High-energy electron radiography (HEER) has been proposed for time-resolved imaging of materials, high-energy density matter, and for inertial confinement fusion. The areal-density resolution, determined by the image intensity information is critical for these types of diagnostics. Preliminary experimental studies for different materials with the same thickness and the same areal-density target have been imaged and analyzed. Although there are some discrepancies between experimental and theory analysis, the results show that the density distribution can indeed be attained from HEER. The reason for the discrepancies has been investigated and indicates the importance of the uniformity in the transverse distribution beam illuminating the target. Furthermore, the method for generating a uniform transverse distribution beam using octupole magnets was studied and verified by simulations. The simulations also confirm that the octupole field does not affect the angle-position correlation in the center part beam, a critical requirement for the imaging lens. A more practical method for HEER using collimators and octupoles for generating more uniform beams is also described. Detailed experimental results and simulation studies are presented in this paper.

Stored product insects show high adaption to hypoxia and hypercapnia, but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Herein, a comparative transcriptome on 4th adzuki bean weevil (Callosobruchus chinensis) instar larvae was studied to clarify the response mechanisms to hypoxia (HA) and hypoxia/hypercapnia (HHA) using NextSeq500 RNA-Seq. Transcript profiling showed a significant difference in HA or HHA exposure both quantitatively and qualitatively. Compared with control, 631 and 253 genes were significantly changed in HHA and HA, respectively. Comparing HHA with HA, 1135 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. The addition of hypercapnia made a complex alteration on the hypoxia response of bean weevil transcriptome, carbohydrate, energy, lipid and amino acid metabolism were the most highly enriched pathways for genes significantly changed. In addition, some biological processes that were not significantly enriched but important were also discussed, such as immune system and signal transduction. Most of the DEGs related to metabolism both in HHA and HA were up-regulated, while the DEGs related to the immune system, stress response or signal transduction were significantly down-regulated or suppressed. This research reveals a comparatively full-scale result in adzuki bean weevil hypoxia and hypoxia/hypercapnia tolerance mechanism at transcription level, which might provide new insights into the genomic research of this species.

Enterovirus A-71 (EV-A71) may be fatal, but the natural history, symptoms, and signs are poorly understood. This study aimed to examine the natural history of fatal EV-A71 infection and to identify the symptoms and signs of early warning of deterioration. This was a clinical observational study of fatal cases of EV-A71 infection treated at five Chinese hospitals between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2012. We recorded and analysed 91 manifestations of EV-A71 infection in order to identify early prognosis indicators. There were 54 fatal cases. Median age was 21.5 months (Q1−Q3: 12–36). The median duration from onset to death was 78.5 h (range, 6 to 432). The multilayer perceptron analysis showed that ataxia respiratory, ultrahyperpyrexia, excessive tachycardia, refractory shock, absent pharyngeal reflex, irregular respiratory rhythm, hyperventilation, deep coma, pulmonary oedema and/or haemorrhage, excessive hypertension, tachycardia, somnolence, CRT extension, fatigue or sleepiness and age were associated with death. Autopsy findings (n = 2) showed neuronal necrosis, softening, perivascular cuffing, colloid and neuronophagia phenomenon in the brainstem. The fatal cases of enterovirus A71 had neurologic involvement, even at the early stage. Direct virus invasion through the neural pathway and subsequent brainstem damage might explain the rapid progression to death.

Here a compact three orthogonal planes high-energy electron radiography system was proposed. One of the critical technologies, the ultra-fast beam bunches split from the bunch train are studied. The separated bunches could be transported to the three orthogonal planes of the target for dynamic radiography diagnostics. The key elements of the ultra-fast bunches split system are transverse deflecting cavity (TDC) and the twin septum magnet (TSM). The principle of TDC and TSM are briefly introduced. An example of the beam bunches split system for test experiment (40 MeV electron beam) with TDC and TSM is designed and studied by particle-tracking simulation and it confirms this method is valid and feasible. Especially with TSM, a compact three orthogonal planes radiography system can be realized. The evolution of the beam parameters along the beam line from simulation are investigated. The detailed design of the beam split system and beam dynamics simulation study are presented in this paper.

We report that the tail modulation of Stokes pulses in the high-energy stimulated Brillouin scattering pulse compression can be suppressed by controlling effective pulse width of the pump. It is shown through numerical simulations and validated experimentally that the effective pulse width is an appropriate parameter, which determines the generation of tail modulation. The effective pulse width broaden as the increase of energy. This mechanism leads to the amplification of Stokes tail edge and it is the cause of tail modulation.

