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Observation of a two-dimensional topological metal in acoustic metamaterials
A two-dimensional topological metal with anti-helical-like edge states has been predicted recently but has not been confirmed experimentally. In this paper, we report an experimental realization of this topological metal in acoustic metamaterial by introducing a time-reversal symmetry protected square lattice. The edge states appearing in gapless bulk bands are observed by measuring the projected dispersions and acoustic pressure field distributions. Moreover, these edge states propagate in the same direction when simultaneously exciting two sources with a fixed phase difference. Interestingly, by simply changing the coupling tubes, we realized the transformation of an acoustic topological metal to a topological insulator. Our work not only pushes forward the studies of topological metals but also inspires the design of multifunctional acoustic devices.
Titanium dioxide -mediated regulation of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, pigments, and diosgenin content promotes cold stress tolerance in Trigonella foenum-graecum L.
Strain manipulation of spin-polarized topological phase in WSe2/CrI3 heterostructure
Here, based on first-principles calculations and topological analysis, we show that the spin-polarized topological phase is present in a van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure WSe2/CrI3. We reveal that magnetism induced by proximity effects in the heterostructure breaks the time-reversal symmetry (TRS) and thus induces gapped topological edge states, exhibiting the TRS-breaking quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect. By applying a stress field, the WSe2/CrI3 heterostructure manifests enhanced spin polarization, Rashba splitting, and tunable bandgap. The TRS-breaking QSH effect observed in the WSe2/CrI3 heterostructure exhibits remarkable robustness against interlayer shearing. The distinct anisotropy associated with in-plane strain provides precise manipulation strategies for bandgap engineering. Notably, in-plane tensile strain can significantly increase the nontrivial bandgap by up to 98 meV, suggesting the magnetic WSe2/CrI3 heterostructure represents an outstanding platform for achieving the TRS-breaking QSH effect at room temperature. Our findings provide a theoretical foundation for the development of low-dissipation spintronic nanodevices.
Sinomenine attenuates uremia vascular calcification by miR-143-5p
Abstract Vascular calcification is considered to be a killer of the cardiovascular system, involved inflammation and immunity. There is no approved therapeutic strategy for the prevention of vascular calcification. Sinomenine exhibited anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. Objective of this study was to investigate the effect of sinomenine in vascular calcification and its potential molecular mechanism. Adenine-induced uremic rats were constructed and administrated with sinomenine. Optical clearing of aortas, alizarin red staining, von Kossa staining, calcification quantification, micro-CT analyses of vascular calcification were performed to analyze calcification in aortas. Administration of 40 mg/kg/d sinomenine effectively alleviated vascular calcification in uremic rats. The miRNA sequencing revealed differentially expressed miRNAs in aortas and bioinformatic analysis assisted with miRNA screening. We screened 9 differential expressed miRNAs and their predicted target genes. By qRT-PCR, we validated that the expression of rno-miR-143-5p was corresponding to our prediction. Sinomenine inhibited vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) calcification, accompanied with miR-143-5p upregulation. MiR-143-5p mimic decreased VSMCs calcification in high phosphate condition. On the contrary, miR-143-5p inhibitor increased VSMCs calcification in high phosphate condition, which was inhibited by sinomenine. In chronic kidney disease patients with vascular calcification, the expression level of circulating miR-143-5p was lower than those without vascular calcification. Sinomenine significantly inhibited vascular calcification in VSMCs and uremic rat. MiR-143-5p was one of the collection of miRNAs modified by sinomenine in vascular calcification. Reduction of miR-143-5p in VSMCs was not only a concomitant phenomenon in pro-calcification condition but also contribute to VSMCs calcification. Circulating miR-143-5p was supposed to be a potential biomarker for vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease patients. In conclusion, sinomenine effectively alleviated vascular calcification, which was attributed to miR-143-5p regulation partly.
An innovative 3D-NAND design based on light-emitting cell for high reliability and low power consumption
The advancements in 3D-NAND technology have significantly increased the number of vertically stacked cells, which are controlled via word lines (WLs), enabling higher cell density and reducing costs. However, the increase in vertical cell layers has also introduced challenges such as higher power consumption and diminished current levels, both of which compromise the reliability of memory cells. At the same time, the demand for high cell reliability and low power consumption has been growing, driven by the expanding needs of storage applications in big data and cloud services. In this study, we propose an optically readable light-emitting memory (LEM) as a unit cell within 3D-NAND architecture. This innovative design exhibits both effective memory performance and light-emitting capabilities. Unlike conventional memory cells that require all WLs to be biased during read operation, the LEM requires only a read bias on the selected WL to detect the light intensity, which directly correlates with the stored data state. By applying voltage only to the selected WL, power consumption is reduced by approximately 45%. In addition, issues such as read disturbances and low cell currents that affect cell reliability are effectively mitigated, resulting in an expected improvement in the read window.
