folate status, while those with older age had a lower risk. In conclusion, maternal plasma folate concentrations decreased as pregnancy progressed, and were influenced by geographic region and maternal socio-demographic characteristics. Future studies are warranted to assess the necessity of folic acid supplementation during later pregnancy and lactation especially for women at a higher risk of folate depletion.

In inertial confinement fusion experiments that involve short-laser pulses such as fast ignition (FI), diagnosis of neutrons is usually very challenging because high-intensity γ rays generated by short-laser pulses would mask the much weaker neutron signal. In this paper, fast-response scintillators with low afterglow and gated microchannel plate photomultiplier tubes are combined to build neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) spectrometers for such experiments. Direct-drive implosion experiments of deuterium-gas-filled capsules were performed at the Shenguang-II Upgrade (SG-II-UP) laser facility to study the compressed fuel areal density (〈ρR〉) and evaluate the performance of such nTOF diagnostics. Two newly developed quenched liquid scintillator detectors and a gated ultrafast plastic scintillator detector were used to measure the secondary DT neutrons and primary DD neutrons, respectively. The secondary neutron signals were clearly discriminated from the γ rays from (n, γ) reactions, and the compressed fuel areal density obtained with the yield-ratio method agrees well with the simulations. Additionally, a small scintillator decay tail and a clear DD neutron signal were observed in an integrated FI experiment as a result of the low afterglow of the oxygen-quenched liquid scintillator.

To obtain a fine-grained Mg matrix, the (submicron + micron) bimodal size SiC particle reinforced AZ91 (SiCp/AZ91) composite was subjected to forging followed by the extrusion process first. Then, the fine-grained bimodal size SiCp/AZ91 composite was compressed at 270–370 °C with 0.1–0.001 s−1. The result indicated that the refinement of the Mg matrix contributed to its deteriorated strength at high temperature. However, the grain size is not the only factor influencing flow stress but the SiCp also plays an important role. The effect of SiCp on the fine grained Mg matrix depends on grain size and dislocation density, both of which strongly depend on temperature and strain rate. As compared with the fine grained Mg matrix reinforced by single size SiCp, the one with bimodal size SiCp unusually exhibit lower flow stress during hot compression. The calculated activation energy of the bimodal size SiCp/AZ91 composite is higher than the micron SiCp/AZ91 composite; however, nearly the same as the submicron SiCp/AZ91 composite, and the deformation of which was thought to be controlled by ∼1 vol% submicron SiCp.

By inserting a carbon chain, the geometric structure and electronic properties of carbon nanotube (CNT) would undergo a significant change. Numerous studies have conducted to experimentally find the insertion effect of carbon chains on CNTs. This paper in a theoretical way studied the geometry of carbon chains inserted CNTs and analyzed the mechanism for conductivity change after insertion of carbon chains. Results indicate that carbon chains in the innermost channel of the tube are effective methods for transforming the electrical properties of the CNT, leading to the redistribution of electron and thereby causing the conductivity change in obtained configurations.

The first-principles plane-wave pseudopotential method is used to study the electronic and chemical structures of pyrite (FeS2) and arsenopyrite (FeAsS). The results indicate that an antibonding interaction occurs between Fe and As atoms in arsenopyrite. This interaction results in the Fe atom being repelled towards the S atom to stabilize antibonding orbitals, causing a larger S–Fe–S angle in arsenopyrite than in pyrite and a distortion in the arsenopyrite structure. In arsenopyrite, Fe–Fe distances are alternately long and short. The low spin density of the Fe d electrons supports this configuration in arsenopyrite. However, electron density calculations indicate that there is negligible electron density present between Fe atoms. This result indicates that cation-anion interactions are dominant in arsenopyrite. The pyrite Fe 3d orbital is split below the Fermi level, whereas the arsenopyrite Fe 3d orbital is not split, which can be attributed to the stronger interatomic bonding effects between Fe and S atoms in pyrite compared to arsenopyrite. It is found that the d-p orbital interactions between Fe and S atoms lead to bonding-antibonding splitting in both pyrite and arsenopyrite. However, the bonding effects between pyrite Fe and S atoms are stronger than in arsenopyrite. In arsenopyrite, the bonding interaction between the As 4p and Fe 3d orbitals is very weak, while the antibonding effect is very strong. The p-p orbital interaction is the dominant effect in As–S bonding. Frontier orbital calculations indicate that the Fermi levels of pyrite and arsenopyrite are notably close to each other, resulting in similar electrochemical activities. Orbital coefficient results show that the pyrite Fe 3d and S 3p orbitals are the active orbitals in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), respectively. In the case of arsenopyrite, Fe 3d orbitals are very active in both the HOMO and LUMO. Moreover, the activity of the As 4p in the HOMO is greater than S 3p, whereas the opposite situation occurs in the LUMO. Based on these results, As atoms could be one of the active sites for the oxidation of arsenopyrite. In addition, separation of arsenopyrite and pyrite could be achieved by utilizing the difference in chemical reactivities of iron in the two minerals.

A novel scheme for power-combined frequency tripler adopting 2N diodes is proposed in this work. Even mode coupled suspended substrate stripline is used to divide and recombine the input and output power. The circuits of the tripler are printed on both sides of the substrate, with N diodes on the front side and the other N diodes on the back side. The front diodes and back diodes are in anti-parallel connection, and DC biased separately to increase the bandwidth and power capacity. Three Q-band prototypes with two, four, and six diodes are fabricated and tested. The output compression powers at output frequency of 43.5 GHz for two/four/six-diode tripler are 9.2, 11, and 12 dBm, respectively. Power capacity is improved with the proposed tripler. Optimum DC bias is also discussed in this work, and it is found that it first increases with drive power, and then drops when large drive power applied because of the increased series resistance of the diode due to high junction temperature.

