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Numerical simulations are performed within the time domain to investigate the dynamic behaviors of an SPAR-type FOWT under wave group conditions. Towards this goal, the OC3 Hywind SPAR-type FOWT is adopted, and a JONSWAP (Joint North Sea Wave Project)-based wave group is generated by the envelope amplitude approach. The FOWT motion under wave group conditions, as well as the aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, and mooring performances, is simulated by our established in-house code. The rotating blades are modelled by the blade element momentum theory. The wave-body interaction effect is calculated by the three-dimensional potential theory. The mooring dynamics are also taken into consideration. According to the numerical results, the SPAR buoy motions are slightly increased by the wave group, while the heave motion is significantly amplified. Both the aerodynamic performance and the mooring tension are also influenced by the wave group. Furthermore, the low-frequency resonant response could be more easily excited by the wave group.

The novel influenza A H7N9 virus emerged recently in mainland China, whereas the influenza A H5N1 virus has infected people in China since 2003. Both infections are thought to be mainly zoonotic. We aimed to compare the epidemiological characteristics of the complete series of laboratory-confirmed cases of both viruses in mainland China so far. An integrated database was constructed with information about demographic, epidemiological, and clinical variables of laboratory-confirmed cases of H7N9 (130 patients) and H5N1 (43 patients) that were reported to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention until May 24, 2013. We described disease occurrence by age, sex, and geography, and estimated key epidemiological variables. We used survival analysis techniques to estimate the following distributions: infection to onset, onset to admission, onset to laboratory confirmation, admission to death, and admission to discharge. The median age of the 130 individuals with confirmed infection with H7N9 was 62 years and of the 43 with H5N1 was 26 years. In urban areas, 74% of cases of both viruses were in men, whereas in rural areas the proportions of the viruses in men were 62% for H7N9 and 33% for H5N1. 75% of patients infected with H7N9 and 71% of those with H5N1 reported recent exposure to poultry. The mean incubation period of H7N9 was 3·1 days and of H5N1 was 3·3 days. On average, 21 contacts were traced for each case of H7N9 in urban areas and 18 in rural areas, compared with 90 and 63 for H5N1. The fatality risk on admission to hospital was 36% (95% CI 26–45) for H7N9 and 70% (56–83%) for H5N1. The sex ratios in urban compared with rural cases are consistent with exposure to poultry driving the risk of infection—a higher risk in men was only recorded in urban areas but not in rural areas, and the increased risk for men was of a similar magnitude for H7N9 and H5N1. However, the difference in susceptibility to serious illness with the two different viruses remains unexplained, since most cases of H7N9 were in older adults whereas most cases of H5N1 were in younger people. A limitation of our study is that we compared laboratory-confirmed cases of H7N9 and H5N1 infection, and some infections might not have been ascertained. Ministry of Science and Technology, China; Research Fund for the Control of Infectious Disease and University Grants Committee, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; and the US National Institutes of Health.

Previous research has shown that public trust is vital for promoting policy compliance, particularly in times of crisis. However, the literature supporting this notion remains scarce, especially in countries which have successfully contained a pandemic despite showing a generally low level of public trust in the government. To address this topic, we conducted a cross-sectional study between February and March of 2020 to examine the relationship between public trust and the compliance of the general public in adopting personal protective measures introduced during the early phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Thailand. We report our result from a hierarchical regression. We find a positive and significant relationship between public trust in the government and the likelihood of respondents adopting these precautions, more importantly, this relationship was fully mediated by the professional trust as the effect of public trust in the government on policy compliance was reduced by 0.118, namely from (β = 0.133, p < 0.001) to (β = 0.015, p > 0.05). Married respondents residing in the capital city, with a higher degree of worry were also more likely to comply with these safety measures. In conclusion, the finding sheds light on the dynamic relationship between public trust and policy compliance and offers some implications in times of a global health crisis.

Among the extreme sea scenarios, freak waves pose a serious threat to offshore structures, potentially leading to structural failure, such as mooring line failure, floater capsizing, or structural damage. In this study, we conducted a numerical investigation on the transient performance of a semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) equipped with a redundant mooring system under the influence of freak waves and mooring failure. Firstly, we analyzed the dynamic responses of an intact-mooring-system FOWT under a freak wave. Next, we examined the effect of mooring failure on the transient responses. The results indicate that floater motions exhibit significant differences in the interval of freak wave crests. The impact of freak waves increases the blade tip deformation and tower root bending moment, while also affecting the tension of the mooring line and the aerodynamic performance of the wind turbine. Consecutive fracture with an interval of 20 s significantly increases surge motion and reduces output power. When mooring lines break separately with an interval of 400 s, the amplification in the responses is noticeably lower compared to consecutive fracture cases.

