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The clinical significance of plasma soluble programmed cell death ligand 1 (sPD-L1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with the combination of anti-angiogenic therapy and anti-PD-L1 antibody (Ab) remain unknown. This study aimed to explore the association between plasma sPD-L1 and VEGF levels and the prognosis of NSCLC patients treated with the combination of Envafolimab and Endostar. Peripheral blood samples were collected from 24 NSCLC patients at baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment and were detected for sPD-L1 and VEGF levels. Both baseline and posttreatment sPD-L1 were significantly higher in progressive disease (PD) group than in controlled disease (CD) group (median: 77.5 pg/ml vs. 64.6 pg/ml, P = 0.036, median: 8451 pg/ml vs. 5563 pg/ml, P = 0.012). In multivariate analysis, lower baseline sPD-L1 levels were significantly associated with longer progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 6.834, 95% CI: 1.350–34.592, P = 0.020). There were significantly higher posttreatment VEGF levels in PD group compared with CD group (median: 323.7 pg/ml vs. 178.5 pg/ml, P = 0.009). Higher posttreatment VEGF levels were significantly associated with shorter PFS in multivariate analysis (HR = 5.911, 95% CI: 1.391–25.122, P = 0.016). Plasma sPD-L1 and VEGF levels are associated with the clinical response and prognosis of NSCLC patients treated with the combination of PD-L1 inhibitors and anti-angiogenetic therapy.

Two-dimensional moiré materials are formed by overlaying two layered crystals with small differences in orientation or/and lattice constant, where their direct coupling generates moiré potentials. Moiré materials have emerged as a platform for the discovery of new physics and device concepts, but while moiré materials are highly tunable, once formed, moiré lattices cannot be easily altered. Here we demonstrate the electrostatic imprinting of moiré lattices onto a target monolayer semiconductor. The moiré potential—created by a lattice of electrons that is supported by a Mott insulator state in a remote MoSe2/WS2moiré bilayer—imprints a moiré potential that generates flat bands and correlated insulating states in the target monolayer and can be turned on/off by gate tuning the doping density of the moiré bilayer. Additionally, we studied the interplay between the electrostatic and structural relaxation contributions to moiré imprinting. Our results demonstrate a pathway towards gate control of moiré lattices.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials are potential candidates for electronic devices due to their unique structures and exceptional physical properties, making them a focal point in nanotechnology research. Accurate assessment of the mechanical and tribological properties of 2D materials is imperative to fully exploit their potential across diverse applications. However, their nanoscale thickness and planar nature pose significant challenges in testing and characterizing their mechanical properties. Among the in situcharacterization techniques, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has gained widespread applications in exploring the mechanical behaviour of nanomaterials, because of the easy measurement capability of nano force and displacement from the AFM tips. Specifically, AFM-based force spectroscopy is a common approach for studying the mechanical and tribological properties of 2D materials. This review comprehensively details the methods based on normal force spectroscopy, which are utilized to test and characterize the elastic and fracture properties, adhesion, and fatigue of 2D materials. Additionally, the methods using lateral force spectroscopy can characterize the interfacial properties of 2D materials, including surface friction of 2D materials, shear behaviour of interlayers as well as nanoflake-substrate interfaces. The influence of various factors, such as testing methods, external environments, and the properties of test samples, on the measured mechanical properties is also addressed. In the end, the current challenges and issues in AFM-based measurements of mechanical and tribological properties of 2D materials are discussed, which identifies the trend in the combination of multiple methods concerning the future development of the in situtesting techniques.

The current study evaluated the efficacy and safety of a denosumab biosimilar, QL1206 (60 mg), compared to placebo in postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk. At 31 study centers in China, a total of 455 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk were randomly assigned to receive QL1206 (60 mg subcutaneously every 6 months) or placebo. From baseline to the 12-month follow-up, the participants who received QL1206 showed significantly increased bone mineral density (BMD) values (mean difference and 95% CI) in the lumbar spine: 4.780% (3.880%, 5.681%), total hip :3.930% (3.136%, 4.725%), femoral neck 2.733% (1.877%, 3.589%) and trochanter: 4.058% (2.791%, 5.325%) compared with the participants who received the placebo. In addition, QL1206 injection significantly decreased the serum levels of C-terminal crosslinked telopeptides of type 1 collagen (CTX): −77.352% (−87.080%, −66.844%), and N-terminal procollagen of type l collagen (P1NP): −50.867% (−57.184%, −45.217%) compared with the placebo over the period from baseline to 12 months. No new or unexpected adverse events were observed. We concluded that compared with placebo, QL1206 effectively increased the BMD of the lumbar spine, total hip, femoral neck and trochanter in postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and rapidly decreased bone turnover markers. This study demonstrated that QL1206 has beneficial effects on postmenopausal Chinese women with osteoporosis and high fracture risk.

Introduction: Baricitinib, a JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor, is approved for treatment of moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in China. This single-arm, prospective, multi-center, post-marketing safety study (PMSS) evaluated the safety and effectiveness of baricitinib in Chinese patients. Methods: This study included adult patients with moderate-to-severe active RA who received baricitinib over periods of approximately 12 and 24 weeks. The primary endpoint was safety, defined as week 12 adverse event (AE)/serious AE incidence. Secondary endpoints were week 24 safety and effectiveness (disease activity score with 28 joints/C-reactive protein [DAS28-CRP] and simplified/Clinical Disease Activity Index [SDAI/CDAI]). Results: Safety analyses included 667 patients (female, 82.3%; mean age, 53.3 years; mean RA duration, 86.9 months); 106/667 (15.9%) were 65–74 years old and 19/667 (2.8%) were ≥ 75 years old; 87.0% received baricitinib 2 mg QD. Total exposure was 262.1 patient-years (PY). At week 12, AEs had occurred in 214 (32.1%; exposure-adjusted incidence rate [EAIR], 172.5 per 100 PY) patients (serious AEs: 22 [3.3%; EAIR, 15.0]). At week 24, AEs had occurred in 250 (37.5%; EAIR, 125.9) patients (serious AEs: 28 [4.2%; EAIR, 10.9]). Two patients (0.3%) died (of pneumonia and unknown cause); EAIR for death, 0.77. Serious infection occurred in 1.2% of patients (EAIR, 3.1). Hepatotoxicity occurred in 3.4% of patients (EAIR, 9.0). No patients met potential Hy’s law laboratory criteria (alanine/aspartate aminotransferases ≥ 3 × upper limit of normal (ULN) and total bilirubin ≥ 2 × ULN). Malignancy occurred in one patient. No patients experienced venous thromboembolism (VTE) or major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). At week 24, 52.4%, 27.5%, and 27.6% of patients achieved remission per DAS28-CRP, SDAI, and CDAI, respectively. Conclusions: This PMSS investigated the safety and effectiveness of baricitinib in clinical practice in China. No VTE/MACE or new safety signals were reported and there was promising effectiveness, supporting the use of baricitinib in Chinese patients with moderate-to-severe active RA. Trial Registration: EU PAS Register: EUPAS34213.