Photocatalytic removal of textile wastewater-originated methylene blue and malachite green dyes using spent black tea extract-coated silver nanoparticles
Uniaxial magnetic anisotropy and weak phonon–spin coupling of a single Ni atom bonded to iridium-doped graphene
We investigate the magnetism and vibrational mode of a single Ni atom bonded to iridium-doped graphene. It is found that the Ni atom exhibits a large magnetic anisotropy energy of 53 meV, and the magnetic anisotropy is perfectly uniaxial. There are no vibrational modes below 40 meV for the Ni atom, which disables the efficient coupling between the spin and phonon at the low magnetic field. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy combining with the weak phonon–spin coupling effectively resists the quantum tunneling and spin flip, making the Ni atom a viable single atom magnet for information storage.
Relationship between oral hypofunction and medical expenditure in older adults in Japan
Write error reduction in magnetic tunnel junctions for voltage-controlled magnetoresistive random access memory by using exchange coupled free layer
Voltage-controlled magnetoresistive random access memory (VC-MRAM) is an emerging nonvolatile memory based on the voltage-controlled magnetic anisotropy (VCMA) effect. It has been garnering considerable attention because of its fast and low-power operation. However, two major issues must be addressed for practical applications. First, the voltage-induced switching of the free layer magnetization is sensitive to ultrashort voltage pulse duration. Second, the write error rate (WER) of the voltage-induced switching is high. To address these issues, a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structure with an exchange coupled free layer, consisting of a precession layer with the VCMA effect and an anchor layer without the VCMA effect, is proposed. The anchor layer prevents the precession layer from returning to its initial direction, thereby reducing the WER without requiring the voltage pulse duration to be precisely controlled. The write operation of the proposed MTJ with an exchange coupled free layer was analyzed using the macrospin model. Using optimized MTJ parameters, a low WER of approximately 10−6 was obtained for an 80 nm MTJ without requiring the pulse duration to be precisely controlled. These results facilitate the reduction of the WER for VC-MRAM and improve its usability, thereby expanding its range of applications.
Contributions of distractor dwelling, skipping, and revisiting to age differences in visual search
Abstract Visual search becomes slower with aging, particularly when targets are difficult to discriminate from distractors. Multiple distractor rejection processes may contribute independently to slower search times: dwelling on, skipping of, and revisiting of distractors, measurable by eye-tracking. The present study investigated how age affects each of the distractor rejection processes, and how these contribute to the final search times in difficult (inefficient) visual search. In a sample of Dutch healthy adults (19–85 years), we measured reaction times and eye-movements during a target present/absent visual search task, with varying target-distractor similarity and visual set size. We found that older age was associated with longer dwelling and more revisiting of distractors, while skipping was unaffected by age. This suggests that increased processing time and reduced visuo-spatial memory for visited distractor locations contribute to age-related decline in visual search. Furthermore, independently of age, dwelling and revisiting contributed stronger to search times than skipping of distractors. In conclusion, under conditions of poor guidance, dwelling and revisiting have a major contribution to search times and age-related slowing in difficult visual search, while skipping is largely negligible.
Neuromorphic synaptic applications of oxygen-deficient BaSnO3 thin films
Cubic barium stannate (BaSnO3) has emerged as a promising platform for optoelectronic devices due to its remarkable room-temperature electron mobility, high transparency, excellent thermal stability, and flexible doping control. In this work, a photonic synaptic device—an image sensor integrating memory and processing—was proposed based on the persistent photoconductivity of oxygen-deficient BaSnO3 thin films. The device demonstrated a light-tunable response, allowing it to replicate key functions of biological synapses. Importantly, this device can be utilized as a reservoir layer in a reservoir computing system, achieving a recognition accuracy of over 90% when identifying handwritten digit images. This work underscores the potential of BaSnO3 for retinomorphic computing applications.
Optic nerve sonographic parameters in idiopathic intracranial hypertension, case-control study
Abstract The most common diagnostic error of IIH is inaccurate funduscopic examination. Moreover, IIH could be diagnosed without papilledema. Trans orbital sonography could be used as a non-invasive and cheap tool for discovering increased ICP (intracranial Pressure). Aim of our study was discovering the changes in ultra-sonographic indices and which one could predict the increased ICP. Sixty-eight patients were diagnosed as definite IIH and 68 healthy volunteers are included in the study who had the same sex and age. ONSD, peak systolic velocity (PSV), end diastolic velocity (EDV), and resistance index (RI) were estimated by transorbital color Doppler. Multivariate linear regression was used to discover the predictors of increased ICP. ROC curve was plotted for the predictor. A statistically significant difference was found between IIH patients and controls regarding ONSD, EDV and RI. Multivariate linear regression revealed that ONSD is the only predictor of increased CSP pressure. Its cut-off value indicating high ICP was 5.7 mm on Rt and Lt eye (AUC: 0.916; 95% confidence interval 0.867–0.965; p < 0.001; 90% sensitivity, 80% specificity at Rt eye. AUC: 0.902; 95% confidence interval 0.845–0.958; p < 0.001; 91% sensitivity, 80% specificity at Lt eye).