Although the strong coupling of polarization to spontaneous strain in ferroelectrics would impart a flux-closure with severe disclination strains, recent studies have successfully stabilized such a domain via a nano-scaled multi-layer growth. Nonetheless, the detailed distributions of polarizations in three-dimensions (3D) and how the strains inside a flux closure affect the structures of domain walls are still less understood. Here we report a 3D polarization texture of a 4-fold flux closure domain identified in tensile strained ferroelectric PbTiO3/SrTiO3 multilayer films. Ferroelectric displacement analysis based on aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopic imaging reveals highly inhomogeneous strains with strain gradient above 107/m. These giant disclination strains significantly broaden the 90° domain walls, while the flexoelectric coupling at 180° domain wall is less affected. The present observations are helpful for understanding the basics of topological dipole textures and indicate novel applications of ferroelectrics through engineering strains.

The effects of rare earth oxide Y2O3 additive on microstructure and mechanical properties of proeutectoid ferrite/granular bainitic coating by flux-cored arc welding were investigated. The results show that the primary austenite in the bainitic coating can be refined by Y2O3. The grain size of primary austenite is decreased from 51.2 µm to 40.1 µm with the increased Y2O3. The size of proeutectoid ferrite is decreased significantly and the fraction of the bainite is increased, which in turn facilitates the uniform distribution of the M/A island. Large number of the dislocation martensite is transformed into M/A. With the increased Y2O3 additive, the hardness and the tensile strength of the coating increases from HV 272 ± 13 to HV 312 ± 8 and from 764 ± 10 MPa to 885 ± 12 MPa, respectively. Moreover, the wear resistance of the coating with Y2O3 additive is increased simultaneously.

Stimulated rotational Raman scattering (SRRS) limits the effective transmission distances of the high-energy and high-power laser pulses in laser–fusion systems and other applications. A simple and practical method of suppressing SRRS process by controlling the polarization direction of Stokes light is proposed. For a narrowband, linearly polarized, flat-topped laser pulse of 351 nm with intensity of 2 GW/cm2 and width of 3 ns, the SRRS threshold distance in air is lengthened to 30.0 m from 16.2 m easily using the method. Simulation results demonstrate that the method is also applicable for broadband laser.

Hundred picoseconds laser pulse with high energy and high peak power has broad application prospects such as inertial confinement fusion shock ignition. But it is hard to get effective amplification through MOPA or chirped pulse amplification method. Through simulated Brillouin scattering method, 100 picoseconds laser pulse can be amplified efficiently. To be able to meet the need of high energy and high-intensity laser pulse amplification, scalable two cell structure and four different FC series liquid were used to fulfill this experiment. The results indicate that the magnification of Stokes energy and efficiency of energy extraction are closely related to medium parameters and energy parameters. The minimum width of 340 ps Stokes pulse was amplified by 13.5 times in this experiment.

Reconstruction of a complete Quaternary record of climatic changes in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is not well obtained, because of high relief and extensive surface erosion. In this study, two long cores obtained from thick loess deposits in the region, both contain clear alternations of loess and paleosols, indicating distinct climate changes during the Quaternary. The palaeomagnetic stratigraphy and optically stimulated luminescence dating indicate that the loess deposition began approximately 2.0 Ma ago, with continuous accumulation until the Holocene. Dust accumulation rates in this region are much higher than those in the central Chinese Loess Plateau, suggesting an extended dust source and/or robust transport agent. Variations of magnetic susceptibility of the loess are a good proxy index of warm/wet and cold/dry alternations and are correlated with the intensity of pedogensis. The magnetic susceptibility record reveals that a relatively cold/dry climate dominated the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the Quaternary, punctuated by warm/wet phases. A stepwise strengthening of the plateau summer monsoon, with a significant strengthening at around 1200-1000 ka and at least 7 phases of strengthening of the plateau summer monsoon in the past 800 ka are interpreted from the core data. The cores provide evidence that strengthened warm/wet climates occurred at around 80-130, 190-250, 290-340, 385-420, 500-625, 690-720 and 755-780 ka, which may correlate to warm/wet phases in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The palaeoclimate changes probably were regulated by the glacial-interglacial alternations.

The current trends in stimulated Brillouin scattering and optical phase conjugation are overviewed. This report is formed by the selected papers presented in the “Fifth International Workshop on stimulated Brillouin scattering and phase conjugation 2010” in Japan. The nonlinear properties of phase conjugation based on stimulated Brillouin scattering and photo-refraction can compensate phase distortions in the high power laser systems, and they will also open up potentially novel laser technologies, e.g., phase stabilization, beam combination, pulse compression, ultrafast pulse shaping, and arbitrary waveform generation.