While neural network (NN) accelerators are being significantly developed in recent years, CPU is still essential for data management and pre-/post-processing of accelerators in a commonly used heterogeneous architecture, which usually contains an NN accelerator and a processor core with data transfer performed by direct memory access (DMA) engine. This work presents a special neural processor, referred to as a systolic neural CPU processor (SNCPU), which is a unified architecture combining deep learning and general-purpose computing for fifth-generation of reduced instruction set computer (RISC-V) to improve end-to-end performance for machine learning (ML) tasks compared with a common heterogeneous architecture with CPU and accelerator. With 64%–80% processing elements (PEs) logic reuse and 10% area overhead, SNCPU can be configured into ten RISC-V CPU cores. Special bi-directional dataflow and four different working modes are developed to enhance the utilization of deep NN (DNN) accelerator and eliminate the expensive data transfer between CPU and DNN accelerator in existing heterogeneous architecture. A 65-nm test chip was fabricated demonstrating a 39%–64% performance improvement on end-to-end image classification tasks for ImageNet, Cifar10, and MNIST datasets with over 95% PE utilization and up to 1.8TOPs/W power efficiency.

In this article, one feasible fabrication approach for novel fishbone FETs using the channel-first and single work function metal (sWFM) processes is proposed and investigated by 3-D technical computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations. Through a small modification on the fabrication process of general gate-all-around (GAA) nanosheet FETs (NSFETs), the special fishbone-like channel composed of vertically stacked Si NSs and sandwiched SiGe nano-fins is experimentally demonstrated by the channel-first process. The simulated electrical characteristics show that the width of the nano-fins should be within 5 nm for a better gate control. Unlike traditional NSFETs, symmetrical threshold voltages ( ${V}_{\text {th}}\text{s}$ ) for n-type and p-type fishbone FETs can be achieved by using a sWFM, and $\Delta {V}_{\text {th}}$ is optimized by 99.26% compared with that of NSFETs. Meanwhile, it is also found that the SiGe nano-fins contribute more driving current for p-type devices. Therefore, the proposed fishbone FETs with sWFM not only exhibit significantly enhanced driving current but also provide good balance between the performances of n-type and p-type fishbone FETs with a little extra process cost.

Boulders are incompletely weathered and “nearly spherical” granite, which widely distributes in fully weathered granite strata. If a tunnelling shield machine is driving in fully weathered granite strata, it frequently encounters boulders. In such circumstances, the cutter heads usually get stuck and the body of tunnelling shield machine is damaged by boulders. Therefore, it is highly essential to detect the boulders before tunnelling through the face. To accurately obtain the location and size information of the boulders, the ground-penetrating radar forward modelling and imaging analysis in boulder detection were conducted. First, a series of forwarding modelling was carried out to demonstrate the influence of boulder size and burial depth on the reflection curves. Then, the reflection curves caused by boulders were characterized, which was proved to be hyperbolic curves. Second, imaging analysis was set up to determine the location and size information of boulders. Based on the principle of portable ground-penetrating radar, the theoretical calculation method was derived for determining the reflection points. Comparing the numerical analysis results, the rationality of the theoretical method was verified. Subsequently, by evaluating the inverse of the theoretical calculation method, the imaging method to determine the location and size information of boulders was derived. In the end, an example was used to examine the accuracy of the imaging method. In a word, the imaging method could accurately determine the boulder size and location information from the ground-penetrating radar detection result, which provided a reliable basis for boulder treatment and disaster prevention.

ABSTRACTSustained cardiac hypertrophy (CH) contributes to many heart diseases. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) collectively play critical roles in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the roles of lncRNA H19 in CH are still unclear. A CH model was constructed utilizing isoproterenol (ISO). We demonstrated H19 could participate in regulating ISO-induced CH development both in vivoand in vitro. The online databases DIANA and TargetScan were used to predict the targets of H19 and MicroRNA-145-3p (miR-145-3p), respectively. Luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the downstream targets. The results showed that H19 was decreased under ISO stimulation. The H19 overexpression resulted in significant decrease in mouse heart size and weight, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, left ventricular posterior wall thickness and cardiac hypertrophic growth, while promoted the increase of left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricle fraction shortening. H19 also inhibited protein expression levels of CH markers, such as atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and MYH7. Luciferase assays results showed that miR-145-3p was a target of H19 and SMAD4 was a target of miR-145-3p. We found that H19 regulated SMAD4 by sponging miR-145-3p. Knockout of miR-145-3p or overexpression of SMAD4 facilitated H19-induced decreases in ANP, BNP, and MYH7. Collectively, our findings have indicated that the H19/miR-145-3p/SMAD4 axis should be a negative regulator involved in CH progression.

Thiomolybdate [Mo3S13]2−clusters combined with mesoporous carbon spheres are employed as sulfur host. Such structures not only increase overall electrical conductivity viainner carbon capsule, but also enhance the redox kinetics of polysulfides by the bidirectional catalysis of [Mo3S13]2−, thus confining the volume expansion of sulfur and shuttle effect.

Two-dimensional moiré materials provide a highly controllable solid-state platform for studies of quantum phenomena1–3. To date, experimental studies have focused on correlated electronic states, whereas correlated bosonic states in moiré materials have received less attention. Here we report the observation of a correlated dipolar excitonic insulator—a charge-insulating state driven by exciton formation4—in a device where a WSe2monolayer and WSe2/WS2moiré bilayer are coupled via Coulomb interactions. The system is a Mott insulator when all the holes reside in the moiré layer. Under an out-of-plane electric field, the holes can be continuously transferred to the WSe2monolayer, but remain strongly bound to the empty moiré sites, effectively forming an interlayer exciton fluid in the moiré lattice. We further observe the emergence of local magnetic moments in the WSe2monolayer induced by the strong interlayer Coulomb correlation. Our result provides a platform for realizing correlated quantum phenomena described by bosonic lattice models in a solid-state system, complementary to cold-atom setups5.