The effects of different Fe contents (0.168, 0.356 and 0.601 wt%) on microstructures and mechanical properties of the Al–1.6Mg–1.2Si–1.1Cu–0.15Cr–0.15Zr (all in wt%) alloys prepared by low frequency electromagnetic casting process were investigated in the process of solidification, hot extrusion, solid solution and aging treatments. The results show that the increase of Fe content promotes the formation of feathery grains in the process of solidification and the precipitation of another important strengthening phase Q′ with small size. Additionally, it also results in no recrystallization even after solid solution at a high temperature of 550 °C, which is because of the increase number of elliptical shaped and fine DO22-Al3Zr dispersoids (∼70 nm long and ∼35 nm wide) and the spherical or elliptical shaped Fe-containing phases. When Fe content of the alloy increases to 0.356 wt%, both the ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of the alloy-T6 increase by more than 60 MPa and with little cost of ductility.

Robotic hands use rolling contact to manipulate a grasped object to a desired location, even when the finger and the palm linkage mechanisms lack degrees of freedom. This paper presents a systematic approach to the forward and inverse kinematics of in-hand manipulation. The moving frame method in differential geometry is integrated into the product of exponential formula to establish a pure geometric framework of the kinematics of a robot hand. The forward and inverse kinematics of a multifingered hand are obtained in terms of the joint rates and contact trajectories. A two-fingered planar robot hand and a three-fingered spatial robot hand are used to demonstrate the proposed approach. The proposed formulation amounts to solving a univariate polynomial, providing an alternative to the existing ones that require numerical integration.

Influence of corrosion/fatigue factors on the fatigue life of 7B04-T6 aluminum alloys were studied in this paper. Different kinds of alternating corrosion-fatigue tests were carried out. Three factors influencing fatigue life were investigated: pre-corrosion time, corrosion/fatigue alternation frequency, and specimen’s size. The results show that: with the extension of pre-corrosion time, fatigue lives decreased; although the total corrosion time was the same (192 h), as the corrosion/fatigue alternation frequency increased, the total fatigue lives increased. The total fatigue lives of specimens subjected to two, four, and six corrosion/fatigue cycles (n = 2, 4, 6), in which specimens underwent pre-corrosion for 96 h per cycle (n = 2), 48 h per cycle (n = 4), and 32 h per cycle (n = 6), respectively, was measured. It was found that the fatigue lives increased by 56.4, 84.4, 136%, as the number of cycles increased, compared to tests in which no alternation took place (192 h of continuous corrosion). When exposed to the same corrosion times, different sized specimens demonstrated different fatigue lives. The fatigue lives of small specimens were shorter than the larger specimens. These results are all due to the specific properties of corrosion/fatigue factors.

Astronomy cloud computing environment is a cyber-Infrastructure for Astronomy Research initiated by Chinese Virtual Observatory (China-VO) under funding support from NDRC (National Development and Reform commission) and CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences). Based on virtualization technology, astronomy cloud computing environment was designed and implemented by China-VO team. It consists of five distributed nodes across the mainland of China. Astronomer can get compuitng and storage resource in this cloud computing environment. Through this environments, astronomer can easily search and analyze astronomical data collected by different telescopes and data centers , and avoid the large scale dataset transportation.

Few studies have explored the relationship between dietary patterns and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Evidence from non-Western areas is particularly lacking. In the present study, we aimed to examine the associations between dietary patterns and the risk of GDM in a Chinese population. A total of 3063 pregnant Chinese women from an ongoing prospective cohort study were included. Data on dietary intake were collected using a FFQ at 24–27 weeks of gestation. GDM was diagnosed using a 75 g, 2 h oral glucose tolerance test. Dietary patterns were determined by principal components factor analysis. A log-binomial regression model was used to examine the associations between dietary pattern and the risk of GDM. The analysis identified four dietary patterns: vegetable pattern; protein-rich pattern; prudent pattern; sweets and seafood pattern. Multivariate analysis showed that the highest tertile of the vegetable pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM (relative risk (RR) 0·79, 95 % CI 0·64, 0·97), compared with the lowest tertile, whereas the highest tertile of the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM (RR 1·23, 95 % CI 1·02, 1·49). No significant association was found for either the protein-rich or the prudent pattern. The protective effect of a high vegetable pattern score was more evident among women who had a family history of diabetes (P for interaction = 0·022). These findings suggest that the vegetable pattern was associated with a decreased risk of GDM, while the sweets and seafood pattern was associated with an increased risk of GDM. These findings may be useful in dietary counselling during pregnancy.

Zhou Z-H, Yuan G-Z, Yao J-J, Li C, Cheng Z-H. An event-related potential investigation of deficient inhibitory control in individuals with pathological Internet use.

The Chinese Astronomical Data Center (CAsDC) is a member of World Data System, hosted at National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences(NAOC). The CAsDC keeps close collaboration with IVOA, WDS and CODATA. The whole set of LAMOST data, including raw data and data products, are hosted at the CAsDC. Data resources and services of the CAsDC are introduced.

A $\ast $-ring $R$ is called (strongly) $\ast $-clean if every element of $R$ is the sum of a unit and a projection (that commute). Vaš [‘$\ast $-Clean rings; some clean and almost clean Baer $\ast $-rings and von Neumann algebras’, J. Algebra 324(12) (2010), 3388–3400] asked whether there exists a $\ast $-ring that is clean but not $\ast $-clean and whether a unit regular and $\ast $-regular ring is strongly $\ast $-clean. In this paper, we answer these two questions. We also give some characterisations related to $\ast $-regular rings.