Browse Articles

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.

Effects of in situ experimental warming on metabolic expression in a soft sediment bivalve

Development of L10-ordered FePt with low damping and large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by engineering the nanostructure

THz spintronics is an emergent area of research aimed at bridging the gap between fifth- and sixth-generation wireless telecommunications by utilizing spintronic devices such as magnetic spin torque oscillators as a source of low powered THz emission. The realization of such devices using ferromagnetic metal thin films however requires magnetic materials with both large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and low Gilbert damping constants. In this Letter, we report on the development of L10-ordered FePt with an effective Gilbert damping constant as low as 0.033. Using time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect, we characterized the magnetization dynamics of continuous L10-ordered FePt grown on MgO and SrTiO3 substrates. By changing the substrate on which FePt is grown, the lattice mismatch and subsequent number of misfit dislocations at the interface and L10-ordering can be controlled. We found that fewer misfits and improved ordering in FePt lead to a reduced Gilbert damping constant due to reduced electron scattering but that FePt grown on SrTiO3 also shows robust perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Importantly, these results demonstrate the ability to control the damping in FePt and similar materials by changing the number of misfit dislocations at the interface and the smaller damping in FePt opens up the possibility of using this material in spintronic materials in the THz wave range.

A pilot study comparing three-dimensional models of tumor histopathology and magnetic resonance imaging

<i>P</i>-type surface charge transfer doping of diamond via low-dimensional transition metal oxides

Device applications of ultra-wide-bandgap diamond rely on the precise control of both carrier type and concentration. However, due to the strong covalent bonds in bulk diamond, conventional doping methods have struggled to achieve large-scale tuning of its properties. Surface charge transfer doping (SCTD) is seen as a simple and effective solution, leveraging energy-level differences between surface dopant and the semiconductor to regulate carrier properties efficiently. Here, we conducted a comprehensive theoretical study on p-type SCTD of hydrogen-terminated diamond (100) surface [diamond(100):H] using low-dimensional transition metal oxides. The doping effects of the molecular MoO3 and monolayer MoO3 were first explored. The areal hole density for molecular-MoO3-doped diamond(100):H sharply rises and then slightly decreases with increasing MoO3 density, reaching a peak of 7.55 × 1013 cm−2—surpassing the maximum value achieved with a MoO3 monolayer. For identical MoO3 densities, a stronger interaction with diamond(100):H results in a greater areal hole density. We also studied one-dimensional chain-like CrO3 and two-dimensional layered V2O5. However, a V2O5 monolayer cannot achieve the saturation areal hole density due to the large energy separation between the conduction band minimum (CBM) of V2O5 and the valence band maximum (VBM) of diamond(100):H. Increasing the number of V2O5 monolayers will enhance the doping effect. Overall, optimal doping can be achieved with smaller dimensions, higher density and thickness of the transition metal oxides, stronger interactions with diamond(100):H, and a larger energy separation between the dopant's CBM and diamond(100):H's VBM. This study provides theoretical guidance to develop superior diamond-based electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Production scheduling with multi-robot task allocation in a real industry 4.0 setting

Topology of far-field signals for photonic crystal slabs

The study of band topology in photonic crystals was primarily focused on near-field effects, including edge states and high-order corner states. However, this work investigated the polarization distribution of radiated fields for photonic crystal slabs to get their far-field properties of band topology. We introduced a topological invariant—the winding number of far-field polarization around the Brillouin zone boundary and confirmed a robust correspondence between it and the Chern number of energy bands from the perspective of symmetry, which can be used to analyze the process of topological phase transition. It is found that changes in the winding number and Chern number, associated with the exchange of far-field polarization singularities, especially for bound states in the continuum, will emerge during phase transition. These findings offer insights for further understanding the intriguing properties of topological materials.

Exploring the influence of age on the causes of death in advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy using machine learning methods

Nonreciprocal and nonlinear transport and spontaneous voltage generation in MoGe/Ni81Fe19

The nonreciprocal, diode-like electric transport in a superconductor/ferromagnet bilayer system, MoGe/Ni81Fe19, has been investigated. We found that a MoGe film on Ni81Fe19 spontaneously generates d.c. voltage by rectifying environmental fluctuations. By comparing the effect between MoGe films on different magnetic materials, we show that the amplitude of the spontaneous voltage generation is almost proportional to that of the nonreciprocal electric transport in MoGe, suggesting that the observed rectification mainly originates from the motion of superconducting vortex strings that can feel asymmetry in the magnetic environment between the MoGe surfaces.

Enhancing proteasome activity by NMDAR antagonists explains their therapeutic effect in neurodegenerative and mental diseases

High AC field-induced polarization switching unraveled in frequency domain: Enhanced dielectric responses in lanthanum-doped Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 relaxor-ferroelectrics

In this study, we delve into the complex dielectric behaviors of lanthanum (La)-doped PNN-PZT relaxor-ferroelectric ceramics under the influence of high AC fields. Our approach involves a meticulous design of dielectric measurements to scrutinize the decoupling phenomenon between local polarization oscillation and global polarization switching. Remarkably, the application of high AC fields (&amp;gt;0.5 kV/mm) causes a dramatic increase in the dielectric permittivity (2x), alongside pronounced frequency dispersion (&amp;gt;65 °C) and a permittivity hump below Tm in 7% La-doped relaxor compositions. For relaxor-ferroelectric ceramics doped with lower La (&amp;lt;=5%) that are featured with tweed-like submicron domains as imaged in in situ transmission electron microscopy, the significantly enhanced dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss (&amp;gt;1) are induced under high AC fields (&amp;lt;0.5 kV/mm). A comparative study with a polarization loop in the time domain under various AC fields and DC bias demonstrates that the dielectric anomaly in the frequency domain is associated with global polarization switching, co-existing with polarization oscillation mechanism in various domains. This frequency domain method reveals threshold AC fields (0.25–0.5 kV/mm) above which polarization switching occurs in relaxor-FE compositions at elevated temperatures, complements the dynamic behaviors of P–E hysteresis, and cautions the control of AC fields in dealing with relaxor-ferroelectric materials for advanced electronic applications.