This study examined the sour grapes/sweet lemons rationalization through 2 conditions: ‘attainable’ (sweet lemons) and ‘unattainable’ (sour grapes), reflecting China’s 2019-nCoV vaccination strategy. The aim was to find ways to change people’s beliefs and preferences regarding vaccines by easing their safety concerns and encouraging more willingness to get vaccinated. An online survey was conducted from January 22 to 27, 2021, with 3,123 residents across 30 provinces and municipalities in the Chinese mainland. The direction of belief and preference changed in line with the sour grapes/sweet lemons rationalization. Using hypothetical and real contrasts, we compared those for whom the vaccine was relatively unattainable (‘sour grapes’ condition) with those who could get the vaccine easily (‘sweet lemons’). Whether the vaccine was attainable was determined in the early stage of the vaccine roll-out by membership in a select group of workers that was supposed to be vaccinated to the greatest extent possible, or, by being in the second stage when the vaccine was available to all. The attainable conditions demonstrated higher evaluation in vaccine safety, higher willingness to be vaccinated, and lower willingness to wait and see. Hence, we propose that the manipulation of vaccine attainability, which formed the basis of the application of sour grapes/sweet lemons rationalization, can be utilized as a means to manipulate the choice architecture to nudge individuals to ease vaccine safety concerns, reducing wait-and-see tendencies, and enhancing vaccination willingness. This approach can expedite universal vaccination and its associated benefits in future scenarios resembling the 2019-nCoV vaccine rollout.

The material removal rate (MRR) serves as a crucial indicator in the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process of semiconductor wafers. Currently, the mainstream method to ascertain the MRR through offline measurements proves time inefficient and struggles to represent process variability accurately. An efficient MRR prediction model based on stacking ensemble learning that integrates models with disparate architectures was proposed in this study. First, the processing signals collected during wafer polishing, as available in the PHM2016 dataset, were analyzed and preprocessed to extract statistical and neighbor domain features. Subsequently, Pearson correlation coefficient analysis (PCCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were employed to fuse the extracted features. Ultimately, random forest (RF), light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and backpropagation neural network (BPNN) with hyperparameters optimized by the Bayesian Optimization Algorithm were integrated to establish an MRR prediction model based on stacking ensemble learning. The developed model was verified on the PHM2016 benchmark test set, and a Mean Square Error (MSE) of 7.72 and a coefficient of determination (R2) of 95.82% were achieved. This indicates that the stacking ensemble learning based model, integrated with base models of disparate architectures, offers considerable potential for real-time MRR prediction in the CMP process of semiconductor wafers.

Dietary restriction-influenced biological performance is found in many animal species. Pardosa pseudoannulata is a dominant spider species in agricultural fields and is important for controlling pests. In this study, three groups – a control group (CK group), a re-feeding group (RF group), and a dietary restriction group (RT group) – were used to explore development, mating, reproduction, and the expression levels of Vg (vitellogenin) and VgR (vitellogenin receptor) genes in the spider. The findings indicated that when subjected to dietary restriction, the carapace size, weight of the spiderlings, and weight of the adults exhibited a decrease. Furthermore, the preoviposition period and egg stage were observed to be prolonged, while the number of spiderlings decreased. It was also observed that re-feeding reduced cannibalism rates and extended the preoviposition period. Dietary restriction also affected the expression of the Vg-3 gene in the spider. These results will contribute to the understanding of the impact of dietary restriction in predators of pest control, as well as provide a theoretical foundation for the artificial rearing and utilisation of the dominant spider in the field.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, non-coding RNAs, which are functional in a variety of biological processes through post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. However, the role of miRNAs in the interaction between Bacillus thuringiensis and insects remains unclear. In this study, small RNA libraries were constructed for B. thuringiensis-infected (Bt) and uninfected (CK) Spodoptera exigua larvae (treated with double-distilled water) using Illumina sequencing. Utilising the miRDeep2 and Randfold, a total of 233 known and 726 novel miRNAs were identified, among which 16 up-regulated and 34 down-regulated differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs were identified compared to the CK. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed that potential target genes of DE miRNAs were associated with ABC transporters, fatty acid metabolism and MAPK signalling pathway which are related to the development, reproduction and immunity. Moreover, two miRNA core genes, SeDicer1 and SeAgo1 were identified. The phylogenetic tree showed that lepidopteran Dicer1 clustered into one branch, with SeDicer1 in the position closest to Spodoptera litura Dicer1. A similar phylogenetic relationship was observed in the Ago1 protein. Expression of SeDicer1 increased at 72 h post infection (hpi) with B. thuringiensis; however, expression of SeDicer1 and SeAgo1 decreased at 96 hpi. The RNAi results showed that the knockdown of SeDicer1 directly caused the down-regulation of miRNAs and promoted the mortality of S. exigua infected by B. thuringiensis GS57. In conclusion, our study is crucial to understand the relationship between miRNAs and various biological processes caused by B. thuringiensis infection, and develop an integrated pest management strategy for S. exigua via miRNAs.