Recovering targets through diffusers is an important topic as well as a general problem in optical imaging. The difficulty of recovering is increased due to the noise interference caused by an imperfect imaging environment. Existing approaches generally require a high-signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) speckle pattern to recover the target, but still have limitations in de-noising or generalizability. Here, featuring information of high-SNR autocorrelation as a physical constraint, we propose a two-stage (de-noising and reconstructing) method to improve robustness based on data driving. Specifically, a two-stage convolutional neural network (CNN) called autocorrelation reconstruction (ACR) CNN is designed to de-noise and reconstruct targets from low-SNR speckle patterns. We experimentally demonstrate the robustness through various diffusers with different levels of noise, from simulative Gaussian noise to the detector and photon noise captured by the actual optical system. The de-noising stage improves the peak SNR from 20 to 38 dB in the system data, and the reconstructing stage, compared with the unconstrained method, successfully recovers targets hidden in unknown diffusers with the detector and photon noise. With the help of the physical constraint to optimize the learning process, our two-stage method is realized to improve generalizability and has potential in various fields such as imaging in low illumination.

•CAZ-AVI has therapeutic advantage over other antibiotics for CR-KP infection•CAZ-AVI may be of more value for severe, rather than mild, CR-KP infection•Further studies are needed to establish CAZ-AVI as treatment for CR-KP infection

Background: Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an overexpressed antigen in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs) but with limited expression levels in normal esophageal tissues. Therefore, employing the adoptive transfer of T cells genetically modified to express chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting HER2 could be a promising therapeutic strategy against ESCC.Methods: Two different second-generation CAR-T cells expressing antibodies for HER2 and CD19 antigens were developed using retroviral vector transduction. The expression of HER2 antigen in ESCC tissue and cell lines was examined by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry, respectively. The tumor killing efficacy of the CAR-T cells in mice model and ESCC cell lines and its potential for the treatment of ESCC was evaluated by determining tumor size in mice xenograft, and by crystal violet staining, MTS assay, and cytokine release.Results: In vitro, HER2.CAR-T cells efficiently recognized and killed HER2-positive tumor cells as evidenced by the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, interferon-γ, and interleukin 2 and by cytotoxicity assays. In vivo, intratumor injection of HER2.CAR-T cells resulted in a significant suppression of established ESCCs in a subcutaneous xenograft BALB/c nude mouse model. In contrast, the injection of CD19.CAR-T cells did not affect the tumor growth pattern.Conclusions: An effective HER2 CAR targeting ESCC was developed successfully. The HER2.CAR-T cell showed promising immunotherapeutic potential for the treatment of HER2-positive esophageal cancer.

Moiré superlattices offer an unprecedented opportunity for tailoring interactions between quantum particles1–11and their coupling to electromagnetic fields12–18. Strong superlattice potentials generate moiré minibands of excitons16–18—bound pairs of electrons and holes that reside either in a single layer (intralayer excitons) or in two separate layers (interlayer excitons). Twist-angle-controlled interlayer electronic hybridization can also mix these two types of exciton to combine their strengths13,19,20. Here we report the direct observation of layer-hybridized moiré excitons in angle-aligned WSe2/WS2and MoSe2/WS2superlattices by optical reflectance spectroscopy. These excitons manifest a hallmark signature of strong coupling in WSe2/WS2, that is, energy-level anticrossing and oscillator strength redistribution under a vertical electric field. They also exhibit doping-dependent renormalization and hybridization that are sensitive to the electronic correlation effects. Our findings have important implications for emerging many-body states in two-dimensional semiconductors, such as exciton condensates21and Bose–Hubbard models22, and optoelectronic applications of these materials.

While social media facilitate product diffusion, the co-existence of competing products makes the diffusion process complex. This study employs an agent-based model to simulate competitive diffusion on social networks and examines the role of a special network position, network bridges, in influencing the diffusion process. The simulation experiments show that targeting bridges can help the weak product with an initially decreasing diffusion curve to increase its market share. The effect of bridges in competitive diffusion increases with the intensity of market competition. This study also reveals that the effect of bridges is larger when the degree distribution of a network has a lower variation. Overall, bridges can be effective alternatives to network hubs in winning market share. Our analysis based on a large-scale real social network further reveals that bridges enhance the offensive and defensive power of a product. This study offers a systematical exploration of the impact of bridges in competitive diffusion under various conditions and the underlying mechanism. It provides guidance for firms competing in social media regarding whom to target (i.e., bridges vs. hubs) and how effective the targeting strategy is.

Diurnal variations in the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) at different latitudes over different surface characteristics are described, based on 45 years (1973−2017) of radiosonde observations. The PBLH is determined from the radiosonde data by the bulk Richardson number (BRN) method and verified by the parcel method and the potential temperature gradient method. In general, the BRN method is able to represent the height of the convective boundary layer (BL) and neutral residual layer cases but has relatively large uncertainty in the stable BL cases. The diurnal cycle of the PBLH over land is quite different from the cycle over ocean, as are their seasonal variations. For stations over land, the PBLH shows an apparent diurnal cycle, with a distinct maximum around 15:00 LT, and seasonal variation, with higher values in summer. Compared with the PBLH over land, over oceans the PBLH diurnal cycles are quite mild, the PBLHs are much lower, and the seasonal changes are less pronounced. The seasonal variations in the median PBLH diurnal cycle are positively correlated with the near‐surface temperature and negatively correlated with the near‐surface relative humidity. Finally, although at most latitudes the daytime PBLH exhibits, over these 45 years, a statistically significant increasing trend at most hours between 12:00 LT and 18:00 LT over both land and ocean, there is no significant trend over either land or ocean in the nighttime PBLH for almost all the studied latitudes.

(R)-1,3-butanediol is an important pharmaceutical intermediate, and the synthesis of (R)-1,3-butanediol using green biological methods has recently been of interest for industrial application. Here, a novel strain QC-1 that efficiently transforms 4-hydroxy-2-butanone to (R)-1,3-butanediol was isolated from soil samples. Based on morphological, physiological, and biochemical tests and 5.8S-internal transcribed spacer sequencing, the strain was identified as Pichia kudriavzeviiQC-1. The reaction conditions were optimized to 35 °C, pH 8.0, rotation speed 200 rpm, and 6:5 mass ratio of glucose to 4-hydroxy-2-butanone. Evaluation of the effects of 4-hydroxy-2-butanone concentrations on yield and cell survival rate showed that 85.60 g·L−1product accumulated, with an enantiomeric excess of more than 99%, when 30 g·L−14-hydroxy-2-butanone was added at 0, 10, and 30 h in a 3-L bioreactor. Thus, strain QC-1 showed excellent catalytic activity and stereoselectivity for the synthesis of (R)-1,3-butanediol from 4-hydroxy-2-butanone.

