This study presents zircon U–Pb geochronology and Hf and O isotope data for granitic rocks in the Zijinshan ore field, southwestern Fujian Province, China. The intrusive rocks comprise monzogranite, granite and granodiorite. The magmatic zircon U–Pb ages from these granitic rocks can be divided into four episodes: episodes 1 (157.9–159.9 Ma) and 2 (141 Ma) in the Late Jurassic and episodes 3 (108.1–103.2 Ma) and 4 (97.5–99.7 Ma) in the Middle and Late Cretaceous, respectively. Patterns of rare-earth elements (REE) show enrichment in light REE and obvious negative Eu anomalies. These rocks are also enriched in Rb, Th, U, La, Ce, Nd and Hf, and depleted in Ba, Nb, Sr, P and Ti. The increasing La/Yb ratio and decreasing heavy REE content with decreasing age may imply an increasing contribution of mantle-derived materials from the Late Jurassic to Cretaceous. The zircon ϵHf(t) and δ18O values, ranging from −37.7 to −2.8 and 12.0 ‰ to 6.3 ‰, respectively, indicate that the lower crust is an important source of granitic rocks. There was a significant increase in ϵHf(t) values and a decrease in δ18O values in the younger magmatic episodes (3 and 4), which ranged from −11.4 to −0.6 and 10.7 to 6.3 ‰, respectively. This suggests an increasing contribution of mantle-derived magma to the crustal melts from the Late Jurassic to late Early Cretaceous in response to the changing regional tectonic setting from compression to extension and an increasing interaction between the crust and mantle.

In this study, basing on the level-set and point-particle methods, we have developed a numerical methodology for simulating the dynamics of colloidal droplets under flow conditions in which the particle–particle, particle–interface and particle–fluid interactions are all taken into account efficiently. By using this methodology, we have determined the essential role of particle-laden interfaces in the deformation of colloidal droplets in simple shear flow with relatively low particle concentrations. Generally, adsorbed particles strongly enhance the deformability of the whole droplet, which is principally attributed to the particle-induced reduction of the effective surface tension. Systematic simulations are performed to reveal the detailed roles of interparticle interactions and particle surface coverage in the deformation of particle-covered droplets. Most importantly, we find the promotion effect of adsorbed particles on the droplet deformation cannot be completely included via the effective capillary number characterizing the particle-induced overall reduction of the effective surface tension, which is particularly obvious at high particle coverage. We propose two potential reasons for this surprising phenomenon, i.e. the convection-induced non-uniform distribution of adsorbed particles over the droplet surface and the particle-induced reduction of the droplet surface mobility, which have not been discussed yet in previous numerical and experimental studies of particle-covered droplets in shear flow.

The codling moth Cydia pomonella is a major pest of global significance impacting pome fruits and walnuts. It threatens the apple industry in the Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay in China. Sterile insect technique (SIT) could overcome the limitations set by environmentally compatible area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) approaches such as mating disruption and attract-kill that are difficult to suppress in a high-density pest population, as well as the development of insecticide resistance. In this study, we investigated the effects of X-ray irradiation (183, 366, 549 Gy) on the fecundity and fertility of a laboratory strain of C. pomonella, using a newly developed irradiator, to evaluate the possibility of X-rays as a replacement for Cobalt60 (60Co-γ) and the expanded future role of this approach in codling moth control. Results show that the 8th-day is the optimal age for irradiation of male pupae. The fecundity decreased significantly as the dosage of radiation increased. The mating ratio and mating number were not influenced. However, treated females were sub-sterile at a radiation dose of 183 Gy (20.93%), and were almost 100% sterile at a radiation dose of 366 Gy or higher. Although exposure to a radiation dose of 366 Gy resulted in a significant reduction in the mating competitiveness of male moths, our radiation biology results suggest that this new generation of X-ray irradiator has potential applications in SIT programs for future codling moth control.