Double-cone ignition [Zhang et al., Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 378, 20200015 (2020)] was proposed recently as a novel path for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion using high-power lasers. In this scheme, plasma jets with both high density and high velocity are required for collisions. Here we report preliminary experimental results obtained at the Shenguang-II upgrade laser facility, employing a CHCl shell in a gold cone irradiated with a two-ramp laser pulse. The CHCl shell was pre-compressed by the first laser ramp to a density of 3.75 g/cm3 along the isentropic path. Subsequently, the target was further compressed and accelerated by the second laser ramp in the cone. According to the simulations, the plasma jet reached a density of up to 15 g/cm3, while measurements indicated a velocity of 126.8 ± 17.1 km/s. The good agreements between experimental data and simulations are documented.

This paper retrospectively analysed the prevalence of macrolide-resistant Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MRMP) in some parts of China. Between January 2013 and December 2019, we collected 4,145 respiratory samples, including pharyngeal swabs and alveolar lavage fluid. The highest PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae was 74.5% in Beijing, the highest resistance rate was 100% in Shanghai, and Gansu was the lowest with 20%. The highest PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae was 74.5% in 2013, and the highest MRMP was 97.4% in 2019; the PCR-positive rate of M. pneumoniae for adults in Beijing was 17.9% and the MRMP was 10.48%. Among the children diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), the PCR-positive and macrolide-resistant rates of M. pneumoniae were both higher in the severe ones. A2063G in domain V of 23S rRNA was the major macrolide-resistant mutation, accounting for more than 90%. The MIC values of all MRMP to erythromycin and azithromycin were ≥ 64 μg/ml, and the MICs of tetracycline and levofloxacin were ≤ 0.5 μg/ml and ≤ 1 μg/ml, respectively. The macrolide resistance varied in different regions and years. Among inpatients, the macrolide-resistant rate was higher in severe pneumonia. A2063G was the common mutation, and we found no resistance to tetracycline and levofloxacin.

Mythimna separata (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an omnivorous pest that poses a great threat to food security. Insect antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small peptides that are important effector molecules of innate immunity. Here, we investigated the role of the AMP cecropin B in the growth, development, and immunity of M. separata. The gene encoding M. separata cecropin B (MscecropinB) was cloned. The expression of MscecropinB was determined in different developmental stages and tissues of M. separata. It was highest in the prepupal stage, followed by the pupal stage. Among larval stages, the highest expression was observed in the fourth instar. Tissue expression analysis of fourth instar larvae showed that MscecropinB was highly expressed in the fat body and haemolymph. An increase in population density led to upregulation of MscecropinB expression. MscecropinB expression was also upregulated by the infection of third and fourth instar M. separata with Beauveria bassiana or Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). RNA interference (RNAi) targeting MscecropinB inhibited the emergence rate and fecundity of M. separata, and resulted in an increased sensitivity to B. bassiana and Bt. The mortality of M. separata larvae was significantly higher in pathogen plus RNAi-treated M. separata than in controls treated with pathogens only. Our findings indicate that MscecropinB functions in the eclosion and fecundity of M. separata and plays an important role in resistance to infection by B. bassiana and Bt.