A strategy for enhancing phosphine oxide passivation capacity of perovskite solar cells by fluorination
Perovskite solar cells have experienced rapid development in the last few years due to their excellent photovoltaic properties, and their efficiency and stability have attracted widespread attention. Passivating interfacial defects has been universally recognized as an effective performance enhancement strategy for perovskite solar cells (PSCs), but most reported strategies often fail to simultaneously meet the requirements of efficiency and stability. This paper proposes to enhance the passivation function of phosphine oxide by fluorination. On the one hand, P=O is used to form coordination bonds with Pb2+ in perovskite. On the other hand, the strong hydrophobicity of F gives perovskite excellent moisture stability and can hydrogen bond to organic cations in the perovskite. Thanks to its strong chelation with the defect sites, it achieved optimized energy level arrangement, suppressed non-radiative recombination, and excellent operation stability. Consequently, the efficiency of the optimized device increased by 21.6% with a remarkable enhancement of 40 mV in VOC and remained more than 90% of its initial efficiency after aging in air environment for 1000 h, improving both efficiency and stability. This study demonstrates a promising functional modification strategy for constructing efficient, stable, and environmentally friendly PSCs.
Survival and prognostic factors among different types of liposarcomas based on SEER database
A comprehensive study on the sandwich stacking structures of antiferroelectric/ferroelectric doped hafnium oxide
In this paper, the combinations of sandwich stacking structures of antiferroelectric/ferroelectric doped hafnium oxide are systematically explored. The sandwich stacking ferroelectric capacitors with the optimal structure (2 nm ferroelectric HZO/4 nm antiferroelectric HZO/2 nm ferroelectric HZO) exhibit high remanent polarization (2Pr = 48 μC/cm2), low coercive field (1.15 MV/cm), and excellent retention ability (8% degraded Pr after 105 s) at a low operating voltage of 1.8 V. The endurance of this structure has also been enhanced to over 1010 cycles, compared with the control group of 8 nm ferroelectric HZO (∼109 cycles). This study provides a promising solution for the application of the embedded FeRAM and advanced silicon technology nodes with low-power consumption.
Functional resting state connectivity is differentially associated with IL-6 and TNF-α in depression and in healthy controls
Growth and characterization of high-quality Zr doped AlN epilayers
AlN stands out for its remarkable figures of merit for electronic and photonic devices, attributed to its ultrawide bandgap of ∼6.1 eV and an exceptionally high critical field of ∼15 MV/cm. More recently, zirconium (Zr) doped AlN (AlN:Zr) has also been identified as a promising material platform for the exploration of solid-state qubits for quantum information and technology, high performance piezoelectric acoustic wave resonators, and optically triggered ultrafast power switching devices facilitated by optically activating Zr related impurities. Despite the significant potential, the ability for producing AlN:Zr epitaxial structures has yet to be established. In this study, we have achieved AlN:Zr epilayers with a high Zr doping level [NZr] of up to 1020 cm−3 using industrial standard metal-organic chemical vapor deposition growth technique. High crystalline quality of AlN:Zr was confirmed by x-ray diffraction, revealing a narrow full width at half maximum of the (002) rocking curve at 216 arcsec for 1.8 μm thick epilayers deposited on sapphire at [NZr]=1020 cm−3. Zr doping was observed to slightly increase the c-lattice constant to 4.992 Å for AlN:Zr (at [NZr]=1020 cm−3) compared to 4.980 Å for undoped AlN. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement results verified the substitution of Zr at the Al site (ZrAl). The formation of (ZrAl–VN) complexes, which are predicted to possess all the desired properties required by quantum qubits, was confirmed through optical absorption studies. The realization of high-quality AlN:Zr epilayers significantly broadens the scope of technologically significant device applications for AlN.
A constitutive model for coal gangue coarse-grained subgrade filler incorporating particle breakage
Information merging and reconstruction of single-shot dual-mode wide-field imaging with high spatial resolution
In many scenarios, it is really desirable but challenging for wide-field imaging to gather both the clear morphologies and fine details of the target. This paper realizes this imaging by a dual-mode imaging on optical parametric amplification (OPA) with a vortex laser pump. This design includes signal imaging and idler imaging, which have complementary point spread functions with each other. The signal acts as bright-field imaging to record morphologic information, whereas the idler does so for spiral phase contrast imaging to capture the featured details with high brightness and contrast, which has been experimentally confirmed with a target of herb tissue. By utilizing the coupling relation among the pump, signal, and idler, the information from the recorded signal and idler images can be merged, which allows us to reconstruct the target picture owning both high-contrast morphologies and high-brightness fine details. Due to high OPA gain, our imaging can work with weak illumination. Its field-of-view covers an area of 0.33 × 0.33 mm2 with a spatial resolution up to 228 lp/mm. This OPA imaging also provides an effective way for the imaging required nonlinear frequency conversion.