It is a desirable and powerful strategy to precisely fabricate functional soft matter through self-assembly of molecular building blocks across a range of length scales. Proteins, nucleic acids, and polyphenols are the self-assemblers ubiquitous in nature. Assembly of proteins into flexible biocolloids, amyloid fibrils with high aspect ratio, has emerged as an unchallenged templating strategy for high-end technological materials and bio-nanotechnologies. We demonstrate the ability of these fibrils to support the deposition and self-assembly of polyphenols into hybrid nanofilaments and functional macroscopic hydrogels made thereof. The length scale of the substance that amyloid fibrils can attach with acting as the building templates was extended from nanometer down to sub-nanometer. Significantly increased loading capacities of polyphenols (up to 4.0 wt %) compared to that of other delivery systems and improved stability were realized. After oral administration, the hydrogels could transport from the stomach to the small intestine and finally to the gut (cecum, colon, rectum), with a long retention time in the colon. Oral administration of the hydrogels significantly ameliorated colitis in a mouse model, promoted intestinal barrier function, suppressed the pro-inflammatory mRNA expression, and very significantly (P< 0.01) regulated gut microbial dysbiosis. Specifically, it reduced the abundance of normally enriched operational taxonomic units related to colitis, especially targeting facultative anaerobes of the phylum Proteobacteria, such as Aestuariispiraand Escherichia. The short-chain fatty acid metabolites were enriched. Combined with their nontoxic nature observed in this long-term study in mice, the obtained amyloid–polyphenol gels have high application potentials for gastrointestinal diseases by “drugging the microbiome”.

Concrete is an important engineering material whose tensile property plays an important role in structural safety. Thus, the effect of strain rate on crack evolution in concrete during tension cracking cannot be neglected. Within a strain rate range of 10−6to 10−4s−1, an acoustic emission monitoring test for the whole process of concrete under uniaxial tension including the post-peak softening stage was conducted. Moreover, damage evolution, along with the cracking mechanism of concrete at various strain rates was discussed with respect to the effect of strain rate on acoustic emission. The results show that the acoustic emission activity of concrete is delayed due to an increase in strain rate. This indicates that the hysteresis of deformation and cracking can be observed in a uniaxial tension test of concrete. During the whole loading process, as the strain rate increased, the average level of the acoustic emission hit rate increased significantly, indicating that an increase in strain rate accelerates crack initiation and propagation in concrete. Average acoustic emission values, duration and energy also show an increasing trend, and the scatter distribution range between them and the acoustic emission amplitude changes significantly, a fact that can be used to identify the damage degree of concrete under different strain rates. A peak frequency and cd4 band wavelet energy spectrum coefficient tends to decrease, while the ca8 band wavelet energy spectrum coefficient increases. In other words, the proportion of low frequency acoustic emission signals increases, indicating that an increase in strain rate increases the proportion of macroscopic cracks in concrete. At various strain rates, the average level of acoustic emission characteristic parameters and the proportion of high frequency signals at the post-peak stage in concrete are higher than those at the pre-peak stage, indicating that the development of microcracks in concrete mainly concentrates during the post-peak softening stage.

We show that the spin-dependent charging energy recently discovered in a molecular antiferromagnet enables an adiabatic spin pump, without requiring a magnetic field or tunable spin–orbit coupling, when the molecule is connected to two unpolarized electrodes with oscillating chemical potentials. Onsite Coulomb repulsion between electrons of opposite spin orientations causes a spin-dependent suppression of the current between the two leads, leading to a pumped spin current. Consequently, the Berry-phase-like geometric current is highly spin-polarized. We explore the space of driving parameters to demonstrate the generation of either a fully polarized or a pure spin current. Negative differential conductance is also predicted. These possibilities highlight the advantage of molecular antiferromagnets over ferromagnetic molecules and quantum dots in generating and manipulating low-power spin currents.

Processing techniques have been shown to alter the nutritional composition of rice bran (RB) and wheat bran (WB), influencing their ability to modify microbial, but a systematic comparison is currently lacking. This study aimed to comprehensively investigate the effects of various processing methods, including physical modifications (grinding, extrusion, steam explosion), enzymolysis (amylase, hemicellulose, and xylanase), and union modifications, on the modification of gut microbiota by RB and WB. Processing methods significantly altered the nutrient components of RB and WB as well as their capacity for gas and SCFA production during in vitrofermentation. The RB23 (amylase treatment), RB31(extrusion and hemicellulose treatment), and RB33 (steam explosion and xylanase treatment) samples exhibited the highest production of total SCFAs and butyric acid during in vitrofermentation. Overall, the microbiota responses to brans were conserved within individuals and processing methods explained 21.6% of the variance. Fermentation of RB23, RB31, and RB33 samples was observed to enhance the richness of gut microbiota, decrease the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio, and stimulate the growth of Butyricicoccusand Faecallbacteriumwhile inhibiting the growth of Bilophila, Fusobacterium, and Escherichia-shigella. The findings from this study may provide valuable insights for the processing of RB and WB.

Distribution and removal of chemicals in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have mainly relied on mathematical models. Existing exposure assessment models such as SimpleTreat, STPWIN are based on conventional activated sludge processes. There is an urgent need to develop an A2/O-based WWTPs exposure assessment model. Organophosphates (OPEs) have different physical and chemical properties and potential environmental risks. The fate and biodegradation kinetics of three types of OPEs, including alkyl OPEs, chlorinated OPEs and triphenyl ester OPEs, were studied in a laboratory-scale anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (A2/O) sewage treatment system and batch reactors. The three types of OPEs had different anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic removal characteristics. A compensation mechanism was found between anaerobic and anoxic/aerobic removal. When the hydraulic retention time decreased from 82 to 20.5 h, the removal efficiencies in the anaerobic unit decreased, while those in the anoxic unit increased; as a result, the total removal efficiencies remained high (> 80%) for all OPEs except triphenyl phosphate (65.5%–75.1%). The concept of effective sludge concentration (MLSSeff) was proposed to illustrate the compensation mechanism and calibrate the second-order kinetic equation for predicting pollutant removal in the A2/O system: MLSSeff= ken× MLSS, where kenis a constant related to the influent total organic carbon content (TOC). The influent TOC contents of the anoxic and aerobic units affected the value of MLSSeffand OPEs removal. The results are of great significance for assessing OPEs exposure and predicting exposure to emerging micropollutants in sewage treatment systems.