Illite is a common clay mineral that is found in a wide range of geological settings. The good thermal stability and non-swelling properties of illite make it valuable in ceramic materials, paints and coatings, drilling fluids, agriculture and geological studies. To gain a deeper understanding of the physical and chemical properties of illite, in the present paper the atomic and electronic structures of a typical trans-vacant 1M Al-rich illite were constructed and calculated using density functional theory. The calculated indirect band gap of Al-rich illite was 4.99 eV. The electronic analysis revealed that the interactions in the tetrahedral sheet were more stable than those in the octahedral sheet. The substitution of Al atoms noticeably reduced the stability of the tetrahedral sheet in Al-rich illite. Other properties of Al-rich illite, including the density of states, electron population/charge, electronic charge density and bonding interaction, are also discussed and analysed in detail.

In this paper, a single-layer band-stop frequency selective surface (FSS) by combination of Mike Kastle unit and square ring unit is proposed to achieve wide angular stable shielding. Owing to the rotational symmetry of the structure, the designed FSS is insensitive to polarization. By the combination design, the wide angular stability can be achieved as the incident angle increases from 0° to 85°, with only a maximum frequency deviation of 0.012 GHz. Meanwhile, the mechanism of the proposed FSS is investigated by the parametric analysis of equivalent circuit model. The prototype was manufactured and measured to verify the design and simulation analysis, and the measurement results were in good agreement with the simulation results.

Accurately predicting neurosyphilis prior to a lumbar puncture (LP) is critical for the prompt management of neurosyphilis. However, a valid and reliable model for this purpose is still lacking. This study aimed to develop a nomogram for the accurate identification of neurosyphilis in patients with syphilis. The training cohort included 9,504 syphilis patients who underwent initial neurosyphilis evaluation between 2009 and 2020, while the validation cohort comprised 526 patients whose data were prospectively collected from January 2021 to September 2021. Neurosyphilis was observed in 35.8% (3,400/9,504) of the training cohort and 37.6% (198/526) of the validation cohort. The nomogram incorporated factors such as age, male gender, neurological and psychiatric symptoms, serum RPR, a mucous plaque of the larynx and nose, a history of other STD infections, and co-diabetes. The model exhibited good performance with concordance indexes of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.83–0.85) and 0.82 (95% CI, 0.78–0.86) in the training and validation cohorts, respectively, along with well-fitted calibration curves. This study developed a precise nomogram to predict neurosyphilis risk in syphilis patients, with potential implications for early detection prior to an LP.

Reconstructing the Mid-Holocene climate change in arid and semiarid areas can help predict regional moisture availability and resultant lake evolution and vegetation changes due to future warming. Here, we present a sediment core (YLH15A) from Moon Lake in the Tengger Desert, arid and semiarid China. Based on robust accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dating and multiproxy analyses (pollen, grain size, elements, and total organic carbon), we reconstructed regional climate changes since 7.6 cal ka BP. The climate was generally dry from 7.6 to 2.8 cal ka BP, as indicated by the dried-up lake, strong aeolian activities, and no vegetation, except for a short-term wet interval between 5.4 and 4.9 cal ka BP. The generally dry climate shifted after 2.8 cal ka BP, which is suggested by expanded steppe desert/steppe and increased vegetation cover; it was also accompanied by lake development, which was likely related to increased groundwater recharge originating from regional precipitation and temporary floods from adjacent mountain areas. Our results reveal a prolonged dry Mid-Holocene and relatively wet Late Holocene that are basically consistent with climatic records from the central–east Asian arid and hyperarid areas. The prolonged dry climate in the arid and hyperarid areas is likely to be related to high evaporation triggered by high temperatures during the Middle Holocene.