We present a method to determine where the nanoparticles nucleate and grow during pulsed laser deposition in an ambient gas. Briefly, nanocrystalline Si films are systemically deposited on the substrates located at a distance from the plasma and placed in horizontal direction; meanwhile an external electric field is introduced perpendicularly to the plume. Based on the transportation dynamics of Si nanoparticles corresponding to different electric fields, the lateral nucleation range of 0.1 to 33.8 mm is determined for Si nanoparticles deposited in 10 Pa Ar gas at a laser fluence of 4 J/cm2. Further simulation of the mass and area density of Si nanoparticles demonstrates that both nucleation and growth probabilities in nucleation region are approximately Gauss-dependent of the lateral distance.

Currently, the performances of thin film solar cells are limited by poor light absorption and carrier collection. In this research, large, broadband, and polarization-insensitive light absorption enhancement was realized via incorporation of different periodic nanopetterns. By studying the enhancement effect brought by different materials, dimensions, coverage, and dielectric environments of the metal nanopatterns, we analyzed the absorption enhancement mechanisms as well as optimization criteria for our designs. A test for totaling the absorption over the solar spectrum shows an up to ∼30% broadband absorption enhancement when comparing to conventional thin film cells.

A non-collinear laser beam combination based on Brillouin amplification is proposed. The influence of non-collinear Brillouin amplification on the combination efficiency is analyzed and discussed theoretically. It is shown that an efficiency of 80% can be achieved with the angle between the Stokes and the pump limited to a range of 10°. The theoretical prediction is tested in experiment of non-collinear amplification of one Stokes and one pump. A two-beam combination scheme is designed and a high combination efficiency of 80% is also obtained in this experiment. According to these results, a 20-beam combination scheme is designed to achieve 13.2-J output energy. A very simple construction for a multiple beams combination is designed.

In order to measure the phase conjugation-fidelity of stimulated Brillouin scattering with high pump energy more accurately and conveniently, a new measurement is proposed. According to the definition of the fidelity with optical field correlated integral, the method of recording the far-field by array camera is analyzed theoretically. By the method, an experiment for high energy stimulated Brillouin scattering is arranged, and the maximum energy of 3.42 J is achieved in a single-cell stimulated Brillouin scattering generator. For small pump pulse, the fidelity maintains a high value of more than 0.9. However, the reflectivity fluctuation is significant when the pump energy is larger than 1.5 J. As a result, the fidelity decreases gradually to 0.5 at the pump energy of 3.42 J. The reflectivity shows the same character of great fluctuation as the fidelity at high pump energy.

The dynamic shear deformation process and the related stacking fault transitions in TiAl have been systematically investigated using both the molecular dynamics and ab initio methods. The details of the dislocation initiation and microstructural evolution are presented, and the concomitant potential energy variation and the radial distribution functions have been analyzed. The results show, interestingly, that some deformation-induced hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structures are metastable, and that a higher velocity field promotes more hcp segments. The phenomena are interpreted based on ab initio calculations of the detailed energy variation at the different fault transition stages, i.e., superlattice intrinsic stacking fault (SISF) → TWIN, SISF → hcp, and hcp → TWIN. The intrinsic factor that governs the deformation process is discussed. The results promote new understanding of the stress-induced interfaces and dislocation behaviors in experimental observations.

The precipitation kinetics of growth and coarsening of γ′(Ni3Al) and θ (Ni3V) in Ni75AlxV25−x alloys were investigated by microscopic phase-field simulation incorporated with elastic interactions. For the elastic interactions, γ′ aligned along the 〈001〉 direction and θ aligned along the [100] direction, which resulted in plate shape. For the lower (x < 4, at.%) and higher (x > 6) content regions, the growth of first precipitates was dominant at the initial stage and then coarsening was dominant, but the growth and coarsening proceeded simultaneously for the second precipitates. The growth and coarsening of γ′ and θ were dominant, respectively, at the initial and late stages for middle content regions. In addition, dynamic scaling was analyzed in the two-phase systems. It was shown that the dynamic scaling regimes were attained simultaneously at late-stage coarsening for γ′ and θ, despite the different precipitation order.

Phenolic resin-based nanoscopic carbonaceous materials have been prepared by doping different proportions of ZnCl2 into phenolic resin (PR) precursor at various heat-treatment temperatures and characterized by means of Brunner-Emmett-Teller method (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy analyses. The results show that as the ratio of PR to ZnCl2 is 1:3, the average size of grains and apertures are about from 40 to 60 nm and 3.86 nm, respectively, reaching nanometer level. When this material is used as electrode material of lithium ion battery, the reversible capacity the battery could be kept at 370 mA•h•g−1 after 10 charge/discharge cycles.