Because there is insufficient measurement data when implementing state estimation in distribution networks, this paper proposes an attention-enhanced recurrent neural network (A-RNN)-based pseudo-measurement modeling metho. First, based on analyzing the power series at the source and load end in the time and frequency domains, a period-dependent extrapolation model is established to characterize the power series in those domains. The complex mapping functions in the model are automatically represented by A-RNNs to obtain an A-RNNs-based period-dependent pseudo-measurement generation model. The distributed dynamic state estimation model of the distribution network is established, and the pseudo-measurement data generated by the model in real time is used as the input of the state estimation model together with the measurement data. The experimental results show that the method proposed can explore in depth the complex sequence characteristics of the measurement data such that the accuracy of the pseudo-measurement data is further improved. The results also show that the state estimation accuracy of a distribution network is very poor when there is a lack of measurement data, but is greatly improved by adding the pseudo-measurement data generated by the model proposed.

The construction of integrated energy systems can help improve energy efficiency and promote global energy transition. However, in recent years, the occurrence of extreme natural disasters has brought certain threats to the safe and stable operation of the integrated energy system. Thus, it is necessary to improve the ability of the integrated energy system to resist disasters, reduce disaster losses, and restore energy supply as soon as possible, i.e., improve its resilience. Considering the influence of pre-disaster prevention measures and disaster-time operational measures on system disaster resilience and the correlation between the two, this paper proposes a system hardening strategy based on three-layer robust optimization. The upper layer formulates the optimal hardening strategy of the system before the disaster event occurs, the middle layer identifies the failed elements in the worst disaster situation, while the lower layer realizes the system operational optimization by coordinating the energy storage charging and discharging plan of each subsystem. The strategy can reduce the total supply shortage of the integrated energy system and improve the flexibility of the system in the pre-disaster prevention and disaster resistance integration stages.

Exciton polaritons that arise through the strong coupling of excitons and cavity photons are used to demonstrate a wide array of fundamental phenomena and potential applications that range from Bose–Einstein-like condensation1–3to analogue Hamiltonian simulators4,5and chip-scale interferometers6. Recently, the two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), because of their large exciton binding energies, oscillator strength and valley degree of freedom, have emerged as a very attractive platform to realize exciton polaritons at elevated temperatures7. Achieving the electrical injection of polaritons is attractive both as a precursor to realizing electrically driven polariton lasers as well as for high speed light-emitting diodes (LEDs) for communication systems. Here, we demonstrate an electrically driven polariton LED that operates at room temperature using monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS2) as the emissive material. The extracted external quantum efficiency is ~0.1% and is comparable to recent demonstrations of bulk organic8and carbon nanotube-based polariton electroluminescence (EL) devices9. The possibility to realize electrically driven polariton LEDs in atomically thin semiconductors at room temperature presents a promising step towards achieving an inversionless electrically driven laser in these systems as well as for ultrafast microcavity LEDs using van der Waals (vdW) materials.

Background:Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a complex clinical disorder with sudden decay in renal function. Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) has been regarded as the main etiology for the occurrence of AKI. MicroRNAs have been consistently shown to be involved AKI. Objectives:We aimed to investigate the role of miR-155 in AKI and its underlying mechanism. Methods:Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R)-induced AKI rat model and hypoxia-reoxygeneration (H/R)-induced NRK-52E cell model were established. The concentrations of serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen were measured to evaluate renal function. Hematoxylin and eosin staining and TUNEL assay were performed to assess the severity of kidney injury. Additionally, quantitative real-time-PCR and western blot analysis were subjected to determine the expression of miR-155, TCF4, and apoptosis-related proteins, respectively. Moreover, cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated by Cell Counting Kit-8, bromodeoxyuridine, and flow cytometry analyses, respectively. Luciferase reporter assay was used to validate the direct targeting of TCF4 with miR-155. The protein levels of TCF4 and its downstream proteins in cells were measured by western blot. Results:The expression level of miR-155 was upregulated in both I/R-induced AKI rat model and H/R-treated NRK-52E cells. Moreover, overexpression of miR-155 promoted H/R-induced NRK-52E cells apoptosis and suppressed cell proliferation, while inhibition of miR-155 expression exerted opposite effects. Additionally, TCF4 was identified as a target of miR-155, of which expression was downregulated both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, the activity of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was promoted following overexpression of TCF4 in NRK-52E cells, and this effect was attenuated by the increasing miR-155 expression. Conclusion:We demonstrated that miR-155 exacerbated AKI involving the targeting and regulation of TCF4/Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, indicating a novel regulatory network and elucidating a potential target for IRI-induced AKI treatment.

Optical waveguides are vital components of data communication system technologies, but their scaling down to the nanoscale has remained challenging despite advances in nano-optics and nanomaterials. Recently, we theoretically predicted that the ultimate limit of visible photon guiding can be achieved in monolayer-thick transition metal dichalcogenides. Here, we present an experimental demonstration of light guiding in an atomically thick tungsten disulfide membrane patterned as a photonic crystal structure. In this scheme, two-dimensional tungsten disulfide excitonic photoluminescence couples into quasi-guided photonic crystal modes known as resonant-type Wood’s anomalies. These modes propagate via total internal reflection with only a small portion of the light diffracted to the far field. Such light guiding at the ultimate limit provides more possibilities to miniaturize optoelectronic devices and to test fundamental physical concepts. A monolayer WS2membrane patterned as a photonic crystal sustains guided optical modes that propagate via total internal reflection.

