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فوق جبل الأزهار والثمار في مملكة آولاي في القارة الشرقية كانت صخرة كبيرة تمتص الطاقة الروحية للسماء والأرض وضوء الشمس والقمر، حتى انشقت ذات يوم وخرج منها قرد حجري، كان القرد شجاعا بما يكفي للمرور عبر شلال ودخول الكهف فنصبته القردة زعيما لها، لكن القرد أراد أن يعيش حياة أبدية، وسعيا منه لمعرفة سر الخلود، سافر إلى القارة الغربية وصار تلميذا للمعلم الذي منحه اسم (سون وو كونغ)، وعلمه أيضا مهارات مدهشة، مثل : التحولات الاثنين والسبعين والانتقال من مكان إلى آخر بالسحابة وغيرها من الفنون السحرية، ومع ذلك، طرده المعلم بسبب إظهاره لمهاراته أمام الآخرين، فعاد القرد إلى جبل الأزهار والثمار وعلم أن كهفه تعرض لهجوم من الشيطان، فذهب إليه وقتله وأعاد الأمن إلى جبل الأزهار والثمار ولتعزيز دفاعه، حصل القرد على أسلحة لا حصر لها من عاصمة مملكة آولاي ودرب القردة على ممارسة فنون الدفاع عن النفس.

Nonlinear energy sink (NES) is an appropriately designed nonlinear oscillator without positive linear stiffness. NES can suppress vibrations over a wide frequency range due to its targeted energy transfer characteristics. Thus, investigations on NES have attracted a lot of attention since a NES was proposed. Designs, analysis, and applications of NESs are still active since different configurations are needed in various practical circumstances. The present work provides a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art researches on NESs. The work begins with a survey of the generation of a NES and its important vibration control characteristics. The work highlights possible complex dynamics resulting in a NES coupled to a structure. The work also summarizes some significant design on the implements of optimal damping effects and the offsets of NES shortcomings. Then, the work details the applications of NESs in all engineering fields. The concluding remarks suggest further promising directions, such as NESs for multidirectional vibration reduction, NESs with nonlinearities beyond the cubic, potential deterioration caused by a NES, low-cost NESs, NESs for extremely low frequency range, and NESs integrated into active vibration controls. There are 383 references in the review, including some publications of the authors.

Disordered hyperuniform structures are locally random while uniform like crystals at large length scales. Recently, an exotic hyperuniform fluid state was found in several nonequilibrium systems, while the underlying physics remains unknown. In this work, we propose a nonequilibrium (driven-dissipative) hardsphere model and formulate a hydrodynamic theory based on Navier–Stokes equations to uncover the general mechanism of the fluidic hyperuniformity (HU). At a fixed density, this model system undergoes a smooth transition from an absorbing state to an active hyperuniform fluid and then, to the equilibrium fluid by changing the dissipation strength. We study the criticality of the absorbing-phase transition. We find that the origin of fluidic HU can be understood as the damping of a stochastic harmonic oscillator in q space, which indicates that the suppressed long-wavelength density fluctuation in the hyperuniform fluid can exhibit as either acoustic (resonance) mode or diffusive (overdamped) mode. Importantly, our theory reveals that the damping dissipation and active reciprocal interaction (driving) are the two ingredients for fluidic HU. Based on this principle, we further demonstrate how to realize the fluidic HU in an experimentally accessible active spinner system and discuss the possible realization in other systems.

In this report, investigators in China identified a new henipavirus associated with a febrile human illness. This virus was also found in shrews.