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.

The characterization of energetic protons generated in the ShenGuang-II UP petawatt laser interactions with foil targets has been systematically studied. The proton energy spectra and angular distributions are measured with a radiochromic film stack. It shows that the proton energy spectra have a Boltzmann distribution with temperature of about 2.8 MeV and cutoff energy of about 20 MeV. The divergence angles of protons vary from 10° to 60°, dependent on the proton energy. The proton source size and location are investigated via the proton point-projection mesh imaging. The proton virtual sources are found to locate tens to hundreds of microns in front of the foil target, depending on the proton energies. A Monte Carlo simulation estimates the diameter of the virtual proton source to be about 12 μm for the protons with energy of 16.8 MeV, which is much smaller than the laser focus size of about 50 μm. The spatial resolution of the 16.8 MeV proton imaging is quantified with the point spread function to be about 15 μm, which is consistent with the proton virtual source size. These results will be important for the users conducting experiments with the protons as a backlighting source on the ShenGuang-II UP petawatt laser.

The relationship between vacant Mn structural sites in birnessites and heavy-metal adsorption is a current and important research topic. In this study, two series of birnessites with different average oxidation states (AOS) of Mn were synthesized. One birnessite series was prepared in acidic media (49.6–53.6 wt.% Mn) and the other in alkaline media (50.0–56.2 wt.% Mn). Correlations between the Pb2+ adsorption capacity and the d110 interlayer spacing, the AOS by titration, and the release of Mn2+, H+, and K+ during adsorption of Pb2+ were investigated. The maximum Pb2+ adsorption by the birnessites synthesized in acidic media ranged from 1320 to 2457 mmol/kg with AOS values that ranged from 3.67 to 3.92. For birnessites synthesized in alkaline media, the maximum Pb2+ adsorption ranged from 524 to 1814 mmol/kg, with AOS values between 3.49 and 3.89. Birnessite AOS values and Pb2+ adsorption increased as the Mn content decreased. The maximum Pb2+ adsorption to the synthetic birnessites calculated from a Langmuir fit of the Pb adsorption data was linearly related to AOS. Birnessite AOS was positively correlated to Pb2+ adsorption, but negatively correlated to the d110 spacing. Vacant Mn structural sites in birnessite increased with AOS and resulted in greater Pb2+ adsorption. Birnessite AOS values apparently reflect the quantity of vacant sites which largely account for Pb2+ adsorption. Therefore, the Pb2+ adsorption capacity of birnessite is mostly determined by the Mn site vacancies, from which Mn2+, H+, and K+ released during adsorption were derived.

In order to establish a compact all-optical Thomson scattering source, experimental studies were conducted on the 45 TW Ti: sapphire laser facility. By including a steel wafer, mixed gas, and plasma mirror into a double-exit jet, several mechanisms, such as shock-assisted ionization injection, ionization injection, and driving laser reflection, were integrated into one source. So, the source of complexity was remarkably reduced. Electron bunches with central energy fluctuating from 90 to 160 MeV can be produced. Plasma mirrors were used to reflect the driving laser. The scattering of the reflected laser on the electron bunches led to the generation of X-ray photons. Through comparing the X-ray spots under different experimental conditions, it is confirmed that the X-ray photons are generated by Thomson scattering. For further application, the energy spectra and source size of the Thomson scattering source were measured. The unfolded spectrum contains a large amount of low-energy photons besides a peak near 67 keV. Through importing the electron energy spectrum into the Monte Carlo simulation code, the different contributions of the photons with small and large emitting angles can be used to explain the origin of the unfolded spectrum. The maximum photon energy extended to about 500 keV. The total photon production was 107/pulse. The FWHM source size was about 12 μm.