In this study, we focus on the significant upward trend of occupational accidental traffic injuries in commercial couriers during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This review comments on the characteristics of occupational accidental injuries of commercial couriers in China and then discusses the reasons of the high incidence rate and associated risk factors. Various potential protective measures were also explored to prevent and control the occupational injuries in this vulnerable worker group.

The optimization of laser pulse shapes is of great importance and a major challenge for laser direct-drive implosions. In this paper, we propose an efficient intelligent method to perform laser pulse optimization via hydrodynamic simulations guided by the genetic algorithm and random forest algorithm. Compared to manual optimizations, the machine-learning guided method is able to efficiently improve the areal density by a factor of 63% and reduce the in-flight-aspect ratio by a factor of 30% at the same time. A relationship between the maximum areal density and ion temperature is also achieved by the analysis of the big simulation dataset. This design method has been successfully demonstrated by the 2021 summer double-cone ignition experiments conducted at the SG-II upgrade laser facility and has great prospects for the design of other inertial fusion experiments.

Kinetic energy flux (KEF) is an important physical quantity that characterizes cascades of kinetic energy in turbulent flows. In large-eddy simulation (LES), it is crucial for the subgrid-scale (SGS) model to accurately predict the KEF in turbulence. In this paper, we propose a new eddy-viscosity SGS model constrained by the properly modelled KEF for LES of compressible wall-bounded turbulence. The new methodology has the advantages of both accurate prediction of the KEF and strong numerical stability in LES. We can obtain an approximate KEF by the tensor-diffusivity model, which has a high correlation with the real value. Then, using the artificial neural network method, the local ratios between the real KEF and the approximate KEF are accurately modelled. Consequently, the SGS model can be improved by the product of that ratio and the approximate KEF. In LES of compressible turbulent channel flow, the new model can accurately predict mean velocity profile, turbulence intensities, Reynolds stress, temperature–velocity correlation, etc. Additionally, for the case of a compressible flat-plate boundary layer, the new model can accurately predict some key quantities, including the onset of transitions and transition peaks, the skin-friction coefficient, the mean velocity in the turbulence region, etc., and it can also predict the energy backscatters in turbulence. Furthermore, the proposed model also shows more advantages for coarser grids.

For the guarantee of the long-distance transport of the bunches of China Initiative Accelerator Driven System (CIADS), a new scheme is proposed that extra magnetic field is used in the accelerator-target coupling section before the windowless target to minimize the self-modulation (SM) mechanism. Particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to study the influence of the solenoidal magnetic field on the self-modulation mechanism when long proton bunches move in the background plasmas. The long proton bunches used in the simulations are similar to these in the linear accelerator of CIADS. It is found that the presence of the solenoidal magnetic field will significantly inhibit the self-modulation process. For the strong magnetic field, the longitudinal separation and transverse focusing of the long bunches disappear. We attribute these phenomena to the reason that the strong solenoidal magnetic field restricts the transverse movement of plasma electrons. Thus, there are not enough electrons around the bunch to compensate the space charge effect. Moreover, without transverse current, the longitudinal pinched effect disappears, and the long bunch can not be separated into small pulses anymore.

Porphyromonas gingivalis has been linked to the development and progression of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and is considered to be a high-risk factor for ESCC. Currently, the commonly used methods for P. gingivalis detection are culture or DNA extraction-based, which are either time and labour intensive especially for high-throughput applications. We aimed to establish and evaluate a rapid and sensitive direct quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) protocol for the detection of P. gingivalis without DNA extraction which is suitable for large-scale epidemiological studies. Paired gingival swab samples from 192 subjects undergoing general medical examinations were analysed using two direct and one extraction-based qPCR assays for P. gingivalis. Tris-EDTA buffer-based direct qPCR (TE-direct qPCR), lysis-based direct qPCR (lysis-direct qPCR) and DNA extraction-based qPCR (kit-qPCR) were used, respectively, in 192, 132 and 60 of these samples for quantification of P. gingivalis. The sensitivity and specificity of TE-direct qPCR was 95.24% and 100% compared with lysis-direct qPCR, which was 100% and 97.30% when compared with kit-qPCR; TE-direct qPCR had an almost perfect agreement with lysis-direct qPCR (κ = 0.954) and kit-qPCR (κ = 0.965). Moreover, the assay time used for TE-direct qPCR was 1.5 h. In conclusion, the TE-direct qPCR assay is a simple and efficient method for the quantification of oral P. gingivalis and showed high sensitivity and specificity compared with routine qPCR.