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic utility of T-helper type 2 (Th2) cytokines, specifically Interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-5, IL-10, and IL-13, in distinguishing different stages of pulpitis and their combined performance in clinical diagnosis. Methods A total of 161 participants were enrolled and categorized into normal pulp (NP, n  = 45), reversible pulpitis (RP, n  = 75), and symptomatic irreversible pulpitis (IP, n  = 41). Th2 cytokine levels in pulpal blood samples were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Results Th2 cytokine levels (IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, and IL-13) were significantly elevated in pulpitis cases compared to normal pulp, with the highest concentrations observed in symptomatic IP. Diagnostic analysis showed that IL-4 and IL-13 had the highest diagnostic accuracy for distinguishing pulpitis (both RP and IP) from normal pulp, with AUCs of 0.91, and perfect specificity (100%). IL-5 demonstrated the best balance between sensitivity (68%) and specificity (97%) for differentiating IP from NP (AUC = 0.84). IL-13, though less effective overall, provided moderate accuracy (AUC = 0.63) for distinguishing RP from NP. Additionally, the combined diagnostic model of all four cytokines achieved high AUCs, particularly in distinguishing irreversible pulpitis from normal pulp (AUC = 0.94) and irreversible pulpitis from reversible pulpitis (AUC = 0.90). Conclusions Th2 cytokines, especially IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13, are effective biomarkers for identifying different stages of pulpitis. Their elevated levels, particularly in irreversible pulpitis, provide strong diagnostic accuracy. Combined cytokine analysis enhances diagnostic precision, making Th2 cytokine profiling a valuable tool for assessing pulpitis severity.

Understanding ecological niches of major tick species and prevalent tick-borne pathogens is crucial for efficient surveillance and control of tick-borne diseases. Here we provide an up-to-date review on the spatial distributions of ticks and tick-borne pathogens in China. We map at the county level 124 tick species, 103 tick-borne agents, and human cases infected with 29 species (subspecies) of tick-borne pathogens that were reported in China during 1950−2018. Haemaphysalis longicornis is found to harbor the highest variety of tick-borne agents, followed by Ixodes persulcatus , Dermacentor nutalli and Rhipicephalus microplus . Using a machine learning algorithm, we assess ecoclimatic and socioenvironmental drivers for the distributions of 19 predominant vector ticks and two tick-borne pathogens associated with the highest disease burden. The model-predicted suitable habitats for the 19 tick species are 14‒476% larger in size than the geographic areas where these species were detected, indicating severe under-detection. Tick species harboring pathogens of imminent threats to public health should be prioritized for more active field surveillance. Ticks are an important vector of disease in China, posing threats to humans, livestock and wild animals. Here, Zhao et al. compile a database of the distributions of the 124 tick species known in China and 103 tick-borne pathogens and predict the additional suitable habitats for the predominant vector species.

Wuhan was the first epicentre of COVID-19 in the world, accounting for 80% of cases in China during the first wave. We aimed to assess household transmissibility of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and risk factors associated with infectivity and susceptibility to infection in Wuhan. This retrospective cohort study included the households of all laboratory-confirmed or clinically confirmed COVID-19 cases and laboratory-confirmed asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections identified by the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention between Dec 2, 2019, and April 18, 2020. We defined households as groups of family members and close relatives who did not necessarily live at the same address and considered households that shared common contacts as epidemiologically linked. We used a statistical transmission model to estimate household secondary attack rates and to quantify risk factors associated with infectivity and susceptibility to infection, accounting for individual-level exposure history. We assessed how intervention policies affected the household reproductive number, defined as the mean number of household contacts a case can infect. 27 101 households with 29 578 primary cases and 57 581 household contacts were identified. The secondary attack rate estimated with the transmission model was 15·6% (95% CI 15·2–16·0), assuming a mean incubation period of 5 days and a maximum infectious period of 22 days. Individuals aged 60 years or older were at a higher risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 than all other age groups. Infants aged 0–1 years were significantly more likely to be infected than children aged 2–5 years (odds ratio [OR] 2·20, 95% CI 1·40–3·44) and children aged 6–12 years (1·53, 1·01–2·34). Given the same exposure time, children and adolescents younger than 20 years of age were more likely to infect others than were adults aged 60 years or older (1·58, 1·28–1·95). Asymptomatic individuals were much less likely to infect others than were symptomatic cases (0·21, 0·14–0·31). Symptomatic cases were more likely to infect others before symptom onset than after (1·42, 1·30–1·55). After mass isolation of cases, quarantine of household contacts, and restriction of movement policies were implemented, household reproductive numbers declined by 52% among primary cases (from 0·25 [95% CI 0·24–0·26] to 0·12 [0·10–0·13]) and by 63% among secondary cases (from 0·17 [0·16–0·18] to 0·063 [0·057–0·070]). Within households, children and adolescents were less susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection but were more infectious than older individuals. Presymptomatic cases were more infectious and individuals with asymptomatic infection less infectious than symptomatic cases. These findings have implications for devising interventions for blocking household transmission of SARS-CoV-2, such as timely vaccination of eligible children once resources become available. National Natural Science Foundation of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, US National Institutes of Health, and US National Science Foundation.