In order to study the effects of different loading systems and stress history on the damage evolution of concrete, the acoustic emission characteristic parameters, the acoustic emission release rate, acousto-ultrasonic pulse wave velocity and the Rv value were compared and analyzed in the process of axial compression damage of concrete with different water cement ratios under step and intermittent loading. In this paper, the intermittent period led to a certain degree of “closure” in the internal microcracks of concrete, thus in the same HB to HD holding period, the acoustic emission release rate, mean value of acoustic emission characteristic parameters and mean acousto-ultrasonic pulse wave velocity under intermittent loading were all higher than that of step loading. The acousto-ultrasonic pulse wave velocity decreased with the increasing of the stress level and increased during the IA to ID intermittent period. Among them, with the decreasing of water cement ratio (from 0.6 to 0.4), the acoustic emission cumulative hits and the acoustic emission release rate increased, while the acousto-ultrasonic pulse wave velocity increased, and there were some differences in the acoustic emission release rate of the two loading systems at different water cement ratios. Furthermore, the Rvvalue decreased with the decreasing of water cement ratio in the IA to IC intermittent period and in the ID intermittent period, the Rvvalue increased with the decreasing of water cement ratio, thus the Rvvalue could reflect the evolution law of concrete with different water cement ratios during the intermittent period. The obtained results show that the acoustic emission and acousto-ultrasonic characteristic parameters are not consistent under two different loading systems, so research in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the damage identification and analysis of concrete structures under cyclic loading based on the acousto-ultrasonic technology in practical engineering.

Basalt fiber is a new type of high quality reinforced material used in composite materials. The performance of cement-based materials can be improved by adding basalt fiber, but its damage mechanism is more complicated. Acoustic emission technique can monitor the internal damage of materials. In this paper, the influence of the basalt fiber on the compressive failure process of mortar and the effect of the basalt fiber volume fraction variation on the acoustic emission characteristics in the damage process were investigated. The characteristic parameters of the acoustic emission signals of basalt fiber reinforced mortar with 4 different volume fractions under axial load were analyzed. Through analysis of the acoustic emission cumulative hit number, the acoustic emission cumulative energy, the RA value, the AF value and the b value, it could be found that the acoustic emission parameters of different damage stages were different, and the failure mode of the specimen could be identified according to the acoustic emission parameters. Besides, the addition of basalt fiber improved the rigidity and the ductility of the specimen.

BACKGROUND:Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) was categorized into pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) according to the World Health Organization classification guideline. However, LCNEC patients often received the chemotherapy regimens similar to non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) in advanced stage and the therapeutic effect was unsatisfactory. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the hidden clinical features, prognosis and immunoprofile of the LCNEC, compared with carcinoid and SCLC, to explore whether LCNEC shares similarity with SCLC and potential treatment approaches could be revealed. METHODS:One hundred seventeen pulmonary NETs cases were retrospectively retrieved in this study. The Kaplan–Meier estimator was employed to draw survival curves. Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect NET-related markers expression. RESULTS:In clinical features, compared with carcinoid, LCNEC patients were older, more commonly in male and advanced stage. The parallel phenomena were also found in the high-grade subgroup when compared with the low- to intermediate-grade one. In survival analysis, the 5-year overall survival of LCNECs was 59.1%, which was poorer than that of carcinoids, but better than that of SCLCs. Immunohistochemistry showed that p53 and PTEN functional inactivation, up-regulation of CD117 expression, down-regulation of SSR2A and SSR5 expression were commonly involved in LCNECs when compared with carcinoids, or in the high-grade subgroup when compared with the low- to intermediate-grade one. However, no significant difference was found in the comparison between LCNECs and SCLCs, or NSCLCs and SCLCs. CONCLUSION:In clinical features, survival and immunoprofile, LCNEC showed more similarity with SCLC rather than carcinoid, which might guide novel therapy for pulmonary NETs.

Doxorubicin (DOX) is the classic soft tissue sarcomas (STS) first‐line treatment drug, while dose‐dependent myelosuppression and cardiotoxicity limit its application in clinic. This research intends to apply DOX, which is also an inducer of immunogenic cell death as a part for “in situ vaccination” and conjointly uses PD‐1 inhibitors to enhance antitumor efficacy. In order to achieve the sustained vaccination effect and real‐time monitoring of distribution in vivo, the in situ forming and injectable hydrogel platform with the function of visualization is established for local delivery. The hydrogel platform is synthesized by hyaluronic acid‐dopamine coordinated with gadolinium ions (Gd2+). Gd2+provides the ability of magnetic resonance imaging, meanwhile further cross‐linking the hydrogel network. Experiments show excellent ability of sustained release and imaging tracking for the hydrogel platform. In mouse STS models, the “in situ vaccination” hydrogels show the best effect of inhibiting tumor growth. Further analysis of tumor tissues show that “in situ vaccination” group can increase T cell infiltration, promote M1‐type macrophage polarization and block elevated PD‐1/PD‐L1 pathway caused by DOX. These results are expected to prove the potential for synthesized hydrogels to achieve a universal platform for “in situ vaccination” strategies on STS treatments. The hyaluronic acid‐dopamine·Gd2+hydrogel is designed through amidation reaction and metal coordination with injectability and imaging functionality. After loading doxorubicin and PD‐1 inhibitors as in situ vaccination, the hydrogel can not only enhance the immunogenicity of soft tissue sarcoma, improve the inhibitory immune microenvironment mediated by macrophages and PD‐L1, but also promote the infiltration of DC and T cells.

The partition function of complex Chern–Simons theory on a 3-manifold with torus boundary reduces to a finite-dimensional state-integral which is a holomorphic function of a complexified Planck’s constant τin the complex cut plane and an entire function of a complex parameter u. This gives rise to a vector of factorially divergent perturbative formal power series whose Stokes rays form a peacock-like pattern in the complex plane. We conjecture that these perturbative series are resurgent, their trans-series involve two non-perturbative variables, their Stokes automorphism satisfies a unique factorization property and that it is given explicitly in terms of a fundamental matrix solution to a (dual) linear q-difference equation. We further conjecture that a distinguished entry of the Stokes automorphism matrix is the 3D-index of Dimofte–Gaiotto–Gukov. We provide proofs of our statements regarding the q-difference equations and their properties of their fundamental solutions and illustrate our conjectures regarding the Stokes matrices with numerical calculations for the two simplest hyperbolic 41and 52knots.

Treatment failure remains a main challenge in the management of high-risk multiple myeloma (MM) even with the expanding repertoire of new drugs. Combinatorial therapy is considered an encouraging strategy that can overcome the compensatory mechanisms and undesirable off-target effects that limit the benefits of many prospective agents. Preliminary results of a current phase I trial have indicated that the new BET bromodomain inhibitor OTX015 has favorable activity and tolerability. However, OTX015 is not efficacious enough as a monotherapy. Here, we provide evidence that synergistic drug combinations with OTX015 were generally more specific to particular cellular contexts than single agent activities. In addition, pairing OTX015 with three classes of drugs dramatically enhanced the antitumor activity in mouse models of disseminated human myeloma. Our studies further underscored that the BET inhibitor OTX015 sensitized MM cells by interrupting several pathways and genes critical for MM cell proliferation and drug response, which provided the rationale for multiple myeloma therapy with OTX015 combined with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Thus, the context specificity of synergistic combinations not only provide profound insights into therapeutically relevant selectivity but also improve control of complex biological systems.

Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) possess a number of properties that make them attractive for realizing room-temperature polariton devices1. An ideal platform for manipulating polariton fluids within monolayer TMDs is that of Bloch surface waves, which confine the electric field to a small volume near the surface of a dielectric mirror2–4. Here we demonstrate that monolayer tungsten disulfide can sustain Bloch surface wave polaritons (BSWPs) with a Rabi splitting of 43 meV and propagation lengths reaching 33 μm. In addition, we show strong polariton–polariton nonlinearities within BSWPs, which manifest themselves as a reversible blueshift of the lower polariton resonance. Such nonlinearities are at the heart of polariton devices5–11and have not yet been demonstrated in TMD polaritons. As a proof of concept, we use the nonlinearity to implement a nonlinear polariton source. Our results demonstrate that BSWPs using TMDs can support long-range propagation combined with strong nonlinearities, enabling potential applications in integrated optical processing and polaritonic circuits. Hybrid light–matter states at the surface of a 2D material can interact strongly and propagate over macroscopic distances.

Strong light-matter coupling results in the formation of half-light half-matter quasiparticles that take on the desirable properties of both systems such as small mass and large interactions. Controlling this coupling strength in real-time is highly desirable due to the large change in optical properties such as reflectivity that can be induced in strongly coupled systems. Here we demonstrate modulation of strong exciton–photon coupling in a monolayer WS2through electric field induced gating at room temperature. The device consists of a WS2field effect transistor embedded inside a microcavity structure which transitions from strong to weak coupling when the monolayer WS2becomes more n-type under gating. This transition occurs due to the reduction in oscillator strength of the excitons arising from decreased Coulomb interaction in the presence of electrostatically induced free carriers. The possibility to electrically modulate a solid state system at room temperature from strong to weak coupling is highly desirable for realizing low energy optoelectronic switches and modulators operating both in quantum and classical regimes.

Allergic asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily mediated by Th2 immune mechanisms. Numerous studies have suggested that early life exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is negatively associated with allergic asthma. One proposed mechanism invokes desensitization of lung epithelial cells by LPS. We report here that acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH), a host lipase that degrades and inactivates LPS, renders mice more susceptible to house dust mite (HDM)–induced allergic asthma. Lung epithelial cells from Aoah−/− mice are refractory to HDM stimulation, decreasing dendritic cell activation and Th2 responses. Antibiotic treatment that diminished commensal LPS-producing bacteria normalized Aoah−/− responses to HDM, while giving LPS intrarectally ameliorated asthma. Aoah−/− mouse feces, plasma, and lungs contained more bioactive LPS than did those of Aoah+/+ mice. By inactivating commensal LPS, AOAH thus prevents desensitization of lung epithelial cells. An enzyme that prevents severe lung inflammation/injury in Gram-negative bacterial pneumonia has the seemingly paradoxical effect of predisposing to a Th2-mediated airway disease.

A framework of back propagation neural deep learning (BPN-DL) was constructed in this work for Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIR) to predict the nutrition components in soil samples. Characteristic wavenumbers were selected by the competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) algorithm, to be the input variables to the BPN-DL framework. With the popular computer hard configuration, BPN-DL models were established and pre-set screening for up to 32 hidden layers and 50 nodes. The results were achieved by iteration and parameter identification. The best optimal BPN-DL model was constructed with 22 hidden layers and 30 neural nodes, with 91 input wavenumbers selected by CARS. The root mean square error of training was 0.104 and that of testing was 0.279. Another available optimal model was with 19 hidden layers and 46 nodes for 216 characteristic wavenumbers. The optimal results were further compared with the benchmark PCR, PLSR and conventional back propagation network models. This study indicated that the FT-NIR analytical model can be optimized and integrated with appropriate chemometric methods, and the prediction accuracy can be improved. The BPN-DL framework reveals its superiority in model training and testing processes.

To satisfy the requirements of high energy density, high power density, quick response and long lifespan for energy storage systems (ESSs), hybrid energy storage systems (HESSs) have been investigated for their complementary characteristics of ‘high energy density components’ and ‘high power density components’. To optimize HESS combinations, related indices such as annual cost, fluctuation smoothing ability as well as safety and environmental impact have to be evaluated. The multi-attribute utility method investigated in this paper is aimed to draw an overall conclusion for HESS allocation optimization in microgrid. Building on multi-attribute utility theory, this method has significant advantages in solving the incommensurability and contradiction among multiple attributes. Instead of determining the weights of various attributes subjectively, when adopting the multi-attribute utility method, the characteristics of attributes and the relation among them can be investigated objectively. Also, the proper utility function and merging rules are identified to achieve the aggregate utility which can reflect comprehensive qualities of HESSs.

The energy crisis is currently a major concern worldwide due to the limited natural resources. Accordingly, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are in the focus of forefront energy storage investigations in our 21st century. Traditional lithium-insertion compounds for cathode materials, such as LiCoO2, LiMn2O4, LiNiO2and LiFePO4, have been highly successful but they face serious limitations in energy storage density and production cost associated with their use. Therefore, the design of novel molecular cluster batteries (MCBs) as the next-generation energy storage device is an extremely important and hot topic of current research. Here, we first report preparation of zero-dimensional (OD) polyaniline/polyoxometalates [PW12O40]3−(PANI/PW12) nanospheres, and then have successfully embedded PANI/PW12nanospheres into three-dimensional (3D) graphene sponge to construct a novel 3D graphene/polyaniline/polyoxometalates hybrid (rGO@PANI/PW12) as new cathode material in LIBs. The as-prepared rGO@PANI/PW12hybrid in half-cell exhibits extraordinary electrochemical performances with high specific capacity (around 285 mAh g−1at 50 mA g−1), excellent rate capability (140 mAh g−1at 2 A g−1), and outstanding cycling stability (capacity fade rate of 0.028% per cycle even after 1000 cycles at 2 A g−1), representing the best performance for long-cycle POMs-based cathode in LIBs to date. Furthermore, a rGO@PANI/PW12-C lithium ion full-cell is first fabricated with an initial discharge specific capacity of 145 mAh g−1at 2 A g−1, and then shows excellent cycling stability with a capacity decay rate of 0.035% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 2 A g−1. Importantly, the discharge and degradation mechanisms of rGO@PANI/PW12cathode in LIBs are further deeply investigated. The electron-transfer (ET) from reduced PANI polymer to PW12polyanion as well as the “electron reservoir” model on PW12molecule both contribute to the high electroactivity. This study sheds thus new lights to the design of new generation electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Quantum secret sharing (QSS) is one of the basic communication primitives in future quantum networks which addresses part of the basic cryptographic tasks of multiparty communication and computation. Nevertheless, it is a challenge to provide a practical QSS protocol with security against general attacks. A QSS protocol that balances security and practicality is still lacking. Here, we propose a QSS protocol with simple phase encoding of coherent states among three parties. Removing the requirement of impractical entangled resources and the need for phase randomization, our protocol can be implemented with accessible technology. We provide the finite-key analysis against coherent attacks and implement a proof-of-principle experiment to demonstrate our scheme’s feasibility. Our scheme achieves a key rate of 85.3 bps under a 35 dB channel loss. Combined with security against general attacks and accessible technology, our protocol is a promising candidate for practical multiparty quantum communication networks.