We genotyped six SNPs in the genes of p450 family among paranoid schizophrenics and normal controls. All subjects are unrelated Han Chinese. Three showed polymorphic, and no significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies were detected between patients and controls. Thus we obtained no evidence for the involvement of the polymorphisms in paranoid schizophrenia in the population investigated.

Dysfunctions of glutamatergic and GABAergic neurotransmission are two important hypotheses for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Thus, genes in the pathway are candidates for schizophrenia susceptibility. Phosphate-activated glutaminase (GLS), glutamine synthetase (GLUL), glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), GABA transaminase (ABAT) and succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH5A1) are five primary enzymes in glutamate and GABA synthetic and degradative pathway. In order to investigate the possible involvement of these genes in the development of paranoid schizophrenia, we genotyped 80 paranoid schizophrenics from northern China and 108 matched controls by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) methods or directly sequencing of PCR product. Seven SNPs were found to be polymorphic in the population investigated. No significant differences in the genotype distributions or allele frequencies between patients and controls were found. Therefore, we conclude the polymorphisms studied in the five genes do not play major roles in pathogenesis of paranoid schizophrenia in the population investigated.

We performed an association study between three SNPs in the genes of 14-3-3 family and paranoid schizophrenia. SNP rs983583 G/A in the YWHAZ gene showed significant association with paranoid schizophrenia. Our study indicated that the YWHAZ gene was a potential susceptibility gene for paranoid schizophrenia in the population studied.

The X chromosome is known to play an important role in many sex-specific diseases. However, only a few single-nucleotide polymorphisms on the X chromosome have been found to be associated with diseases. Compared to the autosomes, conducting association tests on the X chromosome is more intractable due to the difference in the number of X chromosomes between females and males. On the other hand, X-chromosome inactivation takes place in female mammals, which is a phenomenon in which the expression of one copy of two X chromosomes in females is silenced in order to achieve the same gene expression level as that in males. In addition, imprinting effects may be related to certain diseases. Currently, there are some existing approaches taking X-chromosome inactivation into account when testing for associations on the X chromosome. However, none of them allows for imprinting effects. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a robust test, ZXCII, which accounts for both X-chromosome inactivation and imprinting effects without requiring specifying the genetic models in advance. Simulation studies are conducted in order to investigate the validity and performance of ZXCII under various scenarios of different parameter values. The simulation results show that ZXCII controls the type I error rate well when there is no association. Furthermore, with regards to power, ZXCII is robust in all of the situations considered and generally outperforms most of the existing methods in the presence of imprinting effects, especially under complete imprinting effects.

Transmission of varicella occurs frequently in schools and households. We investigated the characteristics of varicella cases derived from within-household transmission and the modes of varicella transmission between school and household settings in Shanghai, China, from 2009 to 2018. Within-household transmission occurred in 278 households, of which 134 transmission events were between children. Sixty-one household varicella transmission events may be attributed to isolation procedures for infected students during school outbreaks, and 7.6% of school outbreaks were caused by schoolchildren cases derived from within-household transmission. The frequency of ‘school-household-school’ transmission adds an additional layer of complexity to the control of school varicella outbreaks. Administration of varicella vaccine as post-exposure prophylaxis after exposure is considered to be an effective measure to control varicella spread within households and schools.