Nationwide nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have been effective at mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but their broad impact on other diseases remains under-investigated. Here we report an ecological analysis comparing the incidence of 31 major notifiable infectious diseases in China in 2020 to the average level during 2014-2019, controlling for temporal phases defined by NPI intensity levels. Respiratory diseases and gastrointestinal or enteroviral diseases declined more than sexually transmitted or bloodborne diseases and vector-borne or zoonotic diseases. Early pandemic phases with more stringent NPIs were associated with greater reductions in disease incidence. Non-respiratory diseases, such as hand, foot and mouth disease, rebounded substantially towards the end of the year 2020 as the NPIs were relaxed. Statistical modeling analyses confirm that strong NPIs were associated with a broad mitigation effect on communicable diseases, but resurgence of non-respiratory diseases should be expected when the NPIs, especially restrictions of human movement and gathering, become less stringent. Non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented to mitigate COVID-19 transmission are likely to have impacted spread of other infectious diseases. Here, the authors investigate changes in the incidence of 31 notifiable infectious diseases using surveillance data from China.

Constructing a ocean Internet of Things requires an essential ocean environment monitoring system. However, the widely distributed existing ocean monitoring sensors make it impractical to provide power and transmit monitored information through cables. Therefore, ocean environment monitoring systems particularly need a continuous power supply and wireless transmission capability for monitoring information. Consequently, a high-strength, environmentally multi-compatible, floatable metamaterial energy harvesting device has been designed through integrated dynamic matching optimization of materials, structures, and signal transmission. The self-powered monitoring system breaks through the limitations of cables and batteries in the ultra-low-frequency wave environment (1 to 2 Hz), enabling real-time monitoring of various ocean parameters and wirelessly transmitting the data to the cloud for post-processing. Compared with solar and wind energy in the ocean environment, the energy harvesting device based on the defective state characteristics of metamaterials achieves a high-energy density (99 W/m 3 ). For the first time, a stable power supply for the monitoring system has been realized in various weather conditions (24 h). Point-defect metamaterials have the property of concentrating vibration energy at the defect location. We design an environmental monitoring node based on this property, which can efficiently convert wave kinetic energy into electrical energy for real-time monitoring of the ocean environment.

Bending vibration of isolated structures has always been neglected when the vibration isolation was studied. Isolated structures have usually been treated as discrete systems. In this study, dynamics of a slightly curved beam supported by quasi-zero-stiffness systems are firstly presented. In order to achieve quasi-zero-stiffness, a nonlinear isolation system is implemented via three linear springs. A nonlinear dynamic model of the slightly curved beam with nonlinear isolations is established. It includes square nonlinearity, cubic nonlinearity, and nonlinear boundaries. Then, the mode functions and the frequencies of the curved beam with elastic boundaries are derived. The schemes of the finite difference method (FDM) and the Galerkin truncation method (GTM) are, respectively, proposed to obtain nonlinear responses of the curved beam with nonlinear boundaries. Numerical results demonstrate that both the GTM and the FDM yield accurate solutions for the nonlinear dynamics of curved structures with nonsimple boundaries. The multi-mode resonance characteristics of the curved beam affect the vibration isolation efficiency. The quasi-zero-stiffness isolators reduce the transmissibility of modal resonances and provide a promising future for isolating the bending vibration of the flexible structure. However, the initial curvature significantly increases the resonant frequency of the flexible structure, and thus the frequency range of the effective vibration isolation is narrower. Furthermore, the quadratic nonlinear terms in the curved beam make the dynamic phenomenon more complicated. Therefore, it is more challenging and necessary to investigate the isolation of the bending vibration of the initial curved structure.