The formation of half-light half-matter quasiparticles under strong coupling results in properties unique from those of the constituent components. Fingerprints of both light and matter are imprinted on the new quasiparticles, called polaritons. In the context of two-dimensional (2D) materials, this opens up the possibility of exploiting the intriguing spin–valley physics of a bare semiconductor combined with the light mass of the photonic component for possible quantum technologies. Specifically, the valley degree of freedom, which remained largely unexplored until the advent of these materials, is highly attractive in this context as it provides an optically accessible route for the control and manipulation of electron spin. Here, we report the observation of room-temperature strongly coupled light–matter quasiparticles that are valley polarized because of the coupling of photons with specific helicity to excitons that occupy quantum mechanically distinct valleys in momentum space. The realization of valley polaritons in 2D semiconductor microcavities presents the first step towards engineering valley-polaritonic devices.

Perturbations in protein structure define the mechanism of allosteric regulation and biological information transfer. In cytochrome c(cyt c), ligation of Met80 to the heme iron is critical for the protein’s electron-transfer (ET) function in oxidative phosphorylation and for suppressing its peroxidase activity in apoptosis. The hard base Lys is a better match for the hard ferric iron than the soft base Met is, suggesting the key role of the protein scaffold in favoring Met ligation. To probe the role of the protein structure in the maintenance of Met ligation, mutations T49V and Y67R/M80A were designed to disrupt hydrogen bonding and packing of the heme coordination loop, respectively. Electronic absorption, nuclear magnetic resonance, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra reveal that ferric forms of both variants are Lys-ligated at neutral pH. A minor change in the tertiary contacts in T49V, away from the heme coordination loop, appears to be sufficient to execute a change in ligation, suggesting a cross-talk between the different regions of the protein structure and a possibility of built-in conformational switches in cyt c. Analyses of thermodynamic stability, kinetics of Lys binding and dissociation, and the pH-dependent changes in ligation provide a detailed characterization of the Lys coordination in these variants and relate these properties to the extent of structural perturbations. The findings emphasize the importance of the hydrogen-bonding network in controlling ligation of the native Met80 to the heme iron.

A type of p-channel fin-on-insulator (FOI) FinFET charge trapping memory devices with HfO2 charge trapping layer, Al2O3 tunneling layer and blocking layers along with [TiN/W] metal gate (Metal/Al2O3/HfO2/Al2O3/Si, named as MAHAS in short) have been successfully fabricated. It is found that the new non-volatile memory, named in FOI-MAHAS memory shows better performance as compared with counterparts reported earlier owing to the adoption of p-type FOI channel and specific high-k dielectrics. The static DC electrical characteristics of the fabricated memory devices including threshold voltage, subthreshold slope, gate breakdown voltage (BVg), source-drain breakdown voltage (BVDS) and memory characteristics such as program/erase (P/E) speed, memory window, endurance, and data retention at room temperature with different P/E approaches have been systematically investigated. A larger memory window, lower P/E voltages, improved P/E speed, as well as good data retention and endurance characteristics with band-to-band hot-electron (BBHE) programming are experimentally obtained. The developed p-channel FOI-MAHAS charge trapping memory is promising for the future nano-scaled NOR-type flash memory applications.

Cryptography promises four information security objectives, namely, confidentiality, integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation, to support trillions of transactions annually in the digital economy. Efficient digital signatures, ensuring integrity, authenticity and non-repudiation of data with information-theoretical security are highly urgent and intractable open problems in cryptography. Here, we propose a high-efficiency quantum digital signature (QDS) protocol using asymmetric quantum keys acquired via secret sharing, one-time universal2hashing and a one-time pad. We just need to use a 384-bit key to sign documents of lengths up to 264with a security bound of 10−19. If a one-megabit document is signed, the signature efficiency is improved by more than 108times compared with previous QDS protocols. Furthermore, we build the first all-in-one quantum secure network integrating information-theoretically secure communication, digital signatures, secret sharing and conference key agreement and experimentally demonstrate this signature efficiency advantage. Our work completes the cryptography toolbox of the four information security objectives.A new paradigm of quantum digital signatures is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, improving the efficiency by hundreds of millions of times and making it as practical as quantum secure communication.

Approximately one billion adults worldwide are hypertensive and most aged 60 or above. Poor adherence with medication treatment is still one of the main causes of failure in achieving blood pressure control. Compared to younger individuals, aging perception may be the main factor influencing elders receiving preventive care. Some studies have investigated the impact of self-perceptions of aging on some preventive health behaviors including “followed the directions for taking prescription medications” in developed countries in the West. However, there is a scarcity of studies evaluating the self-perceptions of aging and its association with antihypertensive adherence among Chinese older adults. This study aimed to identify the association between aging perceptions and antihypertensive drug adherence among Chinese older adults. A cross-sectional investigation was conducted in wards and outpatient clinic of a University Hospital and communities in Suzhou, China. Older adults who were taking at least one antihypertensive drug currently were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire, including basic socio-demographic and clinical information, self-reported medication adherence and self-perceptions of aging. From 585 old patients, 34.2 % was determined to have good medication adherence. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that good adherence to antihypertensive agents was more common among those with lower scores on “timeline cyclical” (p= 0.004) and “identity” (p< 0.001) dimensions, and higher scores on “control positive” (p= 0.004) dimension of aging perceptions. Self-perceptions of aging, being significantly associated with medication adherence, are an important starting point when conducting intervention programmes for elder patients.