Introduction Neisseria meningitidis ( Nm ) is a major cause of meningitis and septicemia. Most people are infected with latent infections or are carriers. We aimed to estimate the carriage prevalence of Nm in China. Methods We did a systematic review of published work to assess the prevalence of meningococcal carriage in China. The quality assessment was conducted by the risk of bias tool according to Damian Hoy’s study. We estimated pooled proportions of carriage and its 95% confidence interval (95% CI) using fixed effect model for studies with low heterogeneity and random effect model for studies with moderate or high heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses were also conducted by region and age group. Results In total, 115 studies were included. The quality evaluation grades of all included documents were medium or high grade. The weighted proportion of carriage was 2.86% (95% CI: 2.25–3.47%, I 2 : 97.7%, p  = 0). The carriage prevalence of Nm varied between provinces, ranged from 0.00% (95% CI: 0.00–0.66%) to 15.50% (95% CI: 14.01–16.99%). Persons aged 15 years and older had the highest carriage 4.38% (95% CI: 3.15–5.62%, I2 : 95.4%, p  < 0.0001), and children under 6 years of age had the lowest carriage 1.01% (95% CI: 0.59–1.43%, I2 : 74.4%, p  < 0.0001). In positive carriers, serogroup B (41.62%, 95% CI: 35.25–48.00%, I 2 : 98.6%, p  = 0) took up the highest proportion, and serogroup X (0.02%, 95% CI: 0.00–0.09%, I 2 : 0.00%, p  = 1) accounted for the lowest proportion. Conclusion The meningococcal carriage in China was estimated low and varied by region and age group. Understanding the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of meningococcal infection in insidious spreaders is essential for optimizing the meningococcal immunization strategies of the country.

Scrub typhus, a miteborne rickettsiosis, has emerged in many areas globally. We analyzed the incidence and spatial-temporal distribution of scrub typhus in China during 1952-1989 and 2006-2016 using national disease surveillance data. A total of 133,623 cases and 174 deaths were recorded. The average annual incidence was 0.13 cases/100,000 population during 1952-1989; incidence increased sharply from 0.09/100,000 population in 2006 to 1.60/100,000 population in 2016. The disease, historically endemic to southern China, has expanded to all the provinces across both rural and urban areas. We identified 3 distinct seasonal patterns nationwide; infections peaked in summer in the southwest, summer-autumn in the southeast, and autumn in the middle-east. Persons >40 years of age and in nonfarming occupations had a higher risk for death. The changing epidemiology of scrub typhus in China warrants an enhanced disease control and prevention program.

Current studies on fatigue crack initiation in pipelines remain relatively limited. Existing frameworks are confronted with issues including difficulties in crack monitoring and limited consideration of intragranular short-crack propagation. To address these issues, a framework was proposed for predicting fatigue crack initiation life in pipelines with girth welds. The proposed framework incorporates full-scale testing, temperature field simulation and microstructural evolution analysis to overcome limitations in crack measurement and microstructural characterization. In addition, intragranular short-crack propagation has been taken into account in the proposed framework. The proposed framework predicts the fatigue crack initiation life through multiscale coupling. Agreement between the prediction and experimental results supports the validity of the proposed framework. The framework provides reliable predictions of fatigue crack initiation life for pipelines with girth welds under high-cycle fatigue (HCF) conditions.

High-velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spraying technology has been widely used to protect and repair the surface of mechanical parts and extend their service life. Spraying Fe-based amorphous alloy coatings can improve the corrosion resistance and fatigue resistance of the substrate. It is crucial to quantitatively elucidate the influence of process parameters on spraying behavior to achieve high-quality coatings. This study utilized a computational fluid-dynamics model to analyze the flight trajectories of flames and particles during HVOF spraying. Additionally, how parameters such as the O/F ratio, parallel barrel length, Laval nozzle diameter, and nitrogen flow rate affect flame and particle behavior was examined. These parameters were found to significantly impact the overall spraying process. As a result, the optimum structure and properties are obtained. In this study, the spray gun parameters were investigated to provide better guidance for the process and improve the quality and efficiency of the coating system.

IntroductionTuberculosis (TB) remains a globally concerning infectious disease, and significant challenges persist in attaining the 2030 targets set by the WHO. With the rapid advancements in computer-aided detection (CAD) technology, CAD-assisted Chest X-Ray (CAD-CXR) has been applied in TB patients triaging, but the practical application value of the CAD-CXR system in real-world primary healthcare settings in China for TB prevention and control has not been fully elucidated. This protocol reports a design of a cluster randomised controlled trial (CRCT), which aims to evaluate the effectiveness and clinical pathway of CAD-CXR in enhancing TB diagnostic yield in primary healthcare settings, thereby contributing to global TB elimination strategies.Methods and analysisScheduled for September 2025, this CRCT will recruit 22 townships in Yichang of Hubei Province, China. These townships will be randomly allocated at a 1:1 ratio to either the CAD-CXR system intervention group or the control group. In the intervention group, healthcare providers will use the CAD-CXR analysis system to assist in TB screening, whereas the control group will rely solely on conventional CXR interpretation by radiologists. The primary outcome of the study is the TB diagnostic yield; the secondary outcomes include diagnostic delay duration and the accuracy of the CAD-CXR system. These metrics will be comprehensively evaluated to assess the effectiveness of the CAD-CXR intervention. Findings from this study are anticipated to offer evidence-based recommendations regarding the optimal application scenarios and implementation pathways for CAD-CXR.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Peking Union Medical College (CAMS&PUMC-IEC-2025-044). Findings of this study will be disseminated through traditional academic pathways, including peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations.Trial registration number NCT06963606.